Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 18 (for real) (S3E18)

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Episode 18 (for real) (S3E18) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, this is the Old Gig and you are listening
0:02
Speaker 1: to Tale of the Manticore. The following podcast is intended
0:09
Speaker 1: for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back
0:27
Speaker 1: to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like the creature
0:31
Speaker 1: from which it takes its name, Tale of the Manticor
0:34
Speaker 1: is a mashup, a cross breeding between two different species
0:37
Speaker 1: of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability of old
0:42
Speaker 1: school paper and dice games with the story craft of
0:44
Speaker 1: a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred, and none
0:49
Speaker 1: will be spared if the dice decide their fate is
0:52
Speaker 1: at hand. According to lore, the Tale of a Manticre
0:56
Speaker 1: is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will be much
1:00
Speaker 1: pain in the days ahead. Last time on Tale of
1:13
Speaker 1: the Mantigor. In the last chapter, Fairwind concludes the story
1:17
Speaker 1: of moroc and talks about why he fled Camertine. He's
1:21
Speaker 1: come here, he says, on a holy mission to lift
1:24
Speaker 1: the ancient curse of the cay Ors. He further explains
1:27
Speaker 1: how the restless dead walked the ruins at night, but
1:30
Speaker 1: seemed to avoid the church he now calls home. Achillie
1:33
Speaker 1: shows him the skull she and the others found back
1:36
Speaker 1: in the Ogre's cave and tells him about the strange
1:38
Speaker 1: dreams she's been having. Fairwind takes it all as divine
1:41
Speaker 1: providence to him. Achillia and her companions were sent by
1:45
Speaker 1: Sadal to aid his mission. Together, they decided to investigate
1:49
Speaker 1: the area nearby where the throne Room would once have been,
1:52
Speaker 1: since the spirit in Achillie's vision was searching for something there. Next,
1:57
Speaker 1: in a flashback, we get a deeper perspective into tent
1:59
Speaker 1: Tears character. It seems that the young Elf is unhappy
2:02
Speaker 1: with the strict confines of his racist code of behavior.
2:06
Speaker 1: Elvin culture frowns upon individualism, but he wants to be
2:09
Speaker 1: something special. When we return to the present, we rejoined
2:13
Speaker 1: Fairwind in the PCs, who have found their way to
2:16
Speaker 1: the site of Moroc's former throne room. Here, Achillea discovers something,
2:20
Speaker 1: but it has nothing to do with the cursed King
2:22
Speaker 1: or the prince at all. Fair Wind casually mentions the
2:25
Speaker 1: name Odoak and is surprised by the strong reaction to Alyssus.
2:29
Speaker 1: When Achillea shows him the sketch book, he confirms that
2:32
Speaker 1: the artist is indeed the same person as the famous historian.
2:36
Speaker 1: He has been referring to Chapter eighteen, Part one day
2:49
Speaker 1: sixteen afternoon mythic event meaning open success party status. Achillea
3:00
Speaker 1: out of seven hit points, Cord five of eleven, de
3:06
Speaker 1: Renni nine of nine, ten Tier ten of ten supplies.
3:14
Speaker 1: The companions have five portions of food and twenty one
3:17
Speaker 1: of water. Spells available. Achillea has memorized message times two
3:25
Speaker 1: Chord can cast, entangle and locate plants and animals. Achillea
3:34
Speaker 1: stared into the cleric's eyes.
3:36
Speaker 2: Fairwind, you must tell me everything you know about this man, everything.
3:41
Speaker 1: Fairwint could not understand why Achille's tone had shifted so dramatically.
3:46
Speaker 3: I, Achillea, I'm not sure what you want to know.
3:50
Speaker 3: Odo Zygog is the most prolific and most knowledgeable historian
3:56
Speaker 3: on Marath.
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Speaker 1: He is widely known.
3:59
Speaker 3: Even among those who do not consider themselves academics, and
4:02
Speaker 3: to those who do he is he is famous.
4:06
Speaker 1: Fairwind held his free hand open in a gesture of helplessness.
4:10
Speaker 3: You know where he lives, of course not, was the
4:13
Speaker 3: simple reply, no one does you have one of his
4:17
Speaker 3: sketch books. I admit I have never seen its like before.
4:21
Speaker 3: But what is so important about it? And why do
4:24
Speaker 3: you need to know where he is? Zygog is a recluse,
4:28
Speaker 3: and he goes to great pains to ensure he cannot
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Speaker 3: be found.
4:32
Speaker 1: But I must find him, said Achilia, exasperated.
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Speaker 2: And you must help me.
4:38
Speaker 3: I I am sorry, Achilia, I don't.
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Speaker 1: Think I can court dur. Any intent here had cut
4:48
Speaker 1: up by now, and while the constructs could understand their words,
4:51
Speaker 1: the brothers could not. All the same. They could tell
4:54
Speaker 1: just by looking at the open sketch book and hearing
4:56
Speaker 1: the conversation's tone a little bit about what are concerned?
5:00
Speaker 1: Achilia felt her face go hot. How could she come
5:03
Speaker 1: so close only to loose the thread again?
5:06
Speaker 2: Think, fair Wind, anything you can remember about the person
5:09
Speaker 2: could be helpful. I need to find this.
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Speaker 1: Man, she considered, adding that the quest to find Odok
5:15
Speaker 1: was what had brought her party to these ruins, but
5:17
Speaker 1: decided it would only confuse things. Please, she added. Cord
5:22
Speaker 1: was now clearing away bits of bramble and nettle from
5:25
Speaker 1: the floor of the old throne room, searching for anything
5:27
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary. Well, said Fairwind, scratching his cheek.
5:31
Speaker 3: In thought, I have heard a few things about Zygog,
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Speaker 3: but they amount to rumor. No more.
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Speaker 2: I will hear what you have to.
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Speaker 1: Say, replied Achilia, her tone serious and low. Very well,
5:43
Speaker 1: the cleric began.
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Speaker 3: He is said never to have taken a wife, and
5:47
Speaker 3: to have left society to live in the wilds. Some
5:50
Speaker 3: say he went west into the Cameranthian wilderness. However, other
5:55
Speaker 3: accounts place him Insation, where he lives under a false
5:58
Speaker 3: name as part of the Magistocras.
6:00
Speaker 1: Tantyr looked askance at de Renni, who listened intently as
6:03
Speaker 1: Achillee spoke with a human, but did not interrupt or
6:06
Speaker 1: asked questions. He burned with curiosity at what they might
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Speaker 1: be saying, But the only words he caught were names
6:13
Speaker 1: Odok and Zaisha. It wasn't enough to really follow their conversation.
6:18
Speaker 1: If Derenny had not been there, he would have pushed
6:20
Speaker 1: his way in and asked Achillee to translate. But since
6:23
Speaker 1: de Renni said nothing, he said nothing. He had gotten
6:26
Speaker 1: himself into enough trouble as it was by refusing to
6:29
Speaker 1: show proper deference to his elders, and he was trying
6:32
Speaker 1: to change. Of course, with de Renni. It was easier
6:35
Speaker 1: simply because Tantyr genuinely respected him between the lines. Back
6:48
Speaker 1: in episode eleven, I did it between the line section
6:51
Speaker 1: in which I introduced my approach to Elves and Orcs.
6:55
Speaker 1: In it, I mentioned that Elvin culture is chaotic and
6:57
Speaker 1: wild and its expressions of art and archetycture. Since then,
7:01
Speaker 1: through a series of dramatic persona sections, I've discovered that
7:04
Speaker 1: other aspects of their societies are very regimented in orderly
7:08
Speaker 1: value and conformity and strict systems of right behavior. It's
7:11
Speaker 1: kind of shaping up that external things are left to
7:14
Speaker 1: be wild while internal things are rigidly structured. I'm really
7:18
Speaker 1: just making this stuff up as I go, and as
7:20
Speaker 1: Dorani in Tenttir reveal their characters to me. But I
7:23
Speaker 1: think it's time to pull back and take a look
7:25
Speaker 1: at the bigger cultural picture. How does this yin and
7:28
Speaker 1: yang of order and chaos manifest. While some examples of
7:33
Speaker 1: strict regulation would include norms concerning respect and age with
7:37
Speaker 1: all Elves of Merith is a core value, youth show
7:41
Speaker 1: deference to any age above it, we can see this
7:43
Speaker 1: Intenteir's attitude towards de Reni, or between Derni and Barn
7:47
Speaker 1: the trouble following Tener's outburst to Elmir illustrates the point
7:51
Speaker 1: as well. Law and chaos existing in harmony is not
7:54
Speaker 1: a self contradiction. It makes sense for this society that
7:57
Speaker 1: lives in very close quarters with one another to have
8:00
Speaker 1: evolved into a complex system, and I like the complexity
8:03
Speaker 1: of it. It makes me excited to explore Elvin culture
8:06
Speaker 1: more fully. I think that Achillia would too, not only
8:09
Speaker 1: in an academic sense, but in practice. Actually, I can't
8:12
Speaker 1: think of a person who'd be more motivated to learn
8:14
Speaker 1: the nuances and how to navigate them. I wonder what
8:18
Speaker 1: else we can determine about Elvin culture using the little
8:21
Speaker 1: bid we have learned so far. In Season one, we
8:24
Speaker 1: heard about a tribe of elves that lived in the woods,
8:26
Speaker 1: but Derni's tribe lives in the Ceteavy Marsh. What would
8:29
Speaker 1: such a settlement look like. I think they'd have dwellings
8:32
Speaker 1: that were elevated, either treehouse style like barren sentry platform
8:36
Speaker 1: or far more likely and practical houses on stilts. Speaking
8:40
Speaker 1: of practicality as much as a community based in a
8:43
Speaker 1: swamp might sound quite unlikely, A quick Google search shows
8:47
Speaker 1: me that many such cultures have existed throughout history, and
8:50
Speaker 1: there's even pictures of the kinds of homes they had.
8:52
Speaker 1: As one would expect, these are structures of wood fully
8:55
Speaker 1: or partially raised up on stilts. I don't imagine waterways
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Speaker 1: and boats as part of this particular geography or way
9:01
Speaker 1: of life. The Setevii Marsh is a patchwork of solid
9:04
Speaker 1: earth and soggy swamp, with the occasional pond and pool,
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Speaker 1: but no rivers or lakes nearby. Some of the drawbacks
9:11
Speaker 1: of living in a marsh could have a positive side
9:13
Speaker 1: for the cidevi elves. The community would be very hard
9:17
Speaker 1: to invade, especially with a large force. Conversely, it would
9:21
Speaker 1: be easy to defend. All of the hazards would double
9:23
Speaker 1: as layers of protection, and a culture that had become
9:26
Speaker 1: accustomed to them would enjoy a huge advantage in a fight. Furthermore,
9:30
Speaker 1: a swamp village would be all but immune to forest fires,
9:33
Speaker 1: which would certainly pose a threat to forest dwelling peoples,
9:36
Speaker 1: especially in summer. Finally, there would be abundant food and water.
9:41
Speaker 1: One has to acknowledge certain downsides. However, there'd be a
9:44
Speaker 1: scarcity of metal and textiles, husbandry and food storage would
9:48
Speaker 1: be much more of a challenge than in a dry place.
9:51
Speaker 1: I think that a secure trading partner would be a
9:53
Speaker 1: requirement during any INTENTUS chain mail shirts and their swords
9:56
Speaker 1: could not realistically have been made by any member of
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Speaker 1: their tribe, despite the existence of things like bog iron.
10:02
Speaker 1: Now my impression of elves as a xenophobic race won't
10:06
Speaker 1: really work. We learned a few episodes ago that the
10:08
Speaker 1: first rule of the Stevy Marsh tribe is that no
10:11
Speaker 1: strangers may enter their lands. Therefore, we have to assume
10:14
Speaker 1: that some of their number are sent out to bring
10:17
Speaker 1: supplies back. Of course, Durrenni is one such outlander. He
10:21
Speaker 1: is a hunter whose job it is to bring in supplies.
10:24
Speaker 1: I could imagine other elves whose roles include diplomacy in
10:27
Speaker 1: trade so that the tribe can get the things that
10:29
Speaker 1: they cannot make for themselves. Chapter eighteen, Part two, Day
10:44
Speaker 1: sixteen afternoon mythic event meaning open success party status. The
10:53
Speaker 1: party's status is unchanged. The Chillia and Fairwind seem to
10:59
Speaker 1: be in the middle of some kind of serious exchange
11:01
Speaker 1: when a shrill peep from Robin drew everyone's attention. The
11:05
Speaker 1: stuffed bird was perched on top of Kord's shoulder, right
11:08
Speaker 1: where the split in the construct's torsa was healing with
11:11
Speaker 1: new wood. Cort had just cleared away some brush and
11:14
Speaker 1: was staring down at something. The wooden face with the
11:18
Speaker 1: painted on expression looked up slowly. Then Cort pointed to
11:21
Speaker 1: his ear listen said tin tear, filling with excitement. Perhaps
11:26
Speaker 1: if they hadn't been talking so much and so loudly,
11:29
Speaker 1: they would have discovered it earlier. It was the distinct
11:33
Speaker 1: sound of water, as if it were being poured from
11:35
Speaker 1: the spout and into a pole or a bucket, though
11:37
Speaker 1: it was somewhat quiet and muffled.
11:40
Speaker 2: There's a hollow under us.
11:41
Speaker 1: Breathed Achilia excitedly. She abandoned her conversation with Fairwood and
11:45
Speaker 1: came round to the ruined dais to where Court stood,
11:49
Speaker 1: parting some crabgrass. She found what she was looking for.
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Speaker 2: Did a floor tile here? One corner has broken off.
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Speaker 2: That's how the water is getting in. I think, Court,
11:58
Speaker 2: give me a head. I think we can lift this
12:00
Speaker 2: tile up.
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Speaker 1: What Fairwind seemed as confused by this as he had
12:04
Speaker 1: with the other business about the historian.
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Speaker 2: There is a tile that can be removed.
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Speaker 1: Explained Achilia. Come and help me. The third pair of
12:11
Speaker 1: hands was not necessary. It turned out Corda and Achillee
12:15
Speaker 1: already had the tile up and off to one side
12:17
Speaker 1: by the time Fairwind and the eleven brothers came over.
12:20
Speaker 1: Now they all looked down into the square of darkness
12:23
Speaker 1: revealed by the tile. The ring continued to fall all
12:26
Speaker 1: around them and into the hole. Ten Tears squatted next
12:30
Speaker 1: to a Chillia and squinted into the darkness below. I
12:33
Speaker 1: see no way down, no stairs or ladder. I think
12:37
Speaker 1: I can make out the shape of the floor. He
12:41
Speaker 1: got on his hands and knees and stuck his head
12:43
Speaker 1: into the hole.
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Speaker 3: I think I can see the floor.
12:46
Speaker 1: It must be about thirty feet below. I can't make
12:51
Speaker 1: out any walls. We must be directly above.
12:55
Speaker 3: A room on the ceiling, if you take my meaning.
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Speaker 1: He was searched in the wrong place, muttered A Killia,
13:02
Speaker 1: come again. Tentyer looked up, confused.
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Speaker 2: The ghost in my dream, Prince Leirhen he must have
13:08
Speaker 2: been looking in the wrong place. I think this is
13:11
Speaker 2: what he was looking for. He said he just wanted
13:14
Speaker 2: to go home to sleep. I wonder what he meant
13:16
Speaker 2: by that.
13:18
Speaker 1: Tintyer pushed his wet hair away from his eyes. Ask
13:21
Speaker 1: the human if he has a lantern we could lower
13:23
Speaker 1: down on to Rennie's rope, the Kilia asked, but Fairwind
13:27
Speaker 1: had no such luxury as his a lantern. He could
13:29
Speaker 1: get some brands from his fireplace, but he didn't think
13:32
Speaker 1: they'd stay lit for long in the rain, even if
13:34
Speaker 1: they made an effort to cover them, and they would
13:36
Speaker 1: go out if they were dropped into the hole. After
13:38
Speaker 1: some discussion in some translation, it was decided that the
13:41
Speaker 1: best course of action would be for one of the
13:43
Speaker 1: elves to be lowered in using to Renney's rope. With
13:46
Speaker 1: their infra vision, they could look around and report back
13:49
Speaker 1: to the people above. Ten Tier volunteered immediately, but Durni
13:53
Speaker 1: over ruled him, and so it was the elder brother, who,
13:56
Speaker 1: with one foot in a loop at the end of
13:57
Speaker 1: his rope, was lowered by the others into the Watching
14:01
Speaker 1: him go down this way reminded to Kilia of descending
14:03
Speaker 1: from Baron's centry platform, and she got a little thrill
14:06
Speaker 1: in her stomach. Be careful, brother, said Ta Tyr. He
14:10
Speaker 1: was trying to sound casual, but the set of his
14:12
Speaker 1: job belied his concern. Derretti had his stored out and
14:15
Speaker 1: held in his right hand while his left gripped the
14:17
Speaker 1: rope to keep himself steady. He said nothing, it replied
14:20
Speaker 1: to Tatyr, but simply smiled and nodded, signaling his confidence
14:24
Speaker 1: as he was lowered down. One of the questions I
14:32
Speaker 1: get most often is how does the actual story get made?
14:36
Speaker 1: Does it come from random generators or do I just
14:38
Speaker 1: make it up? The answer is a bit complicated because
14:41
Speaker 1: it changes depending on where I am in the game.
14:44
Speaker 1: At the beginning, I'm using generators and making stuff up,
14:47
Speaker 1: lots of stuff. But as I entered the midgame, and
14:50
Speaker 1: I'd say that now I'm in the early midgame of
14:53
Speaker 1: season three, there's enough detail and the story's wake that
14:56
Speaker 1: decisions going forward often become surprisingly easy, almost to the
15:00
Speaker 1: point where the plot seems to write itself. Characters, motivations,
15:04
Speaker 1: and personalities clarify over time, so their actions and reactions
15:08
Speaker 1: become easier to handle the longer that character has been around. Likewise,
15:12
Speaker 1: places and situations can be determined by what has come before. Interestingly,
15:17
Speaker 1: I'm currently in a position to explain this with an example,
15:20
Speaker 1: what is this space below the Throne room while it's
15:23
Speaker 1: the Royal crypt This much is fairly obvious. Since the
15:27
Speaker 1: Dream of leir Hain, I've known that the ghost was
15:29
Speaker 1: trying to get back to its grave. The fact of
15:31
Speaker 1: the prince's skull being removed from the tomb at some
15:34
Speaker 1: point necessitates tomb robbers. This in turn means that there
15:38
Speaker 1: has to be a viable way in and out. In
15:40
Speaker 1: the past. I also mentioned that the sprites knew what
15:43
Speaker 1: was in the crypt, and importantly that they do not lie,
15:47
Speaker 1: so there has to be some way for them to
15:48
Speaker 1: have gotten in and out too. Put it all together
15:51
Speaker 1: and you get a removable ceiling tile with the corner
15:53
Speaker 1: broken off. That's how the tom robbers got in, and
15:56
Speaker 1: that's how the fairies got in even after the too
15:58
Speaker 1: robbers had escaped, replace the tile and left. The placement
16:02
Speaker 1: of the tile on the wrong side of the dais
16:04
Speaker 1: is also not random, but another detail determined by story past.
16:09
Speaker 1: Its location explains that the ghost of Leirhan was looking
16:11
Speaker 1: in the wrong place. This makes sense to me. In life,
16:14
Speaker 1: Prince Leirhan, who never grew beyond childhood, would not necessarily
16:18
Speaker 1: have known the exact location of the family crypt, but
16:21
Speaker 1: perhaps a ghost could sense that it was nearby. Going forward,
16:26
Speaker 1: several things must be a certain way to maintain continuity.
16:29
Speaker 1: The sprite said that there was a wizarding stick in
16:32
Speaker 1: the ruins. If the sprites were in this crypt, then
16:34
Speaker 1: there can be nothing blocking the path, no closed doors,
16:37
Speaker 1: for example, between this wizarding stick and the broken tile opening.
16:41
Speaker 1: Does that make sense? But I'm still of a mind
16:44
Speaker 1: to let chaos roll. What will this crypt look like?
16:47
Speaker 1: How big will it be? Can I add elements of
16:50
Speaker 1: randomness and danger? I have a somewhat weird idea in mind.
16:55
Speaker 1: It's an idea I had but ended up deciding not
16:57
Speaker 1: to use at the end of season two when I
17:00
Speaker 1: needed to generate a dungeon. It was to take my
17:02
Speaker 1: Ultra Light Game one Shot in the Dark and use
17:04
Speaker 1: one of its map generators to procedurally determine the dungeon layout.
17:09
Speaker 1: For certain reasons, it wasn't the right move back then,
17:11
Speaker 1: but I think it might just be perfect for this
17:13
Speaker 1: kme or tomb. Here's why the third level is specifically
17:17
Speaker 1: for creating a crypt. Also, some of the entries are
17:20
Speaker 1: eerily strong matches for what I need. In addition to
17:23
Speaker 1: catacombs and other room types you might expect to find,
17:26
Speaker 1: there's an entry for a weird wizard's study. Well, if
17:29
Speaker 1: I change the word study to crypt, I have a
17:31
Speaker 1: spot for that wizarding stick. There's even an entry for
17:34
Speaker 1: a ghost encounter, complete with a mechanic to determine how
17:37
Speaker 1: it would react to the party's presence. It's almost perfect. Now,
17:41
Speaker 1: I can't use one shot in the Dark word for word,
17:44
Speaker 1: but I think I can use the spirit of it
17:46
Speaker 1: pun intended at the very least. I'll be sure to
17:49
Speaker 1: run things so you don't need to know anything about
17:51
Speaker 1: the game to follow along. But if you do own
17:53
Speaker 1: a copy and you're curious, I'm going to use the
17:55
Speaker 1: Nine of Heart's entry twenty foot by twenty foot vault
17:57
Speaker 1: as the starting point. Now, I've already described this room
18:01
Speaker 1: as fairly spacious, so I'll change it to forty foot
18:03
Speaker 1: by forty foot According to the table in the rules booklet,
18:06
Speaker 1: it has only one exit. As the pieces move through
18:09
Speaker 1: the dungeon, I'll draw more cards and use this same table.
18:13
Speaker 1: I'm pulling the used nine and also the King and
18:16
Speaker 1: Ace out of the deck because those last two won't
18:18
Speaker 1: work well for this dungeon. The target card will be
18:21
Speaker 1: the Ten of Hearts thirty by sixty foot catacombs that
18:25
Speaker 1: will serve in this story as the family crypt. I'll
18:28
Speaker 1: say that I need to pull a minimum of three
18:29
Speaker 1: cards before the pieces can reach it. So whether this
18:32
Speaker 1: is a very small dungeon or a rather large one
18:35
Speaker 1: is up to fate. Well that's about it. Will this
18:39
Speaker 1: idea even work? There's only one way to find out,
18:48
Speaker 1: Win Morgan, said ten Tyr, taking the rope from fair
18:51
Speaker 1: Wind and slipping the toe of his boot into the loop.
18:54
Speaker 1: At the end, Bendyikuilia asked him in Elvish. Ten two
18:57
Speaker 1: said that he was and the others lowered him down
18:59
Speaker 1: to the floor. Here he joined Dorennie, who gave him
19:03
Speaker 1: a quick nod to communicate that there was no immediate danger.
19:07
Speaker 1: Fairwind was said to go down next, but there was
19:09
Speaker 1: still the problem that he could not see in the dark.
19:12
Speaker 1: Achillie briefly tried talking the cleric into remaining above while
19:15
Speaker 1: the demi humans, who had the advantage of dark vision, investigated. Fairwind, however,
19:20
Speaker 1: would have none of it and insisted that everyone wait
19:23
Speaker 1: while he retrieved kindling, firewood and a hinder box from
19:26
Speaker 1: the chapel. There was no point in trying to bring
19:28
Speaker 1: a flaming brand across the court yard with the rain
19:31
Speaker 1: coming down, but he declared that he had sufficient wit
19:33
Speaker 1: to keep a few split logs dry in transit. While
19:37
Speaker 1: Fairwind was away, Durrani in tentire did a cursory examination
19:41
Speaker 1: of their surroundings. They communicated to those up top that
19:44
Speaker 1: there were no immediate threats and that there was only
19:46
Speaker 1: one exit. Though it defied logic, being in a tomb
19:50
Speaker 1: gave the brothers a feeling that they should remain quiet,
19:53
Speaker 1: and so they did not shout their findings up to
19:54
Speaker 1: Achillia and Cord, but instead used hand signals. Presently, fair
19:59
Speaker 1: Wind returned with his cargo and was lowered into the hall.
20:04
Speaker 1: When he reached the crypt floor, he let go of
20:06
Speaker 1: the rope and moved off to one side. Here, away
20:09
Speaker 1: from the trickle of rain water coming from above, he
20:11
Speaker 1: began building up a flame using his kindling and tinderbox.
20:16
Speaker 1: By the time Achille had joined them, he had a
20:18
Speaker 1: modest fire going. It threw the companion's shadows around the
20:21
Speaker 1: tomb in a way that made them look as though
20:23
Speaker 1: they were surrounded by tall, dark spirits. Good news, I've
20:32
Speaker 1: got a level up to conduct this episode, and I
20:34
Speaker 1: had better get to it before the pieces run into
20:36
Speaker 1: danger or I run out of time. I bet you
20:39
Speaker 1: know who's up for a promotion. Of course, it's court.
20:42
Speaker 1: The construct reaches level three today, druids get a D
20:46
Speaker 1: six as there hit die. So that's what I'll roll
20:48
Speaker 1: for new hitdpoints. Here we go. Oh well, I got
20:52
Speaker 1: it two that gets minned out at three. Gordon now
20:55
Speaker 1: has a max of fourteen, which is still pretty good
20:58
Speaker 1: looking at the advanced OS players. Ton I see that
21:01
Speaker 1: he'll acquire some new abilities. Druids pick up some language skills,
21:05
Speaker 1: adding one type of creature at each level above two.
21:08
Speaker 1: The rules say the language is for Sylvan forest creatures,
21:11
Speaker 1: but it makes sense to me that Chord can henceforth
21:13
Speaker 1: understand Robin, even if he cannot actually speak to the bird.
21:17
Speaker 1: What else, he can travel through natural environments without leaving
21:20
Speaker 1: any tracks, and he can move through overgrown areas without penalty.
21:24
Speaker 1: As Coord has no stats, we'll skip rolls for any
21:26
Speaker 1: increases there. But we aren't quite done, because Chord will
21:29
Speaker 1: get a new Druid spell this one of second level.
21:33
Speaker 1: Like the others, I'll roll at random and he'll automatically
21:36
Speaker 1: select it. Every day, I'm rolling a D eight to
21:38
Speaker 1: see which spell he will get the seven. It isn't
21:42
Speaker 1: cure light wounds. Unfortunately, it's hmm, slow poison. Let's see
21:47
Speaker 1: what that's all about. According to these rules, the spell
21:50
Speaker 1: has a duration of one hour per level. It slows
21:52
Speaker 1: poisoned so that only one hit point per turn is
21:54
Speaker 1: actually suffered by the recipient. Once the subject reaches their
21:58
Speaker 1: last hit point, they stay there until the bell's duration ends,
22:01
Speaker 1: or they die, or else the poisonous somehow neutralized. This
22:04
Speaker 1: is interesting. Characters killed by poison can be revived by
22:08
Speaker 1: the spell if death has occurred within one turn per
22:11
Speaker 1: castor level. Despite this revival aspect of the spell, I
22:14
Speaker 1: still question if it has much of a use at all.
22:17
Speaker 1: If you don't have an antidote, what good is delaying
22:20
Speaker 1: the inevitable? But now that I really consider it, that's
22:23
Speaker 1: short sighted thinking delaying poison might allow someone to stay
22:26
Speaker 1: in a fight long enough to help allies survive, for example.
22:30
Speaker 1: But as they read through the full spell description, there's more.
22:33
Speaker 1: The rules say that if a subject was poisoned by
22:35
Speaker 1: a natural plant or animal, the cast has a ten
22:38
Speaker 1: percent chance per level of knowing a herbal antidote that
22:40
Speaker 1: will fully neutralize the poison. Oc is very good at
22:44
Speaker 1: answering the questions that immediately come to mind in the wilderness.
22:48
Speaker 1: Gathering the herbs for the antidote takes one turn in
22:51
Speaker 1: a settlement. They may be available for purchase from a herbalist.
22:55
Speaker 1: So actually, if the dice are kind after they are cruel,
22:58
Speaker 1: this spell could be a literal life saver. Now, just
23:01
Speaker 1: before we returned to the narrative, I need to pull
23:04
Speaker 1: a card from my deck of hearts. I've removed the
23:06
Speaker 1: nine King and ace your recall, so we can see
23:09
Speaker 1: what lies beyond that archway. Well, all right, The others
23:19
Speaker 1: had not noticed Chord's new sprout. Their attention was fixed
23:22
Speaker 1: on the archway to the north. There was no sign
23:24
Speaker 1: of any danger beyond, but Durani drew his sword all
23:27
Speaker 1: the same as he took a few careful steps towards it.
23:31
Speaker 1: Ten Tire did likewise. I'm right behind you, brother, he said.
23:36
Speaker 1: Achillia patted Cord on the shoulder and smiled. Then her
23:39
Speaker 1: face grew serious. Where's Robin, she asked. Cord pointed a
23:43
Speaker 1: dowel finger up at the square of daylight above them.
23:46
Speaker 2: That's probably for the best.
23:47
Speaker 1: Said Achillie. Cord bowed in agreement, and then the two
23:50
Speaker 1: of them followed Durni and tent here. As they approached
23:53
Speaker 1: the archway to the north, Fairwin came behind them, carrying
23:56
Speaker 1: a flaming brand from a small fire in his free hand.
24:00
Speaker 1: Ahead the two elven brothers passed under the crumbly archway
24:04
Speaker 1: and entered a straight corridor. If it hadn't been for
24:07
Speaker 1: the human's torch, they would have been able to see
24:09
Speaker 1: to the end, but as it was, their vision extended
24:11
Speaker 1: a mere thirty feet before the fire light was swallowed
24:14
Speaker 1: up by gloom. It was cool down here, and the
24:18
Speaker 1: stone walls echoed in a way the ten tyer fan disquieting.
24:22
Speaker 1: Although he tried to be brave, he couldn't ignore how
24:24
Speaker 1: the small hairs on his arms stood up, and how
24:27
Speaker 1: his heart beat was beginning to bound. Most Elves believed
24:30
Speaker 1: in spirits and the undead, even if they had never
24:33
Speaker 1: seen them. There were enough accounts of uncanny encounters with
24:36
Speaker 1: the supernatural in their histories that, unlike fanciful creatures such
24:40
Speaker 1: as high elves, living dead was not considered a thing
24:43
Speaker 1: of childish fear and fantasy. A few more steps into
24:48
Speaker 1: the corridor showed that it terminated in a tea junction.
24:51
Speaker 1: All was silent. Tender thought it was unnaturally so, how
24:55
Speaker 1: he admired Dranny's courage. His older brother was just ahead
24:58
Speaker 1: of him and walked forward bravely, sword in hand. Ten
25:02
Speaker 1: Tyre wished he could be more like that, but he
25:04
Speaker 1: could not deny that. In his heart, he only wished
25:07
Speaker 1: to turn tail and bolt back the way they had come.
25:10
Speaker 1: He had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling, about
25:13
Speaker 1: what they were going to find in these tunnels, or
25:16
Speaker 1: perhaps he thought what would find them. Der Annie slowed
25:21
Speaker 1: and stopped fifteen feet before the tunnel branched off east
25:24
Speaker 1: and west. Which way Tenteer, he asked, without looking over
25:28
Speaker 1: his shoulder. He spoke in a whisper, but his voice
25:31
Speaker 1: was steady and calm as a breeze. Tender wanted to reply,
25:35
Speaker 1: but which way should they go? Left? Right? He didn't know,
25:40
Speaker 1: he had no wish to go in either direction. When
25:42
Speaker 1: he opened his mouth to answer, no sound came out.
25:45
Speaker 1: His voice was stuck in his throat. Doranny must have
25:49
Speaker 1: felt ten to his fear, for he slowly turned around,
25:52
Speaker 1: licked his brother in the face, and put his free
25:54
Speaker 1: hand on the younger ELF's shoulder. Tinder was ashamed to
25:57
Speaker 1: be afraid and dropped his gaze to the floor. Doranni's
26:00
Speaker 1: hand now left his shoulder and touched him under the chin.
26:05
Speaker 1: He felt his face gently lifted, so the brothers once
26:08
Speaker 1: again looked into each other's eyes. Courage, little mouse, he said,
26:13
Speaker 1: using a nickname Tenier at not being called for many years.
26:16
Speaker 1: You are your mother's son. Remember that it was exactly
26:21
Speaker 1: what Tendire needed. He nodded slightly, then swallowed and said,
26:25
Speaker 1: let's go left. Thank you for listening to Tale of
26:33
Speaker 1: the Manticor if you're enjoying the show and would like
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Speaker 1: to help to support it, there are lots of ways
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Speaker 1: can rate or review the show on your podcast rip choice.
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Speaker 1: I'm very grateful for all of your support. Speaking of
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Speaker 1: listener support, I just found out that Pendulum, a World
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Speaker 1: building tool, has achieved Gold bestseller status, so extra special
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Speaker 1: thanks to everyone who picked that up. At this point,
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Speaker 1: I'd like to share a brief review, and I do
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Speaker 1: mean brief. Goblin six eighty five writes just so good
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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts. Thanks very much, Goblin six eighty five.
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Speaker 1: I tremendously appreciated the review and you might be my
27:20
Speaker 1: first from Sweden. That's pretty exciting. This episode features the
27:24
Speaker 1: voices of three actors playing ten Tier Is Kevin Barringer,
27:28
Speaker 1: de Rennie is voiced by Kyleen, and David Cooper is
27:30
Speaker 1: back as fair Wind. Thanks to Kevin, Kyleen, and David
27:33
Speaker 1: for their generous contributions to the show. For those curious
27:37
Speaker 1: to learn a bit more about Tale of the Manticore,
27:38
Speaker 1: I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
27:40
Speaker 1: show and RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts,
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Speaker 1: and show ups. You can find it a Tale of
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Speaker 1: the Manticore dark blogspot dot com. To get in touch
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Speaker 1: with me, I am at Manticore Tale on X, Tale
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Speaker 1: of the Manticore podcast on Instagram, or Tale of the
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Speaker 1: Manticore at gmail dot com. Oh yeah, I've also finally
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Speaker 1: joined a Blue Sky, so get in touch. I'd love
27:59
Speaker 1: to hear from you. The adventure will continue on the
28:02
Speaker 1: next episode of Tale of the manticor it's the story
28:05
Speaker 1: where chaos rolls.