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Ep. 64 Mushroom Daddies
125 Plays2 years ago
The Swords find themselves in this abandoned waystation. Filled with Mushroom Creatures and an air filled with thought-broadcasting spores. If whatever monsters await the Swords down below don't kill them, they might just be at each other's throat soon enough.
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Transcript
Sofren's Inner Battle
00:00:06
Speaker
Previously on The Hired Sword. Whatever I do, I mustn't think. If I can hear their thoughts, they can hear mine. They mustn't carry my memories. No. Remember your training. Sofren of House and Baroque. Sofren of House and Baroque. Sofren of House and Baroque. Sofren.
Meet The Hired Swords Team
00:01:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords.
00:01:04
Speaker
Wait, wait, so am I. That's so cool. Okay. Quiet down. Try and listen. Hello everybody. And welcome to another episode of the hired swords. I am your dungeon master, Michael, and I'm joined by Mikey. He's jockser.
00:01:34
Speaker
Hey, you. Hey, buddy. It's good to see you. I'm also joined by Blaze. He's the Krigs, man. It's me, Krigs. I was the worst. I am so sorry. I was here. Derek's Daven. No, I want I'm going to play Gerald instead today.
00:01:51
Speaker
Derek's Gerald. That's Gerald. Well, it depends. Ash is here. She's going to be Gwendolyn. Hi. Did it work? I was trying to do like a drive by, but I don't know if it worked. It was a high buy. Yeah, it was like a high buy. That was pretty good. Whoa. Here I am. I just think if you physically do it, you don't have to make your voice do it as well. Yeah, that's true. What's some weird energy today?
00:02:21
Speaker
It's like going on a walkie talkie when it's going to automatically. That's our next opener. I can honestly say I intended to say, hey, yo, and I didn't expect to go first, so it turned into, hey, you. I scared you. Nice. He doesn't work under pressure. He can't say hello under pressure. If you can't tell listener, it's been three weeks since we've recorded, so our energy is funky.
00:02:47
Speaker
We're recording a podcast tonight, everybody. That's what we're going to do right now. And I'm going to give us a recap of where we were when we left off in this game. Who needs that in their lives? I do. I'll take it. This is our first podcast. Don't worry. Some listener out there is like, I just stopped listening to the last episode. I don't care about your recap. Skip 30 seconds.
Journey Through Lonely Hill
00:03:05
Speaker
Skip 30 seconds. Well, if you haven't skipped, hi, how you doing?
00:03:09
Speaker
When we last left off, you guys were down inside Lonely Hill. That's right, everyone. We are in Lonely Hill and you had major way through the past the bodies that were at the entrance to Lonely Hill, past the illusion that was these fungus and even a collapsed wall. You guys got through that major way down to through this tiny kind of crawl spillway into this wet, dank, moldy,
00:03:40
Speaker
underground kind of like fortress kind of thing where you went down a hallway and kind of explored a little bit you hear this you heard the sounds of rushing water and sure enough you came up on a river had some creative use of some spells you didn't do a lot of exploring but you but davin did a little bit kind of looking around found a couple little interesting trinkets and mirrors and stuff like that and then with some creative uses of spells you were able to kind of get your way across this long this wide river
00:04:11
Speaker
When you made it across the river, you, some interesting things that happened was you kind of stumbled and started to fall because Daven was about to step on one of these little mushrooms on the ground and found himself unable to do so. And so he almost tripped and fell over also the mushroom people.
00:04:28
Speaker
who you have been hearing in your minds as well as hearing each other in your minds, these people all start to speak to you. And you had this mind conversation with them about destroying her. It's kind of the conclusion you came to. Perhaps this is what they want you to do. They all kind of came out of their hiding and are now gathered around you, this
00:04:49
Speaker
There's dozens of these different size mushroom people, some taller than a human, some little small four-legged like an animal creature, but you hear in your minds over and over again this, he help us, they help, they help us. You end her, stop her, make her no more.
00:05:06
Speaker
And you kind of hear this in your mind and all these voices kind of, kind of filling your mind. And that's where we left off after they all kind of came out and started speaking to you in that way. What are you going to do now as you stand hearing this cacophony of voices in your minds? Guys don't move. Maybe they can't see us if we don't move.
Krigs' Emotional Connection with Mushrooms
00:05:27
Speaker
I was about to say Gwendolyn probably moves towards one of the mushroom people. That would make sense. Kevin's like, oh, nope. OK, go in. Yes. As you as you step towards them, they kind of reach to their to like there's one hand that looks almost like a paddle. It's like like a like a or a pedal, I guess, not a paddle, like a pedal of a flower. And it's it's bright orange and fades down like a like a gradient to a yellow reaches towards you and it kind of
00:05:54
Speaker
folds out from a like a stem like like torso of this creature. The other one reaches towards you as well and it's kind of a light blue color but it's smaller. It's like half the length and it reaches towards you like as if to and puts its hands together like as if to like reach to grab your hands as you approach. I let them do so. I also out stretch as I walk towards them. Are they smaller than me?
00:06:16
Speaker
or this one. This one is one of the taller ones. It's a little taller than you and not much taller, not like a giant, but yeah, just a little taller than you. I didn't know if it was Krig's height to where I had to bend down, but okay. I'm just kidding, friend.
00:06:34
Speaker
No, it's about the size of a human person, a tall human person, but a human person. And when you reach your hands out, it grabs your hands and it just starts kind of caressing them and rubbing them and bowing its head. And you can just hear all the voices kind of rush this louder, louder voice as they kind of
00:06:53
Speaker
Get louder and louder in Gwendolyn you kind of feel as you're touching this as this creature is touching you you just kind of feel this sense of Confusion and loneliness and make a wisdom saving throw. Oh 10 plus my mouse doing probably eating cheese 10 plus 8 18
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's real good. So you you do sense this feeling of like loneliness and emptiness and confusion. And you're kind of reading it like any and you feel like it kind of makes you almost want to join in with the sorrow and the sadness, but you kind of shake it off. And but you do
00:07:39
Speaker
Since this feeling of dread but what's below what something below something beneath gives you that sense of dread that they're all sharing and you kinda caught a glimpse of it as you as it was like rubbing your hands and caressing your hands and they're all that the voices are getting louder and it's just,
00:07:57
Speaker
Please, please help you help us. We go back. We, we, we are here. We stay here, but we go back to here. And it's just weird. Just these continued hearing those tours. Everybody hearing the voices rise to like that. Yeah. You're all hearing more volume in response to what Gwen's doing.
00:08:17
Speaker
I think I in that moment, while she's kind of having that moment with them and noticing that it's kind of building as she's having that moment, I probably would approach one that's relatively my same height just because it makes the most sense to try to see eye to eye. And like, I get the impression they're all, there's no singularity here. It's like, I mean, it's all hive mind in a way. So I approach one and I'm going to approach it like I would anything else, like any other,
00:08:45
Speaker
creature and try to introduce myself. And hello, why? My name is my name is Safran Embero. My friends call me Krigs. Hello. It reaches for you and puts two hands on your shoulders like one hand on each shoulder like this and its head starts it's like starts like nodding its head up and down. This one is is more of a reddish color with like yellow move as it moves up to the top and you can see the the
00:09:11
Speaker
the front of it where like a face would be is the there are these gaps in the mushrooms and they're pulsing like like like like gills almost would on a fish as the fish breathes like opening and closing these vertical these vertical openings in this things where a face would be and you're you're feeling like this thing doesn't see you it's it's just like sensing you and so it does start to kind of feel your neck and feel around your your your shoulders and your back and just kind of touch on you with these little
00:09:41
Speaker
Flower pedal like arms of its that it has and you just you keep hearing this voice Thank you for helping you're helping helpful Helping us help us she'd down and you just keep hearing these voices Continuing to rise make a wisdom saving throw as well I'm also trying my absolute hardest not to give the whole like stink face of like they're touching me But yeah, okay, that might be a performance check if you want pass. Oh, that's a nine. Oh
00:10:10
Speaker
Hold on. Yeah, that's a nine. A nine on your wisdom saving throw? Let me double check that I don't have any wisdom to bump on that because I, as always, I'm prepared with my character sheet and everything. That's I mean, that's D&D, right? You have your character sheet. You're coming here. You're here to play a game. So have everything you need for the game already. That's you. That's how you roll. Yeah. Ten. Sorry, I'm ten. Ten.
00:10:31
Speaker
Okay, so as as you are experiencing these voices getting louder, suddenly this dread and this deep emotion and loneliness that you feel sets in to a point where you feel it deeply as if you are now sharing in this hive mind's feelings. And all of the everyone else can see except Gwendolyn, they can see all of these like
00:10:55
Speaker
places in this creatures where like I say a face would be excuse me face would be to begin to they open up and krigs just kind of leans his head back violently almost like like he would be shouting or screaming but there's no he doesn't do that he doesn't scream it it's just this like head back arms back shoulders back looking up in the sky and krigs you suddenly
00:11:17
Speaker
since the deepest feeling of sadness you've ever felt before.
Mushroom Collective Urgency
00:11:24
Speaker
And as you feel that, you now see all of these creatures sprouting from the earth beneath you and you look around and you're sprouting like one of them.
00:11:34
Speaker
And you realize you're experiencing their memories with them. And you look around and you see all of these other creatures that look like these mushroom people sprouting up and coming into existence. And you've got this feeling of confusion. What are we? Who are we? Where did we come from? You realize they have no sense of identity whatsoever. And then suddenly it all comes clear to you that it's because of her and all you want
00:12:04
Speaker
is to get down there and finish her. I think after seeing Gwen, you know, go up and then Krigs go over, I, in my head, they better not hurt them. Don't, don't do anything. And then I'll see Krigs kind of like flail back and I would at least draw my weapon pretty, pretty aggressively. Like I'm at least prepared to do something, but I'm going to hold.
00:12:34
Speaker
In my stupor being having these visions and things, do I have enough cognitive awareness to know that he's having this action or is it in the blink of an eye? How aware am I of him pulling his sword? By the time his sword is pulled, you've been released and you don't feel this anymore. Okay. It was almost instantaneous and you feel like you lived days in the life of these creatures all at that one instant.
00:13:01
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to, for sure, with all of that revelation and all of that experience, I'm being completely unprepared for it. I am falling to my hands and knees and will kind of vocally, hearing Joxer pull the weapon and see that, raise one hand and Jox, Jox, no. And the voices all pick up and start to say, it sees, they saw, they see, they know, they know now, they know. She's below, she's beneath, she's down.
00:13:30
Speaker
Guys, are we safe here? Is it safe? This video is very dangerous to me. I believe it's safe. And she just keeps making eye contact with her new mushroom friend. Someone did something. Their sadness. I just... I don't know what. Are you sure, Krigs? And I'll slowly put my rapier down.
00:13:59
Speaker
still very much I am just trying to collect myself and like not necessarily remember who I am but like that was a lot to take in look I still don't understand a hundred percent what's happening here happening here but it's it's there is something below and they're not this isn't a farce there there is something here that is
00:14:23
Speaker
creating or using these creatures for whatever purpose that they not only don't intend for, but it could be nefarious.
Joxer's Connection and Confusion
00:14:32
Speaker
I, by all means, if you want to see for yourself, I'm sure they're willing. I'm sure they're willing to let you experience what I just did. And I look at the creature that had playstitch hands on my shoulders and whatnot, and I kind of just smirk and like, I just have to ask, I assume.
00:14:54
Speaker
it communicated with you? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Look, I'm gonna grab Joxer's wrist a little bit. It's fine. It's just a new friend. Just take it and stride and it'll be... And then I push him from his lower back directly at this mushroom guy that I had communicated with. All right, make a dexterity saving throw, Joxer. Chase. All right.
00:15:22
Speaker
You'll see for yourself lad. Well, better than nothing, I suppose. So that was a 19. So, or no, no, that was a 21. 13 plus. Make a strength check. Strength check. No, uh, uh, Krigs. All right. Well, I drew a dirty 20, so.
00:15:42
Speaker
All right. Dirty 20 against a 20 dirty 21 boy. So, uh, you do shove him back and he stumbles backwards, but he's able to catch himself and turn right before he goes into the grasp of this creature. You were just, uh, you were just embraced by basically. And he has a choice now as he's leaning his momentum is leaning him forward, but he's fully capable of stopping himself, but he has a choice.
00:16:09
Speaker
I feel like my biggest reaction is to make sure that I don't actually just run into them, but I don't mind what was happening. It was such a big brother jerk moment. Just go see for yourself.
00:16:24
Speaker
So as, as I kind of turn, I'll, I'll release a little bit so that I can, you know, balance myself by maybe lightly touching the shoulders of, uh, okay. Yeah. So you reach out and you grab the shoulders. One's lower than the other. The thing's not proportioned like a person. It's, it's strange. It's like it grew from a stem and then just like existed as a human looking creature. But, um,
00:16:47
Speaker
you reach out and grab it what would be shoulders and when you do it puts it's it like gently puts it's like pedal arms underneath your arms and grabs them around and and those those pores on its face area open up and you have a choice to either try to resist or and make a wisdom saving throw or allow whatever it's trying to communicate to you to happen.
00:17:13
Speaker
If I understood correctly, I would not resist knowing that I'm supposed to gain some kind of insight or communication, so I would have kind of left that one open. Okay, so sure enough, you get this flash, this flash of vines whipping, inflailing, and these mushrooms that are in this space, it looks like you're in this room, and all these mushrooms that are in here,
00:17:40
Speaker
As the vines kind of fade and you no longer see them, you see these mushrooms grow and morph into these beings, and you begin to feel this growing and morphing like you're one of them. And you're walking around aimlessly in this space, in this area, and you just feel a fear and a sadness and a loneliness and a confusion of no identity, no understanding of who you are, what you are, and you're released again, just like Kriegs was.
00:18:10
Speaker
I reach a handout to help him up because I'm assuming that was quite the startling event. Yeah, I imagine that I'm like half like sliding down the mushroom person because they had their, you know, pedals underneath my arms.
Planning the Next Move
00:18:27
Speaker
And so I quite quite the ride, huh? That's it could have given me a little bit more of a warning than that. What's the fun in that? And I pat him on the back.
00:18:38
Speaker
This is so like a religious tent revival sort of situation. You just get slain in the spirit. This is payback for the horse collar.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, and letting you fall. Devin points at Jacques, he says, I'm not doing that. I feel collectively we understand enough. She is real. Whether we know what we're after or not, we have a path. Gwen, how do you feel about all this? You're the one that found this cave, you're the one that
00:19:18
Speaker
Connected to these creatures somehow bringing us here. How How are you feeling? I I don't want to presume that you're feeling any kind of way about what's happening here. I you see Gwendolyn still holding their hands kind of cock her head a little bit and just I Don't know how I found them. I thought We were headed to Alamora
00:19:45
Speaker
But I guess fate brought us here to help these people. She turns around a little, listening the grip. We have to help them. Did you see what they saw? Who is she?
00:20:03
Speaker
I don't know about you, Krigs. I didn't see who she is. It's more of a fear. I understand the growth, I guess, bringing or being brought to life, but being held down by something, whoever she is. I think it would do us some good to at least see what's down there. We can make decisions and make
00:20:32
Speaker
an educated determination once we've figured out what's actually happening here. But I, and I lean in, I don't want to make rash conclusions based off trying to like phrase in ways the mushrooms might not panic. Devin interrupts by thinking in his mind, you know, they can hear all of our thoughts, right? Crap.
00:20:59
Speaker
They help. They help. They help. Jaxu, he just kind of thinks, where is down? Down the river? Down the stream? Where? I turn around back to the mushroom. Friend. Where? Which way do we go? Map? Leader?
00:21:26
Speaker
The one you're looking at points their pedal arm to your right, their left, and says, and you just, everyone senses and hears this, below, go below. Do I trust that? Make an insight check. Okay. See how well you are reading this mushroom face thing. How good you are at that. They call me mushroom face.
00:21:55
Speaker
Not looking too high. That brings back other memories from high school. How's the six?
00:21:59
Speaker
Yeah. Um, man, everything about this is creepy. You know, it's like, there, there's this hive mind. There's these weird mushroom creatures you've never seen, seen anything or heard of anything like this before. They're, they're super vague and super like cryptic. And you're kind of like, I don't know, man, I don't know what, if this is helpful or not. Maybe we go that way. Maybe we go the opposite at this point. You don't know what would be the best choice. Well, do we see another way to go even in this cave?
00:22:28
Speaker
Oh, there are, there are, there's walls here. These are stone walls. It's a, it's like a padded down dirt floor. And you see a few of one doorway to your left. You also see ahead of you, like the hall it's like you're in this 15 foot wide hallway that opens to the left and to the right ahead of you, like a T in the, in the hallway with a stone wall in the back. Uh, and it's illuminated by the mushrooms growing all throughout as well. And behind you is that street, that river rushing behind you.
00:22:58
Speaker
Maybe we should look around here and maybe there's some more information on who she is. Somebody built this. This is not natural cave walls here. Somebody's been here before.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. That sounds like a great idea. And I'll look over and I guess speak out loud and in my head, I'm really confused on what I'm supposed to be doing in that respect. Is she like you and I'll like point at their skin and gills or like me and point at me? All right, I'm going to make a check real quick. Hang on.
00:23:36
Speaker
Oh dear. I got to see if this thing knows what you're talking about. It's a plus zero. So it just does. It just copies you, mimics your actions and starts to touch itself. And then it touches you where you touched yourself. And that's all it does. And the mind in the mind, it's like, help, help. We help you help. We, we, we will help. Thank you. All right. So you're talking to mushrooms. That's about all you're going to get out of it.
00:24:04
Speaker
Noticing the crowd, we are felt relatively surrounded by all different shapes, sizes, and heights of mushrooms. The one that's standing kind of close to me now, not the one that I had talked to originally, I'm going to kind of elbow on the side and be like, friendly, friendly elbow. You know, they, uh, where I come from, they call me the mushroom daddy. Gwyndolin turns around. I've never heard that.
00:24:31
Speaker
Don't listen. It's true. Don't listen to her. Are you sure? I don't think once in the time that I've met you, I've mushroomed, Daddy. Yeah. I mean, look. And then I just walk away. Awesome.
00:24:55
Speaker
The hive mind, these creatures are still excited, expectantly, chanting almost. They help. They help. They help. They help. Just chanting practically in what seems to be like just excitement that there might be somebody here to help. Starting to almost sound like melodic song the way that you're describing it.
00:25:25
Speaker
I get the feeling that we're not going to get a whole lot more like actual information. It doesn't seem like we're communicating well, but they are not not friendly. Can I just look around and see if anything specifically stands out about this area, if there are things that I might recognize or understand?
Joxer's Investigation of Underground Base
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's a cave, but they're.
00:25:50
Speaker
Seemingly kind of based on what you've described. There are human or like at least not mushroom people Try traces this is this was used as something what was it? What is it something that gives me an idea of what we're about to walk into I don't my my Common sense not even just military backing is like you don't know what you're going up against Figure out anything you can before you start walking into the next room sure
00:26:19
Speaker
Are you just wanting to look around, not walk around anywhere at this point? Right now, yeah. I mean, I've played enough Elden Ring to understand you don't just walk into the boss room without realizing. Cool. Make an investigation check. Absolutely. Character sheets are rad. Investigation is zero. That's a big whopping 14.
00:26:45
Speaker
Fourteen's good. You're definitely knowing. Actually, make it with advantage, because you're looking at stone walls right now. Oh, heck yeah. Go, Dorfs.
00:26:54
Speaker
Dwarfs for the win and 14 is pretty good. It's not gonna hurt you, but it's 18 18 Alright, so as you look around you see these are definitely crafted stone it's all crafted stone and You can actually see as you kind of walk close to one of these walls where there were like there's like There's like a wooden plate
00:27:15
Speaker
on the wall that has like a broken, something's broken on it that you can tell was probably like a sconce for lighting that used to be here. And so this was definitely created and built for some type of civilization to have a space down here for something. You're currently in a hallway, so there's nothing like of use to you to know what was here.
00:27:42
Speaker
I will say Daven had some time looking in some other places, but I don't know what he's told you that he has found at this point. I think he mentioned that mirror, but that's it. I gave the mirror to Gwen. Yeah. I'll take it. You did already. You already have it. It's mine. There's a room right here. There's a room right here on the left so we could check out maybe there's something in it. I love that. I don't even have to tell you what I'm doing. You already know because you know my thoughts.
00:28:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'll I'll pop pop in that room and see. I'll follow behind him. I'll let him push past the mushroom. That first room right after the river. Sure. Yeah, the first room. I'm yeah. Just when you step into that room, the floor is different. It is hewn stone as well. It's no longer just like padded down dirt. And there is. I'm going to ask you this on that note. Uh huh. Uh huh. Go ahead.
00:28:35
Speaker
being, again, Dwarven and understanding craftsmanship and stuff like this, and also being in the military, do I have an idea if this is, if it looks like it was built using the same techniques that fortresses and military bases was done, or is it just like civilians building stuff? Like it's just- Make another check. Just an intelligence check with your proficiency modifier. Ooh. And advantage. Double ooh.
00:29:05
Speaker
This is your like stonework check. Yeah. My big, my big hard floor check. Like they give you, it's weird. They give dwarves advantage for a check that doesn't exist. Basically. I guess it would be an investigation check, but you get the proficiency because it's stone plus advantage. I don't know. Maybe I guess it could change too. Cause it could be like history or investigation. Yeah, that's true. Maybe I'm too nice. Well, if we're going int,
00:29:30
Speaker
That's a big fat zero. And my proficiency bonus is four, so I rolled a 19 with that four. Yeah, the major difference that you would know between military construction and civilian construction would be castle walls and things like that and the way that stuff's built, fortresses. This does seem to have a similar
00:29:56
Speaker
a similar kind of craftsmanship to what you've seen for something like a fortress or a base. It's not as well crafted as you would think like dwarves can do. It doesn't seem like it's done by like dwarven crafters.
00:30:14
Speaker
They're not used to building underground. I get it. Yeah, but it is. Yeah, it's it's craftily hewn, if you will. And it is the stone floor you can see that's not covered in moss and fungus and stuff is is pretty nice. And it's decorative. It's laid out in a pattern and everything, too. And this room has a bed in it with a dilapidated molding molding mattress. A couple couple chests of drawers are in here. This was someone's bedroom. There's also a doorway.
00:30:44
Speaker
across the way and you could see a curved wall through the doorway at the back about fifteen feet back behind all of this is lit up in this blue green hue from these fungus in here.
00:30:55
Speaker
Okay. Uh, I'd like to kind of stroll in and Devin and whoever else you can also understand like my, how my mind is processing. I'm noticing these floors and realizing that it's not what I would expect. You heard the whole spiel from the DM. Um, so you, you get kind of where I'm coming from. We're collecting information and whatnot, but I do want to look in those drawers and see if there's like personal belongings or anything left, anything that seems like a bedroom. So.
00:31:24
Speaker
So the drawers all open pretty easily. I mean, one of them you start to pull and it just kind of falls apart in your hand. And as it does, there's a pair of like silk pants in there that has been eaten through and like molded through. And then make an investigation check as you look through the rest of it. Natural 20.
00:31:49
Speaker
You also find in a drawer, you find a little button in the bottom of the drawer. And when you push the button, it kind of pops up the bottom of the drawer completely and you open it and there are two rolled up pieces of paper inside that little extra compartment. They are small. They are not as ruined as they seem to have been protected a little bit from the moisture and stuff down here being in this extra compartment. Sick. I open those up.
00:32:16
Speaker
Oh, actually, I hit one to Davin because he's in the same room with me. I'd be like, well, here's one. You both roll them up and start looking at them. I guess, Davin, you go ahead and look at it.
00:32:26
Speaker
Jerk. Yeah. Uh, this doesn't mean what the, the etching, it's definitely runes and script of some kind on here. It's written in Elvin and other magical kind of runes that don't really follow a language. Uh, and Craig's, it doesn't mean a lot to you. Davin, make an arcana check as you look over this thing. This is a scroll of some sort of, it seems like to be some sort of magical scroll. Ooh, that is a 23.
00:32:55
Speaker
Well, you actually are pretty familiar with what you're looking at as this is a lot of different etchings and some circles and things that you've been kind of trying to copy recently as these are both scrolls of teleportation. These are scrolls of teleportation. This is kind of what we've always wanted. At least I always wanted. It's the same spells that the mages in Wild Hill use to get into the forest. It's the same kind of teleportation, right?
00:33:23
Speaker
Basically, yeah, so we have two copies of them here. I roll mine up very delicately and hand it to Dev and be like, ah, we do not need to lose these. And if I hold on to it, it's just going to get messy. So sure. Of course, I'll take them. I'll take them both. I'll put them in my bag. All right. I mean, I would probably continue looking around, but I don't know. Jockster seems like he's off in that other room and Gwen, I don't know what she's up to right now.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah, I figured if I saw two runoff into one room, then I'd probably try to push back and look in a different room. Okay. Which room do you want to look in? You've got, um, up further ahead, you can go left. There's more hallway. Otherwise there's behind you across the stream. There was some rooms you didn't look in, but you can also go forward. Yeah. And ahead of you, there's left or right either way. Yeah. So I feel like I'd probably go left, um, after,
00:34:13
Speaker
From that that spot, would I be able to tell that there might be some I can definitely tell there's an end to the wall. But can I tell that there might be like something moving down to the on the right? Yeah. Yeah. As you walk up and you look right, you can definitely see the the the walkway ends on a wall and the light kind of disappears like going downward ahead of you. And it looks like the top of a stairwell that leads downward at the end of that.
00:34:42
Speaker
kind of hallway to your right. As you look left the hallway is slightly wider and there is a door to your upper left and then straight ahead as well. If you go through or are you going to go through the one on the left?
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'd probably just take the first room and peek my head in and see if there's anything that seems great. I don't know. You walk into this room and in this room, there is a dilapidated rug on the floor. Again, I don't, I don't know if I have to keep repeating myself. Everything in here is moldy and gross and covered in fungus, smelly, kind of like rot. You see one of those candelabras on the, on the wall. It's a wooden one.
00:35:17
Speaker
One of them's broken off, the other one's still there. There's no candle or anything there anymore. It's rotted away, but the wood is still there, black with rot. There are several of these, much of this fungus in here is glowing. There's a round table in the middle of the room with maps laid out, and they are pretty dilapidated and worn.
Discoveries about the Wilds
00:35:36
Speaker
A couple of them are still rolled up though, and there is a tube there with a cap on the end of it on this table as well. And so you see these maps of, it looks like the forest
00:35:48
Speaker
the table.
00:35:49
Speaker
OK, I'll probably kind of see if any of the maps that were kind of rolled up are in any better shape. But otherwise, I'd kind of, as gently as I can, open that tube and see if there is anything else or if it's empty. OK, yeah. So as you look at these other maps, you can see one of them is just the continent of Glintry. It's pretty clear that this is what it is. It is marked with, it looks like somebody has kind of used a black
00:36:18
Speaker
a charcoal something like that to kind of etch out like a path from the south up to where the wilds is and it looks like from way far south and it's gone through certain cities looks like they were tracking movement of something and then in the
00:36:35
Speaker
In the tube as you open the tube what one of the one of the maps you try to look through you kind of try to unroll it and it kinda like just disintegrates in your hands it's so old and nasty but then this tube as you take the lid off the tube the lid comes off pretty easily it feels almost like this is a leather tube and it's starting to get gross but it's lasted longer than this paper and you pour out this.
00:36:58
Speaker
You tip the tube down and this paper slides out rolled up. And this is a map as well. And it is a map. It looks like you see Wild Hill. You see Lonely Hill. You see several kind of landmarks. You see the Stone Mountains. It looks like a map of the wilds.
00:37:17
Speaker
Oh, interesting. And I'll try to use Presta Digitation to kind of clean it and dry it. And same with the other map that's of the area and then probably call over Gwen to see if she was around yet.
00:37:35
Speaker
Okay, yeah, so you're pressed to digitization and this dust kind of rises up off the map and collects and falls over as like a dirt cloth on the ground beside you. And the charcoal, are you trying to clean the charcoal drawing and stuff off that other map or leave it on there as it is? Just trying to, I guess more so like a little bit of the dust, but mainly trying to take out some of the water.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, the one in the tube didn't seem damp at all. The other one that was on the table, yeah, you definitely pull out this liquid and you can kind of see it pooling and dripping off the edge of the table as you kind of the magic spell kind of pushes it off of the map.
00:38:17
Speaker
all all around this round table, dripping down in a couple cracks in the table and dripping underneath. And yeah, you've kind of heard it's like your magic has rung the thing out without actually having to grab it and wring it out. And yeah, so you've got the map rinsed out pretty good. Some of the some of the water was black and stuff from that charcoal being a part of that. But and it's spread a little into the map, but it's not not ruined it for at all. Go in, go in. Are you around?
00:38:43
Speaker
Um, hearing jocks or you'll hear one thing coming and as she's, she starts to let go of her friend's hand. And as she's walking past this like line of mushroom people, uh, to go towards jocks or does she realize that they're pure fungi or were they creatures before they were fun guy? Uh, make a nature check on them. Okay. I wasn't even thinking about that. Now I fear that I'm going to turn into a mushroom person.
00:39:12
Speaker
Oh no, I will be the mushroom daddy. It's the Last of Us action. Oh yeah, clickers. Oh god. Spoilers. JK, it's been out for like 20 years. 16 plus 6, 22? Am I counting right? Okay. Your math is correct.
00:39:32
Speaker
Did you say 22? Yes. These things are so much like mushroom, plant life, that you cannot make sense of a potential for them to have been something else before. It feels, and just your gut tells you, and your understanding of plants and animals tells you that these seem more to be like
00:39:58
Speaker
plants that have been given sentience more than people who have been turned to plants. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. That's your gut feeling on that. Okay. On her way there, you just hear Gwen saying, or thinking, interesting, and just make her way towards drugs. And as you pass through the line of them, they kind of part and let you go through and they touch you. All of them are wanting to touch you. There's a couple little ones
00:40:27
Speaker
that look kind of like animals like critters with four legs one of them literally comes up and like rubs itself against you like a cat and it doesn't per anything but it's just they're showing you affection and and the everybody hears the voices kind of rise again as gwen walks through they help they help they help gwendolyn's probably petting them or touching them because her palms are out towards them awesome what did you find
00:40:54
Speaker
There's some some maps here. And then I imagine in the back of my head. So it would be Craig's would probably find this interesting. And then I say, yeah, I would. Oh, yeah, that's still a thing. And then I say, yeah, it is. No need to shout. Then I say he's in the other room.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah, just make a left. It looked like there might be stairs down on the from the right of the T, but there's there's more to the left and and some interesting maps that you might be able to make a little bit more sense of. And then I just say out loud, sick. Oh, just looks at drugs and things. Let me look. Gwendolyn goes to touch the maps and see if she recognizes anything actually flips through them.
00:41:47
Speaker
Kriegs this whole time is trying really hard to not think things as like singular thoughts. So it's not intrusive. And that's why he's just saying things like, yes, as basic as I can be right now. And I'm trying to keep people out of my head. All right. So Gwen, make a investigation check as you look over those maps or you can make a survival check. Whichever one of those for you is better if, if either are survival.
00:42:18
Speaker
Oh my God. Sixteen plus eight. Twenty four. Twenty numbers. This is definitely a map of the wilds. You are very quickly able to track the path you took at least to the edge of the woods before you ran up to get to where you are. You see Lonely Hill and you realize you're in Lonely Hill. Like that's where you are right now.
00:42:41
Speaker
And you see wild hill you see lavareth that's about as far as it goes is lavareth which is a town west of wild hill and then further south you see a few other areas that are kind of.
00:42:57
Speaker
that are labeled for you that had you had never really seen before so yeah you see lonely hill cavern on there you see a place a couple other places one you see like a lake and a river that's far south of wild hill called the notala river
00:43:16
Speaker
You see, you actually see a place in Wild Hill that's called the foul wood or not in Wild Hill in the wilds, it's called the foul wood. And you see the goblin village on there with just, it's not named, but there's a couple like drawings of buildings there to say that the goblins have been there a while. And, uh, yeah, so there's, there's some places, some things on there that you haven't seen before, but there's also stuff that lets you kind of like landmarks that help you kind of know where this is showing what you, what you see.
00:43:44
Speaker
Devin hears her reading these off in her mind. He says, did you say the fowl would? Yes. Oh, I've actually never heard of that. I just think that was a terrible name. Did you say that you think we were in lonely here right now? Yes, I believe so. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Stop yelling at everyone. Just think it. Just think it. We'll all hear you that way. I don't want you in my head.
00:44:14
Speaker
in my head. I think I'm too late. I'm going to check out this other room.
Mysteries of Talos and Gemstones
00:44:20
Speaker
I'm going to walk toward the curved room in the back.
00:44:23
Speaker
All right. That room is, it looks like it was an office and you see a couple, a table with a couple of chairs there that have been kind of broken. And there's a chest at the back of that space as well. And, uh, there is a, there are a couple of books on the ground and a, and next to that chest, the chest, the lid of it has been kind of rotted and it's broken down into the lid of the chest is kind of already mostly open. Devin will walk over and look down into the chest.
00:44:54
Speaker
All right. As you look down inside of it, you see a small bag and you see a, uh, you see a small, it looks like a shield, almost not. It's, it's literally small, like, like handheld size and not, I don't even mean handheld, handheld. I mean like the size of a, uh,
00:45:15
Speaker
like a belt buckle, this shield, and it's got a symbol of with lightning on it. And there's a it's like dirty on the on it. It looks a little bit dirty on the on the symbol. Just dirty like dirt. Yeah, it just looks like there's some soot or dirt or something on on the symbol of with lightning itself on it. All right, a little press to that goes away. As soon as you press to digitate and it goes away, it comes back. It's there again.
00:45:46
Speaker
I'm going to wipe my finger across it. See if it lands on my finger. It does. As you wipe it off, you see it on your finger and you look back down and in the time it took you to look at your finger, it's already back on there again. Am I fingers clean? No, it's on you and there. I'm going to find like a wall that looks relatively clean and wipe it off my finger under the wall. Okay. Yeah. This comes off your finger and your fingers clean. All right. That was kind of scary for a second.
00:46:13
Speaker
It got really messy, really fast. Hey, Krigs, what do you know about lightning? And you hear Krigs just repeating to himself old poetry that he heard as a child dwarf, just different things he heard from kids' books because he's really, really not wanting anyone to see his head. Oh, wait, what was that? He says out loud. I've got a belt buckle here with a lightning symbol on it.
00:46:41
Speaker
Does that mean anything to you? Does it mean anything to me? Make a history check. I will do the same. That's a 14. Ooh, natural 19. Plus surely I have some history because I have no history. You're a smart boy. I'm not that smart.
00:47:00
Speaker
You remember reading about the gods, and this symbol is a symbol of Talos. He's the god of thunder, lightning, storms, also worshipped by some as a god of war and combat. Oh, I know the symbol. Yeah, and you make a wisdom saving throw as you look at it and think about it. Wisdom saving throw. That is a 14.
00:47:30
Speaker
You think this thought that it is, the fact that this is covered in this soot is offensive to you. It doesn't bother you too much, but you're just a little offended that this symbol is being covered by this soot like this. I don't understand why the dirt won't come off. Is that magic? Was there anything else in the chest? We had a small bag. Small bag. Did you lift up the bag? Sure. I'll use teleportation to float it right in front of me.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah, okay. If you can look inside it, there are five gym stones, smooth gym stones inside there. Did you say teleportation? Well, it's my mage hand because I upgraded it. Technically, it's a teleport spell now. Oh, interesting. I'm not using it as a whole spell just to lift up a small bat. It's a teleport spell? Well, I mean- Hello. No, no, I keep saying teleport. That's not the right word. Telekinetic. You mean a- Use the right word! Telekinesis, Kyle. Yeah, same thing. They're all teles. Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:48:25
Speaker
Tenacious D. Yep. That's right. Tenacious D reference. Teamwork. A boy plays. Got it. Um, I will use mage hand telekinesis to lift it up, turn it over and dump them into my hand. Yeah. Five smooth gemstones. All of them are green. None of them have any swirly black bits inside of them. They are just, they just look like valued valuable gemstones. All right.
00:48:54
Speaker
We've got some money. Yeah. And you know, you know, that there are cultures that do not use gold pieces. They use gemstones as money. You know, that that is the fact, a fact you're trading experience. You're his, your background. You would know that for sure. Being just, you know, I guess old, but I know that as well. Yes. Yeah. You've tried, you're traveled enough to know that there's some places you go that gold is valuable, but like gemstones are more valuable everywhere. But like there's some places that only trade in gemstones.
00:49:24
Speaker
Those places that trade strictly in gemstones, would I have had hostilities with them previously or are they neutral or? Well, no, they are elves that don't live in major cities.
00:49:37
Speaker
Oh, so they're OK. You're rich is what you're trying. I get what you're saying. OK. OK. Well, not necessarily like high, like high elves and rich, but like elves that elves that haven't adopted themselves into like the culture of man or dwarf or any of those. They've kind of roamers kept that are natural. Yeah, they trade in gemstones. Cool. All right. I'm going to just check to make sure none of the mushroom people are watching me. And if they are not, then I'll put the things in my backpack.
00:50:07
Speaker
It's hard to tell if any of them are watching you since they don't really have eyes or a face so much, but yeah, you get, they're all kind of milling about
Gwendolyn's Mushroom Experience
00:50:19
Speaker
out in that hallway. You feel like you've kind of in a space where you can tuck it away. Then I will tuck them all away. I'll put the gemstones back in the bag and then put that in my bag and then I'll put it inside another bag and then I'll ship it to them. Then I'll smash it with a hammer. Sorry. Love it. I think we referenced that movie every,
00:50:36
Speaker
third or fourth episode in some way. Yeah, it's true. It's that quotable. All right. Uh, Craig's not Craig's jocks are you and Gwendolyn, what are you up to after looking at those maps and stuff? Um, if, uh, Craig's had made his way back around or I knew he was, I'd probably leave that there. And, uh, I guess run off to the next room just to double check.
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah, the room above you here, to the north of you, I guess, is the better way to say it, is a larger room. It's kind of the largest room you've been in, in here. And it's got a couple tables and some treasure, or not treasure, just chests. You wouldn't call them treasure chests, necessarily. But just chests. It looks like it's like a storage room with maybe like an armory was here once. There's a couple racks on the wall, but there's nothing on the racks. And there's a couple chests. One of them looks pretty busted up,
00:51:30
Speaker
Yeah. Um, Gwen, check this out and then I'll, I'll look at the chest that isn't busted up and then have her, you know, swing her in and look at the other one. I go in to take a look. All right. Both of you make investigation checks as you look through all those. All right. All right. So 18 plus character sheet. I don't think I have a four.
00:52:00
Speaker
Minus one, so 17. All right, Gwen, you are having trouble getting one of these chests to open as you try to fiddle with the little latch. You can't get it to open. But you finally do, and inside of there, it's just growing like fungus on the bottom and moss. And you do notice, though, there's movement to your left.
00:52:21
Speaker
And you see this wall to your left is overgrown with this fungus that looks like one giant mushroom. And it looks like this giant mushroom is one of these sentient mushroom creatures. It's huge. And it's like what would be its face is looking at you. And you hear in your head,
00:52:47
Speaker
they help they help they help they help and it's still the same hive mind kind of sounds but you've now found this gigantic it takes up it's like it takes up about 10 feet of of the wide of this space in the corner of this room and there's one on the other corner as well they're both in there and they're
00:53:06
Speaker
They kind of look like they almost have like arms. One of them only has one. The rest of it's kind of grown into the rest of the fungus in the wall. And the other one has one arm that is reaching towards you like, help, help, help, help. And you can hear the things in your mind as you kind of take this site in. It's kind of gruesome. It looks like this is actually make an insight check as you look at them. That's not pure terrifying. Oh, my gosh. How's a five? One plus four.
00:53:36
Speaker
Yeah, they're just creepy. They're freaking you out. That's all. Am I freaked out? I'm joking. You're not necessarily scared. You still feel like they're the same as the other ones maybe, but they're just, yeah, they're just, this is disturbing, seeing them this way. You see Gwendolyn, after she fought this lock for so long to get the chest open to find nothing, you just hear her think,
00:54:01
Speaker
I didn't really find anything. Well, who are you? And she immediately gets up and goes towards this big giant guy and she goes to touch his hand. Yeah. You reach forward to touch his hand and it immediately, it reaches forward and grabs yours. And do you want to allow it to communicate with you? Yes.
00:54:21
Speaker
Okay. As it opens this large horizontal split in what its face would be, it opens up. And as it does, you just feel the spores just shoot out of it and you feel them on your face and crawling into it, like absorbing into your nose and your ears and the eye sockets. And it's just like,
00:54:45
Speaker
as the spores go inside you and suddenly you feel this emotion and the feelings again that these things felt and you see this creature across from you and you are across from it and you look down and your legs and body are like the trunk of this mushroom and it's absorbed into the ground you're growing you're stuck planted there and all of a sudden this like time lapse happens and as the growth begins to
00:55:14
Speaker
Speed up you are you grow into the wall and you feel stuck and trapped and held there and you can't move and you reach your arm forward and that's the only thing left and then you snap out of it and this all happened in an instant. Could everyone hear me gasp? I think yeah, they probably heard you gasping in whatever we went through your mind before this vision came. You they heard that too. Gwen, are you alright over there?
00:55:44
Speaker
I'm fine just there are bigger mushrooms and She looks at this new mushroom friend I'm so sorry its head lowers as it senses your feeling of sorrow for it and it's it's a
00:56:09
Speaker
like hand, I guess, I'm trying to think of what they call it, grabs your arm and all the voices say,
00:56:16
Speaker
Help, help, help, help, help. And it's like so many, and then all of a sudden, all at once, in unison, they say, end her. In unison, instead of multiple voices, they spoke as one, end her. And it dropped its hand in its head, and it continues to look at you with this drooping, like if it had shoulders in its head, it's drooping like in sadness and sorrow.
00:56:44
Speaker
We need to find her or him something.
00:56:50
Speaker
You said other mushroom. Oh, no. And there's one to your right. There's one right ahead across from you grown into the far wall of this stone room and to the right in this large rectangle room, there's one in that corner to the right just past the doorway you just came in. And the one to your right can't reach out. It's it looks like it's pinned to the wall with the growth around it.
00:57:14
Speaker
and the one that Gwen has has one what would be arm pinned down. No legs as it just is a mesh of mushrooms. And you just see Gwen standing there with this one's this one's hand, what would be hand stroking her face, looking at her in with this sorrowful body language and Gwen matching in with her body language as well. I take it that you you saw. I did. She doesn't break eye contact with this mushroom.
00:57:45
Speaker
I say we hurry and find out what is happening. And she kind of rushes back to where all the group of mushrooms are. I'm sorry. And she looks at all of them. We'll help. We'll fix this. Just one more second. I'm going to look at the two books that are sitting on the ground. Okay. Did I find anything in the chest?
00:58:11
Speaker
Yeah, you found a stack of armor. It's leather armor and the top, there's like three of them. The top one is pretty rotted. The bottom was pretty rotted. The middle one's salvageable. It seems to have been protected by the ones on the top and bottom of it, but it's just typical leather armor. It looks like with a little symbol of a tree in the chest plate and uh,
00:58:36
Speaker
Davin, the book you're looking at, one of them is, it's just dilapidated, like so much of it is laying there open, the pages are so damp that there's no more text on them. The other one was laying there closed and it looks like there's papers and stuff in it. And as you look at it, it's a book on tactics. It's called Battlefield Tactics and Strategy. And inside of there, there are notes. Somebody has been taking notes as they read it, it looks like, and it's written in Elvish.
00:59:06
Speaker
Alright, I'll take it. I'll bring it out to Craig's on my way back out. Craig's, maybe this is something that you can... Well, do you speak of it? I don't think you do, right? Nope.
00:59:18
Speaker
then this isn't going to be helpful for you because it's written in Elvish, but it's a book on... I guess I can't read it either. Nevermind. I don't speak Elvish. Oh, good call. Yep. As you realize that to yourself. I mean, it's a book on Elvish. I can tell that much. I can tell the writing, but when it says, I don't know. Did you say Elvish? Yeah, I got a book here. We can read Elvish, right? Yes. I have it. Maybe it has some important information.
00:59:43
Speaker
When you see it's a book on battlefield tactics and strategy. It was it was the it was really well done characters of a battlefield like maneuvers. Yeah, that's that's how fantasy tactics. No, real tactics, not fantasy. Oh, yeah.
01:00:01
Speaker
And it's actually about the beginning of the battle, not the final part. Okay, so yeah, that's the last thing in that room was that that book was there. What are you up to next? What's the next? What happened now? I think I'd probably head towards those stairs and wait for everybody else.
Confrontation with the Giant Plant Creature
01:00:20
Speaker
I'm right behind you. Same. I'm silently following.
01:00:25
Speaker
Is it that silent though? It's, it's, is it just you like thinking don't, don't think, don't think, don't think. Yep. Devin's kind of doing the same thing. Waffles, waffles, waffles, waffles, waffles.
01:00:38
Speaker
As you guys walk down the stairs into, at first, this darkness, they begin to spiral and they spiral down until they come to a dirt floor. The dirt floor you walk, you're now surrounded in this blue hue and it's bright, it feels bright blue and kind of this same greenish blue color, but it's brighter because you're standing in a white mist.
01:01:05
Speaker
that is that is taking it's like a fog that is taking this this light and making it feel brighter as you walk through this mist you can hear the sound of waves washing up on land underneath here where you are and you
01:01:23
Speaker
You step into, you step forward into this fog and you break through to where you now see this 50 foot square room. It's covered in moss and fungus on the floor and this giant, we're talking 30 foot, nearly 30 foot wide,
01:01:45
Speaker
A plant sits in the center of this room with vines weaving in and out of it. There are pillars that rise from the floor to the ceiling and the vines are wrapped around these pillars. And this is like a large warehouse size room. You see bodies lying on the floor. You see bodies, what look like bodies of adventurers on the floor, just similar to what you saw above. And they have fungus bursting from open wounds in their bodies.
01:02:13
Speaker
There's this sweet, musty smell in the room, and it's eerily silent, except for the sound of the waves hitting the land beside you. And as you approach and you step into this room, the sound you've been hearing, the sound of the mushrooms above silences.
01:02:37
Speaker
And that creature, the vines raise up. As you can see, it senses your presence. You look around and you can now see bubbling pools of green liquid vines here and there spread throughout the ground. And you can see as this creature, this plant is almost like it has a face as it leans, it's the top of its kind of blossoming flower part towards you. The vines reach towards you all. And in the next episode, we're going to roll initiative.
01:03:07
Speaker
Oh boy. Whose idea was it? Okay. Wow. Davens. You found her. Yeah. Yeah. Found her.
01:03:29
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of the Hired Swords. If you liked our show, do us a favor and tell the friend about us. If you really liked our show, do us a big favor and tell the world. Leave a review. If you want to keep up with us and all the behind the scenes goofs and gaffs, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at the Hired Swords. And now you can find us on Discord. See the pinned tweet on the Hired Swords Twitter. Again, thank you for listening.