Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 47 (S3E47)

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Episode 47 (S3E47) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, this is Caesar from the YouTube channel Dungeon Master
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Request and you're listening to Tale of the Manticor. The
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Like the creature from which it takes its name, Tale
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding between
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: two different species of storytelling. Here you will find the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: sacred and none will be spared if the dice decide
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the Tale
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: on Tail of the Manticor, in last chapter, the pieces
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: embark on a three day trip to reach Mirror Lake,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: where they hope to find the entrance to the Golden
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Path and after to locate out Ogzagog. To get there,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: they must pass through the crystal Wood. Within it is
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: something called the Bloom, an unknown but dangerous thing. The
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: action then cuts to Blario, one of the occupants of
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the Iron Tower, an owner of the second scroll of Galandal,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: he has a breakthrough and now is very close to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: learning how he too might access the Golden Path. Returning
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to the pieces, as they enter the crystal Wood, the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: surprised by how normal it seems, but soon after their
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: arrival they are being watched. The narration here gives way
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to a bit between the lines segment in which the Bloom,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a custom creature, is developed. The result is a monstrous
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: sentient plant that can attack with numerous vine like tendrils.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: These attacks can come from anywhere in the crystal wood,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: as the bloom has the innate power to cast past
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: plant on its appendages at will. It has another special
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: power too, it can puff out small clouds of hollucinogenic
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: pollen at its enemies. All in all, the Bloom is
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a nasty monster and very deadly. Achilie is lost in
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: thought working on the fourth stands of her poem The
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Song of the Woods, when the creature makes its attack
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: The Song of the Woods verse four.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: In Evening's Hush, the silence grows a stony weight on
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: heart and breath that tells of dreams undone by death.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: In secrets no one living knows as twilight limes, the
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: leaves inflame, the dying night, both fierce and one marks
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the hour when day is gone and night resumes. Each
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: ageless claim.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty seven, Part one day forty three days from
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: their destination late evening mythic event meaning disrupt nature party status.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Achillee fifteen of fifteen, hit points, Court twenty nine of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: twenty nine, Denni eighteen of nineteen ten, Tier twenty eight
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: of twenty eight, fair Wind thirty one of thirty three,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Flicker sixteen of sixteen supplies. The Companions have twenty portions
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: of food spells available. Achille can cast and large detect evil, glitter,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: dust and dispel magic. Chord can cast, dangle, slow poison,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: hold animal speak with plants, tree shape and pass plant.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Fair Wind can cast hold person. De Rennie had, like Achillia,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: been surprised at how normal the crystal wood was. He
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: wasn't exactly sure what he had expected, but this wasn't it.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: The leaves rustled, small animals scurried in the underbrush, and
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the birds sang their carefree song from the tree tops
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: until he called a halt. Something's wrong, he said, moving
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: his hand or the helt of his sword. Fairwind made
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: a comment, but do Renni wasn't paying the cleric any attention.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: His concentration was directed on the voice inside him, a deep,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: instinctual voice that told him there was danger near. He
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: suddenly realized what was amiss the birds. They have stopped singing.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: He began to draw his sword, pivoting in place and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: scanning the woods, but he could sense no presence until
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, vine like tendrils shot out of
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the trees, attacking the companions from all sides at once
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: injury combat. The Bloom has been aware of the piece's
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: presence in the crystal Wood from the moment they entered,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: but it allowed them to get several miles inside its
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: borders before striking, in order that none might escape its reach.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Since the pieces failed their surprise check, the Bloom gets
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: an entire free round of attacks, and this is really
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: bad because not only does it get ten attacks, two
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of which are special, but it also enjoys a plus
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: ten to hit bonus for as long as it remains
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: at full strength. Between de Ready, ten Tier, Achille, Court,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: fair Wind, and Flicker, there are six available targets to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: expedite all the rolling I'm going to need to do.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I'll say that four party members will receive two attacks each,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and the remaining two, determined at random, will each receive
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a single special attack. I'll roll a D six against
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the order of names I just listed to find out
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: which PCs will get the special attacks. I've got five
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and a one, so Akilia and der Renni will have
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to deal with the Bloom's hallucinogenic pollen. But let's roll
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: through the mondaye attacks first. Ten Deer has an AC
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: of fifteen, so the Bloom, with a plus ten to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: attack will only need to roll a five or better
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to hit him. Here come two D twenties and eighteen
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: and a thirteen. Two vines shoot through the brush to
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: strike the elf four, rolling two D six ooof nine
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: points of damage. Ten tier doesn't even know what hit him.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Court is next, and he also has an AC of fifteen.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Rolling to hit on two D twenty A seven and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: of fourteen means two more hits. The construct is bludgeoned
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: for eight points. Due to the suddenness of the attack,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Flicker has no chance to blink away. Here come the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: rolls an eight and A two both poor rolls, but
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: there's still one hidden there anyway. A thorny branch breaks
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: across the blank Dog's flank four three points. Fairwin's new
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: armor class is actually quite good. It's sixteen for plaid
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: mail and a dexterity penalty that we haven't yet seen
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: in play because the Cleric says he has always been
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the lowest the rules allow. But even with the sixteen,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the Bloom only needs to roll a six to hit him.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I have a pair of nineteens. The Cleric is waged
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: from both sides. He takes seven points of damage. That's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it for regular attacks, but the Bloom is not done
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: because it has a special attack that it makes with
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a pair of flower covered branches. The blossoms have eyeballs
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: in their centers, which gives the Bloom a sight. They
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: can also puff out small clouds of hallucinogenic pollen. Both
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Achillia and Deurni will need to make us save versus
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: poison to avoid the effects of these attacks. Weird eyeball
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: encrusted limp snakes up and coils in the air in
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: front of Derenni. He coughs out a cloud of dark
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: yellow dust. Durrenni needs to roll in eleven or better
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to make the save, use the roll an eleven that
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: was close. He somehow senses the danger and dodges the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: cloud that fills the space where his head had just been.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Achillia's check will be tougher. As a fifth level magic user,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the number to beat is a thirteen. A six is
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: a fail. When the bizarre ocular tendril rears up in
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: front of her, Achilia is taken by complete surprise. When
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: she gasps, the blossoms puff their pallen into her face,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and she inhales a quantity of the stuff right away,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: reality seems to lurch and shift. There's a special table
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: for holycinogenic effects that I won't detail here, but I
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: will provide on my blog. A D eight will determine
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: what happens to poor Achillia. I got it. Two? What's that?
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Woo oh? Brother? The Cilia had never seen an octopus
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: or a squid before, but if she had, she might
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: have said that the thing that suddenly appeared in front
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of her resembled a tentacle from that kind of animal,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: only woody and covered in blue and white flowers. She
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: had just enough time to apprehend that each flower blossom
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: contained a single staring eyeball at its center, before a
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: cloud of pollen erupted out of them and into her face.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Then her reality shuddered, distorted, and melted away in streaks,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: until all that was left was a smear of color, sound,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and smell. That was when the itching began. It started
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: in her scalp, feeling as though hundreds of insects were
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: crawling through her hair. The feelingsped to her neck and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: her back, then her arms. When she looked down at
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: her hands, she was horrified to see spiders pouring out
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: of her shirt sleeves. Screaming, she flailed around with a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: kind of spastic dance, trying to fling the bugs off her,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: but they coming, as though her very body had become
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: a nest of them. She wailed again and began to
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: stomp around, But for every dozen spiders she crushed, more
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: came to fill their place, until she was covered in
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: a quantity of spiders so numerous that she wore them
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: like a cloak. Achilius hallucinations will persist for Oh, she's lucky,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: well not exactly lucky. But did I say that the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: visions will last just one round? But that's settled, we
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: begin round one. The party A three the Bloom a two.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Lucky again and winning the initiative could make all the difference.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: If the pieces can score a few hits and take
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: down some tendrils, they can seriously reduce their own chance
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: of getting hit when the Bloom retaliates. I'll begin with
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: de Renni. He turns and swipes his blade at the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: nightmarish thing swaying nearby. He needs to twelve to connect fifteen.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Good job to Rennie. His sword will do a D
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: six of damage A three. He cannot hack all the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: way through the branch, but he manages to shear off
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: several flowery eyeballs with a splatter of vitreous gel. Ten
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Tier is next, needing an eleven to hit A twelve. Wooh,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: just made it. A D six plus one damage for
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: the Sword of lear Hain four plus one is five,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: meaning ten Tier severs the thorny branch in twough Fair
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: one is next. He needs a fifteen to hit, rolling
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: a four. No. Good, can Flicker do some damage? A
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: thirteen is required fifteen This is going pretty well. Damage
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: for the bite attack will be oh six points. Flicker
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: crushes one of the branches in her jaws. Cord is
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: up next, but he will not make a normal attack
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: this round. He's going to try something different. The spell
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: speak with Plants specifically says it works on monstrous plants
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and it is a fourth level spell. It's on par
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: with Polymorph and Wall of Fire, so it should be powerful.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Chord reaches out and some kind of communication takes place
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: between the Man of Wood and the monstrosity. What that
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: might sound like? Who could possibly say. But on a
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: game level, I'm going to allow a reaction roll to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: see if Cord can somehow convince the bloom to leave
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: them alone. Normally I introduce situational modifiers with reaction rolls,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: but my heart tells me that this time I should
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: just chuck two D six and see what happens. Here
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: goes nothing. I got a six. That's not a high roll,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but it's not a disaster. The BX rules advice uncertain,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: monster confused. So I'm going to make a second roll,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and this time I will lay out the goalposts clearly.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Chord will need a nine or better to succeed. Here
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: we go an eleven, whether by a threat, bargain, or
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a call for mercy. Chord manage just to bring the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: combat to an end. In that one excellent role, the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Bloom's tendrils recede back into the trees all around, leaving
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: behind one severed tendril that flops and squirms on the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: forest floor like a worm. When the final tendril disappears
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: into the woods, a Chilia is released from the grip
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: of her temporary madness. She stops stomping about, blinks her eyes,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: and looks around utterly confused. You know you're playing D
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: and D when you plan an elaborate encounter stat at
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: a custom monster and then the whole thing is over
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: in minutes due to a single roll of the dice.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I think I spent five times as long preparing to
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: battle the Bloom, and I'm actually spend in game with it,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to be honest. After I determined that the pieces would
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: be surprised, I started to get kind of worried. I mean,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: eight attacks at plus ten in addition to the special attacks.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: I thought things might go very badly, very quickly. It's
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: like the Giant Forest Troll all over again. And when
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: disaster didn't happen, it made me step back and wonder,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: am I a pessimist. Do I actually expect things to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: go poorly? Or am I just mentally preparing myself for
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the potential loss of a character? I do care about
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: every one of them. If I am a glass half
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: empty kind of fellow, why is that? Is it confirmation bias?
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Like I only really remember the bad luck and forget
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the good. To be honest, the pieces have a history
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: of being exceptionally lucky in the face of extreme danger.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe I need to adjust my attitude. What were those things?
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: They came from out of nowhere, but they're gone now,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Cord called them off. I think Tinty regarded Court, who
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: somehow managed to have a far away look in his
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: painted on eyes. He held his body rigidly upright, leaning
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: slightly back, as though he was concentrating on a sound
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: no one else could hear. Then he relaxed. Is it
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: gone for good, court, fair Wind asked. Cord bowed in confirmation.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Snor bless you, man of wood, Fairwind declared, and snal
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: bless this armor too, he added under his breath, checking
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the places where the thorny branches had struck him, and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: realizing how much worse it might have been had he
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: only had a robe for protection. Akuria, are you all right?
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Dernni looked concerned. His friend had been acting mad, but
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: she seemed herself now, I think so. She patted herself
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: down and pushed her fingers into her hair until they
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: reached the ponytail, feeling around on her scalp for anything alive.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm all right now.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: She was beginning to understand that the spiders had not
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: been real.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: I'd like to get out of here.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Though, another Creek from Court conveyed his support for the idea.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Whatever he and the Bloom had agreed on, he knew
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: they should not linger.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: In fact, I don't think we should stop until we're
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: clear of this place.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Everyone agreed, and with only the moonlight shining through the
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: treetops to guide their way, the companions resumed their track
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: to the northeast, making haste Chapter forty seven, Part two,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: day forty three days from their destination, late evening mythic
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: event meaning disrupt nature party status Achillee fifteen of fifteen,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: hit Points, Court twenty one of twenty nine, der Anni
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: eighteen of nineteen ten, Deer nineteen of twenty eight, fair
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Wind six of thirty three, Flicker thirteen of sixteen supplies.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: The companions have twenty portions of food spells available. Achillia
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: can cast shrink and large, detect evil, glitter, dust and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: dispel magic. Cord can cast entangle, slow, poison, hold animal,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: tree shape and pass plant. Fair Wind can cast hold person.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: The companions walked through the crystal wood for hours, each
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: mile taking them further away from the monstrosity that had
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: attacked them and that Chord had saved them from. Weariness
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: made their steps leaden, and despite the chance that danger
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: might return, fatigue crept into their muscles. Their eyelids began
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to droop. No one spoke. There was only the imperative
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: of placing one foot in front of the next. Cord
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: was in the lead, with Dournnie close behind him. In
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the rear of the pack, with Flicker loping along beside
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: her was Achilie. She was grateful to have them guiding
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the way. In her condition, she would probably only have
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: succeeded in getting them lost and marching them around in circles.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: The small hours came and went, and still they walked.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: After what felt like an age, the sounds of night
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: slowly began to retreat, and the stirrings of forest, animals
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: and birds advanced in anticipation of the coming dawn. When
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: daybreak came, they brought with it a miraculous discovery. Waits,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: said Dournnie in a voice of wonder, calling a halt.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Achillea's hand went automatically to her wand but it soon
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: became apparent that the elf was not preparing for danger. Amazing,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: whispered Tentear in awe, just look, there must be a
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: million of them, it was obvious. With the als were talking.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: About the crystalates.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Achillia breathed. They were surrounded by trees of all varieties,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: oak and sycamore, maple and fur. Their leaves sparkled with
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: not dow as one might expect to dawn, but something else,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: something wondrous. Each leaf, whether large or small, broad or needle,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: had clinging to it a number of sparkling diamonds, real diamonds.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: They twinkled like stars in the gloaming, and turned the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: entire forest into a constellation of celestial beauty. Looking up,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Achilia saw that the canopy was likewise festooned with jewels.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: And when a gentle breeze stirred the treetops, they produced
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: a soft chimelike sound. The companions gazed about them, dumbfounded.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Durani broke the silence. Touch nothing, he warned, with doubt
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: darkening his features. Tantier agreed. He recalled their time, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the came or crypt, still un certain if it had
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: been his touching the treasures there that had awakened the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: queen's spirit. Therefore, while he admired them, he did not
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: disturb the sparkling leaves. Fairwin didn't understand the Alven tongue,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: but even if he had, he would not have obayed
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: do any He plucked a jewel from a nearby leaf
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and held it up to examine more closely. Miracles of sadol,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: he breathed. The diamond was faceted on one side and
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: flat on the other, just like a cut jewel. But
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: this gem had knocked been ground by the hand of
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: any mortal jeweler.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Well, probably they belonged to a Han.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Said Achilia, standing beside him and overhearing. Hmm, said Fairwind,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: still looking intently at the diamond in the palm of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: his hand.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: This close to the golden path, I think these lands
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: belonged to a han, she explained, So these are probably
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: her miracles, not dolls.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Huh. Perhaps perhaps you are right. Fairwin's words were limp,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: as though we were not really paying Achillia any attention. Indeed,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: as he continued to admire the diamond in his hand
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and then looked up at the millions of jewels that
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: surrounded them, he could not stop a smile from spreading
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: across his face. After arriving in the kym Or Lands
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and losing Harlow among other hardships that followed, Fairwind had
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: made a promise to himself that one day he would
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: lift the curse of moroc and restore the Caymore Church
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of Sadal to its original glory. With these diamonds, with
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: all this wealth, he could actually do it. Did fair
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Wind take one? De Renny's voice suspicious Faerwind, who was
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: facing the other way, hurt his name, but did not
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: understand the rest. He didn't really care, Yes, Achillie replied,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: he did flicker bart, which startled Robin the bird led
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: out a tirade of tweets in protest.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Tell him to drop it and not to touch anything.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Else, said Deurnio in disdain. Come, we keep moving, no
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: more stopping until we are out of these woods. Achillier
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: relayed Renney's order, and Fairwind pursed his lips. Perhaps the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: off was right. The sages of Siddhal held charity to
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: be one of the twelve true virtues. But charity was
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: not poverty. And besides, the Church of the Sacred Flame
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and so Moral had been built by masons and laborers
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and workers cost money. The Great Cathedral had taken years
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to build, requiring a king's ransom in gold before it
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: had been completed. There was even a rumour that the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: humble Church of the First Light had been built with
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: dwarf and silver. Great works required great wealth. As the
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: cool light of dawn began to infiltrate the woods more
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: fully and caused the multitude of jewels to flash in brilliance,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the companions resumed their track as they went. Fairwind so
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: repetitiously palmed several handfuls of diamonds into the belt pouch
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: hanging around his armoured waist. When more than enough wealth
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to commission an army of laborers, enough to restore the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Caymore Church to its former glory, Fairwyin could not remember
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the last time he had felt such pure joy. Between
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the bloom and the weird diamond dew drops. I think
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I've fulfilled the mythic event meaning disrupt nature, so I'm
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: going to need a new one using deep percentile. I've
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: got at twenty one and at twelve. I'll just look
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: those up real quick. Okay, they are release opposition. Huh.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: To be honest, that accurately describes what just happened. I
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: mean cord getting the bloom to let them go free. Hmmm.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: How am I going to use this going forward? No ideas?
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Oh well, it'll come as the party gets close to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the far edge of the crystal wood. I suppose I
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: need to make some new hex crawl rolls. I'll just
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: trade my percentile dice for a D twenty and rolling
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for the weather. A ten indicates a fair summer day,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: rolling next for a stumble upon A fourteen means no result.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: For the forging role, I will apply the usual bonus
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: from chord spell, even though technically the party needs to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: rest first before you can cast it again. On a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: D six. A four is a failure, so it doesn't
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: matter anyway, and the PCs will be forced to use
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: a third of their rations. The last role is for
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: wandering encounters. If I get one I think there must
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: reasonably be a small chance that the Blue mischanges its mind.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I would strongly prefer for that not to happen, but
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the dice gods I have the final say. Once again,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I'm using a D six and this time hoping for
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: any result other than a five or six. The role well, okay,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: then that takes care of hex scrawl roles for day
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: forty one, and looking at the runtime also brings us
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to the end of this episode. Thank you for listening
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: to Tale of the Manticor. If you'd like to help
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: support the show, you can recommend, or like and repost
• 24:54
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• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of the Manticore t shirt at Bearer's Dust Store or
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  Speaker 1: what Vile Offerings on drive through RPG, and of course,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: you can rate and review the show on your favorite podcatcher.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: If you happen to listen to the show on Spreaker,
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• 25:09
  Speaker 1: month and get ad free content. I'm very grateful to
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: everyone who supports the show. At this time, I want
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to share a listener review. This one was left on
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts by Brian Faalfire Brian writes, listening to this
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: podcast feels just like sitting at a gaming table with
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: friends back in nineteen eighty two. The stories compelling the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: characters are flushed out, just enough to care about them,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: but not so much that it slows down the story.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: The narrator has a pleasant voice, and the sound effects
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: are just right. The random nature of the encounters removes
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: any plot armor and gives it a Game of Thrones
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: feeling of danger. This is a must listen to any
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: fan of old school fantasy gaming. Thank you very much,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Brian for that kind review. Eighties nostalgia with Game of
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Thrones danger is exactly the mark I am always aiming for.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: If the show gives you at the table vibes, well,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I could not be happier. Thanks for Also due to
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: my fabulous voice actors, this episode features my core cast
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: of regulars, ky Ellen, Kevin Barger, and Dave Cooper Playdreni,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Tandier and Fairwood, respectively. Thanks for always being there for me, guys.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: For those curious to learn more about Tale of the Manticore,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: show and RPG related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and show notes. By way of example, as I'm finishing
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the recording of this episode, I've just completed my twelve
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: days of Kitbash, a kind of annual DIY figure making thing.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I documented that on the blog, and it's the kind
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: of thing that you'll find there. If you want to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: get in touch with me, I'm at Solo Roleplayers Network
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: dot com, Tale of Themanticor dot Bluesky Dot Social, Tale
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: of the Menicre podcast on Instagram, or tale of Themanticore
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. The adventure will continue on the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: next episode of Tale of the Manticor. It's the story.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: We're chaos roles, Okay,