The Swords know that answers are nearby. To get them, they'll have to find away out of this prison cell. Will they find some help or will things get serious?
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast. And this episode's a little bit longer. i mean, only by a little bit, but man, how fun is that?
Character Introductions
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to a in a not safe for work episode yeah ah The Hired Swords. That's what we're doing. It's not not safe for work, though. You can listen to this at work.
00:00:53
Speaker
My name is Michael. We're in a mood. I'm your dungeon master. And ah with me is Ash. She's Gwendolyn. Hi, Ash. Howdy. Joxer's played by Mikey. He's also here.
00:01:05
Speaker
I made it. Woo! Blaze is here. He's ah Chris Golder. Sup, gang? That's right. Also known as Sovereign and Baroque. And then Derek's here. He plays Davin. Hi, Derek.
00:01:17
Speaker
Hi. are you guys good? You good? You glad to be here? Happy to be here? I'm happy to here. We came in strong with, we're in a mood, we're in a mood, and all of us are so... I know, very true. I feel like the energy is just coming from me right now.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, we're we're we're holding it back because you kind of made it a little weird. Did I make it awkward? Did I make it awkward? Yeah, you should make it awkward. That's it. That's your thing. It was my thing, and then now you're taking it. It's thing. Maybe it's Michael thing. I've been making awkward since 1983.
00:01:43
Speaker
That's what in 1986. No, not. 1783. 1783. Yes, this is my third life, actually.
00:01:52
Speaker
And he still hasn't learned how to start a the podcast on time. Yeah. I've been DMing since 1703. Yeah. But we're back again ah ah month later for us getting together. I don't know how long been since you heard of the last episode, but we're glad you're with us and sticking it out still listening to these Hired Swords
Imprisoned in the Jail
00:02:15
Speaker
episodes. And the last one, you might recall the the group was stuck in ah jail cell. that They could not hear anything. They could not speak. They could not make any sounds at all.
00:02:27
Speaker
They were stuck there. They worked trying to figure out what was going on to to cause this. sent Dale into the cell next to them in which they saw a man sitting there rocking back and forth.
00:02:43
Speaker
And there's this old looking man covered in a cloak with his head covered and everything. And they from there, they ah ah like I said, they they tried to figure out what was going on with this this jail cell that we're in.
00:02:56
Speaker
They did discover that the...
Davin's Stealthy Escape
00:02:58
Speaker
There were runes that were encircling the... different Like in patterns on this jail cell and they could destroy these runes. Devon actually used some spells like...
00:03:09
Speaker
move earth to do this and it caused the disruption of these runes which then caused the spell to end and then be able to speak this took a little bit of a time figuring out so figuring this all out and so from then they heard the man in the next room finally after destroying some of these runes they were able to hear the man singing this sea shanty and something about she wears a blue cloak and her weapons are cold ah something about billowing and flowing on the seashore justice will fall on the rich and the poor and they heard him singing and started joining him and he started dancing with them and and and enjoying that ah during all this Davin gets kind of bored with that process he misty steps out of the cell since he can cast his spells now using his voice
00:03:57
Speaker
walks towards a stairwell. As he come starts to come up the stairwell towards a closed door, the door opens and latches behind these couple of elves who start walking down the stairs towards him.
00:04:08
Speaker
While Davin is invisible, They don't see him. It doesn't seem currently, but they come down holding scimitar and wands walking towards him to investigate.
Distraction and Deception
00:04:19
Speaker
And then as the party, the other ah three are watching this old man dance around the room, singing this, this shanty with them, a necklace bounces out of his cloak that has a gemstone that's slightly glowing on it. i believe it's a red colored gemstone.
00:04:36
Speaker
Yes. Glowing red gem. I have notes, thankfully. And, That is where we ended the episode. They discovered this right at the end there. And Davin, you're currently facing down two elves hurrying down the stairs. You're just a few steps up. You just started before you saw them come in.
00:04:55
Speaker
You're just a few steps up the stairwell as they start downwards, latching the door behind them. ah What are you going to do, Davin, to start us off? Is there enough room for me to just kind of put my body against the wall and let them pass by? Not for both of them. As they come down, literally, there's not even enough room for them to stand side by side. One is kind of right shoulder in front of the left shoulder of the other as they hustle down the stairs.
00:05:20
Speaker
um Then I'm going to back up and start rushing back down the stairs as quietly as I possibly can, but with obviously enough speed so they don't catch up to me. Yeah, make a stealth check. This is going to be with advantage because you're invisible.
00:05:32
Speaker
Stealth with advantage. Okay. That is going to be... We're rolling dice. A natural one plus seven. Oh, wait. With advantage. With advantage. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Who's going to say? Please roll again.
00:05:45
Speaker
ah Two ones. Okay. 20. Much better. Dirty 20. Oh, good. Okay. So, yeah. You... um you're able to to kind of back away and and get where you can keep an eye on him, but still hide i kind of in the shadows. Even though you're invisible, you're you're tucking yourself away where it doesn't seem you were loud enough to get noticed and you're definitely not seen.
00:06:04
Speaker
And ah meanwhile, this these guys are hustling down the stairs. And as they do, the the man who is is the old man who's in this room just continues dancing and stops and looks over at the...
00:06:19
Speaker
out of his cell to see the guys rush through this little opening into the, the, the jail kind of the jail lobby. i don't know the little area there as they, as you enter the, the jail where the jail cells are the foyer. Yes. The vestibule.
00:06:34
Speaker
And he, he quickly and backs himself up and sits back on his, his bench that
Joxer's Tactical Moves
00:06:43
Speaker
he was sitting on against the wall and just kind of rocks back and forth, goes back to his normal humming and and stops the dancing.
00:06:50
Speaker
And the other, you other three are in the cell currently while Davin is hiding off to the side. And I'm sorry if listeners, I'm moving some people around on a map here.
00:07:03
Speaker
And So you can see kind of where you are now. ah You may see, ah i think, you can you see the map, everybody? You're good? You're good to see? Yes. Yep. Yep. Got it. ah Yes. So up in the top left of the map here, you see in his cell, this cloaked figure in your cell is Gwendolyn Joxer and Kriggs Galder. These two elves come down.
00:07:25
Speaker
um i will say currently we're not in any kind of initiative or anything. They don't seem, they're coming down to see what the commotion is, but they don't seem to be alarmed that there's any danger. They do have a scimitar and and a wand drawn, each of them, but they're kind of just looking around in here.
00:07:43
Speaker
Davin, you are not in the cell, obviously. You're down in the corner just to the south of where the stairs are. there's a small table there next to you and chair. And there's like a doorway into a little sitting room beyond there as well.
Debating Escape Plans
00:07:58
Speaker
Um, is anyone going to do anything as these two come down and they just start looking around, speaking to each other in Elvish Gwendolyn. You can hear them as they're, they're saying, what was that? I'm, I'm not sure. I don't understand. I don't, i don't see It seems, everything seems fine.
00:08:13
Speaker
Quit that. And then one of them kind of shouts in, in um in elvish who's singing down here why quit that singing ah is the old man still singing no he's sitting just kind of rocking he's he's kind of humming to himself but it's real light just like almost like he can't help it not he's actually trying to sing you know i just start singing okay okay so you should start singing the song okay yeah elvish got it so she just starts singing the same song in elvish
00:08:44
Speaker
And I start just pacing over here, just kind of distract. I don't see Davin, because I didn't know he left. ah Yeah, yeah. um I'm going to, um because it doesn't take any verbal components, it just takes semantic, I'm going to use minor illusion.
00:08:59
Speaker
And in like the back of that cell, I'm just going to make it look almost like just a like a hump of a person wrapped up in a cloak is laying there, so they think that there's the right amount of bodies inside the cell. Okay, does casting this spell just take away your invisibility?
00:09:13
Speaker
Nope. Okay. nice so I will probably just post up straight up at the door and just kind of like stare at them like completely whatever.
00:09:25
Speaker
not I'm not necessarily challenging them, but I'm also not, i don't know, I'm just kind of sitting there. another one Another one ah comes down and joins them. um I lied. It goes up to the other and kind of asks.
00:09:38
Speaker
it would I lied. It would actually, so I wouldn't do that. No, I would stay invisible. Okay. I figured you would know if it would and wouldn't do it if it, yeah. You would prioritize invisibility, I imagine. So, yeah. So, you there's now two at the bottom of the stairs. One of them, ah the there's one who looks more like druid-like. He's kind of dressed in...
00:09:57
Speaker
in you know, more like plant kind of jewelry kind of stuff on him and a tunic. He walks over to the, to the, to the gate where the, uh, the old man is sitting and he, he pokes his kind of looks through the bars there at his, his door and just sees what he's doing. and then he looks over to you, Craig's and jocks her as you stand near the gate.
00:10:20
Speaker
And, he starts to go over and inspect the, where the runes and things would be carved on the, on the wall here and starts to look at that.
00:10:31
Speaker
And yeah is anybody doing anything as he's walking towards there and starting to look at that? I'm moving my lips. Like I'm talking. But nothing's coming out.
00:10:42
Speaker
Okay, but Gwendolyn's singing behind the maid's hair is so fair. I have question. i can't see I can't see any of the stats of the enemies.
00:10:53
Speaker
Right. Correct. Super weird. i just I just want to let you know. that I'm sitting here trying to control them. Oh, that's so weird. yeah
00:11:04
Speaker
It's almost like I don't want you to know that. Yeah, I just didn't know what to do about that. it's like i don't It super weird. like You were hiding something from me. Oh, yeah. well Why would I do something like that? I think the moment Gwen started singing, I i like weirdly dropped a little bit like,
00:11:26
Speaker
ah I think that's kind of like you're just your shtick. That's your sneeze. Yeah, I just... I've given up a little bit. yeah I'm not mad. i'm just disappointed.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. it's like yeah just it's i I just can't... i I don't understand how I can continue to be surprised at the moments that are happening. just Yeah. hit Well, there...
00:11:52
Speaker
All right. i'm try Seeing
Magical Combat in the Jail
00:11:54
Speaker
Craig's, I'm going to like also mime speaking so that maybe they, they you know, it's like, oh, different portions are broken. Something weird happened.
00:12:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Okay. The knight came home with no hair. the wife just only could stare. she' yeah So he he walks back over to where these other two are and says something to one of them.
00:12:20
Speaker
ah Davin, actually, do you speak Elvish, Davin? ah No, I do not. Famously. You could hear you hear him speak. But you don't know what he says. He hands his wand to one to the other guy who just came down who didn't have a wand before and says something in Elvish pretty quietly to where, ah especially over Gwendolyn singing, they can't hear what he says.
00:12:43
Speaker
And then he goes back up the stairs kind of in a hurry. The other two just stand there like they're standing guard and watching the gate right now. Can I sneak around to, there's this other room, I think right by the cells, right?
00:12:55
Speaker
That is not in the cell. Correct. Yeah. and Just to the south of the cells. Yeah. You'd have to kind of go right by one of them, ah but you are invisible. You can make another stealth check with advantage to try to do that. Okay. I will do that. And I will see exception if ah what's in that room.
00:13:10
Speaker
um There's another natural one. And then 14. I've got 14 Okay. um yeah you Yeah, you start sneaking by, and as you do, you get close to this chair one of these chairs that's sitting there, and you i mean you come within centimeters of bumping it and rocking it as it's a little rocking chair, and you miss it, though. You you catch yourself, continue going.
00:13:37
Speaker
And yeah, you can make it into that room now. that room, there's a little, there's, sorry, there's like a little bench with some cushions on it. Another of those rocking chairs in the corner, a small table with a bench in front of it with some like drinking, like a pitcher of drinking water and a bowl and a couple of glasses.
00:13:53
Speaker
And then there's a, like a keg next to it um that has ah the wood beneath it is kind of ah like stained from water dripping out of this little keg onto the floor.
00:14:04
Speaker
But there's no signs of our stuff, right? Yeah. Not in this room, no. Don't. Gwendolyn. And that's how the song goes. And then she just kind of walks past Kriggs.
00:14:16
Speaker
She's like, where's Davin? Okay. She just kind of whispers it. I don't think he enjoyed watching us punch things. He didn't say anything when he left. He just disappeared. So somewhere.
00:14:31
Speaker
never knew he was so against punching. This explains so much.
00:14:38
Speaker
Who needs him anyways? I'm joking. Okay. She just is going to go creep around. Okay.
00:14:49
Speaker
All right. um So, if you're just going to keep hanging out in the cell, looking around? Kriggs, should we just break out? Is this the time to break out, or do we...
00:15:01
Speaker
In song? What do you mean? i mean just I mean, I've been breaking. the the The woods splintered here. We could just spend some a little bit of time breaking it off. i but we Okay. okay Throw me.
00:15:17
Speaker
and ah the up
00:15:20
Speaker
i'm going buppies I'm going to move over to like right in front of the cell. And I'm going to, as quietly as I can, whisper to him, guys, i'm right here. Okay. I'm going to say, no I can see you, but very clearly standing in the opposite direction of where you're at. Okay.
00:15:37
Speaker
And then I come over from my pacing and moving around. What are you talking to? To Craig. I'm actually not sure. Oh, Devin.
00:15:50
Speaker
I'll poke him through the bars. Woohoo! Sorry, that's probably trademarked.
00:15:57
Speaker
And Gwendolyn moves to Jockser. Who is he talking to? um Does he not know Jockser is not there? No, no, no, no. davin Davin's here, but somewhere. i don't He seems to be more lucid than and we thought.
00:16:13
Speaker
oh I just start like feeling around wildly, but like slowly at the same time. devil Do we need to create a distraction? I'm into it.
00:16:29
Speaker
Devin will whisper, I can either get you out of here, or you can make a distraction and I can go find our things. so I mean, i can I can get a weapon pretty easily, but is it is this the time to do it?
00:16:43
Speaker
Because I can carve through this wood pretty quickly. He's really confident about this wood situation. Should we just let him? ah Okay.
00:16:54
Speaker
Can I roll for having found Davin yet? oh
Meeting the Old Man
00:16:58
Speaker
but I mean, yeah, you can. have Dale on me, right? No. He's nearby.
00:17:06
Speaker
Didn't he go to the other cell? He was in the other cell, but he he's been like... he's He's come back. Sure. Yeah. Oh. Especially if you want him to be back, he's back. like he's He kind of still follows your command psychically, especially now that he can hear you from here.
00:17:22
Speaker
So he's there. where Are you doing something with him? or I'll let Craig's go, and then I'll think about it. Okay. Okay. I'm really not doing much. I'm kind of just like really curious to this point of what, uh, what drugs are in Davin are going to decide. Like, mm-hmm.
00:17:39
Speaker
What y'all doing? You breaking out? You making distractions? So I can either animate a skeleton past the door for a distraction, or I can stab the door with my shadow blade.
00:17:54
Speaker
It just takes some time, so I don't know if that's really a big thing here. This is taking too long. Here, how about this? I'm going to cast Scatter.
00:18:05
Speaker
which allows me the air quivers around ah up to five creatures of your choice that you can see within range. Any unwilling creature must succeed on a wisdom saving throw. um You teleport each affected target to an unoccupied space within 120 feet.
00:18:19
Speaker
So I am going to um choose the three targets within the cell, my friends, and the two guards, and I'm just going to swap them. Oh, that's sick. What's it called?
00:18:30
Speaker
Scatter. Sweet. Oh, how we're doing stuff. Swap them. So they both have to make a wisdom saving throw, of the two guards. My friends are all willing creatures, I believe. Okay. ah Speak for yourself.
00:18:42
Speaker
I don't want Well, you can make a wisdom saving throw if you don't want to. won't be. Let's see. Wisdom saving throw. Well, let's see. We've got a... I rolled 20.
00:18:54
Speaker
Not natural. An 18. But I'm not actually resisting either. Oh, no, that was Gwendolyn. Yeah, you guys only roll if you want to resist it. I just wanted to roll. Yeah, wanted to see what already got. I got 15.
00:19:07
Speaker
That fails. And a two. Sweet. So they both swap with the other three. Yep. And the other one got extra sentencing time.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. That was a bad joke. They get swapped into there and... And I'm no longer invisible. And you're no longer invisible. They see you. They look out there. They both point their wands immediately at you four.
00:19:38
Speaker
And let me double check what they can do here. It takes them a half a second to kind of realize what happened. But they're – and they reach out and they start speaking in Elvish at you with the wands pointed at you.
00:19:56
Speaker
um and Elvish, I just go – they can still do what they're going to do, but I'm – in Elvish, I go, hold on a minute. Did your mothers raise you this way? Yeah, all right. So – They're just they in them there are calling out this ah semantics to the spell that this wand casts.
00:20:17
Speaker
And they cast hold person on one cast on two and the other cast on two of you. I'm going to counterspell one of them.
00:20:28
Speaker
Okay. And that will be what level? Fifth level counterspell. Okay, cool. Um, so let's see on they're casting them at eighth.
00:20:42
Speaker
Okay. So I need to roll. need to roll. ooh this, uh, this is, this is a little scary. What's, uh, is it, it's my just spell casting modifier or spell attack or no. model Um, let me double check. I, this is one I haven't used a lot. This is a higher level. It doesn't matter. It's 19 plus. Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:21:04
Speaker
Okay. Whatever that is. So it's either plus two, which is 21, or spell attack is plus seven. plus the spells So it had to beat an 18. um So you did. So so you beat them and and or beat one of them. So yeah you and Davin, the spell does not go um does not work.
00:21:27
Speaker
I need Gwendolyn and Krigsgolder to make... a ah went from one spell to the other instead of saving the tab.
00:21:38
Speaker
I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. 29. 29? That's going to do it. Get wrecked. Is that even possible? That's still me shaming them. It's a 19 plus 10.
00:21:52
Speaker
What about you, Kriggs? You said wisdom? Mm-hmm. Well, get that character sheet open, roll your dice. Woo! So you both succeed. So the spell, the the wands, the spell is cast out of the wands, and it doesn't it doesn't affect you.
00:22:10
Speaker
ah So you guys, we're going to kind of go, you as a group, having ah an action, and then Dim as a group, kind of like group initiative sort of vibe.
00:22:20
Speaker
so So they're staying in they're they're currently in the cell. cell Having done that, you eat all four of you have an opportunity to do something at this point, if you'd like, as well.
Revelations and Legends
00:22:33
Speaker
It's a group ah GTFO? Yeah, possibly. That's kind of what I want to do. ah Yeah, I'm fine with making a run for it. I shame them, and then I leave.
00:22:45
Speaker
For shame. Okay. We could zone of truth, these dudes. Oh, you're speaking my language. Anyone want to get some information while we have them locked up?
00:22:58
Speaker
We don't know what they can do to get out. They might have things. okay but They still have weapons. We should probably just run and take a better shot somewhere else. Okay, we can run.
00:23:10
Speaker
They probably have keys. Anyone want to check that? I'm not reaching through there. yeah Fair enough. Let's just run. And maybe get a second of advantage.
00:23:21
Speaker
do we want to Before we run, do we want to try and get out our old crazy man? I mean, can we here's a question. You had five targets. tech five targets Yeah, we have to work for figure out a way.
00:23:33
Speaker
Hey, Troxer, use your sword thing. it's gonna It's not going to be a quick... I'm going to get stuck with the whole person. Wait, what? help I'll buy some time and I'll cast another spell.
00:23:46
Speaker
I'm going to cast Polymorph and I'm going to use... um twin spell and get both of the guys at the same time and turn them both into llamas. Llamas. Llamapachama. Yeah, they have to roll 18 wisdom saving throw. Yeah, it's not. I mean, they have to roll real good. So let's see. The first one rolls Where is it at?
00:24:05
Speaker
Come here. Oh, it's all the questions. Just roll. 12. The second one rolls a
00:24:15
Speaker
Four. So they're both llamas. They just sit there, ah turn into llamas, and the wands drop to the ground and the scimitars drop to the ground. And...
00:24:26
Speaker
um When you do that, the old man runs to the center of this room, kind of looking to see – or runs towards the gate trying to look out to see what just happened because he hears the bleat of these llamas and is like, what is going on?
00:24:41
Speaker
And he's got ah he's kind of like hopping around crazy. You can't quite see his face fully yet and with his cloak over his face, but – Cast a zone of truth on the old man and ask him, where are the drugs is going?
00:24:53
Speaker
Oh. Swear to me No. um So at this point, I i would, ah if if we want me to try to break open the door, then I would i would blip out of existence for a half second um and then cast two spells using my... While he's not in existence, I'm going to ask, why is he doing the door breaking and not me to the other two there?
00:25:18
Speaker
You don't have a hammer right now. I'm the strong one.
00:25:23
Speaker
She sharks. don't know. I pop out. I have armor of Agathys on me, and then I have a shadow blade. So then I'm just going to try to, you know, pick lock or slash the junk out of this, ah this door until it.
00:25:39
Speaker
Okay. it It starts breaking. All right. um So go ahead and make an attack roll to start off and let me see the damage you do to it. To the door itself. The door.
00:25:49
Speaker
What's the door made out of? It's wood. What is the locking mechanism made out of? That is a nat 20. Nice. don't know if you can really see that in the dark room here. So that'll be 4d8.
00:26:03
Speaker
ah that You don't see a lock on the door. Okay. It's not locked by any kind of physical lock. I will use Mage Hand to pull the wands and that you said a scimitar?
00:26:14
Speaker
Oh. Two states have a scimitar as well. Sweet. so So I'll pull all the weapons to us and then I'll give Craig's a scimitar and I'll give um Gwen a wand or a scimitar.
00:26:26
Speaker
Your choice. Which one do you want? 16 plus. I want the scimitar. I'm joking. No, I'll take the wand. Okay. So it'll be 20 damage for the first attack.
00:26:38
Speaker
Okay, you take a ah couple of the the larger sticks in the middle, just crack in half and are kind of like hanging by a thread, it looks like. But it'll take, you get the feeling it would take a good, you know, you'd have to do this 20 or 30 more times to get through whatever kind of wood this is. Is this magical wood?
00:26:58
Speaker
It seems like it might either be really strong or enhanced, strength enhanced with magic. Not sure which way. But you are doing magical damage to it, so it is damaging it, but it's enhanced feel like and if I did force damage, it would be more effective?
00:27:17
Speaker
I don't know. i mean that's something you could definitely try. all right, then I'll try Eldritch Blast and do three blasts of Eldritch Blast. Great. Make those three attack rolls.
00:27:29
Speaker
I'll just throw... Do I have it on my character in here? So it'll be... Have we asked this dude if he even wants to come out of the cell yet? You've not asked this guy anything.
00:27:40
Speaker
Nah. That's not true. No, that's true. We haven't asked anything. We just sang with him. That's definitely true. We definitely just sang with the guy. Yeah, yeah. yeah I'm also going to cast Mage Armor, which I have not somehow done up to this point, apparently.
00:27:53
Speaker
Okay. Mage Armor is active. um So we got 14, 19, and a um the 19 and the 20 hit successfully break through. Like, successfully do damage. But yeah, you can roll to see what damage. it's going be... ah Yeah, let me roll the damage.
00:28:19
Speaker
What's the character sheet? It's just a And... There go. 8. Both are So 16. 16. a both are eight so sixteen And then for radiant damage, if that matters.
00:28:35
Speaker
um Definitely a couple of the the branches that are used to make up this gate definitely buckle under that damage um and start and start to crack.
00:28:46
Speaker
ah But um it it doesn't do significantly more damage than your your magical sword did. And if I remember, there is no like just lock on these, right? It's like a magical thing. Correct. It looks like something else is keeping these things.
00:29:03
Speaker
But that's two rounds. All right. so a ah So the door opens and two more ah people come running down the steps. One of them looks to be the kind of guy who is probably quite...
00:29:17
Speaker
adept at magical ah behavior, magical ah skills, as he is is wearing the cloak of a magic user, something some kind of wizard perhaps.
00:29:30
Speaker
And he gets down to the bottom of the steps and he starts waving his hands and calling out the, the spell. ah He's, he's calling out. And as he does, as he gets down there and he, he does this, he is, let's see which one.
00:29:48
Speaker
Would I have heard him coming down, or is this like... ah he was you would You were launching Eldritch Blast at this this gate, and so he's coming down here, and he is... He's going to cast a magic missile.
00:30:08
Speaker
There it is. Okay, he casts a magic missile, and he he casts it at... We're going to do it at a dart. I need several darts here. He's going to cast it at fifth level.
00:30:21
Speaker
And he... So he's going to hit ah Davin with two darts and the rest of you each with one. ah And... Shotgun style. Okay. I'm going to use my reaction to cast shield, which just deflects them altogether. Immediately deflects that.
00:30:38
Speaker
ah Joxer. So D4 plus one is all it does. but Or not plus one. Plus... Okay, so its they shoot up and they come right out of his of his hands as he's casting this. and there's to And two go towards... I said Jaxer, right?
00:30:56
Speaker
Yep, yep. And they hit you four damage. A D4. So that's two of them hit you four.
00:31:07
Speaker
two d four plus one each. Do they have roll to hit these or is it just auto hits? No, they automatically hit every time. So... He does a total of seven damage to you with two of those.
00:31:19
Speaker
And then Kriggs, you take one two damage. Oh, man, two for Gwen. Yay. And Davin, doesn't matter. I rolled, but it doesn't matter. You take a flash wound.
00:31:32
Speaker
Man, you have flash wound. explode afterwards. So you guys take, these hit you, these hit you like that. And then the other... the the other ah Druid that came down with him ah points the wand he's holding Joxer because Joxer standing over, excuse me, by the door. And he calls out an activation word in Elvish for his wand. And he casts, ah he casts sleep on Joxer at eighth level as well.
00:32:08
Speaker
I don't like that at all. And so I have to roll a whole bunch of D8s. 5D8 plus 7. 12D8s.
00:32:19
Speaker
So he's going to start it at joxer. Do what? I just said what? Four. To see how many hit points the sleep affects. So a sleep spell will... it If it takes you down... If it has more hit points than your current active hit points...
00:32:37
Speaker
you fall asleep and and, and the higher level lets you roll higher. So right now I've got you at 119 hit points. Is that correct? That is correct. All right. So I'm rolling. How many did I say?
00:32:49
Speaker
Start with five D eight. And then I add two for each slot above first level. So actually four, Oh, I overkill that a little bit perhaps. So, um, so he's only going to cast it at, let's see, five,
00:33:02
Speaker
He's only going to cast it at... We're going to go ahead and do what I said. So he cast it at 8th level. High level D&D is slow and difficult. um Successful 96. So that puts Davin to sleep.
00:33:16
Speaker
It goes for the lowest? It does. ah Do you lose concentration when you fall asleep? for sure well and then and then what's the radius based on where they put because those sheep might take off a couple it yeah um so it says creatures within 20 feet of the point you choose within range are affected in ascending order of current hit points in ignoring and unconscious creatures so the current the creature with the lowest hit points is definitely would be davin uh because they're going to cast it in the middle of room to try to hit all of you guys.
00:33:48
Speaker
What about the llamas? People in the cells. They miss the llamas. They want to hit everybody. So it just knocks out anybody to eliminate someone. So Davin is not dead. He's merely asleep.
00:34:00
Speaker
And so if I lose concentration, then the llamas are no longer llamas. Okay. And um yeah, you, yes, lose concentration. Going unconscious definitely does.
00:34:10
Speaker
So you're unconscious. and laying on the floor, but made made me just sleeping. And these two guys come back, these guards as well. And that is it for the group turn for these guys.
00:34:26
Speaker
And um you can, let's see, ah let's let's ah let's roll an actual initiative now. Now that we're all here partying together.
00:34:42
Speaker
Oh, good. Four. 16. Nine. Cool. Rolling, rolling. Rolling, rolling, rolling. Four, 16, nine, 19. Who said four?
00:34:53
Speaker
Me. Gwendolyn. She real confused right now. um Well, I will say my, the two guards do not have weapons currently.
00:35:06
Speaker
So. Oh, we took... Yeah, we took their wands and their scimitars, right? Correct. You did. Oh, that's way better. They did just drop right in front of me, though. So don't know if they're in reaching distance, but Jock, so if you turn around, there's a sword and wand right on the ground.
00:35:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. No, that'll be... first First order is to... to at least ah kick that wand out of the way. So, okay. All right. We are currently in initiative. Joxer, you start us off.
00:35:36
Speaker
going to get some music playing as you... Tell me what you'd like to do next. So area-wise, whereabouts would that scimitar and ah the wand... yeah i Would Kriggs and Gwendolyn have grabbed that while I was beating the crap out of the door?
00:35:57
Speaker
Yeah, they said they took them. Okay, so they're not laying the ground floor. Actually, there was two of each thing. Yeah, I just took a wand. I have two scimitars and a wand. I'm kidding. Okay.
00:36:07
Speaker
I know I handed a scimitar to Kriggs, and I know I handed a wand to Gwen. um And just just for point of order on ah Davin, would he have moved away from the door after casting a spell before doing all of these things?
00:36:21
Speaker
That's a question for him. Well, I handed Kriggs and Gwen weapons, so I'd assume that I would have had to have over to him. you're asleep just about 15 feet, 20 feet from the stairwell just behind...
00:36:33
Speaker
Gwyn and Kriggs. and Perfect. Just so that I know where the things are. So I sounds good feel like we are less fearful of weapons being grabbed by the other guards and seeing things the way they are. i think Jockster is going to, ah you know, whisper you know, you should help us if you can. And then to the to the old man and then ah run off to the mage.
00:37:03
Speaker
At least, you know, the the decorated spell slinger as I throw my mouse around. ye And I will start a flurry of attacks because that is what I do.
00:37:15
Speaker
And so got dice. Is that the second d20? Boy, this escalated quickly, didn't it, guys? That's kind of our steez. Yeah, we didn't leave, did Does a 17 hit? A 17 does hit, yes. Okay, and then 16 plus 8 is probably going to hit, so that's two swings with the Blade of Shadows.
00:37:45
Speaker
I'll be 10 plus 8, 18, 22, 26. 26. It's not damage. What the shadow damage? it just slashing? cannot remember. twenty six but but but but is not dark damage what is what is the shadow blade damage slashing
00:38:02
Speaker
Shadowblade is I thought shadow blade was psychic. Yeah psychic damage. Okay, so it's only six for the first 26 damage 26 and then guys hit hard. I forgot other group is a level two group. They didn't hit this hard Got how hard y'all hit a little a little lower Mm-hmm o So that's six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, plus four, 15.
00:38:35
Speaker
okay And then i will start elbowing, um just trying to knock this guy out, ah well you know, with with the... Some melee attacks with a flurry of blows. So use a key point.
00:38:49
Speaker
And I will... Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? where is That's another plus 8. So roll this and this d20.
00:39:01
Speaker
So 18 and a 25 to hit. And those are only
00:39:12
Speaker
Less good. That'll be... two ones plus three so another eight damage for flurry of blows nice um and i think that is all i can technically do Okay. um I think what I might do just for the sake of is I might shift myself a little bit closer to the wall so I can be kind of catacorner kind of like right behind this guy. Okay.
00:39:47
Speaker
You're standing just kind of next to the entrance to the stairwell, just behind a little bit behind catacorner from the archmage. yeah guy The the heavy duty spellcaster man.
00:39:58
Speaker
so Awesome. action Just not a reaction. Okay, yep. That is all I can do. Okay. um he looking ahead you guys, he reaches his hands forward and out of his out of his hands come a blast of cold air as he casts Cone of Cold.
00:40:23
Speaker
And he's going to cast it at all of you at level, all three, Chris, Galder, Gwyn, and Davin at level nine. He's pulling out all the stops.
00:40:34
Speaker
Cone of cold. So make a please make a, what is it? Constitution. Right here. Constitution saving throw, por favor. um like Gwendolyn had a seven. She fails.
00:40:46
Speaker
Rude. I rolled a nat 20 plus five. Got it. How does it work when you're sleeping?
00:40:56
Speaker
Like I know I can't do dex save, but... ah You are... um You're unconscious, so you just take... ah Well, a constitution the du say your save. Actually, you take the damage, but it wakes you up, actually, is what happens.
00:41:16
Speaker
Okay. So you you take full damage, but it's going to wake you up. Idiot. um so So it's 14 plus 15. So, or 42 plus 15.
00:41:30
Speaker
So 57 damage. is That's the full. So if nobody's saved. Craigs, did you make a save? I got, yeah, natural 20 plus five.
00:41:43
Speaker
Okay, so you take half damage. So you take, what was it? 56, 23 damage. Oh, sorry. Everyone add plus two to your saving throws.
00:41:54
Speaker
I forgot to give you that. All right. How about nine? Nine still fails. so we Still doesn't make it. Yeah. Crazy. How much damage do I take? Oh,
00:42:10
Speaker
worse. Did they take my boots off when they put us in or do I sell my boots on? You still have your boots on. Okay. Cause they're the boots of the winter land. So I get half damage. Nice, that's right. Cool.
00:42:22
Speaker
I actually thought of that and was like, I wonder if he still wears those things. but So you take 23 and Kriggs takes 23. might. I might not. You don't know. Well, you take... yeah youre Right, that's true. If you have some sort of crazy thing, then you would only take... Currently looking.
00:42:41
Speaker
you would You would take no damage since you saved. I don't have my shield at all, do I? They took that from No, you don't have anything like that. You just have yourself. And you don't even have... ah yeah yeah You have your armor on. but Yeah, it's fine.
00:42:57
Speaker
Um, since I don't have my shield, I'm going to uh, elemental paragon, which is custom to my, oath. Oh, gotcha.
00:43:09
Speaker
When I suffer acid, cold, lightning, fire, whatever, there's a whole slew of things. Whenever I suffer cold damage, I can use my reaction to gain resistance to the triggering damage until the start of my next turn.
00:43:23
Speaker
Additionally, the next time I hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, The target takes damage equal to the damage I resisted. Cool. Okay. Cool. So you resisted 23 damage.
00:43:35
Speaker
Yes. And I am storing that 23 damage as a paragon of the elements. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. um All right. um the That is that person's entire turn.
00:43:53
Speaker
believe. Yep. And the other elf that is standing there um calls out in elvish as you are as as it gets ready to they get ready to to fire at you or do something just calls out and puts both hands out towards the three of you and when it does it it calls out ah they call out in elvish you are to stand trial you must stand trial and then casts thunder wave
00:44:30
Speaker
At the three of you. Rude. cast it at level five. I could... now No, no.
00:44:42
Speaker
for ah For having to stay on trial, they're really coming in hot. 24 damage to another constitution saving throw for, I believe, all three of you. 15-foot cube.
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah, so all three of you. Davin... Kriggs and Gwyn. Another constitution save. Gwyn fails. good for guoo gwen gwyn fails i got a 22. 23 damage. You got a 22. You succeed, so you can take ah half of that.
00:45:12
Speaker
What's your what's your hit points at now, Davin? After that, at 57. Okay. I'm just marking on our side here. Kriggs are able to do something about that one.
00:45:24
Speaker
Thunder damage. And you're pushed 10 feet away, Gwen, as well. If I had another reaction, I could, but I only have one 10. Doven is to Kriggs. you Did you roll Kriggs?
00:45:36
Speaker
for Yeah, I rolled an 18. An 18. So you succeeded. So you only take half the damage. Yeah, about that. So you only take 12 damage.
00:45:50
Speaker
Beat. And you are not pushed because you succeeded. So you get to stay where you were. um And then that takes us to your turn, Craigs.
00:46:04
Speaker
You have no... Well, I guess you have the scimitars. like Yeah. Do you have scimitar information for how use it in an attack? Certainly don't. The damage... I'll look that up for you real quick while you...
00:46:17
Speaker
youre you You definitely attack with your strength and everything. Strength and proficiency bonus. yeah So... see. No one has taken damage at all. like We've not kind gotten anything off yet.
00:46:32
Speaker
Yeah, you they he hit the the magician down there near Jockser. He hit him already. He's got like 60 hertz against him. The damage is a D6 plus your strength on a scimitar.
00:46:44
Speaker
Okay, so I am going to basically charge that mage. Man, I hate how we just... Sometimes can talk things through with people and it might be a good idea, you know?
00:46:58
Speaker
I'm going charge the mage that has already casted heard taken damage from Jaxxer. Okay. And I'm going to swing... i guess I have one scimitar each hand. I'm going to swing one of the scimitars at them.
00:47:16
Speaker
i don't really know how it works, two-handed fighting like that, because i've always just been sword and board. Would that be flanking? Yes, that's flanking. You get advantage. You do... And and you just... um The way that works is you do a regular attack with your main hand, and then with your off hand, you do a regular attack, but you can't add your proficiency to...
00:47:36
Speaker
um You don't add a bonus to the damage. It's just the dice. That's what it is. Okay. On your offhand. Well, let us roll to attack.
00:47:47
Speaker
Okie doke. I rolled a 12. well that was at advantage. Oh, no. I guess I didn't do with the damage. I'm a dummy.
00:47:59
Speaker
Advantage gives you what? 18 hit. That hits. So i' rolling a D6 plus my strength? Yep. Okay. Okay, so hit him for seven points.
00:48:12
Speaker
Seven points of damage, and your offhand, there did you already try that attack? I have not done the offhand yet. That is regular attack roll, but then you only do dice for damage.
00:48:27
Speaker
Okay. 22 to hit. for sure. twenty two hits for sure Fo sho. And three damage. a Three damage total. Got it.
00:48:40
Speaker
Okay. Curious. So you swing its scimitar smack. You swing another one smack. It cuts through his his cloak and into his body. it's he's He's starting to bleed a little bit, but he he's taking it pretty well. So hear me out.
00:48:54
Speaker
The first attack was a slash. And the second offhand attack was a thrust. And okay you see me essentially thrust the scimitar just a couple inches into the skin.
00:49:06
Speaker
um And you see my skin go a little pale, almost white. ah And you see crystals form around my hand, ice crystals. And the sword seems to freeze over as 23 damage of cold damage.
00:49:26
Speaker
Basically just shoot down the sword and see a blast ah blast of ice just basically all around the the wound that I have basically touched him with this scimitar.
00:49:38
Speaker
Got it. um So that ice... hits him and it goes it like starts to spread across his robe and you see it crawl up his face and as it crawls up his face it dissipates and dissolves not seeming to have any kind of effect on him at all and i look very disappointed at that sure sure sure it sounds cool then It was a cool idea, and I wish it had hit the other guy to actually hurt him, but it didn't.
00:50:10
Speaker
It's okay. It's okay. You hit the guy who's immune to it. so um Anything else? ah Yeah, he's going to take a Divine Smite from that.
00:50:22
Speaker
ah which is, you know, just going to add a solid one more damage because I rolled a one. Okay. Nice. All right. It's a little buzz like he got shocked by a 9-volt battery.
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah. Basically, he just tastes copper now is all. Yeah, yeah. He's like, that is so strange. I'm feeling super deflated by all this. I'm just like, well, I'm feeling like we really got ourselves into a mess this time.
00:50:49
Speaker
Sure, sure, sure. That tracks. Alright, coming up next... Is that it? You know, I'm going to... With two-handed... If I have an extra attack, is it a single-handed attack or can I swing both twice again?
00:51:05
Speaker
Um... If you get an extra attack as paladin. Because if make melee attack, get extra attacks. I think the bonus strike without the bonus is just using your bonus action.
00:51:17
Speaker
It's not a bonus action. It's just extra attack if you attack twice. Yeah, just one more. Yeah, you just do one more. Yeah, so you can do one more regular hit, not another offhand. Does that make sense?
00:51:28
Speaker
Sure. And I'm going to swing, and I'm going to flail, and it's going to be really bad because I roll a 10. But I have advantage. Never mind. I'm going roll again. so yep I rolled a 26. That definitely.
00:51:42
Speaker
Sorry, no, not 26. I did my math wrong. twenty five 25. Never mind, that doesn't. No, just kidding, it hits. And so I'm going to do my really, really poor scimitar damage.
00:51:54
Speaker
rolled 6 plus my divine smite on that one because it rolls with every attack I do. Being a paladin is a lot of work. Yeah, it is.
00:52:06
Speaker
I rolled eight on the Divine Smite. These are in D&D Beyond. oh Got it. So my extra attack hit for a total of 14 damage. Got it.
00:52:18
Speaker
All right. So where it there it is. Got it. Okay. um So if that's everything, we go to the guards. They know their turns are next to each other, so they're just going to go kind of together.
00:52:30
Speaker
So the first one, Misty Steps to the stairs. behind the other people and then takes off running up the stairs behind them up to the door and you hear the door open and slam behind him The other one also misty steps. He goes next to Gwendolyn with his misty step.
00:52:58
Speaker
And you see him rubbing his hands together as he starts to form little ball of lightning around his hands as he does that. But he can't do anything with it yet as he already misty stepped.
00:53:13
Speaker
um That takes us now to Davin. I'm being woken up in the worst possible way, some cold damage, I'm going stand up and I'm going to pick up that wand that's sitting there right by my feet.
00:53:26
Speaker
And now knowing that it's got spells for casting sleep, I'm going to attempt to cast an 8th level sleep spell at the guys at the stairs. Okay. Alright. and Do that. That means you get to roll. What did we establish? 19 Yeah.
00:53:41
Speaker
yeah Start with the lowest hit point guy. going to do this in D&D Beyond. Not an add. 83 is the hit points. Okay. um So the guy next to Gwyn falls asleep.
00:53:59
Speaker
Just drops unconscious right next to Gwyn. The other one, the druid there, ah does not. um The other two do not. But the one next to Gwyn definitely does.
00:54:11
Speaker
Okay. And he's laying there also, just like you were just laying there, just kind of like mumbling to himself in an unconscious sleep state. oh And you'd notice that the, the wand has now the, the, the little bit of like glowing in the runes is, is gone. Now it is, the runes are there, but it doesn't seem to be magically charged anymore.
00:54:38
Speaker
Okay. um And then, then I, uh, I'll probably run back to this corner over here just to try and get away from everybody. Cause I know that they've hit us with a couple of area effect moves.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah. Run back kind of behind the table that's over against the wall. got Yep. I'm just going to brush the frost off of my arms and that's the end of my turn. Okay. All right. Gwendolyn.
00:55:03
Speaker
Um, what is everyone's health situation? are we hurting? Um, you are. Um, Davin looks like, Davin looks like he's hurt a little bit. Kriggs and Jocks are not much at all.
00:55:16
Speaker
I look like I just woke up, like, ready to go. Yeah. Um... And are you asking about the other guys, the bad guys, too? We don't have our weapons, do we? Correct, you do not.
00:55:27
Speaker
So I couldn't even really do any of that. alright. Um... I see Davin cast sleep on this guy, and so then I'm going to move away because I assume he doesn't have ah reaction to that.
00:55:42
Speaker
And I'm going to aim a sleep spell at this guy. What was the eighth level? ah Yeah. Okay, that's what I'm going to do. That was. That wand has an eighth level one in it.
00:55:55
Speaker
Is this the druid? yeah Yes. Okay. Be like, how does it feel? it Sleep cast from the wand. And then... Alright, you gotta roll to see if you can get him. Get him! I have to roll a 19d8. Oh god. If you can...
00:56:14
Speaker
have to roll a d eight nineteen d eight d eight yeah because the if if you can oh if the nineteen d eight are if you roll higher than their hit point maximum, or current hit points, then they will go to sleep.
00:56:36
Speaker
Okay, here it goes.
00:56:38
Speaker
Oh, look at that. 77. You just did it. So yes, they this this one falls down and rolls down the last couple stairs and hits the ground below Krigsgaldur's feet.
00:56:52
Speaker
um Also asleep as the mage, the spellcaster who is standing there, who is standing there's eyes start to get wide as he looks around, realizing you guys have their very powerful wands.
00:57:05
Speaker
Gwendolyn, your... runes are still lit up though in your wand no fair it had not been it had not been used yet uh so here i am just casting sword yeah i kind of want to look at this other guy i point the wand at him and i'm just gonna talk i'm not gonna do anything either get in the cell over there or the same thing happens okay okay right that's your turn joxer I don't, I just still plan on knocking him out the good old fashioned way.
00:57:40
Speaker
Good old fashioned knockout. So I'm going to, I'm going to do now I have advantage. So that's fantastic. Well, that's not great, but what about that one? 17 plus eight is 25. That'll probably hit.
00:58:00
Speaker
Yeah, that definitely hits. And then these D8s. These, uh, eight, 11, 12 plus, plus four. 16 damage for the first.
00:58:13
Speaker
Got it. 16 damage as you start smacking him around. How's he looking? Uh, he's looking like he's hurting. He's not quite fully bloodied yet, but definitely taking some damage.
00:58:26
Speaker
I'm going to use a weird luck point because I just rolled two fours. and All right. weird luck point. not how like to see Some weird luck. That's a... Oh, okay. um So that is a 17. Nine plus eight.
00:58:41
Speaker
17 just hits. Okay. Oh, God. It's advantage is close. Yeah. Okay. So got 12, 17, 22, 26 damage. 26. Got it. wow been
00:58:57
Speaker
twenty six damage damage twenty six got him Yep, and he's still he's still standing just fine. and Yeah, that hit catches him just right, and he kind of starts to look a little dazed and blinks it off and kind of shakes it off a little.
00:59:13
Speaker
He's still standing. he's still He's not, like, you know, down-ness, like he's about to go down, but you can tell that one's stung, and it's starting to take a little bit of a toll on him. And I'll just start kneeing him, you know, to get real close and and just see how...
00:59:30
Speaker
How thick his stomach is. Rolling that over here is another 17 and okay. That's not bad. Nine plus eight, 17 damage.
00:59:51
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. You catch him. And... ah Catch him again real good with that with another one, and he just ah it rattles his rattles his clock real good again.
01:00:05
Speaker
um He's looking like he's getting a little wobbly on his feet. He's not out, but he's he's looking real bad. All right. well that's That's what I can do. Okay.
01:00:17
Speaker
All right. you know what? I will hop up a little bit to block the stairway a little bit. Okay, sounds good. I'm going to block the stairway. And is that everything?
01:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's it. Okay, this guy claps his hands. This mage claps his hands. And when he opens them back up from clapping them, this dark...
01:00:42
Speaker
like whole, almost like something that looks almost like your... That's a no. that's We're canceling that. Are you going to counterspell? Yeah, I'm going to a counterspell. That's a no. You said black.
01:00:53
Speaker
It's a level 7. Okay. Yeah. No, we don't like that. We're in a bad space. I don't like this. So you've got to beat a 17. Okay. That's high. I will... So I have a plus 2 charisma, so that...
01:01:09
Speaker
I guess if it's just plus two, then that's 13. So I'll use i'll use that that last lock just ah because we don't like that. Okay, so that is a 16 plus two.
01:01:24
Speaker
It'll be 18. Okay. it So the spell starts to... It starts to form this black... Almost like a hole in between his hands. And as it as it does, you cast Counterspell. And um he his body and the body of the two next to him... ah The two other other guys are not next to him. In in the room, start to fade like they we were about to go somewhere.
01:01:47
Speaker
And then... it fizzles out and they remain there, um, without that spell, uh, taking effect. Um, so that's all folks. All my luck.
01:02:01
Speaker
So we're, so then, yeah Okay. So then he is going to, um, Oh man, that is, let's see. I can't run anywhere.
01:02:12
Speaker
Can't go anywhere. And that is definitely an action that he just did. So yeah, so he looks around and his face wrinkles in a ah into a frown frustrated frown.
01:02:25
Speaker
And he he just braces himself for whatever's next. And that takes us to the druid guy who is currently unconscious. So it takes us to Craig's.
01:02:40
Speaker
I just don't want to kill this dude. like you can on you All you have to do is tell me that you're if you're going to do a final blow, it's ah it's a non-lethal blow and you just knock him out. Yeah, I get that.
01:02:54
Speaker
um That is an option. So when he goes to zero hit points, he's unconscious but not dead. And that's your call. And he doesn't have to make death setting throws away. I'm doing my best to recall if anyone like Davin has silencing spell.
01:03:11
Speaker
Something that would remove... Whenever I've been watching him cast his spells, does it seem like there's somatic components? if there's like Oh yeah, he's calling out for sure.
01:03:21
Speaker
Does he have like... an obvious, uh, idol or, uh, what is it called? ah focus of some kind. ah no, he's, he's, he's, um, well, yes, as he's calling out and doing that, um, something that is like, it's like his cloak, the way it wraps around his fingers.
01:03:42
Speaker
It has like, something strapped down into his hands, um like ah like almost like he has elastic or whatever, but they have gems and stuff in them and those glow and kind of make light in his hands as he's casting his spells.
01:03:58
Speaker
but In my mind, I just have this notion that if I could get rid of whatever focus he has, because I know Dev, I've seen Dev and and he has his necklaces, obviously. It seems like he's attached to those in some way in order to cast some of his spells.
01:04:13
Speaker
In my mind, I'm thinking, how can i disarm this person? Because we have essentially everyone else disarmed. I want to be able to disarm this person and not straight kill him, but I also don't want to knock him out because I want to talk.
01:04:27
Speaker
So, God, what can I do as a means to actually disarm this dude? What have that seems... and Okay, here's a question. um I've seen that he has like the things wrapped kind of around his hands or whatever. Does any of it seem to be metallic in nature?
01:04:46
Speaker
um No. God, he's killing everything I have. Not in this wooden elven land of elves who are mostly druids. Look, I'm a dwarf. Everything is stone and metal.
01:04:58
Speaker
I know. These guys aren't. There are other types of you. That's I don't like Sorry. That's fair. That's fair. It's a real thing. We're not going to get into that right now.
01:05:10
Speaker
What can I do to this dude? Poop. Uh, you know what? I'm gonna and be really really dumb about this and i'm going I'm strong boy. i'm a strong boy
01:05:25
Speaker
I'm going to tackle this dude and try to restrain him and like hold his arms in a position and like try to remove anything. like I'm trying to incapacitate this dude with out of everything that I possibly have. How do you want me to do that?
01:05:41
Speaker
and In fact, I'm going to cast... You just make a grapple check. It's it's a contested strength check. grapp Perfect. ah I really want to Nah, we're doing this bold.
01:05:53
Speaker
Alright, you ready? Yeah. Here's the thing, does that just turn? It doesn't actually, wanna use entangle, but I think that it just creates the ground around him and makes it difficult. I mean, it's not gonna like wrap it into anything. So that's super lame.
01:06:08
Speaker
I'm just gonna strength check, blast this dude and try and see if I can. Okay. I rolled a nat 20 straight up screenshotting this, posting it. So 26.
01:06:21
Speaker
Yep, he rolled a four, so congrats. So yeah, you are able to grab this um this spellcaster and you wrap him up in your arms and just, you know, your head is just barely above his waist, but you have his arms down, ah wrapped in your arms and you... um Yeah, so you've got him completely grappled and restrained currently you're in in the strength of your grasp. Are you doing anything else while you have him here? That was your action to grapple him. you If you have a bonus action, you can do that. If you move, it's half movement because you have to drag this guy with you.
01:07:02
Speaker
um I guess really I'm not going to do anything ah bonus action wise. I'm just going to maybe shout out and like a He just kind of called out, like, there has to be another way. Okay.
01:07:18
Speaker
and Pray to God we don't just slaughter this dude. Got it. All the gods. Okay. um That brings us to a guard who is unconscious, and then Davin.
01:07:29
Speaker
Davin kind of realizes it seems like the fight's over, so he's just going to casually walk up to the ah they grappled guard. wizard And he's going to pat himself down, see if he has... oh he's just going to grab like you know like a stick off the ground or something and shove it in the guy's mouth so that he can't speak.
01:07:48
Speaker
and it just money' Okay. The mage just and and tries to mutter in Elvish. You don't understand. um you know, and he's trying to talk and then you you kind of bind up his mouth with that where he can't he can't speak.
01:08:01
Speaker
You're right. I think we got got some sort of a miscommunication here. We're not trying to hurt you. We don't want to kill you. We're just looking for Carrick. Maybe you can help us with that before your friends come back and attack us. He's looking at you confused. Like he doesn't understand what you're saying.
01:08:19
Speaker
And you say Carrick and his eyes go wide and he starts shaking his head. and he's just staring at you like shaking his head. oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:08:32
Speaker
And still grappled, still being held by Davin. Or no, by Kriggs. Looking at Davin's face ah with his but this stick whatever in his mouth. I want him to know that this is the sweetest embrace he's probably had from a dwarf.
01:08:45
Speaker
Oh, he realizes that. He definitely realizes that. Yeah, he he's like feels like he might be in danger. But he also feels very calm and soothed there.
01:09:00
Speaker
um so Are we still in initiative? Um, no. Davin has removed us from initiative successfully. um start working my way towards them with the wand still up.
01:09:13
Speaker
Uh-huh. Kind of almost intimidating. And I start speaking in Elvish to him. Okay. You know who he is? Carrick? Where is he?
01:09:23
Speaker
He opens his eyes wide and he lowers his head and just kind of looks straight down and... and He can't really talk. I'll pull back out of his mouth.
01:09:36
Speaker
And then I take the wand and I put it up against his temple. Okay. I'm getting a aggressive now. in elvish In Elvish, he says, only the elders have uttered that name.
01:09:50
Speaker
So you don't know who he is, and I'm speaking in Elvish. It is legend. it is It is unwelcome. Why are you so nervous? i don't get it He's called Carrick the Caring for a reason.
01:10:04
Speaker
This is getting all in Elvish. Yeah, he... I just look at Davin like... Still holding on. Carrick... Carrick's a legend. Not... Not a... Not real, is he?
01:10:16
Speaker
Is it real? Is it And he just looks confused. he He doesn't... I mean, you can make an insight check if you want, but the general idea is confusion on his face right now.
01:10:30
Speaker
um I asked Gwen, not you know Elvish, because I don't understand anything that's happening. Yeah, yeah. I try to get her to basically translate, ah if I let him go, will he be stupid or not?
01:10:46
Speaker
um Gwendolyn is still kind of putting pressure on his temple with the wand. And she's she's getting to this point, like she's about to break. Yeah. But then she glances over at craig Craig's and just kind realized she's not really being herself. Okay.
01:11:04
Speaker
Because this isn't really her. And so she kind of rips her arm away. Just... He knows nothing. Well, this has been going on. ah This room looks like there's some of these bins up here that kind of look like they're bound together by rope.
01:11:26
Speaker
Is that a thing that I am seeing? Yeah, they're just baskets. All right. So I would have been basically using the the last bit of the shadow sword to unbind some of this and then start tying up all of the people on this direction and then providing rope to the other group or, you know, everybody else. Uh-huh.
01:11:48
Speaker
Okay, so they're they're waking up as you do this to them, and they're realizing that they've they've been caught, and they're being tied up. um they They don't necessarily defiant.
01:12:05
Speaker
like defiant um they look more confident, like, like, okay, but you know, at least we're not dead. Like, you know, yeah. but yeah said that They feel, it seems like almost a relief. Like they thought you guys were just going to straight up murder them because, you know, for whatever reason.
01:12:24
Speaker
And then in Elvish, the, the mage says, he's going to be here and you're going to pay. You just had to stand trial. You, you've ruined it for yourselves. Yeah.
01:12:36
Speaker
Was that in regular voice? It was in Elvish. um I respond from across the room because I do speak and and i understand. Would we have survived if we had stood trial?
01:12:52
Speaker
And by surviving, I mean be able to leave or explore. Or would we be tied up anyway? And I add on to joxers. Or be like this man over here just stuck.
01:13:05
Speaker
What seems like for an eternity. That man is a criminal. A criminal against the Almanora. He tried to end what we've built here. He tried to take us away from this place.
01:13:16
Speaker
Did he try to return you? If you try that, you will end up in the same position as him. What? But not dead. Yeah, it sounds like we were damned if we do and damned if we don't.
01:13:28
Speaker
So this seems like a slightly better scenario for us. um I'm going to peek through to the ah the old man. Can you explain yourself? Because I created like, you know, a three by six hole with my sword and Eldritch's glass. He stands there. His face is like looking through the hole.
01:13:47
Speaker
He's been watching. His eyes wide and you see the face of an old elf. Do you want free? Yes.
01:13:55
Speaker
is freedom freedom is not available if we are here that's we are trying to escape here with kerk um make an insight check o not my what about oh no it's not bad plus six how many runes are that is a six plus six twelve Uh, a 12. Yeah.
01:14:22
Speaker
Um, he he backs up and kind of points to the door and says, do your worst then. And this is all in Elvish. Uh, Gwyn, the wand is still glowing slightly, but it's, it's dimmer, but it does have a glow to it. The runes do.
01:14:39
Speaker
Um, do I have a battery pack on me? Um, make a technology check for me. No, just kidding. No, I don't think you do. rolled a 30. Okay. okay Only Kriggs rolls that high.
01:14:53
Speaker
oh The mage continues to kind of ramble. and that You would suffer the same fate if you if you kill one of us. You will definitely be banished. And and you don't want to wander the Shadowland. You don't want to. It's a terrible place.
01:15:13
Speaker
I was there. I was at the Shadowland. We were all at the Shadowland. You speak gibberish. No one leaves the Shadowland.
01:15:24
Speaker
We left the
Moral Dilemmas and Reality
01:15:25
Speaker
Shadowland. And then we ended up here in this godforsaken place. and Consider yourselves blessed. Blessed in this fake world?
01:15:36
Speaker
Clearly there's something very wrong. If you can't see that, then you're as blind as them all. Is there a way to open this door without
The Mysterious Door
01:15:45
Speaker
destroying it? Cause I'm about to destroy Is this all still an elvish?
01:15:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. like You just, you hear like Jocer is getting louder and louder. He's going on over at Davin and basically just ask, do you think we're the bad guys now?
01:16:03
Speaker
i think the situation's misunderstood. I think we need a good conversation. In common! I kind of want to just use the wand and unlock the door. You touch the door with the wand, and the rune goes blank.
01:16:19
Speaker
And the door opens.
Trust and Tension
01:16:23
Speaker
And... ahead. paul I hope with all the commotion, because i Dale is around, and so...
01:16:32
Speaker
Dale probably either comes out of my pouch or up to me somehow. And I push the door open. As soon as you open that door, Dale runs in and goes to this person's feet inside the jail cell.
01:16:46
Speaker
If he trusts you, then I trust you. And I say that in common.
Cliffhanger Ending
01:16:51
Speaker
He looks in your eyes and he says, it's you.
01:16:57
Speaker
And that's where end the episode 13.
01:17:03
Speaker
Got him.
Audience Engagement
01:17:04
Speaker
Who are you? Is this my onky? Is this my onky?
01:17:14
Speaker
Oh my gosh, you guys. Who do you think it is? i don't know. i have my theories. Put them below in the comments. Thanks so much for listening. This is another episode of The Hired Swords. If you love our episodes or our our podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcast listening app and tell somebody about us. Say, hey, I like this really good Dungeons & Dragons podcast and send them our way. Thanks so much. Bye.