Transcript – The Price of Survival

[Quest of Ruin theme plays]

ANNOUNCER
Scroll and Dagger presents:
Quest of Ruin
Episode Eight
The Price of Survival

[Theme fades to urban background noise, with sounds of stationery and dice in the foreground.]

GAME MASTER
Hello and welcome to Quest of Ruin, the post-apocalyptic fantasy roleplaying podcast. I am your host and Game Master and these are the players.

PLAYERS
[varied greetings]

GAME MASTER
So, last time got a little dicey when you came up against a whole nest of gorgons.

MATT
Yeah, we need to stop and rest soon, I’m on, like, five HP.

WILL
We will soon, don’t be a baby.

MATT
Hey, you’re not the one about to drop!

GINA
Actually, I could – I could do with a rest as well.

WILL
Wait, what? What about your orc endurance?

GINA
Yeah, that’s the only reason I’m not dead.

LEAH
Damn.

WILL
Oh, damn.

GAME MASTER
Ok, so you guys make a break for it as best you can. After you’ve been running a good way, you look back and see that there are no gorgons coming after you.

ROSIE
Thank god!

GINA
Why though?

MATT
What?

GINA
Well if someone basically broke into my house, I wouldn’t just let them go, especially if I was a whole mob of gorgons.

LEAH
Actually yeah, that is a bit weird.

WILL
Well, if you wanna go back and ask them, go for it. I am going to sit back and chill.

GAME MASTER
Do any of you want to go back?

PLAYERS
[resounding no]

GAME MASTER
Alright, so you find a small copse of trees that will give you a bit of shelter. You make a fire and bed down for the night.

MATT
Good to know our packs and gear and stuff survived.

GAME MASTER
Oh yeah, good call, thank you for reminding me.

PLAYERS
[groaning]

GAME MASTER
Could everyone roll me a check for outdoorsmanship?

[The sounds of the gaming table become the sounds of a woodland after dark, with night birds and a crackling campfire.]

YAELA
Most of the rations are spoiled.

LAETHAR
[sigh] Great.

AIOLIN
How much do we have left?

YAELA
Enough for maybe… three days. I can pad that out a bit by hunting, but I doubt there’s much game around here.

VURIETH
Three days would get us back to Stonehelm.

LAETHAR
Yes, but then what? We can’t get into the city and the gods alone know if there’s anywhere else we can find work or food.

BALINK
Maybe we can try looking west? There’s that big forest you showed me on the map.

LAETHAR
Daeryn? That’s over a hundred miles away. Further, since we’d have to go around Stonehelm.

YAELA
Look, dwelling on things isn’t helping anyone. It’s late, we’ve had a long day. Let’s turn in for the night and we can think about it in the morning.

LAETHAR
Alright. I’ll – I’ll take first watch.

[The sounds of the night fade, and the air is now full of the sound of morning birds. A calm wind plays across the landscape, and Laethar sharpens his sword.]

YAELA
[yawns] What? Oh – Laethar!

LAETHAR
What?

YAELA
Have you been up all night?

LAETHAR
I couldn’t sleep. Thought I might as well let the rest of you carry on.

YAELA
Still, you shouldn’t have taken the whole watch by yourself.

AIOLIN
In fairness, I wasn’t sleeping.

VURIETH
[yawning] I think I got, perhaps, two hours.

BALINK
[snores loudly]

VURIETH
[laughs] Well I suppose at least one of us got a good night’s sleep.

LAETHAR
Were you all thinking about it too?

AIOLIN
Don’t see how I couldn’t. Three days worth of food and nowhere inside of three days we can get to.

VURIETH
It is rather a sobering thought.

TESHA
I agree.

YAELA
What?

LAETHAR
Gods above!

TESHA
It’s a bit of a nasty situation you’ve landed yourselves in. Luckily, I might have a solution for you.

BALINK
Who are you?!

TESHA
Hm? Oh, right, that thing. Um, I guess you can call me Tesha.

YAELA
That’s not your real name, is it?

TESHA
No such thing.

VURIETH
That is a name of my people. But you are no Ashlander.

TESHA
No, you’re right, I’m not. See?

LAETHAR
… you’re a human.

TESHA
Smart boy. There are still some of us around.

AIOLIN
What are you doing here?

TESHA
Now there’s the good question. I’m here to help, like I said.

YAELA
But where did you come from? I didn’t see or hear you coming.

TESHA
Did you not? Extraordinary. I came from right over there.

BALINK
This lady’s weird.

TESHA
Oh, a lady, am I?

VURIETH
Oh, we do apologise. How do you identify?

TESHA
[chuckles] Honestly, I don’t care. Been going so long that none of that really means anything to me anymore.

LAETHAR
… Right, well, lovely as this conversation has been, we really need to figure out what we’re going to do next.

TESHA
You’re not listening, smart boy. I’m here to help you. There’s actually a place within a day’s walk of here where you can get everything you need.

LAETHAR
A human village?

TESHA
Yes indeed. Small out of the way place, simple folk, managed to avoid the worst of the war.

VURIETH
And you know where it is?

TESHA
I do.

YAELA
And will you tell us?

TESHA
I won’t.

LAETHAR
Typical.

BALINK
Why not?!

TESHA
Because I need something first.

YAELA
A job? Why didn’t you just say so?

TESHA
I haven’t had a chance to talk with other people for a while. Sorry, I was just enjoying myself a bit.

LAETHAR
So, what’s the job?

TESHA
There’s another place, a town. Not too far away.

VURIETH
So, why don’t we just go there?

TESHA
Sorry, should have been clearer. This town wasn’t so lucky. It’s been abandoned for years.

BALINK
Oh, not another one!

VURIETH
[sighs] We’ve just escaped an abandoned town.

TESHA
Yes, well, there are quite a few of them around. It was called the War of Destruction for a reason, you know. Don’t worry, no gorgons in this one.

VURIETH
Wait, you know about the gorgons?

TESHA
Oh, who knows about anything?

AIOLIN
[sighs] … So, why do we need to go to this place?

TESHA
Because that’s the job. You go there, and I’ll tell you where the village is.

VURIETH
But why do we need to go there? What is in this town?

TESHA
Maybe nothing. I just need you to go there.

LAETHAR
But. Why?

TESHA
That’s not part of the deal, smart boy. You go there, I tell you where to go so you don’t die out here in the tundra.

LAETHAR
So we just go to this place with no idea what’s there? Thank you but no thank you, we won’t be doing this. We’ll find that village you talked about by ourselves.

[Laethar starts moving through the snow.]

TESHA
You can try. Doubt you’ll find it though.

[Laethar stops.]

TESHA
You have to know exactly where you’re going. You start heading in the wrong direction and you end up miles out, in the snow, freezing to death. But, no, go for it. I’m sure you’ll do fine.

VURIETH
Unlikely.

YAELA
I agree. Laethar, I think we have to do this.

AIOLIN
Don’t see that we have much choice.

YAELA
I don’t like it any more than you do. [whispers] But I don’t see what our alternative is.

[There’s a pause, and Laethar sighs.]

YAELA
So, where is this place?

[Wind blows as many pairs of footsteps make their way through the snow.]

TESHA
There it is. Lovely, huh?

AIOLIN
Perhaps… once.

VURIETH
Sands preserve us! What happened here?

LAETHAR
Nothing that didn’t happen all across Toor.

VURIETH
Truly the wrath of the Harbinger is a terrible thing.

LAETHAR
You have no idea.

TESHA
Yes, yes, it’s all very tragic. But that’s where I need you to go.

BALINK
You still ain’t said what we’re meant to do there.

TESHA
Oh, it will be obvious once you get there.

YAELA
I suppose you’re not coming with us?

TESHA
I’m afraid not. Not allowed, you see. Good luck.

LAETHAR
What do you mean not… where’s she gone?!

VURIETH
What?

BALINK
She disappeared!

AIOLIN
Was it magic?

LAETHAR
Urgh, that’s all we need. More human mages.

VURIETH
You two apparently need reminding that humans cannot use magic.

YAELA
But what else could it be?

VURIETH
I don’t know. But, whatever they did, it was not magic.

BALINK
Maybe they were a ghost?

AIOLIN
That’s a possibility. There have been quite a few reported ghost sightings up here, especially since the war.

LAETHAR
Well ghost or not, we might as well get this business done… whatever this business turns out to be.

[An old wooden gate slowly creaks open. The wind is still blowing but softer now, broken by the buildings of the town.]

BALINK
Ashes and bone. Looks worse up close, doesn’t it?

VURIETH
Indeed. I wonder just how long it has been empty.

YAELA
Since the war, probably. Horde came this way, tore through, and any who survived probably didn’t want to stay.

AIOLIN
Can’t say I blame ’em. Look at this place. Be easier to build a whole new town than try and repair all this.

YAELA
You alright, Vurieth?

VURIETH
Hm? Oh, yes. It’s just… we heard stories back in the Ashen Plains, of the things that happened in the war. How destructive the Horde was. I don’t think I ever really understood the level of it.

AIOLIN
I suppose we’ve not been to the places that were hit worst by the war. You go further west, the more you see places like this.

YAELA
Well, no need to dwell on that now. We have a job to do… assuming we can find out what it is.

LAETHAR
Quite. Let’s have a look around. There’ll probably be some kind of record of local events in one of the official buildings, that might be a good place to start.

AIOLIN
Right, I believe we’ll find the mayor’s house and the town hall up that way.

[Footsteps walk and fade away. The cold air fades back up, and Aiolin grunts as he breaks a door in.]

YAELA
Good work.

BALINK
I coulda done it in quicker.

LAETHAR
We still don’t know what we’re facing here. Best not use anything we don’t need to until we get a better idea.

VURIETH
And you think we’ll get that idea here?

AIOLIN
I do. My guess is that Tesha wants us to find something here. Maybe there was a curse that was put over the town or something, whatever it is, local records might point us to what it is. Unless you have a better idea?

VURIETH
I do not.

AIOLIN
Right. Look for an office or a study.

[The party’s footsteps on hard wooden floors are followed by the opening and shutting of doors.]

AIOLIN
Any luck?

YAELA
No, this is just a bedroom!

LAETHAR
Kitchen over here.

[Another door opens.]

VURIETH
My friends! I believe I have found it!

BALINK
Blimey. Kept it clean, didn’t he?

AIOLIN
So much the better for us. Should make things easier to find.

[A book is opened and rifled through.]

LAETHAR
Hmm, may not do us much good after all. Whoever this mayor was, he was clearly an enthusiastic reader, but this is all references, catalogues, and… what appears to be dwarven poetry… my word –

YAELA
Hey, over here. You were right, Aiolin. This looks like a record of everything that happened in the town.

VURIETH
Anything interesting?

AIOLIN
[flicking through the pages] Hmm. It’s mainly marriages, festivals, records of crimes and criminals and their sentences. Until, well…

YAELA
The Horde?

AIOLIN

Aye. Um, says here, [clears throat] the three hundred and forty-first day of the year 2120, of the Fifth Age. The Horde has come to Snowbury, as that cursed wizard Vevorix said they would. We have sent to the Lord Hama, requesting aid, and also, in desperation, to the Great Lord of Stonehelm and to the dwarves beneath the Blackstone Mountains. So far, all our requests have been answered with silence. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. Even now, I hear their drums pounding beyond. This terrifying beating is joined by the howls for destruction of the Harbinger’s servants. I shall not sleep tonight.

[A page is turned.]

AIOLIN (ctd.)
The three hundred and forty-third day; The gate is breaking. I have sent those I could out of Snowbury to take refuge where they can. I wonder if I have done right by them. I do not see how they can outrun the Horde. Would it have been kinder to let them at least die in their homes  instead of out in the snow? How strange to think of kindness now. Surely, such a thing will not survive these dark days. What is kindness against such mad, furious destruction? The gate is broken. They are in.

VURIETH
Sands below!

YAELA
Is that all of it?

AIOLIN
Err, no. There’s one more entry. In a different hand. The three-hundred and fifty fourth day of the year 2120. Today we buried the town. Those few of us who are left. The grave was so wide it made me shudder to look upon. My father was among them. As well as my brothers and many others I have known since childhood. Frida, a girl I once thought I’d marry, stared up at me with eyes empty of life until the soil covered them. I hope wherever she has gone, it is a place warm and free of suffering. She has earned that. Many of us are leaving, we cannot stay. We will try for Stonehelm in hope the elves will take pity on us. The others say we are mad, that we will not make it. The butcher, Wymond, is especially vocal in this belief. We have not the food or supplies, he says, and will surely die before we get there. I have not had a rested night since the Horde came, and every time I close my eyes, I see Frida looking up at me and hear the screams of Snowbury dying. I dearly hope he is right. It ends there.

VURIETH
Do you think they made it?

LAETHAR
Did you see many humans in Stonehelm, Ashlander? No, I think this poor soul got their final wish. [sighs] Is there any more?

AIOLIN
Doesn’t look like it.

BALINK
So, what? Is that it? That’s what that lady wanted us to find out? That this place was wrecked by the Horde? I coulda told her that just lookin’ at it!

YAELA
No, I don’t think that’s it. There must be more.

AIOLIN
Well, not here there isn’t.

VURIETH
Perhaps it’s something to do with this fellow mentioned here at the end? Erm the butcher, Wymond?

LAETHAR
Why not? I don’t see that we have any other leads. Where would we find a butcher’s shop?

AIOLIN
In a place like this?

[Aiolin opens a window – it creaks open and glass falls.]

AIOLIN
Over there. You see that open square? My guess is that was the market district.

YAELA
Okay, I see how to get there. Let’s go.

[The quiet ambience of the house fades away, fade in on flies buzzing, and a thick liquid drips.]

YAELA
I think this is – [cut off by gagging]

LAETHAR
[retching] Yes, yes I think you might be right.

AIOLIN
Guessing the butcher didn’t clean up before he left.

VURIETH
I suppose we must go in, yes?

[There’s a pause.]

YAELA
Is there anything you could do about the smell?

VURIETH
Probably not without burning the shop down.

BALINK
I am all in favour of that.

LAETHAR
Perhaps after we make sure there’s nothing we need to know in there.

BALINK
I mean, I was thinking, we could just go back and tell this Tesha that we didn’t find anything, take the directions and go?

VURIETH
I doubt that would work, my little friend. I believe they know something is here. They were just unwilling to tell us what it is.

BALINK
Urgh, spoilsport.

YAELA
Come on. The sooner we get it done, the sooner it’s over.

[Balink scampers away as they all enter the shop.]

YAELA
Binks! Don’t just wander off!

LAETHAR
Ashlander, you might at least illuminate the place, I can barely – 

[There’s a squish.]

YAELA
[disgust] I think I just stepped in something.

VURIETH
Hardly surprising. It doesn’t look like this butcher was a tidy fellow.

AIOLIN
I don’t see what we’re likely to find here. It’s just rancid meat, rusty tools and –

[Balink comes running back]

BALINK
And a journal!

AIOLIN
What?

BALINK
Yeah, I was having a root around in the back room. Found this.

AIOLIN
Give it here.

VURIETH
I am not sure about this. I mean a record book is one thing, but this is a private journal.

YAELA
I know. But it might be what we need to understand what happened here.

LAETHAR
Let’s just take a look.

VURIETH
[on the verge of gagging] May we do so, perhaps, away from the mess in here?

LAETHAR
Um, yes – yes that might be best.

[They step outside and open the book.]

LAETHAR
[gratefully] Fresh air.

YAELA
Hmm, okay, looks like this is after those other people left the town. It says: Though we can never return to how things were before, the people are making an effort. The biggest concern right now is food. We have some set by, what would have been for the Winter’s End festival. Though, of course now, no one feels much like celebrating. It will serve for now, but I don’t see it lasting long.

AIOLIN
Sounds like they were in a desperate situation.

VURIETH
I do not understand why they did not just leave.

YAELA
They probably couldn’t. Days away from anywhere, in the middle of winter and it doesn’t sound like they had much food to spare.

[She turns the page and there’s a pause.]

YAELA
They definitely didn’t have the food to spare. Listen to this: Stocks ran out faster than I thought. Rations are making do for now but they won’t last long. I have asked Hubert to try venturing further afield. Perhaps if he gets a little further away from the path of the Horde, he shall have more luck. I must hope so. The people must be fed.

BALINK
Who’s Hubert?

LAETHAR
I’d guess at a hunter. The idea was probably to go further into the wild where there’d still be game to catch.

AIOLIN
Well, looks like it worked. I mean the shop was full of meat.

[Pages are turned.]

YAELA
Hmm, I’m not so sure.

AIOLIN
What? Yaela, I saw –

YAELA
Listen. Hubert has tried, but been unsuccessful. The people are starving. I am starving.

AIOLIN
But then, how –

YAELA
Next entry; Willem has left. I’ve been told he’s going to try and follow the others who went to Stonehelm. I wish him luck. He left at the wrong time though, for Hubert has had success at last. He arrived back last night with several choice cuts. He said he found some wild pigs. He even started the butchering, he said, to make my job easier. He said the meat was good. And he was right, the meat is good.

AIOLIN
Well, there you are. He found some pigs. That explains all the meat.

BALINK
But then, why’s the town empty?

[Pause.]

LAETHAR
What does the next entry say?

YAELA
[deep breath] Hubert has chosen some lads to go with him on his next hunt. Just a few, but now we have the supplies so we can send out more hunters. I do know. Of course I do. I may not be a wise man, but I can string events together. Martin and his wife disappear yesterday and this morning, Hubert and his boys arrive back in town carrying two freshly skinned carcasses, each one on a pole, carried between two of them. He said they were pigs, but their limbs were too long. I’m not going to make a fuss. We must do what we must do. And we must survive. At least, until spring.

[Pause.]

VURIETH
You don’t think…

AIOLIN
Bot Egurud!

BALINK
I’m gonna be sick.

LAETHAR
[darkly] Is there more?

[A page is turned.]

YAELA
[shaken] Yes. Um. The meat – the meat Hubert brings me, it’s like it’s singing to me. It’s beautiful. The Gaylin family has left for Stonehelm and now we eat better than we ever have, since even before the Horde came. But Venor is stirring trouble. He says he doesn’t believe they left, because they never told him. Hubert should have known. Those lot across the way have always been close. Not sure why he’s making a fuss, though. Him and his daughter are fed, aren’t they? All the people are fed now. But I don’t care about any of that anymore. I find myself pacing the shop when I don’t have meat to work on. Hubert should be here soon with more. I wonder who left for Stonehelm today. Maybe I should tell him about Venor when he gets here. But the meat is calling and there is work to do.

VURIETH
I do not think I want to hear any more.

LAETHAR
I must admit, I think I agree with the Ashlander.

YAELA
Alright, we’ll –

AIOLIN
No.

YAELA
Aiolin?

AIOLIN
This is it. This is what we were supposed to find.

BALINK
How do you know?

AIOLIN
I suppose I don’t. Not really. I just have a feeling. Maybe this isn’t the main thing, but I know this has to be important.

YAELA
I don’t think I can keep reading.

AIOLIN
I will, if you want.

[The book is passed to Aiolin, who turns the page.]

AIOLIN
Venor found out. He followed Hubert and saw him and his boys at their work. He came to tell me. I made a choice. After all, what was all this for if I wasn’t going to survive. I pretended to be shocked. Then I went with him and his mob. Bad luck for Hubert and his lads. They were caught in the act. Venor had some rope with him. They were strung up, right then and there. The boys cried as their nooses were put on, said they’d just done what they was told. Venor and the others didn’t seem to hear. They did a good job of pretending. Pretending that they were horrified, disgusted by what Hubert had done. But I notice they weren’t looking too hungry. I suppose that’s over now, though. Doubt any of them will be willing to do what’s necessary now, ‘specially not after what they did to Hubert. Think it’s time I moved on. I might’ve convinced the others that I didn’t know what Hubert was doing but none of them want any meat anymore. And I am a butcher. What else is there for me? Perhaps I’ll really go to Stonehelm. There is something out there. I can feel it. I think I’ll go find it.

[The book is dropped to the ground.]

LAETHAR
So, that’s it. That’s what we were supposed to discover.

VURIETH
No, I don’t think so.

YAELA
Vurieth, how could there –

VURIETH
Well, think about it. Clearly there is something Tesha wanted us to do here. It can’t be dealing with this… Hubert. He is already dead. And this butcher, from the sound of it, is gone.

YAELA
[hopefully] Maybe that’s it, maybe Tesha wants us to go after this Wymond, bring him to justice.

AIOLIN
No, I agree with Vurieth. Whatever it is she wanted us to do, it’s here. And the butcher ain’t, not anymore.

LAETHAR
But what else could there be?

VURIETH
… what did that entry say? This man, Venor, he lived across from here?

YAELA
Um, yes, yes that’s right.

VURIETH
I think it would be a good idea to look at his house.

[The breeze fades away, then back up as the part approaches Venor’s house. Floorboards creak, and they cough.]

VURIETH
Well… this is… unpleasant…

BALINK
[muffled behind his hand] It stinks!

YAELA
There is so much dust! Must be a foot thick!

LAETHAR
That’s not the worst of it. Look.

BALINK
Is that blood?

VURIETH
It does look like it.

BALINK
It’s everywhere!

AIOLIN
Look at that bookcase…

BALINK
You with the bloody books!

VURIETH
Literally…

AIOLIN
What could have happened here? Looks like a thraka came through here.

BALINK
The floor’s all sticky!

AIOLIN
You want a piggyback?

BALINK
Please.

[Aiolin stoops and Balink scrambles onto his back.]

VURIETH
Perhaps that man, Hubert, had friends, they came for vengeance, maybe?

YAELA
[unconvinced] Maybe. But that doesn’t explain why we needed to come here. If it was vengeance then they would have left by now, no?

AIOLIN
And there’d be a body. Or at least something. But there’s nothing. Just bloodstains.

LAETHAR
We should look around more. What’s through here?

BALINK
Looks like a kitchen.

[The group stops abruptly.]

VURIETH
Wanderer preserve us.

AIOLIN
Look at the door.

YAELA
Oh my…

BALINK
It’s completely smashed.

YAELA
I don’t think whatever did that was human.

LAETHAR
Look here. A shortsword. I think Venor tried to fight whatever it was.

AIOLIN
Don’t think he won.

BALINK
Lot of blood for one man.

VURIETH
I believe the butcher’s journal mentioned a daughter, no?

LAETHAR
… gods.

YAELA
Wait!

LAETHAR
What is it?

YAELA
I can smell something. It’s still here!

[There’s a smash and a growl.]

LAETHAR
What the – !?

AIOLIN
Afar Vadokanuk!

BALINK
What in the pit is that!?!

[A creature snarls and attacks – the party shouts. Their running and screams fade out.]

[The end theme plays and the Announcer recites the credits]