Unravelling Adventure!: Conclusion/Part 2

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Welcome back to Unravelling. I'm Mary Wilson.

And I'm Kurt White, also Punsook the bard.

That's right. This episode is part two of our Dungeons and Dragons adventure.

If you missed the first episode, now's the time to go back and listen to it so that you're fully caught up on all the nuances of our adventure. But to give you a brief summary before jumping back into the exciting conclusion, here's producer Andrew Atkin.

Previously on Unravelling, Our brave adventuring party, Poonsook, Mariel, Drip, and the Heatwaver have been hired by the brood to investigate the mysterious disappearance of local villagers.

Many people have lost certain folks as of late. There's been lots of disappearances and, missing people nearby, and there is a tavern on the outskirts of the town that we have known has previously been abandoned, but there seems to be some musings that there's some connection to the missing villages there.

Four brave adventurers walk into a bar thought to be abandoned.

As you enter, it opens into a warm, rustic space. There's four tables that are sort of spread apart from one another. On the far end of the tavern across from the door is a bar. There's a Dwarven man sitting at the the bar and a barkeep. And as you walk in, he shouts out

Last call. Put your final orders in so we can shut this place down once and for all.

A mysterious riddle.

At the bottom of this menu is sort of fine print. There seems to be sort of almost like a catchphrase, and it says, grief moves in six steps. First, you walk it, then you stomach it, then you grasp it, then you swallow it, then you speak it, and at last, you see it. Are you me?

A dwarf with no stomach.

He looks down and notices that his stomach is missing. He pulls his hands back, and they're covered with this sort of black ooze. And as he sort of shouts in in horror, he seems to rot, decompose in real time, and become a sort of undead version of himself Uh-oh. And lunges toward you.

Oh. Roll initiative.

Yeah. What started as a simple investigation has turned to battle, rife with black ooze and a seemingly mystical demiplane of existence.

Confidently grab my long sword and raise it up, and I just swiftly go straight for the head.

You hit this undead cheese monger. And as you do so, he disintegrates. You, all four of you see a burst of bright light. And as your vision returns, you are walking into a tavern. You are walking back into the tavern, and the barkeep says

Last call. Put your final orders in so we can shut this place down once and for all.

Our brave adventurers have seemingly found themselves mired in some sort of time loop. And now for our conclusion of the mystery of the tavern on Unravelling.

Drip grabs Mariel and Poonsoek lightly, but just like a, hey, hey, hang on. He's like, woah. I'm sorry. I reset it. I'm I'm sorry. Maybe maybe we avoid him. I I don't need a drink. Unless you do you want a drink? I I'll get do you want me to I can get you a drink if if Mariel, do you need?

A drink? Yeah. I've lost my appetite. I'm I'm so confused by what's going on. Yeah. I just wanna figure it out.

Yeah. Me too. Me too. I was thinking the same.

Stay away from the cheese plate.

Yes. Yes. There are some other folks around the barn.

Can we try instead of approaching the bar, can we go see what's up, like, at that table of four people? Or

Well, Drip now

accosts our two monks and points at the because there's a there's a monk. Right?

There is a monk.

Yes. A table. Do you do you know them? You think we all know each other?

So just to to tell you a little bit more about what you see there, you see a wirly wiry elderly woman. She's sitting cross legged in her chair. She's got long robes that are hanging down to the floor, and her eyes are sort of darting around. She looks deeply unsettled.

Do you know them?

I don't know. I don't know her at all. She must be new to these parts. But unsettled is that I I think I think I'm I'm a bit unsettled in this place myself having apparently been dimensionally transported to some sort of loop now twice. I wonder if she knows something about this.

Yeah. I think us monks should approach her.

Alright.

I take out my lute and Yeah. Excellent. And begin to strum gently as we make our approach.

So as you're walking up, why don't you roll a performance for me so that we know what music to

put in? Hey. Good. Good the mood. 19. Alright. Sunset's been practicing. Yes. Good.

Minus two.

That's still very good.

Still really good.

That's still very good. Performance.

Really good. So despite

yourself, what sort of music are you are you playing here?

There's this fellow, Johan Sebastian fantasy Bach that has written some lute suites.

Okay. And then so is this to be sort of soothing? Is this an enlivening? Is this just sort of entertaining? What's the tone?

Yeah. I think it meant to sort of convey a sense of calm. She's in some sort of distress, I think it is a distressing place. I'm trying to I don't know what she remembers and what she knows and if she saw me coming running in, lighting things on fire a minute ago or not. But I definitely perhaps an approach and say something like, Fellow monk, hello. You look about how I feel.

And so you do notice a slight softening as you approach, but she still jumps right in to say.

First things first, big fan of Johann Sebastian Fantasy Bach. Now please keep your distance. Don't come any closer. I've been running and exhausted and just want to rest my legs or a bit.

How long have you been in this bar? Can I can I ask that? I'm I'm happy to keep my distance, but I'm trying to make sense of what's going on here.

Feels like it's been forever.

I was worried you'd say something like that.

And Hewaver, are you also approaching?

Seems like it's been forever. Yeah. Us too. It's almost like we keep coming back to the same place.

Yes. You know, one step at a time.

Maybe we can help each other.

Forgive me. I'm a bit distrusting of strangers even though I do feel some comfort in fantasy, Bach, and my fellow monks presence.

Can I roll a persuasion?

What are you trying to persuade?

I'm just hoping this monk to divulge a little more information about her experience in the bar.

So why don't you roll and then tell me what you ask?

Okay. I'm I'm rolling a 10.

Okay.

Have you happened to notice that that dwarf over there is a little strange?

I've kept my distance from people. You you have to understand, I I was running for so long in the forest trying to make myself escape. Something was chasing me and I barely made it into this place alive. So I've just been there in the corner resting. My legs are so very tired.

Are these the missing people? Have we found the missing people, but now we're missing ourselves because we can't get out?

Oh. Are

you saying that, Mario? Are you wondering that? Is that in character or out of character?

I guess a little both. I think I'm just kind of overhearing things with drip, and I'm realizing that remembering the the menu and that line at the bottom, there was the word stomach in it. And I know we already found the guy with no stomach. So then maybe there's some correlation here.

Roll me an insight check. Okay.

So it's while she's doing it, grief moves in six steps. First, you walk it, then you stomach it, then you grasp it, then you swallow it, then you speak it, and at last, you see it. Are you me?

I only have a four. Let's see where's my insight. Plus three. So seven. Okay.

Okay. So, yeah, something is definitely ringing a bell. You are remembering that, but can't quite

If you want to, Mary, you you can use your inspiration just to

remind reroll you. That.

Let's reroll

again. 4 Plus 3 Plus 7.

Really? That's where you're at.

That is me. Could

I could I also roll an inside check? I've been thinking about that.

So sure. One sec. Why don't you you sort of overhear Mariel musing.

I've got a 15 plus five.

Wow. Yeah.

Right.

So

this is this is really resonating, this phrase that you heard. So roll me a perception with advantage. So roll your perception twice and take the higher results.

Thirteen, twenty. Woah.

Okay. Wow.

As you're approaching and and you're not too close, but even from your distance, you look down and you see that the the material of the monk's robes don't show any shape underneath from the waist down. They just are sort of the shape of the chair, starting at the waist.

I'd like to convey this to the rest of the group, but a little bit privately. So I I try to sort of say, guys, let's huddle a little bit. I'm noticing some more about this. They seem to have, seem to be missing some parts here.

So everyone in this bar is missing

Missing something.

Parts. Missing something.

Yeah. What about the is there a wizard too? Is he missing something?

So you look over at the wizard, and Ghani has like these sort of magical spectral hands that are doing all these things. His arms are sort of like in his robes. And so he is looking over all of these papers and sort of muttering to himself, and you hear him say

Oh, no. Just third time's the charm. I'm gonna read through these documents again. Maybe I'll understand something as I don't understand why anybody would think it's worth living without death. There is its balance, but I must be missing something. Where is that paper? I know it's right here somewhere.

So Mariel is sort of taking out a look at this wizard. Can you roll a perception?

Where's my perception? Perception's plus three. K. 12. 15. 12 plus

three.

15. You noticed that there is a a stray piece of scroll under the monk's table.

Woah.

As the wizard's looking around, can't quite see it.

I'm going to grab it and say, wizard, were you looking for this? And please tell me that you're trying to figure out what's going on in this tavern.

So as you reach down to grab the paper, you will also notice the fabric of the monk's robe. And she's gonna look a little askance at you coming so close. Do you stop and respond to her? Do you head right back to the the wizard?

I think I'm gonna stay on task and head back to the wizard.

Sounds good. Alright. So you grab that paper and you bring it back to the wizard. Hand it to him.

Oh, thank you. That's helpful.

So do you try to hand it to him? Do you put it on the table?

I'm gonna hand it directly to him, trying to curry a little favor in hopes that maybe this wizard has some answers that can help us all get out of here because now I'm worried about being trapped forever.

So

all of his mage hands, spectral hands have things in them already. So he goes to take his hand out of the robe, and you see black ooze drip down from the arm of his robe. And as he sees it, he cries out in horror and begins to Uh-oh. Decompose in front of you.

Yep. Whoops. Oh, good. Here we go.

And then lunges for you.

Not again. To attack you.

This again. Mariel's over it.

Okay. I think I have to try something different than what I did last time.

Alright. Do we know anything about this ooze? Can we investigate the ooze?

Certainly. You could roll an Arcana, a medicine. Kind of think about what you're trying to know or remember about it, and I'll

I think the second time seeing it, Drip will well, Drip will roll an Arcana. Yeah. Sure. 12.

And is Putsuk also rolling?

Yeah. I think I'd like

to that's a 15 plus three.

Oh my. Should should I roll as well, or is that okay? Or just two?

Same to you. Do you think that the heat waver is also checking out this goo? Is the heat waver doing something else?

What's the heat waver doing?

I'm starting to worry we have to eat the goo. You know? And I'm and so I want

We need to embrace it, I think,

or something. Maybe this is something like that.

It seems like, yeah, everyone's over at the goo, so I'll be there. I can I roll an investigation on the goo? Yes.

That's perfect.

Here we go. Oh, 17.

Hey. Here we go. Alright. So starting with you, heat weaver, you will notice that the goo seems to sort of evaporate once they transform into their sort of undead state. So that that goo is there where the kind of body part used to be. And then once they realize it and the transformation happens, that part is just not there. Right?

So there

are no hands on the undead version of this wizard. Pungsook, for your arcana. Mhmm. Well, both of you, both you and Drip will notice this necrotic magic. Yeah. You recognize this as undead.

The magic of the dead. Yep.

It's my relatives. Yes.

You're recognizing this. Right? You're saying like, okay. Here we go. And so you will know that there's a curse that can be placed. And that in order to break the curse, actions need to be undertaken in a certain order.

Okay. Mhmm. Yep.

So you're recognizing, oh, yeah. This is not family history. Here we go. So what do we do with this information?

Walk it, stomach it, grasp it, swallow it, speak it, see it. I don't know. A certain order.

I'm just gonna remind you who is in the room. So on your left, there's a pair of people who are sort of deep in conversation. And then you've got Froric at the bar, barkeep, wizard, monk.

Okay. So the barkeep's been asking us our names Mhmm. Which could be speak it. That could also be the couple. Walk it feels like the no legs situation. No legs. Yeah. I I feel like I got that one.

The wizard has gotta be grasped. Right? He's trying to grab he's trying to grab

the scraper.

Swallow it could be the barkeep.

Dwarf. Oh, swallow it may be the barkeep. That's smart. So walk it. So

Or Cheeseman. Right? Cheeseman. I mean, no. The a swallow's gotta be auroric. Right?

Would think of the stomach. Yeah.

Oh, stomach. Yeah. I guess that's true. He's got

no stomach. Yeah. No stomach. Well, we still don't know what these two people are up to on the left.

Mhmm. Mhmm. The couple.

We need we need more data.

You wanna go check them out?

I'd love to go check out the couple.

Alright. So as you walk up, the two of them are deep in conversation. One of them is a red scaled dragonborn, all in black, sort of sleek except for an a bright amber scarf around her neck.

And

next to her is a dark skinned drow who seems a little a little more nonchalant but is speaking normally with her. And so you will hear as you walk up the dragonborn say

Four times I told you, Marvin. Four times. Grab the gem. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. And you said nothing. We barely make it out of there. And what did you forget? The gem. If I had that stupid gem, I'd use the wish to wish that I never met you. Right?

You're gonna see the drow. It's sort of dark skinned drow just it sort of rolls eyes and say, alright. I'm a need you to take five. Take a breath. Chill your wills and see that we can take another swing at it by playing Rumi's game.

Oh, by playing Rumi's game.

Just, you know, just take it easy.

Because it was so easy. And we can do it again. The first time.

Oh, it's not that big a deal. So they're sort of going back and forth like this. Are you all walking up together?

We have still left to talk to. We have these two to talk to, and then we had one I think. No. Was that was that it? This is the last one?

The pair, Rorik, the barkeep, the wizard, the monk, I

think.

And so and I do think they fit the riddle at this point, I think.

Okay.

Where the first you walk it, I think that's the monk who's been walking in the forest, tired boy, right? And then stomaching at the barkeep, or no, stomach it is Ruric and then-

Ruric, yeah.

Grasping at the wizard, swallow it, the barkeep, speak it.

This couple.

This pair, and at last you see it? Perhaps that's Sassar or am I missing something?

Or I wonder if the pair is speak it and see it

because Deacon see it.

Yeah. She said that he could the dragonborn said that the drow couldn't say and didn't say anything back. Yeah. That like Although he's now talking. So no one is missing a a throat or a voice.

You would have to kinda look look more closely.

Oh, yeah. Oh, she has a red scarf on.

She sure does.

So yeah. So Drip is we'll go over.

They're deep in conversation, and then they'll kinda look up as you approach.

Yeah. Samantha, is it are you missus missus Jackson's eleventh grade English? Good. No? Dragon Star High?

Ursula, do

you do you know who? We were

I I I grabbed the scarf and ripped.

I'm sorry.

Okay. Roll slight of hand.

Punta's got no chill.

11 plus one, twelve. Okay.

So I did I rolled the contest.

Mhmm.

She rolled very poorly. And so you are able to grab the scarf and pull it as Drip is sort of distracting her.

Yeah. That's what that's what he was trying to do. Yes. Definitely. Go team. Yeah. Good good thinking. Go team.

And as you pull it off, you will see black ooze

Ugh.

Where her throat will be. And as she goes to reach for her scarf and feels that black ooze, sees it on her fingers, she will begin to transform and then lunge to attack you. Importantly, her companion doesn't respond.

Yeah.

Is still looking at Drip and saying like, Ursula, you know him?

I I

don't I never heard

of that.

And he is still sort of gonna be trying to figure out what Drip is getting at.

So right right now we have the wizard attacking Marielle, like in this zombified form as well from earlier.

Oh, yeah. You're right. Yeah. Totally it. We never resolved that.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. It's a

continuous it's a split scene.

Yeah. That's right. Because you had you

had to you were not going to like try to

No violence this time.

What were you gonna try to do? Thank you, Jenny.

I'll try to hug

No.

This undead being.

Okay.

Loving the undead. It's the power of love.

Alright. We

love to see it.

So what are you hoping the hug will do?

Maybe just bring them back to life or fill this grief gap somehow.

Mhmm. Is that an unarmed strike?

Aggressive. Roll for love.

So I I I feel like there's a there's a persuasion element. There's a medicine element. Right? Trying like the healing power of love.

Mhmm. Roll for therapy.

Maybe it's her

roll for

which which of those do you feel like she's sort of going for? Is she trying to like show the wizard, like, sort of convince the wizard that things are okay? Is she trying to heal?

I think medicine sort of struck a chord. Yeah. We have a plus one, but let's see.

Okay. Roll your medicine.

14, so it'll be a 15.

Alright. I love that use of medicine. That's a great I love that.

It's a great hug. I like that.

You will you will notice the wizard is certainly surprised by that that move as he was going to attack you. And you'll see him sort of calm come over him. And in your arms, he will gently disintegrate. You'll all see a bright light flash, and you'll be walking to the door

of a tavern.

Yep. Okay. Hear the barkeep say

Yep.

Fast call. Put your final orders in so we can take this place down once and for all.

Once and for all. Put your little hand in mine.

I think we all need a drink at this point.

So to remind you, the barkeep is a dark skinned man with an eye patch.

Oh. Excited about you.

No. And

as you

walk up, he'll ask you your names.

So that rearranges things. So if he's an eye patch and he's in and he is see it Mhmm. Then the one we're missing is swallow it.

Swallow it. Yeah.

What else is on the menu maybe?

Oh. So the pear, one was speak.

Maybe both could be. Before we were kicked out of the bar, we did have it unresolved.

Yes. Yep. So that while that was happening, we were sort of over here. And so the dragonborn transformed when you removed her scarf, but you still have this drow.

Is there anything with the drow Because these have all been physical manifestations. I think we know that enough now to take a take a close look at the drow and see if there's any physical bindings, bandages, or other things, especially around swallowing.

So is Drip walking up to check this out?

I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I think he would he would put that together and cautiously approach.

Yeah. So roll a perception for me with advantage.

You got it. Perception with advantage. I'm rolling for oops. That's the wrong guy. I'm rolling forever. We got a five. Let's see if we can do better than a five. We can't. We did it too. So a five a five plus four is nine because I have a plus four bonus. Yep. So I got a nine.

Yeah. So as you walk up, you know, they're they're deep in conversation. You will hear them say

Four times. Four times. I told you, Marvin. Four times. Grab the gem. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. We'd barely make out of there. And what did you forget? The gem. And if I had that gem now, I'd wish that I'd never met you.

Alright. I'm gonna need you to take five. Take five. Take a breath. Chill your whales. See that we can take another swing at it by playing Rumi's game. We can do this again. So they're going back and forth with this.

Same dialogue. Yep.

Yep. And as you're looking, you're looking kind of around the throat area.

You don't

see anything on the neck or throat. Yeah. But you will notice that there is a it looks a little little extra black in his mouth.

Swallow. Swallow.

So Okay. It's like in order to see, you might have to, like, lean in

a little. I think he's gonna say he's gonna turn to the party and go, I'm sorry, but I have to do this. And then he turns back to our friend, and he says, I'm sorry, but I have to do this. And then he just sticks his fingers in the drow's mouth. Alright.

Gonna give you an inspiration for that standing offer. Yeah.

That is that is, I think, an unarmed strike. Right here, Slight

Man. Now give me a slight hand. Slight of hand.

Slight of hand. Yeah.

Can I play the lute? I don't know if it's exactly inspiring, but maybe something. I don't know.

The goal is to performance. Absolutely. Little accompaniment

to this mouth inspiration as well to use when you want to, Kurt. Okay.

I might need that right now.

For stepping back.

That is a nine minus two is seven. So the

loop is,

like, somewhat less.

Clint, you're welcome to use your inspirations if you'd

like to. Let me try it. Let me try it. This could be Off the thing. Oh, well, nope. Five. That's good. So yeah. It's still definitely lute music. Yeah.

It's yeah. It's lute music. It sounds nice. And so drip, what was the your sleight of hand?

Sleight of hand or unarmed strike?

I mean, I'd say sleight of hand because you're trying to, like, look in there. Yeah.

It's not my strongest. So that's a six, my friends. That's a six. I'm guessing I poke him in the nose.

You wanna use your inspiration?

Oh, I wanna use my inspiration. I was just inspired. I was inspired by my own decisiveness.

You were?

Yeah. You know what? Mhmm. I know what needs to be done here, I'm gonna I'm gonna let you know. Nine.

Alright. Well, you know, so you are gonna get your watery fingers in there.

Oh, yeah. They're wet.

And wet meets wet. Yep. As you feel this black ooze that you you know, from ruling Yarukana earlier. Right? You kind of you kind of wreck this texture. And there is black ooze where the tongue should be.

The tongue

should be.

Should be. Okay.

Mouth. Yep. So as you stick your fingers in his mouth, the oaky's gonna go and lean back. Yep. And as your fingers come out of his mouth, he's gonna see this black Yeah. Ooze all over them. And he's gonna put his own hands in his mouth and see the black ooze. And And he's gonna cry out. Yep. And he's going to begin to transform. That's makes sense. Then lunge at you.

I'm so sorry. Shall we do an initiative contested? Yep. 10.

Alright. So he rolled a 12. So he is gonna take an unarmed strike at you.

Yep.

Does a six beat your armor class?

It does not. My armor class is 11.

So he is going to lunch, but again, very clumsy. He's he's undead. And so he's gonna sort of stumble as he lunges for you onto the ground.

I'm so, so sorry. And Drip is once again, feels it coming, really doesn't want it to. But this eldritch energy surges through him again. It's not chill this time. It's this green swirling energy light that suddenly erupts out of his chest and just slams into the head of this this poor guy as as he says the words, I'm sorry. So he's gonna Elderich blast him Yeah. At close range. I was gonna say. Oh, boy. But it's only an eight, so it's maybe not the best use of

Alright. So the the eight will hit the floor like he was moving as you were

Mhmm.

Blasting, so you'll you'll just slightly miss. What are other folks doing while this is you see this happening?

I was sort of at the table with them too. I feel like I should should get in on this. Mhmm. Absolutely. I'm guessing they're immune have chronic damage immunity. So I will try another Sacred flame? Sacred flame.

I'm do

a sacred flame.

Yeah. It's radiant. Perfect. Filled up 14.

I think that does save.

It'll save. Alright.

That'll save. So again, he's just like kinda rolling. And these spills are just kinda blasting around him because he is on the floor right now.

Hope you're looking for that gem on the floor.

So yeah. Again, Ursula unfazed by this, the dragonborn.

We might need heat waver in on this. Heat waver. We're not having any luck. I think I figured out the riddle, but we've gotta revisit and not get killed. Mhmm.

Can I attack the other person that's sitting at that table?

You can.

The dragonborn? Sure. Mhmm. And like start a fight with them and maybe we'll reset this whole thing.

Sure. What are you using to attack? Are you gonna

My scimitar. I have I have

My scimitar.

Yeah.

Excellent.

I want this to be bloody.

Yeah. So roll your d 20. And what is the scimitar? Plus?

Probably plus five, I would say. We're just thinking.

Okay. An out of five.

Okay. 10 plus four is 14 plus one. I rolled a 15.

So you are gonna hit. Roll your damage.

Alright. Rolling damage. Four. Alright. Okay. Damage with the I need to sharpen this blade. So

as you tell me, like, what does it look like? How are you? What are doing with the scimitar?

So I was going I was going just to chop their head off, you know. Alright. And Mhmm. Didn't didn't make it very far through.

Well, so as you as you swing at her, going to chop her head off, you will see there is no neck there and the black ooze will come out. Right?

Yes.

Of where you chop. It's on your scimitar. It's pretty gross. And you will all see a bright light. And as your vision returns, you are walking into the tavern. And the barkeep says

Last call. Put your final orders in so we can shut this place down once and for all.

Final orders. Something resonated that time when I heard it for the third time.

Is it just the third? I have the thought here. This is tabletop talk or whatever you call it, tabletop. That it might be, I think we have the order of who's who in the room. Now I don't know exactly what to do with them.

Yeah. What's the are you me? Was that the last part of the riddle?

Are Are you

me is the last bit of the of the riddle. Mhmm.

So what is Van Took saying to is that are you saying that

to That's what I'm trying to figure out, I guess. Yeah. I'd I'd wonder how does that sound group, I guess. Yeah. How does that

Well, cheese?

Say cheese.

Say cheese. Maybe Maybe cheese. But legs, rest, bed. Let's start with with walk. What's the can you say the riddle one more time?

Yep. Grief moves in six steps. First, you walk it, then you stomach it, then you grasp it, then you swallow it, then you speak it, and at last, you see it. Are you me?

I think we need to go back to the barkeep somehow. This the at last you see it. And I think that might be the last step. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. Yep. And then maybe that's where we put our orders in, and our orders is to please don't do it again. I order you not to

do it again.

Mariel's hug was useful. Do we should we hug everyone?

Mariel, can I have you roll an insight? An insight. Okay. Mhmm.

Where's my oh, right there. Plus three. Okay. So 15.

Fantastic.

So when you felt that hug, the sensation that you had when things reset in your back at the beginning was not the same as when you swung your sword at Rorik at the dwarf. Right? And that in that first one where you were slaying Roric, you felt a like sort of an angry, sad, right, like a churning feeling, a turmoil. And when you hugged the wizard and he disintegrated and you you felt a different sensation, there was more of a peace. It's less that turmoil that sort of churning was not present.

I I wonder if there's I if each of us I I mean, I I've got my loot. I think you're we're into something with the hugs. Mhmm. But I wonder if each of us has something maybe more in a a comforting vein. And if we maybe if we can try to offer some comfort to each one in order, maybe that is the thing to do.

Can I drink my little larva and like have some insight and say, like, I I see your I feel your pain? That's great. Good idea. So

you're gonna maybe order order a drink?

A mortar. Okay. Barkeep, I'd love a glass of

Names are important.

My name is the heat waver, and I would love a glass of water, please.

Eddie, pleasure to meet you. Here's your water.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And you're gonna dip your little Larva Buddy in there and drink it down? Dumbass. You feel just like a squeaking excited sense

of sound in your head. And,

yeah, as you consume, as that little excited little presence is absorbed into you, you are able to cast detect thoughts. So you are able to choose to look into someone's mind and sort of get a sense of what they're they might be thinking or feeling or send a message to them.

Who do I choose? I think I'd choose the barkeep and say, you know, we've all been through really tough times in life. You're not alone in this lonely tavern. You

you hear the internal kind of thoughts, like, of the barkeep who's just reminiscing and says, if I can win this game, I can help Marlene out. I can do her right. Her death won't be for nothing.

Marlene, who's

Marlene? My daughter. Your daughter Marlene? Marlene.

Did she go missing? Did she get eaten by a mantis?

She was lost at sea.

She was lost at sea?

Yes. It was a wreck, and no one ever found the missing people off a coastline. But I know she's got to be there still. There's got to be something more. If I could just win this contest, I can see her again. Contest of death.

Sounds like everyone in this tavern has lost someone.

I think I think we should try to go to the others in in order while he's having that. I think, I think this is I think this is about the barkeep primarily is my There's a certain loss that's controlling everything in this space. And I think, you know, if we went maybe as a group and tried to offer comfort to the, you know, to the first to the monk and then to the and then to Rorik. Rorik. Yeah. Mhmm. And then to the wizard.

To the wizard?

To the couple.

And then to the couple, but the dragonborn first and then the drow, and then to the barkeep to join. Think if we tried to do that as a group, maybe I could play the lute a little bit and we could

So are we gonna

free hugs T

shirts maybe, something like that. I I we could I I just yeah. We could do that or or all yeah.

Are you going together? Are you

I think we should go together. Join that. You play the lute, and I sing a song about feeling your pain and empathy. Wonderful.

And I use I use my thematurgy, cantrip to to sort of amplify the sounds that we're making and to give it a kind of flare that sort of resonates between the world of death and the world of life.

Lovely.

So what I'm gonna do for that is I'm gonna have the heat waiver roll a performance

first. Okay. Fair enough. Rolling performance. Oh, 13.

Excellent. Okay. You are gonna roll a performance with advantage, and you're gonna add three as you're playing the

loop. Good.

16 and a 14. Two good rolls. It is I do have a a minus here. So I'm

I think it's minus two.

Minus two. So kind of plus one. Plus three. Yeah. So yeah. So I guess 17 was my high there. So

Yeah. Blue lair. That's fantastic.

Good you are at the performance that you're batting. Yeah.

Really good. It's beautiful.

You're doing this to the monk like first you said?

Like First to the monk. As

you're doing this heat waiver, you hear the thoughts of the monk Yes. Kind of being sued and saying, I suppose I can't outrun the butchers of death. What's the point if I can't even enjoy the stroll of life? And you kind of feel her fade into dust disintegrating. Oh. Mhmm.

And you do not reset. So she disintegrates.

She's accepted her fate.

What do you do next?

Gives me goosebumps. I love it.

I love Let's move let's move over to old Rorik over there.

Rorik.

Yeah. Rinse and repeat. Yeah. Jesus. Oh oh oh, I've got drip is gonna step forward, and he's got minor illusion as a cantrip. And so he's gonna minor illuciate camembert and put his camembert and some crackers right in front of him and be like, Rorick, I I tested these. These are safe.

Rorick will look up. See this beautiful bounty?

Wait

a second. Trust. It's okay. I have to be able to trust.

You can I've

I've tasted it.

Okay. It's so hard to trust again after death comes. Thank you. And kind of reaches over to hug you, Drip, as he dissipates into dust. Aw.

This is beautiful.

What do we do next?

Grasp is next, and that's the wizard. Drip's getting excited, and I think he he he grabs Mariel and kinda pushes her towards the wizard. Hug him again. Hug him. Hug him. Okay.

It was a timing thing before.

Alright. Wizard, I think I was onto something there. Can we please try again? Please embrace me.

I'm just gonna look up sort of befuddled. And do you do you reach in to hug, Ariel?

I suppose it's there's no point in wrestling through all this work if I can't have a little play and relaxation. This feels nice.

And it

kind of starts to fade away.

He wavers is hearing these thoughts, but each of you, as you're interacting, you you feel. Right? You feel a felt sense of peace. It sort of washes over you as the disintegration. So each of you has now sort of felt that as heat waivers, is hearing these thoughts. Alright. So the wizard will disintegrate into dust. And what do you do next?

So swallow and speak are the next ones. So I think we go to the couple. Mhmm.

Walk over there, deepen their little argument.

The gem loser, the first one we need is the swallow with the with the mouth, was talking about just chill out, take it easy, we can always do it again. So what is what does he need? You you have a second chance at this life. You have your whole life ahead of you. Yeah. It's okay. Whatever happened in the past, you can wake up with a clean slate every morning.

So you're saying that to Marvin? Like as you kind of hear that, it says Yeah. Yeah. There's always another another day. And you know, me and Trial and Dragonborn duo, we're gonna make it one day. One day, everyone's gonna know about the famous exploits of D and D across the land. Just disappear.

Feel a peace

a peace wash over you as he disintegrates. The dragonborn continues to argue.

Yeah. As though he's still there. Yeah.

Yeah. Sort of like, ah, okay. Here we go again. Now

what do you do next week?

Well, maybe I should say, listen. I can get a little worked up too. I think. How about we just take a minute and just sit here together in silence for a second

and

try to take a breath? There's always something to argue about. But maybe we don't need to do that right now.

So you're gonna sit at the table?

Sit at the table and just sort of look them in the eye and just sort of sort of take a breath.

You see the eye to eye, your gaze meets as Dragonborn has a small tear going down the side and says, I love that fool. Sometimes it's hard to see that when everything feels like life or death. And it kinda disappears with a breathe in and breathing out. And you'll

feel that peace wash over you as she disintegrates.

The only one left in in here should be our friend Eddie at the bar.

Last call. Eddie, Mark.

Last call.

Time to put in your final orders so we can shut this place down, everyone. Could you do me a favor? Tell me, when you get to the land of death and death's butchers, try and find Marlene for me. See if she's still okay.

Sounds like our next big adventure.

Dips his hat, like, to you, like and says, best of luck. And remember, Rumi, he plays for dad's keeps. And fades away.

Oh, Rumi, are you me?

Oh, Rumi. Yes.

With that, we will pull this into a close. Thank you, everyone.

Yay. Thank you.

That was fantastic. It's like

a skip rim.

I had a same thought. Emotional escape room.

What a metaphor for therapy. Right?

Or life.

So this would be our jumping off point, right, as we would continue into our adventure here. But so to sort of bring this session to a close, we would invite each of you to sort of check-in with yourself, maybe share, kind of a highlight or a moment that stood out to you, and speak to kind of how you felt like your interpersonal goal went? What was challenging about trying to step in? Were there moments that you wished you had? Yeah.

And as we've talked about before, sometimes when we're practicing a new behavior, we don't even know what that looks like or what we notice. I think like in the interview portion with the heat waiver, I kind of pointed out a moment of creativity and spontaneity that wasn't as noticed, like consciously. So as you hear others check out, like you can offer something you saw them do that aligned with that goal if you noticed it. Just to kind of help us kind of bring more of a light of awareness to these parts we're stretching and may not see.

It was so cool how creative everyone was with keeping the thread, but also throwing in these like wrenches and using the tools that they had and spontaneity. And you guys did such a good job of keeping everything moving forward. To be honest, I stepped outside. I was trying to solve this riddle the whole time. I just, like, kind of follow the story.

Mhmm. Absolutely. Was there a moment that sort of stood out for you where you felt like maybe you were more heat waver?

Well, was challenging to access it because of my idea of the heat waiver is he's a really good problem solver. And I was rolling really crappy dice the whole time. So Yeah. You know, I had to take a step back from that and let go of control. Yeah. You know, in Andrew's life, control is a big problem. Mhmm. Yeah. You know, the heat wave are relinquishing control, not as his own choice, but just because of the circumstances.

It's not going that way.

Yeah. It's just not going the heat waivers way that day. Yeah. And that you can depend on your group, you know. We we move better in groups and you should be able to depend on people and There was some decisiveness that Heweaver was able to display that felt really like the thing you were talking about, Andrew. Like going behind the bar

Mhmm.

Trying to solve that that way and, Yeah. Like, knowing the

Yeah.

And some real problem solving.

Okay.

Right? Like, was, like, retanging the thoughts and starting conversations. Right? The way that you started that conversation with Eddie at the end, I felt like was really you kind of stepping into that.

Yeah. A little empathy in there.

Yeah.

Mhmm. And you putting yourself forward as being the person who was checking in on everyone by Yeah. Being able to do the mind connections and being able to check-in to make sure that people have what they needed and we're getting there. Well, that was nice to see too.

An ability you only had because you spoke up for yourself.

That's right. Yeah. Yes.

And you utilized it even though the first time you tried to like

You shot me down.

Behind the bar and get that drink, you didn't quite make it.

But you still made a cup of it. You were like, got it. But we're gonna do this first.

Did other folks notice? Yeah.

I think I tried to project the confidence and make some decisions, but maybe I could have stepped in more still next time. But I think I tried to take initiative and try to center myself in what I would want, which I know was my goal.

I I think you did. Like, I think that like Yoda, do or do not, there is no try. Like, did. Great. Like, show the confidence with the powerful sword, strike with the hug and embrace. You're the wizard. Right.

Yeah. That hug was great. I never would have thought of that. Like, it was such a it's such a Yeah. A compassion because that was exercising the compassionate caring for people side that you're talking about. But, you know, really decides, no. No. We're like, this is not how this is gonna be. Mhmm. We're gonna make this because I need you not to, like, recess. I need you I need things to be this way, so we're gonna take this different path together.

It works on two year olds that are having tantrums. So

And undead. And undead. Yeah.

Like, the the courage that it takes to hug an undead zombie who's attacking you

Right. Actually

more significant than throwing a sword.

Yeah. That's right. That's really well put.

Yeah.

Yes. And I love the balance. Mhmm.

I I really loved everything about this. This is so great. I wondered for myself, like, would I feel authentically you know, could I do the character thing and still feel like it's connected to a thing that authentically for me is like at a learning edge? And I actually thought it really made it easier to do that if anything else, once you, you know, once you get into it, and it's fairly easy to get into it. And that there's a certain pleasure in you can kind of play with your dysfunction.

then try to

do something else. That's really like I know it's Stu Allendorf, it says there's a hidden excitement and feelings of shame. I mean, maybe there's some of that in there. But that you can you know? So you can run-in and, well, yeah, here here's where I would probably lose my shit about it. You know? I I figured I figured out just enough to be pissed and dysregulated. Let me let me do the thing and see it not work. Yeah. Yeah.

That's that like? Yeah. That moment where you're like, this is

you just

rushed in.

Yeah. What was

that like for you, Kurt?

Like the menu on fire within that one. Yeah. That was so good. It was so good. It was it was so funny. And I, you know, I wish I could say I never do that. Like, I'm not I try I try not to, but, like, I've done it recently a little bit, like, with the in my personal life. You know? Like, you

know? And

I'm like, oh, yeah. And then later on, you're like, was that effective? Was that good? It really wasn't. So what else can I do? I need to take like two big steps back and pull out that lute and do the thing do the thing I'm not always good at, but that maybe sometimes it works anyway. Right?

That's How humanizing is that to recognize that it's not about perfection or always being a certain way? Like we're not trying to make it so that the more reserved and calm you is always the best option, but that you can, you know, have that slip up if that if that's like, you know, oh, I'm going down this familiar path of rushing in, like and knowing that that's okay. Now what do I do? How do I recover? How do I repair when there's rupture in these relationships?

And it's also quite thrilling to play to roll a Nat 20. I just wanted to say that it is surprisingly I fun to do had a good I had good fortune for that. So it was I wanna play this character forward.

I know. I'm already grieving, just to be on the comment here, that I'm not gonna get to see this party continue on. Oh, man. Great characters.

I was most affected, I think, by Drip knowing what needed to happen and that he needed to get the just a piece of information. He was gonna do it in the worst, most awkward way, and then stick his fingers into someone's mouth and then have to kill them. Yeah. In order to reset because it was the wrong order of things, but we just needed the information. Right.

Ordinarily, we would be able to we'd be continuing to play this. Right? Like you are just feeling your way into these characters.

This is just a

first session. Right? But each week, we'd be able to kinda build, and this would get more clear, and, you know, that's the it's the process.

And as an example for the bounty quests, we might do between sessions if we're thinking about you, Hans, like Yeah. We might say like, well, what's a way, like, this week you can rely on your friends a bit more since you found that really gratifying? And if that's not something that's natural to do is to, like, ask for help or to expect people to come and help, like, how can we lean into that? What's a behavior you could do to ask for that more directly? Yeah.

And then I would report on that back when we got to next session of like, where did I stumble? Where did I where was I able

to successful?

What did that feel like?

How did

it go?

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly.

Homework. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Carrying the game into our lives, really.

Exactly. And learning.

And carrying the game into our lives, like, from other characters' perspectives. I noticed that, like, as we went around and described our characters, like, Mary, you started off, and and I was like, oh, that sounds like me too. Oh, that's like and then as we went around, like, everything, it it kind of like, oh, I can totally identify with that. And sometimes I feel like diagnosis is like that too. Like, there's this gray area between all these diagnoses where like

Totally.

You're a little bit of this and you're a little bit of that and you identify as so many things. And maybe you boil it down to one description, but you're really a vast spectrum.

Mhmm. Yeah. Mhmm. You get a case of the drips. Yeah.

I got a case

of the

May we all may we all get a case of the drips. Yeah.

Yes. And we do check-in with our interpersonal goals throughout the course of the group as well. Right? Sometimes it shifts. You know, you notice as you're playing like really where I wanna go, I'm feeling myself wanting to stretch myself this way. And that's fantastic. Right? We could kind of explore that. Or if you're feeling like you're moving in parallel with another, you know, another group member, kind of explore that, build on that.

Do you feel do you feel like the kind of group dynamics that you see in a in a regular therapy group are also sort of overlaid onto this around tensions around joining and how do we have conflict and kinds of things like that. Mhmm.

Sometimes there are chaos agents that in the group that can be very much into And and sometimes there needs to be like some invitation where we might ask, like, you know, Marielle, if you see one of your teammates doing something violent, are you are you wanting to stand for that? Are you wanting to set a boundary or to, like Yeah. Convince them before they jump in and do something violent and rash? Right? So we might, again, just help people notice when they can jump in and be spontaneous to, like, interrupt what other people are doing, knowing that that's not it can feel rude, like, when we're first in a group setting to interject or kind of add one's voice to that.

Yeah. And much like that kind of process group element, we're able to have like a a process analysis, right, as we're doing it because of the separation between characters and players. Right? So we're able to get a kind of dual process there of like what were the characters experiencing and how do they track? What roles are they playing? And then how is that playing out or playing out differently for us as a group?

Well, thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. So much fun.

So much fun.

Well, thank you so much adventurers for your time and energy emotionally into this quest today. I hope we've all learned a little bit about ourselves, a little bit about how we see the world and one another. And as you exit the tavern and go into a brand new world with adventures on the horizon, Poon Suk, play us out. I'd be happy to.

Unravelling is brought to you by Brattleboro Retreat. Our producers at Charts and Leisure are Andrew Adkin, Hans Beuteau, and Jason Oberholzer.

And you can find us on social media by searching Brattleboro Retreat. Bratiborle Retreat is committed to exploring diverse perspectives on mental health. While we invite hosts and guests to share their insights, the views expressed are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the hospital or its staff.