Speaker 1: This is Brian from Transreal News and Swords Against Madness.
I hope you've got a sword with you as you've
arrived where chaos rolls. You're listening to Tale of the Mandicor.
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 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 the fate is at hand. According to Laura, the
Tale of a Manticor is barbed with cruel iron spikes.
There will be much pain in the days ahead. Last
time on Tale of the Manticor, Chapter six concerns the
resolution of a single random encounter. Achilia hears the sound
of someone being whipped. When she investigates, she finds three
orcs playing a game with a captive, whipping him to
see who can make him cry out. The loudest. Achilia
might have set moral obligation aside and moved on, but
she hears the captive speak words in Elvish and knows
then and there that she has to attempt to rescue.
She sneaks up on the camp and casts her only spell,
shrink on the captive so he might slip free of
the manacles around his wrists. The spell works, and once
the captive is free, she calls out an Elvish for
him to follow her, perhaps thinking his own people have
come to his aid. The captive runs in her direction,
but the Orcs give chase. Unfortunately for them, the monsters
are heavily encumbered and fall quickly behind. Eventually they give up.
Once at a safe distance, Achillia stops for her party
to regroup and to meet the person she has liberated.
When he arrives, he's thankful, but also somewhat suspicious. He
asks how it is that she speaks the Elvish tongue,
but he does not seem to accept her answer. Chapter seven,
Part one, Day six night party status achillea four out
of four hit points, court six out of six hit points. Supplies.
The companions have no food and two portions of water
remaining spells available. There are no spells available.
Speaker 3: I I can speak Elfish because I am an elf.
Speaker 2: She replied, No, you are not, said the other slowly.
Speaker 4: Why do you say that, asked.
Speaker 5: Akilia, Because I am an elf and you do not
look like me.
Speaker 2: Achilia was thunderstruck. It took a moment for her to
form a reply.
Speaker 4: She settled on, I can only tell you what I
have always.
Speaker 2: Known, while presenting your hands palms up in a gesture
of helplessness. The silence then stretched out that was too
long for comfort in the former captive's side.
Speaker 5: At every rate, one thing is certain. You have saved me,
and I am in your debt. My name is de
Reni of the Sotevi Marsh tribe.
Speaker 3: Well met de Rennie of the Setevi Marsh. I am
called Achilia Muok, apprentice to Master Altve Muok.
Speaker 2: She paused to see if the name would have any
effect on the other. Did not.
Speaker 4: These are my companions, Cord and Robin.
Speaker 2: She pointed to Cord, who watched the conversation he could
not understand patiently, then to Robin, now once again sitting
on her head. Surprisingly, Dorani did not seem overly moved
by the presence of a wooden construct. His attention had
been firmly on Achillie the whole time. Now, instead of
looking at Court, his eye was drawn up to Robin.
Speaker 5: Your bird is wounded, it would appear, and possibly blind
as well.
Speaker 2: Achillia started, then laughed. Understanding the error, she put up
her hand and Robin obediately jumped upon it. She presented
Robin to Dornni, who peered at it while furrowing his eyebrows.
Speaker 4: Robin is a stuffed bird, she laughed, while do.
Speaker 2: Rennie squinted at the poorly stitched skin revealed under Robin's
patchy feathers.
Speaker 3: She may not be my master's most skilled work, but
she is not hurt and she can see perfectly well
despite appearances.
Speaker 2: De Rennie looked from Robin to Court, and something seemed
to occur to him.
Speaker 5: Perhaps you are of high heaven blood, then, if your
master can work such magic at least, this is unlike
any enchantment I have seen before.
Speaker 3: I've not heard of high elves, or any kinds of
elves for that matter.
Speaker 4: What do you mean.
Speaker 5: As for first hand experience? Mine is limited to the
elves of my own tribe, But there are other tribes,
and I have heard that there is a race of
elves that live in cities as the men folk do. Truly,
I had always thought the high elves a children's fable.
Speaker 4: Where is your tribe.
Speaker 2: De Renny asked Akilia. De Renny considered hm.
Speaker 5: Two days walk from here. I was on a hunt
when the Orcs caught me.
Speaker 4: You hunt so far from home.
Speaker 2: Asked Akilia. More out of curiosity than suspicion.
Speaker 5: Something has driven away the fauna from our lands, the orcs.
Speaker 4: Perhaps if there are more of them, for.
Speaker 5: A c forbid, But perhaps yes, was the reply.
Speaker 2: A chillier bit her lip, and then she asked.
Speaker 3: De Rennie, would you take me us to meet the
rest of your people.
Speaker 2: When I made a reaction roll upon de Rennie and
Achillia's first meeting, I got a modified eight, which is
slightly positive but still uncertain. This makes sense given that
both parties claim to be Elvin while looking slightly different
from each other. Now that the ice is somewhat broken,
I think it's time for a second check. This will
be to determine whether or not de Rennie is willing
to bring Achillia and her companions home with him, I'm
reducing the previous bonus of plus three to plus one
for this role in light of his lukewarm initial reaction.
Here goes on two six higher is better, eight plus
one is nine. Okay, the dice god seemed to want
this relationship to develop a little more That nine is
giving me yes but vibes. Since I have my bowl
of dice at hand, I'm going to take this chance
to roll up a new event, meaning to replace this
spent one on d percentile eighty five and ninety three.
That's negligence and weather. Well, that seems fairly straightforward. I
might need to wait awhile before using it, but I
guess you never know. Chapter seven, Part two, Day seven
morning mythic event meaning negligence, weather, party status. Achillia four
out of four hit points, court six out of six
hit points. Supplies. The companions have no food and two
portions of water remaining spells available. Achillea has memorized shrink
hours earlier. Having built some trust between them, Achillia, her companions,
and to Renni had decided to find a concealed spot
where they could make camp. They'd been exhausted and it
had grown late in the morning, Achillie awoke to powder
pink dawn sky. The woods were gowned and mist. She
studied for an hour before waking to Rennie. Once he
was awake, they shared her water skin and between the
two of them nearly drained it. Breakfast was not available,
and Achillea's stomach was beginning to growl. Even more than
the many dangers of the wilds, food had become her
biggest problem. On the bright side, she now had a
competent guide. They decided they would try foraging while on
the march. De Rennie said it would be wiser to
get home quickly rather than on a full stomach. Judging
by his willowy frame, Achillie guessed that he was used
to going without. But as for her, she had never
experienced hunger before, and she knew she would feel a
discomfort more acutely. Before they set out, Achillie decided to
extend her trust a little further and asked de Rennie
if he had heard of a person named Audoc. She
also asked him if he recognized any of the scenes
in the sketchbook as she showed it to him. The
expert rules said that there are two ways to acquire
food in the wilderness. Characters can forage while on the move.
A D six is rolled and on a one they'll
find one to six portions of food. The other choice
is to stop and spend a full day hunting. The
rules seem a bit vague here, but I think the
idea is that the one to six portions are guaranteed. However,
there's a cost. An additional wandering encounter roll must be
made for that day. Considering the high chance for such
an encounter, that option is truly risky, and I think
de Rennie may have the right idea in pushing ahead.
I'll make the foraging role now on a D six,
hoping for a one A two nuts or rather no nuts,
berries or otherwise. As we started a new day, there's
a few more roles to make for weather. A nine
decent weather means I won't be using my event meaning
today next to stumble upon Holy Cow another one? What
are the chances of that happening again? So soon? Does
this mean that, like with Edo, that the escaped danger
has caught up with them? I'll roll high low High
means it has on a D twenty another one, all right,
I wasn't expecting that it means something really bad is
going to happen. Let's take a quick ad break to
give me the time to come up with an idea.
The weather was about the only thing that cooperated within
that day. To start, de Renni turned out to be
unfamiliar with the name Oudoc and could not identify the
places pictured in Achillee's book. Furthermore, the terrain became less
forgiving with each passing mile. By noon, the land had
already started to become difficult, putting in their way steep
rises and gullies that could not be circumnavigated. Achillee found
herself winded by the ascents, and the declines were almost
as bad, slowing them down when they became precariously steep. Furthermore,
there was no water to be found anywhere. When she asked,
Dorani insisted that this was the way they needed to go.
He admitted that he hadn't been through this area before,
but he seemed confident in their direction, as if he
possessed an internal compass. Some time after the sun had
passed its zenith and the afternoon was well under way,
the party passed by an enormous mound with a face
of bald rock. The surface was riddled with holes dozens
of cave openings, ranging from the size of a fist
to as much as three feet across. Achilie looked at
it nervously, and Dornie confirmed her thoughts.
Speaker 5: Best to steer wide of that place. It has a
bad look to it.
Speaker 2: They had just put the caves to their backs, feeling
prematurely fatigued and just beginning to experience the pangs of
hunger and thirst, when ill fortune struck. As they crested
the next steep rise, perhaps only one hundred yards away,
another party of orcs, and this one was bigger than
the last. There were five of the pig faced brutes.
Worse they were spotted right away with a battle cry.
All five charged towards them, fanning out in waving axes,
swords and clubs above their heads. Back the way they
came would be the only means of escape, and Achilia
practically ran down the incline they just climbed with such
effort it was a miracle that she didn't trip. Her
feet seemed to barely touch the ground. That she threw
herself forward so quickly that she as much fell down
the slope as ran down it, her arms pin wheeled madly.
When she reached the bottom, still somehow maintaining her balance
without breaking stride, she dashed straight ahead. De Rennie was
right at her side to the caves. He yelled between
hard breaths. They made the caves, with the Orcs, having
closed the gap so that they were only a few
dozen yards away, and choosing a hole just large enough
that they could crawl through escaped. They found themselves in
a short, naturally formed tunnel that opened into a larger pocket.
While their enemy threatened and cursed from the outside, they
caught their breath, and as their infro vision took over,
regarded their new surroundings. The earlier stumble upon roll of
one means that the party is going to face risk
without any chance for reward. I mentioned this because the
Orcs waiting for them outside are not the PC's only problem.
There's a chance that the caves in this hill might
not be interconnected, and so Achille and her companions might
find themselves trapped. I wonder what the chances would be.
I don't know much about geology, so I'll just make
a high low roll. High means there's another way out,
rolling a D twenty who at eleven, Thank goodness for that.
In the gray scale of their dark vision, they took
in their new surroundings. They were in a kidney shaped
space that measured perhaps twenty feet in length and ten
feet across at the widest part. The walls here were irregular,
cracked and pock marked in some places, smooth in others.
There was an ominous looking crawl space opening at the
far end. The place felt cool and damp. It smelled
of mold. Achillia turned to look back through the entrance tunnel,
and her boots scuffed the loose dirt that covered the floor.
Speaker 4: Do you think there's any chance they might give up
and leave?
Speaker 5: Not much, orcs are stubborn.
Speaker 2: Came to Renny's matter of fact reply.
Speaker 5: But they are also nocturnal, so they'll have to sleep
at some point, Achilia, might I borrow one of those?
Speaker 2: He looked at the pair of daggers on her belt meaningfully.
Achillie only considered for a moment before passing him one.
She couldn't leave him defenseless, of.
Speaker 3: Course, good idea, But do you think we might be
able to slip past them without a fight.
Speaker 5: Not from here, they'll post a sentry right outside that opening.
Our only real hope is.
Speaker 2: And here, he pointed at the cross base.
Speaker 5: Leads to another exit large enough for us to pass through.
Speaker 2: It was fortunate that they were so small. Even Cord,
who stood six feet tall, was slender enough that he'd
been able to follow them in with considerable ease. Both constructs, furthermore,
could see in the dark, as their vision did not
depend on any physical organs, but was magical in nature.
Speaker 4: And let's find out if it does, agreed.
Speaker 2: Said do Rennie, and he took the lead. Achilie fell
in behind, and Cord brought up the rear, holding Robin
in his hand. As Derennie crouched down to crawl into
the little gap, that Killia saw the whip Weltz on
his back up close for the first time. It was
amazing her new companion was still standing. She thought his
fortitude inspired her to be brave when a few seconds
later it was her turn to get down on all
fours and crawl into the little opening. The claustrophobia came
almost immediately, with the tunnel roof just an inch above
her head and the rocky tunnel walls close enough that
they grazed her shoulders. The feeling of being completely vulnerable,
unable to move if anything were to happen, was almost
too much to bear. The further in they got, the
faster her heart beat, and a rising sensation began in
her brain that grew stronger and stronger, until it seemed
her sense of vision and hearing were constricted. Like the
tunnel she crawled through. She broke into a sweat as
panic threatened to take over her senses. Dramatis personae Achillia
fifteen years ago. Achillie was six years old when her
formal apprenticeship to Aldrey began and she started to learn
the secrets of magecraft. For the first year, the sole
topic of her lessons was meditation.
Speaker 6: Oh, without clarity of mind, you'll never achieve the concentration
required for even the most basic spell.
Speaker 2: That was the sentence with which Achillia began her journey
into wizardry. She took a seat on a mat of
reeds and waited further instruction.
Speaker 6: Grows your legs so that the tips of your toes
and the outer edge of your thighs form a single line.
Speaker 2: She did as she was told.
Speaker 6: Good, now know your knees to the mat, Straighten your back,
push back your bottom, hips forward.
Speaker 2: A Chillie let slip a laugh at the mention of
her bottom, and Oldvae patiently allowed it. Then, with a
gentle look that asked, are we ready to continue, he said.
Speaker 6: He is in line with the shoulders, nose, in line
with your navel. Yes, like so, tongue nightly behind your top,
teeth eyes open.
Speaker 2: By this point Achillie was settled, and, as a natural student,
had committed herself to doing things correctly. Aldve's instruction continued, take.
Speaker 6: Long, even breaths, but do not try to control your breathing.
You wear of your thoughts. When various notions enter your mind,
neither soue not try to escape from them. Instead allow
them to come and go freely.
Speaker 2: Achillia tried to do all this.
Speaker 6: The mind is like the surface of a pond.
Speaker 2: Back me.
Speaker 6: If the wind blows, the surface is disturbed, now ripples.
It's difficult to see beneath the surface, even though the
water is.
Speaker 2: Clear and pure. Achillia stirred. Her attention had already slept,
and she felt as though she were failing. Alvey did
not address it, but simply went.
Speaker 6: On accept tranquility. Do not think I am breathing. There
is no mind, There is no body. Let go of
time and space, Let go of body and mind, and
just be.
Speaker 2: Some of her fears were legitimate. If the tunnel ahead
dead ended or tapered to a point where they could
go no further, they'd be forced to crawl backward all
that way. Other fears were irrational. If the tunnel collapsed
behind them, they might find themselves entombed in miss Hill forever.
But Achilia, after so many years of study, knew how
to master her thoughts. She'd been practicing for years, Acknowledging
that they were the winds of blind panic, should wield
their thoughts to be calm. They crawled forward, slowly, navigating
a number of turns and drops, before the tunnel mercifully
opened up into another pocket. Dornni was the first out,
and on his feet, dusting off his knees, he held
forth a hand to help Achilia out, and then came
court holding Robin. There's a light ahead, said the elf,
his voice hopeful. Must take a look, replied Achilia. It
was above a stone lunch they would have to climb over,
but it seemed manageable. Dornni had only taken a few
steps when his foot struck a little mount of dirt.
Some movement caught his eye, and when he looked down,
the floor seemed to be coming alive. De Renni has
just disturbed the nest of three giant centipedes. I rolled
up this encounter in advance and off mic that it
was partially generated at random. At first, I rolled a
high low to see if any monster would be encountered
as the pieces searched for a second exit from the
cave system. It wasn't a sure thing, but unfortunately I
determined that yes, there would be by d M. Fiat,
I decided that the encounter would be with two to
five giant centipedes and rolled a three for that. Next
I rolled for the centipedes hit points and I rolled
a one. This is a good time to bring up
a home brew rule. I use entail of the manticor
when I rolled for monsters hit points. If I get
anything less than half the maximum number, I raised that
number to half. You'll often hear me refer to minning out.
This is something I do to keep encounters from being
overly easy. So these giant centipedes, which have a half
a hit die get two hit points each fifty percent
of their maxims of four. Even though I rolled a
one with hit points worked out, the only thing left
to Rule four was surprise. I ended up getting a
five for the centipedes and a four for the party,
so neither side would be surprised. I think that gives
us all we need to proceed, and it also brings
us to the first battle of season three, Injury Combat.
There are several versions of giant centipedes from addition to
addition of D and D, and I'll be using the
ones found in the basic rules. These creatures measure a
foot long, have an armor class of eleven, and their bite,
while it does no damage, is poisonous. The poison is
not deadly, but instead causes serious illness on a filled
saving throw. Let's begin round one initiative. The giant centipedes
a one, the Party a six. Well that is decisive.
When Durani disturbs the giant centipede's nest, the insect's first
instinct is to scatter before turning around to attack. Duranni
needs an eleven to hit with his borrowed dagger. His
roll at eighteen. Well done. To Rennie. Damage will be
four points. He cuts one of the ugly creatures in half.
Achillie is up next. She also needs an eleven. A
six will not do it. Her initial revulsion is so
strong she cannot bring herself to get in close. I'm
sure Court will have no problem with that. As his
axe comes down, he too needs an eleven or better
on a D twenty to score a hit. A fourteen
on the die is good enough. His axe will do
one to six points of damage. The roll a two
not a great role, but it is enough to squash
this bug into paste. It's the last remaining Centi beats
turned to attack, but in light of the party's initial success,
I'm rolling a morale check to see if it will flee.
Giant Centi beats have a fairly low morale score, only
a seven. Any roll of that amount or greater on
two six indicates flight. The role snake eyes. I think
this nest must contain eggs or young and so the
last centipede will fight to the death. I'll determine his
target at random. It's de Renni, and since he's not
only unarmored but naked from the waist up, the insect
only needs a ten to hit him. The roll a five.
Deurnni manages to kick it against the wall, where it
rise and twists. Yeah, it's round two initiative. The giant
centipede a six, the party a one. That's an interesting
reversal of fortune. The pieces thought that kick had killed
the insect until it came a rippling bag with uncanny speed.
Its target will once again be determined by a random roll.
It's poor de Renni again, payback for the kick. Maybe Anyway,
a ten is needed to hit, and this time it
does with a seventeen. The awful thing climbs right up
the ELF's leg and then he feels it bite him
below the knee.
Speaker 6: Ah.
Speaker 2: Now Dorni has to make a saving throw versus poison.
At first level, the elf needs droll a twelve or
or better. Here goes a sixteen. He makes the save
and brushes off the centipede before the venom is injected.
Now it's the PC's turn. Duretti will make his attack.
The fourteen hits and damage will be two points. The
ELF's boot comes down hard right on top of the
centipede and flattens it into a glooey pancake. With that
combat is over and looking at my runtime, so is
this episode. Thanks so much for listening to Tale of
the Mandicor if you're enjoying the show and would like
to help to support it, there are lots of ways
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and finally, you can rate or review the show on
your podcastry of choice. I'm grateful for all of your
kind support. I enjoy sharing a listener view at the
end of each episode. This one was left by jag
vett Intovad jag sky Hetta. Jag vet Intovad jagsket Heta writes,
just so good. I'm guessing why Swedish is lacking and
I hope I didn't butcher that too badly. When I
promised much pain in the days ahead, I wasn't referring
to my pronunciation, but there you go. At any rate,
Thanks very much for that short but sweet review. Much appreciated,
jag Vet. Anyway, I have two voice actors on the
show today, Kyle on his back playing the rescued elf Dereni.
Also returning is Andrew Flinging in the role of Achille's
father and mentor, aldve Muak. As always, these two nailed
their parts and I'm truly grateful. Thanks guys. 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 a Tale of
Themantcore dot blogspot dot com. To get in touch with me,
I'm at Manticore, Tale on X, Tale of the Manticor
podcast on Instagram, or Tale of Themanticor at gmail dot com.
I'd love to hear from you. The adventure will continue
on the next episode of Tale of the Manticor. The
story will chaos rolls