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Ep. 16 The Splendor Of The Stone Mountains
163 Plays4 years ago
The Swords make their way to the Stone Mountains with little time to spare. Traveling through the night and into the day, the Mountains waste no time in reminding our heroes they demand respect. As beautiful as they can be deadly, our Swords finally find themselves face to face with the Fortress where Delmar was last known to be.
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Transcript
Rainstorm and Encounters
00:00:13
Speaker
previously on the higher swords. Enduring a rainstorm and conversing with weary elephant travelers, our swords continue to the base of the stone mountains.
00:00:25
Speaker
An encounter with a pair of giant boars leads to our adventurers befriending and requesting aid for the journey ahead. Though, as they reach the edge of the wild, still toiling over the encounter with the Great Elk King, Krig says a prayer unto the four spirits for penance. His prayers were answered by the Great Elk himself. Onward to Stone Mountains.
00:01:20
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords. Don't worry, we know you're only here for Dale.
00:01:41
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Hired Swords. I am going to give you a quick recap of the last little bit. We have been traveling through the wilds for the last, gosh, it's been probably four or five in-game days, about five in-game days. And we are the night of the fifth day of travel.
00:02:03
Speaker
and you just recently got into a almost got into a scrap with some giant wild boars but instead of fighting them and destroying them you decided with Gwendolyn's magic and
00:02:19
Speaker
And her kind words and ability to speak to these animals, she was able to convince them to allow you to ride them instead of fighting. So well done. Good job on that, I guess. And then after you guys mounted up, Krigs cast a new spell and everybody saw this
00:02:39
Speaker
kind of this elk like ethereal looking like elk come out of the woods and he mounted the top of that cool beast and it looked like the great elk you guys had fought and you guys took off into the night riding your new steeds and as you are riding through the woods you are
00:03:04
Speaker
seeing that the tree coverage is decreasing. The woods are becoming less thick. It's becoming less dark. And then by dark, I don't mean like sunrise. I mean like you can see the moonlight and the stars at this point now because this tree coverage isn't as strong. The canopy is not as thick above you.
Debate on Journey and Resting
00:03:26
Speaker
As you're seem to be getting to the other side of the wilds and in fact you ride for a good hour and a half two hours Actually, how long does that spell last on? Yeah It might be I don't remember how long is that animal your friend and one of them's just going along with it because you just convinced it and
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, time's going on. It's 24 hours. So yeah, you've got you've got a beast to ride for a while. So, excuse me, so you're able to ride along. And like I was saying about a couple hours in the sun, or the sun does start to rise and behind you and as it starts to rise as you're as you're riding towards the east, or it starts to rise ahead of you over you see it coming up over
00:04:15
Speaker
the mountains in the distance and you can tell that you're you're you're you're coming up to the crest of the hills that are at the that are at the bottom of these mountains and you're you're riding that direction and at this point as sunrise comes on this day you you have not slept none of you took a long rest I don't believe because this was an interruption in the middle of the night am I correct on that that's my belief that's my remember
00:04:45
Speaker
That Chad and Tom were tamed. I believe that's their names we established before we got started So you guys are riding Chad Tom and I guess great elk. It's very important to know the names. Yes, you're riding towards the hills and Does is do you guys want to just ride into the mountains at this point? Or are you wanting to take any kind of stop and rest or what are you wanting to do right now?
00:05:11
Speaker
I'm good to keep going. I mean, yeah, I'll say I'm I'm just the boar is going and I'm making sure it doesn't stop. Like I'm confused or we're scared. Like I'm just like, all right, we're here. We're going and going. This is happening.
00:05:31
Speaker
Okay. All right. So you're riding and riding. You ride through the hills and it's another, it's another while through these hills. And you can tell now you're going on an incline. You're headed, you're headed uphill towards the mountains. You can see the stone mountains in the distance. And as you ride through the stone mountains here and the sun fully comes up, I need Krigs. I need you to make a constitution saving bill for me.
00:06:00
Speaker
All right. I don't like that. 18 plus three 21. Okay, so you are you're just you're fine. You're riding. Everybody's riding into the into the hills. There is there is the sun is now you know, I guess a couple more hours you go and you you ride and ride until you you kind of come up on probably about time to
00:06:28
Speaker
you get that hunger paying it's time to eat something it's time to do something to take care of ourselves as we've been writing that exhaustion starts to take set in from not resting at all last night we're not resting very much last night so would you guys like to just keep trying to take advantage of these animals and ride ride ride or would you like to take a rest
00:06:49
Speaker
Oh, you said take advantage of these animals after saying we're hungry as well. As Tom starts to slow down, I'm going to look over at Gwen and try to get a feel of what she thinks because she has a better understanding.
00:07:09
Speaker
When he looks over, I'm just smiling because I've never ridden a boar before. I went very excited. I say, we should keep going. How close? Obviously, I've been around Stone Mountains quite a bit. This isn't my side of it,
Camp Setup and Spirit Summoning
00:07:30
Speaker
per se, I believe. But in my
00:07:35
Speaker
My days going around from place to place, did I get any understanding of how close I am to actually being at the Stone Mountains at this point? Sure, make a perception check. Sure. Thirteen plus one. Fifteen. Fourteen. Do an advantage, sorry. Make it with advantage. Okay. You're very familiar with going to and from the mountains.
00:08:02
Speaker
It's still going to be 14. Okay. Same rule. It's meant to be. As you're riding towards the mountains, you can tell that you're probably going to reach the base of the mountains around nightfall. You're riding uphill, but you're still not going fast enough to take off much more than about a
00:08:29
Speaker
probably for five hours off the off the trip because you're you know you're you're on some boars which have kind of stubby legs even though they're giant boars they're not it's not like you're on horses and they're they're not they're not riding you know like a big racehorse would I mean it's just like skittering across the ground is just big and faster than you but not that much very very plotty yeah yeah yeah
00:08:54
Speaker
And it looks super cool, which is the most important thing. Oh, of course. The location that we're in currently, is it relatively open clearing wise? Yeah, it's rolling hills. After a couple hours of patches of tree here and there, tree coverage here and there, you've kind of come out of the trees.
00:09:14
Speaker
And you're riding uphill to where you're in the, you're in the full on rolling foothills as you reach the stone mountains. It's starting to get a little more barren as you're increasing elevation, less, less vegetation at all. And yeah, so, so, but it is pretty clear and vis, vis your visibility. That's the word I was trying to say. Visibility is pretty good all around at this point. Okay.
00:09:45
Speaker
Good to learn. I know you prefer to keep riding, but maybe we've given these boars a little bit more exercise than they're used to. I'm pretty familiar with these areas. Maybe we could just camp out here. We're not too far by foot. We could make it in another day of travel. Maybe we set camp, have a little bit of rest, let these animals free. If you say so.
00:10:13
Speaker
I'm gonna miss you, Chad. And she pets to the boar. Because this is the one that she didn't really charm when she was riding. Chad gives you a gives you just like a you know, and you you hear it. You hear it to kind of be saying, I'm tired. That's all. Yeah, I think I agree with Craig's. Let's uh, let's take a break and let them go.
00:10:36
Speaker
I get off Chad and I lay out a little spread of trail mix and then I speak to Tom and try to tell him, you're free now. Thank you. And I put him on top of the head.
00:10:49
Speaker
Okay. They both kind of root around that trail mix and they start digging down in the dirt and rooting down deep. And I mean, and they're a good size boar. So as they root around, they're, they're digging almost like, you know, this like eight inch deep trenches almost through the, you know, eight to 12 inch deep trenches through the, through the, the dirt there. And they, they eat what they've got and they just kind of slowly start to make their way back towards the woods.
00:11:17
Speaker
digging in the dirt here and there, stopping when they smell something interesting and digging through for roots and stuff, and just kind of go back about their business. Going to lunch, just standing there, just waving slowly by. She said, didn't go. And the sad hulk, end of the hulk music plays. Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah, you could just see Joxer like walking with his like legs spread, holding his like lower ends, just like that was awkward. Yeah, you were spread pretty wide, even for a flexible monk, you know, that's gonna give you the chap, the chitty thing. You know, we didn't have anything to, you know, cover him properly with, so that constant bumping. Gavin's fine, he was riding side saddle the whole time.
00:12:07
Speaker
Love it. Very proper. Those robes. You didn't want to hike up those robes. Yeah, exactly. You don't want to see what's underneath there.
00:12:16
Speaker
Krigs is going to get off of the Great Elk spirit or whatever, you know, the Great Elk we have, or I have. And in Dwarvish, I'm going to thank it and just like give it a pat on the shoulder, like the front shoulder, and dismiss it and it'll just kind of vanish.
00:12:39
Speaker
Awesome. Okay, so that great elk kind of gives you gives you a bow it tucks one of its legs down and bows its head and its antlers and its antlers just sparkle like a flicker of sparkle and then it vanishes out of out of existence. And yeah, it's it's getting at this point on to dinner time. And you've kind of haven't rested you skipped skipped meals up to this point other than maybe snacking on some whatever you could eat while you're writing but
00:13:08
Speaker
According to, according to jockser, you know, that was a pretty awkward ride. You may not have had the ability to pull out snacks and eat them while you're riding, so.
Mountain Journey and Connections
00:13:18
Speaker
My ride was fine. I don't know about you guys. True, true. Good point. Krigs, I have to say, that's a pretty amazing piece that you have there. When did you start pickable to do that? Well, I've actually, it's new. I took, I took a chance. You know, paladins, we have our,
00:13:35
Speaker
patrons are gods and I took a chance and I actually prayed to the forest, the wilds, and tried to seek out the spirit of the great elk. I don't know if that was the one we faced days back or if that was simply just an elk, but the wilds, I believe, blessed me.
00:14:03
Speaker
I believe they did too. I've never seen such a beast. Oh, Krigs, I can say she's beautiful. It's quite a climate event to see, I guess, the great beast back and then flutter away. Honestly, I'm just glad to know it's not gone forever.
00:14:29
Speaker
Me too. We all just agree, just to nod in agreement. I think this is probably as good place as any to set up a camp. We can just have an early night and we can get started early in the morning. Sounds fantastic. Are there any trees around?
00:14:50
Speaker
No, nothing of very large. There's some bushes, shrubbery, that sort of thing. It's getting pretty barren. There's no large trees, no. Okay. Sorry, Krigs. Oh, I'm good. We're good. It's like a weight off his shoulders. Yeah. Well, I'm not sure what we're going to do for a fire. We should have probably planned this a little bit better and had some firewood with us, but
00:15:20
Speaker
I guess we'll make do. We have plenty of things that don't need to be cooked. I'm sure there's some dead bushes out here. I can go out and take a gander.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah, as you as you walk around, you can see that that there are some there's a lot of dry bushes, things like that here and there. There's some dead, you know, not like tumbleweeds that are not tumbling. They're still it's not a desert, but they're still kind of stuck in the ground like it's their season to bloom or whatever hasn't come, or they're just haven't had enough rain out here yet to
00:15:55
Speaker
Bloom again so there's some dry plant life here and there it's it's nothing big like fuel sized but there's definitely something to get a fire going for at least a little bit. And then i'll be able to throw in some torches or a couple of things to at least get a couple of hours going. Was this area like made barren naturally or was this done nature check. Like on purpose.
00:16:23
Speaker
Oh yeah, I can roll my dice. What am I doing? I'm a fool. I am super foolish. Five plus three, eight. Okay. It's hard to tell for sure. As you look around, it seems like it's good enough land for trees and stuff to grow, but you don't really know just from looking around if it's, you know,
00:16:48
Speaker
if it was caused by something other than just this land is more barren hills as it gets up to the stone mountains. So. Are there any bodies of water nearby? There is nothing you see nearby here, no. OK. Figured a bath would be nice, but. Oh, a bath. I think you kind of smell a little bit like the boar now at this point. Yeah, you probably all do. Yeah, it's fine.
00:17:18
Speaker
All right, so I'll help Jockster put together the fire and get us some food and stuff. OK. Yeah, and I just rolled this. The skies are clear. It doesn't look like you're even going to get any rain or anything soon, so. There's no wildlife or anything around, right? You can make a perception check if you'd like. That is a 12.
00:17:38
Speaker
Okay. You can see birds very high up. They're not particularly interesting or large or anything of note, but yeah, that's about it. You may hear the skitter of some small, you know, plain or hill.
00:17:56
Speaker
wasteland rodent. Wasteland is not the right word. It's not that barren, but you know. Yeah. No, no, no fruit or anything that because you said it was mostly kind of the out of sight. Right. Right. It seems like there's nothing like that out here at this point. We should have plenty of food though. We packed up pretty well before we left.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I am going to while you guys are getting the grubbing stuff, just going to I'm used to this somewhat in this area and kind of my my past. I'm going to clear out some like bedding area, flatten out the ground, kick rocks aside, you know, have a nice spot that we can lay out stuff and have a decent little like bedding area in a square like pattern. So we're all, you know, protected on all sides.
00:18:43
Speaker
Perfect yeah you've got yourself a nice camp set up where you feel like you are you have a good vantage point up on the hill of seeing for quite a ways and everybody can be safe while somebody keeps watching you guys can go into your evening and having your having a.
00:19:01
Speaker
a little meal and a little bit of a fire. You're not able to get a big raging fire going, but you got something. It's crackling and it's not too bad. So anything going on in the evening before you settle? I think I'd look over to Craig's. So how are you doing? I'm doing fine. It's a little strange coming back to Stone Mountains.
00:19:29
Speaker
Uh, luckily, you know, this side is a little bit, uh, familiar, but not too, too bad, but yeah, I'm doing, I'm doing okay yourself. Doing good. I knew there'd be, we were, we were coming close to, uh, some familiar areas for you. So I just wanted to check up on. Yeah, fine. Um, hoping success and then our coming days looking for.
00:19:56
Speaker
that person. A couple. Yeah. At that point, Joxer would be, Oh wait, I forgot. And then like, he'll, he's going to like, start like grabbing at his inner, inner legs and like, yeah, I'm a little bruised too. Nevermind. Just a rough, rough, rough ride. Craig's, I sense a little bit of a trepidation for you coming back to the mountains. Is there an issue with the place itself or is it something just from your past?
00:20:26
Speaker
The mountains are fine. I just prefer to not have to come back here. Spent a lot of time in these hills. Over the course of my years, this was not too much of the stone mountains I hadn't trod on at least once. So you've lived on the stone mountains?
00:20:53
Speaker
Technically in, I guess, if you wanted to call it that. I've always read about them, but I've never gotten to see them. They're gorgeous. The right time of day, the sun hits the peak of the stone mountains, and no matter who you are, no matter where you're from, it feels like home. Home is something I definitely miss. I wouldn't mind that feeling, that's for sure.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully you enjoy your time while you're here at the Stone Mountains. They'll treat you nice, I hope. Joxer will just kind of get up. Home is overrated. I need to start prepping that water for some new brew, so I'll be gone for a little bit. Good luck. Appreciate it. I think that's probably best if we call it an early night, too. Like I said, the earlier we can get started, the better. We've had a long trip up those mountains.
00:21:45
Speaker
Absolutely. Uh, who would like to take first watch? We're in a pretty clear area with great visibility, but I still think, uh, precaution is, is due. I, um, I had a pretty easy ride, so I'd be comfortable taking a first watch if you'd, if you'd prefer, and I am pretty familiar with the area. No, relatively what to expect and looking for. I don't mind. You can take second if you'd like. I'll take first. How about that? Sounds good.
00:22:15
Speaker
All right. So if you want Krigs to take watch while everybody else is starting their either rest or off doing their tasks that they do most evenings. Why don't you. Why don't you Krigs go ahead and make a just roll a D 20 for me.
00:22:38
Speaker
That's a nine. It's a nine. Very well then. So with your nine, go ahead and roll a D12 for me. But, okay. Oh no. That's a three. A three. Is it bores? That sounds great. Is it borescited? Make a perception check. I'm sorry. Oh my gosh.
00:23:09
Speaker
15. Okay. So as you start your evening, you see over about three or four hilltops away, you see a pretty large group of giant boar. They're kind of, they're just kind of minding their business doing their thing and they're headed towards you. But as they do,
00:23:40
Speaker
Yep, as they head toward you, you can see that they are kind of keeping their distance. Whether maybe they smell something, maybe they see something, they're not coming your direction, but they're staying kind of off in the distance, but they're definitely out there.
00:23:56
Speaker
They're you're just kind of watching them keeping an eye and they're they're kind of keeping their distance They're not they don't seem to be like looking in your direction or looking at you or like worrying about you at all They're just there they but they stay about a hillside or so separated between you and
00:24:15
Speaker
Cool. As they're passing through, I'm just going to walk kind of, I'm by the group, but I'm going to walk over specifically to Joxer's bedroll and maybe just put my right hand over his mouth to keep him from snoring because that's just bad. Just, I don't want the attention and then I'm just going to kind of hunker down and wait for them to pass.
00:24:43
Speaker
Okay, okay. And, and I mean, this is this is a pretty large group of these big boars. And as they as they walk by, it takes them a good hour as they're they seem to have found a place to root around where they're finding stuff. And so they, they hang out there a good hour before they finally
00:25:02
Speaker
kind of wander off into the distance and the rest of your watch is quiet. However, you do notice as you sit, you reach up to kind of stroke your beard and a big chunk kind of comes out in your hands and it's really strange because that's never really happened before. So this big chunk of your hair from your beard comes out and it's just weird, just something strange that happens and your watch ends.
00:25:32
Speaker
No biggie. Jockster like flails really, really like weirdly and then he starts snoring again. That is the end of Krig's watch. He is able to move on, wake up. I think Gwendolyn, is that what you're going to do now? Yeah, I'm just going to kind of drop the tuft of hair a little bit. Not happy about it and walk over to Gwendolyn and
00:26:02
Speaker
Just kind of tap her on the shoulder and be like, I believe this is a good time to go and swap watch. We did almost have some boorish visitors. Nice one, nice one. Luckily, we were able to get through so far without any interruptions.
00:26:28
Speaker
Oh, that's good. Did you see Tom and Chad? I did, actually. I believe they've reconnected with the rest of their pack, if that's what you would refer to, a group, a family of boars. Yes, that's good. They seemed a bit lost. I'm glad they found their home. A group of boars is called a sounder, just in case you're curious. Did you look that up or did you just know?
00:26:58
Speaker
Yes. All right. He's like, I looked it up and then I knew. Sounder? Yeah. S-O-U-N-D-E-R. Huh. That is interesting. Oh, no, I'm sorry. A group of boars is called a singular. That's even more confusing. Wow. Okay. Okay. A singular? Yes.
00:27:26
Speaker
A singular boars. A hive mind. That's why the second one went along with it all. I get it. It's just Moores Boars, honestly. The Moores Boars, the Merry Boars. I don't know. Okay. All right. So yeah, it's Gwendolyn. I believe it is your watch now.
00:27:48
Speaker
All right, come on to Dale, it's our time. And I get up and I sit on probably a big rock that's nearby the group. And I just sit there with my knees tucked up. All right, make a perception check. As you sit there with your knees tucked up, Craig starts to settle in for the night.
00:28:07
Speaker
16 plus seven. That's really good. 23. You sit and as you sit and look around, you start to hear in the distance the, all the creatures that are out there and
00:28:30
Speaker
They you hear chirping of small little critters little night time scurrying rodents going through the burrowing under the ground and coming up for hunting and you can hear a snake in the distance slithering away.
00:28:47
Speaker
You hear a bird or two, some kind of large predator type bird, owls and things making their calls in the distance and everything just suddenly you close your eyes and you listen and you don't necessarily see any of these creatures because they are excellent at staying out of sight, especially these nocturnal creatures, but you're hearing them all and
00:29:16
Speaker
You just feel this connection, this just sense of, you take a deep breath and you just feel this sense of connection to this area. And as you feel that, you get that understanding of what Krigs was talking about when he said, this can feel like home.
00:29:40
Speaker
But for you, these creatures everywhere, they feel like family, right? And you just kind of get the same kind of feeling about every single sound you hear as you have for Dale. And it just feels so warm and so good. Even though there's a kind of a chill this night being kind of increasing your elevation, you feel warm and you feel good.
00:30:03
Speaker
You just spend the whole evening listening to these creatures kind of scuttling about in the distance and the time passes very quickly. And it seems like when the sun starts to rise and you see the sun coming up over the mountains, you're almost disappointed that the night's over because you just feel rejuvenated and you feel really good from just the time you had that evening with connecting with the area around you.
Fan Art Acknowledgment
00:30:32
Speaker
and it is morning time.
00:30:39
Speaker
Hey everybody, Krigs here. Just wanted to pop in the middle of the episode and again, say thanks for checking this one out. Uh, wanted to take a moment and give a shout out and also say thanks for everyone who's been following us on Twitter. We've actually had a lot of really good connections with, uh, other D and D or T T R P G fans or creators or artists, crafters, so many different people out there. It's been absolutely incredible.
00:31:09
Speaker
just very rewarding to be a part of that community speaking of a warning I actually have a quick shout out one of the Twitter followers we have been reached out by or reached out to I don't really know how that works anyway we received our very first fan art it was
00:31:33
Speaker
a glorious day for the hired swords. I wanted to say thank you to Jess that's at Stu and Marty on Twitter. She has made some fantastic fan art of the time Krig and Joxer told the story of their encounter hunting the wolverjack that definitely exists
00:31:56
Speaker
uh we promise i mean it might uh and then one of gwyn and the gossip king dale just really yakking it up and then davin comforting joxer after the terrible encounter with the banshee and watching his entire party of friends fall before his very eyes uh absolutely terrifying
00:32:22
Speaker
Anyway, wanted to say thank you again to Jess. That is fantastic. We are going to put these pieces of art up on the website. We're going to have a little space, a gallery for anyone that submits any kind of fan art. We also have some great announcements coming up in the very near future. Some work with crafters and whatnot. It's
00:32:43
Speaker
Pretty exciting. So be sure to follow us at the Hired Swords on Facebook or Twitter. We usually interact a little bit more with Twitter, but definitely check it out. And I'll go ahead and let you get back to the episode. Thank you for listening and thank you for following. Okay. Uh, nine.
00:33:15
Speaker
Okay, as morning has come.
00:33:18
Speaker
You are all able to wake up and do go about your business as as I guess whoever Davin I guess is the one who has been carrying around the food as he starts to hand out food and things. Krigs you can't imagine being able to stomach any food right now. The idea of eating is repulsive to you and so you just kind of deny deny any food this morning.
00:33:49
Speaker
Well, suit yourself, but I think it's probably a good idea to keep your energy up. If you want something later, let me know. We'll, we'll see. I just, I couldn't right now. It don't feel like it. Are you feeling okay? A little nauseous, a little out of it, but I slept okay. I don't just, I don't know. I think we should just carry on. All right.
00:34:15
Speaker
Gwendolyn sees this interaction after having a night of peace for once and she is gonna keep an eye on Krigs on how he acts. Do I notice anything different about him? Like does he look
00:34:32
Speaker
Hail because I doubt I would notice a portion of the beard gone because I mean he's got a pretty thing Yeah, maybe wasn't it really wasn't that much that came out, but we'll go ahead and make an insight check It's not gonna be an easy one, but cuz she's not known rigs not eat Correct 7 plus 6 13 I did math, right
00:34:52
Speaker
Okay, you you don't other than thinking that's weird that he's not wanting to eat this morning, but maybe I don't know. Maybe he's just not hungry. You don't you can't see anything that seems different about him other than that choice to not eat. She whispers to Dale. We should keep an eye on Craig's and she sees that Dale agrees with her because he just stares back.
00:35:21
Speaker
Don't say anything if you agree. I feel like Joxer is just gonna like eat his meal and keep he's just gonna not not look at anything.
00:35:38
Speaker
Okay. Just sit and stare into the distance and eat your food. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So you eat your food and you carry on about your travels. And as you, I guess as you just, anything else anybody wants to do besides just get started after you've kind of had your morning routine.
00:36:00
Speaker
I got nothing. I think I got back on the road. That's fine. So you get back on the road and you start to travel back towards the mountains. Krigs, you kind of had already kind of said you wanted to do this. So I'm going to just have you make a survival check with advantage to kind of navigate at this point. Don't remember what my survival was.
00:36:29
Speaker
Oh, it's one. Okay, it's going to be 17. Cool. So you can see as you're walking through that this there's as you approach the mountains
Path Observations and Fort Knowledge
00:36:38
Speaker
and it only takes you it's about about three and a half hours or so of travel through these foothills before you finally reach the mountains and
00:36:46
Speaker
When you do reach the mountains, you're kind of at the base of them. It's kind of like, I don't know how many of you have ever traveled from the valley area to the mountains, but it's almost like all of a sudden you're like, oh shoot, we're in the mountains now. That's kind of what it's like.
00:37:02
Speaker
As you're traveling, you do notice this path that is kind of carved out of the mountains at this point. It kind of skirts around and it heads south from where you are.
00:37:17
Speaker
But it follows the mountains between kind of between the mountains and the foothills along the edge of the mountain crest there. And then it starts winding up into the mountains right about where you guys are approaching it. And it's definitely you notice it as being definitely wide enough for large groups to travel in and out of this mountain pass here. Cool.
00:37:45
Speaker
All right, so it's pretty familiar. I'm starting to think that maybe we should have asked around a little bit on directions. We kind of just started heading north in, well, I hope we're going the right way. You doubt my knowledge of my own mountains, do you? I'm just saying I don't think you know where every fort in every mountain peak is. Gwendolyn, her eyes get wide. She's just a little curious, like, ooh.
00:38:15
Speaker
I think we'll find it. I think you'll lead us in the right direction. In hindsight, we probably could have asked. Next time, when we're going to someplace a little more unfamiliar, we can ask. But these peaks, they talk to me enough. We're fine. Well, lead the way there, Mountain Whisperer. I salute the nearby peak. Let's go.
00:38:44
Speaker
As you start walking up this path, it starts to narrow a little, but you could probably march.
00:38:55
Speaker
probably 20, 25 people shoulder to shoulder up this path. It's good size. There are mountains and cliff sides starting to wall off this pass as you're going up and you're winding up through. The ground seems to have been having some sort of
00:39:18
Speaker
kind of growth and stuff. There's there's little, just the little bits of weeds and plants that can kind of grow in this type of environment are kind of coming up like they have this. You get the sense this place hasn't been marched on or walked on in some time. It's kind of nature is is overtaking again where this probably was used quite often. It doesn't seem to have been in recent year. I recognize specifically where we're at. Make a history check. Okey dokey.
00:39:48
Speaker
19 you you know that this region of you know you're in the the northwestern region of the stone mountains and you know that this region
00:40:05
Speaker
is where many of
00:40:20
Speaker
the west side of the continent to the east side it was they were just built to you had to literally march from like march through these fortresses through the gates into the fortress out the other gate to get across the mountain pass in order to get to the other side of the continent they were built there for that purpose you also know that some of them were built to
00:40:45
Speaker
to just house soldiers in these mountains so that if needed they could come down to the mountain pass and out of the mountains and be used for any kind of purposes necessary. There were also mines and things but most of the mines were to the south. Most of the tunneling and mining was the south of the mountain. So you're up here where it was almost like
00:41:07
Speaker
There was training forts, there was these mountain pass kind of, I guess you could call them like guardian gates to not be able to get through these mountain pass checkpoints, so to speak. So that's up here and you know that stuff exists up here.
00:41:25
Speaker
It's outside of your area of influence in the military at the time you were there, and it's outside of your family's area of influence. But you definitely, you've seen them on maps and things like that, that they exist up in this area. And that's what most of these forts were for up here. Would have definitely seen them on strategy maps and like true placements and everything.
00:41:49
Speaker
Absolutely, 100%. And you probably, I'm sure you had soldiers in your outfit that were trained in some of these forts and then assigned to join you after the march to wherever they ended up. So you're able to march through here. Somebody roll a d20 for me as you're marching through the mountains. We can see if we can come across any wild boars. I can, Jackson, go for it.
00:42:15
Speaker
That is a nine. All right. So you're bringing your DM rolls. Yeah. Yeah. They're coming in good today. That's how you roll as a DM, huh? Oh, God. Let me tell you. That's good stuff. I want to be your player. Yeah.
00:42:32
Speaker
So you guys, as you're marching through this area, you don't come across anything of interest. You do see, actually, everyone make perception checks. Let's see what you see. Let's see if you see this. Ooh, 17. Oh no, seven plus three, 10. Seven.
00:42:53
Speaker
I had 18 as you guys are walking jocks are in Davin. You guys see bird a couple birds in the sky and they look to be very close. But as you kind of squint and look up, they're very far away. They're just very, very large, like the size of a large building. And you kind of get the sense that you want to stay where maybe these creatures can't
00:43:22
Speaker
look down and see you. Oh, Krigs. Um, are you aware of any large animals in these mountains that might be aviary? There are a few that might come to mind by like really big ones. Like, I mean, that is fairly typical in these parts.
00:43:49
Speaker
Do you think there might be cover as we travel? I mean, it's pretty mountainous, barren areas here. We could potentially find some crag to hide under or walk through. What ails you? What's the problem? Joxer just kind of looks upwards. We might have some that could be around us right now.
00:44:15
Speaker
I look up, oh my helm. Yeah, you see him. You see him for sure. What is it? And then Gwendolyn looks up. I'm not going to reply. I'm just going to put my finger over my lips. It's probably best we don't walk down the middle of the path. Let's get closer to the edge of the mountainside or something where maybe we can't be seen as easily.
00:44:39
Speaker
I'm going to continue putting my finger on my lips and look very sternly at Daven and I'm going to start doing hand signals more or less like
00:44:49
Speaker
Hang on, hang on. Are you doing Marines, Navy, Air Force? Which one? What team? Which hand signals? I think he's doing this. Dwarven hand signals. So little stubby ones. Okay. All right, is that so offensive to fantasy dwarfs? Okay. Yeah.
00:45:11
Speaker
So I'm just going to kind of try to guide us over to a craggy side of the cliff face if there is one there and at least get us out of a direct site. Sure, yeah. You see as the sun has kind of gone over to the afternoon side of the sky, there's quite the shadow cast on the
00:45:31
Speaker
west side of this mountain pass you're in because there are mountains on that side and a cliff face. So you can tuck yourself down into those shadows and continue walking. It seems like you could probably continue walking safely and just kind of stay in the shadows and not draw any attention to yourselves. But I think maybe everyone should make a stealth check with advantage as you find a place to kind of stealth a little bit. But go ahead and roll. A natural 20.
00:45:58
Speaker
Natural 20 for me as well. That's a 25 total for Daven. I have 21. That's a real 20 for me. Oh no. I'm glad you guys all rolled really well. What'd you roll? Four. With advantage? Yes.
00:46:24
Speaker
Well, this is a group check, so you guys rolled like a 53 or something. Yeah, I got 23. I got 25. Yeah. Yeah. 21. Thank God. I owe you all one. Hopefully. Yeah.
00:46:39
Speaker
So yeah, rations are on Krigs this week, this tonight. So as you guys continue walking, you're just trying to watch your step and not cause anything too crazy. These creatures don't seem to be like flying down in this area looking for something. They're just circling up above. And you can tell that they've got their eyes out for any easy prey, but they're not necessarily actively coming down to try to find anything. So go ahead.
00:47:07
Speaker
I was going to say, do I know a weakness of theirs besides like not seeing us in the shadows? Make a nature check as you likely the ground. Yeah, not flying would be.
00:47:21
Speaker
Well, 15 plus five. Yeah. So you don't you don't know that they you definitely know that these are either a rock or giant eagle. Either way, they're either small rock, which rock is a
00:47:39
Speaker
flying bird like a creature that is, they can be absolutely massive. And then the giant eagles are also pretty big. So this could be either one of those. You know that neither one of them really have much of a weakness, but you do know that if they can't fly down at you, they
00:48:00
Speaker
They usually won't attack if they if they can't if they don't if it doesn't seem like it's easy prey They'll just kind of leave you alone and So but yeah, you guys are walking you're trying to be careful You're staying in the shadows Krigs is really worried about the sounds everyone's making and so he keeps looking back at you all to make sure you're being quiet and when he as he's doing that he slowly starts to walk outside of the shape the shade of this mountain to your west and
00:48:26
Speaker
And he's kind of getting out into the sunlight and Gwendolyn sees him doing that and grabs him and just kind of starts to tug it a little bit. And he's oh, yeah, okay, okay. And he kind of comes back into the shadows. And so you guys help each other stay kind of hidden as you kind of you walk this, you walk this way several minutes, probably 1520 minutes walking in this careful way until you feel like you're out of danger of being spotted by these creatures in the sky.
00:48:53
Speaker
We're clear from them now, right? Yeah, you find yourself in the clear now. Devin, I need to apologize. I wasn't trying to be overly stern back there. You have to think though, the hearing on these animals are impeccable. It's one of their hunting traits, being able to actually hear and see the skitters on the ground. So I apologize for my sternness. If you're ever doing anything to save my life, you don't have to apologize for it.
00:49:22
Speaker
That's fair. You know what? Also, Krigs, are there any other things we should worry about? Yes. Let's continue on. Turns around and starts walking. Yes, I'm glad you're asked. Continue on.
00:49:40
Speaker
Ah, good deal. Uh, guess I'll follow. Just keep that in mind. I assure you we'll make it, uh, remember I said this place is like home.
Reaching Fort and Discovering Mystery
00:49:51
Speaker
It's, uh, just keep that in mind. You'll be fine. If you say so, I'll follow you.
00:49:59
Speaker
My home had a little bit more farmland, a little bit less giant birds that want to eat people. After all this is said and done, we'll visit your home next. Um, Krigs, how much further do you think we're going to be heading? Do I have an idea of where the fort we're headed to is in conjunction kind of where we're at since I know the area?
00:50:25
Speaker
You know, you would know even without a role. Here, how about you make a history check for me? Sure. You know things either way, but let's see if you know more than I want to give you. 22.
00:50:40
Speaker
Oh yeah, you know more than I want to tell you. You know that you're starting to look around and pick out some of the highest peaks and know that these are these are kind of landmarks for these mountains and you're seeing them now as you as you go up the elevations getting higher.
00:50:56
Speaker
And you're realizing, first of all, that they wouldn't build, they're going to build these fortresses about at the halfway point between going about at the peaks. So up and then back down, you know, you would go up to one of these fortresses, and then you would go back down on the other side of the mountains and start heading down towards the the eastern side of the continent.
00:51:18
Speaker
And so you know that that's going to take about another day, day and a half, depending on which of these mountain peaks you're seeing this fort is set into. So you've got about a day, day and a half. I reckon solid travel, no more interruptions. We could probably be there within one or two more nightfalls. It shouldn't be too far.
00:51:44
Speaker
Well, um, and that jocks, who's going to kind of grab them, kind of the back, uh, back of his neck and kind of just kind of wiggle a little bit. And I suppose we should probably, uh, make haste for your appetite and then keep moving forward. Keep going.
00:52:05
Speaker
So you guys keep going and you continue walking through this mountain pass. It's very easy to stay on the trail at this point until it's nightfall. And nightfall comes a little earlier than you would have expected because of the high mountains surrounding you. So you can look up and see very bright, clear, or very clear skies with bright stars, but no moon at this point as the mountains seem to, it seems to not get up that high in the sky this time of year.
00:52:35
Speaker
but you are now into the full nighttime. It came on a little quick and you weren't quite ready for that yet, so you didn't settle in in the evening, but it is full night now. You can set up camp or keep traveling, your choices. I don't think there's any rushes there.
00:52:55
Speaker
Not in any particular rush. I figure this is good a place, isn't it? Let's just find a spot near here. We'll bed down for the night. We set up camp.
00:53:06
Speaker
Okay, so you start to set up camp and you set up for the evening, you get everything ready to rest. There is no wood, there's nothing like that to find around here. You're full on dirt stone ground and dirt stone
00:53:27
Speaker
Mountains. That's why it's called the stone mountains. So that's what that's what you got around you. So anything going on in this evening kind of rest time or I don't think so. Do I feel up for eating? You do not. You you're still not interested in any way. Yeah, it's last this whole day. You just haven't felt the hell. How cold is it getting so far in the deep night here?
00:53:57
Speaker
Once the sun was down, it probably dropped 10 degrees. You felt a sudden just slight chill in the air. Definitely not freezing snow type weather, but it's kind of the mid-spring cool at this high elevation. It's where if you're not in a bedroll or something, you might get a little shiver if you don't have a way to keep yourself warm, but nobody's going to get hypothermia.
00:54:28
Speaker
I'll take first watch this time. All right. So as everyone settles in for the night, Daven roll a D 20 for me. 15.
00:54:38
Speaker
Okay. So as you, as everyone settles in and starts to rest, you kind of keep your eyes up looking around and it is barren. I mean, it is just stone and dirt and there's nothing that interesting around and it's, it's a boring night. Uh, you make a constitution saving throw for me. Okay.
00:55:02
Speaker
It's a 16 plus, I forgot what my constitution, I think it's a five. Yeah, that's a 21 total. Yeah, that's totally enough. So you're able to stay awake even though it's kind of the most boring night you've had this far. There's not a lot of stars to look at. You do see a shooting star at one point kind of shoot across the sky, but that's the most excitement you have all night. So maybe you're glad for that or either way, it's boring into then your time, your shift of watch ends.
00:55:32
Speaker
All right. I'm going to wake up Joxer because I know that he was not one that had to watch the night before. Okay. Oh, okay. Um, all right. Let's, uh, let's see how exciting. How was it? Oh, it's about as boring as it could possibly be. Don't, don't imagine too many things live around here except for those birds. Hopefully they're all asleep for the night as I would be soon. Get some rest.
00:55:59
Speaker
So I'll perch myself on something and just kind of wait it out. All right. So you sit, keep a lookout. You also have a very uneventful night and nothing really of note takes place. You try to stay awake and you're kind of struggling to keep your eyes open. You make a constitution saving throw for me too.
00:56:27
Speaker
Oh, okay. That is a 19. Okay. You're able to successfully keep from falling asleep. And so you just kind of keep your head up and you have to slap yourself in the face a couple of times to keep yourself awake. But you, you know, you do, you successfully do. And then the sun starts to come up over the mountains in the distance and good morning again. Everyone can wake if you'd like.
00:56:57
Speaker
Joxer's gonna start doing some weird monk stretches really loud. Go ahead. I don't think your knees are supposed to pop like that Joxer. Just getting fluid in the bones. Gross.
00:57:16
Speaker
Gwendolyn likes them a bit grumpy. She slept, there's a rock that was like not comfortable in the middle of her back. So she's like, oh, my back. Yeah, the rocky ground is not the most comfortable one to sleep on, that's for sure. I mean, I like sleeping on the ground outside, just this is not what I'm used to.
00:57:42
Speaker
Craig's having slept amazingly on the rocks, gets up, gives a big stretch. Oh, jocks her. I see you're trying to get your wet bones. Just makes a job dropping like face like a wit. Craig, as you rise, make a constitution saving throw. Okay. Uh, 15.
00:58:12
Speaker
Okay, your appetite returns. You're able to feel ready to eat. But as you get up off of your bedroll, you look down and you see a few tufts of hair kind of spread about your bedroll that kind of came out in the night. And you just feel off. You just feel off. Nothing mechanical, nothing that's gonna cause any issues at this point. But man, you just, ugh.
00:58:40
Speaker
Well, I'm going to very quickly brush those aside before anyone notices and roll my bedroll up. Okay. All right. That's the morning unless anybody has anything else they'd like to say or do. Let's get to that destination. Make haste.
00:58:59
Speaker
So there's no fire to put out, there's not much exciting to do, so everyone kind of wakes up, gets their stuff gathered up, and starts eating whatever it is you're wanting to eat along your path, and you start to travel up the road. Krigs, you're famished. You just really want to eat as much as you can as you're walking after missing a whole day of it, and so you travel up the path. Let me go ahead and say, Krigs, you're gonna have to make that save every morning.
00:59:27
Speaker
Until, until you hear otherwise. Okay. So let's just not make a big deal of it. Just tell me if you fail. If you, if you roll less than a 12, let me know every time. Okay. That is now your lot in life. Congratulations. So you guys continue traveling through this day and
00:59:51
Speaker
The path up has been barren and boring, and you haven't seen much other than those couple birds. Very large birds, but still flying in the sky. As you continue up the mountain pass now, the later into the day it gets, the quieter it gets walking up this path. It's quieter and quieter and quieter.
01:00:14
Speaker
And as the sun starts to set, things start to settle down or settle into evening time, you approach a pathway to the left. The mountain pass continues ahead of you, but to the left, there's a
01:00:34
Speaker
a pathway that is about half the width of the pathway you've been traveling on. You can pretty easily see two red, and they stand out bright red in the distance, like tower roofs in the distance there, like the roofs of the towers from a fort in the distance there to the north as you look to the
01:01:04
Speaker
the left as you're traveling east. So to the north there, you see that there's kind of this jut off of the pathway to this fort in that direction. Is that the way we need to go? And I point towards the fort? That should be the direction we're heading right there, yes. About how far off is it from where we stand?
01:01:31
Speaker
It's hard to know with just the mountains as a reference because everything just looks so vast out here, but you get the sense that you could probably be there before it's fully dark out. I think we can make it. Absolutely. Let's go. Do we have any idea what is on the other path just as a curiosity, Krix? Do I know?
01:01:58
Speaker
Based on the roles you've had about this stuff, you would definitely think it's likely a mountain pass that takes you all the way across. This fort is one of the protective forts for this mountain pass. Judging from how close it is to the mountain pass itself, you feel like this is probably just a major thoroughfare from one side of the mountains to the other.
01:02:22
Speaker
Oh, Jackson, my boy, that's simply going to lead you on through the mountains. This is definitely going to be headed toward these fortresses here. It'd be just fine. So that direction would take you home about? Closer to definitely the other side of the mountains. Good to know. Okay. I'll just follow along. As we walk, I'll just absent-mindedly, kind of out of nowhere, say, I wonder what that creature was that Nautily was talking about in that note we found.
01:02:52
Speaker
You know how you said that there was a creature to dispatch of and it was a bad idea. I wonder what it was. You think it was those giant birds? I don't think so. I feel like it's something possibly more evil. Well, then it seems like we just missed it to whatever it was. Probably a better thing. Maybe.
01:03:16
Speaker
missed it might, uh, might be true or maybe we haven't made it exactly where it's supposed to be. I think deep down Gwendolyn, um, she doesn't think we missed it. She feels, she doesn't know, but she feels like we're going to find it, but she doesn't say anything. Okay. Okay. Cool. You, um,
01:03:42
Speaker
So have you decided to just approach the towers? Yeah. So you walk that direction and it just takes you about a 30 minute walk to get to what you now see this gate house.
01:03:58
Speaker
This gatehouse is a site to behold. It stands 25 feet tall with walls stretching out from either side to those two fortified defensive towers. Those towers are built into mountainside so it's difficult to tell where the fort ends and the mountain begins.
01:04:17
Speaker
This massive, these massive gates to this fort are standing wide open. They're made from large wooden planks and they're carved with stone bracings. The roofs of these gatehouse is made of a metal and it's like a rusted red. And there's a roof that's lower on the gatehouse itself right in front of you. And then on the left and right hand sides you see this this giant
01:04:42
Speaker
these giant towers that also have the red rusted metal roofs. That's what you saw from the main highway. As you approach the door to this gatehouse, you see blood just covering the floor of the inside of the gatehouse. And that's where we're going to leave
01:05:22
Speaker
Holy moly, I wasn't ready for it to end like that. Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of the Hired Swords. If you liked our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really liked our show, tell the world and leave a review.
01:05:37
Speaker
If you want to keep up with us and all the behind the scenes goops and gaffes, you can find us on Twitter and Facebook at the Hired Swords. Again, thank you for listening and we'll see you next time in Stone Mountain.