Episode Notes

THIS WEEK ON: the ADVENTURES of DARING RED - our intrepid PRODUCER faced challenging OBSTACLES, literal HOURS of GRUELING LAG, and a deep and terrible FEAR that she would not get the episode OUT IN TIME! So to save her the distress and ENSURE that YOU, DEAR LISTENERS, get the BEST OF THE BEST we bring to you: OUTTAKES from episodes 6-18!

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson.
Sound effects: zapsplat

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing

Episode Notes

The culmination of our plans with Stanislaw comes to a head tonight, and I will be stuck behind a locked door playing cards — unable to tell which way the tower falls. I can only hope that my friends, whom I have kept the truth from, will prove victorious.

I trust them on the field of battle, but my hesitation to trust them in spycraft and delicate investigations might just cost us more than it will be worth. Whatever I win at this tournament won’t compare to what we lose if I am wrong. Or, more vitally, if Stanislaw outsmarts me again.

There are two final thoughts that I have, before I take my seat at the table: The first is the reassurance that, despite all his resources, Stanislaw still couldn’t access the journal without our help.

The second is just why, exactly, does Stanislaw so clearly hate Dragomir but is so willing to help Sofia to the point where he would use me as a stepping stone to get what he wants? How does he not hate the Errols for what they have done?
- From the investigation notes of Elżbieta

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson.
Sound effects: zapsplat, Soundbible user Tony Phillips & Mike Koenig, BBC Sound Effects Library, and Freesound users slave2thelight, IENBA, artninja, eminyildirim, brendan89, fractanimal, sounagix, kev_durr, bcginn, kevp888, julianmateo, and minecraftgamerlr
Other music: Kevin MacLeod & Ovani Sound

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing

Episode Notes

Content warning for graphic violence and medical mention

So that's it then? Stanislaw’s betrayal has reached its peak, my name as Dragomir’s daughter has spread beyond his cloistered few, and Ksana…

But how do these pieces all fit together? Why does Stanislaw hate Dragomir so much, when they are not father and son? What is Nico and this faceless Hans’ role in the Errol hierarchy? What is Stanislaw's? Something tells me he is not as integrated in the family politics as he claims he is, or he would not have needed our help to steal the journal.

Because he very clearly couldn't do it on his own. We were a cover, to be sure, but if he had the support of the family he could have made his own cover. He could have become integrated in the society of the Delta the way Dragomir has.

He might not play at politics very well, but he can play on people. He got us to cover his weak points. And I, who never trusted anything for so long because it meant the difference between survival or death, didn't even blink twice.
- From the investigation notes of Elżbieta

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson.
Sound effects: zapsplat user Still North Media, Alan McKinney, and others; Soundbible user Tony Phillips; BBC Sound Effects Library; and Freesound users halleck, artninja, sounagix, homeboylp, eminyildirim, julianmateo, mycompasstv, kevp888, and jaklocke
Other music: Ovani Sound

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing

Episode Notes

CONTENT WARNING for:

• medical/descriptions of surgery at 21m04s to 29m11s
• spiders at 1hr02m8s to 1hr02m33s

I can’t stop thinking about how Aldrich and Dragomir have viewed Ksana’s brand of magic. Calling it self-sacrifice, calling it stupid, calling it useless because she gives and gives of herself and expects nothing in return. Of course they would think that; their view of that outpouring of life is that it does not sustain them. All the Errols can do is take from this land, to literally bleed it dry, and they cannot understand a selfless act as they are inherently selfish creatures.

That is not to say that I condone Ksana’s martyrdom. What is the point in throwing yourself away to build a better world if you are not here to see it? Over the last year, since I have joined the Rams and was finally given the chance to realize that there is so much more to life than surviving, I have figured out what I want out of this quest. I want to create a world where people like me, people like Sorren, people like that Wight we met upon first entering the Delta, can live without hiding their true faces. And I want to fight for a place like that so that I can experience it.

Ksana fights for a world that exists to display the wondrous good of humanity, so why would she carve herself empty and hollow so that she will not live to see it? There is so little of her left and she will gladly parcel it out.

Granny Weaver is wrong. There is nothing that the Errols can do to break me and reshape me into a monster who will serve alongside them. I think I want to see Ksana’s vision of the future, and I’m determined to ensure she’s there to witness it as well.
- From the investigation notes of Elżbieta

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson
Sound effects: zapsplat, Yellowstone National Park Sound Library, and Freesound users lg, DBlover, nachtmahrtv, other_kat, and iainmccurdy
Other music: Ovani Sound & Kevin MacLeod

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing

Episode Notes

Momma,

I met him recently.

Did you know this would happen? When I wrote to you weeks ago and said that we were going into the Delta and that our next target was going to be its Warden. Even if your response had been able to reach me in time, would you have warned me off of that course of action?

Would you have finally given me an answer, told me the truth, or would you have begged me to find someone else to go in my place without an explanation?

Actually, this is the third time our paths have crossed. Twice he was a monster who never acknowledged my presence. The third time, he sat across from me like an estranged father would, looked me in the eye, and had the gall to say I had the best of you.

I already knew that. I did not need him to tell me. I did not want him to tell me.
- Unsent letter from Elżbieta Wrona to her mother, Mariska

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Viidra Matei
Mab as Elżbieta Wrona
Zachary as The Game Master

Produced by: Mab
Theme song: "Stray Not, And Be Safe" by Zachary Frederickson.
Sound effects: zapsplat and Freesound users jfm, arnaud-coutancier, cgeffex, nachtmahrtv, hannagreen
Other music: "For Endless Days" by Pamela Yuen, licensed under CC-BY-4.0; changes made to loop certain segments of the song.

Find us on Twitter at SunlessReach, Tumblr at SagasoftheSunlessReach, and Bluesky at SunlessReach. Don't forget to post about the show using #SunReach.

Follow all of Standing Stones' projects @stones_standing