Tales from the Stinky Dragon

C03 - Ep. 28 - From On Hyra - No Sorcerest for the Weary

88 min
Oct 15, 20256 months ago
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Summary

In this D&D campaign episode, the party negotiates with a sleep-worshipping cult inside a massive boulder structure called Crag-tis, attempting to save a scapegoat creature. Through a series of experimental sleep potions and divine communion, Gunther makes contact with the deity Bedrock and inadvertently pushes the entire mountain structure across the landscape, teleporting the party closer to their destination of Fort Endridge.

Insights
  • Roleplay-driven problem solving: The party successfully infiltrated a hostile location by adopting the cult's values (sleep/rest) rather than confronting them directly, demonstrating creative social engineering in gameplay
  • Unintended consequences of divine interaction: Direct communion with deities produces unpredictable physical effects that can reshape the game world, creating narrative momentum through character actions rather than DM railroading
  • Experimental mechanics as storytelling: Using multiple experimental potions on a single character created both comedic moments and legitimate narrative consequences (narcolepsy, enhanced strength), blending mechanics with emergent storytelling
  • Pantheon complexity and management: The episode reveals a dysfunctional divine hierarchy where the 'Pale One' (cosmic ruler) is poorly assigning responsibilities to deities, creating opportunities for player agency in resolving divine conflicts
  • Party leadership and decision-making: Despite unclear formal leadership, the party successfully coordinated complex multi-stage plans (infiltration, negotiation, experimentation, divine communion) through collaborative discussion
Trends
Collaborative worldbuilding through player actions: DM adapts world state (moving mountains) based on player choices, creating dynamic environments that respond to character agencyBlending comedy with mechanical consequences: Experimental potions create both humorous roleplay moments and legitimate gameplay effects, maintaining tone consistency while advancing plotDivine politics as campaign driver: Introducing conflicting deity interests and management failures creates natural plot hooks and moral complexity without explicit questsImmersive infiltration through cultural adoption: Rather than combat or deception checks, players gain access by genuinely engaging with NPC culture and valuesEmergent narrative from character specialization: Each party member's unique skills (Doug's science knowledge, Natty's social manipulation, Toll's strength, Gunther's divine connection) created organic story beats
Topics
Divine communion mechanics in tabletop RPGsCult infiltration and social engineering in gameplayExperimental potion systems and unintended consequencesParty leadership and collaborative decision-makingWorld-altering player actions and DM adaptationPantheon management and deity conflict resolutionScapegoat mechanics and moral dilemmasSleep-based religious worldbuildingNarcolepsy as gameplay mechanicEnvironmental storytelling through landscape changesNPC faction dynamics and player negotiationEmergent comedy through mechanical interactionCharacter specialization and narrative integrationTeleportation through divine interventionPatron-exclusive bonus content strategy
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People
Gustavo Sarola
Dungeon Master and host of Tales from the Stinky Dragon, runs the campaign and voices multiple NPCs including Flynn a...
John Reiss
Player character Natty Wonder (drow drag queen warlock), party leader, negotiates with cult and manages group strategy
Blaine Gibson
Player character Toll (male Thaumatech barbarian), provides physical strength and protection, carries Gunther during ...
Chris DeMers
Player character Gunther (Croakfolk fighter), makes divine contact with Bedrock deity and accidentally moves the moun...
Barbara Dunkelman
Player character Doug Boone (bugbear artificer), applies scientific knowledge to analyze sleep potions and cult alchemy
Quotes
"I would probably come up with a name that like plays into my ability to kind of get lost in all my disguises and voices since I'm so gosh darn good at that."
John Reiss (Natty Wonder)Early episode
"Save the scapegoat, save the world. And then the cheerleader."
John Reiss (Natty Wonder)Mid-episode
"I don't know anything about sleep. The pale one just knows that my name has bed in it and assumed I knew about sleep."
Bedrock (via Gunther's dream)Divine communion sequence
"The will of the gods can be capricious and mysterious. I can't fully understand what the Bedrock may have been thinking."
Private Parts (NPC)Post-mountain-movement
"It must pet rock them all. To have dug a hole. What did you do? Dug a hole, mold. That rock does not sleep. He moves mountains and earth."
GuntherPost-communion revelation
Full Transcript
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Together, they explore the creative process, the struggles, the triumphs behind the camera, and the bold ideas shaping film today. From indie debuts, documentaries, to international art house cinema, Inside the Art House dives deep into a world where passion meets craft and where the love of film lives loud. Inside the Art House, conversations with today's most visionary filmmakers. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts. Solutations all use saddle slimes, squelch on into the stinky dragon and throw back our latest thirst quencher, Yippee-ki-yay, Mother Flubber. It's a mixture of pseudo peas in a pod, gurgling green tea leaves, the chair you threw out last week on the side of the road that vanished all too quickly, and now you're having second thoughts on whether or not it was actually a good chair. Should you have gotten the seat a second chance, will other chairs support your tushy the way your old one did? Will you ever truly sit comfortably again? Previously our adventurers sat up for a raucous race with a volatile voice vociferated a top crag-tis. After a rush around the race course, B-Team booked it to the crest of crag-tis and said hello to a screamy escape goat that sent them to some sleepy sorcerists. Now they find themselves touching go as they go with the flow. Cobble a cup and let's continue this Kakodos Chronicle. Hello everyone, welcome to Tales from the Stinky Dragon. I'm your dungeon master Gustavo Sarola. Hey, Blaine, how are you? Blaine, watch out, I'm gonna hit you with an arrow. Oh no, point blank. 10. I wish we were video podcasting you. Everyone could see how I looked at Chris. The question this week is, if you were the main character in the comic book, what would your superhero name be? And that was submitted by Aman Reddy. Everyone go ahead and roll that D20. I know Chris has a 10. 13. I had a 3. I rolled a 19. Ooh. All right, so it looks like we got John Blaine, Chris Barbara, if I'm reading those right. That's correct. 19, 18, 10, 3. All right, Natty slash John, why don't you lead us off? Hi, I'm John Rice here and I play Natty Wonder, who is a drow drag queen warlock mother. And if I was going to be a superhero with like an alter ego, and it's a funny question to ask me considering Natty Wonder is already a stage name. So I've already like burned one of my fake names already. But if I was a superhero, and some might say being a mom is a superhero. I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's one of the most like difficult superhero jobs, and you don't get paid by anything. And it's difficult for like, you know, forever. I would probably come up with a name that like plays into my ability to kind of get lost in all my disguises and voices since I'm so gosh darn good at that. And I would probably kind of play into like the enigma of that, the mystery of that. And I picked something like mystique because I love, I love me some French. I think it's so glamorous when people have little French stuff. And so I love mystique, you know, that little Q you E sound like, how's that work? But I love it. I'm such a fool. I just realized that Natty was just your way of building mystique in D&D. With the voice of mystique's daughter. I was gonna say that there's someone from the previous campaign who would be very familiar with the word mystique and the Q you E. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we don't talk about that because he sucks. Who are you thinking of? Sleek? That was two kids ago. No. Oh, I was talking about a Matisse Puffy suit and our French character. Oh my bad. I'm so sorry. I thought we were crapping on Sleek today. I was like, yeah, I'm all him here for it. That was so aggressive and confrontational. I thought you were just being mean to John. Yeah. Blaine hates Matisse. No. Okay. Let me give you out here. Matisse also sucks. I said that. Yeah, that's right. It's Blaine Gibson. I'm rolling right into mine because I rolled a 13. Yeah. Gus has given me a thumbs up. That means it's my turn. Bring back at Kyborg energy. Sorry. Sleek just like brought some chills down my spine. Hello. I play Tolls the male Thaumatech barbarian level six. Micah changed it from orc to Thaumatech because he was tired of me messing it up. And you hooked me Toll. And if I were to be a superhero, I think I would take on some sort of secret identity so that no one could find out who I am. So I would be like 12 or like 12 man or 12 boy. You know, I don't know if one of those. And maybe I would have like the 12s. It would be like 12 elves and they would be like my support team. 12s. Yeah. The 12s. Nice. Yeah. So I don't think anybody would be able to crack that. Would you have like a whole bunch of arms as well? Kind of like someone you really admire. No, I don't know what you're talking about. You might have multiple arms in a different campaign. Like more than three and less than five. So four arms. That sounds stupid. No, I hate that idea. So anyways, 12. 12 boy. Yeah. 12 boy. All right. 12 boy. That's a journey. I feel like here, but in a way, Toll already kind of has a secret identity since he's wearing Bjorn's skin. Yeah. It's kind of like you already have a disguise on and you have like a power that you're hiding from everyone. Yeah. But you were. It was also like my name was like plain sight. It was 12 all the long. So I know that it would also work if I just called myself 12 man or 12 boy because you idiots didn't pick up on that sooner. I'm so sorry. I'm very aggressive today. I need to calm down. Hey, hey, Blaine, what kind of coffee did you have? A iced mocha from Dutch brothers. Yeah. So sugar and coffee. Yes. Yes. I think that should be your question every single episode to gauge how we're going to be playing. Yeah. What kind of coffee did you have today? Let's get a coffee check. All right. Thanks, Blaine. So next up we've got Chris. Hi, I'm Chris DeMers. I play Gunther, the Croakfolk fighter and my superhero name. There's several options. It could be the Croakfolk Avenger or if I was to team up with Bandapten, it would be Toad, Man and Ribbit. Oh, I would be Ribbit. Or if we, if the four of us were to team up and have some sort of super group, then it would be the Fantastic Frogs. I like those actually. Yeah. Let's get rid of B team. Let's get a Brutella team and let's go with that one. Brutella team is out. Fantastic Frogs in. I am down for this. I'm already green. I do that. I look the part. I hear it's not easy. No, definitely not. I'm a little distracted. I'm having a side conversation with Micah here. I think initially he had written Croakfolk of Inger, O-F-S-I-N-J-U-R-E, like, ah, stab Inger you. Oh. Instead of Avenger. So it was like, hmm. Avenger also works. That went over my head because I don't know what Chris said after he said Croakfolk. I couldn't understand Avenger. Avenger. Okay. So it makes sense that the Risingers could not hear the word Avenger today for some reason. Or at least the way Chris said it. Well, it is interesting because Gunther has such an unusual cadence to his delivery. Gunther puts the accent on strange syllables and then his tone rises and falls as he's delivering lines. It's, it's, it's like, it catches me off guard every time we start a session. Well, I don't know if you know this or if our audience knows this, but Chris's English is the second language. Yes. Yes. Is Croakfolk your first? No goblin. His first language is he doesn't know a language. It's just a series of grunts and points. Yeah. There it is. All right. Thanks, Chris. I really appreciate it. And then last today we've got Barbara. Well, hello everyone. I'm Barbara Dunkelman. I play Doug Boone, a character who no one has trouble understanding when I speak in my character voice. He is a bugbear artificer currently level six. The five and a six look very similar when your eyesight is very bad. Turns out. And, you know, Doug Boone actually is quite a fan of comic books. You know, he just likes to read, you know, he gets a little distracted by the pictures over now and then he wishes there was a little less of them. But something that he learned is that typically smart characters are professors. And so I think if Doug was going to be a character in one of these, he'd be a really good guy named Professor Ironpaw. Oh, Ironpaw. I like it. He'd be, you know, one of the people who teaches people how to invent things and inspiring all the young folk, even the quok folk. All dem folk. It almost sounds like a villain name. Just letting you know, like it could be an Inspector Gadget's other villain. I guess it depends on how you say it. If you're like, oh, Professor Ironpaw. Okay. That's a good guy. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're like, Professor Ironpaw. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's a bad guy. That's a bad guy. I know. I feel like the word paw, though, immediately makes it less intimidating. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I don't know. Is Doug in a chair maniacally stroking a white fluffy cat in his arms? Is that what he's doing? No, he's stroking a gambod. By stroking, it's cleaning the dirt off. All right. I like the name Ironpaw. That's cool. I can go multiple ways. Guess what's your bad guy name? My bad guy name. Yeah. Or your good guy name. Whatever. I don't know. You'd be an anti-hero. I didn't think about this. I didn't prepare my superhero name is Dorkeus. All right. That's not C Squad. Blaine is hitting Gus with an arrow. Yeah. Ow. If you're not a member of our Patreon, Dorkeus is a character from one of our tavern tales called C Squad, which Patreon members get access to over at StingyDragonPod.com. All levels. Gus is a player. Yeah. It was fun. That was fun. Forward march. You all enter the water and realize that the awkwardness is kind of deep, you know, and is moving fairly quickly. Why don't all four of you make dexterity checks just to see how you're able to keep your footing and if you're able to resist the strong flow of the water? Oh, five. That's an 11. 17. My dear god, six. But did Natty give me an inspiration a while ago? I did. Can I use that, Gus? Or was it like you need to use it in the moment? 15. I won't use mine yet. I'm going to keep the five. Well, I just made a whole huff about being the water guy. So if I were to fail in front of Gunther, I would never hear the end of it. He'd be like, all right, Tony's over. I'd be like, are barbarian failing on a bunch of strength check? Doug and Natty lose their balance and get swept up with the current. The water rushes them forward, knocking them into Gunther and Toll. The momentum causes everyone to spin and flail about. Soon, you all are careening down a dark underground tunnel caught up in the current, unable to see clearly. Amongst the splashes, skittery noises shuffle along the tunnel ceiling and several beady eyes leery from above. One after another, lizards leap from the ceiling, lunging for your faces. As you enter the cactus, four lizards fall down onto you from above, falling straight at your faces. What do you all want to do? Gunther, quick, your cousins, they're here. Are they are they like humanoid lizards or just like lizard lizards? No, no, lizard lizards, a kind of big lizard. We should talk. They do not like to swim. They're falling from above, like onto our heads kind of situation. Kind of like under your faces, like, yeah, your head. They also cannot figure out the situation. Do not let them attack. They could plant a seed inside of you like face huggers. Could Doug take out his shovel that he has in his inventory and just like pop it over him and as many people as possible to cover them almost like an umbrella? Sure, Doug, why don't you make a I'll let you make the decision either dexterity or slide a hand check to see if you're able to get that shovel up and block yourself. Then depending on the success, maybe we can have it not only cover you, but someone else. Oh, dexterity. They're the same modifier, but six. Yeah, you pull your shovel out and try to cover yourself, but you don't quite get in time. Gunther kind of gets in the way with all of us flailing around and you're not able to I picture you like Kermit now with like kind of wavy arms. You're not able to fully deploy it. And one of the lizards pops down on you and it's like square on your face. Does it like have any effect? Is it doing anything? I'm going to see if anyone else wants to do anything first before we start resolving that. Could you go through trying grab it off of her face? Well, you have to deal with one that's falling on you first. Oh, that's right. It's like when the mass come down in an airplane, you deal with yourself, you're first, your lizard before you very good. That's a good point. I will also try to shield myself with my actual shield and then I guess venture to try to save Natty. Okay, again, like the oxygen mask deal with yourself first. For sure. Since you're pulling your shield out, let's call this a dexterity saving throw. Okay, which I have advantage on. 15. Oh, but I'm not done yet. 20 fun. That's pretty good. Yeah, you're able to pull your shield out and block the lizard that's about to hit you. And then what was your second part of your action since you're since you rolled a 21? Well, we'll say you're able to do something else as well. Well, if I block one with my shield, I would see the one coming for Natty and I would try to reach out and grab it before it hits Natty. Ooh, okay. Make a, we'll call it an attack roll, like without a weapon, like an unarmed attack roll. Okay. Must protect my queen. I'm bite-kniting you 21. That's pretty cool. So I assume Toll uses his shield in his left hand. John, what did the art for Toll, which hand did he use? I'm going to say right hand because Blaine would swing his hammer with his left. And if the shirt reflects otherwise, then just, just buy it anyways, please. It's coming out eventually. I don't know when. Are you really left-handed Blaine? I'm mixed-handed. It's like a crappier version of ambidextrous. Just bad at both. Yes. It's actually Chris. Thank you. How did I not know this about you? I've known you like over a decade. I know, man. I don't know. I guess you just stopped looking at me for a while. Pay attention. No. I have some teague father. All right. So the art does have your shield in the left hand. But that must be a beard image. Yes. Yeah. That's, that's what's going on there. So you raise your shield with your right hand, block the lizard from falling on you. It falls down, hits your shield and bounces off and falls in another direction. Then like with almost, again, with almost like superhero reflex speed, you turn and your other arm shoots out and grabs the lizard right as it's about to fall onto Natty. Oh boy. Do you want to grasp it or do you want to like punch it out of the way? I'm going to punch it. Yeah. Let's punch it. I don't know if I want this thing slithered into my hand. Just roll me a, let's call it a D8. Okay. That's an eight. You punch the lizard so hard that it doesn't even fall in the water. It like goes over the bank and it falls out onto the river bank upside down. And I do that thing that that one politician did where I go, And plane is no longer up for reelection. Can Natty respond to that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Natty. How it's easier to turn. Wow. Toe, that was amazing. I didn't even see you switch your shield from your right hand where you usually hold your shield to your left hand. That was so impressive. The idea, I don't know if you know this, but I'm mixed-handed. So I can swap it back and forth. It's okay. Not many people know it. Even people you've considered, you know, like best friends for over 10 years, you know, I just want to say, I think even Natty got it wrong. Natty said switched it from the right hand to the left hand, but it's supposed to be in the right hand because he swings the hammer with his left hand. Well, you know, I'll forgive Natty because they're a fictional character, but Gus, I expected more from you. Well, we'll continue this discussion in second wind about Toe's preferred hand, which is available to patrons at stinker drawing pod.com. All right. Anything else you want to do, Natty? Or is it a, can I pass on to Chris? I mean, my list is taken care of. Okay. Chris slash Gunther. Well, I was going to go with ducking under the water and swimming past, but I really liked the visual of Kermitty. So just like slapping at the lizard. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Which, let's be honest, that's probably what I would do in that same situation. In that case, make me, let's call it two unarmed strikes because you're flailing both arms around. Okay. At disadvantage. Nine and a five. Excellent. Somehow flailing your arms around does not yield the results you would expect. And the lizard almost seems to be dodging your hands and falls and lands right on your face. I'm waiting for you. I just don't care. Quick, Gunther, before he sells you car insurance. Okay. So there's a lizard on both Doug and Gunther's faces. They scurry around and it seems like they make a beeline for your precious eyes. And they're looking for the moisture on your eyes and they're both trying to lick it off, but they fail. What? They like, they're trying to get to your eye, but they can't quite get there. Metagame wise, they tried to make an attack roll to lick up your eye fluid, but they missed. So you got lizards on your faces. What do you want to do? It seems like they're really intent on eating your precious eyeballs. Can I head butt, Doug? What? So that both of our lizards smash each other. Okay. Yeah. So I guess I'll help with this. Oh, okay. I was going to say, if Doug wasn't helping, there's a height difference here that we're going to have to negotiate. But if Doug's going to go down, all right. Yeah. Both of you make a... Doug's going down. Both of you make attack rolls. That means Doug has like a lot of windup. They're going to lean back and just go, whoo, whoo, and gravity assisted. Like what kind of attack roll? Like an unarmed strike. Unarmed. Yeah. This is the most pure form of an unarmed strike. There are no arms involved. I mean, this is... I'm going to use my inspiration. That was a five. Okay. Well, that's 20. Well, I have a good, good counter for that. A one. Oh, I did a nat 20 and you did a one. Where does that end? What do you do now, Gus? Yeah. I'm going to say that that means that Doug gets a windup and goes down to meet Gunther's headbutt. And it's successful. The headbutt's connect. But Doug's headbutt is so powerful that it forces Gunther under the water. Like it was such a... It was such a... It would knock Gunther flat on his back. It would be like tubing on the river, but there's no tube. Well, the lizards are looking for water. So wouldn't that be good? Like he landed in the water because then they'll be like, oh, actual water. I could get off your face now. They're looking for precious eye fluid. I juice. You. These are stastardly creatures. Eye muster is so important. You can't say any of this. You're knocked cold. You are knocked cold. Underwater. You hear gurgling. The bubbles come up and pop. You hear the words like in a cartoon. Alternatively, it could be the thing where the bubbles come up and when they pop, the text appears. Yeah. Instead of hearing the sound, you can read the text of what he was saying. Okay. But yeah, because of the high roll though, the lizards do fall off as well and they're floating away. Am I drowning? Am I knocked out? Yeah, no, you're fine. You're fine. Toval fish out, Gunther. Okay, great. Who? Who are you? I'm just going to shake him by his little froggy leg to dry him off and bring him back to his senses. It worked perfectly. Good job. So you all emerge unscathed for the most part from the lizards and you find yourself inside crag-tis. Just to refresh your memory, this was that huge, boulder-like object that you had written the lifts up to the top of and it was about 100 feet tall. And we saw that animal at the top there. Scape code. Yeah. So yeah, you look around and you see on the interior, it's like a huge cavern and in here you see what appear to be beds carved out of rock as well as a fountain and some people milling about. Wait a second. Are they beds or are they catacombs? Like dead people beds. They appear to be regular beds from what you can tell. I was trying to get the head of the pond, you know, like cactus, crag-tis, catacombs, you know. I was thinking bedrock. Oh, that's the name of the deity, isn't it? Yeah, good memory or good memory and or good notes. Both. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely remember that by myself, not flipping back a page last week. I do remember, you know, they were talking about how sleep is very sacred. So maybe this is like their temple or something like that because it's all the beds. Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Do they have like a fountain of warm milk and like a bunch of blankets in one corner? Like what kind of sleepy vibes do they have? Their communion is they just take melatonin. Remind me canonically what happened. We entered this place at the behest of somebody. There was somebody as a sorceress. Escape. Flynn. Flynn. No, they were talking about Flynn. Did we get the sorceress's name? I don't think we did. So we're entering here and there's people in here. Have they seen us or are we entering stealthily? I don't want to alarm you, but Gus is rolling dice. Yep. I'm always rolling dice. Why don't you make me a, let's call it a perception check for me, Natty. This is 15 plus perception. Three, 18. Stop rolling dice. He's rolling perception checks for everybody in the room. That's what he's doing. Yeah. It looks like they have not noticed you so far. Okay, then as according to my notes, current team leader, I put my hand up like a mom stopping the kids getting flying towards the front of the car when you hit the brakes. Got their high five. And I say, and I gathered the team around to make a game plan because we're kind of entering this place without any kind of a strategy. Who put her in charge? I might have been you. Does it seem like there is a leader? If I remember correctly, we're here. That's John. If I remember correctly, because the scapegoat, they're up there to like pay for all the nastiness and sins of everybody here. Yeah. And so I'm worried maybe we should enter this place with some sort of idea. What is our goal? Well, I think we should find, you know, bedrock or the person that is like the mouthpiece for the bedrock and see if we can maybe negotiate some other terms for how we can deal with this like bad voodoo so that they will not blame the scapegoat. Because I think that that's what you're here to do is save the scapegoat. Yep. Save the scapegoat, save the world. Save the scapegoat, save the world. And then the cheerleader. Why can't the scapegoat be a cheerleader? Huh? Huh? I mean, the scapegoat could be whatever they want to be after they get out of here, you know. We could come to. Why don't we enter this room as like we're curious about joining their church? How about that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, I'm going to start looking real sleepy. Oh, perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Barbara's stuff. Hop in. I'm going to get out of real life. My eyes are watering out. I'm told who doesn't sleep is like, yes, I'm so sleepy. I'm also extremely sleepy. So is Doug making like loud kind of exaggerated fake yawns? Yeah, but I think in doing the fake yawns, they would turn into real yawns because that is something that happens to me. If I'm trying to fake a yawn, it then turns into a real one. And told Tint like even help this little one. Why don't you carry Gunther who's sleeping? Oh, good idea. OK. Take a nap. I will hold him like a baby. I will bugle him. There you go. I keep. I think they might really like me because I'm like a giant teddy bear. And so I'm like designed for sleeping. Yes, they will like pay you to be in their religion. Yeah. At the yawning, one of the looks like one of the people who's milling about turns and notices and begins slowly walking over like casually. Yeah, seems like pretty casual. They're running at us with swords. You know, this is a theater of the mind podcast. I have to know how they're approaching us. OK, then I'll walk up to them and say and say in a very, very dulcet low tone. Howdy. My name is Natty. Hmm. Hello. Um, Piotr, how are you? I'm doing fine, Piotr. We're just new in town and we heard about your little. Uh, are they a religion? Gus, is that would that be accurate? Yes, I think that would be accurate. We heard about your religion and I'm sure you can tell just from the look of us. We are ready to participate in your great tidings. Oh, that's good. What have you learned about it? Well, you know, that's a good question because we've just kind of learned the surface level stuff and I'm hoping you can give me a little more information. We do know that you all really do value slate angel like bedrock. Yes. Acquiring knowledge is good, but you need experience as well. That's interesting to say. And is that experience taking a little nap ski in one of these beds and going to drift off to Dreamland? Yeah, Flynn could probably help you with that. He runs the show and Piotr kind of turns and points at one of the other people who's milling about. Okay, I think I would love to talk to Flynn. Just be careful. Sometimes some people here get a little nervous when we have unexpected guests, but you know, you four seem all right. Yes, we love sleep. I am such a big fan of sleep. Oh, are you? I know all about yes. What's your favorite part of sleep? When you close your eyes. Yes, I know all about sleep. Yes. The beginning. Yeah, the anticipation of what's to come. Yes. Yeah. I love when my mouth goes, which is what I do when I sleep because I sleep. Yeah. A classic sleeper here. Yeah, that's me. I've been doing it for years. And what is the typical range of hours of sleep one would get told? Oh, you know anywhere from, you know, Vaughn to 24 hours. Yeah. He's so good at sleeping. He should be a sleeper agent. Yeah. Yeah. It's very good. Oh, I thought you were sleeping. Go back. I cradle the baby. Okay. This is my son. Notice how we were both green. This is my boy, my baby boy. He taught me everything I know about sleeping. That's right. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Okay. So we're going to go talk to Flynn now if that's okay. Yeah. Let him know. Piotr sent you. Maybe it'll open some doors for you. Maybe it won't. Okay. Yeah. Piotr. All right. And then can we walk over to Flynn? Yeah. I assume you all begin. Well, you told me you were heading in that direction. Besides Piotr, who, you know, obviously came over and separate himself from the group to come talk to you all. There appear to be six other people milling about. And all of them in here seem to be wearing like an awkward marine pajama gown and night caps. Are they doing anything in particular? They just kind of chat with each other. Are they participating in any sort of real life? Participating in any sort of rituals or anything like that? That's a great question. Make me a perception check, please. That's 14. Oh, it's pretty good. A few of them are having conversations talking to each other. However, the bulk of them seem to be working on some kind of alchemy. This seems like they're brewing potions and medicines of some kind. I'd be able to walk over to where they're doing that and see what they're like putting in it and maybe using my knowledge of like science and chemistry to figure out like what they're actually making. Yeah. Doug sees science happening and like the whole rest of the world disappears. Like a cartoon. Doug isn't walking. Like he's lifted off his feet. Like when a cartoon character smells something like an apple pie. Like they're waffs in it. Right. Yeah. Except you see science. It's like your eyes pulling you forward to like beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks. Oh, wow. That's excited. We're going to talk about science. I know. I didn't realize I was dreaming already. Am I right guys? So embarrassing. They're growing up. Won't be long before the thought of a family holiday is just. But with Hilton's staycations all over the UK, we don't need to go far to feel close. Welcome. And with connecting rooms confirmed when we book, we'll have plenty of space to make the most of every moment. Everyone in the photo. When time away means time together, it matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton for this day. You walk up. Yeah, they notice you coming and they kind of turn around to kind of how can I say, you kind of regard you and see this this lumbering giant walking towards them. Regards. My fellow chemists. Uh. What we all brewing here? We're just experimenting with trying to learn more about sleep. Oh, are you trying to make like a sleep potion like to help you actually fall asleep, stay asleep? Like what's the problem with trying to solve? Two of them kind of look at each other and then look back at you and say, maybe you should talk to Flynn first. We really shouldn't be talking to you. Flynn can probably fill you in on what's happening. It's not something we should be discussing with outsiders. Oh, well, I'm not an outsider. I'm right here. I'm inside. And yeah, Flynn said it would be fine. You know, I actually am a professional and so I'm just making sure you guys are have all the ingredients you need and making sure your, you know, measurements are correct and everything like that. Why don't you roll me a deception check? Fort. Really? We noticed you come straight here from the aqua duck. Yeah, that's right. I was sent through the aqua duck by Flynn. The lies deep in. We're happy to talk to you, but all you have to do is talk to Flynn. And once he gives us the okay, then yeah, we'll be, we'll be happy to fulfill you in. Once you're in with Flynn, then you're okay. Okay. So I'd like to say in here. Yeah. That's what we all say. All right. Well, you know, I could have helped you, but you know, maybe I won't now. Since, you know, you don't trust me. We'll make our own purple drink. If you want to help, one of them turns around and grabs a flask and hands it to you. You can drink this. Could Doug smell it? See if you could tell what's in it. Yeah. Making perception check. Oh man. Okay. Seven. It smells pretty gross. Like stagnant water. You know, I think I'm going to pass, but here you take this back. I'll go talk to Flynn and then, you know, we'll be back to check in. Wait, does that's a Baba? I could give it to my son in my arms here. I don't think any of us should drink this. No, no, he's so thirsty. He needs his Baba. It's Baba time. Isn't that right? Yes, Baba. I need my Baba. You all have a mother with a literal child. Yes. That is my wife. Yeah. We're all one big, happy family. Mama. As I'm leaving the table, could I just see, like, could I just quickly glance at what ingredients they might have? Yeah. I'll let you make a call, either perception or investigation check. Perception. Okay. 20. Do you see that not only are there potions out on their table, but some of the finished products that they're working on seem also to be like salves and food of some kind that's been created alchemically. And as far as ingredients, it seems like water seems to be one of the predominant ingredients that's portioned out here. The secret ingredient for sleep, water. That makes me get up while I'm sleeping. Oh, what did you roll again? A 20? I rolled a 20, yeah. The water seems a little unusual. It's shimmering with various hues of, like, blues and greens. It's not just, like, well water that you would get and, you know, be drinking or water out of a river. There seems to be, like, some kind of iridescence about it. Did it look like the water that Gunther fell into when we were attacked by the lizards? No. Seemed distinct from that. The lizards were going after eye water. They were. Yes. That we all know shimmers with blues and greens notoriously. Do you think that that's what this is? Is the eye water stuff? Like eye drops? I think the only way we can find out is if Gunther drinks this. Yes, papa. So thirsty. No, Gunther, no. No. Ah. No, he's so thirsty. Look at him. If he wants to be a test subject. I like this constant cutting back to Gunther with his mouth open. Ah, this is conversation happening. I'm going to go ahead and feed him the water. Okay, yeah, I guess as Doug, you finish your conversation and turn to walk away to go talk to Flynn and, like, you do that thing where you turn to your right but from your left side, Tove walks up with Gunther so you don't see him and Tove grabs the flask and feeds it like a bottle to Gunther who's cradled in his arms. We've been traveling for so long and he's so thirsty. Look at him. He loves it. So what does this stuff do anyways? We're curious to see. Will, we're happy to help. I just rewatched Mickey 17. I'm getting major expendables vibes here. Gunther, you can feel like a warmth as the liquid travels down your esophagus into your stomach and then it radiates out from your stomach all to your extremities to, like, your arms, your legs, your fingers and your toes. And you feel like a calming warmth just settle over you. Are you peeing on me right now? Well, here's a frog. Well, not only could you fall asleep, but you feel like you can control sleep a little bit. Oh, control sleep. Like lucid dreams? Metagame wise, if you want for the rest of today, for the rest of this session that we're playing on, you can cast the sleep spell on yourself. Oh. You can try to cast it on others, but there's going to be a check and it might backfire. Gunther, if you need to get out of like a bad conversation, just put yourself to sleep. I have all power of sleep. It is warm and comfy. You know, we are just trying to get involved with this religion. So we're happy to help in a new way. Interesting. Okay. One of them turns around and grabs like a little sachet of what appear to be like leaves and herbs and hands it to you and says, you can chew on this. Me or the baby? You. You hit this head because you said you're happy to help. Yeah, yeah, totally. I put it, I put it in my mouth. Look at the hay. Okay. What is this? What is this? Like a salad? What is this? It seems to have no effect on you. It's like you're chewing on leaves and sticks. Nothing seems to happen. And what is the intention of this? Is this also like a sleep potion? We're trying to find out and they begin writing down on some scrolls that they have. Oh, yes. Very sleepy. Opens my nasal passages. Wow. If you want to help further, you can go take a nap on one of our rock beds and they point over to the beds. That sounds like a great idea. But I think first game we should probably go talk to Flynn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we know what he looks like, but just to confirm that you guys know what he looks like. What are you describing for us? I'm laughing at the initial plan was like, let's just go in there and let them know we're curious about their religion. And you guys have gone complete like live crazy with like, we're immersing ourselves in their customs. That's fine. That's fine. Hey, it's a choice and I support it. I'm here. I'm here to support it. I love it. They pointed Flynn out specifically for you, but I will describe him. I think that's a good question. He appears to be a slightly older orc, not like super old, but not, you know, very young either. On the, let's say the back half of middle age, maybe a little older than that. This is the most you've ever gone into detail about the age of something we've approached. He's got a weather face and he's wearing a sleeping gown and a night cap like everyone else that's made of aqua marine silk that sparkles. Let's go talk to Flynn. Okay. Oh, I assume all four of you head over to Flynn who sees you coming and says, welcome to the Cragtus. Yeah, we've been here for a while. Yeah. That's a lot of energy to bring to a sleepy place. Yes. Our research is on sleep. Then the mystical powers of rejuvenation. God, lower your voice. People are trying to take a nap. Oh, what energy. If you can sleep through this, you've mastered the sleepy eye. That's my boy. Number one sleeper. Impressive. What is the connection of your interest in sleep to your connection to your deity who I assume is bedrock? Yes, it is the bedrock. It is through sleep. We hope to become closer to her and learn her secrets. So is this Cragtus just like your, your temple? Is it a laboratory or what is the importance of this structure? We seek research into performing the art of sleep so that we can better commune with the bedrock. Oh, you see, we are masters of sleep. Yes, they called me as I hail from the desert, Mr. Sandman. Yes. And then here is my papa who is so good at sleeping, he has transcendent need for sleep. That's right. Heresy. No, you seek knowledge. He has mastered art of sleep, so he is always sleeping. I like the complete 180 you did there. Oh, by the way, give yourself an inspiration to Mr. Sandman. That was really good. That was really good. Yeah, clever. The cold would be to sleep as much as possible. You know, like, you guys believe in like rejuvenation and stuff like that. It'll cause you by sleep and stuff like that. But you, no offense, look pretty old. So like, are you like really old but you don't look that old because you've been sleeping a lot? Or are you just trying to find the answer so that it could rejuvenate you? But I'm just being observant. Doug is a master at nagging. I should see you. I have no queries by the time. Yes, I have spent a long and fruitful life researching sleep. However, my research has nothing to do with trying to bypass the great sleep. The great sleep. Is that like dying? Yes, eternal slumber. Well, not that we're necessarily looking for that right now, although I do love death. Could we maybe, you said you used sleep to commune with bedrock. Does that mean you guys are actually able to like connect and communicate with this great god? So far our efforts have been unsuccessful, but we hope to perfect it soon. Is bedrock like a person? Is the bedrock in the room with us right now? Or are they like, you know, someone mythical and, you know, unseen? Boo. I like the idea of just going into someone's church and being like, is the god with us right now? Yeah. Well, in this land, it seems like deities can walk amongst them. So I'm wondering if there's any more physical. No, that's the whole point of this campaign. Yeah. She is not here now, but we hope to be able to find her and learn from her wisdom. Tell you what, as you've already heard from my compatriots, we're quite skilled at sleeping. We got Mr. Sam here. We got our scientist here who's very good at coming up with sleep concoctions and everything like that. Dr. Sleep. Dr. Sleep. Yep. That's their name. This tall drink of water right here, he can just turn off like that. Like a snap of the finger. And I think if there's might be a button that might cause that too. We didn't know what it was. So we're looking for it. So, you know, we're so interested, but you know what? I heard something about, you know, as I was traveling around, I heard something about you guys have a friend upstairs at the top of the crafters. Flynn would ponder for a second and then say, oh, the scapegoat. He is no friend of ours. Like I said, I'm an empty book ready to be written in about your religion. What is the connection of the scapegoat and bedrock? The scapegoat carries the evil doings of mortals, and we cast him out to cleanse ourselves for the bedrock. What did you do that was evil? I stayed up late. That's my bedtime. So is it that bedrock wants you guys to be like clean and pure? And so you're trying to get to that for your God? Yes, you understand perfectly. Perfect. Okay. I think I have a proposition to make for you, Flynn. Spooky. Listen, sometimes I make myself a little. Is Flynn also a frightened magician or something? You know, I hate to see a creature as beautiful as a goat suffer so much, but I understand you guys are trying to rid yourselves or bring yourselves closer to your God. I can connect with that. I'm always trying to chit chat with my God as well. Yeah. Who said that? I just said you just said yeah. I was going to say I was going to elaborate. Just like you came from someone else. Yeah. I wasn't looking at the screen and I was like, who said that? Was that Chris or Blaine? I was confused too. You like didn't move your mouth. There was like a bubble in my throat and I just didn't commit to like the joke I was going to make. So I just went, yeah, I tell you what, I would love to take this weight off of the goat, but I understand the goat is of importance to you. So I got a little buddy here, this little guy and I point to giggy. He's just hungry for sin. He he's just he's just ready to gobble it all up. Look at him. What's giggy doing? Let's say giggy has a is on the ground just chewing on his own leg. Like when you have a dog and they're just like going to town chewing on their leg. He'd be chewing on one leg but the other leg is kicking. So he's just going in circles while doing this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's kind of bored because we've the adults been talking for a while. Yeah. And he didn't get to eat any of those lizards. That's very true. We should have saved one for him. I know you got to give him snacks or he gets restless. I know the feel. On the same way. Doug Wood and Bart. So what if we were to offer you two propositions for the price of one? My little demon here would love to take the sins that you guys need so that we can let that that goat go because again, I just hate to see a poor little creature like that just hanging out up there at the top of the crabtest. And then I bet you I guarantee you we could commune and get in touch with your bedrock. I was not idea. Does that sound pretty dreamy? Yeah. Come on. Think about it. Old man. Or should I say Rip Van Rinko. Okay. That's it. Listen, I know what I said was pretty offensive, but this is taking a one step too far. Natty turns around and goes, I understand I'm trying to get something here. Right. You understand this is negotiations. Why don't you make a persuasion check? I was going to give you advantage. But yeah, I mean, there was some insults to start flying by. You know what? I'm just glad you didn't go disadvantaged. So I'll take it. That's 19 plus persuasion is plus four. So 23. My Gustavo. Nice. So just so I make sure I understand your proposition is that they put their sins onto Giggie. Yeah. And that Giggie takes the scapegoats place. Well, I was just thinking that Giggie could like top them off. Like it's a good kind of like get them at a ground at a zero again. And then Giggie could just kind of like give the go to break. And then to sweeten the deal, I don't know why I'm talking in like Natty's accent. To sweeten the deal, we would also help them commune with bedrock. Maybe I didn't communicate that well. But I think we should take the goat with us. I think we should take scapegoat with us. That's important. I'd like to save scapegoat. Yeah. Plus I love collecting NPCs. Where's Captain Grumbles lately? I haven't checked on that guy. Captain. Oh, he's over there. Captain Grumbles, go lay down. Go lay down. I think Flynn would kind of ponder it for a second. You need to sleep on it, Flynn. I'm going to go to him. No, let it be done. Oh, good. I think Flynn would close his eyes then outstretch his arms before him. Oh, yes. His mumbling to himself. Why don't you have Giggie make a constitution check as he's sitting there chewing on his foot? That's a plus zero on Giggie's constitution. He rolled. Oh, that's a Nat 20. After going to seemingly like a seance for a minute, Flynn opens his eyes and all four of you make a perception check. It's kind of hoping that this would just turn into like confessional kind of thing where all these guys would just line up and just tell Giggie all the terrible things they do. Dirty 20. 12, 3, my eyes are closed. 9. What does Doug see? As they told them, Doug both noticed this. Are you imagining it or did Giggie just get bigger? It looks like Giggie grew a foot. A foot? God. Like a foot in height. He's way bigger than he was before. You know what's weird is that his own mom didn't realize that. That kind of tracks. Natty, I think Giggie might have grown a little bit. Gus, is he just increased in scale or has he matured a foot taller like aging? His voice is also a little deeper. Oh gosh. No. He's taller than Gunther now. He's allowed to have teenage angst. Well, Natty would just be beaming with pride a bit. Look at my boy. You see that it's already working Flynn. It's just taking on all of the sins of the scapegoat. Interesting. Yeah, is there any more? Does any other guys need to like take a turn or does that feel like that's good enough? The sorceress are cleansed. We can begin fresh in the new. Okay. So is this like a permanent change on Giggie or? Yeah, so I'm curious. We're gonna have to get like new animation assets for Giggie. I hope not. Is Pat gonna have to make a new puppet? We'll find out. Okay. So does that mean maybe we could go up and let the scapegoat go? Miss, make it so. That was easy. The day is saved. Thanks to Dr. Sleep Sandman. Nap, nap, nap. See wonder and me, Mr. Pillow. My pillow. Yes. Now we shall all convene with bedrock. Yeah, I actually do want to see if we could maybe convene with bedrock. Okay. How do you want to do that? Like, are you going to go take care of the scapegoat? Like, what's the plan here? Put myself to sleep. Okay. So Gunther, you're going to put yourself to sleep? Well, do we even need to convene with bedrock if we save the goat? Maybe we don't. Yeah. I'll tell you what, Natty, why don't you figure out what the team's doing and let me know. Well, okay. I'll turn to the team. Well, I think we've omission accomplished. Is there any sort of strategic benefit from us like trying to commune with their guy? Well, he said we'd wood. Yeah, but he gave in. Hey, good goat for now. I think he is old and his memory is not very good. Okay. Why don't we let Gunther take a swing at it, see what we come out of it, and then we can skedaddle, go get us a goat and keep heading to Fort Endridge. Doug, what are you vibing with? What are you thinking? I'm on a constant quest for more knowledge. So personally, I would also like to maybe meet bedrock. We could split the party because obviously I'm not communing with bedrock. I mean, look at me. I've never slept a day. I am totally lying to these people. I don't know a thing about sleep. Yeah, we know that. Yeah. Wait, what? Yeah, no, I just go into like a trance whenever you guys sleep. I've just been watching you guys sleep all of this time. You're just a really good actor, I guess. I know. Get me fooled. Seeing as how I also don't necessarily need to sleep, I think this might be good if we watch over our compatriots as they attempt to commute. Okay. A little bit of a watch system. So how are you all going to try to accomplish this? Maybe you lay upon the bed and papa shall rock me to sleep. I feel like the bedrocks might serve as a holy place to sleep. Yeah. The little beds that we saw when we walked in. Yeah. If we just go lie down in this? They're like a vessel. Absolutely. Hey, Doug, do you want to ask those gentlemen over there if they might have a little concoction at my help? Well, I was going to go back over and say, okay, guys, I met Flynn and now we can talk about things. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll be quick. Okay. Gunther, you start doing your nighttime ritual. Gunther looks at Tove. Oh, you're very close to my face. Oh, hello. Rock a bite. Rock a bite. Oh, yes. Rock a bite, Gunther. In my big arms. All right. Is that's going on? I will put him on a bed and save him from harms. When the giggy screams, the gunther will sleep and go down in bed without making a peep. I'm going to throw him in a rock and just get him out of my arms. That's really good. That was good. Pretty good. That was good. Wow. We should make that into a real song. Okay. Just so I'm clear. Now, Gunther is being put down to bed in one of the, or put down to sleep in one of the beds. And at the same time, Doug is going to go talk to the people who were working on the potions. Is that correct? Sure. I wore the toss. I don't, I don't gently put him down. I just got thrown on a rock, but yeah. And then Tolvin, Natty, what are you all doing? I will accompany Doug because I'm going to be Doug's sleep buddy. Okay. Gunther uses the toss to land on his head and while the toss, now that he has sleep warmth, lands on his head. So he takes a hit and it activates his sleep thing. Perfect. And then Tolvin, where are you going or what are you doing? Well, I don't want to split the party. I guess I'll, I'll watch after Gunther. I'll go get like a bowl of that sleeping liquid. And then when Gunther's nice and tired and sleeping, that I will put one of his hands in it, you know, so he isn't nearby and he knows where it is. Barb keeps yawning. Barb keeps yawning. CP. Doug, you re-approach the source arrests who were working on the various concoctions. What do you want to do? Hey guys, Doug again here and back. I just spoke to Flynn over there. Doug points over to Flynn. Flynn sees you point and then waves and points back. Now that we've established that connection over there, I was just curious, what are you guys actually making? What are you using to make it? Give me the low down. We are working on experimental sleep aids. We have various salves, edibles, potions to further our research for better sleep. And is it like for like a temporary sleep or like the eternal sleep that Flynn was referring to? These are temporary sleeps. And are all the ingredients found here in the crag test or do you guys tend to have to venture out to find them? It's a combination of both. If we had a mattress sponsor, this would be a perfect time to mention Casper Helix or one of those companies, but they got to give us some money before I get into that. Instead, just become a patron. You can fall asleep listening to our bonus content. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Sleep sounds. But a lot of our research centers and focus is on the natural fountain found inside of here at CragTus. Oh, that sounds good. Is that like why I saw like blue and green and shimmery and stuff like that? Yes, the waters of the fountain shimmer blue and green. How did you stumble upon this water? Is it just natural to this habitat? Yes, that is why we have set up our research here to be close to the fountain. Interesting, OK. Doug is noting this all in his little notebook. And the lizards that are kind of in here, are they like into that or like why are... They went for our eyes and so I'm wondering like why that is. Oh, they're super annoying. They're obsessed with faces. They can't get enough of trying to drink our eye liquid. That's really strange. It is. So we have no idea why that is. They're just here. Just to kind of a personality flaw of those lizards. OK, got it. I don't know about flaw. It's just a quirk. Maybe if you use the lizards as like an ingredient for your sleepy potions, have you tried milking the lizards? They look at each other. No, we'll get on that. Well, is there any other stuff I could maybe like have? You can have some if you try them here so we can observe using the scientific method and determine what works best. Yeah, I mean, if you guys think it's safe. We guarantee it is safe. I do an insight check on that. Yeah, same. Now he's going to roll an insight on that one. Do an insight check. 11. 30, 20. You don't think they're entirely confident about that, Doug. That guarantees not 100 percent. Canaddy peek out from behind Doug and ask a question. Hi, Naddy here. I'm actually kind of curious. Flynn over there said that your guys's like kind of ultimate goal is to through the power of sleep, commune with bedrock. Is that what you guys are participating in? Yes, our research is to make for better sleep, which allows for better possibility of communication with the bedrock. OK, well, we got one of our buddies over there already kind of getting into the position to maybe help with that study. And then Doug here, he's going to participate. Well, he's a sleepy little boy. If you can see, he keeps yelling in the entire time we've been in this temple. Maybe if you guys have something that like you've gotten the closest, like your most promising concoction, and Doug here could give it to Gunther. And we'll see how, you know, if we can't, you know, make some scrambled eggs. Yeah, because I will say this, guys, I am kind of a scientist myself. So if we give it to someone else, I could help you observe the symptoms or reactions to all that stuff too, and maybe help you fine tune your ingredients and measurements and everything. I'm a bit of a scientist myself. Your sleep. Spider-Man quote. Well, your friend over there took one of our potions already. Perhaps he could take the other three as well. And we could observe what happens when someone takes all four at once. I'm the leader of our group, and I can volunteer Gunther to take all three potions. All right. So you are you going to do you going to go and do that? Doug, do you want to administer it? I mean, I don't know if I want to be held responsible for that. Okay. I told the... What are you saying about Gunther? You know? I mean, his mouth is open. You know, I could just siphon all of the liquids and fluids in there. I mean, he's an open receptacle. Why don't you give my buddy Tove the three different potions? Oh, hey. They hand over some stuff to you, Tove. It's not all potions. They hand you a salve, a sachet of herbs like you tried to eat earlier, and an additional potion as well. Okay. I'll run over and I'll be like, drink up, Gunther. And then just go like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like... Then you got to rub the salve on him and you got to slap him around a little bit, you know? I like that you to think you put it on like those football players where they have like the lines through the eyes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You give them all to Gunther who does not seem to be resisting. And the I don't know if I mentioned the sorcerists come along as well to observe and see what happens. Yeah. As you can see here, I mean, he's taking great to it. He loves fluids. So I mean, if anybody helps us any other things, let's just throw it in, you know? I mean, once it's kind of hurt. Like, I sleep, goes at my... I just picture like when gum gum insisted Kybuk shoot the healing potion into his mouth with an arrow. Like, like, like, a mouth open. Okay. I'm going to cut to Gunther who's asleep. We'll deal with this waking world in a moment. We're going to deal with Gunther in his sleep now for a moment. The Pink Floyd music video that is Gunther's dream. Yeah. You see hammers walking in unison. You're a sleep Gunther and you you're having a dream. In the distance, you see a mountain range and it seems to be very quickly filling your vision. It's like it's getting closer and closer. And as it gets closer, the mountains begin to look less like mountains and more like sideways Z's until it zooms in and you're entirely on the side of one of these sideways Z's. You look around and it seems like there's loose soil and boulders everywhere. And some of the soil under your feet begins to become disturbed. And out from the soil pops a mole and it's looking at you. Will you whack it? Hello, mole. Are you bad rock? Yeah, you must be gone. All my reputation precedes me. You've been working with the sorceress, haven't you? Yes, I have. Are you happy? I guess. What's wrong? Oh, there is much work to do. It never ends. So tell me, Gunther, what brings you here? What do you seek of the bad rock? I want to know what's wrong with you. What's up? What's the deal with needing so much sleep? Jerry? What troubles you? Well, I have many responsibilities. And sometimes I seek to find others to share the load. How do you share such a load? It's a very difficult task. It's deity stuff, Gunther. If I were to share it with you, it would melt your brain. Who is able to help you? Could it be another god like the bright one? Or the sea drinker who I'm very good friends with? Oh, are you? Well, that's a very impressive little one. I like how the mole is calling Gunther a little one. Also cut to the outside world. Toll was just standing on top of the bed with like several gallons of large barrel of fluids. We're just going to top him off here. He takes to a grade. He's very small, but he holds a lot of fluids. When we just hear Gunther going, mole, mole, mole, mole. Well, the problem is the bright one understood me quite well. But the pale one does not understand me. Gunther, can I tell you a secret? Yes. And the bedrock kind of looks around and like beckons for you to come lower so she can whisper to you. Gunther lays on the Zee mountain. You see, I don't know anything about sleep. The pale one just knows that my name has bed in it and assumed I knew about sleep. But I don't. Luckily, I found someone to help a little bit. The silent steed has been picking up slack on the sleep domain. The pale one just assigns deities. Yes. Who remind me again about the pale one? It's been a while since we met. Why does your guys just go to the lie? The pale one has taken over the mantle as it was cosmic ruler and has seen fit to dole out responsibilities to the deities. How's the bright one feel about this? It's like gossip girls. Spill the tea. The bright one was murdered so the pale one has taken over so the bright one really has no feelings about it. Is there a way the bright one could come back? Well, that's beyond me. What's about the silent steed? I know that you have a friend who knows all about the silent steed. Oh, I do. Meta talk, I want a meta talk, but only if you want to. I think we got to leave Gunther on this. All right, all right. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. If you wish to learn about the silent steed, you could do so when you're alive. And the mole kisses you on the forehead and you begin zooming away from the mountaintop. While all that was happening, I guess you all are watching Gunther sleep. And he seems to be having a fitful sleep thrashing about on this rock bed before you. It seems like he's having quite a bit of dreams. He's just tossing and turning nonstop in the bed. Rock bed, bed, rock, rock, bed, bed, rock. Could I have been backing up a carriage filled with those herbs and leaves to like like to like just jump into Gunther's mouth. You got like a big funnel that you've just put in there. That's right. Keep coming. Keep coming back. Oh, he needs this. I think he might be waking up. So you gave him four different types of sleeping potions and he only slept for three seconds. As you all are watching him and as Tove is backing up the truck, Gunther suddenly sits up in bed and then gets up out of the bed and begins walking straight towards the aqueduct. Is he sleepwalking? I had some ambient. It looks like he's still asleep, but he's walking straight for the aqueduct. Tove would follow. Let's follow him. Turn up. Don't don't wake sleeping sleepwalkers. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the number one rules. You don't wake him. Tove will have his arms out to like grab him if you were to do something like jump into the aqueduct or something. It's not that he's jumping into the aqueduct. He's going to he's walking straight into it. He's like two steps away from walking right into the aqueduct. Oh, you got to mr. Magoo him visually with the depth of the aqueduct be dangerous. Normally no, but he's asleep. So who knows? Maybe just like pick him up so like he'll still be walking, but he won't be moving. Yeah, yeah, I'll gently like lift him but spin him so that he walks away from the aqueduct. You know, real like bugs, bugs, bunny stuff here. Yeah, yeah, you pick him up and spin him. And as you pick him up, Gunther, you wake up and you see tolls holding you. Papa. Hello, little boy. How was your nap? It was the good, good nap. I met a mole. You fall asleep again immediately. Oh, oh, oh, oh, Andy's out. Andy's out. I have a feeling that's going to happen maybe a couple of times over the next few days. This is affliction narcolepsy. I'll just put the amount of stuff we gave him. That's, you know, designed for one person for an entire sleeping session and we gave him all of it. As you're holding him, his legs begin moving again like he's walking. Okay, I'll let him free. I mean, maybe he knows something we don't and we should just like let him go and follow it. That's a great, yeah, that's a great call. I follow. He begins walking back to the alchemical station for all the sleep aids were. Guys, he wants more chemicals quickly. Whip up a new batch. Let's just watch. He begins grabbing them and mixing them all together, generally making a mess of the station. The sorcerists begin rushing in trying to get everything off of the table so that he doesn't create a mess and doesn't create problems for them. No, no, no, let him cook. Literally. Gunther, you wake up again and you've got two flasks in your hands. And then I guess there's the, you know, you put yourself back asleep so I can just continue whatever it's doing. Like, I want to, I want to, I want to ride this sleep train. Oh, okay. Oh, Lord. Yeah, you wake up for a second and then you decide you're better off sleeping and go back to sleep. He wakes up to see go eggs and milk. You put down the flask that you were holding and he begins walking towards the side of the crag. This and he walks up to the inner wall of the crag. This where you all are and he puts his arms on it and he looks like he's pushing the other three of you in the party. So you make the Xterrity saving throws. 18. 8. 7 and 11. I had advantage. Natty, you might as stay on your feet, but Doug and Toll, you both fall to the ground as it feels like the entire crag just begins shaking and moving as Gunther is pushing on the wall. Natty turns to Flynn and goes, is that normal? No! Let's see if Flynn manages to stay on his feet. Someone help the old man! No, Flynn falls on the ground. Help me, I've fallen and I can't get up. Good life alert! Natty helps him, Natty helps him. Okay, yeah, Flynn gets back up to his feet. I think your friend has moved the crag-tis. Is that even possible? No. Is Gunther strong? Like, what's happening? Is the whole crag-tis like moving along the ground? Yeah, you know, the sides were kind of like stained glass and what you see on the exterior now looks a little different than what you previously saw. Oh. It's hard to see exactly because it's stained glass, but it does seem like the exterior is different. And Gunther, you now are awake. Mollie, molly, molly. Gunther, how did you do that? I do what? Talk to the mole? Oh, well, we'll get into that after, but you moved the entire crag-tis. Oh, it must be the bedrock. We are good friends now. I think Flynn would push his way to the front. You met the bedrock? Tell me about it. Well, the bedrock is being- is very proud of you. I knew it! Yes, the bedrock is very proud, but also needs help with the silent steed. Are you aware of the silent steed? Help with the silent steed. Should we murder the silent steed? No, it is not a scapegoat. No more scapegoats. But you said needs help with the silent steed. If you really want to make bedrock happy, you should also pray to silent steed. Interesting. This changes everything. The eternal slumber and the temporary slumber are connected somehow, then. Oh, you're right. So I think that's what I was trying to say, Chris. Silent steed is Natty's father, I think. Well, I mean, Natty's wife, Death, who is like a centaur kind of looking. Right. But is that- I mean- Hey, Natty, is your wife named the silent steed? Yes. Okay, there we go. All right, okay. So we've just turned this sleepy cult into a death corpse. Oh, geez. I'm really trying not to meta everything that I heard the moles say, and I'm trying to go off of what Gunther said, but it is difficult. So we must help people with the eternal sleep? Understood. Got it. More just, uh, just, you know, it's not so much to help kill people. That does not help them sleep. No, eternal sleep. I think you should just keep sleeping. You're doing a great job. No more goats. Okay, so let it be said, so let it be written, so let it be done. Hey, Tulf, I think Baby needs to get out of the bed. I- I'm- I'm- I'm- Let's take a group battle real quick. Yeah, I want to talk about this, but I don't want Flynn, who seems a little zealous to hear the wrong stuff. No, I'm for sure, and I think that that's why we should maybe have Gunther maybe steer them in a direction that's not going to cause them to do terrible things. I think we might be at that inflection point with him, just telling them, just keep on sleeping. Do you feel like more and more repairs need to be done? I don't know really how to patch up this ship. It's pretty- it's sinking pretty quickly. Yeah. Doug, you have a read on this whole situation? Well, I mean, I- I know nothing. It was Gunther who experienced all of that, so, uh- Can I convey what I saw to the party? Sure, so that you get them on the same page? Yeah. Gunther is essentially the Frog Messiah. More like a prophet. Yeah, there you go. They're saying that the mole that you met is not actually the deity, but they think it is because she's got bed in the name. Well, it is the deity, but they do not know anything about what they are doing. Well, the pale one seems to be responsible. That is so clear. The pale one is the one that's divvying out all of these things, but it seems like they are just not good at their job. They're filling in for the bright one. The pale one has no idea what they're doing, and then they're just saying like, you do this, hey, your name is Chuck. You're the Chuck wagon guy now. You know what I mean? Yeah, I got you. Great, great examples there. I'm not a tall- I'm thinking of Chuck Manjion. He just passed away. It was very hard. So it's almost like they're like assigning people these roles, but don't really know what they're doing. Right. Bad manager. Well, maybe what would help is it sounds like I should have a little conversation with my honey. I think that might be a good idea. I think so too. Do you want me to give you some potions and things? I'll take good care of you so you can, you know, become one with them. I watched your care of Gunther, and I think I'm going to pass on said care. I hate when my mama and papa fight. I'm just going to make this very clear. I am not your mother. That's my baby over there. I'm good with just mothering the bringer of the apocalypse. Napsy, wonder you're tearing this family apart. Everyone turns it looks at like a hulking bigger giggy now who's like slightly terrifying. Wait, so he's like big, big. Wait, are you saying he's grown even more or are you just making a joke? He is bigger. He's a foot bigger than he was before. He's grown again. Okay. Like a second time. No, correct. Correct. Yeah, hulking brings a level of growth that I was just trying to make clear. No, no, no, no. Okay. So the pale one seems like they don't know what they're doing. And then we also didn't I hear the in furnace talking to the private here? Correct. Yeah, they're trying to find this is John recapping. But the infernace's goal is they were trying to find the seed drinker because the seed drinker knows how to find thing. The pathfinder. They were trying to find the pathfinder. Why are they trying to find the seed drinker? No, they had the seed drinker. They had them captured. They were trying to use the seed drinker to find out where the pathfinder because the pathfinder could get them out of the hell place that they're on. Do you know what? I wonder if my wife knows where the pathfinder is. Do I have to ask her that before? I'm almost scared to know the answers to that because like, you know, like if we know stuff and they know we know, we might get tortured. So like we find out where if we find out where the pathfinder is. That's some dangerous knowledge. But you know, I think it's probably important to our quest, especially if they know, you know that they know. Where did you come from? You know, you know, get back get back behind that. Okay, sorry. I'll go back up into the cloud. Okay, this is a lot to take in, but we do have one more thing that I want to take care of before we leave here. If that is not make them death cold. No, I just want that we got the goat. Let's go take care of scapegoat. Oh, of course. Yes. I can fly. How about I just fly up and talk to the goat real quick? Sure. Well, I assume you all exited from the inside the crag to go outside to then retrieve the goat. But correct me if that's not the correct. Oh, but there is a way to get up to the top of the crag is from inside, right? No. Who built this place? It's so like that it's not even solid. It moves when you push it. Not accessible. I don't believe. Okay, I'll go get the goat. Can I bring the goat down? Okay. First of all, everyone roll me a perception check. Yeah, because we moved. Right. 14. That's one. 17. So the 14 and 17, you go outside and you see, you know, when you go to examine the crag, this for what you're about to do, you notice that the chair lift, the base station is gone. And the chairs are on disarray on the side of crack because we moved the mountain. Right. Natty, you fly up to the top and it seems like scapegoat is no longer up there. He escaped. I wanted them to reunite and make amends. Okay. Well, I come back down to the group and I share this, the wheel during mystery. Okay. Natty, did the goat get away or did you kill the goat and you're just lying to us right now? No sacrifice. Out of our entire group, I've been nothing but straight with you. No, goat wasn't up there. I don't know where the goat went. Maybe it fell off when this boy over here moved the mountain. So Gunther killed the goat. Oh, no. Maybe. Can we look for the goat? As you all look around, all of you, regardless of your perception check, realize that you're in a totally different area than where you were before. Like locale all around. Right. All of you make wisdom checks. Oh gosh. Okay. I'll be actually like asleep right now because this is really weird. Four, 12, 10. All right. The 12 and the 10, you recognize where you are. You are at somewhere you were before. You're just outside the ruins of Razeen. Huh? Did we teleport? Like, can we still see the mountain? You see a huge scar in the land behind the craghtus, where it looks like the entire craghtus was shoved along the ground, back in the direction where you were. God. Wasn't that like a different hex altogether? Yes. You are now outside the ruins of Razeen, which on the bright side, you're closer to Fort Endridge. What did you do, Gunther? Okay. So let me get this straight. Goonther, you pushed us into like a completely different land. I did not know I was so strong. It must pet rock them all. To have dug a hole. What did you do? Dug a hole, mold. That rock does not sleep. He moves mountains and earth. So she is in charge of mountains and earth and geography and things. And not sleep. Yes. Wow. This place is totally messed up, man. What is the area like where we see the ruins of Razeen? Do we see any type of like barrier or like illusionary type thing? Like what does it physical? I don't know what you were going to ask, John, but. I was going to ask the path that you're calling like a chasm. Is it just like, as far as I can see, and is it just like destruction? Yeah. It seems like it goes off into the horizon and yeah, it's like a scar on the land. Everything that was in the way has been leveled. From our knowledge where there are like towns and cities and things that were destroyed. Not as far as you know, it was pretty empty. And then to answer Barbara or Barbara slash Doug's question. No, it appears to be there's no barrier or anything. You're outside the ruins of Razeen. There's not an illusion. And if we look down like where that scar is, if we are close enough to see, is it like just a pit? No, it's not very deep. It's like a very superficial. So you did got just drug into. Exactly. So what did we do to like solar sod's local economy? If we took away their like biggest tourist destination, we've actually ruined that place. No one will want to travel there because there's nothing to visit. Are there very much things? Okay. Where's private parts? Private parts is wandering around says. On the bright side, it's a quick hop back to Fort Indridge beer. Why do you think Bedrock wanted to move things? Almost like they wanted to move things along. Think of this version. If you don't have one, I'm going to make a guess and say that through your communion with them, they might have bestowed upon you a little bit of their juice. Or we made you into a super soldier with all of the fluids that I could do. Punch me. Well, he not only did something that was physically impressive, but it was physically impossible. He moved something from inside of it. I mean, you know, sometimes a cat can get stuck in a box and then the box was around, you know, it's just different scale, but I see what your meaning is. Yeah, I'm just saying that it also happened in like a half second. So that's something to keep in mind for future communions with these gods. Okay. So I think we should probably there's something to be done here. Clearly Bedrock, she wanted us to be here for a reason. But like, at least that's my interpretation. But like, where is Flynn in the rest of the sleepy time cult? Are they still around? Probably just still in the cracker. The inside of it. They're still inside. Inside. Okay. Welcome to your new homes. Yeah. Are we good with them? Yeah, they don't seem to be coming out or anything. They're still doing their work. We maybe like go back in the practice, take another little nap ski and have another talk with Bedrock. I'm scared to. Or should we just maybe like go over to the ruins of resin? Because I mean, it's here and it is, I feel like everything happens for a reason. Private parts. I'm pressing start menu to see what our objectives are. Private parts. What's your read on the situation? I mean, we've probably just totally messed up like zoning and stuff like that. So, well, he said we're closer to where we were heading, which is Fort Andrews. This is just us on our way. Yeah. I think private parts would probably say. The will of the gods can be capricious and mysterious. I can't fully understand what the Bedrock may have been thinking. But we should take advantage of this boon, which is presented to us and make our way back to report to Sergeant Steel Eye. We got a few things to report. Yeah. Just a few. Yeah. Just a few. Well, I mean, Natty, your call, you're the leader, apparently. Someone put you in charge. Phone ranks. Yeah. That's what I figured. Don't get right behind Natty and. That's you. There you go. You know, yeah, I like that. I want, I want to, I want to report in. I feel like if we wander around anymore, we're going to have way too much stuff to report in. Yeah. Yeah. Private parts scribbles at your, your order down Natty. Because is that a long rest? Yes. We'll say that was the longest for Gunther because of all of that. Actually, speaking of long rests, you know, everyone forms up behind you, Natty, and you hear something behind you, Natty. Sounds like sawing of lumber. Oh, oh, no more sleep. I turn around and I look at that lumber or slumber. You turn around and you see Gunther standing behind you, saluting, but with head drooped. He's fully asleep and snoring. Okay. Gunther, you see in your mind a useful humanoid flower. It burns with flaming petals. You know it as the wilder flower. She's visibly upset, burrowing her brow at you, Gunther. Oh, is that the wilder flower like your? That's his God. I'm sorry. What have I done? Your faithfulness is wavering, Gunther. I've seen you talking with the other deities. You must prove your fealty or suffer the consequences. What can I do for you? I'll find out in the next episode of Chaos from the Sticky Dragon. It didn't mean anything. I promise. We're just friends, I swear. Gunther, you've been a bad boy. Thanks for listening, everybody. We had an eventful episode, a lot going on. Gunther really literally pushing the story along. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with the next episode in two weeks. And if you're a patron next week, you can listen to an episode, a second one where we dig into this, talk about this episode, and things related to it. Check out stored at stinkydragonpod.com where we're going to be selling stinky sleep potions. That's right. John will be brewing them and is at home. You can experience the same wonderful sleep that Gunther had in this episode. I'm going to have to put another thing in the store that's sold out, aren't I? No, we're really selling it. As we were recording, I saw Ben submit the merch idea for the Sleepy Dragon nightcap. Love it. Wow, what an amazing episode of Tales from the Sticky Dragon. I, John Reiss, here, am a huge fan of this show and love the shenanigans those guys get up into. Do you know what I also love? Halloween-themed apparel. And you can get that now at store.stinkydragonpod.com. Do you guys remember those little jokes about those T-shirts when they were at the P-Stay parade and it was like the T-Nix and they were like these little shirts? We made those shirts, the Grotesque shirts, we made them. They're up on the store right now, so go get them, okay? And just because we love the Halloween times so much, we also gave you some more stuff. We gave you content, the Grotesque Second Wind episodes we were missing because Second Wind wasn't a thing until like, I don't know, three months into the Grotesque campaign. Well, we went back and re-recorded those Second Winds and we released them for everybody on our Patreon. So you can go listen to that stuff right now and you can get yourself a cool little Halloween shirt and have a wonderful spooky month. Hey, new episodes of Tales from the Sticky Dragon, it premieres every other Wednesday, wherever you stream podcast and on the Sticky Dragon YouTube channel. But if you want to listen to the show 48 hours early and ad-free, that's two days early without commercials, you can support us by becoming a patron at stinkydragonpod.com or you could join as a member on beacon.tv. Both give you early ad-free access and a members-only Discord for each platform. But if you're looking for even more Stinky content and community perks, our Patreon specifically offers exclusive bonus shows behind the scenes content, access to the Sticky Dragon Discord, members-only live streams, Stinky community events, and a shout out on the show. Just like, hey, Jay Davenport, I see you, I'm shouting you out. Agne4617, you too, Celia Thomas, Morrigan447, Redweb, thank you for being patrons. These patrons directly support the show, get ad-free episodes, access to our patron-only Discord server, bonus content like second-win and behind the screen or Stinky Pop, I'm kind of partial to that one, and other Stinky perks. Once again, that's stinkydragonpod.com. We are incredibly grateful for your support, which makes this show possible. Some of our friends voiced NPCs in this episode and listeners who interacted with us on the Stinky Dragon Discord had NPCs named after them, like Flynn named after Braden Howell and voiced by Matt Bragg at Matt Bragg. And private private parts voiced by Ben Ernst at Halcyon underscore Ben. The bedrock was voiced by Kristen Bates at Kristen K Bates, and don't forget to support your local PBS stations. The wilder flower voiced by BK at Black Crystal and Piotr named after Bart Piotr Iolovs. I nailed that, I'm sure I did. I'm sorry if I didn't. This week's error question was submitted by Aman Reddy. This episode of Tales from Stinky Dragon was produced by Ben Ernst and written and edited and composed by Michael Reisinger with additional editing work by Catherine Arnold and Davis Sonye. Tune in next time for another thrilling episode of Tales, Tales from the Stinky Dragon. Tales from the Stinky Dragon Tales from the Stinky Dragon All right, peeps. So back on the ones and twos equals threes. It's a late night version of this one, as we're very sepian this episode, so this is coming to you a late night Doug Boone on the ones and twos. This week we are sleeping. After this episode recording, Balboa will be sleeping. Yes, let's keep in mind it is only two o'clock in the afternoon. Perfect time for a nap time if I do say my soul. Wow, let's try that one more time. If I do say so myself, man, Doug's so sleepy that he can't even form sentences correctly. And Doug is also working on having a radio show for himself. You know, having all his listeners, all his many, many fans out there in the world call in and ask Doug a question, see if he could give his sage advice, all his life experience, helping those in need. So be on the lookout for Doug on the ones and twos equals threes. It's a real show. All right, good night, good evening, and good good sepian.