Tales from the Stinky Dragon - Betwixt The Bramblecracks - Ep. 69 - Great Balls Of Briar

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

The party returns to heal Lord Loamish, but something is rotten in the state of Witherveins, and in the glowering stillness of Bramblecastle. Follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/TalesFromThe...StinkyDragon Check our our merch: https://store.roosterteeth.com/collections/tales-from-the-stinky-dragon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is a Rooster Teeth Production. into the stinky dragon throwback our latest thirst quencher revenge is sweet tea it's a mixture of risk your neck whiskey glare and ice sweet tea a fistful of peach pits one drop of this undying dram is enough to quench your thirst for injustice previously our adventurers acquired another dia jam and lollygagged over to the lagoon of croakmeyer where they saw familiar faces and went firefly fishing they finally found their way down to the Pantheon Temple, and Mudmet Amphibolus and her secret scroll. But after fighting Amnesia and escaping the temple, now it appears they've stumbled into a lily pad pickle.
Starting point is 00:00:57 Nabonitecap, let's resume our noxious narrative. Nabonitecap. Nabonitecap. I am an at-cat I assume because I'm far behind on listening to the episodes but I assume we edit out most if not all of your flubs on those intros guys but I'm going to call you out you've been flubbing like
Starting point is 00:01:17 pretty consistently lately I had one flub on this read it was right away yeah the other day I did have a lot more I couldn't stop laughing at diarrhea that was my bad I know we can't do this because it would take a lot of time
Starting point is 00:01:34 since we have 60 some episodes at this point but going back and just isolating just the flubs in all of Gus's intros and just making one compilation of it's Micah shaking his head. No, I'm not asking if I'm going to do it for sure. That'd be a
Starting point is 00:01:50 lot of time and effort just for a dumb joke. Just like this podcast. Just kidding. Whoosh! Your surroundings swirl around you and in an instant you feel the fresh night air fill your lungs. Your whole body is dried of any salt water and you open bleary eyes to see you're back in the lagoon of Krokmire,
Starting point is 00:02:06 just outside the Pantheon. You look around to see families of Aladiles, Terrashells, and Froads are all fishing in boats around the lagoon. As you step into the moonlight, the hair on your neck stands on end. It feels like you're being watched. You survey your landscape and realize the truth. All the families are staring at you with yellowish eyes. Ooh, everyone roll a
Starting point is 00:02:28 perception check. Spooky. We're literally gonna ask, has anybody noticed that we just came out of the water world? Out of ten. Oh, come on! Dang it. That was one of those really slow final parts of the roll. It took like ten seconds to go from twelve to two.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Um, eleven. Seven. Twelve. Oh, thank heaven. Oh, normally you guys to go from 12 to 2. 11. 7. 12. Oh, thank heaven. Normally you guys are really good at perception checks. This is really bad. That's pretty good for dumb guns. I think it's the performance anxiety of coming out and having all these people stare at us. I cast
Starting point is 00:02:58 Disguise Self and make my eyes yellow as well. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I have the Dread Helm and it makes my eyes glow red. So I go, Well, you try that, Kyborg, and you rub your eyes a little bit to clear your vision, but you end up rubbing salt water into your eyes and it starts stinging and you can't quite open them all the way.
Starting point is 00:03:19 Everyone else, the other three of you, take a quick look around. You see the people of Croke Mire are are quite still either standing outside of lily pad buildings or floating in rowboats and they're all staring at you with yellowish eyes do they look angry uh they seem almost like they have a blank expression almost like very uh i was gonna say this is very children of the corn moment. I actually do want to cast something. I cast fog cloud. Ooh, fog cloud. Oh, spray. Sailor moon, man. That's the only move that Mercury has.
Starting point is 00:03:54 Mercury? Who's the one that... You tell us, you're watching us. You're the weed. Blue, right? Yeah. Yeah. You create a 20 foot radius sphere of fog
Starting point is 00:04:02 centered on a point within range. The sphere spreads around corners, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It lasts the duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed disperses it. At least 10 miles an hour. At least 10 miles per hour. So it lasts for up to an hour. So you mud-chance some arcane words and fog begins rolling out from his position. I assume you centered it on you guys.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Yeah, I pulled a storm. Torthor leans in and whispers in your ear, Fog begins rolling out from his position. I see me centered on you guys. Yeah Torthor leans in and whispers in your ear. This seems kind of creepy, right? He saved you oh he is happy he scared you though He is very very happy about the fact this ever happened in village before? Is this like something that happens during this festival? No, I have no idea what's going on with these people. They all seem a little off. Could I go try to talk to someone? Like one of the closest people to us? Sure.
Starting point is 00:04:54 So I guess, Bart, you emerge from the creepy fog on the lagoon. You emerge from the... You're creepy. It's my fog. You emerge from the misunderstood fog. Yeah. It's my fog. You emerge from the misunderstood fog. Yeah. And approach one of the people. Yeah, and as I'm walking through the fog, I go,
Starting point is 00:05:10 it's not just a phase. I know. Is that the reference? It's just if it's creepy fog. A misunderstood fog, whatever it is. It's not just a phase, baby. All right. Yeah, and I go up to one of the people staring at us.
Starting point is 00:05:25 What do you do? Could I try to tap someone on the shoulder and say, hey, what's going on? Why are you guys all looking at us all funny? Sure. I feel like that deserves a roll of some kind. Make an insight check. I was prepared for him to do a three stooges routine. I have advantage on insight, so I'm going to roll twice.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Up dog. That's a 22. Okay, you know, you go up to an allodile and, you know, you tap it on the shoulder like, hey, what's going on? And it slowly raises a finger and points at you and lets out a scream. Pull it. They begin,
Starting point is 00:06:04 some of the other creatures in the area begin converging on you, Bart. Oh, gosh. Why did you leave the safety of the fog cloud? Well, I don't know. Maybe these guys need to be snapped out of it. It's body snatchers, right? That's where they pulled this from? What is that?
Starting point is 00:06:18 Yeah, what is that? Is that the body snatchers with the guys with the mustache? That's what I had in mind when I said he slowly raised his arm. Could I do a quick detect magic? Yeah, why not? I mean, I know there's magic at play. I just want to know what kind. All right, I'm going to cast it.
Starting point is 00:06:33 Pacha! Detect magic with my wand of detect magic. You cast detect magic, and you can detect illusionary magic happening all around you. The allodial you touched on the shoulder reaches out and tries to grab you and grapple with you, Bart. Could I run away? Yeah, make like a dexterity check to see if they're able to grab you or not.
Starting point is 00:06:52 14? 15. Yeah, with the arm that was reached out pointing at you, it clasps on you and grabs you and begins holding you down on the ground as others begin shambling into range. Can I run and go grab Bart? You probably couldn't see anything.
Starting point is 00:07:06 You're still in the fog cloud. I'm out! Follow my boys! And I run and grab Bart. You run out and you see Bart being held down by an allodile and other creatures are converging on his position. I'm just a little child!
Starting point is 00:07:21 You wouldn't hurt a little child, would you? Start crying. Can I grab? Try and grab Bart and pull? Yeah, do you want to grab Bart, or do you want to shove the person holding him? Like, how would you want to approach this? I think, well, I have two attacks, so I think I would. You have two attacks, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have two actions. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:39 You have two attacks per your attack action. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I guess. Don't yeah me. I'm explaining it to you. I know, I know, I know. I agree. attacks per your attack action yeah yeah yeah so i guess yeah don't yeah i know i know i know i agree i i uh i guess what i'm saying is i i would like try and grab bart which i guess would be a grapple and then i might shove oh you don't know bar has to oppose it or i guess i want to grab bart and then knock to the guy who grabbed him back and i'm asking which do I want to grab Bart and then knock the guy who grabbed him back. And I'm asking, which do you want to do?
Starting point is 00:08:06 Because you moved, so you can do one or the other. Wait, isn't my attack, I get two attacks, which could be an attack or a grapple. They're both an attack. So you grapple and shove? Uh-huh. Is the shove an attack? Yeah. You could say like an unarmed strike or something.
Starting point is 00:08:23 Okay, yeah. I'm getting a thumbs up from Ben, so we'll allow it. And I'll rage, too. I'll do it. Okay, so you're going to grapple Bart, shove, and then rage? No, rage. Yeah. I'm trying.
Starting point is 00:08:32 Something snapped in Gum Gum when he saw Bart getting... All right, I guess make a... I guess, like, a strength check to grapple Bart. Well, I'll just... Bart, I assume you're not going to oppose the grapple. No. Actually, you would have to oppose the grapple with the creature holding him. All right.
Starting point is 00:08:51 I just rolled my rage thing, which is seven. Let's see what that does. Doesn't it have dispel magic? Seven, which is flowers and vines simply grow around you until your rage ends. The grounds wouldn't 15 feet use difficult terrain for your enemies. Ha! Okay. And then I'll, yeah, I guess I'll do strength attack. Did you say check? your rage ends the grounds wouldn't 15 feet you use difficult terrain for your enemies okay and then i'll yeah i guess i'll just drink attack did you say check uh yeah i guess i would assume you
Starting point is 00:09:10 would want to do like a strength check to uh try to grapple bart i have advantage on that oh man that was two bad rolls so what'd you get 11 yeah yeah all right well'm going to make my opposed roll here. Oh, don't worry. I got a five on my roll. So, yeah, you don't feel very confident about your attempt to grab Bart, but you do manage to grab Bart and free him from being pinned down. And then you shove the creature that was pinning him down. Me and GumGum look like that meme picture of the woman holding the the other woman back and pointing and then the cat looking yeah uh yeah i guess just make like a touch attack to see if you hit it hit like ac-14 this is a touch attack yeah oh yeah you managed to shove it you know you you
Starting point is 00:09:55 pull bart out and then with you know all your rage and the anger in you you shove the creature off of bart but your hands go straight through the creature. What? Oh, no. And your arms are stuck in it. Oh, no. Make a strength saving throw. It's those big goos. It's a whole city of amnesias.
Starting point is 00:10:14 Yeah, yeah, amnesias. All right. Let's see. But it's illusionary magic. 25. That's why they look like people. Yeah, you weren't expecting that. It's like, you know, you shoved into a gel. Then maybe it, like, creeps you out or something.
Starting point is 00:10:27 And you very quickly pull your arms back out. And yeah, the creature no longer has an aladile form. It kind of dissolves into an amnesia. How did we beat them last time? Was it like fire? Basically not piercing. Everyone roll initiative. Oh, shoot. Okay. Wait, can I finish my
Starting point is 00:10:44 turn and scoot back? What's your move rate? It is 40. Yeah. Yes. I rolled a 50. Everyone roll initiative. Oh, shoot. Wait, can I finish my turn and scoot back? What's your move rate? It is 40. Yeah. Yes. I rolled a 15. Curses. I rolled a 15 on my initiative. Oh, initiative.
Starting point is 00:10:53 15 as well. So now I'm not repeating you. I'm just saying I rolled a 15. I rolled a 21. 20. How many are there? Do we want to fight or run? Kyborg has a higher dexterity than Bart, right?
Starting point is 00:11:05 So I'm last. Do we want to fight or run? I think we're rolling initiative. So I think there's... Yeah, no, but we could still... Yeah, but you can figure it out. Oh, and I got to roll for Torthor as well. We should probably see if there's like something that could suck them all in or something like that.
Starting point is 00:11:16 We'll give Torthor a 10. Oh, you're not last, Bart. You got Torthor after you. Haha. Okay. Despite all that, GumGum, you are first. what do you want to do here well how many guys are there would you say are around us and like what's the what's the lay of the land when you peeked out you know and we're out there trying to help bart rough estimate you saw about 10 yellow people
Starting point is 00:11:37 looking at you that's a lot and are they all around us or is there like only in front of us all circling around the lagoon well shoots Do we want to try and fight our way out or fight our way around them? Well, do you want to maybe like perceive if there's any sort of like path or? Well, yeah, I mean, if they're all, are they all the way around us and is there any way out? They were all around.
Starting point is 00:11:58 I mean, it depends. The way you all entered the lagoon was from the north. Then to the north, there were a couple of people standing there maybe you could try to like get past them somehow i don't know i like it's a tough question to ask just because i don't know what your goal would be if it's just to escape and go back the way you came it would be to the north but there were a few people there i mean there's people everywhere the the least is to the south but there's no way to exit the lagoon to that way. Man, it blew my gift to the chromatic dragon on that one.
Starting point is 00:12:27 There's a bunch of little doggies. I think electricity would hurt them. Yeah, I want to say the electricity worked on that one. Electricity and cold, I think, worked. Did fire or anything like that work? I know piercing didn't. I think we can break our way through. Whatever you want to do, Gum Gum.
Starting point is 00:12:44 I'm going to run. Just doum. I'm going to run. Just do something. I'm going to run forward to the area. You said there were a few at the north? Yeah, there were. And then I want to get to a position where I can kind of like knock them back and do Thunder Wave with my Rainbringer staff to try and knock them to clear a path. So you're going to come out and use your Rainbringer staff and then using Thunder Wave, try to clear a path to the north.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Yeah. I think that's the plan. Okay. So you emerge from the fog cloud to the north and, you know, raise your Rainbringer staff. Does Gum Gum have to, like, chant anything
Starting point is 00:13:17 or say anything to activate the Rainbringer staff? Nine, one, two, three, lightning, boom. It was worse than I could have imagined Lightning Just could not have gone poor Sounds like someone who simultaneously
Starting point is 00:13:31 Knocked a window at themselves and stubbed their toe Mmm Boom Yeah So yeah 15 foot cube originating from you Must take a constitution save throw on a field Save takes 2d8 damage and is pushed 10 feet away from you successful save they take half just a
Starting point is 00:13:50 side note to clarify on the ring bringer staff we've been real loosey-goosey with it there are there are charges on it oh i know and i've been keeping track have you okay i guess i don't track a bit i don't see them on my side. I think maybe I have to refresh my page Like I get to read roll for every like okay, we just went talked about I want to make sure One of the ones that I can use that's only four or five charges, so I can use it twice for a long rest? Yeah. Or most of the time.
Starting point is 00:14:29 Okay, so you come out and you cast Thunder Wave, which it's a wave of thunderous force that comes out from you within a 15-foot cube originating from you. So when you emerge from the cloud to the north, you see there are three of these creatures between you and the exit to the north. You get two of them within a 15-foot and that probably you know would clear the way enough for
Starting point is 00:14:48 your friends to come through so they all need to make a constitution saving throw they have a plus two and what number do they need gum gum 12 so they need to make it a 12 or higher yes and they have a plus two okay let's roll this is 50 50 if they get 10 or better and they're okay one of them gets a nine the other one gets 17. so i'm gonna roll this evens it's the one directly in your way odds it's the other one odds it's the other one so the one directly in your way does not get shoved but the one that's a little more it's still in the way but not quite directly dead center uh gets shoved 10 feet or stay off to the right away out of the uh And I roll 2d8, which is 8. 8 points of damage?
Starting point is 00:15:29 Yeah. So one of them takes 8, one of them takes 4. And it makes a loud boom! I want all of our attacks to sound like farts from now on. So Gum Gum makes a boom boom. Thank you, Dragon. Hey, we'll just release one episode where it's just the fart edition. Oh, we'll release something.
Starting point is 00:15:48 We'll just re-release one of the episodes and everything is farts. So like I said, you shove the one that's kind of a little off to the side, a little more out of the way. There is one still directly in the way. But they both do appear to... What kind of damage is that Ringbringer staff? Thunder. All right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:04 So they appear to be somewhat hurt what kind of damage is that ring bringer staff? Thunder. Alright, yeah. So, uh, they appear to be somewhat hurt and not happy with it. Well, and I'm gonna rage again. Wait, weren't you already raging? Well, I think my rage ends when I cast a spell. Even if you use the item? Well, I don't know. If it doesn't, that's cool. Mutt just turns to Kyborg and goes, hey,
Starting point is 00:16:20 hey, Kyborg. Yeah. No, shut up. I'm having a moment. I turn to Kyver and I go, hey, where am I? Oh. Oh. A fog party? Because we're in the fog cloud
Starting point is 00:16:33 this entire time. Just chilling out while all this is happening. Bart clicks on a flashlight and he's like, I'm a lighthouse. Yeah, I think your rage would continue based on what I'm reading in the player, I think your rage would continue
Starting point is 00:16:45 based on what I'm reading in the player's handbook here. I just need to get hit or it'll end because I didn't attack. Well, you are attacking. When you make a melee attack, yeah, get hit or hit. Okay, cool. Then I guess my turn's over.
Starting point is 00:16:56 Okay. How many are left standing? All of them. Oh, yeah, I guess you don't know that, though. You're in the fog. I'm trying to clear a way to run. Yeah, Mud, you're up. How many episodes have we been recording this?
Starting point is 00:17:06 Episode 69. Did it. It's good to know Chris still hasn't learned how to take a turn that takes less than 15 minutes. In 66, 69 episodes. That was two times. It's a 30 minutes. All right, Mud, you're up. I have a question about Fog Cloud.
Starting point is 00:17:24 The terminology is a little bit vague. It says the duration is up to one hour, but it's a concentration spell. So I'm asking if I end my concentration or cast a new spell, would that dissipate the fog? Or is the spell written that the fog is there and stays there no matter what I do for an hour? Yeah, I can see what you're asking. My interpretation would be that it begins to dissipate and disappear.
Starting point is 00:17:47 Once I what? Drop concentration. Okay, cool. Then that'll make this a really cool moment. I'm about to wreck your stuff right now, Gus. Oh, no. My stuff. I learned something fun about conjure animals.
Starting point is 00:18:03 At a fifth level, I summon twice as many as the number that I'm summoning. Yes. You should see Gus in bed space right now. Hold on. Seeing as how we have kind of two problems to solve, multiple combatants and a swift exit, I'm going to solve that with one spell. I'm casting conjure animals, and I summoning 16 giant rioting lizards.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Rioting lizards? I'm gonna show you guys a picture of these guys really quick, just so you know what I have now summoned as your steeds. I mean, I could cast plot of beggars if you want. Oh, whoa! Those are the things from
Starting point is 00:18:43 episode three, Revenge of the Sith. It's very much like the thing Oh, whoa, those are the things from three Can't wait to ride it So it looks like for the auto listers like kind of like a giant Iguana, but without the spikes with a saddle on its back and it has like these two long That was the the rain the rain. It's got a saddle. Yeah. Yeah, it has like these two long things. That was the reins. It's got a saddle, yeah. So there's 16 giant riding lizards that have now appeared out of a dissipated fog.
Starting point is 00:19:12 So yeah, the fog slowly sinks to the ground and back into the water. And as it does, you see 16 riding lizards. Barking a trumpet. Barking a trumpet.
Starting point is 00:19:25 I was going to go... I send one each out to my compatriots for them to be able to use. Bart needs a boost. I'm pretty sure Bart's standing next to the lizard, reaching up with little grabby hands. Just try and climb it. Just go... Just sl lizard reaching up with like little grabby hands. Just trying to climb it. Just like sling him up on his back with his tongue.
Starting point is 00:19:48 Yeah, so there's four that are occupied with that and then another twelve. Twelve are now attacking. You said there's ten? Yeah. Do you want to give a lizard to Torthor? Oh yeah, I forgot about that mofo. He gets one as well, so there's eleven.
Starting point is 00:20:04 He did save you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If I remembered he was here, I forgot about that mofo. He gets one as well, so there's 11. Okay, yeah. He did save you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, if I remembered he was here, I would have included that in my statement. Also, just so, even if you want to say there's rough terrain, they have spider climb, so they can actually climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings. Well, there is difficult terrain because of Gum Gum, but not for you guys. Only around me.
Starting point is 00:20:24 Okay. So they're going to do a bite attack against all ten. I'm just going to make it simple. Five to shove one of the ones that's still in the way out of the way, and then six to shove the other one out of the way. Shove or attack? I want to just move them out of the way. Trample? Sure.
Starting point is 00:20:39 I don't know. I'm not familiar. Let me look up. I'm not familiar with giant riding lizards, so I don't know how their attacks work. Their attack, they have one action. It's called bite But I assume any creature could do basically what gum gum did which is just our to go and unarmed strike Yeah, like just our arm strike versus each of them to try to push them out of the way Yeah, it could like bite and you know If they clasp on which I'm sure they're going to they could like continue moving and like drag them along sure i'm just gonna roll 11 d20s yeah yeah and their uh armor class is
Starting point is 00:21:11 right now their armor class is 14 okay lots of dice good lord i almost crashed your ipad it's okay and then oh i can't see them i can mouse over So they also have a plus four. Okay, so they need a 10 or better. 17, 13, 18, 18, 20, 15. So six of them hit. Wow. Cool. Then let's say three and three. Sure.
Starting point is 00:21:35 And then you want me to roll for attack? Or roll for damage? Roll for their damage. Okay. I'm just going to roll. How many did we say? Six? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Three and three. Six D8s. And they're all plus two. Plus two. Whee! Look at all those dice. I get to roll so many dice, it's fun. So it's ten, five, ten, seven, four, five.
Starting point is 00:21:56 I'm going to let you, the man who has their HP in front of him, deal with that. Yeah, the pack of giant riding lizards rushes forward to the aid of Rohan. Excuse me, my babies. And begins mercilessly biting at these creatures. And then they begin getting dragged. And you're a little concerned because the lizards are kind of, you know, they're successful in moving them. But they're a little tied up in like this sticky ooze as well from the creatures as they, you know, transform from town residents back into amnesias.
Starting point is 00:22:30 So there's just a mess of lizards and ooze off to the side. But yeah, there is a clear path for you guys to make an escape. I suggest we make our egress. We are on these riding lizards, so. Let's go. Yeah. Bart kicks the side of it. But like not when you're saddled,
Starting point is 00:22:50 you just kick the side of it staring at it. It just grabs onto the tail and holds onto the tail and rides away. Probably doesn't feel like anything to them. Yeah, so I guess all of you ride off into the sunset to the north. Yeah. Yep. As you all are riding past,
Starting point is 00:23:03 you see Torthor does slow down as he encounters the group of lizards and amnesias that are all tied up together. And he reaches into a pouch on his belt and pulls out some kind of, almost like a dust or a dirt, and throws it out over the oozes. And they begin dissolving, freeing up the giant lizards. So they can rejoin you. We should get some of that.
Starting point is 00:23:25 Yeah, what was that, Torthor? Oh, that's my antiseptic salt. Antiseptic salt. How did you make it? Is it something you could just buy somewhere? Oh, I make it myself. It's a special recipe. Here, you can have this pouch if you like it.
Starting point is 00:23:37 Can you whip up several batches of that? Because that could be really useful. Could you put some of it on the end of an arrow? Yes. Perhaps in a pouch of some sort. Also, like, do we get the impression that this stuff could dissolve like a living amnesia or only one that's been kind of taken care of? You could ask him.
Starting point is 00:23:55 He'll tell you it doesn't instantly get rid of them, but it does damage them quite a bit. And if they're already weakened such as these were, it can do a lot of damage on them. If we were to take the salt and rub it on their lips, would we be able to kiss them and hurt them? You could give them ouchie kisses? Ouchie kisses. I've never tried that. Maybe you should try it and let me know if it works. Poison Ivy did it all the time, and I'm a big fan of hers.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Yeah, so he does offer out his pouch of antiseptic salt if someone wants to take it. Who would be the best person to... I'm just going to put it on arrows if you give it to me. Do with that what you will. Because I can put it on a not exploding arrow, but you know the idea. I was trying to think of like a good way of spreading it. Does anyone have like a duster
Starting point is 00:24:36 like maybe your maitain to like... Give it to me. I got some spells. I'll take it. You might be able to put it in your inventory, antiseptic salt. I'm going to add it to my inventory. You'd think this would be a more well-known ingredient around the town. Yeah. These things are causing people a lot of trouble. Well, Torthor's a pretty handy guy.
Starting point is 00:24:53 Torthor, would you be able to whip up more of that stuff for us? Yeah, it takes a while, though, and I can't exactly get to my lab right now. There's something going on in the lagoon. Is it any kind of salt or just special salt? Oh, it's special salt. Antiseptic salt. You have to pee on the salt. Oh. It tastes delicious on potatoes. lagoon. Is it any kind of salt or just special salt? Oh, it's special salt. Anti-septic salt. You have to pee on the salt. It tastes delicious on potatoes.
Starting point is 00:25:08 Noted. Potatoes. Well, I think I should probably stick around and see if I can help any of my friends back at the lagoon. But it was great seeing you guys again. Hopefully I'll bump into you guys at some point in the future. Yeah, and if you want to make some more of that salt, well, if you ever get back to your lab and meet back
Starting point is 00:25:23 up with us. Once I'm able to figure out what's going on and take care of things down there, yeah, I'll get back to work making some more. Great idea. We'll use the Ahemmobile. You'll become a little propeller plane, and we'll drop it over the town like we're putting out a forest fire. Crop dusting. Yeah. All right. So, yeah, Torthor returns the riding lizard and begins very slowly making his way back towards the lagoon.
Starting point is 00:25:45 Nice. We came here on the boat, yeah? No, we all just walked here. I suppose at this time we can return back to the castle, right? And what were we supposed to do at the castle again? We got the gem, we got the scroll, we're going to go fix my dad. Hey! So you all make your way northeast toward the towering citadel of spires.
Starting point is 00:26:02 A blanket of glimmering stars and an amber moon providing light to your path. Eventually, you reach the earthen foundation of the Bramble Castle, and before you is the dirt wall with thorny mural of furballed faces you encountered before. Oh, what was the password for that? I think it was, like, mud, like,
Starting point is 00:26:18 cutting his finger and it opening up. Yeah, I touched it. Yeah. You wanna do that again? I touch it. Yeah, mud, you touch it, and the thorn pierces your finger, drawing just a little tiny drop of royal blood. Crack! The brambles pull away,
Starting point is 00:26:32 and the dirt wall collapses to the ground, revealing a dark tunnel. Hey, little stinkies, just a friendly reminder, go follow us at StinkyDragonPod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Join us on the StinkyDragonPod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Join us on the StinkyDragon subreddit where folks like you are constantly posting thrilling theories about the show, delightful D&D magic items, and fantastic fan art.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Also, if you're enjoying the music from the show, check out the first soundtrack album on Spotify or wherever you stream music. And on top of that, some fans are building a wiki page about the show over at stinkydragon.fandom.com. Delve into the lore phase where the show takes place or help contribute to chronicling the story up till now. Maybe make a post about problems that I've created for Micah's writing or times where I've contradicted myself. And if you interact with us on social media, we might name an NPC in the show after you. For example, Algaroc, the Spirit of Stones, named after Jason Alger. Sneko, the Hugging All spirit of stones named after at jason alger uh sneko the hugging aladile named after at it's a chipmunk that bundles me the friendly frode named after
Starting point is 00:27:30 at va tv ban torathor the teleporting terror shell named after at torathor and amphibolus the spirit of water named after at melissa and of course uh way to give a special thanks to some friends provide vo for characters in the previous episode algerock voicedq, voiced by Andy Cortez from Bonermonger.com. Clay Bramblecrack, voiced by Alfredo Diaz. And of course, Amphibolus, voiced by Chelsea Rebecca. We go in. While we're traveling during this time, I have a salt lick. Could I have been salting my weapons?
Starting point is 00:28:05 Sure. Like taking the salt lick, almost like honing them with the salt lick. Yeah, and if you want to salt your arrows or anything. Do you want to turn into a horse and lick it as well? Yeah. I do lick it sometimes. It's yummy. All right, you all enter that tunnel and crack.
Starting point is 00:28:19 The brambles recoil along with the wall of soil, and once again you find yourselves in a pitch black tunnel. A bright light flashes across your eyes, and you find yourself once again in the palatial entrance of the Bramble Castle. As you look around from here the castle seems to be dark and quiet. I mean it's late at night. However amidst the darkness you're able to see the mossy chairs and coffee table still covered with the plates of half-eaten salt lick sandwiches from your first visit. In the corner of the room you also spot the spiraling set of soil stairs heading to the many floors above.
Starting point is 00:28:48 We're supposed to go to the top? Yes, the highest part. Yeah. I draw my bow just in case. I draw my Salt Lick. Yeah, we got to go to the highest tower. And you met Amphibolus. Yeah, that was the person.
Starting point is 00:29:03 I did. I met a god. All right. So y'all make your way to the stairs Yeah, but I'm leaving the 16 lizards At the bottom floor Concentration up to one hour I haven't cast another spell So they've got some time
Starting point is 00:29:18 But you did travel 55 minutes Shut up On giant riding lizards No time 57 minutes Um, 55 minutes. Shut up. Shut up. On giant riding lizards, no time. Oh, 57 minutes. 57. You climb the spiraling soil stairs for a good while until you reach the landing platform with three monogram doors leading to the royal chambers.
Starting point is 00:29:37 On a stepped ladder unfurled from the ceiling leading further up the castle. You mean stairs? I was like, what the hell is he talking about? Oh, right, right. I go up the ladder. I go up the ladder with my bow drawn. Hard to do.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Bart goes up the ladder like a normal person. I go up the ladder special like gum gum. Going up the ladder with the bow drawn would be like using your mouth to hold on to the rungs as you go. I can do it. Is it at an angle or is it straight up and down? A lot of core strength. I would love
Starting point is 00:30:11 to see you try to climb that. Can you go up a ladder? A straight up, straight up ladder. I mean a little bit of a tilt. Could you go up holding a bow? Probably. It's like unfurled. Like it's dropped down like a rope ladder. A rope ladder.
Starting point is 00:30:28 Now you're changing things. I said unfurled. What kind of ladder is unfurled? Everyone make perception check. They'll be better this time, I promise. They better be. Woo, 25. See, told you. Oh, Nat 20 plus 9, 29.
Starting point is 00:30:43 One! Yep, there they are. There's the norm. Plus four, nine, or five. Bart and Mud, you hear like a moaning sound. It seems like it's coming from Clay's room. Ew. Wait, we're up the ladder? No, no, no, before you go up the ladder.
Starting point is 00:30:57 Like a pained moan? Or like a moan of pleasure. You hear like a... That's a moan of pleasure. Oh, like someone's tied up. No, we better not go in there. I think he's doing things. Specifically, I should say, you hear it come from behind the door that's labeled CB.
Starting point is 00:31:10 Play Bramble Crack. And that's like what, in the hall we were in? Not up the ladder? Correct, before you go up the ladder. Where all the monogram doors are leading to the royal chambers. I go up to Clay's door and I get Gumbo out. And I have Gumbo smell the door for danger. What does danger smell like?
Starting point is 00:31:29 I don't know. Just whatever. Gumbo is using Gumbo's superior schnoz and I can speak to Gumbo so Gumbo can tell me what's going on. Make an investigation check. What does Gumbo smell? I get advantage on investigation checks now. Doesn't matter. I got 19. I'm going to roll a nat 20 right here.
Starting point is 00:31:44 Nope, 15. So 19. Alright, thanks to Gumbo, you notice drag marks and yellowish residue along the soil floors leading up to the door label CB. And you notice the same footprints then heading up from the CB door up to
Starting point is 00:32:00 the unfurled ladder. He thinks there'd be a fake clay roam in the boat. Yeah. Should we go free clay first and then go up the ladder? You still have an extra party member for attacks and stuff. Yeah. Because NPCs have always helped us so well in fights. Hey, did
Starting point is 00:32:15 Torthor not save you guys? He could be a bullet shield or something. You seem not so attached to clay. Come here, sponge. We're going to fight. Bart goes up to the door and tries to open it. Yeah. Yeah, you open it up and, you know, it swings open. Inside's a rather plain bedroom with a little more than a four-post bed built inside a willow tree and a small closet in the corner.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Do I see any person in here or any living being? You don't see anybody, but you still hear that muffled moaning sound. It seems to be coming from the closet. Can I go to the closet? Yeah. You open it up? Yes. You open up the closet and you find Sump bound by entangling vines and weeds.
Starting point is 00:32:53 He's moaning because his mouth is missing. Oh. What? He has like a look of panic in his eyes. Who is Sump? The butler. Oh. But like, this is magic, so this could be that Kajuj.
Starting point is 00:33:06 I cast Dispel Magic. Okay. You cast Dispel Magic. The vines and weeds all unfurl from around Sump, freeing him. But his mouth appears to still be missing. And he's like touching at his face. Can I pull up my boomba and do the magic? Check for magic.
Starting point is 00:33:23 Govun kills him. Magic awareness. He just did dispel magic. I know, but I want to see. Outside of the normal things, you don't detect anything out of the ordinary. Could I hand him a piece of paper and a pen? A pen?
Starting point is 00:33:37 Yeah. What is that? A quill. A piece of charcoal. What if he's the Amnusian and this is the trap? Yeah, he eagerly takes it from you and begins furiously scribbling on the piece of charcoal. What if he's the amnesian? This is the trap. Yeah, he eagerly takes it from you and begins furiously scribbling on the piece of paper. What does it say? Then he hands it over to you and it says, help, amnesia's in the castle.
Starting point is 00:33:55 Oh. Duh. Amnesia. Gum-Gum somehow decided to be condescending to someone for stating the obvious. Also, Gum-Gum couldn't read it that fast. It says, Amnesius captured the family and the shaman and took them upstairs. Oh. Oh, what happened to your mouth?
Starting point is 00:34:15 Yeah, where'd your mouth go? Where'd your pie hole go? He takes the paper back and pen and begins writing down very quickly again and then hands it back to you. And you read it and it says, I tried to stop them, but I don't know what happened. I found myself bound without a mouth here in the closet. Okay, so we are heading into a trap.
Starting point is 00:34:35 What is our best course of action? Well, we know the window is accessible. We do, we do. Should we use the window again? Because it worked out so well last time. Wait, really quick, really quick. Let's like put our heads together. Is this a coup?
Starting point is 00:34:48 Do you think your younger brother, do you think that he's trying to usurp you as the next in line? Like he probably poisoned your dad and then now he's trying to kill you in the process so that he could go straight to the top? You know, it's a possibility. How well do you know your brother? How long have you known him?
Starting point is 00:35:02 I don't think I know him very well because I answered every question about my heritage and past incorrectly. Incorrectly, yeah. So I'm willing to believe in Kyborg's astute observations, which I don't think I thought I'd ever say that. I feel very detectively. Detective?
Starting point is 00:35:20 There it is. There's the Kyborg I know. Detectively. Do a backflip. It's been a while. Do it. 23. That's a pretty good backflip.
Starting point is 00:35:32 I'm back. Who's clapping? Should we surprise and go in the window? How would we all go via the window? That was something that we were able to do by falling, but Bart can't float up. Is there a floor above? Yeah, but you can attach to my friendship bracelet.
Starting point is 00:35:52 I can also be in. Oh, wait, can we get the giant riding lizards? The skynet spiders. What would you do? They can climb. Oh, my goodness. Okay, we hurry down. We get our giant riding lizards,
Starting point is 00:36:02 and we climb up the exterior of the building. I'll cast it again if you make me. I'll bolster your magic to give you an extra spell. I don't know if it's strong enough for... Yeah, I can cast it pretty low, actually. Okay, so I'm going to roll it. It's a d3. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:15 Gus isn't even asking for any of these rolls. We're just offering him up. Yeah, I mean, knock yourself out. Goat comes rolling already. How many spell slots for the roll? The level of which equals the number rolled or lower. So it's a level one spell slot one one spell slot level one i give you another one if you want that's fine i can do that do another one no i'll take that it's fine so you go back downstairs and just
Starting point is 00:36:35 to clarify i'm not telling you no or anything just to clarify when you jumped out the windows and everything it was from this floor down to the ground now to proceed you need to continue going up remember i said the ladder was unfurled right but if we go down get the lizards go to exterior and climb up the exterior of the building up to the all i'm saying is that you have not been above this floor so far right yeah that's all okay yeah yeah do we want to divide our forces so that there's two people at the door and then two people coming through a theoretical window i'm gonna go invisible and go up the ladder. I'm down to go up the ladder with Bart as well. I'll go up the
Starting point is 00:37:10 ladder too. I thought we were going to split. I'm just going along with it. No, you're with me. We get to go raid the lizards again. Okay, I like lizards. Wizards or lizards? Lizards. Alright, so to be clear, Kyborg and Bart are going up the ladder. They will, yes.
Starting point is 00:37:29 And Mud and Gum Gum are going to go back down, get on the riding lizards and ride up the side of the building. Using the spider climb ability of the giant riding lizards. Okay. Yes, they are my babies. I'll deal with Kyborg and Bart. You know, you two climb up the wooden step ladder and you reach a trap door labeled the briary. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on.
Starting point is 00:37:50 Pause. Hashtag pause. This is Kyborg six ups his fist. Commander talking. Where did I have that written down? We need the bomb of the briary to cure those affected by the amnesia. Oh, okay. Did we get that?
Starting point is 00:38:06 I don't know. Did we? No. It's at the top of the tower. So I think we just got to go to the top. Anyway, sorry. The bomb of the briary can be made using the components that you all were sent to retrieve. That's why you needed the components to concoct the bomb of the briary to then heal Lord Lotus.
Starting point is 00:38:22 And we do have everything, right? Correct. Okay. All right. Continue. Sorry. So yeah, I mean, that was it. You just climb up the one step ladder, reach a trapdoor labeled the briary to then heal Lord Lotus. And we do have everything, right? Yes. Correct. Okay. All right. Continue. Sorry. So yeah, I mean, that was it. You just climb up the one step ladder, reach a trapdoor, label the briary.
Starting point is 00:38:29 And I'm invisible, by the way. Okay. And so are you first or is Kyborg first? I should probably be first so I could, yeah, Bart's first. Okay. Yeah. So you're the one who sees the label first of all. It says the briary.
Starting point is 00:38:41 Yeah. It's the briary. And then I do a bunch of a series of commando hand gestures back at you and then bart slaps skyboard on this gently and mud can sense in a distance justice has been served you know those slaps where it displaces their face and then they don't move it that's what happened okay all right i'm back in it So then I'm pointing mud and gum gum. Meanwhile, go downstairs, get on the lizards, come back up to the point where you were. And then how do you two want to proceed?
Starting point is 00:39:11 Let's go up to the window of the floor above us and do a little peeky peek. Yeah. All right, so you go up and peek into the next room above and that room is confusing to you. Actually, both of you make a wisdom check. I'm just curious. I get advantage on wisdom checks.
Starting point is 00:39:30 Oh, nice. 16. 22 or 22, dang. This room, it's very confusing to look at, but both of you, you know, after staring at it for a minute, you figure it out. It looks like from your perspective, or from the perspective of the tower, this room is upside down. And it looks like there's different biomes in all the different corners of the room.
Starting point is 00:39:53 It's a rather large room. And there's different biomes in the four corners of the room. Can you elaborate on the biomes? In one of the corners, you see like a forest. Another corner, you see desert. Another one appears to be like a cave like and another one is like ocean like portals they're just the biomes in each corner is anything going higher up the like a ladder going up higher no do we see where the trap door would
Starting point is 00:40:15 be that they would come through uh you see one down to the south on the floor or the ceiling from your perspective the floor okay so they'll if they come in they'll come in through what is the actual ceiling of the room you think so okay um and no people no and is there anything on the floor then yeah the floor above us uh no just like a stone i guess i mean the floor i guess i meant the ceiling which is below us no it's just made out of stone okay is the window openable no it's not like a latch you know there's no easy way to open it it's just a window you could probably break it if you wanted to smash and grab yeah we'll smash it okay which i would imagine you'd hear which would probably
Starting point is 00:40:54 trigger me and bart to also smash into the door no i'm i'm about always the stealthy maneuvers but if kyborg wants to go... Well, from an attack perspective, you would still be invisible, so I would take the brunt of anything that happens. Okay. If that's okay with you. Yeah, please. We smash the window and go inside. I kick down the door. Okay. Wait, no. How do you
Starting point is 00:41:17 kick a door, right? You're on a ladder. With bow drawn. I do this. I flip around and then I put my legs in the air And I go You invert yourself on the ladder To like donkey kick the door open You have incredible core strength
Starting point is 00:41:33 Make an athletics check I've seen them do crazy things That's a 26 Oh yeah we'll say you're able to do that You kick that door open It seems to swing pretty easily Almost like it wasn't locked or anything. You didn't even check.
Starting point is 00:41:48 So yeah, the door swings open. Do you two rush through at that moment, or do you just let it sit there open? I rush through. You rush through and make a dexterity saving throw. Okay. I think something about to come into play. That's a
Starting point is 00:42:03 19. You rush through the door and for some reason, gravity is inverted in this room and you fall from the ceiling of the room down to the floor below. Which is perfect because my legs were already up in the air. Right. Because you were inverted to kick the door, you managed to gracefully land.
Starting point is 00:42:24 Just a pencil dive into a room. Oh my god, that was perfect. And you notice that there are giant knives made of ice on the floor. Oh god. And you do manage to land between them. Okay, so just going forward so that we're all clear, are we calling the floor,
Starting point is 00:42:40 is it the roof? Or the ceiling? So now when you're in the room, it's the floor. For Bart who has not entered the room it is the ceiling. So when Bart pokes his head just beyond the precipice of the door it's the ceiling that Kybro seems to be standing completely upside down on perfectly. Correct.
Starting point is 00:42:56 Okay. That was so cool. For the record. We're in the upside down. Yeah literally. I guess Mud goes in with his giant lizard and stays riding on the wall. Okay. And Gum-Gum will follow. Okay.
Starting point is 00:43:10 Kyborg, you do not see Mud and Gum-Gum. Mud and Gum-Gum, you do not see Kyborg. What? Are there things obstructing their view? Do we hear them, though? What is the state of the door? Are there things obstructing them? No, not necessarily.
Starting point is 00:43:23 Bart, you're actually not in. Are you in the room yet? I poked my head right in. Okay, if you poke your head through. But I'm still holding the ladder. What is that sensation like? Make a strength check to see if you can hold your weight. Because as soon as you poke your head through,
Starting point is 00:43:35 then it's going to be like you're dangling from the ceiling. Even though my body is out of the room? As soon as your head enters. You've activated the magic. All right, strength saving or check? Check. Yeah, you stick your head through and you try to hold on really tight. Kyborg wants to catch him.
Starting point is 00:43:49 But gravity inverts and you begin falling up towards the ceiling, which is the floor for Kyborg. You have to vest the slow fall. I sure do have the best of slow descent. Don't forget I'm wearing it. You slowly descend to the dangerous floor below, which is covered in- So Kyborg is like scrambling underneath, just waiting. I gotcha! I don't know if it's a problem that I'm invisible, so...
Starting point is 00:44:10 I just go, Cyborg, I'm coming! You just hear this... As it descends. Yeah, you slowly fall to the ceiling, which we'll now say is the floor for you guys. Okay. And, you know, the floor is covered in giant ice knives. Ice knives. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:32 That are like Prince of Persia style. Oh, yeah. What are they? Sorry, maybe you guys should ask, like, what do you see in the room? Since we don't see you, what is it they see? Well, I just fell in. Yeah, what do we see? You know, you'd look around and the room's about, yeah, we'll say 40 by 40 with frosted stone walls and ceiling
Starting point is 00:44:50 and the floor's covered in sharp 10-foot knives made of ice. Oh, we're in the biome that is the frozen biome, I'm assuming. No, he described what we saw as the room was divided in a bunch of biomes, but you're in just a room that is just an ice kind of place? Yeah, at the far end of the room, you see another door set in the center of the wall. I mean, like halfway up, like 20 feet between the floor and the ceiling.
Starting point is 00:45:14 I'm sure you guys aren't looking into like at a painting or something. We're inside. Oh, okay. And so all these biomes we can see, they're not divided by walls or anything. No, it just appears like it's one biome flows into another one.
Starting point is 00:45:26 Forest, desert, like an icy tundra. Ocean and cave. Yes. Ocean. Okay, I scream Marco. Yeah, do we hear them at all? Marco's pillow. You guys hear someone screaming Marco from a door coming like from the southern portion of the room.
Starting point is 00:45:44 Oh, so they're of the room. Oh. So they're in another room. Oh. And then you guys say, once you hear Marco, you say. It's not part of fear bog culture. I don't know what it is. It's Marco. Do I hear who's Marco?
Starting point is 00:45:58 Yeah, you hear it coming from that trap door at the northern end, or the door at the northern end of the room that's halfway up the wall. Yeah, is there anything obstructing our path to that door uh no but it is 20 feet up in the air in the middle of the wall question may i use my loot of levity on myself i believe so but let me double check just go strumming up into the sky what does the loot of levity do so when he plays it he can cast calm emotions or levitate so So yeah, you would be able to do that. I also have boots of jumping so I can get up there too. Or sorry, I have the ring of jump. I have boots of kicking.
Starting point is 00:46:32 Could I go towards the door and start playing my loot of levity and open the door? If I get levitated towards it? Yeah, and lucky for you, levitate allows you to rise vertically up to 20 feet. And the door is 20 feet up in the air. So yeah, you can levitate a target that weighs up to 500 pounds. I'm less than that. And you can move only by pushing or pulling against a fixed object or surface. So you could like kind of climb up the wall.
Starting point is 00:46:57 Zero grav rules. Yeah, right. Exactly. Okay. I go up and I open the door. Oh yeah. You open up the door and you peer through and you see mud and gum gum in a confusing room with different biomes in each corner.
Starting point is 00:47:09 And there's no other door in our room other than the one that Bart just opened. In your room to the north, there's a stone archway. Oh. Archway. That leads into what? A hallway or a room? You can't see. You can't see.
Starting point is 00:47:22 Okay. Well, I open the door wide and I start flailing my arms. Or one arm because my other one's on my loot. I go and grab Bart or ride the lizard to Bart and grab him. Okay. Well, should we investigate this room to see if there's anything in there? I use ring of jump. Okay.
Starting point is 00:47:37 I was going to say, Kyborg, do you live in the ice room now? It feels like ever winter. All right. You jump. Make an athletics check Oh no, wait, no, it just triples your jump, that's all Oh yeah, yeah, we'll say you're able to To jump up there
Starting point is 00:47:51 I'll do an athletics check if it means I get to do a backflip And then a cool superhero landing Sure, why not So you're gonna backflip up there? Backflip, forward flip, front flip Into a door He could float down with his vest. Yeah, that's pretty cool. He's just flying all over the place.
Starting point is 00:48:07 25. Yeah, you forward flip straight up 20 feet into the air, perfectly into the door. You know, do like a 10 point landing, raise your arms, and as you do that, behind you, in that room, the ice knives slam up from the floor into the ceiling. As in what?
Starting point is 00:48:23 If I had stayed there, they would have just... Gravity? Didn't gravity flip? Oh, maybe. That makes sense, actually. Then after a few seconds, they go back down to the ground. It's a trap.
Starting point is 00:48:34 I'm just, like, I'm horrified. I saw it in my life flash before my eyes. It's like when you almost get hit by a pickup truck. You're like... Yeah, huge adrenaline rush. I should call my mom. Do you want to be my dinosaur? I call in two more so they can have their own.
Starting point is 00:48:47 Okay. Because there was a bunch. They all came up on the tower with us. So now there's four of them inside, but there's like 12 that are just like hanging on the outside of this building. That will soon vanish into inexistence. So Ben proposed something interesting. I'm not saying to do this now or anything. If you combine the ring of jumping and the boots of kicking, could you jump kick through doors?
Starting point is 00:49:06 You tell me, because I want to try that sometime. We'll have to investigate it at some point. If it ever becomes relevant, keep that in your back pocket. Dude, yes. I mean, if they're proposing it. Yeah, so you all see this room,
Starting point is 00:49:17 40 feet tall, 40 feet wide, 40 feet long, and it's divided into four sections featuring a different climate and natural setting. And on that far northern wall is a stone archway. And the stone archway leads into darkness to further answer your question. I want to go over to the ocean biome and investigate. Yeah, you head over there. The ocean biome is in the northeast corner of the room.
Starting point is 00:49:38 You take a look and it appears to be like an underwater shoal covered in coral reef seaweed and brimming with fish swimming between its crevices. Like, is it, am I looking down into water or is it all water floating in this biome? Yeah, floating in the biome. And there's fishies. Yeah, fish swimming. I stick my hand in the water. Yeah, you stick your hand in and the fish, you know, dart away from your hand. Do you think it's a portal or is this like a, like, does it extend beyond?
Starting point is 00:50:04 Is there like a horizon that we're then looking into or is this contained like fish tank almost yeah this is like an aquarium that's magically if i were to describe it like if i would describe it to one of you and like lay prisoners it would look like a big aquarium but without the glass because mud was able to reach in okay but we can see the other end of the wall on the other side okay and the four biomes do they all connect are like we inherently in one of them or is there like a walkway between them? They kind of blend
Starting point is 00:50:28 from one to another. Except for the water, of course. I mean, that's like pretty defined. So there's cave, desert, ocean and the archway to the north. Which one is that one in?
Starting point is 00:50:38 Or is it in between two of them? It kind of straddles between cave and ocean. Gum Gum, make a perception check. Oh, 18. Oh, there's drawings on the archway, Gum-Gum. Above the archway, you see four emblems etched into the wall. They each appear to depict the head of a different beast.
Starting point is 00:50:56 You see the head of a bat, a bear, a spider, and an octopus. Bat, bear, spider. Well, that's the biomes. Yeah, bat would be the cave. Bear would be the woods. Octopus is the ocean. Octopus, spider is the desert. What's the ice?
Starting point is 00:51:13 Is bat the ice? You said bat. Bat, bear, spider. What was the fourth biome? What was the fourth biome? It was forest, ocean, cave, and what, desert? Yeah. Spiders are deserts?
Starting point is 00:51:23 Yeah, you can find like australian spiders yeah it was desert you're right yeah anything that works so maybe we go into those from in order you know or maybe we take turns stepping into those in the order in which we see them and drawn i dive into the water okay yeah you uh dive into the water and, you know, you see, like I said, fish and seaweed in a coral reef. Just everything brimming with life. I talked to the fish. Can I? So would they, I said they darted away from you.
Starting point is 00:51:54 Does it make them receptive to you? Like would they swim up to you? Actually, I have an advantage on animal handling. Okay, yeah. We'll say you can try to talk to them. Sure, why not? Hello, my name is mod is there something in here that i should know about like something special a button an item
Starting point is 00:52:14 the reef very special lots of food oh i i touched the reef yeah you touch it you monster that piece of coral reef is now uh doomed to die yeah? Oh my gosh. He's probably wearing that really bad sunscreen that kills coral reefs. I'm a fear bog. I'm covered in fur. I can touch the coral. Yeah, you touch it. I mean, it's a little sharp. It's coral.
Starting point is 00:52:34 Can I notice anything special about this coral? The fish come over to where you touched it and begin looking around for food. Oh, okay. This is a good spot. Okay. I like these fish. Hey, um... Oh, is there an octopus in this area?
Starting point is 00:52:49 Oh, heavens no. That's scary. Why would you even say that? They begin looking around. Are you afraid of octopus? Is there... Heavens no. Is there any place an octopus could hide in here that you might not know about it?
Starting point is 00:53:06 They could hide in the coral, but we've never seen one. It would have eaten by now. I just turned back to my teammates. Do you have any ideas? You're underwater. I stick my head out of the water. I stick my head and just poke it out of the water. I'm out of ideas here.
Starting point is 00:53:19 My head pokes out of the water. It's dripping. I've been talking to the fish. I don't know what to do. What'd they tell you? They told me the reef is good water. It's dripping. I've been talking to the fish. I don't know what to do. What'd they tell you? They told me the reef is good eating. I like reefs. Maybe you should check the coral to see if it's in there.
Starting point is 00:53:31 Sure. How about... Okay. You guys are gonna lose your lizards. That's okay. It's probably been three minutes by now. We could try Kyborg's idea of walking in the order that are listed in the... But, oh. Has the drawings over the archway changed since I've been in the water?
Starting point is 00:53:48 No. Okay. I turn into a fish. Okay. And I swim around into the reef looking for something. Okay, yeah. I swim around in the reef. Lots of yummies for fish.
Starting point is 00:53:58 I eat some yummies. Ooh. Nom, nom, nom. That was somebody's kid. Circle of life kid Circle of life Make a perception check Or investigation since you're actively looking I'm sorry
Starting point is 00:54:09 Who's the new guy He is Poseidon our lord There's only a four No nothing really stands out to you I'm open to suggestions Are the biomes in the order listed With their animals does that make? How can I answer that? Okay.
Starting point is 00:54:28 It's like perception depending on how you're looking at the room. Yeah, I guess, are they in that order of bat, bear, spider, octopus? Because I know that... Again, that depends on like what order you're... It's a circle. It's a circle, my dude. The room. Yeah. So there's no order. Right. So like I think the question you're trying to ask
Starting point is 00:54:44 is could you walk from one biome to the other? So you tell me, what are the biomes for each of those animals? Bat is cave. Bear is wilderness. Wilderness. Spider is possibly desert. Desert. And then octopus is water.
Starting point is 00:54:59 You could, but they're not like all next to each other. You would have to like directly cross the room for some of them. Like, for example, in one, you might have to go from the northwest to the southeast. Do you want to try that? What's the first one? Bat. Bat. All right.
Starting point is 00:55:14 So the cave is in the northwest corner. I dart out of the water. I'm a fish and I just yell, catch me. Bart reaches out to catch him, but lets him fall between his hands. He's slippery. What kind of fish were you? Clownfish, am I right? Tell the joke.
Starting point is 00:55:34 I can be... I just had a fish ran down. Yeah, pick one. Make one up. I'm a catfish. A catfish comes out. I'll catch you. But slips through Bart's hands, and now you're flopping on the floor. I'm going to pick them up.
Starting point is 00:55:48 Okay. I'm going to cook this later. Yeah. Ooh, you got some salt to go with that. I guess we'll try walking in that direction. Yes. Yeah, but in that direction, you mean the cave. Yes.
Starting point is 00:55:59 So you, while holding fish mud, head to the northwest to the cave. Yeah. So you, while holding fish mud, head to the northwest to the cave. Yeah. It's a dank cavern with craggy stalactites overhead, dripping water into a pool below. Is there anything, items or anything that seems out of place? Are you there with them? Yes, I go in there with them.
Starting point is 00:56:17 Okay, make an investigation check. I guess we both, can we both do that? Yeah, if you want to. I'll just do, because I got a five. Fifteen. Hold on. Hold on. Do you get a disadvantage because you're a fish or anything that's a 10 doesn't matter um no nothing really out of the ordinary it really seems like you're in a cave
Starting point is 00:56:33 do you know in your head you're in the bramble castle but if you didn't know that for a fact you would swear you're in a cave right now should we take elements from each thing so like at the cave you know maybe there's like guano or something and then we go and we get sand from the desert and water from the ocean and leaves from the forest is yeah is there anything to interact with in this cave i mean there's that pool that the water's dripping into i'm the stalactites but i mean they're firmly attached to the ceiling break one off okay they're pretty high. The room is 40 feet tall. Maybe something with the water. Yeah, you just go get some water.
Starting point is 00:57:08 We also haven't tried just walking through the archway. What are we also trying to do down here? We were on our way to make the bomb of... Yeah, at the top of the tower. But the entrance to that was barred. The entrance to Clay's room had shown signs of amnesia, and we got information from him saying that the amnesia have taken Over the cast you got information from some from some but so we're trying to get to dad
Starting point is 00:57:32 So can we not go through that archway? Yeah, it just leads to darkness no one's tried to go through That's the first time Muzza's done that. His papa. Wow. Character development. Well, I'll wait for these guys to be done on that before. I've not said it's not my dad.
Starting point is 00:57:51 I don't know why. Like, have I said that otherwise? I don't know. I feel like you've always just been cold towards him, you know? Like, father. We can relate, you know? Does Bart want to walk through and try? Well, I don't know if I should try going through without you guys there.
Starting point is 00:58:03 We're... Oh, we're in the cave. We were walking our way along through the fort to get to that at the end. But we're in the cave. Yeah. Let me try peeking through this archway to see what I can see. I go along with Bart. I grab the back of their cloak
Starting point is 00:58:17 to make sure they don't fall. So Kyborg and Bart leads the way, peeking through the archway with Kyborg there to see what's on the other side. And I got a hand on Bart just to make sure nothing happens. As you try to peer through the archway, Bart, it almost seems like the heads of the beasts that are carved into the archway all seem to come alive and all try to attack you. The bat tries to reach out and bite. The bear takes a swipe.
Starting point is 00:58:43 The spider bites and the octopus lashes out at you. So are these drawings or are these sculptures? No, these are real things. All four of them hit. Oh, that's cool. Oh my God. Can I not pull back Bard to take a minimal amount of damage? I'm also invisible.
Starting point is 00:58:59 Does that not make it? You're no longer invisible because of levity. Levity. Isn't levity... It's when you break your invisibility when you cast a spell. Well, it's not... Oh, it's an item. It's an item.
Starting point is 00:59:09 But you cast levitate. Yeah. Okay. The item just gives you access to casting the spell. Eight points of damage. And then they all lash out, and then at the same moment, kyborg pulls back. Could I cast a new spell that I have? Ooh. Guardian of nature and could i become a
Starting point is 00:59:30 great tree oh my god they transformed barb to a tree so you transform into a great tree describe that for us part your skin appears barky leaves sprout from your hair and you gain the following benefits you gain 10 temporary hit points. You make constitution saving throws with advantage. You make dexterity and wisdom-based attacks rolls with advantage. And while you're on the ground, the ground within 15 feet of you is difficult terrain for your enemies. Interesting. So are you a tree or are you like a tree person?
Starting point is 00:59:59 Like you're covered in bark. I'm a tree person. What are those little things in Zelda? I am Groot. So now you're standing before the archway as a tree person. Yeah. That's like an ant. An ant is more tree than person.
Starting point is 01:00:11 This seems more person than tree to me. More person than tree. More Groot. More Groot. Yeah. I am Groot. All right. So you're standing before the archway as a tree person.
Starting point is 01:00:18 Yeah. And because I assume I'm within 15 feet of them, if they've swiped at me and strike, striked at me, struck me, um, that their terrain becomes difficult for them. Yes. That's typically for like land-based creatures or creatures that are walking across through the terrain. These are kind of like in the archway.
Starting point is 01:00:35 Like gargoyles? Oh, okay. Yeah. They're etched into the archway. Gotcha. Okay. Nevermind. It's a tree Bart.
Starting point is 01:00:41 Terrain doesn't matter. Yeah. I'm tree Bart. Bart is a Kurok. Did we see this? Yeah. I mean, Bart. Bart is a Kurok. Did we see this main? Yeah. I mean, yeah. You see Bart becomes tree-ish.
Starting point is 01:00:48 Should we maybe try and feed those animals? I don't know. That's because the cave also has its own puzzle to solve. But like the animals might all want something from each biome, like a snack. Oh, right. Like the coral that you said was yummy. Yeah. But I don't know.
Starting point is 01:01:02 All we saw was rocks and stuff, right? Right. Because we did a check. In the cave? Yeah, it was like a cavern with stalactites that are dripping water into a pool. It's a puddle of water. He said water. He said water a couple times.
Starting point is 01:01:12 I just read the same thing. I take... Okay, we're going to have to work this through as I'm a fish. Yeah. You dip me into the water. Okay. I'll get some water in my mouth and I'll spit it at the bat. Okay. You're me into the water. Okay. I'll get some water in my mouth and I'll
Starting point is 01:01:25 spit it at the bat. Okay. So you're going to the cave water? We're in the cave. Yes, yes, yes. So we're not feeding. I'm trying. I'm hydrating the bat. I'll put you in for some air anyway. And you can take a look around. Oh, God. You take a look around. Yeah. I take a look
Starting point is 01:01:42 around in the little pond. What do I see? Nothing. It's very stale and dank water. Stagnant you're stagnant there you go i take a big old gulp of the stagnant water and keep it in my mouth okay is there like anything like insects or anything in the cave uh you all did an investigation check and found nothing else other than what i described okay then okay well i had a pretty good investigation check. 15? Yeah. Yeah, that's not bad. Yeah, I guess let's try this. So you're going to do that?
Starting point is 01:02:09 You've got your mouth full of water and then... Yeah, take me over to the bat. Okay. And I spit at the bat. The water hits the stone and begins dripping down onto the floor below. Nothing changes? Not that you can tell. Okay.
Starting point is 01:02:20 Do we get a fish from the ocean place and try to feed it to the octopus? Oh, they talked to me. And they were scared of the octopus. You're going to have to be the one who does it. I cannot be the one who does that. So when Bart tried to go through, did the animals that attacked, they were drawings, but did they, like, come? They're from the archway, so they swipe down, I assume.
Starting point is 01:02:42 Yeah, they come out of the drawing. Can they not disconnect? Can they become off of the archway so they swipe down i assume yeah come out of the drawing can they not disconnect are they can they become off of the archway you know from what you saw it did not appear so they just kind of like lashed out from the etchings in the archway unless you're about to uh the best i can say is like if they are able to come off the archway we take them to the appropriate biome but i don't know if that's gonna to happen or not. Bart, did you have an idea? I don't know if this is going to work or if it's something I could even do, but could I use my dimension door to essentially go through this tunnel but avoid the archway itself?
Starting point is 01:03:14 And we could throw in a catfish behind you. I could take it with me. You can teleport yourself to any spot within range and your range is 500 feet. It can be a place you can see, one you can visualize, or one you can describe by stating distance and direction, such as X number of feet in that direction. So if I was like 10 feet past this archway. This is how Bart dies.
Starting point is 01:03:37 Yeah, that would be the way to do it. You wouldn't say like past the archway. You would say like 10 feet in north or straight or something like that. Yeah. So how do you describe the space you want to dimension door to? the archway you would say like 10 feet in north or straight or something like that yeah so how do you describe the space you want to dimension door to so i'm still standing right in front of the archway are you still a tree person yes okay i think oh does that drop when you cast dimension door it's a concentration up to one minute okay so you would no longer be a tree person well dang i don't know what i should do you're not to do what you're doing? I'll try Dimension Door.
Starting point is 01:04:05 So I guess I'll drop my Garden of Nature. Do I still keep my 10 temporary hit points, though? No. I guess I don't. No. Well, that was a useless waste of a spell. Can I bolster your magic? Give you an extra spell slot?
Starting point is 01:04:16 Yeah. All right, I'm going to roll for it. It's only a level one spell, sorry. That's okay. Okay, so I'm sorry. You said 10 feet in that direction. Yes. Whatever direction is like through the archway.
Starting point is 01:04:27 So north, I guess. Yeah, so you just teleport yourself. It's not like you actually make a door or anything. So you concentrate on the magic and attempt to teleport yourself 10 feet in that direction. You pop out of existence. From everyone else's perspective, you briefly appear on the other side of the archway. And then you pop back into the room that you're in. Arch glitching.
Starting point is 01:04:48 Did I see anything while I was there? It just appeared black. Another waste of a door. Let's do, you know what? We've had bad luck trying to investigate each of these biomes. Why don't you guys try and investigate a different biome, and maybe we'll find better hints what if we all go in different one i'm down to divide and conquer i think if we all go to four
Starting point is 01:05:10 different areas yeah i was suggesting more so so we could figure out let's at least figure out one of the biomes an investigation check to figure it out i've been wanting to go to the wilderness one so i go to the wilderness one and i look around and I try to perceive stuff. Yeah, it's a hillside sprawling with pine trees, frost covering the grassy floor and a rushing river filled with salmon. Get one of the salmon. Yeah, sure. I shoot one of the salmon with my longbow triumph and see if we can grab it out. Okay, make an attack roll.
Starting point is 01:05:42 You're going to shoot it with your bow. Okay, make an attack roll. So are you shooting it, I guess, like from the shore? Yeah. And not like getting in the river or anything? No. 24. Yeah, you shoot an arrow into the river from the shore,
Starting point is 01:05:53 and you make contact with a salmon, and it stops moving. You see your arrow floating downstream. Okay, then I go grab the arrow I cracked. Okay, yeah. There's a no longer moving salmon at the end of the arrow. Okay, and then uh i come out of that biome and i say this is gonna happen to you mud um and then i walk up to the archway and i try to feed it to the bear uh nothing seems to happen you're holding the salmon right in
Starting point is 01:06:18 front of the bear okay no then i throw down the salmon in a fit of rage and i'm just like i am stumped is there anything else in this like room full of the different biomes other than the archway with the pictures like anything else? That might have like words on it or imagery Not that you can see like I said It's just a 40 by 40 by 40 room divided into the four sections each with a different climate and natural setting On the far northern wall is the stone archway with four emblems etched above. The three things that these biomes have shared thus far is a river, a pool of water,
Starting point is 01:06:50 and then one of them is entirely water. If we go into the desert one and if there's some sort of oasis with water, then we have to do something with the water. Just FYI, Kyborg, you get 10 temporary hit points for killing that salmon. Oh, because you killed it with your bow. Oh, nice.
Starting point is 01:07:02 Did I just find a hack? We're in the middle of battle and I just shoot a mouse with my longbow and I'm like, oh! That could work. Try the desert. I'll go in the desert. Bart, you walk into the desert. It's a steep, fractured cliffside overlooking a sandy dune peppered with cacti.
Starting point is 01:07:19 Okay. Could I look around, perceive if there's any water? Make an investigation check. 20. No, nothing else seems to be standing out in this biome. It's pretty bleak. Um, do I see any sort of creatures or any living beings? Uh, no.
Starting point is 01:07:35 Just the cactus. I guess, yeah, technically cactus is alive. Thank you, Chris. Have we tried smashing the stone archway? Yeah. Could I try something? Go for it. Just out of curiosity.
Starting point is 01:07:47 I turn back into mud. I'm like, whoa! I cast create water in the desert biome, and I create 10 gallons of clean water that falls like rain in a 30-foot cube. Okay, just for clarity, the room is not 30 feet. Since this room is 40 by 40 by 40, the desert biome itself would
Starting point is 01:08:06 be what like 20 by 20 so if you do like a 30 foot cube that would extend out a little bit more than the size of this yeah uh yeah it begins raining in the desert anything change about the paintings no i'm not painting etchings etchings i approach the etchings hello my name is mud what is your problem silence dang it i give that salmon that I shot the gum gum because I know he likes collecting things in his pouch. I got a fish. I got a fish. Could I reach in and grab a piece of the coral?
Starting point is 01:08:31 Reach into the ocean, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. You snap off a piece of coral, you monster. Yeah. I'm a monster now. Welcome. Don't want to hurt the fish, but the coral can't talk.
Starting point is 01:08:38 That's kill them. Right. It's how it works. I try to offer it to the octopus. No. No response. Nothing. How about this? I'm going to try something else. I try to offer it to the octopus. No response, nothing. How about this? I'm going to try something else.
Starting point is 01:08:47 I'm just throwing things out there. I grab the salmon, and I grab the coral, and I try to go through the archway. You try to walk through the archway, and all four of the emblems lash out and make attacks. You're missing two components. Maybe if you grab a little bit of sands a little bit of something from the cave i don't know that we're supposed to be offering things to this archway i don't think that's really okay you take 14 points of damage all right someone else's turn to figure out the wrong thing to do um could i take we want to try standing in one in each room i have a hammer could i try hammering the the stone archway yeah
Starting point is 01:09:24 it doesn't say what kind of hammer? Does it just say hammer? Uh, one-handed hammer with an iron head, useful for pounding titans into a wall. Oh, like for, like, rock climbing kind of thing? Yeah. Do you want me to do it, Bart, so you don't get hit? Oh! Micah put his fist out
Starting point is 01:09:39 to pound. I was like, what? Pound. Pound it. Yeah, you raised up, you know, the hammer over your head, and is there one specific one you want to hit, or you just want to hit the archway in general, what? Pound. Pound it. Yeah, you raise up, you know, the hammer over your head. And is there one specific one you want to hit or you just want to hit the archway in general? I'll hit the bat. Yeah. You try to hit the bat with the hammer. And, you know, the hammer impacts the stone and bounces off.
Starting point is 01:09:57 I like Gum Gum's idea. Let's get into different ones. I go to the forest one. I jump in the water. I jump into the cave. I'll go to the desert uh okay what do i want to do did anything happen make a perception check all of us yeah welcome to the puzzle to hell 14 again i rolled a 1 18 17 14 those are pretty good what's the hint you're gonna give us gus
Starting point is 01:10:22 yeah i'm trying to think kyborg you feel kind of hungry like you want to eat one of those salmon yourself maybe you should just wait out there and eat one are you becoming the bear i eat the coral uh mud pops the coral in his mouth um nothing seems to happen what did you say barbara i missed i missed that. I just said we're becoming the biome. You know what? I start acting like a bear, and I go into the water, and I go. The. The.
Starting point is 01:10:55 Ouch. Make a nature check for me, Blaine. Okay. 18. Yeah. The bear emblem roars and lights up above the archway. Everyone act like idiots. I start flapping my arms and clicking.
Starting point is 01:11:11 Mean screeching? Make a nature check, Gum-Gum. Zero. Nothing seems to happen. Maybe Gum-Gum's never seen one of those animals before. I don't know if we'll ever get past this part of GumGum's nature check is negative three. I start waving my arms around in all kinds of directions and- In the water, right?
Starting point is 01:11:35 Squirt some ink. And I change color. You change color? How do you do that? Disguise self. Oh, that's pretty good. Make a nature check. This might work out better. Oh, it's an intellect thing. That's why we're not doing well. Two. color how do you do that disguise self oh oh that's pretty good uh make a nature check this
Starting point is 01:11:45 might work out better oh it's an intellect thing that's why we're not doing well two actually you have advantage on that because you uh tried to change color four wow hey bart let's see you do the spider uh bart gets down on all of his limbs And starts crawling around And going And then does that little thing that the burying spiders do Where they lay down on the ground and Shuffles dirt all over them I was gonna say he spits
Starting point is 01:12:15 Cause that's like the closest thing to web That's PG Go ahead and make a nature check for me Bart Come on our intellectual friend 13? Yeah the spider emblem makes like a hissing noise similar to what you did and illuminates. I look on jealous because I was like,
Starting point is 01:12:30 I could have been the spider again. Spider Gum-Gum. Could I, now that I've done that, could I go and help Gum-Gum? Yeah, you head over to Gum-Gum to give him notes. Does the spider emblem change? Oh yeah, sorry, it made the noise and also like illuminated. But is it gone now that she left
Starting point is 01:12:45 though? Or that Bart left? No, no, it's still illuminated. Okay, then I go help Mug. Gum Gum, hold me up and I'll pretend to be a bat. Okay, I take Bart and I turn him upside down and then I toss him off. And I go, eee! And you slowly
Starting point is 01:13:01 defend. And you slowly defend. That's a slow descent Make a nature check with advantage Uh, Bart I have an idea You follow my lead Twelve?
Starting point is 01:13:14 Uh, yeah, the bat also makes a clicking sound And then illuminates We're gonna fail our nature check I jump in the water, I put Bud in a headlock And I wrap my legs around him I just get all tentacly all around him. Just wrap around him. Big bulbous head with lots of limbs. And then I go, boop, boop, boop.
Starting point is 01:13:34 Make a nature check with advantage. It's gonna be bad. Five and... Come on. Twenty. There you go. Yeah. The octopus also illuminates, makes an octopus sound and lights up.
Starting point is 01:13:48 We get out of the water and mud proceeds to the archway. Okay. Yeah. You walk up. It still looks dark, but all four of the etchings are illuminated. You want to try walking through it? Yeah. I got temp HP, so I'll walk through it.
Starting point is 01:14:00 Okay. All right. I'll walk through it. Yeah. Kyborg walks through the archway and disappears. Same. I will do the same uh bart does the same you all pass through the stone archway into pitch darkness and crack you immediately feel something thorny grasping your feet and quickly climbing around
Starting point is 01:14:15 your torso all the way up to your neck twisting tighter and tighter until you're completely entangled in what feels like brambles a A pale yellow light dimly glows before you, revealing a shriveled, shrimpy face. Why did it have to be you? Ugh. If only I'd known sooner, Mud. Then perhaps we could've been
Starting point is 01:14:37 spared of this... this charade. And foosh! All at once, everyone's armor, weapons, and every last piece of equipment disappears from your bodies. Candles and lanterns flicker to life all around you, bathing the room in a sallow glow. Mud, you feel a sharp pain in your head. Everyone roll a perception check. Is my arm still on?
Starting point is 01:15:00 Yeah, you still do have your arm, Kyborg. 21. 24. Rolling again, because I rolled a 1. 8. 13. So, Bart, you got a 13. arm, Kyborg. 21. 24. Rolling again, because I rolled a 1. 8. 13. So, Bart, you got a 13. Gum-Gum, you got an 8.
Starting point is 01:15:09 Gum-Gum, you're too distracted at the thought of losing all your equipment to look around, but you do notice your party still has the two die gems and the scroll of amphibolus blessing. Bart, you appear to be in an expansive multi-tiered earthen chamber furnished with tables and shelves of alchemical supplies like pottery, vials, scrolls, and a few rotting bodies along the floor. Then Kaibor got a 21 and Mud got a 24. Both of you spot Zeus standing at the far end of the room over a desk sprawling with scrolls and tomes. You notice her locking a chest and placing it below the desk. Something catches your eye.
Starting point is 01:15:44 Zeus is holding tightly to a staff with a glowing yellow stone it below the desk. Something catches your eye. Soos is holding tightly to a staff with a glowing yellow stone embedded into its head. A shroud of mist materializes before you and Shaman Soos appears. She waves her staff and Mud's entangled body breaks off from the rest of you floating midair and following Soos as she walks down a small set of stairs. You both stop overlooking a circular, seemingly endless pit. Oh, don't worry. This isn't for you. It's for them.
Starting point is 01:16:10 Another shroud of mist materializes, and you see your family on the other side of the pit. Aw, dang it. Zeus reaches for a nearby lever. Cranky! From the ceiling, something wrapped in chains lowers slowly toward the ground, dangling over the pit. The chains finally settle in front of your face, and entangled amongst the shackles is an orb, a brown crystal orb. I'll make this simple, Mudd.
Starting point is 01:16:31 I know you have the diagem and the scroll. You don't need to give them to me. All you have to do is touch the orb. That's it. Just one little touch of the finger. If you don't, well, Clay here is going to see how far this pit actually goes.
Starting point is 01:16:54 Don't do it, Mud. That orb, it's... Clay's mouth disappears. What will it be, Mud? Shaman Zeus is evil. Yeah. Also, is everyone else naked? Is Mud seeing his nature? Are we all naked? Luckily, I'm covered in fur. Lots of fur. Shaman Zeus is evil Also is everyone else naked is
Starting point is 01:17:09 Luckily I'm covered in fur lots of fur Well dang it, I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here I need to destroy her staff Describe that what are you doing? I'm winking He's just going uh, uh, uh You know, you know Uh, what would happen If, you're, you're Confined, you've got, you're Yeah, you're all wrapped up
Starting point is 01:17:38 He's shat his, he's cocking his arm Shoot the floor, shoot the floor For all I care, use that up Now, I was gonna say, what if I were to use my hidden step? Now, that just makes me invisible. I thought it was a transport thing. I touched the orb. The brambles around your arm loosen enough for you to reach out.
Starting point is 01:18:00 Your fingertips touch the crystal orb, and your surroundings wash over you like raindrops, and then refocus on the chiming of bells. You look down at your feet and once again you're wearing fancy shoes and you're dressed in an elegant floral suit with a butterfly bow tie. You notice you're twiddling with your signet ring, the symbol of brambles etched into the setting. A door opens in the corner of the room and Soos walks in. Wow, you look nice. I know you're next in line for the throne and you'd make for a majestic ruler. But if this isn't what you want to do, Mud, then you don't have to take the crown, you know.
Starting point is 01:18:34 I've seen how much you've grown in the druidic arts. You clearly have a passion and talent for it. If this is your calling, Mud, then I say follow that dream. But it's your choice. Zeus holds open the door and rays of moonlight pour into the room. She offers you a wrinkled smile. As you walk through the door, she holds her shrimpy wrinkled arm. Wait, before you go,
Starting point is 01:18:58 take these with you to remember where you came from. And she holds out three small rocks. One from each region of Witherveins. She drops the rocks into your hands and you feel a surge of energy lash out at your mind as Soos stares into your eyes. One by one, memories flood into your mind,
Starting point is 01:19:14 swimming in the Crokemeyer Lagoon, singing on stage in the Moorbane, holding hands with your mother and father along the docks of Bobayu, and then all at once, they vanish from your mind. Your surroundings swirl once again andocuses back to the present, entangled in bramble staring at Zeus. Her eyes look up at the brown orb now swirling with light. She turns back to you and squints. Ah, right. I took the rocks away from you. Looks like you finally got your memories back.
Starting point is 01:19:42 I wanted you to forget this place. I didn't want you to get in the way, but then I found out later I needed three things to free my master from this briar orb. The diagem, the scroll, and you, the heir of the crown. If it's any consolation, Clay was never going to die. She waves her staff and Clay is suddenly hovering over the pit. In fact, you never had a brother. She waves her staff again and Clay fades from existence. We'll have to find out the answers on the next episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon. I don't know what's real or not anymore.
Starting point is 01:20:26 Is that why Clay's accent was so bad? Got him. He's not even here. Funny. Hey, just want to say thank you to everyone who's willing to lend a voice to our show. Out of the kindness of their hearts. And no, you know, it takes time. Really appreciate everyone who's given us a cameo
Starting point is 01:20:46 and done a really great job performing. And go check out Alfredo's show Red Web. Which is a great podcast. Where he does not speak in a broken Scottish accent. Alright, well thanks for listening everybody. We'll be back next week. Thank you.

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