In the Willow’s Wake

Dark Dice

The premiere episode of Dark Dice's third season, 'Shores of the Silver Thrum,' introduces five adventurers boarding The Willow's Wake in th

Key takeaways

• The adventure begins aboard The Willow's Wake, a 178-year-old galleon operated by the Farhollar Company.
• The adventuring party consists of Ajay Ogun, Nimbo, Viviana Bloodchamber, Lan Qiu, and Vind Graview.

Main topics

• Character Introductions
• The Willow's Wake Crew

Notable quotes

Fear the strangers in your midst. Never play games of fate.

Conclusion

An immersive introduction to a new campaign that effectively blends ch

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Shalus Depeis. Salus. Speaker 2 (0:04) Do you seek him? Speaker 1 (0:06) Do you seek him? Speaker 2 (0:07) Do you seek him? Do you seek him? Speaker 1 (0:12) Do you seek Speaker 8 (0:13) the nameless god? You have found yourself among those who roll the dark dice. What you're about to hear happened long ago. A story brought back from the edge of oblivion. dutifully transcribed and enhanced orally to better captivate your attention. Our tale is a harrowing and collaborative one set within a world of dungeons and dragons. However, dissimilar to most stories of its kind, our protagonists are not fantastic heroes of legend. They do not understand what lays on the path of their fate, and they do not overcome all odds. Fear the strangers in your midst. Never play games of fate. Dice shores of the silver thrum. Chapter Speaker 2 (1:27) 1, In the Willow's Wake. Speaker 2 (1:37) The city of Ember Grodd was small, run down, and mud-strewn. Every breath smelled of fish and tidewater. Its nicest feature, surely, would be to watch the city vanish on the horizon. A group of five travelers stood at the end of a long dock, one of many. They had been led there by an overworked halfling employee of the Farholler Company, the company with which they had all separately booked passage. With a point and an odd toward the ship docked before them, papers were signed. The crew was ready, and the guests had arrived. After placing a small board of wood and paper on a nearby crate, the halfling turned and with a practiced bow took her leave. The travelers now rested in the captain's charge. Speaker 6 (2:20) Rocking against the gentle waves, creaking with every soft toss to and fro, a spot-rusted well-worn wooden galleon waited. Its name had once been etched into a placard on its portside hull, which shone like silver in reflecting sea light. But that placard had long since sunk beneath the waves. Now only flaking paint gently outlined the willow's wake. Stepping aboard the deck, the creaking seemed to lessen, but only because the ringing of the rigging and the fluttering of luffing sails filled the sea-thick air. A sturdy man, dressed in salt-splattered blue-dyed leathers, walked out to the deck. He nodded in greeting, then scratched the white scruff of his short beard. Now older than most who still braved the icy and wild waters, he was sure in his sea legs, even as the willows wake gently arched with every wave. With wrinkled eyes, the man peered back over his shoulder to the docks beyond, then gently smiled as he turned his attention to the group. Speaker 1 (3:22) You must be our passage guest, then. Speaker 6 (3:24) He scanned the documents, flipping between the pages quickly with pursed lips and a nodded brow. Speaker 1 (3:30) Right. Welcome aboard the Willow's Wake, a Farhauler Company vessel. I'm Captain Victor Gelmane, and we'll be embarking shortly on the half-month journey to Winterport. I don't mean to call you out, but would just like to verify that we have everyone. Let's start with you, sir. I've never seen an orc with horns. Surely you must be Arjay. Yes, that would be me. My name is Jasper William Cartwright. I'm a professional actor from England who you may know from shows like Three Black Halflings, Not Another D &D Podcast, or many, many others that are out there. There's quite a few, honestly. And here, among those who roll the dark dice, I'll be playing the role of the half-orc warlock, Ajay Ogun. Ajay stands very tall with these big elk-like horns stretching out from the side of his head. He wears some roughly shorn leather armor with a semi-circle metal breastplate on his chest, which seems to be inscribed with runes and symbols. He has a big, heavy traveler's cloak on, and he's clearly hunching his shoulders and trying not to extend to his full height, aware of how intimidating he might come across to those he's meeting. He simply extends out a hand to shake with the captain and smiles at him. A pleasure to meet you, then. My crew will take your... your... Speaker 1 (4:50) You know, it doesn't appear as though you have any luggage. I keep all of my personal belongings on me. No worries. Thank you, friend. Well then, you sir, the Borough of Herc Halfling. You must be Mr. Nimble-Remble-Trout-Spine, was it? Speaker 2 (5:06) Oh, Speaker 1 (5:06) it's Trout Speaker 2 (5:07) -Spine-Trout, but you can just call me Nimbo, Captain. Uh, sir? Anyway, I think it's easy enough, but it's not the most common name for big folk like you, so just Nimbo, please, and thank you. Speaker 2 (5:18) Hello, I am Danilo Botticini, a localization voiceover actor, sound designer and audio drama producer from Brazil. And I'm playing Nimbo. Nimbo Rambo Trout Spine Trout is a borough folk ranger, a halfling folk hero. He is a friendly young man with a bag swung over his shoulder filled with clothing for different types of terrain, like snow, swamp, tall grass. He is casually dressed but excited for this trip. His eyes look chew and throw. glancing at the ducks and the sheep and all the new things he's never seen before. And Nemo is a bit short, even for halflings, and he doesn't mean too, but he's quite stealthy when he moves. It looks a bit like he's been in the wilds for a while, because his hair and beard are all curly and wild, but despite this, his expression and constantly tapping feet and fingers make it clear that he's still quite a young guy. He's got these simple tattoos visible on his arms from his hands up to his shoulder, in a dark pattern that look a bit like a river, and it's supposed to be a river. In fact, there's also a small vial of water from his home on the Shade Hill River that is occasionally visible on a necklace he's wearing under his shirt. He has never been this far from home, so he is very excited, talking a bunch whenever there's a moment of silence, and he's barely concentrating on what the captain is saying as he pats his buddies Vind and Ajay on the back of the legs and whispers. Hey, hey, guys, Vind, Ajay, it's larger than half my village! No things like this exist! Speaker 4 (6:52) Just wait till you see the inside. Speaker 1 (6:54) Thank you, Mr. Nimble. Now, ah, it's always a pleasure to have someone from the capital on board as well. We'd love to hear some updates from the city. Lady V? Speaker 3 (7:05) Um, yes, don't call me V, by the way. Call me Viviana. I am Lily Pichu. I am a YouTuber, streamer, voice actress. I'll be playing a tiefling rogue named Viviana Bloodchamber. Viviana is a very tall, young, skinny tiefling. Kind of like a half-human, half-devil, basically. She has long black hair that goes down to her lower back. It's thick and unbrushed, very scruffy, with straight angles everywhere. She has light blue skin, small horns, purple eyes, and a thin tail that ends in a heart-shaped point. Her custom black leather armor gives her a bit of a gothic look. It's easy to tell from a single glance that she doesn't really want to be there. She just sort of motions to a backpack on the ground next to her that she's stuffed with traveling... goods and waits for someone to pick it up. Speaker 2 (7:47) With an almost invisible nod from the captain, an older half-orc deckhand moved to pick up her pack, which was surprisingly heavy. Speaker 1 (7:55) Noted, and sorry for the confusion, Lady Viviana. I can tell from your clothing that you're Dalarian nobility. You must be Lady Lan. Did I say that right? Speaker 3 (8:07) Yes, you did. Nice to meet you. Lan proceeds to shake the captain's hand. I am Sophie Yang, a voice actor from Taiwan who you might know from The White Vault or Vast Horizon. And for this campaign, I have the pleasure of playing the human bard known as Lan Qiu. Lan is a human with dark hair, Asian features like my own, and she's dressed in high-quality qipao, which is to say well-embroidered formal wear with beautifully stitched designs of the sun, mountains, and flowers. And she holds herself in a way that it's clear that she feels like she's the center of every situation and she has the charisma to back it up most of the time. Even from the walk of the ship from the docks, it's clear that she's well-mannered, cultured, and a part of upper society. It just happens that the home her society belongs to, Delaria, was destroyed a few hundred years ago. Lon oftentimes mumbles poetry, or at least it sounds like she is, but those who speak Sean Delarian will understand that she's actually just cursing most of the time. Speaker 4 (9:11) We thought you were telling Speaker 3 (9:12) us Speaker 4 (9:12) nice things. Speaker 3 (9:13) And sometimes that may be true. Well, she carries well-crafted daggers and has just taken a home remedy she believes will prevent her from getting seasick while glancing at the luggage beside her, which contains a change of clothing and a few things that'll make her feel, make her cabin feel more like home. Some things from the homeland she's never seen. Speaker 1 (9:35) Ah, lovely. We'll have those taken to your room shortly, Lady Lan. Then that just leaves Sir Graview of the Shadows. Do I have that right? Speaker 4 (9:45) Hello, Captain. I am Eric Nelson, a TV actor. Speaker 1 (9:49) And the youngest Emmy Award winning actor ever. Speaker 4 (9:52) That too. And today I am playing the lovely, handsome, but not particularly intelligent, roguish elf, Vin Graview. Before he opens his mouth, you get the idea that beneath those golden locks and deep blue-green eyes is a leader that you can trust. A hero of his people. After he opens his mouth, well... Vind has a really impressive scar over his left eye, a water flask carved from an owlbear claw slung to his hip, and armor crafted from shade steel leaves, which fit like a second layer of muscle that... augment his own athletically fit body. He wears a beautiful green cloak and long-sleeved tunic, which could only have been sewn by the finest elven craftsmen. While throwing javelins are slung behind his shoulder, he uses a very elaborate, almost magical-looking spear with a gem in the middle as a walking stick. It's clear that the spear is important to him, and as this rugged hero stands tall, looking from his traveling companions to the captain, He takes a breath, and then our lovely Vind opens his mouth and stumbles a bit because it seems like he's more of a hunter than someone used to introducing himself. Yes, yes, you have that right. I'm Vind Greyview, the leader of the Shade Elves from the Blackstone Forest and the Blackstone Triad. We are a clan of about, well, around 270 elves, which are... which are under my leadership at the moment, and not too many. So please, no sir needed. You can call me Vind. And it's very nice to meet you, Captain Gelmate. I look forward to the journey. Speaker 1 (11:46) Well met all. Neldech willing, it will be an uneventful journey. Speaking of which, we will need to head out rather quickly. First to the sunken bulwark. It's about a five days journey, and once we arrive, we'll be docked there for a full day. With any luck, we'll make it in time for the observance of last light. Speaker 6 (12:05) The captain glanced over his shoulder to a tall man, indicating that time, and perhaps the tides, were running out. When the captain returned his gaze to the guests in front of him, he appeared nervous, thought-struck. Speaker 1 (12:19) And once we've given to the sunken one, we'll be on our way to Winterport. It'll be about two weeks' journey to the sunken bulwark. Speaker 6 (12:27) From? The first mate corrected, a side smile on his sun-worn face. Speaker 1 (12:32) From. From the sunken bulwark. Thank you, Lois. I apologise. Your arrival was delayed, but our departure cannot be. So, if you have any further questions, I'll leave you in the capable hands of second mate Arv Mitov. On the deck... Deccan's Convo and Yelena here will carry your belongings. Please introduce yourselves. Speaker 6 (12:51) And as the captain turned on his heels, he called various crew members to swift action. The tattooed half-orc who had taken Lady Viviana's bags had returned and moved to introduce himself. Speaker 8 (13:02) Right away, boss. Not a problem. Hi, I'm Enrique Perez, a friend of Travis and