This episode was originally released as a Patreon Exclusive Live at the Table but was re-released on to the main feed in September of 2018.
Episode description[edit | edit source]
Join Austin, Dre, Jack, and Janine--a hang-gliding town crier, a swineherd, a golem, and a... bush dog, respectively--as they travel with a mysterious Magus across a world that is slowly losing its mystical energy.
This was definitely one of our favorites so far, and we hope you enjoy it while we take some time off to prepare for spring! If you like what you hear and you're able to, you can support us over at friendsatthetable.cash! Donating at the $5 level gives you access to an entire year's backlog of Live at the Table (and everything else at that tier!)
Plot[edit | edit source]
The players go over the rules of the game and choose names, titles and tokens from the list, after discussing how to interpret their meanings: Caspian the crab singer of Istallia, Piccolo the swineherd of Barley Town, Harp the golem of Ravenhall, and Fawn the vinegar fox of Mistwood.
Caspian glides onto the Ravenhall bridge and sees a parade. Piccolo looks into the Magus’ scrying pool, remembering back when the Magus helped his parents’ farm in exchange for his recruitment to the upcoming journey. In the Rose Gardens, Fawn sees a beautiful statue made of rose quartz, which looks similar to Harp. The Magus joins Harp in the menagerie and breaks the enclosure of a group of birds made of brambles, which combine into a single huge roc.
The Magus, Piccolo and Harp follow the bramble roc into the Oak Hills, and Fawn and Caspian join them. Piccolo is surprised to learn that Fawn can talk. At dawn, Harp sets up camp as they look out onto the great communal farm of Oak Hills. Piccolo searches for a ‘blue herb’ to counteract the strong smell of the honeysuckle, and Caspian takes him up on his glider to find it. Fawn has dragged a hollow log into camp with rope; it reminds her of home. At Harper’s Road, Caspian listens to the music of the harpers and mistakes Harp for a rock. As they begin to speak, he is first shocked and then takes their conversation as inspiration for lyrics. In the background, the harpers sing a too old song about rowdy teens from an orphanage, one of whom was named Caspian.
The Magus leads the group to Barley Town, where all the buildings are made of sheaves of wheat, and asks Fawn to find the Barley Lord, a wheat figure built into a hill. The Magus speaks to him and lights the first fire in the town in years. Piccolo visits his Aunt Mathilda, who wants frogs for a gumbo and reminds him never to say the letter F. Fawn observes Swine Hill, the site of a battle she lost long ago against Pompona Legatus, the hog general. A con artist at the market tricks Caspian into buying chalk (for invisible bridges) and oranges (to prevent Piccolo and Fawn getting scurvy or double scurvy). Harp hears a song told from the perspective of the ancient stone golems at the Inn of the Axe and Fiddle. Axe, a barley golem, protests the lyric that golems can’t sing, as he has a beautiful singing voice, and encourages Harp to find something to sing about.
As they move on into the mountains, leaving the roc behind, a storm begins. Fawn struggles through the weather until Caspian supplies tiny snowshoes that she can alter to fit. He also offers oranges and the calming blue herb, which Fawn accepts once he reveals that he also brought a hookah she can use. Caspian scouts ahead, wanting to stay useful, and brings back an everburning torch that points them toward a castle to the east. The group shelter in the hand of a statue of a giant golem, and Harp tells a story of an ancient golem attempting to make the land into new golems, creating today’s hills and mountains — the Magus says she knew him. They pass out of the mountains; the umbrella spell the Magus was using fails.
They arrive at Castle Stormguard, where the queen Alana Stormqueen is obliged to care for all those who arrive from the mountain pass. Caspian fences with the Magus using fire swords, loses, and is disappointed by her refusal to give committal answers about what will happen at the end of the journey. The Stormqueen promises that justice will be done if they do not return from Umbra. Harp and Fawn visits the Hall of Knights, and Harp asks one of them, Iron Alexander, about what it means to carry a sword, and if they should wield theirs. He has no real answers. Piccolo and Caspian encounter their con artist, who has been put in the stocks for tricking them — but Piccolo concludes that he’s been blamed for Piccolo’s crime of writing F on the rocks in chalk during their journey. Fawn enjoys watching a beautiful dancer and gives them a belt she made. After it’s cleared up that she has not been cursed into being a vinegar fox, they dance together.
The Magus takes them on from Stormguard to a train station on a plateau of frozen ocean. A living train pulls toward them, and Harp feeds their sword to the train, allowing them on just as a group of musicians leaves. Caspian reassures Harp that they’ll find their song. They all board, and the Magus disappears.