Episode list

Dear listener, welcome to The Cradle. My name is Anori and I will be recounting the story of The Sprouting. Before we set off on this tale together, it is only right that we meet the people integral to this story: Lark, Sully and Ralph. Enjoy.

Dear listener, Welcome back to The Cradle. Our protagonists meet at a fuel stop... sorry, Gas Station... and come to the realization that travelling onward as a group is far safer than travelling alone. As they navigate this eldritch plant strewn world, what horrors might they encounter? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear listener, Anori here. There's safety in numbers as the group travel together to a common destination: a potentially untouched Burrow. On approach however, did they really see a corpse move? Creepy. Anyway... I guess you're about to find out.

Dear listener, Last we left our group, they had entered a burrow, with creatures that had killed all but two of it's inhabitants. It had been revealed via Zlata's Grace that Aster may not be all he seems - and that maybe coming to haunt them now that someone is shooting at them. Now if one of them died this early, that would be a shame wouldn't it? I jest, surely? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear listener, Best you find cover if snipers make you nervous, because someone is taking deadly aim for our scavengers. Let's hope everyone gets out of this unharmed. Will everyone find cover and figure out why they're being targeted? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear Listener, OTI makes his way towards the recently crystalized in order to discover what happened to recently departed. Is there encapsulated in the crystal? Is it safe to tread upon? Is anything else hidden in plain sight? I guess you're about to find out. It's amazing what lurks in our subconscious, eh Lark?

Dear Listener, Last we left, they had decided to follow Aster's last request and head towards Diableria to meet his friend Henri. Sully being Sully, is about to stumble into some familiar faces - not all of whom are friendly. Is approaching so boldly into a Collective a smart move? I guess you're about to find out. It's nice when strangers carry out your last wish. Good for them.

Dear Listener, After meeting with the leader of Diableria, the travelers finally come face to face with Aster's friend Henri, or Seeker as he goes by now. Telling someone that there has been a passing is never an easy thing to do. But when the manner is so unusual, how will Seeker react? I guess you're about to find out. Hmmm. Seeker might have more information than he's letting on - oh my, it's quite unpleasant. I do hope he's staying.

Dear Listener, Seeker comes bearing coffee and employment, although he is shut out of the room as Lark and Sully discuss a mutual friend. With dreams being dreams and there being a very physical threat of cult activity, the group instead turn to more practical matters as Seeker seeks to join them. Tangling with the cult, even briefly, equaled death for three, I wonder how investigating more directly will turn out? I guess you're about to find out. The difficulty with existence is how we all perceive it differently. An object viewed from different angles gives you a different set of information, and yet we seem so eager to only believe our own point of view... I guess this distrust comes from the fact that we can lie. Lark's dreams are sadly a mixture of truth and lies so no wonder Sully is struggling.

Dear Listener, The new group started heading towards the witches coven at Diableria, stopping at the first gate to talk with Lilian. Lilian who knows of Aster, Seeker... and obviously Ralph. Seeker not only receives information, but also a protective rune from Lilian, before she makes her way towards the airport. She seems quite nice, Lilian I mean. Meeting old friends is always a strange feeling, especially when time has passed and we all change with time, don't we? Or do we? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear Listener, Long forgotten memories come to haunt the travelers as they set themselves up for the night. They end up watching shadows and talking until the sun comes up - covering everything from the wisdom of age, lost family and the instinct to run, but will their long night be detrimental to them as they have a long day's trek ahead? I guess you're about to find out. I find the dark strangely illuminating when it comes to ones fears, and the daylight oddly sanitizing of those fears. Perhaps a balanced introspection is best reserved for twilight or dawn. I guess which you prefer depends on if you're a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person.

Dear Listener, Opportunities were seized as Seeker decides to take a dangerous risk in order to get to the Book that so mysteriously went missing. After which, the team forges ahead towards Gumpendorf and makes camp in a potentially safe place outside of a mine. Common, you know it's probably not safe, right? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear Listener, Trapped in what should have been relative safety, the group continue to fight off the darkness that's coming for them. Do you think they regret backing themselves into a corner? I guess you're about to find out. Or, I guess they will see if they have made a grave mistake or not.

Dear Listener, Reeling after an awful situation, the remaining group members return to the scene of Seekers death to pass the night in relative safety before the long climb up the mountain. Do you think the two men coming down the mountain at them with shotguns will notice the cult's artifact carelessly tossed into the mine? I guess you're about to find out.

Dear Listener, This time around, we find our travelers ascending the mountain under armed escort, into the welcoming arms of the Coven at Gumpendorf. Here, they find friends old and new on the highest peak in the middle of The Cradle. But who's old friend do they meet? I guess you're about to find out. Friendship is such a funny thing, don't you think? You can lose contact with people for centuries... well for you human decades maybe... and then pick up like no time at all has passed... the best of friends. Well, by "lose contact" we mean don't reach out or be reached out to... Friendship really is a funny thing.

Dear Listener, The witches of Gumpendorf prove most helpful: with respect to the light magic that they do know, and the knowledge of whom might be able to help them with the more eldritch, weirder kind of magic. With Lacy and Araminthia providing them two people with whom to potentially ask more questions of, I wonder if Sully will get this way about who they will go see? I guess you're about to find out. They say in your world that every villain has a story; that they're the hero in their own stories. I wonder if that's true. I wonder if those working for The Sickle know they're actively harming the Cradle. I know those that I call at least have choices, and I rarely ask them to do much at all. At least I think I do. Perhaps where I think I am one of the heroes, you're in fact partaking of this story with the mind set that I am like my kin: an eldritch horror. I guess I'M about to find out.