[00:00:05] Speaker A: You are listening to an atomic broadcasting production, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the feature presentation. And remember, do your part, such as like comment rate, and don't forget to tell a friend to tune in for an atomic time.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Our story begins with a band of strangers brought together in one group for what started as a simple job. Local miners in the town of Copperberg had broken through a wall into a natural cave formation full of strange objects and designs. Rather than risk their own lives investigating this vault, the mine administration hired a group of researchers from out of town to investigate. The group would also serve to settle a land dispute between two mining companies who both claimed the land the Copperberg at mining company and the infernal mining company. The researchers, in turn, hired a group of doughty adventurers to take the brunt of the risk. These adventurers were the half elf Alward Volden, a reserved former accountant for the infernal mining company and developing psychic the human Hamir Helvig, a retired veteran of the shining crusade and thomaturge fetchling Zafir, a mysterious assassin and self taught magus the dwarf uber Sturkvind, ancient dwarven scholar and wizard and the fetchling neros, a sorceress and prankster, but a partier foremost. After some minor delays, the party arrived at the Copperberg at mine. Following the direction of the foreman dolphin, the party quickly demonstrated their worth by dispatching a trio of giant centipedes barring their way into the mine. Once they reached the hole the miners dug, our heroes were given the dubious honor of being the first to step into the mysterious cave to ensure it was safe for the researchers. Inside, our heroes were stunned to find a set of modest furniture scaled up to nearly twice the size of that of normal furniture, ancient illegible scrolls and writing a statue of a large, hunched creature with a bulbous nose and, strangest of all, undecipherable runes etched all across the walls. These runes were most intriguing to Uvr, who revealed that he had mysterious scarring across his whole body. That seemed to be the same writing. Uber had been questing to find the cause of these runes that had etched themselves onto his skin many years ago. As the group investigated the room, they soon found that anyone who ventured too close to the northern side of the room where the statue sat was soon overcome by an intense but vague sorrow. Hamir was unaffected by this strange, sad aura and found an ornate helmet sitting on the ground in front of the statue. Hamir slipped the helmet into his pouch out of idle curiosity, but none of the others seemed to notice. They had little time to ponder on these mysteries, however, as they soon came under attack by a small scouting party of Dwargar who had happened upon the researchers waiting outside. Again proving their worth, the party neutralized the dwargar and their giant spider. Taking one of these deep dwarves prisoner, they argued briefly over what to do with this prisoner before Zephyr subtly killed him himself, his only witness being Hamir, who held his peace. The next morning, the head of the research team, Salazar Wells, hired the party to collect some research materials from the local city. Joel while they weren't contractually obligated to do so, Salazar implied if they should find time to stop by a forgotten vault of hidden knowledge secreted underneath the abandoned coliseum, well, he would be very appreciative. The thought of the knowledge they might find themselves in the vault intrigued our heroes, and they accepted. They also doubled up on jobs by allowing a young man by the name of Sigmund Eridson to travel along with them for a small fee. Along the way, the party encountered an obvious ambush of burglars, who were quickly dissuaded from their attempted burglary by a highly effective charm spell cast by Neros, and the group passed by unharmed. Back in Joel, the group made a quick stop to collect the basic supplies needed by the team and send them back to Copperbergit before venturing into the abandoned coliseum to search for a way into the ancient vaults of the city of Torinday. After navigating the newer ruins above and defeating a choker, a tetzelworm, and a closet full of flaming brooms, our heroes found a crumbled portion of the floor leading below into the ancient subterranean vault of a wizard lost long since before starfall. As soon as they entered, however, the party realized they were not the first to venture into these ancient halls. Glow in the dark vision chalk of the sort used by dwarven scouts and miners marked areas of danger and traps with hurried notes scrawled and dwarven advising the safest way forward. As they puzzled over these markings and over the vintage alchemical tools in the main chamber, our heroes were ambushed by a gelatinous cube. The slime quickly engulfed uvair, and even as its enzymes began to assault the dwarf within, the remainder of the group assailed it from without and managed to destroy the slime and rescue Uvair before his breath gave out. With this threat out of the way, our heroes made straight for the library that they had been seeking, only to find that the mysterious dwarven explorer they had been following, had visited the library, too, and left behind a large collection of his research materials. Examining the materials, Alward was able to deduce that the dwarven explorer had been none other than Uvr himself. Although the dwarven wizard had no memory of this excursion. Perturbed by this memory loss, Uvr agreed to allow Hamir to attempt to venture into his mindscape and search for the missing memories. As the two sunk into a meditative stupor, Alward noticed a door on the far side of the room that was inexplicably open. Before anyone had much of a chance to react, however, an unnatural stalker that had been haunting zafir for years now appeared fully in the room with them. A gaunt, humanoid form out of a child's nightmare. The figure taunted Zafir and his friends, likening them to harmless prey and promising that he would be back later. Concerned about how far the creature might take things now, Alward rushed to waken Uver and Hamir. Meanwhile, in the mindscape, Uvair and Hamir had had little success in locating the dwarf's missing memories. Between memories of unresolved trauma and sheltering and cozier recollections, the only things of substance they were able to learn is that Uvair was not merely struggling to remember these events. UvR's missing memories seemed to not merely be forgotten, but removed from his mind entirely. Before leaving Hamir's mind, Uber caught a glimpse of an otherworldly entity, gaunt but strong, chained to 13 ghosts that seemed to hold it just barely at bay. Realizing they would learn little more in this mindscape now, Uvair and Hamir broke their connection and woke again in the real world. Just as Alward was beginning to shake them awake again. Just as quickly, the unnatural stalker disappeared into the shadows of the vault, leaving our heroes alone again and with the opportunity to compare notes, an opportunity none of them seemed eager to take. Each kept their experiences to themselves, with a silent agreement to never discuss either what they had learned in the minescape or what they had seen in the real world. With the adventures of the Vault behind them and the information Salazar had requested. Safely collected in their packs, the party returned above ground once more, only to be accosted by a group of robed cultists who fell upon the group, attempting to reclaim a helmet from them. After a brief battle, the party defeated all their assailants except their leader, who left before the battle commenced, his identity still shrouded by his cloak. The party kept one of the cultists alive and attempted to question him, but he was staunchly tight lipped and only gained commitment to remain silent. The more the party questioned him. The party learned little aside from the fact that this cult was primarily comprised of the descendants of an ancient king, Aarod, whom the cultist claimed was still alive and would soon return to reclaim his throne. Frustrated at the lack of results, Hamir seemed overcome by a strange, otherworldly power and chopped off the cultist's hand. The party quickly used a heel scroll to staunch the bleeding and turned the cultist over to the guard. The party then split up to pursue their own projects. Nero stopped by the library and asked the librarian if she'd been able to scrounge up any information on her project. A search for details about her lost family who had left her at an orphanage in her infancy. The librarian said that she hadn't found any information on the family crest Neros had shown her and that it almost seemed to be completely removed. Somehow, Hamir had salvaged a head from one of the fallen cultists and began attempting to force a magical interaction from the helmet he had taken from the cavern. Alward and Zafir went to Alward's family house for the evening, where Zafir endeared himself to Alward's younger sister, Lena, and ailing mother, Valia. Meanwhile, Uver had tailed the guard, who took their prisoner into custody and began a stakeout of the jailhouse. Not long into the stakeout, however, Hamir arrived, demanding the wizard's assistance. Investigating the helmet. Uvair examined the helmet, but was able to learn very little beyond the fact that the helmet had a faint aura of conjuration magic that might allow it to move on its own. In an effort to learn more about this helmet, Uvair placed it on his head and immediately began to feel a burning sensation along the runes scarred into his skin. Reflexively, Uvr tore the helmet off, and the sensation quickly faded. The pair decided not to press their luck any further and to regroup with the rest of the team before trying anything else. As the evening wore on, Zafir decided not to impose on Alward's family any longer and began back towards the tavern. Before he got far, however, he was stopped by a shady man who had a job for Zafir. He wanted the cultist. The group had just turned in to be eliminated. Zafir hesitantly accepted the job and changed course to the jail. He initially had planned to merely scout the location that night, but plans changed when he encountered Hamir outside the jail, who had been drawn there in an unexplained trance like state. The two broke into the jail and began a second attempt to interrogate the cultist. After finding him even less talkative than before, Zafir and Hamir executed the cultist and disposed of the body. In the aftermath of the job, Hamir revealed to Zafir that he was looking for his daughter, who disappeared from his home two years ago. He offered to pay Zafir should he be able to track her down. The following morning, the group reconvened to discuss their next steps. Zafir, Neros, and Uber stayed behind in the tavern and discussed what they had learned about the helmet and this cult of Aarid. Zephyr, who had spoken with his shady contact and learned that the underground was spreading rumors of an upcoming disaster, asked the others if they would be willing to help him find the cause of this and forestall it. Meanwhile, Alward and Hamir stopped by the library to look into the history of Aarid and his lineage. The two share a connection. Realizing that Hamir had served with Alward's father, Cadriel, Hamir revealed that his comrade in arms had been seized with a sort of madness. When his troop found his chalice, Hamir struck down Alward's father, ostensibly in self defense. Enraged at this revelation, Alward lashed out at Hamir with his mind, the two becoming locked in a psychic duel. Hamir narrowly winning the duel carried the now unconscious Alward back to his family. As this was happening, Uvair remembered a friend of his in the area, Seirdyre, an elf who studied these relics and histories. He, Neros, and Zephyr dropped by for his assistance and learned that Uvair had been experiencing memory issues before and had even spoken to Sirdire about it previously. As they were beginning to leave, Neros asked Sirdyre if he knew anything about her family or could recognize the family seal on the letter left with her when she was dropped off at the orphanage. Sirdyer again had little information to spare, but did admit that Nero seemed familiar. Inspired by this, Nero showed her prized locket to Uver, who saw a familial portrait presumably depicting Neros'parents. But the face of the man was blurred out and missing. Zafir also couldn't see the man's face, but Neros could clearly make it out. Back at the Voldon's house, Hamir remained until Alward woke to ensure he was unharmed. Once Alward woke, Hamir explained his connection to Cadriel, to Alward's mother, who broke down into tears. Alward demanded that Hamir leave Hamir upon leaving the house regrouped with the others. Together, they returned to the Volden house to discuss what they had learned. With the current threat facing Joel, the party felt it was their responsibility to look into these rumors and ensure Joel's safety. Alward agreed to assist on the condition that the party helped him move his family to Tomgrove until the situation in Joel was secured. The party decided first to stop by Copperberg it to collect their pay and settle the land dispute. On their way there, the party encountered a strangely artistic ice golem that was methodically setting up rocks in a line down the hill. As they approached this line of stones, the golem became hostile, and the party quickly dispatched it. After safely making it to Copperberg it the group examined a small gemstone. Alward was gifted by the head inventor at the Copperbergit mining company. With their recent experiences and combined investigation, the group deduced that the gemstone was a small self renewing battery, likely behind the technologically advanced golems that guarded the mine there. While they were in town, Alward and Uvair returned to the cavern that they had originally investigated. At the beginning of our tale, Alward attempted to use an enchanted translation book inherited from his father to decipher the runes in the cave, but the book refused to reveal anything. Alward then attempted to meet with the donor of the strange gemstone, the inventor Bran, but he was unavailable and couldn't see them gathering together. Foreman Dolvin as a representative of the Copperberg at mine, and Sithri Chals as a representative of the infernal mining company. Alward announced his decision that the territory of the cave belonged to the Copperbergit mining company. Alward laid out his case and documentation and was able to sway Sithri to agree with his case. With these tasks marked off their to do list, the group made their way back to Tomgrove. They had only just settled Alward's family into Hamer's house there when a stranger dropped by. The stranger turned out to be a guardsman loyal to the king, who was concerned about the political overreach of the infernal mining company. He revealed that there was to be a public execution scheduled for later that day. The victim was to be Trov, an old friend of Haymir's, putting together a haphazard rescue. The party intervened, and their plan would have gone off without a hitch if it weren't for the unexpected arrival of an assassin. Boots. This halfling assassin, presumably hired by the Aridsen family to eliminate them, fired poisoned arrows down on their rescue attempt from a rooftop. However, the party was able to evade the volley, get Trov to safety, and defeat the assassin. After this, the party regrouped to question Trov about their recent quandaries. Trov, a man of many connections, advised the heroes that the disastrous deadline they had heard rumors of was actually the date of an upcoming meeting of the Aeridsen family. This family was purportedly elbow deep in organized crime in the area. What was more, there were rumors that a big announcement was planned for the evening. If the Aeridsons were gathering together all the important members of their crime ring in one place, it certainly couldn't mean anything good for the people of Joel. Having obtained the details of the location and time of the event, the party fell to preparations to infiltrate the event and learn what this important development was and hopefully why the family was so set on finding the strange helmet. While forging invitations and fake names for the event, Alward learned of Neros'letter from her parents and offered to read the psychometric resonance imbued in the letter. To both of their surprise, he saw a flash of a memory of his own father penning the letter. With this information, the pair confronted Valia. She confessed that Alward's father had actually been an adventurer in his younger years and theorized that Neros'parents may have been part of the adventuring party he had traveled with. Velia mentioned that while she didn't know the names of any of these adventurers, she knew that there had been a couple, a dwarf, and two others. Uber, overhearing this conversation, theorized that he may have been the dwarf in that group. Unfortunately, Velia wasn't able to confirm any of these theories, as she claimed that Cadriel had tried to keep his adventuring life separate from his home life. With all these complications arising, Hamir decided he had had enough and began preparations to leave the party and search for his daughter alone. Alward confronted Hamir and challenged him to stay and help them resolve these issues, but Hamir insisted that all he cared about was finding his daughter. Although Alward could not convince Hamir to stay, Zafir stopped Hamir on his way out of town and informed him that his daughter had been seen in Joel. Hamir reluctantly agreed to continue with the group, at least as far as Joel, while their paths still converged, on one condition, that Zafir duel him in the secret fighting ring. With magic out of the equation. Hamir's superior strength and reflexes carried him through, and he laid Zafir flat out. Their preparations complete, the party arrived at the Aeds and family ball, fake names and masquerade masks ready to conceal their identities. Once inside, they split up and began investigating for any information that might reveal the family's intentions. Hamir overheard that one of the family leaders, an enchantress named Datha, had been seen speaking with a young woman that matched the description of his daughter. After finding out that she was likely on the third floor working on some project, Hemir enlisted the aid of neros to distract the guard posted at the stairs while he stealthed up to speak with her. He quickly found what appeared to be the enchantress's workroom, currently vacant, and hid himself in a closet to await her return. Meanwhile, Alward had entered the library and was looking for any information of use when he noticed a masked woman speak to each other, occupant of the room in turn, who themselves began to subtly excuse themselves from the library. Alward decided to casually follow suit before he was left alone in the library. Uvair, unaware of this strange behavior, slipped into the library looking for Alward just as the last other occupant left. Now alone in the library, Uvair began looking into an extensive collection of books regarding King Aerid and the Aeridsen family. Zephyr, hearing from Alward about the stranged masked woman and the others leaving the library, went to warn Uvair and opened the door of the library just in time to see a gargoyle drop from the ceiling and attack the dwarf. The two fended off the gargoyle and retreated to the safety of the main hall, the gargoyle seemingly unwilling to follow them into a space with witnesses. Neros and the guard, who had now been dubbed gwibs for his impressive biceps, were standing close by, and gwibs noticed this disturbance. He broke off from Neros and intended to investigate the library, but Neros, concerned for his safety, distracted him with a kiss. Meanwhile, back upstairs, Hamir was just getting tired of waiting for Daetha when she entered the room, accompanied by two masked women, one of whom was the same woman who had directed the other partygoers to leave the library. Foregoing all subtlety, Hamir stepped out from his hiding place and addressed Datha directly. Rather than reacting in fear or anger, data greeted Hamir cordially and entertained his questions, particularly those regarding his daughter. She confirmed that she had spoken with Hertha and had directed her towards Sojourner's rest in the grungir forest. When pressed as to what Hertha was looking for, Daitha refused to offer any further details. Back downstairs, Alward, Zafir and Uvair reconvened and surmised that their presence and identities were known, at least by a select few, but they were not yet ousted or outright expelled. While they were discussing how best to proceed, they were interrupted by the beginning of the grand announcement. An old woman known as Mother, seemingly the leader of the group, greeted the assembled family members and announced that they had made a great leap of progress. They had recovered the head of the king. With this announcement, they unveiled the strange helmet which the group had thus far been keeping out of the family's possession. It was presented by none other than the man their group had escorted to Joel near the beginning of their tale, Sigmund Ayeridson. With this announcement, Mother warned that their new world order would soon take effect and that each one of them should be ready at short notice to rise up and fight for their returning king. After the announcement was finished, Mother returned upstairs. Before the party had time to discuss, they each received a mental message from Daetha requesting their presence on the third floor. Heading upstairs, the party minus Hamir hid around a corner and overheard a secret meeting of the heads of the family. Mother Brenger the Wolfskin warrior Ilva the Green speaker Hodi the Faey blooded Audir the patron ordphus the zealot the twins Siggy and Svelta and Saito the king's shield. The bulk of the meeting consisted of a roll call and a cryptic status update of the projects each were working on in preparation for the king's return. After this cursory beginning, Svelta was dismissed to her room on the pretense of getting a shawl to ward off the cold. Moving quickly, Zafir intercepted the girl and was accidentally shut into her room with her. Zafir started a casual conversation with her before accidentally setting her on edge by mentioning the helmet. Zafir began feeling out how much Svelda knew about the truth of the situation, getting a sense that she was aware that she was being left out of the most important elements of the meeting. Outside, feeling threatened, Svelta cast a magical darkness over the room. Meanwhile, Siggy was suspicious about how long Svelta had been away and went to check on her. Alward, attempting to warn Zafir, rushed into the room from a side door, but only succeeded in joining Zafir. Just as Siggy entered the room to challenge him, weapon in hand, Alward and Zafir attempted to talk him down, but Siggy was adamant the two were not welcome at the party and began attempting to question them. The two were flippant and uncooperative, so Siggy offered an ultimatum, surrender or draw their weapons. Alward and Zafir opted for surrender, but convinced Sigi to confine them to Svelta's room until the party goers had dispersed to preserve the family's public image of having things under control. While Siggy was escorting Svelta back to the rest of the meeting, Uvair and Nero snuck into Svelta's room and unbound Alward and Zafir. Realizing their cover was blown and the operation was a bust, they decided to leave the manor while they had the chance. The group navigated to the northern corner of the building to evade notice, planning to let themselves down out of a window, but soon found themselves in Datha's workshop. They found no sign of Hamir, but found dozens of shards of gemstones that matched Alward's sphere and books full of research and notes regarding her experimentation with these gemstones. The party nabbed what they could before Daetha arrived, revealing her intentions to subdue the party and gain standing among the family. Two gargoyles, like the one that attacked Uvair in the library, dropped down from the ceiling, this putting the party in dire straits. Still being down one team member with Hamir missing. Seeing no other options, the party decided to vacate through the windows and escape. But before Zafir could get to a window, he dropped to the ground, seemingly under the effects of a sleeping spell. As the gargoyles leapt out the window to follow, Datha leaned out the window to hurl spells on the fleeing adventurers. Zafir himself leapt up from the floor, unaffected by the spell, and shoved Datha out the window, fighting for their lives. The party pressed back hard against Datha and were able to defeat her, but not before she cast a spell on Zafir, causing him to have a premonition of his own death at the hands of his unnerving stalker. Their enemies dispatched, and Zafir recovered. The group disappeared into the night, successfully escaping the manor, but still no idea of where Hamir might be. The last thing we see is a shot of the carriage house, the rented horse and carriage the party had used now missing.
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