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Episode 53 (S3E53) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is Nari from Into the Night Anthology podcast and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: you are listening to Tale of the Manticore. The following
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the Manticor is a mash up, a cross breeding between
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: two different species of storytelling. Here you will find the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: and none will be spared if the dice decide their
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: fate is at hand. According to lore, the Tale of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: be much pain in the days ahead. Last time on
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Tail of the Manticor, in chapter fifty two, the party
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: passes under an archway leading directly into the mountain side
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and finds themselves in a tunnel. After a stretch of
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a hundred feet, the tunnel design changes abruptly. After another
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: hundred feet it changes again. In fact, for the ful
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: duration of their time in the tunnels, their architecture and
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: design continue to change at regular intervals, the party speculates
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: about whom might have built this place and why it
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: was made in such a strange fashion, but no answers
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: present themselves. After a few hours, they begin to hear
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the steady, rhythmic sound of a chisel on stone. It
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: takes a considerable amount of time during which the sound
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: gets louder and louder before they reach the tunnel's end.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: When they do, they find themselves in a large cavern
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: honeycombed with cells. Most of these are populated by stone
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: owl idols. Suddenly, the chiseling noise stops, and a wild
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: looking dwarf appears in one of the empty cells. He
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: introduces himself as Sager and seems reluctant to say more
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: than a few words until the companion's offering food and water.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Even then, he's curt and a bit aggressive. For this reason,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the pieces don't get much out of him, but he
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: does say one thing of value. If they reach the Goddess,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: they must be prepared to make a choice between law
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: or chaos. If they choose law, Sagre warns they must
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: give something of value to the Goddess. He's vague about
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: what happens if chaos is chosen. But apparently that's what
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: he did, and the decision was not a good one.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty three, Part one, Day forty three afternoon, mythic
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: event meaning betray pleasures, party status. Achille yea sixteen of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: seventeen hit points, Cord twenty six of twenty nine, der
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Anni twenty three of twenty three, ten Tier twenty four
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of twenty eight, fair Wind thirty seven of forty two,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Flicker ten of sixteen supplies. The companions have four portions
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: of food remaining spells available. Achille can cast enlarge, detect evil, glitter, dust,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: dispel magic and flame. Arrow, Cord can cast entangle, slow, poison,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: hold animal, tree, shape and pass plant. Fair Wind can
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: cast cure lae wounds times two, old person and bless.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: You choose law. You ought to offer something of true value.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: That's what I should have done.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: You choose gas that I did, and what happened when
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: you did that?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I wished i'd chosen law.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Segre gave an ironic and bitter laugh.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Here. No, you choose chaos as I did. Then you
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: take your chances. Understand that Killie did not. What do
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: you mean, she pressed Derenni. She noticed was looking at
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: her with an expression of warning. Segar stamped a booted
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: foot on the ground. You take your chances. What don't
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: you understand?
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: He was getting upset again.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Killie replied, I didn't mean to upset you.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Segar huffed and grimaced.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Ah, it don't matter now, listen. I was just like
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: you a lot once. I came to ask a boom.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: When I got to the end. When I did, she
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: asked me to choose, and I should have chose law,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: but I didn't want to lose my amulet, so I
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: chose chaos, and I took my chances, and I lost
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Even though Derenni was looking daggers at her, and even
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: though she wondered if this person might actually be insane,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Achillie still wanted to know more.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: And then what happened?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: The God has told me that I gotta make her
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: an idol for every hair and my beard before I
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: can go back and try again.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Siger's voice had gone from agitated to maudolin.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: One for each year.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I've done the numbers, I got about ninety thousand hairs
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and my beard. See at one idol a day. That
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: makes it a little under two hundred and fifty years to
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: finish the job. So far, I've been going for one
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: hundred and forty years. That's about fifty thousand more than halfway.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: There's just forty thousand left. If I hurry, I can
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: make it before I die.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: He stamped his foot again and started to rave.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: But if I stand around beard Wagon, I won't. That's
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: why I ought to be working instead of talking. You
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: turn to make me waste everything I've done so far.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: He shout a Killia, a menacing look. I no, of
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: course not, said Achillia, taking a step back.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Give me a drink of water, wouldn't, man.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Said Segar, shifting his gaze to Chord. Cord ever, mild
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: stepped away from his magically created spring as Segar approached
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and bent over to drink from it. Oh that is
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: mighty good, Dil Dwarf said, Suddenly a kind of wild
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: smile appeared on his face.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Well, the good hand holds the broken thumb, as they say,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: good day.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: He began to turn, but Aquillier reached out a hand
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to stop him from walking away. His shoulder under the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: shirt was hard and thin.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Wait, she said, just a few more questions.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Segor pulled roughly away.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Leave me be Look, I already said too much. I
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: tell you any more, and I'm likely to make her mad.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: Just tell us what we'll find when we leave this room.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I ain't saying no more, said Segar. This time, he
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: really did turn his back to them and started heading
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: back to his cell.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: You want my advice, choose long, but you better have
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: something a true value to give.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Wait, just one more thing. Did you see another person
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: come through here about two years ago? A human, probably
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: traveling alone, short white beard.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I'm done, talker, said Segar, without looking back. The companions
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: watched him trundle back up the stairs. She was cavity,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and soon the rhythmic sound of his chisel began again.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Chu Chun's pray, that was strange. What him Marath was
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: he talking about? Asked Tantire. Since the conversation had taken
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: place in the common tongue, he and Dernni had not
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: understood a word. Do you want to go after him?
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Was Farewer's question.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: No, I think we should leave him alone for now.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: We might as well drink while there's water to be had,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: and he was left of our rations.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: In the previous episode. I made a reaction role to
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: see what Seger's disposition towards the PC's would be and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: how much knowledge she would share. I got an eight
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: on two D six, a role good enough for two
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: useful pieces of information. The first is that upon meeting
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the goddess Aheia, petitioners may ask her for a boon.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: So now we know for sure that the golden path
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: does lead to the deity, and that those who make
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: it to the end can ask her for something that
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: certainly explains why some people are willing to go to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: such extreme lengths and take on so much risk to
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: find it. The second is that, upon their asking, Aheya
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: will require the petitioner to choose between law and chaos.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Choosing law means that something of true value, whatever that means,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: must be exchanged in order to receive the boon. If
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a petitioner chooses chaos, however, they instead must take a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: chance again. What thus specifically entails is nigh yet known,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: but Sager's story and his present task would indicate that
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the consequence for losing is severe. As the companions refresh themselves,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Achillier relayed to the Elvin brothers all that had transpired
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: in her conversation with Seger. But I'm not afraid, she
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: said as she finished.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I have no intention of following this golden calf to
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the end, nor do I wish to meet the goddess.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: I just want to find odo Zygog and save Rappi.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Court had creached forward in agreement to that, while Tantier
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: stooped to wrap up what was left of their food.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: There would only be enough to last one more day
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: if they ate smaller portions than usual. Seger had managed
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to consume quite a lot of what they'd had. Achillia continued, I.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Didn't understand some of what he said. What's the ego
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: jin or Blackmail's vault? And he said something about a thumb.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: She brushed some stray hairs away from her face.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: What was it exactly? The good hand holds the broken thumb.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's an expression, it.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Is, said Derannie thoughtfully.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: The Dwarf say it when something bad happens. The idea
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: is that if one makes a mistake, they should resist
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  Speaker 4: the urge to follow it with another.
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  Speaker 1: I still don't get it, said Achilia.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: It's it would not make sense to an outsider. The
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: expression comes from a dwarf and fable for children It
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: is about a foolish blacksmith. One day they accidentally hit
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: their thumb with their hammer. In anger, this blacksmith punishes
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: the hand responsible for the injury by hitting it with
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: a hammer too. The moral of the story is that
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: when this happens, we should embrace the natural instinct for
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: the offending hand to immediately grasp the injured thumb and protection.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: In other words, when mistakes happen, try to make things better,
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: not worse.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: As Achillia and then de Rennie spoke, the chip chip
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: chip of Sager's chisel continued steady, and even when the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: group is ready to go, Achilia looked up at the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: old dwarfs darkened cavity.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: And said, I don't suppose we could coax him back
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: out to speak with us again.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think he's much interested in us, said Tantier.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: You're right, he's told us all he's going to.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Achilia hitched her bag over her shoulder. Let's go, and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: with that the party crossed the cavern and walked through
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the arch on the opposite side, leaving segar In the
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: tattoo of his chisel behind. Before I get too deep
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: into this episode and risk forgetting today is a level
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: up episode for ten tier. For reaching sixth level, he
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: will get a D six of new hip points rolling
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: for that six hot dog. That's what I like to
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: see with ten tiers. Constitution bonus applied, his mass of
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: twenty eight goes way up to thirty five potential stat increases.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Our next still using my D six and hoping for
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: more sixes for strength, I got a four intelligence, A
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: two wisdom. A tenure could really use a boost here.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I wonder if the dwarf and fable about the thumb
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: might somehow strike a chord pun intended. Ah, the three
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: means it does not know well, but dexterity at two, constitution,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: another two, and finally charisma. I got a one. I
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: could be disappointed, but I'm not. That's six I rolls
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: for new hit points. Beats A stat increase any day,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and of course there's more because ten tier's basic attack
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: bonus increases to plus four, and normally this is where
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a level up would end. But a while back I
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: decided that magic items would sometimes level up with their owners,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and this feels like the right time to do that.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: The sort of lear Hane will improve to a plus two.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: But should we stop there. What if there was a
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: small chance, let's say two percent per level of the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: wielder for a magic item to unlock a new power
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: when it levels as ten tiers level six. This means
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the chance for this to happen is twelve percent. Rolling
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: D percent howl gives me eleven whow. I was not
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: prepared to get a success there, and I'm guided at
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: a loss. What will this special power be? Hmm? How
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: about this? I'll roll my D percent how again? A
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: result of one to seventy five means the sword will
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: get a spelling power equivalent to a first level magic
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: user spell. A result of seventy six to ninety five
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: will unlock a second level power, and ninety six or
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: above will be third level. Whatever the power is, I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: could see it evolving and improving over time. Too. Well,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: we'll figure that out if we need to later. All right,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: here's the role twenty seven. Okay, it's a first level spell.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I guess I need a table now. My usual one
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: is too limited for this, though. I bet I can
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: find something online that will work. Hang tight, all right,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I found something on a D and D two E
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: dot fandom dot com. It's a list so big that
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: even this deeper centile is not going to cover it.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I need another way. All right, this is clunky, but whatever.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I'll roll deeper centile until I get a result of
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: one to twenty six, and that will indicate the alphabet
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: letter i'll begin with right away. I got a nine.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Let's see A B, C, D, E, F G H.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I fine. There are five spells listed under eye, but
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the first is identify, which I will exempt. So D
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: four for the remaining entries should work. If that result
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: is not a good fit, I won't roll again. I'll
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: just go down the list to the next spell, right
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: into JK and L if need be, until I find
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a good candidate. A D four but one that's ignite
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: flame sounds good. What does it do? It creates a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: small flame of about three inches square. If cast on
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: exposed flash, it causes one D three points of damage
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: per round for three rounds. If cast on flammable material,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: it grows into a small fire. Et cetera, et cetera.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I think the sort of lear haine is becoming a
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: baby flame tongue. While the spell description says the spells
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: range is ten yards, I'll override that and say it
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: happens on touch. Additionally, I'll say that the power could
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: be used once per day. Chapter fifty three, Part two,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Day forty three, late afternoon mythic event meaning betray pleasures
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: party status. The party's status is unchanged. No one was
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: particularly unhappy about leaving Segar behind. The dwarf seemed half
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: mad and a little aggressive. Once through the archway, the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: companions passed into a short tunnel that opened up into
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: another large cavern. This one was similar to the last,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: except that it was larger and contained in more cells
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and even more owls. Just like in Sager's cavern. The
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: rows of cells were multi storied and connected by causeways
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: cut into the rock wall. It was big enough that
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Fairwin's lantern light was not bright enough to illuminate its entirety.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: But after determining that the place was safe, they spread
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: out to examine it more closely. Tender paced the width
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: from end to end and said it was a good
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: ninety feet across. On the far side, Fairwinn found yet
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: another open archway de renni Achillia and Cord inspected the cells.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Each one was crowded with about twenty stone idols.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: How many are there in here?
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Do you think, asked Akilia, stepping back and gazing around
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: in wonder. There was something powerful about the simple repetition
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: of an image that she could not quite name. After
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Durnni counted the number of idols in one of the cells,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: he multiplied that number by the number of cells in
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the room.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: I would say there are about three thousand in here.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: He looked back the way they'd come.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: And probably another two thousand in the last cavern.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Seger said he's made fifty thousand altogether. I wonder do
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: you think that means?
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Akilia let the question taper off as she looked at
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the archway on the far side. Her unfinished prediction proved
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: correct that this large cavern was connected to another even
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: larger one, and that opened up into one larger, still archway.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Capped short tunnels connected the spaces. The companions took their
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: time moving through them, at least at first. Eventually, however,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: they went at a faster pace as it began to
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: feel like they were stuck in a loop, moving from
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: one huge honeycombed cavern bristling with idols to the next.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: The fact that every one of the stone owls had
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: been chiseled by the same pair of hands was an
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: overwhelming absurdity. That amount of labor all from one person,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: it was impossible to parse. The companions were stricken dumb
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: as they went from one chamber to the next, and
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to the next. The largest base they encountered was an
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: enormous amphitheater sized cavern, at least one hundred and fifty
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: feet across and seven stories high. Like the others, it
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: was riddled with owl filled cavities. During any believed that
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: if they stopped to count, there would be no less
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: than ten thousand idols in that single place. All in all,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the party passed through more than twenty caverns. Each was
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: linked to the next by a short tunnel with an
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: archway on either end. While each was a different size,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: even the smallest was sixty feet across. The full journey
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: through Sager's devotional gallery complex took about two hours, and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Achillie had grown up to the spectacle by the time
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: they entered the final cavern. It was identical to the others,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: but for one difference, one huge difference. The exit archway
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: in here was gargantuan. It towered some ninety feet, almost
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: touching the cavern's vaulted ceiling, and it was different in
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: ways other than size. While the previous archways had been
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: fairly plain and designed, this one was highly stylized and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: painted in two colors in a strange design choice. The
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: left and right sides had been carved to look completely
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: different from one another. The left side featured a prominent
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: water motif and was painted blue. The sculpture who made it,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: possibly Seger, Achillie realized, had intended it to look like
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: whirls of water being poured from a bowl just offset
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: from the center at the top. All of it was
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: rendered in two dimensions, with each element consisting of thick,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: bold curves. Nothing was straight or angled. The way the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: stone water fell like a cascade of curly cues made
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Achillie think of the profile image she had seen on
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the door of the Iron Tower way way back when
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: her adventures hadn't even truly yet begun. The iron face
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: of the door had worn a beard that had be
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: made to look like that. In contrast, the right hand
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: side of the archway was, if not opposite in design,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: at least different in the extreme. It was painted white.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: At the top right beside the stone bowl was a bird,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: perhaps a dove or something similar. The bird faced away
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: from the bowl, and its beak was open, as if
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: in mid song. From it spilled a multitude of tiny
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and intricate wisps, like a filigree. These formed into clouds
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: which touched the top of a two dimensional but almost
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to scale, two story tower with a domed roof and
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: column flanked levels, one stacked atop the other. I think
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: we might have reached the end, said Achilie. Is this
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: where we will need to make the choice that Sager mentioned?
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think? As tentire eyeing the archway with suspicion, Ferwind,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: who could not understand what Tentyre was saying, volunteered a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: similar idea. This may be when we are asked to
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: make a choice, Achilia, The water side could symbolize chaos,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: and the other side it might represent law. I suppose,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: I hope not, said Achillia, frowning.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: If this is the end? Where is odob zaigog?
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: While the others were looking up at the enormous duel
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: design archway, ten Tier was distracted. He thought he had
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: heard a little sound coming from somewhere nearby, and to
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the left. When he looked, he saw something strange. While
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: there were hundreds and hundreds of owl idols, all vaguely
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: gazing into the center of their room from their perches
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: in the wall cavities, one of them, located on the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: ground level, seemed to be staring right at him. Tender
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: blinked and looked again. There was definitely something different about
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: this particular idol. He was looking right in his direction,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: while the others were not. He started to move towards it. Unmistakably,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he had heard his name whispered, and the voice seemed
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to be coming from the idol. After ny had noticed,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Tender knew it would have stopped him from investigating further.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: That is why he said nothing. When he silently broke
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: away from the group and walked the rest of the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: way over to put his ear right by the stone
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: beak of the sculpted owl ten it whispered again, this
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: time right into his ear. For some reason, the phenomenon
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: caused him dear, no alarm or fear. In fact, quite
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the opposite. Inexplicably, Tintyer knew that he was about to
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: be told something very special and very secret. Then it
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: came in a single word, Aramas. The word felt powerful
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and ancient Tinder decided to try saying it himself, ahramas
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: he whispered.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: By.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Now the others had noticed that he had left the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: group and were looking at him with curiosity, but Tender
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: was not looking back at them. As soon as he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: uttered the word, he could feel some wild energy bloom
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in his chest. It traveled down his arm and emptied
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: out into Leirhane's sword, which Tenters still held in his hand.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: His young eyes went wide as a tongue of light
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: blue flame ignited from the hilt of his sword and
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: ran up the life of its gleaming edge. Dramatis Personae
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Achillia twenty years ago. For the first two or three
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: months after Ulalon left him, Aldvey had been inconsolable. He
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: had honestly believed he would never feel joy again. He
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: went about his routines in a kind of stupor, and
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: while he gave adequate care to the baby, he was
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: suddenly forced to parent on his own. It did serve
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: as a constant, often wailing reminder of his own grief. Therefore,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: he felt little love for it. In many ways, its
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: cries of need were a cruel reminder, an echo of
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the wont he felt in his own heart. Until one day,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Oldve was standing in his now untidy and neglected kitchen
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: holding the infant to his chest. It was cradled in
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the crook of one arm as he tried to feed it,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: a concoction of his own devising, meant to replace the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: mother's milk. The baby would never taste again. Had it spoken,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: said the tiny voice again. The baby in his arms
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: had spoken, and her first words had been for him.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: It was a moment that changed everything, an awakening for
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the heartbroken wizard. Something inside that was badly injured suddenly
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: seemed to become healed. He felt his whole being surged
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: with love and purpose. From then on, Alva was a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: different person. He went to work, first creating cord to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: help him with chores while he put all his energies
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: into the infant. He had named Achillia for her white
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: hair and yellow eyes that so perfectly matched her mother's.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Achilie's first word was soon followed by others, and Alvey
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: knew that his child was special. She was speaking much
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: earlier and more than was normal for her age, and
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: all the indicators were present that she would have the
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: intelligence and talent for magic. He was going to teach
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: her everything he knew. Years later, when Achilie was a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: little girl, Aldvey decided to make a third construct. The
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: oak Man would be there to protect her while he
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: resumed his work in the fields, searching for various herbs
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and reagents in the woods. Despite everything that had happened
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: with Eulalun, with Robin and Court, himself and Achilia, and
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: finally his latest construct, their household began to resemble a family.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Only one thing continued to bother Aldvay. Akilia was entering
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: an age where she asked a lot of questions. Since
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: she didn't know any other people. She had not asked
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: about a second parent, but Alvey knew that day would
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: eventually come. He resolved that she should never feel the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: hurt of abandonment as he had, and so he decided
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: not to tell her the truth because she resembled Ulalun
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: more than him and could not pass for a human all.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: They decided to simply tell her that she was an
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: elf and he'd been left on his doorstep as a baby,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: and that he would later explain was all he ever knew,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: except that he quickly grew to love her as though
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: she was his own old They hated to lie to Achilie,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: but he knew he had to. He realized that she
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was the greatest gift, the greatest pleasure in his life,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and even the pain of Yu Lalun's betrayal could not
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: alter that one simple fact. Thanks for listening to Tale
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: of the Manticor if you're interested in helping out the show,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: you can recommend, or like and repost episode announcements on
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: social media. Purchase a Tale of the Manticar T shirt
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: at bare Arts dot store or one of my offerings
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: on drive through RPG. You can rate and review the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: show on your favorite podcatcher, or give me a sub
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: on YouTube. As we approached the show's six year podcast diverse,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: your support means more than ever. And speaking of support,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: here's a review left on podcast Addict by Freedom Ride Farms.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Freedom Ride Farms rights fun adventure, great writing and voice
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: acting D and D with a twist. Highly recommend. Thanks
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: very much for that review, Freedom Ride Farms. I wholeheartedly
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: agree that I have some of the best voice talent
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in the byss and although they need little introduction here,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: they are playing to Rennie Tener and Ferwund are Kyllen,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Kevin Barringer, and Dave Cooper. Chris Sagers is back too,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: playing the Matt Mason Sager. Chris edits and writes for
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: the independent comic magazine Tales from the Void, which you
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: can check out on Global Comics and listen to the
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: companion podcast, The Void Transmission on Spotify or wherever you
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts. For those keen to find other shows
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: like this one, please check out Solo Roleplayers Network dot com.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: There is so much good stuff to discover there, and
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: if you're curious to learn more about Tale of the
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: manticor I keep a blog where I post all kinds
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of show and RPG related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it a Tale of
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: themantacor dot com. To get in touch with me, I'm
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a Tale of themanticor dot blueskuidet Social, Tale of the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: manacor podcast on Instagram, or Tale of the metacor Gmail
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: dot com. The adventure will continue on the next episode
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of Tale of the Mantagor. It's the story where chaos
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: roles