Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Ed Greenwood, original creator the Forgotten Realms, and.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Tale of the Manticore.
Speaker 1: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
discretion is advised. Welcome 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 Laura, the Tale
of a Manticor is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
will be much pain in the days ahead. Hi, this
is John, the creator of Tale of the Manticor. Whether
you're a longtime listener or newde to the show, I
want to extend to you a very warm welcome. I
also want to mention that you don't need to have
listened to either of the previous two seasons to understand
season three. It's designed to stand alone and you can
start here with no trouble in understanding what's going on
before we jump in a quick word about what you
can expect from Tale of the Manticor where sensitive materials
are concerned. There are frequent and detailed descriptions of violence
accompanied by graphic sound effects. Sex, sexual assault, profanity, and
torture may be referred to, but I will not explore,
dwell upon, or describe them in detail. In some rare
cases where I find I might have of a tow
over the line, you can expect an additional disclaimer with
more information at the start of the relevant episode. Once again,
thank you for listening, and now on with the show prologue.
One year has passed since the final events of season two.
The Kingdom of Xatia could not rightly be classified as
a kingdom, for it was ruled by a magistocracy and
had no monarch. Camertine, their neighbor to the west, matched
it in size and power, but Zaytious history ran centuries older.
Their other borders were less populated, at least by human settlements.
The Kashmirioth Mountain Range described the southern frontier to the southeast,
the sea, the north and northeast were made up of
huge tracts of wilderness that refused to be tamed. There
one would find it unpredictable patchwork of twisty forests, dank swamps, gullies,
scrub and grassy plains. In the past, Seyesha had tried
to conquer this land, but time and again they had
learned that it would not be ruled, and at any rate,
was not worth the price in blood and gold. It
is here in the wilderness northeast of Zisha that this
story begins. Far from the troubles of Camertine to the west,
with the blasted ruins of the Agrejen to the south.
Ignorant and uncaring of the politics and intrigues of Zatia
with its rival houses and power struggles, those were places
for the young and kyrious, and those with ambition to
see the world and better their position in it. It
was not the concern of old aldve his ward Achillea
and his constructs. Ald Vei Muag was a wizard and
areclus who had chosen a life as far away from
those troubled places as he could manage. He had no
interest in ever returning to society, but he did pay
hisation boy to deliver supplies once per season that boy
had only recently departed when Achilia walked into the living
room of their modest dwelling built into the side of
a hummock, and joined Oldvay in the kitchen, where he
was putting parcels into cupboards and humming tunelessly.
Speaker 2: Did I miss him, Pappy, asked.
Speaker 1: Achilia, disappointed. Papi was the Elvish word for father, and
Achilia had called Oldva by that name her whole life.
He just left Bagon returned the other using the Elvish
for daughter. He looked at her with fondness. How she
had grown. Achilia now stood a full five feet tall,
almost as tall as he was. She wore her platinum
colored hair and braids that fell to either side of
her pointed ears. Her eyes were warm, dark yellow, like honey.
You would hope to speak with aaron. He was baiting her,
but she did not bite. Instead, she huffed a little laugh.
Speaker 3: Especially he's a fine boy, dall and strong.
Speaker 1: Old Oldvey couldnot resist laying it on a little thick
He enjoyed teasing her and making her blush. But Achillie
just snorted.
Speaker 2: He's nice enough, but don't you think he's a little
young for me?
Speaker 1: Oldvey gave a mysterious and wistful laugh, then before replying.
Speaker 3: A few years. It's not so much, he.
Speaker 2: Said, at any rate, I have no interest. I have
everyone I need right here. You court and Robin.
Speaker 1: Nothing she could have said would have made him happier. Still,
he teased, you forgot the oak man. Achillia wrinkled her nose.
Speaker 2: The oak man never talks and barely even moves. He's
more like furniture than family.
Speaker 1: Make me, scolded the wizard with mock indignation. He has
a wisp of my soul.
Speaker 2: Fine, then I include the oakman for the sake of
your wisp.
Speaker 1: Old Oldve chuckled and made some room on the counter.
Speaker 3: Why don't you put your cats here?
Speaker 1: He was referring to the three fish Achillie had slung
on a line over her slender shoulder, as well as
the two buckets of water held by the obedient construct Cord,
who stood wordlessly behind her. Kord was the result of
Aldveay's second attempt at making a construct, and like his first,
he had not gotten the spell quite right. Cord was
six feet tall, roughly shaped as a man, and made
entirely out of wood. Four logs, each six inches across,
made his legs and four arms. Two more slightly thicker
made his thighs and upper arms. A single thick log
served for both his head and body, meaning he could
not turn his head without moving his entire person. He
had functional feet and knees, and elbows and hands made
of carved wood fitted into place with pegs. His face
was painted on and always showed a mild expression, as
though everything was perpetually calm and good. As far as
he was concerned, Old Aldervae had always regretted not giving
him a neck or the power of speech, but that
was the way with magic, especially when you were trying
to develop something new. Success came slowly and only after
numerous failures. Besides, compared to Robin, Court had been a triumph. Presently,
the wooden constructs had a pair of buckets, each with
water on the counter. Thank your corn, said Old Aldervai.
The automaton tilted forward in a bow of acknowledgment. Now
the wizard turned to the girl, and.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Beckmy for catching our dinner. But there is
one more task I need for you to perform.
Speaker 1: Of course, replied Achillia. She might be curious and a
little headstrong, but she was never lazy.
Speaker 3: Robin has told me there is another magic use that
newly moved into our veil.
Speaker 1: Achillie's eyes widened. She had not been expecting that I.
Speaker 3: Needed you to meet with him. He is a few
miles away on the far side of the river. Robin
will show you.
Speaker 1: The way you want me to go, Achilie asked, yes,
beck me visit him and express a welcome.
Speaker 3: Perhaps while you're there you might get a measure of
the man. Oh, and I have prepared a gift for
you to bring.
Speaker 1: Achilia was brave as she was hardworking, but something about
this task touched her with anxiety.
Speaker 2: Can I take a chord with me?
Speaker 1: The sturdy wooden construct stood rigidly behind her, not moving
as they awaited Old Aldveay's reply. We are off to
a weird start.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: I figured that some light hearted fantasy, at least to
begin with, might be an appropriate antidote for the grim
darkness of season two. Now I'm curious to know if
Cord will accompany Achillia on her mission to welcome the
stranger in their veil. But perhaps we should take a
moment to get to know these characters. First. Achillia is
the apprentice of Old Aldvey Muag, who is an accomplished
magic user. Will get to him shortly, but let's first
explore the character of Achilia because she is our first
player character. The earliest editions of D and D used
race as class, so it would be reasonable to assume
that Achillea is of the elf class, except she isn't
actually an elf. She thinks she is because that's what
Oldveay has always called her, but actually she is a
half elf. There's a story behind all this we might
get to one day, but for now, I'll just reveal that,
as far as Achillia knows, she was left as a
baby on Aldvay's doorstep twenty one years ago, and that
he adopted and raised her. This much is true. She
also believes that she is simply his ward and not
blood related, but this is untrue. So Achillia is not
enough but a half elf. Okay, but that raises the
question what class is she? Well, that's easy. She's the
apprentice to a magic user, so she is also a
magic user level one. Let's grab some dice and see
how her stats work out. I'm using my usual homebrew
rules of rolling three D six and re rolling any
results of three, four or five. Here comes the first
roll of season three. For strength A ten, Intelligence A nine,
Wisdom ten, dexterity fourteen, Constitution eleven, charisma fifteen. Usually I
roll straight down the line and just keep whatever I
get borrowing those very low numbers. But since I've already
decided that Achillie will be of the magic user class,
I'm going to swap her best scores that fifteen in
charisma with her intelligence. A fifteen in intelligence gives her
a second language in addition to the common tongue, and
it only makes sense that Aldvais has taught her to
speak Elvish. It makes me wonder how he learned that language.
Maybe we'll find out some time in the future. Achilie's
other noteworthy stat is dexterity. Her fourteen gives her a
plus one to ascending armor class and a plus one
to hit with missile weapons. As a first level magic user,
she gets four hit points and one spell. A first
level will work out which spell later on over to
Old Aldvey. Walzatia is ruled by wizards. Not all wizards
are rule, far from it. Those who don't belong to
noble houses are often subjugated, persecuted, or cast out. Aldva
is one of the latter variety, mostly by choice. Generally speaking,
he dislikes other people, despite that, he's good hearted and
fiercely protective of Achille, whom he raised from a baby.
Aldve is an NPC, so I won't generate stats from
him at this time. For now, it's enough to say
that he's a high level magic easer of around seventh
level maybe eighth. Chord is a construct and represents a
minor success and breakthrough for Aldvea when he was in
the process of perfecting the custom spell Imbue Life. I'll
put the full spell description on Tale of themantichord dot
blogspot dot com, but the quick version is that it
gives life to an inanimate object by sharing a wisp
of the castor's soul with it. Cord is a co
instruct of wood, which is a tough enough material to
give him an armor class of fourteen and six hit points.
He has the intelligence of an average human, but he
cannot communicate verbally. He is extremely loyal to Aldbay and
by extension, Achillia. For the most part, his job is
to perform duties of manual labor and provide general help.
There are two other constructs in Alvay's home, Robin and
the oak Man, but will meet them later. I want
to get back into the narrative, but let's briefly recap
the scenario before we dive in. Here's what's going on.
Old Aldvey has learned that another spellcaster has moved into
his territory, and this is not especially welcome news. My
first question is does Aldve know this other magic user.
I'll say there's a fifty to fifty chance either way,
and will high low high means the other wizard is known.
The role on a D twenty A two completely unknown.
This explains why Aldve is sending Achillia out to meet
him in Zatia. Meetings between wizard two are not known
to each other are generally avoided. In cases where the
two parties do not get along and both sides have
the power to bend reality to some extent, bad things happen.
That probably goes some distance to explaining the complex layers
of rank and status and difference between the various levels
and factions of the Zati magistocracy. This is a good
time to introduce a new mechanic, one I've been eyeing
for years. I'm a huge fan of Tona Pigeon's Mythic GME,
especially the page seventeen event Meaning tables. These two tables
consist of random verbs and nouns, respectively that can push
the fiction in new and unexpected directions. I'm going to
start using them in a way that's not quite as intended. However,
instead of rolling on the tables to answer an oracle question,
I'm going to roll up and keep the results preemptively,
keeping them in store until it can be used. Once applied,
I'll roll a new pair so there will always be
one in the chamber, so to speak. Near the end
of season two, I did an interview with the best
selling author Paolo Bacchiglupi off Mike. I asked him if
he'd do me the honor of rolling up the first
mythic event meaning pair for season three. He was game
and rolled the twenty two Befriend and sixty two Disruption
Befriend Disruption. This is where I got the idea of
the arrival for the unknown Magic User. We're almost ready
to jump back in the story, but as I said before,
I always want to have one in the chamber. That
means I need two more roles on a deep percentile.
I've got ninety nine okay, that's a press and zero
seven allies oppress allies. What does that mean? I have
no idea, but it's not meant to be used just yet.
Time will tell. This is just one more thing. Remember
that Achillie asked Alta if she should take Chord with
her on her visit to me at the stranger. Let's
randomize the answer with a simple reaction role to determine
the result two D six. With the higher the number,
the more likely he is to say yes. The role
Chapter one, Part one, Day one, early afternoon, mythic event
meaning oppress Allies party status achillea four out of four
hit points. Aldve shook his head.
Speaker 3: No, God might come across as a little intimidating, and
this other wizard might mistake your intent if you bring
him along, So I have to go alone, not alone,
as I said before, Robin will accompany you.
Speaker 1: A brief silence hung in the air, pregnant between them.
Aldve handed her a package and crinkled his eyes. I'll
see you soon. Achilia realized her mentor had detected her discomfort,
so she straightened her back and lifted her chin. With
the smirk, she.
Speaker 2: Replied, I'll be back in time for dinner, and then.
Speaker 1: For good measure, she added.
Speaker 2: Dumping the fish.
Speaker 1: Having had the last word, she turned on her heel
and strode out the front door, leaving their tumble down
home and the hillock it was built into behind. She
walked to where the land began to dip in earnest
and a worn trail led to the river. Before she
got a hundred paces, she heard a flutter of wings
behind her, and then a soft touch on the top
of her head. This was Robin, who preferred this perch
to Achillea's shoulder, perhaps because her Elven blood line had
given her hair that was fine and soft. Like Cord,
Robin was a construct, while Cord had been given life
only after dozens of failed attempts. Robin was actually the
result of Aldveay's first attempt of the spell in viue life. Also,
unlike Cord, who had been made into the tall and
slender shape of a man, more or less, Robin, as
his name implied, was a little bird. It was somewhat
roughly put together, missing a few feathers, and with some
of the stitching showing from the unskilled taxidermy job Alvey
had performed. Sometimes when he took off, he leaked a
little sawdust. Up close, Robin looked a bit strange. Most
disconcerting were his eyes, for when Alvee had made them,
he had nothing suitable at hand, and had improvised with
a pair of clear glass beads. Thus Robin, though fully
able to see, had no pupils. Achilia breathed in the
fragrant summer air and closed her eyes against the sun
that shone warmly against her face. This was her favorite
time of year, when nature, she thought, was at its
most beautiful. She kept to the well worn footpath, created
in no small part by her own two feet, as
it wound down the side of the valley towards the river.
The two of them passed a mulberry tree whose fruit
was now just beginning to darken. Perhaps on the way
back she would pick some for their dessert, but it
would be foolish to do so. Now. If she did,
she would stain her fingers red and look a mess
when she met The worry returned when she thought about
who she might be going to visit. What if this
person was unkind or dangerous? What if they hated elves
or took her for a dangerous intruder before she had
a chance to introduce herself. She wished that Bobby had
let her bring Cord along. His presence always made her
feel safe, and one could not ask for a better protector, except,
of course, for the oak Man, but she didn't much
like having him around, because he seemed somehow empty inside.
Gilia had been walking with Robin perched on her head
for a little under an hour. By the time she
reached the river. They had no name for this river.
It was, and had always simply been the river. Given
that she had never seen another, she had needed a
name for it. When she reached the bank and turned left,
Robin stirred in her hair. She felt his prickly feet
scratch her scalp as the stuffed bird gave a little
peep of objection.
Speaker 2: I understand, but the ford is in this direction. I'll
have to make a little detour.
Speaker 1: Robin couldn't understand her words, but it could tell by
her tone that all was well, and settled down again.
Vicilia walked a few more minutes to the shallowest part
of the river, where the willows dipped their whiplike branches,
pulled off her shoes and waited to cross. Once on
the other side, she went barefoot for a little while
and followed the bank back along the opposite side. Robin
peeped again, and she put on her shoes before turning
away from the river and walking away in a direction
perpendicular to the flowing water. For the next hour. Robin
directed her steps. It would alight from her head, fly
a few dozen feet away, and wait on a tree branch,
whistling impatiently. Since the way now was largely up hill.
Acilia had worked up a light sweat by the time
she saw her destination, and what a strange sight it was.
Standing atop a knoll, completely incongruent with the woody surroundings,
was a thirty foot tall cylindrical tower made of pure iron.
Achillie approached the odd structure cautiously. Her first instinct was
to turn back. She should return home and report that
she had been unable to find whatever and whomover Robin
had discovered. But this was just childish apprehension of the unknown,
and she chided herself for entertaining it even for a moment.
Was she not the apprentice of Master Aldvey Moak she was?
Could she not also bend reality to her will? If
not so spectacularly as her mentor she could? Was she
such a stranger to the uncanny and the bazaar? She
was not. Therefore, this iron structure in the middle of
the woods, where it had no business being, would not
make her afraid. She nodded to herself, eliciting a shrill
twitter of surprise from Robin, who still perched atop her head,
and walked towards it. The metal tower was twenty feet wide,
or about two thirds its height. It had no rivets, seams,
or decorations or features of any kind save one. The
single door, flat not following the contours of the building,
was set into the front. Though made of the same
iron as the rest of the building, it was highly decorated.
The profile of a man's head three times larger than life,
was etched into it. The man's hair was bound up
with vines and flowers. His one visible eye was shut.
A beard clung to his square jaw and poked out
from the point of his chin, where it rolled up
in a curly cue The door had no handle and
no knocker. Achillier reached out to touch it, wondering if
the surface would be cold. As soon as their finger
tips made contact, the eye lid of the etching flew open.
Behind it was an iron iris and an iron pupil,
while the rest of the face remained rigid. It rolled around,
looking to either side and even above her, before gazing
right at her face. At that moment, Robin took off
from her head and alighted on the branch of a
nearby tree.
Speaker 2: Ah Am Hello, stammered Achillie, flushing bright red as she
jerked her hand away and stepped back.
Speaker 1: The metal eyeball quivered, looked once again to her left
and right, as though trying to see past her, and
then shut. After a moment, the door swung inward on
invisible hinges, and standing before Achillee was a person of
even shorter stature than herself. At first, she thought it
must be a dwarf. Vapi had told her about dwarfs
and had shown her drawings of them as well. This
person was shorter than a dwarf should be, standing under
three feet tall. He wore a felt cap of burgundy
and had a rather large head with a stubby nose
and a fringe of black beard. Achillie realized suddenly what
this creature was.
Speaker 2: You're an, aren't you?
Speaker 1: She asked, rather impolitely. The gnome answered with an obsequious smile.
Its teeth were small and brown, and there were gaps
between them. The smile made the creature's face ugly, and
Achilie had to force herself not to recoil. She straightened
her back and laced her hands in front of her abdomen,
in the formal greeting between wizards in Satia, him my
name is. The gnomes seemed not to understand her, but
it smiled its ugly smile again, and then bowed at
her while throwing its right arm behind it in a
gesture clearly meant to indicate that she should enter. Achillia
summoned her courage, walked through the door and into the
Weird Tower. Thanks for listening to Tale of the mandicor
if you're enjoying the show and would like to help
to support it, there are lots of ways to do so.
You can recommend the show online, order friends, You can
like and repost episode announcements on social media. You can
pick up one Shot in the Dark, the Pendulum world
building Tool, or Encyclopedia Manticorca on Drive Through RPG. And finally,
you can rately review the show on your podcast of choice.
By thanks to everyone for their support at this time,
please allow me to share one of your very kind reviews.
This one was left by Mycenius on Apple Podcasts. Mycenius writes,
this is an absolutely fantastic podcast that captures the true
D and D heart and OSR feel and values, and
is fantastic inspiration for anyone doing fantasy RPG solo play
or being a dungeon master or game master. Amazingly well
done and presented. Thanks very much, Mycenius. I've noticed that
my audience in New Zealand has been growing. Do I
have you to thank for that? I'll thank you for
the very kind review. In any case, much appreciated. Mycenius
is not the only person I'd like to thank. In
this first episode of the new season, extreme gratitude goes
out to Ed Greenwood the Ed Greenwood for graciously recording
a killer bumper to start off the season. Ed, you
are one of the architects of my childhood imagination and
I am forever in your debt. Another big thank you
goes to god Roblin's Henchman for giving me access to
his excellent facefolio. I decided to use some of these
portraits as inspiration for characters on the show, and I'll
post them on the blog as I go. Another artist
who agreed to help me visualize the characters in the
show is Hodegg RPG. You might have seen some of
Hodegg's work in the teaser and lead up to the
season posts I made on Instagram. Thank you so much,
Hotagg and Goblin's Henchman for contributing your talents to the show. Finally,
I'd like to take a moment now to acknowledge the
great voice talent in this episode. Welcome back Andrew Flinging,
who has taken on the role of Aldve Muag. What
a great job you've done bringing Aldve to life. Thank
you Andrew for listeners, I'd like to get in touch
with me. I'm at Manticore Tale on x or Tale
of the Manticor podcast on Instagram, and there's always email
Tale of Themanticor at gmail dot com. I also keep
a blog where I post all kinds of show at
RPG related stuff like art, maps, tables, crafts, and show notes.
You can find it at Tale the Manticore dot blogspot
dot com. The adventure will continue on the next episode
of Tale of the mant Core. The story were chaos
rolls