Speaker 1: Hi, this is George from Macathulu John and you're listening
to Tale of the Manticor.
Speaker 2: The following podcast is intended for a mature audience. Listener
discretion is advised. Welcome back to Tale of the Manticor
season three. Like the creature from which it takes its name,
Tale of the Manticor is a mashup, a 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 lore, the Tale
of a Manticor is barbed with cruel iron spikes. There
will be much pain in the days ahead. Last time
on Tale of the Manticor, Chapter seven begins with the
somewhat awkward meeting between Achillea and de Renni, who seems
unconvinced that his savior is what she claims to be.
Once Achillia has introduced Cord and Robin, the quartete set
off together in the direction of Doreni's home. Achillia is
hoping that someone there who recognized the name adoc. Their
immediate problem is a lack of food, and their first
attempt to forage while on the move is unsuccessful. Adding
to their misfortune, the Pieces stumble across a second group
of Orcs on that very next day. Outmatched, they run
and once again are pursued, but they are able to
take shelter in a hill that is honeycombed with small caves.
One of them is big enough for Achillea's party to enter,
but too small for the much larger Orcs. Mixed fortune
lies ahead, for while they discover a crawl space through
which they might seek out another exit, they also end
up disturbing a nest of giant centipedes. In the ensuing battle,
the Pieces are victorious, dispatching their enemies with relative ease.
Chapter eight, Part one, Day seven, late afternoon mythic event
meaning negligence, weather party status Achillea four out of four
hit points, court six out of six supplies. The companions
have no food and no water spells available. Achillea has memorized, shrink.
Speaker 3: All right, I'm fine, that thing't bit you.
Speaker 4: I know they're poisonous.
Speaker 3: I know that too.
Speaker 4: Let me feel your forehead.
Speaker 2: Achillia reached out a hand, but Dornnie pulled away only
in irritation, not anger. Achillia, her dagger now sheathed, showed
her palms and surrender.
Speaker 4: I was only trying to help.
Speaker 3: Thank you, if you want to help, give me a
boost Up there.
Speaker 2: There was a natural ledge that led to a raised
cross base. Beyond they could see a flicker of daylight.
Achillie went down on one knee and lifted Dorani's foot
so that the elf could pull himself up the rest
of the way.
Speaker 3: Humh, I'll be right back.
Speaker 2: He said, once up, and then he disappeared from sight.
He was back in under a minute.
Speaker 3: It's big enough to get through and a good distance
from the Orcs.
Speaker 4: They're still there, of course.
Speaker 3: They are, but it does appear they are about to
make camp. We will wait an hour and then make
a break for it.
Speaker 2: By d m fiat, I'm going to allow the party
to escape while the Orcs, who are nocturnal, are sleeping.
The exsit they've found is far enough away to justify
that even if and when the Orcs leave a sentry awake.
Between the risk of being trapped in the cave and
the battle with the Giant's entipedes, I think I've exposed
to Killia and her companions to enough danger to satisfy
that roll of a one on the last stumble upon.
I'm going to skip ahead a few hours. Now it's
night and the party makes camp. I've already rolled all
necessary checks for this day and night, but I still
need to make rolls for the following day. Starting with weather. Ooh,
A three is quite bad. Normally i'd say this calls
for heavy rain, but here's a case where such weather
would actually help the PCs since they're out of water. Instead,
I'll say it's hot and humid, making their travel even
more difficult than usual. Next up is role for success
in foraging as they go. A one on a D
six will indicate success. A six these guys can't catch
a break. It's making me nervous about these next roles.
But here we go all the same stumble upon an eight,
so nothing there. Finally, a check for wandering encounters. If
this turns up positive, I'll revise my list again to
account for the obvious presence of numerous orcs in the area.
Here's the role. A one means, thankfully that there are
no encounters. I won't narrate this day of travel. It's
enough to say that moods are bad, bellies are empty,
and throats are dry. The Pecs need to travel for
one more day before they reach their destination, so it
makes sense to simply go ahead and make these roles
right now. So once again for weather, an eighteen. Well,
that's nice, I think. The oppressive humidity breaks and an
overcast day brings the cooler temperatures the Companions have been
hoping for. Despite this improve of comfort, hunger and especially
thirst are becoming a major problem, and now two days
without either Achillea and de Renni will make all rolls
at a minus one penalty. Next to stumble upon sixteen
no result, and finally a wandering encounter check another one.
It appears that luck is finally smiling on the Companions.
Chapter eight, Part two, Day nine, late afternoon mythic event
meaning negligence weather party status. The party status is unchanged,
with the exception that they are now suffering from the
effects of hunger and thirst. It was late afternoon when
de Reni spotted familiar terrain. He led the others to
where the land dipped, and then ahead they saw a
pond crowded with cattails. To the famished Achillia, they looked
like clusters of skewered sausages. De Renni brightly explained that
most parts of the plant were edible, including the seeds inside,
the brown tube like tips, and the white, tender core
of the stalk. He also said they were good boiled,
and that even the pollen was edible if ground into flour.
Achillie was more than satisfied to eat them raw, however,
and did so with gusto, washing it all down with
pond water. The seeds had little taste, but the shoots
had a flavor, not unlike cucumber. Do Reni ate only
a little bit, but he drank liberally, and while Achillie
was filling her water skins, he announced that he had
to go the rest of the way alone.
Speaker 3: I will return in an hour or two. I need
you to wait for me here.
Speaker 2: Achille was disappointed, even when de Rennie explained.
Speaker 3: Why no outsider may enter the settlement without an invitation
from the elders. I am sorry, that is our first lull.
Speaker 2: Before he left, de Rennie promised to take along Achilia's
sketch book and ask his elders if they recognized the
places depicted inside. He also promised to ask if they
had ever heard of someone named Audac living in the Northlands.
After he left, things seemed to become very quiet and still.
In truth, the two of them had not spoken all
that much in the three days they'd known each other. Hunger, thirst,
and the rigors of travel had consumed much of their energy. Additionally,
they had mostly traveled in single file elf fashion, as
Derennie preferred, and this too had made conversation difficult. The
only time they had spoken at length was at night
when they made camp. Even then, they'd each shared only
a little about their personal histories. The talk had been vague,
and for the same reason. They both had people to protect,
so the time had been filled swapping funny stories about
their youth or talking by their favorite foods. Achillie had
also taught a few words of the common tongue to
de Renni, although he don't learned about ten of them,
a few simple verbs and nouns. By the time they
had arrived, Court had watched Achillea hand the sketch book
to do Renni and had figured out what was going on.
So the two of them sat at the pond edge
and listened to the frogs while afternoon turned into evening.
Akilia thought back on all that had befallen her. She
figured she'd had more experience of the world in the
past week than she'd had in the last ten years,
and more danger than she wanted in a lifetime. From
the bizarre exchange with Fim of the Iron Tower, to
the discovery of her master poisoned and turned to stone,
to the ill fated meeting with Edo, her rescue of Dornni,
and then the fight with the giant centipedes. It was
like a never ending bad dream. There was no waking
up from it, no turning back. She was just beginning
to entertain the troubling idea that de Rennie might not
return at all when she heard movements in the bush
and then parting a group of cattails down the middle
and walking through the gap, came to Renni first, and
then behind him a much older looking elf. So de
Rennie has gone back to his people, who live in
a settlement inside the Sitevy Marsh. He would have been
sorely missed by now, so his family is deeply relieved
at his return. He tells his story, explaining about his
capture by the Orcs, and subsequent rescue by a strange
looking young woman who claims to be an elf but
does not look like one. I can imagine his repeating
this story several times before word gets to one of
the elders. Then he's telling his tale over again and
true to his word, asking about the place's in Achilles's
sketch book and about the name Adoc on her behalf.
I think a couple of roles are in order here. First,
I'll allow a chance that the elders would recognize either
Audoc's name or the places in his drawings. I'll say
it's a one in four chance, but I'm going to
use a D twenty. The sixteen or higher will be
a yes, and the higher than number, the more the
elders know, here's the role, well, well, oh, well a seventeen.
They do know where this is, though they are not
familiar with anyone named Adoc. But would they share this information?
Would they be inclined to help? I know they'll want
to meet Achillia, so I'll make the reaction role in advance.
I'm going to add a plus one for her speaking Elvish,
plus one for her having saved a member of their community,
and a minus one for her clearly not looking the
way they do. So I'm rolling twoty six plus one. Okay,
I can work with that. Chapter eight, Part three, Day
nine evening mythic event meaning negligence whether party status. The
party status is unchanged, with the exception that they are
no longer suffering from the effects of hunger or thirst.
The cattail reeds bent to either side in a V,
and then to court an Achillee's relief. De Rennie, now
properly dressed in a sleeveless deerskinned jerkin, then looking much refreshed,
stepped through. A short bow and quiver were slung over
his shoulder, and there was a sword at his belt.
Right behind him came a much older elf, similarly dressed,
but somehow more impressive by virtue of their demeanor. Dorennie
handed a wooden bowl to Achilie even before introductions were made.
It was full of nuts, roots and berries.
Speaker 3: I thought you might still be hungry.
Speaker 2: He said. She was, and it took considerable will power
to refrain from digging in right away. But Alvey had
taught her that manners were important, especially when meeting people.
For the first time.
Speaker 3: This is val Quin, one of the elders of my tribe.
Speaker 2: Achilia wasn't sure if she should lace her fingers in
front of her abdomen or not. She decided a simple
bow would do and offered one, bending slightly at the waist.
The elder made no such move, nor did they say
anything at first. Valkeine was androgenous in appearance and of
an age that was certainly much greater than de Renni,
but hard to guess with certainty. Their face was wrinkled
and tanned, with hair that was dark brown streaked with gray.
The older ELF's expression was inscrutable yet intense. They stared
at Achillie without blinking for several seconds before the small
straight line of a mouth opened.
Speaker 1: De Renie says, you speak our tongue.
Speaker 2: Achilie had time to think, oh no, not this again
before the elder continued.
Speaker 1: He also tells me you can work magic. Where do
you come from, child, and from whom did you learn
your powers?
Speaker 2: Their voice was neither aggressive nor friendly. Achilie felt immediately
on her back foot and decided that a little more
forthrightness and honesty might be called for in this exchange.
Speaker 4: My master is the wizard old vay Luok.
Speaker 2: Whether Valkane knew the name was impossible to say. Their
face remained unreadable.
Speaker 1: And where is your Femily?
Speaker 5: I was abandon as a child and adopted by Master Miwok,
She replied, I'm looking for someone who can help me.
Speaker 1: Help you what?
Speaker 2: The voice remained cool, and even the time worn face
seemed to be studying her, But Achilia didn't want to
give away too much.
Speaker 5: My master is in danger. I seek a person named
Odoc who might be able to help.
Speaker 4: Do you know of him?
Speaker 2: I do not, came the simple reply, and Achille's heart dropped.
Speaker 1: But then I do recognize one of the places in
your books of drawings.
Speaker 2: However, Achille's emotions reversed and a surge of hope filled her.
Speaker 4: Oh, please tell me whatever you can.
Speaker 1: These lands are far to the north. It would take
you three weeks to get there.
Speaker 4: Three weeks.
Speaker 2: Achilie had not been expecting to have to travel anywhere
near that far. In fact, she thought she must be
very close by. Now she'd already been gone more than
a full week, and.
Speaker 1: The way is not easy.
Speaker 4: I understand, yet I must go.
Speaker 1: I think you will need help.
Speaker 2: Balkine's large eyes bored into hers, unblinking.
Speaker 1: So I have allowed de Renni to accompany him.
Speaker 3: I told my people how you saved me from the Orcs.
Speaker 2: Mentioned de Rennie by way of explanation. Oh, Achillia brightened,
Thank you, she said to both of them. Elder Valcan
held up a gnarled brown finger.
Speaker 1: I still have questions. Of course, your master is an elf.
He looks as I do, am. No Ah, he looks
as you do.
Speaker 4: That Master Aldve is of the race of.
Speaker 1: Men, a human.
Speaker 2: De Rennie seemed surprised at this, though it made sense.
Achilia had barely spoken of her mentor with him. She
nodded in confirmation, wondering what this elder Valkan would say
about her guardian's race. But they said nothing, nor did
their face give away any hint of whether the news
came as good or ill.
Speaker 4: How old are you child, I am twenty one.
Speaker 2: Years of age, replied Achilia.
Speaker 1: And your companion is of your making.
Speaker 2: Valcan had noticed court when they first met, but hadn't
given him a second glance. He is up my master's
Achillea corrected.
Speaker 1: Three weeks there, three weeks back.
Speaker 2: It took a moment for Achillie to realize Volcin was
not speaking to her anymore, though their eyes still looked
into her own.
Speaker 1: Your parents won't be happy to know that you've left
again so quickly, to Rennie. But I agree, honor demands
and perform this service all the same.
Speaker 2: Do not terry. The elder finally looked away and at
to Rennie, as if to underscore the importance of their words.
The younger elf, for his part, not an agreement. There
was a sober look on his face, but his eyes
betrayed his excitement. The elder returned their gaze to Achillia,
and though their expression remained cool, the intensity was no
longer there.
Speaker 1: You look half starved. You have my leave to eat.
Speaker 2: Valkine half turned, then had second thoughts and looked back
at Achillia.
Speaker 1: Good fortune.
Speaker 2: With that, they walked through the reeds, back the way
they had come. De Rennie remained, and while Achillie ate,
he removed his bow and quiver and put down a
backpack she had not seen before, then set about unpacking
his bedroll. She noticed that he waited until the elder
was out of sight before he did so. Achillia chewed
a third mouthful of berries. Swallowed and then.
Speaker 5: Asked, why do you make him two or three hours
of daylight? He had remained that we.
Speaker 2: Might use Dorani looked up with a mischievous grin and.
Speaker 3: Said, I have a surprise for you.
Speaker 2: Achillie returned to bemused squint what surprise you.
Speaker 3: Will have to wait and see.
Speaker 2: When I made Elder val Kene's reaction role previously, I
got an eight, which is on the slightly positive side
of neutral. In my mind, I pictured this character as
an elf with a face devoid of emotion, completely unreadable.
They've been alive for a long long time and have
seen a lot. Seeing a construct like cord, for example,
is not going to phasee them. I think Valkene suspects
that Achillia is a half elf, maybe even knows it
for a fact, but their mo is to never give
anything away. They control the information they call the shots. Interestingly,
Dernni had a similar kind of reaction to Achillia back
in episode six, also a rolling an eight. It makes
me wonder if maybe most elves in Merith are simply
less emotional, at least outwardly, so they burn hot on
the inside, but their culture is not to show it.
Another role I made in advance this time off Mike
was to determine how far away autoc Is thought to be.
The spot Valken recognized from the book of Illustrations. I
thought would be farther than Achilia had imagined traveling, but
it wouldn't make sense that it was extremely far away,
after all, both Aldve and Valken have clearly been there
in the past. I ruled that it would be two
to four weeks away on foot, and the result was three.
De Renni has come prepared for the journey, bringing weapons
and a backpack containing it armor, ten days worth of
rations for each of them, and other sundry supplies. Clearly
they'll have to forge and hunt on the way, but
this makes sense. I don't imagine elves engaging in much agriculture,
hunting and forging. I would think are more their nature.
Speak ape Donni. Today he becomes a full member of
the party, and so I'm going to roll him up.
BX uses race as class, but I'm not going to
do that. The reasons are twofold. One. I find the
elf race in BX to be a bit merry sue
they're good at everything, and that doesn't appeal to me,
the second reason is an extension of the first. To
counteract all the powers in BX, elves take twice as
long to level up as other classes. I don't love
that for this medium, so I'm making some changes to
keep things simple. I'll say that Elves can be any class,
but to balance out their racial abilities, they will get
one die lower on the dice chain for hit points. Therefore,
a fighter would not get a D eight but a
D six. A magic user or a thief would get a
D three instead of a DF FOULI. We'll talk more
about leveling up and how that works in the next episode,
but for now, I think just rolling out dur Annie's
stats will be enough. I see him as a fighter,
so he'll get the maximum of six starting hit points.
Next up her stats, I'll just grab three D six
and we're off. For strength, a ten intelligence, another ten,
wisdom a little better. I've gotten eleven dexterity, Hey, a
fourteen very good, constitution, a nine charisma thirteen that's pretty good,
and without having to change a single thing, fits with
what I already imagined about Durnni. He's going to be
an archer primarily, but still knows how to swing a sword.
With that done, let's get back to the narrative and
find out what kind of surprise this elf has in
store for Cord and Achillea. De Rennie still wore a
private little smile as the unpacked his bag to show
the others what he had brought for their travels. First,
he pulled out Audoc's sketch book and turned to the
page bearing the drawing Valcan had recognized. It showed a
lake with a small island. On the island was a
distinct lozenge shaped stone standing upright in the center. In
the background were the dark shapes of mountains with snow
capped peaks. After the book, Dorennie unpacked a chain mail shirt,
which he said he would start wearing tomorrow. This spot
was safe, so he didn't need it yet. He had
also brought a flint and steel, thirty feet of rope,
a sewing kit, a traveling cloak, a second water skin,
and of course the portioned rations.
Speaker 4: That looks like a lot of food.
Speaker 2: Achilia commented. Indeed, on its own it represented two thirds
of his load. It will not last forever, said De Rennie.
Speaker 3: We will have to hunt and forage.
Speaker 2: As we go.
Speaker 4: Whatever is required.
Speaker 3: I am willing, said Achillia, and we should bear slightly
northeast the first few days. Elder Volcanes said. Both Orc
groups we encountered were scouts for a larger war band.
Speaker 2: How large, asked Achillie, frowning, fifty.
Speaker 3: Or sixty in total? They come through every few years.
Speaker 4: Are your people safe.
Speaker 2: Asked the half elf, with real concern. Do any smile broadened.
Speaker 3: They are safe. The stevy marsh is not friendly to
those who do not know the safe ways through.
Speaker 2: Achillie changed the subject.
Speaker 5: Are you ready to show me your surprise yet? Look
the sun is going down?
Speaker 2: Not yet?
Speaker 4: Fine, keep your secrets.
Speaker 2: Achillie concluded, with exaggerated indifference.
Speaker 4: I cannot.
Speaker 2: For the next hour she sat with Cord and explained
all that had transpired, using the common tongue so he
could understand. The wooden man sat and listened patiently as
she did. Every now and then Robin would wing in
land on one of their heads, peep a quick melody,
and then fly off again. With the sunset, the frogs
started singing too. They were loudly chorusing up with the
shiny crescent moon. When a noise drew the party's attention.
Across the pond, in the exact same spot where de
Renni and Valken had come into view, now appeared another
solitary figure. Despite the fairly strong moonlight, it was hard
to make out any details of their face.
Speaker 3: De Rennie stood, ah, my surprise has arrived.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much for listening to Tale of the Manticor
and happy holidays everyone. If you're enjoying the show and
would like to help to support it, there are lots
of ways to do so. You could recommend the show
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bar Arts dot store. And finally, you can rate or
review the show on your podcatter of choice. I am
grateful for all of your support. Speaking of which, at
this point, I'd like to read another one of your
kind listener reviews. This one was left by Brad Bootim
on Apple Podcasts. Brad writes, you got my creative juices flowing.
I love the flow of your show. Going to go
back and check out season one and two. Thanks very much, Brad.
What really makes me happy about this review is that
it seems to have been made by someone who only
recently discovered the show. I'm delighted that folks are still
finding Tail of the Manticor, Brad, I sincerely hope you
enjoyed the first two seasons. There are two contributing voice
actors on this episode. Ky Ellen is back playing de Renni,
also in the role of val Keene, one of the
elder elves of the Setevy marsh It's James from the
Undercommon Taste podcast. My thanks to both of you, and
welcome to the cast, James. For those curious to learn
a bit more about Tale of the Manticore, I 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 Ofthemanticore dot blogspot dot com.
To get in touch with me, I'm at Manticore Tale
on X, Tale of the Manticore podcast on Instagram, or
Tale of Themanticor at gmail dot com. I'd love to
hear from you. Before I sign off, I'd like to
thank cast members and listeners alike and wish them a
happy and healthy holiday. The next time we meet, it'll
be twenty twenty five. Imagine that the adventure will continue
on the next episode of Tale of the manticor this
story where chaos rules