Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 48 Together We Stand
140 Plays3 years ago
Welcome Hirelings, to Season 2. We recommend Listening to Letters To Home for a Season 1 Recap before proceeding.
With Wildhill fallen and stood on the backs of new leadership, our swords do their part to bolster the foundations of Wildhill to be as successful and honorable as it can be. They know they must move on, for now, for there are more evils that they must face responsible for much of what happened in Wildhill.. To the North. In the untouched lands.
Recommended
Transcript
Season 2 Introduction
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast that I can't believe is in season 2.
00:00:41
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody, to the Hired Swords. This is season two. I'm your DM Mike, and with me I have Ash. Hello. She's playing Gwendolyn. Derek's here. Hey, what's up? As Davin. Also, I have Joxer. You found me. But his real name's Mikey, and Blaze is here as Safran Embroke. What's up? Are we throwing out Krigs altogether?
Recap and Preparations
00:01:07
Speaker
Nah, I'm soft for an ember oak, but my friends call my kriegs. I like it. I like it. Well, you've heard the recaps. You've heard where we've been in season one of the hired swords. But here we sit in season two, so I want to jump right in. You guys have been spending about a week, several days, preparing for your journey up north, tying up loose ends, getting some things settled.
00:01:32
Speaker
If you don't mind, let's just briefly, each of you tell me a couple of the things you wanted to get done, you had to get done in the middle of this, this extra time here. Between the death of the chief and Wild Hill and then this next, where we are now. My biggest concern was making sure that Wild Hill as a whole, as a town, wasn't going to fall to the wayside. I mean, this is still a haven for
00:02:00
Speaker
people very much like me, old war vets, and people that didn't know anything else besides combat for so many years, and it's kind of a place for them to go and have a safe environment that they can take jobs or do something worth living instead of just trying to become something they've never been. Awesome. Who else?
Character Preparations and Town Evolution
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah, I've mostly been trying to work with morale. See if there's any, I don't know, anything that Joxer could provide, whether it be kind of just the overall bruise that he could push out or make any adjustments here and there. Try to understand where the group was at before we wanted to head off.
00:02:57
Speaker
would probably kind of want to ask about some of the things that we wanted to try to create or let go and then just kind of get ourselves ready and look to his patron a little bit to see if he can find something a little bit more powerful to head for. All right, what about Daven?
00:03:20
Speaker
Devin doesn't have a whole lot he's going to do. He's going to spend some time alone just practicing magic and make sure that he's comfortable for this trip that he's going to be going on. He did after his failure of, well actually it was a success, but how embarrassing it was to try and open up that chest he would like to try and buy is set as thieves tools in case they run into something in the future that you need him for. Yeah, you're able to conjure up a set of those at Slims at one point in your visit that's no problem. Okay, cost you a couple gold pieces. I'm working off.
00:03:50
Speaker
For Gwendolyn, she's going to be a little bit in her head during this whole time before they head north. After her talks with Hurley and seeing Tomba come back to life basically, she's just debating on what's good and what's evil and how evil and corruption and greed can just ruin a town overnight. She's going to contemplate on that for a while as she packs and gets ready to head north.
00:04:21
Speaker
Okay, the town's taking a few different turns, some different taking shape and it's becoming more of a place of like a normal town would. It's headed that direction and you guys have noticed those changes happening, the hunters becoming more of
00:04:38
Speaker
Patroles and guards for whenever they head out to do some trade and try to discuss trade agreements and things like that So there there are some things for them to do that require their swords or their abilities But it's not the same as it was going putting their life on the line hunting creatures for possibly nefarious means so things have kind of shifted and changed a little bit in Wild Hill in that sense, but
00:05:00
Speaker
After getting some of these things done, doing what you need to do, gathering supplies, packing up, one by one, you each make your way towards your agreed meeting place, the statue there in front of the Tower of Testing.
Journey Commencement
00:05:14
Speaker
Go ahead and roll initiative. We'll see who ends up there first. Okay.
00:05:19
Speaker
First dice roll is 16. 16 from Krigs. 18. Looks like Jockster may have got a nat one. Nat one. 18 from Dallas. First roll of the season. 16.
00:05:32
Speaker
16 from the Dale dice. I love it. So Gwen and Craig's are walking up together almost after packing their things up. They're walking towards the statue and they see kind of see each other and walk the rest of the way up at that point. Any discussion, anything happening as you prepare, walk towards the statue? Do you have everything?
00:05:55
Speaker
I think I do. I don't really need too much for travel, but I think I should have everything here wrapped up enough, at least I guess. Everything seems to have calmed down. That's my biggest concern. It has, and Gwendolyn will probably listen around and
00:06:14
Speaker
hear not as much commotion as the days in the village kind of calmed down since the chief's death. Things seem kind of business as, well not even business as usual for Wild Hill, but more like business as usual would be in a normal town. And as you guys are approaching, you kind of turn the corner and you see Davin already standing there by the statue, just kind of waiting on anyone else to show up. Davin, what are you doing as you wait, as they come around and catch you, their eyes catch you there?
00:06:42
Speaker
He's still working on, in the dirt, kind of like in the dust and everything. He's formed like a big pile there and he's forming different symbols and sigils and he's trying to work out that teleportation. He's like, I still can't get this thing to work. Well, hey guys, it's about time you just show up. I've been here for a little while. How long you been here? Oh, three or four days. No, I've been here for about an hour. I've been here for about an hour. That's all. Not too long.
00:07:06
Speaker
I'm assuming you got the trail mix and everything we're going to need for travel. You always carry that. I've got a little bit left over, but for the most part, I figure this wand can keep us company. We don't want to carry too much stuff, I don't think. Where's Jock, sir? I haven't seen him. I haven't seen him this morning. Hopefully he's not gotten up to more trouble. Maybe he's got colder treats. Maybe he wants to stay here.
00:07:34
Speaker
Did anyone wake him up this morning out of his, out of his brew hole? I thought you did. No, I, I had out first early, early light. I assumed it would be one of you two. You, you hang around a little bit more than I do typically. Well, Dale told me you woke him. Well, yes, but I think he's, that may have been Tomba he's referring to. I did wake Tomba up this morning.
Mystery of the Mind-Control Necklaces
00:08:02
Speaker
How do you get... Never mind. Here comes Joxer walking up now. Joxer, what kept you so long?
00:08:12
Speaker
So a couple of things. So what you see is actually me covered in ash. I have a bunch of charcoal blown up in my face and just walking up in this dirt. And I'm kind of coming from that direction from the armor bearer, from Justice, Justice's area.
00:08:36
Speaker
Uh, and you see me just kind of like almost limping, uh, coming, coming to your direction and then waving. Hey, hey guys. Have you, wait, you haven't tried taking up the art of blacksmithing, have you? That's so, that's a new look for you. Gwendolyn awkwardly waves. It just, it was a long night. It was, it was a long night. That's, let's just leave it at that for now.
00:09:04
Speaker
Devin's going to lean into Gwen and he's going to say, I'm pretty sure he has pressed the digitization. He chooses to look like this. Really? That's the only thing I can think of. She just stares at him. Well, one way or another, I suppose it's good camouflage for the wilds. Everyone ready? We're going to be heading north. I think that was the modus operandi for the next little bit. Everyone make sure your limber up. It's going to be a lot of walking. I'm ready.
00:09:35
Speaker
I believe I'm ready. I couldn't find the sorcerer before. I was going to have him go over that transportation ritual one more time, but he's always gone. Don't bother. I've been working on that thing for weeks. It's impossible.
00:09:54
Speaker
All right, so if you guys are gonna start heading out of town, you start heading down towards where the camp is between that and where Hurley's knickknacks is, and you hear a voice calling from beyond, kind of out where the knickknack shop is, you hear Slim calling, hello, excuse me, wait a second, excuse me, like that, and as you turn and listen, he just calls out and he says, Hurley, Hurley would like to speak with you, do you have a moment? It'll only take a minute.
00:10:24
Speaker
Oh, good morning, Slim. Yes, I think we can spare a moment. It's still quite early in the morning. We have some time. Oh, I'm sorry. I look a mess. And then you see prestiditiation just... Okay. Devin leans over again. He says, see, I told you you could do it. Gwendolyn is amazed.
00:10:43
Speaker
She just stares at him. Ignoring Slim. Just, huh? Slim's like, okay, just, if you'll come with me, I'll take you to him. It should only be a minute. He just needs to tell you about something he's been researching. And they head towards the, he heads. Yeah, we follow. As we follow, I'm going to lean back to David and kind of whisper, does that spell you too, dude? Does it take care of the stink too?
00:11:10
Speaker
I suppose it probably can. I've never really used a first medal. It's usually from our appearance when I do it. It can be quite useful, like... Sorry. Are you telling me that I stink? You know, it... It's... I'm not saying that.
00:11:34
Speaker
I'm going to cast Prestidigitation on myself. Doesn't he actually work with scent? I don't know. You'll have to look at the spell. I don't believe you can actually give yourself a scent. I believe that is like... I can give myself a scent. Okay. So I'm going to make myself smell like maple syrup. Ooh. It lasts for an hour. Yeah. So it's deodorant. I'm quite hungry. I don't... It's deodorant, just not antiperspirant.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, we follow along now. I was just curious. Does that take care of the stanky? Slim walks you to the little cabin that is where Hurley lives. And he actually takes you to the front door, which is standing open, it being a lovely morning. Everything's very nice and very kind of a cool, cool morning getting as it's going to be much warmer later.
00:12:26
Speaker
and he walks you in the front door and there already sits Hurley and he's sitting on his chair with his his bat arm up on top of a like a makeshift like lap
00:12:41
Speaker
like table that sits on this lap. You know, back in the day when you had the one that had like the cushions on the bottom that you can put on your lap to do homework on and stuff, and it was solid on top. It's a thing kind of like that, but it attaches to the arms of his little, of his chair and also has cushion underneath to sit on his lap. Back in the day, I still got one of those. Dude, I'm jealous. I thought those were gone. Is it like the same one you had from back then?
00:13:06
Speaker
No, I just bought it recently. Oh, yeah, you did. I had some old TV trays up until about three weeks ago. Oh, nice. Yeah, so he's got something like that, and he's got a few little, uh, parchments kind of spread out on there. And when you walk in, he's got his one bad hand that, um, it's gripping up like a, like a...
00:13:25
Speaker
a like quill kind of like an ink well for quill for a quill and he's got his other hand that he has the the actual pen in the quill pen and he's been drawing things out and as you walk in he says he says
00:13:43
Speaker
Oh, good. I'm glad you were here, please. I just will only take a minute. I know you were on your way out of town. I wish you very well on your journey, on your travels, but I needed to show you this. And he he says, do you have the the gem that the necklace that was on Tomba? Yes, it's right here. And Gwendolyn shuffles through a bag and pulls out the cloth wrapped jewelry.
00:14:09
Speaker
And he says, thank you, that is exactly what I mean. I originally assumed that it had some magical ability and so I thought that is it, that is the end. And then I was thinking and I remember hearing of something
00:14:28
Speaker
Long ago, just like a story that I heard about these gemstones, necklaces that can modify your mind. It can change what you think. And there's a few things that I remember about these. They are more than one of these. They all exist in pairs, in fact.
00:14:55
Speaker
I learned this here's what I wrote down and he hands you this little um it's really a drawing more than like writing and it shows uh a it shows three pairs of necklaces a total of six and he circles one and he has the writing he wrote uh
00:15:16
Speaker
orange on it in common. And then he has red ones and blue ones as well. There's orange and red and blue. And he says, they come in pairs and they are... you are controlled by the one who owns the other one. And it is strange to find one without the other, but
00:15:42
Speaker
There are stories about these but from what I've heard they were once belonging to one creature who distributed them amongst a lot of people and he controlled them all using them to control each other thinking they were in power but in truth they were all being controlled by the one. I don't
00:16:05
Speaker
I don't know if this helped you in anything. I don't know. I just know if Tomba had one that's possible. There is another one nearby. Do you know what type of creature that was? I'm going to have to history check this. Okay. Make history check. If there's some kind of legend or lore or anything, because that sounds like next level. I should know something about this or someone should have. There should be whispers about something like this somewhere. Sure. Super BBEG right there. Make a history check.
00:16:34
Speaker
What were the colors? Orange, red, and white? Blue. Orange and blue, you said? Orange, red. There was two orange, two red, two blue. I have plus zero to history, because I have some incredible intelligence. And I rolled a 16. Oh, nice. Yeah, you don't really... You've heard of things like this?
00:16:57
Speaker
But is it? Yes. Technically rock, though, because I am a dwarf. Sure. It's Jimstone. All right. Do your advantage roll. Yes. Well done. I think Gwendolyn wouldn't know anything about this. Sorry. I mean, it's worse. What do you say? I should have saved my arguing for later. I don't think Gwendolyn would know any about anything about this. OK. Yeah. Well, I haven't have any idea. I don't even know.
00:17:24
Speaker
I mean, anybody who wants to make a history check, I'll allow it. OK, I'll try because it's a necklace. Yeah. What is my history? I know rocks. He knows fashion. Nope. Together we know rock fashion. No, you just want to roll tonight. OK, rock. So roll down the hill. So have you ever heard of any of the or do you understand or what? What is this creature? Do you do you have anything on it?
00:17:53
Speaker
The story I know of this creature is an old one. It's from years and years before. Just near the creation of, well, the stories of creation of this world. Until I saw this gem and what it did to Tomba, I would not have even
00:18:12
Speaker
Believed it was a real thing until that and that's why I didn't think of it immediately because I literally It's a fantasy fairytale to me and then here it is happening So just I don't know I will say that if there was one on Tomba there is possibly one nearby and if there is That person was being controlled by someone who wanted them to control someone else.
Discovery at the Burial Site
00:18:37
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:18:39
Speaker
So Dumbo was being controlled. So somebody nearby has the other necklace that goes with this one. That's what you're saying. That is my theory. Yes. Unless it is not what I am thinking. And if that is the case, then I apologize for wasting your time. I feel like all implications would believe the chief would be the the possessor of the other stone and with
00:19:01
Speaker
There's really no way to test unless someone went under the thrall of the stone. Would you say that you have to have the necklace on to control the person? The story has it that whoever was given the first necklace is controlled by the giver and then they give the second necklace to someone and that is who they control. But how do we even go about finding the second necklace?
00:19:29
Speaker
If you say the chief had it, then it's possible it is where he lies. I don't know. I would start there. If the chief didn't have it, then it's possible that someone wanted to have someone close to the chief. Is this another one of your Darnaldi theories? Yes, it's probably Darnaldi. Look, I know you've been after Darnaldi since, basically since we got here, and it's very possible.
00:19:58
Speaker
Everything kind of points to the chief at this point. But think about it. The jocksome might be onto something. Maybe John Aldi used to tomber. Well, we can always start by going looking. Currently, are you insinuating we should search where the chief lie and see if there's potentially one of these necklaces?
00:20:26
Speaker
I would go at least have a look. It's very possible. Well, I mean, it's not like he's too far down. Let me ask you this. When did Tomba start showing signs that he was no longer controlled? When the amulet came off of him. Okay. That could have very well been, though, when the chief was killed. You weren't there, Gwen. There's no way for us to know the timing of it. Well, she was with Tomba, though. So she would have saw his reaction.
00:20:55
Speaker
He was grabbing at it like he couldn't Fight it like he was about to almost explode. I just I Don't know something was happening to him, but once it was off he was fine
00:21:12
Speaker
You have my theory, what you do with it is up to you. I just thought it was something you would want to know before you head north in case there is more of these things. There are six of them. And if there is another one here, there are still four more out there somewhere. And typically, they all serve each other's purposes together. There's usually one, I guess, puppet master, you could call them.
00:21:39
Speaker
are you are you asking us to to find the other to bring it back to you or are you just letting us know this information overall? I just thought if you were trying to get questions answered this may be a path you could take and if the what if the chief had something to do
00:21:58
Speaker
Even if he was unaware of it, but had something to do with what was happening in the wilds, then it is possible whoever gave him that necklace is the one that wanted it to happen. Well, I think the first thing we should do is go look for the necklace. I agree. Yes, I agree too. I don't see it being too difficult to at least search or excavate. Hopefully no one has too much issue with us digging up what would remains of the chief.
00:22:26
Speaker
I've been over in the area and nobody's even been over there to touch the coins or the body, or at least where the body was. Yeah. The foliage that took him over is pretty, I mean, it doesn't look like a grave. It's just this kind of mushroom and wild grass. I mean, if you wanted to do it a little bit more stealth, I think we could do that too. I wouldn't mind looking over him.
00:22:53
Speaker
I don't think there's too much need to be too stealthy. There's no loss of blood at this point, it seems like, with the council now in control of Wild Hill. But yeah, I thank you, hurriedly, for this information. It's... not unexpected, but... it definitely adds a new layer of intrigue. We'll definitely be checking this out, I think, at least before we head out and see if there's anything to this theory of yours.
00:23:21
Speaker
It could be that I am chasing... chasing children's stories, but it would be good to know, you know, whether it is or not. Yeah, I think it definitely should be noted for us, because if who you want us to find in the North has connections to all of these, we definitely need to be weary.
00:23:51
Speaker
Another Durnaldi. I mean, maybe Durnaldi already has one. Thank you. I think we'll be on our way unless anyone else has any questions.
00:24:09
Speaker
still light, we could probably knock this out relatively quick. The faster, but the better, I think.
Debate on Necklace Ethics
00:24:15
Speaker
I agree. I don't think something like that will be dragged down into the dirt too quickly. It's probably sitting there under the coins, if it's there at all. Is there any map of the north that we could get?
00:24:33
Speaker
There's probably... I realize that not many people have made it, but... No, the furthest it goes is to Lonely Hill. I don't have one... I don't have any maps, but I have heard of maps drawn by hunters that take you at least to Lonely Hill, but north of there, no one has ever returned, so there has never been a map drawn that far.
00:24:57
Speaker
Why do I love the name Lonely Hill so much? I'm excited to go there. I was going to call it One Tree Hill, but I decided that's... Oh, no. Then I, that rang a bell and I was like, man, I think that's a thing already. So, no, just kidding. It was my ex-girlfriend's favorite show for the longest time. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I think, uh, having said basically our go bys, I'm going to start heading out towards the location where we,
00:25:25
Speaker
Seld the great chief of Wild Hill. Daven's excited. He's like power walking there. Okay. He's got a strut. I'll follow. Like the full hip thrust and everything as he walks. You just hear his necklaces dangle. Ching, ching as he struts there. So you walk over there kind of through the
00:25:46
Speaker
Couple hunters coming and going, couple of just townsfolk. You do see more children out and about than you did before, just kind of playing and doing stuff. It seems like they've always been there, but they just kind of stayed real close to home. Now they seem to feel like they can be out and about a little more. And actually walking that direction, you just kind of feel a little more like, like I said before, it's just more of a normal town. You get over there and just like Joxer had said that the ground is, the ground where the chief had died
00:26:16
Speaker
is covered in this dark, almost black grass and mushrooms and vines kind of growing with roots, looks like roots and sticks, and they've kind of got this burnt, charred kind of look to them, but then the mushrooms and leaves and stuff kind of still have their green hue. It's this combination of a burning and a
00:26:43
Speaker
and in plant life, you know, almost like after a fire when the plant life starts to grow back. And that's there's a mound kind of there of that where his it seems it seems his body hasn't been like absorbed or crushed or destroyed. It's just kind of become this small mound of plant life. As we approach it,
00:27:09
Speaker
Kind of solemnly, I'm going to also take notice of the smaller mound nearby the chief and kind of give a little quiet salute for where Solrin fell, which I know she's alive in some sense out with the wilds and doing things, but, you know, any comrade, you pay your respects.
00:27:34
Speaker
Yeah, walking by right where that happened, you do feel that sense of loss, but there's also this echo in your mind of that voice you heard that told you, this is what you asked for. You asked for this.
00:27:51
Speaker
And and it is still the ground there was hard packed dirt for being a path. And so it's still black and charred from the lightning storm that occurred right there on the ground. And it's very easy to see that spot where that happened. And as you walk up to that mound where the chief was buried, there are the coins kind of interwoven, you know, dozens of these coins interwoven amongst these vines and other bits of plant life that are there.
00:28:24
Speaker
Hey guys, it's your number one best blaze. Uh, your number one Krieg's daddy. Sorry, I don't know what that was. Anyway, I wanted to pop in here and say I'm hoping you're enjoying season two. Uh, episode one is...
00:28:40
Speaker
gonna go fun, and episodes after this are pretty intense. I hope you're ready. In the meantime, if you want to support the show, check out our new store. It is the Hired Dot Store. It's our merch store with fun hoodies, shirts, mugs, and et cetera. We do a mug of the month. We have a Dale mug for October, and a new Goblet Goblin mug for
Route Planning and Necklace Examination
00:29:07
Speaker
November.
00:29:09
Speaker
If you want to show us a little bit of support, you can check out the store itself at the higher.store. If you can't do that, you know, tell a friend about us or leave a review. It means the absolute world to us. We don't really put anything into advertising, and to have the word of mouth is incredible. Anyway, I'll let you guys get back to it, and you have a great day.
00:29:35
Speaker
Friends, half-orcs, countrymen, lend me your pointy ears! Of Mice and Men and Monsters is a podcast which combines the art and beauty of classic literature with the fun of Dungeons and Dragons roleplay. These episodes are led by me, Kate, your master teacher, which is dungeon master meets high school English teacher. We take on quests in these fascinating worlds, meeting and adventuring with the greatest literary characters of all time.
00:30:04
Speaker
solving puzzles set up by the dubious Dr. Frankenstein, hunting Moby Dick alongside Captain Ahab. Of Mice and Men and Monsters is a faithful yet irreverent way to interact with the stories which have influenced us for centuries.
00:30:25
Speaker
Plus, it's a much more exciting way to experience literature than writing an essay. Essays don't have swords which burst into flame, or poop monsters hiding in toilets. Anybody got you pooped for me? A new episode of Of Mice and Men and Monsters is released every other Wednesday, wherever you listen to podcasts. Um, I'm gonna bend down and I'm gonna see if I can search around and see if I can find a necklace. Make an investigation check. Will.
00:30:56
Speaker
No, probably not with a natural three. It's a seven. Yeah. You begin to dig around and you're finding mostly just nature, you know, uh, plants. There's a lot, it's kind of teeming with insects at this point. Lots of worms kind of crawling through. You even kind of dig through this tuft of, of soil and get this whiff of rot that comes up as these insects are kind of crawling out through here. I'm going to kind of.
00:31:25
Speaker
politely, but still gingerly, push him to the side. Look, you have a spell that can make you clean again. Just just move. You're doing this all wrong. And I'm going to pull out like a little dagger and use it kind of like a spade and start to really dig into this area. Wait, wait. Do you wait? Gwendolyn goes, he he may have not not been the best, but
00:31:53
Speaker
Everyone deserves peace and she takes her hand and she's just going to shove it into the ground into the dirt and then just start speaking to the plants and soft elven. Please let him rest in peace. He may go. Okay. I wish you farewell.
00:32:14
Speaker
in here, you will sew. And I asked the plants to just pull his body into the ground. And while doing so, I'm going to ask them if anything of importance comes, meaning the amulet. All right, make a
00:32:38
Speaker
Um, just roll day 20 and add your spell casting modifier. Sick. It's just like a natural magic check. Oof. How is... Three plus four. How's a seven? Hold up. How about, am I picking up any more nature stuff now with my whole host to the Skogbron and all this other stuff? Like, can I assist?
00:33:09
Speaker
in this manner. No one has detect magic. Describe how you do this, how you assist. I don't understand her speaking in Elvish. I don't speak Elvish, but something that is unique to me is I am beginning to feel the response, the whispers from the forest and the nature there. I'm feeling them speak back.
00:33:38
Speaker
And I kind of mutter a prayer to the great spirits to, I don't really know how to help Gwyn in this matter, but maybe just this once they could assist us in finding something that could bring potential ruin and quell the forthcoming storm. If there is something in the ground here, please help.
00:34:07
Speaker
All right. Do you want to do the check like she did or let her have advantage? I will give her advantage. With the help action there you did. Oh boy. 12. That's what you needed. So, Oh, plus four. So you got more than what you needed. So as you begin to speak to the wilds, uh, the,
00:34:36
Speaker
the wind, that similar or familiar wind starts to blow and these mushrooms start to grow a little bit. And as they do, this mound starts to kind of decrease. And as it decreases, it kind of like, it lowers and vines and leaves and such start to kind of grow up over it. And it's doing it almost in this like, almost like a time lapse looking,
00:35:06
Speaker
like visually where you you see it it's like it's like you're missing pieces of it it's happening magically it's not natural and you feel that wind kind of gust and as it gusts all the sudden up from the dirt comes everything non-organic that the chief had so his armor comes up his his his weapons come up his his
00:35:34
Speaker
belt and some you know those sorts of things a little bag of coins comes up with him and there's there's just all these things that just start to come up and just kind of lay there in these like dirty mounds of stuff or dirty pile of items that are laying there and you feel like the your prayer to the wilds your prayer to the the natural order was answered
00:36:01
Speaker
now you can rummage and she pulls her arm out of the dirt and stands up and just stares
00:36:09
Speaker
OK, so you as you look around, there is a I mean, you can very easily see there's the cape he was wearing. It's like a cloak. There's the the long sword he had used. There's the his breastplate of armor and a kind of Roman Roman style leather strapped
00:36:32
Speaker
like armored skirt thing that went over his pants that he was wearing and his sandals are there like boots sandals and then as you kind of pull some of that stuff back and rummage back there partially covered is the chain this this chain of gold that you see and all you see is this chain and the rest of it's covered in dirt going as you pull your arm out you see that
00:37:00
Speaker
Is that it? And Gwen's going to bend down and slowly with her hand, she's going to try to uncover what's attached to the chain. Yeah, you start to dust away the dirt and as you dust it away, it reveals this little orange gem. And there's no glow to it, just like there's no glow to the one Tombow was wearing anymore. But there's this necklace with this orange gemstone attached to it.
00:37:31
Speaker
I think I found it. And I pull it out and show the party. Okay. I think this was the other amulet. Well, it looks just like the other one. So it wasn't Darnaldi. No. For once, yes, it wasn't Darnaldi.
00:37:54
Speaker
You can laugh all you want. I agree with Jock so that he's not meant to be trusted. And she goes back to looking at the amulet. And she wants to crush it. Okay, how would you like to do that? I'm gonna put it on the ground and just step on it.
00:38:13
Speaker
Okay. You put it on the ground and when you step on it, it's pretty hard gemstone. The dirt beneath you gives before this gemstone does. It just pushes it down into the dirt and makes a little hole in the dirt. I understand your reasoning for wanting to do something like that, but it might be smarter to hold onto this for a little while. We could actually maybe use it to our own benefit in the future.
00:38:38
Speaker
Well, think about it. Like say that we want to get some more information out of someone like Darnoldy in the future. We could use these to try and coax him into, coax him, coax him, coax him into, is that a cable?
00:38:54
Speaker
I'm going to coax him. We're going to HDMI him. You see Joxers light up whenever you say the coercing and then also. Coercing. That's the word I was probably going for. I'm just saying that there might be uses for us in the future. Plus, it's a magical item. They're not that easy to destroy.
00:39:19
Speaker
Gwendolyn's just looking at Daven with a bit of disgust. So you're saying we should use this evil for our own benefit? Doesn't that just make us the same type of people? Magic items don't have evil abilities. It's the person who's using it that's evil, or not evil. The sword that Joxer has, I'm sure, at one point has slain somebody who shouldn't have been killed. That doesn't make the sword evil, it makes the wielder.
00:39:49
Speaker
She just stares at it, thinking about her conversation that she had with Dale earlier, just... Alright, if... I see your point, I just... All this stuff kind of scares me. If it makes you feel any better, maybe two of us should keep it separately. So maybe Daven can...
00:40:16
Speaker
can hold onto one and then you can hold onto the other so that we have a balance, like a checks and balance to use it. Alright, and she passes off the amulet to Davin. Out of character though, I feel like this is trying to get Davin to mind control me.
00:40:40
Speaker
Can I look at it and see if there's one that's different? Can I look at both of them and see if they're different in any sort of way? Sure. Yeah. Take a look. Make an investigation check. Another one of those? Yeah, man. But they're not going well for me tonight. That's 12. We sure locking up in here. Yeah, really.
00:41:01
Speaker
Dose. What is your favorite game? 12? 12. Yeah. So, um, your, uh, with a 12, they, they look, they're not identical. Uh, they're both very roughly cut and, uh, they, they ones, one might be a little bigger than the other, but not much, not like noticeably, probably not intentionally, but yeah, you don't get much difference. Excuse me. You don't get much difference from them. Uh, just from that, that little look.
00:41:32
Speaker
Any of you guys identify magic items or tell what part of its magic or anything like that? Gwendolyn shakes her head no. I could potentially tell whether or not an item is, I guess, cursed or has been consecrated in some way, at least I could with Helm. I can maybe ask the Wilds to see if I can maybe have a little insight or
00:41:58
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe the Wilds know if these items are naturally good or evil. Would that ease your mind a little Gwen? I think so. I can help. And she places a hand on Krigs to help him focus. All right. I'm going to cast Detect Good or Evil, trying to see whether or not the objects have been either either blessed or consecrated in some way, if they're actually good or evil intended.
00:42:27
Speaker
Okay, so as you cast that spell and looking for that hint of evil that just gives you that kind of feeling that yeah, this is definitely evil or this is something that is divine in nature, go ahead and make an investigation check with advantage. All right. Because of the spell. Well, that's a four and that is an 18 plus
00:42:57
Speaker
It's investing, it's investigation. Plus zero. Sweet. Okay. I forget that I have no end. That's good enough. As you look down into it, look at these gemstones, they begin to glow as if being backlit by your spell, like something's backlighting them to highlight something for you. And you can see very tiny, this black mist swirling on the inside of them.
Journey North and Village Arrival
00:43:27
Speaker
Like like the littlest bit of dust in a snow globe or, you know, dark black snow in a snow globe kind of swirling around this darkness little bitty bit of it. Huh. Well. Gwen, Gwen, I don't know how much it's going to ease your concern. There's no evil, right? And she's looking at you with those bigger big girl eyes, just hoping you're going to say no.
00:43:59
Speaker
There doesn't have to be evil. They are just items. They have no power beyond the Bearers. Thank goodness. I don't know what I would have done if...
00:44:19
Speaker
All right. I'm going to do an insight check, just as Jatzeh. All right, make an insight check. Gwen is a trusting friend. Daven wants to do one too, actually. Okay. No. So 17 plus. Craig, see if they can beat your deception check. 22.
00:44:41
Speaker
What is my deception even at? I have a 22. Did you say 18, Joxer? Well, it was 18 plus five. No, it's a 23. Good luck trying to beat my seven. Joxer and Daven, right as Gwendolyn says, oh, thank goodness you see a little twinge.
00:45:07
Speaker
Okay, what do they see in your face? I'm not going to tell your character what he's feeling when she seems to be grateful that there's no evil in there. What do they see when they look at Krigs? A stoic face, but having seen the battles and having seen the things that he has throughout the time, you can tell beyond the stoicism that
00:45:31
Speaker
He has a heavy heart, having told her just this, that there is no evil in the items, but he does truly believe that the evil in the items isn't any more evil than anyone has in themselves. So, like what he said was his truth. They don't have to be evil.
00:45:52
Speaker
But it doesn't mean they can't be evil. I think you yeah, I think you see Not you don't see Lies maybe but you might feel there's more to the story based on your roles and what he said and how he said it is There's like a break in his like stiff shoulders. It just like kind of drops a little bit like that There's something
00:46:19
Speaker
It's a big boy lie. The smile is just a little bit off. It kind of goes into the uncanny valley a little bit. Yes, everything is fine. As he just stares into nothingness. Devin will turn to Gwen and he'll say, well, since we know that they're safe, if it'll make you feel better, how about I keep both of them? That way we don't have to worry about one of us accidentally controlling the other.
00:46:46
Speaker
Now that you think of it, y-y-yeah. Th-th-that sounds fine. Criks. And Daven kinda just looks him straight in the eyes and holds out his hand. I trust you with these. I... I trust you. However, I feel like you and I have a pact. Don't worry, Jax, we both know where he sleeps. I'll take one, you take the other.
00:47:14
Speaker
wiping the dirt off her hand. Well, should we be going? Yeah, we should be going. And I'll have I'll reach out and I'll hand went off to Joxer. Did I catch that interaction after we essentially agreed Daven would have both in the whole we have a pact between the two? I don't think you tried to hide that. I don't think they were trying to hide what they said. I wasn't.
00:47:37
Speaker
All right, cool. So I'm now aware that you guys got some kind of under the table something that I'm not concerned about, but I'm definitely going to be looking for it in the future.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was some super secret. There was confidence, but there was no just general. There's a trust between each other. Oh man, I can see this necklace is already tearing the whole group apart. This is the beginning of the end. Oh no.
00:48:08
Speaker
All the dress is being broken in this one moment. It's all over. It is. Well, Gavin, Gavin's going to hold up the necklace and he's going to look at it for a second. And then he's going to, without pulling his head up, he's just going to look his eyes up toward a jocks. He says, I trust you. And he's going to put the necklace on. Is this the time to test it? And he's going to like touch it to his neck. Both of you make wisdom saving throws. All right. This is the time when Wendolyn turns around because she thought they were leaving.
00:48:36
Speaker
11 plus, not good. What's my... Dirty 20. 11 plus one, so 12. Yeah, not good. Okay, good to know. Thank you. The worst thing a DM can ever say is good to know.
00:48:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I can't hold it the whole time there's no there's no like necklace there to hold it there So I touched it to see if something happened. They're both on the chain on gold chains No, the other one didn't have a chain. It got broken. He pulled it off. Oh, yeah. Okay, it's broken Okay, so yeah, you're just holding on and you didn't place it on your neck. So your wisdom throw is irrelevant Davins is not
00:49:15
Speaker
Okay, then we need to make a chain before it's even useful. So that's probably what Joxer would say out loud. It looks like holding it here doesn't do anything, so we'll have to get a chain to see if there's any effects. Devin wants to do two things in this moment. He put it on with the intentions of making sure that everything was okay. Does he feel like everything is okay? Make an insight check. Devin has left the party.
00:49:45
Speaker
Time to reroll them. Completely taken over. Yeah. I mean, it just feels like you put on a necklace. You don't feel anything else, anything different. Okay. Then the second thing, this is very important. How does it look with the other necklaces? You're like borderline on gaudy right now. You rolled a 20 on rock fashion. Oh my gosh. There it is. So good.
00:50:12
Speaker
Rock fashion. Okay. Let's get going. Don't seem too much sense in telling Hurley, maybe we can let Slim know on the way out. Yeah, I'm good to go. Okay. You guys start heading out of town and you walk
00:50:33
Speaker
the normal path to get out of town and you go through, you go past Hurley's, you go past the Mill on the left, the Adventurer's Camp on the right where it's kind of been starting to get taken down in fact. People are kind of taking the camp stuff down and
00:50:52
Speaker
moving stuff back towards where the nobleman's barracks are in some of the regular long-term homes. And then you get into the little kind of entry area to the wilds and you start heading, making your way north through the path. Do you guys stay on the trail or are you trying to cut across or how are you going to go north? Because you do go, as you continue to go into the wilds a little bit,
00:51:19
Speaker
there's like a three-way split in the path that goes straight ahead, continuing eastward, or north or south. And you took the eastward one for a while, then headed north to go up to the mountains. You've taken the southern path to go down between the mountains and the hills when you went down and you fought that elk. You've never been on the northern path before.
00:51:42
Speaker
The eastern one is, that was where Delmar was. Correct. You took the eastern path, then you got off the path and had to just travel through the woods for a while. Towards Stone Mountain. Correct. Well, we know it's north. It seems just like it would make more sense to go north.
00:51:56
Speaker
Okay. Path of a lease exit resistance. Yeah. The only, you would know better than, than we would, Krigs, if we took the mountain pass to go through the mountains where we did, I guess, you know, the opposite direction from.
00:52:14
Speaker
From where we found Del Mob, would that be potentially faster or a safer route? I don't think it would be faster. It's definitely going to be lots of mountainous travel.
00:52:30
Speaker
Different dangers than you would expect in the wild, not necessarily more or less dangerous, but I don't know that it would get us any closer, any faster. If anything, it would be potentially more taxing physically, having to climb through the mountains and go through the various tunnels and caves of the dwarven cities.
00:52:52
Speaker
I do remember that there were some dangers in the sky. Gwendolyn pulls out a journal and she looks at the old map that's half torn that she hasn't looked at in a while. It seems like it might be faster to just go the north route, but I've never taken this way. I mean, we're going north, Louis. Just go north. Don't need to make it more confusing than it needs to be.
00:53:18
Speaker
Look, we could go North, we could go North what? I'm just, just kidding. Let's go North. So as you go North, it's a, you've got a good three quarters of a day left to travel before nightfall. And you just as, it's pretty peaceful day of travel. And just as the sun starts to set and you start to think about possibly breaking camp,
00:53:42
Speaker
You kind of come around a group of trees that kind of head up the hill because most of this path winds back towards the hills and then in between.
00:53:53
Speaker
some lower trees and the hills to your left and there's that kind of nestle at the bottom of the hills you see a small village and it's very small and the trees the like not trees but the buildings are made of looks like thatch roof and wood just just lumber you see small creatures kind of scurrying about and as you guys kind of approach
00:54:23
Speaker
Well, do you guys just approach this village or? How curious are we of it? Anyone? Is it in the path? Yeah, the path leads right to it. Does it seem lively? You said there was like animals and stuff scurrying around, but does it seem populated? There are small humanoid creatures walking around in the village. And how long have we been traveling?
00:54:47
Speaker
about a day, almost a whole day. And it's getting into nightfall. You see fires have been lit and things. It's civilization. Yeah. You see jocks are looking pretty solemn, but he's following along, but he's looking at that rapier in his hand. That's what he's doing. From what I know, this could be our last chance to sleep in a warm bed. I'd say we take the chance. That would be nice.
00:55:11
Speaker
Okay, so you, after a day's travel, leaving Wild Hill, you make your way towards this village, you get into, you get to kind of where the entrance of the village is and you see this small goblin run up into the path and he looks up at you all and he says, my friends! And it's Gis. Ah! Gis! With another boy!
00:55:38
Speaker
That's where we're going to leave the episode. Oh, yes. That was a good note. That was good.
00:55:57
Speaker
Thank you for listening to episode one of our second season. We really appreciate you joining us for this adventure. If you enjoyed our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really enjoyed it, tell the world and leave a review. Be sure to check out our shop at thehired.store. And if you want to keep up with us and all what we're up to, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at thehiredswords. Again, thank you for listening.