Speaker 1: Hi, this is Shane Hinsley, a Pinnacle Entertainment Group, makers
of Savage Worlds and dead Lands, and you are listening
to Tale of the Manticore.
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 Lare, the
Tale of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
time on Tail of the Manticor, in chapter twenty nine,
the companions find the village of Duroth, built into the
side of a hill, with a number of outbuildings constructed
in a basin at his foot. Droth is unlike any
village any of them have ever seen. The place discourages
outsiders with the perimeter of staked skeletons. When the party
passes this border and lays eyes on the village itself,
they can instantly tell that some kind of disaster occurred here.
Every building is broken and there is no sign of life.
The companions walk through a scene of desolation as they
investigate the village. Eventually they climb the broken stairs to
the lowest cave opening. Next, in a flashback, we learn
what happened to deroth seven years before the events of
Achilles Quest. The community leader and rector, a man named Baium,
was called to respond to an emergency. One of the
Dorothies scouts had returned to their caves from a map
making expedition. The scout's wounds were too deep even for
Biom to heal, and he died as he did. A
calamity outside their cave was heard. Their village was under attack,
and when Rector Bium saw the monster they faced, he
called for everyone to retreat into the safety of the hillside.
Chapter thirty, Part one. Seven years ago no Rector Bium
took hold of himself. His people needed.
Speaker 3: Him to the caves. He called everyone get to the caves.
Speaker 2: The hulking, gigantic beast was in a kind of frenzy,
smashing through their log built structures as though they posed
no impediment to an adoll. One after another, derothy villagers
and animals were snatched up, sometimes one in each of
the monster's hands, and brutally devoured.
Speaker 3: Everyone. Get to the cave now.
Speaker 2: Biom repeated. He had to fight down a hysterical thrill
that threatened to numb his brain. The minute or so
it took to get the survivors up the stairs and
into the cave seemed to take forever, But finally, every
member of their community that was ever going to escape
the monster outside had done so. With a pury to
aheya that he was doing the right thing, Biam decided
that the men and women still crawling around outside, broken
and bloodied, could not be saved, and it was with
immense misgiving that he ordered the huge wooden cave door
to be shut and barred. He could hear those he
had left to die calling out in despair and protest
as he did so. It broke his heart, but there
was no choice.
Speaker 3: Like the torches he ordered, someone had.
Speaker 2: Already had the idea, and as the heavy bar fell
into place, the first torch life a moment later the
second did as well, and now the cave was fully lit.
Director Bium took stock of his people. Ordinarily, the Derothi
numbered three score men, women and children in total. At
any given time, ten of them would be away on
a map making expedition, serving their greater effort of discovering
the location of the Golden Path. Jesson was one of them,
and while he was dead, the fate of the other
nine was a mystery that left forty nine souls. They
should have been with him in the cave now, but
at a glance Bium could see that there was less
than half that number assembled here. Perhaps there were as
many as a dozen more further into the caves, but
even then they must have lost fifteen, perhaps even twenty
lives to the monster. He was in the middle of
a quick head count when a tremendous bang shutdered the
massive wooden doors of the cave. He and the others
flinched away from the sound as a cloud of dust
filled the air. Fresh panic seized the rector. The front
door of the cave was a double row of strong wood.
It must have been two feet thick and weighed several
hundred pounds. Moreover, it was barred not with a plank,
but a log that took two strong men to fit
into place. Even the gigantic beast outside couldn't possibly. Another
shower of dust and dried mud was knocked free, and
Biam could not deny that he had heard the distinct
sound of splintering wood. What are they going to do?
Cried out a terrified voice from the crowd.
Speaker 4: Ricter Biam, what should we do?
Speaker 3: Go further in? Take the torches and go further.
Speaker 1: In, But there's no way out.
Speaker 3: We'll be trapped.
Speaker 2: By a heya, they were all going to die if
they did not get away from here.
Speaker 3: We are already trapped. Go go.
Speaker 2: Biam heard the awful sound of the door being ripped
from its moorings, and then daylight fell upon him, filling
him with horror. He ushered the last villager through the
narrow passage into the inner caves ahead of him, and
he would later wish he had not. He took a
look back before he followed. The face peering over the
edge of the cave mouth was as big as a
prize pumpkin and grotesquely malformed. Worst of all were the
black pits where the eyes should have been. They were
so deep in their sockets as to be invisible. The
face resembled a huge lump of dough that someone had
pushed their fingers into. In it, there was a kind
of empty stupidity that was even more terrifying, and that
it communicated the single minded purpose of an automaton.
Speaker 3: This thing will not stop until we are all dead.
Speaker 2: By Him thought as he turned and fled, with a
terrible giant roaring in frustration at his back. The Companions
are currently standing in the same room, or more specifically, cave,
where Rector by Him had been when he conducted the
members of his village to safety and then escaped himself.
As the Companions are about to begin exploring further, I'm
going to need to figure out exactly what is inside
the caves of Drowth. Now. I haven't figured out yet
what happened in the caves post attack, but I am
reasonably sure that nothing is alive in there. Now. It's
been established that the caves do not have another exit,
so the survivors would either have made a run for it,
or else they would have perished. Now that I think
of it, this question is central to everything the Companions
might discover inside, so it's essentral that I answer it now.
I'm going to roll a D twelve D twelves don't
get enough love. On a one to four, the dorothe
will have attempted a mass exodus. A five to eight
will indicate that they all died inside the cavern, and
a nine to twelve will indicate a mixed result. Some
stayed while others tried to leave. I'll make the roll now,
but I'm going to keep the result a secret. Here
we go. Okay, that tells me everything I need to know.
Chapter thirty, Part two, D twenty eight early even mythic
event meaning celebrate possessions party status. Achillea nine out of
nine hit points, Cord eighteen of eighteen, de Renni twelve
out of twelve, ten Tier fifteen out of fifteen, fair
Wind eighteen out of eighteen. Supplies. The companions have eight
portions of food spells available. Achillee can cast shrink times
two and glitter dust. Cord can cast entangle and slow poison.
At the far end of the cavern, just at the
point with a light from outside began to dim, a
single pinched corridor of smooth natural rock led away into darkness,
fair Wind plucked one of the torches from its wolskons
and pulled out its cinderbox. Once he had the torch
a blaze, he nodded at the others.
Speaker 5: Wait for us outside, Robin, said, Achilia.
Speaker 2: The little stuffed bird alighted from Kord's shoulder and flew
out the cave mouth. While the others prepared to go
further in. Achilia suddenly remembered what had happened in the crypt,
took the second torch from its sconce and carried it
unlit in her free.
Speaker 5: Hand in case the other one goes out, she explained.
Speaker 2: In order that everyone could see well enough. Fairwin took
a middle position As they formed up their marching order.
Dornni was first, then tent here. Fair Wind and Achilia
were next, and Cord brought up the rear. They slipped
into the smooth and narrow corridor without talking, and Achilia
assessed that the cave's natural bottleneck would make for a
very effective defense. She wondered how far the cave system
actually went from the outside. This cave seemed the largest,
and the staircase leading to it would seem to support
that assumption. Still, places like this could be deceptive from
the outside. The narrow passage took them some fifteen feet in,
remaining relatively level and curving to the right before it
bent almost in a hairpin, doubling back into a second cave.
This one was about half the size of the first,
heart shaped and measuring some fifteen by twenty feet. It
had a single exit, where the narrow passage continued on
the opposite side. De Rennie pointed at some old furniture
draped in cobwebs.
Speaker 4: A chair, a bench, and nothing else. This may have
been a guard room.
Speaker 2: When they had all entered the space and had a
chance to look around, Tantier asked for silence so that
he might listen down the next passage. The others obliged,
and he tried, but eventually gave up. I can't hear
a thing other than dripping water, he declared. I suppose
that's a good thing. Come, said Rennie.
Speaker 4: There's nothing to see here. Let us keep going.
Speaker 2: It's funny. Once I made that roll to find out
what happened to the DROWTHI I figured I'd just go
ahead and make up the map of the caverns as
I went. But I now realize I can't do that,
and for a very important reason. In the last episode,
I started a countdown clock. The giant troll that has
made a layer of Darroth is off hunting right now,
but he'll be back. I determined at random that this
would happen in one hour and fifty minutes. I'm going
to knock that down to one hour and a half.
By now, the companions must have spent about twenty minutes
in the caves. This all means that the size of
the cave complex is going to matter a lot, so
I do need to determine it at random after all,
And since it served me well before, I'm going to
once again use the map generator portion of one Shot
in the Dark. It's the same system I used in
the cam Or Crypt. Use a quick refresher on the rules.
I use a deck of cards and using only the hearts,
draw until I get the ace. The ace will represent
the final ore target room. The two through king will
indicate various other kinds of room or sometimes events. I'll
try and stick as close as possible to the description
in the game rules. Additionally, I'm going to say that
each card pulled will eat up a minimum of ten minutes,
depending on what's in there, it might be more. This
is to account for the piecs going slowly and taking care.
After all, they're not aware of any pressing need to
move quickly. Okay, let me grab the rule book real quick,
all right, and a pack of cards. Yep, I've got
one of those, removing the hearts and shuffling ready. The
first card will be a four of Hearts. What's that?
The entry reads, slender twisting Tunnel one exit. Well, I
think we've already done that. I swear. Sometimes these games
just seem to know, you know, I'm going to pick again.
This time, I've got King of Hearts. What is that?
Prison one exit? Ah? Okay, I think I know how
to make that work. Chapter thirty, Part three, Day twenty eight,
early afternoon, one hour and thirty minutes before the giant
troll returns mythic event meaning celebrate Possessions party status. The
party status is unchanged. Achille followed Tenier and de Renni
into the next passage. This one dipped a little, then
bent to the left, widening out so that it could
have accommodated two of the companions walking abreast at the
chosen to reorder themselves. They did not in fair wind,
holding his torch, and then Cord followed closely behind. After
twenty feet they came to a hollow that opened up
on the right wall of the passage, which continued on
ahead into the darkness. The hollow was no more than
a ten by ten foot pocket that hung off the
passage where it formed an elbow. In it was another
cobweb covered chair, as well as various tools and implements
arranged in an orderly manner atop a natural shelf in
the rock wall. The chair was occupied by a slouching skeleton.
Its clothes had disintegrated into mere rags, but the rope
that bounded by the wrists and ankles was still intact.
What's this, asked Tantyr, distrustfully.
Speaker 4: A prisoner by the looks of it, De Rennie answered,
see the bindings here and here these are attached to
the legs of the chair too.
Speaker 2: Ten Tire frowned and prodded the skeleton with the tip
of his new sword. Nothing out of the ordinary happened,
mostly convincing the young elf that it would not spring
to life. Do Renni was already looking past it to
the tools on the rock shelf. He itemized them in
the order they were arranged.
Speaker 4: A chisel, a flint and steel, a hammer, a box
of nails. I think this space was once used for storage.
Speaker 2: He looked up and saw that a faded woven banner
had been hung above and parallel to the shelf. It
showed some letters and an image. As der Anny could
not read the common tongue of men, he asked a Killia.
Speaker 4: What does it say?
Speaker 5: Let me see? She replied, fair wind, hold up your
torch a bit. It's badly faded, but I can still
make it out. It says yesterday's wisdom to day's discovery.
And there's a picture of What do you make of that.
Speaker 2: De Anny?
Speaker 4: Some kind of stylized owl. Do you think a.
Speaker 5: Symbol of a HAA yes, that would be my guess.
Speaker 4: Vise D'ROPHI were a pious people, then.
Speaker 5: It might be a coincidence, hm.
Speaker 4: Perhaps.
Speaker 2: As there was nothing further of interest in the storage hollow,
the decision was made to move on. Still frowning, ten
Tear eyed the skeleton as they left. Its skull grinned
back at him. That does not look like a good
way to die, he muttered under his breath. Chapter thirty,
Part four, seven years ago.
Speaker 1: We can't leave him there forever.
Speaker 2: Emson protested. His cheeks flushed when he was angry. Presently
they were the color of cherries.
Speaker 3: Vat's entirely up to him by him shot back. If
Torvik can be made to see reason, will let him go.
Until then he stays in the chair.
Speaker 2: The director knew that his people were not safe. The
troll couldn't possibly reach them inside the caves. It was
too big physically to fit into the narrow passage, even
if it did manage to climb up and into the
cave mouth. But now they had a different problem. Several
of them actually, Since the cave network had only the
one exit, they were trapped. There were thirty one survivors,
including himself, and although they had some stores of supplies
at this time of the year, they were not plentiful.
Had the attack come in winter, they would have been
better equipped, but as it was, they had never expected
to be put under siege, and that is effectively what
had happened. The attack had begun sixteen hours ago, and
Biam had sent someone to the cave moath to see
if the monster was still there. Every hour, each scout
had come back ashen faced and nodding gravely. It was
waiting for them. Curate Emson had been indispensable at first,
helping him tend to the wounded and restore order in
some sense of calm, But after basic discipline had been established,
he had become a problem.
Speaker 3: Rector.
Speaker 1: We must get away from here, take the scroll and flee.
If we scatter, most of us will survive. It can't
catch everyone.
Speaker 3: Baiam had not agreed that thinking is premature and unwise.
He had remonstrated, let us first see if it goes
away on its own.
Speaker 2: But with every passing hour, as their reports came back,
each one the same, it became clear that the problem
was not going to solve itself. His people were tired
and scared. No one dared to sleep, though by now
it was the middle of the night. They did several
argus imments just recently, and Biam felt that the Dorothy
were divided in a way they had never been before.
Until now, he had felt that his command of the
village was totally stable, but now it threatened to slip.
If he were being honest, it had slipped. If it
had not, how would Torvick have managed to secret the
scroll honest person and arranged to make a run for it.
He must have had the help of others. Very likely
Amson was one of those involved, but he named no names,
and no one had stepped forward to challenge him directly.
When they caught Torvik and bound him to a chair
by a heeya, Torvik had almost succeeded Bayam drew a
hand down his face. He was so exhausted he could
barely stand.
Speaker 3: He stays in the chair until I say otherwise. That's
my final word on it now, Amson, I wish to
have some private council with you in the map room.
Speaker 2: The other members of the DUROTHI were told to go
to the common room and try to get some sleep.
Byam held back a selected six of his most loyal
men and women. These were the ones who had caught
Torvik before or the man had the chance to get
out to them. He entrusted the future of the community
with the following instructions.
Speaker 3: Nobody leaves. I will keep the scroll on my person
in case someone else gets the idea to go rogue,
be vigilant, sleep in shifts, guard the way out.
Speaker 2: I need to draw a new card before I let
the story move forward. So far, I've drawn two for
one shot in the dark rules, I need a minimum
of six before I can reach the final room, which
I'm starting to think will be the map room. Okay,
the next card is well, it's the King's better half,
and looking up the Queen gives me shrieker mushroom cave
one exit. Then there's some text about saving to avoid
attracting a monster. Well, I'm not going to use shriekers here,
mostly because I use them in season one. But I
can take the spirit of this encounter and make something
similar in theme and loaded with a potential risk. Hang
on while I look something up. Okay, I found something suitable.
Chapter thirty, Part five, Day twenty eight afternoon, one hour
and twenty minutes before the giant troll returns mythic e
en meaning celebrate possessions party status. The party status is unchanged.
The tunnel beyond the elbow curve continued straight for another
thirty minutes before dipping sharply where it did someone, presumably
the Drothi, had cut steps into the natural rock floor
to make passage easier. Even before the companions reached these
rough cut steps, they could hear the sound of dripping
water coming much more loudly from my head. They could
also smell something musty. At first, the odor resembled mildew,
but as it grew more pungent, it also became tinged,
with some other notes that were hard to identify. It
wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it did make the companions wrinkle
their noses and wonder about its source. After they descended
the steps and passed through another tunnel that bent to
the right, they came to a fairly large space, and
the cause of the smell became apparent. The floor inside
was strewn with furry, yellow orange humps, each one measuring
from three to six feet long. They might have passed
for sleeping animals or giant fuzzy caterpillars, except that he
did not move at all, and apart from the sound
of water dripping off the tips of the stalactise overhead,
the cavern was completely silent. The single darkened passage provided
an exit on the far side, but to reach it,
Achillie could see that they would have to pick their
way carefully through the weird mounds, and the cavern was
not small. It was a good fifty or sixty feet across.
When Fairwood entered, he made a sound of curiosity and
moved forward to get a closer look. Durretti grabbed him
roughly by the wrist and then hissed at Achilia.
Speaker 4: Tell him to keep his torch well away from the mounds.
No one must touch them.
Speaker 2: Achillia communicated as much to the startled clerk, and fair
Wind withdrew, rubbing his wrists off causciously.
Speaker 5: Do any you know what these are?
Speaker 2: Hahladi Kouff, came his reply in Elvish. I'm not familiar
with that, Achilie replied.
Speaker 4: It is a kind of mold. Its spores are highly poisonous,
very highly, but we are safe unless we disturb it.
Speaker 2: Achilia once again looked across the room and apprehended how
difficult it would be and slowly they would have to
move in order to accomplish A crossing. Tender might have
been wandering the same thing. Judging by the look on
his face, his zest for adventure had leaked out. I'm
beginning to wonder if we are really going to find
your odoke zygog here. Akilia was thinking the same thing,
and if it weren't for the woven banner they had
found earlier. She might have decided to turn back, but
it had mentioned history, and that seemed too big of
a coincidence.
Speaker 5: I have to know for sure.
Speaker 2: Tender pointed at the closest yellow orange mound to fur.
There was the shape of a human footbone, just visible
at one end. He pointed to the other side and saw,
through a gap in the fungus the top of a
spine leading into the base of his skull, mostly buried
under the thick fuzz. The mold was growing on corpses,
and there had to be at least two dozen of
them in here. If he is here, he might be dead.
Achilles swallowed heart.
Speaker 5: I need to know that too. Come on, we can
make it. Let's just be very, very careful not to
touch anything.
Speaker 2: Here's what I found as a shrieker substitute in the
first edition Monster Manual, yellow mold. Any creature which touches
this mold is attacked by its enzymes. It also affects wood,
albeit more slowly. It does no harm to metals or stone.
If the substance is contacted roughly, there is a fifty
percent chance per contact that the colony will release spores
these deadly spores shoot out in an asphyxiating cloud originating
from the center of the impact. Any creature which is
within this cloud will die, its lungs filled with the
yellow mold growth unless it makes a saving throw versus poison.
Given the presence of cord, it's interesting that it specifically
says it affects wood right anyways to mimic thee not
guaranteed but potential hazard described in one trot in the
dark off Mike. I rolled high low to see if
this mold would block the path, making disturbing it necessary
to continue. If it was, the second fifty fifty roll
would be required to see if it released its spores.
But I got it too, indicating that there would be
a possible path through if the pieces were careful. Still,
you know, I think these moldy mounds will have to
at least delay the pieces. Here's a second high low
to see if it will slow them by an additional
ten or twenty minutes. High will mean twenty. I got
a nine lucky. Yet again it will delay them by
only an additional ten minutes. Chapter thirty, Part six, Seven
years ago. The map room was one of very few
rooms in the caves of Duroth that had a door.
While always kept closed, it had no lock because it
was not built for security. The map room was where
all important councils were held, where all plans were made.
Noise traveled through the caverns easily, and so this door
was there to damp and sound. It was more for
the comfort of the Dorothe villagers than for the privacy
of their leaders. It was a smallish room of about
some twenty feet by twenty feet more or less square.
It featured a large tabletop, a top which rested the
Dorothe's map in progress, an accumulation of seven years effort
in the wilderness. Three corners of the large vellum sheet
were held down by fist sized stones, the fourth a
tin lantern. There were no chairs in the map room.
This was not a place for rest nor comfort, but
for serious work and serious conversations. Currently, Director Bayum and
Curate Emson were in the middle of the latter activity.
I'll be Frank Milliam.
Speaker 1: I don't think you have what it takes to lead
us through this situation, and if you are in charge,
we will all die.
Speaker 2: Emson was looking Director straight in the eye.
Speaker 3: It was unnerving and I suppose that you would name
yourself as leader in my stead.
Speaker 2: Came Biam's reply, through gritted teeth.
Speaker 3: You lack resolve, No, Emson, you lack faith. A hail
will test us, but never would she forsake us.
Speaker 1: Don't throw that garbage at me.
Speaker 2: Emson's neared back.
Speaker 1: My faith is as strong as anyone else is. But
I'm not a fool.
Speaker 2: Bayum had never seen this aggressive side of the curate.
Self doubt threatened, but this was no time to falter.
Speaker 3: I am the elected leader of the DROTHI not you,
and I say we wait the creature out.
Speaker 2: Emson shook his head.
Speaker 1: That thing outside can't catch all of us. We must
take the scroll and fleet. If we don't, the scroll
might never be found again by anyone.
Speaker 2: Biam couldn't understand how the Curate failed to acknowledge the
obvious flaw in his reasoning.
Speaker 3: But what if it does catch the one of us
carrying the scroll?
Speaker 2: Ams in?
Speaker 3: What then?
Speaker 2: He was holding the scroll and presently held it up
to shake it in the Curate's face.
Speaker 3: This is the first scroll of galandout. Will you risk
it to mere chance? Think, ma'am?
Speaker 2: The curate shot back, such a look of venom that
Byam wondered if he might attack him, But of course
they were men of the cloth. In the end, reasonable, pious,
and good. They would settle this argument with words and will,
as they had solved every problem they had ever faced.
Rector Biam had only just finished the thought when Emson
lunged at him. Yeah, thank you for listening to Tale
of the Manticora. If you'd like to help to support
the show, there are lots of ways to do that.
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 products on drive through RPG,
and finally, you can rather review the show on your
podcastry of choice. I am ever grateful for your support.
At this point, i'd like to share a listener review.
This one was left by Bearded Green Wonder on Apple Podcasts.
Bearded Green Wonder writes, really enjoying this podcast. This is
basic D and D as I remember it, characters struggling
at level one, only twelve episodes in, and thoroughly enjoying
the evolving adventure. Get those goblins. Ah, it's been a while,
but if I remember Captain Torre and Umora even vaguely,
those goblins won't stand a chance. Thanks so much for
your kind review. Now I'd be nowhere without my glorious
cast of actors, and this episode features a whole bunch
of them. In order of appearance. They are playing Record
Byome once again is John Meherdick, host of the Blue
fifty eight podcast about the Green Bay Packers. John is
also one half of the Arcane Discovery's Instagram page. Frightened
Dorothy Villager number one is voiced by Simon Williams of
the Legend of the Bones podcast. Frightened Villager number two
is played by Jared creator of the Queen of Shadows podcast.
From role Ponder and play Dot from Bite Sized Tales
and Resting Glitface is here too in the role of
Rolean ky Ellen as always plays d Renny, and Kevin
Barringer gives life to Tenier, finally taking on the role
of Curate Amazon It's Rob de Ville Paladin, a podcast
on side quests and mastermind of epic table games. In
addition to voice actress, this episode features the incredible sound
design work of Robert Newman. Robert created the Giant Troll,
and boy did he get it just right. Check at
his other work at Robert newmansouand dot com. The eventual
will continue on the next episode of Tale of the Mantagor.
It's the story, We're chaos, Roles