Speaker 1: Yes, yes, open it up, my boiler.
Speaker 2: Let's see if we've found what we've come all this
way for and shed no small.
Speaker 1: Amount of blood or open it up. Ah, careful, now careful.
What what is it? Master?
Speaker 2: It looks like some kind of barb or a claw,
a stinger perhaps, But I've never seen a scorpion of
this size. M Oh my boy, this barb is no
scorpion's tool. Yes, is the tail of nothing short of
a mantacre and an old one.
Speaker 1: By the size of it. Careful, now, careful, the spell
will be complete at the last.
Speaker 2: Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha. Hey everybody, this is Brandish Gilhelm 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 Manticore Season two. Like
the creature from which it takes its name, Tale of
the Manticore is a mashup, a crossbreeding between two different
species of storytelling. Here you will find the unpredictability of
old school RPG, paper and dice games with the story
craft of a dark fantasy novel. No character is sacred
and no character will be spared if the dice decide
their fate is at hand. According to lore, the tale
of a Manticore is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
will be much pain in the days ahead, last time
until of the Manticor. Chapter seventy five begins with Basu
treating the remains of the two banished demons with holy
water in order to fortify the barrier between the Abyss
and the prime material Plain. The clerk had retrieved the
water from Erness's private chapel at the Church of the
Sacred Flame. It turns out while there he also collected
the high Priestess's holy symbol and the bejeweled relic symbol
that had originally been used to bind the succupice below
the church. When the party leaves the Hezro's cavern, they find,
of all things, a gallery in the next room. Being
so far underground is not the strangest thing about the gallery.
The species are surprised to see that all of the
portraits hanging in it are of the same person, King Colfrey.
Things get weirder still for Cat'spaine when the portraits start
talking to him. When he realizes no one else can
hear them. Katspain decides to ignore the talkative king and
the office of power he makes, and convinces his companions
to leave the gallery by pointing out that they are
running low on lantern oil. In the next spase, the
pieces discover a dining room. In it is a table
heaped with fragrant food tapestries wring the feast, with each
showing one of the companions in some disturbing and different way.
Despy Yellowfli's instructions to touch nothing, Shawne tears hers from
the wall and instantly dispels the illusion that fills the room.
Now the companions see that they are actually in a
crypt where there had been a table. There is now
an empty sarcophagus where Cat'spin's tapestry had been. There is
now an exit. Chapter seventy six, Part one, day, one
hundred and eighty four, time unknown, one hour of lantern
fuel remains. Party status Yellowfly twenty six of fifty hit points,
Shawne eighteen of thirty five, Jase twenty seven of thirty eight,
Kat's Pain nineteen of twenty three, Basu twelve of twenty
three spells available. Kat's Pain has memorized detect magic, mirror,
image and dimension door. Basu has prayed for light, bless
and locate object. Basu had nodded when Kat's Pain told
his companions he suspected there might be a greater demon
the other two had served. In truth, he knew a
little of demonology, but still felt the terrible sensation of
a weight on his heart that had started after they
had passed through the door with a face that seemed
like ages ago. In reality, it had happened only a
few hours before. He and his companions had passed through.
The exit revealed where Katspin's tapestry had been before Shawnee
had dispelled the illusion and were now in a small
passage with a low ceiling that made him feel claustrophobic.
In front of him was Katspin gripping his lantern. The
light from it seemed dimmer than it had been before.
Bazzi didn't know that the wizard was having a hard
time concentrating. Armies of thought and emotion battled within him.
One of those emotions was anger. Had an yellowfly threatened
him when he had said, listen carefully. If you suspect
anything else, I'd urge you to share it now, Katspin
considered the enameled dagger in his right hand, how easy
it would be to plunge it between the fighter's shoulder blades.
Another emotion vying for dominance in his heart was desire.
A Zuruzul speaking to him through Carrock's voice had promised power.
Power he had to admit he created desired. Hearing the
demon through Colfrey's voice had been unpleasant, but infinitely preferable
to the horrible falsetto the demon normally used cats being
assumed it had chosen it out of a misguided attempt
to sound kind and gentle. But oh, where was his mind?
Out in the water swimming, he shook his head one
way or another. It would be over soon. Somehow he
could sense that his sometimes patron was close. It was
more than the oppressive weight of the stone and earth
above their heads or the surrounding darkness. He could shiel
it in his blood. What was that noise? There? It
was again? Had he just imagined it? Was he losing
his mind? He looked behind him, and, seeing Bossi's grim expression,
knew that the clearer could heard it too, and was
also trying to ignore it. But that was not going
to be possible. His unholy place would not allow them
a moment's respite. Soon new sounds became audible. Cat's bin
clenched his jaw and willed his legs to carry him forward,
but all they wanted to do was turn and run.
The beleaguered party continued down the hall for several minutes longer.
Eventually it widened and resumed some of its former grandeur,
though it remained bare and dismal. There were no statues
or tapestries, no fountains or decorated arches, only gray stone.
And then up ahead, a pair of double doors opened
to reveal a large chamber. Beyond courage and be ready,
said yellow fly. No one replied, though the terrible sounds
around them grew worse. They approached the heavy doors, which
shone a dull yellow in the companion's lantern light. Drawing near,
they could see that they were made of bronze, and
that some runic patterns had been very lightly etched into
their surface. They were also wide open, so that the
doors were flushed against each wall. As they crossed the threshold,
the party members looked around the room, while the strange
noises all around them continued to grow in volume and number.
They were in a tablet shaped room about forty feet
across and eighty long. The far wall was rounded off
at the corners. Each side wall was scalloped with three
shadow filled alcoves, evenly spaced apart. The ceiling, which was vaulted,
was some thirty feet above the floor. The room was
empty but for six small holes in the floor of
unknown purpose. They lined up with the alcoves, but were
not in them. How deep the holes in alcoves went
was impossible to say in the dim light, just at
the edge of their vision, very difficult to see until
the companions entered further was a slim throne carved from
a single slab of stone. There was a figure in
the chair, a feeble looking body like that of a
very old man. The neck that protruded from the collar
of its rotting robe was broken and jagged, like a
snapped branch. Resting on the figure's knees was its head.
It stared right at the companions from sight lists and
sunken eye sockets, and was framed by a cloud of
gossamer hair. Once the party had entered the room, they
had spread out without going too far in. Jase hung
back by the door, as was his custom. Yellowfly and
Kat'spain were the furthest inn, at about a forty foot
distance from the headless figure on the throne. Shana and
Basu were in the middle. Gotspain said Yellowfly. When he
looked at the wizard, his eyes kindled with a touch
of madness. Can you not do anything to make these
voices stop? Before Katspain could even answer, the room fell
into complete silence, and before anyone could react to that,
the light went out. This is the final room in
the Ruin, and it is where Azorazul resides. Sometimes, when
playing a game of D and D, a combat with
a dangerous enemy can be ruined by the sheer number
of player characters, which invariably leads to more attacks, more actions,
and more chances to affect the outcome. Often, a group
of mid level characters can ease still defeat a single
high level monster through teamwork and by simply overpowering it.
Azorazuol is not that much higher in terms of hittyes
than the companions, and he is alone. But don't be fooled.
The demon is a terrifyingly dangerous foe like others of
its kind. It cannot be destroyed on this plane. It
can only be banished. Of course, Azorazuol has no intention
of letting that happen. It enjoys its time here and
intends to stay. It is eons old and highly intelligent.
Most of all, it has had time to prepare for
the PCs, and to some degree it knows their thoughts
and feelings. More on that in a few minutes. For now,
we only need to consider that it has superpowered versions
of all the demonic powers that Succubis and Heso demons had,
namely infra vision, create darkness, charm, person esp claire, audience suggestion,
and telegnesis. It does not share the Sccubas's shape changeability
or the Hesro's special stench defense. But these innate powers
are just the tip of the iceberg, as we will
soon find out. There was a tremendous bang from behind them,
followed by Jase's voice in the dark well locked in.
Then there was a new sound, a distant rattle of
chains coming from beneath the floor. Kat's ban was shaking,
even though it was beheaded and withered. He had recognized
the slight figure on the throne as his old master,
Carrick Malmar. He also knew with equal certainty that it
wasn't the archmagis not any more. He fumbled with his lantern,
feeling inside, but he yanked his hand back when his
fingers touched flame. He suddenly realized that the darkness was supernatural.
Panic seized his brain. What were they going to do? Courage,
repeated Yellowfly. He hadn't needed to burn his fingers to
understand what was happening. Katspin could hear the fighter near by,
adjusting and shifting his feet. He didn't know it, but
Yellowfly was trying to locate the floor horse, intending to
cover it with his boot. From close by came Shawnee's voice,
small and tremulous, Passu, where are you? I'm frightened? And
then the clerk's reply.
Speaker 2: And right, yes, Shanee.
Speaker 1: Where The sound of rattling chains beneath them grew louder
and more urgent.
Speaker 2: Passu, do not push away your fair shine, said the cleric.
A fear reminds us that we have something worth fighting for.
Speaker 1: The sounds became louder still, and Bazu felt Shawnee's groping
hand touch his shoulder above the rim of his shield.
Speaker 2: Use your fear that it filled you with determination to
keep what is yours, and may the light of saddahal
give us all strength.
Speaker 1: Shawnee and the others blinked against the sudden light that
showed the chamber, so that it was even brighter than
it had been in the glow of Katspian's lantern. Bazzi's
holy symbol was gripped in his right hand. His quarter
staff was on the ground. Shawnee flicked her eyes up
to the figure on the throne, half expecting the headless
corpse to be on its feet. It remained in the
same position they had found it, but now its eyes
blazed with hellish light. Yellowfly saw it too, Shawnee, your bow,
he yelled. She obeyed, pulled her bow from her shoulder,
and knocked an arrow in one fluid motion. Pulling back
the string, she let an arrow fly just as six
chains burst from the holes in the floor and snakelike
lunged at the companions and jurycombat azorzul Is using his
innate demonic power of telekinesis to control these long lengths
of chain and use them as weapons. But by d. M.
Fiat I'm going to let Shawnee get her shot off
before we go to initiative. With her skill and dexterity considered,
and since the target is at short range and is
not trying to avoid her attack, I'll say she'll only
miss on a roll of three or less on a
D twenty. The roll the seventeen that's basically a bull's eye.
She puts an arrow right into the headless body's heart,
but it appears to have no effect at all, and
the chains proceed to lash out that the companions. Let's
begin round one initiative. The party A four Azorazul a
five Azorzul acts first. None of its chains will target cat'spain.
So of the six, I'm going to say that two
target Yellowfly. One targets Basu and one Shawne. The other
two cannot reach the companions this round and will essentially
serve only to block the way between the PCs and
their enemy. Another ruling I'm making on the fly is
that the chains will each get a plus three to
hit and do one to six points of damage. Yellow
flyes AC is a sixteen, so the chains need a
thirteen to hit. The rolls A nine and a five
means the fighter can parry them with the silverthorn. Bazu
has the same ac so I'm hoping to roll under
thirteen again A four. Lucky Bazu get his shield up
and blocks the whipping chain. Shawnee has an armor class
of just fourteen. A Zorzuo will need an eleven to
hit her, rolling another four. Very lucky. Indeed, now it's
the companion's turn to act. Shawnee has taken her shot
and Basu has used up his action with his casting
of light. That leaves the Yellowfly Cat's pain and Jase.
Yellowfly will try to reach the headless figure on the throne.
A successful dexterity check will be required before he can
do that, however, as a pair of swinging chains block
the way, he'll need to roll a twelve or under
underty twenty. Here's the roll. Oh no, A twenty. That's
a critical fail. Has the luck run out already? I'm
going to rule that not only is Yellowfly unable to
reach his target, but that one of the chains wraps
around his legs and yanks him off his feet. The
fighter hits the floor hard and gets the wind knocked
out of him. He'll lis his action next round. For
this failure, Cat's Pain is the next to go. He
casts the spell mirror Image. Suddenly there are four Cat's
Bains in the room, each one identical to the other
in looks and in action. Jase is the last to go.
The most logical thing for him to do is to
push against the bronze double doors and try to create
some way to retreat in case that should be necessary.
Although he tries with all his might, he has no
chance to succeed. This is because after pulling the doors
shut with telekinesis, as or Zul then cast the spell
wizard Lock upon them. No one is getting out of
here until one of the two sides has been defeated.
And on that note, we are on two round two initiative.
The party the five thesore Azuel the five Interesting combat
will be simultaneous. I'll do Azorazul's turn. First. Yellowfly is
now on the ground, and the chain that is wrapped
around his legs will try to fully bind him. At
the same time the other one will whip him. Both
need to make us successful to hit. To succeed, the
first chain rolls an eleven is less than the thirteen
and needs meaning Yellowfly is able to squirm free get
off me. While the fighter is getting to his feet,
the other chain lashes him and at nineteen means it
connects ruthlessly, slashing his back while he's rising. Damage will
be just one point. Yellowfly has twenty five left and
first blood has been drawn. Four chains remain, and at
this time the Zorazul directs three of them to attack
Kat'span's mirror images. The other will choose a random target,
but will do the three first. Cat'span's AC is only eleven,
so an eight on a D twenty indicates a hit.
Here come the rolls four, two, and sixteen. Amazingly, only
one chain hits and a single mirror image is dispelled.
The last chain will attack Jase. I guess that means
the fighter has left his position by the door and
entered the fray. Jase's armor class is sixteen, so the
chain will hit on a roll of thirteen or better
a six. He faints left, goes right, and the chain
lashes empty air.
Speaker 2: Woo.
Speaker 1: Now the pieces may take their actions. Cat'spain is surrounded
by apparently living chains that Lumen's way like cobras under
a faker's tune. He doesn't have any spells that might
be useful right now, so he swipes his dagger of
negation at one of the chains. I'll say the chains
have an armour class of hmm, what makes sense, same
as chain mail? Why not ac fourteen. Cat's Pain then
needs a thirteen to hit. After factoring in his level
bonus and his strength penalty, his roll twenty. Well, here's
a question. The chains themselves do not really have hit points,
but might the dagger have a negation effect on them
at least temporarily? With that twenty, I'll rule that the
chance for negation is doubled. This means there's a sixty
percent chance for the strand of magic that animates this
chain to be severed in ninety four. Too bad, Katspain's
effort is wasted, and his dagger glances across the metal
lynx harmlessly. Like Cat's Pain, Basu doesn't have any spells
that might help in this situation, but he can attempt
to turn their.
Speaker 2: Opponent begone enemy of the Light, he.
Speaker 1: Declares, brandishing his symbol at the headless figure on the throne.
A Zorazul has so many hit dice as to be
literally off the charts where turning is concerned. If I
follow the pattern on that chart, I see that Basu
will need to roll an eleven or twelve on two
six to succeed in his attempt. His role I'm ten
so close but almost succeeded, is failed. Oddly, the turn
attempt does not produce any reaction at all. Jace, not
knowing what else to do, will try to slash at
one of the chains. Only on a natural twenty will
this have any effect at all? The roll a twelve
means it's a fruitless effort. Over to Yellowfly. He loses
his turn due to his crit fumble last round, but
I'll allow him to call over to Shawney as a freaction.
He saw how ineffective her arrow was and figures their
enemy must be resistant, like the yeth Hound and the
Secubists were. Shaannay might have figured it out herself. Regardless,
Yellowfly calls out, use your sword, Shawnee. The young rogue
throws her bow to the ground and draws the sentinel,
and then something very strange happens. Shawnee had intended to
cut her way forward, reach the figure on the throne
and strike it down, but the moment she draws the sentinel,
the sword pulses with a bright white light, and she
feels her arm roughly pulled to the right so that
the sword's tip points at the middle recessed alcove. At
first she sees only shadow there, but then the sentinel
pulses again and a small shadowy figure appears there in
the alcove. Is another headless old man, like the one
on the throne. No, it is the same person, no
less a mirror image than the copy's Catspane has summoned.
The figure grips its head in the left hand by
the hair, and it dangles like a full sack from
the slender fingers. In one notable way, this figure is
different from the one on the throne. Above its broken
neckbone is a purple black cloud of vapor, roughly shaped
like a human head. The longer and with alien features.
Circling its brow is a thin ring of swirling, wily
gray smoke. Something completely unexpected has happened here, and I
don't mean that just in a narrative way. This is
not some gotcha moment I've been keeping in my pocket,
but a completely organic twist stemming from a previous random
dye roll. Remember when Shawnee found culfree sword and I
rolled up its special ability. I ended up naming it
the Sentinel because those rolls determined that it had the
ability to detect invisible objects. At the time, I figured
such a power would never come into play, so I
changed the ability to include invisible beings so long as
the sword was in Shawnee's hand, and now, amazingly medically
even the sword has fulfilled the purpose for which it
was created. In order to fully explain, I'm going to
need to go back and reveal Azorzul's strategy. Before we
can do that, we first need to know what Asozul
is and what he can do. I'm using the lych
stat block from the A, D and D Monster Manual one,
but with some tweaks and changes. I'm calling Azorazul a
demonic Lich, something of a Homebrew monster. In short, a
demonic Lich has some of the innate powers that most
demons share, resistance to normal weapons, the ability to create darkness,
and telekinesis. Notably, they do not have the teleportability, nor
do they have the power to summon other demons. They
do have some scrying powers, however, so Azorazuel has always
known what the pieces are in the dungeon, and to
some extent, what they've been thinking and feeling with eleven
hit dice and an ac of nineteen. A demonic Lich
is a tough monster, but what really makes it dangerous
is its ability to possess a mortal victim. Azor Zul
prefers powerful fighters like the Warrior Vinces or high level
wizards like Carrick Malmar to possess. This is because it
takes on the abilities of the host mortal, and so
currently it has access to all of Karrik's spells in
addition to its innate powers. So Azorazuel is like a Lich,
But isn't it by the book Lytch. I've posted a
full description on the blog if you'd like to see it,
including the full spell list, but to keep things brief
for now, I'll just mention the spells I think it
might use here. They are Magic, Missile, phantasmal Force, dispell, Magic, polymorph, other,
and feeble Mind. Previous to this encounter, Azorzul pre cast
improved Invisibility and projected Image, a sixth level spell that
creates an illusory double from which it may cast spells
that's the figure on the throne. As I'm sure you've
guessed early in the encounter, it used its innate powers
of darkness, then Telekinesis to close the doors, then the
spell wizard lock to drop the pieces inside, and the
Telekinesis again animate the chains once it had them boxed in.
Its plan was to stand in the alcove, invisible while
slashing at the PCs with chains until only cat'spain remained.
Of course, he did not prepare for the presence of
a magic sword that could detect the invisible, and like
I said before, neither did I. To be honest, I'd
forgotten about the sword's power until after I'd played through
the first round of combat. Now that Assorzul's plan to
kill the companions at its leisure is ruined, I have
no idea what's going to happen next, but there's only
one way to find out. Let's return to the combat
and see how this second phase of the encounter will proceed.
After the defeat of Lord Goddard, Katspain had had a
nightmare in which he was visited by the phantom of
his former master. Now he stares in a horror at
that nightmare. Come to life. The thing that materializes in
the alcove is almost identical to the specter from his dream,
wears rotted robes which show Karak's emaciated body underneath, and
it covers a few inches above the ground with the
toes of its bare feet pointing down. Presently, it floats
out of the alcove directly at them, lifting up its
free hand. Dark magical energies crackle in the air around
it as it does so. At the same time, near
to where Yellowfly is standing, the duplicate Carrick Malmar slumps
forward in its seat like a puppet that has suddenly
had its strings cut. A jagged neck bone points a
Yellowfly as though in accusation, and the shoulder blades stick
out like broken bird wings. Yellowfly pulls his gaze away
from it and looks wide eyed at what he now
understands to be the real threat. The demon Litch hovers
in the air, projecting hate and menace. I think we
are into the true battle now. Both sides would be
taking big swings starting this round, and so I'm going
to add spell casting declarations to the initiative section. I'm
not sure if I'm ready for this, but all the same.
Let's begin round three initiative declarations. Cat Spain will cast
Dimension Door, the Zorzul will cast feeble Mind. The party
a six. Yes, it goes without saying that it is
critical that they win the initiative because feeble Mind is
effectively a one shot kill. Still, they aren't in the
clear yet. Here comes Asorzul's role five. This could be
a real breakthrough moment if the pieces can manage to
get past the Demon Lynch's armor class and disrupt that spell.
Let's see if they do. First up will be Jase,
whose weapon cannot harm the Demon Lynch. He doesn't know
that for certain, so he will take a swing. He
needs a sixteen to hit a one. You know, I
think when Jayce brings his sword down over the apparition,
the blade shatters against it as though he had struck
a stone pillar. Yeah, Jase is now weaponless and his
arm is numbed. He will lose his next turn. That
was not an auspicious start to this round. I hope
he'll a fly can do better. He needs at least
a nine to hit it with the Silverthorn. The roll eleven.
It's not a great roll, but it is enough, the
Silverthorne cuts a line of white light into the Demonlitch.
Doing seven plus five is twelve points. Good job, you'll
a fly. The Zorzul goes down to forty hit points,
and more importantly, its spell is disrupted. Kat'spain will now
cast his spell Demension Door. He's going to attempt a
kind of combo by casting the spell, so Shawnee can
step through it and appear right behind their enemy. This
will give her a backstab attempt. The wizard draws a
line in the air with his finger and splits it
into a shimmering portal of gold. Shawnee steps through and
thrusts the sentinel of the demon Litch with all her might.
She'll need a nine on the die all things considered
her role. Oh no, only a four. The Zorazul has
other worldly intelligence. It saw what the Pear had in
mind and shoved Shawnee out of the way with the
telekinetic pulse before she gets shrink. Basu may now take
his turn. Literally, I'm going to let him attempt another
turn undead, since his last one was directed at a decoy.
Speaker 2: In Saidan's name, my banish the demon.
Speaker 1: He cries only on a roll of eleven or twelve?
Will he succeed the role A five? Bazu watches in
horror as his holy symbol rusts in his hand and
then disintegrates into powder.
Speaker 2: It cannot be.
Speaker 1: Because as Arazul's casting has been disrupted. This round is
now over and we move into round four initiative declarations.
As Azul will cast magic missile once again. It is
critical that the PCs win initiative. If they do not,
it is likely that one of them will die. Here
goes nothing the party A five, yes, a great role. Now,
unless this Arazuel gets a six, they should be all right.
The demon Lynch's role Are you joking? A six? You
know this is going to be bad. Even though Yellowfly
prop presents the biggest threat to a z Orzul given
that he holds a silverthorn, there is also a clericat
all in the room. I think there's an even chance
for a Zorazul to target either man rolling high low
to determine the target low will be yellowfly on a
D six A four. It's Basu. I was afraid of that.
Here's what happens. The spectral figure hovers further off the ground,
so that it towers several inches taller even than yellowfly.
In his left hand, it lifts the severed head of
Kroc Melmar. The head's eyes snap open, glowing orange from
them and from the mouth, which hangs open. Three black rays,
thin as cobwebs, lands out to strike Bazu in the chest.
They shear through his chain mail and pierce his heart.
The cleric cries out in agony. This is going to
be bad because as an eleven hit dye monster, this
bell will do five D six plus five points of damage.
Basu's life is in the hands of his now, but
there's not much hope. Basu only has twelve had points.
It's going to take a miracle rolling fivety six plus
five twenty seven point of damage. The rays burned a
black hole the size of a fist in the cleric's chest.
His eyes roll up into the back of his head,
and he drops lifeless to the floor, with vapor rising
from the crater where his heart had been it. There's
no time to mourn nor to think about the implications
of Basu's death. This combat is still very much ongoing.
The remaining party members may take their turn. Now. Jase
has lost his turn due to his crit fumble last round,
though to be honest, I have no idea what he
might have even tried to do. Shawnee no longer has
her backstab bonus and now needs a thirteen to hit
the role nineteen. Heck yeah, Shawne, she'll do points of damage.
Yellowfly is up next. He wants to rule a nine
or better a ten that just makes it. The Silver
Thorn strikes a second time, four just six points. Kat
Spain is the last to go this round. He does
have a magical weapon, and he's pretty much out of
spells unless now I should have thought of it before
the declaration. He could have potentially read a spell from
his book straight off the page, but I can't allow
with this round. It's too bad I didn't think of
it earlier. He'll try with the Dyker. He needs a
seventeen or better, but you know he has done this
kind of thing before. Will he do it now? That
ten means he does not, And since Azul has no
buffs currently in effect has nothing to try to negate either.
And so this round is over and we are onto
round five. Initiative declarations. Kat Spain will read magic missile
directly from his spell book, erasing it forever. The zorazul
will cast polymorph other I think you go without saying
that winning the initiative is more important than ever. Here
we go the party before the zorazuel a five. Oh no,
that's really bad. Once again, a Zorzul lifts the severed
head of carric Melmar into the air. This time, while
the eyes glow orange, a translucent purple tendril pokes out
of its mouth and then shoots towards the Yellow Fly.
As a ninth level fighter fly has a reasonable chance
to save versus spells A twelve or better will do it.
His roll oh a fourteen on the die, Yellowfly slices
the purple tendril in two before it reaches him, narrowly
avoiding being turned into a I'm actually not sure something
bad anyway. Now is the companion's turn, and considering the
death of their friend, they have got a thirst for vengeance.
Catspane drops his dagger, pulls his spell book from his bag,
and opens it to the correct page. Without needing to
think about it. He reads the spell magic Missile right
off the page. The eye in his forehead snaps open
and rips out a trio of searing white bolts, which
slam into his or Zula four, rolling three D six
plus three fourteen points of damage for the first time,
the demon looks truly hurt. In fact, it has just
fifteen hit points left, but the companions are not done.
Shawnee swings the Sentinel A nineteen hits and she does
three points of damage. Yellowfli is right beside her, timing
his blow so that it follows Shawne's His attack roll
another nineteen while the Silverthorn sings as it cuts a
deep gash into Zorzuola four eight points pah, and we
are still not done because Jace has picked up kat'
Spain's dagger and is trying to flank their enemy. He'll
need a fifteen or better to connect. His roll A
two means he is shoved back by a telekinetic wave
before he can get close. That's it for this round.
I have a feeling that the next one will be
the final round. Azorazul is out of killer spells, but
it can still make one more big move. It has
the inateability to possess a victim, and this is not
a spell that could be disrupted. It's probably going to
come down to who wins initiative. Ready to find out
what happens? It is round six initiative declarations. Cat Spain
will read Burning Hands directly from a spellbook, erasing it forever,
and here come the rules the party A three Azorazul
A five. Oh, brother, that is not what I wanted
to see. A Zorzul is going to attempt to possess
one of the remaining PCs. But who will he target?
Kat Spain was always his intended host, but he's also
the obvious choice. If he did target Cat Spain, saving
throw would be at twelve, same for Yellowfly. Jace's safe
is fourteen, while Shawne's is only ten. Hmm, okay, I've
made my choice and I know who was our Zuel
will try to possess. Here's my role. I got a seven.
The demon lych pulls back and then surges forward, right
into the Silverthorn, the Sentinel and Jase's dagger, which flash
out as one and cut it down, dropping it to
the floor. The ghostly alien head above the broken spine
has disappeared, and the glowing eyes of the severed head
are now dark. The full companions stand over the headless
body breathing hard? Is it? Asked Shawnee deed wit kiddy.
Jace looks unsure. I think so, replied the Yellowfly. His
voice is labored and rasby. He looked over to the
far end of the room. The throne was now in caspine.
What do you think? It's not dead? But I think
we've banished it, so it's over. It's over, Sony, the
young thief walked over to Basi's body. Now that he
was dead, the divine light that he had conjured to
defeat the demon's darkness was beginning to fade, and the
glow of their lantern light was taking over the illumination
of the chamber. Poor Bassi, she whispered. He's with his
God now, I suppose, said the Yellowfly sourly. He regarded
the feeble, flickering light of their lantern. We should go.
Jase walked over to the double door. Do you think
it whatever magic they lock these doors is gone too.
Try them, yellow Fly suggested. Jase did and found that
they swung open easily. I'll get Bazzi's body, said yellow
after sheathing the silverthorn.
Speaker 2: We still have to seal the demon's remains.
Speaker 1: It was Kat's Pain who had taken one of the
vials of holy water from Basu's bag. He poured it
over his former master's head, which laid on the floor
looking like a rotten pumpkin. Once the vial was empty,
he picked the head up by the hair and said.
Speaker 2: Oh, we'll put this and the other demonic remains in
the sarcophagus.
Speaker 1: Kat'spain, Jase, and Shawney left the room, walked up the
hallway and back into the crypt where the illusory dining
hall had been. They put Kerk's head, the black and
torn skull, and the glassy eye into the sarcophagus, and
then together they heaved the lid back into place. Since
Basi was gone and no one else knew the words,
there was no prayer to seal the demons inside, but
Katspain took the ancient symbol from Basu's bag and Aranessa's cymbals,
who he laid them on top of the sculptured stone lid.
I suppose that we'll have to do, he said. There
were three daemons, said Jesse, we're two holy symbols. Be enough.
Silence was the only response, and when a grim faced
yellow fly appeared with Basu's body in his arms. The
companions simply looked at each other and knew that it
was time to go. Wait, said Shahnay. They had already
started to leave when she spoke, but she went back
to the sarcophagus lid and reached behind her head. With
both hands. She undid the cord that held Damn's orphaned
key and laid it beside the other two holy symbols. There,
she said, behind her, the light from Kat Spain's lantern
flickered to all of my wonderful listeners. Thank you. This
Second Tale has been running for over two years, and
I am so grateful for your company by gratitude, also
for all of your reviews, emails and comments. Your support
is both uplifting and validating. I appreciate it more than
I can say. Special thanks is due to the many
many voice actors, artists, and other creatives who have volunteered
their talents to the show. Appropriately. This final episode features
the entire Tumbledye team of Kay Allen, Kevin Barringer, and
Andrew Flack in their longtime roles of Kat's Baine Jason Bazu.
I've had many actors step up to offer recurrent roles
and multiple appearances, and I am grateful to all of them,
believe me, but Team Tumbledeye must receive a special thanks
for having appeared in some combination in almost every episode.
Thank you, my friends, How can I ever repay you.
The next installment of Tale of the Manticor will be
a retrospective and perspective of the same type I made
after season one. In it, I'll share some thoughts on
the past couple of years and also discuss the future
of the show. But as for season two, that's a rap.
Thanks again for joining me on this game, story, and
adventure where chaos rules.