Romancing the Dungeon is a softcore D&D podcast about
heroes navigating their daily lives while looking for love in
a world full of peril, monsters, and heartbreakers.
This show is intended for mature audiences as it contains adult
themes. Wait, I thought this shit was
PG13? Content warnings for specific
episodes can be found in the episode description.
I paid some girl I met on the street to do the recap, so I
don't know. Here you go.
It was Kappa he. What did he tell?
You. It's some kind of prophecy, but
I don't know that there's something about the Grove in it.
I think the shards are mentioned.
AJ Focus, we need to get safe. You know this area.
How do we do those things? There's a cache kind of nearish
on the way that they don't go to because it's not official.
You notice something a little higher up the tree.
There is a ornate Arrowhead. Just fixed there.
You want me to read this thing? Yeah, if you got this note, I am
long gone with Una. I have come to realize a truth.
You were an infatuation. I am so sorry.
I feel the truth is most important now.
Look after her. Festa and Nate.
Goodbye. Yeah.
There is a crumbling of a small coal and their charge and half
buried a second Arrowhead. Are you lonely, miserable, or
just plain horny? Well, you've taken the first
steps to solving your problems. At least you're dating ones.
Welcome to D8 devoted desired dream, your dirty dapper dates
for dejected daters. My name is Roz Grapers, founder,
CEO and love Wizard, and on behalf of D8 Services I would
like to apologize in the delay in replying to the many many,
many letters seeking the information for Thea Burbage.
What is it about a king killing psychopath that you all get so
horny for? You should all be ashamed of
yourselves. Now.
It goes without saying that Thea's profile is now behind a
hefty paywall, so do with that what you will.
Speaking of shame, Nate, what's the most shameful thing you've
ever done? It's quite a difficult question
because I don't really make a habit of feeling shame.
So I really would have to say the only time I've ever really
felt shame is when I felt ashamed.
And then I realized actually I'm having loads of fun and then I
regretted feeling that shame. So I'm kind of ashamed of
feeling ashamed that one time. But as deep as a puddle.
Feels like everything that's been happening in my life
recently wants me to feel ashamed and wants me to question
who I am and what I do. And Ross, I'm kind of sick of
it. I've just been hanging out with
this guy name and I think it's time to enjoy life.
Get back to OGAJ. Yeah, that's one of the first
symptoms of the brain rot. Look, there's no shame.
Thea 2 is a wonderful replacement for the first fear.
OK, Speaking of Thea 2. I think the last time that I was
leaving this group I did so in quite a shameful way because I
felt really bad not saying goodbye.
So this time I'm going to tell them that I'm leaving.
Well, you have no shame at all. You've fled in.
You've fled out. It's still more interesting than
the first few. I call it like I see it.
Was that a compliment? No, that was an insult to the
other few. But if you want to take that as
a. Compliment.
I mean, once when I was very young, Very young, mind you, I,
I, I lit my brother Shango's girlfriend's overnight bag on
fire and while she was showering.
And so she came out and she had nothing to wear and she was
really upset and she blamed him and they broke up.
It was pretty funny at the time. But now I'm, I'm growing and I'm
learning and I'm a better person.
And now I feel, don't know, mildly upset about it.
God I miss segment Rick. Me too.
Cold, well, slightly less cold. And with the hot rock being
fumbled around in your hands, stored in someone's pants,
resting against your shoulders, each of you is kind of trying to
bring your best to stave off the wind that is just hurtling down
between these two rock faces. It's like the wind has kind of
just carved through the mountain, and occasionally flits
of grit and snow and ice just kind of catch against your face
as you shield yourselves from it.
It is a blisteringly cold wind that kind of cuts into you, and
you can hear it whistling through a chasm over a rock face
as the afternoon sun kind of slips into the evening.
You feel kind of like suck up, did it?
Did it just get colder? You passed the bastard nagging
like an hour ago, like three hours ago.
And AJ has been insistent that you keep quiet.
You keep low. You're you're crossing the trail
here for the the Dragon's Breath distillery.
And as the four of you manoeuvre through this space, I need
everybody to give me stealth roles again.
AJ with Advantage 7. Seven.
I got 23. 8 again. Unnatural 20.
OK, 2 successes, 2 fails again. It is that thing, Nate and AJ,
as ye press into the wind behind you a little bit, you clearly
see Havester muttering like it's not not even you can't you don't
even hear her, but it's just like just not fucking happy.
You don't see Clota AJ. It is.
I think it's when you look back and you don't see her, you
realize those storm clouds from earlier that morning have now
drifted over the Watchers Peak and there is a flurry of snow
that just collides with you. You are at the early onset of
the Blizzard. He's trying to blow us off the
mountain. I've.
Tried to blow everybody, I don't know.
Can I make a perception check for Kloda through the Blizz 11?
You can see something in the distance, you can see somebody
kind of hunker down and moving, but they're not following you.
They're kind of. They seem to be crossing the
path. I'll telepathically try to
connect with whatever that thing is.
A rot rot. But you give away our position.
And be like, try blend in with the wind just to wow, wow, wow,
wow, wow, wow, wow. Wow.
Deception check. I don't know what the fuck that
was. I feel like that should be a
disadvantage. I'm sure it's.
Like 14 years after dark. It's like fucking Donald Duck.
Disadvantage It's it's a 12 wow, wow, wow, wow wow wow wow I'm
the wind. Do you say I'm?
No, don't say that because that'll really so I'm.
Just giving him a straight role and that's a 19.
And the wind. Like so you're not just about
which one I'm going to give you. This is one of those above the
table moment. No compared to the same no no
above the table. Join me.
So occasionally when I'm editing, and especially when I'm
looking for wind effects and I'm looking on some really wonderful
resource that you often get like wind blast.
And then in the description it's like, I made this with my mouth
and you're like, that's clearly. I do go into a microphone and
it's just not doing anything for me.
This. I made that one, but no one
likes a wet wind. What you do in your own free
time? Yeah, calm down, there is just a
excuse Him what? It's just we don't wind.
I realize it's not cloud immediately and that we've got
visage and company on our hands. Is it?
Is that you? I look to the rest of the party
and says so we've lost Cloto, but I found a Visagian and
they're they think I'm Esic and I looked at night and go, do you
think you could like talk me through convincing this person
that I'm Esic his? Name is Bizwick.
He doesn't know that He thinks it's Eswick.
No. You're on your own, bitch.
See. You OK?
In that case, let's just like hide.
Where's Cloda? Not towards Esik Oh.
I I Nate's going to cast locate object on.
I mean, she's a person. On one of Cloda's earrings.
If you let me finish my God damn sentence this.
Is why I'm single. Because I can.
Match Nate. Oh my God.
Yeah, the virus on the floor. OK, crowdfunding goal a
therapist do. You want a number for right
there. Well, do you know what?
Unfortunately, I'm the only one that's looking for a user.
I mean, I'm looking with my eyes but she's not fucking here so.
Which does not translate on a podcast medium I scooped.
My. Eyes.
Yeah, I do that. OK.
Oh, you're being serious. Iraq.
Yeah, so. Why would he be joking?
I don't know, it's Coda. Were you going to sell the
earring just out of curiosity? I'm looking it's attached to
you. How would you know what it looks
like? Because I've seen you.
I've looked at you. Yeah, Fair.
Anytime. Remember like literally 30
minutes ago where I was like, oh, she looks so sad.
I'm looking directly at her. And then I do nothing.
I'd sell those earrings if she was dead.
So like, AJ, you're like, we have to get off the path.
Yeah. So you are kind of like pushing
everybody kind of towards kind of a rocky outcropping to, like,
duck down behind here. And in that moment, Nate, you
are like, oh, God, her earrings. Hang on a second.
You how? What's the range on it?
1000 feet. Oh, all right, OK, Ping, you
reach out and you look ages like.
Can you help me convince this guy that I'm his friend?
And you're like, what the fuck are you talking about?
Uh, because again, this is telepathy and he hasn't a clue
what you were on about in that moment.
You kind of, it's Cloda earrings, you remember, they're
kind of small little, kind of dainty little rings that she
kind of has in her ears. You picture those and then, you
know, she's, she's 100 feet back behind you.
So this shadowy figure that AJ spotted that he was talking to
in his head is between you and Cloda.
OK, Cloda, give me a perception check at disadvantage.
Uh oh. Yeah. 19 or 12?
Well, we'll go with the 19. I guess your head has been
buried in the the book there. They've got their supplies.
They've got nobody seems to actually care about what you
have. You've been staring at kind of
fall and occasionally kind of looking up.
And it's one of those things where you're like, oh, OK, I
haven't probably looked up in a while.
You look and there is just there's just snow everywhere.
There is just snow and this freezing fog.
And up in front of you, you do see somebody kind of stopped in
the middle. They're low sized, like they're
let's see the hang on. OK, AJ, tall Nate, Paul, Festa
short us. But they kind of they whip
around and you do see kind of a cloak and there is a flash of
like a gold trim. It's not a festa.
There's somebody else on the path and you like they are
turning back towards you. Is there like a tree that she
can like? No, because like I said this,
the the wind cuts through Bootlegger's trail and anything
in its path has just been shorn. So there is rocks that you can
probably kind of duck down behind and stuff, but there
isn't like a tree that you can kind of sidestep and turn left
with hydro frame. To enter the wind.
Just we wind. Just we.
Just. We.
Fuck man, I have no idea what to do.
I have an idea what I want to do.
Too bad it's not your turn you. I think she will just be like,
sorry a deer in headlights, not the stereotype of myself.
There is a moment where the the figure turns and like you, you
can't see like other than the cloak and that kind of that
flash of a gold trim. You are just staring at them.
They don't move at all. You get the sense that you can
feel their eyes on you. Yeah, there's about about 40
feet between you and them, and you just hear peace week.
Peace Week, is that you? No.
Who are you? Who are you?
And they move towards you. I'm.
Afraid, she reaches for the copper rabbit and then it's
like, fuck. You see they they reach for
something at their side as well. She's going to panic and just
scream for a Nate. Give me a perception check,
everybody again, AJ Advantage. Oh nice. 10. 16. 3020.
Nice. It's the thing that the wind is
screaming in your ears. But all of you kind of do look
up Nate. You don't know what direction it
kind of came from, but you do see Hephester and AJ turn back
on the path as all of you here Koda scream out Nate's name.
But I do know where she is because I'm from locate object.
Oh, yes, Sir. Yeah, you.
Do yeah, using the wind to my advantage and knowing that it
will mask any sounds that I make, I will cast invisibility
on myself and I will rush towards that figure and attempt
a non lethal takedown to knock him out.
Nice. OK, give me and OK, so you're
going to be like, give me an attack roll.
You want to just try and knock him out.
Yeah, so you can have a surprise that gives you advantage.
And I'm going to set the DC if it's a straight knockout, like
just bump if to be the 16 to just straight up like buff and
crack him over the head if you hit.
If you hit 16 or higher, he's out, Yeah. 22 Nice.
Yeah, AJ as you kind of reaching for your reaching for the Mace
kind of on your side, and Festa as you kind of begin to swell on
magic, both of you just see Nate vanish.
You clearly see his footsteps in the snow as he barrels towards
where you see the shadowy figure.
And in that moment, Clod as, as he approaches, you do kind of
see a, he's kind of a tall dwarven man, very, very dusty
kind of olive skin. Uh, you can just see kind of his
patches of his beard are kind of coming out through like a mask
that he's wearing over his face. And he's wearing a low brimmed
kind of hat to kind of keep again, the wind and the snow
kind of out of his eyes. He's drawn a short sword and
he's kind of pointing it at you. And next minute you just see his
whole body drop to the ground to one side.
He's unconscious. She's just like, looks around to
see if there's anyone else. I come visible again and I make
the predator sound, but like the alien not you know.
Hi, I'm late. Exactly.
She just grabs him in a hug. I'm sorry, I wasn't paying
attention. It's OK.
Are you OK? Yeah, but is he OK?
I wouldn't worry about him. I suppose I'll shout back for
Bethesda and AJ. That's your name.
Yeah. Homebrew, Ben.
I presume we probably would have jogged such ran in the
direction. It's totally behind, yeah.
Yeah, you turn back and you see they're already kind of running
at you. He called me Bis.
Biswick. There's someone else here.
Eswick, Biswick. No Biswick.
Oh, there might be two other people here.
Worst scout? I'm the King's favorite.
God, nepotism is real. You were the King's favorite.
Now the King's dead. And your girlfriend killed him.
Not my girlfriend anymore, we're not really together.
OK. So we should probably move
faster, Yeah, and quieter and get off the road.
I don't know if we should leave this guy here.
How hard you hit him. When's he gonna wake up?
I mean, it's pretty nasty out. I don't know if it's really.
I think maybe we take him with us.
Should we like, wake him up now? No, don't wake him up.
I'm saying loot him completely tie him up, leave.
Him naked as the day. He was born and carry him with
us, or at least put him somewhere where he's out of the
elements. We don't need to look.
Take his weapons just in case he wakes up.
Yeah, I don't. I don't want to strip him.
That's not what that's happened like a minute ago.
I know we're known fugitives, but we don't have to act like
fugitives. We can still treat this.
Person. And also we don't have time to
wait for him to wake up. Oh, I was just going to like,
like get some snow and like, like water feed him.
So. Water boarding this man.
No, no, just like put a little ice by his face.
I mean, the other side of it as well is that if he wakes up and
gets back to this quick or as quick or nest quick or, I don't
know, like he, he could, you know, let people know we're
here. So I think it might be safe to
bring him with us to cover our tracks in that way and then
maybe we can get some information from him.
I. Mean like I I guess, but if I
feel like he'll be a bit more forgiving and more willing to
give us information if we don't kidnap him.
But if we wake up in a nice distillery with a nice hot drink
and look after him that way, that's just as hospitable and
he'll be and we'll loosen his lips with a a nice little trip
of alcohol. We found him on the road and
brought him to the nearest, safest place.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And someone had taken his
things. Yes, yes.
OK. In the meantime, we've been
found. AJ's honour meter goes down 1.
There's a sharp whistle that cuts through the air and you can
all hear it bouncing off the chasm wall.
Even cuts through the wind a little.
There's a lilt to it and then it dies down and all of you can
hear footsteps. Shit fast and bearing down
towards the shit. Is it coming from the direction
we need to go in or the direction we came from?
The direction he had come from. We need to move.
We could just run. Clearly his friend's coming,
right? We can leave him.
He's safe. OK.
Yeah, let's. But.
You're going to run. Yeah, as the four of you kind of
just kind of you're heading kind of up bootleggers trail with
kind of the wind kind of blasting against you.
And again that this flurry of snow, you are kind of against
the elements and with it's screaming through your ears.
You can't you can barely hear your own breath.
You can you hear your heart pounding in your heads, barely
hear the crunching of snow under a foot.
And you don't know if they're your footsteps or the person
next to you or the people that are pursuing you from from the
rear, but it's in that moment you lead the group again, you're
looking for the third and final marker.
It's a natural landmark that doesn't look kind of out of the
way. But if you've been following the
drunken oak and the bastard nagging, you're looking for the
foamy head rocks. And again, it is just a
formation or type of stone that it does.
It looks like the frothy head on a pint nestled in.
And even now it's kind of it's really hard to to spot it.
And you can you definitely feel there's somebody fast on your
heels when they do. It's just that thing of like,
you see it, it's a good note. That's no, no, that's, that's,
that's a Bank of ice. That's whatever.
And then it you do see them kind of glistening.
You see these kind of white, almost bubbly rocks just sort of
jacking out of the dark. And it's here that there is sort
of a narrow sort of passageway, either human by the wind or are
carved by hand. You don't know, and you'd never
bother to ask the stout stones. But you catch it, and you are
able to slip off the main path and through this narrow chasm,
everybody else kind of hot on your heels as you do so.
I'll do that classic point at the cavern, but let others.
I'll let others go through and be the last kind of over our
trail and maybe how close are they?
Yeah, figures behind give me a perception check.
Blue Boy 9 + 6 is 50. As you like It is that thing of
like kind of Nate that is just kind of slipping through as you
kind of stare down kind of the the path that you've come
through expecting other Visagi and Scouts spies.
These aren't Visagians, these figures aren't they're not
wearing the garb that this other fellow was.
There's four of them and they are just standing and watching.
So they can see me and I can see them.
Yeah, again, silhouettes of each other.
But and I get the feeling they can see me because they've
stopped. That is creepy.
Oh, just wave and step into the cavern.
A whistling sound that goes out and it's joined by three more as
you slip into the crack. Do I recognize it as like a tone
or a call or a like a sign of any?
This isn't the Whistler Gang. It's not.
You've never known Visagians to communicate, but I mean, you
would like over here. But this isn't, this has a, this
has a song to it. This has a It's like they're
whistling a melody or a tune. Try to remember as to uh, tell
the others when we have a moments to tell them.
Again, Clota Hephester Nate AJ Kind of like scrape it.
You are like you got a couple of times you actually graze your
knuckles or your face against the stone or wherever bare skin
meets and it is cold. Then it's downwards like you're
actually like, you're like you like you kind of feel your foot
slip a little bit like you're like you were, you weren't
expecting it. And now you find yourself kind
of clambering down this short little ravine.
Eventually the rock face kind of widens and that you are able to
no longer pressed against it, kind of pulling yourselves
through. You're able to kind of walk a
little tighter, kind of bunching yourselves up.
The wind still kind of catching here, but you seemed to have
kind of, you seem to be kind of in the mountain or have kind of
made your way into this kind of like carved out hollow.
And as it kind of begins to widen out, there is a headiness
on the atmosphere. There is a almost kind of
medicinal kind of smell, uh, kind of that wallops you as the
four of you kind of make your way into this kind of space.
Uh, AJ, you know that around the corner from here, the Dragon's
breath Stiller is going to be found.
There are little, you can see small barrels and casks kind of
neatly and discreetly kind of hidden in kind of the rocks or
kind of around the corner, all with kind of frost or a little
kind of snow or even kind of like rubble sitting on them.
There's a very, very worn path and you can kind of see people
kind of frozen over little puddles, stalactites hanging
from the ceiling, the pungent, pungent aroma, aroma of raw
alcohol Festa. You're practically licking your
lips. Home.
Is this God or have we found Nirvana?
And you you can kind of hear like a kind of a whistling kind
of sound, but this of steam whistling that at first AJ sets
you one on earth whistlery and you round that kind of that
little kind of corner here in the cavern.
And yeah, there is this. It's like a ramshackle cottage
with all manner of like pipe and little chimney stack and just
plumes of steam kind of just wafting up into the air.
Behind it. You can see this large barn or
barn like building. There are barrels and casks of
every shape and size from little kid sized ones right up to
something that a giant could really take a bath and stacked
and stocked all around this space.
All of you hear the laughter of like children for a split second
and then there's just followed by kind of a sound as three kids
come barreling around the side of the cottage, pelting each
other with like mud balls. They're literally just like
frozen lumps of like slush muck at each other.
Uh, one of them in particular is drowned.
Like he's just, but he's also, he's the furriest of them.
Two of them look like they're, they're definitely dwarven
children. They have kind of a like, you
don't know if it's the cold, but there's a rosy pinkness to the,
to their skin tone. They all have kind of just this,
it's just rust red hair, tangles and tangles of wiry rust red
hair like the two smaller of the three kind of stop in their
tracks. Uh, they seem to have been
chasing the furrier little fella.
He has that, that same fiery red.
He's covered in it and he has kind of longer ears.
He's a little taller than the other two and he's covered in
muck. They all have that kind of rosy
pink hue to their skin, but the small girl and boy who look more
dwarven have kind of a mottling to their skin where there is
kind of like a lighter kind of hue or patches of it anyway.
And the the tall, the taller of the three has a kind of a port
wine stain just kind of over kind of the right side of his
face, kind of over his nose. And you do see that he looks to
be firmble and they do stop and you just hear strangers and they
run. They run right into the cottage,
the door swings open and there's a slam.
So this is the Dragon's breath. I think we can take a breath
here for a little bit, maybe plan the next day to year, just
like I realize that we don't have a plan.
No, that's, that's what we were coming here, yeah, to make.
And we can figure out how to, like, avoid things like that,
like being chased and found and like, staying quiet on the road
and stuff, like not pointing fingers.
But I wasn't pointing fingers. I just do this sometimes when
I'm excited. But yeah, just kind of figure
each other out and how to find fear, how to protect, how to get
this? What is our plan?
I'm going to go over to the door and not you've.
About 3 set that as you as you are about to approach the door
of the cottage is just kicked open and there is a fucking
gorgeous dwarven man. I mean like, oh, his hair is
pulled back like in kind of like a full hawk, very, very skin
tight fade kind of up one thick braid just over his right ear
where he has. And his ear has just like 2
large black Obsidian piercings, this long fiery red beard,
chocolate hazelnut eyes. And you can kind of like again,
a little bit of like dark circles kind of.
But you don't know if it's because he's not sleeping or if
he's applying something to give himself that sort of.
He comes swinging out with a large warhammer and a flask in
one hand and behind him is standing this a good 2 foot
taller than him, furball woman with a crossbow that's on fire,
3 kids hanging off her hip and he just bellows out if about 3
seconds to make yourself fucking scarce.
You said you'd been here before. I have been here before.
I pull back my hood. Is that butching?
Immediately the Warhammer drops and he goes drop the face back
is oh, and he kind of he corks that and he passes it to the fur
brogue woman. Stand down, Holly, stand down,
friend, Friend not foe, friend not foe.
And the kids were also holding little flasks.
They're still holding on to them.
Did I get knocked on my ass when the door flew open?
Almost it was that thing of like there is like it was something
had you just been a step further, it would have taken
like it was nothing of who my nose and like he is, he's kind
of at crotch level. Like he's shouting into your
crotch. There's a man shouting at your
crotch name. Not the first time.
Yeah, he is just kind of looking past you.
The furball woman does look you up and down a little bit.
She's donning. Like you can clearly see where
the kids get. Like, I got the looks.
Actually. All of the parents are fucking
hot like. So how do we make this a
sandwich? Coffin, they bring kind of look
where he has that fire red beard.
She just has this tangle of like red hair.
And again, her fur is that sort of soft rose penny pink.
And you do see that like where the fur is a little lighter.
The mottling has kind of come through and she kind of kind of
like just kind of let's have it sneeze and like the crossbow
goes out and yeah, punching just kind of like sidesteps around
your card piece and like walks over and just Dirty 20 just
gives you a wallop into the gut. You.
Hey. Good to see you too, friend.
What are you doing? What's what's?
What's the occasion? Where get this I'm on the run.
Like a marathon or. No, but I do need to pick up.
You said you'd sponsor me for the last 1, so well, it's.
Just that we can't exactly put like Dragon's Breath distillery
on the. Right, of course, yeah.
Secret distillery. We just need a place to lay low
secrets and get some drinks and sort of plan our next step.
We're heading to Visage and I have questions for you about
whistlers and creepy shadows. Is any of this making sense?
Fuck all that. Do you want to meet me wife?
You got married. I did.
I assume you're in some sort of polyamorous quadruple.
It's. Poly Q.
Congratulations, codpiece back there is pretty impressive.
Oh, yeah, that's Nathaniel. I think that's how you say it.
I think it's Alvin. Nathaniel.
I've just called him Nate.
Nate. That's Nate or Ivan.
This is a festive. Fucking mind.
And cloud. Well, congratulations.
I mean, we're all free thinking here.
So it's not like that. We're just travel companions.
No, I'm sure. How do you think Holly and I
met? Yeah.
I woke up to Holly. I go.
Hi, my pleasure to meet you. She does like she kind of, she
throws like just a mountain of curls over her shoulder and like
one of the kids falls off and she kind of just a pleasure.
Oh, an accent we I'm pull. Where's where's that from?
Oh visas, oh visas. And no, I've, I've, I've always
wanted a tour there. And Holly kind of like just kind
of comes bounding out to the kids to hanging off of her.
The other one trying to catching kind of like grabs onto her
tail. Holly, this is AJ.
He thinks he's the fugitive. This is AJ's partner, Hafesta.
This is his other partner, Clauda, and this is, you've
obviously seen copies. These are friends so they should
be able to keep us hidden and keep us safe and and have food
and drink and bed and board. Oh yeah, oodles bet here.
I don't exactly have 3 mouths to be feeding her out like that.
I mean, you do run this as a business though, right?
Not very successfully. We we can compensate.
I like the first one. Can we come in?
It's very cold here. My gaff's your gaffe as long as
she's paying. Yeah, yeah.
Where? No problem.
Where's your dad? You.
Can't just ask people that AJ some.
Of us don't know. Some of us don't have one.
Yeah, AJ doesn't know. Uh, like, as, as you are kind of
like all kind of being filtered in and, and Holly is like, umm,
so this is nook and she points to kind of the little dwarven
boy, umm, that's Brana and, uh, and that, and she kind of
gestures to the little Furbrook fellow hanging off Mike and, uh,
they all kind of like wave Mike just from him.
He doesn't say anything. He doesn't make that sound as
you were all kind of shuffled in and patching kind of hits you on
the back so well. AJ is not, it's not great.
Now Rendeer he he's passed over to Visage a couple of months
ago. Right.
So left the place to yourself then.
He has, we've well, we couldn't, doesn't matter, just fine.
And and the door kind of closes behind you and immediately Holly
kind of goes to start putting things into the children's arms
to bring it to you. And like, again, they're a
little bit like, oh, God, strangers.
Oh, God, weirdos. What's wrong with that one?
And yeah, they are. They're like, they're like
bringing in like little cups. It's a little cottage.
And you can kind of see that the kind of the kitchen and dining
area, the living area is all one space.
So while Holly's off in kind of the little kitchenette, like
stacking things up, uh, the kids are ringing in mugs of ale and
like, uh, little glasses or little tumblers filled with
vaporous liquids that are very strong.
They're occasionally tipping their fingers in and kind of,
and like little trays of food and patching's kind of catching
you up South and Randier had a falling out over the ancient
secret family recipe that isn't, it's basically how you make
patching. There ain't nothing secret about
it, and Patching had deciphered it, and you're supposed to wait
until the other fellas dead before you get it.
And he's very upset, so he's often visage stewing.
We gave up brewing all together, just chewing instead just going
to the soup business. Yeah, all matter of like food
and everything else is kind of brought for you.
And you are shown kind of like into the barn where there's no
room in the cottage. There's barely room for the five
of them, but you are kind of shown where you can kind of.
Some cots are set up. And even though the Dragon's
Breath distillery isn't as bootlegging isn't as popular
these days, it's still in full swing.
And there's all manner of ale and booze and alcohol and
imbibement being brewed and fermented.
And yeah, you are like he like that.
He catches you up on a reindeer is and he tells you how he met
Holly and then had the three kids and well, you know,
business is slow, but it's still going.
And how much of what's happened in Gilshire and the King of Ye
are you going to share? I'm probably tell them
everything. It's just just he's nodding
along, right? OK, so you just pissed it all
away. I think there was a lot of stuff
outside of our control. I feel like there's a lot of
machinations in the shadows. Is that what you call it?
People pulling strings? It's actually what we're going
to. We're going to maybe like chat
and figure out how to know that we know what they know, like how
to get the one up on them and show them you're not going to
get one past us. Watch that villains.
Right there then. Scream.
He's just kind of nodding along, like all the what?
Like I said, well, you know, you can pitch a few days here, I
guess. Are you heading into massage?
Yeah, it actually probably explains why you're not getting
a lot of traffic. The the whole city of Galeshire
is like under siege. So I don't know if there's a lot
of people let out. Just if it affects your
production over the next coming months, we'll stockpile.
Do you want to join us for the planning or?
Kind of not really, to be honest.
That's more of a you thing and plausible deniability.
That's Holly says, and she's. Yeah, we I.
Think we should also mention there's seems to be people
patrolling the mountain. I don't know if you've.
Oh, those are just AJ's friends. They won't find it.
OK. Sorry, I'm saying that they
weren't my friends. One of them was.
And. Then there was 4.
I didn't get a good look at them, but they were whistling
like a kind of like. So, hikers.
No, they they were ominous. They stood there.
They were armed. They were armed to either side.
I waved, they didn't wave back, so they're not friendly.
Yeah, and they're not using their arms.
No, but you obviously didn't lead them here.
I mean, I didn't invite them here.
No, just waved at them and then went here.
So you've acknowledged them, and then you came here.
It would be rude not to. They were looking at me, You
know, like when you're passing someone on a cart and you just
give them a little one finger salute.
It's what? You'd be doing he kind of just
looks at Holly and she's just kind of, and she gets up and she
grabs the crossbow and she pitches out to the front of the
cottage. Yeah, we're being haunted by
like 4 friends. Whistling beasts.
Anyone come across a whistling? Did any of the rest of us hear
the whistling we? Heard the whistling, but we
didn't see them. Yeah, only AJ saw them at the
end and didn't think to tell anybody until we got to our safe
place. So we should maybe plan fast,
yeah. And then leave quickly.
Sure. So that those people don't come
here and catch us and or hurt these people who are your
friends. Well, there's only four of them
and there's like 8 of us. There's children here.
Yeah, have you seen those kids? You know, fair.
Enough. What do?
You say about my kids, they're fighters, they're scrappers,
strong. They're strong, yeah, but
they're kids. Like, I mean, they probably take
the four of you. Yeah, but like if there's more
of them, we're going to do a watch.
Yeah. So the four of you looked like
you could do an arrest maybe. So why don't you go do that and
I'll let Holly know to get one of you.
OK, fair. Enough.
So plan I'm thinking we find Thea, see what Thea knows about
the tarot, and then there's one big group stop them I'm.
Gonna put my hand on the shoulder and go.
Sounds good. But let's let's, let's maybe get
some sleep and then we can really get into it.
Patching leaves the barn workshop distillery like how the
door closes behind him and it's just like whoa.
Some sleep first, plan in the morning.
Yeah, I don't think any of us are in a place to think, and I
think Pastor just kind of looks at Cloda worried.
So is the plan to just. Nap.
Sleep. Yeah.
Yeah, I think for, I was gonna say for a festa now for Cloda.
Tell me what to do. For Cloda, it's going to be a
case of like, she's reading and rereading and kind of homing
softly to herself trying to figure out what Kappa meant by
singing the prophecy. And eventually we'll just.
Tire herself out. That's it for kind of for
everybody. The night kind of passes with
you mulling over your own thoughts.
I only sleep 4 hours so this start of the night I'd be
listening into this melody to see if it's any melody like the
whispering whispering things. Nope.
And then this. When I do go to sleep, I'm going
to try for the first time in my life to dream.
I'm going to try get into that hag space that we were in.
My name is Jacqueline. It's where we're recording right
now. It's Declan's house.
Oh, I want that on a T-shirt or a little thing over my little.
Me outside. Yeah, Pag's house.
Morag was my first friend on Agspace.
She's everybody's first friend on Agspace.
My best. Friend that and my best friend
Tom on my space. Tom hates you.
Yeah, I'm trying to specifically to to find fear in the in the
dream, in the dream space world. Like go look him.
That's why I haven't been all that worried.
Because like, reality, whatevs. Yes, we're aware of that now.
Delusional. OK, inspiration for that.
I mean, it's that's that Irish inspiration, not necessarily
Cloda inspiration, but I'm going to.
Use it and something when I'm dying.
Take that back. I'm not allowed to be used for
that things everybody it is. I think if you are just
sleeping, you're like you are kind of hunker down on like
makeshift cots and beds. You can kind of hear the kind of
the steam whistle and the the odd kind of flap of a tin lid as
it kind of bubbles up over. You can hear Clodagh kind of
humming to herself. Shit.
Sleep comes to three of you at 1st and AJ it is, I think, like
you let your mind kind of wander.
You have no idea what the shit you're doing or how to do it.
You've you, you can Daydream and you've talked to Thea about
dreaming and stuff like that, but you close your eyes and you
just start thinking things and you're like, oh, what is a
dream? How do I dream?
Where do I dream? When do I dream?
Why do I dream? How do I dream?
Did I ask myself that question? It is just this repeated cycle
and like all these different kind of images and scenes and
the mountain and GAIL Shire, the catacombs, Temperance, Thea, the
king, the ball Thea, the mountains, Thea.
And again, it's constantly, if you keep thinking of Thea and
then it's really strange. You kind of feel yourself
falling. And it's more it's, it's, it's,
it's like a, it's like someone has cast feather fall on you
because you feel the world move around you and you are kind of
plunging through it very, very slowly, very, very gently.
And in front of you there is a wonderfully ornate antique
looking door. It's a double door with two
brass handles. AJ You reach for the two handles
and as you pull the doors open, you can hear you can hear a
piano playing. And it's it's the same tune that
Clodagh was humming it. And, and you don't, as you kind
of look around, it's, it's like a, a bar or a Tavern like you,
you see yourself kind of moving in.
And it's almost that thing of you feel your body move, but you
see yourself move. It's almost as if physical form
and, and spiritual or psychic or astral, you don't really know.
But there is kind of a slight disconnect between what the body
does and what the mind feels. And you get the sense that there
are others here. And as you look around and
again, that music becomes kind of just a warbling kind of
background energy. Sitting further down, uh, this
long hallway in a booth, you see Lady Marigold, Wolver the Third,
and she's talking to somebody when her eyes fix on you.
I walk up to her. As you approach and I think it's
like, again, the body moves and then a second later the mind
kind of seems to follow it or your spirit seems to follow it.
You can feel people kind of moving past you and you kind of
just hold the hand up. Very, sort of very brazen, sort
of like a kind of a wait. But I happened to communicate
it. And her eyes drift back to the
person in front of her. Do I see who that is?
You can see some of them, they're wearing, they're wearing
a suit, very sharp black suit. And she, you just hear her say
done. They reach for something on the
table. They turn and you see this long
slender fellow dressed in this fitted tailored black suit with
a long strim tie, and in their left hand you see the copper
rabbit. They tilt their head at you,
give you a wink, and they vanish as Marigold gestures to the seat
that they were sitting in. AJ shakes off some muscle memory
of like, standing at attention before being like, permitting
like it's just a split second through his mind.
He thinks to stand and then, but he takes a seat.
Seat. I'm dreaming.
Yes, and. Are you dreaming?
I don't have to. But it's what's happening
happening. Do you mean if I reach across
this table and stab you in the throat, will you die?
Well, now I do. You find yourself sitting in the
Dreamvale door, a space between Nightmare and Dream, A middle.
Ground. So this is where dreams and
nightmares come to chat and mingle and parley.
I don't speak Bizarjan. This is one of those spaces,
Ajalius, where as much as you would like to hide behind the
bravado and that facade of yours, I can see all of you.
And she just holds her hand out and she pulls it back and you
feel smaller in the chair. Well, like that's, I mean,
there's no need. We're parlaying.
You come here, no invitation, and you wish to speak to me on
the same level. AJ kind of looks around the room
and it's like, you're the only person I know here.
So I just came over to, I just came over to say hello.
Give me an insight check. 21. It's that thing, AJ, as you say,
you know I came over because you're the only person I know
here before where you felt everybody was kind of like
moving past around. The Dreamvale door has cleared
out. It is just you and Marigold
here. And now you're the only person
here to talk to, so I can go if you want me to.
I just thought I'd have it. The door and she points off.
OK, she's. Behind that door, Thea the girl
you threw everything away for. Do you know who I am?
Yes. Will you tell me?
What will I get? Forgive any of the answers.
I'll stop asking. You remind me so much of a
sister of mine. I never knew you had a sister,
older or younger. I had two sisters.
He strike me as the eldest. I don't have any brothers or
sisters, you know that. Yeah, I'm an orphan.
True, I wouldn't necessarily call them him a brother fail
safe. I know what I want right now.
Everything I have sacrificed and struggled for is slipping from
my fingers. You cost me so much, having you
in the right place at the right time, jangling you in front of
his nose, ensuring he saw you when he had to see you.
Shining Beacon so much of himself, he would often say he
saw in you and how I laughed at the idea.
You're doing that thing again where it's like, I should know
what you're talking about, but all I can say is that I've
obviously upset you. I know what it feels like to
kind of think you have everything and to be almost on
the cusp of everything you want. She is nothing in comparison to
everything I have sacrificed, centuries I have given.
Whoa, how long have you been here?
I too have a facade. And Marigold's form melts away
and in front of you you see this haggard, wrinkled skeletal
creature, eyes sunken into the back of her head, just these
glowing red beads staring from darkness and the void in at you.
Her hands on the table elongate scratch into the dark.
Look. Give me a wisdom saving through.
Good, it's only +2 but funny enough he has a keen mind or
something but I just treat it as him being an idiot 14.
Those stories some of the older kids and the occasional brother
or sister at the Temple of Brogue will tell you of the
monster under the bed, the shadow in the closet that
immediately comes to mind as you look at Marigold, as you take
her in. She has always been there, in
the corner of your eye, that feeling of being watched.
AJ is a little bit speechless because he's not sure what to
look for or to ask, and he's also scared.
Is there any of the shadow that surrounds via around this
person? No, it's not the same.
Is there any part of me that feels protected?
Your mind immediately goes back to the nightmare escape where
you were chasing down Dalia's memories and the encounter with
Morag and her words. I don't care if we're family.
Get out of my way. And you feel connected to
Marigold in this moment. As much as you are frightened,
there is a familiarity with what she is as as much who she is.
AJ just says one word without certainty, ma.
Blood of my blood. In practical terms, yes, you are
of me, but I am not your mother. Wait, does that mean I don't
have a mother or though there is someone else who is my I'm?
I'm not too sure how it works. I know roughly you don't have to
explain to me. I know you're not my mom, but
you don't have to explain that to me.
Your father, Dreyfus and I had you.
I Lyle. Courtesy Royal Advisor, I had to
have you in secret, waiting for a moment that you pissed into
the wind, all for a useless wisp of that little cur.
I will show you the door. You will ensure Rich stays away
from her and whatever. Cursed magic she holds over the
pair of you. You are useless.
He has potential. He will be my king.
Richard's going to be king. Take 10 psychic damage.
I guess not. Jeez.
I'm not going to take a flog. There you'll find her, what's
left of her. OK AJ gets up make sure he
doesn't left anything behind she.
Puts her hand on yours, if I cared at all.
If you continue to interfere, do not trust that my maternal
instincts will save you. I don't want to piss you off any
more than I already have. Ice saw what you did to Dreyfus
like that was my dad. I've just found out.
And you loved him? I think so, yeah.
I don't think I'm safe here. And you are obviously very
powerful here. I mean your home.
I'm just nervous that through ignorance I'll do it.
So I don't know what you do or do not want me to do.
And I promise you, if I do it, it's it's probably going to be
an accident. Ignorance couldn't save your
father, and it won't save you. Agreed, That's why I'm asking
you to tell me what it is you don't want me to do.
She vanishes. Oh shoot, that was her sister
ages connecting to hikes. There's a door in front of you.
Give me a wisdom sailing through.
Hooray, see how this goes. I was like in my head when
you're doing that. I was like ages ago.
I was like ages, the son of the king, I wrote on my phone.
I was like, I need to let people know that I got it.
I knew it. I was like, so invested. 19.
The door doesn't want you there. Stupid door.
You know it doesn't want you there, and as you reach for it,
it vanishes in a cloud of purple and black smoke and haze, and
it's on the other side of the room.
H is going to reach into his pocket, take out a piece of
parchment in a quilt and write something along the lines of
and. I don't know how much comes
through in dream world, but like, hey Fear, it's AJ, we're
looking for you. I got your notes.
He's going to fold it up and try to slide it under the door.
As you Crouch low and you reach under the door, there's a gap
and get your hand under. Somebody on the other side put
their hand on yours and you feel an immense pressure.
She is mine. And your eyes dart open and
we'll leave the episode there. You've been listening to
romancing the dungeon Amber, Sam, Ben, Eilish and me Declan,
your dungeon master. That's it.
Let's all we have time for this week.
A big thank you to Stephen Tynan and Abby Soiree for our cast
theme song Fight for Each Other podcast.
Titled Card artwork is by Daisy Designs.
And there's a lot of fun. I'm seeing as we kind of, for us
come towards the end of the campaign.
I, I realise as I'm recording this, we're probably like still
in the middle of something else, but I'm sitting here and I'm
like, I've got my, I've got my cork board and I've got my red
string and it's all tying together in my own imagination.
Anyway, if you want to talk about the show, if you want to
see more stuff from behind the scenes, if you want to check out
any of the other content that we are making here at D8 Dungeon,
you can check us out on all social media platforms, just
search D8 Dungeon. There's a link to our Discord.
Below where you. Can chat to some of the cast,
you can put your own theories out there, and you can also get
involved. Speaking of getting involved, if
you have two seconds, I know it's the end of the show and I
know if I got you here, great, you probably are going to do
this. But if you could leave a comment
wherever you are listening to this, it's on Spotify, maybe
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pass it along to a French there on your socials.
Help us kick the algorithm's ass and and find new people to
listen to the show. I'm going to shut up.
I'm. Going to leave it there and I'm
going to see you in two weeks time.
Until then, take care. Bye.
I. Had some like I'm curious.
I'm Claire Sinclair from Dragon I.
Was in character. OK, I was in character.
Nate doesn't listen. Nate's only concerned.