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. Oh, the best, but not the
softcore thirst. Oh, what's that point?
Content warnings for specific episodes can be found in the
episode description. We'll find our way in the game
that we're playing. We won't be pushed over.
So my bad, but I didn't listen to the last episode.
Could somebody catch me up? It'll give me a piece of your
heart. I will make you a new and show
you the truth. Who are you?
I am someone you would always. Know would you know of anyone
who could help me contact my friends?
Probably best fear that you maybe wait to visage before you
do that. See where those pillars are?
I might try to hit the posts wearing a blindfold.
OK, now that is artistry. The crowd are up on their feet.
So to finish it off, my echo is going to shoot an arrow at me
before it hits bonus action Raven Queen.
The arrow flies free. Out of the corner of your eye,
see a woman. She pulls back the veil.
I have. Thea You find yourself staring
up into a dark ceiling. You can feel sort of hard stone
against your back. You can hear the sound of water
lapping against stone. It smells salt on the air.
And as your eyes kind of adjust, you can, you can kind of be
you're, you seem to be in a cave.
You don't feel cold. You can feel sort of the wet on
the stone beneath you. You can, you can feel the air on
your skin. And you seem to be standing in
this incredibly large cavern. And there are all along the
walls, you just see these carvings, these murals, figures
surrounded by all manner of creature, human, animal,
mythical, all in various sort of different states.
And in fact, currently what you're looking at is a short
fellow. You're not sure if he's halfling
or dwarf. He seems to be sitting on like a
large pedestal. And in his right hand he's
holding like a like a very, very large goblet.
And there's kind of like, there's like a wine spilling out
of it. And he seems to be kind of
enjoying himself. And all around him, everybody
seems to be in that mural depicted as just absolutely in a
very festive mood, all with a drink in their hand.
What do you do? I kind of slowly start sitting
up first probably, and then I'd say I feel a twinge in my
shoulder from where I got hit. It's.
Something like as you kind of reach for it, there's no,
there's nothing, there's no pain.
There's there's no stage, there's, there's nobody around
you. This doesn't look like the town
of Nice. I start then, taking it, I think
more of my environment to see than if there's other members of
the fair like Cabaret around. Nobody, just me.
If there's nothing else around me to grab my attention, I start
looking at these murals on the wall a little closer and to see
if there's more of them. Give me an investigation check.
18. There are dozens.
Some, like the one above you are are a painted mural.
Others seem to be sort of carved into the rock face itself.
Some seem to hang like tapestry. There's one that catches your
eye and immediately you think of AJ and you see this small little
field mouse sitting on a stockpile of buttons and keys
books. And it's a thing like as you
kind of look, there's a moment where it kind of the keys tiny
in all of these things. And as you kind of shake your
head and kind of fix on him, he's gone.
Does the image of that? I suppose it depends on Fear's
knowledge of the gods. Because I.
Don't think she ever ran into anything to do with chaff,
which, you know, that's chaff. Based on AJ talking about chaff,
probably. So I guess making that
deduction, I'm kind of looking at the figures in these
different images and different types of images, and I'm
assuming that the center of them is a different main figure.
Yeah, all of the these different depictions, whether it's a stone
carving or the tapestry or a painting, your eye is always
drawn to a central figure. You see Chaff vanish, you kind
of turn, you kind of look, and you come face to face with
Hadonna, this stone carving of her set into the wall, and just
this rug of bodies lying at her feet, entangled and entwined as
she sips from a goblet, smiling. I think images of herb flash
through my brain saying this in a weird way.
I find it comforting seeing that image of something I've seen in
in life and I I just reach my hand out to just touch the stone
where the carving is. As you reach out, you just hear
a. Turn in the direction of that
noise. As you kind of turn quickly,
you'd expect again, stone, stone, stone.
There is just a void of darkness.
It looks like a cloud, this roiling cloud of shadow.
That makes me like this comes from quickly whip around again
to see. Is the stone still behind me or
is it? Am I now just in completely
enveloped? Your surroundings are there, but
there is like as you kind of look, it's even kind of or even
as you kind of go to turn to look over your shoulder, you can
still see the the bust of Adonna, but that shadow is still
very much there. Who's there?
Where am I? Where have you brought me?
I extended my offer one final time.
Fear, is it true? Give you a piece of yourself,
and I will give you a treasure. Deny me again, and all of whom I
am and you are will cease to exist.
OK, what are you to me? Give me a piece of yourself.
OK, I'll give you the memory of when I stubbed my toe off the
corner of my bed. The weight of your voice carries
a heavy price. She thinks back a little more to
a time when she was a kid and this memory flashes in her mind
of being really embarrassed because Quillo just made fun of
her in front of his friends and also really ashamed that she
upset her brother. As the memory comes to mind, and
like it's the thing, as you kind of drift into it, you see the
shadows move like they kind of, they seem to sort of almost like
a rolling fog just plume out towards you.
And then they're in your mind and the memory begins to fade
and you can still see Quillo and you can still see the children.
What's missing is the sense of shame.
What's missing is the attachment to that moment.
You can't really mark this on a character sheet, but shame is no
longer something Fiat can feel. Holy shit.
Speak your question. What are you to me?
You don't even have to say it. As you think it, the shadows
begin to twist in your mind, and you as much as you hear the
words, you can see. You can see the picture, you can
see the story. And in front of you, the
shadows, the smoke, the fog, all begin to form these figures that
seems extended out from you. And you recognize the first.
You would recognize her anywhere.
You see Una. Is it true?
And right after her, you think you can recall her face from a
picture in a Locket. Una's mother and so on and so
forth back beyond this line of Izodrim women, and at the very
end you see somebody walking towards you.
I walk towards them. As you move, give me a wisdom
saving through 11. You're not certain because
you're focused on this person coming towards you, but for a
moment you thought you heard Una's voice.
Fear, don't. And then the woman is in front
of you. You see she is enveloped in
black. Her face is covered by a veil
and behind it you can just about make out these two jet black
eyes that seem to swirl and hand reaches up to you.
I am the Raven Queen, I was one who reigns in shadows.
You are my descendant. You carry my curse and her hand
locks around yours. I will protect you.
And your eyes dart open. Bloody hell for you.
OK, so it's just put it on the tab at this stage.
Like I owe you a couple of weeks worth of gold pieces.
Could you maybe stop giving everybody a scare like that for
you? Is this like, is this like a new
thing that you've got? Is it the the dramatics that you
learn from that? What was that lanky piss fella?
Nate, Nate, Nate. Is that something you picked up
from him? I'm kind of only half listening
to Nana and I'm I'm sitting up and I'm assuming now I can feel
that twinge. Yeah, there's a, it's a, it's a,
it's a bruise. Like it is that thing of like
it. It throbs a little.
Yeah, and she could probably see that I'm quite distracted right
now. Acronym TOFIA.
I mean, I'm going to ask you, are you all right?
But you got shot, you shot, you shot yourself.
They loved it. We were all absolutely
terrified. Once they got over a couple of
people that fainted, everybody loved it.
So I, I guess you should maybe shoot yourself every time you
perform now. Is that what we've settled on 6?
Oh, I don't think I'd be able to handle that.
Yeah, Royce. Yeah, yeah, you're probably yeah
bloody Alfie. And then she just punches you in
the other shoulder. Jeez, Nana.
You're alive and that's all that matters.
So we're on the and then immediately there's just a thud.
Like there is just kind of a thud and you feel like kind of
the bed underneath. You just lift and bounce.
Nana lifts and bounce, Sykes lifts and bounce and there is
out of rash. So yeah, we've had to book it
out of noise. Book it.
Yeah, yeah, there's another show, another town.
And obviously, what with your wonderful shooting yourself,
people wanted more. But Claudine and Ronnie are
worried about attracting too much attention.
That's fair. We've actually just passed
through where we are. We're all tasked with setting up
camp. So you feeling up for actually
helping? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And obviously Claudine and
Ronnie will want to make sure that their new star attraction
is functioning and not itching to.
You can because you said you can do the.
Yeah, I thought. I thought I could.
I guess, I guess not. Nerves.
Probably. Yeah, happens to Sykes and all
his first states. Yeah, I guess I'll go find
Ronnie and plot. Are we setting up here now?
Are we still on the road? Well, judging by the and you see
kind of Nana kind of just kind of reach out to kind of grab a
couple of things, they're about to fall off the little
countertop. We've still got a bit of way to
go. So you rest up.
I'll check out where we are. Sykes can get you what you need.
Sykes can't get it. Rashi will get it for you.
Yeah. Right.
Reshi. You're a good Reshi, all right.
Yeah. Yeah.
And she reached, she heads for the door and she kind of hops
out. Oh, blood.
Yeah. We've still got ages to go.
And then she kind of tumbles out the door kind of closes behind
her. And you are set there with Rash
and Sykes. I think I'm going to rest up a
bit more, OK. And I, I lie back down and I
turn over to not be facing them and I'm just kind of going to
work through my mind all this stuff that I just saw.
Yeah, Sykes just kind of gives you a grunt.
Rash doesn't acknowledge you. What is going through Fear's
mind? I guess what's going through her
mind right now is what this entity wants from her now that
she has a name and an idea of what she they are.
And certainly like connections of like the fact that she said
one who reigns in shadow, connecting that to stuff that
she's read before about the old ones and, you know, linking her
to like. What?
What's her connection to Hadana and Asmodean and any of the
other first ones that there was and stuff as well?
Trying to figure out it's OK what's her place in all of this?
Your mind starts racing, trying to locate how much of that was
real, how much that was a dream, how much of that was because I
shot myself. But there must be something
because you couldn't do. You couldn't do your
teleportation. You couldn't.
You couldn't just disappear out of there.
And as you kind of think about the words you heard in that
cave, all the different murals, Chaff, Hadana, the Raven Queen,
all these entities. Yeah.
You kind of, it's that thing of you kind of, you lose yourself
and you lose time with it. And occasionally there is kind
of a wobble or a rattle in the inside the caravan.
But time passes. And it's only when the door
opens again do you realize fear that you've you, you don't know.
You don't know how long passed. You don't like how much of it
were you asleep or how much of it were you kind of in it?
Like, you know, entranced with Nana is standing there with
Claudine and Ronnie. The carriage has come to a stop,
and you just hear Nana just kind of the same.
See, I told you she was all right.
Look at her. Ryan's day, Thea.
She's always doing this thing where she just stares off into
the absolute oblivion. Thea.
Maybe it's a whistle. Yeah.
Yes, Nana. See, so and then like
immediately kind of Claudine and Ronnie kind of come up to the
doorway, like they're up onto the step and they're up into the
doorway and they kind of acknowledge Sykes and Rash just
kind of ignores them as well. Oh, Thea Thea, Thea Thea Thea
Thea. You were absolutely brilliant.
I I mean you shot yourself. Yeah, not intentionally.
What's this matter? It was wonderful.
I'm not repeating it. Clotting.
No please. Such a frail, fragile little
belt such as feel. No, no, you should not be
shooting yourself all the time. Maybe every second or third
show. No, no 4th.
No, we'll think about it. But you said you were going to
do the. Well, I guess I wasn't able to.
I don't think I am able to. Oh, that is a pity.
Well, maybe it was how you say this, chitters Ronald.
You know the word jitters? And then he kind of just
chuckles and Nana chuckles. Yes, jitters.
First time on stage, all those eyes on you, watching you.
I don't know what it was, but I think until I figure it out it's
not something I'm going to try again.
And they both kind of look at each other.
I'll still do my routine, but just not that part.
Understood, but the audience want a spectacle.
They don't just want to see another person come out and hit
some targets. OK, yeah, but until I figure it
out, I'm not going to shoot myself again.
You don't have to shoot yourself, but you have to do
something different because we already have Talon.
I'll think of something. Great, wonderful.
You do look like you could do with something to eat though.
OK. We're setting up camp Ronald,
Ronald. And like it's a thing of like
Ronald is just kind of like lost in your eyes and she's just she
just kind of like elbows him again.
Ronnie, sweetheart, why don't you take Nana Sykes and Rash and
it start to help set up the camp, those clouds and she kind
of leans out and she kind of looks, Oh, I think we could be
dealing with a Blizzard. OK.
We've two nights to put down in boudoir, then we're heading on
up to jaunt and from there into visage. 2 weeks, maybe 3.
Sure, OK, sounds sounds good. Wonderful.
And I must, I must say I while I do miss that wonderful,
wonderful face of yours, this and she kind of reaches out to
touch the mask. Stunning.
That does kind of send a shiver up for his back.
You freshen up and when you're ready, grab some food and then
maybe help with provisions and arrangements stuff.
Nixie and Seamus and Willow are back in the in the town.
They're just doing some flyering, so they'll be back.
And yeah, so whatever, whatever, whatever task you feel you best
might be able to help with. OK, see you later.
See you in a few. I get some clothes on to myself.
Just probably I'd say what Theo was wearing before she had her
costume on, but her brain is still very much distracted.
Well, it's now it's two things. Fighting.
I think it was distracted by that memory or whatever she
found herself in. And now Claudine has kind of,
she's Satvia a little on edge, just the way she's talking to
her. She's feels kind of a little bit
cagey of her now. As you tidy yourself up, grab
some clothes, you do see it. It's a very dark bruise.
Like you can see the you can see the wound, it's healed.
The bruising is still very much there.
As you head out, you do see, like Claudine was talking about,
like it looks like there could be a snowstorm or a Blizzard on
the way. There's already, like Tufts of
snow on the ground. You can see snow banks.
Some of the trees here have like, the branches are laden
with it. So there has been already quite
an extensive fall of snow. It is bitingly cold around you.
And you do see that there are already like some of the other
performers that you would kind of see milling about the crowd
at Iran. Some seem to be kind of tending
to a fire. The furball woman who was kind
of operating as the cook has kind of pitched up her sort of
little kitchenette wagon on the opposite side of the the the
kind of the camp. She seems to be busying herself
with some food and food prep. And you do see kind of Nana
Sykes and Rash are kind of rowing in, kind of helping sort
of fix the wagons in place and like covering them in tarps and
that kind of stuff. They seem to be kind of like
bracing the caravans for like the oncoming weather and the
cold and stuff like that. There is another member of the
troupe kind of handing out like kind of chunks of bread.
They seem to be filled with kind of meat and cheese.
I guess I'll go and grab that first to start chewing that down
to get some food and energy into myself.
I think I would like to help out Nana Sykes and Rash but feel on
my shoulder. I don't think I'd be able for
that. I think it twins too much so I
think I might go over and help the cook.
Yeah, you kind of approach and she just kind of smiles down at
you. She's just under 7 foot tall.
And even in the the caravan that she's in, you see that the the
roof has kind of been pitched up and kind of extended and there
is kind of a flume where there is the the chimney and the
little stove that she does kind of any of the hot food on.
Even then she's sort of like haunched a little over.
Yeah. So you being able to kind of
duck low and grab things from drawers and stuff is a godsend.
And she does, she does kind of like like hand you bits and
pieces. Everyone again like to like
taste this and. Chop this, yeah.
That can sample that. Everybody seems to be kind of in
radical spirits and she does. She kind of asks you a little
bit like, how did the show go? She didn't see it.
She was kind of helping pack up the camp so that they could get
on the road. Have have you been to boudoir
before? And so on and so forth as the
kind of the more do chef jobs are kind of done and now it's
more about kind of watching over the food.
It is that thing of like, maybe it's time to you to go kind of a
thing. She's being very kind of polite
about it, but it is that thing of like, go.
Oh, Oh yeah. Sure.
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. No worries.
You've saved my back and my knees.
I'll make sure there's a little extra.
Oh, you don't have to worry about that, but thank you.
And she does. She kind of waves you off.
Is there anything you want to do at this point?
Nixy and Willow and and Seamus are not back yet, no.
We'll say, yeah, like enough time has kind of passed as you
kind of step back out of the camp and you see kind of dusk is
beginning to roll in. You've only been kind of seen.
There's like a little kind of clearing here where obviously
the Phae Lai cabaret have set up.
And you just kind of like you kind of take in stock of the
perimeter of this slightly off a road.
You can kind of just make it out from the kind of the tree line.
And it is it's kind of large sort of coniferous trees all
around you, kind of just some some kind of barely saplings,
others shooting way up into the sky.
As you kind of look around and you take stop of stock of camp.
You're actually not that far from the town.
You can make out some of the roofs and they are it's a
mishmash of like heavy thatched roofs and then these sort of
jade green slates like roof tiles.
As you kind of look around, you can take it and you can start to
see smoke kind of spilling up out of the the chimneys, some of
the kind of the faint glow coming from the town, probably
probably about a kind of a kilometer away, maybe a
kilometer and a half. And as you look around, you're
like, oh, I haven't seen Nixie or Willow or Sheamus in the
distance. You kind of just hear Sheamus
kind of barking. Well, it didn't take that long.
The last time we were in, we were setting it up.
Come on, put your back into it. And you see that the performers
hush. That little space that they do
their practice and stuff has just been kind of erected.
I guess because he's not someone I have had much interaction with
yet, I'm kind of curious to maybe go over and help and
introduce myself to him and stuff.
Outside, it's Nana and Sykes and a couple of the other sort of
stagehands that are sort of people you've seen working the
mechanisms on the stage. They are the ones pulling up the
tent. Inside.
You see Seamus sort of like smirking and kind of like he's
obviously rolled his eyes as he barked and you kind of caught
the look on him. And you do you see that silvered
tongue in his mouth? Nixie and Willow laugh with him.
Talon is kind of standing against that main post just sort
of like, yeah, he's kind of balancing A dagger point on his
index finger. Brings back memories to feel of
accidentally stabbing herself under her nail bed with a
dagger, so she kind of winces a little bit seeing that.
Hey, up if it isn't everybody's favorite little birds, though
you don't know many birds that tend to shoot themselves out of
the sky, do you? And Nixie and Willow, kind of.
They laugh, but it's not like that.
It's an uncomfortable laugh. I don't know many of many things
that managed to end up shooting themselves, but.
You could be the first then first time girl who shoots
herself on stage. Certainly memorable.
We've been telling everybody in Buddha that we have this
absolutely manic lunatic who gets on the stage and does all
these aerial flips and shooting bells and then shoots herself.
Everybody's mad to see it. They're dying to see it.
Oh well, that's not going to happen again anytime soon.
Oh, that's a shame. I know, just need to figure it
out at first I think. Yeah, yeah, probably can't get
shot that many times and gonna come back from it, can you?
I. Don't think so, no.
Where did you say you came from again and then nixie just full
on like just shoves him. Hey, we don't ask those
questions, not here. Thea ignore him, ignore, ignore
shamus. He's just trying to get your
goat. She's probably shot the goat and
like that Willow let's out kind of a snort, like it's like a of
laughter and he he does kind of oh, look, fear.
I'm just trying to arise. You think of it as like a Hazen.
We all kind of go through it. I suppose there's anyone around
who knew Fear. This is the probably the first
time that she's had a genuine smile on her face in a long
time. She's actually quite enjoying
it. She's quite enjoying the humor
and all that and the. Fine.
She's fine. She gets it.
She's fine. Yeah, it's fine.
Anyway I can help at all? Well, we're all just kind of
getting ready to start practicing.
You know we're on this evening. Yeah, I need to think about
something else to end my act with.
And you just kind of hear. You hear?
Something muttered under Talon's breath.
Can I make a perception check to see if I hear it any clearer?
No, because even with your passive perception, it's more of
the fact that you he's because he's, he's not like you're still
standing back kind of at the entrance kind of chatting to
them. Willow, Nixie and Sheamus are
kind of between you and him and he's in the middle of it.
Like so he he said it so that you would hear he said
something, but not enough for you to discern what it was.
I guess I don't, I kind of just don't let it bother me because I
think that's what he wants as well.
So I'll just kind of continue on.
I've I've seen, I've seen Willow and Nixie's acts and stuff and
talents too. And I've heard a bit about your
SH Sheamus book. I'm really curious about it.
Just a load of shite love. I, I don't really go on stage to
do anything. There's not really much, you
know, I mean, I could do a little bit of And he kind of
does half a half a jig again. Willow starts laughing and kind
of Nixie rolls her eyes and like takes her by the arm and kind of
moves her out to the one side. Now I'm usually out at the
front, you know, give me a palm, read your lines at the cards,
all that future seeing stuff. I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound
rude when I asked this question, but is that real?
It's just I've never, I'm, I haven't been around until
recently very many people who practice in any sort of magic or
future seeing or things like that.
So I'm quite naive to it. It's as real as you want it to
be, if that makes sense. I suppose so, yeah, probably
provides people a lot of comfort.
And then there is kind of a snort, like the not a snort.
There's a grunt out of talent give off absolute miserable
sort. Listen, general rule of thumb is
I don't do reads for the group as much as I can see into the
future. I can see a little into the past
as well. So people are a bit cagey about
me digging around in their past so.
That, that makes sense, yeah. And I suppose you don't want to
have an awkward work environment either for yourself too.
Yeah, that's talent's department.
The full on chuckle comes out with fear that answer.
There is a twack of a dagger into the ground.
All right, OK, I was just apps just trying to get a laugh out
of your talent. Nixie and Willow are kind of
they've moved off to one side and you see that they've taken
they've now taken a trunk and they've started taking out some
again. It's kind of like, it's that
form of gymnastics where like, you know, a ribbon in the ring
and the, the. Ball and stuff.
Is it aerial? It's no, there's a name on it
because they do it at the Olympics.
Yes, I know the exact one that you're on.
Rhythmic. Rhythmic gymnastics.
Yeah, it's that thing that you, because you've seen them with
the tightrope and stuff like that, but they're now kind of
using these other tools and implements to kind of, and they
kind of set them to one side and they start stretching.
And then Talon moves to another kind of corner.
He takes out he he pulls out a trunk.
He's most a bit away from us, has he?
Yes, yeah, he's kind of he's, he keeps his distance.
Is he like that with everyone? Oh, talent.
Yeah. Yeah.
Even his men. Really.
Oh, I don't know how to make that up.
Take no heat, love. He's just cross constantly.
I think it's the act, the acts. Can't take his brain.
Have you been, I've never asked actually how long anyone's been
with the field. Like have I really loud asked
that question? Yeah, So Nixi and Willow.
Hey, girls, what are we talking as a ball kind of goes up into
the air, you see kind of Nixie on one foot lean forward like
she lifts up her back leg and then bends forward, puts out
both her hands. And then Willow just sort of
leaps over her and it with just a four as she catches the ball
and then drops it into Nixie's hands.
And Talan, I'd say public going on three and I'm here 5-6, it's
in a bit. And is there many here who have
been? Here, as long as you are you
kind of one of the long stays, people come and go.
Outside of myself and Cookie, probably, yeah.
And obviously your mates, they've been with us about maybe
two or three months. So, you know, it's the life of a
travelling group. People travel in, people travel
out, we travel on, and you obviously like.
Travelling with everyone as well, you get to meet new.
People, even if you don't like all the people and he does, he
he's what kind of rolls that over his shoulder?
You're always meeting new VOC and you always get to make up a
new name. The mask thing takes a little.
You get used to it and he kind of touches his own face.
Don't mind saying if I do, but it doesn't always any kind of
points at you. We're not all of us are blessed.
Some of us become a bit more plain than our old handsome
rugged and he kind of touches his face.
But it means must. Hey.
Yeah. It's what's needed I.
Guess so. Your ACT, you, you figured out
what you're if you're not going to, you know, do the whole
shooting yourself. I have an idea in mind.
I'm going. To try and practice it now and
see if it works and hopefully I don't hurt myself again.
We'll see. Seamus just kind of gives.
You the nod for you and he heads off talons at one side and you
see that he has he's setting up little targets and there's some
of them are very small. Willow and Nixie are now kind of
in in full swing of their number and they're kind of trying to
talk about like what they did the last time, what they can add
to it. What what, what can they pull
out of kind of the repertoire. Both sets of performers seem
sort of focused on what they're doing.
I guess so. Happens as spheres walking and
kind of looking at what everyone's doing.
She does kind of subconsciously, not even really paying
attention. Her echo manifests out beside
her and she grabs a short bow and an arrow.
And what she's going to do is she's going to take the tip off
the arrow and put like, I don't know if there's like a softball
or something around pop that onto the top of it.
Give me. An investigation check, OK. 22
as you kind of. Manoeuvre around and you're kind
of, you're looking right, Like there's a lot of boxes and
trunks, There's a couple less. You see this small little wooden
crate, you open it and yeah, there's a kind of, they're not,
it's not like a soft kind of like foam, but it's soft leather
ball. It seems to have beads or
something in it. Yeah, you you notice that there?
Are actually there's a handful of boxes you're like, because
you wandered out the back the last day, Yeah, or two days ago.
And there were, there were. There was way more than this.
So where's Silas then? You don't see.
Him I kind of wander over to the girls.
And like, where's, where's Silas?
I haven't seen him today. And they both look at each
other. What?
What's going?
On Silas. Left he.
Left he seemed. I didn't, no.
I didn't see him as someone who would leave well.
He What happened? His.
ACT really wasn't up to what is expected so.
He was told to leave. It was suggested.
Yeah, we really need to practice.
We've only got a little bit before the show.
Oh yeah, I, I, I know. Yeah, he's fine.
He's fine. He just.
Ronald and Claudine spoke. To him, and it was agreed we
have that, it just wasn't the right fit for him anymore and he
left. So what did he say, niece?
Did you get to say goodbye to him?
Yeah. Insight 24, you see.
Her eyes, dirt and her body language shift.
What happened? Listen, you're new.
Yeah, I know. Really shouldn't just.
He's fine. We have to.
Practice it You really. Should be practising, no, But
you're not. Telling me everything.
I have, we have a routine so if if don't ask Ronnie or Claudine
and she turns back to her partner and they start
performing. This makes fear quite nervous.
And then she goes on and tries to practice what she's thinking
of in her mind. What are?
What have you decided? What your new?
Yeah, it's like I'm going. To start off with the same idea
where my echo is going to shoot me, but then I have a bonus
action where I can swap places so that the arrow will go
through the echo and not through me.
A little time passes. As you are again, it's that like
manifesting the echo. I know it was with you, but it's
that sort of bringing it up and timing the shot and then it
vanishing. And it's, it's, it's close.
And there is a little hesitation, hesitation in those
first couple of shots, the connection with the echo and
you, it's there and it's different.
It's not the same as your blessing.
And then you think of the blessing and you think of the
Raven Queen and you think of the one who reigns in shadows and
your mind is adrift. And there is a weird energy in
the tent. And occasionally you see Nixie
and Willow kind of looking at you and kind of whispering.
And then they go back to performing and then the the bell
rings and they scurry out and Talon kind of follows and.
The shoe that you'd be. Helping prepare on you can kind
of catch it and your stomach growls a little and a lot of the
cabaret troupe are kind of spilling towards the little kind
of canteen area that always gets set up and it's it's under a a
little sort of marquee. As you turn to kind of follow
suit and get a belly full of food, you do see Claudine and
Ronnie talking to Willow and Nixie I.
Take my eyes away from that and I put my head down and I go, and
I sit beside Nana and Sykes. You all right for you?
Sue's pretty good. I heard from Cookie that you
might be a little bit of a chef. I don't know if Nana can tell,
but I'm. Quite distracted.
She's just talking. She just keeps talking.
I'm not really gone on large chunks in a soup, like just a
chunk of anything. It doesn't really sound
appealing, like who wants a chunk of onion or a chunk of
meat in and like Sykes, that's out kind of A and.
Then rash does the same thing. Almost simultaneously OK aside
from you 2 who have absolutely no taste in anything except your
best friend via back me up on this.
Would you eat a chunk of something?
4 cubes pop into P. Into Phea's head from the
disastrous dinner party. I'm like.
I used to like chunks of stuff. And food I don't know anymore.
How did the how? Did your?
You didn't. No, I didn't.
I didn't Great. That's good.
That's a that's. AII that's good.
We're not going to we're worked it out then we worked today.
I'm not going to and you. Told Ronnie and Claudine.
That you've got a thing? Not yet, no.
Oh, OK, well. You should because I guess
they're a little, you know, you are going to, you're going,
you're going to close it out again.
We want everybody on their feet and you should talk to them as
well because they. Yeah, your earnings, your, your
money. Yeah.
I don't know, I it's kind of weird here.
I don't know. I just, I can't, I don't know
whether it's from everything that's happened over the last
week or so, but I just feel, yeah, I've never been to
boudoir. Either I don't mean like to just
I don't mean green roofs. I don't mean that I.
Mean here when I make a gesture to the canteen.
No, the cabaret itself. Oh.
In what sense do you think it's weird?
I heard that. Silas left, Yeah.
How did you get to say goodbye? To him or.
Well, I didn't really know the fella.
Like did he say goodbye to anyone or?
Did he just? He wasn't there.
And you see her kind of. She seems to be trying to recall
or recollect, I think. Yeah, maybe he just said goodbye
and he was gone. That sounds about right.
I don't know something. Just feels off.
Well, to be. Fair for you.
His number, I mean. I did think it was cool the.
First time I saw it, but it kind of wears thing then, yeah.
I don't know, it was a little creepy used to.
Absolutely terrify the living daylights at a rash he was.
Nice though. Oh, look, you'll meet.
Look. Sykes is lovely.
Nixie and Willow, they're lovely.
Cookies. Lovely.
Sorry if he was your friend and he's gone, but you only kind of
knew him a day, so that's not to say that it's not a real
friendship. I'm just saying, you know you'll
make new friends and other friends, and we're your friends.
So do you want a chunk of carrot?
Sure. I'm really.
Not gone on. Chunks.
You know you could just cut this up, right?
For yourself, but there's just smaller.
Chunks. What do you want to blend it?
Into like nothing. I don't know, I just do you want
like a? Soup.
That's just. Like mushed into nothing.
She's just sort of. Stirring and scooping and she's
trying to break it up into smaller chunks.
Rash has a ball on the ground and he like, there is, there's
just gravy, like on his javels. Sykes kind of looks up at you as
well. He also has gravy on his cheek.
The pair of you can't take you anywhere.
You're in the company of ladies. There is.
My. Friends, I hope you have enjoyed
your meal. We are going now out to boudoir
to, how do you say, reckon the dough?
Seamus Talon, Little bird costumes.
Hurry now. Yes.
Yeah, kind of flusteredly. Gets up out of very good.
There's the little. Bird.
She's on her feet, everybody. Oh, such a good little bird.
A couple of the other kind of performers that would have been
kind of, you know, the acrobats if there have been kind of the
crowd and the clowns and stuff like that, that all kind of get
up to kind of start getting ready.
Nixie and Willow kind of have kind of manifested both in their
costumes and are kind of picking anything as you kind of get up
to move past. They don't say anything.
They don't acknowledge you. And Ronnie just kind of gives
you a really big smile, smiled back awkwardly.
And I quickened my pace up to go and get changed and yeah.
A little bit, a moment, a teeny, tiny, insignificant moment of
your time. Sure.
Yeah, this. And he, you see that he like, he
reaches in under his heavy, he's wearing a heavy brown coat.
And you hear the jostling of coin.
Is for you. Your board, your travel, your
food has all been taken out of it, as is the any gestures at
the little charm around your neck and the the mask.
All of that as well. And there's still a little bit
left. That was quite a performance
that you gave us a quite a scare out of you little lady.
You had me on edge. Thanks for this.
I'm going to go get changed. You need help, no?
And then? There is a slap over the.
Back of his head as I was joking, Monkey, I thought, you
know, you are only the woman for me.
And he turns back and he's kind of starts like planting kisses
on Claudine, who's kind of appeared and he says she is.
She's also wearing quite a heavy coat, but you can see her outfit
underneath it. Ronnie, go get ready and leave
Thea alone. I'm so sorry.
He is an absolute beast of a husband.
It's OK. Run along.
Get ready, the Elder of Boudoir is really excited to to meet
with you. Maybe backstage you could say
hello, sign something really quite taken aback with the word
of your performance. Sure.
Yeah, OK. Wonderful.
Absolutely. Wonderful.
Off you go. There's a bit of rustling kind
of coming. From the the caravan as well as
you kind of step in and you can, all the people are here getting
ready as well. Now you see your costume, it's
been cleaned though there's no blood on it and it's been
patched up. And you slip it on and a caravan
with a cover is kind of out front and you see Nixie and
Willow, Seamus Talon, some of the other performers kind of
spill into it and Claudine just kind of gestures at that one.
Ask yourself and Ronnie take a a smaller cart and courage towards
the village and some of the other troop are kind of
following in behind. I I.
Kind of almost jog quickly to it to get up and into spot.
I tried to make. Eyes at Willow and NICC.
No, they're not making any back. They are very much kind of.
It's just they're talking to themselves.
It's like I said, it's it's less.
Than less than two kilometres from the camp to the village,
the road is really bumpy. You can hear kind of the
sloshing of snow under the the wheel of the carriage and I
think for a few as well. Seeing how the girls reacted
there, this feels like a very long 2 kilometres to her Yes,
it's even though they're. Kind of talking, and there's a
little bit of chat between, like the Sheamus is kind of chatting
to everybody, kind of chats to you.
Small, but it's just small talk. It is that.
Moment you can start to smell. Like the chimney smoke and you
could smell pine SAP almost that resin sitting in the smoke a
little bit. And you can kind of just peer
out from kind of to the flap and you can see the village of
boudoir. It kind of looks like something
from a storybook. And it's it's a weird mishmash
in the village of Noise. It was you could definitely see
a little of the Visagian influence in the architecture.
There was still quite galeshire in terms of this is like the
buildings are these sort of strong wooden framed houses and
shops, stores and offices with these very, very bright jade
green slates. And it even seems to be in the
glass. There is this sort of jade tint,
green tint to the glass and there's the streets are smooth
cobbled the whole way in. And you again, you can people
are kind of flocking up behind the caravan kind of getting a
peek in. And a dwarven boy and a human
boy are kind of whisked away by one of the security for the I
feel like cabaret as they just point in and they're like, oh,
the pretty ones. And they're pointing over at
Nixie and Willow as they're just yawning by the scruff away by a
member of security for the cabaret.
Eventually the kind of the carriage comes to a stop.
It looks a little like the village square in east, much
bigger. And there are a lot more of
these houses. There are a couple of them.
They're still patched. But even then, that patching
looks very sort of. It's a precise yeah or nation.
And they all look the same. They all, they all look like
mirror images. There's a HOA in this place for.
Sure. Very much, yeah, there's.
Definitely some or like a Tidy Towns committee that takes it
very seriously as the others kind of spill out and you're
kind of lead out into the square again.
Long rows of benches are kind of formed in a kind of a semi
circle and the feh like cabaret stage is front and centre and
you do see that huge moon and sun just sort of spin.
The backdrop has changed from when it looked a noise.
Now it looks a little more like the mountains and there's
rolling frozen glades, there's a deep valley and you can kind of
see little buildings in the back with just these green tiled
roofs. That's kind of and the whole
thing. Kind of shifts.
And changes as the the sun and the moon kind of rise and fall.
Music is playing somewhere in the distance, and again, kids
are running around. Looks a little quieter than
noise, like people sitting, but it's not a full house.
You see kind of Nixie and Willow and Talon sneaking off around to
the side of the stage. And you can see kind of some of
the other performers who have filed out are now doing tumbles
and leaps. And there's a couple of kind of
miming. And some are kind of like making
kind of little animals out of the air, like they're kind of
creating a little puffs features or sparks and stuff like that.
And you can see Claudine and Ronnie, their carts a little
further ahead. You can clearly see they're
talking to a a much older looking figure, a little hunched
in the shoulders, like a little hunched over 2 kind of Longhorns
kind of coming out of the back of their head.
And it's just these leathery wrinkly wings.
They are a very sort of murky green skin colour.
They're kind of clapping their hands and they do seem in good
spirits. And Claudine and, uh, Ronnie are
very much focused on them. And then Claudine sees you and
just kind of gestures over. I I.
Walk over quite shy, like, like, like if you look at Thea's
stature, she's walking over, it's quite shy.
She's kind of shrunk a little into her shoulders.
Bertie, allow me to. Introduce you to Elder Alder
Adler. Elder Alder Alder, this is
Bertie, or as you see on our posters, the Spectral Raven.
She opens her hands up. I'd like to kind of point at
you. And again, there is just this
whoosh of sparkles out of her hand, that kind of dance around
you a little bit. Oh heavens.
Oh, oh, my God, she's even more beautiful than the posters.
Oh, look at you. You're a vision.
I've heard. I've heard of your performance.
I'm. Oh, I I, I must say, I'm most
elated to hear of a creature of your talent.
Mind you, I, I don't know if the old ticker can take the arrow,
but I, I, I have my pills and he, he rattles a little bottle.
It's nice. To meet you.
Sorry. Allow me introduce myself.
I'm Elder, Elder Adler And and. And you're Birdie.
Yeah, it's. A beautiful.
Name for a beautiful creature. Thank you and.
And. You're you're you're friends who
are telling me that you're you're only new.
I am. And I guess a little.
Rusty if I end up shooting myself.
Oh, no fret. Not fret not.
We all get a little bit of stage fright.
Oh, I dreams. I dreams as a young boy of
travel in the world and performing.
But no, it's just, it was my responsibilities that kept me
here. And but you're, you're here now
and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm most excited birdie to see you on
that stage. And hopefully I'll live through
it. I hope I don't.
Give you heart failure and that you get to and he does reminisce
and enjoy. He takes your head, Please.
Don't. We haven't elected a new elder.
It was. It was really.
Nice to meet you. And he's still shaking your
hand. I hope you enjoy.
All of our performances I. Surely will I'll.
Surely I'll be front row. He kind of gives your hand a
good jostle. And now Claudine is like eyeing
Ronnie and Ronnie is kind of like, oh, thank you so much,
Elder Adler. And I'll.
Oh, that's so hard to say. That's very difficult to say,
Elder Elder Adler. Oh, I got it.
I got it. Oh, you are a funny man with a
very funny name. But we must let the little
birdie. We must let the little birdie
warm up her wings. Why don't I take you to your
seat? And he does.
He takes Elder Adler by the hand and leads him around the stage.
And he does. He said he blows you a kiss like
he's like Claudine kind of just leans down into your.
Yeah, There are challenges in the job.
I trust you have worked out a an ending.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wonderful. I'm I'm.
I'm I. I can't wait.
I absolutely, I can't wait. Maybe afterwards you and I can
have a a little conversation about all of this, maybe answer
some questions that you might have.
And she smiles at you. Sure.
Yeah, sounds you can always. Always come to me for you,
Birdie. I just nod and music starts to
play. Mike, you, we'll talk after.
And you see her kind of roll her shoulders and there's a cracking
sound A, and she flits out onto the stage.
And a few of the stagehands, again, you see them kind of,
they're at, at the wheels, they're at handles.
And like the stage is moving and lifting and smoke is spilling
out and the music gets louder and there's applause and
Claudine just gets right into it.
Nixie and Willow go out and perform and, uh, there's cheers
and hollering kind of coming from the crowd.
Talon goes out and he's throwing blade and dagger and, uh, he's
even throwing some out into the audience and like hitting gaps
between where people are sitting and like people are like
shrieking and then they're laughing and as the adrenaline
kind of rushes through them and he's hitting targets even
further away. And again, there is just this
uproar of applause that follows and and a band comes out to play
and it's only when you hear please hold your applause.
We don't want to spook the little bird, our spectral Raven,
as again, pillars and bells just rise up out of the stage and
give me 3 skill checks. So for.
Acrobatics I got 15 OK Perception I would need as well,
which is a 22. My third thing I'm going to
shoot an arrow. That's good as well. 19 as.
You go to step out for you. It falls into a A roll, which is
a spring up and where you spring from your echo night just
whooshes out from you and there is just this plume of smoke and
shadow off of it that then kind of springs into a kind of a
cartwheel as the both of you kind of now stand at opposite
sides of the stage. Take a bow.
Your bow is just kind of thrown from off stage, you catch.
And again, the performance of leaping from column swapping
places with the Echo Knight, shooting at the bells.
The crowd are like you can hear it, like they are just screaming
this spectacle in front of them. How quick, how accurate, how
graceful this creature is. Front row and centre.
Elder Adler is just in awe. Everybody seems to be completely
and totally entranced by the stage.
As you land that final shot and you take aim, point the arrow
down and the echo night fires. From a new swap.
Of places and the crowd goes nuts.
As you look out, you see that. Those empty seats from before
full and people. Are.
More they're they're calling for an encore.
They're calling for more as Claudine kind of like comes from
the opposite side of the stage and you're being ushered off.
As the pillars begin to descend, Claudine and the music whip up a
frenzy and you see just out of the corner of your eye, some of
the other performers that were out there kind of like
entertaining are scooping up that coin.
So the stagehands to the side, some of the other performers are
like Willow and Nixie are all kind of, you're getting kind of
really kind of like smiles and everybody seems to be in good
form. And as quickly as ye arrive,
you're almost kind of spirited, uh, back towards the camp.
Ronnie is driving the carriage. Some of the other performers in
stagehands stay back. Claudine stays back as like
people kind of clamor to the stage and are like, oh, please
stay another night. And again, others are kind of,
you hear people kind of talking now in the carriage and Sheamus
just kind of looks at you was like, well, that went, I would
hazard to say a smidge better than shooting yourself just a
smidge. So.
Do you reckon we'll do 2 nights or is it going to be a?
Dance, ditch and. Gone I, I, I don't know I.
Suppose you would know better than I would.
Between ourselves, usually if Claudine stays back, it means
they want us back so we could be here for another night, which is
great. What means tomorrow, if not
camp, we can go into the town, We can do a little exploring,
maybe get a little food, maybe a little glass of wine.
That sounds like a nice idea. There's a.
Giggling coming from Nixie and Willow I.
Kind of look over in their. Direction, yeah.
No, we were just going to. Work out, but that sounds
lovely. Uh, Sheamus, you definitely,
umm, take birdie out on a date. Oh, whoa, whoa.
No, and like they both both of them in.
Sync raised their eyebrows. Ah, Sheamus, Just look.
Just because a handsome dashing fella wants to take out an
absolutely drop dead gorgeous girl such as Birdie.
We are calling you Birdie now. Yeah, this isn't a date.
Don't worry, birdie, this isn't a date.
Yeah. No, this is definitely.
Not a date if you will be on a date.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
No, this is not a date. Yeah.
She said it's not a date. By the time you get back to camp
and. You see that some of the other
performers had to kind of trek back and forth.
They all kind of rock in kind of.
There's a weird awkwardness now in the garage, just like Shamus
is like giving daggers that Willow and Nixie talent is just
in his usual huff. The campfire is still going.
People are swapping, you know, little sweet treats and snacks,
some drinks. Someone's playing a little bit
of music as you kind of Mull around camp.
Is there anything you want to do at this point?
I think I don't know how he'll react.
To it but I think I want to if Talon is sitting by the fire I
want to sit down beside him I think it's just for quietness
because via doesn't want to really talk to anyone right now
she just kind of wants to sit and absorb the atmosphere around
her yeah he's he's sitting there and he's.
Just he's swinging from kind of a a small little hip flask.
I just sit. Beside him, I don't even.
I just look at him, nod, and I take a seat.
And all you hear is kind of the crackling of the.
Fire the music, people, people kind of laughing, chatting away.
People are still talking about one night or two nights.
It's only when you. Kind of take.
A breath getting there, being on stage, coming back, it all
happens. Seems to happen in kind of like
a blink of an eye blink of an eye.
Yeah, but. It was dusk when you were
leaving and it's now pitch dark and you can see the you see
thousands of stars overhead. And you just hear the kind of.
Sloshing sound as Tal and just kind of put his right hand just
extends the hip flask I. I reach for it and thanks, and
just take a little swig from a tiny tiny little swig.
It's like a cherry liqueur. But it has sort of a smokiness,
smokiness to it. It's very warm, like even in
your mouth you can kind of feel the kind of the heat off of it
and then it's in your belly and it does kind of does warm you a
little bit. Obelisk Cherry.
It's what? Obelisk.
Cherry It's nice. You're a good shot.
You're a better shot. I know.
And I pass back the flask. And he just takes this week.
From it. This place is a lot and I just
go silent again. I just stare up at the stars.
He doesn't say, I think after that.
And again, people seem to kind of join around, and when it
starts to get a little louder, a little busier, he UPS and leaves
and he doesn't offer you the hip flask again.
Doesn't say, I think as he goes. Sometime kind of passes and you
see that some of the other performers have kind of come
back. Some of the others you don't
see. You don't see Nana and Rash.
Is campus still pretty full? Like of the 30 or 40 people that
seem to kind of travel with the Fey, like Cabaret, like there is
just about kind of 2/3 of the people are back.
You do hear as you. Make your way to your little
carriage. Yeah, I know.
We're definitely staying. Yeah, sure.
Look, the money was great, like what they gave us and what they
didn't give us. And there is a bit of laughter
and then they hush as they see you kind of walk past.
Good night, good night now. And you recognize a couple of
the performers in the crowd and you kind of nod at them.
And. Go to my own.
Space. You do see Claudine, kind of.
Roll in with that last group and she does kind of see you, she
makes eye contact and she kind of just gives you a A.
Wave and she gestures. At a a very large caravan, kind
of Take a deep breath. And walk over to go into it with
her. She opens the door and again
there's the there's the smell of like clove cigarettes and very
old timber and a little bit of must even kind of in it.
The thing is huge. It's very similar layout to what
you have. There's a much bigger bed.
There's a long kind of counter you see, there's even kind of a
smaller little storage room or a closet room type space.
There's a. Counter with kind of a
Washington. Basin set into it and yeah,
there it, it feels a little cosier.
It feels a little warmer. And you do see that there is a
little very small. I could probably pick it up in
in in two hands, a little stove and it's glowing.
There's no chimney, but there's the heat emanating out of it.
Do you tea something stronger maybe?
No, thank you. I I see you broke the ice with.
Talon. I like his silence.
It's this place has so much energy.
He seems smitten. With you, this version of you.
Anyway, come in, close the door. I you have questions and I don't
want to keep them weighing on you any longer.
I don't. Think I do.
I know you do, no. I don't not.
Anymore. Good.
We're a family. Around here, Bertie.
You could be part of the. Family or you could leave too.
Do you understand? I do know.
Thank you. And what a wonderful
performance. It was like watching your
mother. You need anything else?
No. OK, goodnight.
And I got to leave goodnight. Bertie.
Oh, and she just kind of puts a hand up to you.
Like to wait? Silas asked.
That I give this to you and it's a small little box, and inside
it you see a small little automaton figure of a little
ballerina. Thank you, I do appreciate that.
That's what families are. And she closes the door.
And we'll leave the episode there.
You've been listening to Romancing The.
Dungeon with Louise and me, Declan, the Dungeon Master.
That's it for another episode, and I think we've got maybe one
more left before we head back to the other guys to see what
they're doing. I'm sure it's fine.
I'm sure everything's going to be OK.
A big thank you to Stephen, Tynan, and Abby.
Sorry for our theme song, Fight for Each Other.
Title card and podcast artwork is by Dahi C Designs.
We're going to be recording next Saturday, the penultimate
episode to this campaign. There are lots of things going
through my mind, like the fact that we've been doing this for
five years. That's insane.
Thank you to everybody who has commented, shared, engaged,
joined the Discord, offered your theories, offered your voices in
some cases. Why am I getting it's not over
yet? It's not over yet.
We're still loads of episodes. I'm not going to, I'm not going
to. If you want to find out more
about who we are, if you want to check out any of our other shows
or see what we're up to, behind the scenes stuff, check us out
on social media, The Eight Dungeon.
There's a link to our Discord in the episode description below.
We're in the early stages of planning our annual TTRPG
fundraiser, so if you want to get involved this year, head
over to that Discord page. That's it.
I'm going to shut up. I'm going to leave it there.
Actually, I'm just going to annoy you if you haven't.
Could you leave a comment? If you're listening to this on
Spotify, drop a comment. What did you think?
If you're watching this on YouTube or Apple Podcasts, if
you want to leave a review, a thumbs up.
If you want to send it to a friend.
Thank you, we really appreciate it.
I'm out for another two weeks. Hope you have a good one and
we'll see you there. How do you not have your?
Dissect. I'm sorry, I don't have.
DDB hand open either. Oh wow, so prepared.
Shut up, you see my notes?