Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 21 (S3E21)

Transcript

Episode 21 (S3E21) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: This is hex Girl, and you're listening to the Tale
0:03
Speaker 1: of the Manticore. The following podcast is intended for a
0:09
Speaker 1: mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale
0:28
Speaker 1: of the Manticor Season three. Like the creature from which
0:32
Speaker 1: it takes its name, Tale of the Manticor is a mashup,
0:35
Speaker 1: a cross breeding between two different species of storytelling. Here
0:39
Speaker 1: you will find the unpredictability of old school paper and
0:42
Speaker 1: dice games with the story craft of a dark fantasy novel.
0:47
Speaker 1: No character is sacred, and none will be spared if
0:50
Speaker 1: the dice decide their fate is at hand. According to lore,
0:54
Speaker 1: the Tale of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
1:00
Speaker 1: Will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
1:12
Speaker 1: on Tail of the Manticor, the last chapter begins with
1:15
Speaker 1: Achille's ascension to level three, which she learns the spell
1:18
Speaker 1: glitter Dust. Following this, there's some brief DM talk about
1:22
Speaker 1: the Inner crypt from a dungeon design perspective. When the
1:26
Speaker 1: narration begins, the characters are about to enter this final
1:29
Speaker 1: room and complete the dungeon crawl. Before they do, Fairwind
1:33
Speaker 1: promises Achillia that no matter what they find, inside, he
1:35
Speaker 1: will stand fast and face it the little ways ahead.
1:39
Speaker 1: Durr Anni in tent Here are the first to go inside.
1:42
Speaker 1: Dorani tells tent Here not to touch anything, as they've
1:45
Speaker 1: taken the strange custom of human interment. The Inner Crypt
1:49
Speaker 1: is a wedge shaped room ringed with stone slabs. The
1:52
Speaker 1: furthest away is cracked and broken, but the other six
1:55
Speaker 1: have occupants, the skeletal remains of the Camore Royalty and
1:58
Speaker 1: their closest servants. When Achilia and fair Wind enter, the
2:02
Speaker 1: half elf unwraps Prince Leir Haines's skull, intending on returning
2:05
Speaker 1: it to its proper place. As she does this, fair
2:08
Speaker 1: Wind utters a prayer for the dead. Meanwhile, ten tears
2:11
Speaker 1: curiosity gets the better of him and he touches one
2:14
Speaker 1: of the treasures in the crypt. At that same moment,
2:17
Speaker 1: and as fair Wind speaks the final word of his prayer,
2:19
Speaker 1: there comes a noise from the far side of the room.
2:22
Speaker 1: All turn in look and see another worldly and spectral
2:25
Speaker 1: form covering above the remains of the queen. Clearly, this
2:29
Speaker 1: is the ghost of Vania herself. At first, it seems
2:33
Speaker 1: that the ventful spirit will forgive the party's intrusion since
2:36
Speaker 1: they're there to put Prince leir Hain's soul to rest,
2:38
Speaker 1: But the mere presence of a cleric of Sudal is
2:41
Speaker 1: enough to infuriate the undead Queen. She easily shrugs off
2:44
Speaker 1: Fairwin's attempt to turn her, taunts the priest, and then
2:48
Speaker 1: animates her skeletal warriors in preparation for combat. I had
2:58
Speaker 1: expected to launch right into combat in this episode, and
3:01
Speaker 1: we will get there, but I realized since releasing the
3:04
Speaker 1: last chapter that there is a little more of this
3:06
Speaker 1: story that needs to unfold. First, it occurred to me
3:09
Speaker 1: that there's an opportunity here to use my current event
3:12
Speaker 1: meaning tense agreement, in a way that enhances the narrative,
3:15
Speaker 1: and I'm going to take it. Do you remember where
3:17
Speaker 1: we left off. Fairwind was attempting to turn the Queen's
3:20
Speaker 1: vengeful spirit, but and of course he doesn't know this.
3:24
Speaker 1: She is too powerful for him to even have a
3:26
Speaker 1: chance at success. He'd have to be a third level
3:28
Speaker 1: cleric just to have a shot. Anyway. At the end
3:31
Speaker 1: of the last episode, I asked you to freeze frame
3:34
Speaker 1: your imagination on the scene of a defiant Fairwind clutching
3:37
Speaker 1: his symbol attempting to banish Queen and Ayah. The companions
3:40
Speaker 1: are unsure what to do as they watch these two
3:42
Speaker 1: personalities face off. Meanwhile, skeletal warriors hop down from your slabs,
3:47
Speaker 1: raising rusty swords. Chapter twenty one, Part one, Day sixteen,
4:00
Speaker 1: late afternoon, mythic event meaning agree tension, party status Achillea
4:09
Speaker 1: nine out of nine hit points, Court eight of fourteen,
4:14
Speaker 1: de Renni nine of nine, fair Wind eighteen of eighteen,
4:21
Speaker 1: ten Tier ten of ten spells available. Achillia has memorized
4:27
Speaker 1: message cord can cast, entangle, locate plants and animals, and
4:33
Speaker 1: slow poison. Half a state be gone by our lawn.
4:40
Speaker 1: None may harm a servant us at all. Not peasant,
4:43
Speaker 1: nor warrior, nor Queen commanded Fairwind, his face a raging storm.
4:51
Speaker 1: The wraith of Queen and Ayah seemed to shudder as
4:53
Speaker 1: peals of unearthly laughter erupted from her. Farewell suddenly felt
4:58
Speaker 1: the impotence of his words. Alone. With that feeling came
5:01
Speaker 1: primal fear. Still, he refused to back down. The Queen's
5:05
Speaker 1: laughter subsided just as the pair of skeletal warriors feet
5:08
Speaker 1: touched the crypt floor and they scraped their long swords
5:11
Speaker 1: from the surface of their stone slabs, dragging tails of
5:14
Speaker 1: cobwebs behind them.
5:17
Speaker 2: Wait.
5:19
Speaker 1: The skeletal warriors froze in place, and the queen's ghost
5:22
Speaker 1: turned to face.
5:23
Speaker 3: A Chillia, you have brought me solace, and so you shall,
5:31
Speaker 3: she rewarded. I was swelling you and your companions leave
5:39
Speaker 3: the slave also, all that I might have some small
5:45
Speaker 3: van much the rest of you may God for you.
5:52
Speaker 1: A Chillie had no answer to this. In her heart,
5:55
Speaker 1: she wanted to live and accepted the idea that abandoning
5:58
Speaker 1: fair Wind was justifiable. She also didn't see how they
6:01
Speaker 1: might otherwise survive the next hour if he did not.
6:04
Speaker 1: After all, their enemy was already dead. Could one kill
6:08
Speaker 1: that which was already dead? She didn't know, and she
6:11
Speaker 1: didn't want to try to find out. Acilia's whole body trembled.
6:15
Speaker 1: She wanted nothing more than to flee, but her legs
6:18
Speaker 1: felt like they were made of sand. Near By, Ferwin
6:21
Speaker 1: seemed about to answer for her. He let go of
6:24
Speaker 1: his holy symbol, and something profound seemed to come over him.
6:27
Speaker 1: The cleric's eyes shone like dark jewels. He was going
6:31
Speaker 1: to do it. He was going to give his soul
6:33
Speaker 1: to this hovering creature to save the rest of them.
6:37
Speaker 1: Cherwin looked briefly at his new friends, then turned back
6:40
Speaker 1: to the Queen and opened his mouth. But before he
6:42
Speaker 1: could say a word, Achilie discovered some reserve of courage
6:45
Speaker 1: deep in her heart and let loose her last spell
6:48
Speaker 1: of message, but the Queen with as much force as
6:51
Speaker 1: she could manage. It was such a powerful and surprising
6:57
Speaker 1: psychic blast that the Queen reeled back, shrieking in pain
7:00
Speaker 1: and outrage. An instant later, the skeletal warriors were upon them.
7:10
Speaker 1: I mentioned in the last episode that the Queen is
7:13
Speaker 1: a home Brew creature, a cursed wraith, and that while
7:15
Speaker 1: she can only be harmed by silver and magical weapons,
7:18
Speaker 1: making her all but invulnerable in this scenario, she cannot
7:21
Speaker 1: directly harm her enemies either. Instead, she has the power
7:25
Speaker 1: to animate an amount of dead equal to her hit dice.
7:28
Speaker 1: Since she has four hit dice, each of her skeletal
7:31
Speaker 1: warriors will get two. I statted up these monsters in
7:34
Speaker 1: the previous episode and determined that each would have eleven
7:36
Speaker 1: hit points, an ac of fifteen that would take half
7:39
Speaker 1: damage from the elves swords and to kille his dagger,
7:42
Speaker 1: but full damage from Fairwin's cudgel and chords. As I
7:46
Speaker 1: think we're just about ready to get into this fight,
7:48
Speaker 1: but there is still one last thing to do, because
7:51
Speaker 1: today is a level up episode for fair Wind, and
7:53
Speaker 1: he's going to need all the advantages he can get.
7:56
Speaker 1: Having achieved level two, Fairwin gets new hit points, chances
7:59
Speaker 1: for stating, and finally his first spell. As dramatic as
8:03
Speaker 1: it would be to have him use it, now, the
8:05
Speaker 1: rules say he cannot cast it until he has had
8:07
Speaker 1: a chance to pray, so for the time being, it's
8:10
Speaker 1: just the hit points and the chances for better stats
8:12
Speaker 1: to figure out. For new hit points, I've got a six.
8:17
Speaker 1: Oh wow, with his exceptional constitution, that becomes an eight.
8:21
Speaker 1: Fairwin's total max hit points is now a whopping sixteen.
8:25
Speaker 1: Now that could really make a difference with such a
8:28
Speaker 1: great hit point roll. I don't even care about the
8:30
Speaker 1: stat roles still, I wouldn't say no. So let's see
8:33
Speaker 1: what the dice will say. For strength, I've got a
8:37
Speaker 1: five intelligence, a two. How about wisdom? A five For dexterity,
8:45
Speaker 1: I've got a three for constitution A six. What this
8:50
Speaker 1: is wild? It takes his plus two bonus to a
8:53
Speaker 1: plus three the max, and it retroactively adjusts his hit
8:57
Speaker 1: points up to eighteen. Unheard of for a second level cleric. Actually,
9:02
Speaker 1: it would be really impressive for a third level cleric,
9:04
Speaker 1: and even respectable for a fourth. This guy is something
9:07
Speaker 1: special and rare, that's for sure. The lasstat is Charisma
9:12
Speaker 1: six holy smokes pun intended. That is insane. What a
9:17
Speaker 1: level up and all that. Before Fairwin gets to choose
9:20
Speaker 1: a spell, all I can say is he had better
9:23
Speaker 1: survive this fight. Speaking of which, there is no more
9:26
Speaker 1: putting off the inevitable. It's time to play at this
9:29
Speaker 1: battle and see what happens. Injury Combat Round one initiative,
9:41
Speaker 1: The Skeletal Warriors A one, the Party A three. We're
9:46
Speaker 1: off to a good start. Since this side of the
9:49
Speaker 1: room is forty feet wide and the only things in
9:51
Speaker 1: the room aside from the occupants are the stone slabs,
9:54
Speaker 1: I'll say that there's enough room for all combatants to
9:56
Speaker 1: move freely. Cord and ten Tire will take on one
9:59
Speaker 1: skeletal warrior, while Fairwind and Durni will face the other.
10:02
Speaker 1: Achillie will stay out of combat with the dagger in hand,
10:05
Speaker 1: ready to throw it if the opportunity presents itself. It
10:08
Speaker 1: looks like all the pieces will need the same number
10:11
Speaker 1: at fifteen to hit their targets. Will start with Court,
10:14
Speaker 1: who swings his battle axe with a ferocity that belies
10:16
Speaker 1: the placid expression painted on his face. The roll Oh,
10:21
Speaker 1: come on, I got a one. The skeleton is far
10:24
Speaker 1: too nimble and chords axe strikes the stone slab hard,
10:27
Speaker 1: shivering the construct's arm and causing him to drop his weapon.
10:31
Speaker 1: He'll lose his next turn for that. Hopefully ten tier
10:33
Speaker 1: will do better. I have got an eight. The Skeletal
10:37
Speaker 1: Warrior parries his blade with disturbing ease over to the
10:41
Speaker 1: next grouping fairwind smashes his cudgel into the enemy, but
10:44
Speaker 1: within eleven it merely clangs noisily off its rusted iron breastplate,
10:48
Speaker 1: having no discernible effect. Reads up to de Rennie to
10:52
Speaker 1: keep this round from being a total flow for the PCs.
10:55
Speaker 1: His role A five is a miss. Well, it's terrible,
11:00
Speaker 1: and it might get a lot worse. It's the Skeleton
11:03
Speaker 1: Warrior's turn. We'll stick with the second group and roll
11:06
Speaker 1: high low for a target. High is de Renni, low,
11:10
Speaker 1: fair Wind it is, and the Cleric only has an
11:12
Speaker 1: acy of ten. Yikes, here's the role A seventeen. Ah, sure,
11:18
Speaker 1: now I get a good roll. It looks like first
11:20
Speaker 1: blood has been drawn. How bad will it be? On
11:23
Speaker 1: a D eight Ooh, it's bad? An eight fair wind
11:27
Speaker 1: takes the full force of the Skeletal Warrior's rusted blade
11:30
Speaker 1: as it slashes a red line from his left shoulder
11:33
Speaker 1: to his right rip cage SA declare it, grunts in
11:36
Speaker 1: pain and staggers, but somehow stands his ground. Over to
11:40
Speaker 1: the other group another high low high is Cord Hi
11:44
Speaker 1: Cord will be the target. A fourteen is needed to
11:47
Speaker 1: hit the construct the role A six. Cord manages to
11:51
Speaker 1: duck under the blade as he drops low to retrieve
11:53
Speaker 1: his lost battle axe. Well, round one was not too great.
11:59
Speaker 1: I hope things will change in round two. Initiative The
12:03
Speaker 1: Skeletal Warriors four the party three. Is it any surprise
12:10
Speaker 1: the companions did not expect their opponents to be so strong,
12:13
Speaker 1: and they lose their initial momentum. The Skeletal Warriors strike again,
12:16
Speaker 1: rolling a D six to see if the enemy changes targets.
12:19
Speaker 1: On a one to two they do a two They
12:22
Speaker 1: do with Cord ducking by one of the slabs. The
12:25
Speaker 1: skeletal warrior aids his next strike a ten tier. A
12:28
Speaker 1: fifteen is required to hit the elf, rolling another one.
12:34
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I'm going to make a ruling on the
12:36
Speaker 1: fly and say that the rusty sword strikes the stone
12:39
Speaker 1: slab when it misses ten tier, but instead of dropping,
12:42
Speaker 1: the weapon shatters a few inches above the hilt. This
12:45
Speaker 1: skeletal warrior will keep his next turn, but his long
12:48
Speaker 1: sword will now be treated as a dagger. Mechanically over
12:52
Speaker 1: to the next trio. Another d six to determine if
12:55
Speaker 1: the target will change A two. That's another yes, de
12:59
Speaker 1: Renni is the target like ten tier. Doranni's arm clasp
13:02
Speaker 1: is fifteen. The roll of fourteen. The sword tip whistles
13:07
Speaker 1: right by Doranni's face, so close he can feel the
13:10
Speaker 1: air it displaces, but just missing. It's the piece's turn
13:14
Speaker 1: to fight back, and they had better lansome hits. Durranni thrusts,
13:18
Speaker 1: trying to get under the breastplate's lower lip. A three
13:23
Speaker 1: means his sword skates harmlessly across and off the armor.
13:26
Speaker 1: Fairwind clasps his left arm against his new wound and
13:30
Speaker 1: brings his cudgel around for a backswing. An eighteen. Finally,
13:34
Speaker 1: a hit the cudgel does a mere one to four damage,
13:37
Speaker 1: but there's no damage reduction for blunt weapons, so the result.
13:40
Speaker 3: Will be.
13:42
Speaker 1: Four points. The metallic gong is this time accompanied by
13:46
Speaker 1: the cracking of bone. The Skeleton Warrior staggers back, but
13:50
Speaker 1: immediately returns. Two fights over to tent tier. He tries
13:54
Speaker 1: to chop off a bony arm at the elbow A nineteen,
13:57
Speaker 1: amazing rolling for damage on a decent four points, reduced
14:02
Speaker 1: to two points for the creature's resistance to slashing weapons.
14:06
Speaker 1: The arm is not severed, but bone charges are still
14:09
Speaker 1: sent flying. Although the damage is minor. It's his chart.
14:12
Speaker 1: Cord must bend his turn recovering his axe. Therefore, round
14:15
Speaker 1: two is over and we move on to round three.
14:19
Speaker 1: Initiative The Skeletal Warriors A two the party before. Well,
14:25
Speaker 1: it's about time the piece's got the initiative. Let's hope
14:28
Speaker 1: they make it count. Cord has his axe back, Let's
14:31
Speaker 1: see if he can do something with it this time.
14:34
Speaker 1: A thirteen is a good role, but not good enough.
14:36
Speaker 1: The blow glances harmlessly off the Skeletal Warriors Pauldron ten
14:41
Speaker 1: tier hacks away at that same arm, A seventeen nice
14:44
Speaker 1: ten tier. I checked the first Ad Monster Manual to
14:47
Speaker 1: see if damage should be rounded up or down when halved,
14:50
Speaker 1: but it didn't say so. I'll just say ten tiers
14:52
Speaker 1: sword will do one point on a roll of one
14:54
Speaker 1: to two, two points on a roll of three to four,
14:57
Speaker 1: and three on a roll of five to six. The
14:59
Speaker 1: roll five, okay, then damage will be three points and
15:03
Speaker 1: I think that arm does come off at the elbow.
15:07
Speaker 1: The skeletal warrior now has just six hit points. Back
15:10
Speaker 1: over to fair Wind. He swings with a renewed confidence,
15:13
Speaker 1: now certain that these undad monsters can be killed. A
15:17
Speaker 1: four means his cudgel is swattered out of the way.
15:20
Speaker 1: Duranni can still act and he chops down at his
15:22
Speaker 1: enemy's femur. A fifteen is just enough and the damage
15:28
Speaker 1: one point. Now both skeletal warriors have been reduced to
15:32
Speaker 1: six hit points, so that's looking pretty good. However, it
15:35
Speaker 1: is now the enemy's turn to attack. Will the skeleton
15:38
Speaker 1: facing Durani change targets? Yes, he returns its attention to
15:42
Speaker 1: fair Wind. Given the clerics ac that is not good news.
15:46
Speaker 1: The role to hit A seven. Fairwin manages to step
15:50
Speaker 1: to the side and avoid a thrust that might have
15:52
Speaker 1: otherwise ended his life over to the skeletal warrior attacking
15:56
Speaker 1: ten tier. Will it change targets? No, will attack him again.
16:01
Speaker 1: Ten tiers ac is fifteen. Here's the role A nine
16:05
Speaker 1: ten tier Perry's the broken blade. Well, that round was
16:09
Speaker 1: clearly in the piece's favor. Oh, by the way, I
16:12
Speaker 1: haven't forgotten about a Killia or the Queen. It's just
16:14
Speaker 1: that those two cannot do much more than watch the fight.
16:17
Speaker 1: So it's time to move on to round four. Initiative.
16:21
Speaker 1: The skeletal Warriors a one, the party a four. While
16:27
Speaker 1: the party's good luck continues to hold. Ten Tier aims
16:29
Speaker 1: up for the jet and turquoise encrusted skull. His blade
16:33
Speaker 1: sings out, but a six is a miss. Yep Cord
16:36
Speaker 1: will attempt the same ah another six another miss. Fairwind
16:42
Speaker 1: and de Renni have managed to flank their enemy. Fairwind's
16:44
Speaker 1: cudgel crashes in and at twelve will not be enough.
16:48
Speaker 1: Once again, the weapon rings the skeletal Warrior's armor like
16:51
Speaker 1: a bell. Deur Rennie uses the momentary distraction to land
16:55
Speaker 1: a blow A seventeen that is a hit. Way to
16:59
Speaker 1: god Renni images three points one more good hit. We'll
17:04
Speaker 1: put this thing down. But before the pieces can try,
17:07
Speaker 1: it's the Skeletal Warriors turn to strike back. No change
17:11
Speaker 1: in target means it's still fair Wind, Who's in danger. Wow.
17:14
Speaker 1: We An eight means fair Wind is somehow spared once again.
17:19
Speaker 1: It looks like somebody really is watching out for him.
17:22
Speaker 1: Back to the other trio, tent Ti remains the target.
17:25
Speaker 1: Here comes the attack. Roll A twelve means Tenier can
17:29
Speaker 1: dodge the attack. It is now round five initiative, the
17:34
Speaker 1: Skeletal Warriors A six the party A five. Yeah, that
17:39
Speaker 1: good luck couldn't last forever. Let's stay with ten Tier,
17:42
Speaker 1: who will try to dodge a second quick slash of
17:45
Speaker 1: the broken sword. An eight on the die means he does.
17:49
Speaker 1: Will fair Wind be so lucky with this poor armor class?
17:52
Speaker 1: It seems unlikely, but let's let the dice to the talking.
17:56
Speaker 1: A four okay, so it all really must be watching
17:58
Speaker 1: over him, and now he can strike back. His cudgel
18:02
Speaker 1: whistles through the air, and a fifteen means it connects.
18:06
Speaker 1: This could do it. A defour for damage two points
18:09
Speaker 1: is not enough to destroy the Skeletal Warrior. But I
18:12
Speaker 1: think there's a satisfying crunch as the club crushes the
18:15
Speaker 1: jet in turquoise covered lower jaw. One more hit will
18:19
Speaker 1: end this foe. Can Dereny do it? Natural twenty the
18:25
Speaker 1: LF leaps up on the slab and swings his short sword.
18:28
Speaker 1: He cleaves through the spine of the neck, and what's
18:30
Speaker 1: left of the skeleton's head falls to the floor. A
18:34
Speaker 1: wonder if ten Tier can do something similar. He's going
18:36
Speaker 1: to try. He just needs a fifteen or better. Rolling
18:40
Speaker 1: a one that is not what I wanted to see.
18:43
Speaker 1: His enemy shoves him roughly back, and ten Tier hits
18:46
Speaker 1: the floor of the crypt hard enough to have the
18:48
Speaker 1: wind knocked out of him. Ah, he'll lose his next turn.
18:51
Speaker 1: Kord brings his battle axe to bear and swings that
18:55
Speaker 1: looked like an eighteen, but it was a thirteen. Another
18:58
Speaker 1: miss for the construct. Looks like will be going on
19:01
Speaker 1: for at least one more round. Round six initiative. The
19:05
Speaker 1: Skeletal Warrior a five, the party a one. Unfazed by
19:10
Speaker 1: the defeat of his ally, The Skeletal Warrior that shoved
19:13
Speaker 1: ten Tier to the ground, tries to stab Chord with
19:15
Speaker 1: what remains of its long short What the hack Another
19:19
Speaker 1: one that's the fourth crit fail this battle, and I'm
19:23
Speaker 1: using real dice too. This will give the pieces a
19:26
Speaker 1: very good shot to end. Thinks. Cord attacks. Oh natural twenty.
19:33
Speaker 1: I can't believe it. What are the chances of that?
19:36
Speaker 1: So what does this look like? I think? Cord reaches
19:38
Speaker 1: out with his wooden hand, grabs the skeletal warrior by
19:41
Speaker 1: the collar of his breastplate and pulls it down onto
19:43
Speaker 1: the nearby slab. Then he holds it steady while his
19:46
Speaker 1: battle axe comes down on top of its skull, smashing
19:49
Speaker 1: it to smithereens. The battle ends with both skeletal warriors headless,
19:55
Speaker 1: one on the ground and the other kneeling at his
19:57
Speaker 1: own burial slab as though it were an altar. On
20:02
Speaker 1: the far side of the room. There's an awful shriek,
20:04
Speaker 1: and in a flash of greenish light, the wraith of
20:07
Speaker 1: Queen and Ayah disappears. Fairwin dropped his cudgel. Then he
20:19
Speaker 1: looked from the headless skeletal warriors to the back of
20:21
Speaker 1: the crypt, which, in the light of his barely surviving torch,
20:24
Speaker 1: was almost completely in shadow. His mouth moved, but no
20:28
Speaker 1: sound came out, until eventually, with a voice like a
20:31
Speaker 1: creaking door. He said a name, Halo. Then he said
20:34
Speaker 1: it again, a little louder, but distractedly. He put a
20:39
Speaker 1: hand to the front of his robe, which was now
20:41
Speaker 1: smeared with his own blood, and it came away red.
20:44
Speaker 1: He looked at it, blinked as though waking from a dream,
20:47
Speaker 1: and then fainted dead away. Chapter twenty one, Part two,
21:01
Speaker 1: Early evening party Status Achillia nine out of nine hit points,
21:08
Speaker 1: Chord eight of fourteen, de Renni nine of nine, ten
21:15
Speaker 1: Tier ten of ten, fair Wind ten of eighteen. Spells available.
21:23
Speaker 1: Chord can cast, entangle, locate plants and animals, and slow poison.
21:31
Speaker 1: Fair Wind awoke to a world of total darkness. Ah,
21:36
Speaker 1: I am blind, he sputtered, and then groaned in pain.
21:40
Speaker 2: You are not blind, fair Wind, soothed a Kilia, But
21:43
Speaker 2: your torch has gone out. We did not want to
21:46
Speaker 2: move you because you were bleeding so much.
21:49
Speaker 1: Where are we asked the cleric in a weak voice,
21:52
Speaker 1: and then suddenly animated. Is everyone all right? He tried
21:57
Speaker 1: to rise, but Achillia gently held him down.
22:00
Speaker 2: We are still in the crypt. You've been hurt. De
22:03
Speaker 2: Rennie dressed your wound as well as he was able.
22:06
Speaker 2: What you did back there Farewind. That is the bravest
22:09
Speaker 2: thing I have ever seen.
22:11
Speaker 1: Never mind that you are sure everyone is safe.
22:18
Speaker 2: I believe so. You've been unconscious for a few minutes
22:21
Speaker 2: and nothing has happened.
22:24
Speaker 1: Oh thanks ad All. Fairwind's fainting at the end of
22:26
Speaker 1: the battle had alarmed a Killia and the others, but
22:29
Speaker 1: after their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw that
22:32
Speaker 1: he was still breathing, and they relaxed a little. Cord
22:35
Speaker 1: and Tentire went to investigate the far end of the
22:37
Speaker 1: crypt and confirm that the spirit was truly gone, while
22:40
Speaker 1: do Renni cut a wide piece of cloth from the
22:42
Speaker 1: bottom of Fairwin's robe to use his a bandage. Standing
22:46
Speaker 1: by the Queen's slab, Chord and ten Tire came to
22:48
Speaker 1: the conclusion that the spirit was no longer there. Kord
22:51
Speaker 1: also discovered something on the slab in the opposite corner,
22:54
Speaker 1: but before Tentyre had a chance to stop him, the
22:57
Speaker 1: construct had already plucked it from the pile of cowbwoy
22:59
Speaker 1: by remains. The young elf half expected the wraith to
23:03
Speaker 1: reappear then, but to his relief, nothing happened. When they
23:08
Speaker 1: rejoined the others, De Renny suggested that ten Tyr return
23:11
Speaker 1: to the room where they entered and retrieve another torch
23:14
Speaker 1: so that Fairwin would be able to see when he
23:15
Speaker 1: came to. When Tantyer hesitated, his brother tightened the impromptu
23:19
Speaker 1: bandage around the cleric's chest and.
23:21
Speaker 2: Suggested, perhaps Achillia should go with you.
23:25
Speaker 1: Ten Tire frowned away the notion and left through the archway.
23:30
Speaker 2: Don't get lost, little mass.
23:32
Speaker 1: De Rennie called after him. I'm trying to imagine how
23:38
Speaker 1: ten Tyers feels as it goes off alone to retrieve
23:41
Speaker 1: a new torch. I'm sure his heart is still beating
23:43
Speaker 1: heart from the last encounter. It's not just that he
23:47
Speaker 1: survived a deadly battle, but his experience in the crypt
23:50
Speaker 1: is the first time he's ever encountered the undead. Adding
23:53
Speaker 1: to that, ten Tyr is still unsure if he caused
23:55
Speaker 1: the Queen's wraith to appear when he touched one of
23:58
Speaker 1: the crypt's treasures. Despite court having gone and the same
24:00
Speaker 1: with no consequence for ten Tier, making his way back
24:03
Speaker 1: to the room through which they entered will not be difficult.
24:06
Speaker 1: I'm looking at my map and I can see that
24:08
Speaker 1: all he needs to do is always turn right. He
24:11
Speaker 1: can't get lost. However, along the way there are three
24:15
Speaker 1: opportunities for him to take passages not yet explored. Would
24:19
Speaker 1: tend to do something that foolish. On one hand, as
24:22
Speaker 1: a character, his primary motivation is to prove himself, and
24:25
Speaker 1: he is certainly curious. He also has a wisdom score
24:29
Speaker 1: of six. On the other hand, he would definitely be
24:32
Speaker 1: scared to find other spirits around, or even that the
24:34
Speaker 1: Queen would return. I mean, I would be This is
24:39
Speaker 1: one of those rare times where a solo play is
24:41
Speaker 1: a bit tricky. I'd prefer not to roll to see
24:43
Speaker 1: how a PC acts. So here's a potential solution. I'll
24:47
Speaker 1: send a quick email to Kevin Barringer, who voices ten Tier,
24:50
Speaker 1: and ask him what he thinks the young alp would do.
24:53
Speaker 1: Here's a part of the email I send to Kevin. Hey, keV,
24:59
Speaker 1: I need to ask a what would ten Tier do question?
25:02
Speaker 1: What would you do? In this situation? The Pieces are
25:04
Speaker 1: in a crypt and have just defeated some undebt ten
25:07
Speaker 1: Tyr has never seen undead before this and is quite shaken.
25:10
Speaker 1: Despite the pieces victory over the monsters, he sent off
25:14
Speaker 1: alone to fetch something while his companions lick their wounds
25:17
Speaker 1: and he has the opportunity here to go rogue and
25:19
Speaker 1: wander down unexplored halls. But would he It would be
25:23
Speaker 1: tremendously risky. There's a battle between his curiosity and lack
25:27
Speaker 1: of good judgment and the ordeal he has just been through.
25:30
Speaker 1: Which side do you think would win? Keeping in mind
25:32
Speaker 1: that if he does go off alone, he will likely
25:34
Speaker 1: be putting his life at risk. Now I have to
25:40
Speaker 1: wait for his reply, and so will you. Because we
25:42
Speaker 1: are at the end of this episode. Part of me
25:45
Speaker 1: hopes Kevin says yes, and an equal part of me
25:47
Speaker 1: hopes he'll say hell no. I guess we'll all find
25:50
Speaker 1: out next time. Until then, thanks for listening to Tale
25:57
Speaker 1: of the Manticor if you're enjoying the show and would
25:59
Speaker 1: love to help to supported, there are lots of ways
26:01
Speaker 1: to do so. You could recommend the show online or
26:04
Speaker 1: to friends. You can like and repost episode announcements on
26:06
Speaker 1: social media. You can pick up one of my offerings
26:09
Speaker 1: on drive through RBG or a T shirt at www
26:12
Speaker 1: Dot Barrs dot store. And finally, you can rate or
26:14
Speaker 1: review the show on your podcast or choice. I'm super
26:17
Speaker 1: grateful for all of your support At this point, I'd
26:21
Speaker 1: like to share a listener review. It's an old one
26:23
Speaker 1: that I let's slip by. Sorry about that. It's by
26:26
Speaker 1: Jay Webster from his role Play Rescue blog. Chay writes,
26:30
Speaker 1: if you've play Dungeons and Dragons, especially BX, then you
26:34
Speaker 1: need to be listening to Tale of the manticor a
26:36
Speaker 1: story where chaos rolls. Specifically, you need to listen all
26:40
Speaker 1: the way through seventy six episodes to the finale of
26:43
Speaker 1: season one, best end of level boss fight ever. Thank
26:47
Speaker 1: you very much, Jay, and I'm sorry it took me
26:49
Speaker 1: so long to get to reading that on air. Now.
26:52
Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you know that I'm a big
26:54
Speaker 1: fan of Chay and his show. If you are listening
26:56
Speaker 1: to Roleplay Rescue, you definitely should be. It's excellent stuff
27:00
Speaker 1: of something else that's excellent. My cast of voice talent.
27:04
Speaker 1: This episode features four greats. Dave Cooper as Fairwynd, Fiona
27:08
Speaker 1: Howet host and GM of the one of My Rolling
27:11
Speaker 1: podcast as the Wraith of Queen and Aya, Ky Allen's Doretti,
27:15
Speaker 1: and Kevin Baringer as tent Tier. Thanks very much to
27:18
Speaker 1: all four of you for sharing your talent. Well, this
27:21
Speaker 1: is about the time that I usually say something about
27:23
Speaker 1: social media and then sign off. But wait a minute,
27:29
Speaker 1: have I been doing this show for five years now?
27:33
Speaker 1: By said doll, I really have passed my fifth year
27:36
Speaker 1: podcast diversary. Where does the time go? I know that
27:41
Speaker 1: I am one lucky guy forgetting to put my craft
27:43
Speaker 1: out into the world, and I do not take it
27:45
Speaker 1: for granted. Thank you to all of my listeners and
27:48
Speaker 1: collaborators for helping me to make this happen and continue
27:51
Speaker 1: to happen. Tale of the Mandicorp has now been downloaded
27:54
Speaker 1: over eight hundred thousand times and I can see the
27:57
Speaker 1: million download milestone in the distance. Not a number I
28:00
Speaker 1: can even fully comprehend, but it does appear to be
28:03
Speaker 1: within reach. This season brought out a different tone than
28:07
Speaker 1: the previous two. It also came with a new hosting
28:10
Speaker 1: company in the form of Spreaker. I'm grateful for the
28:13
Speaker 1: listener's willingness to indulge my desire to take some risks
28:16
Speaker 1: and change things up a bit. Before I sign off,
28:19
Speaker 1: I'm bringing back my annual tradition of Tale of the
28:22
Speaker 1: Vandagor by the numbers three three products offered for sale
28:28
Speaker 1: on drive through RPG and Pretty Sooner before more and
28:31
Speaker 1: that soon, nine on air PC deaths and several more
28:36
Speaker 1: implied eleven eleven new Elvish words, fourteen original gods and
28:43
Speaker 1: deities plus two saints. Sixteen story so far, bonus episodes,
28:49
Speaker 1: twenty twenty maps both of the overland and interior variety,
28:54
Speaker 1: uploaded to the blog, thirty one one Orkish words, fifty
28:59
Speaker 1: seven pieces of original fan art sent to the show
29:03
Speaker 1: by my talented listeners. Eighty plus plus hours of fiction
29:07
Speaker 1: released to date, not including bonus episodes, meaning it would
29:11
Speaker 1: take almost three and a half round the clock days
29:14
Speaker 1: to listen to the full story thus far. Ninety one
29:18
Speaker 1: one guest introductions for the show, one hundred and eighty
29:21
Speaker 1: one one original scores, twenty one of which are new
29:25
Speaker 1: for this season. Two hundred and ten episodes published in total,
29:30
Speaker 1: including bonus content, exactly three hundred in game days played.
29:36
Speaker 1: Approximately seven hundred thousand words typed into scripts, which and
29:42
Speaker 1: this takes my breath away, is fewer than the number
29:45
Speaker 1: of times the show has been downloaded by about one
29:48
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. Here's hoping for many more words, many more scores,
29:53
Speaker 1: many more scripts, many more characters, and not too many
29:57
Speaker 1: more character deaths. I'm so glad you're all with me
30:00
Speaker 1: as this tale unfolds. It really means a great deal
30:03
Speaker 1: to me, and this tale will continue to unfold on
30:08
Speaker 1: the next episode of Tale of the Manticor It's the
30:11
Speaker 1: story where chaos rolls.