Speaker 1: Hello, this is Bill Allen from Bill Allen World, and
you are listening to Tale of the Manticore. 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 crossbreeding 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 Laura, the Tale of a
Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There will be
much pain in the days ahead. Last time on Tale
of the Manticor, in chapter one, we meet the reclusive
human wizard Aldbay and his daughter Achillea. Right from the start,
there are a couple of mysteries surrounding this young woman
who will be our first player character. First, she believes
she's an elf because that's what she's been told all
her life, but in reality, she is a half elf. Second,
although she is Aldvay's daughter, the elder Wizard, has hidden
that fact from her. As far as Achillia knows, she
was adopted by him and raised as his ward since infancy.
Despite these secrets, the two live together along with several
magical constructs in the uninhabited wilderness east of the Kingdom
of Xatia. Their happy and peaceful life is interrupted one
day by the presence of a second magic user who's
come into their territory for reasons unknown. In order to
avoid a conflict, Aldves ends Achillia to meet with this
stranger and if she can find out something about their
motives or character. A few hours later, the nervous young
apprentice finds herself in front of a weird tower of
iron that seems to have materialized from out of nowhere.
When the door opens, she's met by an equally odd
gnome who welcomes her inside. Chapter two, Part two, Day one,
late afternoon mythic event meaning will press allies party status
achillea four out of four hit points. It was cool inside,
but not dark. The place was lit by a softly
glowing orb of white crystal that hung by a chain
from the ceiling. The sound in here even her own
breathing reverberated with a hollow, metallic quality. The room was
semi circular, with a single exit on the wall, which
bisected the tower interior. If there was some means of
ascending to the second floor, it must have been in
the other room. This one had basic but well made furnishings.
A woven rug of braided wool covered most of the
metal floor. There were two wooden chairs. One was thick
and stout, the other small, presumably sized for the Gnome.
Between the chairs was a small table with a table
cloth of white linen. To her left, bowed to fit
flush against the tower's roundness, a narrow shelf supported a
trio of silver vases, each containing a single trillium. The
flat wall opposite her was decorated with an oval shaped
mirror framed in gilded wood. The sound of movement came
from the next room, prompting the still smiling Gnome to
gesture at her and then the small chair. Achillie realized
then that the now Jome was a servant, not the
master of the house as she had first thought. She
didn't want to be seated when the person she had
come to meet entered, so she delayed, pretending to admire
the trilliums instead. A few moments later, the interior door
opened and an enormous man entered the room. Apart from
how this person looks and that there also some kind
of magic user, I really have no idea who this
person is or what they want. I wonder if I'll
have the opportunity to apply my current mythic event meaning
oppress allies. Who knows? The big question is does their
presence here have anything to do with alday? A high
low roll will sort this out. HI means this wizard
is here for that reason on a D twenty a one.
Oh well, I'm going to go ahead and call that
an extreme No. This wizard has never even heard of
aldby Muwak, and I think that gives me enough to
go on for now. Let's put the dice away and
return to the narrative. He could barely fit through the door.
The man was half as wide as he was tall.
Everything about him was plump, his belly strained against the
front of his tunic, and his belt was more like
a girdle. His shoulders were as great sacks of grain,
his beard voluminous, his mustaches swooping even his eyebrows were bushy.
He wore a lot of jewelry, something Achillie was not
used to seeing. A chunky gold ring adorned every punchy finger.
Each wrist wore multiple bracelets, also gold. The only humans
achille had ever known were Oldvay and the delivery boy,
so she was unskilled at guessing age. But this man
seemed to be somewhere between those two years. A guest,
he boomed. He turned out that his voice was big, too, wonderful, wonderful.
He had to turn sideways to fit through the door.
As he entered, Are you some refreshments for our guest?
The ugly gnome genuflected, then scurried off through the door
his master had used. Achillia felt overwhelmed, but still had
the good sense to remember protocol. She folded her hands,
fingers laced across her abdomen, in the formal greeting practiced
by unfamiliar wizards.
Speaker 2: It is an honor to make your acquaintance.
Speaker 1: She said. The man raised his eyebrows at the gesture,
and then smiled. When he did, his eyes sparkled as
brightly as his jewelry. He laced his own pudgy fingers
in front of his great belly, mirroring the willowy Achillee.
The custom was an old one in Zaytia. It was
equivalent to showing an open palm, a symbolic assurance of
peaceful intentions. For interlaced fingers could not cast spells. Vin
grin Atresh at your service, he said, with a nod.
Speaker 2: Well met, Master Atresh, she replied.
Speaker 3: My name is Achilia Muog, apprenticed to ald Via Muagh.
Speaker 2: You have heard of him, I expect.
Speaker 1: The big magic user unlaced his finger and motioned for
Achillia to take a seat. She did, and while she
found the nome's chair uncomfortably small, fim grin Atrash could
barely fit into his, but he did not see him
bothered by this. Oh please call me Phib, he said, smiling.
He studied her face. I have not seen many who
look as you do. What manner of creature are you?
Achilie was not sure she took his meaning, but answered
in the most forthright way she.
Speaker 2: Could, I am an elf, if you please, Master fim.
Speaker 1: FIM's mouth twitched into a frown for a fraction of
a second, and then his smile was back of course,
Well to what do I owe the pleasure of your company,
Mistress muild Elf Achilie, she corrected him, returning his smile. Inside,
she fretted he had not even reacted to the mention
of her Vappi's name.
Speaker 3: I bring a gift from Master Miloc, she.
Speaker 1: Said, brightly, producing a package from her satchel.
Speaker 2: I'm sure I am unworthy of any gift.
Speaker 1: Fim politely, as Achillia placed the parcel on the table
and began to untie the cord that held the wrapping together.
Inside was a little glass jar.
Speaker 3: It is a small quantity of a room fin gunned
powder prepared by Master Mowok.
Speaker 1: Personally, Achillia studied Sim's face as she opened the cloth,
hoping to read something in his reaction. But the other
man betrayed nothing. A very fine gift, he said, his
voice neutral. Please extend my gratitude to your master. Achilie
tried to select her next words carefully.
Speaker 2: You are very kind.
Speaker 3: He wishes me to add that he would be well
disposed to aid you with whatever business brings you inside
our borders.
Speaker 1: Fim looked at her without blinking. Did some hint of
danger lurk behind his bright eyes. The man's smile remained
but did not quite reach them. Perhaps she was just
imagining it. A clatter sounded from the other room and
preceded the gnome, who presently appeared at the drawer with
a cup laden tray. Ah said Fim without looking away,
here is Artie. I'm tempted to figure out here and
now what it is that Fim is doing in aldveays Veil.
We've already determined that he wasn't aware he was inside
another magic users of Borders. Of course he does now,
and that's going to change things. Maybe it'd be more
interesting not to know what Fim is doing there, not
yet anyway, and just make a role to see how
he reacts to Achillia. Part of playing RPGs, whether the
DM or a player, is making choices, right, So that's
my decision. I'll grab twoty six, make a reaction roll,
and leave FIM's intentions a mystery. Before I roll these dice,
I should consider, are there any mitigating circumstances that would
justify a modifier to the role. Being the kind of
wizard who can make an iron tower appear in an instant,
Fim must be a fairly high level. He probably has
some experience with elves and would realize that Achillia is
not a exactly what she says. Would that make him
suspicious or curious? I'm not sure what else. Achilie has
an average charisma score of nine, which gives no bonus
or penalty. She's unarmed and unattended, and this I think matters.
That again, she gave herself away as a magic user
by lacing her fingers. The factors cancel each other out,
you know, I think it's going to be a straight
roll two D six hire is better. Oh my, I've
got an eleven on the dice. That almost could not
have gone better. Let's take a quick ad break. When
we return, we'll see how their interaction plays out. Chapter two,
Part two, Day one, late afternoon, one hour later. Mythic
event meaning oppress Allies party status. Achillea four out of
four hit points. The sweet tea Achilia thought it had
a strange aftertaste was gone, so were all the slices
of pungent cheese. Of these, Achillie had only eaten two pieces,
the first to see if she liked it, the second,
having learned she did not to be polite, Fim had
eaten the rest, compulsively reaching for it and nibbling away.
As they spoke. He asked her a lot of questions,
mostly about Aldvay and what he was like, how long
they had been here, and why they did not live
in any of the great Satian cities. This last question
made Achillia suspect that Fim had never been to Zatia himself,
or wanted her to think as much. She had never
been there either, but what she knew about the complex
social hierarchy among wizards, the dangerous clash of ambitions, and
the perfidious dealings that were the hall marks of Zatian culture,
the question did seem a bit ignorant. When asked his
reasons for being in the veil and his intentions, Fim
gave a way little. Still, his vagueness did not come
across as evasive precisely, and his general demeanor remained warm
and amiable throughout their conversation. After a time, Achillia decided
that she had learned all that she was going to
and had given away more than she should have. She
said she should be going. Of course, of course, I
understand your master will be anxious for your return and
for news of the interloper. He spoke the last word
with a smiling sarcasm, while pointing a stubby, gold ringed
finger right at his own nose. He chuckled at his joke,
and Achilia could not help a grin back at the
other wizard's sanguine expression. When she rose to leave, Fim
held up a hand and motioned for her to wait.
He called to his henchmen through the door, and the
Gnomery appeared so quickly that Achilleus surmise he must have
been standing by it on the other side the whole time.
Fim gave him some directions in a language Achilia couldn't understand,
presumably Gnomish, and the servant hurried off. He returned a
few moments later, holding a package, which he presented to her.
The Gnome smiled again, showing its brown teeth with the
little black gaps between them, while off putting. Achilia accepted
the little package, who was something very small and hard
wrapped in a silk cloth, and managed to return the
smile and proffered bow before making her farewells to Fim
and taking her leave. The Gnome closed the tower door
behind her and she began to walk away with the
ever growing suspicion that Fim had read her like a book.
Dramatis Personae Achillia Achilia is a half elthin first level
magic user. She stands four foot ten inches tall, as
platinum colored hair and amber yellow eyes. She's twenty one
years old. Her small size and her youth make her quick, agile,
and full of energy. As a half elf, she has
infan vision, but ages at the same rate as a human.
She does not have Elvin resistance to paralyzing attacks, but
she does enjoy a bonus to finding secret doors raised
by the wizard aldve muog. In relative solitude, Achilia has
almost no experience with social interactions, and so when she
does find herself in the rare conversation with an unfamiliar person,
she is awkward and shy. As a corollary to that,
Achilia is independent and self reliant. She has an optimistic
predisposition towards life and is naturally curious. Most of all,
she is exceptionally bright, loves to learn, and does so
quickly because of her training. She feels emotions, but is
not ruled by them. Achilia does not know that Aldvea
is her father and has never known a mother. She
believes that she was left on Aldveay's doorstep as an infant,
and that he raised her as if she were his daughter.
All the same and somewhat ironically, Achilie loves Aldveays uncann additionally,
and the two have a father daughter relationship in addition
to one of master and pupil. Aldvey's constructs are also
considered as family, with the exception of the oak Man,
whom Achillia regards as a mindless automaton, whereas Robin is
something like a pet. Cord and Achillea have a special relationship.
They are best friends and as close as siblings. Robin
was waiting for her outside and peeped angrily before fluttering
down from its branch to land in her head, where
it remained for almost the full journey, first back down
to the river, along the bank to the ford, and
then back along the opposite bank to the footpath. It
was at this point that Robin must have grown impatient,
for it took off and flew on ahead. Achillia was
then left alone with her thoughts and the little parcel.
She assumed it was a return gift meant for Aldvais,
though the corpulent wizard Fim had not actually said as much.
Although she was curious to know what it might be,
if it was not intended for her, it would be
wrong to open it, so she tucked it into her
satchel and continued on her way. Once again, she started
thinking back on her conversation with anxiety. It seemed to
have gone well. Had it gone well? She seemed to
have learned a few things about the stranger in their veil,
But what did she really know about him. She hadn't
found out where he came from or what he was
doing here. She thought she had a measure of his character,
but apart from a general impression of his personality and
that he appeared to mean them no harm, she had
to admit that she had taken away very little in
terms of useful information. That thought pivoted in her brain
as she fret it, making her wonder if she had
given too much information. Her mind raced back over the
script of their conversation, trying to recall exactly what he
had asked her and what she had told him. Had
she revealed anything that might be exploited as a weakness,
She didn't think so she hoped not. Her worry had
grown from a nagging unease to something bordering on mild
nausea when Robin came flying back, piping madly and circling
about her head.
Speaker 2: What is it, Robin, what's wrong?
Speaker 1: Robin was able to communicate with Olvay using limited telepathy
since it contained a wisp of his soul. This was
not the case with Achilie, who had to guess. All
she could tell was that Robin was agitated, and then
watching the stuffed bird flitting back and forth, trilling madly
that it wished her to come quickly. Achillie started to
jog and then run, while Robin flew on ahead in
the direction of home. She could sense that something was wrong,
even though when she came into view of their dwelling
the only thing amiss was that the front door was ajar.
But it wasn't the door that keened her senses or
warned her of danger. It was the forest. Normally it
would be a buzz with noise and life, but now
everything was still and silh ellan. A feeling of dread
rose up inside Achillea, and she sprinted the last hundred
meters home, bursting through the door.
Speaker 2: She called out, Papi, Pappi, are you home? Where are you?
Speaker 1: Aldve did not leave their home very often these days.
He was old and his joints hurt. He almost always
sent her or Cord to collect water, food, and lately
even the herbs, roots and fungi used in his alchemy.
She scanned the main floor. It appeared that Oldvai had
begun to prepare a fire in their little wood stove,
but had not yet lit it. The fish she had
brought had been cleaned and cut, but remained on the
cutting board along with a sharp knife. The rest of
the place looked somewhat cluttered and chaotic, but that was normal.
Aldveay was never one for straight lines, neat edges, or
tidy workspases. A strange, burnt smell was coming from the
next room, and Achillia raced through the living area and
into their shared bedroom, where they kept their mattresses side
by side. Her half of the room looked normal, untouched,
but Aldveay's side was destroyed. The normally full bookshelf was empty,
and dozens of tomes of all shapes and sizes were
scattered on the floor. Under them. Where the bed had
been was now a blackened and burnt crater. Alvays a
secret compartment under his bed where he kept his precious
spell book, but the compartment had been trapped with an
explosive glyph at Kellie's heart leaped into her throat. She
called out again, desperately, Poppy, where are you? She wheeled
around and dashed back into the other room, tearing down
the wooden steps that led to her master's lap.
Speaker 3: Please let him be here, she said to herself, Please
let him be all right.
Speaker 1: At the bottom of the stairs, she saw Aldvey's little
alchemical lap with its retort alembic and copper bowl on
the wall. Beside it, with the exhaust pipes that led
up through the earth to where they joined with the
stove's chimney. A shelving unit with a vast assortment of
powders and liquids. Showed two empty spots on the desk
where a pair of overtre jars their contents spilled.
Speaker 2: Oh, please let him be all.
Speaker 1: Right, she repeated. It took a moment for her infro
vision to take over. In the dark beyond the stairs,
she first noticed the oak man standing straight back and
upright against the far wall, normally he was kept in
the living room. Because of her panic, she hadn't even
noticed his absence before then her eyes dropped lower. Sitting
on the floor at the oak man's side, back to
the wall and knees pulled in was aldvay.
Speaker 2: Ah thanks to the hair.
Speaker 1: She breathed, relief washing over her.
Speaker 2: There you are what happened, Uppy Oldvey.
Speaker 1: Did not move, not an inch. Lappy, Her heart was
back in her throat. Luppy, something was terribly wrong. She
rushed to him, accidentally brushing her arm against one of
the jars on the table. It rolled off and clunked
against the floor of hard packed earth, but Achilia didn't
even notice. Now she was kneeling in front of her master.
Speaker 2: Luppy, speak to me.
Speaker 1: Baldavey did not move at all. He stared straight across
the room as though she were invisible. Achille's infro vision
allowed her to see in the dark, but she could
not make out color this way, and so it took
a few seconds longer for her to realize the truth
than it would have had she been in the light.
She reached out a tentative finger and touched his cheek.
It was as cold as stone. She breathed, blinking in disbelief.
Speaker 2: Oh no, oh, vapi, what has happened to you?
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Tale of the mantigor Now, before
I get to my usual outro, I wanted to invite
you to stick around after the credits for a little
news update for the show. All right, where was I? Ah? Yes?
I was about to say that if you are enjoying
the show and would like to support it, there are
a lot of ways to help. You could recommend the
show online or to friends. You could like and repost
episode announcements on social media. You could pick up one
Shot in the Dark with the pendul And world building
tool or Encyclopedia Mantegorica on drive through RPG. And finally,
you can rate or review the show on your podcatter
of choice. As always, by thanks to everyone for the
support of the show. Speaking of support at this time,
please allow me to share one of your kind reviews.
This one was left by Golden one one nine via
Apple Podcasts. Golden one one nine writes, I've listened to
a lot of actual play podcasts and for me, Solo
Beats Group and Tale of the Manticore is the best
of the solo Thank you for making this engaging, quality
and free content. John Well, you are very welcome Golden
one one nine, and also thank you very much. It
might sound right, but my goal is to make the
absolute best audio fantasy fiction experience that my abilities will allow.
It's so nice when I hear that other folks are
enjoying the show. Much appreciated. Thanks both the Goblins Henchman
and hodag RPG for providing conceptual and promotional art for
the show. You guys are both extremely talented and your
ideas help bring the show to Finally, i'd like to
thank this episode's a great voice talent, Ian from the
Undercommon Taste podcast plays Fimgrim Attress to perfection. Thanks Ian
for joining the cast. For listeners who'd like to get
in touch with me, I met Mantcore Tale on x
or Tale of the Manticore podcast on Instagram, and there's
always email Tale of Themantcre at gmail dot com. I
also keep a blog where I post all kinds of
show and RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts,
and show notes. You can find it at Tale Ofthemantacre
dot blogspot dot com. The adventure will continue on the
next episode of Tale of the manticor the story where
chaos rolls. Happy Halloween, everybody. I know this episode is
not exactly terrifying, but don't worry. That darkness is there
lurking around the edges of Achille's story, but you know
it can be scary ads. Okay, that was a pretty
lame segue, but I wanted to take a moment to
point out that I have recently undergone a change and
it has altered the way I do advertising. If you're
new to the show, welcome, by the way, you might
not have noticed anything or ads are concerned, but those
who are longtime listeners will likely have noticed some changes
and inconsistencies. I used to do mostly unpaid ad swaps
with other folks in the RPG community, with an occasional
paid ad every once in a blue moon. I've switched
over to iHeartRadio now and I am going to discontinue
ad swaps in favor of exclusively paid ads. Why the change.
There's a couple of main reasons. One is workflow. The
more people I need to wait on to send me
audio files, the harder it is to produce the show
on time. Ending ad swaps will help a lot in
reducing the frequent bottlenecks that I experience in production. The
other is simply that iHeart approached me with a very
good offer and I took it. I had a good
run with Podbean and would still recommend them. By the
way that said, I'm hoping my new partnership with iHeart
will lead to bigger and better things for the show. Now,
if the new format is having a negative effect on
your listening experience, or if you find it a change
for the worse, there is a way to get the
show at free. If you have a speaker account, you
can enroll in the Tale of the Mantacore Supporters Club.
It's a kind of proprietary Patreon type thing. Anyway, two
bucks a month gets to the show at free. I
should mention that for the season one and season two
back catalogs, the ad partner swaps are hard embedded in
the program, and they are permanent for season three. However,
you'd be getting one hundred percent at free programming. As
long as I'm sharing some news, I'll also take this
opportunity to mention that I'm dipping my toe into the
world of merch in cooperation with the Bare Arts Gallery.
This online store is run by a good friend and
Tell of the Manticore cast member Kevin Barringer. Kevin played
Jason season two. If the name rings a bell, Bare
Arts dot Store That's b a r e a r
t s dot Store is an online gallery for artists
to share their one hundred percent human made designs on
various useful products such as comfy t shirts. They work
to ensure that their products are eco friendly, sustainable, and
ethically sourd. At the moment, we're offering a basic, vegan friendly,
one hundred percent organic cotton T shirt with the Tail
of the mantecre logo in black, red and white. Hopefully
in the future we'll expand more and different kinds of
clothes and accessories. Very exciting. Well, I think that's it
for news. Thanks for sticking around, and I'll see you
next time on Tail of the Manticor