Previously

 In our previous episode,  Drystan and Kyffin find Eilwen at Frostbridge. The two men had arrived the night of the attack after seen the smoke from Drystan's home on the outskirts of the settlement where Kyffin had been convalescing. As they arrive, Frostbridge is holding a ceremony of remembrance, and while the bonfire burns, and the people mourn their fallen, Kyffin asks to travel with Eilwen and Aron whenever they commence their journey south. She says it will be some time yet and urges him to rest up for the journey.

The days pass and Eilwen and Aron continue to help Frostbridge recover from its attack, sharing supplies and rebuilding homes.

Eventually, the day comes when Aron and Eilwen part from Frostbridge again, likely for a much longer time of absence. On the bridge of ice itself, their father hugs them and urges them to keep each other safe. With Kyffin in tow, the two siblings head south again towards Rockriver. After journeying a few days, they again arrive at Rockriver, and there they spy Wolf Fang clan warriors in the settlement. Not only that but some Wolf Fang clan families have started to make it their home.

To avoid running into more Wolf Fang migrants coming up from the south and judging the mines still unsafe with the awakened threat of the bonewakers, they decide to risk the more physically dangerous western pass to head west and then south around Mount Hingsworth. It's a trek that will take them higher in elevation.

While making camp and preparing for their journey, Kyffin doesn't return to camp from gathering firewood. After searching, they find that he has fallen into an underground ice cavern and is alive but hurt. Working together Eilwen and Aron manage to locate him, assess that his wounds are largely superficial and extricate him from the hole and return to their camp where they pass a miserable night shivering in the cold together.

Websites:

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

- Sound Effects from Pixabay (Pixabay.com)

About this Podcast Series:

At the edge of known space, the UASN Oracle, a military destroyer turned science vessel, begins a survey mission in an unexplored star system. In the face a dire threat to all of humanity, Ardelle Leath, a junior officer, on board the Oracle, will struggle to overcome her past and fulfill her duty to the United Alliance Space Navy (UASN) as leadership is thrust upon her.

'Flight of the Orace' blends immersive story telling with ambient sounds and music into a military sci-fi audio drama. It's also a solo role-playing 'Actual Play' experience that uses the OneDice role-playing game (RPG) system to both propel the plot forward and to handle conflict mechanics. Out-of-character (OOC) moments pull back the curtain, revealing die results, insights into game mechanics, character decisions, and on-the-fly world building. Content Rating: PG-13 for action violence, gore, and some minor foul language. For detailed information about the content rating, see my About page at https://www.patreon.com/rollponderandplay/about

Note: The full series is available for paid patreon subscribers at https://www.patreon.com/collection/1580854?view=condensed, but you can get the first couple of episodes from my Patreon if you join my Patreon as a free member!

Previously:

In our previous episode (our "Session 0" if you will), we discussed the Sci-Fi setting for this podcast series, the OneDice RPG we will be using for conflict resolution, and we met Ardelle Leath, our main character and protagonist: a young junior officer in the Alliance Space Navy. We also learned about the UASN Oracle, a converted warrior class destroyer turned into a survey vessel. It is the ship that this podcast series is named after. And now, the Prologue for Flight of the Oracle!

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'Where Stars Fall' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

- 'Powerful Electronic Beat (Runaway)' by fugu_vibes from Pixabay (Pixabay.com).

- 'Space Ambient Cinematic' by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay (Pixabay.com).

- Sound effects provided by Zapsplat (Zapsplat.com) and used under the Basic License.

- Album background image is real art by Chil Vera from Pixabay.

About this Podcast Series:

At the edge of known space, the UASN Oracle, a military destroyer turned science vessel, begins a survey mission in an unexplored star system. In the face a dire threat to all of humanity, Ardelle Leath, a junior officer, on board the Oracle, will struggle to overcome her past and fulfill her duty to the United Alliance Space Navy (UASN) as leadership is thrust upon her.

'Flight of the Orace' blends immersive story telling with ambient sounds and music into a military sci-fi audio drama. It's also a solo role-playing 'Actual Play' experience that uses the OneDice role-playing game (RPG) system to both propel the plot forward and to handle conflict mechanics. Out-of-character (OOC) moments pull back the curtain, revealing die results, insights into game mechanics, character decisions, and on-the-fly world building. Content Rating: PG-13 for action violence, gore, and some minor foul language. For detailed information about the content rating, see my About page at https://www.patreon.com/rollponderandplay/about

About this Episode:

Welcome to the first episode (well the "zeroth" technically) of the 'Flight of the Oracle' podcast, a military sci-fi audio drama and solo RPG actual play! This is the "session 0" where we discuss the setting, the RPG system used to handle conflict resolution, the protagonist I'll be playing, and the UASN Oracle, the ship that the podcast is named after.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- Music by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

- Album background image is real art by Chil Vera from Pixabay.

Previously

In our previous episode, Eilwen, Aron, and Cadfael race back to Frostbridge to find it beset by some enemy. Several buildings are ablaze and the corpses of the fallen are in the streets offering visceral witness to the violence done to them. They find Mabon cornered by a spirit-possessed blacksmith Gwili, one of the men who had been on burial duty, and who now bore the octagonal ring that Belvan had once possessed. Gwili kills Mabon and his two guards. Eilwen engages it in combat and eventually slays it. She takes the ring, and in Rhovat's forge melts it down, adds salt and dirt to its contents, and casts the glowing abomination into the depths of the icy blue chasm beneath the chasm's bridge. Leaderless, the people of Frostbridge clamor for her as their queen to lead them. She declines but with some help from Aron, she convinces her father, Cadfael, to take up the job of settlement leader. Cadfael addresses the people, urging them to bury and mourn their dead. She decides to head south soon.

Websites:

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

- Where The Brave May Live Forever - Viking Background Music by Claude Houde from Pixabay.

- Deeply Emotional Orchestral Violin - L'Unico Che Amo from Pixabay.

Previously

In our previous episode, Eilwen rests and recuperates after her duel with Belvan and makes preparations for the journey through the mountains to the burial chamber Belvan had infiltrated. Her father reminds her that it is a place of death and is what led to her mother's illness and subsequent demise.

On the morrow, Eilwen reveals herself to Mabon and to Frostbridge as the rightful heir to the throne and as owner to the shorn crown. She asks Mabon for his fealty and aid. He agrees but asks in return that she bring him back a wee lion cub from the southlands.

Eilwen, Cadfael, and Aron travel the rest of the day, and as evening falls, they arrive to the burial site and make entrance under windy conditions. They find  a covered hole in the burial-chamber floor and there discover a hidden sub-level, which Belvan must have explored earlier.

They descend into its depths, and find a room with a fallen statue with writings that Eilwen cannot read. They are ambushed by a swarm of blind, maggot-white and wrinkled, ravenous, cavern crawlers about the size of rats. They flee from the room and rush deeper into the sub-level down some steps into a room with eight coffins jutting out from each of the walls of the octagonal chamber. But each coffin seems to have been disturbed. Each lid has been removed, and the bones are missing from each. And oddly, they can see no prints in the dust other than their own.

After finding a branching corridor and getting past a poisoned spear trap, Eilwen manages to unlock a heavy stone door, and they move into the final room in the sublevel. It's a circular room with an iron pedestal in the center, and eight skeletons are lying face down as if making obeisance to a short and stout octagonal stand made of black iron. Atop the pedestal, Eilwen sees a notched octagonal inset groove that could only have held a heavy octagonal ring, a ring that is obviously missing.

When realization crashes upon her that Belvan must have taken the ring and that it is likely the source of some fell power, she fears that Frostbridge is in grave danger and urges them to race back to the surface. Upon doing so, they find that night has fully fallen, and a blinding blizzard has hemmed in their way, forcing them to spend the night in the upper chamber. Eilwen chafes at the delay, but can do little more than groan in frustration as she fears the worst.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

- Various sounds from ZapSplat (https://www.zapsplat.com) and used in accordance with their standard-license.

Previously:

In our previous episode, Eilwen, Aron, Cadfael, and Mabon, Chieftain of Frostbridge, escape the mine and make it to Rockriver's ruins where they rest and recuperate. They journey back to Frostrbridge and find that Belvan isn't there.  During the feasting that ensured upon Mabon's return, Carys, the old crone, tells Eilwen that Belvan went looking for the burial chambers that Eilwen's mother, Arwed, had found three years earlier. Mabon rewards Eilwen with a great honor, in the form of a battered iron sword called Toothbite that was passed down to him through his great grandfather. Mabon names Eilwen Swordmistress. For the next two days Mabon trains her from sun up to sun down one-on-one in the ways of the sword. Eilwen proves a quick learner and masters her concentration to such a level that on the second day of training she nearly defeats Mabon in their practice fight. On the third day since their return to Frostbridge, Belvan returns from the burial chambers. He bears a heavy dark spear and challenges Mabon's right to rule the settlement. Mabon informs him he'll be fighting his new Swordmistress, and after drawing the circle in the snow, a duel ensues between Eilwen (Mabon's champion) and Belvan. The fight is brutal but short. Eilwen is wounded but defeats Belvan, mortally wounding him with a thrown dagger. Grasping his spear, a dark shade moves into him, possessing him and giving him new power. She defeats this new foe, the spirit dissipates on the wind, and Eilwen vows to rid the burial chamber of whatever evil Belvan had uncovered or awakened.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

Previously: 

 In our previous episode, Eilwen, Aron, Cadfael, and Mabon enter the mine in an attempt to get away from the Wolf Fang warriors and return to Rockriver and then Frostrbridge. After a few hours they recross the rope bridge and navigate the mine's dark tunnels and reach the edge of the dark underground lake. Eilwen shows the lake-side skeleton to Cadfael and Mabon and is about to resume their journey, when Cadfael and Mabon, still weary and worn and suffering from the abuses incurred at the hands of the Wolf Fang clan, call a halt to their journey. They decide to rest and make camp. They find some old ruined boats now bone dry, perfect for starting a fire and decide to make camp there. Eilwen discovers another boat under a worn canvas wrap that is in fairly good condition with workable oars. She also sees something is reflecting her torch light back to her far in the distance on the large lake. While Cadfael and Mabon work on starting a large fire and setting up camp, She and Aron take the boat to investigate what caused the reflection. They paddle across the lake and find a strange structure, an archway made entirely of iron but tilted askew. Eilwen investigates the markings on the archway, and with some excitement and dread, finds she can read them. She tries to interpret them, and upon touching the archway, receives a vision of sorts. Therein, she sees that an entity of great evil and destructive power is trapped inside the archway, a being with the same skeletal structure as that of the lake-side skeleton. She somehow knows from her vision that the archway was constructed to imprison the being, and that after unknown ages of imprisonment, a  group of death cult worshipers of the same race try to free the entity. A battle ensures between the cult and between guardians, also of the same race, set to protect the archway. During the battle, powerful magics are unleased. They rupture the earth and bring forth the fountains of dark waters to drown both warring parties. The imprisoned being tries to break free but as its cult goes to a watery grave, the ritual to break the prison is incomplete, and the thing falls, shrieking and thrashing, into dark oblivion once more. Eilwen's vision ends and upon doing so, a new threat awakens in the form two graceful skeletal creatures, that crawl forth from the slimy lake's depths. These are known as bone horrors. They are legends and children tales now come to life. The creatures leap upon the slanted archway's side and with slashing forearm blades try to kill Eilwen and Aron. A brief battle ensures, and she and her brother barely manage to flee to their boat and then back to Cadfael's bonfire. They convince her father of the immediate threat and the party decides that flight is once again necessary. And as they leave the lakeside's fire burning and run into the dark tunnels, they can see dripping out of the water and muck two bone horrors scanning the shore.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

Previously: 

In our previous episode, in the dead of night, Eilwen spots, within the Wolf Fang Clan raiding party's encampment, her Father, Cadfael, and Frostbridge Chiefton Mabon in a wooden cage with some old women. She awakens Aron and they get a closer look. When they see that only one sentry is on duty, guarding the cage, she and Aron decide they won't get a better chance to rescue the two men. With Aaron covering her with her bow, she stealthily moves from boulder to boulder and approaches the cage with only her dagger. She uses the runic magic her mother, Arwed, taught her for first time by herself to call upon the shadows to cloak her movements. And they come to her, but her magic betrays her, and instead of being cloaked in shadow, the shadows shift and change, and she is imbued with a ghostly sapphire light. She makes the best of it and pretends she is Shilvhana, Queen of Spears--a name and deity of her own creation--come down from the heavens to secure new retainers. She uses the tale to get close to the half-drunk guard who initially believes her. But he's ambivalent about following her, and when it looks like he might call out an alarm, she clubs him over the head with his own spear, and he crumples. She frees her father and Mabon without raising any alarm, but the captive women remain huddled within the cage, unwilling to leave, though the door is wide open. Eilwen and Aron with Cadfael, and Mabon all retreat back to the southern of Mt Hingworth to the mine entrance to make their way back through to Rockriver.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

Previously:

In our previous episode, Eilwen and Aron find a sheltered spot with an overhang, largely obscured from view where they can see the valley below. They prepare for the Wolf Fang raiders to circle the mountain and come into view. Eilwen goes hunting and nearly falls to ruin when she encounters a pack of hungry wolves that chase her onto an slippery log over a ravine. She manages to escape and returns to camp. From their hidden overhang, they spot the Wolf Fang encampment in the distance with tents and cookfires and cages and sleds amidst a field of huge boulders that had sloughed off from the mountain's face eons ago. When Eilwen hears the cries of the children and the women in distress, she wants to go and help, but Aaron thinks it foolish to attempt to rescue everyone, and they argue. She vows to someday free the captive women and children.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.

Previously:

In our previous episode, Eilwen and Aaron leave behind Drystan behind in Rockriver with instructions for him to care for Kyffin so that they can move more quickly through the mines and get ahead of the Wolf Fang warriors and their prisoners. They find the mine entrance one valley over to the west and enter it about mid-morning. In the timeless dark, they find a large underground lake and a strange skeleton of a creature they have never known, an ancient skeleton that starts to crumble in places when moved. A shield and nearby helm are rusted beyond all usefulness. They resume their journey and come to a half-rotted bridge over an underground chasm of peerless depth where they hear roiling river rushing through the bowels of the mountain within. With some ingenuity involving some barrel staves and some rope, they make it safely across and finally at day's end, they exit the mine, now on the southern end of Mount Hingsworth.

Ways to Show Support:

Attributions:

- 'The Long Dark' by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au) - released under CC-BY 4.0.

- Various tracks by Tabletop Audio ( https://tabletopaudio.com) - released under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Minor modifications (fading/splitting) made to support this podcast format with written permission from the creator.