"A Huddle-close Yarn" is a wintry tide-me-over between seasons of The Thief. Originally published Winter 2024, I've remastered it to bring you all good tidings. Huddle close around the fire with the other never-wanted, the weather's dropping, and listen carefully to the yarn spun by Aebbe Half-hand about a certain never-do-well who used to sit right where you are - before she ungratefully ran off: Symphony, the eponymous thief herself.

The second season of The Thief is publishing right now for patrons on patreon.com/thethief, and will be available for everyone in the spring.

Credits

Written and produced by Michael Schofield

Performed by ⁠Emily Morse-Lee⁠ (⁠BlueSky⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠)

Music by ⁠⁠Tabletop Audio⁠⁠ (see usage statements).

This episode of The Thief was produced at the time by our thegns ⁠Nandi K⁠, ⁠Amzylee⁠, Trei Brundrett, Andy McLellan, Eudico, Rebekah Monson, Andy Priestner, Mike Atchley, Patrick Myers, and Cordelia Black. Joining them this year: Kari Sutcliffe, Patrik Deraković-Rakas, Ivan Duch, Lucas Duff, Jen, Kier Hodgson, Hannah Radcliff, Jeremy Román, Charles Villard.

You can join the fyrd and help me make this stuff on patreon.com/thethief.

"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.

Osment is carted away by the haldaen, but Symphony pursues, clambering through scaffolding and roof-spanning clotheslines - only for him to leave her nothing but a gossip pamphlet. Why?

Content warning: this episode is tame.

Credits:
Written and produced by Michael Schofield
Played by Sisi Wei
Dialog Editing by Brianna Jean
Voices in order of appearance: Kristian Byrne, Patrik Deraković-Rakas

The music you heard was Gateway to the Fjords by Crypt of Insomnia, Mystic Desert by J Blanks, and some sad vocals by Orchestral.

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

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