December 21, 2025 • 26 mins
Abuse Magic: 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):
Hi, this is Soulosdventure and you are listening to Tale
the Manticor. The following podcast is intended for a mature audience.
Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the
(00:28):
Manticor 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
(00:50):
the dice decide their fate is at hand. According to lore,
the Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
(01:12):
time on Tale of the Matigor, Chapter forty three opens
in a prison cell in the seclusium of odok Zygog.
The pieces are chained and weaponless, but they still have
the rest of their belongings. Some of them, court especially,
are injured when the magic Mouth appears on the cell
door and tells them to consider their folly. While they wait,
(01:33):
they realize there might be time to make a plan.
Several ideas are considered, but nothing really workable emerges. In
the end, they decide to rest and memorize new spells,
hoping to perform some healing magic and to find a
new opportunity in the morning. Achilia knows that the animated
suits of armor that captured them were not created by
evil magic, and therefore that odok Zygog, who presumably made them,
(01:58):
is not likely to be evil himself. For this reason,
among others, when the magic mouth reappears and tells them
that the Master of the House has decided to speak
with them, they decide not to resist. The animated armor
comes to collect them, walks them deeper into the complex,
and brings them to their destination. It is a room
of white marble that contains little other than a huge
(02:20):
floating ball of fire. Terrifyingly, the face appears in the
flames that identifies itself as odok Zygog and commends the
companions to fall to their knees. While I am impatient
to proceed with the story, it would be imprudent to
(02:40):
do so when there is a level up scheduled for
this episode. I think it makes good sense to do
that now before we take the meeting with the Zygog
fireball thing any further. For reaching level five, ten Tire
gets at D six of new hit points. I feel
like his last couple of level ups have been pretty underwhelming,
(03:00):
so I am hoping for a nice, shiny six here.
Let's roll and find out what he will get. A five, Hey,
not bad, I'll take it. Nineteen goes to twenty four.
Stat increase rolls are up next, and you know, with
that good first role, I'm ready to accept whatever else happens.
Here we go for strength before nothing there intelligence. We've
(03:25):
got a five wisdom A six here sure would be nice.
A one okay, dexterity a five, constitution a six, Oh
is that? Yes? It is? Oh, this is important. Ten twos.
Twelve goes to a thirteen, and that means he will
(03:45):
get four extra retroactive hit points added to his total.
That is very very good. Twenty four jumps to twenty eight.
Only fair Wind is hardier than the young Alf Now fantastic,
and there's still one role left to make Charisma a three.
The final part of this level up is to take
Tentyre's basic attack bonus from a plus two to a
(04:08):
plus three. I'll tell you I am more than happy
with these improvements. Will they be enough to impress a
giant talking fireball? I think we're about to find out.
Chapter forty four, Part one, day thirty seven, sometime around noon.
(04:31):
Mythic event meaning abuse magic party status Achillia eight out
of fifteen hit points, Court ten out of twenty four,
de Renni eleven out of nineteen ten Tier twenty eight
out of twenty eight, fair Wind nineteen out of thirty three,
(04:55):
Flicker sixteen of sixteen. Supplies. The companions have been without
food for one day, and henceforth will not be able
to heal naturally until they have eaten. Spells available. Achillea
can cast, shrink, message, detect evil, glitter, dust, and dispel magic.
(05:17):
Cord can cast, entangle, locate plants and animals, create water,
slow poison, hold animal, and speak with plants. Fair Wind
can cast old person Cord fear gripped Achilia almost automatically,
(05:58):
she sucked to the floor, which she simultaneously felt the
heat from the fire on her face and the cold
of the marble floor against her bare knees, Perhaps compelled
as she had been, or perhaps following her lead, the
rest of the party members did likewise flicker barked wildly,
but Achilia put a hand on her back, and the
(06:19):
animal quieted. Before them, the terrible fireball with the jack
O'Lantern eyes and mouth glared down upon the moon. Despite
her terror, Achilia knew that all the reasons that they
were here stemmed from her decisions. It was up to
her then to make it right, and besides, she still
had a promise to keep. It was this last thought
(06:41):
that rekindled her courage. She drew a deep breath, and then,
my name is a The force and the power of
the wizard voice was enough to blow her hair back
(07:02):
and send a wave of blistering heat into her face.
Why had odog Zygog brought them before him only to
refuse to let them talk. When the magic mouth that
appeared at their cell door that morning, it had said.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Intruders, a great and powerful wizard, odog Zygog has decided
to speak with you. Prepare to explain your presence in
his home. Attempt at trickery will be unsuccessful. Attempts to
resist will be dealt with severely.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
A Chilie could hear the message replaying in her head.
Was the wizard mad? It was utterly confusing. Beside her,
Fairwind was having similar thoughts, but the cleric's perception cast
a somewhat broader net on their situation. Without the burden
of responsibility for their being here, he was able to
(07:57):
think more freely received the contradiction that troubled Achilia. But
he also noticed the lack of fuel, the lack of smoke,
the cold marble against his knees that should have been warm.
He also thought he detected a familiar scent in the room,
hiding just behind that of the blazing fire. At first
he could not place it, but then it came to
(08:19):
him without a doubt. It was the smell of books.
The exact same smell was in the library that the
church of the Sacred Flame, and so moral thinking of
that place made him once again recall Sister Amadan's lesson
about optical illusions. Ferwind willed himself to see something other
than the enormous fireball in front of him, but it
(08:40):
was impossible. He might as well have held his hand
in front of his face and tried to disbelieve that
it existed. Still, he knew things were not right. He
stole a glance over to Achilie and saw something in
her features that told him she must be thinking the
same thing he was. He elbowed her in the side.
She turned toward him.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
There's something.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That ended the cleric's attempt to communicate quickly, as Achillia
snapped her mouth shut and looked away. Flicker barked again,
and Fairwind noticed that the dog was not barking at
the gigantic flaming face above the dais, but off to
one side. Now that he thought about it, she had
been barking slightly to the right of the fireball before. Too.
This train of thought was interrupted by the sudden presence
(09:34):
of Achillea's voice in his head.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Fail there's something not right about all this, the cleric wondered.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
If he were to think a reply very loudly in
his head, would Achillea hear it. He tried his best, Achillie,
I don't believe any of this is real. I think
our senses are lying to us. Earlier, you said you
might break the enchantment of our manacles with an anti
magic spell. Could you use it instead on that thing?
(10:03):
Ferwin didn't know if she had heard him or not.
All the same, while Neeli, the magic user's hands came
up as she began to cast a spell commanded the fireball,
but Achilia did not stop, neither did any of the
animated suits of armor try to prevent her. Her new
incantation spilled out of her, and when the last of
(10:24):
the arcane words passed her lips, something incredible happened. I
was half way through writing that last scene before I
thought I remembered something. A message spell can accept a
reply from the recipient. Was I just making that up?
I checked, and sure enough it can, I mentioning it
(10:46):
here in case anyone listening was also wondering the same thing.
But the main reason I stop the action was to
take a really close look at the spell entry and
the rules for dispel Magic. Here's what I learned. Dispel
magic ends spell effect within a twenty foot cube area.
It automatically dispels effects created by a lower level casters
for those cast by a more powerful magic user. It
(11:08):
has a five percent chance to fail for each level
of difference between the two wizards. Finally, magic items are
not affected by the spell. It's interesting that it says
spell effects, not effect. It's plural, which is really going
to be important in this situation, as you'll soon see
since Achilia is casting at odok Zygog directly, it will
(11:29):
not affect the animated suits of armor, but you might
be surprised at what it will affect, or i should say,
might effect. The spells she's attempting to unravel have been
cast by a wizard of higher level than herself, So
I'll need to make a roll, actually several to see which,
if any, are dispelled. I'll do these roles now, but
will keep the results hidden. Okay, the dice has spoken.
(11:58):
There is the huge face. Mid flow began to melt
from existence, so did what looked like a superficial layer
of reality. The dais of white marble and the white
marble wall behind it both faded away to reveal a
second scene. Where there was once a fire and white stone,
now there stood a pair of wooden chairs with the
(12:18):
side table between them, all arranged in front of an
enormous shelf that filled the space between floor and ceiling.
Stacked upon the shelf were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of books. It was like looking through a large hole
into another dimension. For at the edges of this library scene,
the declining vestiges of the original stark white marble chamber remained.
(12:42):
If this were not enough, as the one layer of
perception gave way to reveal the other, a person shimmered
into view. This person was very small, only about two
and a half feet tall. As the illusions filling the
space declined, they removed their doll like hands from their temples,
and their eyes, which had been narrowed in concentration, slowly
(13:03):
widened with the realization of what was happening. Once that
concentration was broken, what remained of the illusory scene began
to break down quickly. After just a few moments, the
companions found themselves standing no longer in a white marble
room dominated by an angry fireball, but a musty library
lit by a soft lamp light. The recently revealed person
(13:26):
stared at the companions. They wore black boots with toes
that curled up at the ends, brown pants, and a
black leather jerkin with a shirt of white beneath. They
had dark, curly hair that fell around pointed ears, and
very large eyes set wide in a face that wore
a look of growing apprehension. They took a step back,
moving their hands in a placating motion. The person stammered helplessly.
(13:53):
Achilie and the others were still kneeling on the ground,
and the three animated suits of armor still surrounded them.
Both sides simply stared at each other for the space
of several pregnant moments, and then, barking loudly, Flicker tore
away from their group. She raced across the room, directly
towards the diminutive stranger. Hang on, hang on, what the
(14:22):
heck is happening here? Maybe I should pause and explain
a few things. Achillia has just dispelled an elaborate phantasmal force,
the giant floating fireball, the dais, and the way marble
where all illusions. This room is actually a large library
and study. The Achillia spell also disrupted a second spell.
(14:43):
Standing to one side under the cloak of magical invisibility.
Was the person responsible for the trickery? Let's talk about
illusions a bit. I no longer have my AD and
D second edition DMG. That precious tone was abandoned when
I went away to university several decades ago, to be
tossed out by my parents. I can't blame them at
(15:03):
the time. I never expected to want or need that
stuff ever. Again. Ah, how foolish I was in my youth. Anyway,
if memory serves, that book had a section in it
about adjudicating illusions. Even in a regular game of D
and D, handling illusions is tricky business. Playing solo, it's
even more complicated. Here's some advice from that edition of
(15:25):
the DMG that I found online. I think it's useful.
It says, all illusions are cases of DM adjudication. Illusions
usually cease to affect a character if they are actively disbelieved.
Disbelief must be stated by the player based on clues
provided by the DM. Players. Stating disbelief must give a
reason for disbelief based on sensory information available to the character. So,
(15:50):
using this advice, I decided to make fair Wind suspect
that the scene in front of him was not real. However,
simply allowing him to disbelieve the illusion felt a bit
like I considered having him make a wisdom check, but
in the end went with the saving throw versus spells.
I rolled that off Mike and got an eleven against
a target of fifteen, so he failed to disbelieve the illusion,
(16:12):
but he still felt that something was wrong when he
tried to communicate this to achillea. He was silenced by
the illusory' zygogue, but Achille used her message spell to
achieve a brief secret exchange between the two. Anyway, I
figured this was enough to allow her her own saving throw,
and when I threw the dice, she passed for the
sake of the other companions. Achille then used her new
(16:33):
dispel magic incantation to reveal the truth. I needed to
make two roles here, because both the phantasmal force and
the invisibility enchantments were cast by a magic user of
higher level than Achillia. These roles were both successful, so
Achillia managed to dispel everything, and that's where we are now.
(16:58):
When they shrieked and tried to run, Flicker suddenly blinked away.
She reappeared only a dozen feet from the small figure
Flicker No. Achille cried out after the animal, but this
time her command was not heated. The dog's target managed
only a few steps before they were tackled and borne
to the ground, where the two rolled around in a
(17:18):
bundle of clothing and fur. There was a cry of panic.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Flicker.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Achille tried again let go. This time the blink dog obeyed,
releasing the person's sleeve from their jaws and backing up
just a little, but ready to spring again. A low
growl escaped her throat, causing her prey to freeze when
they tried to scoot back and away from the pale,
blue eyes and bare teeth that threatened them.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Please please, please, don't let it. I was always trying
to fight.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So you what it?
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Back?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You are, owed oak Zygog, asked.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Achilia, looking upon the pathetic and frightened creature. It did
not seem possible. Despite her incredulity, she continued, so be it.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Call off your guards or I'll have my dog rip
your throat out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
No, I mean yes, of course, right away, honor glory
your weapons and step back.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The suits of armor instantly obeyed, backing away with a clank.
They lifted their halberts so the butts of their weapons
were planted on the floor, with the tips pointed at
the ceiling. Cautiously, the other companions rose to their feet,
but Achilia was not finished.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Let's a start, now, release us from these.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
She held up her hands to show her manacled wrists.
The other hesitated, but another growl from Flicker was all
it took all right.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I will, but you must promise not to let me
come to harm.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
See lear At the arcane word, the companion's manacles all
opened of their own accord and fell to the floor
with a chorus of Achilia had no intention of making
any kind of deal with this person and completely ignored
their request for a promise. I believe, she said, stepping
forward with.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Menace, that you have some explaining to do, although.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
She did not see it. Behind her, the other party
members were trying to adjust to their new reality, with
mouths acape and eyes blinking, as though emerging from dreams.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Just go, just leave me me. Take whatever you can
to steal and leave. I won't stop you. Just please
go off your animal.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
The diminutive person had now scooted themselves back as far
as they could go, and their heaving shoulders were pressed
against the row of thick books that spanned the length
of the bottom shelf. Pale, sweating profusely and shaking visibly,
they looked like they might turn to ash in the
heat of Achilia's wrath. But Achilia did not relent steal.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
We did not come here to steal anything. When we arrived, we.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Announced our presence and asked for a audience.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, that was true. The next thing she said was
not entirely accurate. She said it anyway, and.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
It was you who attacked us and took our belongings
and threw us.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
In us out.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Da Hafelf's blood was pumping now. She felt her face
go hot.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
Worst of all, you pretended friendship to my master, only
you betray him.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Here, Achilia pulled the sketchbook from her bag and opened
it to the final page. She then held forth the
inscription and recited the words for memory.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
I hope these poor sketches will remind you that you
will always have a home in the North.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Achilia was raging.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
What do you have to say for yourself?
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Oh doak zygod, does my voppie still have a home
in the north with you?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
She spoke the last words in a poisoned sneer, with
spittle flying from her lips. Achilia hurled the sketchbook at
the cowering figure and then drew her wand holding in
front of her as though it were a knife.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Oh would you prefer his stays frozen forever in cold
stone while you pilver what you will from his book
of spells like a murderous thiefe.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
There were tears streaming down Achillia's cheeks. Now she was
so full of emotion that she felt she might burst.
She also had no idea what she was going to
do with the wand in her hand, only that it
felt right that her Voppy's attacker should squirm and beg
for their life.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, she roared, what have you to say for yourself?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
What do they have to say? It's a good question,
and I am split. Part of me wants to just
keep on writing this scene as it occurs to me,
but another part wants to stop and add a pinch
of chaos. Since I did stop, I guess you can
guess which part one out. I am going to make
some kind of role here before I continue the narrative.
I have a few options. A reaction role would do
(21:55):
the job. Another idea would be to make amoral check.
That makes even better sense. But I think I'm going
to use a third kind of check, a charisma check
for Achilia's ability to intimidate her target into real submission.
This will be a role under stat kind of check.
Since Achilia has a charisma score of nine, not a
great score, and represented in the previous scene by her
(22:17):
barely holding on to restraint. She needs to roll that
number or less on a D twenty to succeed. But
I'm going to award her a minus three to the
role to account for the situation and sudden imbalance of power,
So that makes a sixty percent chance to get what
she wants. Here comes the D twenty roll an eight. Okay,
it's clear what needs to happen next. The little figure's
(22:46):
eyes flicked past Achillia as they became aware of the
two very grim looking elves, now fitting arrows to bows
behind her, with shoulders slumped in defeat and with tears
springing from their eyes. They sniffed miserably and blubbered.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
I don't know what you want me to say.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I am not the person you think I am.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Not a thief, not a murderer, snapped the half helf
looming hugely over them. Flicker punctuated the question with a bark.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Eh no, I am none of those things.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Do you undo what you have done to my Bobby.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I don't care if I have to march you all the.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Way back home at the point of my dagger, but
you will undo that spell and restore him, but I can't.
Oh you can and buy a Haya you will.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
You don't understand?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
What don't I understand?
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I've been trying to tell you.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Their cheeks now glistened with tears, tell.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Me what I am not? Oh doak Psygog.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone, and of course thank
you for listening. If you'd like to help to support
the show, you can recommend or liken repost episode announcements
on social media. You can purchase a Tale of the
mantagor T shirt at bear Archstarts store or what are
my Offerings on drive through RPG, and of course you
can rate and review the show on your favorite broadcaster.
If you happen to listen to the show on speaker,
(24:18):
you can join the Supporters Club for two dollars a
month and get all episodes add free. I mentioned a
few episodes ago that I had always thought this was
the case, and it was not, but it is now.
By extreme gratitude to those who were patient while I
dealt with the issue, and a massive double thank you
to those who joined the remain members of the Supporters
Club even when they were not getting ad free content.
(24:38):
My listeners truly are the best. And speaking of that,
here's a listener review I would love to share. This
one was left on Apple Podcasts by ghost Entry. Ghost
Entry rights absolutely brilliant. Tale of the Mantigar is the
podcast I had been searching for, and since I have
your attention, here's why. First, the hybrid storytelling is incredibly immersive.
Watching these characters face the real possibility of their her
(25:00):
own death creates attention and connection that simply cannot exist
in a format where the listener knows they're ultimately safe.
It bonds you to them in a way that nothing
else really does. John's fidelity to the dice make every combat,
every risk the characters take into a meaningful thrill that
makes it hard to stop listening. The older I get,
the harder I find it to really connect to new
characters in fiction. Most stories don't even really try to
(25:22):
make care about them till the manticor achieves this connection
and care in a way I find genuinely unbelievable. Hey,
ghost Entry, this season, the characters have been dodging bullets
left and right. That shrope. They can keep it up because,
like you, I genuinely care about them. Thanks so very
much for the review, and I have more thanks to give.
Let's talk about this episode's cast of voice actors. We've
(25:43):
got Dave Cooper here playing fair Wind as always and
in both the voice of the Magic Mouth and the
mystery character who's revealed at the episode's conclusion. It's Amanda Tea.
Check out her art at Wicked Underscore, Loving Underscore Lies
on Instagram. Thanks so much Dave and Amanda for breathing
life into this tale. For those curious to learn more
about Tale of the Manticor, I keep a blog where
(26:05):
I post all kinds of show and RPG related stuff
like sketches, maps, tables, crafts, and showows. You can find
it at tale of Themanticore dot com. To get in
touch with me, I'm at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com,
Tale of the Manticor dot blues Guide dot Social, Tale
of the Manticore podcast on Instagram, or Tale of Themanticre
at gmail dot com. The adventual will continue on the
next episode or Tale of the Manticor. It's the story
(26:28):
where chaos rolls.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Oh
Hi, this is Soulosdventure and you are listening to Tale
the Manticor. The following podcast is intended for a mature audience.
Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the
(00:28):
Manticor 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
(00:50):
the dice decide their fate is at hand. According to lore,
the Tale of a Manticre is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
(01:12):
time on Tale of the Matigor, Chapter forty three opens
in a prison cell in the seclusium of odok Zygog.
The pieces are chained and weaponless, but they still have
the rest of their belongings. Some of them, court especially,
are injured when the magic Mouth appears on the cell
door and tells them to consider their folly. While they wait,
(01:33):
they realize there might be time to make a plan.
Several ideas are considered, but nothing really workable emerges. In
the end, they decide to rest and memorize new spells,
hoping to perform some healing magic and to find a
new opportunity in the morning. Achilia knows that the animated
suits of armor that captured them were not created by
evil magic, and therefore that odok Zygog, who presumably made them,
(01:58):
is not likely to be evil himself. For this reason,
among others, when the magic mouth reappears and tells them
that the Master of the House has decided to speak
with them, they decide not to resist. The animated armor
comes to collect them, walks them deeper into the complex,
and brings them to their destination. It is a room
of white marble that contains little other than a huge
(02:20):
floating ball of fire. Terrifyingly, the face appears in the
flames that identifies itself as odok Zygog and commends the
companions to fall to their knees. While I am impatient
to proceed with the story, it would be imprudent to
(02:40):
do so when there is a level up scheduled for
this episode. I think it makes good sense to do
that now before we take the meeting with the Zygog
fireball thing any further. For reaching level five, ten Tire
gets at D six of new hit points. I feel
like his last couple of level ups have been pretty underwhelming,
(03:00):
so I am hoping for a nice, shiny six here.
Let's roll and find out what he will get. A five, Hey,
not bad, I'll take it. Nineteen goes to twenty four.
Stat increase rolls are up next, and you know, with
that good first role, I'm ready to accept whatever else happens.
Here we go for strength before nothing there intelligence. We've
(03:25):
got a five wisdom A six here sure would be nice.
A one okay, dexterity a five, constitution a six, Oh
is that? Yes? It is? Oh, this is important. Ten twos.
Twelve goes to a thirteen, and that means he will
(03:45):
get four extra retroactive hit points added to his total.
That is very very good. Twenty four jumps to twenty eight.
Only fair Wind is hardier than the young Alf Now fantastic,
and there's still one role left to make Charisma a three.
The final part of this level up is to take
Tentyre's basic attack bonus from a plus two to a
(04:08):
plus three. I'll tell you I am more than happy
with these improvements. Will they be enough to impress a
giant talking fireball? I think we're about to find out.
Chapter forty four, Part one, day thirty seven, sometime around noon.
(04:31):
Mythic event meaning abuse magic party status Achillia eight out
of fifteen hit points, Court ten out of twenty four,
de Renni eleven out of nineteen ten Tier twenty eight
out of twenty eight, fair Wind nineteen out of thirty three,
(04:55):
Flicker sixteen of sixteen. Supplies. The companions have been without
food for one day, and henceforth will not be able
to heal naturally until they have eaten. Spells available. Achillea
can cast, shrink, message, detect evil, glitter, dust, and dispel magic.
(05:17):
Cord can cast, entangle, locate plants and animals, create water,
slow poison, hold animal, and speak with plants. Fair Wind
can cast old person Cord fear gripped Achilia almost automatically,
(05:58):
she sucked to the floor, which she simultaneously felt the
heat from the fire on her face and the cold
of the marble floor against her bare knees, Perhaps compelled
as she had been, or perhaps following her lead, the
rest of the party members did likewise flicker barked wildly,
but Achilia put a hand on her back, and the
(06:19):
animal quieted. Before them, the terrible fireball with the jack
O'Lantern eyes and mouth glared down upon the moon. Despite
her terror, Achilia knew that all the reasons that they
were here stemmed from her decisions. It was up to
her then to make it right, and besides, she still
had a promise to keep. It was this last thought
(06:41):
that rekindled her courage. She drew a deep breath, and then,
my name is a The force and the power of
the wizard voice was enough to blow her hair back
(07:02):
and send a wave of blistering heat into her face.
Why had odog Zygog brought them before him only to
refuse to let them talk. When the magic mouth that
appeared at their cell door that morning, it had said.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Intruders, a great and powerful wizard, odog Zygog has decided
to speak with you. Prepare to explain your presence in
his home. Attempt at trickery will be unsuccessful. Attempts to
resist will be dealt with severely.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
A Chilie could hear the message replaying in her head.
Was the wizard mad? It was utterly confusing. Beside her,
Fairwind was having similar thoughts, but the cleric's perception cast
a somewhat broader net on their situation. Without the burden
of responsibility for their being here, he was able to
(07:57):
think more freely received the contradiction that troubled Achilia. But
he also noticed the lack of fuel, the lack of smoke,
the cold marble against his knees that should have been warm.
He also thought he detected a familiar scent in the room,
hiding just behind that of the blazing fire. At first
he could not place it, but then it came to
(08:19):
him without a doubt. It was the smell of books.
The exact same smell was in the library that the
church of the Sacred Flame, and so moral thinking of
that place made him once again recall Sister Amadan's lesson
about optical illusions. Ferwind willed himself to see something other
than the enormous fireball in front of him, but it
(08:40):
was impossible. He might as well have held his hand
in front of his face and tried to disbelieve that
it existed. Still, he knew things were not right. He
stole a glance over to Achilie and saw something in
her features that told him she must be thinking the
same thing he was. He elbowed her in the side.
She turned toward him.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
There's something.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That ended the cleric's attempt to communicate quickly, as Achillia
snapped her mouth shut and looked away. Flicker barked again,
and Fairwind noticed that the dog was not barking at
the gigantic flaming face above the dais, but off to
one side. Now that he thought about it, she had
been barking slightly to the right of the fireball before. Too.
This train of thought was interrupted by the sudden presence
(09:34):
of Achillea's voice in his head.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Fail there's something not right about all this, the cleric wondered.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
If he were to think a reply very loudly in
his head, would Achillea hear it. He tried his best, Achillie,
I don't believe any of this is real. I think
our senses are lying to us. Earlier, you said you
might break the enchantment of our manacles with an anti
magic spell. Could you use it instead on that thing?
(10:03):
Ferwin didn't know if she had heard him or not.
All the same, while Neeli, the magic user's hands came
up as she began to cast a spell commanded the fireball,
but Achilia did not stop, neither did any of the
animated suits of armor try to prevent her. Her new
incantation spilled out of her, and when the last of
(10:24):
the arcane words passed her lips, something incredible happened. I
was half way through writing that last scene before I
thought I remembered something. A message spell can accept a
reply from the recipient. Was I just making that up?
I checked, and sure enough it can, I mentioning it
(10:46):
here in case anyone listening was also wondering the same thing.
But the main reason I stop the action was to
take a really close look at the spell entry and
the rules for dispel Magic. Here's what I learned. Dispel
magic ends spell effect within a twenty foot cube area.
It automatically dispels effects created by a lower level casters
for those cast by a more powerful magic user. It
(11:08):
has a five percent chance to fail for each level
of difference between the two wizards. Finally, magic items are
not affected by the spell. It's interesting that it says
spell effects, not effect. It's plural, which is really going
to be important in this situation, as you'll soon see
since Achilia is casting at odok Zygog directly, it will
(11:29):
not affect the animated suits of armor, but you might
be surprised at what it will affect, or i should say,
might effect. The spells she's attempting to unravel have been
cast by a wizard of higher level than herself, So
I'll need to make a roll, actually several to see which,
if any, are dispelled. I'll do these roles now, but
will keep the results hidden. Okay, the dice has spoken.
(11:58):
There is the huge face. Mid flow began to melt
from existence, so did what looked like a superficial layer
of reality. The dais of white marble and the white
marble wall behind it both faded away to reveal a
second scene. Where there was once a fire and white stone,
now there stood a pair of wooden chairs with the
(12:18):
side table between them, all arranged in front of an
enormous shelf that filled the space between floor and ceiling.
Stacked upon the shelf were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of books. It was like looking through a large hole
into another dimension. For at the edges of this library scene,
the declining vestiges of the original stark white marble chamber remained.
(12:42):
If this were not enough, as the one layer of
perception gave way to reveal the other, a person shimmered
into view. This person was very small, only about two
and a half feet tall. As the illusions filling the
space declined, they removed their doll like hands from their temples,
and their eyes, which had been narrowed in concentration, slowly
(13:03):
widened with the realization of what was happening. Once that
concentration was broken, what remained of the illusory scene began
to break down quickly. After just a few moments, the
companions found themselves standing no longer in a white marble
room dominated by an angry fireball, but a musty library
lit by a soft lamp light. The recently revealed person
(13:26):
stared at the companions. They wore black boots with toes
that curled up at the ends, brown pants, and a
black leather jerkin with a shirt of white beneath. They
had dark, curly hair that fell around pointed ears, and
very large eyes set wide in a face that wore
a look of growing apprehension. They took a step back,
moving their hands in a placating motion. The person stammered helplessly.
(13:53):
Achilie and the others were still kneeling on the ground,
and the three animated suits of armor still surrounded them.
Both sides simply stared at each other for the space
of several pregnant moments, and then, barking loudly, Flicker tore
away from their group. She raced across the room, directly
towards the diminutive stranger. Hang on, hang on, what the
(14:22):
heck is happening here? Maybe I should pause and explain
a few things. Achillia has just dispelled an elaborate phantasmal force,
the giant floating fireball, the dais, and the way marble
where all illusions. This room is actually a large library
and study. The Achillia spell also disrupted a second spell.
(14:43):
Standing to one side under the cloak of magical invisibility.
Was the person responsible for the trickery? Let's talk about
illusions a bit. I no longer have my AD and
D second edition DMG. That precious tone was abandoned when
I went away to university several decades ago, to be
tossed out by my parents. I can't blame them at
(15:03):
the time. I never expected to want or need that
stuff ever. Again. Ah, how foolish I was in my youth. Anyway,
if memory serves, that book had a section in it
about adjudicating illusions. Even in a regular game of D
and D, handling illusions is tricky business. Playing solo, it's
even more complicated. Here's some advice from that edition of
(15:25):
the DMG that I found online. I think it's useful.
It says, all illusions are cases of DM adjudication. Illusions
usually cease to affect a character if they are actively disbelieved.
Disbelief must be stated by the player based on clues
provided by the DM. Players. Stating disbelief must give a
reason for disbelief based on sensory information available to the character. So,
(15:50):
using this advice, I decided to make fair Wind suspect
that the scene in front of him was not real. However,
simply allowing him to disbelieve the illusion felt a bit
like I considered having him make a wisdom check, but
in the end went with the saving throw versus spells.
I rolled that off Mike and got an eleven against
a target of fifteen, so he failed to disbelieve the illusion,
(16:12):
but he still felt that something was wrong when he
tried to communicate this to achillea. He was silenced by
the illusory' zygogue, but Achille used her message spell to
achieve a brief secret exchange between the two. Anyway, I
figured this was enough to allow her her own saving throw,
and when I threw the dice, she passed for the
sake of the other companions. Achille then used her new
(16:33):
dispel magic incantation to reveal the truth. I needed to
make two roles here, because both the phantasmal force and
the invisibility enchantments were cast by a magic user of
higher level than Achillia. These roles were both successful, so
Achillia managed to dispel everything, and that's where we are now.
(16:58):
When they shrieked and tried to run, Flicker suddenly blinked away.
She reappeared only a dozen feet from the small figure
Flicker No. Achille cried out after the animal, but this
time her command was not heated. The dog's target managed
only a few steps before they were tackled and borne
to the ground, where the two rolled around in a
(17:18):
bundle of clothing and fur. There was a cry of panic.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Flicker.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Achille tried again let go. This time the blink dog obeyed,
releasing the person's sleeve from their jaws and backing up
just a little, but ready to spring again. A low
growl escaped her throat, causing her prey to freeze when
they tried to scoot back and away from the pale,
blue eyes and bare teeth that threatened them.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Please please, please, don't let it. I was always trying
to fight.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So you what it?
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Back?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You are, owed oak Zygog, asked.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Achilia, looking upon the pathetic and frightened creature. It did
not seem possible. Despite her incredulity, she continued, so be it.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Call off your guards or I'll have my dog rip
your throat out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
No, I mean yes, of course, right away, honor glory
your weapons and step back.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The suits of armor instantly obeyed, backing away with a clank.
They lifted their halberts so the butts of their weapons
were planted on the floor, with the tips pointed at
the ceiling. Cautiously, the other companions rose to their feet,
but Achilia was not finished.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Let's a start, now, release us from these.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
She held up her hands to show her manacled wrists.
The other hesitated, but another growl from Flicker was all
it took all right.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I will, but you must promise not to let me
come to harm.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
See lear At the arcane word, the companion's manacles all
opened of their own accord and fell to the floor
with a chorus of Achilia had no intention of making
any kind of deal with this person and completely ignored
their request for a promise. I believe, she said, stepping
forward with.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Menace, that you have some explaining to do, although.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
She did not see it. Behind her, the other party
members were trying to adjust to their new reality, with
mouths acape and eyes blinking, as though emerging from dreams.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Just go, just leave me me. Take whatever you can
to steal and leave. I won't stop you. Just please
go off your animal.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
The diminutive person had now scooted themselves back as far
as they could go, and their heaving shoulders were pressed
against the row of thick books that spanned the length
of the bottom shelf. Pale, sweating profusely and shaking visibly,
they looked like they might turn to ash in the
heat of Achilia's wrath. But Achilia did not relent steal.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
We did not come here to steal anything. When we arrived, we.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Announced our presence and asked for a audience.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, that was true. The next thing she said was
not entirely accurate. She said it anyway, and.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
It was you who attacked us and took our belongings
and threw us.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
In us out.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Da Hafelf's blood was pumping now. She felt her face
go hot.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
Worst of all, you pretended friendship to my master, only
you betray him.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Here, Achilia pulled the sketchbook from her bag and opened
it to the final page. She then held forth the
inscription and recited the words for memory.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
I hope these poor sketches will remind you that you
will always have a home in the North.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Achilia was raging.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
What do you have to say for yourself?
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Oh doak zygod, does my voppie still have a home
in the north with you?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
She spoke the last words in a poisoned sneer, with
spittle flying from her lips. Achilia hurled the sketchbook at
the cowering figure and then drew her wand holding in
front of her as though it were a knife.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Oh would you prefer his stays frozen forever in cold
stone while you pilver what you will from his book
of spells like a murderous thiefe.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
There were tears streaming down Achillia's cheeks. Now she was
so full of emotion that she felt she might burst.
She also had no idea what she was going to
do with the wand in her hand, only that it
felt right that her Voppy's attacker should squirm and beg
for their life.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, she roared, what have you to say for yourself?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
What do they have to say? It's a good question,
and I am split. Part of me wants to just
keep on writing this scene as it occurs to me,
but another part wants to stop and add a pinch
of chaos. Since I did stop, I guess you can
guess which part one out. I am going to make
some kind of role here before I continue the narrative.
I have a few options. A reaction role would do
(21:55):
the job. Another idea would be to make amoral check.
That makes even better sense. But I think I'm going
to use a third kind of check, a charisma check
for Achilia's ability to intimidate her target into real submission.
This will be a role under stat kind of check.
Since Achilia has a charisma score of nine, not a
great score, and represented in the previous scene by her
(22:17):
barely holding on to restraint. She needs to roll that
number or less on a D twenty to succeed. But
I'm going to award her a minus three to the
role to account for the situation and sudden imbalance of power,
So that makes a sixty percent chance to get what
she wants. Here comes the D twenty roll an eight. Okay,
it's clear what needs to happen next. The little figure's
(22:46):
eyes flicked past Achillia as they became aware of the
two very grim looking elves, now fitting arrows to bows
behind her, with shoulders slumped in defeat and with tears
springing from their eyes. They sniffed miserably and blubbered.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
I don't know what you want me to say.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I am not the person you think I am.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Not a thief, not a murderer, snapped the half helf
looming hugely over them. Flicker punctuated the question with a bark.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Eh no, I am none of those things.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Do you undo what you have done to my Bobby.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I don't care if I have to march you all the.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Way back home at the point of my dagger, but
you will undo that spell and restore him, but I can't.
Oh you can and buy a Haya you will.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
You don't understand?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
What don't I understand?
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I've been trying to tell you.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Their cheeks now glistened with tears, tell.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Me what I am not? Oh doak Psygog.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone, and of course thank
you for listening. If you'd like to help to support
the show, you can recommend or liken repost episode announcements
on social media. You can purchase a Tale of the
mantagor T shirt at bear Archstarts store or what are
my Offerings on drive through RPG, and of course you
can rate and review the show on your favorite broadcaster.
If you happen to listen to the show on speaker,
(24:18):
you can join the Supporters Club for two dollars a
month and get all episodes add free. I mentioned a
few episodes ago that I had always thought this was
the case, and it was not, but it is now.
By extreme gratitude to those who were patient while I
dealt with the issue, and a massive double thank you
to those who joined the remain members of the Supporters
Club even when they were not getting ad free content.
(24:38):
My listeners truly are the best. And speaking of that,
here's a listener review I would love to share. This
one was left on Apple Podcasts by ghost Entry. Ghost
Entry rights absolutely brilliant. Tale of the Mantigar is the
podcast I had been searching for, and since I have
your attention, here's why. First, the hybrid storytelling is incredibly immersive.
Watching these characters face the real possibility of their her
(25:00):
own death creates attention and connection that simply cannot exist
in a format where the listener knows they're ultimately safe.
It bonds you to them in a way that nothing
else really does. John's fidelity to the dice make every combat,
every risk the characters take into a meaningful thrill that
makes it hard to stop listening. The older I get,
the harder I find it to really connect to new
characters in fiction. Most stories don't even really try to
(25:22):
make care about them till the manticor achieves this connection
and care in a way I find genuinely unbelievable. Hey,
ghost Entry, this season, the characters have been dodging bullets
left and right. That shrope. They can keep it up because,
like you, I genuinely care about them. Thanks so very
much for the review, and I have more thanks to give.
Let's talk about this episode's cast of voice actors. We've
(25:43):
got Dave Cooper here playing fair Wind as always and
in both the voice of the Magic Mouth and the
mystery character who's revealed at the episode's conclusion. It's Amanda Tea.
Check out her art at Wicked Underscore, Loving Underscore Lies
on Instagram. Thanks so much Dave and Amanda for breathing
life into this tale. For those curious to learn more
about Tale of the Manticor, I keep a blog where
(26:05):
I post all kinds of show and RPG related stuff
like sketches, maps, tables, crafts, and showows. You can find
it at tale of Themanticore dot com. To get in
touch with me, I'm at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com,
Tale of the Manticor dot blues Guide dot Social, Tale
of the Manticore podcast on Instagram, or Tale of Themanticre
at gmail dot com. The adventual will continue on the
next episode or Tale of the Manticor. It's the story
(26:28):
where chaos rolls.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Oh
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