Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Over the years, we’ve told stories around our virtual table in the worlds of Tales from the Loop, Pendragon, Mutant Year Zero, Star Trek Adventures, The One Ring, The Electric State, Forbidden Lands, Legend of the Five Rings, and Symbaroum. Going forward, we’re focusing on a smaller lineup of games, giving us more opportunities to return to each story sooner. As campaigns reach their natural conclusions, we’ll add new stories from the worlds of Twilight: 2000, Vampire: The Masquerade, The Walking Dead, and more.
We’re not voice actors, professional entertainers, or trained performers—just friends from around the globe sharing virtual dice, stories, and a laugh or two as the game unfolds.
Stories with Dice
Juniper Song Episode 5: A Forbidden Lands Actual Play Podcast
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The Folk Vandals Club becomes entangled in a mysterious legend as they venture into the Shroud Forest. Guided by tales of a legendary musical scroll, they encounter a secretive group guarding a seemingly abandoned keep.
Join our Patreon
Join our Facebook Group
Website: Stories with Dice Podcast
Subscribe to our Stories with Dice YouTube Channel
This is Juniper Song, a Forbidden Lands Actual Play podcast from Stories with Dice.
SPEAKER_03If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. Good evening, Marco. How are you? Good evening, episode five. Yeah, I'm okay. I have two cats here in the in the in the studio with me, so if they they're sleeping at the moment, but if they start making a fuss, you know, that's and that's just gonna be some extra uh sound effects for the game. So that's okay. As soon as they start meowing, I'll just start throwing sabre-tooth tigers and stuff into them. There you go, exactly. Mix it's all fine. Oh, you Scott? Other than being very, very warm, Matt, I'm doing very well, thank you. Cool. And Tony, how is the joys of Spain?
SPEAKER_02It's great. I'm so happy to be back next to the sea and enjoying Mediterranean. We're coming over now.
SPEAKER_01I'm enjoying watching you in my binoculars from the from the water on my yacht. I mean, I think we need to call someone. Well, let's um let's jump straight into the the episode, shall we? So we left off last time. You heard trekked all the way around following the river looking for Baradon's legend that he picked up. He had kind of figured out that there was this legend that he'd heard of all about a dwarf by the name of Stein Brutong, who had some kind of artifact, some kind of scroll, which you think has something to do with some kind of music or some kind of epic music score or or something like that. And it was currently somewhere in the Shroud Forest, which was potentially, as far as you heard, was being guarded by robbers or something like that. So you had followed this all the way through, and indeed you had managed to come to this tower, like a broken down tower, and on the tower, there was let's see if I can re if you can recall this, Scott. What was written on the tower? How are your notes? Give me one second, I will flash them up.
SPEAKER_03That's I do I do have notes on it. I took things, I wr I wrote things. Inscription on the tower. Move ever forward to find riches, written in ancient Dwarven.
SPEAKER_01Yes, correct. And so you did. And you eventually came to this lake, and on the lake, there was a forest jutting out, going into the water, and just behind the trees you could see the tower of what looked like a small keep of some kind. And that's where you kind of got to. So you're now looking at this keep. Could who's the first? I think Tony, you were uh Angelo. Well no, was it Grey that was at the front? Anjuin was leading the way. You were leading the way.
SPEAKER_00I'm always leading the way.
SPEAKER_01Right, okay.
SPEAKER_02Um but it was I think it was Grey who was on the cat, right? If there is danger, I'm not leading their way. Danny's probably What are you asking?
SPEAKER_01I did think that's how it works, but I like I like the way. No, I'm not doing it's dangerous. What are you asking if Grey was? So who was so one of you were leading the way and one I think one of you was scouting? I think that was uh That was Grey, yeah. That was Grey. So could Grey please make a scouting roll? But could you take two dice off of that? Why would I want to take two dice off of that? Because I'm a mean, mean GM. I failed and I have three banes, which means if I push it, I am going to lose three wits, and that's not gonna happen. Okay, cool. Yes, you kind of make your way, you can see sort of like the the the sort of light trees ahead of you, and then the just behind in the trees, nestled in the trees, you can see this keep. What's the plan? Ed, you know what I forgot to do? I forgot to push the rest button last time we rested, so. Well, why didn't why don't you put the rest button in? Because you know, it's fun.
SPEAKER_02Well, since I'm leading the way and there is nothing to be afraid of because our awesome scout didn't see anything. I'm guessing I'm continuing and following the river. I'm approaching, you know, I think it was in the other side of the if I remember how was it on the other side?
SPEAKER_01Or no, no, or so no, it's on the same side that you so the river kind of ended up spilling out into this massive lake. And it was on this side of the lake, exactly. You can see as the river kind of like spills out into the lake, you can see the lake ahead of you, and there's the the shroud of forest kind of like comes because you've been following the sort of like greenway between the river and the forest, maybe about 400 metres either side, you know, that you've been traveling. Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more, and then it kind of like abruptly stops where the shrouded forest kind of comes out and actually goes into the lake, and it's through that bit of forest you can see the yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I just basically continue, and you know, I'm just leaning the way trying to find the entrance to the skip. That makes sense to me.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, you go into the forest, and it doesn't take much very long, and you kind of come across this dwarven tower. It has a bunch of dwarven runes on it, it's sort of five stories tall, and it's kind of like relatively square, but there is sort of like a small sort of tower on the as you're looking at it, the right hand side. There's a set of stairs leading up to a very nice single oak door. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Do do you do I feel that there is this area has been left? Like there is people?
SPEAKER_01A scouting role for me, please, sir.
SPEAKER_02Seeing as you're leading the way. Two successes. Two successes? Why don't you be the scout next time? My god, I have to do everything in this team. I mean, what a I mean, seriously. I mean, I should be the lead singer, but that's fine.
SPEAKER_01It's it's hard to be the lead singer, it's hard to be the lead singer when you're blowing into a you know a a tube or whatever the hell it is you're putting you play. Yeah, you're having this discussion and you kind of look around. So through the trees, you kind of walk towards the the front of this keep, and you're looking around and you can see that off to the side next to a tree, there is a whole load of fresh dirt that's been dug up. And there is a bunch of ash and various detritus around the said tree. It looks like someone has been burning their rubbish.
SPEAKER_02Hmm, I think we are not alone.
SPEAKER_01What do you think, Ray? It looks recent, right? It does look very recent. Maybe a day. When what kind of garbage is it? You can see what looks like wrappings of food. There's yeah, there's there's poop and various other things. This looks like it's been piled into the pit that has been dug at the base of the well, near the to the base of the tree, and then has been set on fire.
SPEAKER_02So Peredon, doesn't your legend say anything that this place because I actually thought this was gonna be like an empty keep or uh like a ruin.
SPEAKER_03Well, the rumors around the Legend of Steinbrunto do mention that there's a band of robbers in the area where it was So the score was lost.
SPEAKER_02But again, that's the legend's hundreds of years old, so if there's if they're still here, it could be the descendants of the original band of robbers, a new band of robbers or undead robbers, which would be and well I I'm I'm hoping that the robbers at least are partial to music and to band of troubators like us. Perhaps we can play the role and you know.
SPEAKER_03Infiltrate. Earn the song by by playing our music for them rather than brutally murderizing all of them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't think Grey's way of doing things is the right one here. Grey, what do you think?
SPEAKER_03I haven't come to any decision yet as to what is the right or wrong way of doing anything because I have yet to meet someone. Beridon strides boldly up to the door to the key and just bangs three times. I just hope this burnt garbage didn't make a toxic cloud.
SPEAKER_02You've got a loaf of fearless leather. There you go, Beridon, and a clap.
SPEAKER_01No one else is it it's very quiet. In that case, we'll try the door. Okay, you try the door. Make me a strong roll. If you've got might, you may add that.
SPEAKER_03So, for those of you playing along, Beridon's strength score is a mighty three. Given my dice rolling so far this game Oh, oh, oh, oh! That's actually a success.
SPEAKER_01So, it is not enough of a success. Would you like to push it, considering that you have one bane?
SPEAKER_03Given that you know I'm pushing on the door and it's sort of it's giving slightly but not enough. Veridon will step back and let one of the sturdier members of the party take it to the shot.
SPEAKER_01As Viridon steps back, the door slams shut, and then you hear a ponk noise as on lock or something gets put in place. What is this door made out of? It's made of wood. Oak and metal.
SPEAKER_02So there was somebody on the other side then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it feels like as you were opening the door, someone was behind there and basically pushed as you were as as you were pushing, and they just won as you sort of step back and shut the door behind you.
SPEAKER_02Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_03Don't be afraid, we had a band of troubadours. Peridon strikes a few chords on the loot just uh just to prove his his troubadouriness. And I pull out my flute and I I follow up on Peridon's.
SPEAKER_01He starts playing some Jethro Tol. Grey, do you wanna make a scourel from quick? Am I am I reducing it? Just just a straight scan roll will be fine. Okay. Two successes. At the window to the left hand side, there is like a small sort of arrow sort of size window. Uh a face appears. You could call it a murder hole. You could call it a murder hole. No, no, I'm gonna call it sort of a window for an arrow to be shot out of. An arrow slit? Yep. An arrow slit, yeah, you can call it that. Yeah. There is uh there's a person on the other side, um, and they are they are looking at you. They look like they've got a bit of a beard, and they're sort of greying in the in in the sort of like eyebrows and the hair, and uh as soon as they see you look at them, they disappear from the window. I say, Oi, come down here and open this door, please. What do you want? We want to come in. You can't come in. This is our keep. We're not going to take the keep from you. We just want to come in. Go away. Look, man, don't make me angry. See? Now you want to use violence. I didn't say I was gonna use violence, I just said you don't want to make me angry. The person says, What? No. I can see three of them. We are the folk vandals club. Traveling musical band. Let us perform for you this evening. We're not here to take your keep. We're just here to play for our supper. Yeah, stop playing. Go away.
SPEAKER_03That is the worst flute plague I have ever heard. Now, being dice to Andrew, and he's still learning. I think that was very good, Andrew, and much better than your previous attempt. Thank you so much. Should I burn the door down? Yeah, if they're not gonna let us in, we may as well just go for violence. It turns.
SPEAKER_01He shrugs and steps back from the door, letting Gray get in. Are you gonna be particularly subtle about saying that, or are you actually gonna be quite loud with your? No, I'm saying that so that he can hear it, yes. Okay. What? No! Hang on, I need to go and speak to the boss.
SPEAKER_02Stay there. Great. We should be more careful. We don't know how many of them are inside. We are just three. Yeah, that's fine.
SPEAKER_03Violence is not the way. No, but intimidation seems to be working quite nicely.
SPEAKER_01It goes quiet for a short while.
SPEAKER_02Just look around in this while we are waiting. I just wanna check out the perimeter of this. Do I see anything special? Extra doors. No key then entrance, you know, like.
SPEAKER_01So you wanna walk around the gate? Yeah. It's not particularly big. You can probably see that it's probably one, two, three, four, five rooms around, so it's actually not a massive key. You can see there are windows much of the same around the rest of it. Same sort of thing, sort of arrow slits. And you can see there's some kind of wooden shutters behind them, but there doesn't seem to be another door out of here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's not very big, it's like six meter I mean yeah, three by three so six meters perhaps.
SPEAKER_03Is there a is there an sort of a a wall or anything surrounding this tower? Nope, nope, just to keep outside. Just to keep so stood in the middle of nowhere. Yep, pretty much.
SPEAKER_01I go up the steps to the door.
SPEAKER_02Who has the fire starting equipment? I do have. But I don't think this is the way, Gray. I mean we came to him to under to learn about the legend, not to destroy this. Keep. We're not destroying anything. I knock on the door. My proposition would be to be patient. I mean, perhaps they'll discuss it. I am being patient. This is me being patient.
SPEAKER_01You knock on the door. The door. Someone on the door says Yes. May we come in, please? You'll have to hold on. Hold on for what? But get him the boss. It's a different voice to the one that was talking earlier. And where is the boss? Busy. Well, so are we. And so are you. Yeah, no, I know I'm busy. Yeah. And you you're doing a great job of it. You're doing a really good job looking busy. But is that really what you want to do with your life? One second. One second is it goes really quiet. You hear sort of like the latch go clunk again. That's more like it. Come on then. So you're gonna walk are you so barred on you're gonna walk past Grey?
SPEAKER_03And then I was just moving the m okay on the map.
SPEAKER_01And then Grey didn't move. So Okay, you're gonna open the door or you what you're gonna do? Yeah, I I opened the door and I step inside. Okay. Right. I thought they were opening the door, sorry. So as you open the door, you come face to face with this fairly robust looking uh dwarf, and he's basically got this large pick, like a war pick, raised. Open the door, he goes basically. I'm gonna see you with the pick. What the fuck, dude? Happy days. So, um, yeah, I guess we'll uh let's go into combat, shall we? Weren't expecting that today. Yes, you were. Yeah, you were, alright. For my my spear fighting talent of rank two might be coming in handy. Ooh, that's handy. When you wield a spear, you may immediately strike an enemy who moves from near range to arm's length from you. The attack counts towards your actions in the round, but breaks the turn order and occurs before the enemy can attack you. I like that. So what you're just basically gonna step back to the stairs and take it all. I'm gonna step to the side and then, you know, try to knock his weapon out of his hand with my spear. I'm not gonna actually try to wound him. I like that. Alright then. Well, in that case, why don't you attack him, sir? Now is does that cost one willpower or two? It'll cost you one willpower. One willpower, okay. Alright. And Ooh, do I click disarm under actions? Is that what I do? Oh, you can indeed. It's pretty much what you're trying to do, right? Yep. It's one hand weapon plus two-handed weapon plus two, yep, that's fine. Okay, so if you're successful, they'll drop their weapon and then you can sort of step sideways into the room. Wow, look at that! So you uh you step into the room. I have one success. Yes, as he kind of like brings the pick down, you push the spear up, knock the pick out of the way, and push him to the side, and you step into the room. When you step into the room, you notice there are two other people in the room. You can see there's a woman, a human, standing on the stairs, looking down at you, and there is this other guy that you saw with the salt and pepper hair, who is also a human, looking at you, sort of standing in the room, was obviously going to be the second person to do something. So you've done that and it's kind of broken the initiative. We'll we'll start again with the initiative. And handly, it's you first, grey? Okay. And what is this guy here? What weapon does he have? He has a short sword. And the the dwarf. Did I knock him to the ground or is he still on his feet? No, no, he's still on his feet. You basically just pushed him back and you've knocked the pick out of his hand. Okay, can I kick the pick through the you know, but basically sort of toward the door? Back towards you, towards yeah, yeah, sure, you can do that as your action. Yeah, that's what I'll do that's what that's what I'll do, and I'll say, hey now, we've come in peace. No violence. We are just we are just musicians who want to play for our supper. I hope Baradan is and Anduin are really proud of me here. I didn't kill anyone. The woman on the stairs holds her hands up and says, Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, Drake, stop. And then the other guy with the grey and salt and pepper beard hair, who's kind of was raising his short sword, is now looking at the woman on the stairs and kind of lowers it. He has dropped it. And he goes, Okay, okay. Dreg, on the other hand, is not happy about this in the slightest, and he kind of comes towards you, he's got this like incensed look in his in his eye, and he's he's got his like he's got chainmail sort of like gloves on, and he's kind of coming towards you in like a fighting stance as if he's gonna punch you, but he isn't actually coming into range. He looks like he probably will probably try and rush you maybe next turn. I have no qualms eating dwarf for supper. Cass is basically like, let me get in there, she says, but you guys are on the stairs, so I am more than happy to make way for Cass. Okay, so presumably take a step back. I'll take a step to the stairs.
SPEAKER_02Is Benjamin also happy to do that? I was I wasn't on the stairs, no, I'm be she come pass by.
SPEAKER_01Base you're on the base of the stairs. Cool. Which case Cass comes running in with her uh I think she's got knives. She's got like a tambourine. She's got a tambourine and a dagger in one hand, uh, in the other, no! And she kind of comes in and sort of like, don't anyone move! Really kind of like not judging the situation.
SPEAKER_02Anjouin, and you last up uh I will move in and I'm guessing I heard that they're trying to calm down the situation, kind of I heard this, right? So I will move in and say, please let's not be harsh. We just want to play our music, you know, have shelter for the night, have supper, and have a civilized discussion.
SPEAKER_01Sure, I mean this room isn't particularly large, and with the one, two, three, four, five of you that are now in it, it's actually really starting to look quite cramped. There's also what looks like a a small table in one side, there's a couple of medieval looking beanbags, I guess is the best way to describe it. Someone's obviously filled like some sac with hay and straw and is using them as chairs. Yeah, it's just really, really cramped, and there's like a set of stairs going up and a set of stairs going down as she's on the stairs coming up from the up going down. So it's all kind of like very cramped in. Speak to the woman on the stairs. Are you the boss? She says, No, but I am fairly sensible. And she smiles at you. Well that's good to know, because these clowns aren't. Hey, says Pepperbeard. Um He takes a step towards Dreg the dwarf, and he puts his arm on his his hand on his shoulder and goes, Now now, let's let's let's just calm down. Dreg kind of looks at you and looks at the other guy and says, God damn it, Ton! Hey Raven, take your eyes. And uh he holds up his hand. He goes, Okay, okay. You can't be too careful around these parts. I agree. I think Draga make a good roadie. It's safe to come in now, Beridan. Wow. Other people were stood in the doorway. I didn't want to be rude. When you come in, you can see this lady that's um on the stairs, she's sort of like wearing a s a scholary kind of outfit, and she's sort of like got dark hair, kind of pale skin, and she says, Right, I'm the sensible one, so let's have a chat. And she sort of like makes her way down the stairs into the room and she sort of looks towards the door. The Baradon just come in and says, Any more of you, or is it just the four of you? Oh no, it's just us. So it's a quartet then. Yes. Classic ensemble. She says, Unfortunately, I'm afraid to have to say that I have never heard of you, but I imagine if you're wandering around the Ravenlands looking for uh coin or at least bed for your uh to sing for your supper and wear a place to sleep, sure. Why don't you uh feel free to uh to join us?
SPEAKER_03I'm just gonna say you may not have heard of us, but what you should actually say is I haven't heard of you yet. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Have you heard of a place called Ravensong Village? Not. Ah see, we we've come from there.
SPEAKER_02We we played a sold-out show. Yeah, we we are on tour at this moment trying to find places to Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're and we're you know, we're interested in learning new musical arrangements from other people, maybe even old musical arrangements. Ancient musical arrangements. Okay, right. Well that sounds good. Do you play it anywhere else, or is it just the middle of nowhere?
SPEAKER_02She says, Perhaps the proper thing would be some introductions and a tea? Sure. Okay, so I will start myself. So I'm Andrew Mosborn, drew it from you know, from as profession, and I played the flute.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Grey. Nice to nice to meet you. I'm Grey. As you can see, I'm a wolfkin. We don't wear very much clothes. I am a hunter by trade and and a drummer. Cass says, hi, I'm Cass. I play the tambourine. And uh I can't all their shit around. She's the most indispensable member of the band. Which leaves me, Beridon, lead singer, creative genius, and lead lotist. I'm Nella. Nice to meet you. I am a scholar, and this is my colleague, and the the old man with the sort of pepper hair. It says, I'm Tan, merchant by trade. Nice to meet you. And he puts out his hand and goes to shake all yours. And this is a dragon. Is our stronger? Should uh we come across anyone who is well not very friendly. She says, Well, look, why don't you come in and I'll show you about? Feel free to make yourself a home anywhere here on this floor. And she she shows you about. She kind of takes you through past into she says this is the living room. She then takes you into sort of a small sort of hallway. She says the storage on the left, the kitchen straight on. If you come around here, she takes you round, and there's another sort of like living room thing with a table and some other chairs, and what looks like a couple of beds. She says, if you'd like to stay here, feel free. There's quite a bit big space in this in this end room. So you can sort of like make yourself a home here if you want. Most kind.
SPEAKER_02Most kind.
SPEAKER_03So how how many uh how many do you think will be in the audience this evening?
SPEAKER_01There's two more. They're uh busy scouting around. I'm sure they'll be down presently. Have you been here long? Couple of weeks. And your boss, what exactly is he the boss of? What do you what do you what do you people do? We She smiles as we liberate old trinkets from places that are no longer used anymore. And I I kind of I like to research things and then Well, we find what we can. Tarn here sells them. Yeah, you kind of get the idea.
SPEAKER_03Archaeologists, anthropologists, scholars and traders.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty much it. Noble trade. I'm talking about noble, but uh it pays the bills. Come across any old scrolls with music on them? Well, now you mention it, there was a few things. Well, I don't know if you know about this place. I can I can tell you about it if you want. Do you want a drink? Uh I'm I'm just about to fix some tea. Fine, thank you. It would be nice to raise a glass to old Stein Brutung himself. You know about Steinbrew? We've heard a few things. Well, his real name is is is is Stein Brew Tung, and he was one of the murmuring I guess how you say it. It's difficult to tell. Is that how you say it? And Drake kind of goes, Oh no, I'm not one of them, I'm a canid. Okay, sorry, he's touchy about the clans are touchy about who's which clan's which. So anyway, Bruce clan used to live around these parts, and when they got thrown out of the local mountains, they kind of made their way over here and created themselves a bit of a sort of a pathway between east and west and sort of set this up. It turns out that Stein, driven to a lot of greed, he kind of sought out an artifact, and that artifact was known as well, he put it in the ruined cre the ruined crypt of Bru Tong. And and he was he was part of a an organization. Does that seem right? Probably not an organization, that would be wrong. It's probably more like an organization within an organization. And and they they they basically were called, I think they're called the Stone Choirs or something like that, the the the Stone Chorus, but they were committed to recovering lost songs of old dwarvish oathcraft. So it turns out that if you listen to sort of like the the old the old sort of myths and legends, that these stone choruses, stone choir, whatever they were called, could build stone through song. Apparently, this is the rumour. If you speak to any old dwarf, they'll tell you about how they were, you know, they created the earth that we're on, the planet the the land we're on. They basically created it from a small piece, and every all through the ages they basically made it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until it just got to the point where you couldn't see the curve of of of of the Ravenlands, and they're continuing to build, and so that's what all the stone laying around are, you know, all the mountains, it's the next layer that the the dwarves are gonna build on. And so this was one of the things that they decided that they could do. So these were sort of like a specialist as part of the the dwarven history. I mean, take it with a pinch of salt. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, the only way you're gonna be able to build things in stone is with a pick and a hammer and all that kind of thing. So you're you so you're saying this these songs and these chants could shape stone. Yeah. That is the ultimate rock music. Yes, I suppose, yeah, if that's what it would be. Um folk like yourselves, I'm sure, could turn that into some kind of rock music. So you think she as she's making the tea, she says that you know, there's the rumors are that the the the the the vault of Bru Tung could show the way to where they were came from. They think it was called the Echo Vault or something like that, the Hall of Versus, it was something like that. It's it's it's difficult to kind of particularly go through all the information, they kind of contradict themselves, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02How do you think all this? This is very interesting, Nella. We as you know interested, also scholars of the music to some degree. This is most interesting. Where did you learn all this information?
SPEAKER_01She looks over it at Ton, the old guy, and she says, I've uh I've found other places that have kind of helped me piece together the legends that is all about Bru Tung. And what about this echo? This echo place. The echo volume apparently I think it was apparently it's hidden further sort of in the shroud forest, but no one's found it. I mean we've seen the fourth figure.
SPEAKER_02We've seen this region.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's in this region. It's where the edge hides all of his guitar griff. Oh dear. I broke I broke the the what is that, the fourth wall.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01She says, well, I mean, we'll we'll have to see. I don't know. She offers you more some tea and she's got sort of like little pastries that looks like they've made. In the loosest possible sense. It's a bit of sort of bread with honey on, and she sort of like sits down and sort of like dips it in the tea and she's eating when she's saying one of the sort of like sags. And I'm like, oh but then so good. I'm ahead by listening like. Yeah, it's really nice fragrant tea. And she says, I mean, what kind of music do you play? Folk, I think you said? We play folk rock music. Okay, well, I'm looking forward to hearing it. What do you reckon? Drake's like, yeah, fucking great. And he sort of like wanders off. Is there a fireplace in this room? There is a fireplace in the room. It's not lit because it's nice and sunny and you know. But it looks like it has been lit. And there's various pots and pans and stuff that looks like I've been using to cook with.
SPEAKER_02Is this your base at this moment? For the moment, yeah. Oh, so this is not a stable place for you. You just come and go or No.
SPEAKER_01We we we we've learned to sort of like make wherever we end up going our home.
SPEAKER_02Because you see, we are also looking for a recording studio where we can, you know, further our music. So this sounds like a lovely place. Thanks. I don't know that they have that kind of technology in the Forbidden Lands. Rehearsing studio. Let's call it rehearsing studio.
SPEAKER_03If anyone of us wrote something like that as our legend, that would have been cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So uh she's happy to make you home and if you want to sit in and you know, just generally chill out. She's happy for that.
SPEAKER_02Well what ship were we in when we arrived? I forgot. It was the afternoon, I think. Okay, so we are just getting ready. We we can't rest now, perhaps. Yeah, you can rest, yeah.
SPEAKER_01If you want to rest, feel free. Yeah. Tar's happy if you do that. He says I'll go to the I'll go and make some lunch and stuff. So Tar wanted off to the kitchen.
SPEAKER_03Taran, before you go, in fact, Barry Donna follow him and ask where he goes to trade his items. Are there any settlements nearby? Yeah, sure there are. And would he be able to mark them on our map? Damn you, Scott.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir. He does. If you go to the player map of the ra your player map of the Ravenlands, I will mark some places for you. So he says, Yes, so from where you where we sit, there is a so do you have a map? It's just loading up now. Yeah, I've got it. He says that here let me mark it for you. Uh and says, um the places that you will probably want to go and visit. There is a town up here called near Backwater Bay. And he gives you a name that Ed has not actually thought of yet. There is another one on the coast, in fact, there's two on the coast, and he gives you some names. And could you do me a favour and roll me roll me 3D six. That's a six, a one and a two. Okay. Tell you now, he gives you the name of the following places. He says the village to the south that's a fishing village, is called Matehorn. It's not a particularly big village, but they sort of like trade in in fish and and they're they're quite good, sort of like they they build small boats, but recently it is being plagued by slavers that are coming up from the south and heading north. They're a good bunch, but they follow the uh the Russ Brothers. So there is that. So uh I mean you can decide what to do. I mean, I'm not really that fussed with the mage with with with the with the Blood Brothers. I mean the Rust Brothers are I d I I kind of see if they don't bother me, I don't bother them. You know, it's that kind of thing. But they do bother an awful lot of people. They do. This is true. They're so sure of themselves, aren't they? This is true. The uh the village to the north on Backwater Bay is called Cliffstorm. And again, it's quite a it's quite a big town. Is that the one to the south of Backwater Bay or the one to the north? It's the one to the north of Backwater Bay. The one to the north. Yeah, got it. And they um they have boats that come there quite frequently that go up to the Bitterlands, I think they call it. Apparently there's uh it's a land far to the north of the Ravenlands that is apparently bitterly cold all year round. Sounds dreadful. Why would anyone want to live there? I mean, uh sounds particularly cold and horrible. I quite like our wonderful, pleasant Ravenlands that it never seems to rain or have any kind of problems if. Uh and then last but not least, the one in the middle is called High Keep. Is that just a uh an optimistic name or is there actually a keep there? Is it di there is an old keep there, but uh it is uh again it's another fishing village. They're the ones that I sort of like trade with the most. There are other towns to the south, but I mean, probably you might not want to be involved in them. There's uh there's there's some goblin towns to the south. Nasty creatures. So this place is called High Keep, you said? High Keep. Is it because they're high all the time? It's because it's on sort of like a small cliff face. But yeah. But there's a really nice place called the Blackbard Inn. Are they high there? I'm not high there either. I think I think you don't quite understand them. I think it's it's it's it's har he's like, oh, you're messing on me. Okay, sorry. That yeah, so you can't.
SPEAKER_03Sometimes it can be hard to tell with Grey, but usually he's joking, sometimes it's just murderous instinct.
SPEAKER_01It's the wolf in me, what can I say? He says, uh, yeah, there's there's a couple of other smaller towns along the way, but you're probably if you were to continue going south following the uh the lake and you followed all the way to the sea, you would find an uh I think there's another village, but we kind of don't really go there. Yeah. And then it's probably a couple of days travel from here, and then a couple of more days travel further north up to the first village, etc. etc. It's probably two or three days between each one. But yeah, I mean I've I've given you plenty of backstory here. Uh he says as he continues to sort of like scrub out some pots and pans and stuff. Scott, could you please, or can Beradon please, make a scouting roll for me, please? He can certainly attempt it.
SPEAKER_03Scouting. Rolling purely on his wits. Because he has no skills in this. However, he has rolled two successes.
SPEAKER_01He's a wicked wicked fellow. He is. So there are about ten plates here, or ten dishes and various cutlery that suggest there'll be around about ten people that are here.
SPEAKER_03But they've told us there are only two more. Okay. I don't like that. Beridon sort of looks looks around, looks at time. Doesn't say anything at this point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but he just kind of gets on with it. He's just like doing the washing up as it were, and uh Tan, can I help you prepare dinner? No, no, it's fine. You just, you know, make yourselves comfortable and we'll sort it out. Thank you very much. And I'll walk back to the room that the others are in. You wonder back? Yeah, so Nella's still kind of like telling you a little bit about the stories and you know the keep and that there's loads of they found loads of ancient dwarven runes which they've kind of been trying to she kind of drones on quite a lot. It's easy to kind of just sit there and fall into a bit of a steeper. Yeah, I I kind of as soon as I think I can get a word in, I will ask her Nella, so what exactly is your boss busy with? Research. What is he researching? Or of the dwarven stuff. Dwarven stuff? Well, I'm very technical for a scholar. Well I don't particularly want to tell any more, that's just say, you know, it's not my place to say what they're looking at. That's up to them. But them, how many bosses are there? Well, like the other two. You have two bosses. Well, one boss and one underboss. I mean you know what I mean. They're the they're the leaders of the group. And they're upstairs. Didn't you say there were two others outside scouting? No, they're upstairs. Just scouting around. Sorry, no, I didn't mean they were scouting, they were like upstairs doing the things they were doing. I understand. Sorry, it maybe it just didn't translate. Into what? Wolf? Well. Sort of like she was like No, well that's not quite what I I'm gonna go and help Tom. Um she sort of like want to solve. So has Beradon come into the living room?
SPEAKER_03Baradon sort of crosses as they go past. And he will point out to Undray that there are Cassie, that there are more plates than maybe the numbers she suggested would or she told us would suggest. Just be on your guard, folks.
SPEAKER_01I'm going to sort of wander toward that storage room. Okay. He wandered to that storage room. They did tell us to make ourselves at home. They did. And as you sort of like wander to the storage room, you can see that Dreg is being followed by a female dwarf as they kind of like come around from the stairs and heading towards you. Yeah, you as you see them, but you carry on to the storage room. Yeah, you can see there's quite a lot of storage in here. There's a lot of food, all the stuff that you would need to sort of like put together. You reckon five people would have made a couple of trips to kind of get all the raw ingredients. You reckon make a make make crafting, I think. Crafting and insight crafting. Crafting or insight, your pick. I'm gonna go with insight. Yeah, that's fine. I have two successes. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff here. It definitely will feed five people quite a long time, but it would still feed ten people, you know, a good two or three weeks. Okay. I'll come down and I'll scoot into here. Cool. As you scoot into the hallway going to the original living room where the front door is, you see Dreg uh being followed by this um female dwarf. She is sort of wearing another pike, sort of like, you know, on her side, but there's also she's got a bunch of like pouches and some various other things. She's not wearing any armor or anything like that. And she goes, Oh, hello, you must be the guest. You must be correct. Nice to meet you. And she holds out her grubby, dusty hand. Yeah, I'm don't be offended, but I I don't shake people's hands. I I don't know where they've been. She says, Fair enough. She uh she says, I'm not offended. You are? Grey. Grey, nice to meet you, Grey. We don't see many Wolfkin around these parts. Of course it's not far to the sort of south where there is quite a fair few Wolfkin. Are you from the southern Wolfkin tribes? I am not. Interesting. Where are you from? Are you a member of the Longbeard clan? She says she smiles and says, No, I I'm Merimalian. That is that is that is my clan. Mira Brutung, nice to meet you. I know someone who would be very interested in meeting you. Sure, let's um let's meet the rest of your your team, shall we? And she sort of like walks past you to go around into the room that everybody else is in. Yep, I'll follow her. And I'll go, hey Beridin, look who I found.
SPEAKER_03Beridon sort of sat strumming away on his loot, and he stands up and uh taps his taps his hand to his forehead, offers it a hand, says, uh good af good morning.
SPEAKER_01Afternoon, whatever time of day it is. Hi. She puts out like a grummy, dusty hand and says, Mira Brutung, nice to meet you. Beridon Beridon Trever. And Beridon does shake hands. Yep. You get a very dusty handshake. Bru Brutung, you say. So this must be a bit of a spiritual homecoming for you. Yes, we're we're looking for my a lot of ancestry removed granddad. Not Stein by any chance. Oh yes, it is.
SPEAKER_03I'm intrigued, because we're here as well looking for following up on a rumour that he carried with him an old scroll with a musical score on it. Yes. And we've just had a very interesting conversation with your friend Nella, which suggests a far deeper cultural understanding than we uh than we originally anticipated.
SPEAKER_01Make it insight roll.
SPEAKER_03So, Beridon's insight is one, his wit of six, he's rolling six dice.
SPEAKER_01Watch him fail miserably. Yes he does! That's excellent. That's two skulls. Carry on however you wish. Beridon carries on as he has begun the entire campaign.
SPEAKER_03Roll buckets of dice and utterly cock it up.
SPEAKER_01Beridon is completely unaware to whatever has just has just happened. She says Oh, okay, well I'm glad she's filled you in. How do you know about this?
SPEAKER_03My father actually told me part of the story, and I found a few references in some of the books back in our hometown. Um that basically ledn't really tell us very much other than there were some scrolls of ancient music that he carried with him that have since been lost. And we're always in the on the uh on the lookout for new musical inspiration, things that we can work into our into our act, and if we can spread a bit of culture and history as we travel, then all the better for it.
SPEAKER_01Nice. And I guess that you're one of the one of the one of the others that's part of this uh this um this this well this quartet, I think. I have the pleasure of being the rhythm lautist and lead singer for the folk vandals club. And uh you, sir, he says to Anjouin, you are?
SPEAKER_02I'm doing Mosbourne, dread by trade, and the flute. You know, the second Well I don't know if it's second, but you know, the second most important instrument on our quartet. She says, I play a f I've played something similar, and she basically whips out like what looks like a flute.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. So you might want to join her? She says, Yeah, she sort of shakes your hand and says, And this is to Cass and Cass goes, Alright. She says, Nice to meet you. She says, Yeah, it's fine. And she sort of like shakes her hand and says, Yeah, I just you know. Yeah. And she says, Okay, right. Sailor, say no. She says, Well, you know, it's good to meet you all. I I I hear you're staying for dinner and maybe you'll be playing us a song. I think that's the plan. That sounds Like a great plan. I think that's um yeah. I like that. But that's I look forward to it. I'm gonna get quite washed up. I'll um see you in a bit. Yeah, it'll be fine. Just before we go, uh your friend Nella mentioned that there was a boss and an underboss. Are you the boss? I know what my brother is the boss. So another brut uh another bruton. Indeed. He's got a couple of years on me, so technically he's the air, but I'm the smart one. She smiles.
SPEAKER_03It's funny because Nella said exactly the same thing.
SPEAKER_01She goes over and colour, she still likes to smile. I'll probably be back in an hour or so. She still passed the uh the wolf as she goes by on the shoulder and says I'll see you in a bit. And she wanders off to get wash up. And they kind of leave you to it, really. There isn't much else to uh to say, they just sort of let you sort of have a chat and do whatever you want to do. They they just don't really bother you too much. So you want to do for the squad, it's actually the rest of the chip.
SPEAKER_03Peradons keeps to sort of have have a little wander around the outside of the tower, a wander back and through, just casually going about looking like he's going about business. And just generally trying to pay attention to the mood in the place, and see whether or not there these people are actually genuinely happy to have them here, or at least professionally content to have them here, or whether there's an undercoat of an undercoat of hostility or any kind of hint of a trap or the gym rolling dice.
SPEAKER_01I know you love it when I I get to roll dice. Could you all please make an endurance roll? Great, you can have an extra two dice. In typical Ferragon fashion?
SPEAKER_03No, no, I can't. That's uh no successes, but no no pains either.
SPEAKER_01Grey has a failure, but I'm gonna push it. If I may uh can I push it? Can you push it? No, you can't push it. Can't push it. Okay, then I'm not gonna push it. Imagine how you with your uh your injuries roll.
SPEAKER_02I dumb pass it and have a pain. Hey, and I shall just roll. Seems like the end of our session. I think you might find this comes to the end of the session, we'll find out in just a second.
SPEAKER_03And possibly the end of the campaign.
SPEAKER_02Nah, no. We will just be sold as a slave standard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, you carry on doing all the things you would do. And it's you wake up. It's morning, we're seven for the night. Where are we? So we did we did we perform or well, you know what? Did we perform? I would like to point out I did not drink the tea that was offered. I understand that. Okay, that is fine. Just making sure. The last thing you have a recollection of doing is basically mere leaving the room. You were planning to doing something, and you started to do whatever you were about to do. That was the last thing you remember. Do we have our stuff with us? Are we our gear or where are we? Well, you're like, what where are we? You you kind of wake up and you are in a room. This is not the room that you left in, which is very disconcerting for yourself. But you do wake up in what looks like um large room. At least we are not in our wagon being taken away. You're not in a wagon being taken away, which is which is always good. Uh so it looks like you're in a bedroom and you're all together. You uh like you come around and you realize that you're you're bound behind your back with what looks like perhaps the rope. All your gear and stuff is kind of piled up in a corner, and it looks like people have freected you for stuff, but you are all staring at each other on the floor in the bedroom, realizing that you have somehow been poisoned or something. You can hear the sound of an argument happening, maybe a floor or two away.