Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 27 (S3E27)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Today.
- 0:00Speaker 2: This is PJ from a Wasteland story and you're listening
- 0:03Speaker 2: to Tale of the Mantica.
- 0:08Speaker 3: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
- 0:13Speaker 3: discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
- 0:30Speaker 3: Season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
- 0:35Speaker 3: Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
- 0:38Speaker 3: between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
- 0:41Speaker 3: the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
- 0:45Speaker 3: the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
- 0:49Speaker 3: is sacred and none will be spared if the dice
- 0:52Speaker 3: decide their fate is at hand. According to lore, the
- 0:56Speaker 3: Tale of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
- 1:01Speaker 3: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
- 1:13Speaker 3: time on Tail of the Manticor, the last chapter begins
- 1:16Speaker 3: in the aftermath of the battle with the Dire Wolves,
- 1:19Speaker 3: when the two surviving blink Dogs abruptly vanish. When they're gone,
- 1:23Speaker 3: Dorani levels are harsh reprimanded a Chilia for having rushed
- 1:26Speaker 3: into battle and almost causting ten Tire his life. The
- 1:30Speaker 3: half Elf shows her wisdom and self control when she
- 1:32Speaker 3: admits her fault and apologizes. Her word seems to smooth
- 1:36Speaker 3: over the tense situation, and the companion's journey north continues
- 1:39Speaker 3: all that evening and into the next day without further incident.
- 1:43Speaker 3: But then another difficult conversation comes up, once again, initiated
- 1:47Speaker 3: by Dorenni. He asks Faerwyin to use his divine magic
- 1:50Speaker 3: to heal ten Tire. The cleric agrees to do it,
- 1:53Speaker 3: but warns the party that they will lose some of
- 1:55Speaker 3: their food supply. He cannot heal ten Tire and purify
- 1:58Speaker 3: the wolf mate they took their fallen enemies. It is
- 2:01Speaker 3: one or the other. The decision is made, and on
- 2:04Speaker 3: the next day, fair Wind heels some of ten tiers
- 2:06Speaker 3: wounds through prayer. Food is now a growing concern once again.
- 2:11Speaker 3: The episode ends with the flashback describing the elf maiden
- 2:14Speaker 3: Eulalon's very unfortunate encounter with a group of sprites when
- 2:18Speaker 3: she accidentally trespasses in their land, they threaten her with curses.
- 2:22Speaker 3: Things get worse when Eulalon accidentally kills their leader and
- 2:25Speaker 3: then succumbs to the other fairies drug tipped spears. Between
- 2:36Speaker 3: the lines, there was something I wanted to put in
- 2:39Speaker 3: the last episode, but I just couldn't find the right
- 2:41Speaker 3: place for it. Since past seasons of the show have
- 2:44Speaker 3: run to seventy six episodes, I figured that this season
- 2:47Speaker 3: is about one third of the way through. I think
- 2:50Speaker 3: it might be a good time to step back, have
- 2:52Speaker 3: a look at the chessboard and see where all the
- 2:54Speaker 3: pieces are currently placed. Actually, a chessboard is the wrong metaphor.
- 2:59Speaker 3: This season's story is more like a chain. It's far
- 3:03Speaker 3: more episodic in nature than the previous two seasons. This
- 3:06Speaker 3: is by design, as I wanted to try my hand
- 3:08Speaker 3: as something in the picaresque tradition, like Huckleberry Finn, or
- 3:12Speaker 3: The Odyssey or even the Hobbit. This go around, I
- 3:15Speaker 3: find myself connecting scenes with and then far more then,
- 3:19Speaker 3: and so the style comes with some challenges though. Weaving
- 3:23Speaker 3: the threads of a story is tougher to do when
- 3:25Speaker 3: they are tied together and to end. Perhaps it would
- 3:28Speaker 3: help if I laid out all the strands so that
- 3:29Speaker 3: they could be closely examined. Thread number one is the
- 3:33Speaker 3: puzzle of Aldve being robbed, poisoned, and turned to stone.
- 3:36Speaker 3: Why did he scratch the name Odok into his dirt floor?
- 3:40Speaker 3: We now know that Odoak Zygog is a famous historian
- 3:43Speaker 3: and ereculus, but mostly he is still a mystery. The
- 3:46Speaker 3: pieces are scheduled to arrive in his neck of the
- 3:48Speaker 3: woods on day thirty. Thread number two is the weird
- 3:52Speaker 3: Iron Tower and its two occupants, Fim grim Atresch and
- 3:56Speaker 3: Balario the Gnome. What do they want and what are
- 3:59Speaker 3: they looking for? We know Fimbrim has never heard it
- 4:02Speaker 3: all day before, and we know the tower reappears later
- 4:05Speaker 3: on during Achille's journey. That's about it. Thread number three
- 4:09Speaker 3: is the ork shaman Otote. The dream shaper Otote is
- 4:13Speaker 3: an interesting NBC and one I'd like to see more of,
- 4:16Speaker 3: but that's unlikely unless the PCs re enter Black Cloud territory.
- 4:20Speaker 3: It occurs to me that the defeat of Mambi would
- 4:23Speaker 3: have upset the balance of power in that region. With
- 4:25Speaker 3: the Ogre out of the picture, the stalemate between the
- 4:28Speaker 3: Black Cloud and Blood Foot orcs may well be destabilized.
- 4:32Speaker 3: Thread four is the pair of rescued Blink dogs. Thread
- 4:35Speaker 3: five is Yulalon, the Elvin warrior from the end of
- 4:38Speaker 3: the previous episode. And I think that's all the active
- 4:41Speaker 3: storylines accounted for. I didn't include anything about the Curse
- 4:45Speaker 3: of moroc because in my mind that thread is more
- 4:48Speaker 3: or less complete at this time. It is perhaps worth
- 4:51Speaker 3: a quick snapshot of the companions, what's on their mind
- 4:54Speaker 3: and what's in their inventory. Akilia is going through an
- 4:57Speaker 3: identity crisis. How come she is so unlike these other alves.
- 5:01Speaker 3: Of course we know that she is a half elf
- 5:04Speaker 3: and that Aldvey is her father, but we don't know
- 5:06Speaker 3: why he never told her. It's worth a reminder that
- 5:09Speaker 3: Achilia still carries the Infinity milk cap mushroom and the
- 5:12Speaker 3: potion of Gassie's form, in addition to a new wand
- 5:16Speaker 3: Cord is growing both literally and figuratively. His relationship with
- 5:19Speaker 3: Achilia is unshakable, and his connection with Robin is evolving.
- 5:24Speaker 3: Derenni is a serious minded elf who follows Achillia, but
- 5:27Speaker 3: not out of a sense of obligation. He's very concerned
- 5:30Speaker 3: about his younger brother's well being and does feel a
- 5:33Speaker 3: duty to protect him. Tentyr is joyful, reckless, and very
- 5:37Speaker 3: unelf like, and that he wants to stand out from
- 5:40Speaker 3: the crowd. He seeks adventure and feels a need to
- 5:43Speaker 3: prove himself. He's been through a few things lately that
- 5:46Speaker 3: might temper his personality. However, Tender wields the sword of Learhane. Finally,
- 5:51Speaker 3: Brother Ferwynd is a cleric who hopes to achieve redemption
- 5:54Speaker 3: for past failures through acts of selflessness. He also aspires
- 5:58Speaker 3: to one day lift the curse of Moroc. I hope
- 6:01Speaker 3: that little review was useful. I know I find it
- 6:04Speaker 3: helpful to step back and look at the big picture
- 6:06Speaker 3: now and then. But that's enough meta talk. It's high
- 6:09Speaker 3: time to get into the narrative. Chapter twenty seven, Part one,
- 6:21Speaker 3: Day twenty two Morning mythic event meaning imitate masses. Party
- 6:31Speaker 3: status Achillea nine out of nine hit points, Court fourteen
- 6:38Speaker 3: out of fourteen, de Renni twelve out of twelve, ten
- 6:43Speaker 3: Tier eleven out of fifteen after receiving one point of
- 6:47Speaker 3: natural healing and four points from Fairwind's Cure Light Wounds Prayer.
- 6:53Speaker 3: Fair Wind sixteen out of eighteen after receiving one point
- 6:57Speaker 3: of natural healing. Supplies. The companions have zero portions of
- 7:03Speaker 3: food and eight portions of water. Remaining spells available. Achillia
- 7:08Speaker 3: can cast shrink times two and glitter dust Cord can
- 7:14Speaker 3: cast entangle and slow poison. Fairwind released ten TIR's hands
- 7:23Speaker 3: and regarded his work. The ELF's deeper cuts looked better
- 7:27Speaker 3: and most of the lighter ones had disappeared completely. As
- 7:31Speaker 3: kari Koska said, Tantyr, feeling better, said all fains you
- 7:35Speaker 3: was Fairwind's reply. Tentus stretched, testing his newly healed body
- 7:41Speaker 3: that of curiosity, and using Achilia as a translator, he
- 7:44Speaker 3: asked fair Wind what the life of a priest entailed.
- 7:47Speaker 3: The cleric provided details. While they were breaking camp, listing study, labor, proselytizing,
- 7:53Speaker 3: and prayer, among other duties. Tenter commented that the life
- 7:57Speaker 3: of a cleric sounded hard, which caused fair Wind to
- 7:59Speaker 3: reply through Achillia.
- 8:01Speaker 2: Tell him it is hard, but everything in life is hard.
- 8:05Speaker 2: We choose our hog.
- 8:07Speaker 3: Since they'd consumed the last of the hickory nuts to
- 8:09Speaker 3: break their fast, there was nothing to eat when they
- 8:12Speaker 3: took their first break of the day's march at around noon.
- 8:15Speaker 3: They were following the eastern edge of the dense and
- 8:17Speaker 3: thorny woods and could now see where it ended and
- 8:20Speaker 3: gave way to grassy hills about a half mile ahead.
- 8:23Speaker 3: As they were preparing to continue their march, dr Annie
- 8:26Speaker 3: noticed a certain type of shrub just inside the woods.
- 8:29Speaker 3: He pushed aside a bit of the cockspur and touched
- 8:31Speaker 3: one of the light green, oval shaped leaves.
- 8:34Speaker 4: These are billberry shrubs, but the fruit is all gone.
- 8:37Speaker 5: That's a shame.
- 8:38Speaker 3: Achillie had returned. Both Dornni and tent Here had cast
- 8:41Speaker 3: her Are you serious?
- 8:43Speaker 1: Looks at this?
- 8:44Speaker 3: As de Rennie explained its spoor.
- 8:47Speaker 4: Black grouse are very fond of billberry's.
- 8:50Speaker 3: In unison, the brothers unflung their bows and knocked arrows.
- 8:54Speaker 4: You stay here, we'll go on ahead.
- 8:57Speaker 5: I hope it's true what you told me before.
- 8:59Speaker 3: De Renny City.
- 9:00Speaker 4: What did I tell you before that.
- 9:02Speaker 5: Hunger shop in the eye. If you find something, don't miss,
- 9:07Speaker 5: we won't.
- 9:08Speaker 3: Said the elder brother, and then the two hunters stalked off.
- 9:20Speaker 3: Thirty minutes later they returned into view. Doranni and Tentyr
- 9:23Speaker 3: were walking side by side, which was rare to see.
- 9:27Speaker 3: Dorannie was holding a large dark shape in his left hand,
- 9:30Speaker 3: and the siblings were laughing and talking. Tentyer waved and
- 9:33Speaker 3: made a face pointing at their prize. When they were close,
- 9:36Speaker 3: Achilia could make out that dark plumage and bright red.
- 9:39Speaker 1: Wattles of a black grass. It was a big one too,
- 9:43Speaker 1: think a heya.
- 9:44Speaker 3: She said, smiling broadly. Then turning to Fairywind, she added, we.
- 9:49Speaker 5: Are going to eat well today.
- 9:54Speaker 3: In the last episode, I rolled for a wandering encounter
- 9:57Speaker 3: and determined there would be one, but I held off
- 10:00Speaker 3: describing the result because I rolled a one on my
- 10:02Speaker 3: new table indicating an encounter with large game a black grouse,
- 10:06Speaker 3: it turned out. Then I rolled for surprise and determined
- 10:09Speaker 3: that the bird would be surprised, but not the party.
- 10:12Speaker 3: At the time, I figured that a hunting scene would
- 10:14Speaker 3: not be a very compelling way to end an episode,
- 10:16Speaker 3: and so instead came up with the Eulalon story. Anyway
- 10:20Speaker 3: to handle the wandering encounter, I briefly considered making Dorani
- 10:23Speaker 3: in Tenti a roll to hit the bird, but given
- 10:26Speaker 3: the one surprise and Dorni is a seasoned hunter, I
- 10:29Speaker 3: just gave them the kill. I'll say that when cooked,
- 10:33Speaker 3: this bird will provide eight portions of food if Erwyn
- 10:36Speaker 3: uses his divine magic to preserve it, or four if
- 10:39Speaker 3: he doesn't, So that brings back the choice between healing
- 10:42Speaker 3: Tenier further or making their food supplies last longer. This
- 10:46Speaker 3: time around, the party will choose the latter, and that
- 10:49Speaker 3: brings us to hex rolls for day twenty three. Let's
- 10:52Speaker 3: begin for weather on eighteen is another perfect day for travel,
- 10:57Speaker 3: cool and dry. Next up is stumble upon. The six
- 11:01Speaker 3: means nothing special is discovered for foraging using cords help.
- 11:06Speaker 3: A three is a success to pieces discover a nest
- 11:09Speaker 3: with four decent sized eggs. I'll make a note of
- 11:12Speaker 3: this on their food supply tracker. Finally, there's a chance
- 11:15Speaker 3: for another wandering encounter. A four means there is none
- 11:20Speaker 3: the next day, Day twenty four brings the PCEs within
- 11:23Speaker 3: one week of their destination. Let's see how they get on.
- 11:26Speaker 3: For weather, A six means the cool and dry is
- 11:30Speaker 3: replaced with hot and humid, but is nothing too severe.
- 11:34Speaker 3: Stumble upon A five no result for foraging. I'm going
- 11:38Speaker 3: to try something new since water is getting low, I'm
- 11:41Speaker 3: going to see if Cord can find a water source
- 11:44Speaker 3: by using his magic to locate a fish. His success
- 11:47Speaker 3: or failure will determine if a lake or river is
- 11:50Speaker 3: there or not so and this is kind of cool.
- 11:53Speaker 3: I'm building the map based on cords roll, but one
- 11:56Speaker 3: to three on a D six is needed to succeed
- 11:58Speaker 3: the role. Five means there is no river or lake nearby.
- 12:02Speaker 3: That's too bad, but that's the will of the dice gods. Okay,
- 12:06Speaker 3: almost done, but I still need to roll for a
- 12:08Speaker 3: wandering encounter.
- 12:10Speaker 1: I got a five. Yep, that's a bingo.
- 12:13Speaker 3: Like last time, I'm putting this encounter together off Mike.
- 12:17Speaker 3: Unlike last time, I won't make you wait for the result.
- 12:25Speaker 3: Chapter twenty seven, Part two, Day twenty four, one week
- 12:31Speaker 3: from their destination, late afternoon. Mythic event meaning imitate masses.
- 12:39Speaker 3: Party status Achillea nine out of nine hit points Court
- 12:46Speaker 3: fourteen of fourteen, de Renni twelve of twelve, ten Tier
- 12:53Speaker 3: thirteen of fifteen after receiving two points of natural healing,
- 12:58Speaker 3: fair Wind eighteen of eighteen. After receiving two points of
- 13:02Speaker 3: natural healing supplies, the companions have four portions of food
- 13:08Speaker 3: and no water. Remaining spells available. Achillie can cast shrink
- 13:14Speaker 3: times two and glitter dust Cord can cast entangle and
- 13:20Speaker 3: slow poison. Fairwind had plucked the bird and Achillia had
- 13:28Speaker 3: made the fire dry. Fuel was plentiful where they'd been
- 13:31Speaker 3: near the north end of the dense wood. Then they'd
- 13:34Speaker 3: scured pieces of meat to dagger sharpened sticks and cooked them.
- 13:38Speaker 3: The companions had wanted badly to give themselves a feast,
- 13:41Speaker 3: but prudence prevailed and most of the meat was wrapped
- 13:43Speaker 3: up to be carried with them. That had been yesterday,
- 13:47Speaker 3: and by virtue of Fairwind's blessing, the meat was still
- 13:50Speaker 3: good to eat today. The cockspur Woods was now some
- 13:53Speaker 3: twenty miles behind them, and the party was passing through
- 13:56Speaker 3: more hilly terrain, spotted with boulders and terraced by natural
- 14:00Speaker 3: rock ledges. Eventually they came within view of another forest.
- 14:04Speaker 3: This one was of mixed spruce, jack pine, birch and maple.
- 14:09Speaker 3: It was much too large to circumnavigate, and since the
- 14:12Speaker 3: elves felt more comfortable under a green canopy than a
- 14:15Speaker 3: blue one, they entered.
- 14:21Speaker 1: The temperature immediately.
- 14:22Speaker 3: Dropped by several degrees, and the strong smell of the
- 14:25Speaker 3: conifers made the companions feel refreshed. The forest interior was
- 14:30Speaker 3: beautiful to look upon, for the rays of the sun
- 14:32Speaker 3: pierced the bower and dappled everything in moving patches of
- 14:35Speaker 3: olive and gold. They stopped for a break after they
- 14:39Speaker 3: were a half mile in.
- 14:41Speaker 2: That's the last of it.
- 14:42Speaker 3: Said Ferrwind, giving his water skin a little shake. Nine
- 14:45Speaker 3: two sided Achillia.
- 14:47Speaker 1: In fact, every one of them had drained.
- 14:49Speaker 3: Their skins to the last drop. Come on, said de Rennie.
- 14:52Speaker 4: We can make another four miles before we need to stop.
- 14:57Speaker 3: As the sun had passed its zenith several hours earlier,
- 15:00Speaker 3: it was an optimistic guess. Still, there was no reason
- 15:03Speaker 3: to tarry, and the companions took up their new marching order,
- 15:06Speaker 3: with Duranian Elite, followed by ten tier, Cord and Robin,
- 15:09Speaker 3: who nowadays were inseparable, and then Achillia and Fairwood.
- 15:14Speaker 1: As they walked.
- 15:14Speaker 3: What the companions didn't know was that they were being observed.
- 15:19Speaker 3: As it happened, they were being watched by two sets
- 15:21Speaker 3: of eyes, one moss green and the other ice blue,
- 15:26Speaker 3: but neither of the observers was aware of the other.
- 15:33Speaker 3: Tall maple trees stretched high, with their leaves hissing gently
- 15:37Speaker 3: in the soft breeze. Among them, the delicate birch trees
- 15:41Speaker 3: stood out, contrasting against the darker tones of the forest
- 15:44Speaker 3: with their stark white bark. The ground, covered in a
- 15:48Speaker 3: carpet of rich green ferns and scattered pine needles, was
- 15:51Speaker 3: springy underfoot. Grackles called to each other from the tree tops,
- 15:55Speaker 3: making Robin twitch nervously. It had only been a half
- 15:59Speaker 3: hour since the last break when Duranny called a halt.
- 16:02Speaker 3: The head was a clearing with the fallen log lying
- 16:05Speaker 3: across it.
- 16:06Speaker 1: Little scalloped shaped.
- 16:07Speaker 3: Fungi clung to the underside, but laying atop it, as
- 16:10Speaker 3: though meant to be found, was a broken arrow. Duranni
- 16:14Speaker 3: turned to the others, pointing it out and.
- 16:16Speaker 4: Saying, it's a far m that engine.
- 16:19Speaker 1: Achillie translated for fair wind and court.
- 16:21Speaker 5: He says, it's a friendship marker.
- 16:24Speaker 3: Duranni told Tendyr to stay behind while I stepped out
- 16:27Speaker 3: alone into the clearing. With his bow slung across his
- 16:30Speaker 3: shoulder and his sword sheathed. He held his empty palms
- 16:33Speaker 3: out to the forest.
- 16:34Speaker 4: Oh do stara faram.
- 16:37Speaker 3: He said, projecting his voice, lifting up the two pieces
- 16:40Speaker 3: of the broken arrow, one in each hand. He turned
- 16:43Speaker 3: slowly this way and that. For a few moments, the
- 16:47Speaker 3: only reply was the whisper of the trees. Then a
- 16:52Speaker 3: slender figure about Dorani's height stepped out from behind a
- 16:55Speaker 3: maple on the far side of the clearing. While elves
- 16:59Speaker 3: tended towards Androgeny, most of the companions could discern that
- 17:02Speaker 3: the stranger was a male like de Renni. He had long, wild,
- 17:06Speaker 3: dark hair and dark eyes, but he seemed a little
- 17:09Speaker 3: older and had a broad, display featured face. He wore
- 17:13Speaker 3: a jerkin and leggings of deerskin, and carried a short
- 17:16Speaker 3: spear a leather baldric held a brace of daggers on
- 17:19Speaker 3: his left shoulder.
- 17:20Speaker 2: What tribe do you hail from, he asked.
- 17:23Speaker 1: His tone was neither hostile nor friendly.
- 17:26Speaker 4: We are from the Setevi Marsh tribe, some eight score
- 17:30Speaker 4: miles to the south.
- 17:32Speaker 1: Was the reply.
- 17:33Speaker 4: My name is de Renni.
- 17:35Speaker 2: You are far from home, de Renni, commented the other.
- 17:38Speaker 2: I represent the Nuvar wood tribe. Do you search for us?
- 17:43Speaker 4: No, we were not looking for you.
- 17:46Speaker 2: Then where are you going?
- 17:48Speaker 3: Dernnie stood to one side and indicated the party assembled
- 17:51Speaker 3: behind him.
- 17:52Speaker 4: These are my companions, Tentier, Achillia, Cord, and fair Wind.
- 17:57Speaker 4: We are looking for a human wizard, a by the
- 18:00Speaker 4: name of odok Zygog. Do you know of him?
- 18:04Speaker 1: The other shook his head.
- 18:05Speaker 2: The name is not familiar to me.
- 18:08Speaker 3: Somewhat Incredibly, the sight of Sherwind and Court neither seemed
- 18:11Speaker 3: to surprise or concern.
- 18:13Speaker 1: Him at all.
- 18:14Speaker 2: These are all the members of your party, Dernie said
- 18:18Speaker 2: they were. I have with me two dozen elves hidden
- 18:22Speaker 2: nearby in the woods.
- 18:24Speaker 3: Once again, there was no threat in his voice, though
- 18:27Speaker 3: the word certainly implied a warning.
- 18:30Speaker 2: My name is Calin. Bring the rest of your group forward,
- 18:33Speaker 2: de Renni, and we shall sit and talk.
- 18:41Speaker 3: At the last Wandering Encounter roll, I rolled a three,
- 18:45Speaker 3: which on my new table meant humanoids. I then rolled
- 18:48Speaker 3: a six on the SAR table, indicating demi humans. I
- 18:52Speaker 3: chose elves by d M fiat and rolled to D
- 18:54Speaker 3: ten to determine their number. I got a seven. The
- 18:58Speaker 3: two dozen Cohen mentions is an idea prompted by the
- 19:01Speaker 3: current event, meaning imitate masses. Next, I rolled for surprise
- 19:06Speaker 3: and determined that neither side would be and finally made
- 19:09Speaker 3: a reaction check on.
- 19:10Speaker 1: Two D six.
- 19:11Speaker 3: This would be critical and understanding the nature of the
- 19:14Speaker 3: encounter itself. Since Derenni was in the lead, I allowed
- 19:17Speaker 3: his plus one charisma bonus and another plus one because
- 19:20Speaker 3: the group was overheard speaking Elvish, but I applied a
- 19:23Speaker 3: minus one penalty for the party having such a strange
- 19:26Speaker 3: mix of people. The role result was an eleven after bonuses.
- 19:30Speaker 3: Now that's very positive and just shy of overt friendliness.
- 19:35Speaker 3: The rules suggests the following adjectives and verbs interested, curious, approach,
- 19:41Speaker 3: ask questions favorable. With all this in mind, I came
- 19:46Speaker 3: up with the broken arrow scenario you've just heard.
- 19:49Speaker 1: There will probably need to be more.
- 19:50Speaker 3: Rules as we negotiate this meeting further, but to begin,
- 19:53Speaker 3: I'll quickly get a new event meaning since the old
- 19:56Speaker 3: one is fulfilled. Okay, here's two roles on D one
- 19:59Speaker 3: hund I've got ninety seven and sixty nine. Let's see
- 20:05Speaker 3: that transform wounds whom. Well, nothing else to mind, but
- 20:10Speaker 3: I'll figure it out. Achilie had tried not to think
- 20:16Speaker 3: about the two dozen archers hidden in the woods around them.
- 20:19Speaker 3: The situation felt similar to the one she had faced
- 20:22Speaker 3: in the ambush after meeting Edo. It was, in one regard,
- 20:25Speaker 3: many times worse, But then again significantly, this Colin did
- 20:30Speaker 3: not seem intent on killing them. If that changed, with
- 20:33Speaker 3: six arrows trained on each of them, the Elf could
- 20:36Speaker 3: have them all executed with a word. She was brought
- 20:40Speaker 3: out of this train of thought when Colin spoke again,
- 20:43Speaker 3: and something astonishing happened.
- 20:45Speaker 2: Zatope, I think it's safe for you to show yourself.
- 20:49Speaker 1: He said.
- 20:51Speaker 3: With that, a female elf stepped into the clearing as
- 20:54Speaker 3: though through a fold in space, throwing open her cape
- 20:58Speaker 3: with a flourish as she came. When Achillia recovered from
- 21:01Speaker 3: the initial shock, she realized that the elf had been
- 21:03Speaker 3: with them in the clearing the whole time, and she
- 21:06Speaker 3: had not been invisible, not quite. Her cloak was woven
- 21:10Speaker 3: with highly realistic patterns of fern and leaf and branch, which,
- 21:14Speaker 3: while she was unmoving, had camouflaged her perfectly.
- 21:18Speaker 2: This is my sister, Zootope.
- 21:20Speaker 3: Said Glynn, repeating her name. Well, Matt, she said in
- 21:24Speaker 3: a silken voice while bowing.
- 21:26Speaker 2: If it weren't for her, continued Colin, we wouldn't have
- 21:30Speaker 2: arranged this meeting. She was scouting when she came across
- 21:34Speaker 2: your party and overheard you speaking Elvish. Ironically, it is
- 21:38Speaker 2: the human among you she is most curious about. Humans
- 21:43Speaker 2: have always fascinated her. He is one of the rows
- 21:47Speaker 2: that I presume.
- 21:49Speaker 4: I do not think he belongs to any group, as
- 21:52Speaker 4: when we found him he was solitary, replied De Rennie.
- 21:56Speaker 4: But Achilia here, who speaks the tongue of men, can
- 21:59Speaker 4: ask him if you please.
- 22:01Speaker 3: Ask if he comes from Duroth, said ZUTOPI eyeing Achilia
- 22:04Speaker 3: would naked.
- 22:05Speaker 5: Suspicion, and if he does not, which land he calls home.
- 22:09Speaker 3: Achilia put the question to Fairwind, who looked both perplexed
- 22:12Speaker 3: and anxious. At least he didn't know about the two
- 22:15Speaker 3: dozen archers in the woods. As she asked, something in
- 22:18Speaker 3: the back of her mind told her that she had
- 22:20Speaker 3: heard the place named de Roth before, but the memory
- 22:24Speaker 3: was just out of reach.
- 22:26Speaker 2: You can tell her that I have never heard of
- 22:28Speaker 2: Darrowth and that I originally hail from Camoutine, far to
- 22:31Speaker 2: the west.
- 22:32Speaker 3: It was when Achillea heard Fairwind say the name that
- 22:35Speaker 3: she suddenly remembered where she.
- 22:37Speaker 1: Had heard it before.
- 22:43Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to Tale of the manticor if
- 22:46Speaker 3: you would like to support the show, there are lots
- 22:48Speaker 3: of voice to help. You can recommend it online or
- 22:50Speaker 3: to friends. You can like and repost episode announcement on
- 22:53Speaker 3: social media. You can pick up one of my offerings
- 22:55Speaker 3: on drive through RPG, for example my near warm Shot
- 22:58Speaker 3: in the Dark expansion module and maker ket You can
- 23:01Speaker 3: buy a Tale of the manticor T shirt at www
- 23:04Speaker 3: dot bare Arts dot store, and in fact, there is
- 23:06Speaker 3: a new design now available in response to the listener
- 23:09Speaker 3: requests to.
- 23:10Speaker 1: Have one without all the blood.
- 23:12Speaker 3: And finally, you can rate or review the show on
- 23:14Speaker 3: your podcatter of choice. I'm extremely grateful for your support.
- 23:18Speaker 3: At this point, I'd like to share one of your
- 23:20Speaker 3: great online reviews. This one was left by Asran sixty
- 23:23Speaker 3: eight on Apple Podcasts. As Ran sixty eight writes, this
- 23:27Speaker 3: podcast overcame a bad reaction role and turned me.
- 23:30Speaker 1: Into a devout follower. Let me explain.
- 23:33Speaker 3: I usually prefer high fantasy and truly heroic characters, so
- 23:36Speaker 3: I was a bit reticent to try the podcast. Thankfully,
- 23:39Speaker 3: it was strongly recommended to me, and I gave it
- 23:41Speaker 3: a shot. Turned out I like a darker tone much
- 23:44Speaker 3: more than I thought. Tale of the Manticores sucked me
- 23:46Speaker 3: into its world like only worlds beyond Numbers spanished before
- 23:50Speaker 3: the thirty minutes format is ideal for me, and the
- 23:52Speaker 3: balance between gaming and audio drama is perfect. And I
- 23:56Speaker 3: never thought I would develop an interest for OSR gaming,
- 23:59Speaker 3: but I'm now starting to set the appeal. I just
- 24:01Speaker 3: caught up on season three. Now I must go back
- 24:03Speaker 3: to the previous seasons. Thanks so much, as Ran sixty eight.
- 24:07Speaker 3: Your review is truly appreciated. It's a testament to the
- 24:10Speaker 3: power of word of mouth that you heard about the
- 24:13Speaker 3: show and gave it a shot, despite the genre being
- 24:15Speaker 3: outside your usual preferences. I'm so glad you did and
- 24:19Speaker 3: delighted that you got drawn into the world of Merath.
- 24:21Speaker 3: I'm also curious to know if you ever got into
- 24:23Speaker 3: OSR gaming. I hope so appreciation is also due to
- 24:27Speaker 3: my amazing cast of actors. The core cast is all
- 24:30Speaker 3: here in this episode, ky Ellen, Kevin Barringer, and David
- 24:34Speaker 3: Cooper played to Rennie Tandier and Ferround, respectively. There's also
- 24:38Speaker 3: two newcomers to introduce. Many listeners will be familiar with
- 24:42Speaker 3: Moses Boyajian, the creator of the popular Willona's Cave YouTube
- 24:46Speaker 3: channel and publisher of various t TRPGs and supplements. Moses
- 24:50Speaker 3: plays the elf Scout. Kalin Clin's sister, Zotope, is brought
- 24:54Speaker 3: to life by morg Stromer of Cryptic Creations. Thanks to you, both,
- 24:59Speaker 3: Moses and Moore. For those curious to learn a little
- 25:02Speaker 3: bit more about Tell of the Manticor, I keep a
- 25:04Speaker 3: blog where I post all kinds of show and RPG
- 25:07Speaker 3: related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts and show notes.
- 25:11Speaker 3: You can find it at Tale of Themanticore dot blogspot
- 25:13Speaker 3: dot com. To get in touch with me, I met
- 25:16Speaker 3: manti Gore tale dot Blue Sky dot Social, Tell of
- 25:19Speaker 3: the Manticore podcast on Instagram, or Tale of the Manticore
- 25:22Speaker 3: at gmail dot com. Solo Roleplayers Network dot com is
- 25:26Speaker 3: now live too, and I'd love to invite you to
- 25:28Speaker 3: check it out when you get a few spare minutes.
- 25:30Speaker 1: There are lots of great.
- 25:31Speaker 3: Solo creators there for you to discover, and in fact,
- 25:34Speaker 3: we've added even more creators since launching in May. The
- 25:38Speaker 3: adventure will continue on the next episode of Tale of
- 25:40Speaker 3: the manticor the story for Chaos roles