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 who are the best kind, but not the softcore thirst.
Oh, what's that point? Content warnings for specific
episodes can be found in the episode description.
So my bad, But I didn't listen to the last episode.
Could somebody catch me up? We don't have much time left in
the city. I'm going to get us out of here.
Somebody's coming to help. They're going to take us away
from here. Julia Lokotis.
I'm a friend of your mother's. How much of what your mother has
planned has she told you? I don't, I don't know what's
what we're doing typical. Una.
I wouldn't know I I barely ignore.
I think you're a very smart young woman.
Fear only a fool would trust. Una is a drum.
I am worried about the exhaustion.
I may have something further. There is a white flower, one
petal on the tip of your tongue. I'd keep this between us.
Friends are safe and my brother is safe.
Via you were jostled awake as the carriage comes to a stop.
Una kind of pulls you with her as she moves out of the dark
carriage, and when the door opens you do see a, a rather
obfuscated figure, but you can see, uh, his Harongan ears just
sort of half poking out from the hood but wearing a, a mask to
try and kind of cover not only his face but the, the smell from
within the carriage. He steps aside as Una clambers
out. She reaches for you and the
biting cold whips and stings and lashes into you.
You can see in the distance, a couple of miles away, the walls
of Galeshire City. You can see the palace atop the
hill. You can see the smoke plumbing
out of the chimney tops in Glenborough, Yarnborough and
across the city. It's closer to dusk.
It's closer to night time now and the sky overhead, As I said
earlier on it had been quite a grey dark day.
Now night is creeping in and as you hop out of the carriage and
Una kind of half holds you up, you immediately feel the snow
and the water and the muck seep into your shoes and that cold
just sort of bites into you. So we're going up the mountains.
Is this that's the opposite direction from where we entered?
Yes, so you and the the gang would have come in from the
southern entrance of Gileshire and the and the South wall
gates. You've come out the other side
and you as you kind of get a better sense or lay of the land,
you are on a small slip Rd. You can see behind you kind of
as you kind of turn swallowed in the clouds just these huge snow
covered mountains. The peaks are invisible, they're
just smothered in heavy fat black and grey clouds nearby.
You can hear the Rolling Thunder of the Dragons to your
waterfalls some way in the distance, but even hear that
cascading sound reaches the figure.
The Harongan man shuts the the door, latches it closed and hops
back up onto the carriage and turns it away from you and Una.
She has now kind of wrapped an arm around you.
We, we don't have far to go, Thea, but I'm, I'm going to need
you to move and we're going to need to move quickly.
We we won't last out here in this.
I feel, I just, I nod my head at her and I take the support that
she's that she's given me right now.
I kind of take lean on her. I promise you, we're going
somewhere safe. You'll have a chance to rest.
I just need you to push through this a little bit, OK?
OK. Kind of what, like her arm is
wrapped around you and you it's that thing of like I say.
It's almost like feels like it's nearly under my ribs.
Yes, that. She's kind of that kind of
thing. She's holding you up, but she's
also going to holding you into her and you do feel kind of the
warmth of her, but you can you can also feel her shivering as
well. She's wearing the same thing you
were or close to it, and you do feel that sort of coldness just
seeping in very, very quickly. The numb pain you had felt had
passed. The discomfort from where you
were lying and the jostling of the carriage and stuff like that
meant you never got quite comfortable and never enough to
kind of relax or rest. But between the smell of the,
uh, the poultice, the, that kind of, that strong sort of
medicinal aniseed smell still kind of lingering, but the
stench from the carriage, all of it is sort of masked now by just
the, the colt And just that sort of that as you kind of inhale
the pain from trying to breathe through your nose and pull all
that in hurts. I I still have the the pouch,
sorry, I I do hold back up to my nose again.
I kind of to kind of take my focus away from the cold and
like to use it just to that to put my focus back in on
something else. Yeah, I, I, you know what I
mean. I'm not going to give you
inspiration, but I will let you stave off giving me a
Constitution saving throw because as I described, there is
kind of a warmth, OK, Like it's, it's not actually warm, but the,
the, there's a comfort to it. And that does let you kind of
push through. You feel your, your steps are
heavy. The snow here, the road is
blanketed, but it's not deep enough that you are sort of
trundling through it. But even that the wetness is
sort of seeping into your clothes.
There's a stiffness in your muscles and your bones.
And even with Una kind of carrying you, it's a lot.
Yeah, I'd say it's a case of like, because it is the first
proper time that I'm moving. I can feel every sinew as it's
starting this process again that has not done for so long.
You can like, as you're kind of looking around at it, you can
you just see kind of the road snow covered feels.
You seem to be kind of going up a hill and you can see just like
a wave of, uh, fog or whatever, or a cloud just sort of swirling
and broiling in the distance. And as your eyes kind of adjust
and 1st Oh, it's oh, it's just maybe maybe it was stars.
You actually see kind of a flickering of light and Una kind
of hoisting you up and kind of leading you up this hill.
Just think of warm soft bed, hot bath, a warm meal, some spiced
Mead. Think warm thoughts.
The first thought that pops into Phea's head when she hears warm
bath is when she first met AJ. When you when that memory comes
to mind, you see yourself gulking low and almost wrapped
in shadows, twisting and coiling your way into The Cave.
You see the cauldron and the steam emanating out of it.
You see the unconscious, muscular and lean physique of AJ
sort of half floating, half sunk in it.
The fragrances and you're like fragrances.
They were, it was lavender. Maybe the giant.
Maybe giants love lavender. Awesome Stew ingredients.
You, you take it all in and as you almost kind of lose yourself
in that memory and that that you can kind of feel the kind of you
can kind of feel your cheeks flush a little bit.
Kind of as the half naked form of AJ kind of comes to vision in
the memory. Somebody moves through it, a
shadow moves through it. No, don't do that.
Oh, I I said I like, I see a shadow and I'm like no, no, no,
get out, get out. Like in my head, I'm just like
get out. It's like no, just focus.
Like no, this is lovely. Go away does.
He matter to you. Yes.
What, sweetie? What?
You were mumbling to yourself.
Sorry, it's cold. I know we're almost, we're
almost there. You just need to push through a
little bit, OK? OK, I, I tried to go back to
that memory, but in a way now for me, it feels like it's
locked, kind of lost that initial sense that it gave me
the glow. Like, no, I can't, I want to get
back to the end point of it and I don't, You don't have a dream
and it's like, it's a really good dream.
And then you, you like fall out of it in the middle.
You're sleeping like, no, I want to get back to it, but it's like
I have to go all the way back to the start and it's not going to
be the same. Trying to replay it again in my
head. It's very much like that kind of
feeling right now. Yeah, it's not.
The memory is still there. It's not gone, but it's not
giving the same sort of warm glow that you were getting from
it. Yeah.
The slog up this hill and a couple of times you do almost
kind of lose your balance. But Una has her wits about her
and every time she kind of feels you sort of slip or just the
weight of your body, she kind of shifts hers and she keeps you
going for what feels like hour battling against the elements.
And it is just the wind. There is thankfully there isn't
any snow. There isn't a, a storm.
It is just the wind kind of whipping and slapping against
you. It's more just the kind of the
coldness is the big issue. You've clambered up to the top
of this hill and you can now kind of, uh, see those lights
are good, but closer and you do see kind of fixed or set or
carved or built into this outcropping, uh, of the mountain
itself, uh, a rather large kind of two-story building.
There's a couple of lights on and you see them kind of
flickering inside like candles or torches instances, whatever
it might be, kind of flickering away inside.
There's 2 burning outside that kind of direct you towards.
Weirdly enough, up here it feels a little warmer.
And you see, give me actually tell you what, Give me a What's
your passive perception? 20.
Did I even ask? I don't know.
Why do I get you to roll perception checks a little way
further down this path and it is this.
This is the path. You don't see snow, The snow
has, it's not there at all. The pad is definitely wet and
mucky, but you, you can clearly see green Tufts of grass.
You can see, you can even see some kind of flowers.
And as you kind of fix, uh, and Una kind of like SH kind of
shuffles you a small bit, uh. She looks back over her shoulder
and as she sort of turns you in the distance, you just see the
lights of Galeshire City. Sees little almost twinkling
away like stars. Yeah.
Oh, it's a little bit of sadness that kind of creeps into into
fears. She realizes every step is
getting further and further away from her friends.
But with that as well comes almost a bit of relief because
she knows that they would have tried something stupid and then
their lives and they did. Well, not that she knows, but in
a way, then their lives would have been ruined if they had
succeeded. So she's glad that they're all
so far away from her right now. Una just sort of not letting you
go, but sort of like because it's not going to be, it's just
a short little walk towards this building.
She kind of takes your arm in hers and she takes kind of a
deep breath. So the Twistleback sisters are
very, very charming and just just say no thank you to a lot
of what they're going to offer you.
Oh, OK, so I'm kind. She's kind of, I don't know if
Una picks up on it, but she's kind of half distracted by the
likes of GAIL Sharer as well. Come on.
And a little bit reluctantly, then she follows.
Yeah, and it is a thing. I think maybe even Una has to
kind of like physically. Give her a little pull, yeah.
As she kind of leads you towards this house, aside from the kind
of the, the air feeling a little bit warmer, uh, you hear rushing
water and there's actually quite a strong smell as well.
It's earthy. Kind of sulfuric maybe?
A hint of sulphur, but it's being masked.
And again, it's sort of, uh, you can, you can clear.
Do you know when you know when there's a like a bad smell?
OK. And sulfur has quite a strong,
so I won't say sulfur has a bad smell, but sulfur is quite a
strong smell. Yeah, Yeah.
You know when you take a bad smell and you try and like, I'll
just mask? It yeah, it's like I'm going to
put some eucalyptus on this. Yes, Yeah, Well, it's a little
bit of eucalyptus, a little a little bit of sandalwood, a hell
of a lot of rose. It's very perfumed, yes, sort of
fragrance in the air as well. But that kind of eggy undertone
is kind of still there. It's.
Still there, Yeah. And it's all kind of noxious
because of all the other perfumes that are kind of added
to it. I.
Don't know if that makes me sway a little bit because it probably
gets into her head straight away.
The as I I was saying, the building itself is sort of
carved into the mountain. Yeah, but the front of the
building has sort of a clay and sandstone front, which is stark
against the harsh black granite, jagged granite of the mountain
itself. And you do see that it looks
again, you might have seen this in a book.
Maybe, maybe. And it's something of maybe I
did, maybe I don't. It looks like something you
might see in, umm, even in like a holiday brochure for like, the
Northern Visage, uh, empire. It's that sort of style.
Yeah, kind of like trying to entice like customers and guests
and all that kind of stuff, making it very otherworldly.
It's like trip of a lifetime kind of style.
And then they just ripped it off of the next Kingdom.
Yeah. There are a couple of hanging
baskets. There's just kind of like
sprawling kind of Ivy, a few sort of soft pink and blue
flowers kind of tufted into it as you approach.
And there are just these two heavy ash doors and you can see,
uh, stained glass. And it's sort of a motif of
pools. What's it's meant to like maybe
represent steam? There's a dragon breathing fire
and there's a lot of people. It's odd if you didn't know this
was a bathhouse. It looks like these people are
being boiled alive by a dragon breathing fire into a hot pool.
They look again. It's that.
If someone tried to carve it to make it look like people are
like bouncing up and down with joy.
Yeah, but it looks like helpless.
Yeah, yeah, it yeah, it could be me easily and it has been easily
misinterpreted in the past. But as you kind of approach, you
do see that pinned with a quite a heavy nail in the door is a
sign saying closed for business. I look at Una kind of what?
So it will make sense in a moment and she just kind of
wraps on the the door. OK.
There's just silence beyond it. There's a kind of a rattling,
like as if someone has knocked on something.
We're closed, we're closed. There's been a death in the
family. No, Cece, I'm just lying.
Oh, so many dead people. Oh, we're in mourning for at
least. He looks back at the picture of
the drawing and she's like, oh God, what have I walked into a.
Week it'll be a week. Oh, we're so besotted with
grief. I'll need at least and then just
Sissy, Sissy. It's it's Una Una who is
Burbage, and her eyes look at you.
I'm kind of curious actually her using the name Burbage.
Oh, Una, this yourself? Oh gosh, nobody's dead.
Hang on, we'll get the door. And there is sort of a
scrambling from beyond as the as well.
You can't see it, but the pair of them are fighting each other
to try and get to the door. There's a heavy thud of wood as
a lat gets lifted out of place and then kind of gingerly put
down to one side. There's quite a mechanical hawk
sound as a lock is unlocked and the door swings open.
Not perfumed noxious smell. I get what I look to it, don't
I? You do.
I mean, if I wanted to be really extra about it, I'd make you
take AD 4 of poison. But there is just this, there's
a heat comes rushing out with it and sort of sailing violently on
it are all. It's just this maelstrom of
sense that just sort of spill out, and as the door opens,
whatever seal they have here, there's a moment where the heat
kind of escapes and you can kind of even see steam rising up out
of the building. And then it stops and you lock
on. Two dwarven women, definitely in
their latter years, dressed identically.
Both are wearing 2 very heavy sort of, uh, overcoats, uh, that
are embroidered and bejeweled. It, it, it, it, it looks, I
mean, the overcoat looks almost like a smock almost, you know,
like what you'd see kind of, you know, a clinician might wear a
spa one of the heavier. Heavier because the jewels
dragging it down and. But also the material as well,
it's, it's not that sort of that light breezy fabric that you
would expect somebody to wear. This is, I mean, it's not wool,
but. Close enough.
Close enough like, whereas that would probably be something like
what? Like cotton or something like
like cotton. This is, yeah, it, it's sort of
a dark teal. The embroidery is this Ruby red,
and it kind of goes along the collar, down the arms, around
the cuffs, around the trim. Both are wearing kind of very
heavy, uh, pants as well, underneath.
And boots, Thick heavy boots, just these mound of brown curls
escapes out of two very large woollen beanies that they both
wear. But stitched or crocheted into
one of the beanies is an S and then the other is AC.
And it's the only way to tell Sissy and CC apart.
And they've they've had to do that because they are completely
identical, OK, very, very large, thick brown eyebrows, quite soft
features for further mannerisms and their gait because they're
quite brawny, short women. They've quite welcoming faces.
Very and very, very soft, very well taken care of.
Like it's not. It's clear via looking at them
that both of these women have a skin regime and a face regime
and a hand regime. They take care of themselves.
Over the shawl you see the boats are wearing kind of leather
harness, a leather belt with various sort of bags and
compartments hanging off of it. That and they jangle and jostle
sort of as they manoeuvre and they both kind of half shove
each other out of the door. Yeah, the pair have kind of
they're jostling each other's kind of bee in front, even
though they're both and they As for as much as they've opened
the door, they haven't actually welcomed you in.
And there is a kind of a, you see it a flash across both their
faces as they would kind of go, oh, you're most welcome to bed
Bath and beholder. I'm CC, this is CC.
And they gesture for you and Una to follow in, and when you do,
they close the door. You find yourself in kind of a
lobby area and you see loads of different kind of passageways on
the West and eastern walls. There's a little desk and
there's a fire burning towards the kind of the back of the
room. There's a staircase leading up
that sort of just vanishes into the ceiling.
There's lots of plush carpets, rugs, chairs, cushions, all sort
of placed haphazardly round the lobby.
The pair sort of drift into the room, both kind of like picking
at each other as they do, and they turn back.
Oh, Una, it's so good to see you again.
And you've brought your sister and Una just kind of looks at
you and just kind of like makes eyes.
Uh, no, uh, Cece, uh, this is my daughter, Thea Burbidge.
Thea. You probably, uh, too young to,
to remember your father and I used to.
And she kind of gestures around the room, uh, looking for some
of them, maybe the antiques that they would have sold to the
sisters. We would have had trade with
both Sissy and Sissy Whistleback.
Did I? Did I meet them before?
Oh, you were Oh, Thea. Oh got you.
The one that fell into one of the bathing pools and we didn't
know for ages. And they're both elbowing each
other and Una is like, no, that wasn't Thea.
You would have been very small Thea.
Oh, like we came here. Well, we stopped by here the the
sisters have an eye for an antique.
I really, really don't remember. I I never thought I was up near
Galeshire before. Oh.
You were probably still a baby, sweetheart, that's all.
Yeah, nice to see you again. I'm sorry I don't remember it
you both, but it's really nice to meet you.
This is why I don't like babies and they're they're both kind of
agreeing with each other. Very rude when they grow up.
Oh, I'm sorry. No, the both of you look like
you've caught your up like and again, it's a thing of they look
at each other and they look at what you're wearing.
Hardly a tire for going out in this weather, climbing the
mountain. Uh, and Una just kind of nods
exactly CC and, and that's why I asked if you wouldn't mind
arranging. Oh no, all taken care of
everything you've asked for. Oona is up in your room.
We have your favorite spot picked out as always.
Uh, maybe maybe the, you know, your little one, maybe she could
do with a soak? A soak sounds really good
actually. Grant and maybe you want some
open blue cap mushrooms with a little bit of goat's cheese as
well and Una starts elbowing you.
That sounds really nice. Thank you.
And then Una just fixes, OK, Yeah, well, I OK, Well, Sissy,
why don't you take FIA to one of the pools and I'm just going to
check on our room. Remember to say no thank you.
OK. And Una just sort of skirts away
and kind of. You see her queen heading up the
stairs as the the two dwarven women descend upon you.
Now where did you say you were from again?
From Tesrap. Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah,
Una had mentioned. Alright then.
That Forest did actually open up that shop in the end.
Mind you, it wouldn't have been hardly.
You were addressed a bit of a correspondence.
We were always looking for a bit of an artifact.
Is the shop still there? Is it still going?
And they're now kind of guiding you down the hallway.
Yeah, my my brother runs it. Oh, your brother runs it.
Oh, that's right. He had the terrible business
with your father. Oh, very sorry you.
You know, it was just, it was, it was sad, but you know, my
brother and I managed. You did?
Sure you'd had to. Yeah.
Yeah, you did. Yeah, very hard now to get over
something like that, I suppose. Losing appearances is is quite
sad, yeah. Tis, tis.
Yeah. Oh.
And it took a, took an awful lot out of Una as well.
And they kind of they've, you've headed down one of the western
passageways. You do see these sort of small
little alcoves and grooves in the walls where there are little
bowls with candles sitting. The heat in here is immense.
It's it's quite nice in comparison to what you've
experienced. I'd say I can start to feel it
like seeping in between my joints, you know, at this stage.
That that cold perished gone even that aching numb you woke
up with this morning thing of the past there is but that again
the entire time we're like ah, wait, that smell that.
That I keep, I keep putting the the I, I, it's almost nearly
become like almost like a comfort in a way.
Now that little pouch that I got.
Oh yeah, and you're, you're taking watts on that.
Yeah. There are all these kind of
smaller little passageways off this western hallway and you can
hear water running now just gooseberry.
I I think the gooseberry says, Oh yeah, that'll that'll do her
wonders. Absolute wonders.
A little bit of gooseberry. I think probably the hottest
pool as well actually. By a rashes.
Say no more. I was thinking the exact same
thing. And CC splinters off and you see
her disappear behind a small door and there's a clacking of
glass and you hear like the odd thud and crunch and it sounds
like she's operating some heavy machinery behind the door.
Sissy leads you down one of these side little passageways.
The floor here is actually a little bit wet and you can
actually see kind of moisture seeping in through the rock.
That sort of sandstone and clay facade on the outside had been
carried into that main chamber and down those small side
chambers. But here off these these little
annex sort of passageways, you you clearly are in the mountain
at some you're in some part of the mountain and you can hear
the rushing of the water here. And as you as Sissy kind of
guides you, you hear those mechanisations from the room
seem to kind of move with you as you are.
And you can kind of hear a little valves opening in the
odds kiss of steam and you are LED into a kind of a small room
that lights up kind of as you come in.
Now it's ambient light. Yes, you are in, but it's it's
like a Little Rock pool and you can see kind of steps have been
kind of carved down into it. And there is there's it's about
half full. It this is where the light is
actually coming from. The stone actually lights up a
little bit. You can see a couple of glyphs
and runes all sort of brighten as you approach and Sissy takes
a small little tuning fork from under her smock and she just
kind of taps it against one of the stones and you hear quite an
audible hum and it just resonates around this space and
it's quite a relaxing sound that just seems to be caught as it
reverberates all around overhead.
That sort of clunking, clanking of metal and pipe.
You see a small little hole on the far back wall and I've just
opened and a trickle of water first followed by a spurt.
And now there is a stream of piping hot water just sort of
meandering and coiling it's way like a river wood all over the
rock into the pool. And immediately steam starts to
rise off of it. And there is the strongest smell
of berries at first and then you, there's a faint smell of
aniseed, uh, as well. And it is that thing of like as,
as the aroma kind of hits you, uh, you just hear somewhere
somehow the sounds of C CS voice sort of rattling and echoing
through a pipe. I think she liked a bit of that
aniseed stuff. She was huffing it on the
hallway the whole way down. So I put a little bit of that
and could think in CC Yeah, you can leave your belongings over
here. And she just gestures to a small
little alcove, like carved into the the rock as well.
Do you want those freshened up? Burned.
Umm, when she says that, via thinks of like she's become very
attached to this little pouch. It's like it's almost become
like a little crutch. And then she remembers the
flower. It's like, no, no, I just leave
my I'll take care of those, please.
No, thank you. As you wish.
There's a little, and she gestures to a small little bell
sitting against the just just sitting on a piece of rock next
to the pool. If you need anything.
And we'll have those blue cap mushrooms with a little bit of
the goat's cheese brought down to you as well.
Now, can I get you anything else?
Do you want a little bit sweeter?
A little bit of spiced meat? Do you want a little bit of
honeycomb? No, thank you.
You. Are you sure or not?
Absolutely no bother at all whatsoever.
I have a lovely bit of venison. It's been curried now for a
couple of weeks. No thank you, potatoes, no thank
you. Honey.
No, thank you. Fresh towels?
Nope. You haven't even used them.
What? A bit?
I'm just getting ahead of myself.
Sorry. It's just a run.
You'll have to excuse us. We're we're all about
hospitality around here. Right?
Off you go. Now you get yourself ready for
the little and I'll ring the bell.
You know it's right there. And she picks it up and she goes
Ling Ling, Ling Ling Ling, you ring that bell and either myself
or CC will come running. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll walk
as quick as we possibly can and we'll get you whatever you need.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Now we're going to go check on
your mother to see if she needs anything.
And she sort of like does that thing where she kind of waits
for a moment or two just to see if you change your mind, and
then she turns on her heel and heads down the passageway.
So I wait till they're like I the the steps are quite far
away. And then I slowly, I turn around
and I, I, I just, I take in the space by myself for a while and
I just, I take a deep inhale and then I slowly start taking my
things off and being very careful about where I put the
pouch and the flower. And I, I, I kind of put them
under the clothes and just put the clothes gently on top of
them. Just these little, just she's
very, I'm very aware of the movements I'm making right now
and just taking my time in those little moments before getting
into the water and actually finally exhaling.
When you do, it is hot like the water is.
I mean, it's not boiling, but it's kind of hotter maybe than
you had at first anticipated. So it is that thing of as you
put a foot in, but then you kind of let yourself sort of slide
and sink into the, the rock pool there.
It has been carved into the mountain itself.
The water continues to run down that little sort of carved path,
uh, out of the, the rock face that you saw it, but the pool
never overflows. It seems to be sort of seeping
through somewhere and as you sort of sink into it and you
feel your whole body relax and the smell of gooseberries, that
little hint of aniseed, all sort of drifting upwards.
You do feel your body just loosen entirely, like all that
tension you are carrying as the as the heat seeps further in and
you kind of let go of carrying it, you do feel recovered to a
point you can take one point of exhaustion off.
Max hit points are not no longer halved.
OK, well you'll still so they'll.
Still be low they're. Still had half, but you've now
got full HP, Yeah. Except you've.
Yeah, there's a better way of explaining that.
But you're on half hit points. But you have maximum hit points,
yeah, if that makes sense. I I can go back to my Max if I
if I? Yes, yeah.
For your rest. OK, perfect.
Thank you. You're welcome.
That's going to cost you an arm and a leg.
Figuratively or literally? Well, we're about to find out.
You. Yeah.
In this moment as you feel the weight of the last couple of
weeks, just as you're able to put it down, actually I think
it's a better way of maybe going hasn't gone away.
But as you're lying there and you are sort of half floating,
what's going through Fia's mind? She's trying to not let anything
go through her mind right now, OK?
Because like you said, she has been holding and carrying that
for so long and using her energy even in a way to hold it back.
So she's trying to like just let her mind rest in terms of like
if thoughts are coming in, she's she's trying to, you know,
mindfulness, trying to like just let the the thought move past
her and not give it attention And really just focusing on like
even just focusing on her body as it is now.
Give me a wisdom saving through oh great, just just or actually
give me you can insight if you want insight.
Yeah, because OK, 16 or 16? OK, that's my tallest.
You've like it is one of those things as as all these different
thoughts sort of try and resurface AJ no.
The king in the assassination, No Hafesta, Nate No.
What happened in Galeshire? What happened in Warmnook?
What happened in Littlehorn? What happened in Tesrab?
What happened in Erb? As all these things sort of
bubble up to the surface, you are able to sort of just sort of
shove them over onto a pile. It's like, no.
I acknowledge you're there, but I'm not right now.
I'm not, yeah. I'm not dealing with you now.
Now it's and it is the thing. It is your own awareness of
yourself and your body that that's the thing that you're
holding. That's your anchor.
And this, that's what's keeping all the other things away.
But there is a thought that sort of rises and just lingers.
It's the it's what CC Sissy, whichever one of them said it
was thing your father and for us isn't somebody you give a lot of
thought to. You don't like to think back on
those memories and for them to come up now it is a thing of
it's, it's a little harder to shove that one away, but it
does. You're able to kind of just no,
not now, not at this moment. And you do kind of push it to
one side along with the rest of those things that kind of come
up. Yeah, and I think especially for
Thea, for a bit like insight into her, it's like there is a
certain detachment when it comes to her dad because her and Quila
were alone for so long. So when thoughts of a father or
something comes into her head, she sees Quila first.
He always flashes first, and then she remembers her actual
father. Then afterwards he's a secondary
kind of. So it's the first time in a long
time that he's been a first thought.
Sometime passes, you're not sure how much or, or what, but again,
occasionally you, you do hear like there's like kind of a, oh,
just checking, just checking. And then like there is a plate
of those blue cap mushrooms with a little bit of goat's cheese
stuffing, uh, sort of slid into the room and else a little, I
put a little bit of bread on the side.
I didn't ask fresh, but it's homemade bread.
I put a little bit of on the side for you.
And occasionally and it, they're the, the twistlebacks love, love
to sell hospitality, but they're also aware that people come here
to relax. So it's not that they're
bothering, it's just that when they do bother, they bother a
lot. Yeah, some time passes and again
you do feel the rejuvenating effects of, uh, the natural
spring sort of just take effect in you and that your body feels
a little bit more limber. If you feel a little bit more
alert, you feel a little bit closer to yourself.
And it's only when you kind of hear Una kind of calling out
that you kind of come to and she's standing in the, the kind
of the doorway to your little cave rock pool.
And uh, she's wearing kind of a plush pink robe with slippers
and like her hair is wrapped up in a plush pink towel.
Like it, you know, it's very thick, it's very heavy looking.
She kind of just looks at you. I I think I needed that.
Yes, nice. Are you ready for bed?
Yeah, I'll, I'll give me a few minutes.
I'll I'll join you. OK, umm, we're, we're leaving at
first light. We have enough supplies to make
the journey, so whenever you're ready.
Yeah, I'll join you in a few minutes.
She kind of, she turns to go and you see her kind of hesitate and
then she kind of walks away anyway.
I kind of sit there for another 2 minutes because I, I, I don't
want to move taken out with this moment right now that I do find
the energy in myself to get out and like dry myself off.
And I, I, I, I checked the ropes.
Do they have pockets in them? There are that, there's Yours is
a very, very garish faux snow leopard print robe.
Gorgeous. Umm, And you know, looking into
the modeling of spots, but it it's pink again, but you have
that sort of leopard print motif through your robe.
They do. They've very deep plush pockets
in them. I just put my two peat bits into
the pockets and I pick up the plate the mushrooms because I,
I've been slowly nibbling at them because it's, it's like
that thing, you know, when you're sick and you, this is the
first time you eat rich food again.
And it's like you're really taking your time because like, I
feel like I know I probably won't throw up, but I feel like
I could throw up if I rush this too much.
So I've been slowly nibbling on those.
And then I have my clothes and my other arm.
OK. You you're heading kind of.
Yeah, up and out. It is, I think as as you make
your way back into the lobby, CC kind of approached, Oh, I'll,
I'll take that. And she kind of goes for the
plate. Oh.
I'm I'm I'm not finished. Yet she's still holding onto it.
Oh yeah, But we generally don't allow food in the rooms and
she's trying to try to wrestle the plate from you.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, you don't. First room hospitality.
The guest is always right. You can take that up to your
room. Oh, thank you so much.
You. Just don't tell Sissy, don't
tell Sissy what, and Sissy kind of appears.
I put behind all the plate behind my back.
Oh, she was just offering to wash my clothes and I said no,
not to worry. Oh, OK, I don't know.
OK, well, good night, Una. Nope, sorry.
You just, you just look so alike, Thea.
Good night. Thank you so much for taking
care of us. You're most welcome.
And as I'm walking, I I'm like moving the plate slowly that
it's like 180° away from Sissy. Our sleight of hand, yes.
A sleight of hand. Yeah, yeah, that's in that one.
Yeah, it's that you go to turn and you bang the plate into like
the banister and like a load of blue cat mushrooms kind of fall
off of it. And she looks she looks to CC CC
looks back at her. They both look at you.
Oh, oh, I forgot to get that place off via there via Oh, oh,
I'm such an idiot. And CC kind of goes over and
like starts to pick up the the Oh, sorry, it's fine.
Just give. Me the plate.
Just give me the plate. I give her the plate and I like
like it up the stairs. You do hear a, uh, there is an
argument breaking out between the sisters and their, There's a
reason why we have no food in the rooms policy, but it was
just a one off thing and you know it.
It was being extra nice and extra hospitable, uh, breaking
out as you scatter upstairs, uh, the remnants of the mushrooms,
sort of like on the step. Yeah.
You see again, there's quite a, it's quite an expensive like it.
It's the second floor of this building and you do see a small
little hallways leading off in all kind of directions.
Uh, here the roof is, it's very much the, the mountain again,
but that sort of that damp from the hallways isn't here.
It's quite a dry, warm heat emanating from this space and
you do see at the end of one of the corridors a crack of light,
uh, just sort of peering out from an open door.
I, I take my time and I, I just, I walk slowly towards that door.
I'm assuming that's where where Una is.
Yeah, it is. As you head inside, you see that
Una is already kind of in bed next to her and it's quite a,
it's quite a large room and it's 2 double beds with dozens of
pillows and throws and blankets on it.
There's a heavy, hard mahogany dresser with all sorts of little
complimentary lotions and potions and ointments and creams
and serums all sort of again, all with the bed bath and
beholder, uh, logo on it and you've AI could.
Just imagine it as like ABB and an eye.
Kinda yeah. The eyes AB as well.
There's a yeah you see a couple have been used.
You can see them kind of. You can see the stuff's gone out
of them. Una's belongings that what she'd
come in is in a pile on in one corner of the room.
Next though you do see 2 heavy leather packs and there's some
weapons and stuff laid out on the floor next to them.
There's well there's a set of daggers next to one and then
next to the other one there is only one dagger.
And Una is lying in the bed, kind of the blankets pulled up
to her and she's under quite a few of these heavy blankets.
As you clamber into your bed, you just hear a good night for
you. Good night.
And as you kind of climb in under the nest of blankets and
pillows, the light in the room slowly kind of fades out.
You hear a rustling sound coming from Una's bed.
And as she kind of turns to to face you and you can just see
her looking at you from where you're lying.
When my eyes kind of like, say, lock on hers, they only lock for
a second because it feels quite awkward to the end.
She's like trying to look anywhere else and then she I
turn over onto my other side to go asleep.
Just that feels awkward. Again, it's a case of even with
the, you know, the soak, even with the, the bath, you feel
that tiredness just take hold. Uh, and like almost losing
yourself under the blankets and on the mattress and everything
is so soft and everything is so warm.
Uh, that heat sort of quickly pulls you to sleep.
It's the same. It's the same space you found
yourself in the day before, or that morning when you tried to
fall asleep. That's suspended in darkness.
And while you don't feel as pressed upon by it, you do see
coming from the darkness, just these two huge eyes staring down
at you. Give me a wisdom saving through.
So was a 15 as my lowest. You just the I it's as if
they're getting closer to you. And as you kind of this building
sense of dread and fear and the need to get away, the need to to
run. But where do you run when you're
surrounded by darkness? You just hear a voice call out.
Yeah. And you hear AJ.
And then you feel a hand on you and Una is sort of gently
rocking you awake. Fear.
Oh. Sorry, are you trying to wake me
up for a while or? You were talking in your sleep.
Really. Oh, sorry, I didn't think I did
that. What was I saying?
You were mumbling. I I couldn't quite make out
exactly what you were saying, but I think you were just having
a battery. Oh, OK, sorry.
I did I wake you? As you, as your eyes kind of
adjust and you see that she's fully dressed, She's in her,
she's in like, uh, she's wearing heavy brown and black leather
armor, uh, thick pants. And you see that she's pulled on
a coat over herself, a kind of a thick coat with a kind of a fur
trim. We have to get up anyway.
It's it's almost time to go. Oh yeah, OK, sorry.
I get up when I start, I suppose, looking around for like
clothes like. She's laid, yeah.
No, she's laid out a very similar outfit.
It's just leather armour, pants, a heavy coat, thick boots and
there's a pack to one side. Do you do you might.
I'll. I'll get dressed and join you if
you don't mind giving me a few minutes.
We don't have a few minutes. I mean, just I'll meet you
downstairs if you just let me change.
She stands to one end of the room and she just turns her
back. Like a change, twice she has her
back turned on. Just I organize my two things
that I have. I put one, I hide one of them
away, but the pouch I tie onto my belt.
I kind of want to keep that close.
OK. It's it's it's it's it really
has become kind of like a little crotch in a way.
OK. And what?
Sorry. Did that count as a long rest as
well? No, No, I did not.
OK, fair. You don't like you've it's a
short rest like it wasn't the foot.
I know you only need half the amount of time, but.
I'd half to half. Well, in terms of quality, yeah,
it's that. It's that thing when you kind of
go think about it, you're like, I should be rested.
I feel like I've was in a deep trance, a deep sleep.
I was in a deep space. It's only when you can't think
about it. Actually give me another wisdom
saving through. Oh gosh, you're mad about these
wisdom saving throws? It's double 13, so UH-15.
It's like that sense of deja vu that you had earlier when Una
told you to keep, uh, quiet, to keep low, keep out of sight.
Hmm. When you think back to the dream
or the nightmare that Una said you were having, you remember
the darkness. But there is the weirdest,
strangest sense of Deja vu off of that as well.
It's I've been there before, haven't I?
And it's as you're kind of pulling everything on and
everything is, I mean, nothing is a perfect fit.
It's on and you can, you can wear it, but it feels a little
baggier than you would. But you do you see that Like
when you kind of turn to, you know, that you've kind of
dressed, you see that she has little leather strips and she
helps tie off kind of where the pants are a little bit baggy.
She pulls them in a little bit just so that nothing is
catching. Catching, yeah, yeah.
We have to go. OK, where are we going?
There's a safe house, friends of mine will meet us there and
they're going to take us into. Facade.
You've been listening to Romance in the Dungeon with Louise as
Thea and me Declan, your Dungeon Master.
There's something about playing DND one-on-one that I think
drastically changes the game and doing so with Louise has made it
so much more fun. There isn't a lot of stress when
it comes to, oh there is. There's so much stress coming
for you this way. But that's that's a spoil.
I'll shut up. Big thank you to Stephen Tynan
and Abby Sore for our theme song Fight for Each other.
Title cards and artwork is by Dicey Designs.
All of their links are below in the episode description.
So do please make sure you check them out follow us on social
media at DA dungeon pop over to our discord and wherever you're
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Maybe you've a friend, but. Wants to listen to a Software
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that I throw at them. If you're not following us over
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Thursday that do make sure you check out all the different
shows that they're including our Saving Grace Season 2.
So for any fans of Grace Stormfield, she's back, but
she's not out of danger. That's it for us for another
episode. We're back in two weeks time.
We'll see you then. The word's gone from my head.
I don't know where it's gone, but there's a word for that
where you get like enclosed. It's not engraved, but the word
is gone. It's gone.
Embossed. No, it's not embossed either.
Is it embossed? No, that's the point.