Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 75

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Episode 75 · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Mike from a Fool's Quest podcast and
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Speaker 1: you are listening to Tale of the Manticore. The following
0:09
Speaker 1: podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticore Season two. Like
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Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
0:35
Speaker 1: the Manticore is a mashup, a crossbreeding between two different
0:38
Speaker 1: species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability of
0:43
Speaker 1: old school RPG paper and dice games with the story
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Speaker 1: craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred
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Speaker 1: and no character will be spared if the dice decide
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Speaker 1: their fate is at hand. According to lore, the Tale
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Speaker 1: of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
1:01
Speaker 1: will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
1:13
Speaker 1: on Tail of the Manticor, in the last chapter, the
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Speaker 1: pieces fight and defeat a Type two demon also known
1:19
Speaker 1: as a Hesro demon. The giant toad like monstrosity does
1:23
Speaker 1: not go down easy, however, it comes close to devouring
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Speaker 1: Shawn Ay and twice uses its innate powers of telekinesis
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Speaker 1: to fling the party members around the cavern. Perhaps the
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Speaker 1: hardest aspect of the battle comes from the demon's horrible stench,
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Speaker 1: which makes those nearby collapse to the ground, too nauseated
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Speaker 1: to act, and thwarting roughly half the piece's attempts to
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Speaker 1: engage it in melee. In the end, thanks to Catspin's
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Speaker 1: judicious use of a Haste spell, the pieces take it down,
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Speaker 1: but not without sustaining several injuries themselves. After the fight,
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Speaker 1: Cat'spain laments that neither the Hesro Demon nor the Succubus
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Speaker 1: have truly been destroyed. They have merely been banished back
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Speaker 1: to the Abyss for a century. However, he believes there
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Speaker 1: might be a way to keep them away for longer,
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Speaker 1: if only they had a few necessary items. Chapter seventy five,
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Speaker 1: Part one, day, one hundred and eighty four, time unknown,
2:25
Speaker 1: one hour and thirty minutes of Lantern fuel remains, party status,
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Speaker 1: Yellowfly twenty six of fifty hit points, Shawn Ay nine
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Speaker 1: of thirty five, Jase twenty seven of thirty eight, Cat's
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Speaker 1: Pain nineteen of twenty three, Basu twelve of twenty three
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Speaker 1: spells available. Cat'spain has memorized detect magic, mirror, image and
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Speaker 1: dimension door. Basu has prayed for light, locate object, and
3:02
Speaker 1: cure serious wounds. Go on, Casbane prompted Yellowfly, looking hopeful,
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Speaker 1: What things do you need? The young maid snapped his
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Speaker 1: book shut and sighed, then smiled bitterly.
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Speaker 2: You wouldn't happen to have a vial of holy water
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Speaker 2: and a jeweled holy symbol, would you?
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Speaker 1: Yellowfly deflated? No, I left mine at home, he joked humorlessly.
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Speaker 1: I do it was basio. The others all looked at
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Speaker 1: the cleric. He explained, that's what I went to retrieve.
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Speaker 3: When we were at the Church of the Sacred Flame,
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Speaker 3: and I was in Sister Erness's in a sanctum malone.
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Speaker 1: Remember Seneh. The rogue nodded her eyes bright.
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Speaker 3: I was only looking for her holy symbol. I knew
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Speaker 3: she would have hidden in there. But I found both
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Speaker 3: hers and the one you switched for the false.
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Speaker 1: Seboli Bazi pulled a pair of disks from his bag.
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Speaker 1: Both were made of valuable red gold, but one of
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Speaker 1: them was encrusted with dazzling jewels. I also found this.
4:06
Speaker 1: Now he replaced the holy symbols and drew a little
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Speaker 1: wooden case out of the bag. Walking into the light
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Speaker 1: of the nearest brazier, he opened it so the others
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Speaker 1: could see inside, resting atop a cushion of yellow velvet
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Speaker 1: with three tiny crystal bottles holy water, Basu explained. Shawnee
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Speaker 1: looked over at the cleric, saying, I've never seen holy
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Speaker 1: water before. Is it magical? Her voice sounded strange. Then
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Speaker 1: she stood up, swayed drunkenly, and fainted to the cavern floor.
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Speaker 1: Everyone had seen how the demon had tried to eat
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Speaker 1: her whole. After that, she had been thrown against the
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Speaker 1: cavern wall. Obviously she had been hurt, but she was
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Speaker 1: so stoic that her companions had not been aware of
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Speaker 1: the extent of her injuries. I set up, exclaimed Bosio,
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Speaker 1: rushing over to help her. Basu was going to use
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Speaker 1: his last curative spell on Shawnee. Spell Cure Serious Wounds
5:01
Speaker 1: is a fourth level spell, but its power is actually
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Speaker 1: quite modest. It's really only as good as two Cure
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Speaker 1: Light Wounds spells stack together. You can restore just two
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Speaker 1: D six plus two hit points. Well, that's not very impressive.
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Speaker 1: Shawnee really needs the help. Here's the role A six
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Speaker 1: and a one. So Shawnee gets back nine hit points,
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Speaker 1: and I think she's gonna need them just as a reminder,
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Speaker 1: Kat's bain does still carry a single dose of healing potion,
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Speaker 1: the one received in payment for their help in switching
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Speaker 1: the jeweled Holy symbol. But you know, I think he's
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Speaker 1: going to hold onto it for a bit longer. A
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Speaker 1: few moments after Bosi removed his hand from her brow,
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Speaker 1: Shawne stood up. She looked and felt twice as good
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Speaker 1: as she had before his healing prayer. Thank you, she said,
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Speaker 1: Thanks Sadah, replied the cleric, Thanks Sadal. Then Shawnee's hand
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Speaker 1: went to her throat and touched the shape of TAM's key,
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Speaker 1: still hanging from a cord under her shirt. Bazi smiled
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Speaker 1: at her and then directed his attention to the glassy
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Speaker 1: orb on the ground. He knelt down beside it, took
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Speaker 1: the jeweled Holy symbol in his left hand and one
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Speaker 1: of the holy water vials in his right. As he
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Speaker 1: spoke a new prayer, he emptied the full contents of
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Speaker 1: the vial over the demon's remains.
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Speaker 3: Holy Sadal, be this water the instrument of your wheel.
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Speaker 3: With it, and by your grace I purify the corruption
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Speaker 3: that is hateful in your sight.
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Speaker 1: The holy water hissed and sizzled like frying bacon where
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Speaker 1: it touched the glassy surface. When the right was complete,
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Speaker 1: the orb was gone and only a tiny shard of
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Speaker 1: obsidian remained. Bazi picked it up and as though it
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Speaker 1: were hot, transferred it to his bag.
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Speaker 3: That will be enough until I can put it in
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Speaker 3: a proper receptacle.
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Speaker 1: The process was repeated over the succubist's skull, which likewise
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Speaker 1: became a piece of obsidian. Bozzi stirred it in his bag.
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Speaker 1: As well, you sit and it's safe to carry them,
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Speaker 1: Sean asked the cleric. By no means was the blood reply?
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Speaker 1: Yellowfly broke the hard silence that followed, and we should
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Speaker 1: move on kat'spain. Will you light the lantern? Of course,
7:11
Speaker 1: replied the magic user, moving to do so as he spoke,
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Speaker 1: how much oil is left? Cat's being squinted at what
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Speaker 1: remained in the lantern and replied.
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Speaker 2: An hour two at most. You're right, Yellowfly, We had
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Speaker 2: better keep moving.
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Speaker 1: Follow me. Then Yellowfly took the lead, walking around the
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Speaker 1: still pool and past the piles of carrion bones and offal.
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Speaker 1: Most were the remains of smaller fish, but there were
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Speaker 1: other and larger creatures there too. Yellowfly saw a dead
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Speaker 1: squid some three feet long. There was also a cracked
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Speaker 1: rib cage on the cavern wall on the other side
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Speaker 1: of the pool that was so large he could have
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Speaker 1: stood inside it. Most disturbing of all was a skeleton
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Speaker 1: that had the bottom half of a fish in the
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Speaker 1: top half of something distinctly humanoid. He decided against any
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Speaker 1: further investigation and walked right by it. Before long he
8:02
Speaker 1: reached the cavern exit. Beyond he could see the curves
8:05
Speaker 1: and bumps of natural rock gave way once again to
8:08
Speaker 1: the straight lines of worked stone. For those interested in
8:16
Speaker 1: old school tabletop roleplaying games, solo RPGs, and gritty analog artwork,
8:22
Speaker 1: maps and setting supplements, subscribe to castlegrief on substack. That's
8:27
Speaker 1: castlegrief dot substack dot com. Castlegreef is a relatively new
8:31
Speaker 1: creator on the scene, but has been immersed in tabletop
8:34
Speaker 1: role playing for decades. Their articles feature play reports, tips
8:38
Speaker 1: and tricks for running old school games, hex crawls, and more,
8:41
Speaker 1: as well as plug and play setting information, always accompanied
8:44
Speaker 1: by lots of old school black and white artwork. Their
8:47
Speaker 1: zines and supplements can be found at castlegreef dot ich
8:50
Speaker 1: dot io. Chapter seventy five, Part two, Day one hundred
9:03
Speaker 1: and eighty four time unknown, one hour and twenty minutes
9:08
Speaker 1: of lantern fuel remains. Party status Yellowfly twenty six of
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Speaker 1: fifty hit points, Shawney eighteen of thirty five, Jase twenty
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Speaker 1: seven of thirty eight, Cat'spain nineteen of twenty three, Basu
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Speaker 1: twelve of twenty three spells available. Cat's Pain has memorized,
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Speaker 1: detect magic, mirror, image and dimension door. Basu has prayed
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Speaker 1: for light, bless and locate object that hadn't gone very
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Speaker 1: far down the hallway before. The light from the braziers
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Speaker 1: could no longer reach them, and it was only their
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Speaker 1: lantern by which they saw. At least they had put
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Speaker 1: some distance between themselves and the terrible still of rotting fish.
10:02
Speaker 1: The worst of this dench had disappeared along with the demon,
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Speaker 1: but even then it was still almost too much to bear.
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Speaker 1: The companions were presently making their way along a passage
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Speaker 1: with flagstone floors and walls of neatly fitted and unmortared brick.
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Speaker 1: Up ahead another sixty or seventy feet, it terminated in
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Speaker 1: a rounded arch. As they got closer, they slowed their pace,
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Speaker 1: even though they were beginning to expect the strange and
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Speaker 1: the bazaar in this place, they were still not prepared
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Speaker 1: for what they found in the next chamber. It's a gallery,
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Speaker 1: said Shanna, who had patted ahead with Katspian's lantern to
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Speaker 1: search for traps, and finding none, returned to report. She
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Speaker 1: handed the light back to the young mage and fell
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Speaker 1: back into her place in the marching order between Basu
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Speaker 1: and Jase. Yellowfly, as usual, took the lead. C'me on Denor,
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Speaker 1: he said, starting to walk forward. Stay by me and
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Speaker 1: hold the lanterns Cat's being started. Had Yellowfly just called
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Speaker 1: him day Or? That was a name he knew, but
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Speaker 1: it was unlikely Yellowfly had ever heard of King Vince's
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Speaker 1: arch mage. What was happening? He suddenly remembered that Shawnee
11:15
Speaker 1: had said Fly had called her by the wrong name
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Speaker 1: before too. When did that happen? Ah, Yes, now he remembered.
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Speaker 1: It was in the courtyard with the erotic statues. Had
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Speaker 1: he called her day Noor too? He wished he could remember.
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Speaker 1: By now, they had reached the arch beyond. It was
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Speaker 1: a chamber that would not have looked out of place
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Speaker 1: in white Stone Castle. It was a kind of gallery,
11:38
Speaker 1: As Shawnee had said. The whole space was not especially large,
11:41
Speaker 1: a rectangle of approximately thirty by fifty feet with a
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Speaker 1: single closed door on the far side. The walls were
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Speaker 1: crowded with portraiture. It was odd enough to find a
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Speaker 1: gallery in a dungeon, but even stranger was that all
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Speaker 1: of the portraits were of the same person. Was that
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Speaker 1: Calfrey Cat's beans replied, astonished, There could be no mistaking
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Speaker 1: that face that the king did not quite look himself.
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Speaker 1: Instead of the regal pose and confident smile. They had
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Speaker 1: seen it in the king's various likenesses during their time
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Speaker 1: in the castle. These paintings all showed a broken man
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Speaker 1: who cringed and drooled, who were an idiot's slack jawed
12:19
Speaker 1: grin and vacant stare as. The party filed into the
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Speaker 1: room and spread out. They saw that every expression was
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Speaker 1: more grotesque than the last, and getting worse the further
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Speaker 1: in they went. By the midpoint of the room, Calfrey's face,
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Speaker 1: in its various iterations, had taken on such extremes in
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Speaker 1: its expression that mirth had become agony and idiocy had
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Speaker 1: turned into insanity. The back wall was the worst. In
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Speaker 1: the portraits hanging there. Colfrey's face was decayed, pale and sunken.
12:51
Speaker 1: His eyes were black pits, and his teeth were long
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Speaker 1: where the gums had retreated. Calfrey was not alone in
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Speaker 1: all these pictures. Some of the full length pieces included
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Speaker 1: the flower bearing children he was wont to pose with.
13:04
Speaker 1: In every case, they too looked deranged, deformed, and decayed.
13:10
Speaker 1: Their clothing was stained, and their bouquets dead. The party
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Speaker 1: members were now scattered about the gallery, regarding the various
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Speaker 1: pieces with a mixture of apprehension and morbid curiosity. Yellowfly
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Speaker 1: and Shawnee were standing together. Jase was by the door
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Speaker 1: they had come through, sword in hand. Bozzi was on
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Speaker 1: his own by the side wall, and Cat's Pain, also alone,
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Speaker 1: was near the far door, where the most gruesome art hung.
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Speaker 1: None of the others seemed to notice when one of
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Speaker 1: the portraits came to life and addressed Kat's pain by.
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Speaker 4: Name, Phalan or you, young man, you have the makings
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Speaker 4: of a king, and I should know.
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Speaker 1: The portrait by his shoulder grinned, stretching its decayed lips,
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Speaker 1: it was as though the withered face was simply speaking
14:00
Speaker 1: to him through a window.
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Speaker 4: You and your friends have dispatched my lackeys that wasn't
14:06
Speaker 4: very polite. Good to see that you're unhurt, though.
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Speaker 1: Cat's beIN turned away from the smiling face of the king.
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Speaker 1: But another portrait came to life and kept on speaking
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Speaker 1: without interruption. Phalan Falin, Phalan.
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Speaker 4: I think we both know it's time to end all
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Speaker 4: this have But you spent your whole life building spires
14:29
Speaker 4: to knowledge. I can simply give it to you.
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Speaker 1: Cat's beIN turned his back on this one too, But
14:38
Speaker 1: now three new portraits animated and spoke all at once.
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Speaker 4: We exist in thin places, you and I and are
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Speaker 4: meant for greatness. Why stand in the shadow of others
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Speaker 4: all your life when you can rule them instead.
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Speaker 1: Cat's beIN realized at this point that his companions could
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Speaker 1: neither see nor hear what he did. They still lingered
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Speaker 1: here and there in the gallery, without having taken any
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Speaker 1: notice of the bizarre occurrence at the far end of
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Speaker 1: the room.
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Speaker 4: Come, Phelan, as I'm sure you are aware, the bell
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Speaker 4: cannot be unwrung.
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Speaker 1: Yellowfly, kat Spain's companion, was squinting in one of the portraits,
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Speaker 1: with a look of perplexity darkening his features. When he
15:24
Speaker 1: did not respond, Katspain tried again yellowfly. This time the
15:28
Speaker 1: other man did look up what is a cat's pain?
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Speaker 1: At least he had use the right name.
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Speaker 2: But still, are you all right? Of course I am,
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Speaker 2: I am very well. But yellowfly, we need to keep moving.
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Speaker 1: The young mage held up his lantern by way of explanation.
15:47
Speaker 1: Both men knew how low they were on fuel, and
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Speaker 1: the idea of being caught down here in the dark
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Speaker 1: was unwelcome. Yes, of course, shawnee, you make sure the
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Speaker 1: way a head is clear. The rogue nodded and moved
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Speaker 1: past cat's Clearly, she did not see what he did that.
16:03
Speaker 1: All of the coffreys in the room were coming to
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Speaker 1: life and watching her movements for the look of bemused interest,
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Speaker 1: but they only watched and did not comment. As she
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Speaker 1: went to work as a DM, I know this door
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Speaker 1: is not locked, but I haven't decided if it should
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Speaker 1: be trapped. Let's do the usual thing and ask the
16:24
Speaker 1: dice gods. Since I think the chance is on the
16:27
Speaker 1: low side, I'll say that a one or two on
16:29
Speaker 1: a D six will indicate that it is the role
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Speaker 1: afore means it is not trapped. With that done, there's
16:36
Speaker 1: no need for any further roles, and we can return
16:38
Speaker 1: to the narrative. After a while, Shawnee looked back over
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Speaker 1: her shoulder and kissed the air, using the cant sign
16:50
Speaker 1: for all clear. When nil a Fly knodded back, she
16:53
Speaker 1: opened the door behind It was a short passage ending
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Speaker 1: at another rounded arch, identical to the one they had
16:59
Speaker 1: passed under when they had entered the gallery. Shawnie waited
17:03
Speaker 1: while the party resumed its usual marching order. She let Yellowfly, Katspin,
17:07
Speaker 1: and Basu pass by her, and then slipped in before Jace,
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Speaker 1: who brought up the rear. As Katspan left the gallery,
17:13
Speaker 1: he tried to ignore the portraits, but there was nowhere
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Speaker 1: to look where he didn't see a deformed, decayed, or
17:18
Speaker 1: demented king Colfrey watching him intently.
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Speaker 4: Come to me, Phelan.
17:23
Speaker 1: Said one of them. It was echoed by another, come
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Speaker 1: to me, and then another, and another and another, until
17:30
Speaker 1: there was a chorus of kings beckoning to the wizard.
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Speaker 3: Oh Cam, came to me, Faith, Come Come.
17:39
Speaker 1: Kat'span clenched his jaw, looked at his feet, and left
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Speaker 1: the voices behind. They had only taken a dozen steps
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Speaker 1: down the new passage when Yellowflies stopped in his tracks.
17:51
Speaker 1: Everyone knew why, because they had noticed it too. It
17:55
Speaker 1: would have been impossible to miss it. Something smelled wonderful?
17:59
Speaker 1: Is that food I smelled? Brett said, shah Nay and
18:04
Speaker 1: beef stew and onions came Jase's voice from the rear.
18:10
Speaker 1: Considering recent experiences, the group mistrusted their senses and advanced
18:15
Speaker 1: with caution. When they reached the arch, cat'span shone the
18:18
Speaker 1: light from his lantern into the room beyond, and they
18:21
Speaker 1: immediately saw the source of the smell. The room was
18:24
Speaker 1: rectangular in shape and a little larger than the gallery
18:27
Speaker 1: had been, and had no visible exits. In the center
18:30
Speaker 1: was a table set for five. Its surface was covered
18:33
Speaker 1: with fragrant food and elegant silverware, and included a large,
18:36
Speaker 1: unlit candelabra as a centerpiece. Around the table were high
18:40
Speaker 1: backed chairs of polished wood, and squarely behind each seat,
18:44
Speaker 1: a unique tapestry hung on the wall. The artistic focus
18:48
Speaker 1: of each tapestry was a single person, and it soon
18:51
Speaker 1: became clear that these figures were the Companions themselves. Closest
18:55
Speaker 1: and on the left, was the likeness of Jase. The
18:58
Speaker 1: tapestry had been woven in silver, green, and blue. It
19:02
Speaker 1: depicted the fighter's limp body under a line of choppy waves.
19:06
Speaker 1: A few bubbles floated up from his mouth as he
19:09
Speaker 1: sunk towards the bottom. The piece on the opposite wall
19:13
Speaker 1: showed Basio. He was bare chested and had a large
19:16
Speaker 1: bloody hole in his left breast. In his right hand,
19:20
Speaker 1: he gripped his own ragged heart. The expression on his
19:23
Speaker 1: face was not one of anguish, but rather disappointment. Next
19:28
Speaker 1: to Bazu's tapestry was the Yellowflies. His was not a
19:31
Speaker 1: full length likeness, but a close up portrait of his face.
19:35
Speaker 1: There was nothing gruesome, unpleasant, or macabre about his The
19:38
Speaker 1: only thing that was out of place was that Yellowfly
19:40
Speaker 1: was pictured wearing a crown of dark metal studded across
19:44
Speaker 1: the brow with orange jewels. Across from Yellow Flies was
19:48
Speaker 1: another portrait that showed Shawne from her collar bones to
19:51
Speaker 1: the top of her head. The picture was vivid with
19:54
Speaker 1: intense colors. Orange threads competed with yellow in the depiction
19:58
Speaker 1: of flames that wringed her head and ignited her hair.
20:02
Speaker 1: Unlike Bossi's picture, she was shown to be suffering tremendously,
20:06
Speaker 1: so her bubbling and peeling face was frozen in a
20:09
Speaker 1: screen as she immolated Kat's Bain's was the only one
20:14
Speaker 1: that ventured into the phantasmagorical. His was positioned behind the
20:18
Speaker 1: chair at the head of the table and showed the
20:20
Speaker 1: wizard from the waist up. But in the Picturekat's pain
20:23
Speaker 1: had two heads growing out of a single neck. One
20:26
Speaker 1: of the heads had a gory crater in its forehead,
20:28
Speaker 1: right where the young mage would occasionally summon his third eye.
20:32
Speaker 1: The second head had no such wound, but looked bizarre
20:34
Speaker 1: in its own way. Katspan's eyes were elongated, his nose
20:39
Speaker 1: was gone, replaced by two vertical slits, and his smiling
20:42
Speaker 1: mouth was opened to reveal small pointed teeth behind his lips.
20:47
Speaker 1: I can't look, said shah Nay. What is it all me,
20:52
Speaker 1: asked Jace, horrified. It's more sorcery, said yellowfly. Touch nothing.
20:57
Speaker 1: Do not like the candles either, and then, turning to
21:00
Speaker 1: Cat's beIN, asked, what do you make of this place?
21:04
Speaker 1: The wizard shrugged.
21:05
Speaker 2: I suspect it's trying to wear down or resolve, or
21:09
Speaker 2: to delay us while our fuel runs out.
21:12
Speaker 1: Cat's beIN should have considered his words more carefully. What
21:16
Speaker 1: do you mean when you're saying it's trying to delay us.
21:19
Speaker 2: I didn't mean anything specifically, Cat's Bean lied. It's just that,
21:25
Speaker 2: from what I've read, the demons we fought often serve
21:29
Speaker 2: something greater.
21:31
Speaker 1: Something greater. Yellowfly prompted his face.
21:34
Speaker 2: Dark another demon.
21:36
Speaker 1: I suspect when you decided to keep this information to yourself,
21:41
Speaker 1: some small muscle in the fighter's jar twitched. Leave him be,
21:45
Speaker 1: yellow Fly, if he knew anything important, he tell us,
21:50
Speaker 1: said Jace, walking deliberately between the two men and then
21:53
Speaker 1: into the chamber. Shohnnie followed him, as did Basia. Yellow
21:58
Speaker 1: Fly and Cat's be It remained in. The Fighter looked
22:01
Speaker 1: the wizard in the eyes, and in a low voice, said,
22:04
Speaker 1: listen carefully. If you suspect anything else, I'd urge you
22:08
Speaker 1: to share it now. Katspain was conflicted inside. He desperately
22:13
Speaker 1: wanted to come clean, but he had withheld the truth
22:15
Speaker 1: for too long and could not bring himself to admit
22:18
Speaker 1: what he knew. In the end, he merely stammered a
22:21
Speaker 1: feeble denial.
22:22
Speaker 2: I uh no, yellow Fly, I I don't know.
22:29
Speaker 1: There was a tearing sound that drew Yellowfly's attention to Shawney.
22:33
Speaker 1: When he looked, he saw that the dining room had
22:35
Speaker 1: completely changed, and his companions were all wearing expressions of shock.
22:40
Speaker 1: The place was almost empty now. The chairs were gone,
22:44
Speaker 1: the food, along with the succulent and tempting smells, were
22:48
Speaker 1: gone as well. Where the table had been, there was
22:51
Speaker 1: no long stone sarcophagus with stylized lid slightly askew. Shawnee's
22:56
Speaker 1: eyes were wide and her mouth was an open oh.
23:00
Speaker 1: In her hands she held the rotted and ruined threads
23:03
Speaker 1: of some ancient tapestry, almost completely disintegrated. The other tapestries
23:07
Speaker 1: were likewise now ragged shreds of gray and brown. Kat's
23:11
Speaker 1: Baines was gone completely. Where it had been, there was
23:14
Speaker 1: now an exit. Yellow flies shot Shawnee a look of
23:17
Speaker 1: cold disapproval. I thought, I told everyone not to touch anything.
23:22
Speaker 1: I couldn't better look at it any more. Flat. I'm
23:24
Speaker 1: sorry everything in the air whilst only an illusion, said
23:30
Speaker 1: Jase slowly, as understanding dawned on him. Shawnee touched the
23:35
Speaker 1: orphan key at her throat and said, in a voice
23:37
Speaker 1: so low it was almost a whisper. The blackness of
23:40
Speaker 1: Mountberry's they were no longer in a dining room, but
23:43
Speaker 1: a crypt. It appeared, and Although it was almost completely empty,
23:47
Speaker 1: the presence of the large sarcophagus in the room was disturbing.
23:51
Speaker 1: Its dialized lid showed the top half of a reclining
23:54
Speaker 1: figure that was skeletal, but not a skeleton, human like
23:59
Speaker 1: but not human. The eyes were too long, and the
24:02
Speaker 1: nose was just a pair of vertical slits. Cat's Pain said, Yellowfly,
24:07
Speaker 1: your poor foote. The Wizard took an involuntary step back,
24:11
Speaker 1: and his hand came up to cup his mouth. He
24:14
Speaker 1: had realized the same thing. Jace motioned at the gap
24:17
Speaker 1: where the lid of the sarcophagus was askew. Is there something? Insighed?
24:24
Speaker 1: Finding out was the last thing Cat'spain wanted to do,
24:27
Speaker 1: but he summoned the courage to raise his lantern and
24:29
Speaker 1: directed the beam at the gap. Everyone held their breath
24:33
Speaker 1: and leaned forward. It's empty, breathed Jase, the relief in
24:38
Speaker 1: his voice clear. What do we do now, asked Shaunay,
24:42
Speaker 1: after a period of heavy silence. Strangely, she did not
24:46
Speaker 1: address yellow Fly. Her question was for Cat's Pain. The
24:50
Speaker 1: companions looked to the wizard. Eventually, Katspin lifted his arm
24:54
Speaker 1: and pointed at the little rectangular exit in the place
24:57
Speaker 1: where his tapestry had hung. Yellowfly and Jason nodded and
25:00
Speaker 1: gript their swords tighter. Shawn A Touchtam's key once more,
25:05
Speaker 1: and Pozi whispered a silent prayer. Just it all. Somehow
25:09
Speaker 1: everyone knew this was it. Thank you for listening to
25:14
Speaker 1: Tale of the mandicor if you're enjoying the show and
25:17
Speaker 1: would like to help the support it. There are lots
25:19
Speaker 1: of ways to do so. You can recommend it online
25:22
Speaker 1: or to friends. You can like and repost episode announcements
25:25
Speaker 1: on social media. You can rate or review the show
25:27
Speaker 1: on your podcatter of choice. And finally, you can pick
25:30
Speaker 1: up one of my products on drive through RPG. Stick
25:32
Speaker 1: around at the end of the credits for the announcement
25:34
Speaker 1: of a new third party expansion module for one Shot
25:37
Speaker 1: in the Dark that I am very excited about. As
25:40
Speaker 1: you know, I love reading your kind reviews on the show.
25:43
Speaker 1: Here's one by valsa Gamer on Apple Podcasts. Valsa Gamer writes,
25:48
Speaker 1: this podcast draws you in with the story elements, but
25:51
Speaker 1: then the dice over the dice. The dice are sometimes
25:54
Speaker 1: cruel and lead the story in new directions. This is
25:57
Speaker 1: what makes it so fabulous. Thanks for sharing your creative
26:00
Speaker 1: energy with all of us. Oh those dice. As a gamer,
26:04
Speaker 1: they can be so cruel and so kind, and I agree,
26:08
Speaker 1: it's the not knowing that keeps me coming back to
26:11
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for posting that review. Listener reviews
26:14
Speaker 1: mean a lot to me personally, and they also help
26:16
Speaker 1: to grow the show. I'd also like to thank my
26:19
Speaker 1: awesome voice talent. I've got the usual trio of regulars
26:22
Speaker 1: ky Ellen, Kevin and Andrew playing Kat's bane Jas and Basu,
26:27
Speaker 1: and I'm delighted to have back on the show the
26:29
Speaker 1: very talented Dave Cooper playing an illusion, while several illusions
26:33
Speaker 1: of King Calfrey. Thanks very very much to the four
26:37
Speaker 1: of you for breathing life and personality into this story.
26:41
Speaker 1: For listeners who'd like to get in touch with me,
26:42
Speaker 1: I'm Ad Mantacore, Tale on x or Tale of the
26:44
Speaker 1: Manticor podcast on Instagram, and there's always email Tale of
26:48
Speaker 1: Themanticore at gmail dot com. Finally, I keep a blog
26:52
Speaker 1: where I post all kinds of show and RPG related
26:54
Speaker 1: stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts, and show notes. You
26:58
Speaker 1: can find it at Talefthemantcore dot com, blogspot dot com.
27:01
Speaker 1: I'm going to put something a bit special in the
27:03
Speaker 1: blog shortly after this episode airs a stat block and
27:06
Speaker 1: a detailed spell list for azor Zul. I think there
27:09
Speaker 1: will be some listeners who will want to see what's
27:12
Speaker 1: going on. Mechanically speaking, I'm also aware that some people
27:15
Speaker 1: will not want this, so I'll make the blog entry
27:18
Speaker 1: invisible until the reader highlights the text. No extra info
27:21
Speaker 1: unless you want it. In other words, the adventure will
27:25
Speaker 1: continue in the next episode of Tale of the manticor
27:28
Speaker 1: the story where chaos rolls.
27:37
Speaker 5: The storm rages, and beneath it your village burns. Raiders
27:42
Speaker 5: have taken the survivors, leaving ashes warmth once thrived, but
27:49
Speaker 5: beneath the ice and despair, an ember of hope can
27:52
Speaker 5: still shine through the darkness.
27:54
Speaker 1: Will you cower in the snow drifts?
27:56
Speaker 5: Or will you raise a group of heroes to forge
27:59
Speaker 5: a path through the blue for vengeance and rescue, Fight
28:03
Speaker 5: for survival, defeat your foes, and rescue your people from
28:07
Speaker 5: the clutches of darkness. One Shot in the Snow a
28:12
Speaker 5: wintry expansion for the One Shot in the Dark RPG.
28:16
Speaker 5: Get your copy now and drive through RPG