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Ep. 108 A Mysterious Cellmate
43 Plays7 days ago
Down in an arborescent dungeon, the Swords have met a stranger. Dale seems to like him, but can the party convince him to give them answers as to what is going on here among the Almenora?
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Transcript
Apologies and Introductions
00:00:20
Speaker
you're listening to the hired swords a dungey and dragons 5e actual play podcast and i'd like to apologize to ava our biggest fan because i'm late publishing this episode sorry about that love you
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello everyone out there, welcome to another fantastic episode of The Hired Swords. We're here, we're back. Been a minute for the for those of us here recording right now, but we're very excited to be here.
00:00:54
Speaker
I'm Michael, your Dungeon Master, with me. I've got the only one I can see on camera, and I'm super glad to see his beautiful face. It's Mikey, he's Juxer. What's up, buddy? Hey, I'm doing fantastic. How are you doing?
00:01:05
Speaker
I'm great. I'm really good. Pretty darn good. Are you ready play? You ready to play? Oh, extremely
Character Introductions and Humor
00:01:10
Speaker
ready. Like I've been buzzing chops as they say. Blaze is here as well. He is Kriegsgaldr.
00:01:17
Speaker
Don't you ever interrupt my introduction again. Sorry. Hey, guys. Yeah. yeah That's what happens with Blaze, man. He's got he's kind of popular now. craggs is kind of basically famous.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of a big deal. This is the stuff you got to put up with when this happens. Derek's here, too. Little guy, big head. He's dabbing and he interrupted Derek's intro. And my my mom says I'm a big deal.
00:01:42
Speaker
That's very nice of her. pickle She also says I'm the prettiest boy in all of the world. ah Yeah, she's not wrong. She's not wrong. but Speaking of all of the world, Ash is here. She plays Gwendolyn.
00:01:55
Speaker
Yeah. If my mom was here, she would say things, but she's not.
Recap: Arrest and Peculiar Cells
00:02:00
Speaker
i didn't know your mom was dead. Yeah, man. Oh. That got awkward. That's what got me out of the house.
00:02:07
Speaker
<unk> Okay. Sorry, i ruined everything. i i took i took the high high energy and I squashed window. your dad is a alive. We know that now. My dad is alive. See, i I'm transitioning into the the opening thing.
00:02:25
Speaker
Thanks so much for joining us. Last time but last time on the Hired Swords, we ah last time on the hired swords um the the party was dragged to jail. They were dragged to jail through the forest by this group of elves in what is now basically known to be the group...
00:02:48
Speaker
we...
00:02:51
Speaker
a collection of different tribes kind of discovered how they kind of lived their lives and things when this people when the the party was traveling through the untouched lands now that we are in this strange realm that is unnamed so far and as far as they know it's unfamiliar wait we but We should name it. like Why haven't we done that yet? I mean, that's fair. That's fair.
00:03:13
Speaker
also want to make a correction. We were we were escorted cordially um against our will. That's true. You weren't dragged. They didn't have to drag you. You guys agreed to lay down your weapons, allow them to take all your stuff, and you guys walked. The only thing that that stayed with you was Dale, who stayed with you as you were put into a jail cell.
00:03:37
Speaker
Made of wood, hard, solid oak-type wood, impenetrable bars and walls and ceiling, floor. Literally, the the floor, it's like the it's like the tree grew into this cell. And when you got in there, you realized you couldn't make any sound or hear any sound. It was dead magically, dead quiet.
00:04:01
Speaker
But you did see somebody in the cell across the way, kind of through the... through the The slit in the walls where the the tree branches had grown together to form these walls of this cell. You saw somebody in a cell
Curiosity About Fellow Prisoner
00:04:15
Speaker
further away. You sent Dale towards that cell.
00:04:18
Speaker
Dale got inside there and started acting kind of excitedly when he got up onto this creature, or this creature, this person's... lap, I guess, basically. And it was this older looking man who was sitting, the elven man sitting with his hair long and rattly. He was on a cot, the back wall of this cell, arms wrapped around his knees, pulled up against his chest as he rocked back and forth at a gray, torn, dirty tunic.
00:04:46
Speaker
And Dale went and got very excited when he saw him. And that's where we left off. I believe. Unless you guys remember something I don't, that's the end of my notes. What are we going to do now that you've seen this happen?
00:04:59
Speaker
I feel like the only other thing was I brought out a spell slots. I believe. Yes, you guys have another little buddy, little friend. yeah so So what would you like to do now?
00:05:11
Speaker
I want to say last time i had tried to do stuff because I couldn't see what was going on because I was
Strategizing Escape
00:05:18
Speaker
failing on my rolls. Oh, Yeah, I think that's right. You were trying to figure out what was happening.
00:05:24
Speaker
And I fit believe, was it, um for some reason, my brain is trying to tell me, listen, it's been a month and a half, everybody. for some reason, my brain trying, and these aren't like where I could just go. I guess I could go back and listen to my old part of the recording, but how much fun is that?
00:05:36
Speaker
um But I believe if I remember correctly, Joxer had, Joxer had kind of noticed that. that Dale was getting excited. Does that sound right, Mikey? or Yeah, I think there there was a... I was trying to give some sort of help option or, you know, some maybe... maybe Because originally spell slots I could see, um you know, without sight. So I could feel that there was another figure. And then I think I was trying to... Yeah. Because ah is that...
00:06:06
Speaker
We can barely see through that door. I can't remember. or it Yeah, you can see him kind of at an angle over on the side sitting there and you could see Dale in that little zone that you could see ah excitedly hopping around and in entry not tree slots. Spell slots was going that way too.
00:06:21
Speaker
I believe. if If it's a retcon, it's a retcon. That's what's happening. Yeah.
00:06:29
Speaker
I'm ah just shoving Gwen's face at the the angled hole. Okay, so Gwen, you can see, you can now see Dale's excited nature. You don't hear anything from him. His squeaks and little chirps and things that he normally does aren't there. And so there's nothing for your mind to like turn into into words ah now that you've been in this realm and he's been actually alive.
00:06:49
Speaker
ah So you don't hear anything, but you definitely see his kind of excited nature.
00:06:56
Speaker
Dale, I told you to go find Carrick.
00:07:02
Speaker
And no one hears any words come out of your mouth. Are you trying to like project psychically into him? No, I'm just trying to talk. Okay, so yeah literally your mouth moves. yell at Davin, and I'm just like, I think she said goblets.
00:07:19
Speaker
But he can't hear me. No, no, no. You could definitely look at him and try to read his lips, but you don't... you don't What's the ground to made out of? The ground is wood. Nothing.
00:07:31
Speaker
As is the this walls and ceiling and the beds and the table. Like wood planks? ah No, actually. Actually, make an investigation or nature check.
00:07:42
Speaker
Okay. I will do one of those. i will do an investigation. Okay. 19 total. nineteen total Great. Yeah. It's definitely like tree bark. It's like, this is part of, it's, it's almost like you've crawled into like a hole in a tree, but it's the size of a building, you know, and you're inside the, the wood around you is the inside of this tree.
00:08:07
Speaker
And it has formed these jail cells basically down below this building. This is like the city hall that you had walked into. And, With a 19, you definitely see that there are like etchings, not likes carved into the floor, but every now and then like you'll see Elvin's script has kind of almost been burned into the the surface of the floor and the walls in this room.
00:08:38
Speaker
Hmm. Communicating is difficult when you cannot speak. Yeah. Gwendolyn's still trying to talk. Okay. Like she was doing. Just, why are you with him? What is this?
00:08:51
Speaker
Make an arcana check as you try to talk. Okay. Oh, that was almost a 17. Oh. I see a 10 plus what? Uh, 10 plus proficiency plus, uh, intelligence. Oh, it is a 17. Yeah.
00:09:04
Speaker
yeah So it's a plus seven. Sorry. It almost rolled to a 17 on the dice is what I meant. Um, I'd like the dice was like tilting on the screen on a roll 20 anyway. Um, but
Disrupting the Silence Spell
00:09:15
Speaker
that's funny that it actually was a 17. Uh, so yeah, you can sense when you try to talk,
00:09:24
Speaker
um the words like leave, like your voice comes out and you hear your words in your head, like you're talking, but once it escapes your lips, it's like, it's, it's silence, not even like muzzled, like you, but keep repeating with you're behind but it's just like the, it's like the, something's like disintegrating the vocal, ah the the sound waves as they come out of your mouth.
00:09:49
Speaker
And you can tell this is a magical, This is definitely a magical thing happening. Magical effect. That's the word I was looking for. I see Dale and this man, and I just... How do we get rid of these marks? Is there any marks? is I don't know what the spell is.
00:10:07
Speaker
So ah you you're looking for marks. You can make an investigation check, just as Davin did, or or an arcana check as you look around to see if you see anything. I'll do another Arcana check. Yeah, I would.
00:10:20
Speaker
If I ask you. Eleven total. Eleven. ah You don't see the carvings. um They are...
00:10:31
Speaker
They are, they're not, they're not carvings. I keep saying carvings cause that's kind of what I see in my head, but they weren't carved there. Basically they just exist there. But, and that's one of the reasons you don't see them is cause they're not okay like physically visible.
00:10:46
Speaker
Um, so yeah, unfortunately, you know, Ash knows that Derek saw him or that Davin saw them, but Gwendolyn doesn't see any runes or markings on the floor or anywhere. And remind me again, the front, is it like metal bars or is it all barked over or is it like magical or is it actual gate? It's like thick hardwood branches.
00:11:09
Speaker
um But they're grown pretty um pretty yeah smooth, like almost like they were carved, but they the they were somehow purposed to become jail cells, but not not through physical manipulation. you know So there's no keyhole or anything.
00:11:28
Speaker
and Not that you see, no. If you want to make another investigation check, you can see if you can see something like that. so Separately looking for like a way to get out.
00:11:38
Speaker
I will. I may as well see if there's any sort of a mechanism. Natural one, forget about it. it's it's It's almost blinding, kind of like your your eyes start to cross a little when you're trying to find like the seams in this wood because everything looks like one piece of wood carved into a prison cell. It's very weird ah to see this. um What are you doing, Krigs?
00:12:02
Speaker
I am honestly just kind of dismayed off in the corner watching this kind of back and forth between Gwig. Gwig. Wow. Gwigs. Gwig. Gwyn and Dale. Gwig.
00:12:16
Speaker
but I'm watching Davin obviously kind of trying to figure out the machinations of his mind as he's obviously trying to figure like a way out and just being relatively clever. And then you got Joxer over there who's... Make an insight check as you watch Davin.
00:12:32
Speaker
ah Sure. I'm all about that. Let's see if I... Oh, you made a mistake today, buddy. Oh, good. I got my love plus six insight and I rolled a nat 20. 26. Nuh-uh.
00:12:44
Speaker
You see that he found something etched on the floor. like You can tell when he's looking at the floor. that he he's like trying to read or understand some sort of scripting.
00:12:56
Speaker
You don't see the scripting, but you could tell that's what he found by like the way you're watching him look at things, the way the what you see as he's doing that. Nice. um So you're aware that there's some sort of script on the floor because of watching Davin.
00:13:11
Speaker
I smacked Davin kind of in the arm just to get his attention because obviously i realized sorry I've realized audio isn't a thing in here. where You know, we have mute button pressed. ah So I started doing... Really bad for podcasts.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, I know. It's pretty bad. So I start doing my traditional soldier kind of like... strategy, strategic ah hand signals and whatnot, trying to get some kind of ah okay inclination. But basically it's going to result in me just like pointing and like pointing to my pointing down at the, the, the symbols on the ground and then pointing to my eye and just like trying to show Davin in some fashion that, Hey, there's obviously something here. Okay.
00:13:55
Speaker
And then if he doesn't get it, I'm going to get a piece of coal out and just write on my shield in big letters, look, big dummy. I'm going take a second and I'm going to study the, it's I'm assuming it's runes of some sort that I see on the ground.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're very much like runes. Can 20... Can I it so in some way assist him just in the fact that like he he's not second-guessing himself? yeah so you're His arcane knowledge is correct. like Yes, you are obviously seeing something, so focus focus in, buddy.
00:14:23
Speaker
michael What I would like to do is... So you can have the help action in your next roll, Davin. What I would like to do is because I have the minor illusion cantrip, which... doesn't need verbal components. It only needs semantic and nice material. Okay. And because my spell focus is my necklace, which they didn't take, I can still cast the spell.
00:14:44
Speaker
So I'm going to do a minor illusion and it's just going to be like, like block letters basically to try and mimic the, the rune to try and make it look like the room. Make a performance check.
00:14:55
Speaker
As you do that, this sounds fun performance. Have i ever rolled that before? I don't know, but We've done a lot of rolls. Surely you've rolled it once. have We're not cool enough to have stat keepers for our podcast. but Nope, but they can mark this down as an 8.
00:15:10
Speaker
Okay. Performance eight. All right. So, ah you, your rune like simulation looks like versions of like doodles on like a middle schoolers notebook.
00:15:25
Speaker
Uh, you know, like when you're trying, like you draw the three lines, the top three lines, the bottom, and you make this S out of it, know, and like stuff like that, like you're creating that sort of stuff. Uh, it definitely, um ah definitely is giving you this the, the, the effect you want to where people are seeing, you know, whoever's looking at you can see it kind of like look like you've got. And the way that the, the runes that you do see kind of look is imagine like they're almost like my, I'm, I'm seeing in my head, like hula hoops, ah like,
00:16:01
Speaker
like looped into each other to where it's like a big circle of runes across like floor, ceiling, wall, floor, wall, ceiling. And then like and one ah goes across and then one around. And it's almost like a cage of runes. Does that make sense?
00:16:16
Speaker
um Kind edged around the walls of this. Uh, more like, uh, like 3d, like ball. Like if you were to draw runes in lines around the outside of a ball and then, or a balloon and pop the balloon and you guys are inside of that.
Testing Cell's Defenses
00:16:32
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:16:33
Speaker
Okay. It's like, it's, it's like swirling around you almost not moving, but like Iron Man Jarvis style. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like that. Like you're in a minority report.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's about right. Right. and almost like bands of runes drawn in, you know, around this room. um And ah from literally all the way around it, every, every wall, like not completely covered, but every, the walls all have them on there in air certain spots in these, this pattern of these lines.
00:17:07
Speaker
I'm going to try something. I don't know if it'll work or not. Okay. I have a nether cantrip that only takes semantic components. Okay. And it is ah mold earth. And I can basically excavate five feet of earth.
00:17:21
Speaker
So I want to see if I can just lift up five feet of earth from underneath the ground and break through. What's the range on that spell? ah It's got a range of 30 feet and it does a five foot cube. Yeah. 30 feet. oh Yes, it's cool. I'm going to roll roll a d20 and add your spellcasting modifier.
00:17:42
Speaker
Okay. And you use your advantage. no i don't know Yeah, you can use your advantage if you want. Okay, I will. Ooh, yeah, that works. 20. one Yeah. Total 30-20.
00:17:55
Speaker
You begin to – you kind of get down on the floor and you you reach your hands down and you try to focus on what the ground might be like underneath this wood. If it's – if hope against hope, it's not further than 30 feet beneath this wood that you're standing on, the wood of this tree – And you went down some stairs, so you're hoping maybe, right?
00:18:21
Speaker
And sure enough, when you cast that spell and you lift it, the wood starts to, you could see it buckle and crack until it cracks in a little spot. And one of those runes is kind of split in two as the wood cracks.
00:18:39
Speaker
And as it splits, you hear... from the wood in that right, right in that area that you're, that you're leaning over underneath you where that five foot, uh, square is anyone. Did you just say we heard the wood? Correct.
00:18:55
Speaker
And anyone who's not right there with Devin did not hear that. I'm basically holding his hand at this point. So I heard it. Right. Right. I stand up and I just try and speak. Can I say anything?
00:19:06
Speaker
When you stand up and try to speak, um you do speak. You hear yourself. Kriggs hears you. But no one else seems to notice or pay attention.
00:19:17
Speaker
What did you say, though? Yeah, I'm probably too busy looking at walls and stuff, still trying to figure stuff out. At this point, I have started punching the door hole. Okay.
00:19:29
Speaker
that's so So just shoot short in area just testing to see if I can break through or if there's ah yeah any... make Yeah, make a few attack rolls for me and tell me tell me the the best ones you get.
00:19:42
Speaker
right. We'll do that one in this time. Just tell me if anything beats a 25. So 19 plus... What is it? It's going to be good.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. My... Let's see. Your fist is 8. So... 27. Okay. okay Yeah, that was you definitely feel it. You put dent in it for sure.
00:20:08
Speaker
There's a give in the wood. Okay.
Debating Escape Tactics
00:20:10
Speaker
I'm going to look around, but if I see action with Davin, I'm going wait. But if we need some assistance, I have a different idea of where I want to go with this.
00:20:21
Speaker
I would like to bend down. ah Go ahead. yeah And then since i I feel like I can verbally speak once I get like right there in front of the crack that I made, i would like to use the cantrip message and pointing at Jockser, I will send a message to him and it'll just say, you punched like a girl. So you hear him say that in your head. in your head You punched like a girl.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yes. Wow. Wow. ah Looks like you can speak ah down there. And then I know as an idiot, I'm going to like lay on the ground and speak like like that. Like that was the fix, like just speaking from ground.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah, no no words come to you, Devin. Because for message, you have to say them out loud or like at least whisper them and they go from... Right? Yeah. yeah so um Okay, I'm going to cast the Mold Earth spell again and see if I can disrupt more of the ground and and break this thing completely.
00:21:21
Speaker
Yeah. um Make a few more. Make two more of those checks for me. Okay. D20 plus your spellcasting modifier. I got an 18, natural 18, and a natural 20.
00:21:34
Speaker
Oh, great. So, yeah. um you You can... tar And actually, make a make one Arcana check as well. ah you're You're trying to beat a 15 to see if you can identify more where these runes are.
00:21:47
Speaker
Seven. Seven. Okay. So you're kind of um going from memory of where you feel like they went because the ones you just kind of disrupted, ah they don't you don't see them anymore.
00:22:01
Speaker
ah And you can tell there's like a, it's like you've, you've realized that anywhere, ah anywhere in the like perpendicular to where those runes were running, you can hear, but anywhere when you get outside of that area, you can't hear anymore.
00:22:20
Speaker
And so, um so yeah, so you, you, you realize that, so you can kind of, you're kind of spot checking, but I'll say with those two high rolls, you successfully mold earth again under the, the tree floor and a couple more spots are disrupted, but ah one of the spots is disrupted and it, it's kind of over in the, over north towards the side where nobody's at. And you're not sure if they're actually, no, you wouldn't do that. Cause you would aim.
00:22:47
Speaker
What would you, are you aiming for where the people are? For the people. what do you mean by the yeah like where your people? where Gwendolyn and Joxer are to try to get those particular spots? or we want I think I would have just thought that I only cracked it a little bit, right, the first time around? Yeah.
00:23:02
Speaker
So I think in my mind, I feel like if I could break it completely like um up under the ground, up earth, the ground where I'm standing, that maybe it would just completely fizzle out the entire thing.
00:23:15
Speaker
Okay, sorry.
Cryptic Song and Lore
00:23:16
Speaker
I was thinking you were trying to aim for different spots. So if you do that, then that first roll, the eight, whatever is irrelevant. So you definitely crack just a whole, this, a wood chunk starts to just crack, like bust open and destroy more of these runes. The spot where you can hear becomes a little wider, but it doesn't just deactivate everything. you know what i mean? Like the whole spell, but definitely that spot.
00:23:41
Speaker
becomes a little wider where there's a space for you and, and jocks are, and it kind of ripples down to where you see a split kind of ripple down the middle of the floor towards the wall and go up the wall about six or seven inches over by where Gwendolyn standing. And suddenly she hears up the, up the wall as the wood goes up there noticing. Oh, I can hear.
00:24:04
Speaker
Davin. Did you do it at all? dadog No, not jocks are. All right. ah Craigs. Can you hear me? fuck it That's... yeah Hi.
00:24:16
Speaker
Alright. Well, we're getting somewhere. um I couldn't get myself or or the both of us out of here, but I don't know how that really helps the others. I... It cat pains me to say, but I was afraid I was never going to hear your voice again.
00:24:32
Speaker
oh come on. You know that wasn't going to be the case. We'd get out of here, no problem. It's inconvenient, I suppose. We have a way of getting ourselves into some very Gwynny messes.
00:24:44
Speaker
ah Speaking of, and I'll use message, and I'll send a message to Gwen, and then send a message to Jaxer, and basically just say, huddle up. Come over here. Okay. I don't want to huddle.
00:24:55
Speaker
I'm joking. She walks over. Cuddle up. oh Now you're speaking my language. yeah Old cuddle huddle. So the floor has something to do with the silence?
00:25:07
Speaker
Oh, there are, like, magical ruins on the ground, and I disrupted this one, so I think in this area, we we're okay. We can speak. Dale! yeah She just screams out. Let's not alert the guards, though. We don't want to make things worse again.
00:25:21
Speaker
Oh, I guess that's right. Yeah, and i I don't think Dale would be able to hear us either, um but he looks like he's standing. The volume's at the floor.
00:25:33
Speaker
The volume's at the floor. Terrible. um i But he's over there with a man. Did you did you look at the man? Yeah, I don't know who that is. I just... I told him to go find Carrick, and then he just shows up over here.
00:25:48
Speaker
She's not putting two and two together. Okay. Okay. I'll get... So, ah the the crack that I saw, or that we saw um in front of Gwen, does that look like it might have...
00:26:01
Speaker
loosened that that wood there for me to punch through it a little bit more? ah You could definitely go make an investigation check on it.
00:26:11
Speaker
See what you think. Yeah. I'm going to see if maybe you've weakened the door. I don't know if you can do more damage over there, but if we can bend that door a bit, then I can definitely break it down.
00:26:26
Speaker
and I mean, I can teleport myself or myself and somebody else out of here. but We need to do something. I mean, who is, Dale's talking to a stranger now. While they're talking, I straight up go over and try to like wave at the person that's over by Dale. just talking I was going to say, so hey I was going to say right now, currently you guys can't actually see into that other cell.
00:26:47
Speaker
Never mind You were standing right up by you were having to stand kind of right up by the gate to look out and see through the other gate.
00:26:57
Speaker
But now that you've backed over like halfway into the cell, there's you just see the kind of entryway and doorway up the stairs outside your cell. You can't look.
00:27:08
Speaker
Because that cell, imagine your door is facing outwards. That cell is running like you're corner corner. I don't know how to explain it for podcast listeners, but like the corner of your cell of of the wall of your cell creates the front wall of his cell with a gate, the door in that. So if you're standing over here to one door to your left, you can look to the right and see like at an angle through his door and see him sitting there. But anytime you back into your cell, it's out of line of sight.
00:27:37
Speaker
um I rolled a 15 investigation. Okay. ah It definitely looks like it's chipped away at the at least the surface like bark that those runes must have been kind of ah magically burned into.
00:27:51
Speaker
um But you're not sure if it's made any real structural damage to the wall or not. When they put us in here, did they use magic to like seal it up or did it like open or close somehow? Yeah, the door just was open when you walked in, and then when they walked out, it was just closed, like it hadn't been open in the first place.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't think they said anything. you You definitely get the sense that everywhere you've been around this area with these elves, even to the point of being out in the forest, like all the plant life here bends to the will of these elves in whatever way they wanted to.
00:28:31
Speaker
Well... If I get myself out of here or Jaxar out of here or something, how how would that help us? like There's no lever or anything. How do we open up the gate? Open up the wood, I suppose.
00:28:43
Speaker
ah Now that we can speak, are there any useful spells that anybody can do? i I could cast the spell hammer, but they've taken that away from me.
00:28:55
Speaker
I think we have tried to do... me say it in Gwendolyn... i i I can't speak with plants here. When I tried, i nothing happened. Well, anything to do with removing that door also doesn't have to be a clever way out, just a way out.
00:29:15
Speaker
Davin, you can get us from, i mean, I guess technically multiple of us probably can get from one location to the other. ah Anyone interested in a bit of the old Porty, porty.
00:29:31
Speaker
I actually went before we got put in the cell, so I'm okay there. I don't have to go either.
00:29:39
Speaker
i was going to say we just designate this corner over here as the porty, porty. I just, I don't know that did the hole that he, can you make it go down um now that you've made it go up?
00:29:54
Speaker
I'm sorry, beg your pardon? I mean, the hole that you've made here. That's your responsibility, sir. I mean, the ground came up. Can it not go down into a little hole?
00:30:09
Speaker
Well, I mean, it doesn't just disappear. I can excavate the dirt. Do we have any dirt or is it just broken wood? No, and we're done with this adventuring. I have feeling there's a business there for you, Don. He was definitely like very... He was trying really hard to like concentrate on where the dirt would be and was successfully able to cultivate dirt beneath the wood of this tree trunk that you're basically in.
00:30:37
Speaker
um Part of the soil it... It was successful because of high dice rolls, but you don't see dirt even with the what's happened to the to the ground beneath you Okay, i'm I'm just going to try something a little different, and I'm going to cast Eldritch Blast three times at the door.
00:30:58
Speaker
Great, make three attack rolls. Make your normal Eldritch Blast attack they are force damage. That is a 15. I'm just going to cast Wall of Fire and in the podcast in this room. I'm just kidding.
00:31:13
Speaker
22. That's how the higher swords die. yeah ha ha And that's a 26. So I get a 25 and a 26. You did to get a 25 and a 26. That's two hits. Roll damage. yeah um Where did... And the hits, obviously they all make contact.
00:31:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Two of them hit with enough force to do any damage. Oh, I forgot I had the spell. twelve Oh, oh what ah what a coincidence. So that is a 9 plus... What's my proficiency? 5, 14, and plus damage. 29 damage.
00:31:50
Speaker
Okay, great. So you...
00:31:53
Speaker
forest damage twenty nine damage okay great so you dumb dnd question for the listener out there an episode probably like 18 or 20 when i jumped into that cell with what's his name uh what's what ability did i use for that because i don't remember that was misty step why don't i have that anymore did you get rid of it oh your class change oh yeah skog brain okay you Yeah, probably because your deity changed. oh Interesting. So when you cast Elders Blast, one of them the first one hit ah makes contact, but doesn't seem to do anything.
00:32:32
Speaker
The second one begins to buckle that wall the the branches that are forming like really close together bars there and it starts to buckle a few of them. The second one hits and they buckle even further a little bit, but they're, they're not necessarily, they're definitely affected and damaged, but you can see that it would take quite a bit more of this to kind of chisel through.
00:32:54
Speaker
ah One thing to keep in mind, however, is as they hit, they, they, You heard whatever sound they make when they leave your fists they made.
00:33:06
Speaker
But when they got there and made that contact, you waited for that um thought and you'd heard nothing. So there are more runes. That's that. Okay.
00:33:18
Speaker
that I understand the runes are across this room and I guess everywhere. He solved the rune puzzle. I think once we leave this cell, we'll probably be like outside of its area.
00:33:33
Speaker
I think that's how it works. Did we see where they put our stuff? ah You did not. They brought you down here and people with your stuff were still upstairs somewhere.
00:33:44
Speaker
And the hole that they were peeking through earlier, how big is that? um Probably less than an inch wide. They literally almost have to put one eye down to it to see through. Well, I can only save one of you, so who wants to be my friend?
00:33:58
Speaker
I've lived a long, healthy life. I mean... Okay. ah Yeah, yeah you I'm going to stay here, and I'm just going to sit here. Now that I have a little bit of space, I'm going to start throwing, like, Eldritch Blasts against the floor where I can.
00:34:16
Speaker
I don't think I go It's probably not a good idea to teleport with us in a... Oh, no, never mind. You don't have your fancy holes. Could i i think I would go to the wall where I was looking through, because I'm still worried about Dale being over there.
00:34:32
Speaker
i want to try to dispel magic. Okay.
Stealth and Discovery
00:34:36
Speaker
If I can try. Dispel magic. do you have to use a roll for that in some way? Creature objects range.
00:34:44
Speaker
Yes. I don't remember. I dispel magic. look I can look it up. What'd you roll? I just linked it. I didn't roll yet. Oh, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. I just heard the boop, boop sound.
00:34:56
Speaker
um Let's see. It's DC. Spell third level lower and the target ends. So, yeah, you definitely have to roll for it. What I roll for it? It looks like the... You roll... up Make an ability check using your spellcasting ability.
00:35:12
Speaker
And let me look up the spell real quick. No, the target makes an ability check. Must be it an 18. yeah Oh, oh, oh.
00:35:24
Speaker
What kind of DC does this that's the little wall have?
00:35:30
Speaker
Wait, hang on. Yeah, for each spell a fourth level. For each spell a fourth level or higher on the targets, oh can make an ability check. Yeah, make an ability check. So she's got to roll 10 plus whatever the spells level is.
00:35:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, go ahead did you roll or not yet? I did not roll. Hang on. You just have to beat a 12. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. No, no, no. No, you don't. It's a 15, not a 12.
00:35:53
Speaker
My apologies. was looking at the wrong thing. Oh, yeah. So mine would be a 28. It's a straight 18. Yeah. Yeah, so your area the area you're concentrating on, um the kind the area you're concentrating on, one creature or object, so that that area of the wall or the magical effect, that section of runes,
00:36:20
Speaker
is deactivated by this spell. And so you, nothing seems to happen when you first do it. It's not like the spell being cast makes a sound or makes a buzzing sound.
00:36:33
Speaker
You don't see these runes. You just aim towards what area specifically were you aiming where you were looking through? Yeah. Yeah. So you cast it and you feel that familiar sense of when you cast a spell and the effect transfers from you to something, but you're not sure. You don't you kind of, it's almost like anticlimactic, like what just happened. But um I slowly take my hands off and I just look at jocks are again.
00:37:02
Speaker
When you slide your hand down the down the the wall, you hear the skrr of your hand on the on the wood. o I didn't know where that sentence was going. oo Nice. does the ah Does the tree look more brittle, or does it... ah No.
00:37:21
Speaker
but Just you hear you can hear in that area now. Let's think about this for a second. If you if you hit it again, now they're probably going to hear the impact, right? Depends on who. That's not an unfair.
00:37:34
Speaker
Why is Davin doing everything right now? Davin's trying to be... Just Gwendolyn! Let's just think about all this before we go any further. Let's just think for a second.
00:37:47
Speaker
Let's say that we get past this wall and we're free out out that way. We still have to go from the basement level up without done what attacking people? are we supposed to hide? how are we going to get out from there? I would attack people at this point, yeah. Well, the reason we let them arrest us was because we didn't want to attack them, right?
00:38:05
Speaker
but also We didn't want to get caught in in between two you know sides of a bridge. being attacked without any, you know, help from that. At least we'd have one direction.
00:38:16
Speaker
Oh, is that why we did that? I wasn't worried about that part at all. Drive all night to take me home in time. Sorry, one direction. Wow. I'd also like to bring it. That's the I could think of.
00:38:30
Speaker
listen They did remove my ability to cast the spell hammer, so fighting is probably not my solution. Do we have anything of metal?
00:38:42
Speaker
I have anything metal. Does anybody have anything metal on them, or is there anything you were near Your necklace is a type of metal. Yeah, I'm not using that. Other than that. ah Probably not. you're You're basically just stripped clean of everything except your clothing and your necklace, Davin, because it wouldn't peek out the...
00:39:00
Speaker
peek out the little hole. Can I see anything beyond there? Uh, when you peek out the hole, ah you can see into the next door cell. I feel like I have some metal on my attire being both a blacksmith and heavy, like a pretty heavy armor where there's gotta be some kind of clasp or clanks or belts. Wait, don't drop one of the coins.
00:39:21
Speaker
You may have some buckles. you may have You probably have a buckle. You don't have shoes on. They took a shoes. Hey, why? Because that's what you do. Oh, God. We got those stinky adventure feet.
00:39:33
Speaker
That's right. Those stinky feet. You may have, ah if you had any kind of belt or anything, they took that away. You... The only possibility is like little metal clasps like
Approaching Elves and Gem Revelation
00:39:44
Speaker
on a collar of your shirt, your undershirt that you wear under your armor. so I am making it canon that I invented the first metal buttons because I got tired of wooden toggles.
00:39:54
Speaker
I'm a dwarf. I have more pride than that. I got metal buttons. sure So yeah, I got metal. Sounds good. You've got some metal. few little pieces of metal. Button size, what, nine of them?
00:40:06
Speaker
Listener, do you appreciate how I just bullied the DM into giving me what I want? Yeah, that's what you guys should do in your campaigns. What's funny is... Everybody enjoys it.
00:40:16
Speaker
It's funny that you think I don't want to give you what you want in the first place. Yeah, it's real funny. Don't. I always get... So yeah, one to what if you notice, I probably have some metal on me there, Devin, if you're looking around with your fancy eyes.
00:40:34
Speaker
um I mean, if you want a hammer, I can make you a hammer.
00:40:38
Speaker
You don't say. ah start stripping and give them... I'm just kidding. um You take off your metal panties. They didn't take that belt. There's just too much wood in this one to not have a chastity belt. That's true. If...
00:40:59
Speaker
if ah just out of curiosity because i can cast a spell now and it's been so long since i've used chill touch if i cast chill touch on the wood does it like the necrotic damage do does it start to wilt away it'll do damage uh it'll do damage like um it would if you were to hit it or okay just and it doesn't immediately look brittle um not immediately probably um
00:41:30
Speaker
Yeah, ah nothing. i mean, you could try it, but I don't know that you would know without trying, but. Yeah, no, I mean, I i did. i would have. cat I mean, I can.
00:41:43
Speaker
Gotcha. It's a spell attack against a wall, so I i don't know if I. Everybody make perception checks at this point as you guys are trying to discuss what to do. OK, dad. Wow.
00:41:55
Speaker
Is Craig's the only one who's kind of handicapped right now if we've gotten to a fight? I can find, yeah, for the most part.
00:42:03
Speaker
29! 19. Perception is plus one, so 17 for me. I do have spells, technically, but it's mainly Fireball, so... Let's not cast Fireball in this room.
00:42:19
Speaker
wall of fire fireball that was like ah we could kind we could like burn away the wood but then like the smoke would get places I could conjure animals and just get a bunch of beavers to eat up this gel cell wouldn't that be cute wouldn't that be adorable that's cute yeah I mean I'm gonna blow it up I don't know it was said out loud but ah Gwendolyn got 29 for perception yeah Okay, did everybody make perception? I asked everybody.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was everybody, my guy. Everybody the club getting perception. Well, guess what? I'm rolling it now, and it's going to be bad. I got a 16. Whoa.
00:43:03
Speaker
That's pretty good. did For me, it is. Yeah, because you're made of metal. Hard boy. All I roll it. la All right, then.
00:43:15
Speaker
um So um those if you rolled above a 15, those rolled above 15, you hear now from the cell next to you, now that the wall there, that section of wall where that hole is, has been revealed, has been kind of unsilenced, so to speak, you hear...
00:43:37
Speaker
The guy that's sitting in there and rocking back and forth seems to be singing some sort of sea shanty, some sort of song, and you hear – you can make out the words to it as he just keeps singing these four lines over and over again.
00:43:52
Speaker
Weakly, quietly, he sings, She wears blue cloak and her weapons are cold. Her darkness will cover us once and for all.
00:44:02
Speaker
She billows and flows like the sea on the shore. Her justice will fall on the rich and the poor. She wears a blue cloak and her weapons are... she just He keeps continuing that over and over again, rocking back and forth.
00:44:17
Speaker
Here she billows and flows like the sea on the shore. Her justice will fall on the rich and the poor. he He just keeps going and going. um I immediately go to that wall.
00:44:29
Speaker
Do I still see Dale in that crack? Is he still with him? Dale is percentage here. 50% chance.
00:44:40
Speaker
Whoa. What does that mean? Yeah, he's he doesn't seem to be there. He has wandered off somewhere or is hiding somewhere or something.
00:44:49
Speaker
You just hear her just kind of yell out. Because she doesn't... She thinks she dispelled the wall. But she doesn't really know. but she's like, Damn it, Dale. I just... Where'd you go?
00:45:04
Speaker
She doesn't expect her voice to carry through. and Where's a blue cloak and her weapons are cold. Her darkness will cover us. It's as if, stop for a second when you after you said you spoke.
00:45:20
Speaker
A quick, like a brief acknowledgement that somebody's nearby. Did you? Hello? Darkness will cover us once. Hello?
00:45:31
Speaker
it you You can hear me? Well, I suppose, i suppose I can. Who are you? Who's there?
00:45:43
Speaker
I see no one. Who's speaking? The chipmunk. Where did he go? o what Where did Dale go? What's that Dale? I don't know. There was a rat. I shoot it away.
00:45:59
Speaker
There's not been a rat here. in ages oh And he turns and turns his back to kind of the the direction that your voice is coming from and pulls his legs up tighter to his chest.
00:46:12
Speaker
She blows and flows like the sea. What are you trying to? Can they hear us? I guess, but this guy, he just, he knows nothing. And so she kind of just, she's so bothered because being in this place, it's just kind of overwhelming her.
00:46:28
Speaker
So she she walks away. Walk over. Sir, do you... I mean, it's stupid ask. Do you know of a way out of here? but I'm sorry for my gwen my friend Gwendolyn.
00:46:40
Speaker
Justice will fall on... Way out of here.
00:46:49
Speaker
I believe your trial is set for tomorrow. That's what they said when they left. Perhaps death will take you out of here. What are you in here for?
00:47:01
Speaker
You know, when you speak, you We don't know. That's why we asked. Your mind Well, anyway, she billows and flows like the sea on the shore. Her justice will fall on the ritz.
00:47:17
Speaker
Are you... Are you singing about the darkness? You've not... You've not heard this one. We're not from around here. That makes sense why you're down here with me.
00:47:32
Speaker
Well, it's true, you know. the darkness, she's all-encompassing. And so we saw. Maybe, i you know, maybe she'll be your way out.
00:47:49
Speaker
The darkness will answer you out, Bert.
00:47:55
Speaker
And he just loses it. He's maniacal laughter. And it kind of like, it continues to laugh until the he he kind of like starts to die down into.
00:48:10
Speaker
ah It's a shame, really. billows and flows like sea on the shore. Justice. Justice.
00:48:24
Speaker
We'll fall on the rich and the poor. and He just goes back to his song. It feels like he knows something, but we have to get out of here. i I start singing with him.
00:48:39
Speaker
Like, so basically harmonizing slightly with what he's doing. Just to see if he has any reaction to it. Okay. Make a performance check. You're not just going to give it to me? Them charisma skills.
00:48:53
Speaker
Do it. do it uh 19 oh nice uh yeah so he starts singing ah and again he's just repeating the four lines she wears a blue coke and our weapons are cold her darkness and you start singing along and his voice starts to get a little louder in response to you singing His spellows and flows like the sea on the shore. Justice will fall on the rich and the poor. His arm raises. He's still got his back to you, but he's definitely going in full like sea shanty style now as he just starts billowing it out.
00:49:36
Speaker
She wears a blue cloak and her weapons are cold. The darkness will cover us. when she just He just starts going and going. ah singing along with you, trying to like get everybody going. He's like, this is actually kind of fun and starts to kind of turn towards you, kind of keeping his cloak kind of tied up around his his body and his knees up tight. He turns and looks towards you guys, ah towards the wall where he hears your voices coming from and he's singing the whole time, billows and flows like the sea on the shore.
00:50:10
Speaker
is he facing this direction now? Yeah, he's totally turned his whole body towards you. He's still wrapped, got himself kind of wrapped up tight with this this cloak around his neck. It's a gray cloak. It's all tattered and his knees to his I keep singing, but kind of call out, dance with me, friend. And i I put my arms out and I start trying to dance and see if I can get him to basically...
00:50:34
Speaker
Okay. Un-shroud him. Make a persuasion check. Persuasion with advantage.
00:50:45
Speaker
Uh... 23 or... Yeah, 23. Okay. So... three or yeah twenty three okay so As you, he's he's ah he's curled up in like so a sitting fetal position, right?
00:50:59
Speaker
On this bench against this wall in this room, this wooden cell that he's in. And you peek through that hole and you see him rocking to the music as you say start to say dance.
00:51:10
Speaker
And his rock turned, rock to the music, to his own voice and your voice. And he starts to kind of wiggle rock a little bit back and forth. And as he's singing, da du di a dudada dudada du ah du itda du better do and then he gets up and he keeps his arms crossed around his body, but he stands. And as he stands, he kind of loses his – ah loses his balance as it gets up on his feet and he leans down and catches himself with one hand, ah careful to keep his cloak pulled tight.
00:51:43
Speaker
And, and he stands back up and slowly as he, his song kind of dwindles. Do you kind of keep singing? Question. Yeah. This, this gap we can see him through. Is he able to, ah we able to like,
00:52:01
Speaker
If you were to come closer, could we touch at all? Is there a physical barrier between us? or ah Yeah, there's there's enough of a gap there. It's probably about an inch and a half or so wide, an inch, inch and a half wide.
00:52:13
Speaker
So you could fit a couple fingers in there or your eye or, you know, or not your eye, but like, you know, a couple fingers or something like that. You couldn't, you couldn't like crawl through it or by any means, but.
00:52:24
Speaker
I want to call out out to him as he's kind of doing his thing. like And basically, like we're still singing or whatever. Be like, brother, lads, it's been so long. Let me shake the hand of ah another that has been in here for far too long.
00:52:40
Speaker
ah Make another persuasion check. Okay. Is anybody else doing anything during this time? Uh, no, Gwendolyn's kind of upset by this music because she thought the man was rude.
00:52:52
Speaker
So her arms are crossed over on the other side, just patiently. Just thought the man was weird? Is that what you said? No, rude. Sorry. Rude. Okay. Okay. Yeah. don't like him. I don't think he's Papa. Okay. Um, I, I think if not I gained some insight, I'd be trying to sing along.
00:53:09
Speaker
Great. Okay. Just to keep it moving since it seems like it's moving something somewhere. Great. Davin, what about you? Davin got impatient with all this going on. He doesn't care about the old man.
00:53:20
Speaker
Okay. So he casted Misty Step and he got himself out of there and then turned invisible. Okay. Yay! Davin Adventure! Davin's invisible outside the cell. Joxer and Kriggs are singing along to this guy.
00:53:36
Speaker
He begins to shuffle his feet and he his feet start to shuffle around, kind of start to dance. And he's got a little bit of moves, actually. I rolled a 19-muller.
00:53:46
Speaker
And yeah, and so and that's great. So he starts heading towards you. And as he starts heading towards you, Davin, I need – and Gwendolyn, you're kind of standing off in the corner – probably going where did Davin go uh oh no she's blinded by anger okay I would like for Davin Joxer and Kriggs to all three make perception checks as Davin you are standing outside this cell look kind of looking around and Joxer and Kriggs are trying to look through this little hole nope uh another 19
00:54:20
Speaker
Okay. David truly doesn't care. he He popped out of there. Okay. He's got his hands in his pocket. He's invisible. And he's just whistling his way out of the room, going wandering off, looking for our equipment. Yeah. You just see Goodland mumbling to herself. Just this, this guy just, ah okay. So Joxer and Kriegs, as this guy's dancing, you catch a flash of red from his chest around his chest and And um as this red from around his chest ah becomes visible, um you recognize his cloak starts to come down as he starts to dance and reach towards the wall like he's walking towards it to shake your hand.
00:55:04
Speaker
And you see a very familiar-looking style gold chain necklace with a red glowing gemstone in it. What? As he's singing, she billows and flows like the sea on the shore. He's now dancing with his arms, flailing his, um flailing his cloak back and forth. ah that a dead do this This gem glowing and pulsing with magic.
00:55:35
Speaker
And Gwen, you see nothing. You sit stewing in anger. This man's not who you thought he was. You're frustrated. Yeah, I'm mad. Yeah. Davin, you hit the stairs to work your way up out of the room just in time for your invisible self to see a couple of elves with a couple of elves, ah one of them with a wand and the other one coming down with a scimitar ah as they start down these stairs um talking about...
00:56:06
Speaker
you know I don't know what's going on. It's loud down there. What's happening? And they're coming down the stairs towards you standing at the bottom of the stairs as Joxer and Kriggs see this glowing gemstone on this guy's necklace. And that's where we're going to end the episode.
00:56:24
Speaker
Oh. We made this complicated. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:36
Speaker
Thank you again for listening to another episode of The Hired Swords. We sure hope you like it. If you did, tell a friend. They can find us on any of their favorite podcast listening apps. You can also be sure to leave us a review on any app you use to listen to The Hired Swords.
00:56:52
Speaker
Anyway, we're glad that you joined us on this adventure and we look forward to seeing you next time. Bye.