Thug Mugger in the City 11/6/22

Table Talk:

Two bits of related table talk this week. I built a couple more detailed maps of some of the buildings to continue to flesh out the world. 

I also pre-wrote some stuff for the sermon Sorin is about to witness. I had a moment of inspiration that really clicked in and felt true to the world. One of those writer thoughts of “What if…” that instantly becomes “yes, that is definitely what it is.” Part of this inspiration comes from the sokushinbutsu (living buddhas) of Japan and this episode of the Chasing Immortality Podcast about them (trigger warnings about death, torture and starvation). So if you are interested about the high priest you are about to meet, give it a listen.

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Before, I thought the world was terrifying, merciless, and ready to chew you up. Now I know it’s all those things, but also with ghosts.

-Clark Vandemier —Jason Murphy, “Necromancers on Drugs: Chapter 4”

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🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿

Chapter 9: Sorin Goes to Church (cont.)

🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿 Chapter 9: Sorin Goes to Church (cont.)

The man on the balancing platform slowly rises. He shifts his weight and the disc tilts just enough to slowly rotate, turning slowly to face all sides of the assembled congregation.  Sorin realizes that his robes are actually a flat 880808 red – the color of Kai’s blood. When he flipped in the air his robes fell with the red on the outside, and the normal black and white reversed inside. 

Wait, did i say ‘he’ before? Well she… it’s hard to tell really, I mean gender is a spectrum they could be a masculine she or a feminine he, or completely non gendered, or… and to be honest the gender of a stranger doesn’t really matter, outside of being respectful, it isn’t very important. What is important, and what makes it very hard to tell genders, is that this priest . . . is dead.  

Half decaying flesh sags and bits of bone show through. And then the mouth opens and the corpse begins to speak. “Dearest Nibiru congregation,” The priest begins. Their voice is unexpected, not the rasping husk of a dusty old tomb, but the warm voice of a grandparent welcoming you in from the cold – albeit with a slight hiss where the air is escaping through the hole in their cheek. “How good it is to see you all.” The undead priest lifts its hands in a hallelujah gesture and joyfully intones, “The Shadows are here among us!”

Everyone in the crowd looks up with loving eyes, everyone but one. Sorin is (dice roll) looking at the lich slowly rotating on top of the pyramid. Surprisingly Sorin actually has some knowledge here. The undead holy priests of the faith have actually given a few talks at the university. It is a very rare occurrence for priests or clerics to go to the school as the school tends to have a mocking attitude towards religion as a whole. However these priests are some of the most powerful necromancers around… that are still likely to obey any laws or put up with a student Q&A segment. Necromancy is not forbidden at the University, but it also isn’t taught. As a school of magic, necromancy, has no established curriculum or courses like the other seven schools of magic. There are some books in the library, and these occasional lectures, but anyone wishing to learn the arts of necromancy is better off looking at another campus. 

“Some of you look surprised to see me here today. It’s true I don't often come out of the Carracklaw Temples. But during this holy time of changing seasons I wanted to start my tour with visiting one of our biggest parishes. Besides that, it is my honor to visit the birthplace of the great Saint Milcreed. He was one of the brightest minds in his age. And, with his husband, the fierce Paladin Rihza they fought and struggled to bring balance to five kingdoms. And as I hope you know, they founded this very church.” They move their arms in the way of a natural storyteller, shaking the red frock, “But enough meandering from an old man.” The lich priest smiles, and their eyes close, but we can hear the hiss of air between teeth escaping from a hole just under the left eye.

The Priest's face turns stern as he looks over the parishioners. “I have seen beyond the curtain of death. My soul has waded through the rivers of the damned, and stood atop the mountain of salvation. I have seen Gods of terror, and I have seen Gods of love, and I have been inside the glass pyramid of Hermestist.” They pause and suck in a breath with a reedy hollow sigh, then go on with a lengthy sermon about fear and the importance of balance in all things. The lich priest warns the Parishioners to follow the will of The Shadow. Phrases like “lest the shadows emerge from the walls and drag you with them” and “the true pain is that which awaits in death for anyone who only focuses on pleasure in life.”

After the sermon the lich priest stops revolving on his stand. He gives a kindly smile that is slightly undone by seeing his teeth showing by his ear. He lifts his hands into the shadowy rafters of the ceiling, and is quickly pulled into the thick cloud of darkness above. 

Parents wipe their children’s eyes and shush their fears away. Families rise from their seats, and the mass of people [hehe get it] begin to file out with a handful waiting in the pews to walk to the sacred stations in the church. 

After the sermon, Sorin brushes back his hair and casually touches the sending stone on his ear. 

The rest of the Thug Muggers hear his voice clearly. “So um, guys, I’m about to go find one of the priests and talk with them, maybe you all could make your way back here and be close by, just in case.” Then they hear murmurings and the sounds of people shuffling around before the stones go silent. 

The party of three (Cypress, Ari, and Rae) head out of The Church of Glorious Gods, and out towards the main streets. 

“When you were there before, did either of you notice any little cafes or something like that?”

“No I-”

“Yeah,” Ari says, “in the street just below the church there was a little corner cafe.” 

“Good,” Cypress says as they start heading south among the throng of people, “I’m betting a bunch of the church goers will eat there after the service.” He looks up at the sky, “plus it’s about time for elevenses.”

In The Church of Shadows, Sorin steps forward to get the attention of one of the four priests in the crowd as they stand by their corners of the Pyramid. 

Here is the mechanical way i cooked up to determine who Sorin runs into. Ashley will roll a D6 for Sorin, and i will roll a D6 for the priests. If the numbers are next to each other (2 and 3 / 5 and 6, etc.) then it is the priest from the cult attached to all the goings on in the sewers. Whoever rolls the higher number knows the situation, the lower number has no clue (if Ashley is 3 and i’m 2, then Sorin knows it’s a sewer priest – if i roll 6 and she rolls 5 then the priest knows Sorin is after the cult). If Ashley and i roll the same number, Sorin gains an advantage because the priest is actually someone he knows. Someone from childhood, or the school, or something. 

We both rolled a 3. 

Alright, that's awesome, we get to meet someone new, and since it’s from Sorin’s back story, Ashley, tell us about them, it’s yours to create.

Ashley: “This is Matteo, he was in the same orphanage as Sorin. He was kinda like his big brother growing up, definitely like a protector figure.”

Just a footnote here, when i looked up the name Matteo to make sure i was spelling it right, i learned that the name means “gift of god” in Hebrew, which is just too good for a priest. 

Alright fantastic, i’m gonna say that you and he both kinda discovered your pensience for magic at around the same age but he went with religion and you went with the school. Just a reminder here, i’ve established in the world that magic is kind of viewed in two ways. Wizards and Sorcerers tend to view magic as a scientific natural source to be understood and leveraged – ‘why worship a god, when, with enough understanding, you can become a god?’; whereas Clerics, and Paladins tend to view magic as a divine right given to them as an act of holiness – ‘why question the gifts of the divine when you can embrace them and be gifted with their talents?’. Druids and Warlocks are a mixed bag, some leaning towards the natural force philosophy, some towards sacred or super natural will. 

So how does Matteo view Sorin’s choice to learn magic at the school?

Ashley: “I think his attitude is a lot like my friend [REDACTED] when I came out. Like ‘I just want to save you from going down the wrong path’”

I roll a die to determine Matteo’s attitude here. 

When Matteo turns around and sees Sorin his expression is briefly confused, before shifting into a face of worry. “Sorin, I’m so glad to see you, it’s been too long. Are you okay?”

Sorin looks nervously around, “Well I wanted to talk to you. I took time off school to come and learn some things.” Remembering his earlier lie and trying to stick with it as much as he can, he continues, “It was hard to get away, but I’m staying at the Nort Gate inn right now to avoid my teachers.” He trails off a bit, losing the plot.

Give me a deception roll, and he is going to contest it. 15 and 16. 

Matteo puts his hand on the wizard's shoulder, and his soft yellow eyes are gentle and kind as he says, “Is everything okay, Sorin? I worry about you in that school. Do you need help?” Pressing the initiative he glances over his shoulder to wave at someone and says, “Tell you what, why don’t you stay here for a few days, I’ll send someone to go and get your things from your room at the Nort Gate. Is it under your name?”

Further north, Ari is walking along the street with Cypress and Rae when the ground by her shakes a little. A voice above and behind her rumbles, “ ‘xcuse me wand’r. On er holy day liken this’n’ could ya spar eh coin fer a tired ol’ beggaman?” (Excuse me, wander. On a holy day like this, could you spare a coin for a tired old beggar?)

Ari turns and looks over her shoulder to see a seven and a half foot (that’s 9 centieters) troll looming over her. His mottled gray skin is pale and bumpy. Half his face looks melted like a wax dummy and he holds out a hand like a baseball mitt to Ari. 

Brooke: “Yeah sure, I’m true neutral, I give him 2 gold.”

The troll beggar grins in disbelief, revealing a mouth less in need of dental work as in need of dental reconstruction from the ground up. He bows his head in deep gratitude. 

In much the same way as a gas will expand to fill the entirety of its container by filling every corner, panic expands to fill all of Sorin’s face. 

“The Shadows will provide, don’t worry. Is the room under your name, or did you have to use an alias to hide from your teachers?” Matteo asks, ironically, like someone afraid their friend is trying to escape a cult. 

“Um, no, it’s..” Sorin stutters, trying to jump start the liar-engine in his brain. “Uh..” it won’t turn over. “I’m not registered, I um, couldn’t afford it? They don’t know I'm there?”

It has already been established that the Nort Gate Inn is famous for catering to everyone, sleeping in broom cupboards, or even on the roof, for as little as half a copper or some work around the place. 

Matteo's yellow eyes tear up at the plight of his childhood friend and ‘little brother’. “Oh Sorin, you couldn’t even afford one of the wash closets, or a corner on the roof?”

Desperate for a respite from this incredibly harsh interigation, Sorin hastily tries to distract by changing the subject. “I just, I need to know if there is more depth to your faith!” he blurts out before a better idea can occur to him. 

Brooke: “Yikes, wow, what a thing to say to a priest.”

No, I like it actually, i think it fits with everything he’s said so far and the school's attitude. I’ll let you roll a Charisma contest and see what happens. 

Ashley rolls and puts her head in her hands: “It’s a 1” 

Well he rolled a 2, so you got literally the only number that could screw you here. 

Matteo’s eyes harden as he becomes very suspicious. “Tell me the truth, Sorin. What’s going on?”

Your penalty for the nat 1 is crippling guilt.

In Sorin’s eyes, the face of Matteo shifts and changes, suddenly this man in front of him is a child. He sees Matteo standing up to bullies on his behalf. He remembers the sounds of the rocks hitting against his ‘older brother’’s chest. Sorin sees Matteo’s face above his from where he sat looking up as Matteo pointed the way along the pages, teaching him how to read. 

Sorin’s knees crash against the wooden floor beams, and he starts to sob. He flings his arms around Mattteo’s legs. “I’m so sorry!” he chokes out as his tears begin to stain the priest’s tabard. 

On the other main street now, Rae feeling something wet splash onto her shoulder. 

A memory splashes into her mind as she thinks of Sorin telling them, “Oh yeah, sometimes the students will kind of make fun of the tradition by tossing piss off the roofs.”

Hesitantly she turns her head and smells it. It doesn’t smell like anything. Rae sighs in relief and looks up to shake an angry fist at whoever did this. She sees families on roof tops, at windows, and the odd balcony here and there. Above her a family with a small child singing “Bring bring bring the spring, toss the water, grow the flowers, bring bring bring the spring…”

We wade through a crowd of people glancing at Sorin with an odd mix of concern, pity, and confusion. Then we follow him and Matteo up the stone spiral staircase to the second floor. 

At the top of the stairs we see two unlit torches on the wall and next to us is an iron and wood railing. The railing extends around the room in a large octagon a couple yards out from the wall. The second floor is, in fact, mostly an empty hole in the floor where we can see the top of the pyramid sticking up. In truth, it is basically a large ring with a library and podiums on one side, a meeting table and chairs on the other side, and the doors to an office on the side away from where we stand by the stairs. 

Matteo leads Sorin to the table where our young wizard takes the seat on the far side so he can keep an eye on the stairs. 

“So, Sorin,” Matteo says with a practiced kindly smile, “You were going to tell me what brought you here to the church today.”

There is a pause as Sorin considers all his options and decides how to go forward. “Well, I, look, Matteo, I want to know what you’re into,” he says with hesitating starts and stops before trying again. “It all began when I met this girl. She’s really changed my world, and with her, well I got into some stuff, in fact there’s a lot I’m into now, and I guess I want to know what you're into. Maybe you could help us or even join-”

Matteo puts up a hand to stop him from digging an even deeper hole. “Um,” he says nervously, “Sorin, some of the older priests maybe have more experience with these sort of sensitive things, but I really don’t. Since I’ve known you for so long, I’m just gonna come out and ask you.” there is a heavy pause between them. “This a sex thing?”

A few blocks away, Cypress, Ari, and Rae decide to head the long way around so they don’t have to walk through the courtyard by the church and risk getting noticed by the parishioners. They take the dark alley between some buildings and the city walls, and they don’t get mugged. No, really, i checked. I rolled dice and everything. They didn’t get mugged or anything. It’s anti-climatic, but i thought i should be honest and tell you. 

The three do cross over a small alley to the side street leading to the church and come to the cafe that Ari had seen before. It’s a three story shop taking up the corner between two tall nondescript buildings. 

Upstairs and a block away, Sorin is frantically saying “no” over and over as fast as he physically can. Matteo reaches out to grab his hand and calm him down. 

“Look, Sorin, I'm happy for you. You met a girl, maybe. And, if she’s real and doesn’t live in fantasy Canada that's even better.”

“Wait what, no she’s totally real! She, and I-”

“But, I don’t think you're telling me everything. Why today Sorin? You could’ve come to ask me about religion any time, what makes this feel so urgent to you?”

Sorin’s heart is once again filled with images of a younger Matteo helping him find his way. He remembers his dream as a kid that maybe they actually were brothers. They’re about the same age, they’re both half-elves, they both have magic… Sorin lets out a deep sigh and tries a more direct tract. “Matteo, what do you know about Wererats?”

“What? Where’re rats? They’re all over. It’s a city.” Matteo and the DM say in the same voice.

“No, WERE-rats. Like Werewolves, but Were-rats.” Sorin tries, attempting to avoid an eight minute Abbott and Costello routine. “I know you guys believe a lot in, like, the in between sort of things, do you know anything about wererats?”

Matteo’s face falls and for the first time he looks truly upset. His face is hurt and dejected as he asks, “Wait was this all just some school research project? You infiltrate my church, and make a scene and talk to me and,” he sighs with a look of someone realizing they’ve just been scammed, “and you just want to know about some magic thing  that you think we do.”

The banner wrapped around the front of the cafe reads ‘Fresh Mince’ under the name ‘Mrs. Likett’s’. All the seats inside are taken, and there are some simple folding tables outside in the street. Without worrying much, our heroes pull two stools and a low back wooden chair to one of the tables and sit down. After a moment of discussion where i threaten to penalize metagaming, a young blonde boy walks out of the shop singing about the cafe’s famous meat pies. He comes up to their table and asks for their order in an over-the-top cockney accent. Ari toes the line on metagaming and goes out of character to only order a tea (2 copper), Rae-the-Amenelable rolls the dice and orders a meat pie (1 silver), and Cypress orders a meat pie, a wheat butter bun, and a tea for 2 silver. 

In the Church of Shadows, Sorin is once again trying to take back his words when Matteo holds up his hands in an ‘I’m done’ gesture. “Look, Sorin,” he says with another heavy sigh, “ I don’t know why you’re here. I can’t shake the feeling that there is a reason you aren’t telling me, maybe it’s serious, maybe it’s just research.” He makes a ‘let me finish’ motion when Sorin tries to interrupt and continues, “But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you and I want to make sure you’re alright, maybe...” he trails off with a hopeless sigh, “maybe it’s just being in the church has you uncomfortable.”

“Matteo-”

“So here’s what I’ll say,” the priest says – like a man making the final offer in a difficult bargain, “In five days I'll take an evening off and go up to Ironton. I’ll sit on one of the rooftops by the old orphanage building. It’ll be good for me to go back and take some time to think. If you’re there and want to talk to me outside the church or school or whatever – and you want to tell me what’s going on, then you can ok?” Matteo stands up and holds out his hand. 

Sorin brushes his hair back and turns on his stone of far speech. He moves Matteo’s gloved hand away and hugs him close. He whispers “be careful . . . please.” against his old friend's cheek, then backs away and half-runs for the stairs and out the building. 

At their table in the street, Cypress, Ari and Rae see a familiar looking wizard walk by them rubbing his eyes. They finish their meal to give him some time to collect himself, then walk after him. A few minutes later they find Sorin leaning on a wall and watching as a painter sets up an easel and gets his bottles out to do some art. 

Cypress eyes him critically and asks, “So, How’d it go?”

“In five days I’m gonna meet him in Ironton to discuss things further,” Sorin says, then he brightens as a thought occurs to him. He stands up from the wall and starts to walk on. With a forced casual air he asks, “Ari, Rae, could, uh, could one of you come with me to a rooftop.. I, uh, just need a girl to-” 

Akris chimes looks at him critically and bluntly asks, “Thisss a sssex thing?

A beat-red Sorin crashes into the artist's easel, spilling paint everywhere in the road.

🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿

Intermission

🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿 Intermission

A little while later, Sorin is in Ironton’s Main Hall in search of a portable brazier to add to his tools for spells. After searching around he sees one in a glass case. It is a shallow brass bowl covered in etched runes, attached to what looks like a brass saucer or plate covered in enameled blue and red runes. Sorin reads the information on it. All it takes is two small sticks of wood and it will heat up with no fire to a high heat capable of boiling most liquids (basically a magical hotplate). Sorin wipes the drool from his chin and asks for the price with the air of a confident haggler. He hears the price and goes pale. He puts his hand to the glass and whispers, “I’ll be back for you,” before heading out of the hall to look elsewhere. 

The other item on Sorin’s shopping list is to try to find “some badass magical goggles”. So he starts to head for the Artificer’s Quarter when a thought occurs to him and he heads towards The Tool Shed on his way out of Ironton. 

Clearly, the large shareholders are taking the opportunity of the holiday weekend to rent out the available spaces. As we walk up to the Tool Shed today, it’s been redecorated in red and white. All the tools are impossibly clean, mostly red with stark white accents.  A young lady in beautiful blonde bouncing curls stands in a red Victorian dress with a slanted white “M” embroidered on the front with two lightning bolts on either side. 

This small doll-like young lady reaches out her hand and smiles, “Why hello, I am The Lady Walker, but please, you can just call me Millie. I have the finest tools you’ve ever seen, and I promise, even though they’re more expensive, MillieWalker tools are worth it!” 

Sorin asks about a portable brazier which seems to throw the young lady. It’s not an irregular need, but it’s not in the high end tools she usually sells. She quickly finds a solution to both their problems and sells him a MIlliewalker™  branded blow torch. The old brass kind that you have to hand pump and take thirty minutes to warm up. To go with this, she has a high quality Milliewalker™  camp mug to put in front of the flame, that will get hot enough for any magicing Sorin needs to do. 

It’s not really what he wants, but she talks him into it (for a bit over 40 gold if i remember right). After all, he reasons – like a kid downing allowance-based-maths, “Soon I’ll have the fancy magic hot-plate so this is only temporary.”

While Sorin walks to the Artificer’s Quarter, i give the others an opportunity to do something, everyone shrugs, but Brooke says Ari is polishing her new sword. 

Alright, i like it. For sharpening and polishing it, it has a temporary +1 on the next attack you do with it. 

The Artificer’s Quarter is basically set up like a modern American shopping mall. There are two floors of small stores where various companies, groups and famous artificers sell their work, and in the middle walkway are some small-time businesses and newcomers with little kiosk carts hawking what they can. 

Sorin goes into the first likely store and looks along the walls until he finds some eyewear. He looks carefully at some Pince-nez and some batman-style glasses attached to helmets – but no goggles. 

After a bit of looking a gnome comes out of the curtained-off backroom and stands on the counter “Ya need help with something?” he asks, pronouncing it as ‘summin’.

Sorin and the gnome go through a lengthy bargaining, that i will admit is mostly just me having fun doing the voice i came up with. Sorin asks about magic goggles, “what kinda magic, you mean like seeing body heat through walls?” and when the subject of magically assisted viewing of vitals, “Oh I see now, *’huntin’* like them deer what I hear about wearing bullet proof vests, I getchya, *huntin’*.” when Sorin offer 30 gold for this project the gnome retorts with a lengthy “fuck out here! 30 gold.’

Eventually they settle on a deal of 60 gold upfront now, and 60 more when Sorin comes back to get them. It will take about five days to get them made, but the gnome will only hold them under Sorin’s name for a week (10 days), after that they go on the shelves for common sale. 

When Sorin is about to go and the Gnome asks if he needs anything else, Sorin asks about a portable brazier. To his dismay and delight the shop has a couple fairly standard ones in stock. But now, Sorin only has 2 copper left to him. 

The gnome artificer scratches his chin with a sound like a cheese grater on cardboard, “Eh, yeah well, maybe we can make a trade, there. That a genuine Milliewalker blowtorch on yer belt?”

And with that trade, Sorin now has what he set out for, and walks back to meet his party for supper in the Nort Gate public room. 

I’ll breeze over most of dinner (stir fry by the way), since this is already getting pretty long. The high points are that Sorin can’t afford dinner, so Cypress buys him dinner. Then Akris tells them all how Sorin spent his last moneysss on something he won't even get unless he shows up in five to ten days and pays 60 gold again. 

“I hope you got a receipt,” Rae laughs at him

Sorin tries to defend himself with “But, I’m gonna look so cool!” only for everyone to get laughed at. 

Cypress makes a cutting remark to Akris that i forgot to write down, and Akris pouts under the table. 

“If he’s gonna dish it out, then he needs to learn to take it.” Cypress says, making a very good point that many people should learn from. 

Everyone agrees to get up fairly early in the morning to head back to the sewers and get back to work. As everyone heads back to the room, Cypress puts in a wake call at the front desk. 

That night Ari’s dreams are invaded by terrible visions of Akris the demon torturing her in a palace of fire and laughing at her pain. This is because Akris is still upset over dinner and didn’t roll high enough to get into Cypress’s dreams, so now he is having some petty spiteful tantrum inside Ari’s sleeping mind. 

We sleep. 

A sudden noise shakes the room. A sound like a battering ram crashing against a castle gate rattles the door in its frame. The door quivers and dust falls around it. A deep voice against the walls vibrates the hung painting in its frame “Wakey Wakey. Wake up alarm.” and then all we hear as we clutch our blankets to our chins, is the sound of massive footsteps, like a hoofed elephant, clomping down the hallway.

A little while later, everyone is standing in the courtyard, breathing steam into the crisp morning air, and even Rae-the-Cheap is enjoying her breakfast burrito. 

The party walked south to the sewer grate they crawled out of two days ago in tired silence. They watch one of the city Gnolls traveling along the street muttering to itself. As they turn streets they see the massive pile of furry trash crawl into the well as the muttering slowly fades. 

At the sewer grate everyone takes a last big stretch in the open air. Cypress uses his staff to open the grate and lift it to the side, which cracks me up, since Ari just spent all that money on a fancy crowbar. 

Ari is first down the pipe, then Rae, then Sorin, and Cypress climbs down after, wiggling the grate lid back into place. 

And we leave off there. The first day of Kythorn, our heroes descending once again into a smelly land of tunnels and rats and frogs and giant centipedes.

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NO. he said.

AH. YOU CHALLENGE ME AS BETWEEN EQUALS, THEN?

Mort swallowed. But at least the way was clear now. When you step off a cliff, your life takes a very definite direction."

-Mort and Death —Terry Pratchett, “Mort”

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Table talk:

I extended an invitation to all the players, and i will extend the same invitation to the readers here. I have worked diligently to build a world as respectful and inclusive as possible. For example, gender and race are not an issue in this world. I try to handle religion in a similar manner, but worry that sometimes these things come out sounding disrespectful. So, please shoot me a message if something here has been offensive or made you uncomfortable. Thank you. 

Here in the U.S. of A. it was a couple days before the election so i encouraged everyone at the table to look up the people on their ballots and go vote. 

I think we are all eager to be back in the sewers and back in the action. I had a lot of fun world building, and i hope everyone enjoyed it, but exposition gets tiring and sometimes it’s more fun to just smash things and roll a ton of dice. Plus, notes are a lot easier for me when there is less meaningful dialogue – and just “__ hit __ for ## damage with ___ weapon/spell” is all i need.