Speaker 1: Hi, this is Caesar from the YouTube channel Dongjo Master
Request and you're listening to Tale of the Manticor. 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 Laura, 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, Chapter thirty one begins with
a pair of level ups for fair Wind and Achilia.
After that, the pieces cross the dangerous yellow mold room
and discover a private bedroom beyond. In it is a
prayer book with devotionals to the goddess Ahea. There's also
a bed with strangely a rock where the pillow ought
to be Diretti also finds a foot locker with a
few sundry items, but nothing of special interest. The party
decides to move on. Here, the narrative flashes back to
the aftermath of the fight between Rector Bayum and Curate Amsen.
Although smaller and weaker than the Curate, it is by
him who is able to stand when it is over,
even though it was in self defense. Director is overcome
by the horror of having killed former colleague. Back to
the present, the companions find a chapel. It's a beautiful
cavern with one wall covered in sparkling quartz crystals. Fairwin's
torch is beginning to burn low, so they must keep going,
but they do so with a certain reluctance. The next
cavern turns out to be another storage room. This one
is larger than the first and is used to hold
more valuable items. Unfortunately, most of these, namely a mace
and a pair of chain mail shirts, have rusted. There is, however,
one item that has survived. It is a silver scroll
case with a roll of parchment inside. Even at first glance,
Achillie I can tell it is very very old. A
card drawn in the last episode indicated a treasure room
with a trapped chest. That wasn't a good fit for Deroth,
so instead I made it more of a storage room
in place of a trap. There would be a chance
that the useful items in the room would be ruined
after years of neglect despite efforts to preserve them, and
the Dice decided that that had indeed happened. The weapons
and armor that Fairwin might have put to great use
were unusable, But there was a real treasure in the
room too, an extremely valuable thing to the right person.
Of course, I am talking about the scroll. Chapter thirty two,
Part one, day, twenty eight afternoon, twenty minutes before the
giant troll returns. Mythic event meaning dispute, magic party status
Achillea thirteen of thirteen hit points, Court eighteen of eighteen,
der Any twelve of twelve, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen,
fair Wind twenty six of twenty six supplies. The companions
have eight portions of food remaining spells available. Achillie can
cast shrink times two and glitter dust Cord can cast
entangle and slow poison. Achillia gently coaxed the parchment from
its case and the thin chain attached to the stopper
jingled as she slid it free. The half helf then
unfolded carefully, afraid it might crumble, But nothing of the
kind happened, and in fact, the scroll turned out to
be in excellent condition, despite clearly being ancient. The half
helf frowned at the text. It was written in the
common tongue of men, but all the same it was
difficult to comprehend.
Speaker 2: Fairwind, what do you make of this?
Speaker 1: She asked. The clearer cast a quick and worried glance
at his waning torch before leaning over to help. This
text is ancientization, I believe, he said, after a few seconds.
Speaker 2: Can you read it?
Speaker 1: She held it up for him to see better. Fairwind
continued to scan it.
Speaker 3: Given time, Yes, I think I could, but perhaps that's
better left until late.
Speaker 1: Achille was disappointed, but fair Wind was obviously right, judging
by the dwindling flame of his torch. They needed hurry.
Speaker 2: All right, let's keep going.
Speaker 1: She rolled up the scroll and put it back in
its case, and then the party resumed its marching order
and left via the tunnel on the cave's far aside.
It looks like I'm going to need to draw a
new card, so I know it'll be in the next room.
I'm hoping for the ace. Let's see what I actually get.
It's the Nine of Hearts, Sleeping Quarters, two exits. You know,
I don't think I'm going to describe this room in
the narrative. Instead, I'll say the Pecs discover a number
of skeleon in here, both of adults and children, all
thankfully free of the dangerous yellow mold. There's nothing else
to find here, but searching the room will cost the
usual ten minutes, leaving the party with just ten more
before the giant troll returns. That does not bode well
for the future. But other than fair Wind, the pieces
don't feel any real pressure to hurry, so they'll continue
to explore. Another card gives me, Ah, Finally I have
the ace. So the destination has been reached, but with
only ten minutes left, it hasn't been reached in time.
It appears that history is about to repeat itself, and
the companions will have to somehow deal with the same
problems faced by the Drothi. Once again, Fairwind looked nervously
at his torch. Judging by the weak flame, he would
be lucky if it continued to burn for another ten minutes.
Thus far, he had held his peace and not pressed
the issue, but now he felt he had no choice.
He was just about to insist that they turned back
when do Renni, up ahead, suddenly called a halt and
said something in Elvish. Teddy responded with a question, causing
Fairwin to look to Achille for a translation.
Speaker 2: He says, there's a door a.
Speaker 1: Bed, she explained, and so there was. When Fairwin rounded
the bend of the tunnel, he saw that a thick
wooden door had been built into the end of it,
cutting off further progress. Do Rennie was already there, pressing
his ear against the wood with an intent expression on
his face. After a moment, the elf shrugged and shook
his head. He then pushed the door with his left
hand while gripping his sword in his right. The door
opened slightly and then hit something firm on the other side.
Derrenni grimaced and put his shoulder to the door and heaved.
It moved no more than an inch. It took both
brothers shoving with all their might to clear the door,
and their efforts were accompanied by the shrieking sound of
wood on stone as they did so. Once it was
opened far enough do Rennie stuck his head inside, muttered
something in Elvish, and crouched down to enter the room
on all fours, while Tentyr followed. Achilieank for Fairwin's benefit.
Speaker 4: There's a headed table blocking the door. We'll have to
duck under it to get inside.
Speaker 1: Once they managed to get into the room, Duranniontenttire worked
to push the table out of the way so that
it no longer blocked the door.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 1: It was heavy and awkward, but they were able to
move it enough to allow the other companion's egress without
having to crawl. Achilia, fair Wind and Cord slipped through
the gap and found themselves in a diamond shaped cave
of about twenty by twenty feet. It was dominated by
the table that had been used to block the door.
The table's surface was almost fully covered by a large map,
held down on two corners by stone paper weights. A
third corner had a dented tin lantern atop it. The
fourth corner, with nothing to hold it in place, had
curled up like the toe of a gesture's shoe on
the floor with its back to the wall. Sat as
solitary and forlorn looking skeleton draped in cobwebs. Clutched in
the bony fingers of its left hand was a roll
of paper, A quill, and a pot of ink were
arranged on the floor nearby. Other than the table, map
and skeleton, the room was empty. There were no chairs,
no shells, nor ornaments of any kind. When fair winds
by the lantern, he uttered a quick oh, thanks of
all and took it up. His short had almost gone
out by now in the discovery of a lantern at
this particular time felt very much like providence to him.
The lantern's reservoir was empty, but ten Tears still had
the supply of oil he'd found in the Caymoor crypt
and offered it to fair Wind. Soon the room was
filled with warm yellow light. Things now became visible that
were hidden in the gloom before. The skeleton wore something
made of metal around its neck. Upon closer inspection it
proved to be a silver owl pendant on a thin chain. Clearly,
this was the holy symbol of a Haya. The features
of the map were also easier to make out in
the better light. It was crowded with detail in some
places and totally blank in others. Achilia studied it while
tent to, crouched down by the skeleton, taking first the
holy symbol and then the roll of paper, which at
first seemed reluctant to leave the bony grip, and then
came suddenly free, trailing wisps of spider silk. The young
elf unrolled the paper and frowned the contents, pursed his lips,
and handed it to Achillia for her inspection. Achillia scanned
the text in silence, with her tongue poking out from
the side of her mouth. Before she had read past
the first few sentences, she looked up and.
Speaker 2: Said, it seems like a kind of diary.
Speaker 1: What does it say? As ten tyar in Elvish. Achillie
had to read through it twice, first in a common tongue,
the language in which it was written, and then at
a second time in Elvish, translating as she went.
Speaker 5: To whomsoever may find this record, It is the summer
of the year ten ninety two. My name is Bayam.
I am the rector and the leader of the Dorothi people.
My body is weak and my thoughts are murky. I
have eaten nothing but the past week, and abstained from
water for the past three days. Our supplies here are
not yet exhausted. But I have chosen the path of austerity.
Perhaps I may yet atone for my sins and sustain
my flock a little longer through my sacrifice. I claim
no virtue and expect no favorable reception in the after life,
where I shall be judged for my crimes by the
seraphim of a Haya. I deserve all that I now
endure and all that yet will come. For I am
a sinner. I have committed a vile murder. I stove
in the skull of Curate Amsen, and though it was
done in self defense, good conscience cannot justify my actions.
I regret them deeply, and wish he had instead taken
my life. I believe now that I have also damned
the DEROTHI to a slow and painful end through my
decision to try and wait out the devil lurking outside.
Perhaps Torvig was right than Amsen too. Had we risked
an escape, perhaps a few more would have gotten past
the fiend and carried the blessed scroll to safety. Alas
the Goddess did not see fit to make these things
come to pass instead my foolish hope. My will prevailed.
Should you discover this place and find this letter. Dear reader,
please know three things. One that I admit my guilt
on all counts and will accept my punishment in the afterlife.
Two that the scroll of Galandal must be at all
costs delivered to the Temple of the Golden Path in
Chehal and presented to Brother Brebeck. You will know him
by the symbol of a Haya. He carries that exactly
matches mine. He will also be able to name our
common mentor, the late Rector Tobias Nilissart. Three that the
good work of the dorothe must live on along with
the scroll. Please deliver unto Brother Tobias the map you
find here. It is the sum total of the dorothe
people's labor over the past many years, and the best
hope to one day discover a Haa's golden Path. Do
these things, and the blessings of the goddess must be
upon your soul. May a Haia show mercy to us all.
Speaker 4: It's simply signed by you, said Achilia in a sad voice.
Speaker 1: Then, as she rolled the parchment back.
Speaker 4: Up, I think we need to take this map with us,
and this poor soul's holy symbol too.
Speaker 1: You wish to travel to, Zasha asked Fairwind. His eyebrows raised.
Speaker 4: Not right away, but maybe someday. If we don't take
these things where they belong, I imagine they will never
get there.
Speaker 1: Deanny couldn't understand the conversation as it took place in
the common tongue, but he had something else on his mind.
Indicating the skeleton on the ground, he wondered.
Speaker 3: What do you think he meant by the devil lurking outside?
Speaker 1: Achilia knit her brow.
Speaker 4: I think it's time that we left this place. Help
me roll up the map.
Speaker 1: Even though it's easy to imagine that there are other
smaller caves and cave systems in the settlement of Growth,
since they aren't attached to this cave system, the one
the pieces are currently in, the exploration of Deroth is
essentially at an end. The companions will take the map,
the holy symbol in Baiyume's diary scroll, along with the
lantern and the other items they found along the way,
and then they'll leave, retracing their steps past the hazardous
yellow mouldroom and eventually back to the cave mouth. However,
when they get there, they are going to be in
for one nasty surprise. The giant troll who terrorized the
DOROTHI still lives in the wreckage outside the caves. Now,
even though the companions aren't making any special effort to
be quiet or to stay hidden, I suppose there's a
chance they'll surprise the troll. Likewise, the troll, I surprise them.
I'll make the rolls now. But one or two on
a D six will mean either side is surprised for
the party, the three for the troll. The six Okay,
neither side will be before I figure out how this
encounter will go down. Let's take a moment to stat
up the giant troll. I got the description out of
the Monstrous Manual after taking my usual w too long
looking for the right stat block. Predictably, I've also made
some modifications to fit my needs and taste. Here are
the highlights. A giant troll is a mix of a
regular troll and a hill giant. In appearance, they most
closely resemble their troll parentage, but take their enormous size
from the giant. Giant troll is both evil and stupid.
It is extremely tough, though with an armor class of sixteen,
eight hit dice and the ability to regenerate two lost
hit points each round. All giant trolls have introvision and
acute senses. Now, all that information is right out of
the Monstrous Manual, But as I mentioned, I have changed
a number of things so we can call this variety
the giant forest troll. Here are my changes. First, I'm
making them truly gigantic, standing thirteen feet tall instead of
the recommend of ten. Second, giant forest trolls are solitary
creatures and are never encountered in groups three. Unlike regular
giant trolls, Giant forest trolls can reattach severed limbs even
after falling below zero HAD points. Four fire or acid
is needed to destroy them permanently. All those things are
fairly minor alterations. But I'm making a big one too.
I'm changing the way this monster attacks. A giant forest
troll does not typically use a weapon. Instead, it has
a variety of attacks that follow a particular order. The
giant forest troll will always cycle through the following making
just one attack per round. One stomp or grab and
then smash an enemy on the ground or nearby tree.
Two grab and bite the enemy. Three grab and throw
enemies of human size or smaller a distance of twenty feet.
The first type of attack is rolled at random, and
from there on the cycle simply loops. The stump slash
smash attack does two D six plus seven points of damage.
The byte does two D eight plus four. The throw
does a mere one D six, but the enemy will
miss their next turn due to being stunned and from
having to run back into the melee. I'll put a
write up on a blog for those who wish to
see the status laid out in a way that's easier
to digest. He goes without saying that if the companions
choose to or are forced to fight this thing, there
is a real risk of character death. I have designed
the encounter in such a way as to make avoid
in combat difficult, but there will be options. Let's return
to the narrative and find out what the characters will
do when they discover what is waiting for them outside
the caves. Chapter thirty two, Part two, Day twenty eight
afternoon Mythic event meaning dispute, magic party status achillea thirteen
of thirteen hit points, Court eighteen of eighteen, de Renni
twelve of twelve, ten Tier fifteen of fifteen, fair Wind
twenty six of twenty six supplies. The companions have eight
portions of food. Remaining spells available Achillie can cast shrink
times two and glitter dust cord can cast entangle and
slow poison. The party members retraced their steps as they
headed back through the caves toward the exit. Although Faerwan's
torch had gone out as expected shortly after they'd entered
the map room, there was now a steady light provided
by the new lantern. For that reason, the companions took
their time, especially when it came to recrossing the cave
with the hazardous mold covered corpses. Everyone was looking forward
to leaving the tunnels, being under an open sky and
breathing fresh air, and so they quickened their steps when
the daylight filled square of the cave mouth and damaged
door frame came in view. But when they were within
ten feet of the exit, der Rennie, who was in
the lead, called an abrupt halt. He turned to face
the others with an ashen face and wide eyes, lifting
his hand. The gesture was unnecessary. It was the look
on Doranni's face that stopped at Killia in her tracks.
She had never seen the alf show fear, not even
when they had faced the supernatural beings in the came
Or crypt. The other companions likewise stopped their approach and
followed Dorani's gaze as he slowly pivoted and pointed at
the cave mouth. From their vantage, they could see down
and into the part of Deroth that had been built
outside the cave system and now lay in ruins. At
first they saw nothing, but then a creature as tall
as a tree lumbered into view. It stood in the
middle of the ruined village, sniffing the air and grunting.
It must have caught a scent or heard the reproach,
for it turned and stared directly at them. Pinpricks of
red glowed deep inside the black pits of its eyes,
as its lips spread wide, creasing its face with a
wicked grin. Its spade like chin dropped to reveal a
double row of uneven yellow fangs protruding haphazardly from a
thick ridge of purple black gums. Then the look of
amusement fell away, replaced by something more bestial than menacing
it roared up at them and advanced. The companions fell
back as one, retreating into the cave beyond the pinched
tunnel that they had earlier named a guard room. When
they spoke, it was in a jumble of panic tinged whispers,
their words tumbling out all at once and in both languages.
What Invercindia's name is that thing? By Sador?
Speaker 2: It's huge? It's the lurking devil who's Robin.
Speaker 1: After a moment of chaos, they caught their breath and
managed to steady themselves at effort ten tire to ask,
what are we going to do?
Speaker 3: I don't think we can fight.
Speaker 1: It, replied de Rennie.
Speaker 3: Perhaps we can wait it out.
Speaker 1: Was Fairwin's initial impulse.
Speaker 2: Or we can make a run for it.
Speaker 1: Achillie suggested, I could try.
Speaker 4: To blind it with magic and we could get away
before it knew what was happening.
Speaker 3: What if sight is not its primary sense, counter de Rennie,
some creatures hunt by sound or smell.
Speaker 2: I still think using magic.
Speaker 1: Is our best chance, returned to Killia. Lamely since her
argument with dour Rennie after the fight with the Direwolves,
she couldn't bring herself to contradict him with any more gusto.
The dispute continued, with each member of the party contributing
ideas and forcing Achillia to become the translator of others
arguments while she concurrently advanced her own. Outside, they could
hear the troll pace and growl. I do enjoy a
dash of irony in my TTRPGs. The companions are facing
the exact same predicament that the Derothi did seven years ago,
and it seems like they can't agree on what to
do either. Hopefully history will not repeat and it will
not break their unity as well. But as I see it,
the Pieces have a few options that the Dorothi did not.
In addition to waiting at the monster, fighting or making
a run for it, the companions also have two things
the De'rothi lacked misshall weapons and magic. For example, having
cored around means that a constant source of water is available. Also,
the pieces have enough food to last them two days.
That said, I can imagine what the general reaction to
Fairwin's desire to wait it out would be.
Speaker 4: Absolutely not if that is the same devil from the
Skeleton's note, And can there be any doubt about it, then.
Speaker 1: We can't wait it out, explained to Kilia.
Speaker 4: How do you think that all the people in these
caves died fair and they starved? That's how what they
died from?
Speaker 2: Thirst? Remember what the note said.
Speaker 4: I believe that I have damned the Drothi to a
slow and painful end through my decision to try to
wait out the devil.
Speaker 1: Looking outside, Tintier had been fairly quiet for the last
few moments. It turned out that he'd been working up
some kind of a plan, but he blurted it out
before he had fully thought it through.
Speaker 2: What if we could somehow weaponize the yellow mole?
Speaker 1: Nobody had expected that, and there was a little pause
before do Renni shook his head and said.
Speaker 3: Far too dangerous, Tensia. We would be more likely to
get ourselves killed in the attents.
Speaker 1: But Tintars outside the box thinking got achillea wondering if
she might concoct some kind of a plan involving her
potion of Gassie's form, or.
Speaker 2: Perhaps if we could get it to eat this.
Speaker 1: She produced the infinity milk cap mushroom from her satchel.
Speaker 3: And how exactly do you propose we do that?
Speaker 1: Asked Deurnnie skeptically. I think it's a great idea, said
ten Tier brightly.
Speaker 2: We could hide it in some other food and throw
it outside. That thing would probably eat whatever we tossed
at it.
Speaker 1: De Rennie was unconvinced.
Speaker 3: That might have worked if we still had any wolf meat.
But all we have left is masimbel.
Speaker 1: Now it was his turn to reach into his bag.
He withdrew a wrapped bundle rations that had been given
him by Colin and Zotope a few days earlier.
Speaker 3: There is no way we could hide the mushroom in.
Speaker 1: This Massambel, a kind of nutritional loaf made out of moss, lichen,
algae and seeds popular with the elves of this region,
was dry and brittle.
Speaker 3: Even if we got it wet, I do not think
it would work. We would only end up ruining the
little food we have left.
Speaker 1: Fairwind was watching the exchange and could follow the general
gist of their conversation. He too, produced something from his
own pack and showed the others. His palm held four
smooth stones, each the size of a walnut. I have
a sling, to Rennie, and Tenier have arrows. If we
injure it, perhaps we can drive it away long enough
for us to escape. Nobody could find any major flaws
with this plan, and so it was that to Renni,
ten To and Fairwind, armed with bows and a sling,
crept back to the cave mouth, while Achillia and Cord
hung back. Dorennie could see the hunched shape of the
creature right where it had been before. It spotted them too,
and looked up, smiling its doglike smile again, before huffing
out a little grunt of expectation. Derennie saw that its
chin was now slimed withdrewel. He looked doubtfully at the
arrow in his hand, then at the cleric and his weapon. Finally,
he turned to his brother and.
Speaker 3: Said, aim for the head.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Tale of the manticor if you'd
like to support the show, there's a bunch of boys
to help. You could recommend the show online or to friends.
You could like and repost episode announcement on social media.
You can pick up one of my offerings on drive
through RPG or Tale of the Manticore t shirt at
bare Arts Dot store, or you can rate or review
the show on your podcast of choice. These things go
a long way to spread the word to all the
folks who continue to lift this show up. I'm grateful.
Thank you. At this point, I'd like to read a
listener review. This one was left by Pop's Culture on
Audible Pop's Culture Rights. I'm afraid words will fail to
impart just how awesome this podcast is. It's engaging and entertaining.
There is real character growth with characters that feel more
like flesh and blood people than merestats on paper. This
is the D and die game I want to play in.
Hi praise Pop's Culture. Thank you so much for that review.
Something that's great about solo RPGs is you really can
have the D and D game you always wanted to
play in. I love a social table game, but the
only way to dial in the perfect game, I think
is through solo play. Give it a go if you
haven't tried it. In next, I'd like to thank my
lovely cast of voice talent. There's the core cast of Kyellen,
Kevin Barringer, and David Cooper playing Durnni, Tantier and Faerwind
as usual. John Merdink, who hosts the Blue fifty eight
podcast about the Green Bay Packers and who co runs
the Arcane Discovery's Instagram page is better doing the voice
of Rectorbium. And finally, this episode features the incredible sound
design work of Robert Newman. Robert created the Giant Forest troll.
You can check out his other work at Robert newmansound
dot com. For those curious to learn more about Tale
of the Manticor, I keep a blog where I post
all kinds of show and RPG related stuff. You can
find it at Talesmantacor dot com. To get in touch
with me, I'm at Solo Roleplayers Network dot com, Tale
of Themanticre dot Blueskuid dot Social, Tale of the Manticor
podcast on Instagram, or Tale of Themantacre at gmail dot com.
The adventure will continue on the next episode, a Tale
of the Mantacor The story were Chaos Rules