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Behind The Swords Ep 5 Season 2 Hullabaloo
160 Plays2 years ago
Join the Swords as we discuss all the hijinx we've been up to this season!
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to Behind the Swords, a podcast about the podcast
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to a very special first of season two behind the swords episode.
Hosts' Greetings and Updates
00:00:48
Speaker
How are my my friends here doing Blaze and Derek and Ash and Mikey? How's it going? Oh, just fantastic. So good. Enjoy when we talk.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, just talk over each other. I also like the fact that we have a new theme song just for the hired swords. Blaze, why don't you give them a little sneak peek of what the theme song sounds like. Yeah, give them a little show of the new one. Yeah, with the swords. That was so good. Thank you for listening. We'll see you guys next time.
Journey into the Wilds
00:01:28
Speaker
So we're going to take some time and just kind of talk about what has gone down the last several episodes of season two. We are.
00:01:39
Speaker
You know, the crew up to this point has been making their way through the wilds trying to get from from Wild Hill up as far north as they can. And so so it looks like we're about close to 1315 somewhere, but depending on where this releases episodes into season two and we are.
Season Two Expectations
00:02:01
Speaker
Again, working our way north trying to get to what has been called the untouched lands, track down what's causing this darkness and the crazy monsters that all started in Wild Hill and has progressed beyond there, traveled to the Goblin Village and beyond into Lonely Hill and now ended up in this river where this last battle ensued. And so I just want to start by asking
00:02:27
Speaker
All of you and uh, how about we roll initiative to see who goes first and answering the questions let's do it Add your personal dex modifier. How dexterous
Character Development Insights
00:02:37
Speaker
are you as an individual as a hero 12 minus nine plus 20 plus 20 Yeah 20 plus 17 looking pretty good I rolled a two and uh, I don't think any plus is really gonna help me out there All right, I rolled a six and my dex is meh
00:02:56
Speaker
I rolled 12 and I don't even know what Dex is. That's how bad it is. I've never experienced a Dex before. I rolled six and I'm closer to 40 than anything. So Ash Ash, what did you roll? I rolled a 17 plus my 20 Dex. Oh, yeah. Nice jumps. So we have Ash followed by Derek, followed by Blaze and Mikey is
00:03:26
Speaker
We'll start with Ash. The question I'm going to ask all of you is, if you had any, what directions did you have expectations or what were your expectations for the direction Season 2 would go? How closely has what happened followed those expectations?
00:03:45
Speaker
I feel for Gwendolyn, hang on. I'm sorry I called you guys chumps. I don't think you guys are chumps. We're good. We're good. I'm not going to forgive you. I assume you're talking about them and not me. That's fair. But as for Gwendolyn, she's like a wild card. I don't know what my expectations were for her in season two. I guess I wanted her to grow up a little more and be more of an adult because
00:04:13
Speaker
In the first season, she's kind of a child and doesn't really know anything. She's still learning about the world. And with this season, I was hoping to make her more grown up, but she's still going to have those little childish aspects about her. But as we've seen so far, it's some weird things has happened to Gwen.
00:04:34
Speaker
As a player, I don't know where that's going to go because it's the wild card. And if she's like me, which she is, um, mood swings are a thing and they will happen. She has very strong emotions. So we'll see how it goes.
00:04:50
Speaker
Nice. So how about Derek? Um, I try not to have any expectations anyways. Like I come in and just like want to listen to whatever story that you're producing for us and then just be a part of it. I figured we'd have plenty of RP because we've been pretty good at the role playing thing. But beyond that, I didn't really have anything that I was expecting or assuming it was going to happen. I just go with the flow sort of thing. Nice, nice. Next would be blaze. Well, as far as expectations are concerned, um,
00:05:19
Speaker
The campaign, I think that it, early season two, going to the Goblin Village was really fun. I think I had a ton of fun playing around with Gis and Kevin the Goblin and Vale and whatnot. And then the fight there, the fight in the Goblin Village really kind of set the stone of like, oh, we're really ramping things up a bit.
00:05:47
Speaker
And I definitely, definitely feel like fights in season two have been Big Daddy fights in comparison to season one. No offense chief, but it was. Yeah. He was supposed to be Big Daddy fight. The dice did not have it go that way. No. Now, as far as like.
00:06:09
Speaker
character advancement and stuff. I'm going to have to say that that Krigs is advancing kind of how I expected. He's goofy, but trying to trying to just like stay posse for everybody, but it's not that easy. He is still an old.
00:06:29
Speaker
Veteran that has seen some things and I think especially Where we left off and kind of the stuff that's happened. He's Scared that he's not ready for it and wondering if he if he's not ready because he doesn't I don't think he really believes in anyone as much as he does himself and that's not a fault of anyone it's just
00:06:52
Speaker
You know, by the power of his hands, he's going to forge his own fate. And I don't I'm really nervous for the next little bit in this in this this campaign. It's real sketchy. Yeah. All right, Mike, you get sucked into the water by a giant water monster so many times before you realize like, oh, this isn't this isn't child's play anymore. I got you, boo.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah so going into this I had expectations for it to be a little darker I mean we were literally going to the shadow lands or the equivalent and I think it was a really interesting turn to
00:07:34
Speaker
To have the battles turn into a little bit more intense and a little bit more You know consequential for for decisions and I've been enjoying as we've been kind of pushing down and and seeing you know each each area that we're going the the difference that we're we're seeing it's evolving with us I
00:08:00
Speaker
I think from Joxer's perspective, he's almost like getting to the point where he wants everybody to survive so bad, he doesn't trust them anymore in a way that it's like, I don't want you to be in the fray.
00:08:21
Speaker
I want, you know, fodder to
Combat and Narrative Developments
00:08:24
Speaker
be in the fray. I don't want anybody else to get hurt. And then that's where, like, it seems like his character is growing into.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. I think for on my end, I expected I knew I was going to ramp up combat and make it a little more feel like there's a little more skin in the game. I still feel like it's softer than it could be, believe it or not. I just I just feel like it's.
00:08:51
Speaker
And I swear, this is not by design. It seems like it's this classic, like Saturday morning action cartoon, like right before the end of the episode, it looks like all is lost. And at the beginning of the next episode, here's how we get through it and move forward. Right. And that's just how it's happening. Yeah. Yeah. Like Ash's Nat 20 that we did not play. And that was a real Nat 20 on her death saving throw.
00:09:17
Speaker
Yeah, there was all this stuff that would have made that whole next episode more combat, but instead you guys killed the monster in 15 minutes and we got to go into some roleplay. And so my biggest, the biggest surprise for me has been how well I've been afraid going in.
00:09:37
Speaker
that I was going to just end the campaign with some of the, some of the design I had for the ideas I had for some of these monsters. And no, that's just not how it went down. And I don't usually pull a lot of punches. Like the, you know, I granted held nearly killing a doctor and Craig's. That was, that was as tight as it gets, but I already had in my back pocket, one, one, get out of jail free card.
00:10:04
Speaker
because it was Starbucks like last request for Solrin, you know, it wasn't even it wasn't even like and she literally texted me after that episode was released and was like, hey, I want to give them like one little something like a blessing before they, you know, and I was like, OK, we can have basically one get out of death free card because you bless them. And that's exactly what had to happen. So, yeah, I other than that kind of being a little unnerving, I was really surprised. I've been surprised at how
00:10:35
Speaker
it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Now, granted, you keep talking about how nervous you guys are going into them. So I guess it's what it needs to be. And I do, I want you guys to succeed because otherwise, I've got to come up with a creative way to keep telling the story. I mean, if I'm being completely honest, there hasn't been a moment yet where I feel like we're really in trouble of it, like a team wipe or something like that.
00:10:56
Speaker
speak for yourself. That last fight. Okay. You always got a way out and realistically, I probably have a way to, if I want to just like buy to the rest of you, but, uh, not like, no, in every fight we've been in, I've had something in the back pocket that I could pull out that would probably, if it wouldn't like solve all the problems, it would at least save the situation at hand.
00:11:19
Speaker
Oh sure. Tell me that now after I've opened my pants about a million times. I know for sure. Like I feel like at the end of every combat, there's been one of you that's been like, Oh, I haven't been hurt at all. Right. And, and it's usually David, but not always. Um, because his first thing is like, I'm going to dimension door all the heck way over there. That's like his first move in every combat. Oh, by the way, dimension door cape, boom, bam thing over. Um, but you gave us one magic item to start. I chose a good one.
00:11:45
Speaker
It's not a complaint. I think it's great. I think we all chose a good one, but I think everybody's of my wings. Hey, I have a good question for Mikey. It's about spell slots. Yeah. Where did the idea for spell slots come from? Is there a story behind that or what's the story on that? So so it's kind of interesting because I, you know, I've been trying to kind of play around where I'm I'm a warlock who's not really, you know, following the rules that he should. So so I wanted to, you know,
00:12:15
Speaker
I wanted to do, you know, pack to the tome and, but I also really liked the idea of having some form of, you know, blade. So that's where the shadow blade spell came in, but pack the tome gave me, you know, animal friendship. So, or animal, uh, Oh, what's the spell called? Um, shoot whatever the, the ritual for colleague. Oh, it was, uh,
00:12:39
Speaker
Now I can't think of it either. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. Talking about the familiars. Yeah. Find familiar. There we go. Thank you. It was the word familiar. I couldn't come up with. Yeah. Yeah. No. And I knew I was familiar with that spell, but I couldn't think of a word. Just so familiar. Yeah. No. And so I was just trying to think of something that would really match what what I was kind of going for. And I had this weird, weird idea. So it was either bring back
00:13:07
Speaker
you know, an old furry, you know, friend that we were hunting, the wolverjack, with some means. Or think of like some interesting item that would actually like work with my brewing station.
00:13:31
Speaker
And the fact that as I was researching it, Spell Slots doesn't breathe. He can actually hang out in the brew hole. So I just started loving that idea. And then since I already had that ring and was like, you know what? This all kind of comes together. I can kind of have this pocket set of spells. And there's Spell Slots in my pocket.
00:14:02
Speaker
So the question I have is with his spell slots always been there and now he's just like finally making his presence known. Or did you just jocks or just recently discovered the ability to make him? Well, yeah, so so it was actually the the start of season two, the end of season one.
00:14:22
Speaker
Whenever I came back covered in soot, and Daven was making fun of me being covered in soot, I had gone over to Justices to find a, you know, a brazier so I could actually do the spell because you need, you know, a ton of, you know, charcoal and incense and a brazier.
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah. And so I, you know, it's like, OK, so I'm kind of covered in this stuff, but I didn't know when to bring them out. And then, you know, I was like, oh, yeah, I can clean myself and try to mention this to to our our our also someone following or connected to some other being player.
Technical Challenges and Immersion
00:15:00
Speaker
They haven't. Yeah, that's why you needed 1600 pounds of incense.
00:15:05
Speaker
I know it was so difficult to really like manage like, um, yeah, can I get a ton of this stuff here, please? Um, so here's a question just for all of you as players from, from hair hair on our discord, by the way, join the discord. If you want, you can follow the pinned tweet Twitter. Uh, he asks, who's the one that gets edited? Who gets the most like giggles and noise edited out of there?
00:15:34
Speaker
of their audio. That would be a question really for Blaze. Yeah, that's for me. Well, I just did it right there. It's pretty bad. But at the same time, I kind of leave it. Here's my conundrum. I'm going to go into like a little two minute spiel about this. I really want the podcast to feel like you're sitting at our table. It's hard because a part of me also wants to make it an audio drama.
00:16:01
Speaker
So I want it to be highly edited highly polished take out the arms take out the brakes and I do some of that with some Trunk 8 silence things like that and make it flow a little bit better, but I also just want to leave a lot of it because I feel like it gives character personality and
00:16:20
Speaker
I'm just flavor like you're actually at the table it's more immersive to me like that i want to be somewhere between audio drama and. Just sitting at the table with us so i don't edit a lot of it out in the times that i have had to edit it out.
00:16:38
Speaker
I'm going to talk about everyone here. A lot of times, druid spells are books, so there is some necessity to clean up the excessive looking up of how druids function.
00:16:56
Speaker
40 seconds of silence while we're all reading what she posted. Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, there are overly squeaky chairs or excessive sounds in the desert that just make noises. So both of my desert boys. I live by the Nels Air Force Base. So every once in a while the jets just go flying above too. I try and keep myself muted and not talk during that, but every once in a while I can't help it.
00:17:19
Speaker
Yeah, and it we we're an indie show. We're not set up in huge studios and sound rooms and all this stuff. So, yeah, it's the nature of the game. And but but for me, though, I'm perfect. So I don't think I really say all that much. My biggest thing is I'm in a large room that echoes a lot. So if I get loud any sort of way, you're going to hear that. I think, though, overall, I'm proud of the quality and everything so.
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think you do a great job. And I know I don't make it easy. I think it's maybe gotten better since I've added my gate to mine. But but I feel like there's so much response I do that like muting is difficult. So I also don't like it whenever there's a ton of muting done because I like the little or the little
00:18:11
Speaker
whenever stuff happens, I want that flavor and flair. So the more, the more we can keep it unmuted. I love that. Um, and tech tech, like technology allows for things like noise gates and stuff to make it feasible to do things like that.
Character Backstories and Growth
00:18:25
Speaker
So I, uh, I've always been a push to talk person, so I'm used to having to push a button to unmute just to go, ha ha, that was funny.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah. It feels weird, doesn't it? Like a performance laugh, right? You're actually laughing, but it's so intentional to make sure other people hear it. It's like saying L-O-L in conversation. L-O-L. I know somebody who does that, actually. I do do that.
00:18:50
Speaker
And I wasn't even talking about you. I know two somebody's. All right, here's a question. This is about the game. And this is kind of for players, really more than the character. But so in the game, we've just recently had an episode that everybody had a level up situation and everybody had some kind of like encounter or experience. My question is.
00:19:11
Speaker
We did some communicating about, obviously I have everyone's background, backstory. We did some communicating about what your level up is going to get you. But besides that, I just kind of threw some stuff at you guys to see what would happen and what would stick for that episode. My question is,
00:19:28
Speaker
Who feels like you've got a pretty good beat on what's going on with your character and the backstory and all that stuff? And who of you feel like, what in the freak is going on with this? I'm just curious what your thoughts are on how that's all developing in your character and each of your, the lore and story of each character. And again, we'll start with Ash if we go initiative order.
00:19:54
Speaker
And this is kind of a, sorry, this is kind of an adaptation of a question Buck asked, but she was kind of joking that I really want to hear some answers for Buck. I thought I knew where Gwen's backstory was going to go, but after the last level up, I don't know if I know who I am. I don't know if what I thought was real wasn't real. Like, I don't know. I assume this episode's going to come out. If not, this is a spoiler coming up.
00:20:23
Speaker
I like the memory of me getting handed a box and Dale being inside. That's a memory that Gwen doesn't know and I didn't even think of. I remember talking about how I met Dale before, how I took him to a taxidermy and it's like, did that actually happen? Now I don't know. Now I feel like a crazy lady and I'm gonna be guessing every move that happens. So yeah, I'm kinda in the middle.
00:20:52
Speaker
I have an idea, but I don't know. How does that make you feel? Kind of nervous because as the player, I want to metagame and be like, okay, if this happens, then this is going to happen and then I'm going to know what to do. And now I don't really know. I know what I'm going to do in battles, but I don't know what I'm going to do role-playing wise. It kind of scares me.
00:21:19
Speaker
But it brings on a challenge. Yeah. Quick update. Our DM looks real smug through half of what she just said. I'm just enjoying the conversation. I'm having a good time today. Oh, man. Derek, you're next. I think that my first moment backstory was pretty detailed, I think so or decently detailed. So I think I have a pretty good idea of where I'm at currently. That doesn't mean I know exactly what's going to happen.
00:21:47
Speaker
And there are things that have been mentioned that I think are going to have a lot bigger of a play in the future that I have no idea what about. But as of the current situation where I am right now, I don't think there's any big surprises necessarily. I think the future is going to be a little bit different.
00:22:04
Speaker
I think some people have mentioned that they're really confused or call me a demon boy or something like that, but I mean, come on. It's to me, it's funny. That's the thing. It's funny about like knowing your own backstory is there's no nothing that seems like a surprise. It's almost like a magic trick, right? It's like, I know how the magic trick works and you obviously know how the magic trick works better than I do. Um, so it seems so obvious. Everything seems so obvious, but apparently it's not as obvious as I thought.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, what's crazy about your backstory is I could have designed the whole campaign or your backstory and it would have just felt like a normal campaign. There was so much there that I could have just like said, Hey, we're just going to take the whole campaign that direction. I kind of mixed everybody's into what we're doing. You know what I mean?
00:22:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's better. Cause otherwise you don't want it to be too focused on one person because then that's it's like, I could have strawberries or I could have peanut butter or I could have ice cream or I could have chocolate chips or I could put them all in a milkshake together and make that. And that's what I did. I made the milkshake.
00:23:02
Speaker
the show turns into Daven and the hired swords. Yeah. So next is Blaze. What do you think about backstory and how that's developing? What's up? Well, uh, I feel like season one was pretty Craig's heavy as far as backstory is concerned. So I'm in a good place with.
00:23:19
Speaker
my character and kind of knowing what he's about. Um, this last level up was not super Krig's heavy lore wise. It's just like, Hey, you get stronger and you're being blessed by the wilds essentially with more strength and that's all well and good. Um, I think that there I'm, I'm nervous because I, you have a lot of potential up your sleeve with, uh,
00:23:45
Speaker
the various armies and if they recognize with family that exists out there that I haven't spoken to in forever. And there's tons you could possibly and potentially do that constantly keeps me on edge, especially whenever we travel around in season one around stone mountains and whatnot. I'm like, uh-oh. Let's not go that direction.
00:24:12
Speaker
I feel like he's in a good place to just kind of stretch and spread his wings, uh, both figuratively and not figuratively. Uh, how about Mikey? Yeah. So I, I, I kind of the opposite from, from what a Davin Davin was working with. Cause I, I like to grow a character as I play. So I gave you kind of a.
00:24:39
Speaker
a good framework to where I was, but I didn't know where it was going to go with or go to. And and like the first season I I started feeling, you know, that guiding guiding light with the lady that I've, you know, had had in my sights and and this last level up.
00:25:00
Speaker
I I got I I'm I'm excited and terrified at the same time of of where it's going cuz I I think I have I mean it's it's a pretty simple concept but I don't know what jocks are gonna do as you as you kind of
00:25:17
Speaker
Create this little visual and and path for me. It's also changing who I am after every one of those events. So my my actions are going to change slightly based on that. And and I love it. It's it's so much fun. It's it's funny because you are almost the opposite of me in every way because Daven does know what's going on. He knows exactly who he's dealing with.
00:25:43
Speaker
And he has a plan in case something goes wrong. And it sounds like you are the opposite. Yeah. And, and I, I know from, you know, creating the character who it is, but what, and I guess what it means to jockser, but
00:26:01
Speaker
What happens with Joxer at that fruition is still up in the air. I, as a character, had intentions from an emotional standpoint, but I didn't have an actual plan on what he was going to do with it. He had this idea of where he wanted to go.
00:26:23
Speaker
But everything in his life has changed. I mean, you know, between meeting all of you and, you know, wild till and just literally everything along with growing and getting closer to this being. It's all it's all up in the air. Awesome. Just some behind the kind of stuff I like. I always write way more than I use for for your guys.
00:26:50
Speaker
stuff like that because I react in the moment to what you're doing and things change. And one thing is I had it planned for Krigs.
00:27:01
Speaker
for all the mushrooms to say, thank you mushroom daddy at the end of your level. I had it planned and I don't remember why it just didn't, I don't know if it didn't feel like it made sense or if I just forgot or what, but I totally had a plan. And I think I mentioned it in the next episode. I said something like, like a, like a gift for the mushroom daddy or something, but
00:27:23
Speaker
I totally had a plan that was like the last thing that happened with the whispers thank you mushroom daddy. So for you then is was the mushroom all that part of the story already in place and it was a coincidence that he became the mushroom daddy or did you kind of adapt that based on his story i made lonely hill before we started recording the podcast.
00:27:45
Speaker
over about a year and a half ago. It was all fungus, like, you know, all these fungus, it was going to be like, they were, they get in your head and made it impossible to attack any of them, um, without making, you know, like that part where you, you almost step on one and you almost fall because you physically cannot step on this mushroom. That was all part of that whole, like you become part of their hive mind and harm.
00:28:09
Speaker
And so I was working towards that to make this kind of menacing in your head kind of feeling. And then you have to go down, destroy what's causing so quack. So yeah, I had a plan for that. I just had to like upgrade everything because we didn't get to it until you guys were much higher level. Um,
00:28:31
Speaker
But so yeah, uh, the mushroom thing, the mushroom daddy, all that was just that, that all just just happened to be case. I didn't, you know, I didn't create the mushroom and then even getting there. Cause on the map, you could, there was three ways to get to the black river. I mean, there's really a multitude of ways, but they're like, if you followed a trail, you would have followed a trail. One of them would have led you to lonely Hill. And then there was two other options.
00:28:55
Speaker
And you guys chose, well, during the whole like, um, after flying off as a bird, when Gwen flies off as a bird and she's like, what do I see? I'm like, I mean, you see a hill over there in a camp because that's where she was heading. It just on the map. That's where she was going.
Surprising Campaign Moments
00:29:11
Speaker
And so that became where you guys chose. And, um, I did, I will, another behind the scenes, I did shrink the distance a little bit. Cause I was like, we don't, they're running as wolves. I don't need to be like.
00:29:21
Speaker
It takes you four days of running as wolves to get there. So I'm just, they took a shortcut. That's good content right there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They took a shortcut. So, uh, yeah, but I, um, I did, I did have a lot of stuff on there for your guys's level ups that not a lot of stuff that I didn't use. There was a lot of stuff for Derek's because there was supposed to be a lot more, uh, Brahma in less.
00:29:47
Speaker
Derek just being, you know, Daven just being a bad mama jama. Probably worth all you have to do is pass. So, uh, yeah, I know just, it's not roll solo on that saving throw. Uh, but yeah, so it's, uh, it's, it's just cool to see you guys go through the different level up process and making that a little bit narrative and not just, I don't know. I've done that. I've done that.
00:30:10
Speaker
Had that kind of attitude about level ups since the first campaign I did at around the table. So several years ago, kind of done that then, but, um, the next question I have for you all is I want to know your most surprising moment or situation in this season two, these 14, 15 episodes, whatever we're at of season two, what's kind of the thing that stands out to you as the thing that you weren't expecting and happened.
00:30:39
Speaker
You were just kind of, whoa, okay. Anybody? Another spoiler, so please turn off. Mine was when I was doing the Night Watch with Joxer and I had to roll because of the fog that was coming in around me and Gwendolyn became apathetic. That was something I was not ever expecting.
00:31:07
Speaker
Just a change of attitude became a valley girl yeah i was over the situation that was a random table role yeah you know that's it's crazy how how much improv we do with this and how much.
00:31:22
Speaker
It's real dice rolls. It's not, we ain't doing no fake stuff. I know. It's, it's, it's amazing. Yeah. It's amazing to me how much it kind of, and I don't know. I don't know if it's our, our reaction to it makes it work or if it literally just the fates on our story to make sense, but it's kind of weird. The dice doesn't need to happen. The dice know when they do, especially the Starbucks dice. I said somewhere along the lines that.
00:31:49
Speaker
the majority of the fate of our campaign has been decided by starbuck dice so like how much of it is just like she's the fate master of the whole show yeah totally totally and then her character yeah uh all right who else something a moment that kind of stands out as the most kind of surprising i guess Derek's next
00:32:12
Speaker
I, there's nothing that's jumping out to me as like super surprising. I guess, um, Teld coming back was a pretty good story arc thing to happen. I think I really enjoyed him popping back up as the bad guy in the goblin village. Uh, man, I don't know. I mean, I've enjoyed some of the mysteries that have come up, but there's nothing really that's jumped out to me as like, Oh, wow. I wasn't expecting that. That's super surprising to me, at least not in this moment.
00:32:41
Speaker
I'll probably think of something later when it's somebody else's turn to talk. Nice. For me what the most creative or I guess unique thing that we've run into just the shadows overall and like not really knowing what they are and the unique like
00:32:58
Speaker
experiences that we have had when approaching them and how they've manipulated themselves or have been manipulated, that it just adds a lot of mystique and mystery to me. And it keeps me wanting to push forward, but also just like this is going to kill me if I keep pushing forward.
00:33:17
Speaker
Oh wait, I kind of sort of thought of something. I told you I would. Um, being able to hear each other's thoughts, I was not expecting something like that to pop up. And that was one of those things like, Oh crap, this could be really interesting. Yeah. Is that why the other group killed them? So like died in the beginning because they just, we walked into the cave and there was a bunch of dead people. Uh, well, you know, my idea was that there, there are many people question for you a lot of, okay. I don't want to get too deep here, but.
00:33:46
Speaker
A lot of my planning for NPCs and characters has to do with their motives. And I think when you get a bunch of guys with the motives that those NPCs had going into this adventure, like for them going into this mission, those motives would conflict with each other. And as soon as they get all, as soon as they no longer keep secrets from each other, that's it. Like they're, they're only, you know,
00:34:15
Speaker
their bond is not there to protect them from the secrets that they, you know, are keeping from each other. They're a bunch of alpha males. Yeah. So, so, you know, it's just, when that happens, there's, there's just no way you can, they would be able to last. And so they didn't make it out because of that.
00:34:38
Speaker
I think with so many, and here's my, my statement of, of everything means something. Whenever you, whenever everybody's trying to be the most powerful, you all lose. Yeah, I totally expected that. Okay. Perfect. I caught, I caught that one as it was anticipated. That's what you thought, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm kind of predictable if you know me too well, but yeah.
00:35:03
Speaker
Um, how about, uh, Mikey, you have a, so I, I can't say I've been like surprised by, you know, events as much, maybe, maybe that last battle where we all tied ourselves together. And it was like, yep. We always screw ourselves there. Yeah. It's like every, every idea was so good. So every time I come up with something small, I'm like, yeah, I know this would be a great idea. Oh no. The light's blinding us. Oh no, this. I'm like, God bless.
00:35:30
Speaker
Never mind. I'm just not going to do anything. But there's so many small things and and and like Tomba, you know, having that necklace and being kind of taken up or or the little love interest for for our Gabo friend in in the village. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it's it's so many like tiny things. And God, when Gwen going
00:35:59
Speaker
You know going valley girl and and and that one i you know i had removed first for a while but it's like i don't know if i wanna waste the spell slot. I don't know and you know that there's just so many rich character. Choices that you make for this world that that kind of blew my mind in in the moment.
00:36:22
Speaker
And then also for us, each one of our characters having our spastic moments, whether it be shaking the bars of a gel cell to make jocks are angry, or Gwen just losing it and blowing up a necklace.
00:36:41
Speaker
you know, pulling out team truffles and just destroying, you know, these mushrooms. It's just so many fun bits that like, it's all the small things that really add together.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No Blink-182 riff. That's good. Yeah.
Creative Problem-Solving and Conflicts
00:37:02
Speaker
I've been shocked by your guys's response to a lot of things. Getting across the river in Lonely Hill was pretty fun. Not just like the floating disk thing was a great idea. And I thought, oh, that's a great call. I knew there would be a magical way to get across. I didn't know what it would be. But I figured they'll come up with some magical way to get across. But then the way you guys played that off that made it so fun.
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think we all had ways we could have got across it just a matter of how much resources we wanted to spend, you know, right, of course, and not knowing what's over there, you know, and that's the idea. That's, that's the strategy for you. Yeah, that's, that's what makes it a part of what makes it fun. But, um, I also, I also think that, um, your guys just, well, I was very shocked by the, by the response to the necklace.
00:37:50
Speaker
And not just Gwyn's blowing it up, but Davin being so protective of it. And just the literal opposite opinions of we have to destroy this. And then if we release this, we can't release this. The two viewpoints on the same issue, both of you being completely justified in your opinions and thoughts. Neither one of you know if you're right or wrong, but this is how you feel like you should handle this situation. That was a really fun dynamic.
00:38:19
Speaker
It's also cool in those moments that we, it's not like we planned that out. It's not like we write any of the stuff down. It was just, she came up with her opinion on why it would be a thing. And I came up with my opinion on why it should be a thing. And then that was both, like you said, valid reasons from totally different sides. And knowing what I know, there are reasons for each of you to feel the way you feel, you know, that, that makes sense for your character and that that's just super fun. When you play true to your character like that, it's just really fun.
00:38:45
Speaker
I don't lie. It felt awkward that night because I was like, I'm not actually mad at Derek. My character is. Yeah, the same way. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of us didn't one of us post in the discord afterwards. Hey, we're cool, right? Everybody's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I've had a couple of.
00:39:04
Speaker
angry characters around the, or angry players, situations around a table before. And that is not, that is not, I don't know. It's, uh, that was one of the moments that I felt the most, uh, just thinking from David's perspective, like a lot of times when you're role playing.
00:39:20
Speaker
you're thinking, okay, what would this person be like in this sort of situation? That was like one of the few moments where I was like, I know exactly how he's feeling sort of thing. A little more method at that point, right? I am dabbing right now. Yeah, that's awesome. That's how I get with every, and that's why when you guys start fighting with it personally, just kidding.
00:39:39
Speaker
But awesome. So that's, that's, uh, I was curious what, you know, what stood out to you guys because of just the different paths everything has taken.
00:39:51
Speaker
through the through the show. And I think that I think that part of part of just doing an improv show, which we 100 percent do, we we don't we don't know where each other is going to go. But we're but you guys are also good at just that. Yes. And man, let's just keep moving, keep moving and go with it. And it makes it really fun.
Humorous Character Interactions
00:40:14
Speaker
So here's a fun question, kind of a couple of fun questions also from chair here here.
00:40:20
Speaker
If you could have Daven press to digitate each of the party to have a permanent fragrance, what would it be? What permanent fragrance could each member of the party get from a press to digit? I think all of them would just smell like tuna salad sandwich. That way, I always know when they're coming nearby. Good point. That's that's a great idea. Hard pass. Yeah, it's a Gwen Gwen gets the scent of bark. Yeah, exactly.
00:40:49
Speaker
Maybe just just a hint of sap in there as well. Yeah, yeah. Sap and bar. I'm an happy bar. I'm an happy Christmas tree smell. No, I mean, Daven will use it for fun for prestidigitation, prestidigitation. God, that's such a hard word to say, too. I wish it would have made an easier spell. For smells, he does it for fun, but mostly he just keep use it to keep himself clean. That's why he has the whole spell. You know.
00:41:13
Speaker
I'm going to pop a question in here. What's Daven's, what can you tell me without revealing too much backstory is Daven's fascination with like having to stay clean? There, there literally is none. It was something that was a joke in the very beginning and I just kept running with it to where it's just his character now. Oh, I love it. It's an amazing, amazing like character feature. After doing it like once or twice, I was just kind of like Daven just likes to be clean. That's just the way it's going to be.
00:41:39
Speaker
That is fantastic. It's a great example of what Mikey was talking about with just a little character details that just feel real, you know, and realistic. Cause everyone has that kind of stuff, right? Real people have those weird little quirk that there's nothing crazy or dramatic behind it. It's just what they are. I like the idea that he completely figured out how to do a spell just to clean himself off. Yeah. Yeah. That's the whole reason he has that maximum laziness, but it's just efficiency.
00:42:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I just, I gotta keep, I gotta, I gotta use this spell. I can't, I can't deal with soap and water right now. You know, not all bath houses are everywhere, you know? That's true. Yeah. And we've come, you've come across very few bodies of water.
00:42:28
Speaker
At least ones that haven't tried to kill us in some way. They all seem to be dangerous. I don't know what that is. I'm not a fan of swimming. Maybe that's something deep down inside of me. Oh, probably. That's for your psychiatrist, not for us. I just grew up in a desert. Oh, you mean you're not actually our group psychiatrist, Daven? Daven maybe, but Derek is not. I'm going to stop paying you then. That checks no longer in the mail.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, the last one bounced anyways, it's fine. I believe it. What with the income I get from this podcast, that's impossible.
Excitement for Future Developments
00:43:04
Speaker
So, uh, awesome. So let's, uh, just kind of talk the future of this episode of this, uh, go like, um, reaching level 12. What are you most excited about for your character? Maybe mechanically, maybe not mechanically, just role-play wise, whatever.
00:43:20
Speaker
What are you most excited about for your character in the future? What do you think Gwen is most excited about moving forward? If anything, what about Davin? What about Briggs? What are they looking forward to moving forward for you on their behalf? As a player, I'm interested to learn more about Dale. I think a lot of the audience might
00:43:43
Speaker
I have so many questions about Dale. I have, is he like, I don't know where the story is going to go. I have assumptions of
00:43:52
Speaker
Is he a reincarnation of my dad? Is he someone else? Is he an actual spirit that's been guiding me this whole entire time? Is he actually Gwen and I'm just a body that just follows this chipmunk? Like I have, yeah, I have no idea. So, um, that's what I'm most inner. Like I have my backstory of finding my father. That's obviously a main goal, but I am getting more and more curious of is Dale actually alive? Is he actually dead? Am I actually crazy?
00:44:21
Speaker
And I just talked to dead animals. So that's something I am eager to learn about. So many assumptions. I'm the what if child. I love it. I love it. What about Daven?
00:44:38
Speaker
What was the question? I just had a blink. What do you, what do you think? Like, what are you excited about? Or what are you excited about? That's right. That's right. I haven't in the future or. Nope. I got it. I got it. I got it. Okay. I got it. Um, what was the question? No, I'm kidding. Uh, I, I think one of the things for me as a player is I have spells and abilities that I have now or coming up that I have not yet to use, but.
00:45:03
Speaker
are tied to my backstory i try and connect everything so the decisions i made for my character are part of my backstory to like if we were to share our dnd beyond. Character profiles whatever column character sheets i don't think i could because it has spoilers and.
00:45:22
Speaker
That's awesome. Right now, I'm excited to use that stuff. I'm excited to just tell Devin's story at this point. I'm tired of holding secrets. That's awesome. But at the same time, you want things to come out naturally. Go ahead, demon boy. Spill it. Okay. He's not a demon.
00:45:38
Speaker
Sorry, I mean, I've already said this before I'm a divine soul sorcerer literally the word divine. That's a good point man. No demon. That's a good point Interesting and you also need celestial eyes do speak celestial. Yes. I didn't realize you'd be a divine demon. That's so weird You were weird not only do you speak celestial you were gifted Celeste somehow
00:45:58
Speaker
Like you just know how to do it. That's cool. That's also most of his magic in general though, is he just kind of figures out how to do it. He doesn't actually learn it, you know, just kind of part of him, but it's kind of the opposite of Gwen and the fact that she has like a goal, you know, that she's going towards. She wants to find her father. Davin's again, kind of the opposite in the way that he's not, he doesn't have a goal. He doesn't have anything he's actually moving toward. He's closer to running away from something than he is to running towards something.
00:46:27
Speaker
That was a big reveal right there alone. That's good. All right. This, before you give too much, let's go to Krigs or Safran. Sorry. Should I never call him Krigs again? I need to go. Okay. Um, I think I'm just most honestly, I'm most excited about like,
00:46:46
Speaker
the potential of running into either family or expats from Helm's army or whatever. Like that's going to be, that's going to be a fun conversation whenever something like that ever happens. Um, I also have something on my sleeve that I've been planning on for a long time, but I can't tell you what it is because it's just going to change the world. Although the way that things are going is going to be a while.
00:47:16
Speaker
Yeah, I know. Like we're level 12. There's only eight levels to go before we level out. How are we going to tell the story in eight more levels? And that's it. Level 30. Here we come. I know. Right. You guys, you guys are just going to have to be okay with long times between level ups. Yeah. I mean, realistically, that's how most gaming systems treat leveling. That's true. And milestone leveling. It's kind of like we got to hit a certain point and then boom, that gives you
00:47:43
Speaker
Uh, that's kind of the approach I take is the, so we, we gotta get jockser's answer. What are you excited about? Yeah. So, so there's a handful of things, but, but really it's more, it's more about the, the, the jockser's ability. And I think he's getting to the point where.
00:47:58
Speaker
He's starting to get some abilities that are either going to kind of change the party's view of him or potentially just give him a little bit more battle prowess. So I'm excited to see where that kind of takes him, whether it be for better or for worse.
00:48:19
Speaker
I'm actually really excited about those conversations that inevitably are going to come whenever Joxer starts being super sketch and whenever Daven is already super sketch, but it's like, hey, hold up. We need to have more sketch than he is. He has a dead hand that follows him around. All right, Lightning Eye.
Character Transformations and Challenges
00:48:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah. No, the last episode. That didn't go away, did it?
00:48:42
Speaker
Nope. One eye, one color, the other eye a different color. Well, his eyes were always green. So they're both still green. Just one has a white pupil now and some kind of lightning streaks going through it. Yeah. It's like a really weird heterochromia. Yeah, exactly. Super cool. I'm excited about unwrapping some of the mystery as you guys really get into this fog.
00:49:08
Speaker
That's coming very soon as we face what's coming. And I'm excited about that and kind of, yeah, kind of, I think, I feel like right now we're kind of at like a mid-season point, like a mid-season high point. And we're going to push into this long extended point of seeing some questions answered, I think, I hope.
00:49:33
Speaker
I hope you guys asked the right questions so I can answer them. I very look forward to what's on the other side of this death wall that we're facing. Yeah. Yeah. I know what's over there. I know what's happening. I know what's coming and I have no clue. What if it's just an Arby's sauce? Yeah. Beef and cheddar and some sprinkle fries because curly fries are garbage.
00:50:03
Speaker
What? Oh, come on. Come on. Unpopular opinion. The seasoning on curly fries tastes like beet. Why even go to Arby's? Why? I mean, that's the whole reason. I got the meats. Well, let's be honest, does anybody actually go to Arby's?
00:50:21
Speaker
People do go to Arby's. I go to Arby's. But Arby's reach out if you want to sponsor. Yeah, we'd love to. I mean, I'll work this all day. Yeah, that bounce check. I mean, you don't even have to send me money. Just send me beef and cheddar coupons. I'm in. There you go. The bigger, the better. Somebody else agrees. They're like, I have a question. Do you have an idea of now that we've kind of decided that we have seasons, do you have an idea of what the end of season two is going to be without, of course, revealing anything?
00:50:48
Speaker
I do. Uh, I know, I know, right. The trigger of where we're going to end season two. Uh, uh, here's the issue is. And without revealing too much in the mechanically, there's a difficulty here because you're going to hit a point where you're going to get so powerful that there's not a lot I can do to challenge, right? Besides like, let's face the gods. You know what I mean?
00:51:17
Speaker
And so at least one of us, it's like, let's do that. Come on. I know. I know. I know. And so. So that takes us to a whole different, like almost different show, you know, whenever it gets that high and that intense. And so then you do calculus at us.
00:51:38
Speaker
And to just be completely transparent, I've never run anybody that high.
Campaign Direction and Milestones
00:51:45
Speaker
The highest my last campaign got was 50. And then everybody moved away and we had trouble getting together. It's going to be a challenge. It's going to be fun to see where it goes and how we do it. I know where I want everything to end up, but the path to get there changes almost every time we record.
00:52:07
Speaker
because I want to react to what you guys are doing. So. It'll be fine when we face that final boss. Just throw in like twice as many cold walls as you were playing in the first place and it'll be fine. Yeah. Oh yeah. Let's throw two more goblins and tag tactics and goblins. Six bandits and some wolves. You guys got it. Yeah.
00:52:28
Speaker
If I throw in wolves, when will just become their best friend? Uh, yeah. So that's, that's kind of the thing for me is I kind of know the point where I actually heard some advice early on, started planning. It was treated like a TV show where you know how it's going to start and how it's going to end and then let the middle play out as you go. I've known since the beginning where I want everything to end up, but the path is, I have had.
00:52:59
Speaker
probably seven or eight different iterations of like the end game per season or game. You're talking about life. I know. Right. I know where I want to go, but this is how I get there. Yeah. How I get there changes every morning when I wake up. Yeah. I'm trying to get to Arby's, but Google Maps keeps saying take a left and I end up taking a right. And I show up at KFC. They got meat, but it's not the meats I want. This episode is also not sponsored by KFC.
00:53:28
Speaker
Yeah. So any other questions anybody has for the group or for anybody else? Let me look at our discord and see. I've got a few on there, but I think I've asked them as we wrap this. Oh, I got something here. No, nothing, nothing. Just people commenting about.
00:53:45
Speaker
Gavin's demonic origins. So I have one. So in I guess the opposite side of how you how we viewed your level up sequences.
00:53:58
Speaker
Are our characters turning out in the way that you are like expected them in in a manner since you you knew that backstory and how you planned or how you could see it going? Have any of us kind of, I guess, taken a 180 on that end? Or yeah, I mean, Krigs definitely is a way different than I expected. And that happened in season one, though, with his acting, you know,
00:54:28
Speaker
Um, that, that turned out to be pretty cool. Yeah, exactly. That turned out to be pretty cool and, and I better, you know, than it could have. And then as far as, um, as the rest of you, like Gwen, he has, believe it or not, I feel like Gwen has simmered down a little bit in season two.
00:54:48
Speaker
I'm listening to some older episodes and she's such a hothead. And I don't even mean just like blowing up the necklace. Yeah, but that was acting on a passion.
00:55:01
Speaker
I couldn't have an NPC say hardly anything without Gwen being like, I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him right now. I don't trust him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody can get by with anything. Everybody was the devil. And it's like, I think, number one, everybody is kind of out of the kitchen now where you're at. So I guess that's one thing. Number two, I think she's seen evil, she's seen darkness, she's seen the bad and she's
00:55:29
Speaker
When's it better at identifying than it was and she's seen the good like with gifts and the goblins in that things that have been. Spoken about as bad all this time aren't always and so we've got to figure out what the person I've kind of seen that growth in going even if it's not intentional by Asha.
00:55:47
Speaker
Well, and we've also had a couple of instances and conversations with Gwen to where like, Hey, we need to calm it down a little bit first. Yeah. Following, you know, following the end of the, and she immediately runs off and does not comment. Yeah, that's true. But the bat, the banter in the back and forth has been kind of cool seeing you guys coach each other and like life, life advice for each other as a
00:56:12
Speaker
as a group in a party. And I think like in game, you guys have been together close to six, eight months, right? In game. So there's this bond that's formed. And I think with with joxer, his level of curiosity and, and obsession about the brewing and about the
00:56:33
Speaker
Well, now that we've revealed as the speaker, this, this is, that's something that has been cool to see because I know I could put that figure, I could put her figure somewhere and jocks are going to follow and I could make something happen. Like he's like laser focus. And so that's cool. And I may use it someday for everyone's detriment. And that's a promise, but yeah, I think, I think those are things that have really kind of not necessarily surprised me, but given me like a,
00:57:03
Speaker
I don't know, an unexpected just bonus to running you guys game is, you know, just giving me more to use, like more fodder, all of our things, all of the stuff, how to handle stuff within the reading minds, like
00:57:18
Speaker
Some of you guys are not going to like that and like going to try to keep your brain as empty as possible or just think about as much as possible so that nothing makes sense. You know, and seeing you guys handle that was cool because I knew some of your mind is red. So that was cool. I'm grateful for you guys making this for me, except for in combat. It's okay. I'm supposed to lose.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I think we got, we're about out of time, but everybody, I appreciate you guys answering these questions. Hopefully listeners enjoyed hearing some of the kind of our thoughts about the game. It's fun. We get to do some banter and stuff in discord with, with people who listen, but this is the fun way to just kind of unpack what we've been thinking about the campaign.
Podcast Conclusion with Humor
00:58:01
Speaker
As you guys get ready to cross the black river, hopefully we'll see what happens moving that direction, moving as far north as you can get. And we'll see what's over there and what that means.
00:58:11
Speaker
for the higher source, but thank you guys for talking with me. Well, I got one more question. This is for this is for everybody. Okay. Uh, horsey sauce or RB sauce? Closing question. You make it. Are we sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. You mix them or what? You mix them. No. No, just shut up. You end it. End it. We're done here. Get out. You dip your regular fries in the mixture. He's awesome.
00:58:41
Speaker
Hey, this is the last episode of any hired swords product. We are finished. Get out of here. I don't even know you. Oh, are you? We are. We have the show. How would you even do that? You do. I don't even know why they have Borsy sauce. Arby's. Yeah. It's like installment of the hired swords. This is Blaze talking about Harvey. So so.
00:59:07
Speaker
Guys, it's good. Try it. Let me go to Arby's. Just try a little bit of it. That's going to imply that I'm going to go to Arby's. I figure you'll end up there at some point. Yeah. I still have a lot of life left to live. I'm going to end up in Arby's at some point. That's what I'm saying. Just don't forget you got to mix your horsey sauce with the Arby sauce at least once. Give it a dip with whatever fry you choose. It's good. It is horsey sauce. It's horseradish. It's horseradish.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. It gives the gives the Arby's sauce a good little like ten for Vezzan. Let's let's let's just get wasabi sauce and throw it in with Arby's sauce and then we're fine. You can't call it wasabi sauce, though. It would have to be like wasi sauce. Wasi. Yeah, we're the swords.