Horatio and the Story of the Manor
Manor Rott, Grott & Snott, based in the beautiful area of the North York Moors, is a place no-one can leave. The Manor and the villages around are held by an enchantment no-one understands and a darkness intent on keeping them captive. However, because of the effects of the darkness and enchantment, strange things happen and unexpected heroes emerge. Although, as you would expect, as well as unexpected heroes, there are also unexpected villains and it is sometimes difficult to tell who is good and who is bad. In a series of exciting stories, the history of the enchantment and the battle to set the Manor and the villages free take place. Meet characters like Sir Winefry, Scragg the cat, Horatio the Border Terror, The Baron, Eller Beck, Roseberry Topping, Thornton and more as you find yourself drawn into their strange world.
Episodes
March 31, 2020 • 9 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 1 - Prologue
Yorkshire is a magical place. But that said, it’s not always good magic – although usually, it is. However, very occasionally, it’s downright nasty! More enchantment and entrapment than puppy dogs and ponies!
Take for example a little piece of North Yorkshire, probably somewhere in the North York Moors, but more hidden than e...
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March 31, 2020 • 12 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 2 - The Malevolent Darkness
The Manor was always a little strange. Beautiful as it was - a Tudor manor house set in the idyllic scenery of the North Yorks Moors, it was still considered by anyone who knew it as a place to be avoided.
At the start, it was little more than a feeling, a sense that something wasn’t quite right. But then, as t...
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March 31, 2020 • 13 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
Episode 3 - Horatio Arrives
One of the dogs Winefry had noticed, a female border terrier called Flannel had got fatter over recent weeks. As he waited and watched that evening in the kitchen, he saw her lie down in her basket - as her partner, the male border, Spanner, watched and waited with her.
But tonight was not to be a typical night. The dark rats seeme...
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April 6, 2020 • 11 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
Script:
Episode 4 - Winefry the Exterminator
To his surprise, Winefry found he had to start his role as an exterminator of dark rodents almost at once. For no sooner had he left that place and passed through hidden passageways in the Manor than he came across a most unusual situation. Scragg, the ginger cat, was cornered but three huge dark rats and had obvio...
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April 13, 2020 • 21 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 5 - The Escape.
There had been many battles inside the Manor and around its grounds since Winefry had awoken. It seemed that even though the darkness had awoken the brave bottle, they had become enemies, with the bottle fighting against anything and everything that seemed to get worse with the darkness.
Of course, the battles had been eve...
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April 20, 2020 • 10 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 6 - Everything Changes.
So started the change of the Manor and the isolation of everyone inside the Manor and the three little villages around. So also started the expansion and influence of the darkness, but much more subtly than before – the explosion of the lady of light had seen to that!
Very soon, the people realised they were trap...
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April 27, 2020 • 16 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 7 - The Outsider
‘Wretched gargoyles!’
Thornton looked at the irate Baron with a blank expression because he knew there wasn’t anything they could do about them.
‘Yes sir,’ he replied while slowly turning his back on the Baron. ‘Like so many other things in this place, they are a real nuisance.’
‘I mean … I know I keep saying it,’ th...
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May 4, 2020 • 16 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 8 - The Ghost
Roseberry was neither young nor slender and always frustrated at her lack of speed when it came to dealing with Horatio Fleming McNaughtie and the havoc he caused. Of course, the vacuum cleaner turning up ‘who knew where?’ each day only added to the frustration! As soon as the howl of the vacuum started, the whole Manor rev...
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May 11, 2020 • 12 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 9 - Into the Attic
Roseberry had seen it coming for days and had nagged the Baron relentlessly to replace it, but this time something told her that the kettle really was on its way out. So, wisely, she stood outside the kitchen, muttering to herself about the Baron’s reluctance to spend money, as the kettle boiled, getting louder and lou...
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May 18, 2020 • 19 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
Episode 10 - Of Gargoyles and Boilers.
The noise of hooves on slate was deafening. No one knew why the Manor had gargoyles or how many there were. None of the original plans for the Manor showed any gargoyles and, now they’d arrived, they moved around so often no one could count them. The Baron had sent Thornton out a few times in an attempt to do so but, ...
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May 25, 2020 • 15 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 11 - Snott
As the Baron made his way out of the Manor and along one of the many pathways through the forest to the village of Snott, a bundle of soggy vacuum cleaner components in his cape, he had two companions. The one he knew about was Horatio Fleming McNaughtie – the cause of the carnage he now carried in the hope of repair. The othe...
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June 1, 2020 • 10 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 12 - DANGER!
As Horatio Fleming McNaughtie, the Border Terror, swept from the Manor, the Baron's voice echoing behind him into the emptiness, Eller jumped as an unearthly howl made the windows rattle. Even the shadows, growing in the ever-increasing darkness, seemed to shift uncomfortably as if moved by a passing car headlight when n...
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June 8, 2020 • 21 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 13 - The Beast
Of the three villages, maybe, just maybe, Grott was the best one for the mad and raging beast Horatio to have gone. This was because Grott's enchantment was that, as full moon approached, every Grott villager descended into slime – as did nearly everything in the village of Grott. So, while Horatio could easily find the...
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June 15, 2020 • 22 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 14 – Interlude - Origins of Darkness
Before the madness and pain, a beautiful country house stood in the idyllic countryside of the North York Moors. There lived in that house a very fortunate family. Although, some would say that the blessing and good fortune were not of their own making. Instead, the blessing had found them and made its...
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June 22, 2020 • 17 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 15 - Winefry & Scragg – The tunnel
‘I can’t see a thing!’ Winefry exclaimed as the cave wall finally closed, leaving them to only wonder at the fate of the screaming girl, the lady of light and the border terriers. Before adding in a panic, ‘Scragg? Scragg? Are you there?’
‘Yes, I’m here. Stop worrying. I’m trying to work out the best...
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June 29, 2020 • 18 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 16 - Back to the Manor
When Scragg eventually awoke, it was night, and a beautiful summers’ full moon shone gently down on them. It was probably a flower moon or a strawberry moon in May or June, but it was hard to tell as all they had to go by were the warmth and smell of the air and the appearance of the leaves on the trees.
Scragg didn’...
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July 6, 2020 • 14 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 17 - The Key
As Scragg recovered her senses, she looked more closely at the two people in the attic with them. One, a hag-like creature, was holding something in her hand while kneeling in front of the dark and ghostly outline of a door. The other, who looked a bit of an oaf, was some way behind and had a furious expression on his face. Ne...
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January 11, 2021 • 12 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 18 - The Rise of the Evil Empire
Manor Rott, Grott & Snott hadn’t really been itself – at least, not since the 'incident'! Quite what the 'incident' was and when it had happened, no one could remember. All people knew was that, ever since then, things had been different, including, and maybe especially, the Manor.
Of...
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January 25, 2021 • 18 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 19 - A New Kingdom
One day, as Salaronicus lay back on her couch pulling the legs off a live, inverted woodlouse, a scout appeared at her side. Not wanting to disturb her majesty as she sucked the contents of each leg dry, the scout stood and waited, a little restless with the critical news he brought. He watched impatiently as she gnawe...
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February 8, 2021 • 11 min
Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Artwork by Steve English
The script:
Episode 20 - Chaos
Eller Beck watched the Rampant Salamis with increasing admiration. Gone were the days of unsubtle ‘blood and guts’ warfare. Instead, the time had come for cunning and secrecy. They needed to keep their presence unknown, while at the same time testing their formidable adversaries. Eller understood that, if these tiny warriors we...
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