Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 110 The Trial of the Hired Swords
40 Plays7 days ago
The Swords have made a daring attempt at escape. How, then, did they end up on trial? What are they accused of and how will they get out of this one?
Recommended
Transcript
Introducing The Hired Swords
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords, a Dungeons & Dragons 5e actual play podcast. But this is episode 110, so why am I telling you what you're listening to?
Meet the Players: Davin and Gwynn
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Hired Swords. I am your Dungeon Master, Michael, and I am here with Derek. He plays Davin. Hi, Derek. Are you guys ready? One, two, three. One, two, three. doo do doo doo doo doo do You guys are join in? He's dropping the bass line. Blaze is here, too, on percussion.
00:01:01
Speaker
He plays Craig's. Boom, cat, boom, cat, cat, cat, boom, boom. Cat, cat, cat, cat, boom, boom. On the piano is Gwynn. That's played by Ash.
00:01:14
Speaker
yeah Is that one of those little kid toy pianos that we had when we were a kid? I was thinking of the Halo. go And we got Joxer over here. he is skilled at the banjo.
00:01:27
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. i only got the oboe. Dude, I was about to say oboe and I changed it to banjo. That's really funny. I'm sorry. The didgeridoo. Didgeridoo. Oh, the didgeridoo. Yeah. Oh, man. That's a good one. I'm kidding. And I'm Michael. I play kazoo. Whatever. um So in editing, I'm going to put all those together and see what it sounds like.
Escape from the Almanora Jail
00:01:50
Speaker
It's perfect. Oh, my God. ah So ah when we left off, we were in the jail of the Almanora elves. ah We had the the party had solved some magic puzzles and some things to be able to get out of to be able to cast spells so they could get out of the jail cell.
00:02:09
Speaker
They had encountered a man in the neighboring cell who seemed to just kind of be a crazy man dancing it around singing these enchantments about some body coming back and doing something. And ah The guards came down to hear what was going on, the commotion, and right as Davin was heading up the stairs, invisible. He was able to tuck himself away until they came all the way down. He then cast a spell to swap out the guards for the rest of the party that was still in the jail cell, trapping the guards in the jail cell for just a short time since their wands opened the door.
00:02:46
Speaker
They popped themselves out of there, started fighting with... with the party as one of them escaped up to the upper level up the stairs.
A Mysterious Prophecy
00:02:55
Speaker
The party, our our group here, the the hired swords were able to subdue these this these guards and this mage even after taking some damage from some cold blasts of magic and they subdued them. They tied them up. They are now sitting tied up ah bound, I assume gagged where they can't speak and stuff in the corner as the party
00:03:20
Speaker
begins to approach and open the gate to where their neighboring jail cell member was. As Gwen starts to go inside there, he looks at her, this man, and said, oh, it's you.
00:03:35
Speaker
And that is where we left off. Gwen, what is your response? Of course it's me. Just, I was sitting, just kind of looks down because she had turned away. Uh-huh.
00:03:48
Speaker
I was in the jail. I just turned around to the other guys. I don't know what to do. They said you would return and you're here. What? what Sounds like your prophecy, Gwen.
00:04:01
Speaker
And he begins to shake his head. oh um ah ah ah I don't know. And make perception checks as he does that. Okay. Me too? I can do it too? Yeah, whoever's watching him. If you're seeing the guy, do it.
00:04:15
Speaker
Well, you know, his ah his image is kind of blanked out. So we're a little confused. Oh, on the on the map. Yeah, he's just a hooded figure on the map. 12. That's a three.
00:04:29
Speaker
here's the deal. I feel like I got really good eyes. Can I get advantage?
00:04:36
Speaker
and No. Derek players, other players listening to this now, always try to push for, you know, push, you're just bully your DM and may as well ask the the worst he's going do is say no. and Yep. DMs love that.
00:04:52
Speaker
but Yeah. What'd you say, Devin? I don't have advantage. So can I roll again?
00:05:00
Speaker
See everybody how that works? Now he's laughing. Now he's on your side. I got little confused. I got a little confused for a second. I got a 10. A 10. Okay. um Joxer, what'd you get? ah Three. Three.
00:05:13
Speaker
A three. And Ash, you say 13? 13. Yeah. yeah So Ash, you notice his eyes when he starts going, oh, I don't know. um ah Oh, that's nothing. It's mind my own business. Mind my own business, right? And his eyes glow just a brief little red glow from his eyes as that starts to happen.
00:05:33
Speaker
And he kind of goes back about his business. He turns around and walks over like he's going to go sit down on the bed that he was... ah or the wooden bed that is over on the against the wall, and even though the door is open, he he decided it's like he decided he's just going to stay here and sit down.
00:05:49
Speaker
ah No, I follow him in. Okay, that's fine. yeah the door The door's wide open. Whoever wants to go in there is welcome to do so. I'm casually flipping through the book that had all the ah nature things that i found about 70 episodes ago.
00:06:04
Speaker
Oh, okay. And written in there, I just have Zone of Truth, and I'm like, hmm. And then I just follow a follow in. Just because, you know, just throwing that out there if anyone happened to notice them. And so I also, from ah from this perspective, I think I rolled so low because I'm more so interested in making sure that the the the two, you know, or the main mage that we were kind of little extra aggressive, you know, isn't doing anything kind of funny.
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah, well, um they're sitting there and um actually surprisingly calm, like just like just sitting. They're not – they're kind of watching you guys, but they don't seem super fearful and they also don't – whether it's they trust you after the conversation you guys had or they – for some reason, they just seem – calm like everything's going to be okay somehow.
00:07:01
Speaker
And they're just kind of sitting, uh, uh, watching whatever you guys are doing. Um, do you know anything about that fellow that we opened the door and he is now walked in?
00:07:13
Speaker
Um, I can't remember the mage's voice I gave last time, but I'll just do this one. ah are you speaking with me? the Yeah, you, yeah, it,
00:07:24
Speaker
You seem the highest authority here. yeah Well, he's been here
Jameson Tolliver's Warning
00:07:30
Speaker
a very long time. um probably ah Probably longer than these.
00:07:38
Speaker
And he points to the other guards that are there. Probably longer than these have even worked here at the at the jail. Let me think. He was put down here as a political prisoner, I believe, and stays here until... Long enough to kind of align with the lost fellow in the stories, maybe?
00:08:00
Speaker
oh um well, I'm not sure which stories you're discussing, but... Well, Keswick. ah Well, I wouldn't imagine ah that would be. ah Do you mean Kerik?
00:08:11
Speaker
I'm sorry, Kerik, yes. Yes, I don't imagine that would be who that is. That that man was a ah
Trapped in the Tree's History
00:08:18
Speaker
leader, this man here. If if I remember correctly, he just worked as an alchemist previously, ah but was brought here to help wass brought here long ago as the wars were as we were fleeing the wars. He came with us. He had already been helping us before that.
00:08:36
Speaker
then his he lost his mind like so many have interesting i don't i want to like ruin our fun time where we learn stuff about people's past but um we do have somebody that ran away to go get more help but i don't think we're got all the time in the world to sit here and disc discuss things what are what are we doing oh yes um how far away is our gear Your gear, um, ah you think I, I, I'm not going to tell you that.
00:09:09
Speaker
I will pick him up and start walking, like, with, with him, like, kind of by the, the, the neck collars and start walking up the stairs. I, it would be in everybody's best interest, really.
00:09:24
Speaker
I see, um he kind of reaches up for his As you walk up the stairs, you notice there is no door anymore. It is just a wooden wall.
00:09:37
Speaker
Ah, yes. um we should you should open this on our behalf. Can you guys see my camera? I sure can, yes. Okay, there's a timer going.
00:09:49
Speaker
oh If not, i I mean, I don't plan on killing anybody, but I will do severe damage. I understand, but what happens to me is of no consequence to anyone outside of this room. So i I hope you don't think that doing something to me is going to get you what you want, because it is not.
00:10:08
Speaker
I can guarantee you that. And just as that just as he's saying that, his body, his figure starts to dissolve away in a like a like it's going ethereal.
00:10:22
Speaker
And your hand kind of closes like like you're no longer holding him anymore. And Davin the and Craig, you look and the other two guys sitting there, the same thing is happening.
00:10:33
Speaker
ah Make Arcana checks,
Courtroom Drama in Almenorah
00:10:35
Speaker
all three of you. Interesting. ah That is 10 minus one. Nine. Nine. four Good job.
00:10:46
Speaker
ah four Natural for total. Great, Davin, you you know you're immediately. This is a spell similar to a teleportation or like a a banish or something like that. It's some sort of kind of almost similar to what you did, were like swapping people out. But it is a basically if you it's like somebody is pulling these people out of this room right now.
00:11:14
Speaker
All right. Well, I guess we're not going need more help from them. It's not look like they were very helpful to begin with. and Gwendolyn, what are you saying to this guy during this time? Um, I go into this room and I just kind of look him for a second.
00:11:28
Speaker
And how do you know Dale? Dale? Who's Dale? um What's a Dale? I'm not familiar with the Dale. Um, I reach my arm out towards Dale because he's holding them.
00:11:39
Speaker
That critter, that critter acts like it knows me. I don't know it. ah I'm nudging Davin. And point kind of eyeing the page that I have odin and open that has my incantation for zone of truth being like, should I?
00:11:56
Speaker
um I hear kind of talks outside. hu And I am going to just grab this man's hand. Okay, make as you reach to grab him and he stands up, make one more... No, you don't need to make a check. You see that red glowing necklace flops out of his from under his cloak as his eyes glow red again. And he starts to say...
00:12:21
Speaker
Oh, i I'm confused. I think I have to stay here. I have to stay here. So I'll sit back down. Thank you. And he starts to sit back down. And um just as though his red his eyes glow red and his the gym glows red at the same time.
00:12:36
Speaker
And this doesn't – do I recognize that this looks similar to what Davin always wears? No, this is more similar to what Tomba had on and the chief had on. was just going to say that. Those sorts of situations. What?
00:12:53
Speaker
I think there's some sort of a mind control thing going on. Do we still have that other one that... You have one, you destroyed another one. One second to review my pocket of... Oh, I refreshed it. That's why I can't find my character sheet.
00:13:10
Speaker
That's all right. I'm pausing the timer while you while while Ash looks. Yeah, not Gwendolyn. um I can't remember. We could touch these things, couldn't we? Yeah, you guys held them. the the Putting them on was i thought was freaky because they told you not to take... like you you they You remember Davin did not want to remove it and then finally was able to, but at first he couldn't do it.
00:13:34
Speaker
um I'm going to do... and so i reach The second time for reaching out, I'm going to reach on his necklace and dispel magic. Okay. um Cool, cool, cool.
00:13:46
Speaker
Did you roll something for that? Just put the spell DC. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. eighteen um Yeah, it's successful. So the gemstone goes gray.
00:13:59
Speaker
So as the gemstone starts to turn gray from your dispel magic, succeeding, his eyes begin to, dave the reddish hue fades to his normal natural green eyes.
00:14:11
Speaker
He blinks a few times, looks at you and says, hey Have I been sleeping? Have I been sleeping? It's you It's... How are you here? And he starts looking around. Where?
00:14:27
Speaker
Why am I here? Why? What is this? And just then, the floor and the walls and everything start to grow branches and vines, and it starts to shift and move. And it's happening fairly slowly.
00:14:46
Speaker
But you can tell it's all starting to move in towards you guys as the whole room is is morphing. The beds, the tables, the benches, the baskets, everything are changing back into just tree, it's like.
00:15:03
Speaker
And the inside of this tree is going back to its original state, it seems like, as it's all starting to fill with more of the trunk of this tree. And he says, we...
00:15:16
Speaker
...are in trouble. What are you doing here? Quickly, tell me. you You tell me. don't know who you are. The name is Jameson.
00:15:28
Speaker
Jameson Tolliver. yeah I've been a help to the... I've been a help to to these elves, but they they brought me here, and... There's a long story. We we can't... We have time to it now. here out and find Kerik. We need to get out of here.
00:15:44
Speaker
You're here to find him. He... you, you will, you will not like what you find. This place is not what he left it what he meant for it to be. And the, the, everything starts to close in.
00:15:56
Speaker
And, um, Before too long, the stairs are gone. The entryway is gone. Everything's just tightening. He, as he looks at you, he says, you have to find him. it's my is Is
Courtroom Chaos and Revelations
00:16:09
Speaker
my wife okay? My lovely Nora, is she okay?
00:16:12
Speaker
And he starts to fade out. He says, tell her I made it to the dragon pit. As he fades out completely. Oh. Little Tolliver.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Yeah. Oh. Blew my mind. My. God. What? He disappears. He's gone. Like ethereal, just like the other two were. Is the necklace still in my hand?
00:16:37
Speaker
The necklace is still in your hand. It is still gray. Okay. but He disappeared just like the other two did. Joxer, you saw that. You were talking to him. um So he somehow was teleported out.
00:16:50
Speaker
Smaller and smaller and smaller. as the The room is getting smaller. you now You are now claustrophobically running out of room to move and move your shoulders and move your arms and everything. And I need everyone to make constitution saving throws. Okay. I didn't plan on dying in a tree today.
00:17:07
Speaker
i can get two of us out, but that's it. Two's better than one. Constitute saving throw. Eleven. I'm rolling so bad. she and Oh no.
00:17:20
Speaker
Okay, so that is seventeen. okay Wait, saving throw? Uh-huh. So that'll be a nineteen. Okay. um Anything less than twenty?
00:17:35
Speaker
You go down to one hit point as you are you are squeezed, and you but it's like you've become part of this tree. ah
The Ethereal Elk's Entrance
00:17:45
Speaker
Davin, what did you roll? 19.
00:17:47
Speaker
my God. I'm throw lucky on there. okay and that would be a twenty one okay So you do not go unconscious.
00:18:01
Speaker
You are completely incapacitated by basically this um this tree has become your like coffin, your prison. You're stuck here, and now you're fully conscious through this. Wait, so am I unconscious for failing that? Is that what it is? You're unconscious. Gwen's unconscious, and Craig's is unconscious. The same thing is happening to all of you. Go ahead.
00:18:24
Speaker
Can I, ah instead of failing, I can favor by the guns once per short rest. If you fail a saving throw or miss attack roll, you can roll 2d4 and add it to the outcome. ah Yeah, yeah.
00:18:36
Speaker
Okay, I roll 19, I add another. Yeah, whatever you roll, you succeed. A 20 or better. so um So you're both back up to, i mean, you're both whatever ah hit points you were at before. 57, I think, was yours.
00:18:49
Speaker
But, Joxer, you're still, so you're both fully conscious. You know exactly what's happening. You're in this, yeah. You're inside of this tree. It is pitch black. You can't see. You can't move. You can't even like... You can hardly blink because everything is so tight and close to you.
00:19:08
Speaker
And um this maybe should trigger warning. I don't know. That would freak me out. But anyway. um And you're just super, super enclosed and tight. And um Gwendolyn and Kriggs, you...
00:19:22
Speaker
you We'll start with Kriggs. You begin to feel a warm sensation come over you.
00:19:32
Speaker
And it's not... I was about to say, it's not just the fact that you peed your pants. No, you you totally defecated. i just kidding. um you are that you You feel a warm sensation. um this the the You rush of the...
00:19:49
Speaker
hear the the rush of the it's like It's almost like the flow of water. like Like millions of of tiny little... Droplets of piss. ah Yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
No. It's like millions of tiny little rivers of water flowing... All around you. And you can almost sense and feel this water ah flowing through this tree. You can feel the age.
00:20:19
Speaker
And you can see now, Gwendolyn, you can feel the same thing. and And you're both seeing as your unconscious mind you Your connection with nature, both of you, your connection with the wilds, your connection with the the natural plane of existence as well as the nature in this place, it seems, that connection provides you an insight and you begin to see what this tree has seen.
00:20:52
Speaker
Like reading the rings of ah of a cut across of a tree, you're beginning to like read the history and the age of this tree. And you see the, as a seedling, existing in a regular forest like the wilds.
00:21:11
Speaker
and growing there, rising up, beginning becoming taller, competing with the other trees to reach the sunlight. You see ah a time when fire came through and a lightning strike nearby came through and it burned all the this the ah many of the trees around this one and began to threaten this tree. But rain came just in time and saved it. And you don't feel an emotion that the tree felt.
00:21:40
Speaker
it's like, that's not necessarily how it works, but you feel the emotion in yourself, the relief of the fire, not finding you, not catching you. You then continue through the life of this thing. As you begin to experience, uh, you begin to experience the change, the shifting of this land that this tree was growing in, as it shifts into a new plane of existence.
00:22:06
Speaker
Like, like being uprooted, but not just the tree itself being uprooted, but the land and dirt around it, the stones, the the the branches that had fallen, everything. It's like it had been lifted from the wilds and placed somewhere else with the entirety of this forest that you have been in.
00:22:31
Speaker
You then hear a voice and the voice says, please I just need for a while for you to hold the main governing buildings of our society.
00:22:46
Speaker
Would you part your mighty trunk for us so that we may have a place to sit and hold council meetings and discuss the ways to protect the wilds where we all came from?
00:22:59
Speaker
And Gwendolyn, you recognize this voice as Carrick, the caring. And he you you feel the magic in his words and you feel the natural ah urge and magic of this tree to comply to oblige and to oblige And this tree forms itself. You can feel the forming and you can see the forming in your mind as where you are isn't changing. Davin and Joxer, nothing's changing for you.
00:23:32
Speaker
You're just in blackness. But Kriggs and Gwendolyn, you're experiencing this this history, this past, as everything begins to shift and change into a ah large hall with benches, the the giving this tree giving it portions of itself and parts of its large trunk of this tree to be a prison or a jail cells, to be an upstairs with meeting rooms, smaller meeting rooms for the council to sit and meet together, as well as the main hall downstairs that you walked through to get into.
00:24:09
Speaker
And then you hear again, meetings happening. You hear conversations about, about setting up a civilization in this new plane. You hear small private meetings. and It's all happening at the same time, but it's also all happening ah in a way that you can understand what's going on.
00:24:31
Speaker
and it's it's And it's the connection you have is like you're remembering something you've already experienced, but you're you know you're remembering what this tree experienced.
00:24:43
Speaker
You hear talk of someone named Carthenact, And him bringing someone named Jameson Tolliver into the hall and convincing the other elves that this man needed to stay with them so that he can help them with the alchemy that is necessary ah to run their civilization.
00:25:04
Speaker
you then hear the conversation with this Karthanact and another person, ah someone who is discussed as a a gray elf or a darker elf, somebody who is discussed as something else, somebody else outside of the Almanorra clan.
00:25:30
Speaker
And... You hear speeches talking of safety and protection and not going back to the world of danger and fear, but staying here where we're safe. You hear the people start to join the side of this other elf as Karthinak's voice begin begins to become silenced.
00:25:50
Speaker
you hear Carthenact begin to call out again and saying, you can't listen to him. You have to choose me because I will lead us back home to where we came from. And then interrupted by this other voice that says, you cannot listen to him as he crawls about, speaks about returning to where we came from.
00:26:14
Speaker
That is only death and destruction and despair. Here we have prosperity and peace. And that voice is the is obviously the voice that accused you in the halls of Wild Hill.
00:26:29
Speaker
The voice that spoke out against you for killing the goblins. It's the voice that knocked on your door all those weeks, months ago to introduce himself as Darnaldi Bogashaw and then you stop hearing the voice of Carthanak. You stop hearing the voice of Jamison Tolliver, the alchemist.
00:26:56
Speaker
You only hear Darnaldi speaking about euphoria and peace, speaking about never leaving because if we leave, we will surely die.
00:27:10
Speaker
And then you hear discussion of the temple, And that Darnoldi's spending a lot of time at that temple. And then a ruling is made in the courts to shut the temple down permanently. No one is allowed in or allowed out because it's for the gods, the wilds we used to serve.
00:27:30
Speaker
And it is cursed now, just like the wilds is cursed. No one's allowed in and no one comes out that's been in. And then you hear more talk, more things that just seem to be day-to-day life, just things ongoing, like nothing's ever ah nothing new is ever happening. You don't hear Darnoldi's voice as much.
00:27:50
Speaker
And then you hear yourselves in this room talking. You hear the fight you just had. And then you hear ah command, not from Darnoldi's voice, not from Karthanax or Jameson's, from a female voice.
00:28:05
Speaker
druid that sounds like voice that says please capture them reform yourself tree but do not destroy they will stand trial and then now is just blackness as you sleep in unconsciousness davin and joxer your minds begin to fill with just uh, confusion and how long has it been? How, how, how long have I been here? Am I still going to, are we going to make it out? Whatever. I just don't know what's happening. Both of you make wisdom saving throws as this is slowly starting to drive you a little bit insane.
00:28:45
Speaker
I don't like that off the table. Also put a luck on that one. We're just wasting all these. All right. So that's a little better. Um,
00:28:56
Speaker
15. 16. Okay. You both are able to keep it together. You're able to kind of just calm yourselves a little bit. um Davin, you, however, do hear ah you do hear another voice in your mind that says, it's not nice to be trapped, is it?
00:29:16
Speaker
We need to get out of here. What can we do? If I can just reach Chokser, I can get us both out. Can I reach forward and see if I can touch Jaxer? don't know how far away we were.
00:29:27
Speaker
You are incapable of any movement at all. You're literally, it's like you're wrapped in a papoose. um And what seems like an eternity, an absolute just eternity ends for Jaxer and Davin Kriggs and Gwynn, your eyes begin to blink open.
00:29:52
Speaker
And you find yourselves sitting in that courtroom ah in the middle of a magical circle burned into the wood of this courtroom upstairs.
00:30:09
Speaker
davin it's like the Davin and Joxer, it's like the tree opened up and allowed you to kind of pull yourself up and out. But when you did, you were here instead of where you were to begin with.
00:30:22
Speaker
um this magic rune begins to glow and shift, and um it is ah you find that it is keeping you from being able to speak or or anything. You can only hear what's happening outside of the of this circle ah that you're in. And in this courtroom, you see the courtroom is filled with with people, with ah druids and some ranger type looking people, some common elves, just a room full of elves, um dozens of them.
00:31:02
Speaker
um some ah there Some of them are are holding weapons, like they're the hunters or maybe the guards or the fighters. um You see ah so several of the mages and druids that would have would be spellcasters are also sitting there.
00:31:18
Speaker
A large group, many of them you had seen when you were at the bridge and they were part of the army that was there and captured you and brought you here. um You also see the mage sitting in what looks like a witness stand up on a platform in this big wooden room. The branches of this tree ah grow inside of this room, kind of like roots on the ceiling.
00:31:40
Speaker
And ah the the two large platforms, ah there's two large platforms at the end of the room next to the circle you're sitting in, one of which holds this mage that you had been talking to in the jail cell.
00:31:56
Speaker
And in on the higher one is a druid looking woman in a green tunic with a leather brown vest, red hair falls behind her head.
00:32:07
Speaker
And she um slams her staff on the table in front of her. The the kind of like, ah it's like a rectangular, um almost like counter in front of her and pedestal kind of thing. And says, that is enough.
00:32:24
Speaker
Everyone calm yourselves as everybody had been without talking and, and, and like, uh, just like discussing amongst themselves, everything. And, uh, she says, we have here are four hired swords from the city of wild Hill on the dockets. Today. We discuss their guilt for the,
00:32:49
Speaker
killing and destroying the creatures of the wilds, trespassing on our lands in Al-Menorah, defiling our temples in what is now the shadow, untouched lands, but before was our home.
00:33:06
Speaker
She looks over at the mage and she says, what say you? And he just says, I just... ah spoke to them briefly. They asked me questions about the names we do not speak of.
00:33:22
Speaker
I did not have any information to give, so I gave none. And, uh, I try to walk out of the circle. Okay. Uh, you try to walk out of the circle, make, uh, make a wisdom saving throw whenever you get to the edge of the circle.
00:33:37
Speaker
Okay. 17.
00:33:40
Speaker
seventeen Yeah, you get to the edge of the circle, your foot starts to go through, and as it does, your your whole body decides, nope, I'm not going to do that. And you begin to stiffen and you hold there in hold person as you, you hold completely still your foot still stuck in the, like the edge barrier of this circle.
00:34:04
Speaker
And you're not able to move until finally you're able to kind of break free. And ah just after, um, you know, 30 seconds or so. Um, and nobody seems to really pay any attention to you trying to do that.
00:34:19
Speaker
And then the, um, the woman says the, the, the druid on the, the judge, I guess on the pedestal calls out and says, we will now hear from our defendants one at a time.
00:34:32
Speaker
And she points her staff towards you, Gwendolyn, as your foot is sticking through uh, or like you're starting to put your foot back down after you kind of gain control of your body again.
00:34:43
Speaker
And uh, kind of orb around you guys, or it's not really visible until it is. And it starts to shift around you, Gwendolyn, allowing you free movement.
00:34:55
Speaker
And she ushers you to the witness stand as that mage comes over and sits back down on the benches, kind of in the crowd. Do you willingly just walk over to the witness stand? I'd probably look out in the crowd.
00:35:08
Speaker
Do I recognize anyone out there? I'll make a perception check. As I'm walking. Okay. I want to sit down and kind of study the runes on the ground that make the circle while she's doing that. Okay. I'm curious about this. 26. 26. Perception check.
00:35:22
Speaker
I mean, you know for a fact that mage is the guy that was in the room with you. You know guaranteed without a doubt that at least four of these archers that are here, like the ranger type people, were like pointing arrows at you about to fight you when you guys were on the bridge.
00:35:38
Speaker
Okay. And um several people look kind of familiar, like ah like they kind of favor ah like your mother a little bit but or like your family.
00:35:50
Speaker
But it could just be the fact that you're all just like wood elves. you know i don't that That could very well be the the case. um but But you definitely noticed that in this with that role. um And you are – think my time getting there.
00:36:05
Speaker
You what? No, I'm going very slowly. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, you take your time. you get it You're going over there. there're Everybody's kind of murmuring as you walk by and look at everybody. And um you get a couple head nods like, hello, how are you? not Not even like judging necessarily. It's more like half these people might be here because it's just the most interesting thing to happen in a long time, not because you're – they They want something bad to happen to you necessarily. They're just like, wow, this is um and something exciting. you know
00:36:36
Speaker
um And as you get to as you finally do make it to the stand, um the the judge looks at you and says, were you able to hear the accusations made against you?
00:36:52
Speaker
I just want talk and I just kind of look out at everyone. Okay, yes or no, were you able to hear the accusations made against you? Who are you? And I slowly just turned my head.
00:37:05
Speaker
Yes or no, that is of no consequence at this time. said, who are you to know who I am? The coins of the hired swords were found on your person.
00:37:19
Speaker
The hired swords are known criminals in this community. And the higher swords have been reformed. So I suggest you pull out a dusty notebook and take some notes.
00:37:30
Speaker
But first, who are you? And I set Dale on the little table in front of me. Or the counter. Okay. um She says, in this... What were you going to say, Devin?
00:37:43
Speaker
Devin yells out, give her the chair!
00:37:48
Speaker
Life without parole! Um... She says, what is important to you at this time is that i am the judge and the jury for this particular trial you find yourself in.
00:38:05
Speaker
And Almanora is my home. Almanora is our home. And mine. How did you get through our wall? Ask your trees. How did I get in if this is not my home?
00:38:19
Speaker
The crowd starts to really murmur at this point. they They begin really just better an amount of talking. and So I ask you again, who are you?
00:38:32
Speaker
Gotti. She looks at the crowd and she um kind of calls out to them all and is like, please, silence, peace.
00:38:43
Speaker
ah She makes a persuasion check or intimidation check. Not bad. Okay. And they begin to kind of calm themselves, the crowd does, as she raises her her ah staff to the sky, glowing green ah in the little, ah in the um kind of crevices that run through the wood of the staff. It glows a green as she holds it up.
00:39:05
Speaker
She looks at you, her staff still glowing. And she says, if you are a child of the Al-Menorah, How can you harm the creatures of the wilds like the story say you have?
00:39:19
Speaker
But I haven't. Tell me of the elk you encountered in Almenorah. Tell me of the giant insects that were burrowing in the land, and minding their own life, doing the things that they do that you killed, merely because another party had attacked them and they had defended themselves.
00:39:40
Speaker
Sure, and the untouched lands, the corrupted creatures and beings there, or they were unholy and nothing to be preserved. But that is not where you did all of your destruction.
00:39:52
Speaker
How can you be someone of the land of Al-Menora and this be your behavior? Um, Gwendolyn doesn't say anything because she remembers the elk.
00:40:04
Speaker
Thank you. You're dismissed. Will you willingly walk back to the circle? I just don't say anything. i kind of just look at Dale and I kind of let him scurry off and I'm going to walk back.
00:40:18
Speaker
Okay. You there. Large one. and She points at Kriggs. I thought she think you got the wrong one. I'm joking.
00:40:29
Speaker
She's talking about your belly. I didn't want to say wide one. It felt rude. No, she doesn't say that She doesn't want to say she doesn't say that. I was just kidding. um Oh, I put you over on the seat there on the map. Do you want to do or say anything else?
00:40:43
Speaker
Or like, is there anything you want to do on your way over there? Or are you just walking over? Me? I think I'm just gonna stroll over because I ain't got time for shenanigans. so As you walk over and sit down, Gwendolyn, you get back in the circle and you find yourself, you know, obviously so trapped there again. It's doing its work, its magic, and not allowing you through.
00:41:06
Speaker
But, Kriggs, you're able to walk out. And as you do, you sit down. The crowd, again, is murmuring, talking about you. um Make a perception check as you kind of perceive the crowd a little bit as you walk by. Not that you're trying to make any kind of like... and Five.
00:41:23
Speaker
crazy look okay there's a lot of people hard to make anybody doing anything in particular but um she calls out and she says please state your name my name is sovereign of clan ember oak you carry the vestiges of the wild on your equipment i do you stand as a defender of the wilds Yet, same as I accused the accusations against your companion and your other companions, you have defiled them.
00:42:02
Speaker
How can you be a defender of that you defile? I don't particularly have an answer for you. I know that what we have done might raise an eyebrow, but nothing was ever done without some hope for justice in the end.
00:42:22
Speaker
Justice, that is why we are all here. Please tell me, for a people such as ours, and she lifts her arms and kind of motions towards everyone sitting out in the crowd, and she says, for a people such as ours, justice does not end with mankind and elf kind, dwarf kind.
00:42:45
Speaker
Justice extends forever. to the world in which we live, the plains in which we exist. Where is the justice for the wilds, the plain you left to come here on your fool's errand?
00:43:03
Speaker
Where's the justice for that? If the wilds had not wanted me here, I don't believe I would be here. Then what is your errand here? Ask the wilds.
00:43:16
Speaker
And I just walk back or try to walk back. You say ask the wilds and um rolling for her one sec.
00:43:27
Speaker
Okay. her She rolled a natural 20. Crap. Her eyebrows go up, and she takes a deep breath. and She calms herself. The crowd begins to murmur louder than they have as of yet as you walk back to the circle.
00:43:45
Speaker
And they're starting to stir kind of crazily. um All of you make insight checks as you look at the crowd and look at her. you got it. you You're in for it now, buddy. Yeah.
00:43:59
Speaker
Natural one. I'm just kidding. That's a 15. Natural two. 10. Garbage. fifty 15. Okay. 15. 10 for Gwendolyn.
00:44:10
Speaker
What'd you say, Davin? Eight total. Okay. Joxer? 15. fifteen Okay, the 15s, you both ah see a slight, but it's there, a nervous shift on this judge as the crowd starts to get riled up.
00:44:32
Speaker
And, Joxer, as you notice this... You feel the magic around you release as you're being summoned and kind of ushered, like pointed, directed to head towards the chair to talk.
00:44:47
Speaker
Do you want to just go? I'll let you take your own token where you want to go. Yeah, I'll saunter over. I really missed an opportunity to tell him, you know, ask him if they were done with me and be all sassy about it whatever.
00:45:01
Speaker
Are you done? um She looks at you and she says, i couldn't learn as much about you as I would have hoped.
00:45:15
Speaker
Except that much of your ability comes not from what you carry, but what is... what is who you are. So tell me why you are here. What is your purpose in our land of Al-Minorah?
00:45:36
Speaker
Tell me who sent you here. Is this your land of Al-Minorah? Because you just asked Gwendolyn and said that we took over or we ah that The accusation was desecrating your sacred lands of Al-Menora.
00:45:56
Speaker
What makes you able to take over a new land of Al-Menora? Is that your right? This land has been Al-Menora since the beginning of time.
00:46:08
Speaker
We exist here, communing with the land, not dominating, controlling, not hunting it as you all have, This is what sets us apart from you, and these are the crimes you have committed against... Communing with what land? what What happened to your previous land?
00:46:29
Speaker
I'm sorry, I'm going back to the actual acues accusations. Your first accusation was hired swords killed sacred beasts in the lands of the Wild Hills.
00:46:41
Speaker
Why were your sacred beasts in the Wild Hills? Make a perception check. Or not perception. Persuasion. Yeah. Not.
00:46:54
Speaker
I'll use my last luck because that was only going to be an 11. Okay. All right. So that'll be an 18. Yeah, that'll do it. She says, I fear that the danger that you bring to our people isn't from your might as warriors.
00:47:17
Speaker
but your lack of information, your ignorance of our land, the land you are on and now was once part of the wilds.
00:47:29
Speaker
It is now a safe place for those of us who do not wish to participate in the wars of men and dwarves and dark elves and orcs and other civilizations, but wish to live in peace and harmony.
00:47:46
Speaker
I fear that what you have been doing, what you have done in the wilds, can damage that safety that we have here. Is that not clear to you in all this time?
00:47:58
Speaker
i'm I'll concede that we we've made decisions that we didn't understand when we first arrived to Wild Hill. And the hired swords were essentially created by one you know as Darnaldi.
00:48:16
Speaker
Okay. um When you say that, that word. Yeah. i was i was I meant to say a name you likely do not speak of. Darn naughty. Yeah. Go on. The crowd starts to lose it a little bit.
00:48:30
Speaker
And you hear somebody call out um call out from the back. um They call out... ah where You know where he is. You, have you found him?
00:48:43
Speaker
And they call out to you that way. And and um someone on the back says, he'll never return. He's not here. Stop it. And they're just like, start bickering and fighting amongst themselves. And the um the judge begins to slam her staff against the ground again.
00:48:58
Speaker
And um ah she when she slams her staff against the ground, the judge, ah roots that are kind of crawling across the ceiling begin to kind of shake and get get get um agitated.
00:49:11
Speaker
And ah the people in the crowd look up and they they they begin to breathe deep and calm themselves and try to settle down as her glow her green glowing ah staff um begins to dim a little bit as things settle down.
00:49:25
Speaker
That is who set us towards the sacred beasts. And once we learned as you found with my friend. Kriggs, you asked about his power.
00:49:38
Speaker
That same sacred beast lent him ah gift. And you seem to deem that unworthy, the wild handing another a gift, means we're on the wrong path?
00:49:52
Speaker
Thank you. i have heard enough. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's that's not where you you asked us about trespassing. We didn't enter through a door.
00:50:03
Speaker
We entered through your entry point. We were given access. Is that our fault? ah the crowd again starts to murmur when you start talking about gaining access to their entry point.
00:50:16
Speaker
What's what what is our entry point? Can you get out of here? Can you get in here? How does this happen? I thought they teleported and like there's all these little murmurings and and people fussing in um everyone ah joxser and Joxer, Davin, Gwendolyn, and Kriggs, all of you make perception checks. Joxer with advantage as you're right there, kind of right neck right where you can see her even more clearly up there on the pedestal with her.
00:50:42
Speaker
Davin, what'd you say? 14. eighteen twenty eight davin what'd you say fourteen 14. All right. So, uh, Joxer and Gwen, you see her really starting to get agitated. She's standing up now. She's no longer sitting in her chair. Her staff is glowing brighter than it has. The roots are starting to agitate as much as the people, the people are, they see the roots getting agitated, but they're, it's like they're having trouble keeping themselves from talking to each other about what you said about having a way in. and um,
00:51:16
Speaker
um uh she is really getting annoyed she slams the staff against the ground again the branches start to lower and as they do yeah she um her staff dims completely and goes blank uh it's no longer green and um Davin, Gwen, and Kriggs, you feel the magic around you start to subside. It's like it's flickering in and out as her staff starts to flicker as she's losing concentration on keeping you guys at bay.
00:51:55
Speaker
um The people are starting to get agitated, and it's bothering her. um ah One person, actually, ah you see a...
00:52:07
Speaker
a um ah a like small vial of, of something gets thrown up and hits the bench up there near her. And she, who did that?
00:52:17
Speaker
Who threw that? And um she says, that is enough. I, I am, I am finished with you. And she points at you, jocks her. And she says, please, ah please. and The next one, the last one, we are almost completed here. Please, everyone find your peace. What were you going to say? Kriegs?
00:52:32
Speaker
I'm going to let Davin get questioned. was just curious. Do I have any inclination that I still have access to like my magic? We're obviously in some kind of field, but do I feel like you don't have a spell casting focus right now?
00:52:47
Speaker
Your mom doesn't. Cause no, she's not a spell caster of any kind. So, um, does she, cause it's your shield, right? I will double check ah this specific ability, but I don't think I particularly need focuses for it. think you need a holy symbol. Oh, and it depends if it's a and as as it an ability, not a spell per se, then you may not need it.
00:53:11
Speaker
What were you going to say, Joxer? I was going to say, as I start to to head back and your desecrated lands aren't that desecrated. The people are starting to get really unruly.
00:53:24
Speaker
You hear somebody call out from the back, bring back Carrick, bring back Carthanact. And then several of them start chanting, bring back Carthanact, bring back Carthanact.
00:53:36
Speaker
And she starts to get really agitated. And the... The people who said that, ah they come other guards come and escort start escorting them out as she looks at Davin, trying to get Davin to go sit at the chair and says, we have one more, one more witness.
00:53:53
Speaker
And people start to settle down like they're kind of interested in, okay, what's this one going to say? And then we'll lose our minds. I will stroll over. I will strut over. Ooh, yeah.
00:54:05
Speaker
So you strut over to the chair, sitting there, um and the crowd starts to kind of, okay, this one's interesting. We'll have a talk. As um she takes a couple deep breaths, looks back over at you, and you heard my accusations against your companions. What do you have to say? As she rubs her forehead with her hand, obviously still agitated.
00:54:33
Speaker
i I'm just confused why you've so many people here that seem to be forbidden. I mean, there's the Tolliver, the Carthenacht, Carrick. but You've got a lot of people here that don't, people seem to want around, but you don't.
00:54:47
Speaker
ahh Yeah, crowd um they ah the crowd is – that's all you had to say. yeah um They're up now, standing, and they're they're shouting at her, and they're, bring back Karthanakt, bring back Karthanakt, starts getting getting shouted.
00:55:06
Speaker
ah And um she puts both hands up. She says, you know that is not within my control. You know that I do not have the power to bring back Karthanakt. karak or karthanact you know if donali does not return we cannot do it he will not have it anyway you might and she's trying to like reason with them and they're starting to throw things at her as she um reaches down onto her belt and um And ah grabs a gemstone kind of thing, which starts this like teleportation like you saw on the other creatures, and the other the other guys. it starts to
00:55:46
Speaker
It starts to make its way across her body. What were you going to say, Gwen? Is the barrier still failing? Oh, yeah. It's failed. I want to run over to her okay and try to grab her hand before she uses this stone or whatever. Okay, make a a strength check it that with advantage. So it seems like she's trying like to like teleport away, basically? She's trying to teleport away.
00:56:07
Speaker
I will also then cast telekinesis. And if she can't if Gwen can't grab it, I'm going to try and yank it away. I tried. i distracted her. She rolled a 10. Or you rolled a 10. She and are you rolled a ten she rolled A five. So you pulled her arm away as Davin pulls this gem out of her pocket. She stands there, arms back, looking at you all. And um she then shifts from a druid ah woman into a bat and just flies up into the branches above. Is there trees here?
00:56:47
Speaker
There are. ah this You are inside one big tree. um And the there are roots and branches of this tree all over. I press my hand against the wall and I'm like, stop her, please.
00:56:58
Speaker
Okay, the roots of the top of the the ceiling, there's an opening, and she's heading towards it as a bat. And you hear her screeching, whatever sounds they make, as she heads that direction. And yeah, it was more like a pig, wasn't it? little pig bat? She don't know. She's a little pig bat. Yeah.
00:57:17
Speaker
I don't know how far away she's gotten, but I can use telekinesis. And as long as she's within 60 feet, pull her back 30 feet. Oh, yeah, okay, and she also rolled a four, so she she did not make it. She hits the ceiling, and she just perches herself up there, tries to perch herself up there, holding on to, ah as a bat, holding on to the ceiling to try to stay away from all of you.
00:57:40
Speaker
Does telekinesis, are you able to try to pull her down, or...? Yeah, creature. You can move a huge or smaller creature, make an ability to check with your spellcasting ability. A creature, if you win the contest, you move the creature up to 30 feet in any direction, including upwards, but not beyond the range of the spell, which is 60 feet.
00:57:58
Speaker
Okay. ah So she um she tries to get away and is unable to do so. So you you have control of her. She's flapping her wings and not going anywhere.
00:58:09
Speaker
Okay, I'll basically pull her like back down to like like eye level with her, and I'll just hold her in place like right there. She's just flapping like crazy, and her little pig face is in your face as she's frustrated. and ah She drops her form back into her purse her form as a person and lands on her feet.
00:58:26
Speaker
um Still immovable. Not able to move. We're not here for violence. If everybody would just calm down.
00:58:38
Speaker
The crowd starts to settle at hearing you say this. And somebody calls out from like one of the guys from the front row just kind of speaks out and says, says what have you come to do?
00:58:49
Speaker
and When somebody ah ah ah kind of down the aisle says, yes, have you come to take us back? I've come take us home. Dance. No, I'm just kidding. Craig breaks out. A little Miss Sunshine style. We're have a goblin party all over again. um Yes, I'm here for it.
00:59:07
Speaker
I'm going to, having been essentially quiet this whole time, going to try and see if I can pull an audible. Okay.
00:59:20
Speaker
going to attempt to call out and summon my greater steed, which is the spirit of the elk, the envoy of the wilds, basically.
00:59:34
Speaker
You summon the greater elk. And when you start to cast the spell, you hear the galloping sounds echo through this chamber.
00:59:45
Speaker
And it's like it's coming from outside, but the sounds echoing inside the vines. and You hear under my voice, Solren, don't fail me now.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah, and the the vines and the branches start to part in the wall of this building, and your steed rides in the great elk, and there's gasps all through the room as this ethereal elk, majestic, gigantic creature comes in, shakes its head, and...
01:00:16
Speaker
lifts its head up proudly as its as it's antlers rise to the to the branches of this tree in the ceiling and the trees begin to, the the branches begin to back themselves away and to give space and as as a sign of respect.
01:00:33
Speaker
And um the the people are in awe, their eyes are wide and you hear one of them say, call out and say, that's the that's the elk. That's the one from the wilds.
01:00:46
Speaker
That's the one from the drawings and the paintings. and they And they start talking ah about it. And everybody's just kind of murmuring back and forth about it as this ah the judge lowers her staff and lowers her shoulders, looking at this, eyes wide open, mouth gaping open.
01:01:05
Speaker
She looks at Gwendolyn and she says, You are are her. yeah You're his daughter. I can take you to him.
01:01:17
Speaker
And that's where we end the session. yeahs Next time we shut up this level of thoughts, I guess. And then we have the dance party. Yeah. yeah yeah Dance party. music That sounds like like one of those little Casio keyboards or something. It really does. That episode. That was fun. I like it. That was a good one. That was fun, dude.
01:01:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:48
Speaker
This has been another episode of The Hired Swords. We're so grateful that you have ears and that they can hear and that you use them to listen to our podcast. If you like the show, tell somebody about it.
01:02:00
Speaker
I know there's a lot of episodes to catch up on, but hey, maybe they've got some time on their hands. Anyway, thanks so much. Don't forget to subscribe. We'll see you next time on The Hired Swords.
01:02:22
Speaker
Boom, boom, boom, boom,