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S3 The Story So Far: Eps 51-60 · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor bonus material the story so far
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: chapters fifty one to sixty. The following few minutes of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: audio is not an episode of Tale of the Manticor,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and it will not take the place of a real episode.
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  Speaker 1: It's just bonus content. The summary of the last ten
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  Speaker 1: chapters told as briefly as possible. Let's begin. Chapter fifty
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  Speaker 1: one starts with the pieces leaving the mountain top and
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  Speaker 1: following a narrow trail that leads to a kind of
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  Speaker 1: natural rock balcony. The pieces Usdureni's rope to climb down
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and continue on their way. Meanwhile, at the base of
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  Speaker 1: the mountain Bellario, the Gnome passes Iami's test and now
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: he is on the Golden Path too. In the next chapter,
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  Speaker 1: the party enters a strange tunnel that changes design every
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet. After a few hours in it, they begin
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  Speaker 1: to hear the steady, rhythmic sound of chisel on stone.
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  Speaker 1: Some time later, they reach the tunnel's end and find
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  Speaker 1: themselves in a large cavern, honeycombed with cells, most of
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  Speaker 1: which are populated by stone owl idols. Suddenly, the chiseling
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  Speaker 1: noise stops, and a wild looking dwarf appears in one
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  Speaker 1: of these empty cells. He introduces himself as Sager. Segur
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  Speaker 1: doesn't have much to say, but he does mention one
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  Speaker 1: thing of value. If the companions reach the Goddess, they
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  Speaker 1: must be prepared to make a choice between law or chaos.
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  Speaker 1: If they choose law, they have to give something of
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  Speaker 1: true value to the goddess. He's vague about what happens
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  Speaker 1: if chaos is chosen, but apparently that's what he did,
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  Speaker 1: and he regrets the decision. In chapter fifty three, the
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  Speaker 1: conversation with Sager continues. Despite his warning. Achilia is not daunted.
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  Speaker 1: Her only goal is to find odog Zygog. She doesn't
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  Speaker 1: desire an audience with a Haya. The companions leave Sagar
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  Speaker 1: behind and move through a series of idle filled caverns
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  Speaker 1: until they reach one with an enormous sculpted archway. One
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  Speaker 1: half is stylized to resemble cascading water, the other a
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  Speaker 1: cloudy sky above a tower. Tender gets distracted when he
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  Speaker 1: hears his name being whispered by a stone idol. That
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  Speaker 1: idol ends up teaching him a word of power he
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  Speaker 1: can use to augment the sword of lear Haine. The
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  Speaker 1: episode ends with a dramatis persona section in which we
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  Speaker 1: witness Achillia and Aldveay's early life together. In the next chapter,
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  Speaker 1: the companions proceed to pass through the air water gate
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  Speaker 1: and follow a flight of stone stairs down to a
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  Speaker 1: river filled canyon. Meanwhile, Bellario is not that far behind.
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  Speaker 1: He meets Sager and uses his magic to coax some
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  Speaker 1: information out of the dwarf in sculpture before moving on,
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  Speaker 1: trailing Achillea's party by a few hours. Returning to the companions,
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  Speaker 1: they realize that they need to make a choice. Will
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  Speaker 1: they swim or fly? Choose water or air. They decide
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  Speaker 1: to sleep on it and make camp at the top
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  Speaker 1: of the stairs in check. After fifty five, Bellario arrives
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  Speaker 1: at the airwater gate and spies on the party. Seeing
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  Speaker 1: them camped, he chooses to wait and follow rather than
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  Speaker 1: confront them. That night, Durrenni dreams a terrible dream. This
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  Speaker 1: one is of a meeting between himself and rayle Ear.
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  Speaker 1: The old Crow accuses Durnie of abandoning him, even as
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  Speaker 1: his flesh rots and falls away. When Dawn arrives, the
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  Speaker 1: pieces elect to use the y pipes Miami gave them
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  Speaker 1: to summon Griffins a second and final time. The Griffins
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  Speaker 1: so summoned are battle scarred, and as soon becomes apparent y,
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  Speaker 1: no sooner have the mounted pieces taken to the air
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  Speaker 1: than a number of winged humanoids detached from the canyon
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  Speaker 1: walls ahead and fly toward them in challenge. Blario sees
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  Speaker 1: all this take place and recognizes an opportunity. Using his
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  Speaker 1: magic ring, he polymorphs into a giant hornet and then
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  Speaker 1: flies on ahead, letting the PCs do the fighting while
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  Speaker 1: he makes for the beacon unhindered. The next chapter begins
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  Speaker 1: with the PCs mounted atop Griffins and flying headlong into battle. Tragically,
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  Speaker 1: fair Wind is yanked from the back of his griffin
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  Speaker 1: and dropped into the river, where he perishes. Meanwhile, the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the party breaks free from the enemy and
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  Speaker 1: makes for the beacon at the far end of the canyon.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty seven begins with grief over the loss of
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  Speaker 1: the piece's former companion. Durrani especially struggles with the seeming
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  Speaker 1: injustice of the universe and those who created it. With
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  Speaker 1: no other choice, the companions follow the single path into
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  Speaker 1: the mountain side and reach a large cavern with two
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  Speaker 1: black wormhole tunnels of all sizes, radiating out and away
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  Speaker 1: from it. One by one, all of the pieces get
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  Speaker 1: separated in their own tunnels. The narration then follows do
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  Speaker 1: Renni as he searches for an exit. The way is
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  Speaker 1: smooth and slick with moisture and leads ever downward. He
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  Speaker 1: eventually gets the idea to try sliding instead of walking.
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  Speaker 1: The next chapter continues with Durni sliding through his tunnel.
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  Speaker 1: He picks up speed and then is ejected into empty
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  Speaker 1: air before a landing hard on the stone floor ti
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  Speaker 1: He emerges from a different tube shortly thereafter, and lands
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  Speaker 1: even harder after that. Achillia, Cord, and Flicker come next.
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  Speaker 1: They are now in a humongous cavern. When the battered
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  Speaker 1: companions explore it, they find a towering obelisk obsidied on
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  Speaker 1: one side and volcanic rock on the other at the
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  Speaker 1: wide junction of a tunnel. This is the Earth fire Gate.
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  Speaker 1: The pieces choose the test of fire, but a huge
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  Speaker 1: barrier of flame rises up in the distance, persuading them
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  Speaker 1: to reconsider and take the test of Earth instead. After
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  Speaker 1: they've gone, we discover that Bellario, hiding in a fissure,
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  Speaker 1: created that barrier of flame with illusion magic in order
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  Speaker 1: to make the companions go the way he preferred. Chapter
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  Speaker 1: fifty nine takes place in the test of Earth. Here
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  Speaker 1: they must navigate a series of gravel dunes on the
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  Speaker 1: way to another shining pink beacon. That's easy enough until
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  Speaker 1: the ground starts to shake. Then something huge and alive
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  Speaker 1: reaches the surface and rushes by, knocking the companions off
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  Speaker 1: their feet. The companions run for it, but before they
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  Speaker 1: can reach the end, the monster, a gargantuan purple worm,
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  Speaker 1: bursts out of the ground in a shower broken stone.
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  Speaker 1: It seems that it could devour the entire group in
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  Speaker 1: one swallow, but then Achilia hurls something into its maw,
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  Speaker 1: and just like that, it disappears. Where it had been
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  Speaker 1: is a massive crater with a cloud of purple mists
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  Speaker 1: hovering above it. The final episode of this round up
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: explains what happened. Achilie has thrown a potion of gaseous
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  Speaker 1: form into the purple worm's massive mouth. The companions are
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  Speaker 1: now safe to continue on to the beacon and beyond.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: At this point, the story flashes back to near the beginning,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: we see Belario visiting Aldvay's cottage. The unsuspecting, Aldvay invites
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  Speaker 1: him in, but the moment his back is turned, Belario
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  Speaker 1: polymorphs into a wasp and attacks him. We return to
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  Speaker 1: the present and the companions who emerge from the test
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  Speaker 1: of Earth to discover a beautiful valley of lush, green pines.
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  Speaker 1: Here they find a pool fed by a gentle waterfall.
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  Speaker 1: The decision is made to make camp, rest and refresh
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  Speaker 1: themselves and continue in the morning. Unbeknownst to them, Blario,
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  Speaker 1: still in wasp form, is almost directly overhead, clinging to
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  Speaker 1: the branch of a tree and eavesdropping on their conversations.
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  Speaker 1: In the morning, when Doretty wanders away from the group
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  Speaker 1: on his own, Blario cannot pass up the chance to
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  Speaker 1: try to take him out permanently.