Well, here we are, halfway through this thing. An Xmas special. Oh, here how I sing. Not for the joy, the cheer or the clapping. I'm here for the check. So let's get to recapping. This tale starts in Never Mount, cold as Despair with villagers fretting, pulling out hair. They'd needed some cash for their town go kaput, so they thought, let's just sell it, tear down every Hut. But oh, the people, desperate and Bony, did what they do best, got weird and quite horny.
They grumbled, they moaned, they whispered in bed, reinforced bed frames. Enough has been said. Enter Helen Winter, a business type shark with eyes cold as snow and a mind sharp and stark. She came to develop the town with her charm and pave over the quaint with industrial smurm. And then there was Jack, the hometown delight with flannel and biceps that just fit so right. A barky by trade with a heart full of cheer. But boy, he could pout when Miss Winter drew near.
Will they, Won't they? What a trope. I'm gagging already so please pass some hope. But wait, what's this? A quartet on the scene? Brush Crambier, Crystal and Merrill the Keen. They schemed and they fumble with plots so obscene a snowball fight. Hot cocoa? What does that even mean? If they'd asked me I'd have sealed the deal oh so fast. 2 sad losers in love. That's a half priced task. Meanwhile, Xmas magic crackled and popped, though frankly, I wish it had Flipping stopped.
What's Xmas magic? A plot point. Cliche to make sure these two kiss by the end of the day. So there you have it. We're halfway through and honestly folks, I don't have you. You've got more to endure, more SAP and delight while I sit here praying for the end of the shy night. Downstairs, what is everybody doing? I say we all get back together, kind of have a shot, get ready for the next thing, right? I'm going to have a bit of a chinwag actually, with Jack and be like she is.
Yeah, that was quite rude. Have you spoken much to her at all? He likes reading Jack. She loves reading. She's single. Other than the frequent demands and comments on the experience at the Tavern, she hasn't really opened up. No, can't say I really want to engage with the woman all the same. Crystal, can you get Snowdrop's jacket? I promised her we'd go take a look at the town this morning. She's never really seen Never Mount Dunn up for Xmas. You are going to love it.
It's wonderful. How about later you stop by my shop and you and I can make a couple of bracelets and that can be my gift for you this year. Yeah, she kind of looks back at Jack. Give me a heart roll. Oh, I got a 2. What is your heart? Re. OK, you want to roll over heart? He looks at her. I, I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, I saw it up. I, it's just with Helen here, I have to keep the the fire going and make sure food's available. No, it's it's, it's OK, Papa. I I can do that.
I I can help Jack. I, I, I couldn't possibly cranberry you, you've all the stuff to get ready for the Xmas festival. So Crystal, thank you very much. If we've time later, we'll we'll drop by. If not today, then then maybe tomorrow. The offer is always there, You both know that. You are very much welcome in my shop and I don't know if Helen is, you know, we can get her to come out of her room. Maybe you can get some time off. She can't stay in there all day,
can she? In that traditional fashion of how Helen makes her entrances, the door to her room opens and she's standing at the top of the stairs in her long black coat, scarf kind of pulled up around her neck. No, I have plenty to see and notes to make. I've left the tray in the room and Jack kind of like, just grits his teeth, of course. Hey, I'll get that feed Jack, I'll grab that feed. I'll I'll, I'll pop that away. You go and have a nice day and we might see you at some of our
places later. He said he wanted to come and take a look and praise us. Yes, I praise you indeed. Yeah. Umm, Mister North, we've if you have a moment later I, I need to discuss the the matter of the Evergreen Inn and my employers intentions. And he kind of looks at her. The pancakes were delicious and
she heads out the door. Wow, that sounds like a thank you to me. Her toughness and meanness and like inability to give compliments must make that compliment, you know, give you a lot more confidence, right, Jack? That was the 4th plate of pancakes I had made her. She loves the pancakes. Make four more of that exact pancake. That's for each of us, by the way, because they sound great. OK, brush. You want to head up to her room to. Yeah, for sure. I'll grab that tray and no problem.
Yeah. OK. I want to turn around to look at Cranby as I like just the doors just open and I just like make it look like I'm magic with my hands and I just opened this door that's already opened. I go in and I grab the, uh, the plate and I drop a fork on the ground and I bend over to pick it up and I got a stretch as I'm doing and I open up her chest that has the red thing in it A. Couple of things as you enter the room, it is pristine.
Her clothes are hanging up in the wardrobe on the hangers as you kind of like, oh I dropped the fork, clumsy me. Under the bed, you spy the trunk that she had arrived with and the wonky handle kind of fixed back into it. Clumsily pull the trunk out and rifle through it. It's hidden. It's it's hidden behind of a sleeve within the trunk as you kind of pull on it. It's a very, very soft crushed red velvet gown that has a little kind of white trim. There is a small little tag to
my holly Love mom. Thinking of you this Xmas. Thinking of you every Xmas. I mean, it's the exact opposite of everything you see, you know, in her wardrobe and what you've seen her wear. It's not that you can't see Helen in this, but you've not seen her wear anything but black. I put it, I put it back. I know now. I know now what I know. Downstairs, Snowdrop has their their jacket on.
There is four small plates with a pancake on it for everybody as Jack comes out and he pulls on a kind of a thicker lined coat you can lock up right as you leave. I'm just going to take Snowdrop. No problem. Yep. He takes his daughter by the hand and he kind of leads her out of the the Tavern and she's just like, and, and Daddy, do you think that the ever right tree will will will glow this year? Maybe, sweetheart, maybe. And he heads out the door of the Tavern.
We need to find more good qualities about this very cranky woman. I don't, I don't hate her. I mean, sometimes people do need the push to be excellent. Like these pancakes are the best I've ever tasted. And he wouldn't have got here if she hadn't have been, you know, so mean, diligent with them. Diligent. Most days they're pretty shit. Yeah, he uses that kid as an excuse to not be good at pancakes. I think we could just sell these and we could save the town.
But anyway, that's not what we're talking about here. I'm going to relay what her what I heard on the phone about selling for 80% and all of that sort of stuff. I explained about the dress from her mother. She might have fun in a dress. OK me cute first one. Where should we try and get this done? I think she had a separate plan to visit all of her shops to appraise them. If she visits all of our shops, right, we can all help each other out. How are we going to get Jack to go there?
Snowball fights if he has to, if, if we can get the the the town kids to just get into a giant snowball fight, he'll have to take refuge in one of our shops and brush. I think that might be great for you to incite. Absolutely, I can do it. I run out the door. I'm like the clock is ticking now because I've. I've sprinted away to start. I've been waiting. There's screaming coming from outside. You can. Hear my voice shouting like ice in the brush. I'm just the messenger.
I didn't stay at those other kids said it about you. Oh, wait, wait, it's it's an innkeeper. It's a it's an innkeeper and his and his child. Oh, no. Well, one of these shops open their doors and give us refuge. Oh no, an innkeeper and his child. As the three of you come to the doorway of the Evergreen Inn, you do see brush arms to the teeth. But how did he make so many snowballs so fast? I had a stash I always. Have I? I always carry the I cut.
A rope and I pull the cloth. And he's made like he's fashioned like a catapult thing from his workshop that's like automatically, like it's like with the tennis ball shooter, but it's just snowballs. Immediately kind of the kids see what brushes throwing down and throwing at them. They flip over one of the tables that was going to be used as a stall and they hunker down behind it and they start making
their own arsenal of snowballs. There is just this full on frenzy of clouds of snow and ice just being shot back and forth as the mayor and many of the other villagers kind of go about setting up the decorations. People are singing, people are laughing. Helen is totting. It's it's kind of spilling out into this sort of snowy melee. You do see Jack kind of scoop up Snowdrop crown beer.
They spill into your patisserie. I want to target Helen with my with my Gatling gun to try and like wet her coat and her and her shoes so she has to stay in there for a little while. Since you have a snow gatling gun, I would say that's 2D62D6. You want me to over? This on this one. So I'd say you're yeah, you're using your head. So under this one I think. OK, no problem. That's a four and A5. Neither.
OK, the the Gatling gung just seizes like something has gotten lodged in it. Helen is slipping past the patisserie, having seen Jack go in. She's like, she's not bothered and she's about to turn the corner on the Main Street if anyone else is doing anything else. Meryl's snow fights are below her, but tripping people up is not. So if she's going to turn around the corner, she's going to stick her foot out and hopefully triple.
Would you say you're using logic or emotion to trip up this lady? I think both, but let's go with logic in this case. OK, only because you're an expert who apparently when snowball fights break out, you go high only so that you can go low and sweep the leg. I will let you roll 2D6. Right? And we're we're saying it's head, so you're looking to roll under your number. Under a three. Oh shit. OK, two and a three. Oh, you rolled your number.
You've 2 successes and you rolled your number that gives you a love connection. You can choose one of two things at this point. You can take that three as a success, giving you 2, which means you do exactly what you want to do and your plan will go off perfectly. Or you can take the one success that you got with your two and then ask me a question that I have to answer honestly that you would now, something you would learn in this moment about Helen. Second option.
So how can we get them to smash their genitals with Jack? You all watch as Meryl terrifyingly, she leaps and bounds from rooftop to shop front with all the death and grace of an assassin, only to wind up just on the other side of that small St. down towards Crystal's Ball Emporium. Her bindi little foot just slips out as Helen turns jockey under a snowball and you see the woman, the business lady just topple over herself and land into a puddle.
Meryl, it's that thing. As you appear and you pick her up, just sort of in that moment of vulnerability, she looks at you as she just says, I absolutely hate this. I hate this town. It's cold, it's wet, it's the worst time of year. All I really want right now is if somebody was to just hand me a double espresso and I would just, I would be forever in their debt. And like, are you guiding her towards the? Yeah, and she's just being very caring, very gentle.
Of course. Yes, I know just the place and we can get you fixed you up with some new clothes from the charity shop next door. But well, let's go and we'll get you a double espresso first. I'm uh, I'm, I'm, I'm as I'm like, okay, all right, okay, everybody snowball fights over. Come on, let's go, let's go buy coffees and stimulate the economy and stuff and I'm sweeping them all away from the
from from this shop. And people are like, okay, let's get back to, let's get back to the decorations. You know, we've got to get, we've got to get the town done up nicely for the Xmas shindig, the three of you following behind Meryl and Helen. Snowdrop and Jack are standing in a corner. Cram Beer Kind of seeing you, kind of just looks, sees Helen. His shoulders slump a little. Cram Beer. I sorry, it's just what was happening outside. Snowdrop was getting a little
bit. That's perfectly understandable. Let me see, Cram Beer is going to like Crouch down, look at Snowdrop and say, how does a nice big cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and gingerbread sprinkles sound to you? Helen, how does a big cup of hot chocolate sound? With a sprinkle of marshmallows? And what was the rest of the cranberry? Oh, I don't now, I don't think this drink is Helen's type.
I think Helen is more of a cranberry, is going to like look her up and down just like in a general kind of appraisal. And then Jack cuts across. And if you're making a hot chocolate for Snowdrop, is there any chance I could get a double espresso? I was just about to say that looks like it's Helen's drink. Yeah, I can definitely. I meant, I meant for oh, Helen, you. And he kind of looks at her Helen, if Helen is having one as well. Helen, was I correct my
assumption? You don't strike me, Mister North as the double espresso fellow. Yes please, Mr. Tsusei, how long have you? And again, she's kind of she looks at her clipboard and it's covered in muck as she kind of like wipes some of it off. How long have you ran the the bakery? Oh, this bakery is mine. I've owned it for quite a number of decades at this point. I know, I know. I don't look my age. It's from all the sugar I
consume. And you have all the paperwork and licenses to operate the bakery. Of course people are putting their lives in my hands every time they eat. Wonderful. And I can get a copy of those from the mayor. Why I I never and it doesn't, It doesn't matter. Crystal is going to like kind of be looking around Helen trying to make eyes at Cranbeer, like looking up and just like.
Knock it off. At this point, Cranbeer, you turn back to the kitchen and you go to prepare hot chocolate, espressos and a few other goodies. Helen turns to you. Meryl, you said there was a clothing shop next door. I just, I'm, I, I'm going to catch my death if I have to. You know what? Jack's best friend owns the shop. I think if you go in, we can all go in together and we they'll be able to find you something great. And, and, and Jack kind of looks at you where I was like, uh,
sure. I'll, I'll see if Rusty is good to go. We'll be back. Crown Beer. I don't know. He kind of like puts Snowdrop kind of in one of the chairs and he kind of heads out with Helen. Are you letting them go off or is anybody following or? Should we let her wear other stuff or should we try and destroy all the other clothes in the village so she has to wear her nice red dress? Well, I figured she's going to wear the red dress to the bowl
regardless. I think baby snacks we get her out of the black power suit into something else. Even if it's still black. It's not the the the intense black power suit. She has two more of those power suits. Should I run back to the hotel and cut them up? She's not trying to wear them right now. I Sprint out the door. Don't. Don't cut them up, just just
hide them. No, I'll cut them in it so that like if she put that I'll just split the seams at the back so when she puts them on that they'll both RIP so she won't be able to wear them but it won't look like it's my fault. This is why you're a Carpenter. Absolutely. Go through any doors I can ruin your clothes in a way that it looks like an accident. The wonderful carpentry skills. OK, so OK, Brush is going back to the Evergreen Inn to sabotage the suits. I'm going to hide everything
black from Rusty's show. OK, so Meryl and Crystal are kind of following behind Helen and. Jack Oh yeah, it's fully telling her, like, what her power colors are, what's going to look good with her skin. Just like if she picks up something that looks a little too like this is going to put her put me back in my safety blanket of I am boss bitch, you know, immediately removed from just like Nope, Nope. The vibes are off. The vibes are off. You can't get this one.
OK, so to be it sounds like Crystal is trying to convince Helen to try new colors and like new patterns and everything else like that. So that's a heart rule. I think if Meryl you are hiding everything that gives off bitchy office worker vibes. Head roll. Which is under. So you want to roll under head but over heart. And I will remind you that you do have your Xmas magic point as well that you can spend to
automatically succeed. OK, I'm a 5 so I'm going to use my Xmas magic to yeah automatically get rid of everything business. OK. And for Crystal. Roll the one. On your heart roll. Yeah. Is over. Oh my goodness, my dad does not like me. Today I got really excited because I thought I did it properly. So you have you. You can spend your point of excess magic. You know what? Yeah. Because I feel like this is important for her to try new things.
She's in this town. She's already, although Chris doesn't know this, but she's already admitted that she doesn't like it here. So we're we're going to, we're going to baby step this just it's something new. OK, can the pair of you roll AD 20 for me? What you're trying to do is going to succeed, but because you're pulling on Xmas magic, something of an Xmas miracle will happen. It's a nine. I also got a nine. OK, on a nine it's called lump
of coal. A bag of holding that contains exactly 100 lbs of coal appears on your person in this moment as Jack leads the the small entourage into Rusty's haberdashery and closet. There is a thiefling gentleman, fiery red hair, hence the name Rusty, which is up, takes out a measuring tape and starts measuring up. Helen, who's just immediately gravitating towards the sail rack with all kinds of everything, is black or a variant shade of black slate grey.
In that moment, Meryl, as as you see her reach to pick up kind of an overcoat, you kind of snatch it from her hands and the whole rack you're able to lift and wheel away. And what happens is in that exact moment, standing there with two wonderfully bright outfits, is Crystal holding up a plush turtleneck with sort of a snowflake pattern in a soft powder blue and white and a nice little kind of trousers and comfortable and aesthetically pleasing winter boots.
And in the other, the exact same, but just in a green and red color. She goes to turn to kind of to the sales rack that you've secreted away. Meryl, she sort of size, uh, and kind of falls into herself when she points at the powdered blue and white. She slips behind kind of a, a changing room curtain. She's handing out her, her muddy clothes and her outfit and, and stuff like that. And in that moment, the sending stone in her pocket begins to vibrate Crystal.
As you kind of, as you go to reach for the phone, you just hear Helen call out. Umm, if that's if that's my mom, you can just hang up. You do see on the sending stone flashing up is just Mom. Bill is going to accidentally answer the the the call. How? Are we discussing? How's my gal? What are you planning? Are you coming home? Are you coming home? Please tell me you're coming home this year. Oh, hi. I have. Helen's sending stone.
She's currently changing. She will call you back in like, maybe five. Oh my God. Gosh, are you afraid of Helen? Hoping to be soon. We're just doing a bit of shopping. Don't. Tell me she's out. Shopping for a gift Well there was a small incident with a puddle so we're just getting her out of her wet clothes well I. Won't. I won't keep you too long. Just give my helly belly a little pinch on the cheek for me. Tell her. Tell her not to worry if she's out with her friends.
She's enjoying herself. That's all that matters. You can tell her. Just give me a call at another time. Tell her I miss her. It's been so long. So glad she has a friend. I'm just so worried she's so preoccupied with her work. Just work, work, work, work, work. No time for herself, no time for the world. Just so glad she's pointed herself out there again. Ask her why she hates Christmas. Oh, and we will definitely try to make sure she has a really nice time.
Crystal has no desire to rain on this woman's parade. She just wants her to continue to have these happy thoughts. And it is now Crystal's mission to befriend Helen for real so that her mom can stay happy. But yeah, definitely, I'll let her know. It was really nice talking to you. You you have a very happy Xmas. Give me the stuff, give me the stuff. She's going. To held up before or. Something bad happens. You, you didn't, you didn't say
anything to her, did you? No, I just told her that you needed to buy some new clothes because your current ones are wet. That's all. Oh. OK.
And again, a hand reaches out from behind the curtain and she kind of reaches for the the sending stone A moment or two later, which kind of adjust to Helen kind of pulls back the curtain And standing there in these form fitting mom jeans and winter boots and a powder blue jumper with a kind of a snowflake pattern on it. And you all see Jack just kind of his eyes light up for a moment and then he kind of shakes his head. You, you look warm in those.
And she, she kind of flushes. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's wool. And she kind of pulls on it a little bit. Espressos, I think we were. Yeah. And I, I think you look great. I think what what Crystal wants to do, although I don't think she's going to, it's just like there's just like a wisp of, of Helen's hair sort of framing her face just ever so perfectly. She's going to just sort of brush it away just a smidge. That way it frames, you know, just gives her that like
perfect. All right, I think we're ready. As she does it, she's going to make sure that Jack sees just just how pretty she can be when her hair isn't so tight and just like, squeezing all of the joy out of her brain. He very much has kind of taken notice of her, but now he doesn't want to look at her because he doesn't want her to know that he was looking at her. At that moment, the door to Rusty's haberdashery closet opens and Brush is standing there with a pair of garden shears.
Finish my gardening. An interesting time of year to be gardening. Well, it's all it's all year round to do maintenance and just make sure everything's OK. So in the summer and the and the whenever you can all look at the flowers and say, oh, look at those. Oh, you look pretty. Oh, thank you. I agree. I agree with why you said Jack. She is beautiful. She goes beet red and she just flits past everybody and straight away into cran beers.
Double Espresso. There's an assortment of treats there that I think you might enjoy. One of these treats was created with Jack as the inspirations. It will have his kind of feel. It will like notes of how he usually smells. You know, everybody has like the old sort of smell. So I'm just going to hand that over to Helen and be like, you look nice, you look
professional, you're cozy. Give me a heart roll Crown beer, I think, because I think you're trying to with the selection of your coffee beans and or as we call it in this world, Gogo juice. See how well it pays off. So you're looking to roll over your number. Over my number. I think my number is like. 5. Oh, you so you're more Crown beer is Morehead? Yeah, so like it's all, it's all like insights and scanning people and watching interactions.
OK, I think because again, it's your coffee shop, you are an expert, and the fact that you would have a flavour profile for your customers, which is terrifying. So yeah, you can roll 3D6 and you're looking to roll over A5. So I got 1/5 and two ones. OK, so you've won success, that means you barely manage it. She takes a sip of the coffee. As she does Jack and everybody else comes back into the coffee shop. As she brings the little espresso cup to her lips she looks at Jack.
The smell kind of hits her. Thank you for the espresso. I have, umm, work to do Have. Where is my tip board? You didn't leave it here. And Snowdrop is pulling on Jack's coat. Daddy, I, I, I, I spilled my hot chocolate and I, I made a mess and I, I didn't want to tell Susie because I think he would get mad at me. And I used and he. She holds up the clipboards and like, all of Helen's pages are just soaked. She pulls the clipboard out of Snowdrop's hands.
That's a morning ruined, so I've work to do Lovely again meeting all of you again. She puts a silver piece on the countertop, takes her muddy clothes, her clipboards, and she storms out of the bakery. Snowdrop is kind of now kind of lip trembling, eyes watering. I'm very sorry, Papa. And like Jack is busted out. It's it's fine, Snowdrop. It was an accident. That Lady is just. She's very work oriented, you know. Yeah, she likes. I think she's just trying to
push people to be their best. It's. Time we we took a little break and left Cran Beer to finish making goods for the party. We we should head out. As you head out of Cranberry's, you see Helen standing outside, uh, Crystal's ball emporium kind of soggy clipboard quill. And she's just kind of surveying kind of the, the space snowdrop kind of waves at her and she kind of just gives her like a small wave back. But she very much fixed on her work when you see her slip inside the store.
So crystal will then follow in in behind her. Now when you walk into the emporium there is more stuff than space you know instance are have been left burning. Every piece of the wall has crystals and candles, and there's random potions that have worn labels on them, so you kind of know what's in them. Don't ask Crystal, she does not remember. It's it's lovely. There's just a small table like in the center of the room where
card and palm readings are done. Helen kind of walks in immediately, kind of hand to like her nose, just to kind of like block the smell of the incense just a little. Don't mind the smell, that's just all the bad vibes leaving your body. I didn't realize bad vibes smell like leather and frankincense. With the inevitable tearing down of this quarter in Nevermind, how long do you think it would take you to declutter your stock?
Some of these pieces aren't for sale, they are for cleansing the entirety of the space and they are sort of locked into the walls. So that would take quite a bit of time and they are quite old and quite expensive. Wonderful. Umm, well, it doesn't really matter so much about what's fixed into the structures, though we will have to check that the paperwork is up to code on those. Uh, Mr. McNamara is his workshop
on the other side of this. I was given kind of a map from the mayor, uh, but it doesn't really make a whole pile of sense. And now it's a little and she holds up the clipboard and you can see that it is chocolate covered pages. Yeah, I know. Yeah, It's, it's, it's just kind of around the corner. That's hence why so many things are fixed into the walls. We have very different vibes. They're not bad, they're just
different. And I like to keep his vibes on his side of the wall and my vibes on my side of the wall. But before we get to two started, let me read your palms. Let me show you what's so important about this shop. Begrudgingly, she kind of like, just lets out a kind of a sigh. And if, if only it means she gets to talk to you and get like maybe a few, few more bits out of you.
She goes to sit. She takes a small cloth napkin out of her pocket and she puts it on the cushion that she's about to sit on as she takes a seat across from you on the table. Meryl Brush Cranbeer, what are you doing as Jack and, uh, Snowdrop kind of survey the the decorations? Trambier is going to kind of saddle up beside Jack and Snowdrop and like just kind of marvel in it with them while also strategically trying to
like herd them towards the shop. So while like Snowdrop is like, look at this, look at this just kind of like standing in very particular ways to try and get them moving in that way without them noticing. Meryl. She's going to walk over to Jack and just say, you know who is most likely to get the tree back to its original state? It's got to be Crystal. She has. She knows everything. If it had the magic and everything works in this town, why don't we go talk to her?
Well, we really probably should be getting back to the end. It's. The end's fine. I'll look after the end. I'll go back, I'll open up. Give me a heart roll, Meryl. Is anybody doing anything to help at this point? I'm a backup plan if this fails. OK, there's a backup plan from Brush, which we're all terrified of. I got a four. OK, yeah, I was going to say Cranberry will be like Jack. I've done shifts in the inn before. Come on now. Everybody's busy decorating.
We don't have a lot of tourists at the moment. Do you really have to go back to the inn? Enjoy this moment with your child. I'll let you roll a second D6, Merrill, and you're looking to roll over your number. OK, so there's a four the first time and a three, so that is my number. Again, same thing. You have two successes, but one
of them is your number. You could ask a question and get an an honest answer, or you can take the two successes and he'll do exactly what you want without complication. I want him to do exactly what I want, which is to go to the Mystic policy place and I want him to ask Helen to go to the ball with him. You OK? So that's technically two things. OK, OK, OK, forget about the shop.
I wanted to ask Helen. To go to the ball with him, it's, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of complicated. And he gestures down at Snowdrop. And then she just, she shakes his head and she's like, no, no, it's not Daddy. You just go ask the lady. And you did say she was beautiful, according to to Brush. And he's now bright red. But she's she's. Just for too long you've been using these muscles to carry, now you got to use them to hold.
I know you haven't used your Exodus magic Steve, but I'm giving that awful line an an extra point. So you have now have two points of Xmas magic that you can put in your arsenal. He shifts. OK, fine. I'll ask Ellen to accompany me to the shindig. OK, everybody's happy. We're happy. We're we're we're good and it's a thing. Where is she? And we turn back to Crystal's Ball Emporium. Are we doing a tarot reading or a palm reading?
So. We're going to start with a palm reading and then work our way to a tarot reading if the palm reading doesn't shoot her out the door. OK, she puts out her well manicured hands to you like palms up. All right, so looking here. Oh, Oh my. Your love line is long, but it starts like in the middle of your hand. Interesting. Your lifeline is the best way to describe it is choppy. You probably should have taken that phone call from your mom, but that's none of my business.
I am just here to tell you what the universe has decided for you. And like as you mentioned, kind of mom. She pulls her hand back. That's enough. Thank you so much, Crystal. So we'd be prepared to offer you upfront in gold 80% of the valuation for your shop. Right. But I thought last night I said I wasn't trying to leave or sell. I understand. But you do know the town is officially bankrupt. So we are looking to expand into this area with a wonderful
resort. And I think that this could be a really interesting sort of collection of rustic, avant-garde and shops. There's no reason that you couldn't come back and maybe rent, but we are looking to buy up the property. And the way the mayor has kind of pitched it, you don't really have much of choice if you could just. And she reaches for the clipboard. She takes out her quill with a click, click, and she kind of slides it in front of you across
the table. I appreciate your urgency and I know my demeanor kind of gives off light airy, but I'm not foolish. I'd be willing to sign if I could actually read what was written. Of course I can. I don't have my briefcase with me, it's back at the inn. Why don't you join me later on and I can get you a fresh contract that you can sign. This was definitely an experience. And she turns to leave. Wasn't trying to hurt your feelings, I was just reading your hands.
My feelings are perfectly fine, thank you. Are they? And then, umm, she will just like there's just been a deck sitting on the on the table. It's not the one she keeps on her purse. It is, she's just going to pull the first card that she's got. And it is again, the lover's card. It's just like, I feel like it could be your feelings could be fine, but I don't think they are right now.
But that she's going to pull another card And it's, let's see, now we've got the Six of Cups and I'm showing lots of abundance, but there's something blocking you. Yeah, this door, it's Duck, and she kind of goes to kind of pull the door. Oh yeah, sorry about that. You have to release what you've been holding on to before the door lets you out. My great, great, great great grandfather. Put that on patrons, which you are since I did start a poem reading.
Can't leave until they let go of their negative energy. And if I was to, I don't know, smash the window? Oh, that's vandalism and I'd have to have you arrested. Fine, I hate this little town. It is beginning to grate on me. I hate this stupid holiday. I hate the fact that my mother interferes in my life constantly. I am perfectly fine. I'm perfectly happy. I like my job, I like what I do, I love what I do in abundance. People have their heart broken on the holidays every other
year, OK? There's nothing special about a little heartbreak. So what? Jackson and I were engaged for six years. So what? He upped and left with barely even a letter. It's fine, I'm fine. There's the negative. And she pulls the door and she steps out. Versus on the other side of the door, been absolutely freaked out and panicking. I've got like a flop sweat from meeting a door I couldn't open. And I'm like, I'm trying to act cool.
And it's like there's something happening on the and then, and then as Helen opens it, I'm like, ah, you see, I've still got it. Why is it wherever I go in this little town, you four people are always there? I'm going back to my room. Thank you. I've get fresh paperwork. Don't you? Do you want to? You don't want to see my my wood shop? Come on, I'll show it to you. It's great. We used to have the walls. A shop. Actually, the floor space used to be smaller. But I've been extending it a
little bit into the other. Walls. So yeah, as I don't know what happens on the other side, but I've got way more room in my shop, it's worth more. Yeah, she she follows brush. Great. Let's walk together. Jack, you walk with her and and you had a question for Helen, right? I. Well, I, I, I, I Helen, there's a there's a a party tomorrow night in the Evergreen in just outside it kind of we we would you like to go to the Never Mount Chindig with me tomorrow night.
Just before you answer that, Helen, just know that if you do want the people of this town to sell their livelihoods to you, they need to feel like you're one of them. And nobody goes to this shindig alone. She goes like you see her kind of go to say something and her sending stone starts to ring again. She holds a finger up to everybody. She turns and again, you all hear. Good afternoon, Mr. Gardner. Uh, most of the town has been
surveyed. Yes. No, uh, I, I don't actually have any signatures yet. Uh, but I, I am working on. It's there. Yeah, well, some of the, uh, some of the townsfolk have agreed to sign tomorrow at a shindig. No, Sir, there's no really there's no need for you to come down. No, I, I, I, I, I haven't, I, I it's all, it's all. And there's a, a click and the engaged dial tone on the other side. So the shindig tomorrow you'll sign the paperwork if I go with Jack? Absolutely, yes.
We'll all sign the paperwork tomorrow, right? If she goes to the party. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Just another thing. Can you show her my shop? Just throw keys and I Sprint back off towards the the inn. I have to go to the toilet real bad. Everyone else can bring can bring Helen into my shop. I've got to use for one of my Christmas magics. OK. You head inside, brushes, wood emporium, everything is an emporium in Nevermount.
And there's just, there's just various bits of wood, some of it carved, some of it chiseled, some of it with a lot of nails sticking out of it. There's a lot of doors. There's a like a a lot, there's an expert amount of doors that you would expect. And then there's schematics for like new types of beds. Jack has had kind of waited with kind of snowdrop having kind of followed inside, but they then eventually kind of slip out back at the Evergreen Inn brush.
You arrive you the the run of the interest of what are you doing? First of all, I kick my shoes off. I slide on the wooden floor in my socks. I go yes. And then I run up the stairs. I don't want to leave muddy footprints because I'm going back up to Helen's still unlocked room. I want to go into her briefcase. I want to take out my little quill that I stole from a child.
Yeah, there's a focus here. What I want to do is I want to take the contracts, but I want to alter the wording on the contracts so that the the Gardner Corporation will be essentially buying this town to leave it in the possession of the townsfolk in perpetuity. I love it. You want to use your Xmas magic to. Guarantee that I'll use both of them if you need baby. I love I love a little bit of shite hawkery.
You spend the time literally altering the the contracts using Tippex and this child's the stolen pen of a child. And it's something about you, like you've done this before. You've all cultured property contract contractual agreements hundreds of times before. You're an expert at this. It's effectively what you've insured is it's not so much that Gardener Realty Incorporate are buying the town.
They're instead guaranteeing anybody who signs this a donation to kind of help the town get on its feet. Uh, give me a roll of AD 20 please. Here we go. That's a 19. Oh geez, why did this have to happen too? It's nice to meet you. Can you roll AD 8 please if you have one at 8? Yeah, I do indeed. That's a 5. As the idea kind of wafts around in your head and with the quill in hand, you single handedly brush alter every contract in Helen Winter's briefcase.
You kind of feel this sort of this wave of like I'm doing a nice thing, I'm doing a terribly, terribly illegal thing, but for the right reasons. You were overcome with Xmas festive feelings and the room gets a little colder on your shoulders. 5 snow methods. Small little, almost bat gargoyle little creatures. Peer over and they help you. They're actually specialties in property law. They whisper the exact wording as you now have these five methods that will do whatever
you want. They'll stay with you for the next 24 hours. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Having seen enough of the workshop, Helen kind of splits from the the group. Jack tells her your dinner will be ready later on, that it gets a little bit colder to try and bundle up and he gives his coat to her. She takes it kind of sheepishly. She puts it on and he kind of helps tie it around her a little
bit. Father and daughter kind of head back towards the the in brush just to find you, uh, leaving with a big shit eating grin on her face and five no methods on your shoulder. He kind of looks at you a little like they don't. Go in there. Just give it a minute, eh? Well, it's where we live. No go into the end, just the the second the second cubicle. OK, the snowdrop kind of waves up at the snow methods and they wave down at her as he kind of skirts her back inside.
As the evening kind of rolls in, Helen has kind of made her way through and asked everybody to come to that. She'll be at the shindig tomorrow night, that the mayor will be there. They'll sign off on the paperwork. Evening rolls in tonight. Helen finds herself back at the the inn. So while this is going on, Crumbier wants to go to Crystal and say, OK, I know we don't do spells on people without their
consent, but how about Bell? That might enhance the progression of feelings that are already there. If I make something for Helen and I make something for a Jack that have a little pizzazz added to them, what do you think? Do you think that would work? Not necessarily a spell, but
maybe glyphs. Decorating with frosting is probably not in in her wheelhouse, but what she will do is she will draw out various glyphs to be hidden in the frosting of each of these little cakes for Cran beer to draw in himself. Cran, Beer and Crystal are going down the using magic to kind of heighten the emotions at the event. What are Marilyn Brush doing?
Like what? Like if this is the plan that these two are concocting are Meryl and Brush Stringer and they think that they could oomph the the ante at the party. We sing a song. Yeah, OK, I've got I want to put my 5 little guys on the piano. We've got a saxophone as well. Meryl is a classically trained grade 8 singer, so. Fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm on the. Mariah Carey.
Yeah, yeah. I'm on the stacks Little 5 little methods are on the piano and we're singing a romance song, I guess about you got to give it up. You got to you got to give up your your problems. You got to just let let let love into your heart. It's it's cold outside and it's it's warm in your in your heart. OK. So here's so the the cardi splits to go off and it's that sort of like we'll have two plans because you know, then at least if one goes wrong, the
other one might go right. Marilyn Brush spend the evening writing a piece of music with the aid of five snow methods to sort of pull on the heartstrings, and it's going to be this romantic Xmas number. Meanwhile, crime beer and crystal are concocting all manner of confection and arcane glyph to sort of swell on emotions.
So that's our big, big sort of pull here and I think out of out of the four of you definitely are peeping Tom is probably Merrill while plans are underway and brush you are Jesus. Your methods are phenomenal on the on the old Ivory Merrill, you've been kind of out. I mean, you don't, you don't need to practice. You just need to be handled. The music you'll be able to sing and keeping keeping a watchful eye on the Evergreen Inn. You do see late into the
evening. Helen sat down alone in the inn with a bowl of Stew and some bread, looking a little looking a little lonely when you spot Jack kind of slipping past. It's clear that maybe Jack finds her attractive or seeing some of her more positive qualities. Even playing on that in a big way. You didn't really see much from Helen throughout the day, but then with a a glass pressed up to the window, you hear her just as Jack passes the the Stew is fantastic. It it really has lovely and he
stops and asks what was that? She says, uh, never mind, it doesn't matter. As he kind of bids her goodnight, uh, you see her kind of sit there on and along just kind of stirring the bowl with her spoon until she kind of gets up and she heads upstairs. You just hear very faintly, goodnight Mister North. And she slips into her room, closes the door. Uh, she then discovers all of her suits, uh, slightly split at the seams.
Uh, She goes to bed, uh, worrying about the day ahead and the sudden arrival of her boss, Ezra Gardner, the 3rd at Nevermount. The evening rolls into night, night rolls into morning and the day rolls on. And many of the townsfolk here at Nevermount have just been busying themselves getting ready for the shindig, the Xmas shindig. Though many people are a little saddened that the ever bright tree, they don't have one this
year. Most folks are just concentrating on the fact that they're going to have a good time and that this might be one of the last times townspeople get together. They know that at least they they went out on a festive note early into the evening. The party is in full swing. The mayor welcomes everybody as food, enchanted food is passed around. Everybody just seems that little nicer, that little kinder. Can I ask Crystal and Cran Beer to make a head roll, please?
And on a head roll you are looking to roll under your number. I got a four and a 2. OK. And your number is. 5. Five, OK. I got A6 but then I got a three. The food is amazing. Everybody's kind of raving about it. The thing is, Crystal, you're not really sure. Like the swirls look like glyphs. You don't know how close to your
patterns that Cran beer follow. There is a hum of magic on the year, but you're not quite certain whether it is just the general kind of good vibes coming off of everybody or is the food that little bit enchanted. But everybody, everybody is in a very, very festive mood. Now I did roll A3 which is my number so. OK, so you can take that, you can take that three as a success, or you can take the three.
It becomes it becomes a fail, but you get to learn something else about the event I. Think I'm going to take the success. Everybody is really happy as again, like a small little band are kind of over in the corner. You see Jack North and his daughter Snowdropper sat at a table and she she seems a little deflated. She's picking at the food and she's sipping the cocoa. But Snowdrop doesn't seem in good spirits. And Jack kind of gestures over at the the four of you and it's
just, she's just a little down. She was really hoping that the we'd have the ever bright tree. But I told her, I told her it doesn't matter, that she's here with her, with her, with her dad and her friends and people who love her so. Don't worry, there's still time. We can we'll we'll do everything we can to make sure that you get to see the tree. OK? I might need your help though. OK, I guess. Maybe this will cheer you up. I got you a present and I hand her over a little like a brown
paper bag. I. Just kind of looked up at her dad's and he kind of nods at her and she takes this. Thank you Mr. Brush. McNamara. Yeah, it's your notebook. I found it when I was cleaning around here and I found your little quill as well. And like, if just ever anyone's like, oh, we're doing an investigation or whatever, you can just get rid of that. You can just throw that somewhere or burn it or whatever.
Well, you know, if you were to write your feelings about how you feel about that Helen lady and your dad and just write that on the next clear page that you have. And if then, if I could borrow the notebook for just a minute, that'd be so cool. Look, here's a carving little it's like a wood carving knife. You can have this as well. Don't tell your dad about that one, that one. Just just keep that safe. So you're bribing thriving Snowdrop with her diary and a knife?
And a knife. Yeah, I've got loads of them. Carving knives, yeah. Give me a hard roll and you can add AD six rule 2D6 you want to roll over your number. Over my number. Here we go. I've got a four to five. OK, I'm not numbers to three. She takes like she pockets that knife real quick immediately she with the quill and she kind of ducks in under one of the tables
and she just starts writing. Jack is kind of looking at your brush as if to say, like, I mean, thank you, but I don't really know if a carving knife isn't appropriate. You can be there. You can be there when I teach her how to like, carve stuff. It's a cool skill. Look at this and I've made a little Jack. Is my jaw that really that blocky? Hell yeah it is Jack, and I put it back in my pocket. I thought that was for me, but not. You. Oh, it's of me.
OK. And then like the band kind of again, like it shifts, the music kind of shifts. And then there's kind of a from the the crowds and like, people are kind of turning the door opens and again, the music continues to play and it's really soft ballad as the crowd turns. And Helen Winter is standing there in this really wonderful red dress with this sort of intricate little white pattern around the collar and the cuffs. She's standing there kind of a little awkwardly.
And then Snowdrop just piles her journal into your hands brush and you just hear wow she looks like an ex Miss Angel. Helen just goes beet red as she steps out with her briefcase under her arm full of contracts. So Crystal will run to Helen. I'd just be like, you look amazing. I I. Thought the soft blue looked good on you. This is spectacular. Yeah, my, all of my suits are damaged. Oh. So this is this is all I had left that are the clothes I wore yesterday.
So I figured it's a party. So, and with no other choice, I'm wearing this this dress. I look at Meryl and I'm like, I gave the kid the knife. As. And she's just going to squeeze his arm gently. I use the garden shears, but they'll think the kid used the knife. I'm going to get away with it. I know, I know, I know. I'll buy into it.
I'll tell everyone you. Look superb Helen, this is for you and Cranberry is going to try and see where Jack is so I can like give him his like immediately after I give Helen her treat. Kind of still at the table like he is. The key is just kind of staring at her. I'm going to give Helen her treat and I'm going to turn and like, pass the trade, Jack, and be like, that one's yours. You see, like she, she's holding kind of the small place and she's kind of looking at us.
Give me a heart roll to kind of convince Helen to imbibe a little in an Xmas treat. I'm going is it? Over your number. Over my number. OK, I got a six, I got 6 and a four. Down by the sea a little self-conscious village she she takes kind of a light wheel above Jack takes kind of a bite of his warm. So with one success and one failure you get what you want. But there's a complication have gathered to it's the exact same moment. They're both kind of spit it up crumb beer.
They both say it at the exact same time drifting. I don't like orange caramel tree and they both kind of look at each other has flickered and she's kind of she looks at him and she's like this flame on the clip. Yeah, it's just held at Bay. Don't now things dimmer that passing day and he follows up with the tides. Grow orange and chocolate. Don't wail. If we do nothing, we're doomed to the chill, right. Like what is everybody's fixation with it?
Never mind. Like he kind of laughs as he kind of puts the plate down and he face down, gestures kind of at the below the floor. Like there's a small little flat for Nevermind that's been kind of set up. There's a few people out there very, very entangled. She takes the briefcase, puts it on the table, one dance and and then we're. Yeah, yeah. Contracts and everything. Of course. They head out to the dance floor. We have, we have to sing the song. I think this is very much heart rolls.
I don't think. I mean, we're putting emotion into this so. Heart is under. Heart is over. Heart is over. Sorry, heart is over, OK. One time. That's a one. OK. That's another one. I think this is a head roll. We're logically trying to write a song structure. I think, I think maybe if I may, the two of us get up to because I've got an Xmas magic left, right, Cool. So we both get up, We, we, we fuck it up. We, we both, you step up to the microphone, you just vomit
immediately. I step, but I'm like, no, no, I've got this. I do the exact same thing. Yeah, I'm gonna grab, I'm gonna grab the piece of paper while you're both like kind of hunched over, like picking up your ring, kind of like, I'll, I've got this. And then I'm going to kind of like nod to the band, kind of get the melody going. The band are 5 Little ice gargoyle do so we're out of piano. Yeah, OK. Yeah, perfect.
Let's do this. They crack their little ice fingers and they begin to play the piano. Do you want to make a heart roll? Okie, I've got 2 ones. That is a failure as well. You puke too. Magic. In it's the is it the food? It's not the food I made the food. Is it the spells? And then crystal there is that one thing of I mean, the spell was love sick. Maybe we concentrated a little bit more on the sick side of things. Maybe that's what it is. But like the a lot of people are
now squaring off the dance bar. It's a bit like this is odd. Jack and Helen are both like, umm should be and they're about to leave when crumbier you I think no, you can't. You can't leave. You can't leave right now. You can't leave right now. You we need music and the the little methods are playing the piano roll AD 20 for me, please. Got a 10. On a 10 you get the wish list. An Xmas gift appears in front of you as if by magic, and it
contains exactly what you need. Perfect love song for the two of them. So, so enticing, so heart warming that they forget the puke. So OK, in this moment, Krambier, as you feel kind of again, it's not even puke, it's just dry heaving. It's nerves. It's the Oh no, we've lost our metal. You feel that overcome you. And then it's like, no, but it's Xmas and everything should be perfect on Xmas. And even if it's not great, even if it's not the best, it should still be a wonderful feeling.
And you draw on the energy of that feeling. And in your hands you find a small, well wrapped little box. And as you pop the lid off of it, a wonderfully serene little melody, almost like a music box, plays from within. While most people are kind of gently swaying back and forth, for Helen and Jack specifically, they and they alone can hear the
words. And it is a song about finding love in all manner of places, despite the storms, despite the heartache, despite the pain, that love, love wins, wins. True, you all hear the vast, heavy clomping of hooves, the Wheeling of a cart that comes to a skid just inches from the shindig, and the square in Nevermount as a garish carriage arrives, drawn by Boer painted red horses and the door swings out. And this?
Absolutely pompous, egregious slicked back hair, half of gentlemen wearing the sharpest, finest suit this side of Tez Rab and Helen and Jack pull apart and you see carved and gilded in gold and silver. Gardner Realty putting the gent in gentrification and ascending stone number on the back of the carriage as Ezra Gardner the third arrives. Kudos, kudos, everybody. You're welcome. You're all, you're obviously having a celebration.
You've obviously, you're all obviously in such a great mood. I'm sure Helen has explained to all of you that the contracts and Helen the contracts. And she pulls back from Jack and she moves to the table. Of course, Mr. Gardner, I, I, I was just, I was just about to, yes, I saw what you were just about to do, Helen. And might I say, what a muscular specimen. Kudos. So if we could just get the contracts in the garage, we'll
be on our way. And you wonderful little bumpkins can go back to whatever noise this is. Hey, what a cool guy. I wipe the sick off my mouth. I'm like, this guy looks so cool. I like this guy. This Mr. G here, this guy's a cool guy. I tell you what, because he's so cool, I'll sign that contract right now. Great. And he takes out a golden quill from inside his suit jacket. He snatches the roofcase from Helen's hands. So I'll sign here, Mr. McNamara.
OK, Mr. McNamara. McNamara Woodshop with an ever increasing number of square footage, Yeah. Which, obviously. And he. Yeah, yeah, he signs across Ezra Gardner. And then he hands the paperwork to you. I tell you what. And the if everyone in the room says yes, maybe the mayor can just sign like an overall one for everybody and we just get this all done. Really snippety, cool guy. Like he's probably real busy. Probably got to get out of here, right? You know what brush you are What on?
I am real busy and I don't want to be here longer than I actually physically have. To And I was afraid to say you don't remind me of my dad, am I right? Go on guys, get the mayor over here. Yeah, and, and Myrtle swaggers over with two wreaths like 1 tucked under her arm and the other kind of half open. Hey, you want me to you want me to sign? OK, I'll I'll put my, I'll put my, I'll put my sign. And she, she takes a quill and mayor, how many hours are there?
Myrtle? Myrtle, she signs right across the whole contract. Uh, and Jack is like, umm, I I didn't agree to sell the the Evergreen Inn though, so I don't. Yeah, you're part of the homeowners association, which means the mayor is responsible, so. But, but like I, I, I just, I, I really, I really, we, I kind of looks down at we have nowhere to go. Helen, you, you have to stop him. Like we, we'll be out we, and like Snowdrop kind of like starts to cry.
Uh, and Helen kind of just Mr. Gardner, it's just given, given the time of year, maybe we could hold off on putting the contracts through. I just I think you know people are celebrating and see Helen, This is why I pay you to just get the contracts. I don't actually pay you to think tuts though been. Doing quite a lovely job. I'm sure she has. Any day now, Helen, that promotion yours. There's an office in the corner of the basement that we priming for you, so why don't you get
the rest of your belonging? That's the choice that you're wearing. Great. Good for you. Bold, Helen. Very bold. Maybe not office bold. Maybe Back to the suit. What a cool guy, what a cool guy thing to say. He's clearly in a rush. What a cool lot of things to say. And we're all here and we've all witnessed the signing of the contract right now, everybody, right? And that guy over here, he's from the big town next door. He's like a, he's wearing fat. He's like a notary type guy.
His word will be trusted in some kind of court, right? He witnessed this. Uh huh. We've I definitely witnessed it. Fantastic. Cool. OK, Loads, loads of witnesses right here. Yeah, notable witnesses. Maybe just read out the contract for since you have the entire town here, just can you read out what that means for us all? Yeah, we should have done this before. Am I right everybody? Look, you, you, you wouldn't be the first bumpkins to have not read the terms and conditions.
So allow me. And he kind of starts to prattle on Gardner Realty incorporate hereby referred to as the owners deemed to yadda yadda yadda, such was acquire property, yadda yadda yadda, 80% of the value, uh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, donated to the owner in a charitable and, and, and I'm sorry, no, let me, let me just, uh, let me just he kind of checks a different contract. There's a it's like issue with the paperwork, so why don't I? What sort of issue with the
paperwork? Truly, a man of your caliber would never have problems or. Error. No problems. No problems whatsoever. No. No problems. OK. I don't know what's going on here. I don't know what you've done to the paperwork. Helen. You're fired. You're definitely fired, Helen, because this is definitely a mistake that you'd make. I I think we can just forget about this. I don't think. So we did sign that and you witnessed the signing. Continue to read what is on the
paperwork. I think I'll continue to read them with my lawyers back in the city. Cran Beer is going to tackle him to get the paperwork. Give me a heart roll. I got a six. You plow into like you, you move to kind of like grab Ezra as he kind of like takes a step back towards the carriage. What's everybody else doing at this point? Crystal has whipped around to hell at a Just like this is the job that you say that you love. This man has just insulted you
in a room full of people. People that you may not like, but still public embarrassment of an employer or former employer is not OK. Like as you can see, she is kind of fighting back the tears. Like she really kind of like upset Meryl and Brush. Did Snowball the child give me back the the the notebook? Yeah, yeah, Snowball. All right, great. I want in the in the scuffle of trying to like pick him and crown beer back up.
I want to tuck it into his, into his coat pocket like he's stolen it. OK, so you're just? Planting the the The Journal on Yeah, Ezra Merrill. Can we assume that the contract is on carbon paper and there's so everyone gets a copy? Sure, correct. OK, so she's just got to wait after Cam Camber tackle this terrible man. Uh, she's going to just grab the papers and try split it out into two and say, OK, you can take yours to your lawyer, but we have ours.
Yep, so Meryl is very much sort of on the I was a notary once and is kind of now kind of reefing these offs brush you slip the diary into Ezra's pocket and like it's very noticeably kind of like just poking out as if he has tried to like stuff it down his shirt Cranberry. He's tackled to the ground. You're able to kind of help wrestle the papers towards Merrill, who is kind of separating them and Crystal. You've give me give me a heart
roll. I'm going to let you add an extra D6 to this so you can make 2. You make a roll 2 dice and you're looking to roll over your number. Right. So about 3 and a four. A three is your number, isn't it? Yes, yeah. OK, so again, same thing. You can take it as two successes, which means you succeed in what you were doing and it's it's done without complication. Or you can take 1 success and a complication, but you get to ask me a question. I'm going to take the one
success and ask a question. Yep, what do you want to ask? Why is this so important to Helen? Why is this getting this contract? Why is getting this town? Why is and and and why is this in this moment? Was this so important to her that she's willing to continuously do things that break towns? In this moment Crystal, it is that thing of like as you kind of take her by the the hand having like you are trying to like comfort her and like speak
to her. You have a flash of Xmas's past where every year Helens mother would send her an Xmas gift. Every year she would make an excuse to not go home because Jackson, her longtime partner, was also a member of Gardner Realty. And they chose work over their lives. Uh, well, he chose work over their lives. And she kind of went along with it year after year. And it just became a pattern for Helen that this holiday was just another background noise.
And it was an interference and it got in the way. And she gave up on Xmas because it didn't mean anything. She became convinced of Jackson's approach, which is, well, work is the only real joy. And then a number of years back on Xmas Eve, you see Helen coming home, stack of contracts from yet another small town, all to be done and dusted. And there is just a note from Jackson. Cheers for the company, Rumi. Peace out, J Dog.
He had been promoted within the company and with that promotion came much bigger pay, much swankier office and he ditched her for a new, more executive type girlfriend. So Helen has thrown herself into her work to prove to herself that she is just as good as Jackson, that this holiday is just a waste of time. In this, you see that there has always been a flicker of something of Xmas.
It's, it's, it's the, it's the calls from her mum, it's the gift that she still sends every year that keep the little embers within Helen's heart aflame. Your words connect with her as you see, as you see these memories and with the kerfuffle of the tackle and the paperworks. She kind of, she looks at you, she nods. You're right, Crystal. Ezra, those contracts, they're legally binding. You oversaw their completion before I left. Remember Ewan Jackson?
Ezra kind of stands up covered in in mud. Helen, you are about to make possibly the biggest mistake of your career. So why don't you shut up, get in the carriage, and we can talk about the contracts and your mistake on the way to Galeshire. In that moment, as all of you conspire, we've duck, dive, tackle, take carbon copies of contracts. Jack sees Snowdrop's diary stuffed inside Ezra's pocket and reaches first.
Are you, are you serious? You, you're not just contempt to try to steal the town from us, you'd steal from a child. And Ezra completely and totally confused and baffled. Like, kind of like. And before he has a chance to say anything, Jack steps up and just clocks him with a, with a left hook, Uh, he and he stumbles back, uh, into the carriage. One, you don't steal from a child. What sort of man are you? And two, you don't talk to an employee like that.
You don't talk to Helen like that, OK. She's special and she's worth more than any contractor. She's worth more than any. And he goes on and on and on, and Helen just kind of like turns him and kind of sees Helen. I'm going to count to 3 and I'm going to get the guards. And you are getting in this carriage. We are leaving. No, Ezra, you're leaving. You can stick your job where the sun doesn't shine. As he clambers into the carriage, she slams the door, catching kind of the coattails
of his long coat. Again. The crowd kind of erupt in a kind of in cheers and applause. And there is just that moment where everybody, as the carriage spills out and the methods begin to play on the piano again, everybody kind of turns and looks at the the four of you and Jack and Helen and Snowdrop. What are y'all doing? Oh, I have AI have a little can I can I use up the rest of my
Christmas magic on a thing? All right, if I could change it a tiny bit that she slams the door of the in not the store of the carriage. And as, as she slams it, there's just, there's just this icicle that we should have dealt with a while ago. I, I actually said I'd deal with that. I said I'd make a long stick and
deal with that icicle. But there's a, there's a very large icicle hanging precariously above the doorway just when she slams it. And if I had one Christmas wish it it would be that the icicle would fall down and kill that man. OK. Give me a roll on a the the Xmas Wild magic table please brush. I've got a 17. On 17 you have a Christmas
cracker. A magical cracker appears between you and one other target of your choosing, and you both have to roll contest to see who wins the the cracker and the prize within. So is there anybody here you'd like to contest the magical cracker? Jack, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me try it with Jack. OK, so you can, we're just going to go with D sixes. OK, so you roll AD 6, I roll AD 6. We're not adding, it's just whoever gets the higher role gets the. I got a 350. Shit, Jack, you win.
Oh no, Jack, you win a gift. In this moment, we'll, we'll, we'll rewind. Actually, we won't necessarily. I don't think there's actually a need to rewind it. We we Fast forward a year later in the village of Nevermount, decorated with all manner of trinkets, tinsel, bauble, wonderful shop displays picture like depicting wonderfully creative excess scenes. The town lit up all matter of colorful light. Roving gangs of choral singers are knocking on doors and bringing Xmas joy.
A small skirmish has begun to unfurl down a side alley outside Crystals Ball Emporium and Brushes Wood Emporium, where two rival gangs are pelting each other with snowballs. The town is abuzz with Xmas cheer, and inside the Evergreen Inn, Brush is retelling the story the way he thought. Nobody has the heart to tell him that the icicle thing didn't happen. And it's that one. It's that one Xmas lie that everybody keeps themselves. Mere Myrtle continues where Brush leaves off.
Of course there was the the accident little killing of the realtor. Yes, definitely that most happened exactly as Brush described it. The second miracle that happened that evening. Of course they all kind of turn and coming down the stairs are Jack and Helen wearing matching turtleneck jumpers, Snowdrop holding both their hands and the whole family are dressed the same. In that moment, we flashback to the Christmas cracker pulled between Jack and brush as two
engagement rings appear. They find themselves nesting on Jack's finger and Helen's finger, and the pair exchange a kiss under the glow of the Evergreen Inn fireplace. And there's just a an awe from the crowd as in the middle of Nevermount Square, the Evergreen tree blooms and this wonderfully ornate, delicate little Evergreen sprouts up magically. Snowdrop's eyes beam on, not at the tree, but at her coming true of her wish that her father, Jack N, would find love.
She says a little thank you to Four strangers who conspired and occasionally messed up her plans to set her father up with her new mom. And that is where we leave this year's Xmas special. I want to say thank you to my phenomenally festive frolicking fuckery that were this table. Emma Garnett, Tendai, Steve, thank you so much for bringing all the energy of Meryl, Kristal, Brush and Cranbeer to this mess. Well, we are saying our goodbyes. Do we want to go around very,
very quickly? And if you want to shout out where people can find you or where people can learn a little bit more about you, your social media handles, any of that sort of stuff. Hi Kandai, you can find me playing as Grey Stormfield in A Garden of Lies here on DA Dungeon. You can also find me playing games for the Emerald Collective as Lantana, and you can find me at Kiki on pretty much all social media, including Blue Sky. I'm Steve Bennett.
I made a board game called Dungeons and Naggins. You can you can find on dungeonsandnaggins.com. But when's this going out? What do I date is this? We'll have one episode out just before the Christmas break. You have left it too long to buy my game you cowards. Come and see me next year for your Christmas gift. And you? Failed. Maybe you can buy one in January, it'll be double the price. Hi all, I heard it this was such
a blast. I am on Blue Sky, I am on Twitch with the ESP channel kind of all over the Internet with a bunch of things that would have started by the time this goes out. So just come and hang out. I do fun stuff and I do more really intense monologues. Emma. I'm generally a lot of the streaming games within DA Dungeon. I'm I'm saving grace with Tendai as well playing shoe yet the on Horizon Edge, which is on a small break but we'll be back in January playing Regiment at the moment.
We're coming to a close with random DMS that might be finished by the time you hear this, but you can always catch them all on YouTube at DA Dungeon. I myself Emma is on fire on most social media. Sometimes the O in on is a 0 specifically for blue sky. I'm very boring on social media so don't find. Me all of the links that the gang want to share we will have in the episode description. So do make sure you check those
things out. And yeah, it might be a bit late to get it as a Christmas gift, but I have played and own a copy of Dundas and Naggins and you definitely need it at your tables. Just saying like birthdays are a thing and I know a certain DM whose birthday it is in January after this comes out. So just that's the thing that you can get. I'll I'll take a second copy.
I hope wherever you're listening to this, whenever you're Li, hopefully you're listening to this around the holidays, any holiday, Hey, it could be the 4th of July. Who cares that whatever you're doing and whoever you're spending it with that you are happy, safe, and having a wonderful time. And from me and on behalf of everybody at DA Dungeon, big thank you to once again, my phenomenal players and to you for listening. So with that, we are going to bid you a Jew and we're out.
We're done. Cheers. Great. Bye bye.