Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 88 Signs Of Life Long Forgotten
133 Plays1 year ago
Destinations often feel so empty when the lives they harbored have been long forgotten. Listen as the Swords search and uncover more mystery about these dark miasmic lands.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to The Hired Swords podcast
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a podcast about a chipmunk and his four companions.
00:00:41
Speaker
Good day everyone and welcome to another episode of the Hired Swords. I am your dungeon
Meet the Adventurers: Blaze, Derek, Ash, and Mikey
00:00:48
Speaker
master. My name is Michael and I have four friends with me ready to roll some dice and kick some behind. What podcast is this? Is Blaze.
00:00:59
Speaker
Hi. He's Krig's Galdor or Sofrin in Baroque. I need to match your energy. Hi, I'm Blaze. I'll be playing Sofrin, Krig's Gald in Baroque. Krig's Galderoque. That's right. I also have Derek. He's Davenmind Strider. G'day, got that? That's what I thought of when he said g'day. He's just going to go straight into like some typical British hillbilly. What's that called? What's the Cockney? That's the word. Yeah, I like it. Brillbilly?
00:01:29
Speaker
And then Ash is here. She's the wonderful Gwendolyn. I am Gwendolyn and I'm here to make everyone happy. Yay, you do. You and your buddy Dale make everyone happy. Mikey's also here and he plays Joxer. This energy is weird.
00:01:50
Speaker
I'm just going to throw that out there. A lot of weird energy today. I got to be honest. I didn't realize my energy was different. I wasn't trying that. This isn't intentional. Well, maybe you should say it in a little bit more. Maybe I should reflect some self reflection might be in order. Let's just take this hour to meditate. Let's do it. Everyone. An hour of silence.
00:02:23
Speaker
We were in three different keys, so good luck.
Journey through Untouched Lands
00:02:28
Speaker
When we last left off, when we last played this game of Dungeons and Dragons, we were traveling through the untouched lands, found a village, this village
00:02:41
Speaker
they found out was a place where spices were grown, packaged, and sent out to other villages. A map was found that labeled these villages, some of them pretty clearly, some of them maybe not so clearly. There was an idea that, it was pretty clear there were six villages kind of in this circle through the forest.
00:02:59
Speaker
One of them was pretty obvious that it they were harvesting some kinds of gemstones or jewelry or something. And so the party said, hey, guess what? That's where we want to go next. And so they headed in the southwestern direction to get there.
00:03:17
Speaker
And in that in that travel, they happened upon a bunch of this dark mist that has been very main defining characteristic of the untouched lands they've been in. Literally, the reason they're in the untouched lands is to stop this mist from spreading further. And as they
00:03:38
Speaker
walked through it.
Facing the Dark Mist Challenges
00:03:40
Speaker
Some saves were attempted charisma saves and failed and there was some paralyzing activity. There was some a lot a little bit of loss of mind where just couldn't really focus or function. And then the party decided to try to get out of here as quick as they can. So they put jocks are
00:04:00
Speaker
No, they put Davin, Krigs, and Gwendolyn in Joxer's brew hole, which has some space for 10 minutes. They're safe in there. After Krigs summoned his steed, which was the form of, I believe, the elk, right? Is that the idea still? Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's the great elk, the first fight this party had for us nearly two years ago, and
00:04:25
Speaker
They jocks are holding his rolled up brew hole is riding down the trail trying to get out of this mist as knowing he has 10 minutes until his friends
00:04:42
Speaker
need to come out of this. His friends are in there having saved and broken the effects of the mist on themselves. They are in there safe currently staring at I assume spell assume they're staring at spell slots as he's doing whatever work he was tasked to do before jocks are left the brew hole last. What is spell slots doing in there as they watch him?
00:05:06
Speaker
Well, I think, you know, before they jumped in, he was probably just making sure that everything was like settled and maybe adding a couple of ingredients here and there. After he was probably starting to do a little bit of dance. So hopping up on two fingers and just kind of like. Entertaining though. Yeah. Yeah. He's, uh, he's, he's trying to, you know, uh,
00:05:29
Speaker
I don't know, promote some, uh, some friendship. Yeah. He's, he's felt a little, a little awkward lately. Like maybe, maybe he's not liked as much. Yeah. He has feelings. Apparently. Does your, does your hand have feelings? No. So if you, if you poke it, it doesn't hurt. Oh, if you cut me, do I not bleed? Oh man. If I trim your nails, do you not scratch worse?
00:05:57
Speaker
So the, uh, so you're staring at, you're watching spell slots, do a little jig, try to make, trying to make himself seem more, I don't know, friendly or approachable. What are your thoughts on that? Davin and Gwendolyn and Craig's, they just woke up cause they would have been stunned. I think we're having a nightmare or something just surrounded
Inside Joxer's Brew Hole: A Moment of Respite
00:06:17
Speaker
by black. And all I can see is some barrels in a dancing hand.
00:06:21
Speaker
Alright, don't panic. Things went a bit awry. You're... Okay. You're both feeling okay, right? If this is a dream, why did I feel it? I mean, in dreams you feel it, but this seems real. Just be careful. If you die in your dream, you die in real life. I assure you, it's not a dream. You're awake. We are in the brew hole.
00:06:52
Speaker
Let's just say we are running potentially for our lives. Oh, maybe a little bit more information would be nice. OK, OK, let's let me break that down. Do you remember much before you kind of lost your, I guess, consciousness or your little stunned there for a minute? I don't remember much. It was just painful. Right. Well,
00:07:22
Speaker
the mists they're terrible right that we can we can agree with that they all right so they did something to you none of us particularly enjoyed it uh we had to find a way to escape carmen i guess crapped his pants and left
00:07:39
Speaker
Really? Yeah, I did not expect that. He seemed a little tougher, but well, he's gone. Joxer is currently on my steed running for all of our dear lives from whatever is happening in these these mists. You two found yourself a little bit ill in these mists and well,
00:08:03
Speaker
Here we are, uh, trying to make it to the other side of whatever this is and doing our best to survive. All right, follow up questions now. How long have we been in here? Oh, uh, a minute. All right. How do we know when it's safe to go out? I'm sure we'll know whether either we are forced out or jocks or we'll open the, the whole door and we will,
00:08:31
Speaker
be able to exit safely, all arms and legs intact.
Breaking Through the Mist
00:08:36
Speaker
All of you immediately here. As as some some like, you know, glasses are trying like pushed across a table in your direction. I think he's trying to drink or get us to drink is pretty on brand.
00:08:55
Speaker
Oh, this is for jocksers. Do they have the same personality? Do they say, do they share thoughts? I never even talked about this before. I think this is his third hand. I know how some, some have third eyes. This is, I'm pretty sure his third hand. I mean, I always felt like it was like a separate being, right? It's, it's almost like having a little puppy, right? But it's just a hand. I thought the same thing, but he's proven time and time again, some kind of control over it and has used it in ways unexpected.
00:09:22
Speaker
Truthfully. We shouldn't let it walk on its own. And Gwendolyn goes over and picks it up and just holds hands with it. Interlocked or like shaking it? Interdigitation. All right. Yeah. Definitely holds on a little tighter.
00:09:40
Speaker
Uh, well, it's okay. There's not too much we can really do in here. Maybe, well, I just grabbed one of the steins of her glasses, whatever he's been pushed across and bottoms up, I suppose. So we're just going to sit here, drink while whatever chaos that goes on out there, jocks, I'm going with a, with a belly full of ale. All right. Fair enough.
00:10:05
Speaker
All right. So, so jocks are, I need you to make one more charisma saving throw for me. All right. Got it. Got it. That went off. Okay. Uh, uh, you said charisma. So that is a 17 plus three.
Finding Safe Haven and Planning Ahead
00:10:19
Speaker
Great. So a 30 20. So you're writing and you feel, yes, right. You feel these mists encroaching around you again. And the, the, you start to see flashes.
00:10:32
Speaker
And your mind's eye, you start to see these flashes of, it looks like there she is standing in the trees over there. And then the flash goes away and you shake your head realizing that's not actually happening. This is crazy. I got to keep going. And just as you do, you break through the edge of this mist, this fog, and you continue to just
00:11:00
Speaker
just gallop down this trail. You break into a small clearing that quickly closes back in with more trees and everything. But the mist seems to be behind you with as you rode through, you could tell you look back and you see strands, I guess, of this black mist reaching like it's reaching for you and then pulling itself back in like almost like tentacles. And you ride through
00:11:30
Speaker
clear of this danger. There is still this darkness around and this dark mist above you swirling just like there has been, but it hasn't descended in this area like it seems to have done where you just came from. Yeah, I imagine the moment I break through the thick of it, I just kind of gasp for this large amount of somewhat more fresh air. Sure, yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
And then as I look back, I still have my little floating light balls. I can't remember the orbs. Yeah, the orbs. I'll probably if I see it lashing out at me, I'll like as a bonus action as I'm moving forward, just try to like put the balls in the way just to kind of give it give it something in the way. And then I'm just going to.
00:12:24
Speaker
Bolt probably another like two or three minutes or so and at least and try to give get an idea of maybe something that's maybe a safe area. And then I'll, you know, hop off the steed and and kind of put my head against it and kind of just somber thankfulness and then lay out the brew hole.
00:12:48
Speaker
Okay so you as you continue to ride and look for a safe place you ride for another two or three minutes before you get somewhere that looks like the it actually seems like the fog above you has is a little bit higher in this area than it was you know behind you it's almost like it was it was kinda
00:13:07
Speaker
drifting downward and then you've kind of ridden out from under where it was doing that drifting.
Navigational Struggles and Uncertainty
00:13:12
Speaker
And so you find a space where really it's the same as everywhere you've been. There's this very small path that seems to be old and worn and it kind of disappears every now and then in just kind of this guck that's on the ground, but it's easy to track.
00:13:26
Speaker
and just keep going in that direction and there it is again. So you do stay on the trail pretty easily but you finally find a place where the trees seem to have kind of grown over and it's a very small tight area that seems to be kind of secluded and protected but still on the trail where you can tell the right direction. So that's where you see that you feel the most safest when you arrive there. Okay, you know, hop off and thank you. Can't say anything else.
00:13:56
Speaker
and then kind of lay it out and then poke my head down into the hole. And all right, ladies and gentlemen, we are at our destination out of the fog. You just see me sitting there basically double fisting two Steins. How do we know that that's really him? Oh, just kidding. Let's go. I want out of this hole.
00:14:20
Speaker
Um, I mean, you're, you're welcome to stay in there. I just don't know how well it'll go. Uh, see, you're enjoying yourself, Griggs. Hopefully it was a, it was a wonderful ride. It was terrifying up here. Uh, you had the hard part. This was, well, more enjoyable, I assume. I, uh, I, uh, we, we aimed to please the jocks, jocksers brew hole. I was worried about turbulence, but there was nothing, it was good.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah, you know, you know, I tried to make sure that everything in there was kind of tied down and bolted in, but I didn't even really need to. It definitely doesn't get affected by anything outside of that plane. I'll give you five swords on fantasy Yelp. Fantasy Yelp. Fantasy Yelp. You can just call it Felp. I give it two fairies out of five.
00:15:18
Speaker
All right, I'll crawl out of the hole and look around. It's clever, y'all. So clever. So clever. Yeah, I'm going to crawl out as well. What does this side look like now, now that I'm kind of like getting my bearings back a little bit? What does it look like? Like just what is the space you're in now look like, the forest? Yeah, it just looks like it has. I mean, it's not any nicer for sure.
00:15:45
Speaker
you know, you see some of the trees are growing, they seem to be a bit smaller, like they seem to be getting a little smaller, the trees do as you move forward. But, but yeah, it's pretty much the same. The ground is that icky, gooey, black, kind of tar like substance where you're walking is a little harder. And actually, it's a little less, there's a little bit less gooey on the path area than it is on the
00:16:11
Speaker
You know, around the trees, but, uh, I'm going to telepath telepathically ask the great L you didn't go. We didn't turn back. Did we, you get the negative feeling like, no, like it doesn't just when it ran forward, I did what you said. All right. Well, I guess we're safe. Yeah. I mean, it seems like a safe enough area for now. Uh, I guess we lost our companion, which is.
00:16:39
Speaker
Hopefully he's all right for now. And then I'll pull out the map and see if I can kind of gauge maybe some distance that we might have traveled for. I think we were heading towards the diamond. Sure, yeah. There is there is no like there's no.
00:17:04
Speaker
There's a little compass on the map, but there's nothing there to show you distance, like how far things are from each other.
00:17:11
Speaker
The size of the trees to the size of like the opening, the area where the villages are and everything does not seem proportional. It's a hand-drawn map, right? So it kind of seems like there's as good a chance that this is completely just a rough attempt at a map. There's as good a chance of that as there is, you know, it is
00:17:35
Speaker
a very well made, you know, really nice kind of situation. It's hard to tell which it is just just from looking but you definitely so you just can't really tell how far you should be going because there's really no landmarks or anything on here to kind of give you an idea of your halfway a quarter of the way almost
Camping Amidst the Corrupted Landscape
00:17:56
Speaker
there. You don't really know. Um, yes, it
00:18:00
Speaker
It definitely looks like we're going in the correct direction, which is away from the fog. And toward the diamond, right? Yeah. Such confidence. Let's continue. I mean, it's.
00:18:18
Speaker
There's not really a diamond that I can see out here. I know we went away from the herb area and headed in this direction and I didn't veer and it looks like there's a path.
00:18:36
Speaker
So I think we just have to follow. You see Gwendolyn, she's kind of behind the group. She's a little nervous going through this and she looks her finger and puts it up. Does she feel any wind? I assume not, but she's going through anyways. Nothing at all. What was I going to say?
00:18:59
Speaker
I mean, if Joxer says it's this way, I mean, we can trust him. I just, I cannot, I have no sense of direction in this land. Somebody can make a survival check. I want to do it. Do it. Yeah, I was going to say that probably shouldn't be me. Yeah, I don't think I'm great at those either. First roll of the night. You can't be great at everything, guys. It's okay.
00:19:27
Speaker
Uh, four plus nine, 13. I'd like to assist her if I could with the map. Just kind of pointing out if you'd allow me to give her a help action. Yeah. Roll again and call that advantage. Gwendolyn. Okay. Okay. I know I got caught under something. The likely story. How's a one plus a nine. The advantage is not always good. It's worse.
00:19:57
Speaker
So you looking around, you're trying as hard as you can to kind of make out some symbol, some signal of what direction is what, right? And you're used to in the forest, pretty simple, right? It's pretty,
00:20:13
Speaker
For you, it's pretty easy. You know which direction, like which side of the trees the moss grows on in different parts of the forest in different seasons. You can look up and see the sun or the stars and use that. You can even tell the direction leaves grow in and during what time of the year because where the sun, you know, spends most of its time. So there are ways that you know. There seems to be very little in this area
00:20:40
Speaker
With what is left of this forest, there's very little for you to read to tell what direction you're heading. You get a sense that you still have your back to where you were just because of your sense of direction is pretty good. So you think that you're unsure that you're heading south, which is where you where you want to be heading, but you're only 60% sure about that.
00:21:09
Speaker
I say the jocks are leads away. And then she just kind of just stands there. She doesn't know what else to say. Well, I'm I can definitely keep keep the front and and we'll we'll get there eventually. All right. Any direction is a direction. I'm going to hop on the elk. You say anyone want to ride? I'm fine. Thank you.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, I kinda just wanna walk now, and she kinda holds her arm.
00:21:42
Speaker
Okay, you guys continue to walk in that direction. And as you do, the forest continues to get, just change a little bit. And it's still the same dark kind of dank, musty feeling. It still smells a little rotten, like everything's a little spent, right? A little old. But you do notice the trees seem to be getting a little smaller as you go.
00:22:12
Speaker
Unnaturally so just they're not as big and and impressive and it looks like they never were it doesn't look like. This they look the same as far as the impact to the corruption in this area has had on them.
00:22:26
Speaker
but they definitely look like they've just always been a little smaller. You also notice that the ground at your feet as you walk on the path gets a little more firm. If you stray from the path at all, those who are not on a steed, if you stray from the path at all, your feet do sink a little more, but slightly less than they do within they were up where you were. And
00:22:50
Speaker
You continue walking and eventually the darkness gets to be to where even the orbs that you have are barely giving off a dim enough light for you guys to see what's ahead of you. And it is now you get the sense that it is close to nighttime. It's at least evening. You feel like it probably
00:23:14
Speaker
darkness comes early in the day up here because of just the nature of the sky being covered in this dark fog. It's definitely getting dark enough that continuing to see your way and to find the broken parts of this trail might be a little more difficult. So would you guys like to continue or maybe settle down for a little while? It looks like it's getting a little bit darker. We could wait and I don't know, maybe
00:23:44
Speaker
Maybe someone will catch up with us, but I'm not super hopeful. I think waiting might be a good idea. Another run in with the mist like we had in the dark would not be very advantageous for any of us. I just worried. What if for?
00:24:05
Speaker
being watched. I mean, be like any other day at this point. I mean, maybe just, you see Gwendolyn getting more anxious. She doesn't like this place. I mean, I would love to just get there tonight, but I don't know if we have any idea how close we are, if we are even going the right direction. So I think we need to stop. I'm, I'm with you
Joxer's Watchful Reflection
00:24:29
Speaker
on that one. I would love to just trudge through if, if we knew
00:24:34
Speaker
a little bit more about where we were going, but I don't think it's worth the risk. Well, I guess, as good a place as any to stop then, right? Yeah. I'll try and, I don't know, maybe we can set up a fire of some sort and see what we can manage. Why haven't we put firewood in your brew hole? We did take some of it from earlier.
00:25:00
Speaker
I mean, sure some, but like we've had plenty of opportunity. We could have just stacked that thing full. Come on. I mean, yeah, there's definitely some storage on the edges and I wouldn't mind, you know, even stepping on some to an extent, but, you know, I just keep grumbling about this as I'm actually looking around and trying to figure out a way to like lay down camp here. What do you mean? Our preparedness leaves a lot to be desired for.
00:25:31
Speaker
Or sometimes even obvious things don't seem obvious when they're not obvious. You don't say. I'm not sure that any of us really prepared to be in a muddy bog of darkness. And I agree. And I'm just, I mean, yes, we could have prepared a little bit more, but even, even some of the areas before, I don't think would even take wood.
00:25:59
Speaker
even if it was dry. All right. Well, we have some, we'll, we'll set it up. We'll get the fire started and get a bit early. I suppose jocks are, I have a feeling you're going to be watching tonight. Yeah. I, I just, I just have no need for it for any sleep anymore. Can we talk about that for a second? Like what is going on with that? You haven't slept in like a week, maybe more at this point, probably way more. I,
00:26:28
Speaker
It's interesting. After we fought that plant monster, I had a couple of visions that night. It's like I'm not meant to miss anything that's happening around me anymore. I don't know what that means.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah, I don't understand it either. So, if you can see the future? Well, no, only the present, but how much present do we miss in the time that we sleep? Yeah, that sounds so boring. Well, I mean, even when you're awake, you miss at least 50% of what's behind you, right? Or 100% of what's behind you, that's 50% of what's around you.
00:27:20
Speaker
And then imagine the hundred percent that you do one of your eyes is close. So, but what have dreams or what do you need dreams for when you have this vast world of, well, some of my best plans for battle came from dreams inspiration and.
00:27:45
Speaker
I'm not wrong to be worried about you, I'm not going to ever stand by that, but I can't understand your magics, just like I'm sure none of you can quite understand mine, so I'm not one to question what you're capable of. I can understand Daven's concern, though. And I do understand. I can't say I specifically asked for it, but I'm not upset.
00:28:11
Speaker
with just having the ability to not miss the things that, I mean, just a night where, you know, a ghost decides to sneak up on us. I just feel like I've been blessed with something
00:28:30
Speaker
that at least gives us a little bit of an upper hand whenever it comes to the places we've been at this point. I just want to make sure it's an actual blessing and not you in paranoia or obsession, just forcing yourself to stay awake. I can definitely say that I'm not forcing myself to stay awake. I just don't, I can't
00:28:57
Speaker
That feeling of tiredness doesn't really, doesn't really come over my mind.
A Somber Morning and Determined Continuation
00:29:03
Speaker
My body still gets exhausted and I need to kind of rest it, but my mind is always clear. All right. I mean, I like the rest, so I'm not going to complain about having to take a watch.
00:29:19
Speaker
Well, if you're up for it, but if you ever feel like you need to sleep, I'll let you rest and watch out. I very much appreciate it. And anybody who is feeling restless can also join me if they want to in that respect.
00:29:37
Speaker
Oh, I think this is yours. And Gwendolyn finally looks at her hand after the whole day, not realizing that she's had another hand on her. And she unlocks her hands and hands it. I'm sure he was he was happy to have someone else to spend some time with. Thank you. I'll put my hand out and let him crawl up my shoulder. It was nice to hold someone or thing.
00:30:06
Speaker
Yeah, or thing. Hi. It is interesting for sure. Some one thing. Thing? That would have been a good name for him. Just seemed overdone. I don't know. All right. So I was going to say, well, let's eat and go to bed.
00:30:23
Speaker
I was going to say, so you guys eat and go to bed. It's time to progress the story. Let's go. Let's move forward in our conversation. Awesome. So as you guys start to settle in Daven and Craig's, you know, you're, you're kind of in a spot where.
00:30:40
Speaker
You know, the trees are, you know, there's, like I said, it's smaller. You can see where some of them have toppled over, fallen over. You actually notice that some roots kind of climb across the top of the ground instead of being underground. Many of the roots here are visible underneath you. And yeah, so you start to settle in, finding yourself a spot to do that. Joxer, you're going to be taking watch.
00:31:07
Speaker
So go ahead and roll a D100 for me. Anyone else have anything to say or that you're doing or anything before you? No, Gwendolyn probably just found a spot nearby and laid down on the ground, even though it's gross. I probably took a little bit of time and I kind of wrote some notes in that.
00:31:32
Speaker
herbalist journal that I have just kind of about where we're at and try to document a little bit and things like that. That'll be a 64, a 64, a 64 for you. All right. So you guys continue to begin your resting and you start to sleep and jocks are you're sitting and just kind of looking around, make a perception check as you do so.
00:32:00
Speaker
You go several hours into the night. Okay, that one's pretty good. So perception, not only plus one. 17 plus one, that'll be an 18. Okay, so as you sit looking for any sign of life or any sign of danger, you see the darkness is closer in the trees around you.
00:32:25
Speaker
And once again, you get that same kind of feeling like it's closing in on you, this mist that has been so just prevalent in your travels up here. It's like, oh, there it is again, like it's continuing. It seems to be more and more frequent now that you encounter this stuff. It doesn't seem to be approaching or coming all the way to the camp, but it's,
00:32:52
Speaker
almost like it's flowing and swirling around the trees and around you. And you just kind of watch it through the night. And as you're watching it, make a just a straight, no, make an insight check for me.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah, that'll be eight plus five, so 13. Okay, so it's swirling and you're trying to, you kind of think, I need to see, are there patterns here? Does this look like, you're looking for life, kind of, and it looks more like...
00:33:28
Speaker
It looks more like a storm, like a thunderstorm rolling in and just consuming anything that it comes near. It looks more like that than it does a creature trying to hunt or find anything.
00:33:47
Speaker
But that's the only thing you think is it just reminds you of watching thunderstorms kind of roll in from a distance. And just as quickly as you realize you were surrounded by this stuff, it seems to have dissipated a little bit more and it's not as thick around you. It's back to where it was before kind of this started happening.
00:34:10
Speaker
Does that kind of detail that it's starting to become the morning, or is that just it seems to have receded because maybe it didn't find something to snack on? Right now it seems to have receded. It seems to have not encroached into the camp area there, but it has backed itself away now for some reason.
00:34:33
Speaker
Um, might, might throw, uh, my little, my little orbs, uh, dancing lights to, uh, kind of borders, at least for, um, where I think that darkness is at least. Um, so if it starts to like encroach past the lights, that would be kind of a detail for me to jump into. Great boundary kind of thing. Yeah. A perimeter. Awesome. Okay. So you kind of sit for the rest of the night watching.
00:35:03
Speaker
And there's not any encroaching, you know, fog anymore. And the silence is kind of the worst part. It's kind of the worst thing as you just sit and listen to nothing except maybe Krig's over there snoring. Hey, your pardon? Yeah, maybe. I said maybe. That's up to you for sure. Is this Krig's snore? I don't know. Let me roll on it. Okay.
00:35:30
Speaker
That's an 11. What do you say? I say that about 11, every 11 minutes you hear and it's not real deep, like saw and logs, but there's little, you know, and then you, you definitely hear Ash or not Ash Gwendolyn. Actually you hear Gwendolyn every now and then just say something to somebody talking in her sleep or something. Oh, some body thing.
00:36:00
Speaker
Oh, and so every now and then you hear little things like that. But other than that, the nights quiet, too quiet, as they say, the morning comes probably later than you probably realize it later than when the sun had actually started coming up. If you do feel like the days are short here.
00:36:19
Speaker
just because the light goes comes late and leaves early.
The Pursuing Mist and Anxious Progress
00:36:22
Speaker
But probably time to wake up. Yeah, I'll stretch and then close my little ritual book, which I've been kind of writing notes in as as the night went on.
00:36:35
Speaker
All right. All right, everyone. Let's, let's get this show on the road. All right. Oh, good. It's morning. Probably. It's probably. Yes. Uh, Devin's just kind of real somber this morning. He just seems like he's tired of this whole thing. So he gets up and he just packs up his stuff and uses the wand to make some food real quick and just picks them up and starts eating it as he's ready to go.
00:37:01
Speaker
Um, I'll kind of kick Craig's since he's being a little quieter than normal. Hey, you didn't die on me, did you? Yes. I'm not carrying you. I didn't ask you to. Just roll them into the hole and fold it up and we'll get going. I'm up. I'm up. Gwendolyn's probably still talking to people in her sleep. I'm not waking her this time. It's one of you.
00:37:28
Speaker
I'll do it. I'm gonna walk over and... I told you I didn't. This isn't... Why? Just... Go ahead. Go ahead. I don't see why. Who are you? Gwen! No! I'm gonna look back at the guys. Kind of shrug, like, it's not working. Okay, great. I am responsible for...
00:37:55
Speaker
I'm going to, I'm going to reach into my pouch and get out just a little tiny like blacksmithing tools, kind of like a, a, a set of tongs basically. And I'm going to use it to like stretch out and like start tapping her shoulder with it. Gwen, Gwen. Get your paw off of me. I don't think that you should, why? I look back. Gavin just shakes his head and he waves his hands and I'm going to mold earth right underneath her. So it raises up and just rolls her over.
00:38:25
Speaker
Okay. When that, when that happens, I'd startling. I just fall backwards on my butt. So like I'm standing up or I, or I was on like a altar and I fell off. Yeah. I like rolled up and it's like you were on a hill and rolled too close to the edge and you roll down and kind of kind of hit the ground a little bit hard as it came up quickly. I mean, I didn't make it like 10 feet tall or anything, but you know, just enough to get her to roll a couple of times over. I see. When this time to get up.
00:38:55
Speaker
I see that. I tried the nice way. I don't know what it is at the ground around here. She sees the mound. Ground around here does some crazy things. I thought it doesn't matter. Are we ready?
00:39:20
Speaker
I'm ready. It looks like Daven's been packing for you know, the last four hours. So we're good I haven't been ready for days. I guess I'm good enough Just everyone keep in mind. We're walking toward diamonds. Whatever that means. Maybe we'll get lucky Get a little pep in my step. I'm ready I'll take some of that leftover water before we leave and I'll throw it into like
00:39:47
Speaker
you know, the brew hole so that I could use it for other things. I've heard diamonds pair quite well with peppercorns. I mean, you're, you're not eating the diamonds, right? You don't know what us dwarves do. I just want to make sure. Let's carry on. I think that might be one of the most common lines in this show. You don't know what us dwarves do. It's true. Devin doesn't really know anything about dwarves. You don't know us dwarves.
00:40:17
Speaker
I crush diamonds in my cereal every morning to dry and eat them with the chocolate almond milk. All right. So not because I'm lactose and tolerant. Yeah. It's a dwarf thing. You wouldn't know. You don't know dwarfs. Yeah. How do you, how do you raise cattle in a cave? You don't. That's the answer. So never thought about that as you move
00:40:45
Speaker
Continue to go out of the move from where you were camping, back towards the path and start heading south.
00:40:56
Speaker
you walk for a good solid several hours and the ground starts to feel almost hard like stone. I mean, there's definitely like what was once regular dirt earth beneath you, but it feels solid. You can almost, you can like kind of hear your footsteps now where before they were so cushioned by this goo on the path that you couldn't roll a D 100 for me, whoever would like.
00:41:25
Speaker
Someone else. I don't have hundreds. I don't want to every time. I do get fired by them out there. I rolled a one tonight. I don't want to roll minus a nine. I rolled a nine. All right. So 100. Yeah, I did. I got a double zero and a nine.
00:41:43
Speaker
You continue to walk, and as you are walking forward, the mist behind you starts to stretch towards you, like it's getting closer and closer, and you kind of look behind, you all kind of can look behind yourselves every couple seconds, and
00:42:05
Speaker
You feel like it's right there, like it's right about to overtake you, and so you maybe speed up a little bit, and then it feels like it's right there again, just keeps getting closer, but you don't ever, it doesn't ever seem to catch you, but it's just ever increasingly closer. And I need everyone to make a charisma saving throw for me as this is happening. What? It's my worst one. It's my best one.
00:42:36
Speaker
I'm good. Nineteen. Eighteen minus two. Sixteen. Twenty three. What'd you roll? I want to hear the numbers. Nineteen plus two. Twenty one. Twenty two. Oh, actually, that was a nineteen plus one. So twenty thirty twenty. All right. So math. That's twenty one.
00:42:54
Speaker
So as you guys as you guys start to walk, like go continue, you're able to kind of keep your calm as as the eye. Each of you kind of think, should we start running away from this? Like we need to get out of here. And then you're like, no, no, no, it's not catching us. Let's just
Ascension and Terrain Changes
00:43:11
Speaker
keep going. So you kind of keep walking forward. But continue, it still continues to just be right on your tail the whole time. Like it's just following you closer and closer and closer as you continue down the path.
00:43:24
Speaker
And so you walk down the path for a ways. Again, the ground now feels like you're walking on, this pathway feels like you're walking on solid rock. Like the ground here is solid and you start to go up in elevation as you're walking. You're almost climbing at this point. Not, okay, that was an exaggeration. You're not almost climbing, but you're walking upwards and you're going uphill a ways in.
00:43:55
Speaker
if in the earth beneath you, the ground beneath you is no longer really a trail as much as it's almost just really worn steps that were once probably more like better hewn and more nicely carved into this rock face that it seems that you're walking on now. But
00:44:16
Speaker
It doesn't. But you don't. As you look to your right and to your left, you see fewer trees. The trees you do see are smaller, much smaller. And you kind of everybody make a nature check for me now. Oh, great. My favorite thing to roll based on everything you're looking at. Oh, the 14 is one of my worst rolls. Nineteen minus one. Eighteen. Three. Sixteen. Six plus fifteen. Twenty one.
00:44:46
Speaker
Great. Get rekt. You get a, you have a plus 15 to nature. No, I have a plus six plus six. Oh, 15 plus six. You said six plus 15. So the confused me. I had a three plus zero. The only thing that knows is that nature exists. Oh yeah. It's a thing I've heard. I had a 14. So, uh,
00:45:08
Speaker
Joxer and Krigs, you both, you know, it makes sense to you, you've experienced this, that you're kind of getting a little bit higher elevation, not a ton, but a little bit higher elevation, and so that would make the trees to grow smaller and not be as tall. Gwendolyn, you realize a lot of different aspects here. Number one,
00:45:27
Speaker
The roots are climbing across the top of the surface of the ground here, meaning there's not a lot of depth for them to go to, which would then not allow these trees to grow very tall. And you get the idea that you are on some sort of large system of stone and rock, some sort of hill or mountain that is mostly ground stone beneath this thin layer of surface ground and...
00:45:56
Speaker
So it's pretty clear to you as you continue to walk forward that you're climbing this bit of a hill and you're underneath you is a rock stone ground beneath you. She just stops and she just touches the ground. You know, I might be crazy, but I think we are going up in elevation a little bit.
00:46:24
Speaker
I feel like we're walking sideways. The ground's different. Is this... Does this feel a little bit more at home for you, Krigs? Not entirely, but I do like stone. Is there anything specific about the stone? Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. With your nature check, you rolled... You look and you stop. It is black.
00:46:54
Speaker
It's hard to know for sure if it's black, because if it always has been, or if whatever is causing this corruption here has caused it to be that way. But yeah, it is black stone. Like you've never seen, really. What happens if I rub my hand across it? Do I have residue?
00:47:15
Speaker
There is a look like a like a tar substance as you wipe across and the but the stone beneath it still looks black.
Spotting the Destination Village
00:47:25
Speaker
Again, maybe stained by this stuff or maybe it's just maybe it's the maybe the stone just is black like that. All right. Well, I cast power washer. I'm joking. All right. Great. You start a business and put a sign in your front yard.
00:47:41
Speaker
I want to keep the residue that's on my hand and I'm kind of gonna play with it. I've never seen anything like this and she just... she remembers it but she doesn't know. Because this is the same substance that was in the trees. Make a history check.
00:48:00
Speaker
Uh-oh, seven plus two, nine. It sure seems like it. It doesn't seem to be as tacky and sticky as that stuff was, but I mean, it is the same exact, like almost lack of light black, right? It's like darkness, not even a color.
00:48:23
Speaker
She's just going to talk to Dale. I don't know. What is this made of? And how do they keep walking? Well, at least I, for one, kind of prefer not having my feet in sludge. Some kind of silver lining, I guess. I'll take anything. I'm going to look back behind this. If we've gone up in elevation, can you look back and see like tree lines or is it just darkness? What do I see?
00:48:53
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, you turn around and look behind you and you definitely see that you're now standing not quite above the tree line. You haven't climbed up that much, but you're, you're definitely like halfway up and you can see as far as you can see this billowing blackness above you. There's certain pockets of it though, that you see that look like they are descending and swirling and then scooping back up and make a perception check besides that. Okay.
00:49:22
Speaker
18 plus perception is one. 19. Yeah, so you see a couple areas where the black mist has descended, and it seems to be like this cloud forms just like all the way to the ground and all the way up to the sky, and it's all one big piece.
00:49:44
Speaker
And as you look up and look at the sky, you can see where it's like the swirling and the pieces of darkness, they all connect to each other. And they seem to have this like slightly less thick black mist or fog on the edges of it. But it's like there's
00:50:04
Speaker
the core of it kind of in the middle that kind of reaches out and drops and then pulls up and reaches out and drops and then pulls back up and that's kind of the vibe you get just looking at the above you as you look over and there's no it's it's hard to make out any kind of pattern or any sense of like um any sense of
00:50:27
Speaker
life or anything like that, like what I was telling Joxer, but you definitely see that this is one large, and it goes as further than you can even see in every direction as you look. I really do hate it here. I guess we just keep going, right?
00:50:44
Speaker
Yeah. Do we still see kind of like a path of some sort or are we just kind of full blind? Yeah. You're walking up stairs, like steps, full on carved steps. They're kind of dilapidated and worn by whatever has caused this. But they're they've definitely survived this dark. This hard stone has kept them. So you're you're kind of actually more aware that you're on a path now than you kind of have been for a while. So yeah, I mean, we this is
00:51:14
Speaker
Just keep going I guess. All right, so you guys keep walking and you walk up these steps and it levels off to a more of a ramp kind of walk and the trees you seem to be kind of getting to this the top section of whatever this hill was and the trees start to be more prevalent here and
00:51:38
Speaker
And the roots still grow, kind of stretching across the tops of the ground. It kind of makes it still easy to see your trail because the roots don't grow over where this trail has been worn. It grows right up to it, and the roots just kind of pour over the ground, stretching across, connecting all these trees to each other as far as you can see. And
00:52:03
Speaker
You walk through this opening in the middle, this pathway, and you find yourself finally walking up to a clearing. The trees open up in this clearing, and as you look ahead of you, you see the silhouettes of buildings in the distance. Just as the light's starting to go out,
00:52:23
Speaker
You can see large buildings, the silhouettes of these large buildings, all made, it seems like, from some sort of significant stone-like substance, like stone structures that you're looking at. You see over to the left side a large contraption that looks like a big, large post with another post sticking off the top of it with something dangling from that post. Huge, gigantic.
00:52:50
Speaker
And you walk a little further, and you get through where the trees were, and you can see a giant pit in the center of the ground, stretching hundreds of feet in diameter. These buildings sit on the edge, and some of them look like they're on ground that goes down into this pit until, finally, you can just see the roofs of the buildings as you look down into the pit.
00:53:20
Speaker
And beyond the pit a little ways, you see a couple of very tall statues. They look like people. And as you kind of look and you're looking over this horizon, you're seeing all of this. You start to notice a few glowing eyes again here over to your right. There's a group of them, five or six. There's a couple over to your left in the trees.
00:53:47
Speaker
They blink a couple times and they're gone. But you think you found the Jimstone village. That's where we'll leave the episode. Nice. What the heck? Nice. Who's Jimstone and how did he get his own village? Oh man, the claw. Good God.
00:54:14
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Hired Swords. Really hope you enjoyed it, and really glad that we're able to get these back out again. I know it's been a journey, but we're so very glad that you've stuck in there with us. And again, thank you so much for listening. See you in the wilds.