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Ep. 87 Dreams In Nowhereland
147 Plays1 year ago
Dreams are often a gift, some can be a curse.. For what is a nightmare to some, might be a revelation to others. Can the swords push onward in this dark night?
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Character Introductions
00:00:21
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords, a D&D podcast with a very strict release schedule.
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another wonderful episode of the Hired Swords. Blaze is here. He's Safran Ember Oak. Hey, guys, it's me, Blaze. I'm glad to join you. It's been a great time, and let's keep it rollin'. Rollin' indeed. Next to him on my video chat screen window list here is Derek. He's Daven Meinstrider. And I love corn.
00:01:06
Speaker
It's got the juice. We just dated the episode. And Ash's Gwendolyn also mind strider after last episode's wedding. Just kidding. That's not a thing. Something happened that I did not know about. No consent from the character. That's a joke. I imagine people joining in now would have been like, the hell?
00:01:34
Speaker
And Joxer is played by Mikey who sometimes I call Joxer and then have to remember that that's his character's name Yeah, it's true. It's true. We we actually probably say each other's characters names more often than we should I think that's true. Yeah, I think that's legit and hi everyone
00:01:54
Speaker
I think that's a real thing.
Setting the Scene: The Untouched Lands
00:01:55
Speaker
So when we last left off, we were playing a little game that we like to call Dungeons and Dragons. Oh, by the way, my name is Michael, and I'm a dungeon master. I don't think I said that at the beginning. But if I did, now you definitely know that's who I am. But we were playing Dungeons and Dragons. We were in a place called the Untouched Lands. This place is dark and moody and kind of gloomy and not wonderful. It's Ash with pants on.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yes. She does look kind of moody right now. And we had fought a group of spiders after just, we've been adventuring in this place for several days already. Come across some ghosts. We didn't know were ghosts. Come across some monsters and creatures we've never seen the likes of before, including the most recent deer at this spice village. After searching thoroughly, finding a lot of different things, we go to the fields and there we find
00:02:52
Speaker
Some giant spiders burrow down into the ground with these giant piercing spear like legs poison that will just seems like it could damage you severely but it didn't no problem these guys handle that handedly as they do and now they sit around a little makeshift low campfire. With carmen stone nearby the them all sitting jocks are.
00:03:18
Speaker
heading down into the brew hole to perhaps brew some brews. Krigs sitting, checking out the spices that they have found in this village to see what might taste like what, what kind of different flavors he can find. Gwendolyn, looking through her book and writing in her sketchbook and drawing and
00:03:37
Speaker
And Davin sitting, contemplating, holding one of his necklaces in his hands, murmuring something. And that's where we left the episode. As the evening has set, it is well into the night now.
Gwendolyn's Vision Quest
00:03:52
Speaker
Still no sounds, complete stillness, surrounded by darkness, a very light fire, almost like it's, the light from it is almost like headlights in fog. It's like faded.
00:04:07
Speaker
surrounded by these old dilapidated grass and wooden and stone, huts and buildings in this abandoned elf village. What are you guys gonna do now? I had almost forgot about the word dilapidated. Almost. I said it a lot in the last one, I believe. And so I had to bring it out again just to tie it back into the previous episode. It's very important. That's true. Maybe that's the name of that episode. I don't know.
00:04:37
Speaker
I think, uh, I think I will, yeah, I'll jump into the, the brew hole and kind of, you know, hang out with spell slots for a bit and, and see, see if I can get any brews out or just, just kind of, just kind of test around. Okay. Great. Are you going to roll for all the brew activities? You don't know. We have, I think we have that, that information for rolling for that on our website, don't we?
00:05:04
Speaker
If we don't, we should. I think I posted it. We posted it, but maybe we didn't. Anyway, that's the hired sorters.com. We'll see. Maybe if not, we'll get it up there. No problemo. Yep. Yep. Nothing, nothing too crazy. Yeah. All I'll make that roll and we'll run from there. Sounds good. All right. What about you? The rest of you, what are you guys up to?
00:05:21
Speaker
Um, Gwendolyn's probably made enough circles on her little, like one of the last sheets of the journal that she's kind of tired out and just kind of sits there with a burnt stick, just in her hand and kind of drifting into a sleep. Okay. I think Devin would just roll over and go to bed. I think he's pretty tired at this point. I think you would see Krigs if you came up on him at this point. Uh,
00:05:49
Speaker
laying back kind of starfish style there's a scattering of peppercorns about the area and a notebook the notebook that he got from i believe it was one of the fallen half elves i think it was half elves on the way to the right when we left wild hill that we ran into the dead the dead half elves
00:06:16
Speaker
the nature kit. I kind of have the notebook and I was writing some different things about the peppercorns and just kind of fell asleep while I was sitting there and making notations and stuff. And I'm sprawled out. Okay. Davin. Davin is just sleeping.
00:06:33
Speaker
Right. Peacefully. So we have Davin asleep.
Morning Reflections and Existential Questions
00:06:39
Speaker
Krigs finally settles into some snoozing. Carmen leans himself back on the front of one of the buildings. He's not right there with you. He's a little ways off, not a ways off, but he's, you guys are kind of almost huddled together except for Davin having kind of shifted himself away, but he's not really that close. He's just kind of still seems like he's his own kind of,
00:07:01
Speaker
roguish self over on the side, leaning up against a wall, head down, dagger in hand. And Gwendolyn, as you sleep, you... Oh.
00:07:13
Speaker
are awakened, it seems, by a bright light shining on your face. This bright sunshine, it seems, like a beacon, like a spotlight right on you. And as you look up from where you are laying to sleep, make a perception check. Oh?
00:07:38
Speaker
Oh, that's not good. Three. I rolled a five and I have minus two. The light is so bright that it's blinding you. It's almost like, you know, you're already seeing spots as if you're looking away from the light. And so you have to wince and close your eyes. And you hear in the back of your mind, you hear this familiar voice say, that's it, that's him. Of course it's him. Of course this is what's going on.
00:08:08
Speaker
It is he's here. He's nearby. You're close. He's guiding us. I know he is. And you hear that voice, a familiar sound of the voice that Dale was using to guide you through the town in your previous dreams and the voice that he's spoken to you in recently. And
00:08:29
Speaker
As you look back up, the light begins to fade and just as it fades, you blink the spots away and you see standing in front of you a giant. I'm not talking giant like a large man. I'm talking like seven, eight foot tall, larger than anybody you've ever seen. An elf, but he's huge. His shoulders are
00:08:51
Speaker
broad. They are as broad as you are tall, almost. His legs stand long and he's huge. He's wearing a earthy brown robe with a green sash around him. He has a short
00:09:09
Speaker
with his elven ears that rise higher than any elf you've ever seen. His eyes are kind looking and golden. He's got a sword on his back. The handle of the sword looks to be the length of your arm, just the handle alone. And he lifts his hands, both hands down toward you, and then he turns and he points.
00:09:33
Speaker
And as he points, you look beyond what he's pointing at, make another perception check. I think when she's seen this, she's like Santa. She has an idea. Perception check. Yeah. That would make it nine plus 19, 29. Is that right? 28. 28. You have a plus nine to perception? Yeah. What did you have a minus two to?
00:10:03
Speaker
You said persuasion. No, I meant perception. I said perception. I thought he said persuasion. What did I say earlier? I heard perception. I thought I said perception. You're persuading your eyes to open up.
00:10:20
Speaker
Okay, it doesn't matter. I like
Searching for Clues and Preparing for the Journey
00:10:22
Speaker
how we're going, so we can erase it. Okay, well, and really, this was your second chance to see the same thing anyway. Okay. Just in a different way, you know. Things change, but not that much. And as he points, you look beyond their hand, and you see this circle, this orb, flying towards this hand of this giant elf, and he catches it.
00:10:50
Speaker
and he holds it in front of your face. And as he does, you look inside of it. And as you look inside, you see green flashes, black, white. You see flashes of all different colors, and you see
00:11:06
Speaker
things you've seen before. When somebody casts spells, you see the aura shaping. You see the electricity sparking around Davin's spells when he casts them. You see the glowing yellowish white off of
00:11:24
Speaker
Joxer's arms when he's punching. You see the sun-like beam come from the hammer of Safran as he swings and attacks like he did these spiders, and you see these similar flashes of any magic you've ever seen swirling inside this orb. He takes his hand and he looks you in the eyes, his golden eyes turning black and empty, and his face just
00:11:51
Speaker
turning from this soft, kind face to a frown and almost a scowl and his hand squeezes and that orb breaks. And when it breaks, everything turns dark around you. And you hear the voice again, the familiar voice. And it says, we can stop it. I know we can. We have to. Stop what? Make a wisdom saving throw.
00:12:20
Speaker
12 plus nine. That's a lot. 21. So you suddenly start to feel, after you ask that question, you start to feel like you're going to pass out. Like you can't
Journey Through the Mystic Fog
00:12:35
Speaker
withstand this dream anymore and you're about to leave it, but you will yourself back into it. You will yourself back into whatever you're experiencing, this vision or dream or whatever it is. And
00:12:49
Speaker
Almost as if forced to answer, the voice repeats or comes back and says, well, of course, what we just witnessed, that's complete, complete devastation of all of it. That's what we saw. And it begins to pull you away again. I want to try to resist. Make another wisdom saving throw. This one more difficult. But not a 21, difficult.
00:13:18
Speaker
18 plus nine. Man, you're willing, willing. So you, those are some Gwen rolls on. I know, man. You start to see this tunnel vision, you know, begin to form and in front of you as you begin to leave, almost like you're, you're being sucked away.
00:13:38
Speaker
from this vision that you've been having and the speck of light opens up in the middle of it again and you get this dual feeling of being pulled away and forcing yourself back in and it's disorienting almost. And so when the voice comes back, do you have another question? No, I'm immediately gonna turn into a wolf or I'm gonna try to and try to run faster. Okay, you turn into a wolf and you run towards that light? Mm-hmm.
00:14:06
Speaker
Okay, so you turn into a wolf, you begin to run towards that light. You run for what seems to be all night long. You're running as fast as you can. The light is growing and getting bigger, but it seems to never surround you completely until finally you hit it.
00:14:23
Speaker
And when you hit it, it's like you've gone into something, like this behind you almost as you've pierced through some veil or some gelatin of some sort. And you go inside and when you do suddenly, you suddenly lose complete control of the shape you're in. And you start running as a wolf, as a giraffe, as an ape. Then you're a horse.
00:14:51
Speaker
And then you switch back to the switch into a lion. And then you suddenly are flying as a giant eagle and you go back and forth, back and forth. And you're and then you're Gwen again, trying to run and keep up and starting to stumble. But just before you hit the ground, you become a crow and you fly up into the air. Make another wisdom saving throw. Two plus nine. Eleven.
00:15:12
Speaker
Finally, your form shifts back to Gwendolyn. And when it does, this sense of fear washes over you. You look around and you slow down, you're running and flying and everything but swimming that you were doing. And you look around and
00:15:33
Speaker
You don't know where you are. You see golden fields of farmland, of wheat. It's gold. The sky is gold. Everything is golden. And then like black ink being poured in the sky, it begins to melt to blackness.
00:15:52
Speaker
pouring down over the top of it, and you fight to crawl back, and then you fight to get yourself out, and you hear in your mind, just as the blackness washes over you, you hear that voice in the back of your mind say, we're going to lose all control. All control will be lost.
00:16:15
Speaker
And that's when you fall out of this vision, but you don't wake up, continue to sleep. Okay. Just a lack of any kind of conscious, uh, understanding of anything. You're just sleeping now. Oh, jocks are how the brewing go. So I didn't getting like anything extra, but I did get like a very stout drink, something that would be like a, you know, good four hours of.
00:16:42
Speaker
of, uh, kinda deep drunk effect. Like four hours. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Okay. So everyone sleeps. Joxer, how long do you spend down in the brew hole? I probably spend, you know, fewer between two and three hours. Um, and, uh, after that, I'd assume that I'd
00:17:05
Speaker
I'd walk up and then I'd pull out my little, my little tome and just start kind of jotting notes and, and just, uh, reviewing that, that scroll that we had before that I'm still trying to, trying to understand and, and just watch everything while everybody's trying to, uh, stay calm or sleep through the events and, you know, the darkness that we have now.
00:17:30
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So as you begin, you, you're up, up there looking around, uh, kind of keeping watch a little bit. The night kind of passes slowly, but it passes. It's really difficult. Um, it's, it's really strange because of the quiet there's there, you know, you don't hear crickets. You don't hear birds. You don't hear any of that stuff like you normally do at night, but you also don't see or hear anything that would feel like you're in any danger. Uh, so.
00:17:59
Speaker
The morning comes later again, then you would have thought it seems like it was morning a little bit ago, but it took a while for light to really penetrate the black swirling clouds above you. And yeah, it is now pretty obviously morning. Carmen wakes up before you.
00:18:18
Speaker
even kind of go to get him and just kind of sits up, puts his dagger back in his belt, pulls out a little handful of some sort of grain or something and just starts munching on it. Amen. What do you think of this place at this point? You know, I hadn't thought about it too much, but I did after last night, after fighting that weird plant creature and then fighting these spiders. I feel like I
00:18:47
Speaker
I feel like first of all, pretty obviously don't like it here, but I don't think that's, I think that goes without saying, I feel like this is almost like not a real place. I don't know. I'm not speaking from knowledge. I'm speaking from just impression. It's like, this feels more like a memory of somewhere than an actual place. Does that make any sense to you?
00:19:07
Speaker
Absolutely. I mean, it definitely has that kind of ethereal and I mean, with the spirits and everybody not existing, but then I'm just confused by, I mean, we're, we're seeing history, but we're, we're still interacting with creatures. And, and I just don't, I don't understand how that can be.
00:19:32
Speaker
It, it definitely, it's two realms in one or two, two timeframes in one. You know, I overheard you all talking, was it yesterday, the day before it's running together. Every day feels like a week or two weeks to me, but I was overhearing you discuss what if we're all dead. You asked me what I remember washing up.
00:19:58
Speaker
what happened, how I ended up on shore. And that empty memory, that lack of understanding has haunted me since that discussion. What if we aren't anymore?
00:20:12
Speaker
I continued to have similar fears, but I guess I don't feel like this would be my punishment or our punishment. This doesn't feel like a world beyond our world. And maybe we're under a spell or maybe
00:20:42
Speaker
We did get transported to a different spot. Maybe the other side of the river was honestly just the other side. There's something like an actual, I don't know, door that's beyond the world that we would understand. That's what I'm hoping, honestly. I don't know that I've ever believed there's somewhere you go when you die.
00:21:10
Speaker
I never believed that there was justice of any kind. You just kind of take what you can while you can. And if you need justice, you have to get it for yourself. You know, but I was always taught that there's a balance and whether, whether there's a, you know,
00:21:30
Speaker
a good and bad after after life i've i've never really had too much of an opinion beyond that but i i know that i always wanted to you know live in a way that. I felt that i brought some good to that balance i don't feel like there's.
00:21:48
Speaker
a continuance in life after death as me i feel if anything it would be continuing in a different different form of life for a different different being all together. I just i just can't i can't fathom that this would be.
00:22:05
Speaker
I guess the afterlife. I hope it isn't. I hope that wandering and still seeking the same thing as you saw it in life after you've left your life. I hope that is not the reality of the afterlife. Otherwise it is torture for anyone who experiences it. That's true. I'm just hoping to find the end of this place if we keep
00:22:33
Speaker
We keep on trudging in the same direction. We'll eventually get to where this ends. We have to surely. This isn't everything now. Yeah, I agree. I mean, as long as I can still provide brew and Hey, you know, we, we have some spices and a potential for more food. So it's better than it was. That's true. Things have improved a little. Just finding this community here. It seems like it was probably a nice place before, whatever this is. And maybe that's what this is. Maybe.
00:23:02
Speaker
This is the same thing it was. Maybe it wasn't our world and this has happened to it. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. So just, just interesting. It is. Well, I guess we should, we should wake everybody else up. Lazy, lazy kids. It's too early for this kind of conversation anyway. And he walks over to Krigs and he's asleep through your cousin's talking. You're just not paying attention.
00:23:27
Speaker
Good point. Sorry, I guess. That's quite right. What he said. Ash, you're still asleep. Make a constitution saving throw. 17 plus 4. 21. You have the equivalent of a hangover, but you're waking up. She's probably just laying there with her eyes open. Okay.
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, Carmen, before all of this happened with me and nature and back when I served or was in servitude, and I guess if you want to call it that, to Helm and the gods, it was believed that when a soldier or a, I guess, a believer of Helm perished, either in battle or just living a normal life, that
00:24:16
Speaker
They would have some stance within the house and the hall of the gods. They would live somewhat amongst the celestials. And death is a funny thing. I never know, I don't believe I ever truly believed that when I expired, that I would find myself dining and laughing with the gods themselves. But I definitely don't think this is what I would ever imagine an afterlife would be.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yes, I, if I believed that the unjust got what they deserved, that I might would believe this is something for the afterlife, but I wouldn't expect to see you all here if that was the case, to be honest with you. And don't take us wrong. We've all probably definitely done enough worth punishing for, but I don't know. I can't allow myself to believe this is it.
00:25:12
Speaker
I know we ran into, I just kind of pause in a very sad reverence. I know we ran into the battalion of, or not a battalion, the scouting party of dwarves. And that has sat with me ever since. I truly believe Helm
00:25:32
Speaker
And one of the Celestials I prayed to for so long has truly abandoned them, wholly abandoned them. But this isn't the end for them. They'll find peace, and even if that means we bring it to them. Well, if that's what we're here to do, then I'm all for it, definitely. What are we doing? Well, I suppose there's still plenty of city to explore.
00:26:00
Speaker
We get to choose, what, two directions. We have a diamond, and oh, let me see that map again. What was it? It looks like maybe a pumpkin or an apple or something. Yeah, I think so. So I think we were leaning towards diamond last we spoke. I mean, of the two, that's the one I would go towards. I have a vested interest in diamond.
00:26:24
Speaker
Gwendolyn starts to get up. She kind of, I don't know how to put it. She kind of looks like an old woman trying to stand up. And what are you guys talking about? We're just looking for a plan for the morning when I, are you okay? Oh, I'm fine. And she tries to like put her kind of stand up straight, but it kind of hurts because of how she slept. Cause she there, there was a big rock where she was.
00:26:54
Speaker
And it was in the middle of her back all night. I've, I've been better, but I agree. We should visit any of the villages really. I would like to visit all. So the diamond is first. It looks like it's the closest. So at least we could, we could make a quick trip that direction and then decide if, uh, I guess we just continue in the big circle. Plus it's out right. That's how it means it's going downhill. I think.
00:27:22
Speaker
Is that how that works? I don't know, not good geography. I don't remember going up a hill. I mean, were we going up a hill? I mean, we could also kind of try to scout both directions. Do we split the party? Not after last night. That's a good decision. What helps out?
00:27:45
Speaker
As people are discussing and we're almost about to leave, Gwendolyn looks at the journal where she was drawing all night and the circle basically became a black page with a small white circle within it. And because it looked like her dream, she rips it out and just looking at the side of it just makes her angry. So she uses produced flame and just makes little paper just kind of go up in smoke like it never existed.
00:28:15
Speaker
I pretend to not notice this because it's just weird guinisms at this point. Yeah. Uh, look over towards, uh, Gavin and be like, it's going to be another, another day. Um, every day is another day. Let's check these hots, make sure we don't miss anything. You have to imagine it would be a little difficult to finally find what you think you've been looking for for so long and it's kind of arm stretched out.
00:28:45
Speaker
Gently, so she's not super noticing this Gwendolyn probably turns around after he does his little gesturing. Oh, we're ready to go. Um, yes, we can look at the huts before we go. Thanks for gesturing to the ones we haven't seen. I don't think we want to come back true here again, if we can avoid it, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, I'll, I'll help do a quick, uh, quick one through check under, you know, straws and
00:29:14
Speaker
around walls and stuff. Yeah, you look around and each of these little hovels seem that they could have had three to five
00:29:26
Speaker
people living there with bunk beds kind of on the walls and things like that. Most of it's dilapidated, the beds having been rotted away and falling down and you don't find anything. It seems like most everything seems like those who left didn't take too much time to prepare to leave. They didn't like pack things up to be gone and then never come back. They just kind of seem to have left.
00:29:50
Speaker
Are there any buildings of note besides just the huts i know we're focusing on the huts right now but. Are there like any structures like noteworthy structures that we have seen in the distance but haven't reached yet no nothing you haven't reached yet the only thing that you.
00:30:07
Speaker
of the only thing like that's structure wise is that large pavilion that you went through in search that where all the spices spice was being packaged and really just wanted to make sure there wasn't like oh hey there's a giant temple you guys didn't notice doesn't seem like that's a thing no not here all right cool i have a question yeah um can my all-purpose tool that i got the little gem uh-huh
00:30:32
Speaker
Can I turn it into a telescope? Yes. Yes, you can. I like the way that your brain wrecked for a minute. Like, yes. Okay. I'm not going to do that now, but Gwen's going to be considering it as I'm going to say any, any, pretty much anything you want to do, you get plus one on the roll if you use that and it becomes the tool you need it to become. So, oh my gosh, it's just vague enough to say telescope might be the option. You know, when you need a screwdriver that one time and you chose telescope telescope instead,
00:31:03
Speaker
I don't think it stays that. It's every time you approach a situation. Oh, that's cool. So what if I approach two situations in a day? I can use it two times. Just depends on the role. Um, I gotta look at the stats for it. I want cool items. Better get good. Give me cool items, daddy.
00:31:25
Speaker
Please don't call me that. I am kind of holding a lot of things. Do we need to split? Does anybody want to carry this bag instead of me? Or is it fine? You can put as much stuff as you want to. It seems fine. All right. I'm, I'm one for enjoying lots of fine fabrics and peppercorns and whatever else. I'll, you know, I'll take that. Yeah. Maybe it would be better. I don't really put anything in it so you can have it.
00:31:52
Speaker
It's interesting. Uh, what, uh, what's this is interesting. Thank you. I, something tells me you should keep like the portable hole out of there. I wouldn't put that in. Yeah, no, no, no, yeah. Nope. You, you, um, specifically this type of magic does not mix with that type of magic. Don't, um, don't, it just seems like, it seems like an unlimited space. If you did that, honestly, it should be a great idea.
00:32:23
Speaker
I think so too. Makes sense. Don't get near my brew hole. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that. In fact, to be safe, we should probably leave the little pouches away from it as well. You know, we never just to be safe. Yeah. I mean, I've already been in and out. They're very different. That's more kind of portal portals. Oh, Krigs. Yes.
00:32:49
Speaker
I feel like, I should tell you, I know of a man who hates so much peppercorn, he sneezed until the day he died. Oh, that sounds like a terrible existence. I would suggest not eating peppercorn on everything. Thank you, but I don't believe her at all. The man died of sneezing, and she kind of walks away.
00:33:16
Speaker
That's why I put the peppercorns in the bag and look at the bag kind of with a side eye like, OK, I'm going to have to try and resist these for a bit. I did put the potatoes and turnips in there. Oh, I find them and I snack on them. Oh, I like that amazement. Well, I think I think we're clear here. We can we can move on and maybe maybe we'll find some, you know, diamonds, I guess.
00:33:46
Speaker
or a pearl. If you guys find a pearl, let me know. No bougie. You're probably wearing pants too. Are you to make a necklace out of it? I know. I've got a spell idea. I think I could use it for. Oh, and she kind of just keeps walking. She doesn't really care. She's like, Oh, okay. Whatever. Yeah. She's, she's still thinking about that dream. She's trying to act normal, but she's too preoccupied.
00:34:15
Speaker
All right. All right. So you guys continue. You guys begin walking. There is a bit of a pathway that kind of leads out of
00:34:25
Speaker
where you are out of the town you're currently in the little village it is taking you you kind of came in from the the northwest or northeast and this one's taking you down southeast a little bit as you continue to walk that direction and you uh you begin you just walk down the
00:34:49
Speaker
There the the the pathway is again it's pretty wide as you exit and there you pass two more statues kind of at the exit of this that look just like the ones that you had passed coming into this village. They are one of them is a little more dilapidated than the other the head and one of the arms is off but as you continue to walk past those the the road eventually the little pathway eventually narrows
00:35:14
Speaker
to where you are now, it's kind of hard to find the trail. It's a little more difficult than it was earlier as this seems to be a little more overgrown and messed up from the goo and guck that now is all over the ground here. So I need somebody to make a survival check for me.
00:35:37
Speaker
Not it. I might be able to. I believe you might me. Oh yes. Please let me do this. Oh yes. 18 plus nine. Woo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you're able to keep track of, of little kind of shades of trail and in like little bits of trail here and there that you didn't,
00:36:03
Speaker
that the others really are having trouble seeing. They're just kind of trusting you blindly. Carmen is even staying nearby. He's saying he's having trouble, it seems, even finding the trail sometimes. And so he's staying nearby, keeping with her, where you guys are even able to see him most of the time.
00:36:23
Speaker
as he walks and stays kind of closer to the group than he has in the past. You continue forward, I need somebody to roll a D100 for me as you continue to walk this direction. Not it. I can do it. Not I. I have to find, okay.
00:36:43
Speaker
That is a 79 79. All right. So you walk for a while, close to an hour as you are heading, staying pretty true, pretty close to the trail that
00:37:01
Speaker
Every now and then Gwyn says has to, no, no, no, over here, over here. Because you guys have wandered off a little bit, but you're, you're staying on it until you come up on a section where this fog that is above you has, has kind of sunken and fallen down and is covering
00:37:24
Speaker
everything in front of you that you can see. And as you look, it's like a wall of black mist or fog in front of you, billowing even stronger, right at like head height for you. And you know, you've been in this kind of before as it swirls in front of your eyes, almost like it's alive.
00:37:48
Speaker
Waiting for you. Hey, you guys want to do major armor? OK. I too will cast mage armor. That's funny. Yeah, shocker. I cast blaged armor. Oh. Read that one for me. It says I win the game. It's over. We win D&D over. You had that spell this whole time.
00:38:16
Speaker
I wanted to make you work for it. I'm going to turn into a buyer. Okay. I'm going to just stand there and be like, what's up? She could barely handle all this. Can I turn into a polar bear or do I have to have seen one? What if I read about them? Make a history check. Okay. I read about them and
00:38:37
Speaker
DC 18. Sir, sir, Laura says ice caps of the North. I love that. DC 15. The name of the book gave you minus three to your DC.
00:38:52
Speaker
And what was it history? Yeah. Um, eight, nine, 10, only 10. Listen, kids do cool stuff in D and D and sometimes your DM will give you nice little gifties, but you ruin it whenever you roll bad dice. She wasted them all in her dream. That was all the great dice. I turned into an albino brown bear.
00:39:16
Speaker
I didn't get the eyes quite right, so they're kind of red. That's what the description basically was to her. I love it. That's good. So yeah, she basically turns into this bear that, uh, Jockster, will you make a history check for me? I will. I will make this history check. Uh, all right. All right. All right. That's an 11 minus one. So there's a 10. Okay.
00:39:41
Speaker
So you look at her and you think, holy crap, she's a polar bear. And, uh, as she casts what she remembers a polar bear to look like. And, uh, yeah, so you've got a bear, you've got two mage armored spell casters and a dwarf and me and soft friend chilling out what, uh,
00:40:05
Speaker
What are you gonna do now as you are all prepped it seems. Does this wall seem to kind of go on in either direction for a certain amount of time like. Is it like certain size or is it just kind of disappears into the trees as you look to the right and the left. I'm looking at facts about bears hang on. Okay okay important stuff. Polar bears cover the nose whenever they're hunting.
00:40:27
Speaker
I'll make sure spell slots is kind of hidden at the base of my neck, kind of gripped around. And so it just looks like a big black wall in front of us of, you know, like we could just run through it and choke and, you know, have issues running through and probably get attacked and stuff.
00:40:46
Speaker
Does it remind me of the thing that attacked us near the Riverside? Not necessarily. It reminds you more of just it just is just like the clouds that have been swirling above you. It's it doesn't look like a creature of any kind. It's just this wall of this wall of the same kind of fog. It just has the same kind of
00:41:07
Speaker
flowing swirling bit to it. I'm going to let everybody know and like wrap my head like with with my shawl so that I, you know, cover my mouth just for a little bit of breathing. OK, Craig, you flew up into the stuff yesterday or two days ago, whatever that was. Was it fine? Did you have any issues?
00:41:28
Speaker
wasn't great. It never seemed to end. At least I never found the other side. And it was turbulent at best. It resisted every attempt I took trying to fly through.
00:41:46
Speaker
Do we see any, like, does it continue upward forever or is it just like thick head and lower? It seems to, uh, it seems to go up forever too. Yes. Uh, it may seem like it maybe thins out a little bit when it gets real high up, but it could just be the distance and the more closeness to the bright sky. You don't know for sure.
00:42:09
Speaker
So did you have problems going up, but did you also have problems coming back? How dense was it? I don't know that I would call it dense as much as I would just call it oppressive. It felt like it actively resisted me.
00:42:28
Speaker
It felt like it fought against every attempt I took at reaching a higher level. Coming down didn't seem so much an issue. It felt like that's what it wanted almost, if that's even possible. I've never flown in an oppressive wind quite like that.
00:42:49
Speaker
Well, are we just going to walk through and see what happens? Maybe, maybe it'd be best if maybe one person, I, I could, I could tie a rope to me and you guys could hold on. I just don't know. What do you want to rope on us? While they're talking about rope, uh, I'm just going to try to stand up and put my like paw against the wall and see what happens, not go through, but.
00:43:16
Speaker
It just kind of swirls like normal. It doesn't seem to have any change or effect when you do that. Then I take my pawn. I kind of just do this like, as if I'm waving at the queen, but I'm twisting it, making little hand spells to see what it does. It's a resistance. No, it just feels like you would expect fog to feel. Oh, well, I'm probably the most guarded and very likely the lightest of all of us.
00:43:45
Speaker
Despite, you know, a bit of a portliness and I slapped my belly. Uh, if you wanted to tie me off to a rope, I can at least guide go first. I don't, we're here now. While he's talking Gwen Lynn sits back down and goes and sits next to Craig's as if wanting him to sit on him on her.
00:44:15
Speaker
Got it. A bear as a bear. Yeah, as a bear. Are you like are you doing like the nose nuzzle thing or are you like leaning down and like like you would kind of push you with my face? Like I just push you from the front and then I just lay down. I'm going to assume. OK, not not if you are saying you want to go forward while she's sitting there because she's about the same height as him. She nudges him again.
00:44:45
Speaker
All right. I'm assuming that's consent and I try to climb on her back, I guess. Okay. Tell me if I'm gripping the fur too tight and I just grab ahold of like the scruff of the back of this bear.
00:45:01
Speaker
All right. And then Gwen just kind of goes, I don't know how to do it. I can't do a bear growl. Just goes. Perfect. That was the best bow, growl, bow, growl I've ever heard. I ever heard that's a big bear girls. Wonderful bear girls. Um, awesome. And so if they want to do the rope technique, that's totally fine. I just didn't want him to go alone ahead. I think we just walked through what's the worst is going to happen. We ought to die again.
00:45:32
Speaker
Devin dies. Devin immediately dies. Cool. So begin to walk in and, and, uh, Safran ride in. Oh, I'll go in right behind the bear. I'll wait. Okay. And I say, wait, like, I mean, like 10 seconds after they disappear, I'll go in. Start walking in. All right. So bear Gwen walks in with Safran on her back. Jockster, do you follow the bear or follow Devin?
00:46:00
Speaker
I think I'll follow Davin. Hey, Davin heads in. Joxer heads in right behind him. It is dark. It is. It was dark already. It's been dark. You guys are used to darkness at this point. But as you walk into this fog, you can't hardly see your hands unless you put them six inches in front of your face. And I do that, but I push it forward and try to use my hand light as a beacon. Awesome. And it does illuminate a section of
00:46:29
Speaker
An aura of mist right around your hand and it seems to actually kind of repel the mist a little swirls away from your hand as that light exudes from the front of your hand and.
00:46:45
Speaker
So it kind of pushes itself away a little bit and. But other than that, it's just swirling around all of you and you continue to walk through it. Go ahead. Yeah. If it is dark and like seems like it's moving around, then all I will try to cast a touch on probably my sword or something to just kind of.
00:47:10
Speaker
So that will give like a, but if the moment, the moment it looks like it's going to, you know, block our vision, I'll disperse it.
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah. So you cast light on your sword. Yeah. So I'd be behind, uh, Davin. So kind of middle of the group at that point. And so 20 foot of light and then 20 foot of dim light. As it shines, it lights up and shines and all your eyes kind of get a little bit, a little bit, uh,
00:47:43
Speaker
tired immediately and you react a little bit and it shines. But then it's still, though, faded to only really push light out to about 12, 11 feet. It's not
00:47:59
Speaker
It's not quite going the distance that it should or you would expect it or that it has when you've used it in the past, but it is giving you guys a little bit more light. It's not really, I don't know that it's making it a lot easier to see. I'm making it harder. It's just definitely within that 10 to 12 feet. You can see each other better. You can see kind of what you're stepping on. What's what's right there next to you. That's a little better. Hopefully it doesn't bother you all.
00:48:29
Speaker
It doesn't bother me, no. It's a little like the bathroom light when you have been sleeping. Kind of feels like that. When we're following you, I hope you know what you're doing. She does the big bear growl just rawr. Do you have bear stats? Uh, yeah, let me pull them out. I was prepared to be a bear without looking at actually with survival. I think you get to just make that as Gwen. Cool.
00:48:57
Speaker
Uh, right, writing on the back of this bear, I kind of lean forward and quietly whisper, thank you for making me not have to do that alone. So you need me to roll a survival check? Yes, please. Yes, please. Oh snap.
00:49:23
Speaker
Have we ever discussed the social normities behind, uh, petting druids and bear form? I don't think it's come up now. That's funny. Um, for survival with Gwen stats, it's 19 plus nine. Okay.
00:49:42
Speaker
So, yeah, as she starts to look and she sees you, you can keep track of the trail still. You're down close enough. But I need everyone to make a charisma saving throw. Oh, snap. First roll for me. Oh, no. I passed 10. 13. I'm going to use a luck die because three is not going to do it. Don't worry about it. I passed what you roll. I passed.
00:50:12
Speaker
Uh-huh. I rolled an 18. Then you passed. 18, 19. Davin? Thirteen. Thirteen. Gwen? Ten. All right. I need you both to roll D100 for me. Another D100? Why are you making us roll these big dice? I'm worried. 86 for Davin. Eight for me. Whoa. Out of 100, you rolled eight? Yeah. Bad choice, bad choice. Just kidding.
00:50:42
Speaker
Uh-oh. Oh, wow. It is. You. Don't say that. In bear form. I what? In bear form? You, I said suddenly you drop to the ground. Gwyn falls immediately to the ground, breathing, eyes open, starting to,
00:51:02
Speaker
as a bear and that the her form her form breaks comes down out of bear form back into Gwendolyn form and she's completely paralyzed. Roll a d10 for me Gwendolyn. I guess that answers the question does a bear droop in the woods? Daven seeing that you open your mouth to say those words you said you rolled a 89. 86. 86 you open your mouth to say those words and you're ready to crack a joke and you just look and you freeze and you stare and you can't
00:51:32
Speaker
You don't fall, but you just, you can't move. Roll a d10. That's what you get for doing some smart butt jokes. I rolled an eight. Okay. I too rolled an eight.
00:51:46
Speaker
What a copycat. Wow. So Davin stands there stunned. Gwendolyn lays on the ground paralyzed as this scorching pain shoots through their minds. And they both begin to see just images that bring back the worst memories, the worst nightmares, the fear,
00:52:09
Speaker
Daven as he looks at Gwendolyn, he sees her writhing on the floor in agony. And all he wants to do is go help and do something, but it's stunning him to do nothing. Gwendolyn is laying on the floor. She sees the, the black tunnel, like she's inside of it, trying to run towards the light, trying to will yourself into a faster shape, not able to change your, your
00:52:36
Speaker
biological makeup with magic anymore. But in reality, you just lay completely still and paralyzed and Devin stands completely stunned. Joxer and Safran, you are watching this happen for a good solid minute before you even could react. Because of my proximity, I definitely fall. I fell to my knees and what I could in that second,
00:53:03
Speaker
tried pulling Gwen back to where she was at least facing upwards and kind of holding her there on my knees.
00:53:12
Speaker
Basically, the position you do, whenever someone has fallen backwards, I'm holding her there while I'm sitting on my knees, just making sure she doesn't perish somehow. Knees weak arms. Yeah, you, as you hold her and kind of hold her there on your arms looking at her, you see her eyes are wide open, unblinking wide open eyes as she stares at you.
00:53:38
Speaker
and it's it's eerie almost creepy as her pupils don't dilate or change as jocks are approaches with the light and and her nothing nothing seems to shift or change in her face or her eyes or anything as she just stares like she's looking at something and makes no sound davin stands completely stunned do you do anything else i
00:54:04
Speaker
or jocks or do you do anything? This is just like the weasel incident. Once I finally become an animal, I'm un-animal-ed again. I see the trend. It's the dice man telling you.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I just don't know if there's, there's a lot at this point that I'd be able to do. I mean, I'd, I'd probably try to, I guess maybe a medicine check to try to like deal with some kind of nerve or try to break her out of it. Make a role, uh, make, yeah, make a, um, that is a, what is the role for a medicine check? It's a medicine. You get better. Yeah. I'm thinking there's some other.
00:54:51
Speaker
That's funny. OK, that's a 15. I'm sitting here looking at my spell list, questioning some of my choices at this point. You remember seeing Gwendolyn get paralyzed by those spiders? This is the exact same thing. She's just paralyzed right now. There's no way to really know how long it's going to last. But you definitely, though, know you shook something off in your mind as you guys got deeper into this mist and you're just you're thinking maybe she couldn't shake that off.
00:55:19
Speaker
We need to make a decision. It's either we move as fast as we can, the other direction, or we leave and try to walk around this. There is no around. It's all around us. I know, but I mean, it's all or nothing. So I can grab one, you can grab the other, and we go. Let's go. Is Carmen with us?
00:55:49
Speaker
He is, and I didn't make a check for him, but I need to. Thank you for reminding me.
00:55:54
Speaker
I get so into doing stuff with you guys. I can make that check right now. It was a charisma. He only gets a plus one. Oh no. And he is also having to roll a D100. He rolls a 33. He turns at the same time they drop. He turns and he starts sprinting back out.
00:56:22
Speaker
of this fog, trying to get out of it as he runs away from you. And he actually does what his first instinct is as he darts away. And with a 29 stealth, he vanishes. Wonderful. What? Joxer. And he rolled an eight on the D10, just so we're clear. Three eights on the D10. Can we get them into your brew hole, lighten our load, try to get through this as fast as we can?
00:56:51
Speaker
Yes, yes, we we can do that quick as we can if possible. I don't think we should stay here as long as any longer than we need. Yeah, lay it down and help hoist them into it and I'll tell.
00:57:13
Speaker
Uh, I, if, if I drop, then, then remember that you just pull it tight here and it's, it'll open up and then you understand how this works better than I do. You're probably the best at saving us at this point. I, I need to stay with them. I can heal them if they need. I'm going to cast fine steed and you're going to see, hopefully, is that going to work where we're at? To keep telling me what you want to do.
00:57:43
Speaker
I'm going to cast divine, I'm going to cast fine steed and summon that, that spirit like spectral steed of the great elk that I have called before. Um, I'm basically just going to, to, you're going to see me grasp like the, the palm of my hand. I'm going to, I'm going to make a fist tightly and I'm going to just raise my hand up and it'll be kind of like a beacon of light.
00:58:09
Speaker
that just goes up like 10 feet and creates almost like a dome effect, like I'm trying to draw a spirit to me from wherever, if it can possibly see me here, and I'm going to attempt to cast Divine Steed and call that spectral great elk to this location.
00:58:31
Speaker
All right, so you begin to cast that spell, the radiant kind of energy of your spell seeming to create a buffer between you and this mist as you cast your spell. But then it dissolves and the mist encroaches back upon you as you end the spell. But sure enough, your mount appears just behind you walking up like an assassin's creed when you whistle and your horse comes from nowhere. There it is, just ready for you to ride.
00:59:01
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to approach him and just be like, you, you can, we need you now, please. And I'm going to crawl into the brew hole. I'm going to stop you for a half second. Your bag. Give it to me.
00:59:17
Speaker
I give you the bag with a sheepish look on my face like, oops. I'll take that and we almost ended the world. Can I? Yeah. I have a whole new campaign. Michael, because I have the improved mage hand, I can cast a spell without needing any verbal or semantic components. Can I cast that in the state that I'm in? I'm going to say, is it an action?
00:59:44
Speaker
Uh, yes, it's one bonus. Yeah. Cause stunned just removes any actions or bonus actions. Okay. Right. So if you were like muted or deaf or blind or something, that'd be different, but I'm going to try to cheese the system. No, that's good. I've been paralyzed. May would even work, but stunned is literally like, you can't even get your mind to process the idea of casting that spell. That makes sense. Okay. So you, you jump in. I, I'm crawling in.
01:00:12
Speaker
I close it up, I jump on the steed and give, well, I appreciate this. And I feel like I have one, one drink that I can do and see if it gives me charisma. If I roll a...
01:00:32
Speaker
In the brew hole, I basically am just between both Devin and Gwyn that are in stun states and just kind of waiting to cast or. Basically, if I need to do whatever I need to do, heal them, if I need to pop my wings and try to force my way out of this place, whatever I need to do, I'm just fully at the ready, entirely anxious, but ready. OK.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah. So I legit rolled the six. So I get a plus one, two, charisma, charisma. All right. And so you guys, you're going to Mount the steed. Yeah. Mount it and just haul. Okay. I need you to make a survival check for me. Okay. That's not, that's not the, that's not the role.
01:01:18
Speaker
I know, but you've got to figure out which direction you're going to start writing after all this chaos. All right. So it's a 13. OK, so you you look and just take a hot second with the light from your sword still illuminating a little bit right near you. And you look down and you see a little bit where there looks to be some padded down dirt and grass, like dead, dilapidated grass having grown there.
01:01:45
Speaker
and then being destroyed by this, you know, goo, but you find what what the remains of what probably was once a trail and you just take off that direction. And as you take off in that direction, I need you to make one another charisma saving throw.
01:02:01
Speaker
And that's a nope. That's a luck die. And that's a 19 plus four. So 23. All right. So you continue to ride through. You feel this encroaching mist. You start to think about, Oh, we should go back. I can't do this. I gotta get, no, I'm fine. This is fine. And you just keep writing. And as you ride and eventually you begin, you, you, you feel it getting darker and darker. And after just a few minutes,
01:02:31
Speaker
Krigs, about four minutes into this ride, Davens suddenly comes out of his stun, Gwendolyn, she starts to move and, ugh, ugh, what's going on? And that's where we're gonna end the episode. Woo! Oh, man. It's the only one, one die left. It was eight minutes of those things happening. By the way, that's what the eight was. Wow, okay. Eight minutes of.
01:03:00
Speaker
Carmen running the other direction away from us. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of The Hired Swords. I'm really sorry that our release schedule has been so bad, but we're going to get better about that. If you want to check us out, you can find us at The Hired Swords on all socials. And thank you so much for listening again.