Speaker 1: Hi, this is Thomas the Hanchling and you're listening to
Tell of the Manticle. 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 mash up, 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 Manticre
is barbed with cruel and spikes. There will be much
pain in the days ahead. Last time on Tale of
the Manticor, in the last chapter, the companions take fair
wind On as part of their number and depart the
land of the cay Horse. They walk and walk and
walk for over two days. Nothing interrupts their travels. Along
the way. Ten Tire begins to complain of the effort
and boredom, causing Achille to remember a fable all Day
had once told her about a fletcher who obtains a
magic stone and then foolishly wishes his whole life away.
She shares the story with the others on their third
day of travel after leaving the Land of the cay Horse,
when Tentyre begins to grumble and gripe once again, and
although fair Wind appreciates it, the lesson appears to be
wasted on the brothers. In the evening, the companions round
a hillock and are shocked to see an iron tower
in the distance not too far away. Chapter twenty five,
Part one day nineteen, early evening mythic of then meaning
propose weapons, party status Achillia nine out of nine hit points,
Cord fourteen of fourteen, Durni twelve of twelve, ten Tier
ten of ten, fair Wind thirteen out of eighteen. After
receiving one point of natural healing supplies, the companions have
no food and sixteen portions of water. Remaining spells available.
Achillea can cast shrink, message and glitter, dest Cord can
cast entangle and slow poison. Fair Wind can cast purify
food and water.
Speaker 2: Is that's pasturani wonderment?
Speaker 1: Yes, said Achilia, without consulting the others, She passed by
a tentire, taking the lead and heading in the direction
of the tower.
Speaker 3: Achilia wait for us.
Speaker 1: Tindyr called after her. The others had to hurry to
catch up and to keep up for while Achilia was
not running, she maintained a brisk and determined pace in
a direct line towards the tower. The half helf never
looked down. She remembered what had happened when she had
gone back to the tower after finding Alvay turned to stone.
It had been gone, and all she had found was
a flattened circle of earth and shrubs. This implied that
the tower was able to appear and disappear by some
kind of magic. Achillie did not, for a moment entertain
the idea that this was a different tower. It had
to be the same one. It just had to be.
There was a flutter of wings as Robin flew past
her and on ahead, piping all the way. Achilia is
right about a couple of things. This is the same tower,
and it does have the magical ability to travel by dematerializing
from this plane of existence, shifting its position in the
ethereal plane, and then rematerializing elsewhere in the ethereal plane.
The rules of time and space do not exist in
that misty place. Movement is accomplished by force of will.
I'm not sure if the main characters of this story
will ever go to the ethereal plane, but I do
now know what the Tower is doing here. When I
dreamt up this thing at the beginning of the story,
I just thought it was cool and strange, but I
had no idea who fimgrim Atresch and Bellario were. I
didn't know why they were there, and I have enrolled
at random to see if they had ever heard of Aldbay.
That ice said that they had not. And so while
I knew I wanted to see them again at some
point in the future, and I knew they would somehow
matter to the story, I.
Speaker 2: Didn't know what they were doing or what they wanted.
Speaker 1: It was only recently, months after writing those initial scenes
that I figured it out. Now I do know why
they are disappearing and reappearing in this region. And with
this information in mind, ahead of her and only a
few hundred yards away, the Tower of Iron began to dim.
No Achilliea blinked away the sweat that fell into her
eyes and broke into a run. She wouldn't let it,
get away, she told herself, all the while ignoring the
obvious truth that she was powerless to stop it. He
was dimmer still, and now she could see the shapes
of trees through it, as through a fog. She redoubled
her speed, racing well ahead of her companions, who were
huffing and puffing behind her. Akilia wait, She heard her
any call, but she paid him no heed and bolted
straight for the tower. By the time she had crested
the hill, it was so pale that she could see
clouds through it. It was barely there at all, just
a suggestion of itself, and when she actually arrived, it
was gone. Akilia found herself standing before yet another circle,
a flattened grass and stones pushed into the earth. Unable
to help herself, she dropped to her knees and wept overhead.
Robin circled, trilling and frustration. Oh Bobby, I've failed you,
I've failed you, she cried, tears cut twin tracks through
the dirt on her cheeks. Then Cord was there, offering
a strong wooden hand to help her up. Derennie was
there too.
Speaker 3: It's not your fault, Achillia. You never had a chance
to get here in time, and at any rate, you
haven't failed. Your quest remains the same. We continue to
head north.
Speaker 1: Call me cruel, but I knew that the iron tower
would disappear before Achillia could reach it. She's upset, and
that's reasonable, But Derenni has a point. Their goal is unchanged.
I think the companions will take a moment to recover
and then continue on their journey another couple of miles
before finding a safe place to make camp. That means
I am back to rolling dice for day twenty sex
crawl ready at D twenty for the weather, the fourteen
means a pleasant summer day. Stumble Upon twenty oh was
not expecting that. I gosh, I had zero ideas. I
think I'll make the rest of the rolls and see
if a combo might be possible. The next step is
for the cord assisted forging roll on a D six
before means no luck. Finally, there's a chance for a
wandering encounter. The five or six on this D six
means there is one rolling a six. Somehow I knew
there would be one. It has been a while. In
anticipation of needing a new table, I've already gone ahead
and made one. Usually I just direct listeners to my
blogs bot account and I will post it there, but
this time I'm going to share it here too. It's
a kind of collapsed table. You'll see what I mean. Usual,
it contains a variety of possibilities, some of which are
not monster encounters. For this table, I'll start with a
D six. Here are the potential results, each of which
will trigger a second role to determine the type and
number encountered. On a one, the party will find some
kind of larger game animal. On a two, it will
be a dangerous animal or insect. On a three, you
will be a humanoid. On a four, an exotic dangerous creature.
On a five, an exotic neutral creature. On a six,
the party will find some kind of settlement or layer complex,
possibly active, possibly in ruins. Use the role a five
exotic neutral creature or creatures. I'm feeling there's potential here
not only to use my stumble Upon twenty but also
my event meaning what to do. I'm going to need
a subtable so I can get busy with that, and
maybe an idea will spring to mind. But I'll do
all that stuff off Mike. Let's take a quick ad
break while I figure out this encounter.
Speaker 2: Be right back.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, Part two, day twenty sunset mythic event meaning
propose weapons party status achillea nine out of nine hit points,
Court fourteen of fourteen, de Renni twelve of twelve, ten
Tier ten of ten, fair Wind fourteen out of eighteen.
After receiving one point of natural healing supplies, the companions
have been without food for one full day and have
twelve portions of water remaining. Spells available. Achilia can cast shrink,
message and litter. Due Court can cast entangle and slow poison.
Fair Wind can cast purify food and water. The sun
had just melted behind a horizon of rolling hills in
the west, but left behind was a vibrant smear of
orange and pink whose glow allowed the companions to continue
their march in good light a while longer. The chillier
was still processing what she perceived as a personal failure
from the day before. Fair Wind behind her was turning
to a page halfway through his book of prayers, as
he did every sunset. When he prayed, the clerk did
not rate or preach, but spoke in a low voice.
His prayers were personal.
Speaker 2: Greats at all.
Speaker 1: We ask for your continued blessings, that you may guide
us through the darkness. May your light shine upon us,
illuminating our path and showing us the way forward. It
was only a few minutes after he concluded that they
heard it Robin, now sitting atop Chord's head as was
her wont, recently emitted a frightened series of peeps. Both
Tentyr and Dorannie unslung their bows, but said nothing. A
few minutes later the sound came again, and louder. The
third and fourth times were louder and closer. Still, these
were clearly call and answer.
Speaker 3: They are hunting calls.
Speaker 1: Said Doranni in a tight voice, drawing an arrow and
fitting it to his bow. This is not good, replied Tentyr,
doing the same. By now the light from the set
sun had faded, but a bright and silvery three quarter
moon hung in the sky, illuminating the hillside. Then from
the top of the hill, just out of sight, came
an explosion of noise. The cacophony of snarling and barking,
yelping and growling broke the relative silence of the night.
Before the companions had a chance to run, a black
and white tornade of teeth and fur and claws came
roiling down from the hilltop. It was a pack of
wolves that tumbled and fought with a smaller pack of
white furred dogs. The wolves were no ordinary wolves. They
were much larger, with shining red eyes and coarse black fur.
The white dogs were also not common examples of their species.
While smaller than the black wolves, they were clearly creatures
of magic. For every few seconds they would disappear and
then instantly reappear nearby, launching their attacks from a new
direction while keeping their enemy confused and off guard. Despite
this advantage, the smaller white dogs were clearly outmatched. There
were five of what Achillia new former studies to be
dire wolves, while the other creatures only numbered three. In
a matter of a few furious seconds, both sides were
wounded and blood matted fur, both black and white alike. Presently,
one of the dire wolves went down, savaged by a
white dog that disappeared on its left flank before reappearing
on its right, walking its jaws on there's throat and
ripping it out in a scarlet spray. Then two of
the wolves somehow anticipated where one of its blinking enemies
would appear next and brought it to the ground, shredding
open its belly with their razor sharp claws. Now there
were four dire wolves against two of the smaller blinking dogs.
All were injuries.
Speaker 3: This is not our fight, said de Rennie. Best if
we get away from here.
Speaker 1: I'm not leaving those creatures alone to die, replied.
Speaker 2: A Chillia flatly.
Speaker 1: Then she started towards the battle, raising her hands in
the first gestures of a spell. The pieces have come
across a battle between dire wolves and blink dogs, the
latter being a creature listed in the Expert rules. The
encounter is a result of combining my natural twenties stumble
upon roll, which is meant to indicate a boon for
the party, with my Wandering Encounter roll of neutral exotic creatures.
I'm mentioning this because even though there's always a possibility
for things to go pear shape when combat takes place,
this encounter is not designed to put the PCs in
mortal danger. There are currently four wolves and two dogs,
all are wounded. The first thing I want to figure
out is how far away from the battle the party is.
If you'll indulge a quick aside. This morning, I was
listening to Roleplay Rescue, and the host Chay Webster, briefly
spoke about the difference between describing distances using precise measurements
like one hundred feet versus more relatable terms like forty paces.
The episode made me stop and think, do I really
know what one hundred feet looks like? Out of curiosity,
I did a quick Google search and found that a
typical high school basketball court is eighty four feet long.
On a baseball diamond, the distance between first and second
base is ninety feet. You know that really does help
me to imagine distance is better. Thanks for the idea, Jay,
Love your show all right. Aside over, the party is
about one hundred feet away from the battle at this point.
As soon as Achille the heads in that direction, Cord follows,
and then fair Wind. When Tinier looks at de Renni,
the older brother mutters a curse and then draws back
an arrow, taking aim at one of the wolves. Injury combat,
Dire wolves have four plus one hit dice and an
armor class of fourteen. They bite for two to eight
points of damage. Blink dogs have four hit dice an
armor class of fifteen and bite for one to six
points of damage. They also have a special limited teleportation
ability that allows them a free attack if they win
the initiative by blinking away before the enemy can retaliate.
I have altered the creature description a little by making
them white furred for this battle, I'm ignoring morale by
d M fiat. Another deviation from my usual mo is
to have creatures on both sides max out their hit
points at half instead of minning out. This will reflect
wounds already sustained. Therefore, each dire Wolf will have fourteen
hit points and the Blink Dogs will have Okay, they
will map out at sixteen. In short, I'm looking at
the battle this way. If the pieces can save one
or more of the blink Dogs before the combat is over,
they will be handsomely rewarded. Let's get into the fight.
It is round one initiative. The party and the Blink
Dogs five, the dire Wolves three. Both Blink Dogs attack.
They each needed twelve to hit. The first one gets
a seventeen and does six points of damage a savage bite.
The second blink Dog at nineteen. This one does two points.
We are off to a great start now, the pieces
may act. Achillie needs to close some of the distance
to cast her spell of Shred, but with her wand,
it has an impressive range of sixty feet. Since she
can move forty feet into combat round, she can still
get off the spell. She picks a dire Wolf at random,
points her wand and speaks the art words. The direwolf
must save versus magic or be reduced in size by
forty percent. The saving throw is a fourteen or better.
Speaker 2: Here's the role. An eight means the dire Wolf fails.
Speaker 1: It safe and shrinks to a little over half of
its original size. Cord considers using his spell of Entangle,
but as it will affect all combatants, he decides not to.
He runs towards the battle, but can I get there
this round? Similarly, since firing into combat is so risky,
dur any intent here will both spend this round drawing
their swords and following. Chord, eager to do his part,
Fairwood rushes into the battle as well. Because the dire
Wolves lost the initiative, the blink Dogs were able to
attack and teleport away, so they have no available targets
and essentially lose their turn. This brings us two Round
two initiative. The party in the blink Dogs A four
the Direwolves A five.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: This time the Direwolves will get to attack, and it
only makes sense to me that they are still focused
on the blink Dogs. Each will need a thirteen to hit,
with two Direwolves on each blink Dog rolling for the
first attack, A sixteen hits. Damage will be ooh six points.
A brutal attack. Dire Wolf two A ten misses over
to the next pair. Dire Wolf three tries to bite
its enemy, then eleven fails to hit. Lastly, dire Wolf four,
which has been shrunken by Achille lunges. A nine is
a miss. Now the blink Dogs can retaliate and the
pieces will enter the fray as well. Blink Dogs first
one attacks A three is a miss, and the other
and eighteen will hit. Damage is five points. Hopefully the
pieces can land some blows. Two coord needs a fourteen.
An eight means his axe cleaves only the air. Fair
Wind is next, also needing a fourteen, but an eleven
is not good enough. Now for the Elves during any
target number is thirteen. His role seventeen. The Elven blade
plunges into black fur doing four points of damage, and
this wolf is now terribly injured ten tiers using the
blade of lear Haan. We'll talk about it special properties later,
but for now it's enough to say it is a
plus one short sword. This means ten tier also needs
a thirteen to hit the role A two. Achille considers
using her new spell of litter Dust, but holds back.
If cast it would hinder more friends than foes. Round
two is over, and now that the pieces are in
the melee, it occurs to me that the dire Wolves
will need to declare their targets in advance of initiative
going forward. I'll roll a D six for each wolf,
then on a one to two, that wolf will change targets.
Speaker 2: I'll try to make this quick.
Speaker 1: Four D six is a four, a five, a six,
and a one. The shrunken dire Wolf breaks off to
attack ten tier. All others well, for better or worse,
stick with their original targets. Round three initiative. The party
in the blink dogs the three, the dire Wolves A
four hard luck. The dire Wolves attack first. Here come
the rolls. The first attacks A four doesn't come close.
The second dire Wolf, the six is yet another miss.
The third is badly wounded, practically in a frenzy that
lunges with mad violence, and eighteen will hit. Damage is
two D four woof six points. Finally, the shrunken Direwolf,
now the size of a normal wolf, springs a ten
tier all fangs in slobber. You will need a thirteen
to hit his ac A sixteen is a hit. Whatever
damage I roll, I need to factor in the shrink spell.
Hopefully it won't be too bad. On two D eight
four points times point six equals two point four round
to day. On to two, Tender still has eight hit
points remaining. The blink dogs and the PCs may now retaliate.
The first blink dog gets the four no good, and
the second only a seven. Cord tries with his axe again,
A twelve just misses. Can ferwind connect with his cudgel.
A fifteen will hit four three points of damage. Come on, dernny,
we need another good role. A thirteen is required. Will
he get it? The three The Direwolf is quicker than
it looks. I hope Tender can do better. Of fourteen,
that's enough damages even with the plus one from his
sword eat only three points This combat is proving to
be both longer and more dangerous than I anticipated. We
are on two round four target declarations for the Direwolves.
Will they change targets? I've got A two, A five,
A one, and a four.
Speaker 2: That's bad.
Speaker 1: Two of them do, and now Cord and Doretti are
in much more danger than before. Initiative the party in
the blink Dogs five nice. The dire Wolves oh no,
A six. These initiative roles are not going well. Clearly
the dire Wolves have adapted to the new threat and
are giving it some serious attention. One of the beasts
leaps at Cord. You will need a twelve or better
to hit him. The role A thirteen is a hit
damages on two D eight. That's four points, and Chord,
who is only just recovered from Mombi's attack, is back
down to nine hit points. That is very frustrating. The
second dire Wolf is still locked in battle with a
blink Dog. The role an eight is a miss. The
third snaps of de Renni A two means the off
leaps to the side, avoiding the long yellow teeth. Finally,
the shrunken Wolf attacks ten tier and eighteen. Oh this
is not going well, damage will be six times point
six equals four points. After rounding up, it's a ruthless
bite to the forearm and ten tier with four hit
points left is in real trouble. Now time for the
counter attack, and they had better lands and good hits.
The first blink Dog attacks A thirteen is just enough,
damages four points. The second blink Dog A four is
a miss over to the PCs cord chops down and
eighteen will do it, and this might be a death
blow if he rolls high enough seven points. That is
high enough with room to spare. The battle axe's blade
goes through the monster's shoulder, shattering.
Speaker 2: Its spine and killing it. This could be the break
the PC's need.
Speaker 1: Can they keep up the momentum? Fair Wind strikes a
fifteen another hit damage is on a D four or
two points. Duranie is next. His opponent is also wounded
to the point that one well placed thrust could kill it,
and Durnnie will certainly try, but A three is not
the role to get the job done. Ten two will
strike last, needing a twelve or better to hit at twelve,
I'll take it. Damage is one D six plus one
four points as lear hands sword carves a red line
into the dire Wolf's side. It is round five target
declarations for the dire Wolves. Will they change targets? I've
got a five, one, five, and a six. Isn't that something?
The dire Wolves have figured out to favor the enemies
that don't keep blinking away, and by sheer roll of
the dice, all of the PCs in melee are not threatened.
It's an awful development, but it's also kind of incredible
that things.
Speaker 2: Fell out this way. Let's roll initiative.
Speaker 1: More than ever.
Speaker 2: The PCs need a win here.
Speaker 1: The party in the blink Dogs uh oh, the dire
Wolves oh A one. This could really swing the battle
in the right direction. Let's hope for a high rolls
as the blink Dog is attack. Here goes the first
but fourteen is a hit, doing just two points of damage,
and the second blank dog the three is a miss.
Now it's Chord's turn. He hacks down with his blood
soaked axe.
Speaker 2: A nineteen.
Speaker 1: Yes, Cord, once again a good role. Here will kill
the monster an eight A five would have done it,
but with an eight he lops off the monster's head. Cord,
you are a certified badass. Two wolves remain, but fair One, Dourni,
and ten here will all get a turn before they do.
Fair One's attack A six will not be enough. How
about dur Renni another six, another miss. Finally, it's ten Tier,
who is bleeding freely from several deep cuts. He needs
a twelve or better and he really needs to hit,
and eleven means he just fails to connect. And here
come the counter attacks. The direwolf under Annie at fourteen
misses by one point, and the monster's jaws come close
enough to Dorrenny's face that he can smell its hot breath.
The second Direwolf will attack ten Tier, and if it hits,
there is a chance it will kill him. Ten Tire
only has four hip points left the roll. A thirteen
does hit now for the role I do not want
to make on two D four, I've got a four.
That role would have killed ten Tier if not for
Achille's spell. Adjusted for the shrink spell effect, the actual
damage is only two and ten Tiers down to his
last two head points.
Speaker 3: Oh ah, get back ten Tier.
Speaker 1: Dennie cries. The younger Elf does not need to be
told twice. On his next turn, he'll attempt a fighting withdrawal,
but they'll need to win the initiative to get him
clear of.
Speaker 2: The fight quickly.
Speaker 1: I never expected this battle to be so bloody or
last so long. We are now at round six. Target
declarations for the dire Wolves. I've got a two and
a four. Surprisingly, Doreni's opponent decides to re engage with
a blink Dog. Unfortunately, ten Tiers is not distracted and
stays on him, barking with homicidal blood lust. Initiative winning
this is more important than ever. The party in the
Blink Dogs A one, the dire Wolves A five. Not good,
not good, not good. Let's get the easier roll out
of the way. The full sized Direwolf turns away from
Dorrenni and springs at one of the blink Dogs A
nineteen hits four five points, biting it repeatedly. That blink
Dog now has only five hit points left. Now for
the unavoidable role that might kill ten Tier. The Direwolf
needs a thirteen to score a hit, but almost any
hit will kill ten Tier. Despite a Kille's spell, chances
for Tender to keep his life are a little better
than a coin toss. Here goes nothing. An eleven Oh
my goodness, I thought I was going to lose ten
t here. Just then the young alf dodges to the
side and the cruel jaws tear it nothing more than
the edge.
Speaker 2: Of his cloak.
Speaker 1: Now it's time for the party's reply. Both blink Dogs
try to take down one of the two remaining dire Wolves.
The first attack gets a nineteen that'll do for three
points of damage. This enemy still has two left, but
the other blink Dog has yet to attack. It does so,
but an eight misses.
Speaker 2: Court.
Speaker 1: His wooden body, now painted red in wolf's blood, will
try to claim a third life. An eleven fails to connect.
Fair Wind is next. His cudgel misses as well, with
a seven on the die can de Rennie delivered the
killing blow with a fifteen. He does not miss, and
five points of damage means his Elvin blade finds the
monster's heart and ends its life. One wolf remains, and
by now ten Terre is withdrawn from the fight, clutching
at his wounds. Looks like we're going to need yet
another round of combat. Let's begin round six rolling to
see who the final direwolf will attack.
Speaker 2: I'll make it random.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's going to try to kill one of the
blink Dogs before it dies. Initiative the party in the
Blink Dogs A three, the Direwolf A three simultaneous combat.
Even if the party kills it, there will be a
fifty percent chance that the Direwolf can retaliate before the
blink Dog teliports out of reach. Here come the attack rolls.
The first two Blink Dogs roll and nineteen and a fifteen.
That's two hits, rolling two to six for combined damage.
Seven points is the exact number this monster had remaining.
Will it have the chance to retaliate? A high low
roll will determine that HI means yes. The roll on
a D twenty before the Direwolf lashes back, but the
enemy has vanished form where it is just been a
split second before. Then, bleeding from a dozen gashes, it
drops lifeless to the ground. Thanks for listening to Tale
of the Manticor. This episode is another one of those
that clocks in at over thirty minutes, so I will
do the express version of the outro and jump right
into the credits. This one features the core cast of
voice actors. They are, of course, Kyellen Asdreni, Kevin Barringer
in the role of ten.
Speaker 2: Tier At David Cooper who plays Fairwind.
Speaker 1: My eternal gratitude to these three excellent actors. The adventure
will continue on the next episode of Tale of the Manticor.
It's the story where chaos rolls.