Due to some violent content. Parental discretion is advised. In the year two
hundred and forty seven, in the Age of Judges, Vartan was summoned home
after the death of his father. Upon his return, Vartan discovered something evil
festering beneath the city of Eternal. With the help of some very unlikely allies,
Bartan works to uncover the mysteries of his hometown and put an end to
the nightmares that plague his people. Welcome to Ethereal Embrace. I really hope
I get to see timmor and again. He has fantastic wine and he's full
of information. The other company still questionable. Did I remember to update my
will before coming on this mission? Day three? The cabin in the woods.
All right, you guys are inside. What do you what are you
wanting to just walk in and drop the portal? I mean, what's this
look like? I definitely want to make sure all the windows and door is
closed. I think there's only one door yep, just one door yep,
or the windows closeable, yeah, like shutters kind of deal yep, to
like winterize it. Yeah yeah, yep. So you walk into the cabin.
H Morgan's closely behind you. You close the door after she enters,
and then you walk over and close the two window shutters, making the room
completely dark. Oh man, I can't see I what are you doing.
I'm gonna start fiddling in my bad bag looking for the the portal stone on
her stone. Okay, light gets cast, you open up your bag,
you find the portal stone. But you have one of two now, right,
so you have one that goes to your basement and then one that goes
to the portal the cavern in the cave. Yeah, yep, yeah,
I would totally grab the cavern one. Or I don't know. Do we
want to make it all secret? Do we want to portal her into your
basement that in it she's not going to know it's our basement, And then
we'll just portal to the other one and then climb through the well and get
out that way and come out of a house that nobody knows, so she
won't know exactly where. Well, she's not going to know the entrance to
the cavern. Yeah, you're right. If we portal there right now,
because we can then portal her to your basement, we'll skip that and I'm
just gonna grab the right portal stone to the cavern and be like, here
it is. This will get us there. So you activate the stone.
Yeah, and a portal pops up in your cabin, the standard type of
portal, not the kind that makes the weird blue orb that you have to
you know, that kind of like burns into the area around it. This
is one of the more ethereal portals that you can walk through and on the
other side you can see the portal room in the cave. Meh, see
portal room. Wow, I'm gonna go through and take a look if you
don't mind. And she's just gonna push past and walk through the portal and
we'll go in. So you're in the portal room. You see the ruins
on the ground in front of the space where the portal was or where it
can be again. Should magic fill those runes, And as you get near
you do see the magic from the light spell start to pull a little away
from your staff and toward the runs that are on the ground. Oh yeah,
we had this problem last time. Oh I got a new lamp.
Did you get oil for it? Yeah? Yeah, I actually filled it
up, So it's good to go. All right, I'm going to just
dismiss this spell before the magic gets sucked into those runs. Did Morgan notice
that happening or was she too busy looking around? I just said it out
loud. Okay, yeah, I wasn't sure who you were talking to because
we're just talking to Vartan. I didn't hear it, that's fair. Yeah,
I'm like been over my pack. Yeah. Well, I mean bye
a notice about the magic more? Please buy rah. Well, so you
see when something, when magic is cast near this these ruins, it goes
away wherever you casted it, and these runs light up, and that's where
the demons came from from the ruins. Nope, the these these runs light
up. See how it's a circle here? Uh huh. All these runs
light up if you get enough magic in there, and then there's a circle
that demons pop out of. So the ruins activate a portal to where the
demons are coming from. It seems that way, but it's not active now,
so no demons, no need to worry. Don't activate it please,
people died and now, my darling horse girl, we have shared with you
all of the portal room and the information. So if you have any information
on the reasoning for the doves and the Robin being here, Morgan actually roll
an insight after seeing this, because you might put some pieces together fourteen fourteen
will do it. So from your travel on the way to It's hern No,
and just from the other doves talking and stuff about the Robin, you
conclude that it is very likely he has some magic items in his possession that
could power this and potentially even sustain it for a short while to be able
to investigate the portal itself. I clearly we were brought here because of letters
that were sent by Bastille. I mentioned having concerns earlier, and I believe
my concerns are warranted. You say that these ruins are activated by magic,
Yes, how long are they active? I would assume the they would be
active for as long as the spell or is active, or however strong the
spell is. We haven't experimented, you know, because of demons coming out
and killing people last time. But I would think that the stronger the magic,
the longer it would be open. It took him more asy last time,
and no one's been on the other side of this portal at this point.
Yes, not to our knowledge. And is it your belief that once
the ruins are activated, the portal reopens and the demons will return. Yeah,
I think so. I mean it's the best we know. I mean,
it's most I know. I'm not very good with the magic stuff.
Well, I'm fine with never opening this portal because it fulfills my purpose of
keeping everyone safe. We're on the same page, then, I believe we
are, and I would hope that my fellow doves are is well. I
trust my piteousness, but I need to speak with Dovebury sooner rather than later.
I was approached by our Robin before we left, and his intentions concern
me, and I need to know if anyone else knows of them. What
are his intentions? He wants to know what's on the other side of the
portal, and he brought enough magic items to sustain it being open. That
would be disastrous for your entire town and possibly the world. I don't know
how long his magic will sustain the portal. Well, we don't want to
find that out. No, we don't want him to knowing about the portal.
We know have he knows we about the portal. He knows it's in
a cave. I don't know what Bastille told him, but he definitely knows
more than he's letting your people know. Hm. Well, Bastille told him
about the portal, but we told them that the cave had collapsed. Speaking
of which, I'll move my lighter over to my other hand and reach in.
We need to take care of that, and I'm gonna hold up the
spell paper, the molder's spell paper. Yeah, mold earth, Morgan,
why don't you stay here. Vartan is going to the closer to the entrance
of the cave to mold earth to kind of remove the cave front. That
way, you can't look out and see where exactly we are in case somebody
questions questions you very well, Just as a reminder, it was like a
one hour trip to get from where you're at in the portal to the cave
mouth. But there is a point where you can bottleneck where like bottlenecks,
and you had to crawl for a while. That would be probably the easiest
place to mold earth and seal up the cave instead of the actual cave entrance.
Yeah, just steal up the crawling area. Mm hmm. Okay,
I mean you can go all the way back. No, no, but
that's a two hour round trip. Yeah. Well, since we weren't anywhere
near the cave entrance and I don't see light coming from anywhere, there must
be a a better place to do that. I mean, I am not
particularly fond of the idea of being stranded in a cavern knowing that the entrance
is going to be closed. Oh, don't worry by, ILL stay with
you. Really. Yeah, I'll be right back, and I'm just gonna
walk away and a bit of close up the tunnel with the spell and I'm
going to walk back. Thanks for the company. Baya Baya tries to talk
to Morgan. So what did you do before you became a robin? Okay,
tight lipped on that, all right? Do you like to read?
No? Okay? Oh, I'm sure Bartan will be back soon. Maybe
after that we can get some food. Did you like Cody's probably prefer homemade.
Yeah, homemade food is better usually, but Cody is pretty nice.
You should give it a chance. He's a nice guy too, you know,
once you get over him not talking a whole lot, you kind of
learned to appreciate the stoic, godlike nature of Cody the tavern owner. You
know him though, I don't have to tell you he's the tavern owner.
You've seen him. Yeah, so do you have any pets? Oh,
Fartan's coming back, all right. Yeah. It took me a while because
I didn't have a light on and I didn't think to turn it on,
and so I was feeling my way. So I got to the cave and
then did it. I got back and oh yeah, yeah, I meant
to light up the lamb and I'm gonna light up the lamb. Our heroes
will be right back after these messages. Hello listeners, If you are enjoying
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We truly appreciate your support. Now back to the town of Eterno.
Oh yeah, yeah, I meant to light up the lamb, and I'm
gonna light up the lamb. The oil lamp flickers to life. The light
pushes back against the surrounding darkness, giving an auburn tint to the immediate area.
On the nearest wall, an image appears. A frame of dark gray
fog swirls gently around the picture. The image itself is one meter by one
meter and appears to resemble the entrance of the cave, although the foliage around
the cave entrance is noticeably different from how it is today. A curtain of
vines camouflage the cave entrance, but the image is taken from a side angle
and allows you to see the location. You recognize the cave entrance as your
cave. Upon closer inspection, the image is moving. The vines that curtain
the entrance shift to the left, seemingly affected by the wind. This is
not just an image, It's a window through time. This is your cave,
but it is either in the future or in the past. As you
step closer to inspect the window, the lantern moves and the image pans first
to the left and then back to the right, shifting slowly as the lamp
moves with your footsteps. Just then, a hooded figure cloaked in black moves
into frame. Quickly, the figure glides from the right side of the image
and through the vines into the cave. Instinctually, you move along the wall
to tract the figure, and the image follows. The lantern keeps pace with
the figure until it hits the edge of the wall and shifts to another adjoining
wall. At this point, the image breaks and you now see the portal
room within the cave. The view that you're peering through is about thirty feet
away from the exact spot you're standing in right now. After a few moments,
the run's light and the portal door opens. The runes through the window
are lit. That is, the rooms where you're at in this point in
time, where you're physically at do not. They stay dip. The figure
stands, drops their hood and takes two steps forward. Dark red, beautiful
hair tumbles down to the shoulder blades of the figure, who, just before
they enter the portal, looks over their left shoulder back toward the lamp's window.
It is a fur bog woman. She is incredibly beautiful and regal,
though her eyes tell you how dangerous she really is. She looks directly at
you, Vartan, her eyes squint just slightly, and she twists her head
to the left and says, that's a neat trick, And then she steps
into the portal, disappearing from view. As you turn the lamp, the
gray mists that frame the window to drift away slowly from the wall and back
toward the lamp. Just as the mist nears you, it shoots forward in
a rush and escapes the lamp, shooting right into Vartan's nose, mouth and
ears until it completely disappears. Vartan, you find yourself thrust through the plains,
worlds, dimensions, and universes. Everything's spinning around you. They're wondrous
and terrifying, all at the same time. The sheer power of everything all
at once is mixed with the great nothing that lies between. It's almost more
than you can bear, until suddenly everything stops moving. You find yourself on
a beach in the middle of the day. There is very little sand on
this beach, but gravel and stones dig into the arches of your bare feet.
The salty ocean air that fills your nostrils is tainted with an awful scent.
As you look around to investigate, you see humanoid bodies laying on the
ground. The corpses are mutilated beyond recognition. Flies have begun to buzz around
the corpses, and the scavenger birds circle in the sky above the site.
Should be nauseating. Your ears begin to ring, and your heart begins to
pound more quickly within your chest. Then you hear it. The cry of
a raven breaks the trance, and you wake up back in the real world,
on the ground on the cave floor. The mist has disappeared, and
your lamp is out. Now did everybody else see the image in the picture
from the lamp? So everybody saw that. And then the black mist going
inside of my head they saw that too, But then you collapsed to the
ground, and that's all they know that happened. Oh whoa what we'll get
it out of my head? Oh oh, Bartand are you okay? Oh
man, No, I saw my I was back on the beach on the
island and everybody was dead. I went through this space that I just experienced
like all the time, and it was instant as well. It's so weird,
but it put me back on the beach. And then the raven crow
just exactly like it did before, and then I woke up. What beach?
You're not making a lot of sense right now, are you sure you're
okay? I don't think that's I mean, that's not important to this.
Something about that black stuff that went all up in your face? Maybe I
don't know where did this lamp? Who was that lady? Does Bayer recognize
the red haired lady with dangerous eyes? Yes, you would recognize that as
Susan. We saw Susan in that mirage going into the entrance of this cave,
and it seemed like she was talking to us, right, Yeah,
that was Susan. Yes, did did she? And she not only was
talking to us, but she jumped into the portal. Yeah, she definitely
went into the portal. And right before that stuff came at me, did
it come out of my head? Is it off of me? Do I
still have it on me? I don't see it anymore. It went in,
it went in your head, and hold on, hold on, drop
but let me get my my not crazy lanner. Now there we go.
There, I'm gonna hold it. I'm gonna hold the lamp or the lander,
the lander around my head, be like you see it? You see
it inside my ear. I think you're good. Lift up your nose hold
on. Yeah, I don't. I don't see anything in there. How's
that? Okay? Yeah, I think you're good. I guess it came
out in the dark. Do we gotta worry about that? Now? Do
we have to worry that? I mean, I don't understand what that image
was, where that came from. Did somebody enchant this lantern to do that?
Did this happen? Is this a picture of something that's going to happen?
Is it a picture of something that happened before? Baya also make a
perception check for you specifically, Okay, nineteen she was carrying a short spear
with her, like a like a three and a half foot spear, like
a warrior spear that she had with her as she walked into the portal.
And you're saying I would not recognize that. I just noticed it. Yep,
Yeah, she had a really short spear. It seems funny for someone
of her stature to have a sphere a spear that's small. I mean,
we did have that Morrisey, he was shape shifting. But oh man,
what if huh Yeah, but we killed the Morrisey. Yeah, but that
wasn't happening. Now that was happening. I'm thinking that happened in the past,
right before I got a raven from Tel Mika. If it follows the
same, like it would have happened around that time. If that's the what
if the Morrisey came from out of town after coming across my after coming across
Susan. So you're saying that the image that we just saw, you think
was the Morrisey shape shifting into Susan. But we killed the Morrisy. Yeah,
I mean we know that the weird size thing and things just not seeming
right with the Morrisey was our lead to the Morrisey. But what if the
Morrisey came in some are somehow got a hold of Susan, came into town
but needed a new body because Susan's not here and maybe maybe dead now after
If it isn't if it was the Morrisy, and maybe that cult was somehow
attached to that Morrisey in some way, but wouldn't have someone noticed her coming
back. It seems like Susan being gone is something everyone knows, and if
she suddenly came back to town, surely someone would have mentioned it by now.
Yeah, I mean, did that spear look familiar to you at all?
Did I recognize it by any chance? Nope, nobody would. Well,
actually, let's do this. If you can get me a twenty or
higher on a history or a religion role, I will tell you what it
is. That means I have to roll. Can I use my grandpa's old
call it coin? Oh? Man, that's a good time to use it.
It's a really good time to use it. It is a really good
time. But I feel like something bad has to happen if you fail,
because it would be a critical fail. So right, okay, go ahead,
yeah, okay, all right. So that's a dragon, and that's
a dungeon I'm gonna call dungeon. That's a dungeon. That's the dungeon dungeon.
That is a spear that comes from very very old histories and legends about
the first feet. It is a soldier's spear from another world, another dimension
possibly, and it is said to be one of the items that came to
you Fray when the first people came here, and it is said to hold
a lot of magic power now that I think about it, Vartan, while
you were sleeping, I started reading about the First People, and that spear
that she had looks a lot like a spear from the First People. It
holds a lot of magic. H It wasn't like Magno spear or anything like
that. It No, No, that was pretty normal. Who do we
know other than I mean, everybody that lives here and Cody that has lived
a long time. There are rumors about Cody. Yeah, Magno follows him.
I mean Magno told us he's we know he's old. He's older than
he seems. Well, well, that didn't look like a relic. It
looked like it was in good repair. So wherever it's been, it's been
cared for as a warrior would care for their weapon. Yeah, Cody was
a warrior and he really really doesn't want your Robin in here. I'm going
to try to draw this speer. I don't want my Robin in here right
now? Yeah I don't. I closed it up, So, I mean,
ain't nobody getting in You draw the spear? Just fine with your Grandpa's
lucky coin. In that history, you sketch it out. I'm gonna shine
the light on it better. I mean, I think this is the first
time I've ever seen that thing. She folds it up and puts it in
her bag. Well, Morgan, thank you for putting your trust in us
and letting us lead you into a cabin, empty cabin, and now this
cave that we have seemingly we haven't seemingly though, uh barricaded you inside.
But Vartan, can you take us too well? Shall we show her the
other room with all the runes, Yeah, with all the runes and the
desk and everything, whether the the dwarf stuff. Yeah. Thank you for
listening to this episode of Ethereal Embrace a creative typo production. Vartan, the
furball Fighter is voiced and played by Adam Culbertson. Baya Rustin, the half
Elf Sorcerer, is voiced and played by Tisha Morgan. The Human Monk is
voiced and played by Nari Quack and I am Nico your GM. Please remember
to drop us a five star ur rating and review on your favorite podcatcher.
Music provided in part by Midnight Syndicate, makers of the original Dudgeons and Dragons
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