Dicey Stories

Tric and Heppa gain further insight into forbidden magic and the corruption that the woses can sense in the Grey Woods.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

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Cleve, Mariah, and Takuto explore a Progenitor wreck.

This is the first real look we have at Progenitor technology and design. In the Sid Meier’s Alien Crossfire expansion, these aliens have lost some of their technology and are relatively peers with the human factions. On our Chiron, however, we only see ruins.

To design this little prison block, I worked backward. I wanted Progenitors to be relatively large yet not just big humans. I took inspiration not only from the video game, but also from the Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, Childhood’s End. They will likely remain mysterious for some time; how big a role they play in the overall campaign is yet to be seen.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

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Ulf introduces Tric and Heppa to Gaenyn, the leader of the shadow mages, who has uncomfortable ideas about how he and the elves might collaborate.

Our Society of Shadow grew out of the shadow mages from the mainline campaign Liberty in the Battle for Wesnoth video game. Gaenyn’s physical appearance is based on the artwork for Shadow Lord Helicrom, the leader of those shadow mages. Unlike other human mage units, Shadow Mages have swords, which is why I gave Gaenyn one.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

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Mariah and Cleve negotiate for the right to recover data from their cryobeds.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

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Ulf guides Tric and Heppa through the Grey Woods.

When preparing for this arc, I scoured the mainline campaigns of the Battle for Wesnoth for any mention of the Grey Woods. There are battles there in both Liberty and Secrets of the Ancients. We’ve already seen ideas from Scenario 6 of Liberty in all the clues that have been dropped about the Society of Shadow. Secrets of the Ancients is set much farther back in Wesnoth history, but I was able to bring in a witness to those events because woses are so long-lived. The elf Isthiniel that Dolmathengalin speaks of comes from the introduction to Scenario 12 of that campaign. The main character of Secrets of the Ancients goes by Ardonna and Ardryn-Na; we mention her a few times, too.

This arc contains spoilers for the Battle for Wesnoth campaigns Liberty and Secrets of the Ancients. There are also references to Eastern Invasion, and I took inspiration from A War of Life and Death, a User-Made Content campaign by Mystical_Warlord.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Morgan Prospecting’s activities at the crash site do not go unnoticed.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

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At the pottery market on the outskirts of Dan’Tonk, Tric and Heppa bump into an old acquaintance who is able to help them with the next stage of their journey through Wesnoth.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Mariah, Cleve, and Takuto head out on a recovery job for Data Haven.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Tric and Heppa learn about a previous Manu expedition to the Sandy Wastes. Then they round out their Dunefolk education by attending a morning of Dune School.

The Dune School scene in this episode is based on the experiences of some of my childhood friends. I’m not close enough to my forebears' cultural heritage to have attended any myself, being a fourth generation American. But I had friends who spent weekend mornings at Polish school or Hebrew school or Chinese school, learning the associated languages and traditions. I drew on stories of those experiences to design the Dune School scene, and I populated it with bits and pieces of lore discussed on the Battle for Wesnoth forums.

Our character art by Del Borovic and the map we refer to (by me!) can be found here.

Our music is sampled from Return to Wesnoth by Matthias Westlund (aka West), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, part of The Battle for Wesnoth Project. Visit them at wesnoth.org.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!

Takuto makes his case for going on the next trip out of Data Haven.

Our music is from Purple Planet Music. Visit them at purple-planet.com.

Need context? Jump to the start of the series!