Episode Description
To say that this particular story starts off in a strange way would be the underselling of a lifetime. But that’s how things are sometimes. Sometimes, in pursuit of a missing eggsac — which we know isn’t even in this direction — an unlikely trio sets off towards an abandoned town, and on the way finds themselves at the wrong end of blade and riddle. Yet by the end of it all, in stories like this, they find themselves confronted with horrors physical and existential. So it goes in Sangfielle. So it goes.
Today on Sangfielle: What Happened at Bell Metal Station
Opening narration
Some stories — and, to be honest, some of my very favorite ones — are simple at the end of the day. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. There’s heroes and there’s villains, and there’s little in between except for space soon taken by blades, bullets, and bards exchanged. These stories don’t have the texture and nuance of the so-called literary mode, but they are comforting. How couldn’t they be? Their worlds are simple, confident in themselves. There are good guys and evildoers and third parties defined mostly in the way in which their lives are at stake. Hell, even when the heroes lose in those stories, it’s... well, like I said, it’s loss. It’s open and shut. It’s easy to understand. But we here at the serialized almanac of the Heartland Rider are not fabulous nor peddlers of fiction.
Now, I don't hold a grudge against purveyors of the imagined or hypothesized, but we are here to tell it as it is. To tell the truth. And the truth is that it’s not so simple, or at least I don't think it is. This world is a mélange without recipe. You can taste it and tell me after the fact whether you think it’s thyme or oregano, cinnamon or something hotter. But you cannot look at the thing as it lies on the plate and know in truth how it was flavored. In fact, the world is a whole damn meal of untraced providence, a prime cut from pedigree unclear, dressed with greens soft in color but otherwise unrecognizable.
All of which I mean as a preface to and a priming for an account that is complex in character, diluted in piquancy and murky in the final state of things. There are heroes, and there are villains, and there are people in between, but I am not sure that there is much comfort here. And if there is a world laid bare for us in the pages that follow, I can tell you this one thing for certain: it is anything but confident in itself.
Contents
This article needs a plot summary. Please help fattwiki by adding one.
Cast
- Austin Walker
- Art Martinez-Tebbel (as Duvall)
- Jack de Quidt (as Pickman)
- Keith J Carberry (as Lye Lychen)
Active Beats
Duvall:
- Major: Acquire a renowned piece of equipment
- Minor: Destroy evidence or rhetoric that proves your task to be impossible
Lyke:
- Minor: Charm someone with tales of your exploits (completed when chatting on the handcart with the Toll Collectors)
- Major: Successfully perform a dangerous action that saves the day (completed when he blocks up the gandy pipe)
Pickman:
- Minor: Find a heart-touched sapling on a delve and bring it back to a haven for planting
- Major: Meet and learn from an emissary of the Heart.