Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 40 (S3E40)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hi, this is the Alexandri Justin Alexander, and you are
- 0:04Speaker 1: listening to the Tale of the Manticore. The following podcast
- 0:12Speaker 1: is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like
- 0:35Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
- 0:38Speaker 1: the Manticor is a mashup, a crossbreeding between two different
- 0:41Speaker 1: species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability of
- 0:45Speaker 1: old school paper and dice games with the story craft
- 0:48Speaker 1: of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred and
- 0:52Speaker 1: none will be spared if the dice decide their fate
- 0:56Speaker 1: is at hand. According to Laura, the Tale of a
- 0:59Speaker 1: man Corps is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will
- 1:04Speaker 1: be much pain in the days ahead. Last time on
- 1:16Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor, episode thirty nine begins with a
- 1:20Speaker 1: flashback in which Aldvey and the Elven maiden Eulaloon share
- 1:24Speaker 1: a blissful life together, basking in the light of each
- 1:26Speaker 1: other's love. Eulaloon teaches Aldvay the magical art of imbuing
- 1:31Speaker 1: life into inanimate things by imparting them with a wisp
- 1:34Speaker 1: of his soul. In Aldovey's first attemptedness, Robin is created
- 1:39Speaker 1: when we rejoin the companions and the present ten Tier
- 1:42Speaker 1: has gone off to offer a shoulder for his brother
- 1:44Speaker 1: colinon Drenni has been suffering from dreams that force him
- 1:48Speaker 1: to relive a painful memory in which following orders led
- 1:51Speaker 1: to the death of his friend in Mentor. Later, when
- 1:54Speaker 1: the companions are altogether again, they visit a lake that
- 1:57Speaker 1: fair Wind had spotted earlier. Here Achilie fails to catch
- 2:00Speaker 1: a fish, but coord succeeds in communicating with an old willow.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Through his conversation with the tree, and also with the
- 2:07Speaker 1: help of Robin, Coord manages to locate what could only
- 2:11Speaker 1: be o doog Zaigog's home. A few hours later, the
- 2:15Speaker 1: companions arrive at the spot, and while they do find
- 2:18Speaker 1: a cottage, to everyone's disappointment, it appears to be abandoned.
- 2:30Speaker 1: Chapter forty, Part one, Day thirty six, late afternoon mythic
- 2:37Speaker 1: event meaning harm rumor party status. Achillie thirteen of thirteen
- 2:45Speaker 1: hit points, Cord twenty four of twenty four, der Anny
- 2:51Speaker 1: sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier nineteen of nineteen, fair one
- 2:58Speaker 1: nineteen of twenty six, Flicker sixteen of sixteen supplies. The
- 3:06Speaker 1: companions have no food remaining. Spells available. Achillia can cast
- 3:12Speaker 1: and large message, glitter dust and detect evil. Cord can cast,
- 3:19Speaker 1: entangle slow poison and old animal. Fair wind can cast
- 3:25Speaker 1: cure light, wounds, and protection from evil. Achilia fought the
- 3:33Speaker 1: sick feeling inside, the feeling that her hope was dying.
- 3:38Speaker 1: She rushed ahead of the others and reached the weathered
- 3:40Speaker 1: wooden door, dimly aware of the rattling sound of frogs
- 3:44Speaker 1: from the pond on the left. As she touched the
- 3:46Speaker 1: initials carved into the door's surface. Each letter was a
- 3:50Speaker 1: few inches high and with a familiar block print. Achilia
- 3:53Speaker 1: knew so well from Odoak's sketchbook. When she pushed on
- 3:58Speaker 1: the door, it swung inward with the creek. Somehow, finding
- 4:02Speaker 1: the place unlocked put a lump in her throat, as
- 4:05Speaker 1: though the fact confirmed what was already obvious. Light from
- 4:09Speaker 1: outside filled the single room cottage. It was very small,
- 4:13Speaker 1: no more than thirty by thirty feet. Inside it smelled
- 4:17Speaker 1: of disuse, damp, musty mildew mixed with the smell of mice.
- 4:22Speaker 1: Pechilia entered as her companions drew up behind her. The
- 4:25Speaker 1: cottage had a floor of warped wooden planks. The walls
- 4:28Speaker 1: and rafters were also made of these rough planks, while
- 4:31Speaker 1: the roof itself had been fashioned of straight branches denudtive
- 4:34Speaker 1: bark and packed with moss. To the immediate left was
- 4:38Speaker 1: a large rectangular mat somewhat for Odok to have put
- 4:41Speaker 1: his boots, perhaps under a line of three wooden pegs
- 4:45Speaker 1: from which coats could have been hung. There were neither
- 4:48Speaker 1: boots nor cloaks here. Now to the right was a
- 4:51Speaker 1: rickety bed frame with a thin stained mattress atop it.
- 4:55Speaker 1: The back wall featured a small stonework fireplace, A large
- 4:59Speaker 1: shelving in it was flush against the chimney. A few
- 5:02Speaker 1: rusted pots and cups were still there. There was a
- 5:05Speaker 1: trunk at the foot of the bed, with the lid open.
- 5:07Speaker 1: From here it appeared empty. Achilia felt Fairwind's light touch
- 5:12Speaker 1: on her shoulder.
- 5:13Speaker 2: I cannot imagine how you are feeling, my friend, was.
- 5:16Speaker 1: All he said. Achilia made a wry smile without turning around.
- 5:21Speaker 1: She could barely identify her own feelings. However, one she
- 5:24Speaker 1: could name was denial. This couldn't be happening, Not after
- 5:28Speaker 1: it always been to she muttered aloud. By now Fairwind
- 5:33Speaker 1: had entered the cottage and walked to where the bed was.
- 5:36Speaker 1: In the wall. Above it was a window shutter. This
- 5:39Speaker 1: he opened, letting in more light and air. Suddenly something
- 5:43Speaker 1: occurred to him. He turned around and stalked back to
- 5:45Speaker 1: the door.
- 5:46Speaker 2: Wait a minute, he said, Wait just a minute, This
- 5:50Speaker 2: is not right.
- 5:51Speaker 1: Achilia turned around. The cleric's words had brought the hope
- 5:54Speaker 1: inside her back from the dead, if barely. Fairwind touched
- 5:58Speaker 1: the initials carved in the door.
- 6:00Speaker 2: This is not right at all, he said.
- 6:04Speaker 3: The letters match the handwriting and Odoke's book of drawings.
- 6:07Speaker 1: Fair Wind said a Kilia, she was deflating already.
- 6:10Speaker 2: No, no, no, that's not what I mean.
- 6:13Speaker 1: Fairwind glanced over at dur Any Tintyrian cord, who were
- 6:16Speaker 1: all waiting outside. Then he looked at Kilia straight in
- 6:20Speaker 1: the eye.
- 6:20Speaker 2: What I mean to say is that odok Zygon was
- 6:23Speaker 2: famous for many things, but above all, he was famous
- 6:27Speaker 2: for being a rec loose. He would never write his
- 6:31Speaker 2: own initials on the door of his house. It makes
- 6:35Speaker 2: no sense at all.
- 6:47Speaker 1: That's a fairly astute inside fair Wind. I'm impressed, of course,
- 6:50Speaker 1: what else should I expect from a fourth level cleric.
- 6:54Speaker 1: That's right, this episode is a level up episode for
- 6:57Speaker 1: the Cleric of sad All. He'll get to add a
- 6:59Speaker 1: D six to his hit point total, an nevel to four,
- 7:03Speaker 1: which means the existing total of twenty six goes to
- 7:06Speaker 1: thirty three. Well, if he could find some marmor and
- 7:09Speaker 1: a better weapon, fair Wind would be extremely hard to
- 7:12Speaker 1: beat in a fight. Potential stat increases are next for
- 7:16Speaker 1: strength a three no good, intelligence, a four wisdom I've
- 7:23Speaker 1: got a one, and for dexterity another four and I'll
- 7:27Speaker 1: skip constitution as the stat is already maxed out, and
- 7:31Speaker 1: last chance to turn up a six for charisma another
- 7:35Speaker 1: four no stat increases that hurts a bit, and a no.
- 7:38Speaker 1: Fair Wind is still a level away from his first
- 7:40Speaker 1: basic attack bonus. But as a consolation prize, how about
- 7:44Speaker 1: access to a new spell. Let's see the book says,
- 7:47Speaker 1: Oh nice, he can now pray for a second level spell,
- 7:51Speaker 1: and some of those look very useful too. Of course,
- 7:54Speaker 1: fair Wind will not be able to do this until
- 7:56Speaker 1: the next in game day, so that wasn't a home
- 7:59Speaker 1: run of a level up, but it was a solid
- 8:01Speaker 1: base hit. I'd say Flicker had come inside the cottage
- 8:11Speaker 1: and was making noise. Fairwin ignored it and continued, and.
- 8:14Speaker 2: There's something else. Where are the spider webs? When I
- 8:18Speaker 2: first came to the chapel Ruins and the kymoor Lands,
- 8:21Speaker 2: it was full of them?
- 8:22Speaker 1: He turned to look inside the cottage.
- 8:24Speaker 2: A place like this should be full of them too.
- 8:27Speaker 1: Flicker barked once, excitedly, as though punctuating the clearic sentence
- 8:31Speaker 1: with an exclamation point. Peculia knit her brows and re
- 8:34Speaker 1: scanned the room. The cleric had a good point, there
- 8:38Speaker 1: should be spiderwebs here, But was he implying that I.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Think this place could be a decoy, something to throw
- 8:45Speaker 2: people off the trail? You understand?
- 8:47Speaker 1: Oh? Flicker barked again, this time as though in enthusiastic agreement.
- 8:52Speaker 3: Perhaps.
- 8:53Speaker 1: Achilia said, slowly.
- 8:54Speaker 3: But I think we still need to give this place
- 8:56Speaker 3: a thorough search.
- 8:57Speaker 1: She was now standing over the trunk by the foot
- 8:59Speaker 1: of the back. As expected, it was empty. Flicker's barking,
- 9:05Speaker 1: by now was strident. What's wrong with Flicker? As ten
- 9:08Speaker 1: Tier standing in the doorframe, come in or stand to
- 9:10Speaker 1: the side tent Tier, Achillie replied, crouching down to inspect
- 9:14Speaker 1: the trunk.
- 9:14Speaker 3: More carefully, you're blocking delight.
- 9:16Speaker 1: Tinto shrugged and came in and walked across to examine
- 9:19Speaker 1: the fireplace. Cord and Robin remained in view out front,
- 9:23Speaker 1: while Dorenni had decided to see what was behind the cottage.
- 9:27Speaker 1: Achillie used her knuckles to tap the lid of the trunk,
- 9:30Speaker 1: then its bottom. If there was a hidden compartment or
- 9:33Speaker 1: a false bottom, she couldn't find it. She decided to
- 9:36Speaker 1: look under the bed and got down on her hands
- 9:38Speaker 1: and knees to do so. Ten tier By now had
- 9:40Speaker 1: his hand inside the chimney and was reaching around. Fairwind
- 9:44Speaker 1: was inspecting the pots and cups.
- 9:46Speaker 2: M All rusted, he declared, there's nothing special here.
- 9:51Speaker 1: Flicker barked again and then growled straight into the boot
- 9:54Speaker 1: mat under the cloak pegs, and the cleric decided to
- 9:57Speaker 1: see what had taken the animal's interest over.
- 10:00Speaker 2: Flickers seems really agitated, he pointed out.
- 10:04Speaker 1: Achilia had noticed the blink dog's fixation on the mat already.
- 10:08Speaker 3: Most likely some animal urinated on it, and Flickers bothered
- 10:11Speaker 3: by the sand, maybe.
- 10:14Speaker 1: Murmured Fairwood contemplatively, now that he was really looking at it.
- 10:18Speaker 1: The mat was notably odd in design. Typically, he would
- 10:22Speaker 1: not have expected to find any design on a boot mat,
- 10:25Speaker 1: or if there was one, something simple, But this one
- 10:28Speaker 1: had an asymmetrical design woven into it. It had a simple, thin,
- 10:32Speaker 1: rectangular inner frame of darker thread, which was unremarkable enough,
- 10:36Speaker 1: But then there was a circular design set in the
- 10:38Speaker 1: middle off to one side. While the mat itself was brown,
- 10:42Speaker 1: this woven circle was of gray, who was a bizarre
- 10:45Speaker 1: design choice. Apart from this was the size of the mat,
- 10:48Speaker 1: who was much too big for its purpose. A man
- 10:50Speaker 1: could have laid a top it and had a room
- 10:52Speaker 1: below his feet, above his head and to either side.
- 10:57Speaker 1: Then there was Flicker's reaction to it. He touched the
- 11:00Speaker 1: mat with his boot and tried to lift up the
- 11:02Speaker 1: edge with a toe. The mat is something out of
- 11:08Speaker 1: the ordinary, as I'm sure you'll have already figured out,
- 11:11Speaker 1: it's a permanent illusion. As such, it isn't quite as
- 11:14Speaker 1: powerful as one a wizard might cast and be able
- 11:17Speaker 1: to concentrate on, so it won't survive really close scrutiny.
- 11:20Speaker 1: I wonder if Fairwind will see it for what it is.
- 11:23Speaker 1: The handling of illusions is one of those things that
- 11:26Speaker 1: is famously tough to do in a game of D
- 11:27Speaker 1: and D. Having characters telling the DM that they are
- 11:30Speaker 1: trying to quote unquote disbelieve a wall, for example, is
- 11:35Speaker 1: weird at best and ridiculous at worst. Either way, it's
- 11:38Speaker 1: hard to not treat the situation completely at the metal level,
- 11:41Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. In this situation, Flicker
- 11:44Speaker 1: has given Fairwind a reason to come and examine the mat.
- 11:47Speaker 1: So I'm going to give the cleric a role to
- 11:49Speaker 1: realize that there's trickery afoot. It's not a role to disbelieve,
- 11:53Speaker 1: it's to notice. I think a role under wisdom check
- 11:56Speaker 1: would work here. Fairwin's wisdom score is not very high.
- 12:00Speaker 1: It's just an eleven to bet it didn't improve during
- 12:02Speaker 1: his level up right, Oh well it didn't, so on
- 12:05Speaker 1: D twenty an eleven or under is a success. Here
- 12:08Speaker 1: comes the role. Oh I got a ten. Dramatis personae
- 12:25Speaker 1: fair Wind thirty years ago, in Silence, the Sun speaks,
- 12:31Speaker 1: its voice is every hidden thing revealed. Dalen Fairwind was
- 12:36Speaker 1: seventeen years old and yet a novice. Although he had
- 12:39Speaker 1: started his training in Nepuel, some parts of his education
- 12:42Speaker 1: had taken place in Camrad's Merepool and of course still Moral.
- 12:47Speaker 1: Currently he was living and studying in that great city,
- 12:50Speaker 1: and it was expected that one day, after many years
- 12:52Speaker 1: of missionary work, he would return here to live out
- 12:55Speaker 1: the rest of his days in quiet study, prayer, and
- 12:58Speaker 1: contemplation in the Church of the Sacred Flame. On this
- 13:01Speaker 1: day he had been given a portion of scripture to
- 13:04Speaker 1: memorize and to analyze. He was to report back with
- 13:07Speaker 1: these tasks completed to Brother Ickhart later in the day,
- 13:11Speaker 1: but Dalen had struggled with one of the lines, as
- 13:14Speaker 1: his ability to think in the abstract was still developing.
- 13:17Speaker 1: When he sought advice from another of the senior clerics
- 13:19Speaker 1: by the terragram, he had been sent to speak with
- 13:22Speaker 1: one of the sisters in their library. The Church of
- 13:25Speaker 1: the Sacred Flame and Soil Moral had an impressive collection
- 13:28Speaker 1: of written works. It consisted of a number of small libraries,
- 13:31Speaker 1: all organized by category and spread out between several rooms.
- 13:35Speaker 1: In the largest of these, Novice Dalen found Sister Amadan.
- 13:39Speaker 1: The priestess, was seated at a table at the back
- 13:41Speaker 1: of the room, beside an open window. Dalen shivered a
- 13:44Speaker 1: little upon entering. He'd been here several times and always
- 13:48Speaker 1: found it cold, probably because the room had no fireplace
- 13:51Speaker 1: and was not close to any that did. Likely, whoever
- 13:54Speaker 1: built a church wanted to keep the library far from
- 13:56Speaker 1: any potential fire. Dalen stod at the doorway to the
- 13:59Speaker 1: room and.
- 14:00Speaker 2: Bad Priestess amagon I was told you might be able
- 14:04Speaker 2: to help me.
- 14:05Speaker 1: He held that a parchment scroll upon which he had
- 14:08Speaker 1: written the challenging scripture.
- 14:09Speaker 3: Come in, Novice, how may I be of service to you?
- 14:13Speaker 1: Dalen entered.
- 14:15Speaker 2: It's this line from the Book of Breaking Dawn, volume three,
- 14:19Speaker 2: line eighteen. It says, in silence, the sun speaks its voice.
- 14:24Speaker 3: Is every hidden thing revealed?
- 14:26Speaker 1: The priestess recited. She hadn't needed to look at the scroll,
- 14:29Speaker 1: which remained unopened in Dalen's hand. Oh yes, Dylan blushed,
- 14:34Speaker 1: a little, feeling somehow like a child in the presence
- 14:37Speaker 1: of an adult. To the two clerics were less than
- 14:39Speaker 1: a dozen years apart in age.
- 14:41Speaker 2: That is the passage. What is your question, Novice? I
- 14:46Speaker 2: can understand how a thing can speak in silence. Many
- 14:51Speaker 2: things can communicate their meaning without sound, well, this very scroll,
- 14:55Speaker 2: for example. But then there is the explicit mention of
- 15:00Speaker 2: a voice. What is this voice?
- 15:04Speaker 3: Perhaps you need to read beyond the lines in this.
- 15:07Speaker 1: Case, said the priestess patiently.
- 15:10Speaker 2: I do you mean I should read between the lines
- 15:16Speaker 2: and for a subared meeting. Maybe? No, that is not
- 15:21Speaker 2: what I said.
- 15:22Speaker 1: Her voice was cool, like the room.
- 15:24Speaker 2: I said, you should read beyond the lines. I am
- 15:28Speaker 2: embarrassed to say it, but I cannot understand what you mean, sister,
- 15:34Speaker 2: very well, I will show you.
- 15:38Speaker 1: The priest tests stood up and crossed the room. At
- 15:41Speaker 1: a bookshelf, she ran her finger across the spines of
- 15:44Speaker 1: a number of tomes before selecting one and drawing it
- 15:47Speaker 1: from its place on the shelf. She opened it, flipped
- 15:50Speaker 1: to a certain page she seemed to know, and, nodding,
- 15:53Speaker 1: returned to the table where she put the book down.
- 15:56Speaker 2: Look At this.
- 15:58Speaker 1: Instead of text, Dylan saw usual illustration. It showed a
- 16:02Speaker 1: stylized image of the sun, with six concentric rings. In
- 16:06Speaker 1: each ring, the Sun's rays were shorter and offset from
- 16:09Speaker 1: those of the ring beside it. All in all, it
- 16:11Speaker 1: looked not unlike a kind of circular checkerboard. Dalen blinked
- 16:15Speaker 1: and did a double take. He laughed softly.
- 16:19Speaker 2: When I look to one side, the middle part of
- 16:22Speaker 2: the design seems to flicker.
- 16:24Speaker 1: He declared, precisely replied Sister Amadan. Our senses can fool us,
- 16:31Speaker 1: and so we must look beyond what we see.
- 16:34Speaker 2: If we seek truth.
- 16:36Speaker 1: Later in his career as a missionary, Brother Dalon Fairwind
- 16:39Speaker 1: would carry a recreation of this image with him in
- 16:42Speaker 1: order that he might more engagingly teach others about the
- 16:45Speaker 1: nature of perception and reality, and he would often repeat
- 16:48Speaker 1: to those who spoke with which Sister Amadan had told
- 16:51Speaker 1: to him.
- 16:52Speaker 2: Even though we often say look here when we wish
- 16:55Speaker 2: to make a point, or ah, now I see when
- 16:57Speaker 2: we understand it, so at all teaches us that the
- 17:00Speaker 2: two are not the same at all, and a true
- 17:03Speaker 2: follower of the fire must understand the difference between seeing
- 17:07Speaker 2: the light and knowing the light.
- 17:11Speaker 1: He would always conclude these lessons with a broad smile.
- 17:14Speaker 2: Adding faith, as they say, is blind.
- 17:23Speaker 1: Chapter forty, Part two A thirty six late afternoon mythic
- 17:31Speaker 1: even meaning harm rumor party status. The party's status is unchanged,
- 17:38Speaker 1: with the exception of Fairwind, whose hit points have risen
- 17:41Speaker 1: to twenty seven of thirty three. For an instant, it
- 17:45Speaker 1: felt as though the matt resisted his foot, and then
- 17:48Speaker 1: a strange feeling not unlike drunkenness passed over Fairwind as
- 17:52Speaker 1: his brain and his eyes failed to find an accord.
- 17:55Speaker 1: But then the moment was gone, and he saw the
- 17:57Speaker 1: matt edge lift under his foot, and the pill wouldn't
- 18:00Speaker 1: floorboard beneath it. Still, the experience was enough to make
- 18:04Speaker 1: him mutter what in Siddal's holy name as he crouched
- 18:08Speaker 1: down for a closer look. As he did, the man's woven, worn,
- 18:12Speaker 1: and somewhat dirty topography came into clear focus. It looked
- 18:16Speaker 1: completely normal, except he had felt that something was wrong.
- 18:21Speaker 1: The cleric directed his attention to the circular design offset
- 18:25Speaker 1: and in the middle of the man's length. He could
- 18:27Speaker 1: see new details. Now with his face only a couple
- 18:30Speaker 1: feet away, the gray circle was actually a series of
- 18:33Speaker 1: concentric circles. He was not so different from an optical
- 18:36Speaker 1: illusion he had once been shown, and that he, in
- 18:39Speaker 1: turn had shown to others when he was young. It
- 18:41Speaker 1: tricked the eye, but once he understood what was happening,
- 18:44Speaker 1: the shape seemed to expand and contract, as though it
- 18:47Speaker 1: were breathing. This is most strange, said Fairwind, and he
- 18:51Speaker 1: reached out a hand to touch it. Even before his
- 18:54Speaker 1: hand made contact with the design, the strange, drunken feeling
- 18:57Speaker 1: came over him again. He thought he felt resistance in
- 19:01Speaker 1: the air above the design. But then, as before, his
- 19:04Speaker 1: brain and vision reconciled and he was touching the mat,
- 19:07Speaker 1: feeling the texture of its threads with his fingertips. Beside him,
- 19:11Speaker 1: Flicker barked again. The distraction made him look away for
- 19:14Speaker 1: a brief moment, and that was when Fairwind's perception wobbled,
- 19:18Speaker 1: and he saw for a moment that he was not
- 19:20Speaker 1: touching the mat at all, but something like a metal
- 19:23Speaker 1: ball resting atop it. He blinked hard and shook his head,
- 19:27Speaker 1: and then something even more bizarre happened. The circular design
- 19:30Speaker 1: distorted it and bulged out of its two dimensions into
- 19:33Speaker 1: a third, and suddenly Faerwind was looking at a metal ball. No,
- 19:38Speaker 1: not a metal ball, but a a doorknob, said the
- 19:42Speaker 1: perplexed cleric. Then the entire mat flexed in himon itself,
- 19:46Speaker 1: and then it was no longer a mat, but a
- 19:48Speaker 1: door set into the floorboards. And this was not like
- 19:51Speaker 1: any trap door he had ever seen. It was the
- 19:54Speaker 1: size and shape of a regular wooden door, as one
- 19:56Speaker 1: would expect to find on the wall. Kerr barked excitedly
- 20:01Speaker 1: as Fairwind's insight broke the spell and it saw reality
- 20:04Speaker 1: for what it was. By now, Achillie and Tentyre drawn
- 20:08Speaker 1: by the dog's noise, were standing behind the cleric, and
- 20:11Speaker 1: they saw what he saw, a boot mat that transformed
- 20:14Speaker 1: into a door in front of their very eyes. Achilie's
- 20:18Speaker 1: face lit up with a satisfied.
- 20:19Speaker 3: Smile at decoy. Indeed, she said, well done, brother Faiwod.
- 20:26Speaker 1: Achillie walked to the door of the.
- 20:27Speaker 3: Cottage court find her any and bring him inside. Everyone
- 20:31Speaker 3: needs to see this.
- 20:33Speaker 1: It constructed as he was bid, and soon all of
- 20:35Speaker 1: the companions were gathered together, standing around the door on
- 20:38Speaker 1: the floor.
- 20:39Speaker 2: Ah I'm I'm not sure this is a good idea.
- 20:43Speaker 1: Said Ferwind, guessing what Achillie was about to do. The
- 20:46Speaker 1: half elf had in fact been moments away from grabbing
- 20:50Speaker 1: the doorknob, but the cleric's words made her hesitate, and
- 20:53Speaker 1: instead she closed her eyes and uttered the words to
- 20:56Speaker 1: a spell she had never cast before. Achilia has just
- 21:02Speaker 1: used the spell detect Evil. This is a second level
- 21:05Speaker 1: spell that, according to the BX rules, causes objects under
- 21:09Speaker 1: evil enchantment and beings with evil intentions to glow, it
- 21:13Speaker 1: cannot be used to detect traps. The spell lasts for
- 21:16Speaker 1: twenty minutes.
- 21:21Speaker 3: Finally, Achilia said, I sense no evil here.
- 21:24Speaker 1: Fairwin still had significant reservations about what she was going
- 21:27Speaker 1: to do. As Achillia bent down, grasped the metal doorknob,
- 21:31Speaker 1: and giving it a twist, pulled it up towards her.
- 21:34Speaker 1: The door came open with a little creak, and the
- 21:37Speaker 1: assembled party gasped as one at what they saw. Stretching
- 21:41Speaker 1: straight down into the earth. As far as the eye
- 21:44Speaker 1: could see was a hallway, not a shaft, but a
- 21:48Speaker 1: well decorated hallway with walls of fitted stone work, complete
- 21:52Speaker 1: with torch bearing sconces. There was a carpet that began
- 21:55Speaker 1: at the bottom of the door and ran the full
- 21:57Speaker 1: length of the corridor, going straight down. From a cat's perspective,
- 22:01Speaker 1: it was as though she was simultaneously looking at a
- 22:04Speaker 1: sheer drop and across into a well appointed manner. But
- 22:08Speaker 1: to enter and navigate it, one would have to be
- 22:10Speaker 1: standing at a ninety degree angle to the rest of
- 22:13Speaker 1: the world, for the entire thing was built sideways. What
- 22:18Speaker 1: in the name of theirsendio are we looking at? That's
- 22:21Speaker 1: ten tire in awe, Flicker barked in a cord.
- 22:26Speaker 3: Hold on to me by my pack, said.
- 22:27Speaker 1: Achilia, biting her lip once the words were spoken and
- 22:30Speaker 1: studying the mind scrambling scene below her. Akilia, don't do this,
- 22:36Speaker 1: said ten Tyr, but he took hold of her by
- 22:38Speaker 1: her pack anyway, knowing she would.
- 22:41Speaker 3: I am not turning back now, was the reply, and.
- 22:44Speaker 1: Then Achilia stepped through the door. Thank you for listening
- 22:52Speaker 1: to Tale of the Mandigor. You'd like to join the
- 22:55Speaker 1: great folks who support this show. Here are four different
- 22:58Speaker 1: ways to do so. You could recommend the show online
- 23:00Speaker 1: or to friends. You can like and repost episode announcements
- 23:03Speaker 1: on social media. You can purchase a Tale of the
- 23:05Speaker 1: Manticore t shirt at bare Arts dot store or one
- 23:08Speaker 1: of my offerings on drive through RPG. And finally, you
- 23:10Speaker 1: can rate and review the show on your podcast or choice.
- 23:13Speaker 1: Any and all of these things are greatly appreciated. Speaking
- 23:17Speaker 1: of support, at this time, I would like to read
- 23:19Speaker 1: a listener review. This one's from Audible, but I'm unable
- 23:22Speaker 1: to see the name of the person who left it,
- 23:24Speaker 1: so mystery listener, thanks very very much. It's also quite lengthy,
- 23:28Speaker 1: which I love, but maybe a slightly abridged version is
- 23:31Speaker 1: appropriate here. Mystery listener writes, Dear mister Manticor, I hate you.
- 23:37Speaker 1: I love you, thanks very much. I'm writing to quibble, grumble,
- 23:41Speaker 1: and otherwise express my deeply faux disapproval towards the manner
- 23:44Speaker 1: in which he succeeded in making me care about these
- 23:46Speaker 1: characters and then persisted in endangering them with your dastardly
- 23:49Speaker 1: dice in one episode after another. Terrible, just terrible and magnificent.
- 23:55Speaker 1: And so, although I'm thoroughly vexed with your reckless tendency
- 23:58Speaker 1: to roll for wandering monsters whenever the wind blows, my
- 24:01Speaker 1: insatiable greed for the danced episode instead compels me to
- 24:04Speaker 1: offer my heartfelt appreciation and congratulations for a most excellent
- 24:08Speaker 1: creative endeavor. You've taken something very old and very cherished
- 24:11Speaker 1: and made a new again. Brafo Ah shucks, mystery person,
- 24:16Speaker 1: You've gotten my heartfelt appreciation too. Thanks for the very
- 24:19Speaker 1: kind and very fun review. Next, let's talk about this
- 24:24Speaker 1: episode's great cast of voice actors. This episode features two
- 24:27Speaker 1: regulars and one newcomer. Dave Cooper and Kevin Barringer play
- 24:30Speaker 1: fair Wind and Tan Tier, respectively, and Joining the cast
- 24:34Speaker 1: is sc Albin, author of the Strega series. Sc takes
- 24:38Speaker 1: on the role of Sister Ahmadan in Fairway's Flashback. My
- 24:41Speaker 1: gratitude to these three great talents. For those curious to
- 24:45Speaker 1: learn more about Tale of the Manticor, I keep a
- 24:46Speaker 1: blog where I post all kinds of show and RPG
- 24:49Speaker 1: related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts, and show notes.
- 24:53Speaker 1: You can find it a Tale of themanticor dot com.
- 24:55Speaker 1: To get in touch with me, you can find me
- 24:57Speaker 1: at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale of the mantcor
- 25:00Speaker 1: dot Bluesky dot Social, Tale of the Manticor podcast dot Instagram,
- 25:04Speaker 1: or you can shoot me an email at Tale off
- 25:06Speaker 1: Themanticor at gmail dot com. The adventure will continue on
- 25:09Speaker 1: the next episode of Tale of the Vanta Car. It's
- 25:12Speaker 1: the story where chaos rolls.