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Welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons! We're a D&D 5th edition actual play podcast and I'm your
dungeon master, Rust More, and with me today is Karla Johnson!
That is me, now playing Neryxious Akra, better known as Glim, a dragonborn pAlydin.
Also with me, Tom Laird.
Yeah, that's me.
I play Moot.
He is a half-orc, wild magic sorcerer.
And Amy More.
That's right.
Rust hasn't asked me to leave the podcast yet.
I now play a lightfoot halfling rogue named Sullivan Sleight.
Welcome everybody.
How's everybody feeling today?
Feeling good.
Cozy.
So near death.
For two reasons.
Number one, I'm sick in real life.
Number two, but I don't really feel near death.
These characters are just like so delicate.
They're so squishy.
Like, oh my god, opening this character sheet was, gave me like traumatic flashbacks
because they only have like, you know, 11 hit points to my whole life.
It's crazy.
That's two more than I have.
And I was like, I looked at it and I was like, did we battle last time?
I thought for sure.
I didn't remember a fight.
I've only talked to my two moms.
It was a real knockdown dragon chat though.
Oh my goodness.
Yes, we are playing some new characters today.
The characters that were introduced in episode 74.
And if you're new here, we played Dumbgeons and Dragons and we just finished a big
Rise of Tiamat arc and now we're playing new characters.
So you get to know those characters along with us, along with us as well.
No, that's not how you say that.
You get to learn about those characters along with us.
That's a better way to say that.
Guys, we're terrified.
It's like we're doing it for the first time ever because we've been
playing these characters for like, what?
Three plus years.
Yeah, more than three years.
It's it's like wearing the same clothes every day and then someone
coming along and being like, new human wardrobe.
Here's your fursuit.
And then you're going with this.
But then you have to live in a fursuit and you just don't know.
You don't look like yourself.
You don't know how to act anymore.
It seems like a very specific example.
Has someone come by and given you a fursuit to wear?
It is very specific.
This analogy got away from me.
Or like maybe like starting a new job where you don't know.
Sure. That's it.
I mean, I like Amy's fursuit.
Also a good more like universally applicable.
Like everyone could really relate to what she was saying.
Not everyone has a job, Carla, but we could all have fursuit.
This is true.
So I don't know where we were going with that.
New characters, new characters, scary times, scary times.
For those of you who have been with us for for 84 episodes now,
the the the OG characters, they'll be back.
But we're going to start this thing off with these new characters.
It's going to be a little bit of a time, a backwards time step.
Oh, and then we'll catch up and then we'll it'll all make sense.
I've planned it out in my head and those things always work.
Always. Always.
It will be hard, though, because we'll have to like
not know things that we already know.
You know how good we are at separating player
knowledge and character knowledge.
Don't worry about that. You're in a different place.
We also forget a whole lot of stuff.
So there's a good chance. That's true.
It's true. Something that happens that we haven't got to yet,
but we have a Patreon, Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast
where when you join us, you get an episode dedicated to you.
Like today's episode is dedicated to Laurie Carrion.
Thank you, Laurie. Thanks, Laurie.
You rock.
You want to join us on Patreon, Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast.
We'll talk about that more a little bit later.
But in the meantime, fuck it. Let's play D&D.
Where we left off was with our good friend Glim.
We left you with your mama,
Bean, and you were on your way
and had made it to a temple of Bahamut.
As you walk up the steps to the temple,
you begin feeling nearly a physical pull,
almost as if something is drawing you towards the large wooden doors.
As you enter, following your mama,
you see seated at the back of the room, an older human male,
long gray hair tied into a half messy ponytail
kneeled over in silent prayer.
From above, you hear the call of small birds.
And when you look, you see only a silhouette of them
in the light through the open vented roof.
You look down into the front of the cathedral
and you see a seemingly humble set up there that opens up for you.
Pews hand carved out of weirwood.
And within you sense a divine and vibrating resonance
coming from the pews leading or guiding you up to the front of the cathedral.
What is Glim feeling or thinking, right?
I think like a general sense of awe.
I mean, she certainly has been brought up to worship Bahamut.
So this is like would already be like a very powerful experience
because I think she has never been to this temple, correct?
I think that's what we said last time.
So this is already like a very powerful experience of a like,
you know, deeply religious person visiting a religious place.
And I think particularly like she has those multicolored scales.
And I think her platinum scales particularly
are like she feels like she can feel them more in this place.
Your train of thought is broken as your mama touches your arm,
bringing your attention back to the front
where you are surprised that you are now.
You've made it through the entire cathedral, kind of
the entire walk washed over you.
Standing before you at the front is a hooded figure in deep blue robes
worn to time and fraying around the edges of their platinum threads.
You hear a voice come from below the hood.
You can't see a face.
Tell me, is this person going to be someone you know or someone you don't know?
Oh, um, I honestly thought it was going to be like a switch them up
or this person's going to like pretend they're the priest.
And then the guy in the back is going to be like, just kidding, it is me.
I don't know why he is Shakespeare in love, you know, with the French prince
and pretends he's not the prince.
Why? I don't know.
Because it's fine.
15 years ago, I saw that movie, apparently top of mind.
But I would say this is not someone I know. OK.
The person lowers their hood, and it is a human female.
She has grayed hair.
She's got lots of laugh lines and deep wrinkles in her in and around her eyes.
And she says, hello, my child.
You must have a hundred questions and I will answer as many as I can.
But first, who do you believe you are?
Well, I mean, I don't know if this is really true,
but I've always in my clan been told that, you know, I was a descendant,
a very, very, very far removed descendant of Bahamut.
But I don't know if that's that seems like it can't really be true.
It seems actually a bit obnoxious to think that.
But that's always what I've been told.
As you kind of trail off there, a gentle smile crosses her face.
And she says, my child, you are a child of Bahamut.
Not a distant relative.
Not a long line faded.
You are a direct descendant of Bahamut himself.
And I look at Mama, who is with me, say, so are
are you a descendant of Bahamut too, is our whole family?
And I look back at the lady and like,
your mama who had taken a couple of steps back once you had reached the front,
she kind of clears her throat.
She said, no, no, no.
You while your mom and I are your are your parents,
And you arrived to our village when you were very, very young, and we took it upon ourselves
to give you a safe home.
It was made apparent to us that you had gifts and powers, not powers, but you had a draw
to help people, and your mom wanted to protect you because of how, I don't want to say naive,
but how naive you can sometimes be towards some of the dangers of the world.
So you told me that there was a dream, that I was a protector.
Was there really a dream, or have a note, you know, pinned to my swaddling clothes or
what?
The man who brought you to us, he told us that you were in line to be the world's next
savior.
How do you believe someone who says that?
I don't know.
But there was a dream, as I had said, that later came as you got older, and it
became very clear that there was more going on than what we had thought, someone just
bringing you to us, but following what your mom wanted to do, we protected you.
We separated the village from all but necessary engagements and trade, shielded your view
of some of the wrongdoings, which is increasingly harder in today's times.
I mean, I'm stunned, I guess.
A lot of information, my little delicate, not that young, 25-year-old life, but still.
I just have, I have so many questions, and I look back at the woman and say, did
you, like, did you deliver me to the village?
Should I be here?
I mean, I guess, where are my manners?
What's your name?
My name is Sirma, Sirma Shora.
I was not the one to bring you to the village, but I was designated to be the
one to help guide you once the decision or the call was put out for you to begin your
trials as a bastion to Bahamut.
Well, I mean, it seems like we're wasting time.
Honestly, this bard came and he told us that Tiamat might be rising and the whole
kingdom is in total disarray.
And because I was so sheltered, I feel overwhelmed by all of this information.
But I want to help and I want to, I guess, live up to my destiny.
Seems like a crazy thing to say out loud, but that's what I want to do.
It feels like the right thing to do.
Being here feels right.
Your time is coming soon.
The troubles that are in the world now are being dealt with and will be dealt
with. We feel that they are in capable hands.
Your call is for something coming later.
What that is, we don't know yet.
Those who fight for Faerun and for Toril and for the world at large are already
out there making sure that there is something to fight for later.
So what happens now?
Do I? I feel like I don't know anything.
Will you teach me how to help the world?
I will do my best to set you on a good foot.
There is a lot to talk about and a lot to learn.
And before we send you off, we will do as much of that as we can.
Dope.
There it is.
Sullivan Slate, where we left you last, you were running away from the
cult of the dragon.
You had just been asked to do something that you deemed far beyond
your capabilities.
My heart could not do it ethically.
You ran into the forest.
How far did you run and where did you go?
Well, I don't think Sullivan Slate knows where he went because North,
South, East, West, I think those are all very, he's like more of a
landmark kind of guy.
So he just started running away, away from where that village was in
the opposite direction as far as his little like halfling legs would
carry him.
He only stopped once he could go no further.
He physically could not run anymore.
You wake up, leery-eyed, your head hurts.
Am I hungover?
Maybe.
I don't know.
You could be.
You know what?
It's entirely possible that you are hungover.
I won't make that decision for you.
I'm definitely not.
The cult did not allow footmen such as myself to arm myself with liquor.
Fair enough.
So you wake up, you're bleary-eyed, your head hurts, your back is very sore.
And as you clear the haze from your vision, you see cold stone dimly
illuminated by light coming in through bars of a small window on a wall.
I panic and scramble and back myself up to the closest wall so that there's
nothing that can come at me from behind me.
You do so and you hit cold stone as you fall off the bench that you're on.
You're looking around and you see that you are in a small cell, plank
wood bench in front of you, a bucket in the corner and several other
cells that you can see, but from what you can tell, only one other
person, a few cells away.
Otherwise it is a very cold and damp prison.
Hey, hey, hey.
He doesn't appear to, to move.
Can I see if it's a man?
Um, it looks like a man.
Yeah.
Human man?
Yeah.
Human man.
Hey, you, gate guy.
Do I, is there anything around me?
No.
Anything I can throw at him?
Is there anything inside my bucket?
Anything I can splash at?
Nothing, nothing yet.
Nothing yet.
All right.
Um, yeah, no, there's nothing, nothing in there.
And it appears that you have been all of your items here to be no
longer with you, have basic clothes.
Um, perception check 13, um, as you're panicking and falling over
to the, and who you're sure is sleeping or just can't really see
much sign of movement in general.
You begin to hear the sound of street noise outside the window.
Uh, so the window is located above the bench.
Yep.
Okay.
Um, I quickly and nimbly run up, jump on the bench and, and try
to reach for the bars of the window.
You do so, and you look outside and you see a, it's, it's daytime.
Um, you're not sure what time of day it is exactly, but it's a very busy
street and you don't really recognize many landmarks around you.
There looks to be a long narrow street that is main there.
Um, there's a big open courtyard down at the end of one way and you
can't quite see around the corner going the other way.
There are lots of people, elves, humans, half orcs, halflings, all
kind of wandering about far away.
Am I from those wandering people?
That's super far.
I yelled at them.
Could they hear me?
Let's try.
Most of them don't pay much attention.
A couple of people kind of look over and as they keep walking.
Hey, what, what city is this?
What town is this?
Somebody tell me where I am.
Uh, a small child, um, kind of sees and she says, it's never wintered prisoner.
Hey, thanks.
And you see her mother kind of usher her along and give you the foul.
I kind of, I let go and I dropped back onto the bench and I sit down
and try to do a bit of mental math based on where I was and how close I
knew never winter to be, you know, never winter wasn't between 500 and
600 miles, a thousand kilometers, far ways away.
And there's no way that I ran most of the way 800 kilometers to, um, to
never winter, so I must have been picked up along the way.
I, I look at the walls.
Is there any markings or carvings or scratches or anything from these
tenants, tenants, the previous tenants of this, of this prison cell?
Um, yeah, it was a short-term rental as you try Airbnb ever.
I give it one.
Um, yes.
You see there's no standard prison kind of fair.
There's tally marks.
Um, far who has a small dick scratched on there somewhere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Far who has a small dick for a good time.
Call out down the street is also written there.
But nothing helpful that I can see on these walls.
Okay.
I go over and I inspect the walk.
Okay.
Um, make an investigation check.
Bye.
Um, it looks like a standard prison lock, um, something that you have
picked in the past, but you don't appear to have your tools on you.
Is my hair still up?
No.
Oh, I'm a sneaky athlete and I always have Bobby my hair.
Cause you can't achieve a proper man bun without them.
Um, I try my hand again at calling to my buddy, my maybe dead,
maybe not dead buddy.
Hey, you dead?
He coughs.
That's the sound someone makes when they're alive.
Hey mister.
Kind of turns over and then you hear the door down at the end of the cells.
Farthest away from you.
It opens up and says, be quiet in here.
Where's here?
You're in prison.
Hey, come over here.
You seem like a very intelligent man.
We need to speak.
A well armored soldier enters the room, he's walking closer to your cell.
It stops about half a cell away from the entrance to yours.
What's your name?
I don't answer questions.
Oh, do you don't know your name?
I know my name.
I don't have to tell the likes of you.
Oh, I never said you had to.
Sorry, buddy.
My name is Sullivan's light and you are?
Dinner's not for a while.
Oh, what's for dinner?
Oh, better question.
Do you know why I'm here?
I was just camping, like probably 200 miles, I don't know, away from here.
And I just woke up here.
You were camping, then stealing.
Oh, and then you got arrested, put up a fight, and then you ended up here.
That doesn't sound like me.
I mean, that's, that's what's on the report.
Show me whose ass I kept.
I mean, I said I got into a fight.
I said you put up a fight.
I did not say you kicked someone's ass.
It was implied with a tone of awe in your voice.
So dinner, what is for dinner?
Same as every night.
Rule.
Well, how would I have known that?
This is my first night here.
I just assume people know what they eat in prison, and it's not good.
So like, who's in charge here?
Just the warden?
I mean, I'm in charge right now because I'm highest ranking officer here.
Of course you are.
So what would it take for me to get a meeting with the warden?
Miracle.
Hey, you seem like a miracle man.
Can I make like a charisma check or something?
I'm, I'm acting very charismatic, but I don't.
Yeah, thank you.
Either are you going for persuasion or deception?
I think I'm going for probably persuasion.
OK, I'm trying to get him to do what I want.
16. What kind of miracle, my man,
can you make happen for me to get me to see the warden?
I only need five minutes of the fine man or woman's time.
Well, the warden isn't here right now.
But I mean, I could I could get them to maybe
see if they could talk to you.
You know what? Everyone here is wrong about you.
You, the man, don't you even think about what other people are saying
because you know what's going down and I appreciate you.
What was your name?
I didn't say my name.
I know. I just wish I knew because I feel like we're really bonding.
How did you know they're talking about me if I didn't say my name?
Well, they were talking about the big,
handsome, in head of the head of this place guy.
That's not you.
I mean, sounds like you to me.
It's definitely not Jerry.
Oh, no, fuck Jerry.
No, don't.
Well, no, I mean, not even on my worst day.
But well, thank you very much.
Miraculous stranger.
You're welcome. Sullivan's light.
What's he been saying about ramblings of a crazy man?
Just don't even I'll beat him later.
He begins walking out.
I wait till he leaves and he shuts the door behind.
Yo, dude, look, listen, I'm super sorry,
but what's probably going to happen to you later?
That wasn't my intention.
Got away from me.
Got away from me.
You could have talked to me, though.
You could have talked to me.
Good Lord, you talk a lot.
Yeah, grumbles, and he's not turning turning to you directly.
So what are you in here for?
Apparently, I was selling goods,
not at the correct value
deemed by the officers in charge.
No rinky ding operation.
I was told that I was stealing and then got into a fight
and kick some big ass.
And then I woke up here.
And I don't remember any of that.
I mean, I think he said you got into a fight.
No, I heard what he said.
Hmm. OK.
Well, Sullivan's light.
And you are?
And it sits up and turns and lets it choose.
His name's Murph.
Nice to meet you, Murph.
Murrv. Oh, Murrv.
Sorry, sorry, Murrv.
Yeah, I think we're going to be the best of friends, you and I.
I think it's going to be good.
How how awful is this dinner around here?
Her rule rhymes with cool.
Yeah, they mix it with fish heads.
Oh, so it's not super great.
It's all right.
I'm Ovo Pesco lactose.
I don't know what that means.
I mean, I'm a fisherman, so
I think I'd like fish heads, but not the way they make them.
It's all in the attitude, my friend.
All in the attitude.
Welcome back to the middle, everybody.
How's it going?
You made it through.
You made it through the long month.
What we do now is we just say thank you for listening
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So wild.
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What we would love is if you could tell people about us.
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The contest is going on to the end of the month, but please do it now.
Thank you very much for listening.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the episode.
We're back.
We're not going anywhere for 83 more episodes.
I don't know if that's an arbitrary number, but OK.
I mean, very specific.
So we did last season.
Enjoy the rest of the episode.
We'll we'll talk to you talk to you soon.
Moot, we last left you leaving home.
Yeah.
Running away, kind of like for the good of everyone, though,
for noble reasons, yeah, no, it was definitely for for for good reason.
What is it that Moot is going in search of?
Moot wants to find some sort of either
teacher or some sort of magic user
to help him, like, get a handle on his situation.
With your village and your family, you've traveled
reasonably far, but you have heard that there are
teachers in several of the larger cities,
but the nearest one to your village would have been Neverwinter.
Well, that's where I would have went.
It is a several day, if not week journey.
And you set off from High Forest and you caught a lift on some caravans
and surprisingly didn't run into too much on the road,
which you were told is something to be thankful for.
After a couple of 10 days journey, make it to
the gates at Neverwinter, one of the northern gates,
and you hop off the caravan and set off into the city.
And you along the way, you heard that there were
tales of Neverwinter as the city of wonders.
There's a lot of artificers and wizards.
And before the plague, Spellplague was one of the
highest looked upon cities in all of favor.
It has since come back to near what it was before,
with some minor differences.
An earthquake tore apart part of the city in the southern
southern southeastern quadrant.
There is a floating tower that hovers above that showed up mysteriously
one day and is now considered a beacon of hope.
You set into the city and it is about midday.
There are packed streets, lots of people.
And you are free to do what Moot would do.
Well, Moot, is there any sort of guard or like maybe a like
stop here for information about the city kiosk that he could maybe attend?
There's we'll say there's there's a there's a hospitaling center of sorts.
I'm going to head on over to that hospitality center.
The door opens with a chimed jingle as you enter.
And it's a quiet building.
Some bit of dust, you notice kind of collecting in the corners.
And in a young male, probably in his early 20s,
kind of bored, looking, sitting behind the counter reading a book.
And he kind of looks up and sees you walk in and says,
well, what can I what can I help you with?
Uh, hi, friend.
I was wondering, are there are there any wizards here?
He looks up from his book again, says, yeah.
But like, do you know where I could find one?
Maybe a teacher or or like a school or anything like that.
Oh, you're looking for schooling.
Are you looking to take up wizardry?
Are you?
I mean, it wasn't really high up on my list of priorities,
but then like it kind of was all of a sudden.
So, yeah, I would I would I would love to know like what the deal is.
Sure. Yeah, there are definitely schools for wizards here.
There's a you can go kind of there's the whole
Arcanist's quarter down southeast there.
You can go visit there.
There is the school.
I mean, you might have heard of the heard of the school.
I haven't.
This is this is my my first time here in Neverwinter.
Oh, well, welcome to our fine city.
Neverwinter is a friendly city of craftsmen
who trade extensively via the great merchants of Waterdeep.
I feel like you've had to prepare this speech before,
but really, you don't have to.
Oh, wait, there's more. OK, this.
Their water clocks and multi-hued lamps
can be found throughout the realms.
OK. Neverwinter gained its name
from the skill of its gardeners who contrived
to keep flowers blooming throughout months of snow.
I mean, I'm very smooth.
They continue with pride.
Sorry, if I don't say that, OK, I get in trouble.
OK, yeah, no, I would hate for you to get in trouble.
So you were saying the Arcanus quarter and also a school.
I would love to hear more about this school.
Yeah, it's Nogwood School of Wizarding.
Nogwood, do do I need any sort of invitation
to attend Nogwood's or can I just go and knock on the front door?
I mean, you can just go knock on the door there.
They're pretty nice over there.
Little hoity toity compared to some of the other folks in town.
But you're just looking to get some information.
Yeah, since I since I'm picking your brain here,
who are some of these not hoity toity people?
Maybe I can go see one of them as well.
Not hoity toity wizards.
I mean, there was this one guy I knew he was pretty nice.
I don't know if he's still around.
His name was Gabriel.
Gabe. Gabriel.
Could have been something like that.
It was a while ago that I saw him.
OK. Yeah.
Yeah, I guess I'll just I'll just head out.
Which which kind of direction are all these places?
Do you have like a city map, maybe?
Oh, yeah, sure. I've got maps.
Perfect. Final question for you, new friend.
Are there any of those water clocks you mentioned here in the city?
I'd love to see one of those.
They are nearest the water.
But some people think that Neverwinter looks like an angry fish.
But really, it was designed in the shape of an eye.
Oh, OK, I can see that.
I'm saying that it's by something's by the water is not helpful.
There's like ocean and then a river and then it looks like a lake also.
Maybe there's one by every water.
All the water, just any water.
I guess it is what they're known for, those water clocks.
Yeah, so now that I'm looking at the map,
can you maybe circle where where some of these things are,
like the Arcanus quarter or or Gabriel's place?
Yeah, absolutely.
I don't know where Gabriel's place is.
He was at the he was at the school.
Oh, yeah.
Currently, if you're looking at your map, you're right here.
And he points to the on the kind of north
west, there's a two to spot
signifying an entrance to the city, like a two.
So you just kind of came in.
You're in the kind of that entry, quarter entry, open entry way there.
OK. And he circles off to the west.
Actually, that big open courtyard area on the far west.
That's going to be your school. OK.
And then across the river, he says,
you can take one of our many sculpted bridges
to get over to the Arcanus quarter.
And it is the north side of the southeast quadrant, so it's split.
There is a giant river
that splits through the southeast or a lake, rather.
That is the the earthquake wreckage that came across our city.
I do have a question about the design of the city itself.
I see a lot of bridges in only one section
of town here.
Why are there no bridges later, like over to the east?
Well, they are to take you to the to the better parts
of Neverwinter.
You see down in the southeast section, that's kind of the beggars
orders as well.
They wanted to try and separate that part a little bit.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, that's I mean, I don't.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, I don't see why there couldn't be a bridge over there, but
I guess I'll have to do a little walking.
You know, you get to take in our entire city,
which is something that not a lot of people get to do.
OK, I I appreciate the heads up and all the information.
I'm going to go for a stroll over to the to the Nogwood's Academy and see
see if I can talk to someone over there.
Yeah, yeah, you're walking through through the streets there.
You see people of all different types of races and backgrounds.
And you begin you keep walking through the streets
and you pass underneath as you are walking
a giant hovering looks like part of a castle,
a deep black in color.
And you walk into the shadow of it.
I mean, you feel kind of a wash over top of you.
And as you exit the shadow, make a perception.
Sure. I should have asked the dude about the floating tower.
I forgot all about it.
That is let me pull up my stats here. Hang on.
Because I got different stats.
That is a 15.
You notice that your shadow has disappeared.
Does this freak me out in any way?
Yeah, let's make a let's make a wisdom saving roll.
Oh, boy. All right.
That is a seven.
You are freaked out.
Your shadow is gone. What does mood do?
Is there anyone on the street nearby?
They'd be walking by me.
Yeah, there's lots of people around.
Um, I'm going to run over to somebody and say like,
um, what happened to my shadow?
Can you see my shadow?
You run over to a man who's dressed quite he's in quite nice
fineries and he kind of looks at you and takes a step back and says,
what are you that you're new here? Yeah.
Yeah, it's my it's my first like few minutes here.
Oh, OK. Your shadow will come back.
OK, but why did why did it disappear to start with the shard of night there?
Now kind of known as the shard of the moon,
but a lot of people still call it the shard night.
It it the magics on it remove shadows.
So you walk underneath it, your shadow disappears.
It will come back in time.
Don't worry.
Um, what why?
Well, what is it?
Why is it here?
Did you not talk to the information booth?
I did, but he didn't.
He didn't say anything about this.
Who was working?
I don't know.
Some bored 20 something guy.
Then, yeah, I don't have a lot of time,
but I will I will tell you about the shard of the night.
Hey, yeah, please.
Thank you kind of.
He kind of puts his hand on your shoulders and you're going to be OK.
I yeah, yeah, I think so.
Just talking about this is helping a lot from quite a while ago.
The shard of the night was.
I mean, it just kind of showed up one day.
I know that doesn't really explain a lot of things,
but it has the ability to eat
shadow and darkness is what they is what they called it.
So anybody who walks underneath it, the shadows disappear.
There was a group called the netherese.
They they attacked to try and take the shard of the night.
They wanted its power, what it could do.
They weren't very great people.
But then one day some lovely people
lovely lady named Lady Jasmine.
She came along and she brought the shards of saloon, a
and she banished these netherese from the shard of the night.
Ever since then, these shards that were put into it,
shards of saloon, a have been given more of a a mystical,
fantastical, good aura that protects the city
and has given it kind of a beacon of hope.
So really now, more than anything, it's a a religious
symbol for saloon, a who watches over the city.
So why it's here.
Nobody knows. It just showed up one.
Is this is this Lady Jasmine some sort of sorcerer?
She was kind of a priest of sorts, not really a sorcerer
or not really a wizard.
Kind of a some sort of cleric, someone who is just more religiously driven.
OK. Well, what was what was your name?
My name is Gregor.
I appreciate the the the information there, Gregor.
Do you do you know of any wizards around town?
Yeah. Yeah, there's lots of wizards in town.
What was your name?
I'm Moot. Moot. Pleasure.
What what are you looking for?
Well, see, I kind of I need to find a wizard
just to ask some questions, basically. OK.
Go to the school. OK.
Nogwood's not yet go to Nogwood's.
So you got that information from the from Denton.
Yeah. Go to Nogwood's.
I mean, just there's a big gate
that you're going to have to go through.
I'll let you through. Not a big deal.
They love people coming in.
Probably don't love people, but if you're seeking information
is what you're doing, go to the front desk.
Usually a lovely lady named Shieldsuit.
She's usually working at the front desk.
Tell her Gregor sent you
and that you have a few questions for for somebody there.
All right. I can I can do that.
Thanks. Thanks, Gregor. Of course.
And I kind of hustle on my way.
And he watches you go and then walks off.
You keep walking through the streets and you hear a call
coming from one of the buildings.
Hey. Hey.
I kind of look up,
but I don't really notice anything out of the ordinary.
You hear somebody yelling out of a window,
but you don't really quite see them directly.
You keep going.
You pass by a tower
that looks like it has one at one point fallen over
and it has crashed down into the streets.
And there are people kind of going in and out of it.
Very jovial.
It looks like it's been made into from from the face of it
sort of tavern.
And you carry on to the gate of Nogwoods.
Do I have to knock? Is it open?
Is it closed? What's the deal here?
It is free to travel up the path if you so desire.
All right. I'm going to kind of almost double time
my efforts through the gate.
It's a long, long stretch of road
that goes up to a large castle
at the center of this wide open green clearing.
One of the few green clearings that you've seen since you've been in here
and you make it up to the big front door,
which appears to be kind of cracked open just a little bit.
And I kind of give it like two big wraps on the door
as I kind of slowly open it and say hello.
You hear a your voice kind of echo and bounce off the open chambers.
You hear some voices from down inside and some footsteps
that come to the door and pull it open.
And there's a an elven female.
She says, yes, you can you can come in.
And she opens the door and allows you through.
Hi, I ran into someone named Gregor
who told me to come talk to a shill, a shill Sue.
I believe it was a shill Sue. That's me. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, I was I was wondering if you guys could
maybe help me out or answer some questions.
Of course, yes.
Um, what are you what are you looking for?
What's your name? Sorry.
Oh, sorry. My name is Moot.
Um, yeah, I kind of had this.
Magic happen,
uh, like a couple of weeks ago, and it it was really scary.
So I was wondering if you guys could maybe help me magic happen.
It just happened. You weren't like
playing with spellbooks or scrolls or.
I've no, I've I've never, never seen a spell book,
or at least to my knowledge.
Ah, OK.
Well, come in, have a seat.
I will I will see if there's someone who can come
and speak with you.
OK, thanks.
She ushers you to a seat in the corner by her desk,
and she kind of goes off in to the back of the chamber
that she's in and leaves.
We cut back to Glim,
and you are standing
with the priest and your mama.
And you've just been told
that you are a future savior of the world.
Sirma looks at you and she says,
your journey will take you far across favor.
Several, several times over what we will teach you here
today and for the next few days
is what hopefully you can expect along those travels.
We will grant you some tools
of the trade, some tools of your calling
that have been left to be bestowed to you.
And we will try to answer as many questions as we can
before we part ways for now.
She walks back to a half open door
behind the altar and she says, come, come, come with me.
Well, I'll be staying here, right?
So can I have a minute to say goodbye?
Of course. Just come join me when you're ready.
She nods to a bean and walks in through the door.
Well, I turned to mama
and say, this is a lot to take in.
Yes. And I'm scared
and overwhelmed.
But I think I'm doing the right thing.
So I guess thank you for
having me be your daughter for these last 25 years.
I love you. I give her a hug.
She says, and I say, beat it.
She says, we love you, too.
OK, well, I'll try and be back soon.
I guess I don't know how long being the savior of the world is going to take me.
But I'll see you soon, OK?
And I follow Sirma through that door.
Bean watches you go and you turn back and see her begin to walk out.
You also notice that the
that the room is empty now, you know, to hear the call of the birds.
Or I see the see the old man who was sitting at the back left at some point.
You walk through the door and laid out, you see a shield,
platinum edged, deep blue shining shield
with the emblem of Bahamut in the center of.
Beside it, you see a scuffed up steel
used war pick that, although it looks used,
still has a vibrance and a radiance to it
that you can't quite explain just by looking at.
And you see Sirma go over to them and pick them up
and hand them to you and says, we will begin training with these tomorrow.
If you have any questions now, let's talk about them.
Otherwise, it is perhaps time for rest.
I think I'll have a lot of questions tomorrow,
but for right now, rest seems like it might be a good idea.
And she takes you back out and out of the chapel itself.
And behind there are a couple of single roomed quarters.
She leads you to one of them and she says,
this is where you will stay for the next few days or week,
however long you need.
I will be in the other one.
If anything comes up, please come find me.
She opens the door and puts your stuff down inside
and leaves, or goes to leave in case you need to stop her.
Um, no, I think I like want some time to process all this business.
OK, so she closes the door behind her.
And you are alone in this room.
It's a it's a very modest room, a single bed, a table
with two small chairs at it and some reading utensils, paper.
Otherwise, not a lot in this room.
What's them doing or thinking?
I think that she is probably going to
like try to commune with Bahamad or, you know,
like meditate essentially and think about like try to center herself.
And, you know, she is a deeply spiritual person
that needs to kind of reconnect to that
because her whole life is totally just changed.
Hi, Brady.
Do you want to sit on one of those?
Good start.
I'm in a holy place, Amy.
I made Tom go so red.
The man who dropped you in our village,
not dropped you, the man who brought you.
I'm very tough. I'm a Dragonborn.
You see, those kids are fine.
It was really a double dribble situation.
He got he got into home.
What is it in football?
Anyway, he spiked her.
Is it Enzo? Enzo!
Home!
I love it.
Hey, that's baseball, right?
We know sports. It's a sports ball.
Nice sports all the time.
The world's next savior.
No pressure.
Jesus Christ.
Fuck. Savior, that's a big word.
The world's next protector.
No, no, stick with savior.
Sure. Drop that bomb.
You're leery eyed.
Your head hurts.
Am I hungover?
Hmm.
Did I grab a brush and put a little makeup?
Did you leave the kids up on the table?
Here you go. Create another fable.
Somebody tell me where I am.
A small child kind of sees.
You there, boy. What day is it today?
Christmas day, Mr. Scrooge.
That's how I feel like this is going.
That's fair.
You remind me of of
Willy Wonka, but like in the new one,
where Johnny Depp plays it.
Welcome, children.
I shake you firmly by the hand.
She nods to a bean and walks in to the door.
Walks in through the door,
through the door.
No, she hits the jam.
Everyone has, you know, their problems.