Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 51 (S3E51)

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Episode 51 (S3E51) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, This is okays DM, creator of Saga's setting in
0:04
Speaker 1: genre agnostic system, and you are listening to Tale of
0:07
Speaker 1: the Mantacre. The following podcast is intended for a mature audience.
0:15
Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the
0:32
Speaker 1: Manticor season three. Like the creature from which it takes
0:36
Speaker 1: its name, Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a
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Speaker 1: cross breeding between two different species of storytelling. Here you
0:43
Speaker 1: will find the unpredictability of old school paper and dice
0:46
Speaker 1: games with the story craft of a dark fantasy novel.
0:50
Speaker 1: No character is sacred and none will be spared if
0:53
Speaker 1: the dice decide their fate is at hand. According to lore,
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Speaker 1: the Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
1:03
Speaker 1: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
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Speaker 1: time on Tail of the Manticor, Chapter fifty is a
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Speaker 1: watershed episode in which the PCs, having managed to cross
1:22
Speaker 1: the rapids using their ingenuity, travel the rest of the
1:25
Speaker 1: way to Mirror Lake without further incident. Once there, they
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Speaker 1: spy a figure on the opposite shore. As they draw closer,
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Speaker 1: it begins to resemble a solitary knight on horseback. However,
1:35
Speaker 1: this proves not to be the case. The person they
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Speaker 1: meet is actually a centaur. This is iami warden of
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Speaker 1: the Highlands, servant of the Hair, and guardian of the
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Speaker 1: Golden Path. In order to proceed, it falls to Achillea
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Speaker 1: to pass her test. The half elf is given a
1:51
Speaker 1: choice of them represented by a spear, a bottle, and
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Speaker 1: a musical instrument. She selects the latter and is asked
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Speaker 1: to identify the language of a song to be sung
2:00
Speaker 1: by aami Following the performance, Achilia correctly identifies the language
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Speaker 1: with ease, after all, it is one she knows well,
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Speaker 1: the language of magic. As a result, Achilia and her
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Speaker 1: party are granted access to the Golden Path. To reach
2:14
Speaker 1: it to use an odd double flute to summon a
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Speaker 1: pack of griffins who carry the mostly terrified pieces to
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Speaker 1: the top of a mountain. At the mountain top there
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Speaker 1: is a path, but the companions do not take it
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Speaker 1: right away. Instead, they like to spend the night right
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Speaker 1: there so that they might navigate the way forward in
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Speaker 1: the morning. The chapter concludes with a tragic end of
2:34
Speaker 1: alt Bay and Ulaloon's love affair. After a year, the
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Speaker 1: Fairy's curse upon the elfin woman is broken, and when
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Speaker 1: that happens, she is overcome with horror for having lived
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Speaker 1: with and having borne a child too by human. Ashamed
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Speaker 1: and disgusted, she runs away, abandoning both lover and child,
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Speaker 1: never to return. Since the previous episode felt like such
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Speaker 1: a watershed episode, it is appropriate that the one that
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Speaker 1: follows directly should be special, and it is. Chapter fifty
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Speaker 1: one is a double level up episode. Both Dorani and
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Speaker 1: Achillee have made it to level six. Isn't that cool?
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Speaker 1: Let's jump in. We'll start with Donni, who gets another
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Speaker 1: D six of hit points. Rolling for that now gives
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Speaker 1: me a four not too bad. Nineteen improves to twenty three.
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Speaker 1: Potential stat increases are next. We begin with strength. I've
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Speaker 1: got a four, Intelligence, another four, Wisdom six nice, eleven
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Speaker 1: goes to twelve. While there's no bonus for a twelve.
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Speaker 1: It is pretty fitting that this dat got the bump,
3:40
Speaker 1: considering that they've just entered into the realm of a
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Speaker 1: deity hoping for more good luck with dexterity, I've got
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Speaker 1: a three, Constitution no A four, and charisma I've got
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Speaker 1: a two. Well, that was pretty good, but the best
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Speaker 1: and most important change to Dorani's character sheet is the
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Speaker 1: increase in his basic at tack bonus. It goes from
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Speaker 1: plus three to plus four, and that's it for him.
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Speaker 1: Onto Achillia. She also gets new hit points, a D
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Speaker 1: four of them. Here's the role. Ah, too bad, I
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Speaker 1: got a one, so that menzot to two. Her max
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Speaker 1: of fifteen improves to seventeen. Okay, using my D six,
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Speaker 1: I'm now rolling for stat boosters for strength before intelligence
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Speaker 1: Ah A five wisdom six. Huh. You imagine that both
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Speaker 1: level ups get an increase in wisdom twelve goes to thirteen,
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Speaker 1: and you know what, I think that might give her
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Speaker 1: a bonus. Hang on while I check. Yep, there it
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Speaker 1: is a plus one to magic based saving throws could
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Speaker 1: prove important here in the Kingdom of Ahea, Goddess of magic.
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Speaker 1: You know what I mean, dexterity the three constitution. If
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Speaker 1: I can get this, she'll get a retroactive HP bonus,
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Speaker 1: which would be significant A three raw well, charisma A two,
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Speaker 1: So that could have been better, but it also could
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Speaker 1: have be worse. And of course we aren't done because
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Speaker 1: I still need to roll for a new spell. Now
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Speaker 1: that she's level six, Achillia's capacity is two spells of
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Speaker 1: each levels one, two, and three. That means I'm rolling
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Speaker 1: for a new third level spell. Here it comes on
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Speaker 1: a D ten The roll a nine. That's flame arrow. Huh.
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Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever had this spell before. Let's
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Speaker 1: take a quick peek at the spell description. All right,
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Speaker 1: it has two uses. The first causes normal arrows to
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Speaker 1: become magical flaming arrows, but it's really only applicable to
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Speaker 1: large battles, is unlikely to come into play, of course,
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Speaker 1: you never know anyway. The second use is very likely
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Speaker 1: to be used. The magic user can hurl a fiery
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Speaker 1: bolt at opponents up to thirty yards away plus ten
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Speaker 1: yards per castor level. Each bolt inflicts one to six
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Speaker 1: points of piercing damage plus forty six points of fire damage.
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Speaker 1: Victims can save for half. If Achillie ever achieves tenth level,
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Speaker 1: she'll get a second bolt. This spell feels like a
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Speaker 1: variation of fireball that trades destructive power for precision, and
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Speaker 1: I'm excited that now Achille will be able to deal
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Speaker 1: some damage in a fight. Okay, the level ups are
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Speaker 1: complete and it's almost time to join the narrative. But
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Speaker 1: before I can do that, I need to make hex
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Speaker 1: crawl rolls for the new day. A D twenty for
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Speaker 1: weather gives me A nine means the mountain top remains
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Speaker 1: chilly and windy, but not extremely so. Next is a
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Speaker 1: stumble upon roll A three that was close. Yesh, nothing
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Speaker 1: extra will happen, but since the pieces are about to
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Speaker 1: embark on the Golden Path, we can still expect to
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Speaker 1: find plenty of adventure ahead. Speaking of that, I need
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Speaker 1: a roll to see if that a random encounter on
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Speaker 1: this day. Again, this is in addition to whatever they
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Speaker 1: might otherwise come across. On D six. A five or
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Speaker 1: six will indicate there is one the roll I got
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Speaker 1: it two, Chapter fifty one, Part one, Day forty three
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Speaker 1: dawn mythic event meaning release opposition party status Achillia sixteen
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Speaker 1: of seventeen, having gained one point through natural healing, Chord
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Speaker 1: twenty six or twenty nine having gained one point from
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Speaker 1: natural healing, de Renni twenty three of twenty three, ten
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Speaker 1: Tier twenty four of twenty eight, having gained one point
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Speaker 1: from natural healing, Fairwand thirty seven of forty two, having
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Speaker 1: gained one point from natural healing, Flicker ten of sixteen
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Speaker 1: having gained one point from natural healing supplies. The companions
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Speaker 1: have ten portions of food spells available. Achilla can cast shrink, enlarge, detectival, glitter, dust, dispel,
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Speaker 1: magic and flame. Arrow cord can cast entangle, slow poison,
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Speaker 1: hold animal, tree, shape and past plant fair Wind can
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Speaker 1: cast cure like wounds times two old person and bless.
8:14
Speaker 1: Achilia had woken from strange and vivid dreams that fled
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Speaker 1: from recall. The moment she had opened her eyes, she'd
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Speaker 1: been stiff and cold, despite having been both sandwiched between
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Speaker 1: Duranian flicker and wrapped tightly in her bed roll. From
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Speaker 1: the sounds of snoring, She'd known that all of her
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Speaker 1: companions yet slept, and so she had wriggled free of
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Speaker 1: her bed roll with care in order not to wake them. Then,
8:36
Speaker 1: sitting a little apart from the group, and using her
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Speaker 1: bed roll as a second cloak, she had opened her
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Speaker 1: book of spells and started studying. Annoyingly, the wind had
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Speaker 1: kept trying to turn the pages while she was trying
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Speaker 1: to concentrate. Eventually, Achilie had given in and flipped randomly
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Speaker 1: through her spell book. One of the pages with a
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Speaker 1: spell she could not understand, caught her eye. She started
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Speaker 1: to read the text.
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Speaker 2: Lindka ka oh lun chuma e Anna Lynchuma la kang.
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Speaker 1: There was something very familiar about the words, as if
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Speaker 1: she'd heard them spoken recently. That's when she realized she
9:16
Speaker 1: had heard them recently, but not spoken. They'd been sung.
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Speaker 3: Link syllma nunchumaai.
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Speaker 1: With rising excitement, Akilia had bent over the page of
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Speaker 1: arcane text. She could understand it. Later, she would wonder
9:50
Speaker 1: by what magic Bayami had been able to use one
9:53
Speaker 1: of her spells as the lyrics to a song, but
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Speaker 1: at that moment she had been too absorbed in the
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Speaker 1: elaborate beauty of the spell to think of about anything else.
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Speaker 1: Within a half hour, she had memorized the arcane words
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Speaker 1: to flame Narrow. She was so focused on the new
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Speaker 1: spell that Achillie didn't notice her friends get up. By
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Speaker 1: the time she was done, ten Tier and do Rennie
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Speaker 1: were already deep in conversation, standing off from the rest
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Speaker 1: of the group, not far from the blasted tree. She
10:20
Speaker 1: caught the word Vestrin steady and saw Tantyre pat his
10:24
Speaker 1: brother on the chest reassuringly. When they rejoined the group.
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Speaker 1: She thought Dorannie's eyes had a hollow look to them.
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Speaker 1: Tantyo's face showed concern, but when he saw that Achillie
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Speaker 1: was looking at him, he brightened and said.
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Speaker 4: Good morning. If you're ready, we should.
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Speaker 1: Go beyond the burnt and blackened tree was a narrow path,
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Speaker 1: though the companions were forced to take in single file.
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Speaker 1: It clung so closely to the mountain side that the
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Speaker 1: wall of the rock to the left brushed that shoulder,
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Speaker 1: and to the right a steep drop fell away into
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Speaker 1: a misty abyss. Tentyr took the lead this time, Withounni
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Speaker 1: close behind. He was followed by Fairwood, then Cord and Achillia.
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Speaker 1: Flicker panting happily brought up the rear. As they walked,
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Speaker 1: the winds gusted, sending ripples of panic through the party
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Speaker 1: members as it threatened to pull them from the wall.
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Speaker 1: After a time, they became used to it and realized
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Speaker 1: that they were not in any real danger so long
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Speaker 1: as the winds did not increase significantly. They fell into
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Speaker 1: a rhythm of walking while staring at their feet or
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Speaker 1: the back of the person in front of them. Achilia
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Speaker 1: gave up quickly on trying to enjoy the view. Early
11:34
Speaker 1: attempts proved detrimental to her psychological stability. Instead, she studied
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Speaker 1: chords back, noting the new growth of moss, bark, and
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Speaker 1: shoots on his legs, back and shoulders. She also noticed
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Speaker 1: that the dryad's pink flower had multiplied not only on
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Speaker 1: his front, but was spreading elsewhere. There was now a
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Speaker 1: tiny pink bud growing in the middle of the construct's back.
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Speaker 1: Apart from their footfalls and the howl of the wind,
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Speaker 1: they went in silence. Partly this was because concentration was
12:03
Speaker 1: required to keep their footing. In some places the trail
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Speaker 1: became extremely narrow and required a slow crab crawl to navigate.
12:11
Speaker 1: There was a second reason, too, everyone was short of breath.
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Speaker 1: The air appear was thin, and it made the going
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Speaker 1: harder than it otherwise would have been. Hours later, when
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Speaker 1: the sun had already passed at zenith, Tentyres slowed the
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Speaker 1: group and then signaled that there was something ahead. The
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Speaker 1: others were able to draw up beside him. As here
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Speaker 1: the path widened, it also ended. The trail abruptly terminated
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Speaker 1: at a ledge that jutted out from the mountain side
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Speaker 1: like a natural balcony. Leaning forward at his lip as
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Speaker 1: if peering over the edge and into the drop, beyond
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Speaker 1: was a second lightning scorched tree. After the tree, it
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Speaker 1: was nothing, nothing but empty space. The companions looked at
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Speaker 1: each other in consternation.
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Speaker 2: Surely the path does not seemplate end here.
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Speaker 1: Said Achilia. Let's get a better look, suggested ten Tyer Hopefully.
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Speaker 1: Together carefully, the party members followed the trail to the
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Speaker 1: end of the outcrop. The dead tree was very much
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Speaker 1: like the other they'd seen. It was burnt through and
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Speaker 1: only the lower half remained. It seemed as though it
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Speaker 1: were keeping a sad and silent vigil over the edge
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Speaker 1: of the world. The Kilia looked down beyond the outcropping's lip.
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Speaker 1: There was no path forward, only a sheer drop into
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Speaker 1: thick soupy mists that swirled around in the chasm below
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Speaker 1: like phantoms, obscuring what was beyond.
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Speaker 2: Iami mentioned that they would be fair, they trials, mused
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Speaker 2: a Kilia, maybe.
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Speaker 4: This is one Only the worthy can move beyond this point.
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Speaker 1: You mean that kind of thing, asked ten Tier.
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Speaker 2: Something like that maybe, was the reply.
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Speaker 4: But what do you think we're meant to do?
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Speaker 2: Eat worthy, I suppose.
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Speaker 1: Replied Achilia unhelpfully.
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Speaker 2: Hmm, perhaps he'd attest of faith.
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Speaker 1: She suggested, if.
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Speaker 2: We are making our way towards the goddess, perhaps we
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Speaker 2: must make some kind of demonstration of.
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Speaker 4: You aren't suggesting that we're supposed to jump off?
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Speaker 1: Are you? As ten here? Horrified, he peeked once again
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Speaker 1: over the edge and recoiled.
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Speaker 4: Achillia, those mists could hide a thousand foot drop.
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Speaker 2: If it is a literal leap of faith, then there
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Speaker 2: might be something below to catch us, like a lake,
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Speaker 2: or I don't know, something magical.
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Speaker 4: There might be and there might not be. Are you
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Speaker 4: willing to risk your life to find out?
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Speaker 1: As ten here, Derennie was now looking down into the mists,
14:45
Speaker 1: intendo thought he saw something resembling longing on his brother's face.
14:50
Speaker 1: He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back
14:52
Speaker 1: more roughly than he intended to. Dernni allowed himself to
14:55
Speaker 1: be moved and sniffed ruefully. Achillia once again noticed the
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Speaker 1: dark circles under his eyes. Now she took a turn
15:03
Speaker 1: peering over the edge, and she felt a strange lightness
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Speaker 1: in her stomach when she did. And it was a
15:07
Speaker 1: familiar sensation too. She'd felt it when she visited Baron's
15:11
Speaker 1: treehouse weeks before. Back then, she had been terrified, but
15:16
Speaker 1: that seemed like child's play. Now. She'd also experienced something
15:19
Speaker 1: close when she had looked down into Odoke's sideways underground home.
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Speaker 1: At that time, she had taken a true step of faith,
15:27
Speaker 1: if not a leap. Experimentally, she put out one foot
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Speaker 1: and let it have her over the edge. A Chilia said,
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Speaker 1: dentear in a low voice.
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Speaker 4: Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't.
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Speaker 1: She pulled her foot back, laughing uncomfortably.
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Speaker 2: I wasn't going to jump, don't care.
15:47
Speaker 1: She pushed away a stray wisp of hair from her face.
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Speaker 2: Cord, can you communicate with this tree like you did
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Speaker 2: with the willow?
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Speaker 1: Cord creaked back and forth, saying no, No.
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Speaker 2: I suppose not, is it because this tree is dead.
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Speaker 1: Cord indicated that she was correct.
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Speaker 2: Next, she asked, well, then can you send Robin? Maybe
16:08
Speaker 2: she could find out how far down this goes?
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Speaker 1: Cord creaked forward in acknowledgment and communicated briefly with the
16:15
Speaker 1: stuffed bird. Robin then flew off dope, down past the
16:19
Speaker 1: lip and into the mists. For a few beats, they waited. Then,
16:25
Speaker 1: just as a Killie was beginning to worry, she was back,
16:27
Speaker 1: zooming up and over the rock to land on Chord's shoulder.
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Speaker 1: Cord listened and then turned to the others. He twisted
16:36
Speaker 1: back and forth once again in his way of saying no,
16:39
Speaker 1: and covered his painted own eyes with a wooden hand.
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Speaker 1: She can't see anything, Akilia sighed.
16:44
Speaker 2: All right, Oh, do you suppose the.
16:48
Speaker 1: Kilia fish the odd y pipes Ayami had given her
16:51
Speaker 1: from her.
16:51
Speaker 2: Bag, that we are meant to use this the wound
16:54
Speaker 2: said that we should send them when we meet the
16:56
Speaker 2: Griffins again.
16:58
Speaker 4: She said, they could only be you used one more time.
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Speaker 4: It doesn't make much sense for the Griffins to carry
17:04
Speaker 4: us to the mountaintop and then for us to call
17:07
Speaker 4: them again from here. I mean, they could have just
17:10
Speaker 4: taken us to wherever the path continues in the first place.
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Speaker 1: Achillia conceded that this was true, and added that wasting
17:17
Speaker 1: the pipe's final use could prove disastrous later on. So
17:23
Speaker 1: what now, Achillie was jumped.
17:26
Speaker 2: But if I really did jam, she.
17:28
Speaker 1: Thought privately, undeniably, there was something perversely appealing about the
17:33
Speaker 1: idea to just fling her body off the side of
17:35
Speaker 1: a mountain and either succeed or fail and have all
17:39
Speaker 1: of her troubles disappear. She imagined herself falling and falling
17:44
Speaker 1: and falling through the air, and then what's this? Fairwin's
17:49
Speaker 1: voice interrupted her morbid fantasy.
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Speaker 2: Hmm, what what here on the tree?
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Speaker 4: No? No, look here where my finger is pointed.
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Speaker 1: Achillio was amazed that he had seen it, for it
18:02
Speaker 1: was almost completely hidden. But within the natural grain of
18:04
Speaker 1: the wood, where a lightning it split the tree in two,
18:07
Speaker 1: there appeared to be words.
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Speaker 4: Akilia, can you read this?
18:19
Speaker 1: Asked the cleric. It turned out that she could written
18:24
Speaker 1: into the very wood, not with any knife or pen,
18:26
Speaker 1: but with the natural curves and pigments of the tree itself,
18:29
Speaker 1: were several words in the language of magic. They read the.
18:33
Speaker 2: Truest faith is faith in one's souf.
18:37
Speaker 1: Achilia heard herself speak the words, and, with a flush
18:40
Speaker 1: of shame, realized what they meant. They were instructions to
18:43
Speaker 1: not do the things she had just considered doing. An
18:46
Speaker 1: image of her own body lying broken on the rocks
18:49
Speaker 1: far far below, crashed into her mind's eye, and she
18:52
Speaker 1: had to swallow a lump that rose in her throat.
18:55
Speaker 1: Had she really come that close to literally throwing her
18:58
Speaker 1: life away? Re Examining the tree, she suddenly recalled a
19:02
Speaker 1: pair of lines from the prayer book they found in
19:04
Speaker 1: de Routh, a.
19:05
Speaker 2: Hand born of Star's arcane desire, the dances where the
19:10
Speaker 2: lightning walks the fire.
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Speaker 1: What did that mean?
19:14
Speaker 4: M I wonder if the first tree we saw contained
19:17
Speaker 4: a similar hidden message.
19:19
Speaker 1: Said Fairwind, scratching his chin. Achilie didn't know the answer.
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Speaker 2: Maybe I guess we'll never know. Yes, for now, I
19:27
Speaker 2: think we should try using the rope.
19:30
Speaker 1: She repeated her idea in Elvish.
19:32
Speaker 4: Now you're speaking reason a.
19:34
Speaker 1: Quillia was tentto's reply. He retrieved the coil from Deranny's
19:38
Speaker 1: bag and then tied one end to the tree, triple
19:41
Speaker 1: nodting it and testing it with a few strong tugs.
19:44
Speaker 1: It'll hold, he said, tying the other end to his belt.
19:47
Speaker 4: Ask Firwind to help lower me down.
19:50
Speaker 1: Achilie translated the request, and Fairwood was happy to oblige.
19:54
Speaker 1: Tantire crawled over the rock's edge and dangled over the
19:57
Speaker 1: white misty expanse below, while Fairwin stood back and held
20:01
Speaker 1: the line, feeding it out as the elf called for
20:04
Speaker 1: more slack. Achillia and the others watched over the edge
20:08
Speaker 1: as Tento was swallowed up by the mist and disappeared.
20:11
Speaker 1: Now all they could see was the rope lancing into
20:14
Speaker 1: the swirling vapors. A few moments later, the rope suddenly
20:18
Speaker 1: swung left, and with that came Tanto's voice, whoa A
20:22
Speaker 1: gust of wind had caused him to pendulum, but there
20:24
Speaker 1: was nothing to do but ride it out. Eventually, the
20:27
Speaker 1: swinging subsided, and Tenttyo found himself twisting in the air,
20:31
Speaker 1: feep down, arms up, and holding himself as steady in
20:34
Speaker 1: line with the rope as he could lower me a
20:36
Speaker 1: bit more. He called up Achilia translated, and Fairwin gave
20:40
Speaker 1: him more.
20:41
Speaker 4: Slack, I see something.
20:44
Speaker 1: Tento's voice carried through the mists and reverberated off the
20:47
Speaker 1: mountain side.
20:48
Speaker 4: Let me down a few more feet.
20:51
Speaker 1: Achilia passed on the instruction, and Fairwin gave him more.
20:54
Speaker 4: Rope slowly, now a little more.
20:59
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden, the rope lost its tension.
21:03
Speaker 1: TENI no, cried de Rennie, his eyes wide, he glared
21:07
Speaker 1: at ferrowind do not let go. He commanded that the
21:10
Speaker 1: Claire could not understand the order. Now he dropped into
21:14
Speaker 1: a squat and leaned over the edge of the rock,
21:16
Speaker 1: peering straight down. All he saw was the rope loosely
21:19
Speaker 1: blowing about and half translucent in the mist tent. He
21:24
Speaker 1: called down. The response came right away, and not from
21:28
Speaker 1: any great distance.
21:30
Speaker 4: I'm right here, I'm all right. The path continues.
21:35
Speaker 1: De Rennie almost died with relief. He blew out of
21:38
Speaker 1: breath and let himself fall back, so that he was
21:41
Speaker 1: sitting with his eyes closed. He whispered, thankth to send you.
21:51
Speaker 1: There was no way to retrieve their rope. Robin did try,
21:54
Speaker 1: flying up to release it, after they'd all climbed down
21:56
Speaker 1: through the mists to a lower striation in the rock,
21:59
Speaker 1: where Tender just covered that The wall hugging trail continued. Sadly,
22:03
Speaker 1: the ELF's triple knot proved far too difficult to undo,
22:06
Speaker 1: and so the rope had to be abandoned.
22:08
Speaker 4: I don't suppose we'll be coming back.
22:10
Speaker 1: This way, said Dente regretfully.
22:13
Speaker 4: But maybe the next what did the centaur call us pilgrims,
22:18
Speaker 4: Maybe the next pilgrims can make use of our rope.
22:22
Speaker 1: The companions resumed their former marching order and continued along
22:25
Speaker 1: the path, stopping only once for Achillie to enter her
22:28
Speaker 1: spell on Flicker, the only way to bring the dog
22:33
Speaker 1: with them had been to once again is a shrink
22:35
Speaker 1: spell and carry her in Achille's bag. Once Flicker reverted
22:39
Speaker 1: to her original size, she patted along behind the others.
22:45
Speaker 1: They were traveling along a groove cut in the nutain side.
22:49
Speaker 1: There was rock above, below and to their left, but
22:52
Speaker 1: only a wall of thick mist on the right hand.
22:55
Speaker 1: It all gave a feeling not unlike being in a tunnel,
22:57
Speaker 1: except that light was able to penetrate the mist. It
23:02
Speaker 1: was several hours before they reached the end of the path, where,
23:05
Speaker 1: instead of terminating at another drop off, the trail turned
23:08
Speaker 1: inward right into the mountainside through a carved stone archway.
23:19
Speaker 1: Chapter fifty one, Part two, Day forty three. Afternoon, Miami
23:28
Speaker 1: looked down at the latest pilgrim. She hadn't seen more
23:31
Speaker 1: than three in the last fifty years, and now here
23:34
Speaker 1: were two takers in as many days. Choose, she told him.
23:39
Speaker 1: The pilgrim made their.
23:40
Speaker 5: Choice, so be it. Here is your challenge. Taste of
23:45
Speaker 5: the contents and judge carefully. Son of Maheya, Then tell
23:49
Speaker 5: me of all the concoctions one way brew in all
23:53
Speaker 5: the worlds, which is this.
24:00
Speaker 1: Snifted the bottle and his rather large nose, and then
24:03
Speaker 1: raised its fluted aperture to his lips. He tilted his
24:06
Speaker 1: head back and sipped. He took the smallest of tastes,
24:10
Speaker 1: and then held the bottle in both hands while licking
24:12
Speaker 1: his lips and considering Iami, towering over him, looked down
24:16
Speaker 1: with patient eyes that had seen dozens of centuries past
24:20
Speaker 1: and numerous attempts to gain access to the Golden Path.
24:24
Speaker 1: Sometimes the pilgrim's pasture tests, other times they failed.
24:29
Speaker 6: Ah a concoction of anis silver dust and sage oil,
24:33
Speaker 6: among other ingredients. This is a potion of invisibility.
24:38
Speaker 1: Declared Beloria. You s that's the centaur.
24:42
Speaker 6: I detect the slightest hints of face spider venom in
24:47
Speaker 6: this as well, and another sip would surely kill me. No,
24:52
Speaker 6: I think I shall refrain from second guessing myself.
24:56
Speaker 5: Warden very well, and indeed you will correct.
25:00
Speaker 1: Iomi produced one of her wide shaped flutes to hand
25:03
Speaker 1: down to the diminutive spellcaster.
25:05
Speaker 5: You may use it only twice, once to call them,
25:09
Speaker 5: and once when you have need of them again.
25:11
Speaker 6: Wait, there's something that I need to do first.
25:14
Speaker 1: Said Blario. He pulled an amulet hanging from the silver
25:18
Speaker 1: chain free of his shirt and held it up as
25:20
Speaker 1: he walked over to his iron tower, which stood imposingly
25:23
Speaker 1: by the water's edge. Near By, the amulet showed the
25:26
Speaker 1: profile of a bearded man. It was the same image
25:29
Speaker 1: that could be found on the tower's door. Balario spoke
25:33
Speaker 1: a word of command, cast all of a sudden, the
25:37
Speaker 1: tower of iron began to shrink. It did with barely
25:41
Speaker 1: a sound, and so rapidly that within the space of
25:43
Speaker 1: ten seconds, the entire structure and presumably its other occupant,
25:47
Speaker 1: had been reduced to his size, no bigger than a goblet.
25:50
Speaker 1: Balario shoveled across to the center of the circle of
25:53
Speaker 1: flattened lakeside plants and ferns, bent down and picked it up.
25:57
Speaker 1: He slipped it into his satchel and returned to stand
26:00
Speaker 1: for the centaur. Now I am ray, he said.
26:04
Speaker 5: May you find your way, and remember you may only
26:09
Speaker 5: use it twice.
26:10
Speaker 1: Iomi repeated, before handing over the double flute. Bellario smiled
26:15
Speaker 1: a gap toothed smile with his rotten brown teeth as
26:18
Speaker 1: he grabbed it from her outstretched hand. Then he wiped
26:21
Speaker 1: his mouth through his sleeve, put the pipes to his lips,
26:24
Speaker 1: and blew.
26:30
Speaker 7: Thanks for listening to Tale of the Mantigar. It really
26:32
Speaker 7: means a lot to me that you folks out.
26:33
Speaker 1: There are tuning in.
26:34
Speaker 7: And by the way, if the audio has sounded a
26:37
Speaker 7: bit janky of late, that's just a result of my
26:39
Speaker 7: having to rebuild the show since my heart drive failure.
26:41
Speaker 7: I think I have it mostly dialed in now, but
26:44
Speaker 7: I'll continue to tweak as I go in order to
26:46
Speaker 7: regain the quality standards I have to hold myself too.
26:49
Speaker 7: If you're interested in helping out the show, you could recommend,
26:52
Speaker 7: or like and repost episode announcements on social media. Purchase
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Speaker 7: a Tale of the Mantigar T shirt at bare arts
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Speaker 7: dot store or one of my offerings on drive through
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Speaker 7: our m rate and review the show on your favorite
27:02
Speaker 7: broadcatcher or give me a sub on YouTube. Here's a
27:05
Speaker 7: review looked on Apple Podcasts by Blue ac D. Blue
27:08
Speaker 7: ACD wrights atmospheric original old school mechanics with such detailed
27:13
Speaker 7: depth and delivery, The soundtrack, voice acting, and the amazing
27:16
Speaker 7: storyline all harmonize under the shell of true random dice
27:20
Speaker 7: rolls with a highly experienced storyteller and control. Must listen.
27:24
Speaker 7: Thanks very much, Blue ac D. I truly appreciate that review.
27:29
Speaker 7: Also do my gratitude is my cast of voice talent.
27:31
Speaker 7: Let's start with the core cast. Kyellen, Kevin Barringer, and
27:34
Speaker 7: Dave Cooper played de Rennie, Tantier and Fairwood, respectively. Back
27:39
Speaker 7: to play Iami Warden of the North is Chloe. Find
27:42
Speaker 7: her at I Underscore am Underscore Chile Chilly spelled c
27:46
Speaker 7: h y l I on Instagram. Finally, in the role
27:49
Speaker 7: of Bellario the Noilme it's the always fab ho Dag RPG.
27:53
Speaker 7: Thanks so much Kyellen, Kevin, Dave, Chloe, and Ho Dag.
27:57
Speaker 1: For those came to find out their.
27:58
Speaker 7: Like minded creators doing similar shows, please check out Solo
28:01
Speaker 7: Roleplayers Network dot com.
28:03
Speaker 1: It's a treasure trove of solo play stuff and if
28:06
Speaker 1: you're curious to learn more about Tale of the Manticor,
28:09
Speaker 1: I keep a blog where I boast all kinds of
28:10
Speaker 1: show and RPG related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts,
28:14
Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it at tale of
28:16
Speaker 1: themanticor dot com.
28:17
Speaker 7: To get in touch with me am as Solo Roleplayers
28:19
Speaker 7: Network dot com, Tale of Themanticor dot bluesky Dot Social
28:23
Speaker 7: Tale of the Metacor podcast on Instagram or Tale of
28:25
Speaker 7: the metagor at gmail dot com. The Adventurer will continue
28:29
Speaker 7: on the next episode of Tale of the nanticor it's
28:31
Speaker 7: the story, We're Chaos roles