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.

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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:

• Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional additional content
• Give the show a positive review
• Share the show with others
• Reach out to me and say hello

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:

• Join my patreon for free at https://patreon.com/rollponderandplay or as a paid subscriber and get additional additional content
• Give the show a positive review
• Share the show with others
• Reach out to me and say hello

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.