Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 33 (S3E33)

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Episode 33 (S3E33) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:01
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Cranberry Spider and you're listening to Tale
0:04
Speaker 1: of the Manticor. The following podcast is intended for a
0:10
Speaker 1: mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale
0:29
Speaker 1: of the Manticor Season three. Like the creature from which
0:33
Speaker 1: it takes its name, Tale of the Manticor is a
0:35
Speaker 1: mash up, a cross breeding between two different species of storytelling.
0:40
Speaker 1: Here you will find the unpredictability of old school paper
0:43
Speaker 1: and dice games with the story craft of a dark
0:46
Speaker 1: fantasy novel. No character is sacred and none will be
0:50
Speaker 1: spared if the dice decide their fate is at hand.
0:54
Speaker 1: According to lore, the Tale of a Manticre is barbed
0:57
Speaker 1: with cruel iron spikes. There will be much pain in
1:02
Speaker 1: the days ahead. Last time on Tail of the Manticor,
1:15
Speaker 1: the last chapter begins with the discovery of the first
1:18
Speaker 1: scroll of Galandl a Dorothi Treasure, or really the Dorothy Treasure.
1:23
Speaker 1: Since it's written in old dation, it will take time
1:25
Speaker 1: to fully understand the pieces. Don't know what it is
1:28
Speaker 1: and simply pack it away to go over at a
1:30
Speaker 1: later time. When they continue their investigation of the Dorothy caves,
1:34
Speaker 1: they find a tunnel, ending in a door. It's not locked,
1:37
Speaker 1: but it is hard to open because something heavy is
1:39
Speaker 1: on the other side blocking it. Durani and Tantier managed
1:42
Speaker 1: to get the door open enough to see that a
1:44
Speaker 1: table has been pushed against the door. They crawl under it,
1:47
Speaker 1: get inside, push it out of the way, and the
1:50
Speaker 1: rest of the pieces enter. Beyond is a room whose
1:53
Speaker 1: obvious purpose is to house a great but incomplete map
1:56
Speaker 1: of the surrounding region. In addition to the map, they
1:59
Speaker 1: find it a lantern and a skeleton clutching a note
2:02
Speaker 1: in its bony fingers. The note is the diary or
2:06
Speaker 1: perhaps confession, of one Rector Bayume. He appears to have
2:10
Speaker 1: spent his final days alone, abstaining from all food and
2:13
Speaker 1: water as a way to repent his sins. He asks
2:16
Speaker 1: whoever finds the note to deliver the map and the
2:18
Speaker 1: scroll the pieces found in the other room to a
2:20
Speaker 1: cleric named Tobias who lives Inzatia. He also mentions a
2:24
Speaker 1: devil that lurks outside the cave mouth. The pieces decide
2:28
Speaker 1: that it's time to go back to the entrance, taking
2:30
Speaker 1: care as they cross the yellow mold room not to
2:33
Speaker 1: disturb the deadly fungus. When they reach the exit, they
2:36
Speaker 1: are stunned to find a gigantic, misshapen creature outside. Unfortunately,
2:41
Speaker 1: it sees them too, and now the Pieces must face
2:43
Speaker 1: the same problem that the Derothi failed to overcome. They
2:47
Speaker 1: debate various strategies and in the end decide to try
2:50
Speaker 1: attacking the monster with missile weapons from the safety of
2:53
Speaker 1: the cave. Whether or not this will work is yet
2:56
Speaker 1: to be determined. The debate over how to deal with
3:06
Speaker 1: the giant forest Troll, to my mind, satisfies the current
3:10
Speaker 1: event meaning of dispute magic, so we'll need a new one.
3:14
Speaker 1: Rolling D one hundred twice gives me attract and elements interesting.
3:20
Speaker 1: We'll see how that might influence the narrative in time.
3:23
Speaker 1: Needing a new event meeting is not the only reason
3:25
Speaker 1: I didn't begin this episode with an audio drama segment. No,
3:29
Speaker 1: there's something much more important that needs to happen before
3:32
Speaker 1: the PCs engage the giant Troll. Today is a level
3:35
Speaker 1: up episode four de Renni. He is now a fourth
3:38
Speaker 1: level fighter, and so we'll receive a D six of
3:40
Speaker 1: new hit points, an attack bonus increase, and a chance
3:43
Speaker 1: for stat increases. Let's get into it. Rolling new hit
3:47
Speaker 1: points on a D six gives me I got a four,
3:50
Speaker 1: which isn't bad and takes his current and max hit
3:52
Speaker 1: points up to sixteen. That's the decent start. I hope
3:56
Speaker 1: his luck will hold out as we roll for potential
3:58
Speaker 1: stat increases strength. I've got a four, Intelligence A one,
4:05
Speaker 1: Wisdom a two, Dexterity a four for dexterity, constitution a five,
4:13
Speaker 1: and last chance charisma a one. The dice God simply
4:18
Speaker 1: do not want during any stats to improve. His last
4:21
Speaker 1: level up was also a dud. If memory serves. Oh well,
4:24
Speaker 1: like last time, there's a silver lining. His basic two
4:27
Speaker 1: hip bonus goes from plus one to plus two, and
4:30
Speaker 1: that's the kind of improvement that can really make a
4:32
Speaker 1: big difference. He goes without saying that the PCs will
4:35
Speaker 1: need all the help they can get as the enemy
4:37
Speaker 1: the air, but to face does not represent what would
4:39
Speaker 1: be called a balanced encounter, not even close. It weigh
4:43
Speaker 1: out classes them and it is a deadly threat. Let's
4:47
Speaker 1: get into the narrative and see how their current strategy
4:49
Speaker 1: will play out. Chapter thirty three, Part one, Day twenty
5:00
Speaker 1: eight afternoon mythic event meaning attract elements, party status achillea
5:10
Speaker 1: thirteen of thirteen hip points, Cord eighteen of eighteen, de
5:16
Speaker 1: Renni sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair
5:22
Speaker 1: Wind twenty six of twenty six supplies. The companions have
5:29
Speaker 1: eight portions of food remaining spells available. Achille can cast
5:35
Speaker 1: shrink times two and glitter dust. Cord can cast entangle
5:41
Speaker 1: and slow poison. De Renni took a deep breath and
5:49
Speaker 1: pulled an arrow back far enough that the fletching touched
5:51
Speaker 1: the tip of his nose. Then he ducked out from
5:55
Speaker 1: the cover of the broken front door frame that filled
5:57
Speaker 1: the aperture of the cave mouth and fired behind him.
6:01
Speaker 1: Ten tiers loosed as well, and then came the sound
6:04
Speaker 1: of fair Wind's sling. Three missiles flew towards their target,
6:07
Speaker 1: a monstrous column of corded muscles and wiry black hair
6:11
Speaker 1: with pits for eyes and a long, misshapen nose that
6:14
Speaker 1: hung over a wolf's grin. Since the giant forest troll
6:21
Speaker 1: will be unable to retaliate, I'm not going to enter
6:24
Speaker 1: into combat or even roll initiative at this time. The
6:27
Speaker 1: circumstances dictate that the three PCs who have ranged weapons
6:30
Speaker 1: can each make a free attack. The troll has an
6:33
Speaker 1: armor class of sixteen, and so de Renni will need
6:36
Speaker 1: a thirteen to hit it, while Tender will have to
6:38
Speaker 1: roll a fourteen or better and fair Wind will require
6:41
Speaker 1: a seventeen because of his dexterity penalty. Here come the
6:44
Speaker 1: rolls to any fires. A five is a miss ten tiers. Next,
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Speaker 1: A fourteen hits and does ooh six points of damage.
6:55
Speaker 1: Last to go is fair Wind with his sling. A
6:58
Speaker 1: two doesn't come close since first blood has been drawn.
7:02
Speaker 1: I suppose I'll need to roll up the monster's hit points.
7:05
Speaker 1: Rolling eighty eight gives me. Let's see thirty five hit points.
7:12
Speaker 1: The min ow number is thirty two, so there's no
7:14
Speaker 1: adjustment to make, but after Tentus hit that number is
7:17
Speaker 1: reduced to twenty nine. Let's return to the narrative and
7:20
Speaker 1: see how this plays out. De Rennie pulled back behind cover,
7:30
Speaker 1: hugging the broken timber door frame. His first good look
7:33
Speaker 1: at the monster had shaken him, and his heart thumped
7:36
Speaker 1: in his chest.
7:37
Speaker 2: I don't think I hit it, he rasped.
7:40
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I did, said ten tyr. His eyes
7:43
Speaker 1: were wild and a sheen of sweat glossed his forehead,
7:46
Speaker 1: despite the cool of the caves. In fact, Tenttyr was
7:49
Speaker 1: certain he had hit the creature. He had seen his
7:51
Speaker 1: arrow strike its muscle packed abdomen. Fairwind was also now
7:56
Speaker 1: back behind cover. He was visibly shaking. Dornnie wasn't sure
8:00
Speaker 1: how much help Fairwin was going to be. He had
8:02
Speaker 1: seen the cleric slingstone fly away over the giant's head,
8:06
Speaker 1: but ten tyars hit had elicited a terrible roar from
8:09
Speaker 1: the giant creature, and they had heard it stalk off
8:11
Speaker 1: to one side. When Dorenni poked his head back out
8:14
Speaker 1: to steal a look, the village basin was empty, but
8:17
Speaker 1: it only took a second for him to hear the
8:18
Speaker 1: heavy breathing and then catch a whiff of the monster's
8:21
Speaker 1: rank odor. He ducked back into safety.
8:24
Speaker 2: It is off to one side. I do not think
8:28
Speaker 2: I will be able to get off another shot. Maybe
8:31
Speaker 2: I can.
8:32
Speaker 1: A little noise interrupted the elf. When he looked over
8:35
Speaker 1: to where the sound had come from, there was tentyars
8:38
Speaker 1: arrow bloodied the fletching on the cave floor. The creature
8:41
Speaker 1: must have pulled it out and thrown it back at them.
8:43
Speaker 1: In challenge, Tantyre looked at to Rennie.
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Speaker 2: What now, I'm not sure little mouse was the reply.
8:50
Speaker 2: Maybe I can see where it went if I am quick.
8:53
Speaker 1: Doretnie once again stuck his head out just far enough
8:56
Speaker 1: past the wooden frame to allow himself a glimpse of
8:59
Speaker 1: the monster. No sooner had he done so than something
9:02
Speaker 1: huge came wooshing his way. Giant forest trolls do not
9:09
Speaker 1: normally use weapons, but since the companions are out of
9:11
Speaker 1: its reach, it is yanked to steak free from the ground,
9:14
Speaker 1: flicked off the corpse impaled on it, and is about
9:17
Speaker 1: to try to crush de Rennie's skull. Of course, Dornni
9:20
Speaker 1: has almost full cover, so the giant troll will need
9:23
Speaker 1: to roll extremely well to connect. Normally, it would need
9:26
Speaker 1: a nine to hit de Reni's ac of fifteen, but
9:28
Speaker 1: in this case I'm going to impose a minus eight
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Speaker 1: penalty for the cover and the hard to reach location
9:33
Speaker 1: Duranny currently occupies. That means the elf is safe unless
9:37
Speaker 1: I roll a seventeen or bitter fingers crossed. Here's the
9:41
Speaker 1: roll I got fifteen. Dorni manages to pull back just
9:47
Speaker 1: in time to avoid having his head obliterated by the steak,
9:50
Speaker 1: which slams into the door frame, producing an ear splitting
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Speaker 1: crack and sending bits of dust and splinters everywhere. When
10:05
Speaker 1: fair Wind, to Tener and a badly shaken Dorennie returned
10:07
Speaker 1: to the guardroom through the narrow tunnel, Achillie was in
10:10
Speaker 1: the middle of explaining something to Chord. At first she.
10:13
Speaker 3: Didn't see them, so they waited and waited, and the
10:15
Speaker 3: thing never left, and then they waited some more, with
10:18
Speaker 3: the same result. Eventually they would have been too weak
10:21
Speaker 3: from hunger and thirst to do anything but weight until
10:24
Speaker 3: they simply starved, you see, and that's how we found
10:27
Speaker 3: Oh they're back, de Rennie.
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Speaker 1: Are you all right, de Rennie answered in a hollow voice.
10:34
Speaker 2: I yes, we are all all right. Tensier heard it.
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Speaker 1: I think I only managed to anger it, to be honest,
10:44
Speaker 1: said Tantyr, rubbing the back of his neck. Fair Wind
10:47
Speaker 1: was with the two elves, but he didn't even look
10:49
Speaker 1: at Achillia and Cord. He was muttering a prayer under
10:52
Speaker 1: his breath and looking up at the tunnel ceiling as
10:54
Speaker 1: though the solution to their predicament might be written across it.
10:59
Speaker 1: Once they were all together, Dorenni lifted a finger and
11:01
Speaker 1: said sh listen. They did so, but there was no sound.
11:07
Speaker 1: The slightest tinge of hope found its way into Dorannie's
11:10
Speaker 1: tone when he next spoke.
11:12
Speaker 2: Is it possible that ten tears arrow drove it on?
11:20
Speaker 1: De Renni didn't even have the chance to finish the
11:22
Speaker 1: question before it was answered by a barrage of aggressive snarls, roars,
11:26
Speaker 1: and the sound of breaking timber. Achillia was the first
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Speaker 1: to understand how their situation had just gone from bad
11:32
Speaker 1: to worse.
11:33
Speaker 3: The stairs, if that thing destroys the stairs, will be
11:36
Speaker 3: trapped up here with no quick way down.
11:38
Speaker 1: She was right, of course, the stairs, attached to the
11:41
Speaker 1: stone wall of the hillside had been in fairly good condition,
11:44
Speaker 1: especially compared with the rest of the Dorothy village when
11:46
Speaker 1: they had come in. But if they were destroyed, the
11:49
Speaker 1: companions would have no choice but to descend using Dourni's rope,
11:52
Speaker 1: and that would make them ridiculously easy targets for the monster.
11:56
Speaker 1: Even as they were, the stairs would slow them down somewhat,
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Speaker 1: as their use was only possible in single file.
12:02
Speaker 3: There's no time to lose. We have to do something
12:04
Speaker 3: right now.
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Speaker 1: Come on, said Achillia. She started to go, but then
12:08
Speaker 1: stopped in her tracks, she turned back to Dorni.
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Speaker 3: Right, we have to go now.
12:14
Speaker 1: Dorni's nod was what she needed. Once she had it,
12:17
Speaker 1: she ran back through the pinched tunnel and towards the
12:20
Speaker 1: square of daylight that was the cave entrance, with the
12:22
Speaker 1: words of a spell already forming on her lips. The
12:26
Speaker 1: others followed at her heels. Well, this is it. The
12:34
Speaker 1: pieces are going to have to engage with the giant
12:36
Speaker 1: forest troll. I think their plan will be to try
12:39
Speaker 1: to run past it, casting spells and using missile weapons
12:42
Speaker 1: as they go. Since they'll need to navigate the stairs
12:45
Speaker 1: in single file, I'll need to set up marching order.
12:48
Speaker 1: Although Achilia will be the first there, she won't be
12:51
Speaker 1: the first to use the stairs. That will be Fairwood,
12:53
Speaker 1: who's the worst shot. Then it'll be Cord and Achillia,
12:56
Speaker 1: while Dourni and Tentire continue to provide covering fire before
13:00
Speaker 1: following the others down. And oh yeah, I almost forgot.
13:04
Speaker 1: There's one more thing to mention. If this encounter continues
13:07
Speaker 1: past two rounds, an event something special will be triggered
13:11
Speaker 1: on round three. This isn't a random thing, but the
13:14
Speaker 1: result of a story that's been running in the background
13:16
Speaker 1: for a little while behind the curtains. Maybe you can
13:19
Speaker 1: even guess what it is. Anyway, with that settled, we
13:22
Speaker 1: are finally ready to get to the action andrey combat
13:30
Speaker 1: Round one initiative the party one the giant troll of
13:38
Speaker 1: five and wait, cries de Rennie. The cleric has started
13:42
Speaker 1: running before Achillia can finish her spell, but he falters
13:46
Speaker 1: at the first step, seizing up in panic when he
13:48
Speaker 1: beholds the gigantic creature suddenly upon him. Then realizing just
13:52
Speaker 1: how exposed he is, he will take at least ten
13:55
Speaker 1: seconds to descend the stairs, and while he's doing that
13:58
Speaker 1: there's no defense, but prayer still save us. He sputters
14:02
Speaker 1: and then plunges down two steps at a time. At
14:06
Speaker 1: the bottom, he can see a stone well. The plan
14:08
Speaker 1: is to run past that and then away in a
14:10
Speaker 1: straight line. They'll worry about regrouping later. Unfortunately, Fairwind's moment
14:16
Speaker 1: of hesitation has a cost. The troll is quicker than
14:19
Speaker 1: it looks, and tossing the wooden stake in its hand
14:21
Speaker 1: aside and lunges at him. Giant forest trolls have a
14:25
Speaker 1: preset attack routine that rotates through the following grab and slam,
14:30
Speaker 1: grab and bite, or grab and throw. I'll roll a
14:34
Speaker 1: D six to see which one it'll start with. Let's
14:36
Speaker 1: assign a one to two, three to four, and five
14:39
Speaker 1: to six to the three kinds of attack. Here's the
14:41
Speaker 1: roll A six, grab and throw. Okay, that's what we
14:46
Speaker 1: start with and will rotate through the attack types in
14:48
Speaker 1: order from here on in. Fairwind has a pathetic ac
14:52
Speaker 1: of ten and the troll has an attack bonus of
14:55
Speaker 1: plus six, so it only needs to roll a four
14:57
Speaker 1: or better on a D twenty to hit. I've got
15:01
Speaker 1: an eleven. Well, yeah, we are not off to a
15:04
Speaker 1: good start. A huge hand snatches fair Wind by the
15:08
Speaker 1: right arm and plucks him off the stairs before flinging
15:11
Speaker 1: him in the opposite direction he was heading.
15:13
Speaker 2: Oooh.
15:16
Speaker 1: The cleric will take five points of damage as he
15:19
Speaker 1: hits the ground hard. The damage isn't so bad, but
15:23
Speaker 1: fair Wind is now in a difficult spot. The monster
15:26
Speaker 1: is standing between himself and where he wants to go.
15:28
Speaker 1: If that's not bad enough, things get worse when Tentire
15:32
Speaker 1: pops out from cover to loosen arrow and notices that
15:34
Speaker 1: the spot on the monster's abdomen where he'd previously shot.
15:37
Speaker 1: It now shows no trace of any injury at all.
15:41
Speaker 1: Hopefully the shock of that won't throw off his aim
15:44
Speaker 1: tent Tuo needs a fourteen to hit the roll. A
15:47
Speaker 1: two his arrow goes wild. I guess he was that surprised.
15:52
Speaker 1: Duranti will also fire, and he needs a thirteen to
15:55
Speaker 1: hit his role. That nineteen is good. His arrow will
15:59
Speaker 1: do four points and take the troll, which had regenerated
16:02
Speaker 1: back to full health, down to thirty one. Achillia is next.
16:07
Speaker 1: She casts glitter dust, using her wand to focus the
16:10
Speaker 1: spell's power. This causes a twenty foot cube of glittering
16:14
Speaker 1: magical particles to appear that will force the troll to
16:17
Speaker 1: save versus magic or be blinded for one to four rounds. Unfortunately,
16:21
Speaker 1: since the sparkling cloud persists for about half a minute,
16:24
Speaker 1: going forward, any creature the troll might grab and pull
16:27
Speaker 1: towards it will also have to save that the party
16:30
Speaker 1: not lost the initiative. This problem wouldn't have happened, but
16:33
Speaker 1: it would be very meta to red Conochilia's intentions at
16:36
Speaker 1: this point. I think the pieces intend to throw everything
16:39
Speaker 1: they have at this thing, and so Cord follows up
16:42
Speaker 1: by casting entangle. Now, I feel a first level spell
16:45
Speaker 1: would not be enough to hold back a giant sized creature,
16:48
Speaker 1: but I'll have the troll save to avoid being unable
16:50
Speaker 1: to move forward. One round sounds fair to be clear,
16:54
Speaker 1: its ability to attack will not be affected by the
16:56
Speaker 1: entangle spell, only its movement. The save A three fails,
17:01
Speaker 1: and the troll is not only blinded by a great
17:03
Speaker 1: puff of silver gold dust that explodes from a spot
17:06
Speaker 1: right beside his head, but is also grabbed around the
17:09
Speaker 1: ankles by animated grasses and vines on the ground. It
17:14
Speaker 1: moors in frustration, and that concludes round one. Round two,
17:19
Speaker 1: the giant troll regenerates two hit points and now has
17:22
Speaker 1: thirty three initiative. The party A two. Uh oh, the
17:28
Speaker 1: giant Troll A one. Okay, this monster doesn't know what
17:32
Speaker 1: hit it, and the pieces go first. Fairwin looks from
17:36
Speaker 1: the tree line and the safety it represents, then back
17:38
Speaker 1: at his companions, and finally to the sling in his hand.
17:42
Speaker 1: He decides to take a SHOT's.
17:44
Speaker 2: It all guide my handph.
17:46
Speaker 1: He flings the stone, needing a seventeen to hit will
17:50
Speaker 1: he hit boom? Natural twenty did not see that coming,
17:55
Speaker 1: and neither did the troll fair window are full of surprises.
17:58
Speaker 1: Damage will be the maximum plus an extra die for
18:01
Speaker 1: the crit six points. He manages to smack the troll
18:04
Speaker 1: right on its temple. There's another frenzied roar of pain
18:07
Speaker 1: and frustration. Oo. Now Cord takes to the stairs while
18:13
Speaker 1: the opportunity is ripe. He scrambles down the planks toward
18:17
Speaker 1: the stone well as fast as his wooden feet will
18:19
Speaker 1: take him. Durrani and Tentire both fire while the enemy
18:23
Speaker 1: is off balance. Deurnni's roll a fifteen that's a hit
18:27
Speaker 1: damages three points. Ten tier tries as well, but a
18:33
Speaker 1: three misses. He's distracted because he can now clearly see
18:37
Speaker 1: the monstros wounds closing on their own. He calls out
18:40
Speaker 1: to the others the damned thing can regenerate. Achille will
18:44
Speaker 1: go last, and I think it only makes sense that
18:46
Speaker 1: she casts the spell shrink once again, using her wand
18:49
Speaker 1: to focus her energy. The giant troll will need a
18:51
Speaker 1: twelve or better to resist the spell. The roll an eighteen.
18:56
Speaker 1: It does manage to deflect the magic somehow, and Achilles
19:00
Speaker 1: is wasted. It's now the monster's turn to attack, since
19:07
Speaker 1: it is almost literally rooted in place. This round, it
19:09
Speaker 1: only has one choice of target Cord. With all bonuses
19:13
Speaker 1: and penalties considered, the troll needs a twelve to hit
19:16
Speaker 1: the roll ooh, A seventeen will certainly hit, and this
19:21
Speaker 1: will not be pleasant. The troll snatches Cord up, pulls
19:24
Speaker 1: him into the silvery gold dust of Achilles spell, and then,
19:27
Speaker 1: with tremendous force, smashes him back down into the timbers
19:31
Speaker 1: from which the stairs are built. Damage will be bad
19:33
Speaker 1: twoty six plus seven bad, and there's a chance, albeit
19:37
Speaker 1: a small one, that the construct will die right here.
19:40
Speaker 1: Rolling eight plus seven is fifteen points. Just like that,
19:45
Speaker 1: Cord is down to three hit points. It all happens
19:50
Speaker 1: so fast that Cord cannot parse the experience. He feels
19:53
Speaker 1: himself go up and then come back down and through
19:55
Speaker 1: the stairs, which sunder under the impact. Even worse, Cord
19:59
Speaker 1: will have to say versus spells or heat two will
20:01
Speaker 1: be blinded. A fifteen or better on a D twenty
20:04
Speaker 1: is needed his roll an eleven For the next four rounds,
20:09
Speaker 1: Cord cannot see. I am not loving the way this
20:12
Speaker 1: combat is going, but there's no getting away at this point.
20:15
Speaker 1: The companions will have to fight it out. A reminder
20:18
Speaker 1: that as we enter into the next round of combat,
20:20
Speaker 1: a special event will be triggered on the party's turn,
20:22
Speaker 1: and it has the potential to really shake things up.
20:25
Speaker 1: Let's find out if it will. As we enter round three,
20:29
Speaker 1: the Giant Troll regenerates two hit points and now has
20:32
Speaker 1: twenty nine. The initiative the Party A three, the Giant
20:36
Speaker 1: Troll A two. The Giant Troll is completely disoriented, slowly
20:41
Speaker 1: rotating in a certain boone, swiping at the air and
20:44
Speaker 1: snarling 's Achille has turned to try and run down
20:47
Speaker 1: the stairs, but ten Tiers stops her. Let me go first,
20:51
Speaker 1: he cries, strolling the sort of lear Hane and rushing
20:53
Speaker 1: down ahead of her. There's now a broken section of
20:56
Speaker 1: the stairs where Cord was attacked. When Tenttier comes to it,
20:59
Speaker 1: he leaps cross without breaking stride, all the while yelling
21:02
Speaker 1: a battle cry. Achillie and Dorni will both attack from
21:06
Speaker 1: their vantage with dagger and arrow. Achille will need a
21:09
Speaker 1: fifteen to hit with her weapon. An eight missus too bad,
21:14
Speaker 1: Maybe Durrani can do better. Crap and nine will not
21:18
Speaker 1: do it. The troll is a huge target, but it
21:21
Speaker 1: has thick skin that can turn an imprecise shot. Cord,
21:24
Speaker 1: lying in the wreckage of the broken section of staircase
21:27
Speaker 1: is blind and I don't see how he can realistically
21:30
Speaker 1: participate in the fight this round. Somewhere in the trees nearby,
21:33
Speaker 1: Robin can be heard tweeting madly. Fair Wind is up next.
21:37
Speaker 1: He'll try another slingstone. Can he repeat the impossible? A
21:42
Speaker 1: seven means he cannot. This stone bounces harmlessly off the
21:45
Speaker 1: Giant Monster's back. This is the point where my special
21:50
Speaker 1: event is triggered. Here's what happens. With a familiar sound.
21:53
Speaker 1: A white shape operates right beside the Giant Troll and
21:56
Speaker 1: springs to attack. It's one of the blank the pieces
22:00
Speaker 1: saved back in episode twenty five. It has been following
22:04
Speaker 1: them all this time, and ingratitude for its life, will
22:07
Speaker 1: now fight to the death on the PC's behalf. The
22:10
Speaker 1: blink Dog needs a fourteen to hit. Here's the role seventeen,
22:15
Speaker 1: good boy. Damage from the bite will be five points,
22:18
Speaker 1: bringing the Giant Roll down to a still formidable twenty four. Now,
22:24
Speaker 1: since the blink Dog has appeared right in the middle
22:26
Speaker 1: of Achilles's spell, it too will need to save in
22:29
Speaker 1: order to avoid being blinded. The target number is fourteen.
22:33
Speaker 1: Here's the role A fifteen. Well, okay, I'll take that.
22:38
Speaker 1: There's more good news to share here because the blink
22:40
Speaker 1: Dog is the only real target for the Giant Troll's attention,
22:43
Speaker 1: and according to the rules, if the blink Dog wins initiative,
22:46
Speaker 1: it will blink away before the opponent can retaliate. So
22:50
Speaker 1: the Giant Troll's huge clawed hand slams down on the ground,
22:53
Speaker 1: but the blink Dog is already elsewhere. Round four, the
22:59
Speaker 1: Giant Troll rates two hit points and now has twenty
23:02
Speaker 1: six initiative. The party afore the Giant Troll a one.
23:08
Speaker 1: That's lucky. Winning the initiative is always important, but it's
23:12
Speaker 1: going to matter even more than usual in this fight.
23:14
Speaker 1: Achillie will take to the stairs as Durrani lets fly
23:17
Speaker 1: yet another shaft at the troll. A fifteen is good enough.
23:21
Speaker 1: His arrow strikes true, doing six points. Wowsaw for the
23:27
Speaker 1: first time they see this giant monster stagger by now
23:32
Speaker 1: tinterers at the bottom of the stairs. He takes one
23:34
Speaker 1: look at Cord and he yells stay there. Then he
23:38
Speaker 1: looks at the shimmering cloud surrounding the monster. Three times
23:41
Speaker 1: a height seems to consider for the space of half
23:43
Speaker 1: a second and curses Chu chins braid, what am I
23:46
Speaker 1: doing before running headlong into melee. He'll need to save
23:50
Speaker 1: versus spells now or be blinded. The sixteen is the
23:54
Speaker 1: target number. A twelve fails tent deer cannot see his
23:59
Speaker 1: chance to land a hit drops to a dismal fifteen
24:01
Speaker 1: percent or an eighteen or better on a D twenty.
24:05
Speaker 1: Here's the roll A sixteen close, but not close enough.
24:09
Speaker 1: The sword of lear Haang cleaves nothing Fairwe can no
24:13
Speaker 1: longer use his sling without risking friendly fire, and his
24:16
Speaker 1: only spell purify food and Drink was used earlier in
24:19
Speaker 1: the day, so his best move is probably to change
24:22
Speaker 1: position so he's closer to the bottom of the stairs
24:25
Speaker 1: than the rest of the party. This repositioning, while avoiding melee,
24:29
Speaker 1: will be his only action this round. The blink dog
24:32
Speaker 1: can once again blink in and strike. Having saved once
24:35
Speaker 1: to avoid being blinded, it need not save again its attack.
24:39
Speaker 1: The thirteen is just shy of the target number. I
24:43
Speaker 1: wonder if the attack will have drawn the troll's attention
24:46
Speaker 1: away from ten tier all roll high low high means
24:49
Speaker 1: the troll attacks the blink Dog. The thirteen is high,
24:53
Speaker 1: and that means that once again the giant forest trolls
24:56
Speaker 1: attack comes too late. It lifts a huge foot intending
24:59
Speaker 1: to stomp the dog flat, but when it comes down,
25:02
Speaker 1: the dog has already blinked away. Well, that was a
25:07
Speaker 1: good round for the party mostly, but there's bad news
25:10
Speaker 1: coming because by the next round, the troll's blindness will
25:13
Speaker 1: have worn off. It is round five. The giant troll
25:17
Speaker 1: regenerates two hit points and now has twenty two initiative.
25:21
Speaker 1: The party the two, the Giant troll the five. Yeah,
25:27
Speaker 1: that streak couldn't last forever. And I think we know
25:29
Speaker 1: what this looks like. The giant Troll's eyes burned bright red.
25:33
Speaker 1: It looks straight at tent Tier and smiles a hideous
25:36
Speaker 1: gargoyle grin. But hang on, there's actually only a fifty
25:40
Speaker 1: percent chance it will target ten Tier because the blink
25:43
Speaker 1: Dog is very much still in this melee. So it'll
25:46
Speaker 1: be high low, and once again high will indicate the
25:48
Speaker 1: blink Dog is the target. In eighteen says it is.
25:52
Speaker 1: Ten Tier is blindly feeling out in front of him
25:55
Speaker 1: with the tip of his sword when the blink Dog
25:57
Speaker 1: suddenly operates on the troll's left and draws its attention.
26:00
Speaker 1: But the troll needs a nine to hit it. The
26:04
Speaker 1: thirteen means it does hit. Let's see, the last attack
26:07
Speaker 1: was the grab and smash, so this is oh oh,
26:11
Speaker 1: it's grab and bite. The dog is plucked from the
26:14
Speaker 1: ground and pushed into the trolls open maw at two
26:17
Speaker 1: d eight plus four. Damage will be bad. He was
26:20
Speaker 1: hoping for a low roll. I got a nine on
26:23
Speaker 1: the dice plus four. It's thirteen. But how many hit
26:26
Speaker 1: points does the blink Dog have? Anyway, when we met it,
26:29
Speaker 1: I maxed out hit points in a half, so I
26:32
Speaker 1: think I need to reroll, and this time min out
26:35
Speaker 1: for my usual house rules. Let's see, fourty eight gives
26:38
Speaker 1: me sixteen. So the good news is that the blink
26:42
Speaker 1: Dog is not killed by the bite. The bad news
26:44
Speaker 1: is that it comes pretty darn close. With three hit
26:48
Speaker 1: points left, it is tossed to the ground, bloody and limp,
26:51
Speaker 1: where it whimpers and whines and pain. That was rough,
26:56
Speaker 1: but at least it is now the party's turn. Durretti
26:58
Speaker 1: draws his sword and begins to down the stairs. Achillia
27:03
Speaker 1: has stopped at the damaged section of stairs, where she
27:05
Speaker 1: looks down upon the broken but thankfully still moving shape
27:09
Speaker 1: of Cord. With a curse, she flings her last spell
27:12
Speaker 1: at their enemy. Once again, the troll needs to make
27:14
Speaker 1: a twelve to save becomes the roll a fifteen. Hard luck, Achillia.
27:20
Speaker 1: It seems that this giant Troll will remain Giant Cord.
27:25
Speaker 1: Sitting in a pile of broken wood, is still blind
27:27
Speaker 1: and near death. There's nothing he can really do this route. Likewise,
27:31
Speaker 1: fair Wind can't do much more than watch the fight
27:34
Speaker 1: unless he wishes to enter Mela in risk blindness, which
27:37
Speaker 1: he does not. That leaves tent Tire in the blink Dog.
27:40
Speaker 1: The blink Dog picks itself up and launches a ferocious
27:42
Speaker 1: series of faints and strikes, but at nine misses and
27:45
Speaker 1: the troll easily kicks it away. It's up to ten
27:52
Speaker 1: tier to land a blow, but he's going to need
27:54
Speaker 1: an eighteen to hit. It doesn't look good. Fingers crossed
27:59
Speaker 1: A fifteen is a good role old, but it is
28:00
Speaker 1: still a miss. Round five was pretty bad for the pieces.
28:05
Speaker 1: Let's hope the tide will turn. In round six, the
28:08
Speaker 1: giant Troll regenerates two hit points and now is twenty
28:11
Speaker 1: four initiative the party A three the giant troll A one.
28:17
Speaker 1: Thank a Heia for that. The companions really need to
28:20
Speaker 1: start dishing out some damage. At this point, Achille's glitter
28:23
Speaker 1: dust cloud has turned out to be a mixed blessing.
28:26
Speaker 1: To be honest, maybe she was unwise to cast it. Well,
28:29
Speaker 1: that's spilt milk, and this is no time to armchair general.
28:32
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the fight and make some attack rolls.
28:35
Speaker 1: Ten tier continues to slash wildly. An eight misses the
28:41
Speaker 1: injured blink Dog snarls and tries to tear a chunk
28:44
Speaker 1: out of the troll's leg. A sixteen will hit four
28:48
Speaker 1: points of damage for the bite. Dernni and fair Wind
28:52
Speaker 1: both consider entering the melee, but they can see that
28:54
Speaker 1: the silvery gold cloud from Achille's spell is dissipating quickly.
28:58
Speaker 1: If they wait just one more round, they won't have
29:01
Speaker 1: to risk going blind. It's a hard decision, especially for Drenni,
29:05
Speaker 1: who's forced to watch his brother struggle, but both of
29:07
Speaker 1: them choose to hold back. At this point, Chord suddenly
29:11
Speaker 1: sets up his vision has returned, with an amount of
29:15
Speaker 1: bravery approaching lunacy. He gets up and throws himself into
29:18
Speaker 1: the fray and I'm not so nasty as to make
29:20
Speaker 1: him safe again. He needs sixteen to head with his
29:23
Speaker 1: battle axe. A ten is not going to do it, jinkies,
29:28
Speaker 1: is it already? The trolls turn to attack, and I
29:30
Speaker 1: think it is. The monster now has three potential targets.
29:34
Speaker 1: It'll be a random roll between ten tier Cord and
29:36
Speaker 1: the Blink Dog rolling it's ten tier and the troll
29:40
Speaker 1: need only roll a nine to hit him. Here we go.
29:44
Speaker 1: A sixteen is a hit with a room despair. Luckily
29:47
Speaker 1: for ten tier, his will be the grab and throw attack,
29:50
Speaker 1: which only does a D six of damage. Here's the
29:52
Speaker 1: roll ouch A five. Ten tier is flung out of
29:56
Speaker 1: the fight. He lands on his back and gets the
29:59
Speaker 1: wind stock out of him. During the next round, he'll
30:02
Speaker 1: miss his turn. Round seven, the Giant Troll regenerates two
30:06
Speaker 1: hit points and now has twenty two. The initiative the
30:09
Speaker 1: party the five good roll the Giant Troll a six.
30:15
Speaker 1: Dang it. This round, the troll will choose between the
30:18
Speaker 1: Blink Dog and Chord, and also Durani and Fairwind, who
30:21
Speaker 1: entered the fight at this time. Now that the glitter
30:23
Speaker 1: dust spell has expired. I'll roll a D four to
30:25
Speaker 1: see who gets attacked the three. That's Derni. Looks like
30:30
Speaker 1: the Giant troll needs a nine or better to hit
30:32
Speaker 1: the roll. Huh A four, I was fully expecting a
30:36
Speaker 1: hit there. Durani dives out of the way. He lands
30:40
Speaker 1: in a roll and then springs up to his feet
30:42
Speaker 1: with his blade up. He'll try to hamstring the monster.
30:45
Speaker 1: Ten will not do it. Fairwind swings his cudgel while
30:49
Speaker 1: the creature is distracted. He needs a sixteen to hit
30:53
Speaker 1: A three fails cord cracked and broken in a dozen places,
30:57
Speaker 1: still has the strength to wield his axe. He also
31:00
Speaker 1: needs a sixteen. A sixteen nice cord damage will be
31:06
Speaker 1: just one point. Perhaps the blink Dog can score a
31:09
Speaker 1: decent hit. Oh brother, a one. That's a critical fail,
31:14
Speaker 1: and the blink Dog will miss its next turn. Tent
31:19
Speaker 1: To will spend this round reentering combat, and so we
31:22
Speaker 1: are on too. Round eight. The Giant Troll regenerates two
31:25
Speaker 1: hit points and now has twenty three initiative. The party
31:29
Speaker 1: a three, the Giant Troll a two. There is now
31:34
Speaker 1: blood all over the battlefield and the combatants are beginning
31:37
Speaker 1: to tire. Somehow, the PCs manage to find a second
31:40
Speaker 1: wind and searche forward with everything they've got. We really
31:43
Speaker 1: need some significant hits because at this rate the chance
31:46
Speaker 1: for a PC death is extremely high. Duran, he swings
31:49
Speaker 1: his sword at nineteen is plenty. His sword does four
31:55
Speaker 1: points a good start. Ten tier still blind attacks when
32:00
Speaker 1: de Anny calls.
32:00
Speaker 2: Out ten tier, it's on your right.
32:03
Speaker 1: But a ten on the die means he misses despite
32:06
Speaker 1: the help quard is next. A seventeen means the construct
32:11
Speaker 1: lands another hit damages it on a d eight, Come on,
32:14
Speaker 1: big money five points. The ex blade shears through the
32:18
Speaker 1: monster's side, splitting a river or two and producing a
32:20
Speaker 1: gout of bright blood. Now at fourteen hit points, the
32:25
Speaker 1: giant troll staggers once again. The morale roll is going
32:28
Speaker 1: to be required before its next action. But before that,
32:31
Speaker 1: I've still got fair wind's attack. The cudgel swings in
32:34
Speaker 1: and with a fourteen it bounces harmlessly off the trolls
32:38
Speaker 1: not be high. That's it for combatants, Achille. I can
32:42
Speaker 1: only stand at the perimeter and watch, and the blink
32:45
Speaker 1: Dog will spend this round limping back into the fight.
32:47
Speaker 1: So now it's the troll's turn. But it needs to
32:50
Speaker 1: make a morale check. A typical troll has a morale
32:52
Speaker 1: of ten, so this kind must have what an eleven
32:56
Speaker 1: sounds right? That means only double six is will indicate
32:59
Speaker 1: flight worth a shot though here goes nothing. Oh my goodness,
33:06
Speaker 1: those are double sixes. The forced troll decides the meal
33:10
Speaker 1: isn't worth the price. Its leering grin is gone, and
33:14
Speaker 1: with a grunt, so is it as it suddenly turns
33:16
Speaker 1: and stalks off into the woods, And just like that,
33:22
Speaker 1: not in any way I might have predicted, combat is over.
33:29
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Tale of the Manticore. This
33:32
Speaker 1: episode has run long, so I'll make this sign off
33:35
Speaker 1: very quick. Gratitude goes out to my core cast of Kyellen,
33:39
Speaker 1: Kevin Barringer, and David Cooper, who played to Renny Tenier
33:42
Speaker 1: and fair Wind, respectively. Thanks as always, guys, and back
33:46
Speaker 1: one last time at least for now is Robert Newman,
33:49
Speaker 1: who designed the FX for the Giant Forest Troll. Check
33:53
Speaker 1: out Robert's other work at Robert newmansound dot com. That's
33:57
Speaker 1: all for now, but the story will continue next time.
34:00
Speaker 1: The Tale of the manticor the Story or Chaos rolls