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Episode 60 (S3E60) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Trevor de Val, creator of Me, Myself
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and I and the Broken Empire's role playing game, and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: you are listening to Tale of the Manticore. The following
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding between two
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: different species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of old school paper and dice games with the story
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and none will be spared if the dice decide their
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: fate is at hand. According to lore, the Tale of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: be much pain in the days ahead. Last time on
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Tail of the Manticor, in the last chapter, the pieces
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: begin the test of Earth, even though they have no
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: idea what to expect from it. At first, the tunnel,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: while enormous, is unremarkable except that the ground is no
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: longer solid Earth. Since passing the Obelisk, it has gradually
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: turned into a series of rising and falling gravel dunes.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: The companions speculate about what they might face ahead, but
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: by the time the shining pink beacon appears beyond a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: curve about a thousand yards away, still nothing has happened,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: but the piece is not to last. Shortly thereafter, dur
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Any becomes aware of a tremor below them. It grows
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: in intensity, and then something huge and alive breaches the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: surface and rushes by, knocking the companions off their feet.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Realizing that they're under attack by something enormous that burrows
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: underground at speed, they quickly get to their feet and
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: run for it. The second attack comes before they get
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: very far, and then just as it seems they might
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: have a clear run to the beacon, the monster we
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: now know to be a gargantuine purple worm, bursts out
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: of the ground in a shower of broken stone. It
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: seems nothing could possibly stop this creature, which is easily
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: large enough to devour their entire group in one swallow,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: But then Achillea hurls something into its maw, and just
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: like that, it disappears. Where it had been is a
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: massive crater with the cloud of purple mist hovering above it.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixty part one day forty four, late afternoon mythic
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: event meaning punish friendship party status achillea eight out of seventeen,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Cord twenty nine out of thirty two, de Renni fourteen
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: out of twenty three, ten Tier twenty three out of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: thirty five, Flicker three out of sixteen spells available. Achilla
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: can cast and large detect evil, glitter, dust, dispel, magic
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and flame arrow, cord can cast, entangle, animal, friendship, slow poison, barkskin,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: hold animal, tree shape, speak with plants and pass plant.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: What what happened?
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Asked ten Tire. His voice was strangely dull, as though
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he were waking from a dream. All around them floated
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: a strange mist in the Titanic worm with gone back.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Lit by pink light from the beacon, The vapors billowed
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: about in dramatic hues of magenta on one side, aubergine
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: on the other.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: You cast some kind of spell.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: On it, asked Derreennie, who walked over to join them.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Not exactly, was Achillie's reply, before adding, I'll.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Explain later, but the magic won't last forever. We should
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: keep moving.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: As a group. The five of them started to walk
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: with a trilling whistle. Robin flew down from the tunnel
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: ceiling where she had been hiding and alighted on Cord's head.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: But ten Tyre was impatient for a better answer. What
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: did you throw into it? He pressed. Their feet made
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: crunching sounds in the gravel as they carefully circumnavigated the crater.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: It was something my Vaki made a long time ago.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: A potion of ghassi is form. It makes things well,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: you can see what it does.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Achillie briefly wondered if it was unsafe for them to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: be inhaling the purple mist, but it was too late
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: to do anything about that.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Now, you know, I almost stick backward. We were tracted
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: that cell before we met.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Not you, good thing you didn't tender, remarked, good thing,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: agreed Achilia. They continued on another hundred yards, and the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: dunes of gravel eventually began to give way to pebble
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: strewn but solid floor. By now the destination was clearly visible.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Look under the beacon, even though she was certain the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: others had already seen it. She pointed to where the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: tunnel ended in a wall of rock. Embedded in the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: center was the shining pink beacon. He was identical to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the one they'd found at the end of the test
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: of air, a massive crystal that sparkled with pink and
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: white light. Under it was an aperture that led into
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: a much smaller passage. When the worm eventually reconstituted, there
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: would be no way you could follow them through there.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I'll be glad to get out of this place, muttered
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: ten tear. He looked back over his shoulder and noticed
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that the purple cloud of mist was following them.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: ACHILLEA, you don't think it can follow us in there.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: Do you.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Illia was also looking back and noticing how the mists
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: slowly pursued them.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: I suppose it could that I wouldn't want to be
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: near it when it reverted.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: She didn't elaborate, but her words forced Tendure to imagine
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the consequence of such a colossal creature recorporealizing in a
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: space that was far too small to contain it. He
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: would undoubtedly explode. The thought made him walk a little faster.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: After a time, they reached the beacon, and, squinting against
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: its bright light, passed under it. They entered a tunnel
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that was not especially small, but seemed so in contrast
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: to the one they'd been in before. Perhaps it was
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: magically bound to the test of air, or perhaps it
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: simply gave up. But for whatever reason, the Purple Mist
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: did not follow them inside, and when they took one
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: last look back, the companion saw it pouring back into
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the earth through the crater it that created.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I believe that was the last one, said.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Drannie cryptically, The last one? What as Techilia brow wrinkled.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: The last test air and water, fire and earth, we
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: have passed beyond them all.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I hope you're right.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixty, Part two, forty four days ago. While Fimgrim
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: kept the Apprentice busy, Blario decided to pay a visit
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to the Master. If there was a wizard living around
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: these parts, they might have information about the Golden Path
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: he could extract one way or another, and if not, well,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: he had a growing collection of stolen spell books that
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: he would enjoy adding to Judging by the mild demeanor
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of the young lady seated in his tower, Blario suspected
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that this might be one of the easier robberies he'd
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: ever performed. He exited the Tower of Iron through a
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: nearly invisible hatch in the roof, and once out, used
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: his magic ring to transform into a giant wasp from
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the air. It was a simple thing to find the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: little cottage, since it was the only dwelling for miles around.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: As he arrived, Belario touched down and reverted to his
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: gnomish form. He practiced smiling what he hoped was a
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: warm and winning smile, before rapping on the cottage door.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Right away, he heard movement from the other side, and
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: then a wizened face appeared at a window. It looked
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: him up and down. Belario grinned and bowed, lacing his
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: fingers in front of him in the manner of some
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: wizards from this part of the world. Ah, just a moment,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: if you please, said a voice, as the face disappeared
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: from the window. A few moments later, the door swung open.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Standing in front of him was an elderly human with
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: a bald pate and a long white beard. Blario thought
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: he had a kindly face, and this pleased him. Rising
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: up from his bow, fingers still laced, he smiled his
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: small toothed smile.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: Well met this summer's day, Blario began, I have just
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: met your lovely pupil at kill you.
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: My master sent me over to deliver his thanks, as
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: well as a reciprocal gift.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: The ruam fingered powder was very well received. He wishes
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: you to know.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: This little deception that Bellario always used of presenting his
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: apprentice as though he were actually the master, was a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: favorite of his, and one that had won him advantage
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: many times in the past. Oldve did not question it.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: Yes, of course, won't you come in, Master Blorio is
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: my name?
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: Was the reply apprentice to the Great Vim grin Atrash,
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: of whom you have heard.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: I have no doubt film grin.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Atrash, repeated Olvey as he tried to recall the name.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Despite having a voluminous memory, he was not a familiar one.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Perhaps perhaps you are not of these pots.
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: I think our home is to the east, said Blario vaguely,
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: and thank you.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: He took a step forward, and al j retreated inside
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: to allow him access. The cottage was small, with only
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: three rooms and a staircase leading down. It was a
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: pleasant place and there was no one else around, But
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: as he was in something of a hurry, Belario did
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: not waste any time.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: My master would be interested in purchasing information from you
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: if you have any reliable knowledge of the Golden Path,
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: he said, the Golden Path.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Aldrey ruminated for a moment.
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: Once again, I am had something of a loss.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: What sort of place is it?
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Belario was not about to volunteer anything about his quest
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to someone who had no knowledge to trade. He returned
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: the wizard's question with another of his own.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: Might I trouble you? For a cup of water is
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: hot and my throat is dry.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: The day was not especially hot, but Albay was embarrassed
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: by his laps in manners. Nonetheless, AH forgive me, of course.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: As Alde turned to walk into his kitchen, Bellario unlisted
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: his fingers and touched his ring. He once again turned
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: into a giant hornet. As soon as the transformation was complete,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: he leapt upon his defenseless and unsuspecting host and drove
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: his stinger into the small of his back. Episode sixty
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: is You Guessed It? A level up episode? Diretti has
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: made it to level seven and will be getting some
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: well deserved improvements to his character sheet. A D six
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: will determine new hit points. Here's the role who just
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: A three? Not great, but three hit points is better
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: than no hit points. His max of twenty three goes
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: to twenty six. Let's hope for better out of his
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: potential stat increase roles using the same D six. Going
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: straight down the line, we begin with strength. I've got
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: a two intelligence afore wisdom. I got another four dexterity
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: A six excellent is fifteen goes to sixteen, and I'm
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: thinking that might qualify for an additional bonus. I'll just
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: look at up real quick. Yes, Indeed, Dournnie's armor class
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: improves by one, going from A fifteen to sixteen, and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: his two hit bonus with missile weapons also increases by
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a point to plus two. Now, since his basic attack
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: bonus also increases from plus four to plus five by
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: virtue of the level up alone, that means that with
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: his bow Durni is now and a plus seven awesome,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: just awesome. I wonder if there's any more luck to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: be squeezed out of this die constitution A one charisma
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: A three. Well, you know, I just can't be unhappy
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: with that level up. Drenni got some really meaningful improvements,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: especially to his attack modifier. And while we're on the
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: subject of the basic attack bonus, I've been thinking that
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: in future, not this season. But after it's done, I'm
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: going to consider applying basic attack bonuses to damage as
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: well as the two hit role. I've noticed that in
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the mid and higher levels the official rules for this
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: don't scale well. Having characters doing a D six or
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: even a D four of damage when they're approaching the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: peak of their power just doesn't feel very satisfying, and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: it fails to keep up with monsters whose hip point
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: totals just go up and up. You start to get
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: these longer, slower combat encounters in which the PCs chip
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: away enemies ad nauseum. Anyway, that's a conversation for another time.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Let's get back to the story. Oh wait, I almost forgot.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: There's still one more thing to do. I need a
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: new event meaning. Since Bellario handily fulfilled punish friendship, okay,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: rolling percentile dice twice gives me eighty three assist and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: twenty six the physical assist the physical. Oh, of course
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: it's obvious what needs to happen next chapter sixty, Part three,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Day forty four, early evening with the event meaning assist
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the physical party status. The party status is unchanged, but
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the exception of do Renni, whose hit point total is
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: now seventeen out of twenty six Achillies stopped to remove
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: one of her boots and shake out a few pebbles
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: while she waited for Flicker to catch up. While they
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: were all hurt, Flicker was now moving with a pronounced limp,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and it was clear that she was struggling.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, Flicker, you really are badly hurt, aren't you.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: The blink dog approached and pushed her muzzle affectionately into
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Achillea's outstretched hand, letting out a whimper.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: I wish that sharling was here, said the half half.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Feeling a lump rise in her throat and stifling a sob.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: She scratched Flicker's head, willing the sadness away, and suddenly
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: remembered how Cord had healed himself after they'd all been
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: launched out of their individual tubes and hit the ground hard.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Could he direct those healing powers outward? She decided to.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Ask him, Cord, you were able to heal yourself earlier
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: after we all.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Fell, Cord creaked in confirmation.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Do you think you could use that power to heal Flicker?
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: She's really hurt.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Cord tilted from side to side, expressing that he didn't
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: know if he could or not.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Would you be willing to try?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Cord indicated that he would, and approached the blink dog,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: gently putting a moss covered hand upon the animal's back.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: After a moment, some of her wounds began to close,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and Flicker, who looked much better, barked happily.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Thank you Court, surely are unrifl.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: They continued down the tunnel and after a time were
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: able to make out a speck of light in the distance.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: It grew and grew until it became clear that there
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: was daylight ahead and the tunnel was leading them out
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: of the mountain. The sight made Achillia feel a profound
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: sense of relief. She hadn't really appreciated how much being
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: inside the mountain had affected her. Having all that weight
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: over their heads had made her feel as though her
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: soul had been crushed flat. The circle of daylight ahead
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: offered salvation. We're almost there, said Tantyre. He was having
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: similar thoughts. Almost there, Achillie repeated. As they approached, the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: circle of light became more and more defined, until they
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: were able to see the blue of the sky beyond,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: as well as several of the surrounding peaks. They were
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: blinking and squinting when they emerged from the tunnel and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: came into view of another welcoming sight.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: I never thought I would be so so happy to
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: see some.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Trees, exclaimed Tantyre. At the end of the path leading
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: away from the mouth of their tunnel and cut into
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the mountainside was a lush, green valley of pines. At first,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Achilia wondered if they were at the base of the mountain.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Had those tube like tunnels really taken them that far?
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: She quickly realized that now they were only halfway down.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: In this place, several mountains had crowded together to form
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: a natural cradle in which a tree filled valley had grown.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: The companions began walking toward it, sharing feelings of budding joy.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Before long they were under a canopy of junipers, spruces,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and firs. The wind made the needle covered branches sway
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and fill the air with their fragrance. There was a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: serenity here that could only be described as holy, and
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: perhaps as the vestibule to the first temple of Ahea.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: It was do you hear that, Master Rannie, Despite looking
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: very tired and worn out, he was grinning. Achillie didn't
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: hear anything, but Tentier did, I can hear water. The
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: decision was made to head in the direction of the sound,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and even though there was no path going through the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: wooded valley, the going was easy, and in very little
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: time the companions found themselves at the edge of a
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: beautiful crystal pool. He was fed by a lazy and
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: meandering waterfall whose source was invisible somewhere a long way
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: up a steep, rocky slope. Do you perhaps still, Achillie
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: wandered aloud. Dornnie seemed to read her mind and finished
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: her question for her.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: That this waterfall is fed by the same river we
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: saw back at the test of Water.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: He answered it too, I think it very likely.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Is I really wish herwind was still here?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Achillie said a second time, So do, I replied Dornnie.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Tenier nodded and flicker let at a high pitched wine,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: before trotting up to the pool and dipping her snout
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in to take a drink. Achille decided to change the subject.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: You know, she began taking in the cuts and bruises
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: each of them. More.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I didn't think we would have the opportunity to rest
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: again before this whole thing was over. But even though
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: there's probably still a few hours of daylight left, I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: think we should stop here.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: For the night and rest.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: It was generally agreed that this was a good idea,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: and soon the party members were dropping their packs and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: laying out their bed rolls. In the morning, said Tantier,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: unrolling his blanket. His voice was still a little bit
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: thick because of the damaged lip. In the morning, we
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: will finish this. Like Achillie, I did not expect that
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: there would be any more days in this quest. But
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: in an effort to listen to the dice gods when
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: they're trying to tell me something, I'm going to embrace
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the idea of assist the physical and say that this
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: valley and specifically this pool were created by a Haya
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: as places where the pilgrims who passed her tests could
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: rest and recover. As a magical and divine place, I
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: will rule that anyone who rests here overnight will heal
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: four hit points instead of the usual one. Additionally, I
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: need to figure out how many hit points Chord was
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: able to restore when he cast cure serious wounds on
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Flicker earlier. Let's see it'll be two D six plus two.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Here's the roll. Okay, I've got nine in total, which
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: will bring Flicker up to twelve hit points. That's much
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: better than three, and it's in addition to the healing
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: she'll get from resting in this holy sanctuary. That means
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: by morning she'll be back to her max score of sixteen. One.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Last thing, since I've used up the current assist the physical,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I'll need to roll for yet another event, meaning the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: third one this episode. I've got these cool pink D
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: percentile here rolling. I've got forty nine harm uh oh,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: that doesn't exound good and fifteen the innocent harm the innocent.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: That's definitely not good, and I already know what it means.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixty, Part four, Day forty four evening, Bellario folded
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: in his wings and pulled his thorax up so that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: it was flush with the branch he was currently hiding
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: in a juniper, almost directly over the heads of Achille's party.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: He was not magically invisible. He'd canceled that spell when
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: he returned to his tower the previous night and hadn't
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: felt the need to cast it again. Here the conifer's
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: thick foliage concealed both his form and scent, while providing
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: him with an excellent advantage from which to spy and eavesdrop.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Their arrival had been a surprise, though the last time
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: he saw these people they were about to be devoured
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: by a gigantic worm in the mayhem. He had easily
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: zipped past unnoticed, but the fact that they had survived
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: was a worry. Perhaps he had underestimated them. As Bellario
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: hugged the tree and listened to the conversation below, he
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: patiently set about weighing his options and strategizing. Like Dorenni,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: he suspected that the physical dangers and challenges of the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Golden Path were behind him, and he couldn't help but
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: congratulate himself for having gotten past them all completely unscathed,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: simply by exploiting the efforts of others. If their trials
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: were behind them, it might make sense to go on
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: ahead of Achillea's group in case the rewards at the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: end of the path were limited. He didn't want to
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: have to fight for them, and he didn't want to share.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: The counter argument was that if he did so, he
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: might be forced to face them at full strength later on,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and a confrontation was likely because Achillie would be sure
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: to recognize him. By now, she might have realized that
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: he had been her master's attacker. Then again, she might
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: not have truth be told, he did not appear that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: she had been pursuing him at any time. Regardless, she
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: would have questions he did not wish to answer. Bellario
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: concluded that if he could do it without much risk
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to himself and without being seen in his true form,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: it would be best if he could harm or hinder
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: these people Before any of them moved on, he patiently
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: waited to see if any member of the group would
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: separate from the rest. If one of them did that,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: other than the man of wood, who was likely to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: be immune to his venom, he would follow and put
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: his stinger in them. Frustratingly, as the evening turned into twilight,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: and then twilight turned into night, the whole party stayed together. Worse,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the wooden man in his bird stood sentry as the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: others lay down to sleep, and he looked as though
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: he intended to remain watchful all night. Vlario began to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: lose hope that any opportunity would present itself, and by
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and by he too fell asleep, stuck fast to the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: under side of the juniper's scaly bow. In the morning,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: sounds of movement from below awoke him. He saw Achilia
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: pulling her spell book from her bag, and, despite his grogginess,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: was filled with the desire to take it from her.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: He knew from his brief study of her master's spell
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: book that the apprentices would not be an identical copy.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Wizards in this part of the world were not taught
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: to mimic the incantations of their teachers, but rather to
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: awaken memories from past lives and access magic in that way. However,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: unless Achillie had decided to go off alone and take
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: her book with her, the risk in trying to steal it,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: especially with her dog present, was too great. Perhaps there
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: would be a chance later on, or perhaps after he
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: had met with the goddess he would be beyond caring.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: After a time, the others began to rouse and then
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to strike their small camp. Belario was just about to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: give up on any chance of singling one of them
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: out when good fortune struck. The older Elvin male, looking
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: like he barely slept, mumbled something to the younger, and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: walked off on his own Belaria was elated. This was
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the chance he had been waiting for. Crawling through the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: pine's foliage, he emerged near the tree top, stretched his wings,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and took to the air, tracking his prey from above
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: as it wandered away from the others. The elf stopped
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: at an apparently random spot about one hundred yards away,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: where he sat down on a fallen log and assumed
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the position of one who is completely exhausted, with their
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: head hung low and back bent. There would be no
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: better chance than this. The ELF's curving spine could not
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: have made a better target, and even though this person
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: was armed with a blade and wore a chain mill shirt,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Belario was fast and his stinger was sharp. He was
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: confident that the elf would be dead within the next
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: few minutes. Thanks for listening to Tale of the mandicor
• 25:39
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• 25:41
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• 25:59
  Speaker 1: a reminder, members get the show ad free, so if
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  Speaker 1: that's something that interests you, please check it out on
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  Speaker 1: the Breaker app. Recently, I mentioned that I might be
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  Speaker 1: running out of reviews to read on the air, but
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  Speaker 1: then I became aware, really by chance, that Spotify allows
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: listeners to leave comments. If you're laughing, I deserve it.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I am pretty clueless sometimes and I don't use Spotify. Furthermore,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the comments are invisible on the web. You can only
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  Speaker 1: see that they even exist on the mobile app, so
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I just never knew they were there. Excuses, excuses, right, anyway.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: The good news is that I have so much to
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: read out now, but the bad news is that I've
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: ignored dozens and dozens of comments from listeners. To anyone
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: who thought I was ignoring them, I apologize. And if
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: you ever asked a question there and didn't get a response,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I know that I just never saw it. And with
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: over two hundred episodes, I don't think I could possibly
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: go through them all. So if you still have a
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: burning question, please hit me up by email that I
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: promise I will answer anyway. I look back a couple
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: dozen episodes and found some very kind words. Chef Troy writes,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Monday Morning's exciting episode is just what I needed. The
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: dice are definitely heartless, indeed great stuff as usual. The
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: chef approves. Thank you, Chef Troy. I try to set
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: a good table and I'm always glad to hear from you.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Thanks for also due to my cast of voice actors,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: this episode features four guest voices, Kayan and Kevin Barringer
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: playing to any intent here as usual, and they are
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: joined by Andrew Flynn playing Oldvey and Hodagg RPG as Bellario.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: A great cast and my gratitude goes out to all
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: four of these excellent talents. For those who wish to
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: find other like minded creators doing similar shows, please check
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: out Solo Roleplayers Network dot com. And if you're curious
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to learn more about this show, I keep a blog
• 27:43
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• 27:45
  Speaker 1: stuff like sketches, maps, tablescrafts, and show notes. You can
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: find it at Tale Ofthemanticore dot com. Let's get in
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: touch with me, I'm at Tale of the Manticore dot
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  Speaker 1: or Tale of the Manticor at gmail dot com. I'll
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