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Ep.37 Buckin' Wild
141 Plays4 years ago
Today was the day Salrin felt she was going to complete her task. She was going to get the Swords into the Wilds to answer the call. Ready or not, here we come.
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey
Introduction and Guest Acknowledgement
00:00:03
Speaker
everyone, Krigs here, your number one dwarf.
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm taking a second at the start of the show, honestly, to say a few things instead of the middle like I've done before. The whole show itself is so perfect. I honestly couldn't imagine just interrupting anywhere. That said, I want to give a huge, huge thank you and shout out to Starbuck, the guest star of these two episodes.
00:00:34
Speaker
She's been a long time supporter of the show and honestly more than that a friend to all of our cast.
00:00:41
Speaker
It's been an absolute honor to have her portray one of our silly NPCs and just give that character so much heart and love and truly these two episodes have been magic unlike we've ever released before. So again big huge thank you to Starbuck and to the listeners please find her on twitter at Starbuck
00:01:17
Speaker
Well, that's honestly enough of me, so please just enjoy the show.
Selrin's Ambitions and Arrival at Wild Hill
00:01:37
Speaker
Previously on The Hired Swords. My name is Selrin Chris-Veron. All my life I've wanted just one thing. To be a hired sword. To be a hunter. Those of us who live and die in Wild Hill have a comfortable rhythm. There's a system and it works. Hired swords take jobs and profit from them. Easy enough.
00:02:02
Speaker
And then, everything changed. A group of strays made their way into Wild Hill a few weeks ago. A dwarf with a sour face they called creeks with a massive hammer and shield. A monk named Joxer with puts too nice for the mud of our roads.
00:02:22
Speaker
a man named Daven who wore an easy grin but dark, haunted eyes, and a half-elf woman named Gwendolyn with her chipmunk companion Dale. They didn't arrive together, but they seemed fast friends. And then I began hearing voices.
00:02:41
Speaker
And the wilds felt like they expected something of me. They called to me in the back of my mind.
Selrin's Troubling Dream
00:02:50
Speaker
Then I began dreaming of those strangers. Always the same dream. I'm watching over a pack of elk when suddenly we're attacked by them.
00:03:00
Speaker
Each blow they landed I felt with my own body, and the final crashing blow of the hammer through my skull woke me in a cold sweat. I had a throbbing headache for days, and this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I needed to be in the trees in the brush of the wild, a whisper of my name.
00:03:22
Speaker
I noticed they began occupying the house that poor Francine held onto for ages. I hope this means Francine has stopped waiting for her father to come home and has moved on. And
The Hunt Meeting Disruption and Bear Encounter
00:03:35
Speaker
now I see them everywhere, but I can't believe it was coincidence that they burst into our hunt meeting and demanded to go with us. Of course Sariah refused. She takes three and only three, but somehow they managed to tempt her into a race.
00:03:50
Speaker
Sariah never does play fair when it comes to her pride. We won, of course. How couldn't we? We can just teleport anywhere we've set up markers. But when we arrived at the marker this time, that nagging voice in the back of my mind became a thunder that shook my very being. Sufferin' creaks, it said. Sufferin' creaks.
00:04:14
Speaker
Somehow they arrived just in time to see us finishing off our quarry. A giant bear like I've never seen. Almost as if it were corrupted by something vile.
00:04:29
Speaker
Instead of wallowing in their failure, they asked Sariah some really pointed questions. Questions I had been asking myself lately. What is it happening here that is causing these monsters to appear? And all the times I sat around the longhouse listening to the swords recount their missions, I had never heard of something like this. Something so unnatural.
00:04:55
Speaker
And Sariah seems so unbothered by it, but she's right that our job is to get whatever it is done, and questioning isn't a part of that. But is that what I want?
Selrin's Self-Reflection and Discovery
00:05:10
Speaker
There's got to be something more to being a hired sword than hunting and killing for sport. Is this really what I've aspired to be? I went to the widow Tolliver's to tell her about what I heard. About Safran Kriegs. As I paced outside her house, the dwarf named Kriegs approached. Like he had the same idea.
00:05:35
Speaker
He told me that his name is Safran, as well as Krigs. But why would I be called by his names? His party arrived shortly after and asked me to trust them. As I looked into their eyes, the same feeling that welcomed me in the trees told me that they were my key. They could be home. They would bring me answers. But can they possibly have the answer that I need?
New Adventure Begins with Dungeon Master Mike
00:06:26
Speaker
You're listening to the Hired Swords, the Dungeons and Dragons podcast wherein sir joke here. Hold on, was I supposed to do something with that?
00:06:48
Speaker
All right, welcome back to the Hired Swords. I am your dungeon master, Mike. And joining me today is Blaze. It's a me, a Blaze. Ash. Hello. Derek. And Mikey. That's me, I'm Jox here. Yeah, that's right. And we also have Stirbuck here with us again.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yay. Insert dolphin noises. Because the party decided, let her continue to hang out. So I guess she decided, didn't she? Yeah, I decided that there was no other route than to steal their beds and make myself at home. Yeah, apparently. Here you are now, part of the group. So the last episode, they
00:07:46
Speaker
finished up with the chief and made their way out to find Krigs and he had been talking to this young woman by the name of Salrin and they were chatting about I mean I say chatting like it was super cash but it was really quite intense quite interesting as they talked about
00:08:05
Speaker
the voices of the forest speaking to Salrin and saying, or saying Safran to her when she was misinterpreting it as Salrin thinking they were calling to her. But in fact, they were identifying somebody named Safran, which we all know now is Krigs. And so they had that conversation and the party, the rest of the party finally caught up
Investigating the Voices from Bogashack
00:08:29
Speaker
to them. And after some funny antics and some fun,
00:08:34
Speaker
kind of, you know, role play kind of stuff. They all ended up deciding to all go out the next morning together into the woods to see if they can figure out what's going on with this voice, these voices calling for Krigs, apparently. And
00:08:50
Speaker
Then they made their way back to the Bogashack, as it is so lovingly called. And at the Bogashack, they had a fun little jab at Daven and forced him to dimension Dora to the basement to sleep. And that ensured that Solran would have a bed. So she slept in his bed instead of him. And that is where I believe we are at after Craig's set of prayer to,
00:09:20
Speaker
to the wilds and felt a slight tingle burn in his hand where his mark of helm was. And but just as soon as he felt it, it went away and almost to the point of even doubting it happened in the first place. And so he's we're now the sun is coming up the next morning after a fitful rest for David on the floor of the
00:09:44
Speaker
of the basement, I guess, of the Bogus Shack and jocks are there on his bedroll, Krigs in his pink rocking chair. Gwendolyn had been, I assume, resting in Francine's old room while
00:10:01
Speaker
the other bedroom was taken by Salarin. What is everyone doing when you wake up? How is this going down? Daven, you had said you would be the first up. How does that go for you? It doesn't happen. Okay. No. I figured as much. He's off and on sleeping all night long. He's got a crick in his neck, but he's still asleep. I'd also like to make one more point of reference. It's not the basement. We're going to call it the Tome Bomb Shelter.
00:10:26
Speaker
Okay, okay. Wow. Sorry, that was too far. I guess Jaxsir's hole is taken. Yeah. Jaxsir wakes up earlier than he normally does, but he just sits there, just almost anxious. He doesn't want to go up there, so he's just kind of sitting in the room trying not to just randomly stare at Devin.
00:10:55
Speaker
He doesn't know what to do with it, do with himself right now, which is hard because you hear sparks in like a little time, bits of lightning go across his arms as he sleeps. He's having a rough time trying not to just like, what is happening over there? Nice. All right. And then upstairs.
00:11:16
Speaker
Solrin wakes up super early. She's naturally an early riser because she needs to know what is happening with the day before anyone else does. So she's going to wake and dress and
00:11:40
Speaker
uh sitting next to the door listening for the first signs of uh people being awake like you know you know when you're you have guests over and uh you can tell that they're awake because someone goes to the bathroom like you hear the bathroom door shut uh she's gonna sit there and listen for that that was me every sleepover as a kid first one to wake up and just sitting there waiting for somebody else to wake up that's uh that's christmas day and children just waiting for
00:12:10
Speaker
for someone to allow him to go open the presents. All right. So how long does it take before we get Gwen and Krigs up? I think Gwen would probably wake up a little before Krigs. Um, just so, cause she wants to meet this girl. She just, there's something about her and she doesn't know the connection to anything yet.
00:12:39
Speaker
OK, so she probably wrapped in a blanket and come out of her room. OK, so yes, I'll run you. You as you were kind of sitting and waiting, you hear Gwen's door open and she kind of strolls out probably with a yawn and a stretch that blanket wrapped around her. She's sitting next to the door. Oh, OK, that's good. I'm I'm still very much just going to still be asleep with the fight and with everything else. I am very tired.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, sure. And Sauron. Sauron's just going to be sitting next to the closed door, just like awake and alert and ready. Okay. Awesome. Well, then as Gwen comes out and I assume, Daven, you're going to come back upstairs or? Yeah, he comes up rubbing his neck. Okay. Joxer.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, he'd follow up. He did get knocked unconscious the day before, and then just had an awkward... He's gonna be last, very slow behind. Okay. Okay. And then, so, critics, you're awakened by Daven and Joxer finally coming in the room. And, so everybody's up and awake now. Everybody's kind of in the same space.
00:14:07
Speaker
All right. Yeah, it's fine. What are we doing today? You tell me and she goes over and sits next. She kind of plops down next to Salarin because she is still waking up. She's got sleepy eyes and she pulls Dale out of her blanket. She sets him on the ground and she just looks at Salarin. Do you want some trail mix?
00:14:31
Speaker
Oh sure, do you want some berries? And she'll put a berry in front of Dale and she'll like offer you the bag that now has nine berries in it.
00:14:45
Speaker
Oh my gosh, Gwen blushes and immediately just puts her hand in the bag. And Sauron's going to take a little handful of trail mix and she's going to throw the whole thing back and through the mouthful, she's like, this is really good trail mix. Do you have acorns in there? There don't come a lot of people who put acorns in their trail mix, but that stuff sticks to your bones.
00:15:14
Speaker
Gwendolyn's mouth is full like a chipmunk and she's just shaking her head. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. She can't talk. Craig, did we just get ourselves a second Gwen? Is this what's happening here? You know, it's very possible. She just stretches in the chair trying to figure out if his body still exists because he's very sore.
00:15:38
Speaker
Well, I mean, I can't become animals, but I know a lot about them and I can find them. And I do know my way around the wilds, but I'm not, I can't be a dire wolf, you know? It's just super cool. She's gonna like blush and like scratch the back of her head like anime style. Nice.
00:16:08
Speaker
So, do we know where in the wilds we're supposed to be heading? Not even a little bit. And she's gonna smile at you. You just see like an awkward smile back. That sounds... That sounds like most plans we've had this week. Yeah, so who's leading this thing then? Well, uh...
00:16:36
Speaker
think of it less as like a leader and followers and more as a group discovery. I mean we can we can check and see if Widow Taliver is back. I would hope by now she would be and see if maybe she has any insights for us.
00:17:01
Speaker
I don't have much other than a feeling. And I don't know how far that'll take us. It doesn't sound like a terrible idea. She could be helpful if we have no real direction. I look around the room. I look at Devon Tolliver. I think it's probably a better start than just blindly going into the woods. At Gwen Tolliver? She shakes her head full of food.
00:17:30
Speaker
Joxer, to Oliver? Absolutely, and that's also by the longhouse, if we wanted some food or anything. Or we could just head out, it's fine. You and your food in the morning, I don't...
00:17:45
Speaker
Well, Sauron's gonna take another handful of, uh, trail mix. Uh, now that she and Gwen are like, uh, like buffet style sharing their like pocket treasures. Uh, it's just gonna be like, I mean, don't, they don't have trail mix from there. But like, I guess. Gabbie's gonna pull up the wand and he's just gonna make a bunch of food. They're gonna take what you need. Can you make this taste like something?
00:18:14
Speaker
What do you want to taste like? Delia's choice. What? All right. I wave my hand over the food that whatever he's picked up and now it's got a flavor to it. She's like, you've never chewed bark. You're missing out. I know. We'll try some later. I know some trees. They have the best bark. Just like knowingly like nods her head.
00:18:45
Speaker
Ignoring this, Jockster sees the...
00:18:50
Speaker
Devin flavor some of the food and he he tries to recreate something that tastes like meat that he picks up. And that's better than mine. Mine tastes like a mix between ketchup and blueberries. Oh, my gosh. How did you find two fruits that do not taste good together? Like you think that that's like triple berry and it's not. Devin's got a lot of skills. Flavor is not one of them.
00:19:19
Speaker
The worst part is mine just straight up kale. But it's mushy so it's not kale. Yeah, no, it's just like an apple that tastes like kale. So I'm going to walk out the door, kind of readjusting myself and read.
00:19:39
Speaker
Suiting my shield to my back and have the apple in my mouth. I'm going to pull it out in one hand and just say to T'olivers and some kind of like silly commanding voice to everyone behind me, joking that I'm somehow in charge of this escapade. Okay. Oh, that's right. What was his name? Carmen said you were the leader of this group. Lead on, sir. Yes. T'olivers. Lift, lift, lift, right, lift.
00:20:09
Speaker
Devin's, uh, bedroll rolls up on its own and gets stuck back into his backpack continues on. Okay. You guys come back out the front door and start making your way towards widow Tolliver's and, uh, you, you go. No, it's pretty early. There's not a lot of stuff happening. And, you know, you, the, the parties that had gone off.
00:20:33
Speaker
for their missions, most of their hunts, most of them haven't returned yet. They weren't all so short like it was for the Saraias party. So as you guys walk through the area, you don't see a whole lot of people. You come up and around the tower, make your way up towards
00:20:56
Speaker
the, the widow Tolliver's house. Then the, the long house is there on the right open for business. You don't hear a lot of hubbub out of there this early. It seems that the most of the fun times happened later at night. Uh, but widow Tolliver's door is standing wide open. Well, that's a good sign. I hope so. And I'm just going to walk up to the door. I think it was open the last time that we came here to and talk to her. She, she seems to know when she, she has business with us.
00:21:28
Speaker
Oh, she's always been spooky. Uh, kind of makes her an authority on these things. Gwendolyn's going to be a little hesitant. Okay. I don't know. So did somebody say they were going up to the door? I'll go up to the door. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Krigs. Okay. That's fine. Uh, you walk up to the door and, uh, as you look inside, make a perception check. Oh, BKB.
00:21:57
Speaker
15. You hear humming. You see the same room with the round table with curtains surrounding except for that wall where the door is and the table in the middle there. But as you look, the curtains pulled back a little bit and through there as you hear, as you just hear,
00:22:21
Speaker
You see the little old woman with a mortar and pestle. She's pushing stuff. She's crushing stuff down into this stone bowl with this big stone masher as she does that. I think it's called a mortar and pestle, something like that. She crushes that stuff down as she's doing that and just humming to herself. She goes, as you approach the door and see her and hear her, she says, who's first?
00:22:51
Speaker
I see you were expecting us. Oh, well, I figured when I saw you last night, you'd be back. I do apologize if we disturbed you. No, no, no, no, no, please take a seat. I'm not easily disturbed. If I come across as such, I apologize. Now, the drinking and carrying on across the street, that disturbs me. A conversation outside my door, no.
00:23:22
Speaker
That's just par for the course living on the main thoroughfare through town, you know. I do understand. And I'm going to, I'm going to wave everyone in and specifically, um, Miss Tolliver is, is here. If you are interested in the reading.
00:23:39
Speaker
You see that she hung back like when you guys went into the house and I think probably only Gwen would have noticed that as soon as she asked who's first, her finger immediately went to her nose. Okay. But like she'll step in.
00:23:58
Speaker
She steps in, you step in, Whittle Tolliver's standing there looking at you and she looks at you, she goes, ah, yes, yes, Mrs. Chris, Miss Chris Farron. Lady Tolliver. It's a pleasure to see you, my dear. Would you care to have a seat or? Yes, thank you. Would you like a berry?
00:24:21
Speaker
No, thank you. I've had breakfast. Those don't agree with me either. So thank you, though. Something about not being able to eat for a day. I enjoy my herbs and spices too much. You understand? I suppose so. And she'll put the back in her pocket and kind of like look uncomfortably around.
00:24:46
Speaker
Do you remember the last time I was here and we talked and I told you about my dream with the elk and
00:25:02
Speaker
These were, these were the people that I saw. And since then I have been, and she's going to mouth the word. She's not even going to say it out loud. She's going to mouth the words, hearing voices. Okay. She says, yes, of course you're hearing the voices.
00:25:23
Speaker
And she says it louder than you'd like. Uh, and she looks up at Krigs and there are the rest of you coming in yet at this point, are you staying outside inside? Okay. Jocs, he made it to the door and he looks back at the long house and then sides, size, and then walks in. Gwen would come in and make herself comfortable. Just wanting to watch. Okay. So you,
00:25:50
Speaker
You see the look on her face turn, everyone can see the look on her face, turn very soft when she looks at Solrin. And she says, my dear, I don't know what the forest wants. I don't know what it wants for our dwarven friend here and
00:26:15
Speaker
I'm sorry to say, I wonder if you have given it all it wanted from you. But it didn't want me. It never wanted me. So why, why me? My dear, your ears were open. This man here, he's clouded. You understand.
00:26:44
Speaker
Because of what happened. Yes, he's hardened. He's clouded. You could hear because you were listening. Did you just need to know what it is that the forest wanted from you? Does that mean there's nothing left to hear? That it will stop?
00:27:13
Speaker
I can't say. I don't know that I want it to stop. I can't say. All I can say is, and I don't mean I can't say because I won't say. I mean, the paths are yours. The endings, the destinations, they can be clear, but there are many. If the forest is finished speaking to you because you have
00:27:44
Speaker
brought it to the attention of your new friend. And what a blessing to be used in such a way. Don't you think? She tips her head down and swallows real hard. And she just gives a really small nod. And she's weeping a little bit. OK.
00:28:14
Speaker
Having walked in first and being closest to this area, I feel like Griggs would try to put his hand like lightly on her shoulder in consolation, understanding what it's like to feel not connected to whatever you were before. Yeah. Yeah. And she says, now again, I'm not saying that it is completed. I'm only saying that if it is,
00:28:45
Speaker
You have been honored. And that connection will remain in whatever form, whatever form the wilds see necessary. She's just nodding quietly, accepting. Thank you. Thank you, Lady Tolliver.
00:29:15
Speaker
I knew that this was where I needed to hear that. And she's gonna get up and just kind of walk towards the door and stand outside so she can still hear what's happening, but she needs like a minute.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah. As you walk out or stand up, she tries to catch your eyes and just says, thank you for listening. I shall nod. Who's next? I think it's best that you go first. I'm just going to slide into the chair. When you speak up, Daven, she looks up at you.
00:30:08
Speaker
and you kind of see, actually make a, whoever's in the room, make an insight check. Okay. Does that include me? No way. Yeah, yeah, sure. It's a 22. 12. That's a 12. Okay. Only Joxer sees her shutter tremble when she looks at Daven. And then she quickly averts her eyes over to Krigs and she says, please,
00:30:38
Speaker
Take a seat. What is your question? Well, Lady Tolliver, it's been a minute since I've been here. I do hope you've been well, but I guess, if we're getting to the point, Salrin found me last night outside coming to see you. And I did have other business to attend, but seeing how this seems to be some kind of pressing matter, maybe you have some insight or...
00:31:07
Speaker
Why me? When Sauron came to me, all I knew was that the Wilds needed someone and something to save them. Sauron and I both thought perhaps it could be her.
00:31:37
Speaker
But it seems she is a messenger. And it seems that you are who this message has been delivered to. I would answer it. I feel like I've hardly done anything just to save the wilds here other than cause a lot of ruckus in town. My stay hasn't been necessarily helpful. I don't know why it's calling to me. We are more than
00:32:09
Speaker
a collection of actions and behaviors. There is more to each of us than what we do or have done. Seek what that is inside of yourself because there are those who, and she kind of looks up at Joxer and back down at you, then over to Gwendolyn and looks back down at you and says, there are those
00:32:39
Speaker
who see it even though you don't. When I've been summoned by someone, I usually pay them a visit.
00:33:09
Speaker
So I guess I go into the wilds. Who's next? I shuffle my way out of the seat. Okay. Go ahead. You got anything to learn? I don't think so.
00:33:37
Speaker
I'm gonna leave. Widow, Tolliver smiles at you very big. Not creepy, just very pleasant and genuinely happy to see you in her hut. Gwendolyn nods at Widow Tolliver and she just kind of just holds a dale and walks out.
00:34:05
Speaker
Choxer will slowly walk up. Hello, Toliver. Hello. And he's gonna sit down. So I don't take kindly to being knocked and stabbed around by those in town.
00:34:29
Speaker
Is there any way you might be able to see if I'm still being targeted by or that I still have a foreboding future ahead of myself? I don't have to seek any knowledge or any wisdom from any arcane or magic.
00:34:59
Speaker
because I heard them announce your death at the longhouse. Tom and Elise did what he said he was going to do. Not announce. I'm sorry. It wasn't an announcement as much as a three cheers. It was loud. Perhaps if you're seen
00:35:24
Speaker
In the busyness of the day, some people could be quite surprised. That's good to know. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. That was easy. That was just nosy neighbor lady. Everybody needs one of those, I suppose. Well, we do what we can. I hope you have a good day. Public enemy number one. Yes.
00:35:53
Speaker
Well, it sounds like we're pretty much done here and we know what we're going to do. Just remember, just remember. Yes. What is happening at Wild Hill? I don't think has ever been about Wild Hill. I wish I understood what that means. You have a lovely day. It was good to see you all.
00:36:24
Speaker
Good seeing you. Uh, as everyone starts to walk out, I say, Oh, one more thing, guys, I'll meet you outside. And I'll walk stands up and I'll kind of wait and see if everybody leaves. Yeah, I'm gone. Okay. When you do that, stands up and backs away from her table. Devin's gonna have his hands behind his back and he's going to look down. He's just kind of glance up at her every once in a while and say, have you looked up any more information about what's going on with me? Have you seen anything else?
00:36:54
Speaker
I'm not asking for you to tell me. I don't want to know my future. I just want to know if you know. I can't explain what I felt when you touched me. It was like I had died. But that's it. I haven't. I haven't.
00:37:24
Speaker
been the same since I had hope hope for what now despair for my my husband that he's gone how do you know this from touching me well like I never lost hope until
00:37:54
Speaker
that moment when I was outside of my own being and something else something else was speaking and using me for their purposes and since then I when I think of him I only feel despair this is why seeing you makes that feeling stronger
00:38:25
Speaker
I'm sorry I took that from you. But I think that the feeling you're feeling now is just lingering. It's not you. Don't let it get too far into you. But I think for both of our sakes, it's best that we just don't see each other again. I won't come back here. And I don't want you thinking anymore about me or anything else that has to do with us or this.
00:38:53
Speaker
I think that's a good idea. I think hope will come back for you. And for what it's worth, I think your husband's still alive too. And if he is, maybe we can find him for you. I once believed that was a guarantee that someone could find him for me. But I have since stopped asking. Don't let my darkness be our darkness. Feelings are weird, you know?
00:39:22
Speaker
have the strongest feelings in one direction and it can completely change with just the drop of a hat. And that I think means that they are completely worthless. I think the best thing you can do is just forget about feelings of hope and despair and just continue doing what you're doing and use your logic. Can he be alive? Is he alive? Don't worry about the feelings about it. Just got what you know. That's what I do. I wish
00:39:51
Speaker
Daven, is it? I wish that we had met under better circumstances. I feel like you would be someone who I would enjoy spending time with were it not for our first meeting. I must get back to my work. I understand. I don't take this the wrong way, but I personally kind of wish we never met in the first place. These problems that you're feeling never affected me before this either.
00:40:22
Speaker
Well, then some meetings seem fortuitous and some seem to be a curse. Well, if there's a way of removing a curse, I'll find it. I'll let you know if I do. Please do. It was good to meet you. I hope we never do it again. And he just walks out. Goodbye. She goes back to her work.
00:40:44
Speaker
And, uh, did everyone just kind of wait out there for Devin to find his way out or, um, I, I had, uh, I probably would have started asking, uh, um, Krigs. I. So that wasn't quite as helpful other than going into, going into the wild. It seems, it seems silly, but maybe we should go back to where we felt where we lost the elk. I mean, that might be the best place to look. I don't know.
00:41:14
Speaker
Maybe I should have asked Holliver if I should go alone or if you should go with me. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. I don't think anything is good to be done alone here in Wild Teal. And apparently I don't exist anymore. It's not always a bad thing. Sometimes I, in recent days, not since meeting you all, but there were times I wished myself that I hadn't existed after what I had
00:41:44
Speaker
put so many through. Gwendolyn's probably walking over towards Salarin. Salarin is sitting up in the big tree behind widow Tolliver's house. You can just see her feet hanging from the low branch. That's amazing. Gwendolyn would probably walk over there.
00:42:13
Speaker
What are you doing? Hey, um, just looking, looking for bark. You, do you want some? Uh, and she's going to like offer you the seat next to her up in the tree. Uh, climb up. I put Dale in between us. Okay. Uh, so Lauren's going to put a Barry in front of him. He, um,
00:42:43
Speaker
He loves you, you know. The Wilds told me what you did and they said that it was only because of that love that they trusted you and that I should trust you.
00:43:06
Speaker
Dale and I talked last night and we seem to trust you too. I just... I've never heard voices in my head before so I can't say I'm going where you're going through.
00:43:27
Speaker
But she smiles. I I feel like you might be the key to something we're searching for. I was new to the wilds and I at first thought I was helping people. I was making friends and I just. Something changed.
00:43:56
Speaker
But I feel that you're a nice person and that you'll find your way with or without us. For now, I would like you to stay. Dale does too. I don't...
00:44:21
Speaker
I don't know what I'm gonna do just yet. It sounds so stupid to say it out loud, but I thought I was the key. And I know, it's better this way. I mean, why would I be? I shouldn't be. But I...
00:44:45
Speaker
But yeah, I think I wanted to be the hero for a minute. I think you still can be. Just life finds a way. And she immediately switches to Elvin. Can you understand, Elvin?
00:45:07
Speaker
Of course I can. Okay, great. Because she is getting frustrated because she's starting to trip on her words. I just feel that you could lead to something else. And even if you're not the key to this
00:45:28
Speaker
meaning or to be this hero you you could be a hero and somewhere else later on in life you don't no need to put all of the eggs in your basket just we'll find a way Gwendolyn Wild Hill is not a place for heroes
00:45:54
Speaker
And I knew that. And I know that. And I can be okay with that, I think. This fits. You fit. Sufferin fits. Daven.
00:46:09
Speaker
is Daven. Jocks are fits. It's better this way, but you should know that something is happening, something big, something bigger than this town, bigger than me or you. And I don't know what it is, but I know
00:46:35
Speaker
I know that since I had that dream, something feels broken. It feels like something that had been holding so much back is somehow leaking.
00:46:57
Speaker
And I mean, maybe I'm totally off. I don't always feel it quite right. I thought that they were saying my name and they very clearly weren't.
00:47:15
Speaker
Just be careful. Both of you. All of you. And she, uh, she like takes one finger and like delicately like strokes Dale's head and like scruffs underneath his big fat cheeks. Why can't you come with us? I, I thought you, you, you were going to help us cause Gwendolyn in her mind,
00:47:42
Speaker
Let's get this straight. Gwendolyn's 23, but, uh, she still has like this kid-like manner. Like she doesn't understand what is going on. Like why she, like she understands that Salarin is tolerant. Sorry. Is not Safran, but like she doesn't understand why Salarin can't come to help.
00:48:07
Speaker
You could help us fix us, like you could help us though. But if I've already done my part, if this was my part. Let's say Devin's walking out about now. Yeah, sounds good. Are we ready to go? Sorry about that. Wait, guys, I apologize, but I think we're ready.
00:48:32
Speaker
Hold on a minute. With the knowledge that I have, and he's going to grab at his cloak, and you just slowly see it go from that blue teal to a straight jet black. OK, cool. This might keep me from being noticed for a little bit, at least. Well, Selrin, are you going to lead the way?
00:48:59
Speaker
I'll take you as far as I can. And we should probably be as stealthy as we can, especially if you're a wanted man and she's gonna grin at Joxer and she's gonna cast Pass Without Trace on how many people? Pretty sure it's everybody within like 30 feet of her.
00:49:28
Speaker
Each creature you choose within 30 feet of you, including yourself, plus 10 bonus. Uh, yeah, yeah, cool, cool. So she's going to cast pass without trace on, uh, everybody. Um, it won't last forever, but it'll get us out of town and, um, hopefully it'll get you to where you need to be, uh, when you need to be there. Whatever that is.
00:49:57
Speaker
I appreciate it, Sabra. Mechanically, y'all got plus 10 to your stealth checks. Cool. So as you guys leave town, go ahead and make those stealth checks. All right. We are using Starbucks dice. All right. Nice. 21. Ooh. 19. Thank you for that plus two. For real. 30 for Devin. Sick.
00:50:28
Speaker
15 for me. Super high rolls a bit. I rolled an 18 plus the 10 plus, oh, here it is, core. So an 18 plus 16, which is 34. Man, plus 16 still. Jeez. Well, plus six. Oh, okay, I gotcha.
00:50:55
Speaker
That's good. That Ranger passes out of trace, baby. All right. So you guys, uh, make your way past the tower of testing, make percepts and checks as you pass the tower of testing. Okay. Natural 20. Nice. Oh, um, seven. We love those here. 16 for Devin.
00:51:21
Speaker
Oh, it's an 18 for Joxie. A big fat one. Oh, 13, 13. OK, so definitely Salrin and Joxer, you said you had 18. Yeah, 18. And then what did Davenham 16?
00:51:39
Speaker
Okay, so Joxer and Salarin, you over here as you walk by, you hear Tomba on the steps of the tower saying, no, don't be crazy. I saw him here yesterday. He was here. He was here yesterday. What's wrong with you? I saw him. You can ask the chief. They had a meeting. Come in, come inside. Come ask him. And they start to walk in. Do we see who it is?
00:52:05
Speaker
Salrin does. It is. It is. Some it is Mel, actually, one of the one of Soraya's people, Mel. He's the fighter, isn't he? Yes. It's one of Salrin's teammates. And she rolled that 34. Yeah, you guys as you guys sneak out of town.
00:52:33
Speaker
you make your way towards the edge of the forest, all the way past the farms into the kind of where the trees are starting to pick up and you hit a trail. Is everyone gonna continue on? That didn't even take you the full hour to get out of town yet. You probably still have half of that pass without a trace available if you wanna just, everybody continue on. I'm gonna have Krigs make a survival check. Sure. With advantage.
00:53:04
Speaker
Okay, let's see. 18. You want to head south along the edge of the mountains, between the mountains and the hills. You just feel like that's where you wanna go. Is that the direction we're kind of headed as it is?
00:53:31
Speaker
I mean, right now you've just got out of town, so it's time to decide. Do we just go straight forward, straight east into the wilds? Do we head up north or south and you want to go south? With us walking and with me getting that little bit of...
00:53:47
Speaker
guess intuition that I should be headed south I'm gonna do a very typical soldier thing and hold my fist up as like a like a stop moving hand signal yeah and then just listen to whatever is speaking this intuition into me and just say I get the feeling we need to go south
00:54:12
Speaker
and just start walking that direction and hope that, well, you know, hope they follow me. Okay. So you guys head south. You go for another 30 minutes or so that pass without a trace is gone. And, uh, you just keep feeling like you need to go south, go south. Salarin, how far are you going to take them all the way? What are you wanting to do? Um, what is she going to do?
00:54:41
Speaker
Is she getting any feelings from her extrasensory companion? When Sauron walked into the forest, she felt welcome and comfortable. She felt at home more than she did.
00:55:04
Speaker
You know in her own home growing up she felt like this is this is her place and. You don't hear any voices you don't hear any you don't get any feelings or signals and then Craig's kind of says I feel like we should go South and you just kind of feel a.
00:55:24
Speaker
You feel right about that decision and about him making the decision. You feel like that's what is wanted. And as the wind kind of blows through the trees, you feel like you will always be connected. This connection will not go away. It will not stop. And whether whatever form it takes, whatever
00:55:49
Speaker
whatever benefits or value it gives you, you feel that connection, that relationship with the wilds and the forest will maintain, it will continue. Okay. She's going to...
00:56:14
Speaker
She's going to walk with you for the rest of Pass Without Trace, and as she can feel her magic wearing off, she's gonna stop the party and just say,
00:56:34
Speaker
I'm gonna cast this once more, but I get the sense that you've got everything you need already. I'm gonna stay behind and make sure that nobody follows you, and if you need me, I suspect you'll know how to reach me, and she's gonna look pointedly at Daven.
00:57:03
Speaker
Oh, so you're not going with us the whole way. This is it. Are you sure? I'm sure. You are where you need to be and you're going where you need to be going. And I, I feel right about this. I can help you by making sure that you can do what you need to do.
00:57:33
Speaker
And if you need me, I'm here. I'm, uh, no stranger to voices. I'm going to approach Salrin, uh, and hold out my hand. And in that, in my hand at the palm is that golden, uh, kaleidoscope toy that I had shown her previously and.
00:57:57
Speaker
I'm going to say that it's Lauren. I know it's not much. I know that it's a silly trinket, but I don't think you realize how much this. I don't think you know how special that it must be to be chosen by the wilds for this, this task, whatever it might be. And I do.
00:58:27
Speaker
Thank you.
00:58:30
Speaker
You're welcome. And with her left hand, she's gonna pluck the sphere out of her hand and look at it before she puts it in her pocket and say, you know, just because I'm not old enough to drink doesn't mean that I'm a child and can be persuaded with toys. And then with her right hand, she's going to give you the bro shake where she grabs your elbow.
00:59:00
Speaker
Be careful. Don't do anything dumb. I can't promise anything. I can honestly say the opposite. We'll definitely do something dumb. Speak for your, well, yeah, he's right. I'm glad to have met you all. This won't be the last. I'm glad to have trusted you.
00:59:24
Speaker
I assure you, this won't be the last. It's been interesting to be sure. I do hope it won't be the last. Gwyndolin reaches down and pulls out a handful of trail mix to put in. Sauron's hands. For your way back.
00:59:45
Speaker
She takes that appreciatively and hands you the pouch that has the last seven berries in it, and she says, you technically only need one.
01:00:00
Speaker
for the day. But we all know you don't always eat when you're hungry or just because you're hungry, but I would eat them before tomorrow morning because they do spoil very quickly.
01:00:17
Speaker
Oh, and also it's this tree. And she's gonna, she's gonna jog over maybe like 20 feet to a tree that is like partially stripped and take out her knife and carve off a piece of it and then carve that piece in two. And she's gonna throw the bigger half to Gwendolyn and just grin as she takes a huge bite of it like jerky. A Gwendolyn mimics her.
01:00:47
Speaker
Okay. Big crunch. Big crunch. And it tastes like bark. I don't know. Does Gwendolyn like it? Oh yeah, she loves it. Best bark you've ever had. Yep. It cleans your teeth. Okay, all right. It does. And she turns around, smiles at the party. There's bark everywhere in her tree. In her tree. In her teeth.
01:01:08
Speaker
Her teeth look like a tree in her tree teeth. Was there a lot of sap on that bark, too? Like, is it like sweet with sap sticky? Like like some like there's definitely some like mossy bits, which is like the best part.
01:01:28
Speaker
But it's not like sticky zap. It's like just like natural secret sauce. Secret sauce. David will walk up to her and say, you said this morning that you were like Gwendolyn, but you can't turn into like a title role for anything. Do you want to? The look in her face.
01:01:54
Speaker
is wild. It's like a feral joy, and she just nods her head fervently. Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that more than anything. Devin smiles real big. He puts his hand on her shoulder and he says, you're going to feel a little bit dumber, but it's a lot of fun. And he's going to cast Polymorph and turn her into a dire wolf.
01:02:20
Speaker
So, so you guys watch Salaran just shift from, from this, from, from herself to this direwolf that is a gray color, but has like this, this lightning crackles across her back and it leaves behind like these few blue streaks along the tip of her, of the tips of her hair or her fur.
01:02:48
Speaker
And so she's kind of like this gray to blue color as you go from the bottom of her fur up to the top. And there she is standing there, this big direwolf with the back of her. The nape of her neck, that hair kind of sticks up almost, like permanently, almost like she's always at anticipation mode and adrenaline mode. Nice.
01:03:12
Speaker
She has this big doggy grin on her face that like never, never changed from the smile she had as a, as a half elf. And when she gets down, she's going to do the, the happy dog bounce and then she's going to howl real big. All right.
01:03:33
Speaker
So the big howl and boy, happy, happy, happy dog, happy dog. Down says, you got an hour of joy. She takes off as fast as she possibly can. Gwendolyn takes another bite of bark, just goes crunch and then just waves. So as
01:03:59
Speaker
As Gwendolyn crinches her bark and Direwolf Salarin runs off back towards Wild Hill for this hour or less journey back to town. We're going to end the episode there. Yeah, that was fun. That was fantastic. You made me a star book wolf.
01:04:24
Speaker
The End
01:04:37
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episodic installment of The Hired Swords. If you liked our show, tell a friend about us. And if you really liked our show, tell the world. Leave a review. If you want to keep up with us and get all the behind the scenes goofs and gaffs, you can find us on Twitter and Facebook at The Hired Swords. Again, thank you for listening.