High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #103 | Moving On Up (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

The Shadowsong Pinnacle has been cleared of bad guys but not of it's treasures! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Your mom hates it when you leave six half-full glasses on your nightstand. It's a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country. And it's an even better thing that you can get six IKEA 365 Plus glasses for just $9.99. So go ahead. You can afford to hoard because IKEA is priced for student life. Shop everything you need for back to school at IKEA today. Last time on Aroas, having infiltrated Shadowsong Pinnacle, a secret weapons facility for the Valkyrian Empire and the Windbarren Sky Pirates,

the party escorted the Magitek engineer Mal Emrys down into the lowest sections of the facility and recovered schematics for Project Vanguard, an enormous titan killer construct. After discussing the project and Calus Valkyrian's goals, the party witnessed a programmed illusion of Democles Magrona, a high elf from the city of Gusthaven and rival of Lucius's family, who informed them that the facility had been sabotaged and was soon to be destroyed in a gloating evil villain's monologue. and was soon to be destroyed in a gloating evil villain's monologue.

Racing back up to the surface and locating the Aetherium refinery, the party attempted to fix the damage and save the base as well as themselves. In a desperate battle, at their very limits of their energy and spells, the party fended off weird, bizarre, magical creations, whilst Nova and Moonstar repaired the machines, saving them all from assured destruction. And that is where we kick things off this week.

You are all currently still inside this Ethereum refinery chamber. The poisonous gas, the Ethereum cloud has been vented and you have these long, silent minutes where you just hope that what Nova and Moonstar have done is enough.

But no explosion comes. There appears to be no sign of danger. And you are alone. What would you like to do? And we leveled up. I'm pretty sure it's been five minutes. You did also level up. I'm pretty sure it's been five minutes now.

Which means this should have all exploded. And it hasn't. So I think we actually fixed it. Man, it would really suck if Mark just went and you exploded, the campaign

is over. Like, 4 past 5 on a Sunday, just... 60d10 damage, please. Like Starship. Yeah. Moonstar just looks around after Quill speaks. Yes, judging by the

state of everything, I think we're safe for now. Nova, good job on fixing the other refinery. It was a pretty close call there. Is everybody okay? Owie. You see Mal kind of like coughing and spluttering next to a pillar. I'm fine!

I'll pull Mal to his feet. I've got, like, five... I've got five lay-on-hands points left from levelling up, so I'll give the rest of those over to Mal. No, I'm fine. Please, I'm fine. Your friend here gave me a potion. Nova, are you okay? I'll be fine.

Is everyone okay? There's no lasting effects from the Ethereum poisoning. Lucius, Quill, I think you guys got pretty big doses. You guys still feel ill. You definitely still feel itchy. You feel like inside your blood is almost

it's like on fire and there's an itchiness in your skin you definitely still feel that this is something is still in effect Lucius is like sat on the floor he's gonna just scoot up to one of the wall edges

I'll be fine Nova we'll be fine as long as the this area is safe. Just give us a moment. Quill, what about the prisoners, not prisoners, the freed prisoners, the dwarves and the... Are they okay? They're okay. They're down at the bottom of the elevator. I asked them to wait there just in case we were all...

You know, if we had to run, they should all be down there. I can try and get them back here, or should we head down there? Is there anything in this room we need? Maybe we should leave the big room where explosions might happen. I don't like this room, just saying. There was a sign on the door before that said we shouldn't be in here, and we're still in here. Kind of want to go.

Can I do a check? Can I do a check based on my knowledge with Ethereum and its effects on you know, diagnosing what would happen if we were exposed for this long and inhaling it

see if i can give me a medicine make a medicine check uh that is a 15 15 so being raised in a family that worked in Ethereum and created devices for Ethereum collection and airship parts and things like that. You have not been exposed to it. You don't think to cause any long-term damage. Long-term damage would be being exposed to it multiple times a day over several numbers of years. You definitely have breathed in a heavy dosage of... The gas that was in the room is a kind of waste product from refining Ethereum. It has Ethereum elements to it, but it's almost kind of like a toxin. Very bad, especially for anybody who can use magic.

It tends to make your magic a little bit more powerful, but also harmful to the user. You think that if you give yourself some time maybe an hour maybe try and find a way to flush it out your system um you know drink lots of liquids uh try and you know there is magic that can purge poisons and toxins that would have the same effect on this kind of ethereum in your bloodstream um this ethereum waste in your bloodstream um but you don't think there's going to be any long-term effects no this is like a temporary maybe an hour uh or you can purge the system a lot quicker cool yeah i'll just sit there okay thinking of this stuff but not relaying any of it uh mal will just say uh turn around just did you uh you you mentioned did you already get rid of some of the forces here?

I know that they had some soldiers and guards and the Reverend and all of these individuals. Are they dealt with? They're not going to come up here and try and fight us, are they? Well, if they were trying to blow up the whole island, then they kind of left their men for dead, because

I don't think they'd do that. But yeah, we dealt with a fair few of them. Reverend's dead, definitely. He was an idiot. Not really a big threat. Gonna be honest. Wasn't there one we missed? Was it a Durgar?

Quill, you saw them, right? Oh, down on the boarding area, yeah. I Oh, down on the boarding area, yeah. I mean, again, the message would have gotten out that this place was going to blow. They probably escaped or, I mean, if they're still here, then

I mean, we should probably go down, meet the other guys, make sure this area's clear. Yeah, I'm happy to have a little scout around, you know. Figure out what to do with this place as well I was gonna say Quill maybe it's worth us utilizing the fact that we've

taken over from this base we saw weapons from the reverend down there things like that we could take custody of it all we should get get people from Gusthaven here to secure it, surely. Can we get people from Gusthaven to guard the place?

Maybe we should go back first. I know that the actual interior of the pinnacle, it may not be in effect anymore, but when Democles was here, they did set up very specific wards to protect, to prevent people from being able to teleport inside without using any of the specific circles that they were already

using. I'm assuming that's how you all got here. You must have used one of these set-in-place circles or systems? We did. We should probably try and figure out a way to place a new one,

disable the current one as well, so they can't just charge in whenever they want. They know how to get here. We might want to change that. Make it our own. Take away the front door. You can dispel a permanent teleport circle you can try and dispel it

it is difficult to do you can like scuff the runes and kind of disable it but doing so means that there wouldn't be a permanent teleport circle here anymore so it means that it would be difficult to return to I'm not sure

we need people here to take things away and this would be our only port of call unless we used airships which could take a long time I just mean getting someone here who can also create their own teleportation circle

one they can eventually make more permanent it takes a year. They know the way here. That needs to be cast every single day for a year for it to be permanent. Well, yes, but again, I'm just wary of them knowing the way into the secret facility that we've now taken control of,

that they know we've taken control of. They don't know it's not blown up yet. Maybe we could fool them into thinking that has happened. So, what's the plan? Now, good question. Despite everything being

sabotaged, you obviously have the knowledge in your head could this facility be used to make another colossus well don't give me too much credit nova i was only a part of project vanguard i i have a knowledge of creating golems but there was a lot of systems in place for example i i have no idea how the control node system was created. I have a structural knowledge. I knew how to build a structure of that size, a creature of that size, but many of the other systems, I couldn't replicate it myself. Maybe if there were other engineers who had similar skill levels or backgrounds. We could maybe try and recreate the work, but it would take some time.

We've been working on this project almost nonstop for months, every day forced, given whatever supplies, whatever research materials we needed. This was a very desperate piece of research and development. It's possible, but I can't make any promises. I can definitely loan what knowledge I have. I'll tell whoever you need me to tell. I would appreciate it if perhaps you could vouch that I'm willing to help,

that I'm not an enemy. But sure, yeah, I'll do what I can. Okay, I think we probably should get reinforcements from Gustaven. And honestly, I think we should just hand this over to the prince and how to use it. I think it could be good to, you know, search for remaining information the question i have is there's a we saw that there was a room full of weaponry right before the reverence

do we do or do we want to give that over to kingdom Do we want to give that over to kingdom? Did you get most of that? You're very far away in the room, Nova. She knows. The main thing, yeah, I think you guys got the main sort of gist of that message is, you know, do you guys want to go and check out this armory that you passed by earlier?

Or do you want to just try and get out this armory that you passed by earlier, or do you want to just try and get back to Gusthaven as quick as possible? Do you want to give the place a once-over? This is a big facility, so you could check out a specific room fairly quickly. If you want to search this place top to bottom, it's going to

probably take about a day to, like, just go around every, or at least like a good sort of like 10 12 hours to just really explore the whole place and check out everything and root through everything still here i think i think we should get people from gust haven here so that we can what is happening so Just so sudden. What, my sneeze? Yeah.

It's a sneeze. It's like the can on. Sneezes come out of nowhere, you dingus. What do you think? It's a sneeze. Carry on. It's not like I'm like, hold on, in five minutes, I will be sneezing, Christian.

I'll just see you're all done. No, it wasn't like, usually you can tell if someone's about to sneeze though, because you can see it in their face. But you just went, just no smile. It's just like, it's cool. It's cool. It's like just keeping it and then you just

sneeze, you straight back in. Come on. Be professionals here. We've got Kim. Kim's a fucking picture right now. Trot's losing it when you sneeze in Come on Get it together I believe

Nova's right We should potentially get reinforcements So that we can Get assistance looking through this entire facility Utilizing it Confiscating things And learning About what the plans are here.

I trust the Sky Prince and those around him. Maybe we should send a message. I mean, in terms of... Yeah, I mean, I'm totally tapped out. We can just use the teleportation circle to get back. We know how to get back to Gusthaven. As a point, though, remember that to use the teleportation circle to get back. We know how to get back to Gusthaven. As a point, though, remember that to use the teleportation circle, you either need a spell slot or a scroll to do it.

I got it. Can we use the permanent one that's in the spell? The permanent one is just a... It's like a receipt. To activate the teleport, you need the spell or the scroll. It's not like a permanent gateway. It's not like a teleport system. The circle is just like an

anchor point. It's like setting a waypoint that you can then cast a spell to go to. So you don't need to be on a teleport circle to go to a teleport circle. You could be anywhere in the world, but you know the number of the circle you're dialing to. Okay.

I guess the benefit of a permanent one is no material component, right? No, you still need material component. The point of a permanent one is... I'm trying to get you to understand this, right? We keep having this conversation about teleportation. I know. When you cast the spell,

you create a circle of runes that then becomes a point, that you're like i can go a permanent one is like saying this is a way point that you can teleport to at any time when you use this spell right okay and that's why teleport circle is a lower level spell than teleport teleport is just i go wherever i want and then you teleport um teleport circle you create a permanent one so you have like an anchored point of like we're going to this place from here um sick point fast travel point to make right now uh lucius requires a fifth level slot to cast teleportation circle he's got six font of magic sorcery points and guess how much a 5th level spell slot costs? 7!

So we can't actually go there right now. Well, does Lucius have any 1st or 2nd level spell slots? Oh, that's true. I could just take time. Yeah, I could take time to get a spell slot. Yeah, I've got a lot.

And then you get 7 points to get a fifth level slot back. I'm going to do that. I'm going to spend the next six seconds doing that, and then another six seconds getting my fifth slot ready. I think I'm ready to cast it whenever you need. Okay.

Okay. Perfect. And we made sure we bought the materials we needed, so we are good to go. Let's just grab everyone we can. Most of them are downstairs. And I guess head back. I mean, again,

we could go to the armory. There might be something in the armory. The armory. Yes, but if we come across anyone else, if we come across anyone else, Quill, are you and Lucius really in the state to be able to deal with that? No, I'll be honest, I'm not.

We should just go back, get some forces, and back up and come straight back. There's a lot to do here. We're not going to manage to do it and have the stamina left. We're pretty tap-tap. As long as we're quick and we, yeah, we send people to fortify this place,

then I think we'll be okay. Yeah, let's get this place in the right hands. Yeah. Okay. Well, you guys make your way down, down to the ground floor of this tower uh in which in the corridor leading to this kind of like magical elevator thing that you've been using to go up and down this tower uh you do see a kind of ragtag group of dwarves uh savonan dwarves um all kind of

waiting for you as well as an ember elf a arakokra and a borifolk woman as well all appear to be waiting for you these are the prisoners that you rescued from earlier Orgrin kind of is like well, is everything alright? yes, yes, sorry for rushing you earlier it was kind of against time but we've solved it, this place is

fine and definitely not going to explode. Well, I figured that we're not dead, so you must have done something right. What's next? We head back to Gasthaven and the Sky Prince. Back up. To safety. That sounds perfect.

Where are you going to get out of here for sure? It would be extremely valuable if we could just, whilst you're in Gusthaven, plead your cases. Any evidence that you have to assist us

would be much appreciated. A debrief of sorts. Yes, of course. Yes, of course. We'd be more than happy to. And Vedolin, the Ember Elf, it's just... Yes, of course. After what we have witnessed here, I think it would be most irresponsible for us to not provide a recollection of the events that took place,

especially the horrors and the clear... the clear evil intent of that creature that has imprisoned us. I think it is very vital that we share this information. Question. So when Quill and I were on the bottom level of this tower before, there was a way off to the left and right, and Sentry and Nova went one way and we went the other way. In one of the rooms

down there you said that there was a um magrona crest or something i'm sure you said that there was like a magrona something on the wall oh um yeah it was like in the direction towards maybe like a kitchen or something i don't know but i'm sure i heard that there was a magrona something basically i was wondering if i could take it back with us i don't i'm trying to think because i don't think i've got anything like that in my notes because the only when when you guys were kind of exploring um you've seen the barracks you've seen the armory the mind flayer area wouldn't have had anything like that in it. The tower itself wouldn't have had anything like that in it.

There's definitely been references to the Magronas. We'll say that like, for sure, I mean, you've all witnessed the projected illusion. Mal Emrys can literally testify that Magrona was here, like he was leading this kind of thing. All of the prisoners can all testify to that as well. So there's no crest or anything, but there's definitely sufficient

witness evidence here that if you wanted to say, listen, this guy's working with Calus and his bad news, there's definitely going to be... Nobody's going to dispute that, I don't think. With the data crystal that we extracted, the hologram, is there any, like, signatures of Magruna in that? There's no signatures. There probably is references to Democles in that, in some of the, like,

additional kind of information that, like, his work on ethereum has been vital i think that there even does actually specify in the files that his work on um democles mcgroner's work on ethereum was vital to the project so there's definitely like references to him in that as well it's got a big engraving on the back says big d mcgroner on the back of the yeah what about his holographic message is that in the files no that appeared in the middle of the room that just appeared in the middle of the room and then just vanished also welcome back in

hi so yeah you guys have got the prisoners I mean are you guys going to go check out the armory or you just want to go straight down to the docks and find the teleportation circle room is that the plan? I believe so. I think we're going straight down, aren't we?

Yeah. Okay. You guys make your way back through the open courtyard. The weather is still pretty bad. There is still a strong blizzard going on. You kind of huddle everybody together and make your way to the south side of the courtyard where there's another one of these kind of like service lifts

attached to these thick chains that once you step in the elevator kind of makes its way down creaking and rocking as it lowers itself down further. There are two floors. There is the docks level but there is also a floor below that that you guys didn't go to.

I'm assuming you're going straight to the docks. This guy. below that that you guys didn't go to I'm assuming you're going straight to the docks this guy just asking for clarification there's a really cool box you haven't opened yet there might be some cool new smelling stuff I'm going to assume you guys go straight to the docks because that is what you said you wanted to do unless you want to tell me otherwise

as we were making our way back these doors that we open with the key stones um they close behind right for security purposes it's actually interesting when you guys start making your way out those keystones don't they the doors are just open you don't need the stones to open the doors anymore question Question. Do we see any... Obviously this depends on our path back, but do we see any of the guards that we knocked out on our way in here? Do we see any of them around?

You would not see them. The ones we tied up underneath the balcony? So the ones... They're all gone. They're gone. There was an escape protocol. Something like that.

Evacuation. My one concern is the place can be ransacked now by anyone we invite here. I was hoping that we could at least be like, we've got the pass to the special places, but it turns out it's just open for business everywhere. Yeah, it seems that a lot of the magic that was kind of powering a lot of these defensive wards is just gone. It's no longer functioning.

When you guys get down to the docks level, go on, Century. I'll say, is there, you know, the crate that we like peered into earlier with the like the arm inside is there a way i can like grab that or like how how big is it is it like grabbable it's it's it's big it's you know you're kind of talking like the length of an entire kind of like big cart and it's you know this is like of a creature that would be huge like this is you know this arm is probably like nearly five feet long, and it's, you know, this is like of a creature that would be huge. Like this is, you know, this arm's probably like nearly five feet long.

You know, it's really thick, kind of made of all different materials. Yeah, it's a little bit too big to really carry. Also, you only made like a small hole, so there's not really enough space to reach in and pull it out. That's all right. You do notice as well, actually as well actually looking at that crate most of those crates are still there some of them are missing

some of the ones that you guys had seen out in the courtyard have gone I'll relay that back to the guys not all of them, there's still a bunch of them with weapons and these parts and stuff in them but maybe like two or three have been taken they knew they were going to blow this place

and they took what they could in a short space of time I think we should maybe look at stuff before the people go and look at everything I mean if we were to take a quick break I'd be back up

you know I can, my magic would be back and all of that but unless we want to just a quick break, I'd be back up. You know, I can... My magic would be back and all of that, but unless we want to just keep going, I'm happy to keep going. It's more the armory and... It's more Lucius and Quill that I'm worried about. Well, maybe we split up. Maybe some of us take the prisoners back

and then some of us stay back here. Yeah, get reinforcements. That could work. At least while we're here, no one else can ransack. I love it. Let's not split the party. Let's not do that. We'll spline.

I will say that you guys are at the lift before you head down to the docks. Let's just... We've been to the area with the Reverend. Where all those tools and equipment were. Is it worth us scanning that before we head back? Sure. Why not?

The whole floor we haven't been in, and let's go left instead of right, to the other place, and... We could go back and talk to that brain in the jar. Aayla called granodes, do you remember? Granodes? Like those... Granolas? Granolas?

The metal spheres, the explosive spheres. I'm not hungry, I don't need any more. I can't remember what they're called. To the armory. You guys pop back into the barracks I can't remember what they're called. To the armory. You can grab a couple of those. You guys pop back into the barracks. You head down to the lower section where you'd fought the reverend, this kind of gunsmith. And yeah, you find one of these doors.

It no longer requires the keystone to open. Inside, it's not large. It is kind of similar to what a guard's barracks, you know, armory would have. Uh, there are several kind of crates and, uh, more like storage containers, like metal kind of storage containers, armoires, things like that. There is, there are enough weapons and armor here to outfit probably a, you know, three, two or three airship crews. Um, along with the kind of crates that you'd seen up above.

There are a few more kind of like Magitek rifles, Thunderstone, Red Pinery and things like that. There's a couple of cases of these metal spheres. They've got about six each. So there's about 12 of those metal spheres. The rest of it all appears to be

very well-crafted Magitek weapons and armor. So it's not like all plus one armor or plus one weapons or anything like that we're talking kind of like a basic force rifle and then a suit of kind of body body uh tight um kind of lamellate plate so it kind of functions the same way as like some medium armor is like a breastplate um but it's just lighter can be worn by um untrained individual i like like airship crews not untrained individuals but like it can be worn by the airship crews for sure um and there's about two or three sets um the other thing is is when you guys were making your way down um there's probably enough raw materials um that you won't know exactly how much but based on like the crates you saw up above there will definitely be some amount of value to the the

contents of this base there will be a gold value to like all the resources and materials that haven't been taken um if you do take things like the weapons and armor obviously and you want to give them to your airship crew that will reduce the approximate value of like you know for example the sky prince might say hey we'd like to keep all this stuff here have this money in exchange for it um there is value to this equipment we're going on dangerous missions right and i feel like it's in the best interest of a row we were getting armor for them anyway. So...

Well, you've actually already paid for armor for them. We could sell the armor anyway. These are magic. Magitek. As a point, yeah, these are not enchanted weapons. This is not the same thing as having, you know, plus one weapons or anything like that. This is a force rifle.

You've seen Valkyrian soldiers use these before. Fires like a concentrated beam of magic. They have long ranges. They do require training. So your crew will need to train to use them and learn to use them well until they gain proficiency. They won't be as good with them as they would be with normal bows and crossbows and things like that.

But they have the benefit of that they do deal force damage rather than normal damage so against creatures that are immune to like normal mundane weapons these rifles would still have an effect uh they have very long range as well so the crew could actually fire them from the airship at further targets away and the armor is better than any armor they could wear basically it's it's it's one point of ac higher than they would normally is better than any armor they could wear basically it's it's it's one point of AC higher than they would normally get from the best armor they could wear which is um breastplate it'll give all of the crew an AC

of 15 so I'd be doing the wolf pack a disservice by not offering this to them I think this would be advantageous for for sure. After the amount of danger we keep putting them in, yeah, we kind of owe them

a duty to their care. Not to mention, we are almost always on the forefront of what is happening with the Roas right now, as are our crew. So, I'm sure Prince Aradan would understand, and we could offer

as compensation the armor that we have commissioned in its place at least as something I've already written it down water master it's written down in the inventory of the ship I'm taking a few of these explosive spheres

and you just see Moonstar like loading up some of these explosives into her bags. Oh those! Fair enough. I thought you meant never mind. Should we take some? Well here's the thing you have like a

crew of 14 with all of your officers how are you going to carry 14 suits of armor and 14 rifles my dudes? I wasn't talking about that I was just going to take some of your officers. How are you going to carry 14 suits of armor and 14 rifles, my dudes? Well, I wasn't talking about that. I was just going to take some of the explosives. Is there a cart in the courtyard?

There is a cart. You won't be able to take the cart through the teleportation circle. It's not big enough. It's only a five foot. No, it's actually a ten foot circle. At least pull it up to the teleportation circle then we can just like ferry it through i guess you can certainly try yeah yeah you can also there's six of us including moonstar and the airship crew well i'll just get them to carry some stuff yeah not for you that's

for us it could be depends what you want to do i think augurin if you bring him down he will like because at the moment they're waiting out upstairs they've not come down with you they're kind of you know patiently being politely waiting for you to do your business um if you go up there and say hey you know we've got a job for you yeah augurin's gonna want to talk about it he's not just gonna do it for nothing uh we want you to carry this thing about a hundred feet max right it would be sure would be useful if uh me and the crew could arm ourselves with some of this stuff as well oh absolutely that's enough to go around. All right. How about that for compensation?

Sure. He's like, all right, well, give us a second. And him and his crew, because he's got a crew of about 10. There's probably actually only about seven of them left, actually. But yeah, they'll start like pulling on some of these like laminate plate suits. And you kind of see that although it's made of leather and this kind of black material, this this kind of almost plate like material when you look at them they look like

they're sized for humanoids like you know like humans and elves like taller you know standards like body-sized individuals they look kind of like really fit to form as the dwarves put them the leather stretches it almost seems to like expand and then when it settles you hear like a faint kind of like and it kind of like you know pulls in and it gives them this really tight fitted you know militaristic armored look basically to them and they kind of stretch around

you can see that they've got good range of movement he kind of is just like alright yeah that's pretty good Mr. Dagus would be very happy to know that you've let us take some of this stuff. And then they start pulling out the rifles

like, hmm. One of them's waving it around like, I don't know, boss. How do I... Be very careful with it. Very dangerous. One caveat to this seal. A lot of explosives. Glanodals, I think careful with it. Very dangerous. There are a lot of explosives. One caveat to this deal. A lot of explosives.

Glanodals, I think they were called. But one caveat to this deal. We have a set of armor. You have a set of armor. A fully armored crew. Maybe we could form some kind of allegiance between our airship and yours. Oh, I certainly think so.

I think that... Well, you mentioned that you're friends with Mr. Dagus's, right? Absolutely. Well, then, yeah, of course we're allies. I mean, if you're friends of Mr. Dagus's, consider us friends, too. I owe Arvel a lot, and now I owe all of you a lot, too.

So if there's any business you need doing, and if it's in Mr. Dagus's interest, by all means, we're happy to help. I nod. Proud. Like a proud father at Quill for that trade deal. All right. Well, let's get the rest of your gear. Some of that stuff those crates upstairs they're way too heavy for me and my crew um i don't think we're going

to be able to move that stuff but this stuff sure we can take these weapons and armor and some of these uh crates and things like that but all that big heavy stuff upstairs there's no way we can move that no problem and we have guardian and nailer all right all right i feel a bit better we've got weapons we've got armor how much how much can i put in the haversack actually um how much i would say because there's about three sets of all this armor the rifles will go in the haversack because the haversack is limited in its shape the rifles are perfect because they can just go in the top and they fit in perfectly how many suits of armor are harder to transport. Well, I'm going to assume

that if Orgrin's team, if Dallas's team, sorry, is taking a set, basically they'll take seven. You guys can carry the rest for your crew with Moonstar and Mal as well. You guys can carry enough for your crew. So there's basically

another crew's worth. There's about ten of these rifles that you can put in. I'll add those to my bag then. Sure. And then there's ten suits of armor. Usable? Nope. No way. I need a high

spell slot too. Such a good purchase. Hey, I use my spell slots healing and then dying a lot yeah and just as a point having a high strength does not allow you to carry an infinite number of items because you're restricted by what you can physically carry. Like, you can't carry ten suits of armor like dinner plates. You can't just walk around like... You know, it's not video game inventory logic. So I put VegTech right in my bag.

What else? Has made no effort to help. There's not really anything else that you can really put in the bag, unfortunately, at this point, Ayla. Like, the rifles will be... The armor's too bulky to put in the bag unfortunately at this point like the rifles will be the armor's too bulky to fit in the bag um the the dwarf crew can carry the rest of the armor and the explosive spheres there's really not much else for you need that you need to carry um are we ready let's make our move to the teleportation circle. Sure. You guys make your way to the loading lift

and make your way back down to the docks. When you arrive, there is a moment of trepidation remembering that there were guards and things in here. As the doors open, you see no sign of anybody. There's no sign of life. You hear no sounds, no voices. The magical constructs that were kind of these crossbow ballista that were scanning the room seemed to be defunct no longer active uh there is one airship

you had seen that there was like a couple of different airships kind of attached to this dock in the past um two of them are missing and one of them remains. That's it. It appears that's how they might have made their escape. Should we check it out in case there's anybody hiding in there? Well, that's man. Dallas kind of nods.

He's just like, yep. Thank goodness. It might be still worth investigating I certainly think so I don't want any of these pirates hiding on my ship it could also be compromised on purpose you fire boy and you see Mal

he's like you know what kind of weapons they were building around here right you? You can come and check and make sure they've not put any of your bombs on my boat. Mal kind of looks at the, you guys, the party, desperately like, do I have to do that? Like, do you have to do that?

Yeah. Yes, I can help with that. Yeah, I can help with that a little bit. Sure. I imagine that if they've taken the other ships, I don't imagine that they would have left anyone behind. If they...

Sabotaging the refinery, there would have been nothing left of this place. I don't think they would have left anybody behind. That would have been suicide. Still, for the peace of mind of the captain here, would you mind? We'll be waiting.'ll be yes yes of course yes uh and uh you see dallas uh kind of not not so subtly kind of nudges him forward uh and he kind of leads mal over towards the ship uh you kind of see him like rub his hands he's just like oh my baby my sweet honey and he like touches the hull he's just like oh daddy missed

you and he's like kind of patting the side of it um and yeah they lead the crew in you wait for maybe sort of a good sort of like 30 minutes if you're waiting like as they check the ship out you know deck to deck uh and then uh dallas appears at the front. He's just like, everything looks good. No signs of any bombs or magic or anything like that. Everything looks fine. She even looks like she can fly. So if y'all need to head back to Gustaven, we could actually take the ship back

or we can come with you. What do you want us to do? Well, ideally you would come with us. I know how happy you are to see your ship again, but we need you to recount what happened here to the sky prince sure can i leave my crew here i'll come with you i'll give uh i'll give my little speech and my testimony but how about i leave my people here just to keep an eye on the boat and then if need be they can get away now that we know that

it's operational they know how to fly or so. Sure. They'll be useful when we send people in anyway. They can guide people through the place. Sounds good. He looks over Vedlin, Arena, Squawk, you okay to go with these folks too? And the three other

prisoners who seem to be the only survivors of another crew just kind of nod their heads. Hi! Head back to Gustaven and I'll report on these bastards. Perfect. Amazing. Dallas returns

and this time he's carrying something he didn't have before. You can see he's replaced his hat with a much cleaner fresher big stetson hat um and he has like a kind of like a third mantle cape that he's wearing as well that it looks like maybe he pulled from his own quarters and he's also carrying a sword like a cutlass uh saber sword in his uh that's sheathed in his hands uh and when he comes he's just like well I know you've got your spell but before we do and he offers it to Lucius

I mentioned that there was a little something for saving me and my crew's life and from one captain to another I'd like you to take this I'd be honoured thank you I haven't written it up in D&D Beyond yet because I had a very dramatic

morning but this is he explains this is this is it's called the Captain's Command it's a magic sword and it should prove useful in what you wish to do oh you're very kind

like I said you saved us and uh one captain to another he just kind of gives you a proper nod like a kind of like respectful kind of little tip of the hat that means a lot thank you captain

captain he just gives you that kind of captain to captain solemn nod of respect and authority uh well let's let's head back to the sky city and let's that kind of captain-to-captain solemn nod of respect and authority. Well, let's head back to the Sky City and let's make sure we sort these bastards out. Nice. Well said. Let's do it.

All right. Lucius, you lead them back into the teleportation circle chamber that you arrived in. And you have an option. Where are you going? His posture is like sticking out, his shoulders are back, he strides forth

now, being called a captain by another captain and yeah, he casts the spell back to Gustaven. So you're sending it back to the city. Is this a Lucius walk or is this this even more than when we first met you? It's like cat walk, Lucius walk.

Right, okay. Nice. Very nice. Very, very nice. Yeah, it's the place where I had that conversation about seeing the runes' colors with the person. Yes, so that's the main city's teleportation circle yeah yeah so you watch lucius as you begin cast the magic once again all of

these runes all shimmering in different colors to you it's less the runes themselves but more matching the precise hue the precise uh tone of these individual colors kind of creating this uh iridescent rainbow effect on the ground and the rest of you watch as colors kind of creating this uh iridescent rainbow effect on the ground and the rest of you watch as he kind of draws and sculpts these brightly colored runes um in a patterned circle area uh and in a flash a large uh shimmering portal opens in front of you and you have about 12 seconds to get everybody through it so i'm assuming there is a go go go like everyone kind of bundling through um yes you've got three one two three four five yeah uh when you arrive you emerge you feel that kind of sudden disjointness your body being pulled somewhere that you didn't expect it to go like your feet dropping out from

under you suddenly and then sudden arrival where you want to be um and you hear the bustling sound of a city you can feel a pleasant warm breeze you see blue skies and white stoned buildings all around you and then you do hear a kind of sudden like uh call for alarm as a number of gust havenven guards are kind of like, they immediately kind of pull long spears and bows and arrows and things like that in the direction of the portal as it suddenly flares to life. And all of these armed individuals come bundling out. Luckily, the magister that you spoke to before holds up a hand like,

wait, wait, wait. They are approved. They are approved. Master Elinesto, can I please request request if you are returning to gustaven please try and send word that you are coming if possible apologies uh the place we came from uh made that near impossible however we have urgent news for the sky prince eridan um can we have an audience with him at once, please? Yes, I will. We will send a guard to speak with him and inform him of your return immediately. You're more than willing

you are more than happy to wait here. We have some barracks and waiting rooms if you prefer. For all of these as well? Yes. There is quite a few of you. Yes, we should be able to. One, two, three, four, four extra. Yes, we should be able to accommodate that, Master. Not a problem. not a problem um please come this way magister kind of gestures to the side and you guys are

pulled into a kind of very nice waiting room you know plush seats bowls of fruit and some kind of big glass carafts of water and things like that left out uh as uh somebody is sent off you hear him go out and he speaks to a young woman is He's just like, please go and inform the Sky Prince that Master El Anasto has returned from some sort of mission or objective he was sent on. It seems quite urgent. And yes, of course, Magister. She runs off. You guys wait for maybe sort of 15 minutes and then rushing back, the young woman, all sweat, kind of hair all over the place.

Marcelo Nesto, the Sky Prince would like to speak with you immediately. He said to come and inform you as quickly as possible. I have a palanquin waiting for, we have transportation waiting for you just outside the gate to take you immediately to the palace.

Is there enough palanquins for all of us back here? Yes, yes. I was informed of the numbers, yes. Excellent, thank you so much. Here, have a glass of water. Thank you. She kind of downs it, and then, Please, follow me. She leads you all outside,

where a number of ever so slightly hovering palaquins pulled by semi-ethereal steeds, phantom steeds, appear to be waiting. Each palaquin can seat four people and so you are kind of loaded up into two or three of these things

with your guests as well, your rescues, and you hedge your way towards the Palace of Gusthaven, which I know has a name, Galecrown, the kind of main palace of the Sky City. On arrival, you see guards kind of ready and waiting. You are led inside into the main audience chamber, which is a kind of, not a grand hall as such but it does feature a large throne uh made of this kind of semi-clear

crystal glass uh upon which is sat sky prince aranand this very handsome but still quite young high elf um dark hair uh big blue eyes very much like lucius's where it's the whole eye there are no kind of like white parts or irises just pure blue color um his owl malachi is sat on the back of the throne uh kind of looking around eagerly uh and yeah he appears to be waiting for you there are a few other magisters assembled um not anybody that you recognize they seem to be just members of his court or perhaps guard lucius the rest of you i'm so glad that you've come back how did what's happened please tell me everything sky prince um nova perhaps it's best you show the data crystal? So just a little precursor to that,

we went to investigate the secret facility that Democles is involved in. We discovered an entire facility for the creation of magitek weaponry and armour, definitely to service Starbane's fleet, but that was perhaps not the worst thing that we found, and with that I'll activate the data crystal and bring up the data on the Colossus.

This magical illusion projects outwards from your data crystal, and it displays this giant Titan construct. The Magisters all kind of let out a kind of like, by the stars, by the gods, you know, kind of like a source of exasperation, and you just see Aradan kind of... He goes quite pale when he looks at at it he's like i see i cannot believe that democles would be involved in something of this nature but i not that i distrust you my friends but you'd have there is proof that democles is involved in this yes i know that we had our suspicions but you have evidence

everyone here can testify towards it and i gesture towards our rescues and mal um i suggest that you put out an arrest warrant for him as soon as possible and seize his assets he attempted to kill us by destroying the entire facility we deactivated the the means to do so time is precious we we came back through but we suggest that you go and send forces to reinforce and lock down the facility it would be a great asset to the kingdom airship master quill you if i can remember correctly you have memorized the sequence of runes to reach this facility, yes? We have, yeah, we can send people through to reclaim as much as we can. Adelar. He mentions, he motions to a Magister, Adelar, please work with Master

Quill to copy down these runes so that you have a, you are aware of them and we can begin sending troops through to secure this facility. My liege, of course, Master Quill, perhaps we could take a journey to the side and you can explain these rooms to me

absolutely it's like a little side chamber, right? you can still see the party, but there's a large table in the centre with parchment and inks and all that kind of thing, it looks like a documents room and he just asks you to kind of sketch out the rooms and give him the sequence that he needs for this teleportation

circle, it won't take too much time as long as he doesn't Starbane sends his regards me, that's alright and give him the sequence that he needs for this teleportation circle. It won't take too much time. As long as he doesn't Starbane sends his regards me, that's all right. I was literally going to do that. Take a perception check. There is also some more... Yes, Ayla. There are some other people who were... The missing airship crews that were trapped there.

On the other side, there are still some of those crews that we freed from the prison cells. So don't be alarmed if you spot them. But they're trying to keep the place secure until we can get there. There's probably way more evidence that we can find on Democles. But we wanted to get back as soon as possible. I see. At that point,allas will step forward and just say uh your majesty scare prince adalas augren of uh dagus uh dagus trade uh those are

my crew uh i'm happy to head back with you i just on the recommendation of these companions my rescuers uh i'm just here to provide my testimony that this Democles is indeed the man who captured us. He's involved with these pirates, these wind barons. And indeed, we were being used as subjects for experimentation. So please don't be alarmed. And I'm happy to travel back with you. And me and my crew were more than happy to assist. My airship is currently still there as well, the Oryx Spear.

Very well, Master Orgrim, was it? Perhaps he gestures to another guard. Perhaps, Guard Captain Magisters, take these individuals, let us activate the Zone of Truth and make sure we get their testimony. Yes, Nova. Before you go, there is something that is probably still there. We didn't get to check. There's a big brain in the basement in a tube called Xantus,

the three-minded, very powerful being. It will try and charm and control any of your guards. So maybe send, i don't know someone magic-y or just be it's yeah i i fear that we have magisters nova but if if you yourselves are frightened of this creature i feel that there is there's no one here that we could send that is better suited to it than yourselves Okay, here's the thing if you go down down a set of stairs and then you see a corridor That starts turning really slimy and gross and weird don't go down that way leave that and we'll deal with it later

How about that? Just leave that bit Do the motions to another magister that seems seems advisable, Ayla. Yes, thank you. I think it is most important right now. Unmistakable. Real gross. Real gross. We'll secure the area around the teleportation circle where you arrive. We may have to wait to explore this facility further,

but we can at least secure the teleportation circle. I can have one of my own magisters begin to create a new one. They can conjure that once a day, and then we can share out a new set of runes that should be accessible to all of us. Very good. Anything else that I must know? This project, this machine that is being built,

this is beyond my understanding. I can't begin to even comprehend a weapon of this size, but perhaps we have individuals that Moonstar, perhaps yourself and other Magitek experts can help process this information, help deduce it, figure out what it's purpose is. But this weapon was not there. This weapon, is it still at this

facility? It's been shipped out. Do we have any idea where? Very, very, very big cave. Very big cave. Don't know where. We don't know where it's gone. No one confessed to us. We couldn't find any evidence. I have a theory.

Yes, please. Nova, of course. The notes say it was designed with killing Artelicus in mind, so my suggestion would be wherever Starbane wishes to engage

Artelicus, presumably, maybe near the Hall of Infinity, or I'm just guessing that wherever you'd find Artelicus, you'd find this titan killer. Like so many of the gods, Nova, Artelicus is all and everywhere. They are present all across Aroas.

I'm not sure that there is a set location. The holes of infinite resplendence. I'm not sure if that is something I know the location of. What is that? I believe we need to take this to the council meeting. It is happening soon. This was my next point. I believe that all of this is vital information

that must be shared with all of the leaders of Eros. I am but one prince of a small city. I can do my best to secure this facility to assist you, but this is larger than Gusthaven. This is a threat to Erois, and so it must be brought before everyone else. We have only a scant few days, two days, before we must head out, so we do not need to wait too long, but whatever you think must be done next, I'm willing to listen to your counsel.

If I may, Sky Prince. Please. I believe we are all in agreement here that our trust is wavering with individuals on Arois. And it's difficult to find individuals with power that we can trust. And so this is why we do come to you first to secure this facility, because we trust you and the people around you. And so I hope you take it as important as we do.

Of course, Of course. I worry that our capacity, our ability to do much is not as great as perhaps the other nations or perhaps other forces. But Gusthaven will secure this facility. That I can assure you. If one of our own, if Democles is responsible for this weapon if he has been using this place to experiment on citizens of Erois, we will take its responsibility

for it and we will secure it and I will make sure that he is brought to justice I've we will send, I doubt he will return to Gusthaven but we will speak. We have his mother in custody. We will find his brother.

We will seize assets, see if his house contains any documentation, but I know that Democles is a very smart man, a very clever individual. And if he has orchestrated all of this, everything with these wind barons, with iron staff, with... And he looks very guiltily and shamefully at lucius

with your family i think that perhaps he may be a few steps ahead of us already but we will do what we can is there anything else anything else that i should know i feel that there is so much to do now but and you've done so much already you must be tired, you look exhausted if you need to rest I can have rooms laid here where you can be protected by my guards, whatever you require thank you his brother

though, without him we wouldn't have had the information to go there, I believe he deserves safety yes noted he just looks to one of his guards go there. I believe he deserves safety. Elinor helped you? Yes. Noted. He just looks to one of his guards.

Let us ask Elinor to come and provide information, but not as an arrest. Make it a request. Of course, my Sky Prince. And the guard kind of begins heading off. Thank you. I think we all need a rest but time is

very important so we'll see you as soon as we can yes if you can I would ask that you stay here so that my people can come and speak with you we can take all of this information down as you rest

we can get as much information as possible. Your companions, these ones that you have rescued, we will take down their testimonies under magical aid and we will make things secure. I would ask that once you are rested,

if you can help deal with this brain that you mentioned, that would be useful. I do not wish to understate this, my friends. What you have accomplished in Voxar, here, against Democles in this facility, I do not know the details, but you are one of our, you are,

you are our greatest heroes on Aroes. If you are not up to something, I fear that there are so few individuals that can assist you. We can do what we can, but it is in your hands that we place our faith and our protection. We'll do our best. Also, we took a load of armor. That's us

yes is there any more of these weapons or armor anything left that we may examine yes there is there are some golem type iron limb

things that I don't really understand but they are still there they They were kind of heavy. Are they, and he looks at Sentry, these are not guardians, are they, Sentinel Prime? Oh, no. No. No. They are built purely for destruction and war.

Very well. I will have to have, I will need to bring in Azaria Perel. This is beyond any of my own magisters, I'm afraid. This is more of the Enchantress's sphere. Introduce to Mal. Nova mentioned him earlier. Yeah, hello.

This man does deserve protection. He did work at this facility. Not his own intention. He was forced into it. But he does have invaluable knowledge about the production and everything happening there. And so he may be a very valuable asset to you whilst investigating the facility. This is important, Lucius. Your name, state it, please, clearly.

Malatyr Emerus of Ganas, Your Majesty, I guess. It's true, I worked at this facility. I am technically a member of the Valkyrian Empire, but if I can beg, request asylum, safety, I fear for my life. They tried to kill me. They killed the other engineers that were working on the project to keep this a secret. I would gladly share everything I know if you will grant me protection.

I... You will need to be... You can see the prince, this is weighing heavily on him. For now, Mr. Emerus, I must place you under arrest. If you are complicit in these experimentations, in these developments of weapons of war, you are a criminal, Honorowis. However, in doing so, we will discover the truth.

I will ensure that what you say is true. Perhaps, I hope that you are not duplicious. And if that is the case, then I will be glad to offer you safety in exchange for your knowledge and your assistance in undoing what has been done. But for now, I'm afraid that you must be placed into custody. This is... I cannot simply just let you walk as a free man in amongst my people.

You see Mal looks a little dejected, but he does understand, and he just kind of, like, kind of nods his head. He looks at all of you thank you all of you for saving my life uh i can only say thanks now it is your turn to save many more i'll do what i can and he just kind of is led away by a pair of guards. Can I, before he gets led away, can I just reach out and just squeeze his arm and just be like, you've got this, okay? And I'll make sure that you're treated fairly.

Thanks. Considering how that Democles treated me, I can't imagine it could be any worse. Maybe not the grandest research stations in the Empire, but, well, a jail cell where I'm not at threat of dying is still better than a lab where I faced imminent death, so he just kind of half smiles.

Thanks, Nova. Just gives you a nod. It's likely, Sky Prince, Democles intended to destroy the facility and everyone in it. All evidence. Yes, Nova mentioned this, this sabotage. If word

gets out that Mal is still alive, I'm sure they wouldn't want him to be. I'm also fearful if Democles is behind all of this, and we know that his corruption is within some of these halls, I've done my best to weed out those who I believe connected to these wind barons. weed out those who I believed connected to these wind barons. Moonstar, perhaps I'm already two steps ahead of you,

Sky Prince. Do not be too alarmed if Malatyr Emrys vanishes from his jail cell before the end of the night. Hmm. Indeed. Rawson? If I may?

Okay. We've encountered this before, where Starbane has the ability to kill agents in their sleep. He may need help. He may need people watching him at night for immediate medical assistance. He's too valuable an asset to let die.

He has the intelligence that can help you with this facility. You're certain of this, that Starbane has this ability to kill those in their sleep? We witnessed this before on the Stormchaser when we took in an agent of his. This is excellent information. Thank you, Nova. Do you have a suggestion on how we may protect him? I believe he may be using the spell Dream.

I'm familiar with it myself, but in my encounters with Starbane, via this method, he has demonstrated the ability to hurt me using the spell. Uh, it is psychic damage. Maybe there's some way a magician or something that can negate that, or at least be on standby to provide immediate medical assistance. I will speak with Azaria Perel. If anybody in Gusthaven knows of a way to protect this Malatea Emeris from such an event, it will be her. I will have to bring her in, but this is vital. We will make sure this happens. Until we have a suitable system in place, we will simply

have to prevent Mr. Emerus from sleeping. Keeping him awake as much as possible. It will keep him alive, Nova. This is a lot, my friends. And I can see that weariness tugs at some of you.

There is not much more we can do now. Appropriate people will be sent and I can see that weariness tugs at some of you. There is not much more we can do now. Appropriate people will be sent where they need to go. We will make adjustments, and if you think of anything, you know that I am always here to listen. Gusthaven Erois owes you all so much of a great debt, and whatever I can do to repay it. But go now, rest, think of what you wish to do we have two days by the time you rest we will be looking at perhaps a 36 37 hours before we must make our way to horizon

prepare this information we will need to present it to everyone else but do what you can thank you for your time he just nods yeah you guys uh are left to go and do what you need to do where you need to do it nice i guess i'm done in this side room as well perfect yeah with that they have the teleport circle runes they can start sending troops through uh the other prisoners the rescues are led away um and yeah pretty much you've done pretty much what you everything you wanted you got you know you've given all the information over people are securing the facility yeah we've got a load of armor and stuff to give to the airship crew indeed yeah the airship crew indeed

the airship is still being repaired so they are all currently staying in the city they're not staying on the airship because it is in the middle of being repaired you guys, the prince has offered you if you want to stay here in the palace there are rooms there's a suite set aside for you where do you guys want to go?

okay let's huddle up group before we start resting there are many ears that's messenger ring about this messenger hello this way hi it's working. Excellent. Well done, everyone. I just want to say, we were all... We put everything into that, and we needed to, and we survived, so well done. I don't think we tell each other that enough.

But we're doing great, considering the circumstances. So, kudos. Just because we're Eros' biggest heroes, obviously. Apparently so. Wait, who said that? Sky Prince himself. Oh, yeah, the Sky Prince did, yeah.

I think a lot of people look up to us, Kyl. Yes. We carry a heavy burden. It's not like we uncovered a huge mechanical device that wants to kill titans or anything, but our work isn't done. We need to rest now. However, we need to use our next 36 hours wisely. Do we assist with the brain?

We have a meeting to plan as well. Well, we don't really know. with the brain. We have a meeting to plan as well. We don't really know. We uncovered a lot of horrible things there, but do we know specifically if any of those weapons and anything is going to the meeting? Because I feel like something's going to show up there.

We just don't know what it is. I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe we can search more i have the eye uh so any questions i i could i maybe if i i'm in sky prince's uh vicinity actually i don't think it even matters we'll be there i think i can just ask about the meeting uh but it may not even come true. That's the future. Well, the most preparation we can do to that is... That would be useful.

But what do we need to do before this meeting to best prepare us for it? And in what order? Load up the data slab with a lot of things that tell everyone all the info that we have. I want to try and make some copies of this. I might rendezvous with Thalia

to find more data crystals and share the data. I worry that if this unit is lost, that's it. It might be useful to transcribe this as well onto paper. Just make as many copies as possible, just in case. Thalid's also the perfect neutral party that has no stake. That we can trust as well. Yeah. How are we for supplies?

Potions? Just in case anything were to happen. Oh, we've got a lot left. It's all gone. Everything's gone. Let's just do a quick run, I guess. Do a resupply. Quick resupply of potions.

I will tell you now, you pretty much cleaned out Azaria's stock of good potions when you bought them a couple of days ago. She said that it would take her some time to resupply on that stuff. Ah, yeah. Fair enough. You might be able to get regular healing potions, but don't expect a lot of them and don't expect anything more than regular.

Something's better than nothing. you've got three yeah i've got three regular one greater on me so i've got one superior okay so you actually do have where are you hunting these in my secret chest keeps doing his little feathery boy. It's alright, we can distribute those when we wake up. Like a pelican. Securing the... the brain... creature. We do that before the meeting. Should we just kill it? Smooch the brain? We need to check it's even there. They might have taken it with them.

The sooner we can secure that entire facility, the better. Yeah. So, makes sense. First priority then when we wake up. Yeah, I think there's stuff there that we probably... We haven't uncovered it all. It was huge. Right? There's got to be something else there

okay and then after that we reconvene Nova visit Thalia try and make backup copies of the information and anything else we need to do we'll do at the same time and then prepare ourselves for the meeting

I know you're all having your little mind meeting, but if I can speak with you for a second. Sorry, Moonstar, I completely forget who can hear. It's fine, I understand. It's far better that you're having these conversations where no one can listen in. I appreciate the secrecy.

I'm going to do some business while you are resting. Lucius, I need to take the gauntlet and your ring. There's some improvements I wish to make to it. The mythic ring? The one that summons that barrier, the magitek ring which summons the shield.

Right. Barrier ring. If you want, I have thought watching you fight and how vulnerable you are at times i think i may have a way to adjust the gauntlet to give you more options in protecting yourself oh well please take it please take it right now lucius give give it over take him right now do it now these adjustments can they be made before the meeting because i i'd feel vulnerable with that

right i'm going to work on them now i i don't think it will be too complicated i had something of a spark of an idea while we all whilst i watched you summon the ring in the gauntlet itself it shouldn't take me too long to do um hopefully i can have it done by the time you're rested you may need to go and deal with this brain without it, but you'll have it before your meeting for certain. Is this... Is this my sister?

This doesn't sound like my sister. I definitely don't recommend you calling me that in public. I am trying to keep the illusion of my identity. Very bad with those. You are terrible with

secrets, yes. You are the worst with secrets. You really are the worst. Speaking of which, Mal, you said that you'd help him. He's not safe. He's not safe here in the palace. I don't trust leaving him.

Perhaps we could put him in our secret basement. Of course. That's exactly what I was thinking. Stop saying that out loud. Stop talking about it. Damn it. Bang it. I just wanted to shoot you on that end. I know you did.

Thank you. She just holds her hands out I'll give her the gauntlet and the ring Yeah, so it kind of The barrier ring and the gauntlet, she needs to take the gauntlet as well Well, this was a gift from you anyway So, thank you All the kind of like ethereum bands You know, collapse And kind of holds it out.

She takes it. She gives a nod. And then she is going to start making her way away, like to go and do her stuff. Thank you. While she's walking, like the classic, thank you for helping us, by the way. Honestly, I fear that you all may be in a realm far beyond me now. You've grown a lot, Lucius. I think that you are now in a realm that I don't know how much I can contribute to.

I think my skills are better put here. But there's still a few things I can do. And I'm glad that we could deal with that facility together. But if you come across Democles, I think you'll make... I trust that you'll make the right decision. And remember what he's done. And with that, she just nods.

And then we'll make our way off. And on that, we are are gonna take a break it's break time break time take a long rest now we'll do just do long rest now while we're doing the break uh sure sweet oh i needed that Thank you.