C03 - Ep. 19 - Brig of Endridge Bay - Bjorn and Raised

Summary

Tales from the Stinky Dragon

Episode: C03 - Ep. 19 - Brig of Endridge Bay - Bjorn and Raised
Release Date: June 11, 2025
Host/Author: Stinky Dragon

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Introduction and Recap

After a hiatus of three and a half weeks, the stalwart group of adventurers—Doug, Tov, Natty, and Gunther—reunites under the guidance of their patient Dungeon Master, Gustavo Serrola. The episode kicks off with a brief recap of their previous exploits, setting the stage for the unfolding adventure.

Doug humorously remarks, "We haven't recorded in like three and a half weeks. At this point, I genuinely don't remember what we did last time recorded." (03:08)

The team reviews their last encounter where they escaped the pirate cove, rescued Pancak, and obtained a crucial map, all while evading the scheming Ironclad. This sets their next destination: the stormy shores of Endridge Bay.

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Character Gift Giving

Before plunging into their adventure, the group indulges in a heartfelt activity orchestrated by Natty—each character presents a birthday gift to the player on their right. This segment not only deepens character relationships but also showcases their personalities.

Doug's Gift to Gunther

Gunther presents Doug with a meticulously crafted protein shaker that ingeniously transforms into a Game Boy upon tilting. He aptly notes, "You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this." (05:34)

Doug is visibly touched, exclaiming, "Oh, wow, Doug. Thank you. This is amazing." (05:58)

Tov's Gift to John

Tov gifts John Reisinger a sustainable pelt, reflecting his mentor’s love for animals and movies. He elaborates, "I made him these pelts and furs that are actually ecological friendly. I’ve been just taking the loose fur from Doug and making a big pelt." (08:03)

Tov humorously adds, "You could Venmo that." (09:10)

Natty's Gift to Chris

Natty donates an elaborate ice cream cake shaped like Converse shoes to Chris, blending whimsy with personal touches. She explains, "It’s wrapped in a box that is wrapped in wrapping paper that is a progressive tax code." (12:00)

Chris appreciates the effort, saying, "It's everything I like. It must be difficult to score an attack with such a hot AC." (12:24)

Gunther's Gift to Barbara

Gunther offers Barbara a pair of perfectly sliced Orbina pebbles, symbolizing love and unity, in line with his community's traditions. He states, "I have found a very special pebble and split it so you and your mate can each have one." (13:12)

Gunther adds a touch of humor, "It's probably a really nice pebble." (14:43)

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Journey to Bjorn's Fishing House

With gifts exchanged and bonds strengthened, the adventurers make their way to Endridge Bay, aiming to reach a significant landmark—the fishing house of Bjorn Boger, a mentor figure to Tov.

Arrival Amidst the Storm

The relentless storm renders their journey arduous, with Fismum guiding them through the treacherous weather.

“With the mantle of cheerless clouds swirling overhead, it feels nigh impossible to guess the time of day were it not for your weary muscles reminding you to rest.” (16:18)

Entering the Fishing House

Upon recognizing the familiar fishing house, Doug expresses a mix of nostalgia and eagerness: "Oh, home sweet home." (16:23)

They gain entry, greeted by a note inviting them to the Untamed Flame Forge—a cryptic location linked to their quest.

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Mysteries and Revelations

Inside Bjorn's abode, the adventurers encounter mystical artifacts that unveil fragments of their past and hint at looming challenges.

The Bell Band and Visions

Natty introduces a magical artifact—a Venmo MasterCard bell band—which grants visions reflecting past, present, and future events.

Gunther dons the bell band, experiencing a vivid vision: "I see those houses over there? You seem pretty wet. If you'd like, you can stay with me and warm up." (29:00) This leads to a pivotal character revelation where Doug unveils his true nature.

Doug's Revelation

In a dramatic twist, Doug confesses his origins as a thaumatech—a cybernetic organism created by Ironclad. He reveals his past forced servitude, mutiny, and eventual escape, stating, "I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a thaumatech endoskeleton." (77:37)

Doug further explains his encounter with Bjorn, shedding light on their bond and the circumstances that led him to Endridge Bay.

Impact on the Group

The revelation reshapes group dynamics, introducing tension and curiosity. Gunther questions the authenticity and ethics of Doug's existence, while Natty and Tov grapple with the implications of having a techno-organic member within their ranks.

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Cliffhanger: An Uninvited Arrival

As the group delves deeper into the mysteries of Bjorn's fishing house, an unexpected interruption occurs. A golden thaumatech figure materializes at the door, delivering a cryptic message that leaves the adventurers on edge.

“You see the silhouette of a golden thaumatech and you hear a voice call out. It was getting so interesting.” (82:29)

The episode concludes on a suspenseful note, setting the stage for future confrontations and revelations in the next installment.

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Notable Quotes

• Doug: "I’m a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a thaumatech endoskeleton." (77:37)
• Natty: "Gifting is a big ordeal in my community because we’re very close-knit." (11:22)
• Tov: "It’s a really fun experience for both seasoned D&D players and those just getting into the genre." (07:07)
• Gunther: _"I’m pretty hungry. Gotta feed the ol' belly." (Networking with Doug about the fish dinner.) (56:21)

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Concluding Insights

"Brig of Endridge Bay - Bjorn and Raised" masterfully intertwines character development with an unfolding narrative that bridges personal histories and mystical enigmas. The revelation of Doug's true nature injects complexity into the group dynamic, while the discovery of celestial artifacts hints at greater threats and adventures ahead. The episode balances humor, emotional depth, and suspense, making it a compelling addition to the Tales from the Stinky Dragon series.

Listeners are left eagerly anticipating the next episode, where the consequences of Doug's revelation and the approaching thaumatech figure will undoubtedly propel the story into thrilling new territories.

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Stay Tuned: Don't miss out on the next episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon, where more secrets will unfold, and the adventurers will face new challenges in their quest to uncover the mysteries of Endridge Bay.

Transcript

[Tov]

Hey, Kristen, how's it tracking with Carvana Value Tracker?

[Natty]

What else?

[Tov]

Oh, it's tracking, in fact.

[Doug]

Value surge alert. Trucks up 2.5%, vans down 1.7, just as predicted. Mm. So we gonna. I don't know.

[Natty]

Could sell.

[Doug]

Could hold the power to always know our car's worth.

[Tov]

Exhilarating, isn't it?

[Doug]

Tracking Always know your car's worth with Carvana Value Tracker.

[Natty]

Summer's here, and Nordstrom has everything you need for your best dress season ever. From beach days and weddings to weekend getaways in your everyday wardrobe, discover stylish options under $100 from tons of your favorite brands like Mango Skims, Princess Polly, and Madewell. It's easy, too, with free shipping and free returns in store order, pickup and more. Shop today in stores [e-mail] or download the Nordstrom app. With a Venmo debit card, you can.

[Doug]

Venmo more than just your friends.

[Natty]

You can use your balance in so many ways.

[Doug]

You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this. How about snacks?

[Natty]

You can Venmo that.

[Doug]

Your favorite band's merch.

[Natty]

You can Venmo this.

[Tov]

Or their next show.

[Natty]

You can Venmo that. Visit Venmo Me Debit to learn more. You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that. You can Venmo this. So you could Venmo that.

[Gunther]

You could Venmo.

[Natty]

The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Card may be used everywhere.

[Doug]

MasterCard is accepted.

[Natty]

Purchase restrictions apply.

[Doug]

Jubilations all you Jabba Fofi spiders.

[Tov]

Climb on into the stinky dragon and lap up our latest libation. Hide our senses tingling. It's a mixture of foliage, tea leaves, camouflage coconut milk, long limb lime slices, absolutely no water, and topped with whipped whipped cream. One nip of this anacroid nectar and.

[Doug]

Your tongue will feel.

[Tov]

I can't actually feel my tongue anymore. Okay.

[Doug]

Previously, our adventurers were in pursuit of an imprisoned pancake.

[Tov]

Natty overheard an undyne discourse, disguised herself.

[Doug]

As a gnoll, and deceived the privateer.

[Tov]

With a fictional fight of feces. This bought B team enough time to.

[Natty]

Pluck Pancak and another prisoner clear out of the clothes and return their freed friend to Pismum. Now they find themselves the stormy souls.

[Tov]

Of Endwood Bay at a home that's close to Toll's heart.

[Doug]

Fling over a blue and let's buckle.

[Natty]

Up for this bedtime.

[Doug]

Good. That was good.

[Tov]

We haven't recorded in like three and a half weeks. At this point, I genuinely don't remember what we just what we did last time recorded. And then you just did the entire recap like that. Micah.

[Doug]

Okay, so we got out of the pirate cove, we blew up the cave entrance. We got out with the real Pancak and last kill Last Keel grabbed the map, and now we're looking for the sea drinker because they're being held captive somewhere else.

[Gunther]

Yeah, and we. We saw Infernus talking to. I think it's the Privateer.

[Doug]

Yes. And we're going to Tov's. Like former buddy's old house.

[Natty]

What kind of house was it?

[Doug]

Seaside house, probably. What do they call those?

[Tov]

Oh, like a stilt house or something.

[Gunther]

Like a lighthouse.

[Tov]

Hello, everyone.

[Natty]

Welcome to Tales from the Sticky Dragon. I'm your dungeon master, Gustavo Serrola. I was trying to see if. If someone's getting an inspiration Die or not for no reason at all. I. I miss Torquus. Just gonna drop that out there.

[Lastkiel]

Oh, what?

[Gunther]

Dorkyus.

[Natty]

Micah's intro sounded kind of reminded me of a little Dorkyus.

[Lastkiel]

Dorky is from Sea Squad, the Tavern Tales, which is [e-mail] if you're at any level of Patreon support.

[Natty]

Thank you, Chris. I set that up and you've spiked it. Give yourself an inspiration, Doc. Yes. My name is Gustavus Rola. I'm your dungeon master. I'm going to hit our four players with an arrow. Oh, yeah. Everyone roll for initiative. And while you're rolling, this week's arrow, question is, what would your character get as a birthday gift for the player on your right? So, character getting a gift for the player to your right.

[Doug]

Oh, I rolled a 10.

[Tov]

9.

[Natty]

14.

[Lastkiel]

3.

[Natty]

So it looks like it's Doug Tolve Natty Gunther.

[Doug]

Correct.

[Natty]

So, Doug, the player to your right is Blaine.

[Gunther]

Well, hello everyone. Welcome to another thrilling episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon. The canon Campaign Campaign 3, the third campaign in the installment, not including the little bonus campaigns we do called Tavern Tales that are available on our Patreon.

[Tov]

You guys are weird.

[Gunther]

Today I play Doug Boone, the artificer Bugbear level five. And you know, I thought long and hard about this, guys. Hello, Doug Boone. Hill taking over for Bob Boy Heel. You know, Blaine. Blaine Gibson. Quite, quite the interesting gentleman. You know, he's got a lot of qualities to him, a lot of interests that he has, a lot of value in. Twists. Got me and twists. But, you know, being, you know, an artificial, I. I thought I would want to build something for Blaine as a gift. And so knowing kind of like his love for video games and also working out and being a big, buff guy, I made him a protein shaker, but when you turn it to the side, it's actually a Game boy.

[Doug]

Oh, wow, Doug. Thank you. This is amazing.

[Gunther]

Just don't get, like, when you pour, like, the liquid into the protein shaker, just don't get it on the. It's electronic on the. So that might cause some issues.

[Doug]

Okay. What kind of games can I play on this thing, Doug?

[Gunther]

You could play golden eye.

[Tov]

Oh, that's great, Doug. I love that the classic Game boy.

[Gunther]

Game, Doug, is not voiced in what the Game boy games are. Didn't think this went through.

[Tov]

Just say Tetris. Just say Tetris.

[Gunther]

Editor. Edit that one out only Ted Twitch.

[Natty]

In the DM channel. As you once you were asked what games were on it, I just wrote say Tet whist. Say Tet Whist.

[Gunther]

Oh, yeah. So, you know, I hope he likes it. Don't tell him what his gift is. I want to surprise him with it for his birthday.

[Doug]

Wow, that's great, Doug.

[Natty]

That's a great.

[Gunther]

Okay, you playing?

[Doug]

That's me. That's me, Doug.

[Gunther]

He's been listening this whole time.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Natty]

All right, thanks, Doug. That's. I think it's super thoughtful. That's a great start to this question. Who got next?

[Tov]

I have to point out something really quick, Gus, so the audience kind of can be clued into something. You have a certain acoustic handicap affecting you right now, Gus, and I can tell you're being quieter in order to augment it. And it's getting very radio vibes. I like it.

[Doug]

Ooh.

[Tov]

Very npr, Gus.

[Natty]

I want to make sure I changed my bixer for or my. My. I guess my audio input device. And I want to make sure that I'm not peaking it and that the wave looks healthy. So I'm trying not to get above that.

[Doug]

You got a new xlr, I see there. It looks good on you guys. It's nice. Thanks.

[Gunther]

There's no steel eye in this episode.

[Tov]

While you're out of this other XLR.

[Natty]

Tove, you are up and you're getting a gift for John.

[Doug]

Okay. Well, hey, it's Blaine. I just received a lovely gift from Doug, and I play Tolve, the male orc barbarian, and he's a level five, and I'm gonna. I'm just gonna scooch out of here real quick so that Tolf can get in.

[Natty]

Yoo hoo.

[Doug]

It's me tove. Good to see you, everybody. So I am getting a gift for John Reisinger. And if I know John, he loves the movies. If you want to listen as a Patreon follower, you can go check out Stinky Pop. I'm so sorry to be plugging all of our stuff, but he loves the movies and I could not think of a better thing than to get him than some, like, pelts or that he can, like, cuddle up in while watching a nice movie film. But John also is a lover of animals, and so I made them these pelts and furs that are actually. What is it called? Ecological friendly. You know, they're. They're sourced. What's the word I'm looking at? Sustainably sourced. So I. I've actually been just taking the loose fur from Doug and I've been making a big pelt fur and ye. I hope John enjoys it.

[Tov]

You know, I will say that you are correct on everything. The one thing that tolv and this is cause we haven't gotten to know each other very well is that I live in a part of the world where it is hot all the time. However, movie theaters are often quite a seed. So it is a good place to have a good blankie.

[Natty]

To kind of love this.

[Lastkiel]

It must be difficult to score an attack with such a hot ac.

[Natty]

That's a good one. That's a good one.

[Doug]

Good gur.

[Natty]

Plus also, I think in the world you live in, John, there are magics that cast cold spells in our domiciles that allow us to remain.

[Tov]

Gus, there ain't enough spells that keep me comfortable during the summers of Austin.

[Gunther]

Okay.

[Tov]

I'm literally in a tank top right now and shorts.

[Natty]

Like, it's just those magics have to counter the evil wizard Urcot and his stranglehold over.

[Tov]

Over the f. Already battled or caught this this season and we're not even into summer yet.

[Natty]

Oh, real great meta talk there, buns of Texas.

[Tov]

I'm also, like, as hairy as Doug. I mean, you can see my. The hair on me in the cam. But all that to say I do love a good blankie. It's will forever be something that I hope I never grow out of loving is a good blanket to have, especially if you're going to watch a movie.

[Natty]

Yo. Thanks to then. That's an interesting segue because next up, we have Natty buying a gift for Chris.

[Tov]

All right. Hello, hello, hello. I'm John and I play Natty Wonder, the drow warlock. And if y' all know anything about me, Natty Wonder. It's that, well, I'm sure you know a lot of things at this point. I'm kind of an open book. But my mamas didn't raise me to be a bad gift giver. We give. Gift giving is a big ordeal in my little community because, you know, we're very close knit. We're, we're very, we're very into like, showing we care for each other. And so gifts, that's sometimes how people really know you care for them. So when you're getting a gift, you're going to want to do your research. You're going to want to make it thoughtful, and you're going to want to make it just bespoke to the person you're going to give it to. So they feel just that little tinge of specialness when you hand it over.

[Natty]

It shows you care.

[Tov]

Yes, I agree. And Karen is sharing, and sharing is Karen. And so I'm going to share with this Chris Damaris. And what I got for Chris was actually, I got him a ice cream cake in the shape of Converse shoes. And the whole thing is wrapped in a box that is wrapped in wrapping paper. That is a progressive tax code that taxes the rich properly.

[Gunther]

Wow. What, what an elaborate gift.

[Lastkiel]

It's everything I like.

[Gunther]

I was an inventor, but wow.

[Tov]

So I felt like that was kind of like, you know, it's got layers to it, like a cake. And I hope, Chris, you enjoy it.

[Lastkiel]

Oh, and the bottom of the cake has Mississippi mud pie ice cream because it's got. It's like a shoe, so it would have mud on the bottom of it.

[Gunther]

I like how he's telling you what your gift is.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Tov]

Hey, he can do whatever he wants.

[Gunther]

Such a special flavor.

[Doug]

He's a special little over here.

[Natty]

Yeah. Sounds like you've learned a lot. You really did your research. Nadia, I'm going to commend you. You talked about doing the research and it sounds like you did the work.

[Tov]

If you're going to do something, do it.

[Lastkiel]

Well, thank you so much, Natty.

[Tov]

You will.

[Lastkiel]

I will cherish it for 30 minutes until it's gone.

[Gunther]

I mean, I was going to say you're going to eat that faster than 30 minutes, I think.

[Natty]

Yeah. So Chris didn't like it. It seems like 30 minutes.

[Lastkiel]

A whole cake in 30 minutes, I think is impressive.

[Tov]

Ice cream cake is not only large, but it's also ice cream, a food that is difficult to eat rapidly without pain involved.

[Natty]

True, true, true. All right, thanks, Natty. That's great. I love it. And Then last up, we have Gunther, who's getting a gift for Barbara.

[Lastkiel]

I'm Chris Durant. I play Gunther the Crowfolk fighter. And for Madame Barbara, I have a very special gift in my village. It is to my understanding that you have found your life mate and will soon be entering your ceremonial. Ceremonial burying burrowing hole together.

[Gunther]

Yes, yes, that's exactly what we're doing, Gunther.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Lastkiel]

And so I have. It is common for my people to give each other pebbles and such that mean things to each other. And so I have found for you or pena pebble. And what I have done is I have put it in with sand and in a sand container and had it rocked so that it is very smooth and perfect. And then I have taken it and with my smithing materials I have sliced it in two so that there are two equal pieces. And now you can have one. And you and your. And your mate shall have the other.

[Gunther]

Wow, that's actually really kind, Gunther. That takes a lot of effort.

[Natty]

Did you say I want to make sure I'm picturing this correctly. Did you say an Orbina pebble?

[Lastkiel]

Yes.

[Doug]

What is that? I gotta Google that.

[Lastkiel]

It's a particular type of petal.

[Gunther]

It's probably a really nice pebble.

[Lastkiel]

It's a very nice mineral that we use to symbolize love.

[Natty]

I know what you mean, Gunther, but for the audience, can you spell Urbina for me so that I'm. They can. They can google it correctly.

[Lastkiel]

Orpina. O R P I N A or Pina.

[Gunther]

I gotta say, Gunther, that's a really nice gift, but we just have a honeymoon registry fund. So if you want to just contribute to that, that's cool too.

[Lastkiel]

You want different types of rocks.

[Natty]

Oh, that's funny. Great gift. But in real life, stick to the registry. That's for our listeners.

[Gunther]

Yeah, yeah. I mean for a reason. It's the thought that counts.

[Natty]

Okay, cool. All right, thanks Gunther. That was. That was great. I looked it up. That's a cool looking pebble or peanut. Fismum leads you outside and begins walking through the streets of Entrich Bay out towards the docks. And you know there's the storm continues to rage outside, just raining non stop. And of course this is what Fizmom was referring to about the weather needing to be better before you could depart. As the storm rages on, you know, you, you wonder how long you're going to have to walk in it. Fismum, almost sensing it, says it's not much further and she points just ahead onto the docks. Told you. Follow her outstretched hand and Finger to the docks and you see something familiar.

[Tov]

Oh, no.

[Natty]

You recognize the fishing house in the distance that Fismum is pointing at? You recognize it as the fishing house of your mentor, Bjorn Boger.

[Doug]

Oh, home sweet home.

[Natty]

The type of house I was looking for is a Rorbu. By the way, to answer the earlier.

[Tov]

Question, isn't that someone who likes Japanese stuff?

[Natty]

No, I don't think so.

[Gunther]

What are you thinking of? Oh.

[Lastkiel]

All right.

[Tov]

So in lieu of a recap, I'm gonna read my last two notes that.

[Gunther]

I have on my sheet, give you a great recap.

[Tov]

No, no, I'm gonna. I'm. I. I got it. Here's the last two notes I, John, took while we recorded last. Skill has a map. Giggy has a bell.

[Doug]

Look at Barbara's registry for wedding.

[Natty]

Do you remember what that bell was from?

[Tov]

Nope. That's why I'm mad at myself right now. You know, you do that thing, you're like, I'll know what I mean. And it's. You never know what you mean when you write it down.

[Natty]

Does anyone remember where that bell's from?

[Tov]

Geeky has a bell.

[Lastkiel]

Kiki has a bell. Oh, I know what it was. It was the bell that was rang whenever. That one guy that we fought and shot, he rang the bell to like summon guards and, well, the bookkeeper, I.

[Doug]

Think we thought that he was summoning guards, but he was actually summoning lunch. I want to say, why does Gigi.

[Tov]

Have a bell then?

[Gunther]

I mean, if you want, if he's hungry.

[Natty]

Gigi reached into Lastiel's pocket. If I recall properly, after last year, pulled a map out and then pulled out the bell. Okay, as Micah said, clearly this does not ring a bell for you.

[Doug]

Wow.

[Natty]

This is true inspiration. Die from Micah. That's a great one. Oh, and Gigi also has that axe, maybe.

[Tov]

Yeah, he does. He does have the axe.

[Natty]

We'll deal with that. Yeah. Onto the episode.

[Tov]

Let's do it.

[Natty]

Even after but a few moments of walking down to the docks, the unrelenting downpour and easterly winds managed to soak everyone to the bone. With the mantle of cheerless clouds swirling overhead, it feels nigh impossible to guess the time of day were it not for your weary muscles reminding you to rest. With every splashing wave, a spraying surge of foam batters the paint chipped fishing house before you. A three story roar. Boo. Constructed with its west end on shore and east end on poles that pierce the choppy waters. Bismum shivers the rain off her broad shoulders. Clutching her surcoat tighter, she pulls out a rusty key from her pocket and offers it to you.

[Gunther]

I know it's not much to look at, but this fishing house has been a stable staple of Enridge Bay for decades. The previous owner was a generous soul that offered his home to strangers. It only seems fitting his charity should live on.

[Natty]

Speaking of, Fismum unties a hefty jingling bag from her belt and holds it out.

[Gunther]

Pancake and I are indebted to you.

[Doug]

Here is but a token of thanks.

[Gunther]

Now, if you'll excuse me, I very.

[Natty]

Much want to hold my partner for time.

[Gunther]

The first.

[Doug]

First time in weeks.

[Gunther]

If you all need anything, come find me at the high three.

[Natty]

She offers you all a warm smile, and the rainfall barely masks her tears of joy. And with that, she heads back up the stormy shore into town.

[Doug]

So who is the. I would have taken the key if that's all right with everybody else. Yeah, and I want to get the crew inside, but I'm also kind of excited to get into Bjorn's house.

[Natty]

Would you also have taken the jingling bag as well?

[Doug]

I mean, to be honest, I think being back in Bjorn's house, I would have been more focused on that because it feels like home. So I'll leave that to somebody else. If somebody wants to take it, I'll take it.

[Tov]

I'll take it.

[Natty]

All right. Natty has the jingling bag and Cole seemingly takes the key.

[Gunther]

And it's just us in here right now that Fizmom and Pancake have left. Or is there anyone else in here?

[Natty]

And what about Last? All of your NPCs? Lastkiel, Captain Grumbles, Gigi.

[Doug]

Good. Gang's all here.

[Gunther]

They're with us.

[Natty]

Yeah. Oh, and of course, private parts. How could I forget?

[Gunther]

How can we forget? How could we ever forget? Private parts with us, we never do.

[Doug]

I don't know if we're all going to fit in this house. It's so big, so many people.

[Gunther]

So did they mention, like, who actually owns this house, or is this kind of like the town's, like, Airbnb type thing?

[Natty]

I believe all you were told was that it was a house that was previously owned by a generous person. And it seems, I guess if Fiz mom has the key, maybe Fismum owns it.

[Gunther]

Oh, that makes sense.

[Doug]

Did we not learn in the last one that it was. It'll belong to Bjorn, the guy that was, like, significant to me. Okay.

[Natty]

Yes. You recognize this fishing house as the one belonging to your mentor Bjorn?

[Doug]

Yeah. So, Doug, I don't know if you asked that question or if it was Barbara. I hope you're enjoying a gift anyway. Yeah. Okay. So this belongs to or belongs to Bjorn. He was a. A very kind and generous man. So we should get inside. It's so rainy out here. So to's going to open the door and go in.

[Natty]

You go to unlock the door and open it and you see a note pinned to the door.

[Tov]

Ooh.

[Doug]

I look at it.

[Gunther]

What it say?

[Doug]

Yeah, I'm also curious what it was.

[Tov]

Yeah, yeah, keep them guessing. Kick the door in.

[Doug]

Okay. So I look at the note and says, bjorn, your order is ready for pickup. Come by. And then it says, untamed flame forge during normal business hours. And then there's a little frog emoji. And then it says Shannon. Or at least I think that's how it's pronounced. It's S H A N A N. Gunther, do you know a Shannon? They seem to be a croak folk.

[Lastkiel]

Wait, do I.

[Gunther]

That name sounds familiar.

[Natty]

Gunther. You do recognize that name? It's been a while, but. Reminds you of someone you know. Your aunt Shannon.

[Lastkiel]

Shannon?

[Natty]

Yeah. What do you remember about her?

[Lastkiel]

When. When I was younger, my father got freed. He rarely spoke of his sister. And whenever he. Whenever he did, he would get sad. And then he walk away. He did not like to talk about her. But you see, my mother, she said that she used to be around all the time, especially when we were first hatched. But eventually she became around less and less. And I do not know why we have lost touch with her. Once you leave the village, you leave the community. And so I'm excited to see her because I've also left the community. So we are probably much to talk about.

[Natty]

Seems like it.

[Gunther]

It sounds like she left to come live here. Maybe in this kind of like fish town.

[Natty]

Fish town?

[Gunther]

Has she. She ever spoken of the sea drinker before Gunto?

[Lastkiel]

No, not that I know her, but I was very young.

[Doug]

I hope she's like a cool aunt and not one of those aunts that pinches your cheeks and goes, look who it is.

[Lastkiel]

They have the worst stingers. They always make me swell up.

[Doug]

That's right.

[Gunther]

I just think that's a pretty cool ant, actually. Showing affection and stuff like that.

[Doug]

To each their own.

[Natty]

A cool ant. Or a cant.

[Doug]

Also natty. What did we get for payment to such a curiosity?

[Tov]

Oh, is that what's in this bag? I open it up. What's in there?

[Natty]

You open up the bag and take a look inside. And there are a lot of gold pieces. In fact, there's 780 gold pieces.

[Doug]

Wow.

[Gunther]

Are we splitting that or.

[Doug]

Doug, what was 780 divided by 4?

[Gunther]

Oh, that's a very easy calculation. 780 gold divided by 4 because there's 4 of us is 195.

[Tov]

That didn't sound at all like you were delaying so you could put it into Google.

[Gunther]

Well, you know, I think one of the most important things you could do when dealing with math is teach people, you know, the method that you go through when you're. When you're doing it in your head so that they could do it too.

[Tov]

Yeah, I would agree.

[Gunther]

And for your information, I was using the calculator app, not Google.

[Doug]

I'm gonna go ahead and add 195 to my. That's fine.

[Tov]

That's fine.

[Doug]

I smell a shopping spree coming.

[Tov]

What did people. Hey, hey, old guy Gus, what you did people do for D and D before they could Google, like, special kinds of pebbles to give people and how to do math?

[Natty]

You know, when you grow up, you're not going to always have a calculator in your pocket.

[Doug]

Genuinely said that. Oh, my God.

[Tov]

It'll be implemented into your wrist.

[Doug]

Rest in peace, Texas Instruments.

[Natty]

You also see a note and a. Like a hoop or a ring made of some kind of translucent ore hoop or.

[Tov]

Oh, okay. Ahem. Gotcha. This is from Fizz Mum. And they said. When I moved out to Andridge Bay, this bell band offered me a vision of a fresh start in a new family. I owe much of that happy ending to you. It seems only fair to offer the bell band to you. Along with half my life savings. Oof. I don't know if we want to take this money now.

[Gunther]

Yeah, I know.

[Doug]

Oh, no.

[Tov]

May they both bring you good fortune after life savings. Maybe we should, I don't know, donate this to charity or something.

[Gunther]

Or maybe give it back to them also. Just so you know, Natty, that would mean their entire life savings is 1560 gold pieces.

[Natty]

Love it, love it.

[Doug]

So quick. It's math. Impressive.

[Tov]

Duck. You so quick on the draw with them. Math, mathematics. I can't even. I can't even think that fast. So, yeah, I'll. You know, I'm gonna let y' all decide what to do with your money. I'm not here to tell you what to do with your. Your earnings. Okay, So I do. I divvy out the money, and then Natty sees jewelry. Natty's gonna try out jewelry. So Natty puts the bell band on.

[Natty]

Yeah. You take a look at it, you know, and it's like A hoop or ring made of some kind of translucent ore. And it's roughly the circumference of a bucket. Oh, and you see runic symbols etched on the inner rim.

[Tov]

So it's the size of a bucket. I guess I try to put my head through like a belt bell band. Bell band, yeah, bell band.

[Lastkiel]

Does anyone recognize the runic symbols or can read them?

[Natty]

You all can make wisdom checks, I guess. See if any of you recognize it if you want.

[Gunther]

I imagine we're all looking at it as Natty's taking it out and putting it on. So.

[Tov]

Yeah, that's my wisdom modifier.

[Gunther]

I rolled a 1413.

[Doug]

Don't worry guys, I've got this one. Chibis 15.

[Tov]

I got no wisdom modifier.

[Gunther]

To's just looking right at Natty's face.

[Natty]

And I am looking at your character sheets. So one moment while I do that.

[Gunther]

Is there a language that we need to know?

[Tov]

Usually runes are a language.

[Natty]

Oh, Natty and Doug, you both recognize some of the symbols. You can't entirely read it, but you feel like it's some kind of ancient celestial. I know both of you can speak celestial, but this is an old version. It would be like in modern day trying to read old English. We're like, I know some of those words, but it doesn't quite make sense.

[Doug]

King James, Celestial God. It's a Christian. Never mind the King James version of the Bible was nonsense. You read it and you're like, what is this? Oh, John, you know what I'm talking about. Am I right?

[Tov]

No, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Natty]

Moving on. It seems like, you know, as you're examining it, Natty and Doug. Well, I guess Natty, you're the one holding it. You know, as you're looking at the symbols, you, you can tell the bell band seems like it's warm to your touch. And when you, you know, when you hold it and you're looking through at the runes, it seems like looking through the hoop itself is kind of cloudy.

[Gunther]

Oh. What if you look up to the sky?

[Natty]

Partly cloudy, 40% chance of rain. So the roughly translated, the celestial that you can pick out is something that along the lines of past, present, future, present, past, present, future.

[Tov]

Yeah, that makes no sense. Is it large enough that I could put like my face through it? Like through the cloudiness?

[Natty]

You don't know if you could put your face through it, but you know, it kind of like is the size of your head more or less, but it would be close.

[Tov]

Okay, well, I don't think It'll. I don't think it'll fit around my head. Since I've got this voluptuous wig. I take the bell band and I put it on Doug's head.

[Gunther]

I don't know if my head's much smaller than yours.

[Natty]

Do you consent, Doug?

[Gunther]

Yeah, I'll try.

[Doug]

A lot of brains.

[Tov]

Yeah. I want. I want the brains in the leader of the operation to see what needs to be seen.

[Gunther]

Okay. I think I might have given leadership up last time.

[Lastkiel]

I'm the leader at the moment.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Tov]

I'm gonna still give it to Doug.

[Gunther]

Okay. Could Doug kind of, like, look at it and see if there's a way to kind of look through it?

[Tov]

Or, like, I think it's a headband.

[Gunther]

I don't know.

[Natty]

You can. I mean, you can kind of see through it.

[Gunther]

It looks cloudy, and I can't fit my head through it.

[Natty]

I assume it looks like it would fit on your head.

[Gunther]

Okay, I'll put it on my head.

[Natty]

Okay. You lift up the bell band and you put it over your head, and it seems to kind of sit on your head like a crown. And as you put it on, you hear, like, the sounding of a bell.

[Gunther]

Could I look over at Gigi and see that. That they're not ringing the bell of.

[Tov]

Bases right now, just throwing it at your face.

[Natty]

This is like a. Not like a small bell. I'm talking like, Liberty bell, church bell. Like a thong, you know, like a really reverberating bell. Not like a little tinny bell. And, you know, flashing before your eyes, you see visions appearing before you. You see a vision of a small animal, a rabbit.

[Doug]

Oh.

[Natty]

And you also see someone chasing the rabbit and getting angry.

[Doug]

Oh.

[Gunther]

Like, while seeing this, I hear that bell chiming the whole time.

[Natty]

You hear, like, once, like, just a really loud one. Ring of a bell.

[Gunther]

Okay. Could I tell if I've seen this before before? Like, is. It's, like a memory, or does it seem like something that's, like, currently happening? I guess. I don't know if I'd be able to tell.

[Natty]

Make a wisdom check.

[Tov]

Didn't you have a vision where your dad was taking you hunting?

[Gunther]

Yeah.

[Natty]

Oh.

[Gunther]

20.

[Natty]

Wow. You know that this is not something you've seen before. This must be something else.

[Gunther]

So either something I haven't seen or something that's, like, currently happening. Maybe somewhere else.

[Tov]

Okay. Maybe everybody should take a turn, and we'll just kind of keep these things in mind.

[Doug]

Oh, me next. Me next.

[Gunther]

Yeah. Just before I take this off, I'm trying to figure out If I recognize at least the place. This is in the location.

[Natty]

It's a forest of some kind. It's hard to say anything more specific than that. There's a lot of trees.

[Gunther]

Okay, Doug pops it off his head and hands it over to Tolf. All right, let me know if you see, like, a rabbit in a forest or something else.

[Doug]

Okey dokey. Tolf puts it on.

[Natty]

All right, Tol. You put the bell band on your head, and you hear in your mind, like, the really loud sounding of a bell. And before you, you see a vision. You see what appears to be an hourglass sitting on a forge. And a smith or someone destroys the hourglass with their tools. But as they pull back from the strike, the hourglass reforms itself. And they continue striking the hourglass over and over, and it just continues to reshape and reform itself on the forge.

[Doug]

Okay, pass that information along to the team. Someone's very upset at an hourglass. I think that they ran out of time playing the game of Life or like, Uno or something. Neither.

[Tov]

Neither of those are timed games. What are you talking about?

[Doug]

Okay. Monopoly.

[Tov]

That's not a.

[Doug]

That's not Scrabble. No, that is time.

[Gunther]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Oh, if you.

[Gunther]

If you play it. Okay.

[Tov]

I was gonna say, it doesn't come with the timer.

[Natty]

Okay.

[Lastkiel]

Don't wake Daddy.

[Doug]

Don't wake Daddy. Yeah.

[Tov]

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[Natty]

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[Doug]

Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank.

[Natty]

NA Members FDIC Spot Me Eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Timing depends on submission of payment file.

[Doug]

Fees apply at out of network ATMs, bank ranking and number of ATMs according.

[Natty]

To U.S. news and World Report 2023.

[Doug]

Chime checking account required this episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon is brought to you by our good friends over at Hero Forge. For those of you who are not familiar, Hero Forge offers fully customizable tabletop miniatures with dozens of fantasy species and thousands of parts to choose from, all within your browser. They make custom minis and a variety of materials including bronze color standees and color plastic options and you can also download the files if you want to 3D print them from home. I myself have already made my campaign two character Chip Haney. He sits here on my desk and he watches me play D and D and it's quite a treat. And I'm in the middle of making toll from Campaign 3, and it's. It is such a delightful time making these little miniatures in their web browser. I would encourage our audience to go just check it out. Go make your character, see how much fun you're going to have. But, yeah, if you want a miniature, all you got to do is visit heroforged.com start designing your custom miniature today, and check back often, because new content is added every week, and you can use code stinky at checkout to get 5% off all orders of physical miniatures. So, once again, that's Heroforged.com use code stinky at checkout to get 5% off all physical miniatures.

[Tov]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Enjoy your little guy. Enjoy your little companion. I think. I think you're gonna have a lot of fun. It's a blast. Thank you, Hero Forge.

[Gunther]

So you say you saw an hourglass. Do you have, like, someone who owns an hourglass, or does this, like, did it look familiar to you? Have you seen that before?

[Doug]

I saw, like, a smith, like a blacksmith. I don't know, Gus. Do I remember anything that? Does any of this look familiar?

[Natty]

Make me a wisdom check. Let's see how it goes.

[Doug]

Okay. That would be a nine. What?

[Natty]

You're. You're not sure? Something about the hourglass seems familiar, but you can't quite place it. Maybe it's a. It's a. Maybe it was in a dream. It's hard to say.

[Doug]

Hourglass. Okay, hold on. Let me consult my notes.

[Tov]

Hour glass have gone to have a go.

[Doug]

Oh. Oh, okay, let me see. See, Natty's wife conjures an hourglass of black sand. Haven't seen each other in quite a while. Catch up on lost time and talk about Gigi. The hourglasses time limit on their interaction. Okay, so, like, this is weird. Okay, But, Natty, you had a vision one time when you went to bed, and you shared this with the class, I think, and basically, you, like, met up with your wife, but there was an hourglass that was, like, counting down until the end of your interaction. So, like, maybe.

[Tov]

Didn't it have, like, special colored sand in it? Did the black sand? Yeah. Does your vision have the same color?

[Doug]

I don't know. Does it?

[Natty]

Gus, it appears that the sand was black in your vision.

[Tov]

We're making progress with information.

[Doug]

This is why communication is key. We all share information and that we can. We're so much stronger, longer as a team.

[Tov]

Okay, so it could be.

[Doug]

Could be the same thing. Do I recognize the smith? The. The Smith that's trying to destroy.

[Tov]

Having a vision about the Hourglass in hell.

[Doug]

I don't know. We're like very good friends, you know, we just share these things.

[Natty]

It seemed like a pretty generic Smith. Nothing especially remarkable about it.

[Doug]

Okay.

[Lastkiel]

Digit is a common name.

[Doug]

Okay, Gunther, you want to try it on next?

[Lastkiel]

I will wear the hat.

[Doug]

I crown thee King Gunther.

[Lastkiel]

I have no king.

[Doug]

I put it on him anyways.

[Natty]

Is that a Lord of the Rings reference, Chris?

[Lastkiel]

No, but. Well, not directly, but in my.

[Natty]

Okay.

[Lastkiel]

Spiritually, yes.

[Natty]

Spiritual. Okay. Okay. You, Gunther, you put the. The bell band on. And you hear a loud ringing of a bell in your mind. Before you appears a vision. You see two eagles perched on a tree that has very few leaves left on it. And as you are looking at them, the remaining leaves on the tree slowly begin to fall off and float around the eagles falling gently to the ground below them.

[Lastkiel]

I share that with a group. This is a strange vision in that where I'm from, there are not very many trees with leaves and also eagles.

[Gunther]

Are there eagles where I'm from?

[Tov]

This isn't a very helpful headband.

[Natty]

Probably. I would say so.

[Gunther]

Maybe we're seeing, like, stuff that relates to each other. So, like, maybe this thing is somehow bringing us closer together. Although it did say something about past, present, future.

[Tov]

So basically everything.

[Lastkiel]

Anything really, future, present.

[Tov]

Just literally all of existence can. Can be summarized in those three words. Natty will try to put the headband on over her wig and put it on her head.

[Gunther]

Turns out Gus has just been reading the wrong descriptions for each of us.

[Doug]

You see a present vision, it's just an alternate viewpoint of us, just like.

[Tov]

Third person mode, just through Giggy's eyes.

[Natty]

Natty, you put the bell band on over your head. And like the others, you hear like a really loud bell sounding.

[Tov]

I harmonize with it.

[Natty]

How does that sound?

[Tov]

I don't know. You haven't given me a key.

[Doug]

Oh.

[Natty]

Do you see a moon, like on a clear night and a full moon shining? And as you can see it before you, it seems like a strong wind picks up. Not just a gust, but a consistently strong wind begins blowing across the landscape.

[Tov]

You see, and the landscape is what?

[Natty]

A vast plain, as far as you can see that's flat into the distance.

[Doug]

Like a cessna or a 747. Listen to Black Box Town.

[Tov]

Doesn'T it?

[Natty]

No, you can listen to it. I still get some ad money. But please, actually, please listen to it, because it barely pays for itself. I don't make money off. You have to listen to Pay the hosting bill. Otherwise it costs me money.

[Tov]

Well, that was a fun little party game. I guess we'll hold on to those little tidbits of information until they're relevant.

[Doug]

We'll have to ask Fizz Mum how they got that and why they gave it to us. It's like a weird, weird gift, you know?

[Tov]

That's fine. I'm gonna hold on to it, and I'll put the bell band into my inventory.

[Doug]

Okay. I don't want to rush anybody, but, like, can we go inside? I am so excited. I haven't been here in so long.

[Gunther]

I'm also, like, soaking wet right now. It's been raining out here, I think.

[Doug]

Oh, yeah.

[Tov]

Canonically speaking, if this entire time. Yeah, we're all drenched. Natty's wig actually hasn't deflated at all and is somehow not wet and damp Magic.

[Gunther]

Yeah. I don't think any of us would have questioned that whatsoever.

[Lastkiel]

All right. What's in this house?

[Doug]

It's a brick house.

[Lastkiel]

I thought it was an orbu rorboo.

[Doug]

I'm gonna write that down because it's been mentioned multiple times, and I feel like we're gonna get in a life and death situation where, you know, gun to the head. I'm gonna not remember that.

[Natty]

You open the the door before you, you see a living room room with a kitchenette. Looking around, you see that there is a fishing hole cut into the floor. There's some kind of throne with curtains and a metallic trunk. And then in this room, there appears to be the front door you just walked in on the west side. And an ascending rope ladder to the north and a back door to the east. And there's porthole windows on all sides of this room.

[Tov]

Hello? Is it. Is anybody home? We. We got a key.

[Doug]

I, I put my hand on Nadi's shoulder and I say, Bjorn has passed since. It's been a while.

[Tov]

I just want to know. I just want to know if anybody's in the house. That's just safety.

[Doug]

That's. Sure. Yeah. Okay. I, I, I chime in. Hello, stove.

[Natty]

No response.

[Doug]

Okay, I take. I, you summon all of my olfactory senses, and I sniff in the air to see if I. Oh, what it smells like reminds me. It makes me nostalgic.

[Natty]

Make me a. Let's call it perception check with a smell check.

[Doug]

Okay.

[Natty]

Smell check.

[Gunther]

Sniff, check.

[Doug]

I'm not even gonna roll the second one because that's a 20. Nat 20.

[Tov]

That's where your Nat 20 comes from.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Tov]

You've been rolling crud this entire Session. And then you take a whiff.

[Doug]

You.

[Natty]

There are. There are many smells that you can detect here because, you know, this is like a living room and kitchenette area. But one of the things you can smell is some kind of like cooking oil and fish maybe. You know, a lot of fish has been fried here. And it fills your nose and it fills your senses, and it's one of those things where you smell something familiar and it conjures a memory. You know, y' all ever have that, where you smell something like, where do I know this from?

[Gunther]

It triggers the memory the most. Out of any sense.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Natty]

Yep. Sorry, John. It makes you think of Bjorn. You've fried fish many times with him in the past, and it makes you think of the time you first met Bjorn. Many, many moons ago. Many years ago. It takes you back to that time when you first met him. You remember it as if it was yesterday. You look around and you see yourself underwater in murky seawater. You're carrying your warhammer and shield. Your shield once glowed brightly, but it doesn't any longer. It hasn't for several months. What does the crest on your shield look like? I don't remember.

[Doug]

It's like two, like, it's like the less than and the greater than symbols.

[Natty]

Right?

[Doug]

Kind of intersecting. Almost like an S. Like the outline of an S. Yeah.

[Natty]

Is it left and right or is it vertical? Just for my clarification, on the top.

[Doug]

Is like the small point and then going out to two points, and then right below that is like the two points going down to the small point. So it's literally kind of like the outline of an S. Gotcha.

[Lastkiel]

Like a straight S. So it's a less than, then greater than, with the less than, like higher than the greater than.

[Doug]

Correct.

[Gunther]

Almost as if like it's mouth inside of a mouth type thing.

[Natty]

Yeah.

[Gunther]

Okay.

[Doug]

That is on my shield.

[Natty]

Yeah. And you look around. What do you. What do you do? What did you do in this situation, Tol?

[Doug]

I'm trudging through the sand, and I'm just walking and walking, and I feel like I've been doing it for months.

[Natty]

As you put your head down and continue walking, you feel something tickle your forehead.

[Gunther]

What is that?

[Doug]

What is that?

[Natty]

You. You take a look. Cuz, you know, that's really unusual. And you. You know, right in front of your face is a fishing line with a lure at the end. What kind of bait did it have?

[Doug]

Oh, a big juicy worm. Vorms always found the best worms.

[Natty]

What do you do with that fishing line? Like lure and worm in front of your face.

[Doug]

Well, I guess I follow it. I'm not gonna bite on because I don't like worms. But I, yeah, I like follow the line. I know that I'm nearby something, so maybe I give it a tug.

[Natty]

You give it a tug and it begins slowly retracting back up to the surface. And you follow along with it and pop up above the surface. And greeting you in a rowboat is an orc. On the side of the rowboat, it's painted red with white lettering. It says Tita Fleer. The orc is clean shaven. He's got a scarred cleft chin and a strong frame. He's got a green complexion and a tattoo on his right bicep. He's wearing a woolen overcoat, waxed smock and oiled boots.

[Doug]

That's a handsome looking guy.

[Tov]

Oh.

[Doug]

What are you doing here? Well, I've been a little lost for some time, so. Saw this here verm and I haven't talked to anybody in quite a while, so I thought I'd give a little tug. Hello.

[Lastkiel]

Oh, hello.

[Doug]

Fancy meeting you.

[Natty]

I am Bjorn.

[Doug]

Hello. What might your name be? Well, I typically go by the moniker Tov. It's a pleasure to meet you. Yeah, yoohoo. It's me, Tov. Yoohoo eats meat.

[Natty]

You see those houses over there?

[Doug]

You seem pretty wet. If you'd like, you can stay with.

[Natty]

Me and warm up and dry off.

[Doug]

Are you sure? I mean, have you seen me? I mean, are you just going to welcome a stranger into your home?

[Natty]

Oh yeah, I think you are, as I like to say, inside.

[Doug]

I don't know what that means. Can you?

[Natty]

Ooh, I have much to teach you.

[Doug]

Then you have much.

[Tov]

It means no worries for the rest of your days.

[Natty]

AKU nama ta da.

[Doug]

Uh, okay. That's a nice memory.

[Natty]

You hop into the rowboat and Bjorn rows both of you back to shore and opens the door to his fishing house, which is the rorbu you're in now. And he begins cooking up a fish fry that smells of cinnamon and basil. It's a work in progress.

[Doug]

Feels like it's missing some. What do you think, Tolv? To be honest with you, I'm not very familiar with this dish. I don't. I don't eat much.

[Natty]

Well, perhaps it's a project we can work on together. And with that, the memory begins to fade and you're back amongst your friends in the rorbu once again smelling that same fish fry smell in the middle of the Rorbu.

[Lastkiel]

Is Torv okay? He's been standing there for a very long time smelling.

[Doug]

Sorry. I just had a very lovely memory about the first time I met my. My good friend Bjorn.

[Gunther]

You meat born. Sorry.

[Lastkiel]

Gunther sniffs to see if he has any memory.

[Natty]

You sniff. But there is no attached memory here for you, Gunther.

[Lastkiel]

Not yet told.

[Gunther]

How long ago was that time you met Bjorn?

[Doug]

Oh, I'd say just a couple of years. I would say somewhere thereabouts.

[Gunther]

You said it was like a. Like a father figure to you, right?

[Natty]

Yeah.

[Tov]

So a mantor.

[Doug]

Well, something more than a mentor, you know, because I think Ironclad was technically like my father. But Bjorn showed me things that Ironclad never did. He was. He was kind and it was the first time that I had experienced something like that.

[Lastkiel]

And how did do. What happened to Bjorn, if you are able to share?

[Doug]

Well, he. He sadly passed away. And that's. That's when I began my journey towards the mortalion. But it was a sickness that I'm not familiar with. I'm not very good with the medicines. I tried everything I could to keep him alive, but, you know, it was his time to go.

[Lastkiel]

I'm very sorry.

[Gunther]

I'm also sorry to. That must have been really hard.

[Doug]

Yeah, I've experienced a lot of loss in my life, but I think that one hit the hardest.

[Gunther]

You don't know what the sickness was, you said.

[Doug]

No, it was rather sudden and it happened very quickly and there was just not a lot we could do. But it was very difficult.

[Lastkiel]

Time was there, same thumbs.

[Doug]

Fortunately there was not too much pain. But he did lose his weakness. You know, the things that we used to do together, he was. He didn't have the energy to do them and he was. He was very bedridden there towards the end. So I did everything I could, but you know, trying to feed him and going out and fishing on the. The t de flir, his rowboat, it was rather lonely. And it's really hard there towards the end because I didn't want to part ways with him. And then eventually, yeah, he just. He just. You let go one day.

[Gunther]

Well, if there's one thing in life that's inevitable is death.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Gunther]

And apparently taxes.

[Doug]

That too. Yeah. Natty, do you know if. That if Bjorn is with your wife?

[Tov]

Well, I mean, everybody meets my wife, so even if he's not maybe necessarily with her right now, she's met her, he's met her.

[Doug]

Is she good to them?

[Tov]

Oh, yeah. Like I said, everybody loves her.

[Doug]

That warms my heart.

[Tov]

Yeah. That's why. That's why it's. It's. It's. I feel your sadness, but I. I always have mixed feelings when people are kind of going through that, because I just feel like I wish I could bestow upon them my relationship with that kind of a change. Because it's. It, it, it. I understand your loss, and so I'm not belittling that, but it's so much more than that. And it's such a good thing. You know, like I said, they get to see my wife, and that's just a gift for everybody.

[Doug]

That helps. That helps a lot, knowing that that's.

[Natty]

A good way to think of it. It's a good way to look at it.

[Tov]

Yeah.

[Gunther]

Well, should we maybe explore this place and see if there's any other, like, things that Bjorn left behind or anything you might want to make sure you take with you?

[Natty]

Yeah.

[Doug]

I wouldn't mind taking a look inside that chest over over there.

[Natty]

Yeah. And just to be clear, this rorbu has three levels. And I'm going to reread the description of this room just because a lot has happened since you all first walked in the door, just so you know. So you walked into this room, and you see a fishing hole cut into the floor. There's a throne with curtains and a metallic trunk. The egresses are the front door to the west, which you walked in, an ascending rope ladder to the north, a back door to the east. And there are portal windows on all sides of the room. And Tolv, specifically, you said you were going to go check out the throne.

[Doug]

Yeah. Well, no, there was a chest there. Right.

[Natty]

Okay. You want to go to the trunk? Yeah, yeah. You walk over to the trunk, and it's a metallic trunk. It's a hinged portable box made of some kind of speckled metal. And now that you've gotten closer, you see there's an oily scroll on top.

[Doug]

What does it say?

[Natty]

You pick up the scroll. I assume you mean. Right. Yeah. You pick up the scroll and you identify it very quickly as the source of the smell. It smells of cooking oil and fish. And it's titled Tight Lines Fish fry.

[Doug]

Oh, is it like a recipe?

[Natty]

Yeah. As you begin reading it, you see it's a list of ingredients and steps for cooking a fish fry recipe. It seems to be unfinished, and there's a little phrase scribbled at the bottom, and it says, good luck is bad luck.

[Doug]

Good luck.

[Gunther]

Is that something that beyond would say, like, is that one of those, like, philosophical things?

[Doug]

Do I Know what that means? Do you have any recollection of Bjorn saying that?

[Natty]

Make a wisdom check with advantage.

[Doug]

Okay. You know, oh, they needed that advantage because you know, I'm gonna blow this big time. Oh my God. It's a nat 20. Look at that.

[Natty]

Your memories are all 20s in here. Yeah. You remember, Bjorn would say that telling an angler good luck before they head out is bad luck. And it's a common superstition in the fishing crowd. It's like how you say, break a leg to an actor. Similarly, anglers wish each other tight lines.

[Doug]

Oh, I share that with the group. I say, yeah, that's like a fishing tradition. It's something that Bjorn used to tell me about among the other many things that he taught me.

[Gunther]

From now on to I'll tell you, I wish you a tight line. The tightest line.

[Doug]

It was very kind of you.

[Lastkiel]

Tight.

[Natty]

And further in the scroll are ingredients and steps as well. Then I can, I can, I can expand on those if you want. It's up to you. I'm not being cagey. Whatever you want, you tell me.

[Doug]

Meta talk. Is there anything do you think of significance or like is it, is it worth sharing with the class or is it like genuinely just a recipe?

[Natty]

I can't answer that because that'll tell you like.

[Doug]

Okay, all right.

[Natty]

I can never, I can, I can never answer that question.

[Doug]

Sure. Okay then, yeah, share it with me. Or if you want to, if you want to just give like a run through of it. Now I'm curious.

[Natty]

Yeah, here, send it to you.

[Doug]

Oh. Now guys, I'm going to share with you a very secret recipe that Bjorn gave to me. The ingredients are catch of the day, cooking oil, cinnamon, basil, flour, rotten eggs, horn meal and. And then there's a bunch of dot dots and question mark.

[Lastkiel]

Yum.

[Doug]

Oh. The steps are the clean the fish, whisk eggs, mix seasoning and horn meal, wash fish in eggs, dragon mixture, hang fish over fire and then question mark.

[Natty]

Maybe you all could figure out the final ingredient or figure out the final step or not. It's up to you.

[Gunther]

That could be fine. I am pretty hungry. Gotta feed the ol bellyhue.

[Doug]

How about while the rest of the group explores Bjorn's. Oh my God. What is it called? A roar. Boo.

[Gunther]

There you go.

[Doug]

I'll go ahead and use the fishing hole there in the middle and get some fish and then I can, I can just, just like go through the steps remembering the days I was with Bjorn and just like go through kind of like what my old. What is it called? When you have, like, a. Like a ritual, you know?

[Natty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Doug]

Just to feel at home. And I want to cook everybody a meal.

[Natty]

Sure. And just for clarity, the fishing hole has, like, an affixed fishing rod topped with a tiny bell, and there's a line dropped into the water below.

[Doug]

Okay. I'll draw the line up. I'll put some bait on it. I'm sure I have some rations or something, and then I'll just go about fishing.

[Natty]

Okay, sounds good. While Tolv is fishing, what do you want to do? Sounds like Natty. Like John Natty. He may have had an idea.

[Tov]

Actually, I'd like to talk to Private Parts, if I could.

[Natty]

Okay. Yeah. Ooh, hello. Loading private parts.

[Tov]

That's pretty funny. Hey, Private. I. I'm kind of at. I feel like we're at a point where I don't quite know what we should be doing next for our objective, seeing as how we were supposed to come here and we're supposed to see something about if people are, like, being impersonated. We found Fismum and Pancake, and we confirmed that there are people that are impersonating as them. Is our objective complete? Should we be heading back to the base soon?

[Doug]

Perhaps it would make sense for us.

[Natty]

To begin repairs on the boat outside.

[Tov]

Of the dock, and we can use.

[Doug]

It to try to find the sea drinker.

[Tov]

Okay. Okay, I appreciate that. I like to get some direction.

[Natty]

Laskule kind of, like, perks up at.

[Lastkiel]

That and says, oh, I can take a look at that.

[Doug]

I can begin repairs on that boat.

[Tov]

Sure. I have a big favor to ask. If you last, you go ahead. I'm trying. I'm trying to be a good mama, and I'm trying to teach my boy lessons. Do you think you could take Gigi with you and you could teach him a lesson on, like, how to be a handy handyman?

[Lastkiel]

That I can do.

[Doug]

I'm very knowledgeable about fixing things and about handiwork.

[Tov]

Okay, we can resolve that later when we meet up with Last Skill. But I've. I've. I've been trying to remember to. To. To implement this pedagogic method that Micah made for Giggy.

[Natty]

Yeah. So you're gonna be trying to teach him via watching the handiwork? Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, absolutely.

[Tov]

Oh, thank you so much.

[Natty]

Come on, little one.

[Lastkiel]

Let me teach you some stuff.

[Doug]

Natty surrounds her child with only the best examples to follow. A former prisoner that we just sprung from jail for five minutes.

[Natty]

Yeah. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

[Gunther]

There you go.

[Natty]

There you go.

[Tov]

Listen, listen, listen, y' all. If I should be worried about anybody, we know, it should be last. Hey, last year. Don't give me any more sharp stuff. He's got plenty.

[Doug]

As last skill. And Giggy would leave, I would direct them to Bjorn's Tools and things like that. So they have the necessary tools in order to fix the Tito Fleer?

[Natty]

Absolutely.

[Lastkiel]

My thinking is we look at the map, come up with a plan and a timeline to leave, and then make preparations until then.

[Natty]

And you're the leader, right, Gunther? Yes, that sounds very official. Private parts hears you give out these commands and begins scribbling notes.

[Lastkiel]

A quick pull out the map. And then also, knowing Tolv, I know you're fishing, but take a look at it, because I would imagine you'd be more familiar with it. So, like Tolv and everyone, let's just look in here and see what we know.

[Doug]

At this point, Tolv would have caught a few fish, and I think that he'd be cleaning them up.

[Natty]

Tolv, you pull up the reel, you get a bite, and you find a giant crab at the end of the line.

[Doug]

Oh, well, that's not a fish. Okay, so bye, bye, little crab. And then I put him back in the water.

[Natty]

Okay. And I assume, Tolv, you keep fishing.

[Doug]

Yep.

[Natty]

Okay.

[Gunther]

Can Doug go up the ladder?

[Natty]

Yeah. Doug, you begin going up the rope ladder to the north, to the second floor. Is that what you said?

[Gunther]

Correct.

[Natty]

Okay. Yeah. You come up to the second floor, and this appears to be some kind of bedroom. You see a nightstand with a book, a wardrobe that has some kind of bas relief carvings on it, and a clock with a circular mosaic pattern from this room. The egresses are the rope ladder that you just came up. And there are portal windows on all sides.

[Gunther]

Okay. So there doesn't seem to be another way to go up a floor from in here. Like this seems to be the top floor.

[Lastkiel]

There are three floors.

[Natty]

Oh, oh, oh, oh. But the rope ladder continues as well up past where you are.

[Gunther]

Okay, could I look? What's the book that's on the nightstand?

[Natty]

Yeah, you walk over to the nightstand, and on top of it is a closed black book. The title is written in Celestial. But as we established a little while ago. Doug, you read Celestial.

[Gunther]

I picked a good language.

[Natty]

You really did. The title of the book, written on the spine is the End.

[Gunther]

Oh, gosh.

[Doug]

Spoilers.

[Gunther]

Is it one of those books that has, like, the description of what the whole book is about on the back of it?

[Tov]

You know how old books used to.

[Doug]

Be like about the author.

[Natty]

You don't know. Since it's, you know, the back is on the nightstand, so you reach out to flip it over to see if anything's on the back. And as you touch it, the book opens up and you realize that the entire book is made of black sand. And as it's laying there on the nightstand, it begins flipping through all the pages very quickly. And it flips to the last page.

[Gunther]

Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.

[Natty]

As it lays open in front of you, words, words begin to form, written in celestial on the page.

[Gunther]

Oh, so this says, kings shall rise in days of doomed saved by bathing blood. Presumed fall they shall return askew. Imago de nutata hu.

[Natty]

That last line is ancient celestial. Like you saw earlier. You don't entirely know exactly what it means. Something about the image of God changing.

[Tov]

It sounds like zombies grumble shit up.

[Gunther]

Like do I hear that? That just grumbles downstairs. I also imagine when Doug was reading that passage, all of like the whole room was spinning with wind and like all of his fur was like. I imagine this is not something I could physically take with me.

[Natty]

Yeah, sure you could.

[Gunther]

I feel like this message in here might become important at some point for us to remember. Could I just like maybe write it down in a notepad that I would have on me?

[Natty]

Yeah, you absolutely can. Can make a note of it.

[Gunther]

Okay. I'm scared to take it with me. I feel like cursed in some way.

[Natty]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, prime helps you get more out of your passions. So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music and fast free delivery, prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into. Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more this Father's Day at Lowe's. Score free gifts for the greatest dad. Right now get a free select Dewalt Craftsman or cobalt tool with purchase of a select battery kit. Plus get a free Werner 2 foot aluminum ladder when you buy an 8 foot fiberglass ladder. Shop these deals and more this Father's Day at Lowe's. We help you save valid through 6:15 while supplies last selection varies by location.

[Doug]

The new McCrispy Strip is here. Dip approved by Ketchup Tangy barbecue Honey mustard honey mustard Sprite McFlurry Big Mac sauce Double dipped in buffalo and ranch. More ranch and creamy chili McCrispy strip dip now at McDonald's. How's Toll's fishing going?

[Natty]

Why don't you roll me an animal handling check?

[Doug]

Animal handling. Oh, you know it's gonna be bad.

[Natty]

I rolled it for you last time, but that. That wasn't fun. You should roll it.

[Doug]

12.

[Natty]

You pull out from the. The fishing hole. A giant fish, a giant sea bass.

[Doug]

Then, you know, like I said earlier not to take up too much time. Toll's gonna go about his routine. You know, he's been through this before. He's gonna go clean the fish, take the gills off, you know, all that stuff, take the bones out, and he's gonna go about making everyone dinner.

[Natty]

Sure. Tol, if you continue your process going through the motions of, like, prepping the fish and beginning to cook it. Was anyone else got something they want to do? Well, looking at that map, Laskil has a map. And that was in the planning room, like, where all the gnolls were. It's a map with, like, of the sea, the half gnolls. And the Gnolls were looking for something on that map. They couldn't find it, but Laskiel knows where it is on the map.

[Lastkiel]

Gotcha.

[Natty]

Okay. Like, so there's a map, but it's not as precise. There's knowledge which Laskiel has, which can be used with the map.

[Lastkiel]

Gotcha. Understand. Okay. I guess Gunther would go up and check out that third floor with Doug.

[Gunther]

Well, I'm currently on the second floor.

[Natty]

Yeah. Doug still on the second floor.

[Lastkiel]

I guess.

[Natty]

I like to think that Gunther is, like, continuing up the road. Rope ladder. And as he does so, he's like, he passes the second floor and he sees, like, Doug with all of his fur out and the wind blowing and the. And the book, you know, wide open on the. On the. On the nightstand. And Gunther's just, like, not my problem. He just keeps going up to the. To the third floor and just climbs right past it.

[Gunther]

I just want him to hear the echoes of the booming, like, K shall.

[Natty]

Rise in.

[Lastkiel]

Some real Evil Dead stuff going on.

[Natty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Gunther]

Doug's just, like.

[Natty]

Floating above the book. So, yeah, you see that and continue on your way, Gunther. And you find your way to the third floor, which is a circular room with glass walls. You see a doused lantern in the center of the room with a mirror behind it. And there appears to be be a C chart and map on the floor. And the only exit is the descending rope ladder, which you came up with.

[Lastkiel]

Glass walls, a C chart in the center.

[Natty]

Yeah, and.

[Lastkiel]

And that was. That was about it.

[Natty]

Yeah.

[Lastkiel]

Could Gunther take the C chart and the. Those things, I assume they're going to be useful. They are things that, like, you, like, take, right?

[Natty]

Yeah, yeah. It's a. It's just like a chart on paper that you can take with you.

[Lastkiel]

Okay, I'll take that.

[Natty]

Make me a perception check, Gunther.

[Doug]

Okay.

[Lastkiel]

All right. With pleasure. Five. What you got?

[Natty]

Yeah. As you walk out there, you, you know, you notice that the. The glass walls are really thick panels of glass that seem to be sealed by some kind of astragal, and it's just being peppered with incessant rain.

[Lastkiel]

Is there anything I see out in the distance that, you know, I'll just take a peek, look and see if, you know, we. We escaped that skull cave and just make sure there's no one chasing after us. There's anything else I could see out there?

[Natty]

You take a look out, and as you look out, you can see in the distance there's a rowboat on fire in the sea.

[Lastkiel]

Oh, like the rowboat that they went out to go repair.

[Natty]

I mean, it's at a distance you can't see it, but you would assume no because it's too far for them to have gone in the amount of time that has passed since you saw the rowboat yourself.

[Lastkiel]

It's on fire. Is it. Is it looks like something that's close enough where it could be we could go save them, or is it like.

[Natty]

It'S pretty far in the distance?

[Lastkiel]

Okay, I want to run back down and tell Toll, who I consider the master of the sea. There is a boat on fire. It's a rowboat. It is out in the distance. I don't know if it's a danger or not. And I point and I look at the sea chart, and I see it like I can. If is in the sea chart, do I see. Is. Is the. The bay represented? Could I, like, point to where it was?

[Natty]

Yeah, you can. And I'm going to send a bit of information to Blaine.

[Doug]

I think I might know what that rowboat is. What did you see? Like, what. What all was it like a small robot.

[Lastkiel]

Robot is on fire. Look to be in danger because fire is never a good thing on a lake or river or ocean.

[Doug]

Okay. I'm going to do to you what Bjorn did to me, and I'm going to teach you about a local tradition. So in your community, what happens when you're dead? You know, when. When people pass on, what do you do with their bodies?

[Lastkiel]

With their bodies? We.

[Doug]

We.

[Lastkiel]

They are. They are buried. They're burrowed for final.

[Doug]

Last time we give Our bodies to the sea. So what we do is we put them in a boat and we push them out to the water. And then we shoot a flaming arrow at them and then it engulfs the boat and that's how we parted with the dead. So you, what you saw was probably just a funeral. So it's no need, no need for alarm. It's perfectly normal. It's very sad. And you can take a moment to, you know, think of the, the past.

[Lastkiel]

I do not know them to think of.

[Doug]

Well, you know, just a sign of respect, let's say.

[Lastkiel]

Okay, I will think of them or try to pretend I think I. Then Gunther imagines someone on fire.

[Doug]

Oh, oh. I got a little bit of information, but I'm gonna act like Bjorn or Tov knows this. The fire never goes out, apparently. I think in these Viking funerals it's the fire giver. So it's kind of like, I guess like a dichotomy with the water. Was the water drinker, the sea drinker. There's a fire giver, but the fires don't go out. That specific fire that's out there, that's. That's Bjorn.

[Lastkiel]

Eat. What?

[Doug]

Yes. So like, yeah, it. It was about. No, he is, he's passed.

[Natty]

It's.

[Doug]

He's dead. That's like his memorial. It was an honor given by the fire eater. So he's out there and he's just, he's just forever, you know, blazing. So.

[Lastkiel]

Oh my goodness.

[Doug]

It's pretty metal, isn't it?

[Lastkiel]

This is a good thing. You seem unconcerned.

[Doug]

I mean, it's just, it's. It's. I mean, it's an honor. Like I said, it's just pretty cool when you think about it. I mean, I bet it's super useful for local fishermen who need to find their way.

[Gunther]

Could Doug have come down from the ladder at this point to join them?

[Natty]

Absolutely.

[Gunther]

Hey, 12, quick question. The second floor up there was up Bjorn's bedroom room.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Gunther]

Okay. He had a really creepy book in there. I think it was about death. But it kind of implied that he might rise again in something called Days of Doomed.

[Doug]

I don't think that Bjorn's gonna be coming back anytime soon.

[Lastkiel]

He's on fire, if you did not know.

[Doug]

Yeah, yeah, basically I catch, I catch. Dug up on that. There is a burning memorial out on the ocean and it's. It's like a never ending Viking funeral for Bjorn.

[Gunther]

Wow.

[Natty]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Pretty cool, right?

[Gunther]

That sounds like torture.

[Lastkiel]

That's what I thought.

[Doug]

So, Gus, can I say that at this point, I've, like, gone through all of the steps. I've cleaned the fish, whisked the eggs, mixed seasonings in Horton meal, washed the fish and the egg mixture. And then I'm hanging the fish over the fire. And then for the final ingredient. Does Tolv know what it is? Like, if I took a crack at what it is? Or was that something that Bjorn never cracked?

[Natty]

Bjorn never cracked it. So it's up to you to discover the final ingredient.

[Doug]

I'm gonna go with garlic salt.

[Natty]

All right. Garlic salt, man. That's a. That's a utility. That's a. That's. That's a must have in every kitchen.

[Doug]

Okay. I put garlic salt on it. I finish cooking the fish, and I put it out for everybody.

[Tov]

And then Natty's outside with Gigi and yells at, hey, Tov, you didn't put garlic on that at all. Right?

[Natty]

Why?

[Tov]

Gigi hates garlic.

[Doug]

You know how little babies sometimes are picky eaters. I think it's time for Giggy to be a big boy and to try it out. I think it's gonna be very good.

[Natty]

Sounds good.

[Tov]

I'm gonna let you handle that.

[Doug]

Okay. I'm gonna actually go ahead and ring that dinner bell that we stole off that dead guy. And I say, food's ready.

[Lastkiel]

Gunther happily takes the plate.

[Doug]

Okay. How does it taste? I'm gonna serve up some for everybody.

[Tov]

Sure.

[Gunther]

I'm excited.

[Natty]

All right. So I think, Gunther, you said you ate first, right? Yeah. We'll need two D 20s.

[Lastkiel]

All right. Pretty lucky. Two 13s.

[Natty]

Oh, yeah. You think. You think it's really delicious. You love it. You think it's. It's. It's awesome.

[Lastkiel]

This is so good. Toruf, I think you did the best job ever. A fish.

[Doug]

Can I tell if that was the secret, if that was the missing step, the missing ingredient.

[Natty]

Let's see. Let's see what other people say. Who else. Who else ate?

[Gunther]

I did.

[Tov]

Yeah. Go, go, go. Doug.

[Natty]

Yeah, Doug, roll me two D twenties.

[Gunther]

A twelve and a four. Total sixteen.

[Natty]

It's good, you know, it's. It's. It's not, like, mind blowing. It's not the best dish you've ever had, but it's solid.

[Doug]

It's.

[Natty]

It's pretty good.

[Gunther]

I think this is the best dish I've ever had to go roll me a deception.

[Natty]

Check, Doug.

[Gunther]

Oh, gosh. 4.

[Doug]

You don't.

[Natty]

You're not sure entirely if Doug is being earnest told, but the sentiment. Doug's heart is in the right place.

[Tov]

Okay, okay, okay. Natty Gigi's gonna go next.

[Doug]

I'm gonna cut a piece for Giggy. I'm gonna do the whole, like, here comes the. Here comes the boats. It's a tugboat. I don't know why I tried to feed Giggy.

[Tov]

I roll for feeding. Gigi rolled a six.

[Doug]

So if it's a failure, does that mean that I get to feed them successfully?

[Tov]

As in Giggy failed to thwart you away? Yeah, let's say that. I like that.

[Natty]

Sure.

[Tov]

Does Gigi need to roll 2D 20s.

[Natty]

Roll the 2D 20s. Yeah.

[Tov]

Okay. That's an 18. That's a. That's another 18, actually.

[Doug]

Oh.

[Natty]

You know, you have to kind of force Giggy to take that first bite. But then after the first bite, like, Gigi can't get enough. He keeps, like, reaching for more and trying to eat more and more.

[Tov]

Well, you did something most people can't. You got Gigi to do something he don't want to do.

[Doug]

How do I. How would I know if that's the. If that's the correct. The missing ingredient.

[Natty]

I'm, like, real fast before I answer that from a metagaming perspective, everyone who ate it is going to have advantage on any D20 roll for the rest of this session.

[Lastkiel]

Oh, my goodness.

[Natty]

To answer your question, Blaine, slash told, maybe there is no, like, one single right answer. You know, it's cooking. There could be many right answers. And it just so happened that the ingredient you came up with works.

[Gunther]

And as Chef Gusteau says, anyone can cook.

[Doug]

So Tolve wants to stand up after everyone's eaten, and he's kind of fidgeting nervously, and I think he's been doing this this entire time. And he says, gang, before we get going, I think I need to come clean about something. I haven't been completely honest with all of you.

[Tov]

What? I'd never noticed that you dodged a lot of questions about your. The history of your past. Yeah.

[Doug]

It's about time, I think, now that I'm here at Bjorn's house and I recognize the importance of our mission and how close I've grown to all of you, I think it's time that I come clean. So you remember when we ran into Ironclad, right?

[Tov]

Yeah. Like, okay, an hour ago. Yeah.

[Doug]

Yeah. It was not very long ago. I mean, it was before the cave thing, but anyways, he mentioned that there are people running around, you know, acting like. I can't remember his exact words, but he was basically like, oh, there are people who are acting like things that they are not. And Such, you know, he was, he was being like really cryptic and mean and I hate him. Well, when I say that Ironclad is like my father, what I mean to say is he's actually my creator.

[Gunther]

Yeah, so he's your model?

[Doug]

No, with that, I take a knife and I cut around the forearm of my arm and I pull the skin from my arm and reveal a thaumatech arm. It looks a lot more like that are that leg that we ran into in that cave.

[Lastkiel]

And I say, oh my goodness, everyone.

[Doug]

I am a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a middle endoskeleton. I'm a thaumatech.

[Gunther]

Hold on. First of all, what the heck were you like? Like a wheel boy that got like something happened to you and you got recreated as whatever you just said or like, is that how you started?

[Doug]

Well, if you give me a moment, I'll tell you my whole story and I'll answer any questions. And if you guys are upset with me, then I'm open to that. I know that I've been dishonest and I haven't been outright truthful, so I'm happy to go through and process all of these emotions with you guys. It was. It started several years ago. I've lost track in. Basically, Ironclad had a penchant for creating machinery, specifically machines for war. And he created 11 different beings, robots, fighters, that he would use his crew on his ship. And I am the 12th one, hence my name being Tolv, which is 12 from the land that I come. Come from. So that's why I have no last name, and that's why my name is Tolv.

[Gunther]

You're a robot?

[Doug]

Well, yes. It. It was kind of weird because, you know, for. For years, Ironclad and the crew and what I would consider my brothers and sisters, we sailed the seas and doing terrible things, things that I, looking back, wish I had never done. But at the time, I didn't have any choice in the matter. You know, I was just listening to what he told me and I had. I couldn't break away. I couldn't do anything about it. I just had to listen to him.

[Lastkiel]

Is it where you had to automatically follow orders or did you just not know?

[Doug]

Yeah, the closest thing I could compare it to is like, if you guys were under like a spell, it was just something that I couldn't say no to. So.

[Gunther]

So how did you break out of that?

[Doug]

Well, that's the thing, you know, one day, I don't know how or why, but I just kind of woke up I snapped out of it and so did some of my other brothers and sisters. And we were tired of what Ironclad was telling us to do, so we, we mutinied and we. We were going to try to take the ship so that we could end the. The roar and the. In the madness. But he overpowered us. And for my treachery, Ironclad pushed me off the ship. He made me walk the plank. And for months I was under the water and I was just walking around aimlessly because I couldn't die. I'm medal. So I just kind of sunk to the bottom and I was just wandering around until I ran into Bjorn. So when I said I was stranded on an island, I was actually lying. I was under. Under water.

[Lastkiel]

Nothing happened to Ironclad. That made you become power and gave you strength to break away or did it just happen? Or do you not know?

[Tov]

Probably an update got pushed through.

[Doug]

Well, like I said, I don't know, Gunther. It's just like. It's just like I woke up someday. I don't know if it was some sort of divine intervention or, you know, I don't know. But something just kind of snapped. You know, after years of doing terrible things, I just finally woke up.

[Gunther]

Do you think it was the Sea Drinkle?

[Doug]

I mean it could be. You know, that was. You know, we've talked about the sea drinker and we've run into things, you know, like seems like Bjorn had some sort of relationship with them. But yeah, that was like while I was under water and I was looking for something, anything. I just kind of reaching out to like a higher power. And I think that the Sea drinker just finally led me to Bjorn and that's how we crossed paths. So maybe they did wake me up.

[Natty]

I don't know how many of your.

[Lastkiel]

Brothers and sisters, the 11 where they become aware and what happened to them.

[Doug]

I don't know what happened all very quickly. I don't know what happened to them, but it seemed like most of them woke up. I don't know if some of them decided to stay with Ironclad and some of them turned. All the details were very hazy. It was all very sudden. It was over just as quickly.

[Gunther]

So you're technically a machine?

[Doug]

Well, yeah.

[Gunther]

This might be a weird question.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Gunther]

But do you think I could examine you just, you know, for my own research? Because I'm just like so fascinated by how he built you and just. It's just state of the art tech.

[Natty]

As you're asking this question to tolve Doug, you Notice that the sigil on Tol's shield begins glowing faintly and then brighter and brighter. And before you, you can comment on it, there's a loud pounding at the door and the door bursts open.

[Tov]

Oh, no.

[Natty]

You see the silhouette of a golden thaumatech and you hear a voice call out.

[Doug]

It's you. Do I recognize them? I mean, I probably do, but what is this?

[Natty]

We're gonna have to find out in the next episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon.

[Tov]

It was getting so interesting.

[Natty]

It's. It's still gonna be interesting next episode, too. Thanks everyone for listening. Don't forget that if you want to support the show, you can go to stinkydragonpod.com we'll have an episode of Second Wind coming out next week and we're going to talk about things from this episode, things about the podcast, general, other things going on with us. And then the week after that, we'll have a new episode and we'll find out who it is at the door again. Stinkydragonpod.com we'd appreciate it, but thanks a bunch and we'll see you guys next time.

[Doug]

You're gonna want to listen to the second win because I have a lot to say about how many breadcrumbs I've been laying in front of you people. You have no idea. I've been sitting on this. It's this hot secret, this gossip.

[Gunther]

I'm pretty observant and I don't think I picked up a single one.

[Lastkiel]

I've not seen any bread. I lost the trail. I would be lost in the forest.

[Gunther]

Gunther's just been eating all the breadcrumbs as you've been dropping them.

[Natty]

Did you know it's our birthday? That's right. June 1st is the anniversary of Tales from the Sticky Dragon. Going independent. And in order to celebrate our birthday, I think you should head over to store.stinkydragonpod.com and check out some of our anniversary merch. We've got all kinds of anniversary merch, including a commemorative glass sticker. And we've also got Patreon tier exclusive merch available for all of our different tiers of our Patreon. These items will be available for purchase all month long, so all June long you can head over to store sticky dragonpod.com check it out, pick it up. But make sure you pick it up before the end of June, because once June's over, all of this merch is gone forever again, that is store.stinky dragonpod.com New episodes of Tales on The Stingy Dragon premiere every other Wednesday wherever you stream podcasts and on the Sticky Dragon YouTube channel. Want to listen to the show 48 hours early and ad free? Become a patron@sticky dragonpod.com or become a member of Beacon at Beacon TV. Both memberships support the show and receive access to our exclusive bonus series, Second Wind and a member only Discord for their respective platform. Become a patron, you get access to even more exclusive bonus content, Stinky Drum Community and Discord events and you get your name shouted out just like Sam, also also known as Smarsh. I think. I think I've heard of that guy. Egg Fried Rice 06, Rumble Grist, Elephant, Buckley and Indiewatch 25. These patrons directly support the show and get ad free episodes. Access to our exclusive patron only Discord server bonus content like Second Window, behind the Screen and much more. In fact, here's a quick peek from canon episode 18, Second Wind.

[Tov]

Do you remember in the very first episode. Oh, the pre like monologue introduction? Let me make a sorry attempt. So here's what happened in Midriff where we are in right now. That used to be where all them godlike creatures got to have shenanigans and hang out and play Scrabble together. Some of them were like, I'm over this party. We're gonna go to someplace more exclusive, close the VIP door and didn't tell anybody where they put put the key or the passcode to get in. And then that left Infernus and her homies with like no after party place to go to. And so they said, screw you guys, we'll make our own party. And it's gonna have World of Warcraft and Dr. Pepper. Now they're like, you know what, screw this, I'm gonna go find how to get to their place. Because they tried to call the cops to like, you know, stop the party, but the cops couldn't stop the party so they're doing it on their own. So now they got to find the sea drinker who knows how to get into Hyrum. That's the story. That's the story. That's the story.

[Doug]

Something like that.

[Lastkiel]

I would say that we were both pretty close.

[Tov]

You didn't do a single attempt at that, Chris.

[Doug]

I did. What did you say?

[Lastkiel]

They were in a place they wanted to get to. They got a bad hand.

[Tov]

That's some serious. Like the kids who used to work with me on projects and school and then make me do the whole project. And then when we did presentation, they act like they did something that's what that, that that was bringing to the party.

[Lastkiel]

You know, it's a team project.

[Natty]

Again, that's stinky. Dragonpod.com we can't thank you enough for your support that lets us make this show. Listeners who interacted with us on the Sting Dragon Discord had NPCs named after them in this episode. Like Bjorn, voiced by James Willems at James Williams from Answer for it show. A new weekly comedy podcast. Fizmom, named after Kim Karras voiced by Aaron Z Aronzek Lousy Laskiel named after Alex B007 voiced by Chad James Chadjames RT from Death Battle, Elva, voiced by Charlotte Avery at Momshome from Astrogoblin and Private Private Parts, voiced by Ben Ernst at HalcyonBan. This week's error question was submitted by Joshua Smith. This episode of Tales from the Stinking Dragons, produced by Ben Ernst, written, edited, composed by Michael Risinger with additional editing work by Katherine Arnold and David Sonier. Tune in next time for another thrilling episode of Tales from the Sting Dragon.

[Gunther]

Well, hello everyone. Welcome back again to the Dougs. On the ones and twos equals threes. It's been a while since we've connected last here during our mid episode potty break. Once again, Doug does not have to potty because Doug went potty before the show like a very smart boy that he is. Things going well? We're learning about this place here. We're trying to find a sea drinker. We're learning about Tob's daddy issues. He's got a lot of them. A lot to unpack this episode. But you know, thanks for tuning in. Do we have any guests here on the show with us today? We do not. It seems that everyone else also went potty. So it's just Doug here all on his own, just hanging out. All by myself. I'm okay being all by myself. Until next time.

[Tov]

Hey, Doug.

[Gunther]

Natty, hello. Welcome to the show.

[Tov]

Doug, I got a fun fact for you.

[Gunther]

What's that Natty laid on me?

[Tov]

You know how we this episode we had some doing ons with some fish with tove. Fun fact. There's no such thing as a fish.

[Gunther]

No such thing as a fish.

[Tov]

There's no such thing as a fish.

[Gunther]

Why don't you educate all this news on that, Natty?

[Tov]

Well, there's been some, you know, my community I'm always talking about. We got one fella, he's big. He's a big. I don't know, there's something called like a zoologist or something or biologist or something like that. And he studied and he figured out that why there's so many things in the sea, none of them are actually closely related to each other. You know, it's like a. There's like a salmon, but it's not closely related to anything else. It's closer related to something like a camel than. Than the other creatures that are in the ocean. And so there's actually no such thing as a fish.

[Gunther]

Wow. Okay. Well, butter my biscuit. I learned something today.

[Tov]

I figured, I figured with all your knowledge, if I can add a little bit just to the top of that little Jenga tower, I'm happ myself.

[Gunther]

Wow. Hopefully I don't learn too much more, otherwise it might topple over, you know.

[Natty]

Speaking of which, I got to look at your registry. I forgot. So. Thank you for the reminder, Gunther.

[Gunther]

It literally is just a honeymoon fund.

[Natty]

Hey Siri, remind me in three minutes to look at barbers registry.

[Tov]

Three minutes?

[Natty]

I meant three hours. I'm stupid.

[Tov]

Yeah, I was like, what?

[Natty]

Change that to three hours.

[Gunther]

Mid recording check registry.

[Doug]

Three minutes.

[Natty]

Yeah, that's it. That would be kind of dumb. Prescription products require completion of an online medication consultation with an independent healthcare provider.

[Doug]

Through the LifeMD platform and are only available if prescribed, subscription required. Individual results may vary.

[Natty]

Additional restrictions [e-mail] Read all warnings before using GLP1s.

[Doug]

Side effects may include a risk of.

[Natty]

Thyroid T cell tumors. Do not use GLP1s if you or your family have a history of thyroid cancer. Should GLP1 weight loss medication like Wegovy and Zepbound cost thousands of dollars? We don't think so. TryLifeMD.com helps provide insurance access to the leading GLP1 medications. Visit TryLifeMD.com and check your eligibility for GLP1 medication with copays as low as $0.

[Doug]

Listen to Bridget's story.

[Natty]

After losing 55 pounds and using her insurance for coverage.

[Doug]

LifeMD helped me get covered with my insurance.

[Gunther]

Finding out that it was covered was huge. I've lost 55 pounds. I am so much healthier now that I've lost the weight. I would never be able to do it without them.

[Natty]

Get started today and check your eligibility for GLP1 medication with copays as low as $0 at trylifemd.com.

[Doug]

That'S T R Y L I F.

[Natty]

E M D Com.