A short, twenty-ish minute ‘commuter audio’, Josh Reynolds’ The Denied is part of the wider Hallowed Knights series although it features new characters rather than familiar faces. Fulfilling an oath to the Collegiate Arcane, Knight-Questor Akastus has tracked down the aelf corsair Salekh after the theft of a dangerous artifact. Akastus plans to return to Hammerhal Ghyra and hand the corsair over for punishment, but as he marches Salekh in chains through the insalubrious docklands, it becomes clear that other forces are on the hunt for his prisoner as well, on behalf of ‘she who was denied’.
It’s trademark Reynolds, playing a grouchy Stormcast and a wheedling, sarcastic aelf off against each other in a story with as much bickering as actual fighting. Akastus and Salekh couldn’t be more different so make an amusing odd couple, and the voice actors bring the characters and their needling conversation to life beautifully. It’s entirely narration-free, and while there’s the occasional bit of expositional dialogue (“Got to…get to my sword…where is it?”) when the big bad arrives, for the most part it’s clear and easy to follow, and nicely paced during both dialogue and action. Compared to the usual Hallowed Knights tone this is much more light-hearted, but works very well as an audio and is, simply, great fun.
