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Ep. 97 Homestead Away from Home
40 Plays1 month ago
This place is strange. The Swords never would have imagined they'd find a cottage and gardens here. To top it off, the owner seems to be here to help. Who is this, Marlow, anyway? And what is he up to?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Hired Swords' and Characters
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons 5-E actual play podcast that's actually about to come up on our four-year anniversary!
00:00:21
Speaker
to the hired source a dungit dragons five v actual play
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Hired Swords. We're here. We're back. We're doing it. And I'm Michael, your dungeon master. And with me, I have some great friends. Blaze is here. He is Safran Ember Oak, formerly known as Krigs Galdor. How's it going, Blaze?
00:00:57
Speaker
It's a me, Crick Scaldor. Yeah, that's great. How about Derek? He's here too. He's Daven. Hey, formerly known as, um I guess I was always known as Daven. Always known as Daven. It's just Daven the demon boy. Also, Joxer is one of the characters in this game and the guy that plays him, his name is Mikey. Hi, po' buddy's nerf-ict.
00:01:21
Speaker
ah Yeah, and Ash is here too and she's Gwendolyn. Yes, the most lovable character out of everyone ever. I think that's probably, I think that's actually true. Wow. Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. You're welcome.
Journey into the Dreamland
00:01:41
Speaker
Well, hey, when we last left off, our party had gone through some crazy stuff and they went through a easy a portal sort of situation and found themselves in these crazy dreams. And when they came down to the other side of the dream, they found themselves in a amazing, colorful, brightly lit pink sky forest. Looks like nothing they've ever seen before. After some discussion about the strange things they had seen in their area, they decide to walk to a hill they see, and the the elevation increasing in one direction.
00:02:11
Speaker
when they figure to get their bearings, figure out where we are, let's head up that hill. So they head that direction. When they get to the top of the hill after some kind of interaction with the plant life there, realizing it's it's a little bit more alive even than the plant life where they come from, they get to the top of this hill, look out a little bit and see some sort of man-made structure in the distance and decide that they should head that direction.
Encounter with Marlowe
00:02:39
Speaker
So they end up chasing Gwendolyn, who has taken the form of a deer and decided to bolt towards this structure. After a couple hours of chasing their dear friend Gwen, they find a homestead, and dear Gwen walks towards the garden at the the front of this this homestead that seems to just kind of be set here in this small opening in the trees out of nowhere. And as she gets close, she's she's going after some corn in the garden, and as she gets close, a man stands from kneeling. He reaches out an ear of corn and offers it to the deer, who is Gwendolyn, saying, whoa, girl, there you are, steady now, take it. And that's where we left off.
00:03:25
Speaker
Gwen, do you take the corn? that The question that's been on people's minds since the last episode. Do you take the corn? I do. You probably see Gwendolyn kind of cautiously sniff it and then she kind of reaches out to take it and does like little nibbles and then takes it if he lets go.
00:03:49
Speaker
as you As you nibble and start nibbling it, he lets it go and just kind of lets it, lets you kind of like grab it with your mouth and set it and start chewing on it. And he begins to kind of scratch at the top of your, you know, your kind of shoulder. And he leans down and and you hear him kind of whisper towards you. If you want to take your regular form, you can. And you can tell your friends to come out. I poke my head from around a bush. I'm just like, what? Oh.
00:04:18
Speaker
ah We weren't really hiding. We were just kind of catching up and then paused, as well. It's a nice bush. What kind of material is that that made of? I think it's the bush kind. No, no, not the bush. I'm talking about the sunroom. I mean, I just... I'm sorry. My name is Joxer, as I walk forward. The guy's Marlowe. We established his name. He's chuckling. He's laughing. And he...
00:04:48
Speaker
and Don't worry a bit about any of that. I'll answer your questions. Come in here. You look like you are ah lost. I'll say I haven't seen anyone in here out here lost in quite a long time. Please come. there I like how I'm relatively bush sized and you guys are just like standing half out of it and I'm just perfectly like just standing behind it.
00:05:09
Speaker
I just imagine your eyes woken through it. So you guys, he offers you up. Gwen, do you stay as a deer or? Yeah, she's a little too nervous. Sure. Just because he's like, he can transform out. Okay. He's okay with you staying as a deer. He doesn't seem to react in any way to that.
00:05:32
Speaker
He just kind of motions over to a couple benches set against the front wall of his, of his cottage there. And, uh, he motions over there as if to tell you to sit down and he says, please have a seat, take a load off. You can drop your, your items, uh, keep whatever you want close to you. It's not a problem. I just, uh, just want you to feel comfortable. Do you need something to eat? What the, what is it that you need?
Understanding the Magical World
00:05:57
Speaker
We can sit and chat.
00:05:58
Speaker
Well, i I suppose if you're offering, I could take some food, whatever you have available, it would be nice. Crunch. Absolutely. Crunch. We haven't, I don't think we've had any meals for some time. What have we had? We've had meals, of course, just not food. Crunch. The corn is just, it's got the juice, man.
00:06:25
Speaker
Dear Gwen is enjoying it. It's gone! So he he says, okay, that's wonderful. I i have something that won't take me long. ah Please, there's a well around the side. If you need some fresh water, help yourselves. Otherwise, I'll be right back out. And you're welcome to follow me in if you'd like as well. The door does not lock. And he kind of opens the door and walks in.
00:06:48
Speaker
uh, leaves it halfway open as he goes inside. And you just kind of hear him's kind of banging and clanging around and just kind of whistling to himself. I know. I think we should have picked a bigger bush to hide behind. That seems like a nice fellow. Yeah. I mean, you, you, you were hidden at least. I know we should, should be probably more cautious, but I, I think, I think we're okay for now.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I usually feel like I can sense danger and I don't feel like he's dangerous in any sort of way. Works for me. I just start walking in. All right, the door opens and you walk in and you see and this cottage. It's not really, it's not very big. You just see to the right side as you come in, there's just a ah nook that kind of comes out, kind of juts out from the the side of the cottage there. And it looks like it may be an add-on. It's mostly it's mostly stone going up to the the same kind of grown over thatch roof.
00:07:47
Speaker
ah that you can see that some of the flowers and plant life that grow on the outside. Also, ah the the the roots of those also kind of grow down into the inside of this this house and just kind of dangle from the ceiling. ah the There's a bed over into the side ah of this that is that looks like it's made mostly of straw and just a a simple little cot with some cushion on it. And then he's standing over on the other complete other side of the cabin. ah not it's It's not and it's not a whole 25 feet across it's it's it's pretty small but you see him standing over there and he's
00:08:24
Speaker
just pulling some things out of a couple drawers and cabinets and just kind of assembling them on a plate, almost like a charcuterie kind of situation. And he's got it kind of laid out. He grabs a, uh, he grabs a ah little pot with some liquid in it of some kind and he lifts it by a handle and he begins to turn and when he turns and sees you standing there, he says, ah you're welcome to stay in here as long as you want. or You could come right out here with me. That's fine. And he turns and walks outside and, uh,
00:08:52
Speaker
sets the the little charcuterie board thing on the end of a bench that's that you guys are sitting on and reaches into his little bag that he was carrying and pulls out some glasses and sets them there too and sets the teapot right next to Davin as he's sitting there on that bench and and says help help yourselves. um What brings you what brings you to this strange place?
00:09:18
Speaker
ah Mario wasn't Uh, no, uh, Marlowe. There's a close Marlowe. Well, it's a me Marlowe. It's a me. Sofren. Great. It's nice to meet you Sofren. We find ourselves here.
00:09:36
Speaker
Sort of by, I suppose, destiny, but also kind of by a point of chance. I see. Similar to myself. Um, but what are the circumstances surrounding your arrival here that if you don't mind me asking, I hope I do not pry. I just, I have not spoken to travelers in a very long time. I think it might have us a little bit to explain if we even knew where we
Nature of the Magical World
00:10:01
Speaker
were. ah ah Where are we?
00:10:03
Speaker
I think that may be best suited for jocks at answer. I'm still trying my best to figure out which which way is up at this place. um I think Daven has a point, but oh I don't think we we're from anywhere near here. Oh no.
00:10:24
Speaker
oh My theory is that no one is from here, but that's only a theory, grant you, but that's my theory, is that no one's from here. we People just find themselves here, right? That's what I think happens.
00:10:43
Speaker
um Yeah, so I guess ah we were in a darkness. It was an area of just pure shadow, I guess. And we we we were offered an entry into wherever we are here. and When we crossed the threshold of the door, we just ended up here. You know, now that you say it out loud, we make some really dumb decisions, don't we? Like some other person just says, walk through the store and you'll end up in some place you don't know. And we do it. Yeah. It probably, it does, does the seeker mean anything to you, Marlow? Seeker. Hmm.
00:11:34
Speaker
the seeker. I don't think so, but I will say it's funny to hear you speak of your adventures traveling as ah as a group and making decision poor decisions in in times of times of stress. I see just from your your animal craft friend over here, how she seems to have done this this time. Yes, like you did not agree on coming to out here to to meet me, did you? You see Gwendolyn drop the corn on the floor and then she just because she's chewing up the corn with her little deer mouth. It's adorable. I think we are going to head this direction no matter what, but she kind of leads the way in a way.
00:12:20
Speaker
I see. Yes. I have known those this way. I ah did some traveling myself and, you know, we often would get someone in our party who, you know, ran around ah without really consulting the group, you know, happened quite often. ah What is Marlowe? Is he human or is he Yeah, he ah he looks, it's hard to tell, the easiest way to tell obviously if somebody is not human is their ear shape often. the You know, elves make it pretty obvious, even a half elf has a different ear shape. But he definitely looks human in the face, but you don't really see his ears because of the way his hair kind of falls around them. and But the fact that you don't see really high points through his ears make it look like maybe he's not a full elf.
00:13:10
Speaker
ah Maybe he's half, at least, or maybe human. But yeah, you don't get elf vibes. is Plus, he's ah he seems quite hairy with his big bushy beard, hairy arms, and he's pretty heavy pretty overweight looking as well. Not as much buff, but just kind of like hefty. And it kind of gives you... You've just never seen an elf that looked like that, you know? So it's almost like the the stature of a gnome or a dwarf, but in the size of a human.
00:13:39
Speaker
We're not really sure exactly where we're heading. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the area around here. Oh, I can tell you what I know. I've been here much longer than I would have hoped.
00:13:51
Speaker
but ah i I definitely have done my best to survey as far around as I could. i i I walked in one direction for several days and then I turned in with the other direction as well. All four key card cardinal directions, I traveled there. um I just did not, you know, I just, I didn't seem to find anything really of use. In fact, I built these, you could see my,
00:14:22
Speaker
my ah icons, I guess you could call them. My idols I built here near my house. They are very large. You can see them. I built them here because I it made it easy to find my way back. But ah I will say that the forest you see, the forest you see kind of goes in all directions. Doesn't really end as far as I can tell, except in one direction that way. And he points kind of to
00:14:54
Speaker
relatively maybe northward. It's kind of too like straight ahead to your right a little bit from where you're sitting. But he he points that direction and says, um yes, that direction is different. There's there's some sort of a wall that you cannot pass there. It's vines and branches and things like this. I i didn't try too hard. I tried chopping through and it just grew back to replace it almost like it's protecting something. So I stayed away. I i didn't want to go too far from where I originated in this space. And that's right here where I am now. Originated. So yeah what are you from then?
00:15:43
Speaker
Oh, I'm from a ah great city. And this city is, well, it's in my memories, but it's been a long time, I think. Yes, it's it's been a long time. And I...
00:16:02
Speaker
I came here, I do remember the circumstances surrounding me ending up here, but I don't like getting into it. It's been very long. Do you know much of magic? I've heard of it. Are you able to cast a spell that will make someone go somewhere else and come back later? Or have you heard of this?
00:16:31
Speaker
make someone go somewhere else and come back later. I mean, I've heard of such things. Why? Well, I've heard of it as well. I don't know what they call it and I don't know the rules of it, but I've seen it happen to people before. I've seen it happen to our enemies before and I was disappointed when I think that's what happened to me, but things seem to be very different. So you're saying that you were banished and showed up here.
00:17:00
Speaker
banishment I think that's the name of it. They do that. You go somewhere that's not where you're from. And then you come back just a little while later. That's not what happened to me. I haven't gone back. Interesting. So how long have you been here then? Well, I stopped counting. You see, he points up and he says, you see that pink sky? I thought it was beautiful when I first came here.
00:17:30
Speaker
But that sky turns a very dark purple and gets slightly dimmer. That is the only night you get here. And if you're not paying attention, you'll miss it entirely. Because not only is it the only night you get here, you also, for some reason, don't really feel very tired and want to take your rest when you're here. So,
00:17:57
Speaker
I very quickly lost track of how much time it had been. But I promise you, when I'd seen it done before, someone would disappear. They would. We would continue our fighting, and within a minute of our the end of ending of our fight, 30 seconds at the most, or at the least, they'd pop back.
00:18:20
Speaker
and say oh that was crazy why I was in a place it was horrible and I would always hope that would never happen to me but I'm like at least I'll be back home in just 60 seconds because that's where I'm from you know because I've seen it done to someone who something that came from somewhere not our plane or whatever they call it and they never came back that one didn't it was a beast horrible but I thought for sure, I'll sit here and just in a minute or so, I'll be gone. So I sat on on a stump here in this clearing for probably, it probably was days and days thinking, well, it anytime now I'll be gone. And finally I decided I had to learn how to get some food. And then I decided I needed to build myself a space to put provide darkness so I could rest. And before you know it, I've got this whole little homestead here that I figured would make the best of it, right?
00:19:10
Speaker
Devin kind of looks over to, uh, Jackson and over to craze and kind of like a, should I tell him sort of way? I, um, I'm not really sure. I mean, I, I'm not, I'm not like a professional magic goes or anything. So I can't tell you too much details, but I know some things about it. And, uh, my understanding is if you're banished to another place and you don't return, it's because that place is where you're from originally. Maybe this is where you're from.
00:19:41
Speaker
I don't understand how that could be since, well, I mean, all I know is my, my memories, but they're starting to get really confused. The longer I'm here, would I be so confused here if I'm from here? Wouldn't I feel more, I don't know, at home or welcome? I, I just kind of thinking maybe, I mean, could time stop here or You know, I thought of that. Yeah.
00:20:14
Speaker
I thought maybe, just maybe, time works differently. That's actually what got me to go ahead and start making myself a place to stay and live and everything because I figured, hey, if time just moves differently, I could live a whole life here and then end up back there. And who knows? It may have only been 60 seconds and there I am. I just don't know. But I figured, hey, if if that's possible, then perhaps I don't leave here again until I die. So I may as well.
00:20:42
Speaker
Just be here as much as I can and um i I don't know. i I don't know how long it's been. I don't know if I should have aged by now. or what, so it's all very confusing. Most of the time, I just try not to think about it by keeping myself busy with my garden or my outhouse, not my outhouse, my greenhouse. Sometimes I'm busy in the outhouse, but only when I eat the wrong thing in the greenhouse, you know? um
Marlowe's Origins and Survival
00:21:07
Speaker
I guess. Here comes the brown house.
00:21:13
Speaker
Um, uh, I guess swinging back to Daven's point, are, as far as you know, your, your parents, any, any uniqueness to, to them? Well, my father was an elf. Um, but he was quite the boring man. He was a scribe and he just sat around writing all day long. My mother did what mothers do, taking care of the family, my brother and me.
00:21:43
Speaker
Other than that, there's nothing interesting about them. I left because I was bored, as you could imagine. Your mother was human or an elf? She was a human, yes. um Then I knew she would she would pass before my father and I'd have to go back to take care of my father for at some point. but For now, I just figured, hey, go see the world, do what I can. I got on a boat, that became traveling across the sea and finding adventure here and there. Well, it just sounds like you used to fight, right? That you were getting into battles? I did. Uh, yeah, I, I did. I, I.
00:22:22
Speaker
You know, i I haven't really thought of that in a while, but I did. I did fight, in fact. um When I first left home, when I first left Bartram, that's what it is, my hometown's name was Bartram. It was a coastal town. When I first left Bartram, I ended up on a boat full of traders and traders as in they trade things, not betrayal. um And we ended up,
00:22:51
Speaker
ah getting chased all over the coast by these coastal pirates and we had to learn to fight very quickly so I learned to use a sword pretty well. ah But I was never an expert. That's probably why I ended up here. I did and just was caught by surprise.
00:23:08
Speaker
By surprise, I heard ah heard fighting, came around the corner and announced my presence to jump into the to the fray, and before I knew it, here I was. Didn't even get a chance to swing my sword. um That was several years after leaving home, but yeah. I just picture him jumping around a corner saying, I'm here to fight, and then just disappearing. I think you i think you pretty much got it, yeah.
00:23:34
Speaker
Um, would we yeah have any knowledge of Bartram in greater Glintry? Everyone make history checks. Oh boy. It's a red lice. It sounded like you said we get to a red lice. We get the red lice. Oh, I'm plus zero on history. That's garbage. I two and plus zero. I rolled an eight. It's a five minus one. I got lucky 13.
00:24:03
Speaker
What was the highest to say it again? I guess it was me with 13. Yeah. Did Gwynn roll? I don't know. Yes, I was talking this whole entire time. I rolled an eight. You rolled an eight. Hey, eight buddies. You were speaking deer language or something? Do they speak? Oh, they're mine. You don't, you don't know the name Bartram at all.
00:24:27
Speaker
it doesn't ring a bell at all. And the, um, yeah, the, the, the tail of just kind of traveling up and down the coast, whatever sounds possible. Sounds like something that could have been done in greater Glintry based on just kind of the layout of the continent with some islands off in the distance. But I might have having done, I don't know if I've done more traveling, but Um, what I've heard of the town, is that you were saying the town? That's what he was saying. Yeah. Bartram. You don't really have, uh, you don't really have a reference. No, for that town, even with the traveling you've done, it doesn't sound familiar. For some reason, I kind of thought you were talking about like a family name or something. My bad. It's all good. and
00:25:09
Speaker
It's okay, you never listen to me. It's ah it's no different. and so So yeah, you don't have any frame, any reference really for Bartram, but he kind of has lost a little bit in his thought. You can see as he starts to remember, almost like he he he doesn't seem to remember these things too often. So now that he's kind of caught up remembering, he's kind of lost in those thoughts a little bit. And so after a few seconds of that, he, you're, you're not eating your snacks here. Everyone grab something. And he holds out this plate and you see little, ah little, simple little cakes and, and a little,
00:25:48
Speaker
berry type fruit, bright colored berries, several of several different colors of them. he And he kind of starts pointing. He goes, these ones here, if you're new here, I've learned these here are sweet. These here are a little bit bitter, if you like that bitter. to These here, they don't taste very good, but they make it feel like you've eaten a full meal and you don't have to eat again for a whole day so if you just want you know to eat it for sustenance sustenance sake these are great for you um they're really good so you could take some of those even to take them with you if you want if you if you think you're not gonna have time to enjoy a meal this will make you feel full
00:26:22
Speaker
um Other than that, I've got these little bits of bits of grass and other kinds of edibles that you can ah have and not that kind of edible now, ah but you can enjoy them. Is Gwen still in here? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm going to grab myself a cake and then I'm going to grab a berry or so and I'm going to like walk over and hold it out in my palm for Gwen. As Craig does that, you notice that she had been done eating the corn while they were talking and she had walked around and sniffing some books and things nearby. Okay. To recognize anything? Make an investigation check. Since s Gwen isn't there to eat the berry, I'm just going to toss it in the air and try to catch it in my mouth. Sounds good. Do I succeed? That's the dexterity saving throw.
00:27:12
Speaker
No nibbling today, my guy. Or just a dexterity check, actually. Sixteen plus negative one. Fifteen! Sixteen plus negative one. Fifteen. Yeah, you catch it. It bounces off your teeth a little. It doesn't hurt, but it splashes a little juice into your beard. Nice. Eight total. I like a juicy beard. There you go.
00:27:33
Speaker
I'll grab a cake and then ah you know do some side chatter on. Are you going to eat it too? i will i'll I'll have that cake and I'll eat it too. Just a side chatter of just, are there anything we need to avoid out there since you've been here a while? Any other plants or veggies or anything? What he's saying is, are there Hostiles out here. Really? Nothing that I've come across is dangerous other than miss more like mischievous. Um, there's the little creatures that'll try to steal your stuff. Um, you got to keep a close, keep your bags tied down tightly, especially if you got shinies, they like to take those for sure. Um, other than that, I'm just clutching it in my bags now. I'm checking to make sure my necklaces are tucked in. Okay.
00:28:27
Speaker
Uh, other than that, I mean, you may, you may run into, uh, a few, uh, there's, there's some, I don't know. I've, I've, I've heard noises pretty far in one direction. Uh, sound like some sort of tribal drum kind of things. I've, it sounded too far away for me to venture that way, but I, uh,
00:28:53
Speaker
i I didn't want to get too far away from where I am staying because I didn't know if I could find my way back. It's just so disorienting out there. But anyway, i I also was afraid it could be dangerous and you know I just kind of stayed away. but There's something out there, but I don't know what it is is or who it is. They haven't ventured this direction. As far as I know, I haven't seen them. And I'm pretty good at seeing those sorts of things. i I heard you guys coming long ago. Well, we're not really known for being quiet. That's a good thing.
Exploration of Magical Flora
00:29:28
Speaker
Um, I want to look at the berries that he talked about that, uh, you only need to eat one and then you're basically full all day. Did they, Salrin had made good berries for us at one point. Do they look like the same berries? Yes, they do.
00:29:39
Speaker
Hmm, sovereign. Yes, they do. These are good berries. He's got magic then. Harold and eight. Okay. You don't seem to, you you're kind of looking at the the book, and book little bits little bits of books and the only ones you really can, well, first of all,
00:30:01
Speaker
There's a couple of actual books. Most of these are just basically decoration and there's nothing really informative about them. OK. And um any other foliage or food out there that we need to avoid? You mentioned a couple of bad times from the greenhouse.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yes, I don't know that anything would be fatal. ah I've... I got a hold of some... I should have been warned. They were mushrooms that had spikes on the top of them. They looked like spikes, but you know, I thought I'll eat a small bit of it. Well, that put me down for about three days. I was out, not out, but just out of commission. i I barely made it back to my outhouse before, um, a, uh, well, we would have these things back where I'm from called mudslides.
00:30:59
Speaker
It's kind of like that. ah And yeah, it was terrible. And that happened for about three days before I was able to um you know walk more than 15 to 20 steps away from my outhouse without having to run back to it again. So stay away from the spiky mushrooms for sure. ah You'd think the spikes would would be all you needed, but you know I was trying everything then. Even trying things to make me, hoping it would make me fall asleep for a while.
00:31:27
Speaker
had a few really bad days where I was trying something that would make me maybe not to wake up again, thinking that it would cause me to go back home, but, uh, nothing of that sort that I found. Have you, have you seen anyone else here besides us? You know, I haven't. And this is why I, uh, this is why I'm not afraid of you. I'm pretty convinced that maybe you should be, I'm kidding.
00:31:55
Speaker
I'm pretty convinced that if you end up here, you've done good things. Otherwise you'd end up somewhere worse than this. I don't know. That's my theory again. I have my theories. So after all this time, would you say that this is home for you now? Or do you still feel like you should go back to where you came from?
00:32:14
Speaker
It depends if I could go back and it be, I thought about this a lot. If I could go back and it's been, you know, 60 seconds or less. And when I get back, I don't remember any of this. It's like it never happened. Then yeah, I think I'd go back, but I'm afraid if I remember it all, I just want to come back here. Once I get there, you know,
00:32:38
Speaker
Now that I've got what I have here, the things I've discovered, the ease at which I have built my kind of homestead, what I am here just with my thoughts and my plants and the occasional critter that wanders by.
00:32:55
Speaker
Do you ever find yourself having the urge to find out what is beyond the wall? I can't say I haven't thought of it. My curiosity being quite strong, but I will also say that that wall is quite a bit stronger. It also seems to go in every direction. It's almost like a dome to where I couldn't climb up to the top of it either. In fact, as I started to try to climb, it was like the vines and plant life that created the wall itself started pushing down on me to keep me away. So I don't know. Again, I have my theories. There's books over there full of things I've written down, my theories, ideas, what could be over there, but it's all just fantasy. It's part of how I keep from losing my mind, right? I would like to see the wall. How far is the wall from here? Two days that direction. Be careful. The drums come from not too far from there. So the drums.
00:33:54
Speaker
Indeed. Like musical drums. That's what it sounds like to me, the beating of drums, not in the direction of the wall, but I didn't hear it till I got near there. It was from the opposite direction of, off in the distance. But once you get about a day and a half there, you get to within earshot of them and it makes you want to change. It makes you think to change directions, get away from it, go that way instead. But.
00:34:19
Speaker
I don't know. I didn't do either. I stayed away from the wall and I didn't follow the sound of the drums. I guess the hope of being brought back home has been so real for me for all this time that I didn't want to get too far from where I originated here, right? Well, home is where your house is.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah, especially if you eat spiky mushrooms.
00:34:43
Speaker
i I'm going to go out on a limb here and the drums are not very musical. Are they rhythmic? What exactly other than the sound of drum are they?
00:34:57
Speaker
They, they are rhythmic. They're almost, uh, they, they're fast, almost celebratory, but I don't know enough about any of those things to tell you what it could be and what it can mean. Uh, how's the tea? Do you need more? I could get more. I would love more. It's quite good. Yeah.
00:35:19
Speaker
Yes, of course. And please, if you want to have a look around, have a look around. My statues out in the back are pretty amazing. And also, um, you can look over here at this greenhouse. I could show you how I, uh, what I've grown in there. Some new stuff I've tried combining things to make a hybrid. Some has been a disaster, but there's a few things in there that are quite great. Well, anyway, I'll get the tea and he heads back in with the teapot. Ooh, jockser. Maybe you can find your swastika fruit here or whatever it's called.
00:35:46
Speaker
ah i can remember the name ah qua the quatika fruit i was course yeah yeah what's kind of close yeah no um I mean, it would be interesting to see if that is frequent here. And I mean, it it seems peaceful enough that maybe, maybe I could, I mean, if it's here or maybe even just the herbs that he has, if they're They have any healing qualities that'd be really, really helpful. ah I agree with you, Gwen, about I'd like to see that wall and see what exactly was going on over there. No one noticed I came out of deer form. I know i heard you speak. You talked that soon that you did. You did talk, yeah. No, I'm scared. It's fine. I guess I'll go on with life.
00:36:43
Speaker
I would like to see the wall. I also want to see the de talk statue.
00:36:50
Speaker
Sorry. What a butt munch. You're such a butt munch. Sorry, sorry, sorry. we We all lost interest whenever you stopped dropping your clothes. Oh, wow. Now I can leave that in. All right. Oh, boy.
00:37:11
Speaker
I like that part. I want to go back and look at the statues. Yeah. OK. Field trip. Walk around to the back of the house and there are three. There's four statues.
00:37:28
Speaker
You saw three whose heads went up over the top of the building, but one of them is just almost just barely too short to be seen from the other side of the house. Relatable. There's four total and they stand there. One of them, they're they're kind of like, they look carved from wood.
00:37:50
Speaker
just a round base almost like still tree trunk looking and then carved two long legs, long torsos. They have long arms that bend about halfway down the arm to different poses. One of them has both arms kind of behind its back and its head. It looks like it's facing upwards and real narrow head and tall.
00:38:09
Speaker
And then the other one, it's got one arm kind of stretched outstretched and the other one outstretched to the side as one stretched forward. Another one has both arms kind of out and then one has both arms looking almost like it's crossing its arms in front of it. And it doesn't seem to be any significance to this. It's just different poses. Maybe there's nothing carved or etched in them. They're just standing there. ah They do look like they may have been kind of Like carved and then maybe finished off with flame of some kind. It kind of burned to to kind of give them this charred black look on certain parts of their of their form. But they just stand there next to each other in a row and overlooking, just kind of looking away from the house towards the forest behind the house. Are they all male? Are they human? They don't really look human.
00:39:00
Speaker
And they, there's no way to know a gender of any, any kind. They're just kind of standing there, uh, just like wooden figures, almost like wooden dolls that you would play with, but they're huge. Right. And, uh, but yeah, they, they don't seem to have any kind of race or gender or anything. They're just like sentient being looking forms, I guess, humanoid, I guess. Well, I'm kind of disappointed. I was expecting something a little bit more magical. I don't know why.
00:39:30
Speaker
How, how large are these? They stand above the house. So they're at least nine or 10 feet tall, except for the one shorter one is closer to seven or eight.
00:39:44
Speaker
I mean, for him to get them here and make this happen, I, alone, it seems like a pretty decent feat. Oh yeah. No, no, don't, don't get me wrong. but Like the carving stuff is impressive. I was just expecting to walk over here and be like, Oh, look, it looks like us. This was meant to be here or something like that. I mean, one is kind of shorter than the rest. That's true. That's true. No deers though. True. No deer.
00:40:10
Speaker
No, dear. Gwendolyn kind of looks inquisitive at them. Do they seem familiar in any way? Make a history check. This better be a good history check. Darn right, it better be. I don't waste my time. No more eights. How's the 13? Um, you actually do remember this. ah And it's it's not it's not that you remember, like, these images or these, uh,
00:40:38
Speaker
particular shapes or body shape or creatures even. They don't really remind you of creatures. It reminds you of kind of a concept that you're aware of from just kind of the druid training and druid way that you remember hearing from your father and also remember hearing in school and the books that you've read in your father's book. And it's they they call them guardians.
00:41:06
Speaker
and They just are kind of, ah there's, there's, you've heard of them used two different ways. You've heard them used, first of all, ah symbolically, where somebody will build guardians as like just statues. And sometimes they build small little statuettes and they put them inside their house and that's their little guardian. It's almost like, you know, a crucifix would be to, to our realm as humans on earth, but, um, something that makes them feel like it's like a good luck charm or a,
00:41:34
Speaker
something of reverence to them and and it's just an honoring of whatever ancestor or deity just it can take whatever form the the creator that makes it wants it to but then the second way you know of it to be made is literally imbued with magic to where they can be summoned to literally fight and protect somebody. And you've seen you've heard of them and seen writings of them participating in battles.
Guardian Statues and Magical Energy
00:42:08
Speaker
You've heard of them participating in you know protecting
00:42:12
Speaker
entire villages from from the onslaught of you know ruffians or bandits or something. in the just You've heard things like that. You never knew if that was entirely true, but this kind of makes you think of that. There may be no deer, but ah these are guardians and Gwendolyn goes up to put her hand towards it. Does she feel anything inside? Make an arcana check. Come on, high roll, high roll. Good.
00:42:40
Speaker
Golly, miss, Molly, seven. I was gonna say I couldn't tell if that was good or bad. um How about, do a wisdom one instead. That's intelligence, right? Yeah. Yeah, you're more feeling the magical vibe than you are like reading a magic book. So use wisdom. is Is that your spell casting modifier? Wisdom? Yes, wisdom is. So just add your whatever your spell casting modifier is, like your weapon attack. Let me get this.
00:43:08
Speaker
oh I can, ah you know, try to- Oh, my arcana's not two. I'm necessarily goober. I'm a goofy goober, yeah. So, 12. 12? Was that with your arcana? Yeah. Yep, it was actually 12. Okay. So- Yeah, you get a buzz like a little a little bit of energy from it. It doesn't. There's nothing shocking, overwhelming. You don't have a vision. You don't like your eyes don't roll back in your head or anything exciting like that. It's just you definitely get a little like warmth kind of like a glow inside that there's something to these. ah They may not look magical, but they are filled with it. The mens of these
00:43:58
Speaker
things I haven't seen ah in a long time. I saw a picture once, but I never got to to to see these in real life. But these guardians were made to protect him, this house. If he made them, i it's a wonder. I look back to see if he's coming yet. And then if I don't see him, I continue and say, well, I also notice some of those berries that he had, or magical berries as well. So He's got more to him than than what he's kind of getting on, I think. I mean, he hasn't lied to us in any sort of way, but he definitely has some magical powers. Are you sure he hasn't lied? Well, I mean, I can't say for sure. If Gwendolyn turns around kind of confused, if he means to find his home, why why make these ah gardens? It would have taken a long time.
00:44:58
Speaker
Probably after a while you start to lose hope you'll ever a find home and I guess home is where your art is I did it because of the wall in the drums. Oh god Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop but yeah, it was the wall in the drums they freaked me out No, I'm sorry. I ate your corn. I'm Gwendolyn and she reaches her hand out. It's a pleasure to meet you. And then this is Dale, and she pulls Dale out. Oh, Dale, okay. Hello, Dale. He looks into his eyes and gives him a little pat on the head, looks at you and your eyes and kinda throws his brow a little bit, like kind of investigatively. Oh, so now he thinks I'm weird. Jockser is like sliding back a little bit, and he's just doing two thumbs up and winking.
00:45:53
Speaker
And so he says, yes, anyway, I, I did build these, um, I'm there really only statues as far as I know. Um, they, they stand there and overlook the the forest and make me feel better. Uh, I, I've never had any reason to be afraid other than the, the ominous moving wall and the drums that I hear, but.
00:46:19
Speaker
Other than that, I just feel better that they're here. Hopefully so if something were to try to attack, come after after me, they'd see it and it would ward them off, you know, kind of see it in that way. That's with reasonably quick grigs around as well. Well, that's a compliment. You're very good at finding fighting the dangers.
00:46:43
Speaker
Well, I just want... Do you know magic? Um... I've never studied magic, but I found myself, since I've been here for a while, being able to...
00:46:59
Speaker
kind of will things to happen? I think that's one of the ways I've been able to build that what I've built here is it's almost like I ask this place for something and it sometimes will give it. No, i'm I'm not magical, but this place seems to be. Would I know a saying to gently wake up one of these things? That's going to be an arcana check again. That is about what you've studied.
00:47:29
Speaker
I'm using a different dice, this one sucks. Don't tell, don't tell Starbuck. It wasn't her dice. Okay, good, you can tell her then. Oh my god. It's the roller, not the dice. Seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten! Yeah, you don't, you can't think of anything.
00:47:48
Speaker
Gwendolyn tries to rack her veins and she turns around and looks at these statues and she touches one of them and this goes in Fae or in um Elvish. She goes, hello sunshine, please rise and meet the day. Does that do anything? Jotter's face twists.
00:48:14
Speaker
ah I would like to, as subtly as I can, cast minor illusion and make the sound of like creaking wood like it's waking up. Okay. Make a stealth check or slide a hand check. right See if she sees you do this. What is my slot? Anybody who wants to can try to see if they see this. What'd you roll? Eight. Eight. Okay. I don't think I'm going to counter that.
00:48:42
Speaker
Okay. Uh, are you, did you roll or no, you're not paying attention? Uh, I'll pay attention. Oh my gosh. What does it need to be for perception? Beaten eight with perception. Yeah. I think she's just her bonus because your bonus alone beats me. So yeah, you, you see him, you see him waving his hand a little bit and like a circle with his finger and his thumb touching.
00:49:07
Speaker
and a little bit of crackle of lightning. Was it in the shape here on his forehead? then he Yeah. Then you hear the, then you hear the wood kind of creak a little bit and a chuck chuckle coming from standing next to you where Marlow is standing. He just kind of actually still holds her hand on the statue and has her eyes closed. That's in enough. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
00:49:35
Speaker
He says, okay, um, I've never had to wake them before, but I did come up with words for that. If that's now that I see, you know what to do here. I don't, I won't say them. I won't do them. I don't know what they would do if they were awakened, but I'm a little scared of what might happen. So.
00:49:56
Speaker
I've decided not to do it. I don't know if they'll listen to me. I don't know if I can control them. I know nothing. i So I leave them alone. And if something dangerous were to come, I would just risk it, get out of the way and hope they would attack whatever's coming after me. So Gondolin turns around. I've never read that these creatures could be willed. It just,
00:50:22
Speaker
it It doesn't make sense. You have magic in you. You put them in here. I don't know if the magic was in me or if it's in these trees because these trees are from here. I've never had it before. I've never cast a single spell in my life. I've never, I've never had any kind of sense, dream about, about wizarding or magic. I've never wanted to. I've never read a book about it except history books. I had to read when I was in the academy before I left home.
00:50:55
Speaker
And they made me read about the history of these guardians. So I read that and that's how I know this. That's the only thing that I thought was I'll just make these I've heard of this before. And so here it is. I learned how to carve because ah you should see some of the failures that actually don't they're hiding over in the garden over over in the forest over there. And who knows what those would turn into if they came to life, please don't look for them. I made different words for these four. Those are separate. I'll never reveal that because those are going to be monsters. I assure you.
00:51:26
Speaker
do Do we get a general feeling that there is a lot of magic about this place? Yeah, ah pretty simply, anybody who's experienced any kind of magic, which all four of you have for sure, you definitely ah feel everything a little more heightened. Krigs, when you were in your vision and that was happening, that didn't really stop when you got here. It just still feels that kind of little bit of buzz in your ears from the just magical energy that's here. and
00:52:01
Speaker
it's not It's not something that you can't control. It doesn't feel like it's wild and dangerous necessarily. It just feels like it's almost like you know like the atmosphere is thinner. you know like Like when, I don't know, baseball reference, you know it's easier to hit a home run at high elevation because the atmosphere is just thinner. It's that kind of thing. It's just easier. What's a home run? It's gonna be easier here. Sports ball. Sports ball. Gwen.
00:52:28
Speaker
I think, I mean, maybe it's just that he's more adept here. Everything is buzzing with a different energy. but I agree. Marlowe, you... I mean, everybody has some connection to magic. It's just how strong and if you can use it. ah Here, I i think you're able to hone it more.
00:52:57
Speaker
I don't think it's just the trees. That could be whatever it is. I've used it to my advantage that I've built finer glass than I've seen back home buff out of the basically this substance like sugar mixed with water that that's what this greenhouse is made of. I just willing it to stay together and hold it. It is and.
00:53:18
Speaker
whether it's the magic in the water, magic in in the plants, magic in me, whatever, it's working, and so I i use it to my advantage, but... And I'm i' sorry that... i It's not that I don't but believe you, but for from what I've read, it always for one statue alone, it would take two wizards How many druids? For one person to make four? And ah others are just... I know. um My theory is that these trees were guardians before I carved them. Oh. i Again, like many of my theories, it's only a theory, but that's the only thing that makes sense, right? They stood some of the tallest trees in the forest. They...
00:54:14
Speaker
I begged them to allow me to chop them down, to use them as this for this purpose. It seemed as though their bark and the wood of their trunks parted ways ahead of my axe so I could chop them down as if chopping through the softest wood you could imagine. Yet once they're carved, they're as hard as a stone and stand tall and powerful. It was the easiest process I've ever done. It's like they wanted to be this. That's the only way I know how to explain it. I think the only way we're really going to understand the nature of this place better is if we do more exploring of it. I see we head towards the wall and see what's going on with that.
Decision to Explore the Wall
00:54:59
Speaker
I'm, I'm, I'm with you. I'm dying to see the wall. Not literally. i'm Sorry, I didn't want to scare anyone.
00:55:08
Speaker
We don't know what's going to happen once we get there. Let us in check.
00:55:14
Speaker
Well, it's going to be whatever the poor excuse for a nighttime is here. I'm sure it's been a long day for you. If you'd like, you're welcome to rest here inside my little cabin. I could try to make the floor as comfortable as possible. You'd at least have a roof over your head in some darkness. You won't get that sleeping outside.
00:55:36
Speaker
and Other than that, you can go in the morning or you could go now. It's up to you. Your choice. Either way, I'll have a hot, something resembling coffee in the morning. Always have a couple cups myself. I wouldn't wouldn't turn down a nice night of sleep, that's for sure.
00:55:52
Speaker
Um, while all of you rest, uh, would you mind if I took a ah look in your greenhouse? Oh, of course not. Go ahead. Go have a look. He then points up to the sky and he, you, he says, you'll you'll see it's already getting dark. Uh, well, sort of, um, either way, I'm going to head in for the night. Uh, I like to make sure that there's no, uh,
00:56:21
Speaker
the The plants haven't part of the living up there sometimes they lean towards the light and it kind of separates to where the light gets in the. in the roof, I'll go make sure that things are nice and dark in there for us for resting tonight. Other than that, ah we'll see you in there. And as you look up, you can see that it's almost like a Northern lights kind of thing as these greens and blues kind of streak across the sky leaving behind this like purple haze that kind of hovers over ah the pink. And so it's it's almost like it's purple cloudy, um but but it only takes you know a little bit of
00:56:56
Speaker
the brightness out of the sky just making things a little bit almost like it's cloudy outside not like it's a dark night and so you can definitely see how. Staying here for multiple nights and days in a row would start to drive you a little bit crazy without a way to really feel like you can sleep at night and rest you know.
00:57:15
Speaker
And so, anyway, he's inside kind of shuttering things down for the night. And Joxer is heading over towards the greenhouse, stepping up to the front door, Joxer. Yeah, I'll start with the front door. That's different for Joxer, but he's doing that. And then the here's it goes around back to attack. And then the um the other three are, are you guys just going to head into the cabin? or Devin, Gwen, are you going to settle in for the night or? I'm going to study these things and draw some in my my book. She pulls Dale out and sits sits down in the grass, sets him next to one of the statues and starts drawing them in her dad's journal on some of the blank pages. I mean, I don't really have anything else left to do at this point. If you had something you need help with, I'd help you. Well,
00:58:10
Speaker
I don't know if I necessarily need help, but I don't really see any reason not to. ah I think I might go for a little bit of a nighttime stroll. And I'm going to say my magic phrase that I remember I moke and basically cape into wings. And I'm insinuating that I'm going to go for a little bit of a flight up in these clouds. OK.
00:58:39
Speaker
All right. so Welcome to come along if you'd like. You want some company? That's what you're saying? Of course. I think I could do that. And I am going to um do a similar thing. I have a new ability. So you guys see like a pair of like engle eat ah Eagle wings just like sprout from the back of Davin and they spread out wide and flap a couple of times and I'd take flight with you. Well, that was certainly unexpected.
00:59:07
Speaker
Oh, you know, it's not that fun to turn into a bird every time. Well, let's carry on then. We'll be back. I shout to Gwen. And I'll fly after you. All right. So as Davin and Krigs take flight into this.
00:59:24
Speaker
purple, pinkish sky. Joxer steps into a greenhouse full of plants of all kinds, different colors, different shapes. Even the wooden trunks are different colors, some some with like golden trunks over here in the corner. Gwen begins sketching out these statues, thinking back to her memories of learning about this kind of guardian and the kind of magic it takes to make them come to life.
00:59:53
Speaker
And inside you hear a big deep sigh as Marlow kind of battens down the hatches for the night. And that's where we end the episode. Aw. Thanks for listening. Aw. Lonely Marlow. Thank you. I like Marlow. I hope he doesn't become evil.
01:00:20
Speaker
Is this new friend a friend? Will the Hired Swords ever figure out where in the heck they are? Find out on the next episode of the Hired Swords. Good news, we're releasing every other week again. So we'll see you very soon. And please, please tell a friend about our podcast. We'd love to add more people to our adventuring party. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next time.