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Ep. 82 Holes
206 Plays2 years ago
This land feels neverending especially when trying so hard to reach the Elven lands believed to be the long lost people from Gwendolyn's journal.
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Transcript
The Nature of Dreams: Real or Illusion?
00:00:04
Speaker
previously on the higher swords. What does a dream mean? I mean, dreams are usually made up or something that you have been questioning, but this doesn't feel like it's made up. This feels real. I mean, who had the deal?
00:00:29
Speaker
who are these people the symbol it seems so familiar but i i can't place it i keep looking at the journal but i cannot find anything
00:00:45
Speaker
It was my fault that the journal got so worn anyways. There was a flood in my cottage with mom and by the time I got the book it just... it was warped and ruined and it looked like it had burned? I... I don't know. This is all so frustrating. I need to find it. I need to know. Was this a dream real?
00:01:36
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords, a biweekly D&D actual play podcast where we actually just biweekly mean every two weeks or twice a week.
00:01:58
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the hired swords.
Introducing 'Hired Swords': Meet the Hosts
00:02:00
Speaker
Go ahead, Ash. Sniped. Go ahead. Someone else should do the intro to throw it off. Do it, Ash. Hi, welcome to the hired swords. I'm Michael, your DM. And today I have Joxer, who's played by Michael. Hi. What's up?
00:02:23
Speaker
No, I'm Michael. Just mix it all up. Yeah, no, it's all good. And then we got Ash as Michael. Michael is Ash. I mean, wait. Yep. Joxer's played by Krigs. Hey, it's me, Joxer. And then you got your heart. If you're new to the show. Our resident dungeon master. Congrats. Naya is confused as we are. Another Michael. And I'm Dale. It's been two weeks since we've recorded, so we don't know what's happening.
00:02:50
Speaker
Only two weeks? Yes, only two weeks. It's been a long time. The last time we got together, by the way, I am Michael, your dungeon master. Ash is with me. She's Gwendolyn. He cannot have it. He has to have it. Gwendolyn. It's just people need to know what voices they're hearing when it's time to go. Yeah, that's true. I messed it all up. They can't see you like I can. They're not that lucky. Davids played by Derek. That's me. I'm Derek.
00:03:18
Speaker
That's right, that low-sultry voice is Derek. Joxer is Mikey. Hi, this is Mikey. Also, Joxer. Sounded super smooth on the new microphone. Blaze is here as Kriegs-Galdor, Sofrin, M. Baroque, and Mushroom Daddy, and Dale's best friend, all the things. Dale's best friend? Yeah. I mean, you're his owner.
00:03:43
Speaker
I don't own him. Craig's is his best friend. You're his parent. So I was going to come in with like a super long delay, but Ash had to jump in and just steal my son. I started. I did it. She's a good podcaster. She she doesn't allow that dead air. That's space. I appreciate this. That's right. Yeah, right. Craig's Golder, played by Blaze. So. OK, sir, for you.
Perilous Travels Through Untamed Lands
00:04:10
Speaker
When we last left off we are in the untouched lands we have traveled across a crazy. Blowing rushing river we have seen crazy eyes in the darkness looking at us the mist in the fog forming tentacle like cyclones trying to grab us and pull up us pull us up into.
00:04:29
Speaker
The, the mist itself, we have seen monsters and creatures that we have fought, including a plant like creature recently. We have come across a dwarven army, you know, small squad of soldiers who we come to find out was traveling to their doom that had already happened upon seeing their own, their own bodies. They, they moved on to whatever.
00:04:55
Speaker
is next or possibly to start their journey again who knows and then from that the party continued forward going
00:05:06
Speaker
at a kind of a new direction towards the Northwest, knowing that there's rumors of an elven tribe, that direction, or some elven tribes. And so that direction, that's where they headed. Once they got that direction a little ways, they were, that's when they were encountered this shambling mound creature, this plant, living, sentient seeming plant that attacked them.
Gwendolyn's Troubling Dream of Elven City
00:05:29
Speaker
They destroyed it and after destroying it they decided to take a rest gwendolyn having a dream that had to do with some sort of attack on a major elven city. And her trying to escape to get out hearing the voice of someone echo in her mind we had a deal we had a deal. Create a doctor as he was keeping watch saw several creatures scurry away after having seen one of them single i.
00:05:58
Speaker
staring him down from the distance in the trees. He didn't intimidate them. He didn't frighten them. He didn't cause any sort of encounter. He just kept his eyes on them until they scurried off into the distance. And we now come back to the hired swords.
00:06:19
Speaker
still in camp in the untouched lands. The sky filled with the dark smoke, not as thick as it was when they first got here, but still there, the ground covered in the black guck and goo trees seem to have this black stuff growing on it and coming out of
An Eerie Forest and Gwendolyn's Fears
00:06:35
Speaker
it. There's really no leaves to speak of on any of these trees. The worst part, however, is the eerie deafening silence. Doesn't sound like a forest here. It sounds like pretty much nothing, but
00:06:50
Speaker
That's where we are in Joxer. Your watch has ended and I believe you were discussing or had gone to approach Gwendolyn seeing her having her response in her sleep to the dream she's having. Um, Gwen, Gwen. Yes. Um, are you, are you okay?
00:07:17
Speaker
I'm fine Carmen just I guess I was having a fit I I don't know I just I keep dreaming of a place place I've seen a place that feels like home it doesn't something's always wrong though I had this dream a few nights ago I don't know if it was you but
00:07:46
Speaker
The same man was there, the same voice. We had a deal. We had a deal. That's all he screams. I don't know. I'm just probably dreaming. I think you need to take some merit for your dreams. I mean, some of
00:08:14
Speaker
which have gotten where we, gotten us all where we are now. Um, and like I said, I mean, it seems like, I mean, it, it doesn't seem like it doesn't exist, right? We've, we've been going back and forth and, you know, we're learning more than Almanoa. It actually has more than just a meaning of, you know, the afterlife and we're heading closer. Maybe, maybe it does have a meeting.
00:08:43
Speaker
Maybe more of a meaning on this side of the, that, that river. But what, what happens if we, we, we get there and it's just like the doors before where there's just a myth of a past life. I just, she starts to get worked up a bit, but she, she breathes and calms down. I just.
00:09:08
Speaker
I'm so worried we're not going to find anything. And these dreams are just, that are just making it work. They're gonna find something. I just don't want my hopes up. I'm not going to say you should have your hopes up a lot, but I feel that we're gonna find something.
00:09:36
Speaker
It may not be what we want to find, but I hope for your sake that we will find everything that you're expecting. Hopefully your father is there waiting, or at least another clue in a direction. We're going to find something to win.
00:10:01
Speaker
As he's talking, Gwyn's just staring at her lap, and then all of a sudden just reaches around Joxer and gives him the biggest bear hug that she can think of. Thank you. Does she turn into an actual bear? Yeah, she f***ing turns and... Sorry. Donnie! But off too long. I was so good at it and the two weeks off.
00:10:30
Speaker
I was going to say she turns into a big bear and then claws him to death, but that doesn't happen. She does the big bear hug and a little few tears come out and I really need to deal with that. Thank you. And she squeezes them even tighter. And then I should, I should go back to bed and she kind of smiles.
00:11:00
Speaker
I'm glad. I just, we've made it this far. There's no way we're not going to find something. You get some sleep and I mean, hopefully they're either better or maybe better hints than that. Go yell at that guy and tell us exactly where to go. I hope he shows up. Thank you again. And she kind of just starts to roll over and hold Dale.
00:11:32
Speaker
It goes to sleep. I was kind of look around at the group and I'll think about trying to have someone, you know, maybe maybe go another. Watch, but at this point, I just think everybody else can enjoy the, you know, the rest that they can get. So you're able to hang out and continue keeping watch and.
00:11:59
Speaker
Again, the forest around you, the darkness around you is almost, it's kind of difficult to see. It's so...
00:12:09
Speaker
It gets to the point where you ever now and then look at your hands to make sure you're not going blind. You're like, Oh, okay. Okay. I can at least see if, you know, right in front of me, but there's nothing out there. You don't hear anything moving. And again, you, you hear far less than you want to. You would love to at least hear a breeze blowing through the trees or something, but no, there there's none of that. It's just silence, darkness, and
00:12:37
Speaker
before too long, the sky, the blackness of the sky turns into a dark gray. And about an hour after that, that dark gray becomes a slightly lighter gray. And you think, think that may have been sunrise. All right, everybody. I, I think it's time. No.
00:13:06
Speaker
I know the feeling. I just roll over and sit up as best I can. Hand on my back just like.
Myths and One-Eyed Creatures
00:13:19
Speaker
That's not like two hours. That was two hours, right? Please tell me that was only two hours. I feel like it was like 30 hours, but I didn't sleep at all.
00:13:31
Speaker
been kind of just sits up a little bit kind of slowly. 30 hours. I'm sure it wasn't actually possible. No, I just I'm just exaggerating a little bit. I'm saying it felt like I was laying there awake for a long time. Are you not able to sleep?
00:13:58
Speaker
I mean, it's just been restless. It's not like I'm not sleeping. It's just, I don't know. It's just weird. This place is weird. Radio get out of it. Oh, I mean, at least the dark is less dark, but I do have a little bit of unfortunate news. They were going to give me unfortunate news. Like this is a thing we're doing now. You haven't gotten up yet. So I guess this is the only way to motivate you.
00:14:28
Speaker
What a cranky pant. A cranky pant. One pant. One pant. Yes. Single. A single pant. That's that's because you're so tiny. Yeah, because you're tiny man. Tiny man only needs one pant. Never had complaints before. Oh, OK. Yeah, so during during the night, there were some unusual creatures
00:14:59
Speaker
kind of creeping out and trying to watch us last night. I'm unfamiliar. Are any of you familiar with kind of one eyed, grumpy looking creatures? One eyed? I mean, honestly, you said there's going to be bad news and I feel like it'd be more disturbing if we weren't being watched at this point, but one eyed things are new for sure.
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, I just, it's, it's, I don't like creatures that I don't, that I've never seen before. It, it makes me feel even more uneasy out here. Do I know of any one-eyed creatures, Michael, or can I roll? Make a history check or an arcana check, whichever you prefer. Okay. Go ahead, Daven while I roll. No, I don't want to.
00:16:01
Speaker
I will. It doesn't look good. Six plus three, nine. You've heard of. Cyclops is before large giant men looking creatures with one big eye. You you never heard them as something real or.
00:16:27
Speaker
you know, whatever, but you're not sure that this is what he's talking about, that that's what he's talking about. But anything that has that's like one eye living creature, that's kind of all you think of. Since I'm proficient in arcana, can I also roll? If you think Davin's going to want to try to figure it out. Seven. I wonder if it might be a warm blur. Warm blur. Yeah.
00:16:58
Speaker
Did your mum never tell you about the warmblers? They're like little boogeymen that come and get you if you don't do the dishes. I'm unfamiliar. I had my own boogeymen that were real parents. Did you just say warmblers? Yes, warmblers. Is that nothing like a
00:17:27
Speaker
kerfafel? We had them in the mines, we heard. I never heard of kerfafel. I caught kerfafel one time with my sister, but my other sister broke it up before it got too bad. What? That's a good sister. Maybe we're talking about different things. You broke a beast? No, no, no, no. No, the only beasts I know are the ones that like to eat the corn.
00:17:58
Speaker
Are you calling me a beast, then? I guess I am. I didn't mean to. I mean, at the farm, you know, the creatures that would come like crows and whatnot come and eat our crops. That's what I was talking about. Oh, I've seen those before. No, Wombler was something mom used to tell me about. I don't think they're real, but
00:18:26
Speaker
That's the only thing I can think of. Seeing this creature, I couldn't imagine it was real. So maybe I've stopped from where... It's not a story in Middletown that warblers, that unfamiliar. We'll just be from... Where are you from? Why don't I know where you're from?
00:18:56
Speaker
are you from somewhere yes I'm sorry I thought you were talking to Dale but then Dale and I are kind of from the same place that's true I'm from a little it's like a small village right outside of Lavrath if you've ever been there
00:19:22
Speaker
between, it lies in a, in a little, little forest between Leverenth and Frostfound. Oh, well, I'll be honest. I've done the most traveling probably with you guys than I have before. It's the same. Um, speaking of traveling, we should probably get moving, right? But what before breakfast?
00:19:52
Speaker
What? Did you want anything? Who am I kidding? It's just gonna taste like moss and gross all over again. Did you say gross? Moss is very good for your digestive system. I'm talking about Gavin's...
00:20:11
Speaker
magic shrooms. They're just not the same. Not that kind of magic shroom. Get your mind out of the dwarven minds. Come on. I need some ointment for that reach. I mean, I know it's not the best food, but at least it keeps us alive. Right. That's just, let's just call. I mean, here I'll, I'll wave the wand and I'll make just a giant pile of potatoes. Just take a potato for the world.
00:20:39
Speaker
Can this actually taste like a potato then? I'll press the digitization, the five foot square of them. Those ones right there should be pretty good. I grab like five or six of them and shove them into my pack. Like I'm ready to eat something that tastes real for once. You'll have to remind me later because the taste is only going to last for like a minute.
00:21:07
Speaker
Oh, you think these are going to last longer than a minute? Oh, great boy. All right. I casually just pull one out and literally just start just munching on it right away. Gonna grabs one and starts eating it. This is bad. I'm curious because I know they taste like potatoes because I made it taste like that. But what's the texture of these things? They're not as hard as a potato should be. Actually, they're they're not warm, but they're they're the
00:21:38
Speaker
they're actually a decent kind of mushiness for like a, a little bit overcooked potato. You, you would, you wish the skin of the potato would, would give you a little more texture like it should. Like, you know, but once you get to chewing, you're like, Oh, that actually kind of feels like eating a potato. Just, you would wish it maybe was a little warm, but yeah, it's fine. I must be honest. This is probably the best use of this one so far. Right?
00:22:09
Speaker
I guess I'll have a try then. Carmen walks up and grabs one. It's certainly better than those watermelon flavored hot dogs. Those were pretty weird. I'm out of jerky, so this will have to do. Carmen was just sitting there in the back watching us like, why, why are these people these people?
00:22:35
Speaker
I'm going to take this and just kind of walk the perimeter a little bit, if you don't mind, just to kind of get the lay of the area. Is that okay with you? Just be quick because I want to get on the road as soon as we can.
00:22:47
Speaker
Well, that's definitely my intention. I think I want to play scout a little bit. Uh, maybe after that last encounter last night, I feel that maybe we would be wise to, you know, have a point person kind of keeping an eye out as we travel. And I'm used to doing that sort of things. I'm happy to do that if that's okay with all of you.
00:23:10
Speaker
By all means. Sure. Yeah, I'm just gonna. I tend to be able to be, I tend to be able to see those who may cause me harm before they see me quite often. So hopefully I can add warning to you, warning you to that process, which will allow me to keep us out of such a surprising encounter as we had yesterday. As I'm looking at him, is he talking to waste time? Making something up?
00:23:40
Speaker
or are you just having something? I don't know. You said insight after I closed my thing. I did. Five plus 12, 17. He's definitely already walking in the direction he was going to start walking the perimeter. Like he's ready to get started. Doesn't seem to be stalling in any way. Okay, great.
00:24:06
Speaker
I mean, that probably didn't require an insight check, but hey, we're here to roll dice, right? Yeah, I couldn't tell. I get it. That's just curious. Sometimes Michael likes to roll play. Also, Ashley, I wanted to go up and just slap the potato out of his hand, but I didn't. Ashley wanted to do that? I actually wanted to do that, yeah. Okay. You probably would have said it. It wasn't that good anyway and kept going. Ooh.
00:24:29
Speaker
Gotcha. Gotcha. I'll I'll probably just munch and then there should be a water bin, right? That comes with a bunch of water with your wand. Yeah. So probably douse and try to try to check what I can and maybe store store some of that for the the brew hall and get ready to go. On we travel.
00:24:58
Speaker
So as everyone begins to kind of gather up and travel, you, somebody make a survival check for me as you've been in these woods for a while, looking the same
Navigating the Dark Forest
00:25:09
Speaker
way. You saw the direction that Carmen went, but he did say perimeter. So you may not be a hundred percent sure he's going in the direction you want to go. Just that he's starting to circle or something. So make a survival check for me still.
00:25:23
Speaker
Who wants it? No whammies. I can take it. Go ahead here. Yeah, you. Not my bath plus one. That is a 12. You look up, there is no sun to see. You know what?
00:25:48
Speaker
to gauge what direction the sun has been rising. It's just lighter and the gray fog is a little bit lighter in the sky. There's no moss and trees. There's really not an easy way to know. All you really have to go by is kind of your memory of where you came from before. And with the kind of shifting of the ground and everything,
00:26:16
Speaker
even your footprints and that sort of thing are not super, they're just not there anymore. It's not super clear. So you pick a direction and you start walking and it's kind of, uh, just a little bit deviated from the way that, uh, Carmen went, but it's your choice. If you, you, you look at that direction and you think that's it, but you're, you may not be a hundred percent confident, but it's your choice how you move ahead. Um,
00:26:47
Speaker
Was it this direction? I'm having him. It's just a little blurry here. It's dark. Anybody else have a comment? Is he still in earshot or did he just walk out? You don't see him. Okay. Maybe in a minute we'll be able to catch up, but I know it's in this general direction. Do you guys have any better ideas?
00:27:15
Speaker
Oh, that sounds right to me, I guess. All right. Then this way we go. And, uh, you know, if we run into that plant monster, we know we went the wrong direction because we know that much. So we can still there. So you guys begin traveling. I assume everyone follows this. Unsure.
00:27:43
Speaker
guide and you begin following and traveling. And it takes, takes about 10 minutes before up in the tree, one of the trees you hear, have we changed our plan? And you look up and there's Carmen standing on a branch. He's got his hand up holding a branch above him.
00:28:13
Speaker
Have we changed our plan? Are we still headed northwest? Are we not? I mean, I know that we've been directionally challenged before, but it's difficult here. I understand you're heading directly north right now. I believe if my calculations are correct. So if that's where we want to go, I'm fine. I just need to kind of change my.
00:28:37
Speaker
perimeter that I've been kind of circling because I realized you guys were no longer in the circle. You've drifted more northward. So if we are heading northwest, perhaps this direction and he points just to his left a little bit. Thank you. I was having a little trouble getting started.
00:28:58
Speaker
Uh, yeah, we're still trying to head Northwest. It is not easy here. I don't, I don't fault you in any way. Yes. Let's, let's head this way. And he, he.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yep, leaps from one branch from one tree to another on the branch, grabs, grabs the branch. Yeah, kneels down, grabs the branch and drops himself to the ground, letting go of the branch and landing in that cool superhero three point stance. He turns and looks at you all his gray kind of dying looking face, gray hair. And he just kind of.
00:29:31
Speaker
glides his hand towards the direction he's talking about, like he's assuring you to your table at a restaurant and he says, uh, after me, I'll, I'll keep an eye behind for now and circle around. Appreciate it. Um, as we're walking, I just kind of walk up next to Craig and say, are we sure we can 100% trust this one? I mean,
00:29:57
Speaker
Okay. I just want to make sure that I'm not doing anyone who has a little bit of reservations listening to him. But at the same time, I generally don't trust people that try to kill me or friends at least, but I don't see much of a choice that we have at this point, uh, call it tactical thinking, but he's the only advantage we have at this moment. And I intend to use that while we can. So,
00:30:26
Speaker
You're right. I would say there are two types of people that I don't trust in this world and one of them is murders. Gwen's probably behind them, kind of lagging behind. She's probably, she is talking to Dale about her dream last night and about what she's feeling and asking how he's feeling.
00:30:56
Speaker
How is he feeling? Yeah, that was my next question. Like, do I get a response back like I normally do? Or has he been a little not as talkative to me? I think you're normal.
00:31:16
Speaker
Your normal response as you look at him, he, he, you're kind of looking in his eyes, trying to gauge how he feels. He, he feels a little quiet to you, but he looks confused when you look at his face. Maybe that's just his face. Okay. Just as confused as you are. Resting confused face. Yeah. Yeah. Why, why do you say that Dale? Like,
00:31:46
Speaker
Dale, are you even listening to me? I just told you the dream and you don't seem to recognize that man. What was his deal? Who had the deal? Make a dexterity saving throw. No. Dale throwing punches.
00:32:16
Speaker
dexterity, say, I mean, 13 plus two. So your foot catches a root as you're walking, focusing on talking to Dale and this black root kind of doesn't grab your foot, but it's like it does because it you just suddenly trip forward and stumble forward a little bit and.
00:32:39
Speaker
You don't fall. You keep yourself from completely falling. But Dale falls out of your bag and just hits the ground as you've had him kind of up so you could see his face and talk to him. He just hits the ground and kind of rolls over to the side. When he finishes rolling, he ends up back on his feet. Dale, I'm so sorry. Oh.
00:33:04
Speaker
You seem to have taken that pretty well. And I run over and pick them up. Walking by. That was a nice trick. He just continues walking. At least somebody in the past started accidentally saving the throw. What do you mean by trick? And I just pick up Dale. Go ahead, hurry up. Don't lag behind. I'm coming. Come on, Dale. We'll talk about it later.
00:33:36
Speaker
She just kind of holds them to the side and kind of runs a little to catch up. So Gwendolyn's running from behind to catch up, catches up to Krigs pretty quickly and for too long, they both kind of catch up with Joxer and Davin and the four of you are walking and you walk for several hours, about every, I don't know, 15, 20 minutes.
00:34:07
Speaker
Carmen will just kind of pop back in with the group and say, all is clear around just, just trying to keep an eye out for things. It's hard to, it's becoming very difficult to know which direction to go. Things are getting, the forest is getting thicker. I'm sure you've noticed and you guys have, it's, it is getting thicker. The, the trees are closer together. The goo on the ground is a little more.
00:34:32
Speaker
thick and just gross, like muddy almost. It's not as sticky now, it doesn't seem, but it's just, it's this like mud, black tarish mud. And he, he'll scurry back off and go in pretty much about whenever you, you think maybe he doesn't want you to see him anymore. He's hidden. And you figure that's probably a good thing because he's kind of trying to look around sneakily. So probably what he's going for.
00:35:01
Speaker
And around lunchtime, he comes back up to you and he says, I have, uh, I'm kind of shocked, but I have information. I have a, I found something and he,
00:35:24
Speaker
He says, follow me, come this way. And he turns and he says, this, I think I need you to confirm. I think I found a pathway. And he goes, he starts heading into the woods ahead of you. Speaking of finding something that he thinks might be a pathway of some kind. You guys follow on him? Sounds like a good plan. Major armor. Yeah. Dang it, I was about to. Major armor. How far up is Carmen?
00:35:50
Speaker
By the time you guys kind of realize, oh, he's going, like he's headed there, whether he's excited or rushed or scared or whatever, it's hard to tell, but he gets ahead of you a good 40, 50 feet before you guys spring into action to follow him.
00:36:06
Speaker
Wow. Okay. But he's not hiding now. He's obviously wanting you guys to see him to follow. So he's not taking himself away in the trees or whatever. He's just kind of, and he actually gets a good 60 feet away as you guys are starting to move and he stops, turns around and waits for you to get a little closer and then moves
Discovering Pathways and Destinations
00:36:21
Speaker
ahead a little bit. He's kind of pulling a Gwen right now. I, I'm going to follow, but I'm going to continue to scan the area the best I can to make sure that it doesn't look like we're just following into some sort of trap. Okay. Make a perception check. Yes, I will. Um,
00:36:37
Speaker
It's either a six or nine, but either way it's bad. Okay. Uh, 10 total. Yeah. Everything's really close together. All the trees, everything it's, you're literally sometimes having to turn yourself sideways to kind of skip through a couple of trees there as you're trying to hurry up. And, uh, but a good, you know, a good hustle few minutes through the woods and kind of dodging trees here and there.
00:37:04
Speaker
you do come upon a place where it's like the trees haven't grown in this small, we're talking like three foot wide winding, almost like a pathway, but there's nothing to make it look like a path other than the fact that there's no
00:37:23
Speaker
These trees aren't growing from it, roots aren't crossing it, it's like it had been worn to the point of nothing growing there or having grown there before whatever this is took over, however this happened.
00:37:38
Speaker
This seems to have been a pathway in some way. And that's where Carmen is stopped and looking. And he says, this does not look like the forest was getting thicker, finding a place where it has opened up like this. Just even even this little amount seems to me to be.
00:37:58
Speaker
I don't know something I just wanted to confirm with you all that you think this is something something important perhaps we should follow this one direction or the other I don't know I I think you're right I mean it it does look one one away can I can I like investigate a little bit to see if I can see like a general direction or like maybe type of traffic might have been in it yeah make a survival check for that again all right that is better that is a 17 plus one so that's an 18
00:38:28
Speaker
like better. So yeah, this thing runs this this little winding path runs towards the it winds a little bit so it's kind of hard to get a gauge like it's not like very obvious like the river was like oh that's running from west to east but it's it's winding and it seems like the general direction is more north northwest to south southeast this kind of
00:38:53
Speaker
this kind of winding in that kind of diagonal direction if you were to draw a straight line across the curves like the average space that this thing kind of curves around but you can see in a pretty good distance as the curves are tight enough and you look back one direction and forwards the other you can see
00:39:11
Speaker
even just looking up and seeing the kind of break in the trees where it's not just tree trunks in front of you, you're able to make out the fact that this pathway seems to go a little ways in either direction, northwest and southeast. With that knowledge, I'd probably try to jump up and climb up on the tallest tree that I could see and get to the top and see if I could see any actual, I don't know, monument or any actual physical building of some sort. All right.
00:39:39
Speaker
Um, uh, dexterity check for you would be a moot point. Why don't you go ahead and make it anyway? All right. You are jocks are with your boots after all 19 plus eight plus a hundred million. Yeah. And then, so, uh, 27.
00:39:58
Speaker
That succeeds so you you jump up in the tree. Scurry up to a higher branch Carmen actually kind of oh okay like was kind of surprised and impressed with your ability there he was feeling pretty good about his ability to do such things and you just kind of showed him up a little bit and.
00:40:18
Speaker
but you get to the top, now make a perception check that you're up there looking around. We're just rolling dice like crazy. How fun. I just played D and D. Oh my. So you, as you look around up top, you see, you look to the Northwest and you see a ways away. First of all, the sky is
00:40:44
Speaker
just as dark as it's been. The trees are just as dead as far as the eye can see. The sky is billowing a little bit now that you're up here. You can see and Craig saw too when he flew up there a couple days ago. You're seeing that same kind of
00:41:01
Speaker
billowing that you have seen this whole time, but it's further above you than it was before. But now as you look towards the Northwest, you see the clouds seem to be sinking deeper in that direction where they're lower. And you also notice that there are no treetops in this kind of broken rectangular area.
00:41:31
Speaker
In the distance, it's like there's something there or there for some reason, there are no trees there. And as you look to the Southeast, you see this wind a little ways until it finally, the winding is too, seems to maybe be too much and it just looks like forest. Um, then we're definitely heading towards something. This path is, it was a great find.
00:42:01
Speaker
It looks like the forest might end, but unfortunately it does have deeper clouds, but we're definitely heading towards something. I'm sorry, what? Something's better than nothing. That's all I have to say.
00:42:20
Speaker
Yes, I figured this, there was, there had to be something I knew if we would go out and look around, there had to be something that give us an indication that we were heading in the right direction. I don't like not knowing where we're going. I apologize if I seemed anxious or nervous, but that I was very uncomfortable with our uncertainty. Now I feel like we have a little bit more clarity. Yeah. I mean, I can't guarantee it's a better place, but there's less tree tops over there. So.
00:42:50
Speaker
And then I'll try to hop down and try to try to do something cool as well after seeing that three-put fall. Go ahead and make dexterity saving throw. And then I just, I know this is going to be bad. I did like two decently. Feel like now that you're using it to show off, it's not going to work. That's literally a one. No way. He called it. Wow. Oh my gosh. Plus what? Uh, so that's a plus eight, so. Nine total. Yeah.
00:43:19
Speaker
You begin to. But what tell me what trick you try to do first. I tried to do something kind of similar where I you know I try to like loop off of maybe one or two branches since I was a little higher wasn't it like the bottom and then and then try to you know land not not in like three point but just land nice you know so.
00:43:48
Speaker
you allow yourself to just drop kind of dead weight to a branch below you and you grab it successfully. And you begin to pull your weight up as you launch yourself to a branch a little further away. And when you pull your weight, the thing breaks, just snaps. And so your momentum of pulling it down, it snaps and you begin to fall, reaching up, trying to grab another one and you end up
00:44:16
Speaker
landing feet first in the goo beneath you, the, the, the earth of the goo earth. And you're both feet slip out from under you and you land on your backside. And Carmen says, Oh, are you all right? I'm fine.
00:44:43
Speaker
We'll just take this path in that direction. Sound good? Yes, he puts his hand down to help you up. And it's his kind of dead, like dying hand. And then he puts his other hand out. Dad leads over to Gwen. He says, Dad, Dad made that landing better than Joxer did. I have to agree with that. What was that? I was saying we're losing time. Funny joke, Daven.
00:45:14
Speaker
Thank you. She winks at him. Very, very subtle. Both eyes. Yeah, probably. Yeah. One immediately and then the other right after. She winks both of them. Oh, that's great. And then as I get it, thanks for coming. Need to practice that a little bit. And then I'll pass press a digitization to get some of that goop off of my
00:45:43
Speaker
everything at that point. The branches are, they're very, they're not very strong. I, I, I hit a couple loose ones while I was scouting. I don't, I don't need you to make me feel better. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That was hilarious. And he begins walking off.
00:46:03
Speaker
Towards the northwest and he takes a lead a little bit, but he doesn't get to where you can't see him And he doesn't look like he's scouting like going around a perimeter or anything anymore He's just kind of taking point directly on this path ahead of you guys Like follow like yeah, I'll follow but I feel like I'm gonna be hanging behind a little bit
00:46:24
Speaker
OK, the I'm going to I'm going to lag behind as well. And I'm just going to ask as soon as I notice that there's distance. How's how's the buck? Not quite as the the the took this is a little a little bruised. More than the ego. Not any more than the ego.
00:46:53
Speaker
goes pretty broken. Well, try to keep up and I just walk faster. Yeah, yeah. I'm just I'm just making sure no one's coming up from behind.
00:47:16
Speaker
As you guys begin to walk or continue walking forward and you kind of follow this path, it winds through the trees. Everyone make perception checks as you continue to wind on this path. I feel like you guys aren't trusting me right now and you're really worried that something bad is going to happen. I am. Five. From your faces. Five for Davin. Twelve. Twelve. Fifteen for Dachshund. Fifteen. Krigs?
00:47:47
Speaker
Well, it's a solid 18. Okay, Krigs, you're the only one that notices this. But there, as you're walking, every now and then something you notice on the trail that you're that's winding, you see a part that's kind of clears off to the side.
Signs of Civilization: Statues and Villages
00:48:05
Speaker
And it looks like
00:48:08
Speaker
The imprint of wagon wheels are there, but it's covered again as you continue walking by more trees and roots and stuff. And it's, it seems like your conclusion is, is that this, this pathway, this little bitty trail that you could barely walk single file on.
00:48:26
Speaker
was once a larger kind of thoroughfare through this forest, but whatever this creeping darkness is has caused this overgrowth to happen, but it hasn't fully closed it off, which has left this pathway for you to walk on. You could do with that information what you please. I think I will.
00:48:55
Speaker
carry along as best I can. So as you guys continue walking, winding through this path and most of you, the rest of you are kind of oblivious to anything other than maybe this is some like wild animal hunting trail or something. That's the size of this thing. It's very small, like I said. After a good hour of walking, Carmen puts both hands in the air and stops.
00:49:25
Speaker
Oh, and he turns to you all and he says, look, look, and he starts pointing and you can see that the pathway opens up and then the distance you see what looks like in the fog is, is now kind of a thick mist that's sitting over this, that's sitting in this, this area ahead of you. And it's hard to see anything other than you see this slight
00:49:52
Speaker
silhouette in this fog, a dark, two dark silhouettes, one on each side of this pathway that has opened up to be almost this full sized road. And now all of you can see that there were like cart trail, like deep kind of dug into like carts had gone across this trail a bunch to cause these crevasses in the road and
00:50:17
Speaker
The you see bordering this trail to identically height. Height is that a word to humanoid looking figures standing exactly the same height completely still. You just make out the shape of the silhouette of them in the distance, and he says. Don't know.
00:50:46
Speaker
If we've been seen or what this, I don't be like whatever they are. They're looking right at me. I don't like this. How tall are they? From here, they're probably a good couple of hundred feet away and you're looking now at them through this mist, but you would imagine they're probably
00:51:10
Speaker
about human height, you know, human or elf height, and they're not short like dwarves or whatever. They're pretty good, pretty, you know, in the five foot six, seven, eight range. That's your guess as you look at them from this distance. All right, tricks. Last time you had a good meeting with the people we met. I mean, glad that they were dead, but maybe, maybe you should make first contact.
00:51:41
Speaker
Well, uh, sure. I'm not one to stray from strangers. I will take a couple of steps ahead of just like everyone. Devin stops and wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you doing? You can't just go forward. What if they're dangerous? Gwen. Jock, sir, make perception checks. The rest of the other two can keep talking.
00:52:11
Speaker
I don't know what we should, I'm sorry, I'm not nervous. You just told me. I know, I know, I know what I said, but I'm nervous. I changed my mind a lot when I'm nervous. Three plus one, so it's not, I'm not gonna do it. 11 plus nine, 30, 20. Nice. And just a note, like as Briggs was like walking forward, like, wait, I'll
00:52:34
Speaker
I'll join you if you're going to. And then that interaction happened. So I was distracted. Maybe we should write a letter and we could somehow get the letter to them and they can read it first and then we can find out how they react. Gwen, you notice. Oh, sure. We even know what language they speak to write a letter. I mean, this whole time I stood completely still. I mean, it's called common for a reason. I assume that everyone speaks common.
00:53:02
Speaker
Not everybody says the man who talks with angels. Okay. So like Craig's and them aren't moving. No, no, no. The, the, what you've seen in the distance in the mist, those figures, they're completely still and you do not do it can clarify. You do not see these yellow eyes. You just see this silhouette of what looks like a person, two people ordering this pathway that leads looks like directly between them.
00:53:32
Speaker
but they have not moved at all, Gwendolyn. Carmen's too busy, he's listening to you guys talk, like, I don't think we should engage immediately. So far, they may not have seen us, I don't know, and he's kind of participating. What if we build a tunnel? We build a tunnel from here, underground, and come up between the two of them. Look, I can dig pretty quick, but let's be real, I'm one dwarf.
00:54:00
Speaker
while they're talking without a trace on myself. Okay. And I start to go forward where the silhouettes are. I started to make a stealth check digging into the ground. Is this what you want? Is this, is this what you were asking for? That's going to take way too long. What are you thinking? That's going to take us like days. It was my idea. Okay. I was just one. Oh no. Oh my God.
00:54:30
Speaker
Go 12. Yeah. Oh, 13. So you sneak up your 60 feet. Pulled up that round before. Can I see past this fog to see what the silhouettes are? You're kind of getting to where it kind of gets thicker as you get it. Oh, here I go. Five feet. No, it's five inches. Yeah, let's just keep going. You still see these two figures. They still look like silhouettes.
00:54:54
Speaker
They have not responded. It doesn't seem to your approach in any way. Where do we go over? Instead, we can fly through the air. You have wings. Why don't we just walk around it? If that, why are we going over and below? I'm very confused. Go ahead and make another stuff check. Why is it my responsibility to fly? I only have wings if I cast a spell. You just seem to plop them out. Oh, plop them out. You just want me to plop out my wings. What'd you say? I think I've seen you go for less reasons than this before.
00:55:24
Speaker
Okay, that was one time. And it was just for show. I wanted to show you my new trick. I've been working on the whirly doozles at least six nights in a row and you are going to say plop out my wings. Is that why you've been walking funny lately? Look, I landed hard, but you said you wouldn't say anything. Spell slots. Yeah, sure. I sent a severed hand toward them. That's not going to freak anybody out. You now get
00:55:51
Speaker
another 60 feet closer and you look and it looks like one of them is missing a leg completely. And you see it laying in the distance a little ways, Gwendolyn. And you look back up and you see, it looks like that leg is crumbled off in some way, like almost like he's made of stone.
00:56:20
Speaker
And then as you approach slowly, still trying to sneak, these are two statues bordering the roadway. Have I seen these statues before? They are. They are two statues that are made mostly of wood with some stone kind of in the foundation, the legs and in the torso parts. But there there's.
00:56:50
Speaker
wood emblazoned on them. They don't look like statues you've seen, but they are life-size elves. And one is carrying a basket, and the other is carrying a pitchfork. Okay, here's my problem with specialots. I swear his fingernails are growing, and that just creeps me out.
00:57:19
Speaker
Nails never stop growing. We've had this conversation before. Manicure or no spell slots. I go to put Dale down. I don't call for the guys. I figure it out. Fine. I'll deal with it. I don't put him down. I pull him out and I'm like,
00:57:44
Speaker
Have you seen this before? Have I seen this before? It's going to make those lots defenseless. That's what you want. Oh, I'm sure the stench will be plenty fine to get anything that might want to attack spell slots. Let's be real. You look at Dale in the face and when you do.
00:58:13
Speaker
No, silly. Haven't seen this before. You hear this voice in your mind. When normally Gwendolyn would feel crazy for hearing that, she doesn't. And, and you notice this is the voice. This is what he sounded like in your dreams when he was leading you through the town. Yeah.
00:58:39
Speaker
No, silly. Don't be silly. I've never seen this before. And he doesn't... It's more... You weren't maybe sure before if you were really hearing him or just like projecting thoughts from your mind. But this time you heard a voice. I think...
00:59:09
Speaker
just for the audience to understand and for you guys. I agree with Michael. Gwen is never... She always knew what Dale was thinking, always knew what Dale was going to say. And for Dale to have an actual response is very much new. I mean, she was basically the girl with the Texidermy chipmunk walking around.
00:59:36
Speaker
She was the kid that no one wanted to talk to. So she she made herself a friend, in a sense. Granted, Dale was real before, but he was just a critter. And. Now that she's had these dreams, hearing Dale does not shock her. It feels more natural and more real.
01:00:05
Speaker
Their relationship hit another level. A whole other level. You look at these statues, you see one with a basket, one with what looks like a pitchfork and the pathway continues past them. And you see in the distance silhouette of these round structures like buildings.
01:00:31
Speaker
And in the furthest, the furthest thing you can see is the silhouette of what looks like a larger, more triangular rooftop in the distance with the clouds above you kind of billowing and
01:00:49
Speaker
It's not as thick as it was over the river, but it's thicker than it has been over the forest. And the statues, you can see this black creep has been creeping up around it, this goo on these statues and corrupting the wood, only leaving this darkness on the wood that it shouldn't be, what shouldn't be black. And the stone
01:01:14
Speaker
It isn't really damaged by this stuff other than the one crumbling of the one leg. But it looks like you've found a village in the distance. A very near distance. We're talking 100 feet away from these statues is where those buildings are. Gwen tries her loudest and is just like. But she is pretty far away, so.
01:01:45
Speaker
I don't know if they would hear her. She's so far that we can't. Are you still talking to each other? I would imagine we're still coming up with really stupid ideas. Your passive perception is what you need and it's not good enough. So you guys, you guys, as you, as he, unless somebody's got like an 18 or better,
01:02:07
Speaker
I don't know what crazy feats and stuff, what you may have. I have 19. Passive perception. Mine's 11. So as you, she cries out, you don't see a response from them. They just seem to still be bickering. Although Carmen does approach you as he had kind of removed himself for the conversation and was starting to walk around to kind of scout a little bit out of instinct and he approaches you and what have you found?
01:02:36
Speaker
I, I think we've, we've, we've found the village, but what if they're not there? Did you see anything? It looks, it doesn't look inhabitable to me or maybe those who inhabited here would not want to come across. You understand what I mean?
01:03:06
Speaker
I. I guess. Maybe I don't I don't know, I'm. Let's let's get the others and he starts walking back towards the others. And I go, I go forward as Carmen goes back, you go into the village. I, I, I, yeah. When when Carmen comes back and like to the group, I I'm currently like.
01:03:32
Speaker
holding spell slots down and have a blacksmith file and filing his nails. Just stay still. Don't worry. I'll give you a nice polish when we're done. Davin is like nipple deep in a hole that he's dug by just removing dirt. Okay. You have a doctor who's just nervous, like biting his own nails, watching this happen, the spell slot. Carmen approaches and do you realize
01:04:03
Speaker
We found it.
Suspenseful Village Discovery
01:04:05
Speaker
This is the village here. We're here. What are you doing? I think he left one. And done. Wonderful. I pick him up. Just proud of my work. And that's where we're going to end the episode. That's a good one. That got weird. Weird? So you mean normal?
01:04:38
Speaker
Alright, out the way, Blaze, out the way. Let me see if I can do it this time. Okay, here we go. Um, thank you for listening to this episodic adventure of the hired swords. If you enjoyed what you listened to, tell a friend! And if you enjoyed the world, then tell all of the people in- No, that's not right.
01:04:54
Speaker
Anyways, guys, thank you for listening. You can find us online, of course, at thehiredswords.com, or if you like merch, you can check out thehiredstore.com. Also, of course, on Twitter, where it's one of the best places to communicate with us, at thehiredswords. Thank you, guys, truly. We appreciate you listening, and we'll catch you next time.