“Confusical Statues”
In our eleventh episode, we join the group as they leave The Buttercup Boarding House to make their way to the city of Khern. Going by the markings left of the half torn map, Decker requests Zagreus’s assistance in finding her friend, ‘Angie’. Fuelled by Decker’s need to find her friend and the need to understand why the wayposts’ are being targeted, the accomplices continue the journey to Khern.
Upon arriving at the gates of the city, the group is greeted with the infamous ‘Illume Saturnalia’, a popular carnival that spends its year travelling around Eutrea. After a brief conversation with the owner, Nadya Zinfi, the party decided to come back to offer some help later.
Through the iron gates lay the Dwarvish city of Khern. They discover a large city built into an ancient quarry in two oval shaped rings, with the entrance to the mines in the centre of the lowest ring. Talking a walk through the city, numerous interesting places waited to be discovered. As the group were taking in the sights of the new city, they happened to overhear a conversation between two dwarves; a Mr Ironhide, the Alderman and a halfling; one, Mr Elvellon. The conversation appears to be heated as the group hears an argument about whether the mines should be re-opened or not. The Alderman suggests that the opposing views are expressed at a meeting about the very same matter taking place in the city hall in a few days time.
As the evening creeps in, the group finds their way to a tavern for some much needed rest from the day’s travel. Believing that they will be able to find out some more about an attempted break-in at The Mirth Mill, the party head to this well-known tavern. The evening unfolds into chaos, as William and Caithe try their hand at gambling and the whole group join in with ‘Confusical Statues’, a strange and unusual drinking game. As the party finally heads upstairs for a long rest Zagreus, Ever, William, Caithe and Decker all experienced first hand how The Mirth Mill lived up to its namesake.
The Dragon’s Vale | 11 | ”Confusical Statues” – The Dragon‘s Vale Podcast
In the episode…
Before you lies the massive expanse of an ancient Dwarvish quarry. From the balcony you see a city that spirals its way into the ground. One long continuous road curves its way around in what looks like a double oval crater, although it’s partially out of your view currently. The row of the buildings that line the road on your left are tall and narrow with long rectangle windows, encased in a black lead. The buildings on the right have no entrances and peering over the balcony, you can see they stretch up from the road below you, tall and rectangular.
Although each building is made from stone, the fascias and roof gables are highly decorative, carved in intricate knotworks and images depicting who or what the building is used for. Each building front is painted in different earth colours owing to the oxides and ores that make such exports of Khern popular and you can see buildings of tans, russets, blacks, greens and blues – many of the doors adorned with hardwear of different metals.
“Confusical Statues” | Episode 11 | The Dragon’s Vale
Sounds featured in this episode
- Stream Countdown (Intro & Outro) by Alexander Nakarada – https://www.patreon.com/anakarada/
- Adventure by Alexander Nakarada
- Fantasy Ambiance by Alexander Nakarada
- Sailors Tavern by Nucky44 – https://crowds.ambient-mixer.com/sailors-tavern
- List of audio files used:
- Pub Chatting* by http://freesound.org +)
- Beast Growl by https://www.freesound.org/people/Jaylew1987/ +)
- creaky chair by internet
- drinking from bottle by jlcwoodhead from http://freesound.org +)
- cards-being-shuffled by NoiseCollector from http://freesound.org +)
- Pub Czech by ondodvo from http://freesound.org +)
- tavern flute by Zanzarah +)
- +) Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License
Amsterdam is the inspiration for Khern’s aesthetic. Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash.
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