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Dice Chain Finale: Links 13-15 · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Dice Chain, a system fluid, multi-author, experimental
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: fiction series. Let's briefly recap the last episode. Link 11.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: BXD & D. Aristan, Buckvine, Hooli, Alice, and a handful
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of archers face a terrifying four-headed hydra. They wound the creature,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: but it regenerates and presses the attack, forcing them to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: fall back. While retreating, Aristan begins to question his reality
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and comes to the conclusion that Dr. Pooley has manipulated
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: him through suggestion. Alice is not real, and they are
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: not really fighting a terrible monster. Somehow, he manages to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: convince Buckvine of the same, which causes the other man
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to suddenly strike at Pooley instead of the Hydra. At
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: this point, the story abruptly shifts. Aristan and Buckvine awaken
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: in a cell, chained to the wall. Buckvine, using sheer strength,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: tears the chains free of their moorings. When they hear
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: footsteps approaching, the two men quickly prepare an ambush. Link 12.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: BXD & D Dale and Grell arrive carrying water for
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the prisoners. When they enter the darkened cabin, the knights
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: spring their trap. Using improvised weapons, Buckvine overwhelms Dale while
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Ariston tackles Grell, and both assassins are quickly subdued. Dale
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: loses his nerve and reveals Dr. Pooley's whereabouts. Grell, for
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: his part, admits that Marlaine, in a bid for the throne,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: has orchestrated everything. Once they've extracted what they can, the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: knights incapacitate both men, recover Ariston's stolen signet ring from Grell,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: and disguise themselves in the henchman's armor, taking their swords
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and crossbows as well. Then they leave the cabin under
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: cover of darkness in search of Dr. Pooley. Link 13
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Now that the scales have fallen from Ariston and Buckvine's eyes,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I feel that we've entered the third and final act
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of our story. The conclusion, I suspect, cannot be far off.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But before I proceed with the narrative, I want to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: figure out a couple of things. First, did Aristan remember
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to question the captives about Ivar at some point before
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: rendering them unconscious, or did he not think to do so?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Let's call this a roll under wisdom check. Since his
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: level up in link 10, Aristan has a wisdom score
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: of 12, rolling and hoping to get that number or less.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: A 16 means that he was either too groggy or
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: too hot-blooded to have asked. Therefore, Ivar's fate is yet unknown. Alright,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: up next, while Grell's and Dale's ill-fitting leather armor, their swords,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and their crossbows are all valuable finds, I wonder if
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the henchmen might be carrying anything else, like keys. In
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the last link, Dan indicated that Bugvine, using brute strength,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: was able to get them free of their chains, and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: use them to restrain the unconscious assassins. So obviously they
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: weren't carrying keys to the manacles, but might they have
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: other keys, or something else entirely that could be useful?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: A 50% chance for that to be true.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Rolling.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: A 42 says it is. Do they find a key
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: that fits some other lock, then? A 75% chance for
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a yes.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: 97.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: No, it isn't a key they find, but something else.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: How about an oracle roll on action and subject to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: find out what? 92. Vengeance. And 60. Misfortune. That's appropriate
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: for link number 13. Okay, I think Aristan finds a
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: vial of some kind of vapor. It's one of Pooley's concoctions,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: of course. And while the effects are unknown, they are
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: probably unhealthy if inhaled. I think Aristan would enjoy forcing
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Pooley to take a dose of his own medicine if
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he got the chance. Alright, enough meta-talk. Let's get to
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the narrative. The two knights, now dressed in tight-fitting boiled
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: leather armor and free of their chains, crept across the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: ruined courtyard. Overhead, a quarter moon hung in a clear sky.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It provided enough light for the two men to find
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: their way.' Eriston, do you know this place?' asked Buckvine.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: The other man shook his head.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: No, but I think it might be Gant Manor.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Somewhere from his broken memories, he recalled the smug face
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: of Queen Rhiannon's treasurer, along with his comment that the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: manor was little more than a hovel. At the time,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: he'd dismissed it as hyperbole, but if this place was
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: his newly entitled property, the treasurer had actually understated its condition.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: In my dream, he continued wistfully, Alice was there.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: She was alive. She rescued me. Twice.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Buckvine gave him a sympathetic look. He was aware of
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the tragedy that had befallen Aristan's family.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I am sorry you had to experience that.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not, replied Aristan after consideration.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: It was good to see her again, though it does
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: wound me to lose her a second time.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Buckvine looked away, tightening the grip on his new sword.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Aristan changed the topic.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Did you also dream of a rebellion and an attack
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: by a winged creature? The flight through the woods and
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: the battle with the Hydra? The be- no. In my visions,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: you and I were on a ship, captained by a
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: man with long red hair tied up in a braid.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: After many days at sea, a many-tentacled creature attacked the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: ship and was pulling the hold to pieces when I awoke.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: We were heading to- Hush.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Said Aristan. The two men immediately dropped behind the partial
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: cover of a nearby crumbling half-wall, over which they then peered.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Some sixty or seventy feet ahead, and on the far
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: side of the courtyard, a large raven was perched on
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: the windowsill of a building that, apart from its roof,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: was still intact. He used his beak to tap at
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a tattoo against a small pane of dark green glass.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Just a bird, said Ariston, relaxing. As he and Buckvine
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: rose back up, the bird noticed them and squawked loudly once,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: before fanning its black wings and taking off.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: A bad omen, opined Buck Fine. For Pooley, maybe, Eristan
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: grunted back.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Come on. If he's here, that is the most likely
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: place to find him.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: The two knights crossed the courtyard until they reached the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: door of their roofless building. All seemed quiet.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Do you want to look around first?
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Asked Eristan. Not really, replied Buck Fine. Then he grabbed
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the door handle and pulled the latch. While both Aristan
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and Buckvine have made their livings from the strength of
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: their arm, Pooley has gotten where he is today by
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: his brains. I think there's a reasonable chance that this
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: door is not only locked, but trapped, too. I'll roll
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: for it. A 50% chance that the door is locked.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Here's the roll. A 16 on a D percentile says yes,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: it is. Is it also trapped? I'll give that a
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: 20% chance. The roll.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: A 42.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: A 42. This door is safe, though I still imagine
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: that Pooley, if he is here, has devised some means
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: of defense. Perhaps we'll see that later. But for now,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I have what I need for this story to progress.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: The door shook some, but did not open. Damn it,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Buckvine cursed.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: I bet there's a key hidden around here somewhere, reasoned Ariston.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: Seeing how we didn't find one on either of Pooley's men....
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: It could be anywhere, complained the bigger knight, but Ariston
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: was already looking around. He made his way over to
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the window where the raven had been and felt along
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the sill. Nothing. He tried looking inside, but the greenish
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: glass was coated in grime and dirt on the inside.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It was impossible to see through. Ariston continued around to
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the back of the building, which was a rectangle of
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: about 40 by 30 feet in size. There was no
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: other way in he could.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: See, except, I wonder if we can get in that way, he.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Said, pointing up at the collapsed roof. To do that, however,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: they'd need to climb a wall three times their height.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Do I look like a cat burglar to you?
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Scoffed Buckvine. Before, despite still being barefoot, he kicked in
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the door. Or did he? Even though there's a mechanic
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: for opening stuck doors in BX D & D, I'm
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: going to forgo it and instead make a strength check
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: to see if Buck Fine can break this one down.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Since the Knight has an incredible strength score of 18,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: there's a whopping 90% chance for success here, which does
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: seem reasonable, especially as this door is part of a ruin.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: That said, to keep things interesting, I'll say there's a
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: chance Buck Fine hurts himself in the process. Since a
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: lower roll is better in this case, I'll say he'll
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: take four points of damage if he rolls an 18,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the worst roll that still indicates success. On a 17,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: he'll take three points, two on a 16, and one
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: on a 15. Here comes the roll. A 14. Ever
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: feel like you just made up a mechanic for nothing?
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Oh well, the dice have spoken, and Buckvine kicks the
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: door hard enough that the wood cracks just to the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: left of the lock. Almost there. The second kick split
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the door into two vertical planks, one of which flopped
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: drunkenly from a bent hinge, and a second that flew
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: into the building to clatter with a hollow sound against
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the flagstones. Swords first, the knights entered. If the roof
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: had been intact, they would not have been able to
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: make out anything inside. However, as most of the roof
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: was missing, the moonlight that shone in was adequate, almost
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: as good as it had been outside. By its contents,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the former purpose of the building was not readily apparent.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Most everything in it was in ruins, like the edifice itself.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: There was a broken table and chair, an open trunk
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: full of what looked like multi-burlap sandals.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Or sheets.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: The broken blade of a longsword lay discarded on the floor, and,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: under the solitary window of filthy greenish glass that the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: crow had tapped on, a spiral staircase descended into the earth.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Barely discernible, a faint glow, as though the room below
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: was lit by torches, was visible. Buckvine smiled at Aristan.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Let's go pay the doctor a visit.
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: Link 14. I roll the chaos check. D10. 8. That
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: means no change to scene. But there are still a
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: couple of things to set up. Because of what has
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: occurred previously, the true health or hit points of the
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: two knights is unknown. They both imagined themselves to be
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: fed adequately. Grell, however, spoke of only slipping them some
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: water plus joy juice. If they had been truly out
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: of food for a week, because, after all, Sir Wallace
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Buckvine had definitely been under Dr Pooley's influence for a
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: considerable time longer, they'd lost somewhere between 6 and 11
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: hit points. Let's just simplify it to a D100 roll.
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: I mark it as likely.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: 42, yes.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Aristan is therefore on 7 hit points, and Sir Wallace Buckvine,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: who I have made a relatively generous sequence of saves for,
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: is also on 7 hit points. The next thing to
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: set up is a clock countdown. The two knights witnessed
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: a bird tapping on a pane. That means either the
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: doctor must become alerted to that tapping through some mystic
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: source or some as yet unknown guard seated at a
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: lower guard cell will wake the doctor. I'm going to
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: set this as a D6 clock. Whatever seems indicated, I
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: roll the D6 and if I score a 1 or 2,
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: that reduces to a D4. If I score a 1
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: or a 2 on the d4, that means the doctor
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: has indeed been awakened. The game begins.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Let's go pay the doctor a visit.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Aristan casts one last look around the upper chamber. No
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: shield over a hearth with or without a secret entrance
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: behind it. No handy ancient weaponry on a wall.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Hold on there.
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: A roll an eight on roll under whiz. That trunk
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: is out of place.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Dr.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Wallace, before we do that, let's ease the sucking away
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: there from that trunk.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: What?
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Oh, safe as we can, though.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: My fingers itch to feel the neck of the filth
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: under them.
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: This has to be their gear, right? It's nearly certain.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: Time for a clock check.
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: No change.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: The two knights rearm swiftly with shield and longsword, but
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: given the pressure of time, cannot delay to arm her up.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Time for a clock check again. It's a two that
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: drops the clock down to a d4. The two knights
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: now approach the stair again.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Dear Wallace, I shall try to move down silently. Stand ready,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: or wait. How well do you handle a crossbow? Well enough.
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: Is this true? Not at all.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Does Wallace think he is the better thief? I rate
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: that as nearly impossible.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: No. But I have, I think, a few gears and
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: a few stone on you. and sword and shield are
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: my real strengths. Perhaps you, as the lighter, should creep
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: down first. Wave me down if all seems well. Oh,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: by polite way of putting it, I defer to your years.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: Aristan could either walk down ready with shield and sword,
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: or probe his way down. The fact that the minions
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: must have just come up this way, with a big
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: pail of water, Means the steps must surely be safe.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: Are the steps actually safe?
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: I rate this as very unlikely.
• 15:22
  Speaker 7: No.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: In fact, extreme no. They are both alarmed and trapped
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: with a rune that immobilizes those in the zone. Aristan
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: makes another whiz check and lowers good. A ten, which
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: is okay for his wisdom of twelve. But this must
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: be at disadvantage owing to the poor lighting, so I'm
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: going to roll that again.
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: Another 10.
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: That's a success. Aristand steps down, then pauses. The doctor
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: must surely have some kind of defence. He mulls over
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: what he has heard of weird defences.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I believe the wretches will have a mystic pass barrier, but...
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Other creatures will not. After all, the raven had to
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: stop at the window. It could be too late, or
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: it could be that there is a ward on the steps.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I have heard of such things. In your seaboard voyage,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: was there some token taken from you? I lost my
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: signet ring, but at the time, that seemed mere spite.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: I rate it 50-50 that Ariston is on the right track.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: Let's roll for a description. A brass ring from Wallace's
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: early joust days.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Aye, I remember losing my brass ring I'd run it
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: in jousting as a lad, and kept it to amuse
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: company with the tail. A folk's old rat ran it
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: from me at dice. Have another look about, no stay.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: There's no light to find such a thing by. Say
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: a prayer for me. I will pass a town, using
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: my ring as token.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: Holding his signet up as he would a shield, Aristan
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: creeps down step by step.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Clock check.
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: I roll a 1. This actually falls in line with.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: The warding spell on the steps that I already know about.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: So in keeping with closing threads down and keeping to
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: the simplest path, I rule that the ring Aristan bears
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: may protect him from the immobilizing effect, but that the
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: doctor wakes thanks to the warding. Does the ring actually
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: prevent immobility?
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: Unlikely. Yes, it does.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: Sure enough, there is light down below. In fact, it's
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: the same chamber we viewed in link 11. Practical and comfortable.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: Time for initiatives. Each side rolls a two. Ariston scans
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: about for any of either a brass ring.
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: Or the doctor. That's a whiz check.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: He scrapes by with an 11 on his 12, just
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: making it.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: What does he see?
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: Another description. It's the ring, a loud reminder of Wallace's boyhood.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: Ariston creeps back up with it. Meanwhile, And at the
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: same time, in the secret chamber adjacent to the chamber
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: that Aristan has now entered, the true form of Dr. Puli,
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: a dragon, begins its sorceries. It's the Almohadji dragon, but
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: in this case, evil. It begins one of its greatest,
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: Astral Spell. Once cast, he can leave his body, and
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: cast spells from wherever his astral form is, though with
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: some strictures. The only real weakness that we need to
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: concern ourselves with in this climax is the fear of
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: the Almahaji that the invaders will sever his dummy, Dr. Puli,
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: and then find his true body, or sever the silvery
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: cord that connects his astral form to his true body.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: And this fear will grow as the seconds tick by.
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: Round 2.
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: Initiatives.
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: I get Knights 6 and Doctor 4.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: First turn.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: With finger to lips, Ariston hands over the brass ring.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: The two men descend the stair. On the second bound,
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: the doctor duly casts Astral Spell from his hiding place
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: and moves swiftly to inspect the danger.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Oh no!
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: His minions are nowhere to be found. And two armed
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: knights are.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: In his lair.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: How could they have avoided the trap? Oh right, they
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: overpowered Grell and took the signet ring. It is keyed
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: into this ruin. Initiative round three. Knights 5, Doctor 6.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: In the first bound, Doctor Pooley casts Confusion using his
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: Astral Self. Each Knight rolls against spells on a high-as-good
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: OSE basis. They'll need a 16 or better. At this
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: point I need to check if Wallace Buckvine has a
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: bonus on his Wisdom. We know Aristan with Wisdom 12
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: does not.
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: Off mic, I roll.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: A 10 as Buckvine's Wisdom And there have been no
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: level gains. So 10 it is.
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: Here are the saves.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: Aristan 6 is fail. And 2d6 on what that failure
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: means with the confusion is 6.
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: No action.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: Wallace 16 plus 0 is succeed.
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: Second bout.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: The mighty buckvine visually sweeps the chamber, seeking the caster.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Its clutter of comfortable furniture and weird equipment may prevent
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: him from seeing where the doctor's physical body might be.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: Here's a wisdom check for Sir Wallace.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: It's a nine.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: He does spot something that looks like the caster's body
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: might well be concealed in it. I'm going to roll
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: on the meaning element object rather than the full descriptor generator.
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: Bizarre.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Definitely catches Wallace's eye. With a roar he leaps across
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: and strikes the defenseless object beneath which is the doctor's
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: physical form.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Or is it?
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: O2. Yes.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Extreme.
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: The doctor can react if he has a charm that
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: does so.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Does he?
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: Very likely.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: No.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: Crit is threatened if Buckbine strikes a prone helpless form,
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: and this would slay the caster, or at least this
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: form of the caster. 15 is success. The damage becomes critical.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: Paulie's current form has 20 hit points as a 6-hit
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: dice dragon alchemist. The longsword, driven by Buckthorn's near-legendary strength,
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: she is right through the gaudy bizarre box-like affair in
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: which hides the illusionist. As the sides and top sunder,
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: the form beneath takes lethal damage. The doctor's head falls off.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: The mask slips away. There is nothing under it. It's
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: just a puppet-like effigy. Buckthorne utters a cry of horror
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: wrought from a strong man facing unknown terror. The silver
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: thread activates. But Aristan has been released from confusion thanks
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: to the killing.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: Initiatives. Round four. Dragon four, knights one.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: First bout.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: A thunderous roar sounds from beyond the wall. The stone
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: blocks shatter around a door that explodes outward. and the
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: chaotic evil analogue of an Almohadji bursts out. This is
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: an assault on the wall in its large state.
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: Nat 1. Second attack. Nat 20.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Alright.
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: That will do real damage. And it means that.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: Sir Wallace is in danger. Let's make a strength test
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: for it to emerge fully. I roll an 8.
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: Success.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: But that means it's used all three attacks, but will
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: be able to fight next round. Returning to Wallace to
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: find out if he survived the exploding blocks, he'll make
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: a save versus paralysis with advantage since the first attack
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: was a nat 1. Wallace rolls a nat 20, and
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: so with advantage he leaps clear and is ready to
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: flank the beast with Aristan. In bound 2, the two
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: knights attack. Aristan needs to roll a 15 to hit,
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Buckvine needs to roll the 14 to hit, but has
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: flank advantage plus 2.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Here we go.
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: Aristan succeeds.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: Buckvine also succeeds using that plus 2. Longsword, single-handed. Aristan
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: delivers 6 damage. Ooh, Buckvine scores max 11 damage. Now
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: the hit dice of the dragon are 6, and it
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: really does have only 20 hit points. Now it is
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: on three. Initiatives, round five. Dragon six, knights two.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Bound one.
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: Given the extreme danger to.
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: Itself, the dragon breathes steam, which does damage, not forgetfulness,
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: while casting Hallucinatory Terrain to prevent any further advantage. The
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: entire chamber becomes a volcanic caldera full of scorching steam.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: Both knights save versus dragon breath. Hand roll 12 and
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: 8 respectively. Buckvine shoves Aristan out of the way of
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: the geyser and takes 12 damage. He is reduced to
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: zero hit points. Aristan saves as Buckvine violently hurls him sideways.
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: Half damage reduces him to one hit point.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: Bound two.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: Groping forward, Aristan drops his sword and then flings the
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: vial he relieved Grelo down the dragon's throat. With disadvantage,
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: he rolls two successful attacks, 15 and 16. The dragon
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: takes some mystical damage, plus 1d6 physical damage.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Three.
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: That kills it.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Wallace!
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: Comrade!
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Brother!
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: It is too late.
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: The boiled eyes and suffused features of the mighty knight.
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: Show he has been cooked through.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: Aristan is alone in the ruins of two chambers. The
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: chamber beyond must be the true lair of the dragon.
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: Let's roll per book treasure, but ensure there is something that.
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: Hooks us forward towards Morlane.
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: And we'll do a final corpse check Is Ivar's corpse there?
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: It's unlikely.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: No.
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: Relentlessly, grimly, Aristand studies every piece of equipment that may
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: prove useful. Some things are clearly labelled, probably so that
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: the minions could serve a useful purpose inside the lab.
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: Aristand finds two things in particular that will serve him well.
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: a ring of invisibility, and the sword that served some
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: arcane purpose.
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: Clearly magical.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: He bags all the rest up, taking care that potion
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: bottles won't break. That burla comes in handy, and there
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: are plenty of cushion covers.
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: To double his wraps.
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: Before that, though, he first searches the grounds. By now,
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: he's nearly certain that his own mount, and that of
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: Sir Wallace's, have been seized by Morlane, the pretender. But
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: it also seems near certain that Grell and Dale have
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: mounts stable around the ruin. Yes, they're very adequate palfreys,
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: comfortable to ride and in good shape should he need
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: to push himself. He chooses one to ride and one
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: as pack horse and loads up everything that seems useful
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: for the fast ride back to find the sheriff.
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: Or wait?
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: Should he seek out Morlane, alone as he is? He
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: knows that had Sir Wallace Buckvine been with him... him,
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: they would surely seek out Morlane the Pretender, and bring
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: the Queen his head. But on his own? If this
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: is indeed Gant Manor, he has no resources to call
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: on here, regardless of his warrant. The best course of action, surely,
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: is to ride back down the new road at best pace,
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: to report back to the Queen's military representatives, most notably
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: the Sheriff. That man, he feels, is trustworthy. He will
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: surely call a posse comitatus to saddle up and ride.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: The matter, Aristan turns over and over in his mind,
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: without making any final decision. With all packed to his satisfactions,
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: and he himself attired properly and armoured as well as
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: riding permits, it's dawn. The weather is overcast, promising scattered showers.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: He rests to eat the rations allowed by the simple
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: kitchens on the premises, and regains.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: Three hit points.
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: For a time, he sits in the warrior's pose, meditating.
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: At length, He rises, feeling stronger and more determined than
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: at any point in his career. With a definite plan
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: now set in his mind, he mounts up and turns
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: the horse's noses towards the new.
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: Road and rides out.
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: It's level up time. Irrespective of his original hit points,
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: Wallace is currently at 4, and he's allowed a further d8.
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: I roll a 5.
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: That elevates him to 9. An added d8 hit points
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: is just icing, because at level 4, knights gain plus
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: 2 to hit, and plus 2 across the board all saves.
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: As a side note, knights gain a plus 4 bonus
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: to saving throws against hold spells, which could have been
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: handy on the stair had I known about that, but
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: it didn't come into it. Charms, Mind Control, Hypnotism, Suggestion,
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: and so forth. They gain a plus 2 bonus to
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: saving throws against Illusion, and gain a saving throw, though
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: one is not normally allowed, against Sleep Spells. Chance of
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: Attribute Gain, rolled SIWDCC. Strength goes up 1. For the record,
• 32:25
  Speaker 5: his level 4 attributes are now Strength 17, Intelligence 9,
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: Wisdom 12, Dexterity 11, Constitution 13, and Charisma 17. He
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: is armoured with full knightly armour as he appeared in
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: Episode 1. He wears a shield according to his rank,
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: which presumably is a normal knightly shield. While he no
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: longer has a lance, he has upgraded with a very
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: magical sword, rated at a plus 3 to attack and damage,
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: and his normal knightly dagger. He can choose to further
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: equip himself with a short sword, a crossbow, a spear dagger,
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: a spear longsword, and potentially further knives or daggers.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: Are you looking for an actual play podcast with young,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: hot role players, disciplined, professional voice actors, and wholesome content?
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: Well, this isn't that podcast.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: AARPG is an adults-only podcast with.
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: Interviews, actual play.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Stories, where.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: Uh, excuse me, Matt.
• 33:45
  Speaker 7: Why do you sound like you've been chain-smoking since you
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: were a toddler?
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: What do you mean? Uh, the voice. You don't have
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: to do that voice, man.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: I don't?
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: Nah, just tell them that we're a group of old
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: friends who like to get together, hang out, play lots
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: of different types of games, and we want them to
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: feel like they're sitting at the table with us. And
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: they can find us just by searching for the AARPG
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: Podcast on their favorite podcatcher, and at the AARPGs on YouTube.
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: Fifteenth Link Before I dive into this link, I played
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: through an entire alternate ending to the story from The
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: Knight's Fork the previous author gave me. It ended up
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: being much too long for this format, but I loved
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: how it turned out, so I wanted to share. You
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: can find those three full episodes on my Patreon at patreon.com
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: slash rollponderandplay, all one word, for free subscribers. Just search
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: for Dice Chain or link 15 there. I've also left
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: links in the show notes. Enjoy, and please reach out
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: and let me know which ending you preferred. And now,
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: on to link 15. Aristan had studied the map from
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: Pooley's workshop, and it clearly indicated two key locations that
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: likely would bring him face-to-face with Morlain. One, a base
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: where those sympathetic to Morlain were training and gathering. And
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: the other, Morlain's current hideout. Both were about 25 miles
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: north where the bridge into Gant County crossed the Talon River.
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: By midday, Aristan had found the bridge and then turned
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: north into the woods. If he kept the bridge on
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: his right and pressed on through the night, he should
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: run right into the rebel base. And beyond that, higher
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: in elevation, more lanes hid an abode. The hooves of
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: Ariston's palfrey galloped west along the New Queen's Road, deeper
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: into the autumnal depths of the forested Gant County. The
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: second palfrey followed behind. A blustery wind in a gray
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: but rainless sky tore at the branches and leaves, and
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: the muted hues of orange, yellow, and rust flecked with
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: the promise of winter flashed past him as they spiraled
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: down from the trees. He squinted and ducked a low
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: branch that whipped his cheek, drawing a faint line of red.
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: He didn't notice. His mind thought only of his quarry.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: More lane.
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: Okay, we are back to using the Ironsworn system. I've
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: put Aristan's current character along with some asset updates to
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: reflect level ups in the show notes. To keep things
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: moving along, I won't go over them in the audio here,
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: but I will mention his current statuses.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: So his health.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: He is 2 out of 5. Spirit, 3 out of 5. Supply,
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: 3 out of 5. Momentum, 5 out of 10. Let's
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: do a weather check. I rolled a 9. Because he
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: has the map, this is considered moving along a known route.
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: I'm going to use follow a path, and I am
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: rolling plus supply. And I rolled a 5 on the
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: action dice, followed by a 3 for the supplies, an
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: 8 against a 3, and a 10 on the challenge
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: dice for a weak hit. We face a complication. I'm
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: going to choose that resources were wasted and supply goes
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: down by minus one. Supply is now two out of five.
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: Aristan pressed on through the night, moving at speed upriver
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: as fast as illumination, terrain, and as palfreys would allow.
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: In the early hours of morning, Aristan's current mount, sides
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: heaving with effort, stumbled and slipped on the wet riverbank.
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: As it did so, it planted its right forehoof between
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: two river rocks and.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Its hoof caught.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: It fell hard on its right side, snapping its thin fetla.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: Ariston leapt free, but the horse thrashed in the onrushing river,
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: trying to get its feet under itself and keep itself free.
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: But its hoof remained stuck, and the bones from its
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: compound fracture speared through its skin, blood swirling around its leg.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: The animal screamed in pain, thrashing its head in fright
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: as the swift water collided into it. Aristan moved over
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: to the frantic mount, wading into the cold water up
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: to his thighs. He pulled out his knife and slashed
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: his blade across the beast's throat, giving it a mercy kill.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: The horse's warm blood sloshed over his hands as it struggled.
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: As it weakened, Aristan placed a bloody hand on its head.
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: Go in peace, he said in sorrow. The horse lowered
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: its head with a faint gurgle into the water and
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: then stopped moving. Ariston washed off the blood and resumed
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: his journey. Let's find out a little bit more about
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: the rebel base that was on the map. I'll use
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: action theme. I got a 59, take, and 36, world.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: This tells me it's built up on a high butte,
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: where they can take a view of the world. It's morning,
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: so I'm rolling for weather again, and I got a 17,
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: a beautiful day. As morning dawned rose-colored upon a field
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: of azure, Ariston crested a rise. In the distance, in
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: a wide valley miles across, a sandstone butte rose up
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: out of the surrounding forest of pine, oak, and maple.
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: A few scraggly scrub oaks and pines clung to its side.
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: The forest below it crept directly up to the butte's neck.
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: A road cut into the butte's face wound its way
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: up around to the top. Atop the plateau's surface, The
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: ruins of a keep, its gray cracked stone choked with ivy, crumbled.
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: Under the weight of time. and the forces of nature.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: That had to be their base, Ariston reasoned, scratching his
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: chin at the stubble starting to grow there. Remaining in
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: the tree line, he studied the rocky plateau for an
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: hour as the warm sun climbed higher in the sky.
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: The shadow cast by the butte to the west toward
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: Aristan slowly receded. Okay, this is secure and advantage, rolling
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: plus wits as he's pausing a moment to study the scene.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: I rolled a 5 on the action dice, plus 1
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: for his wits is a 6 against a 5 and
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: a 5 on the challenge dice. Oh yeah, that is
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: a great roll, a strong hit with a positive match.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: I'm going to prepare to act and take plus 2 momentum.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: Momentum is now 7 out of 10. and I figured
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: out what the positive match is off-mic, and I will
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: reveal it in the narrative. My thought processes are in
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: the show notes if interested. Aristan heard the thunder of
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: hooves upon the dirt road before he saw them. From
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: the shadows of the trees, he squinted across the valley
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: below and at a gap. His eyes widened as he
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: spotted Morlane himself atop a tall and muscular black war-charger.
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: The man had an ostentatious streak, and even here in
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: the wild he was dressed in finely cut black clothing,
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: ornamented in gold and crimson scrollwork, sable cloak, bordered in
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: forest green, equally fine, flared out behind him as he
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: and four companions galloped up the road, two in front
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: of Morlain and two behind. A long sword hung at
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: Morlain's waist. The others bore assorted weapons and armor. Aristam
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: put his helm on, brought his shield in front of him,
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: and drew out his ancestral longsword. I shall now end
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: Morlain's threat to the kingdom.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: He vowed.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: Okay, this is a troublesome vow, as Morlain is right
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: there below him. That shouldn't be too complex. This is
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: swear and iron vow. He's rolling plus heart. I rolled
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: a six on the action dice, plus three is a
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: nine against a six and a ten on the challenge
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: dice for a weak hit. You are determined, but begin
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: the quest with more questions than answers. Take plus one
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: momentum and envision what you do to find a path forward.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Momentum is now eight out of ten. As they drew closer,
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: Ariston noticed their fear. The rider's stirrups, digging into sides,
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: bending low to the backs of their flagging, sweat-rimed mounts.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: He saw the blood streaming down the furrowed flanks of
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: their mounts, the torn clothing, the bloody, riven links of
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: chainmail armor. Two warriors and Morlain pulled up their reins
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: at a switchback below Aristan, the exhalations from their mounts
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: casting clouds of white below them in the cold morning air.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: Why did you summon it? A warrior next to Morlain
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: shook his head, face white from fear or blood loss
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: or both.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: Are you mad?
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: Why didn't the Binding Rune work? Morlain cried out. It
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: should have held the thing, bound it to my will. Ah,
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: hell's beneath, how would I know? I'm no worker of
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: film magics. You're the one who claimed to be able
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: to control such a creature, wanted to ride it into
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: battle against the Queen. Morlain gave the man a dark look,
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: then peered behind the man. What of the others?
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: Who knows?
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: The other man muttered. Hold fast as lost. None could
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: stand against that thing. Just then the fourth rider rounded
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: the corner nearing the others, but he did not slow
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: his lathered mount.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Is it to follow us still?
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: Morlain called out to the man, fear causing his voice
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: to climb in pitch. A good question, Morlain. A question
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: that needs answering, is it?
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Likely.
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: On a roll of a ten, yes, and.
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: The Forthrider shouted as he kicked his mount and raced
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: ahead of the others, tearing up the road to the
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: final bend, fear written across his visage. Down in the
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: valley below, Eristan saw something large and dark, darting through
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: the trees, rushing towards them as it crashed through the
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: branches and bramble.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: It was big.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: His eyes widened. It was still a ways off, but
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: gaining ground very quickly. Orlane, Eristan breathed.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: What have you done?
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: And a part of him wanted to run in fear too,
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: to flee up the road away from this thing. But
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: he had made his vow. All the more reason to
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: deal with Morlain first if he had brought this creature
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: into existence. He lowered his visor and charged down the road.
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: I'm handling this fight with Morlain and his men as
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: a single battle move. It's happening in a blur and
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: they're wounded. I don't see them. Getting away easily from Aristan,
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: and I don't want to get bogged down in rolling
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: out an extensive combat at the moment.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Battle.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: When you fight a battle and it happens in a blur,
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: envision your objective and roll. I am primarily fighting up
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: close to overpower my opponent, so I'm rolling plus iron.
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: His objective is to defeat all four men and to
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: leave none alive or conscious. I've made my roll, and
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: I will reveal its results later. Aristan rushed to the
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: first warrior, surprising him, taking his helmeted head with a
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: flash of steel in the morning sun and a spray
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: of red. The head toppled into the brush. Then he
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: was past the rider, its mount with its headless corpse
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: still holding the reins, continued on up the road, a
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: dozen paces before the fingers loosened, and the corpse fell
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: from the saddle. Then Aristan was among Morlane and his warriors,
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: and before they could react with any cohesion, they knew
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: not where to turn. His sword rose and fell, spearing
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: one torso, sweeping off another head, cleaving through someone's shoulder blade,
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: and slashing across the middle of another. Then he was
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: through them on the other side of the pack.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: He wheeled his mount, and.
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: Found that all had fallen and were lying still, unmoving,
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: save two, one with a cleft collarbone at his feet,
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: blood oozing out onto the ground, and more laying. The
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: duke still sat in his saddle and clutched at a
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: gut wound in one hand, trying to keep his entrails inside,
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: and held his sword in his right.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Aristan!
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: Morlane hissed in pain.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: You dog!
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: It's over, Morlane.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: Your long rebellion against the throne, your machinations in shadow
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: against your queen, your perfidy of existence, all of it
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: ends now. You'll at least go down with it, Morlane
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: shouted and grinned. Just look behind you at what I
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: have wrought. The man gave a slightly unhinged cackle. Aristan
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: did not look. He could sense the thing behind him,
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: as could his mount. He dug his heels into its
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: flanks as something large whistled through the air where he
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: had been. His mount leaped over the warrior crawling on
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: the ground in front of him, and Aristan engaged Morlane again.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: A brief swing, a clash of steel on steel as
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: their swords met, then his counter-strike in a flash of steel.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Took Orlane's head.
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: The head bounced off a nearby tree, and the man's
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: body rolled off the side of his mount into the dirt.
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: Aristand wheeled his mount, his vow not yet done. What
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: I rolled on the battle, a six on the action
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: dice plus two for his iron is an eight against
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: a three and a four on the challenge dice for
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: a strong hit. His momentum goes up by two, now
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: ten out of ten. The creature's stats and how I
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: came up with it are in the show notes. The
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: huge creature, a demon kin, was dark as charcoal, with
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: a cat-like lower body, with four claws, but instead of
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: hair was completely covered with thick, black, scale-like armor. Where
• 47:31
  Speaker 4: the cat's neck would have begun, a serpent-like torso, also black,
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: extended upwards like a rearing cobra, ending in a serpent's head,
• 47:41
  Speaker 4: with cat-like eyes narrowed into slits of sulfurous crimson. It
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: stank of death and blood. Beneath its head built into
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: the snake-like torso an extra set of forearm limbs extended
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: into vicious mantis-like arms, ending in sharp blades, dripping recent blood,
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: easily the size of two scythe blades.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: End to end.
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: The thing lowered its head and, using the arm-like appendages,
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: snatched the wounded warrior off the ground in both mantis-like arms.
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: Holding it still as the snake head bit the man
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: in half, sword-like teeth tearing off head and torso, leaving
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: the lower half to fall in a spray of gore
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: and entrails to the ground. Then it rushed at Ariston.
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: Ariston shouted, dug his heels into his mount and charged
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: at it his battle cry of, Queen Rhiannon! snatched from
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: the air by the weird and deafening hissing screech that
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: warbled through the forest. Again, I'm going to do this
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: fight also as another single battle move, lest this episode
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: go on too long. My objective is to slay the
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: creature or somehow get it to retreat to its own realm.
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: Here comes the roll. Wish me luck! Okay, I've rolled,
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: and I will reveal the results of that later. They
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: came together in a flurry of claws, scales, steel, and
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: horse flesh. Aristan's blade carved a furrow into the creature's
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: side on his first pass, but one of the creature's
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: mantis arms had lashed out impossibly fast and gutted Aristan's horse,
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: sending Aristan tumbling forward. the saddle as the horse fell screaming,
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: steaming hot entrails spilling onto the cold ground. Aristan rolled
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: to his feet just as the thing snatched up the
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: horse's remains, one half in each appendage stuffing bits of
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: horse gore into its maw. Aristan rushed to re-engage, With
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: a mighty heave, he embedded his magical blade into the
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: creature's chest, driving it hard up.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: To the hilt.
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: Thick, black blood burst over his hands, and his sword
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: thrummed with power as if this were its calling. A
• 49:52
  Speaker 4: mantis limb lashed out reflexively, shattering Aristan's shield to bits
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: and batting him away. He flew through the air and
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: slammed against a pine tree. Stunned, pine needles falling about him,
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: Aristan groggily regained his feet. charged towards him, running cat-like,
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: the clawed feet churning up the rich earth of the
• 50:13
  Speaker 4: forest floor, the head weaving back and forth, crimson eyes
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: pinning the night. Ariston timed his blow, and as it neared,
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: he swung and sliced off one of the mantis-like arms
• 50:25
  Speaker 4: of the shoulder, sending more black blood spraying into the air,
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: just as the creature's mouth darted down and bit into
• 50:31
  Speaker 4: his breastplate, pulling him off his feet. He found himself
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: yanked up into the air, on his side great iron
• 50:38
  Speaker 4: teeth scraping around his armored carapace. Aristan swung his blade,
• 50:42
  Speaker 4: cleaving through fangs and snout and several teeth. The thing
• 50:45
  Speaker 4: hissed in pain and dropped Aristan as it pulled back
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: a few paces. Aristan hit bodily with a groan upon
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: a bed of pine needles. He tried to rise, then
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: the creature brought its remaining mantis-like blade, slashing down at him.
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: Aristan tried to parry, but the powerful strike was only
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: somewhat turned aside, slashing through his left pauldron and driving
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: deeply into his collarbone. just as Aristan's blade cleaved through
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: an artery in his neck. Aristan groaned from the white-hot pain,
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: falling to his knees as more vile black blood spurted
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: onto him. The demon kin, blind with pain, ran and
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: slammed into multiple trees, its large serpent head knocking down
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: pine branches and causing a shower of needles. Aristan moved
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: after it, limping and dragging his sword one-handed behind him.
• 51:36
  Speaker 4: It weakened enough to finally fall, gasping for breath on
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: its side, the strange serpent head wheezing out flecks of
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: blood onto the forest floor. It struggled to lift its head,
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: opening its mouth, the snake's tongue flitting out between rows
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: of teeth. Its large eye rotated and reflected Ariston as
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: he approached. Ariston with one hand turned his blade a
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: point down and.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Hefted it above the demon's head. Go back to the
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: pits that spawned you, demon!
• 52:07
  Speaker 4: He growled and slammed his ancestral longsword down through the eye,
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: pinning the skull to the earth. The thing twitched and
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: finally lay still. Its scales grew brittle. It began to
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: turn a grayish hue until soon Aristan stared at a
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: huge mound of dry ash. Then the creature's remains began
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: to slowly flake away upon the morning breeze. Blood drenched
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: Ariston's left side. He groaned and managed to remove his breastplate,
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: then with his right hand and teeth tied a rough
• 52:39
  Speaker 4: bandage from his pack over his left shoulder, staunching the
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: flow of blood. Wearily, he slid to the ground, his
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: back against a tree, eyes closing from his ordeal and
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: the pulsing pain each heartbeat brought. What I rolled on
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: the battle? I rolled a one on the action dice
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: plus two. For his iron is a 3 against a
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: 5 and a 10 on the challenge dice for a
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: clear miss. But I spent my 10 momentum to turn
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: that miss into a weak hit. Momentum resets to 1
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: because of his ironclad asset. On a weak hit, you
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: achieve your objective, but not without cost. Pay the price.
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: He took 3 harm. He's now 0 out of 5,
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: and his momentum soaks the rest. Now 0 out of 10.
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: I am.
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: Rolling endure harm with his ironclad asset. I get plus
• 53:26
  Speaker 4: 2 for this. I roll the 1. On the action dice,
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: plus four is a five against a seven and a four.
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: For a weak hit, you press on. Slaying both Morlane
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: and his summoned creature is an obvious milestone on the vow.
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: He also found out that the rebel base had been
• 53:43
  Speaker 4: attacked by the thing. That counts as three milestone boxes
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: being filled, and since it's a troublesome vow, that means
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: nine out of ten boxes are filled. Time to fulfill
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: his vow. I rolled two eights on the challenge dice
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: against the ten boxes. That means a strong hit and
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: a positive match. He gets plus one XP for the
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: Troublesome Vow and one XP for Banner Sworn Asset. And
• 54:10
  Speaker 4: I'm going to award him an extra XP for that
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: positive match, bringing his total XP earned to three. Was
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: Ivar's body found at the Rebel base? I think that's
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: somewhat unlikely, and on a roll of a four, I
• 54:22
  Speaker 4: get a no. Was it ever found? Fifty-fifty chance on
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: a ten, I get a yes, and... And he's alive.
• 54:32
  Speaker 4: Within a church courtyard, silver trumpets pierced the cold air
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: in a mournful blast, and Aristan helped carry Buckvine's casket
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: made of expensive dark wood lined in silver. They set
• 54:44
  Speaker 4: it beside the cold, dark hole in the churchyard ground,
• 54:48
  Speaker 4: where he was to be interred with all honor's. The
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: onlookers tossed blood-red roses upon it, as large flakes of
• 54:56
  Speaker 4: pristine snow twisted from a frigid gray sky to fall
• 55:00
  Speaker 4: upon wood and roses alike. Goodbye, my friend, Ariston whispered,
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: and set his rose gently on the casket, his hand
• 55:10
  Speaker 4: lingering on the polished wood a moment before he stepped away,
• 55:13
  Speaker 4: moving under a cloister to rejoin his squire, Ivor, next
• 55:17
  Speaker 4: to a stone pillar. A choir of children began singing
• 55:21
  Speaker 4: a solemn funeral hymn for the fallen. Ivor stood by
• 55:25
  Speaker 4: his side, solemn and contemplative. The lad didn't smile anymore,
• 55:31
  Speaker 4: didn't play with the other boys. Aristan sighed and felt
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: the ache in his heart mingle with the ache from
• 55:38
  Speaker 4: his left collarbone. Two weeks had passed since Aristan's fight
• 55:42
  Speaker 4: with Morlane and the creature. Aristan still wore a sling,
• 55:46
  Speaker 4: but the healers said it would be coming off in
• 55:48
  Speaker 4: another week. Queen Rhiannon, young and regal, approached them. Her
• 55:55
  Speaker 4: retainers stood back a respectful distance, giving them some privacy.
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: She flashed him a beautiful smile, her milk-white teeth contrasting
• 56:04
  Speaker 4: with the dark eyes and dark hair that ran down
• 56:07
  Speaker 4: her back in a braid entwined with gold and silver wire,
• 56:10
  Speaker 4: exposing her graceful neck, her white gown embroidered with gold
• 56:14
  Speaker 4: and silver scrollwork and set with pearls enhanced her graceful figure.
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: Though shorter than Ariston, Her bearing made her seem somehow taller.
• 56:23
  Speaker 4: Your Majesty, he said, inclining his head. Then he turned
• 56:28
  Speaker 4: to watch the singers. No need for honorifics between us, Ariston,
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: my friend, she said, joining him at his side. With
• 56:39
  Speaker 4: creaking ropes, the warriors began to lower Buckvine's casket into
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: the ground. Her proximity thrilled him and made him edgy
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: at the same time. You don't have to go, you know,
• 56:51
  Speaker 4: she whispered.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: I know, but....
• 56:56
  Speaker 4: But you must, she finished, a sadness in her voice,
• 57:00
  Speaker 4: her eyes searching his. He didn't say it, but the
• 57:04
  Speaker 4: past held painful memories. He had loved her, still did,
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: but she had wed another, and though her husband, their
• 57:12
  Speaker 4: late King James III, had died in a hunting accident...
• 57:16
  Speaker 4: It was rumored that for the good of the crown,
• 57:19
  Speaker 4: she had wet again.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: I need to.
• 57:24
  Speaker 4: Morlain's place of ritual, wherever it is, is somewhere out
• 57:28
  Speaker 4: there in that forest. It and any texts must be
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: burned to the ground.
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: She nodded.
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: Be careful, Eristan, she said. You have stopped Morlain's machinations. But,
• 57:44
  Speaker 4: she grimaced. But there were always others, he finished. He
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: picked a rose from a nearby bundle and handed it
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: to her, and their hands touched briefly. She smiled at
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: the gesture and brought it to her delicate nose. And
• 58:02
  Speaker 4: when another enemy arises, I know which.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: Knight I can call.
• 58:09
  Speaker 4: And I shall answer, my queen, Ariston said. Then, giving
• 58:15
  Speaker 4: her one last searching look. He bowed again, wincing from
• 58:20
  Speaker 4: the pain in his shoulder, and then turned and walked away,
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: Ivor following behind.
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: You have been listening to Dice Chain. In this special
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: extended episode, we heard from three different podcasters. Link 13
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: was created by me, John, from Tale of the Manticore.
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: Link 14 was done by Larry Mann of the Solo
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: Bickering podcast, and the final link, Link 15, was forged
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: by Jared Hess of Roll, Ponder, and Play. You'll find
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: Larry's and Jared's show everywhere you get podcasts. As this
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: sixth installment of Dice Chain is the finale of our
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: little experiment in fiction, on behalf of all the creators involved,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: I want to say thank you for listening, and I
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed it. I also hope it will inspire
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: you to check out some new shows. you can find
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: a veritable buffet of solo play styles, genres, and voices
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: on SolarWorldPlayersNetwork.com. The next time you hear from me in
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: 10 days, it'll be at the premiere of Season 4
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: of Tale of the Manticore as I embark on a
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: brand new adventure. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: you soon.