High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #111 | Tassadar Preparations (Part 1)

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

The team contact allies and gather friends for the assault on the Tassadar! We're sponsored by D&D Beyond! The ultimate Dungeons and Dragons toolset. Clean up your dungeon delving life and speed up your games here: http://bit.ly/HRDNDBeyond2021 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

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Hello, welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond, the ultimate online D&D toolset for both players and DMs. Make your dungeon-delving life a million times easier with D&D Beyond using the link in the episode description. Hello and welcome back to High Rollers. The Storm Chasers, gifted with the means of planar travel from the Titan Hesper's last actions, travelled back into astral space to save their friend Quill, who was held captive by the sorceress Zarkira, commander in the Valkyrian Empire, aboard her vessel, the Serpent's Coil. Having successfully snuck in and located Quill,

the party then quickly sought to dispatch the guards of the cells, and thanks to a very successful Dominate Monster spell from Lucius, avoided drawing more attention from the Mind Flayer servants of Zarkira. Using this new ally, Lucius retrieved Quill's gear without arousing suspicion, whilst Nova and Aayla released two other prisoners, a mutilated Daiva called Rana'iel and a strange, highly intelligent and magical kobold called Vesic. Just as the party's actions finally drew attention and the two remaining Zarkira simulacrum arrived with a force of elite guards, Nova transported them all back to Erois, and specifically to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence. Here, Quill learned the Halls of Infinite Resplendence. Here,

Quill learned the fate of his god Hesper and met Sayana, another Titan who shared in their grief. The halfling goddess healed Ranael and transported the party back to their airship, where their next destination must be decided. So,

that is where we are. I believe that we ended things, because it has been a couple of weeks, we ended things with you guys taking a long rest in Gusthaven with the plan that you had a few things, a few individual things that you wanted to do, as well as making decisions

on what your next moves should be. So I hand it over to you, my dear players. What would you like to do? Assume that if there was anything you specifically would like to do or would have liked to have happened during your long rest, please let me know. Otherwise, we will begin with you guys awakening to a new day.

The choice was saving the Guardians or going to Valor,? I mean it wasn't a direct choice you guys were talking about how yeah there was the idea that the guardians have all the sentry kind of asked heralds to assemble all the guardians in the city of glass. The city of glass is on the very tip of a continent

called Gisela which you know has basically said that they're going to side with the Valkyrian Empire when the time comes. So there's like some concerns about safety there and things like that and would Sentry want to go to it or maybe. You also have the idea of rescuing Valor,

which has been a long-term goal for the party for a while, who is currently aboard the Tasta. You have the means to gain access to it. You have some allies that were willing to help you and coordinate a rescue attempt or maybe coordinate a kind of assault on the Tassadar. That was also an option, but there may be other things.

I know Nova wanted to go back and speak to her parents and stuff in Horizon, so there's a few little pieces, bits and pieces. There's also the Beast Walkers, too. They also had something they wanted to talk to you guys about yeah i thought we'd already zipped over to horizon because i remember you saying that like my family were being we're staying at a kind of secured

um facility that was before yeah that was before the gust haven thing maybe maybe you guys did go back maybe oh yeah because i registered it to um my bookie there you go all right so you're back in horizon then we'll we'll assume that you start there i know there's a lot going on yeah we're in we're in horizon um we're in horizon i need to make sure i pull up uh some information in case you

guys decide you want to do stuff so okay okay so yeah so what's the plan uh Okay. So yeah. So what's the plan? These walkers? Question mark? As an aside to all of this, it doesn't have to be the first thing we do, but Nova would, before we go off onto the next big thing,

Nova would like to have a conversation with her family and kind of figure out what they want to do, because, yeah. Probably a bit weird. I'm just sticking here in Horizon. Hey, Rhi, what would you like to do call a meeting i guess like we all yeah i was gonna say have a little meeting right and figure out what we want to do yeah i i think that there was definitely a kind of the last thing because rianne wasn't in the last episode um that we kind of played through right so it was the idea that

uh you know, I think that the group has said, like, basically we need Century to figure out what she wants to do. So I think that, yeah, like maybe Century kind of calling a chat to discuss things going forward probably makes the most sense. And then that way, yeah, you guys can hear what that plan is. I guess so our messenger ring, everybody. It's time.

We should have a meeting to figure out our next steps what we need to do as a group um should we all meet in in our room and just figure out where we want to go what we want to do who has the comfiest cushions in there in their place i think i think you do i know it's I do. It's always you, Lucius. It's always you. Come over anytime. It's a bit worse for wear right now. I think I've been speaking too much. But you take the lead, Century.

Yeah, Lucius had a couple of teeth removed while on the way back to Horizon, so just had those fixed. Just as a point as well if you guys are in horizon the storm chaser your airship would still be in gust haven um because it takes time time for that travel i believe you teleport circled to horizon and that's where you kind of yeah and i've now got it registered in my book yes and you do have quarters you have sort of like

um the the the citadel of the reborn uh which is the kind of headquarters of danica the kind of leader of horizon uh you have quarters in the barracks there they're kind of very functional they're not as elaborate as the kind of diplomat suite that you had before but you definitely have like a small area that you have been given to use as you see fit um on behalf of danica so yeah uh yeah you can all gather up there's no problem yeah and then uh take it away century i guess so well thank you all for coming uh i'm hello you know me as century hi meeting time this is weirdly weird why is this so formal i'm sorry job interview i'm used to doing all of this with a group of strangers

in a big room with people i haven't met before i'll get through the awkwardness but um okay so well you're doing great well our mission to get you back was extremely successful like i worry so i'm here um you're here you're back and it's wonderful to have you back with like it's mission accomplished i think this marks a huge turning point in our strategic do you know it absolutely does in the process of getting me back you know my god uh died so i'd say yeah, big turning point. Big turning point all around. Yes, that was...

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. To be fair though, when we got there, we didn't get spotted the whole way through that massive place and I think that's the part that we were trying to be pride on. Not the killing of anything, which we didn't do. There was a sacrifice made.

We didn't ask for it. I'm not saying this was murder. I know exactly what it was. I'll be honest, I find it hard to believe that Sentry got through that entire facility without clanking once. Flight. I know. Really? Who knew?

Yeah. Flight was the solution the whole time invisible flight exactly we have the tools necessary to who knows what we could do who knows what we could do this is anything and everything

anything and everything so my point is speaking of speaking of I know speaking of... Speaking of, I know. Speaking of, what next? What... Where are our priorities? What are our priorities?

Where do we go from here? The summit's over, I assume. Everyone's left, mainly to head back to their Valkyrian Empire or to prepare for an invasion from their Valkyrian neighbours. So we don't need to worry about convincing any more leaders, except maybe the Grand Strategist. I mentioned this before. If anything changes, he said he would switch sides, essentially.

Something has changed. He's a man who likes to see physical results. switch sides, essentially. Something has changed. He's a man who likes to see physical results. I think he likes to see progress, right? So if we convince him that we're making progress and he can see it for himself, maybe that will turn.

He didn't believe the magic eye thing. He needs to physically see it, which, fair. Okay, well, in that case, when he physically sees Zarkira betray Starbane to take over the entire Empire, or whatever she does... Oh, yeah.

Maybe that will help. She knows about our plans, right? She knows stuff. Hey, speaking of... We should probably operate under that assumption. Yeah. Also also they know that i have the teleport circle to the tassadar i don't know how much they know about the plan itself though wait if she knows about the tassadar teleport cycle we might need to do that quickly

before they change okay there you go one priority okay um well tassadar number one quickie uh regarding that do we know that zarkira is still aligned with valkyrian empire knowing this new intel was one of two things this person interrogating you that creature that I dominated if they didn't get to Zarkira in time and we left and they were overwhelmed and killed then that information including

the portal wouldn't have got to Zarkira or the inverse everything's got to Zarkira and where does that place us? Probably safer to assume that she knows everything, because she's evil. Yeah, I mean, my eye is all tapped out. I can't use that until, well, tomorrow, actually.

So I couldn't find out if Zahkira knows, or if the Mind Flayer told her until then. So, again, operate as if she does know. Yeah. I think she'll be thriving on having a leg up of sorts on Starbane. So whatever information Starbane doesn't know that she knows, she's, you know, she's happy. Stronger, exactly.

And we truly understand her motives. Do we know what she's going to do with this information? She's self-serving. She's self-serving. She'll do whatever she wants to do to give her the best that she can get out of it.

And is that best served with the greatest force known in astral space or not. To go up against Valkyrian forces would be quite a lot to bargain on. Looks like she has some pretty good forces herself, though. Yeah, she has a considerable army on her own. An army of Zarkiris to start with. They suck. A lot.

They threw rocks at our ship. Didn't like it it they were big rocks yeah other than that, other than Valor priority two Gisela is Valkyrian now I suppose

and also home of the City of Glass which is where basically the remnants of the guardian race are heading there yeah or are there the safety of the guardians priority zero

above vala below vala what do you think guardian century correct me if i'm wrong here, but I don't think the guardians are really gonna bend to the will of the people around them for a Valkyrian. So they could

get themselves in some trouble here. Or they could fight back and make their own way out. I don't know. They could. Part of me feels like they'll wait that's what they've been told to do they'll follow instructions

I feel like they'll hang around until that instruction has been completed right that's what I would do well if you need to send any more instructions then I can contact whoever you need me to contact to get

the message to the guardians can contact herald get them to maybe move the guardian somewhere safer out of harm's way for now yeah or even just to hole up if they're in the city of glass a famously terrifying place I mean no one was going there before uh maybe

maybe people are still terrified of it so maybe that'll buy us some time um maybe it's difficult I I feel like I need to take responsibility for what i've done there it's it was my fault it was my fault i put them there in the first place and

i'll need to face up to that at some point there is exactly no way we could have predicted that gisella or any other nation would just decide to join Valkyrie in Empire. You cannot blame yourself for that. None of us predicted it. We all thought it was an attack. I used like two or three charges on my eye to figure out how they were going to attack. I still didn't get anything because we all thought it was

an attack. And it wasn't. It was just Charbain being ultra convincing. A dick. And a dick. Or that. But both. I have a thought. Now, obviously you're

getting all the guardians to locate Tassadar. Not Tassadar, that would be ridiculous. Gisela. Unless... No, no. I'm not suggesting that because I do think time is of the essence and we should upon second thought i thought that maybe having some guardians at our back on the tacit are would be a good thing but i think trying to rendezvous with them and getting them all together and then

us going to see valor would take more time than we have in terms of the element of surprise. So, where am I going with this? Horizon. Horizon can move, can it not? Slowly. I believe it can, yeah. The Guardians would be safe on Horizon. Now I'm wondering if they could meet halfway, or

at least maybe Horizon could risk going into Gisela and picking up some guardians. It could be seen as an act of war though. If Horizon was to start moving towards Gisela, I mean we'd know that there is transport

but who's to say the citizens of Gisela don't see this as an attack? I mean it's an act of refugee. Those people, the guardians, they'd want to leave of their own accord, and that should be diplomatically said to that Giselle. But that's the other thing we need to consider, is do the citizens of Giselle know that guardians are amassing in the City of Glass?

Would they think much of it? Would they do something about it? That would be my question i will remind you guys just uh especially century you did pretty much tell uh the viceroy the representative of gisella you basically told her that you were sending all the guardians there so certainly she knows whether the citizens know is a different question but she certainly knows um that's a different different matter altogether in terms of horizon moving um one thing you guys would know i would have had danica you know danica to mention this it moves at roughly the same speed as an airship so it's not quick it will take you know several days to reach the destination so going somewhere like gisella would take several days to do um well that's i'm just putting another option on the table there whether it's a good idea or not whether we need to get the guardians out of the city of glass or not

remains to be seen obviously you want to keep them all safe and I think the safest place for them is not in the city of glass right now yeah I think maybe we could ask Danica about the diplomatic angle I think that's a good idea you know war does have terms and treaties and people do respect them so I think yeah maybe Danica could ask diplomatically if we can safely evacuate the Guardians. That sounds like a good idea. I mean, safely evacuate them or they might get really annoyed because

they're being asked to join Starbane. You know, their mortal enemy. So I feel like getting them out of there before any trouble starts is probably the best shot for both sides. Aren't all Guardians just their own? And Solven warriors like yourself, Sentry,

are mortal enemies of Starbane. There could be Guardians that could see the side of Starbane's forces. It's certainly possible, yeah. I would say, and Century would know this, most Guardians were built before the war with the Valkyrian Empire, and even the ones who weren't in Solvin,

ones that served elsewhere, still would have been on Eros' side during that conflict. Now, that doesn't mean that they don't change their minds and that they become more independent, but in the same the same way that sentry is very protective over solving guardians that were stationed in gold throne or guardians that were stationed in gisela maybe maybe loyal to those places as well so um yeah no precious entry uh we've all got your back regardless of what we choose i think we're

going to make the right decision we just have to act quickly i think yeah thank you part of me feels like the tacit are maybe more important having valor back here would be would be big so aka could even get her. She's got access to her. If she knows that we have a connection there, she can use her as a bargaining chip. We don't want that. Also, if she knows that we have the teleportation circle,

we risked a lot to get these runes and also communicated them with the Wings of Ishtar. I think we'd be losing a lot to not act on it straight away. Well, should we message the Wings of Ishtar? That's the problem. They're our backup. We can't. Yeah.

We can't? We have the... It has a chance of failing, but i think i know when it fails yes you do it's a five percent chance yeah um so we're sent we we communicate with the wings of ishtar they come in and help us when i guess i communicate the right time to them if time works the same way where they are. Probably not. But who are we taking with us? Obviously all of us are going.

Who are we bringing with us? Who would we need? How many people can we take? So with a teleportation circle now, teleportation circles are a different thing. Teleportation, I need to spell it right first. There's a big difference between a teleportation circle that jumps across Aroas

and a teleportation circle that goes up into the Astral Sea. Normally, teleportation circle can't go to other planes of existence. You would need plane shift to do that. However, Valkyrian seems to have developed runes that allow him to do that. So you're kind of like transporting to a special teleportation circle that allows cross-planar travel.

It's basically, you can fit as many people, any creature that enters the portal, basically as many creatures as can enter the portal within six seconds so you could take a small force i would probably say no more than sort of 10 people um the 10 max area and fight diameter it's a 10 foot area yeah it's but that's well that's the that's the the portal is only five foot um because the the circle is a 10 foot diameter thing, but the portal isn't. Yeah.

Any creature that enters the portal. You could take a small unit at best. You could take a kind of, but then I guess you need to make the decision of how many people can you take and how many people do you want to take? I'd say that Sentry would certainly know the more people,

and Aayla would probably know this from a hunting perspective as well. More people, much more chance of being detected. Normally if you want to do something quickly and quietly, you want less people. If you were trying to storm a base, you want more people. But that's

going to be a very obvious thing that you're doing. I mean, it is the Tassadar! Yeah. But Moonstar would be a good idea. We could take Angel with us. Oh, Rana.

Rana. Yeah, Rana. Oh, she's with the wings of Ishtar. She said she would help anyway. Yeah, so she'd be a powerful person to have because, you know, she's just a badass in general. And then maybe we can reunite her with the Wings of Ishtar. That was the plan. A good job all around.

Wings of Ishtar and Rana? I don't think we should have much more than that. No, I don't think so. And if Wings of Ishtar join us as well, then they'll probably have a couple of people but at least people who need to get back to arois maybe keep them to a small number actually at what point does it become beneficial for us to have so many npcs that mark has to think about that the battle sways in our favor based on that alone oh i won't think about it chris trot i'll just have it fail i won't think about it i'll just be like five of them die uh what's together these rose meadows dead No, his entire family. Smeak's been resurrected before he died.

He's dead again. Yeah. Oh, that's a point. Speaking of Smeak. What was his name? Vesic. Vesic, yeah. Do we bring Vesic?

He sees time and he can smell future. He's a maniac. Hard to control. He's a maniac. He's a maniac. Hard to control. He's a maniac. He could just be a lunatic. I mean, he's pretty cool. He's a wild magic.

He's chaos. Yeah. He helped. He helped in one very specific situation because it was people who had captured him he was a prisoner and he wanted to escape that's in his best interest is this in his best interest?

I mean he serves us that's what he said if I hadn't calmed him down he very much would have teleported me straight off the ship if I hadn't stopped him he was pulling me away from all of you yeah it took everything to get him to stop so we could execute the plan.

Zarkira knows us. She has books of notes on us. Doesn't know Vessic. We can't even predict him. Data crystals. How will she? What do you mean don't know? She has him experimenting with everything.

She may not remember him. She created Vessic, basically. She created him. That's a good point. She may not remember him. She created Messick, basically. She created him. Yeah. That's a good point. Could be like a... She's a good point. She's got like a sleeper agent in him.

She's got code words. Exactly. And then he just snaps. He's on their side. 17. Great car. What's going to stop him walking up to... He's going to walk up to whoever

and tell them when they're going to die. Like, who's going to stop him from doing that? That sounds like a great weapon to me. It's a very charming way to introduce yourself to people, obviously. You've got about 20 days remaining. I should tell Tim Calisthen. Maybe that's more evidence. If someone walks up to me with a sword and says, you're going to die, I'll take that as a threat.

If a little goblin walks up to me and says, no, for real, you're going to die, I will take that seriously. He's terrifying. I vote no. You can take Vesic? Okay. No to Vesic. Okay, no Vesic.

I love him, but I think he'll be a liability. I'd rather take Smeek than Berserk. Am I saying something? Yeah. As a point, we'll gloss over going and picking people up. If you want to go to Gusthaven

and grab Moonstar, and if you wanted to bring anybody from the crew, anybody like that that is either on Gusthaven or Horizon, they're very easy to access, right? right we're not gonna have to do a whole thing of going and picking them up um i got my book i want scorp that's difficult if you guys want to do any like spells or any other kind of spells you could certainly ask you could ask i believe that um general general general phallus was in Gusthaven, but you could go and ask her.

She would go. I mean... I have a feeling that she'd get really mad and just lose sight. Also, her dragon form wouldn't... Like, from the ships like the Serpent's Core you're on, a dragon doesn't fit inside those corridors. Like, you know, she probably wouldn't be able to be in her full draconic form inside a small space like that the dragons would love

to come with us oh yeah i bet she would absolutely um i'm trying to think who else idea it could be a reinforcement we could tell them our plans and if they don't hear from us or something seems to be going wrong we send a message for backup yeah so what we just go in five of us and then go covert

and we have a code word that we send back to bring more reinforcements in what's the opposite of clear skies it's getting real cloudy code word that we send back to bring more reinforcements in. What's the opposite of clear skies? It's getting real cloudy. Dusty ground. We'll say that to them. Okay, in that case, so runner and moonstar.

I think they're probably good options. Although I do worry about Moonstar. She's a bit squishier. Have you all thought about this parallel? That we were on an airship when we first met, and the Court of Shadows themselves attacked us to get Valor off the ship. And we're doing the same back.

Well, let's hope that some of them are sleeping and holding teddy bears. Just like you were. Valor for a Valor. I'd rather the ship stayed, like, intact at least while we're on it this time though because

you know after we're gone fair enough but being on top of a ship again that's you know plummeting and or exploding and just no not again okay well let's do what they didn't and succeed in

their mission i i would like to suggest as well that as well as rescuing vala um one perhaps we try and contact her again to let her know but also i would like to rescue tasadar um tiangong i don't know if you have any thoughts on this if if you know of how Tassadar is embedded into the ship. Yes. What would you like me to explain, Nova? I presume it's similar to Eterna that we've encountered before. As soon as we remove Tassadar, the ship will power down? That is unlikely aboard Tassadar the ship will power down? That is unlikely

aboard Tassadar. Kallus had warships long before their deal with the Eterna. They can be powered by elemental and infernal engines. I suspect Kallus will have redundant backups

in this instance. Tassadar is also very powerful and logical, likely runs a large portion of the ship's systems. If, when we get there, would there be a way for you to communicate with Tassadar? Yes. I will need to be in a local vicinity. Do you think there's a way that...

Is there a chance that Tassadar has been corrupted? Is there a way to perhaps communicate with Tassadar and get them to help us? If we can travel to the area that Tassadar is being held, I will attempt communication with them. But it is possible they have become corrupted. Also possible their relationship with Valkyrian is different to my own. Tassadar, very logical. Okay. Tassadar, very logical. Okay, well, maybe if we could present to Tassadar what we've seen from Quill, that Valkyrian's plan will not work, and he's on the losing side, maybe Tassadar will...

Compelling argument. Yeah. Um, do you have any advice for us? Regarding which topic, Nova Vija? I guess just infiltrating the Valkyrian flagship. The Tassadar is a key ship within the Valkyrian Empire, Kallus' flagship. However, it is not the only warship he has access to. It will be heavily guarded. Calus prefers to use constructs and elite soldiers, as opposed to the monstrosities

that you have likely encountered aboard the Serpent's Coil. Constructs will not be able to be mind-controlled, as Mr. Elinasto did previously. elite soldiers will be more susceptible but they are highly trained and very loyal to callus the sections of the ship will be coordinated into different areas different members of the crew will have different uh access to different stations there will be technology and magitek to prevent infiltration via spells such as invisibility, but likely not in all areas.

It may be worthwhile discussing this with the wings of Ishtar. You have the schematics, Nova Vija, of the Tassadar. We acquired them in Astral Space. Yes. Would you like me to show you them? Yes.

Yeah, he remembers that too. We need all the duct spaces. So Tiangong, out of Tiangong's blade, will project the kind of image of the schematics into the room for you. And if you guys go on roll 20... Whoop. Wow.

There's a map. Okay. Wow. There's a map. Okay. Cool. Now, you don't have any context. So you have, you know, you can see the teleportation circle. You don't necessarily have any context of where things are going to be located or what access you will be able to get access to, but this does kind of give you an idea of some things.

L1 and L2 are Magitek elevators. You encountered these on various places before. They can access it, but it seems to be split into kind of three or four main decks. The lower deck, the mid deck, the top deck, and then the bridge deck. And then there are different rooms and sections that can be accessed be accessed now this obviously isn't a complete map layout this is like a rough schematic of like where things are located um individual corridors and stuff will be uh represented you know you know you'll travel through those normally um but the main sort of

like key stations that would be of interest are highlighted here. So we turn up just below the four mid deck. Where would Valor be? Commander's quarters? Officer quarters? Cells? At the top, somewhere, no doubt. Yeah, probably near where Starbane would be. Okay. Tiangong, where would Tassadar likely be located?

Tassadar would most likely be located within the ship heart. This is the central core of the crystalline warships Calus uses. Okay. As you can see on the schematics, it will be difficult to access. Mid-deck security will be a highly advanced and guarded checkpoint, and the engineer station will contain many workers, likely high-level officers as well. Does anyone have any keystones or anything? Would they work, you know, perhaps from previous missions that we've had?

Maybe. I wonder if they would work on some of the security points. Did we bring anything back from Aegis V? We brought back the outfit. Oh, no. Aegis V didn't have keystones. Yeah, the Dragon Ball took the outfits.

The Wings of Ishtar said that they would procure keystones and outfits. That was the deal. You guys were going to get the schematics and guys were going to get the schematics and they were going to get disguises and access stones, basically. But you don't know what level they're going to get or what they're necessarily going to have access to. Also, Aayla just had natural access as well on Aegis V.

Which might have been revoked, I imagine. Well, I think that... Yeah, I didn't have that on Zarkira's ship. Yeah. That was Zarkira. Leaving clones, I think, yeah. There was the Keystone, the keyword practice file as well. That worked last time

Um Century, it might be an idea, I don't know if you want to bring Helios along Um, Helios might be interested in possibly rescuing Tassadar Yeah, I'll bring him

Good idea Um Okay Well, I guess let's contact the wings then I'll bring him. Good idea. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, I guess let's contact the wings then. Yeah, I can tell them to prepare while we gather all the people. And we want them to come in with us or after we get in?

Perhaps. Well, they have the access keys. So at the same time as us, then? Yes. Okay. Yeah, in that case, yeah, I'll do a sending and I guess we have a rough time of when we're leaving, right? When are we going? Tomorrow. Tomorrow? Today are we going? Tomorrow.

Tomorrow? The day. I don't know. As soon as possible. As soon as possible. Ask them when they can get there. Once we get Moonstar and Rana gathered up in however long that takes. That'll take hardly any time at all. I can just wamp us over with the book again.

And Helios. And Helios. And Helios, yeah. Helios is on the Stormchaser as well. Cool. Yeah. Okay. All right. Cool.

Yeah, do I need to send him a very specific message? Oh, God. Got 25 words. It's time the assault on the Tassadar begins tomorrow at a time 0800 hours

whenever how prepared are you seven words left and how many horses can bring two words left can you bring

quill I didn't say clear skies! It's a momentary pause. Are you sending that to Zellion, the solar that you spoke to, the leader? Yes. Oh, do I need to roll for it to see if that just straight fails? You do! You need to do a 5% chance to see if it works. I'll roll it. Let's keep it a secret. Oh, okay.

Let's keep it a secret oh okay let's keep it a secret it appears to go through um you wait for a moment and there is a response from zelion this kind of very peaceful angelic voice comes back through we clear skies first we are ready we should coordinate we'll have someone contact you with a way to plan shortly objectives

to discuss we are ready Zellion objectives to discuss. Oh, God. Okay. Yeah, I'll communicate that with everyone, obviously. I'm glad we did that.

Yeah. Okay. A little worrying they may have other objectives. It might split the forces while we're chasing down Vala and potentially going after the Tastar itself. I'm worried they might plan for something else but they are forced i mean they did when when you guys first spoke with them they were like a kind of a we'll come and help you but their main objective is to kind of like disable the valkyrian empire right like that they're like we'll help you rescue vala but their main thing was like delivering a blow to the empire so yeah i mean interesting taking back tassadar would probably be a help to that yeah goal yeah exactly

you know it might just be that they want to do that and then you know that that aligns with both of what you want to do okay um yeah i think i'm good with that. Waiting for their further message and then coordinating it better unless anyone else wanted to do anything. Oh. Century. Is it okay if I message Heraldquill?

Yep, just tell me the message. 25 words. Thank you. I would say hope all is well um move guardians away from city of glass gisella compromised uh stay safe we'll be with you soon century okay any words left you wrote it down i started counting because i was clearly that you had planned it out so I was just like yeah I don't need to worry if you have five left clear skies clear skies the message you get back

is from Herald clear skies difficult to move guardians air over Gisela I'm trying to think of the word busy many airships I'm trying to think of the word busy many airships difficult to move

large numbers unseen have hidden in city of glass local forces assisting. Something along that line. Yeah. I'm trying to think of a spot as well. But yeah, the impression is that they, yeah,

they're there is they cannot move all the guardians without, yeah, easily without being seen. And there's airships patrolling Gisela, basically. Yeah, I mean, City of Glass was on the coast, right? The tip. Yeah, it was on the peninsula. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, obviously I'll say that.

Okay. That doesn't sound good. It is indeed a a blockade a blockade of airships that's that's the kind of thing i was that's the word i was trying to think of a blockade um but it did sound like i mean herald didn't sound like you know they were in battle or anything like that they they sounded like they are basically keeping low at the moment but you know you don't know how long that's going to be they're going to be able to keep that up so okay well it sounds like they're shoring down for now

yeah for now it's just it's good information from when we tried to get into the place it's not going to be easy well unless we send an entire city over to them, then it might be a little bit easier, but you know,

they're safe for now. Thank you, Quill. Okay. I am a phone. Nova, while they're doing... Okay. Nova, while they're doing... Okay. Nova, while they're doing that, do you want to go and speak to family?

Yeah, I guess, yeah. Just wrap some things up. See what they want to do. They are here on Horizon. There is a kind of large townhouse in the kind of upper sections of the city close to the Citadel. It's being guarded you can you know there are guards out front are patrolling um just keeping an eye on the place it's a kind

of little bit and i mentioned this before there's a little bit of wanting to your family aren't really allowed to leave they're kind of under house arrest but it's also a kind of protecting if anybody tried to come and give them trouble for being ganass right because even you walking around you have guards uh rain make sure that their guards go with you because there's definitely looks coming your way like having heard about you know the message of you know vortensar joining up with chaos and stuff there's definitely kind of whispers and rumors but i think you would be well known enough in horizon from you know your exploits with the storm chasers that most people don't consider you that, but a bunch of other Ganassi would definitely kind of draw suspicion, you think.

When you get inside, the mood is a little dour. Kind of, I think that your mum and dad are definitely not pleased with being kind of kept here. Aurora is making the best of it. But yeah, they kind of rush over. Your mum gives you a big hug, so does your dad, kind of wraps their arms around you, just like, oh, is everything all right, Nova?

What's going on? The last thing I heard was that you were being rushed. You rushed off somewhere. Yeah. Starbane was attacking Gusthaven, so we had to go and defend it. Is everything all right? Yeah.

Everything safe? Gusthaven is safe for now. Some damage, but luckily we managed to stop the attack before there were too many fatalities. I glitched out a little bit. That's fine. Sorry. We managed to stop the attack before there were too many fatalities so

that's good I'm glad to hear it have you spoken to the lady who runs this city we've been trying to ask if we can leave but the guards have been saying that we need to stay here for our own protection you spoke with her last time is there something that you can do Nova leave, but the guards have been saying that we need to stay here for our own protection.

You spoke with her last time. Is there something that you can do, Nova? We want to go home. That's what I was going to ask, is what you want to do. If you want to go back to Vortensar, I'm sure that's fine. I'll ask Danica and, you know, it's only fair, but you may want to be careful. Um, I don't know how much you can trust Starbane. I don't know how much you can trust... You're linked to me, and I am an active problem to Starbane. Things... people may come for you, to use you against me yeah there's definitely the kind of sound of that I think that your your mum and dad definitely look it's like a darker look kind of comes over their expression

Aurora kind of stands up you know she's probably been doing you know pacing around and she moves over. It's like, that's what I've been trying to tell them. I don't think we should go back. Mom and Dad want to go back because they keep blathering on about friends and their work being there, but you heard what Nova said. This is a war. We can't go back.

We're not safe there. Not just because of that, but we shouldn't go back. They tricked us. They tricked you. They lied about all of this stuff. They didn't tell us what was going on. we shouldn't go back they tricked us they tricked you they lied about all of this stuff they didn't tell us what was going on we shouldn't go back and you can see that like Aura comes and stands next

to you like you can see that the kind of youthful you know her being a bit younger she's kind of seeing the sides of things that your parents can't you know they're thinking like oh but you know their friends and family and business and stuff like that is you know their kind of life but your business and stuff like that is, you know, their kind of life. But your mum kind of, like, nods her head.

I don't like the idea of us leaving our friends and our home and the businesses and things like that. We've worked so hard for it all, but the fact that if you are an enemy of this valkyrian this empire i i i don't think it's right that we go back i i worry about your father and your sister and me quite frankly like you said being targeted but i don't want to stay here i don't want to feel like i'm a prisoner in some place or that the people out there are out to get us. I don't want to stay here either, but I don't think we can go home. And I don't know what to do, to be honest. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. We know. It's not your fault.

From what you said, I've been thinking about what you said the votes the council members they clearly knew more than they were telling us and I feel that we have been tricked to an extent I still believe that being reunited with our old world

to have that connection is good and that I don't think we should be dragged into some war with some being reunited with our old world, to have that connection is good. And that I don't think we should be dragged into some war with some vastly superior force. That seems madness to me. But I don't like the fact that we were lied to. And I don't like the fact that they're after you. The fact that they're threatening you. after you. The fact that they're threatening you.

I really appreciate that you've listened, Mom, Dad. I really appreciate that you you've taken this on board and you've listened. And maybe maybe we can move you to Gusthaven. We're friends with the prince

there. Maybe he can help. I understand that it's not fun here with the guards outside but they are they are here to protect you as well unfortunately there does seem to be a wave of people angry at ganassi um but but i understand that you're not comfortable so so maybe maybe gustven would be better for you. We have friends there. We have contacts that could help. Aurora kind of folds her arms. Gusthaven was just attacked, you said.

Nova, listen, I know you've gotten pretty good at fighting and you know all this magic. So in your opinion, what's safer? Kira or Gustafen? Just the facts. Honestly, I don't think anywhere is safe right now. I don't know what to recommend. I think this whole Eroas is at danger.

Everywhere we've been, Zarkira and Starbane's forces have been there, and if not them, Hadar. Everywhere we've been, there's people working for both sides. I genuinely couldn't recommend where to go. All I know is Gusthaven. We have safe places there the only thing is horizon obviously might be a target soon especially if we ask danica to use it to rescue the guardians

i'm afraid that this is just what arois is now everywhere is dangerous everywhere is a target your mom kind of paces around she kind of like flattens her hair down wrings her hands a little bit and you see her she goes into thinking mode that when she's trying to like figure stuff out you know she starts like patting like her hands she's trying to find something to keep her hands busy your dad just sits down looking completely overwhelmed um this is a bit too much for him and it's a little bit beyond him to really rationally think things out and your mom kind of spends some time thinking she's just like we'll go to gust haven it sounds like this place is if this is going to be a target or if it's if we don't feel safe here and and if it's going to be a target anyway i'd rather be somewhere where you at least know more people

you say that you have friends there that you know know this prince, that you have people, safe places. I'd rather be there, I think, than here. And yes, yes, I think that that's for the best. I think that that suits better. Okay. I'll arrange that then um maybe it might be an idea to try and contact um tornado as well uh cloud tornado cloud tornado i never know which name he wants me to use but um oh just his silly jousting name look there's no time for that i've been trying to i

want i've asked well we've we've asked them to send letters for us, and they have. The guards have taken the letters for us, but I don't know where he is. I mean, he was supposed to be in the tournament here. I think the next tournament was going to be in another one of the Sky Cities, or Cloud Garden, or some such, but I don't know where he is.

I don't know. I'll figure that out. I'll work'll i'll tell him where we are then um yeah i'll um i'll talk to the professor as well because the professor can maybe go with you as well and at least that's another friendly face as well she's been she she went off to work uh to speak to the people in the palace said that she could help them with all the magic and planar research that she'd done she she was advising the the steward i think here okay um well maybe i'll i'll mention i'll see what she wants to do but um mom uh dad stupid sister um i i'm going off on a mission now now um i'm going off on a mission now. I'm going off on another mission,

and it's going to be a pretty dangerous one. But hopefully, if everything goes all right, this will be a big victory for us. So, just stay safe. Are you sure you have to go? there must be other warriors or knights or mages that could go surely i have to go it's um something i promised tiangong and yeah i i can't leave the others as well see i think out of the out of your assembled family your mom has the hardest time accepting that.

And it's probably your dad who just kind of comes over, puts a hand on your shoulder and is just like, you know best. And all of this, you know far more than any of us do. And I'm relieved to know that, well, you're taking care of it. This is a bit beyond me and my paintbrush, so I'm glad our little clever scholar is out there fixing things. Thanks, Dad. And, um,

I'll do everything I can to keep you guys safe. And, um, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. You have nothing to apologize for, my girl. Nothing at all. Yeah. So I think, yeah.

Yeah, cool. And you can definitely make those plans. I think if you head off, speak with Rain, they can definitely arrange to have, you know, they can basically have an armed get armed escort take them to the teleportation circle and then have them taken to gust haven uh and you can accompany them and make arrangements with aradan it probably would make most sense for them to kind of be stationed in uh somewhere like with moonstar like with with a day or in the sky

prince in the in the palace um probably probably Aradan would offer to let them stay there and, you know, he would keep them under guard. That would be awesome. Yeah. Yeah, so Aradan will kind of take them in and look after them and stuff and then, yeah, you've also got like Thalia and Azaria

and the shipwrights and the Stormchaser crew there as well. Cool. Yeah. Thalia. Yeah. Introduce them to the aria and and the shipwrights and the storm chaser crew there as well cool yeah alia yeah yeah i think the other thing as well yeah okay no i don't think yeah okay yeah yeah yeah yeah all right uh so yeah all right well there's there's that kind of at least we know where your parents are going to be and where they're going anything from anybody else like any other kind of things you want to do

spells you want to cast or prep you want to make um hmm I think I need to switch out all my spells when we prep for the actual the long rest yeah oh the beast Walkers!

Keep forgetting to talk to those. Do you want to talk to them now? They are in Horizon. They've remained behind, waiting to talk to you. I also want to get on with the assault on Tassadar, though, at the same time. You can just tell them we'll be back in two days or we'll be dead. Yeah.

We're probably going to die soon, so if we do die, find someone else. They can help you out. Sure. You pass the message on. We'll do that. We'll have a bigger RP thing when you guys come back if you want to crack on. Do you tell Danica what you're doing?

Do you actually go and tell Danica about the plan with the Tassadar and stuff, or are you going to just keep her in? I mean, yeah, she's as onside as... Oh my god, I've forgotten the Gusthaven boy. Everyone is going to hate me for that. Aradan. Prince Aradan.

Aradan. I literally said his name about ten minutes ago. Gusthaven boy. Gusthaven boy. Gusthaven boy. I have not made any about ten minutes ago. The Gustaven boy? Gustaven boy. Gustaven boy. I have not made any friends with the Naradan. No, Nightjar and Fail are definitely going to be very unhappy with you. I know, I'm sorry.

When you go and speak with Danica and you kind of explain what you're doing, Danica turns around and is like, very noble endeavor, and certainly if you can rescue this Valor, if what you've told me about her is accurate, we should absolutely try and rescue her and bring her to our side in all of this. If I'm being quite honest, if you are going all that way to Kallus' flagship,

destroy it. If you have the opportunity to destroy that ship, do it. You would be robbing his fleet of an incredibly powerful weapon and we must take every advantage we can. We are outnumbered and we are outgunned if this comes down to a

battle. If you have the opportunity to destroy that ship, take it. I mean, we may be able to disable it if we rescue Tassadar themselves. Will that completely disable it? I don't know how these

giant explosions after we leave, you know. Certainly. You obviously don't destroy it while you're on it, but yes, if you can find a way to destroy it. Make it look like a real mess. Just go nuts.

All the explosions that can happen. Knock over all their pots and pans. Let me put it... Let me be clear. In a year's time, this force will invade our world they have superior firepower superior magic superior technology superior numbers in many cases we cannot afford to let these sorts of opportunities pass us by i am a very practical

pragmatic person they are going to be our enemies. I don't think that we can be holding... We cannot afford to show them mercy or to fight honorably. We have to take our opportunities where we find them. And you are being given an enormous opportunity here. Now, I unfortunately don't think I can find or create something in the next 24 hours. Even my best enchanters won't be able to create something in that time. So you may need to find your own method of doing this, but if I can make one suggestion, it is that.

This could be what we could show to the Grand Strategist. We've got some bombs somewhere. Exactly. Think of it in that regard. There are still many forces here on Arois which are unconvinced. The Grand Strategist is but one. Savona still hasn't chosen a side either.

King Telvan is still arguing with his advisors on which side of this coin he should fall. Things like this, they make a difference. They can give people hope. They can make it feel like we can win. Okay. Well. Yep.

That's the plan anyway. Well, priority one. Valor. The wings of Ishtar have their plans. They want to deal a sizable blow to the valkyrian empire maybe they have some plan of how to destroy this thing um certainly if they are if they are of the time if they are of the same mindset as i imagine that their objective will be something along what i have suggested yeah um yeah we're just waiting for their message so we can coordinate properly and work out similar objectives.

Well, when you return, Horizon will be... I will have it prepared. Is there anything you wish to do once you do return? Is there anything I should be preparing us for? A very angry starbeam? Oh, that I'm already preparing. What was that, Sentinel Prime? Sorry, Gisela.

They're preparing for something. I don't know what. I've been getting a few scout reports that they are massing their fleets. Gisela has always had a very strong navy of airships, and they are apparently patrolling their borders creating something of a blockade is there something that we should be preparing for do you do you need us to be aware of anything or prepare for anything the guardians are there but other than keeping an eye on gisella i don't know what else we can do until we go there ourselves.

I mean, I can reach out diplomatically if there is things that you need doing, but the princess of Gisela is a stubborn one, and the fact that she has already decided to throw in her lot with Valkyrian, well, it

matches up with her character. She's very self-serving. I can't imagine that any request of diplomacy will be met eagerly. Do you know if the... You say that the Guardians... What do you mean?

A particular unit? I, uh... I gathered... Well, I asked Herald if they could gather as many guardians as they could in the City of Glass. I was hoping to amass some kind of... Or at least introduce myself to them.

I've... As... Yeah. It hasn't gone to plan. It cannot have been anticipated. But if there's something we can do, having many guardians, guardians are capable fighters, but not just that, their artisans are exceptionally skilled. We could use as many guardians as we can find.

Normally guardians are hesitant to get involved in matters like this from what i understand guardians have a very short lifespan uh they only normally last a few years and then they normally just vanish disappear the more we have the the better in my opinion a powerful ally to have on our side. Yeah. Hopefully we can get them all out in one piece. Very well. Well, I will begin having us prepare for such an endeavor.

I suspect once you do return, perhaps once we can deal, once we can go and do something about the Guardians, I will need to have some of you... We will need to begin making preparations for various other activities smaller strike forces for those of you who have a more combat skill set as well as those of you who are powerful mages we will need to begin preparing defenses training individuals there will also be some diplomacy involved. Once you get back from this Tassadar

and once Sentinel Prime is dealt with these Guardians, I'm going to be keeping you busy for some time. So make sure that you have things under control when you return. Okay. Okay. We can do that. Keep things under control. That's what we do. Probably the worst, actually. It's going to be a busy

year, and I'm going to put you to work. Not that I wish to be seen as some sort of leader, but I think that in my position, knowing with Aradan and his skill strengths, I think that this is best suited to me, to coordinate these matters.

Be the hand that wields the blade in this case okay very well best of luck I hope that the gods and the luck of Siaska travels with you thank you

she doesn't know so yeah with that I guess you guys want to make any preps you guys want to it's easy enough you can go grab Moonstar and Raniel they'll both come with you like they're not going to say no they'll obviously come and help yeah

cool yeah grab those wait for the message from them as well. Herald. Herald. Helios. Helios, yeah. Do we want to send a message to Valor? Like, do we want to try and talk to Valor? Yeah, that's a good question.

Like, give her a heads up. Maybe. I don't know if it's wise to just sort of even if she even if something's wrong she could tell us because there was when we

last cast dream with her it did end with her saying something like someone's coming saying something like, something's, like someone's coming or something like that. So read that as you will. Mark's the best DM face. Yeah, poker face Mark over here.

I think let's just rock up let's just rock up in case we send the message and they intercept it and then all of a sudden everyone knows that we're turning up tomorrow she'll come with us anyway she'll love us unless she's been brainwashed by Dada

Dada in which case She'll be coming back to Rose with us. She just won't like it. But she'll still be coming back with us. I actually killed Chris right. He's had to leave. He's gone. Got him.

Got him. Oh dear. What's wrong with daddy? What's the plan? The plan is... It wasn't the daddy. I was doing something. You want to cast sending?

No, no. I'm not sending a message to Valor. To ease everyone else. I'll say, oh, yeah, yeah. I'll send a message to her. She'll know. I don't want not sending a message to Valor. To ease everyone else, I'll say, yeah, I'll send a message to her, she'll know. I don't want to send a message. That sounds ridiculous. That sounds crazy. Do you want to try scrying?

Or dream. I can't until tomorrow. I can scry and dream now. I can do both. I can scry and dream. I know that there is a way that they can detect scry. I know there is a way that they can... Valor has to be asleep for dream.

So either or. That's how I talked to her before. Yeah. But yeah, we're ready to wait okay well in that case you guys take a long rest okie dokie

so you may take a long rest swap spells out you might want to do that in the break though Quill because as you drift into sleep you dream the dream seems to take on you find yourself standing in a white and gold beautiful kind of palace almost um but laid out in front of you there is a uh a table um with a very rough approximation not as detailed as your own schematics but a very rough approximation, not as detailed as your own

schematics, but a very rough map of the Tassadar. There are various small game pieces, like carved game pieces, that resemble the Stormchaser crew as you appeared in Astral Space when you appeared to the Wings of Ishtar, as well as several

angelic figures, as well as all sorts of Valkyrian troops including four individuals that definitely stand out the figures the four standing out figures one appears to be a man with sort of like long red hair doesn't look like maximilian but long red hair and red red robes with very regal looking features. One is a completely shrouded, like masked, hooded, completely covered in black figure. One appears to be a woman,

sort of long, beautiful silver hair covered in magitek. And then the other one is a pit fiend, which is a giant sort of like, you know, 12 foot tall, super muscular demon firing. It looks like the Balrog of Morgoth. Oh, it does? Okay. Yep. Oh, he's just got one of those too. Okay.

And there's four of those kind of laid out amongst the Valkyrian troops as well. Coalescing into a form around you is Zelion uh this beautiful dark-skinned man with this kind of like almost like silver dreadlocks that spill down his back these huge giant wings um just radiating golden light and warmth hello keelek i i'm afraid that I could not bring the others.

This is your communication. I see. Dream. Right, I understand. You're familiar with the spell. I normally get visions, you see. I didn't know if this was some kind of mystic questioning from... Anyway.

Hi. My apologies. It is nothing of the sort. It it is if you're familiar with the spell dream this allows us to communicate we have recovered a prototype device some magitek that valkyrian uses that allows the spell to cross planes and normally the spell is not capable of such a feat but we procured a prototype of this matter. I'm afraid that we are not sure if we will be able to use it again. As such, this will be a limited communication, and you will need to

pass on whatever we discuss to your own team, and you will need to represent them in this meeting, if that is suitable. Okay. Were you successful in acquiring detailed plans of the Tassadar? We were.

Am I able to show them to you? Am I able to do that? I'm afraid not. I'm afraid I am the only one who is capable of creating this dreamscape, and only from what I already know. I have a rough layout based on other warship designs, but things can change, especially internally. It doesn't matter. For the time being, it is most important

that you have access to it, and then once we begin our operation, you can provide us with more accurate intel. Okay. Okay. That sounds good. We were able to acquire some uniforms as well as

keystones, but you should know that we only have that we were only able to acquire rather lower-ranked individuals, basic soldiers, basic engineers. They would only have access to the lower decks and the mid decks, but not any of the particularly important areas. Engineering, for example, is restricted to high-level engineers only. The elemental engines, we believe we can gain access to those. But the lower decks and mid decks, we will only be able to access with what we have.

Do you believe they would get us through security, mid-deck security? I do not believe so. The keystones we've acquired are they are tied to individuals now i believe that with certain disguises and the uniforms we will be able to pass as long as we are not held up to great scrutiny any sort of magical detection any sort of true sight that many of the individuals such as myself or or the powerful fiends or celestials that serve valkyrian they will be able to see through these matters the identification as well if it is carefully examined by even a trained officer it is likely to cause some suspicion we will be able

to move through the decks of the ship without much incidence but i do believe that the mid-deck security or any sort of security system would be difficult likewise if we are if we encounter any of the high-level officers if they have any reason to question us it may cause some issues uh these disguises uh i mean they may work on Lucius, Aayla and Nova but Aarakocra and Guardians are kind of unique to Aurois I know, if you have any way of acquiring

the ability to transform yourself with magic, that may be an option, there is also invisibility, however invisibility will only work in certain parts of the Tassadar. The two Magitek lifts, as well as the more important areas, are all equipped with anti-invisibility sensors that will detect if somebody is invisible within. Oh. Oh. Oh. No. Okay. Good to know. Good to know.

The last thing that we should possibly discuss is the wings of Ishtar, we are happy to assist you. We believe that you wanted to rescue someone, this Valar from Kallus' confines. And we know that we discussed retrieving the Tassadar as well. We believe that retrieving the Tassadar may be a very difficult task. Instead, we wish to try and disable

or perhaps even destroy the Tassadar. Once you have rescued your friend, we would not, of course, put you or this Valar, this girl, under any sort of danger. But we believe that destroying the Tassadar represents a huge opportunity for those who oppose the Valkyrian Empire. We've identified and acquired some magitek of our own that we believe will detonate the elemental engines that serve as a sort of backup power for the Tassadar.

We can plant those and have them detonated on a timer, which we can set for a certain amount of time based on what you think you will need to acquire Valor. It can be a lengthy amount of time if needed. But the greater the length, the more chance of these explosives being discovered. Okay. I mean, we intend to

retrieve the Tassadar itself, not the ship, but the core of it. The Eterna. This will be difficult. the ship but the core the eternal it's difficult it's something we have to try and if we get valor it may be a lot easier if we get valor first maybe she can lead us there but if she knows if she has knowledge of the ship or if she is trusted by the ship's crew that may be able to assist you as well. There are some things. I believe that my team and I, if necessary,

we are willing to draw their attention away from sections of the ship. This is a last resort. If we have to activate any sort of combat, we would be able to give you perhaps a few minutes at best to escape the Tassadar once we engage in a direct conflict. We believe that we can perhaps lock down where the elemental engines are secured, forcing them to fight us through choke points.

We may be able to give you about 10 minutes of time if this were to happen. Okay, well, we hope it doesn't go that way. Indeed. It would be much better if... Yeah, the rest of my team managed to get through most of a Zarkirian ship

without any incident and rescued me. So hopefully we can replicate that again this time. But that involved invisibility, which is off the table for this one. The invisibility will still be useful to you. As mentioned, it is only certain areas of the ship that are equipped with these sensors uh it still will be a useful tool um i think but just be aware that in uh anywhere of any sort of strategic or tactical importance

they are equipped with these sensors okay um i will also make the point if any of you have the ability to travel through the ethereal plane we do not believe the senses are advanced enough to be able to detect this we believe that the ethereal plane may be a way to avoid these senses if temporarily temporarily okay okay okay i like that that ensure by the way that you have space for one extra on your return trip we rescued

a member of yours Rana Eyal Rana Eyal Rana Eyal yes she is she became something of an informant providing us intelligence from within the empire my understanding was that she had been killed in a prison break no she She became something of an informant, providing us intelligence from within the Empire. My understanding was that she had been killed in a prison break.

No, she... well, she was a prisoner until we rescued her from Zarkira. From Zarkira? She very much... yes, she very much likes to come back to the wings of Ishtar. Yes, of course, of course. Her intelligence will be incredibly valuable as well. If she's been held captive by Zarkira, this would be of great value to us as well. Well, you'll hear her side of it, I guess, when you meet her. Cool, of course.

But I think with this information when we give you the map we can put together a effective plan to get straight to Valor hopefully to the Tassadar to retrieve that and then to the elemental engines

excellent we will attempt to transport in at the same time with regards to your timing i think it may be best once you have arrived in the tacita you may need to take care of some guards within the the room that houses the teleportation circle send word to us as soon as you are off of the circle itself and we will transport in directly after you. Okay. Okay, that works. Good. Perfect. I look forward to seeing

you again. Indeed. Indeed. If we do encounter, there are, and he points to the four figures on the table, these are the elite officers aboard the Tassadar. They're all very powerful individuals. I think that even myself, if I were

to go against them toe-to-toe, would be a difficult battle. If you can avoid them, I recommend it. Do you have any indication of where they might be on the ship? I have a feeling that

the dragon, he points to the man in red with the red hair will likely be on the bridge uh the uh archmage herself will likely be in the engineering and he points to the lady with the silver hair uh she is something of their chief engineer she will be a difficult one to bypass like i mentioned many of these elite officers have the ability to see through illusions or disguises. They cannot be enchanted. They cannot be mind controlled. They will be difficult to bypass.

The other two, the pit fiend in particular, a brutal sort, likely to be found wherever there are soldiers as a disciplinary service. But if an encounter does take place, if they become alerted that there are intruders I suspect that the pit fiend will be the first to arrive to deal with them personally finally this last one we don't know much about him we believe him to be a spy of sorts working for Valkyrian

incredibly good at blending in able to change his form that even true sight cannot penetrate has the ability to read thoughts very difficult foe. Something of an assassin. So he could be anywhere. Indeed.

Could even perhaps replace one of your own. Yes, indeed. Okay. Well, he's the scariest one. Okay. Okay. I believe we can do this key like add color I believe that this is possible I do not believe that callus will be expecting this his defenses are impressive but there's no way that he should know that we have these at. If we strike hard, we strike fast, we can do it. Yeah.

About that. So when I was captured by Zarkira, a mind thing, mind flayer thing, got into my brain and potentially took the codes that we knew about the teleportation circle. I should have led with this. I should have led with this. I should have led with this. You watch.

He, like, looks crestfallen. This is grave news. Our only hope is that Zarkira has kept this information from Calus. But why would she? Why would she keep this information from Calus, but why would she? Why would she keep this information from him? She will likely tell him as soon as she is aware. When did this happen? How long ago? Uh, maybe

a day, two days ago? Um... That is too much time. That is too much time she would have informed him. The information that she received was one that gives her a massive head start over or strength over

Calus a vision in which Starbane is basically insane that his plan just will not work um Zarkira may use this

against him and maybe hopefully I shouldn't have said anything he just sort of nods his head I mean he definitely should have did Quill say I shouldn't have said anything

or did Tom Hazel say I shouldn't have said anything? Tom Hazel. Okay. Okay. This is grave news. Very well. We must commence this tomorrow. We will not have this opportunity again, but

I fear that we may be walking straight into a trap. If Callus knows what we are planning, he will not allow us to escape. I fear that we may be walking straight into a trap if Kalos knows what we are planning he will not allow us to escape but we need to get Vala and we need to shut down the Tassadar and this is the only shot we'll have

probably ever to do this can you make a persuasion check for me please okay okay uh persuade oh plus one huh Can you make a persuasion check for me, please? Okay, okay. Persuade. Oh, plus one. If only Lucius were here with his plus a million.

Oh, good. Goodie, good, good. You just feel the dream beginning to fade around you. Our last chance. The dream ends. You finish a long rest. And with that finished long rest, we're going to take a rest by taking a quick five minute break no no no my favorite thing is a dm is putting a player where it's a one like the player has to say everything themselves like you can't have like these meta

like other players jumping in and reminding you of stuff and saying stuff because it really forces players to just talk and then they say things they don't expect and it leads to great moments it really does i love it i mean because i could see kim and trot like this like that whole time they're like i i had oh i had portent damn it um uh yeah I mean I Quill was going to tell them it's just

it slipped my mind I have a portent of 19 by the way that I could have used on that one could have used that for 20 that would have been a great roll that would have been really could have used that you'll thank me when I use it in the Tassadar