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Ep. 98 Dreamscapes and Dusk Lit Skies
38 Plays23 days ago
The party splits, wandering this strange homestead and taking to the skies to discover what may be seen. Will there exploration reveal answers or just bring up more mysteries. Surely only the truth can lie ahead.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Hired Swords
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast where our escapism gives you a chance to disassociate.
Meet the Characters
00:00:42
Speaker
Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Hired Swords. My name is Michael, and I'm your host for this wonderful dice rolling sword wielding partying adventure with our friends, Krigs Galder, played by Blaze. Hey, Krigs or Blaze. Hi, Michael. Hi. Also, Mikey's here. He's jockser. Hi. I'm only here to complain about the government.
00:01:07
Speaker
Great. you'll fit right You'll fit right in.
Journey Recap
00:01:10
Speaker
Ash is also here. She plays Gwen Dolan. Yes. I like Gwen Dolan, my name. Also known as Dale's chippy mommy. I don't know what you call a chipmunk mom. but Chip mommy? A chipmommy. Derek, hello, sir. He's Daven.
00:01:28
Speaker
Hey, what's up? Oh, Derek's sad. etc say i'm'm i'm I'm cool, man. and I'm trying to be cool and calm and the awesome. Are you cool? I'm the cool one. I'm the cool one. I can tell because I'm crossing my arms. three I don't know if you have to say it. Just kidding. Yeah, you're probably right.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Well, we're back. We're going to play. I say we're back like it's been forever. And who knows? It may have been for you listening. But for us, it's been a little while, a couple of months, I think, since we recorded last. But here we are, ah ready to go again. Very excited. Schedules lined up. Excited to be with my friends, rolling dice and taking names and stacking cash.
Arrival in a New Realm
00:02:07
Speaker
I don't think we're stacking any cash. But we are we left off last time in a another kind of realm somewhere that they had never been before after exploring. Through the darkness that was the untouched lands finding themselves into a couple of villages that had been kind of swallowed up by this shadow and darkness. The party found their way down into a ah large
00:02:34
Speaker
strip mine of sorts, kind of surface mine that they walked down into in a village. And in the bottom of that, they had a big raucous battle with a dangerous shadow giant monster and his little shadow buddies, Gwendolyn, perishing in that fight, being revived just in time and then stepping through a large portal that took them somewhere else where they are now. They're now in a place after some experiences individually that kind of led them to a little more power and a little more strength and some boons from the seeker.
Meeting Marlowe and Realm's Secrets
00:03:11
Speaker
They've now made their way into a this other realm that is brightly colored and beautiful. The sky is this purplish hue, all the trees and everything is is our different colors is purple and gold and
00:03:26
Speaker
orange and green and blue and everything you can imagine. Everything is just just different unique. Even the grass seems to almost have like a mind of its own as you step ah through this as they step through this forest that is in this new area that they've they've found themselves in. So then they explore as much as they can kind of looking around figuring out where to go find their way up to the top of this hill. They see what looks to be something glistening in the distance some sort of structure and having seen this
00:03:58
Speaker
Gwendolyn turns herself into a deer, takes off running through the woods, finds herself at a cottage of sorts. There at this cottage, she's approached by a gentle, seem seemingly this large gentle man who steps up to her and offers her a ah Snack something to eat as he's standing tending his garden.
Exploration Plans
00:04:21
Speaker
They find themselves on this homestead with this greenhouse this this this cottage ah Garden, there's four large statues that we spent some time discussing that this man says his name is Marlowe and that he carved these statues from the trees here in this area and
00:04:40
Speaker
They learned a little bit about the area that they're in. They learned that there doesn't seem to be a real night that you kind of have to get used to finding a way to block out the light so you can rest. They learned that there are some beings kind of in the distance, a contrive of some kind, kind of out somewhere, but that they don't, there's nothing really that seems to be of any kind of harm to anyone that he that Marlowe knows of anyway. They also know that he's unsure of exactly how long he's been there, but he did not have a homestead when he started. He was there long enough at least to create all of this that they see before them. They ended the last episode having Marlowe going to take a rest and Joxer wanting to go explore the plant life at the greenhouse.
00:05:28
Speaker
Gwendolyn wanted to go investigate, kind of look more thoroughly at the statues that were on the backside of the house, that stood even taller than the house, these tall, thin statues. And Kriegs wanted to go fly around and look and see what he could see in kind of the general diameter of the area that they were in.
00:05:51
Speaker
Daven offering to join him and fly up to do the same.
Joxer's Greenhouse Discovery
00:05:55
Speaker
So that is where we pick up. Each party member kind of stepping to do the next thing they want to do in their their little exploration of this region, this area. So I would like to start off with Joxer.
00:06:10
Speaker
Uh, in the greenhouse jockser, you, you step up into the green green. Yeah, you walk into the greenhouse, you step up to this, to this building and he he kind of explained to you that the, he kind of made this glass from.
00:06:26
Speaker
you know the time he spent here it it kind of makes there's kind of magic infused in everything it seems like here so he was able to easily make it with the dirt and sand and things that were here and he made this greenhouse out of this crazy glass that is there amplifying the temperature and the sunlight within it you step up to the door and and it's kind of a so ah ah a sliding door that's kind of glass, but it it kind of is a little bit, not rickety, but unstable as you kind of have to wiggle it to get it to go and in slide across.
00:06:57
Speaker
And then once you you get it slid over and you step in and you just see rows and rows of plants, different plant life. There are there are flowers, there's small trees that look to be saplings that could be planted somewhere at some point. There are ah vines that kind of hang from some of the the ceiling here and there. There are All kinds of different little like bushes that have certain kind of like vegetables or fruits growing on them and they're just kind of That doesn't seem to be a lot of order to this other than Everything are in everything is set up in like nice rows But they are not necessarily like labeled of in any way. It's just kind of like thrown in here a little bit ramshackle, but still
00:07:50
Speaker
you know done intentional. So you're welcome to look around and tell me if there's anything in particular you want to look at. Otherwise you could just make a general survival check as you're looking around at all of this plant life to see if there's anything that catches your eye.
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, so um I guess generally I'm kind of just looking for any. I mean, does any of this look familiar in any way? I realized that the the biome here is different, but do do they have similarities of like, oh, this looks like probably an apple or this looks like a her by no. Yeah, why don't you go ahead and make that survival check already? It's we're going to use this. No, we're going to use a Starbucks die. We're going to do that one. I haven't said that in a while.
00:08:33
Speaker
See apparently i know nothing in here that is a five plus one ah six six so um yeah as you look around you're finding these are all.
00:08:53
Speaker
almost like just a little bit off from what you from what you would think of when you look at something. you're like you know you're you're trying to Almost like you're trying to pairs pair these up with something in your mind and it's just not quite close enough for you to really say, oh yeah, that's kind of like an apple. Oh, that's kind of like cherries. like Yeah they're they're a little bit different enough that it it doesn't it almost is familiar but not quite. And yeah so you're just kind of looking around stepping through this and just it's almost overwhelming the amount of things that you see here and and how different each thing is from the next one that you look at.
00:09:40
Speaker
and i'm I'm trying to remember it it's been a little bit, but i I know he talked about a couple of things that that kind of gave. I guess made his belly hurt in some way um of of things that he ate while he was around. Is there anything that I remember of like OK, so this is for sure something that reminds me of don't touch that. Or or I can't remember why don't you make a perception check now right or investigation if whichever one you'd rather.
00:10:09
Speaker
go start looking detail by detail or really just look around. I haven't used a lot. That's better. ah So ah perception, so that'll be a 15. Okay, so you you continue to look around with your, you said perception, and it's just kind of, again,
00:10:34
Speaker
everything's a little bit off, but you start to get a little bit of an understanding that these, they seem to be altered. It's like an altered version of things you've seen before. It's not like, well, they just look different here. It's like something was, these look like a mixture, like a combination between one thing and another. And as you're looking, you see a little notebook tucked under the leaves of this yellow potted flower that's sitting near the back of the greenhouse. There's a little, just this little, probably, you know, half page size notebook folded over with, uh, scrawlings even on the outside of it. It's just kind of scribbled all over the outside.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm going to immediately grab that and and kind of thank the heavens, because I'm going to guess that this is this is his notes of some sort, fingers crossed. Yeah. So you when you look at it, you definitely see on the outside of it that it's covered in notes, like you said, those different kinds of notes. And the the notes really hint towards the the main source of the differences in these plants being the manipulation of whatever magical energy is just in this land, in this area here that you're in.
00:11:55
Speaker
and and he he's his writing is very it's very you know it's the way he's explaining sounds very respectful like he's doing in a way where he's he's just kind of trying to crossbreed these plants in a way to find new things and see what that's capable of and very exploratory and a couple times you'll see something in there like i i went ahead and i licked the leaf and when i licked the leaf we'll see what and it stops and then you see a little scribble underneath there it's like don't lick that leaf anymore like things like that that are there a couple times right and uh and then as you but you you finally you're kind of looking and just thumbing through but you really get to the very beginning of this you see the very first page of this book and it's completely different than the rest of the book
00:12:44
Speaker
This is actually like paragraphs written out. And it looks like he started some sort of journal, which I'm now showing you in Roll20 for you to read out, if you'd like. I will, I will do that. um Yeah, so I look at this little piece of paper and ah and I read, I'm not sure what this place is, but I should have been gone by now.
00:13:09
Speaker
A mage once explained that the banish spell only lasts one minute. The last thing I remember is running through the corridor. My orders were to protect the priestesses. They said the country was at stake. Even the entire plane of Ida, well, I turned a corner and there was a sorcerer reading a scroll, and then I was here. The only explanation is that time moves more slowly here.
00:13:37
Speaker
That or Tifania has fallen. Ooh, Tifania. And that is about the, that's at the end of any kind of like journaling. That's about it. And it seems like, you know, this was written pretty early on into what his arrival here and everything else was just, well, that's not a journal anymore. This is not my notebook for the greenhouse.
00:14:03
Speaker
You know, how many notebooks do you have that have multiple purposes in their life?
Gwen's Statues Investigation
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially being, you know, taken to a new plane of existence. Sure. Sure. Sure. Don't don't have your log of ah books. Um, if you're talking about real life, I have like the back of receipts or one scrap of paper that has all my notes on them. Exactly. Yep.
00:14:24
Speaker
um I'm definitely going to keep that in mind, especially that the last last half of that where I'm going to bring that to the others. But I'm going to study that book a bit and see if I can make a couple of decisions on one like some of the the fruits or some of the um things in there that I might want to blend or try to to make brews out of, essentially, um and then kind of just Ooh, what about your Quack-A-Shat fruit or whatever it's called? Since you said- Quack-A-Shat fruit? The Quaska fruit. What? Quaska fruit. Wait, since you said bruise, do me a favor and make, roll and add your wisdom modifier to it. Okay. or No, your charisma, right? Whichever your spellcasting modifier is. a Yeah, charisma. You are, you a monk-lock. All right, that will be a 18.
00:15:19
Speaker
So you're, you're filming through and as you're looking, you, you come across notes about this Barry, these berries that he didn't. He's like, these are the only ones that I haven't modified.
00:15:37
Speaker
but they looked so good, I went ahead and tried it. And I've never felt better after eating this berry. And it's so delicious. And he just like, and it makes me feel so good. And I feel like, and then and then there's a note, he says, same berries. I just ate one after accidentally slicing myself open.
00:15:57
Speaker
And it's recovering so much more quickly. That craps for days. it's it's ah It's recovering so much more quickly than it normally would have. Something's up with these berries, he says. you know Something's going on with these. And you get this sense and this whisper almost in your mind that this is this is very Uh, important to you what he's talking about here. This sounds pretty familiar. OK, yeah, no, um I'll definitely kind of put that a look around maybe for for what that description might be. See if they're being grown here or if they're probably out out and about. Didn't he offer us berries when we first got here?
00:16:43
Speaker
He offered you good berries, which just made you feel full right away, and you stayed full, but they didn't seem to have any healing properties or anything like that. Now, this is great berries that he's talking about. and Maybe, yeah. Superior berries.
00:16:56
Speaker
ah But yeah, so you look around and don't see... I mean, you you see plenty of different bushes with berries on them, um but that same kind of scents you get in your mind is that it's echoing again that this, that they're not in here. It's, you're not sensing that it's here, but you got this, you got this little buzzing when you started reading about it.
00:17:26
Speaker
OK, then yeah, so keep keep the that in my back pocket. Ask about that, um but I think other than and unless there's something else that that I'm interested in just kind of getting a flavor profile off of the reading of all. ah Probably figure out and head to bed in some way. Great, so you go around and and look around and can kind of.
00:17:52
Speaker
get the sense of a few things that might be interesting just from the smell, might be interesting as a tea or as a brew, like a ah ah nice, you know, a fermented brew as well as you as you look around. And so, yeah, you get some ingredients, maybe roll a D10 and you got that number of brews worth of ingredients, new recipes worth of ingredients, I guess. That'll be an eight.
00:18:19
Speaker
Nice, so we will we'll actually work later on what that what those do. Those are gonna be something to add to your, when you roll for your brews. We're gonna modify your brew table to add this to it, okay? Sounds good. Cool, cool, cool. So you've been exploring, you're looking in there. In the meantime, Gwendolyn, yeah you have walked around to the backside of the house. Yes.
00:18:48
Speaker
And in this back side of the house, you're looking hither and thither all over the back. Just really focusing mostly on these statues that are that are standing there. They stand basic, pretty much the the shoulders and head stick up above the roof, the peak of the roof of this cottage in this on this little homestead area. They stand facing the back side. They face the forest, which this is about a half mile diameter of of
00:19:19
Speaker
clearing around this homestead, but the forest you know starts about a quarter of a mile from where you're standing ahead of you. You can see it very clearly across the clear cut land in front of you. these These statues are standing there. And just to remind you, Gwen, these statues are tall, like I said, you know probably 15 to 20 feet tall.
00:19:44
Speaker
They're each different in a different pose. um Two of them have a more large, broad-shouldered masculine kind of figure. A couple of them, two of them actually have more of a ah feminine figure to them, and they stand each ah separate from the other. So they so they stand the more masculine next to the feminine with another masculine next to another feminine-looking one. They're they're yeah they're standing there and they're yeah They are carved from wood, very obviously. Their their legs are on an attached to this large cylindrical round base that their feet, they they don't really have feet. They just have their legs that come down as like posts almost and go into this this these large, what did I say, like pedestal that they stand on.
00:20:38
Speaker
And they're they're each just standing there. If you could please, well, I'll just ask, what do you what would you like to do as you approach these statues? um I believe last time I had tried to awaken them. So I was just like, why didn't it work? There has to be something. And she had kind of plopped down and started sketching these statues in her book. And while doing so, she's talking to Dale just ah I don't know why it didn't work, I just... and to Dale, what do you think? As you ask Dale this question,
00:21:21
Speaker
you You have had kind of a ah rough back and forth with Dale as he connected a little bit with Craig's and that was weird before you kind of came into this place. But since you came into this place, everything that is a little bit mystical and mysterious seems to be enhanced a little bit, like it's a little bit more.
00:21:39
Speaker
more It's almost more free to to use its power here, it feels like. It's not like there's more magic here, it's just there's less, it's almost like there's less hindering the magic or thought there's less getting in the way of it performing the things that it's gonna perform. So you you just quickly speak to Dale and ask what he thinks and you instantly get ah get a voice in your head that says, I simply think you should look closer. Closer, but, and then she kind of looks over at him Yes, just look closer, Gwen. Those, if you want to know more about them, look at them. See see what there is to learn. She looks around to see if the coast is clear, and um she's going to turn into a squirrel, and she's going to skid her up to the statues and start sniffing and testing these statues. A fly immediately and say, what are you doing?
00:22:39
Speaker
And she just turns back I'm joking this bird picks you up and starts picking at you with its beak. Oh, no, it's Kriegs Okay, so making an investigation check no advantage with your abilities as a squirrel advantage I won't lie. I didn't have my squirrel page up you can call it perception if it's better for the squirrel although I think this you the investigation or perception perception you get to use Guin's and But you get investigation as a squirrel or advantage as a squirrel. Cause they then taste buds and sniffer of yours. You have talented sniffers. Uh, as a squirrel for my perception, I rolled a nine total. Okay. Seven plus five. So 12.
00:23:29
Speaker
12 is better. So you, as you approach these, Gwen, before you shift down into your squirrel, you look up at them like, I might go up to those things. And you notice that they are each in a different pose. One's shooting an arrow, the next one is in like a wrestling pose, two arms up ready to receive, you know, like the first attack. One of them has its arms behind his back, like it's standing peacefully. The other one, the last one has both hands up on its face.
00:23:59
Speaker
And as you crawl around it, you begin to crawl, you the sniffer immediately picks up the smell of charred wood. It's wet and charred, almost like the dew is, is but it's like ah the smell of a campfire the next day after the dew has made the ashes ah wet and cold, wet and burnt smelling. And so yeah, so they they seem to have been created or carved or somehow made and then This dark black kind of sheen on all of them was kind of added to them through like burning the the outside of there there the the structure.
00:24:41
Speaker
I wonder. As I smell like the burnt sensation, um How, let me think, how do I want to write this? Does it? No, that's dumb. I was like, does it remind me of a campfire? And you already kind of already said that. Yeah, it does. Like the next day after camping's over and it kind of, maybe it rained a little or it was just really dewy that morning.
00:25:05
Speaker
I still sniff and skitter around trying to smell any kind of the difference between this campfire smell, if there's something that's sweet or something that smells out of place. making And I'm scratching too, making little divots. Make a survival check now. Oh my God. The dice don't love you today? They do not. So sorry to hear that. Oh my God.
00:25:36
Speaker
It's three total you're just running around blindly on these things jumping creature from creature from statue to statue Effortless effortlessly the the the jumping and the leaping and everything It's just like you're like flying squirrel almost just successfully moving from one thing to the next with no issue however You just smell burnt wood. That's about the maximum of what you're able to sniff out on these things. and Man. It makes for a fun little jungle gym as a squirrel, though. It is fun. Gwen's probably having a little bit of a good time. Yeah, that's great. around um While doing so, though, she's going to talk to Dale, but she's going to squirrels talk. Fun fact for people who don't know, squirrels talk with their tails.
00:26:22
Speaker
And so I'm going to. Is that a true fact or a you that's a true you decided just now. No, how they how they how they do their tails is how they talk to each other. I love that true fact. um So I'm going to do that with Dale. So I wiggle my tail and Morse code of I don't know what you're thinking. I.
00:26:42
Speaker
I'm looking, but i there's nothing here. And she keeps kind of chirping a bit and trying to get past the smell. You're not looking. You're playing. No. As she jumps to another statue. Maybe Gwendolyn should just investigate. Take a look. It's a notebook.
00:27:04
Speaker
Reading rainbow. Sorry, let's see. Yeah, she she wiggles back. But I am investigating. I mean, this might be fun, just jumping aspect, but I just there's nothing here. OK, then if you say so. No, I don't like that tone that you're saying. And she's kind of upside down. Her face is down.
00:27:31
Speaker
Like she sprawled out on the chest of one of these statues of the first one. And she's like, I don't like hey how you said that kind of an angry stance upside down. I'm trying. Gwen, look at the wood grain. Make another, make another roll with advantage. She takes her squirrel eye and puts it like as close as possible to it. Make a investigation check or perception check, whichever, with advantage.
00:28:00
Speaker
Oh my gosh, how's the 15 total? Yay. You look at the wood grain and you notice this glistening of arcane energy pulsing through the grains of this of the wood in these statues.
00:28:20
Speaker
it's it's There's this char kind of burning on the outside. And as you crawl more towards the bottom section where the charring and stuff isn't as prominent, it becomes very clear that there is magic, arcane energy just pulsing through the wood in these in these statues.
00:28:43
Speaker
And they're there's something there's they're very special. And and it was it was made that was made pretty clear by Marlow when he was explaining kind of how he you know how he carved them and how he didn't realize what he was doing, that they were so so neat and magical and that he can make them come to life and stuff. And So you you weren't surprised with the fact that they're magical, but you've never seen magical energy just imbued into something naturally like the wood in this, these statues has. ah I can't believe it. I just, I think I found it. I, how is this even possible? And she wiggles back to Dale. I only know what you know. Um, going on and start topping back and forth, trying to look at inside the little pieces of wood grains.
00:29:33
Speaker
going up and down, front and back. As you go to, as you go ah kind of around and in overall this, I'm gonna ask you to make one more investigation check. Ooh. Is that a minus one for you, a minus something? and tell Investigation, yeah. This is a negative it of four. Minus four, yeah. Four. I was afraid of that, but.
00:29:58
Speaker
It's okay. You're looking for details. So it's investigation. Um, five. Yeah. So as you, as you run around looking, you are definitely, you're definitely super distracted by all of these glistening. It's literally, literally shiny flashing pulses of magic energy everywhere you look now that you've noticed it and you can't shake it. It's just everywhere. So.
00:30:28
Speaker
you're unable to make out any other real details on these statues other than the fact that they are just almost throbbing with magic, magical energy, with so much pulsing through the the grains of of the the this carved out ah statue that you're looking at. Are you still a squirrel? Yeah. She is. See, that's also distracting, right? Ooh, squirrel. yeah Yeah, she's literally, ooh, I'm a squirrel.
00:30:56
Speaker
um Glendaling, part of the squirrel seeps into her mind in a way, and she she wiggles with her tail. ah I kinda wanna see what what else is inside. And so she starts digging a little hole in the shoulder of a feminine one. in the In the shoulder of one? Yeah. Okay, all right. So you start digging, and just make a strength check for me.
00:31:26
Speaker
ah gay See how as a squirrel with the squirrels body, yeah you know, yeah, it's negative four. Right. How's a four total? Yeah, you you are getting splinters like bit out of this thing, but it is going to take you.
00:31:44
Speaker
to get any kind of significant to get any kind of significant to like dug out of this this this creature this statue it's gonna take you a while but it may not deter you you may just be going at it I don't know she goes at it for a little bit I would say like a couple I would say at least a minute and she's she's she's scratching and putting her eye in to look and then keep scratching a little more and then putting her eye in. I just, ah I don't know if I can, I i need to draw. and As you bite through, you definitely get
00:32:21
Speaker
a you you get through some of that charred out so external surface of the bark of the wood and you definitely get to ah so where the the pulsing of that magic is a lot more obvious but other than that that's about all you you just see more of what you already knew um Gwendolyn hops down and turns back into herself. i I have to draw. I must draw. And she, like a madman, just starts drawing these statues.
Krigs and Daven's Aerial Observations
00:32:52
Speaker
So Gwynn sits and begins drawing and she is just, she's going to town sketching out these statues as we now kind of shift to Daven and Krigs. Daven and Krigs, explain kind of your, the, you said you're going to,
00:33:07
Speaker
you know, grow your wings or turn into something fly, like explain that whole situation. Craig, why don't you start? Uh, last we spoke, uh, I believe I kind of decided that I was going to go for a flyabout and asked Devin if he, uh, wanted to go for one as well. Uh, I popped my wings, which is my cape and Devin, I believe you turned into a special creature, a new one.
00:33:37
Speaker
No, I didn't turn into anything. I just plugged my nose, close my eyes, and blow like I'm trying to clear my ears, but instead that you see these eagle wings grow out of my back. That's right. Yeah, he's got wings now. And that's not weird to me at all. Oh, Greg, I got wings now. That's not weird to me at all.
00:33:59
Speaker
Oh, good. I was afraid I was going to steal some of your thunder with this one. but I tend to deal with radiant magic, not necessarily thunder, that's more your your jam, but ah shall we circle about? Have a little look around? Yeah, you're going to lead the way, I'll follow you. All right. Can I do a little hop, skip, and a jump like I'm trying to be fancy, because now I'm not the only one with wings, so I kind of do a superhero take off and... Nice. And then just hop out of the air.
00:34:29
Speaker
And this is the first time I'm taking off with like my full like body weight instead of turning into a bird or something. So I'm like getting a running head start, like, you know, like a rescuers down under sort of thing with the giants in that movie. Try to get started. Do you got angel like wings where they come out your back or do your arms turn into wings? No, I got wings coming out of my back.
00:34:49
Speaker
I really wanted your arms to be wings. I'm picturing that X-Men movie where the guy ends up cutting them off of himself. Remember that? Yeah. and Yeah. yeah yeah yeah like cur Very similar. Mine are like brown and gold though. Do they glow at all? I don't know. I mean, it's daytime, so like right now there's no light coming off of them. There's definitely a little bit of like a charge of lightning flashing as they grow, like kind of leading them as they grow behind grow out of it. you know So yeah, i think ah I think I'm mostly just kind of going
00:35:23
Speaker
up and around in a general corkscrew at the moment until I see something interesting. Great. So you can, as you fly up into the sky, you, it's, it's beautiful. First of all, it's very clear. It's kind of nice and refreshing after having tried to fly or see from up high in that dark kind of shadow land you were in before. Yeah, it was like wicked turbulent and I almost died. Yeah, this is, this is just, man, it's, it's almost just like a, times that I almost die.
00:35:49
Speaker
but yeah Many several times and so this is just so different and great compared to that and so yeah it's nice first of all you're a little distracted actually at the beginning. Buy just the colorful trees as far as you can see that the rainbow.
00:36:04
Speaker
you know, thousands of times over just continuing to repeat across this this billowing surface of treetops as you get to that height above ah the the forest. And you look down and you can see beneath you the the homestead that you're flying over, you see Marlow's homestead, you see his garden with very neat rows of plants, and you see the top of his round kind of shaped cottage that he that he is in, and and you see Gwyn on the back sitting. Actually, at this point, you don't see Gwyn. You see the big statues in like a little speck of something just hurriedly scurrying across all these statues.
00:36:47
Speaker
You also can see the little shadow of a little like the silhouette of jocks are inside this greenhouse, uh, distorted from the look, the view through the glass and through the plant life that's in there, but you can make out him walking around and looking around. So your, your team members, your friends, they're down there, they're safe. They're doing their thing. And you are both flying and starting your circles and, uh, you're kind of flying next to each other. Both of you make perception checks for me as you fly in your big circles.
00:37:18
Speaker
I got a 19 total. I like how I'm plus seven in persuasion, but I literally don't think I've ever used it. Wow. I got an 18 with plus one 19.
00:37:32
Speaker
Both 219s, that's great. So first of all, the clearing for this homestead you can see is nearly a half mile in diameter all the way across in any direction. ah The tree line that does you know occur about a quarter mile and in either direction from the building from the the the collection of buildings in the center, the the tree line is is very thick. It looks like he probably, Marlow seems to have cleared this clearing out for himself. it's it's very as you' As you get to this this ah this vantage point up high, it becomes pretty clear that this is an intentional, circular, defensive almost,
00:38:19
Speaker
ah diameter around the homestead that you have been visiting. And the tree line, like I said, it grows very thick immediately beyond the boundaries. the The tops of the trees are so thick that you can't see down beneath the trees and at all from the sky. You couldn't tell what was happening down there in any way, in any sense at all. As you fly around the general area,
00:38:44
Speaker
the trees beneath, beneath you begin to look so similar to each other that it's almost difficult to keep your bearings. if If you didn't have, if you didn't continue to like look left and make sure, okay, or, you know, I guess you're, if you're flying counterclockwise or just keep looking left and make sure, okay, the, the house is staying to my left. I'm going to fly around the outside as the house stays to my left, the house stays to my left.
00:39:07
Speaker
um If there wasn't for that homestead there in the center, it would be really difficult to kind of, it feels like to keep your bearings. There's really no stars to to be seen. The sky is just this colorful kind of golden purple hue with almost like northern lights kind of things flicking in the air. um the and And beneath you, like I said, is this almost like this confusing just sea of treetops. There's no sun or anything either?
00:39:36
Speaker
Not at this point. It seems like you've reached the brightly lit nighttime of of the this this area. and Eventually you do make out as you as you continue, you do make out. No, as you continue to circle and kind of expand your circle that your corkscrew gets wider, you do see a large clearing that looks to be about, it looks to be several miles away towards the Northwest. And the clearing is very far from where you're at, but it is large enough to be pretty obvious to you ah from here, you can see it.
00:40:13
Speaker
and then you continue to circle and then looking out to the northeast as your as your so that was in the northwest northwestern direction you came from the southwest but in the northwestern direction from where you're at you see that clearing you continue to circle and as you kind of come around and face more to the northeast you see While you are seeing a sea of nearly fluorescent treetops, they seem to roll over hills and into valleys, never decreasing in density, never showing a sign of a clearing in this direction. But there is one hill at about the furthest point near the horizon that you can see, which is much larger than the rest of the hills. And the treetops are billowing above the forest around it. It stands almost up high above everything else.
00:41:05
Speaker
around it I would like for you as you all as you look at all of this and you begin to take all this in please make an arcana check for me both of you hmm something else I'm neck like plus zero in how about like an athletics like use my eyes really good ah can I use my eye muscles to lift myself into seeing better things yeah I got a rolled an 11 okay I got a 22. I have Lennoxes plus nine, so I've been a sick 20. Wow. I'm a strong bully. I see that. So as you fly around...
00:41:44
Speaker
Krigs, you're not getting lost. you're You're keeping your bearings with that homestead without getting too far from the homestead. You're keeping your bearings and you're flying around. You make that curve while, Daven, you squint your eyes a little bit at that giant hill to the northeast and you begin to see and kind of sense that a large portion of these trees on that hill to the northeast are an illusion.
00:42:13
Speaker
Hmmm. you you sense You can tell maybe maybe there's a little bit of an outline to them. Maybe they're not that they're they're a little too perfect. Maybe they're they flicker just ever so in and out of this plane or this this ethereal or existence. And you're noticing, you can you can tell from looking at it that there's an a lose there's an illusion or an illusiatory, I don't know, magic.
00:42:44
Speaker
happening here? A losery magic? Losery, it sounds like. like i Losery magic. But there's losery magic over there. Some loser has to spell. Yeah. That's not cool magic like us. You're a wizard, Harry. A loser wizard. um Yeah. So that you do sense that though, or notice that as you are flying around ah that like third third or fourth time around your corkscrew as it gets wider and you're about at the edge of where It's simple to keep your
Reflections and Rest
00:43:15
Speaker
bearings. You're starting to get kind of too far from the homestead to to really keep your bearings until suddenly you realize that doesn't look real. It looks kind of like.
00:43:26
Speaker
early 2000 CG, where it's like PlayStation 2 in the middle of the real world. Yeah, it's almost like you can see the little blue reflection off the blue screen on their bodies, on the... You're right in the edge of your ah your computer's graphics, so like if you get any closer, they pop into view, if you go away, they disappear. Yeah, it's kind of giving you that vibe a little bit. Like Polygon. Basically how I play Baldur's Gate right now with my PC.
00:43:54
Speaker
It's like whenever you're playing Madden or something and you realize every single audience attendee is basically the same person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Too many copies the same way. That's exactly, oh you're like, that's an illusion for sure. Yeah. um Which one is like further away from the homestead looking at then the one to the Northwest or the one to the ah Northeast? The Northeast, definitely that hill.
00:44:18
Speaker
That big huge hill seems to be further away. Hey Gregs, I don't know if you can see this, but way off in the distance over there. Don't see that ah that hill, those trees on there. I can't, but I'm gonna trust you.
00:44:30
Speaker
It's there's something I don't think that's real. It's just the way that they move the way that they look They're just too perfect. It's like I use my frame muscles and squint a little harder 27 yeah, you see them now see you see them so hard It just flex and like my eyeballs bulge out a little. It's really written and stippy. Yeah. I'm just thinking of some like yeah crudely animated. Yeah. That's exactly. Rocko's modern life or something. yeah lets make a Pop zone. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that's freaking awesome. I think that's something that maybe we should check out at some point. Maybe not, might not now, but I don't know that I necessarily want to go just the two of us. ah
00:45:19
Speaker
We have a a bad tendency to get ourselves in over our head quite often, and and I think having having the four would be... Well, yeah, and usually... I mean, if you look at it, it's... If it is an illusion, they don't really come naturally in the world, you know what I mean? Well, no. It's usually something created that... Not typically. ah yeah definitely to put that on our list of to do yeah i think in the morning first maybe we should go to the ah the northwis over dare on that side i din gwen and jos are talked up about want to go see what is that like wall made out of vines or something
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah. like Was that a question for me? awkwardward pause like but drew a blank like Yeah, For the record, we had talked about that there was a wall like made of vines yeah in my notes.
00:46:17
Speaker
Yes, Marlowe had told you that he had happened upon such a wall in his adventures, but that he had journeyed about as far as he would go and that's where he came on. I flex my brain muscles and remember that. Yes, you do successfully. It doesn't make a popping sound though. Your passive brain, your passive brain athletics. I do grunt whenever I flex my brain though. Oh yeah, I remember that.
00:46:42
Speaker
Are you pooping? Yes. I'm trying to drop a deuce on Gwen down there. I understand it's funny. I understand birds now. you know When you get up here, you just want to drop things on people. It's something about the atmospheric pressure. Where's the where's the nearest Kia?
00:47:02
Speaker
If we happen to find a road, maybe we can fly in front of a cart. I think that'd be fun too. It'd be great times. Maybe we could, from up there, can you find a carvana?
00:47:13
Speaker
You know if there's a tower of cars in the distance I will say one thing it's Actually a nice little bit of respite just being up here it here try this I know I know you've flown a few times, but one of one of my favorite things to do up here ah steady your wings and allow yourself to just glide a little and lift My wings that's how I fly if they stop moving. Oh, okay. I mean don't flap you crazy. Oh just listen I'm sorry listen to the nothing of of the wind up here. It's almost like everything down there is just simple. I give myself one big flap so I kind of like get some boost going up and then I just kind of like freeze everything and just kind of like almost float there for a second as I'm reaching that point you know when you're kind of moving up the apex before you start coming back down. So I have that one moment of weightlessness and I just kind of peacefully listen. I put my like finger to my lips or whatever just like just just listen.
00:48:10
Speaker
you listen and you hear they sound like almost like birds chirping but there's very unique sounds things you hadn't really heard before and there's a slight breeze but other than that it's stillness and you know it's actually like you said it's very refreshing it's it's almost it's like an it's like a
00:48:43
Speaker
kind of soar around in circles and everything seems okay here. Like maybe there's no danger here. Maybe everything's fine and I fart. No.
00:48:58
Speaker
Ruined every moment. Blaze rips one. They're not Blaze. Craig's rips one. and He just laughs and just like starts flying away. um It smells like daffodils. Did did you get like in front of Derek before you did that? Oh, absolutely. I got just like a little bit. It was all kind of a ruse, but at the same time, it wasn't. I just realized that like we had been flying in silence for too long and it was the perfect opportunity.
00:49:28
Speaker
Dabbin was on his back just to kind of enjoying it. yeah And then suddenly crop dusted. I will immediately use press the dedication to try and get the smell to go away. Yeah, it's successfully. You successfully make it go away. Well, that's the last time I listened to him. And I will just kind of like dive and cruise down and head back toward the homestead. I've kind of started, you know, the the descent, spiraling descent as well.
00:49:55
Speaker
So you head back towards the homestead and as you're approaching, you do see Gwen sitting near the backside of the homestead and she's sitting legs crossed, crisscross applesauce as she sketches in her journal. You see Joxer walking out the door of the greenhouse.
00:50:18
Speaker
And it gets almost like a dusk amount of light here. it's it's not cold It's not dark by any means, but it's the closest to dark you've seen it here since you've been. And it's basically midnight in this in this place, in this plane, as you finally take your landing in the backside under the under the the watchful eye of the four guardian statues.
00:50:47
Speaker
approaching Gwen, Gwen sitting there sketching. Gwen, look, I have wings now. Oh, that's cool. And she just kind of just goes back to sketching. Oh, jocks are, look, I have wings now. Oh, uh, I'm sorry, David. I was looking at the, that had, when, when did you get wings? I love how ADHD Gwen is. That's so good.
00:51:17
Speaker
It's just one of those things where you feel like you can do something, so you're taught and you realize that you had that, maybe you had that ability all along, who knows? that Then you just see Jocks are like pulling out, his like trying to move his shoulder blades. Nope, nope, that's, ah no, I don't know that one. Well, to keep trying, you never know. You can see like shoulder blades like lifting out of his back. Maybe. Maybe it's the fact that your shirt is too tight.
00:51:45
Speaker
but Are we gonna finally talk about that now?
00:51:50
Speaker
i I didn't know is this was such a big deal. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just... Everyone in Wildhead was talking about it. He's a little tight. I like that I just made that cannon on you, sorry buddy. yeah look Look, here's the thing. You're either nippin' or you're notin', buddy, you're nippin'. I mean, they're they're naturally...
00:52:16
Speaker
Nippy, i what am I supposed to do about it? This is a little cold out here too, I know that. i yeah I kind of like this place. You know Kriegs when we were out there before you farted in my face? I don't know what you're talking about. You farted in his face? Look, it happens to all first time flyers. it's It's like an initiation, I understand.
00:52:40
Speaker
Anyway, before that happened, I did feel that that piece, that quiet that you were talking about, or at least that you were using as a trick either our way. You know what's funny? We came from this place that was all dark and silent, and we come here and it's also silent, but it feels like different, like a peaceful silence compared to that. Almost overwhelmingly so. Yeah, it's both comforting and discomforting. It's unnerving, but I like it.
00:53:09
Speaker
It's better than, well, all the death and decay we've seen for the last however long we've been in never, never, never land. I'm not saying that. I'm not trademarked back in. um Yeah, i the this is way better than where we were. I did find something, though there was a little note in the other and the other g room in there Have any of you heard of Fifania as maybe a location? Shall I do a brain flex for history? check Everyone can do history checks that would like to write. I don't have any points in that. Yeah, I'm a plus zero or four, six.
00:53:55
Speaker
Persuasion, intimidation, and insight are all like plus seven. The rest are garbage. Intimidate. Intimidate minus one. minus one.
00:54:16
Speaker
<unk> what do you roll i thought they were just rolling and this perception no history ah history Intimidate Everyone tries to use their best skill. Sixteen. but ah Everyone's like, oh, this is strength, right? Yeah, you're using your strengths to try to figure out if you know this fact. I mean, I don't know. Slide a hand in this note. Preception? To figure it out? Yeah. I can make an attack roll, right? With advantage because I'm hiding from this information.
00:54:49
Speaker
um i would like to animal knowledge my way out of this yeah ah so in school for sure hiding from yeah gwen and jocks are you guys both ah you are You're racking your brain for, first of all, Joxer and, no, Davin and Krigs, you know, you're like, this doesn't ring any bells. Joxer and Gwen, you are going through lists and lists of cities. There aren't that many notable cities in Greater Glintry where you're from, where the the the the continent you're from. There aren't that many that, and you would have known about them. Like, you're like, I would hear of this.
00:55:32
Speaker
and But that that name, that the the name of that of that city, Tofania, does not ring a bell at all. And you're like, that is weird because he's talking about it like it's something big and important. But I would have heard of that shortly if it having fallen would cause him to be stuck here somehow. I feel like what you're saying is gobbledygook. Well, I mean, I suppose maybe I'm saying it wrong.
00:56:03
Speaker
hepena yeah um Well, I just read kind of a note. And I feel like our friend is worried that his his city or world is has fallen. There's something a little bit deeper that he hasn't told us. Well, it doesn't seem like he's trying to hold back in information. So I'm sure if we ask him about it, maybe he'd say something.
00:56:32
Speaker
yeah Maybe. Are we feeling tired at all? Yeah, ah definitely. Especially after your flight, you guys are. um It's been probably more than a day ah for you guys ah since you last rested, maybe a couple of days. You you feel ah you got quite a boost from that journey through the portal doorway.
00:56:59
Speaker
But your, your mortal bodies are definitely feeling the exhaustion. Not, not statistical mechanical exhaustion, but just feeling tired because of what, uh, what you've been through. And so, uh, it's not dark by any means, but it's pretty obviously night. You're hearing almost like there's like hoots of like owl sounds, but they're different. They're.
00:57:27
Speaker
They echo over pretty loud and they're more low pitched. Uh, you also hear other little sounds like frog, maybe creatures, but they sound big and louder than you would imagine. So it sounds like night sounds, but they're nocturnal sounds, but they're, they're a little, little like everything else. They're a little enhanced or a little different. So, but you're definitely getting nighttime vibes from what you're experiencing as you kind of have a lull in your conversation.
00:57:53
Speaker
So did any of you see anything up up there whenever you took your flight? Well, yeah, I mean, we saw what it looks like a clearing where that probably that wall was or that whatever it was he was talking about earlier. I'm assuming it's that way. We also saw what looked like a hill with trees on it. But there's something wrong with it. I think it's fake. So maybe this little area is the only bit that is as perfect as we can see it. That would tend to be the pattern in which we we follow, yes, but cross your fingers and toes. Well, we can enjoy it while we have it. Just hope a giant beast doesn't clamp over us.
00:58:40
Speaker
while we rest tonight, today, now, or sometime soon? Yeah, I think tomorrow, after we wake up from whatever sleep we get, we should maybe take a look at it, see what we see. Did he say if we could sleep in his house or if we could stay? did Was there any... Yeah, he pointed you to a couple of cots he had kind of laid out in places he has kind of set out for you to lay down outside or inside. So yeah, he definitely made it available to you to to do it however you'd like. And he's already in there. You can hear him in there snoring this whole time since you landed. You could hear him in there snoring. He seems to not have a care in the world as he's just sleeping away. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to go find a place to rest for the night or the, the time. Sounds like a good idea. Honestly, but think weird long day.
00:59:30
Speaker
And that's that's the truth. I'm going to jump in the the brew hole and and see if I can do anything with these new ingredients. Hopefully you can can find a ah nice big sweater down there to cover up them nips. She slams her book and puts it in her bag. I'm going to go lay down. And so she heads towards the front of the house and starts to make a little spot in the grass. Look at this guy.
00:59:58
Speaker
Everybody else going to call it a night? Yeah, I think so. All right. As everyone calls it a night, finds their way to a restful location. Uh, the sky flickering with lights shooting, dull lights shooting through the sky, like the Northern lights and a slight breeze blowing, hearing the leaves kind of rattling. The scene is kind of set for everyone to get.
01:00:25
Speaker
Maybe the first peaceful night's rest you've had in a long time, even though it's about as bright as dusk would be or dawn. And I will say, tonight, no matter how bright it is, you all fall asleep and sleep soundly, and you doze with no problem at all. And that's where we're gonna end the episode.
01:00:55
Speaker
Man, this place is weird. I can't wait to find out what's happening. Can you? Well, thankfully you only have to wait a couple of weeks because the hired swords will be back with another episode. Thank you very much for listening to our podcast and for joining us on this adventure. If you really like it, please tell a friend. Let somebody know that you like the hired swords and send them a link or something so they can join us on this adventure and join our party. Thanks so much. See you next time.