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Ep. 29 Voices In The Night
150 Plays4 years ago
The swords settle into the Bogashack as each of them is visited by voices.. Voices in the night that tell tales.. Voices in the night that promise glory.. Voices in the night that beg and plead.. Voices that speak curses into existence..
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Transcript
Introduction to Wild Hill and the Bogus Shack
00:00:13
Speaker
previously on the hired swords. The swords settle into their new home in Wild Hill, the Bogus Shack. As they settle in a little more, they plan and plot their next moves in Wild Hill. They set out to gather more information from the townies and locals that might be willing to talk, even if it might take a little persuading.
00:00:39
Speaker
Between conversations with Mick and Hurley's shopkeep, the swords are continuing to piece together the puzzle that is Wild Hill.
Tensions and Regrets Post Hurley's
00:01:11
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition actual play podcast. Well, you don't get a joke every time.
00:01:33
Speaker
All right, welcome back to the hired swords. And here we are after leaving Hurley's, after a conversation learning about some items that Hurley himself keeps at his estate, not necessarily here at the shop, according to Mr. Slim that you spoke to there. After a little bit of an outburst. Slim Pickens. Yeah, Slim Pickens. After a little bit of an outburst from Gwen and some back and forth between you guys trying to
00:01:58
Speaker
kind of some internal affairs, internal relationship stuff you guys dealt with. You went over to learn some more from Slim. Now you've just walked outside of Hurley's place. You walk kind of down the steps towards the pathway and you are just in Wild Hill. It's about dinnertime. What is it that you'd like to do?
00:02:18
Speaker
Everyone, I I want to go down to the farms real quick and just see how how the fruits are blooming. Just just kind of walk by. I'm not going to do anything. And then I'll probably meet everybody back at the at the bogus check. All right. And then I'll. Right. So you head off towards the farm. Everybody else, you're going straight to the shack or what? Yeah, it's probably just head in, do some dinner and maybe get an early night sleep.
00:02:47
Speaker
I'll probably head back to the shack. I think on the way there, Gwendolyn's going to tap on Davin's shoulder to pull him behind Krigs in a way. Not physically, but like, and she kind of just looks at him and then looks down. I'm sorry for the things I've said to Davin.
00:03:14
Speaker
I may not know you fully, but I do know you're a nice person, and I'm sorry.
00:03:23
Speaker
you have nothing to apologize for. I'm not the kind of person that you're ever going to upset or, or make frustrated. I, I'm a pretty easy going person. So it's not very easy for you to do something that's going to make me hate you. And what happened today, your outburst, it's, it's understandable. There's been a lot of things going on around here and what I understand about you and correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably don't have a whole lot of experience outside of where you came from.
00:03:52
Speaker
I don't. That's okay. But there's a lot of things that I've seen that you probably haven't. So I'm used to it. And I'm fine with it. But I appreciate you apologizing. Thank you for, for accepting it. I just sometimes my emotions take the best of me and I she takes a big sigh. I just
00:04:18
Speaker
My emotions can flip on a dime, but I've just been so stressed ever since it's Delma and Francine. And I was the one that wanted to take the mission, but I didn't know how much it was going to impact me. Are you doing okay? I'm fine now. I got most of it out and I'll be fine going forward. I just,
00:04:47
Speaker
had a moment. I'm not trying to suppress your feelings, Gwen. If you feel that you need an outburst, just start yelling. It's fine. It's at this point where a team, we got to work together and we got to make sure we understand each other. If you don't appreciate the jokes that I have, it's just one of the ways that I like to keep things light. But if you don't appreciate it, I'll keep them to myself. I do.
00:05:12
Speaker
I do like jokes. I just don't get them sometimes. And in the moment I was all riled up because I, I just spit in that, that man's face. She giggles. Devin laughs too. To be honest, it's one of the favorite things I've ever seen you do. She blushes.
00:05:40
Speaker
Thanks. You guys are walking back towards the cabin, the Bogus Yak, as you've called it, as you've dubbed it. And, Craig, you're probably close enough to kind of hear them talk back and forth. Anything you're saying or doing during that? No, I can tell that this is a moment that Gwyn probably needs. So I'm not going to really interject. I'm just going to keep walking. Great.
00:06:06
Speaker
All right, as you approach the cabin, Joxer, you kind of separate off from them about when they start this conversation and start heading down kind of south towards the farm down there, Hillcrest Farms. And when you get down to, you know, towards the windmill, you walk by the adventurers camp and you see a few of the adventurers kind of sitting around the adventurers camp, kind of eating some meat that was roasted over the fire and laughing and talking and telling stories. And then beyond there is that
00:06:35
Speaker
is that familiar windmill and a little orchard there with kind of sparse trees, but they're there. And as you walk that direction, the trees you notice are blooming. There are some yellow blooms on these trees and the green is starting to show on the leaves. You can get a little closer and inspect if you'd like.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'll try to keep at least some distance. I don't want to like just enter the farm in the middle of the night, but try to at least investigate from a distance just to get an idea of like, okay, well, these just bloomed or they're in like mid bloom and it might be like weeks, months still left. Okay. Yeah. As you approach, make a either nature or just investigation check.
00:07:26
Speaker
I'll probably do nature. That is 17 plus a number. My sheet closed, so let me reopen that. And that
00:07:42
Speaker
is a two, so 19. Cool. So you can tell that the fruit will come probably sometime in the middle of the summer. And this is, this is looking like you're getting close to the beginning of summertime. So you probably have a few several weeks before anything blooms here or anything grows here fruit wise, and then the ripening and all that stuff will start to take a little bit too. So it's still a little ways off, but the trees are
00:08:10
Speaker
are blooming and they look like they've had a good enough year of rain and stuff that they'll probably produce fruit. But then as you look beyond the, as you look, you can see beyond the trees at the tree line of the woods just down the hill across from the road, you see a figure standing amongst the trees.
00:08:32
Speaker
And it looks like the figure of a young woman. But she's seems kind of all white and shimmering and her hair is kind of flowing behind her and she seems to be watching you.
Mysterious Encounter in the Woods
00:08:52
Speaker
What? I'm going to start walking towards that woman. OK.
00:09:00
Speaker
You begin to walk towards the woman and as you get closer, she gets more and more beautiful. And you get to just across the road from her, you're probably 25, 30 feet away at this point and she's still standing at the edge with her hand on her hips kind of leaning to one side a little bit and you can—she is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen but you cannot make out any detail of her body or her face.
00:09:25
Speaker
She is just white, almost glowing and shimmering. And as you look around, you do see a couple of the farmers kind of working in the fields and some of the adventurers walking up the road down the way a little ways. And this sight you see before you is so phenomenal and so incredible that it is beyond you why no one else is reacting to it. She turns away from you with her one arm still behind her.
00:09:52
Speaker
and motions for you to follow and starts to walk into the woods. You see jocks who just kind of like look around and his breathing starts to kind of speed up. And he it's like water is welling through his eyes and and he starts to to move a little bit faster towards this woman.
00:10:22
Speaker
She walks into the woods and she always stays where you can see her but cannot touch her, just far enough away. But she's leading you with no path, with no trail into the woods. And at this point, Gwen and Davin and Krigs, you arrive at the cabin. What are you doing?
00:10:48
Speaker
I'm going to ask Gwen if she would be okay with me rifling courteously through some of the effects that were left behind. I assume that the daughter's room would have the best
00:11:10
Speaker
blankets and whatnot. My sleeping situation is less than great. Would you mind if I kind of go through the room a little? Being woken up this morning, I definitely realized I'm a little too old to be on such poor surfaces. Oh, go for it.
00:11:35
Speaker
There was one thing in there specifically, I was eyeing Gwen. Full disclosure, I would love that little pink rocking chair that was in the corner of the room. Uh oh. I mean, Dale kind of claimed it, but I don't think he'll mind. I mean, I would be perfectly fine asking him if I don't want to impose. She immediately pulls out Dale.
00:12:04
Speaker
Sir Dale, I know you are a decorated and honorable chipper, but I, I am old. I implore you, please, may I take from you the chair of rocking for my sad, sad back. Oh my God.
00:12:30
Speaker
There's a little bit of a pause and she's like, Dale, don't be rude. He said no to first go. Dale, it's okay. I mean.
00:12:41
Speaker
Okay. And she just said, yeah, go ahead. My appreciation. And I'm going to take that sweet little pink rocking chair and I'm going to post up right at that door because I don't trust nobody here. And I'm going to get a blanket or two and just I'm going to go sit in that chair right
Gwen's Chipmunk Quest
00:13:00
Speaker
now because I have nothing to call in my name. All right, Gwen, what are you doing?
00:13:04
Speaker
I want to, can I real quick, I want to make a insight check on Gwen cause it seems like her talking to Dale is getting a lot more, less about her being cute about it and more about like, maybe she really does think that Dale's talking back to her. Like he's not unsure. Make an insight check. Oh, now I'm officially asleep. 12, 12. Okay. Uh,
00:13:31
Speaker
It's hard to tell. Either she's really owning the bit or she's using it as a coping mechanism. You don't know for sure, and I'm not going to make her tell you with a 12. All right, that's fine. You hear labored snoring from the living room. Gwen, what are you doing as you enter into... You're in that room? Yeah. I walked into the...
00:14:01
Speaker
uh, Francine's, uh, old room after he took the rocking chair out. And she's just gonna lay on the bed for a little bit, have Dale kind of do like a little slumber party thing. She's not going to talk, but she's just gonna lay there for a little bit and think about things. Okay. You lay there for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And then you lay there for a little bit and this it's starting to get dark out. It's pretty dark out now after you've laid there for a bit and you suddenly hear Dale a voice speaking to you.
00:14:32
Speaker
And it's just calling your name. What? Gwendolyn. And when you look at Dale, you hear the voice again. Gwendolyn. And it's not coming from Dale. It's coming from outside. Gwendolyn.
00:14:56
Speaker
when she she gets out of bed. What time of day is it? It is just after nightfall. She she she kind of trips over like a rug that's probably on the floor, getting over towards the window, but she's cautious about it. When you get to the window, you see a little chipmunk in the window.
00:15:27
Speaker
And the chipmunk asks you for help. What? And she does a double take. And does she see Dale on the bed? Yeah, Dale's still on the bed. This chipmunk is asking you for help. And it's the same feeling you get when you just speak with animals when you try to initiate contact.
00:15:49
Speaker
Like you did with the wolves and that. But this animal has initiated this conversation with you instead. And it asks you to come outside. Hello, Gwendolyn. Would you come outside? Yes. So I walk back through... I'm trying to be sneaky because I don't know if people are asleep. I don't want to wake them up.
00:16:18
Speaker
Devin's awake, but he's kind of searching through trying to put together something to eat. I want to sneakily go past Devin. Okay. Make a stealth check. Okay. Oh no. Five plus two seven. All right. So Devin, you see Gwendolyn kind of walking towards the front door. You kind of hear her walking by behind you. Don't stay out too late. It's getting dark already.
00:16:47
Speaker
Oh, okay. I'll leave something on the counter for you when you come back. Okay. She wants to tell them, but she just thinks that this animal just might want some trail mix or something. And so then I try to go past Craig's as well. Okay. I say you sneak past Craig's with no problem. He's, he's zoning out, zoned out there and uh,
00:17:16
Speaker
He, you get out the front door and you see three little chipmunks in front of you and they ask you to follow them. Why? That's why I say that. We're sorry to impose. It's just we need a little bit of help. And well, Dale said we could trust you.
00:17:46
Speaker
My name is Rupert. Rupert. Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Gwen. Pleasure is all ours. You probably know Gwen. You said my name. How did you know Dale? It's been 12-ish years since. Dale. Do I notice something about this chipmunk? Make an insight.
00:18:15
Speaker
This is one of the most D&D things I've ever said in my life. Make an insight check against the chipmunk. 17 plus four. Okay. 21. This is just a desperate chipmunk. Oh, shit. Do you want me to grab my friends?
00:18:38
Speaker
They might be able to help. I don't know if I can trust your friends. It's no offense. It was the trees sent us. They said you might be able to help us. And well, your friend Dale said we could trust you. Let's go. These these critters. Go ahead. Can I turn into a chipmunk so people don't notice me? Absolutely. OK, I immediately turn to a chipmunk and follow them.
00:19:09
Speaker
Hopefully I don't regret this. So you run off following these little critters and they just run off and scamper off into the woods and you're keeping pace as they go off into the woods. And, uh,
Davin and the Divine Connection
00:19:21
Speaker
Daven, as you are cooking, you're making your little, what are you, what are you making? What are you preparing? There was not a lot in there. What was in the kitchen? What are you making?
00:19:31
Speaker
Literally, all I have left is a little bit of trail mix that I'm just putting over a flame, see what happens. I'm not a good cook. Yeah, some roasted nuts. Okay. Basically, that's all I got. Roasted seeds and nuts. It's not the chicken Alfredo I want, but it'll work. Yeah, it's not the OG, baby. But you're preparing that, and as you do, suddenly, your necklace
00:19:57
Speaker
begins to hover up off your chest, through the little fold in your tunic, and it's floating in front of your face. Did it come off of my neck? No, it's still hanging on your neck, but the length of the necklace is enough that the lock it part on the end of it is now floating in front of your face while it's still tied to your neck, almost like the lock it itself is looking at you. I immediately grab it and hold it down as I look around to make sure nobody's watching.
00:20:26
Speaker
When you grab it, you hear whispers in your head and the whispers say, speak to me, Palais, we must discuss. You have to, you must. You did this. Speak to me. Is this voice in my head or is it the, I actually hear it audibly. Uh, make a insight check.
00:20:48
Speaker
What is happening? You don't know if anyone else could hear it or if it's just in your head. It's so all over the place and all around. And as you place the necklace back to your chest, the voices coalesce into one voice. And it says, we are bound. We are bound together. Who are you? What has happened? And what do you want from me?
00:21:16
Speaker
I don't know. I don't want anything. You're supposed to be dead. You were dead. Dead. I, I wasn't, I wasn't dead. I, I, I was living. I remember ice. If I could see you, surely you're not that face that last face, and then darkness. Was that you?
00:21:44
Speaker
I don't know. Yes, it was. I don't know what happened. I don't know. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know it'd be like this. You didn't know the worst day of my existence and then it ends like that. How could you not know the power you were holding? How could you not know? You were dying. You were as good as gone. I didn't know what was going to happen. I took a chance.
00:22:19
Speaker
I feel as alive as I ever have. I don't have me. I don't have myself. I have my thoughts. I have my memories. I have my desires, feelings. I have everything except my body. What will we do? What is your name? We will do nothing. You will stay silent.
00:22:50
Speaker
What is happening? When you say you will stay silent, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. Oh, okay. Oh no, that's a 10. Okay. Um, when you, when you cat, when you say you will be silent, you get a piercing pain all through your body.
00:23:16
Speaker
and you look at your hands and bolts of electricity just spark all through your hands and now make a constitution saving throw. Oh no. Oh, does it count if it rolled out of my, it was a natural one.
00:23:35
Speaker
If it rolls, what do you mean? Does it count? I have a, I have a tray and it bounced out of the tray. It's out of bounds. Yeah. Sorry. Um, so
00:23:51
Speaker
The electricity continues and it says, I have more power than you could ever desire. I will not be silent. What is your name? And the electricity starts to spark and just feel like it's all over you now. Davin, my name is Davin. The electricity starts to fade and he says, we just have to work together.
00:24:19
Speaker
My name is Elek, Elek. I was once, I was once very good. And I fear that this entrapment, this prison is causing me to lose who I was. We have two choices. We can try to eliminate our bond between each other or we can.
00:24:47
Speaker
strengthen it and see what happens if we work together. Either way, I do not want to cease to exist. I feel I was robbed of a chance to survive. I am not giving up these powers that I've got. The first option is not an option. But if we have to work together, then we will.
00:25:15
Speaker
We must bind further. How? It seems that I am awakened when you use magic. Seems an element of your magic comes from something divine, something greater than us. That is what I spent my life serving, and if... if I can... Since you... when you use your magic, perhaps...
00:25:47
Speaker
I don't understand. Before this, all I had was little things. I could cause it like a little flame. I had no divine magic. I have no religion or God. You had a connection before you knew it. I thought it all came from you. Perhaps some of it, but now possibly more of it. We will see what that means. I suppose.
00:26:19
Speaker
Now I, I see the darkness again. I'll try. Silence. Uh, I'm going to, first I'm going to look and see if Craig's is still asleep. Okay. I was about to say, uh, just let you get electrocuted.
00:26:44
Speaker
You are in a meditative state. OK. And you're in that good sleep, you're sleeping and you're dreaming. And in your dream. You walk up to a fountain. In some city and in this fountain, you see
00:27:14
Speaker
the water and you look down and you are completely hairless. Your face is dilapidated down to like a skull. You look at yourself and you seem to have no muscles, no nothing. Make a constitution saving throw. 18.
00:27:42
Speaker
you immediately vomit into this pond, this fountain. And as you vomit, you're in your dream still, you're vomiting and you black out and some inception stuff, you black out and you see the faces of your brothers and your father and your mother.
00:28:03
Speaker
You see your brothers hunched over a bucket, hurling into a bucket, their hair falling off. You see your father laying in his deathbed, looking skin and bones like he's already practically dead. Then you see him closing his eyes for the final time and this final breath leaving him and you look at your hand and it begins to glow brighter and brighter
00:28:30
Speaker
and brighter and brighter and you feel like your hand is is on fire. What are you going to do? I'm just going to open my hand wide and let it burn bright. I'm a little put off by everything I'm seeing and just kind of lost.
00:28:51
Speaker
Okay, as you open your hand up, you begin to feel yourself being engulfed by this bright radiant energy and you begin to feel yourself being lifted off the ground like you're levitating. And this light in your hand, this eye, the symbol of Helm in your hand, it
00:29:12
Speaker
it glows and then it begins to almost like imprint in your eyes as everywhere you look you see this symbol everywhere everything you look at it's glowing with this symbol and
00:29:25
Speaker
The energy just fills you and you look at your body and your muscles are strong and you feel your beard and you feel yourself growing back to your full strength as you're surrounded by this radiant light and these eyes all around you. And it burns, but not like a flame. It burns like acid or venom. It burns on your inside and makes its way all across your body.
Krigs' Transformative Dream
00:29:50
Speaker
Are you going to resist? Try to fight the burn or are you going to let it burn?
00:29:57
Speaker
haven't you taken enough? And I'm going to going to resist. Okay, as you try to resist, I need you to make a a charisma saving throw. That's a 19. Okay, you start to resist. And as you as you do this,
00:30:23
Speaker
this energy comes over you, this different kind of energy comes over you, and the light around you just starts to, it's almost like something's pushing it away from you, and the light is getting pushed away, and you look at your hand, and it becomes like a, like a, a scar, or like a brand, like somebody branded you with a hot branding iron on your hand of that eye symbol, and now jocks are,
00:30:53
Speaker
Yes. I know we're hopping around, but it's fun. So Joxer, you're going into the woods and as you follow her into the woods,
00:31:08
Speaker
she's almost skipping
Magical Ritual in the Vibrant Forest
00:31:10
Speaker
lightly, like she's barely touching the ground as she walks through the woods. You hear a giggle in the distance as she kind of goes around a tree and peeks behind it to see if you're still following her and giggles as you follow her. And every sound she makes, every move that she makes, she's more and more appealing and not in like a sexual way, not in like a romantic way, but just you
00:31:35
Speaker
You want to know everything about her and you're it's this mystery is just it's sucking you in, right? Yeah. And so I need you as she kind of weaves in and out through everything. I need you to make a perception check to try to keep keep track of where she's headed. Oh, gosh. Oh, OK. That is Dirty 20.
00:31:59
Speaker
Okay, so as she goes through the woods, you notice as you're going, you're keeping track of her really well and you're kind of weaving out through the woods. She's going pretty fast, but you're keeping up and you'll never catch her at this speed, but you're at least keeping up. And you notice as you look around as you're going that there are more and more different types of foliage everywhere. There are bushes with berries.
00:32:22
Speaker
There are trees that have fruit growing from them. There are mushrooms of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There's herbs growing here and there that you can smell as you run by. One smacks you kind of on the side of your face as you run by and it smells like lemon. And another as you go by almost is it smells like an oregano, like a more, like a less floral, more kind of
00:32:42
Speaker
intense aroma of this herb and it's just so, it's so flavorful. Everything's so bright and colorful and she, as you're following her, you notice all of this and eventually she goes into this small clearing, about 15 foot diameter circular clearing and she
00:33:02
Speaker
She gets to the end of this clearing and she turns to face you and she turns in a way like a ballerina doing a spin. It's just beautiful. And she turns and she sits on a log and puts her hands down and motions to all of the flowers and mushrooms and plants and everything that's everywhere. And then she puts both arms towards you and beckons you to come towards her.
00:33:30
Speaker
Jockster will just kind of like stumble towards her, just slowly like in kind of an awe and as he's like walking up to her, please, I need your guidance.
00:33:49
Speaker
As you say that, she nods at you, and you sense the smile, though you don't see features on her face. You know she's smiling, and she reaches behind you, around you, like she's going to embrace you, and then she quickly pulls her hands back next to her sides, and she has a mug in each hand. She hands it to you, hands them to you. Do you take them? She offering both of them? She's offering you both of them. They are both empty.
00:34:19
Speaker
I will take both of them. Yes. And when you take them, she points behind you. And when you look behind you, there's a stump. And it's about a four foot diameter stump with a small brewing kit on it. And she motions to everything around you and then motions to the brewing kit. And she puts both hands to her chest as if to say for me.
00:34:42
Speaker
I understand. And I'm going to try to, I guess I think I do. At this point, he'd be looking at all of the ingredients and try to put something together. Is that what I... Yeah. Make a nature check. Oh, God. I wasted mine earlier, didn't I? Oh, and I'm going to use a luck point because a two is not going to cut it.
00:35:13
Speaker
That is way better. Nature is plus two. So that is a 21, 19 plus two. Okay. Yeah. So you're looking and you actually, you first grab a mushroom and you're like, Oh, this is great. It smells almost like oranges. It's really nice. And then you think, Oh, but you know what? I smelled this on my way over and you go over and you grab something else.
00:35:31
Speaker
And so you end up like actually gathering two or three or three or four different little items and you go and you start this process of brewing this. And now when you do your brewing process normally in your thing, what do you roll to see if it's any good? So normally I do a D100. Okay. And that is to see what it is. Yeah. So so based on let me let me pull it up. So the I'll do one in.
00:36:01
Speaker
Roll 20 here. So yeah, so the D100 is basically what it is. And then I roll a D4 minus 2 to see how much I end up with. That's an actual like that I would get as an item. OK.
00:36:16
Speaker
So what'd you roll a 92? I did. And that's actually terrible. It's a minus one stat for the day. Yeah. Okay. So you brew this and, um, you, you bring it to her and we won't worry about the how much and you give it to her and she, you give her one and she takes yours. She kind of puts her hand over the top of yours and shakes her head.
00:36:45
Speaker
And then she looks at it and as she looks at it, it turns a bright shade of yellow and starts to bubble a little bit. And you get this delicious smell of lemon and herbs and even a little pepper. And it just smells amazing. And she then puts hers down and grabs the cup, your hands underneath your cup and tries to help you and give you a little taste.
00:37:15
Speaker
Uh, do you allow her to do that? I, I do allow her to do that. I, I, and, and in before or while, while she's doing that, I, I, I feel I'm obviously reaching my limits and then I'll take a sip. Okay. You take a sip and when you take your sip, um, she stands in front of you and she takes the cup and it just goes away when it's fully in her possession, it just goes away.
00:37:44
Speaker
She takes both of your hands into hers and closes her hands on them. And she, she
00:37:56
Speaker
like shakes your hands pushes them down hard and when she does you feel this tingle in your hands go up your arms and into your mind and you see a forest in your mind and in this forest you see fruit growing everywhere you see a floor of purple grass
00:38:16
Speaker
You see sun shining down with red sunbeams. You see bark that has vines growing up in the vines themselves are red and yellow. And it's just this most interesting, unique forest scene you've ever seen. And she's in this scene with you and she reaches and grabs a fruit and she holds it in front of your face. And this fruit is shaped like an oval.
00:38:45
Speaker
And it is bright yellow with a little bit of green on one end and a small stem that comes out about an inch from it. And it looks pretty boring compared to everything else in the place. And she shows it to you and she takes a bite out of it. And when she does, she disappears.
00:39:11
Speaker
but you feel good, you feel happy, you feel so proud to have met her. And when you look at your hands where she was holding them, you now have vines all the way across your hands, weaving in and out of your fingers, going up your arm, you take off your bracers, you see they go all the way up to your elbow, and it's these golden yellow vines, just barely enough of a golden tint to show up on your skin.
00:39:41
Speaker
And something you hear something thud behind you. I turn around. It punches you in the face. What? Never turn around. My mouth has been dropped this whole entire time. It rolled. It rolled a 20 to hit you.
00:40:01
Speaker
It definitely hits. Yep. It does three damage. It is a sprite creature and it is it is this vines that have grown into a creature and it punched you and it's rearing back to punch you again. Are you going to punch it back? Yeah, yeah, I'm going to punch it back. Make an attack roll. That is a six, a six to hit. Yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker
So a seven total to hit. So you go to punch it and it grabs one of your hands and it grabs your hand. And when it does those vines on your hand glow, and then it you swing your other fist, or it swings its other fist and it hits you across the face. And it rolled a one. So you're able to dodge that. Are you going to try to hit it back? Yes, it's gonna keep hitting me. Yeah.
00:40:54
Speaker
Okay, that's better. So that's going to be 25. Okay, so that you punch that you punch him again. And when you do the vines on your hand glow in a burst of magical energy kind of comes over your hands and the creature dissolves into sticks. And when that happens, you will you your vision clears all of a sudden and you're no longer standing in this weird forest. But you're standing at the side of the road where you looked across to enter
00:41:24
Speaker
the forest and she's not there. You're not in the forest. You're standing just at the edge of the farm. I had so much to say, but I guess another time.
Forest Blessing and Fulfillment
00:41:41
Speaker
And, uh, at that point, then go ahead. All right. I would probably just start walking the road slowly towards the, um,
00:41:51
Speaker
the, the bogus shack. Okay. Gwendolyn, the chipmunks lead you into the woods. And as you get into the woods, they kind of stop and pull up at a, a hole in the ground. And one of them tells you to follow and starts to head down inside and the other two say they're going to hang back and keep a lookout.
00:42:20
Speaker
It's just a little burrow that these chipmunks seem to have dug. Dug, dug? Quick, it's just in here!
00:42:28
Speaker
a squeak squeak and then goes down into the hole. Okay. You go down into this hole and as you do, it's just this small little little corridor. I mean, small for you, it's the size of your body and at this point. And as you go down into this corridor, you come into these openings, these little chambers where you see some chipmunks over here working with storing some of their
00:42:52
Speaker
food that they've been gathering, and you find another place where all the little chipmunk puppies are, the little babies, and there's a couple of chipmunks there, nursing and feeding them, and you make it all the way to another little chamber that has been collapsed and destroyed, and you see a couple of little paws just kind of kicking and flailing, trying to get themselves out of this little hole, but they are stuck in this little hole.
00:43:22
Speaker
I mean, it is a larger. It's a larger creature. It's it's not a chipmunk. This creature is about four times bigger than you or these chipmunks are. Oh. What is going on here? I squeak. It just showed up. We don't know. I don't know what to do. They told they tell you that this creature had fallen through
00:43:49
Speaker
had fallen through the ground above it as it was burrowing and has gotten stuck and trapped and they can't get back to the back of where the rest of their pups are and more of their food. They can't get there because of the stone around them and stuff. They can't tunnel to it and they need something to clear their path.
00:44:12
Speaker
I assume there's like twigs and roots where I'm at in the ground. Yes. Yes. Um, she takes, she walks over towards where the, the, the cave in is basically and puts her little paws down on the ground and just start squeaking. But what she's actually saying, can I ask for your assistance? And I'm using speak to plants.
00:44:40
Speaker
Okay, very cool. The plants start to move and some of the vines come up and roots come up out of the ground underneath you. I hate to do this, but can you help them out? This creature seems to have collapsed into their home. Is there a way we can push them out?
00:45:06
Speaker
these roots curl and twist and start to come up and suddenly you see as they come up that some of them are bigger and bigger and the chipmunks are backing away trying to get out of the way as these roots are pushing up on this creature. And as they push it, some of the dirt falls away and falls down in and you can see this is a badger that has fallen in here and it's pushing this badger up
00:45:33
Speaker
And the Badger's kind of panicking and you can kind of hear the Badger saying, oh, oh, what's, what's happening? What's going on? As it lifts him up. I squeaked him. It's okay. I'm just trying to help.
00:45:46
Speaker
Thank you. Bye, buddy. Bye, father. Bye, buddy. So as it lifts them up, as the roots lifted up, it scurries off. It just kind of runs off into the woods. And now there's this open area open to the sunlight above. But the tree roots grow over and form like a roof or ceiling on the top of it. And the chipmunks are all celebrating.
00:46:15
Speaker
they're all cheering because they're so excited what that and they scurry off really fast through the tunnels to the other side and you can see now that there was just this like cliff wall there that this Badger must have fallen down into or something because there wasn't any way for them to dig around or anything there's this pathway was blocked and so they scurry back in there to go take care of everything and as they scurry one of them turns back around and comes back and says says
00:46:42
Speaker
Gwendolyn, or it says, it just tells you thank you, and says, we want to bless you. We will ask the forest to bless you, and then turns around and runs back in. Bless me? Have I ever heard of this type of thing? Like, in my, and again, I'm still a young druid, so I don't know a lot. Have I ever heard of these types of blessings?
00:47:11
Speaker
Like, are they told as? Make a arcana or history check. Okay. Like, is it a myth? Uh, we're going to do arcana. 13 plus 5, 18. Um, you, you know that nature is all connected and
00:47:36
Speaker
the magic that comes from nature and from the fae and some of that things, some of what gives you your power and ability, it's almost like it can be petitioned for good. It can be petitioned when a hero of the forest or a hero of nature comes about. Nature helps, nature contributes, and that's what you think they're probably talking about. They're gonna vouch for you.
00:48:07
Speaker
She smiles. She does a little chipmunk smile. Okay. You just gonna get back out of the hole or? I wanna look around. Okay. And see like, have they been living as normal chipmunks down here? Like, or do they feel like, okay, all right. As far as you know, yeah, this is as normal of a chipmunk, you know, as normal as of a chipmunk hole as you'd ever been in. Like, it seems very, you know, very what you would expect.
00:48:37
Speaker
No brewing stations down there or anything? No, nothing weird. There's no wizards quarters. No big flat screen TV. The next campaign is going to be these little guys as magicians and fighters and a little critter campaign. I'll see that they're all well and good before I leave. I'll check on each of the chipmunks that were on the other side.
00:48:59
Speaker
if they need help healing or whatnot and I'm gonna start to crawl out. You do find that there are some injured and you're able to help them and then as you crawl out, they're all just very happy that you helped and very grateful and you realize after all the helping and everything you've done, you've been in this shape for way longer than you normally are able to stay in your wild shape.
00:49:27
Speaker
And so that's kind of interesting. Uh, Krigs, back to you. Your hand is a scar now of the Eye of Helm. There is no more glowing in your dream. And you awaken with a start suddenly. You wake up. And what do you do? I...
00:49:57
Speaker
take the binding off my hand just to see, because I've still had it bound ever since talking with, with Mick. Okay. You still have the symbol on your hand, but the glow is now a reddish color. And the eye, where the outline of the symbol used to glow, the center of the eye is the source of the glow now, instead of the outline of the image of the eye.
00:50:28
Speaker
and it's very new and unique and it's very disturbing. I don't like that. Davin, you feel yourself after the silence and you don't hear this creature anymore speaking to
Leveling Up and New Powers
00:50:50
Speaker
you. You feel an unease. You feel like some of the things you were sure about, your abilities,
00:50:57
Speaker
how to use them. Some of that stuff feels uneasy, but you feel confident that you're not alone in a good way. And Joxer walks in the door. And as Joxer walks in, you see his hands are glowing with a viny-like tattoo, golden, kind of viny tattoo glow on his hands.
00:51:29
Speaker
And then Gwendolyn, when you come out of the woods and you come out of your wild shape, you're fully clothed. You didn't lose anything. And you were in that critter's form for two full hours instead of one. And you're all level eight. Whoa. Yeah.
00:51:48
Speaker
I almost just wanted to walk into the house on two legs as a tripmunk. Hi, I'm Dale, everybody. Stop. New phone. New Dale, who dis? So here's some stuff. There's some mechanic stuff going on with what's happened here with some of the choices you guys made, okay? Okay. I'm throwing some of my own kind of stuff in here, okay? Here's what's happening. Gwendolyn, you were blessed by the critters of the forest.
00:52:19
Speaker
When you wild shape into a creature that is small, so like a rat mouse, some kind of critter like that, you can hold that shape for an extra hour instead of one, you can do two, always. And you no longer lose your clothes when you wild shape. Yes. Joxer, your fists are magical weapons. Oh, yes. Plus one magic weapons.
00:52:48
Speaker
So mechanically, your monk and warlock are combining, right? Yeah. So are you going to be a level, are you a level of five, three? Yeah, five, three. Yeah, five, monk, three, warlock. That's what I thought. Yep, yep. Great. Daven, since you chose to bind,
00:53:16
Speaker
Every attack spell you cast does an extra D6 lightning damage from now on. Every attack spell that has an attack roll. And then Krigs, you are looking at everyone that is now standing in the room of the cabin and you flex your hand with the eye in the middle. And for the first time in as long as you can remember,
00:53:46
Speaker
You feel powerless.
00:54:15
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of The Hired Swords. If you liked our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really liked our show, tell the world and leave a review. If you want to keep up with us and 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. And next time, we'll not be so powerless, maybe. I don't know, maybe, maybe we'll just be powerless forever. Who knows, maybe, who knows, maybe.