In an attempt to find answers, Eight reaches out to nature. When they try to probe Maeve’s mind, there are unintended consequences.
Looking for an escape from this strange forest, Arthas climbs to the top of the trees to scan the canopy. However, he is met with an endless sea of leaves with no way out. Down below, Eight utilizes the blessing they received from the god Lohr and learns that there is water to the north. When Jokul comments that Maeve hears something in the distance, Eight tries to probe her mind to gain answers.
The lesson of twisted magic is remembered too late as Maeve bolts in fear, leaving Arthas and Jokul to chase after her while Rialla tries to comfort a shocked and saddened Eight.
Follow Dax @GM_Dax, Cole @ColeMorreale and Wren @ThornyDryad
Transcript by CJ Kallevig
Upbeat piano intro ends [00:28]
Mysterious piano music begins [00:30]
Dax: Welcome back to Roads Uncharted. Last time we left off, Rialla and potentially Arthas suffered from some sort of madness, or at least according to Jokul and Eight, it was a madness. In an attempt to escape this forest they seemed to be perpetually caught in, Eight has decided that they are going to talk to the trees and has suggested that Arthas climb another tree, considering Arthas is so tall that climbing is really not an issue, to see if they can get a better vantage point. Arthas, it’s easy for you to find a tree. I mean, you’re surrounded by them. If you go to climb one, I would like you to make an athletics check at medium difficulty.
Neil: On it! One Success. Advantage, that is.
Dax: You go to climb the tree and you’re having a difficult time with this particular one. Branches are not as thick, and you find difficulty finding a branch that will hold your weight. But eventually, you make it up to the top. You’re able to look out over the canopy of leaves, and as you look out, you still see, just like that last tree you climbed, an expanse of treetops under a bright blue sky. You see a flock of birds flying in the distance and you feel a sense of peace and calm as soon as your head poked through that canopy. A breeze rushes over your skin and it’s nice and cool, a perfect summer breeze. But from where you are, you cannot see an end to this forest.
Neil (as Arthas): That’s concerning.
Neil: And I’ll try to shimmy back down.
Dax: I’ll say you shimmy down with no difficulty. Eight, you wanted to talk to trees? Is that what you said last episode?
Wren: I did.
Dax: Okay. Describe this. What is your process for talking to trees?
Wren: You know honestly, I hadn’t, well. I didn’t necessarily say the trees, but. Did I say trees? I thought, oh I did say the forest so I suppose, technically trees would be the main component of the forest. When I was leaving home, I happened across the entity Lohr, the god of nature. I’m hoping that maybe through some divine providence perhaps I can ask for the assistance of this god, because they saw fit to give me a blessing, which they never quite told me what it does. Maybe perhaps I can speak with the trees or the plants or an animal that happens to be nearby. But I’m curious if I could maybe spend a Story Point? And place a hand on a tree and maybe commune with it?
Dax: Sure.
Wren: Mentally? Because I also do brain stuff.
Dax: What are you saying as you place your palm on the trunk of this tree?
Wren (as Eight): Hello tree, I am Eight. It appears that my friends and I are lost in this forest. It seems it goes on without end, which is concerning. Do you know if there is something strange happening within your woods?
Dax: You hear nothing, for a time.
Wren: Holding my palm on the trunk, and I just stand and listen. My head tilted up towards the canopy.
Dax: It seems that you’re standing there five minutes, ten minutes. And then, you hear something. Almost as if you were hearing the ants climbing on the trunk. Their little feet going tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap, tip tip tip tip, in their march. And then, you start to hear the breeze through the treetops, and the next thing you hear is water rushing in the distance. But as far as any verbal response, there is no answer.
Wren (as Eight): This tree is most unhelpful. But that’s okay.
Wren: I pat the trunk.
Dax: When you take your -
Wren (as Eight): Trees do not like talking to strangers.
Dax: When you take your palm away from the tree, those sounds remain. The forest is no longer silent.
Wren (as Eight): Huh.
Dax: You still don’t hear any animals, but you can hear the wind. You can hear water, and every once in a while you hear the buzz of an insect as it flies by.
Cole: While Eight’s doing that, I pull out something I haven’t pulled out in a really, really long time. But I’m freaked out, so it is a simple silky black cloth. I put it over, I kind of blindfold myself and just hold on to Jokul.
Dax: Okay. Jokul, what are you doing while Rialla stands there, clutching you?
James: Jokul’s kind of on high alert. Like, there’s something screwy with this forest, this ain’t a normal forest. He’s making sure Rialla’s okay, he’s making sure Maeve’s okay. Because if animals have higher senses or whatever, if she’s nervous, he might pick up on, ‘horse is nervous, something’s not right’. But if Maeve’s just chill, then it’s like okay, ‘horse is okay..we’re just freaking out then’.
Dax: So you see Maeve and she’s standing next to Bessie. Bessie is very calm, very still. Just waiting for her next command. You watch Maeve and you keep an eye on her for a minute or two while Rialla is clutching your side and your chest. At first she seems calm on the surface, you know she’s not pawing her hoof at the ground, she’s not snickering, she’s not looking about wildly. But every once in a while, you notice her ears, the left one starts to flick to the south. But she’s otherwise calm.
James: Is specific ear flick mean anything to Jokul because I’m not a horse person and…?
Dax: To you it would mean that she hears something in that direction.
James: Okay, I’m like I have no idea what that means out of character.
Dax: Yeah. (laughs) You’re good.
James: Following horse instincts, he’ll look that direction. See if he can see anything with his elf eyes.
Dax: Make a Perception check for me. Or not Perception, make Vigilance for me.
James: I can do that.
Dax: Vigilance at Medium difficulty.
Wren: Get that sweet boost from ya buddy, Eight.
James: I was going to say, cause (laughs) Vigilance is where Jokul’s stats go *murp*. I got nothing.
Dax: You look and you don’t see anything. You don’t hear anything. But at least you find comfort in the fact that Maeve knows at least something. You know you can always trust her.
James: He’ll just keep his arm around Rialla and be like, alright nothing immediately dangerous. Something from that direction. So he’ll always just keep his head on a swivel and keep looking in that direction. Like, horse detected something that way. We’re going that way, but I will keep checking that direction.
Wren: As I take my hand off the trunk and turn back to look at everyone else, has Arthas climbed back down from the tree at this point?
Dax: Yeah. As you turn around, you see Arthas climbing back down.
Wren (as Eight): Ah, Simply Arthas! Your return is most excellent in timing. Did you see anything in the canopy?
Neil (as Arthas): It is trees for as far as I can see.
Wren (as Eight): Well, you are quite tall.
Neil (as Arthas): Hmmm.
Wren (as Eight): Well, I have a little bit of good news. I can hear something.
Neil (as Arthas): What is it?
Wren (as Eight): It’s the sound of water. And where there is water, there is usually life. And water usually flows towards a larger body of water so perhaps if we find a stream, we can use it to navigate our way out of the forest.
Neil (as Arthas): That’s a good idea.
Wren (as Eight): It was…
Wren: And I stand and I listen. Can I determine which direction the sound is coming from?
Dax: Make a Survival check. Make it at Easy difficulty, because you can hear the water.
Wren: Oh no, I’m bad at this. Let’s see, Survival checks. I actually get my Lohr’s Blessing for this, I believe. Resilience in Survival checks, yay! I get a Boost, let’s see what happens!
[sound of dice rolling]
Wren: Whee! Cool, I have a Success left over.
Dax: You can tell that the water is north of you.
Wren: North, hmm?
Dax: North and, so you’re facing west. You guys were heading west. It’s northwest.
Wren: Basically the opposite direction that Maeve’s ear is twitching.
Dax: Mhmm.
Wren: Which I don’t know, but..
Wren (as Eight): The water’s coming from the north. It’s a northerly sound, I think. My auditory senses aren’t terribly keen, but I can hear it coming from that direction.
Cole: I’m being quiet while they’re discussing all this, and I’d like to say a prayer to Baradesh. This is in my head, so no, I’m not saying anything out loud.
Cole (as Rialla): I don’t know if you’re listening to this or if you can find us in these woods. And I don’t know if you can help, but I hope you’re there. I think we could really use you right now. Merci.
Dax: When you finish your prayer, nothing comes to mind. No feeling, no thoughts, no sights. You’re blindfolded, but even behind your eyelids nothing is useful. The only thing that you know afterwards is that you slowly feel calm. Very subtle nagging feeling in the back of your mind, tells you that you’ll figure this out. Now whether that was Baradesh answering your prayer or your own faith taking hold, you’re not sure.
Cole: I’ll take it. (laughs) And I’m just quiet and still, holding Jokul’s arm.
Dax: Okay. Eight has shared that there is water to the northwest. You all were originally heading west through the forest and Arthas has said that there are no trees. So, or no exit to the trees. So, do you, are you all just going to continue west? Are you going to head towards the water? What are you guys doing?
Wren: That’s a great question. After I say the water is to the north, I stand proudly and look and see what everyone’s reactions are.
James: Since Eight was talking directions, Jokul would have also shared that Maeve is apparently hearing something to the south. So, if that has any effect on our direction at the moment.
Cole: After hearing Arthas say that they didn’t see an end to the forest, Rialla just kind of shrugs, doesn’t say anything.
Wren (as Eight): Jokul, you say Maeve hears something to the south?
James (as Jokul): Well, you were tending to Arthas. I was keeping an eye on Rialla, and animals have an extra sense towards danger. Maeve didn’t seem too disturbed about the dome and what we were experiencing, but from my experience, she was hearing something in that direction. So..
Wren (as Eight): Interesting.
James (as Jokul): We might not be the only ones out here.
Wren (as Eight): Very interesting.
Wren: I plod forward between Jokul and Rialla and I stand in front of Maeve. I look directly into their horsey eyeballs with my own, that deep black glossy wet orbs that are just in her long face. I’d like to put a hand on her muzzle, if I may.
Dax: She’s going to turn her nose away like, what, what are you doing? Why, why are you touching? Why are you touching?
Wren: The first question I would ask is: if I can’t read her mind using my brain power, can I use a utility spell to try and commune with her?
Dax: Yeah.
Wren: What difficulty would you rate that? Usually it’s easy, I imagine trying to speak with an animal is -
Dax: Hard.
Wren: Hard.
Dax: Hard difficulty.
Wren: Okay.
Dax: And upgrade it once.
Wren: So, make it uh.. two purple and a red. Gotcha. I have Arcane two yellow and a green. Cool! So, Jokul, I’ve got my hand on Maeve’s face, like on her head near the muzzle. I’m looking deeply into her long face and eyes, and you just see my eyes start to glow as I am attempting to read your horse’s thoughts. But I’m not saying anything to that effect, so..
[Wren makes noises of dismay]
Wren: I have two Success but three Threat.
Dax: You start to probe the mind of Maeve and the more you focus, the less she swivels her head. Until she is standing still and she’s staring straight at you. You notice that your fingertips begin to glow. Which is not something that normally happens.
Wren: Well that’s interesting.
Dax: And suddenly, Maeve screams.
Wren: Oooo, that’s bad.
Dax: I need you to make a Vigilance check for me at Easy difficulty.
Wren: This is really bad.
James: Is this scream audible to all of us or just..?
Dax: Oh yeah. And Jokul -
Wren: You said easy, right?
Dax: You know this noise. She is pissed.
Wren: Ooo, man. Four Success, a Threat, but a Triumph.
Dax: As she’s screaming, she rears back. You’re able to back up and shimmy quickly, just in time, as she bolts past you into the woods.
Violin chase music begins [14:07]
Wren: Oh. Did I get any horse thoughts, before you did that?
Dax: Nope.
Wren (as Eight): Oh dear.
James: How fast is Maeve escaping?
Dax: She is galloping. She is bolting as fast as she can go.
Neil: I go after the horse.
Dax: Alright, dashing after the horse. Anybody else?
James: Can Jokul use his, what is it? What did we change the name to? Shadow Jump basically, onto her back before she can get too far away?
Dax: I will say that you can dash up closer, but you’re not going to be able to get on her back.
James: I can’t get on her back because I can’t get close enough or I just can’t?
Dax: You can’t get close enough.
James: Ah, okay. Yeah, I’ll do that to basically close the distance because she’s a warhorse. She can out-sprint any of us and if she’s going full gallop..
Dax: You all see Maeve bolt after making that obnoxious scream that horses do when they are pissed and terrified. Eight is standing there in shock. Jokul, in a blink of an eye, *phoom*, is instead of standing next to Rialla, 30 feet ahead. He’s now, I’m guessing, running after Maeve?
James: Yep -
Dax: With Arthas?
James: Hit the ground running, just trying to get ahold of her reins or calm her down basically.
Dax: You and Arthas are running, Rialla and Eight, are you just standing there?
Cole: I, yeah? I don’t, I wouldn’t be able to catch up. (laughter) Shit, they’re both faster than me. So..
Dax: Then we will say that this scene is going to be just for Jokul and Arthas then. So, the two of you are running. I need you both to make me an Athletics check with Medium difficulty.
Neil: One Success.
James: I have two Success.
Neil: Nice.
Dax: Jokul, you’re able to catch up to where Arthas was, and as the two of you are running, Arthas. At first you start to gain ahead, your legs are much longer, you’re able to take longer strides. And you almost feel like you can reach out and touch Maeve. Then, she turns to you and her eyes are stark white. She is terrified, and she makes another push forward. And manages to run out of your reach. Jokul, you’re running up on the other side of her and you’re doing your damnedest to keep up with Arthas. You can feel the wind rushing over your face and your skin and through your hair, as you’re pushing farther and farther ahead. With each step, you are getting close to Maeve. I need each of you to make me another Athletics check.
James: Out of curiosity, I’m still side-by-side with Arthas, right?
Dax: Yeah.
James: Can Arthas throw Jokul?
Dax: I mean, that would have to be something that you would have to ask in game.
James: I mean, the size difference is..
[James laughs]
Neil: I can certainly try.
James: Like, I’m not sure if that will improve the situation at all, but…
Dax: Well you two are running side by side. Show us what this look like.
James: Yeah. Jokul’s running alongside Arthas, and obviously he’s either, I don’t know how Arthas runs but it would be like. Well, Arthas is throwing his arms back and forth, he can just reach up and “yoink” on to Arthas’s arm, and just be like,
James (as Jokul): Throw me!
Dax: Are you telling me you’re going to reach up, while you’re running, and try to climb onto Arthas?
James: Yeah! Just like -
Dax: Is that what you just said?
James: Like, Arthas is just swinging an arm back and forth while running, at least I imagine so, if he’s doing a sprint. Just be like, I’m just gonna grab onto that. Like grab onto his forearm and just like pull himself onto Arthas’s forearm.
Dax: This a Story Point thing you want to flip and try and do?
James: Sure, why not? We haven’t used any of those in a while.
Dax: Okay. So flip a Story Point and I’ll say that as you’re running, you reach up. You grab hold of some of his armor and you manage to climb up onto his side, or his back, rather. And you say, “Arthas, toss me”. Now Arthas, what is your reaction to this? Suddenly you have Jokul climbing on to your back, while you’re trying to run and chase after Jokul’s horse.
Neil: I hear the part of the idea to throw him and am immediately already on it.
Dax: Make me a Coordination check.
[James laughs]
Neil: Oh geez.
Dax: At Medium difficulty.
James: I’m going to get my ass flung face first into a tree. Just…*blap!*
Neil: That’s a Success, oh no it’s not. That’s the.. that’s the bad success.
James: That’s the Threat? I thought you had more for Athletics.
Neil: Oh, no. For Coordination, I just have the one. Oh, I’m very good at the Athletics.
Dax: I’ll say because this was, this was more just to try and get Jokul into position. I’ll say you try to get him off your back, but it’s kind of in that weird spot where, especially while you’re running? You can’t really reach, and for a while you’re just running with Jokul on your back. Kind of like you’re giving him a piggy-back, a little bit.
James: I was going to say, at least Jokul weighs next to nothing compared to Arthas, so..
[James chuckles]
Neil: Yeah.
James: He’s not slowing him down.
Dax: I do need you, Arthas, to make me an Athletics check real quick? See how close you can get to Maeve.
Neil: I’m on it. Difficulty?
Dax: Medium difficulty this time.
Neil: Three Successes and a Disadvantage.
Dax: You’re going to take a Strain for that Threat, between carrying Jokul and also keeping up this run for as long as you have been. But otherwise, with the Successes, you do manage to get a lot closer. If you want to try and toss Jokul again, this time you can make an Athletics check.
Neil: Alright, I’m on it. What’s the difficulty?
Dax: This one will be a Hard difficulty, because you’re starting to wear down.
Neil: Two Successes and two Threat.
Dax: So you are able to toss Jokul but as you do.. you do stumble a little bit and you’re going to take another two Strain. Jokul, I need you to make me an Athletics check with Hard difficulty, as you’re being thrown from this Giant-kin towards your galloping horse. I will give you a Boost for this.
James: Mid-flight, Jokul’s like ‘maybe this wasn’t a good idea’. Three Success, two Threat.
Dax: Okay. Take two Strain, and I’m going to say with those Successes, you do manage to land on Maeve. It’s not graceful, but you do manage to land on her. So what are your next steps?
James: My next goal would be basically to, basically get her reins and comfort her. Slow her down like...this, she’s a warhorse. So, I can’t imagine she’s easily spooked. So, trying to talk her down to a normal comfort level.
Music shifts to melancholy flute [20:47]
Dax: And you have Animal Handling, right?
James: I do. I have the Let’s Ride and Knack for Riding, so, technically those would be my Animal Handling?
Dax: Go ahead and make me a Riding check at Hard difficulty.
James: Well, I have one Advantage. Everything else canceled out.
Dax: So, you land on top of Maeve and you are grappling for the reins. You manage to get a hold of them but you can’t really do anything else yet at this point in time.
James: That’s plenty. I’m grabbing on, that’s a step in the right direction.
Dax: Arthas, what about you? You’ve now launched Jokul, he’s managed to make it onto the horse. What are you doing?
Neil: I’ve done my job. I’m going to take a breather, because I’ve been running at a full sprint for a hot minute. And I just threw a man.
Dax: Rialla, Eight. What are you two doing? You’ve seen Jokul and Arthas chase after Maeve, and you can no longer see them.
Wren: I’m standing there with my hand still, I’m looking intently at the hand that I had placed on Maeve’s face and I turn to Rialla.
Wren (as Eight): I was simply trying to probe her mind. I do not understand.
Cole (as Rialla): Magic doesn’t work in this forest. We can’t be using it. It’s dangerous.
Wren (as Eight): Magic? I don’t understand.
Wren: Eight’s eyes are almost blue actually. And as they look up at Rialla from their hand, they just say,
Wren (as Eight): I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.
Wren: And they look back down and just kind of sit on the forest floor and wait.
Cole: She’s still blindfolded. She’ll slowly go towards where she heard Eight’s voice and sit down near them and hold out her hand for Eight to take.
Wren: After a little bit of time, probably, to notice that would be a hot moment before they recognize you’re holding your hand out. They’ll just grab it with their hand they didn’t use with the magic, and just keep repeating,
Wren (as Eight): I’m so sorry.
Cole (as Rialla): It’s okay. Jokul’s very good with her. We definitely wouldn’t be able to keep up. I do think that if they’re not back soon, we do need to go try to find them. It’s okay.
Cole: Rialla gives her hand a squeeze and her hands are shaking.
Wren: That’s about all I’m going to be doing.
Cole: Yeah, Rialla and Eight sit and I think, if they’re not back in 10-15 minutes, 20?
Wren: Ooo, I’d say maybe 10.
Cole: Yeah, 10 minutes we head out after them.
Wren: Yeah.
James: At the speed Arthas was moving, yeah, you got some decent footprints to follow.
Cole: God I hope so.
Dax: Make me another Riding check. I’m going to give you Medium difficulty with a Boost. You’ve got hold of the reins.
James: I have a Triumph, two Advantages, and a Success.
Dax: So you manage to pull back on the reins. It takes you a few minutes, but you are able to calm Maeve down. Once she has stopped bucking and fighting you, she’s now breathing heavy from the exertion. She’s got her head low and..(imitates a horse snort)..snorting.
James: Once she’s stopped, he’ll rub her neck, talk to her. Make sure she knows it’s him. He would get off her back and basically, he saw Eight touch her face so that would be his go-to spot. Like, is something wrong with her face? What happened?
Dax: She’s got nothing, no marks. Her eyes are no longer wide and white. She now looks much calmer.
James: He’ll just sit there, calm the horse, just equally trying to calm her as trying to calm himself. Because if something happened to her, Jokul would just have a meltdown. He’s just standing there like, ‘my horse’.
Dax: So you’ve got your head up against hers, I’m guessing? Touching the side of her neck, making sure that she’s actually really there.
James: Yeah. Making sure she’s okay.
Dax: Arthas, you see this as you’re taking a breather. You see that Jokul manages to calm Maeve down. He’s now off the horse, and the horse is standing there, letting him touch her.
James: After a couple of minutes of both of them standing still, he’ll rub her nose, pull like a carrot, I don’t know, horse treat, from the saddlebags. Give it to her and then just slowly start walking back towards Arthas.
Neil: I right myself, and turn on my heel and start heading back towards the party. As I assume they’re pretty worried.
James: Jokul will give Arthas a high-five for like,
James (as Jokul): Nice throw.
Neil: Art doesn’t understand the gesture but tries to reciprocate.
James: I guess he’d go thumbs-up, since we’ve already..
Neil: Yeah, just -
James: Established thumbs-up means good. Not a high-five, then.
Neil: Precisely.
Dax: So you’re walking back and Jokul, after that first treat and your walking, you feel Maeve actually nudging your arm and sniffing among your packs, looking for another one.
James: He’ll resist giving her one, just like comfort her some more but no treats.
Dax: All you hear is (imitates upset horse noise). Rialla and Eight, you see in the distance Jokul and Arthas slowly walking back towards you with Maeve in tow.
Wren: Seeing them come back, I stand up and I set about paying needless attention to Bessie and staying, doing my best to not meet anyone else’s eyes at this point. So, I’m like, just hovered over Bessie and crouched over, just getting ready for her to continue onward with me.
James: Out of curiosity, what direction did we just run? How far did we get?
Dax: You probably would have gone well out of eyesight. Given the density of the forest, I’d say less than a mile. Maybe a little more. But the forest is pretty thick. You would have had to have done a lot of weaving.
James: Yeah.
Dax: It would have been easy for Rialla and Eight to lose sight of you.
James: What direction did we run? Because we, Eight was talking about going…west? So, I’m wondering if Maeve ran away from something? Or if some other factor was picked up on. Was she booking away from?
Dax: She bolted straight west.
James: Okay.
Dax: Yeah, because that’s where she was facing. She just bolted straight past Eight.
Cole (as Rialla): Are you okay?
James (as Jokul): We’re fine.
Cole: I’ll go over to them both, and I’m checking them.
James (as Jokul): No harm that I can see. She just got spooked. Which is highly unusual. Nothing has spooked her quite that badly since she was quite young. I wonder if it’s something in the air or just about this forest.
Cole: Rialla won’t say anything to that but pat her, give her gentle pets. And I’m holding Jokul’s hand.
Dax: Rialla, you feel Maeve doing that mouthing thing that horses do -
Cole: Stop that!
Dax: On your hand, and it’s nice and warm and wet and she’s (imitates soft horse noise). You see her start to nuzzle around your waist where, and your backpack to see if she can maybe nuzzle some treats and find something good.
Cole: I force her head up and just scratch her behind the ear. Just,
Cole (as Rialla): No!
Cole: Pet, pet, pet. Then after that, I’ll go over to Arthas.
Cole (as Rialla): Are you alright as well?
Neil: Arthas just gives a thumbs-up.
Cole: Does he look okay?
Neil: Yeah, I’m just winded.
Cole: And there was no, no actual burns or anything from that dome, right?
Neil: No.
Cole: Okay.
Cole (as Rialla): We should keep moving.
James (as Jokul): Agreed. I don’t want to be here any longer.
Cole (as Rialla): Neither do I. Arthas, when you, you said you couldn’t see. When you climbed up the tree there, you don’t know which way the end is?
Neil (as Arthas): Correct. Forest as far as I can see.
Cole (as Rialla): Oh god.
James (as Jokul): At least it’s not a desert.
Neil (as Arthas): Mhmm.
Wren: I am talking to Bessie, very loudly.
Dax: What are you saying?
Wren (as Eight): Bessie. Now that everyone is back, I think we should head towards the water. Do you not think north sounds good, Bessie? Let’s go.
Wren: And I will start heading north. Making a pointed effort not to look at anyone else’s face.
Cole (as Rialla): Eight, where are you going?
Wren (as Eight): Bessie and I are headed north. Water is this direction.
Cole (as Rialla): Why are you starting to walk alone?
Wren (as Eight): I am not. Bessie is with me.
Cole: I’ll walk over to Eight.
James: You still blindfolded?
Cole: Yeah, but I kind of used to walk around like this, so I think I can follow your voice.
Wren: Okay.
Cole: But when I do get over to you, I’ll lift it up so that I can look at your face, into your eyes.
Wren: I will not look at you.
Cole: I take your hands.
Cole (as Rialla): Eight. Can you look at me please?
Wren (as Eight): We must continue moving.
Cole (as Rialla): Eight. It’s okay. I promise it’s okay.
Wren (as Eight): We must continue moving.
Cole: I hug Eight.
Wren: I continue moving.
Cole: Do you just plow me over?
Wren: No, it’s more like, you could be wrapped around me but I’m still moving with you wrapped around me.
Cole: I’m trying to not let that happen! (laughs) Like ‘no, wait’.
Cole (as Rialla): Eight, wait!
Wren (as Eight): Rialla, if you would like a ride, I can carry you.
Cole (as Rialla): Just, can you please come back to the group?
Wren (as Eight): I do not want to hurt anyone.
Cole (as Rialla): You’re not going to hurt anyone. You saw what happened with my Barrier, you didn’t know. This forest is strange and you are not safe alone. And we don’t want you to be alone. Come with us?
Wren (as Eight): What direction do you suggest we go?
Cole: I turn back to Arthas and Jokul.
Cole (as Rialla): Should we, what direction do you think we should head in?
James (as Jokul): Water is always a good source. Plus, if this strange forest is so devoid of life, we might find inhabitants near water?
Cole (as Rialla): Okay. North it is then.
Dax: And as our intrepid party heads north, towards where Eight says the sound of water is, we are going to end our session. And perhaps the next time we check in on Rialla and Jokul, Eight and Arthas, we’ll have found answers and an escape.
Music fades out [32:18]
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, using the Genesys Roleplaying System published by Fantasy Flight Games. You can follow me on Twitter @GM_Dax.
Jokul Genhorn is played by James and Arthas, Champion of Offam is played by Neil.
Rialla Lenoir is played by Cole, follow them on Twitter @ColeMorreale and check out their art.
Eight is played by Wren, who also composed the music for our opening theme, follow them on Twitter @ThornyDryad.