“A Huddle-close Yarn” is an interlude — a kind of tide-me-over — between seasons of The Thief.

Listen or read the story entirely out of context: it is spoiler free, and it doesn’t require having listened to the first season.

The Thief is a labor of love. Refer just one rogue and earn your way into the fyrd.

A full transcript is available.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield
Performed by Emily Morse-Lee (BlueSky, YouTube)
Music by ⁠Tabletop Audio⁠ (see usage statements).

The Thief is produced by the fyrd: our thegns Nandi K, Amzylee, Trei Brundrett, Andy McLellan, Eudico, Rebekah Monson, Andy Priestner, Mike Atchley, Patrick Myers, and Cordelia Black.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through Substack or Patreon.

I am in the script-making part of the next season of The Thief, so there’s not much creative exhaust that makes for a neat update. Instead, how about a new teaser? Here is a letter found in Wirwen Osgard’s things.

Transcript

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield
Voices in order of appearance: Micah Schroeder is Gisela, Michael Schofield is Subprior.
Music by ⁠Tabletop Audio⁠ (see usage statements). About The Thief "The Thief" is a Dungeons and Dragons actual play, with just one player -- Sisi Wei -- and a full cast of NPCs, supported with soundscapes.

The original world is grim, and it is unlikely the thief will survive.

---

Behind the scenes: ⁠http://thiefpodcast.com⁠

Support for just $2 per episode: ⁠https://patreon.com/thethief⁠

Thief Companion Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5RuTvm561vbTpgnCSp3FSk⁠

Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@thethiefpodcast⁠

Tiktok: ⁠https://tiktok.com/@thiefpodcast⁠

"The Thief" is a Dungeons and Dragons actual play, with just one player -- Sisi Wei -- and a full cast of NPCs, supported with soundscapes.

The original world is grim, and it is unlikely the thief will survive.

---

Behind the scenes: http://thiefpodcast.com

Support for just $2 per episode: https://patreon.com/thethief

Thief Companion Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5RuTvm561vbTpgnCSp3FSk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thethiefpodcast

Tiktok: https://tiktok.com/@thiefpodcast

A house like the Merchants never sleeps for long.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield. Played by Sisi Wei. Sound design by Michael Schofield.

Hector is Jeremy Roman

Lady Merchant is Patricia Wires

Nora is Patricia Wires

Anna Braithwaite as Her Lady's Maid

Fletcher Noman as Valet 1 and Guard 1

Music

Medieval Harp 2 by _Blacksmith_

2 Violins Dark Ambient, Slow Minimalist Emotional Cello, Dark Documentary Piano by Orchestralis

Thankyou

The Thief is made possible with the support of patrons we call "the Fyrd." Our thegns Trei Brundrett and Andy McLellan, our spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Mike Atchley, and Patrick Myers.

I appreciate your kind reviews and your word of mouth.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through Substack or Patreon.

"The Thief" will return.

Symphony's audience with Lady Merchant concludes, and she spends her first fortuitous night in Merchant's Row.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield. Played by Sisi Wei. Sound design by Michael Schofield.

Cast, in order of appearance:

• Patricia Wires as both Lady Merchant and Nora
• Charles Villard as both Marley Osgard and the lovesick Godwin
• Anna Braithwaite as Her Lady's Maid
• Fletcher Noman as Doorman
• Isabela Duffles of the Night-calling Polewick
• Jeremy Roman as Hector

The licensed music you heard that I just love was Celtic Harp and respectively Medieval Harps 1 & 2 by a Blacksmith; and The Way It Was and Lore And Myths by Crypt of Insomnia.

The Thief is made possible with the support of patrons we call "the Fyrd." Our thegns Trei Brundrett and Andy McLellan, and our spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Mike Atchley, and Andy Priestner.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through Substack or Patreon.

Symphony, as Asta Evansdottir, manages an audience with the belle dame Lady Merchant herself. She has only this one chance to get in through the front door.

Support our story, gain early access to new unpublished audio dramas in the same world, and find a free transcript for this episode alongside its highest quality version of the audio on patreon.com/thethief.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield. Played by Sisi Wei. Sound design by Michael Schofield.

Cast, in order of appearance:

• Patrik Derakovic-Rakas as Drypoint
• Kristian Byrne as the announcer
• Sisi Wei as Symphony
• Fletcher Noman as Gatekeeper
• Logan Riensmith as Wagon-loader
• Jeremy Roman as Albret Solly
• Patricia Wires as Nora
• Vincent Hughes as Messenger
• Patricia Wires as Lady Merchant
• Anna Braithwaite as Her Lady's Maid

The Thief is made possible with the support of patrons we call "the Fyrd." Our thegns Trei Brundrett and Andy McLellan, and our spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Mike Atchley, and Andy Priestner. And with the support of our freepeoples, who help spread the word on social: SC Tadsen (@sctadsen), Patrik Derakovic-Rakas (@drpatrikva), Kris the Deserted GM (@desertedgm), Rusty Rayne (@rustyrayne), and Nathan from the AARPG Podcast (@tatooineunited.bsky.social).

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through ⁠Substack ⁠or ⁠Patreon⁠.

Symphony can’t get in with Merchant’s Row without some proof of - competency. So, she drops-in on an old friend. A transcript is published for free alongside the highest quality version of the audio on patreon.com/michaelschofield.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield. Played by Sisi Wei. Dialogue editing by Brianna Jean. Sound design by Michael Schofield.

Cast, in order of appearance:

• Sisi Wei as Symphony

• Kristian Byrne as the announcer

• Charles Villard as Haldwen

• Patricia Wires as Isobel Hart

• Patrik Derakovic-Rakas as both Tailor’s Apprentice and Drypoint

The Thief is produced by the Fyrd. Our thegns Trei Brundrett and Andy McLellan, and our spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Mike Atchley, and Andy Priestner.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through ⁠Substack ⁠or ⁠Patreon⁠.

For the first time we really see Symphony's neighborhood, Lorim's Hill, as she -- against Haldwen's warning -- starts looking under the rocks for clues about Eleanor Merchant and Lord Cagwen. A transcript is available on patreon.com/michaelschofield.

Credits
Written and produced by Michael Schofield
Played by Sisi Wei
Dialogue editing by Brianna Jean
Cast, in order of appearance:

• Kristian Byrne as the announcer
• Michael Schofield as the storyteller and Old Gossip
• Sisi Wei as Symphony
• Patricia Wires as Regal Gossip, Shrewed Gossip, and Isobel Hart
• Charles Villard as Haldwen.

The Thief is produced by the fyrd. Our thegns Trei Brundrett and Andy McLellan, and our spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Mike Atchley, Andy Priestner, and Joshua Simpson.

Special thanks to the hérd, who answered the call to help bring The Thief to new ears.

• S. Kaiya J. creates strange and contemplative tabletop RPGs at https://mirror-lock.com.
• Isabela Duffles is our village's artist at https://isabeladuffles.com, and she's working with me right now on a comic called Swán.
• A very special thanks to Brigette Metzler, who wants to point out the volunteer-run ResearchOps community, a global community dedicated to scaling the impact and the craft of user research at https://researchops.community. You can sponsor the running of the 15,000-person-strong community on Patreon.
• Super special thanks to Sean Tadsen, who I see help signal-boost The Thief all the time. He streams every Friday on Twitch at https://twitch.tv/librarianwritergeek.
• Thanks to Emil, who is part of Double DM Podcast at https://twitter.com/DoubleDMPod. Ya'll are so prolific; I have no idea how you do it.
• And Adam Yauhasz, or Brim, or Razahhh. Voice actor and streamer over at https://twitch.tv/therazahhh - with three H's.
• And thanks to Bad Heroes, a fantasy actual play podcast about hapless adventurers hunting deadly curses in a realm bound to Hell. You can find them at http://badheroescast.com.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff through ⁠Substack ⁠or ⁠Patreon⁠.