Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 41 (S3E41)

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Episode 41 (S3E41) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, this is sc Albin, author of the Strega series,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and you're listening to Tale of the Manticor. The following
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor Season three. Like
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding between two
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: different species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: of old school paper and dice games with the story
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and none will be spared if the dice decide their
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: fate is at hand. According to Lare, the Tale of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: be much pain in the days ahead. Last time on
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Tail of the Mantigor, the last episode concerns the exploration
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of the newly discovered cottage. To Achilles's disappointment and frustration,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: it appears to have been abandoned long ago. The only
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: thing in the place that attracts any attention is a
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: boot mat, which for some reason agitates Flicker. Fairwind inspects
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: it and at first finds nothing out of the ordinary,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: But then he remembers a lesson talked to him long
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: ago by one of the priestesses at the Church of
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the Sacred Flame until moral. The lesson was about seeing
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: beyond the apparent to the true nature of things, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the sister used an optical illusion to demonstrate her point.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Thinking of this, Fairwind now notices there's something wrong with
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the mat and soon recognizes it for the illusion that
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: it is. Once he sees it, the spell is broken
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and everyone can see it is not a man at all,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: but a door. When Achille opens it, the party is
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: astounded to find themselves looking down into what seems like
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: an underground complex that is being turned on its side.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty one, Part one, day thirty six, late afternoon.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Twenty minutes remain in Achilies detect evil spell, mythic event
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: meaning harm, rumor party status Achillee thirteen out of thirteen
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: eight points, Court twenty four of twenty four, de Renni
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier nineteen of nineteen, Fairwind twenty
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: seven of thirty three, Flicker sixteen of sixteen. Supplies the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: companions have no food, remaining spells available. Achillie can cast
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: enlarge message and glitter, dust, cord can cast entangle slow
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: poison and old animal. Fair Wind can cast cure light,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: wounds and protection from evil. Every hidden thing revealed uttered
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: fair wind in a whisper at what they saw. But
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: even this paled beside the bizarre event that transpired when
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Achilie put out her foot and stepped into the pit.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: The half elf was willing to risk everything to blind trust,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: well not quite blind. She had asked that tenttire to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: take hold of her by her backpack, and so if
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: things did not transpire the way she expected, she was
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: not likely to fall to her death. She put out
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: her foot and shifted her way forward, and she did
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: not fall. Instead, all of reality seemed to rotate on
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: its action. The walls rolled up to either side of her,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: and when her foot came down, it came down on
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the carpet. She breathed out an excited gasp. Her instinct
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: had been right ahead. The hallway stretched out before her
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: completely solid. Gravity was working properly, and her feet felt
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: firm on the ground. She took a tentative look back
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: over her shoulder and immediately regretted it. Tenttyr was standing
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: as though stuck by the bottoms of his feet to
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: a wall, except that this wall was actually the floor
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: of the cottage. The young elf still had his hand out,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: fingers bladed, as though he had just let go of
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: her pack. His mouth was an open oh of astonishment.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Achillie's brain lurched, and she felt her equilibrium tilt for
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: a moment, but the feeling passed, and then she was
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: herself again. She flashed tantyr a hesitant smile.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: It's safe, she.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Said, mostly believing it. I hope my modest skillet writing
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: is enough to have described what has taken place here.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Have you ever seen the movie Labyrinth? In it, the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Goblin King, played by David Bowie navigates a kind of
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: mc escher jumble of staircases, and no matter which way
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: he walks, he is always right side up. That's the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: idea I was going for to roll back the tape
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a little. It was fair Wind that noticed the initials
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: carved into the front door and suspected right away that
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the cottage was decoy. When he dispelled the illusion of
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the boot mat, his suspicion was proved correct. But there's
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: much more going on here this place. I'm going to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: call it Odoke's Seclusium is built into the ground sideways
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and by some powerful magic gravity works, so that down
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: is ninety degrees from where it normally would be. Whether
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: this whole complex is actually dug into the earth, or
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: if the door is a portal to a pocket dimension, well,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I haven't actually worked that out yet, and it might
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: not make any difference. Suffice it to say that the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Seclusium is very weird and much, if not everything about
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it is powered by magic. Before I return to the narrative,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: there are a quick pair of roles I need to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: make because the current event meaning harm rumor has been used. Actually,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the whole idea of a decoy cottage meant to throw
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: off people looking for the owner came from that mythic pair.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks Mythic. I'm not sure I would have come up
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: with that without you. Anyway, we need a new event
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: meaning using deep percentile. I've got ten in ninety six
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that gives me communicate and the public communicate with the public. Oh,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of course, the way to apply this one is obvious.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty one, Part two, Day thirty six, late afternoon,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes remain in Achilles Detect Evil Spell. Mythic event,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: meaning communicate the public party status. The party's status is unchanged.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Flicker had bounded in right after Achillia. To the others,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it was as though a magnet had taken hold of
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the animal and pulled it to the wall as soon
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: as it moved past the threshold. De Rennie came next,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: but he had insisted on making everyone wait while he
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: got the rope out of his pack and tied one
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: end to his belt, then with ten tier holding onto
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the other, he came through with his eyes shut. When
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: he opened them, he was standing beside a Chillia and
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the blank dog, and the remainder of the party seemed
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to fasten to the wall beyond the door by the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: soles of their boots. He wiped a bead of sweat
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: from his temple and swallowed hard looking pale Achilia. He
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: said in a quivering voice that was brave. She had
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: expected a different word, reckless, stupid, even I.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: It was the only thing that made any sense, was
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: her reply, because well, look over there.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: She pointed down the core or at the pair of
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: torches attached to the wall, opposite to each other and
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: burning brightly.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: The flames were going up in the right direction, when
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: we were outside.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: So I just thought she trailed off as ten Tire
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: passed the threshold. Next, still holding the other end of
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the rope. After came Chord with Robin on his head. Finally,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: a terrified looking Fairwood stepped through, and the others watched
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: as his whole body pivoted smoothly so that without faltering,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: he was properly aligned with the rest of them in
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: their new surroundings. Ah, let's never do that again, the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: clerk equipped, refusing to look behind him before proceeding. The
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: companions assumed the following march. Mortard Renni sword drawn, went first.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Tent Heir also drew his blade and walked behind his brother.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Then came Achillia, who yet maintained her spell of detection
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: with Flicker at her side. Fairwind was next, and Cord
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: brought up the rear. The party walked the length of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the the corridor, slowly, trying to be alert for any
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: more tricks, illusory or otherwise. At the midpoint, they passed
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the pair of torches and now could see the end
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: of the hall and the wooden door at its terminus.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: The place was very well maintained. The carpet was as
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: though new, and the stone work was precise and smooth.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: In fact, everything was so perfect looking that Achilia wondered
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to herself, yet the whole place had not been built
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: by magic. When they reached the door at the end
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: of the hall, Dranni held up his free hand and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: pointed first to his ear and then the door, indicating
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that he intended to listen at it. He did so,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: placing his head against the wooden surface beside the handle
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and closing his eyes in concentration. Suddenly he jerked away
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: from it with a gasp. It took a second to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: see past him to what had been so alarming, but
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: when they did, all the companions fell back in surprise.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: The wood of the door had bulged and puckered in
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the middle. It continued to morph until it had formed
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a pair of full wooden lips. Then the door addressed
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: them in the common tongue, you.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Were trespassing in the home of the great and powerful
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: wizard Odoak Sygog. Remove yourselves at once, or be repelled.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Though kaw completely off guard, Achilie had dissents to direct
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: her spell of detection at the door. She was relieved
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to perceive no evil emanating from it. To any intent
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: here who did not understand the language of men looked
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: at her questioningly, but she ignored them for now and
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: instead cleared her throat and replied, we.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Seek an audience with Odoak Zygog. Tell him that Achillea
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and Muwok word of an apprentice to all day Muog
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: has come to speak with him on a subject of importance.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: By the time she had gotten half way through her reply,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the wooden lips that sunk back into the surface of
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the door and were gone. It was once again just
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a plain door. Despite this, the entire party waited to
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: see if there would be a reply. There was none.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Achilia explained what the door had said to them and
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: how she had responded, adding, I can't go back.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I won't if anyone wants to wait here while I
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: go on ahead, I understand I will not leave your side.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Said Dorenni, And you open the door. I need to
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: pump the brakes a bit here, because as a DM,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I have no idea what is behind that door. When
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: creating a place for exploration, I'll often use one of
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: several approaches. There's the pure randomness of rolling on open
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: ended tables. But I don't often go this route because
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I feel a dungeon crawl can get stale if it
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: goes on too long, and so a potentially limitless expanse
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: is not ideal. This kind of thing might work well
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: in a live solo game, but for the audio format,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I just feel modules are better when they're fairly brief.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: A second option would be to use a limited random
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: table like One Shot in the Dark. These have plenty
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of chaos, but it's controlled chaos that gets funneled down
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to a definite ending and it doesn't take too long
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: to get there. That system seems to work really well
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in the audio media, but One Shot in the Dark
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: is not a great choice for Odoke's Seclusium. It's better
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: suited for caves and crips and dungeons, not for a
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: wizard's home, which will need some specific contents and features.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I think for this place, I need to go dmfat
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and just generate it as I go. Still, I want
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: to have some kind of random element, so I'm going
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to try to use a new event meaning for each
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: room as to when the pieces will find the heart
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of the Seclusium or reach some kind of goal or end.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to leave that up to feel I'm hoping
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I'll just know it when the time is right. But
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: getting back to the mythic event meaning, I've already used
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: to communicate the public by putting that magic mouth on
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the door, so I need a new one here. Come
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: to the rolls fifteen and forty six, give me gratify food. Okay,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I guess I know what kind of room the piecs
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: are going to find. Next chapter forty one, Part two,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Day thirty six, late afternoon, fifteen minutes remain in Achillea's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: detect evil spell. Mythic event meaning gratify food party status.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: The party status is unchanged. The door opened into a
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: vestibule some thirty feet wide and twenty across. Each wall
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of this room had a door and a pair of
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: torches burned ensconces to either side. The carpet from the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: hallway had ended at the door, but a finely made
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: circular mat of brown and green covered most of the floor. Here.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: A pair of framed paintings flanked the door. Opposite to them,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the left painting showed a natural vista very much like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: those represented in the sketch book Achilie carried, But while
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: those were mere drawings, roughly done in charcoal pencil. This
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: was made with vibrant oil paints. The artist, presumably Odok,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: had a flare for communicating the magist of nature through
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: an economy of bold strokes. This particular scene showed a
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: shimmering lake cradled at the base of a tree covered mountain.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: It is very beautiful. The painting on the right was
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: not a natural scene but a portrait, presumably a self
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: portrait if that were true, It gave the companions their
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: first look at the famous historian. In contrast to the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: other the colors in this painting were muted, as though
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the artist did not find the subject of his own
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: face as exciting or important as a scene from the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: natural world. The face itself was a dignified one and
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: quite old, maybe twenty or thirty years older than fair Wind.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: It showed a man with a nearly bald head. There
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: were tufts of white over each ear, and a beard
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: that was unique in that the must ashes were longer
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: than the hair of the chin. Zygog's nose was large,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: and his eyes, surrounded by deep wrinkles, seemed to smile
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: even though the mouth did not, While the portrait only
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: showed him from the shoulders up. Zygog's rich garment, a
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: robe of red with accents of gold, was visible too.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Achilia found herself troubled by Zygog's face. In her mind,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: thus far, she had imagined him to have an imperious
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and menacing countenance, one she would have to stand up
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to with courage. But this face was mild. It was
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: at odds with the outrage she carried. She didn't have
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a plan to deal with a face like this. It
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: left her feeling confused, even a little cheated. Conflicted in
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: her heart. She directed her spell of evil detection at
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the painting and sensed nothing. Her face was screwed up
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: in consternation when she turned a court.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Apart from the shorter beard and a lack of hair
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: on top of his head, don't you think he looks
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: a little bit like Voppy?
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: The construct twisted back and forth to say he did not,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and Achilia shrugged, no, I guess not.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Still, that does not look like a cruel face.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Every hidden thing revealed, said Ferwood for the second time
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: in the past five minutes. We cannot always trust our eyes, Achilie.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: And before you ask, I have never seen odok zaigou
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: likeness before and cannot say whether this is he or no.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Achillie did not reply to that, but instead turned to Durani.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Intent here, which door should we try?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: She asked in Elvish. Now was Dourani's turn to shrug.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: He indicated the door right in front of them, between
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the two paintings. Akilie had noticed that it had a keyhole,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: whereas the doors to either side did not, but she
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: agreed nonetheless. Unfortunately, when they tried the handle, the door
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: indeed proved to be locked.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Let's try that way.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Then suggested the off, pointing to the door on their
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: left with the tip of his sword. This door opened
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: easily when they off tried the handle, and the companions
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: passed into a short connecting hallway before entering a small
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: dining room. This place was slightly larger in dimension than
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the vestibule, though not by much. Its appointments were modest.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: There was a table of dark wood set for five
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: torches burned on the walls. Here too, there was one
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: on the side wall and one on the north. If
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: cardinal directions were meaningful in a place set into the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: world sideways, the companion spread out and began to examine
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the room Tantyer went to listen at a small door
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: set in the west wall. Cord stood guard at a second,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: larger door set in the one adjacent. Achilia, Dornni, and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Ferwind inspected the table. It was set with several types
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: of cutlery at each place. Notably, one of the chairs
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was different from the others. The seat was higher. Is
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: that to accommodate for a child or a person of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: short stature.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: We can learn much about who lives here by this,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: commented Dornni, assuming that it is not all part of
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: some elaborate trick. I'll wait sure that the door by
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Tentier leads to a panty, replied Achilia, which might also
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: provide some clues.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Flicker wagged her tail as though she understood the word pantry.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: When Tanier said he had heard nothing through the door,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: it was decided that Cord would maintain his post while
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the rest of them investigated. It opened into a pantry,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: just as Achillie had expected for all the magical wonder
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: of the place they were in. The contents of this
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: small room were mundane salted fish, smoked meat, and an
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: assortment of fresh herbs and vegetables, organized neatly on shelves.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: On the floor was a trio of barrels containing a
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: quantity of dried mushrooms, roots, and flour, respectively. Despite the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: fact that they had run out of food, the companions
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: took nothing. After all, they had not come here as thieves.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: It doesn't appear that very many people live here.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Achilius remised, as they returned to the dining room.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: God, let's see where your door leads.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Well, this has been a fairly innocuous star to the
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: exploration of the Seclusium, considering the warning of the magic mouth,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: which threatened them if they didn't leave now. While I
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: do have some ideas about the Seclusium in general, I
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: do not have any granular ones, including for defenses and terrens.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to rely on mythic more heavily than
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: usual here. I know, I said i'd try to use
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: an event meaning for each room, and I've already stretched
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the last run over three. But going forward I will
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: try to stick to my word a little better. And
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: speaking of words, I need a new pair of them.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Rolling twice on the mythic table gives me eighty two
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and fifty five activity. Suffering a quick scan of the
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: entire chart shows that there's no separate entry for activate,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to go with activate suffering. That's pretty straightforward.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Sounds like the pieces are about to spring some kind
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: of trap just for fun. How A, but another pair
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: of rolls to determine the nature of this trap, I've
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: got thirty six imitate and seventy five military. Oh right,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: that makes total sense. Chapter forty one, Part three, Day
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: thirty six, late afternoon. Ten minutes remain in Achilles Detect
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: evil spell mythic of end meaning activate suffering party status.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: The party status is unchanged. Although Achillie could feel that
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: her spell of detection was beginning to wane, she did
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: not object when Durrenny proposed that he listened at the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: door before opening it. Frankly, she was surprised to his
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: willing after what had happened last time. A few moments later,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the elf was shaking his dark locks and saying nothing.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Then he pushed on the door, which swung open with
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: a faint creek. Beyond was a rather large room, some
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: fifty feet square. The first impression it gave was one
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: of symmetry. A single door was set in the wall
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: directly opposite to them a pair of torches burned in
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: their sconces, one to either side, in the exact middle
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: of the west and east walls. In each corner stood
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: a suit of plate and mail armor, posed upright and
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: rigid as though at attention. These displays had no helms,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: and so they reminded ten tier of the pair he
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: had found became more crypt But unlike those suits, these
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: were finally polished steel. They had read ennimal designs worked
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: into their breastplates and gleaming halberds gripped in their gauntleted fists.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Nothing stirred, and the chamber was silent but for the
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: companion's footfalls on the bare stone floor. This armor might
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: fit fair winds. Dorannie told a Chilia over his shoulder
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: as he moved towards one of the displays. Wait a minute,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: cautioned a Killia. She closed her eyes and brought up
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: her hands, concentrating on her spell. Finding nothing, she doubted
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: that it was safe for the oft to continue, and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Urannie proceeded while she magically scanned the other three suits
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to be certain that none of them was more than
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: it appeared. When she was satisfied, she turned her attention
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: to the pair of torches and began walking towards the
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: one mounted on the east wall. It occurred to her
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: that where there were torches lit, there must be someone
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: to light them. Of course, in a place like this,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: there was also the possibility that the torches were magical
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in nature. He had intended to take a closer look,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: but the moment she reached the midpoint of the room,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: something happened that drew everyone's attention to the door on
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the far side. For the second time, they watched a
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: door transform so that his wooden surface bulged out and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: assumed a new shape. At first, it was an eyeball
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the size of a dinner plate. The wooden pupil rolled around,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: taking in each member of the party. Then its weirdly
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: grained eyelids blinked once twice in a third time. When
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: they opened this final time, they no longer revealed a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: rolling eyeball, but a set of teeth, and the eyelids
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: were no longer eyelids, but the lips of a mouth.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: After a few more seconds of transformation, the wood had
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: warped into a shape identical to the one that had
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: addressed them before. He did so again now, and his
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: message this time was subtly different from the first.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: You were trespassing in the home of the great and
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: powerful wizard odok.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Zygog, it said, motionless voice.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: Drop your weapons and surrender.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Achillie replied, in a voice she hoped sounded strong.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: My name is Achillie Muag. I have come to speak
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: to me.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: She didn't even get to finish the sentence. With a clank,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: each of the four headless suits of armor animated and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: stepped off their stands, converging on the party members and
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: corralling them into the center of the room with their
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: leaving halberts. They clanked forward, pulling back their weapons, ready
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: to strike. The purpose of this room is to catch
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: any intruder foolish enough to proceed past the Seclusium's first warning.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Let's catch, not necessarily kill. If the pieces threw down
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: their weapons and surrendered, the animated suits of armour would
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: escort them to some kind of holding cell deeper into complex. However,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: if they resist, the armor will fight until destroyed. It's
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: surprising to me that the BX rules do not have
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: any listing for animated armor in their respective bestiaries. AD
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and D two E gives us the helmed horror. But
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to make up my own monster stats.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, these are pretty straightforward enemies. Let's see, I'm
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: thinking four hit dice. I'll just roll up their hit
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: points now sixteen each, as that means the men out
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: it stands. Armor class will be for plate mail, no shield,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: probably somewhat slow. I'll say AC sixteen. Damage for the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Halberg attack will be one to ten. They are immune
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: to any spells that affect the mind, and they never
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: flee or surrender. And that's probably all the detail we
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: really need. If something else comes up, I'll do a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: ruling on the spot. The suits of Animated Hour closed
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: in around them.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Drop your weapons and surrender.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Repeated the wooden mouth on the door. There was no
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: time to make a play. Achille shot a look at
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Durni back stern faced, arranging themselves that they stood back
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: to back. The companions formed a ring. Within the ring,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: raised their weapons and prepare to do battle. Thanks for
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: listening to Tale of the manticor if you'd like to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: join with other great folks who support the show, there
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: are several different ways to do so. You can recommend
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the show online and to friends. You can like and
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• 25:26
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• 25:28
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• 25:32
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• 25:34
  Speaker 1: All of these things helped us spread the word, yet
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I truly appreciate the support. At this point, I'd love
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to share a listener review. This one was left on
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Audible by the lovely guys who make the Pink faux
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Hawk podcast. Pink Foe Hawk writes, Tale of the Manticore
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: is an absolute must listen for anyone that loves dark
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: D and D adventure. The sound design is amazing and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the host's incredible storytelling makes it an enthralling journey out
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of random dice rolls. The characters are all perfectly written
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and performed, and the reactions to the fate of the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: dice are natural and believable, with a few amazing surprises
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: thrown in for good measure. This podcast single handedly convinced
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: me to pick up old school essentials so that I
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: could play through my own old school D and D stories.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks very very much, Pink fo Hawk, you are my
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: kind of people. And your podcast is rad I'm excited
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to hear about your adventures using old school essentials and
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: how it stacks up to Shadow Run. Next, let's talk
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: about this episode's great cast of voice actors. Of the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: usual trio of regulars, this episode features just two Dornni
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and Faerwind are played by Kylin and Dave Cooper. Providing
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: the voice of the magic Mouth is the very talented
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: artist Amanda t. Check out her excellent work on Instagram
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: at Wicked Underscore, Loving Underscore Lies. That's at Wicked Loving
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Lies Connected by Underscores. Thanks very much, Kylin, David, and Amanda.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: For those curious to learn more about Tale of the Manticore,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: show on RPG related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it at Taleofthemanticore dot com.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: To get in touch with me, you can find me
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com. I'm at Tale of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the Manticor dot Blue Sky dot Social, Tale of the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Manticore podcast on Instagram, or if you prefer email, taleof
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Theemticor at gmail dot com. The adventure will continue on
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the next episode of tale of the manticor it's the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: story were KOs roll Us