Speaker 1: Hi, this is Chaotic Studios and you're listening to the
Tale of the Manticor.
Speaker 2: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the 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 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 my pain in the days ahead. Last
time on Tale of the Manticor, Chapter two begins with
Achillia just having entered the Iron Tower. Once inside, she
quickly learns that the ugly gnome she met at the
door is not the person she's looking for, but merely
that person's servant. The real master turns out to be
a wizard named Fim grim Atresch. Fim for short. Fim
is big in every way. He's four times Achillee's weight
and full of vigor, energy and good humor. The two
of them sit and talk over tea and cheese for
a time. Fim claims not to have been aware of
Altvea's presence in the veil, though he does not explain
his business there. Before Achilie takes her leave, they exchange gifts.
On the way home. Achillee frets over a notion that
she had said too much and learned too little, but
her worry is overridden by panic when she gets home
to find that someone has broken into it. She races
around the small dwelling, calling out for Aldvae and getting
no response. In the bedroom, she finds an exploded glyph,
and Achilia understands that it means her master's spell book
has been stolen. She next runs downstairs, finds some of
her master's alchemical supplies have been disturbed, and finally finds
Aldvea sitting on the floor, but he isn't moving when
Achillie reaches out to him her fingers.
Speaker 1: Touch Stone Chapter three, Part one.
Speaker 2: Day one early evening mythic event meaning will press Allies
party status. Achillia four out of four hit points. No,
she breathed blinking in disbelief.
Speaker 3: VOPI, what has happened to you?
Speaker 2: Achillia felt her eyes well up with tears. When she
had touched his cheek, it had been cold, and she
had yanked away. Now she reached out again, sniffling. Every
detail of his face and hair and clothing was exactly
the way they had been when he had been No,
she couldn't say alive. That would imply that now he
was dead. Something suddenly occurred to her as she wiped
the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. Oakman,
she said, looking up at the carved wooden face of
the Construct. At her voice, it came to life, creaking
and glowering down on her. The oak Man did not
have the power to speak, but by simple virtue of
its animation. Achilia felt relief fled her heart. If Aldvey
were dead, the Construct would have ceased to live as well.
Their spirits were interconnected and, in the oak Man's case, dependent.
She felt a pang of shame, realizing she should have
known this earlier. If Aldvey had been killed, Robin would
have died as well. Chord too. Where was Chord, she
suddenly wondered, More than Robin, and certainly more than the
oak Man. Cord might be able to shed some light
on all this. Robin only had the intelligence of an animal,
and the oak ban well. Her earlier remark about him
being more like a piece of furniture than a person
was not entirely unwarranted. It was only semi intelligent. Alday's
enchantment could not make a construct that was both strong
and smart. There was a trade off. The oak Man
was all brawn, no brains. A Kilia was about to
go back up the stairs to look for Cord when
something caught her eye. On the floor beside her master
was a rolled up piece of vellum. She picked it
up and unfurled it. It was blank. She wrinkled her
nose in confusion, before rolling it back up and slipping
it into her satchel.
Speaker 3: I'll be right back, she.
Speaker 2: Told the statue. That was Oldveay, unaware of how close
it was to the last thing she had said to him, Oakman,
she began. The thing's wooden eyes regarded her, awaiting instruction.
Speaker 3: Stay here gard vapi.
Speaker 2: The reply was a creaky nod. Not knowing what else
to do, feeling a lump in her throat and her
heart thudding in her breast, she turned and went back
up the stairs. She passed through the living room, which
still smelled of smoke, and then at the front door.
For she almost collided with Cord, Ugh said. Achilia startled, and.
Speaker 3: Then thank Aheia, you're all right.
Speaker 2: She threw her arms around the hard, spare wooden frame,
and Cord returned the embrace, crossing his peg like arms
and gripping her little shoulders with his wooden hands. The
two stood like that for a few moments, until Achilia
had mastered her emotions.
Speaker 3: Ah, Cord, did you see what they did to him?
Speaker 2: Cord did not have the power of speech. His mouth
was just painted on, but he tilted his torso forward
in a bow that Achilia knew to be his way
of nodding.
Speaker 3: They tuned him into stone. Did you see who did it?
Speaker 2: Cord twisted his body back and forth. No, he hadn't.
Speaker 3: Where were you?
Speaker 2: By way of answer, Cord pointed behind him on the
path was a bundle of care. He must have been
out collecting firewood when the intruder had come. Achilius scratched
her chin as she tried to recall the details of
her experience. In the iron tower. How long had she
sat with the fat wizard? What exactly had she told
him the tea he had given her? Hadn't it tasted
a bit odd? That creepy gnome? It had greeted her
at the door, served tea, and then she hadn't seen
it again until she made to leave. Had she been
there so long that it could have come here and
attacked Vobby before returning? She shook her head. That wasn't
even close to possible, even if the gnome had sprinted
both ways, and even if it had known exactly she stiffened.
Had she told them where they lived? No, she was
quite sure she had not. She put a hand to
her face and stifled the sob. There was too much
going on. She couldn't think straight. What should she do?
She gave voice to the first idea that came into
her mind.
Speaker 3: We have to go back to the tower.
Speaker 2: Cord could not have known what she was talking about,
but he made no protest, and the two of them
started back along the footpath, hurrying down the incline of
the veil in the direction of the river and beyond
that the Iron Tower. A fluttering sound came from behind
them as Robin flew from the earthen roof of their
home and landed on Achillee's head. In their haste, they
made the journey in a little over an hour, but
when they reached the place where the tower had been,
it was gone. Only a perfect circle of flattened shrubs
and grass thirty feet across remained. What now asked Achilia.
Whether she was asking Cord Robin or herself was unclear.
Perhaps even she didn't know. Achillia's skin shone with perspiration.
She was still exhausted from the journey there. All the same,
she turned back and hurried all the way home, fending
off panic the whole way. When she arrived, it was
three hours before sunset. The place was exactly as she
had left it, and still eerily quiet. A terrible mix
of emotions vied for dominance in her mind. Worry for Aldva,
fear for herself, a responsibility to do something, in a
helplessness for not knowing what that was. In the end,
she did the only thing she could think of, and
began a careful search of their home from top to bottom.
I do have an idea about what has happened here,
enough to drop a few clues for Achillie to discover,
but it's only a half baked idea. Aldve has been
attacked and his spell book stolen. Something I haven't decided
is if anyone would be watching Achillie, I mean, with
the intruder care about her existence than leaving her as
a loose end. My God says that would have happened
by now, and that she's beneath their notice. Still, I'm
going to make a roll to find out for sure.
A wandering encounter check feels appropriate here, So I'm rolling
a D six and on a one there will be
some kind of threat nearby the role A six. She's alone,
that makes sense to me. Doubt she'll remain so for
very long. This part of the world is full of
dangerous creatures, and it was only always presence that kept
them at bay. Still I've rolled, and Achillea is safe
for now. I'm going to make another roll. Achillie will
find one to four clues as she conducts a proper
search of her home. Rolling a three on the die,
I know what the first drug will be. In their
shared bedroom, Achillea finds a few drops of blood on
the books near the exploited glyph. This tells her that
the intruder was some kind of well mortal as opposed
to a magical or supernatural creature. It's not much of
a clue, but it's something She finds a bigger clue
when she brings herself to return to the basement, something
that part of her resisted doing. Chapter three, Part two,
Day one evening mythic event meaning oppress allies party status.
Achilia four out of four hit points for those hours
between finding her master turned to stone and returning to
the basement, now with a glowing lamp in her hand,
Achilia had been able to live in a fantasy of
denial which she could imagine that her Vopi had not
been turned into a statue, but had instead simply been
working away downstairs in solitude. But as she descended the
creaking stairs and the light fell upon his frozen gray features,
she felt the wild grief and fear return once again
in full. She took a deep breath and found her resolve.
Hadn't Vapi given her everything she had ever needed. Now
he needed her to be strong. She set about a
thorough investigation, starting with the alchemist's work bench, and discovered
something right away. The two overturned yards contained ingredients commonly
used to treat poison, snake foot and night bloom. When
mixed together in the correct quantities, wouldn't reverse the ifeing
of poison, but they could slow it. Had Vapi been
poisoned before being turned to stone, That was a strange thought.
Perhaps there was a struggle and these two ingredients were
knocked off the shelf at random. No, that didn't make
any sense. There were no other indications of a struggle
at all. Down here. She replaced the jars on the
shelf and slowly made her way towards the stone figure
of her master. She felt terrible impotent to help him,
but there was hope for life remained in Robin and
Cord and the oak Man. Therefore, her Voppy was not dead.
She sniffed and crouched down so she was face to
face with her master.
Speaker 4: I promise, VOPI I promised to do everything I can
to help you.
Speaker 3: Oh, I wish I knew where to start.
Speaker 2: Just then something caught her eye. The floor of the
cellar was made of packed dirt, and it appeared that
Oldve had written something in it with his fingernail before
he'd been petrified, she brought her leg close so she
could see better. There was just one word. She craned
her neck forward and read it. Aw doc, It said,
aw doc. She breathed. That wasn't a word she knew
in either the common tongue or an Elvish, and yet
it rang a bell. Was it a name? She thought
it might be, but couldn't quite recall. Cord might know,
she thought, rising and hurrying back up the stairs. The
wooden construct was there in the kitchen, with a fire
going and cooking the fish she had caught. You're making dinner,
she asked, incredulously. Cord's shoulders didn't move up and down,
so he couldn't shrug. Instead, he tilted his body from
side to side in a substitute gesture. Achillia knew well
I She stopped the reprimand she had been about to give.
If making dinner made coord feel useful, then who was she.
Speaker 1: To stop him?
Speaker 2: Instead?
Speaker 3: She asked, do you know the word or name? Ah doc?
Speaker 2: Cord paused to consider, then leaned forward in a nod,
holding up two double fingers to indicate that he did,
and that it was the latter a name. He glanced
at the cooking fish with his painted on eyes, and,
deciding they would not burn if left unintended for a
few minutes, went into the shared bedroom, beckoning for achille
to follow. When she entered the room, Cord was bent
over the pile of books, rummaging through them. Achillia waited
until he found what he was looking for, a slim
volume bound in red leather with a clasp of gold.
He handed her the book and she took it, opening
the clasp with her slender fingers. Achillea sat on her
mattress and laid the covers of the book across her thighs,
flipping the pages slowly. It was a sketch book, with
illustration after illustration of trees, hills, rivers, and lakes, all
done in charcoal. The pictures seemed to have been done
by the same skilled hand, and many of the natural
places featured within the book's pages were striking or unique,
either by their beauty or their shape. On the final
page was an inscription. It read, I hope these poor
sketches will remind you that you will always have a
home in the north. He was signed autoc Cord.
Speaker 3: You're right, but do you know this person?
Speaker 2: Chord indicated that he did not. Holding the book in
her lap must have reminded her of something, because Achillia
suddenly made an urgent sound and stood up. She rushed
back into the living room. Across from the kitchen area
was a corner with two chairs, where she and Aldvey
would spend hours sitting and reading. She squatted low, moving
her fingers along the wall of mortard stones. She found
the loose flat stone without having to search, and wiggled
it free. There was a flat, rectangular cavity beyond, in
which she kept her spell book hidden. Aldve always impressed
upon her that a wizard's spell book was their most
important possession and the thing most coveted by other wizards.
It represented their life's work. Her hiding spot appeared not
to have been disturbed, but there was only one way
to know. She thrust her hand inside and sighed with
relief when her fingers touched the familiar leather cover. She
drew forth a small volume and hugged it tightly to
her chest. Whatever had happened here, some things were beginning
to become clear. Some wizard or other had come to
steal Aldvay's spell book. They had survived his glyph of
protection and gotten away, but not before poisoning her master
and inexplicably turning him to stone. It didn't fully make sense,
but wizards were capricious and unpredictable, and she knew she
didn't have all the clues necessary to solve the mystery.
Until now, she had suspected that the wizard Fim had
been the interloper, But now she wondered, could it have
been this Audoc person instead? Clearly Papi had wanted her
to know about him. Was it at all possible that
Fim and Ottoc were the same person. She felt tired,
both physically and emotionally. Despite this, she doubted she would
be able to get to sleep, and she certainly wasn't
going to try to sleep in her bed beside the
destroyed remains of Vapi's mattress. Feeling lonely despite the nearby
presence of court, Achilia fetched her blanket from the bedroom
and went downstairs. If she couldn't sleep, at least she
could sit against the wall and hold vigil beside her master.
Her lamp was still there and cast its light upon
the grim face of the oak man, who stared expressionlessly
at her as she approached. Old way was as before,
the stone statue still and gray.
Speaker 3: Why couldn't you stop this from happening?
Speaker 2: She said to the oak Man in accusation. There was
no reply. The oak Man had heard her, she knew,
but he couldn't understand a question that complex, and he
wouldn't have been able to respond even if he could.
Achilie sat down beside Aljay, with her back to the
wall and her knees pulled up in imitation of his posture.
She didn't think sleep would come, but shortly after she
snuffed out the flame of her lamp, she nodded off
the carrier woke up disoriented. This was not her bed,
and this was not her room. She had been having
a terrible dream. She rubbed her eyes and looked her
left right into the frozen profile of her master. In
a horrible rush, it all came back, the creepy gnome,
the fat wizard coming home to find Aldvay like this.
Speaker 3: No, no, no.
Speaker 2: She stood up and backed away, as if physically distancing
herself from the statue might make the truth less real.
But it was real, and now, despite fighting the urge
all through the previous evening, she fell under her knees
and wept freely. When there were no more tears left
to cry, she wiped her cheeks and gathered her things.
She would find out what had happened here, she vowed,
and put wrong to right.
Speaker 3: I swear it.
Speaker 2: She told Old Vay's stoneface.
Speaker 3: I hea as my witness.
Speaker 2: She went up the stairs and began to pack some
things into her satchel. When Court inclined his body in question,
she told him.
Speaker 3: We are going north.
Speaker 4: We're going to visit this autoc and have a word
with him. If he knows something, I'm going to make
him talk.
Speaker 2: After her things were packed, there was one last thing
to do before she left. She sat down in her chair,
opened her spell book and began to meditate upon the contents.
I think I can count the current mythic event meaning
a press allies that's fulfilled, which means I need a
new one, rolling deeper centile twice. I've got fifty seven,
an eighteen that gives me create and the intellectual hmm okay.
I could see how that might get used quite soon actually,
but not just yet. There's another role I've been waiting
to make as a first level magic user. Achillea gets
one first level spell as an aside in Tail of
the Manticor. One of my house rules is that all
magic users have and can use the spell read magic
as though it was a cantrip, So this spell is
in addition to that free ability. Also, since we're on
to season three, and since the list of level one
spells in the BX rules is quite short, I've already
used almost all of them at some point or another,
and so in order to keep things interesting and fresh
for myself and for long time listeners, I've decided that
here in Zatia, wizardly practices are a bit different, and
I'll be making a new list of spells to reflect that.
I'll post this new list on Tale ofthemantcre dot blogspot
dot com, and I'll return to it anytime I need
a new spell. I'm going to pop populate this list
with a few choice picks from the original BX list
and a few new ones from a D and D
first edition. Hang on, Okay, I've got my list made,
and I've got a D twelve ready to roll. Let's
see what she gets rolling a seven. That's enlarge. Interesting.
Let's take a minute to see what this spell can do.
It causes the target creature or thing to grow by
ten percent per castor level. Size and weight are both affected.
Unwilling victims get a saving throw ten percent. Hey, it
seems at low levels the spell is not particularly potent.
The spell can be reversed, however, and this spell shrink
is the version I think Achillea would memorize as a
utility spell. It would allow her to carry greater quantities
of things such as water or firewood during her daily duties.
Now that makes sense to me. Now that I've determined
her starting spell, we can move on to the task
of working out Achillea's starting equipment. While she probably grossly
underestimates how long she'll be gone, Achilia knows she's going
to be away for at least a little while. As
she seeks out this Audoc. She'll pack travel supplies and
hide whatever valuables she can't take with her. We can
assume that she'll take a change of clothes, and there's
enough preserved food in the pantry to call a week's
worth of rations. A full water skin would be available.
She'll take a pair of daggers and a walking stick
to her spell book, and Oddoc's sketchbook will go into hersatchel.
Along with the various supplies ordinary to wizards, she'll also
take a tinder box and a spare blanket to use
as a bed roll. Since Oldvay was a fairly high
level magic user, I think it's safe to say he
would have something else that would aid her, and perhaps
a bit of money. Let's make it simple and say
that Achillia takes twenty gold and twenty silver pieces, hiding
any other valuables in her spell book nook behind the
falsely mortared stone in the living room wall. She doesn't
expect to need much in the way of money, and
I think she would have very little idea of what
things cost. Anyway. The young man who drops off the
supplies now and then would be Achillie's only experience with trade.
But as for that other useful thing, I think a
quick random table on the fly will serve. I'll roll
a D four against the following. On a one, it
will be a scroll with a first level spell on it.
If she gets this, it will be assumed she has
already tried and failed to copy it into her spell book.
On a two, it'll be a scroll with a second
level spell on it. On a three, it'll be a
potion to be determined at random. On A four, the
miscellaneous magic item of modest power like a wand with
only a few charges left the roll a three. That's
a potion. Pretty cool. Well, we know it isn't going
to be a poison antidote, but it might be anything else.
There's a D eight table in the BX rules I
can use, and speaking of poison, I see that number
eight is exactly that. Well, I'll leave it there, but
also say, if I do roll an eight, Achillie will
know what it is. Actually, I think she'll know in
any case, that only makes sense to me. The role
A three gaseous form. There's a really cool illustration in
the BX rules to go along with the entry on
this item. It shows an empty suit of armor on
the ground with the potion bottle toppled over beside it.
A cloud of mist hovers over the armor. The thing
to remember will be that if Achilia drinks this potion,
her possessions will not be affected by the magic. Okay,
we've got our starting spell, our travel supplies, a handful
of coins and a randomly generated magic item. I think
Achilia is ready to begin her quest. Thank you for
listening to Tale of the mantigor If you're enjoying the
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As always, my thanks to every one for the support
of the show. As you know, I like to read
a listener review at the end of each episode. This
one was left by Cosmo two o five when Apple Podcasts.
Cosmo two o five writes, I'm pacing myself into Tale
of the Manticor second season and loving every episode. The
host does a great job of balancing the different aspects
of this truly unique game and strives to make every
episode enjoyable. The character and world building is real. I
can smell the gutters of sil Moral and feel the
yellow Flyi's hatred of the weeping eye. Keep up the
great work. I really appreciate the review Cosmo two o
five I left that you can really sense the grit
and despair on the streets of sil Moral too. It
fills my heart with dark joy. Thanks very much for
the review. Thanks also to Goblin's Henchmen and hodag RPG
for providing conceptual and promotional art for the show. Your
vision helps it to reach its full potential. There are
no guest actors on today's episode, so instead of my
usual thank you, let me make an invitation. I am
currently in need of female voice actors, so if you're
up to the task for a roll big or small,
please get in touch. You can reach me at Manticore
Tale on x, Tale of the Manticor podcast on Instagram,
or Tale of Themanticre at gmail dot com. I would
love to hear from you. I also give 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 a Tale of Themanticre dot blogspot dot com.
The adventure will continue on the next episode a Tale
of the Manticor. It's the story. We're chaos rolls