Part 3: Gangland | Starter Kit - Advanced D&D

Summary

Podcast Summary: Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry – Part 3: Gangland | Starter Kit - Advanced D&D

Podcast Host: geekandsundry
Air Date: November 17, 2025
Season: Ten Candles: Eclipse
DM: David Nett
Featured Cast: Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, and others

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Episode Overview

This episode follows the starter kit cast as they navigate a gritty Dungeons & Dragons investigation within a fantasy city’s criminal underworld. After encountering a bizarre and deadly creature in the previous session, the party pivots into detective mode, dissecting clues, healing up, and preparing to go undercover in the Thieves Quarter. Along the way, they roleplay social encounters, flex their D&D mechanics knowledge, and ultimately engineer a meeting with the elusive Harpies gang leader, Geralt. The tone is a playful blend of classic D&D camaraderie, urban noir intrigue, and insider tips on gameplay mechanics.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Progression

1. Short Rest & Game Mechanics (03:12–06:53)

• Recap: The characters are in their police precinct, debating clues and drawing theories after their intense previous encounter (carrion crawler escaping a thief's body).

• Game Mechanics:

  • Short Rest vs. Long Rest: DM Dave Nett explains the differences and benefits.
  • Healing: The party discusses healing using hit dice, with Igneous demonstrating a heal.
  • Recovering Hit Dice: Denise asks about regaining hit dice—David clarifies it's partial recovery on a long rest.

  “You can only ever heal back to your maximum. So the place where you started the game is the highest you can go.” – David Nett (06:10)

2. Debrief with Captain Smiles (06:53–12:18)

• Back in the Precinct: Captain Smiles returns and requests an update.

• Player Recap: The group describes the carnage at the Flagstaff house—two rival gangs (The Harpies and the Rivers) found dead, a carrion crawler emerging from a member's body, and rat informants hinting at humans traversing the sewers.

  “One of the thieves became a carrion crawler. Or it was living inside it.” – Leona (22:52)

• Speculation: The players theorize why both gangs were in the mansion, suspecting either collaboration or a coincidental conflict.

3. Preparing to Go Undercover (12:18–17:58)

• Plan: The party decides to investigate the Thieves Quarter, possibly undercover.

• Outfit & Gear Adjustments: In signature D&D fashion, characters debate what armor and weapons to bring for maximum blending-in, roleplaying their characters’ choices and thinking through consequences for stealth.

  • Magical disguises, concealed daggers, and stripping off flashy armor abound.

  "Blending in as best we can… When my brother frequents the Thieves Den, he goes in disguise." – Leona (12:31–12:41)

• City Lore: The DM gives context on city layout—six “quarters,” gentrification, and distinctions between Old City and new, adding flavor to the urban setting.

4. Pursuing Leads in the Thieves Quarter: Bobby the Brother (17:58–25:06)

• Connecting with Leona’s Brother: They seek out Bobby, Leona’s younger brother, a beat guard in the Thieves Quarter, for inside scoops.

• Sharing Information: The group recounts the murder scene details, pressing Bobby for contacts or access to gang leaders.

• Key Dialogue:

  • Bobby clarifies the Rivers are a minor gang.
  • Insights into Harpies' dominance and gang politics.

  “The Harpies don’t so much work with other gangs... if there’s somebody they want, they will consume another gang or drive them out.” – Bobby (23:44)

• Banter & World-Building:
  The players flirt, joke about the legend of beating 40 bandits, and affirm their bonds, in-character—providing levity and depth.

  “Yes, as you know, bandits often travel in groups of 40.” – Araviel (26:05)

5. Pawn Shop Encounter with Aldous (26:55–36:29)

• Seeking Geralt: Following Bobby’s tip, the party visits Aldous’s pawn shop, aiming to set up a meeting with Geralt, the Harpy leader.

• Social Skills in Play:

  • Denise attempts Deception—fails.
  • Leona steps in with Intimidation, dramatically succeeds.

  “I’m Bobby’s sister, and you’re gonna tell me everything.” – Leona (30:13)

• Negotiation & Bribery: Aldous, appeased by gold, agrees to broker a meeting; mentions needing resources for his contact, Toby, a Harpies favorite.

• Leads Gathered:

  • They learn more about the power structure; Geralt is very interested in the party.
  • The Rivers remain elusive, but Geralt should know more.

6. Gathering Information & Setting the Meet (36:29–39:14)

• Waiting Period:

  • The party spends several hours wandering and keeping an eye out for gang markings (noting Harpy dominance).
  • Bobby watches discreetly.

• Return to Aldous: He delivers—meeting with Geralt is set at a nondescript site behind a shop, not the Harpy HQ itself.

  “He seemed, according to Toby, very eager to talk to you. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s super for me.” – Aldous (38:07)

7. Confrontation at the Meeting Point (39:14–42:15)

• Arriving at the Hideout:

  • Two tough guards watch the door—Leona once again dominates with Intimidation, and the party is let in.

• First Appearance of Geralt:

  • The episode ends with a dramatic introduction to Geralt, the imposing, half-orc Harpies boss.

  “I’m quite impressed. Bairn is not usually so easily cowed. You must be as intimidating as I have heard.” – Geralt (41:56)

• Cliffhanger:
  The conversation with Geralt is set for next time—will the party get answers or new trouble?

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• DM Wisdom on Resting Mechanics:
  “There are two kinds of rests... A long rest is eight hours... A short rest... you can do some healing.” – David Nett (03:12)

• On Urban Fantasy Concealment:
  “Magical longswords of fine make, shields, chainmail armor... those are things you don’t see often outside the city Guard.” – David Nett (13:05)

• Comedic Party Dynamics:
  “If this were anyone other than Leona, I would think they’re having a joke at our expense. But Leona doesn’t even have a sense of humor.” – Bobby (23:03)

• Classic D&D Table Banter:
  “I’m also rich. Horse tall.” – Leona, as the group haggles for information with the pawn shop owner (32:29)

• DM Teaser Ending:
  “He looks at the rest of you and says, I, of course, am Geralt. And that’s where we’re gonna leave it for today.” – David Nett (42:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Recap of Previous Session / Opening: [02:45]
• Short/Long Rest & Healing Mechanics: [03:12–06:53]
• Precinct Debrief with Captain Smiles: [06:53–12:18]
• Planning and Going Undercover: [12:18–17:58]
• Meeting Bobby in the Thieves Quarter: [19:47–25:06]
• Pawn Shop Social Encounter (Aldous): [26:55–36:29]
• Clues on Gang Structure & Set-up for Geralt Meeting: [36:29–39:14]
• Confrontation with Gang Guards & Entering to Meet Geralt: [39:14–42:11]
• Geralt’s Dramatic Introduction & Cliffhanger: [41:56]

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Summary

This episode masterfully blends urban fantasy D&D gameplay with table banter and social mechanics, as the party slips into the criminal shadows of Greyhawk. After a meticulous investigative montage and much roleplayed negotiation—including clever use of intimidation—the party scores an audience with the city's most dangerous gang boss. The game master keeps the stakes high and the atmosphere lively, leaving listeners eager for revelations and likely more peril in the next installment.

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Transcript

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[Marisha Ray]

Last time on Starter Kit the arrow.

[David Nett]

Whistles through the air and thunks into this creature's thick hide. It turns and bolts. There's a sewer grate that has been pulled aside.

[Leona]

We have to follow it.

[Igneous]

I can talk to rats.

[David Nett]

Big ones. Worm worth worms on face.

[Igneous]

That's what we're looking for.

[David Nett]

Welcome back to your starter kit. I'm David Nett, your dungeon master for this D and D adventure. When interacting with non player characters in Dungeons and Dragons, we mostly roleplay speaking as our characters. But sometimes you need to force the interaction to get something you want. And that's where the character's social skills come in. We find ourselves in your police precinct. You've spent the last few hours since Smiles left the office drawing more clues on the board, diagramming things, talking to each other. Do we think that there was only one Karen caller? Maybe that there were two? Why are these two guilds or two gangs found together in the same place? During this time of conversation and theorizing, your brains are working but your bodies are resting. So I'm going to call this period a short rest. There are two kinds of rests in the game. We have short rest and long rest. A long rest is eight hours of rest and sleep. And when you take a long rest, you get all of your hit points back, you get all of your spells back. Basically it's kind of a reset for your character, more or less. A short rest has somewhat different parameters around it. During a short rest, some of your powers might come back. Your wild shaped power, for instance, your martial powers, those things come back with just a short rest. But the other thing is you can do some healing during a short rest. Your body is resting and recovering just like it would be from any exertion that you make. And so you can spend some of your hit dice and you can recover some hit points. Not probably all of them if you've taken terrible damage, but you can heal a little bit. I don't think anybody took damage last time. Except for. Yeah, except for igneous.

[Igneous]

Yeah, I took about five points of damage last time.

[David Nett]

Okay, so you've rested a little bit. Now do you want to do some healing during this short rest? Some self healing?

[Igneous]

I mean, I do want to do some healing. We do have I Have Healing Word as one of my spells.

[David Nett]

So Healing Word is a spell that you can cast. You know, spells are resource limited. You can cast it during combat if people have fallen or if they've taken a lot of damage. If you want to cast those spells now, you can. But if you want to hold on to them in case something else happens and you need them, you. You might use this personally.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. In case a carrion crawler smashes through the station. You think it happened at this point.

[David Nett]

At this point, any one of us could be a carrion cry.

[Igneous]

We could be infected.

[David Nett]

Oh no, that's bad.

[Igneous]

So, yeah, I think I was infected. Hey, this is bad.

[Leona]

I touched you. Let's heal you.

[David Nett]

Let's heal. So the way that this works then is you're going to find your hit dice and that's kind of in the center of your sheet, down below your hit points. And it should say five D8 for you. That means you're fifth level. So you have five and a D8. That's the hit die that you roll as a druid. Some people have D6s, some people will have D10s. You have a D8. Got it. So you can roll up to five of those. You can do them one at a time, see how many points you're getting back and you can choose to stop whenever you want to. So how many hit points are you down?

[Igneous]

I'm down about 5.

[David Nett]

So let's roll that first.

[Igneous]

I'm gonna roll on D8 and got a 3.

[David Nett]

Now you can add your constitution bonus to this.

[Igneous]

Yeah, but I don't have a constitution bonus.

[David Nett]

So that's three hit points you get back.

[Igneous]

Three hit points back.

[David Nett]

You, you're going to mark that down where you've got your hit dice and you're going to add three hit points back to your. Now you can only ever heal back to your maximum. So the place where you started the game is the highest you can go. When you get a new level, you can get more hit points, but you can only ever heal back to that max. When you started with today.

[Denise]

How do you get hit dice back?

[Travis Willingham]

How do you replace.

[David Nett]

So when you take a long rest, you're going to get some of your hit dice back. Hit dice are a little bit different from your hit points. You would get all your hit points back after you've slept eight hours. But for hit dice, you're only going to get up to half of those back. So you've spent one. Now you can get. You're level five. So you would get Half rounded down. So you get two of those back. You could get up to two of those back in a long rest.

[Igneous]

In a long rest.

[David Nett]

The one that you spent, you definitely would get it back. Right? So if you want to spend another.

[Igneous]

One, you spend another one. I'll be able to get that back.

[David Nett]

All right.

[Igneous]

Four.

[David Nett]

That's good.

[Igneous]

So that brings me. Great.

[David Nett]

So it brings you back to where.

[Igneous]

You were, 431, right back up.

[David Nett]

So you're fully healthy just from sitting around talking about all this stuff. Your body has healed itself. After a few hours of conversing and theorizing, the door to the precinct opens. The next shift has actually already come in. So the day shift talking to you a little bit about your case. They're waiting to catch some cases. A couple of them get sent out right away. But about three hours into your investigation, smiles, opens the door and comes back in. And she's as you always see her. You saw her leave three hours ago to go catch a little bit of rest. She comes back in. You see no difference in her. She looks. Her glasses are down on her nose and she's a little disheveled. And she walks over to the board and looks at the things that you've drawn on since she last saw you and looks at each of you and says, excellent, excellent. I feel refreshed. How are you? Fantastic. Fantastic. And then she looks at you and says, so tell me. Tell me what's going on. Tell me what you've got.

[Leona]

We went to investigate the reports of dead bodies.

[David Nett]

That.

[Leona]

That young crimson cloak.

[David Nett]

So it's Tam. His name was Tam.

[Leona]

Tam, Yep. There were a number of bodies. There were two guards killed outside, seven inside, torn apart in strange ways, some stabbed, some with limbs missing. Investigative.

[David Nett]

So the ones inside were guards as well?

[Leona]

The ones inside were of two different thieving gangs.

[David Nett]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Leona]

The Three Rivers and the Harpies.

[Araviel]

Yeah.

[David Nett]

I've not heard of the Rivers.

[Igneous]

They are apparently new.

[Leona]

New gang.

[Igneous]

They've been.

[Marisha Ray]

New gang.

[David Nett]

Interesting. The Harpies. Of course. I know. Yes. But the Rivers I hadn't heard of. Go on.

[Leona]

Checking out other rooms. We found another thief, and in giving chase, he was apprehended. And then a carrion crawler crawled out of his mouth.

[David Nett]

Oh, my.

[Leona]

And attacked us. We struck back, he fled. We gave chase. He ran down a sewer. We pursued. And there we lost him.

[Araviel]

Wow.

[David Nett]

Wow. That is quite an incident. You had a night.

[Leona]

Yeah, we have.

[Marisha Ray]

Don't forget the rats.

[Leona]

And then Igneous spoke to some rats.

[Igneous]

We talked to some rats. We had a Nice chat with some rats.

[Leona]

They told us they had never seen the carrion crawler before, but that they had seen humans like us. What do rats really know? Head in the direction from which we came.

[David Nett]

Interesting. Interesting. So some humans had come through the sewers up to the mansion? Potentially, yes.

[Denise]

Captain, have you ever heard of a carrion crawler coming out of somebody like that before?

[David Nett]

I should say not. Do you believe that this creature inhabited the boy? Did the boy transform into this creature? Could you tell?

[Igneous]

It came out from him.

[Leona]

It seemed to tear him apart.

[Araviel]

He also seemed apologetic, so perhaps it had something to do with something he did. Maybe invited the creature inside him or something.

[David Nett]

Interesting. Certainly that's interesting.

[Igneous]

Yes, he definitely said, I'm sorry, did you do.

[David Nett]

Were there any leavings of the boy on the ground after the Carian crawler exited his body?

[Leona]

Human confetti.

[Denise]

Really great way to put it. Yeah, yeah.

[David Nett]

So you guys actually, when you went back to the crime scene, you found clothes on the ground where the carrion crawler came out, but nothing else.

[Igneous]

Yeah.

[David Nett]

So what do you think? Why were these two thieves gangs here together?

[Marisha Ray]

We deduced either they were working together or they both found out the Flagstaffs were out of town, arrived simultaneously and attacked each other.

[David Nett]

That would be unfortunate. Yeah, both scenarios actually.

[Marisha Ray]

The guard bodies were stabbed. They were not harmed by the carrying crawler, so it would seem.

[Leona]

Attacked from behind a planned move.

[Igneous]

And one of the harpies had lock picks.

[David Nett]

So someone did break in.

[Igneous]

So they did. Most likely the harpies broke in.

[Araviel]

Although if they were all murdered, which we don't know. If any got away, we don't. It could have been isolated incidents.

[David Nett]

Did you find any bloody footprints coming down the stairs or anything leaving the house?

[Igneous]

No, no, no. The blood trail ended at the servants quarters.

[David Nett]

Where.

[Leona]

Where we found the boy. Who?

[David Nett]

Yep. So if someone got away, they didn't go on foot.

[Araviel]

Well, thieves are naturally sneaky, so I'm not ruling that out.

[David Nett]

It's very, very well observed. Well observed.

[Araviel]

Thank you. Thank you. Gonna take that and hold it.

[Igneous]

Fire. Grew up all day.

[Denise]

I think we might have to head to the thieves court tonight and question some people.

[David Nett]

Certainly. I mean, that seems like a good course of action. Yes, but why wait till tonight?

[Denise]

You're absolutely right, Captain.

[David Nett]

The day is young, the sun is shining.

[Denise]

We're so fresh.

[David Nett]

We're fresh and ready to pursue.

[Denise]

So I guess the question is, do we go straight up and ask questions or do we try to go undercover?

[David Nett]

I love going undercover. So Captain Smiles, she says that as you know, The Harpies are the premier gang and in the Thieves Quarter their leader Geralt is a notorious figure. And you guys all know you've heard of Geralt? Maybe except for you, Narlak. You haven't had a lot of time in this place.

[Marisha Ray]

Because I am not of this world.

[David Nett]

Exactly. But everybody else has heard of Geralt. You know, the leader of the Harpies. The Harpies are the sort of main gang. There's lots of smaller gangs in the Thieves Quarter, however. But the Harpies are the top dogs. Absolutely. So she says that the leader Geralt is not unknown to us. He may be a font of information. If you do encounter him, be wary. He is a slippery character. But I trust you to go and ask around, ask your questions. You know that we are not especially welcome in the Thieves Quarter, right? Be careful.

[Denise]

Geralt ever respond to favors or money? Perhaps for information?

[David Nett]

He is the head of a Thieves Guild. I would imagine that might be a good way to approach him. Should we go?

[Marisha Ray]

Perhaps not in our uniforms.

[Igneous]

I think that was, I think, blending in as best we can is probably.

[Leona]

When my brother frequents the Thieves Den, he goes in disguise.

[David Nett]

So it's interesting to say that because there's a handful of things that would go along with going incognito into the Thieves Quarters. And the first would be the armor and weapons that you carry are not what regular people carry. While it is a rough city and the Thieves Quarter especially rough, you you'll see lots of daggers and maybe short swords and things there. Staves certainly in clubs. Magical longswords of fine make, shields, chainmail armor. Those are things you don't see very often outside of the city Guard traipsing through the streets. It's not that it's illegal to wear those things. It's just not something you encounter.

[Leona]

I mean, couldn't you hide chainmail under a chainmail?

[David Nett]

Yeah, chainmail's very hard to find. The chain shirt is a little bit easier. Somebody might detect it. But a full suit of chainmail is hard to hide. Same with the shield and the sword. Now you've got magical armor that looks like clothing when you want it to. So it's easy for you to hide your armor.

[Denise]

That's my armor of glamour, right?

[David Nett]

Yeah, that's your armor of glamour. That looks like you can make it look like regular street clothes whenever you want to. And some of you don't wear really any armor at all. Your ring mail is pretty bulky. That's something you might want to leave behind. So if you decided if you wanted to go incognito, you have to think about what weapons am I carrying, what armor am I wearing as I go about this, knowing that the more weapons and armor you carry, you're going to get different reactions from people. So if you guys are heading to the thieves quarter, I'll start with you. And you're like, are you bringing your armor? Are you bringing your weapons?

[Marisha Ray]

My idea was that I would wear a cloak covering my strange head face. I barely have a nose and I'm green room now.

[David Nett]

It's a huge city in this kind of magical realm. So while people probably haven't seen Gith in general, you look away from a lot of weird things in the street. There's lots of half orcs and things like that. So seeing someone with a strange face is not totally uncommon. But the big hood is probably a good idea. Are you gonna wear your ringmail?

[Marisha Ray]

Would that be pretty obvious even if.

[David Nett]

I had a. Yeah, it's bulky. It's a couple of layers of like cloth and leather with metal rings.

[Marisha Ray]

Leave it behind.

[David Nett]

So your ringmail, I think it gives you armor class 15. It says that beside your ringmail on your sheet down in your equipment. Does it say armor class 15? 14. 15, sorry. On your sheet there, the ringmail is.

[Marisha Ray]

Actually 14, because I do have a cloak of protection.

[David Nett]

You got a cloak of protection, so you take the ringmail off, your armor class is gonna drop down to 10 +1 with your cloak of protection. So just mark that somewhere that when you don't have your ringmail, your armor class is 11. And as far as weapons go, you've got your staff, you've got daggers and things. Those are all easily concealed. Do you have anything that you're going to leave behind?

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, it's just a staff. Old man and his staff.

[David Nett]

Okay, fair. So, Denise, you've got your armor transforms into street clothes. That's easy to conceal. The longbow, which is decidedly not easy to conceal. However, seeing people with a bow on the street is not unheard of. It's just. It's a little bit dicey. You could find a smaller ranged weapon if you wanted to, like a crossbow that you could conceal. But a longbow is your jam. So do you take that bow with you?

[Denise]

I do, because I worked in that area.

[David Nett]

Yep. If you unstring that bow and just sort of carry it on your back, not like it's a weapon at ready, but like it's just something that you're carrying, that's usually how you went about in the thieves quarter. It means that if you need to use it, you're going to have to take an action to string it before it'll be ready for use.

[Araviel]

Okay.

[David Nett]

Now your shortswords. Your two shortswords that you carry. Those might be conspicuous. It's your call whether you want to carry them. You've also got two daggers.

[Denise]

I'll leave the shortswords and I'll take the dagger.

[David Nett]

So just make a note that you're leaving the shortswords behind. Around to Raviel. Now you can your weapon. Oh yeah?

[Leona]

Poof.

[Araviel]

You're gone.

[David Nett]

Because you're a warlock and you're a pact of the blade, you can dismiss your weapon to a different dimension and call it back to you when you need to.

[Araviel]

Very handy. I will not take any weapons.

[David Nett]

Okay. Just the flail in another dimension.

[Araviel]

Just the flail in another dimension that you're going to have to look real hard to find. And then I also have. This was a lucky invocation that I chose. Armor of shadows. I can cast mage armor at will, whenever, and it lasts for eight hours, which will bring my armor class to 15 with my chain shirt at 17. But I will take the hit just to become super incognito.

[David Nett]

Okay, so you take the chain shirt off and cast mage armor now because it lasts eight hours.

[Araviel]

Yep.

[David Nett]

Great. So make sure you mark down your armor class now at the new armor class with the.

[Araviel]

It's 13, plus my dex modifier. So that makes it 15.

[David Nett]

Now, igneous, you don't have much. You've got leather armor.

[Igneous]

Leather armor.

[David Nett]

But that sits under your robes just fine. A lot of people in the quarter are going to have leather armor, so. And you've got a staff.

[Igneous]

A staff, a sickle, and my sling. So I'm just going to bring it all.

[David Nett]

So it's pretty low key for you. So you're going to be just like.

[Igneous]

You are blending right in.

[David Nett]

Now, Leona, you've got the problem. You're wearing full chainmail normally. You've got a big shield.

[Leona]

I'm going to take my dagger with me.

[David Nett]

Okay.

[Leona]

I'm going to take the weapons of my strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and creation.

[David Nett]

So your armor class now you take your chainmail off and you leave your shield behind. Your armor class will drop down to 10, plus your dexterity bonus. So your dexterity is a 14. You have plus two there. Right? So your armor class is temporarily 12. Okay, so stripped of your gaudy armor, taking away your cloaks at the end, very attractive armor. Your stylish but very visible armor. And you head down to the Thieves Quarter incognito. So let's move our miniatures down into the Thieves Quarter. So the Thieves Quarter's at the southern end of the city. Right over there. We're just gonna mark them there so.

[Leona]

That we know six quarters are in this.

[Travis Willingham]

There's six quarters.

[David Nett]

Apparently the Free City of Greyhawk grew kind of organically. There was a lot of city planning in the beginning. So indeed there are six quarters. This is called part of the called the Old City. And it consists of the Thieves Quarters and then also the slum quarters.

[Leona]

So it used to be nice. But then other parts got gentrified and.

[David Nett]

They built other parts more gentrified. But they built a wall between the old city and the newer city and then another wall. So you head down to the Thieves Quarter incognito as much as you can be. What are you guys gonna try to do? Who are you gonna try to talk to?

[Igneous]

Try to find Gareth.

[Leona]

Ooh. Do we?

[David Nett]

Geraltus.

[Araviel]

Wait. Sergeant. Through your brother. Is there a way to call for forth a thief or to summon them in a meeting place and speak to them secretly?

[Leona]

Can I ask my brother if he has any good connections?

[David Nett]

You happen to know your brother's on duty today and his patrol is the Thieves Quarter. He's your younger brother and he's pretty low on the totem pole for the City Guard now. And so he's probably undo you want to try to find him?

[Leona]

Yeah. Let's talk to my brother.

[David Nett]

So you guys head into the Thieves Quarter. You wander around a bit. Ask a couple of guards that you see. And they point you to your brother. What's your brother's name? You have a thought. You want me to pull one out? It could be either way.

[Leona]

I'm like Bob.

[David Nett]

It can be Bob. That's fine. If Bobby is your little brother or. Bob.

[Leona]

Yeah, My little brother Bobby.

[David Nett]

Bobby. All right.

[Leona]

Bobby. Ammo crown.

[David Nett]

A couple of the City Watch. They're able to point you a couple of them. They're very impressed by you being there. Like clearly they know Bobby. They've heard about you. So you ask around. But everybody's pretty impressed with you. They're polite. They give you a lot of help and they direct you. You manage to find Bobby. He's actually with his partner and her name is Sarah. And they're sitting at lunch. So they are in their crimson cloak. Ear red cloak with black lining. They both have spears and short swords. The spears leaned up against the wall. Short swords at the waist. And they're having Lunch at a little cafe. By the time that you get down there, it's like it's lunchtime at this point.

[Leona]

Well, some of us are working. How's your lunch, Bobby?

[David Nett]

He looks up, kind of his mouth full of food, and puts it down. Oh. Oh, Leona, what are you doing down here?

[Leona]

You haven't heard anything about last night.

[David Nett]

Last night? What happened last night?

[Leona]

There was a series of murders at a wealthy house in the other quarter.

[David Nett]

His partner Sarah, leans back and says, holy cow. And Bobby kind of looks around, and you can see there's some patrons here at the cafe. People milling about on the street. Nobody's paying much attention to you. You are blending in pretty well. He kind of looks around. He's like, why would you come here and just sit?

[Leona]

Do you want to know who died?

[David Nett]

Well, yes. Let's come with me. And so he gets up from the table and leaves a couple of copper coins at the table, motions to Sarah. She grabs their spears and stuff, and they go into the cafe. He sort of brings you back to this corner. Nobody's really in here. It's kind of stuffy and hot and close, and most people who are eating there are sitting outside. He takes you back in the corner and he's like, yes. Tell me what happened. What happened?

[Leona]

The bodies were all.

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[Marisha Ray]

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[David Nett]

Guess who? That's right. It is I, the replacer.

[Marisha Ray]

Once again, I've been called on so.

[David Nett]

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[Marisha Ray]

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[David Nett]

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 available now.

[Igneous]

Rated M for mature.

[Leona]

Thieve Guild members. Harpies and Rivers.

[David Nett]

When you say Rivers, he, like, pauses for a second. Are you sure? Rivers.

[Leona]

They have the tattoo.

[David Nett]

They're a nothing gang. Did they kill Harpies?

[Leona]

We're not sure who killed who. There was also a carrion crawler.

[David Nett]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? A carrion crawler.

[Leona]

One of the thieves became a carrion crawler. Or it was living inside it.

[David Nett]

He sort of sits back and Sarah snickers a little bit. And he looks at Sarah and we.

[Leona]

Saw it with our own eyes.

[David Nett]

And he says, look. He says to Sarah, look, if this were anyone. I agree with you. If this were anyone other than Leona, I would think that they're having a joke at our expense. But Leona doesn't even have a sense of humor, much less a joke. How can I help?

[Leona]

Well, we're hoping to get into the Thieves quarter and talk to some people.

[David Nett]

Sure, anything that I can do. I mean, anybody I can connect you with. Who are you looking to talk to? Some of the Rivers, they'll be harder to find. There just aren't many of them.

[Leona]

I'd like to start with Geralt if possible.

[David Nett]

You want to talk to the head of the Harpies in disguise? Okay, we can. I guess we can try.

[Denise]

Bobby, have you heard of the Harpies working with other gangs? Is that a thing?

[David Nett]

The Harpies don't so much work with other gangs as if there's somebody that they want. They will consume another gang or drive them out of existence. That's definitely happened there. The top dog down here, the Rivers. That whole gang is maybe a year old. I mean, they're small time.

[Leona]

Do you know how many of them.

[David Nett]

There are of the Rivers? A few dozen, maybe as many as 50. Not very many.

[Leona]

So they just lost a noticeable number of men?

[David Nett]

It seems that that's the case, yes. I'm not sure I can get you all the way to Geralt, but I have a contact that might be able to help you. Is that. That's the best that I can do.

[Leona]

We'll take it.

[David Nett]

Okay. On the Corner, and he kind of points down the street there, this little pawn shop. The proprietor of the pawn shop, his name is Aldous. He's one of my connections. I can go with you here or send you on your own. Either way is fine. Aldous knows lots of people here in the Quarter, and he might be able to get you, actually, a meeting with Geralt. Potentially. He works with the Harpies a lot. A lot of the goods that the Harpies steal move through Aldous.

[Leona]

Does he like you?

[David Nett]

What's not to like?

[Leona]

I think at best, we go from here incognito. Not be seen with any Crimson Cloaks.

[David Nett]

Yeah, I understand. That's fair, but obviously. Okay, he says. Yeah. So, anything else I can do, you come find me if you need help. Do you guys need extra muscle on this mission?

[Araviel]

We have Leona. Private.

[David Nett]

Fair, he says. Fair. Are you Eraviel?

[Araviel]

That's right.

[David Nett]

I've heard about you, too.

[Araviel]

Have you?

[David Nett]

Yes. The word is you're a fearsome fighter.

[Araviel]

That's exactly correct. I am glad that. How the hell did you know that?

[Denise]

Tell her more.

[David Nett]

Well, he says you've broken up gangs down here before. We've been in that position when you were a member of the Crimson Cloaks. You were one of our best. That's what the teachers say. Of course, you left us for the Nerd Squad, but while you are.

[Araviel]

I often refer to us as that as well. Yes, I was the reason that Gnarlock joined up, actually, watching me fight some bandits in these quarters. As you know the story, you're the.

[David Nett]

One who killed, what is it, 40 bandits? That's what I heard.

[Marisha Ray]

At minimum 40.

[David Nett]

He laughs, and Sarah laughs a little bit, too. And he says, yes, I have heard that story.

[Araviel]

Yes, as you know, bandits often travel in groups of 40.

[David Nett]

They were brigands. There's a difference. This is a good laugh with you. You got a good rapport. He's a cute kid, you know, just throwing that out there.

[Igneous]

From a good family.

[David Nett]

I don't know. I don't know what your proclivities are, but, you know, he seems enamored of you.

[Araviel]

Yeah, I'm of that proclivity. So, yeah, I grab his hand and I. And I say, may you be well and may you soon enter the realm of the Nerd Squad. And I just give him a wink and release. And I float away.

[David Nett]

He lifts his hand and he seems pretty happy with himself.

[Leona]

And then I just kind of whap him on the back of the.

[David Nett]

That definitely brings him down a notch again.

[Leona]

I'd say, thanks, Bobby.

[David Nett]

So you guys head out of the shop. Do you go straight to the pawn shop that he pointed you to?

[Leona]

Yeah, I think. Let's go talk to Aldous.

[David Nett]

So you head down the street to the pawn shop. It's a pretty seedy pawn shop. It's actually a pretty big building on the corner, but it's run down. You push through the door, there's a little bell that dings, and you can see there's everything in here from cheap junk to slightly more expensive junk to costume jewelry. This is some rusty weapons for sale. Again, it's not illegal to have a sword or anything in the city. They're just expensive. The stuff that you see here is. You would expect it to fall apart the first time you smacked somebody, but maybe that's better for you if people are buying these kinds of weapons.

[Igneous]

Yes.

[David Nett]

And behind the desk, there's sort of a shriveled older man hunched over, looking at a couple pieces of jewelry through a little eyeball.

[Leona]

And I say, are you Aldous?

[David Nett]

He looks up a little bit. Yeah, who's asking? Kind of looks right at you. You looking to sell that bow?

[Denise]

Not yet, but we are looking to buy.

[David Nett]

Excellent.

[Denise]

We hear that some big score happened last night, actually, in the High Quarter. We're just wondering if maybe that came through here.

[David Nett]

So right now, this is. I'm gonna have you roll an interaction check with him. You're using deception right now, right? You're trying to. You're talking to him, but you're lying about why you're here, to see if he's convinced because he's a wily old coot. We're gonna use one of your three social skills. You have three main social skills that you can use to push conversations to the next level. Extract information, find things out. They are persuasion. And that's basically, you're gonna try to tell somebody. Help. Have somebody do something that is in their character, that they might have done anyway, but you want to persuade them to do it. You've got deception, which is what you're doing, which is you're trying to convince someone of a story that's not true. And then you've got intimidate, which is, I'm gonna make you do something I want to do because I'm bigger and stronger than you, and I might hurt you. In this case, you're deceiving him. So let's make a deception roll. And in response, he's going to make an insight check to see if he thinks you're lying.

[Leona]

Okay.

[Denise]

I have A three on deception.

[David Nett]

Yeah. Excellent.

[Denise]

It is a failure. It's a one.

[David Nett]

Well, you. Zero. Natural one. So as you're telling this lie. So normally when you're doing a social interaction, you wouldn't know whether you failed or not. People are going to react to. And they might know you're lying but not tell you. In this case, Shywin doesn't know that she's been caught. But as you guys listen to Shywin kind of stumble through this tale of a score last night, you can. It's dripping with this. I just made this up right now. No, no, no, not that. This is what happened. And you can see all this. He's pretty skeptical, and he says, that's very interesting. I don't traffic with the kinds of people that make scores, as you say. So I certainly wouldn't have anything to sell you that isn't entirely legally obtained and completely above board.

[Leona]

Listen, I'm Bobby's sister, and you're gonna tell me everything you know.

[David Nett]

Are you trying to intimidate him?

[Leona]

I am. Cause I have a really high intimidation about it.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

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[David Nett]

All right, so you're gonna try to roll and intimidate, and he's gonna make a willpower save against it or, sorry, a wisdom save against it. So roll your intimidate.

[Leona]

I rolled a 16 plus another 6. 22.

[David Nett]

All right, so you push Shywin out of the way and just kind of lean over the counter. Little flexing the muscles in your necks and your shoulders right there.

[Leona]

Keep in mind, I'm tall.

[David Nett]

Yeah, very tall. Much taller than this.

[Araviel]

I, like, act so afraid right now. I'm like, she's never like this.

[David Nett]

Did you say, tell me, Bobby's sister?

[Leona]

I'm Bobby's sister, and you're gonna tell me everything.

[David Nett]

You just from the motion of you moving forward, his immediate reaction is just to cow back from you. You've used this tactic before. You know how well it works. And he says, oh, Bobby's sister. Why didn't you say so? There's no need. There's no need to lie. We're all friends. Bobby's sister. Oh, that's a relief, actually. I was worried you guys were gonna steal something. This one here should not let her talk first.

[Denise]

I didn't have a lot of friends.

[David Nett]

Growing up, but he says, bobby. Bobby's my friend. We're close, Bobby and I. We're close. Whatever I can do.

[Leona]

Who doesn't love Bobby?

[David Nett]

Everybody loves Bobby, Obviously. What can I do for you? And as he talks, he has this, like, piece of paper that has some numbers kind of scrawled on it. And he sort of slides across the counter toward you. Just a piece of parchment with some numbers on it. You look at it, you're not sure exactly what it's for. This number's been written on it and crossed out. You slides it across. What can I do for you? How can I help Bobby's sister?

[Leona]

What is this?

[David Nett]

It's just a piece of paper. I don't know what you're talking about. This is unsurprised.

[Leona]

What are the numbers on this piece of paper?

[David Nett]

Oh, he says it's just me doing figures when I'm appraising. When I'm appraising jewelry or anything that should come in. Nothing to be worried about.

[Leona]

Is there anything here for sale I can take off your hands and accept exchange for some of this information?

[David Nett]

He says, oh, I wouldn't dream of. Well, okay. And he turns over and he takes the little. The piece of jewelry that he was looking at, plunks it down in front of you. It's goldish and has some like some little scroll work and writing on it. It's not terrible. If you wanted to get a gift for your niece or something or, you know, a friend that you had just met and weren't particularly fond of, this would be the kind of thing that you would buy for. Or Bobby. Or Bobby.

[Denise]

Well, thank you.

[Leona]

For Bobby. Yeah. How much do you want for that?

[David Nett]

This is. Well, it doesn't look like much. It's got a hard to find gold. I would say a silver piece should be fair.

[Leona]

Do we even have iron?

[David Nett]

So, yeah, you have money down there, down by your equipment. You've got some money listed. The top one is copper piece. So.

[Leona]

Right.

[David Nett]

Yeah, right there. So this right here, this is your copper pieces. You've got four. You've got silver pieces below it.

[Leona]

Oh, that's what those are.

[David Nett]

Electric pieces.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

CPSP Oh, I got lots of.

[Leona]

I mean, I have a lot of mine.

[David Nett]

So, yeah, he says, one silver piece.

[Leona]

I'm also rich. Horse tall.

[Araviel]

A flower.

[Leona]

You can have a silver piece.

[David Nett]

Okay. So he takes a silver piece, you put it on the paper.

[Leona]

I put it on the paper, and then I slide it slowly back to him the same way he did to me.

[David Nett]

He just kind of gently lays his hand over it, pushes the junky piece of jewelry to you, and he pockets the silver. He says, I will help you in any way I can. You are. I'm at your service.

[Leona]

Have you heard anything about what happened last night?

[David Nett]

He kind of looks around the room at you guys. And you can see him figuring in his brain what and how much he should tell you. But then he looks back at the silver in his hand and he says, some nasty business up in the Garden Quarter. I heard.

[Leona]

We were there, we saw it.

[David Nett]

Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I heard there were bodies. Somebody said a dozen.

[Leona]

Seven, more or less.

[Denise]

Okay, wait, are we getting information from you or are you getting information from us?

[David Nett]

I apologize. I did hear what happened in the Quarter. You're right. You're right. I did hear what happened up in the Garden Quarter. What I know is that many bodies fell. A dozen. I heard you say seven, but I heard it from a member of a certain organization that said that a lot of the men were his own. I'm not sure how many or whom, but this person in this organization said that it was quite a loss for them. They were quite angry.

[Leona]

Are you talking about Geralt?

[David Nett]

Geralt? I'm flattered that you think that I know Geralt. No, certainly it wasn't Geralt. Is that who you're looking for? You want to talk to Geralt?

[Leona]

We would love to talk to Geralt. Who are you talking about?

[David Nett]

Well, his name is Toby. He's one of Geralt's favorites. He's a friend of mine. Just casual acquaintances. Of course, we don't. I wouldn't do any business with them. I would never do that. Of course not. But I can definitely talk to Toby and get you a meeting with Geralt. I can absolutely do that for you. Now, Toby, sometimes down in his luck, he's. Often. It's often expensive for me to get him to do things for me, so I might need some additional resources in order to get Toby to set up a meeting with Geralt. But I. I'm quite certain I can make it happen.

[Leona]

I just take out another silver piece and slide it across the table.

[David Nett]

He looks at it, makes a little frown.

[Igneous]

Oh, man.

[Leona]

I pull out a gold piece.

[David Nett]

Ah, yes, that's. He takes them both quickly before you can take them back.

[Denise]

I was gonna say take the silver back.

[Leona]

It's okay, because I'm rich.

[David Nett]

I believe I can arrange this. Give me three hours and meet me back here. I will arrange the meeting with Geralt and tell you where it would take place. Is that acceptable?

[Leona]

That is.

[Araviel]

And Sergeant, if I may be so bold, there were, as you say, two guilds involved. Should a Rivers come up to you, we might be interested in speaking with them as well.

[David Nett]

He says the Rivers were involved as Well, I find that hard to believe.

[Igneous]

Why so hard to believe?

[Araviel]

Well, whether they were or not involved, we would like to speak to them.

[David Nett]

All right. Well, they're a nothing gang. They're barely. I would barely call them an organization, frankly.

[Leona]

Do you know, I'd be very surprised.

[David Nett]

No, my friendship with Toby and his friends means I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't transact with the rivers.

[Igneous]

Do you know where we could find any of the rivers? Like, do they have a. Where's their hideout?

[David Nett]

He says, I don't even. I don't even know that they have one, honestly. There is a small gang, you know. However, while I am not deeply involved in that world, like I said, I have friends, but I don't run in those worlds. Geralt would certainly be able to tell you this. He says, meet me back here in three hours. I will take care of this for you. All right? Okay. You guys leave the shop. Kind of wander around, looking around a little bit. As you move around the area, you actually see the harpy mark on the walls a fair bit. In this district, you don't see any rivers marks. As you're kind of circling out, you spend a few hours wandering around. A couple times, you cross Bobby's path and you catch his eye. He nods at you like, did it work? Did it work? Yeah.

[Leona]

Thumbs up. I surreptitiously give him a thumbs up and look away because he's blowing my comfort.

[David Nett]

Yes.

[Araviel]

And I throw him a wink.

[David Nett]

Punches the air a little bit, and goes about his business. The few hours pass, and you come back to the shop. When you open the door, Aldous is sort of pacing back and forth behind the counter. He ushers you in. Come, he says. You. You.

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[Araviel]

That's right, ma'.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Am.

[Araviel]

You have rooms 201 and 709.

[Wayfair Announcer]

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[David Nett]

The doors have double locks. They'll be fine.

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[David Nett]

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[Denise]

Every style, every home.

[David Nett]

We'll be so happy. All this has come through for you an extraordinary way. My friend Toby was very gracious. Thank you for that gold piece. We got. We got him. I got you that meeting with Geralt. I've never even met Gerald. You're the first people that I know that he was willing to talk to. So he seemed, according to Toby, very eager to talk to you. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's super for me. I'm really proud of him.

[Denise]

What did you tell him about us?

[David Nett]

Nothing. I just said that there was a group of people here asking to see him that seemed to know a lot about the occurrences in the Garden District last evening. And that was what seemed to have gotten him. Good for me. Right. He says there is a little shop, and he gives you the address of a little shop that's actually fairly close to the wall between the old city and the newer parts of the city. He says behind this shop there is a small building. That building is where Geralt will meet you. Now, I'm to tell you that is not his home. That is not the harpy's hideout. Do not think that that is so. He will, however, meet you there. And he will meet you there now.

[Araviel]

Okay, Any rivers activity?

[David Nett]

Again, not people that I talk to, and I was busy about your business, so no worries.

[Leona]

Sounds like we better get over there.

[Denise]

You said a group of people. You didn't use numbers or anything like that?

[David Nett]

I probably told him 5. I'm not 100% sure there. The key was that he knows that you know about last night.

[Leona]

Okay.

[Igneous]

All right, let's go, let's go.

[David Nett]

You guys head over to the shop that he indicated. You kind of wind through the streets a little bit. It seems almost like Bobby's following you a little bit. Now he crosses your path again. Another thumb at this point, I just.

[Leona]

Kind of go like this.

[David Nett]

He makes a little mad face and kind of slinks away with his partner. You find the shop? Indeed. There is a small building behind the shop. You can go down into this alleyway beside it. And there is a small building back behind the shop. There are also two pretty rough characters standing outside this building. You can see a little hint of a little bit of leather armor underneath, cloaks, dark clothes. One of them is Carrying a club, like a heavy cudgel. The other one's carrying a straight up mace. So, metal shaft, big heavy metal ball on the end. A couple of guys just hanging outside of a small door. And as you come, they don't do anything. They're leaning up against their wall, but they're clocking you. They're watching you. What are you guys doing?

[Igneous]

Someone's got to say something.

[David Nett]

Who's talking? What are you guys doing?

[Leona]

Sarge, can we just walk past him and head towards the door?

[David Nett]

The door is right beside him. If you want to try, you can. Oh, yeah, do it.

[Leona]

Yeah, I'll just go through the door.

[David Nett]

You walk toward the door. As you step closer, the one with the mace steps in front of the door and says, what do you think you're doing?

[Leona]

I'm here to see Geralt.

[David Nett]

Uh huh. And who do we tell Geralt is.

[Denise]

Coming, who he's meeting?

[David Nett]

Yeah, us, Aldous.

[Araviel]

Friends.

[David Nett]

Are you trying to intimidate him, persuade him?

[Leona]

I guess I'll try to intimidate him. 25.

[David Nett]

You walk up and you say, we're.

[Leona]

Here for our meeting.

[Araviel]

Yeah, meeting. Step out of the way, out of the way.

[David Nett]

And he glances over your shoulder at Araviel and then makes eye contact with you. And he says, all right. He's waiting for you inside. And he steps aside and he opens the door and ushers you in. It's a really small room inside, and it looks like maybe a storeroom for a shada. It's some boxes and barrels and crates. It's close. It's small even getting all of you in here. It feels pretty crowded. At the other side of the room, leaning against some boxes, is a tall, quite intimidating figure. Tall, muscular, maybe 6, 3, 6, 4. Wearing leather armor, but his arms are exposed and they're huge, muscular arms. His face, he's got kind of a broad jaw, prominent jaw with little hints of teeth poking up above his lips, little fangs. And a squash knows the telltale signs of someone who is a half orc. He leans against the boxes and he's tuckling a little bit. It seems like he could hear through the walls the exchange that just happened. And he says, I'm quite impressed. Bairn is not usually so easily cowed. You are. Must be as intimidating as I have heard it is. Great to meet you, Leona. He looks at the rest of you and says, I, of course, am Geralt. And that's where we're gonna leave it for today. We'll see if you guys can find out what's going on here, what you can learn from Geralt next time. And if you want to learn what Geralt has to offer about what's going on here in the thief's quarter, you can find out as well. Next time on Starter Kit.

[Marisha Ray]

Next time on Starter Kit.

[Leona]

Perhaps we could make an exchange of information.

[David Nett]

Four men. None of them came back. You realize you're being followed. Will you spin around? Thank you for joining us.

[Leona]

Oh.

[David Nett]

Oh, boy. Where is Liam? And there's gonna be an initiative for everybody.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Ah, the Regency era. You might know it as the time when Bridgerton takes place or the time when Jane Austen wrote her books. But the Regency era was also an explosive time of social change, sex scandals, and maybe the worst king in British history. And on the Vulgar History podcast, we're gonna be looking at the balls, the gowns, and all the scenes. Scandal of the Regency era. Vulgar History is a women's history podcast, and our Regency era series will be focusing on the most rebellious women of this time. That includes Jane Austen herself, who is maybe more radical than you might have thought. We'll also be talking about queer icons like Anne Lister, scientists like Mary Anning and Ada Lovelace, as well as other scandalous actresses, royal mistresses, rebellious princesses, and other lesser known figures who made history happen in England in the Regency era. Listen to Vulgar History wherever you get podcasts.

[David Nett]

Hey, Michael.

[Travis Willingham]

Hey, Tom.

[Igneous]

Okay, so you want to tell him or you want me to tell him?

[Travis Willingham]

No, no, no, I got this.

[David Nett]

People out there.

[Travis Willingham]

People lean in.

[David Nett]

Get close, get close.

[Travis Willingham]

Listen, here's the deal.

[David Nett]

We have big news. We got monumental news. We got spectacular news.

[Leona]

Yeah.

[Igneous]

After a brief hiatus, my good friend Michael, Ian Black and I are coming back.

[Travis Willingham]

My good friend Tom Kavanaugh and I are coming back to do what we.

[Igneous]

Do best, what we were put on this earth to do.

[David Nett]

To pick a snack, to eat a.

[Travis Willingham]

Snack, and to rate a snack scientifically.

[David Nett]

Emotionally, spiritually, Mates is back.

[Igneous]

Mike and Tom Eat Snacks is back.

[Travis Willingham]

A podcast for anyone with a mouth.

[David Nett]

With a mouth.

[Igneous]

Available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Wayfair Announcer]

Welcome and enter if you dare. Hi, I'm Hallie Kiefer. And I'm Alison Leiby. And together we're the hosts of Ruined, a scary movie podcast, where Hallie tells me the grisly details of a haunting new horror film each week. Whether you're a terror hound like me or a scaredy cat like Allison, we've got so many thrills, chills, and obviously kills to share with you. In every episode, it's the podcast that'll have you saying that was so funny. I should not have listened to it at night with all the lights off. From the greats like the Exorcist and Poltergeist to modern classics such as Hereditary and Get out to the freakiest new releases like A Quiet Place and Terrifier, we ruin em all and we'll leave you howling, mostly from laughter sometimes because you're turning into a werewolf. Ooh, listen along as I try and guess the movie's twist, predict who will survive, and answer the hardest question of all, what would you do? So please listen to new episodes of Ruined every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where, wherever you get your podcasts. And whatever you do, we're begging you, please keep it spooky.