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Ep. 41 The Fury Of The Wilds
127 Plays3 years ago
Darkness is merely the absence of light. Where the fire of the fury of the wild ones burns, darkness simply cannot exist. I, Sophrin Emberoak, along with Joxxer, Davon, Gwendolyn, and Sir Dale, solemnly swear to bring the light back to Wildhill. To restore balance. To quell the oncoming storm. Sharp is the sword hired for nefarious chores, though beware, the sharpest blades are often two-sided.
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Transcript
Quest Oath to Restore Light
00:00:12
Speaker
previously on the Hired Swords. Darkness is merely the absence of light. Where the fire of the fury of the Wild Ones burn, darkness simply cannot exist. I, Safran Imbaroke, along with Joxer, Davin, Gwyndolin, and Sir Dale, solemnly swear to bring the light back to Wild Hill.
00:00:41
Speaker
to restore the balance, to quell the oncoming storm. Sharp is the sword, hired for nefarious chores, though beware, the sharpest blades are often two-sided.
Podcast Introduction
00:01:21
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a podcast about an alcohol enthusiast, his three bodyguards, and a sassy little chipmunk.
00:01:43
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Hired Swords. I'm your Dungeon Master, Mike, and I've got Blaze, Derek, Mikey, and Ash with me. Say hi, everybody. Hi, everybody. Hi. I'm not OK.
Krigs' Transformation and Mission
00:01:59
Speaker
When we last left off, we were playing Dungeons and Dragons because that's what we do here. And Krigs had an encounter. He was kind of bamfed out of existence suddenly by a hag creature and then she failed to fully take him away. So he reappeared on this side of existence once again with this echo of this strange
00:02:22
Speaker
dark world he called it I believe a hellscape that he had kind of seen when he was on the other side but then he made his way towards the clearing in the meadow where things did not look so dim and gray and there he had an encounter with the great old one the elk that they killed back in episode three I think of the hired swords and in this encounter krigs received
00:02:50
Speaker
a invitation followed by a blessing and a command from the Wilds to be their protector, giving him power, changing his hammer into a hammer that shows possibly a champion of the forest. And after discussing what had happened and what Joxer and Daven and Gwendolyn had seen, they decided to head back to Wild Hill to try to get some answers.
The Witch's Mysterious Purpose
00:03:18
Speaker
We pick up as they leave that meadow to head back towards where the direction of Wild Hill. What would you like to do, everyone? That witcher hog or whatever she was that disappeared, why do you think she was there? Was she just there to protect, to stop us from being there or was it just a coincidence? Was she summoned by somebody else? I'm under the impression she was there for a purpose.
00:03:46
Speaker
It would make sense. Seems like everything that was going on in that specific part of the forest, the darkness, was directly tied to whatever she was doing. But why would she just vanish? I think she didn't like the numbers. I mean, we'd taken out all her little minions and she was left to face the four of us. That's not good odds.
00:04:08
Speaker
There was that moment though in the hellscape that she had that look on her face as we both saw each other for a moment. She had a look as if she had failed. That is not a look that just someone without a purpose would have.
00:04:29
Speaker
I don't know if she's following orders or if she is following a command from on high, however you would like to call that, but I don't think she was here just on her own deletion. I'm curious if you gained power from that spot in the forest. Maybe they were able to try to absorb some of it or feed off of it. Maybe that was her purpose. Or maybe contain it.
00:04:58
Speaker
It could have been the last fighting spot of whatever she was trying to do. I mean, it seems to clear up after you had your thing. I don't know if it was you or if it was her being gone or a combination. I have to assume whatever was there, the spirit was at least somewhat oppressed. I mean, you think of the mission we were given, the elk was simply causing problems for town. And with everything else we saw,
00:05:24
Speaker
Denaldi and the changing of the animals and all of the back door deals where money was exchanged and who knows what else.
00:05:36
Speaker
It is strange that some of these missions that they want us to take care of, I'm just curious, who would ask for them? Who is the first one to know that that black-blooded bear was rampant? I just don't know how they know about it ahead of time.
00:05:59
Speaker
That's a good question. I don't know how we'd find the answer. To me, there's only going to be two people who have any answers for us on where these creatures came from and why there's more of them or if there's more
Planning the Visit to Hurley
00:06:10
Speaker
of them. And that's either going to be Denaldi or Hurley. Well, Denaldi will see us coming a mile away. Look, I just look at Joxer. Maybe we pay Hurley a visit first.
00:06:22
Speaker
And then we'll see our friend again. I agree with Krigs. We should see her hardly.
00:06:30
Speaker
I think it might be best to slowly introduce ourselves or at least check with Slim at Hurley's Knick Knack Shop just to make sure Hurley didn't send for us while I was dead. Dead, yes. Otherwise, we'll find our way direct to Hurley.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think going through Slim would be the most amicable way, but if that doesn't work, to be honest with you all, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm ready to just go to the source. Well, let's carry on. Gwendolyn, actually, she's listening to her bag and you just hear her mutter.
00:07:12
Speaker
I don't think his name is Slim Shady, but I actually don't know his last name. And she just, she's weird cause she doesn't get the reference. She probably wouldn't. All right. So 90s chipmunk.
00:07:39
Speaker
Hey, M&M is timeless. That's fair. I don't actually listen to M&M. It's more of a Skittles guy myself. Oh, but I'm shh. I like the Nim Nims. Reese's Pieces. All right, so let's go find Slim and we'll have a conversation, see if they want to talk to us. And if not, we'll tell him we want to talk to him. Let's go.
The Forest's Unusual Stillness
00:08:05
Speaker
Watching, marching.
00:08:08
Speaker
You're walking through the forest, you're noticing that it's less, it's a little less grotesque than it was. It's definitely not bright and green like a normal summer walkthrough. A forest like this feels like it should be as you are now, you know, well into the summer months of this area.
00:08:35
Speaker
So it's a little weird, a little strange. Gwendolyn, make a perception check, especially as you're walking through. And go ahead, you two Krigs now, you're got this nature thing happening. Did you say perception? I did. 21. Natural one. Not so sick. Beautiful. So Gwendolyn, you're noticing the...
00:09:01
Speaker
The quietness, a similar stillness and quietness to the woods like before. It's not as eerie. It doesn't feel off. It just feels like there's just not as much life here as there normally would be. And this is, as you have kind of gone a few hours through the forest into
00:09:25
Speaker
out of that meadow back towards where you came from. It's pretty much the same as you found it, just a little bit less horrible since you kind of ran off those creatures, it seems like. And you do notice you haven't heard any of those wailings or moanings since what happened to Krigs happened.
00:09:49
Speaker
I think Gwendolyn would smile. Um, but she would, it'd be a cautious smirk that she would make. Like, like she notices that things are becoming somewhat normalish, but she's like, she is very wary. She does not want to be fooled. She doesn't really say anything either. I wouldn't think. Okay. As we're walking and I'm clearly not paying attention to whatever. Cause I rolled that one. Yeah.
00:10:18
Speaker
Just looking at that hand. Yeah, I'm gonna look over at Gwen and basically just ask. So you can actually talk to the plants, the trees, and that's a thing you can do, right? Kinda. I just...
00:10:38
Speaker
I don't know I guess yes I just thought of it I guess I've never really talked to the plants but but you can it's it's more of a feeling and you can feel what they feel it's in the air because it's not just the plants it's nature the birds the wind
Krigs' Plant Connection Journey
00:11:10
Speaker
It's all around us. Interesting. Do you talk to plants? No.
00:11:22
Speaker
I don't really know what I before, when I praised, you know, I served helm. There were pretty strict rules about blessings and prayers and everything you had. This is all really new to me. And with that, Kriegs is gonna walk over to one of the trees as they're walking by, put his hand on it, the palmed hand, and he's gonna say, hello tree. My name is Safran.
00:11:50
Speaker
I'm sorry for chopping down or trying to your brothers or sisters. Please forgive me. And then I look back at Gwen, was that good? A good introduction or? That was really good. As you put your hand on the tree, before you even say anything, where your hand glows,
00:12:15
Speaker
Just around your hand, the bark looks more bright, kind of brown. The moss is glowing a little bit brighter green. It's a good inch and a half, two inches diameter around your hand. You've just kind of brightened up that place on the tree where you placed your hand on it, but you don't hear or feel anything from the tree after speaking to it. All right. Well, let me know if you get any great replies. I don't really know how this works. I just thought I'd say hi.
00:12:49
Speaker
Does Joxer hear this? I mean, I'd imagine you're not trying to be secretive, are you, Krigs? I mean, no, I was kind of like talking quietly to the tree, but I'm not being secretive. Okay. I feel like Gwen isn't new to being funny. And she's like, I think the tree would like a hug.
00:13:13
Speaker
I have no reason not to believe her, so I just give it a hug. A big one. And you see her, like, laughing. She's looking at Dale in her bag and just giggling. I see what you... Okay. Okay. I was gonna make him kiss the tree, but then I don't... I feel like Gwen, that's not... Gwen's not that extreme. I see what you did there. Okay. I see. Just pick on old Krigs.
00:13:43
Speaker
Devin looks back, he says, was that a prank? Did you just play a prank? A joke on him? I think, I think Krigs was just lonely. It was Dale's idea. Shut up. Just take the bite. Before I know it, I'm going to start hearing Dale. What was that?
Joxer's Tattoo Revelation
00:14:07
Speaker
Uh, as we continue marching forward, I'm going to kind of saddle up next to, um, uh, jockser. I'm going to say, so jockser, we haven't really talked about it at all, but what is it with these tattoos? Like where, where did they come from? Uh, he, he looks down and, and they kind of light up a little bit more.
00:14:27
Speaker
That's... I guess I have a friend. She taught me a few things. And she offered this so I could help protect everybody. I mean, that's great, but if we got offered that powerful, why doesn't she just help us?
00:14:49
Speaker
I'm not sure that she's interested in the things that we're doing enough to help us in that way. I think she might be even more interested in Bruce than I am. Well, that's not something I was expecting. Neither was I.
00:15:19
Speaker
Have you been speaking to someone? Currently, I've been speaking to you. I mean, there's... never mind. I just thought I've heard voices that didn't seem like yours. We'll talk about that later. I'm still trying to figure it out myself, to be honest.
00:15:42
Speaker
how often do your eyes light up like they do? Was that always a thing you've experienced? I've seen it a couple of times. When we fought that beast protecting Delmar,
00:16:04
Speaker
just for a second. You just had this blue light in your eyes. I've been meaning to ask you about it, but I guess it makes sense if you haven't seen it yourself. It's kind of hard to see what your own eyes are doing, but I'll be honest with you, Joxer, I've got a lot of strange things going on with me the last couple of years or so. I don't know how to explain it. I
00:16:32
Speaker
You have a friend that seems to have given you something. I have somebody who has given me something too. I just haven't figured it out yet if it's a friend or not. I understand. My friend hasn't spoken to me, really. I've just experienced what I think she means. So you could be wrong.
00:17:03
Speaker
I'm hoping I'm not. I'm hoping too, because something that powerful, I want to make sure that's on our side. I'll keep you in the know if anything turns out. But I'd also be interested about your friend when you're ready to talk about it. Well, once I figure it out, I'll let you know.
00:17:29
Speaker
For the meantime, let's just keep each other in check, all right? I'll make sure that you don't do anything stupid or get too powerful, and you do the same for me. I'll be watching. I always am. As we're walking, Kriegs runs over to another flower. Gwyn, in this one? What's this one? That's Dandelion. Dandel- okay. His name is Ted, and she's Snickers.
00:17:58
Speaker
She's just been, I've been asking all this whole time just what different things are because I've never thought before to care about it. Yeah. Ted likes to dance in the sun. Nice to meet you, Ted. She giggles. But seriously, I'm grateful that you're interested in all this now.
00:18:28
Speaker
I mean, you spend most of your life, either in a mountain or a battlefield, worried about whether or not you're gonna live to the next day. It's not something you think to care about. I have a lot to learn if I'm going to, I guess, protect whatever spirits are out there that I don't understand and... With Helm, it was a little simpler. You just got your orders and...
00:18:55
Speaker
He spoke to you more direct. This is going to be new for me. Well, I don't know everything, so I think it's going to be nice to have a friend on this journey, if you'll have me, and Dale. Of course. I wouldn't imagine going without you two.
00:19:20
Speaker
Gwendolyn goes and she tries to put her arm through his arm, but then she realizes the height difference and she can't walk like that. So she just lets go and just taps on his shoulder. Just pat pat. And then awkwardness with Quinn so much. As a kindness at Craig's, I'm going to look down at Ted and say, hey,
00:19:46
Speaker
Sorry. Why don't you come with us and really get to see what it's like to dance in the sun? And I pick it very kindly and just walk over to Gwen and say, here's Ted for you. I believe he would like to see the sun for real. Oh. Thank you. Gwen's just holding it. She's like, well, all right.
00:20:13
Speaker
Kriegs just keeps walking. Runs ahead. What's this one? Oh, it's going to be a long walk back. Yeah, as you guys are walking, the sun has been down for a little bit. It gets to pretty late in the night if you guys want to set camp. That's probably a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll find a nice spot. OK. You have an uneventful night, uneventful rest.
00:20:43
Speaker
take turns, you know, to keep in watch. And the night just is pretty still a little more still than you would a little more still than is comfortable. But nothing out of the ordinary happens. Joxer, if he takes a watch, he's going to be kind of on edge just listening and looking for goblins.
00:21:08
Speaker
Did I know I'm Delmar probably knows I'm. Did he send more after me? Just moments of like small fits of being attacked, OK? So yeah, in your watch you don't you don't see any actually make a perception check while you're on watch, OK? That is a 14 plus one 15.
00:21:34
Speaker
So you do see a shape in the woods and you're like, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. But just as you kind of squint and look a little harder as you reach for your rapier to pull it and get ready, the wind kind of blows and it shifts. And it was just kind of the way the tree branches were kind of swaying in the wind and the shadows. And it was just a little, just a shadow, but it had you nervous for a minute.
00:22:04
Speaker
Denial DM Yeah And then I'll wake up whoever was next and then and move on for the night Yes, you guys go through the rest of the night and the morning comes kind of uneventful other than a little bit of stress for joxer So the morning comes Krigs you actually wake up this morning and Feel quite a bit better than you have maybe ever
00:22:37
Speaker
Nice. My wife. Devin will wake up and say, well, I don't know about you guys, but I had a terrible sleep last night.
Preparations to Return to Wild Hill
00:22:52
Speaker
Just kept hearing jocks are all night long, say goblets, goblets. They're probably out there just saying. I don't know where you lost the goblets, but yes, they are probably out there.
00:23:07
Speaker
I'll tell you what, guys, I could make easy work of them if they're in a group. But if you go in, I'm going to blast you with a giant fireball, and I don't want to do that. Just a little on edge. Sorry. Well, I figured we could probably get back down to town today. Are we just going to go straight over to Slim? I think that's the plan.
00:23:30
Speaker
You see Gwendolyn, um, she kind of slept. It was like one of her first nights that she's actually like slept, slept in a long time. And you see her just sit straight up and she still has sleepy eyes. Her hair's a mess. Is it time to go? She's just squinting at people. She is super tired. You've probably got a minute to kind of wake up, but yeah, I think we're going to be headed out soon. I'm awake and she does the biggest yawn.
00:24:01
Speaker
Oh, ah. Devin uses Prestiditiation and he's just like all nice and clean and looks ready to go. Jox, I know that you're feeling a little, some kind of way about going into Wild Hill after dying. Do you, and Craigslist is gonna reach into his pack and pull out the mask that he originally had? I mean, there's no shame in it, my boy.
00:24:29
Speaker
I just want to look doonaldi in the face. Fair enough. But I think I will make my cloak that dark black color just for the moment. I think this will suffice for just walking in for a minute. I don't want to get seen maybe right off the bat. That's fair. I suppose you're in mourning.
00:25:00
Speaker
Can you mourn yourself? I always do. Every day. Yeah, we hear it in your bone pops every morning in your calisthenics. Look, I'm 100 and I don't even remember how many years old. Whenever you get to 100 and how many every years, I don't want to hear it, okay? I definitely guarantee I will not be having any bone pops when I get to that age.
00:25:30
Speaker
They'll mostly be decayed by then, I think. Probably a pile of mush. That's true. No bone pops. All right. Who's, uh, who's ready to see what today holds? Let's, let's get to it. Yes, let's. And she's just rubbing her eyes, ready to go. She's standing up now.
00:25:54
Speaker
Is her hair still out of, like, still ratty? Oh, yeah. It's ratchet. Can I say that? You know what? I'm going to try to use Presta Digitation to calm it down.
00:26:12
Speaker
a little bit. Yeah, Gwendolyn, your hair just starts to kind of foof and it just starts to kind of fluff up and get untangled a little bit and it falls. And as it falls, it looks it's almost like it's better than it was, but it's still like really frizzy and froofy, like a guy doing girl's hair, not knowing what he's doing, but that he did the best he could. She doesn't even notice because she's so out of it. Yeah, I think that'll do for now, shall we? Craig's you lead.
00:26:45
Speaker
So as you guys walk into the forest, continue walking, you have another pretty much uneventful day. You walk two thirds of the day until you kind of round that, you go from that south road
00:27:02
Speaker
turning into the road that heads west into Wild Hill and pretty soon you get into that place where you had that encounter with those goblins and you feel that you remember that fight and jocks are you might be a little on edge walking through there remembering getting taken down by Carmen Stone and and just that experience and but did you walk through with no no incident
00:27:32
Speaker
Everything seems to be just business as usual as you walk into Wild Hill. A few adventurer groups walk in here and there milling about. A few people kind of turn and stare at you guys as you walk in. And not an overwhelming number of people but several just kind of turn and stare as you walk in. And you notice they're mostly whispering, staring, looking at jockser. And yeah, so you walk into Wild Hill about
00:28:03
Speaker
just probably just before dinner time.
Arrival at Hurley's Shop and Joxer's Fame
00:28:05
Speaker
What is it that you'd like to do? Well, to slim. Yeah, probably before he closes up shop. We'll head over to Hurley's. Alright, so as you guys head over to Hurley's lodging and knickknacks.
00:28:23
Speaker
you walk that direction. You see over in the, there's like porches of these two large kind of long cabins that seem to be like lodging areas people can pay to sleep in. And there's some, a couple of adventure types sitting out on the front deck of those and they watch you guys walk up and kind of one of them leans over and says something to the other one pointing over at your group. And as you walk up into Hurley's lodging and knickknacks,
00:28:52
Speaker
You open the door to that familiar knick-knack shop with the general store taking up most of it, but those same little carvings and other little trinkets here and there on the shelving towards the middle of the shop. There in the back, you see Slim standing up on the stool, just working, keeping the ledger as he does. Slim, good friend. We're back.
00:29:17
Speaker
Uh, I was curious if maybe that you had heard anything from Hurley about any sort of special deliveries, you know, we talked about before. Oh, sure thing. Yeah. Um, Davin, was it right? Davin, it's a pleasure to see you again. Uh, I hope your journeys have been successful. Um, and your friends here, or has everybody gone in with him? Yeah, I would have, and I would have pulled back my hood. So, okay.
00:29:45
Speaker
You're all here. Great. It's good to see everyone, you know. So please tell me, what was it that you wanted to speak with Hurley about? Oh, you were asking about potential fines or things for you to look at, potential goods. Yes? Yes, there is a particular word we had overheard, but I won't speak that
00:30:13
Speaker
That word kind, you're very kind to protect me in this way. I appreciate it. There's no one else in the shop now, but you never know who's listening. Um, I will, I would say that I did mention to Hurley that we may have someone, uh, who is in the business to make a purchase. Uh, he asked me, however, to get some more details about perhaps what it is you would like to find to see if it's something we have or could get ahold of for you.
00:30:43
Speaker
I suppose maybe we need to deal with Hurley directly. In our previous conversation, it was less about finding something in particular, but more if he had something, then I would be available for potentially taking on that item. I see, I see. Well, okay, let me think about it. Why don't you make a persuasion check?
00:31:12
Speaker
OK. This isn't this isn't I know I got a bad feeling. I was wrong, that's a Nat 20. Oh, well, Starbucks die. I'm. Oh, man. You guys, arcane flora dot com. Yeah, that done. Hurley says, please, you know, I appreciate your willingness
00:31:40
Speaker
to just kind of browse. That's very unconventional, but you and your friends have been in and out of here very kindly and tipped even whenever you, I think that you are the type that can be trusted. I will try to set up something with Hurley. I will speak with him about setting up a time. It would probably be sometime tomorrow before he was able to see you. He goes to bed rather early.
00:32:05
Speaker
But if you wouldn't mind, please just leave. Maybe here he slides a little piece of parchment and a quill over to you and he's like, perhaps write down a couple of times tomorrow that might be available. We'll see if he can get with you tomorrow. I'll look over to the group in about times.
00:32:32
Speaker
Devin says, any time works for us. We wake up pretty early for a group. I see. Okay. I'll just make a note here to speak to Sir Hurley about you talking to him. Would you all like to meet with him or just one of you or? Let's make it the whole group if that's all right.
00:32:53
Speaker
Okay, I'll see what I can do. Like I said, I'm fond of you all, so we'll see what we can figure out here for you. I'll be honest with you. Most adventurers that come through here, they just throw their money at me and take what they want to leave. I don't have much conversation. I just feel like there's certain people you want to keep as clients or customers. You understand? I think you are those people. So I'm going to do what I can.
00:33:19
Speaker
to be a good service for you here. So I'll speak to him and see if we can maybe get you an appointment for tomorrow at any time. Actually, why don't you wait right here and I'll be right back. Is that okay? Slim will wait right here patiently. If anyone comes in, just make sure they don't run off with anything. I've no problem. I've not had some things. It'll be fine. Okay. Okay. And he just turns and hops down off of his stool, almost disappearing behind the counter and scurries off into the back.
00:33:49
Speaker
You hear a door open, and you're in the shop now. What do you want to do in the shop as you wait? Anything? Let's steal everything. I was going to say the exact same thing. Finally got him out of here. No. It's our shop now. I hold my shield out, I'm looking when I say, load her up. I feel another trail mix. Bring out the whole- Hold the trail mix, baby.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. Goxer, bring out the hole. Guys, this might actually be working. So what are we going to say? We should get a plan together quickly. I don't think we're going to meet now, but was there anything anybody was worried about on ledgers? I feel like paperwork is here if we... That's not a bad idea if you want to take a quick second to look. Can I see much just from glancing over?
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's not really hidden. He wasn't really hiding anything. Make a investigation check as you look over to see if he can get details on it. Okay. Investigation is minus one, so 17 minus one, 16. While he's doing that, I'm gonna cast Mage Hand and I'm gonna have it prepared at the door that he went through, so if I see him start to come through the door, I'm just gonna hold it almost like it's wedged.
00:35:13
Speaker
Okay. If we're not prepared for him to come back yet. Yeah. So you're looking and as you look over, you just see several markings that are just written down and it's people's, like what he sold that day, purchases. And it's two 50 foot strands of hemp rope and three lanterns and two torches and
00:35:37
Speaker
a pickaxe or two, like just things like that, nothing interesting at all. And further up the list, you do see where it was several days ago where
00:35:53
Speaker
some you know hit he had a davins name is there from shipping something off and it being received by the carrier several days ago but that's that's it nothing else of note. Okay is and and no other ledgers that are at least visible from the top and that.
00:36:11
Speaker
that might be more- No, nothing else that's visible. Nothing else like that that's visible where you are. Okay. Then- It looks like they received your package, Devin. I'd like you to stay out of my business, but thank you. He kind of smiles. That's about all I can see from that. I'm right. Yes, so what is the plan?
00:36:42
Speaker
Are we going in there nice or are we just going straight to the point? I feel like he'll be protected. We should probably start nice. Yeah, I agree. We want to get this guy on our side, right? We have no other reason beyond speculation to believe that he has anything to do with this. That's true. Or we know that Denali got...
00:37:08
Speaker
whatever it is that he used from somewhere. And it seems like this guy is the one who brings in all the unique things. So I would think that he'll at least know what the stuff is. That's a good deduction. It is possible that as a vendor of things, he might keep his hands off of it and not too much, but he should at least understand what he's trying to get.
00:37:38
Speaker
I guess we'll just have to find that out from him. So we start with we want to see what his wares are and then build some kind of rapport. Well, I mean, I think more or less, I just don't want to go in swinging hammer right out the bat. You know what I mean? I think that would bode well for a lot of although they.
00:38:05
Speaker
It was tough. They, they said that he was injured. I just, I have a bad feeling about him. I'm just interested to meet the guy. Yes. Yes. I just, I don't feel like a celebrity at this point.
Meeting with Hurley
00:38:24
Speaker
The door opens right now and I'm getting, okay. In walks slim.
00:38:31
Speaker
And as Slim kind of walks in and steps up on the stool behind the counter and he says, well, right after breakfast tomorrow.
00:38:40
Speaker
find your way in here and I'll lead you over to Hurley's place he would love to see you tomorrow I didn't take much convincing in fact he's he's actually he actually said something strange he wants to see the man who came back to life I don't know it's funny kind of funny I guess he means you I heard that somebody lied about you dying but anyway he he's interested to speak to you guys tomorrow after breakfast is that okay
00:39:07
Speaker
We'll be ready. Yes. Yes. Good. He's, he's going to retire for the night. He's had a long day. So he would, he said he, he sent his regrets for not being able to receive you now, but he said, perhaps we can chat in the morning. Excuse me, Slim. I, I don't mean to be, well me, but, but what, what is her like?
00:39:34
Speaker
Oh well, he's very wise, he's very old, he's been around a very long time, even for an elf. He's seen many things and sometimes that takes him to a difficult place. It's kind of why he hides himself away and only meets with people by appointment. He has good days and he has bad days, but don't let that fool you.
00:40:03
Speaker
good man. And I believe that he will be very helpful to your needs and selling you something that you will get great value of. But yes, I don't know what else to say really, other than he's very kind. He treats me very well. He always has. Yes, an old man with good days in Baden and he pats craze on the back. He says, we've already dealt with that kind of thing. I just scoff.
00:40:35
Speaker
Is there anything else you all need? I don't. Thank you. It's limousine in the morning. Yes, I'll be here. We open right when breakfast is served at the longhouse. We'll be open at that point, but come on in any time after that. We'll be ready to receive you then. It's been a pleasure.
Dinner and Strategy Discussion
00:40:57
Speaker
Yes, once again it has. Thank you. David nods and then turns dramatically and walks out the door.
00:41:03
Speaker
Ooh, dramatically. I don't know why, he just does. That's fine. Jackson does not. He just vogues out. All right, so as you guys all walk back out into the setting sunlight,
00:41:26
Speaker
It is dinner time and we'll assume you guys have kind of had trail mix and whatever things you had along your journey, but it is time for dinner now and you hear kind of the ruckus coming from towards the longhouse as people making their way that way to get in there and eat. There's also, you can see from where you come out of Hurley's knickknacks, you can see the
00:41:49
Speaker
the line to get into the lamppost tavern as it seems to be full tonight. And it's kind of a busy time, busy night in town today. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. Do we dare to go over to the longhouse? I can definitely eat. Jock, sir, you're the confusing one. I'm starving and I, yes, let's go.
00:42:17
Speaker
You know, if you didn't like a crazy mask, I got this other one I found whenever we are at theta up in the mountains. He pulls out the leather mask that he had found underneath the. Yeah, yeah, the silver lining. Yeah, I just. That's a pretty interesting looking mask. Regardless, I'll I'll try it on and I'm going to put it on my face and see how it fits. OK, let me look that up real quick. It has a thing to look up.
00:42:45
Speaker
Well, I'm making sure okay. I don't remember if it had something like to like that. Just a random thing. I don't remember. Yeah, I think that there was that item and I still have some boots that I grabbed. Yeah, where is it? No, it's just a black velvet mass stitch with fancy silver thread. That's it. Well, now it's fancier because it's unjoxer. Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
I had to make sure it's been a while since you guys found that. I had to look and see what it was. Paranoid for a second there. It's like, what did I just give away? It's like suddenly Joxer disappears. New story arc. Not again. His face becomes an orc's face. No. So Ashison? Yeah.
00:43:37
Speaker
After Joxer has it on for a couple of seconds, he then... This won't do. I can't eat with the mask on. That's a good point. I appreciate it. It's just going to be lively as all. I mean, that changes the way that I look, but that doesn't really help you. I'm not worried about...
00:44:03
Speaker
the reaction or dealing with anybody or them finding out I'm alive because obviously there's some knowledge but I just feel like it might turn into a bigger thing that I'm ready when I just want to eat. We shall go to the longhouse because I need a lot more than one drink.
00:44:25
Speaker
All right, you guys walk towards the longhouse. And as you guys are walking towards the longhouse, once again, you do notice some eyes on you here and there, kind of watching you walk by. And Craig, you notice a couple of them are looking at you, not anything nefarious in their eyes, just interest. People you've seen before in town, not anybody you've spoken to maybe, but just people that you know have seen you and they are noticing a difference. You get to the longhouse and there's,
00:44:55
Speaker
stuff going on inside you just hear people laughing and talking you hear the clanging of of plates and silverware and you hear you know the setting down of wooden and metal goblets on the on the table and inside there is some delicious looking smoked pulled pork and some
00:45:17
Speaker
bread and baked goods and vegetables and things like that. Just kind of spread out there for the taking for any hired swords. Yeah. Jax is going to look over. It's a, I think about to have another hunt. There's a lot of food here. That's a good point. I didn't think about that. Well, let's help him. And he's going to grab a big old plate.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yep. Okay. And jocks are just going to start with like three, three glasses and then try to start figuring out how to put a plate and food in his arms. Okay. Yeah. Make a slight of handshake as you tried to sort all that out. Okay. This is 19 plus whatever. Uh, three. So 22. Yeah. So you guys jocks are, he's got three mugs in one hand and another mug in the other.
00:46:11
Speaker
and he has managed to load a plate and set it on top of this the left hand with the one mug in it through the plate is sitting gingerly he's got a extra like stick of bread in his mouth like a breadstick and he's biting on as he's holding it in his mouth and he's got his silverware wrapped in a napkin tucked under his arm on on the right side and and he's
00:46:36
Speaker
And he's walking, balancing towards the table as he just managed to get all this, everything in one trip, instead of continuing to go back and forth. Davinson, he's got his plate in his left hand and he's got just a drink floating, following him. And he's just eating with his right hand as he's watching. And he's just like, next time, I just gotta help you, dude. And then he just jocks remembers, Oh yeah, I have made you.
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, I could do that. As the beige hand goes and grabs a fourth drink. Yeah, perfect. That would be the jockster way. Suddenly, this drink floats past your head, Daven. It goes right up and catches up to where the jockster is, spilling a little on your shoulder. You just hear, oh, okay, okay, yeah. With the bread in my mouth.
00:47:34
Speaker
Um, you guys are able to get to a table kind of in the middle of the, uh, the middle of the room. Uh, it's kind of, you know, the edges are taken. It's kind of surrounded by people at this point, but, uh, as you sit and eat, uh, people are around, you do see a couple of familiar faces, uh, you see, um,
00:47:54
Speaker
Mel over there with the with the wizard that you guys had seen and they're kind of together their group over there towards the end of the tables there and Sariah is actually sitting there with them eating at this point and then you see another group that you'd seen earlier in the in the time in Wild Hill but you seem to have missed them through the rest of the these weeks in town as they are not current they don't you don't really know who they are you haven't met them but it's just another hunting party that is
00:48:24
Speaker
in there now eating at the tables closer to the door as you guys are kind of in the center of the room. I was busy in here tonight. Yeah, a couple of unfamiliar, less familiar faces as I just slam a drink. Gwendolyn's a bit quiet. She's eating her berries that she got from.
00:48:47
Speaker
Uh, the buffet and she's just eating and staring. She doesn't like the smell of all the meat that's happening, but here we are. Yeah. Bunch of animals. Bunch of fools. Yeah. Uh, do we see Krigs? Yeah. I've gathered my food and kind of just quietly sat with everybody and kind of eating, not trying to create any kind of ruckus.
Coin Game and Personal Histories
00:49:19
Speaker
Let's play a game. We've never played a game before. A game? Sure. I'm interested. Something to help us get to know each other a little bit better. He's going to pull out a gold coin. He said, I'm going to flip the coin and whoever calls it correctly gets to ask one question to somebody else and you've got to answer it truthfully. All right. What if two people say heads? Well, then we get two questions.
00:49:51
Speaker
I like this game. I'm in. I'm going to say tails. I'm going to say heads. I'm going to say tails. Dale and I say heads. All right. I'm going to roll a d4 and one two will be heads. That's a four. So that's tails. Tails it is. So who is that? Me and Joxer? Yeah. All right.
00:50:18
Speaker
Choccer, you want to go first? One question to anybody. Hmm. It's your game. You get to go first. I want to see the boundaries of these questions. All right. Gwen. Her eyes get big. What was your mother like? My mother? Yeah, you talk about your father and how you're looking for him, but you've never really mentioned your mother. That's, uh,
00:50:50
Speaker
Gwyndolin just realized she does not want to play this game. I don't talk about her much because I
00:51:07
Speaker
don't remember her much when my father passed he was kind of her life and soul so she didn't she did what was best for me but she she passed when I was in druid school
00:51:30
Speaker
And I didn't really get to finish because I came back and helped her to take care of the farm when she fell sick and I ended up having to sell it, but she was nice. I don't know. I knew she loved me, but she was sad most of the time.
00:52:01
Speaker
Devin kind of feels like he stepped over a boundary a little bit. He says, thanks for sharing. I didn't mean to pry too deep on anything. I just thought I was like to lose a family member. Jockster just slams one of the glasses in front of him. You need to drink this, Devin. I'll pick it up and he'll take a drink. Gwendolyn like switches her mood. Jockster, it's your turn.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yes. And I think this question will be for Davin. Where did you first learn magic? Oh, in a way, I feel like I always kind of knew magic. I remember when I was a kid, my parents would get mad at me because I would do these little tricks, the little sparklers that come out of my fingers and everything.
00:52:54
Speaker
And they thought it was bad news that I was going to get me in trouble at some point. Where we came from, there was no magic really ever happening. So for me to do something like that, they felt like I was going to bring unnecessary attention. But it wasn't until when I left home that I really started getting the hang of it.
00:53:15
Speaker
That makes sense. If your parents weren't super accepting of it, I wouldn't imagine you'd be able to really understand your power until you were free of that. Well, it wasn't really just me trying to hold back because of them. I mean, I hoped when I was to go up on a farm and
00:53:33
Speaker
My mother, she took care of the farm, and my father, he went off to the war. It was me and my sisters and my mother, and we took care of it. There was not really any need for magic at that point. It wasn't until I went to a bigger city that I found myself using it, tricks mostly, to kind of entertain people, make a coin here and there. And that's kind of what I started using it for. And it wasn't until later on other things kind of came about that gave me a little bit more control, we'll say.
00:54:04
Speaker
I don't know. It's, it's weird. It's, it's like kind of got creeps ups on you a little bit. One day you're just making sparklers on your hand and the next thing you're throwing a fireball at some goblins. Did you say goblets? Funny how that works. Another round. Quick. Let's play again. This is fun. How about we just make it fair and you two ask a question. Gwen, would you like to go first? Oh, yes. Hang on. The Dale has one.
00:54:31
Speaker
And she she leans into her bag to listen. While you're listening in, jokes are just like, well, he didn't he didn't flip a coin, did he? Well, maybe we didn't. Oh, I guess you're saying. Yeah, he didn't. He didn't call. Yeah. OK, we have one Krigs. Yes.
00:55:02
Speaker
Why are you bold? Devin was taking a drink and he just spits it up all over his face. I think we should end the episode right there.
Podcast Outro and Social Media Invitation
00:55:16
Speaker
What a cliffhanger.
00:55:32
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this epibaldic installment of The Hired Swords. If you liked our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really liked our show, tell the world. Leave a review. If you want to keep up with us and get all the behind the scenes goofs and gaffs, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook at The Hired Swords. Again, thank you for listening.