Alright, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Playing
Games with Strangers. I think this is episode
five? Is this five now? I think it's
four. I think it's four. Five? It might
be five. It's five. I think it's five.
Yeah.
Say both, then we Yeah. Cut out This
is episode 45.
We lose track because we're con in a
constant state of editing,
and we're about two episodes ahead of what's
been released. So just to give you guys
a peek behind the curtain.
As always, I am your DM.
My name is John Harju.
I play Nick Foster in
the randoms.
So looking forward to that launching again in
June.
So probably about the same time that you're
getting this,
maybe. Who knows? Who cares? You don't.
So,
with us today,
as per usual, we have Catherine
Zierwinski
Patty ho.
Playing Lady Ninja in The Mark in Supersonic
Pod comics.
We have JS Earls
Hello.
Playing the writer
in Supersonic Pod comics.
We have Josiah Crandall.
Hello, now.
Hi.
Yeah.
Playing
various people
in various
episodes of Supersonic Pod comics.
And
we have oh, yeah. Steve McDonald.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. That guy. That guy who plays the
fireman
in
Firehands.
Mister
fire. Firehands.
In,
The Mark Yes. On Supersonic fire Supersonic Pod
comics.
And joining in with us as an observer
tonight, we have
Celeste Mora.
Hello.
She plays
I forget your character's name.
She's not super important. So well, I mean,
she is, but she isn't. But She she's
a super big jerk to my friend, Eric.
She is. I actually kinda dislike her for
that.
Her name her name's Jenna.
Jenna. That's right. In,
The Randoms on Supersonic Pod comics.
So, yes, this is a bunch of voice
actors from Supersonic Pod comics and one writer,
getting together to play some D and D.
Supersonic's starting up in June. Right now, it
is the May. So
pretty excited to be able to link these
things together and a bunch of other cool
things.
Anybody got anything they wanna say anything we
want they wanna plug before we throw
in the, theme music?
I'd like to plug the theme music.
Oh, yeah. Well, you do that at the
end of the episode, Steve.
I do.
And,
alright. Well,
then I guess we'll go ahead and start
the episode if nobody's got anything they specifically
want to throw out there. So cue the
theme music.
So to recap last episode
Who wants to do the recap? I do
the recap every week, and I think we
should toss it around a little bit.
I was told there would be no math.
Josiah, would you recap being as you did
it off?
I can try. Yeah. Let's see. I will.
Well, I believe last week, we,
we got out of the,
lady,
what's her face is? Mary Dusang. Yeah. Mary
DuSang's home. Thank you.
We took a while discussing what we were
going to do next, and we decided to
go back,
to
to the bar, the Lamy the
Llamia. Yeah. The Llamia.
Yeah. The Llamia.
We talked to some people there. We got
paid,
for the fight,
that I did not throw.
Then
I believe we went shopping, which is great
fun. Great fun.
Some big episodes are fabulous.
But it it livened up when
I decided to,
well, actually, for that, I I was, a
bugbear came walking by while I was waiting
for people shopping.
Caius was his name, I believe. Caius. Yes.
Yes. I got one name right.
And he told,
me,
Pooh, that I needed to return to help,
the colonel,
colonel of Sanders,
as there was a threat on our on
our bugbear
clan, basically
basically.
But I was,
determined
to find
Christopher,
a young bugbear who was,
taken and sold into slavery. So I was
trying to find out where I might find,
the slave market.
And no one seemed to want to talk
to me, so I
decided to start a fight,
with,
Callum,
and then we got arrested and thrown in
jail. We escaped,
and now there's people after us.
That's about the,
gist of it. Yeah. More or less.
So where we left off,
y'all were self and so good that,
y'all didn't,
you you weren't paying attention
as you were grabbed from behind by someone
from your
party in a dark alley,
and that's where we're picking up. Y'all meeting
up in the alley again.
Hey, y'all.
Really?
Hello.
Oh, that's some bad Mexican.
So how's everyone's evening been so far?
Oh, rather good.
Yeah. I was with you, Pooh. I know
how ours went.
Oh, yes. We escaped prison.
Remember that? Good times. Good times. Yeah. I
do. I do. Good times.
Yes. We saw you.
But did you happen to see anyone else
following us?
I think we might have made other
police angry.
Little bit. Probably.
We did not see anyone.
Oh, good.
So you think it's safe to go back
out?
I might wear a bag on my head
if I were you.
A bag? Oh, what good would that do?
It would be hard to see if I
was wearing a bag on my head.
Never know until you try.
Do you happen to have a bag? But
that I could try, and then I will
tell you, or rather I can see or
not.
I don't have a bag.
Well, I I don't have a bag either.
It was a good plan until she wasn't.
Maybe we should find somewhere quiet
and out of the way.
I think we are somewhere quiet and out
of the way. Somewhere with It's called an
alley.
Thank you, Pooh.
Tom's right. There may be people looking for
you.
Oh. Yes. I assumed.
Does anyone know a place quiet and out
of the way?
Perhaps
a home or
a bar
or
oh, that place over there looks nice.
I point out
into the, like, wide open
space under a tree in the middle of
the the street. Perhaps not that way.
And We could go back to
my
tavern room.
Probably not. Pretty popular place that is.
But do you know
who has
a person to find? And then we have
a place to go relatively quickly
if we could perhaps
achieve that
in a quiet and, not
attention drawing way.
Did you two gentlemen
happen to find
out anything
while I wasn't present about
where one might
find
a slave.
We did find out that they don't consider
bugbears to be
sentient.
Is that a word we use? I'm not
sure.
I don't,
particularly
think I am very sentient myself
or whatever that means.
It means, intelligent enough to warrant,
concern.
They would treat you that. They would treat
you more under the law as animals. Right.
Alright. But did you find out where to
go?
Yes. You wrote it down. Tell us, and
then we'll act it out.
It's it's called Hell's Half Acre.
Okay.
Yes. It's called Hell's Half Acre.
Oh. Great. And do you know where?
No. We do not.
Great. You guys are a great deal of
help.
Hell's Half Acre?
Just look for some place on fire.
I don't think that's it.
Alright.
I wish there was someone who could tell
us where that was.
The last time I asked,
I got arrested.
Somebody got directions to Hell's Half Acre. I
thought so, but I wasn't going to point
any fingers. You know,
I also thought as much, but I wasn't
there. So
I wasn't either.
I think I wrote it down. Here, Callum.
Here, Callum. You read this.
Oh, that's a candy wrapper.
If my brain recalls correctly.
Although, I did not write it down.
Simple.
I believe to the self ish.
Hey, Celeste. How about you be our scribe
for the evening and write down all the
things we don't?
I'd like to work on that. I'd like
to submit that I do write down most
things,
but then someone told me that I wasn't
there, so I should stop taking notes on
it.
Who said that? You should write them down
and then just send them to us.
You know, I yeah. I could. I could
do that. But where's the fun?
By hour.
I believe it was somewhere south ish.
I can't remember if it was Southeast
or Southwest
or just in the general southern direction.
But the good part of Waterdeep is the
North, so I'm gonna guess south. I think
it's south,
just like regular hell.
Oh, that sounds about right. Oh, well.
If What's what's raised up?
Maybe I've got an idea.
Perhaps if I take off one of my
coats,
the people
chasing us will not recognize me anymore.
I don't find that like me, Poo.
Oh, I find that I can be very
sneaky if I set my mind to it.
I take it off one of one of
the jackets that I'm wearing.
Right. So you take off your jacket. Cool.
So this was this would have been the
jacket that I found in the chest in
one of the the mimics.
So now now I'm wearing the the torn
slightly bloody.
You mean we're wearing layers? Yes.
The the hood very in vogue. Alright.
The hood from the, the
the the devil worshiper people.
They're called cultists.
Like I said, the devil worshiper people.
Oh, yeah. So we're gonna start a gang
or something or what?
Are we starting a gang now? Thought we
were just gonna We're going through. Christopher and
get out. That's what we're doing.
At all
the East.
To the South.
To the Southeast.
Alright. Let's go Southeast then. Great. I'll go
that direction.
Let's avoid the authorities if possible.
Alright. Let's sneak through these alleyways.
Alright. So you are you you're y'all are
being stealthy? Oh, of course. Alright.
I need everybody to roll me some stealth
checks, please.
Hey. Tell them. Do we still have our
stealth thingy? That's I'm assuming not a full
hour has passed that we have Yeah. At
this at this point, I'm gonna say an
hour has gone past.
I mean, I can always cast it again,
though,
if we feel it's necessary.
Fourteen.
Let's just do it and see what happens.
And now the people have rolled, we'll go
with no. Yep.
Fourteen,
fifteen, twelve.
Waiting on Josiah. Come on. Yeah. I rolled
a a 3, so that's
Oh my. That's an eight for me. Save
yourself. Save yourself.
So, yeah, y'all are walking through the street
and
you
can all of a sudden hear this kid
shout out in the middle of in the
middle of everything. Mommy, look at that big
bugbear.
Oh, maybe we should move.
No.
No. Alright. Let's go faster. I wave at
I wave at the kid that was
yelling at
me, and give it give it a smile.
Can I roll performance on that smile? Like
in Yes. Please roll performance on that smile.
Alright.
So that would be a four.
So hoping Four. The kid screams in terror
at the showing of your teeth and obvious
grimace that you give it that you gave
that kid,
and people start panicking and running.
And and the blood on his clothes too?
Yes.
Oh, this never happens.
People usually love me.
It's just it's the coat. Get rid of
the coat. Alright. Try to take a I
need
everybody to make a perception check, please.
11.
What what did oh, you said 15. K.
Josiah?
21.
Okay.
Steve and
no. That's I'm sorry. I'm doing this all
wrong. Gareth and Pooh.
In the far distance,
you hear
a group of ironclad
foot steps hitting the ground coming towards you.
You're pretty certain that the city guard is
coming towards your direction.
Do you all hear that? It sounds like
the city guard is coming in our direction.
Yes. I can see the gleam
from their armor.
I have very good eyesight.
We should move quicker and quieter
and not smile at anyone.
Alright. I will be less friendly
and more
sneaky.
Alright. So,
I I will recast pass without trace.
Alright. With that, everybody reroll your stealth checks.
And What's
10. Yeah.
The the good news is I rolled higher
than before.
The bad news is 24. I rolled a
four. So 23. Let's turn the that's a
19 then for you. Yeah?
Yeah.
That is a 19 for me. Alright. So
as,
as the city guard approaches,
you
four managed to slip away in the chaos
of everybody running and panicking,
trying to get away from the vicious bugbear.
So you guys follow the directions that I
don't remember who got last episode,
but we'll just assume
Evidently, no one got them.
I remember someone got directions, sir.
Oh, I know they got saved, but no
one got them.
Exactly.
I was distracted by the beautiful singing.
Y'all make it to an area just outside
the southern border of the town.
Looks like a bunch of ruined buildings in
a that are along the side along the
shore of a,
pond.
No. I've had an idea.
And you see a bunch of discarded,
like, trash on all over the place. It's
it's not a pleasant place. You see
paraphernalia
on the ground.
So I've had an idea.
Oh. You know? That's for a good column.
Thank you. I've been working on it all
day.
No. I don't know if, you know, this
is actually the slave trade you're looking for,
but it, you know, strikes me that you're
looking to find a bugbear,
and people here don't like bugbears. And
you happen to be a bugbear.
I am.
And we happen to not be. So
it couldn't be
easier for you to find him if we
pretend as if we're selling you to them.
Pretend
as if you're selling me
to them. And they'll put you with the
other bagpares, and you'll find Christopher. And then
we'll all, you know, kill them all and
get out of here.
Oh, you
are a genius, Callum.
Thank you. Absolute
genius.
I'm also very good at opening doors and
windows.
That you are. That you are.
Well,
I think that is a grand idea. Does
anyone have any rope to tie me up?
I,
beg to differ.
Us doing this will be us
involving ourselves in the actual slave trade.
Yeah. Except we're not trading.
Yeah. But we're not we're not actually selling
him, you know. We're planting him.
Yes. Like, all of your little propaganda and
seeds, and we're gonna sprout it up, and
then good will come from it. But Raw.
Raw. We if we do this, then we
are technically
becoming involved
in the slave trade. If anyone also technically
running with a fugitive
from the law Yeah. Which is us.
Well, yes. And until we can sort everything
out, we will stay with you and protect
you and help the justice
serve itself out.
But becoming involved in a slave trade itself.
Poo, are you okay with this? Oh, sounds
like a great idea. I have no reservations
whatsoever.
That sounds like red warning, a red flag
right there.
I mean, if he's willing, then is this
really slavery?
Yes. Yes. It is. Is it?
There are very many people who are willing
to be slaves. It doesn't make it right.
Alright. But what about in this situation?
In
any situation,
it would be wrong
to be involved in the slave trade.
But what about being involved in stopping the
slave trade?
Not hurt. We will put an end to
it. I will get on the inside,
and then
when they're least suspecting it, I'll kill everyone.
We're not the slaves, you know.
What?
Don't don't kill the slaves, you know. Oh,
no. No. No. No.
I will release them, and we I will
rise up.
Yes. And and there's got to be a
better way than for us
to become involved in the criminal underworld itself.
We can settle you instead of him, but
I don't know that they'll put you with
bugbears, so
that's helpful.
Oh, bug's pretty scary.
That's true. If it needs to be me,
I can do it. So,
Gareth,
what if
you didn't and the rest of us did?
What if
who just goes and offers to become a
slave?
I don't know that that have the same
impact,
personally.
Oh, well, Callum is up for selling me,
but I don't know that they would believe
that Callum
caught me all by myself.
I'm a little offended, but probably true.
Oh, you are rather small
and old.
Well, thank yes.
Not really, but alright. I don't know how
many other
options we have other than going to the
authorities, and
that doesn't seem to
be wise.
That may be the case, but this cannot
be one of our option. I think it's
already one of our options.
Yes. No. What what is What cannot be
one of our options?
What is our options
then,
Garreth?
I don't know,
but I know that this one is not
an option.
Oh, Gareth,
so I have a limited amount of time
and
a limited
amount of patience.
And I I I'm gonna just kinda stare
at him. We'll give him a nice,
bugbear glare.
That mirrors it.
Is that like a carebear stare?
Yes. That's exactly what it is.
Or, I'll give him a nice,
dragonborn
stare back.
Roll to see who blinks first.
What do we roll?
Just roll a d 20. Yeah. That's a
seven.
Oh, not 20.
His eyes are open for twenty four hours.
Mine mine start watering immediately.
Can I roll on my persuasion as well?
Or
In
in goblin to poo, I'm just gonna say,
what if we just, you know, go by
ourselves and do it you know
and I say
I'm okay with that
that's the the reason why the reason why
Gareth won that stare off is because as
a, as a descendant of dragons,
he has
very many reptilian,
traits. One of which is he doesn't have
to blink because he can lick his eyes.
Dragonborns are not descended from dragons, though.
They are.
Way down the line.
I I think their
I think their their origin is separate from
from dragon kind. They're like dragonkin.
They don't consider themselves
in to be related to dragons. It's more
of like a cultural thing where some dragonborns
do, but some don't. You know? Some are
like, oh my gosh. I'm a dragon, and
some are like, oh my gosh. I'm not.
Steve Steve totally wanted to step on my
joke, so we'll just continue. Yeah. Which joke?
I'm sorry.
Never mind.
Gareth, what is your alternative, Gareth? Do we
just go looking and we go storming in
whenever we find the place?
No. My alternative is that we should sit
down and find an actual alternative.
This So your alternative is not doing anything?
Account, I'm
well, yeah. Tie me up.
Did I say we weren't going to do
anything?
I I do that. Okay.
Let's start,
walking forward with
you. I get probably trying to lead me
forward.
Y'all are on the map right now, by
the way. You're behind that,
wall on this in the south. Which one
do you think? I'm I'm a I'm a,
like, walk me beside Poo. Forward on the
road. Tell them My bow. Yep.
Tell them I assume
that you know how to
did you did you make a loose knot
or something that he can slip out of
quickly if we need him to? Oh, I'm
sure he can break this rope. It'd be
fine.
Calum, I would like you to make a
survival check, please.
A survival check? Yeah. For the for the
knot that you tied. Oh, great. It's gonna
be a 22.
Okay.
That's a very good knot, Callum.
Thank you. And it looks real, but you'll
get out of it. Easy as pie.
And I know you like pie. So I
do.
Alright. As you come out from around the
wall, you see two figures to the north.
You see
a quite pale looking
half elf
and to the,
Northwest. And,
you notice a,
I I didn't have a picture ready for
this one, so you're just gonna see a
silhouette on the board here. But you also
then you'll notice a,
kind of a cheery looking
halfling
to the Northeast.
I've stopped walking with them.
Just let him sit outside and pout about
it. Yep.
Do these people look particularly
threatening?
Make an insight check.
Oh, boy.
23.
I would say the
half elf looks
a bit
more seedy,
whereas the halfling
has a bit more of
a jovial
look to them, if that makes sense.
Sure.
Do they seem to acknowledge us at all?
Make a
perception check, please.
24. We're just going up.
Alright. Yeah. You're just going up by once.
Alright.
They both seem to be aware of you,
but
neither of which seems to
really
I mean, they're they're they're kinda looking at
you like these are the new people who
walked into the area, but
you're not super
certain of any
like, they're not specifically advertising any any kind
of intentions they may have going at the
moment.
Right. And we don't see, like,
structures or anything. It's just No. This is
like a busted out area. Like, think,
think
parts of London
in 1945,
like, bombed out familiar.
Oh,
I'm sorry. I thought you might know some
world history.
Shame on me for that.
It it really bombed out structures. It there
it it's just kind of
a seedy,
crappy looking area.
And it's, like, grassy?
Yeah. Grass is growing inside the structure. Like,
no one's really
lived in this area for a while. It
seems like this is more of
a good
place to find some
to do some business without
getting a lot drawing a lot of attention
to yourself or making it known where you're
from.
Does it look like a lot of people
have passed through here? Oh, yeah.
Does it look like a half acre? Does
anyone have a ruler
that we can measure
to see if this is hell's half acre
or
if it's
Make a perception check.
Hey. You're so bad. You're you don't feel
too confident in being able to eyeball the
exact dimensions of the area that you're in
right now.
You you aren't certain if it's a half
acre?
Maybe we should go, closer to the approach.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. That. Mhmm.
You really hammered up here. I'm going to
be grumbling.
Poo, go ahead and make a performance check,
please. Yeah. And I'm I'm trying to be
like, I don't wanna go
and upset.
I will need to push him along.
Oh, that's pretty good. Let's see. Sixteen.
Performance. Performance.
Performance. That
fifteen.
Fifteen.
Alright.
And if you want to stab me, I
would be okay with that.
Alright. Save that for later, maybe. The
half the, high elf in the to the
Northeast is kind of
looking at you a bit funny,
Poop. I
I'm gonna eye up the high elf. Hello?
What's up?
I'm eyeing the high elf.
He
eyes you back. Hello. He looks at you
and he goes,
so,
what you got there?
Something I find out in the woods.
Uh-huh. Yeah. And,
why do,
why y'all bringing,
that around here? Looking for anything that it
might be lucrative and interesting.
Lucrative and interesting.
Alright. I think
I think I'm smelling what you're stepping in.
Why don't you bring that, young buck over
here? I can give him a look once
over. I I give a a gentle
shove.
I resist.
They give a best gentle shove.
I still try to resist. You want more
of that blood we got on your shirt?
I growl at you, Orbog.
Go ahead and make another per go ahead
and make another, performance check, boo.
That was,
a less it was a a a three.
You get the you y'all are starting to
get the stink eye from
this, high elf. He's like,
I think you should stop me now.
Y'all
y'all ain't,
y'all ain't, the cops, are you? I mean,
you gotta tell me if you are.
Like smart enough to be cops?
That's not a no.
We're not cops. And I suggest or if
you'd like,
good proof of that,
you'll find that,
my face isn't too, popular with the authorities,
generally speaking.
As you
say that, you hear a a rustling coming
from the
half elf. I'm not I mean, not half
elf, the halfling that is behind you to
the east.
Mhmm. I'd like the three of you to
make a perception check. 21.
Net I mean, I'm gonna look that way,
but I'm gonna hold my sword to poo
so he can't go nowhere.
14. I hear it, but I don't do
anything.
Alright.
I'm texting Gareth,
saying what you were here.
Alen, I would like you
to make a stealth check, please. I don't
know how to do that, honey. You're gonna
have to tell me. It's you. You just
click stealth on your character sheet.
20.
It just appears to you guys that, the
the halfling is just shuffling around.
No particular
To me?
To all y'all.
With my 21? Oh, you got a 21.
With my natural 20.
But I'm not gonna Is your nat is
your nat 20 a button put you above
the 20 marker?
Perception? Is that what we were doing? Yep.
Yeah. It puts me at 21.
Alright.
But I I'm not gonna do anything regardless.
Okay. I'm I'm playing my part.
It seems like she's just kinda shuffling around,
but you can you know how it is
when you see somebody who's
listening
in but trying
not to look like they're listening in. I'm
gonna look back at the elf and point
the other way towards the halfling and go,
are you cops? You,
notice the elf get
noticeably perturbed by that question. Y'all gonna sit
here and accuse me of being a cop,
and yet you're the one trying to sell
me this book right here?
No. I didn't suggest anything of the sort.
You're the one that offered it. You
are you are either stupid
or very new at this game.
Yes to both. Cops
don't come around here. Then why would you
ask if we were? Because you are either
stupid or new to this game.
Again, yes to both. What seems to be
the problem now? You're the one with people
hiding out behind us, you know. Poo, I
want I would like Poo, I would like
you to make a deck safe, please.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Eight.
Yeah. So
all of a sudden, out of the trees
overhead, a giant vine drops down and wraps
around you, Pooh, and lifts you up and
pulls you over to
the,
half elf. I mean, the high elf. Okay.
He's like, next time, when I say come
here, you're gonna come here or you're gonna
feel pain. Alright?
I'm gonna give you a once over.
Open your mouth. I leave my mouth shut.
I don't
do I don't say please. Open your mouth.
I glare at him.
Do what he says.
I look at you, and then I look
back at the the elf,
and then I,
like,
snap my teeth at him. Like, I'm trying
to take a bite out of him. Alright.
We got one of those.
I'm just gonna repeat, open your mouth in
goblin,
and
see if it looks like the high elf
knows what I said.
Make a perception check.
16.
You
he seems,
I'm sorry, not perception, insight.
It'd be the same thing.
You don't he's very hard to read.
I need
poo.
You notice that this you notice that this
high elf is losing patience with you very
quick.
He makes a gesture.
He basically pulls out a handful of clay,
and,
kinda forms it into a sphere. And then
he makes a gesture with his hands and
says something in a language you don't understand.
Mhmm.
And I would like you
to please
make
a intelligence saving throw.
Do I understand what it was? That's a
18
team. The language?
Or what he's casting. Either one.
I can tell you you don't know what
he's casting, but,
let's see here.
What language
what languages do you understand, Callum?
Infernal, celestial, goblin, halfling, and common. It was
common.
Nope. It was not, and it is not
a language that,
you are familiar with.
But, yeah, you by based off of your
own arc Arcana experience, you definitely know he's
casting something.
I'm going to
knock an arrow and point it at him.
And so I suggest you don't mess with
my property yet unless you're buy in. I
rolled an 18 if
that matters.
That wouldn't matter.
That's what I like to hear.
Yeah. The the spell DC on this dude
is off the rails.
Let's just attack him. Let's see. What's the
casting time on that? That's,
six seconds. So
I'm trying to determine
how to how this is gonna play out.
I think it's an action. Yeah. Well, it's
an action, but I'm trying to determine if
he already cast the spell before you put
before you drew down on him.
Well, he probably would have cast at the
same time, but
Alright. It would take effect before
for sure. Then we're gonna say that,
happens. Poo, you are going to take four
d six psychic damage.
Oh, my favorite type of damage. I literally
just rolled four ones.
Sucker.
Hallelujah.
So you take
four
psychic damage,
but
on that failed save,
your
intelligence and charisma scores just drop to one.
You don't under you don't understand language
or are able to communicate in any intelligible
way.
You are able to determine
your friends and follow them and even protect
them. So nothing's changed?
Yeah. Pretty much. So my intelligence actually went
up if it would drop to one.
Well, if you're No. No. I was it's
just
no. It's
at one. Okay. Got it.
But take make note of
make note of your,
scores because it's not gonna be like that
for the whole time. Yep.
And for those of you listening at home,
what you just what you just witnessed was
the feeble mind spell. Oh.
And so and he serious.
What's that?
That's serious.
Yeah. He y'all pissed off a, druid that
isn't into being ticked off.
So he pulls out a
rod from underneath his robes, and he pushes
your jaw down, poo.
Is he not gonna be a down? Yeah.
I'll let it I'll let it open up.
And
and she's looking in your mouth. He's like,
alright. Seems to be in good order.
He's got all his teeth.
Naturally, we're gonna have to extract those so,
they don't get a little bit mouthy with
us, if you know what I mean.
I still have an arrow on him.
Don't embarrass yourself, sir.
There are more people here than you are
aware of,
So you can just put your little pea
shooter away. Perhaps you should do as he
says.
I will very slowly
lower it with an unhappy look on my
face. And so he looks he looks at
that you poo, and he just kinda
does that
belittling
double smack on the side double tap pat
on the side of your face. You're gonna
be a good boy now, aren't you?
That's what I thought right there.
So how much you looking to get for
this young buck right here? I just gotta
take it's gonna take a bit of doing
for me to get them teeth out, so
I can't give you full price. But,
I'm thinking maybe
200 gold. It won't take less than 5.
He was the strongest bugbear in his village.
Yeah.
But,
you know,
I gotta turn a profit on him too.
So
You will. Is in excellent condition. Oh, you're
here?
I see it. Okay.
I'm texting Gareth.
Alen, you are hearing people
bid on this bugbear
that is traveling with this dark haired, humanoid
that you have heard of
at the moment. You can you can jump
in at any time. If
you do anytime you chew anytime you said
should so choose to do so.
Good to know.
He he looks at you and says, well,
tell you what,
I can't give you 500 because that's probably
about what I'm a sell for, but
since you're new to this, I'll offer you
$3.50.
$3.75,
and I'll leave you alone.
That can be very annoying if I stick
around.
You should ask my parents. Sir, am I
supposed to perceive that as a threat?
No. I know. I wouldn't say my presence
is threatening as much as it's just real
annoying.
Yeah. I'm picking up on that.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I got nothing better to do.
I already sold me one Bugbear earlier this
evening.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'll I'll go and take him $3.75.
You let him go for a steal.
What? I pop I pop out behind Calum.
Good gods. What?
Okay.
So as you hear this voice coming from
behind you, Calum,
Orbog,
Pooh, and Callum,
you see
Ailyn, go ahead and describe yourself, what you
look like.
Well, I am a very tiny halfling. I'm
probably only about three feet tall. I got
brown curly hair and I just look as
pleasant as a peach pie. Barely see you
down there.
Exactly.
Yeah, well you know I'm not much for
stealing so it's you know whatever.
I'm just saying you could get a whole
lot more from him at other places.
Oh.
What what kind of other places?
I'm sure there's somewhere around here nearby that
could could pay you what he's actually worth.
Do you know the other person who bought
the bugbear? Perhaps they would be interested.
This is a gentleman of very high intelligence,
I think.
Probably higher than mine. Definitely higher than his.
Ma'am, why are you why are you stepping
in on my purchase here?
Well, you look like you were not,
given an overabundance
of schooling, so I thought I'd help these
people out. She has a point. Look. I
don't need to deal with this. I've already
met my quota for the day on bugbears.
My boss is happy with my work. Little
girl, if you want this bugbear so bad,
you can go ahead and make your offer.
I'm done here. He waves his hand at
you, poo.
Callum, go ahead and make a actually, Callum
and
Aelin, if you are so inclined to try
to figure out what he just what he
is doing now, go ahead and make an
Arcana roll.
Oh, I'm so good at that.
14.
19.
Alright.
Yeah. You you recognize it as a major,
restoration
spell.
And and Pooh. I guess.
Oh,
if you knew what level of this character
was. Pooh, you
suddenly have your wits returned to you.
Oh, good.
And the high elf is walking off. Oh,
boy. Oh, it's not about his level. It's
just that it was nice.
A column.
Yep.
But
are we trying to find where all the
bugbears went?
Yep.
Understood. Kind of messed it up. Oh,
damn.
Not so loud. I I will be talking
to Pooh in Goblin. Now as you said,
you know, a place where there's more bugbears
to be sold and bought and things like
that. Well, yes. I think there's one right
just down the street.
I bet you that's where they got this
bug bed. This one always pays too little,
and then they go and get them from
here and sell them for a better price
over the market. Seems like quite the racket
they got going.
This doesn't pan out, it might change lines
of business.
Well, what is your line of business right
now, honey?
Between jobs, you know,
as it were. Fascinating.
Yeah.
And not what my parents said. But, yeah.
Should we head down the, road then to
the other,
other market?
Oh. That was me trying to look
for that name.
Upset. So I should probably go before, you
know, get the switch about it. Another three.
So
Yeah. So
Not particularly.
Sorry, Celeste. I'm I'm trying to remember your
character's name here. Alen,
you,
you can tell they're kinda putting on a
bit of charade here.
Right. We are very good performers.
What it sounds like to me is that
you people need a true performer. Someone who
can,
say help you sell this bugbear. Yeah. We
do want to sell him for sure.
Or, you know, less than he's worth, really.
Or
more. Either one. Sounds good to me. And
I can I roll
I I don't know? Insight on this.
What what's her name? A,
Aileen? What did you say your name was,
Celeste?
My name is Aileen.
Aileen?
Mhmm. Can I can I just roll, like,
an insight on on her to see if
I get, like, I don't know,
good vibes from her?
I'm picking up good vibrations.
Yeah. Go ahead and roll an inside check.
It's a,
20. Non natural.
Got a dirty 20.
And, Aileen,
I need you to roll a performance.
Yeah. Go ahead and roll Persuasion or deception
depending. Yeah. Persuasion or deception, depending on what
your intentions are. Just don't tell us which.
Well, not to go.
Alright. So,
yeah. Poo Poo, what are you what exactly
are you trying to pick up? What kind
of vibes are you trying to pick up?
I'm trying to see if she would be
trustworthy to, like, let in on our our
plan.
She
would be a good coconspirator.
Aileen, would you be a good coconspirator?
Well, I don't know, honey. Do you think
I would?
Oh, she called me honey.
I like her. She
she seems like
she'd be good at making,
at at,
persuading.
Mhmm. Well, I don't know about that. She
also comes across as
but she also is coming across as having
her own motives
and trying to sell
sell to you.
Well, maybe we can off maybe we can
bribe her.
Eileen,
I want to let you in on a
little secret.
Oh, I do love a good secret, dear.
Tell me, what is your name, honey?
Oh oh, she called me honey again.
My name shirt on.
Well, I already took one of them off.
My name is Pooh,
and,
we are trying to sneak in to the
slave market. You see, I'm not actually
captive. And and then I'm gonna try to
break my my bonds.
My
the rope.
That's like a 22
for the knot tying. Oh, but it's it's
so you can get out of it, you
know? Yeah. The 22 was to see how
well she tied it so you could be
able to snap out of it. Well, I'm
gonna try to snap out of it. Alright.
Go ahead and
roll
actually, I'm not gonna make you roll for
that. She rolled well enough. Yeah. You the
the ropes basically just fall off. Yeah. But
I do it to make it look like
it was a lot of effort to get
out of there.
Well, aren't you just a big, old, strong
bugbear?
Oh, yes. I am.
I have been told that several times.
We're trying to find his friend.
Oh, yeah. Yes. My friend.
And take down these
well, take down the slave market.
Really now?
If you would join us
even for your own reasons, we could pay
you handsomely.
I might be obliged to do that.
I've been gathering money just for this.
Say, you wouldn't happen to know
a Tar White Hart? Not off the top
of my head, but that does not mean
I do not know him. I'm bad with
names. I know faces.
I was told he was the one
involved
with the black
market.
Well, he look he may be the one
you need to find then.
Well,
I trust her completely.
Maybe we should let
Gareth in on our new plan.
He might like it better. Alright. With that
being said, during this time period, Gareth, I
would like you
to make a perception check, please.
Perception. Now,
keep in mind that I'm
I'm steadily moving away from this whole thing.
Oh, I know. Going back to
going back to,
the place there.
So that's my role of 15.
As you are walking away from the situation,
you notice that there are shadows in the
woods
starting to surround you. And
the further you go, the more they start
to accumulate around you.
Well, I'm I'm walking back the way we
came.
Right.
So
how far away are we from
civilization?
I don't know if you can get a
sense of how far we went.
I would say that you probably are
about a half mile outside of town. And
by the time you get halfway, you feel
like there is quite a crowd
hiding in the shadows around you. Okay.
I will continue heading back. Alright. And as
you proceed for a little bit,
the what looks like the half elf or
not half elf, the high elf that had,
that had,
been with the other
that had been talking to the others kinda
pops out from behind a tree and he
goes, now I saw you towards the,
I was told well, I didn't see you.
I was too busy talking to the others,
but,
I was told that you was hanging around
with them right before they came up and
started
getting chatty faced with me. And, now you're
walking,
you're walking back to town.
You wouldn't be going nowhere to be talking
to no
people of official rank now, would you? I
have no idea what happened.
I gave them some advice, and I left
them.
Who are you, sir?
Go ahead
and make a deception check, please. I'm not
trying to deceive him. Alright. Then go ahead
and make a, per not a per a
persuasion check then.
Is your is your persuasion
score the same as your deception score?
He's like,
you look like you were man in the
cloth. Am I
am
I correct in making that assumption?
You would be correct, sir. I'm a paladin.
Tell you what, mister paladin,
mister man of the cloth,
I believe that flock that you just,
that you just gave some advice to, I
believe that they do need your good guidance.
You see, they made a mistake.
The,
the Outlanders do not lack being shafted on
a deal that was already struck just to
have it be meddled around with. I believe
you can bring them to their senses, sir.
I'm willing to pay your order an awful
lot of money
to,
change their mind.
If they come to me, I would be
very willing to change their mind. I am
asking you to go to them.
They're in, I believe, I sense a danger,
something that,
my code would forbid.
Your code would forbid.
Wouldn't your code
benefit from vast quantities of gold and or
possibly platinum?
Well, yes. Don't wouldn't the ends then justify
the means, sir? Of course not. No. The
ends never justify the means.
If I don't see a way for me
to collect on that deal,
then I would rather not take it. A
way for you to collect on that deal?
Are you are you talking about you wanting
you wanna see the money in escrow?
Absolutely not. No.
What I'm saying is
I am
understanding the situation
at a deeper level
than those
unfortunate ones.
If I accompany them or even if
I attempt to sway their opinion once again,
I would be putting myself in a situation
where
perhaps I would not survive.
So
I am
going to do my best to see what
I can do
outside of the situation.
And
if they solve it within their means,
so be it.
But
I feel as though I have no other
sway on them at this point.
Well,
I'm not gonna force you to go against
your will, at least not yet. But,
working outside your means now, I'm just
I'm just gonna
assume that you aren't gonna bring anybody
to
of an official
capacity into my domain regarding this matter.
As far as I know,
I have no idea who you are or
your domain.
Sir, you are in my domain.
However, I'm gonna give you the benefit of
the doubt that you're smarter than that. So
I don't care what you do leaving this
area, but if for whatever reason
city guards start traipsing through
my little slash of heaven that I call
home here,
We're gonna have some problems,
and
I might just make sure that you
do have a very,
very personal experience with that deity
that, you serve.
But outside of that, sir, I do wish
you a good day.
And he makes a hand gesture and a
whistle, and all of a sudden, you hear
a rustle on the trees and all the
shadows that
you felt
present around you shift, and he just wanders
off into the trees.
Alright. So I keep it and back. Alright.
So where are just so I can keep
tabs on what's going on because I'm because
we're splitting the party, everybody.
Where are you heading to?
Back to the tavern.
Back to the Laughing Lamia. Alright. Yes.
Back at the ranch.
Go ahead. And
and what is going on with the other
four of you? Oh, well, I believe we
should get a move on then. It's
this. Yeah.
No. I was just gonna say,
I suppose we're following her.
That is correct.
We're following
the short individual.
Well, I think that we should head back
towards the town because it's on the other
side that we need to go.
Oh, wait. On the other side of the
town?
Yes.
On the shore.
Maybe. It might be west. I'm not entirely
sure. I am terrible with directions.
Really? You're terrible
with you're terrible with directions and with names.
Yes. I'm not much one for memory. It's
the short statue. I can't store up everything
in this little three feet body.
Alright. That makes sense.
What are you good at?
I am good at singing. At least I
like to think I am.
Oh, singing.
How about your other help us.
And I'm so well.
Alright.
I mean, I can play guitar pretty well,
but I don't know that it's gonna help
us find Christopher.
I'm also good at performing,
and I'm a little bit of a of
a, acrobat. See, those sound like youthful skills
too.
I've got a singer,
a performer, acrobat,
a person who can open doors and windows,
and Orboggle is very scary. She seems like
she's a little bit of everything.
That's right. Alright.
The other side of town.
You know,
I should mention
if we go into town
that there are some people there who don't
like me or call them in town.
Very true. Well, why don't we just let
me do the talking? Because everybody loves me.
Well, they may be wanted. Everybody wants me.
Not the same way. Doubt that. But, you
know, similar. Well, alright, boys. Let's get ahead
in that way.
Oh, jeez.
Alright.
So,
y'all start heading back to town.
Go ahead
and
make a perception
check column
because it would make sense for you to
notice this if it's going to be noticed.
Oh, that's a notch 20, which brings me
to 56.
Is,
about halfway
back, you notice
that,
there is a spot
where
there's a convergence of many
footprints
at one point,
where it looks like a giant meeting happened
on this trail.
Do they all seem to go
in separate ways when they leave?
There is one set that goes very predominantly
back towards town, but,
all the rest of them
kinda scatter in different directions. And I take
it they're fresh?
Yeah. Yeah. Probably within the last half hour.
And with that perception check, I will also
say that you can also tell that there
are a couple shadows that have been tailing
you guys back going back this direction.
I'm gonna
in goblin. Just tell Pooh. I think we're
being followed. Oh, yes. Dereth is behind us.
I mean, Orbog is behind us. Let me
try that again. Yes.
Orbog is behind us. Yeah. You think we're
being followed by more than just Dorebog?
Yes.
That small person is behind us as well.
No. I think there are some shadows following
us, Pooh.
Oh, that would be because we are traveling,
to
the west and the sun.
Wait.
You mean, like, a scary shadow people?
Yeah. Like that kind.
Oh,
shall we act like we don't see them,
or shall we get the jump on them?
I mean, we could act like we don't
see them, and then we could go get
the jump on them.
Oh,
I like the way you think, Colm. Have
I mentioned that before?
You have, but I like when you say
it. So
Oh, well, I'll say it again. I like
the way you think.
Well, thank you, too. Aileen, I forgot to
ask you, and I could look at your
character sheet, but I'm lazy right now.
What languages do you see does, Aileen speak?
Halfling and common. Okay. So what what what
should we do here then? Should we, like,
kind of
turn around and try to
Perhaps
if you keep walking forward,
I could sneak around behind us. Slip off
behind us. Yep.
And then, you know, we can from the
front and from the back. I give you
a a wink
and a thumbs up. I'm going to attempt
to
be sneaky sneaky.
Do we need to move on on this
map right now,
John? Or
No. Is this happening in Right now, we're
theater of the mind. Okay. Just I'm shooting
from the hip. Right now, I'm trying to
put together a map for you guys. So
Yep. Good. Feel free feel free to continue
RP ing a little bit.
Alright.
So you slip off behind us.
Now pretend like you're still here.
So, Calum,
how was prison?
It was wonderful.
Sneak off to the back.
Oh, yes. Yes. It was, Callum.
You're doing great, Orbog. Maybe pitch it down
a little bit.
Okay.
I meant up. I meant up.
Hey. Well, luck of times.
Yes. Yes.
So
you said you know about
I mean,
are you you're from
you you you came to bring me back.
How how's that going? I mean, I'm coming,
and
I'm not very good at making small
talk. Oh, that's just are you blabbering on?
Oh, well, you see, I'm pretending
like Callum
is still here, and I'm talking to him
so that he can sneak behind us and
get the people who are following us. People
who are following us?
Oh, yes. There's some people following us.
Well, perhaps we should just continue on and
not address Callum at all.
That way, they won't go, now where is
Callum? That's what I was trying to do,
make them think Callum was still here.
It's very clever.
Why don't you talk to me? Tell me
about this friend of yours.
With with a 10 stealth.
They might know where I am.
But,
it hasn't been,
an hour. Probably not. Oh, yes. That was
in town.
Oh, yeah. Well
Unless it hasn't been an hour, in which
case, I'll take a a 20.
Oh, no. It's been an hour.
Of course, it has.
Go back to your map. I am at
my map. I'm trying to do this before
we have to roll initiative here. Alright? Alright.
Well, I'll keep talking then.
Well, what do you want to talk about?
Oh, yes. Christopher. Oh, Christopher.
Yes. It's it's a smallish
bugbear named Christopher.
He was my friend.
Does his middle name happen to be Robin?
Oh, no. That's ridiculous.
Oh,
I knew
a Christopher Robin. So anytime I hear the
name Christopher,
I think of Christopher Robin.
Oh, no.
We're trying to
what's that, Hobog?
Oh, I I thought you said his middle
name was Batman.
Now that is ridiculous.
Who would put a bat and a man
together? We're going to get everybody showing us
at the end of this episode.
Oh, yes.
Oh, no. His name is just Christopher.
A funny thing,
bugbears
don't usually
have middle names.
Really?
But, yes, he was he was taken from
my tribe.
There seemed to be a bunch of other
bugbears
that were
selling their own kind.
A horrible thing.
I couldn't stand for it.
That does sound our
I took care of it, but
alas,
of old Christopher,
I really hope I can find him.
Well
Kel?
That's my name.
As you are bumbling through the sticks
I do the bumbling around here.
You know, apparently, Calm's stepping into your territory.
I try.
As you were,
bumbling through the sticks,
you feel a hand.
And you guys have come into a clearing
now.
You you guys have come into a clearing
as Where do I feel it?
It wraps around your mouth.
Oh. From behind.
And,
you hear a whisper in your ear saying,
what are you doing? I work from her.
She
just
releases her hand from over your mouth. Say
that again.
Well, I was gonna go take a piss,
but
I wait until you're gone now.
You, looked a little bit more intentional than
that.
I really had to go.
I can do it in front of you
if you like, but
seems rude. I'd rather you not. Go ahead
and make
a percept
either a deception or persuasion check depending
on your intention.
Now question.
If I could
make myself be
if I could make this be true.
I don't believe that was your actual intention
of what you were doing, though. It's a
15 deception roll.
Sure. What's
what's,
insight? Is that wisdom
Yes. Or intelligence?
Wisdom.
With as much as Calum's drink in the
last twenty four hours,
I would think he could do it on
command.
Oh, yeah. For sure. I mean, I could
make this true.
She she looks at you with a very
skeptical look, and she goes,
stop trying to find us.
You won't catch us all.
I mean, you found me, so who's looking
for who here? And I wink. She just
kind of backs into the woods and
disappears within the trees. Not literally disappears, but
you can't see where she's at now. Before
she disappears, can I hunter's mark her?
It's a Well It's a bonus action.
It is a bonus action.
We'll we'll to determine if you're able to
do that before she is able to,
do her, cut I forget. Cover of the
wild trait, I think is what it's called.
Let's roll to see who gets it off
first.
High or low?
Let's go
low.
You are able to hunter's marker.
Great.
Which means you do know where she's at.
She's just kinda I have a
advantage on finding her. I don't
necessarily know.
I will proceed
to pee.
She is still watching.
Oh, you don't know.
She probably is keeping an eye on us,
but I gotta sell the lot, you know.
Right. And I will slowly go back towards
the others. Well, I wonder when Calum will
get better back here.
I'm sure she'll be here in just a
minute. No. She should He. Sorry.
We all have that problem. Trust me. That's
alright. That's the right voice. Yeah.
I can't tell but that I take after
my mother. Alright. Well, hello. I'm back from
my bathroom break in the woods. Oh, we
were just talk I thought you were sneaking
after the shadows.
Yes. To to pee in the woods.
That's all I was doing. Right. But to
sneak after the shadows.
Yep.
I stabbed him. No one can
where no one can see him. Do you
really stab him or are you just No.
No. I don't.
So there's several
following us. There I see a couple.
Gonna be real hard to find him. We're
good at disappearing. But, I mean, we can
if you want.
Do you think
that they might be
involved
with the slave trade at all?
You know, I'm not sure.
She was awful handsy.
Told me not to look for them because
we couldn't find all of them,
and then she disappeared into a tree. Oh,
were we looking for someone besides Christopher?
Not that I thought, but,
I can't count
it,
Chris. Is it an army of Christophers? I
didn't didn't ask.
I can go back and do it again
if you like.
No.
Let's be about our business.
That sounds like a wise thing, Orbog.
I concur.
Oops. That's the hand, not the sight move
tool.
Proceed through the woods. Y'all need to move
around the map. I pulled I just pulled
the map up in case this turned
violent.
Alright. So you're proceeding through the woods.
Aileen, you seem to know what you're doing,
so go ahead and describe what you're doing.
I'm
walking,
following the bugbear.
Are you are you skipping? Or
Well, I'm kind of little. So to keep
up with him, I probably am, like, doing
a light jog.
Alright. So
I'm
just gonna keep it keep track of if
the shadows continue to follow us.
Make a
perception check.
Hang on. That went twice. Well, I have
advantage, but it's eleven.
Yeah.
For eleven for with an eleven for both,
you aren't entirely certain, but you do feel
a little bit paranoid now because every shadow
seems to be a little bit suspicious. They
always are. Just be aware of the shadows.
Oop. Wrong voice.
Just beware of the shadows that hide in
the books. The shadows that hide in the
what?
Books. They are called the Vastranorati,
and they like to eat bugbears.
But I've heard about them.
I'm sure you've had. I've heard about a
good doctor, though.
Yes. He's good good at,
taking care of those those shadows.
I feel like a reference was just made,
and I didn't catch it. Yeah. It was
a Doctor Who reference. That explains it. Oh.
Well, I I give the small person a
high five.
I can jump to try and hit
it. Perhaps
poo should carry Aileen.
I don't know why Who's that? Aileen, whatever.
Aeroplane.
So we can move more quickly.
It's there's it's a flat plane where there's
arrows.
Is it near the celestial plane? I think
so. It's my favorite plane. Yes. Freaking love
planes made of arrows. Yes.
Alright.
So Made that plane.
We're making a lot of progress here.
So y'all y'all make it back into
town.
You're back amongst civilization.
You you Aileen, I have a question for
you.
Yes, dear. Do you have a bag on
you?
I do.
I I take the bag and put it
on my head.
Oh, yeah. I can't see anything.
I I Well, that's probably because you have
all of my stuff in there. You need
to be careful. If you mess up my
guitar or my flute, I'm going to come
after you.
Oh, is that what this is?
Yes, dear.
Those are my instruments.
It's going up my nose.
As you as as you as
poo breathes, you hear a slight toot on
the whistle.
Oh, good. It's just out the whistle.
Yeah. Dear, why don't you give me back
that bag
and let me have my instruments?
Yes. I was trying to hide them.
I'd take the bag off and and give
it back to you,
But the whistle's still stuck in my the
flute's still stuck in my nose.
Matt has that back too?
No. It's part of the disguise. It's part
of the disguise.
I feel like that is going to call
attention to our friend here.
I take it out.
It's kind of hard to breathe with that.
Well, that's not exactly how you play it.
There is not How do you play it?
All cold. I'd love to see you play
it. Could you do it now? How about
you find me some water so I can
wash your bugbear snot off of it, and
then I'll play a little bit for you.
That sounds reasonable.
Alright. Back to
the regularly scheduled DM.
That's alright.
Aileen's already hijacked this hijacked the the scenario,
so we're gonna have to take a few
months at the moment.
Alright. So, Aileen, you you are now back
in town.
Where are you taking them to?
I am planning
planning on taking them to
a back alley near the West side of
town. Alright. So y'all are walking through town,
towards the West,
a little bit towards the north.
And,
you come across a, back alley somewhere, and
Aileen says If you go and knock on
that door three times, you will find someone
who will pay you good money for a
bugbear.
Do I knock with my head or with
my hand?
Whichever you want to do, honey. I do
like it when you call me, honey.
I know you do. Alright.
I'm going to use my hand this time.
Wait. That sounds like a plan.
Maybe Callum should do it because you are
trying to sell me.
I'm also really good at doors.
You're also very good at doors.
I will go knock on the door three
times.
So you knock on the door,
and
now,
Aileen, is there someone here that you're
that you know? Or
sure.
I just just I'm trying to get a
feel for what what what we're doing here.
So I wasn't sure what was happening, so
I just came in and started doing this,
and now I'm regretting that.
Gotcha. Welcome to D and D.
Hey, DeeDee.
Alright.
So,
knocked you knocked three times on the, door,
and a,
a Goliath answers the door.
And he looks down at you, Calum.
Yeah. I was told this is a fine
place of reputable business where I can sell
goods. What are you selling? Nothing sent to
you.
A family heirloom. So what? Like
like bracelets?
Probably make it into a bracelet if you
want. I kind of, like, nod my head
back at poo.
Hello.
Was,
does he have them? No. He is them.
Good boy.
Wait. Are you trying to sell me that
bugbear? Are you trying to buy the bugbear?
What kind of person do you think I
am?
What kind of person do you think you
are? I think he's a Goliath.
I'm just saying you said it on me.
Well,
I don't
really support
that type of thing.
I think you might have the wrong
house.
Aileen, while while this is happening, what are
you doing?
I am looking at the walls going,
is this the right alley?
Oh,
right. Okay.
So just, you know, generally looking confused.
Okay.
And
he's like,
and all of a sudden, he
looks at
Callum. Uh-oh. And then he looks
at Pooh. Never mind. Wrong place.
I start to back up. And then he
looks then he looks at you, Orbog, and
then at you, Aileen. He's like, oh. Oh.
So
you.
And he points at you, Aileen. He's like,
and you.
We're bringing
the bugbear
here.
That's right, darling.
Oh.
I think we should go, probably.
Callum
and, Pu, make a deck save, please.
Oh, I think we should go
faster.
18.
That's a 10.
Alright. Callum,
like, Poo, you hear something whiz past your
head as you guys start to bolt down
the alley.
Did I say poo or Callum
felt it?
You said I felt it. Okay. Yeah. That's
correct. Callum,
you feel something
you should feel something like a small bite
on the back of your neck. Oh. And
I would like you to make a constitution
save at disadvantage,
please.
Oh, no. Well, that's an 11.
Everything goes dark.
I hit the ground.
Mhmm.
Poo, as you're running, all of a sudden,
you realize you're running by yourself.
Woah.
I I stop. I turn around to see
what happened to the others.
You see
the Goliath
and a couple more individuals coming out of
this building, and they are grouped around,
the body of Callum on the ground. And
you see
one of the individuals, it's a,
it's a dwarf, and he's holding up a
blow gun, and he's looking in your direction.
Okay.
And you see the other one who's pulling
out a big old sack, which looks like
it's filled with coins,
and
starting to walk towards Orbog
and Aileen.
Okay.
I'm gonna keep running. Alright. In my in
my time of need.
I'm gonna I'm gonna run and try to
find,
Gareth.
Alright. So you are heading
where are you heading to find Gareth?
Well, I I I know he has a
room back at the laughing
the laughing I can't say
Lamia. There you go. Just okay. It just
sounds weird coming out of my mouth.
So I'm going I'm I'm going back there
because I know he has a room. Okay.
And
I don't know exactly what's going on with
with Orbog
and,
Aileen.
Thank you.
Because I saw this
dwarf
going giving him a a sack of money,
and they were just standing there.
So
I'm gonna see if Gareth can
can maybe come help me.
Alright. So
Aileen and Orbog,
as,
as you, as you're standing there watching this
go down,
an,
two dwarves have popped out of this,
alleyway here.
One holding a blow dart and the other
one hold
comes out of the building that,
that, the Goliath was in, and he has
a sack of gold. And he's like, alright.
We only got we only got the one.
So,
I can't give you the whole
the whole bounty, but,
if the two of you can split the
$2,250
gold,
I believe that would cover the one that,
you have here. Well, I'm alright with that.
Is that alright is that alright with you,
Captain Tusktooth?
I don't like your tone, but yes.
I just if I go catch the bugbear,
can I bring him back to you?
Well, I mean, that bounty's still open. We
don't have him. So and he hands each
of you a 125
gold.
I'm gonna go run after poo. Well, I'm
gonna jog behind him. Alright.
So y'all are running behind y'all are kinda
doing this weird
conga line down the street.
So, Pooh I'm I'm part I'm no part
of the conga line. No. You have been
in it. You have been reacquired.
Poo. So I, oh, sorry. Yeah. Go ahead.
Go ahead. What I do. You you tell
me what you do. I will give definition
to it as it happens.
I've I've run into,
the bar. Alright. As you walk as you
walk in, it's getting it's getting crowded. Apparently
I still open the door. So Apparently, it's
a apparently, it's a fight night in the
in the bar as you walk in. Perfect.
And everybody turns and sees you, and they
know that you're the champion.
Great. So everybody's getting excited and pointing and
tapping on their neighbor's front and pointing at
you.
And I'm a little out of breath,
Mego.
Oh, oh, where's Gareth? I said, you'll be
a scene. Oh, Gareth.
You're just getting kinda confused what from the
He's like a dragon except smaller.
Gareth, where are you right now?
It would be in my room. Okay. It
is a fight night, Gareth.
I have very little interest in these fights.
What is it, dinner time,
lunch time?
It's probably around evening right now, so closer
to dinner. Well, no one no one sees
where he's no one seems to know. So
I'll go back
up the stairs
because we did stay
Okay. Around where he
in his Yeah. You did you guys did
stay in his room. Yeah. You shared. So
Shared a room. So I go upstairs and
I,
I run up the stairs and knock well,
try to open up his his the door
to his bedroom.
Gareth, is your door locked?
Yes.
You hear a rattling of the handle.
Oh, Gareth. Oh, Gareth. It's me. Is that
you, Pooh?
Oh, yes. That's who I said it was.
Yes. I can't hear
everything through the door. Hold on. Let me
unlock it. Do I have to roll something?
Nope.
I'm assuming that you have enough manual dexterity.
You know how to unlock the door.
Barely. Fuck. Barely.
So the door opens before you, Pooh, and
you see a very familiar dragonborn standing before
you. In this p j's.
Smoking jacket.
Okay, Gareth. That looks very comfortable.
What is it, Paul? What would you like?
Gareth, I think
what we did was probably not the best
thing to do.
And instead of me getting sold, we sold
Callum,
and I don't know exactly what happened to
the others, but we could probably use some
help.
The others? You mean Orbog? Oh, we met
a small person.
She's about yay high,
and she likes honey. Alright.
So what are you asking me to do?
I don't understand here.
Well, when I last left Callum,
he was
on the floor
of the alleyway,
and there was a big
Goliath there. And
could you come and perhaps
we could come up with one of those
plans which you suggested, but we didn't follow?
Is he still in the alley?
I didn't take time to check, but I
think
he might have been acquired
by a group of unsavory individuals.
What do you know about this group?
There was a tall one, and there was
a short dwarven looking one. That's about all
I know.
I have
no idea what I could possibly do.
Do you want to search the city? If
they had taken them, they're most likely undercover
or underground.
I think if we head back that way,
we might be able to,
might be able
to
do something. I don't think I could have
taken them all by myself.
Let me get dressed.
I start throwing my stuff on.
Alright.
And then
Alright. Lead on, Vu.
During that time period,
Orbog being followed by Aileen,
You are reaching the laughing Lamia, and, again,
it is a fight night. It seems to
be very
busy inside.
I'll take the underdog.
Well, the, the guy who takes bets, he
just kinda nods at you and he's, for
how much?
5 gold. Well, look at you, big spender.
He just writes you down.
Yep. Has anyone seen Gareth or a big
orange
bear thing? You talking about the champ?
Yeah. The champ. He went upstairs.
Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna try to sneak
up the stairs past Orbach.
Are you trying to stealth past Orbog?
Yeah. Go ahead and roll a stealth check,
please. Orbog, make a perception check, please.
14.
I believe that goes towards the perceiver,
if I remember right, because
your stealth check sets the DC.
So,
yeah, you you noticed that Aileen is
trying to squeeze past you up the stairs.
Excuse me.
Why, yes.
What are you doing?
I am walking.
You are stealthing.
Well, I am a very small person, so
it is quite easy for me to stealth,
as you so eloquently put, but,
I'm assuming that up the upstairs is, this
way. Why so sneaky?
It's in my nature. I don't like your
nature.
Well, I apologize.
I'm I'm And we come we come running
down the stairs at that point. Right? Right
when she says I apologize,
Pooh, I would like you to make a
perception check as you are charging Naomi stairs.
Oh, god. That's a a four.
No. Plus
one. That's a five.
Oh, no. And that that does not meet
your stealth check.
So
as you are charging down these stairs,
you are you have your you you're turning
behind you shouting shouting at Gareth about how
Gareth, I can't let And you triple else
again be told.
I would like both,
Aileen and Orbog to make dexterity saves, please.
I would like the numeric dexterity fails.
12.
27.
At 20. Alright.
So,
Aileen, as soon as he trips over you,
you kinda roll right to get out from
underneath the falling bugbear,
so you don't take
any damage.
JS, you see
or rather Orbog, you see
a a big falling yellow mass,
and it lands on top of you.
Is that phlegm?
You take eight points of,
bludgeoning damage as this massive bugbear
lands on you falling down these stairs.
Even even with my armor?
Yeah. Can I get a recount?
Come on now, Al Gore. So,
yeah. So you got Well, called.
The Orbog and the bugbear are a huddled
mass at the bottom of the stairs. And,
Gareth, you are in the stairwell with, a
halfling that,
you have never seen before.
Okay.
Oh, bug. Is that you?
Can I can I can I pass by
the the half elf or halfling?
Yep.
Okay. I I
politely,
you know, go one way and indicate that
she can go the other and continue downstairs.
I know you're mad I know you're mad
at us, Gareth, but don't trust her. Well,
whatever do you mean? Don't trust who now?
As they come.
And who might you be? Nikki.
Hello. I'm so terrible. Sorry. My name is
Aileen.
I am, helping these people to sell a
rug there. I
hope not.
And I continue back downstairs to un undo
the Orbogbear.
Orbog,
are are you okay? Just call him with
you. I I can't. I did with
did I lose him too?
I shoulda stabbed you.
We lost
we lost Callum.
What were you doing there?
What did they say? They said they were
gonna keep him, and
I told him I was gonna go and
get you.
So, obviously,
I don't really intend to do that, but
I think we should go back and save
him. Who exactly are they, Orbog?
It was a Goliath and a a couple
dwarves, maybe more. And who are they?
I don't know.
That's
my point. Really? We don't know anything about
these people except that they're involved in a
trade that goes much deeper and in many
more levels and layers than you understand or
even I understand.
Actually, Donna, let me interrupt you right there.
Those are not the people that are
involved in the trade that, you know, has
the layers and whatnot.
Though that was a mistake.
I took them to the wrong alley. That
is my fault. I'm so sorry.
Young lady, if you are involved in the
slave trade, I urge you to leave it
and to leave us alone.
I believe
this could be from them being wanted for
starting the public fight. I've got this in
quite the mess, haven't I? First Christopher,
now Gareth and
the
fight.
Well, maybe you should just hit Gareth, and
that'll make everything better. I don't think that
would make anything better.
He's learning.
I sit down on the stairs,
rather depressed, with my hand in my heads
my head in my hands.
So are they taking
Callum
to the jail? We need to find out.
Aileen, is there any way you can help
with this?
I can, actually. I am quite stealthy on
a normal basis.
Mhmm. We have to do something.
Perhaps we should head back to that general
area and see if there are windows or
anything else of the sort. The column was
always great with windows.
Really?
Why would Calum still be there if he
was sold and a bounty was given?
Wouldn't he be at the jail?
Do you Aileen, do you have any idea
what kind of house that was?
I do not. Aileen,
you're not a very
helpful person, are you? What did you just
say? I said, Aileen, you're not a very
helpful person,
are you?
Well, I'm sorry, dear, but I can disguise
myself and make myself look a little different,
so maybe next time they won't immediately assume
whatever they assumed.
Yes. I was just thinking perhaps we should
go wearing disguises.
Well, I have this handy disguise kit here
that can can help.
Why don't you work on disguises?
I'll go check the jail to see if
they took Callum there.
I start heading out. Okay. I don't know.
Maybe I should just
stay behind.
I just
seem to cause trouble.
As you say that,
the,
ringmaster
comes up and goes, champ. Champ. Do you
feel like fighting tonight?
Do I feel like fighting?
I don't feel like doing much.
Everything I touch,
everyone,
I lose them. He just kinda gives you
that
blank stare with a forced smile, and he's
like,
alright.
As he just slowly starts to walk backwards
away from the situation, because apparently, he stepped
into an awkward
emotional
mess. I I stand up.
Who would I be fighting?
I
don't
know. Calum? No. I who I don't know
who Calum is.
No. This is,
this is, Tabaxi.
I don't think so. Not tonight.
There's more important
there's more
important things on the line. Well,
alrighty then. But keep a spot open for
me.
I'll be back.
I stand up. I go to the to
the bar, and I
order a
a mead if possible.
Alright.
Go ahead. Well, I'll I'll drink it and
set it down and then
leave
when
applicable.
Alright.
Gareth, you make your way from the laughing
Lamia,
and you said you're heading towards the jail?
Mhmm.
Alright. So you make it to the jail,
and you walk inside.
The same
old crabby lady is behind the counter.
The the dragonborn?
Yeah.
Welcome to welcome to the Waddadeep
jail system.
Well said. Constable, Larry. Sorry. I hate my
I hate my job.
How can I help?
I am inquiring about,
a prisoner who might be here or may
have just been apprehended recently.
That seems to be a big, common thing
today.
Who are you looking for?
A young man named Callum.
Callum. Callum.
Oh,
the escapee.
Yes. Has he been found?
To my understanding,
he was, turned in by a
halfling
and
a,
half orc.
Uh-huh.
And what was the charge against him? Can
I ask?
The original charge
was, public disturbance.
That could have been taken care of by
a fine,
but, he escaped. And so now that's
escaping
lawful imprisonment
carries a much steeper punishment.
They don't keep them on premises here. Oh,
I understand.
Thank you very much. You have been very
helpful.
I have?
Yes.
Oh,
Yeah. You're welcome.
And I start
to head back to the the tavern. Alright.
Alright.
So poo, you drink your mead,
Aileen. And
Aleene's
figuring out some costuming.
Orbog, what are you doing?
Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm with, I'm with
Pooh.
So after I finish the mead, I I
slam it down, and then
I get rid I I start to leave.
Alright.
Let's do this.
We have to let her put disguises on
us.
I'm still trying to figure out how to
disguise this big old bugbear.
So it may take us a minute. Can
we cut his hair?
I'm not sure that would be,
the effect you were looking for.
Do we any kind
of size or anything?
I do have a mask in here. Hang
on one second.
And I pull out a
really long sheet
and cut eye holes in it and hand
it to poo.
I got a rock.
There's actually four eye holes in it.
Okay.
As you put the sheet over you,
Gareth, you enter the laughing lamia.
Do I see them around?
No. We're
disguised.
Make a perception check with Advantage.
Advantage?
Yeah. What the heck?
Perception.
Come on.
You see a you look around. There's a
there's like I said, there's a big crowd
in there, so it's hard to admit to
detect specific individuals, but you do notice a
tall standing ghost in the middle of the,
in the middle of the crowd.
An actual ghost? No. It's it's one of
the sheet type Halloweeny ghosts.
Is the basic outline of this And do
you see it do you see a patchwork
with a nice mustache?
The basic outline of this quote unquote ghost,
any any type of outline that I might,
think, belongs to someone I know? It's taller
than the average person. Definitely.
Tall taller than the average ghost.
Smaller than the average bugbear.
Cool. We're gonna have Disney is already gonna
sue us. Let's have Hanna Barbera sue us
too.
I will
assume that it's the people that I've been
with. And
There's no one else who would be quite
so ridiculous. As as you approach, you see
you see the other people that you've been
with. Yeah.
So
it appears
he is not being held in the jail.
Most likely,
I don't know if there's a garrison in
the city or somewhere, but probably he's being
held somewhere,
with a little tighter security.
Well, that's not good. I vote that we
should call poo boo now.
Well, if somebody will give me a hand,
we can get this sheet up off his
shoulders
and tie it around the back of his
head. It'll be a little less,
costume esque.
Oh, god.
What what are we going for here?
A mask. We are going for a mask,
not a dress.
We do not make dresses
out of,
curtains. Gareth, do you have any paint on
you?
Gareth,
what would you think about the idea we
had earlier?
Except instead
of slave traders,
we do it
for
the law. Do you mean in a way
that would
undermine the law or law enforcement?
I mean, you turn me in.
They put me or they put Callum.
I find Callum.
If you find Calum,
and then maybe we have a discussion
about
this big misunderstanding.
It's true. They broke out rather easily the
last time.
I feel like that may be the smartest
thing the bear has said all night.
Yes. But perhaps we could,
I don't know,
talk with someone about this and
work through legal means to get it resolved.
Do you know anyone in law enforcement?
I can very quickly know
people in law enforcement.
That's a no.
I can very quickly know people in law
enforcement.
I tried that. Remember?
Yes. But I mean in a persuasive way.
Yes. Gareth and I are very persuasive.
I've been known to be persuasive myself.
I hold a scroll of pedigree,
so
they would have some
some reason to listen to me if I
was
bringing something to their attention that would mutually
benefit everybody.
Gareth, do you think anyone in here might
know
where they would take
someone like Callum who is being held?
Most likely anyone who's been in the city
long enough. I've only been here a few
weeks.
Haven't had
a reason to,
get a
clean lay of the land.
Do, do we see the waitress or anything
like that? Anybody that we recognize?
Yeah. I forget the waitress's name off the
top of my head. I didn't ever write
that down. But, yeah, you see Dottie. That's
right. You see Dottie walk walking
past. Okay.
I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna
try to wave her down a little bit
and,
say, Dottie, we could use some help. Okay.
What can I do for you? We just
have a question.
Our younger friend, Callum,
seems to have gotten into some trouble.
We just want to find out where
they've taken him, and we believe it might
be the authorities.
Do you have any idea where they would
hold
someone that they think is a criminal even
though
we know that he isn't so we can
go and speak on his behalf?
Well, what did he do? Why why are
they holding him? It it it all depends
on
the situation.
It was a misunderstanding.
Mhmm. Pu and Callum
were playing around in the street. They thought
that they were fighting,
so they threw their men jail for
publicly fighting,
which wasn't true.
And then
they
accidentally
broke out of the jail,
and then they got caught again.
But
as I said, they were not When you
say they accidentally broke out of jail?
I wasn't there. I'm just taking their word
for it.
There was a door, and I may have
taken it off its hinges and then a
crowle across the floor.
I would have gotten away for with it.
And for those meddling teenagers.
Even for my meddling hips, I got stuck.
See, and you know, Pooh, he's not the
smartest upstairs.
So Actually,
we are downstairs.
To my point.
Yeah. I can see that.
Well, if if he escaped, they're gonna be
holding him.
Gosh. They're gonna take they're gonna take him
up to the capital.
I'd imagine
oh, no. Not the capital.
The lowercase?
No.
They probably took him all the way up
to Baldur's Gate. Isn't that a bit far?
Well, I
mean, we don't we don't have the big
prisons here. They're taking column to the big
prisons.
Well, yeah. I mean
I got like, what happened in the streets?
I'm I'm getting my accent wrong.
Yeah. Well, I mean,
it's not so much for it's not so
much for the the the fighting in the
streets. It's,
it's the breaking out.
Because, I mean, you can't you can't just
put somebody back in the prison back in
the jail cell that they broke out of.
And I know his wisdom. And, you know,
if you broke out at you know, public
disturbance is one thing, but breaking out of
jail is a completely different one. And so
that is a more that's kind of a
bigger offense. Oh, god. Call him into quite
the mess.
Yes. You did. That's alright, dear. I'm sure
he does not blame you.
I say we head towards this. Do you
know where
can you give us a map? Or,
Aileen, do you know how to get there?
I might be able to stumble my way,
but I would feel ever so better if
you could give us a map.
Yep. So she hands you the map that
is on your screen presently.
Breaking the fifth wall. I broke all the
walls.
I bet you did. Did I get the
map?
It's not it should be on your screen
right now, Steve. She gave us this huge
map?
Oh, I mean, it's
full it's it's a fold it's a folded
map. It's like a you know, like you
keep like you used to keep in your
glove box before
cell phones.
Can she point to where Baldur's Gate is?
Oh, it's south. I thought it was north.
I got it. Maybe we should go by
water. You wanna go down the Sword Coast
through the Sea Of Swords? Yeah. That sounds
safe.
Across the acid ocean?
The pits of despair.
The cliff so insanity.
Inconceivable.
Anybody want a peanut?
Well, yeah. There's two options then, I guess.
Let's swim for it.
That may work for you, big boy, but
I look like shark bait.
You'll never you'll never survive the shrieking eels.
We always go real loud over for the
feed.
Well, let's be on our way.
The sooner I feel like the sooner we
get there,
the less prepared they'll be.
Perhaps
we can take them
in transit.
We're not planning to take them.
We're planning to
discuss this with them. Discuss this with them
in transit.
Yes. Let's walk and talk. I think that's
a good idea.
Perhaps we should bring some
food along
so we could have a civilized conversation.
Fine. Oh, Doddy,
how much would it cost for a keg
of ale? Bad idea. I believe that's gonna
be 50 gold. There you go.
Alright. 50 gold.
She just whistles and throws her finger forward
as she's looking at the guy who's tending,
and he let he just gives a nod.
About five minutes later, he's rolling a big
old
barrel up.
Pick it up.
Alright.
How much time is it going to take
us to go from Waterdeep to Baldur's Gate
by road and then by the Sword Coast?
Do we know?
Do we have any any any idea?
Go ahead and make a
Oh. A ZIP ZIP code check.
Insight.
That's not really gonna be Insight. I'm Survival?
Yeah. Let's go with Survival.
18.
You being fairly familiar with the area, no.
It'll probably take about a week
by land. You'll probably shave a day if
you go by
if you go by water, but, you know,
that water is
that the water path is frequented by pirates.
So the water is deep?
The wall. The yes. The water is deep,
but, going down the Sword Coast and into
the Sea Of Swords, it is it is
inhabited by pirates as well as well as
several
coral reefs that have
sunk ships with crews who weren't as familiar
with
the area.
Did Dottie have any idea whether or not
they would be going by water or by
land?
She looks at she goes, oh,
sweetie.
I would have no clue. I'm just I
just own
a bar,
an inn.
Well, we thank you, Dottie, for everything you've
done for us and for Cali. No problem.
Just make sure before you leave, you pay
your tab for your room. Gladly.
I'm gonna I'm gonna,
offer to pay his tab
Oh. To kinda to to make up for
him to, for us not listening to him.
It's because you yeah. It's it's it's you're
you're using the blood money you got from
selling
talent. Gonna make up for like, yeah. Thanks.
Thank you very much.
No. It's the other money. My three my
three gold tab.
Thanks. That makes up for it. Or, actually,
it was 3 gold. So go ahead and
mark go ahead and mark three gold on,
on your
sheet there, big spender.
We're even
alright.
I'm going to assume that they're going by
land.
Yeah.
So,
unless,
you know, unless we wanna do spend more
time trying to find out whether they're going
by sea or by land.
You like to go quicker.
One of by land, two of by sea.
Before our time.
Little after our time.
Alright.
Does anyone have anything
that needs to
be gotten before we leave? I'll take that
as a no. We should leave right away
then.
Yes. I can come.
Well, that's alright by me.
Are you coming with us?
Well, I thought I might, if that's alright.
Agreeable to everybody.
I suppose.
What stake do you have in this venture?
Just looking to for places to play.
I'm a bar, don't you know? I have
a bit of a flute,
a lie, a guitar. Although I do need
to clean my flute off. Our dear friend
here,
put this, in his nose.
TMI.
Alright.
Let's start moving out.
Okay. We're moving. So you guys start heading
down the road. You make it out onto
the main road that's that's gonna take you
down to
Baldur's Gate. And as you make it out
of town, you get probably about a half
mile out of town. You come to a
familiar area
where there's
a ruined
buildings,
and you see shadows amassing from all around
you.
Oh, dear.
Boys, I think we may have made a
mistake.
I think we went back the way that
we were.
And there is probably a crowd of about
30 druids
standing around you, although the one that you're
the one that you're look that you're familiar
with that you had spoke with is not
there. And one pops out and says, I
told you not to come looking for us.
Oh, we brought a gift.
Yes. Here's the sapling.
In short.
I I I I set the I sat
down the keg.
Well, sorry for any misunderstandings.
I'm gonna roll for, We hope you have
a good time. For whatever the heck I
need to do to slip out of his
grasp.
Well, before you do that,
as he I just thought of the dumbest
thing, and I'm gonna do it.
As you set down the keg,
it explodes
open.
And from out of it pops this
creature that has kind
of the body that looks kinda like a
elk
or a cross between an elk or a
horse,
except it's half
parts of it have, like, fish scales on
it, and it's a very beautiful creature.
And it has antlers,
and
it kicks its head back and fire
blasts from its mouth, and all the fire
devours
all the,
druids that are surrounding you.
What the actual heck?
Yeah. Backing away? I I swear. I didn't
put that in there. I wouldn't.
Go ahead and make a perception check. 11.
Alright.
This is so dumb.
You recall
seeing printed on the side of the cask,
Kirin brand ale? Nobody?
No. Oh, that's an actual
Chinese brand of ale.
That would be a list of Chinese.
Wow. Let's get sued by them.
Oh, okay. Let's
y'all are going after Hanna Barbera and Disney.
Me, I picked Disney, and I picked an
obscure brand, and I was like, oh, we're
gonna get sued.
Anyway,
it's called what?
Kirin brand ale.
I never heard of it.
Me neither.
Somebody out there listening will laugh. I know.
It's the most obscure joke. One of our
foreign listeners is gonna be like, oh, that's
great.
The Kieran turns around and looks at the
four of you and says, hey, y'all. I've
been looking for you. Where you been? Uh-huh.
You're you're looking for us? Yeah. I've been
looking for you. I need you all to
do me a task.
Oh, wait. You wouldn't obey any relation
to our friend, the goat.
To who? The magical goat who left us
a note.
I think you drank a bit too much
ale. The one he
broke?
I I don't he looks over at he
looks over at you, Orban. He's like, what's
he talking about?
I I, you know, I never know. Alright.
What what is this task then?
There's a bit of an anomaly I need
the four of you to fix,
quickly,
and you see him jerk his head down
as antler cuts
like a hole
in space time.
We really messed up the DM's plan. We
have to go back in time.
Right. There there's some there's some things that
should not be in a different part of
the world.
And,
if I have read the fabric correctly,
only the four of you can take care
of it.
What what well,
I would say yes.
A scene that you can
cut a hole
in the fabric of reality,
maybe perhaps you meant the five of us.
There's a friend who seems to be missing
currently.
Son, I do not make mistakes.
You don't
make of course not. Of course not.
Well,
I guess we should be about it then.
Well, I suppose you could you could say,
the five of us,
I'm going too.
So
Okay.
That's a thing. So after you, as he
nods towards the,
hole in space time.
I jumped through.
Alien's gonna follow.
Can you we can you help us get
a missing friend when
we're done with this task for you?
Yeah.
Maybe?
And second question,
why would somebody as powerful as you need
our help? You know, two plus two doesn't
get to four unless you have both sides
of the equation. Correct?
Sure.
The thing about someone being as powerful as
me, power doesn't come from what is held
within. Power comes from the knowledge of knowing
what's required to accomplish a task. Wow.
That was profound. You're not here. You're in
the other side of the hole. We we
do seem to have a lot of knowledge.
So how about you stop questioning your betters
and elders and just get on in there?
Fine.
And I walk in.
He looks like he's here.
I assume we have no choice in this.
Well It's like we're slaves.
No.
There's always there's always free will.
But
the thing about it is
if you don't accomplish what you're made for,
it kinda rot from the inside. I mean,
that's the reason why I see so much
wickedness and nastiness in this world is because
people
were made to
do something greater,
and they just choose not to.
So, I mean, you can sit back on
your laurels and pretend like y'all high and
mighty being
the paladin that you are.
But at the end of the day,
you ain't doing nothing but just copping out.
If I'm being faithful to what I'm being
called for. But are you?
Yes.
Get in the hole.
I will under duress because I feel as
though if I don't,
something bad may happen, which I would prefer
not to have happen. A wise man once
a wise man once said anything's permissible as
long as you're willing to deal with the
consequences.
I have a feeling you don't wanna deal
with the consequences of inaction, son. Get in.
Like I said, I'm going through, but I'm
going under duress.
Whatever makes it happen.
So you hop through?
Sure.
I don't know if hopping out. Oh, that
is the end of tonight's episode. We do
not discover
what's on the other side of the hole
until
sumo girl episode four.
Yeah, baby. So with that being said, some
of you may notice that I took four
people through the hole. One of them is
not Callum.
That is be what? That is because,
Catherine had contacted me this week and stated
that she does need to take some time
away from stranger, playing games with strangers.
Also Stranger Things, but And hold on. We
can use Netflix to sue us too. No.
I was I was actually gonna say Strangers
and Aliens. I'm like, no. That's not the
that's not the right podcast that Steve's on.
We miss her there too. Yeah. But she
does need to take a break. I told
her I would keep her character alive. So
so if she has a time where she
can make a to where she can go
back find you.
Unless it's not something sold out then. Aware.
So
I apologize, j s. I did not want
to,
I didn't want I I did I wanted
to let you know before you wrote the
script for That's okay.
However,
I also kind of wanted it to be
a little bit surprised to add a little
bit more of an emotional wrench on the
situation.
And I hadn't even intended on, intended on,
on her going that way. It's just things
went so sideways. I was improving most of
tonight. So it's just like, hey. This is
a great spot to do it. Let's do
it here. Nicely done. Yeah. So
I believe I have set us up to
where you wanted us, Jess.
Yeah. Yeah. And, just so you guys know,
we're gonna, like I mean, however he wants
to do it, but we're gonna when we
next record this again, we will just come
back from what happens
in the Sumo Girl episode.
So it'll be right back in the same
kind of place where we were or or
close to there, and we'll just continue this
journey. So what would have happened if I
didn't go through?
You would also be off the podcast. No.
Have you ever
I don't suppose you ever saw the TV
show dead like me. Did you?
No. Okay.
It's a it's a story about
people who become grim reapers
after they die. It's a lot it's It's
also on Netflix now. It's an interesting mythos,
but basically it'd be something similar to what
would happen
if,
you don't pop the person's soul and you
keep them from dying at their appropriate time.
They don't fulfill their they don't fulfill their
specific destiny they were designed for. Basically, the
soul just rots from the inside.
That's mildly depressing.
Tempting. Tempting off.
So
But dark, John. Yeah. Well, have we met?
So with that being said,
I suppose
we're releasing this on a biweekly basis now.
So in two weeks,
find out
what happens when they return. And sumo girl
number four is basically gonna be our Infinity
Wars. Infinity
War?
Maybe more like Civil War and Captain America.
Yep. No. No. Not not Infinity War.
Not Infinity War. Steve, you know you know
what
you know what I'm talking about. The one
where in,
Marvel where they get pulled into an alternate
dimension and they're being they get forced to
do whatever. You guys talk Secret Wars. Secret
Wars. That's what I'm talking about. Got it.
Or Contest of Champions.
Yeah.
Similar. Yep.
So Because Contest of Champions, they're they fight
each other. So if we're fighting each other,
it would be a Contest of Champions. If
we're fighting the villains who are also pulled
through like this, then there would be secret
wars.
Well, it's been real. Here I'm playing games
with strangers, the one where we get sued.
By everybody.
Marvel is now on catch us here in
two weeks when we talk about our court
dates.
So, but also, that being said, Celeste has
joined us joined us. So I was Celeste.
Yay. I was I was I was trying
to keep that as much of a surprise
as I can, but I did kind of
accidentally let it slip when I mentioned her
character sheet earlier in the episode, and I'm
like, dang it.
So I thought you could you had just
given her a, you know, character to play.
Nope. She will be joining us, so she
is a member of the party. That's okay
too.
So
anything else that needs to be covered before
we say good night?
We'll miss you, Catherine.
Yeah.
I'm so glad that I didn't mess up
your character.
Thank you. Alright.
Squid, we will miss you. But, like I
said, your character is still alive. So when
you feel ready to come back, you are
able to come back.
Sounds like playing.
Cool beans.
And to all of you out there in
podcast listening land,
we hope you are doing well.
We are seem to be it looks like
we're coming on the coming out on the
other side of this whole
nastiness situation.
So
keep praying for health
and protection, and we hope to see you
on the next episode.
Until then,
from all of us to you,
y'all have a good night now.
You've been listening to the Playing Games with
Strangers
podcast,
a Supersonic
Podcomics
production featuring the voices
of J. S. Earls,
Katherine Sierwinski,
Josiah Crandall,
Steve Macdonald,
and John Harju.
The theme music is Exit Zero
by Sovereign Citizen and the non nonprofits
used with permission.
Find more of their work on Facebook or
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And once again, thank you for listening.