On their journey, the group encounters a village plagued by mysterious drums.
Eight offers to help Rou practice his new sword skills, but once Rou realizes Eight just plans to stand there he encourages the Warforged to grab a weapon and fight back. Over the course of their journey, Eight changes from a target to a sparring partner.
One day, they begin to hear the sound of drums in the distance. Following the sound of the drums, they come upon a village called Springpoint. It isn’t long before they learn the villagers have been plagued by the drumming for the past week and can’t locate the source of the disturbance.
Follow Dax @GM_Dax, Kappa @TheKappaChris, and Wren @ThornyDryad
Transcript by CJ Kallevig
Upbeat piano intro ends[00:27]
Gentle piano fades in [00:28]
Wren (as Eight): Hello, I am Eight. And you are listening to Roads Uncharted. Last time on Roads Uncharted, my companions and I finished off some tasks and chores that we were waiting on before we were bound to leave Kidohlva. As I understand it, Friend Rou did some research on both Warforged and Giant-Kin histories, which is very thoughtful of him, all things considered. As knowing about your friends is a great way to show that you care about them. Friend Arthas spent a majority of the time consuming food and gathering food for our travel. Which, in retrospect, had he consumed less, we probably would not have needed to have gathered as much over the course of those two days as well. Before we departed, Friend Rou graduated from Arthas’s Giant School of Small Swordplay.
I, myself, Eight, met with Councilman Latham and asked what information he might know or be able to provide about my originating family. Turns out that he was able to provide me with a city in Baukora from where the family originates. This is a great start for me to learn more about my own origins. After we completed our tasks in the city, we departed to head south on our trip to find this magician. Along the way we were stopped at a crossroads, where we purchased produce from a kindly crone and we were pointed towards the “Devil’s Bathtub”, a nearby sulfur spring. At my behest, we decided it would be worthwhile to scope out a local landmark. And that is what happened last time on Roads Uncharted.
Music shifts to a ponderous guitar [02:25]
Dax: It’s another few days before you see another person. Have the three of you done anything in particular over the course of your three days? Or has it been kind of a quiet trek?
Kappa: Yeah, just, just some nonsense conversation. I’d like to continue practicing with makeshift pells. Maybe some trees. Practicing my swordplay, that is. After all, I am a graduate of Arthas’s Swordsmans… Small Swords School. Academy? [pauses] Institution.
Wren (as Eight): Friend Rou, if you would like to practice your swordplay, I would be happy to provide you with a target to hit.
Kappa (as Rou): Like, like stand there? I, I don’t want to hit you.
Wren (as Eight): I would do my best to provide you with a worthy foe to practice your skills and hone your capabilities.
Kappa (as Rou): Sure! Yeah, like a sparring partner.
Wren (as Eight): Yes! Exactly.
Kappa (as Rou): Great.
Wren (as Eight): I don’t know what that is, but yes.
Kappa: Over the travels, we’ll take some breaks and do some sparring.
Wren: Over most of the early sparring sessions, I literally will just be standing there while you hit me.
[sword clang]
Kappa (as Rou): Okay -
[sword clangs and scrapes]
Kappa (as Rou): [sigh] Eight, you’re supposed to fight back. This isn’t -
Wren (as Eight): Oh, great form! Yes!
[sword clang]
Kappa (as Rou): This is patronizing.
Wren (as Eight): Oh, wonderful hit.
[sword clang]
Kappa (as Rou): This is -
Wren (as Eight): A clean strike! [sword clang] Yes! Excellent!
Kappa (as Rou): Fight back!
Wren (as Eight): And your, your banter against your foe is going to be particularly cutting.
Kappa (as Rou): I feel like a child.
Wren (as Eight): Oh. Am I supposed to do something in addition to getting struck?
Kappa (as Rou): This is not what’s, I, I, I could just hit the tree and this would have the same effect. If you were to, like, strike back or approach or defend, that’s, that is what I’m.. what sparring partners do.
Wren (as Eight): Oh…You would like me to hit you as well?
Kappa (as Rou): Yes. Or, try to. And if you do hit me, you know, that’s part of sparring. That’s part of learning how to fight. Right, Arthas?
Neil (as Arthas): [as if calling from a distance] A big part!
Wren (as Eight): Do you have a preference for the method in which I shall assail you? Shall I use my spoon? Shall I use my meat tenderizer? Shall I use this rock?
Wren: And I will bend down and pick up a rock off of the ground.
Kappa: I’ll look over at Arthas.
Kappa (as Rou): Which of these options seems more, more, more likely? Or should I train in all of them?
Neil (as Arthas): Eight, do not throw rocks at him.
Wren (as Eight): Oh no, I would not throw it. I would simply punch him in the face with it.
Neil (as Arthas): A stick will do.
Wren (as Eight): A stick… Oh! Yes, in an attempt to imitate an actual fighting implement, but pose no actual bodily threat to my opponent.
Neil (as Arthas): Precisely.
Wren (as Eight): Sparring is technical and fun.
Wren: And I will pick up a stick. It’ll be like a really flimsy, pine branch with like needles still on the end of it. So it won’t snap, it’s just gonna, like, whip at you as I’m using it.
[Wren and Kappa chuckle]
Kappa: So, we’re sparring in that way for the rest of the travels, I guess.
Dax: Just for kicks, Rou, could you give me a Melee Light check, at Medium difficulty please?
Kappa: Melee Light check, okay.
Wren: I have two Melee Defense, if you would like to have that imposed on this skill check as well.
Dax: Yeah. Go ahead and add two black.
Kappa: Okay. [dice rolls] One Advantage.
Dax: Nothing, you don’t lose a body part. In fact, you don’t gather too many bruises either.
Kappa: Oh! Ideal!
Dax: You’ve actually made good headway.
Kappa (as Rou): This is all part of the process. I feel like I’m improving! Look, look Eight. Battle scars.
Kappa: And I’m pointing at my forearm where I missed a block.
Wren (as Eight): Ah, yes. For where I lashed you with my trusty whipping stick.
Wren: And I will just kind of flick the flexible branch in the air.
Kappa: At some point, Rou’s going to, like, sniff his clothes. [sniffing noise]
Kappa (as Rou): I still smell.
Kappa: And that’s it. [laughs]
Wren: Could I use magic to clean them? Oh wait, oh sulfur. You still smell like sulfur, gotcha.
Kappa: Yeah.
Dax: Oooookay. [laughs] My god. On this most recent day of travel, as you’re walking along through this little copse of trees you had come into, you start to hear this sound of drums in the distance. Changes beats, first it’s very steady. [Dax thrums like a steady drum beat] And then it’s [thrums at a varied beat]. But it’s constant. Even if it changes tempo, it’s still constant.
Kappa (as Rou): Do either of you recognize that?
Neil (as Arthas): I can’t say I do.
Wren (as Eight): Don’t believe I’ve ever heard anything like this in my time traversing the land.
Kappa (as Rou): Are concerts common here in Eulela?
Wren (as Eight): Perhaps we should investigate? Or avoid? I don’t know. Either seems like a good option.
Kappa (as Rou): Perhaps we should try, like, avoid but I’m, I’m quite curious to see what, what’s actually happening.
Kappa: Does it appear to be getting louder?
Dax: No.
Kappa: Okay, so it’s not approaching.
Kappa (as Rou): I think we should continue forward. I’m very curious.
Wren (as Eight): Perhaps it is a performance of some sort?
Kappa (as Rou): Yes. Again, like a concert. Do, do you not have those here? [pauses] The deafening silence tells me yes.
Wren (as Eight): What, like a carnival?
Kappa (as Rou): Sort of like a carnival, where, where the main attraction is some sort of performance of music of some sort and food is, takes a bit of a backseat and is way overpriced.
Wren (as Eight): Yes, so exactly like a carnival.
Kappa (as Rou): Sure.
Wren (as Eight): Have you ever checked the quality of the food at a carnival? It certainly takes a backseat.
Kappa (as Rou): Well the carnival we were at had quite delicious food. There was those apple crisps, and pie!
Wren (as Eight): Perhaps it was an outlier. But if this is a concert, I would love to see it.
Dax: So as you continue on, you eventually clear the copse of trees and you come upon a little village. Sturdy wood huts with some thatched roofing, you can see people milling about. Going about their everyday business.
Kappa: No source of the, the drumming?
Dax: Not that you can see.
Kappa: Hmm. Well, I mean, we might as well pass through and if anyone has any idea, I’d like to, you know, stop them for a second and ask what, what, what all the noise is all about.
Dax: Sure! I’ll say that the, the first person that you get kind of close enough to is a woman carrying a basket that seems to be filled with flowers and some yarn.
Kappa (as Rou): Excuse me? No, no one here seems to be concerned about that, that constant drumming. Is that, is that… what is that?
Dax (as the woman): Oh, you hear it too? Ohhh, thank the gods! We all thought that we were just hearing it.
Kappa (as Rou): What?
Dax (as the woman): Well, it’s been going on for about a week now. And everyday it gets louder and we don’t, we can’t find it. We’ve searched everywhere, we can’t find the source of the drumming. We haven’t had anybody stop by the village since it started, so we were all starting to wonder that we were just imagining it.
Kappa: Has it gotten louder since we’ve approached the village?
Dax: No.
Kappa (as Rou): If you say it started a week ago and hasn’t stopped, we’ve, we’ve just heard it coming up through the trees there.
Kappa: I look at my companions.
Kappa (as Rou): I thought it was a concert. [chuckles] Funnily enough.
Dax (as the woman): Well if it is, it’s one we haven’t been invited to.
Kappa (as Rou): It is quite strange.
Dax (as the woman): You’re telling us.
Kappa (as Rou): Is anyone we can, is there anyone we can talk to that has done any sort of investigation or research?
Dax (as the woman): Hmmm. You’ll probably want to talk to the mayor. Um, here. If you want, I can take you to him right now, unless you wanted to stop and get a bite or something first?
Kappa (as Rou): See, I was just more curious than anything else. I… Eight, Arthas. Are you okay if we try and figure out what this is?
Neil (as Arthas): Of course.
Wren (as Eight): If the drumming is bothering the citizens, it would be in our best interest to try and help those we come across.
Kappa (as Rou): It would be quite, you know, a bit heroic. Knightly, even. Sure! Um, sorry. These are… Hello, my name is Rou. These are my companions Arthas and Eight.
Dax (as the woman): Hi. Here, oh sorry. I’m Lily [chuckles nervously].
Kappa (as Rou): Hello Lily.
Dax (as Lily): Sorry, the constant drumming has, it’s hard to really focus sometimes. Follow me, I’ll bring you to the mayor.
Dax: She turns and kind of just wanders towards the center of the village.
Kappa: I’ll lean over to Arthas and Eight.
Kappa (as Rou): This could, I could imagine how difficult it would be to live with this. Like, imagine trying to go to sleep with this.
Wren: I will give a sidelong glance towards Rou.
Wren (as Eight): Yes, imagine trying to sleep with this.
Kappa: Yeah [chuckles].
Kappa (as Rou): Eight, it’s like, if there was no way to recharge or rest because there was always that constant -
Wren (as Eight): Or if I did not have a chair.
Kappa (as Rou): There was something constantly trying to grab your attention.
Wren (as Eight): I suppose I could sit on the ground.
Kappa (as Rou): Yes.
Wren (as Eight): Or use something as a substitute. Like a rock, or a crate, or a patch of moss. Or even my backpack! Your point stands though. We should help these people.
Wren: And I am walking after Lily.
Dax: So Lily leads you towards the mayor and when he comes into view, he’s very easy to figure out who he is. This is a very… actually relatively tall man with a large pot belly poking out from his very lavish garments. We’re talking red silk, we’re talking clean pressed breeches. Knee high boots. He’s standing and talking to a few of the citizens who do seem to be a little agitated. When Lily walks up, the first thing she says is,
Dax (as Lily): Mayor Fry, these people are offering to help fix our problem. They hear it too!
Dax: Mayor Fry stops his discourse with the other citizens, gives a gentle wave and they kind of disperse. He turns to the three of you.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Well! It’s so nice of you strangers to randomly just drop by and help. You say you hear the drumming?
Neil (as Arthas): It’s, uh, hard not to.
Kappa (as Rou): We heard it from, on approach. Before we could even see the village.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Yes, as you’ll notice our problem then. Uh, well. If you’re willing to help, I’ll gladly give you a hundred gold to solve this problem. It’s been going on for far too long and each day it sounds like the drums are getting louder. So the sooner you can solve this problem, the better.
Kappa (as Rou): Well, what do we know? What do you know about the drumming? Lily told us just a little bit, that you all could not find the source and it just randomly started one day.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): So, yeah. It randomly started a week ago, only sounded like one drum to start. Over the course of the last week, each day it sounds like an additional drum has been added. It stops at midnight, and it starts again at dawn.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, so, so you can sleep.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Yeah, but not a full night’s sleep. Ugh, we have searched everywhere we can within three miles of the village and we haven’t found the source.
Kappa (as Rou): That is quite puzzling.
Wren (as Eight): Mayor Fry, my friends, if you’ll pardon me for just a moment.
Wren: And I will take my backpack off of my back, put it down on the ground, rummage through it for a handful of moments and pull out my shitty lump of clay that looks like a pipe and put it in my mouth.
Wren (as Eight): Ah, this requires some investigation or inspecting, if it would. Inspector Nine, at your service. And I am more than happy to help discover the quote “secret of the phantom drumming”. That would make a good title for a book. At any rate, you said this began occurring a week ago?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Yes, yes.
Wren (as Eight): And, just what was a week ago? Was there any special event? Did something strange happen? Did someone go missing? Did someone appear? Did -
Dax (as Mayor Fry): We had our first frost of the year, but that’s it.
Wren (as Eight): Ah.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): I would hardly call that unusual.
Wren (as Eight): The drums are related to frost! I see. Perhaps, if we discover what is causing them and we heat it up, it might stop it. Does this seem like an appropriate course of action, Inspector Rou? Inspector Arthas?
Neil (as Arthas): I mean… I can’t see any fault with that reasoning.
Kappa (as Rou): It does sort of make sense. If any sort of changes have occurred, major changes have occurred alongside the drumming, maybe they are related to each other. I think it’s worth checking out. Have you also asked if any significant events have happened in the lives of your townspeople? Has anyone admitted to delving into magical effects?
Dax: The mayor seems to ponder that for a little bit, and then turns to you all and says,
Dax (as Mayor Fry): I.. nothing unusual has happened. It’s pretty run of the mill, I mean, we’re a small village. We do pretty much the same things every day.
Wren (as Eight): ‘Pretty much’ leaves some room for variation. Are you certain nothing bizarre happened on the day the drumming started?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Well, it’s not like we bathe every day. I mean, who has the time or the water for that? But no, I’ve, I’ve investigated with my people. Nothing unusual occurred that day. Or the day before it started.
Wren (as Eight): Or the day before. What about two days before?
Dax: He, he looks up again as he’s thinking.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Nobody has admitted to anything unusual happening in their lives.
Kappa (as Rou): I don’t know. Eight, your frost suggestion seems to be the only lead that we have at the moment. It hasn’t gotten louder, and you can’t find the source.
Dax: The mayor leans in just a little bit and you hear,
Dax (as Mayor Fry): [sniffing] Were you at the Devil’s Bathtub recently?
Kappa (as Rou): Yes…. Why does that matter?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): It doesn’t, I’m just trying to place the smell.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, yes. Um, we haven’t been able to find an adequate washer.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): That’s understandable. There’s not really a lot between here and Azarra, so…
Wren (as Eight): Plenty of drumming though.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Plenty.
Wren (as Eight): Mayor, have your people tried drumming in sync with the drumming? Perhaps it is something, some entity looking for people to join in with the celebration?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): We tried that on the third day, I think? The drums stopped for about half an hour and then it was, it came back and it was extremely fast paced and we just couldn’t keep up with it.
Wren (as Eight): Interesting.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): And that was worse than what you hear now. At least now it’s a variation, it’s not constant pounding. So after the first attempt, we didn’t try it again.
Kappa (as Rou): Perhaps it’s some sort of war drumming, maybe someone means to approach your village with means of violence. Conquering. You made any enemies? Is there a rival village somewhere?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): No, not that we’re aware of. We’re a peaceful village and we just go about our daily business. We rarely get visitors. In fact, you’re the first visitors we’ve seen in nigh on six months.
Kappa (as Rou): So you say you, you’ve searched everywhere you could find for three miles. Would you care to give us a, if there’s a map of some sort? Maybe detail where you’ve been, maybe we can, we can go places that you folks might not be able to investigate.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Sure. Yeah, that, that won’t be a problem.
Dax: He turns and puts a hand next to his mouth and you hear him call out.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Hey Herman! Get me the scouter’s map please!
Dax: Literally just calls across this village.
Kappa: This is an odd puzzle. I’m going to look up. Is there like a magical drum in the sky?
Dax: [laughs] Oddly enough no, there is no drum in the sky.
Kappa: Is it, is it like hella cloudy?
Dax: It’s like autumn day cloudy. Or it’s like, you know it’s, it’s cloudy but it’s the white clouds that kind of look like cotton?
Kappa: Okay.
Dax: It is very, not very long before Herman does show up. He’s this guy with really long, like, black hair, big black beard. He kind of looks -
Kappa: Mhmmm, okay.
Dax: Like, he’s not too well put together. He’s got this giant parchment in his hand that you can see has all this like x’s and trails written on the paper map of the area. Rou, how many maps do you generally look at?
Kappa: I mean, I’ve looked at several. Especially back in Baukora. I figure anytime I stop in a location on, I look at a map of the local area. Other than that, not so much.
Dax: Okay. Give me an Easy Adventuring check.
Kappa: Adventuring! Ooo! I’m okay at these. No I’m not.
[Dax laughs, dice rolls]
Kappa: Oh! Two Success, one Threat.
Dax: The notes and markings on this map are not at all well organized and it doesn’t take you long to realize there’s a big, well not really big, but there is a chunk of the map that seems to have been unexplored.
Kappa: Then in that case I’ll point to that location.
Kappa (as Rou): What about, what about here? You, you haven’t seemed to explored in this area. Is it just inaccessible?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Oh, that’s, that’s nothing but a bunch of rocks. It’s kind of hard to climb over and poor George over there broke his leg when we tried to access it.
Dax: You look behind the mayor and there’s this old man sitting there with crutches and a big ol’ cast on his leg. He just kind of like gently waves to you, cause he knows he’s being talked about.
Kappa: I’ll wave back.
Kappa (as Rou): Hello George. Well, I mean if, if you’ve gone searching everywhere else except this location, maybe it’s worth us looking it over?
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Be my guest.
Kappa: How far away does it look? Like within a day? You said three miles, so -
Dax: You could easily, yeah it’s within three miles.
Kappa: Okay.
Dax: It’s like two miles.
Kappa: Sure.
Kappa (as Rou): Maybe that should be the first place we check out, Arthas. Eight. And then, sorry! Arthas, Inspector Nine. Just to fill out the rest of the map. You know, it really, really eliminates possibilities. Especially if there’s really nothing else to go off of.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Like I said, if you find it and you fix the problem, give you a hundred gold. If you can do it before tomorrow, we’ll get your clothes washed for free. It has been a hell of a week, we need this stopped. People are losing their patience and they’re becoming very difficult to work with. And as you can imagine,
Dax: At this he puts his hands on his lapel and kind of like, makes himself seem like he’s all important. Kind of stands a little straighter.
Dax (as Mayor Fry): As the mayor of a village that doesn’t really see much going on, dealing with grumpy people is a little tiresome, if you catch my drift.
Neil: That tracks.
Kappa (as Rou): And if it doesn’t turn out to be anywhere in that location, might suggest just moving your tiny village elsewhere. If it is that small.
Wren (as Eight): It’s a pretty straightforward sentiment but yes.
Kappa: I’ve got this really dopey smile that indicates that it’s a joke.
Dax: At first he is, he looks very cross with you at first, and then takes a second. Then he squints his eyes, like ‘did you really just say that?’ Finally he nods and,
Dax (as Mayor Fry): Well, I’ll leave you to it.
Dax: Goes off and wanders somewhere else to do mayoral things.
Wren (as Eight): My friends, I have one thought that occurs to me.
Wren: And I’m standing there, kind of like, pipe in mouth, other hand down at my side.
Wren (as Eight): Behold!
Wren: And I will get down and put my ear to the ground. I’m going to see if I can like hear how close the sound is coming from.
Dax: Give me a Survival check, Eight. Make it at Hard difficulty.
[dice rolls]
Wren: A Success, but four Threat.
Dax: Okay.
Wren: Hey, look. I rolled three purple and one yellow. What do you want from me? [laughs]
Dax: No, it’s, it’s fine.
Wren: I, I would suggest that it’s not like I instantly come up with a direction, it’s just at least part of the Threats is I’m just crawling around on the ground listening to the dirt for probably five to six minutes. In the most absurd way possible.
Dax: Wow, just wow.
Kappa (as Rou): Eight, what, what are you doing?
Wren (as Eight): Not now, Inspector Rou. I am investigating.
Kappa (as Rou): Oh, oh okay. So you are [whispers] complete, complete silence. Complete silence, okay.
Dax: Eight looks like those creatures from Japanese folklore, that like walk on their all fours with their backside in the air. You know what I’m talking about? Yeah, only face more at the ground. [chuckles]
Wren: Oh my god.
Kappa: Yes!
Wren: Right.
Dax: And I agree with the, the suggestion for the Threats. I think that’s a good way to describe those. I’ll say it takes you about ten minutes of your head to the ground, listening. Every once in a while, stopping because I mean, you have to deal with the people walking around. You have to deal with just everything that is going on around you.
Kappa: [laughing] At some point, I’m going to turn to Arthas.
Kappa (as Rou): Do you want to grab some like, a snack or something? Maybe, come back later?
Neil (as Arthas): Please.
Kappa: [laughs] We’ll go get pretzels.
Dax: [laughs] That’s fine, yeah. You find a pretzel vendor who happens to also be selling fried pickles. Oh I really want fried pickles now. Like the giant pickles you get at like the Renaissance Festival? Yeah.
Kappa: I have a jar of pickles I’ve been… I want to open it now.
Dax: So, yeah. You’re able to find a snack. By the time you get back, Eight has determined that the sound appears to be strongest when they face a northeasterly direction. Which oddly enough, is the general location of where that gap on the map is.
Wren: I tell you that!
Kappa (as Rou): Well that, that’s really good confirmation Eight. Let’s… let’s head off in that direction.
Dax: And with pretzels and pickles in hand, as you head northeast of the village, which you do see a sign at one point that says the village is called Springpoint, that is where we are going to end the session.
Music fades out [28:42]
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.
Arthas, Champion of Offam, is played by Neil.
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.