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Ep. 112 Beneath the Tree Temple of Almenora
49 Plays8 days ago
The past is returning, the answers are coming in waves of memory and emotion. Gwen, Krigs, Davon, and Joxxer can feel the end of their quest is just through these corridors. What else is down here with them?
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Transcript
Introduction of Players and Characters
00:00:20
Speaker
to The Hired Swords, an ASMR Dungeons & Dragons podcast. That's not true. We're just Dungeons & Dragons. No ASMR.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of The Hired
Captive in the Fae Forest Village
00:00:45
Speaker
Swords. I'm your Dungeon Master Michael and with me I have got Neck Slapper, Krigsgalder, played by Blaze. Everybody slap the neck.
00:00:55
Speaker
I also have Derek here playing Davin Mindstrider. Just a log pushing bastard. What was that? What?
00:01:08
Speaker
ah He's going poop apparently. Log pushing. I don't know. ah Mikey's playing jockser. Hi, Mikey. Hey, I see you. No, literally. ah Your blink's been hacked.
00:01:20
Speaker
Uh-oh. Got him. And you did it then. ah Gwendolyn is everybody's favorite Dale owner, and that's played by Ash. Howdy.
00:01:31
Speaker
Just slaying the day away. wanted to redo mine. Mine was weird. Can you introduce me again? No, no. See, I thought I was going to come in with the weird one, but you beat me before I could even get there. I think you won. You won the introductions.
00:01:44
Speaker
Just make me feel better. introduce me again. Okay, one more. Here we go. And Derek is Davin Mindstrader. Oh, hi, guys. Good to see you, buddy. I'm so glad we revisited this. Yeah, that was much better. As I wiped the last two Oh, there's not going no edits.
00:02:00
Speaker
It's from the the initial clap-on. We're going. You're listening to The Hired Swords, an edit-free D&D podcast.
Unlocking the Temple Tree
00:02:05
Speaker
That's right. um All right. So that's actually a lot of those D&D podcasts out there, edit-free. But the last time we left off, we were...
00:02:18
Speaker
in the yeah forest, like Fae Forest Village with the Almenorah, the people of Almenorah. We had made our way there through this into this strange plane of existence, made our way to where they were hiding in this magical dome of thorny branches and vines and and roots and They are now, you're the the party's now in this community, in this town, made from the trees.
00:02:49
Speaker
And they had been captured, made their way out, got taken to court, basically, and convinced the people in their testimony that they were meant to be here, especially when Gwendolyn mentioned that the wall had let her in.
00:03:05
Speaker
So they led them to where Gwendolyn can find her father. They ah first arrived at the temple tree.
00:03:17
Speaker
It's like ah a tree trunk there, giant tree that that was they call the temple, and there's no way in, but they made their way then to a yeah the home of Jameson Tolliver, someone they had been in in the prison with, who had information on how to get into the temple.
00:03:33
Speaker
And so they found these runes that they needed, and Gwendolyn... having just a strong connection with her ancestors, was able to, in one try, connect those runes very easily. She rolled a nat 20.
00:03:48
Speaker
And in doing so, a doorway opened into this tree trunk temple of the Al-Menora.
Deciding to Enter the Temple
00:03:59
Speaker
And that's where we left off the last episode. You stand there in front of this gigantic tree, and with this doorway standing wide open and it's dark looking inside all around you. The people have gathered and are standing behind you, mouths wide open it in awe, impressed that you've been able to open this entrance.
00:04:23
Speaker
And there's murmuring and talking and shushing as they watch to try to see what you're going to do next. You get the sense that No one thought this could be done or that you anyone could do this.
00:04:38
Speaker
And they stand and watch. What do you guys do? I guess you could say we're pretty strong. What? Why?
00:04:49
Speaker
Well, that that looks like where we're supposed to go. What gave that away? Yeah. Are we ready to face Darnalti? i I honestly am not feeling all that great.
00:05:03
Speaker
I don't know why we haven't taken any sort of rest.
Exploration Inside the Temple
00:05:05
Speaker
We've been up for like, i don't know, 20 something hours. Where's your youth and vigor? think it's somewhere back in the, that weird black river that we're in.
00:05:15
Speaker
um i set Dale down. Cause it's open. Yeah. Yeah. And I just say, lead the way. Dale skitters towards the entrance.
00:05:28
Speaker
And then he stops and sits and turns after only getting about 10, 15 feet away from you and looks at you all, one eyes darting quickly from one of you to the other, back to the other, and to a different one.
00:05:42
Speaker
All four of you, he he's checking to see what you're going to do as if he's wondering what you're going to do instead of him leading the way this time.
00:05:53
Speaker
Seems hesitant to enter. I think he's waiting on you, Gwynn. She goes and she squats down and picks him up and then just kind of hesitantly walks forward.
00:06:05
Speaker
I'm going to walk fairly close, but not like right up on. I'm going to kind of follow. Okay. I'm gonna look back to the crowd. I,
00:06:17
Speaker
um i it's probably not a, do any of you know anything about what we're about to face? Um, Eldrin steps forward and Eldrin's the one who was, you know, leading that court trial that you were in.
00:06:36
Speaker
And she looks at all of you and and says, this this is our temple. the This is where we once worshipped Coralion, the god of the elves, but it has been sealed to us for a long time now.
00:06:53
Speaker
What has gone on inside of there? None of us. None of us know. Gwen, Kriggs, would it be worth at least giving some rest for... Huh?
00:07:06
Speaker
We're like 20 feet ahead. Sorry. um hold Hold on. I'm looking at Davin and I'm not sure even if it's a five minute trek if he's going to make it.
00:07:18
Speaker
I'm not that bad. I'll be fine. Is anybody else hurting at all? I i can take care it right now. What? Gwen kind of just turns around. No, no. i'm I'm fine.
00:07:30
Speaker
If we're all ready, then
Uncovering Almenorah's History
00:07:31
Speaker
let's go. I got squashed by some trees, so I'm hurting. So I'm going to cast a healing spell on myself. Okay. What does that put your hit points at? second Well, I'm going to do a third level cure wounds.
00:07:43
Speaker
we We could take a short rest instead of using your spell. That's fine. I've got other ones. um I got 21 from the healing, so that puts me at 37 total.
00:07:57
Speaker
Okay. And everyone else is good? Like full? Yeah. Yes. Should be All right. In that case? I do a little giant light jog to catch up to him.
00:08:09
Speaker
Okay. um As you guys begin to walk in, you walk into a this opening in the front of this tree, and and you get this smell of...
00:08:22
Speaker
this like musty, it smells like, like the bottom of a forest when it's been raining and raining and raining. And then it's really hot and humid. And it's just this like almost jungle type forest floor, maybe leaves are kind of rotting that sort of smell. It's not necessarily disgusting or putrid, but it's, it's bad enough that it, it kind of gives you pause a little bit when you smell it.
00:08:50
Speaker
Um, And as you continue to walk forward, you begin to see after only 20 feet or so, you begin to see a green glow ahead of you. And you walk towards that green glow into a small, um, like 35 by 35, roughly round opening, like a room in here.
00:09:13
Speaker
And This room got vines and tree branches all over the the ground. um You do see a couple of rugs on the ground as well, like long, about eight foot rugs laying on the ground.
00:09:34
Speaker
And there's a mosaic, like a broken mosaic of tile on the ground. The ground is mostly... dirt with some like wood roots kind of interwoven throughout it.
00:09:45
Speaker
And, um you see all of this inside this room as you walk in here. on To the right, there is a small bookshelf and a small table, uh, as well.
00:10:02
Speaker
And in the center of the room is a statue of, of the elf god, Corallon. He stands with one arm down, the other arm holding out with an orb, like a stone orb in his hand. It's not, it's attached, part of the sculpture.
00:10:24
Speaker
The base of it says his name, Corallon, on it. Then there's old ancient elven writing all the way around it as well.
Magic Absorption Mystery
00:10:34
Speaker
But the statue, as well as the ground and the walls, the earthen ah wooden and earthen walls inside of this are covered in these thorny green vines and moss that have grown kind of all over this area, seeming to cover the statue and wrap around it.
00:10:57
Speaker
ah And it's about life size, the size of an actual person. It's not a giant statue. What would you guys like to do? Does anybody know what it says on the bottom of that statue?
00:11:09
Speaker
Joxer, you can read it, right? ah Yeah, I'll walk up and try to get in maybe a feel or an understanding, clear off some of that moss and ah try to read what's on the statue, if anything.
00:11:23
Speaker
um While he's doing that, I'm going to walk towards the books. All right, Gwitalin walks over towards the books, the little library. um The map's weird there. The size of things, everything's normal size. I don't know what happened there. So those little tiny chairs so shouldn't be taken as little tiny chairs in game. Finally, chairs for me.
00:11:42
Speaker
ah Yeah. I know other the people the podcast listeners aren't seeing that, but when I pulled it up and I was looking at it just now, i was like, that looks ridiculous. It's like like dollhouse. It's perfect for Dale.
00:11:53
Speaker
I'm just a little guy. It's a big heart. this is just a tree dollhouse consider seeing a doctor about that yeah you may be um joxer uh as you look you do see writing all around this statue and uh go ahead and make a um well i'll tell you what it says and then you can make a history check based on the meaning of it but it's it's prayers to call it along and um You can make out bits of it pretty easily to to know that it's prayers. But for any detail, go ahead and make a history check for me.
00:12:29
Speaker
Or religion. Oh, do I have... How's my religion? oh they are all the same. Well, I think it's all intelligence anyway. Devin, what's your health looking like?
00:12:41
Speaker
This one's different. There we go. 37 of 91. It's not great. As they're kind of skedaddling around the room, I'm going to walk over and kind of... just casually poke Davin on the arm with a finger and I'm going dump a good 25 extra hit points if you lay on hands to him. Okay. You're going to feel super vitalized. It's like a static shock.
00:13:04
Speaker
we've ah It's very dry and funky in here so get little static shock on the arm and all of a sudden feel super energetic. I'm going to be 16. Okay. With a 16 the prayers are prayers um the prayers are prayers of Prayers of protection.
00:13:22
Speaker
there's There's a prayer on there that's a prayer of provision, like asking for Coraline to give them harvest. there's a prayer of There's a prayer for magic. And then there's also the largest part that kind of goes around is a prayer of thanks.
00:13:42
Speaker
um And this prayer of thanks is
Gwendolyn's Destiny Unveiled
00:13:46
Speaker
for... brings ah this prayer of thanks is for Coralom bringing the power of magic to they their lands. It's ah it's a thanking him and worshiping him for all arcane energy that they have. So...
00:14:05
Speaker
So they didn't have magic before Korallan. Yeah, so I see a prayer of protection and a prayer of thanks
00:14:22
Speaker
ah for bringing them or imbuing them with the power that they enjoy. What in the world are you talking about? Gwen, make an investigation check as you look through the books.
00:14:34
Speaker
Yeah, i was about to say, ah what's all in these books? You told me to read this, Stefan. I'm just reading it. 19. Awesome. Gwendolyn, you look through the books and they are all ancient writings of the Al-Minorah people.
00:14:51
Speaker
You thumb through and you see books, even with sketches and drawings of a large city with city walls. ah People standing with large ovular shields and and spears guarding these these entrances. You see this statue in one of the drawings.
00:15:12
Speaker
And ah make a history check as you read all this stuff. I set Davin down. I set Dale down. i set dale down Okay. As I skim through these books.
00:15:23
Speaker
How about an 11? Okay, that's good enough. you You definitely remember all the dreams you've had where you're going through this elven city and the the images flash into your head as you look at these pictures and it's almost like you're going back and forth from the pictures on the page and then it's getting filled in like it looks exactly like that in your memory and you you remember the dreams where you are standing and Dale turns to you and says, follow me and walks you into these, ah these through these city walls. And, and, you, as you pick up another book and you begin to thumb through it, you begin to read of the political intrigue in Almanorah.
00:16:05
Speaker
And there was a city, there was a city called Almanorah. This it's being discussed as a city and the people are the Almanorah there. But, but as you read, you,
00:16:17
Speaker
you find you, you read the the story of betrayal of political upheaval and factions ending up fighting and infighting amongst the people of Al Minora until they had to split into separate peoples and they functioned best, not united.
00:16:37
Speaker
And, you recall one of your dreams where, uh, the, uh, a council of some kind was meeting and someone was standing,
Cavern of Shadows
00:16:48
Speaker
shouting and saying, you betrayed us. You knew they were coming.
00:16:51
Speaker
You betrayed us. And these these memories of these visions and dreams you've had come back to you as you read through this. And you're you're seeing as you even just skimming through this next several minutes, you're able to very easily kind of take in the history you seem to have kind of already known.
00:17:11
Speaker
about this land of Al-Menorah and this city, this once mighty elven city of Al-Menorah that is now broken down into what you see here.
00:17:22
Speaker
And you see this exact looking statue once stood at the square outside of the main halls of Al-Menorah. And here it sits now.
00:17:34
Speaker
And it was called, you you read ah you read something interesting, That it is called the Radix of the Arcane. um And the term Radix is like a cradle or birthplace.
00:17:50
Speaker
um This is, this statue in that time was the birthplace of all magic in that realm. How the heck is it here? Yeah.
00:18:03
Speaker
I'm going to cast Mage Hand and peek underneath the rug on my left. Okay. As you reach to lift the rug, um the vines underneath the rug begin to swirl about in response.
00:18:17
Speaker
um Thorns growing from them and they strike out like they're trying to grab your Mage Hand and they swi swing right through it. um You have found some danger.
00:18:29
Speaker
Okay, I have found danger. Danger, Will Robinson. Yeah, danger, Will Robinson. Well, um I don't know why, but the vines don't want us to look underneath the rugs.
00:18:40
Speaker
ah didn't Did it stop right after that, or did it do anything else? You put the rug down, it starts to you see kind of the rug lifting as the vine continues to stir, and then just a few seconds later, it starts to settle again.
00:18:52
Speaker
Well, we know what Quinn's going to do now. um Joxer immediately starts speaking with plants. yeah um Can you do that no
00:19:06
Speaker
that? No. You could try. Not feeling particularly helpful in a room that's essentially wall-to-wall elven stuff. ah I'm going to sit myself down in one of the chairs, the tinier chairs in the corner, and just kind of look around the room and start just kind of mentally going back and thinking about the entire journey and trying to like just contextually re get a bearing of where I am what we're doing and all of the above just kind of try to, you know, old, old soldiers, you know, get perspective, ground yourself to the, the surroundings.
00:19:47
Speaker
Along that same vein, but for joxers kind of back end, being in a temple and seeing these prayers, um, I think, he might attempt to kind of kneel down and start speaking the prayers that he sees in front of him. Okay.
00:20:06
Speaker
To see. well this is It's been a good podcast guys. This is how we s summon essentially every God. ah Yeah. It's talking about, you know, appreciate the pressure protection and, you know, thanks for the magic that even if it is the, the, the start of jocks, or does, does,
00:20:26
Speaker
take part in in some way um as you begin to pray these prayers the green actually make a wisdom saving throw ooh what the heck all right interesting are there any other entrances or exits that we can see in this room at all you're welcome to walk around and look closer you don't see any very obvious I will start to do that clockwise around the room.
00:20:53
Speaker
Okay. Awesome. Make an investigation check as you walk around carefully. I wink at Davin when he gets to my clockwise and orientation. That'll be 15.
00:21:05
Speaker
fifteen 15. Okay, that's good. So the light begins to glow. The green light in here begins to glow just ever so ah more.
00:21:17
Speaker
Ever so more? Yeah. just a little more brightly and to the point where the statue itself is taking on this green hue.
Facing the Monument's Darkness
00:21:27
Speaker
And you notice as that starts, all of the, all of the plant life begins to all the vines and the moss and the branches in here begin to kind of, uh, rustle and, and shift and they start to curl and pull tighter around the statue, gripping it tighter.
00:21:47
Speaker
And as it gets tighter, the green begins to diminish again. Davin, make an investigation check, or did you already as you're looking around? I rolled a 16. Okay, good.
00:21:58
Speaker
um Where you're at now, over on the left side there of this kind of most kind of circular room, you you see that the walls and everything are made very specifically visible.
00:22:13
Speaker
or very easily to to see made from mostly wood. It's like you are in the inside of a tree. um the dirt There's dirt beneath you. It's like it has opened up the but the the roots beneath it for ah to allow dirt to be there. But it's like this tree just opened up this spot in the middle or somehow grew open.
00:22:33
Speaker
to allow this to exist in here. um As you begin to walk to the far end of the room, you don't see any doorways or entrances, but you definitely see that up at the very northern section, yeah, up here at the very northern section, you see where the vines and branches have grown and morphed and ah and become so tight and close, similar to the wall that was on the outside of this whole area that you entered.
00:23:01
Speaker
Much smaller scale, but the same concept. um along the other side of the room, you don't see anything of interest either until you make your way all the way down to where the bookshelf and the books are.
00:23:16
Speaker
ah Kriggs, as you're sitting on the that chair over there, i assume, right? You're sitting over here by Gwen. Mm-hmm. Would you just, as you kind of look down and are thinking, and make a invest and make a perception check.
00:23:32
Speaker
Oakley-dunkley. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. 13? Yeah, you had to beat a 12. So as you look down, you see a piece of paper folded in half and stuck under one of the legs of this table.
00:23:47
Speaker
I grab it. Yeah, and um you grab it, and when you look at it, it is also written... on But it's it's more um like notes written.
00:24:03
Speaker
It's less like formal book or writing, but it is in Elvish. So do you speak Elvish at all? No. no Not even a little. I think we've established that. do. Gwyn, I ah found this. You might i find it interesting. I don't know.
00:24:20
Speaker
I'd offer it up. um She hands him the book in exchange. she just kind of She doesn't even realize like he can't read Elvish because she's too focused on all these things.
00:24:31
Speaker
Here you go. Look at this. And then she takes the note and reads it. I graciously accept it and sit back down and like kind of pretend read it. But I'm definitely looking up of ah There's a lot of sketches and drawings in there too that don't tell the story. Oh, sick. Oh, yeah.
00:24:49
Speaker
yeah I'm looking at all the drawings. So you can tell, Kriggs, by looking at all these drawings, that there was once some great city. And um you don't necessarily see the word Almenorah anywhere that you would understand, but you probably get the idea.
00:25:03
Speaker
um Gwendolyn, as you owe oh ah look at that paper, um you'll see that it is written in Elven. um It's written in a more not as old of an elven, more oh more modern to the language that you're be familiar you would be familiar with.
00:25:22
Speaker
um And it tells of hope for the people of Almenorah. It doesn't speak of the city. It speaks of the people of Almenorah. It speaks of hope that the caring one has an heir. What?
00:25:41
Speaker
This heir will bring hope back to the Alma Nora. And now when she arrives, even the forest, even their city will know that she is here and who she is.
00:25:58
Speaker
And that they should take hope that the caring one's heir will be here. I'm going to head back to the north ah side to where like the the vines and stuff were the thickest. I have a dagger in my backpack. I'm going to pull a dagger out and just kind of like poke around and see if I can cut through a little bit and see if I can see anything but behind Okay, this is the end the podcast, guys. It was nice.
00:26:21
Speaker
enjoyed recording with you. Gwendolyn's just going to be in shock for a bit. Okay. As you begin to cut away at this these branches, you do cut them. um They begin to cut...
00:26:34
Speaker
you know break down some, but it seems like every time you cut one, two more grow in its place. The thorns get thicker. um In fact, make a sleight of hand check as you reach in to cut another piece.
00:26:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:49
Speaker
Natural one plus three total. Yeah, you reach in and your thumb catches one of those thorns. You take one point of damage and a d6 poison damage.
00:27:04
Speaker
Which I rolled a five. So you so take six total damage and make a constitution saving throw um against being poisoned. Okay. Whoa. Oh, it's only a six, but I have a plus seven, so it's 13.
00:27:19
Speaker
Oh, that's exactly what you needed. Well, you needed to beat a 12, so 12 or 13 would have to beat it. So good job. ah Yeah, so you feel that... like the, you see even the green, like poison starts to shoot up your finger from this vine. And you also get a plus two to saving throws, just being in my presence.
00:27:37
Speaker
Oh, nice. And you gave him presence. And um I did big two points. You kind of, you're able to shake it out and just kind like, not, you know, that poison does not take effect.
00:27:52
Speaker
um And jocks or what are you doing? I think, I guess from what I gather, the plants seem to be sucking up magic of some sort from seeing that out of... Yeah. um Dang leeches. and And so basically when i I prayered, I could see magic returning or maybe somewhat growing inside of the statue and then the plant started constricting it.
00:28:24
Speaker
Yeah. Is that... Like choking it away. Yeah, and and could... I guess I would gather that at least it was it was absorbing some of that magic. it it It somehow stopped it from that perspective. um i'm ah We could take
Episode Conclusion and Call to Action
00:28:45
Speaker
Davin's route where we try to damage it, or maybe it is... Gwen, would you be able to...
00:28:56
Speaker
speak persuade the the tree to let us through huh i'm i'm sorry i'm sorry i was over here praying and i could see the the statue gain magic but these plants seem to be uh fighting it would would you she pockets the note okay okay And if it gets brought up later, she might talk about it, but she's just kind of, this is nothing right now. Okay.
00:29:28
Speaker
And walks over to where Joxer is. And... um It seems like these plants have some some aversion to the magic that this statue is trying to provide. So maybe you could understand them or persuade them to move out of our way?
00:29:50
Speaker
I feel like there's a lot more to this tree than the just this little room. oh it it actually, and she, she, after she's kind of just stuck on her words, she goes back and pulls the book out of Craig's hands and skims over to where the statue was and hands it to him. it it seems like this was called the radix of arcane, the beginning of magic. don't,
00:30:17
Speaker
I've had so many dreams about this place and I'm just now seeing it. And it's just, what'd you say? The magic's getting sucked out. Yeah. Uh, watch this and, and I'll, uh, I'll kneel down again and start praying and assume something similar happens where magic kind of flows between that prayer and, statue and the,
00:30:43
Speaker
statue and the I guess the, the ah do, do the plants do the same thing? Yes. They, they get even more agitated as you try again and they begin to, to coil around the legs and some come up from under the statue that we're just sitting under it. Then they begin to curl around it again.
00:31:03
Speaker
um and, ah make a wisdom saving throw. All right. Don't forget to add my plus two from being just, you know, around my cool self.
00:31:14
Speaker
Devin's sitting on the floor. got tinderbox out. He's lighting a ah torch. Whoa. ah So 14 plus 216. Yeah.
00:31:25
Speaker
So yeah, you even more magic begins to glow from there as um you're able to focus in and really think about what you're saying in your prayer and make it a little more meaningful even than the last one.
00:31:37
Speaker
um And even even though you're doing it almost as like an experiment or to show Gwen what's going on, but that just makes these plants even more agitated. And they they strike out against the magic even more strongly, wrapping around the body and legs and arms and coiling around the orb on the end of this um this ah statue's hand.
00:32:00
Speaker
As the magic then begins to diminish, Gwen, you notice it decrease once those plants begin to form around it. ah Do I recognize these plants as I look at them?
00:32:11
Speaker
um Or is it something I've just never seen before? Oh, they're they they seem like normal roots or vines from any sort of tree or plant that you would see. In fact, they look more normal than where you've been in this before yeah in in the the rest of this area where they were all colorful and bright. These are actually so more... Am I getting the impression that these plants are like trying to keep us away from this thing?
00:32:40
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Yeah. It's pretty clear that they're, they're trying to keep the magic from being fully released from this statue. Um, they don't seem to be attacking you, but they seem to guys want to something crazy?
00:32:54
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Uh, noticing that these plants are like a thing. I'm going to cast conjure animals. Okay. And I'm going sum, going to, I'm going conjure eight goats. Um,
00:33:07
Speaker
Okay. And they're go be they're going to eat the thorny bushes because they're you know not afraid of thorns. Okay. that's I'm going to basically command them to just like devour the bushes.
00:33:18
Speaker
Goats. So you cast that spell. What does it look like as these goats begin to arrive? I think that the way that I would be casting this spell and all of the nature imbuement that I've essentially been given, ah it's going to be one of the situations where you see that phosphorescent glow come off of like the hands or whatever, but there's going to be a a bit of like spores come out of the hand that I have, like the and the imprint of the hand, ah the eye on the hand that's been all magicked and everything.
00:33:53
Speaker
You're going to see some kind of glowing spores just kind of float out of that. And as they hit the ground, you're just going to see what looked like. I would call them not necessarily spirit goats, but they're kind of crafted and formed from what look like.
00:34:10
Speaker
They look correct, but. obviously made out of just like plant matter that was grown from these spores. Hmm. Okay. So these goats start arriving in the room and, uh, they start walking around.
00:34:27
Speaker
Um, might as well name these Gwen feeling like they have, a purpose and they, they go and eat. One of them starts munching on a rug. You said eight of them? There's eight of them.
00:34:39
Speaker
because they have them And a couple of them start munching on the rugs. They start chewing on the vines. um They're having a good time. They're enjoying themselves.
00:34:50
Speaker
You find that most of them make their way over to like the moss type area, like where the the moss is growing pretty thick and it seems like they're really enjoying that first. um But anytime you notice they start chewing on the vines, sure enough, a couple more vines grow in the place where they started chewing them up.
00:35:08
Speaker
um A couple of them start to freak out as the vine's even more thorns grow bigger and larger. Some begin to be almost like the size of a dagger slicing into their leg or this or that.
00:35:22
Speaker
And so as, as Maxine, Richard, the third, Jenny, Stan, Patrick, and table and Becky, you named one table. ah Yeah. funny yeah It is table, Becky and Finn. They are living their best life except for every now and then getting little slices.
00:35:41
Speaker
Um, Some of the vines are kind Well, thankfully, they're just fey beings, and this isn't actually going to hurt them. no I'm not for that, Mike. I know. ah But as they go over and they start chewing like the the the plants on the walls, on the sides, they start to actually start to decrease a little bit. Anytime they get near the ones near the statue or that entrance area Davin was working on, this seems to grow back thicker after they begin eating.
00:36:08
Speaker
In fact, the the entrance area that Davin was working on, he stepped away 10 feet, and now that his torch is lit and floating in the air, and he's just starting to light the the vines on fire to see what happens. because We're all doing crazy stuff today, boys. um Yeah, as you light as you begin to light on fire, um you get very much like the um the result of two wet firewood where the steam starts rising.
00:36:37
Speaker
it's like sizzling. um The vines react in that they um begin to grow thicker and almost form closer to ah to protect each other ah from the flames.
00:36:51
Speaker
um You get the sense that maybe if you did this for a while, it may it might would eventually dry them out and burn through them. But right now, you're you're working with the wet fuel.
00:37:06
Speaker
Interesting. Hey guys, I think these vines are magical. You don't say as I'm looking around doing my absolute, absolute best to wrangle Maxine, Richard III, Jenny, Stan, Patrick, Table, Becky, and Finn. And they're just, I made a mistake. That's too many goats. i made him That's on our next sticker. I made a mistake. That's too many goats. Oh, that that'd be a great mug.
00:37:33
Speaker
When a patch of vines are gone from the statue, I just immediately want to touch it. Okay. You reach out and touch the statue. nothing It doesn't seem to respond to your touch.
00:37:46
Speaker
ah And you said this was a man's statue?
00:37:53
Speaker
Just go ahead maybe up and pot up the volume on that. um Maybe you're not his type. What if we all chanted together? Maybe the power of, you know, the group.
00:38:07
Speaker
i I can say that every time I've chanted, it definitely feels like I get a bad feeling. So just just know that you might get the heebie-jeebies a bit.
00:38:21
Speaker
um But maybe, you know, i'm not I'm not from this area, so maybe it's it's kind of weakened with me or to Davin's point, all of us are more of us.
00:38:35
Speaker
It seemed to be more focused that second time. I'm going to go snatch the torch out of the air, and then I'm going direct my invisible hand to go and just like almost like pulling the ah tablecloth off of a a table, trying to leave everything behind. I'm just going to yank the rug away, this one on the left side.
00:38:52
Speaker
Okay. You yank away the rug, and the vines begin to—they— Jump up like they're trying to grab at whatever pulled the rug away um unsuccessfully, ah obviously. And then as they, as they notice, as they kind of like ah catch nothing, they begin to retract back and begin to wrap around.
00:39:14
Speaker
More of the vines that are closer to the statue and some go up and wrap around like the foot of the statue, um seeming to recenter themselves there since they don't have the rug to be ah ah under and a part of.
00:39:28
Speaker
So there was nothing under the rug at all? No. ah I'm going to touch to the moving vines that's coming to the statues now. And I don't care if my hand gets cut. Okay.
00:39:40
Speaker
And I'm going to do Speak to Plants. Cut my vine into beet. No, I'm just kidding. You cast Speak with Plants, you said? While i do it, yeah. Okay.
00:39:52
Speaker
um So you reach down and you grab and um the vines start to squirm in your hand. And sure enough, you take three points of, I'll roll a and see how much it is.
00:40:03
Speaker
Four points of. Oh, weird. Yeah. you did that on purpose. Piercing damage. Four points of piercing damage. And ah if, and D6 would be four points of poison damage. Make a constitution saving throw. Okay.
00:40:23
Speaker
You succeed are you talking with the 18. You succeed for sure. So um the poison doesn't take hold of you as you begin to speak to these plants. What do you say?
00:40:36
Speaker
What angers you? Why are you wrapping around this man?
00:40:41
Speaker
I guess the statue doesn't have a gender. I'm just, are you wrapping around the statue? um as you as you begin to to talk, the vines begin to wrap more around your arm, crawling up it a little bit.
00:40:56
Speaker
The thorn sticking you here or there. and You've already saved from the poison, so you don't have to worry about that. But you take two more points of damage as those just kind of poke into your arm.
00:41:06
Speaker
But as they do, you get this sense in your mind that says that they're just obeying orders. From who? Darn Naldi.
00:41:20
Speaker
That darn. The dark darn. The dark one, it says. Davin swapped the torch with the rug, so now he's holding the rug, and I'm going to inspect it and see if there's any like runes or magical properties at all that I can see from the feel of the thing.
00:41:38
Speaker
It does seem just like a mundane rug intended for kneeling in prayer. just gotten regular old rug but it's it's still looking pretty decent if you wanted to keep it for the bogus shack or something i will i said perfectly yeah and i'm going to just set it against the wall all rolled up pretty like okay um i i asked how can i release you from the dark one where is he When you say that, the vines start to squirm all over the room, especially the ones on the statue and by the door.
00:42:15
Speaker
And um you you hear only she can. Only she can release us. I release you. I say to Nelvish.
00:42:27
Speaker
As you say that, um the vines in your hand, they turn to the thorns vanish. and you're just holding just green vines. the the The vines all around begin to flourish with green color and flowers begin to bloom on them.
00:42:49
Speaker
And they the vines on the statue begin to unravel and drop to the ground. spreading with flowers and leaves growing from the ground now where these vines have settled.
00:43:09
Speaker
As the statue now stands fully cleared from these vines and the green glow begins to emanate even more,
00:43:20
Speaker
um Not as strong as it did when jocks are prayed, but more than it was before. And there's a, even though the the end of the room where it looks like the large, concentration the other large concentration of these vines was, they're not gone, but they are now covered in flowers, white, yellow, gold flowers.
00:43:47
Speaker
ah And what you guys want to do now? You just hear Gwen go, it's true. um what ah and That's amazing, Gwen.
00:43:58
Speaker
ah How far did we walk to get into this room? Like, are we still close to the entryway? Yeah, it was like it was like less than 50 feet. and it ah i I have a... i just let me I'll be right back.
00:44:12
Speaker
And I'm going to haul up the the the to the entryway. Okay. And then um if everybody is still just standing there kind of in awe, um would any of you be willing to pray to Corellion?
00:44:30
Speaker
They stand there staring at you just slack-jawed. Like, ah what? And... and Eldren steps forward and says, of course.
00:44:42
Speaker
And her eyes begin to fill with tears as she looks to others and she reaches her hand and and another woman grabs her hand and she pulls her forward and they embrace each other and they run towards you and following their lead one by one, a dozen, close to two dozen people start to follow you, come towards you, like ready to come into the room.
00:45:06
Speaker
Um, I would lead them down. i I think this is where you would be familiar with. It seems that there's something missing.
00:45:18
Speaker
Probably followers? As they look around, Eldrin says, this looks nothing like what we've heard of or what we've learned. And then as they break through to where they can see the statue, they say, and the rugs even, they say, except that it's like, it's been, it's like, it's been plucked from Almenorah and placed here.
00:45:40
Speaker
And they look around and they, um, they begin to just pray immediately in response. Um, and, uh,
00:45:52
Speaker
they kneel not creepily, like they just almost like some take one knee, some go on both knees and they begin to pray the prayers that they seem to have memorized that are written on, ah the statue. And as they do, as they pray, the glow begins to glow brighter. And even they, their eyes grow wide, um, as if they did not expect the reaction that it had.
00:46:21
Speaker
um And as the green magic energy glows through this room, the vines and branches and everything underneath the the statue, um they begin to to go away completely, leaving behind the flowers.
00:46:42
Speaker
um The vines on the sides of the walls also begin to go away, leaving behind only the flowers that... hu grew there. And as the people pray this prayer together continuously, the vines on the back wall that were all clumped together and that sliced into Davin that the fire did not extinguish, they begin to pull away from this part of the wall.
00:47:14
Speaker
And um as they pull away, reveal the reveal a hall behind them that, um, Oh guys, I found a way through.
00:47:28
Speaker
And, uh, and it looks like a pathway where the, uh, the, the, the stone dirt floor continues downward into a tunnel of some kind beneath the people all, they dig gasp and they end into their prayers, but the glow of the magic in the room remains.
00:47:47
Speaker
And they begin to all look at Gwendolyn and, murmur at each other as they realize and they look at Gwendolyn and talk to each other and a little kid walks up to Gwendolyn, this little girl with long silver hair, pointy elven ears.
00:48:05
Speaker
She takes a knee and reaches up to grab Gwendolyn's hand. I let her grab it. I reach back. She grabs her hand and puts it on her forehead and looks back up and says, will you bless me?
00:48:20
Speaker
kid.
00:48:23
Speaker
I don't say that. ah i I've never done that. i I don't... Don't be silly, Gwen.
00:48:33
Speaker
You bless us every day with your presence most days anyway. the The little girl just grins and and turns around kind of embarrassingly, runs back to...
00:48:47
Speaker
ah A man standing there kind of embraces his leg and looks back up to you as he grins and nods at her like he's proud that she she tried that. And um Eldren walks up back up towards you and says, what i i don't know what to tell you would be beyond here.
00:49:07
Speaker
I didn't know this was inside either. um Be careful, I guess. Gwendolyn kind of, she nods at her and then just kind of walks back to the table to pick up Dale.
00:49:20
Speaker
And she looks at Dale. She goes, did you know? You hear a voice in your head. the glow in the room gets brighter. And it's the voice you heard in your dreams that sometimes came out of Dale's mouth. Sometimes there was no face.
00:49:38
Speaker
And it says, i couldn't tell you until now. You wouldn't believe it. i She just turns around. We go forward and she starts walking to the hors towards the hallway. Okay.
00:49:52
Speaker
Davin's already there, almost ready to usher everybody through. Okay. I give a really big dad groan when I stand up out of my chair. and then head towards the entry.
00:50:04
Speaker
Awesome. All right. Surrealism on that dad groan. I've done a few in my time. I'm getting old, guys. It's rough. You're not even a dad, and you did that very well. okay And you're you all just hear Darnoldy. Okay, done here we go. you You all hear Joxer just say, Darnoldy, and then run off into the distance.
00:50:30
Speaker
All right. We all it through the hole the next day. So go into this. have to say it like that, Derek. You go into this and you see a cavern right away. higher swords, extra dark. Yeah, right away you see um you see a few options, a few choices of where you could go.
00:50:47
Speaker
um You could immediately turn left into this hall of... ah into this hall and you smell salt water. Oh, thought was going be what the rock was cooking.
00:51:00
Speaker
and Yeah. And you hear the sounds of waves crashing to your left. um As you look ahead, you see more vines growing ah in the hallway ahead of you.
00:51:14
Speaker
um there's a there's a direction to go left. Like I said, there's also a way straight ahead that is very short, 10 feet, and then there is a fork in the road left or right.
00:51:25
Speaker
um The thing that you notice as soon as you come down this rough stone and dirt kind of decline onto the floor of this inner cavern area beneath this tree, the shadows are swirling around like they did in the untouched lands.
00:51:45
Speaker
We're back in the untouched lands. And the vines are growing in and out of the walls and they're swirling with these shadows. And as you step down, like I said, down into this walkway, um if everyone would please make constitution saving throws.
00:52:06
Speaker
oh dear It's plus two because you're next to me and I'm real sexy. Yeah. I mean, do I have to? i don't really want to do a con you know saving throw.
00:52:17
Speaker
You don't want to? but that's why we're here. So I rolled natural 20 plus five to my constitution and plus two. So I rolled a total of 27. That's good.
00:52:32
Speaker
I hurt the area around me. yeah My total is 16. 16? I think I have 13. Okay. Ash.
00:52:43
Speaker
<unk>ol I said it. I was muted. Sorry. 21. Oh, that's all right. 21. Okay. um So you all succeed and and you hear the you hear whispers in your ears as you come step down into this cavern. You hear whispers telling you, go back and turn around. believe now it's too much you can't do this you're finished there's nothing else for you you have completed your tasks and all these negative and and and contrary thoughts start coming to your mind you're not good enough you never were um and uh what does my negative thoughts say your negative thought says you're just a little fella oh
00:53:26
Speaker
You're not the mushroom king. You'll never reach the top shelf. I turn it around and leave. You're the mushroom mommy. um but If only. has you and all right As you guys um come in here, which which way would you like to go?
00:53:43
Speaker
I want a wild shape. Okay, what are you going to be? I want to be a little black fox. Oh, that's awesome. So cute. Okay.
00:53:54
Speaker
Gwyn's a little black fox. but dan i eyes I'm going wild shape into just a dwarven guy. Yeah. Okay. You wild shape into what you already are. that's He's over it. there's Guys, I hear the ocean down this way. That doesn't make any sense, right? We're nowhere near water.
00:54:15
Speaker
I don't know. That whole world we we have been in doesn't make any sense. ah So really anything, anything works here. Maybe we finally went through the door. Maybe this was the door that we came in or close to.
00:54:29
Speaker
We, we came ah the giant door, uh, when we woke up and, oh gosh. Okay. Sorry. All the untouched land is coming back to me.
00:54:40
Speaker
Maybe when we opened that door, everything from then until now was just a dream. And now this is reality. Really? It was something on beyond the door. um What do I smell? I smell the ocean to my left.
00:54:51
Speaker
What are the other scents I smell in the other directions? Make a perception check. With advantage, as with fox smellies. I have to use the fox ones, don't I? ah Yeah, if you want advantage. What does the fox smell?
00:55:05
Speaker
Oh, that's been a spell. One second. What'd you say had to use? Sorry. ah Perception.
00:55:17
Speaker
um Also in the back, you hear matt as Richard III, Maxine, Jenny, Stan, Patrick, Table, Becky, and Finn are just munching on flowers.
00:55:28
Speaker
I send them all down the different path. I'm kidding. Do they go away after a while or they just like there now? I'll eventually suck them back up into my hand. ah We'll do 15.
00:55:41
Speaker
Secretly, have eight goats inside. Eight goats in a trench coat. Eight goats in a trench coat, yeah. ah So that's bad. So as you um begin to sniff, you smell an overwhelming smell of of salt water to your left.
00:55:57
Speaker
um You also smell a hint of, just a light hint of like... burning almost like uh like a old fire that has that's burned out but the smoke is still going um but it's it's it's very faint and distant i want to go to which direction oh you can't tell which direction it's coming from but you just ruined my dreams it's fine that's what i do
00:56:25
Speaker
um I guess as a fox, I'm just going to be sniffing. okay And then kind of just going in a circle. Because I don't know where the smell is. I don't know which way to go.
00:56:36
Speaker
You can definitely smell the salt water to your left. That's the one yeah direction you definitely know. But do I want to go there? That's the thing. well that's, yeah, that's your call. Davin's going to go.
00:56:48
Speaker
It looks like she's fox, so we're going wherever it goes? What the fox? Come on, let's go see the ocean. I'm going to follow along, but I'm definitely going to be contemplating for the very first time. i wonder if Gwyn would play fetch.
00:57:07
Speaker
You can try. i will do that.
00:57:12
Speaker
I'm still doing my circles. Okay, you're walking around so sniffing your circles. um As you sniff your circles, ah Davin, you walk in and...
00:57:24
Speaker
you ah You can see in the distance waves crashing up against this um dirt and sandy ground underneath this cavern, and you hear the waves crashing.
00:57:36
Speaker
You also see a thick concentration of this shadow ahead of you over the top of the water. You also see the vines ah kind of... Like they are kind of underground, but then they kind of come up in into some areas and like up in another and then they go back underground. Like they're just kind of protruding from the ground here and there.
00:57:56
Speaker
Similar vines to what you saw in um the room that you were just in. ah And yeah, that's what you see ahead of you. is So the room ahead of I mean, look, I'm heading down essentially a tunnel, right?
00:58:10
Speaker
Correct. It's pretty narrow passageway. And yeah I've got the torch about 10 feet in front of me, that just floating in front of me, like lighting up the way as I go. um And it just turns into water as i go Yeah, you just see water, and it's almost like a beachfront right here, ah waves crashing up against it. There's there's about 10 feet between where the waves are crashing up and then the wall to the kind of northeast of this beachfront. And it kind of is like the water goes under the stone um ah under the stone beyond the where the waves are crashing, about 30, 40 feet back.
00:58:44
Speaker
And then about 10 feet from the shore, there is what looks to be something... protruding from the water a stone ah monument of some kind and it has shadow just engulfed all around it as well as vines growing around where it is around the water and where it is sitting the torch kind of i push out all the way till i see get to that object and does it light up anything illuminate at all or is it just disappear in the shadows
00:59:15
Speaker
As it gets in the shadows, the light from the torch begins to get very dim. And you can see the torch itself inside there. But you it's not illuminating anything to show you what what you would see beyond just the obvious larger, you know, 10, 15-foot circumference monument that's sitting there. This round monument oh made of stone.
00:59:38
Speaker
ah Guys, there's... I don't know what's going on down here. Somebody else can take a look at this. there It's weird. There's like an ocean in the cave. That's not normal, right? Gwen stops her circles and perks up her ears and starts heading that way.
00:59:53
Speaker
In a little jaunt. I feel like it's not... like If there's an opening, it you could have a cove-like cave. That's not super abnormal. Cave cove.
01:00:04
Speaker
Wouldn't that normally be like still water, though? It has waves, right? Yeah, there's waves kind of washing up. They're not really ah heavy, but more like lake waves.
01:00:17
Speaker
But is salt I'm pretty certain a cove would have... Oh, there's not... and Well, I guess we can't really... Do you think there's an opening back there for water to come in? assume the water comes from underneath.
01:00:29
Speaker
Want to go for a swim? ah didn't really love our last swim. i don't know. Can foxes swim? I don't know How do we feel like being you know ah feel about ah being tied together again? Yay? Nay? I've been waiting for that for while. No, I'm just kidding.
01:00:48
Speaker
To go in the water? That sounds like a really bad idea. Gunalinga doesn't stick a paw in. How cold is it? um It's pretty cold. It's it's not abnormally cold.
01:01:01
Speaker
um But with no sunlight or no atmosphere around, it seems that the water has chilled some. And what is it that's out in the ocean that we see? Or can we see? Yeah, you see about- It's rock outcropping, wouldn't it? About 15 feet. There's like a stone monument. It's round and it's got a couple levels ah where it has the, um it's like it's been built up to stand almost, not like a statue of like a person, but just this, almost like this sculpture of shapes, almost like some ovals and-
01:01:33
Speaker
ah some pointed sections that stick out um from the, from the top of it as well. And it's sitting, not floating in the water, but it's just, it's almost like maybe it's a pillar or a column or something in the water. And it, this part's sticking out of the top.
01:01:49
Speaker
I mean, I guess we can go for a swim and we can go take a look at that. don't know how deep it gets. ah Yeah. How about how far did that, did you say it was give or take? It looks about 15 feet from where you're standing at the edge of the water.
01:02:03
Speaker
um I mean, i if you want me to to go check it out real quick, I can jump in there, but I might, you know, tie a rope to me and make sure you can pull me back in case in case there's something nasty in the water there.
01:02:18
Speaker
You'll be fine. have rope. I can do that. Yeah. I mean, I would go myself, but these shoes take like 20 minutes to take off. They're very fancy shoes. I think lots of laces.
01:02:29
Speaker
I want to make sure they're nice and tight. Um, while they're doing this situation, I'm going to be going up and down this, I guess this little beach area. Yes. And just sniffing. About 50 feet of beach until there's another opening, uh, kind of to the Northwest of where you're, where you're standing.
01:02:47
Speaker
Okay. I'm just going to sniff around. I'm not gonna. Okay. You're sniffing around and you see more of those vines like that were in the first room. Um, and they're kind of like pulsating and there's thorns on them and stuff. They're still,
01:02:59
Speaker
They don't seem to have been affected by what you did in the other room. Okay. um Then I'm going to tie the, I think I got like 30 feet of rope or something on me and then put it down for someone to grab or, you know, some of the slack. And then I'm going to jump out and I think I can, you know, do a running jump of a little over 10 feet and then see what's out there.
01:03:21
Speaker
All right. You jump in the water and who's holding the rope? You probably tied it around me and I'm sitting on the ground. I don't know. Cool. I'm the strongest of them all of us. Heels dug in the ground or whatever.
01:03:35
Speaker
All right. So you jump in and, uh, Kriggs is holding onto that rope to make sure that, um, you know, you are safely pulled out if necessary. And as you jot dive in the water, um, you immediately are hit with just a magical darkness.
01:03:56
Speaker
Um, that surrounds everything as you're down inside the water. Um, are you able to see in magical darkness? I can't remember. Do I have magical darkness vision? Is that a thing?
01:04:08
Speaker
There's a pact pact feature. you Yeah. i trying to see yeah I don't know if he had it or not. I couldn't remember. i did you know I didn't pick all the good ones for for for me.
01:04:20
Speaker
Let's see here. Now I got Linguiz. Wait, Warlock. Pact Magic Eldritch. Ancient Secrets. Gift of the Protectors, Pact of the Tome.
01:04:33
Speaker
Negative. All right, so it's just completely pitch black. Like you can't see your um you can't see your hands in front of your face at all. It's so dark. And make a constitution saving throw as you're surrounded by shadow under this water.
01:04:48
Speaker
Very reminiscent of the river yeah you were in. Yeah, love it. Love that. Constitution saving throw. 17 3, 20.
01:05:00
Speaker
Good. So you feel the whispers in your head, turn back, turn back now. This is a nightmare. You do not want to have this nightmare. And um suddenly you hear a voice in your head that says, i believe you can do it.
01:05:18
Speaker
And you shake it off. And suddenly, actually, ah roll a D10. Oh, ah that's ah that's a random die roll there.
01:05:30
Speaker
D10. ah Nine. Awesome. youre Your bracers start to, or not bracers, the tattoos on your arms, right? um Yeah.
01:05:41
Speaker
They start to glow with a magical light, and you hear in your mind, I'm with you. i'm with And it fades out, but the glow in your ah on your arms grows, and you now have nine feet of sight in this magical darkness.
01:05:57
Speaker
Sick. And that's where we're going to leave the episode. Whoa! Oh, sweet. He's going drown. I know it. You're hoping. Sandcastles. Sandcastles.
01:06:23
Speaker
Thank you for listening to another episode of The Hired Source. If you like our show, tell somebody. They can catch up before the finale comes out. They may have a long ways to go, but that's okay.
01:06:34
Speaker
It's fun. Anyways, don't forget to subscribe. Tell your friends. Bye.