Yesterday on the Realms feed, we announced two thrilling new projects that are going to see Realms of Peril & Glory through to the end of 2024!
Return to Liminal London!🔎 The inimitable Johnny Chiodini! joins us for this haunting mystery!!🥳
🧚The Fey courts of the Hidden City and the uneasy peace between them are put to the test! Glass Houses, Liminal London Mystery Six arrives this autumn!🍂
Get caught up on Liminal London before our latest mystery!
🩸This December is Solemn Vale: Of Oak & Holly! GM Fiona Howat utilises the folk horror system by Dirty Vortex! 🗡️
When a group of school friends reunite in their home town decades later, all their old grudges start a cascade that could lead to their demise😱
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Birdie is a journalist. She can hear Solemn Vale calling. She will get her justice, but at what cost?
This Thursday a six-day event begins… 👁️ Solemn Vale: Of Oak & Holly is here.
When a group of school friends reunite many years later in their home town for a Christmas celebration, all the grudges and heartache bubbles to the surface. Little do they know that the walls are slowly closing in as Solemn Vale tries to keep them forever.
Solemn Vale is a series for mature listeners only, and audience discretion is advices.
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This episode is Patreon-exclusive, so I will be selective in what I present.
There was a lot of picking out what each other liked about the adventure. They liked how Lia’s “team meal” became a microcosm for the interactions; they didn’t always like each other but they were a team so they’d stick together. Fiona likes to let surviving characters pick their own epilogue. She also talks about how she came up with the idea for the horse creatures. They discuss the quandaries the characters found themselves in, and Liz’ fear she might have to have Lia chose someone to die. As for the paper Lia buried with Jenny’s coffin unread, it was a call back to the Vale Fiona hadn’t decided on yet; she decides it would have been a list of other farms.
For much more detail, including why you should always pay attention to what Fiona is wearing, you’ll have to listen on Patreon yourself.
It was very enjoyable to listen to what all the players thought of it, what they picked out, what chimed with them. You don’t need it to understand the story, but it’s still a fascinating peak into how everyone processed the game they played.
The four girls run through the woods, Lia in the lead. She feels a burst of fear and speeds ahead, before reminding herself they need to stay together. They stop, and Ffion throws up. They start trying to figure out a plan, see if they can get their bearings, but there’s no sounds, except crashing waves. But Hannah sees something on the tree, a huge heart nailed. Fiona calls for an invocation check, which would use soul, and Hannah only has one point before it’s emptied twice. Ffion gives some points, taking two weird from the pool. But in order to succeed, Hannah also has to take one.
Hannah is transfixed by this heart, possibly from a cow. And there’s other hearts, like a boundary encircling the farm to separate it from the woods. She remembers mention of getting ready for something, and what if this is a ritual to keep something in, or out? They all hear a shrill whinny from all sides. They go back to back. As the whinnies come close, Ffion yells to go to the farm, and they killed the doctor and vet for it. Ffion thinks it wanted revenge on those in the farm, but the others aren’t so sure. They decide to tear down the barrier.
Jenny, the tallest, takes the pitchfork they still have and starts to prise the heart off the tree. But Jane Rhodes comes barrelling down yelling no, and tries to shoot her. Jenny uses the last of the weird pool to avoid it, and the heart is pulled free. Rhodes charges, and Jenny slide tackles into her legs, taking her down. Jenny stands and pins her with the pitchfork, saying she should be alive for whatever’s coming. Ffion runs to take the gun, and Hannah calls out to whatever’s out there that they’re on it’s side. But Lia sees the heart start to beat, then disintegrate, and the other hearts decay and fall. Rhodes bleeds, a human, and says it won’t stop.
Jenny calls them to run, and they look to the waves. But Lia pauses for a moment, looking at Rhodes, and wonders why someone would do something like that. She has an idea that Rhodes was stuck in a place and saw no other way out, fear in her eyes now. Rhodes pulls a paper out of her pocket, offering it to Lia, and Lia takes it before running after the others.
They head towards the beach, and Fiona calls for an influence check. Hannah leads the way through the waves; maybe if they reach the coast they can get back to the chip shop on the beach. But they hear a whinny, and another and another, and they sense they’re being herded towards the beach. Ffion is concerned that Rhodes was human. She wonders how long this ritual has been going on, people trapped in Solemn Vale, and thinks it’ll take a large sacrifice to escape.
They burst onto the cliff top. They can see the village below them. They try to spot a way down. They think Mr Ward must be looking for them by now, but Hannah yells back to the whatever, asking if that’s what it wanted. She shoots the shotgun into the air. Lia presses them closer, and something very tall, two legs and a horse’s head, charges out of the woods at Hannah. Fiona calls for a check to avoid being knocked off. Hannah chooses to fail, drops the gun and pushes Lia away, saying it was an honour to play with them all. But Jenny refuses, and throws herself in front of the colplex, Ffion also running at it with Rhodes’ gun, and calls out Parish’s daughter’s name, Veronica. This distracts the colplex, and Jenny spends her last point of body, succeeding in pushing Hannah away. Jenny seems a changed person, but what she wants it to give Hannah the chance to try again. Hannah tries to take Jenny’s hand, but it slips out of her hand and the colplex takes Jenny over the cliff.
It takes them hours to climb down the cliff. They get help to search for Jenny, but she’s never found, and nor is the creature. It’s chalked up to death by misadventure. Nothing comes of the investigation into Rhodes farm, murmurs of cannabis in the barn. Jane’s death is overlooked. A new doctor comes, but a vet takes longer.
Ffion refuses to leave Solemn Vale. She cannot except that Kellan can’t be found, and won’t give up on Jenny either. After all, Kellan was alive. And she feels responsible for bringing her friends. She’s driven by guilt for Jenny, and for leaving Kellan. She keeps looking for clues, until she meets an older woman, Edith Blythe, the first to believe her story, who offers accommodation at her manor. She offers to help her find her friend, but she might have to end them herself.
Lia goes home. Back to school, to football, and participates in what seems to be a charade. She pretends it was a normal tragedy. There’s a service with an empty casket. She throws the paper from Rhodes into the grave unopened, knowing that Jenny did what she had to so they didn’t have to stay in Solemn Vale. She decides to escape. Lia exists. She can’t bear to go to the countryside for a very long time. The invitation is left unanswered.
Hannah seems to have inherited all of Jenny’s rage. She tries to go back to her life, but she can’t get passed it. She’s violent in the classroom and on the pitch, and just under a year later she and Ffion find each other in Solemn Vale. Hannah finds a purpose in channelling the aggression and her skills and athleticism into taking down anyone who could cause what happened to Jenny to happen again. She meets Jamilla, and offers her shifts in the Codfather, and gives her a little something to help with the moods and nightmares. One day she’s at the school and sees Raymond; she remembers what he did to Jenny, and Raymond ends up with a broken nose. Hannah gets a record, but Raymond gets let go, and Hannah gets hired. She’s got a reputation on the field, and she’s an outsider who came to the Vale, someone the kids look up to.
Jenny is somewhere very cold. The world is very different. Her vision has changed. She can see around, but not ahead. In the cave, there’s seawater against her flanks. Her thighs are bigger, her skin is a different texture. There’s something on her face she can’t get off. She sees a woman wearing bedraggled clothes vomiting up seawater. The woman sees Jenny and starts to laugh. She thanks Jenny for letting her be free. Jenny feels her voice constricting, vocal cords changing. The woman decays, and asks Jenny to last longer and protect them. Then the wind tears her away. Jenny knows that there must be a sacrifice of vitality to guarantee harvests for the next five years, and if there is no sacrifice, the town will pay on blood.
I have improved on last Solemn Vale game by not listening to the conclusion walking through a park late at night; I instead listened to it safe at home, late at night. The shivers down my spine are reduced, but not eliminated.
Yeah. No real happy ending. Maybe Lia manages to move on, eventually; maybe Ffion and Hannah find some form of satisfaction in their new roles as seeker and protector; maybe Jenny finds some way to talk to them. But devil’s bargains sink deep and never release their claws.
This was very satisfying. Very tragic in its ending. And it felt like they got so close…but that’s when it’s the most alluring, isn’t it? When they’re so close, yet fail to clear the last hurdle.
These guys are very good at their craft. They weaved very well, and even when they were almost fighting over who gets to sacrifice, it felt very right. And the descriptions of the emotions they all felt, it was raw and potent and felt very, very real.
This story was a crescendo that built to exactly the right moment, and crashed with just the right amount of force, and the pieces left behind were beautiful in their brokenness.
Written 07 Nov 2025, shortly after listening, before listening to Part 5.
Hannah is holding a scalpel to Miss Nancarrow’s neck, asking what’s going on. Jenny grabs a pitchfork and stabs Nancarrow through the foot, making a foreboding check, but Nancarrow doesn’t react. Ffion sends Lia to help the others, while she cradles Kellan’s head, apologising for taking so long, saying she loves him, and they both cry. Ffion tries to work out how to get him out, but it would take time to move him. Kellan has a look in his eyes like he believes he’s dreaming. Lia sees this, and just thinks they can’t stay there.
Nancarrow asks how they like the experiments. Hannah deduces they need Parish for the human parts and Nancarrow for the animal parts and the farmers for the land, so if she kills Nancarrow they can’t do it any more. But Hannah’s panicking at the thought of killing someone. Nancarrow just keeps acting like she’s totally in control, and Lia’s asking who Nancarrow is, and Hannah panics even more and slits Nancarrow’s throat. Fiona calls for a taint check, and Hannah fails. She misses, and Nancarrow says she should do it herself. Nancarrow slits her own throat; there’s no blood, but some sort of orange fungus.
Nancarrow says she’s a servitor of Omega, and the girls will be perfect for the next phase. Hannah calls Jenny closer, then grabs the Indian sweets from her pocket and forces Nancarrow to eat them. Lia is in shock; she just wants to get them all out. She just plays football because her friends do, and they don’t always like her but she still cares, and she needs to get them out. There’s a racket at the door they came in by, which Jenny barred, so she goes to the back, trying to pry up boards to make a gap. She takes a point of weird to do it quietly.
Hannah and Jenny are having trouble getting Nancarrow to eat. She won’t swallow, and Jenny accidentally cracks her teeth making her chew, and while Jenny is lost in rage, Hannah also loses a point of soul…her last point.
Nancarrow stops fighting, and Jenny is left covered with a sticky orange residue. Hannah is dazed, but tries to calm Jenny. She tells Hannah they have to go, Nancarrow is gone, and thinking of zombie comics, asks Jenny to make sure she can’t follow. Jenny stamps on Nancarrow’s head, splattering Hannah with fungus.
Lia and Hannah can hear the commotion, and Jenny screaming with rage. Lia looks back and sees the raw violence, and she knew Jenny was losing control, but maybe they need that right now. But Jenny looks not only angry, but afraid. Jenny’s a scared girl wrapped in an angry teenager and it’s all coming out. Lia goes back to trying to make their escape. Hannah tries to stand up and holds out a hand for help, but Jenny sees the orange on her hands and stumbles back, realising the mania that overtook her. Hannah regains control of herself and tries to normalise things, talking about football, confessing that she doesn’t even like it and it’s just because of her parents, and Jenny says parents push each other away and blame you for it.
Ffion is slightly less blinkered now. She sees her friends and the situation she got them into, and apologises. She tries to work out what they’re doing; they need to arm themselves, they need to get out, she needs to get Kellan home. Lia’s managed to make a big enough gap for the girls, but not for Kellan. Jenny searches Nancarrow’s body and find her wallet and car keys, and a bottle of orange pills. Hannah’s been looking through the stalls and has seen various individuals being turned into animals. There’s clipboards on the stalls, listing which sport they played, but no names. Maybe two or three, other than Kellan, could walk, but they don’t register anything. They don’t seem to recognise humans any more.
There’s a knock on the door. Lia says they have to leave, and there’s nothing they can do for them. Parish calls through the door, asking to talk to them. Hannah approaches, gesturing for the others to leave. Parish addresses her by full name, and says he read about her in the school paper. He asks if Nancarrow is dead, and Hannah confirms, saying if he comes in, he’ll be next. But instead he asks that the creatures be let out to receive medical care. Parish says this is how they maintain a work force. Hannah asks if he’d allow it for his daughter, but he implies that it already happened to her. Hannah tries claiming she met the daughter, but Parish challenges her. Then he mentions the cliff.
The other three are at the back, but Ffion is making excuses that she’s right behind them. Jenny’s taken the pitchfork and has gone out first, Lia about to follow. Jenny sees the way is clear and gestures to the next out. Jenny uses the last of her mind points in a futile attempt to watch for danger. She looks around the corner and sees Parish at the door, and the car within sprinting distance. Lia turns to check on Ffion, Ffion whispers that she’s going to tell Hannah while they get the car started, and Lia leaves. She sees Jenny running to the car, reaching it and trying to unlock it when the tractor’s lights shine on her, the vehicle heading right towards her. Lia calls out to Jenny, and Jenny tries to run out of the way. Lia gives most of her body, so Jenny escapes. But Nancarrow’s car is destroyed.
Hearing all this, Ffion has left the barn with a pitchfork, rounds the corner and attacks Parish, who has a shotgun. She knocks into him, using most of her body, and her last one to tussle for the gun. Hannah uses her last body point by slamming the door open into him. As Ffion gets the gun, he pleads that she’s coming and they’ll have to be ready. Ffion twists the gun around and fires, killing Parish.
They have to leave, but Ffion runs back, saying goodbye to Kellan, saying she’ll come back, but he manages to say, “Go”. Then she runs out to the others, and they run into the fields, exhausted by the monstrosities they’ve seen, through the dead of night, into the trees. They see the tractor still lit; they don’t know who moved it, but they get the impression of being watched. The cries of the wildlife are like the cries of patients on a hospital ward.
Was not expecting full-on killing people. Not from poor little teen girls. The thing is, even if the girls get away, no-one’s ever going to believe them. The Rhodes’ will clear everything out to another farm, although that might cover up any potential murder charges. But they’ll be lucky to be sent to an asylum.
Poor Kellan. Not much left for him, really. At least he told Ffion to go, so she has a better chance of recovering mentally from leaving him. Not much of a better chance, admittedly, not after what she saw.
But, this might help Jenny learn to control herself, now she’s beaten an almost-woman to death in a fit of rage. And Hannah has expressed her true feelings about football, and while Jenny’s advise to curse out her parents probably isn’t the best, the idea has legs. But they do seem to have found something a little more important than football. And considerably more deadly.
I really wanna find out if any of them make it out.
Written 07 Nov 2025, shortly after listening, before listening to Part 4.
The four girls are driven through the countryside by Doctor Parish. There’s overgrown fields, an abandoned combine harvester, no livestock insight. The radio plays some music, and gives a news report about an energy crisis and loss of jobs. After having spent some hours in Solemn Vale, everyone gets an extra point of weird.
Hannah is focused on Parish. Jenny doesn’t trust the situation, but is determined to be good for Lia, who’s just trying to make sure they’re all fine, and is keeping an eye on her watch for when the coach is due to leave. Ffion senses something’s off, but is focused. Fiona calls for an influence roll, and Lia rolls highest. Parish engages her in conversation about football, mildly condescending but kinda well-meant. Lia gives away that Jenny was in a school play, but Jenny doesn’t do that any more. Hannah asks about horse iconography in Solemn Vale. Parish tells them about a legend of colplexes, fey creatures with horses’ heads, that he researched when his daughter was doing a school project. His daughter has left the village now, and Hannah mentions it’s hard to not see family for years on end. Hannah claims they say an art piece.
Jenny tries to gage how far they’ve come and how far they have to go; it seems to be within the twenty minutes range. Hannah tries testing Parish, saying he and Ffion don’t look similar, but Parish calls her out. He assures Ffion he’s well. He doesn’t know Kellan very well, but has heard him say he was looking to be part of something he’s found. The Rhodes, who run the farm, are a strange sort. The matriarch Jane is rather single-minded; she inherited a rather messy situation, but she’s put it right. He offers to help if Kellan needs to be taken away.
The farm has multiple buildings; farmhouse, barn, henhouse, several more. There’s another car there, Miss Nancarrow the vet. Hannah makes an excuse about seeing Nancarrow when she sought attention for a rolled ankle. There are vehicles for livestock, but no animals. The door opens, and Jane Rhodes tries to send them away, but Ffion steps forward asking for her brother. Jane goes white, and says he’s in the field. Ffion strides off, yelling for Kellan, the others following.
Jane glances back and sees Jane and Parish talking; she takes the rest of the weird pool to hear them. Meanwhile, Ffion has heard a cry in response to her calls from the barn, and enters despite the others’ protests. The interior is draped in plastic wraps almost like a hospital, reeking of manure, straw and blood. Behind the drapes are gurneys, cages, some sort of creatures. But the cries are coming from a stall in the back left.
Outside, Jenny hears Parish say he thought it was best if he had visitors as he isn’t responding to treatment. Jenny turns and runs to the others. Ffion enters the stall and sees what looks almost like a horse, but it’s a human body contorted and mutated, augmented in places, the hands removed and replaced after the arms were lengthened to reach the ground, the skull broken and pieces of steel inserted to elongate it, but the eyes. Those are Ffion’s eyes. It whinnies to see her, but it is locked in place with metal scaffolding. Ffion reaches for her brother.
Hannah and Lia round the corner and freak out. Hannah goes for a weapon; Lia tries to grab Ffion and pull her away. Hannah sees the vet, Nancarrow, approaching with a syringe, and with reserves of strength she’d thought exhausted in the match, tackles her and grabs a scalpel. Lia tries the drag Ffion away from Kellan, telling her she can’t save him and must save herself, but Ffion refuses to leave Kellan like that. Hannah calls out, hoping Jenny can hear, telling her to bar the door. Jenny has just entered the barn, and blocks it, but not before she sees Rhodes and Parish approaching. Rhodes is running, but Parish takes his time; he smiles and waves.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy this is a lot. The drive was awkward but seemed to be sort of fine, the colplexes (hope I’m spelling that right) are interesting, but the farmers trying to turn people into them is…messed up. I know the whole point of Solemn Vale is that it’s messed up, but that doesn’t make it less messed up.
I think the obvious conclusion is that Kellan was kidnapped to be a test subject. I’m not entirely sure what Parish intended with bringing him visitors, though. Are the girls the next test subjects? I don’t think the pub barman or patrons are gonna be much good for telling anyone where they went.
Or maybe that was why Raymond was trying to drive them off, to protect them? Or maybe he’s a raging misogynist. But the girls might have to run for their lives through the fields, and I’m not sure that’s going to go well.
Written 07 Nov 2025, shortly after listening, before listening to Part 3.
It’s late afternoon, and they’ve a few hours before they need to get on the coach. The coach Mr Ward had been planning a little tour of Solemn Vale, but no-one was very interested anyway. Hannah, Lia, Jenny and Ffion make their way back to the green, carrying the remains of their meals, having seen a weird horse. Lia regrets her words to Ffion. No-one’s eaten the sweets yet, not with what they’ve seen. They approach the Bowler’s Arms, the pub, and the rival coach Raymond is outside.
Jenny goes to enter, but Raymond blocks her, saying no under-18s. He and Jenny exchange insults. Lia tries to pull Jenny away. Jenny tries to push past, but Raymond bodily throws her into the street. Raymond insults them some more as Lia and Hannah help Jenny up and away. Ffion tries to sneak in, and gets past Raymond, but everyone inside sees her. She notices there are no women.
Ffion asks for Doctor Parish, and an old gentleman, the one from the match, responds. They go for a talk, and the barman suggests the ladies’ saloon – which is also empty. Outside, Jenny and Lia start arguing. Lia demands to know what’s wrong with Jenny. Eventually Jenny stomps off into the green. Then Raymond leaves. Hannah and Lia decide to give Jenny a little space, and notice Ffion is gone.
Inside, Ffion and Parish are talking. Parish recognises her from Kellan. Kellan helped Parish get his car started down by the beach; he was alone, seeing the view from the beach. Parish claims Kellan was looking for work and stayed in the Vale, working on a farm. He didn’t know everyone thinks he’s dead. He offers to take Ffion to see him.
Hannah enters the pub, and the barman starts to direct her to the saloon when Parish returns, the open door revealing the emotional Ffion. Ffion tells Hannah what Parish told her. Hannah is suspicious about the offer to take her to the farm, and insists they’ll be coming with. She leaves word with the barman in case their team come looking. Parish is taken aback, but accepts.
Jenny is sitting in the middle of the green, trying to tend to her wounds and hold back tears. Lia waits at a respectable distance. Then she approaches. She banters with Jenny, as they used to. Eventually Jenny admits to being sad, then recants. She’s angry all the time. Lia explains she’s mostly worried for Jenny. Jenny says that sometimes things going wrong and violence makes her feel better just for a moment. Lia suggests that maybe helping could also make her feel better.
All four girls meet up with Parish. Ffion explains it all again. They’re rather reluctant, but Lia has been encouraging Jenny to help. Jenny asks, and it’s only twenty minutes away, so they should be able to get back in time for the coach. Before they leave, Hannah pulls Parish aside and reminds him they’re all very good at kicking balls. Parish acknowledges they’re in a precarious situation. He also asks after Jenny’s injuries. They all pile into the car and leave.
On the clifftops, there are prints, maybe footprints, or hoofprints. Prints from someone sprinting on two legs. And in the woods, there’s a shrill, high whinnying.
I love this. A fantastic build-up. Raymond sounds like he only coaches the football team to have an excuse to bully teenage girls. Hopefully it’s only bullying, but I’m pretty such child protection checks weren’t what they are now back then. Possibly non-existent.
Jenny might be starting to get space to work through her feeling. Lia’s having a little trouble keeping her foot out of her mouth, but she’s also clearly showing she means well. Hannah seems to be taking on more of a leadership role, which is something the players weren’t sure she would. And Ffion…I fear she’s being led down a path, poor thing.
It's probably going to end badly, but they have so much hope it’ll be fine. I love this story.
