Adventure Awaits - Erylian Extra September 2020 Edition
What this month may have lacked in episode releases, it is making up for in a ton of other stuff for the show and cast as a whole! Our most exciting news this month is that we are officially announcing that we have joined the Gonna Geek Podcast Network. This month also saw a lot of time spent out in nature for most of the cast, including spanning most of Washington State from East to West.
Joining Gonna Geek
We are excited to announce that this month we have joined the Gonna Geek Podcast Network. Gonna Geek is a network full of geeky podcasts ranging from weekly news, to comic book discussion, to TV shows, to podcasting, and now, Actual Play D&D. Damian has been a member of the Gonna Geek Community for some time on their Discord server, which he learned about through Better Podcasting. The idea to join the Gonna Geek Network came about earlier this year when one of the hosts Damian has been close with asked why we had not applied to join the network. Though there have been a handful of networks and fellowships that Adventures in Erylia has been close with over the years, we have always opted to remain network agnostic so that we could continue to support and promote our friends, regardless of affiliation. Joining the Gonna Geek Network has no negative impact on that. In fact, we will now be promoting more shows, as you heard in this new Erylian Epic release with a pre-roll promo from another show on the network. Our show will also be featured through other shows on the network. Nothing about our show will be changing beyond this, and if you would like to talk more about this change, feel free to join us over in the Adventures in Erylia Discord. OR, if you would like to learn more about the Gonna Geek Network as a whole and see what other shows are on the network, come hang out in the Gonna Geek Discord.
Erylian Epic Returns
After a five month hiatus, we are pleased to announce the return of our Erylian Epic with a NEW episode being released this month! I know, I know, only one release this month again, but it turns out that after such a long time away from the mics, this episode took a bit more time to edit than usual. Also, as you will see further down, September was a busy month for everyone in the cast, including Damian, who edits the show. This episode really serves as the wrap up and sort of an epilogue to the finale that was the party slaying Grimfang.
Having defeated the gnoll leader, Grimfang, the party and the dwarven Blackguard make their way out of the forest. Ariel has chosen to safeguard the spear the he wielded personally. As everyone sets up camp to rest before returning to the village of Starren, Adriel makes her way around the group, sharing some of her dwarden, and congratulating everyone on a job well done.
After returning to the village, the part meets up with Ulyean, the captain of the Blackguard, to discuss the events that had transpired, as well as divide up their spoils. He also gives the party two letters. One that essentially buys them the horse and cart from the travel company that they had been renting, and one that tells the Guild Masters in Riven about what the party has done in the region.
Their day ends with the party having a small celebration at Lift’s Rest, the local tavern, though each celebrates in their own way, and not all of them seem cheerful.
Epic Journeys
The summer was full of adventure for the Adventures in Erylia crew, and September was certain a busy month for that. At one point, we had people spanning most of Washington from east to west as Chantalle made a trip out to Yakima, and Caitlin and Damian made a trip out to Port Angeles.
Port Angeles
Caitlin and Damian
Yakima
Chantalle
Jones’ Island
Damian
Dungeon in a Box
Due to some back to back recordings last month, we ended up taking a month off from the Adventures in Erylia campaigns. To still get us playing D&D, Chris decided to run us through another session of Dungeon in a Box. Chris actually started the Dungeon in a Box campaign with us last year as a way to give Damian a break from running games, give Chris a chance to experience DMing, and, like in this month, give us a casual game to play in when we aren’t ready to record again. It had been a long time playing this, but we had ended at the perfect spot to jump back in, with a new player as Caitlin decided to join the campaign this time.
These were Chris’ thoughts after the game:
I feel that it went well all things considered. I didn't have a lot of prep time but the box helps a lot with that. If I had been able to to spend a bit more time getting it all ready I think things would have run a little smoother. Seeing as the boxes have had a lot of the same kind of feel, travel with random encounters followed by a large fight. I might say that most boxes should be two sessions to give you guys time more to breathe. Going over the book again it seems like they expected the player to spend a lot more "in game" time moving through the sewers. It's an interesting process that could have taken several in game days.
This is what Christa had to say as a player:
For the Secret of the Greenwold dungeon box.....loving it. Super glad Caitlin joined us so we now have the recommended 4 people. We found out the hard way that these boxes aren't to be taken lightly and that 4 people is definitely needed. I love the puzzle concept, and that the right choices aren't always clear. I still can't believe we killed the entire thieves guild!
Having experience as a DM and getting to play this as a player, Damian had these thoughts:
Considering we failed the previous box, technically, and ended up in jail, it was the perfect chance to invite a new player into the story. I was a little worried however, because of failing the last event, that we were not going to be able to get out of the jail. My thoughts about the design as a whole are the same as after our last session. In our last session, we had tried to talk our way out of a fight that seemed impossible to win, and chose to run but could not escape. Once again, we tried a more diplomatic approach with talking to the thieves guild and almost TPK’d out of it. I think our group is going to have to be more direct with our problem solving.
Happy Birthdays!
There are five people that make up Adventures in Erylia. THREE of them have birthdays in September. Say happy birthday to Caitlin, Chris, and Christa!
New Fur Babies
As if there wasn’t enough travel this month, Caitlin and Damian made yet another pilgrimage, this time to the south. A friend of Caitlin’s cat had had some kittens a couple months ago, and especially being stuck at home, they have been really wanting to have another cat. The kittens were finally ready and we were given the chance to make the 5 hour drive down to Salem Oregon to pick them up. It was a long day of driving, nearly 10 hours on the road. Say hello to Aela and Azog!
Featured Podcast - Are We Dead Yet?
This is something new we are going to be doing with our newsletter. The format of our show is moving in a direction that makes it harder to highlight and feature new shows that we are listening to or that we are friends with the creators of. This month, we are featuring Are We Dead Yet?
The stories we are telling at Are We Dead Yet? are stories of hope, friendship and perseverance. The characters we play each have their own selfish desires or missions, but ultimately set them aside in order to help the greater good. Our stories are about building bonds between strangers, no matter what circumstances you are thrust into with them. We want this show to be a force for good, while also making silly jokes and goofs along the way. The shows name is a question: Are We, as a society, Dead yet? Our show's goal is to show that the answer to that question is No... Not yet.
When featuring one of these shows, I like to listen to an episode that they would like someone to hear. I was directed to listen to episode 22 of season 1. Josh had no way to know this, but it was the perfect episode to have me listen to, because I love the idea of Modrons which are the focus of the episode!