September 11, 2025 • 27 mins
Flicker: Tale of the Manticore is a hybrid solo-actualplay D&D game and full production audiodrama. I use Dungeons & Dragons B/X (OSR). This is a dark fantasy tale made for a mature audience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is DM David from Fancy Pants and you
are listening to Tale of the Manicore.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
(00:30):
season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
is sacred and none will be spared if the dice
(00:51):
decide their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the
Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
(01:12):
time un Tail of the Mantigor Chapter thirty three is
really about just one thing, the fight to escape from Derowth.
A giant forest troll bars the exit, so the companions
begin by trying to drive it off with missile fire.
The plan doesn't accomplish much. In fact, it makes things
worse because it anchors the monster, and now there's a
chance that will destroy the wooden stairs that lead from
(01:33):
the cave mouth down to the forest floor. If that
were to happen, the piece's predicament would become truly dire,
and so the time for debate and strategy is over.
They make a run for it, fighting as they go.
The combat that ensues is a chaotic nail biter. Achilles
glitter dust spell successfully blinds the troll, but it also
does the same to several allies. And speaking of allies,
(01:56):
the tide of battle turns again when one of the
blink dogs that the Pieces saved in episode twenty five
appears and joins the fight. The battle ends when the
giant forest Troll, against all odds, fails a morale check
and flees into the woods. While injuries have been sustained, incredibly,
no party members have been lost, and it even looks
like one has been gained. I would have bet real
(02:23):
money at the start of that fight that at least
one of my PCs was going to die, and die horribly.
I could envision the fight going any number of ways,
but I did not expect that the giant troll would
end up rutting away. RPGs really are a bottomless source
of wonder, anxiety, and triumph.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Now, it occurs to me that there just might be
some folks out there who have a degree in RPG law,
and they might fairly point out that the spell glitter
Dust does not just inflict a minus four penalty to
those who fail their save against its effects. It also applies,
by the book, the same penalty to armor class and
saving throws. I overrode this in order to be consistent
with my own macare annex. The spell's deep buff effect
(03:02):
is clearly due to its ability to inflict blindness, and
not some other extra matrical condition. And I've always used
the rule that blindness causes a single penalty of mind
is four to attack. And that's all. Chapter thirty four,
(03:23):
Part one, Day twenty eight after noon, mythic event meaning
attract elements, party status, achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points,
Cord three of eighteen, de Renni sixteen of sixteen, ten
(03:46):
Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair Wind twenty one of twenty
six supplies. The Companions have eight portions of food, remaining
spells available. Cord can cast slow poison, still blind tentyars
(04:08):
slashed at the air in front of him, grunting with
desperate effort. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It's gone, little mouse.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Said de Rennie ten Tyars seemed not to hear and
cut the air once again with the sword of lear
Hane Tenier.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You can stop. The creature is gone. What we drove
it off? It ran into the woods. We are safe.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Do anyone over to calm his brother until his vision returned. Meanwhile,
Achillia crossed the broken gap in the stairs and walked
over to Cord. The construct was standing by the well,
supporting himself with one hand on its stony rim. He
was looking into the forest in the direction the giant
troll had fled. Kord's face was painted on and never
showed any more or less emotion than a kind of
(04:55):
mild pleasantness. But at this moment that Killie could have
sworn she saw concern, concern and pain. Oh God, she
began taking in his cracked leg and dented Torso just
look at what that monster did. You lean on me
if you like, I'm here for you. At that moment,
there was a sound from a nearby tree, and Robin
(05:16):
flew down from the upper branches to land on Cord's head.
Not far off, Fairwind was crouching down over the bloody
shape of the blink dog, who had appeared from out
of nowhere to help them fight the troll and had
almost paid with its life. Its snowy white fur was
crimson with blood. When the cleric stroked it behind the ears,
he whimpered and nuzzled his hand. Fairwin stowed his cudgel
(05:39):
in his pack so that the handle stuck out over
his shoulder that he slid both arms under the injured
dog and stood up. We should be away from this
place before that devil decides to return, he said. Nobody disagreed.
The pieces are not going to risk another encounter with
(06:01):
the troll by staying in de rowth to search the
ruins outside. Instead, they'll head north, trying to put some
distance between themselves and the monster, while going in what
they believe is the right direction. Actually, they don't really
know where they should go, beyond that there are mountains
to the north, and that those same mountains appear in
some of Odok's sketches. By now, they strongly suspect that
(06:22):
Odok Zagog never lived here and that their decision to
come was a mistake. Balkene's directions have not been proven wrong.
After all, Their destination therefore is probably somewhere to the northeast,
but since the troll went east, wisdom dictates that they
head north to minimize the risk of another run. In,
of course, there is still a risk. And you know,
(06:45):
I think that this region would likely be free of
all hazards except for that giant troll. I mean, it's
possible that it could coexist with other dangerous creatures, but
I do think it's unlikely. With all that in mind,
for the rest of this day, I will not roll
for any wandering encounter. Since Cord is badly injured and
fair Wind is carrying the blink Dog, I will rule
that the party can only make four miles before they
(07:07):
need to stop and make camp. So that takes care
of day twenty eight. But I think I might as
well go ahead and make all the Heck's crawl rolls
for the next day two. There's nothing else that the
narrative demands at this time. We begin with the weather.
The seventeen means day twenty nine will be a perfect
summer day, bright and warm. Next up is stumble Upon.
I'm almost hoping I don't get a wonder of twenty here.
(07:29):
I wouldn't know how to interpret those at this time.
But let's see what the dice gods have to say.
The thirteen is a bit ominous, but it means no results.
I'll take it and thank them for it. Now it's
time to roll for a wandering encounter. I'll say that
this close to Duroth, specifically because the giant troll has
made its layer there at these past seven years, that
only on a roll of six on a D six
(07:51):
will there be any encounter. If there is, there'll be
a fifty percent chance it's the troll itself, fully healed
and ready to fight again. On a DC, I've got one,
all right. I interpret this as an extreme no. The
terrain inclines and the woods become thick with closely packed trees.
A quick Google search tells me that beach trees can
(08:12):
grow so close to each other that their branches and
even trunks will occasionally fuse together. So this forest of
beach is easily passable by the companions who travel in
single file, but it would be troublesome for the troll
simply because of its size. I think that once they
enter into this new region, the companions effectively have a
barrier between themselves and the troll, and so there will
(08:32):
be no chance of another encounter with it going forward.
All right, I think it's almost time to get back
to the narrative. But while the action is paused, I
should go ahead and make rolls for a fair Wind's
inevitable cure light wounds. Spells one for each cord and
the Blink Dog cord will receive four extra points and
the dog will get a bad luck. Just two, Chapter
(09:03):
thirty four, Part two, Day twenty nine dawn mythic event
meaning attract elements, party status Achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points,
Court eight of eighteen after natural and magical healing, de
(09:24):
Ani sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair
Wind twenty two of twenty six after receiving one point
of natural healing, the blink Dog six of sixteen after
natural and magical healing supplies. The companions have four portions
(09:45):
of food remaining Spells available. Achille can cast and large
message glitter dust and detect evil cord can cast and tangle,
locate plants and animals, slow poison and creed water. Derannie
(10:08):
woke Achillea with a grunt and a shake of her shoulder,
and the moment her eyes opened, he immediately lay down
to sleep without a word. Achilia rubbed her eyes and
smiled a cord who sat a little ways off. When
she opened her spell book, the wooden construct leaned over
to sit silently beside her while she studied. Through the
trees on the eastern horizon, a thin line of light
(10:31):
showed where the sun would soon make its appearance, but
for now, the forest hummed with the sounds of night creatures,
and the moon still supplied the better part of the
available light. As she flipped through the pages of her
book of spells, the fireflies came out, winking and flickering,
flickering and winking. They flew in random zigzags all around,
(10:53):
and their presence cheered her. For no special reason. Achilia
turned to the pages in her book containing spells that
she hit her once written but had never understood. There,
in the peaceful dawn light, with the fireflies all around,
one of her erstwhile incomprehensible spells, opened its secrets to her.
As the morning light crept closer, glowing brighter and brighter,
(11:15):
she began to commit her new spell of detect evil
to memory. She also decided to prepare the enchantment's message
and enlarge instead of her usual pair of shrink spells,
since that magic had failed her twice in the battle
with the monster. But the time her companions had woken
up and were arranging their things and stowing their bed rolls,
(11:36):
she had every word memorized. Nearby, Dornni was portioning out
half of the remaining massi bell so they might break
their fast while Fairwind tended to Cord and the injured dog.
The latter had taken a real liking to both fair
Wind and Achillie. Even though it had been by the
sweat of Dorenni's brow that it had been brought to safety,
the Elpha carried it all the way here from Drowth.
(11:58):
The companion's quietly crunched on massam bell and drank from
a cool spring that Cord produced from the ground using
his new ability. Altogether, it made very small and simple,
but surprisingly filling meal. Near the end of their breakfast,
Tanty had looked from Kord to the dog, whose fur
was still matted with blood. He asked a question, to
no one in particular, do you think we hurt that
(12:20):
monster as badly as it hurt us. His brow was
furrowed as he was remembering how the creature's wounds had
started healing right after they had been inflicted. He wiped
some crumbs from his mouth with his forearm, which now
bore a long, jagged scar where a direwolf had bitten him.
Since he spoken Elvish, Fairwood and Cord could not understand
the question, he was d Reni, who replied.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I think we gave as well as we got.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
He mused, and then added, there's.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
A dwarfish saying for this kind of situation, how does
it go again? Ada varum olte barn alov rask kharoti
nihey mulochranouf. Sorry, my dwarfsh is not very good.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Achillea and tent Here both asked at the same time,
what does it mean? Dorennie smiled a dry smile and answered.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
In trading, you know you have reached a fair deal
only when both sides are miserable.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Achillia didn't know what to make of the idiom, so
she just sniffed and said, I didn't know you could
speak Dwarvish. Dramatis personae de Rennie ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You know you've reached a fair deal when both sides
are miserable, muttered the old dwarf with a scowl.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
He motioned for a few others of his race to
collect the bags and boxes that his visitors had brought. Well,
have you received all that you came for? A half
dozen dwarves and an equal number of elves were congregated
at a hillside stone built trading post, where they were
exchanging goods, as they did too or three times a year,
As it was customary to speak the language of the
(14:03):
hosts in such exchanges. The else replied in dwarfish, iron, gold, outon, copper,
and mercury. All accounted for, said the primary negotiator, nodding.
He was an elder with twin braids of gray hair
that fell down on either side of his neck in
front of his shoulders. Although the primary negotiator's real name
was ray Lair, he was called valent Goat or the
(14:26):
old crow by his companions, who were presently tasked with
hauling away the various chests of metals and other elements
the hill dwarfs had brought. Derretti was there as a porter.
He received a chest from a ruddy faced dwarf who
was at least half as wide as he was tall.
A novice could never have guessed how heavy the chest
would be, considering the ease with which the dwarf and
(14:47):
trader had lifted it. But this was not Durany's first excursion.
All the same, he strained under the effort as grunted
the dwarf. Duranny knew this word. It meant iron. He'd
been studying dwarf USh for eight years in preparation for
his career as a trader. One day, his parents hoped
he might lead a group as a primary negotiator, but
(15:08):
for now he was just a porter. Drannie had been
making trips like this one for only three years, the
blink of an eye in the career of an elf,
and he already disliked the work. But he enjoyed the
company of the dwarfs more or less, and had come
to know all the members of this trading company by name.
The one who had just handed him the chest was
called ard Nore. Ardnoor had once confessed to him that
(15:30):
he would have preferred to have become a builder instead
of a trader.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I would rather be making bridges and walls or crafting
doors and chests. Back home in the Greek work room,
he had lamented. Dernni had wanted to confide in return
that he too had doubts about a lifelong career in trading,
but he'd held his tongue. Dwarfing culture was not Elvin culture.
This was a lesson that the Old Crow repeated several
times per trip, and a shared personal secret did not
(15:57):
necessarily invite reciprocity among the Dwarfs of their culture. There
is much to larn.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
The Old Crow would add, but that is why we
practice our craft over decades decades. Der Anny did not
want to carry iron chests for decades, nor did he
want to negotiate the precarious rules, norms, and laws that
made up the dwarve in interaction for that long. He
enjoyed the frequent travel, the company of the hill folk,
(16:22):
and the challenge of the dwarf and tongue. He also
found the Old Crow to be a good leader and mentor,
but he knew that this was not the life for him.
It was on this journey, only his twelfth since he
embarked on the career, that he decided he would need
to break the news to his mother and father when
he got home. He would tell them he needed to
do something else. Perhaps he could be a sentry like Baron,
(16:45):
or a hunter like Segar or mikef He wasn't sure
what his heart truly desired. He only knew that this
was not it. I had been struggling to apply the
event meaning attract elements ever since I rolled it up.
(17:06):
My mind first went to the four elements earth, air, fire,
and water, but the best I could come up with
was a rain dance, and I had zero idea but
how to implement that. Next I thought of story elements,
but that felt a bit like a cop out. In
the end, the solution just fell on top of me,
by sheer luck. I'd been carrying around several Dwarven expressions
(17:26):
in my back pocket for a while, waiting for a
chance to use them, and I found a chance when
the pieces talked about the battle with the Troll. That
in turn gave me the idea to flesh out part
of Dorani's back story by giving him a failed career
in trading, something I had already established as something the
marsh Ell Society would have to include. But it wasn't
until I started listing the goods exchanged copper, iron and
(17:48):
gold that I realized I was fulfilling the event, meaning
attract elements. It's funny periodic elements I had never considered anyway.
I'm going to need a new pair from mythic tables.
So where's my D one hundreds? Here they are rolling
for action eighty six passion and for subject sixty five intrigues. Huh.
(18:12):
For once, I know exactly how to use this, and
I might as well do that right away. Chapter thirty four,
Part three, twenty two years ago, somewhere in the woods
near Summer Hill, Old Fay was wandering through the woods,
(18:38):
humming tunelessly and bent over as he scanned the undergrowth
for little purple flowers of a specific shape. These flowers,
he knew, belonged to the plant that would yield bat's
head roots. If he could find some, he could complete
a potion he'd been trying to perfect that would allow
them biber to discard their corporeal form, transmit flush to vapor,
and move about as a cloud might do. It was
(19:01):
late summer and the sun was shining through the tree tops.
A mild gust of wind knocked some of the foliage
loose from above, and it floated down all around like confetti.
Alve was so intent on finding the correct plant he
didn't even notice. In fact, when he came to a
figure lying on the forest floor, he almost stepped on it.
Oh oh, my, exclaimed Albay, what have we Here? At
(19:25):
his feet was a female elf, fast asleep. Her face
was beautiful and her slender form sublime. Her hair was
so light blonde that it was almost white. She wore
a light armor made of leather, and there was a
curved sword near her hand. He gave the impression that
she had simply dropped to the ground in slumber. Alve
might have mistaken her her dead if it hadn't been
(19:46):
for the steady rise and fall of her breast. When
he bent down over her upon his exclamations, the ELF's
eyelids fluttered open, and Alvez was struck by the golden
hue of her irises. Something transpired at that moment, and
both elf and wizard froze. It was as though some
kind of magic passed between them. They smiled foolishly at
(20:09):
each other in warmth and delight, as the two were
simultaneously stricken with pure, unbreakable, unexplainable love. And just like that,
I've used my current event, meaning as I can confidently
call that last scene an intriguing passion, and now I
(20:31):
need a new set. No reason to delay. Here's the
rolls eighteen and six, which gives me Move Reality a
lucky day. I know what to do with this too,
but before I work it out in the narrative, there's
one more role I need to make for the day's
hex crawl. It's what I skipped by earlier, and that's
(20:52):
my forging role. Cord will spend his Locate Plants and
Animals spell as usual to add the plus one, so
using in D six A one to three will mean success.
Here's the role A three. That's a winner. I'll say
that with the constructs help, the pieces managed to kill
a rabbit which will provide enough food for each party
member for one day. Chapter thirty four, Part four, Day
(21:22):
twenty nine, late afternoon mythic event meaning Move Reality party status.
The party status is unchanged with the exception that Cord
has used his spells of locate plants and animals and
create water.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
How long do you think that animal intends to follow us?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
As Derennie frowning, I think she intends to stay with
us for good.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Kate mckillya's reply, She of course, didn't you notice?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Dour Rennie blushed despite himself.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Anyway, I would be glad if she went on her way, Bailly,
I like heaving her aunt. It's another mouth to feed, Achillie.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
She fought and bled for us to any Did you
forget that part?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I know she did, But animals can be unpredictable.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, I predict that she's with us now. Achillie turned
out to have the right of things. The bloom dog
followed the companions all through the day, and later in
the afternoon once again proved her usefulness by running down
and killing a rabbit that Court located. It was a
good sized jack rabbit, significantly larger than the one Tantier
had killed earlier in their journey, and it would provide
(22:41):
enough sustenance to maintain the entire group for a full
day if they could preserve the meat. To this end,
he was decided among the party members to build a
small campfire when they eventually stopped for the night to
cook their catch. This would make the meat last longer
and would also allow fair Wind to concentrate his powers
on healing those members of the group. That were still
wounded instead of preserving their food. Evening came on gradually.
(23:13):
With the post sunset sky visible through the ranks of
beech trees. It made for a striking pattern of alternating
orange and black. Fatigued and footsore, the companions found a
good spot to make their camp instead about arranging their
bed rolls and building a small fire. Once that was done,
Duranni found a pair of wide shaped sticks and jammed
(23:34):
them into the earth to either side of the fire
while tent Tears skinned, cleaned, and spitted the jack rabbit.
The smell from the cooking meat was far too appealing
for the companions not to eat a little of the catch,
but good sands prevailed and the majority of the rabbit
was wrapped in broad leaves in the Elvish fashion and
packed to be consumed during the following day's march. Still hungry,
(23:56):
everyone said about their evening activities. Dur Anny sharpened sword
ten tear, re checked the fletching on his arrows cord.
With Robin on his shoulder, found the place to sit
and began his usual nighttime vigil, and Fairwood read from
his prayer book. Achilia sat cross legged with the blink
dog's head on her lap. She scratched her behind the
(24:17):
ears fondly. You should have a name, she said, partly
to herself and partly to the animal. But what kind
of a name was suit of special creature like you?
Achilia stared into the flames of the campfire with its
colors competing in their vibrant dance, and then suddenly she knew.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Your name shall be Flicker. Do you like that name?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
The dog looked up, without lifting her head from Achillea's lap,
her ice blue eyes, seeming to understand. When the animal's
tail began to thrash back and forth in pleasure, Achillea
smiled and said, Flicker, it is.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Thank you for.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Listening to Tale of the Manticore. If you would like
to support the show, there are many ways to help.
You can recommend it online or to friends. You can
like and repost episode announcements on social media. You can
pick up one of my offerings on drive through RPG
or a Tale of the mandicor t shirt at Bare
Arts Dot store, or you can rate or review the
show on your podcatter of choice. These things go such
(25:22):
a long way to spread the word, so to all
the folks who continue to show up with their support.
I'm eternally grateful. At this point, I'd like to read
a listener review. This one was left by Moses TK
on Apple Podcasts. Moses TK writes, make Mine mandicor this
is the podcast equivalent of comfort food. I eagerly await
each episode. Settle into a comfy chair and join the adventure.
(25:46):
Make mine manticor that's got a seriously good ring to it.
I feel like it should be on a T shirt
or something. Anyway, Hopefully, for as long as you've got
a comfy chair, I'll be making more manticore. Thank you
very much for the kind review, Moses. Next, i'd like
to thank by core cast of voice talent ky Ellen,
Kevin Barringer, and David Cooper played Dorenni, Tandier and fair
(26:08):
Wind and as always, elevate this show with their characterizations.
I'd also like to introduce a newcomer to the cast,
playing the roles of both the old Dwarf and the
younger Dwarf, Artgar from Dorenny's flashback. It's James from the
Myth and Moon hybrid audio drama and actual play podcast.
If you haven't yet discovered myth and Moon. You can
sample the show at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com. Finally
(26:31):
returning to the show as Oldbay is Andrew Flag, whose
voice always sounds just right in the mix. A big
thanks to all five actors who contributed to this episode.
For those curious to learn more about Tale of the Mantacre,
I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
show and RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts,
and show notes. You can find it at Tale Ofthemanticore
(26:52):
dot com. To get in touch with me, I'm at
Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale of the Manticor dot
Blueskydow Social, Tale of the manticorrep Podcast on Instagram, or
Tale of Themanticar at gmail dot com. The adventure will
continue on the next episode of Tale of the Manta Car.
It's the story for Chaos Rolls.
Hey, this is DM David from Fancy Pants and you
are listening to Tale of the Manicore.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
(00:30):
season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a cross breeding
between two different species of storytelling. Here you will find
the unpredictability of old school paper and dice games with
the story craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character
is sacred and none will be spared if the dice
(00:51):
decide their fate is at hand. According to Laura, the
Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
(01:12):
time un Tail of the Mantigor Chapter thirty three is
really about just one thing, the fight to escape from Derowth.
A giant forest troll bars the exit, so the companions
begin by trying to drive it off with missile fire.
The plan doesn't accomplish much. In fact, it makes things
worse because it anchors the monster, and now there's a
chance that will destroy the wooden stairs that lead from
(01:33):
the cave mouth down to the forest floor. If that
were to happen, the piece's predicament would become truly dire,
and so the time for debate and strategy is over.
They make a run for it, fighting as they go.
The combat that ensues is a chaotic nail biter. Achilles
glitter dust spell successfully blinds the troll, but it also
does the same to several allies. And speaking of allies,
(01:56):
the tide of battle turns again when one of the
blink dogs that the Pieces saved in episode twenty five
appears and joins the fight. The battle ends when the
giant forest Troll, against all odds, fails a morale check
and flees into the woods. While injuries have been sustained, incredibly,
no party members have been lost, and it even looks
like one has been gained. I would have bet real
(02:23):
money at the start of that fight that at least
one of my PCs was going to die, and die horribly.
I could envision the fight going any number of ways,
but I did not expect that the giant troll would
end up rutting away. RPGs really are a bottomless source
of wonder, anxiety, and triumph.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Now, it occurs to me that there just might be
some folks out there who have a degree in RPG law,
and they might fairly point out that the spell glitter
Dust does not just inflict a minus four penalty to
those who fail their save against its effects. It also applies,
by the book, the same penalty to armor class and
saving throws. I overrode this in order to be consistent
with my own macare annex. The spell's deep buff effect
(03:02):
is clearly due to its ability to inflict blindness, and
not some other extra matrical condition. And I've always used
the rule that blindness causes a single penalty of mind
is four to attack. And that's all. Chapter thirty four,
(03:23):
Part one, Day twenty eight after noon, mythic event meaning
attract elements, party status, achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points,
Cord three of eighteen, de Renni sixteen of sixteen, ten
(03:46):
Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair Wind twenty one of twenty
six supplies. The Companions have eight portions of food, remaining
spells available. Cord can cast slow poison, still blind tentyars
(04:08):
slashed at the air in front of him, grunting with
desperate effort. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It's gone, little mouse.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Said de Rennie ten Tyars seemed not to hear and
cut the air once again with the sword of lear
Hane Tenier.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You can stop. The creature is gone. What we drove
it off? It ran into the woods. We are safe.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Do anyone over to calm his brother until his vision returned. Meanwhile,
Achillia crossed the broken gap in the stairs and walked
over to Cord. The construct was standing by the well,
supporting himself with one hand on its stony rim. He
was looking into the forest in the direction the giant
troll had fled. Kord's face was painted on and never
showed any more or less emotion than a kind of
(04:55):
mild pleasantness. But at this moment that Killie could have
sworn she saw concern, concern and pain. Oh God, she
began taking in his cracked leg and dented Torso just
look at what that monster did. You lean on me
if you like, I'm here for you. At that moment,
there was a sound from a nearby tree, and Robin
(05:16):
flew down from the upper branches to land on Cord's head.
Not far off, Fairwind was crouching down over the bloody
shape of the blink dog, who had appeared from out
of nowhere to help them fight the troll and had
almost paid with its life. Its snowy white fur was
crimson with blood. When the cleric stroked it behind the ears,
he whimpered and nuzzled his hand. Fairwin stowed his cudgel
(05:39):
in his pack so that the handle stuck out over
his shoulder that he slid both arms under the injured
dog and stood up. We should be away from this
place before that devil decides to return, he said. Nobody disagreed.
The pieces are not going to risk another encounter with
(06:01):
the troll by staying in de rowth to search the
ruins outside. Instead, they'll head north, trying to put some
distance between themselves and the monster, while going in what
they believe is the right direction. Actually, they don't really
know where they should go, beyond that there are mountains
to the north, and that those same mountains appear in
some of Odok's sketches. By now, they strongly suspect that
(06:22):
Odok Zagog never lived here and that their decision to
come was a mistake. Balkene's directions have not been proven wrong.
After all, Their destination therefore is probably somewhere to the northeast,
but since the troll went east, wisdom dictates that they
head north to minimize the risk of another run. In,
of course, there is still a risk. And you know,
(06:45):
I think that this region would likely be free of
all hazards except for that giant troll. I mean, it's
possible that it could coexist with other dangerous creatures, but
I do think it's unlikely. With all that in mind,
for the rest of this day, I will not roll
for any wandering encounter. Since Cord is badly injured and
fair Wind is carrying the blink Dog, I will rule
that the party can only make four miles before they
(07:07):
need to stop and make camp. So that takes care
of day twenty eight. But I think I might as
well go ahead and make all the Heck's crawl rolls
for the next day two. There's nothing else that the
narrative demands at this time. We begin with the weather.
The seventeen means day twenty nine will be a perfect
summer day, bright and warm. Next up is stumble Upon.
I'm almost hoping I don't get a wonder of twenty here.
(07:29):
I wouldn't know how to interpret those at this time.
But let's see what the dice gods have to say.
The thirteen is a bit ominous, but it means no results.
I'll take it and thank them for it. Now it's
time to roll for a wandering encounter. I'll say that
this close to Duroth, specifically because the giant troll has
made its layer there at these past seven years, that
only on a roll of six on a D six
(07:51):
will there be any encounter. If there is, there'll be
a fifty percent chance it's the troll itself, fully healed
and ready to fight again. On a DC, I've got one,
all right. I interpret this as an extreme no. The
terrain inclines and the woods become thick with closely packed trees.
A quick Google search tells me that beach trees can
(08:12):
grow so close to each other that their branches and
even trunks will occasionally fuse together. So this forest of
beach is easily passable by the companions who travel in
single file, but it would be troublesome for the troll
simply because of its size. I think that once they
enter into this new region, the companions effectively have a
barrier between themselves and the troll, and so there will
(08:32):
be no chance of another encounter with it going forward.
All right, I think it's almost time to get back
to the narrative. But while the action is paused, I
should go ahead and make rolls for a fair Wind's
inevitable cure light wounds. Spells one for each cord and
the Blink Dog cord will receive four extra points and
the dog will get a bad luck. Just two, Chapter
(09:03):
thirty four, Part two, Day twenty nine dawn mythic event
meaning attract elements, party status Achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points,
Court eight of eighteen after natural and magical healing, de
(09:24):
Ani sixteen of sixteen, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair
Wind twenty two of twenty six after receiving one point
of natural healing, the blink Dog six of sixteen after
natural and magical healing supplies. The companions have four portions
(09:45):
of food remaining Spells available. Achille can cast and large
message glitter dust and detect evil cord can cast and tangle,
locate plants and animals, slow poison and creed water. Derannie
(10:08):
woke Achillea with a grunt and a shake of her shoulder,
and the moment her eyes opened, he immediately lay down
to sleep without a word. Achilia rubbed her eyes and
smiled a cord who sat a little ways off. When
she opened her spell book, the wooden construct leaned over
to sit silently beside her while she studied. Through the
trees on the eastern horizon, a thin line of light
(10:31):
showed where the sun would soon make its appearance, but
for now, the forest hummed with the sounds of night creatures,
and the moon still supplied the better part of the
available light. As she flipped through the pages of her
book of spells, the fireflies came out, winking and flickering,
flickering and winking. They flew in random zigzags all around,
(10:53):
and their presence cheered her. For no special reason. Achilia
turned to the pages in her book containing spells that
she hit her once written but had never understood. There,
in the peaceful dawn light, with the fireflies all around,
one of her erstwhile incomprehensible spells, opened its secrets to her.
As the morning light crept closer, glowing brighter and brighter,
(11:15):
she began to commit her new spell of detect evil
to memory. She also decided to prepare the enchantment's message
and enlarge instead of her usual pair of shrink spells,
since that magic had failed her twice in the battle
with the monster. But the time her companions had woken
up and were arranging their things and stowing their bed rolls,
(11:36):
she had every word memorized. Nearby, Dornni was portioning out
half of the remaining massi bell so they might break
their fast while Fairwind tended to Cord and the injured dog.
The latter had taken a real liking to both fair
Wind and Achillie. Even though it had been by the
sweat of Dorenni's brow that it had been brought to safety,
the Elpha carried it all the way here from Drowth.
(11:58):
The companion's quietly crunched on massam bell and drank from
a cool spring that Cord produced from the ground using
his new ability. Altogether, it made very small and simple,
but surprisingly filling meal. Near the end of their breakfast,
Tanty had looked from Kord to the dog, whose fur
was still matted with blood. He asked a question, to
no one in particular, do you think we hurt that
(12:20):
monster as badly as it hurt us. His brow was
furrowed as he was remembering how the creature's wounds had
started healing right after they had been inflicted. He wiped
some crumbs from his mouth with his forearm, which now
bore a long, jagged scar where a direwolf had bitten him.
Since he spoken Elvish, Fairwood and Cord could not understand
the question, he was d Reni, who replied.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I think we gave as well as we got.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
He mused, and then added, there's.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
A dwarfish saying for this kind of situation, how does
it go again? Ada varum olte barn alov rask kharoti
nihey mulochranouf. Sorry, my dwarfsh is not very good.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Achillea and tent Here both asked at the same time,
what does it mean? Dorennie smiled a dry smile and answered.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
In trading, you know you have reached a fair deal
only when both sides are miserable.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Achillia didn't know what to make of the idiom, so
she just sniffed and said, I didn't know you could
speak Dwarvish. Dramatis personae de Rennie ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
You know you've reached a fair deal when both sides
are miserable, muttered the old dwarf with a scowl.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
He motioned for a few others of his race to
collect the bags and boxes that his visitors had brought. Well,
have you received all that you came for? A half
dozen dwarves and an equal number of elves were congregated
at a hillside stone built trading post, where they were
exchanging goods, as they did too or three times a year,
As it was customary to speak the language of the
(14:03):
hosts in such exchanges. The else replied in dwarfish, iron, gold, outon, copper,
and mercury. All accounted for, said the primary negotiator, nodding.
He was an elder with twin braids of gray hair
that fell down on either side of his neck in
front of his shoulders. Although the primary negotiator's real name
was ray Lair, he was called valent Goat or the
(14:26):
old crow by his companions, who were presently tasked with
hauling away the various chests of metals and other elements
the hill dwarfs had brought. Derretti was there as a porter.
He received a chest from a ruddy faced dwarf who
was at least half as wide as he was tall.
A novice could never have guessed how heavy the chest
would be, considering the ease with which the dwarf and
(14:47):
trader had lifted it. But this was not Durany's first excursion.
All the same, he strained under the effort as grunted
the dwarf. Duranny knew this word. It meant iron. He'd
been studying dwarf USh for eight years in preparation for
his career as a trader. One day, his parents hoped
he might lead a group as a primary negotiator, but
(15:08):
for now he was just a porter. Drannie had been
making trips like this one for only three years, the
blink of an eye in the career of an elf,
and he already disliked the work. But he enjoyed the
company of the dwarfs more or less, and had come
to know all the members of this trading company by name.
The one who had just handed him the chest was
called ard Nore. Ardnoor had once confessed to him that
(15:30):
he would have preferred to have become a builder instead
of a trader.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I would rather be making bridges and walls or crafting
doors and chests. Back home in the Greek work room,
he had lamented. Dernni had wanted to confide in return
that he too had doubts about a lifelong career in trading,
but he'd held his tongue. Dwarfing culture was not Elvin culture.
This was a lesson that the Old Crow repeated several
times per trip, and a shared personal secret did not
(15:57):
necessarily invite reciprocity among the Dwarfs of their culture. There
is much to larn.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
The Old Crow would add, but that is why we
practice our craft over decades decades. Der Anny did not
want to carry iron chests for decades, nor did he
want to negotiate the precarious rules, norms, and laws that
made up the dwarve in interaction for that long. He
enjoyed the frequent travel, the company of the hill folk,
(16:22):
and the challenge of the dwarf and tongue. He also
found the Old Crow to be a good leader and mentor,
but he knew that this was not the life for him.
It was on this journey, only his twelfth since he
embarked on the career, that he decided he would need
to break the news to his mother and father when
he got home. He would tell them he needed to
do something else. Perhaps he could be a sentry like Baron,
(16:45):
or a hunter like Segar or mikef He wasn't sure
what his heart truly desired. He only knew that this
was not it. I had been struggling to apply the
event meaning attract elements ever since I rolled it up.
(17:06):
My mind first went to the four elements earth, air, fire,
and water, but the best I could come up with
was a rain dance, and I had zero idea but
how to implement that. Next I thought of story elements,
but that felt a bit like a cop out. In
the end, the solution just fell on top of me,
by sheer luck. I'd been carrying around several Dwarven expressions
(17:26):
in my back pocket for a while, waiting for a
chance to use them, and I found a chance when
the pieces talked about the battle with the Troll. That
in turn gave me the idea to flesh out part
of Dorani's back story by giving him a failed career
in trading, something I had already established as something the
marsh Ell Society would have to include. But it wasn't
until I started listing the goods exchanged copper, iron and
(17:48):
gold that I realized I was fulfilling the event, meaning
attract elements. It's funny periodic elements I had never considered anyway.
I'm going to need a new pair from mythic tables.
So where's my D one hundreds? Here they are rolling
for action eighty six passion and for subject sixty five intrigues. Huh.
(18:12):
For once, I know exactly how to use this, and
I might as well do that right away. Chapter thirty four,
Part three, twenty two years ago, somewhere in the woods
near Summer Hill, Old Fay was wandering through the woods,
(18:38):
humming tunelessly and bent over as he scanned the undergrowth
for little purple flowers of a specific shape. These flowers,
he knew, belonged to the plant that would yield bat's
head roots. If he could find some, he could complete
a potion he'd been trying to perfect that would allow
them biber to discard their corporeal form, transmit flush to vapor,
and move about as a cloud might do. It was
(19:01):
late summer and the sun was shining through the tree tops.
A mild gust of wind knocked some of the foliage
loose from above, and it floated down all around like confetti.
Alve was so intent on finding the correct plant he
didn't even notice. In fact, when he came to a
figure lying on the forest floor, he almost stepped on it.
Oh oh, my, exclaimed Albay, what have we Here? At
(19:25):
his feet was a female elf, fast asleep. Her face
was beautiful and her slender form sublime. Her hair was
so light blonde that it was almost white. She wore
a light armor made of leather, and there was a
curved sword near her hand. He gave the impression that
she had simply dropped to the ground in slumber. Alve
might have mistaken her her dead if it hadn't been
(19:46):
for the steady rise and fall of her breast. When
he bent down over her upon his exclamations, the ELF's
eyelids fluttered open, and Alvez was struck by the golden
hue of her irises. Something transpired at that moment, and
both elf and wizard froze. It was as though some
kind of magic passed between them. They smiled foolishly at
(20:09):
each other in warmth and delight, as the two were
simultaneously stricken with pure, unbreakable, unexplainable love. And just like that,
I've used my current event, meaning as I can confidently
call that last scene an intriguing passion, and now I
(20:31):
need a new set. No reason to delay. Here's the
rolls eighteen and six, which gives me Move Reality a
lucky day. I know what to do with this too,
but before I work it out in the narrative, there's
one more role I need to make for the day's
hex crawl. It's what I skipped by earlier, and that's
(20:52):
my forging role. Cord will spend his Locate Plants and
Animals spell as usual to add the plus one, so
using in D six A one to three will mean success.
Here's the role A three. That's a winner. I'll say
that with the constructs help, the pieces managed to kill
a rabbit which will provide enough food for each party
member for one day. Chapter thirty four, Part four, Day
(21:22):
twenty nine, late afternoon mythic event meaning Move Reality party status.
The party status is unchanged with the exception that Cord
has used his spells of locate plants and animals and
create water.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
How long do you think that animal intends to follow us?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
As Derennie frowning, I think she intends to stay with
us for good.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Kate mckillya's reply, She of course, didn't you notice?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Dour Rennie blushed despite himself.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Anyway, I would be glad if she went on her way, Bailly,
I like heaving her aunt. It's another mouth to feed, Achillie.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
She fought and bled for us to any Did you
forget that part?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I know she did, But animals can be unpredictable.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, I predict that she's with us now. Achillie turned
out to have the right of things. The bloom dog
followed the companions all through the day, and later in
the afternoon once again proved her usefulness by running down
and killing a rabbit that Court located. It was a
good sized jack rabbit, significantly larger than the one Tantier
had killed earlier in their journey, and it would provide
(22:41):
enough sustenance to maintain the entire group for a full
day if they could preserve the meat. To this end,
he was decided among the party members to build a
small campfire when they eventually stopped for the night to
cook their catch. This would make the meat last longer
and would also allow fair Wind to concentrate his powers
on healing those members of the group. That were still
wounded instead of preserving their food. Evening came on gradually.
(23:13):
With the post sunset sky visible through the ranks of
beech trees. It made for a striking pattern of alternating
orange and black. Fatigued and footsore, the companions found a
good spot to make their camp instead about arranging their
bed rolls and building a small fire. Once that was done,
Duranni found a pair of wide shaped sticks and jammed
(23:34):
them into the earth to either side of the fire
while tent Tears skinned, cleaned, and spitted the jack rabbit.
The smell from the cooking meat was far too appealing
for the companions not to eat a little of the catch,
but good sands prevailed and the majority of the rabbit
was wrapped in broad leaves in the Elvish fashion and
packed to be consumed during the following day's march. Still hungry,
(23:56):
everyone said about their evening activities. Dur Anny sharpened sword
ten tear, re checked the fletching on his arrows cord.
With Robin on his shoulder, found the place to sit
and began his usual nighttime vigil, and Fairwood read from
his prayer book. Achilia sat cross legged with the blink
dog's head on her lap. She scratched her behind the
(24:17):
ears fondly. You should have a name, she said, partly
to herself and partly to the animal. But what kind
of a name was suit of special creature like you?
Achilia stared into the flames of the campfire with its
colors competing in their vibrant dance, and then suddenly she knew.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Your name shall be Flicker. Do you like that name?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
The dog looked up, without lifting her head from Achillea's lap,
her ice blue eyes, seeming to understand. When the animal's
tail began to thrash back and forth in pleasure, Achillea
smiled and said, Flicker, it is.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Thank you for.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Listening to Tale of the Manticore. If you would like
to support the show, there are many ways to help.
You can recommend it online or to friends. You can
like and repost episode announcements on social media. You can
pick up one of my offerings on drive through RPG
or a Tale of the mandicor t shirt at Bare
Arts Dot store, or you can rate or review the
show on your podcatter of choice. These things go such
(25:22):
a long way to spread the word, so to all
the folks who continue to show up with their support.
I'm eternally grateful. At this point, I'd like to read
a listener review. This one was left by Moses TK
on Apple Podcasts. Moses TK writes, make Mine mandicor this
is the podcast equivalent of comfort food. I eagerly await
each episode. Settle into a comfy chair and join the adventure.
(25:46):
Make mine manticor that's got a seriously good ring to it.
I feel like it should be on a T shirt
or something. Anyway, Hopefully, for as long as you've got
a comfy chair, I'll be making more manticore. Thank you
very much for the kind review, Moses. Next, i'd like
to thank by core cast of voice talent ky Ellen,
Kevin Barringer, and David Cooper played Dorenni, Tandier and fair
(26:08):
Wind and as always, elevate this show with their characterizations.
I'd also like to introduce a newcomer to the cast,
playing the roles of both the old Dwarf and the
younger Dwarf, Artgar from Dorenny's flashback. It's James from the
Myth and Moon hybrid audio drama and actual play podcast.
If you haven't yet discovered myth and Moon. You can
sample the show at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com. Finally
(26:31):
returning to the show as Oldbay is Andrew Flag, whose
voice always sounds just right in the mix. A big
thanks to all five actors who contributed to this episode.
For those curious to learn more about Tale of the Mantacre,
I keep a blog where I post all kinds of
show and RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts,
and show notes. You can find it at Tale Ofthemanticore
(26:52):
dot com. To get in touch with me, I'm at
Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale of the Manticor dot
Blueskydow Social, Tale of the manticorrep Podcast on Instagram, or
Tale of Themanticar at gmail dot com. The adventure will
continue on the next episode of Tale of the Manta Car.
It's the story for Chaos Rolls.
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