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Ep.1 Welcome To Wildhill
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Welcome to Wildhill. Our adventurers roll into town and find things here aren't exactly as they expected. The party runs into each other, quite literally, by what might just be the forces of fate. Will our heroes have what it takes to become a member of the coveted group known as The Hired Swords?
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Transcript
Starbuck Introduces Themselves
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, new listeners. You don't know who I am, but one day I hope you will. It's me, Starbuck, and I appear in some later episodes. But for right now, I just want to let you know that starting early in season two, we do start reading the reviews for the show live on air and well, not live, not live. We do record them.
00:00:25
Speaker
So if you want to leave the show a review, we do read it in the future. And I hope that you will join us for this journey and make it that far as someone who started out as a listener for the show and really quickly came to just absolutely love everyone. This show is about and their role play and their the gravity that they play this game with.
00:00:55
Speaker
I hope that you too find those moments to just brighten your day and give you something to connect to. And I hope that you find some inspiration to translate some of this to your own games at home. And I really hope that you stick with them. They're an absolute joy. And I look forward to meeting you later.
Meet The Hired Swords
00:01:29
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast where the rules are often questionable and, well, we're just a bunch of adults playing make-believe.
00:02:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Hired Swords Podcast. We are a bunch of friends, old friends, new friends that have got together and we're going to play some Dungeons and Dragons and we're going to kind of adventure through a world and take you with us and you get to join us as we fight monsters and talk about fighting monsters and
00:02:21
Speaker
earn gold and spend gold on things we can use to fight monsters. My name is Mike and I am your Dungeon Master and I'm going to introduce the party and I'm going to start going around the virtual table with Ash.
Character Introductions
00:02:36
Speaker
Hello, my name is Ash, and I will be playing Gwendolyn the half-elf, daughter of Deborah, who was a human, and Carrick the Caring, who was a famous druid elf, known in these parts. She doesn't know much of her father due to him passing away when she was younger, so she doesn't know much about him, just only the stories that her mother had told her.
00:02:59
Speaker
She's a bit of a quirky character with a bit of a stutter. She doesn't look like most half-elf. She looks more elfish than most and with lilac freckles and a crooked smile. Nice long white hair with teal eyes. She for the most part tries to be friendly. She's the kind of person who always wants to be friends with people or at least she tries. With her elf features she kind of has a resting bee face so
00:03:25
Speaker
When she realizes that she's coming off putting to others, she tries to smile, but this often makes her look crazy. She loves animals so much. She travels with her companion, Dale, who is her best friend. Her love of animals made her want to become like her father one day, so I will be playing the part as a druid.
00:03:47
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome, Gwendolyn. And Derek, how about you, buddy? Hi, my name is Derek. I'm going to be playing Davin Meinstrider. He is a human sorcerer of the Defined Soul. I believe is what it's called. I can't even remember now.
00:04:00
Speaker
a pretty average guy for the most part. He's got like long black hair and a black goatee. He wears like a black and red cloak with like a red and gold cape that's attached to the back of it. You can see he also wears like a bunch of necklaces around his neck. He's got like four different necklaces like a gold chain, an obsidian chain and then like a medallion that's on like a hempen rope and then like a silver chain with a brass locket on the end of it.
00:04:22
Speaker
He's not really obstentatious kind of person, but the way that he has those tucked into his shirt, you can kind of see it's maybe they have a little bit more of a sentimental value than they do any kind of thing to kind of show off. Beyond that, he's kind of a quiet guy. He usually kind of sits toward the back making smart remarks to people, but he'll step forward whenever it comes time for it. Awesome. All right. That is Derek playing Devin Mindstrider. Blaze, you're next, buddy.
00:04:49
Speaker
I'm Blaze. I'm going to be playing Krigsgaldr, who is a Dwarven Vengeance Paladin born and raised in the Stone Mountains. Roughly 137 years old, been around, had some experience and whatnot on the battlefield. As far as appearance, if you were to see me walking down the streets, strutting with my swagger, generally I'll have a kind of humble chainmail armor
00:05:15
Speaker
you know, leather and chain, nothing too over the top. I will have a bald head and a big black bushy beard that'll be braided. I will also have a shield, a darning on my back. It is probably the only thing that will be on Krigs that will look any kind of fancy.
00:05:39
Speaker
It will be a shield, a very shiny silverish shield with gold emblazoned on it. It'll be of an oak tree that will have leaves of flame and roots of ember. That'll come into play. It's a very important shield to me.
00:05:56
Speaker
Besides that, I do have a little half mask that I kind of wear covers up a portion of my face. Nothing too crazy. I just don't like a lot of attention. I also am the kind of person that is going to fight first for those that can't defend themselves, but why can't we all get along? I don't necessarily see how everyone has to be enemies, but the second you become my enemy, we got problems. All right. Thank you, Blades. And we're calling him Krigs for short. Is that right?
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, Krigs for short, full name is just Krigs Golder. Krigs Golder, I like it. Okay, last but certainly not least, Mikey.
00:06:34
Speaker
I'm Mikey Morris. I'll be playing Joxer Mortail. He's a drunken monk with a small warlock background. He didn't really get along with his family from the Mortail vines. The drink that gives you Mortail is the tail. I keep myself not affiliated to that. I was kind of pushed off to a monastery to study with the monks there because my family didn't really get along with the fact that
00:07:01
Speaker
I didn't find their wine to be, you know, the top notch. And so I started kind of getting a little bit more obsessed with other types of brews and flavoring them. So I make a little bit of money on the side and kind of try to make some interesting brews. If you look at me, you'll see me, I'm a little tattered, fairly slim. I do have a cloak. It's kind of more like a shawl cloak, just a hood, and it goes halfway down my body.
00:07:31
Speaker
It's more of a bluish color, and then the rest of me is kind of a simple garb. I carry one rapier, and then the rest of it's all hands-on. I'll jump into any battle I need to. I'm not specifically shy, but I don't try to push myself into scenarios that I don't need to be. But I'm fairly well-spoken, coming from a not-well-off family, so that's pretty much jocks here.
00:07:59
Speaker
Awesome. There's our party with a nice mix of people. It's pretty exciting. Different kinds of people and backgrounds. I will say by way of housekeeping before we get rolling here, all of our players are starting at level five. As a DM, I've played enough people going from level one to five and the party really starts at level five. So we've decided to pick up at level five. So they all have a little bit of history and a little bit of backstory that makes sense that they've been able to get to the level of ability and skill.
Setting the Scene in Wild Hill
00:08:27
Speaker
that they're at right now. You will notice some homebrew rules here and there, some things that we do that kind of as a DM I found make for a more fun game. Nothing too crazy away from what Rules is written is, but you may notice some things here and there. And that's just the way that we do it. And I've run as a DM and if you are listening and you absolutely hate it, you know, let me know some ideas. What else would you do? Maybe do something different. Maybe that would work. I don't know.
00:08:53
Speaker
And Blaze and I have talked a little bit about world description and kind of an introduction to the world of greater glintry, which is the world that this story is taking place in. We're starting in a small town called Wild Hill, but it's on this continent of glintry in the world of greater glintry.
00:09:09
Speaker
We're going to, I believe, release something separate that will kind of help you kind of know what the world is, how it kind of came to be and what it's all about. And so some of the stuff the players got before when they started working towards building their characters. So it'll help listeners kind of understand. But for our first mission here today, our first session, you can just learn a little bit about Wild Hill and what we're doing here in this little town. Blaze, do you have anything else we need to cover or talk about before we get rolling with the adventure?
00:09:38
Speaker
Man, I'm just ready to start rolling. I'm excited. Let's do this. Literally, I'm ready to start rolling. I would like to say that you guys can also find me on Twitch. I stream once every other year on Dirty Cheeto. Oh, great. Okay. What kind of stuff do you stream? Nice. Mostly me just eating sandwiches. Yeah. Occasionally like some macaroni and cheese. That's not the dumbest thing I've ever seen on Twitch. Are you saying the macaroni and cheese would be in the sandwich? Oh, that's going to be my Christmas special.
00:10:10
Speaker
I'll eat a macaroni and cheese sandwich. Yeah, that's right. All right. Well, if that's all everyone's announcements, anybody else trying to get famous anywhere or we good. All right, then if that's everybody's announcements, then I say welcome to Wild Hill.
00:10:27
Speaker
So you have come to the town of Wild Hill for your own reasons. Perhaps you're seeking glory, perhaps honor or gold. Maybe you're just trying to scratch that combat itch you can't seem to shake. Whatever your reasoning, you've traveled from all over Greater Glintry to the mountain town of Wild Hill.
00:10:44
Speaker
The mountain path bends to a high valley containing several dozen wooden and stone buildings. Most have hide or thatched roofs. Buildings are of different sizes, seeming to be built by the inhabitants for their own needs, specifically. The dirt roads are busy, with more adventurers like yourselves scurrying about, visiting shops, and the longhouse near the entrance to the town.
00:11:07
Speaker
You see several older soldiers who've had a bit too much to drink sitting on benches outside this long house. The building is a large rectangle tent held together with lashed wooden posts taken from the forest on the eastern side of town. Looking towards the forest in the distance, you see a towering structure at the center of town.
00:11:26
Speaker
This is the fabled Tower of Testing, home of the Chief of Wild Hill. You have been told to register with him for a license to hunt so that you can kill your first game and join the hired swords to begin earning real treasure. The town of Wild Hill is spread out before you. You've heard of different places to shop, different places to eat, different people to learn about, and you are welcome to explore this town. What would you like to do?
00:11:58
Speaker
Oh, man. Where would we go for finding the first
The First Hunt and Local Interactions
00:12:03
Speaker
hunt? I'm sorry. Yes, that is the Tower of Testing. That's the long tower, the tall tower you see just in the distance at the center of town. So backstory wise, I do believe Joxer and I have been traveling together for a little while now. So I don't
00:12:26
Speaker
Don't much reckon we've run into the rest of the crew yet. True enough. I believe my biggest interest, and this would be to Kriegs' benefit, is are there any areas that we could find some local fruits or items that might be kind of specific to this area?
00:12:49
Speaker
Sure. As you kind of walk through town, like I said, you're seeing people come and go. Most of them are adventurer types like yourself. You do see a group of people walking through the town in front of the Tower of Testing. They seem to be coming from the southern part of town carrying the kinds of things you're talking about. They've got little bits of food with some fruit and vegetables and things like that. Mostly like root vegetables, things that grow close to the surface in this rocky soil up here in the mountains.
00:13:21
Speaker
So in that, I'd kind of usher to Kriegs knowing that we had gotten in here for some, for at least my purpose, would be more, I'm looking for a specific kind of fruit that the monks had known here, so I'd like to kind of head down that way and see if I can find some Kriegs.
00:13:39
Speaker
Sure. So Krigs, are you heading with him? Yeah, just staying staying with us. All right. So Krigs, I know his intentions. So Krigs and Joxer, they walk down past this this tall tower where you see adventurers coming and going and nobody seems to be really gathering there yet. You see a statue of a there's a statue in front of the tower, a stone statue of a it looks like some sort of ranger type.
00:14:06
Speaker
kind of warrior. He has a large bow on his back and a large sword at his hip and he's just standing with his arms crossed looking towards the forest in this giant stone statue that stands about five times taller than a normal man would stand. You then pass some of the nicer looking buildings in town kind of up on the hills to the right as you walk down
00:14:28
Speaker
following where you see people coming from down south with some food in their hands. You see these buildings that some folks kind of milling about and walking around this area. This is what's known as the Nobleman's Barracks. And so you see folks that look pretty well to do coming and going from this area, heading into an inn that's next to the Tower of Testing.
00:14:50
Speaker
But south of there, you come to a you see a windmill in the distance and the farm is down there. And you figure that's where these people have been coming from, bringing these baskets and handfuls of fruits and vegetables. Gwendolyn, Devin, what are you thinking about now?
00:15:11
Speaker
I feel like I had just gotten here on my travels to find Amlanora, and so I feel like I would have checked in at Lamp Post Inn, and then I'm just walking about the city at this time. So you head to Lamp Post Inn, and you? Go ahead. I was going to say, Daven would probably go straight to an inn to find a place to stay for the night.
00:15:30
Speaker
Okay, you as you approach lamp post in you notice that most of the adventurers are steering clear of their their their kind of coming and going it's a pretty small building to
00:15:45
Speaker
And the people who are coming and going are these noblemen looking folks, people with they're in fine robes. They have jewelry on. You do see a couple of adventurer kind of types with armor and weaponry that are walking around, but they're they're hanging real close to these noble noblemen looking.
00:16:02
Speaker
like they're probably bodyguards coming and going. And as you approach the lamppost in, you see a man standing there, bald man. He stands about probably six foot six, six foot seven. He has leather armor on, but he does have a big sword strapped to his back. His armor just covers his chest. His arms are hanging out of his armor, bare arms with tattoos on them. And as you walk forward, he looks at you and he just goes, uh-uh, like that.
00:16:31
Speaker
And he points, he points over towards where you can see some tents in the distance beyond those nobleman's barracks area. Gwendolyn just looks up from her map.
00:16:42
Speaker
And she's like, giving him the stink eye because she's just been studying the half map that she has. And she just, and she turns around and she just starts going this way. She's too focused on what she's doing. So she has it towards the tents. Too, too focused to be offended. Yeah. She heads towards those tents. Don't waste my time, Mr.
00:17:04
Speaker
Okay. All right. Devin, what are you up to? Devin would see this from afar and he's kind of curious as to what's going on in there. He's going to go and see if he can just ask one of the, not one of the noblemen. He doesn't want to bother with them because he doesn't figure he's going to get much information, but see if maybe he can go up to one of the guards and just kind of stripe up a conversation. Sure. You walk up to the one that yelled at her? No, I would go to a different guard or somebody else maybe.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, so he's the only one kind of guarding the door there. But you do see this, this very, very short human guard who is wearing black robes, but he's he's obviously got some short swords tucked away in there. He's walking real close to a an elven nobleman.
00:17:49
Speaker
And the nobleman goes inside the building and this human guy, he just kind of leans up against the wall outside the door, his arms crossed, one leg kind of hiked up on the front of this nice looking in. He just kind of looks at you and squints his eyes at you as you approach, but he doesn't say anything right away. I'll walk you up to him and I'll say, hey, so I'm looking for a place to sleep for tonight. Is this a good place? He just looks and kind of squints his eyes. He spits on the floor.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yo, there ain't nothing here. This ain't a place to sleep. You're new here, ain't you? First day. Yeah, you're going to want to head down to the camp. This ain't where you're supposed to be. Well, it says in right there on the sign. Yeah, well, this is the kind of in you drink in, not the kind of in you sleep in. Drinking's one of my specialties. Yeah, well, if you can afford it, I wouldn't think you could. All right. And he kind of, I'm going to say, he just kind of turned around. He's going to head toward where the guy told him to go to, but he's going to keep an eye on it.
00:18:48
Speaker
Okay, cool. And he just says, you come back when you got some coin. And then he turns around and walks back in.
00:18:57
Speaker
And so, Krigs and Joxer, you guys, they're heading over to the camp. You guys are down at Hillcrest Farms. It's got this big windmill. You see a large barn, a small farmhouse there. There are a small amount of livestock, a few pigs, several cows here and there, but you do see a large field spread out
00:19:19
Speaker
With different kind of different kinds of plants planted in like a checker pattern, right? So you've got different like some green stuff growing here. There's like or the obvious carrots like orange here. Most of them root vegetables. You've got some tall more tall stuff like corn and stuff kind of growing back behind the mill.
00:19:37
Speaker
Yeah, this is and then you do there isn't a small orchard just where you walk into Hillcrest farms there. There's a there's kind of a small orchard there that currently is blooming. It's early spring. So it's currently blooming. It's not yet growing any fruit, but there is a pretty nice place looks like they could get some nice fruit here sometimes.
00:19:58
Speaker
Okay. From my perspective, I'd like to maybe try to find someone that might be around or at least ask about the season or what fruit is actually...
00:20:09
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, you go ahead. Doing that. I'm basically just going to look over in Yorkshire. I believe we've come here. We've got where you need to go. I think I'm going to try to find us some room and board for the night. You seem to have this under control. I'm going to head back towards towards, I guess, the end lamppost in Craig's. Absolutely. I appreciate it.
00:20:33
Speaker
And you kind of part ways and as you kind of walk closer towards the farm, you see a young boy sees you approaching and he turns and he runs into the farmhouse. Farmhouse has got straw roof and it's made from big wooden beams. He runs into this little door and
00:20:54
Speaker
Kind of yells you kind of hear a muffled like he's yelling at somebody and outcome out steps a man who is he's kind of drying his hands off on his apron and he kind of sets his apron down and steps down a couple steps walks towards you and he says what can i do for you sir i'm just interested in are you familiar with kawatsuka fruit.
00:21:20
Speaker
I can't say I've ever heard of such a thing. No, around here, there's not much fruit that grows every now and then. We get some apple-type fruits on these trees out here, but nothing that sounds exotic. I haven't seen much exotic around these parts. When you say apple-type fruits, what color are those?
00:21:42
Speaker
They grow a bright pink, almost luminescent pink. It's very strange. I don't know if it's the minerals in the soil or what, but yes. They taste very bitter, but many people like them very much. They are great in a pie. I'll say that right now. If you're here for a couple more months, they should start to grow soon.
00:22:04
Speaker
That's good to know. Thank you. Of course, of course. Please come back. All of our vegetables get taken to the long house and the inn, so if you want to eat something that we grow here, that's where they'll be. We don't have much to just hand out down here most days. Would it be trouble for me to work directly with you whenever those come about? I prefer going directly to the source.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, I see. We would have to probably discuss it with the Chief and see if that would be okay with him. He runs things here, and if the Chief's okay with it, I'm okay with it. I appreciate it. You've been very kind. I'll probably be on my way, and Joxer kind of tilts politely and then starts his way up.
00:22:48
Speaker
Yes, of course. He says, of course, no problem. And he turns around and starts walking back towards the house. And he gets about halfway to the house and he calls out, Bob, get back to your raking. The boy runs out behind him. I'll probably try to head head kind of north, where I assume where Griggs probably ran off to.
00:23:11
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. You guys, when you make it to the camp, were you going to say something, Derek? I was just going to say, the guy, he pointed me toward the camp, right? Yes, he did. Okay. Yeah. You make it to the camp. When you kind of walk up to the camp, you see just a series of tents set up around a main fire. The fire is currently being lit, like it's getting prepared for later in the day.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's currently early afternoon that you've made it into town. There is an elven woman who is standing here receiving some sticks and things as a couple of men are carrying them from the forest to get this fire going here in the middle, like they're preparing it for whoever's going to come stay here. There are a couple of adventurer types in the area standing nearby.
00:24:02
Speaker
They're kind of coming and going out of these tents. Other than that, it just looks like it's kind of first come, first serve here. They just kind of walk in. They're kind of walking in and, ah, this one's mine. I got this one right here. And that's how they're kind of claiming these tents here at the adventurer's camp. I'm going to pull out one of my torches and I'm going to use Prestidigitation to light it on fire and then go help them light it when they're ready for it.
00:24:26
Speaker
Oh cool, okay. I'm going to guess as I'm kind of walking away from the farms, Joxer notices this and will probably try to claim a tent. Are these like single person tents or are they like larger sets? It looks like each one has four or five bed rolls in it available.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah, so it looks like you could sleep four or five people to each one. Okay. I'll probably, you know, speak to someone around and then and try to find a short spot. Yeah, it's kind of kind of glamping kind of tense. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, you know, you go pay $350 to sleep in a tent. Yeah. One of those places. Yeah. All right. And so on my way here. Oh, no.
00:25:12
Speaker
No, you can go. No, I want to know what you're going to do on your way here. On my way here, I feel like I would accidentally bump in to Krigs. Okay. And as she does, she goes, Oh, sorry. And she looks up, but then she notices that he's a dwarf. So she looks down. She's looking down and she's like, Oh, don't don't mind me. And she starts to walk off towards the elf woman in the center of the camp.
00:25:39
Speaker
Okay. I don't know how Krigs takes it, but that's not when the limo would react. More or less just silent. He's kind of used to not being noticed all the time, and he kind of prefers it that way, honestly. So he just, oh, it's not a problem at all. And just kind of steps to the side and continues walking towards the lamppost end. You're walking towards the lamppost end, okay. Yeah, that's where I understood there to be, it's an end, so.
00:26:08
Speaker
Yep. Yeah, so you approach the in and lamppost in and there is there's that big guy I described earlier with the the you know, the kind of leather leather armor vest and next to him on the other side of the door leaning against it is this roguish looking human man and there look they look to be kind of chit chatting amongst themselves.
00:26:35
Speaker
I approach and I say, I just come up and say, I have you any way you can see it this year in. The big guy stands up and looks at you and he says, this ain't no place to stay. You want to stay over there. And he points at the camp and
00:26:54
Speaker
The other guy goes, the little roguish guy, he stays leaning back. He doesn't look up and he goes, seems to be a lot of them here today. They don't listen. Listen. This is where the noblemen's pay for them nice houses over there that they stay in. You're going to want to stay down at the camp until you get yourself some gold.
00:27:15
Speaker
Well, you should really consider changing your sign then, and I'm just going to kind of defeat it. That's what I was saying. A little misleading. He says, as you walk away, he says, ain't my sign. When I see Gwendolyn come up to the camp, I'm going to recognize her as the person who got turned away at the end. I'm going to say, hey, aren't you a little curious what they got going on inside there?
00:27:42
Speaker
What? She looks up from her map. What do you want? Just making a conversation. I mean, I saw you over there trying to get to the end.
00:27:58
Speaker
I don't have time to put up with him. You know, like I got this and she sits there and holding a map and this taxidermy chipmunk in her hand and she's like, you know, I just don't have time to put up with this. I'm trying to find a nice place. And she just sits there going on about how her day was complete crap.
00:28:21
Speaker
10 minutes go by and she goes, sorry, I'm Gwendolyn. This is Dale. He started listening for a while and then started trailing off and just drawing in the dirt. Oh, he's like, oh, I'm sorry. Yes, Gwendolyn. So I'm Dovin Meinsteider. It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. What are you doing in this place? Just mostly looking around, trying to find a new place to set up camp. It seems pretty good around here. Have you been around the world?
00:28:49
Speaker
Oh, not far. No, I come from the south. But, you know, just looking for a different environment to be a part of. I'm trying to find a place and I can't. I've read so many books and I can't find this stupid place. Have you ever heard of Alan Menorah? Would I have heard of Alan Menorah?
00:29:08
Speaker
I don't believe you would have, no. Well, he thinks for a second, he says, doesn't sound familiar, sorry. Well, I'm sure there's people around here who could probably help us out. He's like, everyone in the scamp looks like the adventuring type. It might be a, it might behoove you a little bit to just ask around. He smiles at this, but so she has resting bee face. So when she tries to smile, it just kind of creeps him out. I feel like she's not used to making friends. It just looks like she just smells poop.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yep. At this time, I've probably made it back from the end to the camp and I'll, uh, I found Joxer with a just kind of disgruntled look on my face. Say, oh, people around here need to learn how to read. I don't, I don't trust people to read or do anything anyway. I read.
00:29:58
Speaker
I kind of shockingly shocked look over. Oh, that's probably why you ran into me earlier, I assume. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm a bit of a klutz. That's fine. What's your name anyway? It seems I at least deserve that. My name is Guga Gwendolyn.
00:30:22
Speaker
Uh, Gwendolyn, I am, uh, Krigs Calder. You can call me Krigs, I know it's a little bit of a strange name. Uh, and this here is my companion. We've been traveling. His name is Joxer.
00:30:33
Speaker
And I turn over and I say hi and I'm like, this is, I have a companion too. This is Dale. And she just holds out this sideways text at Dermondale. She's not dumb. It's her only friend, but she's proud of it. Uh, uh, Josh just kind of looks up as a, I'm glad to meet your friend, Griggs. And to end in your friend, Dale.
00:31:01
Speaker
I'm going to approach Dale and very gently shake its little hand. When Lillian has the hugest smile, she's never been around like this many people. Hey, for the first roll of the campaign, please make a sleight of hand check. Oh, no. Krigs. Oh, no. Okay. The negative one. Here we go.
00:31:29
Speaker
Oh, thank God. So you do not snap its little hand off or anything. Thank God. You just grab real lightly and give it a little shake. Way more delicate than you've probably ever done anything. It was kind of actually, you're a little proud of yourself because you actually did this little nice thing when you're usually kind of a brute force kind of guy. So yeah, congratulations. With your minus one, you rolled a 17. That's pretty good.
00:31:59
Speaker
That's pretty good. Gwendolyn brings Dale back and hugs him. He's just very happy. Great. About now, you guys hear a horn blowing and an obvious announcement call coming from the tower.
The Hunt Begins
00:32:17
Speaker
the couple of adventurers that have been kind of hanging around, side-eyeing you guys this whole time, starts walking that direction towards the tower. And you see actually folks coming from all over, starting to walk and gather around that statue facing the entrance to the tower. Devin looks around and he kind of looks at the rest of the party that's kind of sitting here and he says, I guess that's our cue. And he kind of stands up awkwardly like waiting to see if you guys are going to join too and then just starts heading off.
00:32:46
Speaker
Jockster is going to kind of look over at Krigs and basically be like, I have things to tend to, Krigs. You understand. And he kind of walks into the tent that he kind of claimed and lays down a thing. Yeah. Right. In that, I'll be like, oh, that's perfectly fine. I've got nothing better to do. I think I'll see what's going on over with the crowd.
00:33:13
Speaker
Great, so Gwen, are you gonna go follow the crowd as well? Oh yeah, she just made friends. Yeah, okay, cool. This is our new best friend. Did we just become best friends? I think we did. I think we did. We'll all be for friendship.
00:33:33
Speaker
And so you guys are all three over there. You've gathered around it and you do notice these adventurer types. There's there's there's folks that are they look like they're sneaky stealthy. There's folks there that are obviously former military with their longbows. And some of them still even have like the the emblem of of Helms armies from the the empire on their on their armor or their shields. And there's very obvious former military here, all kinds of different folks.
00:34:03
Speaker
are there. All of them, they kind of gather in little clicks. It's pretty obvious that they kind of have their groups that they gather in. As they are standing around this giant, it looks like from the windows about a three or four story tower until there's a little platform at the very top. But the tower is made mostly of wood and straw and hide. There is a large wooden door that is open. And in front of the wooden door is a platform on which
00:34:33
Speaker
stands this man. He has the look of a hardened veteran. He's missing an eye. He has a scar across his neck almost from one ear to the other. He's wearing animal skins. He has sandals on, a long sword is strapped to his side. He wears no helmet or hat of any kind, just gray hair.
00:34:54
Speaker
But it's very short kind of a military almost a buzz cut if that if buzzing was possible it's it's a very short military type cut and he he kind of raises his hand and the crowd starts to calm down and to them speaking not to interrupt too much but a lot of the insignia around I make sure I have a mask on.
00:35:18
Speaker
Yes, perfect. And so, he raises his hand and you feel like everyone's kind of in the ruckus of this whole whatever's going on and not giving you any sort of attention, but you've got that mask on anyway. And he raises his hand, people start to quiet down and pay attention to him and he calls out and he, men and women of greater glintry.
00:35:44
Speaker
I am honored as I look around to see the most powerful and capable warriors of our kingdom. I see new faces. I am sure you will be joining the ranks of the more experienced hunters amongst us very soon. As the new hunting season begins, I am pleased to honor the three heads of party that will be assigned to the hunts this year.
00:36:06
Speaker
Almar Stormbeard. He points over to this dwarf in full plate armor with a giant axe strapped to his back who raises a fist. He says, Almar is leading the fire party. Here's Saria Leowith.
00:36:22
Speaker
And you see this sleek looking elven rogue with two blades, both of them they kind of cross on in leather sheets on her left side. And she's wearing leather pants and leather, a leather kind of long trench coat.
00:36:38
Speaker
and her hair is braided down the middle of her back and she just kind of gives a quick wave and a smirk as the chief says, she will be leading the party of ice and leading the party of stone. And he points over to a little gnome in sorcerer's robes. He carries a staff that is a wooden staff that comes to a Y at the top and in between that Y there is leather thread
00:37:06
Speaker
on from which dangles a red gemstone and he raises his this this little this little gnome raises his staff up and shakes it a little bit and it starts to glow just a simple light on the on the end of his staff and the chief says saber will be the head of the party of stone
00:37:26
Speaker
He says, you will all be assigned your party once you've earned your right to join the ranks of the hired swords. For now, you are mere hunters. Your assignment will come once you've obtained your first prize. The chief ends his speech and the hunters around you begin to split into groups. And these groups begin to gather around the leaders who were just announced.
00:37:47
Speaker
There are four, the four of you or the three of you and two others are the only ones left standing here, not knowing who to go to. As you stand there, the chief points toward you and an older halfling man with white hair, mutton chops, sideburns. He's dressed in fine leather. It's almost like a three-piece suit. He hobbles up to you. He's leaning on his cane and he says, follow me, please.
00:38:13
Speaker
you'll be joining the commissioning party for now. The hunt leaves in the morning. And he leaves you he leads you towards the camp at the south of town. And he points to the campfire. And there is now meat being roasted on this campfire. They they've got it all set up and ready to go. And you see three other hunters standing around that fire talking and laughing. And the one elven woman walks away and it looks over his shoulder. Uh huh.
00:38:41
Speaker
As he walks away, he kind of looks over his shoulder toward the gnome and he just sees that red jewel that he's got. He just thinks about his old days and how that would have been nice to have.
00:38:51
Speaker
He so the elven woman is still standing there turning the meat when you approach the approach the Campfire, she's kind of running this this spin it or spigot thing with something roasting There's a few tables now that are sitting kind of beyond the campfire and there's some benches nearby And it looks like burn that I like mine Yeah, it looks like people are waiting for assignments in the morning and they've all started to gather and go do whatever it is that they are going to do for the evening and
00:39:21
Speaker
I'm just gonna stand by the fire and just watch this meat and be like, oh. The person who let us over here, who'd you say it was? What they look like? It was the little halfling, little old halfling with those with gray mutton chops, sideburns. Okay, I'm gonna go up to him and I'm gonna say, so how do they decide who goes where?
00:39:41
Speaker
He says, well, the leaders distribute the missions and whatever's left gets handed to the commissioning party. That's the ones on their first mission ever. That's us, I suppose. What does the commission party do? It depends. You're going to go hunt, go on a hunt, and you'll kill a monster or something. When you bring back proof you've done it, then you'll be a part of the hired sorts.
00:40:10
Speaker
This sounds fancy. It is. You can then go do things in town that you can't do if you're not one of them, you know? As he's talking, I feel like I would be looking at Craig's while he's like salivating over this meat and she's just disgusted because she doesn't like to eat meat. Okay. And she looks back at this guy. All right. I'll continue talking to him, I'll say. So what kind of monsters are we talking about out there?
00:40:37
Speaker
Oh, it depends. Usually the new guys, they help thin the populations of some of the local wildlife, some of the more dangerous things that are out there. Sometimes you have to go kill something really big, but that's usually for the teams that are more experienced. The guys who've been coming out here every season for the last few years, some of the ones he announced earlier with Almar or Sabre or somebody like that.
00:41:06
Speaker
And this first job we're going to be doing, does it pay money? Yeah, of course. You get your first little bit of money and you get your coin that says that you're a part of the hired swords and then you can take commissions from anywhere in the area that wants to hire somebody. You'll be a part of the whole ordeal then. All right. It's sort of a familiar process to me, so I'm okay with it.
00:41:30
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to approach the area where Gwendolyn's over talking to this, uh, half halfling. My mask will be slightly disheveled and my face will be quite greasy with a giant hunk of meat in my hand. I said, Oh, you've got to try this. It's so good. Gwendolyn just looks at him and discuss like, no, I'm good. I am good. She pushes it back into his mouth. Just no, thanks.
00:41:58
Speaker
I'm just gonna walk away towards the tent I know Joxer had and not even care about anything else that's happening.
00:42:07
Speaker
Gloom is excited because to her it sounds like she can make more friends. You'll notice Joxer kind of stand out holding a brew of some sort and looking a little disappointed. Okay. Looking just like he tasted it and it just wasn't what he wanted, but it exists.
00:42:29
Speaker
Oh, Yogg, sir, what's on today's menu? It's pure disappointment. Fine by me. I'm not, I'm not, you shouldn't, you shouldn't, Krigs. This is not fit for as Krigs may or may not take it from his hand. Oh, I take it. Still gets a drunk on.
00:42:56
Speaker
Then I take a swig without the brew in one hand and the nice giant piece of meat in the other totally enjoying myself at this I'll say roll a 1d6 crap So you
00:43:20
Speaker
You lose...
Magical Brews and Skills
00:43:23
Speaker
What's the second stat? I can't get to my core sheet. You lose one dexterity for the night. I imagine that wasn't the highest stat you had anyway. I'm going to... No, it's definitely not. You're going to do a cartwheel. Yeah.
00:43:45
Speaker
No, I'm going to spit out. Oh, you're lying. This is pretty bad. You just see Docs, you're just like laying his head down. He's very disappointed. I take another drink anyway. I'm that stubborn. I just go sit by the fire. Oh, nice warmth.
00:44:08
Speaker
Since he's been kind of separated, Joxer actually brings out some of his normal items and kind of offers it to the friends. There's a couple of small bottles of sorts. I apologize for not being around for whatever just happened.
00:44:29
Speaker
I have my own hobbies and kind of Krigs, this might make up for what you just had. Gwendolyn, do you drink? Oh, yes, I do. Well, you're welcome to a drink. And he kind of hands off a couple of drinks to any adventurers that are an immediate. Yeah, there are three others.
00:44:56
Speaker
Okay. So, so it's only us. It's you and three others standing there. Okay. So. Yeah. There's two men there and one, one woman. Yeah. I would, I would hand off one to, uh, uh, uh, my, my name's Jackson more tail. Uh, don't think about my last name. As Gwendolyn takes the drink, she's like, is this more pure disappointment?
00:45:21
Speaker
No, no. Because she doesn't know. She doesn't know if this is what the actual name is. This is a standard beer or brew in that sort. But it's not wine. Dear God, it's not wine. Slightly tipsy at this point to say, oh, lass, you're going to enjoy this one. This one here, he can definitely put on a stiff brew. Might even put a little bit of pep in old Dale's step.
00:45:51
Speaker
David will take a drink and then I'll say, uh, that's pretty good friend. So my name is Devin, by the way. It's nice to meet you. Uh, uh, uh, Josh, uh, uh, it's nice to meet you. Uh, I appreciate it. I, I, I dabble a little bit. So, uh, mind me asking, which one went wrong with that one in your hand?
00:46:11
Speaker
Oh, just don't even ask. It's not worth the time. Let me tell you. He reaches out his hand. He's like, might I give it a taste? By all means, friend, I give him, I give him the, uh, the Stein and also, uh, an empty Stein for the spit. You're going to want this as well. Uh, he takes it in his hand and he kind of waves his fingers over the top of it and he takes a sip. He's like, tastes fine to me. And he hands it back.
00:46:40
Speaker
I take a sip and in amazement, oh my god. You taste it. Now it's got like a sweet apple taste to it. We're going to be best friends. Jaksir is just kind of like, immediately whenever he handed over the Stein, he's like, his hand comes up and his head just turns away. He's like, no, god, no. And then, wait, what?
00:47:10
Speaker
And he looks at you a little astonished. He didn't even see you wave the fingers over, but he knows some foul plays here. He just starts kind of like covering his mouth and like rubbing his cheeks in confusion, just like, what did he do? What did he do? What did he do? What did he do? Devin sees us going through his mind and he just kind of smiles and laughs to himself a little bit. Awesome. We will be interesting friends, I'm sure.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yes, you've got there are three, like I said, three other kind of venturing types sitting nearby. They're kind of sitting on the other side of the fire. This is a big fire. We're talking probably, you know, six, eight foot diameter ring here with a big fire kind of almost bonfire going inside of it. And the tables behind you actually start the folks from the farmer are coming in and bringing root vegetables and some of that stuff and laying it out and then some more carrying
00:47:59
Speaker
This is good.
00:48:12
Speaker
carrying bigger baskets of this kind of stuff up through town, like they're headed somewhere else to take some food as well. And you also see a couple kegs go in that direction of ale or meat or something being carried up towards past the tower and up further up the road.
00:48:34
Speaker
But the you guys and these other three adventurers are still sitting around here and these three are just kind of telling old war stories and talking about what this scar is and what that scar is and that sort of thing.
00:48:48
Speaker
Um, uh, Jackson were probably kind of look at, uh, some of the, the war story, uh, individuals and kind of, um, uh, are you all familiar with this area? Are you, uh, are you part of, uh, wind till a wild tail? Wild Hill. Uh, the, the, the woman, uh, she's, um,
00:49:09
Speaker
She's a halfling woman with a sword on her side and she's got kind of a scarred up face and she steps in front of the guys and she says, she says, well, no, we're not from here. We've only been here a couple of days.
00:49:29
Speaker
Okay, so what brings you down to Wildtail then? Well, the same as you, you know, we've come here to try to kill some things. It's been too long, hasn't it, boys? And they kind of... Yeah, it's been too long.
00:49:43
Speaker
And she says, she says, I assume that's why you're here too, isn't it? Yes. Her name's Edie and reaches her hand out for a handshake. Jaxu reaches his hand out and, you know, firmly grasps.
00:49:59
Speaker
He kind of looks a little bewildered. I'm definitely here for action. I might have missed something a little bit earlier, but what happened?
00:50:19
Speaker
Well, it's hunting seasons just started. They've announced the teams and we're, of course, going to have to go out and get commissioned. We've got to go on our mission. We'll find out what it is tomorrow. Tonight, we just drink and talk and eat until we pass out, I imagine. You say teams, do you mean this is like a competition?
00:50:42
Speaker
Not officially, but from what I hear the other ones walking around here, yeah, I mean, they definitely will brag on what they've done and try to outdo each other for sure. What time of day is it now?
00:50:59
Speaker
It's dusk. The sun is beginning to set and she, Edie, after she says what she did about competition, she says, I'm just hoping we don't have to go fight anything too fast. None of us here can keep up very well.
00:51:18
Speaker
And she looks over at the two of them and she says, by the way, that's Mariah and Vip behind me here. And you see two men who look very similar to each other and they're both kind of warrior types with studded leather armor on and one of them has a helmet but it's kind of strapped to his belt on his side and their weapons are leaning up against the bench they're sitting on. They're just sitting casually talking. So. Are they halflings as well?
00:51:48
Speaker
No, those two are elves. I, at this point, will probably have been well fed and well on my way to well drank. So I'm just going to be sitting around the fire kind of just paying attention to the comings and goings. Nothing too major. I do, though, have like the typical cloak that is kind of worn by everyone. I do have that covering my shield on my back, but I don't have my mask on.
00:52:17
Speaker
Okay. There's the only folks who seem to be really coming and going around here are some of the just townsfolk who obviously work to feed and tend to the hunters and whatever it is that they need. It's kind of like this town lives for hunting season and prepares for hunting season all year. And you can see everybody's just all the people who seem like local townsfolk are just abuzz, making sure all these adventurer types are taken care of.
00:52:48
Speaker
From a concept of watching some large barrels of brew go off in a direction and then some come to us, would I have noticed anything that was specifically different between what was sent off to probably a more important group versus us?
00:53:10
Speaker
You noticed that more than twice as much as was sent there to you was was sent up the road and you would probably know that there were different because of your just background you would know that there were
00:53:27
Speaker
There were some kegs that were being sent up that were obviously for mead and all you have here is like a more bitter ale where they've got some sweet mead and stuff like that going up. You can just tell by the kind of, you know, the kind of wood they use to ferment it in, things like that. You can tell the difference with your background for sure. Okay. For sure. Okay.
00:53:49
Speaker
I feel like Gwendolyn would notice the elves after hearing some of the stories, and she would probably go over to them and start speaking Elvish with them, and start asking them in clean Elvish language, basically, where they're from.
00:54:08
Speaker
Yeah, so as you approach them and they're both drinking and kind of half whispering to each other and kind of laughing and stuff and they, as you ask them about where they're from,
00:54:28
Speaker
They kind of look at each other and look back at you and in Elvish, they both at the same time start to say, well, where from? And then they stop and look at each other and laugh again, kind of a drunken laugh. And they kind of point at each other. No, you go ahead. No, you go ahead. And then the one who's a little bit shorter, he goes, we're from White Rose Miss. Where are you from? Like that.
00:54:53
Speaker
I am from a little cottage out in Frostfound, but my father was from Almanora. Okay, yeah, we've been through Frostfound, haven't we? And he elbows the other one and the other one goes, ow, yeah, yeah, we've been there, we've been there. Just passing through, but we've been through there, yeah. Gwendolyn's laughing while they're doing this because it's a little jerk.
00:55:17
Speaker
Yeah, okay. And he's like, he's like, Vip, Vip, the one that did the elbowing. He goes, but what brings you here? What are you doing? You look like and he kind of looks at your, just kind of what you're wearing and kind of your demeanor and goes, you don't seem like you'd be out here to hunt wild animals. No, I want to find my father. Your father and they look at each other and they both get kind of solemn and they're like,
00:55:47
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's common around these parts, isn't it? Interesting. My father was Carrick the Caring. Did you know him?
00:55:57
Speaker
It doesn't ring any bells. Mariah says, it doesn't ring any bells. I'm sorry, Vippa. And Vip's like, if you don't know them, I don't know them. And they just kind of chuckle at each other again. Quinn chuckles. And then she's like, well, thank you. And she goes and sits by the fire. Cheers. And they hold up their cups for a cheers. All right. So they give you a little cheers and take a big swig. And then one of them kind of falls off the bench backwards and just starts laughing.
00:56:28
Speaker
They're just acting like idiots at this point. Yep. Well, I don't know about you fellas, but I'm looking for a little bit more adventure. Is anybody interested in going and looking around the area, seeing what what else is in this town? Jock Jockser's eyes kind of light up and he's I would I want to investigate some of the some of the things I've seen cross our paths. Let's go check it out. Subtle.
00:57:03
Speaker
Hail and well met mercenaries. Tune in next time to see what kind of hijinks Daven and Joxer get up to in town. Has Kriegs made a new friend in Dale? And Gwendolyn puts a twist on Dances with Wolves. Thank you for listening to the Hired Swords. Be sure to follow us at thehiredswords on Twitter and visit us at thehiredswords.com.