Neffia the Small pt 5 (Conclusion)

Neffia the Small

 

Body: 2
Mind: 1
Soul: 1

HP: 4

 

Cliché’s: Quiet as a mouse, Tougher than she looks, No lock she can’t pick.

 

Continued from: Cursing, she moves down the hall to the next room.  If that room was locked, it might be the room she was looking for.  People didn’t lock rooms that didn’t contain valuables.  Hopefully there’s another way in…

 

Neffia is at a door that should open into a room adjacent to the one she would like to enter.  There is a chance that it leads elsewhere, however.  First things first… is this door locked?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (3) (No)

 

Well, alright! The knob twists and she pushes the door softly open.  Is there light in here?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No, but)

 

There’s no candles or oil lamps, but there is a very small window that lets in a good deal of bluish moonlight.  I wonder, is she in a room adjacent to her target room?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (6) (Yes, and)

 

I think with this roll, this is actually the target room itself.  It’s a long, wide room with four doors, two at either end.  So now Neffia is right where she wants to be.  This room is a kind of receiving room/trophy room.  The heads of defeated animals and even some monstrous creatures are mounted on the wall between portraits and landscape paintings. Some of the portraits show a young knight in armor.  Perhaps it is Sir Gillinton.

 

A large hearth dominates the north wall, with a bear rug in front of it along with several thick-legged and thick-cushioned chairs.

 

Are there any people in here?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No, but)

 

There are no people here now, but there’s a lingering smell of tobacco in the air.  Someone was here not too long ago.  It’s good quality tobacco, so it was probably the master of the house.

 

Does Neffia see the medallion she seeks?  A trophy room seems like an appropriate spot.

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No, but)

 

Well, it’s not in plain view, but there’s a small chest on the mantle over the hearth.  Is it unlocked?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No, but)

 

It opens easily, but it is empty.  Perhaps it has a false bottom.  Does it? 

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (6) (Yes, and)

 

A rattle of chain when she tips the chest.  Aha!  She digs inside with her fingernails until she find the lip of the false bottom.  Lifting it up, she sees her prize: Hustan the Brave’s silver medallion is finally hers!  She realizes it’s time to leave – with her lockpicks bent, her chance of getting caught is now higher than her chance of finding more valuables.  She looks up at the window.  Can she get to it?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No, but)

 

It’s too high, and barred besides.  She’d be wisest to retrace her steps and hope that nobody catches her.  Does anybody cross her path as she heads all the way back to the start? 

 

Applicable clichés?: Quiet as a Mouse

 

2d6=1 is the best result (No, and)

She glides her way back through the estate like a shadow.  Mounting the trunk she had slid into place to facilitate her escape earlier, she squeezes through the bars and slips out the same window she came through, disappearing into the night with the medallion clutched in her little hand.

Addendum to Mail of the Manticore

 

Listening back, I realize that I didn’t fully answer all the questions that I selected on this latest bonus material.  Maybe that’s not such a bad thing – I wanted to keep the episode fairly brief – but now the completionist in me demands justice.  Here’s what I neglected to include:

On contributing a voice: this answer was more or less complete, though I wanted to clarify what I meant by a potential contributor having the ‘right accent’.  By ‘right’, I just meant ‘consistent with other characters from that part of the world’.  Dwarves tend to have North American Accents, as do Zaceans and Camortinians who live in the country.  Upper class Camortinians and those who live in the capitol city of Cylmorril have British accents.  Some Kamranthians have a Spanish accent, Sachoriis have a bit of French.  Everyone from Koth has an Australian accent.  The goal here is just to maximize verisimilitude and not ‘take people out’ of the story wherever it could be helped.  There are exceptions to this ‘rule’ – but they all occurred because I didn’t have a wide enough selection of talent to organize things perfectly.

On Dwarven Culture: Oops, I completely forgot to talk about anything other than names here.  I did take some inspiration from the political climate in North America (at the time of writing) but TOTM is not an allegory.   I just wanted competing factions, with some dwarves being conservative isolationists and others being liberal free-traders.  I realized early on that the cliché of dwarves living up in mountains, completely cut off from the outside would be very tough to make realistic if trading with outsiders was avoided (where would they get wood, barley, etc ?) and so I came up with the idea of hill dwarves providing a supply of agricultural products.  That also introduced dwarves to Burke, and eventually to the main story.  A great deal of what happens in game is just a logical consequence of some solution-to-a-problem.  As for all the rest, most of it is just made up on the spot.  I try to stay true to classic fantasy tropes while not being cartoonish.  Whenever things feel too simple, I try to add some dirt, some ugliness, or some weirdness.

On parts of the process that are ‘work’ & that I don’t enjoy so much:  Well, most of it is fun.  Editing voice is just work, however.  I ‘scrub’ my audio to delete empty air, fix whistling S’s & plosive P’s.  I trim down silences to keep things moving.  Doing it as I go makes it feel less onerous, but, yeah, this part isn’t super fun.  The only other part that isn’t always fun is that soliciting ads and even voices can sometimes be difficult. Often I’m left waiting for a file for weeks – sometimes as much as a month – before I receive it.  This causes problems with meeting my own ‘release every 10 days’ goal, and forces me to be much further ahead in the game than the published episodes.  Usually I keep a 6-8 episode buffer for this reason.  That way, while I’m waiting for folks to send me their files, I can still be working and tinkering on other episodes.  For those ad partners and voice actors that are quick with a turnaround (some can do it in just a week or two), I hope you know how grateful I am!

OK, I think I'm satisfied with those additions to the mailbag answers.  Thanks so much for your questions; thanks for listening & for supporting the show.  If there are any questions that I didn't answer, just shoot me an email at taleofthemanticore@gmail.com, or ask me in the comments right here.

Shownotes for Episode 59

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                  148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Part 1                                       Kyellan – Woden’s Bounty

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com 

Shownotes for Episode 58

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                  148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com

It might be a snowball's chance, but what the hell...

 Hey folks!  Can I ask you a favor?  If you have the time and inclination, I would be very grateful if you could vote for my show to win an ENNIE this year.  My gratitude to those of you who have already done so.  You can vote by clicking here.

Neffia the Small pt 4

Neffia the Small pt 4

 

Continued from: She gets the lock open but bends her best tool in the process.  Damn it!  She won’t have ‘advantage’ on this type of roll anymore until she can get a new set of thieves’ tools.  On the other hand, she has found a shortcut!

 

 

She lifts the lid of the trapdoor and slips into the narrow shaft that it reveals.  There are ladder rungs attached to the shaft’s wall and she descends fifteen feet before reaching a slender tunnel somewhere on the first floor.  It runs in two directions.  Neffia doesn’t really know which to take, so she arbitrarily goes to the right.  The tunnel ends at … not quite a door, but a dead end with a fairly obvious door shaped seem cut into the wall with a handle in the middle.  She listens at the door.

 

Does she hear anything?        

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No)

 

Hearing nothing, she shrugs and twists the handle.  The door opens into a scullery.

 

Is anyone here?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (3) (No, but)

 

The room is empty, but she does see a plate with a half eaten, thick slice of bread and a wedge of white cheese resting on the counter under a row of hanging pans and pots.  Someone will be coming back for that any time, thinks Neffia.  She scans the room for exits.

 

Are there more than one exit?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (4) (Yes, but)

 

There are two exits in the scullery.  Neffia is moving towards the closest one when she hears approaching footsteps.  There’s no choice now, she dashes for the other exit, throws it open and hurries through, pulling it shut behind her.

 

Is this new room lit?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (4) (Yes, but)

 

This room is lit, but only dimly.  A candle, burned down almost to the nub sits in the centre of a table in this room that appears to be a servant’s quarters.  She quickly scans the room.  Is anyone here?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (5) (Yes)

 

That candle had burned down pretty far – it’s possible this person fell asleep.  Is the person asleep?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (6) (Yes, and)

 

There’s a bed in here, and it’s occupied! But Neffia isn’t too worried.  There’s an empty wine bottle beside the bed and the man who occupies it is snoring softly and drooling on his pillow.  Neffia doesn’t even have to try to be quiet as she crosses the room, scanning as she goes for anything of use or value. 

 

Is there anything?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (2) (No)

 

Nothing of interest here save for the door on the opposite side.  The door has no lock.  Neffia briefly considers listening at it, but with the snores of this servant in her other ear, it’s no use. She opens the door a crack and peaks into the hallway beyond.  The hallway is empty and she slips through the door, shutting it softly behind her.  There are several doors in this new hallway.  She approaches the first and this time she does listen at it. 

 

Is there anything to be heard?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (1) (No, and)

 

Neffia is confident there’s nothing alive beyond, asleep or awake.  She pushes on the door.  Is it locked?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (5) (Yes)

 

She’s going to have to pick the lock, but with her bent tool, she loses her advantage.

 

Is she successful?

 

Applicable clichés?: None

 

1d6= (1) (No, and)

 

Damn it! Another tool is ruined and now Neffia will take a -1 if she tries to pick another lock.

 

Cursing, she moves down the hall to the next room.  If that room was locked, it might be the room she was looking for.  People didn’t lock rooms that didn’t contain valuables.  Hopefully there’s another way in…

Shownotes for Episode 57

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                  148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Dramatis                                  RPG SOUNDS “Realization”

Part 2                                       98 Lost Mine https://tabletopaudio.com/

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com