Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 35 (S3E35)

Transcript

Episode 35 (S3E35) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, This is justin scott and you're listening to Tale
0:02
Speaker 1: of the Manticore, a top shelf podcast about dungeons and dragons.
0:06
Speaker 1: You should enjoy because everyone should enjoy. It's great. The
0:13
Speaker 1: following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion
0:18
Speaker 1: is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three.
0:36
Speaker 1: Like the creature from which it takes its name, Tale
0:39
Speaker 1: of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding between
0:42
Speaker 1: two different species of storytelling. Here you will find the
0:46
Speaker 1: unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with the
0:49
Speaker 1: story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is
0:53
Speaker 1: sacred and none will be spared if the dice decide
0:56
Speaker 1: their fate is at hand. According to lore, the Tale
1:00
Speaker 1: of a Manticor is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
1:05
Speaker 1: will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
1:17
Speaker 1: on Tale of the Manticor, the previous chapter begins immediately
1:21
Speaker 1: after the fight with the giant forest Troll, which surprisingly
1:24
Speaker 1: ends with the monster fleeing the battle. The companions waste
1:28
Speaker 1: no time in leaving the area. They head north in
1:31
Speaker 1: an attempt to correct their course in the search for
1:34
Speaker 1: the recluse odok Zygogue, while still putting distance between themselves
1:38
Speaker 1: and the fearsome troll. The going is slow because of
1:41
Speaker 1: the injuries sustained by Cord and the blink Dog. The
1:44
Speaker 1: letter of which you must be carried. A conversation in
1:47
Speaker 1: which Durani quotes a dwarf an Idiom leads to a
1:49
Speaker 1: flashback where we learned the alf before he became a hunter,
1:53
Speaker 1: began his adult life as a trader. The story then
1:56
Speaker 1: shifts to a second flashback, this one concerning Old Vai.
2:00
Speaker 1: One day before Achillie was born. Alvey comes across a
2:03
Speaker 1: young Elfin woman fast asleep in the forest nearest home.
2:07
Speaker 1: When they helf wakes up and the two look into
2:09
Speaker 1: each other's eyes. They immediately fall in love. The chapter
2:14
Speaker 1: concludes when the party makes camp, now a day and
2:16
Speaker 1: a half's journey north of Duroth into safe distance from
2:19
Speaker 1: the troll. Before she goes to sleep, Achillia gives their
2:23
Speaker 1: newest companion a name. Flicker has joined the party as well,
2:32
Speaker 1: not really as a player character, but as a member
2:35
Speaker 1: of the group and will remain with them for some time.
2:37
Speaker 1: I think this is the result of a successful stumble
2:40
Speaker 1: upon twenty from earlier in the story, combined with the
2:43
Speaker 1: party's victory over the dire Wolves. But you know, in
2:46
Speaker 1: the five years I've been making this podcast, I have
2:49
Speaker 1: never had a group this large. We are now up
2:51
Speaker 1: to seven party members if you include Robin, and again
2:54
Speaker 1: including the taxidermied bird, three of them are more or
2:58
Speaker 1: less nonverbal. Game This would not be especially hard to
3:01
Speaker 1: deal with, But as a writer, I hope I can
3:04
Speaker 1: manage a group of this size and with these restrictions
3:07
Speaker 1: misgivings aside, here we are. Let's join our new and
3:10
Speaker 1: improved party and see what they're day will bring. Chapter
3:19
Speaker 1: thirty five, Part one Day thirty Early Morning Mythic Event
3:26
Speaker 1: move Reality Party status Achillee thirteen out of thirteen hit points,
3:34
Speaker 1: Cord fifteen out of eighteen after natural and magical healing,
3:39
Speaker 1: der Any sixteen out of sixteen, ten Tier fifteen out
3:45
Speaker 1: of fifteen, fair Wind twenty three out of twenty six
3:49
Speaker 1: after receiving one point of natural healing, Flicker eleven of
3:55
Speaker 1: sixteen after natural and magical healing. Supply. The companions have
4:02
Speaker 1: nine portions of food remaining. Spells available. Achille can cast
4:07
Speaker 1: in large message glitter dust and detect evil cord can cast, entangle,
4:14
Speaker 1: locate plants and animals, slow poison, and create water. The
4:22
Speaker 1: blink dog was flicking her tail back and forth, sniffing
4:25
Speaker 1: Dennie's bag and begging for the food it smelled inside.
4:29
Speaker 1: The name Suitza, said Fairwind, smiling. Dernnie hefted his bag,
4:34
Speaker 1: wearing a mildly annoyed expression on his face.
4:37
Speaker 2: Is everyone ready to go?
4:38
Speaker 1: He asked. Fairwin caught the ELF's meaning without understanding the words.
4:43
Speaker 1: He rolled up the first scroll of Galandal, which he'd
4:46
Speaker 1: been studying since waking up an hour earlier, and slid
4:49
Speaker 1: it into its silver case. When he stood up, he
4:52
Speaker 1: grimaced at the stiffness in his back. Did you learn anything,
4:56
Speaker 1: Achillie asked, using the common tongue. M A little, replied
4:59
Speaker 1: the cleric.
5:00
Speaker 3: However, to take many hours of work before I can
5:03
Speaker 3: say I've truly understood it. It's written in a language
5:06
Speaker 3: several centuries old.
5:07
Speaker 4: You know, Acilia nudded, but pressed anyway that you say
5:11
Speaker 4: you learned a little, I'll tell you as.
5:14
Speaker 1: We walk, said Fairwood, despite knowing how Durni disliked it.
5:18
Speaker 1: When they conversed wrong move, the companions struck Camp and
5:22
Speaker 1: resumed their walk north through the forest of Beach. As
5:26
Speaker 1: they went, the cleric explained what it garnered from the
5:29
Speaker 1: ancient text.
5:30
Speaker 3: Now, as I said, it's not much. I've learned that
5:33
Speaker 3: this is the first of two scrolls. But my guess
5:36
Speaker 3: is that the Drothi only ever had access to this one.
5:40
Speaker 3: I'll explain why in a minute. Although having one without
5:44
Speaker 3: the other is not useless, it is difficult intentionally, so
5:49
Speaker 3: I should think to glean complete information because the two
5:53
Speaker 3: texts work together.
5:55
Speaker 1: Like here, the cleric spread both of his hands apart
5:59
Speaker 1: and then brought them together, so the fingers from one
6:01
Speaker 1: hand fit between those of the.
6:03
Speaker 3: Other, like ah, like a cog and wheel.
6:07
Speaker 1: You see.
6:08
Speaker 3: The purpose of the scrolls seems to be to show
6:11
Speaker 3: the location of something called the Golden Path, but I
6:15
Speaker 3: haven't been able to figure out what that is. It
6:18
Speaker 3: might be a real place, or it might simply be
6:21
Speaker 3: a metaphor.
6:23
Speaker 4: You said, you think that de rothe only had one scroll?
6:26
Speaker 2: Why is that?
6:26
Speaker 3: Achillie prompted, Oh, yes, I did say that, didn't I
6:31
Speaker 3: The reason I think that is given the incomplete map,
6:34
Speaker 3: we found that Dorothy were clearly still looking for this
6:39
Speaker 3: golden path. If they'd had both scrolls, I don't suppose
6:42
Speaker 3: they would have been.
6:44
Speaker 1: At this point, Derenni shot a quick look of vexation
6:47
Speaker 1: in Achillee's direction. She in turn looked at Ferwind with
6:50
Speaker 1: an inclined head and pursed lips. He got the message,
6:54
Speaker 1: and they both fell back into silence. Hours later, when
7:09
Speaker 1: the sun was past its zenith but still quite high
7:12
Speaker 1: in the western sky, Dernni called the halt. This was unexpected,
7:16
Speaker 1: as they had already stopped for the day's single repast,
7:19
Speaker 1: in which they'd consumed the rest of the cooked rabbit,
7:21
Speaker 1: and Cord had summoned a spring of water from the
7:23
Speaker 1: ground they'd slight their thirst, and also filled one of
7:27
Speaker 1: their skins to share. Throughout the day, Dorani had been
7:30
Speaker 1: in a lead, as per usual. He presently motioned for
7:34
Speaker 1: the others to approach, but his attention remained fixed on
7:36
Speaker 1: a distant hill to the north. Behind it, the range
7:40
Speaker 1: of mountains loomed ghostly and Cyclopean tender walked up to
7:45
Speaker 1: stand beside his brother, and the two elves conversed in
7:47
Speaker 1: low tones for a moment before de Rennie turned around
7:50
Speaker 1: with a troubled look on his face. Achillie tried to
7:53
Speaker 1: see what they saw, but her eyes were not as
7:56
Speaker 1: keen as theirs, and she couldn't make out anything in
7:58
Speaker 1: the distance other than the usual shapes of hills and
8:01
Speaker 1: trees and rocks.
8:03
Speaker 2: What is it, she asked, I think.
8:06
Speaker 1: Dr Annie began. He cast a quick glance at tent Here,
8:09
Speaker 1: who nodded as if in confirmation.
8:11
Speaker 2: I think I can see your tower ahead.
8:13
Speaker 1: He said, where do any pointed to the northeast.
8:17
Speaker 2: Do you see that hill over there, the one standing
8:20
Speaker 2: a little apart from the others.
8:22
Speaker 1: Achilie thought she could see the hill, but it was
8:24
Speaker 1: impossible to make out actual details at this distance. Still,
8:28
Speaker 1: she accepted that what he said was true, and her
8:31
Speaker 1: heart jumped in her chest.
8:32
Speaker 4: What do you wish to do, Achilleah, there's no point
8:36
Speaker 4: in running, she replied, after a moment's deliberation. But let's
8:40
Speaker 4: head in that direction and a hey willing, it will
8:43
Speaker 4: still be there when we arrive.
8:46
Speaker 1: It took a full thirty minutes of travel before Achillee
8:49
Speaker 1: could make out the speck that the brothers had identified
8:51
Speaker 1: as the tower. Now, for the first time, she wondered why,
8:55
Speaker 1: if they were all else, their powers of sight should
8:57
Speaker 1: be so much keener than her own, She might I'd
9:00
Speaker 1: have worried about it more if her anxiety over the
9:02
Speaker 1: tower hadn't been the greater. Despite quickening their pace and
9:06
Speaker 1: taking no breaks. An hour later, by which time the
9:09
Speaker 1: tower was easily visible but there were still a good
9:12
Speaker 1: distance from it, the inevitable began to happen. The iron
9:16
Speaker 1: structure began to slowly fade from sight. The transition from
9:20
Speaker 1: there to not there took about five minutes to complete,
9:24
Speaker 1: but even if Achilia had sprinted from the moment it began,
9:27
Speaker 1: she wouldn't have come close to catching it in time.
9:30
Speaker 4: Even if I could get there, she said, helplessly, how
9:34
Speaker 4: could I hope to get in? The place has one
9:36
Speaker 4: door with no handle on it.
9:38
Speaker 1: This time, Achilia neither broke down nor despaired. In fact,
9:42
Speaker 1: since seeing the tower, her jaw had been tight, and
9:45
Speaker 1: she had felt even more resolved than before.
9:48
Speaker 2: I won't let you down, Bobby.
9:49
Speaker 1: She swore under her breath.
9:51
Speaker 2: I promise.
9:54
Speaker 1: The appearance and disappearance of the tower was directly inspired
9:58
Speaker 1: by my event, meaning move reality. So I suppose I'm
10:02
Speaker 1: in the market for a new one. Rolling my deep
10:04
Speaker 1: percentile twice gives me ninety seven and thirty four, consulting
10:12
Speaker 1: the tables as he those are transform and expectations transform expectations.
10:18
Speaker 1: That seems like something I could work with.
10:24
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Achilia.
10:26
Speaker 1: Said de Rennie. He remembered clearly how upset she had
10:29
Speaker 1: been the last time this happened.
10:31
Speaker 2: Are you all right?
10:32
Speaker 1: The half elf nodded Dumbley. When Cord put a wooden
10:35
Speaker 1: hand on her shoulder, and Robin tweeted in sympathy, Fairwind
10:39
Speaker 1: had an idea.
10:40
Speaker 3: Achilia, you are sure you'd never seen or heard about
10:44
Speaker 3: the tower before you went there? When was it you
10:46
Speaker 3: said a few weeks ago?
10:48
Speaker 1: Achillia shook her head. No.
10:51
Speaker 3: Then I must deduce that our encountering it again twice
10:55
Speaker 3: since can be no coincidence. Perhaps it's occupant are also
11:00
Speaker 3: searching for this odoak Zygogue.
11:03
Speaker 1: Achillia shrugged and closed her eyes in frustration. When Dorrennian
11:07
Speaker 1: Tentere asked what the cleric had said, she translated in
11:10
Speaker 1: a flat voice.
11:11
Speaker 2: It must be looking for something.
11:13
Speaker 1: Said Doretti. Perhaps it's looking for you, Achilia, suggested Tintyer.
11:19
Speaker 1: Nobody thought that was very likely, given that she had
11:21
Speaker 1: made every effort to catch it on the last occasion.
11:23
Speaker 1: Hum I wonder, said Ferrowind, scratching the growth of beard
11:28
Speaker 1: on his chin. He had half an idea, but it
11:31
Speaker 1: would take more study of the Dorothi Scroll and the
11:34
Speaker 1: Dorothy Map before he could fully form it. There's one
11:40
Speaker 1: question about solo play rbgs that folks always seem to ask,
11:44
Speaker 1: and it's a fair question. How do you handle mysteries
11:47
Speaker 1: in a game where you are both a d M
11:49
Speaker 1: and the PCs. In this story, the characters don't know
11:52
Speaker 1: why they keep seeing the tower or why it seems
11:54
Speaker 1: to be moving along the same trajectory as their own
11:57
Speaker 1: course of travel. But I do know it was back
12:00
Speaker 1: around episode twenty five when it dawned on me in
12:03
Speaker 1: a kind of aha moment. So that's a complicated problem.
12:07
Speaker 1: But actually things are even more complicated because I'm not
12:10
Speaker 1: just playing a solo RPG. I'm also making something with
12:13
Speaker 1: an audience in mind. The more I think about it,
12:16
Speaker 1: the more I think this makes a big difference in
12:18
Speaker 1: the way I play. It's not completely different from a
12:21
Speaker 1: just for me solo game, but it is meaningfully different.
12:25
Speaker 1: Now there's what the DM knows, what the characters know,
12:28
Speaker 1: and what the audience knows to play with where the
12:31
Speaker 1: rubber hits the road. There's a few ways to deal
12:33
Speaker 1: with mysteries in a solo game, consider a riddle or
12:36
Speaker 1: a puzzle. The easiest moves would be to roll against
12:39
Speaker 1: a target's stat or just go with DM FIAT. Somewhat
12:42
Speaker 1: more interesting would be to use the mythic event meaning
12:44
Speaker 1: tables to push creative solutions. But there are other methods,
12:48
Speaker 1: such as emailing a friend to see if they could
12:50
Speaker 1: solve it with the friend acting as a proxy for
12:53
Speaker 1: your characters. That could be fun. Brian right out of
12:56
Speaker 1: Swords against Madness, has a really inventive one. Literally, he
13:00
Speaker 1: sets himself the challenge of designing a table worthy puzzle
13:03
Speaker 1: in a said amount of time. If he can't come
13:05
Speaker 1: up with something workable before his timer runs out, the
13:08
Speaker 1: characters can't solve the one in the story. I love
13:11
Speaker 1: the kind of creativity that goes into this medium. It's inspiring. Anyway,
13:15
Speaker 1: Enough pontificating, let's get back to the business at hand.
13:19
Speaker 1: While the characters may be frustrated by recent events, there's
13:21
Speaker 1: some good news to share today. Because this episode is
13:24
Speaker 1: a level of episode ten. Tier has reached level four.
13:28
Speaker 1: For that he gets a D six of New Hit points.
13:31
Speaker 1: I'll roll that now A four is pretty good. Fifteen
13:35
Speaker 1: goes to nineteen. His basic attack bonus will improve from
13:38
Speaker 1: plus one to plus two, and there's a chance for
13:41
Speaker 1: stat increases. Let's hope for good luck as we roll
13:43
Speaker 1: four strength A one intelligence. I got a two wisdom.
13:50
Speaker 1: This would be a good time to get a bingo
13:52
Speaker 1: as Portendire has US six in this stat alas I've
13:57
Speaker 1: roll to two dexterity bingo. That's excellent. Fourteen goes to fifteen.
14:04
Speaker 1: Let me see if this changes any modifiers. Okay, I've
14:08
Speaker 1: checked the BX rules and it does not, but it
14:11
Speaker 1: brings him within one point of it, so I'm very pleased.
14:14
Speaker 1: Let's see if we can squeeze any more lock out
14:16
Speaker 1: of this die constitution. I've got a four charisma a five. Well,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know, all in all, that was a good level up,
14:25
Speaker 1: not stupendously good, but good. Well done, Tentire, you deserve it.
14:30
Speaker 1: Moving on, I'm looking at my notes here and I
14:32
Speaker 1: see that I have not made any hex scrawl rolls
14:35
Speaker 1: for day thirty. Maybe I can wave those given the
14:38
Speaker 1: tower sighting, which is a pretty significant event. Yeah, let's
14:41
Speaker 1: assume that the rest of the day passes without further incident,
14:44
Speaker 1: but that foraging is unsuccessful. That's a fair trade. The
14:48
Speaker 1: PCs eventually run out of daylight and make camp. Now
14:51
Speaker 1: we need roles for day thirty one, and you know,
14:54
Speaker 1: I think at this point I need to recalculate how
14:56
Speaker 1: far the companions are from their destination. I'm going to
14:59
Speaker 1: need a map for this. Hang on while I go
15:01
Speaker 1: away and crunch some numbers. Maybe this is a good
15:03
Speaker 1: time to take a quick ad break. I'll be right back. Okay.
15:15
Speaker 1: I've made a little back of the nap Can map
15:17
Speaker 1: and calculated that the companions are four days away from
15:20
Speaker 1: their original destination, assuming that Valcan's directions were accurate. At
15:24
Speaker 1: this time, I think we're ready to do hex prawl
15:27
Speaker 1: rolls for day thirty one. First up is fur the
15:29
Speaker 1: weather A ten that's a typical midsummer day. Stumble upon
15:35
Speaker 1: the seven means no result. Foraging is next. A three
15:40
Speaker 1: on a D six indicate success with quartzelp. I'll say
15:43
Speaker 1: that a patch of hedgehog mushrooms is discovered growing under
15:46
Speaker 1: an ancient shady oak. Wandering encounters are next. I'm back
15:50
Speaker 1: to making normal rolls for this, so using my D
15:53
Speaker 1: six A five or six will indicate a random encounter.
15:56
Speaker 1: If that occurs, I'll use the same collapsed table from
15:59
Speaker 1: a few episodes back, the one that produced the blank
16:01
Speaker 1: dog encounter. By the way, that table is now posted
16:04
Speaker 1: on the blog if you'd like to see it, though
16:06
Speaker 1: you'll need to scroll back home. Anyway. Here's the role
16:10
Speaker 1: of five, so there will be an encounter, and here
16:13
Speaker 1: I was hoping for smoother sailing. Rolling on my collapse
16:16
Speaker 1: table gives me all right, And for the subtable, huh well, okay.
16:22
Speaker 1: Then Chapter thirty five, Part two, Day thirty one, four
16:34
Speaker 1: days from their destination late afternoon. Mythic event meaning transform expectations.
16:44
Speaker 1: Party status achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points, Cord sixteen
16:51
Speaker 1: of eighteen after receiving one point of natural healing to
16:56
Speaker 1: Any sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier nineteen of nineteen, Fairwind
17:03
Speaker 1: twenty four of twenty six after receiving one point of
17:06
Speaker 1: natural healing, Flicker twelve of sixteen after receiving one point
17:12
Speaker 1: of natural healing. Supplies. The companions have four portions of
17:16
Speaker 1: food remaining spells available. Achillia can cast and large message
17:23
Speaker 1: glitter dust and detect evil. Cord can cast entangle and
17:29
Speaker 1: slow poison. Fair wind can cast cure light wounds and
17:35
Speaker 1: protection from evil. The thinning forests had emptied into a
17:42
Speaker 1: sward of long, dry grass. Here the shapes of the
17:45
Speaker 1: northern mountains were so close and distinct that they seemed
17:48
Speaker 1: to have advanced By now. Achilliea had the pictures in
17:52
Speaker 1: Odok's sketchbook memorized to the last details, and while she
17:55
Speaker 1: couldn't match this vantage to any of them, she felt
17:58
Speaker 1: positive that they were close to finding their reclusive historian.
18:02
Speaker 1: By late afternoon, the companions were in yet another forest,
18:06
Speaker 1: this one of massive and ancient oak and fir trees.
18:09
Speaker 1: He was decided that they might well find mushrooms in
18:11
Speaker 1: such place, and by virtue of courts attunement to nature
18:15
Speaker 1: they did. A patch of hedgehog mushrooms arranged in a
18:18
Speaker 1: fairy ring at the base of a particularly old oak,
18:21
Speaker 1: was discovered. Dorrenny was in the lead and got there first.
18:25
Speaker 1: He crouched down in front of the mushrooms and admired
18:27
Speaker 1: their flat funnel tops with butter cream yellow above stalks
18:31
Speaker 1: of bone white. He knew better than to disturb a
18:34
Speaker 1: fairy ring without looking around first. A traditional elf and
18:37
Speaker 1: phrase meant to be uttered before touching such things came
18:40
Speaker 1: to his lips.
18:41
Speaker 2: Be these claimed by any other, let them speak.
18:45
Speaker 1: De Renny did not really expect an answer. Most so
18:48
Speaker 1: called fairy rings were mundane, not belonging to any fay creatures.
18:53
Speaker 1: Even considering their own recent bad experience with his price,
18:56
Speaker 1: he was so unconcerned that he didn't even bother to
18:59
Speaker 1: look up. But suddenly everything went strangely quiet. Deny Achilia's
19:06
Speaker 1: voice strained, He raised his eyes and saw a pair
19:09
Speaker 1: of slender, pale green legs in front of him. Immediately
19:14
Speaker 1: his insides turned to ice. Lifting his gaze, he beheld
19:18
Speaker 1: a female shape of exquisite proportions, stark naked, but covered
19:23
Speaker 1: in places by tresses of long brown hair. Interwoven with
19:27
Speaker 1: the hair were dozens of shining green leaves and pink flowers,
19:31
Speaker 1: where possibly the plants and the hair were one. The
19:34
Speaker 1: creature's face, also pale green, was framed by its leafy hair.
19:39
Speaker 1: It was the picture of innocence and purity, with full lips,
19:43
Speaker 1: a wide, flat nose, and huge eyes of sparkling, awkwarmarine.
19:48
Speaker 1: Its expression moved between shyness and curiosity as it looked
19:52
Speaker 1: briefly from Dorni to Tinteer, then at Achilia, who held
19:55
Speaker 1: Flicker tightly by the scruff of her neck. Here the
19:59
Speaker 1: woodland spirits scaze lingered, and it smiled briefly. Finally it
20:04
Speaker 1: regarded fair Wind, Cord, and Robin. Of them all these
20:07
Speaker 1: three seemed of greatest interest, for it gently parted its lips,
20:11
Speaker 1: as though in wonder hu, it said, staring at Cord.
20:16
Speaker 1: Durnni drew back his hand from mushrooms, slowly and showing
20:19
Speaker 1: his palms.
20:21
Speaker 2: Spirit of the woods, he said in Elvish, I meant
20:24
Speaker 2: no offense.
20:30
Speaker 1: A dryad is a beautiful female tree spirit which is
20:33
Speaker 1: bound to a specific tree and cannot venture far from it.
20:36
Speaker 1: They're shy and non violent, but suspicious of strangers. If threatened,
20:41
Speaker 1: a dryad can use a powerful charmed person spell that
20:44
Speaker 1: can imprison a victim inside their tree forever. A dryad's
20:48
Speaker 1: treasure is always kept buried into the roots of their tree.
20:51
Speaker 1: Before I can go any further with this encounter, I
20:53
Speaker 1: need to make a reaction check. This single rule is
20:56
Speaker 1: going to be vitally important, as the expert Rules Monster
20:59
Speaker 1: discret gives plenty of clues as to what an extreme
21:02
Speaker 1: positive or extreme negative might look like. Since Durretti made
21:07
Speaker 1: first contact and his charisma score affords him a plus
21:10
Speaker 1: one bonus, I will apply that to the role. The
21:12
Speaker 1: presence of flicker, I will rule also adds plus one.
21:16
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how a dryad would feel about Chord,
21:18
Speaker 1: but Robin, being a taxidermied bird, must incur a minus
21:22
Speaker 1: one in the eyes of a forest spirit, right, so
21:25
Speaker 1: I'll consider it. I've got a plus one to the role,
21:28
Speaker 1: and I am desperately hoping not to get a low
21:30
Speaker 1: result because that would essentially introduce a save or die scenario. Well,
21:36
Speaker 1: here goes nothing. The forest spirit's eyes were limpid. It
21:50
Speaker 1: was staring up at Cord when Dorennie stood up, backing
21:52
Speaker 1: away a step with his empty palms showing. The movement
21:56
Speaker 1: startled the spirit, who pulled her pale green body quickly
21:59
Speaker 1: back beyond No not behind, but into the massive trunk
22:03
Speaker 1: of the nearest oak. De Rennie cast a worried look
22:07
Speaker 1: over his shoulder and saw the tintyre's face was drained
22:10
Speaker 1: of color. M came the sound again. When Dorennie looked back,
22:14
Speaker 1: the beautiful wood spirit had returned, but was half in
22:17
Speaker 1: the tree. And half out. It was examining the entire
22:20
Speaker 1: group with unmasked curiosity.
22:24
Speaker 2: It said, I think it is a dryad. It would
22:29
Speaker 2: be best for us.
22:31
Speaker 1: To leave, de Renni said in a low voice, and
22:34
Speaker 1: then this time to the wood spirit.
22:36
Speaker 2: Forgive our trespass. We will leave you in peace.
22:41
Speaker 1: The dryad cocked its head and stared directly into Doranni's
22:44
Speaker 1: face with huge, unblinking eyes. H m. The elf stumbled
22:52
Speaker 1: back another step, holding one hand behind him and making
22:55
Speaker 1: a showing gesture with it, said the still holding Deranny's
23:01
Speaker 1: gaze in her own, the elf discovered that he was
23:04
Speaker 1: unable to look away or even to blink those eyes.
23:09
Speaker 1: They were so beautiful he could get lost in them forever. Suddenly,
23:18
Speaker 1: the dryad stepped out of her tree and dropped into
23:20
Speaker 1: a crouch. It plucked four or five hedgehog mushrooms from
23:24
Speaker 1: the fairy ring and then straightened, proffering them to Dernnie.
23:27
Speaker 2: M uh.
23:30
Speaker 1: Dor Rennie swallowed and blinked hard. He took the gift
23:33
Speaker 1: and bowed. Before letting him go, the dryad gave him
23:37
Speaker 1: another gift. She pulled a tiny pink flower from her
23:40
Speaker 1: hair and put it into Doranni's hand. Along with the mushrooms.
23:44
Speaker 2: My thanks wood Spirits.
23:46
Speaker 1: Said Dornni, almost in a whisper, backing up as quickly
23:49
Speaker 1: as he could manage. The others were already a fair
23:52
Speaker 1: distance off. When he reached them, he said, go, don't
23:57
Speaker 1: look back, and led them all away. Thanks for listening
24:15
Speaker 1: to Tale of the Manticor If you would like to
24:17
Speaker 1: support the show, there are many ways to help. You
24:20
Speaker 1: can recommend it online or to friends. You can like
24:22
Speaker 1: and repost episode announcements on social media. You can pick
24:25
Speaker 1: up a Tale of the Manticore t shirt at Bare
24:27
Speaker 1: Arts dust Store or one of my offerings on drive
24:30
Speaker 1: through RPG. In fact, i'd be meaning to mention that
24:33
Speaker 1: the One Shot in the Dark Ultra Light solo game
24:36
Speaker 1: is now available in Portuguese thanks to John a Daily
24:39
Speaker 1: hero Forge. If none of those work for you, you
24:41
Speaker 1: can always rate a review the show on your podcast
24:44
Speaker 1: or choice. My thanks to everyone for their continued support.
24:47
Speaker 1: At this time, i'd like to read a listener review.
24:50
Speaker 1: This one was left on Audible by Zoo Hall. Zoo
24:53
Speaker 1: Hall rights. This podcast is a jewel among gems. The
24:57
Speaker 1: story and characters constantly surprise and amaze you. The evolution
25:00
Speaker 1: is organic. And die driven. Even when there is death
25:03
Speaker 1: in the party, there is no flinching or rules lawyering.
25:07
Speaker 1: I love the authenticity attention to detail that does not
25:09
Speaker 1: bog the paste down and the leaps the story takes. Additionally,
25:13
Speaker 1: the music and sound effects, as well as the visiting
25:15
Speaker 1: characters are solid gold, much appreciated. Zuhal, I am so
25:20
Speaker 1: so glad that you are enjoying the show, and I'm
25:22
Speaker 1: extra thrilled that you mention the music, And of course
25:25
Speaker 1: I strongly agree with you about the cast of voice talent.
25:28
Speaker 1: They are superb. And this is where I make an
25:31
Speaker 1: unsubtle pivot into thanking my cast to day. It's the
25:34
Speaker 1: small but mighty core cast of Kyellen, Kevin Barringer and
25:38
Speaker 1: David Cooper playing to any tantier and fair wind beautifully
25:41
Speaker 1: as always. Now in these credits, I'd like to take
25:45
Speaker 1: an extra moment to thank all of the amazing visual
25:47
Speaker 1: artists who have contributed to the show, not just recently
25:50
Speaker 1: but over the years. Special thanks go to the following people.
25:54
Speaker 1: Brandon You, Roland Diaz, hodag Rpg, just In File, James Fulton,
26:00
Speaker 1: Tobias Neil Simon, Williams, Amanda t Friendly, Mike Charles Featheroff,
26:06
Speaker 1: this is Bardcore Del Ziegler, and finally, everyone who submitted
26:10
Speaker 1: sketches for my Odokes Sketchbook Challenge. All include those artists
26:14
Speaker 1: in the next episode's credits. My apologies if I mispronounced
26:18
Speaker 1: any names in that list, or especially if I left
26:20
Speaker 1: anyone out. I am grateful to everyone who is sent
26:23
Speaker 1: in their artwork. For those curious to learn more about
26:27
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor, I keep a blog where I
26:29
Speaker 1: post all kinds of show and RPG related stuff like
26:32
Speaker 1: the above mentioned art and also maps, tables, crafts, and
26:35
Speaker 1: show notes. You can find it at tale of themandicor
26:37
Speaker 1: dot com. To get in touch with me, I'm at
26:39
Speaker 1: Solo role Players Network dot com, Tale of the Manticor
26:42
Speaker 1: dot Blueskide dot Social, Tale of the Manticor podcast on Instagram,
26:46
Speaker 1: or Tale of the Manticor at gmail dot com. The
26:50
Speaker 1: adventure will continue on the next episode of Tale of
26:52
Speaker 1: the Manticor. The story o Chaos rolls