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Episode 14 (S3E14) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello.
0:00
Speaker 2: This is Nephelos, creator of Reflections and the Darksome Mirror.
0:04
Speaker 2: It is my honor to welcome you to Tale of
0:06
Speaker 2: the Manticor.
0:09
Speaker 3: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
0:14
Speaker 3: discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
0:31
Speaker 3: Season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
0:36
Speaker 3: Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
0:39
Speaker 3: between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
0:42
Speaker 3: the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
0:46
Speaker 3: the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
0:50
Speaker 3: is sacred, and none will be spared if the dice
0:53
Speaker 3: decide their fate is at hand. According to lore, the
0:57
Speaker 3: Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
1:02
Speaker 3: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
1:14
Speaker 3: time on Tail of the Manticor. In the previous chapter,
1:18
Speaker 3: the party recovers after its battle with the Ogre. Of
1:22
Speaker 3: all of them, Cord is the worst off by far,
1:25
Speaker 3: due to being split nearly in two. The construct is
1:28
Speaker 3: now being held together with a leather strap. As for
1:31
Speaker 3: the others, they're so exhausted that they fall asleep right
1:34
Speaker 3: there in Mombi's cave. In the morning, they search its
1:37
Speaker 3: lair before striking out, and find some coins, along with
1:40
Speaker 3: a strange skull decorated in jet and turquoise. The companions
1:44
Speaker 3: have no way of knowing that this is the long
1:46
Speaker 3: lost skull of a cam Or prince and a precious artifact.
1:50
Speaker 3: At this point, the story switches to the perspective of Otot,
1:53
Speaker 3: the orc shaman. Otote is old and blind, but he
1:57
Speaker 3: can see in a manner of speaking through his crow.
2:00
Speaker 3: He successfully uses them to find the party, but fortunately
2:04
Speaker 3: for them, by the time he learns their location, they
2:06
Speaker 3: have moved beyond his reach. Of course, if the pieces
2:10
Speaker 3: ever return this way, he'll be watching for them, then
2:13
Speaker 3: he'll be ready. The episode concludes with Achillia's strange dream,
2:17
Speaker 3: in which she runs through a dark forest, lost and scared,
2:20
Speaker 3: until she eventually comes across a pond. In its surface,
2:24
Speaker 3: she sees her reflection, except she is not herself at all.
2:35
Speaker 3: Chapter fourteen, Part one day one dawn mythic event meaning
2:43
Speaker 3: befriend tension party status achilliea seven out of seven hit points,
2:50
Speaker 3: Cord three out of eleven after regaining one point through
2:54
Speaker 3: natural healing. De Renni six out of six six out
3:01
Speaker 3: of six supplies. The companions have five portions of food
3:06
Speaker 3: and zero of water. Spells available A Chilia has memorized
3:11
Speaker 3: shrink and message. Cord can cast, entangle and locate plants
3:18
Speaker 3: and animals. Achillia woke up and shivered. It was not
3:25
Speaker 3: especially cold, but for some reason she felt strange the dream.
3:30
Speaker 3: She'd had a vision that she was a human boy
3:32
Speaker 3: child lost in the woods, and the dream had felt
3:35
Speaker 3: so realistic. Derannian ten tears still slept. She saw, judging
3:40
Speaker 3: by the rosy glow peaking through the pine needles of
3:42
Speaker 3: their little shelter, it must only be dawn. She climbed
3:46
Speaker 3: out from under the fragrant branches of their stunt of
3:49
Speaker 3: pine and looked around. Cord was nearby, with Robin perched
3:53
Speaker 3: atop his head. The bird was tweeting softly and looking
3:56
Speaker 3: down in a way that almost made it seem like
3:59
Speaker 3: he was talking to Cord. What a funny thought, Achilie
4:02
Speaker 3: smiled to herself. When she approached, the wooden construct turned
4:07
Speaker 3: around to face her, waving a carved hand in greeting.
4:11
Speaker 3: He still looked very badly damaged. His bifurcated torso was
4:14
Speaker 3: still held together by the tightly knotted leather strip she
4:17
Speaker 3: had applied at the Ogre's cave, but the crack was
4:20
Speaker 3: still plainly evident. Still, unless she was mistaken, it did
4:24
Speaker 3: not seem quite as long as it had before she
4:28
Speaker 3: screwed up her face.
4:29
Speaker 4: God, are you healing?
4:32
Speaker 3: The construct gave her a creaking bough by way of
4:35
Speaker 3: saying yes. Akilie felt relief. She supposed it made a
4:39
Speaker 3: certain amount of sense. All living plants were able to
4:42
Speaker 3: regenerate to some degree given time and sun and water,
4:45
Speaker 3: so why not cord. She turned to the sound coming
4:49
Speaker 3: from behind and saw ten tire crawling out from under
4:52
Speaker 3: the bushy green branches of their shelter. Durrenie followed directly,
4:55
Speaker 3: after pulling their gear out with him. As he emerged,
4:59
Speaker 3: the elder brothers stretched, scanned the distant skies to the south,
5:02
Speaker 3: and then nodded to himself as though satisfied with something,
5:05
Speaker 3: before attending to their equipment, rolling up the bedding and
5:08
Speaker 3: buckling it to their respective packs. While Dorrennie went through
5:11
Speaker 3: this morning routine, Achillie studied from her spell book and
5:14
Speaker 3: re memorized her two spells of shrink and message ten Tire,
5:19
Speaker 3: for his part, prepared a small breakfast for the group.
5:22
Speaker 3: They were getting very low on water. What little they
5:25
Speaker 3: had would be gone by the end of the day.
5:27
Speaker 3: As for food, they still had enough to last another
5:30
Speaker 3: couple of days. Tentyer made a point to remind the
5:33
Speaker 3: others that they needed to keep an eye out for
5:34
Speaker 3: a pond or a river. Are you ready, asked der
5:38
Speaker 3: Rennie after everyone had finished their small meal. His companions
5:41
Speaker 3: replied that.
5:42
Speaker 2: They were very well.
5:43
Speaker 4: Then let's go.
5:45
Speaker 3: Der Rennie looked at the sky once again, but this
5:48
Speaker 3: time to the north, in the direction they were headed.
5:50
Speaker 3: It was clear and blue but for a few groupings
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Speaker 3: of small clouds that sailed across the sky like formations
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Speaker 3: of white sailed ships.
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Speaker 4: I feel like something good is going to happen today.
6:06
Speaker 3: Something good is going to happen because this episode is
6:09
Speaker 3: a level up episode for de Renni as a second
6:12
Speaker 3: level character. He'll get new hit points and enjoy a
6:15
Speaker 3: chance for stat increases. I decided to weis back that
6:19
Speaker 3: an Elvin fighter would get a D six for new
6:21
Speaker 3: hit points, and my longtime house rule is that the
6:23
Speaker 3: role will min out at half, so anything three or
6:26
Speaker 3: under on the die will be treated as a three.
6:29
Speaker 3: Here's the role ach A one on the die will
6:33
Speaker 3: get raised to the men out of three Dorni goes
6:35
Speaker 3: up to us still respectable nine hit points. Chances for
6:39
Speaker 3: stat increases are next. For this, I go through each
6:42
Speaker 3: attribute and roll a D six. On a six, that
6:45
Speaker 3: attribute goes up by one point. Let's begin strength. The
6:50
Speaker 3: five is no good intelligence, I've got a two. How
6:54
Speaker 3: about wisdom five? Still in a luck? Dexterity six okay, yes, please?
7:03
Speaker 3: Duranny's fourteen goes up to a fifteen. No mechanical change
7:06
Speaker 3: of companies that but he's one step closer to it
7:09
Speaker 3: constitution A four. No, that won't do. Charisma five close
7:15
Speaker 3: but no. Well, that level up was okay, but I
7:20
Speaker 3: hope the PC's luck will be a little better as
7:22
Speaker 3: we make the rolls for today's X crawl. For weather
7:25
Speaker 3: on a D twenty, I've got a seven. I think
7:29
Speaker 3: those fleets of white clouds the PCs saw in the
7:32
Speaker 3: morning turned into an armada of dark gray by late morning,
7:35
Speaker 3: and the sky is threatening rain. Using the same dye,
7:38
Speaker 3: I'll rollers stumble upon. A four means nothing out of
7:42
Speaker 3: the ordinary is discovered. Next comes the role for wandering encounters.
7:46
Speaker 3: A five or six on a D six will indicate
7:48
Speaker 3: there is one the roll I got a six, which
7:52
Speaker 3: means there will be one. But you know, I think
7:54
Speaker 3: I need to go away and make a new encounter
7:56
Speaker 3: table now that the PCs passed out of Black Cloud territory.
8:00
Speaker 3: Hang tight, Ok, I've made a new table. It's posted
8:06
Speaker 3: detail of the mantecor dot blogspot dot com. Those curious
8:09
Speaker 3: to see the full spectrum of what might have been.
8:12
Speaker 3: Here comes my role on a D ten. I've got
8:15
Speaker 3: a six. That's going to make for a very interesting encounter.
8:19
Speaker 3: But there's still a bit of housekeeping to do before
8:21
Speaker 3: I can go back to the narrative. The pieces are
8:24
Speaker 3: running out of supplies, and my copy of the Expert
8:26
Speaker 3: Rules says a party can forage while traveling with a
8:29
Speaker 3: one in six chance for success. Those aren't very good odds,
8:32
Speaker 3: but it occurs to me that Chord has the spell
8:35
Speaker 3: Locate Plants and animals, so he could be of enormous
8:38
Speaker 3: help if he used the spell to aid their search.
8:41
Speaker 3: I'll say that by using the spell, the chance to
8:43
Speaker 3: find food will increase two three in six, because the
8:46
Speaker 3: spell itself can't really fail. A roll of forty six
8:49
Speaker 3: will mean that there is none of the sought after
8:51
Speaker 3: type of food around. Anyway, let's toss this die. I
8:55
Speaker 3: got a three, so that means that, with Chord's help,
8:58
Speaker 3: the pieces do find food. Oh one quick thing. It
9:01
Speaker 3: occurs to me that some listeners might be wondering why
9:04
Speaker 3: didn't Court use this spell to help avoid the crows.
9:07
Speaker 3: The answer is that I didn't think of it at
9:09
Speaker 3: the time, and if I didn't think of it, neither
9:11
Speaker 3: did Court. This is a game, after all, but I'll
9:14
Speaker 3: try to be a little more on the ball going forward.
9:17
Speaker 3: No promises on that anyway. I miching to get back
9:20
Speaker 3: to the story, so I'll make any ancillary dice rolls
9:23
Speaker 3: off Mike. For now, let's rejoin the PCs and see
9:26
Speaker 3: what they found. Chapter fourteen, Part two, Day fourteen afternoon
9:39
Speaker 3: mythic event meaning befriend tension party status. The party status
9:46
Speaker 3: is unchanged with the exception of do Reni, who goes
9:48
Speaker 3: up to nine out of nine hid points, and with Court,
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Speaker 3: who has used the spell locate plants and animals.
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Speaker 1: Court, you truly.
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Speaker 2: Are a min said Achilie, beaming. What other secrets are
10:03
Speaker 2: you hiding from me?
10:05
Speaker 3: Cord shrugged his painted face showed only the same mild
10:08
Speaker 3: expression it always did, But somehow Achilie felt that he
10:12
Speaker 3: was grinning on the inside. By some feet of magic,
10:15
Speaker 3: the wooden construct had led the companions directly to a
10:18
Speaker 3: desperately needed source of food. It was a raspberry bush,
10:22
Speaker 3: nestled in a small groove of dwarf pines, and it
10:25
Speaker 3: was fairly bursting with fruit. Achilia did not hesitate. She
10:29
Speaker 3: practically plunged into the bush, picking berries and shoving them
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Speaker 3: into her mouth, one after another. Perhaps because of all
10:35
Speaker 3: they had been through, the terror and the hardship, she
10:38
Speaker 3: allowed herself to become a little girl for the moment,
10:40
Speaker 3: and started laughing between mouthfuls. Ten Tyre was right behind her,
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Speaker 3: tossing berry after berry into his mouth and laughing along
10:50
Speaker 3: with Achillia. Derniate is well, but he was not one
10:53
Speaker 3: to act like a child, and he tempered his enthusiasm.
10:56
Speaker 3: The three of them had each consumed a full handful
10:59
Speaker 3: of berries and had waited a good way into the
11:01
Speaker 3: bushes when a great buzzing sound erupted from the dense leaves.
11:09
Speaker 3: In an instant, there were such sounds all around them,
11:12
Speaker 3: zipping past their ears. It was as if they had
11:15
Speaker 3: disturbed a hive of wasps, which is exactly what they
11:18
Speaker 3: thought they had done. Tenure thrashed about, swatting at the air.
11:24
Speaker 3: If these were wasps, they must be enormous. The sounds
11:27
Speaker 3: they made were too low and too loud for any
11:30
Speaker 3: common insect. Suddenly his hand connected with something large, and
11:34
Speaker 3: before his eyes a tiny person appeared in front of him,
11:37
Speaker 3: hovering in the air, right in front of his face.
11:41
Speaker 3: Wings like bees, wings thrumbed madly from its shoulders. The
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Speaker 3: little person, it was hard to say if it was
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Speaker 3: male or female, despite wearing very little in the way
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Speaker 3: of clothing, had a red welt on the side of
11:52
Speaker 3: their body and face where tent tire had hit them
11:55
Speaker 3: Directly after this, one tiny person appeared, Another popped into view, another,
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Speaker 3: and another, until seven miniature persons flitted and hovered in
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Speaker 3: the air in front of the companions and above the
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Speaker 3: raspberry bush. One of the little fairy folk had black
12:11
Speaker 3: hair twisted above its head in a coil. Perhaps it
12:14
Speaker 3: was the leader of the group, for it flew right
12:16
Speaker 3: up to Tender's face and poked the elf in his
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Speaker 3: forehead with an accusing finger.
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Speaker 5: Er As asked us, the roar.
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Speaker 3: Ten Deers sensed his older brother moved behind him and
12:29
Speaker 3: correctly anticipated Duranny's intention.
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Speaker 1: No, do any weight, stay your blade.
12:34
Speaker 3: There was a barely perceptible click as the other ELF's
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Speaker 3: blade slid back into its scabbard. Tender let out a
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Speaker 3: breath of relief. He held up his hands, painted a
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Speaker 3: guilty red with berry juice.
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Speaker 1: I beg pardon, he announced, All of us apologize for
12:50
Speaker 1: eating your food. We had no idea it belonged to anybody.
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Speaker 5: A fop arl or half pass all.
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Speaker 3: Asked the black haired fairy. His littles the size of
13:00
Speaker 3: Tender's fingers were crossed in front of his bare chest
13:03
Speaker 3: while he bobbed in the air his wings a thrumb.
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Speaker 1: No, No, that is not all. I apologize most of
13:12
Speaker 1: all to your sister. I thought she was ten.
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Speaker 3: Tear cut himself off here, thinking these beings might not
13:18
Speaker 3: appreciate being mistaken for wasps.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't know what was happening.
13:25
Speaker 3: The one he had slept yet, rubbed her side and
13:28
Speaker 3: wore a maudeline expression, even though it was clear that
13:30
Speaker 3: the injury was not so bad. Her skin was already
13:33
Speaker 3: returning to its previous milky color. The leader rotated in
13:37
Speaker 3: the air so that he faced her.
13:39
Speaker 5: Run the feather fowler upon he.
13:45
Speaker 3: Let's take a step back for a moment and talk
13:47
Speaker 3: about how we got here before we figure out how
13:49
Speaker 3: the encounter will proceed. As you'll have guessed by the
13:52
Speaker 3: last status update, the raspberry bush was discovered by Cord
13:55
Speaker 3: through his use of the spell Located Plants and Animals Bind.
14:00
Speaker 3: This occurrence with the result of my Wandering Encounter roll
14:03
Speaker 3: of six, which on my new table indicated that the
14:06
Speaker 3: party would come across a group of fairy folk. I
14:09
Speaker 3: chose to use sprites. By the book, sprites can't turn invisible,
14:13
Speaker 3: but I decided to give them this ability to give
14:15
Speaker 3: the encounter a little more pizaz off. Mike. I rolled
14:18
Speaker 3: that the sprites there are seven of them, would be surprised,
14:21
Speaker 3: but that the PCs would not be. Thus the blundering
14:24
Speaker 3: into their nest and ensuing uproar. Everything that followed was
14:28
Speaker 3: simply a matter of figuring out what would logically take
14:30
Speaker 3: place from there. All that brings us to the following question,
14:34
Speaker 3: will these sprites accept ten tiers apology for eating their
14:37
Speaker 3: food and striking one of their number? A reaction roll
14:40
Speaker 3: will provide the answer. I'll roll two D six and oh,
14:44
Speaker 3: look at this, ten tier has a charisma bonus of
14:47
Speaker 3: plus one. Okay, I'll say that, along with his apology
14:50
Speaker 3: and obvious effort to keep the peace, this is enough
14:53
Speaker 3: to cancel out the bad first impression he made. It's
14:55
Speaker 3: a straight role, then higher is better. Here we go.
15:00
Speaker 2: A seven.
15:01
Speaker 3: Okay, I can work with that. The sprite named Tuna
15:09
Speaker 3: pouted and spun in the air so that she had
15:11
Speaker 3: her little back turned to tent Tier, said the lead
15:16
Speaker 3: sprite in a voice that was deadly serious despite his
15:18
Speaker 3: high pitch.
15:20
Speaker 5: Three ten pounds of rules across sister.
15:26
Speaker 3: Her brief response was in a language of chitters and tuts,
15:29
Speaker 3: incomprehensible to any of the companions. After she concluded, the
15:33
Speaker 3: leader nodded agreement and turned back.
15:35
Speaker 1: To ten tier soonacrous promise with.
15:40
Speaker 3: Tender blanched. Well, oh, what kind of punishment, he stammered.
15:47
Speaker 3: At their leader's command, four of the other sprites flew up,
15:50
Speaker 3: so they all hovered in a straight line in front
15:52
Speaker 3: of ten Tier. Together, they spoke a word in the
15:54
Speaker 3: ancient tongue of fairies, and a puff of golden dust
15:58
Speaker 3: blew forth from their tiny right into Tintyre's face. The
16:03
Speaker 3: dust was gone an instant, but the moment he inhaled it,
16:06
Speaker 3: Tenyres suddenly got a terrible taste in his mouth. Instead
16:10
Speaker 3: of the flavor of raspberries, his tongue registered a flavor
16:13
Speaker 3: of rotted fish. He doubled over, hands on his knees,
16:17
Speaker 3: and spat on the ground, almost wretching. The line of
16:22
Speaker 3: fairies flying in front of him broke formation and flew
16:24
Speaker 3: about them, laughing hysterically. The leader did not participate in
16:30
Speaker 3: the merrymaking, though he now wore a small smile.
16:33
Speaker 5: A personal fu he said, wow from off, that's herself.
16:46
Speaker 3: Achilia did not find anything funny about the fairy's mirth,
16:49
Speaker 3: quite the opposite. It came across as both mean spirited
16:53
Speaker 3: and a little hysterical, and it made her feel that
16:55
Speaker 3: something awful was about to happen. She tensed, wondering how
16:59
Speaker 3: quickly she could draw it dagger if she needed to.
17:01
Speaker 3: But before she could do anything, the younger Elvin brother
17:04
Speaker 3: once again called for peace, throwing at an arm. Even
17:07
Speaker 3: when he was doubled over, he managed to croak no,
17:12
Speaker 3: it's all right. Ten Tears straightened and wiped his mouth
17:16
Speaker 3: with the back of his hand, looking a little ashen.
17:18
Speaker 1: What else will you have?
17:21
Speaker 3: Very the lead sprite did not hesitate.
17:24
Speaker 5: Your so little happen session for a little tot alsta,
17:27
Speaker 5: my my, what.
17:29
Speaker 3: As ten tier genuinely perplexed rawats Doranian tantyr knew that
17:37
Speaker 3: fairyfolk considered salt to be more valuable than gold, but
17:40
Speaker 3: they were at a loss.
17:42
Speaker 4: We carry no salt.
17:43
Speaker 3: Said do Renni bah hafl, how far lead sprite, archly
17:48
Speaker 3: pointing at a chillia. The Killia was shocked both to
17:51
Speaker 3: be referred to as a halfling and to the other claim,
17:54
Speaker 3: for she was neither a half leg, nor did she
17:56
Speaker 3: carry any salt. She began to protest, but the lead
17:59
Speaker 3: sprite zigzagged in the air in front of her, fluzzing
18:01
Speaker 3: his wings in her face.
18:03
Speaker 5: Darts throw low to.
18:06
Speaker 3: Lap the other force brtes flew up into line formation.
18:13
Speaker 3: Once again, Achilia chose the path of prudence and dumbed
18:17
Speaker 3: the contents of her satchel onto the ground. Out came
18:19
Speaker 3: her tinder box, her extra clothes that she had carefully
18:22
Speaker 3: wrapped around the jet in turquoise skull, since it had
18:25
Speaker 3: seemed somewhat fragile to her the potion of gaseous form,
18:28
Speaker 3: several dozen coins, and then a tiny package wrapped in silk.
18:33
Speaker 3: A ha A cried the lead sprite in triumph. Achilia
18:37
Speaker 3: suddenly remembered getting the gift from fimgrim Atrus and putting
18:41
Speaker 3: it into her bag. It had been intended for her vobby,
18:44
Speaker 3: but in all the chaos and upset, she had completely
18:47
Speaker 3: forgotten that it was there. A lah Ramas commanded the sprite,
18:51
Speaker 3: his tiny voice imperious. She obeyed, picking up the silk
18:54
Speaker 3: package and unwrapping it to reveal a miniature jar. Twisting
18:59
Speaker 3: off the lid revealed the small quantity of pink salt crystals.
19:03
Speaker 3: The fairies reacted visibly to this, buzzing and twittering to
19:06
Speaker 3: each other excitedly in their strange, insectile tongue's all continued
19:11
Speaker 3: the sprite. He didn't move. Instead, two subordinate sprites flew
19:15
Speaker 3: over to Achillia, and with one of the fake creatures
19:17
Speaker 3: supporting the little jar on each side, they bore it
19:20
Speaker 3: away into the recesses of the raspberry patch. Stated the
19:27
Speaker 3: lead sprite, I'll off a little boble for a little
19:31
Speaker 3: path u bargin asked to Kilia, betting to put her
19:34
Speaker 3: possessions back into her satchel.
19:37
Speaker 5: Lee for a little.
19:40
Speaker 3: Without thinking of the possible consequences, Achillie blurted out, do
19:43
Speaker 3: you know of.
19:44
Speaker 2: A person named Ottoc? He lives somewhere to the north.
19:49
Speaker 3: There was more insect chatter between the sprites than the
19:51
Speaker 3: leader replied.
19:54
Speaker 5: The level arf little prom.
19:56
Speaker 2: We need water, said do Rennie.
19:58
Speaker 4: We will make a week for you if you can
20:01
Speaker 4: point us to a river or a stream.
20:04
Speaker 3: This will tell it, said the dark haired sprite, without hesitation.
20:07
Speaker 5: On For your part, you will put up a hocking
20:09
Speaker 5: skilled parts.
20:10
Speaker 3: Achillia thought she'd seen the little fairy notice those, and
20:14
Speaker 3: that she had more need of water than gold. She said,
20:16
Speaker 3: perhaps we could simply buy the information from you twenty
20:19
Speaker 3: gold coins in exchange for directions to a stream or
20:22
Speaker 3: a pond. I will tell you, rebutter, and said the
20:26
Speaker 3: sprite magnanimously.
20:27
Speaker 5: Rappa fa fare you must.
20:31
Speaker 3: Achillia would have preferred it her way, but could see
20:34
Speaker 3: that they still had more to gain than to lose
20:36
Speaker 3: by taking the deal.
20:37
Speaker 5: Very well, what is the wager?
20:39
Speaker 3: There was more excited talk between the fairy folk when
20:42
Speaker 3: it ended.
20:43
Speaker 5: Later said I think her with her saravath unplut ad
20:46
Speaker 5: eruptionles ah the sarmat way a go to us fine,
20:51
Speaker 5: ask your riddle? This a personal for I sharnav replat
20:53
Speaker 5: the crystal. What is then murder yourselves.
21:00
Speaker 3: Killia could think of a great number of things that
21:02
Speaker 3: would fit this description, water, food, money, All of those
21:06
Speaker 3: became less when shared. But she knew the answer would
21:09
Speaker 3: have to be something more clever than that. A brief
21:12
Speaker 3: silence fell between them. Ten tear twitched. He was about
21:16
Speaker 3: to say something, but bit his tongue. The moment of
21:18
Speaker 3: quiet had reminded him of something his former archery teacher
21:21
Speaker 3: used to say that silence was the only reply to foolishness.
21:25
Speaker 3: He had thought silence might be the answer to the
21:28
Speaker 3: fairy's riddle, but no, that answer would lose the wager.
21:32
Speaker 3: It was de Renni who actually spoke up.
21:34
Speaker 4: I know the answer, he.
21:36
Speaker 2: Said, Dramatis personae ten tyr.
21:48
Speaker 3: Five days ago.
21:51
Speaker 2: If you aren't early, prompted elmir, I know, I know,
21:55
Speaker 2: said Tender, sauntering up to his archery teacher, say it.
21:59
Speaker 2: If you are early, what are you?
22:02
Speaker 1: If you aren't early, you're late. You have an expression
22:05
Speaker 1: for everything.
22:06
Speaker 3: Elm here.
22:08
Speaker 2: That's because an expression often says exactly what needs to
22:11
Speaker 2: be said. Why are you late this time?
22:13
Speaker 3: Ten Tier? Ten tiers shrugged.
22:15
Speaker 1: I fell asleep under the big oak. It was sunny
22:18
Speaker 1: and warm, and I just forgot. There's no reason to
22:23
Speaker 1: get upset.
22:24
Speaker 2: I'm not so much upset as I am disappointed, replied Elmir.
22:29
Speaker 3: Oh that old quibble, said ten Tier, rolling his eyes.
22:33
Speaker 1: To be honest, Elmere, the things we're working on, I'm
22:37
Speaker 1: past kneading practice.
22:39
Speaker 2: A hunter is never past kneading practice, returned the archery instructor.
22:44
Speaker 2: Pick up your bow, draw and let me see you
22:47
Speaker 2: hit the second target.
22:48
Speaker 3: Elmer pointed down the range to where a practice demy
22:51
Speaker 3: had been tied to a post. A bored looking boy
22:53
Speaker 3: stood a little way off to one side, waiting to
22:56
Speaker 3: fetch in return spent arrows. Ten Tire knocked, drew back,
23:00
Speaker 3: and fired in one fluid motion. The arrow sailed through
23:03
Speaker 3: the air and struck the target right in the flower
23:06
Speaker 3: pinned to the heart, which served as a bull's eye.
23:09
Speaker 3: He looked at his instructor and bounced his eyebrows as
23:11
Speaker 3: if to say, I told you so.
23:14
Speaker 2: Umhm.
23:14
Speaker 3: Almir grunted this would have been a lot easier if
23:17
Speaker 3: Tintre had missed, but he kept a calm expression as
23:20
Speaker 3: he said, very.
23:21
Speaker 2: Well, but can you do it while in motion? Try
23:24
Speaker 2: it like this, torn your back on the target, spin
23:29
Speaker 2: and fire.
23:30
Speaker 3: Elmir pantomimed the motion with an imaginary bow. Easy, said Tantyre,
23:35
Speaker 3: and just like that he copied the instructor's movements, spinning
23:38
Speaker 3: one hundred and eighty degrees while drawing and loosing. Once again,
23:42
Speaker 3: his arrow struck true, burying itself in the target right
23:46
Speaker 3: beside the first.
23:48
Speaker 2: You're a good shot, Almir conceded, and perhaps you are
23:52
Speaker 2: ready for something more difficult. But your attitude ten tier.
23:57
Speaker 2: It needs working on, finally.
24:00
Speaker 3: Huffed Tentier. Ignoring the admonition, Elmir waved to the boy
24:04
Speaker 3: Elf down range, whose job was to fetch arrows and
24:06
Speaker 3: run them back. Eventually this boy would become a pupil.
24:09
Speaker 3: In years past, Tantyer done this same job as hed
24:13
Speaker 3: Durrenni before he was allowed to practice under Elmir.
24:16
Speaker 2: Hickum work the rope on the swing target.
24:18
Speaker 3: Elmir called Hickham, was grateful simply to have a different task,
24:22
Speaker 3: and went forth eagerly. Although he had the good sense
24:25
Speaker 3: not to express it. He had noticed and was enjoying
24:28
Speaker 3: Tenttyre's little show of defiance. Before long, he had removed
24:31
Speaker 3: the stationary dummy from the range and was manning a
24:34
Speaker 3: swing rope to which a second, smaller dummy was attached.
24:37
Speaker 3: He looked back at Elmre, waiting for the command to
24:39
Speaker 3: give it a push. Elmir turned to Tentier.
24:42
Speaker 2: Let's see how well you do against a moving target.
24:45
Speaker 3: He waved at Hickam, who gave the swing dummy a shove.
24:48
Speaker 3: It followed its parabolic arch as it pendulumed from a
24:51
Speaker 3: rope tied to a tree branch hanging high over the
24:54
Speaker 3: middle of the range.
24:55
Speaker 2: Fire at will Tantier.
24:57
Speaker 3: Tintiers quinted briefly down his shaft at the target, tried
25:00
Speaker 3: to calculate where it would be by the time his
25:02
Speaker 3: arrow arrived. It was a tricky shot because with each
25:05
Speaker 3: swing the range of motions slightly diminished, so it was
25:08
Speaker 3: always changing and therefore hard to predict. All the same,
25:12
Speaker 3: when he loosed, his aim was good. The arrow struck
25:15
Speaker 3: the target on one side, causing it to spin in
25:17
Speaker 3: the air. Hickum could not help but utter a clipped cheer,
25:21
Speaker 3: excited to see this show of talent. Tantyr offered his
25:24
Speaker 3: bow to Elmere, wearing a spunk expression on his face
25:27
Speaker 3: before he thought better of it. He said, why though
25:30
Speaker 3: you give it a shot. This went beyond cheek. It
25:33
Speaker 3: was plain rudeness. In the culture of the Elves, elders
25:37
Speaker 3: were to be obeyed and respected, never challenged. Elmir kept
25:41
Speaker 3: his face calm, but his eyes betrayed his outrage. He
25:44
Speaker 3: took the bow. However, instead of calling Hickum to once
25:47
Speaker 3: again swing the dummy, he motioned for the boy to
25:49
Speaker 3: come over.
25:50
Speaker 2: Tantyr. Today you will fetch the arrows and set up
25:54
Speaker 2: the dummy. Hiccum will practice archery in your place.
25:57
Speaker 3: Tintyre's face registered shock and resent. His lip curled. Fet
26:02
Speaker 3: your own arrows, he said. Even as the words came out,
26:06
Speaker 3: he knew that he had gone too far. Without another word,
26:10
Speaker 3: he stalked off, heading back home to wait for the
26:13
Speaker 3: inevitable consequences of his actions. Elmer watched him go and
26:18
Speaker 3: said nothing. I feel a bit guilty ending the episode
26:25
Speaker 3: here before de Rennie has a chance to finish speaking,
26:27
Speaker 3: but I thought it might be fun to give you,
26:29
Speaker 3: the listeners, a chance to think over this Sprite's riddle,
26:32
Speaker 3: or perhaps, like de Rennie, you already know the answer.
26:36
Speaker 3: There's another reason too. The whole idea of the Fairy's
26:39
Speaker 3: riddle was to fulfill my current event, meaning befriend pension. Now,
26:44
Speaker 3: I think it's in keeping with that set of prompts
26:46
Speaker 3: to wait for the riddle's answer, but we don't need
26:49
Speaker 3: to wait for a new pair from the mythic tables.
26:51
Speaker 3: Here goes. I've got eighty three assist and fifteen the innocent.
26:59
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I know exactly what to do with that.
27:08
Speaker 3: Thanks very much for listening to Tale of the Manticore.
27:11
Speaker 3: If you're enjoying the show and would like to help
27:13
Speaker 3: to support it, there are lots of ways to do so.
27:15
Speaker 3: You can recommend the show online or to friends. You
27:18
Speaker 3: can like and repost episode announcements on social media. You
27:21
Speaker 3: can pick up one of my offerings on drive through RPG.
27:23
Speaker 3: You can purchase a Tale of the Manticore t shirt
27:25
Speaker 3: at www Dot bear Arts dot store, and finally, you
27:28
Speaker 3: can rate or review the show on your podcast of choice.
27:31
Speaker 3: I am very grateful for all of your support. Let's
27:34
Speaker 3: hear some words from another kind listener. This one is
27:37
Speaker 3: something a little bit different. A while ago, I got
27:40
Speaker 3: an email from JMS, a listener who linked me to
27:43
Speaker 3: his blog where he created a settlement using the Pendulum
27:46
Speaker 3: world building tool. On his blog, JMS writes, Pendulum is
27:50
Speaker 3: a world building assistant from one of my all time
27:52
Speaker 3: favorite creators, John from Tale of the Manticore. John's podcast
27:56
Speaker 3: is the reason I first became interested in solo roleplay,
27:59
Speaker 3: who has long been the inspiration for me combining my
28:01
Speaker 3: solo play with fiction writing. The author then proceeds to
28:04
Speaker 3: apply the world building tool and entry by entry creates
28:07
Speaker 3: a settlement called the town of Oakton. Thanks so much, JMS,
28:12
Speaker 3: both to the generous words of support and for sharing
28:14
Speaker 3: your creative work. I've already linked your blog from mine,
28:18
Speaker 3: but folks who'd like to check it out can gethered
28:19
Speaker 3: directly by visiting myhro brain dot blog. Thanks again, JMS.
28:25
Speaker 3: Thanks are also due to my amazing cast. In the
28:28
Speaker 3: usual roles of Duretti Intentire are Kayellen and Kevin Barringer.
28:32
Speaker 3: Also returning to the show in the role of Elmere.
28:34
Speaker 3: The archery instructor is Dan Greek, creator of Legends from
28:38
Speaker 3: the Fireside. Finally, a return from an actor who we
28:41
Speaker 3: haven't heard from since season one. It's sit my amigo
28:44
Speaker 3: in Arizona playing and absolutely nailing the role of Sprite Later.
28:49
Speaker 3: Thanks to all four of you for delivering such great performances.
28:53
Speaker 3: Now this is where I would usually drop my contacts
28:55
Speaker 3: and ways to get in touch, but instead I'd like
28:58
Speaker 3: to introduce you to a podcast called Reflections in the
29:01
Speaker 3: Darksome Mirror. The creator New Follows did the bumper for
29:05
Speaker 3: this episode. Reflections in the darks of Mirror is a
29:08
Speaker 3: dark fantasy hybrid audiobook, and as with some other players
29:11
Speaker 3: in this semi actual space, the creator uses his own
29:14
Speaker 3: game system. That said, in this show, the slider is
29:17
Speaker 3: set more to the story side and less to the
29:19
Speaker 3: game side. For me, the quality of the dialogue is
29:22
Speaker 3: a real standout and this pod is definitely worth checking out.
29:26
Speaker 3: Making this announcement also gives me the opportunity to invite
29:29
Speaker 3: others onto this adventure. Are you thinking of trying your
29:32
Speaker 3: hand in producing an audio drama pod? I and an
29:35
Speaker 3: evergrowing community of folks who are doing it are here
29:38
Speaker 3: and willing to help. Don't be shy, get started, get
29:41
Speaker 3: in touch, and let us give you a hand. Until
29:44
Speaker 3: next time. The adventure will continue on tail of the manticor.
29:48
Speaker 3: It's the story. We're chaos rules