Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 32 (S3E32)

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Episode 32 (S3E32) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

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Speaker 1: Hi, this is Caesar from the YouTube channel Dongjo Master
0:03
Speaker 1: Request and you're listening to Tale of the Manticor. The
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Speaker 1: following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion
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Speaker 1: is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three.
0:34
Speaker 1: Like the creature from which it takes its name, Tale
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Speaker 1: of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding between
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Speaker 1: two different species of storytelling. Here you will find the
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Speaker 1: unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with the
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Speaker 1: story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is
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Speaker 1: sacred and none will be spared if the dice decide
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Speaker 1: their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the Tale
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Speaker 1: of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
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Speaker 1: will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
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Speaker 1: on Tail of the Manticor, Chapter thirty one begins with
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Speaker 1: a pair of level ups for fair Wind and Achilia.
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Speaker 1: After that, the pieces cross the dangerous yellow mold room
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Speaker 1: and discover a private bedroom beyond. In it is a
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Speaker 1: prayer book with devotionals to the goddess Ahea. There's also
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Speaker 1: a bed with strangely a rock where the pillow ought
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Speaker 1: to be Diretti also finds a foot locker with a
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Speaker 1: few sundry items, but nothing of special interest. The party
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Speaker 1: decides to move on. Here, the narrative flashes back to
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Speaker 1: the aftermath of the fight between Rector Bayum and Curate Amsen.
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Speaker 1: Although smaller and weaker than the Curate, it is by
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Speaker 1: him who is able to stand when it is over,
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Speaker 1: even though it was in self defense. Director is overcome
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Speaker 1: by the horror of having killed former colleague. Back to
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Speaker 1: the present, the companions find a chapel. It's a beautiful
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Speaker 1: cavern with one wall covered in sparkling quartz crystals. Fairwin's
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Speaker 1: torch is beginning to burn low, so they must keep going,
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Speaker 1: but they do so with a certain reluctance. The next
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Speaker 1: cavern turns out to be another storage room. This one
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Speaker 1: is larger than the first and is used to hold
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Speaker 1: more valuable items. Unfortunately, most of these, namely a mace
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Speaker 1: and a pair of chain mail shirts, have rusted. There is, however,
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Speaker 1: one item that has survived. It is a silver scroll
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Speaker 1: case with a roll of parchment inside. Even at first glance,
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Speaker 1: Achillie I can tell it is very very old. A
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Speaker 1: card drawn in the last episode indicated a treasure room
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Speaker 1: with a trapped chest. That wasn't a good fit for Deroth,
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Speaker 1: so instead I made it more of a storage room
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Speaker 1: in place of a trap. There would be a chance
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Speaker 1: that the useful items in the room would be ruined
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Speaker 1: after years of neglect despite efforts to preserve them, and
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Speaker 1: the Dice decided that that had indeed happened. The weapons
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Speaker 1: and armor that Fairwin might have put to great use
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Speaker 1: were unusable, But there was a real treasure in the
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Speaker 1: room too, an extremely valuable thing to the right person.
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Speaker 1: Of course, I am talking about the scroll. Chapter thirty two,
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Speaker 1: Part one, day, twenty eight afternoon, twenty minutes before the
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Speaker 1: giant troll returns. Mythic event meaning dispute, magic party status
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Speaker 1: Achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points, Court eighteen of eighteen,
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Speaker 1: der Any twelve of twelve, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen,
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Speaker 1: fair Wind twenty six of twenty six supplies. The companions
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Speaker 1: have eight portions of food remaining spells available. Achillie can
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Speaker 1: cast shrink times two and glitter dust Cord can cast
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Speaker 1: entangle and slow poison. Achillia gently coaxed the parchment from
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Speaker 1: its case and the thin chain attached to the stopper
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Speaker 1: jingled as she slid it free. The half helf then
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Speaker 1: unfolded carefully, afraid it might crumble, But nothing of the
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Speaker 1: kind happened, and in fact, the scroll turned out to
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Speaker 1: be in excellent condition, despite clearly being ancient. The half
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Speaker 1: helf frowned at the text. It was written in the
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Speaker 1: common tongue of men, but all the same it was
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Speaker 1: difficult to comprehend.
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Speaker 2: Fairwind, what do you make of this?
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Speaker 1: She asked. The clearer cast a quick and worried glance
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Speaker 1: at his waning torch before leaning over to help. This
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Speaker 1: text is ancientization, I believe, he said, after a few seconds.
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Speaker 2: Can you read it?
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Speaker 1: She held it up for him to see better. Fairwind
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Speaker 1: continued to scan it.
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Speaker 3: Given time, Yes, I think I could, but perhaps that's
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Speaker 3: better left until late.
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Speaker 1: Achille was disappointed, but fair Wind was obviously right, judging
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Speaker 1: by the dwindling flame of his torch. They needed hurry.
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Speaker 2: All right, let's keep going.
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Speaker 1: She rolled up the scroll and put it back in
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Speaker 1: its case, and then the party resumed its marching order
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Speaker 1: and left via the tunnel on the cave's far aside.
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Speaker 1: It looks like I'm going to need to draw a
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Speaker 1: new card, so I know it'll be in the next room.
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Speaker 1: I'm hoping for the ace. Let's see what I actually get.
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Speaker 1: It's the Nine of Hearts, Sleeping Quarters, two exits. You know,
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Speaker 1: I don't think I'm going to describe this room in
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Speaker 1: the narrative. Instead, I'll say the Pecs discover a number
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Speaker 1: of skeleon in here, both of adults and children, all
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Speaker 1: thankfully free of the dangerous yellow mold. There's nothing else
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Speaker 1: to find here, but searching the room will cost the
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Speaker 1: usual ten minutes, leaving the party with just ten more
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Speaker 1: before the giant troll returns. That does not bode well
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Speaker 1: for the future. But other than fair Wind, the pieces
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Speaker 1: don't feel any real pressure to hurry, so they'll continue
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Speaker 1: to explore. Another card gives me, Ah, Finally I have
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Speaker 1: the ace. So the destination has been reached, but with
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Speaker 1: only ten minutes left, it hasn't been reached in time.
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Speaker 1: It appears that history is about to repeat itself, and
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Speaker 1: the companions will have to somehow deal with the same
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Speaker 1: problems faced by the Drothi. Once again, Fairwind looked nervously
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Speaker 1: at his torch. Judging by the weak flame, he would
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Speaker 1: be lucky if it continued to burn for another ten minutes.
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Speaker 1: Thus far, he had held his peace and not pressed
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Speaker 1: the issue, but now he felt he had no choice.
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Speaker 1: He was just about to insist that they turned back
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Speaker 1: when do Renni, up ahead, suddenly called a halt and
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Speaker 1: said something in Elvish. Teddy responded with a question, causing
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Speaker 1: Fairwin to look to Achille for a translation.
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Speaker 2: He says, there's a door a.
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Speaker 1: Bed, she explained, and so there was. When Fairwin rounded
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Speaker 1: the bend of the tunnel, he saw that a thick
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Speaker 1: wooden door had been built into the end of it,
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Speaker 1: cutting off further progress. Do Rennie was already there, pressing
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Speaker 1: his ear against the wood with an intent expression on
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Speaker 1: his face. After a moment, the elf shrugged and shook
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Speaker 1: his head. He then pushed the door with his left
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Speaker 1: hand while gripping his sword in his right. The door
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Speaker 1: opened slightly and then hit something firm on the other side.
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Speaker 1: Derrenni grimaced and put his shoulder to the door and heaved.
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Speaker 1: It moved no more than an inch. It took both
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Speaker 1: brothers shoving with all their might to clear the door,
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Speaker 1: and their efforts were accompanied by the shrieking sound of
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Speaker 1: wood on stone as they did so. Once it was
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Speaker 1: opened far enough do Rennie stuck his head inside, muttered
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Speaker 1: something in Elvish, and crouched down to enter the room
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Speaker 1: on all fours, while Tentyr followed. Achilieank for Fairwin's benefit.
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Speaker 4: There's a headed table blocking the door. We'll have to
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Speaker 4: duck under it to get inside.
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Speaker 1: Once they managed to get into the room, Duranniontenttire worked
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Speaker 1: to push the table out of the way so that
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Speaker 1: it no longer blocked the door.
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Speaker 3: Ah.
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Speaker 1: It was heavy and awkward, but they were able to
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Speaker 1: move it enough to allow the other companion's egress without
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Speaker 1: having to crawl. Achilia, fair Wind and Cord slipped through
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Speaker 1: the gap and found themselves in a diamond shaped cave
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Speaker 1: of about twenty by twenty feet. It was dominated by
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Speaker 1: the table that had been used to block the door.
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Speaker 1: The table's surface was almost fully covered by a large map,
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Speaker 1: held down on two corners by stone paper weights. A
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Speaker 1: third corner had a dented tin lantern atop it. The
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Speaker 1: fourth corner, with nothing to hold it in place, had
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Speaker 1: curled up like the toe of a gesture's shoe on
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Speaker 1: the floor with its back to the wall. Sat as
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Speaker 1: solitary and forlorn looking skeleton draped in cobwebs. Clutched in
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Speaker 1: the bony fingers of its left hand was a roll
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Speaker 1: of paper, A quill, and a pot of ink were
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Speaker 1: arranged on the floor nearby. Other than the table, map
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Speaker 1: and skeleton, the room was empty. There were no chairs,
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Speaker 1: no shells, nor ornaments of any kind. When fair winds
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Speaker 1: by the lantern, he uttered a quick oh, thanks of
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Speaker 1: all and took it up. His short had almost gone
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Speaker 1: out by now in the discovery of a lantern at
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Speaker 1: this particular time felt very much like providence to him.
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Speaker 1: The lantern's reservoir was empty, but ten Tears still had
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Speaker 1: the supply of oil he'd found in the Caymoor crypt
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Speaker 1: and offered it to fair Wind. Soon the room was
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Speaker 1: filled with warm yellow light. Things now became visible that
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Speaker 1: were hidden in the gloom before. The skeleton wore something
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Speaker 1: made of metal around its neck. Upon closer inspection it
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Speaker 1: proved to be a silver owl pendant on a thin chain. Clearly,
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Speaker 1: this was the holy symbol of a Haya. The features
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Speaker 1: of the map were also easier to make out in
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Speaker 1: the better light. It was crowded with detail in some
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Speaker 1: places and totally blank in others. Achilia studied it while
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Speaker 1: tent to, crouched down by the skeleton, taking first the
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Speaker 1: holy symbol and then the roll of paper, which at
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Speaker 1: first seemed reluctant to leave the bony grip, and then
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Speaker 1: came suddenly free, trailing wisps of spider silk. The young
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Speaker 1: elf unrolled the paper and frowned the contents, pursed his lips,
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Speaker 1: and handed it to Achillia for her inspection. Achillia scanned
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Speaker 1: the text in silence, with her tongue poking out from
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Speaker 1: the side of her mouth. Before she had read past
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Speaker 1: the first few sentences, she looked up and.
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Speaker 2: Said, it seems like a kind of diary.
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Speaker 1: What does it say? As ten tyar in Elvish. Achillie
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Speaker 1: had to read through it twice, first in a common tongue,
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Speaker 1: the language in which it was written, and then at
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Speaker 1: a second time in Elvish, translating as she went.
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Speaker 5: To whomsoever may find this record, It is the summer
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Speaker 5: of the year ten ninety two. My name is Bayam.
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Speaker 5: I am the rector and the leader of the Dorothi people.
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Speaker 5: My body is weak and my thoughts are murky. I
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Speaker 5: have eaten nothing but the past week, and abstained from
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Speaker 5: water for the past three days. Our supplies here are
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Speaker 5: not yet exhausted. But I have chosen the path of austerity.
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Speaker 5: Perhaps I may yet atone for my sins and sustain
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Speaker 5: my flock a little longer through my sacrifice. I claim
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Speaker 5: no virtue and expect no favorable reception in the after life,
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Speaker 5: where I shall be judged for my crimes by the
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Speaker 5: seraphim of a Haya. I deserve all that I now
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Speaker 5: endure and all that yet will come. For I am
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Speaker 5: a sinner. I have committed a vile murder. I stove
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Speaker 5: in the skull of Curate Amsen, and though it was
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Speaker 5: done in self defense, good conscience cannot justify my actions.
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Speaker 5: I regret them deeply, and wish he had instead taken
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Speaker 5: my life. I believe now that I have also damned
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Speaker 5: the DEROTHI to a slow and painful end through my
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Speaker 5: decision to try and wait out the devil lurking outside.
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Speaker 5: Perhaps Torvig was right than Amsen too. Had we risked
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Speaker 5: an escape, perhaps a few more would have gotten past
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Speaker 5: the fiend and carried the blessed scroll to safety. Alas
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Speaker 5: the Goddess did not see fit to make these things
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Speaker 5: come to pass instead my foolish hope. My will prevailed.
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Speaker 5: Should you discover this place and find this letter. Dear reader,
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Speaker 5: please know three things. One that I admit my guilt
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Speaker 5: on all counts and will accept my punishment in the afterlife.
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Speaker 5: Two that the scroll of Galandal must be at all
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Speaker 5: costs delivered to the Temple of the Golden Path in
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Speaker 5: Chehal and presented to Brother Brebeck. You will know him
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Speaker 5: by the symbol of a Haya. He carries that exactly
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Speaker 5: matches mine. He will also be able to name our
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Speaker 5: common mentor, the late Rector Tobias Nilissart. Three that the
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Speaker 5: good work of the dorothe must live on along with
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Speaker 5: the scroll. Please deliver unto Brother Tobias the map you
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Speaker 5: find here. It is the sum total of the dorothe
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Speaker 5: people's labor over the past many years, and the best
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Speaker 5: hope to one day discover a Haa's golden Path. Do
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Speaker 5: these things, and the blessings of the goddess must be
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Speaker 5: upon your soul. May a Haia show mercy to us all.
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Speaker 4: It's simply signed by you, said Achilia in a sad voice.
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Speaker 1: Then, as she rolled the parchment back.
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Speaker 4: Up, I think we need to take this map with us,
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Speaker 4: and this poor soul's holy symbol too.
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Speaker 1: You wish to travel to, Zasha asked Fairwind. His eyebrows raised.
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Speaker 4: Not right away, but maybe someday. If we don't take
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Speaker 4: these things where they belong, I imagine they will never
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Speaker 4: get there.
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Speaker 1: Deanny couldn't understand the conversation as it took place in
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Speaker 1: the common tongue, but he had something else on his mind.
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Speaker 1: Indicating the skeleton on the ground, he wondered.
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Speaker 3: What do you think he meant by the devil lurking outside?
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Speaker 1: Achilia knit her brow.
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Speaker 4: I think it's time that we left this place. Help
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Speaker 4: me roll up the map.
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Speaker 1: Even though it's easy to imagine that there are other
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Speaker 1: smaller caves and cave systems in the settlement of Growth,
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Speaker 1: since they aren't attached to this cave system, the one
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Speaker 1: the pieces are currently in, the exploration of Deroth is
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Speaker 1: essentially at an end. The companions will take the map,
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Speaker 1: the holy symbol in Baiyume's diary scroll, along with the
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Speaker 1: lantern and the other items they found along the way,
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Speaker 1: and then they'll leave, retracing their steps past the hazardous
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Speaker 1: yellow mouldroom and eventually back to the cave mouth. However,
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Speaker 1: when they get there, they are going to be in
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Speaker 1: for one nasty surprise. The giant troll who terrorized the
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Speaker 1: DOROTHI still lives in the wreckage outside the caves. Now,
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Speaker 1: even though the companions aren't making any special effort to
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Speaker 1: be quiet or to stay hidden, I suppose there's a
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Speaker 1: chance they'll surprise the troll. Likewise, the troll, I surprise them.
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Speaker 1: I'll make the rolls now. But one or two on
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Speaker 1: a D six will mean either side is surprised for
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Speaker 1: the party, the three for the troll. The six Okay,
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Speaker 1: neither side will be before I figure out how this
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Speaker 1: encounter will go down. Let's take a moment to stat
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Speaker 1: up the giant troll. I got the description out of
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Speaker 1: the Monstrous Manual after taking my usual w too long
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Speaker 1: looking for the right stat block. Predictably, I've also made
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Speaker 1: some modifications to fit my needs and taste. Here are
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Speaker 1: the highlights. A giant troll is a mix of a
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Speaker 1: regular troll and a hill giant. In appearance, they most
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Speaker 1: closely resemble their troll parentage, but take their enormous size
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Speaker 1: from the giant. Giant troll is both evil and stupid.
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Speaker 1: It is extremely tough, though with an armor class of sixteen,
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Speaker 1: eight hit dice and the ability to regenerate two lost
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Speaker 1: hit points each round. All giant trolls have introvision and
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Speaker 1: acute senses. Now, all that information is right out of
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Speaker 1: the Monstrous Manual, But as I mentioned, I have changed
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Speaker 1: a number of things so we can call this variety
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Speaker 1: the giant forest troll. Here are my changes. First, I'm
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Speaker 1: making them truly gigantic, standing thirteen feet tall instead of
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Speaker 1: the recommend of ten. Second, giant forest trolls are solitary
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Speaker 1: creatures and are never encountered in groups three. Unlike regular
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Speaker 1: giant trolls, Giant forest trolls can reattach severed limbs even
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Speaker 1: after falling below zero HAD points. Four fire or acid
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Speaker 1: is needed to destroy them permanently. All those things are
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Speaker 1: fairly minor alterations. But I'm making a big one too.
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Speaker 1: I'm changing the way this monster attacks. A giant forest
16:18
Speaker 1: troll does not typically use a weapon. Instead, it has
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Speaker 1: a variety of attacks that follow a particular order. The
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Speaker 1: giant forest troll will always cycle through the following making
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Speaker 1: just one attack per round. One stomp or grab and
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Speaker 1: then smash an enemy on the ground or nearby tree.
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Speaker 1: Two grab and bite the enemy. Three grab and throw
16:40
Speaker 1: enemies of human size or smaller a distance of twenty feet.
16:44
Speaker 1: The first type of attack is rolled at random, and
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Speaker 1: from there on the cycle simply loops. The stump slash
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Speaker 1: smash attack does two D six plus seven points of damage.
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Speaker 1: The byte does two D eight plus four. The throw
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Speaker 1: does a mere one D six, but the enemy will
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Speaker 1: miss their next turn due to being stunned and from
17:02
Speaker 1: having to run back into the melee. I'll put a
17:05
Speaker 1: write up on a blog for those who wish to
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Speaker 1: see the status laid out in a way that's easier
17:08
Speaker 1: to digest. He goes without saying that if the companions
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Speaker 1: choose to or are forced to fight this thing, there
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Speaker 1: is a real risk of character death. I have designed
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Speaker 1: the encounter in such a way as to make avoid
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Speaker 1: in combat difficult, but there will be options. Let's return
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Speaker 1: to the narrative and find out what the characters will
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Speaker 1: do when they discover what is waiting for them outside
17:30
Speaker 1: the caves. Chapter thirty two, Part two, Day twenty eight
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Speaker 1: afternoon Mythic event meaning dispute, magic party status achillea thirteen
17:51
Speaker 1: of thirteen hit points, Court eighteen of eighteen, de Renni
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Speaker 1: twelve of twelve, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair Wind
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Speaker 1: twenty six of twenty six supplies. The companions have eight
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Speaker 1: portions of food. Remaining spells available Achillie can cast shrink
18:16
Speaker 1: times two and glitter dust cord can cast entangle and
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Speaker 1: slow poison. The party members retraced their steps as they
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Speaker 1: headed back through the caves toward the exit. Although Faerwan's
18:33
Speaker 1: torch had gone out as expected shortly after they'd entered
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Speaker 1: the map room, there was now a steady light provided
18:39
Speaker 1: by the new lantern. For that reason, the companions took
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Speaker 1: their time, especially when it came to recrossing the cave
18:46
Speaker 1: with the hazardous mold covered corpses. Everyone was looking forward
18:50
Speaker 1: to leaving the tunnels, being under an open sky and
18:53
Speaker 1: breathing fresh air, and so they quickened their steps when
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Speaker 1: the daylight filled square of the cave mouth and damaged
18:58
Speaker 1: door frame came in view. But when they were within
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Speaker 1: ten feet of the exit, der Rennie, who was in
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Speaker 1: the lead, called an abrupt halt. He turned to face
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Speaker 1: the others with an ashen face and wide eyes, lifting
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Speaker 1: his hand. The gesture was unnecessary. It was the look
19:16
Speaker 1: on Doranni's face that stopped at Killia in her tracks.
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Speaker 1: She had never seen the alf show fear, not even
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Speaker 1: when they had faced the supernatural beings in the came
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Speaker 1: Or crypt. The other companions likewise stopped their approach and
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Speaker 1: followed Dorani's gaze as he slowly pivoted and pointed at
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Speaker 1: the cave mouth. From their vantage, they could see down
19:35
Speaker 1: and into the part of Deroth that had been built
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Speaker 1: outside the cave system and now lay in ruins. At
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Speaker 1: first they saw nothing, but then a creature as tall
19:45
Speaker 1: as a tree lumbered into view. It stood in the
19:49
Speaker 1: middle of the ruined village, sniffing the air and grunting.
19:52
Speaker 1: It must have caught a scent or heard the reproach,
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Speaker 1: for it turned and stared directly at them. Pinpricks of
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Speaker 1: red glowed deep inside the black pits of its eyes,
20:02
Speaker 1: as its lips spread wide, creasing its face with a
20:05
Speaker 1: wicked grin. Its spade like chin dropped to reveal a
20:10
Speaker 1: double row of uneven yellow fangs protruding haphazardly from a
20:14
Speaker 1: thick ridge of purple black gums. Then the look of
20:19
Speaker 1: amusement fell away, replaced by something more bestial than menacing
20:24
Speaker 1: it roared up at them and advanced. The companions fell
20:30
Speaker 1: back as one, retreating into the cave beyond the pinched
20:33
Speaker 1: tunnel that they had earlier named a guard room. When
20:36
Speaker 1: they spoke, it was in a jumble of panic tinged whispers,
20:39
Speaker 1: their words tumbling out all at once and in both languages.
20:42
Speaker 1: What Invercindia's name is that thing? By Sador?
20:47
Speaker 2: It's huge? It's the lurking devil who's Robin.
20:52
Speaker 1: After a moment of chaos, they caught their breath and
20:54
Speaker 1: managed to steady themselves at effort ten tire to ask,
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Speaker 1: what are we going to do?
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Speaker 3: I don't think we can fight.
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Speaker 1: It, replied de Rennie.
21:03
Speaker 3: Perhaps we can wait it out.
21:06
Speaker 1: Was Fairwin's initial impulse.
21:08
Speaker 2: Or we can make a run for it.
21:09
Speaker 1: Achillie suggested, I could try.
21:11
Speaker 4: To blind it with magic and we could get away
21:13
Speaker 4: before it knew what was happening.
21:15
Speaker 3: What if sight is not its primary sense, counter de Rennie,
21:19
Speaker 3: some creatures hunt by sound or smell.
21:23
Speaker 2: I still think using magic.
21:24
Speaker 1: Is our best chance, returned to Killia. Lamely since her
21:27
Speaker 1: argument with dour Rennie after the fight with the Direwolves,
21:30
Speaker 1: she couldn't bring herself to contradict him with any more gusto.
21:34
Speaker 1: The dispute continued, with each member of the party contributing
21:37
Speaker 1: ideas and forcing Achillia to become the translator of others
21:40
Speaker 1: arguments while she concurrently advanced her own. Outside, they could
21:44
Speaker 1: hear the troll pace and growl. I do enjoy a
21:52
Speaker 1: dash of irony in my TTRPGs. The companions are facing
21:56
Speaker 1: the exact same predicament that the Derothi did seven years ago,
22:00
Speaker 1: and it seems like they can't agree on what to
22:02
Speaker 1: do either. Hopefully history will not repeat and it will
22:06
Speaker 1: not break their unity as well. But as I see it,
22:09
Speaker 1: the Pieces have a few options that the Dorothi did not.
22:12
Speaker 1: In addition to waiting at the monster, fighting or making
22:15
Speaker 1: a run for it, the companions also have two things
22:17
Speaker 1: the De'rothi lacked misshall weapons and magic. For example, having
22:22
Speaker 1: cored around means that a constant source of water is available. Also,
22:26
Speaker 1: the pieces have enough food to last them two days.
22:29
Speaker 1: That said, I can imagine what the general reaction to
22:31
Speaker 1: Fairwin's desire to wait it out would be.
22:37
Speaker 4: Absolutely not if that is the same devil from the
22:40
Speaker 4: Skeleton's note, And can there be any doubt about it, then.
22:43
Speaker 1: We can't wait it out, explained to Kilia.
22:46
Speaker 4: How do you think that all the people in these
22:48
Speaker 4: caves died fair and they starved? That's how what they
22:52
Speaker 4: died from?
22:52
Speaker 2: Thirst? Remember what the note said.
22:54
Speaker 4: I believe that I have damned the Drothi to a
22:57
Speaker 4: slow and painful end through my decision to try to
23:00
Speaker 4: wait out the devil.
23:01
Speaker 1: Looking outside, Tintier had been fairly quiet for the last
23:04
Speaker 1: few moments. It turned out that he'd been working up
23:07
Speaker 1: some kind of a plan, but he blurted it out
23:09
Speaker 1: before he had fully thought it through.
23:11
Speaker 2: What if we could somehow weaponize the yellow mole?
23:16
Speaker 1: Nobody had expected that, and there was a little pause
23:18
Speaker 1: before do Renni shook his head and said.
23:21
Speaker 3: Far too dangerous, Tensia. We would be more likely to
23:24
Speaker 3: get ourselves killed in the attents.
23:27
Speaker 1: But Tintars outside the box thinking got achillea wondering if
23:30
Speaker 1: she might concoct some kind of a plan involving her
23:32
Speaker 1: potion of Gassie's form, or.
23:35
Speaker 2: Perhaps if we could get it to eat this.
23:38
Speaker 1: She produced the infinity milk cap mushroom from her satchel.
23:42
Speaker 3: And how exactly do you propose we do that?
23:46
Speaker 1: Asked Deurnnie skeptically. I think it's a great idea, said
23:49
Speaker 1: ten Tier brightly.
23:50
Speaker 2: We could hide it in some other food and throw
23:53
Speaker 2: it outside. That thing would probably eat whatever we tossed
23:56
Speaker 2: at it.
23:57
Speaker 1: De Rennie was unconvinced.
23:59
Speaker 3: That might have worked if we still had any wolf meat.
24:02
Speaker 3: But all we have left is masimbel.
24:05
Speaker 1: Now it was his turn to reach into his bag.
24:07
Speaker 1: He withdrew a wrapped bundle rations that had been given
24:11
Speaker 1: him by Colin and Zotope a few days earlier.
24:14
Speaker 3: There is no way we could hide the mushroom in.
24:16
Speaker 1: This Massambel, a kind of nutritional loaf made out of moss, lichen,
24:21
Speaker 1: algae and seeds popular with the elves of this region,
24:24
Speaker 1: was dry and brittle.
24:26
Speaker 3: Even if we got it wet, I do not think
24:28
Speaker 3: it would work. We would only end up ruining the
24:31
Speaker 3: little food we have left.
24:33
Speaker 1: Fairwind was watching the exchange and could follow the general
24:37
Speaker 1: gist of their conversation. He too, produced something from his
24:40
Speaker 1: own pack and showed the others. His palm held four
24:44
Speaker 1: smooth stones, each the size of a walnut. I have
24:47
Speaker 1: a sling, to Rennie, and Tenier have arrows. If we
24:50
Speaker 1: injure it, perhaps we can drive it away long enough
24:53
Speaker 1: for us to escape. Nobody could find any major flaws
24:57
Speaker 1: with this plan, and so it was that to Renni,
24:59
Speaker 1: ten To and Fairwind, armed with bows and a sling,
25:02
Speaker 1: crept back to the cave mouth, while Achillia and Cord
25:06
Speaker 1: hung back. Dorennie could see the hunched shape of the
25:09
Speaker 1: creature right where it had been before. It spotted them too,
25:13
Speaker 1: and looked up, smiling its doglike smile again, before huffing
25:17
Speaker 1: out a little grunt of expectation. Derennie saw that its
25:21
Speaker 1: chin was now slimed withdrewel. He looked doubtfully at the
25:26
Speaker 1: arrow in his hand, then at the cleric and his weapon. Finally,
25:29
Speaker 1: he turned to his brother and.
25:31
Speaker 3: Said, aim for the head.
25:35
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Tale of the manticor if you'd
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Speaker 1: folks who continue to lift this show up. I'm grateful.
26:00
Speaker 1: Thank you. At this point, I'd like to read a
26:03
Speaker 1: listener review. This one was left by Pop's Culture on
26:07
Speaker 1: Audible Pop's Culture Rights. I'm afraid words will fail to
26:11
Speaker 1: impart just how awesome this podcast is. It's engaging and entertaining.
26:15
Speaker 1: There is real character growth with characters that feel more
26:18
Speaker 1: like flesh and blood people than merestats on paper. This
26:21
Speaker 1: is the D and die game I want to play in.
26:24
Speaker 1: Hi praise Pop's Culture. Thank you so much for that review.
26:28
Speaker 1: Something that's great about solo RPGs is you really can
26:31
Speaker 1: have the D and D game you always wanted to
26:33
Speaker 1: play in. I love a social table game, but the
26:35
Speaker 1: only way to dial in the perfect game, I think
26:38
Speaker 1: is through solo play. Give it a go if you
26:41
Speaker 1: haven't tried it. In next, I'd like to thank my
26:43
Speaker 1: lovely cast of voice talent. There's the core cast of Kyellen,
26:47
Speaker 1: Kevin Barringer, and David Cooper playing Durnni, Tantier and Faerwind
26:51
Speaker 1: as usual. John Merdink, who hosts the Blue fifty eight
26:54
Speaker 1: podcast about the Green Bay Packers and who co runs
26:57
Speaker 1: the Arcane Discovery's Instagram page is better doing the voice
27:00
Speaker 1: of Rectorbium. And finally, this episode features the incredible sound
27:04
Speaker 1: design work of Robert Newman. Robert created the Giant Forest troll.
27:08
Speaker 1: You can check out his other work at Robert newmansound
27:11
Speaker 1: dot com. For those curious to learn more about Tale
27:14
Speaker 1: of the Manticor, I keep a blog where I post
27:16
Speaker 1: all kinds of show and RPG related stuff. You can
27:19
Speaker 1: find it at Talesmantacor dot com. To get in touch
27:22
Speaker 1: with me, I'm at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale
27:25
Speaker 1: of Themanticre dot Blueskuid dot Social, Tale of the Manticor
27:28
Speaker 1: podcast on Instagram, or Tale of Themantacre at gmail dot com.
27:32
Speaker 1: The adventure will continue on the next episode, a Tale
27:35
Speaker 1: of the Mantacor The story were Chaos Rules