Roll, Ponder, and Play - Dramatized Solo Roleplay

Previously: In our previous episode, Eilwen discovers Valeri watching her by the fire. As they engage in conversation, she finds that Valeri had, long ago, actually met her mother, Arwed, a lovely blond woman whom Valeri referred to as ‘The Witch’. This was many years ago at the circle of Redhall when Valeri was but a young girl and when Arwed was a beautiful woman in her prime.  Valeri tells Eilw...

Previously: In our previous episode, the companions awaken and continue their travels from the iron pillar, following the river south through the tempest hills. About midday, the road takes them to a rotten wooden bridge that spans a large and deep ravine through which the heedless river courses with rapidity. A covered wagon perches precariously near a ragged hole where a tangle of horses and rei...

Previously: In our previous episode, as the companions make camp around the peaceful iron pillar infused with golden mystical ight, Eilwen, during her watch activates her magic and calls the shadows to try to unlock the secrets of the pillar. One of the two-dimensional beings made of shadow stuff tries to lead her astray through a shadowy twisting door. But she resists and binds the shadows to her...

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Previously: The party, enroute to fulfill a mission for the king of Craewen, rests and supplies at the royal palace in the new capital of Southmarch. They are attacked by a malevolent force consisting of part physical and part shadow substance. The larger spider-like demon creatures are also accompanied by smaller shadow spiders. We learn that the party’s assailants are sent from the chaos realm b...

Previously: In our previous episode, the party arrives at the palace in Southmarch, the new capital to the Kingdom of Craewen. They ride up the winding icy streets to the kingdom’s palace atop a large hill in the center of Southmarch and witness the Craewan military in full mobilization. At the palace, they are met by the palace steward, a man named Paron, who with the authority and backing of the...

Previously: In our previous episode, Renchant and Tatyana attend their signing ceremony and become officially engaged (or betrothed). There is much feasting and celebrating their potential union. Some in the party, Raena foremost among them, have misgivings about Renchant’s motives, but after confronting him, she eventually becomes convinced that Renchant is sincere in his affection towards Tatyan...

In our last episode, Renchant Pel Nil discovers that Tatyana has engaged the hotel staff in preparing for an engagement signing celebration and anxious to not be tied down considers fleeing through the open window of the hotel’s second story window into the snow. But instead, he stands his ground, and he and Tatyana have a serious discussion about marriage, the nature of happiness and the freedom...

Previously: In our previous episode, back at the inn, in Renchant’s room, Renchant and Tatyana enjoy an evening together. Renchant gets his massage and tries to seduce the young woman; he offers her a job to come with him to the south. He succeeds in convincing her to come, but she turns the tables on him. She recognizes her prospects are small in this town filled with refugees. And with war on th...

Previously: In the previous episode, it remains winter, and the party travels to the town of Inolulen. It is crammed full to the rafters with refugees and there is no room in the inn, unless you are Renchant and are able to wave about copious amounts of coin for yourself and speak in stirring tones. Which he does, and he secures himself a well-furnished room, one with a bath, a fireplace, and luxu...

Previously: In our previous episode we did a session zero, showcased the previous three adventures our party had been on, bringing them from level 1 up to the lofty level of level 4. We introduced our characters and did some Craewan kingdom building, and then rolled up some details about our upcoming adventure. Attributions: - 'Emergent' and 'Simulacra' by Scott Buckley ( www.scottbuckley.com.au )...

Welcome my friends to the post-Christmas days of early January (if you’re in the northern hemisphere, anyway), though where I live it is very atypically rainy and wet, where usually the ground would be frozen solid with snow. In any case, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year celebration! I was going to record this episode earlier, but I’ve been sick, and my voice is finally s...

Previously:   In our previous episode, Eilwen calls the shadows to her, pulls one of them into her amulet which activates something. The amulet flares a bright sapphire glow before settling on a steady dim light. And in the amulet's swimming depths, she focuses on the shadow and sees… a series of three visions: In the first vision, Eilwen becomes a child, the princess Morwen, in fact. She is in th...

Hi friends, I wanted to give a brief channel update. First of all, I'm going to be taking a hiatus from publishing weekly until the new year. Posting weekly is a tremendous time commitment, and with the approaching busy schedules associated the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, I frankly need a break, and don't want to risk burning out. I do intend to continue to release episodes next year, but I...

Previously:  In our previous episode, Eilwen investigates the ruined palace at Greenhome while Seith and Aron take their rest. She finds a cellar and beyond the cellar a prison--a prison where manacles where wrenched free from their mountings and the door burst asunder! She feels a darkness and evil emanating still from that prison and flees back to the ground floor. She begins to piece together t...

Previously: In our previous episode, Inside Greenhome, the above-ground ruined building built for the queens of old, Eilwen hears sounds of fighting above her. Rushing to investigate, she sees Seith's bloody and still form rolling down some stone steps towards her. He's alive but hurt and soon loses consciousness. She proceeds up the stairs and is ambushed by a savage varou who leaps out of her fr...

Previously: In our previous episode, when dawn comes, Eilwen and Scratch make their way back near the escarpment where their camp had been attacked two days before. Together, they arrive in the treeline and study the clearing where their camp had been. Amidst the din of cawing ravens and buzzing flies feasting on the fallen slaughtered horses, Eilwen finds that her brother, Aron, and Seith must ha...

Previously:  In our previous episode, Eilwen, having fled from the Varou assault on their campsite the day before, and having spent the night in the deep woods, spends the next day healing, hunting, resting, and recuperating. As she does so, Scratch, the little wyvern, gets into her food, attacks her boot laces, attempts to fly, hunts bugs, climbs a tree and after leaping at Eilwen's face, takes a...

Previously:   In our previous episode, in the gray early-morning hours, during their breakfast, Eilwen, Aron, and Seith are ambushed by a group of Varou, who, using the thick fog to get in close, were able to attack their camp. In the ensuing fight, as their horses are being slaughtered, Eilwen is wounded in the forearm, and due to the thick fog, and the chaos of battle, is separated from Aron and...

Previously:  In our previous episode, Eilwen, Aron, and Seith are reunited near Seith's home, with Aron leading several horses. While Seith is gathering supplies for a departure from Redcrag, Aron reveals that they have little some time but not much if they are to stay ahead of their pursuers from the Wolf Fang Clan. By the light of moon and stars, they consult the Wolf Fang Clan's map that Eilwen...

Previously:  Welcome to Episode 21 of the Queen of Shadows Podcast on Roll, Ponder, and Play! I'm Jared Hess, your friendly neighborhood game master, solo-player, author, and narrator. In our previous episode, as night falls in the settlement of Redcrag, Seith allows Eilwen to keep the baby wyvern, Scratch, in his shed prior to Eilwen, Aron, and Seith leaving to confront Mattox, a ne'er-do-well an...

Oct 7, 2025 - (I've reuploaded this file to capture some corrections.) Previously: In our previous episode, Eilwen and her brother Aron make their way down out of the frozen heights of the Veiled Mountains into another mountainous region, much lower in elevation, known as the Tempest Hills. Still considered the highlands, these high golden alpine meadows are alive with bees, butterflies, and birds...

Previously:   In our previous episode, Eilwen and Aron finally made their way through the large pile of rock and continue their journey through the subterranean depths. In one area, they find some strange blue-glowing water that would pass through living matter with little effect, but would affix itself to unliving matter such as stone or metal. Eilwen pulls out her sword and lets the dribbling gl...

Previously: In our previous episode, Eilwen and Aron finally made their way through the large pile of rock and continued their journey through the subterranean depths. In one area, they found some strange blue-glowing water that would pass through living matter with little effect, but would affix itself to unliving matter such as stone or metal. Eilwen pulls out her sword and lets the dribbling gl...

Previously:   In our previous episode, Eilwen, Aron, and Kyffin venture into the dark subterranean ruins beneath the tower of the Husk, Edris, hoping to pass through to the other side of the mountains. They move through a huge rectangular-wrought chamber with large finely-crafted statutes carved into the pillars holding up the ceiling. The artistry is similar to what they found on the mask of the...