Well, here we are, halfway through this thing.
An Xmas special. Oh, here how I sing.
Not for the joy, the cheer or the clapping.
I'm here for the check. So let's get to recapping.
This tale starts in Never Mount, cold as Despair with villagers
fretting, pulling out hair. They'd needed some cash for
their town go kaput, so they thought, let's just sell it,
tear down every Hut. But oh, the people, desperate
and Bony, did what they do best, got weird and quite horny.
They grumbled, they moaned, they whispered in bed, reinforced bed
frames. Enough has been said.
Enter Helen Winter, a business type shark with eyes cold as
snow and a mind sharp and stark. She came to develop the town
with her charm and pave over the quaint with industrial smurm.
And then there was Jack, the hometown delight with flannel
and biceps that just fit so right.
A barky by trade with a heart full of cheer.
But boy, he could pout when Miss Winter drew near.
Will they, Won't they? What a trope.
I'm gagging already so please pass some hope.
But wait, what's this? A quartet on the scene?
Brush Crambier, Crystal and Merrill the Keen.
They schemed and they fumble with plots so obscene a snowball
fight. Hot cocoa?
What does that even mean? If they'd asked me I'd have
sealed the deal oh so fast. 2 sad losers in love.
That's a half priced task. Meanwhile, Xmas magic crackled
and popped, though frankly, I wish it had Flipping stopped.
What's Xmas magic? A plot point.
Cliche to make sure these two kiss by the end of the day.
So there you have it. We're halfway through and
honestly folks, I don't have you.
You've got more to endure, more SAP and delight while I sit here
praying for the end of the shy night.
Downstairs, what is everybody doing?
I say we all get back together, kind of have a shot, get ready
for the next thing, right? I'm going to have a bit of a
chinwag actually, with Jack and be like she is.
Yeah, that was quite rude. Have you spoken much to her at
all? He likes reading Jack.
She loves reading. She's single.
Other than the frequent demands and comments on the experience
at the Tavern, she hasn't really opened up.
No, can't say I really want to engage with the woman all the
same. Crystal, can you get Snowdrop's
jacket? I promised her we'd go take a
look at the town this morning. She's never really seen Never
Mount Dunn up for Xmas. You are going to love it.
It's wonderful. How about later you stop by my
shop and you and I can make a couple of bracelets and that can
be my gift for you this year. Yeah, she kind of looks back at
Jack. Give me a heart roll.
Oh, I got a 2. What is your heart?
Re. OK, you want to roll over heart?
He looks at her. I, I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, I saw it
up. I, it's just with Helen here, I
have to keep the the fire going and make sure food's available.
No, it's it's, it's OK, Papa. I I can do that.
I I can help Jack. I, I, I couldn't possibly
cranberry you, you've all the stuff to get ready for the Xmas
festival. So Crystal, thank you very much.
If we've time later, we'll we'll drop by.
If not today, then then maybe tomorrow.
The offer is always there, You both know that.
You are very much welcome in my shop and I don't know if Helen
is, you know, we can get her to come out of her room.
Maybe you can get some time off. She can't stay in there all day,
can she? In that traditional fashion of
how Helen makes her entrances, the door to her room opens and
she's standing at the top of the stairs in her long black coat,
scarf kind of pulled up around her neck.
No, I have plenty to see and notes to make.
I've left the tray in the room and Jack kind of like, just
grits his teeth, of course. Hey, I'll get that feed Jack,
I'll grab that feed. I'll I'll, I'll pop that away.
You go and have a nice day and we might see you at some of our
places later. He said he wanted to come and
take a look and praise us. Yes, I praise you indeed.
Yeah. Umm, Mister North, we've if you
have a moment later I, I need to discuss the the matter of the
Evergreen Inn and my employers intentions.
And he kind of looks at her. The pancakes were delicious and
she heads out the door. Wow, that sounds like a thank
you to me. Her toughness and meanness and
like inability to give compliments must make that
compliment, you know, give you a lot more confidence, right,
Jack? That was the 4th plate of
pancakes I had made her. She loves the pancakes.
Make four more of that exact pancake.
That's for each of us, by the way, because they sound great.
OK, brush. You want to head up to her room
to. Yeah, for sure.
I'll grab that tray and no problem.
Yeah. OK.
I want to turn around to look at Cranby as I like just the doors
just open and I just like make it look like I'm magic with my
hands and I just opened this door that's already opened.
I go in and I grab the, uh, the plate and I drop a fork on the
ground and I bend over to pick it up and I got a stretch as I'm
doing and I open up her chest that has the red thing in it A.
Couple of things as you enter the room, it is pristine.
Her clothes are hanging up in the wardrobe on the hangers as
you kind of like, oh I dropped the fork, clumsy me.
Under the bed, you spy the trunk that she had arrived with and
the wonky handle kind of fixed back into it.
Clumsily pull the trunk out and rifle through it.
It's hidden. It's it's hidden behind of a
sleeve within the trunk as you kind of pull on it.
It's a very, very soft crushed red velvet gown that has a
little kind of white trim. There is a small little tag to
my holly Love mom. Thinking of you this Xmas.
Thinking of you every Xmas. I mean, it's the exact opposite
of everything you see, you know, in her wardrobe and what you've
seen her wear. It's not that you can't see
Helen in this, but you've not seen her wear anything but
black. I put it, I put it back.
I know now. I know now what I know.
Downstairs, Snowdrop has their their jacket on.
There is four small plates with a pancake on it for everybody as
Jack comes out and he pulls on a kind of a thicker lined coat you
can lock up right as you leave. I'm just going to take Snowdrop.
No problem. Yep.
He takes his daughter by the hand and he kind of leads her
out of the the Tavern and she's just like, and, and Daddy, do
you think that the ever right tree will will will glow this
year? Maybe, sweetheart, maybe.
And he heads out the door of the Tavern.
We need to find more good qualities about this very cranky
woman. I don't, I don't hate her.
I mean, sometimes people do need the push to be excellent.
Like these pancakes are the best I've ever tasted.
And he wouldn't have got here if she hadn't have been, you know,
so mean, diligent with them. Diligent.
Most days they're pretty shit. Yeah, he uses that kid as an
excuse to not be good at pancakes.
I think we could just sell these and we could save the town.
But anyway, that's not what we're talking about here.
I'm going to relay what her what I heard on the phone about
selling for 80% and all of that sort of stuff.
I explained about the dress from her mother.
She might have fun in a dress. OK me cute first one.
Where should we try and get this done?
I think she had a separate plan to visit all of her shops to
appraise them. If she visits all of our shops,
right, we can all help each other out.
How are we going to get Jack to go there?
Snowball fights if he has to, if, if we can get the the the
town kids to just get into a giant snowball fight, he'll have
to take refuge in one of our shops and brush.
I think that might be great for you to incite.
Absolutely, I can do it. I run out the door.
I'm like the clock is ticking now because I've.
I've sprinted away to start. I've been waiting.
There's screaming coming from outside.
You can. Hear my voice shouting like ice
in the brush. I'm just the messenger.
I didn't stay at those other kids said it about you.
Oh, wait, wait, it's it's an innkeeper.
It's a it's an innkeeper and his and his child.
Oh, no. Well, one of these shops open
their doors and give us refuge. Oh no, an innkeeper and his
child. As the three of you come to the
doorway of the Evergreen Inn, you do see brush arms to the
teeth. But how did he make so many
snowballs so fast? I had a stash I always.
Have I? I always carry the I cut.
A rope and I pull the cloth. And he's made like he's
fashioned like a catapult thing from his workshop that's like
automatically, like it's like with the tennis ball shooter,
but it's just snowballs. Immediately kind of the kids see
what brushes throwing down and throwing at them.
They flip over one of the tables that was going to be used as a
stall and they hunker down behind it and they start making
their own arsenal of snowballs. There is just this full on
frenzy of clouds of snow and ice just being shot back and forth
as the mayor and many of the other villagers kind of go about
setting up the decorations. People are singing, people are
laughing. Helen is totting.
It's it's kind of spilling out into this sort of snowy melee.
You do see Jack kind of scoop up Snowdrop crown beer.
They spill into your patisserie. I want to target Helen with my
with my Gatling gun to try and like wet her coat and her and
her shoes so she has to stay in there for a little while.
Since you have a snow gatling gun, I would say that's 2D62D6.
You want me to over? This on this one.
So I'd say you're yeah, you're using your head.
So under this one I think. OK, no problem.
That's a four and A5. Neither.
OK, the the Gatling gung just seizes like something has gotten
lodged in it. Helen is slipping past the
patisserie, having seen Jack go in.
She's like, she's not bothered and she's about to turn the
corner on the Main Street if anyone else is doing anything
else. Meryl's snow fights are below
her, but tripping people up is not.
So if she's going to turn around the corner, she's going to stick
her foot out and hopefully triple.
Would you say you're using logic or emotion to trip up this lady?
I think both, but let's go with logic in this case.
OK, only because you're an expert who apparently when
snowball fights break out, you go high only so that you can go
low and sweep the leg. I will let you roll 2D6.
Right? And we're we're saying it's
head, so you're looking to roll under your number.
Under a three. Oh shit.
OK, two and a three. Oh, you rolled your number.
You've 2 successes and you rolled your number that gives
you a love connection. You can choose one of two things
at this point. You can take that three as a
success, giving you 2, which means you do exactly what you
want to do and your plan will go off perfectly.
Or you can take the one success that you got with your two and
then ask me a question that I have to answer honestly that you
would now, something you would learn in this moment about
Helen. Second option.
So how can we get them to smash their genitals with Jack?
You all watch as Meryl terrifyingly, she leaps and
bounds from rooftop to shop front with all the death and
grace of an assassin, only to wind up just on the other side
of that small St. down towards Crystal's Ball Emporium.
Her bindi little foot just slips out as Helen turns jockey under
a snowball and you see the woman, the business lady just
topple over herself and land into a puddle.
Meryl, it's that thing. As you appear and you pick her
up, just sort of in that moment of vulnerability, she looks at
you as she just says, I absolutely hate this.
I hate this town. It's cold, it's wet, it's the
worst time of year. All I really want right now is
if somebody was to just hand me a double espresso and I would
just, I would be forever in their debt.
And like, are you guiding her towards the?
Yeah, and she's just being very caring, very gentle.
Of course. Yes, I know just the place and
we can get you fixed you up with some new clothes from the
charity shop next door. But well, let's go and we'll get
you a double espresso first. I'm uh, I'm, I'm, I'm as I'm
like, okay, all right, okay, everybody snowball fights over.
Come on, let's go, let's go buy coffees and stimulate the
economy and stuff and I'm sweeping them all away from the
from from this shop. And people are like, okay, let's
get back to, let's get back to the decorations.
You know, we've got to get, we've got to get the town done
up nicely for the Xmas shindig, the three of you following
behind Meryl and Helen. Snowdrop and Jack are standing
in a corner. Cram Beer Kind of seeing you,
kind of just looks, sees Helen. His shoulders slump a little.
Cram Beer. I sorry, it's just what was
happening outside. Snowdrop was getting a little
bit. That's perfectly understandable.
Let me see, Cram Beer is going to like Crouch down, look at
Snowdrop and say, how does a nice big cup of hot chocolate
with marshmallows and gingerbread sprinkles sound to
you? Helen, how does a big cup of hot
chocolate sound? With a sprinkle of marshmallows?
And what was the rest of the cranberry?
Oh, I don't now, I don't think this drink is Helen's type.
I think Helen is more of a cranberry, is going to like look
her up and down just like in a general kind of appraisal.
And then Jack cuts across. And if you're making a hot
chocolate for Snowdrop, is there any chance I could get a double
espresso? I was just about to say that
looks like it's Helen's drink. Yeah, I can definitely.
I meant, I meant for oh, Helen, you.
And he kind of looks at her Helen, if Helen is having one as
well. Helen, was I correct my
assumption? You don't strike me, Mister
North as the double espresso fellow.
Yes please, Mr. Tsusei, how long have you?
And again, she's kind of she looks at her clipboard and it's
covered in muck as she kind of like wipes some of it off.
How long have you ran the the bakery?
Oh, this bakery is mine. I've owned it for quite a number
of decades at this point. I know, I know.
I don't look my age. It's from all the sugar I
consume. And you have all the paperwork
and licenses to operate the bakery.
Of course people are putting their lives in my hands every
time they eat. Wonderful.
And I can get a copy of those from the mayor.
Why I I never and it doesn't, It doesn't matter.
Crystal is going to like kind of be looking around Helen trying
to make eyes at Cranbeer, like looking up and just like.
Knock it off. At this point, Cranbeer, you
turn back to the kitchen and you go to prepare hot chocolate,
espressos and a few other goodies.
Helen turns to you. Meryl, you said there was a
clothing shop next door. I just, I'm, I, I'm going to
catch my death if I have to. You know what?
Jack's best friend owns the shop.
I think if you go in, we can all go in together and we they'll be
able to find you something great.
And, and, and Jack kind of looks at you where I was like, uh,
sure. I'll, I'll see if Rusty is good
to go. We'll be back.
Crown Beer. I don't know.
He kind of like puts Snowdrop kind of in one of the chairs and
he kind of heads out with Helen. Are you letting them go off or
is anybody following or? Should we let her wear other
stuff or should we try and destroy all the other clothes in
the village so she has to wear her nice red dress?
Well, I figured she's going to wear the red dress to the bowl
regardless. I think baby snacks we get her
out of the black power suit into something else.
Even if it's still black. It's not the the the intense
black power suit. She has two more of those power
suits. Should I run back to the hotel
and cut them up? She's not trying to wear them
right now. I Sprint out the door.
Don't. Don't cut them up, just just
hide them. No, I'll cut them in it so that
like if she put that I'll just split the seams at the back so
when she puts them on that they'll both RIP so she won't be
able to wear them but it won't look like it's my fault.
This is why you're a Carpenter. Absolutely.
Go through any doors I can ruin your clothes in a way that it
looks like an accident. The wonderful carpentry skills.
OK, so OK, Brush is going back to the Evergreen Inn to sabotage
the suits. I'm going to hide everything
black from Rusty's show. OK, so Meryl and Crystal are
kind of following behind Helen and.
Jack Oh yeah, it's fully telling her, like, what her power colors
are, what's going to look good with her skin.
Just like if she picks up something that looks a little
too like this is going to put her put me back in my safety
blanket of I am boss bitch, you know, immediately removed from
just like Nope, Nope. The vibes are off.
You can't get this one.
OK, so to be it sounds like Crystal is trying to convince
Helen to try new colors and like new patterns and everything else
like that. So that's a heart rule.
I think if Meryl you are hiding everything that gives off bitchy
office worker vibes. Head roll.
Which is under. So you want to roll under head
but over heart. And I will remind you that you
do have your Xmas magic point as well that you can spend to
automatically succeed. OK, I'm a 5 so I'm going to use
my Xmas magic to yeah automatically get rid of
everything business. OK.
And for Crystal. Roll the one.
On your heart roll. Yeah.
Is over. Oh my goodness, my dad does not
like me. Today I got really excited
because I thought I did it properly.
So you have you. You can spend your point of
excess magic. You know what?
Yeah. Because I feel like this is
important for her to try new things.
She's in this town. She's already, although Chris
doesn't know this, but she's already admitted that she
doesn't like it here. So we're we're going to, we're
going to baby step this just it's something new.
OK, can the pair of you roll AD 20 for me?
What you're trying to do is going to succeed, but because
you're pulling on Xmas magic, something of an Xmas miracle
will happen. It's a nine.
I also got a nine. OK, on a nine it's called lump
of coal. A bag of holding that contains
exactly 100 lbs of coal appears on your person in this moment as
Jack leads the the small entourage into Rusty's
haberdashery and closet. There is a thiefling gentleman,
fiery red hair, hence the name Rusty, which is up, takes out a
measuring tape and starts measuring up.
Helen, who's just immediately gravitating towards the sail
rack with all kinds of everything, is black or a
variant shade of black slate grey.
In that moment, Meryl, as as you see her reach to pick up kind of
an overcoat, you kind of snatch it from her hands and the whole
rack you're able to lift and wheel away.
And what happens is in that exact moment, standing there
with two wonderfully bright outfits, is Crystal holding up a
plush turtleneck with sort of a snowflake pattern in a soft
powder blue and white and a nice little kind of trousers and
comfortable and aesthetically pleasing winter boots.
And in the other, the exact same, but just in a green and
red color. She goes to turn to kind of to
the sales rack that you've secreted away.
Meryl, she sort of size, uh, and kind of falls into herself when
she points at the powdered blue and white.
She slips behind kind of a, a changing room curtain.
She's handing out her, her muddy clothes and her outfit and, and
stuff like that. And in that moment, the sending
stone in her pocket begins to vibrate Crystal.
As you kind of, as you go to reach for the phone, you just
hear Helen call out. Umm, if that's if that's my mom,
you can just hang up. You do see on the sending stone
flashing up is just Mom. Bill is going to accidentally
answer the the the call. How?
Are we discussing? How's my gal?
What are you planning? Are you coming home?
Please tell me you're coming
home this year. Oh, hi.
I have. Helen's sending stone.
She's currently changing. She will call you back in like,
maybe five. Oh my God.
Gosh, are you afraid of Helen? Hoping to be soon.
We're just doing a bit of shopping.
Don't. Tell me she's out.
Shopping for a gift Well there was a small incident with a
puddle so we're just getting her out of her wet clothes well I.
Won't. I won't keep you too long.
Just give my helly belly a little pinch on the cheek for
me. Tell her.
Tell her not to worry if she's out with her friends.
She's enjoying herself. That's all that matters.
You can tell her. Just give me a call at another
time. Tell her I miss her.
It's been so long. So glad she has a friend.
I'm just so worried she's so preoccupied with her work.
Just work, work, work, work, work.
No time for herself, no time for the world.
Just so glad she's pointed herself out there again.
Ask her why she hates Christmas. Oh, and we will definitely try
to make sure she has a really nice time.
Crystal has no desire to rain on this woman's parade.
She just wants her to continue to have these happy thoughts.
And it is now Crystal's mission to befriend Helen for real so
that her mom can stay happy. But yeah, definitely, I'll let
her know. It was really nice talking to
you. You you have a very happy Xmas.
Give me the stuff, give me the stuff.
She's going. To held up before or.
Something bad happens. You, you didn't, you didn't say
anything to her, did you? No, I just told her that you
needed to buy some new clothes because your current ones are
wet. That's all.
Oh. OK.
And again, a hand reaches out from behind the curtain and she
kind of reaches for the the sending stone A moment or two
later, which kind of adjust to Helen kind of pulls back the
curtain And standing there in these form fitting mom jeans and
winter boots and a powder blue jumper with a kind of a
snowflake pattern on it. And you all see Jack just kind
of his eyes light up for a moment and then he kind of
shakes his head. You, you look warm in those.
And she, she kind of flushes. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's,
it's wool. And she kind of pulls on it a
little bit. Espressos, I think we were.
Yeah. And I, I think you look great.
I think what what Crystal wants to do, although I don't think
she's going to, it's just like there's just like a wisp of, of
Helen's hair sort of framing her face just ever so perfectly.
She's going to just sort of brush it away just a smidge.
That way it frames, you know, just gives her that like
perfect. All right, I think we're ready.
As she does it, she's going to make sure that Jack sees just
just how pretty she can be when her hair isn't so tight and just
like, squeezing all of the joy out of her brain.
He very much has kind of taken notice of her, but now he
doesn't want to look at her because he doesn't want her to
know that he was looking at her. At that moment, the door to
Rusty's haberdashery closet opens and Brush is standing
there with a pair of garden shears.
Finish my gardening. An interesting time of year to
be gardening. Well, it's all it's all year
round to do maintenance and just make sure everything's OK.
So in the summer and the and the whenever you can all look at the
flowers and say, oh, look at those.
Oh, you look pretty. Oh, thank you.
I agree. I agree with why you said Jack.
She is beautiful. She goes beet red and she just
flits past everybody and straight away into cran beers.
Double Espresso. There's an assortment of treats
there that I think you might enjoy.
One of these treats was created with Jack as the inspirations.
It will have his kind of feel. It will like notes of how he
usually smells. You know, everybody has like the
old sort of smell. So I'm just going to hand that
over to Helen and be like, you look nice, you look
professional, you're cozy. Give me a heart roll Crown beer,
I think, because I think you're trying to with the selection of
your coffee beans and or as we call it in this world, Gogo
juice. See how well it pays off.
So you're looking to roll over your number.
Over my number. I think my number is like. 5.
Oh, you so you're more Crown beer is Morehead?
Yeah, so like it's all, it's all like insights and scanning
people and watching interactions.
OK, I think because again, it's your coffee shop, you are an
expert, and the fact that you would have a flavour profile for
your customers, which is terrifying.
So yeah, you can roll 3D6 and you're looking to roll over A5.
So I got 1/5 and two ones. OK, so you've won success, that
means you barely manage it. She takes a sip of the coffee.
As she does Jack and everybody else comes back into the coffee
shop. As she brings the little
espresso cup to her lips she looks at Jack.
The smell kind of hits her. Thank you for the espresso.
I have, umm, work to do Have. Where is my tip board?
You didn't leave it here. And Snowdrop is pulling on
Jack's coat. Daddy, I, I, I, I spilled my hot
chocolate and I, I made a mess and I, I didn't want to tell
Susie because I think he would get mad at me.
And I used and he. She holds up the clipboards and
like, all of Helen's pages are just soaked.
She pulls the clipboard out of Snowdrop's hands.
That's a morning ruined, so I've work to do Lovely again meeting
all of you again. She puts a silver piece on the
countertop, takes her muddy clothes, her clipboards, and she
storms out of the bakery. Snowdrop is kind of now kind of
lip trembling, eyes watering. I'm very sorry, Papa.
And like Jack is busted out. It's it's fine, Snowdrop.
It was an accident. That Lady is just.
She's very work oriented, you know.
Yeah, she likes. I think she's just trying to
push people to be their best. It's.
Time we we took a little break and left Cran Beer to finish
making goods for the party. We we should head out.
As you head out of Cranberry's, you see Helen standing outside,
uh, Crystal's ball emporium kind of soggy clipboard quill.
And she's just kind of surveying kind of the, the space snowdrop
kind of waves at her and she kind of just gives her like a
small wave back. But she very much fixed on her
work when you see her slip inside the store.
So crystal will then follow in in behind her.
Now when you walk into the emporium there is more stuff
than space you know instance are have been left burning.
Every piece of the wall has crystals and candles, and
there's random potions that have worn labels on them, so you kind
of know what's in them. Don't ask Crystal, she does not
remember. It's it's lovely.
There's just a small table like in the center of the room where
card and palm readings are done. Helen kind of walks in
immediately, kind of hand to like her nose, just to kind of
like block the smell of the incense just a little.
Don't mind the smell, that's just all the bad vibes leaving
your body. I didn't realize bad vibes smell
like leather and frankincense. With the inevitable tearing down
of this quarter in Nevermind, how long do you think it would
take you to declutter your stock?
Some of these pieces aren't for sale, they are for cleansing the
entirety of the space and they are sort of locked into the
walls. So that would take quite a bit
of time and they are quite old and quite expensive.
Wonderful. Umm, well, it doesn't really
matter so much about what's fixed into the structures,
though we will have to check that the paperwork is up to code
on those. Uh, Mr. McNamara is his workshop
on the other side of this. I was given kind of a map from
the mayor, uh, but it doesn't really make a whole pile of
sense. And now it's a little and she
holds up the clipboard and you can see that it is chocolate
covered pages. Yeah, I know.
Yeah, It's, it's, it's just kind of around the corner.
That's hence why so many things are fixed into the walls.
We have very different vibes. They're not bad, they're just
different. And I like to keep his vibes on
his side of the wall and my vibes on my side of the wall.
But before we get to two started, let me read your palms.
Let me show you what's so important about this shop.
Begrudgingly, she kind of like, just lets out a kind of a sigh.
And if, if only it means she gets to talk to you and get like
maybe a few, few more bits out of you.
She goes to sit. She takes a small cloth napkin
out of her pocket and she puts it on the cushion that she's
about to sit on as she takes a seat across from you on the
table. Meryl Brush Cranbeer, what are
you doing as Jack and, uh, Snowdrop kind of survey the the
decorations? Trambier is going to kind of
saddle up beside Jack and Snowdrop and like just kind of
marvel in it with them while also strategically trying to
like herd them towards the shop. So while like Snowdrop is like,
look at this, look at this just kind of like standing in very
particular ways to try and get them moving in that way without
them noticing. Meryl.
She's going to walk over to Jack and just say, you know who is
most likely to get the tree back to its original state?
It's got to be Crystal. She has.
She knows everything. If it had the magic and
everything works in this town, why don't we go talk to her?
Well, we really probably should be getting back to the end.
It's. The end's fine.
I'll look after the end. I'll go back, I'll open up.
Give me a heart roll, Meryl. Is anybody doing anything to
help at this point? I'm a backup plan if this fails.
OK, there's a backup plan from Brush, which we're all terrified
of. I got a four.
OK, yeah, I was going to say Cranberry will be like Jack.
I've done shifts in the inn before.
Come on now. Everybody's busy decorating.
We don't have a lot of tourists at the moment.
Do you really have to go back to the inn?
Enjoy this moment with your child.
I'll let you roll a second D6, Merrill, and you're looking to
roll over your number. OK, so there's a four the first
time and a three, so that is my number.
Again, same thing. You have two successes, but one
of them is your number. You could ask a question and get
an an honest answer, or you can take the two successes and he'll
do exactly what you want without complication.
I want him to do exactly what I want, which is to go to the
Mystic policy place and I want him to ask Helen to go to the
ball with him. You OK?
So that's technically two things.
OK, OK, OK, forget about the shop.
I wanted to ask Helen. To go to the ball with him,
it's, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of complicated.
And he gestures down at Snowdrop.
And then she just, she shakes his head and she's like, no, no,
it's not Daddy. You just go ask the lady.
And you did say she was beautiful, according to to
Brush. And he's now bright red.
But she's she's. Just for too long you've been
using these muscles to carry, now you got to use them to hold.
I know you haven't used your Exodus magic Steve, but I'm
giving that awful line an an extra point.
So you have now have two points of Xmas magic that you can put
in your arsenal. He shifts.
OK, fine. I'll ask Ellen to accompany me
to the shindig. OK, everybody's happy.
We're happy. We're we're we're good and it's
a thing. Where is she?
And we turn back to Crystal's Ball Emporium.
Are we doing a tarot reading or a palm reading?
So. We're going to start with a palm
reading and then work our way to a tarot reading if the palm
reading doesn't shoot her out the door.
OK, she puts out her well manicured hands to you like
palms up. All right, so looking here.
Oh, Oh my. Your love line is long, but it
starts like in the middle of your hand.
Interesting. Your lifeline is the best way to
describe it is choppy. You probably should have taken
that phone call from your mom, but that's none of my business.
I am just here to tell you what the universe has decided for
you. And like as you mentioned, kind
of mom. She pulls her hand back.
That's enough. Thank you so much, Crystal.
So we'd be prepared to offer you upfront in gold 80% of the
valuation for your shop. Right.
But I thought last night I said I wasn't trying to leave or
sell. I understand.
But you do know the town is officially bankrupt.
So we are looking to expand into this area with a wonderful
resort. And I think that this could be a
really interesting sort of collection of rustic,
avant-garde and shops. There's no reason that you
couldn't come back and maybe rent, but we are looking to buy
up the property. And the way the mayor has kind
of pitched it, you don't really have much of choice if you could
just. And she reaches for the
clipboard. She takes out her quill with a
click, click, and she kind of slides it in front of you across
the table. I appreciate your urgency and I
know my demeanor kind of gives off light airy, but I'm not
foolish. I'd be willing to sign if I
could actually read what was written.
Of course I can. I don't have my briefcase with
me, it's back at the inn. Why don't you join me later on
and I can get you a fresh contract that you can sign.
This was definitely an experience.
And she turns to leave. Wasn't trying to hurt your
feelings, I was just reading your hands.
My feelings are perfectly fine, thank you.
Are they? And then, umm, she will just
like there's just been a deck sitting on the on the table.
It's not the one she keeps on her purse.
It is, she's just going to pull the first card that she's got.
And it is again, the lover's card.
It's just like, I feel like it could be your feelings could be
fine, but I don't think they are right now.
But that she's going to pull another card And it's, let's
see, now we've got the Six of Cups and I'm showing lots of
abundance, but there's something blocking you.
Yeah, this door, it's Duck, and she kind of goes to kind of pull
the door. Oh yeah, sorry about that.
You have to release what you've been holding on to before the
door lets you out. My great, great, great great
grandfather. Put that on patrons, which you
are since I did start a poem reading.
Can't leave until they let go of their negative energy.
And if I was to, I don't know, smash the window?
Oh, that's vandalism and I'd have to have you arrested.
Fine, I hate this little town. It is beginning to grate on me.
I hate this stupid holiday. I hate the fact that my mother
interferes in my life constantly.
I am perfectly fine. I'm perfectly happy.
I like my job, I like what I do, I love what I do in abundance.
People have their heart broken on the holidays every other
year, OK? There's nothing special about a
little heartbreak. So what?
Jackson and I were engaged for six years.
So what? He upped and left with barely
even a letter. It's fine, I'm fine.
There's the negative. And she pulls the door and she
steps out. Versus on the other side of the
door, been absolutely freaked out and panicking.
I've got like a flop sweat from meeting a door I couldn't open.
And I'm like, I'm trying to act cool.
And it's like there's something happening on the and then, and
then as Helen opens it, I'm like, ah, you see, I've still
got it. Why is it wherever I go in this
little town, you four people are always there?
I'm going back to my room. Thank you.
I've get fresh paperwork. Don't you?
Do you want to? You don't want to see my my wood
shop? Come on, I'll show it to you.
It's great. We used to have the walls.
A shop. Actually, the floor space used
to be smaller. But I've been extending it a
little bit into the other. Walls.
So yeah, as I don't know what happens on the other side, but
I've got way more room in my shop, it's worth more.
Yeah, she she follows brush. Great.
Let's walk together. Jack, you walk with her and and
you had a question for Helen, right?
I. Well, I, I, I, I Helen, there's
a there's a a party tomorrow night in the Evergreen in just
outside it kind of we we would you like to go to the Never
Mount Chindig with me tomorrow night.
Just before you answer that, Helen, just know that if you do
want the people of this town to sell their livelihoods to you,
they need to feel like you're one of them.
And nobody goes to this shindig alone.
She goes like you see her kind of go to say something and her
sending stone starts to ring again.
She holds a finger up to everybody.
She turns and again, you all hear.
Good afternoon, Mr. Gardner. Uh, most of the town has been
surveyed. Yes.
No, uh, I, I don't actually have any signatures yet.
Uh, but I, I am working on. It's there.
Yeah, well, some of the, uh, some of the townsfolk have
agreed to sign tomorrow at a shindig.
No, Sir, there's no really there's no need for you to come
down. No, I, I, I, I, I haven't, I, I
it's all, it's all. And there's a, a click and the
engaged dial tone on the other side.
So the shindig tomorrow you'll sign the paperwork if I go with
Jack? Absolutely, yes.
We'll all sign the paperwork tomorrow, right?
If she goes to the party. Yes, absolutely.
Thank you. Yes, absolutely.
Just another thing. Can you show her my shop?
Just throw keys and I Sprint back off towards the the inn.
I have to go to the toilet real bad.
Everyone else can bring can bring Helen into my shop.
I've got to use for one of my Christmas magics.
OK. You head inside, brushes, wood
emporium, everything is an emporium in Nevermount.
And there's just, there's just various bits of wood, some of it
carved, some of it chiseled, some of it with a lot of nails
sticking out of it. There's a lot of doors.
There's a like a a lot, there's an expert amount of doors that
you would expect. And then there's schematics for
like new types of beds. Jack has had kind of waited with
kind of snowdrop having kind of followed inside, but they then
eventually kind of slip out back at the Evergreen Inn brush.
You arrive you the the run of the interest of what are you
doing? First of all, I kick my shoes
off. I slide on the wooden floor in
my socks. I go yes.
And then I run up the stairs. I don't want to leave muddy
footprints because I'm going back up to Helen's still
unlocked room. I want to go into her briefcase.
I want to take out my little quill that I stole from a child.
Yeah, there's a focus here. What I want to do is I want to
take the contracts, but I want to alter the wording on the
contracts so that the the Gardner Corporation will be
essentially buying this town to leave it in the possession of
the townsfolk in perpetuity. I love it.
You want to use your Xmas magic to.
Guarantee that I'll use both of them if you need baby.
I love I love a little bit of shite hawkery.
You spend the time literally altering the the contracts using
Tippex and this child's the stolen pen of a child.
And it's something about you, like you've done this before.
You've all cultured property contract contractual agreements
hundreds of times before. You're an expert at this.
It's effectively what you've insured is it's not so much that
Gardener Realty Incorporate are buying the town.
They're instead guaranteeing anybody who signs this a
donation to kind of help the town get on its feet.
Uh, give me a roll of AD 20 please.
Here we go. That's a 19.
Oh geez, why did this have to happen too?
It's nice to meet you. Can you roll AD 8 please if you
have one at 8? Yeah, I do indeed.
That's a 5. As the idea kind of wafts around
in your head and with the quill in hand, you single handedly
brush alter every contract in Helen Winter's briefcase.
You kind of feel this sort of this wave of like I'm doing a
nice thing, I'm doing a terribly, terribly illegal
thing, but for the right reasons.
You were overcome with Xmas festive feelings and the room
gets a little colder on your shoulders. 5 snow methods.
Small little, almost bat gargoyle little creatures.
Peer over and they help you. They're actually specialties in
property law. They whisper the exact wording
as you now have these five methods that will do whatever
you want. They'll stay with you for the
next 24 hours. Fantastic.
Thank you so much. Having seen enough of the
workshop, Helen kind of splits from the the group.
Jack tells her your dinner will be ready later on, that it gets
a little bit colder to try and bundle up and he gives his coat
to her. She takes it kind of sheepishly.
She puts it on and he kind of helps tie it around her a little
bit. Father and daughter kind of head
back towards the the in brush just to find you, uh, leaving
with a big shit eating grin on her face and five no methods on
your shoulder. He kind of looks at you a little
like they don't. Go in there.
Just give it a minute, eh? Well, it's where we live.
No go into the end, just the the second the second cubicle.
OK, the snowdrop kind of waves up at the snow methods and they
wave down at her as he kind of skirts her back inside.
As the evening kind of rolls in, Helen has kind of made her way
through and asked everybody to come to that.
She'll be at the shindig tomorrow night, that the mayor
will be there. They'll sign off on the
paperwork. Evening rolls in tonight.
Helen finds herself back at the the inn.
So while this is going on, Crumbier wants to go to Crystal
and say, OK, I know we don't do spells on people without their
consent, but how about Bell? That might enhance the
progression of feelings that are already there.
If I make something for Helen and I make something for a Jack
that have a little pizzazz added to them, what do you think?
Do you think that would work? Not necessarily a spell, but
maybe glyphs. Decorating with frosting is
probably not in in her wheelhouse, but what she will do
is she will draw out various glyphs to be hidden in the
frosting of each of these little cakes for Cran beer to draw in
himself. Cran, Beer and Crystal are going
down the using magic to kind of heighten the emotions at the
event. What are Marilyn Brush doing?
Like what? Like if this is the plan that
these two are concocting are Meryl and Brush Stringer and
they think that they could oomph the the ante at the party.
We sing a song. Yeah, OK, I've got I want to put
my 5 little guys on the piano. We've got a saxophone as well.
Meryl is a classically trained grade 8 singer, so.
Fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I'm on the. Mariah Carey.
Yeah, yeah. I'm on the stacks Little 5
little methods are on the piano and we're singing a romance
song, I guess about you got to give it up.
You got to you got to give up your your problems.
You got to just let let let love into your heart.
It's it's cold outside and it's it's warm in your in your heart.
OK. So here's so the the cardi
splits to go off and it's that sort of like we'll have two
plans because you know, then at least if one goes wrong, the
other one might go right. Marilyn Brush spend the evening
writing a piece of music with the aid of five snow methods to
sort of pull on the heartstrings, and it's going to
be this romantic Xmas number. Meanwhile, crime beer and
crystal are concocting all manner of confection and arcane
glyph to sort of swell on emotions.
So that's our big, big sort of pull here and I think out of out
of the four of you definitely are peeping Tom is probably
Merrill while plans are underway and brush you are Jesus.
Your methods are phenomenal on the on the old Ivory Merrill,
you've been kind of out. I mean, you don't, you don't
need to practice. You just need to be handled.
The music you'll be able to sing and keeping keeping a watchful
eye on the Evergreen Inn. You do see late into the
evening. Helen sat down alone in the inn
with a bowl of Stew and some bread, looking a little looking
a little lonely when you spot Jack kind of slipping past.
It's clear that maybe Jack finds her attractive or seeing some of
her more positive qualities. Even playing on that in a big
way. You didn't really see much from
Helen throughout the day, but then with a a glass pressed up
to the window, you hear her just as Jack passes the the Stew is
fantastic. It it really has lovely and he
stops and asks what was that? She says, uh, never mind, it
doesn't matter. As he kind of bids her
goodnight, uh, you see her kind of sit there on and along just
kind of stirring the bowl with her spoon until she kind of gets
up and she heads upstairs. You just hear very faintly,
goodnight Mister North. And she slips into her room,
closes the door. Uh, she then discovers all of
her suits, uh, slightly split at the seams.
Uh, She goes to bed, uh, worrying about the day ahead and
the sudden arrival of her boss, Ezra Gardner, the 3rd at
Nevermount. The evening rolls into night,
night rolls into morning and the day rolls on.
And many of the townsfolk here at Nevermount have just been
busying themselves getting ready for the shindig, the Xmas
shindig. Though many people are a little
saddened that the ever bright tree, they don't have one this
year. Most folks are just
concentrating on the fact that they're going to have a good
time and that this might be one of the last times townspeople
get together. They know that at least they
they went out on a festive note early into the evening.
The party is in full swing. The mayor welcomes everybody as
food, enchanted food is passed around.
Everybody just seems that little nicer, that little kinder.
Can I ask Crystal and Cran Beer to make a head roll, please?
And on a head roll you are looking to roll under your
number. I got a four and a 2.
OK. And your number is. 5.
Five, OK. I got A6 but then I got a three.
The food is amazing. Everybody's kind of raving about
it. The thing is, Crystal, you're
not really sure. Like the swirls look like
glyphs. You don't know how close to your
patterns that Cran beer follow. There is a hum of magic on the
year, but you're not quite certain whether it is just the
general kind of good vibes coming off of everybody or is
the food that little bit enchanted.
But everybody, everybody is in a very, very festive mood.
Now I did roll A3 which is my number so.
OK, so you can take that, you can take that three as a
success, or you can take the three.
It becomes it becomes a fail, but you get to learn something
else about the event I. Think I'm going to take the
success. Everybody is really happy as
again, like a small little band are kind of over in the corner.
You see Jack North and his daughter Snowdropper sat at a
table and she she seems a little deflated.
She's picking at the food and she's sipping the cocoa.
But Snowdrop doesn't seem in good spirits.
And Jack kind of gestures over at the the four of you and it's
just, she's just a little down. She was really hoping that the
we'd have the ever bright tree. But I told her, I told her it
doesn't matter, that she's here with her, with her, with her dad
and her friends and people who love her so.
Don't worry, there's still time. We can we'll we'll do everything
we can to make sure that you get to see the tree.
OK? I might need your help though.
OK, I guess. Maybe this will cheer you up.
I got you a present and I hand her over a little like a brown
paper bag. I.
Just kind of looked up at her dad's and he kind of nods at her
and she takes this. Thank you Mr. Brush.
McNamara. Yeah, it's your notebook.
I found it when I was cleaning around here and I found your
little quill as well. And like, if just ever anyone's
like, oh, we're doing an investigation or whatever, you
can just get rid of that. You can just throw that
somewhere or burn it or whatever.
Well, you know, if you were to write your feelings about how
you feel about that Helen lady and your dad and just write that
on the next clear page that you have.
And if then, if I could borrow the notebook for just a minute,
that'd be so cool. Look, here's a carving little
it's like a wood carving knife. You can have this as well.
Don't tell your dad about that one, that one.
Just just keep that safe. So you're bribing thriving
Snowdrop with her diary and a knife?
And a knife. Yeah, I've got loads of them.
Carving knives, yeah. Give me a hard roll and you can
add AD six rule 2D6 you want to roll over your number.
Over my number. Here we go.
I've got a four to five. OK, I'm not numbers to three.
She takes like she pockets that knife real quick immediately she
with the quill and she kind of ducks in under one of the tables
and she just starts writing. Jack is kind of looking at your
brush as if to say, like, I mean, thank you, but I don't
really know if a carving knife isn't appropriate.
You can be there. You can be there when I teach
her how to like, carve stuff. It's a cool skill.
Look at this and I've made a little Jack.
Is my jaw that really that blocky?
Hell yeah it is Jack, and I put it back in my pocket.
I thought that was for me, but not.
You. Oh, it's of me.
OK. And then like the band kind of
again, like it shifts, the music kind of shifts.
And then there's kind of a from the the crowds and like, people
are kind of turning the door opens and again, the music
continues to play and it's really soft ballad as the crowd
turns. And Helen Winter is standing
there in this really wonderful red dress with this sort of
intricate little white pattern around the collar and the cuffs.
She's standing there kind of a little awkwardly.
And then Snowdrop just piles her journal into your hands brush
and you just hear wow she looks like an ex Miss Angel.
Helen just goes beet red as she steps out with her briefcase
under her arm full of contracts. So Crystal will run to Helen.
I'd just be like, you look amazing.
I I. Thought the soft blue looked
good on you. This is spectacular.
Yeah, my, all of my suits are damaged.
Oh. So this is this is all I had
left that are the clothes I wore yesterday.
So I figured it's a party. So, and with no other choice,
I'm wearing this this dress. I look at Meryl and I'm like, I
gave the kid the knife. As.
And she's just going to squeeze his arm gently.
I use the garden shears, but they'll think the kid used the
knife. I'm going to get away with it.
I know, I know, I know. I'll buy into it.
I'll tell everyone you. Look superb Helen, this is for
you and Cranberry is going to try and see where Jack is so I
can like give him his like immediately after I give Helen
her treat. Kind of still at the table like
he is. The key is just kind of staring
at her. I'm going to give Helen her
treat and I'm going to turn and like, pass the trade, Jack, and
be like, that one's yours. You see, like she, she's holding
kind of the small place and she's kind of looking at us.
Give me a heart roll to kind of convince Helen to imbibe a
little in an Xmas treat. I'm going is it?
Over your number. Over my number.
OK, I got a six, I got 6 and a four.
Down by the sea a little self-conscious village she she
takes kind of a light wheel above Jack takes kind of a bite
of his warm. So with one success and one
failure you get what you want. But there's a complication have
gathered to it's the exact same moment.
They're both kind of spit it up crumb beer.
They both say it at the exact same time drifting.
I don't like orange caramel tree and they both kind of look at
each other has flickered and she's kind of she looks at him
and she's like this flame on the clip.
Yeah, it's just held at Bay. Don't now things dimmer that
passing day and he follows up with the tides.
Grow orange and chocolate. Don't wail.
If we do nothing, we're doomed to the chill, right.
Like what is everybody's fixation with it?
Never mind. Like he kind of laughs as he
kind of puts the plate down and he face down, gestures kind of
at the below the floor. Like there's a small little flat
for Nevermind that's been kind of set up.
There's a few people out there very, very entangled.
She takes the briefcase, puts it on the table, one dance and and
then we're. Yeah, yeah.
Contracts and everything. Of course.
They head out to the dance floor.
We have, we have to sing the song.
I think this is very much heart rolls.
I don't think. I mean, we're putting emotion
into this so. Heart is under.
Heart is over. Heart is over.
Sorry, heart is over, OK. One time.
That's a one. OK.
That's another one. I think this is a head roll.
We're logically trying to write a song structure.
I think, I think maybe if I may, the two of us get up to because
I've got an Xmas magic left, right, Cool.
So we both get up, We, we, we fuck it up.
We, we both, you step up to the microphone, you just vomit
immediately. I step, but I'm like, no, no,
I've got this. I do the exact same thing.
Yeah, I'm gonna grab, I'm gonna grab the piece of paper while
you're both like kind of hunched over, like picking up your ring,
kind of like, I'll, I've got this.
And then I'm going to kind of like nod to the band, kind of
get the melody going. The band are 5 Little ice
gargoyle do so we're out of piano.
Yeah, OK. Yeah, perfect.
Let's do this. They crack their little ice
fingers and they begin to play the piano.
Do you want to make a heart roll?
Okie, I've got 2 ones. That is a failure as well.
You puke too. Magic.
In it's the is it the food? It's not the food I made the
food. Is it the spells?
And then crystal there is that one thing of I mean, the spell
was love sick. Maybe we concentrated a little
bit more on the sick side of things.
Maybe that's what it is. But like the a lot of people are
now squaring off the dance bar. It's a bit like this is odd.
Jack and Helen are both like, umm should be and they're about
to leave when crumbier you I think no, you can't.
You can't leave. You can't leave right now.
You we need music and the the
little methods are playing the piano roll AD 20 for me, please.
Got a 10. On a 10 you get the wish list.
An Xmas gift appears in front of you as if by magic, and it
contains exactly what you need. Perfect love song for the two of
them. So, so enticing, so heart
warming that they forget the puke.
So OK, in this moment, Krambier, as you feel kind of again, it's
not even puke, it's just dry heaving.
It's nerves. It's the Oh no, we've lost our
metal. You feel that overcome you.
And then it's like, no, but it's Xmas and everything should be
perfect on Xmas. And even if it's not great, even
if it's not the best, it should still be a wonderful feeling.
And you draw on the energy of that feeling.
And in your hands you find a small, well wrapped little box.
And as you pop the lid off of it, a wonderfully serene little
melody, almost like a music box, plays from within.
While most people are kind of gently swaying back and forth,
for Helen and Jack specifically, they and they alone can hear the
words. And it is a song about finding
love in all manner of places, despite the storms, despite the
heartache, despite the pain, that love, love wins, wins.
True, you all hear the vast, heavy clomping of hooves, the
Wheeling of a cart that comes to a skid just inches from the
shindig, and the square in Nevermount as a garish carriage
arrives, drawn by Boer painted red horses and the door swings
out. And this?
Absolutely pompous, egregious slicked back hair, half of
gentlemen wearing the sharpest, finest suit this side of Tez Rab
and Helen and Jack pull apart and you see carved and gilded in
gold and silver. Gardner Realty putting the gent
in gentrification and ascending stone number on the back of the
carriage as Ezra Gardner the third arrives.
Kudos, kudos, everybody. You're welcome.
You're all, you're obviously having a celebration.
You've obviously, you're all obviously in such a great mood.
I'm sure Helen has explained to all of you that the contracts
and Helen the contracts. And she pulls back from Jack and
she moves to the table. Of course, Mr. Gardner, I, I, I
was just, I was just about to, yes, I saw what you were just
about to do, Helen. And might I say, what a muscular
specimen. Kudos.
So if we could just get the contracts in the garage, we'll
be on our way. And you wonderful little
bumpkins can go back to whatever noise this is.
Hey, what a cool guy. I wipe the sick off my mouth.
I'm like, this guy looks so cool.
I like this guy. This Mr. G here, this guy's a
cool guy. I tell you what, because he's so
cool, I'll sign that contract right now.
Great. And he takes out a golden quill
from inside his suit jacket. He snatches the roofcase from
Helen's hands. So I'll sign here, Mr. McNamara.
OK, Mr. McNamara. McNamara Woodshop with an ever
increasing number of square footage, Yeah.
Which, obviously. And he.
Yeah, yeah, he signs across Ezra Gardner.
And then he hands the paperwork to you.
I tell you what. And the if everyone in the room
says yes, maybe the mayor can just sign like an overall one
for everybody and we just get this all done.
Really snippety, cool guy. Like he's probably real busy.
Probably got to get out of here, right?
You know what brush you are What on?
I am real busy and I don't want to be here longer than I
actually physically have. To And I was afraid to say you
don't remind me of my dad, am I right?
Go on guys, get the mayor over here.
Yeah, and, and Myrtle swaggers over with two wreaths like 1
tucked under her arm and the other kind of half open.
Hey, you want me to you want me to sign?
OK, I'll I'll put my, I'll put my, I'll put my sign.
And she, she takes a quill and mayor, how many hours are there?
Myrtle? Myrtle, she signs right across
the whole contract. Uh, and Jack is like, umm, I I
didn't agree to sell the the Evergreen Inn though, so I
don't. Yeah, you're part of the
homeowners association, which means the mayor is responsible,
so. But, but like I, I, I just, I, I
really, I really, we, I kind of looks down at we have nowhere to
go. Helen, you, you have to stop
him. Like we, we'll be out we, and
like Snowdrop kind of like starts to cry.
Uh, and Helen kind of just Mr. Gardner, it's just given, given
the time of year, maybe we could hold off on putting the
contracts through. I just I think you know people
are celebrating and see Helen, This is why I pay you to just
get the contracts. I don't actually pay you to
think tuts though been. Doing quite a lovely job.
I'm sure she has. Any day now, Helen, that
promotion yours. There's an office in the corner
of the basement that we priming for you, so why don't you get
the rest of your belonging? That's the choice that you're
wearing. Great.
Good for you. Bold, Helen.
Very bold. Maybe not office bold.
Maybe Back to the suit. What a cool guy, what a cool guy
thing to say. He's clearly in a rush.
What a cool lot of things to say.
And we're all here and we've all witnessed the signing of the
contract right now, everybody, right?
And that guy over here, he's from the big town next door.
He's like a, he's wearing fat. He's like a notary type guy.
His word will be trusted in some kind of court, right?
He witnessed this. Uh huh.
We've I definitely witnessed it. Fantastic.
Cool. OK, Loads, loads of witnesses
right here. Yeah, notable witnesses.
Maybe just read out the contract for since you have the entire
town here, just can you read out what that means for us all?
Yeah, we should have done this before.
Am I right everybody? Look, you, you, you wouldn't be
the first bumpkins to have not read the terms and conditions.
So allow me. And he kind of starts to prattle
on Gardner Realty incorporate hereby referred to as the owners
deemed to yadda yadda yadda, such was acquire property, yadda
yadda yadda, 80% of the value, uh, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah blah, donated to the owner in a charitable and, and,
and I'm sorry, no, let me, let me just, uh, let me just he kind
of checks a different contract. There's a it's like issue with
the paperwork, so why don't I? What sort of issue with the
paperwork? Truly, a man of your caliber
would never have problems or. Error.
No problems. No problems whatsoever.
No. No problems.
OK. I don't know what's going on
here. I don't know what you've done to
the paperwork. Helen.
You're fired. You're definitely fired, Helen,
because this is definitely a mistake that you'd make.
I I think we can just forget about this.
I don't think. So we did sign that and you
witnessed the signing. Continue to read what is on the
paperwork. I think I'll continue to read
them with my lawyers back in the city.
Cran Beer is going to tackle him to get the paperwork.
Give me a heart roll. I got a six.
You plow into like you, you move to kind of like grab Ezra as he
kind of like takes a step back towards the carriage.
What's everybody else doing at this point?
Crystal has whipped around to hell at a Just like this is the
job that you say that you love. This man has just insulted you
in a room full of people. People that you may not like,
but still public embarrassment of an employer or former
employer is not OK. Like as you can see, she is kind
of fighting back the tears. Like she really kind of like
upset Meryl and Brush. Did Snowball the child give me
back the the the notebook? Yeah, yeah, Snowball.
All right, great. I want in the in the scuffle of
trying to like pick him and crown beer back up.
I want to tuck it into his, into his coat pocket like he's stolen
it. OK, so you're just?
Planting the the The Journal on Yeah, Ezra Merrill.
Can we assume that the contract is on carbon paper and there's
so everyone gets a copy? Sure, correct.
OK, so she's just got to wait after Cam Camber tackle this
terrible man. Uh, she's going to just grab the
papers and try split it out into two and say, OK, you can take
yours to your lawyer, but we have ours.
Yep, so Meryl is very much sort of on the I was a notary once
and is kind of now kind of reefing these offs brush you
slip the diary into Ezra's pocket and like it's very
noticeably kind of like just poking out as if he has tried to
like stuff it down his shirt Cranberry.
He's tackled to the ground. You're able to kind of help
wrestle the papers towards Merrill, who is kind of
separating them and Crystal. You've give me give me a heart
roll. I'm going to let you add an
extra D6 to this so you can make 2.
You make a roll 2 dice and you're looking to roll over your
number. Right.
So about 3 and a four. A three is your number, isn't
it? Yes, yeah.
OK, so again, same thing. You can take it as two
successes, which means you succeed in what you were doing
and it's it's done without complication.
Or you can take 1 success and a complication, but you get to ask
me a question. I'm going to take the one
success and ask a question. Yep, what do you want to ask?
Why is this so important to Helen?
Why is this getting this contract?
Why is getting this town? Why is and and and why is this
in this moment? Was this so important to her
that she's willing to continuously do things that
break towns? In this moment Crystal, it is
that thing of like as you kind of take her by the the hand
having like you are trying to like comfort her and like speak
to her. You have a flash of Xmas's past
where every year Helens mother would send her an Xmas gift.
Every year she would make an excuse to not go home because
Jackson, her longtime partner, was also a member of Gardner
Realty. And they chose work over their
lives. Uh, well, he chose work over
their lives. And she kind of went along with
it year after year. And it just became a pattern for
Helen that this holiday was just another background noise.
And it was an interference and it got in the way.
And she gave up on Xmas because it didn't mean anything.
She became convinced of Jackson's approach, which is,
well, work is the only real joy. And then a number of years back
on Xmas Eve, you see Helen coming home, stack of contracts
from yet another small town, all to be done and dusted.
And there is just a note from Jackson.
Cheers for the company, Rumi. Peace out, J Dog.
He had been promoted within the company and with that promotion
came much bigger pay, much swankier office and he ditched
her for a new, more executive type girlfriend.
So Helen has thrown herself into her work to prove to herself
that she is just as good as Jackson, that this holiday is
just a waste of time. In this, you see that there has
always been a flicker of something of Xmas.
It's, it's, it's the, it's the calls from her mum, it's the
gift that she still sends every year that keep the little embers
within Helen's heart aflame. Your words connect with her as
you see, as you see these memories and with the kerfuffle
of the tackle and the paperworks.
She kind of, she looks at you, she nods.
You're right, Crystal. Ezra, those contracts, they're
legally binding. You oversaw their completion
before I left. Remember Ewan Jackson?
Ezra kind of stands up covered in in mud.
Helen, you are about to make possibly the biggest mistake of
your career. So why don't you shut up, get in
the carriage, and we can talk about the contracts and your
mistake on the way to Galeshire. In that moment, as all of you
conspire, we've duck, dive, tackle, take carbon copies of
contracts. Jack sees Snowdrop's diary
stuffed inside Ezra's pocket and reaches first.
Are you, are you serious? You, you're not just contempt to
try to steal the town from us, you'd steal from a child.
And Ezra completely and totally confused and baffled.
Like, kind of like. And before he has a chance to
say anything, Jack steps up and just clocks him with a, with a
left hook, Uh, he and he stumbles back, uh, into the
carriage. One, you don't steal from a
child. What sort of man are you?
And two, you don't talk to an employee like that.
You don't talk to Helen like that, OK.
She's special and she's worth more than any contractor.
She's worth more than any. And he goes on and on and on,
and Helen just kind of like turns him and kind of sees
Helen. I'm going to count to 3 and I'm
going to get the guards. And you are getting in this
carriage. We are leaving.
No, Ezra, you're leaving. You can stick your job where the
sun doesn't shine. As he clambers into the
carriage, she slams the door, catching kind of the coattails
of his long coat. Again.
The crowd kind of erupt in a kind of in cheers and applause.
And there is just that moment where everybody, as the carriage
spills out and the methods begin to play on the piano again,
everybody kind of turns and looks at the the four of you and
Jack and Helen and Snowdrop. What are y'all doing?
Oh, I have AI have a little can I can I use up the rest of my
Christmas magic on a thing? All right, if I could change it
a tiny bit that she slams the door of the in not the store of
the carriage. And as, as she slams it, there's
just, there's just this icicle that we should have dealt with a
while ago. I, I actually said I'd deal with
that. I said I'd make a long stick and
deal with that icicle. But there's a, there's a very
large icicle hanging precariously above the doorway
just when she slams it. And if I had one Christmas wish
it it would be that the icicle would fall down and kill that
man. OK.
Give me a roll on a the the Xmas Wild magic table please brush.
I've got a 17. On 17 you have a Christmas
cracker. A magical cracker appears
between you and one other target of your choosing, and you both
have to roll contest to see who wins the the cracker and the
prize within. So is there anybody here you'd
like to contest the magical cracker?
Jack, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let me try it with Jack. OK, so you can, we're just going
to go with D sixes. OK, so you roll AD 6, I roll AD
6. We're not adding, it's just
whoever gets the higher role gets the.
I got a 350. Shit, Jack, you win.
Oh no, Jack, you win a gift. In this moment, we'll, we'll,
we'll rewind. Actually, we won't necessarily.
I don't think there's actually a need to rewind it.
We we Fast forward a year later in the village of Nevermount,
decorated with all manner of trinkets, tinsel, bauble,
wonderful shop displays picture like depicting wonderfully
creative excess scenes. The town lit up all matter of
colorful light. Roving gangs of choral singers
are knocking on doors and bringing Xmas joy.
A small skirmish has begun to unfurl down a side alley outside
Crystals Ball Emporium and Brushes Wood Emporium, where two
rival gangs are pelting each other with snowballs.
The town is abuzz with Xmas cheer, and inside the Evergreen
Inn, Brush is retelling the story the way he thought.
Nobody has the heart to tell him that the icicle thing didn't
happen. And it's that one.
It's that one Xmas lie that everybody keeps themselves.
Mere Myrtle continues where Brush leaves off.
Of course there was the the accident little killing of the
realtor. Yes, definitely that most
happened exactly as Brush described it.
The second miracle that happened that evening.
Of course they all kind of turn and coming down the stairs are
Jack and Helen wearing matching turtleneck jumpers, Snowdrop
holding both their hands and the whole family are dressed the
same. In that moment, we flashback to
the Christmas cracker pulled between Jack and brush as two
engagement rings appear. They find themselves nesting on
Jack's finger and Helen's finger, and the pair exchange a
kiss under the glow of the Evergreen Inn fireplace.
And there's just a an awe from the crowd as in the middle of
Nevermount Square, the Evergreen tree blooms and this wonderfully
ornate, delicate little Evergreen sprouts up magically.
Snowdrop's eyes beam on, not at the tree, but at her coming true
of her wish that her father, Jack N, would find love.
She says a little thank you to Four strangers who conspired and
occasionally messed up her plans to set her father up with her
new mom. And that is where we leave this
year's Xmas special. I want to say thank you to my
phenomenally festive frolicking fuckery that were this table.
Emma Garnett, Tendai, Steve, thank you so much for bringing
all the energy of Meryl, Kristal, Brush and Cranbeer to
this mess. Well, we are saying our
goodbyes. Do we want to go around very,
very quickly? And if you want to shout out
where people can find you or where people can learn a little
bit more about you, your social media handles, any of that sort
of stuff. Hi Kandai, you can find me
playing as Grey Stormfield in A Garden of Lies here on DA
Dungeon. You can also find me playing
games for the Emerald Collective as Lantana, and you can find me
at Kiki on pretty much all social media, including Blue
Sky. I'm Steve Bennett.
I made a board game called Dungeons and Naggins.
You can you can find on dungeonsandnaggins.com.
But when's this going out? What do I date is this?
We'll have one episode out just before the Christmas break.
You have left it too long to buy my game you cowards.
Come and see me next year for your Christmas gift.
And you? Failed.
Maybe you can buy one in January, it'll be double the
price. Hi all, I heard it this was such
a blast. I am on Blue Sky, I am on Twitch
with the ESP channel kind of all over the Internet with a bunch
of things that would have started by the time this goes
out. So just come and hang out.
I do fun stuff and I do more really intense monologues.
Emma. I'm generally a lot of the
streaming games within DA Dungeon.
I'm I'm saving grace with Tendai as well playing shoe yet the on
Horizon Edge, which is on a small break but we'll be back in
January playing Regiment at the moment.
We're coming to a close with random DMS that might be
finished by the time you hear this, but you can always catch
them all on YouTube at DA Dungeon.
I myself Emma is on fire on most social media.
Sometimes the O in on is a 0 specifically for blue sky.
I'm very boring on social media so don't find.
Me all of the links that the gang want to share we will have
in the episode description. So do make sure you check those
things out. And yeah, it might be a bit late
to get it as a Christmas gift, but I have played and own a copy
of Dundas and Naggins and you definitely need it at your
tables. Just saying like birthdays are a
thing and I know a certain DM whose birthday it is in January
after this comes out. So just that's the thing that
you can get. I'll I'll take a second copy.
I hope wherever you're listening to this, whenever you're Li,
hopefully you're listening to this around the holidays, any
holiday, Hey, it could be the 4th of July.
Who cares that whatever you're doing and whoever you're
spending it with that you are happy, safe, and having a
wonderful time. And from me and on behalf of
everybody at DA Dungeon, big thank you to once again, my
phenomenal players and to you for listening.
So with that, we are going to bid you a Jew and we're out.
We're done. Cheers.
Great. Bye bye.