Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 3 - Torunn Hates the Sewers

It's another Flashback episode!

In this week's Curse of Radiance, the party continues on through the ancient crypt beneath the Cracked Crown tavern in Phlan. They've got an ominous riddle instructing them along their way, and have to wade through waist-deep muck in order to find the Guardian's Guardian in their search for two keys needed to get through the dungeon. Can they find what they're looking for, or are they going to face the long shadow of defeat?

I mentioned in the disclaimer at the start of this episode that I learned an important lesson about dungeon crawls when making these episodes; another lesson that goes hand-in-hand just has to do with pacing. I'm not going to give myself too much crap since this was my first real outing into the Actual Play space, but the pacing of this adventure leaves a LOT to be desired. (When I first wrote this adventure, I really expected it to be over in one session, two tops. It ended up being four sessions just for the dungeon, let alone the aftermath.) So if nothing else I hope listeners might be able to see how different this adventure is from what the podcast will eventually become; I really learned to pace things better as we went. Or, at least, that's what I hope people will think!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one, because we've got a couple more like it coming up!

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Chapter 3, Episode 3: Prologue - Bones

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 2 - Titles Be Damned

We're taking a brief detour, back to the beginning: when the three adventurers met, before being branded with cursed tattoos, in a town called Phlan. Come join Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana as they delve into an unearthed crypt and receive ominous warnings of the dangers lurking behind every corner!

It's already explained in the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode, but in case you haven't listened yet, I'll briefly explain it here: this episode (the next five episodes, actually) is a little bit of a diversion from the plot. These next few episodes were actually recorded before the podcast began (before the party woke up in Tilverton with five unwanted tattoos), as a little test/practice before we got into the campaign proper. It's mostly unrelated from the story so far, but now that I've found a good opportunity to slot these episodes into the main plot of the show, expect elements from these to show up later on!

It definitely felt risky including these episodes in the main show (especially when placed after a plot-significant cliffhanger like at the end of last week's episode) but I think it'll pay off in the end. So please bear with me, stick with us for a few more episodes, and soon enough the party will be right back on track and you'll all be better for it!

Oh, one more thing: this episode marks the unveiling of what was originally going to be the theme music for the whole podcast- a piano rendition of the title music from the computer game Curse of the Azure Bonds (as well as its predecessor, Pool of Radiance). We didn't use this music at first because we weren't sure who owned the rights and obviously hadn't gotten permission to use it- but there have been some recent developments on that front (expect some sort of related announcement in future weeks)! The music as you're hearing it was arranged and performed by Jay's sister Erin, based on the original music composed by Dave Warhol. (Some day I'll get around to finishing the music credits page on here, so expect some links whenever that day comes.) We're using this new (old?) theme music for these five prologue episodes, but expect the music to return to the regular theme after that.

Thanks for listening, and please let us know what you think!

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Chapter 3, Episode 2: Prologue - Ghouls

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 1 - Gabe Does a Passable Accent

And a new chapter begins!

In this week's episode, the party leaves Battledale on their way to their next destination. But along the way, they take a detour towards Shadowdale- a town famous for the adventurers that frequent it, as well as the Archmage Elminster, whom the party hopes to entreat for aid dealing with their cursed tattoos. Once there they stay at a colorful inn and learn about an artifact of Lathander- but then a ghost and a goatherd point Fennec towards an unlikely reunion with someone from his past, and it seems the plot has begun to thicken...

This was an interesting episode to make, and listening back to it (a year and a half after it was recorded) I'm impressed with all of the little details and easter eggs I managed to sneak in here, both referencing other things in Forgotten Realms lore as well as other things that are coming up later in the campaign. (There's even a tiny easter egg I hid in here that ties back to a previous iteration of this campaign, that we recorded three years ago and then scrapped before I started over with the current group of players, that I don't think anybody will ever notice. But it's there for me.) 

This episode is likely to be a bit confusing for listeners (which will... hopefully start to make sense as the next few episodes roll out) but I knew that going in. I'll explain a bit more next week.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and we'll see how it goes!

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Chapter 3, Episode 1: The Old Skull Inn

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 7 - Good Adventurers Use Every Part of the Dragon

Hello everybody!

In this week's episode of Curse of Radiance, the party has defeated Dracandros the Mad and removed the second of their tattoos. But this curse is still weighing heavily on Torunn, who seeks help from the local priest Mumford & Sons Mumfrey Mimly for guidance. Fennec studies the remnants of Dracandros' destroyed helmet, as well as the mad wizard's journals. Ildana gets a sweet cloak. And, most importantly, they all level up!

This was a fun episode to make, and utilized some things we hadn't done before (like Torunn's dream sequence). One thing I really liked about this campaign is that the players were really in control of where they went for each story arc- and of course, they always went in the direction I didn't expect them to. But that's D&D for you!

Thanks for listening, and see you next week!

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Chapter 2, Episode 7: The Light on the Horizon

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 6 - Dracandros of the Crimson

We're back again, with another episode of Curse of Radiance! This time, we start off with a confrontation that will end either with the party instigating a war with dragonkind and dooming the Dalelands, or with Dracandros the Red Wizard lying dead on the top of his tower. Which one will it be? If you don't know how stories work, you'll have to listen to the episode to find out!

This whole story arc was kind of difficult to plan out. As-written, it seems like it just can't (or at least shouldn't) work. The events leading up to this point were basically written as just "Go through this dungeon, fight these encounters. Then go through this next dungeon, fight these other encounters. Go through this other dungeon, fight some more encounters" which isn't really very fun. Then, there's the fact that no matter what level the PCs are, the ending confrontation just doesn't seem believable: the party ends up on the top of this tower, and they're literally surrounded by dragons. How is that supposed to go? Is there a universe where any DM would actually run that like a straight battle? (The computer game technically allowed it, if you do everything wrong, but the fight was basically unwinnable, because obviously it was.) So in my case, the best solution I found was to have everyone treat Dracandros like the madman he was, and basically acknowledge in-canon that he's an idiot with a dumb plan. Because the alternative just doesn't work in a game like DnD or Pathfinder.

Anyway, I think there's a lot of fun stuff in this episode, and I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 2, Episode 6: Dracandros the Mad

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 5 - For More Info, Read Azure Bonds by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak!

Alternate Alternate Title: How Much Canon Can We Fit Into One Episode?

In this week's episode, the party has a moment to recuperate after last episode's decisive battle, and Akabar Bel Akash exposits for a little while about the origin of their tattoos (for more info, read Azure Bonds by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak!). After that, Ildana takes the opportunity to sleuth around the now-empty village- until an unexpected ally makes themselves known. This ally may be able to deliver the party directly to their destination- but is that what they truly want? Listen and find out!

This episode was both fun and not fun to make, because a large part of it involves just kind of... giving the PCs a lot of information that they may or may not care about. I think it turned out well in the end, but I feel like there may have been better ways of doing it; though I also think there may have been way, way worse ways of doing it too. (Fun fact: one of the players made it known to me that they were NOT too pleased with how this episode shook out. As the weeks go on, see if you can figure out which player!) But this was a necessary part of the story, especially for the podcast audience, so in the end I'm happy with the result. I wish I could have done a bit more with characters like Akabar and Silk (another fun fact: Silk is completely absent in the printed module, I cribbed her involvement from a cameo she has in the computer game) but hey, there's only so many hours in the day and there's more story to get to. Onward and upward!

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Chapter 2, Episode 5: The Enemy of My Enemy

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca! 

Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 4 - Two Efreeti for the Price of One

(Whoops! Looks like this post is going out a couple days late. Many apologies.)

In this week's episode, the party has defeated one group of dark elves and liberated the townsfolk, but it seems more of the mercenaries are holed up inside the nearby barn. With the aid of a traveling merchant who has agreed to help the villagers, the party confronts these drow and their otherworldly commanders!

This was a fun episode to record, for a few reasons. First, whether it comes across in the finished episode or not, the battle was very tense and much more difficult than the players were expecting (but the rewards will be great, don't worry!). Another reason is the character of Akabar- for those not "in the know", Akabar bel Akash was one of the protagonists of the Azure Bonds novel (as well as the later book in the Finder's Stone trilogy, Song of the Saurials) and so it was nice to be able to include this cameo in the podcast. (Will he stick around long? Wait and find out!) Oh, and one other thing- this episode has the first mention of an artifact that many, many people are probably very familiar with!

I don't really have much else to say about this one, it's a fairly straightforward episode. Stay tuned for next week, when things get a little crazy!

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Chapter 2, Episode 4: Fire and Shadow

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca!