Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 31 (S3E31)

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Episode 31 (S3E31) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is George from that Cthulhu John and you're
0:03
Speaker 1: listening to Dear of the Manticore.
0:10
Speaker 2: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
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Speaker 2: discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
0:32
Speaker 2: Season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
0:36
Speaker 2: Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
0:39
Speaker 2: between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
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Speaker 2: the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
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Speaker 2: the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
0:50
Speaker 2: is sacred and none will be spared if the dice
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Speaker 2: decide their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the
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Speaker 2: Tale of a Manticore is barbed with crewe iron spikes.
1:02
Speaker 2: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
1:14
Speaker 2: time on Tail of the Manticor, in the previous chapter,
1:18
Speaker 2: we witness the terrible massacre that occurs outside the safety
1:21
Speaker 2: of the Dorothy Caves and Rector Biam's attempts to maintain order.
1:25
Speaker 2: Their only hope, he knows, is to evacuate everyone into
1:29
Speaker 2: the inner caves where the monster can reach them. This
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Speaker 2: immediately presents a second problem. There are no other exits
1:35
Speaker 2: to the cave system they call home, and so they
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Speaker 2: are trapped. Interwoven with the story of the DROTHI are
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Speaker 2: the explorations of the player characters who investigate the first
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Speaker 2: few rooms of the cave complex, discover a skeleton bound
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Speaker 2: to a chair in one room, and then continue until
1:50
Speaker 2: they are forced to stop in a large cavern filled
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Speaker 2: with corpses covered in furry yellow mold. Returning to the flashback,
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Speaker 2: matters get worse when the directors number two, the curate
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Speaker 2: named Amson, begins to argue vociferously that their only hope
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Speaker 2: to survive is to make a mass exodus run for
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Speaker 2: it and scatter, knowing the monster cannot catch them all.
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Speaker 2: But Bayim refuses. He's not willing to lose their prized possession,
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Speaker 2: that artifact known as the First Scroll of Galandal. Their
2:19
Speaker 2: argument in the episode ends when the Curate abruptly attacks
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Speaker 2: the leader. There's a few things to take care of
2:32
Speaker 2: before we can join the PCs. First, I'm going to
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Speaker 2: have to say the fight over the First Scroll of Galandal.
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Speaker 2: The fight I have yet to resolve fulfills the current
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Speaker 2: event meaning celebrate possessions. I might be stretching the definition
2:45
Speaker 2: of celebrate but it's close enough for rock and roll,
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Speaker 2: so I'm going with it. We'll need a new event
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Speaker 2: meaning pair. Here come the rolls ninety four and eighty
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Speaker 2: seven that gives me dispute magic. No idea is now,
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Speaker 2: but that pair shouldn't be too hard to make work.
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Speaker 2: I'll put it to the side for now and move
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Speaker 2: on to the next order of business, and that is
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Speaker 2: the business of leveling up not one, but two characters.
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Speaker 2: And both of them are spellcasters, so I couldn't be
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Speaker 2: more excited. We'll start with Faerwynd, who achieves level three today,
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Speaker 2: and then move on to Achillee, who has attained level four.
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Speaker 2: Fairwind will get a D six of new hit points,
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Speaker 2: and due to his incredibly high constitution score of eighteen,
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Speaker 2: it's guaranteed to be a significant improvement. Here's the role.
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Speaker 2: A five on the die means he gets an extra
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Speaker 2: eight hit points, taking him from the already impressive eighteen
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Speaker 2: to a tanky twenty six. He still has an armor
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Speaker 2: class of ten, though, so there's still that to balance
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Speaker 2: the scales. Next upper chances for stat increases. Will his
3:45
Speaker 2: strength improve? A three means it will not. Intelligence I've
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Speaker 2: got a five Wisdom five again. How about dexterity. Nope,
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Speaker 2: I've got a one constitution. I will skip because he
3:59
Speaker 2: is already maxed out at eighteen. Charisma A one. Well,
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Speaker 2: that was unlucky, but I'm not too bothered. Fairwind already
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Speaker 2: has a good stat array. The final part of the
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Speaker 2: cleric's level up is a new spell. Going forward, Fairwind
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Speaker 2: will be able to pray for two, not one first
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Speaker 2: level spells. He's been taking purify food and water thus
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Speaker 2: far as a default. I don't think that will change,
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Speaker 2: but I will add M. I think it'll be protection
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Speaker 2: from Evil as his second default choice. Let's move on
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Speaker 2: to our second level up. By reaching level four, Achillie
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Speaker 2: will get a D four of new hit points. This
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Speaker 2: role does matter since she doesn't have many currently and
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Speaker 2: could use some help in this category. Here's the role haha.
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Speaker 2: A four lucky me or lucky she. I suppose thirteen
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Speaker 2: maxit points is a great improvement from nine. I'm already
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Speaker 2: pleased with this level up, but the more to come
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Speaker 2: potential stat increases are next. For strength A two no
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Speaker 2: good intelligence A six, oh wow, and wright war accounts
5:01
Speaker 2: fifteen becomes sixteen. Per the rules, she should get an
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Speaker 2: additional language here, but since that makes no sense in
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Speaker 2: our story, I'll forego it. How about wisdom another six?
5:12
Speaker 2: It seems that Achillee has really matured over the last
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Speaker 2: ten episodes, both intellectually and spiritually. Eleven goes to twelve,
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Speaker 2: which affords no special bonus, but does get her close
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Speaker 2: to one. Next is dexterity. I've got a one constitution
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Speaker 2: a six. Oh my Lanta, look at that, I got
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Speaker 2: a hat trick. These are rare, let's see her. Eleven
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Speaker 2: goes to twelve, which once again brings her within sight
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Speaker 2: of a bonus, but does not actually give one. All
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Speaker 2: that trekking is clearly toughened up this half health, which
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Speaker 2: makes completely good sense to me. Now I wonder if
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Speaker 2: I can get a fourth bump for charisma. It's the
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Speaker 2: last stat to check the role of four. Well, now
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Speaker 2: complaints as usual, I've saved the best to the last,
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Speaker 2: and there is a final role to make one of Achillia's.
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Speaker 2: Thus far, her unreadable spells will open its secrets to
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Speaker 2: her the next time she studies her book. And rolling
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Speaker 2: in D ten on my new list gives me a two.
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Speaker 2: Let's detect evil. Well, it seems Achille's role as a
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Speaker 2: predominantly non combat mage will continue. The spell itself is
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Speaker 2: pretty straightforward. Objects under an evil enchantment and living beings
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Speaker 2: with evil intentions are caused to magically glow. It has
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Speaker 2: a duration of twenty minutes and a range of sixty feet.
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Speaker 2: Not very glamorous to be sure, but it might prove useful.
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Speaker 2: I guess time will tell if that was a lucky
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Speaker 2: role or not. Now that the level ups are done,
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Speaker 2: the only thing I still need to do before getting
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Speaker 2: into the narrative is to pull a card to use
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Speaker 2: with the one shot in the dark Map generator. The
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Speaker 2: card is five of Hearts, a creature's layer or dwelling
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Speaker 2: two exits. Chapter thirty one, Part one, Day twenty eight afternoon,
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Speaker 2: one hour before the Giant Troll returns. Mythic event meaning
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Speaker 2: dispute magic party status Achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points,
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Speaker 2: Cord eighteen of eighteen, de Renni twelve of twelve, ten
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Speaker 2: Tier fifteen of fifteen, Fairwind twenty six of twenty six supplies.
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Speaker 2: The companions have eight portions of food spells available. Achillee
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Speaker 2: can cast shrink times two and glitter dust. Cord can
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Speaker 2: cast entangle and slow poison. Picking their way through and
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Speaker 2: among the humps of fuzzy, mold covered skeletons took time,
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Speaker 2: but with care, the companions made their way across to
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Speaker 2: the cavern's far side. Halfway along, Fairwin mentioned with concern
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Speaker 2: that his torch would not last much longer, and Achilia
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Speaker 2: had replied, good.
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Speaker 3: Then we won't have such a good view of these
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Speaker 3: awful things.
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Speaker 2: Derrenni had laughed dryly at that and.
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Speaker 1: Added, remember not to touch them.
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Speaker 2: And then, with unintended irony, added.
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Speaker 1: There's no need to hurry.
8:18
Speaker 2: When they were all gathered at the cavern's far end,
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Speaker 2: they looked down the new tunnel and saw that it
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Speaker 2: went more or less straight and down as before. Steps
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Speaker 2: had been carved into the tunnel floor to make the
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Speaker 2: going easier. We might be at about ground level, guest
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Speaker 2: tent Tier, after the party had descended the steps. He
8:35
Speaker 2: was right, but it would have taken a dwarf to
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Speaker 2: realize that they were about to cross under the first
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Speaker 2: narrow tunnel attached to the cave mouth where they'd entered.
8:44
Speaker 2: By this time, Fairwin's torch was almost out, and only
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Speaker 2: a small tongue of orange fire clung to the mostly
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Speaker 2: blackened stump, but Chilia stopped to light her torch from his.
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Speaker 2: Then the cleric abandoned the dead one while taking up
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Speaker 2: the new. As bright light filled the tunnel, says something
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Speaker 2: in Elvish from up ahead, Achillia translated for fairwood. When
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Speaker 2: he gave her an inquisitive look.
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Speaker 3: There is another room up ahead.
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Speaker 2: The room de Renni had discovered turned out to be
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Speaker 2: small and round, about twenty feet in diameter. Its purpose
9:19
Speaker 2: was fairly clear. There was a raised ledge of natural
9:22
Speaker 2: stone that had once been used as a bed. Rotted
9:25
Speaker 2: remains of a blanket, wet with moisture collected from the wall,
9:29
Speaker 2: had been pushed to the side. Strangely, a fist sized
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Speaker 2: stone had been placed where one might have expected to
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Speaker 2: find a pillow at the head. A rickety wooden table
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Speaker 2: with a book on it stood beside the bed, and
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Speaker 2: a wooden foot locker made with out clasps or hinges
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Speaker 2: laid at its foot. A mat made of stitch together
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Speaker 2: pieces of rabbit skin was on the floor. De Rennie
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Speaker 2: asked Tenere in court stand guard outside and watched down
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Speaker 2: the tunnel, which still continued on into other unexplored sections
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Speaker 2: of the cave system. Meanwhile, he and the rest investigated
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Speaker 2: the small dwelling. De Renni went to the foot locker, first,
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Speaker 2: crouching down and giving it a thorough looking over before
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Speaker 2: even thinking of trying a lid. While he took his
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Speaker 2: time with this precaution, Achillia moved to the bedside table
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Speaker 2: and examined the small volume atop it. She could see that,
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Speaker 2: like the blanket, it touched the moist cavern wall and
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Speaker 2: had soaked up enough water from it to have become swollen. Still,
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Speaker 2: the title was easy to read, even if the text
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Speaker 2: was warped. It said a song for Ehea in the
10:28
Speaker 2: tongue of men, and there was a picture of an
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Speaker 2: owl over the letters. It was stylized in a way
10:33
Speaker 2: identical to the one on the banner they found earlier.
10:36
Speaker 2: Fairwin was standing in the middle of the space, trying
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Speaker 2: to provide light to both Achillia and de Renni. The
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Speaker 2: flames of his torch winked and danced across the moisture
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Speaker 2: slick walls. While his expression was calm. Inside, the cleric
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Speaker 2: was remembering being in the moroc family crept when his
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Speaker 2: light had gone out. He could not help but worry
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Speaker 2: that the torch he now carried might not last long
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Speaker 2: enough for them to fully investigate the caves and make
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Speaker 2: their way back out in the light. He did not
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Speaker 2: think the yellow mold cavern could be safely negotiated in
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Speaker 2: the dark. Had the other forgotten that he could not
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Speaker 2: see without light as they could? As phawh fretted, Achilie
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Speaker 2: gently peeled back the first page of the sodden book,
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Speaker 2: which she believed was a prayer book. Unfortunately, the pages
11:19
Speaker 2: were stuck together, and the best she could do was
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Speaker 2: to open the volume roughly in the middle. The text
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Speaker 2: inside was handwritten, and it was with some disappointment that
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Speaker 2: she realized the writing was not odog zygogs she knew
11:31
Speaker 2: for her sketch book that the historian wrote in clear,
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Speaker 2: blocky letters. This writing was loopy and fluid, completely different.
11:39
Speaker 2: Some of the ink had run, and in these spots
11:41
Speaker 2: the text was illegible, but there were portions that she
11:44
Speaker 2: could make out. The content seemed to have been organized
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Speaker 2: in verses, which pleased her and made sense given the
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Speaker 2: book's title. On this page, the upper left corner was smudged,
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Speaker 2: but she could still make out most of two verses.
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Speaker 2: They read threads of Woven flame, the tides bend low
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Speaker 2: to kiss thy violet feet, while echoes in the forest hush,
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Speaker 2: then meat, and every breath invokes thy hallowed name. So
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Speaker 2: sing O Wind her name from age to age, ahea
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Speaker 2: born of stars, arcane desire, who dances where a lightning
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Speaker 2: walks the fire and writes the world upon a moonlit page.
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Speaker 2: Fair Wind is right to worry about his torch. It
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Speaker 2: will only last another should I make it random. Let's
12:40
Speaker 2: say D four plus ten minutes gives me. Okay, that's lucky.
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Speaker 2: It'll remain a light for another fifty minutes, which conveniently
12:47
Speaker 2: is exactly how much time is currently left in the
12:50
Speaker 2: countdown clock. The party's finite light source is not the
12:53
Speaker 2: only reason I stop the action here, though. I also
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Speaker 2: wanted to determine at random if there's anything of use
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Speaker 2: in the foot locker that already's about to open, and
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Speaker 2: I'll want to draw a new cart from the one
13:03
Speaker 2: shot in the dark map generator table two. First, the
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Speaker 2: foot locker, I think there's a decent chance there would
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Speaker 2: be something of use in it. Seventy five percent feels
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Speaker 2: about right, so I'll go with that rolling deep percentile.
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Speaker 2: I got a seventy, which is barely a yes, okay.
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Speaker 2: Net to roll at D twenty to see how useful
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Speaker 2: the contents of the footlocker will be for the party.
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Speaker 2: The higher the role, the more useful the item or items.
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Speaker 2: Rolling ten, I'll need to mul this over before I
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Speaker 2: decide what it'll be. While I'm doing that, let's flash
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Speaker 2: back and see how the sudden attack by Curate Amson
13:37
Speaker 2: against the Rector resolves. Chapter thirty one, Part two, Seven
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Speaker 2: years ago. Biome his breath racket, looked from the bloodied
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Speaker 2: rock in his hand to the motionless shape of Amson
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Speaker 2: his feet. A dark red pool was spreading out from
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Speaker 2: a wound in the curate's temple. Feeling suddenly like he
14:06
Speaker 2: might throw up, he put out a hand to set
14:09
Speaker 2: himself against the edge of the map table. Everything had
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Speaker 2: happened so quickly. Amson had lunched at him tried to
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Speaker 2: strangle him. In the tussle. The table had been knocked
14:19
Speaker 2: hard in one of the stones they used as a
14:21
Speaker 2: paper weight had fallen to the ground. The tin lantern
14:24
Speaker 2: had also crashed to the floor, where it had rolled,
14:26
Speaker 2: throwing a crazy, slow strobing light until it reached the wall. Amson,
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Speaker 2: the younger and stronger of the two men, had quickly
14:34
Speaker 2: gotten by Um onto his back and had both hands
14:36
Speaker 2: around his windpipe, squeezing. Within moments, the edges of the
14:41
Speaker 2: rector's vision had started to blacken, even his hearing diminished,
14:45
Speaker 2: so that everything came to him in a low hum.
14:48
Speaker 2: Bayum knew he was going to die, but he did
14:51
Speaker 2: not die by sheer luck, or perhaps it was fate.
14:54
Speaker 2: One of Biyam's flailing hands touched the fallen paperweight, and
14:58
Speaker 2: by instinct he grabbed it. Then he was beating it
15:01
Speaker 2: madly against the curate's face. Hot wet drops spattered his
15:05
Speaker 2: cheeks and mouth. He tasted iron. Then the pressure around
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Speaker 2: his throat relaxed all at once, and Emson went limp
15:12
Speaker 2: atop him. It took an effort to wriggle out from
15:15
Speaker 2: beneath a bigger man, but Biam had vanished it and
15:18
Speaker 2: then stood, his every fiber shaking with horror. What had
15:23
Speaker 2: he done? How could this have happened? It was all
15:27
Speaker 2: too overwhelming to parse, and so Biam just stood there,
15:31
Speaker 2: his mind a blank, staring at the corpse of his
15:34
Speaker 2: former second in command. Chapter thirty one, Part three, Day
15:45
Speaker 2: twenty eight afternoon, fifty minutes before the giant troll returns
15:52
Speaker 2: mythic event meaning dispute magic party status. The party status is.
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Speaker 1: Unchanged, Achillia, Can you ask fair Wind to bring the
16:04
Speaker 1: light closer? There are a lot of things in here.
16:09
Speaker 2: Do any put aside the pine locker lid? As Achillia
16:12
Speaker 2: communicated his request and fair Wind brought the light closer.
16:16
Speaker 2: One by one, the elf pulled out contents from the box,
16:19
Speaker 2: examined them, and set them on the floor.
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Speaker 1: A leather wallet with four good needles, a wooden spool
16:26
Speaker 1: of thread, two fish hooks. Here's some The.
16:30
Speaker 2: Elf paws to open a jar the stiff the contents.
16:33
Speaker 1: Some kind of spice, what else? A sack of lime powder,
16:38
Speaker 1: a scroll too empty, and finally a bottle of I
16:42
Speaker 1: am not sure wine or spirits.
16:45
Speaker 2: I would guess de Any took it all save for
16:48
Speaker 2: the lime, carefully packing the items away in his bag.
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Speaker 1: I have never tasted wine made by humans before.
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Speaker 2: He said, with interest, I wonder.
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Speaker 1: What it's like.
16:58
Speaker 2: Achilia had tried it on a few occasions.
17:00
Speaker 3: Desisians make a famous sour red It's considered very good
17:04
Speaker 3: by most, but I have no.
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Speaker 1: Taste for it.
17:06
Speaker 2: She made a face to emphasize her point, Let's keep going.
17:09
Speaker 3: Fairwe's torch won't last for ever.
17:11
Speaker 2: If fair One could have understood the conversation, he would
17:14
Speaker 2: have agreed wholeheartedly, And so he was glad when Derenny
17:17
Speaker 2: rose and they left to join ten tier in cord
17:19
Speaker 2: in the tunnel. Here the companions resumed their former marching
17:23
Speaker 2: order and then walked further into the cave system. It's
17:31
Speaker 2: time to draw a new card, and this is the
17:33
Speaker 2: last drawe where if I draw the ace, which is
17:35
Speaker 2: going to represent the map room in this situation, I'll
17:37
Speaker 2: need to return it to the deck. It's unlikely to happen, though,
17:40
Speaker 2: as there are still eight other cards. Romaine, all right,
17:43
Speaker 2: let's proceed. The card is the Jack of Hearts, and
17:48
Speaker 2: that will mean the next room is Oh. The rules
17:51
Speaker 2: say beautiful natural sanctuary. Two exits. Then there's some text
17:56
Speaker 2: about stopping to rest and heal up, which will not
17:58
Speaker 2: apply here. How this will translate to the narrative, Ah,
18:03
Speaker 2: I think I have an idea. The tunnel dipped a little,
18:11
Speaker 2: and after thirty or forty feet came to a wide junction.
18:15
Speaker 2: Durani arbitrarily chose the right path and led the companions
18:18
Speaker 2: down a new tunnel where the walls were closer and
18:21
Speaker 2: the rock overhead was lower. The pinch surroundings gave everyone
18:25
Speaker 2: an overall sensation that they were being compressed. Achillie felt
18:29
Speaker 2: nowhere near as uncomfortable as she had back in the
18:31
Speaker 2: centipede's cave, but it was claustrophobic all the same. The
18:35
Speaker 2: tunnel terminated at a small cave with no exits, but
18:39
Speaker 2: as fair One brought up his torch, the wonder of
18:41
Speaker 2: the place became apparent, and Achilia could not help but
18:45
Speaker 2: let out a breath in awe. The back of the
18:49
Speaker 2: cave was studded with protruding quartz prisms of various geometric design.
18:53
Speaker 2: The crystals sprouted in clusters, looking like strange plants made
18:57
Speaker 2: of dusty glass. They caught the light from Pherwin's torch
19:01
Speaker 2: that threw it back haphazardly around the cave in vibrants bangles.
19:05
Speaker 2: There was one other notable feature in the room, and
19:08
Speaker 2: it was man made. What could only be an altar
19:11
Speaker 2: cut from stone was set on the cave floor against
19:14
Speaker 2: the opposite wall. Edged into the top was the same
19:17
Speaker 2: stylized owl the companions had seen twice before, once on
19:21
Speaker 2: the woven banner and then again on the cover of
19:23
Speaker 2: the prayer book. When they had first seen it, Dornni
19:26
Speaker 2: had commented that the dorothe might have been a pious people,
19:30
Speaker 2: but now Achillia realized.
19:32
Speaker 3: The whole focus of this community was their religion. The
19:35
Speaker 3: de Rothi chose to live here in some way in
19:38
Speaker 3: the service of Ahea, and this place must have been
19:41
Speaker 3: their chapel where they came to give devotion and find
19:44
Speaker 3: guidance and healing.
19:46
Speaker 1: It's beautiful.
19:47
Speaker 2: As a magic keiser herself, Achilia would also have named
19:50
Speaker 2: Aheya as her deity, but the truth was that she
19:52
Speaker 2: had never had a relationship with the divine. She found
19:56
Speaker 2: the subject interesting, but there really wasn't much of a
19:58
Speaker 2: spiritual side to her. All the same, being here in
20:02
Speaker 2: the simple splendor of this chapel, she thought that perhaps
20:05
Speaker 2: she could feel the presence of something holy. The companions
20:10
Speaker 2: each took a moment to appreciate the beauty around them
20:13
Speaker 2: before making the decision to leave. As Achillie had pointed
20:16
Speaker 2: out earlier, Perwin's torch would not last forever, and there
20:20
Speaker 2: was no exit other than the one they'd come through.
20:23
Speaker 2: Their only path forward was back at the wide junction,
20:26
Speaker 2: and so that is where they went. At this point,
20:36
Speaker 2: the pieces have just thirty minutes left in their countdown clock,
20:39
Speaker 2: and I think we're getting close to crunch time. They
20:42
Speaker 2: haven't reached the final room and they still need to
20:44
Speaker 2: get back out of the caves, something I think would
20:47
Speaker 2: take a good ten minutes to accomplish. It's lucky that
20:50
Speaker 2: they were aware of their dwindling torchlight, because without that
20:53
Speaker 2: there would be nothing in particular to encourage speed. Still,
20:57
Speaker 2: my heart sinks when I look at the deck and
20:59
Speaker 2: realized there's still eight cards left in it. Well, there's
21:03
Speaker 2: no putting it off. I might as well draw and
21:05
Speaker 2: see what's next. Here we go seven of hearts. That
21:09
Speaker 2: gives me hum treasure Room one exit. The rules say
21:14
Speaker 2: there's a trapped chest with loot here, but I don't
21:16
Speaker 2: think the DOROTHI would keep anything of value. Any trapped chest,
21:20
Speaker 2: I mean locked doesn't even make sense. I don't think
21:24
Speaker 2: trust for the concern for the dorothe until their final days.
21:27
Speaker 2: Oh wait, I have an idea. I just realized what
21:30
Speaker 2: the treasure will be, and I think I have an
21:32
Speaker 2: idea for a trap alternative the Dorothe do have an
21:35
Speaker 2: item of extreme value, so that would be here. This
21:39
Speaker 2: room might also contain a few items of special worth
21:41
Speaker 2: to the PCs, like extra weapons and armor. Of course,
21:45
Speaker 2: these things would have been sitting here for seven years.
21:48
Speaker 2: Would they be rusted? There's a good chance they would be.
21:51
Speaker 2: So instead of a trap, I'm introducing a chance that
21:54
Speaker 2: the mundane items of value in here are corroded beyond use.
21:58
Speaker 2: So what is in here in the Drothi's greatest treasure.
22:02
Speaker 2: I'll roll to determine that too. There's going to be weapons,
22:05
Speaker 2: armor or both present. So how about a D six
22:08
Speaker 2: role where one to two means only weapons, three to
22:11
Speaker 2: four means only armor, and five to six means both.
22:15
Speaker 2: Here comes the role the six there's both. Well, that's
22:19
Speaker 2: a good start, but I still need to find out
22:21
Speaker 2: if they are rusted beyond use. The probability of that
22:24
Speaker 2: is pretty high, say seventy five percent? And why not
22:28
Speaker 2: all roll separately for each category. Are the weapons rusted?
22:33
Speaker 2: Sixty four? Yes? They are? Is the armory useless too?
22:39
Speaker 1: M hm?
22:40
Speaker 2: Okay, the dice have spoken.
22:48
Speaker 1: I could have stayed in that place a lot longer.
22:52
Speaker 2: Said ten Tiers, wistfully, looking back the way they'd come.
22:55
Speaker 2: I don't know about the rest of you, but I
22:58
Speaker 2: could feel something something good in there. I mean a
23:03
Speaker 2: place that beautiful it had to have been blessed by Thrasnbia.
23:08
Speaker 2: Fairwin couldn't understand Tintu's words, but he'd caught the look
23:12
Speaker 2: on his face. When the young alf looked back. He
23:15
Speaker 2: decided to ask Achillia something he'd been wondering for the
23:17
Speaker 2: last half hour or so. Did elves worship a haa
23:20
Speaker 2: the way some humans did. Achilia had already told Fairwind
23:24
Speaker 2: all about her upbringing as an orphan raised by a human,
23:27
Speaker 2: so he figured.
23:28
Speaker 3: She would know not as such, fair Wind, the men
23:30
Speaker 3: and women of Zetia, especially those who count themselves among
23:34
Speaker 3: the magistocracy, do worship a haa.
23:37
Speaker 1: My own boppy.
23:38
Speaker 3: The man who raised me was not an especially religious man,
23:41
Speaker 3: but he taught me some things about the deity and
23:43
Speaker 3: encouraged me to follow my own path of spirituality.
23:47
Speaker 2: Achilia did not add that her path had been a
23:49
Speaker 2: short one that had essentially led nowhere. She continued as
23:52
Speaker 2: they made their way down the tunnel.
23:54
Speaker 3: Elves worship a different aspect of the same goddess. They
23:57
Speaker 3: call her through Cyndi up. But it is the same
24:00
Speaker 3: divine being in essence, and the owl symbol is used
24:03
Speaker 3: by elves and humans alike in their worship Effair. Does
24:06
Speaker 3: that make sense?
24:07
Speaker 2: It did. Fairwind was aware that his own deity, Sidal,
24:11
Speaker 2: was known by the name Mazagar in the lands to
24:13
Speaker 2: the far west, and that while there were certain differences
24:16
Speaker 2: between the two aspects of the god of fire and light,
24:19
Speaker 2: they were more or less one. The natural corridor bent
24:23
Speaker 2: to the right and up and terminated in a cavern
24:26
Speaker 2: that might have been described as clover shaped if seen
24:28
Speaker 2: on a map. It had three pockets, all attached, and
24:32
Speaker 2: an exit on the left wall that opened into yet
24:34
Speaker 2: another tunnel.
24:35
Speaker 3: These caves just keep going and going, observed a Chillia.
24:40
Speaker 2: The purpose of the clover shaped room seemed clear upon
24:43
Speaker 2: first entering. Wooden shelves had been built into each of
24:46
Speaker 2: the pockets, and these shelves each bore a variety of
24:49
Speaker 2: dusty ceramic jars, sagging woven baskets, pine lockers, and moldering
24:54
Speaker 2: leather sacks. Fairwind stood in the center of the place
24:58
Speaker 2: to provide light for all to sea by, and suggested
25:00
Speaker 2: hopefully to Achilia that since they had found oil, earlier
25:04
Speaker 2: they might turn up a lamp or lantern in here.
25:07
Speaker 2: Court and Tender took up positions at each exit, while
25:10
Speaker 2: Doranni and Achillee, as before, assumed the task of going
25:13
Speaker 2: through the room's contents. Neither found anything of use, even
25:16
Speaker 2: after several minutes of searching and sorting. Although this cave
25:20
Speaker 2: was dry, all of the blankets and bolts of cloth
25:23
Speaker 2: they discovered practically disintegrated at their touch from dry rot.
25:27
Speaker 2: Iron tools, including a large box of nails, were in abundance,
25:30
Speaker 2: but completely gone to rust. The Achillia, who turned up
25:34
Speaker 2: neither lantern nor lamp, had about given up hope of
25:37
Speaker 2: finding anything of use when Dornni muttered, what's this and
25:41
Speaker 2: pulled a heavy box free of the shelf. He was
25:43
Speaker 2: different from all the others they had seen before in
25:46
Speaker 2: that it had a clasp and was well made. In general.
25:49
Speaker 2: With considerable effort, the elf managed to get it onto
25:51
Speaker 2: the floor. It's heavy, he exclaimed, wiping sweat from his brow.
25:56
Speaker 2: There was no discernible lock, so we opened the clasp
26:00
Speaker 2: and the lid came up with a little creek. Inside
26:03
Speaker 2: were a few bolts of silk, rotten like everything else,
26:06
Speaker 2: but under them was a package of oiled leather. Whatever
26:09
Speaker 2: was in it, it was responsible for much of the
26:11
Speaker 2: weight of the chest. What's that, asked Aukilia. By now
26:15
Speaker 2: she had wandered over to where do Rennie worked.
26:17
Speaker 1: A mace and a broadsword and two suits of chain mail,
26:22
Speaker 1: said the elf. Unfortunately they are all badly rusted. It
26:26
Speaker 1: is a shame fair Wind could use a real weapon,
26:30
Speaker 1: not to mention some armor.
26:32
Speaker 3: Is there anything else in the box?
26:33
Speaker 2: Achilie wanted to know. Just this, replied do Rennie, and
26:37
Speaker 2: he held forth a tube of dark metal with a
26:40
Speaker 2: stopper at one end. Achilie took it from his outstretched hand.
26:44
Speaker 2: It looks old, she said, And then this is silver.
26:48
Speaker 3: It's badly tarnished, but it's silver.
26:50
Speaker 2: She twisted the stopper, which was attached to the rest
26:52
Speaker 2: of the tube by a silver chain, and he came off.
26:56
Speaker 2: Inside was a single roll of parchment. Thank you for
27:03
Speaker 2: listening to Tale of the manticor if you would like
27:05
Speaker 2: to help to support the show, there are lots of
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Speaker 2: ways to do so. You can recommend it online or
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Speaker 2: to friends. You can like and repost episode announcements on
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Speaker 2: social media. You can pick up one of my products
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Speaker 2: on drive through RPG, and finally, you can rate or
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Speaker 2: review the show on your podcast trip choice. I truly
27:21
Speaker 2: appreciate your support. At this point, I'd like to share
27:24
Speaker 2: a listener review. This one was left by kat See
27:27
Speaker 2: on podcast Addict. Kat Sea writes the best of its kind,
27:31
Speaker 2: amazing immersive stories. The dice just add that much more
27:35
Speaker 2: fun to it. Two thumbs up for this one. Well,
27:38
Speaker 2: that one was short and sweet, kat See. I'm so
27:40
Speaker 2: happy that you're enjoying the show. Thank you very very
27:43
Speaker 2: much for that kind review. Thanks were also due to
27:46
Speaker 2: my lovely cast. This episode features just two actors, Ky
27:50
Speaker 2: Ellen and Kevin Barringer play the Elvin Brothers de Rennie
27:53
Speaker 2: in tent here. Thanks guys, you're always there when I
27:56
Speaker 2: need you. For more information about the podcast is a
28:00
Speaker 2: tale of themanticor dot com, and you can still use
28:02
Speaker 2: the old blogspot address if you prefer solo roleplayers network
28:06
Speaker 2: dot com is also a great resource if you would
28:09
Speaker 2: like to learn about other pods in the same vein
28:11
Speaker 2: as this one. To get in touch with me, I'm
28:13
Speaker 2: a Tale of themanticor dot bluesky Dot Social, Tale of
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Speaker 2: the Manticor podcast on Instagram or Tale of themanticor at
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Speaker 2: gmail dot com. The adventure will continue on the next
28:23
Speaker 2: episode of Tale of the manticor the Story for Chaos.
28:27
Speaker 2: Russ