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

Episode Notes

It has been a little over a year since I learned that I was an Errol. It has been mere days since I learned that I was Dragomir’s daughter. And of everything those revelations have brought to light and have forced me to understand about myself, what Dragomir said today highlights the one fear I’ve always had about my lineage.

Blood compels.

I am only a dhampir. I can stand in the sun, can eat and drink like a normal person, and I bleed the same as everyone else. But before I received this gift from Quester Apogee I could be harmed just the same as any full-blooded vampire if the powers of life were turned on me. So where is the line, really? Who am I when compared to Curwen, who yearns for everything the name Errol should give him by birth.

Power, prestige, strength.

If I had grown up as he had, chasing my father’s shadow instead of under my mother’s protection, would I have wanted it as he does? I told Granny Weaver that I wouldn’t have, but that is because I answer as myself, as a Wrona, who has known what it is to live in fear of what I am and not know that I could demand respect as an Errol.

Blood compels, but I still do not think that I would have wanted anything else.

My father hides here in the Delta. He protects the small world he has claimed for himself, and nothing more. I think, in his own way, he is afraid of what he is, too.
- 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 and others, Soundbible user Tony Phillips, and Freesound users monkeyedz, kyles, webbfilmsuk, halleck, artninja, julianmateo, molefimanaka, brunoauzet, eminyildirim, and cgeffex
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

We come, at last, to the first step in the emancipation of the Delta. So much has changed since we first entered months ago. The Anglers are poised against us and Dragomir, the erstwhile father I never anticipated to find here, fights on our side. Not an ally, per se, but the enemy of my enemy…

Old allies are a welcome sight. I didn't mean for my letter to be a summons, but I won't lie and say that I do not wish to have them here. Sorren, especially, after everything—

There's so much we still have to survive. We have to survive the assault against the Delta. We have to survive Sophia. We have to survive each other.

I plan to use the favor won from Dragomir to see him leave the Delta in peace, but if he and Ksana are determined to come to blows, I will use that favor to get him to stand down.

I do not doubt that he will do anything I ask, even if he puts up a fuss now. I just don’t yet know how far I can push him. He may claim to know me by sight, but he is a stranger to me. And we have miles to go before he can earn the right to call me ‘daughter’.
- 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 and Soundbible user Tony Phillips
Other music: Kevin MacLeod; "Streets of Democracy (ID 2368)" by Lobo Loco, licensed under CC-BY-4.0

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

There is one thing I keep telling myself with each report from across the Delta: It means nothing if they can’t do this for themselves. With each new day, how much are we carrying the fight on our backs, instead of letting the citizens of the Delta learn they can stand for themselves? They do not need outside revolutionaries, and they do not need Wolves. They just need to know that they can.

I can’t speak for the others beyond what they have reported through Granny Weaver’s spiders. The Sangele are already masters of their own defense, they just need extra hands to help where theirs are tied. The Sunken Tune, their long-standing agreement with Dragomir, the self-imposed isolation. For the future of the Delta, these are things that need to change and have ready solutions.

Despite what Sorren says, I am no master tactician. I see all the same pieces on the board as everyone else does. I just do not have the same obligations and ties to this place, so I am not afraid to tear it up from the roots. I will hand them back the shovel and say ‘now you do the rest’, because once we leave then they will have to learn to rely on one another. They deserve freedom from an Errol’s reign, even if his hand was more lenient than most.

The Rams’ Horns are not here to govern this place in Dragomir’s stead. We cannot take on every responsibility for freeing this place on our shoulders alone and then leave them to fend for themselves. We are here to remind them that it is possible to take what they deserve from the hands that would claim to know what is best.

We are not shepherds. Let the people rule themselves.
- 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, Freesound users webbfilmsuk, augustsandberg, kyles, plus-one, cgeffex, mycompasstv, julianmateo, fractanimal, halleck, brunoauzet, axiyee, other_kat
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

I am not the only one with a deeply personal connection to this course we have plotted. It is still a new concept to me, that this is my family, though they seem so ready to try and drag me in on one side or the other. And as this family starts to tear itself apart, it expands wider and wider across the countryside.

But even beyond that: Apricus has some sort of history with Nico. I don’t really know how to ask him such a personal question, especially considering all of the grief that we have been put through due to their interference. Would he answer, if I did? Would I be able to find some sort of way to be as vulnerable in return, as an equivalent bearing of souls?

My secrets are now known. I did a poor job of mitigating their damage, especially where Curwen was involved, but I have little else to give that would be as personal as who is this person to you? What will it mean for you that we have to kill them?

Apricus has always been a solid supporter and a level head in times where I felt I couldn’t keep one. I feel I am doing a poor job of offering him the same in this moment.
- From the investigation notes of Elżbieta

Cast:
Bitmap as Ksana the Spear
Cory as Apricus the Luminary
Jade as Orin Nāttsku
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 users Still North Media and others, Yellowstone National Park Sound Library, and Freesound users lg, nachtmahrtv, kvp888, julianmateo, eminyildirim, breviceps, nofeedbak, and kev_durr

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