Sagas of the Sunless Reach

S2E29 - Hopelessly, Utterly Human

EPISODE NOTES And with that, our time in the Delta draws to a close. There’s just enough time for us to catch our breath and regroup before we go our separate ways and tackle the next big thing. Dragomir and I have reached a sort of impasse, I think. He wants to have a relationship with his daughter, and for a long time Daria had been that proxy. I still don't know if I want a relationship with my father, because I have made it this long without one. I was afraid, at first, to see what kind of man he would be. Then I was terrified once I learned who he was. Him? I had thought, remembering that look in his eyes as he slaughtered a hydra or forced Cipru to hold a gun to his own head. This is the man my mother had loved? Still loves, in her own way. Now, after working and fighting alongside him, I have come to understand him in another light. I won't say that he's a good man, but I can see how he thinks he is one — or at least not a bad one. I say that because I am not a good person in the same ways, and I can see familiar pieces of me in him. I can see the same sort of ache in him that I see in my mother when he talks to me. He’s not interested in the greater good, but he wants to do right by me. I will give him that chance. I am not a little girl anymore, and he is not the selfless, heroic man I once thought he might be. But he wants to try, for me, for what we could have been if circumstances were different, and that’s enough. Because if there’s one thing that I’ve learned from working with the Rams this past year, it’s that so long as you’re willing to try, and so long as you care, then that’s enough. There will always be someone there to help carry you the rest of the way. - From the investigation notes of Elżbieta Cast: Bitmap [https://twitter.com/BMPrager] as Ksana the Spear Cory [https://twitter.com/endlessmusings] as Apricus the Luminary Jade [https://twitter.com/jadeoxfordrose] as Viidra Matei Mab [https://twitter.com/littleladymab] as Elżbieta Wrona Zachary [https://twitter.com/obfuscatingGod] as The Game Master Produced by: Mab [https://littleladymab.carrd.co/] Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson [https://iambugbear.bandcamp.com/]. Sound effects: zapsplat [https://www.zapsplat.com/] and Freesound [https://freesound.org] users matucha, dermotte, julianmateo, and eminyildirim Other music: Ovani Sound [https://ovanisound.com/] and Kevin MacLeod [https://incompetech.com/] Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach [https://x.com/sunlessreach], Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach [https://www.tumblr.com/sagasofthesunlessreach], and Bluesky at SunlessReach [https://bsky.app/profile/sunlessreach.bsky.social]. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach. Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing [https://bsky.app/profile/standingstonesprod.bsky.social]

S2E28 - The Moon Shines On Everybody

EPISODE NOTES Content Warning for graphic violence and body horror It seems useless at this point to be asking why? And they’re not even good investigative questions either. Why do the Errols want to control Tarandaur? Spare me the greater good rhetoric, you’ve proven you’d just as soon control mindless sheep than lead people to prosperity. Endless food supply? Finally a chance at freedom, for your chosen handful? Why did Hans and Nico want to become vampires? What reward was worth so great a risk? Why subject yourself to such a miserable way of life simply because you eke out the slightest advantage against the common man? It’s a foolish and childish question. I can’t say I inherently believe in the good of any one individual as a general sense; I’ve been a hunter and an investigator long enough to know that people will do awful, petty things for their own advancement, even if it only earns them inches. It isn’t like the adventure serials where the bad guy always gets their comeuppance. Why is this the future that the Errols want to promote? Why do I feel like none of them have an ounce of common sense, because all they have created is a breeding ground for dissent. - From the investigation notes of Elżbieta Cast: Bitmap [https://twitter.com/BMPrager] as Ksana the Spear Cory [https://twitter.com/endlessmusings] as Apricus the Luminary Jade [https://twitter.com/jadeoxfordrose] as Orin Nāttsku Mab [https://twitter.com/littleladymab] as Elżbieta Wrona Zachary [https://twitter.com/obfuscatingGod] as The Game Master Produced by: Mab [https://littleladymab.carrd.co/] Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson [https://iambugbear.bandcamp.com/]. Sound effects: zapsplat [https://www.zapsplat.com/] and Freesound [https://freesound.org] users richardemoore, dermotte, matucha, halleck, artninja. Webbfilmsuk, eminyildirim, julianmateo, and sounagix Other music: Ovani Sound [https://ovanisound.com/] Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach [https://x.com/sunlessreach], Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach [https://www.tumblr.com/sagasofthesunlessreach], and Bluesky at SunlessReach [https://bsky.app/profile/sunlessreach.bsky.social]. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach. Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing [https://bsky.app/profile/standingstonesprod.bsky.social]

S2E27 - One of Those Little Delta Things

EPISODE NOTES Content warning for graphic violence When we first came to the Delta, there was no real reason for Viidra to have trusted us the way that he did. Implicitly, our presence meant that we were here to disrupt the order of things — undoubtedly Jack had told him stories about us. What we had done in Ruel, and what we looked to do in the Delta. At the time, what did we know of Viidra’s life before our arrival? He was hired to ferry us about the Delta and to be our local guide while we got our feet under us. Now he’s leading one of the charges against Sofia’s grip on this place. He has, more than any of us, a reason to pry her claws from the beating heart of his home. We merely gave him the leverage with which to anchor his spear. I am glad that he talked me out of pursuing vengeance against Curwen. The bigger picture dictates that I should join the charge on Viclean, but it is hard to see around the hurt and betrayal that still sting. The battle against Curwen is one that involves the Sangele; I have no need to overstep the bounds of their generosity towards my presence. Let Viidra see this one through, to solidify in him the knowledge that he is willing to fight to see his home freed from the stagnation it has maintained under Dragomir’s thumb. He will work at the rot blocking the river until the water can run clear once more. - From the investigation notes of Elżbieta Cast: Bitmap [https://twitter.com/BMPrager] as Treju of the Swamp Cory [https://twitter.com/endlessmusings] as Sad Jack “The Axe” Little Jade [https://twitter.com/jadeoxfordrose] as Viidra Matei Mab [https://twitter.com/littleladymab] as Lilli Kuusela Zachary [https://twitter.com/obfuscatingGod] as The Game Master Produced by: Mab [https://littleladymab.carrd.co/] Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson [https://iambugbear.bandcamp.com/]. Sound effects: zapsplat [https://www.zapsplat.com/] user lukas_tvrdon and others, Soundbible [https://soundbible.com/] user Tony Phillips, and Freesound [https://freesound.org] users univ_lyon3, homeboylp, slave2thelight, molefimanaka, jaklocke, brendan89, cgeffex, artninja, tosha73, minecraftgamerlr, jessie_s, and britelife Other music: Kevin MacLeod [https://incompetech.com/], Ovani Sound [https://ovanisound.com/], and AlesiaDavina [https://pixabay.com/users/alesiadavina-32608554/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=142786] from Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=142786] Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach [https://x.com/sunlessreach], Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach [https://www.tumblr.com/sagasofthesunlessreach], and Bluesky at SunlessReach [https://bsky.app/profile/sunlessreach.bsky.social]. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach. Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing [https://bsky.app/profile/standingstonesprod.bsky.social]

S2E26 - A Good Field Agent Never Works Alone

EPISODE NOTES I am not the only one with a deeply personal connection to this course we have plotted. It is still a new concept to me, that this is my family, though they seem so ready to try and drag me in on one side or the other. And as this family starts to tear itself apart, it expands wider and wider across the countryside. But even beyond that: Apricus has some sort of history with Nico. I don’t really know how to ask him such a personal question, especially considering all of the grief that we have been put through due to their interference. Would he answer, if I did? Would I be able to find some sort of way to be as vulnerable in return, as an equivalent bearing of souls? My secrets are now known. I did a poor job of mitigating their damage, especially where Curwen was involved, but I have little else to give that would be as personal as who is this person to you? What will it mean for you that we have to kill them? Apricus has always been a solid supporter and a level head in times where I felt I couldn’t keep one. I feel I am doing a poor job of offering him the same in this moment. - From the investigation notes of Elżbieta Cast: Bitmap [https://twitter.com/BMPrager] as Ksana the Spear Cory [https://twitter.com/endlessmusings] as Apricus the Luminary Jade [https://twitter.com/jadeoxfordrose] as Orin Nāttsku Mab [https://twitter.com/littleladymab] as Elżbieta Wrona Zachary [https://twitter.com/obfuscatingGod] as The Game Master Produced by: Mab [https://littleladymab.carrd.co/] Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson [https://iambugbear.bandcamp.com/]. Sound effects: zapsplat [https://www.zapsplat.com/] users Still North Media and others, Yellowstone National Park Sound Library [https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/soundlibrary.htm], and Freesound [https://freesound.org] users lg, nachtmahrtv, kvp888, julianmateo, eminyildirim, breviceps, nofeedbak, and kev_durr Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach [https://x.com/sunlessreach], Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach [https://www.tumblr.com/sagasofthesunlessreach], and Bluesky at SunlessReach [https://bsky.app/profile/sunlessreach.bsky.social]. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach. Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing [https://bsky.app/profile/standingstonesprod.bsky.social]

S2E25 - What Day But Today?

EPISODE NOTES There is one thing I keep telling myself with each report from across the Delta: It means nothing if they can’t do this for themselves. With each new day, how much are we carrying the fight on our backs, instead of letting the citizens of the Delta learn they can stand for themselves? They do not need outside revolutionaries, and they do not need Wolves. They just need to know that they can. I can’t speak for the others beyond what they have reported through Granny Weaver’s spiders. The Sangele are already masters of their own defense, they just need extra hands to help where theirs are tied. The Sunken Tune, their long-standing agreement with Dragomir, the self-imposed isolation. For the future of the Delta, these are things that need to change and have ready solutions. Despite what Sorren says, I am no master tactician. I see all the same pieces on the board as everyone else does. I just do not have the same obligations and ties to this place, so I am not afraid to tear it up from the roots. I will hand them back the shovel and say ‘now you do the rest’, because once we leave then they will have to learn to rely on one another. They deserve freedom from an Errol’s reign, even if his hand was more lenient than most. The Rams’ Horns are not here to govern this place in Dragomir’s stead. We cannot take on every responsibility for freeing this place on our shoulders alone and then leave them to fend for themselves. We are here to remind them that it is possible to take what they deserve from the hands that would claim to know what is best. We are not shepherds. Let the people rule themselves. - From the investigation notes of Elżbieta Cast: Bitmap [https://twitter.com/BMPrager] as Ksana the Spear Cory [https://twitter.com/endlessmusings] as Apricus the Luminary Jade [https://twitter.com/jadeoxfordrose] as Viidra Matei Mab [https://twitter.com/littleladymab] as Elżbieta Wrona Zachary [https://twitter.com/obfuscatingGod] as The Game Master Produced by: Mab [https://littleladymab.carrd.co/] Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson [https://iambugbear.bandcamp.com/]. Sound effects: zapsplat [https://www.zapsplat.com/], Freesound [https://freesound.org] users webbfilmsuk, augustsandberg, kyles, plus-one, cgeffex, mycompasstv, julianmateo, fractanimal, halleck, brunoauzet, axiyee, other_kat Other music: Ovani Sound [https://ovanisound.com/] Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach [https://x.com/sunlessreach], Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach [https://www.tumblr.com/sagasofthesunlessreach], and Bluesky at SunlessReach [https://bsky.app/profile/sunlessreach.bsky.social]. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach. Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing [https://bsky.app/profile/standingstonesprod.bsky.social]