Ep 1 - Welcome to Shadowend

## Episode 1 - Welcome to Shadowend

Listen to the episode Here!

Our party arrives at Shadowend, the prestigious military academy, and learn the grim truth about why they have been gathered. We met our player characters, Astra Blep, Janni Brightchild, Patty Hurts, and Zelf (with manservant Manny). Friends and enemies made (with some overlap), cakes sliced, and not a single lie told, wow! What a good foot to start on.

Read the episode transcript here!

## NPCs in Description

NPCs mentioned in this episode:

* Bovil Flashforge - The team's commander at Shadowend.
* Aeyrin Starsinger - A shadowend student under Bantaro Valentine who has competed with Patty for acting roles.
* Spira Adven - Demigod of Yris, founder of Shadowend.

And introducing:

* Castien Grefiel - A fellow Shadowend student and a paladin of Gavelyne. He is on Commander Windstar's squad
* Rachiel Windstar - Shadowend Commander, former General in the Birwine Army. Leads a team of paladins, including Castien.
* Pearl Pervalur - A Shadowend student obsessed with Patty Hurts.
* Manny Meadowsweet - Zelf's manservant and apprentice, studying to be a magical chef.
* Glorihan Phirel - A goth Shadowend student, on Mistmourn's squad.
* Abraham and Nieven - A Shadowend student in Mistmourn's squad. Both Abraham and Nieven claim to be the real, singular Abraham Nieven.
* Valkanth Ventori - Head commander of Shadowend.

## Summary

Following a brief introduction to the world of Yrisol and the content of Birwine, people from all over the Triad Nations (Birwine, Reskarus, and Errosia) are summoned to Shadowend for a currently unknown reason.

Janni Brightchild, the hot and sunny ifrit, is the first of our party to arrive at Shadowend, summoned by letter by a famous astronomer named Bovil Flaskforge, where he is pleasantly greeted at the door by Castien Grefiel and two other paladins of Gavelyne. Janni is revealed to be a war hero and a respected paladin of Gavelyne himself, to which Castien delves into his own childhood upbringing and how he was raised in the Cathedral of Light after being orphaned as a baby during the Great War. Janni then makes his way to the main hall where the rest of the summoned individuals have gathered. At the front of the room is a large stage hosting nine chairs, one of which is empty and presumed to be reserved for Bovil Flaskforge.

The second of the party to arrive is Patty Hurts, the ranger dandy ratfolk, who, unlike Janni is greeted with immediate disdain from Castien who searches for any reason to deny her access to the fort. However, as her papers are all in order he begrudgingly allows her to enter. Despite this, he still does not trust her and leaves his post to tail Patty into the reception hall and keep tabs on her. When Patty enters the main room, she meets Pearl Pervalur who introduces herself as being a big fan of Patty's work during her time with a currently unnamed group that blew up a building. This event is known globally and is widely considered an act of terrorism, however, Patty's mother was able to lessen Patty's involvement by claiming she was brainwashed with an enchantment spell during the time.

Soon after, Zelf the elf in his full chefly appearance makes his entrance followed closely by his hireling and prep cook, Manny, who, despite not receiving an invitation to Shadowend himself, is still allowed in because Zelf has him listed under his "effects." Zelf, upon entering the main hall immediately inspects the food and deems it all trash, save for one item: an uncut cake. But, after failing some dice rolls, Zelf believes that the people of Shadowend are too uncultured to partake in a proper cake course and so he orders Manny to cut a slice of the cake before the official dinner starts.

During this time, Patty and Janni have officially met at their table while they await their final two (three?) party members, they begin discussing the plight of the common man and the importance of taking down the bourgeois lifestyle. While Manny goes to cut the cake, Zelf joins Patty and Janni at the table, where Janni immediately recognizes Zelf as a battle chef and mentions that he once met Chairman Naga back in Reskarus. The conversation is soon interrupted by the sounds of a panicked Castien trying to stop Manny but is too late, as the cake has been cut. Zelf intervenes and is thusly scolded by Castien who claims that things in Shadowend are run differently in Mealnor. He then takes the piece of cake from Manny and attempts to place it back into the cake.

At this point, the final member of the party finally arrives: Astra Blep in all her beaded glory. Castien has once again returned to his post and welcomes her at the door, saying that he was most eager to meet her because on his list of names each summoned individual is listed with a reason why they were invited to Shadowend, but for Astra, there is nothing. In response, Astra claims that she had been asked for a bio but that she simply "forgot about it" since she dislikes talking about herself. Nevertheless, Castien lets her through, and she heads straight to her assigned table to meet up with the rest of the group. She is the final guest to arrive at Shadowend.

Each table has four chairs for four members of the squad, so Zelf makes Manny sit on the luggage or the floor instead to allow Astra a seat at the table. Now that the group is fully united, they engage in some small talk pertaining to the white phoenix symbols and statues that are located throughout Shadowend. Janni thinks they're righteous, Astra thinks they're just swans, Patty thinks they're a real waste of resources, and Zelf claims that phoenixes are white if you raise them without sunlight. The topic of conversation then changes to Manny, with Patty claiming to have a problem with the way Zelf treats him but hasn't talked to him yet because she was too easily distracted by Janni's dreaminess.

Eventually, the group is approached by another squad, this one of all goths. The squad consists of two elf girls and two identical twin human boys, and despite not knowing how the squads would be assigned or who would be in them, this group appears to have all matched their outfits ahead of time. The first of this squad to approach the group is Glorihan Phirel, one of the elf girls, who immediately calls attention to Astra's rather unique sword, a spiral rapier. Glorihan appears to be on edge around Astra, talking about how they both grew up in Faenalin and yet she had never heard of Astra before and that it was even stranger that Astra never attended the magic academy there. While Glorihan and Astra are talking, Patty talks to the two twin boys, Abraham and Nieven who were once Abraham Nieven until one morning when they woke up and suddenly there was a second one of them. Patty jokes around with them, having known them while growing up in Anamnesis, and both Abraham and Nieven claim to be "the real one" and the other to be "the fake one."

After Glorihan Squad leaves the table, Janni asks Astra to read his fortune but Zelf says that Janni needs to do something in return. But he does not have any tricks of his own to show off at the table that could impress Astra so instead he pouts.

Eventually, the room is called to attention as an old elf with long grey hair and powdered blue robes stands atop the stage before the crowd and addresses everyone about Spira Adven and the history of Shadowend itself. They go on to explain that everyone has been summoned in response to Errosia's attack on Newhaven.

## TLDR Summary

* People from around the world are summoned to Shadowend.
* Janni Brightchild, Patty Hurts, Zelf, and Astra Blep were chosen by a famous astronomer named Bovil Flaskforge.
* Castien loves Janni, hates Patty, dislikes Zelf, and is intrigued by Astra.
* Janni is extremely dreamy.
* Glorihan Phirel is curious about Astra and her spiral rapier.
* Abraham and Nieven were once one boy but are now two boys, they cannot decide who is the real one and who is the fake one.
* Errosia has attacked Newhaven.

## Trivia

* The first three episodes of the podcast were released together, along with a trailer posted to podcast apps, Youtube, and Jenna's Twitter.
* In early August 2023, this episode was remastered for pacing/audio/less mouth sounds and also came with an updated outro and description.
* Bovil Flaskforge's name is misspelled in the new NPC description.

## Characters

### Player Characters

* Janni Brightchild
* Patty Hurts
* Zelf
* Astra Blep

### Actually Showed Up

* Ifell Tor (unnamed)
* Gosh Cloudgazer (unnamed)
* Castien Grefiel
* Rachiel Windstar
* Abraham
* Nieven
* Aeyrin Starsinger
* Pearl Pervalur
* Manny
* Glorihan Phirel
* Valkanth Ventori (unnamed individual giving the speech at the end)

### Mentioned

* Yris
* Gavelyne
* Bovil Flaskforge
* Patty's mom
* Chairman Naga
* Velatha Brunch
* Spira Adven
* King Aimway VIII
* Winterguard

## Locations

### Visited

* Shadowend
	+ Fort Adven

### Mentioned

* Birwine
	+ Cathedral of Light
	+ Mealnor
	+ Swanspell
	+ Goldgrove
	+ Faenalin
* Yrisol
* Reskarus
	+ Bigrim
* Errosia
	+ Anamnesis
	+ Neptis
* Newhaven

## References

1. ↑ The remaster was mentioned on one of Jenna's streams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3c6D27fbuM&t=4972s) and later in the Patreon Discord.
2. ↑ The previous description did not include an NPC list and just read: "Our party arrives at Shadowend, the prestigious military academy, and learn why they have been gathered. Friends and enemies made, cakes sliced, and not a single lie told, wow!"