Don't go anywhere, Dumbgeons and Dragons begins in just a second.
The Brewed Awakening is hopping tonight and the three of you are around a table
with this young man who you've just saved from possible concussion out in the
street. You're seated at a table and he's picking up the salt shaker and he's
looking at the silver on top of it and he's like any piece of even the smallest
like jewelry like he's like looking at and he's like, thank you. First of
all, thank you. I don't know if I said my name before I fell asleep there.
I'm Alastair. I have narcolepsy. Sometimes I just fall asleep.
Do you get any indication that it's like coming or does it just hit? He's so
dangerous. Sometimes I do but sometimes it's just like a pressure drop and like
poof you're out and then you wake up on the street. Yeah, wow that's really
scary Alastair. Is that contagious? No, no I don't think so. Okay and
Alydin and Scooch is our chair back just this just a tiny bit. Not enough to be
rude but better safe than sorry. You never know. So what what brings you to
Vendersmith? Well, I'm a scholar on the run. Sort of. Recently been a magpie but turned into a young man. I've been looking well. No comment on the bird transition. What are you
researching? Birds most likely. I do. Shiny things. I do. Okay. Oh my god. Do you think he's a crow? Wow. Guys, I have written down is Alastair a crow? That's on my mind. I was like fuck. He's really into shiny things. He's really into shiny things. Sorry, Russ is trying to do a cold open. We're just having fun.
That's alright. We're in the episode now. That was the cold open where you just talked over top of me for a minute and a half. Oh, so you've listened to the pod before. You're welcome for the content.
Dumbgeons and Dragons is a D&D actual play podcast and I'm your dungeon master Russ More he him. Also with me today is Amy More as Alydin she her. What do you know about tiny mushrooms growing on food? Carla
Max that is Bonwyn Everbane she her. I know I just you know, I'm a gossipy bitch though. I love it. And Tom Laird is Kavlaran Goldweave he him. Get to play a game called crow or not crow. Dumbgeons and Dragons is a Patreon
supported podcast and you can join today or better yet put it on your Christmas wish list because your friends and family can gift you a one to 12 month membership to come join the community. Find out more details at
patreon.com slash dumbdraggingcast slash gift for all the greatest gift ideas this holiday season and now fuck it. Let's play.
Yes, I well I'm an archivist and I've been doing research on
Hmm.
It's been hard to talk to people about this because it makes it sound like I'm like some sort of like mythical treasure hunter and like people don't really get or understand what I'm looking for. Well, I need to know more now. Yeah, I mean, I we've like seen some shit in the past little while. So I think well, I personally used to believe the world was
well ordered and normal and not particularly magical or mythical. I don't think that anymore.
No, we're so wrong.
There's so many unknowns. So tell us tell us more. No judgment.
Okay, okay. Okay, so what what my research has been finding and what I've been what I've come here because there's been an increase in activity in Vintersmouth specifically for various magical or fae oriented events that have been reported throughout the realms. But I'm looking for the weeping archive.
I don't know what that is.
I'd like the wet of the weeping with the paper of the archive seems like a bad combination seems sad like a very bad idea. I know. But this is like, it's a mytho historical refuge, referenced in well no fewer than seven censored city records and quite possibly containing primary source fae mortal contracts.
Wow.
Oh, and the ink and the ink supposedly weeps as in like actual tears.
Like, so you can't read it?
Well, I mean, that's that's yet to be seen because it's I haven't actually seen it. But like,
Oh, you said city records?
Yeah, Kingstown. I'm from Kingstown.
Cavs from Kingstown.
Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. Oh, oh.
Do you guys know each other?
Well, no, I mean, I don't think so.
Cav also went to school. He's very smart. He has a great he has a smart job.
Maybe maybe Cav could get us records.
Maybe. Do you work for the city here? Yeah, I work for the city here. Well, I work for Kingstown. Anyway, long story short, yes, I work for the city here. I am on the leave, though.
He did go to prison briefly.
So, I mean, it was a bit of a misunderstanding. You weren't even here for the trial. All right.
I know. I just you know, I'm a gossipy bitch though.
I'm cheesing.
Bench comes over.
Bench comes over and slams a few drinks down says, well, it's good to see everybody.
Your new friend here who falls asleep. He came in earlier.
You're doing OK, buddy?
Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I finally found somebody who will listen to my stories about the weeping archive.
And regardless of the the records that you have, well, I believe I've found it and really more what I'm looking for are people to help me get there.
Because as you've noticed, I sometimes just fall asleep.
Yeah, it's dangerous to be out by yourself to be adventuring and just, you know, I know you're not going to tell me where I can't do that because there are so many people looking for it.
I don't even know yet if you're one of the people that are looking for it and you're just trying to trick smart.
Yeah, really smart.
I'm not a good enough actor to fake never hearing of that thing before.
That's what a good actor would say.
Generally, do you think it's in it's in town or it's like you're going on an adventure to find it?
Sorry, say that again.
The child was skipping school.
She's not a child.
She's 14.
Oh, sorry.
I should, Alistair, that was, you said Bonwyn and Alydin and Cap, Cap.
Yeah, it's lovely to meet you all.
So, yeah, you came here because you think it's here or like, well, I think there's there's a way to get there from here.
Hold on.
You said there's lots of activity.
Yes, reports throughout the entire like, well, because we've we've heard like the Vintersmouth Gazette, very few publications actually make it to Kingstown, but they are on fire with all of the events that are happening here.
I've witnessed several myself since just being here this just this last day, like crickets chirp in orchestral symphonies.
I heard them in like last night.
I was wandering, just trying to get like a good I like the breeze at night.
But then I heard those crickets and they were chirping and and and and and and and candle flames that shift color of which I don't know the root of why they're shifting.
Color, but as different people walk by, they change to like a red and then like a different person walks by.
It's blue.
Maybe it maybe it's like your thing, Alydin, your thing, Cap.
Oh, yeah.
So much weird.
I've been I've been seeing like lanterns that aren't fueled or have candles in them, but are glowing.
Would that be one of those things?
Maybe.
What about if you what about if you saw like an image in a mirror, but not your reflection, but like in the forest?
Oh, like like almost like a planar shift just for a moment.
Sure, why not?
I mean, I don't maybe.
What do you know about tiny mushrooms growing on food and singing rivers?
Do you know anything about that?
This all sounds like these things are are directly connected in what we believe they're connected to.
And have you seen our eyes?
You have you have you know, I don't like to draw attention to it because I myself have my eyes go rolled back into my head every now and again.
And that's very polite of you, but it's OK.
It is.
I assume you knew what your eyes look like.
I didn't necessarily need to say like fire eyes or like smoky eye.
Yeah.
Oh, fire smoke.
Yeah, you have five minutes to do the perfect smoky eye.
I mean, oh, my God, it was glowing blue before.
Now it needs to be sultry, glowing, glowing blue.
I I don't know.
But what what I'm trying to say is here that I think that there is a direct connection to some sort of fae planar portal, like a rift, so to speak.
Like, I think that that's what what's happening here.
And that's what we think is happening here.
Researchers in this space.
And that's why I think if we if I came here, that there would be a way to get to the weeping archive.
So it is our fault.
Yeah. Question is that like, would this be caused by someone like going to the fae and then coming back from the fae?
And then coming back, maybe.
Or what if someone was in the fae and then didn't come back?
Yeah, maybe they got trapped in the fae.
Oh, if you left someone there.
Well, I mean, travel, travel to and from different planes, including the fae, can have a rippling effect, depending on time spent there, like how they were actually got there,
or what powers or beings helped get you there.
There are a lot of different factors that come into play.
But if you know somebody, I mean, I'd love to talk to them and just pick their brains about exactly what happened, because that might help trigger some events and move forward.
And maybe they want to go to the weeping archive with me.
Not saying you don't, but.
OK, well.
Ta-da.
It's you.
And he falls asleep on the table.
Oh, OK, while he's sleeping.
It's our fault, guys.
Is that what we've just learned?
It is our fault.
I think it's our fault.
Things are, things are changing and none of it, though, has been really bad.
It's true.
I'm kind of excited.
This kind of sounds more exciting than the old guys.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
No money on the table for this one, but it is local.
Let me write a pro-con list and see how I feel about it.
I do have responsibilities with the business association, but what if things do start getting bad and we don't do anything about it?
Speaking of that, while he's still asleep, we trust this guy.
He seems innocent because he falls asleep, but is he?
Oh, here and out of her bucket, she produces his billfold or his wallet or whatever.
Amazing.
His fanny pack.
What is his fanny pack?
ID that matches up with what he's told us.
Absolutely.
There's a government ID stating that he is an archivist at an archivist at.
The university.
Yes, thank you.
An archivist at the university in Kingstown.
He there's another like there.
It's full like 19 library cards, 19 library cards.
It's full of small shiny objects, though.
OK, again, while he's asleep, he is he a magpie?
I heard Crowe.
He likes shiny.
He really likes a shiny object, doesn't he?
What do you guys have?
Oh, welcome back.
You dropped this and I hand him back his wallet.
Oh, thank you.
And he kind of looks in it and just counts a few things.
I didn't take anything.
Oh, no, I just wanted to make sure they didn't fall out.
I didn't think that you would take them.
You seem like very respectable people.
You caught me in the street and he puts it back in his bag
and pulls out a few papers.
And he's like, I've just been I've just been going through all of this.
I'm Alistair, by the way.
I'm Alydin.
It's nice to meet you.
Alydin, Bonwyn, Cav.
Right.
You work at the city in Kingstown, too.
Got it.
Sorry.
Does the narcolepsy affect short term memory as well?
Sometimes just a little like catch up period.
That's OK.
I only half the time forget where I am.
I feel like that would make your job as an archivist really
extra challenging.
Quite difficult, yes.
Has this been something that you've been dealing with your whole life?
It has been.
Wow.
When you think of your childhood, would it
have been more like nest-like or like more in a house or an apartment?
Well, my parents, they had an apartment in the city.
Oh, OK.
Yeah.
And I stayed there.
And like I had a very cozy bed that I just I bunched everything
up around me in order to get the best night's sleep.
It made sure that I didn't like roll out
of the bed in the middle of the night.
That's good for safety.
I know there's no way you could possibly remember this,
but do you feel like you were born or you cracked out of a shell?
Does that?
Does any of that seem familiar?
I don't have specific memories of when I was born,
but I don't think there was a shell involved.
OK, this is how we make small talk in Vindersmith, by the way.
Oh, OK, that's very cool.
Were you born in a shell?
I was not.
Typical dwarven birth.
Don't ask further questions.
OK, well, if you have somebody who was born in a shell,
I would love to meet them.
That sounds like something that I would want to keep a record of.
Could be another interesting fey trait.
Kate, why do you have so many shiny things?
Oh, I just really like shiny objects.
They make me feel safe and comfortable,
and I collect them.
And if I see one, if it's a reasonable size, of course,
you can't take every big shiny thing
that you see on the street.
My house is full of them, though.
Like, roof to the ceiling, floor, walls, all over the place.
I've traveled all around.
The roof to the ceiling, right?
The roof to the ceiling.
Roof to the ceiling, yeah.
I pull my bucket, and I shift it over to my other hip
because my glowing duck, a monkulous, is in there,
kind of like.
Oh, don't worry.
I try not to steal things.
That's all things that have been.
Just like found objects.
Found objects that maybe, yeah.
That's kind of cool, but I don't know you.
So, you know, just being careful.
Of course, yeah, be careful.
No, I wasn't trying to be rude.
No, it's good to be wary of strangers.
Good lessons.
So are you teaching your child to be wary of strangers?
Oh, this is so funny.
I'm not a child.
I'm 14.
She's 14.
Of course, sorry, I keep forgetting
that adults are 14 here.
Well.
I mean, pretty much.
Basically, Alydin grew up fast.
Right.
Wrong side of the tracks, et cetera, et cetera.
Yeah.
Interesting.
OK.
OK, sorry.
I would refer to you.
Kidnapped by a man.
There was like a made of banjos or whatever.
So he pulls out more papers from his bag
and he starts just kind of shuffling through them.
Is it loose papers?
Is it organized?
It all seems like fashion papers.
There are some journals and some bound books,
but there are a lot of like just scraps.
It keeps falling down and it just spills everywhere.
How do you keep it organized?
So stressful.
Probably with magic.
Bonwyn, do you want to make a perception check, please?
Sure.
Are you going to play a game called Crow or Not Crow?
Right.
Well, that's a plus zero to my seven.
I see a shiny object.
Cav, you could roll.
Cav could roll perception.
Alydin, you could roll it, but you
would roll at disadvantage for this specific thing
because you weren't as involved in this thing
You're not really in a doll yet.
I know it's really weird everyone talking
about me in front of me.
Well, I just rolled a two, so I
don't know how much worse it's going to get.
An eight.
I mean, it could get worse.
Dirty 20 for Cav, though.
So it's a flurry of papers for the two of you.
And Cav, out of the corner of your eye
as you're drinking and Bench has brought back some food,
something catches your eye from a very recent event.
And it looks like a symbol that
was tied to the ritual that you just
went through at Bondman's Forge.
Oh, OK.
Am I able to alert anyone else but in a subtle way
or maybe take that piece of paper for myself
or just move it a little closer to?
This is very active for Cav, so I'd
like to see how this plays out.
I like it.
Me too.
He has spread all across the table.
He doesn't seem to be too protective of these papers
at this point.
Because it's all up there, steel trap.
You got it.
If you want to try and nudge somebody, signal somebody,
you could absolutely try.
Knock a few off the table.
Whoops.
Depending on how stealthily or sneakily you
want to do it, I would get you to roll stealth.
If you want to be blatant about it, go for it.
Start humming a lullaby.
Oh, yeah, just wait for it to fall.
I'll try to be stealthy in the fact
that I'm going to be obvious that I'm pointing out
a few different things.
But I'd like to be sly to be like,
your attention needs to go to this one out of the bunch.
I don't really know how I would do that off the top.
We've all been working together for a while now.
Right?
Yeah, you're just going to signal to.
So yeah, roll stealth.
Let's say 15.
OK.
So I would say that you are successful in what
you want to do.
But Bonwyn, roll.
I guess who are you doing it to?
Alydin and Bonwyn or just Bonwyn?
I think I'm next to Bonwyn.
So I'm going to do Bonwyn for this one.
Bonwyn, roll insight to see if you pick up on what Javis
is saying.
Switch dice, it did not get better.
My insight, guys, fun fact, mine is 2.
Oh, that's so good for you.
Yeah, which ones do you have pluses on?
Like decks.
OK, yeah, so the traditional rogue.
Got it.
Yeah.
So that is a 6.
Again, I saw a shiny object.
I'm learning a lot about myself as we interact here.
Cav, you.
I'm a crow.
Cav, you are very confident that you've
made a good signal, but then you
see Alistair, he continues to shuffle papers around.
And the one that you saw kind of gets shuffled in there.
And Bonwyn still has not registered.
So if you want to draw attention,
you got to do something a little more obvious.
I'll just like, I'll see that it didn't land.
And I'll just like make a little note
that like, I'll try to be more forward with what I'm
pointing out in the future.
Welcome to the middle, everybody.
Oh, we're right up here in the middle, all up on here.
You scared Jess.
She just muted automatically.
It was like, Mo!
I don't get paid for this.
I don't want to be here.
This is not my place.
This is for them.
Good times.
Hey, it's good to see everybody's face
and be here in this space with you and in your ears.
Yeah, you.
Thank you for being here.
We wanted to tell you about some,
well, you know what season it is?
It's the holiday season.
The season of the witch.
We just passed the season of the witch.
That's the one.
Thank you.
That's right.
Oh, yes.
No, the next one on the Capitalist calendar
is Christmas.
Yes.
Thank you, everybody.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So we're going to have a little bit of a
Christmas.
Yes.
Thank you, everybody.
And something I found out quite recently.
I think it's a rather new thing.
So I'm maybe not too far behind.
But if you've been looking for something
to put onto your wish list, like perhaps joining
the Patreon community, you can do that now
and get people to gift you subscriptions.
That's so cute.
Damn.
That is such a good idea.
And not just for like us, but like.
Yeah, I love that.
That's a not thing thing for a person.
I love not thing things.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Gets you into the community, gets you
some additional listening time.
Your friends and family can buy you a month.
They can buy you a year, anywhere in between.
And all they have to do is go to patreon.com
slash dumb dragon cast slash gift.
It's an extra slash in there.
But then it takes them right to a clean gift page.
They can just put it on your list.
That's all I'm saying.
We appreciate you probably have to do that.
No, I'm not even to say probably,
because I am definitely sure of it,
because I have friends that I know that listen
to podcasts about Dumbgeons and Dragons
that I listen to.
And fuck, like you definitely have those friends.
And maybe they're not part of the discord,
but they listen to this show with you.
And damn, what a gift that would be.
Be like, hey, here's all this cool shit that I listen to.
And I just, I want you to join me.
Come along the adventure.
Man, one of us.
Oh no.
Goobble gobble, goobble gobble.
But seriously, dude, Russ, that's a good call out, so.
Absolutely.
Oh, I just wanted to let everybody know,
just in case they didn't know.
Well, there's so many cool things
once you become a patron.
Yeah, you know, we've got lots of extra stuff.
You know what I've been really good at lately
is getting episodes out early.
Yeah, you have.
I am very proud of you.
He's been hunkering down, you guys.
Big cheerleading for us.
I've been seeing the messages between you and Jess,
and I'm like, damn, Russ is putting in the work.
That's right.
I got that wind of I'm not entirely burnt out.
Let's ride it while we can.
Go Icarus, go.
Addison, I miss you.
Yeah.
Those wax wings are heating up,
but they're holding for now.
Yeah, we're doing it.
I'm just running underneath him like this.
Arms out.
That's right.
Deadless, ready to go.
Got you.
But yeah, you get a whole bunch of really great stuff,
as well as an episode dedicated to you.
Like today's patron.
Oh no, you had.
I had it, I know, I had one specifically picked out.
Russ, I feel the way you say that
it's so perfect every time
that it could be cut from any episode.
That's true.
Like seriously.
And it sounds exactly the same.
Absolutely, every time.
I just wanna take a moment, patrons,
for you to realize that Russ puts in the effort
to say this in the exact way every time
so you all feel equally adored.
Absolutely. And you are.
We should have, we need to cut together
just Russ being like, and today's patron,
and today's patron.
And today's patron is Sarah Innskeep.
Sarah.
Thank you so much.
Innskeep, do you think that's a real name
or a fantasy name?
Cause it's very good either way.
I love it.
I hope it's Innskeep and I hope it goes back
like very far generations and her like great, great,
great, whatever's were Innskeep.
Yeah.
I love it.
I totally think so.
It sounds like a fantasy name,
which means it's incredible if it's a real name.
Yes. Absolutely.
That's true.
All those things.
Thank you for being here with us, Sarah.
Thank you so much.
Get your friends and family to buy you gifts
to come join us.
Get them to buy them one at the same time.
You can join as friends.
That's right.
Who knows?
That's all we have for you now.
Let's get you back to this episode
where great things are happening.
Probably.
I believe that.
Probably.
And probably gaslighting Amy.
Probably not.
Yeah.
But really, it was just my bad friend all along.
All right.
Thanks everybody.
Love you. Bye.
Bye.
The papers continue to shuffle and he's like,
have you just been collecting all of these certain things?
He hold ones up.
He's like, I like this one.
His was recovered from the archives
and it's supposed to be a resting site,
a mechanism that's like far beyond my comprehension.
But I don't know.
Somebody who's very technically inclined
might be able to get something like this.
And he tosses the paper down on top of a journal.
I want to take it.
Okay.
I'm not being sneaky.
Yeah.
I snatch it off the table.
He doesn't even really pay attention
as he's as he's siphling through.
And he said, and you work in the city here
and you said you worked in Kingstown as well.
He points to you.
Yeah.
It's like in your experience in Kingstown,
like why or how often would somebody
erase or censor records
that are supposed to be like in the archives,
like the highest level of the archives,
like nobody's going there.
Why would they redact certain information up there?
If it's like anything to do with our last mayor,
I'm sure he would have sent the cleaning crew around
to like take care of some stuff.
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know if it's tied.
I just thought it was very curious.
You know, if you've seen anything like that,
people hiding information in government.
I mean, I haven't personally,
but I've never really been to the archives.
Maybe I'll get Oak to give me a tour.
Okay, okay.
Well, I'd love to come with you.
I haven't seen Vinter Smith's archives,
but if you're going before I find somebody
to come with me on my trip to the Weeping Archives,
maybe we could do that together.
That would be lovely.
And Oak, you said Oak was the person?
Yeah, he's my work friend.
Oh, I'd love to meet Oak.
Well, I mean, he's my friend,
but he's like my best work friend.
Okay.
Like you'll definitely remember him like a year from now.
Yeah.
Like your work husband, would you say?
Yeah, I would say that.
Yeah.
Well, sorry, I've spread all over the place here.
Let me get these out of your way.
So you take a look at the one that you're looking at
and it is a, what you can tell on this page
is you see a brass gear that is etched with unusual runes.
There's a certain, there's a bit of a familiarity to them
in some of the work that you've been doing with Bizard,
but you still, you don't have a comp,
you don't have comprehension of what they are saying
or what they're doing.
The mechanism itself, does it look familiar?
It's like a sketch of a device, essentially?
It's like a sketch of like a clockwork,
like an exploded like clockwork device.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, so you don't have like complete comprehension
of like together what is this,
but yeah, it's got all the different parts in there.
Can't my wonderful
artifice or brain put that together?
Sure.
Child prodigy?
Just to feel it, right?
Yeah.
There are people who can look at stuff like that
and go, oh yeah, it all fits together like that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Do you want to roll our Krona?
Child prodigy?
Or history for?
History, please.
Okay.
That bonus is better.
Okay.
I've only rolled single digits.
So, statistically.
Fuck off.
You fuck yourself right now.
I had a plus five out of nine.
God damn it.
I see nothing.
I fold it up, I put it in my bucket.
Hold on, I'll give you something on that.
So, as you're...
Something on my four that I...
Okay.
Yeah, I mean, don't throw it to me.
Just because we're married,
I'll be mad at you.
We'll look at it again later.
I would have tried to give it to any of us, Amy.
Like there is a familiarity to what you're seeing there.
Like the runes, the designs are very similar
to a lot of the artificer books
that you've been kind of going over
with Bazaar these last little while.
But the runes in particular do stand out to you.
You can't interpret them, you can't place them,
but there is a familiarity based on your recent travels
that says that those might be connected.
Would he notice if I folded it up
and put it in my bucket?
Roll stealth.
Roll bucket, please.
Roll for bucket.
I can't.
Guys, I'm done.
There's two dice there.
You can try the other one.
Do you want to see if that one does better?
I mean, that is better.
It was a double digit, it was 11.
It's better.
No.
Look, he looks up and sees...
Okay, I get caught in it.
Can I have this?
He looks at it.
Let me see.
I haven't been able to figure it out.
If you think you can figure it out, I hope.
Oh, I'd love to try.
Looks like a puzzle.
Thanks.
Yeah, of course.
I didn't have to be sneaky.
Honesty, god damn.
A lifetime on the streets.
You're not built for honesty.
I know.
Just want to take stuff.
So,
that's me.
Like, are you...
What do you do?
You said that there's people who may have traveled
and done things in the Faye, but like...
Oh yeah, that's us.
What do you do?
Oh, I'm a small business owner.
Great.
I'm on the local business association.
I run a multi-generation blacksmith shop.
And recently, a lot of weird stuff's been happening
in our town.
Like a lot of weird stuff.
Yeah, no, that's why I'm here.
That's why you're here.
You're the ones who have traveled.
Yes, you said that, yeah.
We went through a tree.
I don't know if you mentioned that part of it.
Went through a tree.
That's how we got there.
We went through a tree.
He pulls a journal out and he begins writing.
They went through a tree, okay?
So there was this guy and he was singing this song
and then kids all disappeared.
Stealing kids.
It was bad.
And we...
Stealing kids?
Yeah, I got stolen.
Yeah.
Oh.
They didn't do a lot of reporting
on the stealing of kids,
but like all the weird stuff after.
Well, nobody thought of the kids.
Yeah, the kids...
I mean, won't somebody please think of the children?
That's right.
Think of the children.
We do now.
School's open again.
Things are looking up for the children.
They're everywhere.
Of interest.
From Auntie Kid's dance from Cav
now that there's kids in town again.
Ugh, so loud this time.
Why would we even rescue all these strange kids?
Thank God we're only hanging out
with adults at this table.
Okay, okay, okay.
Exactly.
Look, I hear there's things going on
and I think you are the people that can help me.
We have to talk to Bazaar first.
No, you can talk to whoever you need to,
but this is my pitch for you.
And he pulls out another book and he's like...
So many books on this guy.
I know, like he's got like saddlebags.
Yeah, like file folders of books here going on.
It's like, I believe that we're close
to the Weeping Archive.
I believe that it's here and he pulls open this book
and it's a, inside this book,
there is a single brittle page
that's been pressed between these sheets.
And it looks like it's been torn
from a much larger ledger codex.
The edges of it are singed.
The writing, as you see it, looks normal at first.
Looks like an inventory of goods,
names of townsfolk, dates.
Like it doesn't look like anything substantial.
But the longer you focus on it,
the ink begins to bead up on the page like tears.
Begins dripping down the page even through,
even though the parchment is dry.
Where the ink runs, it sometimes forms words
in common and elvish, another language
that you can't quite decipher yourself.
And you see kind of mixed between those,
you see various phrases pass by.
The Archive weeps still.
Your name was written long ago.
He will not survive the shelves.
So why do you wanna find the Archive so bad?
Yeah, is it, it seems bad.
Is it good?
Yeah, it seems very important to you.
I think, I think this is the answer
to what's happening in your town.
And what's happening in your town,
I believe, is a rift between worlds
that if left unchecked, will continue to grow
and continue to expand farther
and farther than Vinter's Men.
And eventually take over and envelop.
And if it's not stopped,
or if an answer is not found,
I fear that our world will become part of theirs.
And their world is a much more dangerous world
than we're used to here.
But I don't need to tell you that
because you've been there.
I mean, kinda gotta.
Yeah, I really don't want more of their world here.
Their world was bad.
And we, we are not the only ones that are looking for this.
There are other researchers, there are other adventurers,
there are other people who are looking for this.
And they may not be as gold-hearted
and pure of soul as myself and what I feel are you.
That was my first question.
Some, some are not.
Some want to use that power, as people do,
to see if they can harness it,
to see if they can cross over
and find riches and gold and things beyond.
But that's not gonna help.
The more people that cross back and forth between,
the worse it's gonna get.
Well, also, it's really hard to come back.
I know we don't have, like,
our message of, you know,
to come back.
I know we don't have, like, our magic knower here.
Yeah.
But can I roll, like, an insight or something
to see if this, like, makes some sort of sense?
That's what I was just gonna say.
Can I roll, like, a perception?
Not even about the magic stuff.
Just, like, what are my vibes on this?
Yeah, like, yeah.
Everybody can roll, absolutely roll an insight, yeah.
19 for insight.
Eight.
Seven.
Amy, you're killin' me.
Bonwyn and Alydin.
I'm not helpful at all, ever.
I haven't rolled over double digits either.
It's, like, brutal.
Bonwyn and Alydin, like, there is...
There's doubt in your mind.
Like, this guy's spinning a tale.
Like, he's telling you a lot of things.
As soon as someone tells me how good they are,
it seems so suspicious.
You can, like, you can make a connection
to all the things that he's saying.
You're seeing similar symbols and rules.
Like, it makes sense.
It all makes sense, but he seems, like,
too sneaky or, like, I don't know.
Yeah, exactly.
Is it too much, too quick?
He called himself gold-hearted.
Yeah.
Red flag.
But, Kav, you, you get, like,
you feel you've got a beat on this guy,
and he is, like, honest to goodness,
telling the truth as he knows and understands it,
and is trying to find somebody to help him.
Alright, so he's passing the vibe check.
I don't know, guys, I feel like
maybe we have to put that other adventure on hold
and try this one out.
Just, I'll be back in a second.
And he passes out.
I mean, we, we obviously have to talk to Buzard.
Yeah.
I got that big order done.
I would feel bad if we didn't go.
Maybe, maybe, maybe June will go with them.
I'm worried about those older guys, you know?
Oh, what if they're going for the same thing?
Do you think they're?
I mean, they don't seem very, like,
adventury, but they did seem kind of bookish.
Yeah.
Interesting.
And they were talking about, like,
some pretty, like, major treasure,
and this could be treasure in the right eyes.
This could be a big treasure.
Oh, I just don't want to believe
anything bad about them, but.
I'm sure it's a different adventure.
Who says that they're there for bad stuff?
Could, they could be good, too, if you're right.
I think we have to stop making assumptions.
I think we should talk to Buzard.
Yes.
And also never take our eye off this guy.
Yes.
Also that.
But if we broke it, we should really try to fix it.
For sure.
Maybe we could even get Daze back.
Oh.
Cav, as, I mean, as you're all talking about this
and he kind of, Alistair, again, falls asleep on the table,
that page you saw before, like,
spreads out in the stack that he had there.
I, I kind of move it
so it's, like, facing the right direction for Alydin.
Say, well, Bonwyn and I already saw this,
but, like, Alydin, this is, like, one of the symbols
that we were dealing with before.
You look at it, Bonwyn,
and it's on a, a scorched scrap of paper,
and the symbol is the,
I mean, it comes back to you quite quickly
because you've had many visions of this,
but it's the symbol of Ashutra,
and it's scrawled onto this piece of paper.
Yeah.
My girl slash not my girl.
I wasn't quite sure where we left things there, honestly,
if she was, like, my patroness or the devil.
Unsure.
Could be both.
Do my fire eyes give me any extra insight,
or it's just her symbol, and I know that that's what it is.
It is, yeah, it is just her symbol.
Yeah.
I mean, this is, yeah, Kav, good, good catch.
This is, I mean, this is her.
This was...
This is why all the stuff was happening.
With the fire and the cr-
Well, with your eyes?
Well, the stuff with the forge, for sure,
and then probably the eyes.
Probably the eyes, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, did she fade?
Did she, like, kind of cross over?
Did that happen before
with, like, my gr-gr-gr-great-grandma?
Like, I don't...
Has there always kind of been, like,
a thinness here between the fey?
Oh, maybe.
I don't know.
Hey, you're back.
Welcome back.
Hi.
Hi, yeah, it's good to see you.
Hey.
Uh, oh, sorry.
I was out there, uh, long?
No, no, not long.
Okay.
What do you know about this one?
Yeah.
He takes it from you.
Um, oh, this is, uh, a symbol of the Shutra,
and I believe, in some of the readings that I found,
the archive may hold entire treaties
on the Ember Mother, a Shutra.
So, like, just...
There's not a lot about her in the written word.
And there could be more information about her
in these archives.
Do you know about this?
I mean, fire eyes, maybe there's something going on there,
but, like...
Yeah, I mean, way to connect the dots.
Um...
Yeah, I mean, I feel like my great-great-great-great-great-
you know, grandmother maybe, like,
signed a bit of a deal with her,
and there was some interaction.
There was some weird shadow stuff.
Um, we've met, I think, is what I...
You met?
I think we've met?
You met, like, a-a deity?
Kind of.
Like I said, weird stuff's been going on here.
And he falls back asleep.
Oh, wow. Okay.
How did he make it here alive, this guy?
I'm worried about him.
Dumbgeons and Dragons
Season 4, Episode 41, starring Amy More as Alydin.
Carla Maxted as Bonwyn Everbane.
Tom Laird as Kavlaran Goldweave.
Kyle Klasset as Bizard the Wizard.
And Russ More as your dungeon master.
Dialogue editing and sound design of today's episode is by Russ More.
Our community manager is Jessica Babiak.
Music is from Epidemic Sound,
and sound effects are from Epidemic Sound,
Boom Library, and Sound Ideas.
Our amazing cover art is by Matt Garbutt.
A huge thank you to our supporting producers,
We'd love if you joined us today at
patreon.com slash DumbDragonCast
for the amazing community, all the bonus content,
and so much more.
patreon.com slash DumbDragonCast
we'll see you over there.
But until then, have a great week,
and we'll talk to you soon.
Dumbgeons and Dragons
is a DumbDragons production.