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Ep. 107 The Village of Almenora
1 Playsin 19 hours
They've made it to Almenora, these are the legendary people that Gwendolyn has spoken of since day one of this adventure. The only problem is, our party aren't here as guests. They're here as prisoners.
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Transcript
00:00:26
Speaker
Okay, yeah, one second! I-I'm sorry, I have to go to Costco.
Introduction of Players and Beginning of the Episode
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Hired Swords. I am your Dungeon Master, Michael, and with me, I have Joxer, played by Mikey, Craig's played by Blaze, Davin is played by Derek, and Ash is Gwendolyn. Hi, everybody. Hi!
00:01:01
Speaker
feel little cheated, but okay. It's the first time in, like, 90-something episodes that I didn't introduce you all individually. How do you feel about that? got me. You got me there. I don't care. You still technically did it individually, just with no gaps in between.
00:01:15
Speaker
Didn't give us the space, really. You know what? Space to express ourselves. Anyways. with the as like we're tied up. it's like It's almost like you can't speak right now because you're prisoners.
00:01:29
Speaker
Or something. That's right. It was all ah metaphor. No, just kidding. um Well, that is what happened when we last left off
Exploration and Encounter with Magical Creatures
00:01:42
Speaker
in our... um Last episode of The Higher Swords, the party having found their way into this strange realm full of magic and wonder and bright colors and different kinds of creatures and strange people.
00:01:54
Speaker
They explored a little bit, finding a cabin, meeting another person who seemed to be trapped here. ah Then they explored beyond that cabin, found some lizard people they killed in a maze garden, kind of not a maze technically, just a garden that they found that they made their way through and freed a statue of an elf and This elf led them to this this wall of vine and and sticks that Gwendolyn was able to find, made their way in there after the elf was killed by possibly their motives not being right for entering this area, this world, of this zone.
00:02:31
Speaker
And so the party gets in They wander in and find a kind of a pathway after some discussion about what happened and not telling Gwendolyn. ah Gwendolyn, what had happened to the elf that saw Gwendolyn go in and then tried immediately without saying anything and failed.
00:02:48
Speaker
So Gwendolyn, I assume, I believe still doesn't know what happened to this, this elven friend of theirs, but they wandered through the the the forest a little more, finding their way to a large bridge, which was filled with an overwhelming force of elven warriors ah monsters that had been summoned by spells as well as statues prepared to attack in some way it seemed and so after some little bits of attempt at resistance the party looked at each other and hesitantly stood down
00:03:32
Speaker
They have been taken into custody and they are being walked now through the forest.
Capture by Elves and Gwendolyn's Transformation
00:03:38
Speaker
So we find our party now surrounded by these elves. All of these elves are different.
00:03:47
Speaker
They are all unique looking. Some of them actually have even almost like face and neck tattoos, uh, Very tribal seeming, but the tattoos are kind of different designs on small groups of these have some similar design to this other group, but they they're not exact. And then this group is completely different and some have nothing at all.
00:04:07
Speaker
um In fact, even the hairstyles seem to be kind of similar with a couple of them. And then you'll see three or four over here that have a similar hairstyle, but it's different than the other. um but they are all wearing this brown, um, these brown, ah sewn together kind of heavy tunic armor, padded armor kind of things.
00:04:29
Speaker
And with bows, some of them have, uh, staffs and, uh, just different kinds of weapons and and blades with them as well. And they're, they've got you surrounded. They're walking kind of in a circle around you all, uh, as you are in the middle.
00:04:45
Speaker
Um, and, Your ah hands have been have been tied, and they did go through and take all of your items. ah The only difference is that Gwendolyn is still a wolf.
00:05:00
Speaker
um However, as a wolf, she has... ah Well, they have tried to put a collar on Gwendolyn with ah with ah like a leash on it. How did that go?
00:05:11
Speaker
um It was probably stubborn. Okay. So they they come at Gwendolyn with a large collar or a large, really just a large leather strap that they're attempting to kind of buckle onto ah gw Wolf Gwendolyn's neck and tie a rope to.
00:05:30
Speaker
um It takes four or five of them, um but they try to kind of subdue you to the point where if, unless you're going to full on you know, attack them with teeth and everything, which you're welcome to do if you'd like.
00:05:45
Speaker
But unless you're going to do that, it's going to be hard to resist the number of them because they can just keep piling on more and more people to try to at least get this collar on you. Yeah, I'm not snapping my jaws or anything. I'm just, okay I don't know.
00:06:00
Speaker
I'm just making it difficult a little bit. And you do. And strangely, actually, make an insight check. Okay. Make an insight check as you kind of... Read the the mood and the kind of vibe you're getting from these elves as they try to subdue you.
00:06:18
Speaker
13. Okay, yeah. You're kind of surprised because they don't seem to be getting angry with how you're acting. um They're not like, god they're not swearing or like getting frustrated with you. They're just kind of like, it's okay. Come on. It's okay. They're trying to kind of almost like subdue you by being gentle and calm.
00:06:36
Speaker
yeah Whether this comes from their ability to be good with animals or a lack of animos of real animosity towards you, you're not sure. But that is kind of there their approach to this, ah trying to get this leash on you. But when they finally are able to do that, they walk – they have three guys holding on to this rope to kind of keep you – angled in the direction that they're trying to go.
Journey to the Elven City
00:07:01
Speaker
And um so we're i'm imagining you we're imagining you guys walking in your, you have your armor or your, your just normal clothing that you're wearing, but everything that was like on your belts or in any kind of sheath or anything like that, weapons have been removed and are being carried by the elves in the very back of the party. You've been completely separated by these items, right?
00:07:28
Speaker
Cause you're full on taken into custody here. Uh, and As you continue to walk ah towards, and and even I believe if I can remember correctly, Davin, they tried they took off all your necklaces except one that they just could not remove.
00:07:43
Speaker
And as they continue to walk, you guys notice the trees kind of get thicker, bigger. We're talking like redwood size, just big old trees. And the colors are just bright. and beautiful.
00:07:55
Speaker
And before too long, the the trunks of these trees are like the size of buildings. They're just absolutely massive. And they just make you feel like an insect and and ah next to these things. They're so big. And it is unreal. It's like nothing you've ever seen before, the size of these trees. And you continue walking and the path is is just ah kind of paved and, and, and a little bit, uh, it's, it's kind of a mix between a dirt path and in a stone paved path with patches of, of, uh, of stone pathway here and there, and then mostly beaten down dirt from just the travel that, that happens here.
00:08:39
Speaker
And, After a good several hours of walking, you've been offered water to drink. You've been offered something to eat. Do you guys accept those things? Or how do you do whenever they offer you something like that to to eat or drink when they take a ah little rest at the side of the road?
00:08:57
Speaker
I absolutely eat and drink like happily. Okay. Yeah, same. Gwendolyn would sniff and then probably partake. Okay. And you have an hour, right, as a wolf?
00:09:10
Speaker
Yes. Okay. So about halfway into this journey, you can sense that you're about to lose your wild shape. Do you just let it go? um Let it go. That's all can say in that song. said i shouldn't have said that phrase. I apologize.
00:09:28
Speaker
um I kind of want to keep it going. Okay, so you're going to go the second hour with it. Yeah. um Cool. And if you want to keep it going all the way to when you get to your destination, then that's going to be, you can do it three times.
00:09:42
Speaker
and don't know how many times you can do it. I think two is what I have written down right now. Okay. All right. I'll stick with that. as I don't know the rule off the top of my head, so I'm going to have to just take your word for it. um So I think i think that – so what's going to happen actually is you're still going to have about 45 minutes to walk as Gwendolyn because you're going to drop the last wild shape that you have available to you.
00:10:04
Speaker
And when you do so, when you drop it, um the people who had the least – the least just kind of falls to the ground, and you're just kind of standing there free.
00:10:15
Speaker
ah Because you you know you were tied by the leash. And there are people kind of surrounding you and really close nearby that were holding that leash. And they immediately like stop the group and start to walk, like turn to to step towards you. Literally one, maybe two steps away to try to go ahead and take the things that you have on you um like they did the rest.
00:10:39
Speaker
um She's going to say, ah I've came this far. I believe I can walk the rest. They begin to look you over for weapons, anything dangerous, anything you could use to harm anyone, including any kind of spellcasting focus or spell components they're looking for.
00:10:56
Speaker
And so I'm going to roll to see an investigation check for these guys and see if they find anything. So D20 plus five. It's actually a seven. um I'm going to roll with advantage because there's several of them looking. So it's the help action.
00:11:10
Speaker
It's the help action. They're helping each other out. 15. There's a 15. So are you hiding anything dangerous from them? Hey, if you guys were like, I'm going to help them look, I'd be like, okay, roll with advantage.
00:11:22
Speaker
If the players can do it, can do it. What if I offer to help them look? Could that give them disadvantage? Hey, what the... it's like I use mage hand to hit them in the face to give them disadvantage. no go i'll I'll quote unquote look. it is you know i I'm not trying to act suspicious. I know Dale's in my bag, but that's about it.
00:11:43
Speaker
They definitely come across Dale in your bag. um They pay him no mind. okay they They're looking for anything you can use to harm anyone.
00:11:56
Speaker
Okay. So it's it's just about removing your weapons. And it's it's not like everything you love and hold dear sort of thing. So great. So they continue ah walking after they um don't, I guess, come across anything. you are Do you have any actual weapons, daggers, anything like that?
00:12:15
Speaker
um I think I've had a quarterstaff this whole entire time. Okay. But I haven't really used it that much. Yeah. Well, they take that. Okay. Yeah. But like...
00:12:26
Speaker
yeah nothing i think I don't think they're really taking anything that is of importance to you um like they did from you know taking Krieg's hammer and that sort of thing. So so I have um improved Mage Hand, which allows me to cast it without any sort of verbal or semantic components at all.
00:12:43
Speaker
And I can make it invisible. So I would like to cast Mage Hand. Cool. And I just want it to just like pull out like little hairs from the back of the neck of whatever guard is walking in front of me. okay Just every once in while. Just like every five minutes or so. Just like pluck like a hair out. just Awesome. Yeah, they definitely um ah definitely will slap the back of their neck every time that happens. Like, what what is that? What's going on? And like scratch at it.
00:13:08
Speaker
And it like stings and scratch. And they look over at the guy next to him like, you got to stop. you know And they have little discussion. Yeah. a little discussion in Elvin, and you pick up, you can make up words, those who speak Elvin, where it's just simply, it's simply like, um what are you doing?
00:13:27
Speaker
Stop it. You, leave me, leave me alone. Just walk, okay? Like, just simple, like sibling picking on each other, feeling stuff. um I'm satisfied. Do what?
00:13:39
Speaker
I said I'm satisfied. That's all I wanted in life. Okay, great. so If I pick up on it, I'll be like, is there mosquitoes here? And in Elvin, it's like, what?
00:13:50
Speaker
Is there bugs? They look at you and they're like, and they look at each other, like confused. Like, what is he talking about? And they just, they don't speak to you. um But they give you a weird, a weird side eye. Like, what is this word bugs that you speak?
00:14:07
Speaker
And go ahead. He looks at Joxer and he just smashes his eyes together in the worst attempt at a wink. so no
00:14:17
Speaker
Oh, it's canon. ah so So after a good three and a half hours of walking or so, you guys end up walking into, you're still in forest surrounded by these giant trees.
Arrival and Reaction in the Elven City
00:14:30
Speaker
But now it's like the branches of these trees have formed a gateway.
00:14:37
Speaker
that you're walking through. There are elven guards standing on top of this wall, this gate of this wall. And you walk through this square or a rectangular, about 15 foot wide gate.
00:14:55
Speaker
standing about 20 feet high and above that is another 10 feet of wooden branches and vines giant sized branches that have kind of twirled around each other and twisted to form this wall that stretches from one giant tree trunk to another and in the distance you can see that on the other side of that tree trunk the branches from the trees have grown down the side of the tree and merged over to join with branches from the next tree over to form a wall that stands a good 30 feet high on that side as well so this wall is formed from the trees like they grew in the shape of their their branches shifted and changed to grow in the shape of this outside city wall that you're walking into
00:15:41
Speaker
And so you walk inside and as you do, this first section you walk into is pretty wide open. And there is a, ah you you walk across a a tree, like a tree column or tree trunk bridge that stands about 15 feet wide ah over a trench that has been ah carved out of the ground, seemingly in this big kind of, uh,
00:16:10
Speaker
this long distance, uh, stretching from one side of the wall all the way down to as far as you can see towards the other side where it starts to kind of, uh, do a sharp cut at one turn at one tree to the left, like a, like the wall starts to go backwards.
00:16:25
Speaker
Um, but that's pretty far in the distance. You see trees it all over inside of this place. And it's like this, uh, this This wooden bridge makes way stone pathway that goes all over and stretches ahead of you to the left, to the right, in a couple different ways in each direction. It's like city streets, but instead of seeing buildings stone,
00:16:48
Speaker
and it goes between what it's like city streets but instead of seeing buildings of stone or or or anything that you've seen or hide like you've seen recently.
00:16:59
Speaker
These are buildings that have been grown and in formed from the natural branches, ah natural plant life here in this forest.
00:17:10
Speaker
And so you now ah also see a lot of other elven people. You see older looking elves with silver hair standing proudly near fires burning ah as they stand outside of their, what you would assume to be their home with ah with um the the entryway being a kind of archway entry grown with this ornate, these ornate flowers in a delicate pattern around this round shaped
00:17:43
Speaker
kind of hut grown from these trees and then next to that almost almost touching it the branches have grown into this large rectangular shaped house with a rectangular shaped doorway you see these kinds of houses all over different shapes and sizes ah almost as if each person could possibly ah decide how their house grew or grows to design it the way they want.
00:18:10
Speaker
And as they as you walk, you see different kinds of people, as I said, older people. You see younger folks. ah Some of them are sitting carving. Some of them are... um are actually preparing food. You see him with ah a stone, like a mortar and pestle, kind of crushing something down inside there, pouring it over into like a pot that is boiling on the fire.
00:18:32
Speaker
ah You see a mother ah standing with her two little kids elven children they look up at you and when as you guys walk by with this group surrounding you through the middle of town they usher their kids inside their little hovel made from trees ah you walk further into the city you see these people everywhere you see the elf warriors walking proudly as if to be excited that they are showing off what they've brought home from their patrol and or from their mission and
00:19:04
Speaker
And you do look up and you can, if you look up, you can see the sky is is blue like it was outside of the city. You see the trees continue to grow tall like they did outside of these gates.
00:19:17
Speaker
And um you continue to walk through the city all the way down. And um the one who's kind of was in charge when you guys were on the bridge, he's kind of slows his walk to where you catch up with him.
00:19:31
Speaker
And he looks back at you all and he he says, as you... as ah in Elvin, as you're walking, he says, Welcome to a welcome to the home of the Al-Minorah.
00:19:45
Speaker
Unfortunately, you are not our welcomed guests, but I did not want to be rude. Do you get many welcomed guests? We very rarely have any guests at all.
00:19:56
Speaker
Almost never unwelcome, though, that is for sure. We have somewhere for you to stay, but it won't be the most comfortable place you've ever been. um Does Gwendolyn recognize any of this from her dreams that she's been having?
00:20:09
Speaker
Make a history check. That's a very good question. That's a 12. A 12. ah t twelvelf What did you say, Blaze? I just said, that's a very good question, Ash. Oh, yeah.
00:20:21
Speaker
well, I'm smart like that. um i will say I will say that Gwendolyn hasn't seen anything yet that piqued her memory. um Okay. ah Specifically.
00:20:33
Speaker
But she has definitely been... the The walls to the outside with the elves standing on them caused her to start thinking about her dreams.
00:20:46
Speaker
And so... Because you asked that question and because of that and your role, the future roles, if you if something if you want to ask about something else specific, your roles will be an easier difficulty um because you do realize you need to think.
00:21:01
Speaker
Gwendolyn now realizes, i need to be trying to remember my dreams and see if I see anything here that stands out. Does that make sense? Yes. Great. so So, yeah. ah You had a question, Joxer, for your captor?
00:21:17
Speaker
What would a welcomed guest, and I emphasize guest, look like here? Well, I'm not authorized to to speak with you.
00:21:28
Speaker
i'm I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be rude. I just, by the look of things, you're a very sequestered group. Well... It doesn't like you would welcome any guests.
00:21:40
Speaker
You're right. That is by design. Our orders are to find you, take you in, and you will be put on trial. And then we will decide what happens from there based on the judge's decision.
00:21:54
Speaker
He starts to just speed up a little bit like he's going to walk away unless you guys catch him. Davin leans over to Craig's, not understanding anywhere that's being said because he doesn't speak Elvish. And he goes, oh, I think that jocks has worked out. I think everything's going be okay.
00:22:07
Speaker
I'm pretty sure he just ordered us a leg of lamb. I really don't know at this point. I got to work on my Elvish. um In Elvish, Gwendolyn's going to yells, where's Carrick?
00:22:22
Speaker
Oh, she just ordered the lamb sauce. When you yell, when you yell, well where's Carrick? ah You hear gasps from the people around you. Not the guards, but the people in the community.
00:22:35
Speaker
And a couple of the younger folks... ah kind of avert their eyes when they hear you say that and kind of walk like, I'm not, I can't act like I'm interested anymore. And, um, and, ah definitely any children or anybody that was out, they've been ushered back. They've been ushered inside at you naming that name.
00:22:55
Speaker
Davin leans over to Craig's and he says, I think whatever Joxer did was just completely undone. So
00:23:03
Speaker
we have business, um, from the darkness that, We need to speak with Kerik. It's unpleasant.
00:23:14
Speaker
We do not utter that name here at risk of banishment. Now, that's that's why we're here. we want to banish Kerik. Make a deception check.
00:23:25
Speaker
Maybe they're ordering the the veal? oh God. um I'm going to help with that. okay. Okay. Oh, you go. That's not bad. That's pretty good, but I need to find my character sheet after this. All right. So that is 21, a 19 plus two. Oh, wow.
00:23:48
Speaker
Great. Nice. All right. He's going to have to roll two then because that's good. I'm very curious how Greg going to help. Oh, yeah. You just stare at the guard?
00:23:58
Speaker
I am just staring. Okay. he His eyes grow wide. And he but will, in that case, perhaps, well, I'm not allowed to talk to you, but I hope that our goal, our mission to retrieve you was to assist us. That would be wonderful. I i would be surprised, but that would be wonderful.
00:24:20
Speaker
How does this guy look when he's talking? Like, does he feel forced to say these kinds of things? Make an insight check. Okay. Okay. I will also try an insight. I'm terrible. Very good question. 17. I lean over to Davin and I just... 16 plus 6. Just ask him. 22. Just to Davin and ask him.
00:24:43
Speaker
I was thinking it was bad. It's wisdom, I'm good. Intelligence, I'm negative. and Okay. um I'm sorry, Blaze. What were going to Nothing. I'm good. Keep going. No, man. I want to hear your funny thing.
00:24:55
Speaker
No, it's too late now. Moments lost. The moments are gone. That's true. Sorry about that. um I lean over to Craig and I say, were you going to say something? It looks like you're going to never mind. Forget about it.
00:25:06
Speaker
I love it. the um ah you You definitely reading his body language. And, and not necessarily the words he's saying, but his, or his tone, but more like you definitely hear a hesitation in his voice and his body language is more like he's, he's posturing more than you would think someone in his position would need to.
00:25:34
Speaker
um like, like he's more insecure in what he's doing than you would think. Like he's, he's trying to prove to you that he's someone, um, you know Somebody who really has authority or really is is in this position because they've earned their way there and they do this all the time, you know you wouldn't get this vibe from somebody like that. Instead, it's more like, I can't screw this up. You know you don't necessarily get the vibe that he's – I hired my cousin to do this thing. so Yeah, exactly.
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah, but you don't you don't get the vibe that he's like under under risk of beheading or anything necessarily. Just like I want to impress and do a good job.
00:26:16
Speaker
Okay. So, but he's just like, yeah, I ah i was not expecting um you to be here for to help us, but you'll you'll have to take it up with with the judge. When you speak with him, he will... ah he would the He will lead you. He will help or he will know what to do from there. He's helped us. He's got us this far.
00:26:37
Speaker
So they are here. He's in the city again in Elvish. ah I am said too much. I'm afraid I'm not going to say any more. And he's kind of doubles his pace and starts walking away from you guys, like trying to get up to the front of the line like you're supposed to.
00:26:54
Speaker
In the meantime, you see a couple of the guards look at each other like, oh, no. Well, take us, I guess. And then ah you walk a little further. As you get further, the buildings get a little bigger.
00:27:07
Speaker
ah You definitely see one that has a couple tables out in front, people sitting and drinking. They all stop, look at you. There's a little game of darts going on out there. And um you you feel like you're more in like the the city center market district.
00:27:23
Speaker
um You see a statue in the center area. of the city center that is one of the only real stone objects in the the vicinity.
00:27:35
Speaker
um But it has it's a carved statue with vines kind of growing up and around it, but in a way that accentuates what's going on ah in the design of the statue, not covering it up.
00:27:46
Speaker
But it's a statue of a large it's a large statue of an elf. um He's looking to the sky. He has one hand down holding a book. The other hand is up in the air. ah with his fingers and palm faced upward, holding a giant orb but of some kind.
00:28:03
Speaker
ah Gwendolyn, make a history check. Oh. Uh, 12. This is ringing a bell. You don't know exactly why it's ringing a bell. You can't place it, but you've got this in the pit of your stomach, this familiarity with this particular statue.
00:28:25
Speaker
And everyone else also make history checks. I still have my bag with Dale in it, right? They just took my quarterstaff. Correct. If you insist. That's a 8 minus 1, 7.
00:28:37
Speaker
Natural 1, 7. That's a 9 minus nothing and plus nothing either. so okay So, um yeah, you guys are oblivious. You see the statue and you're like, hey that's stone. Most of the stuff here is wood. That's weird. That's all you notice.
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, so yeah, you walk through the town square, the town center where all the seeming shops and things are. It actually looks like in different different circumstances, this might, would be a fun place to kind of wander around and see what they got.
00:29:09
Speaker
Um, but you're not able to do that in this situation. So, uh, and everybody stops. Everything freezes when you walk through here and everybody's looking at you watching and, uh, elves of all kinds, all shapes and sizes, um, different, different, some even with beards, which is kind of unique for elves, but they've got them.
00:29:27
Speaker
And, uh, you've got, uh, taller ones that all kind of seem to hang. and it seems like there's some intermingling of different kind, of different like looking elves, ah different people. But um it seems like for the most part, like the area over on one side where there's a bunch of shops, mostly that's the same kind of looking type of area.
00:29:46
Speaker
elf hanging out over there and then in this other section over here you've got a similar thing like these guys these people all look mostly similar save a few people who are just kind of there here and there kind of speckled throughout um so it it seems to be not necessarily like officially segregated but kind of like organically people keeping to their own kind a little bit you know and so kind of like high school and then um ah You continue through the city center until ah you definitely see to your right a the biggest tree you've ever seen in your life.
00:30:24
Speaker
ah This thing is the size of multiple buildings put together. ah It's like a skyscraper-sized tree.
00:30:35
Speaker
ah The bottom of the tree has a hole carved in it. It looks like, or maybe it just grew there. um But it's just a black, empty looking hole.
00:30:49
Speaker
And there are um runes, it looks like. carved giant runes, probably five foot by five foot square or diameter, depending on the shape of the particular rune, carved all over the the front of this thing up to about 15 feet high. They're just all over this thing, these runes.
00:31:13
Speaker
um And in front of there is a little fountain with an orb on top of the fountain, similar In fact, maybe identical to the one that's being held by the statue in the center of the city center.
00:31:30
Speaker
Oh. You walk past. Very familiar now. You walk past this big tree and they turn you to the left slightly, you continue and you begin walking uphill a little ways. You're kind of blown away at the size of this place, the fact that this is all a city.
00:31:47
Speaker
And when you look up, you realize that you're looking through a canopy of tree branches above you to the sky above because every single building here is made from either the trunks of trees or branches growing out from the lowest section of these trees and forming, ah connecting to each other and twisting together to form these buildings.
00:32:10
Speaker
I have three questions. Go. My first question is, does the plant life and the trees and stuff that are here in this area look like the same ones that were outside of where we had entered? like for Basically what I'm asking are, does it look natural to this plane of existence that we're on?
00:32:29
Speaker
They do, yes. um you You may notice that there are more... green, regular like green like trees than there were. It was mostly just all kinds of crazy colors outside of this area.
00:32:42
Speaker
But in this area, yes, you still have some of those crazy colors, but the majority are more of a green color like you would see from where you're from in your plane of existence or your home world or whatever you want to call it.
00:32:54
Speaker
Very good. Question number two. Yeah. Does it seem, can I ascertain in any sort of way how long this city has been here based off of just what we've seen? Hmm.
00:33:05
Speaker
Make a well, without a role, There are two options. Either Magic built this city and it could have been yesterday, or it has taken hundreds, maybe thousands of years for everything here to grow this way.
00:33:23
Speaker
Those are the only two options as far as that goes. Now, as far as trying to determine from other ways how long the city's been here, like what would you do to try to figure that out in the situation you're in right now?
00:33:36
Speaker
I suppose um I would just look at um the way of life. I suppose the people are are here doing like the gardens, for example, or like just see how built in they are to the land that they're in If it seems like they've been here for a long time, or if it seems like they've only kind of recently maybe been transported here, sort of a thing.
00:33:59
Speaker
I don't know how to find that out exactly. I think we'll call that an insight check. don't kind of an insight on the people in the area. I don't, it's not really an easy thing to determine a role for, but it doesn't matter. It's another natural one.
00:34:12
Speaker
Oh, geez. Okay. Well, there you go. um Yeah. You, you kind of stuck with the first two options. I said, you're like, boy, this could either be, this place would have to have been taken, been built over the course of a thousand years or it's magic has done it. And it could have been this afternoon. Who knows? Yeah.
00:34:33
Speaker
I have a question. Well, he had a third question. I don't care about that. Go for it. No, you go first. Please. I've already taken my time.
00:34:43
Speaker
How hard would I have to hit that tree with my hammer to splinter? and I'm just real curious. um You don't have your hammer right now, but if you did... Theoretically, I have the hammer. how you You would... um ah It might split you.
00:35:00
Speaker
Okay, cool. Go ahead with your third question, Davin. ah My third question was just, if I look up at the sky, since we have kind of passed through that wall, have we seen any change at all to the sky or has it been the same as it was outside?
00:35:14
Speaker
You did. i and you did notice, ah we mentioned at the beginning of you walking through the wall, that the sky is now regular blue so blue sky. And you can see shadows and stuff as if the sun moves like a normal day. Sweet. Okay, cool.
00:35:29
Speaker
That's it. That's all I wanted to know. Yep. That's true. That's it there.
Arrival at the Ornate Building
00:35:34
Speaker
And then, uh, so yeah, you turn left, you start going down this pathway and you go up a little bit up some stairs and, uh, you can definitely see that where you're headed is a big building that is, it is stone and, um or kind of brick, like made from mud and wood It's the most ornate of all the buildings you've seen. It's very nice looking.
00:35:59
Speaker
And um they take you inside there. And you see inside of it, it is it is very um very ornate and and very well-crafted brick. with um You can see here there's brick that seems to have been shaped around a kind of...
00:36:17
Speaker
ah ah wiggly, I guess, shaped tree branch, almost like a root that has grown down through the wall, but instead the bricks have been laid around it to make it look like it's part of the wall.
00:36:28
Speaker
that's ah There's a couple of those on every on each wall here. The ceiling is high and angled upwards, ah made of wood, and you see little beams of light coming through the ceiling as the the branches that were used to make the ceiling and roof i aren't sealed in any way. It's, it's white kind of open to the sky and inside are benches for sitting and a large, um, a large, almost, uh, like platform in front of these benches with a large, almost thrown like seat sitting on it.
00:37:06
Speaker
and they, uh, take you to the left of that, um, of that platform. Before we go ahead continue moving, can I try to get Dale's attention?
00:37:22
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, you get it. He's waiting. He can't wait to hear from you. So that's not a problem. I kind of nudge my back little bit like I'm shifting it. And I try to whisper, Nelvish, but go look for Carrick if you can and then find me when you're done.
00:37:42
Speaker
Okay. He um scurries up out of your bag and make a stealth check for homeboy.
00:37:52
Speaker
I'd like stumble and make a little bit of noise if that's possible to kind of distract. You can make the stealth check with ah help, so advantage.
00:38:04
Speaker
Yay! I crit it! There it is, natural 20! Boop, boop! um So Jockser stumbles, which is funny for a super dexterous guy like Jockser to stumble. What if I stumble? Was that a weed? Is there a root growing on the ground? gosh.
00:38:25
Speaker
And he takes a couple hard steps, you know, that classic like stomp, stomp, stomp as you catch yourself trying not to fall. And a few of these elves who've been walking proudly through the street jump and turn on you guys like it scared them. They don't know what happened. They've been kind of uptight this whole time.
00:38:42
Speaker
They see that Joxer is just kind of righting himself from this stumble. And in the middle of all of that, not only does ah does Dale scurry out of the bag unseen, he tucks himself in your cloak and kind of crawls down your back and your hip and then jumps down to the floor crawling the opposite direction of where they're looking and scurries away, sniffing the air.
00:39:10
Speaker
You don't know where he's gone, but he definitely seems to have heard you and he's on a mission. Okay. Great. And so, um, so yeah, so from there, they take you to the ah left of this platform and they pull back a curtain and The guys who are in front of you leading the way, they kind of step aside as ah couple of ah a couple of the of the guards and this main guard who had been talking to you um kind of motion you to follow them and begin walking down so a set of stairs through this doorway.
00:39:52
Speaker
And they begin walking down the stairs. ah There's four of them, the main guard and the three others in front of you. And a handful of the other guards, um five of them or six of them, actually, it's exactly six of them, follow you downward behind you ah with their hands kind of on their weapons just in case.
00:40:13
Speaker
um And they walk down, find that they get to a landing turn get to a landing, turn to the ah back left, right, left a couple times until they walk out into an opening underground.
Imprisonment in a Magical Jail Cell
00:40:29
Speaker
And ah the walls are like roots with dirt here and there. The floors are dirt, hard, hard, like padded down dirt. And you see that there are...
00:40:42
Speaker
tree branches that have ah been, that have grown ah roots that have grown down to create cells like jail cells down here. And you walk by a couple of them and they stand empty and they walk you ah into another one. This one is a little different because these, this is not crafted from roots,
00:41:08
Speaker
ah It's crafted from wood that has seems to have been harvested and cut into planks. And, um, They put you inside this room.
00:41:21
Speaker
And when you go inside this room, it is a good, it's a nice rectangle about 15 foot or a square about 15 foot by 15 foot. And as soon as you walk into this room, everything goes completely silent.
00:41:33
Speaker
You can't hear, you can't hear your steps. You can't hear your breathing. I lean over to Davin and I say, funny, very funny. yeah That was good, man. and I was getting ready to be like, he doesn't hear you, but I i see what you did now. I will say this entire time, Davin's been counting his steps and everything from the moment we saw the building come in sight.
00:41:52
Speaker
Basically every 120 feet, he counts the steps and then just kind of takes notice of where he is and counts another 120 feet. ah hundred twenty feet Great. And so he they put you inside there and you can't you you you can't hear anything.
00:42:08
Speaker
And when you begin to open your mouth, like to say something, you move your mouth, but you don't even hear your own voice. No words come out. um it's creepy and eerily silent in here.
00:42:22
Speaker
And the lights, while the back wall, as you walk in and kind of look to the left, you can see the back wall of this um is covered in tree roots that have then been overlaid with these wooden planks.
00:42:38
Speaker
And everybody make an investigation check as you walk in here, or no, perception check as you walk in here.
00:42:47
Speaker
15 for Devin. Okay. Perception. 15 plus 1. 16. 13 with a 3. Great. Kriggs? Deception, you said?
00:42:59
Speaker
Nope. I said perception. I couldn't hear you. Sorry, this room. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I got a natural 1 plus 1, so 2. Okay. There's been a lot of Nat Ones tonight.
00:43:11
Speaker
um So, Joxer, you're the only one that notices that there is a kind of shimmer to the walls in this room. um Every now and then, you just see like a little glisten shimmer off of ah off of these walls.
00:43:26
Speaker
um And yeah, they usher you in here. They shut the door behind you. And when they do, um you do have a few little, like the door has ah like a barred window in it, but the seal around the door completely goes away as if there is no door there anymore. Just a wall with ah about two foot wide by foot and a half tall window that has very hard wood walls.
00:44:02
Speaker
railings going through kind of three of them through the middle of the window other than that you're in this wood planked wall with little gaps here and there that you could see through here and there it's not perfectly together but it seems like to be coated on the inside at least to joxer's eyes by some sort of this whatever this shimmering is that that he sees on it and it is completely silent what are you going to question yes Because I had already casted my mage hand, which is invisible, could I have that stay outside of the cell that we are in?
00:44:39
Speaker
Like when we get put inside, have it like just floating around outside of it? Yeah, sure. Okay, then it's outside. Okay, what else are you guys going to do? We got a mage hand floating outside. is it completely dark in here?
00:44:52
Speaker
It is not completely dark. Okay. It's just completely silent. You can see there are three cots in the distance. Not the distance. It's a 15 by 15 room. There's three cots standing kind of in the corner.
00:45:05
Speaker
um And this is kind of like a holding cell maybe or like a bunk cell. um But the three cots are over there. There's a little chamber pot in the corner. And that's about it. It's a hard ah dirt floor, a root here and there. But So I'm going to walk over to the cots and then i believe as an action I can resummon spell slots.
00:45:28
Speaker
um So I just want to look away from the door and then you know get spell slots in my like cloak so that he's hidden. He has blindsight for 30 feet.
00:45:40
Speaker
um So that's just not a semantic. It's just at least I don't think. um You don't have to speak to resummon him? I don't. I'll double check.
00:45:51
Speaker
Okay. But I want to do that off by the cot, and then I want to investigate the cot just to make sure, you know, is it just basic wood? Is it the same stuff? I'm investigating the cot by laying in it.
00:46:02
Speaker
I have laid back with both of my hands behind my head, and I'm just... Okay. Great. um Is there any plant life at all? um There are couple roots going through the floor.
00:46:15
Speaker
Okay. But there's nothing like... Nothing I can talk to? ah You don't know. I mean, the the planks are not living. They're they're definitely wooden planks that have been that have been harvested and turned to lumber.
00:46:30
Speaker
What is the ground made of? did my The ground is dirt. my laying on a cot and joxers checking for wood find anything? ah Did you make an investigation check?
00:46:43
Speaker
let me Let me make an investigation check for some wood. Can I roll for a vibe check? Because I'm really throwing it out there. Yeah, man. Make a vibe check. Use your charisma. 16 minus 115.
00:46:58
Speaker
With your Riz modifier. What'd you say, Joxer? 15 minus 1, 15. I've never felt like summer is. A 15, you said? Yeah. A 15, you say? Okay. So... ah fifteen you said yeah fifteen you say okay um so The cot is also crafted like the other lumber in here.
00:47:20
Speaker
um It's one of the few things. Now, obviously, like the brick has been crafted. There's some sections. There's some things, some of the tools that were used as you walk through the village you saw were or the town were crafted as well. Some of the stands that things like boiling pots over fire were built on were built from lumber or planks.
00:47:39
Speaker
So it's not unheard of that the wooded wood, it would is craft they're using wood to craft things. Um, but this is the only cell it looks like that had that, uh, as the main feature of it. And yes, these cots as well are, are, are crafted wood. They're not grown from anything.
00:47:57
Speaker
Can we see, you said that it it was like perfectly closed off everywhere. Can we see through where we had been pushed into the cell where the door was? Yes. Make perception checks. Whoever's looking through there. I will look through there.
00:48:09
Speaker
And I got a 12. Good thing this is an easy one. So you look out the window in the doorway that they put you through, which is now just a wall. The door completely sealed up. And at an angle to your right, you see the cell next to yours.
00:48:26
Speaker
And inside that cell... There is ah man sitting on a cot. He's got long silver ratty hair, a long silver bill beard.
00:48:40
Speaker
He sits on his cot with his arms wrapped around his knees. His knees are pulled up against his chest and he's just kind of rocking a little bit. He's wearing a gray tunic that's torn and dirty. He has bare feet, dirty legs, and knees. looks like there's stuff kind of stuck up in his hair. You see a mostly still-filled food plate, like a wooden food plate sitting near the doorway of his cell. His cell is more typical with bars and things in it.
00:49:11
Speaker
He is also – his legs and ah hands are both – um ah shackled as well with one of the only metal things you've seen in this place, which is these shackles.
00:49:23
Speaker
And he sits there is and seemingly just rocking. And to you, it's just in complete silence. This place is where you're at is completely quiet. but um I'll point him out to Gwen the there and kind of make motions for her to take a look and Gwen, when you look, make an investigation check with advantage.
00:49:48
Speaker
What about an intimidation check?
00:49:52
Speaker
I'm already intimidated. my gosh, I rolled a two, ah three, and a four. How exciting. So as you look... um Seven is my highest. You see what he sees.
00:50:05
Speaker
You definitely see the same man sitting there. You don't really notice his shackles...
00:50:13
Speaker
And yeah, that's all. There's nothing extra that you notice or see. Just to note, I looked it up as an action. While my familiar is dismissed, I can ah cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of me.
00:50:31
Speaker
Okay, cool. No problemo. And we can see him. like What kind of cell is he in? like Is the bars made out of metal or wood? inside looks like yours, but the bars are pretty close together, but they are wooden roots, it looks like.
00:50:48
Speaker
But like the walls of his cell are planks like yours, but the the doorway and the the front wall is is is not plank. I'll... oh'll write down in the dirt with my finger, and I'll just write dad question mark and get Gwen's attention.
00:51:05
Speaker
Okay. Gwen, when you look down at the word dad, Dale is there.
Revelation of the Significant Prisoner
00:51:12
Speaker
And when he sees that he has your attention, he runs to the wall, scurries up one of the little roots that is stuck in the wall, finds an opening,
00:51:23
Speaker
scurries through and he runs over to the man sitting in the cell next to you and begins jumping up and down on his cot. And that's where we're going to leave the episode. think we found him.
00:51:37
Speaker
End of story. We found him. Alright, I guess let's go home. Alright, we know where he's at now.
00:51:49
Speaker
Man, Costco does keep the cost low. Oh, and thanks for listening to this week's episode of The Hired Swords. Are you getting those vibes that were like coming in for a landing? I sure am. Anyway, thanks you again for listening. If you love our podcast, subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. And if you really, really love it, tell somebody about it. You can share it however you want on any of your favorite podcast listening apps. Thanks.
00:52:10
Speaker
Bye.