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Ep. 114 Every Sword for Themselves
35 Plays1 day ago
The party descends into the cavern, determined to find Darnaldi and end the reign of the shadows. Each chamber presents its own test—some challenging their strength, others their wits, and a few forcing them to confront fears they’d rather leave buried. Separated from their allies, they push forward alone, listening to the unsettling silence that twists through the stone. Ghostly whispers weave through the air, revealing long-forgotten truths they were never meant to hear. As they navigate the ancient corridors, time itself feels stretched thin, leading them toward a fate that has been waiting, watching, and ready to unfold.
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Transcript
Introduction & Player Setup
00:00:20
Speaker
You're listening to The Hired Swords. actual play Dungeons & Dragons podcast. Where they're not afraid to use child labor.
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Hired Swords. I'm your Dungeon Master Michael and with me I have Blaze. He's Kriggs. We're all gonna die!
00:00:53
Speaker
Last time you said you're never
Temple Exploration & Encounter
00:00:54
Speaker
first, so here you are. ah I also have ah Mikey here, he's Joxer. I'm boyconning today all digital dice. Yeah, yeah, that last one was rough.
00:01:06
Speaker
Ash is with us as well. She will be Gwendolyn. Howdy, who's this man on a couch? Yeah, we're going find out. Derek is here, and he's playing Davin, Mindstrider.
00:01:17
Speaker
Technically, Kriggs was not first because you introduced yourself before him. That is true. That's true. je And we're going to do a quick recap and circle back to Kriggs, but here is where we're at.
00:01:28
Speaker
Further down in the depths of this temple, we have found they have found their way into this ocean-looking area where they had day found a way to... to activate this shrine to the god of magic in some island nation inhabited by serpent folk.
00:01:51
Speaker
When that happened, the darkness, the mist, the dark vines left this room and left it standing as... It should, with water the water and everything, the darkness removed.
00:02:05
Speaker
Then the party split a little bit with Kriggs and Gwendolyn finding a couple of treasure chests with some information in it. And then Joxer burning his way through some vines that were blocking a pathway, getting into a space that was filled with...
00:02:21
Speaker
minerals and and a a crevasse in the ground that had crystals and stuff growing from it, also imbued with magic with these vines pulsating, seemingly extracting the magic from this area.
Visions & Internal Struggles
00:02:34
Speaker
Then further down Gwendolyn as a little black fox had ran her head into another room that looked like it had two good sized machines or a big kind machine with two orbs inside made of stone, the the machine made of stone and and metal gears. And she was able to talk to the vines and get those vines to separate away from this magical device causing the orbs to glow brighter, pushing away the mist.
00:03:03
Speaker
creating another magical space here, another radix or cradle of magic, freed from whatever was holding it in the darkness. In the meantime, while that was happening, she was she was given visions of the land that it seems Marlow is from and how Marlow got shifted from his plane to this one.
00:03:26
Speaker
Then, Kriggs made his way into the room filled with crystals, As he was doing that, Gwendolyn made her way back down into, up and around, into a main chamber in this cavern where she saw an elven man sitting on a couch.
00:03:43
Speaker
And he we left the episode with him greeting himself and saying his name was Karthanact. Before we go back there, we're going to cut back to Kriggs, who stepped into that room filled with crystals, began to investigate them. And when he did, he found his mind, his body himself transported into another space where he saw his family who were killed by this dark fog and mist that then coalesced into a form of himself made completely of this darkness.
00:04:14
Speaker
They transported into this land of waste. They're standing now face to face, standing about 20 feet away from each other in this ruins of some circular shrine. It seems on top of a cliff, 20 feet down, a wasteland stretches out filled with dark mist and blackness.
00:04:35
Speaker
Dark vines and trees grow around them, and the stone is dark obsidian and dark gray stone, seemingly in a darkened version of the Stone Mountains where Kriggs' family is from.
00:04:49
Speaker
We're going to start with Kriggs having rolled initiative. What did you roll, sir I rolled 18 minus 1, so 17. Great. Shadow Kriggs, yes, he's in here. His character sheet is here. His name is Shadow Kriggs.
00:05:05
Speaker
He's going to roll his initiative now. It is. I get to run a character sheet here like a player. um A six. So that is you are good to go first.
00:05:18
Speaker
So as you stand there, as soon as you appear here, Shadow Kriggs pulls his shield up in front of him, takes his hammer and slams it against the shield. And he yells out, you did all of this.
00:05:31
Speaker
What are you going to do? I, okay. I went through such an array, a range of emotions from everything that happened in that timeframe that man, I i honestly feel like I just, I i do nothing.
00:05:50
Speaker
is This is sucks. I'm wasting a turn or whatever, but I I'm looking around and I'm, I'm, ah about ready to to like fall to my knees and and I have to get back to where I was. I have to save them. I have to heal them. I have to raise them. i have to do whatever I have to do. Like I'm lost right now.
00:06:10
Speaker
You meaning them, meaning your family after seeing that. Okay. Um, the screw the rest of the guys. I don't care. Like i saw what I saw. And yeah, it took me so far back.
00:06:20
Speaker
So that being your turn now, um, shadow Kriggs, um, grins at you and raises the hammer pointing at you and his eyes sharpen and glow ah dark, like a, not dark yellow. That's a weird, but like a, an amber yellow color. They flash this yellow as he points this hammer. And he says, they're dead because of you.
00:06:45
Speaker
You did this. And he begins to raise his hammer and charge at you making and attack. So he's going to make his Warhammer attack.
00:06:57
Speaker
Oh man, there's a lot of dice that go whenever you make that attack. um So that is a 19. Is a 19 hit? and
00:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, just. Okay, that's 10 damage. Okay. And then um it's going to... When I say I eat this damage, like I eat it. like it It connects. i'm I got nothing right now.
00:07:21
Speaker
Okay. And then he pumps his... um He pumps his... ah What is this called? I changed the name of it. Welcome to being a paladin. Uh, yeah, for real.
00:07:34
Speaker
It's, he pumps 14 necrotic damage into that blow. It's like the, uh, divine smite, but it's a shadow smite is what it is. So it's necrotic necrotic damage.
00:07:45
Speaker
Let's see if I can resist some of that. So it's 14 more for total um, 24 damage. for a total of um twenty four damage Shadow Kreeks, man. We should have him on our team instead.
00:07:57
Speaker
Seriously. Truthfully. And um then, um let's see. I think that... Dude, I'm not used to playing like players.
00:08:09
Speaker
Monsters are so much simpler but there's because there's so many more of them. um So... Having to do all of my math. Okay. So I just took a hard hit 24 damage. I can't... Man...
00:08:24
Speaker
When I say my character sheet is long, buddy. No, I know. I'm trying to find any I'm also looking at the same character sheet, just modified for a shadow person. Disgusting. I don't think I have anything that I can do to... I can do poison and resistance against poison. i don't have acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder.
00:08:45
Speaker
this is you know You specifically chose necrotic, you jerk. It's the shadow, bruh. That's what it did. Okay. So 24 damage. 24. And then me double check. It gets an extra attack. You do.
00:09:02
Speaker
So another one. Um, this one is 25 to hit. Ouch. Yeah, that hits. Um, how much do I get to do the divines or the shadow smite?
00:09:16
Speaker
How much, how often can you do this shadow? Some are the divine smite. Uh, pretty much every hit. Yeah. Okay. It's not like doing a casting a spell or anything. and Okay. Well then I'm hitting you with another one. take spell slots, but you can do it whatever you want. It doesn't take a bonus action, does it?
00:09:32
Speaker
No. ah That is 21 damage total. Okay. As he um slams that hammer against you once, and when it does, this dark shadow crawls across your body and into your ears and your nose and your mouth, just like it did your family.
00:09:51
Speaker
And he looks you in the eyes, his eyes glowing bright yellow. And as he swings the hammer down for his second attack, he says... You deserve this! And smashes the hammer down into you again with that the necrotic absorbing into your body, causing your veins to turn dark blue and and in your neck and your arms. so It's your turn. What are you going to do?
00:10:14
Speaker
Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. ah That hurt. A lot. ah
00:10:26
Speaker
Give me a sec.
00:10:30
Speaker
this This is kind of what I was hoping for. Some stumpage. What are you going to um ah Okay.
00:10:43
Speaker
i'm I'm very taken back. That was an extreme... On top of everything that I'm currently going through with everything that I just saw, that was a lot of pain.
00:10:56
Speaker
ah i I cough out whatever with such a significant hit, no shot that I don't have blood in my mouth. I i'd cough it up and spit whatever out.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah. I don't pull my hammer, Bamamba, but but i got I got both hands on my shield at this point. And i I mean, I'm not... He's he's obviously close to me. Yep.
00:11:21
Speaker
But i put everything that I have into a push and i
00:11:28
Speaker
Oh man, in order to do what I want to do, I'd have to use an attack. I just bolster myself again and I i so i scream back. I don't scream back.
00:11:41
Speaker
I just say, you're right. And I just, I sit there behind my shield. Okay. And I feel not great. All right, make a wisdom, make a charisma saving throw.
00:11:55
Speaker
Oh, geez. Oh, God, I love having high charisma. Welcome to being a paladin. I rolled 14, but I get to add from my aura, which is plus two, so 16.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. So you say ah you're right. And when you do the glow in his eyes... kind of flickers and
Gwendolyn's Investigation
00:12:23
Speaker
you get this little, little hint in your mind of where the guilt starts to, it, it was, it's there, it's not going away, but it's almost like it flickers with the flash of light in his eyes.
00:12:35
Speaker
And instead of raising his hammer this time, he slams the, the handle of it into the ground. And when he does, a blast of energy just shoots out from around him.
00:12:49
Speaker
And it is a dark purple lightning that just shoots out all around him. And you need to make a constitution saving throw. Okay. 18, 23, plus 2, 25. Okay.
00:13:02
Speaker
plus two twenty five Alright, so you take... um You take... What's the total here? ah You take six total lightning damage from that. if You take half of the 13 that was put out from that.
00:13:21
Speaker
And um you do not fall backwards on your backside, allowing him to get away. So he stands there in front of you after doing that. And he begins to walk around you, looking at you, almost with pity and disdain in his eyes.
00:13:39
Speaker
And he says, you confess your lack of concern for your own family. and we're going to cut over to Gwendolyn. When he do dat.
00:13:53
Speaker
After he do dat, we'll cut to Gwendolyn. Oops. um So Gwendolyn, we're back to you. Yeah. you are standing in this room. It's like a library, three big bookcases, four shelves on each one covered in books, a table with, with books and papers laid out everywhere and scrolls rolled up. There's another shelf across the way with a several bottles of some sort of ah beverage with cups and things and little basket of dried meats and food.
00:14:26
Speaker
Like somebody has been staying here, living here. And, uh, you we're just told by You were just told by this this ah guy that they call him Carthenact.
00:14:40
Speaker
um Again, Dale is standing right next to him, looking at him and and kind of like pawing at him and trying to to get his attention. And he looks down after he tell says that to you and he says, well, hello, little man.
00:14:53
Speaker
And looks back up to you. Who are you? um Gwendolyn's just kind of like watching Dale. Uh-huh. And instead of just answering him, um answering Karthinek, she's going to just talk to Dale.
00:15:07
Speaker
Do you know him? Dale jumps up and down and runs around in a circle around him. And the the guy, Karthinak, looks around him and is like, oh, he's quite an interesting fellow. um This place, something's strange here.
00:15:22
Speaker
What are you people doing here? And he stands up quickly as he seems to notice that the the the darkness has kind of shifted and the vines have calmed down in this room as there are some still in the doorway rooms.
00:15:35
Speaker
coming through into this space, going under a door that is just north of you, a big stone door that looks like it's almost like a vault door that's sealed up. And he looks around and he points at you and he says, what is, what are you doing here?
00:15:49
Speaker
What are you doing here? I'm Gwendolyn. I came To see what she's just kind of struck because like she knew she came in here to do stuff, but she's just kind of taken like, what's the word?
00:16:06
Speaker
She's just kind of in shock because she recognizes a guy. She just can't place him. Yeah, taken aback, so to speak. Yes. he steps He takes a step towards you and he says, I serve here ah to protect our people from the dangers outside of this realm. And I i command thee this forest and and i protect us people yes i I protect our people. our people.
00:16:33
Speaker
That's what I'm doing here. Are you here for protection? Wait, what are you here for? And he seems confused. um and a little bit just kind of like he's wanting to understand what you're doing, but he's also trying to reassure himself. And then you notice Dale like crawling up onto his foot and he kind of, he doesn't kick Dale, but he kind of shakes him off of his foot. Like, no, no, no. What what is this distraction? And he walks over to the table and he kind of spreads open the books and the and the the papers and he begins to look at them.
00:17:05
Speaker
And he says, see here, I must protect us from all of this. And he looks back up at you. What do you say? um I walk to the table. Protect us from what? There is a war raging.
00:17:17
Speaker
It will destroy the elves and all of us in Almenora. You know this is true. he so He told us that he can protect us and I am serving him so that we may be safe. There's no war.
00:17:30
Speaker
Of course there is. Don't be ridiculous. And he shakes his head and he starts to like put his hand up to his head and kind of rub it like he's like he's got a headache. And he's like, no war. You are familiar.
00:17:43
Speaker
What is and as he does that, make investigation check as you look at him or an insight check. who Wow.
00:17:52
Speaker
I want to do insight. Do it. Davin and Jox, you're coming up here quickly. Hang on. Oh, 11. 11?
00:18:03
Speaker
Yeah. yeah You notice a faint little light glow from underneath his tunic, his white tunic he's wearing. Just flash as he tries to fight off these thoughts of recognizing... He tries to and not fight off, but actually tries to acknowledge these thoughts that he knows who you are.
00:18:20
Speaker
You see kind of a dull glow pulsing pulsate real quick and he in under his shirt and he looks back up and he's of course i told of course look here these we have to keep people out of here you should not be here you must leave immediately um i'm gonna make my way around him okay and i am going to get into his personal space and yeah see what's under his shirt okay okay uh To be warned, consent is a thing and it should happen, but he's right something's wrong with him.
00:18:55
Speaker
As you walk around, you see Dale has jumped up on the table and Dale actually walks right up to him as he's leaning over the table, reaches up and grabs him his shirt and rips his where two buttons pop off of his tunic. And you see, as you reach to do the same, you look and you see Dale just did it.
00:19:16
Speaker
And you see dangling, just popping out, dangling there from his neck is a, is a necklace with a, um, blue gemstone glowing at the bottom of it.
00:19:28
Speaker
And we're going to jump over to Joxer and Davin. You are standing in this room filled with crystals. You see Joxer or Krigsgalder is on his knees sobbing. and And you, he seems, he's not acknowledging your presence or anything that you try to say or do to him.
00:19:46
Speaker
What are you guys going to do? I just want to swing back for a half second for it's not less bad if animals do it. Just saying. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um,
00:19:57
Speaker
So we see, we we see him completely kind of lost in, in his own, any sobbing in there. And, uh, um my My first instinct, do do I see any of the plants working around him, or are they just still can consumed by the crystals?
00:20:19
Speaker
They seem to be consumed by the crystals, but more of the energy from the crystals seems to be going into Craig's hand as he cannot let go. It looks like the crystals are giving him some kind of attention, so maybe maybe we can try to clear off some of the ah debris to help him or heal him?
00:20:39
Speaker
He's sobbing right here. Is is it hurt? Is it are he in danger? i mean, Craig, can you hear me? Craig? You get no response. um So my my first thought, so I got i got two two things. So I'm going to cast bonfire on the red crystal ah to try to just kind of burn off some of the the items.
00:20:58
Speaker
And then
Confronting the Shadow
00:21:00
Speaker
I'm going to then ah move ah spell splots spell slots and do a cure wounds at ah level one. So he has five spell slots with that ring. Yeah, on Craig's.
00:21:14
Speaker
So going to do a cure wounds on him if he seems like he's hurting. Yeah, you definitely see as you get closer, ah you see he's got blood coming out of his mouth. And it's like, where did this come from? But he's definitely sustaining injury in this state that he's in.
00:21:29
Speaker
But do it actually give me HP, though? So how much to six? So it's six. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah. You do get six HP even in your vision.
00:21:41
Speaker
okay Well, as a spell slots is, ah you know, playing with your ear or something. That should wake me up. It's not going to wake me up. Yeah. yeah ah Davin, what are you doing? and So he's holding on to what a vine?
00:21:57
Speaker
No, the the he's got his hand down in that little crevasse touching one of those red gemstones as he was trying to investigate it. This took over his vision. I mean, the only thing I can think of to do is to chop off his hand.
00:22:12
Speaker
I'm going to see if i can just pull him loose. If I grab his arm and see if I can pull him away from the crystal. ah You try to pull him loose, and when you grab him, you're suddenly... um your vision flashes that white color and you feel almost like a shock of pain, like a jolt of pain through your hands and up into your body and makes you let go real quick. Like whatever is going into him through him is keeping, keeping you away.
00:22:43
Speaker
Spell slots was able to grab him and cast a spell, but that attempt to take him out of that state caused a reaction. um Obviously, we can't pull him loose unless you have another way, Joxer.
00:22:57
Speaker
I mean, i I have this rope on me, but I i don't know if that'll help. I mean, it's worth a try, i suppose. I'm going to take the other end of the rope that's attached to still attached to Joxer from when he was in the water.
00:23:10
Speaker
um And I'm going to kind of make a lasso out of it, and I'm going to put it, ah swing it around ah Craig and see if I can get it, you know, not around his neck, obviously. I to try and get it around his chest. Yeah, sure. And pull it tight. All right, go running that way as fast as you can.
00:23:22
Speaker
Okay, so you guys begin to pull, trying to pull Krigs out of there. And um you make strength checks, both of you. 12 minus So be a plus whatever my strength bonus ah seventeen plus sorry opening seventeen plus top one Oh, one.
00:23:52
Speaker
um Yeah, so 18. Okay, so you pull yourself away, ah pull yourself and with that rope, and you begin to run away from where Krigs is, and when you do, his hand releases from it, and as his hand releases, um he sits and continues to sob, but he's accessible to you. You can touch him. And none of that seems like whatever that magic that was pouring into him isn't. And he seems to be settling down a little, but it's definitely not immediately.
00:24:23
Speaker
Um, Craig's, we're going to go back to you now. Are you still seeing the map of the battle that you were fighting? Yeah. Okay. All right, so you see as you're standing there, he just walked around you and cursed you and said this is all your fault and um that you should feel you should be sorry.
00:24:42
Speaker
um But then you suddenly feel this surge of warmth come over you and you feel some of the pain subside in your body as a healing power seemingly comes out of nowhere and heals you a little bit.
00:24:55
Speaker
And then you feel this tug in the back of your mind to release you from this space and let go. and And you get this surge of emotion that is, do I deal with this right now and deal with this situation with my family?
00:25:16
Speaker
Or do I follow what's pulling me back to where I was before I appeared in this space? what would you what was What decision did Kriggs make? You have the willingness to stay in this state Or to pull yourself out of it in this moment? i Do I... Can I feel... Like, obviously, I feel the warmth. I feel... Emotions are a complicated thing.
00:25:39
Speaker
We... That's correct. we We tie associations. We tie happiness. We tie all of these different... sensations, emotions, with memories, with friends, with companions, with experiences.
00:25:57
Speaker
Do I get a sense from the warmth that I feel from the healing in this almost the willingness to let go, to move on, to progress? do Can I feel the warmth that it's coming from Davin Joxer, those that I have fought beside for so long now?
00:26:19
Speaker
You feel that healing and that sense, that urge to pull you out of this space is similar to the feeling of sitting around the campfire eating peppercorn flavored waffles that were made and similar to standing and trying to decide how you're going to convince a leader that you didn't steal goblets.
00:26:50
Speaker
And that same feeling you get when you experience those memories, that's what's calling to you to come back.
00:27:01
Speaker
So I don't know that they realize what they've done when they did this. I feel like they think it's going to bring me back. But I was a soldier. i am a soldier. i had, you you know armies that I was, I had people that counted on me, friends that counted on me. And i let them down time and time again. And in man, in, in giving me this, this release, it almost emboldens me to feel like,
00:27:39
Speaker
Maybe this time i can actually stand when I would have fallen before. And i don't i don't think I can follow it out. I think, if anything, it makes me feel like I can push through for the first time.
00:27:57
Speaker
Okay. I think I stay. so it's your turn in initiative. What do you do? he's He's behind me now at this point. He's walked around and he's like assessing, correct? Yeah.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's looking down on you like he's he's just got a couple more killing blows and you're done. Like he's like you're pathetic. Man, I still have all those thoughts of sitting around the campfire and just being baffled at watching Gwen talk to this dumb little chipmunk that none of us can understand what kind of relationship we have with this thing, but we still play along because it's what we know what to do. Yeah.
00:28:38
Speaker
Devin, who's weirdly like a big brother, but also a little brother at the same time. And Joxer, who is, I mean, it's frigging Joxer.
00:28:54
Speaker
grabbed my hammer, finally. And i man, this might be a move. I cast, in and screaming out, like,
00:29:09
Speaker
I don't say words. I cast the wall of fire. Okay. Um, but man, I don't cast it like a ring around us. I literally encapsulate the entire area that we are standing on in a radiant blaze.
00:29:26
Speaker
Uh, And I turn ah in my in my cast, like in my moment of hammering the ground and the spark from my hammer and everything creating just this giant blaze around the both of us, this this engulfing flame.
00:29:43
Speaker
i turn around. i i so stand and turn as this fire is around us and I stare him in the eyes and I say, who are you to judge me? Okay.
00:29:55
Speaker
Uh, so Wall of Fire obviously is a big bad ouchie. Um, I'd like to add that if there's any chance that um, that spell slots can offer help in any way.
00:30:10
Speaker
he would He would be doing that. Okay. I don't know if you if you guys would know what's going on in this situation yet. At this point, maybe if some effects happen, you would know.
00:30:22
Speaker
But let's see how it rolls out here first. On the dexterity saving throws, Shadowkrig's rolled a 15. ah What does he have to beat on me for that? Your spell saving DC, which is 15.
00:30:34
Speaker
a fifteen So it might meets and beats. So... oh Sick. So it takes half damage, whatever your damage is. It's halved. So as you figure out that.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah. So as you roll that damage, so you call on this fire and it starts to billow up around you and shoot out from you around to... 32 damage. 32. So he takes 16.
00:30:59
Speaker
thirty two so he takes ah sixteen So it it shoots out across this space, burning and evaporating some of this mist that's around you, including some of Shadow Kriggs as his body begins to absorb into the flame and then twist and turn and remorph. And it stands in front of you now as your brother, another dwarf, this time carrying a spear and...
00:31:28
Speaker
He's burning. The flames are just climbing all over his body. You see his eyes burning this bright yellow. And what are you going to do next Is there anything else on your turn?
00:31:42
Speaker
ah It's my brother now, eh? Yeah, it's no longer you. So I am going to use my channel divinity, uh, feral slaughter, which is a bonus action.
00:31:58
Speaker
I can channel the rebuking spirits of the wild and repel trespassers on this bonus action. I can make a melee weapon attack. And if I hit, I can make another attack and the attacks must be on the, uh,
00:32:12
Speaker
Same creature. ah Okay. I cannot separate those. So luckily it's only just me and my little bro. Yeah. Give him, give them an attack. Let us do that.
00:32:24
Speaker
Oh no. My character sheet is busted. Oh, what happened? It doesn't have my hammer equipped for some reason. It just says unarmed attacked, unarmed attack.
00:32:36
Speaker
What the hay? Well, let me fix this. I'm sorry. It's all right. We're going to jump back to Gwen in just a minute. Actually, no, we'll wait. It's weird timing in and the recording to jump back around, jump around.
00:32:50
Speaker
Jump around, jump around. Jump up, jump up, we get down. I'll do this within roll 20 because it actually has, it should have my hammer and stuff on here. Yeah, the one I copied does.
00:33:03
Speaker
I just copied your character sheet and made changes to the copy to make Shadow Krigs. twenty 24 hits, or 23. It's rolling advantage every time, but a 23 definitely hits.
00:33:16
Speaker
um So you did some damage there. it should be... you get to do a second attack. Go ahead. Yeah, take the first swing and...
00:33:29
Speaker
I swing my hammer at, well, my now brother just screaming, I could save you! And just blast him with 10 bludgeoning damage.
00:33:41
Speaker
um Which should be one d ten plus 8 bludgeoning, so I don't know how that necessarily happened. It rolled a 2. Oh, yeah, it did, didn't it? im and um So then I i'd come back for the second swing. I could save all of you.
00:33:56
Speaker
And I strike him again with 28 and deal another 11 bludgeoning damage. Okay. So in total, 21 16, it?
00:34:07
Speaker
Uh-huh. There go.
00:34:10
Speaker
there you go All right, so and as you swing and hit twice, um the first hit crushes through the the mist that makes up this ah your brother's body here. And as it does, it flashes and your father appears in front of you before you even have a chance to slow down your hit.
00:34:31
Speaker
it's Again, it's your father. And you swing and make contact with his face. And as you do, your your hammer explodes the mist that was his face. And you realize you're basically just attacking a pile of shadow that keeps messing with you by taking this shape.
00:34:49
Speaker
And then finally, the last shape, ah it the next shape it takes is your mother. And it as you finish your turn and you... You finish that last attack and you're huffing from the energy of it and you yell, I could save all of you.
Return to Reality & Revelations
00:35:05
Speaker
She reaches her shadow hand up to your face and she grabs your chin like your jaw, like a mother would whenever she's disciplining or getting onto you ah in a super aggressive way.
00:35:19
Speaker
And um she, ah where is it? She casts banishment on you. well actually She says, then do it like that.
00:35:33
Speaker
And the the mist surrounds you. And I need you. and see. To make a charisma saving throw. oh Thank God. Yep.
00:35:44
Speaker
oh 18 technically. Plus two, so 20. All right. So you're banished. However, you go where you want. ah Excuse me?
00:35:56
Speaker
You get to leave this space. As the shadow dissolves in front of you, you have to go away from here. And she just looked at you and grabbed your jaw. And she says, if you can save us, then do it.
00:36:08
Speaker
And the myt the shadow dissolves in front of you. The flames swirl around and then poof out into nothing. And you're and you begin to you begin to dissolve yourself as well as you need to put a thought in your mind where you want to end up. And that's where you will be banished.
00:36:29
Speaker
Anywhere? Anywhere that you can, like a teleportation, anywhere that you've been and you can see in your mind what it looks like. Taco Bell on Fremont Street. Yeah, dog.
00:36:42
Speaker
Baja B-D-Bo, be there but last. um Oh, man. I can't think of anywhere besides going back with my friends in that cave. Great.
00:36:53
Speaker
So as you dissolve, as they dissolve in front of you, you shoot out of here and you suddenly, uh, Davin and joxer, Actually, let's ask you guys what this took a little time for him what he was doing.
00:37:10
Speaker
So as he is finishing up this last little bit of this little encounter here, what are you guys doing in response to him getting some healing, but then choosing to stay in this mode for a while after being released from these gemstones?
00:37:25
Speaker
All right, Jackson. This might sound crazy, but what if I banish him?
00:37:33
Speaker
i'm I'm sorry. Can you, I'm a little unfamiliar with that spell. What is that? It sends him his pain. Can you explain to that's going to be? but Something's like attached to him here and maybe it would sever that connection. And then, you know, in a minute I can let him come back.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, but if he's somewhere, like ah I was having that vision and and then, ah but I wasn't, I was still here. He's still here. If you banish him and his mind is somewhere else, is that going to break that?
00:38:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah I didn't think about that. ah Maybe that's not a good idea.
00:38:08
Speaker
So you guys are having that conversation, ah trying to figure out what to do. Gwyn, you just saw the blue necklace dangling from Carthinax's neck.
00:38:19
Speaker
He looks at it and looks at you and then just kind of like doesn't care. He's like, that was weird. Why did this guy do this to me? And he goes back to the trying to find something in the in the scrolls and the pages of these books.
00:38:30
Speaker
You just hear on the other side, where's Gwen?
00:38:37
Speaker
um I'm just going to stare at the necklace. And do I see like, how do i say I want to do this?
00:38:48
Speaker
um Obviously something is weird. He's acting weird. Yeah. This necklace looks weird. Yeah. And... I just do. you Where did you get this?
00:39:03
Speaker
And I start to go for the necklace. He's He says, what this? Oh, he gave it to me. Of course, it's it's it's my badge that that shows that I'm I'm his right hand. I I work for him alone as he continues to shuffle through.
00:39:18
Speaker
He doesn't seem to respond to you trying to reach for the necklace. Um, who gave it to you? Bogusha, of course. he He's in charge here, and he starts turning through pages.
00:39:31
Speaker
Can I see it? Well, I can't remove it, so and and I would suppose you could see what you could see. And as you do look at it, and you said you were looking kind of closely staring at it, you do see that little black little bit of black, inky mist kind of swirling around the inside of this blue gem as it glows.
00:39:47
Speaker
It brings, it rings a bell for sure. You've seen orange ones and red ones and yellow ones already. Hmm. And he can't take it off. I'm going to try to take it off of him.
00:40:01
Speaker
Okay. Slowly and secretly. Okay. He's pretty absorbed in his work. Why don't you go ahead and make a, um, make a sleight of hand check with advantage.
00:40:13
Speaker
Oh my God. not 22. 20. Yay! twenty Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So you reach up to the clasp behind it and you just go to unclasp it.
00:40:24
Speaker
And when you do, it seems like there's... When you touch it, it seems like... there's this confusion that comes across your mind. That's like, do I really want to do this?
00:40:34
Speaker
And then it's like this particular necklace is it's, it's using all its power to contain the person in front of you. It can't keep you as well from keeping it on or from taking it off. So you unclasp it and it falls to the table with a clatter and kind of,
00:40:56
Speaker
slides across the table a little bit and as it does Karthinak falls to a knee and puts his hand on his head and starts to rub his head and Dale buts on falls over. What?
00:41:09
Speaker
what what He falls over. What did you say? I'm sucking. You said something when I spoke because didn't hear you.
00:41:20
Speaker
We both said what? Oh. Sorry, keep Well, he falls, Dale falls over and goes rigid, taxidermied again.
00:41:31
Speaker
What? And Karthanak looks up at you and he stands taking his hand down from his face and he says, oh my, oh, thank you, call it on, it's...
00:41:47
Speaker
Is it you? It must be. And he picks up Dale and looks at you and hands him to you. And he says, course, it's you. Look in your eyes.
00:41:58
Speaker
It's time. Please. there There is must much to do. Are you here alone? ah No. Gwendolyn is just kind of shocked because she's just looking at Dale.
00:42:13
Speaker
Like she's never seen him taxiderm before. Yeah, even though that's all she knew for so long. Yep. And he stops for a second. He goes, what am I thinking? What am I doing?
00:42:27
Speaker
My girl, my like Gwendolyn, you're here. She takes a step back. puts his hands He reaches out to put his hands on your shoulders. And as you take your step back, he kind of hesitates and he says, oh, I'm so sorry.
00:42:43
Speaker
i It's me. yeah It's me, Carrick. Do you remember me? She's just kind of dumbfounded. Papa?
00:42:54
Speaker
I'm joking. Kriggs, suddenly you find yourself sitting in this room filled in this room where the um crystals and everything had been.
00:43:10
Speaker
And the mist is dissolving, pushing itself into the walls and up into the rafters up above in the top of this cavern. Davin and Joxer are standing there going talking about the potential risks of casting certain spells to try to help you.
00:43:29
Speaker
very similar conversations you've heard your, your group have all the time. And that warmth comes over you of that feeling of like, this is, I made the right choice coming back here. This is who, this is where I'm meant to be as you listen to them talk. And it's so funny and kind of goofy.
00:43:48
Speaker
And as you guys are talking,
Preparation for Final Confrontation
00:43:50
Speaker
Davin and Joxer, you start to notice the mist is dissolving. And when you look at Craig's, you can see he's fully back now. I mean, maybe I could just put him in the hole.
00:44:00
Speaker
That would be the same thing as a... Krix? Oh, thank the gods. We had no idea what to do. Krix, are you alright? getting pretty rough. I... I just... i have this I have this feeling like I have to go back, but I know that I can't. And I ah and just look at both of them and say, well, fat lot of help you guys were...
00:44:25
Speaker
And I stand up and try to brush myself off and ah realize that I have just tears absolutely streaming down my face still. Yeah.
00:44:37
Speaker
and Spell slots comforting you on your shoulder. All right. Where are you guys going go? um I'm going to help pick him up back on his feet and kind of dust him off a little bit and say, well, we got to find Gwen. She hasn't returned yet. Did it?
00:44:54
Speaker
I asked about Gwen. You didn't tell me. This is Gwen went off on her own again. had one. Of course, Gwen went off on her I don't know why I didn't expect that. Yes, let's let's move and reach a handout to also help out.
00:45:08
Speaker
All right. You mean to tell me you guys haven't gone and found her yet? Well, you kind of went off on your own little tangent. We had to fix one problem at a time and you were closer.
00:45:19
Speaker
Useless. But i I give an approving nod as a thank you. Do we want to go back through the vines or down this other path over here and hope it winds back around? Yeah, so I'll also you know bring ah spell slots back on my shoulder and then move on to the the east.
00:45:35
Speaker
All right, you guys are going back down where you came from or go further towards, well, where you as players know Gwendolyn is, but your characters don't?
00:45:46
Speaker
Well, the other side probably has a growth in our way, so it probably keep going. Okay. So you guys make your way. I'm definitely walking, probably leading the charge in the sense, just because I feel like I have to save her now. Cause mean, I have purpose.
00:46:06
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, you guys walk your way into this, um, into this main big cavern room where you see this library and the couch and the rug and chair. And ah you see everything that I described to Gwendolyn and, and you see her standing there staring at Carthenact or this older Elven gentleman who now she knows he's identifying himself as Carrick, the caring, and she's holding a peculiarly rigid stiffened Dale.
00:46:40
Speaker
And you see Carrick is reaching toward her with both hands as if to put his hands on her shoulder as she stepped back. And um yeah. So what are you guys all, you're all kind of reunited with an extra guy sitting in here. What are you guys going to do?
00:46:55
Speaker
I mean, he's reaching forward. Does it look um threatening from my perspective? Oh, definitely not. His face looks like it's filled with concern for her. um ah Tears even welling up in his eyes.
00:47:06
Speaker
and Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Oh, could you not alone? It's going to take more than one. yeah You all heard from her then?
00:47:19
Speaker
Heard from who? Oh, ha. she She's a very interesting little creature. She takes different different shapes and forms. and ah But i've I've sent her out to help Gwendolyn here along her path. And and she she must have found you.
00:47:43
Speaker
how did you all ah we don't have time there's no time ah you you have to you have to finish eliminating eliminating the fog or it will be too powerful yeah um i think we've we've made through a good chunk of the rooms there were there was more to the right right um um i'm i'm jockser by the way uh Your name?
00:48:10
Speaker
but The name's Carrick. Carrick the Carrick. Also known as Carthenact, but not to my choosing. ah the The name Carrick is no longer, was no longer suitable.
00:48:23
Speaker
wow but so But that is who I am. And thank you, ah Gwendolyn, for releasing me from whatever, and he points down to the necklace, whatever hold this thing had on me.
00:48:34
Speaker
um But what is it that you need to know to do the things you must do? This must end now. He starts to get a serious look on his face. ah I have so many questions. And she pulls out, she holds Dale in one hand, but she pulls out his old waterlogged journal. Yeah.
00:48:54
Speaker
You've just been here this whole time? I didn't choose to be here. i wasn't... I didn't walk down into these chambers. I... I did everything I could to fight this.
00:49:06
Speaker
And then somehow i It's like I've been watching myself these last... Years and years, so like watching from some other some other space, seeing what I'm doing, wishing I could change it, not being able to until you removed this terrible thing from from my neck. And now here I am.
00:49:27
Speaker
i i put ah piece of myself into your your friend here so that he would guide you. with The journal would guide you.
00:49:38
Speaker
The people, there was enough planted into what they knew and understood about about this world, and and I had hoped that Jameson could make it out to tell you about him about this place, but I don't know what has become of him either.
00:49:56
Speaker
Please, do you know anything about him? ah there I have as many questions as you do. I'm so sorry that this has come to you. having to risk yourself as much as I can imagine you have.
00:50:13
Speaker
he must be very powerful now to make it this far. ah Gwendolyn's just kind of just letting the shock go through. her She can't say anything. He wasn't there when her mom died because it was just her and her mom for the longest time. Yeah.
00:50:30
Speaker
And she's just made this journey with her new family and... Just doesn't want to understand what's going on now. Because she found him. She finally found him.
00:50:40
Speaker
But she's just... She doesn't know how to feel. ah Sure. Too much overlap of emotions of being angry at him.
Astral Sea & Higher Stakes
00:50:50
Speaker
he just had this necklace on. Who put the necklace on him? Did he do it?
00:50:54
Speaker
Did someone else do it? Sure. And she's just... She doesn't know what to do. And she she looks at him and Dale... Dale's not moving anymore. Yeah.
00:51:06
Speaker
And she doesn't know how to take it. du She probably doesn't even like realize that the rest of the party came in here. Okay. what are the yeah What are you guys doing, the rest of the group? Gwen, do do you feel like you want to stay here? i i believe Carrick said we need to continue through these rooms. and I feel the same. We've been working through.
00:51:28
Speaker
i ah She just can't. It is important to that you weaken him as much as possible. it's i i don't know his final...
00:51:41
Speaker
his final goal, his end goal. But I do know that he was able to, to transport, I guess, the cradles of magic from all these different places, hey all these different realms.
00:51:57
Speaker
And he's draining them of their power to do what he is wanting to do. But that part of it has been sealed from me behind that door. But, as long as these vines are here, and he points in motions to the vines that are kind of coming out from under the walls in this room, ah still kind of pulsating with energy. And he says, as long as these vines are here, I know that he is becoming more powerful.
00:52:20
Speaker
ah There can't be much time left before he he has what he needs. But I suggest that if you travel through the rest of this cavern, eliminating the fog everywhere,
00:52:34
Speaker
Then you may have a short amount of time to get yourself together again before you go find him and... Are you talking about Darnaldi?
00:52:47
Speaker
Yes, Darnaldi. He has come here. this is He's through that door right there. ah Right now. You can't even open it until you weaken him. It won't even open. i I have had tried in slight moments of of awake being awakened when the gem wasn't holding its effect on me.
00:53:04
Speaker
But then, of course, ah as soon as I tried to open it or tried to get through, I was stopped. But... you you have to You have to make him weaker or you will never even get to him.
00:53:17
Speaker
Well, first of all, hi, I'm Davin. I'm kind of Gwen's surrogate father in your absence. and so um and we can do it we can thus The shadow stuff doesn't seem to be a problem. We've been taking care of that. But do you know what he's trying to do?
00:53:31
Speaker
ah All I know is his goal is to bring shadow to all of these realms. reverse their magic to where instead of imbuing the areas, the realms with magical power, it imbues them with this darkness so that the land where he came from can expand, can grow.
00:53:51
Speaker
I don't know if it is him, he it his goals or the goals of another, but that is what he's trying to do. Look, it's it's here, and he points in the books and things, and he says he has been He has had me here. I do remember I've been here working, trying to establish how to reverse the power of these these cradles. and and And we've had a breakthrough recently and and he's he's trying to bring that power, that darkness to all these realms and basically turn them all into an extension of shadow and darkness instead of the realms that they are.
00:54:29
Speaker
He was close in your realm, I believe. He had already taken over a portion of it. Well... I think we need to move. I... i'm I'm going to continue on.
00:54:41
Speaker
yeah let's Let's see if we can find the last of these shadows and and eliminate them. Then we go past down the door and we kick ourselves something hardly, but... Simple as that. All right, Joxer, you keep going up through that and that northern passageway and you find yourself in this room where these stone and and metal kind of machinery is. And you can see the vine has been removed and the mist has been pushed back by this has already been reactivated.
00:55:08
Speaker
And it triggers in your mind, this must have been how Gwen got back around through here. Gwen, did you finish this room already? Kill Stealer. saw the puzzle.
00:55:21
Speaker
And then, um and Davin, where do you, which direction do you head? Do you follow Joxer? I follow him, yes. All right. um As you begin to walk through this passageway, Davin, you get about where, about halfway through this little passageway, really tight little five foot wide hallway.
00:55:43
Speaker
And you see a pile of rubble on the ground near the wall. And ah voice in your head says, wait, stop here.
00:55:54
Speaker
Please stop. I mean, I don't listen to you, but I'm going to stop anyway. it's not because you said so, but because I feel it. I feel something. Look, look around. What do you see?
00:56:07
Speaker
I'm going to look around. Yeah. Make an investigation check. Investigation That's good. 21. Yes. You see that the stone wall that you are standing near that is just south of you in this hallway is, has been, it's a collapsed hallway.
00:56:31
Speaker
And with a little bit of energy and force, you could probably make your way through into what lies beyond. Oh, Craig's come over here. I need help kind of clearing this out. There is a path bound here. Hi, Craig's Gwen's surrogate daddy.
00:56:45
Speaker
ah Let me help you, Devin. I walk over and assist. As everyone has left, Gwen finally looks the way that they've headed. i You've just been here this whole time. And like she just she starts looking over the books while they go do their adventure.
00:57:01
Speaker
All right. Make an investigation check as you look over the books. um And Devin, take a look at the book. ah How do you guys get into this space here? ah With hard muscle work.
00:57:14
Speaker
Great. Try to. Okay. Yeah. Make strength check. Easy. But that's a 14. What is your. Or that's investigation. We'll get to that in a minute. Craig's. What is your strength check to get through this? 18. ah eighteen All right.
00:57:27
Speaker
Easy. So you push your way through a couple of larger. Yeah. You push your way through a couple of larger stones that cause the whole thing to kind of collapse into where the top part is where you can crawl through.
00:57:40
Speaker
Craig's you could or Davin, either one or both. And so do either of you do so? Yeah, mean I'm going to crawl in. I'll let him crawl. I've had kind of rough time. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:53
Speaker
yeah i'm I am going to lay on hands myself and try to and give myself some gusto back. Okay. So, Davin, as you crawl in there, ah you see a small tunnel that ends only um like 30 feet, 35 feet away from you.
00:58:14
Speaker
It ends in this soft purple glow that's kind of intermixed with the black mist. And you can faintly see within this purple glow is a, what looks like some sort of ceremonial bowl.
00:58:28
Speaker
And there was purple shadow mixed with the black shadow billowing from inside this bowl. And you see little shoots of electrical energy pulsating all over this bowl as well. And a voice in your head says, no, this explains everything.
00:58:44
Speaker
I mean, I mean, I disagree 100%, but if you know something, I don't know, please say it. Go. What's what's wrong with it? Why is it here? We have to, just we have to find out.
00:58:56
Speaker
I'm going to walk closer and see. yeah Is there something in the bowl? It looks like the inside of the bowl, there is and there is ah an emblem of multiple triangles kind interlaid on each other, ah symbol.
00:59:09
Speaker
And that symbol um has the edges of it have this purple smoke billowing out of it lightly. It's like a light little fog, purple fog.
00:59:20
Speaker
While it does, though, it mixes with the black fog above it, and it starts to its energy. Does this purple smoke coming out of this ceremonial bowl make us feel any kind of way? doesn't seem to know.
00:59:33
Speaker
Not this time. Does it look like i had a long time ago, i had found a necklace with a symbol. I believe that it was the symbol of Talos. If I remember, I figured out. Is this yeah the same? um This symbol does look like that. Yes.
00:59:49
Speaker
And Alex says, i can fix this. you You have to let me. Can you let me? Please. yeah i can't do it without you.
01:00:01
Speaker
I mean, are you saying let you out? I don't know. I don't know if I'll need to come out or not, but you have to try to do something, cast cast something, do something to put but it and in my influence and into that bowl.
01:00:19
Speaker
i think I could stop this. I don't know what it means for my world if this is here like this. I'm going to start by using Mage Hand and seeing if I can lift it out of the bowl.
01:00:30
Speaker
Lift the symbol? Yeah. Okay, the symbol is definitely like etched, carved into the bowl. It's part of the bowl. yeah Yeah, go ahead lift that. You could lift the whole bowl probably off the pedestal, but... um It doesn't look like... Moving the bowl, I'm assuming that the shadows are kind of going to follow it, right? It's can from are you going to cast Mage Hand try to move the bowl? Is that what you're doing?
01:00:52
Speaker
No. Oh yeah, let's start there. Let's see what happens. Okay, that's fine. You cast Mage Hand and like any of your spells, there is a little jolt of that lightning energy that jolts through the Mage Hand, right?
01:01:06
Speaker
And when it does, Elex says, yes, this will do it. And your mind goes blue. And as your vision goes blue...
01:01:18
Speaker
your vision Then you find yourself floating in the astral sea. Oh, okay. Whoa. and as you are floating in the astral sea, you see... sea, you see.
01:01:37
Speaker
Across the way from you, floating far away, but almost seeming like it's right there next to you. You see Elec hovering there, sword in hand, wings spread, his blue skin.
01:01:53
Speaker
And he says, you've arrived. Finally, we can do this. I've withheld a greeting and I've kept you for in the comfort for your last visit.
01:02:05
Speaker
Here you can see where I reside. This endless sea of nothing, just light, color and weightlessness. No mass, no air, no... anything.
01:02:17
Speaker
That bowl. That bowl is from where I am from and it has been trapped. It being trapped here allowed you to trap me as well. Perhaps your quest has been mine all along.
01:02:29
Speaker
Set me free one way or another. And he's going to try to glide towards you with his sword up in the air. Here's how this is going to work. Actually, this is where we're going to end this episode.
01:02:42
Speaker
As I look at the time, as he tries to work his way in your direction. I'll explain the rules of this. I'll finish it in round. We can do it now. Okay.
01:03:05
Speaker
We super appreciate you listening to this episode of The Hired Swords. If you like this podcast, be sure to tell some friends about it. Subscribe but and maybe share it on your social media platforms or something like that.
01:03:18
Speaker
Anyway, we're super grateful for everybody listening and we'll see you next time. Later.