Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 73

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Episode 73 · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, This is Robin from Stories from the First Watch
0:03
Speaker 1: and you're listening to Tale of the Manticore. The following
0:10
Speaker 1: podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
0:30
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticore Season two. Like
0:34
Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
0:36
Speaker 1: the Manticore is a mashup, a cross breeding between two
0:39
Speaker 1: different species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability
0:44
Speaker 1: of old school RPG paper and dice games with the
0:47
Speaker 1: story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is
0:51
Speaker 1: sacred and no character will be spared if the dice
0:53
Speaker 1: decide their fate is at hand. According to lore, the
0:57
Speaker 1: Tale of a Manticore is barbed with rule iron spikes.
1:02
Speaker 1: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
1:13
Speaker 1: time on Tail of the Mantigor, the last chapter begins
1:17
Speaker 1: directly after the Succubas's retreat. The party is anxious about
1:21
Speaker 1: a second attack, but it doesn't come, and they take
1:23
Speaker 1: their reprieve to catch their collective breath and for Jace,
1:27
Speaker 1: who has sustained a kind of spiritual injury, to try
1:29
Speaker 1: and recover somewhat. When they continue further into the ruin,
1:33
Speaker 1: they discover the circubist's lair. It's no more than a
1:36
Speaker 1: chamber with manacles on the walls for her prisoners, a
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Speaker 1: bed of spikes, and a pit where she can dispose
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Speaker 1: of her leftovers. Caatsbin shares a theory with the Yellowfly
1:46
Speaker 1: that the demon has recognized the silverthorn blade. He does
1:49
Speaker 1: not share a second theory that it had avoided attacking
1:52
Speaker 1: him specifically. After the party searches the chamber, they carry
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Speaker 1: on through an exit on the far side. Beyond is
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Speaker 1: a short series of home that lead to a cave
2:01
Speaker 1: like mouth. This opens onto the lip of a pit,
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Speaker 1: illuminated at the bottom by three burning braziers. Bones and
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Speaker 1: bodies of fish and other aquatic creatures cover the floor.
2:13
Speaker 1: Presiding over the carnage is a second demon, some kind
2:16
Speaker 1: of gigantic half man, half toad abomination. Fortunately, it has
2:21
Speaker 1: yet to discover the party's presence. Unfortunately, as Cat'spain points out,
2:26
Speaker 1: it blocks the only way forward. Chapter seventy three, Part one,
2:42
Speaker 1: Day one hundred and eighty four, Time unknown, Two hours
2:48
Speaker 1: and ten minutes of lantern fuel remain Party status. Yellowfly
2:54
Speaker 1: thirty two of forty four hit points. Shawney twenty eight
2:58
Speaker 1: of thirty three, Jase thirty three of thirty eight, Cat'spin,
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Speaker 1: seventeen of twenty one, Basu nineteen of twenty one. Spells available.
3:13
Speaker 1: Cat'spin has memorized detect magic, magic, missile, web, mirror, image, haste,
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Speaker 1: slow and dimension door. Basu has prayed for cure light wounds,
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Speaker 1: light bless, locate object and cure serious wounds. Yellowfly felt
3:39
Speaker 1: sick in his stomach, his head, and his heart. He
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Speaker 1: signaled Shawnee to go back to the pit's edge and
3:46
Speaker 1: keep an eye on the creature, before addressing his companions.
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Speaker 1: I think it's best turned back. I'm sorry. I urged
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Speaker 1: you all to come this far. It was a mistake,
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Speaker 1: my mistake. Cat's Bain shook his head. I'm not going back.
4:01
Speaker 2: You can if you wish, Yellowfly and the rest of
4:04
Speaker 2: you as well, but I will stay.
4:07
Speaker 1: He felt terrible for having lied to his friends earlier
4:09
Speaker 1: about how the door with the face had been opened,
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Speaker 1: and he still couldn't bring himself to tell the truth.
4:14
Speaker 1: But one thing he knew, I must see this through oil.
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Speaker 1: Stave with you, God, spine, said Jase, still one and withered,
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Speaker 1: his newly white streaked hair was visible in the low
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Speaker 1: light that came up from below. There's nothing for me
4:30
Speaker 1: back on the surface, snow Bah. Maybe I can do
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Speaker 1: some good if I stay here with you. Bazu was
4:39
Speaker 1: also firm about staying a little while ago. I prayed
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Speaker 1: for guidance, and I thought my prayers had not been heard.
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Speaker 1: But it turns out that Saddan has answered. I know
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Speaker 1: I am here. He lifted up his holy symbol, the
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Speaker 1: metal disk with the sun symbol of Sadal emblazoned across it.
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Speaker 1: I am here to destroy things like that, he motion
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Speaker 1: in the direction of the fiend in the pit with
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Speaker 1: the symbol, and send them back to hell. Shawnee, nearby,
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Speaker 1: could easily hear their whispered conversation. She looked over her
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Speaker 1: shoulder at her friend's and nodded, and you, asked, Yellowfly,
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Speaker 1: do you wish to see this through? Shawney? The young
5:16
Speaker 1: rogue nodded and followed that with an epithet she had
5:19
Speaker 1: often used before, Live every day as if it were
5:22
Speaker 1: the last, for you might not see tomorrow. Despite his
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Speaker 1: companion's desire to go forward, Yellowflies still felt as if
5:29
Speaker 1: their situation was his responsibility. If he were honest with himself,
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Speaker 1: he had carried the guilt of Colfrey's raid on the
5:35
Speaker 1: Warrens all this time, ever since their mission to plant
5:39
Speaker 1: the medallion in the tower of the city Watch had failed.
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Speaker 1: If he had been more careful, how many innocents would
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Speaker 1: never have been thrown into Calfrey's dungeon and tortured. He
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Speaker 1: had been pushing his companions forward all his time, so
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Speaker 1: he could tell himself though sacrifices had not been made
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Speaker 1: in vain. He pursed his lips and nodded, thinking of
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Speaker 1: all his party had been through, not only the ruin
6:02
Speaker 1: in the castle before it, but everything the tower, the sawmill,
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Speaker 1: briar patches, and the smugglers channel Lord Goddard. This wasn't
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Speaker 1: about him and his conscience. This was their story. It
6:16
Speaker 1: settled in quicker forward. But Basu, I don't think we
6:20
Speaker 1: should plan to fight this thing, not yet. It might
6:23
Speaker 1: be better if we can sneak past it not detected,
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Speaker 1: and find the heart of this place. Will you be
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Speaker 1: satisfied with that? Basu considered for a second, then expressed
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Speaker 1: his accord. Could now, I don't suppose you can pray
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Speaker 1: for some divine intervention to silence all steps as you've
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Speaker 1: done in the past. The cleric bit his lip and
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Speaker 1: shook his head.
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Speaker 3: No, very well, we rely on us kill. Then the
6:47
Speaker 3: thing down there is half blind, right, Perhaps we could
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Speaker 3: use that to our advantage, shrine. Weirdly, the young rogue
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Speaker 3: gave him a nod and crept ahead of the rest
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Speaker 3: along the corkscrew ridge that led into the pit. Earlier,
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Speaker 3: I called the monster the fiend in the Pit, but
7:07
Speaker 3: this adversary is not an actual pit fiend. By the book,
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Speaker 3: Bozzi wants to send it back to Hell, but technically
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Speaker 3: it is from Hell either.
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Speaker 1: So what is it. It's a Hezo demon, also known
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Speaker 1: as a type two demon. Let's learn a bit about
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Speaker 1: this monster and make a few necessary tweaks before we continue.
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Speaker 1: I'm mainly using the monster description from the AD and
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Speaker 1: D first Edition Monster Manual, but as I did with
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Speaker 1: the Soccubist previously, I'll be making some changes. While doing
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Speaker 1: a bit of research on the Hesro, I came across
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Speaker 1: a blog called Powerscore RPG. In a post from March nineteenth,
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty, the creator Sean collects all additions, info and
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Speaker 1: lore about the Heso on a single page, and I
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Speaker 1: must say it is a very interesting and useful read
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Speaker 1: without going into too much detail. Here's the brief on
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Speaker 1: the original ad and d Hesro demon. They have nine
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Speaker 1: hit dice and resemble seven foot tall quote unquote gross
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Speaker 1: toads with arms in place of fore legs. They can
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Speaker 1: create magical darkness, cause fear, levitate, detect invisible, these telekinesis
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Speaker 1: and can summon other types two demons. Right away, I'm
8:12
Speaker 1: making a few nips and tucks here. Untail of the Mantigor.
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Speaker 1: The Hesro will be ten head dice, stand thirteen feet
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Speaker 1: tall and will lose their power to summon other demons.
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Speaker 1: So that's a start, but it's worth looking at how
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Speaker 1: the monstery evolves along with the game. In later editions,
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Speaker 1: the Hesro got a bunch of new abilities. What stands
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Speaker 1: out to me are its special stench defense and its
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Speaker 1: description as being quote impossible to surprise unquote. I love
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Speaker 1: the stench element and I'm definitely going to use that,
8:41
Speaker 1: but the arbitrary impossible to surprise thing actually works against
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Speaker 1: the challenge I'm trying to engineer. I don't want combat
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Speaker 1: to be a foregone conclusion. It's much more interesting if
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Speaker 1: there's a chance for the PCs to sneak past it.
8:54
Speaker 1: Further reading reveals that the Hesro are brutes used as
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Speaker 1: sergeants in Abyssal armies, and even the monster listing says
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Speaker 1: they're of low intelligence. Well, I could take or leave
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Speaker 1: the sergeant thing, but I can't have this demon be stupid.
9:08
Speaker 1: This is the demon that at the beginning of the
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Speaker 1: story possessed Laris and then started and ran a whole
9:13
Speaker 1: thieves Guilt. That guild was named for Laris's eye put
9:16
Speaker 1: out with a knife by Roburn Geary as I'm sure
9:18
Speaker 1: you'll have figured out by now. So that's the Hesro
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Speaker 1: sort it. But I can't go back to the narrative
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Speaker 1: to see how the companions will deal with it yet,
9:25
Speaker 1: not if I want to give them their best shot
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Speaker 1: of success. That's because this episode is a double level
9:30
Speaker 1: up episode. Both Shawne and Basu advanced today. How exciting
9:34
Speaker 1: is that Basu achieves the level seven. Along with that
9:38
Speaker 1: comes new hit points. A D six minus one for
9:41
Speaker 1: his constitution penalty gives him ah nuts, I rolled a two,
9:45
Speaker 1: but at least it stays a two because of my
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Speaker 1: minut rule. His new hit point score is twenty one
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Speaker 1: of twenty three. Basu's ability to pray for spells greatly increases,
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Speaker 1: even allowing him access to fifth level miracles, which are
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Speaker 1: the highest level of clerical spell available in Sadly, I
10:01
Speaker 1: think it's unlikely he'll ever get to use one. There
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Speaker 1: would need to be some opportunity to rest and pray
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Speaker 1: for new spells, and that just doesn't seem like it's
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Speaker 1: going to happen. Of course, you never know. Okay, what else?
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Speaker 1: Saving throws will stay the same, but his ability to
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Speaker 1: turn undead and demons does improve. Finally, there's a chance
10:20
Speaker 1: for stat increases. Let's get rolling for strength A three intelligence,
10:26
Speaker 1: a five wisdom, a one dexterity, a five constitution. Now
10:34
Speaker 1: a six here would be very welcome. No, I've got
10:37
Speaker 1: a one charisma, a five. No stat increases for Bosio, Well,
10:43
Speaker 1: that was a little underwhelming. Actually, maybe sean A can
10:46
Speaker 1: bring the wow factor. She is now level ten ten.
10:50
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous. Let's see what that means for her character sheet.
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Speaker 1: Looking at the rules, I see she no longer gets
10:57
Speaker 1: a new die or even her constitution bonus for hit points.
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Speaker 1: She gets a fixed amount plus two. That's it. Her
11:03
Speaker 1: new score is thirty of thirty five. Her thief skills, however,
11:07
Speaker 1: do increase roughly five percent across the board, and that
11:10
Speaker 1: brings us to chances for stat increases. Let's get into it.
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Speaker 1: Strength A five, Intelligence A six. Finally eight becomes nine.
11:20
Speaker 1: Doesn't really change much, but it's nice all the same,
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Speaker 1: wisdom another six, thank you, dice God's seven becomes eight.
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Speaker 1: These little increases are appropriate given that SHAWNA use the
11:31
Speaker 1: parable of the color of mulberries to explain an abstract
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Speaker 1: concept to Yellowfly recently. Now does this remove her penalty?
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Speaker 1: Alas it does not, she retains her minus one on
11:42
Speaker 1: saving throws versus spells dexterity. Will this die continue its
11:46
Speaker 1: haustrike A one? Nope, Constitution A four, Charisma A four.
11:55
Speaker 1: You know, I really can't complain of the level up
11:57
Speaker 1: like that. The rules are set up to basically cap
11:59
Speaker 1: power when a character gets this far. After all, and
12:02
Speaker 1: speaking of that, neither Shawne nor Basi will get an
12:05
Speaker 1: increase in their basic attack bonus. In case you're wondering, Okay,
12:08
Speaker 1: let's take a quick ad break. When we return, we'll
12:11
Speaker 1: find out what happens with the party and the heso demon.
12:19
Speaker 3: Roll for distraction with the paladins of podcasts as they
12:22
Speaker 3: violdly entertain Grab your plus two headphones and tune in.
12:27
Speaker 2: We promise it's not a critical fail.
12:30
Speaker 3: Side quests available wherever you get podcasts. The best quest
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Speaker 3: have Detours.
12:44
Speaker 1: Chapter seventy three, Part two, Day one hundred and eighty four,
12:50
Speaker 1: Time Unknown, two hours of Lantern fuel Remain, Party Status,
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Speaker 1: Yellowfly thirty two forty four hit points, Shawnee thirty of
13:03
Speaker 1: thirty five, Jace thirty of thirty eight, Kat'spain seventeen of
13:11
Speaker 1: twenty one, Basu twenty one of twenty three spells available.
13:18
Speaker 1: Kat'spain has memorized detect magic, magic, missile, web, mirror, image, haste,
13:28
Speaker 1: slow and dimension Door. Basu has prayed for cure light wounds,
13:35
Speaker 1: light bless, locate object, and cure serious wounds. Shawnee unslung
13:44
Speaker 1: her bow from her shoulder and gripped it in her
13:47
Speaker 1: left hand. With her right, she drew an arrow from
13:50
Speaker 1: her quiver. Thus armed, she crept along the corkscrew ridge
13:54
Speaker 1: ahead of her companions. Although she kept to the cavern wall,
13:58
Speaker 1: staying unseen was easy, for the light from the three
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Speaker 1: braziers at the bottom of the pit created plenty of shadow.
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Speaker 1: It would be more difficult as they descended, she knew,
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Speaker 1: but for now her only real concern was to remain silent.
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Speaker 1: The rock under her feet was hard and smooth, smooth
14:15
Speaker 1: as the waxy pointed stalactites. Overhead. It was uneven and
14:19
Speaker 1: grooves had been cut into its surface by eons of
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Speaker 1: dripping water. Slowly she made her way forward. The smell
14:27
Speaker 1: was almost unbearable, but Shawnee knew that if she gagged
14:30
Speaker 1: or worse wretched, her presence would be discovered. The fear
14:34
Speaker 1: of that happening somehow allowed her to master her revulsion.
14:39
Speaker 1: There was a noise then, but not from her. The
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Speaker 1: monster below was shambling about displacing the piles of bones
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Speaker 1: and carcasses. Presently, there was a wet, tearing sound, and
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Speaker 1: Shawnee knew it was feeding once again. She took advantage
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Speaker 1: of the noise to pat ahead a little more quickly
14:55
Speaker 1: and cover some ground. She didn't look behind her, but
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Speaker 1: she hoped her companions were doing the same. When the
15:02
Speaker 1: sounds of flesh being rent abruptly stopped, Shawnee froze. Had
15:06
Speaker 1: the giant toad thing heard her, or was it merely
15:09
Speaker 1: taking a break from its meal. Shawnee as a tenth
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Speaker 1: level thief has an eighty five percent chance to move silently.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to make that check twice before I allow
15:21
Speaker 1: the party to reach the bottom. Unheard Unseen, however, is
15:24
Speaker 1: something else entirely, But we'll figure that out in due course.
15:27
Speaker 1: You know. I briefly considered giving Shawnee a bonus to
15:30
Speaker 1: her role to account for the fact that the Hezro
15:32
Speaker 1: is making a lot of noise. But then I think
15:35
Speaker 1: of how Shawnee is not alone. Her companions are following
15:38
Speaker 1: in her footsteps and copying her movements, but they are
15:41
Speaker 1: not as skilled as she is. So actually, I think
15:43
Speaker 1: a penalty is in order. Minus ten percent feels about right.
15:47
Speaker 1: So the number to beat is seventy five percent, still
15:50
Speaker 1: a very good chance to remain undetected. Here's the role
15:55
Speaker 1: A fifty eight safe for now. At this point, I
15:58
Speaker 1: think that Shawnee has covered about half the total distance
16:01
Speaker 1: and her companions have gone about a third of the way.
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Speaker 1: From here on, it'll become much harder. Staying silent is
16:07
Speaker 1: still a concern, but staying hidden will now be the
16:10
Speaker 1: most difficult and dangerous challenge. As she descends to a
16:13
Speaker 1: point where she enters the demon's field of vision, and
16:15
Speaker 1: the shadows no longer provide as much cover. Eventually, Shawnee
16:24
Speaker 1: descended to a point along the corkscrew ridge that gave
16:27
Speaker 1: her a full view of the feeding monster, and what
16:30
Speaker 1: a view it was. It was enough to make it
16:33
Speaker 1: feel like her heart had turned into a fluttering bird.
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Speaker 1: From above, she had been able to appreciate its size
16:39
Speaker 1: and strength, and she had certainly smelled it, but the
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Speaker 1: finer details of its face and body had been hidden
16:46
Speaker 1: from view. Up close, she could see the pustule covered
16:49
Speaker 1: skin of motteled olive and gray under a layer of
16:52
Speaker 1: mucus and glistening slime. The lipless mouth was flecked with
16:56
Speaker 1: blood and viscera hung from it like moss on a tree.
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Speaker 1: She was now twenty five feet above the cavern floor,
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Speaker 1: and she could feel the heat from the three braziers.
17:07
Speaker 1: When the monster started to feed again, she found her
17:09
Speaker 1: senses assaulted completely. The squelch and crunch of rancid flesh
17:13
Speaker 1: and bone in her ears, the putrid, vomitous charnel house
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Speaker 1: stink in her nose, and now a vision of pure
17:21
Speaker 1: horror in her eyes. There was another wet snap as
17:25
Speaker 1: a rib cage collapsed in the creature's jaws, and then
17:28
Speaker 1: the sloshing sound of fish cuts, sluicing and dribbling out
17:32
Speaker 1: from the wide mouth. Shawnee had stopped on its blind side,
17:36
Speaker 1: and the monster seemed intent on nothing more than filling
17:38
Speaker 1: into maw. She took advantage of that and crept forward,
17:42
Speaker 1: keeping to the cavern wall as much as possible. There
17:46
Speaker 1: was little cover now, and she would need to time
17:48
Speaker 1: her movements so that she was always in shadow. These
17:51
Speaker 1: braziers were both a blessing and a curse, she thought.
17:54
Speaker 1: But would she have had the courage to do this
17:57
Speaker 1: in the dark. She didn't think, so. She looked past
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Speaker 1: the creature, and a dark, oblong shape on the cave
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Speaker 1: wall caught her eye. It was roughly the height of
18:05
Speaker 1: a man and twice as wide. This was the exit
18:08
Speaker 1: and their goal. If they could get to that, the
18:11
Speaker 1: monster would not be able to follow. It would be
18:13
Speaker 1: too big to fit through the opening. She made a
18:16
Speaker 1: split V hand signal behind her, telling Yellowfly, who would
18:20
Speaker 1: be watching, to hang back and let her scout ahead.
18:23
Speaker 1: It would be best if she could go a little
18:24
Speaker 1: further before they followed. When the time was right, she
18:27
Speaker 1: would create a distraction and they could run for it.
18:31
Speaker 1: She took control of her breathing, found her courage, and
18:34
Speaker 1: when the monster began to shovel in another rotten mouthful,
18:38
Speaker 1: she made for the next patch of cover. Things are
18:44
Speaker 1: going to get harder now and more dangerous. Shawnee will
18:47
Speaker 1: need to make two successful checks here or else draw
18:50
Speaker 1: the hezero demon's attention. On the plus side, her move
18:54
Speaker 1: silently roll will no longer have a penalty applied. This
18:57
Speaker 1: is because she is arranged for yellow Fly and the
18:58
Speaker 1: others to halt while she goes on ahead. So her
19:01
Speaker 1: chance to succeed is eighty five percent. If she makes that,
19:04
Speaker 1: she'll still need to avoid being seen. But first things first.
19:08
Speaker 1: Here comes the roll to move silently. I got a
19:12
Speaker 1: sixty three. She almost steps on a loose rock, but
19:15
Speaker 1: she sees the hazard in time and goes around it.
19:18
Speaker 1: Next up is her chance to hide in shadows. A
19:21
Speaker 1: tenth level thief is pretty good at this too. She
19:23
Speaker 1: needs to roll under seventy five on deep percentile to succeed.
19:27
Speaker 1: Here's the roll twenty one. She makes it, and now
19:31
Speaker 1: the pieces are positioned as follows. Imagine the cavern is
19:34
Speaker 1: shaped like an upside down bottle top. The PCs are
19:37
Speaker 1: all moving around the screw thread, with Shawnee quite near
19:40
Speaker 1: the bottom I'll say about fifteen feet off the ground,
19:43
Speaker 1: and her companion's halfway or twenty five feet from the bottom.
19:47
Speaker 1: The demon is now in full view of Shawnee, who's
19:49
Speaker 1: managing to stay hidden by keeping to its blind side.
19:52
Speaker 1: The exit is about thirty feet away from Shawnee. If
19:55
Speaker 1: it were only her, she would risk it and feel
19:57
Speaker 1: confident she could outpace the lumbering hulk, which she can't
20:00
Speaker 1: do that while she has for other people to think about.
20:03
Speaker 1: She needs to create a distraction, so instead she crouches
20:06
Speaker 1: down and oh, I know, remember that loose rock she
20:09
Speaker 1: avoided earlier. I'll say she picked it up along the way.
20:12
Speaker 1: Shannie Cock's back her arm ready to throw it. But
20:15
Speaker 1: that's when her plan goes to hell. If the stench
20:22
Speaker 1: hadn't been so overpowering, and if the companions had had
20:25
Speaker 1: their attention on anything but the creature in the pit,
20:28
Speaker 1: they might have seen it happened before it was too late.
20:31
Speaker 1: At the top of the corkscrew path, just inside the
20:33
Speaker 1: cavern's entrance, a cloud of black smoke puffed into being,
20:38
Speaker 1: along with it accompanied by a waft of brimstone was
20:41
Speaker 1: the succubus. She was in her half demonic form, using
20:45
Speaker 1: the body and face of the beautiful Savon, but with
20:47
Speaker 1: her one remaining bat wing pulled in close to her side.
20:51
Speaker 1: She was badly injured, nearly unable to stand. Black acre
20:55
Speaker 1: seeped from the stump of her severed wing, and her
20:57
Speaker 1: usually gorgeous countenance was twisted in a complex mix of emotions.
21:02
Speaker 1: It showed hatred but also exultation. She lifted something aloft.
21:08
Speaker 1: It was the severed head, a brother lego, gripped by
21:11
Speaker 1: the air. With a wicked laugh, she threw it at
21:14
Speaker 1: the cluster of pieces halfway down the ridge. The hesro
21:17
Speaker 1: spun about, fixing the gaze of its single good eye
21:20
Speaker 1: up at the laughing Savon, and then at the dull,
21:22
Speaker 1: wet slap of the severed head as it struck the rocks.
21:25
Speaker 1: A moment later, it belched out a roar of challenge,
21:30
Speaker 1: letting fall a torrent of saliva and half chewed meat
21:32
Speaker 1: to the floor as it did so, and then stood
21:35
Speaker 1: up to its full height injury combat. I would not
21:45
Speaker 1: have put the pieces in this much danger if I
21:47
Speaker 1: hadn't made that reaction role following the defeat of Sevon
21:50
Speaker 1: in the last episode, but I did make the role
21:53
Speaker 1: and the result was a three on two D six,
21:55
Speaker 1: a clear indication that Sevon would stalk and hinder the
21:58
Speaker 1: party if she could, with her any powers of esp
22:01
Speaker 1: and clare audience. I'll say that she was able to
22:04
Speaker 1: follow the party and knew their intentions without making any rolls.
22:08
Speaker 1: Of course, she is aware of what's beyond her layer
22:10
Speaker 1: and that it presents an opportunity to put her enemy's
22:12
Speaker 1: in tremendous peril, all at a significantly small risk to
22:16
Speaker 1: her own life, something she certainly concerned with preserving. This
22:20
Speaker 1: is why she waited as long as she did to
22:21
Speaker 1: expose the party. As to why she didn't wait even
22:24
Speaker 1: longer when the party was closer to the Hesrow, that
22:27
Speaker 1: will become clear soon enough. Before we really get into
22:30
Speaker 1: this encounter, some basic prep work is required. First, I
22:34
Speaker 1: need stats for the Hesrow. I've tweaked the eight and
22:37
Speaker 1: D Monster Manual one version a bit, giving it ten
22:40
Speaker 1: hit dice rolling for that, I got a forty four.
22:44
Speaker 1: That's over the half way minute of forty, So that
22:46
Speaker 1: is the number I'm going to use. What else? The
22:49
Speaker 1: armor class is listed at minus two descending. Yikes, that's
22:53
Speaker 1: a twenty one ascending if I'm doing it right. The
22:57
Speaker 1: hes Row gets three attacks per round claw claw byte
23:00
Speaker 1: for one to three, one to three, and forty sixteen
23:02
Speaker 1: points of damage, respectively. It can cause darkness or fear,
23:06
Speaker 1: detect invisible, levitate, or use telekinesis as innate powers, and
23:11
Speaker 1: it has a fifty five percent magic resistance. It's vulnerable
23:14
Speaker 1: to attacks by non magical weapons, however, and I've cut
23:17
Speaker 1: its ability to try to git in another demon. I've
23:20
Speaker 1: replaced that with this dench power from a later edition
23:22
Speaker 1: that forces anyone who enters into melee with the demon
23:25
Speaker 1: to save or become violently ill, losing their action to nausea.
23:29
Speaker 1: I believe that edition said that even if they do save,
23:31
Speaker 1: they still fight with a penalty. But given that the
23:34
Speaker 1: Hesro's already daunting armor class makes it near invulnerable on
23:37
Speaker 1: striking that part, okay, I think that's a good start.
23:41
Speaker 1: But even before round one begins, I think it makes
23:44
Speaker 1: sense to roll for surprise for both sides. Neither the
23:47
Speaker 1: Hesro nor the Pieces expected this interruption, So let's ask
23:51
Speaker 1: the dice gods how it will play out. A one
23:53
Speaker 1: or two on a D six indicates surprise rolling for
23:56
Speaker 1: the hesrow oh A one, it is surprised. How about
24:01
Speaker 1: the PCs. Here's their role A four interesting. That means
24:07
Speaker 1: they are not debrist. This is very fortunate for the
24:10
Speaker 1: PCs because if the situation had been reversed, the Hesra
24:13
Speaker 1: would have used its Telekinese's ability to yank Yellowfly and
24:16
Speaker 1: the three pieces with him off the ledge and they
24:19
Speaker 1: would have all potentially taken falling damage. It could have
24:22
Speaker 1: been devastating, but that does not happen. Instead, the pieces
24:26
Speaker 1: get a free round to do something. Kat'spain turns to
24:30
Speaker 1: Savonn and unleashes a barrage of magic missiles at her
24:33
Speaker 1: from his third eye. There's not to hit role required,
24:37
Speaker 1: but and this is something that didn't come up in
24:39
Speaker 1: their last encounter. Sevon has a magic resistance of seventy percent.
24:43
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the rule is concerning multiple magic
24:46
Speaker 1: attacks and magic resistance, so I'm just going to roll
24:48
Speaker 1: three times once per bolt to see if they get
24:51
Speaker 1: through rolling D percentile. I'm looking for anything over a
24:54
Speaker 1: seventy The first bolt the thirty six. Sevan's wats away
25:00
Speaker 1: the arcane bolt with a sneer, but there's two more
25:03
Speaker 1: headed her way. The second bolt, the thirty seven. It
25:07
Speaker 1: is also deflected harmlessly to the side. The third ninety three.
25:12
Speaker 1: This one breaks through and it will do five plus
25:16
Speaker 1: one is six points of damage to servan. Is that
25:21
Speaker 1: enough to kill her? I needs check by notes. Okay,
25:24
Speaker 1: I've checked, and it turns out she only had four
25:26
Speaker 1: hit points. This means that the single bolt does indeed
25:30
Speaker 1: slay her, or more precisely, it banishes her back to
25:33
Speaker 1: the abyss for one hundred years. Kat's bin watches as
25:36
Speaker 1: she teeters and then falls face first off the ledge lip,
25:39
Speaker 1: but the only part of her that hits the ground
25:41
Speaker 1: is a blackened, horned skull. The rest of her is
25:43
Speaker 1: consumed in a violet fireball before it reaches the bottom.
25:47
Speaker 1: Back to the PCs, Wazu lifts up his holy symbol,
25:50
Speaker 1: about to command the demon below with righteous power. Jay
25:54
Speaker 1: sprints down the ledge sword in hand. He will not
25:57
Speaker 1: be able to enter melee until next round. Perhaps in
26:01
Speaker 1: a fit of recklessness, perhaps propelled by his growing sense
26:03
Speaker 1: of guilt, launches himself off the edge, directly overhead the demon,
26:07
Speaker 1: sword in hand and screaming a battle cry. When Shawnee
26:11
Speaker 1: sees Yellowfly do that. She makes a snap decision of
26:14
Speaker 1: her own. Knowing the demon's attention is now fully on
26:17
Speaker 1: her leaping companion, she dashes up behind and goes for
26:20
Speaker 1: the backstab. Now, I just looked at the runtime for
26:23
Speaker 1: this episode and saw that I'm already almost at the
26:26
Speaker 1: twenty seven minute mark. I really should stop here at
26:29
Speaker 1: this picture perfect cliffhanger freeze frame of Yellowfly leaping, Bazu
26:33
Speaker 1: raising a simple high Jase flanking, and Shawnee sneaking up behind. Heck,
26:37
Speaker 1: you could make a player's handbook cover out of a
26:39
Speaker 1: scene like this. Of course, I'd have to be a
26:42
Speaker 1: real jerk to stop the action here. Thanks for listening
26:48
Speaker 1: to Tale of the manticor if, unlike me, you are
26:51
Speaker 1: not a jerk. You can support the show in several ways.
26:54
Speaker 1: You can recommend it online or differends. You can like
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Speaker 1: and repost episode announcements on social media, pick up a
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Speaker 1: one shot in the Dark, the Pendulum world building tool,
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Speaker 1: or Encyclopedia Manicorica on drive through RPG, and finally, you
27:06
Speaker 1: can rate or review the show on your podcat rip
27:08
Speaker 1: choice by Thanks to everyone for their support of the show,
27:11
Speaker 1: I'd like to read one of your kind reviews at
27:13
Speaker 1: this point. This one was left on Apple Podcasts by
27:16
Speaker 1: the Orc of the Lake. Work of the Lake Rights
27:19
Speaker 1: Manticor is a podcast I found late, binged hard and
27:22
Speaker 1: now wait for. Every two weeks, I found myself walking
27:25
Speaker 1: the dog a little further to finish an episode or two,
27:28
Speaker 1: or taking another lap around the block after dropping the
27:30
Speaker 1: kid off at school to try to finish the episode
27:32
Speaker 1: before work. I don't have the time for RPG in
27:35
Speaker 1: my day to day life, but this fills the need
27:37
Speaker 1: until I do. Glad to be contributing to your steps
27:40
Speaker 1: count work. Seriously, though, I am thrilled to be keeping
27:43
Speaker 1: the RPGs alive for you until you can find the
27:45
Speaker 1: time to game. This is exactly what the Iron Realm
27:48
Speaker 1: and the Adventure Zone did for me before I returned
27:50
Speaker 1: to the hobby. I hope you don't have to wait
27:52
Speaker 1: too long before you do find the time to join
27:54
Speaker 1: a game and hopefully in person. Those are the best.
27:57
Speaker 1: Thanks very much for your review. At this point, I'd
28:00
Speaker 1: like to tip the hat to my fabulous voice talent.
28:03
Speaker 1: This episode brings together the whole Tumbled Dye team, Kylon,
28:07
Speaker 1: Andrew and Kevin Playcat's Bane Bazu and Jase, guys. As always,
28:12
Speaker 1: your contributions are such a vital part of the show
28:14
Speaker 1: and I can't thank you enough. For listeners who'd like
28:17
Speaker 1: to get in touch with me, I'm at Mantacore Tale
28:19
Speaker 1: on x or Tale of the Manticore podcast on Instagram,
28:22
Speaker 1: and there's always email Tale of Themanticre at gmail dot com. Finally,
28:26
Speaker 1: I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
28:27
Speaker 1: show and RPG related things like art, maps, tables, crafts,
28:31
Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it at Tale of
28:33
Speaker 1: Theemanticore dot blogspot dot com. The adventure will continue on
28:37
Speaker 1: the next episode of Tale of the manticor the story
28:40
Speaker 1: for Chaos Roles.
28:45
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28:47
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