C03 - Ep. 19 - Brig of Endridge Bay - Bjorn and Raised

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Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

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He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's going to tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

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Somebody call action.

Aka Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

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Okay, previously, our adventurers were in pursuit of an imprisoned Pancak.

Naddy overheard a Nundayan discourse, disguised herself as a knoll, and deceived the privateer with a fictional fight of Faeces.

This brought the team enough time to pluck Pancak and another prisoner clear out of the clove and return their free friends of Pismum.

Now they find themselves the somythaurs of Enswidge Bay at a home that's close to Toll's heart.

Fling over a blue and let's buckle up with this bedtime tale.

That was good.

That was good.

That was good.

We haven't recorded in like three and a half weeks at this point.

I genuinely don't remember what we just did last time recorded.

And then you just did the entire recap like that, Micah.

Okay, so we got out of the pirate cove.

We blew up the cave entrance.

We got out with the real Pancak and Laskiel.

Laskiel grabbed the map, and now we're looking for the sea drinker because they're being held captives somewhere else.

Yeah.

And we saw Inferno talking to,

I think it's the privateer.

Yes.

And we're going to Tolv's

former buddy's old house.

What kind of house was it?

Seaside house.

Probably.

What do they call those?

It's like a style.

That's what I'm asking.

Oh.

Like a stilt house or something?

Like a lighthouse?

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to Tales into Sticky Dragon.

I'm your dungeon master, Gustavo Sorola.

I was trying to see if someone's getting an inspiration dog or not.

For no reason at all,

I miss Dorkius.

Just going to drop that out there.

Aww, what?

Dorkius.

Micah's intro sounded kind of reminding me of a little Dorkius.

Dorkius from C-Squad, the Tavern Tales, which is available at stickydragonpod.com if you're at any level of a Patreon support.

Thank you, Chris.

I set that up and you've spiked it.

Give yourself an inspiration, Doc.

Yes.

My name is Gustavus Rolla.

I'm your dungeon master.

I'm going to hit our four players with an arrow.

Oh, yeah, everyone, roll for initiative.

And while you're rolling, this week's arrow question is: What would your character get as a birthday gift for the player on your right?

So, character getting a gift for the player to your right.

Oh, I rolled a 10,

9, 14, 3.

So it looks like it's Doug Toll Natty Gunther.

So, Doug, the player to your right is Blaine.

Yes, it is.

Well, hello, everyone.

Welcome to another thrilling episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon, the Cannon Campaign, Campaign 3, the third campaign in the installment, not including the little bonus campaigns we do called Tavern Tales that are available on our Patreon.

You guys are weird today.

I play Doug Boone, the Artificer Bug Bear, level level five.

And, you know, I thought long and hard about this, guys.

Hello, Doug Boone here, taking over for Bob Wall here.

You know,

Blaine Gibson is quite the interesting gentleman.

You know, he's got a lot of qualities to him, a lot of interests that he has.

A lot of very.

In twists got me.

In twists.

But, you know, being...

you know, an artificial,

I thought I would want to build something for Blaine as a gift.

And so, knowing kind of like his love for video games and also working out and being a big buff guy, I made him a protein shakelet, but when you turn it to the side, it's actually a Game Boy.

Oh,

wow, Doug, thank you.

This is amazing.

Well, just don't get like when you pull the liquid into the protein shakeo, just don't get it on the game.

It's electronic on the outside.

So, okay, yeah,

okay.

What kind of games can I play on this thing, Doug?

You could play

Golden Eye.

Oh, that's great, Doug.

I love that.

The classic Game Boy game.

Doug is not voiced in what the Game Boy games are.

Didn't think this went through.

Just say Tetris.

Just say Tetris.

Tetwist.

Edit all.

Edit that one out.

Only Tetwist.

Doug, that's very damn channel.

As you, once you were asked what games were on it, I just wrote say

Tetwis.

Tetwist.

oh yeah so uh you know i i hope he likes it uh don't tell him what his gift is i want to surprise him with it uh for his birthday wow that's great dog that's a great okay you playing that's me that's me dog

been illitioning this whole time yeah all right thanks doug that's uh i think that's uh super thoughtful that's a great start to uh to this question

uh who got next uh next up i have to point out something really quick gus so the audience kind of can be clued into something you have a certain acoustic handicap affecting you right now, Gus.

And I can tell you're being quieter in order to augment it.

And it's getting very radio vibes.

I like it.

Very NPR, Gus.

I want to make sure I changed my Bixer for

my, I guess, my audio input device.

And I want to make sure that I'm not peaking it and that the wave looks healthy.

So I'm trying not to get it.

above that.

You got a new XLR I see there.

It looks good on you, Gus.

It's nice.

Thanks.

Hopefully, there's no steel eye in this episode while you're out of this other XLR.

Toll, you are up and you're getting a gift for John.

Okay.

Well, hey, it's Blaine.

I just received a lovely gift from Doug, and I play Tolv, the male orc barbarian, and he's a level five.

And I'm just going to scooch out of here real quick so that Tolv can get in.

You hoots me, Tolv.

Good to see you, everybody.

So I am getting a gift for John Reisinger.

And if I know John, he loves the movies.

If you want to listen as a Patreon follower, you can go check out Stinky Pop.

I'm so sorry to be plugging all of our stuff, but he loves the movies.

And I could not think of a better thing than to get him than some like pelts or furs that he can like cuddle up in while watching a nice movie film.

But John also is a lover of animals.

And so I made them, these pelts and furs, they're actually

what is it called?

Ecological friendly.

You know, they're

sourced.

What's the word I'm looking for?

Sustainably sourced.

So I've actually been just taking the loose fur from Doug, and I've been making a big pelt fur.

And yeah, I hope John enjoys it.

You know, I will say that you are correct on everything.

The one thing that told, and this is because we haven't gotten to know each other very well,

is that

I live in a part of the world where it is hot all the time.

However,

movie theaters are often quite AC'd.

So

it is a good place to have a good blankie to cuddle up.

It must be difficult to score an attack with such a high AC.

That's a good one.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Plus, also, I think in the world you live in, John, there are magics that cast cold spells in our domiciles that allow us to remain

enough magic spells that keep me comfortable during the summers of Austin, okay?

I'm literally in a tank top right now and shorts.

Like, it's just those magics have to counter the evil wizard ERCOT and his stranglehold over

the fading.

I've already battled ERCOT this

season, and we're not even into summer yet.

Oh, real great amount of talk there.

Suns of Texas.

I'm also like as hairy as Doug.

I mean, you can see the hair on me in the cam.

But all that to say, I do love a good blankie.

It will forever be something that I hope I never grow out of loving is a good blanket to have,

especially if you're going to watch a movie.

Yo.

Very true.

Thanks, Toll.

And that's an interesting segue because next up we have Natty buying a gift for Chris.

All right.

Hello.

hello hello i'm john um and i play natty wonder the drow warlock and if y'all know anything about me natty wonder it's that uh well i'm sure you know a lot of things at this point i'm kind of an open book but my mamas didn't raise me to be a bad gift giver we give gift giving is a big ordeal in my little community because you know we're very close knit we're we're very we're very into like showing we care for each other And so gifts, that's sometimes how people really know you care for them.

So when you're getting a gift, you're going to want to do your research.

You're going to want to make it thoughtful.

And you're going to want to make it just bespoke to the person you're going to give it to.

So they feel just that little tinge of specialness when you hand it over.

It shows you care.

Yes, I agree.

And Karen is sharing and sharing is Karen.

And so I'm going to share with this Chris Damaris.

And what I got for Chris was actually, I got him a a ice cream cake in the shape of converse shoes.

And the whole thing is wrapped in a box that is wrapped in wrapping paper that is a progressive tax code that taxes the rich properly.

Wow.

What an elaborate gift.

It's everything I can.

I wasn't invented, but wow.

So I felt like that was kind of like, you know, it's got layers to it like a cake.

And I hope, Chris, you enjoy it oh and and the bottom of the cake has missing mississippi mud pie ice cream because it's got it's like a shoe so it would have mud on the bottom of it i like telling you what you're gifted yeah hey he can do whatever he wants such a special

flavor here yeah

sounds like you've learned a lot you do you really did your research natty i'm going to commend you you talked about doing the research and it sounds like you did the work If you're going to do something, do it well.

Thank you so much, Natty.

You're welcome.

I will cherish it for 30 minutes until it's gone.

I mean, I was going to say, you're going to eat that faster than 30 minutes, I think.

Yeah, so Chris didn't like it, it seems like 30 minutes.

Apple cake in 30 minutes

is impressive.

Ice cream cake is not only large, but it's also ice cream, a food that is difficult to eat rapidly without pain involved.

True, true, true.

All right, thanks, Natty.

That's great.

I love it.

And then last up, we have Gunther, who's getting a gift for Barbara.

I'm Chris Demeris.

I play Gunther, the Crowfolk fighter.

And for

Madame Barbara, I have a very special gift

in my village.

It is my understanding that you have found your life mate and will soon be entering your ceremonial.

ceremonial burying

burrowing hole together.

Yes, yes, that's exactly what we're doing gunther yes and so i have um

uh it is common for uh my people to give each other uh uh pebbles and such that mean things to each other and so i have found uh for you a a orpina pebble and what i have done is i have um put it in with sand and um

in a sand container and and had it uh um rocked so that it is very smooth and perfect and then i have uh taken it and it is with my smithing materials i have sliced it in two so that there are two equal pieces and now you can have one and you and your and your mate shall have the other

wow

gun that's actually really kind gunther that takes a lot of effort Did you say, I want to make sure I'm picturing this correctly.

Did you say an orbina pebble?

Yes.

What is that?

badge.

It's a particular type of pebble.

It's probably a really nice pebble.

It's a very nice

mineral that we use to symbolize love.

I know what you mean, Gunther, but for the audience, can you spell orbina for me so that

they can Google it correctly?

Orbina O-R-P-I-N-A.

Orbina.

I gotta say, Gunther, that's a really nice gift, but we just have a honeymoon registry fund.

So if you want to just contribute to that, that's cool too.

too.

You want different types of rocks.

Oh, that's funny.

Great gift, but in real life, stick to the registry.

That's for our listeners.

Yeah.

I mean,

it's the thought that counts.

Okay, cool.

All right.

Thanks, Gunther.

That was great.

I looked it up.

That's a cool look at Pebble.

Or Pina.

Fismum leads you outside and begins walking through the streets of Endridge Bay out towards the docks.

And, you know, the storm continues to rage outside, just raining non-stop.

And of course, this is what Fismum was referring to about the weather needing to be better before you could depart.

As the storm rages on, you know, you wonder how long you're going to have to walk in it.

Fismum, almost sensing it, says, It's not much further.

And she points just ahead onto the docks.

Told, you follow her outstretched hand and finger to the docks, and you see something familiar.

You recognize the fishing house in the distance that Fismom is pointing at.

You recognize it as the fishing house of your mentor, Bjorn Boger.

Oh, home sweet home.

The

type of house I was looking for is a Roarboo, by the way, to answer the earlier question.

Isn't that someone who likes Japanese stuff?

No, I don't think so.

What are you thinking of?

We

can.

Oh,

all right.

So, in lieu of a recap, I'm going to read my last two notes that I have on my website.

No, no, I'm going to, I'm going to, I, I got it.

Here's the last two notes I, John, took while we recorded: Laskill has a map, Giggy has a bell.

Look at Barbara's registry for wedding.

Do you remember what that bell was from?

Nope.

That's why I'm mad at myself right now.

You know, you do that thing.

You're like, I'll know what I mean.

And it's, you never know what you mean when you write it down.

Does anyone remember where that bell's from?

Giggy has a bell.

Giggy has a bell.

Oh, I know what it was.

It was the bell that was rang whenever

that one guy that we fought and shot.

he rang the bell to like summon guards.

Well, the bookkeeper?

I think we thought that he was summoning guards, but he was actually summoning lunch, I want to say.

Why does Gigi have the bell then?

I mean, if he's hungry, do you think he...

Gigi reached into Laskiel's pocket, if I recall properly, after Laskiel pulled the map out and then pulled out the bell.

Okay.

As Micah said, clearly he just does not ring a bell for you.

Wow.

That's true.

Inspiration, Dr.

Micah.

That's a great one.

Oh, and

Gigi also has that axe, maybe?

Yeah, he does.

He does have the axe.

We'll deal with that, yeah.

On to the episode.

Let's do it.

Even after but a few moments of walking down to the docks, the unrelenting downpour and easterly winds manage to soak everyone to the bone.

With the mantle of cheerless clouds swirling overhead, it feels nigh impossible to guess the time of day were it not for your weary muscles reminding you to rest.

With every splashing wave, a spraying surge of foam batters the paint-chipped fishing house before you, a three-story roarboo constructed with its west end on shore and east end on poles that pierce the choppy waters.

Bismum shivers the rain off her broad shoulders, clutching her surcoat tighter.

She pulls out a rusty key from her pocket and offers it to you.

I know it's not much to look at, but this fishing house has been a stable staple of Endridge Bay for decades.

The previous owner was a generous soul that offered his home to strangers.

It only seems fitting his charity should live on.

Speaking of.

Bismum unties a hefty jingling bag from her belt and holds it out.

Pancak and I are indebted to you.

Here is but a token of thanks.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I very much want to hold my partner for the first time in weeks.

If you all need anything, come find me at the high three.

She offers you all a warm smile, and the rainfall barely masks her tears of joy.

And with that, she heads back up the stormy shore into town.

So, who is the I would have taken the key if that's alright with everybody else.

Yeah.

And I want to get the crew inside, but I'm also kind of excited to get into Bjorn's house.

Would you also have

taken the jingling bag as well?

I mean, to be honest, I think being back in Bjorn's house, I would have been more focused on that because it feels like home.

So

I'll leave that to somebody else if somebody wants to take it.

I'll take it.

I'll take it.

All right.

Naddy has the jingling bag and Cole seemingly takes the key.

And it's just us in here, right, now that Fizmom and Pancake have left, or is there anyone else in here?

And what about Laskil?

Laskiel, all of your NPCs, Laskiel, Captain Grumbles, Giggy.

Good.

Gang's all here.

They're with us.

Yeah.

Oh, and of course, private parts.

How can I forget that?

How could we forget?

How could we ever forget private parts with us?

We never do.

I don't know if we're all going to fit in this house.

It's so big, so many people.

So did they mention, like, who actually owns this house, or is this kind of like the town's, like, Abn B-type thing?

I believe all you were told was that it was a house that was previously owned by a generous person and it seems I guess if Fismum has the key,

maybe Fismum owns it.

Oh, that makes sense.

Did we not learn in the last one that it was it belonged to Bjorn, the guy that was like significant to me?

Okay.

Yes.

You recognize this fishing house as the one belonging to your mentor, Bjorn.

Yeah, so

Doug, I don't know if you asked that question or if it was Barbara.

I hope you're enjoying your gift anyways.

Hey Doug.

Yeah, okay.

So this belongs to or belongs to Bjorn.

He was a very kind and generous man.

So we should get inside.

It's so rainy out here.

So Toll's gonna open the door and go in.

You go to unlock the door and open it and you see a note pinned to the door.

Ooh.

I'm gonna look at it.

Yeah.

I'm also curious what the pain it was.

No, yeah, yeah, keep them guessing.

Kick the door in.

Okay, so I look at the note and says, uh, Bjorn, your order is ready for pickup.

Come by.

And then it says, untamed flame forge during normal business hours.

And then there's a little frog emoji.

And then it says Shannon.

It's or at least I think that's how it's pronounced.

It's S-H-A-N-A-N.

Gunther, do you know a Shannon?

They seem to be a croak folk.

Wait, do I?

That name sounds familiar.

Gunther, you do recognize that name.

It's been a while, but it it you it reminds you of someone you know.

Your aunt, Shannon.

Shannon.

Yeah, what do you remember about her?

When I was younger, my father, Gottfried, he rarely spoke of his sister.

And

whenever he did, he would get sad.

And then he'd walk away.

He did not like to talk about her.

But you see, my mother, she said that she used to be around all the time, especially when we were first hatched.

But eventually, she became around less and less.

And I do not know why we have lost touch with her.

Once you leave the village, you leave the community.

And so I'm excited to see her because I've also left the community, so we are probably much to talk about.

Things like it.

It sounds like she left to come live here.

Maybe in this kind of like fish town.

Fish town.

Has she ever spoken of the sea dwinkle before, Ganto?

No, not that I know her, but I was very young.

I hope she's like a cool aunt and not one of those aunts that pinches your cheeks and goes, No, look who it is.

They have the worst stingers, they always make me swell up.

That's right.

I just think that's a pretty cool ant, actually, showing affection and stuff like that.

Hmm, twitch their own.

A cool aunt or a cant.

Also, Natty, what did we get for payment to such a curiosity?

Oh, is that what's in this bag?

I open it up.

What's in there?

You open up the bag and take a look inside, and there are a lot of gold pieces.

In fact, there's 780 gold pieces.

Wow.

Are we uh splitting that or?

Doug, what was 780 divided by four?

Oh, that's a very easy calculation.

780 gold divided by four, because there's four of us, is 195.

That didn't sound at all like you were delaying.

Naturally, compared to Google.

Well, you know, I think I think one of the most important things you could do when dealing with math is teach people, you know, the methods that you go through when you're doing it in your head, so that they could do it too.

Yeah, I would agree.

And for your information, I was using the calculator app, not Google.

I'm gonna go ahead and add 195 to my.

That's fine.

That's fine.

I smell a shopping spree coming.

What did people...

Hey, hey, old guy, Gus, what did people do for D DD before they could Google like special kinds of pebbles to give people and how to do math?

You know, when you grow up, you're not going to always have a calculator in your pocket.

Dude,

they genuinely said that.

Oh, my God.

It'll be implemented into your wrist.

Rusty peace, Texas instruments.

You also see a note and a like a hoop or a ring made of some kind of translucent ore.

Hoop, ore, or oh, okay.

Ahem.

Gotcha.

This This is from Fizmum, and they said, When I moved out to Andridge Bay, this bell band offered me a vision of a fresh start in a new family.

I owe much of that happy ending to you.

It seems only fair to offer the bell band to you, along with half my life savings.

Oof, I don't know if we want to take this money now.

Yeah, I know.

Oh, no.

May they both bring you good fortune.

Half my life savings.

Oh,

maybe we should, I don't know, donate this to charity or something.

Or maybe give it back to them.

Also, just so you know, Naddy, that would mean the entire life savings is $1,560 pieces.

Love it.

Love it.

So quick.

It's math impressive.

Goo Holly.

Duck, you so quick on the draw with their mathematics.

I can't even, I can't even think that fast.

So, yeah, I'll, you know, I'm going to let y'all decide what to do with your money.

I'm not here to tell you what to do with your, your earnings, okay?

So I divvy out the money.

And then Natty sees jewelry.

Natty's gonna try out jewelry.

So Natty puts the bell band on.

Yeah, you take a look at it, you know, and it's like a hoop or a ring made of some kind of translucent ore, and it's roughly the circumference of a bucket.

Oh.

And you see runic symbols etched on the inner rim.

So it's the size of a bucket.

I guess I try to put my

head through.

Like a belt?

Bellband.

Bell band.

Yeah.

Bellband?

Does anyone recognize the runic symbols?

Or can read them?

You all can make wisdom checks, I guess.

See if any of you recognize it if you want.

I imagine we're all looking at it as Natty's taking it out and putting it on, so.

Yeah.

It's my wisdom modifier.

I rolled a 14.

13.

Don't worry, guys.

I've got this.

One.

Jeebies.

15.

I got no wisdom modifier.

Polves just looking right at Natty's face.

And I am looking at your character sheets, so one moment while I do that.

Is there a language language that we need to know?

Naddy and Doug,

you both recognize some of the symbols.

You can't entirely read it, but you feel like it's some kind of ancient celestial.

I know both of you can speak celestial, but this is an old version.

It would be like in modern day trying to read old English.

We're like, I know some of those words, but

it doesn't quite make sense.

King James Celestial, got it.

It's a Christian.

Never mind.

It's like the King James Version of the Bible was nonsense.

You read it and you're like, what, what is this?

Oh.

Johnny, you know what I'm talking about, Murray?

I know what you're talking about.

Yeah, I know.

Moving on.

It seems like, you know, as you're examining it, Natty and Doug, well, I guess Natty, you're the one holding it.

You know, as you're looking at the symbols, you can tell the bellband seems like it's warm to your touch.

And when you, you know, when you hold it and you're looking through at the runes, it seems like looking through the hoop itself is kind of cloudy.

Oh.

What if you look up to the sky?

Partly cloudy.

40% chance of rain.

So you roughly translated the celestial that you can pick out is something along the lines of past, present, future, present, past, present, future.

Yeah, that makes no sense.

Is it large enough that I could put like my face through it, like through the cloudiness?

You don't know if you could put your face through it, but you know, it kind of like is the size of your head, more or less, but it would be close.

Okay, well, I don't think it'll, I don't think it'll fit around my head since I've got this voluptuous wig.

I take the bell band and I put it on Doug's head.

I don't know if my head's much smaller than yours.

Do you consent, Doug?

Yeah, I'll try.

A lot of brains.

Yeah.

I want the brains and the leader of the operation to see what needs to be seen.

Okay, I think I might have given leadership up last time.

Yeah, I'm going to still give it to Doug.

Okay, could Doug kind of like look at it and see if there's a way to kind of look through it or like...

I think it's a headband.

I don't know.

I mean, you can kind of see through it.

It looks cloudy.

And I can't fit my head through it, I assume.

It looks like it would fit on your head.

Okay, I'll put it on my head.

Okay.

You lift up the bell band and and you put it over your head and it seems to kind of sit on your head like a crown.

And as you put it on, you hear like the sounding of a bell.

Could I look over at Giggy and see that they're not bringing the bell that they have right now?

Just throwing it at your face.

This is like a not like a small bell.

I'm talking about like liberty bell, church bell, like a dong, you know, like a really reverberating bell.

Not like a little tiny bell.

And, you know, flashing before your eyes, you see visions appearing before you.

You see a vision of a small animal, a rabbit?

Ooh.

And you also see

someone chasing the rabbit and getting angry.

Oh,

Stelmer Fud.

That rascally rabbit.

Like while seeing this, I hear that bell chiming the whole time.

You hear like once like just a really loud one ring of a bell.

Okay.

Could I tell if I've seen this before?

Like it's like a memory or does it seem like something that's like currently happening?

I guess I don't know if I'd be able to tell.

Make a wisdom check.

Didn't you have a vision where your dad was taking you hunting?

Yeah.

20.

Wow.

You know that this is not something you've seen before.

This must be something else.

So either something I haven't seen or something that's like currently happening, maybe somewhere else.

Okay.

Maybe everybody should take a a turn and we'll just kind of keep these things in mind.

Oh, me next, me next.

Yeah, just before I take this off, uh, I'm trying to figure out if I recognize at least the place this is in.

The location.

It's a forest of some kind.

It's hard to say anything more specific than that.

There's a lot of trees.

Okay.

Doug pops it off his head and hands it over to Tolf.

Alright, uh, let me know if you see like a rabbit in a forest or something else.

Okey-dokey.

Uh, Tolf puts it on.

Alright.

Tolf, you put the bellband on your head and you hear in your mind like the really loud sounding of a bell.

And before you, you see a vision.

You see what appears to be an hourglass sitting on a forge.

And a smith or someone destroys the hourglass with their tools.

But as they pull back from the strike, the hourglass reforms itself and they continue striking the hourglass over and over.

and it just continues to reshape and reform itself on the forge.

Okay,

Pass that information along to the team.

Someone's very upset at an hourglass.

I think that they ran out of time playing the game of life or like Uno or something.

Neither of those are timed games.

What are you talking about?

Okay, Monopoly.

That's not a time.

That's not a time game either.

Scrabble?

No!

That is time, yeah.

Oh.

If you play it.

Okay, I was gonna say it doesn't come with the timer.

Okay, boggle, boggle, boggle.

Don't wake, daddy.

Don't wake, daddy.

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So you say you saw an hourglass.

Do you have like someone who owns an hourglass, or does this, like, does it look familiar to you?

Have you seen that before?

I saw like a Smith.

Oh, like a blacksmith.

I don't know.

Gus, do I remember anything?

Does any of this look familiar?

Make me a wisdom check.

Let's see how it goes.

Okay.

That would be

a

nine.

What?

You're not sure.

Something about the hourglass seems familiar, but you can't quite place it.

Maybe.

Maybe it was in a dream.

It's hard to say.

Hourglass.

Okay.

Hold on.

Let me consult my notes hourglass have gone through have a go oh oh

okay

oh

let me see you see natty's wife conjures an hourglass of black sand haven't seen each other in quite a while catch up on lost time and talk about giggy the hourglass's time limit on their interaction okay so like this is weird okay but natty you had a vision one time when you went to bed and you shared this with the class i think and uh basically you like like met up with your wife but there was an hourglass that was like counting down until the end of your interaction so like maybe didn't it have like uh special colored sand in it did the black sand yeah didn't your does your vision have the same color no does it cos it appears that the sand was black in your vision hey

we're making progress with information this is why communication is key we all share information and that we can we're so much stronger as a team.

Okay.

So it could be the same thing.

Do I recognize the Smith?

The Smith that's trying to destroy...

In hell.

I don't know.

We're like very good friends, you know?

We just share these things.

It seemed like a pretty generic Smith.

Nothing especially remarkable about it.

Okay.

This is a common name.

Yeah, but it is.

It is.

That's a very good thing.

Okay, Gunther, you want to try it on next?

I will wear the hat.

I crown thee King Gunther.

I have no king.

I put it on him anyways.

Is that a Lord of the Rings reference, Chris?

No, but well, not directly, but in my mind.

Okay.

Spiritually, yes.

Spiritually.

Okay, okay.

You, Gunther, you put the

bellband on, and you hear a loud ringing of a bell in your mind.

Before you appears a vision, you see two eagles perched on a tree that has very few leaves left on it and as you are looking at them the remaining leaves on the tree slowly begin to fall off and float around the eagles falling gently to the ground below them i share that with a group this is a strange vision in that where i'm from there are not very many trees with leaves and also eagles are there eagles where i'm from this isn't a very helpful headband probably i would say so maybe we're seeing like stuff that relates to each other.

So, like, maybe this thing is somehow bringing us closer together.

Although

it did say something about past, present, future.

So, basically, everything.

Past, present, future.

Could be anything, really.

Future, present, just literally all of existence can be summarized in those three words.

Naddy will try to put the headband on over her wig and put it on her head.

Turns out Gus has just been reading the wrong descriptions for Jesus.

You see a present vision, it's just an alternate viewpoint of us.

It's like third-person mode.

Just through Gigi's eyes.

Natty, you put the belt band on over your head, and like the others, you hear a like a really loud bell sounding.

I harmonize with it.

How does that sound?

I don't know.

You haven't given me a key.

You see a moon like on a clear night and a full moon shining and as you can see it before you it seems like a strong wind picks up not just a gust but uh like a consistently strong wind begins blowing across the the landscape you see and the landscape is what a vast plain as far as you can see that's flat into the distance like a Cessna or a 747

Listen to Black Box Down.

That doesn't know.

Listen to it.

I still get some ad money, but enough to.

Please, actually, please listen to it because it barely pays for itself.

I don't make money off this show.

So you have to listen to pay the hosting bill.

Otherwise, it costs me money.

Well, that was a fun little party game.

I guess we'll hold on to those little tidbits of information until they're relevant.

We'll have to ask FizzMum how they got that and why they gave it to us.

It's like a weird gift, you know.

That's fine.

Um, I'm gonna hold on to it and I'll put the bell band into my inventory.

Okay, I don't want to rush anybody, but like, can we go inside?

I am so excited.

I haven't been here in so long.

I'm also like soaking wet right now.

It's been raining out here, I think.

Oh, yeah, canonically speaking, if this entire time, yeah, we're all drenched, Naddy's wig actually hasn't deflated at all and is somehow not wet and damp.

Magic.

Yeah, I don't think any of us would have questioned that whatsoever.

All right, what's in this house?

It's a brick.

House.

I thought it was an Orbu.

Rorbu.

I'm going to write that down because it's been mentioned multiple times and I feel like we're going to get in a life and death situation where, you know, gun to the head, I'm going to not remember that.

You open the door before you, you see a living room with a kitchenette.

Looking around, you see that there is a fishing hole cut into the floor.

There's some kind of throne with curtains and a metallic trunk.

And then in this room there appears to be the front door you just walked in on the west side and an ascending rope ladder to the north and a back door to the east and there's porthole windows on all sides of this room.

Hello?

Is anybody home?

We got a key.

I put my hand on Natty's shoulder and I say, Bjorn has passed.

It's been a while.

I just want to know.

I just want to know if anybody's in the house.

That's just safety.

That's sure.

Yeah, okay.

I chime in.

Hello, it's Tove.

No response.

Okay.

I take, I

you summon all of my olfactory senses and I sniff in the air to see if all what it smells like, if it reminds me and makes me nostalgic.

Make me a

scholar perception check with a smell check.

Okay.

Smell check.

Smell check.

Sniff check.

I'm not even going to roll the second one because that's a 20, nat 20.

That's where your nat 20 comes from.

Yeah,

you roll and crud this entire section and then you take a whiff.

There are many smells that you can detect here because, you know, this is like a living room and kitchenette area.

But one of the things you can smell is

some kind of like cooking oil and fish.

Maybe, you know, a lot of fish has been fried here and it fills your nose and it fills your senses.

And it's one of those things where you smell something familiar and it conjures a memory.

You know,

y'all ever have that where you smell something?

Like, where do I know this from?

And it's like, it triggers

the memory the most out of any sense.

Yeah.

Yep.

Sorry, John.

Oh,

it makes you think of Bjorn.

You fried fish many times with him in the past.

and it makes you think of the time you first met Bjorn, many, many moons ago, many years ago.

And it takes you back to that time when you first met him.

You remember it as if it was yesterday.

You look around and you see yourself underwater in murky seawater.

You're carrying your warhammer and shield.

Your shield once glowed brightly, but it doesn't any longer.

It hasn't...

for several months.

What does the crest on your shield look like?

I don't remember.

It's like two, like it's like the less than and the greater than symbols.

Right.

Kind of intersecting almost like an S, like the outline of an S.

Yeah.

Is it left and right or is it vertical?

Just for my clarification.

On the top is like the small point

and then going out to two points.

And then right below that is like the two points going down to the small point.

So it's literally kind of like the outline of an S.

Gotcha.

So like a straight S.

So it's a less than, then greater than, with the less than,

like a higher than, the greater than.

Correct.

Almost as if like it's mouth inside of a mouth type thing.

Yeah.

Okay.

That is on my shield.

Yeah.

And uh, you look around.

What do you, what do you do?

What did you do in this situation, Toll?

I'm trudging through the sand,

and I'm just walking and walking, and I feel like I've been doing it for months.

As you, you know, put your head down and continue walking, you feel something tickle your forehead.

Dee hee, what is that?

Dee hee, what is that?

You take a look, because you know, that's really unusual.

And you, you know, right in front of your face is a fishing line with a lure at the end.

What kind of bait did it have?

Oh, a big juicy worm.

Vjorm.

Vjorm always found the best worms.

What do you do with that fishing line, lure, and worm in front of your face?

Well, I guess I follow it.

I'm not going to bite on because I don't like worms, but I.

uh

yeah, I like follow the line.

I know that I'm nearby something, so maybe I give it a tug.

You give it a tug and it begins slowly retracting back up to the surface.

Uh and you follow along with it and pop up above the surface.

And greeting you in a rowboat is an orc.

On the side of the rowboat, it's painted red with white lettering.

It says Pete of Fleer.

The orc is clean-shaven.

He's got a scarred left chin and a strong frame.

He's got a green complexion and a tattoo on his right bicep.

He's wearing a woolen overcoat, waxed smock, and oiled boots.

That's a handsome-looking guy.

Oh, what are you doing here?

Well, I've been a little lost for some time.

So, uh, saw this here verb, and I haven't talked to anybody in quite a while, so I thought I'd give it a little tug.

Hello?

Oh, hello.

Fancy meeting you.

I am Bjorn.

Hello.

What might your name be?

Well, I typically go by the moniker Tolv.

Woo!

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Yeah, you who?

It's me, Tolv.

Yoo-hoo!

It's me, Bjorn.

You see those houses over there?

You seem pretty wet.

If you'd like, you can stay with me and warm up and dry off.

Are you sure?

I mean, have you seen me?

I mean, are you just going to welcome a stranger into your home?

Oh, yeah.

I think you are, as I like to say, inside Yuvklar.

I don't know what that means.

Can you...

Ooh, I have much to teach you then.

You have much to learn.

It means no worries for the rest of your days.

Okuna ma tata.

Uh, okay.

That's a nice memory.

You hop into the rowboat, and Bjorn rows both of you back to shore and opens the door to his fishing house, which is the Rorbu you're in now.

And he begins cooking up a fish fry that smells of cinnamon and basil.

It's a work in progress.

Feels like it's missing something.

What do you think, Tolv?

To be honest with you, I'm not very familiar with this dish.

I don't

eat much.

Well, perhaps it's a project we can work on together.

And with that, the memory begins to fade, and you're back in amongst your friends in the Roarbu once again, smelling that same fish fry

smell in the middle of the Roarbu.

Is Tolv okay?

He's been standing there for a very long time smelling

uh

sorry i just had a a very lovely memory about the first time i met my my good friend bjorn you meet bjorn

sorry gunther sniffs to see if he has any memory

you you sniff but uh there is no attached memory here for you uh gunther not yet

how long ago was uh that time you met bjorn oh i'd say just a couple of years, I would say.

Somewhere thereabouts.

You said he was like a father figure to you, right?

Yeah, so...

A mentor.

Well, something more than a mentor, you know, because I think

Ironclad was technically like my father, but Bjorn showed me things that Ironclad never did.

He was kind, and it was the first time that I had experienced something like that.

And how did

what happened to Bjorn, if you are able to share?

Well, he um he sadly passed away and uh that's that's when I began my journey towards the Mortalian.

But it was a sickness that I'm not familiar with.

I'm not very good with the medicines.

I tried everything I could to keep him alive, but um

you know, it was his time to go.

I'm very sorry.

Thank you.

That must have been really hard.

Yeah, I've experienced a lot of loss in my life, but I think that one hit the hardest.

You don't know what the the sickness was, you said.

No, it um it was rather sudden, and it happened very quickly, and there was just not a lot we could do, but it was this very difficult time.

But there are symptoms.

Fortunately, there was not much pain, but he did lose his weakness.

You know, the things that we used to do together, he was he didn't have the energy to do them, and he was

very bedridden there there towards the end.

So, I did everything I could, but you know, trying to feed him and going out and fishing on the T de Fleer, his rowboat, it was rather lonely and it was really hard there towards the end because I didn't want to part ways with him.

Um, and then eventually, yeah, he just

let go one day.

Well, if there's one thing in life that's inevitable, it's death,

yeah, and apparently, taxes, that too, yeah,

Naddy, do you know if that

if Bjorn is with your wife?

Well, I mean, everybody meets my wife.

So even if he's not maybe necessarily with her right now,

he's met her.

He's met her.

Is she good to them?

Oh, yeah.

Like I said, everybody loves her.

That warms my heart.

Yeah.

That's why, that's why it's, it's, it's, I feel your sadness, but I always have mixed feelings when people are kind of going through that because I just feel like I wish I could bestow bestow upon them my relationship with that kind of a change

because it's it's it I understand your loss and so I'm I'm not belittling that but it it's so much more than that and it's such a it's such a good thing you know like I said they get to see my wife and that's just a gift for everybody

that helps that helps a lot knowing that that's a good way to think of it that's a good way to look at it yeah well should we maybe explore this place and see if there's any other like things that Bjorn left behind or anything you might want to make sure you take with you?

Yeah, I wouldn't mind taking a look inside that chest over there.

Yeah, and just to be clear, this Roribu has three levels.

And I'm going to reread the description of this room just because a lot has happened since you all first walked in the door, just so you know.

So you walked into this room, you see a fishing hole cut into the floor.

There's a throne with curtains and a metallic trunk.

The egresses are the front door to the west, which you walked in, an ascending rope ladder to the north, a back door to the east, and there are portal windows on all sides of the room.

And Tov, specifically, you said you were going to go check out the throne?

Yeah.

Well, no, there was a chest there, right?

Okay, you want to go to the trunk?

Yeah.

Yeah, you walk over to the trunk, and it's a metallic trunk.

It's a hinged portable box made of some kind of speckled metal.

And now that you've gotten closer, you see there's an oily scroll on top.

Uh, what does it say?

You pick up the scroll, I assume you mean, right?

Yeah.

You pick up the scroll, and you identify it very quickly as the source of the smell.

It smells of cooking oil and fish and it's titled tight lines fish fry oh is it like a recipe yeah as you begin reading it you see it's a list of ingredients and steps for cooking a fish fry recipe it seems to be unfinished and there's a little phrase scribbled at the bottom and it says good luck is bad luck Good luck.

Is that something that Bjorn would say?

Like, is that one of those like philosophical things?

Do I know what that means?

Do you have any recollection of Bjorn saying that?

Make a

wisdom check with advantage.

Okay, you know, oh, they needed that advantage because you know I'm going to blow this big time.

Oh my god, it's a nat 20.

Look at that.

Your memories are all 20s in here.

Yeah, you remember Bjorn would say that telling an angler good luck before they head out is bad luck.

And it's a common superstition in the fishing crowd.

It's like how you say break a leg to an actor.

Similarly, anglers wish each other tight lines.

Oh, I share that with the group.

I say, yeah, that's like a fishing tradition.

It's something that Bjorn used to tell me about, among the other many things that he taught me.

From now on, Tob, I'll tell you, I wish you a tight line, the tightest line.

It's very kind of you.

Tight.

And further in the scroll are ingredients and steps as well.

And

I can expand on those if you want.

It's up to you.

I'm not being cagey.

I just whatever you want, you tell me.

Meta talk, is there anything do you think of significance or like is it worth sharing with the class or is it like genuinely just a recipe?

I can't answer that because that'll tell you.

Like, okay, all right.

I can never, I can, I can never answer that question.

Sure, okay, then, yeah, share it with me, or if you want to, if you want to just give like a run-through of it, now I'm curious.

Yeah, here, I'll send it to you.

Oh, now, guys, I'm going to share with you a very secret recipe that Bjorn gave to me.

Uh, the ingredients are catch of the day, cooking oil, cinnamon, basil, flour, rotten eggs, hornmeal, and and then a bunch of dot dot dots and question mark.

Yum.

The steps are the clean the fish, whisk eggs, mix seasoning, and hornmeal, wash fish in egg and mixture, hang fish over fire, and then dot dot dot question mark.

Maybe you all could figure out the final ingredient or figure out the final step.

Or not, it's up to you.

That could be fine.

I am pretty hungry.

Gotta feed the old

belly hue.

How about while the rest of the group explores Bjorn's, oh my god, what is it called?

Aurorbu.

There you go.

I'll go ahead and use the fishing hole there in the middle and get some fish.

And then I can, I can just like go through the steps remembering the days I was with Bjorn and just like go through kind of like what my old,

what is it called?

When you have like a ritual, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just to feel at home and I want to cook everybody a meal.

Sure.

And just for clarity, the fishing hole has like an affixed fishing rod topped with a tiny bell, and there's a line dropped into the water below.

Okay.

I'll draw the line up.

I'll put some bait on it.

I'm sure I have some rations or something.

And then I'll just go about fishing.

Okay.

Sounds good.

While Tov is fishing, what do you want to do?

Sounds like Natty, like John Natty, you may have had an idea.

Actually, I'd like to talk to private parts if I could.

Okay, yeah.

Ooh, hello, loading private parts.

That's pretty funny.

Hey, Private,

I'm kind of at, I feel like we're at a point where I don't quite know what we should be doing next for our objective, seeing as how we were supposed to come here and we were supposed to see something about if people are like being impersonated.

We found Fismum and Pancak,

and we confirmed that there are people that are impersonating as them.

Is our objective complete?

Should we be heading back to the base soon?

Perhaps it would make sense for us us to begin repairs on the boat outside of the dock.

And we can use it to try to find the sea drinker.

Okay.

Okay.

I appreciate that.

I like to get some direction.

Laskiel kind of

like perks up at that and says, oh, I can take a look at that.

I can begin repairs on that boat.

Sure.

Could you...

T, I have a big favor to ask of you, Laskiel.

Go ahead.

I'm trying to be a good mama, and I'm trying to teach my boy lessons.

Do you think you could take Giggy with you and you could teach him a lesson on like

uh how to be a handy handyman

that i can do i'm very knowledgeable about fixing things and about handiwork okay we can resolve that later when we meet up with las skill but i've i've i've been trying to remember to to implement this pedagogic uh uh method that uh micah made for giggy yeah so you're gonna be uh trying to teach him via watching the handiwork Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, thank you so much.

Come on, little one.

Let me teach you some stuff.

Natty surrounds her child with only the best examples to follow.

A former prisoner that we just sprung from jail that we've known for five minutes.

Yeah.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

There you go.

There you go.

Listen, listen, listen, y'all.

If I should be worried about anybody, we know it should be Last Guilt.

Hey, Laskuel, don't give me any more sharp stuff he's got plenty

as laskill and and giggy would leave i would direct them to uh bjorn's tools and things like that so that they they have like the necessary tools in order to fix the tita fleer absolutely my thinking is we look at the map come up with a plan to uh and a timeline to leave and then make preparations until then okay and you're the leader right gunther yes that sounds very official Private parts hears you give out these commands and begin scribbling notes.

Can we pull out the map?

And then also, knowing Tollv, I know you're fishing, but we'll take a look at it because I would imagine you'd be more familiar with it.

So, like, Tov.

And everyone, let's just look in here and see what we know.

At this point, Tolv would have caught a few fish, and I think that he'd be cleaning them up.

Tolv, you pull up the reel.

No, you get a bite, and you find a giant crab at the end of the line.

Oh, well, that's not a fish.

Okay, so bye-bye, little crab, and then I put him back in the water.

Okay.

And I assume told you keep fishing.

Yep.

Okay.

Could Doug go up the

ladder?

Yeah.

Doug, you begin going up the rope ladder to the north, to the second floor.

Is that what you said?

Correct.

Okay, yeah.

You go up to the second floor and this appears to be some kind of bedroom.

You see a nightstand with a book, a wardrobe that has some kind of bass-relief carvings on it, and a clock with a circular mosaic pattern.

From this room, the egresses are the rope ladder that you just came up and there are portal windows on all sides.

Okay, so there doesn't seem to be another way to go up a floor from in here?

Like this seems to be the top floor.

But there are three floors.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

But the rope ladder continues as well up past where you are.

Okay, could I look, what's the book that's on the nightstand?

Yeah, you walk over the nightstand and on top of it is a closed black book.

The title is written in Celestial, but as we established a little while ago, Doug, you read Celestial.

I picked a good language.

You really did.

The title of the book written on the spine is The End.

Oh gosh.

Spoilers.

Is it one of those books that has like the description of what the whole book is about on the back of it?

You know how old books used to be

about the author.

You don't know, since it's, you know, the back is on the nightstand, so you reach out to flip it over to see if anything's on the back.

And as you touch it, the book opens up, and you realize that the entire book is made of black sand.

And as it's laying there on the nightstand, it begins flipping through all the pages very quickly and it flips to the last page.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god.

As it lays open in front of you, words begin to form, written in celestial on the page.

Oh, so this says, Kings shall rise in days of doomed, saved by bathing blood presumed fall they shall return askew imago de mutata hue that last line is ancient celestial like you saw earlier you don't entirely know exactly what it means something about the image of god changing

sounds like zombies

crumble shit up oh i was like do i hear that

That just crumbles downstairs.

I also imagine when Doug was reading that passage, all of like the whole room was spinning with wind.

And like all of his fur was like.

I imagine this is not something I could physically take with me.

Yeah, sure, you could.

I feel like this message in here might become important at some point for us to remember.

Could I just like maybe write it down in a notepad that I would have on me?

Yeah, you absolutely can

make a note of it.

Okay, I'm scared to take it with me.

I feel like I'm cursed in some way.

How's Tull's fishing going?

Why don't you roll me an animal handling check?

Animal handling?

Oh, you know it's going to be bad.

I rolled it for you last time, but that wasn't fun.

You should roll it.

12.

You pull out from the the fishing hole uh a giant fish a giant sea bass oh cha-ching then you know like i said earlier not to take up too much time toll's gonna go about his routine you know he's been through this before he's gonna go clean the fish take the gills off you know all that stuff take the bones out and he's gonna go about uh making everyone dinner sure toll if you continue your process uh going through the motions of like prepping the fish and beginning to cook it was uh anyone else uh got something they want to do well looking at that map.

Laskiel has a map and that was in the planning room, like where all the gnolls were.

It's a map with like of the sea.

The half knolls and the knolls were looking for something on that map.

They couldn't find it, but Laskiel knows where it is on the map.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Like, so there's a map, but it's not as precise.

There's knowledge, which Laskiel has, which can be used with the map.

Gotcha.

Understood.

Okay.

I guess Gunther would go up and check out that third floor with Doug.

Well, I'm currently on the second floor.

Yeah, Doug's still in the second floor.

Well, I guess I like to think that Gunther is like continuing up the rope ladder, and as he does, so he's like, he passes the second floor, and he sees like

Doug with all of his fur out and the wind blowing and the book wide open

on the nightstand.

And Gunther's just like, not my problem.

He's going up to the third floor and just climbs right past it.

I just want him to hear the echoes of the booming, like, Kin shall rise and gain some new thing.

Some real Evil Dead stuff going on.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Just like, uh,

floating above the book.

So, yeah, you see that and continue on your way, Gunther.

And

you find your way to the third floor, which is a circular room with glass walls.

You see a doused lantern in the center of the room with a mirror behind it.

And there appears to be a sea chart and map on the floor and the only exit is the descending rope ladder which you came up with glass walls a sea chart in the center

yeah and and that was that was about it yeah could gunther take the sea chart and the those things yeah i assume they're gonna be useful they are things that like you like take right yeah you uh yeah it's uh it's just like a chart on paper that you can take with you okay I'll take that.

Make me a perception check, Gunther.

Okay.

All right.

With pleasure.

Five, what you got?

Yeah, as you walk out there, you, you know, you notice that the glass walls are really thick panels of glass that seem to be sealed by some kind of astrogal, and it's just being peppered with incessant rain.

Is there anything I see out in the distance that, you know, well, let's take a peek, look and see if it, you know, we escaped that skull cave and just make sure there's no one chasing after us.

Is there anything else I could see out there?

You

take a look out, and as you look out, you can see in the distance there's a robot on fire in the sea.

Oh.

Like the robot that they were went out to go repair?

I mean it's at a distance so you can't see it but you would assume no because

it's too far for them to have gone in the amount of time that has passed since you saw the robot yourself.

It's on fire.

Is it is it looks like something that's close enough where it could be we could go save them or is it like it's pretty far in the distance.

Okay, I want to run back down and tell uh Toll who I consider a master of the sea.

There is a boat on fire.

It's a robot.

It is out in the distance.

I don't know if it's a danger or not.

And I point.

And I look at the sea chart, and I see it, like I can, if it is in the sea chart, do I see, is the bay represented?

Could I like point to where it was?

Yeah, you can.

And I'm going to send a bit of information to Blaine.

I think I might know what that robot is.

What did you see?

Like, what all was it?

Like, a small robot.

Robot is on fire look to be in danger because fire is never a good thing on a lake or river or ocean.

Okay, I'm going to do to you what Bjorn did to me and I'm going to teach you about a local tradition So in your community, what happens when you're dead?

You know when when people pass on what do you do with their bodies?

With their bodies we we they are they are buried They are burrowed for final last time.

We give our bodies to the sea.

So what we do is we put them in a boat, and we push them out to the water,

and then we shoot a flaming arrow at them, and then it engulfs the boat, and that's how we part with the dead.

So what you saw was probably just a funeral.

So it's no need for alarm.

It's perfectly normal.

It's very sad, and you can take a moment to, you know,

think of the past, the idea of the past.

Well, you know, just out of a sign of respect, let's say.

Okay, I will think of them.

Or try to pretend I think I then.

Gunther imagines someone on fire.

Ah!

Oh, oh, I got a little bit of information, but I'm going to act like Bjorn or Tolv knows this.

The fire never goes out, apparently.

I think in these Viking funerals, it's the firegiver, so it's kind of like,

I guess, a

like a dichotomy with the water.

Was it the water drinker, the sea drinker?

There's a firegiver, but but the fires don't go out that specific fire that's out there that's that's bjorn eat what yes so like

yeah it was

no he is he's passed it's he's dead that's like his memorial uh it was an honor given by the fire eater so he's out there and he's just he's just forever uh you know blazing so oh my goodness it's pretty metal isn't it this is a good thing you seem unconcerned I mean, it's just, it's, it's, I mean, it's an honor, like I said.

It's just pretty cool when you think about it.

I mean, I bet it's super useful for local fishermen who need to find their way.

Could Doug have come down from the ladder at this point to join them?

That's a little bit.

Hey, Tolf, quick question.

The second floor up there was that Bjorn's bedroom.

Yeah.

Okay.

He had a really creepy book in there.

I think it was about death, but it kind of implied that he might rise again in something called Days of Doomed.

I don't think that Bjorn's going to be coming back anytime soon.

He's on fire, if you did not know.

Yeah, yeah.

Basically,

I catch Doug up on that.

There is a burning memorial out on the ocean, and it's like a never-ending Viking funeral for Bjorn.

Wow.

Yeah, pretty cool, right?

That

sounds like torture.

That's what I thought.

So, Gus, can I say that at this point, I've like gone through all of the steps.

I've cleaned the fish, whisked the eggs, mixed seasonings and hornmeal, washed the fish in the egg mixture, and then I'm hanging the fish over the fire.

And then I, for the final ingredient, does Tolv know what it is?

Like, if I took a crack at what it is, or was that something that Bjorn never cracked?

Bjorn never cracked it, so it's up to you to discover the final ingredient.

I'm going to go with garlic salt.

All right, garlic salt, man.

That's a utility.

that's that's a must-have in every kitchen okay i put garlic salt on it i finish cooking the fish and i put it out for everybody and then natty's outside with giggy and yells at hey tove you didn't put garlic on that at all right why

giggy hates garlic uh uh uh oh more for all

you know how little babies sometimes are picky eaters I think it's time for Giggy to be a big boy and to try it out.

I think it's going to be very good.

Sounds good.

I'm gonna let you handle that.

Okay, I'm gonna actually go ahead and ring that dinner bell that we stole off that dead guy.

And I say, food's ready to eat.

Gunther happily takes a plate.

Okay, how does it taste?

I mean, I'm gonna serve up some for everybody.

Sure.

Well, I'm excited.

All right, so I think, Gunther, you said you ate first, right?

Yeah, we're only two D20s.

All right.

Pretty lucky, two 13s.

Yeah, you think it's really delicious.

You love it.

You think

it's awesome.

This is so good, Tov.

I think you did the best job ever, a fish.

Can I tell if that was the secret, if that was the missing step, the missing ingredient?

Let's see, let's see what other people say.

Who else ate?

I did.

Yeah, go, go, go, Doug.

Yeah, Doug, roll me two D20s.

A 12 and a four, total 16.

It's good.

You know, it's not, like, mind-blowing.

It's not the best dish you've ever had, but you it's solid.

It's uh, it's pretty good.

Uh, Tov, dish, I think this is the best dish I've ever had, Tov.

Roll me a deception check, Doug.

Oh, gosh.

Before

you don't, you're not sure entirely if Doug is being earnest, Tov, but the sentiment, Doug's heart is in the right place.

Okay, okay.

Okay.

Nadi.

Giggy's gonna go next.

I'm gonna cut a piece for Giggy.

I'm gonna do the whole, like, here comes the, here comes the boat.

Woot, woot.

It's a tugboat.

I don't know why.

I tried to feed Giggy.

I roll for feeding Giggy.

Roll to six.

So if it's a failure, does that mean that I get to feed them successfully?

As in Giggy failed to

wash you away?

Yeah, let's say that.

I like that.

Sure.

Does Giggy need to roll 2d20s?

Roll the 2d20s, yeah.

Okay.

That's an 18.

That's another 18, actually.

Oh, you know, you have to kind of force Giggy to take that first bite, but then after the first bite, like, Gigi can't get enough.

He keeps, like, reaching for more and trying to eat more and more.

Well,

you did something most people can't.

You got Giggy to do something he don't want to do.

How would I know if

that's the correct, the missing ingredient, I believe?

Real fast, before I answer that, from a metagaming perspective, Everyone who ate it is going to have advantage on any D20 roll for the rest of this session.

Oh my goodness.

Nice.

To answer your question, Blaine slash Tolv, maybe there is no like one single right answer.

You know, it's cooking.

There could be many right answers.

And it just so happens that the ingredient you came up with works.

And as Chef Gusteau says, anyone can cook.

So Toll wants to stand up after everyone's eaten.

And he

is kind of fidgeting nervously, and I think he's been doing this this entire time.

And he says, um,

gang, before we get going, I think I need to come clean about something.

I haven't been completely honest with all of you.

What?

I'd never noticed that you dodged a lot of questions about the history of your past.

Yeah, it's about time.

I think now that I'm here at Bjorn's house and I recognize the importance of our mission and how close I've grown to all of you, I think it's time that I come clean.

So, you remember when we ran into Ironclad, right?

Yeah, like

an hour ago.

Yeah, yeah, it was not very long ago.

I mean, it was before the cave thing, but anyways, he mentioned that there are people running around, you know, acting like

I can't remember his exact words, but he was basically like, oh, there are people who are acting like things that they are not and such.

You know, he was being like really cryptic and mean and I hate him.

Well, when I say that Ironclad is like my father,

what I mean to say is he's actually my creator.

Um

yeah.

So your model?

No, um

uh with that I take a knife and I cut around the forearm of my arm and I pull the skin from my arm and reveal a Thaumatec arm that looks a lot more like that arm that leg that we ran into in that cave.

And I say uh oh my goodness.

Everyone, I am a cybernetic organism living tissue over a middle endoskeleton.

I'm a thawmatec.

Hold on.

First of all, what the heck?

Second of all,

were you like

a wheelboy that got like something happened to you and you got recreated as whatever you just said?

Or like, is that how you started?

Well, if you give me a moment, I'll tell you my whole story and I'll answer any questions.

And if you guys are upset upset with me, then I'm open to that.

I know that I've been dishonest and I haven't been outright truthful, so I'm happy to go through and process all of these emotions with you guys.

It was started several years ago, I've lost track.

And basically, Ironclad had a penchant for creating machinery, specifically machines for war.

And

he created 11 different

beings,

robots, fighters, that he would use as crew on his ship.

And I am the 12th one.

Hence, my name being Tov, which is 12

from the land that I come from.

So that's why I have no last name, and that's why my name is Tov.

You're a robot?

Well, yes, it was kind of weird because, you know, for years, ironclad and the crew and what I would consider my brothers and sisters, we sailed the seas and doing terrible things, things that I, looking back, wish I had never done, but at the time I didn't have any choice in the matter.

You know, I was just listening to what he told me, and I had, I couldn't break away, I couldn't do anything about it, I just had to listen to him.

Is it where you had to automatically follow orders, or did you just not know?

Yeah, the closest thing I could compare it to is like if you guys were under like a spell, it was just something that I couldn't say no to.

So how did you break out of that?

Well that's the thing, you know, one day I don't know how or why, but I just kind of woke up.

I snapped out of it and so did some of my other brothers and sisters and we were tired of what Ironclad was telling us to do so we mutinied and

we were gonna try to take the ship so that we could end the the war and the the madness but he overpowered us And

for my treachery, Ironclad pushed me off the ship.

He made me walk the plank.

And for months, I was under the water.

And I was just walking around aimlessly because I couldn't die.

I mean, I'm made of metal, so I just kind of sunk to the bottom.

And I was just wandering around until I ran into Bjorn.

So when I said I was stranded on an island, I was actually lying.

I was under water.

Nothing happened to Ironclad that made you

become powerful and gave you strength to break away?

Or did it just happen?

Or do you not?

Probably an update got pushed through.

Well, like I said, I don't know, Gunther.

It's just like, it's just like I woke up someday.

I don't know if it was some sort of divine intervention or, you know, I don't know, but something just kind of snapped.

You know, after years of doing terrible things, I just finally woke up.

You think it was the Sea Dwinkle?

I mean, it could be.

You know, that was, you know, we've talked about the Sea Drinker and we've run into things, you know, like, seems like Bjorn had some sort of a relationship with them.

But yeah, that was like while I was underwater and I was looking for something, anything, I just kind of reaching out to like a higher power and I think that the sea drinker just finally led me to Bjorn and that's how we crossed paths.

So maybe they did wake me up.

I don't know.

How many of your brothers and sisters, the 11, were they become aware and what happened to them?

I don't know.

It happened all very quickly.

I don't know what happened to them, but it seemed like most of them woke up.

I don't know if some of them decided to stay with Ironclad and some of them turned.

All the details are very hazy.

It was all very sudden.

It was over just as quickly.

So, you're technically a machine.

Well, yeah.

This might be a weird question.

Yeah.

But do you think

I could examine you?

Just, you know, for my own research.

Cause I'm just like so fascinated by how he built you and just it's just state-of-the-art tech.

As you're asking this question to Tolv, Doug, you notice that the sigil on Tolv's shield begins glowing faintly and then brighter and brighter.

And before you can comment on it, there's a loud pounding at the door and the door bursts open.

Ah now.

You see the silhouette of a golden thaumatech and you hear a voice call out, Tov,

it's you!

Do I recognize them?

I mean, I probably do, but what is this?

We're going to have to find out in the next episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon.

Don't cry, it's an image streaming so much lower.

It was getting so interesting.

You turned it.

It's still interesting.

It's still going to be interesting next episode, too.

Thanks, everyone, for listening.

Don't forget that if you want to support the show, you can go to stinkydragonpod.com.

We'll have an episode of Second Wind coming out next week, and we're going to talk about things from this episode, things about the podcast in general, other things going on with us.

And then the week after that, we'll have a new episode and we'll find out who it is at the door.

Again, stingydragonpod.com.

We'd appreciate it.

But thanks a bunch, and we'll see you guys next time.

You're going to want to listen to the Second Wind because I have a lot to say about how

many breadcrumbs I've been laying in front of you, people.

You have no idea.

I've been sitting on this.

It's this hot secret.

This goss.

I'm pretty observant, and I don't think I picked up a single one.

I've not seen any bread.

I lost the trail.

I would be lost in the forest.

Punther's just been eating all the breadcrumbs

as we've been dropping them.

Did you know it's our birthday?

That's right.

June 1st is the anniversary of Tales of the Stingy Dragon going independent.

And in order to celebrate our birthday, I think you should head over to store.stinkydragonpod.com and check out some of our anniversary merch.

We've got all kinds of anniversary merch, including a commemorative glass, sticker, and we've also got Patreon tier exclusive merch available for all of our different tiers of our Patreon.

These items will be available for purchase all month long, so all June long, you can head over to store.stinkydragonpod.com, check it out, pick it up, but make sure you pick it up before the end of June because once June's over, all of this merch is gone forever.

Again, that is store.stinkydragonpod.com.

New episodes of Tales from the Stinky Dragon premiere every other Wednesday for wherever you stream podcasts and on the Stinky Dragon YouTube channel.

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Become a patron at stinkydragonpod.com or become a member of beacon at beacon.tv.

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In fact, here's a quick peek from Canon episode 18, Second Wind.

Do you remember in the very first episode?

Oh, the pre-like monologue

introduction.

Let me make a sorry attempt.

So,

here's what happened in Midrift, where we are in right now.

That used to be where all them godlike creatures got to have shenanigans and hang out and play Scrabble together.

The some of them were like, like, I'm over this party.

We're going to go to some place more exclusive, closed the VIP door and didn't tell anybody where they put the key or the passcode to get in.

And then that left Inferno and her homies with like no after-party place to go to.

And so they said, screw you guys.

We'll make our own party and it's going to have World of Warcraft and

Dr.

Pepper.

Now they're like, you know what?

Screw this.

I'm going to go find how to get to their place.

And

because they tried to call the cops to like, you know, stop the party, but the cops couldn't stop the party.

So they're doing it on their own.

So now they got to find the sea drinker who knows how to get into hiring.

That's the story.

That's the story.

That's the story.

Something like that.

I would say that we were both pretty close.

You didn't do a single attempt at that, Chris.

I did.

What did you say?

They were in a place they wanted to get to, they got a bad hand.

That's some serious, like, the kids who used to work with me on projects in school and then make me do the whole project.

And then when we did presentation, they act like they did something.

That's what

that was bringing to the party.

Well, you know, it's a team project.

Again, that's stingingdragonpod.com.

We can't thank you enough for your support that lets us make this show.

Listeners who interacted with us on the Stingy Dragon Discord had NPCs named after them in this episode, like Bjorn, voiced by James Willems at James.willems from Answer for It Show, a new weekly comedy podcast.

FizzMum, named after Kim Karris, voiced by Aaron Zeck at Aaron Zeck.

Lousy Laskiel, named after Alex B007, voiced by Chad James at Chad James RT from Death Battle.

Elva, voiced by Charlotte Avery, at Moms underscore Home from Astro Goblin, and Private Private Parts, voiced by Ben Ernst at Halcyon underscore Ben.

This week's hour question was submitted by Joshua Smith.

This episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon was produced by Ben Ernst, written, edited, and composed by Michael Reisinger, with additional editing work by Catherine Arnold and David Sonye.

Tune in next time for the thrilling episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon.

Well, hello everyone, welcome back again to the Dougs on the ones and twos equals twees.

It's been a while since we've connected last

here during our mid-episode party break.

Once again, Doug does not have to party because Doug went party before the show like a very smart boy that he is.

Things going well.

We're learning about this place here.

We're trying to find a sea dwinkle.

We're learning about

Toll's daddy issues.

He's got a lot of them.

A lot to unpack this episode.

But, you know, thanks for tuning in.

Do we have any guests here on the show with us today?

We do not.

It seems that everyone else also went to party.

So it's just Doug here

all on his own, just hanging out.

All by

myself.

I'm okay being

all by

myself.

Until next time.

Hey, Doug.

Naddy.

Hello.

Welcome to the show.

Doug, I got a fun fact for you.

What's that, Natty?

Laid on me.

You know how this episode we had some doing ons with some fish with Tove?

Mm-hmm.

Fun fact, there's no such thing as a fish.

No such thing as a fish.

There's no such thing as a fish.

educate all why don't you educate all listeners on that naddy well there's been some i my you know my community i'm always talking about we got one fella he's big he's a big uh i don't know there's something called like a zoologist or something or biologist or something like that and he studied and he figured out that while there's so many things in the sea

none of them are actually closely related to each other you know it's like a uh there's like a salmon but it's not closely related to anything else it's closer related to something like a camel than the other creatures that are in the ocean.

And so there's actually no such thing as a fish.

Wow.

Okay, well, button on my biscuit.

I learned something today.

Yeah, I figured, I figured with all your knowledge, if I can add a little bit just to the top of that little ginga tower, I'm happy with myself.

Wow.

Hopefully, I don't learn too much more.

Otherwise, it might topple over, you know.

Speaking of which, I got to look at your registry.

I forgot.

So thank you for the reminder.

Good.

It literally is just a honeymoon fun.

Hey, Siri, remind me in three minutes to look at Barber's registry.

Three minutes?

I meant three hours.

I'm still.

Yeah, I was like, what?

Change that to three hours.

Mid-recording.

Change

registry.

Three minutes.

Yeah, that would be kind of dumb.

Sucks.

The new musical has made Tony award-winning history on Broadway.

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Winner, best score.

We demand to be seen.

Winner, best book.

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It's a theatrical masterpiece that's thrilling, inspiring, dazzlingly entertaining, and unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical this season.

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Playing the Orpheum Theater October 22nd through November 9th.

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