hey shane here from ventureforth i play

0:02

kellich on the podcast and i also score

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and edit all of our episodes a couple

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folks on our team took some time with

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family this past weekend so

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instead of releasing an episode this

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week we thought it'd be neat to catch

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listeners up on events so far

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in case they want to start right with us

0:16

on the action in the next episode

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so this week i'm doing a quick recap

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hope you enjoy

0:22

hi i'm shane shane shane shane

0:26

and i'm your recapper shane welcome to

0:29

hearken back

0:49

[Music]

0:55

[Music]

1:01

a holy war wages between the nations of

1:04

our world elbor

1:05

to the east ondale and gamble deer

1:07

defend the echelon of the old gods

1:10

but their usurpers the new gods are

1:12

growing in power and the willing nation

1:13

of kaldor has taken up their cause in

1:15

this great conflict

1:17

like any story worth telling ours began

1:19

with an unlikely gathering of disparate

1:20

creatures

1:21

on the front line of the war cold crest

1:23

outpost a recently powerless half-drow

1:26

healer by the name of

1:27

kellik gray was unceremoniously relieved

1:29

of duty

1:30

and packing his things when an aspiring

1:32

adventurer the halfling flynn fellow

1:34

weave

1:35

approached him with a peculiar era

1:37

cochran named tria

1:38

in tow what are you doing here oh sorry

1:41

my name is flynn fellow eve and uh this

1:44

shraya um we've we've kind of come here

1:47

he's got he's had some problems

1:48

and essentially i'm i'm coming down here

1:51

to uh

1:52

see if i can maybe get a group together

1:53

right uh

1:55

you have a plan then you're you're going

1:57

somewhere doing something

1:59

yes i i have a plan um

2:02

where but but first where else could we

2:04

go um it seems like you've been here for

2:06

a while where where else could we go

2:08

to find more people

2:11

um you wanted like a

2:14

gathering place i saw a bigger tent

2:16

earlier is that where we should go to

2:17

get a few more

2:18

folk uh

2:22

sure i mean there's folk around here but

2:24

most of them are are

2:25

taking part in the i don't know if you

2:27

know this there's a war going on

2:29

the group discovered a pair of wounded

2:30

travelers washed up on shore from some

2:32

unknown explosion

2:34

a young girl named oma and a rigid

2:36

goliath named marge

2:38

marceline but don't call her that

2:40

actually the name's marshaling

2:42

if you ever call me that i will step on

2:44

you please call me mark not sure why you

2:45

told me your full name if you don't want

2:46

me to call it but okay

2:47

sure march got it i thought you were a

2:49

child i'm sorry

2:51

uh that happens i understand lodged in

2:53

marsh's burnt shoulder

2:55

were several crystals and one of them

2:57

contained some kind of evil spirit which

2:59

turned kelly's failures the corpses of

3:01

soldiers into a fighting force

3:03

you look back to the the little tin that

3:05

you put those crystals in

3:07

that you took out of joe and you can see

3:10

one of them

3:11

uh two of them look just about like they

3:13

did uh with a

3:15

dull white glow one of them

3:18

however is beginning to vibrate and

3:21

beginning to glow a little bit brighter

3:23

and brighter

3:23

and as it is you notice that this one is

3:26

cracked

3:26

unlike the other two this one has a

3:28

slight crack running through it

3:30

and from the tray a wisp of white

3:33

smoke comes up from where the crystal

3:36

was

3:37

and it wisps around the room and at this

3:39

point everyone begins to notice this

3:41

this ghostly wisp flying around the room

3:45

and it makes its way over and it hovers

3:47

above

3:49

a smaller human who is deceased

3:52

and it moves over to the next one and it

3:54

moves to

3:55

a pretty well-built elf

3:59

and then it moves over to the next one

4:00

to a massive half orc

4:02

that is laying dead on the table and

4:04

then it

4:05

rushes towards his face fills his

4:07

nostrils and his mouth as the half orc

4:11

springs back to life and he looks down

4:15

at his hands and he looks back and forth

4:17

as he opens his hands and closes his

4:19

hands

4:20

getting re-familiarized with the muscles

4:23

and how they work

4:24

and he looks over to all of you

4:28

and he looks confused and he looks over

4:31

each one of you guys and he opens his

4:33

mouth to speak

4:34

but the voice that comes out is not

4:37

that of a massive half-work

4:40

it's that of a woman

4:44

and the voice emanates as they're

4:47

looking down at their hands

4:49

and goes oh this is interesting

4:52

[Music]

4:55

this is very interesting once the

4:57

zombies were defeated

4:58

the spirit of the crystal vanished and

5:01

our heroes decided to take that as a

5:02

queue to leave with the remaining

5:04

crystals tucked away and try as feathers

5:07

kellik wished his fellow doctor john and

5:08

frosting goodbye and the party hit the

5:11

road

5:13

flynn gave the band direction he was on

5:15

a mission to

5:18

i'm not really sure be a hero a member

5:21

of the

5:21

iron light collective he was tasked to

5:24

seek out those in need and aid them

5:26

however he might to earn his place in

5:28

the iron light

5:30

shraya had just such a need his commune

5:32

in the shadow timberland

5:34

was under siege by go figure

5:37

shadows and terrible changes were taking

5:39

place there

5:40

this is a strange dark energy it seems

5:43

to emanate from

5:45

different sources and is very as soon as

5:48

you think you're

5:50

going into a larger concentration of it

5:52

seems to

5:53

escape away from you all at once and yet

5:56

its presence is

5:58

somehow strangely felt all over

6:00

[Music]

6:01

what is it doing to the people of your

6:03

village what what kind of effect is it

6:05

have

6:05

it manifests in different ways in some

6:08

people it causes terrors in the night

6:11

in other ways the the livestock and

6:14

the small children see visions

6:17

terrifying visions

6:19

and their anecdotal reports that

6:23

it's driving some people to the brink of

6:26

their own sanity they set out to cross

6:29

the river to the timberland

6:31

but first they'd need a boat enter

6:34

a fisherman named james who offered a

6:36

reasonable price until

6:38

flynn discovered a hidden talent and

6:40

drew a portrait of the old man

6:42

awestruck a friendship was forged and

6:45

the adventurers promised to seek out

6:46

james and addersfeld when they made

6:48

their way there

6:49

james warned them that the shadow

6:51

timberland was a dangerous place

6:53

but the avengers put their new boat to

6:54

work and delved deep into the woods to

6:56

shreya's commune

6:58

a land of elves devoted to ildiria the

7:01

old god of nature

7:02

the commune was a beautiful place with

7:03

only one major flaw

7:05

pernicious shadows beckoned the

7:07

townsfolk to be their worst selves

7:09

and monsters lurked in the pervase of

7:11

darkness the only thing keeping the dark

7:13

at bay

7:14

were ancient light ruins inscribed

7:16

unholy trees throughout the forest

7:18

but even this light had begun to wane

7:21

shraya's old friend

7:22

and leader of the commune farlane met

7:24

the group at the gates and introduced

7:26

them to an ill-fated guard named alithar

7:28

his name uh is alethar dazzlemeen

7:32

ah zooming got it he um

7:36

he was one of the first to go off into

7:38

the forest

7:39

um just before this this all

7:42

began happening um

7:46

i i again i wish not to speak ill of

7:48

anyone

7:49

but the timing is

7:52

suspicious hmm

7:56

so you think he may have something to do

7:57

with this he might be the reason why

7:59

this

8:01

shadow stuff has happened as

8:04

uh someone of your profession um

8:08

what what is your opinion as to what we

8:11

should do with him

8:12

i i over these last few days

8:16

i have tried to think of things i

8:20

i do not know but i am now

8:24

almost certain that we we must give him

8:26

back to the shadows

8:27

he he belongs there

8:31

he is not doing anything for anyone here

8:32

and and

8:34

i fear something might come of him a

8:36

grisly sight and only worsening

8:39

cast protection from good and evil on

8:41

the suffering elf

8:42

to give him a little bit of solace and

8:44

maybe get some answers

8:46

there were goblins um and then

8:51

they uh it was the red wolf clutching

8:54

his chest and sweating profusely

8:56

the incoherent elf could say very little

8:57

of what had befallen him as he chased

8:59

goblins into the shadows to the north

9:01

you saw you saw a wolf was it a

9:03

a an animal uh or something something

9:06

else something more it kept

9:08

it's it's this this vision in my head

9:12

of the red wolf after resting and

9:14

regaining their strength the party set

9:15

out to the north

9:17

their search led them to a cluster of

9:18

spiderwebs trees

9:20

and two humanoid-sized cocoons alithar's

9:23

company of guards

9:25

after defeating the giant spiders and

9:26

freeing the elves from their gossamer

9:28

prisons

9:29

they discovered that they'd missed

9:30

something critical we tried to stop him

9:32

from getting back alithar took something

9:34

we tried to stop him from getting back

9:35

did tell me he did not make it back

9:38

no he's there now he's there now in a

9:41

mad dash

9:41

past a near-death encounter with some

9:43

killer vines alma are you

9:45

are you okay what's going on i think i'm

9:48

okay

9:54

it's pretty much right the adventurers

9:56

arrived at the commune in the nick of

9:58

time

9:58

farlane had determined his only course

10:00

of action was to kill alathar

10:02

or deliver him back to the shadows or

10:04

whatever kind of weird

10:06

logic he applied to the situation if you

10:08

will not cast him to the shadows i will

10:10

take care of him

10:11

right now initiative was rolled between

10:14

our heroes and the civilians of the

10:15

commune

10:16

and oma and march quickly demonstrated a

10:18

capacity for dealing lethal blows

10:20

it's it's it is seven points of

10:22

lightning damage um and the second i see

10:24

that it's happened i

10:25

release his arm and i'm sorry with a

10:29

seizing motion as all of his muscles

10:31

tense up he falls limp and he falls to

10:33

the ground

10:34

you can see that blood is now dripping

10:36

out of his ear as he hits the ground

10:39

i'm sorry i'm sorry you guys have to

10:40

listen you have to stay back it's too

10:42

dangerous

10:43

it's too dangerous you can't go

10:46

[Music]

10:47

um then i would like to punch him okay

10:50

make your attack roll

10:51

uh 21.

10:55

uh 21 definitely hits yeah roll your

10:57

damage

10:58

it's actually not any role it's just

10:59

automatic five bludgeoning

11:01

jesus okay you run up to this elf and

11:05

you

11:06

just deck him um you feel his nose break

11:10

under the force of your punch and as he

11:12

falls to the ground his head hits the

11:14

stone behind him

11:16

and you can see a bit of blood coming

11:18

out

11:19

from behind damn it stop killing them

11:22

meanwhile kellik tria and flynn set

11:24

about protecting allithar from farlane

11:26

removing the cursed relic a jagged gold

11:28

fragment

11:29

from alatar's hand and putting

11:31

themselves in the way of farlane's

11:32

attacks

11:33

flynn kellik and tria begged for an end

11:35

of the conflict barlene

11:38

my old friend surely you can see reason

11:42

there's no need for there to be

11:44

senseless violence and bloodshed in the

11:45

midst of the encroaching darkness

11:48

can't you see what's upon you you see

11:50

the shadows closing in

11:52

and they're not just closing in on the

11:53

light around you they're closing in on

11:55

the light of your souls

11:56

and now you take this man's life instead

11:59

of giving us a chance to heal him

12:00

thankfully their pleas reached the ears

12:03

of the people of the commune

12:05

and the battle was put to an end winded

12:08

wounded and scared but having regained

12:10

some semblance of order

12:12

our heroes picked up the pieces of their

12:14

mistakes i actually grabbed a few of

12:15

these egg corns

12:16

to remind me of this place and

12:19

if you don't want it i can hold on to it

12:21

until later but

12:22

i thought maybe it might help you

12:24

remember that

12:26

you know there are good memories and bad

12:27

memories but they help us grow

12:29

oma will reach out and and take a hold

12:32

of the acorn and just look at it in her

12:33

hand

12:34

and she'll just stare at it

12:38

i don't think i want to remember and

12:40

she'll put it back on the ground

12:44

it'll be okay taking a deep breath they

12:47

set out north to the graveyard no one

12:49

knew existed

12:50

joined by a repentant farlane i suggest

12:53

perhaps you come with us

12:54

i can come with you i just i don't feel

12:57

like i can stay here anymore

13:00

i understand within the unnamed

13:02

graveyard was an unmarked tomb

13:04

littered with the corpses of goblins and

13:06

metal soldiers

13:07

the adventurers found a mysterious

13:09

teleporting gem

13:10

a gauntlet with a gem-sized hole and a

13:14

horrifying red werewolf wearing a crown

13:16

that matched malathor's golden fragment

13:19

and you can see one large hulking mass

13:22

of of orange and red fur off in the

13:25

corner consuming one of these goblin

13:27

bodies

13:28

and you can hear it ripping its its jaw

13:31

wide open

13:31

and taking flesh from this goblin body

13:34

and as it turns around and faces you can

13:35

see its face for the first time

13:37

and you can see all of its body is is

13:39

this red

13:41

werewolf type figure but then you can

13:44

see just on

13:45

uh his right shoulder and coming up the

13:48

neck and into his face you can see

13:50

a bit of green from where a goblin body

13:54

might once have resided

13:56

and as he turns to you and growls i'm

13:58

gonna have you guys all roll initiative

14:00

our heroes set about battling the wolf

14:03

culminating in flynn climbing atop the

14:05

beast to remove its cursed headpiece

14:07

i'll sheath my stupid i'll sheath my

14:10

sword

14:11

put my shield on my back do i climb

14:15

[Laughter]

14:19

seemed like a bad idea but he pulled it

14:22

off

14:23

get it what would you like to do i'ma

14:25

pull that thing off

14:27

okay 11. i'm not rolling this dice

14:30

anymore

14:31

what's his dexterity that's gonna be a

14:33

five no

14:36

you rip it off of its head and

14:38

immediately it releases and you are

14:40

flung back

14:41

off of the creature and you hit your

14:43

back onto the ground

14:45

now free from it once the crown was

14:47

removed the giant red werewolf turned

14:50

into a

14:50

shivering goblin having defeated him the

14:53

team discovered that this tomb was a

14:54

home to a number of unsettling

14:56

sarcophagi

14:57

each labeled with some indecipherable

14:59

text

15:01

and a name here lies the red wolf

15:04

master of shadows a fearless leader and

15:07

a faithful servant

15:09

son of the archway dalmach and father to

15:12

the fallen storm

15:14

if his rest be disturbed the waking

15:16

world shall bear witness to the horrors

15:18

of his final breath

15:20

one such casket was uninhabited that of

15:23

corvin amberstone

15:25

right hand to the red wolf despite being

15:27

unnerved by this discovery

15:29

our heroes found a recessed portion of

15:31

the red wolves grave where the crown fit

15:33

perfectly all right well here goes

15:36

nothing

15:36

and i'll pull the crown out of my bag

15:38

and walk over to the

15:40

crypt okay

15:44

and you put the crown back in the tomb

15:47

um yeah

15:51

it's such a loaded question yeah so you

15:54

reach down and you put the

15:56

crown back into the little placeholder

15:59

where it was

16:01

and you guys feel a rush of wind come

16:04

from behind you from the entrance

16:06

of the tomb a rush back towards this

16:09

coffin

16:10

and you guys see around you the darkness

16:12

that has been

16:13

encapsulating this this entire catacomb

16:15

here begins to recede

16:17

and like water reversing out of out of

16:20

this this tomb begins to go back and uh

16:24

seemingly recede back into the casket

16:26

triumphant but exhausted and

16:28

daunted by the hellish engravings of

16:30

this tomb our heroes made their way back

16:32

to the commune to celebrate

16:34

and celebrate they did but not all was

16:36

jubilant in light of this crisis of

16:38

shadows

16:38

and kelloc was pulled aside by a

16:40

mysterious young elf bearing a divine

16:42

marking

16:43

and this young elf turns to you ashes

16:46

being whisped away by his eyes and he

16:49

says

16:52

as you look over this do you see

16:55

a truth in this

16:58

do you see the sorrow and the despair

17:02

here do you see how the old gods

17:06

can make them so weak and so passive

17:11

this is the truth that i'm imparting to

17:13

you now

17:15

that when they're hungry ildoria feeds

17:18

them

17:19

when they're hurt ildurya heals them

17:22

and when they're sad ildurya consoles

17:25

them

17:26

but when the day came that the old gods

17:28

could not protect them

17:30

where were they left they were left

17:33

squabbling

17:34

with open arms waiting for the darkness

17:36

to take them

17:38

my promise to you is the same as my

17:40

promise to the world

17:42

that when this petty conflict is over

17:46

we the gods will step back

17:50

we'll give the power back to you and to

17:52

the people

17:53

so that you do not become passive and

17:55

weak like this

17:57

so that you can be truly free in your

18:00

own life

18:02

continue your good work for this

18:05

is the truth that i impart to you now

18:09

and you can see the the last wisps of of

18:12

ash

18:13

uh uh remove themselves from this elves

18:16

skin and you can see once more the the

18:18

pupils begin to return

18:20

wait i have questions

18:24

questions about what

18:28

please

18:30

[Music]

18:33

reach into your mind lad do you see

18:36

anything can you tell me anything

18:38

i'm i don't i'm sorry i don't know what

18:40

you're talking about you have to know

18:42

and he he backs away and you tell me you

18:45

tell me something you tell me

18:47

why they left you here i'm so i'm sorry

18:51

i don't

18:51

i don't know what you're talking about

18:53

this grave

18:55

i don't i don't know what you're talking

18:56

about i'm so i'm so sorry

18:58

rained head on your people and you could

19:00

do nothing why

19:01

calico

19:05

it's okay with mixed feelings but their

19:07

duty done the group realigned themselves

19:09

should they stay together

19:11

what were their next steps shouldn't try

19:13

stay with his people in the commune

19:14

something has changed within me

19:16

[Music]

19:18

something is calling me to leave this

19:19

place too

19:21

i will be sad to leave and yet

19:27

i will always have a strong place in my

19:30

heart for late where you and your people

19:32

shall always remain and he grabs you by

19:34

the feathers and brings you in for a

19:36

huge hug

19:38

and he sort of rests his hand his head

19:40

on your shoulder oh

19:41

farlain i will miss you very much and i

19:44

you my friend

19:46

if you guys want to come with us we can

19:48

figure out maybe what those crystals do

19:51

more than welcome to join us on on our

19:53

trek there i

19:54

uh i'm of the mind that we should

19:58

be always moving

20:02

um i suppose moving from here makes the

20:05

most sense

20:06

and now that you know we know that

20:10

we can trust you guys uh i'm happy to

20:13

continue moving along with you

20:14

so they sailed out of the forest and

20:16

trekked on foot

20:17

to addersfield a huge city that had once

20:20

been home to both flynn and kellik

20:22

when they arrived however they found

20:24

that much had changed and conditions

20:26

outside the city had worsened

20:27

substantially

20:29

incapable of resisting a perceived

20:31

injustice the party found themselves in

20:33

battle

20:34

with a local militia if you're

20:36

responsible for him then you must take

20:38

the punishment

20:39

for him not paying and she puts her hand

20:42

on her sword

20:44

i'll step in front of killing

20:47

i look down stop there

20:50

you'll not take a thing from this man or

20:53

you'll face my wrath

20:56

and my whole arm is glowing with a

20:58

bright pale light

21:00

alma took the time to speak to some of

21:02

the locals in the area and was able to

21:03

determine that these weren't exactly an

21:05

adversarial force but more along the

21:06

lines of

21:07

tax collectors i'm still not really sure

21:10

what was going on but our heroes worked

21:12

out that they were in over their heads

21:13

and i say why won't you just talk to us

21:15

we weren't trying to do anything

21:17

caleb was offering to pay for this man's

21:19

fees and

21:20

and you didn't say it's not a fee you

21:22

didn't say no that's not what we're

21:24

doing here

21:25

we're trying to redistribute you didn't

21:27

say anything you just

21:28

were like get out of my way i'm gonna or

21:30

i'll beat you up they're

21:31

misunderstanding resolved and

21:33

no permanent harm done the party entered

21:35

the city and flynn returned to the iron

21:37

light to perform his binding ritual

21:39

is he going to be all right yeah

21:41

[Music]

21:42

and i sure hope so

21:46

oh no i hope so he seems like a good guy

21:49

oh my god

21:51

look at my hand my left hand that i'm

21:54

holding a paintbrush in

21:55

with a tattoo right on my wrist this

21:56

black tattoo that's in a circle

21:58

on these little intricate designs going

22:01

in a circle around

22:02

my like right on my wrist on the inside

22:03

of my wrist and i'll look at it

22:06

all right here we go and i'll dip the

22:08

paintbrush in the ink

22:11

i'll start delicately painting the

22:13

symbol

22:14

on my wrist the black symbol i'll start

22:17

painting it

22:18

all over the sword i'll put a circle

22:21

here do the

22:22

description move up a little bit put it

22:24

there and i'll basically begin

22:26

covering the sword in this black ink of

22:29

the symbol

22:29

on my left arm

22:33

and you can see the runes

22:37

now they don't glow but they they deepen

22:39

in their blackness

22:42

and they inset themselves permanently on

22:44

the sword tatted up

22:45

and nearly dying to a big plant monster

22:48

kill it now

22:50

that uh 12 points of piercing damage

22:53

and with that you swing and this thing

22:55

goes completely limp

22:58

flynn ascended into a higher status as

23:00

an eldridge knight

23:02

meanwhile oma kellik and march traveled

23:04

to the temple district to seek out

23:06

answers regarding the text they'd found

23:07

in the tomb of the red wolf

23:09

in death as in life i shall serve the

23:12

outcast

23:15

and then and then the second part of

23:16

that may my end be the beginning

23:19

what dark fate awaits these trespassers

23:21

of graves lost

23:22

to time what lies beneath the surface of

23:25

this world of

23:26

gods and frauds and paths on trod

23:30

what spirits rest in the remaining

23:31

crystals and mashed in trius feathers

23:34

who was the red wolf and why did his kin

23:38

now walk the earth of elbor join us next

23:41

week

23:42

for the next episode adventure fourth

23:50

[Music]

Venture Forth is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast. We play 5th edition (5e) Dungeons and Dragons in a home-brew D&D setting. Our campaign takes place in the high fantasy realm of Elbor. A world filled with monsters, heroes and epic tales to be told. We've had the honor of partnering with DnD Beyond so if you'd like to support the podcast, be sure to head over to dndbeyond.link/venture !

Venture Forth is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast. We play 5th edition (5e) Dungeons and Dragons in a home-brew D&D actual play setting. Our campaign takes place in the high fantasy realm of Elbor. A world of monsters, heroes and epic tales to be told. D&D is a TTRPG, a tabletop roleplaying game, also known as an RPG. Our gameplay is perfect for beginners to Dungeons and Dragons from episode 1.Olma, Flynn, March, Ceallach, Shraya

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https://www.ventureforthdnd.com/
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