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Ep. 99 Into the Weird Wooded Wonder
41 Plays1 month ago
After delightful morning tea and conversation, the part sets off into the strange forest. With the direction set and a choice made, they feel closer than ever to a destination none of them truly understand. What lies ahead?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Hired Swords'
00:00:19
Speaker
Now, right now, you're listening to the, you're listening, wait, can I do it? No, you're listening to the Hired Swords, a Dungeon to Dragon, that's it, too late. Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting episode of The Hired Swords. The Hired Swords. Nobody else joined in, even on the second take?
Meet the Characters
00:00:52
Speaker
The Hired Swords. Come on, guys. The Hired Swords. The musical. I'm your Dungeon Master, Michael. This is our singing and dancing episode. I like it. And with me, I have Gwen, played by Ash. Hi, Ash. Hi, that's me. And Joxer's played by Mikey. He goes pop, pop with his guns. And by guns, he means fists and biceps. And Derek's here. Derek's here. He's Davin. Hi, guys. It's Davin. He's that guy. Also, Blaze is here. He's Sofren Ibarok. Because he's on fire. That was very 1980s gum commercial. I like it. Yeah, it was. This was a much better intro. Fresh goes better. Take two. That was good. We just do everything twice from nowano. That was fun. Guys, I'm in a much better mood to play Dungeons and Dragons now. Too bad this is the episode where you all die. That's true. I mean, at least we're coming in with a fresh attitude, right? That's true. That's true. Prepare for campaign two starting next
Joxer's Greenhouse Discovery
00:02:01
Speaker
episode. No, just kidding. Actually, though, when we last left off, we had a little bit of a, like, split the party episode. They didn't go too far from each other. Don't you worry, you're pretty little heads off. But they did separate, and Joxer spent some time exploring the greenhouse, found various plants that had kind of been modified and altered, discovered a notebook that belonged to Marlow, their current host, in this crazy, like, fae forest they seem to be in. And it contained journal entries, notes about the plants and the crossbreed, how he's been crossbreeding these plants and things. Some explanations of some failures and some successes. He also mentions in there, at the beginning, there's like a little bit of journaling, like he started out journaling, about how he was in a battle for the city of Bartram. And in this city, or in this battle, he was banished. And it seems that a spell was cast on him to banish him to this place. And he has not yet returned. And he's been here long enough to build this house and this homestead and all these things, do all these experiments on these plants. And he's come to the conclusion that either this time works differently here and he's only been gone because he knows that that spell lasts a minute. He's like, I should be back by now, but maybe a minute is different here. Or his home plane, which he called Ida, is gone.
Gwen's Investigation of Statues
00:03:33
Speaker
And something happened, and now he no longer has a home plane to go back to, and he's trapped here. He doesn't know, but that was where his kind of theories in his journaling. In the meantime, Gwen was investigating the statues in the back of the house. And as she was investigating those, she found a couple of feminine-looking figures, a couple of masculine figures. They were kind of charred, burned partly, seeming that that was part of the crafting process. She turned into a critter and crawled around him and tried to make some investigation and things as a critter and just did not do very well. And so she didn't learn a lot about these statues, except that the burning was intentional. It seems to be that they were magically imbued in some ways, it seemed as well.
Davin and Kriggs' Aerial Survey
00:04:17
Speaker
The Davin and Kriggs were flying around the area to kind of survey what was nearby. And they observed colorful trees as far as they could see. Bright colors, some green, but anything you could think of basically color-wise. They came across a large clearing several miles away towards the northwest. Looking northeast, they could see a sea of fluorescent treetops that rolled over hills and into valleys without any signs of any clearings. But they did notice, Kriggs, I believe, actually I think both of them rolled high enough where they were able to notice that a large portion of the trees on one particularly large hill area seemed to be an illusion. There seemed to be something too perfect about them. They weren't flawed like normal nature would be. And so they made note of that and landed back, flew back down to this homestead where they could rest. And meanwhile, during this whole thing, Marlow was sleeping soundly, didn't seem to really be paying attention to what was going on.
Nighttime Preparations and Humor
00:05:24
Speaker
Again, the sky is bright and lit up. It's a little bit dimmer than it was earlier, but it doesn't seem to be going to be getting any darker. This is what night kind of is here. And I believe as we left off, you guys were actually settling in for the night, weren't you? Yes. Yes. You had settled in. You were saying good night. And we will pick up the next morning. As you do hear bird calls and critter calls in the distance. Actually, everyone start off making a perception check. I would like to go back and roll to see who is the little spoon. Do we have any volunteers or should we roll? For a little spoon? Yeah. I forgot to set up dice, so I'm not rolling anything yet. Oh, that's a nat one. I rolled a six. Oh my gosh, I got the best of my life. So far, Davin is the biggest spoon, and then I'm after Davin, followed by Joxer. I have 19 plus 10. Oh! Plus 10? Yeah. So you got Gwen basically in bear form. Yeah. Followed by Davin, me, and Joxer. I'm just a little... I'm a little... The cream in the oil. So, that's also your perception role. So, you... I don't know if you knew that your ability to perceive is very parallel to what spoon you are when you spoon at night.
Unusual Creature Sightings
00:07:02
Speaker
So, the one with the highest perception gets to be the bigger spoon that's just the way it works so the more you know Gwendolyn and Davin both of you see a small group of little critters little little uh critters just scurrying around the outside of the garden out front here where you guys uh where you guys kind of have been outside. And they're kind of scurrying around, and as they scurry, you guys kind of rise and start making little motions to wake up, basically. And as you do, they start to scurry away, and you can see that they're this interesting combination of like a rabbit with antlers but they've also got this like strange like wolf fur as pro kind of on them this like strange like gray and brown kind of ears like ears like rabbits but like almost like a snout like a wolf would have and antlers like weird it's a strange creature pretty interesting joxer and and and softran unfortunately you guys don't see these but you'd probably recognize it if you did are you bringing back the we're in the land of the Wolverjack. The Wolverjacks. It's actually the mascot of the football team here. The Quidditch team or the Wolverjacks. It honestly makes sense that we don't see it. We were able to find it back when. That's quite perfect. And you and Davin, you and Ash both see it at the same time you see him scurry away and instantly you just remember exactly what that description that they gave you of those creatures. Gwen, did you see that? It couldn't be. I think it is. A creature like that, it's impossible, but I guess... I guess here it's not. I still think they were lying about it. Me too. What's impossible? What do you... The fact that it never gets dark here, it just seems impossible to me. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that... That is kind of odd. I agree. Also, the fact that somehow Kriggs can snort going in and out when he's breeding. I don't know how that works. It's a talent. Oh, you're up. I've been listening for the last, I don't know, five seconds. I think we discussed before we went to bed the stuff like the illusions. I think we mentioned that, right? Yeah. You guys talked through what you had found and stuff. If I remember correctly too, disgusted? Disgusted the clearing. Illusions. Illusions. I'm disgusted.
Marlo's Morning Surprise
00:10:04
Speaker
You discussed the clearing definitely being a point of interest and that you had also seen that other hill further off that looked like an illusion. An illusory forest. I think that was a good ways further away, right? Yes, correct. It seemed like to be a ways away. Several days journey, it seemed. Also, just about then, the door slams open and out steps Marlo. I jump up like I'm not ready for that. So I am grabbing like there was a stool nearby and this little hovel that we kind of like made our camp. And I straight up broke a leg off and I am going for throat. Cause like the light is behind him. I'm ready to pounce. You, you, you point out, you point towards him and the, the end of the, of the leg of that stool smacks the bottom of this like large stoneware pan. And he, and it kind of bumps it into these, these round items on this pan kind of flop and kind of get this you know this uh unorganized as they were set in nice little rows and he says oh sorry about that apologies i don't remember his accent at all but i'm doing i'm just gonna do what comes out it's just gonna be different every time we see him sorry yeah Yeah, yeah yeah. hi Hi, y y'all'all. What's going on? No, I don't. I think he was like an Irish Scottish-y guy because that's usually what I default to because that's the thing that I feel the most. I don't know. That's my default. I would love if it works the same way that the mole does in like Prince of Thieves in men in tights. Men in tights, yeah. Same thing with this. His accent constantly changes. Oh, no need to freak out here. I've just got some biscuits. Do you all like biscuits? And he holds them out. I'm so sorry, Marl. Sorry. First thing in the morning, I am rough. You startled me. It's understandable when you live your life on your toes. You just tend to stay there most of the time. Wake up there, fall asleep there. Before his calisthenics, he's really just a jumpy little kitten. Oh, you do calisthenics as well. He does look like a kitten. Just out of your hand, Craig, you just see a mage hand, this magical hand, just come with just the index finger and the thumb and just yanks the stool leg out of your hand and goes and puts it back in place on the stool.
Banter and Biscuit Antics
00:12:37
Speaker
I can fix that. I'm sorry. I'm fairly decent with my hands. Please, I'll take care of it. That's what she said. Okay, no worries there. There's plenty to make another if I need to, but grab a biscuit. There's tea inside. And I let you sleep a little while. I was watching the critters in the distance out there, the fox rabbits. I would like some tea. So she kind of takes him away. Fox rabbits. The fox rabbits. I didn't know what to call them, but that's what they look like to me. So I called them that. They look like the gray foxes we have back home. I love foxes. And she tries to pull them to go get tea. Rabbit. Yeah, I look over at... Do those have, like, antlers? Do you have chamomile? She's just trying to drown them out. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's only Earl. It's our version of Earl Grey. Enjoy. And he says, Antlers, yes, many do. Not all, but a lot of them do. I bolt into the forest. I'm already out the door. Where'd they go? And a mage hand is dragging a biscuit towards me as I am running. Got it. Make a sleight of hand check for fun with your spell casting modifier. Start with just the d20. Could be better, could be worse. So that's a 10 plus I want to say it's 5. Character sheet. We do use. Yeah. While he is preparing himself. 17. 17, yeah. You smoothly grab a biscuit without any sort of like ruckus cause knocking the pan or anything like that. Just like a thief in the night. Swipe. That mage hand just go... Yeah. Just a little snatch in here. Off you go. I'm out the door in long johns and trying to throw boots on. Okay. I'm going to yell out to them. Don't turn this into one of Craig's long quest side quest things, okay? Come back soon. Oh, this is going to take three episodes, episodes, episodes. I'm going to put my finger on the stool and I'm going to cast Mending to put the chair back to normal. Okay, yeah, the chair. There's a little fiber of a crack there where the injury was on the stool there, but it's like you use some real good wood glue on it. It's going to hold, no problem. I still look at it in disgust. Okay. I'd have to do. Gwen comes back in with a cup of tea. Ah, now they're going to be out there for days trying to find it. The mystery of whatever. I don't know what got them so riled up. It's just, I mean, I agree. I've never seen anything like it before being here, but I mean, I've seen them all over. They're there every morning now. That's become common to sit there, sip my tea, watch them play around. I typically leave some of the vegetables that are low hanging there for them to get to them. To ensure I'll get to see them every morning. I leave them alone. Now the big question, do we see them? As you guys run out into the woods, it's been a few minutes. You guys can make perception checks. No, make survival checks, both of you. Joxer and Kriggs Sofran. I don't know what to call you. I don't know if I should still call you Kriggs or not. You can call me Kriggs. Just call me the guy that rolled a three. 17 plus three. Oh, a 20. Oh my gosh. Okay, you see what looks to be a trail where the grass has been down, where they've kind of scurried through and the grass is just now riding itself as they've scurried through there a few minutes ago. And so you don't see them yet, but you definitely see a trail that you could follow if you want to continue. Do I see Friggs like behind me? Is that the... Yeah, he's right there with you. And he's still working on a boot. It's not all the... His heel's still kind of stuck where it's bending the backside of his boot into like pinching it down and it's uncomfortable. And he's still trying to work on that boot while he looks. So he's not really able to make anything out of where anything is. Point out the trail and then give him half a biscuit. Here, if you see one, you could throw some biscuit towards it. And then I just run off. When you give a Kregs a biscuit. That should be the next part. Kregs a biscuit. When you give a dwarf a biscuit. So keep going.
00:17:44
Speaker
Go ahead and make another survival check as you move a little bit further in to the forest. I thought that was going to be a nat 20, but that was a line. So it's a nine plus three is 12. Okay. Blaze. Am I doing survival again? Yeah. Or perception. Now you could either one of you could, if that's better, you could add that modifier if you'd like. They're still garbage. Okay. Survival check was 10. Okay. If you did a perception, Joxer, what was it? It's lower than my survival. Oh, okay. So, yeah, you don't see a trace, any trace of them at all. It's pretty frustrating. Here's what I'm going to do, though.
Kriggs' Forest Chase
00:18:28
Speaker
They survive by hiding and scurrying away. I'm going to shout into the sky. Obviously, they call for the Wolverjack, and I'm going to try to persuade one to come to me. And I'm going to roll a 27, not 20 plus 7. You're going to roll or that's what you rolled? That's what I rolled. What did you add that plus 7? What is that? Persuasion. I tried to persuade one to come to me. You're persuading them. I'm trying to hit. Look, I'm metagaming. Let me know. That's fine. You
00:19:06
Speaker
whatever. And when you do that, you look out into the forest. First off, I look around and make sure that no one saw me do that because that would be embarrassing. Embarrassing, right? So you look out and you see... At first, there's just forest as far as you could see. There's the trunks of trees, a little bit of undergrowth undergrowth and you're just looking out trying to see. And then suddenly this little bit of like, what looks like sticks that are in part of this bush move. And this, this critter darts out in your direction, stops short and looks up at you and then darts off towards the left of you just running away after it sees what made that sound. Oh. My. Gods. I just kind of look back at Jockster like, I finally saw one. Because we both know we didn't see nothing that night. I'm glad you finally saw one. Oh, you're saying you saw one that night. Okay. Okay. Definitely. You keep looking for these. I'm going to go back to camp. I've finally seen. I've got my share. So I Why do you think I shared a biscuit? I pat him on the back and finish putting the boot on that has very much not been on this entire time, and I walk back to the hobble. Alright. And I'm going to drop Polymorph and dust myself off of it. Maybe now they'll just come back and we can get back to business. Oh my God. Totally want that to be canon. And we have no clue. That's funny. That's funny. So they come back to camp. Well, while they're out doing that, that takes them a good 10, 15 minutes, all that together. What is it that you and Ash are doing there with Marlo as he's just sitting uh starts kind of like working in the garden a little bit after he eats a couple biscuits he's right there near you guys still but um guendaline's probably just watching him drinking her tea and then offering some to dale but he oh he's not okay she knows it mainly because she's selfish and wants to drink the tea because it's really good. Yeah, that sounds about right. It's got a floral berry taste to it. So, Marlo, why don't you tell me a little bit about where you're from, if you can remember, of course. I know it's been a long time. Well, I remember most of it. I remember getting here. I remember before that, I remember the city we were fighting in was down to the last resort, to be honest with you. We had been under siege for nearly a month. Finally, they launched an assault on the city, and we were when I realized something somebody had betrayed us and let's some of the enemy inside the city so they started pouring through through the castle where I was stationed to protect her grace the priestess and so she had to survive at all costs, but I heard them coming down the hallway. I took off running. I remember that. And I heard come around the corner. I saw someone with a scroll. I heard some words shouted, and then I was here all of a sudden. And I figured I knew what had happened, but maybe it was something different because I've been here far longer than I've ever seen that spell last. But my home was a lovely place. I just honestly hope
Marlo's Backstory and Theories
00:22:50
Speaker
it's still there. It was a beautiful city, large buildings everywhere, beautiful gardens. The walls were large and thick enough to ride a horse around them on the top of the walls. Yeah, one of the finest armies in all the country. Did you have a family? No, not really. I lost my parents shortly after I signed up to serve and just never settled down, you know? I'm grateful. I don't have anyone really to miss. I think that's why I've done so well here. Well, I don't know how you feel, but I don't think that we mean to stay here permanently. You'll not have any idea at all on how you'd probably get out of here, right? I don't. As far as anywhere I've traveled, and I haven't gone too far because I don't know. There's just an instinct inside me that says if I get too far from where I landed here, where I showed up, then I'll never get back. Almost like I'll get lost and the spell can't find me. It seems silly thinking about it now, but I decided a long time ago I was going to stay real near to where I first landed here and not venture too far. So I've never been more than about a day's travel away before turning back after the so-called night at camp. Short nights, usually. All this time, you've never wavered. You've never come up with any theories about what could possibly be this place, how you got here necessarily, besides, of course, the spell. But why this place? Or how do you leave it, for that matter Oh, I have plenty of theories for sure. Magic's very strong here. I've heard a lot about the Feywild and the Fey fairies and spirits. What's weird is it doesn't seem populated here like I've heard. There's some wildlife, but they all seem to be small groups of them here and there. It's not like it's a bunch of, you know, like the whole place is populated with the same animals all over. It seems like everything's got its place and it stays there. And if you go there to it, you'll see it, but they don't venture forth, you know? And maybe that's something inside me is based on being here. I don't know. It keeps me from wanting to wander, but nothing seems to wander too far. It's a very strange place. Also, as far as why I'm here, as far as I know, when you get banished somewhere, it's pretty random. So that's kind of what happened, it seems. You know, it's funny. I've actually used that spell myself before, but I've never really thought about where they go or what happens during their time away. They've always just come back. Yeah, I've seen it used, but never on anyone I know. Usually when they come back, they're killed pretty quickly afterwards, to be honest with you. So we just get them out of the way long enough to gain an upper hand, and then when they return, they're at disadvantage, and we finish the work, you know? That's kind of what war looks like, and that's been most of my life. Till here. I guess that makes sense. It just seems sad. Well, I was sad. I had some time of being sad, but you grow to accept things over time and make
Magical Plant Experiments
00:26:04
Speaker
the best of it. That's what I've been doing here. That's why I built this place and started working with the plant life here and trying to see what, well, all that started with trying to see if maybe I could force my way back by coming up with some magic concoction that would do the same thing as a spell, but I don't know enough about magic. I swung a sword around and carried a shield in my day. I'm just you know, farting in the wind as they say. You see Gwendolyn just spit out tea. Have you gotten older since you've been here? I feel like my mind has but not my body. Does that make sense? Not really, but yes, at the same time. Like, can you be more, can you grow more mature without growing older? There's a question, an existential question for you. That's what I feel like has happened. I don't, I don't like to think about those things too often. Neither do I. That's why I keep myself busy here. And, uh uh, here to try this and he hands you this short little stubby carrot looking thing but it's uh like a light yellowish color it's just root kind of vegetable it's got long white uh like leafy top on it and he hands it try this you would be surprised how sweet it is. He brushed some dirt off of it. He just pulled it out of the ground. I'll press the digitization to clean it up better and then I'll eat it.
Tasting Marlo's Culinary Creation
00:27:35
Speaker
Okay. And yeah, it tastes kind of like a carrot, but sweeter. It's got a little bit of a kick, like a spice at the end afterwards, which is pretty surprising. Almost like a radish would. It kind of gives you turnip vibes maybe, but almost like if you had a sweet, sugary turnip. It's pretty good, actually. These are some of my favorite. I wouldn't use them for dessert, maybe, but they're sweet enough to kind of give you that late night snack whenever you've got the sweet tooth, you know. I'll save the rest of this one for our trip. I think we're going to go and do a little discovery. Maybe we can bring back some information for you. Yes, if you make your way back here, I'd love to know what you find. I suppose you've already ventured pretty far away from where you landed here. How did I ask you how you got here? Oh, the normal way. We walked to a door. Yep. A door. Must have been some door. Well, it did have some gems on the outside. Some light on the inside. You know, the normal stuff. So like a teleport then. A portal, if you will. I suppose so. I mean, but it, you know, it's a door-shaped portal. I went through a mirror like that once. I'll never do it again. I puked so bad when I got through. It was a nightmare. We were on a boat. We were rocking. I was not ready for being seasick as soon as I stepped out of that mirror. Was not ready for it. And I vomited everywhere. It was terrible. I've also lived in the mirror. Sometimes I've gotten sick at what I've seen. That's good. And he starts to kind of make his way over to the other side of the, where some of the taller growth is and starts looking through to see if there's anything he can harvest on these like corn stalk looking plants. Well, Gwen, do we need to go hunting for the other two? Yes, I guess. I just... Now we're going to have to hear about this Wolverjacks again. I told you I already saw one. Just because you saw one here doesn't mean anything. Look. Oh. Yeah, he didn't see one. Don't let him lie to you. I saw one, though, so I win. They're common here, just because you didn't see it back when we had our competition. I'm sure we'll see lots of them coming up soon. Yes, I... It's just... I need more tea. So she walks away. Well, shall we get going? We're losing daylight. Yeah, let's go. I'm going to, if he's got like a couple extra food items, some biscuits or whatever, I'm going to politely ask him if we can take him for the road. And if he says yes, then I will pack them in a bag. There's actually four sacks in the doorway there. If you look, there's biscuits made for you in there, a few of these vegetables that I've harvested, and some loose-leaf tea for you. There's also a couple of vials of this kind of concoction that I've tried out when I've had a little bit of an injury, you know, something fell on me or something. It's made from some leaves have rubbed on wounds that made it heal up pretty quickly. It should help you a little bit. So if you want to take those, please take them. I've kind of accumulated quite the stash, so I've kind of figured I'd let you guys go with some. I assumed you were passing through, and at some point you'd need something for your travels. That's very nice of you. Thank you. Thank you very much. When we return, I'll have to bring you something for maybe some brew of some sort. Oh, that would be wonderful. I haven't had much luck getting anything fermented since I've been here too much. That's why I've kind of been sticking to tea.
Gift Exchange and Discussions
00:31:23
Speaker
So things don't seem to spoil around here. You know what I'm saying? I could see that from a little bit I mentioned. A bit of spoilage is necessary for something to get potent. Sometimes you can mix for that, but I'm actually really curious if my brew hole will have a bit of a different effect here you're what now oh i'm sorry that's just the the what we decided to call it um so i have a maybe you should leave it might be time for you to go well Well, no, no, no. Now I have to show you. Excuse me, but... I bend over. And set it on the ground. And I lay it out, and then what first appears is spell slots, which is probably even more terrifying than the scenario. Does spell slots become less gross here? No, he still looks like himself. Okay, then I'm disgusted. Wow. This entire time, by the way, I'm digging through Kriggs' bag. He's got the bag of holding. Okay. I beg your pardon? And I'm going to pull out a purple potato and a turnip and a leek, and I'm going to offer them to him. I was like, here, maybe you can use these and expand your garden. Don't forget, we could give him some peppercorns. Oh, yeah, some peppercorns as well. Oh, something spicy sounds pretty good, something like that. Yeah, please, whatever you're willing to trade, I would love to do so. That would be great. I was going to give you these items, but we could consider it just equal generosity. And I think I see what you mean now with your whole jocks. You had me a little bit confused there, but I wasn't one to question your decisions or anything. I just, you know, not sure what I wanted to be exposed to this early in the morning. In this party, we don't shame what anyone does with their holes. That's fair. He also calls his arms his guns for some reason. He's just a weird guy. I don't even know what a gun is. I was going to say, what exactly is a gun, after all? I don't know for sure. So what is in this hole of yours, Joxon? Yeah, so I'll jump in there, and I believe I might actually have, if I can find my inventory in Roll20, it looks like they changed something here. I thought I had one extra small brew of some sort sort wait there it was i had i had a stalwart porter which is uh one of the 1d6 plus stats so it's kind of one of the better ones so i'll pull that out awesome yeah you can brew your own drinks down there i bet the rules are different inside there if it's a dimensional thing yes uh? I'm thinking it is. It shouldn't have the same rules as this world here. And temperature stays the same. I don't know where that dimension is, but it's perfect for what I need it for. Well, I'll tell you what. If I wouldn't mind just having a drink right now, if that's okay with you, and he takes it and goes over to sit down and just kind of enjoy it, start sipping. That's the bit of the aftertaste I was going for. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it starts off a little bitter, but then it goes a little bit sweeter. I like it. And he's just sitting, sipping, and pulls out a few berries out of his pocket and kind of goes back and forth. Doing that whole dad shake where you shake the berries in your hand and pop a few of them in your mouth. You know, that whole thing. I'm glad that you enjoy it. That's his new nickname, Papa Berries. Papa Berries. So inside those bags that he gave you, really they're just cloths tied up like old hobo, movie hobo style. And know, a few biscuits in there wrapped in like a cloth and then, uh, some loose leaf, uh, tea and little, in a little pouch, uh, in, in each of your, each of them. And then there are, there is a one little vial in each one, but with this red, uh, liquid in it that has little dark, dark red floaties in it. I love floaties. Yeah. Well, it's a shame you have to go. I really enjoyed the company. I'll be honest. It was great having you here and talking to somebody. But it's strange. We can have Dale here if you want to. Who? Oh, Dale. Well, I think I have plenty of companions that are similar to Dale around here. I've gotten used to talking to. I'll be just fine. Thank you anyway. He looks at Gwen and gives her a wink, like kind of realizing, Gwen, you kind of get the idea that this guy understands the connection you can have to somebody like something like that because of his time here alone. And so he gives you a wink that isn't that is not really playful. It's just like more empathetic and understanding. She kind of blushes and like finishes it up. She doesn't say anything. And he finishes down in his drink and says, oh, I feel a little swimmy. That's kind of what I was wanting to do. So that's great. He walks out and starts harvesting a little bit more. But you guys be very safe. Don't get into too much trouble out there. I don't know what there is to run into, but it seems to be pretty mysterious. We'll be fine, I'm sure. Shall we head off to the north, which is that way? And I just point it in a random direction. Make a survival check. You are pointed west. A one plus one, two. Oh boy. He kind of opens up these... Marlo opens up a couple of stalks of corn, and he points away from the house, kind of like where you came from, but further up the forest from that, past the house and the greenhouse. And he says, nope, nope, nope. that's That day. what Oh, I meant who had a drink already he laughs and goes back to work he's laughing at you mind you laughing at me what just cause I point with my elbow not with my my fingers. I'm different from everyone else. Okay. She goes in place of the cup next to what looks like a wash bucket. Well, I guess we should go. And she goes over and collects her things and just kind of walks out the door. I
Journey into the Lively Forest
00:38:40
Speaker
follow. I will offer to throw extra bags into the brew hole if no one wants to tote one around. Okay. I basically just took mine apart, took the good stuff out, and put it in my own bag. Just left all the crap behind. Yeah, basically. Floaties. Those are just normal health potions, healing potions. Yeah, straight up, whatever you left behind, I put it in my bag, and I was like, waste not one nut. Yeah. Another man's trash. All right. Thank you very much, Ant, and then I'll be heading out. Great. So if you guys start heading out towards the north, it takes you, you know, you walk for a little ways before you get to where the clearing ends and you're back to the forest. Uh, the North is a, you know, it's kind of like, like I've said, it's, this place is kind of like cleared at about a, uh, a big circle radius. And so as you walk out, you catch the forest entrance. And again, it's like the forest coming here, obviously, that there's no real path to speak of. There's not even really an animal trail that would be noticeable right off the bat. It is mostly this grass that as you step on, when you lift your feet, it moves back into place. Remember, we had it where it kind of seems almost like it's living, sentient, a little bit. Not like you're bothering it or hurting it, but it definitely prefers to be upright and it's doing it's putting itself back there and as you continue to walk through the forest it's it's a lot of the same it's getting a little it gets a little even confusing and how similar everything is so you guys make a survival check for me as you were walking through here should i even bother nope four fifteen what What kind, kind checkteen. Jack? It's survival. Survival. Okay, I thought you said that. Ten plus eight. Eighteen. Okay. And Joxer, what did you roll? Fifteen. And Kriggs? Nineteen plus one. Great. So, Joxer, Kriggs, and Gwyn, you all are kind of keeping your bearings pretty good, headed north. Are you guys headed directly north, or are you working on going north, excuse me, north, what was it, west? I think we were heading toward the vine wall, right? Yeah, we were going to go to the wall. Towards the clearing? It wasn't in the clearing. Is that where the wall is? Not the illusionary trees, the other one. Nobody ever saw a vine wall. No, but he said it was off to the north, right? He said it was somewhere up north. But yeah, you're heading north. If you're going to the clearing, not the illusory hills, you're going northwest. Yes, that's where we're going. Okay, then yes. We were going to not the Illusory Hills. Oh, and I'm sorry. Mage Armor. Okay. I'm not going to do Mage Armor. I will. You're not required to. So you begin walking, and as you continue to go, you, you find you're, you're keeping, like I said, you're keeping your bearings pretty good. Just, just based on, you know, finding little landmarks and especially in the sky, there's, there's like clouds kind of, even though the sky is just the colors, not what you're used to. And so you're, you're able to now. You're able to keep going. You actually realize that much like where you come from and your plane or whatever, there's a lot of growth near the tree on the south side. If you keep walking where that stays on the south side, you feel like you're heading north pretty good. You start to realize it's not a lot different than traveling back home. And thankfully, it's nice and bright and lit up. You're hearing lots of sounds of birds chirping. You're smelling great, just great smells, you know, sweet flowers as you walk by certain bushes. And some of them are, they've got berries on them. Every now and then, you'll walk by a tree that literally just has fruit hanging from it. It seems like this place is just lush and beautiful. You do happen upon, after several hours of walking, you happen upon just like this babbling brook.
Mystery of the Engulfed Items
00:43:24
Speaker
It's this, it's a creek that's just got very light amount of water just going through it. Coming from the northeast flowing down southwest and you definitely, it's very small, literally step over it if you'd like, but it's lovely. It's pretty. Everybody make perception checks as you walk across that. Seven. Oh my gosh. I critted. Oof. That's a six. Ten. I crit a 20. So plus ten more. So everybody is kind of distracted by the babbling brook. It's the first time you've seen the running water here. And the last time you came across water at all, it was the giant river that swallowed you up. So this is a nice, just a lovely little spot. And as you kind of stop and take it all in, Ash, you can see a few places where it looks like the grass and the plants have kind of grown over some non-natural items that seem to be in the ground around here. And it looks like there's a little clump of stuff over here by a tree, and then there's some stuff over here under this bush right along the water. And it's just kind of – it's definitely like either the plant life is trying to hide it, maybe it's trying to swallow it up. I don't know, but it's definitely – stuff that doesn't belong here is there. Gwendolyn probably looks down at her feet. Does she see any rocks? Yeah, there's stones all along this brook. She grabs like a medium sized stone. It's got some heft to it. And she kind of throws it towards that way. Okay. When you throw it that direction. Actually make an attack roll. Okay. Oh, no. I rolled a two. Okay. You toss it towards there, and it bounces off the tree that this little pile of stuff seems to be laying under. It bounces off a tree and just kind of bounces back towards you and just rolls over into the creek into the water we skipping rocks i grab one and i throw okay you skip it along the creek it doesn't it's not a lot of creek there to skip we're talking like probably four foot wide and uh probably not a foot deep maybe in some sections but uh yeah, real, real small little guy. Yes. We're skipping rocks. And so she bends down and picks up a heavier one than before. And she throws it over in that direction again. Okay. That one balances off the tree as well, but it falls right down on what you had seen. And when it does, you hear a snap like wood breaking and an arrow, an air, the front of an arrow comes up,
00:46:30
Speaker
and the back of an arrow comes up on the other side of the rock and a piece a couple shards of large chunks of wood kind of fly off like kind of break off towards you and land and you can see their their little their little chunks of some Oh, no. sort of wood paneling it looks like and you're welcome to take a look closer if you'd like at any of that but I she starts to walk across to it okay as you get closer to the to the little bits that flew off, it looks like what you – the big chunk of stuff looks like it's part of – it's kind of round, like a little rounded edge on one side, a finished rounded edge, and then the top and bottom of it are broken like maybe the rock busted it up. But then the inside of it is like a, is like a ah finished edge as well. But it it has remnants of being, of being fastened to another panel of wood. Like these, this was attached to something else and it's nice. It's real thick. And you'd recognize this as um some sort of material that would have been used, heavy wood material that would have been made, used to make a heavy wooden shield of some kind, like to protect yourself in battle, like ah an actual shield.
Elvish Rune Shield
00:47:54
Speaker
So you found an arrow and a shield that had been kind of swallowed up by the grass and roots around that area. Now, she turns back while pointing at this. Why would this be here? It's a shield and an arrow. Why would the water swallow this up? what And so she starts to look around. Yeah, make a perception check as you look around. I'll walk over and I'm going to take a look at the shield. it's i'm I'm sorry. i'm I'm just looking at this flower over here. It's really amazing. What's what's happening? 24 total. Man. Perception's your thang. Yeah. That's great. We need somebody to be able to do it. got them good good I persuaded her to be good at perception. Oh, nice. It started out as intimidation, but then I athletically decided to incite her into doing it. Oh, great. so Thanks for the tips on what to ask you to roll next
00:48:54
Speaker
ah so as you look closer you actually see that the you notice that the arrow is now the the grass is kind of reaching up and starting to wrap around it and pull it back down again, like trying to absorb it down into the earth almost. And ah the stone's not getting messed with, it doesn't seem like, but ah the the arrow is getting pulled down and the kind of roots of the trees start to push up and wrap up around the backside of the arrow and start to pull it down. So this is happening pretty quickly, it seems, like maybe this wasn't something, this doesn't have to have been here a really long time, as you can tell. This is happening pretty quickly and you've got that piece of that shield in your hand and Davin comes up asking to take a look at it, I think. Yeah. well what How did you find a shield? Just lying here on the ground? I don't know. i've just i It might have been the arrow. It it glinted and I just decided to throw a rock at it. i I don't know. That's so Gwyn. I saw something there so I threw a rock at it. At least you didn't just go grab it. Can I take a look at the shield and see if it has any sort of design or anything on it? Yeah, definitely. Take a look. That's an investigation on the shield. Investigation. Okay. That's not bad for me. 13. Yeah. You make out just the the little bitty remnants of a written language on the shield. Oh? What language is this just a few letters
00:50:25
Speaker
make a history check o that's not bad um seventeen total great yeah well it's definitely an elven language hundred percent but it doesn't seem familiar other than maybe some of the etchings in those villages you saw at the in the dark place you've language is this? been at. Some of that really ancient Elvish that Joxer. You see a couple characters that are reminiscent of that. Joxer, come here. this looks There's like Elvish writing on this thing. Maybe it's the same that you had read before. See if you can read it. but yeah I'm Elvish. too. i um No matter. ah She kind of walks off a little bit down the creek to see if she can find anything. No, Gwen, come come back here. i I need your help anyway. It's fine fine she's angry and stomping in the water uh yeah uh so i mean i can tell uh i mean do i do i see this like it does it just look like it's something from those villages villages does it have like you know gathering and mining and you know the the same in that way? It's not like that at all. it It seems to be like it's etched around it, like almost like like runes, like some sort of magical engraving. But it's definitely just you see a port you like see a broken letter that you can't make out the whole thing. And then like six other characters and then it's just the rest of it's broken off too you can't read anymore so it's it's not enough to even get a sentence or or even a full word out of this plus it's kind of the characters are just unique but it's definitely reminiscent of that ancient ancient elven elvish text you had seen before yeah i mean i'm there's most of it scratched off, um but it's kind of interesting because it gives me the same... It feels like the the older writing, but now now i don't I don't understand because where we came from felt like we were in the past. And then does that make this place even further in the past
00:52:47
Speaker
i don't it's it's a little i'm i don't know where it would come from guen go and come here see if you can read this Sounds interesting. Stopping. I'm, I just, my, you know, my teaching was so high level. I'm sure that you'd be much more capable. I understand you're too intelligent for this simple writing. I kind of roll my eyes a little bit. And she's like, don't patronize me. And then she takes the shield and she looks at it and she uses her eyeballs to read. All right, Gwyn, make a history check. No, you make... For my own personal self? Oh, yep, you might have to do it. I would like to help. How's a six? A six? Roll again for advantage as Joxa reminds you that you saw this at the villages you were at. He said he wants to help, so that gives you the advantage with the help action. How's a nine? See, I'm going to help. What I'm going to do is I'm going to run over and I'm going to flex real hard and be like, ah, yes, I can read the best here. And then I'm going to use my intimidating presence to help her. Ash, you get real scared and focus even harder. No, not fear. I don't want to be that guy. You said intimidation. She starts sweating. I'm just gorgeous. No, so with the nine, you this what... What's weird... Hold on, I don't get sexy advantage? I don't think that's a thing. I don't know how. I can't figure out how that's going to help. You can't get two advantages anyway. And you're not allowed to get two... The two advantages isn't a thing, so... Okay. But it could be in this case. Right. I mean, I am the dungeon master. I can do whatever I want. But I will tell you that nine's not too bad. That's what I want to do. Because you recently you remember a dream you had or vision not too long ago where you saw these kinds of characters etched all over these buildings and stuff in this city you dreamt of. Oh, yeah. You don't know what it says, but you recognize what it looks, the characters and the language from that.
Following the Brook
00:55:17
Speaker
Can we do a vibe check on the shield? Yeah, do a vibe check. Roll a d20 and add your current vibe modifier to it. I rolled an eight and my vibe modifier is a 20. So 28. Great. The vibe you get off this thing is. The vibe you get off this thing is. Yeah. Is somebody doesn't want to be without it. It was lost by someone. Oh, snap. Whether it's accidentally misplaced or... Guys, it says Marlow on the back. He etched it in here. Oh, snap. Well, let's go back to his place. Quest completed. Done. So, yeah, what are you going to do now? I think, which way is the Babylon Brook running? Like, if I were to go north-ish, would I go? You're basically walking. If you're walking northeast, you're basically crossing it. Like, it's running from the northwest down to the southeast. Okay. No, you're going the other way. You're headed northwest. It's running from the northwest down to the southeast. So you're kind of following it up now towards the northwest. Okay. I think we should follow it because if memory serves correct, I think the way it was laying or being grabbed by the tree, whoever lost it was coming from this direction. We have to keep going. And she kind of sloshes in the brook for a little bit and then gets to the side where there's grass and kind of trudges on. Okay. You all follow? I do. And I speak for all of us. There is a small sigh from Jaxer as he does follow. Okay. So as you continue, Ash leading the way. Ash, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw for me. Something's happening. Oh, no. Shield's got poop on it. Six plus? No, God. Ten. Sixteen. Okay.
Suspenseful Conclusion
00:57:32
Speaker
You hear a voice in your head, and it says, tell your friends to just keep moving forward. And that's where we're going to end the episode. What? No. No. More voices and more heads. See, this is why Jock's your side. I don't like the devil's name. Thank you again for listening to another episode of The Hired Source. We're glad you've joined us. And if you really like our show, why not tell somebody about it? It would please us so much. It would be so awesome if you would tell somebody you know and we can add to our adventuring party and let more people enjoy The Hired Source.
00:58:25
Speaker
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