Join Lord Baldrith and Asclepius on 8/22/14 by listening to their news cast podcast at Echoes from the Caverns! Recording usually takes place at about 8pm EST, followed by editing and posting. So the podcast is usually up around 11pm-midnight (eastern).
Be sure to get in on this one!!! The team will be having a howling good time interviewing special guest Espada. With it being R9 release weekend and PvP taking place, who better then the winner of the Bear Tavern Brawl from R8?
Transform the way you get the news and listen to us with the moon is high and the wolves are howling! Echoes from the Caverns, your weekly premier Newscasting – which is legit because it’s on Itunes!
Posted by Sir Stile Teckel - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/28/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello everyone, Asclepius here, with a great story by Baron Drocis Fondorlatos, entitled “Notes on my Travels to Kingsport”. Background music is “Requiem for your Soul”, by Smartsound.
Part I
Beneath all humanity stirs an undercurrent of hopelessness and despair. Knowing that we are all connected in some way is little comfort to the reality that perhaps the greatest connection we share is the fact that one day we will all die. If not here in New Britannia then back in our own world, for even an Avatar’s immortality is limited.
Kingsport is no different. Beyond the troubled townsfolk who work and trade on the surface of this peaceful village by the sea, there are cursed remains from the past that walk the darkened halls of the sewers below. It is here that I first witnessed the reanimated shells of the living in the form of skeletal guardsman. An axe for one, a sword for another, these once men attacked me as soon as I was within range. Most of my spells were of no consequence and I quickly learned that fire was one of the only ways to defend myself from their relentless onslaught.
In the end, I lay near death and two piles of smoldering bones. But I survived with the strength to investigate the cursed wrecks. Both were unrecognizable from one another, dripping with caramelized ashen bone, and their weapons appeared to be of low quality. Perhaps these were the spoils of others that had been foolish enough to enter the sewers alone. But one pile contained a different substance I had not seen before. Filmy and sticky to the touch, this black grey compound had the consistency of jam and the smell of dung. I collected what I could for further study, and found that as I did the substance began to naturally form into a ball. The rest I reluctantly wiped off on my robes.
Sensing I was not strong enough to continue further into the sewers on my own, I retreated back to the naïve surface of Kingsport with many questions still left unanswered. Who created these dark souls? What were they guarding? Why Kingsport? And more importantly, how do I get this sticky black grey dung off my robes
Part II
Like many buildings in Kingsport, the lighthouse was empty. But why the keeper had wandered off was more commentary than mystery. Recent events had made the need for a lighthouse obsolete, as the trade ships from the Novia coast that once frequented the port town had stopped arriving months ago.
Standing at the top of the towered structure, I warmed to the fired pit of the beacon in the cool night air. Looking out into the sea at the empty calm where moonlight met the horizon, I pondered the fate of this poor town.
Gazing on the shipless port, I was reminded of the fable known as The Lost Mice.
The first mouse, the provider, went out in search of food for his family. When he did not return, the second mouse, the mother, went out in search of the father. When the mother did not return, the children starved. One child, barely able to move, crept out to look for its mother and father. There was no sign of them, instead all the child could see was two large glowing orbs, a slit down the center of each.
The lesson from the story is that sometimes the things we lose are lost for a reason.
The first ships went out but did not return. When more ships were sent to search for those who were lost, they too did not come back. Now the children of Kingsport fear to look further, for they may find not two but a single eye staring back at them.
Posted by Asclepius - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/26/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello Everyone! Lord Baldrith here with Echoes from the Caverns. This week we have special guests:
Indi Martin & William O. Billman II
Very awesome to meet them and we had some awesome conversation! Hope you enjoy the newscast this week!
Posted by Lord Baldrith - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/22/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello All! Lord Baldrith here with an awesome story by Lich Lord Ravicus called Shardfall and the Village of the Damned. Very dark and excellent story!
Here is the text:
Background Music: Alexandr Zhelanov Pioneers of the Future https://soundcloud.com/alexandr-zhelanov and Gichco by Shinsei
Shardfall and the Village of the Damned by Lich Lord Ravicus Domdred
Ravicus glanced with a steel cold look over the Shard covered plains. as he looked on, the images flood through his mind, of what has been done, and what yet has to be done……
The memoirs of his family have passed from generation to generation in a blood covered grimoire made of flesh that had been rendered and stretched to cover the insidious pages. The grimoire talks of how the Shardfall was the ruin of the land, depriving the villagers of bird and beast. Nothing grew, not grain nor grass. Trees where non existent after the pummeling of the shards.
It is this that leads to the blight that has perpetuated the present circumstances. After the loss of food, be it flora or fauna, the people became desperate, and in desperate times, people do desperate things.
On a trip foraging for food, It might have been fate, or a curse that brought the villagers to an unknown area. A mausoleum lay in ruins, cracked open with the force of huge stones thrown from the heavens. Spirits that were trapped in the mausoleum where not kind, nor friendly. One of them was especially sinister. The undead quickly felt the desperation and hunger in the villagers and quickly moved to possess them, bending their minds to the will of the evil necromancer that lay in the tomb.
The mind of the necromancer was full of dark and forbidden magics and alchemical formulas…..all stemming from the death, and flesh of humans…..(which are printed in blood in the grimoire).
Powerful was this necromancer, commanding raiding parties to scour the lands, rendering flesh and bone, for feast, potions, and the beautifully corrupt art of his evil craft………
Ravicus jolts, steering his thoughts from the past, and smells human flesh, nearby, and just in time too, for the hunger is upon him……Muhahahahahaah. ~Ravicus Domdred~
Shardfall and the Village of the Damned Pt 1 (the Curse of Anthor Poagphus the Hungered)
While stirring restlessly in wait, after laying the bait for some unfortunate passerby to notice…….he again turns to the dark crimson text in the Domdred Grimoire, and begins to revisit the tale of the origins of the City of the Damned….
…..As starvation took hold of the villagers, formation of scouting parties where fully attended in hopes of finding some means of sustenance. One party in particular, led by a young lean farmer’s son, struck out eastward, for it was in that direction that laid unexplored areas since the massive shardfall that decimated the region. With watchful eyes the group journey toward the rising sun, up and around the huge pillars of stone which littered the plundered soil in every direction. Crawling across the lowest point of one of the horizontally laying pillars, an eerie image presents itself.
Shattered stone pieces of what resembles a crypt, a mausoleum of ancient craftsmanship lay in tangled piles earth and stone. Upon closing in on the ruins, a foul must lay in the air, stinging the nostrils and setting in an itch that could not be rid of. It was a mist, a mist sort of like what you would see viewing through a piece of thin black satin. A mild distortion of the rabble strewn about.
With trembling lips and cautious advancement, the farmers son pierced the opaque veil and was stilled in his steps, the breath escaped his lungs as he tried to force out a warning. Instantly, vise like grips of twin skeletons grabbed at his arms, forcing him in place. Out of the debris, a shadow stirs, then becomes visible, an apparition of unspeakable horror! It glides closer, with tattered rags flailing around him. Within an inch of his nose, the ghostly eyes of the necromancer stole into his own, reaching in to his very core. It was with no more than a whisper that his very soul was ripped from his body and absorbed into the shifting form of the undead lich. He closed his eyes………
The skeletons quickly released the body, which for a brief second slumped, then quickly animated back to form! The body seemed to double in size, perhaps an illusion. He then spoke and with the voice of the young man abruptly stated: “I, Anthor Poagphus , have arisen once again!” With saying that, he turned and walked back into the mist, onward toward the unknowing remaining party members……muhahahahah…….
Ravicus Domdred circa 2014
Posted by Lord Baldrith - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/19/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello everyone! Lord Baldrith here with a 4th installment of the Sir Frank series called Necropolis. Very good work again!
Background Music by Zander Noriega called Black Drought
Here is the text:
Necropolis By Sir Frank
The rain fell softly upon the canopy of the trees, and ran in rivulets down the branches and trunks, as if being careful not to disturb what lay beneath.
Weathered bones lay scattered among the weeds and brush that had sprouted among the cobbled pathways of an ancient necropolis. One mausoleum remained standing, its door wedged open while two travelers kept dry and enjoyed the cool air inside.
“An interesting choice of refuge from the walking dead”, said sir Frank. “Why leave the safety of Kingsport to live in a grave yard?”
The former innkeeper smiled a broad smile. “The dead were bubbling up from the sewers underneath the tavern! I figured it would only be fair for me to invade their place.” He leaned heavily upon the door jamb and vomited a geyser of foamy stout porter, belched loudly, and then screamed “Everyone is welcome at the Hearth of Britannia!” into the trees. Then he laughed an insane sort of laugh.
Sir Frank leaned back against the wall and waited for nightfall.
Posted by Lord Baldrith - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/16/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello everyone, Asclepius here, with a wonderful poem by Languard. This is a rather complex poetic form, called a sestina, and the piece is entitled Shardfall. Background music “Romance Sonata” by Smartsound.
Shardfall
In the past hung two moons, Silvery light drifting with grace so cool. The lake shining with gentle glare, with all the night taking a moment to be still. Smoothly swaying with no chaos, a gentle and loving lunar dance.
But what could be changing the dance? When you should be there, why are you here moon? Should we fear this new chaos, Let our lunar passion cool? The night may be still, but the water has an ominous glare.
What is this fearsome glare? What is happening now is no lunar dance, A moment when all is still… Then where there was two, now but one moon! Heat and raging streaks of fire replace night’s cool. Absolute. Unrelenting. Chaos.
Cries echo to uncaring chaos, the lake holding red death’s glare. To mourn a friend now cool, seeking shelter in a morbid dance, what more do you wish for us moon? When will you again be still?
But if you will not relent, we will not be still. Virtue will shine in the chaos. Glow shards, a new moon casting and flickering across the lake’s glare. With strength and stride we dance, and wait for the night to cool.
With time passed, the fires are cool. Once again the night is still. With new heart and name, Deadalus does his dance. Virtue changed but virtue still, re-forged by chaos. Gentle lake holding this glittering glare of our new sharded moon.
Virtue shines best in the fires of chaos, but take care you don’t lose sight in the glare. The world spins on with its new moon.
Posted by Asclepius - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/15/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello everyone – This is Asclepius with a great story by Womby, entitled “Journey to Kingsport”. Background music is “Prologue” by Telaron, at http://www.opengameart.org.
Here is the text:
Journey to Kingsport
According to his hastily scribbled map the tavern was somewhere in Kingsport. He wasn’t entirely sure though. The information was incomplete, and it had taken hours of torture to extract that information from Lord Xychra. Not much of a result after investing all that valuable time.
Still, Lord Xychra had mentioned an associate and a tavern in Kingsport. If there was loot to be found, he had best make his way there.After locating the tavern nestled by the Kingsport docks, Dhank stepped inside to discover a small, dimly lit bar that had obviously seen better days. The only occupant was the bartender, who paused what he was doing to glance up. A slightly raised eyebrow demanded an explanation for this intrusion.
“Lord Xychra sent me” said Dhank. “He has directed me to collect his belongings, and asked me to show you this as proof”. With that he dropped Lord Xychra’s ring on the bar. The same ring that less than 24 hours earlier he had removed from his Lordship’s severed finger, as he lay screaming in a pool of blood.
Slowly the bartender picked up the ring and examined it carefully. “Very well. Wait here while I fetch the key and write down some directions.” With that the barman left the room, and Dhank replaced the ring on his finger. The barman eventually returned with a rough parchment and a large iron key. “Follow these directions, and they’ll take you to Lord Xychra’s associate. I have no doubt that he’ll be very helpful in carrying out Lord Xychra’s wishes.
Following the directions was straightforward, as the location was only a short walk away, beneath the docks. The key opened a door into the town sewer, and Dhank slowly made his way forward, cursing his oversight in not bringing a torch. He could no longer see the map and inched forward slowly, first following the wall on his left, then the wall on his right before becoming hopelessly disoriented.
Eventually the passage he was in led to a small platform overlooking a large channel filled with a dark and menacing liquid. It might have been water, but Dhank wasn’t about to bet his life on it. Suddenly he found himself rooted to the spot as he was struck by a spell cast from somewhere behind him. Dhank heard footsteps circle around him, then a torch flickered to life revealing the bartender who had sent him here.
“You should feel honoured.” The bartender came closer as he spoke, and Dhank could see that he wore a butcher’s apron and carried a large set of knives hanging from a leather belt around his waist. On the opposite side of the platform, visible for the first time in the light of the torch, Dhank could see a butcher’s station, a tanning station and an alchemy station. “Not everyone is selected for harvesting by his Lordship. He only sends about one a month. Now, let’s start with that finger.”
Posted by Asclepius - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
I am removing the Soundcloud syndication of podcasts.
The limited amount of space for a free account creates more work to rotate our pod-casts in addition to the already additional work needed to add them in the first place.
I don’t believe anyone is using Soudcloud for these podcasts! It is probably good to have from a marketing standpoint, but that’s about it!
In the event anyone ever want’s us on soundcloud and is willing to cover the costs for an account OR wants to request I run a fundraiser for it due to a perceived interest, I could re-visit it at that time. I think right now though its not an added benefit and just creates more work so killing it!
The account will remain active with an intro piece though!
Posted by Sir Stile Teckel - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
8/13/2024 Update: -Links to the .mp3 on this post are now broken -You can listen to the Mp3 File for this post now, on Youtube, here:
Hello everyone, Asclepius here with a short introductory post. Recently I joined the Caverns as part of the news team with Lord Baldrith. Since then the volume of fan fiction work sent in by the community has increased dramatically, to the point where Lord Baldrith can’t handle all the work on his own. I have been asked to come on board and voice some podcasts as well.
This post serves two purposes; firstly to let you know that there may be another voice bringing your creations to the wider community, and secondly if you can see and hear this, then I’ve mastered the trick of posting the podcasts to the Caverns site!
We do have a bit of a backlog at present, but we will try to clear it as fast as we can. In spite of that, we still want to bring as many original creations to the community as possible, so don’t stop posting.
Echoes…Echoes…echoes from the caverns was brought to you by Lord Baldrith, Asclepius and Sir Stile Teckel. Do you have a piece you would like us to read? Please contact us at LordBaldrith@thecaverns.net, Asclepius@thecaverns.net or stile@thecaverns.net
Posted by Asclepius - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
Indi Martin and William O Billman II have agreed to do a guest spot on the weekly news podcast on 8/15/14! So be sure to listen to this podcast after it airs and join in with Lord Baldrith and Asclepius after they cover the last weeks worth of Shroud of the Avatar followed by an interview of our special guests! A special thank you to both of them for agreeing to come on the show.
If your not familiar with the Newscast by now, then head over to the website and read up on it!
If your not familiar with our guests.. I have to ask – Do you read ANY of my stuff??? Currently making a Geo-caching card game, Creating Shroud of the Avatar Geo-caches, Graphic novels, Novels, Comic Books, and custom artwork – OH MY!! Busy people!!! Do a search on them at my site and you’ll find out plenty!
Now this is just pure coincidence as far as timing goes. I recently hired Indi to do a Custom Character Portrait for me of Stile Teckel. I did an article over on my site not to long ago about her being the best go to place for Character portraits for us Shroud of the Avatar backers! I also gave you a link to one Sir Frank commissioned.. I don’t like to talk the talk but also do what I say, and so I commissioned one as well! Check it out and be sure to check out their other work!
Posted by Sir Stile Teckel - Email Author Visit The Caverns Website. Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.
