Latest / Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama / Episode 48 (S3E48)

Transcript

Episode 48 (S3E48) · Tale of The Manticore, a Dark Fantasy Dungeons & Dragons Audiodrama

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Ian, I'm James. We're the hosts of the
0:03
Speaker 1: Undercomment Taste podcast and you're listening to Tale of the Manticor.
0:09
Speaker 1: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
0:14
Speaker 1: discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
0:31
Speaker 1: Season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
0:36
Speaker 1: Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
0:39
Speaker 1: between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
0:42
Speaker 1: the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
0:46
Speaker 1: the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
0:50
Speaker 1: is sacred, and none will be spared if the dice
0:53
Speaker 1: decide their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the
0:57
Speaker 1: Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
1:02
Speaker 1: There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
1:15
Speaker 1: time until the Manticor. In chapter forty seven, the pieces
1:19
Speaker 1: have a run in with the Bloom, a monster that
1:21
Speaker 1: can appear anywhere in the crystal wood that it desires,
1:24
Speaker 1: and that it hacks with a nasty one to two
1:26
Speaker 1: punch combination of lashing, thorny branches and a hallucinogenic pollen.
1:31
Speaker 1: By the grace of a very lucky throw of the
1:33
Speaker 1: dice cord manages to calm the creature and convince it
1:36
Speaker 1: to let them go. The rest of the night is
1:38
Speaker 1: spent in a sleepless march through the crystal wood. When
1:41
Speaker 1: dawn comes, the pieces have not yet left it, and
1:44
Speaker 1: so they experience the magical phenomenon from which the forest
1:47
Speaker 1: takes its name. The leaves of every tree in the
1:50
Speaker 1: forest are dotted not with dewdrops, but cut diamonds. The
1:54
Speaker 1: pieces behold a fortune so massive that it is impossible
1:58
Speaker 1: to parse. Ironically, the Elvin brothers did not trust it
2:01
Speaker 1: and advised the rest of their group not to touch anything.
2:05
Speaker 1: Fairwind with dreams of rebuilding the ruined Church of Sadal
2:08
Speaker 1: and the original Kaimur Homeland does not share this opinion
2:11
Speaker 1: and fills his pouch with jewels. Chapter forty eight, Part
2:22
Speaker 1: one Day forty one, two days from their destination morning
2:28
Speaker 1: mysic e end, meaning release opposition party status. The party
2:34
Speaker 1: was not able to rest during the previous night. Therefore
2:37
Speaker 1: no hit points have been regained through natural healing. Current
2:41
Speaker 1: totals are as follows ACHILLIEA fifteen of fifteen hit points
2:46
Speaker 1: Court twenty four of twenty nine. After receiving three points
2:50
Speaker 1: from a cure lite wounds prayer de Anni eighteen of
2:54
Speaker 1: nineteen ten, Tire twenty two of twenty eight after receiving
2:58
Speaker 1: three points from nothing cure light wounds prayer, fair Wind
3:03
Speaker 1: thirty four of forty two, Flicker thirteen of sixteen supplies.
3:10
Speaker 1: The companions have fifteen portions of food spells available. Achillia
3:14
Speaker 1: can cast shrink and large, detect evil, glitter, dust and
3:20
Speaker 1: dispel magic. Cord can cast, entangle, slow, poison, hold animal, tree,
3:27
Speaker 1: shape and pass plant. Fair Wind can cast old person
3:33
Speaker 1: and bless. While making their way through the crystal wood,
3:40
Speaker 1: the party had only stopped once, and briefly. Fairwind had
3:43
Speaker 1: insisted that he needed to say his morning devotions to
3:46
Speaker 1: this at all, and this could not be done while
3:47
Speaker 1: on the move, So the party had stopped for a
3:49
Speaker 1: short rest to grant the cleric his desire and to
3:52
Speaker 1: eat a quick breakfast of nearly tasteless boiled vegetables. His
4:00
Speaker 1: hand from Tenthu's chest, he had just performed a small
4:03
Speaker 1: miracle of healing on the elf, just as he had
4:05
Speaker 1: for Cord before him. Although in both cases the effect
4:08
Speaker 1: of the healing was minor. It was noticeable, and to
4:11
Speaker 1: Fairwind it signaled that he had not incurred his deities
4:14
Speaker 1: disfavor by filling his pouch with diamonds earlier in the day. Still,
4:18
Speaker 1: the healing energies that had flowed from him had been
4:20
Speaker 1: somewhat feeble. Perhaps he thought it was because of his
4:24
Speaker 1: own lack of conviction. A better cleric of Saddaal would
4:27
Speaker 1: not have wondered at the morality of taking the jewels.
4:30
Speaker 1: They would have simply known whether it was right or wrong.
4:34
Speaker 1: While Fairwynd had been a prayer, Achillie had taken the
4:36
Speaker 1: opportunity to read her book of spells and recommit its
4:39
Speaker 1: mystical words to her memory. When she looked up and
4:42
Speaker 1: saw the clearer of taking his hand off ten tire,
4:45
Speaker 1: she closed her book and replaced it in her satchel.
4:48
Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the companions resumed their march. By
4:51
Speaker 1: now they had been surrounded by the crystal Wood's dazzling
4:54
Speaker 1: phenomenon of diamonds for two or three hours. While they
4:57
Speaker 1: were still an awesome sight to behold, after a time,
5:00
Speaker 1: Akilie found, to her surprise that she got an accustomed
5:02
Speaker 1: to them, and in fact that their presence had become
5:05
Speaker 1: somewhat annoying. They sparkled so much that she had to
5:08
Speaker 1: squint against their brightness, and found herself looking mostly down
5:11
Speaker 1: at her boots instead of at the splendor that enveloped them.
5:14
Speaker 1: And so it was with some relief when she finally
5:16
Speaker 1: heard de Rennie ahead call out, I.
5:19
Speaker 2: Can see where the forest breaks.
5:22
Speaker 1: Fairwin didn't comprehend Elvish, but the sudden sound of Dorni's
5:25
Speaker 1: voice made him look up, and then he could see
5:27
Speaker 1: for himself where the tree line came to an end.
5:30
Speaker 1: He considered the bulging pouch of diamonds at his belt
5:32
Speaker 1: and what he could do with it in the name
5:34
Speaker 1: of Sadul's glory. Perhaps, he wondered, it would be prudent
5:37
Speaker 1: to take even more. He doubted they would ever come
5:40
Speaker 1: back here. Every effort would be made to avoid having
5:42
Speaker 1: to return, he was certain, so maybe just another small handful.
5:47
Speaker 1: They were right there for the taking. But now that
5:50
Speaker 1: was the voice of greed in his ear. While poverty
5:53
Speaker 1: was not a virtue in his religion, avarice was most
5:56
Speaker 1: definitely a sin. He patted the bell Petra jewels and
5:59
Speaker 1: chuckled as far as he could guess at this very
6:02
Speaker 1: moment he was one of the richest men in the world.
6:14
Speaker 1: Dramatis personae Fairwind approximately forty years ago, Dalen Fairwind was
6:23
Speaker 1: born into a family too poor to keep him as
6:26
Speaker 1: an infant. He was given to an orphanage and was
6:28
Speaker 1: raised within its grimy walls. More precisely, it was not
6:32
Speaker 1: a true orphanage, but a foster house where an impoverished
6:35
Speaker 1: couple had taken on several children in exchange for a
6:37
Speaker 1: stipend provided by the Church of Vesseluna. At the foster home,
6:41
Speaker 1: no one called him Fairwind, nor even Dalen. The man
6:44
Speaker 1: and woman who ran the place when they weren't ignoring him,
6:47
Speaker 1: simply called him boy, boy, wash the clothes, boy, sweep
6:52
Speaker 1: the hall, boy, go and bother someone else. When Dalen
6:56
Speaker 1: was about ten years old, he wasn't really sure of
6:59
Speaker 1: his own age. His sickness fell upon his foster home
7:01
Speaker 1: that affected everyone within one by one, starting from the youngest,
7:05
Speaker 1: the children caught the disease and died. All told, six
7:10
Speaker 1: children fell a victim to the plague. Then the couple
7:13
Speaker 1: who ran the place got sick too. They also succumbed
7:16
Speaker 1: to the illness, leaving just Dealen alone and miraculously spared.
7:20
Speaker 1: He had no explanation for it. They all got sick
7:23
Speaker 1: and he did not. The Foster House was located in
7:26
Speaker 1: a neighborhood the locals called the Warrens. He was the
7:29
Speaker 1: poorest neighborhood in so Moral, largely ignored by the other
7:32
Speaker 1: inhabitants of the city and by those inside white Stone
7:35
Speaker 1: Castle at its north end. Still, it didn't take very
7:38
Speaker 1: long for the Royal Officer of the Exchequer to learn
7:40
Speaker 1: that the owners of the Foster Home had died and
7:43
Speaker 1: to seize the property in the name of the king.
7:45
Speaker 1: Shortly thereafter, representatives from the Church of Vesseluna learned of
7:48
Speaker 1: the tragedy too. They responded by stopping all payments and support.
7:53
Speaker 1: A penniless child, Dalen was alone and homeless, But the
7:57
Speaker 1: city of so Moral was not without kind hearted people,
8:00
Speaker 1: especially in the Warrens, where at least some folk felt
8:02
Speaker 1: a duty to look out for one another. Dalan was
8:05
Speaker 1: taken by a kindly baker to the Church of the
8:07
Speaker 1: Sacred Flame, and, though it was unusual for them to
8:10
Speaker 1: do so, the priests there adopted Dalen and brought him
8:13
Speaker 1: into the fold. Thenceforth he was called Novice Dalen. Dalen
8:17
Speaker 1: did not stay at the Church of the Sacred Flame,
8:19
Speaker 1: or so Moral for long. He was moved at the
8:22
Speaker 1: first opportunity to Merepool, where he was given a bed
8:25
Speaker 1: in a dormitory house of the town's only temple, a
8:28
Speaker 1: circular domed building of dark stone, set with a row
8:31
Speaker 1: of aerow slit windows under a ring of dazzling stained glass.
8:34
Speaker 1: Here Dalen stayed, splitting his time between toil and study.
8:38
Speaker 1: For work, he helped in the kitchen all morning, swept
8:41
Speaker 1: the dormitory rooms and hallways in the afternoon, and restocked
8:44
Speaker 1: candles in the evening. When not employed in these ways,
8:48
Speaker 1: he was expected to put in four hours of study
8:50
Speaker 1: a day, two at letters and two at arithmetic. To
8:53
Speaker 1: this end, he was assigned two other novices as tutors.
8:57
Speaker 1: Novice Keleric and Novice de Ran were fairly young, barely
9:00
Speaker 1: into their twenties, but to Dalen they seemed very old
9:03
Speaker 1: and very intimidating. It didn't help that they both resented
9:07
Speaker 1: their assignments to instruct the church's new so called miracle boy,
9:11
Speaker 1: especially after they discovered his almost total lack of education.
9:20
Speaker 2: The boy is illiterate.
9:22
Speaker 1: Doron would often gripe to Kelleric.
9:24
Speaker 3: He's unable to do even the most basic sums.
9:27
Speaker 1: Kelleric would reply, But they knew that complaining to their
9:29
Speaker 1: superiors would avail nothing, so they commiserated in the difficulty
9:33
Speaker 1: of their respective responsibilities. Acceptance did not come with time,
9:37
Speaker 1: and the two novices persisted in taking out their frustrations
9:40
Speaker 1: on the child.
9:41
Speaker 3: I have other tasks to attend to.
9:43
Speaker 1: Daylin, Keleric would snap, hurry up.
9:46
Speaker 3: I could solve a problem like that when I was five.
9:48
Speaker 1: Deron would likewise grow frustrated with how long his charge took.
9:52
Speaker 1: When reading reprimands were commonplace.
9:55
Speaker 2: Out with it, Daylan will be here all day if
9:58
Speaker 2: you have to sound out every word on I don't
10:00
Speaker 2: know what the high preseason you.
10:02
Speaker 1: But Dylan was accustomed to being scolded, avoided, and disliked.
10:06
Speaker 1: He was just the way of things and all he
10:08
Speaker 1: had ever known. One day, something special happened. After his
10:12
Speaker 1: early afternoon lesson with novice Duran. He had been taking
10:16
Speaker 1: an oral test, spelling words out loud. As his tutor.
10:19
Speaker 2: Prompted, scroll sc ro o L replied, Dalen incorrect. Try again,
10:27
Speaker 2: sc r o L L correct, candle C A N
10:33
Speaker 2: D l E correct, broom b r O O M correct.
10:41
Speaker 2: Now can you pick up that.
10:42
Speaker 1: Broom, Doran pointed to the one in the corner.
10:45
Speaker 2: And sweep this floor until it is spotless dismiss.
10:49
Speaker 1: This was an old joke that was as unfunny on
10:51
Speaker 1: this day as it had been the first time he'd
10:53
Speaker 1: heard it. But Dalen did as he was told an
10:55
Speaker 1: obedient child. What he liked in experience, he made up
10:58
Speaker 1: for with good behavior and a not unimpressive natural wit.
11:02
Speaker 1: Eventually he would develop a keen interest in history and
11:05
Speaker 1: become quite an expert on the subject. But for now
11:07
Speaker 1: he was just a boy with a head full of
11:09
Speaker 1: letters and numbers and a brum in his hands. Since
11:13
Speaker 1: Dalen was used to being beaten for doing his chores
11:15
Speaker 1: imperfectly at his foster home, and of self preservation, he
11:18
Speaker 1: had learned to always do them well. He was in
11:22
Speaker 1: the lower dormitory when he noticed a spot that thus
11:25
Speaker 1: far he had missed in his sweeping. He was grateful
11:27
Speaker 1: to have caught the air before any of his better stit.
11:30
Speaker 1: He even offered u p a prayer of thanks to
11:32
Speaker 1: sad Ale. Then he dutifully swept at the long neglected
11:35
Speaker 1: corner as he flicked his broom to knock free the
11:38
Speaker 1: dust bunnies, he heard him metallic clanks. Dalen set down
11:43
Speaker 1: his broom and squatted to investigate. On the floor, dulled
11:47
Speaker 1: by a film of dust was a coin. He picked
11:50
Speaker 1: it up and rubbed his thumb across its surface, and
11:54
Speaker 1: then gasped in surprise at the gleam of gold. Gold,
11:58
Speaker 1: not copper, not silver. Gold. He never owned so much
12:03
Speaker 1: as a single penny before. He glanced up at the ceiling,
12:06
Speaker 1: wondering if Sadaul was looking down upon him at that
12:09
Speaker 1: very moment, and decided that the deity was Sidal intended
12:13
Speaker 1: for him to have the coin. Dalen resolved not to
12:16
Speaker 1: report his finding to anyone. The coin was so dusty
12:19
Speaker 1: and so old that he was sure nobody here could
12:21
Speaker 1: still be looking for it. No, the coin was his.
12:25
Speaker 1: Having nowhere else to hide it, he put it under
12:27
Speaker 1: his mattress. Every morning, while the other novices slept, he
12:30
Speaker 1: would sneak a look to check on it and make
12:32
Speaker 1: sure it was still there. And it always was, until
12:35
Speaker 1: some months later, one morning it wasn't. Dalon stared at
12:40
Speaker 1: the naked plank of bed frame in disbelief. He replaced
12:44
Speaker 1: the mattress, and then lifted it again, as though the
12:47
Speaker 1: coin might magically reappear upon a second look. But of
12:50
Speaker 1: course it did not. The coin was gone and someone
12:54
Speaker 1: had taken it. The only possible explanation for its absence
12:58
Speaker 1: was that he had been robbed. Maddeningly, he couldn't say
13:02
Speaker 1: a word. The thief would have known this too, and
13:04
Speaker 1: that's what made the crime so fiendish. Novices were not
13:07
Speaker 1: allowed to own any personal wealth, and so by the
13:10
Speaker 1: rules of the temple, Dalon should have reported the gold
13:12
Speaker 1: coin upon its discovery. Since he hadn't done that, he
13:16
Speaker 1: would be culpable if he reported this theft. The guilty party,
13:20
Speaker 1: he was sure was one of his two tutors. Later
13:23
Speaker 1: that morning, he took his usual lesson with Doran. He
13:26
Speaker 1: was just a routine spelling dictation, but Dalen was unable
13:29
Speaker 1: to concentrate.
13:31
Speaker 2: Scroll.
13:32
Speaker 1: Scrol replied Dalen.
13:35
Speaker 2: Incorrect, Dalen, We've been over this one before. Try again,
13:40
Speaker 2: scro l L correct wine wi l E Yes, a
13:48
Speaker 2: little slow, but yes coin see O Uh why did
13:54
Speaker 2: you pick that word?
13:55
Speaker 1: Dalen asked, with sudden suspicion. Deran did not miss a beat.
13:58
Speaker 2: Because I am the teacher and you are the pupil
14:02
Speaker 2: some miracle child. Hmmm, Dalen, you are distracted and you
14:07
Speaker 2: are wasting my time. Tomorrow we shall study longer, But
14:10
Speaker 2: for today you are dismissed. Go and see about your chrolls.
14:14
Speaker 1: Dalen left scowling. In the evening, he met with Novice
14:18
Speaker 1: Kelleric to study arithmetic.
14:20
Speaker 3: Suppose a rich man has ten coins, earns four more
14:23
Speaker 3: than loses one. How many coins does he have left? Dylan,
14:28
Speaker 3: are you daydreaming again? Concentrate boy? Oh what the high
14:32
Speaker 3: preseason you? I'll never know. Pick up that charcoal and
14:36
Speaker 3: try again.
14:38
Speaker 1: Dalen never did recover that gold coin, nor did he
14:41
Speaker 1: ever find out who had taken it, but he felt
14:43
Speaker 1: the sting of that loss, a loss for something he
14:45
Speaker 1: had only found by purest chance and had not earned
14:48
Speaker 1: for a long long time. After, much later in his adulthood,
14:52
Speaker 1: he would reflect that at the Temple of Mirepool he
14:54
Speaker 1: had really had three tutors. Sadl had been with him two,
14:58
Speaker 1: teaching him how greed could lead it distrust, and showing
15:01
Speaker 1: him the value of honesty. Chapter forty eight, Part two,
15:18
Speaker 1: Day forty one, two days from their destination morning mythic
15:24
Speaker 1: event meaning release opposition party status. The party's status is unchanged.
15:33
Speaker 1: Chu Chin's bray tinto swar. As they exited the crystal Wood,
15:37
Speaker 1: I thought we'd never get out of there. I feel
15:41
Speaker 1: better too, being out of that place, Durny replied, Thank
15:45
Speaker 1: th Recindia for court. The companions found themselves on the
15:49
Speaker 1: grassy slope of a foothill. Without the canopy of the woods,
15:52
Speaker 1: the sun shone down unfiltered, and instead of squinting against
15:56
Speaker 1: the brilliance of millions of diamonds, they now squinted in
15:59
Speaker 1: the daylight. To the north, less than a half day's
16:02
Speaker 1: travel away, was the Mountain Range. One of the peaks
16:05
Speaker 1: stood out in particular. He was taller than the rest
16:08
Speaker 1: and topped with a snowy cap, While its western side
16:11
Speaker 1: was skirted in green woods. By contrast, the eastern was
16:14
Speaker 1: a sheet of bare rock, stark, gray and somber. Even
16:17
Speaker 1: in the sunlight, its surface was smooth and sheer. One
16:21
Speaker 1: means you share, Acilia thought to herself. We won't be
16:24
Speaker 1: kind of that. That must be the one not you
16:27
Speaker 1: called Grayside, said Fairwind, gazing up and pulling at his chin.
16:31
Speaker 1: I looked through the skull to see if I could
16:33
Speaker 1: learn anything about it, But I only came across a
16:36
Speaker 1: few brief mentions. Perhaps the second skull has more information.
16:41
Speaker 1: Sometimes no news is the best news, Pechilia replied, he
16:44
Speaker 1: was an expression that all day sometimes used. Thinking of
16:47
Speaker 1: him and looking up at the Cyclopean mountain made her
16:50
Speaker 1: sad for a moment. The party continued their march, following
16:54
Speaker 1: the contours of the terrain for another couple of hours.
16:57
Speaker 1: It was a pleasant day, fat droning bees among patches
17:00
Speaker 1: of wild flowers. The wind, trapped by the edges of
17:03
Speaker 1: the mountain range, grew gusty. It made the tall grasses
17:07
Speaker 1: sway and ripple. At noon, the party stopped her a
17:10
Speaker 1: quick meal of raw vegetables from one of Notchew's prepared packets,
17:14
Speaker 1: and water from a spring produced by Cord was refreshed.
17:18
Speaker 1: They continued on their way. Eventually they entered an area
17:21
Speaker 1: where the meadow gave way to a sward where sparse
17:24
Speaker 1: trees mingled with tall grasses, ferns, and bushes. Not long after, Tintier,
17:29
Speaker 1: who had the best eye sight, declared look in that
17:33
Speaker 1: even Dorannie couldn't see what he did. As usual, it
17:36
Speaker 1: took another half mile before most of the others did.
17:39
Speaker 2: It must be three hundred feet tall.
17:42
Speaker 1: Said the elf in admiration. Finally it came into full
17:46
Speaker 1: view a waterfall on Greyside's eastern slope, and an enormous one.
17:50
Speaker 1: Tenter's gas was probably conservative. I take this cursor to
17:54
Speaker 1: four hundred. The Chillie remarked, how beautiful it is. It
17:58
Speaker 1: was beautiful, and it became more or so the closer
18:00
Speaker 1: they got to it. The ribbon of ghostly silver white
18:03
Speaker 1: poured from a towering height into a jumble of enormous boulders,
18:07
Speaker 1: piled at the base and half hidden in mists. Silent
18:10
Speaker 1: at this distance, Achillie could imagine the deathening roar. It
18:13
Speaker 1: must produce up close. That must feed the river.
18:17
Speaker 3: Natcho've added to our map.
18:18
Speaker 1: Perwyn thought it aloud. He was feeling in excellent spirits.
18:22
Speaker 1: They were making good progress, and his dream of restoring
18:25
Speaker 1: the Caymor Church was looking like it might really come
18:27
Speaker 1: true in the future. He hadn't told anyone that he'd
18:30
Speaker 1: taken the diamonds. Walking in the rear of their marching
18:33
Speaker 1: order had allowed him to do it without his companion's knowledge,
18:36
Speaker 1: and what need did they have to know? Anyway? As
18:39
Speaker 1: he had every hour or so. He patted his belt
18:42
Speaker 1: pouch to feel the reassuring bulge of diamonds through the
18:44
Speaker 1: soft leather, But this time he felt something different. Fhawin
18:50
Speaker 1: brought his hand up to his face and looked at
18:52
Speaker 1: his fingers, dumbfounded. They were wet. His heart skipped a
18:57
Speaker 1: beat as his hand flew back to the pouch and
18:59
Speaker 1: once again felt only wetness, no diamonds. When he looked down,
19:04
Speaker 1: he saw, to his utter dismay that the pouch was empty.
19:07
Speaker 1: It now contained only rapidly leaking water. Oh no, no,
19:12
Speaker 1: he exclaimed, unable to stop himself. De Rennie up ahead,
19:17
Speaker 1: looked back over his shoulder. Get out to kay, he
19:20
Speaker 1: asked in his native tongue. Achillia translated, he wants to
19:23
Speaker 1: know if simple is run I uh uh no. Phaywan
19:28
Speaker 1: said no, it's nothing, nothing at all. Achillia shrugged and
19:31
Speaker 1: passed along the reply to do Rennie, who simply turned
19:34
Speaker 1: back around and continued their march. Nothing at all, repeated
19:38
Speaker 1: Sherwin to himself under his breath. The diamonds, he realized,
19:42
Speaker 1: had been magically created from dewdrops, and now they had
19:45
Speaker 1: reverted to their original form. His wealth was gone, and
19:49
Speaker 1: once again he couldn't say a word. If you remember,
19:57
Speaker 1: the previous episode ended with a wandering encounter check for
20:00
Speaker 1: the current day. At the time, I kept the role
20:02
Speaker 1: hidden to preserve the tension, but I rolled a four
20:05
Speaker 1: indicating no encounter. As the PCs spend day forty one
20:09
Speaker 1: making their way through the foothills of Greyside Mountain, they
20:11
Speaker 1: will not need to pass another check, so the rest
20:14
Speaker 1: of the day is basically safe. However, I still need
20:16
Speaker 1: to make new rolls for day forty two, which is
20:19
Speaker 1: the final day before the PCs reach Mirror Lake. I've
20:22
Speaker 1: got my Chonker Purple D twenty here rolling for weather
20:26
Speaker 1: the seven. Okay, that's a pretty typical summer day, maybe
20:29
Speaker 1: a little on the human side for Fairwind, whose armor
20:32
Speaker 1: is not very well ventilated, but nothing really out of
20:34
Speaker 1: the ordinary. The next role is for stumble Upon the nineteen.
20:39
Speaker 1: So close something good almost happened to the PCs, but
20:44
Speaker 1: almost happened, it didn't happen, unfortunately. Next up is a
20:48
Speaker 1: D six for forage in with cords help with the
20:50
Speaker 1: expectation of finding a river ahead. I think he's using
20:53
Speaker 1: his abilities to know if fish will be present the
20:56
Speaker 1: role one that's a success, but not with qrd's he
21:00
Speaker 1: I guess there's no fish in this part of the river,
21:02
Speaker 1: but perhaps they'll find something else that's edible there. The
21:05
Speaker 1: final role is for wandering encounters. But since we're just
21:08
Speaker 1: coming off a combat, albeit a short one, I think
21:11
Speaker 1: that if I get a wandering encounter here, I'm going
21:13
Speaker 1: to do something a bit different. Let's ask the dice
21:16
Speaker 1: A six asked, it answered there will be an encounter
21:19
Speaker 1: on day forty two, and it looks like my idea
21:22
Speaker 1: to do something different is going to happen, and there's
21:24
Speaker 1: no reason to delay. I might as well talk about
21:26
Speaker 1: this idea right now. The basic concept is this, I
21:30
Speaker 1: come up with a difficult, non monster challenge that I
21:33
Speaker 1: have not thought of a solution for. In other words,
21:36
Speaker 1: instead of a set piece encounter, it's an off the cuff,
21:39
Speaker 1: first thing that occurs to me kind of thing. This
21:41
Speaker 1: feels a bit risky, but it also definitely feels like
21:44
Speaker 1: D and D Not. Everything a DM gives to their
21:46
Speaker 1: players is a puzzle to be solved, right, some hazards
21:49
Speaker 1: are just hazards. In the best case scenario, I can
21:52
Speaker 1: use my ingenuity in the same spirit of a table game,
21:55
Speaker 1: and using the party's combined abilities and resources, find a solution.
21:59
Speaker 1: The worst case, there'll be a penalty. So how's this
22:03
Speaker 1: for an obstacle. The Pieces will reach the river a
22:05
Speaker 1: few hours before sunset. The base of the waterfall is
22:08
Speaker 1: not close. It's located part way up Greyside Mountain and
22:11
Speaker 1: is essentially inaccessible. When the party encounters the river, they'll
22:15
Speaker 1: find a churning, frothing rapids forty feet across. Even without
22:20
Speaker 1: their armour, attempting to swim to the far bank would
22:22
Speaker 1: be suicide. They'll need to figure something out or else
22:25
Speaker 1: pay the price. Failure will mean a long walk to
22:28
Speaker 1: find a suitable river crossing. Even though this encounter is
22:31
Speaker 1: set for day forty two and it's still day forty
22:33
Speaker 1: one in game, I'm still going to launch this challenge now.
22:36
Speaker 1: If the Pieces can figure out a viable solution, that'll
22:39
Speaker 1: be it for trouble before they reach Mirror Lake. All right,
22:42
Speaker 1: that's enough, Metatalk. Let's return to the narrative and see
22:45
Speaker 1: how this plays out. They kept Greyside to their left
22:53
Speaker 1: as they moved ever to the northeast, and for the
22:55
Speaker 1: next few hours, the giant Mountain loomed huge in their
22:58
Speaker 1: peripheral vision. Afternoon before they passed the halfway point of
23:02
Speaker 1: the mountain, and evening was coming on before they could
23:04
Speaker 1: hear the sound of rushing water in the distance. Everyone
23:07
Speaker 1: was excited about the prospect of coming to the expected river.
23:10
Speaker 1: Even the usually stoic De Renni turned to his companions
23:13
Speaker 1: with a smile and hopefully commented, perhaps we will have
23:16
Speaker 1: fish for dinner. Since they'd taken the thread in a
23:19
Speaker 1: pair of hooks from Duroth, it was a tantalizing possibility.
23:25
Speaker 1: By the time they came within a view of the river,
23:27
Speaker 1: their shadows had grown long and the sun was low
23:30
Speaker 1: in the sky. By then, they already knew that fishing
23:32
Speaker 1: would not be possible. The noise of the rushing waters
23:35
Speaker 1: had made it clear that the river was a fast
23:37
Speaker 1: moving one, not a good candidate for angling. When they
23:40
Speaker 1: actually arrived, they saw that it was more than simply
23:43
Speaker 1: fast moving. In fact, it was going to be a
23:46
Speaker 1: very big problem. It was a rapid While not especially wide,
23:49
Speaker 1: just forty feet, a river crossing looked nearly impossible. Both
23:53
Speaker 1: banks consisted of mostly jagged rocks and helter skelter boulders
23:57
Speaker 1: too sharp to be used as stepping stones poked out
23:59
Speaker 1: of the water, throwing up spray and foam. The water
24:03
Speaker 1: crashed along, swelling and heaving. Up close, the din was incredible.
24:08
Speaker 1: Achillie stood at the edge, chewing her lip the dragonfly
24:12
Speaker 1: as it passed your air as she served the ate
24:13
Speaker 1: the churning waters.
24:15
Speaker 2: I have no idea how we're going to get across.
24:18
Speaker 1: This thing, she yelled, looking left and right. The rapids
24:21
Speaker 1: continued as far as the eye could see. There were
24:24
Speaker 1: no good places in view where they might try to cross.
24:27
Speaker 1: To this predicament, there were no apparent solutions. Thanks for
24:35
Speaker 1: listening to Tales the Manticor, and please stick around until
24:38
Speaker 1: the end of the credits for a couple of important anastmas.
24:41
Speaker 1: As you know, there are many ways to support this show,
24:44
Speaker 1: such as recommending it online or to friends, or liking
24:47
Speaker 1: and reposting episode announcements on social media. You can also
24:50
Speaker 1: purchase a Tale of the Manticore t shirt at Bare
24:52
Speaker 1: Arts dost store or one of my offerings on drive
24:54
Speaker 1: through RBG. Finally, you can rate and review the show
24:57
Speaker 1: in your favorite podcastre I am super grateful to everyone
25:00
Speaker 1: for their ongoing support. Since I have a couple of
25:03
Speaker 1: announcements to make. I'm going to skip my usual review
25:05
Speaker 1: read and jump right into thanking my voice actors. This
25:09
Speaker 1: episode features a truly great bunch of people. The core
25:12
Speaker 1: Caster regulars is here. Kyleen, Kevin Barringer, and Dave Cooper
25:16
Speaker 1: played du Renni, Tantyr and Fairwood respectively. They're joined by
25:20
Speaker 1: two of my fellow Canadians, both of whom are prolific
25:22
Speaker 1: artists in their own right. Sean, founder of Calgary's Ardcon
25:26
Speaker 1: and creator of ardnore Minis on Instagram, plays Novice deron
25:30
Speaker 1: the Pharristramatis Personai segment. Doran's colleague, Kelleric is played by
25:35
Speaker 1: Epic Jim. You can find these great guys on Instagram.
25:38
Speaker 1: Look up Epic Jim All. One word in ardnore Minnis
25:42
Speaker 1: that's a r D and O R Underscore minis. Both
25:46
Speaker 1: are highly recommended. Thank you so much, Jim, Sean, Dave, Kevin,
25:50
Speaker 1: and Kyleen. For those curious to learn more about Tale
25:53
Speaker 1: of the Manta Gore, I keep a blog where I
25:55
Speaker 1: post all kinds of show and RPG related stuff like sketches, maps, tables, crafts,
25:59
Speaker 1: and show notes. You can find it at Tale of
26:01
Speaker 1: themanticore dot com to get in touch with me. I'm
26:03
Speaker 1: at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale of Themanticore dot
26:06
Speaker 1: Bluesky dot Social, Tale of the mendicor podcast on Instagram,
26:09
Speaker 1: or tale of Themanticre at gmail dot com. The adventure
26:12
Speaker 1: will continue on the next episode. What Tale of the
26:15
Speaker 1: manticor it's the story for chaos rolls. But hang on
26:19
Speaker 1: a sec. There's news. In fact, I have two important announcements.
26:24
Speaker 1: One is really wonderful, the other is not wonderful, unwonderful.
26:30
Speaker 1: I'll save the good news for last and get the
26:32
Speaker 1: best stuff out of the way. Yeah, okay, here we go.
26:35
Speaker 1: A little over a week ago, my SSD hard Drive died.
26:39
Speaker 1: It went out with all the fanfare of someone turning
26:41
Speaker 1: off a TV set bloop gone. Since I back up regularly,
26:45
Speaker 1: I thought the problem would be bad, but not you know,
26:48
Speaker 1: bad bad. However, in the end it was a disaster.
26:52
Speaker 1: I lost an eye watering number of hours of work.
26:55
Speaker 1: In fact, if this episode sounds a little different than usual,
26:59
Speaker 1: it's because it's been completely reconstructed and the original is gone.
27:03
Speaker 1: The silver lining to all this is that I didn't
27:05
Speaker 1: lose any script or music. These are the two things
27:08
Speaker 1: I can't replace with elbow grease. This hard drive fiasco
27:11
Speaker 1: came just two weeks before I planned one month backpacking
27:14
Speaker 1: vacation two. I've been set up to release episodes for
27:17
Speaker 1: a seamless no one will even know I'm gone kind
27:19
Speaker 1: of thing. But that is no longer possible. I'm going
27:22
Speaker 1: to need some time to rebuild, and there's no choice
27:25
Speaker 1: but for me to alter my release schedule a little.
27:27
Speaker 1: The next release will therefore be on February fifteenth. It
27:31
Speaker 1: will not be a regular episode. I'll put out some
27:33
Speaker 1: bonus content in lieu of episode forty nine. Episode forty
27:37
Speaker 1: nine will come out on March first, and then I
27:39
Speaker 1: hope I'll be able to resume my usual schedule from there.
27:42
Speaker 1: I'm not certain I'll be able to, but I'll try
27:44
Speaker 1: my best anyway. That's the bad news. Here's the good news,
27:48
Speaker 1: and it is really really good. After five years and
27:52
Speaker 1: over two hundred episodes, Tale of the Mantaker has officially
27:55
Speaker 1: broken the one million download mark. This has been a
27:58
Speaker 1: personal goal for some time, and I cannot tell you
28:01
Speaker 1: how gratifying it is to finally reach it. I have
28:04
Speaker 1: all of you to thank for this achievement. From the
28:06
Speaker 1: bottom of my heart. Thank you to everyone who has
28:09
Speaker 1: contributed to the show's success. Listeners, signal boosters, and participants alike.
28:15
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you. More than ever, I'm
28:18
Speaker 1: driven to make tail of the Manticor into something truly special.
28:22
Speaker 1: All Right, that's it for announcements for the next few weeks.
28:25
Speaker 1: I might be away from Congs, and it might seem
28:28
Speaker 1: like I've disappeared, but I promise I will be back, fresh,
28:31
Speaker 1: eager to get back to work, and stronger than ever.
28:35
Speaker 1: So long for now, I'll see you in March.