The Pariah Podcast

The Pariah Podcast, Episode 6 - A View From the West

Property values in Port Bannard follow the lay of the land and climb up the capitol city slopes to the gates of the royal palace. Constructed of golden granite, imported from kingdoms to the south, the palace stands, broad and monolithic to face the setting sun as it sinks into the ocean. Smaller palaces and manors crouch in its morning shadow, also gazing onto the ocean, the source of much of the kingdom's wealth.

Traveling north, descending the increasingly narrow streets the city deteriorates, eventually, into slums. Hovels built upon stilts and pilings above the perpetually wet salt marshes seem to rot and crumble even before they are completed, and are thus in a continuous state of patching and repair. However, it is the lowland marshes which inspire Westener magic and give the coastal witches their true power.

The Pariah Podcast, Episode 5 - Unwanted Company

He wants to travel with me? Keo thought.

"No thanks. I like my solitude," Keo said. He wasn't hungry but he picked at the crust of his bread and scooped up peas with it and ate them together.

"I do too, but I'll make that sacrifice. I've been sitting with dullards for the last ten days. Walking with you couldn't be any worse."

"I don't walk. I run." Keo thought it was a good comeback at first, and then realized it left him as no worse than the other dullards. Keo was annoyed this boy treated him like a servant, and assumed Keo would do whatever he said.

"And if the choice is between riding with dullards and walking with one, why are you choosing to walk, now? Is it getting too crowded on the wagon?"

"Yes. Or rather, no. The wagon is turning south to loop off the highway and pass through numerous small villages in the southern forest. It will take another two weeks for the wagon to reach Hander's Peak. At your pace, I will be there in half that time."

“That’s my pace. You think you can keep up?” Keo asked.

“Sure,” Moordan said.

Keo wanted to wipe the dismissive look from the condescending boy’s face.

The Pariah Podcast, Episode 3 - New Friends

The Pariah Podcast, Episode 3 - New Friends

The Southern Highway brought Keo no new challenges in the first few days of his journey. Paved with square, kiln-fired bricks, the road undulated slowly downhill toward the Capital more than two-hundred miles to the west. The only traffic sharing the road were the occasional coal wagons rumbling to the east. From short conversations with the drivers he learned they headed to the Southern Draw, hoping to find it free of snow, trying to be first to collect coal mined during the snowbound month’s winter. 

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