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Ep. 94 The Grave Beckons
134 Plays1 year ago
Season 2 Finale. Season 3 Releasing SOON!
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Transcript
The Peril of Main Characters
00:00:21
Speaker
You weren't listening to the hired swords. The show not afraid to kill off a main character. Here's looking at you, stranger things.
Character Introductions and Status
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Hired Swords. I'm your dungeon master, Michael. And with me today, we have Blaze as Safran Ember Oak. My HP is still full. Hey, somebody says at least. Derek's here. He's Daven. My HP is still poop. Mikey's here. He's Joxer. Yeah, I'm about halfway. It's fine. And we got Ash here. She's Gwendolyn.
00:01:10
Speaker
Oh, right. So when we last left off, we were just an update. Her health is at zero. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Her HP is fine. She didn't lose that much HP. It's just she has zero. Oh, you're right. You're right. She lost all her strength. That's right. The player is here. Yeah. Yeah. Will to live gone. Oh, you did show up today. I did. Cool. Good. Have fun listening to the episode like everyone else. I hope you enjoy it.
00:01:40
Speaker
You get to listen in real time. I do. Yeah. Unlike normal. It's like tuning in live on Twitch. Yeah. Oh my god, that'd be funny.
00:01:50
Speaker
I remember when I used to play with those guys.
Battle with Shadow Monsters
00:01:55
Speaker
Anyway, when we left off, we were still in the middle of a combat, a big battle with some shadow monsters who had drained the strength out of a few of our players, including Gwendolyn, all the way down to nothing, actually less than nothing, causing her to collapse dead on the ground. Davin had summoned an angel.
00:02:14
Speaker
to fight alongside him. This creature did some damage to the monster, this giant shadow monster that they were fighting. This giant shadow man, he really looked like a being of some sort.
00:02:29
Speaker
and uh did some damage to him but he did damage right back and actually killed the angel in one turn and that then led us to joxer uh that he's trying to figure out what's going on with this big gemstone doorway here in this
00:02:45
Speaker
cavern that we are all in right now. Krigs, as he said, is currently as healthy as you could imagine being in this situation, minus possibly the loss of some strength as well, but he- I mean, his cholesterol's a little high still, but that's- That's true, that's true. It's all of the not real
00:03:03
Speaker
food that he's been eating, all that tapioca food from the Magic Wand. It's very high in carbs. It's tough on you, Mark. It's bad fats. It is. It's got the bad fats. It's not like the avocado. You know, the avocado from Mexico has a good fats. This does not. Anyway, he is surrounded currently with a shadow to the left of him, a shadow to the right. He's stuck in the middle of the shadows. And that's where we were when we
00:03:31
Speaker
ended the last episode after Joxer had taken his turn trying to figure out what's going on with this door. And I think give it himself a few extra hit points here. Did you do that? Did you heal yourself a little bit? Um, so I had 47 in D&D Beyond and 40 on roll 20. So I didn't know which I'd mentioned that before we started recording. I couldn't remember what. Cool. Cool. Well, you're at four, you're at 47 currently.
00:03:54
Speaker
You had a little bit of healing at the end of the last turn to my recollection. If you just listened to the last episode and I listened to this one, you're like, they are way off. It's been a week. Okay, back off. Just calm down. Just calm down, please. And I don't take good notes. I'm notorious for that as a DM. So you know what? I'm an improv style guy. My notes for last week just says 10, 1, 10, 23, Gwen dies.
00:04:17
Speaker
That's the only thing I wrote down. That's basically what's in my brain. Sorry, sorry. That's exactly, that's pretty much what's in my brain. One, 10, 23. And then the last thing you said. So, so we left off, we are now sitting with, with Davin's, at Davin's turn after...
00:04:37
Speaker
Joxer had taken his, where at Daven's turn, he is standing right near where this giant shadow man has stepped back into the shadow. It is no longer visible. And Daven is now standing there. It is his turn as we go. What are you gonna do, Daven?
00:04:57
Speaker
So just a quick refresher, we have on the screen, there's like an upper ledge that kind of makes a little bit of curve. And then there's, I think, two stairways. Is that where these two lines are that go down? Correct. So I'm almost near one stairway, and there's another one on the far other side. Yeah, you're about 10 feet from starting down those stairs.
Krigs and Joxer's Tactical Moves
00:05:15
Speaker
Okay, so I'm going to Can I from where I am standing can I see both of those shadow monsters clearly without very clear? They're swirling and trying to trying to wrap themselves around krigs right now Okay, so I can probably hit the the far one without hitting krigs then right yeah pretty easily It's it's kind of towering over him a little bit there They're pretty large kind of columns of shadow with with like tentacles reaching for him
00:05:40
Speaker
Very good. Then I'm going to cast Guiding Bolts, but I am going to spend some Sorcery Points to Twin Spell it, and it was going to be, let's see, what level am I doing this at? I will do this at second level, so it cost me two Sorcery Points. So I will hit both of them with a Guiding Bolt. For the first one, it's going to be a 15 to hit.
00:06:04
Speaker
A 15... Oh, there it is. A 15 does hit. You were going for 14, so 15 gets it done. Excellent. That's gonna be 5d6 radiant damage. That's a lot of damage in radiance. It's 16. Yeah, that was my fear here. You rolled how much damage? 16 damage to that first one. 16 damage to the one nearest you?
00:06:26
Speaker
Yes. Okay so you notice that you cast that and you cast it true you know it's gonna hit and you know it's gonna do some damage and when it hits and it begins to burn away some of this mist it actually it's like the mist is it's like when you it's like catching
00:06:43
Speaker
paper on fire and realizing that paper is going to burn and then you realize oh it must be coated in something because it just like just like engulfed in flames so something caused this to do twice the amount of damage you even expected it to do on this mist that radiant damage excellent and it's a 16 to hit on the second one that'll hit then as well
00:07:02
Speaker
And that's going to be 18 radiant damage to that guy. Great. So, perfect. Math. I had a math in my head. So you see that thing go almost dwindled a half of its previous...
00:07:18
Speaker
amount of substance of mist there. The one that you hit first is dwindled down to where it's this small column of fog swirling and the one right behind Craig's is now half the size it was, nearly half the size it was. And then I think I have enough room where I can get down the staircase without getting into melee range with that smoky guy. Yes, definitely.
00:07:39
Speaker
So I'm going to head about midway down the stairs, just so I'm kind of out of the way. So if that guy appears again, he's not going to be like right next to me, ready to swing and kill me. Gotcha. Okay. All right. Is that your whole turn then? That is it. That is all I am doing. All right. That takes us to spell slots. Joxer, what was your, what's your, your little hand buddy want to do now?
00:07:58
Speaker
Um, so he is... what is it? He's pretty close. So now that you've moved down the stairs, you'll see spell slots kind of walk over or skitter across towards Daven.
00:08:18
Speaker
and then kind of tap his foot and cast. I want to make sure this is the one we had. Touch reaction. Make sure it doesn't touch it. Okay, no, it's Cure Wings. It was a 1d8 plus modifier, and I don't think the crawling hand has a modifier, so it will just try to heal you as much. All right. I'll take whatever I can get. Yep, it's a 1d8.
00:08:49
Speaker
That's a five, five more hit points to more than I had. And it used 10 feet to get there and then it's going to. So that was just a level one spell and then it's going to.
00:09:01
Speaker
skitter back into the middle of the wall there and uh and just this hand is is like grabbing little hand holds and then swinging itself over to another hand hold and grabbing on and then skittering across a little bit of stone sticking out like a platform and then jumping down onto davids foot casting the spell and then skittering back over all right and that is uh that's all it can do
00:09:22
Speaker
All right, then we go to Krig's turn now. Krigs, you're surrounded by these shadow monsters who just got wrecked. They've got this glow to them that makes it easy to make out the form of them to where any attacks on them will have advantage. Also, I do remember now that as we sit here, your last thing you did on your last turn after getting Gwendolyn's lifeless body onto the back of your majestic,
00:09:49
Speaker
summoned elk and getting her as far away as you could, you then brought out your hammer and stood posed, readied, readied yourself to strike. That's what you did last. So you're standing there, these guiding bolts hit these two shadow monsters, making them glow a this kind of golden radiant essence after kind of shrinking them down a little bit. What are you gonna do?
00:10:13
Speaker
So I am still kind of seething with just energy and kind of rage at this point at the events that have happened.
00:10:25
Speaker
I am going to, with both hands, I'm basically just going to raise my hammer above my head and this aura that you've seen around me just continually build. I'm going to take the hammer and swing it down as hard as I can and hit the ground. And as I do around me in a 20-foot radius,
00:10:51
Speaker
It is going to you're gonna see a blast of energy ignite around me for a 20-foot radius and every creature in that blast has to make a constitution saving throw of 14 and It's I'm casting channel divinity scorched earth and I am creating just a very unstable like the the ground basically becomes
00:11:16
Speaker
rocky crag that is lit with fire and crackling embers. It's just a very unhappy location and it basically is going to be this way, just rife with grossness for the next minute.
00:11:34
Speaker
Okay, and you said what kind of save is it? Constitution saving throw. Okay, and then do you choose who this affects or is it anybody in the radius? Anything in a 20 foot radius, that is. Jockster, that's you as well. Yep. That is an eight. That's not enough, buddy. I have a 22 and a 22 on the two shadow. God, that's two nat 20s, look at that. Yeah, that's bonkers.
00:12:03
Speaker
Anyway, Joxer, sorry, bud. You're, you're taking 46 points of lightning damage and half as much for you, Michael, half as much on a successful safe. So 23.
00:12:20
Speaker
No, it's 46, which I have not yet. Oh, I said 46. I actually thought you said that. But that's time out was real. I wasn't joking. 46. I actually thought you said 46. Yeah, yeah. Every time. Every time we hear 46, all the other ones, it's not nearly as much. Both of those creatures take 8 damage. Gotcha. Mikey, I'm sorry. You take 18.
00:12:42
Speaker
Sorry 16. It's gonna say cuz 5d8 isn't a real thing. It's 5d8 Okay, and then bonus action Mm-hmm. I'm going to as well But what I do technically count as just a spell or like do I get another attack? Wait, no, that's a ability the channel divinity isn't a spell technically Yeah, so like it's a do I get another attack to you. Yeah top of that. Yeah, I
00:13:08
Speaker
All right, cool. Well, as your second action because of being hasted. Yeah, the nearest to me that looks the most healthy. Okay, that's the one between you and Joxer up just to your north just a little bit, halfway between almost entering the doorway area where that gemstone door is. I'm just going to raise my hammer from the ground and you'll see as it raises just like
00:13:38
Speaker
the crag ground kind of falling off the hammer as it left a nice little impact crater. Sorry, Joxer. And the fire kind of dripping off of it, that kind of like Ashen Ember style flame coming off. I'm going to swing my hammer back in an upward motion, almost like a crossed uppercut towards this creature. Okay. And see if I can... Swing away, Jack.
00:14:07
Speaker
you have advantage because I need it that was a natural 20. I also have to make a constitution saving throw for holding shadow bleed. Oh, okay. And I will use a luck point for that. Okay. Yeah. So that is a 12, which is more than half damage. So I get to keep that. Okay. All right. What's the damage on that Krigs?
00:14:34
Speaker
It's gonna be a minute. I forgot how to play the game. Okay fun We've all been there Hey, Ash, do you think since you're not doing anything else? Could you give us like some cool battle music? Maybe just something for us? Yeah Could you bring me a glass of water or something?
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Here. Here, tanks. Tanks. Mm, yummy. I'm just sitting here coloring while I'm listening. Your coloring? It's a stress reducer. Hey, if you're actually listening to this episode while coloring, please send us a message or something. Tweet us or something. Share your coloring, like you know what you've done. Yeah, I'm curious. I want to see that color. Yeah, for real. Share us. Share with us. We want to see what you color. I hope it's a good one.
00:15:26
Speaker
A hired source coloring book. That's our next product. Our first product. That'd be great. 17 bludgeoning. Okay. That's including being doubled for, uh, for your crit. So 34 bludgeoning. Okay. Okay. Okay. And I get to add technically a divine smite on that because it, it's a natural, natural bad boy that I do now. Yeah. So for the divine smite, what do you roll for that? Or is it just a number?
00:15:56
Speaker
I'm rolling. If you roll, then you double it. That dice as well. So it adds four. Okay. So 38, was it? So yeah, that you swing and what kind of damage is it? Bludgeoning. And I guess divine smite is that. Maybe four radiant. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a total of eight for this guy. So.
00:16:22
Speaker
So as you swing through this creature and you swing in this uppercut motion, it just disperses him like just so much smoke. And the light from the guiding bolt flashes one last time large in response to the more radiant energy of your divine smite. And when it does, it just sizzles away what is left of the fog that is this comprising
00:16:48
Speaker
this creature, and it sizzles away, and you get this smell of sulfur from almost like this literal burning of this darkness that was just destroyed. And the glow from the doorway starts to brighten just a little bit. You can kind of see that with every shadow monster you're killing, you notice that there's a little bit more of this glow coming from this doorway.
00:17:14
Speaker
So I goofed up and I think I messed up my, divined some of my damage, but I figured he was dead anyway. Um. Oh, okay. Did you do too little or too much? Too little. Oh, well then yeah. I also rolled 2d6 and I am healing. I don't even think Daven's close enough to me. You guys are like the same range. What is the range on this? Uh, Joksha's exactly 20 feet. No, he's 15 feet. Daven's 30. There aren't very many spells that are less than 30 feet. What is it that you're trying to do? Who's worse off?
00:17:44
Speaker
Uh, me? Yeah. Well, actually, I don't know anymore. It's about the same. It's close, but it depends. Yeah, go ahead and give it to you. Who's less than what they should be. I give you nine HP points. Nine hit points. Who's less than what they, who's further from their total maximum and then who's just lower is two different conversations. It's true. Yeah. And I mean, depending on the amount of damage this guy gives, like, it's like where, what are you actually getting out of it? Sure. I mean, I'm a meta gamer. I'd heal myself, but what's the point?
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah, you can't go more than your hit points maximum right now. So, all right, is that your whole turn? That's it. Okay. It takes us now to this shadow mist creature that is the only one left standing here near you. Would it actually be an attack of opportunity if I just circled the creature? No, as long as you stay within melee. If you stay within melee range. I'm gonna stay within melee and get between it and Devin.
00:18:38
Speaker
Oh, okay, cool. All right. Thanks, buddy. You work your way around, just kind of standing right on the edge, the ledge of this little cliff that's there, planting your feet to keep yourself up there. I'm also keeping it inside my circle. Okay. All right, so this creature is then going to try to wrap itself around you again. And as it reaches out to try to wrap itself around you, it rolls A.
00:19:08
Speaker
A 25 to hit. Dog, that doesn't hit.
00:19:13
Speaker
It doesn't hit you? I don't believe it. I mean, I don't want it to. It reduces your strength score by two, your total strength score. Okay. So you feel this thing wrap around you. It kind of goes into your nostrils. You try not to breathe it in, but it's like your breath's not what's drawing it in. It's actually pushing itself inside and you feel yourself just
00:19:39
Speaker
getting almost sleepy. There's like suddenly this it's like that the case of two o'clock where you just need another cup of coffee or something because you're just like oh what is it man I just feel like I'm dragging it just hits you all the sudden and you try to shake yourself free from it. All right and that's all it can do so that takes us to the giant now. The giant is going to where the world is oh I just scrolled down too far got it okay the the giant is going to
00:20:09
Speaker
bring itself back suddenly right beside the doorway. And so Joxer, this giant monster, appears right next to you. And Krigs, as he starts to appear, you see the shadow kind of
00:20:27
Speaker
Shift in front of you and kind of swirl a little bit and then suddenly this this guy appears on the other side of it Like the this creature that you were fighting was disturbed by this This this giant creature coming from one just sits there in the shadow essence to the other. Yeah, gross Yeah, why'd you do this? And so as it arrived as it comes back into back into It does appear directly into my eye
00:20:56
Speaker
It does appear in my circle, by the way. It does. So when it does that, does it, is it, when it starts its turn there, it takes damage? Is that how that goes?
00:21:03
Speaker
Well, let me double check that it's... I think it's just if it's in... Is it? Well, terrain doesn't necessarily matter. It didn't have to go that far. It has 45 movement. Yeah, creatures in the blast area must make a constitution saving throw, blah, blah, blah, blah, for one minute at the ground in the area. Ground is difficult terrain. When the creature moves into the space or starts their turn with it, they take two fire damage automatically and they have to... Okay.
00:21:29
Speaker
Oh, Joxer, I lied. You can give yourself your HP back. I didn't read the whole spell like an idiot. Um, you're immune to the effects. Oh, fantastic. I was like carefully command the burning power. Yes, you do. I was wondering. I was like, you're high enough level. Surely you could control this better than that, but that's good. Yeah, it's going to be real good. It's going to be. So he just takes the two fire damage, not, not any dice rolls or anything.
The Turning Point in Battle: Joxer's Barrage
00:21:53
Speaker
That's it to fire. That's the way he had left to fire. Yeah, not quite. So he is going to make his three attacks now on Joczer. Joczer, have you? Yeah, you've replenished your hit points. Great. Let's see how he goes. When, when he attacked last round, did he ever get the cold damage he was supposed to get for my temp hit points? Probably not. That's a real good question.
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. All right. And it's fine. It's gone. All right. Cool. Go for it. We got this. I really don't know at this point. All right. So Gwen falling really kind of messed us all up. Yeah. We all got a little confused. So he, he raises, he appears in front of you. You see this sizzle of burning as this fire damage kind of engulfs down beneath on his, on his robes that are underneath this weird natural kind of armor looking.
00:22:44
Speaker
items that he's wearing. He lifts his hands up and you see these large talons on his fingers as he swipes them down at you. First one hand, then another, then the third. The first one swings down with a roll of 28. The second one with a roll of 16. Does not hit.
00:23:09
Speaker
The third one, the roll is 14. Wow. So I have to retcon earlier. I was War Caster, so I don't need to use my luck point this turn, but I will use a luck point to make him re-roll that first attack. Oh, great. OK, cool. So here it comes. Yeah, go on. You sure? It works that way. Yeah, so the way it reads is I roll it and I choose which roll, but it doesn't matter. It's just a roll. So roll. Make sure. Yes. I don't mind. OK.
00:23:40
Speaker
No. All right. Here comes the sec. The last one roll is a 30. So you want a 28 or a 30? You know, I'll take, I'll take that 30 like a boss. And that wasn't even a nat 20 by the way. All right. So.
00:23:55
Speaker
He rolls his 30, then he rolls the 2d6 plus seven damage. 2d6 plus seven piercing damage. Oh, that's eight, seven. 2d6 plus seven piercing damage is 11 damage. Whoa. That was a three and a one on the d6s. Oh, thank you. Yeah. All right, I'll take that. You got lucky all around. 2d8 with no modifier.
00:24:24
Speaker
Necrotic damage coming your way here now. 2d8 is six two threes. He rolled real low on that damage. So What kind of weapon does he use and can jocksus steal it when we're total of 17 damage there as I'm taking those claws swipes down and does catch you right across the chest
00:24:42
Speaker
Tearing open in your flesh bleeding all over your blue cloak I just I just rub it on my face and look oh You scream at me like yes, okay. He says okay never mind this is crazy. Yeah
00:25:03
Speaker
I'm sorry, guys. Don't you believe? I apologize. All right, and then I roll a d20 to see if he, and I will roll this right here in front of God and everybody so we can all see. And I may have made a mistake on the last one. We decided to just continue with it, but if he rolls it 11 or higher, he disappears. So last time, I think I did it on a low roll, not a high roll, but this is five, so he sticks around. So here he is, standing in front of Jaxa, and everybody's like, yay, the monster stays.
00:25:30
Speaker
All right. Finally. I can't kill him if he's not there. So his turn ends, and now it is Joxer's turn. All right. So I got the... Oh, wait. Hold on. Before I do this, I need to roll Constitution saving throws. All right. That's a 17 plus. That's a re-roll. That's a 14 plus. And that's a 15 plus. We're good. We're good. I didn't lose my shadow blades. Okay.
00:26:00
Speaker
What can I do? I can just beat the living heck out of this friend of mine that I just made. So we have three melee attacks plus I will use a key point to do a thing depending on how I feel. So I have advantage because this is dim light, I assume. Yeah, it's still dim light just barely because that door behind you, but yeah. Okay.
00:26:29
Speaker
All right, so plus eight, so that'll be a 19 to hit. A 19? Yep. Hits. Okay. We're going for 17. All right, so that's a nat 20. That hits. Nice.
00:26:49
Speaker
And a 27. And you know what? I will use that key point just to lay in some fists. Let's just lay these all out right now. So that'll be a 19, or a 19, and a 10. So that'll be a 17, because plus seven, 10 plus seven. All right.
00:27:09
Speaker
So all those hit, so now you have to roll damage for my five hits. Five hits, y'all. Got to love my last one and a half rounds of haste. Yeah, yeah. You're making up for it here. Yeah, I know. It's getting tight. All right. I need another D8. D8. D8. No, that's a 12. I would love to use that, but I cannot.
00:27:38
Speaker
Okay, so this is the non-crit, so that's 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. So there'll be 13 psychic damage. Okay, this will be the crit. Don't lose it.
00:27:55
Speaker
Okay, that's not bad. That's an 8, 5, and a 2. So that 8, 9, 10, 15, 30 points. Oh wait, plus... Oh, because you... that's your crit. Yeah, so 33 points of psychic.
00:28:12
Speaker
Okay. And then this will be 16 points of psychic. And then what is my fist? It's just a D6 plus two. Where's my D6? We'll use this one and this one. So that'll be a six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 radiant damage. 11 radiant damage. Let me see something. Because of my fistas, fisticuffses, my fist tattoos.
00:28:43
Speaker
Yep, all right. So you release this just onslaught of slices and punches, punches and slices. And as you do, every slice, every punch, this creature's eyes are getting whiter and whiter, not expecting your attacks to have any real effect on him as he isn't used to staying in this
00:29:10
Speaker
corporeal form? Is that the right word? That means not ethereal, right? He's not used to being so corporate. What a time to talk about that, isn't it? This is right in the middle of the OGL thing. That's why I said that. So just as we record this. Anyway, so he is getting hit and his eyes are getting whiter and he's starting to heave as he doesn't really
00:29:36
Speaker
breathe. It's like he doesn't take in breath, this creature, but he starts to look bloodied and this black blood starts to drip from around his eyes and his ear and places where you've sliced him, they slice open a little bit with the slice, but mostly you're just seeing the impact in his face as his mind is starting to just
00:30:01
Speaker
implode with this shrill psychic damage that you're putting into him, and then following it with a physical attack and punch with this radiant damage. So he doesn't fall over dead, but he is in a bad way. So what? What should I do now? I'll say under my breath, and that's for Gwen. We'll deal with this. You'll be gone later. All right. Is that your whole turn?
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, I can't really, I don't think I can move anywhere. I mean, I could shift around them, but that wouldn't really make sense. And I don't think I have any, like, I think this is, you said this is round eight, technically? Correct. Yep. Yeah, I'm coming close to a bad time. Okay. All right. If that is your whole turn, we go to Davin now, standing on the stairs after just getting a little bit extra hit points from spell slots.
00:30:59
Speaker
All right, I'm going to run back up the stairs, essentially where I was before, kind of in the middle of this ledge thing, whatever you call it. And seeing how much damage I did before with that guiding bolt, I'm going to do the same thing. So you just see this radiant energy fill his eyes and spring down into his hands. And he's going to twin spell it at fourth level and then hit both of them for guiding bolts. Got it. So the first one will be for the shadow creature. OK.
00:31:29
Speaker
Which is a 13 to hit. Does not hit. It's okay. It needed a 14. Missed by one. I don't think I can do anything about that. I think I've already used all my fun stuff. Hmm. Yeah. Okay. So this one's for the big guy. Okay. Uh, that's even worse. So that's 11 to hit. Oh yeah. That does not. I just needed to roll it eight or bigger. I couldn't do it. Roll a D six for me. Okay.
00:31:58
Speaker
It's a four. Okay. Your first guiding bolt sails past this monster, just dissipating before it hits the stone behind it. Your second one misses the giant, somehow misses this giant creature. And when it does, it goes right underneath his arm and hits one of these gemstones behind him. And the radiant energy of this spell, it lights up that gemstone just briefly, and it lights this bright green glow.
00:32:27
Speaker
flashes in the room. And as it does, it's like that green glow is almost like it's sucked out of that into the wall and shoots through where you can see there's these kind of veins of this gem going through these walls to this doorway that then glows a green color and then dissipates gone. So your cast of this has
00:32:51
Speaker
has kind of revealed the connection between these gemstones and that door through the light hitting it and spreading that light through the gemstones to the doorway. Okay, okay. And is that your whole turn, or is there anything else? I can, as a bonus action, I'm going to convert one spell slot into two sorcery points, and then that's my turn. Okay, that's your whole turn. You have two sorcery points back. It is now spell slot's turn.
00:33:21
Speaker
Um, it's not really his time to shine. I don't think, huh? So, uh, I think, I think he's going to give some attitude. Okay. Perfect.
00:33:37
Speaker
He's probably gonna, you know, flex his palm and fingers a bit, and then work his way up the side of the little face here and get up to the platform. All right. You know what, I think- Spuslox picks up over the ledge onto the platform up there. Yeah, I think he'll get a little bit farther away, just to make sure we're not in a super direct rush. Okay. All right, that takes us now to Krigs. All right.
00:34:03
Speaker
uh the shadow creature is still in front of me that yeah god swirling of shadow really hoping to be dead by now so i could just wail on this dude anyway you can just walk around him it'll be fine he's like air right
00:34:22
Speaker
I guess what I'm gonna do, I am gonna kind of stick within melee range, but I'm gonna circle back to the original position I had, getting closer to the big blah. Okay. And I am going to... Do I technically get advantage? Like, as he's facing Joxer now, I'm flanking him. Yeah, he's flanked. Oh, mama.
00:34:49
Speaker
Well, I hope you guys weren't expecting this fight to take much longer because I'm about to unload on this dude. Do it. Your strength has your strengths decreased enough to affect your attacks yet or no? Barely. Okay. Gotcha. I know you've been, it's got you a couple of times, but I figured it wasn't too much yet. I'm sure your strength is pretty high. So.
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still good. Awesome. I am going to two handed swing, swing jack swing. I'm going hefty at this guy with my hammer. On the giant? Yeah. Perfect. There they all are. What'd you roll? Is that a nat 20? Nope. Wait, that is a nat 20. You get a plus eight.
00:35:36
Speaker
Not anymore. Or, oh wait, is that, oh, plus four, plus four, sorry, I didn't. Yeah, yeah, it was an 18, sorry. Yeah, so 26 to hit. Yeah, that hits, oh yeah, for sure. And I did 12 bludgeoning damage with that attack, and I get, it is for my divine smite, like my standard for the improved divine smite. It is just a 1d8, I checked. Okay.
00:36:04
Speaker
uh which that adds three to that so 15 well 12 bludgeoning three radiant for the first attack okay second attack because guess what i'm real mad and i still have more attacks before you make your second attack you swing at your hammer
00:36:25
Speaker
And when you do, the glowing radiant damage from your divine smite just covers him. It's like you have poured water on him, but it's made of radiant light instead of water. And it just covers him. And as it does, he begins to melt away. And it
00:36:44
Speaker
rolls up over where you hit him kind of low in his torso and it starts to pour itself up over the top of him. It goes inside his mouth and goes down inside. You hear him scream out as it begins to just tear him into pieces from this radiant damage and then suddenly these holes burst in him shooting radiance out of them.
00:37:08
Speaker
And as those holes burst and it shoots this light out of him, the light starts to penetrate the darkness in the sky. And as it does, he lurches back, arching his back, putting his hands behind him and his head up to the sky, opening his mouth, the light shooting out from his mouth.
00:37:28
Speaker
as his flesh, whatever this shadow mist flesh was, melts off of him, leaving nothing behind but light as the light then shoots into this doorway past Joxer. And as it hits the doorway, the doorway flashes bright and all these gemstones in the room begin to glow.
00:37:46
Speaker
and they glow this this each one a different color as they as they brighten and glow and the door begins to glow a bright white color as well and this monster this giant monster is gone the shadow mist creature begins to swirl about and begins to dissipate around you and as it dissipates the
00:38:10
Speaker
No matter where it goes, it seems to not be able to escape this radiant light from these gems in this doorway. And it eventually just evaporates into vapor to where you are now left standing in this room that is glowing a bright white light from the combination of all these colors mixing together from all these bright colored gems, green and pink and blue and red and yellow and orange.
The Revelation and New Journey
00:38:33
Speaker
And all these gems are now glowing so brightly in the veins in the wall that you can see they come from every
00:38:39
Speaker
cluster of gems and that are kind of sticking out from this floor like stalagmites. Every cluster has these veins shooting from them in the wall towards this door and now the door is lit up a bright white color. And as this door glows brightly and begins, you hear this pulsing sound, this
00:39:06
Speaker
And eventually, the pulsing begins to slow down. And then there's this deafening final pulse. And the light just shines bright in this whole cavern. And the mist above you, you can now see straight up to the sky as this light swirls around this
00:39:27
Speaker
hole in the ground that had been dug here to seemingly to mine these gemstones. The light swirls around above you and shoots up to the sky in a beam of light, piercing to where now you see the stars all the way up above you and the moon glowing in the sky. And before you stands this door.
00:39:47
Speaker
glowing a bright white light. And in the middle of this door is a figure of a person. The person in this doorway looks like the figure of a woman and you hear a voice, all of you hear this voice as she speaks, the silence now seeming louder than the sound of this pulsing from the light. She speaks and she says, you've made it.
00:40:14
Speaker
You're here, you're here to end the darkness once and for all, for all of us. She steps forward, the light beginning to kind of shine on her from inside the cavern in less backlit to where she's less of a silhouette. She steps right up.
00:40:30
Speaker
Standing right near jocks are in jocks are as you look you can see a woman with silver hair. She's a sore skin is a soft white. She's got shimmer shimmering roads or roads that she's wearing and they dance in like a wind that you're not feeling you don't feel a wind blow but her hair and her.
00:40:49
Speaker
robes are dancing in this invisible, unfelt wind. Her eyes glow a pale blue, and deep in them you see what looks like pinpricks of light, like stars within her eyes. Her ears stand high and pointed. Her face looks soft and beautiful, with a slight grin, pursing her lips.
00:41:10
Speaker
She's wearing a golden sash. It seems like it turns about her like it's orbiting around her shoulder to her hip and back around and around. It's like it stands up away from her body like a planet orbiting around the sun. She speaks and she says, do not fear. I am also a seeker as yourselves. I'm known to all of you, but perhaps in this form only to one. She smiles again, looks knowingly at Joxer and looks back
00:41:40
Speaker
at Krigs and Davin. Her brow furrows as she looks in the distance to where Gwyn's body lies on the back of the great elk. She reaches her hand towards the elk, and the elk, without a word spoken by this seeker, the elk begins to walk towards her with its head bowed low.
00:42:01
Speaker
He steps slowly up to her. Her face turns into this sad furrowed brow. Her eyes squint as she looks at the face of Gwendolyn laying on the back of this elk. She looks up at all of you with her face still looking sad, but she says, my power is still not what it should be. I'm merely a servant, just as you are, serving a purpose.
00:42:31
Speaker
like you each do, like you have since the beginning, Safran, and like you, Devin.
00:42:38
Speaker
And the soul you have trapped, all of you, you serve a purpose. You're here for a reason. I'm glad that I called on you. She looks back at Gwendolyn's face and she says, I did not expect it to come to this, but this does not have to be the end. I may not be able to help you now, but there is a time that will come where I, there must be a way, there can be a way. The only way from here is forward. She looks behind her.
00:43:08
Speaker
to the doorway she stepped from. The darkness was trapping the light in, keeping it from coming back to our world. It was only going to get worse, and it still might. This isn't over, but I'm now able to really be here in my true form. I've been sent to you, she says. I've been sent to imbue you with a blessing. The fey gods, they see you, they see you all as heroes. She looks at Gwen again.
00:43:37
Speaker
And sighs, fighting a battle we haven't the will to fight, you have much to do. And you will need our help just as the men, the dwarves, and the elves of old walked with the might of their warmongering deities. You will walk with the light of our creative power within your punch and your sword, within your magic, within your will and your heart as she looks to go in.
00:44:02
Speaker
It has not been easy, I know, but please consider accepting this blessing moving forward from here. I swear your world has changed. The world you come from is...
00:44:16
Speaker
It's like it's new now because of what you've done, but it is only temporary unless you move forward. But the choice is yours. Step forward, come through, receive your blessing. If you do, she looks at Gwen again, she looks at each of you in your eyes, and she looks at Daven.
00:44:35
Speaker
looks at Joxer and at Krigs and seems to be looking you up and down, like looking to see and take in what you've been through these past days and weeks and months. And as you look at her and you look in her eyes, it's like you see that she's feeling with you, what you felt, the darkness that you felt like you couldn't escape these last days and seemingly possibly weeks, the confusion. How, what is, when is it? Where are we? When are we right now?
00:45:06
Speaker
It all shows in her face as you look at her. And then she just starts walking backwards, back towards the door, reaches her hand towards Joxer's face as she passes him and slides her fingers across his chin and just speaks one last time and says, if you accept
00:45:25
Speaker
our offer, our invitation. The road is not easy, but our blessing is yours. Come, follow." She turns and steps through the doorway. The elk, Krigs, starts to follow her and walk without being spoken to. What are you guys going to do? Um, I can tell you that, so haste has ended. Yes. And I am
00:45:51
Speaker
legit done like this, this moment has dropped me. So as she starts walking away, I can't speak. I probably drop to at least a knee and start to like heave in my exhaustion. OK. And I look at the elk and I look I labor to look back at Craig's and David.
00:46:19
Speaker
And, uh, you can, she, she is the one who I have been following. Critics, uh, Safran, you, I think you have something that might help.
00:46:40
Speaker
Gwen and then I probably just fall over as as I like reach towards Gwen kind of walking towards the steed and it's going to be like the the last word that I could like come up with would be like mushroom cave fountain and then I just like fall. Griggs, did you get that? Do you understand?
00:47:07
Speaker
Honestly, no. I'm kidding. I thought that was good, man. I have no idea what you're talking about. Wait, what? Did you say something? I'm sorry. I was cleaning my sword. Sorry. What did you guys see? I didn't see anything.
00:47:31
Speaker
I'm just, my back's been turned this whole time. Oh, the door's open. Yeah. Uh, Devin's going to look down at his necklace that's now closed again. Uh, and he's going to grip it tightly and says, I, I trust her for some reason. And if they have a way of saving Gwen, then maybe we should go through. But if you have a way of saving Gwen, I don't think we should wait. Um, um, I know that the, the elk has,
00:48:00
Speaker
started walking with her, but I'm telepathically going to ask, please, I have to try, please bring her here, please. And it obeys immediately, walks right back, turns, it's headed towards the doorway, and just as you begin to give it its message, it starts to turn and look back at you guys like, are you coming? And then it walks itself towards you, Krigs, at your command.
00:48:25
Speaker
And Gwyn is still kind of delicately, I hate the word lashed, but I can't come up with a better one. She's tied to the back of the elk with the reins of the elk in a way that she's kind of. Secured, she's secured. Yeah, she's riding it, but very much like leaned forward. I'm going to have the elk kind of
00:48:52
Speaker
kneel down as best I can because I'm a shorty. And I'm going to try and reach into my pouch. I'm going to pull out from the pouch the cask, not the cask, the actual leather water jug that I had that I filled with the fountain water from the mushroom cave that had some interesting healing properties.
00:49:22
Speaker
I'm going to attempt to, man, how do you make a dead person drink? I guess I'm just going to like pour it into her mouth and kind of like gently close her mouth. It's not a great way to say this. I get it. It's fine on me. Yeah. I just throw it like a grenade. So you pour it.
00:49:45
Speaker
you start to pour it in her mouth. And as you do, she, it starts to just kind of bubble up and come over. And as, as you do, you realize you're, you're probably gonna have to use all of this and you start to pour and she starts to drink
00:50:01
Speaker
without even really, uh, just, it just kind of seems to have started to, to, uh, to go into her system. It seems to have kind of gone into her system, maybe through bloodstream, maybe something, I don't know, but it's starting to go into her system. And then she begins to drink as if she's drinking water and, and seemingly only having the, the ability to currently to just drink what you're giving her. She drinks it dry till it's gone.
00:50:31
Speaker
And then her eyes slowly open. I would have just been like trying to assist the process. I'm definitely got like.
00:50:40
Speaker
a hand holding like her head back just enough to where like the fluid can be ingested. And I'm just kind of like, come on, Gwen, come on. And she does. She drinks it and her eyes open and she looks at you and Gwen, what does she do? She just kind of stares. She doesn't really say anything. I immediately rush over and give her a hug.
00:51:09
Speaker
So I love this visual because I think you just like threw me to the ground because I got away. So Daven completely busted up, trashed. Jocks are completely trashed laying on the ground. And then Craig's like, you know, still full health, full health. Not even a scratch. I'm the healer today. Geez, Gwen, I really thought we'd lost you that time. Am I still tied down?
00:51:39
Speaker
Yes. Oh, I know. I just I would have done undone the lashings enough to where you're still sitting kind of like, OK, back onto the horse.
Gwendolyn's Revival and Team Determination
00:51:49
Speaker
But you are. Yes, it's an elk, but you're not like lashed or anything now. As soon as Davin gives her that hug and he releases, she just kind of looks at him and then she just kind of falls to the ground and starts throwing up what looks like.
00:52:06
Speaker
Puffs of smoke, just like something exhaling out of her, getting all the gunk out. There's some spit. It's gross. It's a first scene. Yeah. But she just goes, my bag, I need to see Dale. I reach into my pouch, actually, and I hand him over very kind of like gingerly, like I'm holding him to hands. OK. She gets up, swipes her mouth, reaches out to get him.
00:52:35
Speaker
Okay. You take Dale and, uh, Krigs, as you hand over Dale, you feel a little sense of disappointment. Just, just that you're not, you're not going to be able to kind of watch after Dale for, for Gwendolyn. You feel a little disappointed about that, but you're glad that he's going over to her hands, but you feel like he was only in your pouch for just a few minutes, but you're going to miss that guy. You don't tell me how I feel, but you're probably right.
00:53:04
Speaker
I don't mean that suspicious to me. I'm just yeah, that's a little snoggin a lie and sometimes I do get to tell you how you feel I feel sad But glad yeah, she holds Dale. Thank you. I I I don't Really remember what happened. I must have passed out and you woke me up Thank you, and she just looks at I I'm never going to leave you
00:53:31
Speaker
Dale looks at you, Gwendolyn, with a sense of, you get this sense of gratitude. And Krigs, you kind of notice it too. For the first time, you feel like he's saying thank you. Is it weird if I want to tell him he's welcome? You can tell him. Before she puts him back in her bag, she just kind of puts him out at Krigs.
00:54:00
Speaker
Dale, thank you for always looking after Gwen. Gwen, look. Look up. You can actually see the stars. Oh, and Gwen kind of looks up and then points Dale up. Is it gone? Did we do it? She's just finally now recognizing that there's no smoke in there. Yeah, we did. It was a team effort. Got a little hairy there, but couldn't have done it without you. I'm recognizing she doesn't realize she died. Yeah.
00:54:31
Speaker
I can't believe we did it. Oh, look, the door is open. Yeah, I think we should go through. Jocks, are you? I look over and I see that Jocks are still kind of like on the ground. So I'm going to go rush over and I'm going to give him a heal just to make sure that he feels OK.
00:54:46
Speaker
Yeah. When when you do that, at least rush over, you can see that I'm moving and breathing. And at that point, like it's probably been about a minute or, you know, so and I roll over and just plop on my back and look at the stars.
00:55:05
Speaker
You feel a warmth come over your body as you gain nine hit points from my cure wounds. He done peed himself. Mostly in your pants. Immediately feel down. Oh, okay. We're good. Press the digitization. Thanks for the heal. Devin's like, uh, I didn't do anything.
00:55:32
Speaker
Oh yeah, I was just kidding. Me neither. I see. I see we've been brought a couple of blessings. Okay. I'll help him do his feet. All right. I think I'm ready to go. Is everybody good? I mean, I've been in better situations before, but I think I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to at least go through this door. I don't... This cave is... There's too many colors. There's too many colors.
00:56:05
Speaker
I feel good about this. I don't know what's on the other side, but I feel good about it. I'm still... still feeling a little uneasy.
00:56:12
Speaker
about I've had too many promises from too many gods telling me too many different things. The wilds have been the only thing that I can actually trust because it's the first thing that actually makes sense to me. I mean, outside of blind devotion. I think I'm going to telepathically telepathic telepathically telepathically ask the elk if I can trust this seeker. You ask the elk.
00:56:42
Speaker
if you can trust, if you can, if you should follow and you don't get words back, but you get this sense of truth and peace and calmness and belonging, like you've been following all along already. And you get this realization that she's the one that gave you this elk in the first place. Oh, all right. Uh,
00:57:12
Speaker
So what do you, what do y'all say? Should we take the next steps in this journey? I can say that I've been following, I've been following this woman for a long time. Since before I met you, Krigs, this is what brought me here. Sure did a great job of telling me about it. Honestly, there wasn't a lot of communication to me. The first real
00:57:43
Speaker
Actually, it came...
00:57:45
Speaker
in in the cave when when we fought that plant thing and afterwards that was that was the first time that i i really saw her it and honestly i don't know if i didn't i didn't mention it to you because i wasn't sure you were ready to listen you had already given up on your god and
00:58:13
Speaker
following nature in some way. And I, I honestly couldn't explain what, what I was given. How much did you trust that I couldn't, that I don't arrest right now? That's, you got me there. That's, that's from her. From who? I think, I think we all have our own reasons for being here, but we're here nonetheless. And
00:58:43
Speaker
I would love all of you to follow me and learn more. If you don't, that's fine, but I'll be walking through that door. Why did that rhyme? That wasn't supposed to. Great job. Right in jams over here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jockster, I've been following you through the darkness for weeks. I will gladly follow you into the light now. Of course I will follow, but someone else was here?
00:59:11
Speaker
You, you are still, uh, sleeping. Oh, I'm sure Dale can tell you about it, Gwen. And thank you, Daven. That means a lot. Well, that's Dort. Daven kind of like straightens up his clothes and brushes himself off a little bit. Starts walking forward. Gwen, no one follows. She's a bit perky. I, uh, I think I'm just going to pat jocks her on the back. Uh, also dumping about,
00:59:40
Speaker
20...20 hit points into him when I do so. And, uh... After you, friend.
00:59:47
Speaker
Thank you. As I bend down, lower than Krigs. I thought that was the moment we were going for. Did I just read that? That was like, oh, yeah, it was a close moment. And then I go, you know, reach my hand down a little bit more and between your feet. Oh, darn. Getting all raided. Spell slots walks up and I pick them up and throw them on.
01:00:17
Speaker
Shoulder and I'd jump out of the hook So he's a he's a permanent one you're gonna have to get used to it And he he just throws the finger at you I give him a double bird back He just looks a little deflated
01:00:41
Speaker
And then I pat him on the back and give him two HP. He takes it. That's his max HP. That is his whole HP probably. He's never felt better.
01:00:55
Speaker
It's a little bit of the flesh, you know, your heels over. His cuticles are a little bit cleaner. I'll turn around and just kind of, you know, we could all have that hero stance in the silhouette as we walk through the door. I'm into it. I follow.
01:01:14
Speaker
Okay. You guys turn and begin to walk through the doorway, standing one by one next to each other. And you step into the light. And as you do, that ends season two of the Hired Swords. Eee. As we're doing in season two. Dang.
01:01:47
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to Season 2 of The Hired Swords. Season 3 will be releasing soon. If you want to find us and keep up with us and all the behind-the-scenes groups and gaffes, I guess, you can find us on all socials at The Hired Swords. Thank you again so much for listening and see you in the wilds.
01:02:22
Speaker
Okay, so one thing I was just thinking about though, this entire time we're thinking maybe that we died in that river and now we just walked into the light, did we just confirm our own death? That's a good question. What I found hilarious this last five minutes, 10 minutes was Gwyn's chilling with one hit point and you guys are dumping hit points into jocks and spell slots. I assumed that like the drink gave her a little like. No, you come back from the dead, you get a single hit point.