Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 57 (S3E57)

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Episode 57 (S3E57) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Maya from Maya's Solo Room and you
0:03
Speaker 1: are listening to Tell of the Manticor. The following podcast
0:09
Speaker 1: is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
0:27
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like
0:32
Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
0:34
Speaker 1: the Manticor is a mashup, a crossbreeding between two different
0:38
Speaker 1: species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability of
0:42
Speaker 1: old school paper and dice games with the story craft
0:45
Speaker 1: of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred and
0:49
Speaker 1: none will be spared if the dice decide their fate
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Speaker 1: is at hand. According to Laura, the Tale of a
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Speaker 1: Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will be
1:01
Speaker 1: much pain in the days ahead. Last time on Tail
1:14
Speaker 1: of the Manticor, Chapter fifty six begins with the PCs
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Speaker 1: mounted atop Griffins and flying headlong into battle, while Fairwind
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Speaker 1: calls out a desperate prayer to Sadaul for aid. While
1:25
Speaker 1: the companion's do receive the deity's blessing as the vicious
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Speaker 1: dogfight begins, it is not enough to save all of them.
1:31
Speaker 1: Court is the first to be pulled from his mount
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Speaker 1: by the enemy gargoyles, but fortune favors the wooden construct
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Speaker 1: and he's caught before he falls into the river below,
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Speaker 1: where fanged aquatic horrors await an easy meal. In a
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Speaker 1: twist of irony, it is Ferwind whose next gact from
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Speaker 1: the back of his griffin. This time, Bluck does not
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Speaker 1: come to the rescue, nor does divine intervention. Whatever his reasons.
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Speaker 1: Sad Al allows his faithful servant to plummet into the river,
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Speaker 1: where he is either drowned or eaten. Meanwhile, the rest
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Speaker 1: of the party fights on, eventually defeating enough of their
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Speaker 1: foe to allow them to break free and continue on
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Speaker 1: their way to the beacon at the far end of
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Speaker 1: the canyon. Let's talk about the death of fair Wind.
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Speaker 1: It is remarkable to me that until now I've gone
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Speaker 1: so deep into this campaign without a major character death.
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Speaker 1: Arguably until the last episode there were none. The only
2:25
Speaker 1: thing that comes close is the death of Edo way
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Speaker 1: back in episode four. But Edo never officially became a PC,
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Speaker 1: so I think Fairwind has to be considered the first,
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Speaker 1: and it isn't from a lack of danger, DURNI. It
2:38
Speaker 1: might have easily succumbed to the Dryad ten Tire might
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Speaker 1: have been poisoned by the Fool's funnel. Mushroom Cord has
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Speaker 1: come within an inch of oblivion several times during combat encounters.
2:48
Speaker 1: The fight with the giant forest Troll and the battle
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Speaker 1: with the Seclusium's animated armour both spring to mind. It's
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Speaker 1: fair to say that all player characters have been in
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Speaker 1: harm's way many times over in this campaign. However, amazingly
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Speaker 1: the dice have saved them until now. It was inevitable
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Speaker 1: that their luck would run out eventually. That doesn't make
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Speaker 1: me feel any better, though losing Fairwind hurts. The only
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Speaker 1: silver lining is that I know as a writer that
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Speaker 1: risk is precisely what makes a tale compelling. Sometimes gambling
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Speaker 1: and losing is exactly what a story needs. In the end,
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Speaker 1: I trust the dice. They haven't led me wrong yet.
3:24
Speaker 1: Speaking of stories and what makes them work, typically I
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Speaker 1: do ramp up the danger as a campaign Music's conclusion,
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Speaker 1: and I think we are getting closed now at this point.
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Speaker 1: I don't see season three going as long as the
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Speaker 1: previous two, though I could be wrong about that and
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Speaker 1: certainly won't force an early resolution. Something inside me says
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Speaker 1: that day forty four, the current day of achilles quest,
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Speaker 1: will be a big day, a long day, and potentially
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Speaker 1: the last day of the adventure. Previously, I've mentioned the
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Speaker 1: seven tests of Ahea and how all but the first
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Speaker 1: come in twos. The pieces have just passed the test
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Speaker 1: of air that he selected it over the test of water.
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Speaker 1: That leaves one more pair of tests to face. It too,
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Speaker 1: will require a choice. You can probably anticipate where that
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Speaker 1: will be, you know. Originally my inclination was to design
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Speaker 1: the test of air as a metrician encounter, something to
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Speaker 1: whittle down the party's hit points, spells, and other resources. However,
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Speaker 1: when I actually thought about the battle and what it
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Speaker 1: would look like, I realized it simply didn't make sense
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Speaker 1: for the PCs to be doing the fighting. You would
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Speaker 1: have to be monster on monster. That's why I introduced
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Speaker 1: the Gargoyle special grab attack. If I hadn't, the enemy
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Speaker 1: wouldn't have been a true threat to the characters. Getting
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Speaker 1: back to the death of the Fairwind, let me say
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Speaker 1: that I will miss him dearly. By way of a eulogy,
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Speaker 1: I'll point out that Fairwyll's final words were a prayer
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Speaker 1: to U it all, and there is a kind of
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Speaker 1: beauty to be found there. But now I'm wondering how
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Speaker 1: the PCs will handle the loss of the cleric. Chapter
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Speaker 1: fifty seven, Part one, Day forty four Mourning mythic event
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Speaker 1: meaning control, dispute, party status. Achillea seventeen of seventeen hit points,
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Speaker 1: cord twenty nine of thirty two, der any twenty three
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Speaker 1: of twenty three, ten tier, thirty five of thirty five,
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Speaker 1: flicker fourteen of sixteen spells available. Achille can cast the large,
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Speaker 1: detect evil, glitter, dust, dispel magic and flame. Arrow. Cord
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Speaker 1: can cast entangle, animal, friendship, slow poison, bark, skin, hold
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Speaker 1: animal tree shape, speak with plants, cure serious wounds, and
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Speaker 1: pass plant. Achille's breast was ablaze with excite as the
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Speaker 1: pack of Griffins dipped down, wings spread wide to glide
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Speaker 1: the final distance, and then touched down on a rocky
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Speaker 1: ledge high above. Embedded right into the mountain itself was
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Speaker 1: the Beacon, a massive crystal of pink and white that
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Speaker 1: scintillated and beamed out rays of brilliance. Most of the
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Speaker 1: companions stared up at it in wonder. They were not
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Speaker 1: even aware that Ferwind had fallen to his death of
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Speaker 1: them all. Only Chord had witnessed the tragedy, but very
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Speaker 1: quickly a sensation that something was wrong spread among the companions.
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Speaker 1: As they dismounted, with legs shaking and hearts pounding, exchanging
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Speaker 1: wide eyed stairs at each other, they finally realized that
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Speaker 1: one of the Griffins was riderless. Rare breathed Aukilia, looking
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Speaker 1: around frantically, and then stepping to the lip of the
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Speaker 1: rock ledge where had Chord came to stand beside her
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Speaker 1: and placed a wooden hand on her shoulders, to his
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Speaker 1: body back and forth, saying no in his way to
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Speaker 1: the unspoken second question, the cleric could not have survived. Robin,
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Speaker 1: perched atop Chord's head, uttered a forlorn whistle. Flicker whined
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Speaker 1: from inside Achillia's pack, asking to be let out, and
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Speaker 1: Achillee obliged. Once the blink dog was free, she canceled
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Speaker 1: the enchantment, and Flicker returned to her normal size. Derrettian
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Speaker 1: Tentare joined them at the edge, and together they all
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Speaker 1: looked down into the vertigenous chasm of the canyon, scanning
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Speaker 1: for signs of life, Hoping against hope. Far far below,
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Speaker 1: the river rushed urgently forward. It moved much faster here,
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Speaker 1: but there was no sign of fair wind, or of
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Speaker 1: anything except the seething waters. He's gone, muttered Achillia, and
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Speaker 1: felt as though she were speaking words in a foreign language.
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Speaker 1: How could it be true? It seemed absurd, impossible. Then
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Speaker 1: she remembered something and sobbed involuntarily.
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Speaker 2: One of the last things he said was that he
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Speaker 2: didn't know how to swim.
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Speaker 1: She felt hot, tears spilled down her cheeks.
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Speaker 2: It is all my fault. In the end, he was
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Speaker 2: following me.
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Speaker 1: She swallowed hard, as a shadow of guilt began to
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Speaker 1: rise up behind her like a specter.
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Speaker 2: If he had never met me, he wouldn't.
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Speaker 1: Have Derretti put his hand on her other shoulder, which
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Speaker 1: was now beginning to shake. He followed you of his
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Speaker 1: own free will, Achilia, as we all do. This is
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Speaker 1: not your fault. Doretti's face was grave, in his voice
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Speaker 1: somehow distant. The Griffins, unaware of the tragedy, now flexed
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Speaker 1: their wings and dipped their heads, looking askance at the
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Speaker 1: former writers. One of them shrieked out command to the others,
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Speaker 1: and all five leapt into the air. A Chillia watched
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Speaker 1: them go through blurred vision. She sniffed, wiping the tears away.
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Speaker 1: We will miss you, failing, she said. At last ten
9:16
Speaker 1: Tire was the first to retreat from the edge. He
9:19
Speaker 1: quickly found that there was a path leading down, which
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Speaker 1: eventually terminated in a natural cave mouth that opened into
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Speaker 1: the mountain side. Unlike the one on the opposite side
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Speaker 1: of the canyon from where they'd summoned the Griffins, this
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Speaker 1: entrance was of a modest size, a mere ten feet
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Speaker 1: high and just wide enough to accommodate two people walking abreast.
9:39
Speaker 1: Although the companions didn't know it, Balario the Gnome had
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Speaker 1: already arrived several minutes before them and had entered the
9:45
Speaker 1: cave mouth. You know what. Right after writing that the
9:54
Speaker 1: pieces were unaware that Blario had overtaken them, I thought,
9:58
Speaker 1: hang on, is that true. During Cord's last two level ups,
10:01
Speaker 1: I made a point of mentioning Robin's growing awareness and intelligence.
10:06
Speaker 1: By now, the taxidermied bird has greater than typical animal intelligence,
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Speaker 1: probably adder around the level of Flicker back on the
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Speaker 1: other side of the canyon. When the Griffins arrived to
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Speaker 1: carry the PCs through the test of air, Robin retreated
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Speaker 1: into the tunnel. Belario happened to be in that tunnel,
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Speaker 1: of course, spying. The Gnomish magic user noticed Robin, but
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Speaker 1: didn't really care. Why would he? But is it possible
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Speaker 1: that Robin saw Bellario? Because if she did, now would
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Speaker 1: be the time to tell Cord. So what is the
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Speaker 1: chance that that happened. Robin doesn't have stats, there's no
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Speaker 1: passive perception score to work with. How about a good
10:42
Speaker 1: old high low roll. I think fifty to fifty is
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Speaker 1: about right for a situation like this, So why not
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Speaker 1: on a D twenty A roll of eleven or better
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Speaker 1: means that Robin did see Bellario. Here's the role the
10:55
Speaker 1: six Okay, I guess that's that Robin must have been
10:58
Speaker 1: too concerned with and frightened by the arrival of the
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Speaker 1: five Griffins to have looked back. Derenni's eyes were hard
11:09
Speaker 1: and his jaw clenched tight. Beside him, Tintyre had drawn
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Speaker 1: the sword of leir Haine. Derennie drew his Elven Blight
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Speaker 1: as well. The brothers took the lead and entered the
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Speaker 1: cave mouth. He noticed him tire glancing at him in
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Speaker 1: concern every few seconds, clearly wondering if he was all right?
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Speaker 1: He was not. How could he be when it was
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Speaker 1: clear they were all living in a world that was
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Speaker 1: so indifferent? And where were the gods? Didn't they care
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Speaker 1: at all? He had heard Fairwyind call out something before
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Speaker 1: the confrontation with the gray skinned fliers. Had his deity
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Speaker 1: really allowed his disciple to die moments after receiving their prayers?
11:51
Speaker 1: Why was he being tortured by increasingly vivid dreams of
11:54
Speaker 1: the old crow? The closer he came to the incarnation
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Speaker 1: of the goddess was through SENDI an not just and good?
12:02
Speaker 1: Did she take pleasure in his suffering? What was the
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Speaker 1: point of religion if the immortals were so completely negligent?
12:10
Speaker 1: Iami had described Ahea as unconcerned with abstract mortal contrivances
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Speaker 1: like good and evil. Unconcerned with good and evil? So
12:19
Speaker 1: then what was she and what did she stand for?
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Speaker 1: Did she deserve a single word of prayer or thanks
12:25
Speaker 1: that had ever passed his lips during any new These
12:28
Speaker 1: were blasphemous thoughts, dangerous thoughts all the more dangerous for
12:32
Speaker 1: his thinking them in thrisendious queendom. Legends were full of
12:36
Speaker 1: elves who had found themselves cursed for less then again,
12:41
Speaker 1: was he not already cursed? It felt that way. While
12:46
Speaker 1: the elves of Marath acknowledged the existence of other divinities,
12:49
Speaker 1: they worshiped only one. In this way, they were not
12:53
Speaker 1: unlike the dwarfs, who offered their grumbling prayers only to Grunmug.
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Speaker 1: It was common knowledge among the members of his race.
13:00
Speaker 1: Cendia always took the form of the female elf when
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Speaker 1: she walked among mortals. Derannie had never really questioned that,
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Speaker 1: or anything he'd been taught about the goddess. But what
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Speaker 1: if none of the stories were true? What did mortals
13:13
Speaker 1: really know? What could they know? Humans prayedice it all
13:18
Speaker 1: among other human gods. Dwarves worshiped Gruenmach. The Elves held
13:23
Speaker 1: through Cendia above all others. All races venerated gods or
13:27
Speaker 1: goddesses that looked like themselves. But they couldn't all be right. Perhaps, people,
13:33
Speaker 1: no matter who they were, projected themselves onto the faces
13:36
Speaker 1: of those they worshiped. What did they really know about
13:39
Speaker 1: the beings that made the universe? Nothing? In the end,
13:44
Speaker 1: all they truly had with his stories they had dreamt
13:47
Speaker 1: up on their own. Bleak thoughts such as these occupied
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Speaker 1: Deranny's mind as the party penetrated into the mountainside, and
14:00
Speaker 1: their dark vision took over fair One's lantern, now lying
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Speaker 1: at the bottom of the river, was no longer needed.
14:07
Speaker 1: Ur Any suddenly realized that the first scroll of Galvandal
14:10
Speaker 1: had been lost along with the cleric. Perhaps that didn't
14:14
Speaker 1: matter anymore. If the purpose of the scroll was to
14:16
Speaker 1: find the Golden Path, well they had done that, and
14:20
Speaker 1: even marked away on the Dorothy map Bechilia carried. They
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Speaker 1: came to a place where the tunnel curved. Then it
14:27
Speaker 1: climbed and dipped in the manner of natural passages before
14:30
Speaker 1: bulging out into a large cavern. Oblong in shape, it
14:34
Speaker 1: was about seventy feet long and forty feet wide. The
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Speaker 1: high domed ceiling was festooned with stalactites of various sizes.
14:42
Speaker 1: Three of the largest reached all the way to the
14:44
Speaker 1: cavern floor, forming spindle shaped columns. As in Sager's rooms,
14:49
Speaker 1: the walls here were tiered and honeycombed, with pock marks
14:53
Speaker 1: and deeper cavities of various sizes. Upon closer inspection, most
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Speaker 1: of these were actually small twobe black tunnel that wormed
15:00
Speaker 1: a wave from the main cavern in every direction. Others
15:04
Speaker 1: were shallow indentations only two or three feet deep. Flicker
15:08
Speaker 1: seemed agitated and let out a series of yips.
15:11
Speaker 2: Which way do we go?
15:14
Speaker 1: Asked Achilia. There was no clear main path, only dozens
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Speaker 1: of two black tunnels. Some were large enough to lead
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Speaker 1: a horse through, others were so small that a Kilia would
15:24
Speaker 1: not have been able to reach her hand inside. Cord creaked,
15:28
Speaker 1: pointing first at one of the indentations and then another.
15:31
Speaker 1: The concave stone inside them was oddly smooth looking. They
15:35
Speaker 1: seemed filled in somehow, but non naturally, so I have
15:39
Speaker 1: no idea what caused thee Achillie replied to Kord's some
15:42
Speaker 1: plot question. She recalled the centipede mount she and Dernni
15:46
Speaker 1: had crawled through shortly after meeting each other. But this
15:49
Speaker 1: was not very similar.
15:50
Speaker 2: I've never been anywhere quite like this before. What about you, Givenni?
15:55
Speaker 1: They allf looked briefly up at her and shook his head.
15:58
Speaker 1: Flicker barked louder.
15:59
Speaker 2: Than be still.
16:01
Speaker 1: Flicker, Achille reprimanded. Tenttyre had wandered away from the group,
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Speaker 1: which congregated in the center of the cavern. Achilia thought
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Speaker 1: she should tell him to be careful, but instead turned
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Speaker 1: back to Dornnie.
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Speaker 2: Are you all right?
16:15
Speaker 1: Doranni just frowned mildly and shrugged. Flicker barked yet again,
16:20
Speaker 1: this time in Tentyre's direction. The younger elf had walked
16:23
Speaker 1: up to one of the two black tunnels and was
16:25
Speaker 1: about to put his head into it.
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Speaker 2: De Rennie, I'm here if you want to talk about it.
16:30
Speaker 1: She assumed that it was fair One's death causing him pain,
16:33
Speaker 1: but she was only partly right in any case. Dranni
16:36
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk and said nothing in reply. Flicker
16:40
Speaker 1: barked once again, and Achillia glanced over a tenteer in
16:43
Speaker 1: time to see him climb into a tunnel of appropriate
16:45
Speaker 1: size for him. The mere moment after he entered it,
16:49
Speaker 1: there was a strange sound, and then the elf was gone.
16:55
Speaker 1: Achillia blinked. The mouth of the tunnel he had entered
16:58
Speaker 1: was gone too. Now it looked just like the ones
17:01
Speaker 1: that were merely shallow indentations. It was as if the
17:05
Speaker 1: tunnel had sealed itself behind tent tier, leaving a slightly
17:08
Speaker 1: concave surface of smooth, solid rock where the opening had
17:12
Speaker 1: been before. Give Anny, she said, we have a problem.
17:19
Speaker 1: Do you want to introduce the kids in your life
17:21
Speaker 1: to the joy of dungeons and dragons, But you aren't
17:24
Speaker 1: sure where to begin. With the Adventure Guide Secrets of Enderol,
17:28
Speaker 1: you can skip the thick tome of rules and simply
17:30
Speaker 1: embark on adventure. In Enderil, heroes young and old will
17:34
Speaker 1: investigate a mysterious disturbance and set out to save the kingdom.
17:38
Speaker 1: They'll meet adorable talking animals, work together to solve engaging
17:42
Speaker 1: puzzles and battle unexpected enemies that stand in their way.
17:45
Speaker 1: And along the way they'll learn five E or D
17:48
Speaker 1: and D fifth Edition game mechanics, which are introduced only
17:52
Speaker 1: as they become relevant to the story. So gather your
17:55
Speaker 1: family and friends and start telling stories together. What are
17:59
Speaker 1: you waiting for? The Adventure Guide is written by the
18:02
Speaker 1: educators behind the Kid's Table, D and D and published
18:05
Speaker 1: by Emberglow Gaming. Visit Theadventure Guide dot Mberglowgaming dot com
18:11
Speaker 1: for details and happy adventuring. You are certain it was
18:21
Speaker 1: this one? Do Rennie hadn't seen Tantyre enter the tunnel
18:25
Speaker 1: and thought Achilia might have been confusing it with another one.
18:28
Speaker 2: I'm sure, and you heard that noise in court show
18:32
Speaker 2: it too, write Cord.
18:35
Speaker 1: The Wooden construct bowed forward in a creaking affirmative.
18:38
Speaker 2: Why didn't were we going to do?
18:40
Speaker 1: Asked Achilia, and she could hear the hitching in her voice.
18:43
Speaker 1: First they lost fair wind, and now ten Tier disappeared,
18:47
Speaker 1: apparently swallowed up by the cavern itself. Things seemed to
18:50
Speaker 1: be falling apart, and she had no idea how to
18:53
Speaker 1: make it better. She turned around in a circle, yelling, eh,
19:00
Speaker 1: weell you, but there was no reply. We have to
19:05
Speaker 1: go look for him, said do Rennie. He ducked into
19:08
Speaker 1: a tube that was close to the one Achilie had
19:10
Speaker 1: said tad Tier had gone through. It was a little
19:12
Speaker 1: too small for do Renni to stand upright in, so
19:15
Speaker 1: he had to crouch slightly, and then Doretti was gone.
19:21
Speaker 1: His tunnel had sealed up behind him. Achilia looked into
19:25
Speaker 1: Kord's face, panic mounting inside her. Achillia snapped around to
19:30
Speaker 1: find that Flicker was gone too, but this time she
19:33
Speaker 1: had an idea. Running over to where she had seen
19:35
Speaker 1: the dog last, she put her hand against the smooth
19:38
Speaker 1: stone of one of the sealed tunnels.
19:40
Speaker 2: Leicker, if you can hear my voice, bring back through
19:44
Speaker 2: the stone to me.
19:47
Speaker 1: Nothing happened, and now it was just Achillia and Cord
19:50
Speaker 1: alone in the strange cavern, with all of its twisting passages.
19:54
Speaker 1: It was like standing in the center of a rotten apple,
19:57
Speaker 1: with worm holes leading away from her in every direction.
20:00
Speaker 2: Court, I think all these closed off tunnels must have
20:03
Speaker 2: been open at one time.
20:05
Speaker 1: She looked around. There were a few dozen that were
20:08
Speaker 1: sealed off, but perhaps a hundred or more that were not.
20:11
Speaker 2: Each one must represent a petitioner who came this way
20:15
Speaker 2: in the past.
20:16
Speaker 1: It was a heady thought, because if she was right,
20:18
Speaker 1: that would indicate that the number of pilgrims who had
20:21
Speaker 1: ever gotten this far was not really that high, especially
20:25
Speaker 1: considering that this place might have been here for eons.
20:28
Speaker 1: The notion of her being part of so small a
20:30
Speaker 1: cohort made her feel extremely strange.
20:33
Speaker 2: Court, What should we do?
20:36
Speaker 1: The construct touched her on the elbow and then pointed
20:38
Speaker 1: to a tunnel that was big enough for both.
20:40
Speaker 2: Of them mm together.
20:44
Speaker 1: Cord made his nodding motion, and Robin, standing atop his head,
20:47
Speaker 1: peeped timidly.
20:49
Speaker 2: All right, let's go.
20:52
Speaker 1: As they stepped into the tunnel at the same time,
20:54
Speaker 1: Achilias steels herself. She had already drawn her wand and
20:57
Speaker 1: now held it in front of her like a dagger.
21:00
Speaker 1: Inside the stone tube was smooth and glistened with moisture.
21:05
Speaker 1: It smelled of nothing at all, unless roc had a smell,
21:08
Speaker 1: but there was a low, moaning sound that rose and
21:10
Speaker 1: fell like waves. This Achilia figured was caused by the
21:15
Speaker 1: air moving through them, like breath through a flute. They
21:19
Speaker 1: walked for only a little way before the tunnel began
21:21
Speaker 1: to curve to the left. Thankfully, did not rise or
21:24
Speaker 1: fall very much and was easy to navigate. The curve
21:28
Speaker 1: continued to bend, and Achilie and Chord followed it, making
21:31
Speaker 1: their way carefully along until they could see where it
21:33
Speaker 1: spilled out into another cavern up ahead. Achilia looked sidelong
21:37
Speaker 1: at Chord. Be careful, be ready, she told him. The
21:41
Speaker 1: Chord raised his axe in reply, and she knew that
21:44
Speaker 1: he would not let her down. Achilia stopped to listen,
21:48
Speaker 1: but there was no sound coming from a head other
21:50
Speaker 1: than the mournful whining of the wind. She inclined her
21:54
Speaker 1: head and the two of them stepped into the cavern.
21:59
Speaker 1: At first, it seemed practically identical to the one they'd
22:02
Speaker 1: just left, but then it occurred to Achillia that in fact,
22:06
Speaker 1: it was the same place.
22:07
Speaker 2: Could I think we've just gone in a circle? Didn't
22:11
Speaker 2: we enter the tunnel over there?
22:13
Speaker 1: But it was impossible to know for certain just by looking.
22:16
Speaker 1: Perhaps they'd looped back to the start, or perhaps there
22:19
Speaker 1: was a network of wormhole caverns, all of which looked
22:22
Speaker 1: more or less the same. I have an idea, she said,
22:25
Speaker 1: and began to rummage around in her bag. Momentarily, she
22:29
Speaker 1: produced a silver coin. She put it down by her
22:32
Speaker 1: feet and said.
22:33
Speaker 2: We'll go back the way we came, and if this
22:35
Speaker 2: coin is there when we reached the other side, then
22:37
Speaker 2: we'll know for sure.
22:38
Speaker 1: To Luke, Court acquiesced, and the two of them retraced
22:41
Speaker 1: their steps. Before long, they'd followed the curving tube all
22:46
Speaker 1: the way back around and into the original cavern. There
22:52
Speaker 1: on the floor, a few dozen yards away, was Achillia's coin.
22:55
Speaker 1: She picked it up and slipped it back into her bag.
22:58
Speaker 1: Now what, she asked? Chord shrugged in his way and
23:02
Speaker 1: started moving toward a different tunnel. This one was fairly
23:05
Speaker 1: large and could have accommodated an ogre quite wake, said Achilia,
23:10
Speaker 1: But she was too late. As soon as Cord had
23:12
Speaker 1: stepped inside the strange sound came again, and this time
23:16
Speaker 1: Achilia actually witnessed the tunnel sealing up. Cord was gone.
23:21
Speaker 1: She ran over. Now her fists beat against stone where
23:26
Speaker 1: an opening had been moments before. Now Achilia was completely alone,
23:33
Speaker 1: alone in an alien world full of danger and sadness
23:37
Speaker 1: and loss. She crumpled to the cavern floor and wept.
23:41
Speaker 1: She couldn't help it. Once she'd gotten it out of
23:48
Speaker 1: her system, she wiped her cheeks, sniffed, and collected herself.
23:53
Speaker 1: The favorite saying of Aldvays came to mind, and to
23:55
Speaker 1: comfort herself, she said it out loud.
23:58
Speaker 2: You can't make a blanket from tears, Achillea.
24:01
Speaker 1: Then she stood up, dusted off her knees, and added,
24:04
Speaker 1: put yourself together.
24:05
Speaker 2: It that one gave his life for you to get
24:08
Speaker 2: this far, and now your friends need you. You are
24:11
Speaker 2: the apprentice of all. They luo act like it.
24:15
Speaker 1: Then she hitched her satchel higher on her shoulder, wiped
24:18
Speaker 1: the last tier away, and chose the closest tunnel. All
24:34
Speaker 1: of the PCs have now been separated. Since it would
24:37
Speaker 1: be impossible for me to try to detail each individual experience,
24:41
Speaker 1: I think I'll just put the focus on one of
24:43
Speaker 1: them for the next little while. And since Achilia already
24:47
Speaker 1: gets the line's share of the spotlight, I'm going to
24:49
Speaker 1: roll to see who the focus of the narrative will
24:51
Speaker 1: pass you. On a D four A one will be
24:53
Speaker 1: ten tier a two dur Ani three flicker, and on
24:57
Speaker 1: a four chord and Robin, here's the role, but two,
25:02
Speaker 1: that's de Rennie. Well okay. Then Derrenni took his free
25:09
Speaker 1: hand away from the smooth stone that blocked the return path.
25:13
Speaker 1: With the way now closed, he had but two choices,
25:16
Speaker 1: stay put or moved forward. Derrennie could see no point
25:20
Speaker 1: in remaining here any longer, so he began to make
25:23
Speaker 1: his way down the tunnel. The ceiling was low and
25:26
Speaker 1: he was forced to crouch. He wondered where his brother
25:29
Speaker 1: was and if he was all right. Ten deer he called,
25:35
Speaker 1: No answer came. He tried again ten deer. Although he
25:40
Speaker 1: hadn't really expected a reply, not getting one made him
25:43
Speaker 1: feel worse. He continued down the tunnel, keeping the point
25:47
Speaker 1: of his sword out in front of him. It didn't
25:52
Speaker 1: take long before he had lost his bearings left right, left, right,
25:58
Speaker 1: and always down and down and down. The tunnel curled
26:03
Speaker 1: bent in hairpins, twisted and corkscrewed, or so it felt,
26:07
Speaker 1: and it seemed to go on forever. It really was
26:10
Speaker 1: like moving through a wormhole. Duringny also quickly lost track
26:14
Speaker 1: of time. He thought he might have been there for
26:16
Speaker 1: an hour, but who could really say. Other than the
26:19
Speaker 1: growing ache in his lower back, there was nothing much
26:22
Speaker 1: with which to measure the passage of time. It might
26:25
Speaker 1: have been thirty minutes or two hours. He suddenly thought
26:29
Speaker 1: of Seger performing the same task over and over and
26:32
Speaker 1: over again for decades. Was this tunnel to become his purgatory,
26:38
Speaker 1: an endless wormhole that would go on and on for
26:41
Speaker 1: how long? What was a year or a decade or
26:45
Speaker 1: a century to a deity? As he no longer felt
26:50
Speaker 1: any hunger or thirst, this fate worse than death, seemed possible.
26:55
Speaker 1: He tried not to think about it. If this tube
26:58
Speaker 1: led anywhere, despair would not get him there any faster.
27:02
Speaker 1: He pushed on and on and on and on. At
27:08
Speaker 1: some point an hour ago two, he really had no idea,
27:12
Speaker 1: But at some point he had sheathed his sword simply
27:15
Speaker 1: because it had become too heavy to hold out in
27:17
Speaker 1: front of him. His legs were growing tired. In his
27:20
Speaker 1: shinten shirt from the relentless decline of the tunnel. If
27:24
Speaker 1: this went on much longer, he was going to get
27:26
Speaker 1: really uncomfortable. He cursed himself for having chosen a tunnel
27:31
Speaker 1: that was not suited to his height. A few times
27:34
Speaker 1: he tried calling out to Tanier in the others, but
27:36
Speaker 1: to no avail. He stopped to rest only once, but
27:40
Speaker 1: resumed his downward journey quickly. It wasn't that he didn't
27:43
Speaker 1: need the break. He was simply that he wished to
27:45
Speaker 1: get through to the end, if indeed there was one.
27:49
Speaker 1: The bends and curves and twists continued for a long
27:52
Speaker 1: long time before there was any change. The moisture covering
27:56
Speaker 1: the walls and floor gradually increased, and eventually there was
27:59
Speaker 1: an any rivulet of water trickling between his feet. It
28:03
Speaker 1: made the way somewhat treacherous, for the declining angle of
28:06
Speaker 1: the tunnel never let up. Before long, his boots were
28:10
Speaker 1: getting wet, and the trickling rivulet had become a thin
28:12
Speaker 1: stream that outpaced him, no longer feeling as though he
28:16
Speaker 1: were in a wormhole. Now he could not shake the
28:18
Speaker 1: idea that he was like a piece of food traveling
28:21
Speaker 1: through a gigantic stone digestive system. Still he went on.
28:26
Speaker 1: The more slick and difficult the way it had became,
28:29
Speaker 1: the more his back and his shins protested. By now
28:32
Speaker 1: he needed another rest, but he knew that his body
28:34
Speaker 1: would only find relief if he laid down and stretched.
28:38
Speaker 1: Doing that here would mean lying down in a few
28:40
Speaker 1: inches of running water. He wasn't even sure he could
28:43
Speaker 1: do that without losing his grip and sliding on ahead.
28:46
Speaker 1: Sliding it wasn't necessarily such a bad idea. He could
28:51
Speaker 1: only move in one direction anyway, Why walk when there
28:54
Speaker 1: was an easier way available? Denny sat down and put
28:58
Speaker 1: his feet straight out in front of him. He felt
29:00
Speaker 1: the cold water curving around his hips and soaking into
29:03
Speaker 1: his clothing. Then he laid back. Now the water ran
29:08
Speaker 1: into his hair, under his chain mail shirt, and into
29:10
Speaker 1: the hollows under his collar bones. He shivered. Then he
29:15
Speaker 1: felt himself begin to slide forward. Thanks for listening to
29:29
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor. If you'd like to support this show,
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29:55
Speaker 1: always best role playing podcast in the business. Thanks so much,
29:59
Speaker 1: acqua Man. What more could a podster wish to read?
30:02
Speaker 1: I really appreciate the review. Words like yours are a
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Speaker 1: fire to my forge. They really do make me want
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Speaker 1: to give my best every time. For listeners who have
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Speaker 1: considered leaving a review but haven't, now's the time, I
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Speaker 1: think I might be running out of them, and I
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Speaker 1: would love to be able to keep up this practice
30:18
Speaker 1: of reading them in the credits all the way to
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Speaker 1: the end of the season. At this point, I'd like
30:22
Speaker 1: to thank my voice talent and for a second episode
30:24
Speaker 1: in a row is just one actor involved. Kayellen plays Dorenni,
30:28
Speaker 1: the tortured elephant Hunter. Thanks Kayon. For those who wish
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Speaker 1: check out Solo Roleplayers Network dot com and if you're
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Speaker 1: curious to learn more about this show, I keep a
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30:46
Speaker 1: You can find it at Tale ofthmantacor dot com. To
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Speaker 1: get in touch with me, I'm at Tales of themnticore,
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Speaker 1: doc Bluskuide Dots, Social Tale of the Mentcor podcast on Instagram,
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Speaker 1: or Tale of the metacor at gmail dot com. We'll
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Speaker 1: see you next time on Tell of the Man Atgorn.
31:00
Speaker 1: It's the story for Chaos roboso
31:11
Speaker 2: Hm