Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
DodoBorne is a comedy Daggerheart actual play podcast where four friends dive into the brand-new tabletop roleplaying game from Darrington Press. Join Kapi, Crank, and Pistachio as they navigate a rich world of mystery, magic, and malfeasance!
Humor, heart, and nonsense guaranteed. Some assembly required.
Hey, everybody. It's me, your GM. Isaac Allen Burns. It's me, your GM, your best friend, and your state of Arizona. Nice to meet you.
Isaac Allen Burns:And across Highway 60 Route 66, I have one Rowan Collins.
Rowan Collins:Beep beep. I'm waving at you from my truck.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. And my thumb is up because I need a ride. Yep. And also passing by me without stopping is one, Joe Diomede.
Joe Diametti:And he slams the brakes, throws it in reverse, rolls down the window. Oh. How much?
Rowan Collins:Oh, no. Joe. That's so funny. That's so funny.
Isaac Allen Burns:Annie Hawthorne.
Annie Hawthorne:Get out of the road.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, you know, the tough streets of Arizona are a place to see. Let me tell you. But that's not where we're at right now. Right now, we're in the state of excitement because we're going to Altea. That's right.
Isaac Allen Burns:The place that we're in. But before we get there, we should start the music. So gang, why don't we start looking into the past? Because in the past, our party, our three Dodos, went to the docks to both gather information regarding the Luvenhurst gang and what kind of shenanigans were going on in the underground, as well as confronting Pistachio's brother, Wally, who was, by Pistachio, suspected of some gang activity. After an incredibly uncomfortable back and forth between Wally and Pistachio, Pistachio running past him came upon a scene of Luvenhurst thugs offloading a ship with these strange boxes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Potential wasn't the only one, however, as a masked individual also came into the group and began taking out the goons and using different stealth devices such as smoke bombs and daggers. Cabby in the fracas went on to the ship, however, and discovered some information. Some correspondence between a w b and a goat. Both seemingly pen names or way aliases, code names rather. In addition, mentioning someone who went by Wolf.
Isaac Allen Burns:Clearly, a conspiracy was afoot and Kapi was right all along. The red tape was shown to be correct. As the party licked their wounds from a pretty vicious fight from Wally who gave a couple of one two punches to poor Crank, sending him into the into the into the into the drink. It wasn't Brink. Standing him into the drink, they discovered that they weren't the only victims of the gang because, in fact, heading back to the Adventuring Guild, they discovered that Callie was there with news that Ingeborg had been taken by the gang as well.
Isaac Allen Burns:Clearly shook, but not yet startled, our party decided that maybe instead of just bulging in not bulging, barging instead of barging in past cocked and cockeyed, they decided instead to gather a bit of information. And so we last saw them headed to the cathedral, to the church they go. So, gang, the at this point, five of you, because there are you three, Callie is behind you and also Cerulean is also tagging along because Cerulean is of the opinion that likely has something to do with Clover of Towers. That could be the case, or it could also be the case that Cerulean finally has people that they think are their friends, especially Crank. And so Cerulean is just kinda sticking around Crank at this point because Crank is their best friend now.
Isaac Allen Burns:Additionally, Quackers is somewhere. But nevertheless, the five of you two legged individuals are running down the streets, and you are heading to the cathedral. As you go, the air is a little tense, you notice. You can hear kind of in the very, very distance, almost like the roar of, like, yelling of some kind of ado occurring. This is clearly over in the distance, kind of near the manor district, which is as we described is up north.
Isaac Allen Burns:But nevertheless, you are going to the cathedral, which is kind of the center of town. As you get there, you find a bunch of people at the very front going to and fro, not too dissimilar to what this looked like when the group of you first arrived almost three weeks ago now. See some people being carted, there are wounds on a couple of people, and you can see some of the priests that are there kind of going back and forth. You see father McKenzie running around yelling out orders and having dramatic moments with people. And as the five of you stroll up, Crank, you have a weird feeling in your head, almost a strange pulsing that seems to come from far away.
Isaac Allen Burns:The rest of you notice a sort of low rumbling below Crank's voice though likely from his tip into the water. And Crank, you can hear whispers just on the edge of your consciousness.
Annie Hawthorne:Does anyone else think that there may be something bigger going on here?
Rowan Collins:You mean like, in general in the town?
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. Like a crisis. This seems like a lot of people running around.
Rowan Collins:Well, they did say that there was like a lot of, refugees from Bracken Road and, you know, there there's this stuff going on with the gang too. So there's a lot of people that were, you know, really getting messed up from all of this.
Annie Hawthorne:Could I have heard turning my fixed audio receptor all the way up that kerfuffle from the Manor District? Could I have heard anything from that?
Isaac Allen Burns:You know, possibly, go ahead and make a instinct roll for me. As you're running up, you're trying to hear out your senses attuned to the distance.
Annie Hawthorne:Oh, nice. 24 with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:Hope. Okay. 24 is pretty good. You tune in, and the manor countryside is pretty quiet after all. You know, there's not a lot happening except a bunch of nobles and landed gentry just kinda hanging out being the idle rich.
Isaac Allen Burns:But the fracas you hear is coming from where you would know from your knowledge of this city that you gained during your time here. There is a there is a large group of refugees that have sort of taken out camp outside of Balthasar Manor In the yards and fields that surround it, Wolfgang Balthazar was kind enough to open up his manor yards for people to come and stay when they kind of got their feet up. In the three weeks, it's not a lot of time for people to really come to and find their footing after what had happened. Some people are still processing exactly what occurred. So there's sort of not like a shanty town exactly, but there's a tent community that's out there.
Isaac Allen Burns:And you kinda hear the sounds of like breaking wood and like screaming, Rough housing and violence in that direction.
Annie Hawthorne:Don't wanna alarm anyone, but it sounds like there might be a little bit of a kerfuffle.
Joe Diametti:We have to talk to father Charles
Rowan Collins:first. Yes. We have we have to talk to father Charles first because he might know something about the thing that's going on with Wally. I think Pistachio like looks around to see if father Charles anywhere or Hazel.
Isaac Allen Burns:You, on a brief look, there is a lot going on, but you see in sort of the main areas you step in to sort of where you remember since you helped them before. Yeah. You know the cathedrals lay out pretty well at this point. You know where most of the people were kept. And as you go over there, you see that you have no sign of either father Charles or of Hazel.
Isaac Allen Burns:But what you do see is sister Lucy who is sort of in a corner.
Rowan Collins:Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns:And you see that she's sort of like going and doing things. You notice that she's got some heavy eye makeup that makes her almost look like a raccoon.
Rowan Collins:Excuse me, sister Lucy.
Isaac Allen Burns:She turns around and says, hi. Yes. You can call me sister Rocky now.
Rowan Collins:Oh, hi, Rocky. Yes. I like that name change, guess. Is it because it's you have taken up new makeup? Not
Isaac Allen Burns:No. It's it's because a man named Dan came and stole my girl Nancy.
Rowan Collins:Oh.
Isaac Allen Burns:And I'm looking for him. Oh. But I'm doing this right now.
Rowan Collins:Oh, okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:But let me tell you. Once I check-in
Rowan Collins:Yeah.
Isaac Allen Burns:He's going down.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Okay. That's fine.
Isaac Allen Burns:Are you Are you looking for your sister?
Rowan Collins:Yeah. My sister, father Charles, we've have some concerning things and we think we can get him some information. So do you know where he happens to be?
Isaac Allen Burns:You know, she kind of looks around and kind of leaves in and says, this is actually crazy timing because he left about maybe, like, ten, twenty minutes ago because there was a pulse of divine energy that was occurring in the docks, the far side of the warehouses. He said that he was gonna go there and I was gonna go with him, but we kinda have a problem right now where, you know, some of the peacekeepers kinda like up and uprooting all the community outside of the Balfourz, our manor. So kinda have I gotta kinda handle this so he took Hazel instead. So if you have time, you know, we really would really love some help, but I understand if you need to go right now because
Rowan Collins:Hey, Isaac. This is a Rowan question. Mhmm. And also a pistachio thinking this question.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Okay.
Rowan Collins:Is the purple that Wally's eyes glowed a similar purple to the steak that was in the ground?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah.
Rowan Collins:Great. I think Pistachio puts that together in that moment and goes, great. And then dash back over to Kapi and crank and and then they like start fiddling in their pocket and go, okay, guys. I think I have an idea of what's going on and we need to find Father Charles and my sister fast. Do you guys remember the purple stakes that were in the ground that caused us all of that crap?
Annie Hawthorne:Mhmm.
Rowan Collins:Does it look familiar to the purple that Wally was? And they like pot around to their pocket where they had a crystal that father Charles had given them and they're gonna really quickly try and contact him.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You use that crystal. And I want you to tell me right now, what does it look like as you begin using this crystal? What is the form of connection that this gives you?
Rowan Collins:So we've never used these before. So I think pistachio just kinda, like, enters in some energy. This one is like a rose quartz kind of crystal flat. You put energy into it, and it, like, pops up a little bit like a hologram to kind of show the face of, like, there's a little dial tone like beep beep beep beep, and then it connects and there's like a almost Star Wars hologram level.
Annie Hawthorne:Is that magic?
Rowan Collins:I think so. With technology of some sort.
Isaac Allen Burns:Crank as if in response, the voice in your head returns.
Isaac Allen Burns:I would say that it's more Kano tech than strict magic. They're just some speaking orbs. Though the design of them has become much less orb like.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see, Cerulean looks at it and says, oh, yes. This is very this is very this is a very common magical item you see a lot in Polaris, actually. They're they're communication shards.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, so they've changed the name.
Isaac Allen Burns:They take, you know, they take a little bit of your anima, and it sends you through, and then he goes into just like a a really jargony explanation. Callie is just sort of standing next to Kapi with her arms crossed.
Joe Diametti:Kapi's also just standing there with his arms crossed.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. Pistachio, you see a little green hologram and the face of father Charles appears. And he says, hey, Pistachio. You know, this is actually not a great time. What's up?
Isaac Allen Burns:Are you okay? Is everything alright?
Rowan Collins:Yes. Did you
Isaac Allen Burns:see the blue guy again?
Rowan Collins:No. It's not the blue guy. So we were in the docks which I understand is where you were heading right now and my brother, he had a purple device on his arm that I think has It might be the signature that you might be looking for And, it's, it's attached to his arm. It made him go all bulky and crazy and, we were wondering if you knew what it was, but it sounds like you're going towards that direction anyway. So would you like back up on this one?
Isaac Allen Burns:You know, I'll absolutely take it. Me and your sister are headed there to the warehouse. Go to the warehouse district which is near the docks. He gives you directions to this.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Perfect. Do not let her engage him. He is way too strong for any of us right now. Please don't let her any if anything happens to her father child, he won't go crazy.
Rowan Collins:Okay? Please don't let anything happen to him.
Isaac Allen Burns:Breathe. Breathe. Oh, okay. I'm gonna make sure your sister's alright. Okay.
Rowan Collins:Alright.
Isaac Allen Burns:Make sure that you're up.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Okay. Alright.
Isaac Allen Burns:If I could reach through and put a hand on your shoulder, I would.
Annie Hawthorne:Okay.
Rowan Collins:This is Yes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Solely our hand this is solely our soul's talk.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Wow. That's really complicated. Know it's early to explain it to me, but like soul magic.
Annie Hawthorne:Surely.
Isaac Allen Burns:You end the connection and you look at your companions. While Pistachio's having this conversation, Gappy, you're standing next to Callie who's got her arms crossed. At this point, her tears are dried and she's just sort of muttering to herself. I used to be better than this. I can't believe that I'm so tore up about this.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I I thought we made it pretty clear that we were we were done feeling things, right? You know? And then and then these people come in. Right?
Joe Diametti:And they're just so persistent. Right? And it's like, oh, do I care? And it's like, we can't care. Right?
Joe Diametti:Because that would be dangerous. Right.
Isaac Allen Burns:Walls up.
Joe Diametti:Walls up. First smart thing you've said this whole trip.
Isaac Allen Burns:Shut up. You haven't said a smart thing your whole life. What?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Right.
Isaac Allen Burns:They they clow. We
Isaac Allen Burns:wanna go to the docks, Crank. I can feel what we need at the docks.
Annie Hawthorne:So I look at Pistachio and I say, so we're going back to the docks and like a spark flies out of my like loose eye socket.
Rowan Collins:Oh, crap. Maybe we need to stop by the machinist first for you or something. You look really rough, but
Annie Hawthorne:Oh, yeah. I feel pretty rough. I think one of my knees isn't working properly. I try to take a step and I just, like, tilt to the side. Crap.
Isaac Allen Burns:This is me Cerulean. This is a very difficult situation you find yourselves in, but we can we can take a quick breather. I have some fumes that we could huff on, and it'll make us feel real good for a little while.
Annie Hawthorne:I don't have lungs. I don't think that would work on me.
Isaac Allen Burns:You know, I'm so sorry, Craig. I keep forgetting that you can't do things. Can I have one of you make a knowledge roll for me?
Joe Diametti:I want to.
Annie Hawthorne:I've got a plus one.
Isaac Allen Burns:Actually, I'm gonna ask Campy to do it. Yeah. Specifically because of all the documentation you took from there, and you rolled a six for it. You rolled a six if you recall last episode for grabbing the documents from the ship.
Joe Diametti:You rolled a
Isaac Allen Burns:six on that. Okay. Which will be honored in this moment right here. Can you go ahead and roll me a knowledge check? The DC for this has decreased by the number you rolled there, so Awesome.
Isaac Allen Burns:It is much easier. You now have to beat a 14. Alright. Plus zero.
Joe Diametti:That's an 18 with beer.
Isaac Allen Burns:So, Gabby, you have been a absolute conspiracy nut this whole time. And you've got the red strings up in your mind and you're thinking about this, you're thinking about this. And a couple things kinda click into place based on those documents. From what you had grabbed and what you had read, this is a sort of multifaceted thing going on right here. Clearly, your friend of the Apple people is involved.
Isaac Allen Burns:Clearly, someone with the Vai County is involved. And you're thinking those boxes that you saw in the doc that you did not look into, you don't know what was in there, but clearly they needed to go somewhere. Wally took all those boxes with him. Something important was in there. What would be a great way to keep people off the case of those things than to cause some problems with those refugees?
Isaac Allen Burns:Send the Adventuring Guild that way instead of where they should be looking. As you're looking around, in fact, you see that a lot of lot of conversations are happening between some of these refugees and stuff. One thing that you pick up on is that there is some a lot of confusion. There are some who are talking to each other, who are saying that the peacekeepers came and started uprooting people, and said that orders from Balthazar himself said to clear out these tents. Other people, however, are saying that Balthazar himself, Wolfgang Balthazar, was saying, stop.
Isaac Allen Burns:Telling them to stop, telling them to stay here. Clearly, there was some disconnect between the peacekeepers themselves on that eighteen minutes what you pick up on.
Joe Diametti:So yeah, Kapi is he gets done and he's looking over and he can hear all these different things and then he does, he thinks back to Sebastian and that misdirect.
Annie Hawthorne:Fuck. What? What?
Rowan Collins:What's going on, Kapi?
Joe Diametti:It's happening again.
Rowan Collins:What's happening again?
Joe Diametti:Sebastian thing, this is a distraction.
Rowan Collins:What's oh oh, what's this distraction? Which part? The The docks or the
Joe Diametti:I think the the manor stuff. I wanna go check on Scarlet, but I something's not right. We have to go to the warehouse.
Rowan Collins:Okay.
Joe Diametti:I think whatever they're holding in those storage containers is probably the biggest thing right now.
Annie Hawthorne:I look at Callie. Do you think Ingeborg is do you think that's where they took her?
Isaac Allen Burns:You see that Callie is looking at Kapi. There's like a flash of respect for a moment before it's sort of like shunted away back to the usual just disinterested smirk. And she says, those goons, I can't imagine are at the manors. Wherever they took her, it wouldn't be in the manors where all those peacekeepers on those hoity toity nobles are.
Joe Diametti:I can't imagine anyone at the manors taking her
Isaac Allen Burns:down. That's exactly right.
Annie Hawthorne:Then to the warehouse.
Rowan Collins:Well, first, Craig, you're not doing well.
Isaac Allen Burns:Some physical man doing wouldn't go amiss. No need to look in the head.
Annie Hawthorne:Oh, yeah. I guess not.
Joe Diametti:We do have to get you back up and running. We could stop on the way. Yeah. See the machinist.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Yes. We we need to That should be at the direction of the docks. Okay. We need to get Crike up and ready because we can't we can't do this alone and at half mast.
Isaac Allen Burns:Cerulean says, I can help too. I can help fix you up. It gives a chance to make a plan.
Joe Diametti:Oh, man. Great, Cerulean. I love people making plans that aren't in the group, but okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:Did I make some did I say something wrong? I'm sorry.
Annie Hawthorne:Just ignore him.
Isaac Allen Burns:To the you make your way to the machinist. The whole time, Kapi, you're still looking through those ladders, pulling out all this information, figuring this out.
Joe Diametti:When we get to like, we get there and I'm like banging on because it's nighttime. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, it's like evening. Yeah.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I'm like banging on the door. Machinist.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. He's probably in the process of closing up shop right now.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. What's his name?
Rowan Collins:I forget his name. We never named. We never named him.
Annie Hawthorne:Oh, yeah. Would you like to name him right now? Victor.
Isaac Allen Burns:Victor? Oh, hey. What up?
Joe Diametti:Open the door.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see the
Annie Hawthorne:Victor, it's me, Crank. And I brought friends. Oh. It's kind of an emergency.
Joe Diametti:Yes. Emergency.
Isaac Allen Burns:Alright. Hang on. You see that the the it's like a garage door like goes up. He's got like he's got like one of those onesie pajamas on. He was about to go to bed.
Isaac Allen Burns:He's got the butt flap and he's like, oh, wait. Woah. Hang on. Alright. Let me get you up here.
Isaac Allen Burns:Hang on. Get you up here. And enough, he gets you up on in there. He starts, like, ratcheting you up. He starts getting to work.
Isaac Allen Burns:Cerulean right behind is sort of helping out where they can. And hey. It's me, Isaac Callan Burney, GM. Here to tell you a little bit about the rules. These rules haven't changed, but it's still good to remind us about a short rest.
Isaac Allen Burns:This is a time for the characters to stop, catch their breath, take a break. This is, you know in the book, it says it's about an hour. But honestly, you as a GM can make a determination based on time how much that is. Right now, our players are just taking a quick brief second to plan, to strategize, and to fix up a little bit of themselves. Have you short rest?
Isaac Allen Burns:You may swap any domain cards in your loadout. We're not at that point yet, but if you reach a point where you got a lot of cards, you can swap them out. And you could do two of the following activities. You can tend to your wounds where you're patching yourself up, gain hit points equal to one d four plus your tier, which in this case is
Rowan Collins:Two. Two.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You can clear stress where it's basically the same thing except stress instead of hit points. You can repair armor, which is basically the same thing except armor slots. Or you can prepare where in this case, you're setting yourself on a certain course and you may gain a hope. If you choose to prepare with one or more members of your party, all of you will gain two hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:So really, this is just a way to sort of describe what exactly they're doing to wind down and prepare for the coming adversities that will no doubt come their way. So I ask, in this case, we'll start here with Crank. Crank, what two moves are you doing here?
Annie Hawthorne:So as a clank, I can choose a long rest move instead of a short rest move when I take a short rest.
Joe Diametti:Damn.
Annie Hawthorne:So I am gonna clear all of my stress, first of
Isaac Allen Burns:all. Nice.
Annie Hawthorne:And then I'm going to, as my short rest move, prepare some armor.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. Go ahead and roll that one d four.
Annie Hawthorne:Three. That's all my armor cleared. I am still half HP, but I think we can remedy that with other means.
Isaac Allen Burns:So Don't worry, Craig. I'll heal us up.
Isaac Allen Burns:And I will simply roll a one d four, not adding any of the tier to see how much HP you get back. Two. You gain two HP back. Awesome.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I think Happy's reading through the letters. And well, I definitely want to you'll, an HP Mhmm. Equal to d four. And then, yeah, I want to I would like to get a hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:Nice. So you do a prepare action?
Joe Diametti:Do a prepare action by reading the letters.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You read the letters. It's a lot of correspondence between w b and goat. The most important one got written out, but I will tell you the gist of what they are. Okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:Because you had some time. Roll a one d six for me.
Joe Diametti:Two.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Here's what you discover from what you're reading here.
Joe Diametti:Quackers is like reading it with me.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Are you hiding them from Kali? Are you letting Kali read along with you?
Joe Diametti:I'll let Callie read with me.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Because if if you were if you were gonna be reading the letter, she's actually gonna be like, oh, what do you have there? What are you hiding from? Her move that she will make in this is that she will let you have two hope here
Joe Diametti:Oh, cool. To prepare.
Isaac Allen Burns:So the first thing you notice is one of the things that you grab looks like a portion of a ledger. There are symbols on this that you recognize being the same symbol that was on that halberd. As you're reading through, you realize that what you're looking at is a log for shipments of weapons for the scarlet fever by the Apple people's business. And you learn from this. Apple people isn't just an Apple salesman.
Isaac Allen Burns:Apple people is an arms dealer. The Apple business is a way to launder all that money. There was worry that the destruction of Bracken Road was going to lose this front and put a little more scrutiny on him. But as you're reading this, it looks like not only are there plans to rebuild Bracken Road within a couple of years after things blow over and make it into a company town, you also read something about the palmologist research that was going on to assist with this effort to perhaps allow for Bracken Road apples to live and be made outside of Bracken Road.
Joe Diametti:Kathy's like, I my head hurts so bad. I've never read this much. Listen. Hey, do you recognize this? And I point to the the symbol.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. That's Scarlet Fever. Big mercenary guild here in Boldain. I work mostly in Boldain, actually. What?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You didn't know that? No. Were not ever paying attention in class?
Joe Diametti:No. You know I wasn't.
Isaac Allen Burns:We learned about this. The Azure Reavers are with Armada. The I'm not gonna tell this to you again. Read it yourself.
Joe Diametti:And I like peek over. Is Pistachio looking at me?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. What's Pistachio doing right now?
Rowan Collins:Pistachio was going to like help me, but instead, they're now just like sitting in the corner and staring at you because they got yelled at last episode. And they're, like, feeling really sorry for themselves and, like, wanting and, like, waiting for there to be a break in conversation for them to come up, but also, like, not realizing that, like, they can't come up because they feel really bad. So they're just, like, staring at you and looking at their duck and like feeling sorry for
Isaac Allen Burns:I look
Joe Diametti:over and I see Pistachio staring at us and I like turn slowly full away so that's I've seen this symbol. Okay. Yeah. I stole No. No.
Joe Diametti:I stole a weapon from Cyrus. Cyrus? Yeah. I stole this weapon and I pull it out. Well, it wasn't this weapon.
Joe Diametti:It's different now. But, I'll I'll show you later. But, look. And I show her Mhmm. That the symbol is on the handle.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see that her eyes kinda narrow and she says, you know, I never believed him when he said he was just in the military. He was always real cagey about it. And, there was some. Scarlet B for them? That's crazy.
Isaac Allen Burns:What was he doing with the adventuring deal? Was this Scarlet B
Joe Diametti:for that old man? Yeah.
Rowan Collins:Since this is a stressful situation Yeah. And again, Rowan knows this is that Quackers is a familiar. Mhmm. But Pistachio doesn't. I would like to use the bottom part of this where it marks a stress to see through their eyes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, okay.
Rowan Collins:And listen to their ears and I'm hearing what is going on and Pistachio is like
Joe Diametti:You dog.
Isaac Allen Burns:So we'll say Pistachio heard all
Annie Hawthorne:of that.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio heard all of that.
Isaac Allen Burns:You don't
Joe Diametti:even have to roll
Isaac Allen Burns:for it? Yeah. Quackers is probably in your lap. You've been pretty you've been pretty loving with Quackers. So I think Quackers is just something on Steve just like watching everything.
Isaac Allen Burns:Unbelievable.
Joe Diametti:A little
Isaac Allen Burns:bent neck duck there. So Pistachio, yeah, you hear all of them. What are Pistachios too, downtime?
Rowan Collins:Well, I am going to clear a stress. I was and I'm gonna prepare. I was going to help Kapi out, but I think instead since Kapi doesn't wanna help any help from Pistachio, which ouch.
Isaac Allen Burns:Kapi wondered why they aren't a team anymore.
Rowan Collins:Yeah. Right?
Isaac Allen Burns:They wouldn't show
Annie Hawthorne:up.
Rowan Collins:I think Pistachio is going to take out their notebook and then just start writing down, like, everything they could know about their brother, anything they could say, everything they know about Kapi and Prank and things that have started going wrong and going over and over in their head of
Isaac Allen Burns:They're journaling.
Rowan Collins:They're journaling.
Joe Diametti:Hyperfocus on the past.
Rowan Collins:They're hyperfocusing. They're having they're spiraling just a little bit, so I'm glad that they're having a clearing stress, but they they're not having a great time.
Isaac Allen Burns:No. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a part of Pistachio that probably feels a little bit longer because Crank has two individuals sort of fixing them up and you see that Kapi has this severely antagonistic relationship with Allie, though they're very similar. And you're sitting there by yourself
Rowan Collins:internally. Yep. I think Pistachio is just like writing their feelings out right now. And then they have they like absent mindedly just start doodling a picture of like Crank, Kapi, and Pistachio holding hands and having a big group hug again and go and like circles it and goes, when did we stop being a team?
Isaac Allen Burns:As you all have this moment, sort of tension that you're feeling, kinda getting larger and larger in this moment, eventually, you kinda come to in this moment. All of your wounds have sort of been cleared up and cleaned out. Not everything is fixed. They sort of did a quick job. You were maybe here for like ten, twenty minutes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Enough time to gather your thoughts and kind of talk, I guess separately. And as you come down, you see that your machine is just like, oh, well, crank. They really did a number on you. Yeah. Be careful.
Annie Hawthorne:They really did. Yep.
Isaac Allen Burns:Don't say anything about us, crank.
Isaac Allen Burns:He doesn't need to know.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. Well, you know. Thanks. Great work as always.
Isaac Allen Burns:Of course. Of course. I do my best work off hours.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. Sorry about that.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, that's okay.
Annie Hawthorne:Hey. I'll be back during normal business hours next week for my tune up. So I'll see you then.
Isaac Allen Burns:I'll see you then.
Joe Diametti:Hey. Yeah. That's assuming we're alive. We'll see you then.
Annie Hawthorne:I just like walk up after that's done and I've been very oblivious to what's been happening other than that. Mean, alright. I feel a lot better. Ready to go?
Joe Diametti:I feel great.
Annie Hawthorne:Pistachio?
Rowan Collins:Yeah. I'm ready. Let's go.
Joe Diametti:You know what I love about quackers?
Annie Hawthorne:Do you
Joe Diametti:say as we're all walking out.
Rowan Collins:What do you love about quackers?
Joe Diametti:It's like quackers would never betray me. You know?
Annie Hawthorne:Just turned down my audio receptors. That's my new, like, tune out. And I'm like, anytime anyone is gonna wax on about how great Quackers is.
Joe Diametti:I just love that how you feel about Quackers is how Kapi feels about Cerulean.
Annie Hawthorne:I have my own Quackers.
Joe Diametti:I wrote. Her pistachios.
Rowan Collins:Pistachios just like, okay. Alright. Okay. And they just like kind of like go forward and lead the group to the docs.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You lean to the docks following the instructions that you were given by father Charles. You head off. You're heading to the more northern side of the docks. This is more warehouses and storage.
Isaac Allen Burns:And the closer and closer you get
Joe Diametti:Oh. I'm sorry. Oh, go ahead. I don't know if this works, but as a world building thing, can the little crystal thing also like glow as you're like going in the right direction?
Rowan Collins:That's like the homing device? Yeah.
Isaac Allen Burns:After you've made a connection with your souls, yeah, there's a little bit of a homing thing that happens. Almost like a compass that points in the direction of where they are at. Dope. And as you get closer and closer, the thing you notice is that there's a lot less people looking at the docks. All those people around.
Isaac Allen Burns:In fact, when you came here the first time, you kinda recall there being more of a guard presence sort of in some of these warehouse storage districts, but now there's not a lot happening at all. But then you find the warehouse for which you're pointed towards. This is a large sheet metal warehouse. It's tall, up maybe like 20 feet high with gently sloped roof so that rain doesn't stick onto it. And as you're getting closer, you see that you've got a bit of a situation on your hands.
Isaac Allen Burns:Not too much of a situation, but just a lot happening here. First and foremost, you see the very front are the main door where people go in and out. The large openings where perhaps cargo and boxes would go to and fro are closed right now. But the little doors that people would walk through, you see that there is a throng, a group of maybe about four peacekeepers, and they're having a conversation right now with who you recognize as father Charles and Hazel. You see that on the other side, there are some guards just kind of going on a little light patrol back and forth on the other side.
Isaac Allen Burns:But right now, you've sort of got an option of do you want to sneak around and see if you find other entrances? Do you want to approach and see what other father Charles and Hazel are doing?
Annie Hawthorne:I want to get somewhere where I'm mostly hidden and turn my audio receptors all the way up and see if I can hear what they're talking about. And I also wanna keep be keeping an eye out in any of the shadowy areas for that figure that I saw at the docks.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Yeah. I'll say it. Okay. So go ahead and give me an instinct roll.
Isaac Allen Burns:And depending on what you roll, how high you roll will depend on which of these you get to do.
Annie Hawthorne:Man, I'm like one away from my crit every time I roll these guys.
Isaac Allen Burns:Don't you hate that? Oh, shucks.
Annie Hawthorne:Instinct, 14. 14. With hope. You
Isaac Allen Burns:crank those up. Your eyes are looking up there and you really don't see anything in the shadows that you can see from here. But as you're sort of focused on all of you kind of pull to the side next to one of the adjacent warehouses and as you're listening, you hear father Charles's voice a lot softer and more breathy than when you spoke to him last time as he sang. And we're just walking around just checking to see if anyone needs any help in these dire times. And if there is, of course, any donations that you can give to the church that's gonna help the needy, that would go a long way and bring many blessings to you and to just your community.
Isaac Allen Burns:So if you would let us inside, if anyone needs some help, if anyone's hurting, or simply need someone to talk to me and my assistant here, we'd be more than happy to do that. Again, my name is father McKenzie and I come from the church and I'm here to help. And you see that some of the guards are kinda just kinda talking back and forth. The sense you get is that the infiltration they're choosing to go with is one of peace. And you see the guards like, well, know, one of my boys got the clap.
Isaac Allen Burns:Do you think you can help with that? Yeah. And you see that yeah. They're going back and forth just on this. They're trying a more diplomatic move.
Rowan Collins:Pistachio looks at the everybody and goes, well, so do we wanna assist them or try and find another way in? Or what do you guys wanna do, gang?
Joe Diametti:Callie and I look at each other and like instantly know we're going to the roof.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You see that she was already kind of looking at the roof. Mhmm. And I think at the same time, you both look at each other and you say at the same time
Joe Diametti:To the to
Isaac Allen Burns:the roof.
Joe Diametti:And then, yeah. We like we both pull out our grappling hooks and
Rowan Collins:Throw them
Isaac Allen Burns:up there.
Rowan Collins:Okay. That is also teamwork, I guess. Mhmm. Not with the team that you came with, but I guess fine teamwork. That's great.
Rowan Collins:Craig, what do you wanna do?
Annie Hawthorne:Well, roof seemed logical, but I don't know how I would get up there.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Do you wanna try as diplomatic with father Charles and Hazel? Or do you wanna try in the back? Since Callie and apparently taken Kapi away from us after he just yelled at us about not being a team.
Isaac Allen Burns:We get up to the roof and Kapi, you have experience with staking things out. Where exactly is the place that you would go to stake out this warehouse? Like, as Kapi is looking at this place, where is his number one destination to go?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I think Kapi is looking for a way in secretly through a window.
Isaac Allen Burns:Gotcha. Yeah. So you are so you're gonna take like sort of a back corner on the roof here? Yeah. You slink over and you see that there's this perfect little spot on one of the other warehouses where looks like there's a bit of chimney formation where some fumes are being sent up.
Isaac Allen Burns:They must be burning something inside there. You see that the sun setting right now casts a shadow on one of the sides that you can see. Cool. Which you know, like, that's your spot. That's the spot you wanna take.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. I grab onto Cali and say, hold on. What? And then I do.
Annie Hawthorne:Hey, Pistachio.
Rowan Collins:Yeah. Yes, prank.
Annie Hawthorne:You know how people are all into making distraction?
Rowan Collins:Yes, prank.
Annie Hawthorne:What if we make a distraction
Isaac Allen Burns:Uh-huh.
Annie Hawthorne:So that father Charles and Hazel can get into the building past the peacekeepers.
Rowan Collins:I like the way you think. Okay. What kind of distraction do you think in?
Annie Hawthorne:I don't know. I look around, is there anything I can break? Like, on one of the adjacent streets?
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh, there's so much you can break. There are boxes and pallets of stuff everywhere. There are crates. There are barrels. There are full on chests of things.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see that there's a wagon as well, like a little carriage that is there that is sort of has a couple of things. And you know, all of these warehouses, some are made of wood, some are made of metal. A lot of things to break. As you're pondering your decision, the voice comes back quickly.
Isaac Allen Burns:Remember, Crank, we always send the pawns first.
Annie Hawthorne:See, I was thinking that I would start breaking things, and you would turn into like a giant dodo and run away. And then I could chase after you and say, stop in the name of the law.
Rowan Collins:Oh, I like this. Okay. Fair enough.
Annie Hawthorne:Alright. So I'm gonna break a bunch of shit and be really loud about it.
Isaac Allen Burns:Uh-huh. I guess that will work.
Annie Hawthorne:And then I'm I'm gonna do that plan.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. That I mean, no hope.
Annie Hawthorne:Should we tag team roll this?
Rowan Collins:Yes. I
Annie Hawthorne:have the hope.
Rowan Collins:I'll do it. Okay. Okay.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. In this case, I'll say make a strength check for you. And what role do you think you would be making?
Rowan Collins:Well, so I'm turning into a dodo. If I'm turning into a fast dodo, let me see. Then I think it would be some sort of like, mighty strider. Yeah. I'm gonna use a mighty strider.
Rowan Collins:So like similar to a zebra esque dodo. Mhmm. So that is says it's agility.
Joe Diametti:Can it be an ostrich dodo?
Rowan Collins:Yes, it can. Oh, yes, it can.
Isaac Allen Burns:Oh my gosh. Makes
Rowan Collins:Ostrich dodo.
Isaac Allen Burns:What's it? Oh, it's like a dodo but longer legs.
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Basically, that's exactly what
Isaac Allen Burns:I'm It's a
Rowan Collins:choco dodo. It's a choco dodo.
Isaac Allen Burns:Now Squaresoft's gonna get us. Oh, no.
Rowan Collins:We already had a choco dodo. Anyway, let's go. It's really good. Okay.
Joe Diametti:Cut two. Cut two. I just feel like I need to do this before whatever the hell is gonna happen here.
Annie Hawthorne:So distraction will also help you.
Isaac Allen Burns:As this happens, you grab onto Kali who immediately says, don't touch me. What are you doing?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. And I I'm trying trying to do a thing. What are
Isaac Allen Burns:you doing?
Joe Diametti:Why are doing And I grab her and I'm gonna do shadow stepper because you said a shadow was cast perfectly where I was trying to get the shot.
Isaac Allen Burns:The shadow.
Joe Diametti:So Which is gonna make sense. Mark a stress and, yeah, we disappear Okay. And reappear.
Isaac Allen Burns:You reappear. Immediately, you feel a body beneath you and you hear an oof as coming out of invisibility. You see the form of that shadowy figure that was on the docks, mask and all. As the three of you land, can I book get you to give me a finesse or an agility check?
Joe Diametti:Yeah. Finesse or agility? Yeah. Finesse is plus two, so I'm gonna roll and cut two.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Big smash.
Annie Hawthorne:I rolled a 13 with hope.
Rowan Collins:Oh. I have rolled a 15 with hope.
Isaac Allen Burns:Okay. Which one are gonna
Joe Diametti:go
Rowan Collins:with? A 15. A
Isaac Allen Burns:15 with hope. Yeah. Very good. So both of you gain your hopes and as describe the scene for me. Y'all go ahead
Annie Hawthorne:smash a whole bunch of shit. And then I give Rowan the signal or I give Pistachio the signal.
Rowan Collins:And Pistachio goes, squawk squawk. And then just like runs around like a beep beep. Like a Roadrunner style like, like past the keys speed peacekeepers.
Annie Hawthorne:Yeah. And I run after after them, pass the peacekeepers. And as I pass the peacekeepers, just go, stop in the name of the law.
Rowan Collins:Me me.
Isaac Allen Burns:You hear from your enhanced cheering. You hear, wait a minute. Was that clank impersonating an officer? We gotta get up. You see that two of the two of the peacekeepers take off after you.
Isaac Allen Burns:You see the two that are doing a patrol. You like, crushed by them. They spin in the circle and they've just been like, pushed past. Mhmm. And they're like, wait.
Isaac Allen Burns:Stop. What is that? Stop that. Did someone's horse get loose? What I don't understand what this thing is.
Isaac Allen Burns:Greg, there's a throng. There's not like four peacekeepers just chasing after you. Some of them are saying
Annie Hawthorne:like, it's after and it's like one direction. Direction.
Rowan Collins:Right. We like slip past them. Did did we get the peacekeepers that were engaging the farther Charles and Hazel? Beep beep.
Isaac Allen Burns:You actually see there are now only two peacekeepers standing there.
Rowan Collins:Great.
Isaac Allen Burns:And one of them looks suspiciously like your sister.
Rowan Collins:Beep beep. Hey, guys.
Isaac Allen Burns:Wow. That was pretty good distraction.
Rowan Collins:Thanks.
Isaac Allen Burns:Good job. We were able to incapacitate two of them.
Rowan Collins:Yeah. You guys you look pretty good. Excellent. Do you wanna share information now that Craig has that handled?
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. I mean, we're gonna go inside and take a look. I think stealth might be the operative thing here.
Rowan Collins:Then I need to not be an ostrich. Is there another peacekeeper outfit somewhere around here?
Isaac Allen Burns:I mean, there's it sounds like there's a couple that are chasing Craig right now.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Give me like two shakes of an ostrich tail and they like waddle their little tail and they like, me me. And they run back, grab a outfit and then quickly
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. You run past one, you see you run into one of them and fully knock them out. A Wile E. Coyote, one of them.
Rowan Collins:Perfect. And then they quickly change into an ostrich and almost or change out of the ostrich dodo and almost like magical girl style turn into the Peace Coat Riker.
Annie Hawthorne:You're having a magical girl montage there.
Rowan Collins:Transformation. Transformation. Transformation into Just
Isaac Allen Burns:a guy in a uniform.
Rowan Collins:Just a little guy in a uniform, ill fitting uniform. And they just kinda walk back up and go, okay, guys. I'm ready. And the little peacekeeper hat like flops onto their face and they like push it up.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. Okay. I mean, we'll just just no one ask any questions. We'll be fine. Yeah.
Rowan Collins:We'll walk around. We'll just stay by I yeah. Yeah. My other one's in the wash.
Isaac Allen Burns:You can see Hazel like almost visibly vibrating with excitement for her mission. And you see the father Charles kinda like comes up to you and says, now listen, Stachio.
Rowan Collins:Mhmm.
Isaac Allen Burns:The feeling that I felt from this place seems very similar to what was described in Bracken Road. Do you think that you're ready to face this again?
Rowan Collins:I think so. Now that we know what we're up against, we're not gonna make the same mistakes.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah.
Rowan Collins:But father, it's did I I told you a little bit about what happened on the thing, but it's I can tell you in more detail now that I see you. But there were Wally had a watch kind of thing on. Yeah. And it like shunted into him and pulsated like purple stuff. And then he got like really big with like big purple muscles and his eyes turned all purple.
Rowan Collins:And and and he started saying the cruelest things. Like a deep purple? Like a deep purple.
Isaac Allen Burns:Not blue like novocite.
Rowan Collins:No. Purple. Do you have any idea what that would be?
Isaac Allen Burns:Only theories, which won't do us any good to theorize right now.
Rowan Collins:My biggest thing, father, is and they look at Hazel who's like vibrating. Then Who's
Isaac Allen Burns:appearing inside a window, like trying to see inside?
Rowan Collins:I can't lose anybody else. I I lost the town and then, you know, Kathy went down and Crank got really hurt last time and I'm I'm just so full of anger and rage and I I feel like I fundamentally changed as a person and I I don't like the person that I'm becoming. I can't lose them too. I'm not sure I'll have anyone left if I do.
Isaac Allen Burns:Father Charles has a very like serious look on his face. He kinda like crouches down so that he's kinda at level with you and says, what happened at Bracken Road was a tragedy. It was horrific. And I'm sure that it'll take time for all of you really to come to terms and to heal from that. And what it will look like is different for each of you.
Isaac Allen Burns:But you still have Kapi, you still have her name. They're still your people. Don't do the disservice to them by keeping all of this to yourself and isolating yourself.
Rowan Collins:They look up to where Kapi was and goes, I don't know if I'll have a choice.
Isaac Allen Burns:Hey. They're your friends. You're not too much for them.
Rowan Collins:Okay. Thanks, father Charles.
Isaac Allen Burns:After this, we should we should have a barbecue or something after this, I think. I think we need something to do.
Rowan Collins:Well, okay. But I do have a little bit of a plan and they go. They wave you over and then whisper something into father Charles's ear.
Isaac Allen Burns:Yeah. As you're whispering, we cut over to Kapi. What did you roll earlier?
Joe Diametti:A 20 with beer.
Isaac Allen Burns:I will use that beer now as you land on top of a person who had gotten there first.
Joe Diametti:The masked.
Isaac Allen Burns:It's the masked individual. In the sort of kerfuffle you were surprised. Knew it. On that 20, you were able to get away, but on that fear, you see that the masked individual has a knife on Callie. Woah.
Isaac Allen Burns:Woah. You see that he's got this knife kinda at her throat. What are you doing? No sudden movements. And before you can say anything, that's where we'll go ahead and end this episode of Dodoborne.
Isaac Allen Burns:Tune in next week when our heroes break in to the warehouse. Hey. It's a podcast. Hello, everybody, and almost happy New Year. It's the part of the episode where me, your GM, and your very sick New Year's boy comes up onto the mic in all of my sick fashion in order to give a big thanks and a big shout out to all the wonderful people, all the wonderful members of the bag of gold tier.
Isaac Allen Burns:That's right. Some of our biggest supporters. A big thank you to Condor Blue, Niklas w, Severed Ronin, tales by daggerlight, Darcy r, Joshis seven zero eight, minor thoughts, Jacob r Hadwin, Kola Cago, Maria w, Zorak, the representative of Big Dodo Enterprises, Dirty Bird, Tabletop Optimist, Batty Bright, Muscles Dynamite, and BDS at Dorkmaster. Thank you all so much, and happy 2026.