The group finds a lead as to where Hunter may be.
Rou and Eight follow Shepherd to his cabin in the woods, where they have been offered a safe place to sleep. Hunter appears to still be missing, and his absence is clear in the disarray of the cabin. As Rou and Shepherd sleep, Eight spends their time tidying the cabin and then pokes around to see if they can find out more about their host.
During their search, they find Hunter’s journal. The last entry mentions a young woman and a meeting with her in a grove of trees, where a flower named Starlight Bloom can be found. The group decides that heading there is the best course of action and takes off. When they arrive at the grove Hunter had written about, they find something out of place among the trees.
Follow Dax @GM_Dax, Kappa @TheKappaChris, Wren @ThornyDryad and Gaynor @gaynorcott
Transcript by CJ Kallevig
Upbeat piano intro ends[00:28]
Melancholy music fades in [00:29]
Gaynor (as Shepherd): So last time, I was doing a fantastic job of protecting my territory. Sneaking around, not making any noises whatsoever, and happened upon two folks and a very suspicious donkey at the edge of my territory. I believe I scared them into respecting me. You know, I, I did a really good job with that and they offered me their food. Which I gratefully accepted and we sat and I told them about my life. I told them about me and Hunter, going through and hunting things in the woods and living together. I told them that Hunter had been missing for some time and that I was attempting to find him.
My new friends offered to help me, which I accepted. Then we did a very good job cleaning up our camp. Although, I will say my new friends are lacking in night vision, which is a shame. They really should work on that. And now we are headed towards the Hunter’s cabin because I have, I have made the executive decision that if there are humans in the woods and they are friends, that they should sleep where the friends sleep. So I decided to bring them to the Hunter’s cabin.
Music shifts to a jaunty tune [02:16]
Dax: So Eight, Rou, and Shepherd. It doesn’t take too long to get to the cabin in the woods of which Shepherd had referenced previously. It’s about three-quarters of a mile from where your campsite was, so it doesn’t take too long to get there. You arrive and the building is a very simple wooden one, you can see that even in the dark, in this kind of almost clearing in the woods. The moon shining down, you can see a little bit of what the land holdings look like. You can see that it’s a relatively simple wood cabin. You can see that there are poles with what appears to be something drying on a rack nearby. You can see a wood pile off in the distance and then beyond that is darkness. You can’t really see much more than that, and the cabin is dark and silent as you approach it.
Gaynor: Do I, do I smell anything? Is Hunter back?
Dax: Nope, everything is still stale.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Friends, we’ve arrived at the cabin. I.. if you would like to look around outside to make sure everything is safe, I, you are free to do so. But I can vouch for you that it is safe. Safe as it can be, as long as I’m here.
Gaynor: I walk forward and sort of shoulder open the door. I, it’s been open since day one, I, I don’t know how to close it. And I worry that if I closed it, I would not know how to open it again. So I just, I just shoulder it open and lead you into, what I can only imagine is a wreck of a cabin because I, I immediately tore the cabin apart looking for Hunter. So then I, I just lay down on a blanket that’s next to the door, and I, I sit there and I just watch them come in and I say,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Alright. Is it rest time?
Kappa (as Rou): I, yes. I believe so. This is nice, this is, you know, protection from the elements and the cold. It’s good, it’s quite a good, is this the only cabin in this area?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mhmm. Yes, I.. if there were others, we would have asked them to leave and tear down their cabin. So, no.
Kappa (as Rou): Makes sense.
Wren (as Eight): Do, do you own this land, then?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Ummm, it’s my territory, and if someone were to say ‘oh I own, oh this is my territory’, I would fight them for it. Nobody has fought me for it yet, except for that bear, and I did, I did defeat that bear. So, yes. It is my land, but the cabin belongs to the Hunter.
Wren: Looking around at the disheveled state of things, I haven’t quite entered yet. I’m kind of standing in the doorway.
Wren (as Eight): Shepherd, how close would you like Bessie to be? Can she come inside? Should she wait outside?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Bessie…
Gaynor: I, I kind of stare at the donkey for a minute and I say,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Is Bessie aware that if there are any suspicious moves, I am trained to protect this home with my life? And, just so Bessie knows, I am much more powerful than Bessie and I will destroy her. If necessary.
Wren (as Eight): Bessie is very well behaved.
Wren: And I rest my giant hand on her back.
Wren (as Eight): Bessie does not typically move much. In fact, she only performs actions when guided or directed, so.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Then Bessie may enter the cabin. As, as well as you and, if you need permission to do that, then you must either give it to yourself or wait for Hunter to return. Because I cannot give permission, this is the Hunter’s home.
Wren (as Eight): That is very respectful of you. And while I am loathe to break social norms and invite myself in, I do believe I can make myself useful in cleaning things up.
Wren: And I will grab Bessie’s rein and lead the mechanical donkey through the doorway and basically direct her to stand in a corner.
Gaynor: I’m, I’m watching her the whole time intently. Until she is stopped moving, I do not let her out of my sight.
Dax: Yeah.
Wren: I’m debating whether or not to have Bessie face the corner wall or face in to look at the building interior.
Dax: Well Eight, you know no matter where you place her, once you place her, she kind of just does her thing, so.
Wren: Yep. I’m going to have Bessie back into a corner so that she can look in.
Kappa: Is the door a normal door?
Dax: As in like with a door handle?
Kappa: Yeah.
Dax: Yeah, yeah. Oak door, iron handle, yep.
Kappa: I close it.
Dax: Okay.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): You are good to have around.
Kappa (as Rou): Yes. [pauses] Why?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): You can close the door like Hunter can. I can’t do that.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh! You mean,
Kappa: I’ll grab the iron handle, turn it, and open the door.
Gaynor: I walk forward.
Kappa (as Rou): Like that? You, you, just that? Open, close. Open, close.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): So the thing you’re doing there with your hand, that’s a, is that a human…?
Kappa (as Rou): Here, you try. Here, I’ll guide you. Put your hand here,
Kappa: I point at the door.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Okay.
Kappa (as Rou): Okay. Grab it.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Oh, okay.
Kappa (as Rou): And gently, press it downwards. Turn. Turn it.
Gaynor: Starts awkwardly from the shoulder and, but it’s kind of in the whole body movement to turn, but when it clicks, Shepherd immediately lets go and starts jumping up and down very excitedly.
[Kappa laughs]
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yeah, like, like the, like, that was, oh.
Gaynor: They immediately open and close the door, like ten times just to see that they can do it.
Kappa (as Rou): Yes. Perhaps I should have taught you this in the morning. But yes, I, that way you can shut it and close it and no random rodents or, or things will come in and eat your food or eat your blanket.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): No rodent would dare enter my home.
Kappa (as Rou): Eh, you’d think so.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I would destroy them.
Kappa (as Rou): Mmhmm. I don’t doubt it.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Thank you for this. You, you are a friend and a teacher and you, you may sleep in my bed. If you wish.
Kappa (as Rou): That’s, that’s your bed. I have my own bedroll here.
Kappa: And I’ll roll it out. [imitates the whoosh noise of blankets being flapped open]
Gaynor (as Shepherd): That’s, yes, my bed also rolls. Perhaps you can teach me to roll my bed in the morning. Usually Hunter does it.
[Kappa laughs]
Kappa (as Rou): I, I can do that for you.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Great. For now, I have been, if you are hungry, there are a number of squirrels, rabbits, and other small creatures buried in the backyard if you would like one of those. I can show you where they are. I, I thought I should let you know though if you eat too many, I will be furious.
Kappa (as Rou): I don’t anticipate needing that.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Good. Because those are mine.
Kappa (as Rou): I, great. They’re yours. You probably worked very hard.
Kappa: And I will start to lay my things out, and putting some stuff into the packs by Bessie. Then I’ll look over, I’ll approach Eight.
Kappa (as Rou): Eight, are you just going to be cleaning all night?
Wren: As you’ve approached, I’ve literally just been gathering piles of the discarded items, like things that might have come out of the pantry. I’m just kind of like putting similar boxes and types of things into groups, making makeshift categories of all the brick-a-brack. I’m just kind of putting things in places where I think they should go. So whether or not it makes sense is a whole different matter, but I’m at least trying. So like, I’m putting the sugar under where the sink would be, and putting it with all these other things [laughs]. The face you’re making, Dax, says everything.
Dax: Why would you put sugar where it’s going to be wet? Why would you do that? [laughs]
Wren: I don’t know.
Gaynor: I’m, I’m nodding along with all of this.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, just like that. Uh-huh.
Wren: And in response to you, Rou, I just shake my head.
Wren (as Eight): Yes. My intent is to clean this cabin up, so that it is in neat and tidy order before we leave in the morning. It would be a very large shame for us to partake of this hospitality without making ourselves useful.
Kappa (as Rou): Probably not if not instructed to.
Gaynor: As they were getting in, did either Rou or, I don’t know if Eight’s wearing shoes, but they, did either of them take off shoes of any kind?
Kappa (as Rou): Is something the matter?
Gaynor: I think Shepherd is staring at your feet, and looking at you, and saying,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Those.. you didn’t take off your feet, you didn’t take, um...
Kappa (as Rou): I don’t take off my feet, no.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): [stammers] The hard part on the outside -
Kappa (as Rou): Oh the boots!
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, was I supposed to take them off? I’m so sorry, I did not know.
Kappa: I start undoing laces.
Gaynor: I wait patiently for Rou to take them off, and once they’re off, I pick them up and I bring them to the fireplace, which is, there’s no fire in the fireplace. But I do place them by the fireplace.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, oh.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): That’s, at the end of the day, the hard feet, they go there.
Kappa (as Rou): Okay -
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mhmm.
Kappa (as Rou): Good to know. Good, I apologize for not catching that earlier.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Is this not, do you not do this?
Kappa (as Rou): I, I personally don’t because I don’t have a fireplace to go to.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Hmm.
Kappa (as Rou): Generally.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): So do your hard foot coverings, do you put them by the, by the fire? Do you.. does the donkey take them?
Kappa (as Rou): I, I don’t want spiders crawling in usually.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): No spider would ever threaten anything in this house, I would eat them.
Wren (as Eight): You would eat the spiders?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, it’s the quickest way to get rid of them.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, okay. Well, generally I remove my boots only for cleaning and bathing.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mmm. Right, right. Um, there’s a river if you wish to, I -
Kappa (as Rou): I don’t need to do it now.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Okay. Good, because it’s nighttime and we’re not supposed to go to the river at night.
Kappa (as Rou): The water would be very, very cold.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, yes. Okay, can I, can I, is it question time or is it sleep time?
Kappa (as Rou): I was, I mean, I was going to go to bed but if you have any questions, I, I -
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Just, just one question. Um, when you leave a place, rather suddenly, and you’re with someone that you care about -
Music shifts to a melancholy piano [15:56]
[Kappa sighs heavily as Rou]
Gaynor (as Shepherd): What would you do?
Kappa (as Rou): I’ve had some experience with this. Sometimes it’s very difficult. It’s almost really hard to, it is very difficult to be able to just up and go and leave the ones you care about behind. I… when I did it, I left a note explaining my reasoning but I knew that they wouldn’t necessarily understand that reasoning. You see, the conditions of my departure were strained and there were, I believe they would have been very angry. I don’t know if they would have understood, but at least I tried to leave something behind so that it would make sense to them. Hunter, Hunter didn’t do that for you?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): No. But that, um, but that maybe means that there could, that means they’re coming back, cause, cause they, um, they always, they always take me with them. And that, they, they’ll, they’ll be back. When you left, did you bring your best friend with you?
Kappa: I pause at that, for a very.. for a long time, almost as if you wonder whether or not I’m going to answer.
Kappa (as Rou): I’m not sure I had a best friend before leaving. At least, not one that would have understood why I left.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Well, when the Hunter comes back, you can borrow mine.
Gaynor: And I think I just nuzzle my head up against Rou and I go over to the blanket laid on the floor and I take off the jacket and I, I hold it close to me and lay down. Shepherd immediately falls asleep.
Kappa: After a few minutes of sitting with my thoughts, kind of watching Eight tidy up and organize.
Kappa (as Rou): Eight.
Wren: Mid-reach, putting a box of something into a cupboard. I turn and look and then turn back to watch myself put the box back in, quietly close the cabinet and then do an over-exaggerated attempt at sneaking across the floor. Like, to try and be quiet but with every step, it’s like ‘thump, thump, thump’. And when I get within a couple paces of Rou, I just look at you.
Kappa (as Rou): What do you think of this whole situation? With Hunter, with Shepherd.
Wren (as Eight): It’s an interesting conundrum to be considered. Based on the questions that were being asked of you, it feels as if Shepherd were left behind. As in, has Hunter left without leaving a note, without saying anything. And I dare say, now correct me if I might be misreading things, I believe Shepherd is worried and sad.
Kappa (as Rou): I, I agree with you there. Extremely worried. I don’t know how long Hunter has been missing. I think in any situation, whether we find this Hunter or not, providing closure might be the best thing for Shepherd.
Wren: I stand there for a beat and my eyes kind of dim and flicker for a moment after you comment on providing closure. And then they go back to their full vibrancy and I nod my head.
Wren (as Eight): I would be inclined to agree with you. I, too, have felt the keen pang of loss and having closure is always a preferable ending to that. I suppose we must have..
Wren: And I use air quotes.
Wren (as Eight): “question time” with Shepherd tomorrow upon his awakening, that we may determine some more facts with regards to this Hunter and the timing of his departure.
Kappa (as Rou): If not for some evidence of where they went, maybe get ourselves a heading. A little bit more context. Shepherd’s just so, so… young. I’m not sure if they’ve experienced this type of trauma before.
Wren (as Eight): Shepherd seems very loyal and quick to trust. I do not believe these are faults though. I would wager that he truly does have the makings of a very good best friend. If we should find this Hunter and we determine that they have behaved in a manner unbefitting a best friend, perhaps we should have some sort of plan in place on how we will handle.
Kappa (as Rou): I’m not sure how to proceed with that. But yes, absolutely so. Something to, to mull over. Good night, Eight.
Wren (as Eight): If you think of anything else you would like to discuss, I will be here and I will be awake.
Kappa (as Rou): [chuckles] I know, Eight. Good night.
Wren (as Eight): Sleep well, friend.
Wren: Question, DM. While I am cleaning, or straightening things up, would there be any pictures or images or things that might be of interest? Like, I don’t know, are portraits or photos a thing regularly for folks? And I mean, it’s a cabin, so if there’s like an image of a big game hunted or something like that. And I don’t know if this is also a question for Shepherd or not, so.
Dax: I will say that as far as a photograph, it’s not a thing. I would say that as far as portraiture though, there are a couple paintings. One of what appears to be ducks on a lake, another, kind of a… I don’t want to say Impressionist, but it’s very blurry. You can tell it’s like, as if somebody was just kind of playing with colors. You can kind of see the shape of deer, such in a field. How much do you wander in this cabin? I mean, it’s not huge, but there are a couple of rooms in it. So how much do you wander?
Wren: I imagine that if there is mess, I will be tidying it. So if the entirety of the building was ransacked, I will probably be making a methodic approach into each room.
Dax: Alright. So one of the rooms, there is a bed and there’s actually an easel with a half-started portrait of what appears to be a bear that looks like it is, for all intents and purposes, looks like it’s laying down sleeping. Then there’s some sketchings and stuff there on the canvas. It’s a little difficult to tell what the end result picture is going to be. In the room with the easel, there is a blanket on the floor. A couple of books scattered, but you can’t find anything that indicates much about the inhabitants, as far as imagery goes.
Wren: Okay. Is there like a little table or a shelf where the books probably would go?
Dax: Yeah, a little nightstand.
Wren: Okay. I’ll pick each of the books up as I’m organizing and I probably flip through them a little bit to see what they’re about, if they don’t have a title. Just so that I can arrange them in a way that makes sense to me. Like, alphabetical order if they’re about animals or plants, [laughs] taxonomic sorting, things like that.
Dax: Sure. So one book appears to be a ledger of sorts. It is, you actually as you’re flipping through, you notice that a dried flower falls out from between the pages. You see that there are handwritten notes talking about different plants and animals and stuff. It’s just, it’s very much a personal notebook. The other one, as you flip through, you actually realize it’s a journal.
Wren (as Eight): Oh! A journal.
Wren: What does the last entry indicate? I’m being nosy. And before, as I’m flipping through this, I kind of think to myself,
Wren (as Eight): I apologize for the nature of my intrusion, but this is to help Friend Shepherd.
Dax: So the very last entry is dated about 16 days ago, and it reads,
[Dax reads the journal entry as Hunter with a British accent, slightly masc tone]
I have tried everything that I possibly can to get her to come closer to the cabin and she refuses. She always wants me out in the woods. It’s a little, little scary, little nervewracking, a little exciting. I think Shepherd will be fine if I leave him alone for just an hour. There’s a copse of flowers out in the woods that I don’t think she’s ever seen and I think that if she’s willing by the light of the moon, she’d be overtaken by its beauty. A creature so lovely as she is bound to appreciate them. Perhaps if I can show her that I mean no harm, she’ll come back and she’ll meet Shepherd. I’ll be setting off in the morning and hopefully when I report back, I’ll have some good news.
Dax: Then you see underneath that is a little drawing of a flower that almost looks like a star, in the way that its petals are arranged.
Wren: Is there an entry in the plant and animal guide book that has this in it as well?
Dax: Yeah, so I won’t make you roll this because, I mean, you’ve been flipping through the books already. You do find an entry, it is called a starlight bloom. According to the notes, it will bloom only a couple times a month under moonlight. It’s very pale blue, almost white in coloration.
Wren: I will take both of these books with me, and I will pull up a chair or a stool or something, and I will just sit and wait next to Rou for when he wakes up. And I’ll just be sitting, staring down at Rou sleeping.
Dax: The night does pass uneventfully. Everyone’s able to get a nice rest, and as dawn, well I shouldn’t say as dawn. Shepherd, how early are you up? How late do you sleep in?
Music shifts to a somber tune [29:32]
Gaynor: I don’t sleep, I think, for very long. I think before the sun is up, I think I’m up and walking around. Walking around the cabin, trying to make sure that nothing has gotten too close. I go and check the traps which I don’t know how to reset, so the ones that have caught something, I’ve already gotten them from and I don’t know anything else has been caught. But I go through and I check traps and before I head back, I go down to the river and try and get a look at my reflection and see if anything has changed.
Dax: There have been no changes, everything is as it was the day before.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): That’s good.
Gaynor: Can I still see the moon?
Dax: Roughly. You can, you can see like a bright ball through the treeline, it is very close to the horizon.
Gaynor: Is it at a worrying point for me?
Dax: Ehhh, you know that you’ve got a little less than a week and a half, based on its size.
Gaynor: Then I would like to go back to the cabin and wake up my new friends.
Dax: And how do you do that? Since Eight is already awake.
Gaynor: I get right up in Rou’s face and just do a very soft lick on the face or something.
Kappa: Feeling something on my face, but knowing that Eight is always just kind of around watching over Arthas and myself sleep.
Kappa (as Rou): Eight, something, something touched my face. What was it?
Wren: I have watched Shepherd lick Rou, and I respond to you, Rou.
Wren (as Eight): It was not me. That I can say with certainty.
Kappa (as Rou): Shepherd, did you lick my face?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I did. I was attempting to wake you up.
Kappa (as Rou): Please don’t do that.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I apologize.
Kappa: My eyes are still closed by the way. I just..
Gaynor (as Shepherd): It is, it is nearly daytime.
Kappa (as Rou): It is -
Gaynor (as Shepherd): And I was wondering why you were not awake, so I decided, I wanted to make sure you were not ill or -
Kappa (as Rou): Mhmm.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Perhaps had passed away in the night, so I licked you to check that, which is normal for me to do.
Kappa (as Rou): Mhmm, okay. Okay.
Kappa: I start rubbing my eyes and sitting up. [imitates a waking cough]
Kappa (as Rou): I appreciate the concern.
Gaynor: Shepherd is definitely still very close to you.
Kappa: Mhmm.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Um, so, uh, Eight is awake. Eight -
Kappa (as Rou): Eight is always awake.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes. The sun is going to be up soon, but you didn’t, we haven’t begun exercise yet?
Kappa (as Rou): No, not yet. You, uh, Shepherd?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mhmm?
Kappa (as Rou): Not everyone wakes up at the same time. You understand this, right?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Right.
Kappa (as Rou): I usually take a little bit longer to really get the consciousness back in me. As Eight, you can attest.
Gaynor: I head towards the counter and I take the, the teapot and I just put it in Rou’s lap.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): For waking up.
Kappa (as Rou): Did, did you want me to make tea? I’m very -
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I don’t, no, for you.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, for me? Oh, I, I’m good. Eight, did you, did you want some tea?
Wren (as Eight): I do not at the moment, no. However, if you would like tea, I can make some for you.
Kappa (as Rou): I’m, I’m perfectly fine. Okay? Just…
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Okay, so you’re awake but you’re not awake, but you don’t want that.
Kappa (as Rou): I will be fine.
Wren (as Eight): If you are up at this point, Friend Rou, we have much to discuss. I found some important writings.
Kappa (as Rou): We do.
Wren (as Eight): Last night, while I was sorting through some of the other rooms that were disheveled.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh! I was really hoping that you, you’d be able to find stuff, yes. Okay. Sure, sure, what did you find? I’m going to get ready.
Kappa: I’m going to start heading over towards my boots. Start putting them on.
Wren (as Eight): First, while I was going through the bedroom in the back, I found a half finished painting, one which seems to depict a sleeping bear and some other figures sketched in the margins, which have not quite yet been put to finish. I believe that this painting was being completed by Hunter at some point. And I would say, Hunter seems to have some artistic talent as well as the ability to hunt.
Gaynor: Shepherd points towards the painting of ducks and says,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): These, the not, they’re not windows?
Wren (as Eight): Yes. They would make terrible windows.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes.
Wren (as Eight): Because you cannot see through them.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Awful. Hunter told me those ducks, they are not there. And when I, when I, when I alerted Hunter that there were ducks nearby, Hunter was.. laughed and said no. And so I think that these are, are paintings to help me prepare for in case there were ducks, now I would know how to do that. I would have, I would know hey, there’s ducks. And that’s what they look like. Bear, that’s, uh, we did that. That was me and Hunter. Took down a bear.
Wren (as Eight): I see -
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Oooh, we took him down real good. Oh man, you should have seen it. Oh, there was, it was a, there was a bear and then we fought it.
Kappa (as Rou): Fought for your, for your territory?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, yes! Bears, they come, you know, Hunter always says ‘the bear’s on your territory, gotta, gotta get him out of there’. They have their own territory that they should be on. And then we, uh, it was, we ate bear for a long time afterwards and it was real good.
Kappa (as Rou): Eight, what else did you find?
Wren (as Eight): Beyond the pictures, the picture of the bear and the obvious bedding, for a person in the bedroom, I also stumbled upon some books. And two of particular interest. The first one,
Wren: And I’ll hold it up.
Wren (as Eight): Contains information about various flora and fauna in the local vicinity.
Wren: And I will put that down next to you, Rou. Then I will sit back up.
Wren (as Eight): And this one,
Wren: And I will hold up the journal with both hands.
Wren (as Eight): Is of particular importance as it contains handwritten accounts of the days leading up to Hunter’s disappearance.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): [stammers] You, you, put that, you can’t, that’s not, we’re not, touch that, that’s special. That’s the Hunter’s special book. You have to put that back.
Wren (as Eight): I’m sorry, Shepherd. In my efforts to determine what has happened to Hunter, I was compelled to break the oath of privacy that a journal of this nature typically carries with it. Though I do lament having done so, I believe that it will be most beneficial for us in our search to determine what happened to Hunter. In fact, I have reason to believe that Hunter has run into some danger with respect to a woman, who lives in the woods, refuses to come visit here at the cabin. And perhaps, has yet to appreciate the beauty of the wilds at nighttime. That’s at least what I was able to glean from the final entry in this journal.
Wren: And I will hold it out to Rou.
Kappa: I will take it and start flipping through it, but if Eight continues,
Kappa (as Rou): Shepherd, Eight really meant no harm. It’s.. we’re just really trying to help you and information, this has lots of it!
Gaynor (as Shepherd): No, I, um, it’s okay. It’s okay. Just don’t put it in your mouth, that’s a no. That’s, you’re not supposed to do that.
Kappa (as Rou): Wasn’t, wasn’t going to.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Okay, good. And, I, uh, just those things are for the, the Hunter and we’re not supposed to, be careful with them. Just like the paintings.
Kappa (as Rou): Mhmm.
Gaynor: Question for the DM. Do I, have I seen this woman? Do, do I know anything about this?
Dax: So, you know that Hunter has been going off on their own. A few days before they left, they started going off on their own for like half an hour, hour at a time. They’d always tell you to stay, they’d be back, and when they come back, they come back with some trout or maybe a hare. You know, a little treat for you as kind of an apology for being gone for “forever”. You know, and then that last day, they said they’d, you know, you woke up and they were gone. Usually they tell you, they just were gone.
Gaynor: Cause I, cause I had to come back and I, they were asleep so I waited for them to wake up.
Dax: Yep.
Gaynor: To show them, and -
Dax: Yeah, but they, you don’t recall them mentioning anything about another person. You just know that they… the last few days before they were gone for good, they would wander off and spend some time on their own.
Gaynor: I, I turn back to Rou and I say,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): That’s, you, I don’t know if you can read cause there’s no people. We would, I would know, I would know if there were people. I found you when there were people. I would know if there were people and nope, nope, no people out here. So, guess it was a tree. Like, Eight is.
Kappa (as Rou): I’m sure you’re a very good caretaker of your, of your territory. But, Eight, you say there’s someone else involved?
Kappa: And I’m going to start flipping through the same thing as Eight did, go to the final entry.
Kappa (as Rou): Says here that Hunter was meeting with someone else.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): [nervous laughter] That’s, that’s ridiculous. No. No. I, must have been for hunting, small, a small hunt. It didn’t need me, cause they would always say ‘Wait here. I’ll be back’. And then they’d come back. And so probably was just a trout.
Wren (as Eight): There’s reference to a small field of flowers that look like a star.
Wren: I’ll air trace a star with my finger.
Gaynor: Does this ring a bell to me?
Dax: Yeah, you and Hunter have gone to this field of flowers that Eight is talking about at least once. You remember a long time ago, when you, around the time when you first met Hunter, they brought you to this field of flowers to show you. And you’ve gone a couple of times since to check them out, since they are so rare when they bloom.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I see. Well, then perhaps they are there and they’ve got stuck. They do love those flowers and sometimes I have to, I have to kind of push them to come home when they, when they look real good. ‘Cause they like them a lot. So maybe they’re just stuck there, could go get them. Tell them to, it’s time to come home, ‘cause they’re probably hungry. Hunter needs to eat a lot of food, which is why we hunt. So, and they can’t hunt without me, cause I’m the Shepherd and they’re the Hunter so, um, we should probably just go get them.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, okay. Okay. Eight, do you think it, think it wise to go investigate this? [gasps excitedly] Perhaps it’s time for Inspector Nine to come out?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Is this, is there another person?
Wren (as Eight): I suppose… it would be in our best interests to inspect this field, this location of flowers for any clues as to where this Hunter may have gone. I have one question that I would like to ask of you, Shepherd.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Uh-huh?
Wren (as Eight): As we are looking for Hunter, it would benefit us greatly if we knew what they looked like. Are you able to describe them for us in a fashion? That we might recognize them if we stumble across them.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Um, yeah. Yes. Tall. They.. strong, um, hands that are good for grabbing things. Clothes that are, are like mine. Toes, a number of them and they have, what, um,
Gaynor: Shepherd kind of grabs his hair.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): And this is..?
Wren (as Eight): Hair.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, like that but they keep it behind them always. And they have a special rope.
Wren (as Eight): A ponytail?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yes, yes! But it’s not, um, doesn’t look that much like a horse. They always wear a smile and they are always saying, like ‘You did a real good job. Wow, that was a great one. Good work!’ And they, if you see them, scratches and hugs. That’s them for sure.
Wren (as Eight): Encouraging, friendly, wears clothes, has hands for grabbing and a number of toes. Okay, I believe this is something for us to work with. [pauses] Rou, your thoughts?
Kappa (as Rou): A ponytail might be a signifying factor. Facial hair, the hair on the, on the face. Is there any?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Um, yes, um. Hunter is quite proud of his hair, he likes it cause he likes the way it looks. It’s on his, right on his face. Near the mouth, but not in the mouth.
Kappa (as Rou): Near the mouth, not in the mouth.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mouth, mouth, flat teeth. Not sharp. Not as good for biting.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh. Mhmm, okay.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): And eyes are…
Gaynor: I would like to go and find the closest thing to, cause colors are still pretty new to me, I find the closest thing to a blue in the house that I can. I put it down and I say,
Gaynor (as Shepherd): It looks like this but not like this exactly because they’re eyes.
Kappa (as Rou): Mmm. Blue eyes, beard, ponytail. I think we can work with this, Eight. Is there..
Kappa: I’m looking through the journal. Is there like, journal of “name”, or anything?
Dax: The only name you see referenced in the pages is Shepherd.
Kappa: Okay.
Kappa (as Rou): I think we should get, get going.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Alright, um, make sure you have everything cause once we set out, we’re going to be out for the day. That’s what, that’s what Hunter always says, so um, get everything together. And, did you have water?
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, yeah! Yes, yes.
Kappa: I pull out a waterskin.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Good. You always gotta have water before you leave.
Kappa (as Rou): Hydrate or die-drate.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Are you a morning eater?
Kappa (as Rou): Uh, I mean I could eat in the mornings but not, not necessarily.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Because morning eaters, they eat in the morning. Hunter is not a morning eater, but I am a morning eater.
Gaynor: So, before we leave I will go dig up a squirrel and I’ll have that.
Wren: And I will make us some breakfast paste.
Dax: Magically or otherwise?
Wren: Magically.
Dax: Do you want to roll for me?
Wren (as Eight): Friend Rou, I simply could not allow you to go out investigating in the wilderness without having a proper, nutritious breakfast.
Kappa (as Rou): [chuckles] Okay! I will, can, can we do this while moving?
Wren (as Eight): Oh yes, absolutely. I can, I can create this on the go.
Dax: Easy difficulty, Eight.
Wren: My favorite. [dice rolls] Three Advantage, and a Success.
Dax: Yeah, you easily create your grey nutritious paste.
Wren: As always.
Dax: It’s very pasty.
Wren: Rou is used to it. I use the spoon, and I swirl it around a little bit over your bowl, Rou, that I have.
Kappa: Mhmm.
Wren: Bessie is walking behind us as we’re kind of leaving. As I am swirling the spoon and muttering the incantation, Presto Foodo, the familiar view, the familiar image of this grey toothpaste-like substance starts to come out of the tip of the spoon. But this time -
Kappa: Ah?
Wren: It does not make that awful wet slapping noise that it typically does.
Kappa: Mmm.
Wren (as Eight): I have mastered the amount of pressure that must be applied to create the food paste.
Wren: And it just comes out like soft serve ice cream. I make like this really nice swirl. And I take one piece of jerky from our, our rations, and I just stick it in the top like a garnish. [laughs] And I pass the bowl over to you.
[Kappa laughs]
Kappa: I imagine at this point, I’m very used to this, at this point. It’s not like, when we were out in the caves and stuff, where it was just like [imitates a squirt noise]. Right? So I accept it.
Kappa (as Rou): Thank you so much, Eight. This is… you are such a wonder.
Gaynor: At this point I come back, dirt and spit covering my face, having just horsed down a, a meal. I come in, disgusting, looking absolutely gross, and then I… [sniffs]
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Why does this food not have a smell? Does it… it smells like books and then it kind of smells like when you wake up and, and I, when you wake up and the Hunter’s like ‘Uh man, it’s a rough day, huh?’. It smells like that.
Wren (as Eight): I do not quite understand the last reference. However, I am pleased that it smells like books, because that means that the composition mirrors the value of the smell which it imitates.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Have you ever had squirrel?
Wren (as Eight): No, but we did once parley with the Queen of the Sciurens, which was essentially a talking squirrel.
Kappa (as Rou): They are very interesting and very cute people.
Wren (as Eight): Rou made special friends with them!
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Mmmm. I can, I can imagine that they are nice to hang out with cause they probably love a chase. I bet they do, and cause I love, I love chasing them. ‘Cause they’re just, uh, I mean, so fast. But then they get in trees. That’s like, why? You know?
Kappa (as Rou): [laughing] I think I do know.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yeah. But it, it’s okay cause Hunter says that we can, we can hunt the squirrels because one day we’ll be, we’ll be part of the trees and they live in the trees and so it’s a big, you know it’s a big c-c-, it’s a big sickle.
Kappa (as Rou): Cycle?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): Yep. You and I, we said the same thing.
Wren (as Eight): A bicycle?
Gaynor (as Shepherd): I don’t think you need to say bye to it just yet. I think it’ll still be there.
Kappa: What, what [laughs]..While we’re walking, I, I’m actually really enjoying the conversation between Shepherd and Eight, like Rou. Rou is, I am as well. But I am starting to peruse through the journal and trying to come to whatever conclusion, do I come to the same conclusion as Eight did in the evening?
Dax: That Hunter went off to meet this person?
Kappa: Yes. And, and the timeframe and cross-referencing that with the book, do I recognize this flower?
Dax: So, it’s not a flower you’ve ever seen over in Baukora, I will say that.
Kappa: Okay.
Dax: But if you are looking through the flora book, I mean, it does, the notes there do seem to match the image drawn on that last entry. Now how far back in the journal are you reading?
Kappa: How far back? Like, time wise or?
Dax: Mhmm.
Kappa: Oh man, I, I don’t know. I mean…
Dax: Because I will say, there’s an entry for almost every day.
Kappa: Almost every day. I’d say, I’d say back three weeks or so? I don’t know how long each entry is, but I figure I’d read, depending on how long it takes to get to that grove, I’d read for about an hour. Skim for about an hour while conversation is happening.
Dax: Sure. If you’re reading back roughly about three weeks, I’m going to guess probably you read a couple entries before the last one, and then you just started flipping until you found some sort of pattern. I would, I would guess.
Kappa: Yeah, kind of getting a feel for like, Hunter’s, like, how he feels about Shepherd, whether or not there was any indication of like ‘I want to get out, go back to civilization’ or something. I don’t know.
Dax: Sure. So, you read back a little bit, like you find a spot in the book to start reading and you can tell it’s pretty, pretty straightforward. I mean, there’s, it talks about events of the day, what stuff was hunted, if there was any new flora or fauna spotted. Reference to what page in the other book the notes were. There are other days where the entries are quite small, talking about how, you know, Shepherd and I have enough in our stores, we don’t have to go out and hunt so I’m going to spend the day painting. This is what I am going to be working on. There are notes that reference good things Shepherd’d done, if Shepherd got into trouble, like you know, the day that Shepherd accidentally was chasing a squirrel and ended up running into the woodpile. Most of the wood got loose and rolled down the hill. And the frustrations Hunter felt at that.
But otherwise, for the most part, it’s pretty, pretty static in what’s being contained in the notes until one day out, maybe five days before the final entry. Hunter starts referencing this woman that they met out by the stream and how at first she was, you know, very shy. She would only smile and then a couple days later, Hunter mentions about how she finally started talking to them and how she’s not really from around the area but she would be returning home soon. And how, you know, she’d love to have Hunter see her home because she thinks that they would really appreciate its beauty.
They talk about how they keep bringing up Shepherd and how she doesn’t seem, she seems very nervous to meet Shepherd. Like, something about Shepherd kind of sets her off and she often will run off if Hunter presses too much. Then of course, there is that last entry, talking about the flower and perhaps if she sees the flower and how there’s beauty here as well, perhaps she would be more willing to meet Shepherd.
Kappa: So we’re going to this grove, and it seems it was about, the last entry is about what, two weeks ago?
Dax: 16 days.
Kappa: 16 days.
Dax: So yeah, just about a week and a half.
Kappa: Okay.
Dax: And it takes about two hours to get to this grove.
Kappa: Okay.
Gaynor: As we’re getting close to the grove, I’m keeping an eye out for anything strange. Does anything feel strange in the woods? Do I smell anything different? Obviously I’ve been kind of pacing the woods since Hunter left, but I, I, you know, has anything changed since the last time I was over in this area? I don’t think this is an area I come to often.
Dax: Give me a Survival check. So two Yellow, two Purple.
[dice rolls]
Gaynor: One Success, one Triumph, one Threat.
Dax: So as the group of you get in towards this grove, it looks pretty boring in the light of day. You can see these long stemmed leaves popping out of the ground. It almost looks like long grass. And it’s just a small open area, maybe about 20 feet in diameter. Shepherd, you start sniffing and listening and trying to pay attention. You almost smell something that you’ve never smelled before. It almost feels like a tingling in the back of your nose, rather than something you can put a finger on in comparison to what it smells like. You start to get this tingle down your spine, you can feel the small hairs on your body stand up.
Gaynor (as Shepherd): There’s something wrong. There’s a smell [sniffs]. There’s a smell I haven’t smelled before. And I know every smell in these woods. This is not one I know, and it’s, um, we are, there is a threat I believe. Everybody keep your eyes and ears out.
Dax: Now before we address your Triumph… Rou, if you would like, you may also make a Survival check. Same difficulty. Yep.
Kappa: Sweet! I was going to ask.
Dax: Medium, so two Purple.
[dice rolls]
Kappa: Oooh! One Success.
Dax: You also smell this weird smell, but you know what it is.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh…balls. What is it?
Music shifts to a mysterious tune [01:01:21]
Dax: You almost feel the hum across your skin, like it’s ringing in your bones. What you smell is very similar to electricity.
Kappa: That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, it just, out of, out of place here.
Dax: Right. Now Shepherd, you have a Triumph which can be a significant boon to pop in or something you can enter into the scene. What are you thinking to use your Triumph for?
Gaynor: I think that I, I don’t know if this is quite something I can use it for. Is there like a, maybe there’s a tall cliffside or a stack of boulders that I can get as high up as I need to, to survey as much of where we are as possible? To just see as much as I can, if there’s anything out of place?
Dax: Sure. Yeah, heck yeah. Yeah, there’s a nice rock face you’re able to easily get to and it’ll give you a nice vantage point.
Gaynor: I get up to the top, I rush, get up there as fast as possible. I think I’m still a little shaky but I do make it to the top. What do I, what do I see at the top?
Dax: What you see, as you survey the area, is just beyond the grove, what appears to be a ring of crackling energy. As you stare intently at it, you almost start to hear it. If you peer into the center of that ring, you can see that there appears to be an open meadow beyond it. And that is where we are going to end the session.
Music fades out [01:03:15]
Kappa: Oooohhhh!
[Gaynor cackles excitedly]
Dax: Thanks for listening! We hope you’ll join us next time but in the interim, follow us on Twitter @RoadsUncharted.
The “Roads Uncharted” podcast is GMed and produced by Dax who you can find on Twitter @GM_Dax. We use the Genesys RPG System published by Fantasy Flight Games and music licensed by Epidemic Sound.
Eight is played by Wren, who also composed the music for our opening theme. Follow them on Twitter @ThornyDryad.
Rou is played by Kappa, and you can follow him on Twitter @TheKappaChris. Arthas, Champion of Offam is played by Neil.
Shepherd has been played by our guest, Gaynor. You can follow them on Twitter @gaynorcott.