Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 74

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Episode 74 · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Real Killer GM and you're listening to
0:04
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticore. The following podcast is intended for
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Speaker 1: a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to
0:29
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticore Season two. Like the creature from
0:33
Speaker 1: which it takes its name, Tale of the Manticore is
0:36
Speaker 1: a mashup, a crossbreeding between two different species of storytelling.
0:41
Speaker 1: Here you will find the unpredictability of old school RPG
0:44
Speaker 1: paper and dice games with the story craft of a
0:46
Speaker 1: dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred, and no character
0:51
Speaker 1: will be spared if the dice decide their fate is
0:53
Speaker 1: at hand. According to lore, the Tale of a Manticore
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Speaker 1: is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will be much
1:02
Speaker 1: pain in the days ahead. Last time on Tail of
1:11
Speaker 1: the Manticor, in chapter seventy three, the pieces find their
1:16
Speaker 1: way blocked by a horrible creature, a giant humanoid towed
1:19
Speaker 1: demon called the Hesro Yellowfly. Considers giving up and going back,
1:24
Speaker 1: but his companions, it turns out, wish to continue, each
1:27
Speaker 1: for their own reasons. The Hesro is at the bottom
1:30
Speaker 1: of a large pit, where it lays about feeding on carrion,
1:34
Speaker 1: perhaps because it has only one eye. It has not
1:36
Speaker 1: yet noticed them, but that changes when the party sneaks forward,
1:40
Speaker 1: led by Shawnay, successfully covering half the distance undetected before
1:44
Speaker 1: the Succubis. Sevan materializes near the entrance and gives them away.
1:49
Speaker 1: Luckily for the party, the Hesro is momentarily surprised, and
1:52
Speaker 1: they take advantage of the few extra seconds. Cat's Pain
1:56
Speaker 1: dispatches the Succubis with his last magic missile. Jace rushed
2:00
Speaker 1: down to the bottom of the pit, intending to engage
2:02
Speaker 1: the demon in melee. Bazu raises his holy symbol. Yellowfly
2:06
Speaker 1: leaps from a height of twenty five feet onto the
2:08
Speaker 1: monster below, and shawn Ay creeps up from behind to
2:11
Speaker 1: attempt a backstab. I am itching to get into this fight,
2:22
Speaker 1: but it would be foolish to do that without first
2:24
Speaker 1: leveling up the two characters who are due of promotion today.
2:27
Speaker 1: Both the Yellowfly and Cat's Bain will increase in power,
2:30
Speaker 1: with the former attaining level nine and the latter eight.
2:33
Speaker 1: Let's do Yellowfly first. A fighter gets a D eight
2:36
Speaker 1: of new hit points rolling for that A six is
2:40
Speaker 1: a great roll, and the new score is thirty eight
2:43
Speaker 1: of fifty. His basic attack bonus remains at plus five,
2:46
Speaker 1: and although part of me wants to tinker with this,
2:48
Speaker 1: I'm just going to leave it. Rules as written this time.
2:51
Speaker 1: Saving throws, likewise, do not change until that brings us
2:54
Speaker 1: to potential attribute improvements. Let's dive in. A six on
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Speaker 1: A D six means the stat in quest shin will
3:00
Speaker 1: increase by one point. Strength A one intelligence five wisdom,
3:08
Speaker 1: I've got a four? How about dexterity, the five constitution,
3:15
Speaker 1: the three last chance here charisma A one. Looks like
3:21
Speaker 1: the hit points are all he's going to get. It
3:23
Speaker 1: certainly could have been worse. That hit point roll was
3:26
Speaker 1: a good one, after all, and I could be grateful
3:28
Speaker 1: for that. And with the Yellowfly done, we're on to cat'span.
3:32
Speaker 1: The young magic user gets a D four of new
3:34
Speaker 1: hit points rolling. I've got a two. Pretty unspectacular, but
3:39
Speaker 1: them's the breaks. The new total is nineteen of twenty three.
3:43
Speaker 1: Like with Yellowfly, his basic attack, bonus and saving throws
3:46
Speaker 1: do not change, but he still has the chance to win.
3:48
Speaker 1: Stat increases. Let's see how it goes strength a one
3:53
Speaker 1: intelligence six. Finally, and right where accounts to fifteen goes
3:59
Speaker 1: to sixty, the rules would award him another language here,
4:02
Speaker 1: but of course that doesn't make sense for this story,
4:04
Speaker 1: and so we are moving on Wisdom one dexterity three constitution.
4:12
Speaker 1: This would be nice A five charisma A four well,
4:17
Speaker 1: not amazing but not awful. Last up as a new spell,
4:21
Speaker 1: kat'spain can roll for another fourth level spell, but he
4:24
Speaker 1: will not be able to use it until he copies
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Speaker 1: it into his spellbook. Even then, unless he reads it
4:29
Speaker 1: right off the page like a scroll, he won't be
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Speaker 1: able to cast it until it's memorized. Let's roll to
4:34
Speaker 1: see what spell it will be. As usual, if I
4:37
Speaker 1: roll one already assigned to a PC in either season
4:39
Speaker 1: of the show, I'll make a new exotic spell table
4:42
Speaker 1: rolling in D twelve against the list in the ose
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Speaker 1: SRD that eleven is let me see wall of ice. Interesting? Well,
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Speaker 1: I won't bother reading the spell description until later, as
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Speaker 1: realistically chances are it'll never come into play. Okay, Level
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Speaker 1: up t are done, so let's unfreeze the frame, get
5:02
Speaker 1: into the narrative and see how this combat will play out.
5:10
Speaker 1: Chapter seventy four, Part one, day, one hundred and eighty four,
5:16
Speaker 1: time unknown, one hour and forty five minutes of lantern
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Speaker 1: fuel remains party status. Yellowfly thirty eight of fifty hit points,
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Speaker 1: Shawn Ay thirty of thirty five, Jase thirty three of
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Speaker 1: thirty eight, Cat'spain nineteen of twenty three, Basu twenty one
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Speaker 1: of twenty three spells available. Cat'spain has memorized detect magic Web, mirror, image, haste,
5:50
Speaker 1: slow and dimension door. Basu has prayed for cure light wounds,
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Speaker 1: light bless, locate object, and cure serious wounds and Jurycombat.
6:11
Speaker 1: Apologies for having ended the last episode just when things
6:14
Speaker 1: were heating up, but I suspect that this encounter will
6:16
Speaker 1: take some time, and that is something I had really
6:19
Speaker 1: run out of. Let's give this combat the space it deserves.
6:22
Speaker 1: We begin in the same surprise round where I hit
6:24
Speaker 1: the pause button. Kat's Bain has already taken his action,
6:29
Speaker 1: slaying Savann with the magic missile. Jase is running to
6:32
Speaker 1: engage the demon face to face and needs to spend
6:35
Speaker 1: his turn getting to it. Yellowfly has recklessly leapt onto
6:39
Speaker 1: the demon. He's on a ledge twenty five feet above
6:42
Speaker 1: the ground, twelve feet above the demon's head. I'm going
6:45
Speaker 1: to improvise a ruling here, something that takes into account
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Speaker 1: risk and reward. I think a plus one to hit
6:50
Speaker 1: and plus four to damage feels about right to balance
6:53
Speaker 1: that out. If yellow Fly misses, he will take two
6:56
Speaker 1: to twelve points a falling damage. He'll need a ten
6:59
Speaker 1: or better to hit the hesros ac of twenty one.
7:02
Speaker 1: Here's the roll A six. Oh no, that's a miss.
7:07
Speaker 1: Falling damage is the price of failure, rolling two D
7:10
Speaker 1: six seven points. The Hezro swatchs the fighter away mid
7:15
Speaker 1: air and fly hits the cavern floor hard. Yeah, he
7:19
Speaker 1: has thirty one hit points left. Hopefully Shawnee will do better.
7:23
Speaker 1: Before she can even make an attempt, she'll need to
7:26
Speaker 1: say versus poison just to get close to the demon.
7:28
Speaker 1: The stink coming off it is that powerful. The number
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Speaker 1: to beat is nine, rolling A fifteen. She holds her breath,
7:36
Speaker 1: rushes up and strikes with all bonuses, including the plus
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Speaker 1: four for the backstab. She needs to get an eleven
7:44
Speaker 1: to hit the roll Come on, shawna nineteen. Yes, does
7:49
Speaker 1: she not always deliver? Damage will be doubled because of
7:52
Speaker 1: the backstab. So that's one D six plus one times
7:55
Speaker 1: two rolling rats. I've got a one on the die.
8:00
Speaker 1: That means damage will be just four points. She gets
8:02
Speaker 1: her blade in, but the demon's rubbery skin is much
8:05
Speaker 1: thicker and tougher than she thought it would be. The
8:07
Speaker 1: Hesrow now has forty hit points. Basu is the last
8:11
Speaker 1: to go. He raises his holy symbol, determined to succeed
8:14
Speaker 1: where he previously failed. This demon he would not suffer
8:17
Speaker 1: to remain in the presence of Saddal's divine might. Turns
8:20
Speaker 1: out that's easier said than done, and unless he gets
8:23
Speaker 1: a nine or higher on twoty six, he will fail
8:26
Speaker 1: again the five on the dice. The demon, with its
8:30
Speaker 1: one good eye, looks up at the cleric and his
8:33
Speaker 1: shining holy symbol, but instead of being repulsed, it laughs
8:36
Speaker 1: in Basu's face, with slime dripping from his lower lip
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Speaker 1: like a beard. That's it for the surprise round. I'll
8:43
Speaker 1: call it a mixed success. It certainly could have gone better,
8:46
Speaker 1: but things will get a lot harder for the PCs
8:48
Speaker 1: when they find out that melee is not the best
8:51
Speaker 1: way to deal with the Hezrow. It is round one
8:56
Speaker 1: initiative the Hesrow A two the party before, well, that
9:03
Speaker 1: was lucky. Yellowfly is quick to regain his feet and
9:06
Speaker 1: then he, Shawney and Jace have the demon surrounded with
9:09
Speaker 1: both Basu and Kat's bay and looking down from the
9:11
Speaker 1: ledge above. Yellowfly must save versus poison before he can attack.
9:15
Speaker 1: A ten on the die or better is needed. A two.
9:19
Speaker 1: As soon as he gets up, he doubles over and
9:21
Speaker 1: vomits all over his feet. Jace will need to save
9:25
Speaker 1: as well. His target is a twelve, a Huntherd two.
9:29
Speaker 1: The stink is so strong it's almost tangible. Jase's eyes
9:33
Speaker 1: water and his stomach turns. Shawnay with the seventeen, makes
9:38
Speaker 1: her save, but still needs a fifteen or better to
9:40
Speaker 1: land a blow. A five is not enough, and the
9:44
Speaker 1: demon steps out of reach. Bazu realizes that his companions
9:48
Speaker 1: are going to need his healing powers, so he spends
9:50
Speaker 1: his turn running down the ledge, following the path Jase
9:53
Speaker 1: to a class round that leaves cat'spain. He needs to
9:57
Speaker 1: make a big move here. What about the spell Haste
10:00
Speaker 1: would that work in this situation? Since the rules did
10:03
Speaker 1: not specify, I did some research online to see if
10:06
Speaker 1: the spell affects all creatures in the radius of effect,
10:09
Speaker 1: or if the caster can choose who is hasted and
10:11
Speaker 1: who isn't. Everything I read indicates the latter. Yeah, He's
10:15
Speaker 1: going to cast it even hasted, the companions should not
10:19
Speaker 1: get two saves to resist the Demon's stink, but to
10:21
Speaker 1: be fair to my PCs, I should allow Basu a
10:24
Speaker 1: second action. A Shawne who successfully made her save a
10:27
Speaker 1: second attack, so Basu will not join the melee, but
10:31
Speaker 1: he will run up to a yellowfly and cast cure
10:33
Speaker 1: light wounds on him. The fighter regains five hit points.
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Speaker 1: Shawn A second attack is next. A thirteen is close,
10:43
Speaker 1: but not good enough. Now it's the Hesro's turn. The
10:47
Speaker 1: demon is smart enough to recognize the wizard for who
10:49
Speaker 1: he is and the threat he presents, Even if it
10:52
Speaker 1: knows as a Razul's wish to spare him, I don't
10:54
Speaker 1: think it's going to honor that wish. It'll use telekinesis
10:57
Speaker 1: to try to rip cat'spane off the ledge and bring
11:00
Speaker 1: him to the cabin floor at its feet. Before I
11:02
Speaker 1: roll catspains save to resist, I need to see if
11:05
Speaker 1: the Dagger of Negation will shield him from the Demon's magic.
11:08
Speaker 1: Looking for a thirty or under one two percentile here
11:12
Speaker 1: fifty five. That's no good. Cat'spain must now make a
11:15
Speaker 1: saving throw or be yanked from his perch above the
11:18
Speaker 1: fight as an eighth level magic user. The target number
11:21
Speaker 1: is twelve. Rolling a fourteen, A Catspain utters a quick
11:26
Speaker 1: counterspell and wards off the arcane energies surging up at him.
11:31
Speaker 1: It is round two initiative the hero a one. The
11:35
Speaker 1: party of five lucky with the initiative again. Thanks to
11:40
Speaker 1: cat Spain's haste spell. All PCs will now get two
11:43
Speaker 1: actions per round that the rules do say hasted spellcasters
11:46
Speaker 1: may only cast one spell on their turn. Fair enough,
11:50
Speaker 1: I'm ruling that those in melee will only get one
11:52
Speaker 1: save per round against the Demon's stench, pass or fail
11:56
Speaker 1: all or nothing. Yellowfly, invigorated by the clerk behind him him,
12:00
Speaker 1: tries to rise, but four means he is unable to
12:03
Speaker 1: do so. Jase two will try to find the strength
12:06
Speaker 1: to close with the monster. Then nineteen will do it.
12:10
Speaker 1: He forces himself into striking distance and his sword flashes out.
12:14
Speaker 1: He'll need an eighteen to hit. Can he do it
12:16
Speaker 1: with two attempts A six and a two. The Hezro
12:20
Speaker 1: shoves the warrior back, and Jace, unable to find purchase,
12:23
Speaker 1: slides through the piles of offal and bones. Shawnee is up.
12:28
Speaker 1: Come on, Shawney, let's get another win. Here's her save,
12:32
Speaker 1: but fourteen is more than enough, and her two attacks
12:36
Speaker 1: a fifteen and a seventeen. From her perspective, time seems
12:40
Speaker 1: to slow down as Kat's Bain's spell imbues her with
12:43
Speaker 1: preternatural speed. The sentinel darts in once and again four
12:50
Speaker 1: six and four. That's twelve points of damage after adding
12:53
Speaker 1: the sword's bonus. The savage smile crosses the rogue's face
12:57
Speaker 1: as black goo spurts from two puncture wounds in the
13:00
Speaker 1: demon's thigh. Bazu is going to get into this melee.
13:04
Speaker 1: I think that's his best move right now, his safe
13:07
Speaker 1: to withstand the stink A one yikes. Thankfully you can't
13:12
Speaker 1: quit fail a safe. The cleric suddenly feels bile rise
13:15
Speaker 1: in his throat and then falls to the ground right
13:18
Speaker 1: beside thellafly wretching cat. Spain will go last. I wonder
13:23
Speaker 1: could he cast slow on the demon. I don't see
13:26
Speaker 1: why not, though it's very unlikely to work given the
13:29
Speaker 1: demon's magic resistance and easy saving throw. But I think
13:32
Speaker 1: he's going to try anyway. The hesro's magic resistance is
13:35
Speaker 1: fifty five percent, so I want to roll above that.
13:38
Speaker 1: Here comes the roll and nine. The spell fizzles out
13:42
Speaker 1: as soon as it strikes the monster and is wasted.
13:46
Speaker 1: Too bad. It would have been so cool to see
13:48
Speaker 1: both of those spells working in concert. I guess we're
13:50
Speaker 1: doing things the hard way. Speaking of which, it's the
13:53
Speaker 1: hesro's turn to act. Since the others are incapacitated, it
13:57
Speaker 1: makes sense for it to attack Shawne, and it only
13:59
Speaker 1: needs a seven to hit her ac of fourteen with
14:01
Speaker 1: claw claw bite. The rolls seven, thirteen, and I'm wincing
14:08
Speaker 1: as I make this next roll a nineteen. Oh no,
14:12
Speaker 1: that's three hits. The hero grabs the thief, lifts her up,
14:16
Speaker 1: and shoves her into its mouth. It wears back, and
14:21
Speaker 1: she is turned upside down with her head in its
14:23
Speaker 1: throat and only her kicking legs visible damage will be bad.
14:28
Speaker 1: Two points, two points and eight points is twelve, and
14:33
Speaker 1: Shawna is now almost down to half, with eighteen remaining.
14:37
Speaker 1: At this point, I'm going to use an old coach's
14:39
Speaker 1: trick and call a time out to break the other
14:41
Speaker 1: team's momentum. A quick ad break before we continue.
14:46
Speaker 2: Roll for distraction with a paladins of podcasts as they
14:50
Speaker 2: violently entertain grab your plus two headphones and tune in.
14:54
Speaker 2: We promise it's not a critical fail. Side quests able
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Speaker 2: wherever you get podcasts. The best class have d dours.
15:08
Speaker 1: We are back and it is round three initiative. The
15:11
Speaker 1: Hesro five the party the six third time lucky at
15:17
Speaker 1: initiative and the companions had better not waste it. While
15:21
Speaker 1: the demon is busy trying to eat Shawn, a whole
15:23
Speaker 1: yellowfly tries to find the strength to help, and A
15:27
Speaker 1: fifteen He does two chances to hit, looking for anything
15:31
Speaker 1: over and eleven, an eight and a sixteen. One strike
15:35
Speaker 1: gets through the silverthorn white hot. In its eagerness to hurt,
15:39
Speaker 1: the demon draws a burning slash across its back. Let
15:42
Speaker 1: her go through one D eight plus five damage will
15:45
Speaker 1: be come on big money. The three plus five is
15:49
Speaker 1: eight points. The Hesro gags shawnee onder the floor in
15:52
Speaker 1: a torrent of thick saliva. It is now below half
15:57
Speaker 1: and must make a morale check, but not just yet.
16:00
Speaker 1: Jase has not taken his turn rolling to withstand the
16:02
Speaker 1: demon's stench. A nineteen is a success. Jase gets two
16:07
Speaker 1: attacks and his normal sword can hurt this demon. Still,
16:10
Speaker 1: the target number is high eighteen, rolling twice fourteen and eighteen,
16:18
Speaker 1: one blow connects and does six points. Here the demon
16:23
Speaker 1: falls to one knee and rises back up just as
16:25
Speaker 1: Bazu moves in with his staff, but with a five,
16:29
Speaker 1: the cleric drops to his hands and knees, with his
16:31
Speaker 1: throat burning. Unable to stop the violent wretching, shawn Ay,
16:36
Speaker 1: her hair plastered to her head with slime and digestive juices,
16:39
Speaker 1: can attempt to fight back. A sixteen makes the save,
16:43
Speaker 1: and she gets to her feet, swinging her sword two
16:45
Speaker 1: handed as the world around her plods along at half speed.
16:48
Speaker 1: She needs a fifteen to land a blow of fifteen
16:53
Speaker 1: and a sixteen. How lucky is that damage will be
16:58
Speaker 1: not much? I rolled a one and two after bonuses,
17:01
Speaker 1: it's five points, but the hesro is in bad shape regardless.
17:05
Speaker 1: With only nine hit points left, Kat's bain is the
17:09
Speaker 1: last to go. He isn't going to waste another spell,
17:12
Speaker 1: so he'll throw his normal dagger. He has a little
17:15
Speaker 1: dexterity bonus, but will still need an eighteen or better
17:18
Speaker 1: to hit. Also, since he has only one normal dagger
17:21
Speaker 1: and will not risk throwing carricks, it'll just be the
17:23
Speaker 1: single chance The nineteen what at one point of damage. Well,
17:30
Speaker 1: every bit counts. It's the Hezro's turn. Now the Monster
17:35
Speaker 1: manual provides no more else dats, so I'm assigning it
17:38
Speaker 1: a score of ten, rolling two D six and on
17:41
Speaker 1: an eleven or twelve, it will flee or surrender A
17:45
Speaker 1: three not even close. In fact, it is enraged and
17:48
Speaker 1: the hasted companions see its grotesque toad face twist in
17:52
Speaker 1: insane fury as it roars in challenge, breaking at its
17:55
Speaker 1: own flesh with its clawed hands. It is round four.
18:02
Speaker 1: The Hero A five, the Party A three. The Demon
18:07
Speaker 1: will use telekinesis to pick up two of them and
18:10
Speaker 1: launch them against the far wall of the cavern on
18:12
Speaker 1: the other side of the pool. Targets will be randomly determined.
18:17
Speaker 1: It's Shawna and Jace. Each will need to make a
18:19
Speaker 1: save or else take two D six damage from the
18:21
Speaker 1: impact and lose their chance to retaliate. Shawnee needs a
18:25
Speaker 1: ten or better A four. She fails and is plucked
18:29
Speaker 1: struggling into the air before being hurled against the wall. Ooh,
18:36
Speaker 1: nine points of damage upon impact. She is badly hurt.
18:40
Speaker 1: Now it's Jase's turn. He needs to roll at least
18:42
Speaker 1: to fourteen twelve, He too is ripped off his feet
18:47
Speaker 1: and slammed into the cave wall beside Shawnay. He takes
18:51
Speaker 1: six points of damage. Now it's the companion's turn. Kat's
18:56
Speaker 1: Bain spends his round running down the ledge to the
18:59
Speaker 1: cabin floor while staying well clear of the demon. Conversely,
19:02
Speaker 1: a somewhat stunned Jason picks himself up and starts making
19:05
Speaker 1: his way back across the pool and towards the hesrow.
19:08
Speaker 1: Shawn Ay wisely decides to fight from a distance at
19:11
Speaker 1: this point and untoulders her beau that leaves Yellowfly and
19:15
Speaker 1: Basu flies Save versus Poison roll is a seven. Once again,
19:20
Speaker 1: he stumbles, unable to breathe in the cloud of rot
19:23
Speaker 1: and death. Bazu has been so far unable to even
19:27
Speaker 1: get close, but he will try again. A nineteen means
19:31
Speaker 1: he finds the strength to rise. Unfortunately, he'll need another
19:34
Speaker 1: nineteen to hit with his quarterstaff. Even with two attacks,
19:37
Speaker 1: he to take a miracle, rolling a three and a six.
19:42
Speaker 1: No good. That's it for round four, and it was
19:45
Speaker 1: not a good one for the PCs. Let's hope for
19:47
Speaker 1: better in round five. Initiative, the Hezrow A six the
19:54
Speaker 1: party A one. The hesrow has broken the companion's momentum.
19:59
Speaker 1: High low to see if it uses a normal attack.
20:01
Speaker 1: High will mean it does lo it'll use telekinesis again,
20:05
Speaker 1: this time on Yellowfly and Bazu. Let's make it interesting.
20:09
Speaker 1: High low to see if it slams them like a
20:11
Speaker 1: didshawn A and Jase, or if it throws them into
20:14
Speaker 1: the pool, which would be extremely dangerous for either man
20:17
Speaker 1: due to the weight of their armor. Low will indicate
20:19
Speaker 1: the pool rolling. Hi. Okay, now I've just had a
20:24
Speaker 1: devilish idea. If not water, then how about fire. The
20:28
Speaker 1: hero will fling Yellowfly and Bazuo against one of the
20:31
Speaker 1: three large braziers, or at least it'll try to. A
20:33
Speaker 1: save to resist is allowed flying need to twelve are
20:36
Speaker 1: better A one. He is plucked into the air by
20:40
Speaker 1: an invisible force and then zips sideways into the side
20:43
Speaker 1: of the bronze brazier, and what I'm going to rule
20:46
Speaker 1: damage will be two D six plus two OUCH ten points.
20:52
Speaker 1: That takes the fighter down to just twenty six. Now
20:55
Speaker 1: for Bazu, his saving through target is the same. A three.
20:59
Speaker 1: He goes for a bad ride too and impacts the
21:02
Speaker 1: brazier at the same time as Fly, ringing it like
21:04
Speaker 1: a gong and spilling a hot shower of embers in
21:07
Speaker 1: all directions. He takes nine points of damage and has
21:13
Speaker 1: just twelve remaining. The demon, now standing alone, rises to
21:18
Speaker 1: its full height, lifts its arms in the air, and
21:20
Speaker 1: pounds its chest like a gorilla, all the while bellowing
21:23
Speaker 1: at the companions, who are now divided and at other
21:26
Speaker 1: ends of the cavern woo. A brazier nearby lights it
21:31
Speaker 1: from underneath a hellish orange that glistens on its slimy skin.
21:36
Speaker 1: Then it turns to Shawnee and Jace and starts lumbering
21:39
Speaker 1: towards them, stomping through the fish carcasses in the way.
21:42
Speaker 1: Shawnee responds with two arrows, while Jase hefts his shield
21:46
Speaker 1: ready to re enter the fray. Shawnee is very good
21:49
Speaker 1: with a bow and onlyaning to fourteen to hit, rolling
21:52
Speaker 1: twice sixteen and six. That's one hit. A single arrow
21:57
Speaker 1: pierces the thick neck four three points. The demon drips
22:02
Speaker 1: black blood, but in its fury, it does not even
22:05
Speaker 1: seem to notice the new wound. What the demon did
22:08
Speaker 1: to Bazu and Fly gave cat'spain an idea, and he
22:11
Speaker 1: acts before Jace can rush in. The mage cast the
22:14
Speaker 1: spell web, using the demon and the brazier closest to
22:17
Speaker 1: it as anchor points. Because he does not target the
22:20
Speaker 1: demon directly, magic resistance will not come into play. He
22:24
Speaker 1: throws up a hand, utters the arcane words, and sticky
22:27
Speaker 1: tendrils shoot up from the ground, one after another, linking
22:30
Speaker 1: the demon to the flaming bowl. Immediately, the many strands
22:35
Speaker 1: catch fire, and seconds later the demon is engulfed in flame.
22:40
Speaker 1: I need to check the monster manual again before I
22:42
Speaker 1: assign burning damage, as I suspect the demon will be
22:45
Speaker 1: immune or resistant. Hang tight, Okay, the book says it'll
22:50
Speaker 1: take half damage from fire. I expect it as much,
22:53
Speaker 1: but it will still take some damage. According to the
22:56
Speaker 1: spell's description, a web will burn for two rounds, and
22:59
Speaker 1: anyone caught in we'll take a D six each round.
23:02
Speaker 1: Rolling half a four is two. It's not much, but
23:06
Speaker 1: it brings the Hezro down to just three hit points.
23:11
Speaker 1: Jase stops in his tracks, not keen to engage a
23:14
Speaker 1: flaming demon in melee, so that brings us two round
23:18
Speaker 1: six initiative. The hezrow a one the party a five,
23:25
Speaker 1: the demon would be blinded by smoking fire, so this
23:28
Speaker 1: makes a certain amount of sense. Let's start with Shawney,
23:31
Speaker 1: who loses two more arrows for her turn. She needs
23:34
Speaker 1: a fourteen or better. At eleven and seventeen. There's one
23:39
Speaker 1: hit in there. This could be it rolling damage. Three
23:43
Speaker 1: points is just enough. She puts the arrow right in
23:46
Speaker 1: the demon's eye, and still a blaze. It totters and
23:49
Speaker 1: then falls backwards to the cave floor, where it erupts
23:52
Speaker 1: in purple flames. When all the smoke has dissipated into
23:58
Speaker 1: little bits of smoldering web have gone out, the only
24:01
Speaker 1: thing that remains is a cracked ball of black glass,
24:04
Speaker 1: about the size of a fist. Despite Bozzi's warning not
24:13
Speaker 1: to go near it, Shawnee was crouched down, prodding it
24:16
Speaker 1: with the tip of her sword. It's the eye, she said.
24:20
Speaker 1: Her own voice sounded too sharp, bright and fast in
24:23
Speaker 1: her ears. Everything did. After the demon fell, Katspain ended
24:27
Speaker 1: his quickening spell in the world had seemed to accelerate
24:31
Speaker 1: all around her. The magic Gezer was over by the
24:33
Speaker 1: cuccubist's skull.
24:35
Speaker 3: All that remains of the other one is over here.
24:39
Speaker 1: He looked up at his companions. Every one of them
24:42
Speaker 1: was injured, Shawnee badly, so while he remained almost untouched,
24:47
Speaker 1: this realization was uncomfortable, and something had just occurred to him. Besides,
24:52
Speaker 1: so he pulled a book from his pack and opened it,
24:54
Speaker 1: flipping through the pages until he found what he was
24:57
Speaker 1: looking for. Zygog's Pantology Demon had a chapter concerning the
25:01
Speaker 1: death of demons. A quick scan of the text confirmed
25:05
Speaker 1: his fears.
25:06
Speaker 3: I do fear that these beings are not, in fact
25:10
Speaker 3: truly dead, he.
25:11
Speaker 1: Told the others, without looking up. What do you mean
25:14
Speaker 1: not dead? Yellowfly looked incredulous.
25:16
Speaker 3: Well, according to this book, demons can only truly be
25:21
Speaker 3: destroyed on their own plane of existence. I believe that
25:24
Speaker 3: we have only banished them for well, and it says
25:28
Speaker 3: for one century then they can return.
25:31
Speaker 1: The century is a long time, and it must mean
25:34
Speaker 1: we have not left our own world, said Shawnay, with
25:36
Speaker 1: an insight Catspan wouldn't have expected. But she was not
25:40
Speaker 1: entirely correct. It only meant that they were not currently
25:43
Speaker 1: in the Abyss. He did not mean that they were
25:45
Speaker 1: still on the prime material plane. Still, Caspian decided not
25:49
Speaker 1: to gainsay her and instead replied with a nod and
25:52
Speaker 1: a wan smile. He returned his attention to the book,
25:55
Speaker 1: skimming ahead until he found another passage.
25:57
Speaker 3: Ah.
25:58
Speaker 1: Here it is a finger on the page and trace
26:01
Speaker 1: the words as you read them.
26:03
Speaker 3: It is possible to keep them away for longer. However,
26:07
Speaker 3: certain items are required.
26:13
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Tale of the Manticore. If you've
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Speaker 1: enjoyed the show and would like to help to support it,
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Speaker 1: there are so many ways to do so. You can
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Speaker 1: recommend it online or to friends. You can like it,
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Speaker 1: repost episode announcement on social media. You can pick up
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Speaker 1: one Shot in the Dark, the Pendulum world building tool,
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Speaker 1: or Encyclopedia Manticorca on Drive Through RPG. And finally, you
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Speaker 1: can rate a review the show on your podcast Troupe Choice.
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Speaker 1: Any and all of these things really helps the show
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Speaker 1: and I really appreciate it. Speaking of appreciation, at this point,
26:39
Speaker 1: I'd like to read one of your kind reviews. This
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Speaker 1: one was left by PowerCore on Apple Podcasts. Power Corps
26:45
Speaker 1: writes John and cass to do an excellent job balancing
26:48
Speaker 1: action with role play and exposition. Cole's fate still hits
26:52
Speaker 1: heart and that gotter Di state will always hold a
26:54
Speaker 1: special place in my heart. I look forward to whatever
26:57
Speaker 1: the next chapter will be, and however, the Iceland the show,
27:00
Speaker 1: and thanks for the hard work. When I first read
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Speaker 1: this comment, I wondered, why does the goddard es date
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Speaker 1: hold a special place for you? But then I saw
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Speaker 1: that this handle belongs to the amazing dread Maps, and
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Speaker 1: then it all made sense. Dread Maps does a spectacular
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Speaker 1: job of bringing the Goddard to State to vivid and
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Speaker 1: detailed life through his art form as a battlemap compatible
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Speaker 1: with the Foundry VTT. If you'd like to see it
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Speaker 1: in all its glory, visit dreadmaps dot h dot io
27:25
Speaker 1: forward slash g O D d A r D hyphen
27:29
Speaker 1: this date. Thanks both for the wonderful review and for
27:32
Speaker 1: your inspiring work, Dreadmaps. I'd also like to thank my
27:36
Speaker 1: excellent voice talent. As this is a combat focused episode,
27:39
Speaker 1: the only dialogue belongs to Katspain, voiced as always by
27:43
Speaker 1: ky Ellen. Thank you so much, Kyellen. Katspain just wouldn't
27:46
Speaker 1: be Caspane without you. For listeners who would like to
27:49
Speaker 1: get in touch with me, I'm at Manticore Tale on
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Speaker 1: x or Tale of the Manticore Podcast on Instagram and
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Speaker 1: there's always email Tales themandicore at gmail dot com. Finally,
27:59
Speaker 1: I keep it a blow where I post all kinds
28:01
Speaker 1: of show on RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts,
28:04
Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it at Tale of
28:06
Speaker 1: themantcor dot blogspot dot com. The adventure will continue on
28:10
Speaker 1: the next episode or Tale of the mantacor the story
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