Episode 10 – Rootless

Gather round friends, let me tell you a tale of three heroes, noble and bold A brute, a druid, and a thief who is but nine years old You know them by name, you know them by deed, their quests are famously daring So here I sit, singing to you an adventure that is worth sharing Tuck is the brute, he knows not his home, he loves to sing and fight Fingers have health, he shifts his shape, and wields a spear with great might Billy's a thief, his tiny size does mask the largest heart Best and brightest they may not be, but their friendship outweighs their smarts So gather round friends, and listen close For the tale's about to start Welcome back to Spout Lore I'm your Game Master Sean H.

With me, playing Tacoma Dome the Barbarian, Abdul Aziz Hello Playing Fat Billy the Halfling Thief, Jessica Tai Hi Playing Shathane the Elven Ranger, guest player Mark Robertson Hello When last we left our heroes, they were on the back of a giant fish horse Tearing ass through a spiritual plane that had been consumed by the spirit of fire Or a spirit of fire, we haven't decided How far are we away from Ving?

Well you have been told that Ving is in a place called the Dust Bowl In the hands or insecty legs of the spirit Wasp Okay And that's on the other side of this plane apparently You became unusual friends with three talking rocks Larry, Terry, and Chad And they told you that it looked like fire had ripped through this plane and burnt everything up So it's pretty blasted currently So you hopped on the back of a newly transformed Perel Who made his fish form a giant horse with super long legs that's really tall And you guys started tearing through the plane And the last thing that happened, the ghost root that Tacoma had eaten before you crossed over to the spirit world Started gurgling in your tum And then you started floating through people and dropping stuff And now you are floating in the middle of the…

You're just floating in the air Right, and we dropped Larry and Chad Yes, because Billy has Terry Yeah So Billy and Shathane, as you're going through this plane, you're going to be You're riding Perel through the planes Tac kind of phases through the two of you and floats off to the back And is now just hanging in the air, what do you do? I'm like, whoa… What happened? Are we still moving?

Oh yeah, you're still moving fast Oh my god Perel didn't notice that this happened Okay, I'm just gonna like slap Perel around to try to get his attention Okay, yeah, it works And then you hit him and he's like, what? What is it?

Tac did a thing and then I just point and I'm like, he's a ghost Perel turns his huge fish horse head like to the side and sees Tac floating He goes, okay Hey, I have no, I don't have any explanation for how this happened And he just says, just a second, we'll get him And he pulls a U-turn and starts heading back Perel in his fish horse form is getting pretty close What do you do? Can I like swim, can I what?

I'm gonna try and swim through the air towards the desert cavity You are not moving currently, you're just kind of kicking your arms and legs in the air To Spout Lore about this? Well, if you want to, so…

Yeah, I mean, there might be something in the history of all of the music I've listened to that talks about this About how ghost root works No, it's the spirit world, you can't just, no, no, no, no, no You don't know what's in music, you don't know all music that exists But see, the way that Spout Lore works is that you can't just, no, no, no, no, no, no The way that Spout Lore works is that it is based on the sort of things that your character would have learned about And if you say that everything's in music, then you just have carte blanche to do it with whatever you want Yeah, I do No, you wouldn't know anything about the spirit world But what about the actions of ghost root?

Yeah, would the music have any information about ghost root? It doesn't work like that The music Would the music Do you think that Tux has had any experience with weird roots like that?

Yeah, probably He's been on the road for a long time and he's done a lot of drugs Alright, why don't you, I mean, keep in mind that you are also opening yourself up to failure By just rolling for whatever you want Yeah, that's the point Okay, alright You can go ahead and roll 2d6 plus intelligence for Spout Lore Six I fail Six? You have a minus one intelligence?

No, I partially succeed Alright Your actual intelligence made you not add those numbers there So with a seven to six, you're good to go With a seven to nine, I tell you something interesting and it's up to you to make it useful Okay The only thing that you've really heard about ghost root is that it is used in spells and rituals to aid in astral projection Oh And it's usually used in pretty sparing amounts Ah Like you don't need a lot to do it and you ate an entire root Does that mean I have control over the spirit world?

I don't know Okay, well I looked down at Terry and Larry Uh huh, and they're like pretty far below you Larry and Chad Larry and Chad Yeah, Larry and Chad Cause Perel is pretty tall Yeah So they're like, I don't know, 20, 30 feet below you And I'm like, are you guys okay?

Yeah, man Uh, I'm gonna try and get you back And so I, I guess I try and will them into my hands Okay To like telepath them up Okay I don't know how astral projection works exactly No, you don't And so this would be a defy danger most likely, so defy danger wisdom I have plus one wisdom Three Cool, so cool Um, so okay, so you are just trying to will Larry and Chad into your hands Yeah Standing there, outstretched, really To use the power of astral projection And uh, nothing happens Come to me Larry and Chad The Perel horse comes up and is like, what are you, what's, what's happening, what's happening Hold on, I got this, I'm getting Larry and Chad Larry!

Chad!

As you're trying, he's like, uh, Perel looks at you doing this and says, I don't think that that's how this works Having control over the spirit world isn't something that someone from our plane can do As you're doing this, you catch out of the corner of your eye a flash of light And you look to the horizon or such as it is in the spirit world and you see where there was just smoke Now you see flames start to rise see flames start to lick up over the horizon and fire is approaching can can we like help him or anything like that yeah what do you want to try and do so I'm gonna get my cloak uh and then fold it up into like it's scoop shovel mode and just scoop those two rocks up like it's no big deal up so are you like it's no prel's really high up like is your cloak like 30 feet long yeah no it's all it's like uh you know you can fold it up into different shapes oh I see rope you can so you can fold it out into like a very long thing and put a little scoop on the end and just reach down and scoop them up like a like a lacrosse stick yeah what about this are you not understanding I mean I do like that his kind of cool cloak it's 35 I do but okay so you are pressed for time so this is gonna be a defy danger I'm trying to do it as as he's riding we're just gonna I'm just gonna scoop these things up just like when we used to play elf cavalry lacrosse back in the day so yeah 2d6 plus dexterity oh shit we're really I'm a little rusty we're really rolling a lot of failure so that's uh four and two six you pull so you do pull um a couple of the strings on your like you pull the pull the strings on your cloak to like lengthen it in a really weird way and you whip it down on this end that I guess is a little weighted or something like that everyone's like this is gonna be awesome this is gonna be great and um it uh wraps around a little blasted like a like a woody hard root sticking up out of the dirt near larry and chad and it wraps around it and it cinches tight most of those those lacrosse fields were cleared yeah I'm not used to playing different terrain I'm not a point of experience all right and perel like feels the tug and turns around and goes what are you doing trying to scoop up these rocks they're rocks we need to figure out this tacoma problem well I know he cares about the rocks so I could like what do you call it when you like use that like the closed line and then you like close line down this oh like zip line yeah I can zip line down to the ground and get these guys yeah do it okay you guys are pearls like you're really invested in these rocks huh hey it's larry and chad it's larry and terry and chad yeah and terry's terry's like still in billy's hands like yeah man we're not leaving him behind oh you're here still cool yeah I'm here I'm always here I'm always gonna be here okay let's do it so I defy danger dexterity because time is of the essence because fire is getting closer oh thank god uh I got 10 okay yeah sweet so how do you what do you zip line down on just like your hands um I have that like copper pin it's pretty small okay cloak then okay I'm gonna cloak on cloak this yeah oh nice yeah so I do that yep use wow wait holy shit that was cool yeah that was very cool so billy you hit the you hit the dirt yeah I say that to perl I was like that was cool he's like that was pretty cool yeah uh so you hit the dirt and larry and chad are like like 10 feet away chad what's the other larry so they're just like we're over here okay we're over here man okay cool terry's like oh larry chad I'm so happy to see you oh sweet okay so um you guys are just I'm gonna put them in my bag oh man I thought we lost you forever it's okay you guys kiss kiss the bag and perl so yeah you're on the ground I'm like did you get larry and chad that's the most important thing right now I got them all okay thanks bill can I can I haul the uh haul the cloak back up with her on the end yeah if billy was to like uh billy was to like untie the cloak from the thing do that yeah so it was just like in a clove hitch so you can just like unwind it so yeah and then and billy gets yanked back up on the cloak and perl is looking disappointed in everybody yeah well it's good that we avoided that problem and now I guess we're done here or what well we would be except for that and he points and there's like a raging inferno approaching like and it's getting very close okay you guys run it doesn't look like we can move tacoma can I try something yeah perl let's get behind tuck and then just we all blow oh yeah uh he perl says oh it's better than dealing with these rocks for any of us I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't so this is gonna be a defy danger of some kind okay I think it's I think it's probably still wisdom like trying to figure out what'll work in the spirit world and I guess your thing could aid or something like that yes for sure because I got I got six so I need some help 2d6 plus whatever however many bonds you have with billy tan okay so that makes billy's success a seven on a seven to nine you get something close to what you wanted or a hard bargain Tacoma, you're kind of like trying to turn around in the air to like figure out what the best angle for this would be.

Perel walks around to the back and everybody starts blowing and nothing happens. Like nothing. The blowing doesn't do anything. But what you do. It was a good try. Thank you. What you do notice when Perel moved around and Tacoma was like trying to swing around to the right side. Perel started. He went through a big chunk of Tacoma, but his pendant bumped against Perel. As he went through. Tuck's pendant? Tuck's necklace. My amulet? Yeah, it bumped against Perel as he moved.

So Perel notices that and he's like, oh, okay. And he grabs like he sticks his mouth forward or his little koi fish mustache on the front of his horse snout. Like he reaches out a little tendril and wraps it around your pendant. And it holds. It goes through the pendant, but it holds on something inside. Cool. And he tugs it and he's able to move you around a little bit like a little kite. Oh, is it the obsidian coin that he's grabbing onto? Who can say? Oh, cool.

And he says, okay, I guess this is how we're going to do this. Sick. And then, okay, I hold on to the strap of the pendant with one hand. Yeah. I was like, fucking hit it, fish horse. And he goes back up on his hind fish legs and goes. Woo! And kicks his front little fish flipper legs in the air or his super long fish flipper legs. And then you guys start tearing ass again. And then again, I am like. Woo! Fish horse! Yeah! Billy, from your bag, you hear Larry Terry Jack going. Yeah! Fish horse!

And just in time, because fire is close. It has definitely noticed you guys and is chasing you down. Whoa, what a hungry fire. I am not into this. And Perel is ripping ass. But it's getting close. What do you do? I mean, butter moth still looks fireproof. But it's not going to. We don't have enough between you and me to cover the horse and all three of us. Do I feel the heat from the fire? You don't, actually. Yeah, I think I'm fine. I don't think I need to be covered in anything.

We can ask Perel if he thinks that the fire is going to burn him or just us. As Perel's running, he says, I'm not 100%. Sure, but I would hazard it'll burn all of us. I suppose we could just ask it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then so I guess I turn to the fire and I'm like, hey, hot boy. And it just you hear the crackling of a forest fire. The voice inside just go, I will consume you. Yeah, you will, you sexy hot boy. I'm trying to seduce it into not. Oh, my God. This is the move I'm making.

Don't judge me. You will be consumed. And then I take the ghost guitar from my back and I'm like, oh, hot boy. Hot fire boy. You so hot. You so hungry. You want to eat some chips? You're also. We don't have chips. You have to hold on to the pendant with one hand if you want to move. I'm a very good guitar player. So you're strumming tunelessly. Yeah, I guess. He's tuned in drop D, so he's just playing. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So I guess I'm playing a bass riff. Yeah. That is one note. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what do I roll? Is there. Oh, you're actually. Is there a role for this bass riff to seduce this fire? My God. Let's do it. Oh, man. You're trying to seduce this fire. Usually that would obviously not work. But this fire obviously has. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great ability to communicate. So you can talk to stuff that can communicate with you. Yeah.

So roll a 2d6 plus charisma. And you're actually just trying to. You're just playing a song and trying to seduce the fire. Yeah. I'm telling it how hot I think it is. Wow. Six. Can someone help me? Yeah. I'll sing along. Oh, yeah. We're going to harmonize. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Beautiful. Beautiful. So tall and so hot. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Okay. It's probably your best work. So 2D6. You have to roll. Oh. Yeah, roll 2D6. Roll 2D6. You can't just keep singing.

Plus the number of bonds you have with Tacoma. We fail. No, no, no. Hold on now. Nine. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. That makes it a seven to nine. Wow. It's a partial success. It's a partial success. You're seducing this fire. No, you do not seduce the fire. Well, you don't think you're seducing the fire. You get the idea that it is fire and it is perhaps unseducible. But what it does do is it slows down a little bit because it is confused. Awesome. You start playing and you're like, oh, it's working.

And you just hear the fire going. What? I will consume you. And I go, yeah, you're going to consume my body with your sexy, sexy flames. Maybe you want to eat something else. And then I point in the opposite direction. So it's just slowing down. It pulls back a little bit, trying to regroup. And it just gets, you see it like, it just flares up. Like it backs off. Like what? And then it just goes, no. I will consume you. But Perel by that time has started to move forward a little bit.

We're still in trouble though, right? Oh yeah, you're still in trouble. You're not out of the woods yet. I don't know. I feel like it. I think that it's into it. I feel like I've resolved the situation. Yeah, I feel like this fire is into me now. Try cause fear spell. Oh yeah, you still have cause fear. 2d6 plus wisdom to cast a spell? Yeah. 10. Man, oh man. Okay, so how cause? Fear works is you pick an object that it is afraid of. What about the rocks? Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

There's these specific three terrifying hand-sized rocks. Okay. So you got it. Friendly names. You do. You do got to pick one of them. Which one's the one that was glowing? Terry was glowing. All right. Yeah. Terry, let's get you out of the bag, man. He's the most obvious. What's cracking guys? Just nothing. Just want to see how you're doing. And just. Told you out here in obvious view of this terrifying. And then you. Spirit that's attacking us. And then.

You just imbue him with some sort of fearful presence. Yeah. He starts to look like something that the fire would be very, very afraid of rather than his. We can't really see what's going on, but I can kind of, but it's not obvious to everybody else. Yeah. What's fire afraid of? He's like a giant bucket of water. Like a huge with. It's so. It's like an old rickety wooden bucket and water's leaking out of the edges and it's tipping over and flowing.

And it looks like it's just for sure going to dump on them and it's just getting bigger and big. It's bigger than Purell. And it's just now it's like the size of the sky. It's like a huge, a huge bucket of water. Oh yeah. Bucket of water in the sky. Almost like rain. Maybe. No, no, not that. No, it's like an object. It's like a, it's not a, it's not like rain or a cloud or a spirit type world thing. It's like this terrifying. Like. Yeah. Physical. Bucket. Man made. Bucket. Fire destroyed.

Fire destroyed. Fire destroyed. Fire destroyed. Fire destroyed. Bucket. Bucket full of water. Wow. Okay. This reminds me a lot of my fever dreams. So the fire. And I think, I think the rock kind of knows like he's like, what the fuck? Yeah. Terry's like, oh yeah. Yeah. You want a cup of good pizza? You want a bucket of fire? I don't know if he knows what a bucket is, but he's like, he knows he's something. He said, yeah, you better get away from here. These are my pals. And the fire started.

I started going. Oh, no. Oh, I will not be consumed. It still wants to consume you, but it is unable to get close enough to be an actual concern. Holy shit. Is Terry scaring the fire? Terry, keep doing whatever you're doing. Yeah. You better run. You want a piece of this, man? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's Terry. That's not my spell. Man. I think we should give three cheers for Terry for getting rid of this fire. Yeah. Hip everybody. Hip hip. Hooray. Hip hip. Hooray. Terry. Terry. Terry.

Larry and Chad are like, Terry. They're really into it. And Perel's like, he's still running, but he's like, Terry. And I'll just grab the reins on this giant fucking horse and they'll be able to ride except me because of my masterful horse skills. I'll just get my head down and keep working, I guess. So you start pulling on stuff that looks like reins and Perel's like, ow, ow. Okay. I'll just let off a little bit, maybe.

He's still moving pretty fast because something this tall kind of has to if it's moving, but it's not a super dangerous situation anymore. And actually, as you're moving across the planes and Perel's casting his head about trying to figure out what the fastest way to get across this sort of indeterminately sized plane is, other spirits are coming within the vicinity of safety that you have created. Oh, which ones? There is a big… There's a big jackrabbit, like a huge rabbit. Cool. Cool.

And it starts patting alongside of you and it kind of gives a nod, like, thank you. Oh. And there's a snake, like a big snake, and it's just like… Cool. And a… What's another desert-y animal? Like a scorpion. Kangaroo. A kangaroo and a scorpion. Both of them. There's like a big kangaroo hopping along and a scorpion scuttling along, and they're just sort of voicing their thanks for creating an area of safety. And they're walking with you. Cool. Yeah.

I guess we can thank that rock for creating that area. Yeah. And then we go, it's all Terry. He's like, no, I was just doing what I could do, you know? I live to serve, yo. No, Terry, you're special. You're a special rock. And also Chad and Larry, you're special too. Yeah. Thanks, man. And you, I'm sure you figured out that we're like, we're all part of one unified consciousness. Anyway, what are we doing now?

Perel is just kind of sauntering now because the fire is just sort of a piece of the scenery now. It's not coming any closer to you. So as you move, it's just sort of a static presence and all the spirits are walking along with you and you're kind of getting tugged along, still tuck like a kite. I guess I want to talk to the rest of the spirits now. Okay. Do you guys know how close we are to the dust bowl? We're looking for our friend Ving. Wasp has him.

The rabbit sort of goes, oh man, you guys got to go to the dust bowl. That sucks. The dust bowl sucks. It's on the other side of the plane. But he's got, Wasp has got him. Wasp is a bad thing. Do you guys need some help? Need some help? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. These people need some help. They're stuck here. And the scorpion's like, I don't know. Should we help him? The kangaroo is not saying anything. Do we have any leverage over these? No, do an Australian accent. Why would I do an Australian accent?

Because it's a kangaroo. Crikey. You don't know what, you don't know where kangaroos come from in this world. I'm going to do, I'm going to do an accent from the region. Of this planet where kangaroos come from in our fantasy world. Oh my God. Hi, welcome. Whoa. I come from a land where kangaroos are fairly common. They're from the Pacific Northwest. Wow. They're from the West Coast? They're from Langford? What's up, everybody? Welcome to the exotic land of kangaroos.

Just out for a fucking rip, bud. Just out for. Yeah, just out for a rip on these kangaroos, bud. This fucking fire came in. It's going to. Fucking kill me or whatever. Right. Just fucking. You guys like came with your giant fucking fish horse. Let's just fucking pull up in the Timmy's over there and get a fucking double double. You know what I'm saying? Fucking help you, dude. I need some help. Yeah. No.

If anybody listening is not from the West Coast of Canada, that's what some people sound like. That's how every small town in the whole world. That's true. That's true. And it's weird because it's just like sometimes people that you know that don't talk like that will just start talking like that one day. And then that's just their voice. Yeah. And then, yeah, you leave them behind. So. And then they start a construction company.

$200,000 a year and have a beautiful wife and two awesome kids that are great at hockey. Anyway, let's move on. So the the spirits sort of decide amongst themselves that, well, you've done them a solid by saving them from the fire and they'll they'll help you get across the plains. It takes. Again, it's interesting because I keep thinking about it in terms of like how our world works, but it's not really the same here, I guess. No, because in our world, time is a product of motion.

The two are like time and entropy are tied to one another. But I guess in the spirit world, motion is inconsistent. Yeah. Motion is inconsistent. And entropy is not one of the fundamental laws of this plane of existence. So that means time doesn't exist in the same way. So you move and you travel for a while. The jackrabbit and the scorpion and the snake and the kangaroo. Just kind of chatting amicably with you. Do you guys have any questions? Do you have any questions for the spirits?

Have you guys ever seen, met or dealt with wasp before? The scorpion clacks its claws a little bit. Yes, I've dealt with wasp before. Can you elaborate on that? Yes, I can. Well, OK. And I'm going to. Cool. I am all ears. Proceed with the elaboration. Every time I pause, you speak. OK, go ahead. I speak. All right. I'm just about. Tell us when you're starting. Wasp is bad. It's in wasp's nature to take and to build, defend. But wasp defends against everything. Everything is an enemy to wasp.

So if you encounter wasp, know that you are an enemy. There is little negotiation with wasp. Is there a consensus among all the other spirit animals about this? The jackrabbit's like, yeah, no, I've had a couple of dealings with wasp. I don't really like wasp that much. That's why I kind of stick to the planes. Wasp is mostly in the dust bowl. I stick around here. It's more fun out here for me. And the kangaroo is like, fuck it, hey, bud.

He's like, yeah, one time I fucking had some cocaine and wasp. Like, he fucking just came and took it. Fucking guy. Yeah, the kangaroo. The kangaroo. Guy's a fucking dick, man. Yeah, he's like, oh, wasp is a fucking goof, bud. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fuck that guy. Fucking wasp, bud. No, thanks. Right, bud? Kick rocks. Fuck. And the rocks are like, what? Kick what? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Terry is still like all high and mighty.

He's like, kick what? You want to come over here and say that, man? You want to come over here and say that? I love these rocks. I just say that to these guys. It's like, I fucking love these rocks. And they've definitely, or the rocks are definitely taking on like Tuck's mannerisms. Like, they're calling people Tuck. Like, they're calling people man. And like, being really, really casual and jocular. Are they just trying to pick up everything that moves as well?

Is that a little, the little rock pickup artist? Is that their jam? They're really, they're really, yeah, they're absorbing a lot from you. I give Chad a tiny copy of the book, The Game. Ugh. Ugh. Yeah, Chad flips through a couple pages and says, I don't know, man. I think this is based on a lot of misogynist rhetoric. And so this. Wow. He's pretty woke. He's absorbing a lot from other people as well. Not just me. Right, okay. He got the woke from me. Yeah. And yeah, so everyone mostly agrees.

Scorpion says, a lot of people have had problems with me as well. But even I know that Wasp is not to be trifled with. Clack, clack. Clack, clack, clack. Okay. Does he have any specific weaknesses we can exploit? Or like wants or needs? Hmm. That's a great question. Yeah, so they're on. So some. Wait, what's up? Oh, I just. I. I'm planning a trick in my head. Okay. Wasp. Okay. Yeah. That's a good. That was a good planning sound. But she can't tell you. Billy, what is it? Nothing.

Yeah, Billy has the worst possible poker face when he thinks of a lie. And he's just like. You ask, like, does Wasp have any specific weaknesses? And you get the idea that they're all unwilling to give that up. And I was like, what? What if we traded that piece of information for a gift? All right. They like coins and stuff, right? Yeah. Okay. So instead of deciding if somebody is into it, you're going to roll a parlay.

It was mostly the guides in the interface or the area that you call the interface that like gifts from the material plane. But all spirits are interested in that because it's, you know, like anybody. They're like, oh, this is from far away. Yeah. So you can. This would be potential leverage, but we'll see how it works with a successful failure. Nine, ten, eleven. Okay. So it will work. What are you offering? I'm offering a story to Scorpion from my world.

It is one of the oldest stories in McCall. Wow. At first, Scorpion's like. It's a story called the Scorpion and the Frog. Hmm. He clacks his clacks. It's pinchers a little bit. Very well. I will help you for this story. Okay. How does it go? In the old days of the world, before the interface between the spirit world and the material plane was created, Scorpion and Frog met on a riverbank and Scorpion asked Frog to ferry him across the river.

But Frog was scared because he was worried that Scorpion would sting him while he was taking him across the river. Scorpion promised he would not. Why? Because. Because if he stung Frog during their crossing, they would both die. So Frog agrees and Scorpion gets on Frog's back and he starts moving them across the river. And when they are halfway across the river, the Scorpion stings the Frog anyway. And as the Frog is dying, he asks Scorpion why he did it.

And Scorpion says, because it was in my nature. Scorpion is quiet. And then he clacks his claws a few times in succession and says, I like that story, stupid Frog. I feel like you missed the point of the story. No, the point of the story is sting a frog if you have the chance. Okay. Whatever. It is the nature of scorpions to sting. Frog should have known that. Very well. I will help you. Bill, you understand the point. You understand the point of that story, right?

This is a teachable moment that I'm using for my surrogate son. No, I don't understand it. It's like you should always try to help people, but be careful of accidentally killing them when you're helping. No, no. It's from the Frog's perspective. Okay. So help people. Resist the urge to help because they will kill you. No. That's it. Afraid. Perel turns his head. Be very afraid. Yeah. Perel turns his head when Billy says that and said, yeah, the moral of the story is work alone. No. That's. No.

It's. Helping is good, but. You can't trust anyone except yourself. No, it's not that. It's just be aware of the nature of others. Billy, remember that. Yes. Wait. What are you going to remember? Stereotypes are good. No. Generalize. No. No. No. Make assumptions and then stick with them. No matter what. No. Scorpion says, sting a frog. Frogs are dumb. No, you're missing the point. No, there's nothing. Don't. It's about helping. Don't help.

Well, I will help you because I was delighted by this story. Yeah. Stupid frogs. Yeah. Thank you, Scorpion. Yeah. Scorpion. Awesome. They are awesome. That story is great. Thank you. So let's. You know what? Let's us talk about it. What's. What would be a weakness? Of wasps. What is a weakness of wasps? They love food. They love sugar. Like when you go camping and you leave out your Pepsi bottle and then it's like, oh, yum, yum, yum. And then you can trap the wasp in that. That's stupid wasp.

And that was the wapple trees suggested you take a wapple and use it to lure wasp out. Oh, do we have that still with us? Yes. Who has it? You? Me. Okay. But they also, they just attack anything. Not like a bee will defend. But the wasps go on the attack. They are aggressive to a fault. Right. They're only passive aggressive. Like if you live with a wasp, it won't say, hey, could you do the dishes? But when it puts a dish in the sink, it will go. Oh, my God. Yeah. And also they. Yeah.

They never. There's never direct conflict with a wasp. They leave a lot of post-it notes on stuff. Yeah. But when they're at work, so you get home and they're not there. And then you see all this angry stuff. And you're like, why didn't they just say this? They're also very concerned with status. Yeah. And like, it's like, hey, I have a like, look at my boat shoes. I'm part of a country club. Yeah. Yeah. And they'll also like buy milk and say, hey, I bought milk. You owe me a dollar 70. Yeah.

And they will unload the dishwasher, but they'll do it loudly. Yeah. So loud. It's like, look, I can't just keep pausing the show because you decided that you're mad now. You don't even. I don't even drink milk. God. Yeah. Why do you buy a four liter? You're the only person that drinks it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. So, what is. So, are we.

Are we saying that a weakness of wasps would be aggressive to a fault? Yeah. Passive aggressive to a fault. Aggressive to a fault. So, like, I guess, like, it's not. They are not cautious. They're not. They'll instantly attack whatever's coming after. Yeah. Wasp isn't canny. They're not a planner. It's just attack, attack, attack. Is that a weakness or is that a threat for you? Well, it would be a big problem. It would be a big problem if I was corporeal and also didn't have the move.

What are you waiting for? Can I. Oh. Right. Can I also add to your plan of what are you waiting for with my secret plan? I have this wapple and then I could make some golden root and I could, like, fill it with golden root. So, it attacks this wapple and then it gets the golden root and then it has to trust us. Nice. Oh. Yeah. Do you still have golden root? Because it would be hard to make here. I think I have to make it. I just need ginger. That's all I need.

Do you think that it would be as easy to make here with spirit ginger? It's not the ginger. It's because water carries magic and Billy has the ability to manipulate it. And even when Billy was describing how he made it, he said explicitly, I have to mash it until I get really sweaty and then it works. Uh-huh. So, I guess I could use pretty much anything that I have to, like, work at for a bit. Mm-hmm. Okay. I think the big question is spirit ginger or spirit Marianne. What is that?

Mark, you're trying to make a Gilligan's Island reference to millennials. I'm trying to pull people in their 20s. No, I'm trying to get another, like, old folks homes will be playing this podcast. When you look at your stats on iTunes, you'd be like, wow. Holy cow. The 60 to 80s were killing it. That one Gilligan's Island reference really paid off. They all gather around the old radio and the old folks. Yeah. That's where they had the radio.

I mean, I will say that I did get the reference, so don't worry. Yeah. I got it, too. But we wanted to be shitty about it. Because we're millennials. That was the whole point of the reference. Okay. You're welcome. Interesting. Interesting. So, Perel does say anything that we found that resembled the ingredients you need here would be materially different because it is spirit. Okay. So, you'd… Effectively be trying to make a poison or a substance out of a sentient plant. Oh, no.

Do I have to murder? I mean, technically. What if we only take, like, a piece off of the plant? What about… So, I take, like, the little tree off of my back and I'm like, can I have a leaf? It kind of shakes a little bit. Like, it's scared. Oh. I pet it, I guess. Okay. We can… I mean, this could be a parlay as well. Okay. So, to be 2d6 plus charisma, what are you offering the plant? I'll plant you somewhere really beautiful. You get the idea that it stops shaking and it's like, ooh.

I'll plant you at the top of a hill with some sunshine. And you'll be the only tree on that hill. And then you can make your own forest and watch it grow. Yeah. I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. All right. Roll it. Roll it. You idiots. There are more One Tree Hill references in this podcast than probably in One Tree Hill. Yeah. I got 10. You got 10. Okay. The sapling shakes a little bit happily. Like… Okay.

It drops a couple leaves onto the dirt of the little bag that it's in. Thank you. And I kiss it and I put it back on my back. So, you have some leaves. Okay. This is gonna… We'll see. So… Yeah. Yeah. So, I think I want to make this a roll as well. Sure. Do you want to hold off until we actually execute to see if… Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That's true. We can wait. So, you do it. Billy smushes the leaves until it's the paste. Yeah. You're kind of sweaty. I'm really sweaty.

Especially because it's a smoky area. And there's a huge sentient fire nearby. Yeah. Yeah. So, you have a little paste. What's the fire doing? It's staying away. I look at it. I'm like, you good? And I give it a thumbs up. I will consume. Yeah. So, basically the same. Yeah. You have a little paste that seems like it's very similar to what you use for Golden Root. And yeah. So, you move a little bit further.

The jackrabbit hops up over this little rise that goes too high and too low at the same time. It's very hard to look at. It's a very hazy sort of end. It shifts and moves even as you look at it. And jackrabbit hops up and says, yep, this is the place. This is the edge of the plains. You guys made it. You made it. Yeah. Everybody made it. Thanks for your help. Really appreciate it. If you guys need anything else, we will be around forever because we are eternal. Okay. Bye. Thanks, jackrabbit.

Zips away. That guy seemed like he was on White Root. Yeah. Yeah. And you move over the edge and you see that the plain goes away, dips down way far. And it's just where this was like burnt grass and bushes and all that sort of stuff. This is just decayed almost. There are plants blowing around. There's piles of sand and grit and dust blowing around in little dust storms, little dust devils. And it goes on and on and on. What do you do? I guess this is where wasp should be.

Do you just keep walking in? Yeah. Yeah. Perel keeps leading you in. His footsteps are kicking up dust everywhere he steps. You get to a narrow pass between what looks like rough, rocky, like dirt colored walls, like high cliffs that go even higher than Perel. They move in. They move in and out at a weird angle. Can someone tie the wapple to like my amulet that is the only corporeal part of me? Okay. Yeah. I'll do that. Okay. Yeah. Billy. Billy attaches the wapple with the chain. Yeah.

So you got this wapple hanging from the chain and it's slowly pulling you down. Oh, okay. Well, but someone hold me up until we get to the place I need to be. And you are, you walk a little bit further in and Perel is looking around nervously. Something seems off. Can we discern realities? Yeah, absolutely. Who wants to do that? Sure. So discern realities is 2d6 plus wisdom. Yuck. Six. Does anybody want to aid or anything? Can someone help me? Yeah. I'll aid. How's Billy aiding?

Also just looking around? Yes. With my eyes. 10. Okay. So that makes it a seven instead of a six, which is spectacular. And on a seven to nine, you get to a six. Okay. Okay. Okay. So you get one question from the list. So the questions are what happened here recently? What is about to happen? What should I be on the lookout for? What here is useful or valuable to me? Who's really in control here? What here is not what it appears to be? I think what is about to happen here.

So Perel leads you a little bit further into this pass and it opens up in an uneven oval, a fair distance on either side, and the walls are lumping out and twisting in weird ways. There's whirls and spirals in the surface of the walls. And it's then that you realize that you're in a place where you're not supposed to be. And you realize that these aren't rock walls. This is a hive. And that's where we're going to end it this week. For Spellt Lore, I'm your game master, Sean O'Hara.

And with me have been playing Tacoma Dome, the barbarian, Abdul Aziz. Like you fucking just came and took it. Playing Fat Billy, the halfling thief, Jessica Tai. So for a fucking rip, bud. Playing Shathane, the elven ranger, Mark Robertson. Bye. Thank you to Aaron Reed of Vancouver Sunday Service for our awesome intro and outro music. And thank you to Mark, MP, Carter, and Will for tolerating us recording in their basement. And thank you to you for listening.

Feel free to check us out on Twitter at Spellt Lore. On Facebook at Facebook.com slash Spellt Lore. And on Instagram at Instagram.com slash Spellt Lore. Thanks for listening, everybody. Bye. And so ends the tale of Adventures 3. Who tried the best they can. Though dumb and scared and lost they be. For time's abreast in revelry. And though hard to see. And though hard to see. And though hard to see. And though hard to see. And though hard to see. Our journey may be like a conclusion.

We will not leave you without a resolution. Return next week to hear some more. Whilst you commute or do your chores. And for you I gladly Spout Lore. Fucking A, bud.