The Emerald Collective Podcast

The trio of investigators push further into the depths and begin to uncover more unsettling clues as to what is happening beneath the hills of Providence.

As they venture into the darkness, they find remnants of civilisation. Not particularly human, and not particularly hospitable...

Deep within the Underdark, a moment of unexpected tenderness takes a horrifying turn, leaving Shadar facing a threat unlike anything the Curtain Callers have encountered before.

As the party rushes to their cleric’s aid, uncertainty forces them to take precautions. Something has changed, and until they understand exactly what they’re dealing with, even standing too close could prove dangerous.

Meanwhile, Aelfric and Daemon intensify their investigation of the mysterious duergar house. Their persistence finally begins to pay off as they uncover a vital clue that could explain what happened to this strange settlement.

With Sir Tirion keeping watch and the party forced to reconsider their next move, uncomfortable questions hangs over them all:

Is Shadar infected? And if so, how much time does he have left?

Beneath the hills, the darkness is not empty.

The investigators leave the safety of the surface behind and descend into places where daylight has never fallen. Each step carries them farther from the world they know, through passages shaped by old hands and into depths where the silence seems less an absence than a watchful presence.

There are signs that others came before them, but in the earth below, distance and reason begin to lose their meaning, and the investigators are forced to confront a terrible possibility:

They have not merely entered the darkness.

The darkness has become aware of them.

Deep within the Underdark, the Curtain Callers attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the ruined duergar settlement and its peculiar inhabitants.

While Sir Tirion and Mina question their unusual hosts, Daemon and Aelfric take a more methodical approach, searching the abandoned village for evidence of what happened here, and whether the survivors they've encountered can truly be trusted.

But patience wears thin, and Shadar withdraws from the investigation in search of solitude beside a quiet underground pond. Away from the others, the cleric turns his attention towards something far more personal, reaching through the veil in search of a figure from his past.

When Mina joins him, a rare moment of tenderness offers some respite from the darkness surrounding them.

But questions remain. What happened to this settlement? Who, or what, are its inhabitants? And in the depths of the Underdark, are the Curtain Callers investigating the aftermath of some forgotten tragedy… or have they walked straight into it?

The earth remembers what men choose to forget.

Drawn together by a mystery rooted in years long buried, a group of investigators begins to disturb the settled dust of the past. Old accounts are revisited, uneasy questions are raised, and beneath the ordinary details of human history they glimpse the outline of something that should not be there.

There are absences where answers ought to be, and beneath the hills, unseen in the lightless depths, something ancient appears to have left its mark upon the generations above.

The investigators have only begun to dig.

They cannot yet know how deep the past descends, or what may feel their hands upon the soil.

Deep beneath the Krynell Mountains, the Curtain Callers encounter an unlikely ally in the form of Rilk, a drow who claims to have helped Galfond Illemis escape the cult’s grasp.

Armed with a map of the Underdark and a troubling revelation about Aelfric’s connection to the Violet Madness, the party presses deeper into the maze below. Along the way, Daemon meets a strange stick-like creature named Bick, who warns that the trees have begun to stir in anger.

Their journey eventually leads them to the ruins of a duergar settlement, where three survivors appear untouched by the outbreak, and seemingly unaware of the danger spreading through the depths.

But in the Underdark, ignorance may be no protection at all.

With Mina and Shadar safely across the gorge, the task falls upon Daemon to clear the void with whatever tricks he has left up his sleeve. After a perilous journey through the mines at break-neck speed, his tricks were running out. 

The mine shafts run deeper and more dangerous. As the tracks deteriorate, the Curtain Callers advance at breakneck speed through obstacles, ruined structures, and relentless pursuers. As Daemon, Mina, and Shadar pave the way in front of them, Tirion and Aelfric leave a trail of destruction in their wake. 

Never split the party... unless of course, circumstances separate the party against their will.

That is what the Krynell Mines have been laid out to do. With Daemon, Mina and Shadar now zooming through the weaving tracks to the south, the cult chase in hot pursuit. 

Meanwhile, Sir Tirion and Aelfric veer to the west, where the tracks lead to darkness.

With the mine carts racing through the darkness, criss-crossing obstacles, and negotiating the threat of the cult giving chase; what will The Curtain Callers do next?

The tension, and the railroad tracks, are heating up. As the pursuit through the mines continues, the party travel at breakneck speed fending off the Drow cultists. As spells and crossbow bolts fly, the Curtain Callers find themselves split up form each other by shifting tracks. Daemon takes the lead down one route, fending on the brutal assault while trying to stay aboard his cart, while Tirion and Aelfric find themselves separated form the rest, venturing into a dark and deep tunnel.