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Knights of the Night
238_DnD_5E_Fondly_Tolerated
[music] Hello and welcome to Nights in the Night actual play podcast. This dungeon is in Dragon's 5th edition adventure, Heart of Fire was written and run by your DM Mike. And now, please enjoy episode 238, titled "Fondly Tolerated." Actual play begins 14 minutes, 13 seconds. [music] We're going to start the feedback from our kotnpodcast.com blog site where I will now admit how a few episodes ago we spoke about how we have never deleted a post. I've not deleted a second one. This one was completely unintentional as I was highlighting it to copy it into my op-ed and apparently ended on the word "delete," which was the button that then deleted it. It didn't even ask me, just plain deleted it. So, for the poster who was smitty, luckily it wasn't anonymous, I asked please repose or send a few feedback@kotnpodcast.com email. We promise not to delete it this time. Yeah, we won't delete it this time. I had something happen to me at work, not too long ago, where when you are in a certain Dreamweaver program for HTML editing, when you want to duplicate a bunch of files, you select them and hit Ctrl D to duplicate. Outside of that program, Ctrl D is delete. Yes, it is. So, what a terrible design actually is. That's like, Ctrl Alt Delete to select this field or something. Why would you choose that? We have a comment from Joe C who said, "Damn it Tom, you fixed it." Is it Joe Z or Joe? Joe C. Damn it Tom, you fixed it before I can make my snidey remark. My weekend is ruined. Now everyone will go back to praising you for your masterful editing skills and picking on poor Scott. Just because he's an asshole. Why do I want that? It's just because. Like pointing out how he does asshole things like cliff hangers, he doesn't deserve that. Everybody loves a wise ass as long as they're not talking to them. True. On an unrelated note, I'd like to make a second motion for you guys trying to better angel games at some point. It's got great social combat and I love the initiative system and mechanics of the one role engine. I don't really care for the rule book as a read though. It's a little too fluffy and not enough crunch, more style than function in the writing, which would be great in any other format. It just makes it very difficult to look for rolled questions while you're GMing. Like we don't have that already before the darkness. Here's a trident white wolf publication. Yeah fluffy fluffersons. Which you can get a whole lot of supplements and stuff for free from the publisher's website, which even I find hard to be critical of. That's nuts. That is always nice. You could probably even manage to set it in a Dresden Files universe if all the player characters were denarians. But even for a game that's literally about conflict with your inner demon, the game tends to play more like the movie Megamind than your group is used to playing. I never watched that movie. Megamind? Megamind is good with an animated film. I've seen it. The big blue head guy. You have a super hero thing. I don't know what kind. Yeah. One additional thing I'd like to say is I'd like to thank everybody who posted about the "Sorry" episode in which we explained the reasons that we weren't putting out an episode for two weeks in a row. We put out a short one and we missed one. There was a vacation. There was two distinct different hospital visits and there was a loss in our extended family. So it was not a good time. For two. And Aaron's visits to the hospital in mind. Right. Yeah. For God. So I'd like to thank you all for your kind comments on the fan page and messages I received personally as well. The last episode was titled "Go Full Paladin" and it was in reference to Scott. I'm going full paladin. Yes you are. We didn't last time. Just picked a lawful good God for him. Yes. And I've got a murder? Mad at face. No. Murder face to lawful good God and... Puppies? I think we know. Watch. Oh go ahead. Sorry. I thought we were in. Oh there's one additional block site comment. I'm not finding it. I'm trying to do this live because I foolishly left all of my notes at home. Which also means we're not going to give away a t-shirt today. Which is something I really wanted to do. Those notes are at home as well. We have a checklist but he fucking lied to me. So. Yeah. Thomas asked me, do you have the feedback and I said yes. And apparently that was a lie. A lie. So we're going to skip over to Facebook really quick. We have changed our background picture to indicate we're playing Dungeons and Dragons. And we also got the name of the campaign which Mike told us was. Part of Flame. The heartline. Is the entire campaign. I haven't thought of the subset for this particular arc. Okay. A new hope. But then it's a minute. On our Facebook page. Episode 237r. Which is for real. Because I put out a 237 that was simply sorry. This is the actual episode 237. We had a post from Luke G. He said, hey the scary thing about dwarfs is the idea of a mountain dwarf wizard or sorcerer. Armor is no longer a cause for arcane spell failure. So mountain dwarfs get light or medium armor proficiency for free. So a mountain dwarf wizard could wear a scale mail and wield a battle axe. And then make the war cast feets so that they can cast spells with weapons in their hand. That actually sounds pretty cool. Is that Johnson here to hear that? That is a good point. Well, Johnson's the one handed dwarf and casting warrior. John C. also posted and said, paladins don't have to be lawful good anymore. They are the alignment of their god or close to it anyways. But again, we're making Skanko full paladins so he will be lawful good. And he will enjoy all of it. Well, I don't want to put on fair restrictions on people. So I'm going to full paladin. What do you think of the GM? He's going full paladins. We're going to be lawful good. We're going to win chamoisium to play full paladin, lawful good. You were undermining my authority before I even start me. For example, it's a Farrante. No, I'm full paladin. I will sacrifice all for my family, which is this group. R.E.J. posted and said, paladin of shallamesh? Is that a... Yeah, of course, I don't think it's an article. R.E. likes Vikings. Like the show on history channel. I bet they get that there. History channel. I like Vikings. It's a cool show. It's a very cool show. I don't think it's... It's so historically accurate, but it's very cool. A drawn line of game products. Right, that's worn out. I've synced with D&D having not played it since 1988. Those old colored box sets and all. Oh, yeah. Slunish is Warhammer, if I remember correctly. Which I don't play, so I'd be lucky if I did remember correctly. Well, the rest of us here aren't going to argue with you. Right. Well, I'll just not have you. Yes. I own D&D for the best ones. You are wise in the ways of... When was the last time we played D&D? I DM'd it for my kids. And that was still at least four or five years ago. Right. Last time we played it down here, 4.0. Yeah. Tactical... Oh, you guys played 4.0. Because I haven't played since. We had a board and there was cards laying all over the table. Yeah. And each turn would take roughly two and a half hours. I thought you said two and a half days. No, that would have put me off D&D. 4 was not. Yeah. Not to my liking. It was a miniature. Yeah. Basically. If what it was, that could be cool for a while. But yeah. We've talked about that before. John C posted under the same episode and said, "Well, the three different oaths give different ways to play the alignments. You could have an oath of devotion, the classic lawful good paladin, an oath of ancients, which is more of a chaotic good think hippie paladin, and the oath of vengeance, which is a neutral paladin, which is basically a Batman paladin. And while you could technically play an evil paladin of an evil god, if you want to go evil, you generally use the rules for oath breaker paladin. And that's paladins in the nutshell. No. Thank you. John. I just said, "Michael, go put that book down." He just included all of that. That's true. That's true. I'm sure he did. In fact, he really don't need me at all of it since. So I didn't go. Not true. Not true. I didn't go. Kevin B posted and said oath of vengeance works for a punisher-style paladin as well. So. This is a nice paladin. Luke G said I'll do a breakdown on the fanpink, which he did, and it was a bigon. All right. Worthy of, for those who were interested, a breakdown of what a individual is. Paladins, classes, D&E, and he pulled it from all the resources. Anything. Yeah, it's- I think many players manual. Yeah, I think it was the whole goal. I'm pretty sure there's- Is there an index at the end? Fringe there. There's no index at the end, though. Come on, Luke. Well, there's a lot of buildup now. Everyone's going to be wondering how you're going to play a paladin. Right. I thought you meant about your DMing. Oh my gosh. I'm sure you're going to steamroll whatever I come up with, but that's what it is that you're going to- We've gotten quite a lot of comments from the fan that they're looking forward to UGM. Yeah. They want to see someone step behind. Because of the puns. Right. And I explained to that your DM- Not the editor. Still the editor. Still me. I think we should go with puns or a log, because of the GM. So you could take that. Take that under the end. Sure. Steve E posted and said good start to D&D. I was hoping that you guys were going to have a t-shirt drawing, so that they have a chance to get one out before Dragon Con, which is on Labor Day. Oh, we said- And then later he said speaking of which, are any of the nights going down to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend with Dragon? Oddly, I'm going to be in Atlanta. Really? On the 30th, which is not Labor Day. That's what I would have. Week beforehand. No, I'm actually stuck in a D&D airport for almost six hours. It was six hour layover on our way back from our- You could go to Dragon Con back. Yeah, you could have- Well, if it was the right week, I could. It's a week early, because it's the third hit. But when he said Atlanta, I saw it on the page. I'm like, oh, oh, amongst. RJ posted as well and said going full paladin. That was a left out loud moment in the solitude of my car. So I'm looking forward to the puns. I mean play sessions. Mike S said great episode. And that's it for that particular feedback on that episode. I think we had a few comments on sorry. Episode 237, minus the real. Kevin B posted and said enjoy the vacation. You've earned it. We, the audience, can go a week without the free entertainment. Best wishes to you and- It's one of yours. Because he says you earned it. But all they see of you is you playing a fucking game. He has earned it. You people do not know why. Yes, I've earned the vacation. RJ posted and said an additional two lights, two thumbs up. And Brian D said sorry here. Best wishes to you and your family. I'm not really sure about all the feedback. So I may miss a few pieces if so. We'll get it next week. But episode 236, which was the second part of our wrap up of the senior year episode. We had some comments, which I don't think it's made it live yet. RJ posted and said have I called the feedback episodes awesome yet? No. Well, they're awesome. Oh. I had, sorry, not everything that KOTN does is awesome. What I got as a takeaway from the feedback is that I have season two of our cult divinity lost. Well, not yet the new rules, the old crappy first edition. And the viewpoint from Scott about NPCs behavior towards PCs. And noting the motivation, how they tend to get there. It was all pure gold. Make it so. And another note, I got to think about horror and gaming. And how it would work in fate. And I got to talk to other people about it. But now, D&D 5th edition, bring it on nights. Luke G posted that the fate toolkit had some horror suggestions. And I think it was at this point that Luke actually got a game going with a couple of people. I thought I was going to say he did an experiment. He did one with a experiment. He wants to prove that fate can, I think, that can do more effectively. Several small groups, right? Several small groups. I think. It was two of them and I was watching them on YouTube. I think it was using Google Hangouts. Actually, we had to do that, but they moved. I looked at the Google+ and they were talking about having difficulty connecting, but they didn't explain where they went. So, I kind of gave up on it. You think it would participate? Were you actually going to play? No, I was just going to just look in. You're going to like, I don't know. It really could work. Kevin B also posted and said that sounds awesome. Fate is the bus. So, with that, we're going to cut the feedback short. I'm sure I missed something and I apologize and we'll try to get it next week. And we will give us a T-shirt away at, well, next week. And whoever that individual was, repost your... Oh, Smitty. Yes, Smitty. Smitty, we're so... We have a grin. And by we, I mean me, I am so sorry, Smitty. Please repost that. That deletion was not intentional in any way, shape or form. With that, I'm going to hand the reins over to Mike. Ooh, it's not flat. Go away. And we're excited about this. Fire up some D&D fifth edition for us. Well, I don't know if we're going to do an official opening yet because I don't have everyone's name. So, I don't know if I'm going to put everyone on the spot to introduce you. Dane Roonhammer. Nice to meet you. Dane Roonhammer does exist. So does Vantish Bodeck and... Ellie. Ellie. Dally. Dally. Dally. Dally. Dally. Dally. Shekin. Shekin. Dally. Dally Sin. Ella. Yeah, that's fine. What is that? Where you're a gnome t. I'm a gnome t-grier friend of your character. Sorcerer? Sorcerer is what I have. But the way I'm playing it is that my character does its steampunk style. So, all of her spells are actually mechanical in nature. But the actual rules of the game? It's all sorcery. There's no difference. Right, it's just... It's flop. Her limits? Yeah, it's flop. Her limits to her mechanical manipulation is her parts. But it's the spell limitation that they normally so it's all flop. It's all flop to me. Well, not spell components, but it's like if she's doing a spell, it means that she's got only so many things to build a flamethrower. And then it's only got so many shots that do damage. It's the same as the spell limitations. Try like alchemy. If you kind of put not... Because it's all just... She's a sorcerer. Yeah. It's just fluff. That's how she explains how she does it. Explain how you do it. It's kind of alchemy. Yeah, well, it's more mechanical. She's tinkering known. We can go around the table and give... Okay, those who have it. I think John, Thomas, Scott, and... I'm done. Thomas, we're turning... Barrow. I guess we'll then I'll say... Give me a last name. All right, get the official start. I might have your DM for the evening. This is the Heart of Flame campaign. And the arc is a dwarven dawn. The players starting on my right are... I'm Michael playing Van Tesh Bodeck, known as Van. I'm a level three cleric. Is that right? Correct. Level three. Okay. And I'm a hill dwarf. Is there any history to Bodeck? Because the name certainly sounds familiar to me. Yes, he's an ancient relative of a dwarf that I played. Is that the 70s? 45 years ago? Probably. Because we started in '78, I believe, was the year. Yeah. And he made a reappearance sometime in the 80s. I think he was an Everquest character that your son's played. Oh, that's right. Because I originally got Everquest, and I named it Yakish Bodeck, or something like that. And my PC wouldn't handle the... Margaret requirements, so I gave it to my sons. And I think they split it up on Yakish as well. Yakish as well as Bodeck. Can I just interrupt and ask how old is your character? 900. No, that's experience. No, I don't know that. All right. Well, maybe I do. I guess 54. 54, so you're relatively young. Bodeck is a young 54. Okay. There's just a... If you remember from our previous thing, that for the past 100 years, a dragon has rained over this entire area. So... Ooh, damn it. I know you like to drop it. Bless you. That's what it is. I knew it. I knew it. I love maps. Well, we're not ready for you to finish it. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I got to try it. I'm sorry. It took me a while to drop it. That's quite important. Photoshop? Or Illustrator. Combination of both. Quite impressive, isn't it? Well, I'm still building it, because I figured the more you discover and explore, the more I will add. Can I look at it? Oh, that's true. Dungeon of all the maps. Start with a map and leave lots of empty spaces. Can I trick or look at a few more? Fill 'em in as you go on how they pass. Yeah. Well, I've got a master top up for now. So, I'm not sure all of what we want. Anyway, my point of the reason why I bring it up is I know, for example, Bob's character, whose name I don't have, is older. So, he remembers a time before the dragon. So, you might want to figure that into your character that is, "Are you, have you been around for a while?" And you remember the happy times before the dragon came, or is this a new dangerous time of the unknown, where, as you're gonna find out, the dragon is now dead, and you're entering your paradigm, your whole world has shifted as to what's gonna happen. Uh, may I ask where we are in this map, or don't we know? You are up in the upper left where Stonegate is. Upper left. Upper left. Upper Stonegate. Uh, that's your threshold. Yeah, I see how a botan... Oh, Rachael, sorry, that's the dwarven name for Stonegate now. Okay, gotcha, Stonegate. Don't ask. You call yourself a dwarf, but you're like... Run my Google glasses, you've got it on the fly. That's very perfect. And it's hell-avident, yeah? We didn't make it past the first fire, sorry. That's right. So, I got excited about the maps. We've got Vantash next, it is. Well, wait a minute, I wanted to make sure... Come. Hold it. How much do you want to... That's all you want, it's just like an old review right now. Yeah, just carry a little... I guess I can think some notes and just kind of get an idea. And Bob, who's not here, is playing a dwarfish ranger? He's playing a dwarven ranger who's actually a few hundred years old. Okay. And I don't know if he... And he has his stats to prove his stats. And I also don't know if he wanted to go with this idea, but I thought we discussed that one of the reasons why his stats are the way they are is that he might be one of the few survivors from the original attack, and he's... Scarden. Scarden, Dragonfire. But he's lived. Should we give our background? Like, that would... To give the one word or phrase that we're supposed to have, maybe to give a little bit of flavor? It would certainly help me, because it's going to be as much of a discovery for me as it is for you guys. What? We're going to be... I was wondering what the background... They got a very small... Like, what the heck is that? You're supposed to put there. There's actually... There's a little section in the back that gives you a list of different backgrounds that you can choose, or you can kind of create your own. I don't know exactly what page it's on, but it's in the character creation where... Like, for example, I think John was an urchin. Did you take that? Yeah. Okay. Somebody could be a former alkalite, or someone could be growing up as a soldier, and those add... Languages, equipment, skills, and some background and some... On the right, there are things called personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. These are all derived from your background. So, if they don't have something you like, you can make up something plausible for the background. Sure. So, Michael, do you know... These are kind of aspects of this game. Do you know what your background and such is or not? Yeah, personality trait. I'll give you a little example where it's not all fleshed up, but I tend to find simple, direct solutions to problems. My ideal is faith. My God and my hard work will make things turn out fine. My God is torn. God of war. Who is lawful good. My bond is hometown, rock fall. I will fight to defend it. And a flaw is I fell a law, even if I think it might be wrong. And that's Van Teshboda. You got anything, Jim? Uh, just started. Today, Bill and your name. I'm sorry, who are you and what, uh... I am Jim. I am playing a dwarven mountain dwarf fighter named Theoden. Ooh, did you still say Theoden? T-H-A-I-D-O-N. Mountain dwarf fighter. Fighter. He's nine years old. Nine? Ninety. Oh, good save there. That's about all I got so far because I just started. By the way, I'm sorry. You were starting at level three. You remember that part? Uh, kinda. Okay. And you get to have one piece of, oh, it's over in there for you? Okay, you're all set. Okay, I'm Tom. I'm playing a female gnome sorcerer, whose name is Dally Ella Nessa Tanda Sheppen. But you can call her Dally. She's a guild artisan. She's a tinkerer. All of her sorcery spells are actually done through mechanics. But for the game purposes, we're just using the actual sorcerer rules. There's no difference, it's just flavor. Our personality is that she loves to talk about a profession. Anybody who's willing to listen to her talk about her tinkering will be a friend forever. Nomes are pretty long lived too. Yes, they are. She's only 50, which gnomes hit adulthood about 40. They can live 500 some years. So she's a young adult as far as gnomes go. She's also lifelong friend. Of Scott's character. And I'm Scott, playing Dane Roonhammer, a lifelong friend of Dally. I'm also a Hill Dwarf, third level Paladin. Lawful good. My background is torn because Dane's drama right now at the start of his life and his adventuring career is that his family was a very prestigious family within the community of rockfall and wanted him to follow in the family's footsteps. But he felt the calling of torn the god of courage and self-sacrifice and decided to follow his god as opposed to his father and his family. And it's caused great degree of grief in his life. He is only 45 years old, very young by dwarven standards, which leads to his flaw, which is reckless. He actually went out on one short adventure before the start of this campaign in which several members of his group were lost, lost, meaning killed or captured or missing an action. Not sure whatever fits the storyline best. So he's come back with a bit of uncertainty. He feels as if maybe he made the wrong choice. Is this truly what he's meant to do? And his flaw of reckless is going to slowly, perhaps morph into something that doesn't, that causes him to maybe question his decisions, which is maybe why he looks up so much to Mike's character, Vantech Bodeck, the dwarf cleric, who Dane is happy to acquiesce control of the decision making of the group to, at this point, due to his uncertainty based on his last mission. We also share the same god. Yes. Thomas playing Barrow, who has no last name as of yet. Maybe I'll come up with one later. It could just be Barrow of Rockfall. Of Rockfall? B-A-R-R-O-W. Just B-A-R-O. Oh, okay. Just pronounce like what each spelled the, I'm a level three warrior. You get little specialties at level three for warriors. I chose like a combat leader kind of thing. I forget the name. But he gets to assist people who have to do additional action. Yeah, just additional actions during combat. This background was a soldier. Most of his life, he spent outside of the town trying to, he had this grand vision of slaying the dragon. He's rather upset that it died before he got there. Stupid dragon. Right, sir. What's the difference, um, since I'm that well-versed in this game, what's the difference between Jim being a fighter and you being a warrior? Bad, I don't know. As for warriors. I head up on his fighters, but you're just flavored right now. Right, I just, but you do. Your choices of background and of, uh, capabilities will kind of... Right, his tactician will be different from whatever Jim chooses. Yeah, they're technically fighters, but they can be very different. Right. I hadn't fully decided all the background details yet. I was going to decide he was somewhat older. Like, I don't know when he said the dragon showed up. Uh, for the past century, so if he... He was snacking to affect your stats or anything like that, so... What is a little-age dwarf? They lived to 400, but I think those are the really old ones. To mature at like 50 or 60. They're actually mature at the same rate as humans, but they're considered adults at 50. Like, technicality. Well, that's important for me. Biologist. Anyway, uh, I'm going to say he was really young for a dwarf when the dragon showed up. Like, he was 20. Now, he's 120, and he spent all his time trying to get out there and get the experience, to slay the dragon, and it died before he got there, and he was upset about it. Can you say he showed up? That's... The dragon showed up? The time he died. I take it. Do we know the next story to that? That's part of what you might discover. Did he die recently? I don't know. Because you, well, we'll talk about it a little bit. Now, he said it died 100 years ago, but you said... No, no, no, it's just been around for 100 years. Only months ago, did it find a parish? There you go. That's why I showed that. Got it. He was very young. So, I guess my point is I want to get a sense of who is around, who remembers the time before the dragon showed up, and what the valley and the mountains and the highlands were like before. And it's been a century of evil, giant, magical being that has just plundered, every havoc, and changed everything's way of life for a century. And now, mysteriously, that dragon has been killed, and it's been recently verified. And now, the unknown is upon you guys. What is it going to mean? But I'm getting ahead of myself, John, one six. I wasn't fully done. Oh, I'm sorry. I was going through it real quick. I don't have as much experience with everyone at the table as everyone else does. Like, they're all best friends and everything. I came back to the church every time I came home to the city to request absolution for all the murders I did. And I did some work for them in the hopes that that would give me into heaven. Because that's the kind of religious guy I am. Everything you guys are saying is fitting into a possible, a new thing that I'm going to present to you, and we'll see if it works by then. All right. Let me shadow that. Sure. I'm John. I'm playing a rogue named Kurt. He's clanless. How you spell Kurt, John? K-U-R-T-H. Do you believe I didn't have any name 30 seconds ago? I like Kurt. Well done. He's a rogue. He began that way. Yeah. He was raised in Urchin and slummed it with some gangs for a while. Was that a dwarf? Yes, too. Okay. He's in a low class. What was? Pardon. Refugee kind of situation outside of your guy's his town, which is named Paul Lavada. That's the name of the town, the word of the name, which is Grisham. But they called it Threshold, is the common version. Is that where I lived? Yeah, that's the refugee town that grew up over the centuries, or over the century, outside of the gates of... I don't know how common crime was in that neighborhood, but my gang was certainly part of it. They did mostly petty crime in that area, and the first big crime they tried in the city was to steal from a highclassman. It went badly. I think I've made it off with the artifact, and that's going to be my magic item instead of picking one. Okay. I don't know what it is, but whatever it was, the guy who had it stolen was too either ashamed of it or scared of releasing the information that he didn't tell the police or the officers what he was missing. And so I got away with it. As being caught for the crimes, I was too young to be sentenced to anything, so they threw me into the church. And that's how I met you guys. I'm not particularly religious. I certainly wasn't raised that way, but he pays lip service because he does owe these people a lot. He wouldn't have a life otherwise. And who is the Paladin among us? That would be Scott's character. I think people have a bond to you. I'm not sure who mine is too. Your dad's character has a bond to me. So who all is involved in the church? He certainly is very involved in the church. Okay. Could you see yourself taking any of the church or the religion or something? Yeah. Maybe just Tormish or because the guy that's Tormish. Right. Mr. Deon. I have the elders of Stone Gate or the temple of Torm for now. I'll come up with something a little bit better. My character was abandoned at birth because he was misborn. He has a damaged left arm. It's like shriveled and gimpy. Yeah, it was. So you were born with a genetic defect? Yeah, it was a genetic defect. It wasn't a damage of any sort. Just something he was born with. And his parents were superstitious or something and dropped him off somewhere. And he was raised by this community. Okay. In this society of Stone Gate is an actual major object by now. Yeah, kind of a landmark inside the town of Hal Abadam, which is also known as Rockfall. So that's your hometown. Can you say any dwarven name for Rockfall? Hal Abadam. H-A-L space. A-B-A-D-A-N. Hal Abadam. And then what had happened over the years after the dragon arrived, there were a lot of confusion, a lot of refugees. And what happened was as Hal Abadam is kind of on the fringe of this dragon's territory, it became a place for people to try and escape and stay. And while the dwarves of Hal Abadam did not necessarily want or could, they couldn't really open their halls up to everybody. What happened gradually over decades was a town, almost that started as a shanty town, but it kind of grew, but it was mostly of wood and trees and logs and cabins and grew into buildings and all that. But it's on the threshold of the main dwarven city, but it's two distinct different places. So the whole area of this map, which I can provide a file that we can post. Bastion is the town that's in the center at the top of the lake. Yeah, that was the center or the domain or the nest of the dragon, if you will, that had dominated all this area for the past century. This is on the dwarven town in the east. It is a similar situation in that it's on the fringes of the domain, but that is a place that you have not had contact with for 100 years. Okay, so it's a lost civilization. Well, no, it's not so much lost as these are places that you knew existed before, but over the years, over the decades, there has been change, there has been a lot of seismic activity, there has been just, and as the known sorcerer will attest, and one of the reasons why maybe she is out in this area, because your specialty is chaos magic, right? Correct. Okay, so kind of like no one else can see this, but to you, for example, you have witnessed what looks like in Aurora Borealis over this entire area, and you know it's chaos magic at work, and you don't quite understand what's happening, but you do know that tremendous forces of energy are shifting, overlapping, and then disappearing, and then coming to being in regular intervals. So it's a big mystery, and you're very eager to find out what might be influencing or causing that, as an example. It hasn't even abated since the dragon died. No, in fact, it's grown more frequent. Oh, did you mention your age? Yeah, you were young though, right? You were pretty young. Curthing. Yeah, he's not even 40 yet. He's still considered a minor by dwarven society, though he's physically mature. Right, 19. 19? Yeah, that's physically mature, it's just not adult communities. Yeah, yeah. Now, one of the things that I thought to add, and this actually would fit into the story that Scott and everyone has told, is that at the top of the society is the temple, although this is not a theocracy. Well, the temple is at the top of rock falls of society. Not everyone has to be a priest. We're not forcing religious law or whatever. It's just that's at the top of the heat. But you don't have to be that's the most popular of the religion, but it's not rushed about. In basis, while everyone can individually have their views and be... They're the highest cast, but they don't necessarily wield the actual power. I think that's a good way to describe it. They are kind of a figurehead. The true power comes from the clans, the dwarven clans. But it kind of goes at the temple, then you have a clan, and then you have a family, and then you have what I call a hearth, which is like your immediate family. So you guys all might have your individual hearths or immediate families, because you have different names or you come from different things. But I'm wondering if you might all belong to the same clan. And some clans have fared better than others over this past hundred years. And I'm wondering if the clan that you're a part of was once very prestigious, but because you guys had historically been one of the better, stronger ones, you were also one of the first ones to get decimated by the past hundred years. And so you're kind of been in decline now for about, you know, 50-odd years. The levels, again, were clan. It goes temple, clan, family. Dally is adopted into Scott's family. I don't know how far down if we're just on a family level, or if I'm actually considered a sister. If you're extremely close, well that's kind of your choice. I would imagine based on what you've said, and the way you describe your bonds, that you would be a heart, at the heart level, that you're at most... One thing I was thinking too is if he has a magical item, I'd like maybe that I constructed it. Not that I can construct magical items. I got lucky one time and got something that worked incredibly well. And now it's what he uses as whatever his magic item is. I would imagine because, you know... Arm, whether it's armor or... No, absolutely. I mean, this has been an amazing experience your time spent, and because to you it's always been a place of wonder where the metallurgy, the foraging, the machining that you have witnessed, experience and experimented on, has been... I think gnomes tend to be more chaotic, and they're off by themselves doing these little things where dwarfs build these grand things that require great coordination and effort of all the dwarfs. And that just amazes Dally, because she's always just... She's doing her own thing. And actually that's a good way to describe. Let me take a minute to describe a little bit of what Rockfall is like. Imagine a huge cavern or vault that is partially what appears to be natural, but it has been finished and worked on a grand enormous scale. So you have a... What amounts to a giant gallery in the side of this tallest... Or not the tallest, but one of the highest mountains in the range here to the west. And the range of mountains is called the Dragon's Spine Mountains. And these tall galleries hold numerous forages, smelters, apartments, shops. And most of... If not all of the dwarven society can stay within the mountain. It's almost... No, it is. Not almost. It is a citadel that is all the sculpture and all of the fortifications are not only practical and very effective, but they're also stunningly the masonry and the architecture that is beautiful. A lot of straight hard lines, a lot of angles, a lot of... It just shows base of the mountain strength. It's going to resist almost any attack. And in your history you have repelled directed dragon attacks, at least on three separate occasions. And while there has been damage, you guys have never fallen. Which is another reason why outside, and this is kind of a undertow of what happens in your society, not everyone is happy in rock fall about the refugee city outside their walls. It's burned out at least three times. Well, it started out as very flimsy and very ramshackled, but over the decades of being there and the dwarves, they don't want to just leave that city unprotected. Oh, it's a good place to make money. But there's a lot more diversity there in races. You'll find mostly on the inside and you have more of the families and the clans of the dwarves. But in threshold, in the city outside the walls, you have much more of a mix of the different races. Elves are particularly rare. You don't see too many elves off its foot. But then again, you're also high in the mountains and dwarf territory. But the ones that we do that are cool. You haven't met them yet. So in fact none of you probably remember meeting an elf. Well, I'm sorry, that's correct. Baral has met elves before. I'm going to now talk about a couple general knowledge issues, just to kind of orient you to your world and kind of begin to describe some things. Please ask questions. And if you think that we need to change or shift something because of the direction you guys are wanting to take your characters, let's talk about it and make adjustments. Right. Yeah, I was going to ask about it. The dwarven culture is in general, lawful good, right? In general, it's lawful good. So I have to say that individuals can't be evil or dark or... In order to be accepted into this city a little more than... I don't have to stay in the bergs. I'm living among dwarven families. My metamagic and stuff has all been... Well, for instance, it's careful spells and empowerment. So though her nature is in general chaotic, her magic is in fact chaotic, all of her adjustments to her spells have been to move it more towards lawful, to control the chaotic nature of her. Would you think that you would be perceived by your immediate hearth mates and maybe their clans in general as kind of they tar you fondly? Right. Obviously I'm a wild child compared to dwarfs because I'm like, cat, gnome. But also by the nature of your curiosity and the nature of your magic, you may have caused some things to not turn out right for people around you. Or maybe you poked your nose in with all good intentions. But again, you're fondly tolerated is how I would say it. But you have been known to wear out your weapon. And as I'm maturing, as I've become a adult gnome, I'm trying to control it more. So on the higher levels, I'm taking things that are more of a lawful nature than chaotic. The world around you, this part of the continent is called a pyro. It's a temperate seasonal land of elder forests, rolling grasslands, deep lakes, rapid rivers, and tall mountains. The high reaches, which is where you are, is the traditional domain of the dwarfs here. And in general, I can draw a little map here that I'll share. But basically, you have what I'm calling the high reaches of the highlands. And those consist of forested mountains, steep canyons, and hills that slowly level out to a broad plateau. And there's a sharp drop off of that plateau at a certain point. And we're talking there's a lot of land here before you get to the lowlands towards the water there. So say a pyro. A pyro, yes. How do you spot it? E-P-I-R-O. As far as diplomacy goes, dwarves have a peaceful or at least non-aggressive contact with several other civilized races, humans, halflings, gnomes, and elves. Very rarely they also. And here's just some, and I'm not saying that these, you can adopt these if you choose, but this is the general perception of your dwarven society to other races. You distrust dragonborn and tieflings. They have no craft or art or love, wealth, and power too much. So your society hates goblins, orcs, ogres, and giants. These monsters have always been the bane of dwarves. So, baron, thaton, and tulips are extending and vantage. You guys know that there have been, these mountains do have goblins and these mountains do have orcs. And there's actually several different tribes of orcs that you've interacted with. In particular, a tribe called the red tribe. There's a blue tribe, green tribe, and red tribe of orcs. Is that what we call them, or something like what they call themselves? That's what they're known. They don't call themselves that way. That's what you refer to them as. Okay, I probably do this. And there's a reason why, well, there's a reason why that. Are we allowed to know that? Probably no, I mean, the right ones are called right, because you said those and the ones are most people. Yeah, I guess I'm not going to make you do a... I'm not sure how much you want me to start to inject dice rolls, but the red tribe is particularly known to the dwarves here, because it is part of their apparent coming-of-age rituals that their weapons and their armor that they use are always taken from the bodies of dwarves, from the slain foes of dwarves. So, they take us as a part of their battle. Yeah, they see killing a dwarf to them is a rite of passage. So, if they have a mace or hammer via... By tradition, it's a dwarven main weapon. And they have been a threat to your society for ages. Elves, which are you view as kind of immigrants from the Feywild, and you really are not sure why they choose to live here. You guys remember Elves? They're kind of serene and a little bit aloof of the world, but they also live for hundreds of years, even by your scanners, they live almost twice as long as you guys. They kept telling me the dragon problem will clear up. They're a rite of... Fucking rite. Okay, humans. Humans seem to show up anywhere and everywhere, but mostly hail from the small coastal kingdoms to the south. Each one is different, which is both getting bad. So, you can't take them for what you will. I like the idea of shurrying a clan. As many of us as possible should do that. Do you have... You don't have any names or anything. Well, I was actually thinking that, because Dean is kind of from his backstory, involves a prestigious family, I was going to use it. His last name is the clan name is Roonhammer. The clan Roonhammer. I'm just wondering if the clan name that we would use, like if we had to present ourselves before an audience, so we used our longest name, so everyone knew who the hell we were. Oh Jesus Christ, mine is like three paragraphs already. Yeah, and if we would say Roonhammer, because that's the clan we decided on, but is that because the most prestigious family in the clan gets to... That's my clan, or is it... Well, I would think that would have been... I'm just wondering... The clans usually originate from back in time of, what was the name of the person who established that clan? And hundreds of years ago, maybe even thousands of years ago. For Torx, probably. There was a guy named Roonhammer, and maybe he had a hammer that had a very significant room, which might come into play someday. But he was so heroic and prestigious that we just... Jump at the chance to claim his name as we belong to that clan. Well, you certainly have a good history, and you have the prestige of the name, but the fortunes for the past century have not been very good. We haven't been living up to the name of Roonhammer. It's not that... But it's not because of your actions or interactions, although in Dane's case, it might be. But... The whole society... Like I said, this... When the dragon came a century ago, and the dwarves united to send forth a group to destroy it, there were a lot of Roonhammers that were in those early groups, and all of them failed. So every few years, the cream of the crop would go forth, try to slay the dragon, or at least defend their homes from the dragon's forces and minions. And every year, your family, your clan would be whittled down. So now, while you certainly have the prestige and the history, you don't have the numbers, and that might be a reason why some of the stress that Dane is feeling. Might be a reason why a lot of us are younger, too. And so it's a good reason why a lot of you are younger, and to be honest, you need to kind of replenish your numbers, which is another reason why you might be taken to all comers, such as Kirth. I was being inducted into a clan work. Was there, like, a ceremony? I didn't think I'd been taken into a clan. I thought I was just putting it under the church's care, so, well, right now, you were under Dane, so you're kind of a de facto member. Wasn't your Dane's responsibility, right? Yeah. Then you kind of live under that. So you're not a rune hammer, but you're under our responsibility. Screw up. I don't remember all my characters name, but I was thinking of being under his responsibility. But he's part of the same clan. Yeah, he's a character. Potentially a different family. I knew they were part of the same religion. I don't know if they were part of the same clan. They don't have to be the part of the same. You don't have to be a rune hammer. You're actually, he's the Bodeck, or he's a Bodeck. Yeah, well, I was assuming I was the part of the rune hammer. Then you can be named. Oh, yes. Brutus. He's from the family of Bodeck. He's in the clan. Dane, have I officially been adopted? Is there a procedure for that? Or you just... I imagine there's a ceremony, right? I think even worth a word. A word. I am the responsibility of the rune hammers. A Bodeck who is in the clan. Did I steal from the rune hammers? That's solid. Do I have a rune hammer on my... Actually, that's a good question, dude. Did you steal from a high-level person in the hammer or not? Steal from maybe one of the rivals of the rune hammers. Maybe that's why we were like, yeah. And maybe you're here for protection against that rival. Yeah, I could believe that. Though it'd be interesting to see Dane be like, "Is none ours?" But that's a good question. I mean... And he may not have access to this thing as secret as you described. My character's gonna go into wizardry next level. And I was wondering how practice wizardry was in the Dwarven society. Maybe it was a spell book that they ended up stealing. Okay. I can be. I don't think we haven't in the North. You have a shame of reporting having a spell book stolen. Because they're so few. Because they are social... Well, you still have to read and understand the spells. Yes. So maybe you haven't understood or deciphered it. But there might be something in there. My character has access to some magic. And in my understanding, it's bits and pieces he's been able to put together. Just some words he knows how to do this. Would it be fair to say then that... You still decide. If you have this object, do you understand what you have? So we can kind of work into the story. You use the word artifact. It's powerful. It has significance. It has been taken from a high level person who doesn't want it known that it's even missing. So let's say it's very valuable and maybe very dangerous. But is your character aware... Did you just steal it because you wanted it? Or did you know that it was valuable and rare? And you took it? I think it's what we were after. And my character knew he could use it if he got his hands on it. But you still don't really know what it is. Or what the true significance of it is. I don't know what the true... Truly myself. Are you sure that it depends on... Just a thought. But are you sure that it was what you were after? Or... Because if you were after something... And they caught you? Maybe the room would... They're going to take it back. Maybe the room would... So it was like... He has something that's been keeping secrets from everyone. It's something he keeps locked away and keeps hitting. And it's got to be valuable. There's these many guards and this much protection. They grabbed a bunch of loot while they were thieving the place. The artifact they were after was the book. But that wasn't ever reported. Okay. Because he's ashamed of it. Or it's not. It's a legal society. So you might have had time your criminal past is... This is the first time I've been caught by their law in the... Okay. But how about this thing? Yes. It's in a way that you've taken a rap for a lesser charge. Even though there's been a bigger crime here. But only you and only the person you're so from really know that. And I don't know if you want to tell other people. That's up to you. So right now you're... One of your secrets or one of your issues is... Do you know how hot or how important the items that you have? Because now that you know that they haven't reported it. Or they haven't come after you. And you did this lesser time. Which is why you're here. That and I'm in mind. It hasn't been resolved. Because if it was that bad it would have been. But now that might be the reason why you're in with a criminal hammer. Is that in a way you've kind of maneuvered it? Trying to lay low. You're trying to lay low. And also you're trying to get low. Any core of the store. Trying to get low protection. So... Okay. Yeah I can see that. My point is that this is an opportunity for some possible down the road. I would say that whether wizardry is prevalent or not in the dwarfing society. That this is teaching you. That you're learning it yourself. And you're self-taught. And you're gaining power and abilities on your own. There are dwarven wizards. There is magic in the world. So everyone is aware of it. It's rare enough. It's that's hard work. And people tend to use magic in dwarven society for positive constructive purposes. Their magic is to build, to protect. Artifacts and stuff. Magics will have hammers and whatnot. Yeah when dwarves build something. And I'm not saying this for you guys. But in general they make stuff that first is practical. And then second is beautiful. So what I mean by that is they can make an awesome battle axe. Or a great suit of armor. And it's going to function. And it's going to be of this amazing quality that they can use spells to enchant those items. But it's distinctly dwarven and it's always going to be practical first. They don't make flimsy little ceremonial swords that really wouldn't stand one swing. Or even one size fits all stuff is probably not as much. They pride themselves in their craft. They pride themselves in their art. And they also take their time doing it too. I think I was the only one who knew my kind of magic in my group. Okay. And when we found what we found in that house we didn't know exactly what we were going to find. Okay. But when we found the book and I recognized some of the lettering, some of the words, I knew that I could use this and we could use it to our advantage as a group. So that's why I wound up with it when we got caught. And what happened with the rest of your group? They were legal adults. So whatever happens to legal adults, you get caught thieving in a muffive island and house. So I guess my point is that there is a group out there, whether they're incarcerated or they're free, that you used to run with. Now, are they friendly with you? We didn't leave on bad terms, but I didn't bring this back to the guild hall. You didn't wrap them out? I didn't know this. You spin off all sorts of possibilities here. This is amazing. Hey, John's a lightning bringer. Yeah, so holy cow. All right, yeah. There's a lot of opportunities there. How about for now? Unless we go home and think about it for a week and then come back and change your mind. But let's think about, let's see that. This isn't a thought. I was thinking his character, that book you have, maybe it has some kind of magic in it that is not good, like necromancy. Now that doesn't mean you have to learn that section on those chapters, but that's the reason it was never claimed as lost because there's magic in it. And maybe that's why that clan is doing so well with the knowledge. And that was directed in the books of their ancestors. Boom, more, that's fucked up. Well, and that's kind of where I'm going. And that's where I was going to set some doors. You know you have something valuable, but you don't know what it is. And there are secrets in there that you, but you do wonder why they never reported it. But yeah, but there's a mystery about like, and you think they know, but you're not sure they know. And also you're not, you're not entirely sure what happened to your, your former group. And if they see you living it up here with the, the root hammer, and they're still stuck in jail, well, how long before they start to get, hey, what's happening here? So, or they're free and they see him and they're like, hey, could you let us into the thing? So yeah, that's also that, you know, there's opportunity to be stuck there that we could take. Yes, just leave the temple doors open one night for us. My ideal is to suppose I trust our family because he has no family. Those who have earned his trust are his family. Right now that's the church, but it was his friends in there. And how was, how was the temple house working with your van or Dane, what way have they earned your trust just so I understand? They kept me from whatever fate my colleagues are in. Probably like mining now. Okay. Something grueling. They're dwarves. I'm an actual miner, so I'm sorry, did you, I'm going to go back and just, I just want to clarify, is the person you stole this from? Is it a, it's not a ruin hammer? It's not a ruin hammer. It's another claim. Right. Okay. And they're doing better than their own hammers. Wonder why. And would that claim be named Iron Fist? Oh, yeah. The DMs looking at their notes, the answer is yes. Yes, sir. Okay, we have back story. Got all kinds of back story. Yeah, a lot of our opportunities. See, what else have I had not told you? This is not my character. I mean, it is, but I remember doing a spreadsheet that fully had my character and then printing it out. So I'm going to have to go back to my computer and look at that. Okay, I guess. First of all, I had my Prisma 14 in my intelligence 16, which makes no sense for a source for at least the other way around. Source for a source or Prisma base. Yes. Yes, sir. Which is why people finally tolerate you, because you might get indelvable, even though I'm annoying. You're a rapscallion. Okay, your recent history. For the past century, the red dragon, Corignus, has brought fire and ruin to the province of the pyro. Now, at the end of a long, harsh winter, the old roads and hidden paths have finally reopened, bringing in a flood of reports and rumors, bearing the same news. The dragon is slain. With the death of the dragon, everything has changed. The citizens of Hal Abadan, which is the dwarven name for Rockfall. And the people of Grisham, which is also the dwarven name for? Threshold. Threshold, thank you. Celebrate while the elders of Stone Gate turn a stern eye eastward into the now open and unclaimed heart of the territories. The heart of flight? Sorry. Yeah. Very good. I'm not original. Come on, man. You look up the lead and then figure it out. There you go. And care. Corignus had been the worst known danger to Rockfall in over 100 years. Now, the unknown has taken the dragon's place. Rockfall is the only overland and, under mountain, passage into the west. Before the dragon came, the human kingdom had established two towns in the east, Crensford and Bastion. Both towns were destroyed by Corignus, and the land of the latter, Bastion became the dragon seat of power. That town sounds familiar. Yes, there is an old bard legend about a group of adventurers who refused to fight a young dragon, thereby just conceding the town and leading to the devastation of the entire region for a full century. Wasn't our home town. We had no investment in that town. What makes a song about that? And they're right away. No, it's counting us on for six pages. By the way, it's kind of a song that celebrates. It's a song that blains. Yeah, sure. It's like the Edmund Fitzgerald of dragons coming over to kick our ass on. And now I'm going to feel tempted to go get the tune of that. Smart work out in the others for them. Yeah, my man, Hatch was gay. Once dozens of villages, towns and farmsteads spread across the valley and into the hills, the fate of these habitations and other cities for the past hundred years has mostly been unknown. Yeah, my man. Rockfall has been on the fringe. You've had a history of, you have not really explored more than maybe to a day or two's march from your area. You've pretty much maintained a secure kind of safe zone all this time. It has required constant patrolling. You know that rarely, at least within the past few decades, you have not gone up against the dragon itself. But there has been the occasional group of travelers who have braved the wilderness and they've brought news. There has also been the occasional trader who has kind of threw you assume, either magical means or some other means made it to your city to bring news. Refugees have also, for the past century, have always trickled in to your areas because it's one of the few safe places. And because you do know that the dragon had minions, it didn't do all its dirty work. It had an organization that has used the name servants of the dragon. And these, unfortunately, could be anybody. So it wasn't a specific race. It wasn't like dragon barn. There were a lot of dragon barns. Okay. And their primary modes seem to be stealth and magic whenever they were in town. So they had a dragon barn in our city and then they'd show we distrust them wholeheartedly. They're not even allowed through the gates. When you tell me, do you think that in your society, do you think that you would tolerate dragon barn? Because I- Well, I got the impression that the town kind of has a center to it. Right. In which the dwarfs are allowed. The mountain is mostly all dwarfs. Right. And then outside the main gates, outside the stone gate, the main walls, built around the outside. It's becoming its own city as well. Right. It would be the refugee city, which is called threshold. So my parents live in the refugee camps as a gnome. I've been allowed into the city because I've been adopted into a clan. So I say something like the dragon barn, you might see one or two, and they're still very distrusted in the camp. They're not allowed in the city. Yeah, I would- I would imagine- Ain't nobody allowed in the city that's dragon barn. I would imagine maybe there's like, well, there's maybe a few, very few in threshold, and maybe like everybody says, so-and-so he's cool. He's a dragon barn. Everybody knows he's cool. He's not like the rest of them. Okay. But you still have others that say no, he's no, he's not dragon barn. We don't trust him. Well, I say most people say you say that. The one that one is cool, but the rest of them are watch out. Okay. So while it's still pretty rare, and while people are not overtly hostile, you get kind of that- Is he working- Are there a- Do dragon barn come in different colors relating to their parentage? Well, a dragon point, because it was a dragon barn. They would be forgetting. Yeah. Dragonborn are- They can be, I think, any hue in color, but mostly I think they're described as having- Metallic. Metallic colors. Yeah, which are initially good dragons, right? Yeah, Pahamoon. So I would say that any time- There might be stories of a red dragon that once came, and he was stoned to death before anybody could stop it. You know, it was like- It was like- Uh-uh. I would give a shit out. But then again- And then again, he could have been a good button- As- As Dally knows, and as Kirth knows, it's not very complicated magic to all three of your parents. Yeah. I mean, I can't do it, but yeah, I've heard- Dales. So- Uh, I being Dally. Claiming Rude Hammer, of which you were a part- Yes. And actually a direct ascendant of. You have a very proud heritage and a strong one, but your numbers have diminished, and your position has kind of slid, which is some of the stuff that you mentioned, like some of your recklessness and the things that have happened. Our recent examples of- Maybe some of it has kind of damaged or brought that a little bit lower. Sure. Which is- Sure. My father is definitely disappointed, because he wanted me to follow the clan. Like he's a master gem worker, and believes that that's what Rude Hammer's do. Well, how about like history? He wants to take the slow, steady approach, because- Sure, that's exactly right. You're trying to grab glory quickly, and bring it back to the clan, you know? And bad things happen. Right. Well, I don't know- I don't know that I wanted to grab glory quickly. He was- I had a choice, I felt a calling. Deep inside I felt this calling to, um, to form. And I had to choose between following my father's footsteps, and hoping to elevate clan Rude Hammer through its traditional method of metal work and gem work and all that. Or whether I was going to follow this- No one in my family, clan Rude Hammer, just not known for paladins or even clergy. I mean, again, our bread and butter through history has been- has been gems and craft work. You definitely have felt a calling, because- So I was sworn, which is my actual background, choice of words, is torn, because he felt very torn. He wanted to make his father proud. He wanted to follow in the family footsteps. But at the same time, he could not deny an unearthly calling that seemed to- Right. So it would lead him. And then to compound it, his first foray into paladinhood, although, you know, I mean, there's obviously taking the rights and learning the weapons and all that, and he seemed to shine. And he was bringing some honor to the family. His first adventure, his first expedition, maybe a better term, was mixed. I mean, they certainly met their goal, but several people died or were- Were you a sole survivor or were you- No, not so- I wasn't- It could be anything. But in my head, he went out with a group of pen and came back with like six. Succeeded in the mission, I did air quotes with my- Clossel. But it was costly. The current victory. Yeah. The advantage would like to be one of those six. I think that kind of plays good now. Oh, okay. And you maybe gave me some advice, and I didn't quite listen to it, because I had the mandate from the church on what to do. And Ian is not like so headstrong. He's actually doubting his ability now, and wants you to make decisions for him. That could be part of- Well, I don't think it's as well, just to easily fit in there. Yes. Yeah, paid in as a fighter. Certainly would be there. Could have been. But I don't think it's been recorded, because we actually lost one of the recordings, my fault. But paladins are very prestigious among the doors. I mean, very prestigious. But yet, you are now deferring to the cleric because- Because people died. Or got captured. Just thanks for me. You ignored us in vice and- Okay. Did you state your age? 45, I'm a little bit younger than you. I wanted to be young. Whatever page you said, I was in some tracks. Somewhere close to 10 from it, because I would be younger. I might as well be 54. Right. So your dad's a- I want to say- Make your own things. Well, I think he's a master craftsman, whether it could be armor, it could be gems, it could be anything. I thought- No wonder he always likes Dally, because she's a tinker. She makes things. She's not like you. Right. No, and I think he probably- I got adopted. Yeah, he's got a soft spot for her, and in our more heated debates, you know, why can't you be more like Dally? And I think- The gnome. Yeah, the gnome. The gnome gets it. Why can't you get it? Right. So there's a lot more- Well, he makes things. The dad died, and I'm torn as to whether Dang should be good. Like really good. Like he's his father's son, meaning like he could have been a really great good craftsman, or even a great craftsman. I'm leaning towards that, because it makes it more painful than for my father to have turned him away for the paladinhood. And as opposed to just being bad at it, which I would have embarrassed many ways. So I think Dane has a skill there, but chose to, again, to follow the religion, and then chose to listen to his more reckless side and cause people- And again, I don't know whether they died or whether they were captured. That's fine. We can explore that. You missed John's story. We got a lot of good threats here. Good. Yeah, a lot of great- Well, I heard some of John's I was getting ready to leave, because he was introducing himself and about how he was a wave, and he had made some bad decisions, but was too young to get to read. No, but he did the book. He's told that he's going to make him a wizard. He's teaching himself what's from a rival of yours. And they won't admit it, because there's some- Rival family. Rival, rival clan or family, that maybe there's a little dark magic in that book, and John's not necessarily going to use, but it wasn't there. So they won't admit it was stolen. You raised something, and I just want to clarify something. Is it a rival clan, or is it a rival family within the clan? So maybe the leadership- And he couldn't be either. Oh, that would be even cooler, if it's a family that's certain to come into power. But you're saying that clan runhimer is losing, so I'm sorry. You know, it has, I think, lost- So this clan is getting higher, and because they're doing something- But remember, clans are parts of families, you know, so everyone can contribute, but I'm wondering- Well, wait a minute, just to be clear. Sure. If you've got a clan, clan A and clan B, all of family X would be under one clan. They wouldn't be spread across both- No, you wanted to know if it was someone within our clan trying to become the leader of this clan. It's just a question of scale, though, isn't it? Because it would just be larger if two clans were vying to be the best of the society. Well, one thing I want to be careful about, and it's a bad habit of mine, and that passes that. We go too big, too fast. And I still want to bring it back down to the immediate missions that you're- That's what I'm getting to the family. Right. But you presented some really interesting ideas, and I just wanted to get a sense of, is this a issue that's going to affect us internally in the clan, or is it going to be someone external? Well, is that spice between clans seems big scale, but- Well, I appreciate that it's a difference of last names. Yeah, but no, it's more and more to the point. Is if it's family, Scott's character and my character, Dalian Dain, or hearth level, but if it's a different clan, then nobody in this party would have a problem with you having this. But if it's family level, then potentially- Right. Vantash, Bo deck, might have an issue with you having that, because it might have been his family that you're doing it from. So it does matter scale-wise. Again, we don't have to decide it now, but it's something that we need to- I just- You sound a bit reticent in that you don't want it to be- Okay, a fight of giant clans and stuff. But- Not yet. I want to- But one indicates an inner party conflict, which is something we're trying to avoid. We're trying to avoid- We're not trying to avoid them, because it won't be our party that's- Well, at least I don't think it would be effective. I mean, it depends on where you guys take it. In dwarven society, do women only take the men's names, or if you marry into a more prestigious clan, you take your wife's name? There is an equality and a freedom between the sexes, so it could be- I think they'd just take the better clan name of the two. They're most prestigious. Yeah, and I'd say that they would take their clan name, or that they would always create a wife of- I'm Magda, a wife of Dane. I'm Bella, a wife of Thane. Well, I think we've- We've done a lot of exposition. We've done a lot of- Yeah. Uh, road building. I'd like to know another podcast, and they were playing Fifth Edition, and Good Lord, they were rolling a ton of dice. So, in order to alleviate that, I think what we want to do at some point, when we actually get to a combat, or a rolling dice, is they're all both the- to hit and the damage all at the same time, so it's one roll. I did hit, and I did this much damage, just to move things around, so it's just a suggestion. I reroll sometimes. And I'm going to try to rely on using a lot of description, and especially when we do any combat, I want to avoid having to pull out the big giant sheet of grid paper, and- Yeah, I believe we talked about that too, and what we said we got to be careful of is, sometimes they said, "Describe what you're going to do," and someone went into an elaborate description, and then rolled a tube. So it's more like, roll the dice, and then describe what happened. You know, tell me what you want to achieve, roll the three if you achieved it, and then we can describe the flavor- And you do want to add the flavor, because that's important- Yeah. To making it more fun to- But you're going to- and I know we're not going to get to it tonight, but we're going to start off with a gather. Now that the news and the rumors of- what has happened to this dragon have been unofficial for weeks now, and you all have noticed increased activity of patrols, of expeditions, and in fact, there's actually not a lot of folks in the city right now, because there seems to be a lot of activity that has spread out into the surrounding area. Would you say in the past, everybody migrated here for safety, now it seems they're spreading out? Well, the refugees and people, but I'm talking about the official, the armed parties, the not so much adventurers, but the soldiers and war parties have been out in force. Scouting parties. That's now wandering much, much, much farther out. Yes, and actually you've even seen a couple of foreigners, including humans. There's a lot of rumors flying around the city right now. There's a lot of buzz, there's excitement, it's the eve of change. A gather has been called, so you know that this evening, everyone is supposed to be in the main hall, where the elders of Hal Abbottan will make some announcements. And this is where I'm starting to talk. Bodeck would probably know this, and Dane and maybe Barrow might, because they're the elders of this group right now. The reason why they might know a little bit more about the rumors is that there's a fear or concern, or maybe an opportunity to land rush. If the rumors are true, that the dragon is dead, and the major force that has been affecting your lives for the past century is gone, well, is there land for the taking? Is there, is it safe to go back? Maybe we need to pacify areas, and that's what's happening, and we're trying to confirm and verify. Right now they seem to be trying to verify these stories, and these reports that have come through. The fact that you have seen foreigners in Hal Abbottan, and some of them were injured, some of them were, you know, healing up, and, you know, I have received healing. And actually, maybe Bodeck, you would know about that, because you're ridiculous. So, maybe you got to actually see some love close, and one of them might have been a human night, from the kingdom far to the east, near the shores. The Ruenhammer clan has a vested interest in this. What? Can it re-establish our glory days? Or is it our church that has a-- Or is it more just the dwarf and nation? I mean, probably both, but-- Yeah, there's another more dire whisper that's been kind of going around, and Doris can't help but ask this question too, because this dragon did the decades, where there's a dragon, there's a horde. Dally size, if that's common. You know, so there is a question about that. However, this landscape has been transformed, so even all the maps you have of this area, they're 100 years out of date. The land has, for different reasons, that might be magical, might be because of the damage. Again, the cast, that I'm saying, might be that, right? That Aurora, you've seen, has been a question mark, and sometimes you cast spells, and they didn't work out the way you want, but because you deal with chaotic magic, you don't think too much about that. At the same time, you're like, "Things are happening that you were aware of, and you're not sure." Also, from the clerics in the paladin aspect of it, while you still have your prayers answered in the form of your abilities are present, and you do feel the presence of your god, there are times where your feelings of peaceful contemplation are somehow disturbed, as if it is an effort, where before it wasn't an effort to feel the presence of your deity. Is that in the line? Something's-- Well, that'd be a good way to describe it, or-- It's not something that you feel is dire, or-- It's not as definitive as it used to be, there. But it feels different. It's something to make a call. Please hang out. Well, we're talking lawful good gods, and there seems to be catech-- Northern lights flashing over there. We've got something going on. It's not near that you don't think of it as an imminent threat to rockfall. By the way, there are three moons. It's normal that there are three moons in the sky. There's a big moon, and that one is very bright, but it's kind of a pale blue, but with feathery white fluffiness to it, very descriptive purposes. It kind of looks like the earth, but hanging up in the-- Not bad sky. Like the earth's from the moon. Right. The earth changes it, because it has cloud patterns or whatnot. Is this one static? That one changes its patterns. Cool. There's a pale white one that kind of has stripes, and as if they were like full gouges or-- Like crosshatching, if you will. It kind of looks like maybe the scenes of a skull. Oh, really? And then there's a dull red one. Oh, this is another big thing I forgot to mention. The beasts of burden are extremely rare, because they, for a long time, were a food source. It's very rare to see the horses and mules, and they're very prized. So as hardy, dwarven folk, you're very accustomed and used to carrying your gear with you. Backpacking it. To be clear, when we start next week, it will be a meeting of the clan. But you will be-- Or is it a meeting of the dwarven nation? Dwarven nation is too big of a word. It's the society that's currently in-- The town hall. This is a town hall. Because it's a town hall. That's a good way to describe it. Can we also assume that our clan, the room hammer, has a clan house? Like a VFW kind of-- Yes, the different clans have-- Let's call them corridors. And what I mean by-- Room hammer streets? No, off my streets. But there are sections of the mountain that are designated for the different-- And this is runal area. Right. Well, for our gallery these galleries are halls now. Remember, you guys, for the most part, all the clans do-- Get all operate. They do work together. They have mutual goals of survival and prosperity. Sometimes they're just more equal than others. Yes. I mean, while the rivalries are-- You know, but sometimes dwarves are dwarves. They're blunt. They're brusque. They're kind of grouchy. They're groovy. Sometimes dopey. Oh, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. begin with the town hall meeting, the gathering of the clans, and you will begin to hear and decide what to do with yourselves. Alright, alright, and next week, the gathering of the clans of the Edgley. Thank you for listening tonight to the Night to the Night actual play podcast. If you'd like to send us questions, comments, or feedback, you can reach us in a number of ways. From Twitter, @kotn_podcast, or by email feedback@kotnpodcast.com. And don't forget the iTunes reviews, or our Facebook page, facebook.com/kotn.podcast. Speaking of Facebook, join like-minded folks at our Facebook fan page. And lastly, there's our blog page, kotnpodcast.com, where there's an Amazon link on the right-hand side. Thanks to Zen Audio Smith for the intro and outro music. Get your own music at zenaudiosmith.com. And join us next week for more mystery and adventure. Joe, C, and the pussy kids. Thanks for the editing, Jim. I have no idea what he's referring to. I don't know if I possibly fit that. No, I mean, I know what international, I don't know. What's up with mystery? Mystery was one of my favorites before you could just start a remark on it. I have no clue. Your internet is, um, yeah. Awesome. I think it's what the word you're looking for. Awesome. I'm pretty sure that's not going to work on what you're looking for. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. They don't know something. There you go. Mmm. Yeah. Don't make that noise because I literally really fall asleep in this chair. Uh, fuck me. Mmm. Yes. Mmm. That's much. We're on the air. I don't want to miss any of this gold. We missed all those cats golf flats. Yes, geez. That was awesome. This one's forever, man. The walking of eyes, they passed each other. It was tense. Way past tense. Past tense. No, it was present tense. It was present tense. Now it's past tense. Excellent. If you took Kira, our first nanny, and turned her into a human adventurer, that's pretty damn dark. It's a little darker skin, but yeah, a little bit. But the facial, the facial expression. Very similar. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You could have modeled that. What page was it? Page 29. This is our official start to... Oh, wait. I remember. I'm Mike. Oh, yeah. I'll be your GM player. I'll be your GM player. That's a DM or DM. Yeah. You can say whatever you want. You can't say whatever you want. But is that the point? That'd be consistent. This guy's a storyteller. I don't get that. How pompous. I would say DM because you're not going to get a chance to do that. That is true. Yeah. Hi there. So. Let me give you... I'm sorry to answer your question, Jim? Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Are we doing the picture thing with the name or just the name? We really should. I have been collecting a bunch of imagery for the words for a while. I've got to send you. I've got about 25-eyed images already that... Oh, we should put them up in an area and maybe... I don't know if you guys want to choose your own or leave it up to the listeners. Who should be? I can send you a zip of JPEGs and stuff like that. Yeah, I can. Give me a gift. Don't forget to know. No. Oh, and I have some gnomes. Okay. Female. As long as the hours aren't. Okay. Oh. No, I'm just kidding. You just alienated all of our gnomish listeners. Only the main one. Thanks. No. There's a little folk. They're gone. One of the listeners was... Actually, it was... I should put this in the feedback. I was listening to the Sword Nut Radio podcast and they mentioned that they actually... They enjoy our podcast quite a bit. So, shout out to Sword Nut. I enjoy their podcast as well. But they said they had a difficulty of telling Thomas' and John's voice apart. Their suggestion was to almost speak in the third person instead of saying, "I do this." Which is good for emerging into your character. Borrows, you know, whatever. Borrow does this so that it makes... I think I can't do that already. That's just mentioning it. It's something we want to try to do for all of us to do. Right. Exactly. So, there's a point where Mike's saying, "You," he should be saying, "Borrow." But we should also be saying it while we're playing our characters to make it more... No, that's very good. To make sure that I do that because that's... You can hold your nose when you're talking. I'm trying to create a... I'm trying to hear that. I'm trying to hear that. The theater of the mind here. We'll just roll... It's also tones. The way you ask to do falsities. Yeah, actually John's gonna be out to be the one that holds his nose because Thomas has the dulcid tones. If we're so hard to tell apart, don't we both? Don't we both? I don't think it's necessarily the timber of your voice. Thomas's is definitely different. It might be that you're both my sons and you're speaking patterns are very similar. You know, your word uses on such things. So, that's kind of the general feeling about that. I didn't know they existed in this world. Or maybe just enough for us to choose. I didn't want you to choose Dragonborn and Keithling. So, I kind of restricted that from you. But... They do exist. Nobody likes them. Yeah, they're weirdos anyway. Well, you distrust them. But again, you get to make up your minds and how you want to do that. I'm just telling you what your society can do. Our parents told us not to never trust the people. Right. My boy. Um... You hate... For the rural juror. His last name was actually going to be Dane. But since his name is Dane, I thought that would be weird. Can't your answer. I don't have Dane. I'm Dally. Oh, his name is Dane. His first name is Dane. His family name is Roonhammer. Scott. Yeah, him. I don't even know what I said. Everybody else? Everybody, but you got it apparently. And you were thick as thieves. Eh. For the past century, a red dragon... Oh, it was a red dragon and a blue dragon. I thought it was a red dragon. Alright, let's just go put it here. Yeah. I mean from our previous adventure. The goblins and red dragons. Yeah, that's right. It sucks. Okay, that's bad. Wait a minute. My character is red. What? Fuck with everything. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry. Sorry, sorry. I kind of think that we're thinking what color would cause the most retinal damage to anybody. This is the worst possible. Actually, all of those note cards are the worst. Is this the same voice for color? But maybe the especially orange or the yellow. I think yellow is legible, but this green is major. Because I believe when you try to read it. I'm going to keep this orange. Can you... Those are variable. Why gank for some of those? Yeah. I have a boyfriend's book. What would they think? A technology reference book from Wired that is printed on a paper like this. And it's got really good information, but you can't reference it. You can't read it for more than a minute. Why are you doing that for decades? I mean, you look at some of the old stuff. I can't even read this. Why would you... Why would you... What's the name of this dragon, Agnes? Core Agnes. K-L-R, apostrophe, I-G-N-I-S, Core Agnes. Dude, do we call Bob's character's name? We do not know what it's about. It's Bob. Because he's a ranger. I know that much. Bob the ranger. Bob the ranger. Can he track it? Sorry, I'm just making myself more ugly. Yes, you are. Don't you love how they always wait the last possible moment to it? We had somebody come over yesterday. They came over for a play date from three to five. Right. And so she stepped in the door. There's my wife and I, and there's the parent of the kid who's helping or coming to visit. And my daughter goes, "Oh, can she say for dinner?" And you're like... Hi, there's certain things. Of course. You're certainly welcome at our table. Right. So I proceed to real hamburgers. I mean, we were planning on having hot dogs and sausage and... Would you be vegan? She was a vegan. I found out. Nice. As we were serving nothing but plates of meat and some vegetables and stuff and she's just sitting there and just like nothing on her plan. Well, can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I eat? Can I cook something special? Can I be vegan? And I'm gluten intolerant. So I can't eat. And I'm allergic to nuts. Well, I'm glad you know. And then I... Of course I'd have talked to my daughter later and say... That was a leap. It was back in shit luck days. We had been in vacation or something and we just like were in a rush to get a recording in. And Mark, Aaron had called me and said, "Mark's in tears." So I had to go back and I'm like, "What's wrong? Because Barb wasn't there." And Mark was much, much younger and he was upset because he didn't get to see me because he had missed me because I had been at work and stuff. So I'm telling this story and Greg gets a call from his daughter. He's like, "Yeah, can I spend the weekend at my friend's house? I don't know if they were near you or any other family." He's like, "You're big complain as you had to go back and just something was missing you. If my daughter doesn't even want to see me for the weekend." You're a dick. You know what I mean? I think how I would describe it in our sense would be... Earth would be... Earth. Earth. Would be planet itself. Then family would be all my brothers and sisters and cousins and all that. And then clan would be literally any Flanagan in this sense. They don't have to be directly related, but yes. They're actually... They're somewhere in the trite. You have multiple bloodlines in a clan. But in a family you have, like you said, the brothers and sisters. And that's what I mean by Flanagan's all over the place because there's... I mean, obviously... It's a serious east side clan, or Flanagan's. Right. Flanagan's east. What? But that would be the room. That would be John. Yeah. So, wouldn't you just... I mean, there's no level even higher where it's just Irish. Oh, Irish. No. Okay. That would be dwarves. Yes. That would be the equivalent of all Irish. Okay. Right. In Dwarven Society, do women only take the men's names, or if you marry into a more prestigious clan, do you take your wife's name? Well, it's whoever has the better beard, so it might be the wife, or it might be... That's humorous. Okay. Um... Actually, it was kind of funny. I see. Why not hyphenate it? What? I've always wondered what happens after the first generation of hyphenating. Do you just keep hyphenating? It's gonna get really messy at the point. Well, that's what I need to do. Herbert Walker Bush. Yeah. All of it. Yeah. Okay. Leedress? There are no needros. Ha! Ha! But horses and mules. But, oxen... For our listeners, the needros were an attempt that Mike made to make horses... Uh... ...less troublesome. So when we went into a dungeon, they would be... They'd just grow up into a... They were the equivalent of an armadillo... Yeah. ...crossed with a horse. So that they weren't... But you didn't eat them. They would curl up into an impenetrable ball. Like a bogey ball. That would not be affected by damage or anything. So it was just... Were they golems or something? A potato bug. No, but... Oh, potato bug's good. I don't think an armadillo. Okay. That's a good way to describe it. But basically, it's like... I don't think it was... You know, we found it annoying that when you went into a dungeon, the horses were a problem outside the dungeon. You know, what do you do with them? You put a ball. You break them into your eyes. You tied them up and let them race. You hobble with them. And we did that. And then somebody would come along and kill our horses. And then all our gear would be gone. And then we'd be like, "What were we supposed to do?" What? Dungeon master would do... You possibly do that. It's horrible. When it became my turn, I thought, "Okay, let's just eliminate this." But I tried to tell it in a way that would be... And they just would not leave me alone. So... Ever. That would be gross. You should have made like a wizard sell it to them. Oh, look at my decoration! This abomination. He's... What's on that? They wouldn't have accepted that. I am a monster. Who are? So... That may become an issue. So... Yeah. So there's some of... I'm giving you a little bit of the rumors that are flying around. But yeah. There is a little bit of the pore. We were... It's going to not be here next Friday. Just everyone else. Oh, it's the end of the adventure next week. Well... That's because... Shoot up. Well, that's the only story that's ever. We all turn over. I won't be here four weeks from now. And maybe not three weeks from now. Are we going to Buffalo at some point? That's another issue. That's the end of the month. This is at the beginning of the month. No, this September 19th is in the end of the month. Oh, that's true. Oh, boy. Yeah. Maybe you could have built something like into the story where... Well, I'm not going to be here since September 19th. No, I meant for his potential two weeks of Colorado. I think it is. You're going to Colorado? Yes. And I'll be back on the 12th. So... Maybe you could build something into it. Definitely miss the 11th. We separated or something and I have to assume control again of the group, which makes me obviously nervous and tentative. Something along those lines. I'll be saying, you probably can't do Sunday nights, huh? With school starting for you. Do you have money classes? Yeah, I do. I think that's the second work that you've done to wake up in. I'm a little bit nervous.