[0.0s] Welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons! We're a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast who today's
[21.7s] just answering your questions! Who today is just answering your questions! I'm your
[29.4s] Dungeon Master Russ More and with me today is Amy More. I'm the Dungeon Mistress. Also
[37.8s] with me Tom Laird. I'm the Dungeon Jester. Oh, I like it. As well on the call with
[45.8s] me, Carla Johnson. I am, I don't know, like some kind of dungeon peasant realistically
[52.6s] probably. I like bring people girl. Well, that's what happens. Somebody has to do it.
[61.2s] It's a good job. It's a job. And gracing our presence again, hopefully to not kill
[68.5s] us all is Sean Howard. I am the Dungeon Devourer. Oh, that's good. That's all
[75.2s] I got. That's good. That's all you need. That's all you need. So we're on a bit
[80.1s] of a break where we asked for your questions following the climactic season finale, whatever
[89.8s] we want to call it, where things happened. And if this is your first episode, maybe don't listen
[96.5s] to this episode. This is all spoilers. It's pretty much going to be 100% spoilers. Yeah,
[104.4s] so we'll give you a second to hit pause. Go listen to everything else. Yeah, go back
[109.9s] and listen to the entire back catalog and then pick this episode back up. It'll only
[114.1s] take you nine months. It's fine. It's fine. You can listen. If you listen from start to
[118.0s] finish nonstop. I hear some people listen to it on like two times speed. I can't
[124.0s] do that. But if you do that, I can do one and a half times speed. If it's something
[128.2s] that is in character base, but it's more talky, like, like analyze this. They talk
[134.3s] fast anyway. I can listen to them on one and a half and it's just like blow
[137.9s] your mind fast. So now that you've left and now only the people who are here who want
[143.0s] to hear all the spoilies and answer all the questions. Sean is here to answer questions
[148.0s] as both Sean and as Tiamat. There were some questions that were regarding both
[152.0s] characters. So we're going to, we're going to dive into those. And then because he
[156.8s] said he's an old man, he has to dive out early. So we'll kind of, we'll kind
[160.9s] of just see how it goes. It's a whole dive in, dive out situation. I'm an old
[165.1s] dragoness. That's fair. I understand. Do we want to start with a Tiamat question?
[169.8s] I want to start with a Russ question. Oh, so Russ, were you scared to do the
[176.5s] final scene where the whole party was going to die sitting in the same room
[179.9s] with Amy? Sean, there's a reason that I asked somebody else to play Tiamat.
[187.1s] And I feel like you hit it right on the head is that, well, I'm protected
[191.8s] from Tom and Carla because of distance. I've been yelled at before at the end of
[198.4s] games. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes these games have affected our relationship.
[203.4s] I feel like I would have been yelled at after that game. So yes, I was
[208.1s] really setting her up where she can't cast a single spell as Tiamat
[212.8s] devours the party. I don't know why that would set you up. Like why the
[216.2s] fuck was I even there?
[218.9s] And for some points of it, I wasn't. I was invisible.
[222.4s] I think if you would have given Amy a heroic enough of a death, she would
[226.5s] not have yelled at you. But anything less than that. Oh, yes.
[230.8s] With a song. It would have to have a song. Sure. Yeah, there would have to
[233.9s] be a song. Yes. Some sort of sweet in memoriam to Thea. Yeah. In the
[239.1s] arms of an angel. Fly away. Don't sue us, please.
[244.7s] Just continue to sing it off key like that.
[247.3s] Yeah, yeah. You know, we will not know that is her song.
[250.8s] We're safe. No, she's no clue. She's like, what is that?
[254.6s] So, yes, to answer that question, I was scared. Makes sense.
[259.0s] Now, that said, go to a Sean question now.
[262.9s] How much did you enjoy playing Tiamat and trying to kill Flint the
[266.9s] in Nulara? Oh, that was super fun.
[270.4s] I have to say, OK, it wasn't fun when I killed.
[275.8s] You are. That was not fun, but it was super fun playing Tiamat.
[280.0s] Yeah, there was a noticeable mood shift, I think, that we all felt.
[286.0s] Yeah. In that moment.
[287.3s] Look, you guys have been playing for so many years.
[290.7s] It's insane. Yeah.
[293.2s] Well, and also, I think Carla legitimately cried.
[296.2s] And like we're all on the video chat.
[298.3s] So I legitimately started crying and we all just like froze for a minute.
[304.3s] There was a big long pause. Yeah.
[306.7s] You were sort of laughing, sort of crying.
[308.8s] Oh, I mean, classic me, Sean.
[311.6s] This is I always laugh like that's my go to like
[316.0s] I'm having an emotion and then I just laugh.
[320.1s] That's my go to thing.
[321.2s] When I got in a car accident and the police came, like wasn't my fault,
[324.8s] but someone like rode off my car and I was talking to the cop
[328.3s] and I just was like, oh, laughing.
[331.0s] And I was like, I'm sorry.
[332.2s] I sound like a crazy person right now.
[334.5s] But like, I'm going to start bawling my eyes out if I don't laugh.
[338.8s] So he is like, I understand. It's fine.
[340.8s] Do you laugh at funerals?
[342.5s] I mean, I don't think I have, but I feel like it could happen to giggle.
[347.8s] I repress the urge to giggle.
[349.2s] And it is completely a nervous it like you can't control.
[352.7s] Just my nervous like I got robbed once.
[354.6s] I don't know. I'm just telling you guys all these dramatic stories,
[356.6s] but this is always my reaction.
[358.6s] This is a male-backed episode. We lay it all out.
[360.9s] Yeah. All just nervous laughter.
[363.1s] Emotions just make me laugh.
[365.4s] An accident robbed and then I killed you.
[367.4s] Man, I'm just pulling my AGs.
[369.5s] What a steamed up year in, hey?
[372.4s] All of my like peak peak life events.
[375.6s] And I think that leads us into the next question,
[377.6s] which is Nulara really dead?
[380.2s] You did do the glowing eyes at the end.
[382.6s] There were the glowing eyes of the knife.
[384.9s] That went dim.
[386.7s] That dimmed out.
[388.0s] We don't know what that means,
[389.4s] but I think this more stems from the fact that we as players
[394.8s] kind of gooned up a pretty big rule.
[397.4s] See, I don't feel like we did.
[398.5s] I don't feel like we gooned it up either.
[400.5s] We all agreed that that was the rule.
[402.8s] So that was the rule.
[403.9s] I remember talking about it.
[406.0s] Like when we were literally around the table.
[408.2s] Yeah.
[409.0s] No, yeah. No, no.
[409.9s] I don't think we gooned it up in the moment.
[411.6s] I think that's how we've played it ever since.
[414.4s] But when it's put through ears of people who read the book.
[419.6s] OK, well, we gooned it up.
[421.8s] So what we did is we have a house rule
[425.0s] and maybe we should start
[426.0s] putting these house rules on the Internet
[428.8s] because they I think that's where some of the disconnect came from.
[432.0s] In that moment is that the the book as the player's handbook reads
[436.2s] is if you sustain damage
[439.2s] equal to your maximum below zero, it's instant death.
[443.2s] And we treat that as 50 percent.
[446.4s] So if you have 100 hit points and you go 50 below or more,
[450.4s] it's instant death.
[451.2s] So it's more hardcore.
[453.6s] That's right. We so hardcore.
[456.6s] But that's that's a house rule that we've had basically since we sat down.
[459.5s] Now, I tried to find where we found that.
[461.7s] Oh, yeah, it does not exist.
[463.2s] We all did so much research after, but we all 100 percent
[466.3s] believe that was the rule.
[467.5s] I mean, so it was the I think rest for sure made it up
[470.9s] because you couldn't find it in the moment and was like,
[474.2s] here's what we're going to do.
[474.9s] And we not knowing any better, we're just like you to man.
[478.5s] It's funny that of all the things we don't remember
[481.3s] and don't know how to do that, we all like legitimately
[484.8s] we're like, yeah, that's the rule.
[486.1s] Yeah, like that's the thing we've remembered.
[488.4s] That's that's how we've played it because we've run into character
[491.0s] like almost deaths before, like an episode.
[494.2s] Well, around the table, around the table.
[496.9s] Flint almost died very early on.
[498.7s] Yep. I've done some death saving throws.
[501.2s] Episode six against the Earth, the tar, both new Laura and Thea
[505.7s] were unconscious that and I think fucking hedges
[509.6s] pretty sure that came up in that episode.
[512.8s] And then new Laura almost died against Cuth as well.
[516.0s] So it's come up before.
[517.8s] Sorry. Yeah, the whole hedge thing.
[519.2s] I was like I don't Tom told you.
[521.0s] I was like when he was playing his campaign, I'm like,
[522.8s] you've got to put a fucking maze in it.
[525.5s] Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
[526.8s] Yeah, I sent a note to Sean.
[528.2s] I was like, how like how much of an asshole am I
[531.0s] if I make them go in a maze?
[532.3s] And he was like, no, you have to.
[533.3s] You absolutely have to.
[535.6s] Who's the worst?
[536.1s] So I think it's awesome that the fans are rallying together
[539.6s] to try and save new Laura.
[540.7s] That's super cool. I agree.
[542.3s] I thought it was so it was so nice and especially.
[546.6s] So we had recorded, of course, like a long time
[550.4s] before the episode came out.
[551.8s] Like, I don't know how long a month, probably.
[554.0s] It's probably around a month to.
[555.2s] I think it was about two months.
[556.2s] Yeah, so I had already been through like all of the stages of grief.
[559.6s] I was totally like it was fine.
[562.1s] She wasn't bargaining.
[563.0s] I went for like an hour and a half long walk the next day after we recorded.
[566.7s] I got into it, you know.
[569.4s] But yeah, I thought it was like it was really nice
[572.0s] that people weren't like, good, beat it.
[574.9s] No, there was definitely.
[575.9s] We were tired of her.
[577.0s] Anyway, never liked her.
[577.8s] Anyway, we got that.
[579.5s] Yeah, no feedback that we got that was, oh, beat it.
[582.0s] It was like we did a live listen of it
[584.9s] with our with some of our patrons and like
[589.3s] I knew it was coming and I'm sitting there and Amy's like,
[592.7s] oh, don't worry about it.
[593.6s] It'll be fine.
[594.3s] And it's like chats going live, chats going, everybody's
[597.1s] and then it stops.
[601.7s] People were upset.
[603.4s] But, you know, I think that's kind of lovely because that means
[606.0s] they were emotionally invested enough in our characters
[608.4s] to hear that one of them died.
[610.1s] I'm like kind of borderline happy that we legit made some people cry.
[614.8s] Some listeners were like, well, I'm bawling for the third time today,
[618.6s] you guys. Thanks so much.
[620.4s] Well, stop listening.
[622.6s] But like, don't stop listening.
[624.0s] But don't. But like, go like, you know, self care.
[630.2s] Mm hmm. Yeah, the Donnie one was it was harsh.
[632.6s] Yeah, I didn't cry at all.
[634.4s] I'm a robot.
[635.3s] Yeah, we got off that call and Amy's like, am I dead inside?
[639.4s] So when when you had Donnie go up and do this one attack
[644.1s] you made this one awesome role and Donnie attacked Tiamat.
[647.6s] I was messaging Russ and I'm like, should I take the damage?
[651.0s] Because we'd been deciding, right, that he wasn't magical.
[653.1s] If he's a magical. And Russ was just like, yes.
[656.0s] Yeah, it was just it was so like, oh, the whole thing even.
[660.8s] So doing it live was, of course, like emotional and like, whoa,
[664.1s] because we've been playing this character for so long.
[666.4s] But then listening to it, too, was like, you know, next level.
[669.7s] Obviously, we don't have we're not live mixing in sound effects
[673.4s] and like, yeah, no, it definitely horrible pregnant silences
[677.3s] to like just fill with tears.
[679.4s] Russ made it better and very much worse.
[681.6s] Yes. Oh, exactly.
[682.6s] It was yes.
[683.5s] It was so like emotionally impactful listening to it,
[686.7s] even knowing what happened.
[688.7s] Good job, Russ. You're the best.
[690.2s] I like the sounds when Tiamat ate all the other people.
[693.8s] It was crunchy and juicy and.
[697.2s] You got to you got to get that sweet, sweet
[699.3s] foley in there with blood splatter everywhere.
[702.2s] Were you just like eating a sandwich in front of you?
[705.8s] You didn't notice I was doing that one live. Oh, that's what was happening.
[711.8s] A quick question here.
[713.0s] How many hit points did Tiamat have now?
[718.0s] Sean, do you remember? Oh, good question.
[721.4s] I should have pulled it up.
[723.6s] It was so they finished the two levels.
[725.5s] So we were down down one hundred and fifty. Yeah.
[729.6s] So that would have put her at six hundred and ninety.
[733.5s] Holy shit. I think is about where.
[735.7s] Yeah. Oh, my God.
[737.5s] And the craziest thing was that last round.
[741.0s] I think it was the round after Nulara died.
[744.0s] I was Tiamat was sitting at like what was it, Russ?
[746.2s] Twenty seven hit points after Donnie.
[748.5s] Yeah, it was no more than that.
[750.2s] It was something like that.
[751.4s] And it was crazy.
[754.2s] It was crazy. I couldn't believe it.
[756.9s] Yeah, one more one more turn around.
[758.8s] Like it would have been a different, different show.
[762.2s] How does that make you feel, Carla, knowing you are literally
[765.9s] like one turn away from not dying?
[768.5s] It's like I said, like I have like distance from it now.
[771.2s] And I feel like it was such a good like New
[773.9s] Lara came so close to dying so many times.
[776.8s] She's human. Like, yeah, she has like no business.
[781.0s] Really, like humans have no fighting and trying to do any of these things.
[785.6s] Like, she's so like soft and weak and like doesn't even really have great skills.
[789.6s] Like, you know, so it was a I thought it was like a good fitting heroic end,
[796.4s] even though obviously like, yeah, being alive would be like the better choice.
[800.6s] But she got a shitload of damage in at the end.
[802.9s] Right. Like, I felt like she went out on it, went out on a good note
[806.4s] when Lady Silverhand like froze shit.
[809.3s] And I just got to like hack away Tiamat.
[812.2s] It was, you know, that was fun.
[814.3s] What's it like dealing whole lots of damage?
[816.2s] Oh, it's great.
[816.8s] It's the only time it happened.
[818.2s] So if it results in death, I wouldn't recommend it.
[823.0s] Well, let's go.
[824.1s] Let's go to a a Sean question.
[828.0s] Knowing how it wraps up, would you have chosen to play any differently?
[832.8s] Well, so I was assuming I was going to kill them all.
[836.2s] Yeah. So we were assuming you were going to, too.
[841.3s] Sean and I had a pregame meeting
[842.8s] just to kind of talk about all the stats and all that sort of stuff.
[845.3s] And we were looking at it as like if they don't do X, X, Y, Z,
[850.0s] like, there's a good chance that all three of them are dead in the water.
[853.6s] Even just hearing that number of hit points, like, how did we not all die?
[857.6s] That's crazy.
[859.5s] Well, you do have this this like one character that just attacks 30 times.
[865.8s] Yeah. Yeah.
[867.4s] Donny was very helpful.
[870.8s] OK, my one regret, it's not the answer.
[872.8s] The question is, there was a slight disconnect.
[875.1s] I think I was laying on my floor and my my I think my my my phone
[879.3s] went to nighttime, right, where it just turns off all notifications.
[883.7s] So you guys are like sitting around waiting for me because my
[886.0s] and then I messed up because I wanted to just have it appear
[888.8s] and then, you know, come in like this.
[893.4s] You know, that would have been amazing.
[894.6s] That would have been great.
[895.7s] That was the only thing that I would like to change.
[898.7s] The entrance, the grand entrance.
[900.4s] That's good. Some sort of smoke bomb and then.
[904.4s] That would be even better.
[906.1s] For for, I guess, Flintia New Laura,
[909.3s] Flintia, do you wish you brought a cleric to the to the gunfight?
[915.8s] I mean, yes and no.
[917.2s] I think a cleric would have been really helpful
[919.4s] for us throughout all of our adventures, not just for that fight.
[923.1s] Well, the thing is, is that when we created these characters,
[926.9s] we didn't quite realize how important bAlydince is.
[931.0s] We just chose what we wanted to be and we went for it.
[934.7s] And it worked out real well because we have a DM who's very kind
[940.1s] and we seem to pick up NPCs that happen to be clerics or wizards or someone.
[946.8s] Now, I would also just like to say that I dropped the ball
[951.1s] in the Tiamat fight because I was so far over on the other
[955.0s] fucking side of Tiamat that I couldn't get close enough
[958.8s] to make any of my healing spells do anything.
[963.7s] And so and it unfortunately didn't occur to me to use my fucking thunder
[969.7s] clap tome, my tome of thunder to get over to them faster
[976.3s] until after New Laura died.
[978.7s] I know it's sorry, buddy.
[979.8s] Probably good you weren't over within that 90 foot radius.
[983.4s] I wouldn't have absolutely died.
[985.6s] I wasn't even tacking right when she died.
[988.0s] It was I was going for flint.
[989.2s] It was accidental. I was just like.
[991.8s] Yeah, it was just it was just proximity to flint
[994.6s] because Tiamat was trying to take out flint
[997.5s] and he was dealing over 100 damage in one round and like in one turn.
[1001.6s] And I mean, I guess I was aware of that, that had I gone over there,
[1005.1s] I would have been within the blast zone.
[1007.0s] And like, frankly, you guys, your hit points, well, it weighed my own.
[1011.6s] And so I was attacking flint and another individual
[1015.2s] in this group decided, oh, New Laura's in the blast zone.
[1019.3s] Who would that be?
[1021.5s] That was established very early on,
[1024.0s] and then there was no movement declared.
[1026.7s] That's true. And it was looking back at it.
[1028.4s] I should have fucking moved after one of my attacks to like free up some space.
[1032.5s] Sorry, Amy, I interrupted you.
[1034.8s] Oh, no, that's OK.
[1035.5s] I can't remember what I was saying, but I just feel like I do have
[1038.8s] healing word and I had mass heal wounds.
[1043.8s] And like I had some good because I always tried to make sure
[1047.2s] I had healing spells that we could use.
[1048.9s] And I had potions.
[1050.5s] And I even my last ditch effort was to give
[1054.8s] guacamole my ring of which I think is a question in here.
[1058.9s] What is on the ring?
[1059.8s] What is on the ring of spell storing?
[1061.3s] So now that we're on the ring, what is on it?
[1063.4s] Can you bring up my sheet?
[1064.6s] I know there is a healing spell on it,
[1068.4s] which is what I was hoping that she would use for herself.
[1072.1s] Well, I had potions like I still had healing potions,
[1075.0s] but I had to decide like I just decided to use all of my things
[1078.8s] to try and do damage, not to try and.
[1081.6s] And you know what?
[1082.2s] I think that was generally you could.
[1084.4s] That sounds like we play the game.
[1086.7s] That's the way we play the game, though, right?
[1088.2s] We try to go all in.
[1089.6s] But I think maybe this also might be a little lesson learned that
[1093.5s] taking a step back and taking care of yourself, too,
[1097.0s] might be like, you know, a good thing, a bAlydince.
[1100.0s] So my ring of
[1103.6s] spell storing is OK.
[1105.3s] So it currently holds healing word, which is a third level spell
[1108.6s] guiding bolt and searing smite.
[1110.6s] So there would have been a heal spell in there.
[1112.8s] So I gave it to guacamole, but she couldn't get to you fast enough.
[1116.3s] Well, I think when you have seven attacks, it's it's easy to pause
[1120.1s] and down a potion as Flint did a few times.
[1122.8s] But when you have one, I think Newara made the right call,
[1125.9s] like trying to adapt.
[1128.7s] Yeah, I think as far as you guys played it from from the DM watching it,
[1134.1s] like I think you guys played it well for your characters,
[1136.3s] because although the session took an hour and a half to play through
[1141.6s] where there were only four or five rounds,
[1144.5s] which means there was 30 seconds from when Tiamat comes out,
[1148.8s] eats those wizards and then battle starts.
[1151.4s] So 30 seconds from when battle starts that that is actually happening.
[1155.5s] It's not long in terms of like the in-game time. Sure.
[1160.1s] That kind of makes me feel better.
[1161.7s] Like literally, she pops up at a nowhere and we slash and hack.
[1165.3s] One of us dies, but then eventually we kill her. Yeah.
[1168.0s] Like we're all within like a few blinks of the eye.
[1170.8s] And that's, you know, that's a lightning breath.
[1173.0s] That's a poison breath.
[1174.0s] That's two flame breaths. That's acid breath.
[1177.0s] I love that you poison breath me, by the way.
[1179.0s] I had no idea that was funny.
[1182.5s] I was like, oh, yeah, give it to me.
[1185.8s] Like I said, me and Sean had had a pregame about Tiamat,
[1189.2s] but I didn't tell him any of your resistances.
[1191.2s] Well, thank you, because that would be a dick move.
[1192.8s] That would be a super dick move.
[1194.9s] Tiamat wouldn't have known.
[1197.1s] Tiamat wouldn't have known.
[1198.4s] I was like, how hard should I go?
[1199.8s] And he was like, kill them all.
[1203.0s] I can tell. And here's how you do it.
[1208.0s] Russ, did any questions ask about the two rounds of eating all the
[1212.7s] eating all the dudes?
[1215.3s] No, because that did not go as planned in the book.
[1218.6s] And I don't think Russ or I expected it to go.
[1221.4s] So the whole idea is Tiamat has to eat the red wizards by color.
[1225.6s] And then what's his name?
[1228.1s] Severin Severin.
[1229.6s] And so I think the way the books written is that gives you three rounds
[1233.2s] to lay into Tiamat, where she can't she's like she's so focused.
[1237.6s] She won't attack back.
[1239.1s] But it was so funny because it was just like that was everyone was just
[1241.6s] like staring.
[1242.9s] It was just this like tableau of quiet.
[1245.8s] I wasn't aware that we were in combat.
[1248.2s] And I think maybe you're always in combat.
[1250.2s] And that's the thing, too.
[1252.0s] When you were you are maybe are not, I don't know,
[1255.2s] considering switching up how we approach battles in combat
[1259.6s] and changing it, because right now it's very much a end roll for initiative.
[1264.5s] Right. Yeah. But nobody had rolled for initiative.
[1267.0s] So we've really been like Pavlov's dog.
[1270.6s] We were so trained.
[1272.3s] And I kind of like that said, I like the way that end of time does it
[1276.5s] with the with the dungeon world aspect, right, where it's very.
[1281.5s] Action, you know, something happens.
[1284.4s] What do you do? What do you do because of it? Yeah.
[1287.1s] Yeah. So Tiamat emerges.
[1288.8s] What do you do? Right.
[1289.9s] We stand and gawk like, fuck it.
[1292.6s] Maybe you do.
[1293.7s] Like Tiamat emerges.
[1295.6s] That could still be something that happens.
[1298.3s] That was my favorite part of the whole thing was when Tiamat's head
[1301.2s] is just right over the just like I could just the breath coming over you.
[1307.5s] Just like right there in that moment.
[1309.5s] Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah.
[1312.1s] But again, I'm so glad that you were Tiamat, Sean,
[1314.2s] because you added a certain level of levity that absolutely yes.
[1319.4s] Because if it was resting all those things and doing all those things,
[1323.0s] it I would have taken it much more personally than it would have been,
[1327.1s] because it is a role of the die and it is how we play.
[1329.8s] But it would have been like, you fucking like, why did you do that?
[1332.7s] Like, see, this is why I got an outside source.
[1336.1s] You fucking took coming in and just
[1340.0s] not because I couldn't handle it.
[1341.7s] I could handle it.
[1342.8s] Let's be honest. Let's be honest.
[1344.8s] Yeah. You can't.
[1345.7s] I couldn't handle it.
[1348.1s] Russ can't handle being smothered in his sleep.
[1350.2s] That's not his fault.
[1352.6s] Who can? It's OK to admit you can't handle that.
[1355.6s] Was there we kind of we kind of touched on this.
[1357.6s] Was there a way to make Donnie's attacks magical?
[1360.6s] Not in the moment, I don't think.
[1364.7s] Could we have gone to a wizard and imbued him with some magical power?
[1368.5s] Maybe. But in the moment, I don't think so.
[1372.0s] Now, that said, as we had mentioned, Donnie's last attack counted.
[1377.5s] It did. So how will I interpret that in canon?
[1382.6s] Because I thought about it when Sean asked.
[1384.4s] And, you know, kind of just quickly bounced off as like
[1387.8s] there's some power that came from Nulara or something
[1391.7s] that happened that went to Donnie and gave him the ability to
[1396.0s] inflict some damage, be it small or large.
[1399.0s] It was his grief. It was his love for Nulara.
[1401.8s] Love conquers all. Love is magical.
[1403.8s] Exactly. In the arms of an angel.
[1407.3s] And it makes sense, like they were like mystically bound together.
[1411.0s] So like the severing of that connection could have like
[1414.4s] released some sort of magical energy.
[1416.4s] Yeah. It makes sense.
[1417.9s] Also, super great for the story. Exactly.
[1420.6s] Oh, I think we had to. Like, we couldn't have not.
[1422.8s] It was Donnie's big moment. We're all like, yeah, I think we had to.
[1426.5s] Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
[1428.1s] It wouldn't have felt right otherwise.
[1430.4s] You know, listening back and editing to it or editing it.
[1432.9s] I was like, I listened to it for 10 hours straight, 12 hours straight.
[1436.9s] How much weeping did you do? Oh, so much weeping.
[1439.4s] I was like, no, I'm not crying hard enough.
[1441.3s] I need to move that.
[1442.3s] But I really need to wrap up these sound effects.
[1444.9s] Yeah. But I think it worked.
[1447.6s] Had we not counted it and I had said something like, oh, he's not magical.
[1453.0s] Like that would have been the room.
[1457.0s] The room would have turned on you, Russ.
[1459.7s] So there would have been one of these.
[1461.2s] That said, we didn't.
[1462.3s] Sean and I didn't say that the thing counted.
[1464.5s] We let you role play out, Donnie, and then go back.
[1467.7s] And he went by.
[1469.1s] And I mean, you could have rolled poorly and not hit at all.
[1473.5s] But he did. So story above all else for me.
[1476.7s] So Donnie's last attack did count, in fact, it did.
[1480.4s] And yeah, so we're tracking that up to the magical power of friendship.
[1484.7s] All right. So here's the main point.
[1485.8s] I should point out, I made an error listening back.
[1489.2s] So if any fans, I don't know if any fans have added up all the damage.
[1493.2s] I don't know if it was all in there, but
[1495.5s] because the hard part is it's late at night.
[1499.0s] And, you know, like Tom is literally doing like 32, 35 damage, 12 cold, 37.
[1507.1s] And I think I took one of those 37, which I think was a roll to hit.
[1510.1s] And I think I took it as damage as well.
[1511.8s] So there was one of them.
[1513.3s] Nope. Take back these.
[1514.2s] You know what? These things happen.
[1516.0s] It's just like it's like 17 things he's calling out.
[1518.9s] I'm like, I think I got them all.
[1520.4s] So I mean, like, keep up.
[1522.9s] I had like four fucking attacks and then I got to action surge at one point
[1526.5s] for a fifth, like it was, I mean, I built Flint to be a fucking champion fighter.
[1531.1s] That is what he does.
[1532.3s] Yeah. Yeah.
[1533.2s] So I think I did get confused at one point.
[1535.6s] That's fair. Yeah.
[1536.8s] We I do still have the image you sent me of the sheet,
[1539.5s] so we can go back and check it.
[1541.0s] But I mean, the last I don't think it would have mattered, though, that 32.
[1545.1s] He still would have killed Tiamat in that last round.
[1548.0s] Yeah, you had 20 and Flint did like almost max damage four times.
[1552.1s] Yeah, it was insane.
[1553.2s] I think that was even when you you action search, right?
[1555.6s] So there was five attacks there.
[1557.1s] So basically, Tiamat was dead after the first attack.
[1560.2s] And I was just like, no, I'm going to wait till the end,
[1562.0s] just because Tom thought he was dying.
[1564.3s] Tom was like, I'm going out in a ball of glory.
[1567.3s] Oh, I was like, like literally, I kept my action
[1570.0s] surge for like the last possible moment to like get that one extra shot in.
[1574.4s] And I was like, well, this is it.
[1576.1s] Yes. Now we're never.
[1577.5s] I saw you like, I'm going out in a in glory.
[1580.4s] And I was like, yeah, no, because had it not killed to you,
[1583.1s] had he not killed Tiamat in that moment.
[1584.8s] Oh, I was Tiamat.
[1586.6s] Tiamat would have had a legendary action
[1588.7s] on the next between turn legendary action.
[1591.5s] Flint was down to like 20 hit points.
[1593.6s] It was like less than 20.
[1596.4s] Had Tiamat had one more turn,
[1598.1s] both Flint and Thea, I think, would have been dead.
[1600.8s] Yeah. Yeah.
[1602.1s] Yeah. If you could have caught me, I would have wild shaped
[1605.3s] and then and then you could have killed me as a wolf.
[1607.8s] But then I come back with all the hit points as Thea.
[1610.8s] But actually, if you'd wild shaped, you know, I see
[1614.0s] I didn't want to attack.
[1615.3s] I didn't want to attack any animals.
[1616.6s] So if you wild shaped, that might have been a good point.
[1618.3s] That's true. There was precedent.
[1620.0s] He wasn't attacking hippogriffs.
[1621.3s] He wasn't attacking Donnie. Oh, that's true.
[1623.1s] Yeah. Yeah.
[1624.8s] Why was he wasn't attacking Glock?
[1626.6s] Yeah, true.
[1627.2s] I was too emotionally like distraught.
[1629.8s] That would have been a good move.
[1631.1s] Those pieces together.
[1632.8s] We would have ended with you joining joining Tiamat.
[1635.6s] If I could turn back down.
[1638.3s] You're just permanently a wolf and you are like Tiamat's right hand man.
[1644.1s] And this is what I do now.
[1646.0s] I live here now.
[1647.0s] Every survival man, it's survival shown.
[1650.0s] I mean, this kind of ties in with some of the other stuff we've answered,
[1652.2s] but we'll ask it anyways.
[1653.2s] What was the hardest part and the most enjoyable part
[1656.5s] of walking in to play the big, bad, evil guy or girl from another show?
[1660.6s] Well, I think it's hard.
[1661.6s] It's always hard coming into a table.
[1663.2s] It's nice because I've been at the table with all of you before that.
[1665.8s] So that made it easier.
[1667.7s] But right, there's a you guys have a rapport.
[1669.8s] And like, I listen to all your episodes.
[1671.5s] So I sort of.
[1672.0s] But you know what I mean?
[1672.5s] Coming in, you're like, you're a fifth, I'm a fourth wheel, fifth wheel, whatever it is.
[1676.2s] Yeah, so I will.
[1678.2s] You make us perfectly bAlydinced and really rounded us out.
[1682.5s] So I think that's the hardest thing, right?
[1684.0s] Is just coming in and not wanting to overbear, right?
[1686.4s] Like, like just to and wow, the most fun.
[1692.9s] I think it was that opening bit where nobody did anything.
[1696.0s] And I just had all three of Tiamat's heads right on the just like
[1700.4s] cocking my head at her, just like, I think I called her child.
[1703.8s] Make an amulet. Right.
[1705.8s] And my favorite moment was, yes, was that, Tom, when I was like I was.
[1710.3s] So basically I was like, she only wants to eat all of the red wizards and stuff.
[1714.9s] And so she was like, are you you're not one of them, are you?
[1719.0s] Yes, I am. We are.
[1721.3s] And pull out the amulet.
[1723.3s] I'm not putting two and two together.
[1726.2s] Check out my jewelry.
[1728.8s] That was my favorite moment.
[1732.1s] I'm surprised I didn't die.
[1733.3s] Nularaaaa, it should have been me.
[1735.8s] I tried. I put you in a poison cloud.
[1738.2s] I did everything.
[1739.2s] That just made me stronger.
[1740.5s] It should have made me stronger.
[1742.8s] Well, work on how to figure that one out.
[1745.5s] Would would you three have ever would you have
[1749.1s] would Flint, Thea or Nularaaaa building those characters,
[1752.0s] would you have changed anything in early levels of those characters
[1755.4s] to try and help with the fight?
[1757.5s] Knowing how it went.
[1759.6s] I mean, knowing how many like good bonuses and attacks
[1764.4s] Flint had going into that fight, I wouldn't have changed him one bit.
[1767.7s] He needed every fucking scrap of it.
[1770.2s] For Thea, I don't think I could have changed her in any way.
[1775.8s] What I needed to be is I needed to be a higher level druid, but.
[1781.2s] I am not in control of that,
[1784.1s] so I needed more than just one fucking spell
[1789.5s] that I could have used against Tiamat.
[1791.2s] The other things that we needed to do to weaken Tiamat,
[1794.3s] that would have been better for you.
[1795.9s] Yeah, so there was like there's like seven things you can do.
[1800.0s] And so when when Russ and I met, we're going over everything on her.
[1803.9s] And she's written to say, OK, when she comes out,
[1806.0s] she is really like impossible to beat, because, you know,
[1809.7s] and then each thing you accomplish, right?
[1812.1s] Like the mask, you know, you know, killing off.
[1816.2s] You killed one of them, not the four, you know, killing off.
[1819.7s] Each thing you've done will lower her.
[1821.8s] And so I would lose, you know, that reaction, those legendary actions.
[1824.8s] Those I think the next level, if I'm right,
[1827.7s] Russ would have restricted how many legendaries I get.
[1830.4s] I get it. Like we could have taken you down enough notches
[1833.5s] that I would have been.
[1835.2s] It was one more.
[1836.4s] One more would have really helped.
[1838.2s] And you didn't even let me have my tear it on.
[1840.3s] I will say that I put Ross.
[1841.7s] I said, hey, Ross, so how many do you think they're going to have done?
[1844.8s] You know, because we're way early.
[1845.9s] And he was like, two.
[1848.8s] Oh, oh, Ross.
[1850.9s] You knew it was a skill.
[1852.5s] I did. That's fun.
[1853.8s] Going into like, because the one that you could have done,
[1856.9s] but I knew you probably weren't going to be able to do
[1860.4s] was interrupting the ritual.
[1862.0s] That's a hard one.
[1863.1s] You would have need to have stopped.
[1865.3s] There were there always needed to be five going
[1868.8s] performing the ritual at any time.
[1871.1s] And there were six up above that you couldn't get to.
[1875.7s] And they were so far apart.
[1877.2s] They were. They were so far apart.
[1879.7s] We were trying so hard to stop the ritual.
[1882.4s] Like we wanted to.
[1883.9s] And the modules written said we're just like running across the hall
[1887.1s] the whole time.
[1888.1s] Well, I love that your immersion killed one right away.
[1890.4s] I was listening. I was like, yes.
[1893.0s] But yeah, I mean, the module is written.
[1894.3s] So it's not going to you're not going to write.
[1896.0s] Like you're not going to stop.
[1897.4s] Yeah, it's not easy.
[1899.1s] It's not supposed to be easy.
[1900.7s] I do wish I was a higher level Drew that I could have.
[1903.7s] What about you, Nularaaaa? What would you change?
[1905.8s] I mean, I don't know.
[1908.3s] I mean, play a totally different kind of character,
[1911.1s] which I wouldn't have wanted to do, right?
[1912.4s] Like I was Nularaaaa for so long.
[1914.0s] So I think because none of us had really played before
[1918.0s] and we literally just like opened the book and we're like,
[1920.4s] well, I guess this is what I'll be.
[1922.4s] There was like a fun innocence to how we created
[1926.5s] those characters that then we were stuck with,
[1930.1s] which made us have to, you know, try and figure things out and just.
[1933.6s] It was really a get creative with it.
[1935.4s] You got it. You made your bed.
[1937.1s] So I wouldn't have wanted to change that, even though like
[1941.4s] as a D&D character, I don't think I would play a human ranger again.
[1945.3s] It's like, what are the two like weakest things I could be?
[1949.5s] I should do that.
[1950.8s] So I probably wouldn't play that again.
[1953.1s] Personal challenge.
[1953.9s] I'm happy that I did for Nularaaaa.
[1955.6s] We're all we're all happy you did, too.
[1958.3s] If Tiamat were to try and make an escape again someday,
[1962.9s] how would you this is for this is for Sean and or anybody else.
[1967.0s] How would you see her attempting that escape for a second time?
[1969.6s] And would you want to reprise her role?
[1971.1s] So mostly for Sean.
[1972.1s] But everybody else can answer how she should escape.
[1974.3s] There's no if I'm coming back.
[1979.3s] It's a solid yes.
[1981.1s] I think it's going to be like a Tiamat
[1983.8s] like Mission Impossible thing.
[1985.4s] Now she's got to escape.
[1986.7s] So it's like a side quest of her own going on.
[1990.2s] I was thinking of like Tiamat meets Godzilla.
[1992.6s] We have something like that.
[1993.9s] Oh, yeah.
[1994.7s] You guys need to make a Godzilla friend in season two.
[1998.5s] Let's just run down the story based questions.
[2002.4s] Will we ever find out what happened to the Grungs or Flamikens?
[2005.4s] Yes. Will we ever find out what happens to Bort?
[2008.6s] And would he would he have been any help in this fight?
[2011.0s] Yes, we will find out.
[2012.6s] Tom, would he have been any help in this fight?
[2014.4s] He would have been some help for trying to disrupt the ritual
[2017.9s] because he's got mad archery skills.
[2020.9s] But besides that, no, he would not have been a help
[2023.3s] in the fight against Tiamat,
[2024.5s] because he just wouldn't have been able to do as much damage.
[2027.2s] Yeah, he wouldn't have had all of Flint's sweet turns
[2031.2s] turn number of attacks and stuff.
[2034.6s] Will there be a filler episode letting us know
[2036.6s] what happens after the battle and how they begin to rebuild?
[2039.5s] You're listening to it right now.
[2040.8s] No, no, no.
[2042.8s] Yes, there will be.
[2044.3s] But it will be part of the next season.
[2048.9s] Will there one day be an episode?
[2051.2s] We can do that one separately.
[2052.0s] So, yes, all of those questions.
[2053.6s] Yes.
[2054.6s] Now, how season two was going to work is we're going to come back
[2058.2s] with the new characters, Moot, Glim and Sully
[2062.6s] a little bit back in time.
[2064.2s] So it's before the fight with Tiamat.
[2066.5s] So we're going to catch up with them and figure out.
[2070.0s] How they get together, because they're not together right now.
[2073.2s] And then we're going to meet back up with Flint and Thea.
[2078.0s] And then it's going to be like
[2081.4s] there's going to be two stories running concurrently.
[2083.6s] It's going to be exciting and terrifying.
[2086.6s] Can't wait for it.
[2087.3s] But yes, all of those points will be touched on
[2090.2s] when we get back to Flint and Thea
[2092.6s] and then dealt with in their own way, because their story is still going on.
[2096.3s] That's very Lord of the Rings currently have back in time
[2099.4s] by pitbulls stuck in your head.
[2101.9s] Mr. Worldwide, Mr. Worldwide.
[2105.8s] Yep. Yeah, I wish you all good.
[2109.3s] But yes, it is very, very Lord of the Rings style.
[2112.4s] Understand, I just do it.
[2113.7s] No, it's OK.
[2116.3s] Sorry, is there a question in there?
[2117.4s] Can Amy rap poorly?
[2119.2s] No, because no, I'm pretty sure you know, you you wrote.
[2122.2s] You wrote it. I wrote it.
[2123.3s] Yeah, you can we.
[2125.0s] Amy, can you just like shoot me an email real quick?
[2127.4s] Make sure I've got like pitbull on my wedding playlist
[2130.2s] so I can see you rap that in real life.
[2133.0s] That'd be great. Yes.
[2137.4s] Perfect, perfect, perfect.
[2138.9s] Sean, we know it's getting late for you.
[2140.4s] We'll we'll ask you the last question, then you can decide.
[2142.6s] Well, there's one more.
[2144.3s] How much control?
[2145.5s] Again, we kind of touched on this.
[2146.6s] How much control did you have over the characters
[2149.1s] over Tiamat's actions versus how much control did Russ dictate?
[2153.2s] So Russ, I'm just a puppet for Russ, basically.
[2158.3s] Yeah, yeah, that's how I remember it.
[2159.7s] Yeah, it's going to go pretty fast in this game.
[2165.0s] So Russ and I met.
[2167.4s] What was it like two weeks before recording?
[2169.8s] This was a long time ago.
[2171.5s] Just to go over Tiamat, how the mechanism is going to work.
[2176.6s] And that was it.
[2177.5s] So basically I had a text to Russ if I had any questions.
[2182.6s] So I was updating Russ with where my hit points were at.
[2187.0s] And I think I asked I asked about Donnie.
[2189.3s] I don't remember what else I asked.
[2191.1s] If Donnie's attacks were counted,
[2193.9s] kept in touch about hit points, I feel like that might have been it.
[2200.0s] Yeah.
[2200.6s] Oh, you were trying to.
[2202.2s] There was one point you were trying to help them with something, too.
[2205.6s] And I was checking out.
[2206.7s] Oh, yeah, yeah. I sent you a message because I wanted to know
[2211.1s] if Thea had a certain kind of spell
[2215.5s] and Russ leaned over and looked at her sheet.
[2218.5s] That that Amy was just madly trying to read the whole time,
[2221.9s] just like he just leans over and he comes and look at the screen
[2225.6s] the entire time.
[2226.4s] I was just like, anything, anything.
[2229.6s] And he just leans back and text me.
[2231.7s] Nope.
[2234.6s] So, yeah, that was it.
[2236.5s] So so I yeah, full control.
[2239.7s] Should I say, Russ, that I I did I went hard,
[2243.2s] except on that final attack on Tom on Flint,
[2247.4s] where I chose to bite him.
[2250.7s] And then I rode really poorly because I have to subtract 15.
[2253.7s] That said, though, I don't think you could have done anything else
[2256.1s] because all of her breaths were reserved for legendary legendary actions.
[2260.4s] Correct. But I guess you're right.
[2262.0s] But I guess what I could have done is the full attack of the bite
[2264.7s] plus the two claws, maybe.
[2266.8s] I didn't even think of that.
[2267.8s] So so I just chose one.
[2269.4s] It is a valid attack.
[2270.6s] So I chose the bite, which is the more damage than the other one, potentially.
[2274.3s] So anyways, yeah, that was the only moment where I was like, all right.
[2276.9s] You weren't even to know, though, that bite could have killed Tom.
[2279.8s] Yeah, very well could have.
[2281.0s] I think it could have. I knew he was low.
[2283.0s] But I had to because you were at level two,
[2284.7s] I had to have to subtract 15 points from every attack.
[2289.1s] And so could you guys imagine
[2291.6s] if Nularaaara was dead and Flute was dead and then Thea was just
[2296.2s] she would switch sides.
[2298.4s] Oh, yeah, no one would have blamed her.
[2303.0s] I think she would have done anything to stay alive, baby.
[2306.0s] What are you going to do?
[2307.4s] But yeah, I had full control.
[2308.5s] I had full control. Yeah, I concur.
[2312.4s] Good. You've answered the question correctly.
[2315.2s] Russ is madly testing Sean, saying what he should be saying.
[2319.2s] Sean, blink twice if you need help.
[2322.8s] Oh, God, he's blinking so much.
[2324.2s] Too many times, too many times.
[2326.6s] Russ is amazing.
[2328.2s] He's the best.
[2329.4s] Speak, Puppet, speak.
[2330.3s] He's put a chip in my head when we saw each other in Seattle.
[2334.6s] Well, I look forward to coming back, maybe not as Tiamat.
[2338.8s] Thanks so much for having me, guys.
[2340.1s] I'm going to go to bed. Thank you so much.
[2342.8s] Love you all. Bye. Bye.
[2346.4s] That guy's the best.
[2347.4s] He is the best.
[2348.2s] Such a delight.
[2349.0s] He makes me so happy just when he's like just around.
[2352.9s] OK, let's start going down some questions here.
[2356.6s] And this is part two, not part two.
[2359.1s] This is after the intro.
[2360.5s] This is just as continuing.
[2362.0s] Hey, you're just getting it straight.
[2364.7s] How much did you love the names for the potions?
[2367.6s] Oh, they were great. They were very fun.
[2369.5s] And like a little bit tricky and misleading, but not because once you knew why,
[2374.2s] yeah, it made sense.
[2375.9s] Like once you knew what it did, Andre, like, OK, but yeah, go juice.
[2380.3s] I assumed it was for speed, but Andre the giant.
[2383.1s] OK, I get it. It's for strength.
[2384.7s] Yeah, it was fun. They were fun.
[2386.7s] Yeah, they were great.
[2388.8s] Do you ever want the party to go through a maze again?
[2392.0s] No, I mean, I feel like it's a good chance for redemption.
[2396.2s] So I'm going to say yes. Oh, Tom, I'm going to say no,
[2399.4s] because just not even for our character sake, for me as a human person
[2403.5s] sitting over here with very poor sense of direction as it is,
[2410.6s] trying to because we're not we don't usually use visuals,
[2414.7s] which I think is a big problem.
[2416.4s] It's probably part of why we literally beautiful mind this thing.
[2420.8s] I get totally I get very frustrated.
[2424.1s] And I'm just like, oh, I don't know, just pick a fucking side.
[2426.6s] Like I'm like, I'm going to just go as random
[2430.7s] until Russ pities us enough to show us the way out.
[2435.7s] And it worked.
[2436.8s] Well, yeah, 15 episodes later.
[2440.1s] But I mean, you never have to show us.
[2442.9s] It's that's true.
[2443.8s] TMS could have risen and we could have still been in that fucking maze.
[2447.8s] Oh, yeah, that could have happened.
[2450.0s] Yeah, I would have had just keep coming up with new rooms to put you guys in.
[2454.1s] I would have run out long ago.
[2455.8s] It's like 20 episodes later and we think we're out of the maze.
[2458.5s] And he's like, and you come back to the fountain room.
[2460.4s] What? Oh, my God.
[2463.8s] What a twist.
[2464.9s] I mean, it can't happen now because you said it.
[2467.9s] But I mean, are we in the maze right now?
[2470.5s] Maybe. Yeah, so it's a hard thing for me.
[2473.3s] I think we I think we talked about that a couple of times
[2477.1s] that we don't necessarily want to do mazes,
[2480.7s] but more puzzle, yes, puzzles or that sort of thing.
[2485.1s] I liked the easy puzzle that that Carla gave us
[2489.2s] when we had to go and find that feather
[2493.4s] in Carla's one shot.
[2494.8s] Yeah. And there was a little a little drizzle, a little drizzle.
[2498.0s] It's a it's a puzzle and a riddle.
[2500.2s] It's a wordplay. It's fun.
[2502.5s] Yeah. Yes.
[2504.7s] So not necessarily mazes,
[2507.4s] but puzzle based things will probably start to work in
[2510.3s] and try and figure out a better way
[2511.6s] so that we can visualize whatever is happening,
[2514.2s] because I think that's the main breakdown is the visual
[2516.6s] is a little bit lost in the way we play
[2519.9s] just trying to describe everything.
[2521.8s] So, yes, but no, but yes, but no.
[2525.7s] Will there ever be a campaign GM or DM by Carla or Amy?
[2531.5s] This could probably be for Patreon specifically, but
[2534.9s] I think I'd like to try my hand at it again.
[2537.8s] Yeah, I would maybe do it again.
[2539.2s] I mean, just like something short, like a few episodes
[2542.7s] as opposed to like three years. Yeah.
[2545.4s] Like a two to four, like a two to four.
[2547.2s] Yeah, but just doing the one was like
[2550.5s] it could have been way more in depth easily.
[2553.0s] Like that easily could have been three episodes.
[2555.0s] Yeah. Well, yeah, that one.
[2556.0s] Those ones were both over two hours.
[2558.2s] Yeah. Yeah.
[2559.3s] So they were already two.
[2560.5s] And then, yeah, we could have spent more time
[2562.0s] kind of between elements. Right.
[2564.0s] So, yeah. So, yes.
[2565.5s] Yeah. Look for that on Patreon.
[2567.1s] Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast in the near ish future.
[2572.0s] Was there any item you were both like, well, it is a bad
[2576.0s] because he promises his body can't cash.
[2578.8s] Next week. Next week.
[2581.0s] His body's writing checks.
[2582.9s] His math is writing checks.
[2584.3s] Yeah, it's all right. Let's move on.
[2586.2s] Was there any item you forgot about
[2588.5s] that you now think would have been useful?
[2591.4s] Using my Tome of Thunder.
[2594.3s] Earlier, like zipping in and out,
[2596.5s] like using it to teleport myself in many places.
[2600.7s] I mean, the dudes who are up top,
[2602.5s] which was my initial reason I wanted to teleport,
[2605.8s] they were floating and teleported there.
[2610.8s] It would have been like, I'd be like, OK,
[2612.6s] how many actions can I have?
[2613.9s] Can I get up there and then do my boot thing?
[2616.4s] Like, so I wouldn't have minded using the jumpy
[2620.4s] diamond in the Tiamat fight.
[2622.8s] Yeah. But I just didn't think to do it right.
[2626.3s] We could have moved a lot faster
[2628.0s] because we could have gotten 50 feet, right?
[2629.8s] Well, you could have teleported 30 and then moved your 30.
[2633.7s] So, yeah, you could have teleported many times.
[2636.7s] Imagine juggling three diamonds and going, whoop, whoop, whoop.
[2640.6s] It's true. 30, 60, 90, boom.
[2643.0s] Should have what it could have.
[2643.8s] So that's all this is. What about you, Carla?
[2645.4s] Anything? I don't think so.
[2646.6s] Like, I actually like kind of remembered to do things
[2650.9s] in that final fight.
[2652.0s] So and to be fair, I didn't like since then,
[2657.0s] I didn't go back and look because.
[2660.0s] Yeah, me neither.
[2660.9s] Because you're living in the past, baby.
[2662.8s] Always moving forward, right?
[2664.3s] Hey, I have a question.
[2665.3s] Did Sean roll disadvantage for me when he attacked
[2669.2s] whenever he attacked me because I had my cloak of displacement?
[2672.4s] He had True Sight. He had True Sight.
[2673.9s] Yeah, he canceled it out.
[2675.9s] God, could he be invisible?
[2676.7s] Because he disappeared to us, but not to him.
[2678.6s] Yeah, not to her, though.
[2680.7s] So, yeah, we're always I always feel like I'm
[2682.7s] like misgendering Tiamat, but it's because Sean is a he
[2685.9s] and Tiamat is a she.
[2688.2s] That's where that disconnect.
[2689.6s] It came up a couple of times in the episode.
[2691.4s] And I think somebody mentioned it.
[2692.6s] But yet we tried very hard and we were very distraught.
[2696.5s] Yeah, there was a lot going on.
[2698.7s] We were directing a lot of we were looking at Sean's face.
[2701.4s] Right. So I was saying, yeah, I don't know.
[2703.3s] I just feel so.
[2704.2s] And plus, I was legitimately nervous during the fight.
[2706.7s] And when I'm nervous, I just like
[2708.4s] I'm not in control of what my brain is doing.
[2711.2s] Like when Tiamat knocked your weapon out of your hands,
[2714.7s] you're like, yeah, cool, cool.
[2715.6s] Yeah, cool. Like I attack her again.
[2717.1s] It's like with what weapon?
[2719.0s] Oh, right.
[2720.0s] I don't know. I blocked that out completely.
[2721.7s] So good.
[2722.9s] He just blacked out for a minute.
[2724.4s] I thought about taking it up.
[2725.5s] I was like, no, it's perfect to the mindset
[2728.0s] that everybody was in at that moment.
[2729.6s] Yeah, we were like in it.
[2730.9s] Like it was heightened and it was like, ah.
[2733.6s] Yeah, and I like just missed a critical on one roll.
[2736.0s] And then I like added too many bonuses to it.
[2738.2s] And it was like, ah, and I was like, wait,
[2739.8s] no, that's not right.
[2742.2s] But I was so like, oh, if only I had the critical
[2744.4s] that my brain was like, yeah, just say stuff.
[2747.1s] What the fuck?
[2748.2s] How much do you think you've grown as a player
[2750.2s] and or DM since you started playing?
[2753.9s] This much?
[2755.3s] Yeah.
[2756.1s] I mean, some because I'd never played before.
[2759.1s] So definitely some.
[2760.7s] There's absolutely been growth.
[2763.0s] And I think I'm always a bit torn on it.
[2766.4s] Sometimes I feel like, hey,
[2768.6s] we kind of know what we're doing now.
[2770.2s] Like I do actually like kind of understand
[2772.3s] like the basics of how this game is played.
[2774.4s] If I like listen to other podcasts or whatever,
[2776.9s] it's like, okay, like I get what's happening.
[2778.7s] And then sometimes when we're playing,
[2780.0s] I'm like, I have no fucking idea what I'm doing.
[2781.8s] Like, I don't even know how to play this game at all.
[2784.2s] So some.
[2785.0s] D&D is so like life.
[2787.2s] Yeah, yeah.
[2788.0s] Sometimes you feel like you really got it.
[2790.2s] Right, you feel like you've got it all together.
[2793.3s] Yeah.
[2794.2s] And then you realize you don't.
[2795.0s] And then you look at other people
[2796.0s] and you're like, I get what their life is going on.
[2799.2s] And then you try to do your own thing.
[2800.8s] And you're like, I don't know what's happening.
[2802.4s] No idea.
[2803.3s] Yeah.
[2805.0s] As a DM, I think that I've grown a bit.
[2809.9s] I mean.
[2811.1s] Are you looking for validation?
[2812.2s] No, I'm not looking for validation.
[2813.0s] Is this where we say nice things about Russ?
[2814.2s] No, stop it, stop it, stop it.
[2815.0s] Is this the time that we say nice things?
[2816.3s] Oh, our congratulatory back patting?
[2818.8s] We haven't had the back pat.
[2819.6s] We haven't had the back pat yet.
[2820.9s] Hey, Russ.
[2821.7s] So yes, stop it.
[2823.8s] I think I've grown some.
[2826.3s] In that I didn't run a three-year campaign before this.
[2832.5s] And I think that we've grown together as players and DMs,
[2837.4s] just knowing where our comfort level
[2839.8s] and our strengths are within the game
[2841.5s] and then pushing each other to grow and make them better.
[2846.5s] I agree with that because there was one point
[2849.2s] when we were podcasting in a closet
[2852.1s] and we had this conversation where.
[2854.5s] Look at us in a house now.
[2856.2s] God, we're not only growing as players,
[2858.2s] but we're growing as adults.
[2861.0s] Where we talked how we really suck
[2865.3s] at talking to people in game
[2867.7s] and how we need to transition from player to character
[2874.0s] and like fucking start to role play.
[2876.9s] And so I think I tried to get into it
[2880.5s] with like this wispy voice.
[2882.1s] I think at one point Thea,
[2883.9s] had she was just a little more like that.
[2887.5s] I think there was like two episodes.
[2888.7s] I know, it didn't last long
[2889.8s] because it just didn't feel true to her.
[2891.2s] But I remember certain parts,
[2892.8s] like Tom would say something and I'd be like,
[2894.8s] and what would it sound like if Flint said that?
[2898.3s] And we would really like be on each other like that.
[2901.7s] Like Carla would be like, she said in the game,
[2906.1s] like said new Laura.
[2910.1s] And I think we've exponentially grown
[2913.1s] in that factor that we can actually,
[2916.6s] and I think it was part of getting out of our own heads
[2918.7s] and just, you know, like we're playing a game.
[2922.2s] We're grownups pretending.
[2924.0s] Well, it's a shift from around the table playing,
[2927.0s] which there's a lot of games around the table
[2928.8s] that do a lot of role playing,
[2930.2s] but a lot of them that I've been a part of
[2932.9s] are much more mechanics-based.
[2934.8s] So you walk into a room, you loot the dungeon,
[2936.8s] you move to the next one.
[2937.8s] You fight the thing, you do that,
[2939.3s] you move to the next one.
[2940.1s] Russ and Tom would be talking about something.
[2941.4s] Carla and I'd be making dick jokes on the side,
[2943.9s] not even knowing what Tom and Russ were talking about.
[2948.0s] Meanwhile, we've solved the puzzle, we've moved on.
[2951.2s] And Carla and Amy have like a library of dick jokes.
[2954.4s] We think we're hilarious.
[2955.6s] So that hasn't changed at all.
[2958.8s] I don't remember where I was going with that.
[2960.5s] But for the podcast,
[2964.7s] to make more of a narrative out of the game,
[2967.1s] we had to get more into character.
[2969.2s] And I think, yeah, there was definitely a point,
[2971.6s] and I remember it.
[2973.5s] I can't remember the exact episode,
[2975.5s] but we got off the call and was like,
[2977.5s] you guys just ran through that NPC
[2983.6s] and didn't ask them a single question
[2985.2s] about anything that was relevant to anything.
[2988.0s] So we need to treat people as people in this game.
[2991.5s] And from that point,
[2993.3s] I think council sessions have gotten better,
[2996.8s] general interactions between yourselves as characters
[2999.8s] have gotten better, NPCs has gotten better,
[3002.4s] and the story, I think, has grown a lot since then.
[3006.8s] And we've been able to get more invested in it,
[3008.7s] which is evident in the people who were very sad
[3011.2s] when Nulara died.
[3012.9s] Sure.
[3013.8s] Was there a guest you wanted to have on
[3015.4s] but couldn't make work?
[3016.8s] Travis McElroy.
[3018.2s] We never tried.
[3019.1s] Did we even ask him?
[3020.0s] Yeah.
[3020.8s] Oh, you never sent the email?
[3021.7s] Not yet, because where were we gonna put him?
[3024.9s] We got to, we got to...
[3027.6s] Oh, you mean in the game.
[3028.6s] I was like, he could sit on my lap.
[3031.9s] We got to, we had a bunch of guests on
[3034.2s] like kind of back to back to back.
[3036.1s] And then we got to Kuth's lair.
[3037.9s] And then it was like pedal to the metal
[3040.3s] to get you to Tiamat.
[3042.4s] Yeah, it kind of kicked into overdrive there.
[3043.9s] No, it couldn't really fit in.
[3044.8s] And we were so locked into the Tiamat thing
[3046.7s] because we were playing that arc
[3048.0s] that it like didn't have a lot of space.
[3049.8s] But now with like, it's things are more open.
[3052.3s] So we have more possibilities
[3053.8s] to have people on in the future.
[3055.4s] There were lots of people
[3056.2s] that we thought about inviting on,
[3057.8s] but just as running the game,
[3059.6s] we'd already introduced 99% of the characters
[3062.4s] that you were going to interact with from here on out.
[3065.0s] And to incorporate a new character
[3067.2s] within a new story within a side arc
[3070.0s] would have derailed and then...
[3071.8s] Yeah, you know what?
[3072.7s] We would have been on that side adventure
[3074.1s] for another seven months.
[3075.3s] So, yes and no.
[3077.8s] So we're gonna try and get more on in season two.
[3080.6s] There's gonna be like two separate stories
[3083.3s] to incorporate people in and try some different things.
[3086.5s] Do you think you'd ever get a guest DM
[3089.2s] so that you can all just play?
[3091.5s] That's a fun idea.
[3092.6s] Yes and yes, it will happen.
[3094.5s] Oh, all right.
[3095.9s] Okay, fun.
[3096.7s] Look at us also learning answers to questions.
[3100.2s] Working out details with our good friend, Sean.
[3105.6s] Excellent.
[3106.5s] I would love to play a game that Sean DMs.
[3108.6s] Yeah.
[3109.5s] Cause we get a chance to play with Russ
[3111.2s] in Patreon episodes that Tom DMs,
[3114.7s] which is fun cause he's like a little trouble maker.
[3117.7s] Yeah, he is.
[3119.9s] So it would be really fun.
[3120.7s] He's a chaotic neutral cat.
[3121.9s] What do you expect?
[3122.8s] For all four of us.
[3123.6s] I hope he picks a quieter character next time.
[3125.1s] That's all I have to say.
[3126.9s] I like to play too much.
[3130.0s] So yes, I don't want to say too many details
[3132.7s] because all the details haven't been worked out yet.
[3135.5s] Sorry to throw you under the bus there, Sean,
[3137.3s] but now you have to do it.
[3140.5s] A question for the DM.
[3141.8s] How much of the module did you change
[3143.3s] in order to bring about the best story possible?
[3146.4s] I didn't change a lot.
[3148.5s] I expanded a lot.
[3150.9s] The council sessions, there's nothing in the module.
[3157.0s] So I expanded on those to treat them
[3160.1s] as kind of a role play at activity
[3162.2s] and exercise for my players.
[3163.6s] And God did we love it.
[3165.0s] Every minute. So much.
[3165.8s] We got better.
[3167.2s] We did get better.
[3168.3s] We did. If you listen in succession
[3170.4s] of the different council meetings.
[3173.4s] Not good to use passable conversation.
[3177.6s] At one point I turned a chair around backwards
[3180.1s] and tried to have real talk.
[3181.3s] Yeah, you did.
[3182.2s] Cool person style.
[3183.0s] Yeah. Yeah.
[3184.8s] You did it.
[3185.8s] So I expanded those.
[3188.5s] The big battle for Tiamat in the module
[3193.6s] is just a straight stealth operation.
[3196.6s] Like it's going into the tunnels
[3198.0s] and sneaking in as much as you can.
[3200.9s] All of the outside the battle, that's all expanded.
[3204.6s] All the big battle, all the lead up to,
[3207.7s] the travel to, the watching the battle
[3211.2s] kind of roll out towards.
[3213.6s] All of that was expanded on.
[3215.4s] And then throughout, in the earlier episodes
[3219.2s] plotted in different side quests
[3221.0s] to kind of build out the world,
[3222.4s] knowing that rise of Tiamat will come at some point.
[3227.8s] It was inevitable.
[3228.9s] It was inevitable.
[3230.0s] And then we're going to need story beyond that.
[3232.0s] So to give you cause character lock points
[3234.7s] throughout that weren't specifically tied
[3236.6s] to the Tiamat battle.
[3238.8s] So those, yes.
[3243.6s] Cathy, once it noted that she thinks we're awesome.
[3246.1s] That's nice.
[3247.0s] Thanks Cathy. We think you're awesome.
[3249.8s] Will there maybe one day be an episode
[3252.5s] with a full account of what happened
[3254.0s] to Thea, Flint and Nularaaaa before the podcast started?
[3256.9s] No, we can't remember.
[3259.9s] Like that is the right answer.
[3263.0s] You want an answer?
[3263.9s] You want an honest answer?
[3265.6s] So you're saying there's not going to be,
[3266.8s] ever be a backstory episode.
[3268.7s] Well, I mean, if there was one that we cooked up
[3271.8s] but maybe didn't actually stick to what we actually did.
[3275.2s] Cause who can remember?
[3276.3s] I mean, I still have my notes guys.
[3278.2s] Yeah.
[3280.0s] That doesn't mean anything,
[3281.0s] but I do still have my notes.
[3282.8s] We could bring back Jillian.
[3284.7s] I was, I was a drug dealer for Flint.
[3289.9s] It was mostly Thea wanting to tie people up
[3292.5s] and throw them in rivers.
[3293.6s] That's true and definitely get laid.
[3295.8s] I'm so glad she didn't die a virgin.
[3297.6s] Yeah.
[3298.8s] So maybe, we don't know.
[3301.7s] Haven't talked about that one.
[3303.5s] What has been, have been some of your favorite moments
[3306.0s] in the story, example, when Grancis made the best pancake,
[3310.3s] something like that.
[3311.9s] Oh God.
[3312.8s] And that was pretty good.
[3313.6s] Tying people up and throwing them in a river.
[3315.3s] But that happened before the podcast.
[3317.1s] That's part of the backstory.
[3318.4s] That's part of backstory.
[3319.7s] When Amy summoned the like crocodiles or alligators
[3323.4s] or whatever it was,
[3324.3s] when we were in like that flooding tunnel.
[3326.6s] The tunnels.
[3327.4s] That was pretty great.
[3328.2s] That was really funny.
[3329.7s] I loved it when Nularaaaa rode a fucking T-Rex.
[3332.8s] That's what I was going to say.
[3334.4s] Yeah, that was good too.
[3335.2s] Anytime there was like animal stuff, I was super into it.
[3339.6s] Play that back.
[3342.3s] Just that.
[3344.3s] When there was dinosaurs or I got to ride a hippogriff.
[3347.4s] Sorry, you've already said it.
[3348.5s] Somebody's saying that it's fine.
[3349.8s] That was really fun.
[3350.7s] Yeah, yeah.
[3351.5s] It's a gift now.
[3352.4s] You can edit it out.
[3353.2s] Russ, you have the power.
[3355.8s] Yeah, I don't know.
[3356.7s] There was a lot of good, just like little.
[3359.4s] I love any moment Thea tried to flirt with anybody.
[3363.8s] Oh, me too.
[3364.6s] Just any her and, oh my God.
[3369.2s] Well, I can't remember his name.
[3370.4s] Thea would remember.
[3372.5s] Delaine?
[3373.3s] Yeah, yeah.
[3375.4s] I think she really thinks they're like forever material.
[3381.7s] I enjoyed any time I got to play as Bort,
[3384.7s] just because he was so like decisive
[3386.6s] and like, I don't give a real fuck about these people.
[3388.8s] I need to do my own thing.
[3390.3s] Yeah, that whole, those two episodes when you went to Thea.
[3394.2s] When we were able to actually get the rolls to work
[3396.6s] and get it kind of back and forth, it was awesome.
[3399.8s] Yeah, when he just like peaced out and like,
[3401.4s] well, I'm going and like close the door in their face.
[3404.4s] Yeah, Flint was there and he was humming
[3406.2s] and hawing on something and then we were,
[3408.2s] all right, you're Bort now.
[3409.7s] All right, peace out, bye.
[3412.6s] I got shit to do later.
[3413.8s] It's good.
[3414.7s] I love all of our ridiculous rolls.
[3416.3s] Roll to P, roll to hammock.
[3418.6s] Yeah, roll to hammock was great.
[3421.7s] The hammock was good.
[3423.9s] Oh, I love talking to Ver, no, the fair.
[3429.8s] The Taraz.
[3430.7s] Taraz.
[3431.5s] Oh, Taraz.
[3432.3s] Taraz was great and so was Arvid.
[3435.2s] Was that his name?
[3436.0s] Oh, the creepy alchemist.
[3437.4s] Oh my God, but I loved it.
[3439.6s] Like some of those people felt so like fleshed out to me
[3444.1s] and hilarious.
[3445.5s] Real people.
[3446.9s] How do you choose
[3448.2s] when your character's personality evolves
[3450.4s] or do you try and stick to your character sheet
[3452.9s] and the initial creation as much as possible?
[3455.7s] Oh man, I create a character sheet
[3457.6s] and then I go balls to the wall, forget about it.
[3460.5s] Yeah.
[3461.3s] Every time.
[3462.2s] Kind of the same way.
[3463.0s] Like originally in my character sheet,
[3465.1s] Flint had like a pretty rocking case
[3466.8s] of post-traumatic stress disorder.
[3469.3s] And then that never, I found that very like,
[3471.4s] I don't have experience with that.
[3472.8s] I felt disingenuous trying to play it.
[3475.3s] So like I just stopped playing it.
[3477.2s] I think we talked about that kind of early on too.
[3478.8s] And we tried to think of ways that we could bring that up,
[3482.0s] but it just didn't fit naturally.
[3483.9s] It always felt gross
[3485.2s] because that's like a real thing that is really terrible.
[3488.7s] Yeah, it felt unearned.
[3490.4s] And I think that was brought up on a whim.
[3493.4s] I think that was actually my fault
[3495.0s] because Russ did the whole like,
[3497.5s] well, how do you two know each other?
[3498.8s] And I was like, well, I'm a pot dealer.
[3501.6s] And I think your backstory was all like
[3504.1s] how you were in the military.
[3506.6s] And I just immediately went to,
[3509.2s] and I'm Flint's dealer to help him with his PTSD.
[3515.5s] Like, and that was that.
[3517.2s] It was just a way to connect it.
[3518.0s] Cause we were sitting around the table
[3519.0s] and like making jokes, right?
[3520.7s] Drunk half the time.
[3521.6s] Like that's how that came up is like,
[3522.9s] how would these people know each other?
[3524.6s] Like they have nothing in common.
[3526.1s] So, and I think a lot of it, sorry, Amy, go ahead.
[3529.1s] Oh no, I was just gonna say like with the,
[3531.4s] she started out as quite the like sex monger drug addict
[3536.2s] a little bit like pothead hits on everyone.
[3539.7s] Lots of talking about her titties.
[3541.9s] And I think she grew up a lot
[3545.6s] because she's fairly young in term of like elf age.
[3549.8s] So I think she grew up a lot on these adventures
[3553.7s] and you know, smartened up a little bit.
[3557.8s] Unfortunately for her, like she'd be mad about it,
[3560.0s] but turned into a person that her parents
[3562.2s] would probably respect more.
[3566.9s] These two kind of go hand in hand.
[3570.9s] When we first started recording,
[3572.2s] did you ever think we would ever be closing in
[3575.8s] on 100 episodes?
[3578.0s] And-
[3579.1s] Russ is so mad we haven't hit 100 episodes.
[3582.5s] I mean, we technically have.
[3585.8s] I mean, I think we're very close.
[3586.6s] No, but I mean our arc has ended
[3589.0s] and now we're humming and hawing over
[3590.7s] what do we do about like the second season?
[3594.3s] Are we starting back at one for this second season?
[3597.2s] And Russ is like, but I wanna see the number 100.
[3600.6s] Well, I mean season two has to be 100 episodes.
[3603.1s] Oh God.
[3604.1s] And then, so-
[3605.3s] They're gonna be shorter episodes.
[3606.2s] Did we ever think we would, you know,
[3608.0s] be closing in on 100 episodes?
[3609.4s] And what made us choose to continue on
[3611.6s] after we finished the Tiamat arc
[3613.9s] where there were times when we thought,
[3615.5s] well, that's enough.
[3617.0s] I mean, I think there's easy answers
[3618.4s] to all those questions.
[3619.6s] Like when we first started, I would say fuck no,
[3621.9s] not in a million years.
[3623.0s] I didn't think anyone would listen to episode one.
[3626.5s] Yeah, the audio was rough on that first one.
[3628.5s] Let's go ahead and skip to that first recap, it's fine.
[3631.4s] So yeah, I mean, that's an easy one to answer.
[3634.0s] The second one of like, why do we continue on?
[3637.5s] Cause like these people are my like best friends.
[3641.0s] We family now.
[3641.8s] And they're fantastic.
[3642.6s] And I love spending time with them.
[3644.0s] It's true.
[3644.8s] Yeah, we're like a little D&D family.
[3646.0s] That's why.
[3646.8s] I see you guys more than I see any of my other friends.
[3649.5s] Me too.
[3650.5s] So same here?
[3651.4s] We have like running dates.
[3652.2s] That guy literally.
[3653.5s] There's nobody else I think.
[3654.3s] We usually see you at least once a week.
[3656.7s] We schedule our lives around each other.
[3657.5s] Which is crazy, I don't see anyone else once a week.
[3659.3s] Yeah.
[3660.1s] Yeah.
[3661.5s] So yeah, easy, quick, quick answers.
[3664.3s] No, the three of them didn't think
[3666.1s] that we would make it to a hundred episodes.
[3667.8s] And what made us continue to decide to keep going
[3671.9s] is that we just love it so very much.
[3674.3s] Friendship, love, man.
[3675.5s] Friendship, love.
[3677.2s] What are the pros and cons of recording at a distance?
[3679.5s] Pro, I can fart in this room.
[3683.0s] And Tom and Carla can't hear it.
[3686.4s] Sorry about that, Russ.
[3687.3s] Yeah, it happens more than you care to.
[3690.2s] I mean, pro about it, like it's awesome
[3693.9s] to spend time with my friends
[3695.8s] and also be in my own space.
[3698.3s] If that lets like a weird thing,
[3700.0s] but it's like awesome.
[3701.2s] No, it's true.
[3702.1s] If anyone's ever watched TV with a friend,
[3704.0s] like via talking on the phone,
[3706.9s] but watching TV at your own separate homes,
[3709.1s] like if you have a favorite show.
[3710.6s] Oh, totally.
[3711.8s] It's kind of like that.
[3712.8s] It's being in your own comfortable space.
[3714.8s] It's being able to go, hold on, I need to pee
[3717.0s] and leaving the room and using your own washroom.
[3720.9s] It is very comfortable.
[3722.0s] It sucks though.
[3722.9s] I hate that we're an hour ahead
[3724.8s] because my teaching schedule is just stupid.
[3727.8s] That makes things hard.
[3728.6s] And I just get tired really easy.
[3730.0s] And I hate that.
[3730.9s] Cause I feel like I went out a lot
[3733.0s] when we could keep going.
[3734.2s] And I'm like, when you guys were in Korea,
[3738.0s] it was kind of brutal.
[3739.3s] Korea was way different.
[3741.4s] Time is the challenge.
[3742.8s] Technology is actually like pretty easy now.
[3746.1s] It can be hard for some like visual aspects,
[3750.7s] I guess of the game, like we use roll 20,
[3752.8s] but not a lot.
[3754.0s] Remember old school, you guys?
[3755.3s] Round the table, we'd have a whiteboard.
[3757.5s] We had a whiteboard and stuff like that.
[3759.0s] That did make it easier in a way.
[3760.1s] Pieces of colored paper that we would rip
[3762.2s] and write a number on it
[3763.6s] to be the different bad guys.
[3765.6s] Orc one, orc two.
[3766.8s] Yeah.
[3769.2s] Yeah, I think that's really the main thing
[3770.8s] is that it helps us putting together a podcast.
[3776.9s] It makes it harder sometimes to visualize
[3779.1s] some of the more mechanic based aspects
[3781.8s] that otherwise we'd be like, here's the map.
[3784.1s] Here's the thing.
[3785.2s] This is what you see.
[3787.2s] We could use miniatures more if we were together.
[3789.4s] It's tough to use those when doing a podcast though,
[3792.6s] because like at one point we were using a map
[3795.1s] and then Russ was like,
[3796.3s] now you're just saying like, I go here
[3798.2s] and that means nothing to someone listening.
[3801.3s] Yeah, it doesn't sound like anything.
[3803.2s] We had to cut it.
[3804.1s] It's terrible for an audio medium.
[3806.3s] We're not telling a story.
[3807.3s] We're saying like, I move four spaces to the left.
[3810.1s] I go to B7, like sweet.
[3813.7s] You suck my battleship.
[3815.3s] In those first 15 episodes,
[3816.9s] we kind of figure all that out
[3818.6s] because we start very map heavy,
[3820.5s] because it was cool.
[3821.3s] We've got maps, we've got things.
[3822.6s] And then listening back, we don't say anything.
[3826.1s] What, all your maps look like dicks.
[3828.3s] Dicks are vaginas.
[3829.1s] All these caves are vaginas.
[3833.2s] It's just how it happens.
[3835.5s] It's just how Russ draws them.
[3837.6s] That's the pros and cons.
[3839.8s] This one looks like it's for me.
[3841.5s] How excited or terrified am I to be off the module now?
[3847.7s] Both Barry.
[3852.7s] Yeah, that's fair.
[3853.5s] Both Barry.
[3854.4s] Both Barry.
[3855.3s] Excited because there's a lot of story ideas
[3858.1s] that I've had kind of as we've been working through this
[3861.5s] that I've had to kind of rein back
[3863.3s] because if we did them,
[3866.9s] we wouldn't, Tiamat either would have risen
[3869.7s] while you guys were off doing something else
[3871.6s] or it wouldn't be rising for a long time.
[3874.9s] And then kind of canonically in the timeline,
[3877.5s] it makes it very difficult to be believable now
[3879.7s] that the cult isn't just doing this.
[3882.7s] I'm terrified because when I don't have ideas,
[3886.3s] I could just open the book and be like,
[3887.9s] well, we're doing this today.
[3889.9s] And I can flesh that out with no problem.
[3891.8s] But now I've got to make sure
[3893.1s] that I have shit kind of planned out
[3895.1s] for the next few episodes
[3896.4s] and hope that it all works out.
[3899.1s] It will because you guys are awesome.
[3901.5s] And I can just be like,
[3902.4s] well, I don't have much planned today.
[3903.7s] It's another drinking episode.
[3906.8s] Everyone gets your beers.
[3908.1s] Let's meet a random goblin.
[3911.0s] And because you guys have gotten much better
[3913.2s] at role playing and being in character,
[3915.7s] we can do those episodes where we plan for an episode
[3919.6s] or we just talk to NPCs
[3921.5s] and just do world building within the episode.
[3924.0s] And it still sounds fun and interesting,
[3926.5s] at least to me.
[3927.3s] Just to tie into the growth too,
[3929.4s] I don't feel like we could have done that before.
[3931.8s] I remember coming into these sessions being nervous
[3935.4s] and being like,
[3936.7s] okay, well, at least I know
[3937.5s] that Russell tell me what I need to do.
[3939.7s] And now I'm like,
[3941.1s] God help him if he tells me what I need to do.
[3943.3s] Yep.
[3945.5s] It's true.
[3946.7s] Kind of touched on this.
[3947.5s] How has playing D&D changed your relationships
[3949.4s] with each other or has it?
[3950.7s] I love them more.
[3952.5s] Yeah. Yeah.
[3953.6s] It's so good.
[3954.4s] Yeah, we're way closer friends now than.
[3958.0s] Then when we were living in the same city.
[3959.9s] Then when we lived in the same town.
[3961.4s] It's true.
[3962.3s] Although I'm sure it would have continued
[3964.1s] and grown to be.
[3966.1s] Yeah, like had you guys never moved?
[3967.5s] Like we would have,
[3968.5s] well, I don't know that we would have kept playing D&D,
[3970.2s] but we would have like kept having game nights
[3971.8s] and hanging out.
[3972.7s] And I'm sure we would be like where we are now, but.
[3975.3s] Yeah.
[3976.2s] I guess we were still regularly getting together
[3977.6s] every couple of weeks to play D&D
[3979.3s] or something else if D&D wasn't working out, but.
[3981.9s] I think it was like Thursday, 8 p.m.
[3984.3s] or Thursday at seven.
[3985.5s] We were getting together.
[3987.1s] So I think it would have happened.
[3989.0s] And I think I would have drunkenly said enough times.
[3991.1s] We're so funny.
[3991.9s] We should make this into a podcast
[3993.4s] that we maybe would have tried to stick.
[3995.2s] To stick like a snowball microphone
[3997.3s] into the middle of the table
[3998.2s] and see what happened.
[3999.0s] But I don't know if we would have been successful.
[4002.0s] Are we successful?
[4003.5s] Like, I feel like we're successful.
[4005.4s] We're, success is a funny thing to measure,
[4009.0s] but I think we are.
[4010.4s] Like personally though,
[4011.3s] I feel like in this game,
[4012.6s] like we've done a really good job.
[4015.2s] I feel like we have.
[4016.3s] We've played the game really well.
[4017.6s] I think as far as the product goes that we put out,
[4020.5s] the podcast that we put out, I'm very proud of it.
[4023.1s] Counts.
[4025.1s] I mean, I think that the fact
[4026.2s] that we're still doing it means that it's successful.
[4028.8s] The fact that people have asked us questions about it
[4029.9s] and we're doing an entire episode
[4031.2s] that is now going on to an hour and a half
[4033.5s] is dedicated to questions alone.
[4036.0s] All right.
[4036.9s] We love you guys.
[4037.7s] I think that's just like straight up.
[4039.0s] Just like our listeners are awesome.
[4040.8s] Thank you.
[4041.6s] Yeah, they are.
[4042.5s] If you could change anything about your character,
[4044.6s] personality, skills, anything else,
[4046.5s] would you want to and what would it be?
[4050.8s] No, for Thea.
[4052.8s] She's evolved as a person
[4054.5s] and you either like love a person
[4057.0s] the way they are and you don't wish to change someone.
[4060.9s] So I'm going to say no.
[4062.4s] Yeah, I mean, I kind of think no for Flint as well.
[4064.0s] We touched on it before,
[4065.1s] but like he needed every scrap of energy
[4068.4s] he had in that fight and that kind of all led to that.
[4071.2s] So I don't think so.
[4072.4s] I mean, I guess not dead.
[4074.3s] If I had to like pick a thing to not be.
[4076.8s] It's a good choice.
[4078.6s] But otherwise, I don't think so.
[4079.8s] Like I just have so much affection for new Laura
[4082.0s] and feel like she grew and like their relationships grew
[4086.7s] and all of that.
[4087.5s] So yeah, I like them.
[4089.8s] Some of my favorite things during the process.
[4092.0s] I know this was an answer from before,
[4093.3s] but when new Laura and Thea would have like girl time.
[4095.9s] And braiding hair.
[4096.7s] And like how we like became like, you know, best buds
[4099.5s] and we're braiding each other's hair and stuff.
[4101.2s] Like I love that.
[4102.2s] And that's not what new Laura was like
[4103.8s] at the beginning at all.
[4105.4s] I don't even think you would have probably hugged Thea
[4108.5s] or touched at all.
[4109.4s] No, I don't think so either.
[4110.2s] You are very touchy.
[4111.7s] I would have maybe changed the fact
[4113.3s] of remembering how to call it train.
[4117.2s] Yeah, that's fair.
[4119.5s] Yeah.
[4120.4s] If only you had asked.
[4123.7s] That train has sailed.
[4127.4s] Was there anything in particular
[4128.8s] that motivated your choice of class
[4130.5s] for our new characters or our first characters?
[4135.0s] Your first characters.
[4136.7s] Oh, gosh.
[4137.6s] I mean, well, I can jump in.
[4139.8s] I wanted to play a spell caster, 100%.
[4142.5s] After playing like a straight up pure fighter,
[4144.7s] I wanted to see the exact other side of that.
[4147.2s] And so it's going to be fun.
[4148.8s] I think that's kind of my thing.
[4150.4s] I wanted to, like my first thing was
[4152.8s] I want to be everything that I'm not really right now.
[4157.1s] I can't, I don't, I'm not magical
[4159.5s] as don't tell my daughter.
[4161.2s] And so I wanted to, I wanted to be a spell caster.
[4163.4s] I wanted to be earthy.
[4164.4s] I wanted her to be an elf
[4165.6s] because I think elves are beautiful.
[4167.6s] And I wanted her to be tall because I'm short.
[4170.5s] And I, you know, like I wanted her to be total mythical
[4174.5s] because when I think of D&D,
[4176.4s] I think of like a wonderful fantasy land
[4179.0s] where you can be anything you want to be.
[4180.3s] And so I made, I made Thea that way.
[4182.5s] And then after having played a spell caster
[4184.8s] and like I chose to go in a complete opposite direction
[4190.7s] with a halfling.
[4192.2s] So I went from tall to even shorter than I am now.
[4195.0s] And I decided to switch genders as well.
[4198.8s] Sullivan's light is male.
[4200.4s] So I thought that would be interesting.
[4201.9s] No, I've never been a man.
[4203.5s] No, I do not identify as a man,
[4205.0s] but that doesn't mean I can't play as a man
[4208.2s] because this is a fantasy world, my friend.
[4210.9s] And I would like to just see how it plays out.
[4213.5s] And he is a rogue because Thea was not at all sneaky
[4218.6s] or subtle in any kind of way.
[4220.6s] And I think playing something like an opposite
[4222.7s] kind of what Flint or what Tom did
[4224.9s] because we don't know each other's names.
[4227.8s] I kind of did the same thing.
[4228.9s] I was like, okay, did the spell caster thing
[4231.0s] that wasn't effective in the last battle
[4233.5s] scarred me a little bit.
[4235.0s] So happy I kind of went to something different rogue
[4237.9s] because I didn't want to go ranger.
[4242.6s] No, God, why would you?
[4244.1s] I think I also wanted to be like,
[4248.7s] like remember New Laura used to be really rude.
[4250.5s] Yeah.
[4251.9s] And like you were so uncomfortable with that.
[4254.4s] I remember that.
[4255.3s] I thought that would be really fun,
[4256.6s] but instead I fucking hated it.
[4259.1s] Like it made me so uncomfortable
[4261.1s] and I just couldn't do it well.
[4263.8s] Like it's funny because my day job, I'm an actor.
[4268.0s] So it's not like I can't,
[4269.2s] but playing a character like live,
[4271.6s] like improv-ing as a character
[4273.5s] is a totally different thing
[4275.2s] than playing a character that is written for you
[4277.1s] and you know how it's gonna be.
[4278.8s] And I just didn't find it fun, which is why,
[4281.9s] and she like evolved out of that, which is great.
[4284.8s] But it just is more fun for me
[4289.4s] to like have played Elia in our Patreon
[4292.2s] and then I think Glim will be like that too.
[4294.5s] Although she is like, she's very sweet
[4296.9s] and she is like good,
[4300.6s] but she's also like quite the starry-eyed naive person.
[4308.0s] So I think that will be a challenge,
[4310.0s] but in a different way,
[4312.1s] in a way that won't make me uncomfortable
[4314.0s] to like be rude to my friends,
[4316.5s] even though they knew I was playing a character.
[4319.2s] I think that's gonna be a great opportunity
[4321.0s] for like comedy and like funny misunderstandings
[4326.8s] and getting you into some trouble with this new character,
[4330.9s] which is really great.
[4332.0s] Those are things you look for in a good story.
[4334.9s] Yeah, is it'll be fun and like now having,
[4338.0s] well not having met the other characters in game,
[4340.6s] but knowing them, you know, like it will be fun
[4344.0s] because they are all very different.
[4348.3s] Yeah, so I think that'll be fun.
[4350.2s] We've kind of touched on this one.
[4351.2s] How do you feel about how the inevitable rise went?
[4353.2s] Did we get too much into that, like just in general?
[4357.0s] I felt ineffectual, is that a word, ineffective?
[4361.2s] Yeah.
[4362.5s] I feel like it actually went as well
[4364.0s] as it could have imagined it going.
[4366.3s] Only one of us died.
[4369.1s] Only one of us died.
[4370.6s] It's kind of amazing.
[4371.7s] I thought we were all done for.
[4373.1s] Me too.
[4374.4s] Yeah, as far as running it and knowing what to expect
[4377.6s] as Tiamat arose, I think you guys played it as good
[4383.7s] as well as you could have,
[4385.2s] because one more turn, like we said.
[4388.7s] Oh, we were both dead and we were all dead.
[4391.6s] I stick to the fact
[4392.5s] that I think I can help out for two turns.
[4394.0s] And then it's a Tiamat podcast after that.
[4396.6s] That's right.
[4398.4s] Then you and Sean just have a Tiamat podcast.
[4400.8s] It'd be so fun.
[4402.1s] I mean, Sean's great.
[4403.0s] I would listen to it.
[4403.8s] Color Titi for short.
[4405.1s] Tiamat with all his animal,
[4406.6s] with all her animal companions,
[4408.5s] cause she liked animals, so it's come on.
[4410.7s] I like this spinoff podcast.
[4412.2s] Can you and Sean work on that?
[4413.1s] We're working on a lot of things
[4413.9s] behind the scenes here, okay?
[4415.0s] Animal top, Titi.
[4417.3s] With Titi and Russ.
[4418.7s] Titi, oh God.
[4421.4s] The rise of Titi.
[4423.6s] Not nearly as perfect.
[4427.2s] For me, were there times when we went somewhere
[4430.4s] that I didn't expect?
[4436.4s] Story wise, no, I don't think so.
[4441.4s] Because I don't want to say
[4443.6s] that everything was railroaded,
[4445.8s] but because of the design that the module laid out
[4449.5s] and because after a certain point,
[4451.2s] I was like, we need to finish this
[4452.8s] if we want to do anything different.
[4456.4s] The goals were very clear.
[4458.9s] So where you guys went,
[4461.4s] like it wasn't always the most direct path to get there.
[4466.0s] They all had to be done though.
[4467.4s] But they all had to be done.
[4468.4s] Like there was not a lot of lost time,
[4473.0s] I guess, between goals.
[4475.5s] So no, where I was pleasantly surprised
[4480.6s] was as you guys were growing and developing as players,
[4484.8s] how some of those smaller interactions became much bigger
[4488.5s] and the characters that you interacted with
[4490.2s] became more endearing and kind of followed you around
[4493.2s] and became more and made the story bigger
[4497.0s] along with you as you were growing
[4499.9s] and changing into the characters that you were playing.
[4505.2s] So that's where you surprised me.
[4507.5s] Not surprised, that's where, good.
[4513.6s] Amy, if you could wild shape into any animal
[4516.0s] in real life, what would it be?
[4517.9s] Oh God, like a real life animal.
[4525.6s] Cause I would totally choose winter wolf.
[4527.4s] Any animal in real life,
[4528.2s] that's how the question is phrased.
[4529.1s] Winter wolf, but dire wolf.
[4531.2s] That's a real thing, right?
[4532.5s] No, wait, that's Game of Thrones.
[4534.7s] Is it real?
[4535.7s] It's real.
[4538.2s] I mean, wolf is real.
[4539.7s] I don't know, anytime I see wolves,
[4541.0s] they're like not very happy.
[4542.3s] Their whole habitat's not doing well.
[4543.6s] They're always kind of mangy.
[4545.8s] So I'm gonna say.
[4550.3s] I'm gonna leave this pause in there.
[4552.0s] Oh, you should, it's just so long.
[4555.4s] What's your favorite animal?
[4556.8s] No, a cuttlefish.
[4559.4s] There you go, cuttlefish.
[4560.3s] It's gonna change into a cuttlefish.
[4563.9s] And I'll strobe and eat crabs,
[4566.9s] and I'll be the best at it.
[4568.2s] These two kind of tie in together.
[4570.0s] They're the last couple of questions.
[4571.4s] What are you looking forward to moving beyond
[4574.4s] the rise of Tiamat into season two?
[4577.0s] Or what do you hope to see more of as players?
[4580.6s] This one's from me, I'll just say.
[4582.4s] This question's from me.
[4584.4s] I'm looking forward to getting the levity back.
[4586.8s] The last, like from the end of the maze on,
[4591.6s] like we buckled in, we were serious.
[4594.8s] We had our moments.
[4596.6s] We are a comedy podcast after all.
[4598.4s] But I mean, like I felt like my character
[4601.1s] got more serious about it.
[4602.8s] And I am, and I think maybe part of me
[4605.8s] was kind of missing that feeling
[4607.8s] that you get when you first start playing
[4610.3s] and the silliness in it a lot more,
[4613.4s] because the stakes aren't as high.
[4615.6s] And I think I missed.
[4616.9s] You mean you haven't written out your wills
[4619.0s] as to what happens if you die yet?
[4621.6s] How depressing.
[4622.8s] Exactly.
[4623.6s] But yeah, I think I'm looking forward to the freedom
[4627.5s] that comes with not knowing what's going to happen next,
[4630.9s] because I mean, you don't even know.
[4633.4s] How are we supposed to know?
[4634.7s] I know.
[4636.0s] Well, we haven't even, like the new characters
[4637.6s] haven't even met yet.
[4638.4s] There's so much potential.
[4639.3s] So like, I feel like I have an idea
[4641.7s] about how that will go.
[4643.4s] But like, who knows?
[4645.0s] All three of you probably have a different idea
[4647.1s] of that initial first interaction, right?
[4650.7s] Yeah, I'm looking forward to like getting to know
[4653.2s] a new character too.
[4656.3s] Yes, all of those.
[4657.5s] And that makes sense as far as darkness goes,
[4659.6s] because from that point, that's like where Thay happened,
[4662.6s] where the dagger was introduced,
[4664.2s] where the ramp up.
[4666.4s] Yeah, like friends were stabbing friends.
[4668.9s] Like shit was getting real.
[4670.2s] It just was so serious and then.
[4672.1s] Like there were not as many dick jokes.
[4673.9s] You know what it reminds me of?
[4674.8s] I miss the dick jokes.
[4675.6s] It reminds me of like the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
[4681.0s] like all of the shit leading up to like Infinity War
[4683.4s] and Endgame.
[4684.6s] It's nice to every now and then have an Ant-Man and Wasp
[4687.9s] where it doesn't really matter what's happening.
[4689.8s] It's just fun.
[4690.8s] Yeah.
[4691.7s] And then which plot hooks, villains or cities
[4693.8s] set up in season one?
[4695.3s] Do you think would be most interesting
[4698.5s] to return to or catch up with?
[4701.1s] Salazar's got to come back, you guys.
[4703.6s] Yeah. We're the fuck.
[4704.9s] We're the fuck. Totally.
[4705.8s] Did he go?
[4706.6s] That dude's been in one episode.
[4708.4s] Disappeared.
[4710.8s] I know, but he was like such a, again,
[4712.5s] around the table, which no one cares about,
[4714.2s] but he was like.
[4715.6s] He was the carry-along NPC.
[4717.6s] What a dingus he was coming in
[4720.8s] and doing the killing blow after we like almost killed.
[4724.4s] He did get us those fantasy Costco memberships though,
[4727.2s] but I mean.
[4728.3s] Fantasy Costco probably got destroyed.
[4731.8s] Yeah, probably.
[4732.6s] Yeah, they go for the supplies first.
[4733.9s] But like I love Taraz.
[4735.3s] I did too.
[4736.2s] Yeah, Taraz is great.
[4737.4s] It's so fun.
[4738.7s] I want to know about like the doppelganger people.
[4742.0s] Like what the fuck?
[4743.5s] That's pretty fun.
[4744.7s] Yeah.
[4745.6s] What about the dude that like was being all Frankensteined
[4749.4s] by that one dude.
[4751.9s] Yeah.
[4752.8s] You like put it in at the end of one of the episodes
[4754.3s] and like no one knew and then I listened to it
[4756.0s] and I was like, whoa, wait, what just happened?
[4756.8s] That was after the Mirabar episode,
[4758.0s] the zombie guy with Thelonious Prince Bane.
[4762.0s] Thelonious, that fucking Thelonious.
[4764.8s] Yeah, and he took your war buddy,
[4767.9s] and built an army somewhere maybe, who knows?
[4771.7s] But the option's there for us.
[4773.0s] The option's there.
[4774.0s] He left himself so many little Easter eggs,
[4776.0s] so many little things that could happen.
[4778.2s] Well, there is like, there was so many things
[4780.2s] that were like, oh, well, this must be important.
[4782.6s] And then Thelonious never came back.
[4784.4s] And then we never saw it again,
[4786.1s] but that doesn't mean it's not important.
[4788.1s] It just wasn't important
[4789.4s] to the inevitable rise of Tiamat, right?
[4791.5s] So there's so many fun things.
[4793.0s] And it's not that he never came back.
[4794.9s] Again, in-game time versus real time, maybe a month.
[4799.9s] Yeah.
[4800.8s] Right?
[4801.6s] It's true, and he's like a super powerful wizard.
[4804.0s] So it's not that he didn't come back.
[4805.6s] It's that it's such a short period of time.
[4807.5s] We just hadn't seen him yet.
[4808.7s] That it's that he's still doing shit
[4812.4s] or he's somewhere else.
[4813.3s] He's recovering after we killed his zombie army.
[4815.7s] Yeah.
[4816.5s] Yeah, it takes a man to recover
[4817.7s] and build a new zombie, undead army.
[4819.7s] Exactly.
[4820.9s] Thank you everybody for sending in your questions.
[4823.3s] We really appreciate it.
[4825.0s] We can't wait for season two.
[4827.3s] Yeah.
[4828.1s] It's gonna be June 5th, the first episode back
[4832.6s] when we touch base with Moot, Glim, and Sully.
[4835.8s] I would like to do a mailbag episode like every six months.
[4838.7s] I think this would be super fun.
[4841.2s] Yeah.
[4842.0s] It is fun.
[4842.9s] So as questions come up, please send them to us.
[4845.2s] And we may or may not answer them in the moment.
[4848.7s] Might just bank them for a big old mailbag episode.
[4851.5s] Until next time,
[4854.8s] keep adventuring and.
[4859.6s] Yeah.
[4862.2s] That could be it.
[4863.0s] You just gotta say with more conviction.
[4863.8s] Yeah.
[4864.7s] Until next time, keep adventuring.
[4868.2s] We'll talk to you soon.
[4870.5s] Bye.
[4871.4s] Bye.
[4872.2s] Bye.
[4873.0s] Bye.
[4873.9s] Bye.
[4874.7s] Bye.
[4875.5s] Bye.
[4876.4s] Bye.
[4877.2s] Bye.
[4878.0s] Bye.
[4878.9s] Bye.
[4879.7s] Bye.
[4880.5s] Bye.
[4882.4s] Hello.
[4884.8s] Hi.
[4885.7s] Hi.
[4886.5s] Hi.
[4887.3s] Hi.
[4888.7s] Music in today's episode was by Kavin McLeod
[4891.1s] of incompetech.film music.io.
[4893.6s] Dumbgeons and Dragons is a Dumb Dragons production.