C03 - Ep. 41 - Under Oondar Fire - Swinging into Whacktion

What's up, everybody? I'm Jimmy Wong. How's it? It's Josh Lee Quye. We're the host of the Command Zone podcast. You've probably heard of Magic the Gathering, whether you're a new player or a seasoned veteran or used to playing one to get back into the game you've got to check out Commander. It's the most popular way to play Magic and for good reason. It's everything you love about board games, but with Magic cards. Deep rewarding strategies, infinite creative deck building possibilities, and it's multiplayer, so there are tons of opportunities for complex social interactions. If you can't tell, we seriously love this game and we think you would too. I mean, why else would we talk about it for like an hour every single week? All right, so if you like Magic the Gathering, check us out at the Command Zone, the premier podcast for all things Commander. Available on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are found. [Music] The dissertation's all you've faded shakers. Fly on into the stinky dragon and throw back our latest thirst quencher. Hail and well-debt. It's a mixture of water under the bridge, mincing the minty words, novelty gravel tea bag, bolt of radiant orange juice and topped with a mage hand squeeze of lemon. When mouthful, this money-making mixer is like a splash of cash in your moustache. Previously, our adventurers beheld a bellowing from the bloodbathor, avoided a vanguard of undarions, made their way into the morbid mire of Mito, and catapulted out of the canyon into the veiled veil. Now, as sailed by antlered animals, will they prevail or fail? Bring over a brew for this bedtime tale. [Music] Hello, everyone. We're going to tell some stinky dragon. My name is Gustavo Sorola, and I'm your dungeon master, and I'm going to hit our four players with an arrow. I'm going to go back and see some ID before you shoot an arrow at me. I'm starting to believe you're not the real Gustavo, and these are not proper arrows. I've been replaced. Sir, did you register these arrows? They're not licensed. Yeah, audience, if you'll listen back to the last 20 episodes of our show, you'll notice Gus has been acting differently. I did say that intro backwards. Normally, I say, I'm your dungeon master, Gustavo Sorola, and I said, I'm Gustavo Sorola, your dungeon master today. So can you follow this capture, please? It proves that you're not a robot. I got a 12th. Oh, right. Oh my gosh. I'm like, for what? Come on, guys. You're with the program. It's the stinky dragon. 15. 17 for John. 4. This week's arrow question is what is your favorite fruit? And that was submitted by Riley Frenchy. Relay Frenchy, something like that. Hi, I'm John Reissier, and I play Natti Wunder, the dry warlock drag queen mother of the bringer of the apocalypse, wife of death. What's your remember of that cult? Keep going. >> Remember of the flame people, something like that. Player of the special auto harp that I got, auto harp of auto tune, caretaker of Captain Grumbles. Yeah. >> Could do something about that. You kill something that I bring back from the dead. Find a way. I know you will. I know you will. My favorite fruit. This is a little bit of a cop out answer, but I think it speaks true to who I am. Honestly, my favorite fruit is any fruit that you bake into a pie because good lord. Do I love a fruit pie? And I don't think I've met one that I don't like thus far. >> What about when the fruit pies? Sometimes they're too liquidy. That's my one complaint about fruit pies. >> Like they're not gelatinous enough, Natti? >> Yeah. What is just a bad bake? >> Right, yeah. Oh, delicious. >> No, I mean, that's just a bad bake, and that ain't anything about the actual pie itself. That's about the baker themselves. >> True. >> But yeah, no, I mean, Apple, blueberry, rhubarb, peaches, just any pies, cobblers, anything like that. Just good times. >> The rhubarb lady. rhubarb? >> Sorry, there was like a fleeting internet thing, the rhubarb lady. >> It rings the bell slightly, but I think I've forgotten it. >> Okay, okay, it's fine, never mind. >> Sorry, I'm trying, I always want to yes and any memes or inside jokes, but if they go over my head, I can't do anything. >> One of the most renowned bakers of our land, the Great Baker Hebb, not known for necessarily the best quality, but maybe the best value and price in the land. >> Indeed. >> Yeah, I would agree with that. >> All right, any fruit that goes in a pie, which I think is pretty much all of them for the most part. >> Not pineapple. >> You make a pineapple pie? >> Very often. >> A pineapple pie sounds amazing. >> I don't know if the texture would be great, because what would a big pineapple taste like? It's very stringy, usually, right? >> Kind of like a pear, right? >> Well, it'd be like a pineapple turnovers. >> Peaches? Peaches are pretty common. >> Yeah, that's a pretty common time. >> I can't, that word is synonymous now with saying it that way. >> Speaking of peaches, you should check out C Squad season two over at StickyDragonPod.com, available for all levels of Patreon supporters. All right, thanks, John. Next up was 16, I believe? >> It's technically 15, but 15, okay. >> Hi, I'm Christy Meyers, and I play Gunther, the Nailcroft folk fighter, and my favorite type of food, of course, the Sludge Berry. It is so delicious. It is only found at the bottom of the water. You sit down, and you look through the smudge. See, you find it, and it's like a treat. I love my sludge berries. >> I like to think that for Gunther sludge berries, how normally cranberries are grown in a bog, and all of them float a pop and they get them. All of the bad ones that speak to the bottom get stuck in the mud. Those are sludge berries. >> Sludge berries. >> It's garbage. It's left behind. That's Gunther's favorite. >> Why is it that so many of Gunther's arrow answers are like him backing you into a dark cave to tell you a little secret? I'm about to say, because it's Chris getting into the voice, and he starts as if he's whispering you. >> There's a character from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, and he's trying to find the kids. Do you guys remember that character? Anybody? He's just so weird little fellow who's trying, there's not supposed to be any kids for some reason in this village. And so it's like pied piper, but just kids. And you just pull that memory out when you were describing how Gunther sounds at the beginning of the days. >> I don't think I've seen that movie in 35 years. >> Sure. That is really a lot of fun. >> We love you. >> Come find me. >> Come find me. >> Come on. >> All right. Thanks, Gunther. We'll look for sludge berries at our local shop. >> No, we won't. >> One of those tastes like. >> Yeah, we do those tastes like. >> It tastes like a sweetness and a gritty gist and that is good on the tongue. Very refreshing. >> And you have a lot of tongue. >> Yeah. >> You want? Thanks, Gunther. All right, who's up next? >> Thanks me. Hello. Blaine Gibson here, reporting for Tales of the Sea Dragon. And I play Tov, you who? I'm the male phone tick barbarian level 8. >> I'm not going to whisper into your ears if I'm lowering you into a trap. >> I'm going to say my favorite fruit, and I'm going to say this with full confidence, not knowing if it is a fruit or not, is a coconut. Is it coconut or fruit? >> Yeah, is it? >> Okay, thank God. I was going to Google it, but I was like, no, confidence or it's a seed. >> Either way, I love a coconut. Okay, it's got a hard exterior, very protective, very strong. It doesn't look very appetizing or friendly, but when you get into the insides and it's gooey and nice and refreshing. And it's just so lovely. And I feel like I relate to coconuts in that way. I have the hard robot exterior. And then the inside, I'm just a nice dude, gooey exterior, just like you told the meats inside. >> Yeah, I feel like you're the opposite. You're gooey on the exterior and hard on the inside. >> Yeah, that's true. Only when I'm wearing the skin of my predecessor, am I gooey on the outside? Should I do an arrow question for Bjorn? >> Yeah. >> It's like a sock puppet. >> I used to love apples before I died and got skinned by my easy young son, Torf, and he started wearing me around. >> Colf, isn't that traumatic for you? No, it tells me cope. It's nice. I get to see my dad in the mirror every day, you know? >> Weird coping. >> I feel like, no, no, I mean, you using him as a sock puppet just like two seconds ago is what I'm talking about. >> I'm always very lonely and it's a nice way to just keep myself, you know, a company. >> I feel like this is the part of the movie where you're watching the serial killer do unhinged things and you're like, that is disturbing. I can't believe what you're talking about. >> Torf, kill costs. >> Torf, kill costs. >> It's me Bjorn. >> Okay, you're gonna close the door on that one. >> But to answer your question, I looked it up. Yes, a coconut is botanically classified as a fruit. >> Nailed it. >> Wow. Today I learned. >> Okay, thanks for that disturbing imagery told remind me never to call on you again. >> You're welcome. >> Last up, I believe we got Barbara. >> Hello, everyone. I am Barbara, don't come in and I play Doug Boone, the Artificer Bug Bear. And fun fact for you, Gustavo, I actually like quite a few foots. - Okay. - I did really good for you. I would say though that my favorite ones are apples, apparently just like yarn. For a number of reasons, you know, we were able to grow them on trees back in my village so they were very plentiful, but also they're pretty much like the best bang for your buck in terms of nutrition. Great fiber, just really good for you. You know what they say, Apple, they keep the doctor away. It's truly true. You know, Doug doesn't get sick very often and I like to attribute that to my apples. - Okay, that's a hot take. Do you have a specific kind of apple? I don't know if you have different varieties or if there's just like generic apple that grows in your village. - Of course, red delicious. It's in the name. (laughing) - I'm constantly shocked by how many apples there are, you know, and how expensive they're getting. - Yes. - And then you know, we'd bring it down. This is a fantasy. - People come to hear the escape to the reality show. - I'm sorry, yeah. (laughing) - I eat apples a lot because I, and for a lot of the same reasons that Doug listed and so I appreciate that. And they're very filling. They're a good like filling snack if you want to just like supplement in the middle of a meal. But I find that my favorite apples are like, oh, this one's $3 a pound. - Yeah. (laughing) - Cool. - I'll free you back in my hometown if you want to swing by John Reisinger. - Yeah, I'll do it. - Swing by the land of Costco and buy your apples in bulk. - You get a much better deal. - There was like an apple picking festival in California. We used to go to as a family like up at the mountains. It was really fun. Get cider, stuff like that. - I swear California sounds like some kind of made up fantasy land. (laughing) - It has a place called fantasy land inside of California. (laughing) - One time I tried to eat a horse apple. You were taking a bite out of one of those bad boys. - No. Oh, how was it? - Oh, it wasn't good. Tell you that much. - They're like little and gross, right? - They're like the size of an apple, but they look like it's covered in worms, like green worms. I'll squiggly. - Why'd you eat it? - 'Cause I was a kid and I thought it was a yummy, yummy fruit. And I wanted to live off the land like a wild boy. - Sure. - Sure, sure. - I'm gonna go big and strong with a horse. - Yeah. - To horse sense. - Lane is a horse girl. - Oh God. - We're getting to the bottom of my origin story. (laughing) - Those worms infected his brain. - Oh! - He's a horse girl. (dramatic music) - And where might you be at this moment? - Not where I should be. - And what do you see? Could you describe your location for me at all? - As soon as you ask that dog, your vision goes stark white. Everything around you is blank, colorless void. It's all quite unnerving, perhaps even paralyzing. And for the rest of the party, you see Doug's body go stiff and his eyes turn milky white, but that's not all. Amidst the darkness, your eyes catch shifting shadows approaching and the padding of footsteps. Three beasts swiftly flank your position. And they look feline, but their bodies are shaped like tents and their fur is flaked with gold. Their heads bear six antlers and their tails are short like a bobcat. The darkness is suddenly pierced with light as golden mists spews from each of the feline's mouths right into your faces. (dramatic music) All right, everyone, go ahead and make me dexterity saving throws. Doug, you have disadvantage. - Disadvantage. - Disadvantage. - Well, well, well. (keyboard clacking) - 23. - I rolled a 19 twice, you're welcome. - Wow, it rolled a five, but then I have advantage and I got a 22, woo-poo. - Hello. - 13, what hit me? - Okay, everyone makes the save, except for Nadi. This golden mist, it's like a, how can you say it? Like a luminescent, glowing golden mist of light. Oos is out and seems to blanket all of you. - And like pixie dust? - Yeah, I guess kind of like that. But for you, Nadi, it kind of, it almost like sticks to you and it bays you in a glowing light. - Well, this ain't so bad. - Yeah. - You die in something like this. - Her last words. - This glowing mist of light illuminates within a 10 foot radius. - Okay, well, we're fighting by world war. - One rules then, huh? Gas, warfare, chemical, right? - Progress is looking at me like I'm a maniac. - Well, I mean, it's not wrong, it's not wrong. - From a meta perspective, you cannot turn invisible or you cannot benefit from the invisible condition because you're outlined in light and attack rolls against you have advantage. - Oh, I thought they were like blessing us with like something nice. They're, they're here to kill us. - Well, possibly. - Yeah, we don't know yet. - I'll re-read that description in case you need it. But these are 10 shaped felines with golden flaked fur and they have, you know, six antlered head and a little bobcat tail. - When you say 10 shaped, are we talking like a one or two or eight person 10s? Like, you know, it's almost the same shape, isn't it? - I mean. - Where's there like a teepee? There's so many different variations and sizes of 10s, you know? You have your classic two posts that either end, you know, like Snoopy would sleep in. - Is it a circus tent? - The circus, very good, very good. There's like the new ones that have like the crossing poles. - Those are new? - There's, you know, all sorts of tip. - What, let's say like a Snoopy house tent. Let's keep it easy. - Yeah, okay. - Okay. - So this is like cat bus, but it's cat tent. (laughing) - Yes. - The antlers in a bobcat tail? - Yes. - Okay. - Nadi glowing in more ways than one. She usually is glowing regardless. With step forward and go, hello local Fila and Fauna. My name is Nadi and we are here as guests of your land. - Mickey. - Animal handling check. And Doug, I haven't forgotten about you. We're gonna get back to you in just a second here. - Oh shoot, did I step on Doug? - No, no, Doug is standing over there. - He's still. - Right. - 17. - The animal begins looking at you curiously. It does that thing, you know, that some animals do or kind of coxets head and turns it to the side. And you hear almost like a purring sound and emanate from it. - That's usually a good sign from them kiddies. - Yeah. - I would slow blink at them. - Ooh, very good. Gus might not know what that means for cats. (laughing) - I know, but the audience might not know. So you need to explain for the audience. - Joe, what does a slow blink mean to a cat? - I'm betting that the tails from the stinky dragon audience knows cat stuff. I'm just taking a guess here. - We have a good guess, yeah. - We've got a major cat lady energy from our audience and I'm here for it. - Yeah. - Slut when your cat slow blinks at you, that means it's like, it's calmed. It's happy. It likes you. All those things could be. It's just, it's a good sign from a cat. If they slow blink. - As a dog person and like, Doug's just wagged their tails. That's easier. - Right, different animals communicate different ways. My cats will slow blink on me and draw on me, which is the ultimate sign of either a tooth infection or love or just being relaxed. So yeah, I slow blink at them. - Yeah, you know, these are, what's gonna do with that, guys, come on. - These are felines, they know what that means. They also return a slow blink. - Okay, hey, group, I don't think we're an imminent danger from them. However, we do have a team member who seems to be having a bit of a coneption. - Doug looks fine to me. Their eyes are just, (laughing) - My, my, someone tried to rouse our artificer. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Before you rouse, I wanna give Doug a little bit of information here. - How much HP has he lost? - This gold mist gives us a long rest, right? (laughing) - Doug, you see, you know, in your, who would you say in your communication, in your, in your communication with the Valdi? In your, I know there's a better weapon. - What do you're talking to a deity in your? - Communion, the, the, communion. - Yeah. - Yeah, she's communing with the God. - Yeah, in your communion with the Valdi, you can see what appears to be a white field covered in snow, stretching as far as you can see. - Hey, guys, Doug, Doug's got a gold mist on his broads. (laughing) - All right, take a, take a inspiration. - I don't know, that's gonna make, keep it. - Yeah, I don't get this joke. - I don't get this joke. - Like, I peed myself. - I'm not gonna stay in the episode, but it made me laugh. - I wouldn't look like mist. You ever, you ever peed yourself? It's just a dark circle. (laughing) - Yeah, so you see what appears to be an expansive field as far as you can see, that's like covered in white snow. - Okay, is this a familiar to me? - No, I'll just say no, no need for words. - Okay, could I try walking around? - Yeah, you begin walking and it's just, it seems like it's endless. Nothing is different than anything else. As far as you can see, it almost seems like you're not even walking. Like there's no progress being made in any direction. - Oh, like one of those liminal spaces or something like that? - Yeah. - Can Doug hear pink Floyd? (laughing) - Hello, is there anybody in there? - Did Doug accidentally eat some vegetable from the ground that he did not eat? - We eat some such berries. - Such berries. - V too many. (laughing) - Could I try calling out? - Yeah. - Oh, could anybody hear me? This is Doug Boon. I don't know where I am. - Do we? What's happening on our side? (laughing) - I love that, Doug. - I love that, Doug Boon. (laughing) - Doug, you received no reply and your voice doesn't even echo. It's like it's being-- - I hate that. - I hate that. - I hate that. - You know, like when you're like in a soundproof, room and you know, you're doing something, you're recording something and it's just like the walls are dead, there's no, no, no reverb, almost like a vacuum. I hate that. It makes you feel so claustrophobic. Chris, to your question, Doug's just standing there. His eyes are, you know, milky white and he just seems like he's totally seized up and tensed up. Could go to Doug and like, kind of, Doug, shake, shake him and back, Doug are you okay? Shakey, shakey. Yeah, when you shake Doug, he instantly snaps to and rejoins you. Doug, from your perspective, you know, you're in this white void and all of a sudden it's almost like a jump scare. You see a ghastly glimpse of your brother, Phil, reaching out to you. His chest pierced with a familiar axe and then his apparition quickly fades as God thereafter shakes you back to this reality. Oh, you saw your God? Uh, uh, I saw, I saw my brother. Oh, that's nice. And it was just the moment he died. Oh, that was not nice then. That's not nice, no. But I, I don't know, like I, I just saw white and I, like, like, wasn't, there was no one around and I felt like I was kind of trapped. I don't know what it was. But I was, you're back now here. Natty takes the headphones we put on Doug that was playing climbing up that hill off of it now. Wait, do we know that the veil dye was communicating with one of us or has this been completely in the mind of one of our, I don't think we saw any of that, but we did, like, we suggested that Doug do a prayer. And so this happened like mid prayer, okay. So externally Doug went from praying to having a bit of an issue. So maybe this has something to do with you praying to the veiled eye? Yes. But maybe. But also strangely enough, like the veiled eye said that they're not where they're supposed to be, but they were we should be. But I also don't know where he was. Who's on first? That's a great question. That is us perplexing for certain. All four of you make me a perception check with advantage. God, it also look at the keys 15 as a 10 23 16 all of you roll decent enough. So all of you here, like a loud wreck in the distance from what appears to be that fortress that you all saw in the veiled veil. That was like hanging like on a rope or something, right? That was a separate building. Lachel fortress. Yeah, I'll redescribe that for you here in a second. But as you hear that crap, all of these feline creatures that were out around you take off running like a like a bolt into the distance. Oh, but we weren't done with you. Tell me, but it's you, Kumbu. That's why you make it with my cats. Your cat's right behind you right now. It works. You're cat didn't react at all when you made that noise by the way. So just to recap the scene here, since Chris asked about it in the valley in the veiled veil, it's a valley that's blanketed with darkness except for moonlight. In it, you see a glacial fortress, which was the the source of the sound besides that or addition, in addition to that, you see a spherical building that sways between two dead trees. I think that's what you were talking about, Chris. And then on top of that as well, not literally that in addition to that, you also see a labyrinth gated by a familiar looking golden mist. Labyrinth. Hey, like you said there was a crack. Yeah, like a loud cracking sound. Like ice cracking or like a like a like a like you know, some sort of archaeologist on the hunt. It's hard to say because of the reverb from the veiled and the distance, but it sounded like it was very, like it was something very big, not like a small, not like a whip crack, but like a more thunderous sounding crack. So it's a glacial palace or fortress. So ice, maybe it was like the cracking of cracking of ice movement of, I don't know. Could we move to investigate? Yeah. At this point, it's up to you guys. Do you have these three different areas that are here in the veiled veiled that are available for investigation? Should we take maybe a short rest for our friend Doug to recover from his little issue, or should we proceed with haste because the sound just happened? Probably we should go with haste. Okay. I still have half my HP. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Then we're good. I wanted to check on my buddy Doug, you know. Oh, thanks, Nadi. It's nice to have a mother figure around. Yeah. And a father figure in, uh, you try to, I mean, Bjorn's here too. You claim to Bjorn's game, the father figure that he's, that, that totally is wearing. Okay. Then, yeah, I guess, uh, Nadi with probably the group would start walking towards the fortress. Sounds good. A speech at peace, Nikki, like, and maybe Nadi, you should stay in the back because you are glowing. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Let's go to where we heard the crack. I found a new curse word. Mother figure. I know that figure. Go figure. And I know I mentioned it at the top, but just as a, uh, a quick reminder, because I think I said it very quickly in passing, uh, you all had also disguised yourselves. That's right. To look like, um, Darians, um, Darians, yeah, I mean, except I think Nadi, you may not have disguised yourself. I think you went into the ring for that. Yeah. I can turn into an Darian. You, you've got the skills for that. Yeah. But do we know if this is Zoon Darian controlled, though? I mean, well, okay, sorry, we have a lot of investigating to do. So remind me, you said you were going to investigate the fortress. Does that work? Where did the crack came from? Yeah. It's what seems like it came from. Yeah. Yeah, you get closer and, you know, you walk in that direction and you see what appears to be a castle-sized glacier dripping with water, and there's two large solid ice doors, a pair of armored dredge guards on either side of it. Armor dredge. That those are in Darian. Yeah. You encountered these before. Oh, wait. Dredges are in Darians? Yeah. Oh, they are. I'm curious why, like, the veiled veil, which is, you know, the place of the veiled eye would be under Darian control. Oh, there's a war going on. Yeah. I don't like it. The places that gods are are not where they should be. Hmm. Deep. Okay. Well, since we're all in garb of like an Darian, we could approach us and try to talk into these guys. Yeah. If our disguises are convincing enough. Well, but maybe. I mean, I don't want to want to butt in front, but I am a charming individual, and I myself can actually change my visage to be like a convincing Darian. And I have a baby that, well, the baby is on your shoulders or on your head. Right. Oh, right. We could put it back on. We could see on my shoulders and head the whole time I was in my trance. Yeah. We could put it. Oh. You have no idea what's going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's asleep. Yeah. I think that's a good idea. I think you should talk to him. We'll stay in here and, you know, be on guard. Yeah. So now listen real quick. Again, I know I'm not in charge, but I have picked up on the path. The pattern of our group of individuals, silence is an option when asked a question that will require some sort of lie and deceptive answer. May, may. Is there something on my face? Maybe, maybe we don't offer that so we don't give away our game right away. Let's like maybe wait till we get inside the fortress till we let them know they should point their swords at us. Yeah. Yeah. You guys hear that? Yes. I don't want to stifle you all participating. So don't take it that way. Please, I, I welcome your addition to our, our rules. I just mean maybe, maybe if you're, you don't have the best poker face, don't, don't a fib. It's a valuable life lesson in general, just looking around. I feel like this is talking to that all three of us are now. Nadi wants to is trying to say this in the most caring way possible because I don't actually John action doesn't want to act until you guys don't talk at all, but Nadi would pick up on this pattern of what we did. All right. So. All right. Yes, talk. Hello, fellas. Nadi, just, just for, just for, to build the scene, let's say, why don't you describe how you make yourself look? I would look. Let me, before you answer that, like, let me reread you a description of what the dretches look like in case that influences your, your decision at all. Sure. It probably won't. The dretches are greenish gorilla-like undareans that are covered in festive, oh yeah. Fetted, pustules and boils. They have gnarly curled claws and fangs and they're armored with plates. Okay. And actually, Nadi bring it up, because when we were looking out at that army that that infernest was with, did we see those kind of fellows or were there other kinds of undareans? I'm just curious, because I think the dretches of the last time I've heard you describe the undareans. There were multiple types of creatures among which were dretches as well. Okay. And real fast, yeah, Micah brings up a player, so I want to clarify real fast. But there have been a few others we've described, like the Grilps, the Mongols. So there have been a few. But which were in the column that we're marching as well as other types of undarins that you have not seen before. - The dretches were the ones that were attacking Neo and Teo. - Yes. - She were called Stolder Bits. - Yeah. And wasn't one of the prisoners a dretch in the-- - Yeah. - Oh, what was his name? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Stitches. - Wait, prisoner. - In the prison? - Yeah, when we were in the-- - Oh, oh, that was a prisoner. - The place we broke you out, Kanto. - Or did you-- - There was another prison. - There was. - In his campaign? - In the first cave we explored. - Oh, we went back under-- - And we put a creature in it, like a wolf or something. - Oh, I don't know if that was net. Yeah, I-- - Oh, wasn't a-- - I don't think it was strictly a prison. It was a demongerold that you put in there. But yeah, anyway, yeah. We're like down the rabbit hole there. - Now I'm like, what does Nady look like? - Nady would want to look like Domona from Gargoyles. So like, you know Gus. - Huh? - So you know Gus? - You know Gus. Desdemona, Domona, what's her name? It's the girl. - Yeah, the red hair. - Is it Domona? - Domona, yeah, yeah, yeah, I looked her up. - I thought I was getting gasoline in the chat. And, but maybe her hairier, like the dretches. - Domona. (laughing) - Yeah, the Italian Gargoyles. - I'm just, he's Gargoyles. - Yeah. - Okay, I never saw Gargoyles, but I just did a quick Google search here. I got you, I see. - Okay. - Gargoyle, tail, wings, red hair, hairier. - Yeah, and she would be hairier, but like, yeah. Little bit of like a-- - Tattered clothing. - Yeah. - Yeah, you approach the, and glowing. Of course, can't forget that, a very important detail. - And glowing. - You approach the gate, and as you do the dretches, step forward, and block each. Almost in unison, they both say, hold. - You're having an idea. - Yeah, I told you. Please share your idea with class. - I like how you said, if you're not good at bluffing, don't say anything, and the first bit of communication. (laughing) 12, what do you wanna say? (laughing) - Is this something 12 needs to share in-game, or is this something meta-speak you wanna share? - I mean, I kinda wanna let it play, but I also don't wanna take a man's. - Okay, okay, hey, you know what? I'm not here to stifle anybody. That's not my job. - So they say halt, and 12 bravely steps forward, and-- - Yep. - It's cool. Our friend's stitches symptoms here. You know, maybe you know him as smiley. Old proud of ours, maybe you know him. He's a dretch, we're all dretches, we're all cool. (laughing) - We're all dretches. - We're all cool with dretches. - Yeah, that's what I said, stop lying. - Guys, that's what you don't look like a dretch, you look like someone's skin inside out on a robot. - We're all like, we're all cool, we're all cool with dretches. - We're all dretches. - We're all indescribable. - Yeah, yeah, you're indescribable. - Yeah. - Couldn't even wait, could just out the gate. - One of them steps forward and kinda puts a finger in your chest told, and taps at your chest, and just says, "Arx is denied." - Oh, I pull his finger, and I go, come on, man, we're all pals here, we're all londarians. (laughing) - Toll, you specifically make me a perception check. - Okay. - All right. - Fourteen. - Nice. - You know, you look down at where he was tapping you in the chest, and then you look at the dretch, and then you look at the other dretch, and you realize that the two of them are wearing breastplates that have the same sigil on the front. - Do I recognize the sigil? - Make me a religion check. - Ooh. - Okay. - Ooh. - That's a one. (laughing) - Ooh. - I'm gonna use my inspiration dice. Oh, I just had it. It wasn't even warm in my pocket yet. - It wasn't even warm in your pocket? - Yeah, just put it in there. - Oh, 'cause it was cool. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, yeah. - That's a seven. Both of those breastplates on the dretches are frosty fangs on blue breast plate, but you don't recognize them. They do not ring a bell to you. And then the dretch points at his own breast plate and says, - Access granted. - Oh. - So it's like a symbol they have? - Seems like it's just a symbol on both of their breastplates. - You said frosty fangs? - Yeah, on blue breastplate. - On blue. - Okay. - Nadi, since you're also there, and you're in the front, I want you to make me a perception check as well. - I warmed them up for you. - Thank you, thank you so much. - You're 16. - He's so pleased with himself. Just as, you know, this is going on and told this talking to these dretches, you know, you kind of take in this, who would you call it? This glacier, this fortress that's in front of you. And like I mentioned earlier, you noticed that all of the walls appear to be dripping and you know, water runs down the front of the book. She runs out all sides, but you're looking at, you can see water's running down the front of the glacier. And it's pulling up and causing there to be almost like rivers and canals of water that flow out from and into the glacier, depending on the elevation. - You guys having some sort of heat and problem? You seems like your domicile is disintegrating. - Oh, that's an excellent point. What would they say to that? - I think that they both would laugh and not, and then like give each other a high five. It's like if that's something like they want to be happening, kind of thing. - I'm thinking more like just happy to see something destroyed or like indifference about it all. - Some people just like to watch the world melt. - No, that's very, very complicated. - Okay, here's what Nadi's gonna try to do. Nadi's going to turn around as though she's reaching for something in her bag, you know? And by doing that, she would cover her chest. And then while she turns around, she would change her image to have that breastplate on her that they have and kind of make a little motion like she was pulling some other bag and putting it on her chest. - Sure. - And then go, "Sorry, I forgot to be wearing my past to get in. "You guys are doing such a good job. "Keynize you too." Right? All right, so, access granted. Correct a Mundo? (laughing) - Correct a Mundo. - Just for fun, make me a persuasion check, Nadi. - Just for fun. - Nadi makes persuasion checks for fun. 16 plus four. - 30 20. - All right. - So dirty. - Okay, but I think when they see that, they would kind of ease up and they would, you know what I'm would say, access granted. And then the reason I had you make a persuasion check was see if I was gonna be difficult about your party members not having the same thing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it. You know, when you pull up to the club and you're the only one on the list, and you're trying to vouch for your friend. John knows that feeling, yeah, yeah, 100%. Been to so many clubs. - Yeah, man. - But to the rest of you, to the other three of you, they'll wave you in and then one of them would say, "Put on the breastplate of the frostbite right away." - Oh, frostbite or? - That's a new one. - Yeah, where, where, hey, remind me, where are those once we get inside? Have you moved them? - They would just kind of point in and say, "Ah, Marie." - That makes sense. - Ah, that makes sense, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. - All right. - I probably could have figured out what not any. - Thank you, thank you. - Do you write that one down? (laughing) - A-R-M-O-R-Y. (laughing) - Does Tollve recognize this place? 'Cause it being a glacial sort of environment, and that's, he's been to a lot of those places and things. - This particular place does not seem familiar to you. - Okay. - But yeah, this is like a place Tollve may have haunted at some point in the past. - No, no, no, no. - No. - I mean, it visited at some point in the past. - Oh, okay. - Okay. - Boogie. - Got it. - Did the doors open? - Yeah, the doors open up. They're going wide open, and you all can walk into this fortress. - Yeah, he starts humming, let it go, and just kind of walks in. (laughing) - Do you guys see smiley, tell them we said, hey. (laughing) - You walk into the fortress, and you see a few different points of interest inside. Within the fortress is our contained, what appear to be an enormous dragon statue furnace. In addition to that, you see floating ice rafts and igles on some of those canals, like I mentioned earlier, that are going through the fortress here. - Like floating in the air? - Not in the canals, like in those water canals, like from the water that's dripping down. - That makes more sense. (laughing) - You know, air canals. - Yeah, making canals, and they're floating in that. - And in addition to that, you see some kind of giant crane mechanism that appears to be controlled by some spinning wheels. And inside this fortress, the air is very warm and humid from, I guess, not only the furnace, but from smaller fires throughout. - Does the giant crane mechanism or whatever's creating that heat, does that seem like a foreign object that isn't typically here? Like, does it seem out of place in the kind of aesthetic of this land? - I would say all of this seems like it shouldn't be, aside from the glacier, all of this seems like this shouldn't be here. - Okay. - Yeah, 'cause I imagine, I don't imagine the undarions live in an ice climate, and this is something maybe they've taken over. - They're doing, 'cause they are more natural, they need the heat, they're inclined, and so they're heating it so they can stay here. - What's that term called? where you're acclimating? - Yeah. No, they didn't superman John. What do they do terraforming? Yeah, I just want a real fast before we get too far from it Barbara kicking inspiration died. That was a that was some good sluiting you did there Yay Well by the help of the whole team and so there's a dretches. Yeah, all milling around like there's more go I you know seems like they're coming to and fro and Moving around doing various tasks. I put my hand out to stop the closest one and be like hey, Chum Where's the armory? Without saying anything the dretches turns around and points at one of the igloos. That's floating down the canal How did you know Chum's name? Mr. Chum Nadi's a skilled in cold reads then yeah Can we walk towards the army because I want to get these guys their passes to the rides sure you walk over to it And it's you know, it's floating down the canal So you have to move kind of quickly to catch up to it. It's like Frogger. Yeah I think of it then I Again for anyone who is new to the show, which I can't imagine you being you jumping in this episode If you are leave a comment. I'm so true Michael writes the modules and there's so much detail in them and I'm just a conduit for the story that Micah's creating and these these these worlds it that he imagined here's a profit But in my in my mind's eye thinking about the layout and the way that these igloos and these rafts are floating through the fortress It's like a lazy river like at a waterpark. Okay, which is like very slowly moving through and there's no drunk people in tubes here It's dead. It's just ice rafts and it's my favorite part and igloos that are slowly floating around through the through the area Okay, okay, it looks like San Antonio on a cold day You are pretty it's pretty easy to catch up to the igloo that the dredge pointed at and I guess you want to like try to hop over hop in What's your foot to play here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I imagine that would be the only way we would get inside right yeah The igloo is domed and enclosed and if you had to estimate it's probably 10 feet by 10 feet and There are so there's like an or sticking out of it that appears to be Guiding it and maybe giving it a little propulsion. It's fun. I won't make you make checks or anything. It's But yeah, you hop over into or onto this platform with the igloo and step inside and inside You see a wooden rack holding Breastplates of the frostbiter and a couple of other various items. I'm asking this to guys but also the rest of the group We have frostbiter that a term we've heard Previously or now. I don't think so. I don't it doesn't ring a bell to me now. Okay. Okay, could I equip my Breastplate and then also what are the other items various items? I'll tell you what I'm gonna put this on you Chris. Roll me a D4 with pleasure Three with pleasure kind of like with advantage or disadvantage It means you're happy to roll. Oh, it's with both so that it ends up just it cancelling each other out Okay, okay. Yeah, it appears to be a shirt made of ice is one of the items there a shirt made of ice would you call it an ice tea? Group inspiration die for John take an inspiration die. Yeah, that's good. That's really good. Yes, just to be clear I didn't want to make that joke because I don't like puns, but I listen John I get it It's a compulsion when a good one hits you have to like vomit. You just can't hold it back You got to get it. Yeah, you should let it come out nice to you. Okay, okay, can I try and put one on is it actually cold? Yeah, you grab it and and put it on. It's very stiff. It's it's it's almost like a piece of cloth that got wet and then frozen Do you think this one goes in a dryer or do you have to hang to dry? Yeah, you you mash to put it on I think it goes in the fridge It's very crinkly and crack mm-hmm. I do not care for this coldness. It's good look on you though. You look very cool Yeah, I've also dawned my what is it called eel skin hat. Oh, thank God who could create it? Wait, is that the bicorn hat? Yeah, there's no one else in the armory, right? No, okay. It's just a It's just like a coat rack kind of place Yeah, there are more items if you want to keep looking counter. Yeah, is there a weapon or something? Let's keep finding out at this time I want you to roll me a d10 oh With pleasure I was implied by his weird laugh Yeah, pizza five and roll me a d4 That is a four you see on the racks you you also noticed that there's an ice helm Oh a helmet made of ice it seems like it goes well with your shirts Oh, I guess I have to take my hat off that I just put on But the helmet and the shirt and the armor do we do we do I look properly? Disguised I mean you were already wearing a disguise before you just like changed your disguise No, I wasn't no I was in I was in Told's back. Oh, right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, it it definitely looks like you're you're wearing a weird icy disguise at this point All right, I feel good but cold aren't you like used to a warm climates gun through like isn't this incredibly uncomfortable for you It is very uncomfortable this this cold things That are get wet. I do not like Well, good thing you put them on your body for the ultimate torture There's one more item on the racks. They're Gunther. Oh, what that says tell me what ice underwear Romeo D100 with this pleasure 49 Oh, and then Romeo D4 What you see a a war pick or pick like a weapon like a pickaxe Yeah, but this instead of like for mining or geological purposes this one's intended to create out cheese Like how big like big the size of a sword or an axe too big for me It's got a pointed spike on one side and a hammer hit on the other and it seems like steam is wafting off of it Oh, like it's hot. Yeah, it's a little warm to the touch. I wouldn't say it's hot But it's definitely a little warm to the touch can't pick it up and check it out. See if it has any why it might be so hot. Yeah Make a what we call it. Just call it in our car to check Call the police in a fire man too hot Aladdin gosh darn I was like can't save that It seems like it's a it's maybe got some kind of Magical imbument that makes it warm and it causes it to steam. Hmm. I guess I'll take that Can I take it and put an inventory? Yeah. Just any call it. Maybe I put it in my back. So I stay warm That's smart. You can call it the wafteen war pick Wow Wow can't wait to never hear about that again Well, this is happening. Could a dog just grab a breastplate and put it on absolutely same with tall absolutely got there You're gonna get a breastplate as well cover up your ice shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah Also, daddy. I don't know if you want to keep the illusion going up to breastplate or if you want to grab an actual real one But yeah, I grab a real one And I'll also put one on cat and grumbles. Oh my god. Gigi need one I think Gigi is gonna continue to be Doug's face or unless Doug wants to try to rough this No, it's fine. He could stay. It's it's it's up to you I'm just trying to keep us disguised, but if you feel like we've made it in I'm getting increasingly paranoid though because he hasn't gone boom boom yet And I fear that he's holding up for a real big one He usually saves it either for me or for battle. He lacks. He lacks those two scenarios. Perfect All right. Yeah, so you've you found your breastplate Gunther there's no other items here. So you feel like you you found everything that that was on the racks Would it with the part of you okay? Hey, would you all be okay if we go check out that dragon statue? I feel like that wasn't here when they built this place. I'm down that sounds cool Yeah, and I could use a little bit of warmth. So yeah, it'd be nice. I'd like to admire the local art scene. Yes Okay, you all emerge from this igloo To find yourself in a slightly different location within the fortress You've drifted a little bit down. Yeah, you drifted a little bit down the canal He moved a little bit But you know, you still have your your berries still have to lay in the land And you all said you wanted to head over in the direction of the statue. Is that correct? Yeah Maybe we could hit the concession stands before we go on our next try Yeah, you hop off of the igloo and make your way over to the dragon statue furnace And you know as you get closer, you know, you get a better idea. You get a better look at it And you see that it's a statue that's made of some kind of thick gray metal and flames and smoke Pour out of exhaust grates all over it. Do I recognize this metal? Make a god. What would that be armor some kind of Metal Not that it's armor. I'm just trying to think of metal things. I don't want to put ideas in your head He wears it Exception instead of that make me an investigation check The stat that I have four points less than yes, yes, yes 13, you know, you're you're familiar with exotic metals 12 So you take a look at it and you identify the metal as being tungsten it uh, you know It's and you it makes sense to you because you know It's that makes it able to withstand high temperatures and you know when you get close to it and you're investigating it and you're looking at this metal, it almost seems like or it sounds like the statue's breathing with the intake of air and the exhaust of all the hot air and smoke. So it's like an engine or something maybe inside of it? Maybe. Maybe or maybe it's something to like a bellow maybe, to like suck in fresh air and then exhaust the smoke. Do you see what's feeling it? No, no. It doesn't, you're not able to see what's feeling it. It doesn't seem like aside from the grates for the exhaust, it doesn't seem like there's any other openings on the statue. And you said it's a dragon, right? Yeah. This is maybe a silly question, but do any like undarions resemble dragons or like is there any history there with undarions like worshiping dragons or having that be some type of connection? I thought you were going to ask if it was stinky. I was going to have that thing in Gus. Why don't you make a religion check to try to figure that out? Religion. Yeah. 30/20. Oh, that's pretty good. Drone really does pretty good at religion checks. Do you have like proficiency in that or does that give like extra? It's intelligent based and I have some good intelligence, but I am proficient in religion. You're not 100% certain, but in the past, you've heard rumors that the only god that looks like a dragon is the fire you. Oh, wait a second. We've seen the fire here. That's my people. That's my chart. You've told me? Yes, that's my people. That's my chair. I thought it was I sounded like a question. I was like, I'm pretty sure it is. Okay. The Kindlekin? Yeah. Is that what it was called? I don't remember. Yeah, it was. It was. There's no one like manning this at all. No, it just seems like it's operating autonomously on its own. Okay, well, I think there's a good chance that this was brought in by the undarion army. If they're not the original locals, you know, locals of this locale, then they probably are like they're messing with stuff. Yeah, I don't know. It seems like they brought their own stuff in here to keep it warm for them. Maybe they're looking for something here. Oh, some sort of like mining operation. I think we should take note of all of the different things that we could possibly like destroy to make it, you know, return back to normal. Global warming is a big issue for me. John has a matter of question. Proceed. We headed this direction because we were trying to get away from the keep in the undarion army. Was there any other reason why we were going this direction to remind me of? Doug's looking for the veiled eye. Okay. And they should be somewhere out over here. Okay. In this direction. I've thank you. I just need to be straightened out. Well, I don't know. Is there anything else that you think we should figure out about this? Fern or so should we continue to explore this place? I don't really see anything else, so we could really glean from it, but, you know, it's interesting that the fire eaters, you know, someone that does resemble a dragon and he's here, and you know, darians are here. I don't know. There's gotta be some connection. Didn't the fire eaters steal like the tear of the fire eaters from the Kindlekin? Like I can't figure out the relationship that they have with him, you know, fire. Well, I think Doug saying that actually tracks, considering we found something of the veiled eye inside of the the bloodbathers temple place. Yeah. And so maybe this was the Kindlekin fire eater place and it's been from I don't know. Maybe he has what happened. All right. Have you guys ever seen a movie the holiday where they do a little house swap? The gods are all trying out each other's places. Get away for a little bit. Escape, you know, their daily life. It's like wife swap, but it's God swap. Yeah, it feels like the gods are putting like musical chairs right now, and we're all very confused. There was a quick reminder from Micah and chat fire eater is a sheer. Thank you. I need like a diagram of our pantheon thus far. Like they live they unlock as we find them. Okay. Well, then the other we could head over to that giant crane. If you guys think that's worth investigating. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. And we can move around freely because we got these brush plates. Yep. Doug so proud. You know, I think it would be neat to see some fan art on the discord of the pantheon. I feel like I've seen some attempts at that like trying to connect everything every now and then it'd be it'd be neat to see an updated version of it. That would be very cool. So you all are heading over towards the crane? Yeah, why not? Yeah. Sure. Hi. You all head in the direction of the the spinning wheels crane mechanism. And as you get closer, you can see it's it appears like there's two stone wheels, one vertical and one horizontal and a stone pedestal with a crimson button. And on the far end, there's a crane arm mechanism with a claw and there are two suspended wooden platforms that are hanging high that it seems like the crane is able to reach. Anybody anybody operating it? No. No hamsters. No hamsters. Yeah. And so the crane what does it seem like it was built here to do? So it's got the claw. Was it just so that it could reach those suspended platforms or is that what is being held up by the crane? It seems like the crane is designed to take things and put things on those platforms, almost like some stores with some kind. Can we see what's on those platforms? Yeah. No, they're too high. You can only see the bottoms of them. I probably shouldn't blow this for just this stupid thing, but Nadi uses ghostly gaze and sees through the floor to see what's on those platforms. Cool. I love that. And that's your new ability that we talked about last episode, right? It's like an x-ray vision kind of thing. Yeah, do I get something special for using all of my new abilities first? You get a punch card going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do I get a free feet? Yes, it's called spell slots. As an action, you can the ability to see through solid objects with dark vision to a range of 30 feet for one minute. These might be beyond 30 feet, but I'm going to I'm going to play a lock. I don't want to like quash here. You're using the new ability. You know, you use ghostly gaze to look through the bottoms of these platforms and you see various crates on top of the platform. Can you then use ghostly gaze to see beyond those through those crates as well? Okay. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. In various crates, you see different kinds of valuables. Let's say like coins, gems, jewelry, art pieces, and additionally, on the other side on the other platform, you see various supplies, whether it's like weapons or provisions, like lamps and things that an army might use. I'm having a hard time understanding what is the purpose of these these hanging platforms? Are they like attached to a building or are they? They're just hanging from like the top of the glacier. If you had to guess most likely, this is how they supply things like the barracks that are in in the canal. They can either take items from here and put them in the barracks or take items from the barracks. I'm sorry, they say barracks armory and then put them up there. Weird. It's like a way to to store things out of the way and then bring them down for use or then take those things back up and put them away. Because things are moving. It's how they built a pyramid. I don't think it was. And then put them in the river or the loading things and stuff and send them away. Exactly. And it keeps their food safe if bears come around. Things can come in and then be loaded up there for storage or things can be taken down and then put down for use. So think of like, you know, this is an army. This is a conflict. Things like pillaging and loot. Yeah, yeah. Okay. That might be stored or provisions, food, breastplate, supplies that an army might need. Okay. Well, Tane, I feel like we've been investigating for a bit and I'm not close to any sort of answers of what this place's deal is. Should we try and find someone to talk about? Talk to. Yes, you could do that or or does anybody else have a suggestion of next steps inside of this glacier? The only other place I can think is the one that's on the outside hanging from the two trees. But we never did get to the bottom of what that crack was coming from here. I think the crack was the ice cracking, splitting the glacier down the middle because of the dragon. Do we see any big cracks in this like ice fortress area? Yeah, you definitely see like fissures and cracks forming within the glacier, presumably from the heat, especially from that dragon statue. It's causing it to melt. You know what? It may not be good and here is and it could collapse. Yeah, this is like a ticking time bomb. As you all are up here looking at the, you know, the wheels of the mechanism for the crane, you hear a shout in the distance and a voice calls out, "Give me an update on the van God!" And you see inferness walking by, followed by a horde of Hungarians who seem to be catering to her and trying to take care of her. I guess it's time to introduce ourselves. I kind of want to. I kind of want to. I didn't want to like make a choice for the group, but my instinct was like, "I think Nadi will go up and talk to him first." You didn't listen to the intrusive thoughts. Somehow feel like inferness would have a better idea of like who is actually an undarion. Yeah, is there a way we can stealthily assassinate them? Oh, I don't know, spy on them. Yeah, like that. Maybe stay where we are, but stay hidden so we could listen to the conversation happening. Yeah, I guess that's what I was going to ask is like, what do you mean by spy? Like stay here and kind of like tune in and where are they exactly? They're like off in the distance, I'd say probably let's say 60, 70 feet away. Let's call it 80, 80 feet away. Is there anything we could do like based in the space? I don't know, are they just standing there? No, it's just like moving by quickly, walking through with this chord of attendance. The other dudes that we've seen want milling about, what are they, or do they have busy jobs that we could pretend to be doing as well so that we don't stand out? It seems like no one's doing a job per se. People are just walking to and from the igloos. I have a way that we could give it up on that crane for a better vantage point. I don't know if we want to do that. But to answer your more immediate question, Barbara, you hear the undarens kind of replying to infernis about the status of the vanguard. Why don't you make me a, I'm trying to debate here, either like an investigation perception or maybe a stealth, let's call it a stealth check to see, you know, how much you're able to garner from this. Cut. Dirty 20. Yeah, nice. Dirty 20. There it is, nothing. My pleasure. You hear various voices answering infernis reporting in. Fort Meadow is easily overtaken. However, there are no signs of the field I. So they were looking for the veiled. Bye. So it seems like that undarens are just taking over all these different places. Also, reports are coming in of four more Italian soldiers missing from the front. There's a heck of a lot more missing than that. Their data's wrong. They're missing all the humans too. It's a field, it's the field of war, you know. The information, uh, it's key. And it's hard to get, hard to come by. Okay, so to like keep track right now. They're looking for the veiled eye and they're also looking for the sea drinker. Or maybe it was the sea drinker just being chased by, uh, oh my god. Well, who's my big bad looking for the path finder looking for the path finder. Yes, path finder serves under the veiled eye. Yeah, but then also sticky butt McNutt, whatever his name was, the guy that I hate. I've never remembered the important people in your life. No, no, no, it's just not it's not as cool as quadruped. I was looking it up. I heard glad I was looking for the sea drinker. So I forgot Björn the other day too. Everybody's looking for these gods. So like what's, what's why are they looking for all these people? Why are the gods playing hide and go seek with us? What's the deal? Maybe they know dangerous coming and so they're protecting themselves. As a, as a quick flashback, you all discovered that the sea drinker had been interrogated. Let's just call it interrogated slash tortured. And she had let it slip that the veiled eye might know where the path finder is. Yes, that's right. So they're all, the ultimate goal is to find the path finder. Right, and that the, and that the fire eater was being held captive, and that was being used as leverage over the sea drinker. Yes. Is there girlfriends? Right. Could the fire eater be inside of the dragon? Oh, that could be what is making it so hot. Oh, dude, very cool. Oh, man, we should be so hot. Oh, sorry, we should be all of that dragon. Now, I wonder if we could like destroy the statue and free the fire eater. Yeah, I mean, that would definitely clean things up for this area, because it's made of ice and they're probably miserable, but then they're also melting everything, which is making this place miserable. I guess, should we just continue to hide as they look? Because they're walking and having a conversation, correct, or are they stopped? No, they kept walking. Yeah, and they're like, this point, like, you can't make anything else out, because they're walking further away into the distance. Okay. How far away are we from the dragon statue? It's not that far. I mean, let's say 80 feet in the other direction. You mentioned that there was like vents and things, and it was like smoke was coming out. Right. Can I head back over there and take a look on the inside and see if I can like spot something? Yeah. Maybe you could try like talking to them or talking to her? Yeah, yeah, something like that. Are all of you going or just told? Yeah, we'll go. I would like to go, yeah. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You know, classic nanny. Classic nanny. Actually, before I do anything, I want to go up to it and knock as such, like, so with the following, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Was there? You hear a reverberating response. Oh my god. Oh my god. Yeah, there's definitely somebody in there, then. And as you're doing that, a strange looking, let's say, a strange looking being comes walking by and sees you. It looks like this creature is like, it's got a giant owl body with frosty feathers, and it's got, however, it's got a polar bear head. Hey, y'all come in all kinds of shapes and colors. And it sees you knocking on the statue and asks, what are you doing? Well, you see my friend here. What do you see? My friend here, we have been brought into C2 repairs to this furnace as it was reported that it had taken some sort of damage somewhere, and so he was checking it for any sort of bolts. Repairs? No, no, no, there are no bolts. I might ask why you would be the expert on this? This statue is under my domain. I have overseen the creation and implementation of this. For my records, what's your name? You, call me the frostbiter. On the armor. As in, like, this frostbiter now points to her chest. That's me. Big fan holds slowing down your ability to talk at a normal pace. I hate the cold. Oh, okay. I run it. Oh, oh, if he's biting the frost, that means he's attacking it. That's why I oversaw the creation of this. So you're telling me that someone else put in a requisition for us, and it was for a joke. And we came all the way over here for not actually having to repair something. Oh, so frustrating. I guess. Well, since we're here, and we're such, and we're such, uh, fans and officials is kind of stuff. What you, this is kind of impressive that this is running inside of such a icy area. What sort of fuel source did you find was best for this location? The eternal kind. Yeah, that's right. Oh, fire eater. Lucky for you were in the neighborhood offering free inspections, and we're willing to do a free inspection. That's how motor talk right there. People have been at your door. Is there like a weird connection between like the frostbiter, the fire eater and the sea drinker? Like they're all like consumption-based temperature things. You can make a religion check if you want. Where's the, where's the lukewarm zipper? Oh my god, a religion check, yeah. I said, where's the lukewarm zipper? Let's get the get out of here. Inspiration day. I rolled a NAT 20 for 27 with no idea. You, that's, you're, you're on fire with these checks lately, uh, Barbara. I think that's a good roll today. You've heard rumor in the past of some kind of, um, how can I put it? You've heard rumor of some kind of jealousy between the three of them in the past, between the fire eater, the sea drinker, and the frostbiter. Because, uh, so have we determined the frostbiter is the one inside the dragon? Is that what's- No, you're talking to the frostbiter. Oh, okay. But what? We suspect the fire eater is inside the thing causing heat. Yeah, probably. Though, though, if the frostbiter likes things hot, the fire eater might be something that likes things cold. That's what I'm thinking. Like, it could be a weird reverse, but I don't know. Well, just to clarify what Chris said there, the frostbiter said that he does not like the cold. Yeah. So frostbiter likes hot, so that means fire eater might like cold. Yeah, like if the frost bites and the fire eats, when the shark bites. Which one's what? It might be the reverse of what you think. And the sea drinks. I don't- I don't think so necessarily. I don't think it's like, uh, it has to go that way as well. There's a lot of eat-eater-biter drinker. Like, that's what we got. Yeah. Yum-yum-yum. And where does the lukewarm zipper fill in all this stuff? I think you broke the party, cus. Ertsy Muncher. Where's one of those? Anyway, uh, move along. Yeah, yeah, we'll move along. Thank you so much. Uh, uh, uh, last question. Where are, since we've come so far, where are the barracks so we might be able to, uh, find some place for rest for the evening? With, uh, uh, grown the frostbiter turns and points one of his, uh, feathery arms at one of the igloos that's floating by on the canal. Okay, just missed it. We're waiting for it to come back around, yes. I so, yeah, can I pull my party to the side so we're not talking in front of the frostbiter? - Sure. - I see you move away a little distance. he stands there, he turns his back to you and begins inspecting where 12 was knocking. - I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I feel like we might have found an objective for us inside of this place. - Mm-hmm. - So, is it get dark, Gus, or is the sun not moving again? Still, and it never gets dark? - Oh yeah, that's right, it's always dark here. It was, 'cause you're in the veil and it was lit by moonlight. - Oh, okay. So then again, that leads me to another meta question. Is there a point where people go to bed? Like, is there like a midnight shift? - I wouldn't even make you roll for this. Just because presumably from your experience in the mortelian, you know that there really isn't a downtime, especially being so close to a front of war, that there are definitely shifts and people rotate in and out, but there are always people milling about as they go either go on watch, come off watch, go out to battle, come back from battle. It's a constant stream of undarians in various directions. - Okay, all right, team. Stop me if you think this is done, but I think we should try to cause some sort of commotion. - Like a diversion? - To give ourselves a chance to maybe upscound with the god. (laughing) - Yes. - Oh, I sure, this is a tall order. - Which god? - The one inside the dragon gunther. - Yeah, yeah. - We don't draw the first person that he's got in there. - We're pretty sure, you know, it makes sense 'cause they were able to interrogate, right? - Yeah. - Hey, actually, I have an answer for this. Gus, you said those vents were opening and closing, right? - Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, sure, yeah. That makes sense. As heat and exhaust hits the vent, it opens up and releases it, and then as air is drawn in, those vents open up as well. - Okay, natty needs a moment to think. - I have a thing too. - Why don't you let me do mine first, and if it doesn't work, you can do yours. Think, think, think, think, think, think, think. - No, natty's using the spell a moment of think. - I thought you, I thought you were saying - Natty's stopping time. - You needed a moment to think. - I thought John was saying. - All right, John, let's go. - Okay. - So, natty stops time when the vents are open, and I'm not an expert on thermodynamics, but I think when the particles stop moving, the heat isn't as strong. Like, while you're in stopped time, heat shouldn't work the same way. - Yeah, let's see where this goes. Let's follow this line of thinking. - Okay. All I'm asking is then that would allow natty to put her face up extra close to these vents with flames not moving anymore, and be able to look in and see if she sees a person. - Okay, flames, around my face. - Is the fire eater like a humanoid? - I don't know. Okay, I should know what you'd be looking for. - Just to clarify, okay. I did say we had clarified that you all had moved away, and the frostbiteer was looking at it, but you stopped time, which would allow you to go there, look, and then come back without anyone noticing. - Yes. - I'm just trying to think through all of these complicated things because stopping time is so easy. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've read a lot of flash comics, okay? So I know how this works. - Why don't you make me an advanced physics check with advantage? - What's this? - This is physics. - I don't know. We're talking about thermodynamics and all of this. Oh, no, no, no, okay, I'm thinking. Okay. - You're able to stop time. - You take a look into the event, and yeah, you do see what appears to be some kind of creature inside of the statue. - And then so Nadi would use the remainder of her time to think to then come back to the group so that she hasn't like, to the rest of the world, she hasn't moved. - It's like you never left. - And Nadi goes, "Time in," and tells the group like, "Well, I just checked." And there is someone inside of that statue. - Oh. - Should we like slip them like a shiver, or some sort of tool, what did they look like? - A person on fire perpetually. - Probably the fire reader in there. - Probably fire. You kind of be the fire reader. - Yeah, were they eating any fire by any chance? There's a dead giveaway. - Okay, Nadi's the time to think. So Nadi goes back and sees if they're eating anything. You tensils, a plate, an oven. - Shwarma. - Yeah, Shwarma, okay, yeah. Nadi comes back. They're eating Shwarma. - Oh, yeah, Shwarma, I'm going to have to take care of. - I have a potential plan for a diversion. - Does it involve the crane and the button? - How did you know, Nadi's? Are we like same wavelengths crazy? - They suck, we're finishing each other's. - Shwarma. - Nadi's. - So anyway. - Nadi's. - Shwarma and I just realized, I just realized, I cut line. Chris had something, got their head something. - Well, I know, but John did something better. - Okay, I have the spider silk, and I'm also sure that there's a ladder too, but we could do something where we'd drop. Okay, what if we went onto the crane and then repositioned all of that stuff that's up there to then drop, causing a big commotion, and then while that's happening, you guys rush, while everybody's hitting the other direction, and then free the fire heater from the dragon. - How do we, but how do we free the fire heater from dragon? - Oh. - And they got like a, I don't know, vacuum. - What? (laughing) - I could drop the crane thing on the dragon. - Yes, yes. - I think that's probably gonna kill a fire heater, but-- - Or tip it over. - That's something? Yeah. - Nadi, did it look like the person inside there could fit through the vent? - I don't, I didn't check. Nadi does another time. - Nadi knows and checks over times and sees the scale of this person. - Yeah, I'm gonna say no, most likely not. - No, that would not work. - That's likely not. How big is the dragon statue? - It's pretty big. I don't remember if I gave an exact scale of it. Let me, I think you would say it would be classified as maybe huge, like so really big. - Okay, so not something we could just carry out. - No, plus on top of that, it's like total discovery, it's made of tungsten and tungsten is a very heavy metal too. So it's a huge chunk of heavy metal. - Heavy metal. - Yeah. (laughing) - Last time I'm gonna do this trick, but Nadi will actually use time to think to go, could I do a quick check to see if there's any sort of like doors, hatches, screws, cracks, seams, anything? - What's a door? - I'm scared of it, it sounds hot. - I don't like this. - Yeah, but yeah, just for my own memory here, time to think that's like, it lasts for like six seconds, right? - It's, it's specifically-- - You take one additional action. It uses a bonus action that gives me another action time. - So yeah, at most, it's six seconds. So you can make an investigation check, but it's not enough time to investigate the entire thing. - Okay. - 'Cause it's depending on how good my check is. - It's huge, right? - Yeah, we'll give you a check. - I'll tell him, yeah, just make a check and we'll go from there. We're kind of playing this by you. That's how we do it. - Hey, yeah, that was a four. Oh, I do have inspiration, Dice. Why not? Use it or lose it. That one's a 19. Lucky you. How inspired? - Yeah. - Inspired. - I was inspired by Barbara remembering we have those in this game. (laughing) - You go over and take a look. And yeah, you do find a crack in the tungsten. Near where the vent was where you were peeking before. It appears that there's a fissure that might go all the way through the statue. - It's got weak spots. - That glue's up in the crack that we heard. - Oh. - Oh. - Smart boy clever boy. - I guess they might have one. - Special toll of inspiration. (laughing) - It's worthless, but you can actually steal your inspiration, Dice. - I would say then that it probably best, if there's a crack in it, we're gonna have to break open that crack. - Mm-hmm. - So then whoever's gotta do that's gotta be strong. Maybe has like a big ol' hammer. - Mm-hmm. - Maybe has like robot strength. - Mm-hmm. - You're like catching grumbles, you're in. (laughing) - Love it, perfect. - I mean, even that little war pick might be helpful. - Well, I mean, toll also had the idea for the diversion. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's all right, thank you. I'll connect the dots. We should, tolls should not do the diversion if we need tolls to then try to get into the statue. - Yes, so perhaps maybe the you, since you are so good at machinery, do the crane. And then, and then from, and. - I'm not very, why are you looking at me? I'm not very good at machinery. - Oh, look at Barbara. - That's easy. - Yeah, that's it. - Yeah, that's it. - Look at Barbara, sorry. - I was trying to understand you, Natty. - You look like a good girl who's looking at you, but you was actually looking at a, at a, at a duck. - Natty's just like, well, you know what? I appreciate the confidence. I'm not normally in today's a moment. - There's a moment, Doug is going, what the heck? (laughing) - My whole entire life. - She turns around and she goes, "Hey, Doug, can I borrow your tools for a little bit?" - Wait, going off of that idea, so if Doug goes, operates the machinery, Natty, does your ring fit other people that are not just you into it? Because you could create a disguise that, no, you shake your head, don't be. - No, I didn't, I should just go forward with trying to get this portion out. - Okay, I'm gonna go with Doug and help with the diversion since I'm good at those. And we got the too strong glass to try to get this thing open and get that fire eater out, okay? - Okay, maybe what we'll do is the diversion will be my cue to take a big ol' quack, right to this crack. - Yes, that way that noise is kind of covered up, you know? - I'm gonna leave Gigi and Grumbles with you too, 'cause you guys need all the manpower you can get. - Why would you do that to us? - I don't want you. - I don't want you to walk away with Doug. - Oh my God, oh my God, he left him with us. She left him with us. - But he was physically acting as told there and had started shaking. I'm looking around very nervously. It was inspired. That was a really good taking inspiration that I played. That was a really good role play. I like it. That means that I'm about to have a bad role, and I need that. OK. The dice gots now. So we have team distraction and team action. Yeah, cool. Nice. Let's head-- we'll start with team distraction because that needs to happen first. Team action, that's really good, Michael. Michael, you get an inspiration die. OK. So, Natty and Doug, you walk up to the crane and the mechanism and everything. What's your approach here? Well, I don't know. I guess we could just start moving it and, you know, make it noise with it, moving stuff around, make people look at it. What could does Doug's mechanical engineer expertise give him any sort of insight into how this working, so that Doug could make it do whatever he wants? Yeah, Doug, why don't you make me an investigation check with advantage? OK. That's a seven. That's your best one with advantage. But, you know, I'm having a flash of genius, so I'm going to add plus four to that. Oh, nice. Nice, that's an 11? Yeah, that's good enough. I was looking for a 10, so you got it. You very quickly are able to figure out how this works. One of these stone wheels, by say the horizontal wheel, seems to move the crane along the x-axis, left and right, and the vertical wheel seems to move it along the x-axis. I'm sorry, the z-axis, closer to you and further away from you. And then you feel like if you push that large button, it'll drop the crane down and make it grab things. Since z-axis up and down, that's why. It depends how you're looking at it. So if you're looking top down, it's x and y, and then z coming up and down. So whether you'll get from your perspective or from an overhead perspective, we've argued-- I'm picturing this like a crane game, where you move things. It's exactly what it's like. OK, so Doug, I was with my lovely eyes. I was able to see that in those like wood things up there, those little platforms, there's a lot of stuff you can make a mess with. Oh, excellent. It's like important. Like some is treasure, and some is supplies, and they need both. It seemed like, based on when you were looking, like the platform on the left was primarily treasure and loot, and the platform on the right was more like items of some kind, like various items. OK. I mean, should I just try to swing it around to knock all this stuff over? Yeah. I think I might just do that, just try to make a mess of it. Maximum effort, just so that, you know, I'm prepping with both hands of my gavel of gallstrom. Like, I'm waiting for the cue. Just so I'm not just like, oh, told you're surprised by this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I'm watching that thing. This is the plan. Yeah, you're doing it. You go up there and begin rolling the woods. Is there a platform you want to try to knock over? Probably the items. Actually, do the items look like it's like weapons and metal and stuff like that that would make a clang kind of thing if it was knocked? Yeah. So that's the platform on the right, the one with the various items. You see lanterns, hatchets, bracers, belts, harpoons, drums, mugs. I mean, it's just all kinds of various things. And go, yeah, I want to go for that section. Mugs, jugs, pugs, rugs. Mugs. Oh, those are nice and soft. Yeah, those won't make a sound when you drop them. Yeah, those are the first. All right, you begin manipulating the giant wheels to move the crane around. What does your roll be a D20 to see how accurate this is? Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, 15. Can I offer the assist action? Sure. Why not roll me a D20 as well? It's a one. How much did I help? Negative two. Okay. Doug just like pushes Natalie away. Yeah, he's trying to focus. It's like when two people try to play the crane game, like one's in one direction, the other one's in the other, it's like, this seems like this should work, but it's actually harder. I really want this curvy plush. Hold on, give me a second. Well, we'll call that a 13 in the end. What? Well, because after Natalie's assistance, I critical failed. I'm sorry. I critical failed. After that, he's helped. However, this is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. You're not looking for super accuracy. You're not trying to grab a particular thing. You're just trying to kind of mash it around and knock boxes off. And you're successful in that. If you were trying to get a particular box, that probably wouldn't work. But since you're just trying to knock crates off from that platform, yeah, you're able to do that. At 12, you see this. You see these, we'll say, two crates begin falling off of the platform and racing towards the ground. Can I also have my spin's tools? So I get one of the-- The wedge. Yeah, so that-- and kind of have it wedge it in there. So there's a focal point for him to hit with the warhammer. Sure. Yeah. I like that. I was just looking for it in my inventory for something similar to that. And then I was like, well, what's in the party inventory? And it has four farts. It's in the party inventory. I used one of those already. So maybe you took my-- All right, I'll work one down then. And I'll do both hands, hold that new wafting war pick, and be ready to whack afterwards. Are you holding the thing or the warhammer? Yeah, I thought you were holding the wedge. Oh, I stuck the-- I stuck the leg in. Oh, I see. I didn't want to get my arm smashed, so I stretched it in. You don't have faith in toll. Should be accurate in this. Yeah, what the heck, man? OK, so you stick your wedge piece in there and you ready yourself to act along with toll. And yeah, you see those boxes coming down and you strike right after the same moment that those boxes or those crates hit the ground. Make me, let's say, an attack roll with advantage toll. OK. 15? I could use my inspiration die. You might, 15 might be good enough, but I could also have a flash of genius for you. What is that? Although you're not within 30 feet of me, are you? No, I'll say he's a little further than me. I have-- OK, never mind. I have inspiration, so I could use that. Use it. It's important. 15 might be enough. OK, all right, I'm going to do that. Oh my god. 14. So 15 is my highest. 15. All right, and Gunther, you want to also make a roll there? Sure. 15. All right. Oh, do I have advantage? I don't have advantage. Yeah, you also have advantage. Yeah. You both were kind of anticipating that this and preparing yourself. Yeah, 15. 15. OK. I'll say it's like a one-two strike. You ever see blacksmithing when there's multiple people on either side of an anvil and they're both like hitting and they're timing it. That's exactly what's going on here. And Geeky's going to be the third hit, so. He's just his head, though. He just goes, "Good hit." So then one right after the other, almost perfectly synced up with the sound of two crates hitting the ground in the distance. With a mighty band-bang hit the way it's that's been driven into the crack in the tungsten. And with that, you see the fissure open up and thrown along the length of the statue. Just leaving it in two and it falls apart in two giant pieces. Freeze would appear to be a dragon. Emerging from the ruins of the statue, you see a dragon with cracked black scales. The cracks between the scales glow a dull red. And as you're looking at it, the bright orange flames become brighter and brighter till they burst out into actual like roaring flames, shooting out from these cracks on the dragon. With it, let's have a loud roar, looks around and begins breathing fire, milk to all of the people around it. You see the walls falling down and people running around. Owing guardians running around screaming. Some on fire, some not. And the entire place just seems to be erupting to chaos. Oh my god, I didn't mean to knock it over. We'll see if they believe your excuses on the next episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon. Did we mess up? I feel like we messed up. No, that's probably the fire here. But I was like, we should preserve this beautiful ice castle in the dragon just goes on over it. Find out if mistakes were made on the next episode. Spoiler, mistakes are always made at every episode. The brand new tavern tale, C Squad Season 2 is finally out for our patrons, Fall of Bar, Blaine, Chris and Gus as your favorite new soul teen struggle through the ongoing chaos of puberty, powers, and pop quizzes all well guided by their awesome DM. Myself, John Reissinger, Time to hit the books. Cut up on Season 1 and jump into Season 2 by cruising over to our Patreon. Attention all interns, another infinite has just hit plushy form and will be available for pre-order very soon. Mud Bramblecrack, The Fearless Fearball Bud and his adorable companion Gumbo will be available to pre-order as collectible plush dolls at StinkyDragonPod.com/mud. Starting April 17th, that's Friday y'all. This druid in his badge are only available for a limited time and they will disappear back to the swamps of the Babai you on May 1st. So get your favorite green-haired prints while supplies last. New episodes of Tales from StinkyDragon premiere every other Wednesday wherever you stream podcasts and on the StinkyDragon YouTube channel. But want to listen to the show 48 hours early and add free? You can support us by becoming a patron at StinkyDragonPod.com or join us a member on Beacon.tv. Both give you early, add free access and remembers only. Discord for their respective platforms, looking for even more sticky content and community perks, while our Patreon offers exclusive bonus shows behind the scenes content, access to the really cool Stinky Dragon Discord, members only live stream, sticky community events, and a shout out on the show. Just like Turses, Shalyn Fancher, Nomi C, and Nick Atkins. These patrons, they directly support the show, they get ad free episodes, access to our Patreon-only Discord server bonus content, like Second Wind, and behind the screen, and other Stinky perks. Here's a quick peek from the latest episode of C Squad Season 2. Is there something that you would do to convince them that there's a reason you need to leave earlier than usual? "Mom, Dad, I'm going to be so very honest with you. You know how much I struggle making friends. I have heard that there is meetup I very much want to go, please let me go, mom, dad, please. I have such hard time making friends, they all say I smell so bad. Please, pretty please." "Okay, and since your parents are actually like doding and loving and involved parents, I'm going to give you another stealth check, but this is without advantage, you have to roll with disadvantage." "Oh good, because that's a four. Oh wait, no, hold on. That's a zero." "Hey guys, Alex, he's not going to be joining us for this campaign. He's stuck at home." "Okay, I'm prepared for this. Then, Misty, since you have succeeded, I'm going to give you a chance to assist Alexie. How would you help Alexie get out of the house?" "She does not come to portpart the town." "Do you have anything that you could lend to help him?" "Uh, yes. I will ring the doorbell." "Oh, oh, bold. Okay. Hello, little girl. Why are you here so late at night?" "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. to check. That's close enough." "My name's Madeline and you might know my parents, they are big donors of the school. And your son, Alexie, he's like become a really good friend of mine and there's this really important birthday party that our friend of ours is having. But because of their schedule and their job and their parents job, the only time they could have it is overnight. And so, it'd be really great if you could let your son join us. It would mean so much to me and also so much to my parents." "Yeah, I like that. That's good enough. Give me a stealth check, Bimmy. Not from me. "Oh, no, give me um, since you're talking to his parents, do a persuasion. How about that? How about that?" "So that would be a 17 because I got a +5 persuasion." "Oh, we are so excited that Alexie has friend and he's not cow. So, yes, be sure to bring him back in one piece. Ha ha, he's strong. That's not going to be a problem." "Okay, bye bye. Love it, Dad." "Alright, come on, best friend." "Give us, give us kids. Give us kids. Right on lips. Say good and give kids to Bessie Cow for me. Do you want to take Bessie Cow with you?" "Can she come along can Bessie Cow come with us?" "Yes, Bessie never gets out." Once again, that's at SteakadragonPod.com. We are incredibly grateful for your support, which makes this show possible. Some of our friends voiced NPCs in this episode, and listeners who interact with us on the Steakadragon Discord had NPCs named after them, like the Dredge Guard and Oondarian Guard voiced by Ben Ernst at Halcyon Ben, an infernist voiced by Laura Rothemolle at Laurel Rothemolle. And the frostbiter named after Robert Toast voiced by Miles Luna at the Miles Luna on Instagram and MilesLuna.bsky.social on Blue Sky or check out his YouTube channel, youtube.com/@backwardscompatible. This week's arrow question was submitted by Riele Frenchi. This episode tells the Steakadragon was produced by Ben Ernst and Michael Reisinger, written and composed by Michael Reisinger and edited by Alena Lakorchi. Tune in next time for another thrilling episode of Tales from the Steakadragon. Frostbiter! You only can't be better! Hey, that's good. That's better! That's good. I always wanted that as a kid. Yeah. That's commercial for probably the dumbest toy. I don't think I knew anyone who had that. I had a friend who had one and it was not as fun as it seemed as the commercials. Living in Canada had plenty of frostbiteers.