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Ep. 44 Really Slippery Oil
123 Plays3 years ago
So many secrets have come to light after a discussion with Hurli. The answers to the problems in Wildhill have finally been discovered. Now to sort out how to handle the next steps..
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Transcript
Chaos and Challenges in Wild Hill
00:00:14
Speaker
previously on the higher swords. Why is it that Wild Hill bothers me so much? Everything here moved so fast. Krigs and I came here for some fruit. Then I get to watch friends fall unconscious, reunite a family, watch others lose companions, but here we are, trying to solve problems that only a few here can see.
00:00:39
Speaker
We aren't heroes, or at least I'm not. I just can't sit idle and watch the balance tip toward chaos. Did Hurley give us the direction we needed? Could Delmar's affliction be related to the corruption in the wild? Is Gold the only motivation for the Chief in Darnaldi? One answer leads to more questions. I guess maybe we should see Tubbs? How have we not seen or heard of this man?
Introductions and Setting the Stage
00:01:33
Speaker
You're listening to the hired swords. Or are you? The world will never know.
00:01:56
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Hired Swords. I am your dungeon master, Mike, and with me is Derek as Daven. Snacks, yay. And Blaze is Krigs. I normally go last. Hi. Hi, and Ash is Gwendolyn. Hello. And you know him, you love him. Mike is Joxer. Oh, no, you found me.
Pondering Hurley's Guidance
00:02:20
Speaker
He's a sneaky fella. Well, we're back and we left off last time on our adventures through Wild Hill after a conversation with Hurley, learning some of Hurley's own secrets as well as some information about the town and what's kind of going on there. The hired swords that our group here have decided they really need more answers.
00:02:45
Speaker
They are, we pick up without much to recap because we just had a real long conversation and if you need to know what that conversation was, make sure you've listened to the last episode. Otherwise, the party finds themselves making their way out of Hurley's house.
00:03:03
Speaker
back through where they came through the back door in through the little supply closet that opens to a door with a ramp going down this down back outside in between Hurley's house and a trail that leads to Hurley's knickknacks shop. And there is Slim standing at the bottom of that ramp ready to escort you guys back to the back door of the knickknack shop.
00:03:31
Speaker
I don't know about you guys, but I think that went better than expected. I definitely wasn't sure what it was going to be, but he was much more cordial in the end. Was it just me or did that not go how I planned at all? Well, what exactly did you have planned? I don't know. Fire, brimstone. I mean, it's so much a mystery at this point. That's not what I expected.
00:04:01
Speaker
Honestly, to me, it's kind of a breath of fresh air to have somebody who's not really against us. It sounds like he's kind of needing answers and on the same page as us, you know, it's better than having another person that's sneaking around doing shady things.
Planning to Visit Tubbs
00:04:14
Speaker
It's also nice to have someone who wants to ask questions and learn as opposed to just hunt. That's a good point. Who is this to Tubbs? I've never heard of him.
00:04:31
Speaker
I believe he owns the Tinkershop, north side of town. Just past the longhouse, I believe. We can go pay him a visit and find out what he knows. I imagine his shop is open by now. Sounds fine to me. I agree. When Harley was talking, I thought he was talking about Tomba, but...tubs. Yeah, I can understand where you'd make that...
00:05:01
Speaker
I just didn't know if he had a nickname. He is a little portly. Yeah. I mean, maybe it is Tomba. Whenever we go over there, it'll be him with maybe a different suit.
00:05:17
Speaker
That'd be a nice twist to it, wouldn't it? Get a little bit of everything going on in this town. It's true. I'm still suspicious of Tomba. You keep saying that and I'm not really sure why. That seemed like a nice guy so far. I don't know. There's just something about him. Did he treat you weird whenever you went to the bathroom? What was that?
00:05:46
Speaker
When he escorted you, did he do anything? No, it was more of his demeanor. I don't know. It's probably nothing. Oh, right. I suppose that was when I was speaking with Solerun initially, and you all spoke with Tomba and the chief. Yeah, you weren't around at that point.
00:06:12
Speaker
Well, I suppose let's head north and see if this Tubbs-Tomba connection is another unexpected surprise this morning. Sounds good. I need to ask Slim for something before we leave.
Preparing for the Journey
00:06:31
Speaker
Kind of go up to Slim since he's been sitting here listening to us at the bottom of the stairs. Yeah, he's... Are you ready to go? It sounds like you're heading up to Tubbs' shop.
00:06:42
Speaker
Yes. I'd like to ask you for a couple of specific supplies. Okay, what is that? Some herbs and incense and then... Do you have any mercury? Mercury? I'm not sure I know what that is.
00:07:09
Speaker
It would be kind of a very bright and silver, shiny liquid. I see. Well, if it's a type of silver or metal, I don't know, is it a metal? It's something to that extent, yes. Yes, then perhaps the armor bearer or perhaps told me no of it more dealing with those types of items.
00:07:38
Speaker
I'm not familiar with what it is you're talking about, but the spices and things that, and incense and that stuff, we could find that. Yes. Come, tell me exactly what you need. And he'll kind of turn and walk back to the back of the entrance into the shop and kind of beckon you guys to follow as he prepares to walk in and go help you find whatever you need.
00:08:04
Speaker
Awesome. So I'll just kind of go through and I just need about 20 golds worth of charcoal incense and herbs just kind of.
00:08:17
Speaker
Okay, you can get a ton for 20 gold. So he was working out with satchels. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can you bring a cart and a horse to pull this with me for me? Yeah. You could probably buy him out of all of those things for like six gold. I like all he has left.
00:08:40
Speaker
Okay, then that that's not really and I need this amounts worth of sure. Yeah, so that sounds so so you. We all take special orders.
00:08:54
Speaker
So yeah, do you have any wholesale? Would you like to set up a wholesale account? As you ask for the little specifics that you need, the charcoal, this particular, or this particular spice, he's going through and finding, and he has at least a little bit of everything you need. And finally, when it's all said and done, it's about four gold worth of everything. And a few of the things he did not have much of at all.
00:09:24
Speaker
But you got it all from him. OK. Thank you, Slim. This will help at least for a start. Yes, no problem. He puts his hand out to accept the gold. And if there's anything else, please let me know. I will. I really appreciate everything you've done so far. Of course. And he turns and goes back behind the counter and starts to put the gold away. He says, you all be safe as you
00:09:54
Speaker
figure it out, whatever you're figuring out. Perhaps, I don't know, TUB can put together whatever it is you're needing for you. I slap Joxer on the back. Not hard, but with a little firm. Really cleaned him out there. As you do that, I grapple slightly on one of the satchels and a puff of incense kind of goes up and I just start sneezing.
00:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, yep, yep, neat. It's just we need to clean up the the bogeh shack a little bit. Krigs, make a constitution saving throw. OK. Please hold. I don't have dice. What is wrong with me? Really, we came to play D&D, my friend. I know we're playing magic. I'm sorry, I thought this was like we're coming to do football.
00:10:48
Speaker
Woods Bowl. And that is a five. Wait, what's my con? It's a nine. You totally sneeze. Worth the wait. Yeah. A little snot comes down and stuck in your beard. You don't know. You see it. You see it plain as day. Oh, oh, Krigs. Oh, what? You. Nothing. Nothing. Nevermind.
00:11:19
Speaker
Devin just walking by just whispers and jocks his ears like, leave it there. That's rude. He just goes walking out of the store laughing. Friendship. We love each other here. It's obvious. Gwen notices all this bromance happening. She's just wondering what's going on. I suppose to tubs we go.
00:11:49
Speaker
I see this. Yes, I'm ready. Doctor, you want to drop that stuff off of the house first or do you just want to carry it with you? Actually, if we watch the door and then I'm going to lay out the portable hole and drop it down and then fold it back up. You want a smelly hole.
00:12:08
Speaker
Oh, no, a bath and body works. It's like a body work. There you go. It's going to be it's going to be beautiful. I'll turn it into a bath or like a spa treatment place in the future. A brewing body works. Hey, oh, sorry. Oh, I'm the worst. Brew and body works. I like that. That's good. That's fine. It's OK.
Encountering Tubbs at the Tinker Shop
00:12:29
Speaker
All right. So after Joxer fills his hole with incense, you guys begin to walk towards Tubbs Tinker Shop and
00:12:38
Speaker
You know, there is there are quite a few folks out and about now as breakfast has kind of wound down and people are out going to where they they were going to go for the day. And they are there are some of these, you know, adventure types. The hunters are kind of back and out. And you saw some when you were doing dinner last night and there's a few more out. Maybe some arrived in the night. Maybe some got back and had to go, you know, just went ahead and retired for the night before you got
00:13:06
Speaker
into the longhouse. But there seemed to be a lot more back in town than there were before, you know, over the last few days. But you head north towards the mountains and kind of walk by a few just kind of local homes and go around a follow the road path in between a couple of hills and stuff with homes kind of sitting there until you find your way to a taller
00:13:36
Speaker
a little more stone built structure than you're used to seeing around here. And on the outside of this building, you see many piles of like scrap wood and scrap, there's stone kind of piled here and there and different piles of metal. They seem to be sorted in some way. There's an anvil on the outside and a stove.
00:14:01
Speaker
That's outside that stone building as well. And it looks very unkempt and just kind of kind of a mess. But the door stands open and you don't really hear anything, whatever going on inside, but it just stands open like welcoming whoever. I think this is the place.
00:14:22
Speaker
It it looks like it and then I'm gonna I'm gonna giggle a little bit towards Devon and then Hold on Kriegs come here and I'm gonna like lick my thumb and act like I'm gonna clean his face But that I'm gonna cast press to digitization and then like lift that snot and throw it on the ground like I God
00:14:48
Speaker
What's wrong with you? You see Gwendolyn laughing behind. It was kind of funny at first, but I was getting dead gross. You know, we're going to meet someone new. I didn't want you to not have your best face on. First impressions are everything. It's true. I just walk in ahead of them, slightly upset, but also fully shamed. Your Gwendolyn looked at her bag and she just goes,
00:15:17
Speaker
Dale quit laughing. I will follow in behind. All right, you guys walk in there and the place is a mess. There's stone walls lined with huge wooden beams and you can't tell where one pile of scrap metal and scrap wood begins and where another ends. It's just piles here and there all over of stuff there. There doesn't look to be anything in here for sale inside this shop. It's just like a like a storage area.
00:15:46
Speaker
And through the back door, you can hear very low kind of gravelly humming. And this starts to feel a little bit more like home. And the and there's a there's a half door in the back at the bottom is closed. The top is wide open.
00:16:11
Speaker
and it goes right out to the back where you can kind of see the mountains side as the mountains start to climb up behind this house as this is the very north edge of town where the mountains begin again. Good morning. Hello. Hi. Tom, Tom, I assume. Yeah. And a
00:16:38
Speaker
I love this voice face. Is this a ludo? That's exactly what I was thinking. I don't know who that is. So maybe a face shows up in the half door kind of leaning backwards and looking through the opening and you see a grayish green skinned
00:16:58
Speaker
humanoid-looking man. He's very large. He has no hair except on the sides, and it's kind of long. The top is very bald, but it's kind of a grayish-black. He has red tattoo-like markings on his neck, and he has huge tusks that go up from his bottom. And this is a half-orc man. And as he leans back and sees you coming, he goes,
00:17:28
Speaker
Um, we've never met. Please come on back. Of course. Uh, my name is Krigs. You can call me Krigs. That's fine. Uh, and these are my friends, uh, and I'm going to start walking back. I've got, well, jocks are here, Daven and Gwyn. They are companions of mine. We, we've been traveling and hope to find you well this morning.
00:17:56
Speaker
A pleasure. Yeah. Well, I guess I suppose I'm well. Yeah. Um, well, uh, what do you, what do you want? What do you, what do you need? He just stares at you all just one at a time. Kind of, you see, he's wearing, he's wearing it like a tank top with a leather vest over it. And, uh, the back that you're looking at there is, um, there's, uh, it looks like, uh,
00:18:23
Speaker
like a canopy coming off the back of the building that covers a small, well, it's a large bed, but it's small for him and a stool and some items like living quarters items.
00:18:38
Speaker
back there under that little canopy area and then you see just several tables set out with different items on them and you see all kinds of different, most of it just looks like junk but there's metal pieces here, metal pieces there, there's wood piled on this part of it, there's
00:18:59
Speaker
some stuff that's a little bit more shiny and glistening on one side and a few bags, a few bottles of some sort of something inside these little vials or bottles just kind of spread out on these tables behind him as he stands. One of the ones that he stands in front of right directly in front of you can see behind him with some parchment and he has like a a quill in his hand as he turns wearing this kind of tank top or sleeveless
00:19:28
Speaker
Tunic that is tied around his belt tied around his waist and he has an apron That's kind of a leather apron going from his waist down and he's wearing a pair of like sandals on his feet that are pretty thick leather-strapped sandals and He just kind of stares at you waiting after asking. What do you want? What is what do you need? What is it?
00:19:53
Speaker
Well, you came highly recommended as something of a master tinkerer by, well, Hurley. Tinker, yeah. I dabble, I guess. And he kind of looks to the floor, almost like shamefully as he says that, and he looks back up to you all and says, did he send you to have something made?
00:20:24
Speaker
Well, go ahead. Hello. I feel like you might have some magic items. We're not really here to purchase. I don't keep them here usually. There's this and he turns and he picks up a bottle full of this like kind of
00:20:54
Speaker
greenish yellow liquid he said I have this but I haven't found a use for it yet so it just sits here right now I could sell you this and he holds it out to you oh what exactly is that it's I call it I call it slippery oil it it's just
00:21:17
Speaker
really slippery for a while and uh if you put it out somewhere uh people slip but i i don't need it i i just i thought i might could use it on another item but i haven't found anything to do with it yet so uh i could sell it slippery boy okay um how how much oh oh thank gosh um i hadn't
00:21:47
Speaker
I hadn't thought of that. Oh, maybe I'll take a little vial of gold or two. Do I get the feeling that he's like not a very smart guy? You get the feeling. Make an insight check. Sure. Yo, you're trying to get in the way in the way of my oil. I'm working 18. Up the money.
00:22:15
Speaker
He, yeah, you kinda get that he's not stupid, but he's not like, maybe he doesn't know the ways of the world very much. He's kinda, I don't know, describe him as like, maybe laser focused on what he is good at and nothing else has ever mattered to him, so he just doesn't know a lot of
Tubbs' Backstory and Creations
00:22:40
Speaker
stuff. Okay. I also kinda would assume, just based on the fact of my,
00:22:44
Speaker
my history with orcs and understanding that they don't typically live very long lives, if not, you know, slain in battle. Whoops. They live very long. And so half orcs probably don't either. So I assume he's pretty young. Sure.
00:23:00
Speaker
Devin's going to take this into account. He's going to interrupt Craig's. He's going to say, well, maybe you can judge the based off of that thing you sold to the king or to the chief. I can't remember what it was. Craig, what was the team the chief was talking about that he bought from Tops here? Tops, maybe you remember. slippery oil, was it? No. Right. Yes. Oh, you know, I don't recall what he called it. It had a fancy name, I thought.
00:23:28
Speaker
Taub, you wouldn't know. You sold it to him. I can't remember exactly what it was. Okay, Daven, make a deception check with advantage because Kriegs is helping you. All right. Ooh, I never get to use deception. This is fun. I only rolled an eight, but I have a plus seven. Hold on, I might have something else. Is that with advantage?
00:23:48
Speaker
Yeah. I rolled a six and an eight. Um, give me a second. I have an ability. You didn't need a lot. Okay. So 15. Okay. So you did it. You succeed. He just says, Oh, um, was it the arrows or the dagger? Maybe, maybe it was the dust. The rain could have been
00:24:13
Speaker
I mean, there's been a lot of stuff. Let me think. It doesn't matter. Pricing, there's nothing. Those are like, he usually gives me. One gold's probably fine. Here you go. And he hands it out to you. One gold seems like a fair price.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yeah, one one gold is fair enough. I'm going to take the vial of whatever he's given me and give him kind of tink over a gold like flicking a coin. Bing. OK. You flick it to him and he just watches it fly at him and it hits him in the chest and he reaches his hand up real quick after it hits him in the chest and he catches it on his chest. But and he looks at it.
00:24:59
Speaker
Thank you. Have a nice day. And he turns around like he's going to go back. Yeah, that's all. That's really all I have that's useful. You wouldn't happen to have any mercury or a drop of mercury? Do you only need a drop? I mean, a drop specifically, but a small vials worth would be
00:25:28
Speaker
Hang on. And he turns and he walks into the house and you hear him rummaging around. And if you look in and see in the door, he's walking directly to a couple of piles and he's looking directly in there and he's pulled some things around. And you see one pile looks like it's just got just bags, different kinds of bags in it. Another pile is a pile of just vials of stuff. Most of them look empty.
00:25:57
Speaker
but he reaches down and grabs one vial and comes back to you and he holds it up and it's got like, it's got, it's like if the vial, you know, it's got like about a quarter of what the vial would hold of this shiny, shiny mercury colored, silvery looking liquid. And he looks at it with one eye and he hands it, he reaches it out to you, he says, here, take it.
00:26:26
Speaker
Fantastic. I think I got a bad deal here. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's magic. This is just I don't even know. I got it. I used it all pretty much. There's just a little left. Do you need all that mercury to clean the boga shack?
00:26:49
Speaker
I'm just trying to figure out new methods of cleaning. I'm starting to be offended that he thinks I'm dirty. Tub looks at you all and his face crinkles. He goes, I hate cleaning. I know where everything is. Don't mess with it. That's what I always say.
00:27:16
Speaker
And he starts to walk, like kind of mumbling back to himself as he walks back over to the table. I always say, I know where it is. It doesn't need to be cleaned up because I know where it is. I could go right to it. I got the mercury. I knew right where it was. Walked over there. There. Okay. Let's see. So if I, if I do it this way. And he starts kind of mumbling to himself as he starts to pick up that quill and write on this piece of parchment. I'm sorry, but he is Ludo to me and I love him. Oh God, it's so great. Ludo.
00:27:46
Speaker
from, uh, from not patterns, labyrinth, just from labyrinth. Yeah. The labyrinth totally. Oh, I know. I know that big guy that moves the rocks. Oh, that. Yeah. That guy's adorable. Gwendolyn's going to walk up to tubs and while he's writing and mumbling, mr. Tubbs, do you like making these special items?
00:28:15
Speaker
He stops, you see he's writing and he stops kind of slowly. Harley saved me. So yeah, I like helping. And he keeps writing.
00:28:36
Speaker
I'm sorry, but I'm confused, Hobbs. I thought you worked for the Chief, not for Hurley. Oh, the Chief tells me what he needs made, but I know the Chief and Hurley work together, so I do it because it helps Hurley. Right. Well, that makes sense.
00:28:56
Speaker
And I do like the different jobs because I used to just put things together because I had to. I couldn't help it. I just had to do it and now I get to make it and help somebody and every day or every few days at least there's a new puzzle to solve. Something new to figure out. It's really fun. What kind of jobs would you do?
00:29:26
Speaker
before? Yes, this is a sorry. Um, well, it wasn't jobs. It was, you know, I'd see a wheel and a rod and some planks and some rope and I couldn't help but think of if I put those together what I could make it do. And so I did it and then
00:29:54
Speaker
And then nobody understood. So Harley saw what I did and he understood. So he took me from there. And now instead of being treated like I'm useless, I'm actually helping. That sounds good. I'm glad you found your place in the world. Yeah.
00:30:25
Speaker
Yeah, that... when I was there, it was... It was hard, but this is easy, and nobody makes me clean up.
00:30:38
Speaker
That must be nice. It's very nice because when I clean up, I can't find anything. Anyway. I know the feeling. My friend Dale, he's a messy one. Interesting. Yeah. I don't think I'm messy because I know what everything is.
00:31:06
Speaker
My organization looks messy to other people. Does that make sense? It does. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Tubbs. Yeah. So there's a little bit of me and every character and that's what's up. That's what's me in this one. Yeah. The messy organization. Yeah. Don't clean my desk. I know where it all is. There's a little bit of me and Davin too, specifically not telling people when they have snot on their face.
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah. Sorry. That came out so naturally. I had to pull down the fourth wall just for a second. Hold on. We're in walls? Dude, where have you been?
00:31:50
Speaker
I appreciate it, Tubbs. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Start up. Do that again. I was just saying, I appreciate it, Tubbs. You've been very helpful. You're welcome. If there's anything else you need, because I've been very kind and not a lot of people come up here. So we're actually on our way to go see the chief next. If there's anything you need delivered, we could go take it over there for you. Oh, yeah. Give him this. And he turns back to the drawing he was doing.
00:32:20
Speaker
And he does a couple more things on it and he rolls it up and he hands it to him. He says, take him this, it'll be, he may be interested in what that is. No problem. I'll take it right to him. Okay. Oh, folks, is there anything else we need to ask him for our tobs here?
Deciding Next Moves and Deliveries
00:32:41
Speaker
I'm, I'm good. I'm good as well. Thank you for the slick oil.
00:32:49
Speaker
You're welcome. Use it wisely. That stuff's hard to come by, so you've got to, don't waste it. You know what I mean? I just give them a wink and walk out. I gotta say, in my notes, I wrote down slippery oil. Really slippery. Makes people slip. Because that was the description I got for the link. So good.
00:33:13
Speaker
All right, so we walk out of the shops and I'm going to... The second we get out of sight of his shop, I'm going to pull that paper open and see what he was drawing. Yeah, okay. When you pull it open, it looks like a
00:33:30
Speaker
a battle helmet, like a helmet for a warrior, like a helm. And it looks like what could be etched on it, like drawn on it, it looks like it could be branches maybe, like tree branches or maybe something on it like that. But make a perception or investigation check as you look at it.
00:33:58
Speaker
Sure. I'm getting all of the roles today. Investigation. Nope. Not me. That's a six. Okay. So yeah, it looks like that could be, it looks like it's just like kind of, it looks like it could be like an ornate helm that is fashioned to kind of have tree branches or sticks or something like that. Kind of weaving through the metal and horn material. What kind of material?
00:34:28
Speaker
Horn. Are you looking at this? Yes. Make an insight check. Okay. You're on the same page as I. Buddy, that's a natural 20. Hey, definitely you look at it, you kind of look over Davin's shoulder and
00:34:48
Speaker
That's freaking antlers in that helm. It's like it's being cast with antlers mixed with the metal as a part of it. Hold up, hold up. Did you say look over Daven's shoulders? Oh, good point. You look up under Daven's arm as he holds it up. He's throwing me as we're... I'm the little spoon looking as he's holding it in front of him. It's a really cute thing where your dog tries to go underneath your arm to see what you're doing. Yeah, yeah, that thing. It's that. I love it.
00:35:17
Speaker
But yeah, you see, that's that's definitely horns or antlers that have been that are being kind of woven into the metal. What do you guys look like a helmet to me? Those are horns. That's right there. That is that's an elk horn. It's got to be. I mean, I know these are blueprints and I. Are they using the great elk horns for this magic item?
00:35:46
Speaker
I really did say that he uses the creatures that they kill on these horns to create these magic items. But I thought he said he didn't see any horns.
00:35:59
Speaker
They hadn't used the horns yet from what our understanding is, what it looks like he says plans for him. He said that any of the elder beast items were not going through him. This is where I guess there was a third party and I mean, based on what Tubbs is saying, it seems as if the chief is working directly with Tubbs and not Hurley.
00:36:28
Speaker
better. So what do we do with this information? We should find a way into the chief's room. I mean, we can try talking to him again, but I don't know if we should go as ourselves or use deception or you see, start to get flustered. Never took you for one of the sneaky kinds, Gwen. After my time here, I just,
00:36:58
Speaker
I don't know. I just am sneaky now. That's all she can get out. She's so flustered. There must be those extra training sessions with Dale. You've been doing moonlighting, ninja sneaking. Hold on. There's not ninjas in D&D. You think this is Final Fancy? Maybe Rogue. There's monks. Monks and rogues mixed into Ninja.
00:37:29
Speaker
It's been namblin' teaching you how to steal, cause he steals hearts all the time. Booze! What a fash. That was good. That was so bad. No, you deserved it. That was a win. I'll take it.
00:37:46
Speaker
Let's find out what our options are. If we wanted to use something like deception, I like the idea of maybe going to the Chief as Hurley with these blueprints. And I could seem to act like I'm getting mad about it, like he's going behind my back with these things. Maybe get him to talk to Hurley. Joxer looks super confused at the concept of Hurley going out in public and talking to the Chief.
00:38:12
Speaker
That's a good point. Also, I can't make myself look like I'm in a wheelchair without having a wheelchair. I'm, yeah, I'm not sure trying to be Hurley is the best choice. During all day, we are mildly familiar with him. What did Donaldine know about this? For Soraya, I suppose.
00:38:39
Speaker
Well, it could be beneficial maybe to if the Nadi doesn't know about it. I could go in there and say, what is this? You're going behind my park and having things made without me? Whatever things are you doing without me? That or if Saraya was being a good lad and handing it off could go either way. Or we could just go the safer route and go tomba.
00:39:05
Speaker
All right, so I have one gold coin. We're going to have to flip it because both of these ideas sound good. Do they? I like it. I like them. So I'm going to push off Saria because she's supposed to know more that we don't know. So Dernaldi sounds like a better choice to me to not know about a thing.
00:39:33
Speaker
Well, the thing is, we need to get the chief to explain things that he wouldn't explain to us, you know? Yeah. And I feel like if Sariah was that close, she would already know and he'd immediately be concerned. Look, I'm for going in there and trying to get the chief to talk. And if you're talking about using your fancy face tricks to convince the chief that you are Denaldi, that is so dangerous.
00:40:02
Speaker
Uh, I'm, I'm for it, but you have to understand that's potentially a suicide mission walking in there alone. Cause I, Darnoldi does not like us. And I'm assuming we're talking all this out in an alleyway because I'm just talking out loud. Darnoldi clearly doesn't like us. He, well, she sent, sent those to kill us. Sorry, jockser. I mean, not to bring up bad times, but
00:40:29
Speaker
That is very dangerous for you to go alone like that. We can't go in there with you if you're going to try to convince him that you are Denaldi. I agree. If I go as the chief and go to Denaldi, see what he knows. Or we could just go in there as ourselves and say, hey, what's going on with this? The chief does know we've been asking questions. It's, it wouldn't be out of character for us to do that.
00:40:59
Speaker
I mean, with this information we have here, is this proof enough to where we could get the hunters to turn against the chief? There's probably only one way to find out. It does seem like most here are pretty complacent with life in Wild Hill, but with what the chief appears to be planning and what's been going on with these monstrous creatures and just the darkness in the wilds, I can't imagine
00:41:28
Speaker
If the truth comes out about what's happening in Wild Hill behind the scenes, that complacency is going to stand. Well, they might not care. They might say he pays us to go and get these creatures. What all he does with the bodies of the Matherwoods, that's his business. That's well and good, but when the wilds are dead, what's left to hunt? Truly they understand the natural way of things.
00:41:53
Speaker
I just don't think that they're going to look at it that way. They're going out for a hunt. What does a magic item have to do with ruining the wilds for them? I don't think we have anything to share or upset. I mean, their chieftain is making magic items. It's basic economy. They come here to hunt. The wilds are being destroyed. If the wilds are gone, there's nothing left to hunt.
00:42:22
Speaker
but they don't see any signs that the wilds are going to be gone. They will soon. They're blind to that. Soon, but not from us. We're not going to convince them that the wilds are going to disappear because of what the chief is doing. They're going to say, seems fine to me and move on with their business. Okay. So Raya and her hunting party, Sauron, all those that saw the boars and the blood bear and everything else, anyone who has seen that has had at least some indication or proof or inclination that
00:42:49
Speaker
Things are different. Things we've said all along, we finally have some way to tie them together. Why do we could use her as the test subject to see how she reacts? If she reacts negatively, we're not any worse off than we are now. That's true. She would probably want to take us to the Chief.
00:43:15
Speaker
I think that would be our best bet would be to get her and her group on our side so that we can go confront the chief together. Joxer just kind of starts to stretch a little bit. I am a little hungry. Looks over at the longhouse. Well, we can go and see if they're in there. It's the only place I know to look at this time of day. Gwen, how do you feel about all this? Um, if I have permission of the DM,
00:43:46
Speaker
Um, while they've been talking, I just turned into a lizard. Okay. I wasn't, I wouldn't have been paying attention. So it passes with me. Yeah. We're in pretty heated conversation right now. Yeah. No, I love it. My bag is dropped and I am gone. I've gone to the tower testing lizard.
00:44:10
Speaker
OK. All right. Roll for who sees or, you know, who sees her bag first? Quinn, what do you think about all this? Quinn, where'd Quinn go? I just pick up the bag. Oh, no. I think our decision's been made for us. I'm going to quickly rush in check to make sure Dale is inside the bag. Yeah, Dale is still there. Yeah. And to kind of recap for you, Gwendolyn,
00:44:40
Speaker
If you are a little critter like that. I am tiny. Yeah, you get double the time. Yeah. Because of your blessing from.
00:44:53
Speaker
the wilds. So that's a two hour a two hour spell there. Um, cool. And so we, you guys are chit chatting and, and you turn and see the bag there with Dale in it. And Gwen, you have scurried off towards the long house and everybody make perception checks as you've been kind of walking and quietly talking towards the long house.
00:45:24
Speaker
Ooh, 19. I got a natural 20. Not great, but it's not terrible. Why? Seven, a hard seven. Not great, but I mean. 21 total. Nice. Who got a natural 20? Me, Daven. Daven Meinstrider, played by Derek. Gwen, make a stealth check. All right. As your little lizard. I should have didn't pass without a trace before I did this.
00:45:54
Speaker
Oh no! Critical one plus my not so great stealth. The lizard has a not so great stealth? Yeah, I don't think he does. Let's see, what is it? What is stealth? Dexterity. Yeah, it's plus zero, so.
00:46:17
Speaker
Oh, wow. Okay. So as you scurry off, Daven, you look up and you see you've seen a few little critters in town, but not very many. And suddenly you see this little lizard scurrying away kicking up all this dust behind you as it scurries away from you towards the tower of testing right about when you turn the corner to head towards the longhouse, you see it scurrying towards the tower pretty quickly.
00:46:46
Speaker
Uh, Devin's going to look and he's just going to stop and pause for a second. And then he's just gonna say, maybe she went ahead to the, to the long house. Let's just take our bag. We'll find her. I put the bag over my shoulder, uh, and carry it. Okay. Okay. So you guys walk to the long house and as you walk into the long house, you do see a, uh,
00:47:13
Speaker
a few people in there. The main breakfast rush has kind of calmed down and the people are, there's not as many people in there. The people that are mostly are like towns folks cleaning up and just kind of picking up dishes to take to clean and doing that sort of thing. But there's some food left out, some beverages, and
Strategy Discussions and Mishaps
00:47:34
Speaker
you do see a few hunters, nobody you recognize, but there's a few hunters sitting there and just kind of finishing their drinks and chatting a little bit.
00:47:46
Speaker
I'd like to look around and see if any of Saria's parties here. Okay, make a perception check. Oh! What in the world? It went all the way across the room! All right, guess the number. This is why you need more than one set of dice. Yeah, guess the number. I'm gonna go get it. Guess the number. That was eight. Thirteen. Sixteen.
00:48:12
Speaker
Three. Jockster goes straight for beer while he's in, you know, it was a 16. OK. So 17 with my perception. All right. So you as you look around, you do see that nasty looking wizard mage man sitting in the corner by himself, not in the corner, sitting at the end, the end of the tables at the very end, all by himself, just kind of sipping a beverage.
00:48:41
Speaker
That's all I see. That's the only one you see that you recognize. I mean, you see most of these faces are kind of familiar, but there's nobody you've interacted with. You've just seen them around town over these last several weeks that you've been here. I'm going to go walk up to him. Is there salt on these tables?
00:48:59
Speaker
Yeah, there's a little bowl with some seasoning, little bowls with little bits of seasoning and one of them appears to be the pink salt. Okay. I'm going to take it and I'm going to sit down like right next to him and I'm going to dump the entire thing of salt right on the table. I'm going to spread it out to a nice solid layer and then I'm going to use, I'm going to use Mage Hand and I'm going to start drawing out the teleportation circle that he used. He was the teleportation guy, right? Yeah, that was him.
00:49:26
Speaker
I'm going to draw it out and as best as I can remember, I'm going to look at him and say, I can't get this to work. What's wrong with this? All right. Make an arcana check as you draw it out. Okay. 13 plus 16 total. Okay. So he at least knows what you're trying to do. So as he looks at it, he just kind of, that's, that's way off. Um,
00:49:55
Speaker
And he starts to draw little scribbles here and there. And he's like, and it's not even just this, you got to know the incantations and everything. Don't worry about it. It took, it took me years to hone that skill in. Are you don't, he kind of looks around and he kind of gets quiet. He's like, are you a wizard? Yeah, of course. I thought the wizardry tree, like is, I thought it was frowned upon.
00:50:25
Speaker
Yeah, it is. But I'm useful. Oh, well, I can see that. How long have you been working with Sir Raya? Oh, gosh, I think this is six years. He has a lot of questions. I'm just curious. I've never actually met a wizard before.
00:50:51
Speaker
I've never I've never been asked questions about it before. I sit down next to them now with a little tray of food, not so close that I'm imposing, but just just kind of sit down. He looks over at you and looks up at Devin. Take a bite of the breakfast item on my plate. We're going to call it hash browns, but I'm not actually sure.
00:51:20
Speaker
What it is. It's totally hash browns. That's what I mean. It looks like hash browns to me, but. Of course it is. Like McDonald's nuggets is chicken. Yeah. I'm going to take a bite, kind of chew it a little bit and with a slightly full mouth say, how was some fireball out there in the wilds? That was impressive work.
00:51:43
Speaker
That was a Firebolt priest. Oh, right. Hadn't seen one. Fireball, you and all your friends would have been burned up with it. Oh, well, thank the gods that it wasn't that.
00:51:59
Speaker
Indeed, the gods. And he starts slicing, like over aggressively slicing into like a little sausage link on his plate. I'm going to go back to hiding and let him continue his conversation with David, just trying to disarm him slightly. Yeah, OK. Joxer Joxer gets all kind of.
00:52:20
Speaker
next to Krigs at this point with a floating Stein and then two other two other, you know drinks and He's like either if you need a refill What about you? Sure. He lifts his cup his glass up to you and looks at looks at you jockser and he looks at Krigs and a Devin and he says What's going on here? Honestly
00:52:50
Speaker
No, I mean, you guys are kind of all around me right now. That's the deal. Would you believe us if we said you just looked lonely and we want to keep the company? No. I didn't think so. Would you believe us if I said I have some information about the chief that would maybe upset you a little bit? He slowly sits up and looks at you. Continue.
00:53:18
Speaker
I looked at the other ones. His eyes get real narrow as he looks at you. A mug slowly floats down in front of him. Here, take this angry man. He grabs it with one hand and slowly lifts it to his mouth and takes a medium-sized sip, kind of holds it as he continues to lock eyes in like the squinted stare at you, Devin. Greg's jocks are what you think, so I show him the pictures that we have.
00:53:47
Speaker
But by all means, chewing at my food. I'll take out the blueprints and I'll unroll it and I'll say, this is something the Chief is having made out of a creature that we had killed the first day we came in. I don't really know exactly what the rules are around town, but something about this seems wrong to me, that they're going to create these increasingly difficult and evil creatures so that you kill them so that they can reap the rewards by making some sort of crazy magical items out of them. Wait.
00:54:16
Speaker
They're, they're making magical items. Yes. I mean, you can look at this helmet here that he's got it created. I don't know what it does, but it's definitely magical. He leans in real close and squints his eyes. Yeah. Right there. And he points to a little piece of the, some pieces of the, um, of the antlers that are kind of drawn on to the helmet. And he, you can see as he kind of draws his fingers on them, they start to kind of light up one by one.
00:54:46
Speaker
that there is a light little etchings of runes on the antlers themselves. And he says, that's... And he just kind of starts reading, you're going to die. Yeah. They're using the power of these creatures to
00:55:13
Speaker
to imbue items with a similar ability. But why? I don't know. I was hoping maybe you'd have a little bit of information. I'll tell you what, if it's for gold, I don't know a single hunter who would stand for that. We've been promised a fair share. And if we don't know what a fair share looks like, because we don't know what's going on. Wait a second.
00:55:41
Speaker
How do I even know that you got this from him? Maybe you did this. You're a magic guy. Look at the runes on this. And look at what I just drew in the salt. And tell me that came from me. It's the tinkerer, isn't it? Tobs. Yeah. And he said this isn't the first. He had a list of things that he had been making for the, for the chief. I believe he said arrows, a dagger, a ring, some dust.
00:56:11
Speaker
is starting to sound like a full set of armor if you ask me, but that's just the humble opinion of a blacksmith. I'm not hungry anymore. I mean, stands up. Thanks. Maybe we should talk to Saria. You think she has an opinion about all this? I think if anyone's... I think if anyone's going to defend the chief on this, it's her. Well, then maybe we keep her out of it. Where's Mel? Have you seen Mel?
00:56:41
Speaker
Not on our way. I was hoping to see him here. He left a while ago. I think they're going to look for a job. We should go to the tower. All right. I mean, I didn't get chance to eat or anything, but that's fine. I'll eat later. There's plenty of salt. He starts to walk out. Gwendolyn, we're going to jump to you real quick. You scurry.
00:57:03
Speaker
I just want to make it canon that I handed Daven a muffin that I had on my plate. Oh, great. Perfect. Kindness. I like it. No, no hungry friends around Krigs. I'm always thinking of my boo. Yeah, you are. So Gwen, you scurry towards the tower of testing and you get to the bottom, like the to the the back kind of corner of it that faces the road and make a perception check as you do so. OK.
00:57:32
Speaker
Let me pull up my lizard form. Plus 10 on everything. Yep. Sounds about right. 14 plus infinity. Oh my gosh. Sorry. Oh my gosh. 13. Okay. So as you scurry kind of up the wall of the tower,
00:58:01
Speaker
You hear a commotion in the front and you hear the chief speaking and he's talking to, you don't know who it is, but he's, he's kind of saying things about he's having a hard time making out exactly what he's saying, but you just kind of hear glimpses of like talking about jobs and talking about just doing it because it's how we have to do it and not
00:58:29
Speaker
You know, not, I thought we just did our jobs and that sort of stuff. And, uh, but you, you, you kind of catch hints of that, but you don't hear the whole thing.
Observing the Hunters Gathering
00:58:39
Speaker
And, uh, suddenly not suddenly, but you, you do notice also that hunters are kind of coming from all around and this place is really filling up with hunters, uh, coming presumably to find a job as the
00:58:57
Speaker
party, the group from the longhouse begins to make their way down towards the tower. Gwendolyn, you're crawling around on the outside of the tower as a lizard. And the rest of the hunters are all kind of gathering coming towards the tower. You kind of get the hint that maybe something might be about to happen. That's where we'll leave this episode. Oh, excitement. Yeah, yeah, might be about to happen. Something's about to go down.
00:59:31
Speaker
you
00:59:41
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of The Hired Swords. If you enjoyed the show, please tell a friend. And if you really enjoyed our show, tell the world. Leave a review. If you want to keep up with us on all the behind-the-scenes goofs and gaffs, you can find us on Twitter and Facebook at The Hired Swords. Again, thank you for listening.