DUMBGEONS & DRAGONS

Season 2 • September 15, 2021

E96 - Ripples in Attention

↓ TXT ↓ SRT

Transcript

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Previously on Dumbgeons and Dragons.

And they begin cracking and moving and screaming.

Well, something may be a little worse than undead kicking around in here, guys.

Happy news.

You step out into this forest, hit a hot wave of humid air.

Not too far. A clearing.

I think we can follow the path there.

Okay. Yeah, that's our best bet.

You look in and you see inside.

There are seven figures inside seven cells.

The cells themselves are constructed with what looks like melded together skeletal figures.

What are you doing here?

Well, this is gonna sound lame. Saving you guys?

I don't know.

We were coming to rescue you and bring magic back to the world.

Oh, delightful. Excellent.

Do me first. Do me first.

And you are?

Didn't you recognize me in my fine janitor outfit?

Just a janitor over here.

That's what I thought.

Fucking janitor.

I'm gonna go knock on Bahamut's cell.

The old man, he naps through everything.

Yenbul goes behind Sirik and then just like plants herself and pushes as hard as she can.

Clerics!

With you all huddled close, we see him blink.

As you all teleport out of the prison.

Welcome to Dumbgeons and Dragons.

I'm your Dungeon Master Russ More.

He, him. Also with me today is Amy More.

I am here and I play Thea Amastasia, a female high elf druid and we both go by she, her.

And Carla Maxted.

She, her.

I'm playing Yen Bolnuri, a Kalishtar cleric.

Also she, her.

And Tom Laird's here.

He, him.

And I am playing Tulgier Heavyfoot, a mountain dwarf pAlydin who I don't know where to go with that sentence.

Who is a cool guy?

Cool guy.

It's a real cool guy.

I somehow have blanked out that his last name was Heavyfoot.

Yeah.

That seemed like brand new information to me, which it definitely wasn't.

Which Tulgier is a patron named character.

So thank you, Christian Brown, for naming Tulgier Heavyfoot for us.

You know who's not here?

Kristen. Sorry, Kristen.

Wait, I thought she was a new permanent cast member.

I know. What the heck?

I'm sorry.

We tricked her time and again and somehow she became wise to our tricks.

And then was like, nah, even though my character's still around, I got to go my separate ways.

It's fair.

That's understandable.

I mean, a goth is around, obviously, because we're...

Yeah, a goth and rax are out having adventures, doing cool stuff.

They got their own things to do.

You know what? They might even be standing right next to you for the rest of forever until

Kristen decides she wants to come back.

Who knows?

Fun.

Who knows? Just following around.

We'll see how the game plays.

But you can...

This is going back to the other thing that I mentioned previously.

You can name characters over at Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast, but also get an episode

dedicated to you like today's patron, Eric Houlihan.

Hey, thank you, Eric, with a super fun last night.

I know it's so fun.

Hey, it's fun to see.

Houlihan.

Obligatory mash joke right here.

Yeah, mash.

You did it.

Yay.

Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast.

Now, fuck it.

Let's play.

An icy, stale wind blows across the city of Bryn Shander as our group appears in an

illuminated shudder.

The city is destroyed, flattened to the ground.

Thea, Yenbul, Talgir, Agoth and Rax huddle around the recovering human form of Bahamut.

He looks frail and disheveled and begins to collapse after having teleported the group

back to Corsair.

A sickening and all-too-familiar sound begins to cut through the wind.

It's the sound of a horde.

You look around and all streets leading to this town center, or what was town center,

begin overflowing with flesh-rotted zombies.

This is not good.

We thought this was the last stronghold.

What does this mean?

Got any magic in you, Bahamut?

How you doing here, buddy?

He just groans and lifts his head, but...

Does he give me the hang loose, but his heart isn't in it?

Yeah, that's the feel you get from the eyes rolling back in his head.

Alright, well, if he can't really help us, I think I got something that might...

I've had this thing for a while and I've yet to use it.

I know the situation isn't great, but this is actually kind of exciting.

I'm excited for you. What you got?

Telgir roots around in his bag and you see him pull out a conch shell.

It's two and a half feet long. Looks like it weighs a few pounds.

And it's got a rune engraved in the side of it.

Oh, that's pretty.

Everybody...

Can we get inside here?

I don't really know how this is going to feel when I do this.

Where are you putting this?

Should we hold hands?

Yeah, I don't really know.

Maybe we all link hands and you can grab Bahamut's hands there.

I'm going to blow on this thing and it's going to take us back.

How do you know that?

The horde's 15 feet away.

I don't care, blow.

And he takes a big lungful of breath and blows into the conch.

What's the sound like, Tom?

The sound of the conch of teleportation echoes out.

As regal as it sounds.

Super regal.

As the dirt and frost around the heroes begins to rise, their eyes are drawn to a high point.

A hill at the edge of the city on the horizon.

And the dimly lit silhouettes of a tall dragonborn and a hooded gnome appear before them.

In an instant, the spiraling energy, as if drawn from the centre of the group, pulls quickly in and the group is gone.

It's quiet.

Until we hear a build-up and...

POP!

Followed by the settling of dust to the stone floor in the sewer hideout beneath Castle Orcus.

There's a gasp as everyone in the area turns with panic and then relief as they see your group before them.

There's a beat and you hear from within the group.

Holy fuck!

Flamekins runs forward towards the group and, before Thea can say anything, leaps high in the air and wraps herself around your neck.

They said you were back, but then you left before I came back and then I thought you might not come back, but you're back and Flint's still out and she's shaking you.

Get your boobs out of my face!

Put you back!

You're back!

Yes!

She breaks into tears and you feel her sobbing as she hugs you.

Oh, I hug her back tight.

Yeah, we're back.

Stepping out from the crowd is Leosin and a group of resistance who move towards you and begin checking your wounds and tending to the old man who you are all surrounding and appear to be protecting.

You came back. Who's this? Come in, quick!

Oh yeah, careful with the merchandise over here.

Who is this?

We found one.

You don't recognize him?

We have returned with a god.

Come on, he's a really cool guy.

Wait, you found Bahamut?

Yeah, we wanted the best one, I assume.

He's speechless.

He snaps quickly to the resistance who have come and with all arms ushering them to move him back to a bed somewhere where he can rest.

How did you?

Do you know what this means?

Do we have a fighting chance in this thing?

Yeah.

Okay, good, because that's why we did. Is this not why we're doing this?

I feel very overwhelmed right now.

There's a lot going on.

Yeah, I'm just gonna hold you a little bit longer.

Yeah, I feel like her legs are wrapped around my waist and I'm just like cradling her like, you know, like you do a toddler.

Come in, come in, have a rest.

I assume we were gone for the appropriate amount of time.

There hasn't been any sort of extreme time jumps while we're gone.

It's been a couple weeks.

Honestly, quicker than I thought we would be.

We unfortunately have bad news, too.

Okay.

We went to Luskin.

Yes.

And?

And you found the Brotherhood?

No.

Not exactly. The tower still stands, but no one is there manning it.

There were clues and we followed them to Icewind Dale.

There was a god there.

A small god.

Aureal?

Aureal, yes.

Nailed it.

They were remaining.

They were remaining.

Then we returned with Bahamut.

The city had been taken by the dead.

We would have too if...

Fulgur had a giant shell.

That's right, yes.

Sorry.

I can't breathe.

Can you loosen up a little bit?

Yeah, sure.

Just going to stretch it out here.

Totally cool.

Playing it cool.

It's good to see you.

Alright.

Fist bump.

Where are your friends?

That's okay.

We don't have to explain it right now.

I'm sure it's been explained before.

I'll go ask somebody else.

I'll see you in a minute.

She's lined up pretty tight that one.

Yes, she is.

And also, I apologize in advance.

You'll know why.

Veliosan...

What do we do now?

We have returned Bahamut.

We have seen other gods in a prison.

If there's a way we can get back there, we could get them out.

It just requires a little tradesies.

He doesn't appear to be at peak performance, I will say.

Yeah, there was a few there.

And really, the only one that seemed to be high functioning was Sirik.

Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for not ending up where we wanted to end up,

if you were to have brought him back.

Yeah, we tricked the trickster.

He's probably really mad.

He's probably pretty upset with us when we do free him.

Great.

If.

I think he'll be stoked to be free, though.

True.

That's for another time.

We'll worry about that when we have to cross that bridge.

It sounds like they don't let them out quite at any...

They don't let them out from the sounds of it, correct?

No.

Yes.

I mean, that was what we were led to believe.

Well, they take them out, but only to exterminate or destroy them.

Yeah, Sirik said once they go out, they don't come back.

This last couple weeks has been the most relief we have seen in more than 10 years.

But I fear that we are creating ripples in Orcus's...

Nipples.

The old ripple nipple.

Yes.

That is bad.

I'm glad I have this halting speech pattern where you can fill in exactly what you want to say.

Everything I want.

Yes.

Ripples in his security.

Don't say nipples again.

She almost did.

She was this close.

Waves in his butt.

Waves in his butt.

Yep.

See, I beat you to it.

We got good bloops already for this episode.

It wasn't good though.

Did you see anyone, obviously not if they didn't come back with you, but anyone remaining in Icewind Dale where you were?

Just a rather large crowd coming in from where the barriers were down.

We saw someone up on the hill.

I don't know who.

Yes, we saw Dragonborn and a gnome on the hill.

Yeah, there were two people there.

We had met them in the pyramid.

Yeah.

Could it be Orcus's right hand Vorunax?

I believe so with his left hand Lipsinki.

Well, the relief is that we have a god who hopefully is mending and replenishing themselves enough to help us with whatever we need to do next.

With Bahamut and Grancys.

Sorry.

Flamekins came back from the abyss and brought Grancys.

She did what now?

Well, I fear for you that we need him.

Oh, son of a bitch.

He is also recovering in a comatose state induced.

Okay, now how long can we keep that like maybe just till the last minute?

I'm kidding.

We need him to be up to his power.

He's one of the last trained wizards left in the world, Thea.

I know.

Guys, he's just so irritating.

He's a friend of yours?

Uh, yeah, sort of, I guess.

Yeah.

I mean, the man makes a mean pancake.

I'll give him that.

I mean, the more the merrier, right?

Yes.

I've never actually seen him do anything useful, but I keep being told he is very powerful.

So, Leosin, that's on you if that doesn't pan out.

Fine, totally on me.

Okay, cool.

I'll fill out the paperwork that says, nope, he wasn't that powerful.

I don't think you do paperwork anymore, do you?

My question is to you.

He's been down there for this long.

Why would Orcus keep him?

He's turned everybody else.

Probably to turn him on to us and cause some disgruntled Thea where I'm just going

to wreck everything in here now.

I can see your hair going grayer as I'm talking.

I'm messing with you, Leosin.

The more, not the merrier, I will be terse, but the more power we have on our side,

the better.

As I was saying with Bahamut and Grancis back, we will have been creating points

to notice in Orcus and his followers.

If it was in fact Vorunax and Lipsinki that you saw, they will be on the lookout

for anything out of the ordinary.

As they must know, you have returned.

Well, they did see us disappear in a giant flash of magic, so that we couldn't help.

And appear in one.

Well, then it might not be long before they are able to find us.

There are two things that we can do.

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We have another party out trying to recover a relic of supposed teleportation.

It was used in the fight against Tiamat to bridge the planes between the material

and the nine hells to bring the devils here.

And we want that because...

Because we can't get anywhere outside of our present time.

If we have a god who can harness that power, there's no stopping us from being

able to move through not only space, but maybe time.

Oh.

That would be good.

That seems very important.

I would say time travel relic top of the list, right?

Yes.

What's number two?

If our location is found out, we believe there may be a refuge on the continent

of Mastika.

Flamingons has a vessel available to take us there.

It's across the sea.

We hadn't traveled because we had no way.

No way to get out.

No way to get there.

And no real...

I mean, we still don't have real proof that there is life there as well.

But with you saying that the last refuge that we didn't know about on this land

is gone, there's nothing for us here.

Okay.

So plan.

We need to go and get this relic and also escape with pirate Flamingons to

Mastika.

Mastika.

Mastika.

Mastika.

The land of cheese.

To Mastika.

Toriel can't be dead.

If it was dead, Orcus would stop having his forces hunting refugees and patrolling every

way.

He would have got his way.

Everyone would be pain free and able to just go about their business.

But he's still hunting.

He still has Varnax and Lipsynki going out and destroying.

That means they know that there are places.

And that's why I hope Mastika is one of those places.

We will rest here as long as we can.

Hopefully give Bahamut and Flint and Grants his time to recover.

How's Flint doing?

No positive change.

He hasn't woken.

Barely stirred.

He is still breathing.

The transformation has maintained where it was when you left, which was almost

entirely.

Would you like to see him take some time?

Let me think on it.

Okay.

So what's the word on this relic?

Where do we need to go?

Who do we have to kill?

What's the plan?

Well, we actually have a group out who's due back hopefully soon.

I've asked you to do enough.

If they return with it, then we can use it.

And if not, well, then we will send you following them.

But let's hope that they make it back.

It's not passed when they should be due back yet.

And in the meantime, we should be preparing.

Packing, becoming as mobile as we can so we can escape.

Exactly.

Knowing that Vorunax and Lipsinki will likely be returning to here.

Castle Orcus, Waterdeep, whatever we want to call it now.

We should probably make our go-bags, so to speak, and be ready to move.

Agatha, come with me.

We can feed Rax some and some people would like you to meet in the back.

Maybe you can help arrange things back here.

Agatha, thank you.

Yes, thank you.

For fighting with us.

We could not have done any of this without you, without either of you.

We are not done yet.

I will expect to see you back.

You do not disappoint me.

I want to go see Flint.

Okay.

And I'm going to go and I'm going to meditate beside him.

Okay.

You walk back further into the refuge and back to the makeshift triage center where Flint is laid out.

And as you enter, you see Grancis in the cot beside him.

Flint would be so pissed right now.

Yeah, he'd probably be okay given the circumstances, you know, with comas and stuff.

Did you say comos?

Well, Perry was a good friend of mine.

You know, comos.

It's just a saying.

When you're sleeping, you're down and you're going to go all around.

I'm going to let myself out, okay?

Well, it's nice seeing you there, I guess.

I feel real weird.

That's okay.

Would it have been more entertaining if Thea had, like, grabbed a pillow and was moving it toward Grancis and then Flamikinskins interrupted her?

No, Thea wouldn't.

Thea just finished saying we need his help.

But maybe we don't.

Oh, I thought that was Flint.

I was going to put him out of his misery.

I'll just give you a moment there with Flint.

Thanks, Flamikinskins.

It's nice to see you.

It's fucking great to see you.

Okay, I'm going to go now.

Okay, bye.

I don't know what to say.

You're both, you know, in a coma.

Plus, I'm really just talking to you, Flint and Grancis.

You're very much, like, putting your nose where it doesn't belong just by being here.

But it'd be really, well, it'd be awful nice if you guys could wake up.

And, you know, there's quite the, quite the shit storm happening.

So if maybe he had anything in there that help you to get on up, or at least just, you know,

don't turn into a dragonborn completely and lose yourself to another soul inside you,

that'd be great because I'm still working on it.

What if he lost himself to the music?

Flamikinskins, it's like a personal moment.

Sorry, I was just around the corner.

I'm not listening.

It's a small place.

It's not. It's enormous.

You guys will figure that out when you wake up, either here or you may be on a boat.

Just going to hang out for a bit.

I'm going to meditate in the corner until I regain my hit points.

Thea, you sit down and begin meditating.

And we fade out on that scene and into a dark space.

It's the middle time.

Oh, I feel like you were a gong.

I did feel kind of gongish.

I felt a little flat from where I wanted to be, so I just kind of just held it a little longer.

Then it seems intentional.

It was very mellow and yeah, like we're meditating.

Let's just bring everyone just way down in the middle of this podcast.

Just the energy, just drop it.

Let's just very calmly talk about 100 episodes.

Exhale.

Sneak attack.

Hey, we're almost at 100 episodes for season two.

They said it couldn't be done and we did it.

So we showed them.

We looked at season one, we were like 84 episodes.

We can do that in our sleep.

Let's add a second timeline and double that.

When you put it like that, it's crazy.

It's really, I mean, decisions were made.

But wouldn't that be really cool if while we hit our 100th episode, we also had 100 patrons?

That would be very cool.

It'd be so good because then our patrons could hear the Grants of Slammikins episode that is ready.

Oh, it's just waiting.

It's ready and waiting.

It's just waiting.

It's in the Disney vault waiting to be released.

Exactly.

Does Disney still have a vault?

Are we allowed to say Disney?

I don't think so.

I mean, now with Disney Plus, I would assume not.

I mean, I think everything's out of the vault.

They took it out of the vault.

Maybe they should put Little Mermaid 2 back in the vault.

Some Ariel.

Ariel's not even in it, is she?

Barely.

I didn't know there was a sequel.

Is it about her daughter?

Yeah, she has a talk being all like.

We've really gotten sidetracked, guys.

Hey, 100 patrons.

We would love to have 100 patrons by the time we reach 100 episodes, mostly because it would be really cool.

It's just the optics of 100 to 100.

I mean, it's nice.

Well, and we have that cool bonus episode burning a hole in our pocket.

It's so hot.

It's like sizzling.

I mean, it has Grancis in it, it's just not that hot.

I got it all edited, ready to go.

I just got to hit schedule.

And then as soon as we hit that 100 patrons, it goes live, baby.

And you can get Grancis and flame beacons.

Me!

Oh, I couldn't even jump it.

Dang.

I've been on summer break.

It's been a long time.

Me, me, and me.

Yeah, there we go.

I had to go.

Grancis to flame beacons.

If every one of you were to tell a friend, maybe then.

To go listen to all 100 episodes.

And then at this point, join us.

Oh, okay.

Well, I was just going to say.

Go back and listen to all, what, 96 episodes up to this point, and then finish it off.

Yeah, absolutely.

That'd be great.

I'm just saying, if everyone tells one person, we need a handful of patron lists, we'll make it to 100.

I mean, if everybody who listened to the show signed up for our lowest tier, I mean, we'd be.

Having so many patrons.

Having so many patrons.

Having so many talks, so many gook hangs.

We need so many more bonus episodes.

So many more bonus episodes.

And that's the thing, when you are a patron, you get access to so many bonus episodes.

Tom runs a game over there that I can't wait to play.

I can't wait to play.

I think we get to play it later this month.

Do we?

It's tomorrow, Tom.

Get on it.

Jeez.

But I'm really looking forward to that.

Where I play Tabaxi Bard and Amy plays a surly Goliath barbarian.

And Elia plays just the most delightful Asimar monk.

Well, Carla plays Elia.

What did I say?

Elia plays an Asimar monk.

Oh.

Elia is an Asimar monk.

I mean, Carla just embodies every character she steps into.

Same, same, same.

I also do a lot of flips and punches and kicks and real fast moves.

And you're so fast.

In my daily life.

She's doing them right now.

Like amazing mic presence.

It's incredible.

As it's happening.

Just flipping.

The body control.

You could be a part of that.

Amazing.

You could be a part of that Patreon family.

Patreon.com.

Slash dumb dragon cast.

We'd love to see you over there.

Get you back to the episode now.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

We'll talk to you soon.

Okay, bye.

Love you, bye.

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The smell of fresh baked goods permeates the senses.

As we open on a quiet and modest underground dwelling, we hear movement through and beyond

the door.

And as we enter, we see Flint standing in the kitchen, rolling out dough, a filling boiling

on the hearth with his sister, Helges, tending it.

I can't believe you volunteered us both to make all of these pies for the block

party.

It did.

Well, it didn't seem like everybody was going to come.

But I mean, once they found out that we were making our special peach pies, everybody

signed up.

I know.

I'm sorry.

I know you had a few other things to do, but I appreciate you helping and actually

sticking around and helping me because doing it myself would have been nightmarish.

Oh, you wouldn't have got it done.

There's no way.

Okay.

So what do I have to add now?

Like you have to stir it for 45 minutes and then and then add there was a there

was a special ingredient.

Yeah.

So let that one boil for a little bit.

It's already done.

As far as this one over here, though, yeah, that's where we need to add the special

ingredient.

Mom's little secret, cinnamon.

I know what you're thinking.

Well, that's a pretty common ingredient, especially in a peach pie.

It really, really takes it above and beyond.

Door swings open on the other side of the room.

Your mom steps out in her nightgown.

Are you giving everybody my special secret again?

What?

I mean, everybody.

It's only me and Helga here.

Everybody's listening, Flint.

Everybody's listening.

I mean, I don't think.

Okay.

Sure.

Yeah.

You know what?

Everyone's listening.

We'll keep it under wraps.

Her eyes dart to a window beside you.

You see the neighbor boy, Timber, who's peeking up kind of like Kilroy style over

the edge, and he locks eyes with your mom and bolts down and you hear footsteps

running off.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, he was watching, but I don't think that really means everyone was watching.

That Timber has got loose lips and loose lips sink ships, which really isn't a great

saying when you're underground.

I mean, I think it still works.

Tell you what, I'll stop by his house later on and I'll have a little chat with

him and we'll make sure that it stays hush hush.

All right.

You make sure that kid knows to keep the cinnamon to himself.

I mean, I'll bring him a pie too.

So that'll probably help.

Door slams shut behind her.

She goes back into her room.

Okay.

So we have to speak quieter.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Turns out, turns out everyone is watching and listening.

Scene fades and it's, it's later in the day.

And where would Flint go for his axe training?

There is next to the smithing shop.

There's like a little kind of a warehouse type thing that, you know, normally when,

when times are really good, it is filled with goods and materials and things that

are, you know, taking up a lot of the space.

But lately it's, it's been a little bit slow in the dwarven community here.

So he's kind of carved out a little area complete with like training dummies and blocks

of wood and various other things so that he can get some axe training in.

This area is clear and it's perfect for you.

And if the where in this space says you've been going at this training for a little

while when you hear just a clear of the throat behind you, you're a little, a little

loose on the right there.

Okay.

I, I hear what you're saying.

I just want to remind you that I'm trying out this like new two acts technique and it's,

it's just, I mean, I don't know.

I prefer the big old battle acts, but like, this is pretty fun too.

Yeah, I know.

It looks really good, especially as it probably could have snuck in there and

stabbed you right in the side.

Hey, wouldn't do that though.

All right.

Glory jam.

Let's just take it easy here.

Why did you want me to do this two acts technique anyway?

Like I'm down for trying something new, but like, is there an actual reason or just, just

for funsies?

I wanted to see if you could do it because if you could do it, then I could do it.

Okay.

All right.

I got you there.

Yeah.

What about the axe throwing?

Have you been practicing?

Have I been practicing?

He takes a hand axe from his belt and whips it at this, this wooden pole.

That's a wooden support pole.

I'll roll for it.

It hits it, but it doesn't stick in and kind of bounces off to the ground.

I've been working on it.

All right.

Well, the thing you have to remember when you're doing the throwing is, is depending

on how close or far away you are is how many rotations and of course how, how hard

you throw it as well.

So with the effort you put in there and you stopped a little bit short.

So I mean, just take like half a step forward and do it again.

You should be able to hit it.

No problem.

Hit and stick.

That's what we call it.

He takes half a step forward, skeptically looking at you, looses the hand axe and it

sticks in perfect.

So if one caravan leaves Mithril Hall and going, going at two horsepower and one caravan

leaves Waterdeep leaving at three horsepower, where do they collide?

I mean, this is not the time or the place for your, your brain teasers.

This is Axe practice and we will leave it as Axe practice.

That's just what you.

Okay.

Yep.

You got it.

You got it.

Smarty pants.

As I kind of turn away, I'm like, he moves in to kind of show you where your, where

your loose side is that he was, he was saying, and we fade to a very familiar

place to Flint and it's the Smith shop of your father, Fargram.

Describe to me what stands out to you for Flint in this.

The thing that stands out the most in, in Fargram shop to Flint, there is a beautiful

set of like Mithril chain mill that his dad made years ago and even when the shop

would fall on hard times or whatever it is, he would never sell it.

It was, it was the thing that he was the most proud of that he made as far as with

his two hands and yeah, it was, it was his, it's his pride and joy and it's,

it's front and center behind the counter in the shop.

You hear the sound of like heavy hammering and the forges are blazing.

It's a good day, like a really good day and you're staring up at this Mithril chain

mill, a sense of calm or peace washing over you.

Hammers and axes aren't going to make themself there Flint.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know that, but I mean, you took this big order for

bracers and you know, it's finicky work.

So it's going to take me a little bit of time to get through it.

Look, it's not my fault.

She decided to make all the pies for the village on the same day we got this order.

Well, no, it's not your fault.

That's Helge's fault.

And we're both on the same page as far as that's concerned.

All right. Yeah.

Well, as long as you saved me a slice here.

Yeah, come on over and give me a hand here.

Yeah, no problem.

I did have to give a pie to the neighbor kid, Timber, just so he

wouldn't blabbed everyone about mom's secret ingredient.

What, the cinnamon?

Yeah, I mean, I know, but she was very offended.

Someone needs to tell her the cinnamons in every peach pie.

I mean, I've tried to tell her before, but she says it's a special cinnamon

that she gets from the Elven caravans that come through every couple of months.

So I don't know.

Maybe there's something different about it.

But yeah, I mean, it just seems like normal cinnamon to me.

Right.

Elven caravan.

That's fun. That's fun.

That's a good time.

You walk over to him and he hands you a piece of like un-forged steel.

You know exactly what to do with it.

And the two of you begin going to work in this forge.

Describe to me this scene or how Flint is feeling in this moment as

he's living this moment with his father.

Flint is feeling really good.

It's hot. It's hard work, but it's work that he loves.

And, you know, it's kind of like outside of his daily meditations.

It's like as close to Zen as he can get during his day to day.

You two are...

There are a few other workers there, but you two are working in unison.

And it almost becomes musical, the motions that you're going through.

And we catch a moment where you look over to Fargrim, to your father,

and he looks back at you and there's this small smile.

Not that it's unheard of that he would do that, but there's just this look of recognition.

And almost as if he's saying with his eyes, you're doing a good job.

And as that moment fades, we find Flint in a quiet place.

Deep in thought and meditation.

Yeah, he's all crisscross applesauce, as as Amy loves to say.

He's all crisscross applesauce on the floor and he's got kind of just hands on his knees.

And he's quietly repeating a mantra that just says,

My life is full of joy.

My life is full of joy.

My life is full of joy.

This mantra continues for a good amount of time.

The room otherwise is quiet.

And in your sight, your eyes are closed.

So in your vision, there's this flash of bright light.

This gray and then green and then red.

And then two dragon eyes staring back at you, not with any sort of malicious intent,

but two dragon eyes staring back at you, and they look equally surprised.

Then they're gone.

Well, that's that's never happened before.

We cut back to Yen Bull, who after Leosin had left, you quickly followed him into the next room.

Leosin.

Oh, yes, sorry.

Hi, Yen Bull.

Hi.

I, how can I help?

I am, I am ready.

I have, this is all I have, but you know everyone and everything here.

So who do I, who can I go and help?

Who needs assistance or what can I do?

There are some families further, further in who would likely need help getting their

children ready.

If you go see Amelie and Torrance in the back, they will at least be able to direct

you of what they, what they need help with.

They kind of take care of most of the children and probably would need the most

help right now.

Wonderful.

I will help.

But first, how are you?

Do you feel a little hopeful?

More so than in a long time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We know the gods are not all dead.

We will get more.

One is a start and if he can recover, if he can use his power and if this,

teleportation object works, like we could, we could change what has happened.

I don't know how that looks.

I don't, I haven't, there's no books that say how time ripples out and changes if

we are able to even do it.

The fact that you and Thea and Flint had come from the past to get here, it leads me to

believe that we, we are putting the pieces into play to allow us to do the opposite.

There must be a way.

There must be.

It's nice to see you again.

It is nice to see you too.

I will, I will go help with the children.

Thank you.

Leosan, I wanted to, well, I just want to, like, how possible is it that this thing

will work if they even come back with it?

The Soul Bridge is what it's called.

It's powerful enough that it tore multiple rips in the fabric of reality between planes

at one time.

And our plan is to create one really big rip?

And our plan is to basically accordion time itself and tear a hole in it and step

through and hope we step through to the right moment.

I mean, there's two parts to this, Talgir.

There's the object and there's Bahman.

What can the old man do?

Well, the old man's the power source.

The old man's the one who can make the tear as big as it needs to be.

If what you're saying is true and the Arkane Brotherhood is now in fact gone, if they didn't

flee.

I don't know if it's true or not, but the tower itself deserted.

One of the last members that we were able to talk to.

She was in Bryn Shander when we left.

She was not there when we returned.

I don't know where she is.

I don't know if any of their other search parties came back, but I wouldn't say it's

too likely that any of them are out there.

It's my experience that it's probably true.

And if they were overrun that quickly and that severely, it's not likely that they

survived.

And if they didn't survive, we need a massive power source.

And the only other massive power source right now is Orcus.

And harnessing Orcus's power is not something that I'm comfortable doing.

I just don't think we'd have the opportunity, would we?

Not likely.

Okay, so when you say harness, like basically we're going to use the old man up.

I hope not.

But in his current state, I mean, how much power can he...

In his current state, he can't, like, I don't know if he could do it.

It looks like getting out of wherever it was that you were, back here, spent whatever

he has.

So now we have to hope that now he's back in the material plane, a rejuvenative

factor is in place.

Okay, so he needs, huh, isn't ironic.

We all just need time.

Which I feel is ticking ever so quickly.

Well, I mean, if they're right, and it was Vorunax and Lipsynche, yeah, we're running

short.

There's a beat before he says anything.

And all of you, everyone, we see Talgir and Leosin, we see Thea meditating beside Flint.

Flamikins is rushing about trying to pack up things with some of the more military

folk.

And Yembol is back, corralling children and placing tattered toys and clothes into

bags as quickly as she can.

There's a pulse that echoes out, causing the entire refuge to go silent.

The ground and walls begin to shake.

And those close to the front of this refuge would be Talgir and Leosin.

Thea, you would feel this in your meditative state.

The ceiling is torn open, and the main entry to the resistance's hold is blown in.

Debris is thrown, and people scream as they are struck by heavy stone.

I think Talgir and Leosin make a dexterity saving throw.

One story, guys, it's just the returning search party, they found that item.

I really wanted to make an entrance.

Yeah.

Dex save, you said, Ross?

Yes, please.

That is a 21.

Okay, Leosin got a 21 as well.

Both of you see this and quickly jump out of the way as this boulder of a stone

rockets between the two of you.

People are running and fleeing from this explosion, and as you move forward to look

and see what caused the chaos, you see the head of a zombified dragon peering down into

the sewer through the torn-up earth, the flesh decaying from its face, an open chest

cavity where inside you see black rotting intestines.

Thea, as you step into this room, you recognize this dragon, having fought them

once before.

It comes back to you in a flash of a memory, back to a greenery-filled cave with Flint

and Nularaaaa at your side as an adult green dragon emerges from the watery cave and

roars before you.

Staring through at you is an undead cooth.

Dumbgeons and Dragons, Season 2, Episode 96.

Starring Amy More as Thea Amastasia, Carla Maxted as Yen Bol Nuri, Tom Laird as

Tulgear Heavyfoot, with guest Kristen Flemmons as a Goth god-lost catho Alavi, and Russ

More as your dungeon master.

Editing, production, and sound design by Russ More.

This episode featured music from Epidemic Sound and sound effects from Epidemic

Sound, Boom Library, and Sound Ideas.

A huge thank you to our supporting producers, Gabriel Lynch, Jessica Babyok, Cat Waterflame,

Stevie, Jacob Madden, Devin Michaels, Christian Brown, Aaron Stevens, Lulahan, and Charlie

Warley.

To support Dumbgeons and Dragons and our many other productions and get access to an

exclusive podcast called The Adventures Of, bonus episodes, and much more, please join

our Patreon at Patreon.com slash dumb dragon cast.

Where when we reach 100 patrons, we'll release an exclusive, Grantzis and Flamekin's

bonus episode, Escaping the Abyss.

You can also follow us at Facebook dot com slash dumb dragon podcast, and on Instagram

and Twitter at dumb dragon cast.

Thank you for listening.

Have a great week.

We'll talk again soon.

We were way too happy for this.

I know.

I'll bring us down right now.

Let's bring it down.

So hot.

So dark.

It is very warm.

Yeah.

It is the darkest timeline.

Instant.

The spiraling energy.

Vroom vroom.

Get out of here.

The gnome rips off on a radical motorcycle.

Yep.

That's right.

We'll see y'all later.

Got spoilers, baby.

Okay, bye sound like we were on the phone.

Okay, bye.

Okay, bye.

Bye bye.

You hang up first.

You hang up first.

You hang up first.

Click.