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Ep. 35 The Trial Of Carmine Stone
145 Plays4 years ago
With the ambush thwarted, we're left in the middle of the wilds with the assassin Carmine Stone and one of his Goblin compatriots. Pressing for information is sure to be a delicate balance, but cooperation aside, we still know this was a targeted attack.
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Transcript
Introduction & Ambush Aftermath
00:00:13
Speaker
previously on the higher swords. With Darnaldi's ambush thwarted, we're left in the middle of the wilds with the assassin, Carmen Stone, and one of his goblin compatriots. Pressing for information is sure to be a delicate balance, but cooperation aside, we still know this was a targeted attack. I suppose all that's left for us to decide
00:00:41
Speaker
is whether Carmen is allowed to live another day, or if we grant him some mercy, if any even remains.
Meet 'The Hired Swords' & Battle Recap
00:01:11
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a D&D podcast where sticks and stones may break my bones, but you gotta break my AC to hurt me. Welcome back to The Hired Swords.
Carmen's Offer & Interrogation
00:01:35
Speaker
We are now
00:01:39
Speaker
the forest just outside of Wild Hill after having had this long drawn-out fight with a bunch of goblins including a more powerful goblin as well as this rogue type character named Carmen Stone who is now ready to parlay he wants to talk because he feels like he may not be able to win this fight now that his goblin buddies have fled so he
00:02:03
Speaker
has asked the party if they'd be willing to chat with him and tell he's telling them he has answers to their questions. And we will pick up there with him saying to them, Listen, you cannot get answers if you kill me. So let us just discuss. Do you doubt that we can find answers without you? I believe you are in this forest. Because
00:02:30
Speaker
you are chasing every rabbit trail that scurries away from you in search of answers, only making yourselves more confused. All right, so let's start with some questions then, and we'll see how long you can live. First, why does Noldi want jocks are here dead? They can't just be for a debt. Noldi is a complicated man.
00:03:01
Speaker
I've only known him for several, just a few years, but he seems to hold grudges and you humiliated him in front of the chief. I think that's all it took. Did I just hear Drenaldi and Gwendolyn starts making her way towards people?
Revealing the Experiment Gone Wrong
00:03:26
Speaker
Hello could could you remove your flying friends I don't believe they will be necessary if we are to parlay. I stand up I get almost nose to nose with him I will not release them until you tell me what's going on.
00:03:46
Speaker
Well, there's a lot going on. I mean, you're going to have to be more specific. I just asked for more specificity. I did not tell you I would not answer your questions. What do you know about these creatures that he's creating? That who was creating? Darnaldi. That wasn't him. That was me. You were creating these creatures. Well, Teld and I thought we could help Darnaldi.
00:04:15
Speaker
increase rates a little bit with a slightly more dangerous hunt.
The Monstrous Boar's Origin
00:04:21
Speaker
We got a little help, made a little concoction. Unfortunately, it was more powerful than we expected, and the creature was not slightly more dangerous, but something like we hadn't seen before. So whether- You got a little bit of help. From whom?
00:04:40
Speaker
Well, that was Darnaldi. He got that for us once I told him what we wanted to do. He said he knew where to get something that would aid us in our efforts, something of the chemical variety. I don't pretend to know how it works or what it is. He had an idea of how to make it work, and so we combined that with some specific breeding and
00:05:09
Speaker
We raised this boar to become something we didn't intend. I'm sorry. I'm confused. You said it was you, but now it's Denaldi that actually provided the things that created it. You are not listening, are you? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please. Listen, what I said was the idea was mine and Telt's. We decided.
00:05:33
Speaker
that we wanted to do something. We were just going to breed these creatures, find the fiercest, meanest ones, breed them together to create a fiercer, meaner creature for our little rich people to hunt.
00:05:48
Speaker
Unfortunately, it wasn't going well. We asked Arnaldi what he thought. He said, I have an idea. He brought us this, whatever this thing was. We had these, these boars eat while they were in their gestation period before, before giving birth. And it, one of the boars did not die at birth and it became this thing that I hear you dispatched.
Carmen's Mercenary Proposal
00:06:12
Speaker
Well done, by the way.
00:06:13
Speaker
Well, appreciate. Did that also extend to the black blood bear that was just dispatched?
00:06:22
Speaker
The Black Blood Bear, that is an interesting sounding name. I haven't, I want to enjoy alliteration, but I have not created a creature like that. It sounds interesting and perhaps I wish I could take credit, but no, I don't know what you're talking about. What other creatures did you create?
00:06:44
Speaker
Oh, well, nothing really. We really just made some boars and some wolves, and really though, none of them were. The only thing we ever successfully created with that concoction was the one boar. I told you I had answers. I don't mind telling you the truth. I'm simply a sword for hire, just like you are. I just pretty much just work only for one person lately. You sickened me.
Debating Carmen's Fate
00:07:09
Speaker
Okay, that's fair. I slap him.
00:07:13
Speaker
Right in the face. Make an attack roll. Okay. Just add your strength modifier to it. That's it. I don't know about that. 15 minus two 13. He leans back a little bit and your hand flies in front of his face. And he just kind of he just kind of looks at you confused like I don't understand your frustration. Aren't we all just people doing our jobs? Isn't that why you're out here?
00:07:45
Speaker
This is when the moment that Gwendolyn just loses it and she's just gonna continue slapping him. She wants to kill him. Until someone stops her, she's going after this guy. A small question. So I had my shielding aura up still. And when it goes away, it deals essentially four damage. I don't know when that would have happened.
00:08:12
Speaker
So it goes away and deals four damage to you? No, to the enemies within 10 feet of me. Any enemies, not any creatures? Let me double check, but I'm pretty sure it's just enemies. If a hostile creature ends its turn within 10 feet of you, it takes radiant damage equal to your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier.
00:08:40
Speaker
OK, so it's when it ends its turn. So if that aura has stayed up, then he's definitely he may have taken that first bit of damage. But he's trying to stay back out of that aura. OK, well, it's it's just the moment he ends and then the aura goes away. So that was I just didn't know if that would be. Yeah, because he interrupted with his question before his turn. So right. OK, so yeah, he took that for damage right at the end of all that before all this happened. It was kind of hard.
00:09:08
Speaker
kind of a part of that whole combat part, but I just did the math on it for his character here. Two, and Gwendolyn, as you're trying to swing out to strike him, he's going to reach out and try to grab your wrists, make a contested string check against him as he tries to stop you from just not in any kind of way that's like an attack against you, just trying to hold your hand so you can't swing at him anymore. Yeah.
00:09:34
Speaker
And like, while this is happening, she's just... How could you have done this? Why did you do this? You sicken me, just... How is a eight?
00:09:46
Speaker
Well, he rolled a six. So as you swing, as you swing, he's like trying to grab it and you kind of smack him across his face. You're not doing any damage. You're not hurting him in any way. He's just annoyed more than anything. And he's just kind of trying to push you away. I'm going to use my telekinesis hand now to pull, um, Gwen back five feet.
Darnaldi's Abilities & Escape Plans
00:10:07
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Okay. Do you want to, and I'm going to, so if you're contesting it, you have to do a 15 string check. Oh, that's fine. You can fail on your own though.
00:10:17
Speaker
Oh my god, how's the one dirty one? So you get yanked back by feet. I'm going to step right into her place. OK, so she's swinging. What are you doing? She's swinging and out of nowhere, she just like slides backwards, her arms, her hands still slapping out like she's trying to hit.
00:10:33
Speaker
Hit Carmen and so she slides back five feet Davin steps in his inner place and she kind of smacks him a little bit in his hair behind his head as she's Kind of big traded places there a little bit and he steps in just like completely ignoring her until he gets slapped in the back of the head He's like listen here. He's like stop stop. What you did this? Why why you do this? Oh Slap him Lord
00:11:03
Speaker
Listen. Go ahead. I'm not going to listen. I know. We need answers and then we can slap the hell out of him. That's up to you. All right. Next question on the list, Carmen. Do you have any more of this chemical left? No, no, no. We we used all of it. We gave it to as many pregnant boys as we could. We knew it wouldn't take probably. But the fact that it did for one.
00:11:33
Speaker
We were surprised, but we were glad until at least it broke free. Where didn't all they get it from? That I do not know. It is not that I don't want to tell you. It's that I do not know for sure. I swear by my life and my sword that I do not know.
00:11:52
Speaker
Question. If you do make it back and take your reward, what is Darnaldi gonna do when we return to you? Are you still gonna be able to work for him? I will not. I will have to disappear. He is a very dangerous man. Far more dangerous than any of us here. I will have to disappear. But I'm good at doing so and will do so. It would be far away before he realizes what has happened.
Carmen's Disappearance & Group's Next Steps
00:12:18
Speaker
What's the bounty on my head?
00:12:22
Speaker
Well, he offered me 300 gold pieces. Well, we'll have to take a vote on exactly what we ought to do here, but my suggestion to the group...
00:12:37
Speaker
Whatever we want to do with him is up to us. If we want to kill him, I'm not going to stop either one of you. But I think that we have a better opportunity if we use him as a witness against Analdi, against his crimes, against us. I do not think you understand how dangerous he is. He can do things that you've probably never seen before.
00:13:07
Speaker
Are you scared for us or for yourself? I am scared for us all, to be honest, possibly this entire town. Devin, I doubt Carmen will be available for
00:13:27
Speaker
as a witness in this stead. However, the tied-up goblin might be mildly more useful. Are you still threatening me? Cartman says.
00:13:39
Speaker
I'm saying that you said you were going to leave town as soon as possible. I don't take you as a strong willed enough to work against Durnaldi since you seem so scared. That is where you are correct, yes. You have to understand. I have seen him do things.
00:14:03
Speaker
You're a survivor, Carmen. I understand that completely. That's exactly right. I am a survivor. I didn't get where I am, didn't get this far by putting myself in harm's way, and I don't plan to do so now. Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I find myself in this situation. I did not expect such worthy foes, and I also
00:14:31
Speaker
Expected to keep everyone distracted while I handled you it almost worked until your Short friend here started wielding his hammer against me. I must say he packs quite the punch That's when when you bring friends along it's a little easier. I suppose Well, that's something I've no experience in at all. I must say
00:14:56
Speaker
So I'm going to I'm going to look around at everyone and just ask, are we through here? Do we have any other questions for Carmen? Unless he wants to hand off his sword. For his life, possibly. Well, excuse me, my sword on my life. I thought we were having a parlay. There are rules of engagement, are there not? I haven't. Gwen, do you have any other questions for Carmen?
00:15:28
Speaker
I- I can't- You get one more slap in. Go ahead Gwen, one more slap if you feel you need it. Gwendolyn just- She's so angry, her- her teal eyes are like a bright angry blue. She is just- She starts to take a step. And she pauses.
00:15:57
Speaker
I just want him out of my sight. Or dead. Carmen, this is how this is gonna work. You're going to stand up. You're going to gather your things. You're going to walk as far away from Wild Hill as you possibly can. If we cross paths again, I cannot guarantee your safety, at least from my companions here. But for right now,
00:16:24
Speaker
you you have our favor you put up a good fight but if I ever see one of your boards again I will find you well there is only one of those well there were
00:16:41
Speaker
So he's the one who makes the decisions for you, I see. That's... That's fair. He looks to be one who has experience, I guess. I don't think you understand how I said this was going to work. We are done talking. You don't have any more questions. Interesting. Okay. Done. That's fair. That's fair. I, uh... I will take... I'll take my friend here and, uh... No. You're leaving your friend here.
00:17:10
Speaker
Listen, I don't know if you can ensure me his safety. I've been training him these last few weeks since his father was killed, and he looks a jockser. Oh, that's such a shame. You all confuse me. You carry yourselves as heroes, but it seems like you only fight for yourselves. But I will go. He starts to slowly
00:17:40
Speaker
back towards the stones kind of behind over where Kriegs is standing and kind of back away slowly trying to keep an eye on everybody as he does so. And you guys are gonna let him just, are you gonna let him walk away? You know, if you think that we're only fighting for ourselves, you can come with us and we can fight together against this. We can stop whatever's going on in this town. Right now, the way I see it,
00:18:07
Speaker
You are what is going on in this town. Think about that, will you? And
Goblin Insights & Strategy Session
00:18:15
Speaker
he backs away more. He's going slowly still, but he's backing away from you towards the trees. Gwendolyn whispers, oh, Dale, you can't have caught him. And he gets back into this first tree that's about 20 feet away as he's backing away slowly, and it looks like he just vanishes.
00:18:39
Speaker
I don't agree with that, Krigs, but I'll leave it as is. What were we going to do, kill him? Yes. Yes. For the first time. And she's very happy that he has her back.
00:19:02
Speaker
Why did you interfere? Why didn't we just... He caused most of this. He's just a pawn. He was hired. He's not the problem. He could be a pawn in another game.
00:19:18
Speaker
He doesn't care about us. He was in it for the money. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him back in town collecting his 300 gold. If we see him, he's done something terribly wrong. He needs to get the money before we appear or Darnaldi's going to have his head. How are we going to stop Darnaldi? Joxer's going to walk over to the goblin that is restrained and stand him up.
00:19:46
Speaker
Okay. Look a little more somber and apologize in common. Just, I'm sorry about your father. It is no consolation. He responds and he says, you're right. No consolation. Let me go. I'm unsure that we can do that.
00:20:16
Speaker
You want Carmen to die? Let me go. I'll tell Darnaldi. I wanted him to die here with his sword intact. Dying by Darnaldi doesn't mean anything to me. Well, I don't mean anything to him. I don't know what you keep me tied up here for. That's more for the chief.
00:20:43
Speaker
If we go to speak with him, I don't want to get charged for more goblins. Chief doesn't know. He doesn't know about this. He doesn't know about us. That's why you're going to follow us. Okay. I guess I just wanted to take care of animals. That's all. That's all I wanted. That's all I care about. He's just all. He's just frustrated.
00:21:13
Speaker
this predicament now, you can tell he's just kind of over it. Take care of the animals. Do you mean to tend to the animals that you've been growing? Yeah, yes. At the village, we have
00:21:38
Speaker
We take care of the boars and wolves and other animals that are for the hunts, but we raised them. I don't like to send them off, but we have to. That's why we raised them. And this has been going on for years, I'm sure, decades or more. My father did it until he was the guide, and I did it, and now I'm the guide. I understand. Because he's gone. So this whole hunt, this whole thing is just fabricated.
00:22:11
Speaker
Devin, I believe it's just for the hunt for the rich folk, not the enemies that we've been dealing in dispatching. Who's to say? Maybe everything that we've been hunting as well has been just for show, just for the hell of it.
00:22:31
Speaker
I start to walk, Gwyn starts to walk closer to the goblin. What about the bear creature? I don't know bear. Bears do dangerous. We just do boars and sometimes small wolves and no bears. I don't think at least this part of Denaldi's
00:23:00
Speaker
business is at fault for what's happening in Wild Hill currently. I think we need to find out where Denaldi got that chemical or whatever it is they used to build to make this boar. Obviously he got it from somebody else and obviously that person is using it as well. That's one of my guesses. Are you familiar with how they created that boar?
00:23:26
Speaker
They didn't let us do anything. My father could, but he couldn't talk about it. No, not much. I just dealt with the regular ones. Do you know where Denaldi stays regularly? He's kind of here and there, but I think he has a house in the village, the nicer one.
00:23:54
Speaker
Devin, I'm going to take a jump here, and this is probably related to the things that Hurley brings in. Specialty items, I'm sure. Well, let's head back to our town then. Who are we going to see? Do we need to talk to the Chief? Should we go straight to Denali? Can one of you give me a little bit more...
00:24:22
Speaker
healing. I'm not feeling super great. Yes. You got him. Yeah. Uh, I'm going to walk over to jockser and use my staff of healing. Let me see how much you get. Let's do. Mascure wounds. Oh geez.
00:24:52
Speaker
I just need just a little bit. Just top me off a little bit. Just warm up the cup. I'm down two hit points. Everyone gets 70 hit points. How much is Kriegs down? Kriegs is down some. A significant amount. Yeah. I'm at like 20%. He's about 50%. We're looking a little rough.
Debating Deception vs. Confrontation
00:25:18
Speaker
I'm down a little bit too, not too bad.
00:25:21
Speaker
Gwen's down by 30 hit points. She's almost down to 50%. Wouldn't mind walking in a little fresher to Wild Hill. Alright, let's do 3d8 plus my spell casting ability, which is 7. Ooh, that's good.
00:25:46
Speaker
Seven, 14, 15, 16. Sweet. Was that just to him or was that to everybody? I was to everybody. I'll take 16. Six creatures and radius. I'm not breathing completely labored anymore. I'm back to full. Nice. I am not. I'm still at half.
00:26:16
Speaker
The only question for this group I have, is there any reason to let Denaldi believe that I'm dead? Hmm. That could be interesting, I suppose. It's probably safe to say he's going to assume the attack didn't go well whenever Carmen doesn't arrive back for his earnings. Oh, he's probably already made it back.
00:26:42
Speaker
That was his plan. He said he was going there before we made it back so he could get his earnings and get out. If you think he didn't do that, then I don't know what hole you dug yourself in. How far from town are we? You're about 45 minutes or so. Walk. We can try to beat him. How does that say? Go ahead. What reason is there to beat him? I don't care if he gets 300 gold.
00:27:11
Speaker
Well, we can get 300 gold. So, my head? That doesn't work out that way. Why not? Well, what if they think Joxus is dead? What if we can surprise Jinaldi? Would it be worth using that to our advantage? Gwyn Shrugs. I'm just thinking the money would be nice.
00:27:41
Speaker
He's not going to pay us for my head. I'm very confused, Devin. He doesn't have to pay us. And Devin's going to cast Alt herself and he's going to turn himself into Carmen. Oh God. Awesome. Okay. He says he's going to play Carmen. Oh, well, the problem is we don't know. Do you, do you know where the exchange would be?
00:28:12
Speaker
You're talking to the goblin? Yes. He says, I don't know. We never find Darnaldi. He always finds us. Yeah, that's what I figured. I'm not sure it's worth taking away the concept or the potential of having one up on Darnaldi. Well, we could probably use it to confuse him as well.
00:28:42
Speaker
Or maybe we could trick him somehow. We could get him somehow to confess to the chief of what he's done, or tell us maybe more information about where he got from this chemical or something from.
00:28:58
Speaker
Well, if that was the case, I'd imagine it would be after he already received his money, we would try to reappear as him, but that would be a huge risk for your life standing in front. I don't know, Krigs, what are your opinions on this?
00:29:21
Speaker
The way I see it, you've nothing but questioned my decisions the entire time we've been here. If you feel it is not imperative to speak with Denaldi, then don't. If
Returning to Wild Hill with Evidence
00:29:31
Speaker
you feel there's no advantage, that's an acceptable option as well, but as it stands right now, we're standing in the wilds, having just been ambushed, trying to decide if we are going to go back into Wild Hill and continue some rogue-ish ruse.
00:29:53
Speaker
Although I questioned your decision, I did not doubt it for letting Carmen go. My consideration right now is whether we use the fact that Darnaldi is assuming I'm going to be dead or try to get the one up and risk Daven's life using an illusion. Daven turns back into himself. I'm not worried about getting caught. I don't think that's going to be an issue. Oh, thank God.
00:30:24
Speaker
This whole entire time Gwen couldn't stare at Daven when he turned in. And so when she hears him turn back, she's like, Oh, great. Carmen seemed very fearful of the things that that elf could do. And I would, I would not doubt a survivor like him. What are we doing if we go back to town?
00:30:50
Speaker
That's the question. Do we hide me away and I stay in Bogota while we devise things in case it would be useful to find me dead? Or do we go straight to the chief with this one to explain the situation we were in? Or I suppose both.
00:31:17
Speaker
You could even tell the chief I'm dead. I'm not sure this one would follow along, at least not without proper motivation. I just don't see exactly what the benefit is for, for having you be dead. And I, that was the question. If there's no benefit, then there's no reason. I just don't hear in circles. Here's what we have. We have a prisoner. The prisoner was one of those that ambushed us that has information that could incriminate Denaldi towards the chief.
00:31:47
Speaker
We have about a 45 minute walk back to Wild Hill. We have to somehow get the prisoner willingly back to Wild Hill. Not that difficult. He's tied up and no offense, rather small. He looks like a biter. As far as I'm concerned, we have one direction and that is forward.
00:32:15
Speaker
then let's move that way. If we have any opinion changes, then we'll take it as is. I apologize. What was your name? Sorry, I didn't catch it whenever you said it earlier. And that's to the goblin. My name's Gis. Gis, I apologize. Would you like me to carry you or would you like to walk? We're going back to Wild Hill.
00:32:45
Speaker
I guess I'll walk. I can't get away.
00:32:48
Speaker
That's fair. He tries to kind of sit himself up, stand himself. Well, you already stood him up. So he starts to kind of walk off a little bit and you know, it's tied down past his knee. So it's just the little like barely able to move his pants around your ankles when the toilet paper's across the room. I'm sorry, I guess. I'll take you and please forgive me. I am not trying to demean you anymore than we are. I just
00:33:18
Speaker
Unfortunately, you are currently a prisoner. I've gathered, gathered that, I guess. Okay. And I'll pick him up over my shoulder or maybe up on my back, however, whatever's easiest and start- Like a fireman carry kind of thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll just, okay. You hold him up on your back and begin walking towards Wild Hill. And begin walking towards Wild Hill.
00:33:49
Speaker
Awesome. So you begin heading back to Wild Hill. It's a good, like I said, 30-45 minutes and finally the trees kind of open up there to where you can see
00:34:07
Speaker
The adventures camp in the distance a few people there. It's not super busy It's a little later now then you would have you would have made it It's it's near sunset at this point starting to get that kind of golden orange haze in the sky and as you begin to walk you start to feel the exhaustion of the day set in it's been a long day and you Walk past the adventures camp and they're sort of partying and hanging out those that are there
00:34:39
Speaker
And the crowd's a little thin this time. It seems like more folks have kind of headed off on adventures and stuff these last couple of days. So there's fewer people in Wild Hill today, but where do you go as you enter town? Do we want to go to the tower testing and see if we can get some attention?
00:35:06
Speaker
I think that's probably our best plan. We don't want to sit here with the prisoner for a couple of days. Uh, Gwendolyn's looking at her bag. No, Dale, I'm not getting you a knife. I can protect this. Take a nap. Did the methods go away too or no? Yeah, they would have gone away when I started hitting. Oh, okay. Got it.
00:35:34
Speaker
because I lost concentration. Well, I think concentration is only whenever you get attacked, right? You can concentrate technically, but she can narratively say she's right. Right. I think the only last like a minute anyway. Oh, yeah. Well, it's a minute. It's a minute. She went into a barbarian style rage and just lost it. All right. So you guys are in town. Yeah. To the tower. Let's see if we can find Tomba. He seems the most useful.
00:36:05
Speaker
All right, so you approach the tower and make a perception check as you walk towards the tower. That's a seven. 13. 17. 21. Okay, Craig's and Gwendolyn, you both notice beyond the tower, you see,
00:36:31
Speaker
You see a little slim walking away from the Tower of Testing. You remember Slim
Planning at the Tower of Testing
00:36:35
Speaker
from the next announcement? Yeah. He's walking away. Back towards the longhouse, that direction, he's walking that way. Besides that, you don't see anybody else really around other than a couple adventurers here and there just kind of standing around talking with cups of ale they've gotten from the longhouse or the camp.
00:36:59
Speaker
Joxer's going to put down Giss and kind of stretch out his back. Oh, God. That was a little bit more than I expected. When you put down the goblin, you start to catch a couple of eyes, side eyes from folks standing around who now realize what you had on your back when you walked in.
00:37:23
Speaker
They kind of look at each other and look at you and just have this face like, why are they carrying a goblin? They get the deadest, angriest stare. Make an intimidation check. That is a 16. That's not too bad. Didn't expect that. They walk away. Oh, OK. And they just kind of scurry off, figure this is none of their business. That's just not the day. OK.
00:37:51
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, the tower testing is there that the doors are closed. But I mean, you see you can see lamplight inside through the windows and stuff, but. And Slim had just left. Yeah, he was walking away. It looked like he had he had walked out just a minute or two before you guys started walking up towards it. Does he have anything in his hands? Your perception check was a twenty one. He he was carrying like a shoulder satchel.
00:38:25
Speaker
I don't want to detour us as a player. I got it. I can head upstairs if whatever you guys want to do, we should have enough evidence. Evidence?
00:38:42
Speaker
Tomba no that was sorry I Knew I was becoming a little more Tomba than I meant. It's been Tomba the whole time Yeah, come with me please um Sorry, um
00:39:05
Speaker
What do you mean? I'm sorry. I can't do it now. Yeah. No, you just came out of nowhere with it. So I was like, oh, he came back. My apologies. Beautiful. But now I cannot be Tomba. Yeah. Maybe it was never that different. It wasn't. It was just really light. It was light. It was Tomba light. Tomba light.
00:39:30
Speaker
I guess, continue on the evidence. He was just going to say, oh, I'm just evidence. Okay. I'm just evidence. Fine. You're a prisoner. You have to be something. You're a witness. I like that better. I have no problems letting you go if everything works out all right, but you need to cooperate with us. You need to tell the truth about exactly what happened.
00:39:59
Speaker
But if Tarnaldi finds out, I think I'm dead either way. I'll make sure that you return to the farm to be with the animals. Gis, if we might need to take you in for a little bit, depending, but I would not mind protecting you while we straighten things out.
00:40:33
Speaker
I guess I'm your prisoner. You have to do what you have to do. All right. Terrible people. I guess I'll pick up gifts again and start walking up the stairs. But this will be more like coddling, left-handed, carrying your toddler.
00:40:57
Speaker
These little legs try to wrap around your waist. Yeah. Probably in. In a not very popular move. Krigs is or I'm going to just look up at Davin. You guys got this, I. I
Meeting with Tomba & Gathering Support
00:41:15
Speaker
don't have the energy for this, and I'm going to walk on and let them go in. OK. You haven't got to stare at him while he walks off, but he's not going to say anything.
00:41:24
Speaker
Okay. I'm walking towards widow Tolliver's house. Okay. So as you begin to walk away, they begin to, they go up and knock on the door of the tower of testing and the door just, and it cracks open and a face of a female elf looks out. What do you need? What is it?
00:41:54
Speaker
Is the chief available? He's here. Is this important or? My life was taken moments ago or about an hour ago, if that seems important to you. Your life was... One minute and she shuts the door back and you stand there 20 seconds, 30 seconds. You hear footsteps heading back towards the door.
00:42:23
Speaker
The door opens, and there it stands, Tomba. And he says, who died? That'd be me. But you're standing, you're standing right there. I was revived. You have some very powerful friends. Seems so.
00:42:43
Speaker
Come on in. It sounds like there was some shady business. I'll hear what you have to say, and maybe I'll go grab the chief if necessary. But what's going on? Who's your friend? Oh, Gis, what are you doing here? Did we start walking in yet, or is he still talking to Gis in my hands?
00:43:05
Speaker
I'm imagining you're like walking in as he's talking to you and like summoning you over to those tables that sit along the side. Okay, so as we're walking down, walking in and he notices Gis, I'll be putting him down and trying to untie him. Okay. Gis, just as you're untying him, Gis goes, Hey, Tomba. Yeah. Long story. It's not a long story. The Naldi tried to kill us.
00:43:30
Speaker
Well, let's make sure the direction is pointed to who who is meant for. Well, he tried to have us killed. He did kill you. No, he didn't kill you. You're standing right there. Technicalities, don't worry about it. The fact is he hired somebody to kill us or at least kill him.
00:43:55
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I don't think, I don't recall an assassination mission coming through to be approved by the chief. So that does sound like a breach of contract. So he will be fined. Gis, can you at least verify that this thing happened and then I don't mind what you do? Well, yeah, I guess so. So,
00:44:26
Speaker
Carmen came and got me and said I needed to gather some of the archers and we were to go down to the trail. He said when we saw the monk with the blue cover on his head to spring an attack and that's what we did.
00:44:50
Speaker
He told me on the way that Darnoldi needed this guy eliminated because he had insulted him or something, but I don't know. It's hard being the goblins here. We just have to do what we're told most of the time. Yes. Gis ended up not being involved, but he was there. So I don't want his name mentioned in any of this. Gis looks at you.
00:45:18
Speaker
Make an insight check as Gis looks at you when you say that. Oh, that's a 10. Okay, his eyes are just big and it's kind of interesting the look on his face. It makes you feel a little compassion when you look at him, that's it. But then Toma just, oh, okay, okay.
00:45:45
Speaker
Now, not only are unsanctioned missions not allowed, but going after hunters who are coin bearers, this is definitely not good. I think I'm going to have to get the chief to hear your story. Is that okay? That's great. Okay, I'll do that. Just stay here.
00:46:07
Speaker
Drinks for them please. He yells and starts to scurry off a little bit or kind of limp off with this cane actually towards this area back behind the bookshelves that are over to the left and somebody comes out from around that same area with a tray with drinks and you see somebody running up the stairs over to the left there behind those bookshelves or stairs that go up and they're running up.
00:46:38
Speaker
You can sit and drink drinks, and you're kind of waiting right now. Yeah, Joxie is just going to chug the drink. It's all in. Yeah, okay. I'm going to lean over to Gwen and say, I'm a little worried about our dwarf friends. There's definitely something bad going on with him. I'm worried. Like what?
00:47:01
Speaker
I don't want to overstep and say too much, but I think we need to maybe help him have a conversation. I'm not really sure, but we need to have a conversation about it when we're done with this. That's fair. Devin, I'm also sorry I slapped you. It's all right. You're not very strong.
00:47:21
Speaker
Oh, shut up, Dale. She just kind of awkwardly leans away and yells at her purse. Um, before she talks to Davin, she's going to watch Tomba walk around. Okay. Cause something doesn't feel right with him. Make an insight check again. 14 plus four 18.
00:47:50
Speaker
Yeah, he's limping around like he does, but every now and then you just see the rhythm of his walking. It's not using that cane. It's so weird. He gets a skip. Maybe. He starts doing the Charleston. He starts full on tap dancing and you're like, wait a second. Some's not right. Yeah.
00:48:18
Speaker
Um, and then after, after a few minutes, you hear this booming voice from up above. Okay. Okay. What's going on? And the chief walks down the stairs and comes over and sits at a table near you there. And, um, uh, you see jocks his head just kind of like nod, but then kind of like.
00:48:39
Speaker
lay his head down forward a little bit.
Addressing Darnaldi's Breach of Contract
00:48:43
Speaker
I am not one to bother in hours that don't make sense, but here I am doing the same. Denaldi apparently did not take full compensation of what we did before, and he decided my life was not worth keeping.
00:49:04
Speaker
Are you saying he tried to kill you? That is true. He went against your wishes in your command and he hired somebody to come and kill him. Yeah. Thomas said there was an unsanctioned contract. Um, during all these interesting, uh, he sometimes thinks he can take matters into his own hands. Well, how bad was the damage? Currently not that bad, but I at minimum wanted to inform you. I mean, I, I died.
00:49:34
Speaker
and was brought back, or at least almost died, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. I see. I was also informed that Denaldi is able to do things that are very dangerous to this town. Who told you that? Someone that apparently considered himself a solid hire for him, Carmen.
00:50:02
Speaker
Carmen, that guy, he'll tell you anything just to get a piece of gold out of your coin bag. I don't know anything about. There are all these things to me just to be a dumb, rich man who thinks he can just swing his money around and do whatever he wants, you know? Devin immediately starts going through his coin purse to make sure he's not missing any money. Where is Tomba? Make an investigation check. Tomba's standing by the table while you guys are talking.
00:50:30
Speaker
How far away is he from me? Ten feet. Ten. Okay. All of these roles happen and then I got a question. You think you have all your gold, Daven. What's your question, Gwen? If you don't mind, Tomba, can you show me to the outhouse?
00:50:52
Speaker
Oh, oh, oh, sure. Sure. We, we have, uh, yeah. Uh, come this way. There's, there's this space back here behind, behind here. Come here this way. And he starts to walk away. Follow me, please. Uh, I, excuse me. And I get up and I run over towards Tomba and I placed my hand on his, on a shoulder and I whisper, you don't really need that cane. Do you? What else are you hiding?
00:51:22
Speaker
All right, are you trying to how are you trying to say this? I am trying to say that super quietly as if I'm talking to Dale. Yeah.
00:51:33
Speaker
And I won't ask it until we are far away from the chief and close to the outdoors. So are you trying to like freak him out or are you just trying to convince him to tell you something or what? Correct. I'm not really intimidating. I'm just talking to Tomba. Make a persuasion check when you say that. See if he'll answer your question. Oh no.
00:52:02
Speaker
How's the three? OK, he says, well, of course I need it. And I mean, I don't have very many secrets. I just kind of work here for the chief, you know. Over there. And he points over to a like section of the the side on the outside of the of the tent or the tower here that is
00:52:29
Speaker
kind of built out a little bit with extra like hide fabric that has a little split in it so you can go in and inside there, there's a little chamber pot. He points over to that is that that's where Yeah, they'll empty that tomorrow. So sorry, it's kind of it's kind of used right now. I'm gonna do dispel magic before I lift my hand on him. Oh, dispel magic. Okay.
00:52:55
Speaker
Gwen being all sneaky and everything here. A sneaky person. I love it. She's so versatile. She can sneak up on you or slap you in the face. What level are you casting it at? It'll have to be third level. Third level. Okay. So you're going to have to make a check on that. Come on, Dale Dice. Right?
00:53:23
Speaker
Can I add my spell attack bonus? Yes. It's five plus seven, so 12. Okay. So you cast the spell and Tomba looks up at you and blinks twice and then shakes his head and says, right there, it's right there if you need it. Otherwise, can I go back in? Is that okay?
00:53:56
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. He limps back into the... I go.
00:54:04
Speaker
OK. Chief, I I can't say for certain exactly how jokes are feels, but to me, I don't want compensation for what he's done. I want him banished from this town. If he's just some idiot with money, you've got plenty of people like that around here, as it is. What does he bring to this town exactly? Anyways, these creatures for the rich men to hunt, they're all raised by Giss here anyways. But Giss in charge, get rid of the other man. Get rid of get rid of Donald, you think? Talnadi has done nothing good for this town.
00:54:35
Speaker
I can definitely guarantee that I would not trust Donaldi in his current state. I don't have to trust you to do business with you. I don't trust any of you, yet here we are. If I based who I did business with based on trust, I would be a very poor, lonely man.
00:55:00
Speaker
I don't... I'm not sure this is a... Just please be wary of Don Nelty. Don't look at him as just a simple, rich man at minimum. Just be weary. I appreciate your concern. Honestly, it has been a while since anyone besides my wives have worried about me, but...
00:55:26
Speaker
I will say I appreciate it.
Chief's Decision & Closing Remarks
00:55:29
Speaker
I also appreciate you coming to me with this issue. I will talk to him about it. And I assure you, Joxer, if he wants to maintain business in this town, he will no longer put out contracts on people who I consider hired swords. Do you understand? I do. And if it all possible, please, please leave Giss's name out of it.
00:55:55
Speaker
He should be tending to the animals and enjoying whatever life he intends to live. I guess that's fine. I can keep the goblin out of it. I appreciate it. Is that all? Yes, but Carmen, please mention his name with flying colors. He was quite the individual.
00:56:22
Speaker
That man, I think he's got away with a few of my gold pieces even, and that's not easy to do, I'll say.
00:56:32
Speaker
I'm a little sad to know that my head was only 300 gold pieces, but I suppose that's enough. Um, also 300. Well, maybe you should have killed more goblins. No, no, no, no. That's a joke. There, there have been more goblins who have died in that exchange. So. Well, it's a little different when he sent them after you, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. He won't be coming to me about it. I guarantee that. I hope not. If he does this, at least a dozen.
00:57:01
Speaker
Unfortunately. Yes, well, the village is going to be thin soon. It looks like if he keeps using them in that way, that's not very wise of him. He must have really got under his skin. I'm good at that, I suppose. Well, we all have our talents. So anything you would be anything else you wanted to say now that we're here, Daven? I know it's a little late.
00:57:32
Speaker
So what is the punishment for, for what he did? Oh, uh, he'll pay a pretty penny and a fine. He'll pay a fee and I'll probably keep his business shut down for a little while. Uh, I probably won't make guesswork for him anymore either. We'll see. Let, let guests make that decision. Sure. Sure. The goblin can choose. I guess it's kind of out of the ordinary, but, uh,
00:58:02
Speaker
I did take his father, unfortunately. Oh, that... Oh... Yeah, Teld was his father. Oh, he spoke for you. He must have made an impression. He's... I'm sure Teld was just as honorable as... as him, I... I didn't really know him, I don't know. Gwen, pinch it off, it's time to go. Oh, God.
00:58:33
Speaker
Thanks for giving us your time chief. Oh, do you, do you have a name as well? Or do we just call you chief? Um, chief, I've gone by chief for longer than I can remember. And you're the chief chief. I'll call you wherever you want. Can I beg for another, another drink? Don't beg, please come serve them another. He yells out in a,
00:59:01
Speaker
young, looking, uh, Elvish woman kind of walks over with a tray with drinks and lays three more down and I must retire. I'm sorry. And he stands up as you can begin to drink, stay as long as you need. Uh, enjoy. Tell, uh, uh, Tomba here will see to it that you're taking care of. And he begins to walk towards the stairs to leave. Thank you, chief. Of course. Well, I feel like we thoroughly accomplished nothing.
00:59:31
Speaker
I don't know if there was much to accomplish here. I don't think our answer was from getting information from the chief. I think what we needed was to get information from Denaldi. Yeah. That's, that's next in line. Krigs. You approach widow Tolliver's house and she's doesn't seem to be there. Door's closed.
01:00:01
Speaker
Windows are pulled shut. But leaning up against the wall, looking at you, you see the elven ranger that traveled with Sariah's party, the young one. She's a half-elf. As you get closer, you can tell her ears aren't quite as long as regular elves. She's wearing her brown hood. She looks up at you.
01:00:29
Speaker
And when you approach, her eyes kind of light up and she stands up like she's ready to talk to you. Hello there. Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of The Hired Swords. If you liked our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really liked our show, tell the world. Leave a review.
01:00:58
Speaker
If you want to keep up with us and get all the behind the scenes goofs and gaffs, you can find us on Twitter and Facebook at The Hired Swords. Again, thank you for listening.