You're listening to Romancing the Dungeon, a softcore DND
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 and not the thirsty
softcore kind, in case that's what you're here for.
Content warnings for specific episodes can be found in the
episode's description. We'll find our way in the game
that we're playing. We won't be pushed over.
Previously on romancing the dungeon not for not Lorette and
but there was two of us. Yeah, I don't know where Rune
is. This is me, boss Ronnie, and
this is me, other boss, Claudine.
Absolutely pleasure to have you here.
Welcome, welcome. Welcome to our little community,
our little coven, our little artisan creative space.
Thank you so much for trusting us to take you to safety.
No one has believed me. It's just so unnerving to have
people believe that I didn't do it.
Everybody here has a shadow, something that chases them,
something that haunts them. We have a job that we think you
would be absolutely perfect for. Tell me, Thea, how could it?
You disappear Thea as you are wrangled into
this very, very dark wagon, Claudine and Ronnie kind of
shoving in behind you. But first, it's a bit ghastly,
right? What the hell?
But it's a lot of mannequins all wearing kind of like loads of
different like, regalia and costumes, some some big and
shiny, some very small and risque.
There's a bang of Olga flopping bottoms off one or two that
brings back kind of a flush to your cheeks.
And a shiver down my spine. OK, sugar, you have a look
through whatever it is that you want, whatever kind of catches
your eye. Ronnie, Ronald, Ronnie is kind
of like staring at you and he's staring at some of the costumes,
kind of like eyeballing one or two of the of the other kind of.
And, and like she kind of grabs him by the ear.
We'll let you get dressed in some privacy.
There is a light round here somewhere.
And you see, she kind of half taps the wall, the door opens
and she shoves Ronnie out. And it was like, Monsieur, I was
just her pinsy lady. Look for something to wear over
her shoulder. Not too long, mind you.
Daylight's burning. You've got a performance to do,
a town to impress, a whole caravan of performers to impress
as well. You, you, you.
You really want me up on on stage?
Yes, straight away. Straight away.
We work here for our food. At our shots.
It's Jimmy lit. It's not pitch dark in here.
Like your eyes have kind of adjusted.
Of dark vision as well. Even with the dark vision, it's
very hard to see things like there is a faint light from like
a little kind of. Like a crack or something.
Window like, you know, I can see it's kind of on a lip.
OK, so there's a little light coming in.
This is obviously to protect the costumes from kind of sun damage
and stuff like that. But yeah, you do.
There are, there's some really kind of bejeweled and bedazzled
sort of sequins, sequins, sequins, gowns.
It's not the first time you've stumbled on.
That, but, yeah. And then there's full armor,
like you can see that and they've taken chunks out of it.
Like there's that's paint. That's definitely paint.
That's not blood. You're not going to look at it.
Yeah, as you kind of rifle through the rack.
Little bits here and there catch my eye, like the the ones with
all the sparkles. I'm kind of like, Oh no, I'll
move those to the side. The skimpy ones, I'll move even
faster to the side. On the floor, on the floor as
back. They they don't exist.
And I guess my hands start falling on ones that are a
little bit more, I guess not a standout ish.
Like I know the performers obviously like in Fuse has like,
OK, obviously they want me to wear something that stands out,
but I kind of want to also still be wearing something that I can
kind of disappear in as well, something that fits, something
that fits and just make her feel comfortable that she can like
disappear in. Give me a perception check.
That's a not 20 for 30 total. Yeah, you are rifling through
there's a couple of wizard costumes or what you know, you'd
imagine kids with, you know, like storybooks that you've
seen, uh, really sort of over the top kind of clown costumes
that kind of run the, the gamut of like whimsical kind of
mystical clown to that that stuff of nightmares, that clown
costume. There's more costumes here than
there is performers. That's again and maybe they've
alternates maybe. People have come and gone.
Maybe you? Know, yeah, that kind of like,
wow, there's a there's a lot here and as you are kind of
rifling through it, it's really strange.
You you come across it's just a vest when you pick it up when
you go to pick it up, it is heavy.
Like it's incredibly heavy. And the inside of it, you just
see all these metal plates with all kinds of manners of like
cabling and like stuff that like, remember that time you
were in Marilla's Fortress of Aptitude?
Right, OK. Just it's that same sort of like
OK, but it's very. A little bit artificy gives
those vibes, yes. Yeah, OK.
Like, so it's not, it's not just kind of like costumes for play
or costume This, this and like it does it.
There is kind of a, like I said, there is a hefty weight in it as
you kind of go to lift it. Whoever was wearing this clearly
carried themselves. There's nothing else with it.
It's just, it's just a vest. And then you hear a voice just
it did. It's that thing of is that did
someone Call My Name? Did someone outside say what?
You kind of wait, and then there's just silence and
something kind of catches your eye.
Further back. You can see a shoulder and you
can see this plume of jet black, inky Navy feathers just kind of
poking out. And there's a rustling and your
eyes are drawn to this silhouette.
The mannequin. The costume is on a mannequin.
There's something about it that like just you can't take your
eyes off of it. And then it almost seems to turn
to face you. Little bird, Give me a piece of
your heart. I will and show you.
This is the voice that kind of been asking questions of the a
couple. Of weeks, this voice that you've
been hearing, sometimes in dreams, sometimes in the middle
of the day, you feel its presence.
There is something back there. I think as well because like
Theo was suffering exhaustion and stuff the previous times
that she heard it, like she thought it was a thing of her
imagination. Where is now?
Hearing it now when she's rested, a little bit of fear
sinks into her. Who are you?
I am. Someone you always know.
But you still haven't told me who you are.
Search and you hear this fluttering of wings and there's
just this stillness in the caravan.
I guess I'm really, I'm trying to shake it off because I'm
like, I'm really creeped out. You move and you hear the
jostling of jewellery and feathers.
You're wearing a costume. Then I'm even more freaked out
and I just like, I guess now that I'm dressed I just kind of
want to get out of here as quick as I can.
Probably stumbling over stuff as I'm going, just wanting to get
away. As you do like you do, you kind
of spill into kind of cup of the mannequins and like a small box
of kind of trinkets kind of spills over.
You clamber to your feet and as you kind of look up, you are
looking into a mirror. You're wearing this feather and
lace costume. These shoulders are accentuated
by plumes of black and Navy feathers.
There is a plunging neckline that is filled with silver
jewelry that is tied and cinched at the waist by a black and
purple leather corset. It feeds into kind of a
bodysuit, but there is a long split skirt that traces just
kind of below your knee and you're wearing a black lace
mask. Very much freaked out by the not
remembering putting these clothes on this this entity
that's been around her is it's she is literally just freaked
out looking at herself in the mirror and stumbling to get out
of this wagon. You reach for the door and you
spill out and like the air hits you and you feel fill your lungs
and like there is just a whistle.
Then she's so pretty. She's she's a picture of the
night. And then people kind of turn to
look and you see there are a couple of the other kind of
performers, Nana Sykes, rash all kind of turn to look.
Nana has just given you two big thumbs up.
The Claudine kind of maneuvers over towards you.
I don't recognize that one. It was in there.
Well, no. If if it's in there and it fits
and you're happy and you look well, you you look prettier than
a picture. Thanks.
I'm, I'm coming to think of it. And she takes a step back and
she got it's, I think she, she kind of goes to take you all in
Ronnie. And she kind of like, she
gestures out to him and she kind of holds her hand out.
He wanders up, eyes to the ground.
Why do you think I like I whistled?
And immediately Claudine goes to give him a clatter and like he
starts. He kind of laughs.
She laughs. You are the image of your
mother. I don't know if Claudine picks
it up, but my face kind of drops a little bit.
So Ronnie and I have a couple of the caravans to finish off some
last minute supplies that we need to bring with us.
I have asked that Nixie and Willow maybe show you a little
bit of what they do, introduce you to some of the others.
You're going on last. You've plenty of time to think
about that final act of yours. Sophia.
Yeah, obviously it's your debut. We want you to close out the
show. I don't.
Know what I'm going to do? I just want to remind you, we
want to finish with a bit of oomph and pizzazz.
And Una, could you know that little disappearing trick of
hers? Mother like daughter, right?
Yeah, but I I can't do it as far as she can.
Oh, just away from the crowd, behind the curtain.
Whatever. Wherever it is that.
It has to be somewhere I can see.
Off stage then you'll be fine. Just vomph and you're gone.
Now, remember, we want the crowds on their feet.
That means more money. That means chips.
That means fuller bellies. Do you have a bow and arrow
arrows by chance? I look you ask Nixie or Willow,
they'll get you sorted with whatever it is that you are
looking for, bow and arrow. Ronnie kind of shrugs in.
Maybe it could be very sexy, who knows.
Claudine was in a rolls her eyes and the two of them kind of
wander. You see them, they kind of
wander off. Sykes and Nana are loading stuff
onto a carve and it just seems to be like kind of props and
kind of parts of the stage, kind of for decoration all the time.
Rash is just looking at you. You.
Have a little wave to rash. He kind of and turns his head
and like goes into the one of the kind of the tents and comes
out with a case in his jaw and like hands it to Nana who starts
loading onto a wagon. I go over to to to Nana briefly.
I just want to see, oh just just a chat real quick I guess.
So I make my way across. I know I have to go and meet
Willow and that like Bush, I just want to quickly chat to
her. Well, well, well.
Look at the legs on her legs 211.
I'm kind of try and pull the slick closed on the skirt.
I'm just wondering are are you are you sticking around or are
you leaving now? Then I'm here.
No, we we're fixed here for a while.
Oh, that's good. At least I'll have a couple of
faces here that I know. Like Nana looks around.
No, they're you've met Ronnie and Claudine.
I don't remember them. No, no, but like you, like you
met them today, like they're. I know I'm still getting used to
them and stuff. They're good folk.
They're like, do you think, do you think the three of us would
be here if we? That's not what I'm saying at
all. I'm just saying it's just nice
to see faces that I no and have known.
Gotcha, that's all. Umm, I, I, I don't know if, if,
would you know if anyone who could help me contact my friends
with magic or something? I guess I I want to make sure
they're OK. Nana and Sykes look at each
other. Probably best fear that you
maybe wait to visage you know before you do that.
Oh yeah. It and maybe, maybe don't say it
to Claudine or Ronnie. They get a bit uppity when it
comes to security for the troop. No.
Oh, yeah, you're, you're right. Yeah, OK.
Sorry. No.
No, I'm, I'm, I'm not going to say that to anybody.
Yeah, OK. I'll talk to you later, I guess.
And I kind of, all right, walk away a little bit defeated.
Yeah, I got to find Nixie and Willow.
The troop is quite big, but not so big that you can't kind of
find your way around. And there is, there's a kind of
a smattering of some tents and outside it and inside some of
the other performers are checking over bits and pieces.
And you find Dixie and Willow. Well, they're walking a
tightrope, but it's made of water.
I just, I kind of stop fascinated by it and enthralled
by what they're doing and really just admiring it.
Willow is on her toes and it is it's that kind of on on point,
on point for the kind of it's that she's that high up and she
has one hand out and Nixie is resting on that with her hands
and they're walking straight. On the other hand, you see
Willow has kind of this is what she's using to control the water
and there is just these plumes of clouds and fog just rolling
out of Nixie as the two kind of move across it.
When you see them reach the end, it's that thing where Nixie
falls like she drops wraps herself around a Willow coiling
herself. The pair land and Nixie is in
Willow's arms. They both kind of giggle to each
other. I just, I can't, I think I break
into like applause just straight away seeing them.
Oh, you're too kind. Yeah, no worries.
That was amazing and makes me terrified of having to close the
show. That's just a warm up.
Oh, even more so now. And yeah, and then Willow kind
of just like, jabs Nixie. Don't mind her.
Yes, we're warming up, but that's part of the ACT.
It's just got to be loose and limber.
I'm Willow. You've heard Nixie.
Yeah, nice to meet you again. So first time performing.
Eh, ever. Yeah.
Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be honest with you via that I can
tell you are a bag of nerves. Yeah, you shouldn't be.
I think you look. Hot.
Yeah, that's not good if I fall flat on my face.
The best performers fall flat on their face all the time.
Oh gosh, just make it look sexy. Oh God, I can't do that.
You. What are you?
What are you good at? Like what?
What do you? What's your thing?
What's your gimmick? I'm quite good at firing arrows.
And that's a performance that you.
I've never performed. I don't know.
I like, I, I'm good at like, I don't know, doing a few
somersaults and stuff like when I'm like jumping across roofs
and things like that. And but really, really my skill
is like in like pamping here and there and shooting arrows and
stuff. OK, So what if you were to jump
off of things and fire arrows at the same time?
Like death defying stuff. I've never tried that before.
Well, there's always today. Kind of like practice.
Yeah, I think there's and kind of Willow looks around and you
kind of see a couple of some of the other performers.
There's a drow gentleman in the corner, just the rowing knives.
So he throws a knife up into the air and then he sends out a
flurry of blades and they ricochet off each other.
They hit multiple targets. Over to the other side, you see
a human gentleman. Justy red hair, thickest mutton
chops you've ever like you've ever seen.
He's sat on the floor and there's this array of cards and
there's a crystal ball in front of him.
He looks up at you, gives you a wink, and then sticks out his
tongue. And it is silver.
I don't mind Sheamus. He thinks he can see the future.
Can you see this, Sheamus? And Willow flips him off, and
then he flips her off back and the both of them just kind of
start laughing. Nixie comes back and she has
these two tall columns. They kind of look like, you
know, those ancient Greek pillars.
We could probably put these up in front of like a ladder and
you could jump off of. You're OK with heights, right?
Yeah. OK, I think this one.
And she goes to kind of lift it and now she does like you just
see kind of the air whoosh around her and the prop kind of
wobbles back and forth. It's about 15 feet tall.
OK, And the other one, Willow and the two went together.
Hold it up. And it is.
It's 25 feet tall. OK Oh wow this is terrifying.
Do we have a bow and arrows? A talent you, you did that arrow
thing before the incident, right?
It wasn't an incident. It was one death and it was an
accident. Colored drains from Phea's face.
I can't. He just laughs.
They didn't die, I just, they lost a little, a little piece of
their ear. And you do see Seamus kind of
just like fluff up some of the button shop to try and crush it
into his hair and cover his ear. They all kind of have a little
kind of a shorten to themselves. There's a trunk and he kind of
gestures over his shoulder. I kind of have a little bit of
fear of that person now and I just, I, I start jugging off
towards looking for a trunk. Give me a perception check.
Uh, a natural 20. It's a little bit like the
caravan. No, it's tough is in order, but
there's a there's a lot of stuff and there's a lot of chests and
boxes. You do come across kind of a
kind of a long trunk that there is a load of holes and things
scratched into it. You do see etched into it in the
same way that a teenager would in their copy book, the name
Talon. And then property of it kind of
looks like one of the Forever Rock T-shirts, you know, And
that's sort of like, yeah, where edgy and cool.
Cool. Yeah, yeah.
You lift up the clasp and again, yeah, there is all manner of
like crossbow. There's a couple of dart guns,
there's a couple of whips, there is a sharp bow, there's a
Longbow. Some are broken, some don't have
a string, but you do. There there is and there's a,
there's a couple of quivers of arrows.
As you're kind of rummaging through, you can hear somebody
muttering, mumbling to themselves.
I got to keep rummaging, but I want to kind of throw more of an
ear towards that mumbling to see if I can pick up anything.
Evans OK, OK. What wasn't?
What was it?
OK, so it was. Hands are out, air goes up, then
the cog, and then you hear something drop and there's just
as a ringing sound. Oh.
I slowly turn an eye towards that where the noise is coming
from, just to not like startle them.
You turn you, they're obviously they're not in this tent, but
they're behind it. They're obviously outside on the
at the back of it. You, you can kind of make out
very faintly A silhouette and they're fidgeting with
something. I I I go out to to to have a
look and and and see them are are sorry are you are you OK?
Oh, uh, and in that there is just this clanging sound again.
Can I try like go in and try and help stop stuff dropping after I
feel like I've scared this person?
Give me an acrobatics check. Yeah, just to kind of like flit
in and see how you get on. Yes, 17.
It's in that moment that you kind of slip out of the tent,
short bow and arrows at your side, moving around to the back.
And they are they're they're at the edge of the tree line.
You can see that there's this kind of a small clearing where
there are these kind of boxes and there's lots of little
things like dolls, weird. They, they, they look, they're
made of like metal and stuff. And they're all at kind of
different heights. They all look kind of slightly
different. But in the kind of the middle of
these, you do see a kind of a scraggly looking gentleman, pale
green skin and this kind of long spindling tail like droops.
These two horns kind of jut out of the top of their heads, and
you can just see this kind of swath of like, messy curls.
They turn and there's a flash of worry in these hazelnut brown
eyes. And you see a thiefling
gentleman, and he seems to have been trying to fix something or
repair something. And it looks like a doll, but it
looks kind of like a little ballerina.
You swoop in at the last second, catching it before it fell.
It falls to the ground. Oh.
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.
Oh, please, please. And he kind of he go.
He goes street. I, I, I it's almost perfect.
I, I, I, I, you have you. You can, you can tell Ronnie and
Claudine. I, I, I, I.
It's almost fixed. No, it's OK, don't worry.
I, I'm, I'm. I get nervous too.
I heard you dropped something and I wanted to make sure you
were OK. I'm only new here.
And he goes to kind of, he takes the doll from you as you were
talking to me. He goes to check it to see if
it's OK, you're OK. I know you're OK.
And he kind of, he goes to put her back on like you see that
she was going to be sitting on this.
It's a, it is a tower of, of boxes, but there is a cushion on
it. They're little.
They look like you've seen these little clockwork automatons
before. Your dad would have them
sometimes in the shop. They're these little sort of,
you remember, even maybe a toy or two that Quillo could have
had and that they would move. And then suddenly there were
someone came with little enchantments and they could do a
little bit more. He wipes his eyes and he kind
of, you see him kind of adjust some kind of spectacles over
them. Hello.
And he, he holds a hand out to you.
I take it and I shake it, and I smile gently at him.
I'm I'm. I'm.
I'm.
I'm Silas.
I, I, I, I, I I'm. I'm a, I'm in the and you are.
I'm Thea, it's nice to meet you. Very good.
I, I'm almost, I'm almost finished.
I, I, I, I I've checked them. They're, they're, they're all,
they're all working. They're all, they're all
working. They're all good.
They're really beautiful. Thank you I.
Yeah, I thought that. They remind me of ones I saw
when I was a child. Actually though, I think yours
are far more intricate than what I saw before.
You're you're you're you're just being kind these.
Are no, no, I'm being honest. It's true.
I have to go back. I have to finish.
But thank you. Yeah.
No worries and I'm sure you'll do great and I'll talk to you
later, OK? And he kind of goes back to kind
of fixing and adjusting. I I take off back to Nixie and
Willow. So why don't you try catch me
for once? And you see the two of them,
and, like, Willow kind of hops into Nixie's arms, and Nixie
kind of goes to drop her. They kind of see you and they
start laughing. Yeah, We were thinking maybe you
could like backflip off of one of these, you know, like do a
tumble, do a roll. It's just shooting targets and
jumping and they kind of point over at the drow who is back
flipping and rolling and throwing knives.
I. Don't know what else to do.
Like I mean I know I have to earn my key but even if there's
something I could do in the background and help others, I I
don't like the spotlight at all. I'm not very good in it and.
Yeah, Claudine and Ronnie Arden going to leave you in the back.
But I can do other stuff. I can.
I can like whatever else like. It's fine.
Go climb. Uh, we have, we've ladders, we
put, we put ladders in and you do you see that while you were
looking for the bow and you had, uh, you were chatting to Silas
Outback. They have.
They've fixed 3 ladders against a 25 foot pillar, 15 foot pillar
and a 5 foot pillar is. There any targets or stuff
around the place as well because like, I mean, there's no point
in shooting arrows I suppose if there's no target that I could
have targets that I could have set up around the place.
There is. You can see there are a couple
of posts that you could shoot at, but you don't see any kind
of bull's eyes. But again, it's one of those
things that if he's throwing stuff, there's probably more of
these things in the back. Nixie mm Hmm I wonder is there
anyone who could help me see where those pillars are?
Could we have like a bell on them as well with a string
attack? Just that someone could ring the
bell. I might try hit the posts
wearing a blindfold. OK, now.
And Willow kind of leans in on like Nixie's shoulders.
See that that, and they both look and tell them that is
artistry. Well, Nixie and Nixie, why don't
I always have to get the stuff? Well, I'm the older one.
I'm telling you what to do. And I carry you.
So you carry everything else. And Nixie kind of flits off a
kind of her hair darkens like storm clouds a small bit.
She comes back a couple of minutes later and there is,
there is a, it looks like a bell.
You'd see you've gone to a fair share of boxing matches with
Quilo. It's that it's that kind of big.
There's a kind of a thick rope hanging out of it.
This is what you've got to work with.
Just one is it? You need lots of bells.
Well, there's different pillars, so oh oh.
Oh, OK, I'll roll to see what she can find when she goes back
there. I'm not giving her advantage
because she's kind of not Hurst. Gotcha.
She finds another 2 bells. She rolled a 14 + 2.
They do not look alike. I think we had someone that used
to do a tea ceremony performance thing and she rings it and it is
a soft little delicate little bell.
Then there is something that looks a little bit like a shop
bell. It's like a little brass metal
bell on a coiled kind of spool. Yeah.
I have no idea where this came from here and she kind of starts
to like fix them onto some of the posts.
Yeah. So maybe one down lower, one
kind of mid height and one very high if we could.
Yes, Your Majesty, I'm. Sorry, I thought you were
supposed to. Well, I was like, wow, OK, first
day here. She's already bossing Nixie
around. I blush really hard, like.
That's a good thing. I'm sorry.
Don't apologize to Nixie. She's the help and Nixie is just
seething at what's. The heights of the pillars
again, it's a 10/15/25. Your pillars that no at 5/15/25.
5/15/25 OK, I guess I could try something out.
So this because I want to keep this for the finale, you spend
the next little while I'm going to give you.
You can add and take from stuff as you see fit, but you spend
the the time that you have practicing getting your fix
correctly, making sure that like the costume doesn't snag when
you draw the bow. I'd also.
Want to be testing jumping distance between the the pillars
and stuff like that as well. Yeah, it's a thing of like, like
it's, we start with the I'm going to get my position and
then I'm going to jump and then I'm going to, I get that down,
I'm going to. And a little time passes and you
can occasionally some of the some of the other performers
flit out. They come back, they're dressed.
Nixie and Willow disappear a couple of times.
They change outfits a couple of times.
They come back and they've got like bowls of soup and Stew and,
uh, kind of notches of bread and like, they are kind of like you
need to eat and they do, they make you stop to eat when you
kind of feel like you have it, You feel like you're ready.
There is just A and we have to. So you put your stuff out and,
uh, Nana Sykes and Rash come to collect everything that the
performers are bringing with them.
It's literally not that far where 20 minutes away in the
caravans. So you can sit with us, You can,
you can sit with Nixie and me. Sure.
Thanks very much. Claudine and Ronnie kind of
approach as like the rest of the gear is loaded onto the the the
wagons that are going towards the town.
You've got a performance ready. I have something, I don't know
whether it be good or not but I'm going to try.
Well, I hope you try that. It's good.
I'll try my hardest to make it good.
All we ask is that it's good. OK.
Remember, we want people on their feet.
We want people enthralled and Ronnie the, the stuff.
And he kind of looks at her gay this Ronnie, of course, he
disappears into one of the caravans.
Uh, he comes back a moment later and uh, he's carrying a, you can
see what's clearly an amulet and a vel like a deep red velvet bag
that has a kind of plush drawstring, uh, that looks like
it's lined with like golden thread.
So we are all about our privacy here in the Felike cabaret.
You, you know, it's best that people don't know where to find
us for our safety. We, everybody.
And she, she kind of shows you kind of under the colour of her
blouse. She's also wearing an amlet of
the same kind of colour. This is just going to prevent
anybody from tracking us. Oh, OK.
Yeah, that's that's OK. Sure.
And she looks at the bag and she takes it.
She holds it very delicately. Up to you.
Even with the mask. I think it's probably best.
Yeah, if you, while you're with us, wear this.
And she put the hand into the bag.
She takes out this. It's it's a blank glass mask.
You can see there's eye holes, there's hole for the mouth,
nostrils. It looks incredibly well made,
but it's a glass mask. We need you to, well, we kind of
need to hide a little bit of your face is everywhere,
sweetheart. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's yeah,
OK. It doesn't hurt.
It's. What we What hurt, what just
mask, right? No, it's going it's it's going
to. This is a mask of Narcissus.
OK, You haven't heard of one of these.
This will alter your face, like not permanently.
As long as you wear the mask, your face can change to what you
want to look like. OK.
And we need you to not look like you.
That's fair. I told you, Ronald.
Practical, intelligent. Well, she's very good looking as
well. I said that too.
He moves towards the the caravan.
Best you put this on now. Before we get to the town.
She nods. Can I take it off when we're
like travelling and stuff? We can discuss that after.
OK sure, when I pop the the mask on.
I know this isn't easy, but we'll be in visage as soon as we
can. And she follows behind Ronnie.
It feels like the most delicate piece of glass you've ever held,
and as you slip it up to your face, it's so cold for something
so thin. And there's a moment where as it
sits you it, it feels as if it kind of becomes like a second
skin where it was kind of rigid and fixed.
You move your jaw, you kind of touch your face is pliable.
You feel it. It sits in and in that moment
your whole visage changes, catching your reflection in the
glass of the window on the carriage.
What does Thea see now? Sophia was AI suppose like her
like saying like hero from like books that she read that were
not romance books. She loved this series called the
Thunder Games and there was a girl in a Cathy ever moon who
she was because again, a girl who spent a lot of time in
nature was, you know, very good with a bow and arrow and
probably inspired via in a way to to get into using that.
Not just her, the fact that her mom had one, but reading about
Cathy using it really inspired via to to learn so.
We're still getting sued. I know, I know, I know.
It's the only thing I could think.
Oh, go on. Her visage kind of changes to
where her hair goes like a dark brown and it's trailing down one
shoulder in like a French plait that starts off on the left side
of her head and goes across down to the right and a plait then
down over her right shoulder. Her face kind of fills out a bit
more because like via like as we've said, is is quite thin and
Reiki almost very much just up and down South.
Her face fills out a little bit and looks a little bit more.
Not to fear doesn't look youthful, but looks a little bit
more fresh and then the same with the rest of her body then
as well, just a little bit more voluptuous than what she was
before. There is that moment of it's,
it's the way in which you picture.
It's how you imagined Kathy from the book in the way that
everybody, when they read the description, we all see the
character slightly differently. And it was that thing of like,
there was kind of an unassuming. Kind of beauty about Kathy that
very quickly we forget about and then she's just stunning, uh,
throughout the whole lot of the rest of the the books books.
Yeah and it is it's that version it's the it's the the Kathy in
full confidence. You know she is a powerful
warrior. She's a Ranger, she's a
protector. That's what immediately when you
put the mask of Narcissus on, when you think of beautiful, it
is the beauty inside and outside.
And there is a moment where you kind of like, is that me?
Like it's that click in your head?
No, I'm fear. And then I would say there's
probably a little wave of sadness as well that creeps over
her because realizing now, like really realizing now that she's
going to have to hide for the rest of her life.
Oh, I didn't even think of that. I just thought of it right now.
No, but it does. It's like the idea of like going
town to town. And not being herself.
And not being her anymore for something she didn't do.
It's in that moment as that kind of that thoughts kind of wells
up the the door opens. It's like you can stare at
yourself in my palm mirror and like Willow just kind of reaches
the hand out for you to kind of come in.
Sorry, yeah, I got distracted. This is.
We saw, we all saw. It's a.
Little bit charring. It's it's you're, you're
beautiful. I'm different.
And she kind of gestures around. We all are.
You all wear these. You know the whole shtick here.
Some of us don't want to be found.
You get used to it. You really get used to it.
It takes time. Yeah.
The door closes and like Nana, gives you kind of a very puzzled
look. I kind of mouth, yeah.
And I, I, I raise my shoulders and I'm like.
I don't know. And then you do hear you hear
kind of the one of the caravans in the front move out and then
this moves out. It's it's you, Nixie, Willow and
Talon in this caravan you saw driving this or kind of steering
this caravan, Sheamus. And kind of next to him, Silas
is up front with a kind of a chest on his lap that he's kind
of like barrelled over like protectively for the next 2025
minutes as you kind of bundle through the woods and on kind of
old roads, there's a little bit of chatter.
Nixie and Willa are kind of talking about their routine
occasionally because they're not they're whispering.
They're not being subtle about it.
They are talking about Silas. I mean, Claudine and Ronnie have
told him that, like, and Nixie kind of kind of nods her head in
agreement. I know.
But I just feel felt so bad for him.
What do you mean would he not? Would he not get to stay?
Is something wrong? Willow kind of sinks back and
Talon kind of goes to like he's picking his fingernails with one
of the daggers, and Nixie kind of turns to you because she
loves the gossip. It's just Silas's act is a
little flat, and it's not really pulling in ever kind of well,
ever since Cogswald left. Now he might get.
Left as in left behind. Everybody has to pull their
weight for you. That's kind of sad.
I know it's oh, that that's kind of sad.
It's. It's it is sad, but.
So why there's so many costumes in the other wagon?
And Nixie kind of sits back. I insight check that, Yeah.
So for Insight 19. Panic.
There was a what? There was a it was very obvious.
Nixie wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions on her
face. You just saw It was that thing
of, oh, I said something I shouldn't have said.
And she just, and she goes back to kind of like sitting there
and you see, she starts to kind of fix some of her costume.
You hear the very sudden change of the wheels on dirt roads onto
cobblestones. And you can hear music and you
can smell smoke and there is the smell of frying foods.
You can hear the chatter. Uh, of like a couple, like of a
small crowd. And then there's a kind of a
bang, bang, bang on the wagon and the door opens and Sykes is
there. He pulls a lever and kind of a
step comes out and Nixie and Willow Goat smiles, smiles.
It's Showtime. And they spill out into this.
There is just this splash of water that sort of ripples out
of the wagon down into a wave, and then up it parts and Willow
just kind of comes spinning out of it, spinning a long blue
ribbon over her head. She's just starts kind of
twirling and kind of dancing into the crowd.
I I guess I follow them kind of just waving nervously and
smiling at people. Give me a performance check.
Oh, disadvantage. Damn you OK?
That might help. They're all the same thing for
both at 15. You step out and it is that
thing of you follow behind Nixie and where Willow it came out
into the smallest wave that parted and she came spinning out
with it. Nixie topples and tumbles out of
the the wagon in a barrel roll midair and it's this slow like
she and like she holds her hands out and she kind of does a full
body spin in the air. She lands and a breeze spins up
around her and she just starts to juggle balls of air for all
for this spectacle as Talon kind of kind of shoves Pat not he
doesn't aggressively shove past you, but as he kind of like
like, you know, let the pros go first.
He steps out and he throws a knife up into the air and he
swallows it and then he throws another and he catches it
between his teeth. He feathers them and then Combs
them and then there's only one blade in his hand and then
there's you fix his wrist and then there's no blades.
And then he opens his coat and there is just a coat made of
blades and he again goes spinning into the crowd.
There is a moment where you kind of, you swallow a hard lump in
your throat and you step out of the caravan.
Uh, and like, you feel the heat rise in your cheeks, like the,
the embarrassment a little bit, like the way you're dressed.
And then there's the worry of what if they recognize me?
And you kind of almost go to kind of cover your face and you
feel, you can feel the mask just there, just on the, on the
surface. It's just that sort of like,
like a cloth almost. And then you kind of hear an
audible as the crowd turn to face you and people are just
staring at you in bewilderment as you wave and smile.
Between the costume and the look, people are dumbstruck.
I don't know if the crowd recognizes, but I, my pace I, I
do kind of speed up a little bit to keep up with everyone else
still smiling and waving and a little overwhelmed by their
reaction as well. You follow kind of like the the
procession behind you and there are there's a handful of other
kind of like performers, acrobats, some kind of mimes and
clowns kind of that are filtered through the crowd.
And you do see that there is you're in the middle of the
square. The town of Nice Town is a
strong word. It looks a little bit like
Nookri. It's that sort of that very
tidy. It's 2 streets and a square and
these sort of mid sized thatched thick black thatched roofs with
just croppings of dust, of snow dust kind of just clinging to
the edges. Heavy, heavy mahogany doors,
tiny circular little windows you do see in the square, like a
stage has been set up. And some of the kind of the
stagehands, including Nana and Rash, are kind of fixing these
kind of large props and stage decorations up around it.
You're following behind Talon and Nixy and Willow and they are
kind of weaving through the crowd, kind of waving, and you
see that a couple of the people inside are handing kind of like
silver pieces, copper pieces to the performers.
A rather red faced, lanky half elf boy stumbles into your path
and just without looking at you, raises a hand and there's like a
silver piece in it. You're real pretty.
I, I reach out to take it and I just say thank you very much.
She just said thank you and like so that some of his mates are
like, oh, go on. And like he's he's pulled, like
they pull him in and they're like giving him a noogie and
like he is red in the face and like the Crowder, like the kind
of loving, kind of the excitement out of it.
People are still staring. You do see that the wagon that
Claudine and Ronnie had let out with that has parked up towards
the front of the square, and Ronnie is there's a flap that's
opened and he's selling tickets and people are kind of spilling
in as you maneuver through it. The stage hands are quick.
The stage is assembled and it looks, it looks like something
from a fairy tale, These long spindling trees, the sun and the
moon all fixed in against this black backdrop of just sprawling
hills and mountains. And you see all these stars
glittering and the sun and the moon rotate.
That's cool. And the sky changes with it.
And like that you can kind of get like, there's the smell of
like honeysuckle, peppercorn, popcorn.
You can hear it like smattering of kids, like squealing with
laughter, some erupting into tears, like this is a thing and
nobody, everybody is paying attention to you.
But nobody, nobody's scowling, nobody's jeering.
There's a little bit of it, like how does Thea feel?
Very out of place. Honestly, it's the first time
she's ever experienced this so she just, she's never been good
with attention anyway, so she just know how to react to it.
So she is just kind of try. She's very much focusing on
smiling, waving, and walking to make sure that she doesn't look
awkward. As you see the other kind of
performers piling on one side of the stage and you do see some of
the other acrobats, a couple of the a bar, a barge or two, Silas
and Seamus to the other side, you are kind of brought
backstage and Claudine is there and she's wearing this
absolutely wow. Like if you thought what she was
wearing that morning was avant-garde.
This is like, it's this long ringmaster's coat, but it is
short in the front and there is just this glistening bodice
underneath. She is pulled and cinched at the
waist. Her bosom is heaving over the
top of it, and you can see there are flecks of glitter and paint
kind of smeared into it. Her face is beat for days.
It's this wonderfully ethereal smokiness that seems to shimmer
when she turns, and her hair has again that sort of again, that
shimmering kind of glisten to it.
It's slicked back and she's wearing this kind of hairpiece.
It's like a it's, it's a little top hat and there is just a mesh
of netting that kind of comes down over the front of her face
a little bit. She's wearing these absolutely
killer heels. And there's a moment for you
where you kind of go. I think I, I think Kyle had a
pair of those. A thought kind of comes to you a
little bit, and then there's a pang of that when you remember
the name. And when the pang hits you, when
that sadness hits you and you feel it, you feel it in your
heart. Something catches you in the
corner of your eye. And sitting in the crowd,
there's a woman dressed all in black, her face covered by a
veil. Wow.
OK. Umm, I don't think I've ever
just walked through the crowd and waved and been handed a
silver piece. Willow kind of just jostles you
a little bit. I'm sure you have.
Not without doing some flips and tricks and making water shoot
out of everything. I'm very distracted.
I'm like, my eyes keep flitting to that woman in the crowd.
When you turn back. Gone.
She's gone. Claudine kind of comes round.
Big crowd. It's the last show in noise.
Nice. What?
What did we settle on Noah's? Someone says in the background,
No, I don't think it was Noah's. We'll go with niece for Ronnie.
And and then you just, you know, Moshe, I'm not dead.
You don't have to honour me like that.
And he and he's wearing something very complimentary to
hers. He's wearing a full suit where
Claudine is kind of like, you know, that sort of like
hourglass figure Ronnie is built, like Ronnie is stacked.
He's a tanky. Yeah, and in a way that he
wasn't like. He.
Also, he stuffed his shirt. Yeah, as he, I guess he wearing
a bit of padding underneath it. They both look amazing.
Yeah, there is. And like, his hair is also
slicked back. And something you hadn't noticed
before is there is just this streak of grey.
Like this is stripe of grey in his hair that now that he's
pulled it back and slicked it. Uh, OK, everybody hands circle
hands. And you see the kind of the
performers kind of, they form a circle and everybody.
Claudine takes her hand, and then Nixie takes, uh, your
other. OK.
So breath in. Via copies and also looking
around everyone like. And everybody's following,
everybody's eyes are shut. And exhale.
We thank the gods and in their honour we devote this service.
May the applause be followed by the echoing of 1000 silver and
gold pieces bouncing off the stage.
And there is kind of a chuckle from the group.
OK, everybody have a great show. Remember smile, perform on their
feet. Rupturous applause.
Let's hope it all goes well tonight.
And her eyes lock on Silas, and you see the young that you see
the tiefling fellow kind of shrink into himself a little
bit. Oh gosh, I feel, I feel, oh, it
hurts my heart. Umm, I guess what people are
starting to get their positions and stuff.
I, I kind of side over to Silas and, and I pop a hand on his
shoulder. I'm like, don't worry, you'll do
great. As you go to rub them, you,
Claudine and Ronnie move off from a kind of off stage and out
onto it, just kind of holding her hand up and out.
Her voice booms across the stage and you just hear ladies,
gentlemen and marvelous creatures one and all in between
and both the neither. I am Claudine Moonshine, and
this gorgeous specimen next to me is lucky to call me his wife.
And Ronald does a backflip and then flexes his muscles and the
shirt bursts and he does. He gives kind of a wink and a
before you. This evening we have scoured the
world of Arcanum under the blazing sun and the watchful
twin moons. We have scoured every corner of
this wonderful world to bring you some of the most amazing,
talented, mesmerizing, deadly, gorgeous performers you've ever
seen. So dig deep, clap until your
hands are sore and give it up for the Storm Sisters.
And there is just this boom of Thunder and a wall of water just
rushes the stage as Claudine and Ronnie disappear in a puff of
smoke. And Nixie and Willow, who were
beside you a second ago, are now spinning across the stage on a
water wheel. And the two of them begin this
amazingly intricate dance, weaving air and water between
them and the crowd. You, you.
There is just a stunned silence. Silence.
Just kind of. Yeah, yeah.
You know, I they're, they're, they're, they're perfect.
They're working. I, I, I, I've checked and hey, a
brick, a leg, but not an not an actual like, you know, in the
just good luck. And he he goes back to kind of
the trunk and he starts checking over the the dolls again.
As he runs off, I'm like, thanks Silas to you too.
Is there anything you want to be doing at this stage?
Because like the the the Ganassi are outperforming at the moment
and Claudine and Ronnie are at the other side of the stage.
I guess I'm just because I'm backstage and stuff, I'm I'm
thinking about my own performance, but I'm also
looking around at the workings of everything that's going on
and like what people are doing and stuff.
And there's just a level of awe there at this whole setup that
they have and, and how it it just seems so, it seems so
tightly run. And quite flawless so far from
what I've seen. OK.
So is it that that you're just are you like?
I just analyzing everything basically.
Yes, that was my question. It was it kind of I'm just
having a bit of a nose or am I like, am I trying to figure
things out? So that's the good thing.
Am I just looking or am I? Oh, no, I'm, I'm analyzing it
all, Yeah. Investigation check I think is
the most appropriate thing there. 19.
Again, you do see stagehands that are kind of looking after
props and kind of getting the next act ready and the talent
the the drow blade dancer is kind of, you see him kind of
stretching and he's kind of just checking the knives over.
He's kind of up. A few others are kind of working
pulleys and you're like, you can see that that's obviously what's
controlling the rotating sun and the moon.
It's that like it is that thing like it is all together.
Like there is so much of it, but there's something else you can,
you can see like that sky that like changes with the light and
you can see the flickering of the stars, like even the sun and
the moon as they shift, they glow and you see that the trees
like kind of illuminate as well. It's a thing of like as you kind
of get closer, they have very similar markings to like you saw
it in the vest. The stage decorations seem to be
as much as there's pulleys and there's hands involved.
There's magic in these as well. Not sure what because it is that
thing of like the vest reminded you of the Fortress of Aptitude
and how that was doing stuff. And you could see kind of the
magic, those whatever they were called, those lines that were
running through the house. See similar kind of
mechanisations in place here, but you don't know what
necessarily they're doing because the human man and the
dwarven woman that are on the pulley are kind of rotating it.
What's the what's the magic doing The like the evening rolls
on. Talon tumbles out.
You don't see Shamus. He's not a stage performer, but
like he is out in the crowd and he's doing kind of readings and
you can kind of you see that like there, there are all these
kind of like acrobats and like dancers that are, you know, in
between acts still out there, still entertaining the crowd are
no one leaves their seats like everybody seems like in a
raptured with the whole thing. But there is the this this whole
thing has their full attention. You kind of find yourself kind
of like as you were kind of staring at these things, you
kind of find yourself kind of like, yeah, this is this is
something that you can't take your eyes off of.
And then something changes. You hear the clanging of metal.
Oh, no, no, no. It it one second and the curtain
drops and you see Silas is ushered off the stage by one of
the stage hands holding Ina, the ballerina automaton and it's
broken and behind him. Then Nana comes kind of pushing
kind of one of the crates with some of the other automatoms on
it. He seems like completely shaken.
The curtain lifts and there's a so sorry about that folks, all
part of the ACT. Obviously an applause for Silas.
We bring our spectacle to an end this evening with a surprise, a
treat, something that you won't want to take your eyes off,
because as quickly as she appears, she finishes give it up
for the spectral Raven. Someone's stagehands are kind of
ushering you out. You see that your pillars kind
of rise up out of the stage and the music kind of blares at this
really kind of haunting, ethereal music.
I take a really deep, deep breath and like roll my
shoulders back and give my neck A twist and they just quietly
say to myself, just do the best you can, be fine.
A deep breath out and I go to walk out.
Give me 3 checks. I want 3 rolls from you.
They can be attack, skill, whatever it might be, but I need
3 from you to determine the success of your performance.
And then as you tell me what they are, what is Via's
performance? What does she?
What is she about to do? So she walks out into the middle
of this arena, in front of the pillars so that people can best
see her, and the first thing she does is with her bow in one hand
outstretched. She takes a deep bow and as
she's bowing, her echo manifests beside her in the same position
with the opposite hand out, and they both stand up together and
the echo goes off to one of the belts.
OK, there is kind of. As the echo appears, there is a
gasp from the crowd. I think next thing then it's
probably going to be an acrobatics check to get up onto
the middle sized pillar. OK, so that would be a 16.
Thea runs towards the lower pillar, hands up onto it and
springboards up straight as an arrow and lands kind of
spiraling down flat. It's that sort of like Black
Widow land on a very, very small platform.
Again, the crowd there is kind of a kind of a gasp from the
crowd. The next one then is she's going
to put on the the blindfold and this is where she's going to do
a perception check to hear where the bell is ringing for where
she's going to aim her attack. OK, so I want the perception
check and then I'm going to depending on the role of this
plus or minus, not disadvantage, plus or minus the role.
Gotcha, SO 17. OK, over the kind of the, the
whispering of the crowd and kind of the, the tension, you do, you
can you can hear the Econite is ringing.
It's the little shop doorbell that they're ringing.
So kind of possibly hearing that off to my side, my body doesn't
move but my arms do in the direction to shoot an arrow at
that pillar where the bell is from where she was practicing
earlier. OK, so I'm just, I'm going to
take -3 off of you because it could have been a -, 10 for the
attack roll. So -3 on your attack roll.
That would make it a 17. The blindfold on and the ringing
of the bell, you spin. It is that sort of like, well if
I'm going to be dramatic about it I'm going to spin and as you
do it is a full spin. You loose the arrow and it hits
as you leap to the 25 foot. It is a thing of you throw
yourself forward and again there's a ringing of a bell.
You turn, you spin, and this time you bend and you twist your
back and you shoot. You fall to the ground again,
catching yourself. And as you land, you fire.
And there is the third bell rings in time, and the crowd are
up on their feet, stomping, clapping.
In that moment, you hear Claudine's voice.
That that thing of like, remember?
So to finish it off, my echo is going to shoot an arrow at me.
I'm going to before it hits bonus action Raven Queen
backstage. Claudine's voice, the the kind
of that like, remember, I think so she wasn't subtle about it.
We need you to vanish, you know, like mother, like daughter uh
you. It's that thing of like you turn
to face the Econite and you see that it it has and like the
crowd are like there is there's silence where there was a
rupturous and like people screaming and roaring and like
calling out for the spectral Raven.
You can see kind of behind the Econite like Nixie and Will are
like Talon is like chewing his lip.
Claudine and Ronnie are like giving you thumbs up.
They're the lights from the sky, the the backdrop, the stars, the
moon, the sun. They are pulsing with energy.
Like there is just this glow of the bright lights.
And the Econite pulls the arrow, it flies free.
And you out of the corner of your eye see a woman dressed all
in black. She pulls back the veil.
The hood falls free and just this mountain of purple hair
spills out. I've always been you.
I am the Raven Queen. You've lost your blessing.
And the arrow strikes you into the shoulder and you fall
backwards as the curtain drops and there is a gasp from the
audience and we leave the session there.
You've been listening to Romancing the Dungeon with
Louise and myself, Declan and their Dungeon Master.
Big thank you to Stephen Tynan and Abby Soiree for our theme
song Fight for Each Other. Season 3 title card artwork for
our podcast is by Daisy Designs. A little behind the scenes for
everybody. I think we, when we edit, we
send out drafts to the team, but because these are very special
episodes with just myself and Louise playing, we're, we're
working together on these and Louise edited this episode in
particular. And I, I just want to say hats
off for the sound design, the music choices, everything comes
together. There's really wonderful moments
in this that I hope, I hope you felt Via's trepidation or a
little empathy for Silas. If you want to find out more
about kind of behind the scenes stuff, who we are here at D8
Dungeon, you want to check out any of our other shows, stay up
to date with any events and stuff that we're doing.
You can check us out on all social media platforms at D8
Dungeon. Why not head over to our Discord
server where we are frequently looking for new players to join
games. We have some of the best,
funnest, coolest people on the planet there.
I'm going to leave it there. I hope that you have a great
weekend. I hope you have a great week.
We're back in two weeks, time for another episode and.
Until then, mind yourself. Bye.
I'm so glad you did that. I was like, I hope she does the
glass. It's great for Queen Hope it's
the. Only way I could fucking
disappear. Something with the Echo Night.
Damn it, damn it. Oh.