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Ep. 62 Remembering A City Forgotten
99 Plays2 years ago
Following her instincts and voices from Dale, Gwen dives deeper into this mysterious cavern. A cave full of illusory magics and expired adventurers.. Hope the Swords brought their spelunking gear..
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Transcript
Escaping Battlefield Horrors
00:00:04
Speaker
previously on the higher swords. Distractions can help bolster morale for troops out of battle. A night of drinking or just a celebration of sorts, something just to try and free your mind from the horrors of the battlefield. I had hopes that getting away from Wild Hill and coming to the north would give us a break from the darkness we'd seen growing in the south. But I believe I may have been wrong.
00:00:31
Speaker
See this abandoned camp and the reports of the black fog creeping just beyond the tree line. Feels like it's watching. Or just waiting. Try as I may to keep our spirits up, to keep our strength high. I can feel it starting to eat away at my own.
Introduction to 'Hired Swords'
00:01:14
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords. If you came here looking for the Hired Pens, stick around. This crew is just as good, but maybe a little less mighty.
00:01:35
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Hired Swords. I am your dungeon master. My name? Some call me Michael. Others also call me Michael. But as my friend, you can call me Michael.
Dark Dreams and Discoveries
00:01:56
Speaker
And with me, I have Blaze. Sup. It's Blaze going first again. What'd it do? He's your dwarf boy, Kriegs.
00:02:05
Speaker
Mushroom daddy. That's right. Our monk friend over here, monk lock, jockser. Mage armor. Mage armor, anybody? He did cast mage armor at the end of the last episode. That is true. It's canon. It's also Mikey playing jockser. Derek is Davin, our sorcerer. I mean, I was going to cast mage armor, but now I feel like I'm just going to be a copycat if I do it.
00:02:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's eight hours. Yeah, I mean, Jockster just copycat everybody like, oh, spell. I literally during our break, I literally just walked into my kid's bedroom to tell him goodnight and they were listening to our podcast. And in that episode, Jockster said, I'm going to cast Mage Armor because I'm scared of everything right now. Yeah. Right after you said that at the end of the last episode, I walked in there and you said it in the recording anyway. So good. I'm going to make sure to chisel that on your gravestone.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to leave out Gwendolyn because because she's here Roxie miss Roxie rad Ash herself. I'm here the one with the multiple names that I have a celebrity crisis gal. Identity crisis gal. That's your new name. Yeah, that's the other one.
00:03:12
Speaker
And together, our power combined, uh, we're the hired swords. And I'm Michael. I already said that. So in the last episode, before Joxer cast mage armor, there was a lot of activity at the camp. Gwendolyn had a nightmare or a dream actually before that, even.
00:03:35
Speaker
Joxer and Krigs tried to figure out what was going on with this dark mist gathering up this carcass of the spider. They saw that it had killed the grass where it had touched it. Then Gwendolyn started awake from a dream in which she saw an elven city and statues and fountains, and she saw elven people that she didn't come in contact with. It was like she walked through them, and then she walked into a large courtroom courtyard
00:04:01
Speaker
temple kind of building in which she heard someone yell, I thought we had a deal. And that was the end of her dream. She's kept that to herself, found some berries came back.
The Cave of Conflict
00:04:10
Speaker
They argued we learned what friendship was that friendship is all about forgiveness. And then from there, we decided let's go ahead and go what we came up here to do and go ahead and walk up towards this cavern. So they walked up to the cave.
00:04:22
Speaker
When they entered the cave kind of quickly because of just the hub of that it happened before they entered this cave they see it covered in moss and fungus and some of the fungus is kind of illuminated and glowing and they noticed dead bodies laying all around these dead bodies have armor and weapons you can see that they
00:04:40
Speaker
It's pretty obvious, pretty clear that they all died in a fight against each other, all of them fighting amongst themselves, these five bodies. And there was a hired sword coin laying nearby. And that is where we left off. What is it that you would all like to do now that mage armor has been cast? Well, I think we've seen enough here. Maybe we should just move on.
00:05:03
Speaker
Oh, what is it? Cause last time Gwen rolled a five and she's rubbing her eyes trying to adjust what. And I say she walks a little further and walks into one of the bodies. Oh, my toe. I rent to a rock and she reaches down to touch her toe and she probably touches what's left of a corpse. Once again, Gwendolyn's kneeling down, touching dead bodies. Yep. She doesn't know it.
00:05:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely the arm of some person. And it's holding it's holding a dagger. Let me let me help here. And Joxer, after, you know, the mage armor, he's going to like bring up and like put his hood over his mouth just because he can see at least the mushrooms and then cast dancing lights. And so the four orbs are going to kind of go to the corners so everybody can see a little bit better.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, don't touch that. To touch what and. Oh, and she looks down and she sees the the body. That dagger. Does it look similar to the dagger that I have? Make an investigation, Jack. OK, I am now secretly don't whisper me so aggressively.
00:06:25
Speaker
I feel like enough time has passed. I can catch mage armor as an individual again. Okay. Devin looks around and make sure nobody's watching and just real quick snaps his fingers and he's covered in this magical mage armor. Are you just doing that because drugs are dead? No sleight of hand checker or anything.
00:06:48
Speaker
They didn't give me time. They didn't give me a chance. I was about to ask what everybody's passive perception was, but it doesn't matter. It didn't matter. The RP was too good there. I just, I take my hammer and take it on my shield. I prefer the real deal. Don't think I'm so heavy. I mean, it's good for the muscles. Callisthenics, you know? They're old and eight. Okay. Uh,
00:07:15
Speaker
You were, remind me what you were looking for. Exactly. I'm sorry. I was seeing if the dagger in that hand matched the dagger that I had. It's hard to know the hands covering the handle. It does have, there are three, three fingers through, uh, two fingers through the three finger holes, but the, it's the two, like the pinky and the, and the ring finger, because the holes are too small for the rest of that person's hand. It's like, that's not their dagger.
00:07:41
Speaker
as I'm down there. I'm sorry. And she just picks up the dagger. The hand is probably still attached. Yeah. As you pick up the dagger, the hand kind of comes up and then you, you can shake it loose. The hand drops to the floor. And when it does dust kind of comes up and makes this like cloud of dust off the floor. And yeah, but you have the dagger in your hand now. And now, now that you're holding it and looking at it, it's pretty clear. It's, it's identical to the one that you had found at the entrance of the cave.
Illusions and Investigations
00:08:10
Speaker
What's the name that's on this one? It's the same three initials TVB. Oh. So it probably goes to that other sheet that we have, right? Yes, this one has an engraving on it that matches the bell.
00:08:31
Speaker
I wonder if that body we found out in the wild was a part of this party and what are these mushrooms or fungus? And she starts to look around as she holds the blade. I got this, walks up to the mushrooms. Don't, don't, just don't, don't breathe too much, Krigs. I'm a little worried.
00:08:57
Speaker
But breathe and she covers her face with her shirt. Craig's walk up to the mushrooms. Yeah. I'm going to be overconfident in my mushroom daddy nature life. And yeah, make a nature check as you look at him. Use that herbalism kit. Can I check the bodies while he's doing that and see if I can judge how long they've been here. Yeah. Make medicine check. Sure. You can make up to five of them. There's five people. I got advantage, right? For why?
00:09:26
Speaker
Because you're the mushroom daddy? Yeah. OK, yeah, mushroom daddy. You can have advantage. Sick. That's not any better. So I rolled a five. OK. Nothing seems to be unique about these, except the ones that are glowing. You've never seen any that are luminescent like this. Never really seen that before. Well.
00:09:56
Speaker
This was uneventful. And I just go and like start like cutting some of them off, whatever. Okay. I made five medicine checks and of them, I had a 16, 13, 11 and two of which you will not speak. Okay. So you are looking at all the bodies and, um, you're trying to see they've definitely been dead for
00:10:23
Speaker
probably weeks based on that 16 you're not sure but you're like this is there's decay here now what's interesting is here in this cave in the middle of the forest on this in this hill that stands all by itself in the middle of the forest with no trees nearby there is no like predator or scavenger markings on these bodies they lay as they did when they were killed
00:10:52
Speaker
So it's for some reason. You do you do kind of notice that nothing for some reason, nothing comes in here, has come in here to take these, you know, pick these bodies clean, so to speak, like they were like the ones on the road had been. Devin takes a step back and he looks at the way that they're laid down. I want to try and see if I can judge if it was like two against three or if it was like a group who turned on each other, like see if I can figure out what exactly happened with the battle here. Yeah. As you kind of pace it out,
00:11:22
Speaker
and walk around, go ahead and make an insight check on kind of, are you trying to figure that out? That's pretty good for me. Well, it would have been that that role was better, 14. It's very difficult to know based on how they're laying, it almost, man, it just almost seems like maybe they were all, every man for himself, just like Battle Royale in here, fighting it out.
00:11:52
Speaker
There's really no sense of order on any footprints or anything like that on how, you know, it's, you know, how that all went down. It's hard to know. A couple of them have arrows sticking out of them. A couple of them are stabbed in the back or the front and not just sliced open. And it's just really strange. Well, I know for sure that this one killed this one and he killed him also because they both stabbed each other at the same time. But rather than that, it just seems like everyone killed each other. Why?
00:12:22
Speaker
Gwendolyn looks around. Why in this cave? It doesn't seem normal, Gwen. I'm worried about, I don't know, some kind of effect. From what? That is the question. Gwendolyn is going to go closer to these fungi. I also have an herbalism kit.
00:12:49
Speaker
And I'm going to not touch them, but with my eyeballs. See if I know about them. Great. Make a, uh, nature check on them. He says with a very straight face. Uh, 15 plus six 21. These aren't mushrooms. They're not real. They're not there.
00:13:18
Speaker
Come again. I feel real smart now. You see them.
Stories and Hidden Paths
00:13:22
Speaker
You're not going to touch them because they make you nervous. Yeah. But. You look at them and you're kind of going through the, the, the file system in your brain of all these kinds of plants and herbs and things that you've seen and know about and read about. And you're like, these look different. These look interesting. And then the glowing ones, especially you're like, wait a second. These aren't, these don't exist. These aren't here.
00:13:48
Speaker
And it becomes pretty clear to you that they're an illusion of some kind. What does that say for me? Cause I was literally walking up and like going to cut one of these things off. It says you rolled a five. You're a dumb boy. So I can't cut it off. It doesn't exist. That's right. Gwendolyn lowers her shirt and.
00:14:14
Speaker
Dale, and now she thinks she's dreaming because I'm going to say loss of sleep. She's going to turn around and just grab Joxer's face and smoosh his lips. Okay. Are you real?
00:14:33
Speaker
And she, she lets go and she taps the side of his face. I'm as real as I have been. Touch, touch my face. I'll touch her face. And she grabs his hand to make him go faster and has his sleigh and slap her face. I'm sorry. I, are you okay? She just keeps, she just keeps smacking.
00:15:01
Speaker
I'd start pulling my hand back stop stop stop hitting your meat Dale is this a trick and then she tries to walk through krigs Like she did the people in the town if you're standing there You're standing there trying to figure out cutting one of these mushrooms out and which one you want to go for your girl guns I'm straight up like my yeah little dagger is like
00:15:28
Speaker
phasing through this mushroom and I keep trying. So I'm not paying attention. You straight up. She walked right into you. Yeah, you knocked me over. Dale, is this. Go, go, go. Would he have fallen against it or? Yeah. Devin is ignoring all of this and going through the bodies.
00:15:50
Speaker
Perfect. Make investigation. You already made investigation check. No, you made medicine checks. Make investigation. Wow. Words. Make investigation checks while you go through the bodies. Let's make some investments here. Check them stocks and bonds. I made one investigation check and it was an eight. As you go through the bodies and you kind of look around, you find a couple of gold pouches with some gold in it and you find a couple of things like that.
00:16:20
Speaker
One of the bodies is laying there and has a staff, a small staff in its hand. And at the top of the staff is a gemstone red gemstone. That is a short little body. It's a short little body. Yes. It's a little gnome, a little gnome man who has been killed. And he actually has an arrow that has gone from the back of his neck through the front of his neck. And the point is sticking out of the front of his neck.
00:16:49
Speaker
and he's laying there dead and the stone is just fallen on the ground near his staff because it was held there by the magic that held it there. It's no longer active, so he's just laying there. Guys, guys, everyone, come here. Sorry, Krigs. I didn't, I just, never mind. Did Avon? She helped me up at least. Oh, yes, and she goes to help them up.
00:17:20
Speaker
What is it? What is it, Devin? And I'll bring one of the orbs down to kind of get a little closer look. I think his name was Tal'Dith, if I remember. Remember him from Wild Hill? Was he tasked to come out here first? Is that what happened? I think so. What did you say his name was? And she looks at the dagger again. Tal'Dith, beard breaker, if I remember.
00:17:49
Speaker
Is this his knife? Is this part of his group? This is the leader of one of the hired swords groups. Do I have the right name? No, you do not. Damn. Did I get mixed up? Yeah, you did. It's okay. He has a name. It's here. Shoot. Where did I put his name? Have you checked your butt?
00:18:20
Speaker
Have you checked your butthole? Oh, save Sabre. Was that his name? Male known sorcerer. Yep. Sabre. His name is Sabre. He was a leader of one of the hunting parties and you saw him day one. He was up there. Guys. Do you remember him? I think his name was Sabre. He was one of the leaders of the over in Wild Hill.
00:18:44
Speaker
I think I remember him because she sees the staff in the red gym that Devin picked up. I will pick it up. Yeah. Oh, okay. It's okay. When you reach down to pick it up and you grab it, nothing happens. Oh, my God, Mike. He's spontaneously combust. Hey, all my DM friends out there, how fun is that? Come on, tweet at me. That's a good time. Okay. A darkness comes over.
00:19:15
Speaker
Is this... I'm not even sure. I wasn't there that first night. I don't remember if it was right away or not, but I'm pretty sure that he was sent out this way. You know, this must have been his group. Did they turn on each other? It looks like it. At least some of them, if not all of them. Do they have anything identifying on them? I mean, they all had to have something.
00:19:44
Speaker
Well, there's one coin here, so we know that there were at least, well, hired swords, or at least somebody was. And I found a dagger and it has TVV on it, just like the bell. So, and she just kind of looks at it. I don't know who that is.
00:20:06
Speaker
I don't either, but it seems like we stayed at their camp. I just... I wish I knew who it was. This whole cave has a bit of a foul odor, and I don't necessarily mean the fungus and whatnot. These aren't here, obviously. I've tried cutting one off. It's clearly an illusion, some kind of illusory magic. They clearly were in battle against each other and have died.
00:20:37
Speaker
Are there any signs or anything in this, this cave that would kind of like give any inclination as to what went down previous to death? Anyone who would like to search around further can make another investigation check. 15. It's not looking good. You, as you look down at the
00:21:06
Speaker
bodies and you're trying to make sense of what happened. You notice that there are some stone tiles that seem to be more hewn and like handcrafted leading towards a section of the cavern wall behind kind of back in the darkness, kind of the furthest area.
00:21:30
Speaker
That is, that looks to have some of this glowing fungus on it, but this, this stone path, this like stone pathway seems to be leading that direction. I try to follow as far as I can with that path. You said illusory. So these aren't real mushrooms as you're walking up.
00:21:55
Speaker
No, he's very much not here and shows him trying to like cut one down as his knife goes through it yet again. I mean, I know of illusion magic. I've never heard of anything that's permanent in any sort of way. I mean, this body's been here for weeks.
Thoughts Shared in the Tunnel
00:22:15
Speaker
As far as we know, anyway. Gwendolyn whispers to Dale, so he didn't do this.
00:22:26
Speaker
I. Why is my mind playing tricks on me? And she probably doesn't get a response from Dale, does she? She does not and.
00:22:39
Speaker
Krigs, as you walk along the path, jocks are following you, you approach and you see a section of this cavern wall that looks to be caved in. And it looks like there's like pile of rubble covered in this moss and glowing fungus. And there's kind of a higher concentration of this moss and fungus here than anywhere else, but it looks to have been collapsed in and
00:23:06
Speaker
You hear a slight, actually make a perception check as you approach it. Okay. Is that going to be me too? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. For sure. For sure. 13 for your boy. That'll be a dirty 20. Okay. So Krigs, you hear the slight sound of a running
00:23:36
Speaker
river beyond this wall of piled stone. Okay. Joxer, you hear that. Also, as you look up and you have, I assume you still have your lights kind of helping you look around. Yeah. There is no sign of collapse above this pile of rubble. The ceiling of this cavern above here is completely intact.
00:24:04
Speaker
You're right. Something's not right. Do you see that up there? I'll walk over and kind of put my hand up against it next to the line there. As you put your hand up, it goes through the rubble and you touch a wall, a flat wall behind the rubble and you can feel like etching in the wall like it's been carved into.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yeah, there's something back here. Something not here. I'll keep feeling around. Help me, Krigs. See if we can find something behind you.
00:24:46
Speaker
I just go ham at this point. I'm like, okay, I hate illusions. Uh, and I'm trying to like feel around and like, I got no sight. It's not working for me. So I'm, I'm using my other senses to try to find whatever is potentially happening here.
00:25:03
Speaker
Sure, you're feeling around. And as you feel around, you're noticing there are there's definite like carvings in this wall. Both of you are noticing carvings and they kind of so you're feeling you're tracing a line trying to figure out what it is and your hands kind of touch each other like oh, sorry, as you like, there's a large there's like a large series of engravings on this wall almost like a large mural of engravings. Devin's gonna pocket the gym and then pick up the hard swords pocket that as well. And then he's gonna go over and try and help you guys.
00:25:33
Speaker
Okay, you walk up and you see them sticking their hands about middle of the forearm deep into this pile of rubble that looks like it's there. And at first as you're approaching, you think they're like digging through the rubble, but then you realize as you get closer, they're literally, they're literally putting it through like it's some sort of projection, which you've seen illusions before. It's no, it's no like mystery to you what's going on there. What's on the other side?
00:26:00
Speaker
Some etchings, some engravings, uh, definitely a wall flat in nature. It's not, doesn't feel like a cave more built than anything. The etchings, do they seem like patterns lettering, anything that would be recognizable if you were to like start tracing it with your fingers? Make a very difficult investigation check. Oh boy. Can I do that?
00:26:28
Speaker
Yeah, man, you're feeling around, too. I didn't get it to do something when they're done. I got a nasty four. You're muted. Oh, I hate that you're muted right now. Oh, dang it. You're so excited. Yeah, it's like at a 19 plus one again. Oh, nice. Yeah. So you're making this you're making out humanoid figures. It's like somebody's drawn like humanoid figures and you think
00:26:55
Speaker
you think you're making out like a few like images of them like together like this humanoid figures just kind of like near each other like something there's some sort of scene of these of people doing something on here that's all you're really able to make out from feeling around. Does anybody have paper or something?
00:27:18
Speaker
I have paper and she runs over to where Joxer is and pulls out a blank sheet from the back of the journal and hands it to him. Okay. Were you going to do anything else? I was going to put, I think I, after she hands off the paper, she's just going to look back and she sees the fungus and she's going to put her hand past it. And in Elvin, she's going to say away and cast Dispel Magic. What level?
00:27:46
Speaker
Um, oh boy. Let's do five. Okay. Jeez. So she reaches for an in Elvin. She says away. And when she does all of the mushrooms, everything there turns to raindrops. It falls to the ground like water and just flows down the hill and you see it all flow into a small
00:28:14
Speaker
hole at the bottom of this wall. Krigs and jocks are you touching the wall feeling it and all of a sudden the little crazy image that was in front of you of these stones and moss is gone and your face is kind of splattered a little bit with water as it all falls down and through your hands it kind of gets your arms wet and your feet as it
00:28:34
Speaker
absorbs and you look down to see the water flow through this this hole in the bottom of this wall right along the floor that is five foot in about five foot in diameter and seems to kind of be this little tunnel that goes back. I love that I would have just put a piece of paper and started trying to like do a rubbing on the back of it and then water just covers paper and and that parchment disintegrates totally. Yeah.
00:29:04
Speaker
It's like toilet paper at this point. Sorry, I didn't know that that would work. Um, I'm, this would have taken a while, so I'm glad it did. I can't really return this piece of paper though. It was a good idea though, jocks, I like that. Thank you. What? Come again, and Craig says his head sideways trying to get water out of his ears. Oh, I swear.
00:29:35
Speaker
It'll be all right. Oh. So I guess there's this hole here. But what are the actual etchings? Let's look at those first. Yeah, you guys look at the etchings. You can kind of back up and look and take it all in. And you have to take some steps back or either too close to see kind of everything. And you realize as you look that it's not just etchings. There's etchings and then there's wall paintings over here in this area.
00:30:03
Speaker
And then there's really not a lot of organization to it. But you see scenes depicted. And in the etchings, you see some scenes depicted of, it looks like a family of elves standing there. And it's very roughly crafted. And it looks very old, possibly ancient.
00:30:22
Speaker
And you see in the paintings, you see a group of elves sitting around what looks like a campfire. You see on the far right, you see a small just a small etching of like a cityscape. And there is there are lines like beams of light coming out of the top of it. And you see there's just all these different scenes and they all are little each one's a little different. And it it kind of gives you the vibe like like
00:30:49
Speaker
people were here at different times and they all just kind of added their own thing to this mosaic of art, like graffiti almost in this cavern. Gwen is immediately... I don't think she picks up what is in front of her. I think she sees it and she goes, this looks...
00:31:17
Speaker
I wonder when these etchings were done and the further she goes down the line from the etchings to these other paintings to make sure both just kind of dawns on her. Was I Dale? And she pulls Dale out and
00:31:47
Speaker
I don't think she she makes too much commotion, but she's like. Dale, is this. Is this Alomora? And she says it kind of quietly to him. I imagine that just Joxer just sees enough elves and he's just staring at Gwen regardless. Yeah, got it. Gwen, does this mean something to you?
00:32:15
Speaker
Uh, she doesn't respond. She just stares at it and says nothing. Well, Greg's, you're the rock experts around here. Huh? You gotta put your head between your legs and kind of bounce it up and down like your head banging. It'll get the water out faster.
00:32:42
Speaker
No, no, you just need, you need to grab your nose and then like, you know, just do that. All that does is make your eyes hurt. You don't want to do that. He doesn't know anything. Just do it. It'll, it'll help with the pressure. What? I cast message at him and I say in his mind, what's beyond the whole wall?
00:33:15
Speaker
shaking his head still trying to get the water out. I guess he tries to figure out what's behind, what's beyond the wall. All right. So you want to make a checkout stones? Check. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do the dwarven, dwarven rock God thing. Do it. Come stones, stone daddy. Yeah. Uh, I can't say what I want to say. Uh, if I have advantage on that, it's a 19 plus.
00:33:43
Speaker
I guess it would be history or what would you want me to. Yeah, history is good. I like history. Nineteen. All right. Yeah. Yeah. With the with the advantage. So being a stone dead. This is something that you have experienced. OK. The etchings in this on this wall. This is what soldiers do. A lot is when they have to spend a significant amount of time somewhere, they leave their mark before they leave.
00:34:13
Speaker
So you're you're noticing. Oh, look, that's a picture of a family. This is important to whoever edged this before they left. Oh, look, this is a picture of this elf sitting around a fire with his his, you know,
00:34:28
Speaker
his troop mates or whatever you want to call them, his crew. And they're, you know, this is, they were all important to each other. This is, you know, this is a picture of somebody who looks like with their parents or whatever. And then there's the, the city even you're like, that's something that somebody had real true belief in. And they, it looks like they etched that before they left or while they were in here waiting. And so it's definitely giving you that forward operating base vibes. The, this is that soldiers spent a significant amount of time here before heading out.
00:34:58
Speaker
to do whatever it was they needed to do from here. And so. Uh, saying it a little bit too uncomfortably loud, it's like a journal. It's like, hold on. And he shakes his head extra hard and finally gets that little last bit of water out. It's like, okay. This is like a journaling method used by soldiers, military men, anyone that
00:35:24
Speaker
These are important drawings to whoever actually were the one to make the inscriptions into the walls. Their meanings vary. It could be, again, just a basic form of journaling, or it could be information for those who come similar to how thieves will leave markings and thieves can't. They think we don't realize that it's what they're doing, but...
00:35:51
Speaker
This is basically a form of documentation or, well, nostalgia. But it doesn't say anything about what's beyond the wall through the hole. I guess that's up to the, up to the actual bearer themselves. Is it, is it common to put up an illusory effect? Is this, is this a normal thing?
00:36:14
Speaker
Not from my understanding of what we're here. That's not common, especially for armies and whatnot. We're a little more cut and dry than illusory magic trying to cover our markings, but someone clearly didn't want these etchings seen. Gwendolyn goes and touches the sketchings. Does anything happen when she does? No. As you're touching them, nothing seems to happen. Nothing special happens. As I trace them,
00:36:44
Speaker
Do I recognize any of the symbols in my dad's handy dandy journal? Make a investigation check as you look closely. Did you say there were actual like symbols? I only remember like the pictures. It's mostly pictures. That's what stands out to you right away. Why? Oh my gosh, my screens are messing up. Sorry. 16.
00:37:16
Speaker
There are a few symbols in things written in elven, not full words. There's some initials. One of them is a simple like, you know, so and so loves so and so forever kind of thing, you know, just you know, the basic stuff you write in a for a good time call, whatever, you know, and then but then you there's a couple of religious symbols there. People who followed people who followed
00:37:45
Speaker
you know, helms, some elves who seem to have really followed the gods of the wilds closely. And then you have a couple of people have written things like longing for the city or in the great city, things like that. That does ring a bell too. That was our common phrases for the faith in Almanora as a
00:38:15
Speaker
as a place.
Listener Feedback and Humor
00:38:18
Speaker
And she sets Dale down and she pulls out the journal and reads a certain scripture her dad had put in about how he longed for the city, the city of nowhere, but somewhere. And Dale, did you know? And she looks down at Dale.
00:38:42
Speaker
Did you know, is it here? And she starts to get louder. Okay. Does that need, does Dale react? You don't seem to see any reaction from Dale, no. Then Gwen is going to go, go back to normal and be, she's going to feel like she knows what Dale's saying back to how she was before, if that makes sense. Okay.
00:39:11
Speaker
You did. Dale, I should know. Guys, I think we're here. We found Al Manora and you said that tunnel. Yeah, there's a tunnel. Yeah, like a tunnel that you can. It's about five foot diameter that you could walk in.
00:39:31
Speaker
Do you know what this means? And she looks, she's got crazy eyes going. And she's pointing at the murals, all the writings, and holding the journal. I can see a little bit myself. I don't keep up as much with Elvin writing, but it looks like, I mean, similar to what Krigs has said, and missing the city. I mean, Wild Hill, or I mean, I don't know what city that would be.
00:40:01
Speaker
Has to be it. Dale was leading us here. I I knew he I knew he knew where it was. And she closes the book, puts it back in her bag, grabs Dale and jumps down the hole. Well, just one second. Just calm down. So Gwen kind of hops down and starts sliding in this hole.
00:40:31
Speaker
And it's kind of like a slide as you get in there, Gwen. And then it finally levels out after about 40, 50 feet. And ahead of you is a tunnel to walk in. But you can see it's getting progressively smaller and smaller as you would move forward through it.
00:40:59
Speaker
Hello, sweet spring flowers bursting through the ground to shower us in wholesome delights. It's time to read some reviews, and I have my chaperone place here. Yeah, keep it cool, kids. What? I was going chaperone energy.
00:41:18
Speaker
I feel like chaperone energy is like, don't put your hand in there. You cannot share chapstick. Put your coat back on. Let's just, for the future reference, if I'm ever asked to chaperone for anything, the only thing I will ever do is walk around and say, keep it cool, kids. And just hope that they can take care of themselves.
00:41:39
Speaker
I don't think that anyone will give you a permission slip. No one will give you permission. But I give you permission to send me a review for us to read today. All right, here's one. I have sent... That's the sound of it going through the inner tubes.
00:42:00
Speaker
Alright, so this week's review is from, I'm so sorry in advance, uh, Cory P-f-f-fouch. I think it's fouch, just straight up. FOUCH. Say it again. FOUCH. FOUCH. Are you even trying to add the pee in there or are you just scooping it all together? I'm pretending like he's a paterodactyl.
00:42:22
Speaker
That's a good point, like a otato. I don't know what that is. It's a potato. I'm a potato. Oh my god. All right, so this review is from Cory Fouch. Thank you so much, Cory. We really appreciate you sending in this review.
00:42:41
Speaker
so that I can read it to the world and share your just unbridled love for this podcast. So the review is five stars. Thank you so much. I am 15 episodes in at the time of this review. I really enjoy this show. It doesn't take itself too seriously. Light and funny at times with a good balance of some more sobering moments sprinkled in. I can't wait to listen to more and see what turns up. Oh boy, Cory, you have no idea. It's gonna get wild.
00:43:08
Speaker
It's gonna get wild, I am crazy. It's gonna get pure nutso. So anyway, thank you so much for sending in this review, Cory Fauch. We greatly appreciate it and you and the lovely words that you have said. Once again, if you would like people to continue making podcasts, you have to tell other people that their podcasts are good. A great way to do that is to leave a review, which I will read
Navigating New Mysteries
00:43:32
Speaker
to the whole world and tell them how much you love Gwen specifically.
00:43:37
Speaker
If you're feeling like you don't quite know what you would like to leave in your review, you know, you're throwing those words around, you just, you know, you've sat there, you've started a review, and you feel like, you know, the most important things have already been said. They haven't. Well, they have. But you should say them again. You should just say them all again. Because every review is beautiful and unique, like a beautiful snowflake. A snow flower.
00:44:03
Speaker
beautiful snow flower of words of validation and delight. Probably the second she jumped in that tunnel I would have reactively just protect out of protection or whatever it would be just like
00:44:24
Speaker
Oh no, grab my shield, throw it in front of me. And I'm going face first, just like losing down this slide. I'm like, ah, just like skeleton face versus skeleton. So that's great. I love it. Yeah. So you hear a Craig's Oh no.
00:44:43
Speaker
Coming from behind you now. I probably would have followed right behind just no in my head I would have tried to grab either of them that I saw and I would have then okay make a dexterity saving throw. Oh, right. Since I'm going backwards. That is a 14 plus dexterity is eight. So that be 22.
00:45:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. You reach out and you grab Krigs as he starts to head down, but his momentum is too good. And you start, he pulls you down with him like he's telling you like a trailer and you're just following him down now. Oh, Dan's going to pull out his dagger and he's just going to hastily write HS on the wall, like somewhere toward the right, toward the end. So we're all part of the diary now. And then he'll climb through.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah, Daven, you start to kind of wiggle through and you realize it's an easy little kind of scoot on your backside down this hole. He stops like four times to cast, press the dissertation on himself to kind of clean up the mess as it goes.
00:45:54
Speaker
Yeah, until you land at the bottom and Krigs is kind of picking himself up. Joxer is trying to, I assume, clean the front of yourself off after being dragged head first down this muddy hole. Yeah, I'm just my first thought going down was like, God, this better not go. I'm waiting for a big hole and I will I will cast Feather Fall or something. But and then getting up and come on.
00:46:18
Speaker
Just yeah, just what did we just talk about it? That's what's going in his in his mind of like just just talking about things. When everyone gets down, when I'm like, that was the fun way to enter the city and she's like going to go. Triggs is trying to like towards the collar that's been tightened way too much from jocks or grabbing a hold of the back of his like armor as he went down. Speak for yourself.
00:46:47
Speaker
What a terrible trip that was. I wasn't trying. I just got caught. Just your collar shouldn't be that tight to begin with. Daven lands gently two feet down on the ground in front of you, looking clean as a whistle. Oh, I missed a spot. Do you mind? I ask, do you mind? And like, I'm showing you, like, arms out, like, cook me up, you know? We've got more important things to worry about right now, all right? Come on, let's go.
00:47:17
Speaker
I'll be stinky. It's okay. I'll start walking away and be like, you could have asked me, but that's fine. That's what. All right. So I assume Gwen leading the way. And you said it gets smaller. Yeah. What order are you guys going in? I first. I second. Yeah. I'll be behind Krigs. I'll take up the rear.
00:47:43
Speaker
All right, so Gwen, as you as you march, kind of start marching forward, high ho, high ho. It's off to Almonora we go, you're just like marching through. The tunnel does start to get more narrow and there's increasingly more like moss and it's water trickling down the sides and it's muddy and kind of starting to get slippery and this dank
00:48:06
Speaker
odor starts to fill your nose, this sweet kind of rot, not like a meat rot, but just like the moss and overgrown dank basement smell. And eventually it gets so small that you're having to crouch down.
00:48:26
Speaker
And like, except for Yeah, except for Craig's the three of three of you are having to kind of crouch down and walk with like with your backs hunched over, it starts to hurt your back and kind of ache a little bit. And then finally, it gets down to literally where all four of you are having to crawl through the mud. The mud is about wrist deep as you crawl through this.
00:48:48
Speaker
to get to the other edge. And you notice as you put your feet down or your hands down through the mud, you're on like smooth stone floor beneath you, but it seems to have caught so much of the water and everything that's dripped down in that it's overgrown with this moss and stuff and it's slick and all this stuff. Everybody make dexterity checks as you try to crawl through this downward inclined hole.
00:49:14
Speaker
Well, they're claiming Gwendolyn is going. I like the slide, but I don't. It's pretty cramped. Are we coming in through the back way? Nothing worse than a muddy back door. I rolled a 15. 19 here. 14. OK. I rolled a 20. A 20? Yeah. All right.
00:49:44
Speaker
So you all are able you're kind of slipping here and there but you're able to keep yourselves up out of the the muck and you finally get through the Get through to a more flat space and the hole opens up and as Gwen you crawl up to the edge of this hole you see this bluish this bright bluish greenish white light
00:50:12
Speaker
ahead of you. It seems very bright after the darkness of this tunnel and you crawl out and you're at the edge of the hole and it just seems like light in front of you. What are you going to do at this point? I crawl faster and I want to go through this light without even thinking. So you feel at the edge and you're at the edge of the hole. There's no more hole in front of you. Do you just keep going?
00:50:40
Speaker
It's like drops in front of you at some distance. You don't know. She's going to trust her gut and she's going to walk through.
00:50:48
Speaker
OK, so as she starts to crawl through, you guys see her go into this light and just drop out of existence. Not existence, but in your in your out of your visual, out of your sight. I put up the standard like army hold fist sign like don't like. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to wait. Wait, wait, wait. U.S. Army Marines Navy, which. Hell, bro. Come on. Oh, yeah, I knew that. I knew that.
00:51:15
Speaker
I don't know. I kind of do the standard like hand signal of like stop moving like danger ahead. Did it look like she fell notice like when she went through? It looks like she just crawled off the edge. Just went straight out of over the edge. You don't know if she fell or jumped or what. I'm going to walk up to the edge and just go ahead. OK, you get to the edge and Gwen, your eyes start to adjust as you
00:51:44
Speaker
you hit the ground about 15 feet down from where you came out of this space and you're facing the hole that you came out of and you see a ladder in front of you going up to the hole above you and you look around a little more and as you turn and look you are in a stone room with a
00:52:11
Speaker
Sing it's a small like 10 foot diameter or 10 foot square stone room and in front of you is a single wooden door That is open and just kind of hanging open with one hinge broken And you're standing in this room Craig's you you call out to Gwen you hear you hear Craig's call out to you Gwen I'm good um
00:52:37
Speaker
don't see you. It's, it's fine. Just feel for a ladder. I use the ladder. And, and, and you as you're calling out to him and you're looking up again, the ceiling is covered in green, blue and white fungus that is glowing this white color and it's kind of
00:53:00
Speaker
coming down the walls as well. And you see that this place has been just overtaken by this fungus, this room you're in, now that you're looking up and around a little more. And Krigs, as you start to crawl down the ladder, you see bits of this mushroom growing here and there. And as you crawl down, your hand goes through some of it and it's real and it's there for real. Like you definitely know that it's there.
00:53:25
Speaker
I run towards the door as he gets down, but I let him speak. I'm informing the party behind me that of the ladder and like, you know, giving them a heads up. Watch out. There's a ladder here. Come on down. OK, you guys all just going to take the ladder down. Oh, if it's only about 15 feet, I'll probably just hop down just to make sure I get down there before Craig's. OK, rude. So, yeah, you're climbing down the ladder and you hear.
00:53:52
Speaker
as Jockster just kind of hops down, no problemo, not even a Dex roll needed for 15 feet as he lands behind you and you're climbing down that ladder. Show off. I'm sorry, I just couldn't wait.
00:54:08
Speaker
Daven still still a little upset about him giving me the old horse collar. I say the tally home and I fall backwards like catch catch me big boy. Just what are you trying to do? I turn around and go to Gwen. So what's the where are you going? Craig's you fall five feet clank right on the ground. No pain. No, maybe a little stiffness of pain, but no like
00:54:34
Speaker
damage. Yeah, the moment I hear the clank, oh, I wasn't... That's it, I'm gonna remember this, buddy. I mean, I'm trying to keep up and I look back, has Gwen already gone through the door? Yeah, she started heading through the door. Daven, what are you doing? Daven takes the ladder down and, Craig, as you get up, you hear a little magical incantation behind you and as you turn around, Daven's just perfectly clean again. Come on, let's go, come on.
00:55:04
Speaker
Uh, as you guys look around the room at each other and you start to head towards the door, it becomes pretty clear to you that you're just, you've disturbed these mushrooms and there are spores hovering around all over the room. And Craig's before Daven says, come on, let's head to the door. You hear Daven in your mind say, Oh, we should go to the door. And then he says, come let's go to the door.
00:55:33
Speaker
And you hear Joxer think, oh, yeah, yeah, we've got to get to Gwen. And you hear Gwen up ahead. What's Gwen thinking as she walks through the hallway? As she found Almanora. She thinks she's going to open it and... You hear Gwen walking through the hallway thinking, here it is, I found it. I found it. I finally found the city. So I'm hearing these thoughts? Everyone's hearing everyone's thoughts. That's bad. That's not a good thing. That's
Conclusion and Promotions
00:55:59
Speaker
where we're going to end the episode. Oh, man.
00:56:03
Speaker
whoa
00:56:15
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of installment of The Hired Swords. If you liked our show and you want to do us a favor, tell a friend about us. If you really liked our show and want to show us support, do us a big favor and tell the world. Leave a review. If you want to keep up with us and all the behind the scenes goofs and gaffs, you can find us at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at The Hired Swords.
00:56:37
Speaker
If you'd like to check out our merch shop, you can find that at thehired.store. And again, thank you so much for listening and stay tuned for a message from our friends.
00:56:52
Speaker
This is Daniel Storm, host of the RPG Radio Show. On our show, a group of actors take part in an epic tabletop fantasy adventure. Their words will shape our story, chapter by chapter, into an immersive audio experience. We use sounds to enhance our combat, magic, and scenery.
00:57:15
Speaker
Our story takes place in the vast world of Sildum, a planet-spanning continent full of magic, mystery, and adventure. It's been 1147 years since the end of the Eclipse War. The High Beacon presides over an empire that governs all of Sildum. There is peace, but it is tenuous. Dark forces stir in the shadows.
00:57:36
Speaker
I know how our story starts, but only the characters can decide how it ends. Their words and actions will alter the fate of Sildum. Search for the RPG radio show wherever podcasts are available. Join us. An adventure is taking shape.