High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #112 | Assault on the Tassadar (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

The mission continues as the team look for Valla in the flagship of the Valkyrian Empire! Go to http://manscaped.com and use code HIGHROLLERS to get 20% off with free shipping! 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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You're like, oh, you've got to wipe it on your thing. Oh, for fuck's sake. But yeah, it's a squeeze, Nova, and it's uncomfortable. This is not a pleasant space to be. You kind of have to have Qian Gong out in front of you, you know, because having him at your having them at your side or on your back is gonna catch on things so you're having to like pull them in the front um and yeah army crawl your way through these uh vents you're not

seen in aliens where bishop gets in that tiny space and just like wriggles forward it's a bit like that but it's a bit bigger than that it It's not quite that tight. Okay. But yeah, so you leave that and then, yeah, go on. Yeah, I just want to go with the caveat that I'll say, I'll meet you in crew quarters or something like that. Like, I'm going to the crew quarters. I'm going to find a uniform. Good luck. Like to Ayla, Lucius, and Edea.

Like, I'll meet you there. And that'll be the caveat. Yeah. Okay. All right. and that'll be the caveat yeah okay alright so Nova is gonna it's gonna take Nova some time to crawl through this space so the rest of you so yeah Dea, Ayla

and Lucius are you guys just gonna basically try and talk and walk your way through the mid deck we're gonna have to just put the bodies back first for clarity seal up behind Nova so if she needs to come back this way We're going to have to just... I'm going to put the bodies back first. For clarity. Seal up behind Nova. So if she needs to come back this way,

she's trapped. It's fine. I have 50 million ways to teleport. It's fine. She's pushing down the lid. Squishing it all in. You definitely hear some bones crunch when you do that

oh my god oh no they weren't having a good day they don't know anymore when you play a stealth game you don't think of some of these realities do you you just throw all the men in the bin or in like the chute you don't think about how

they get crushed 50 bodies can fit in a dumpster. It's fine. There's a point. But what about the ones that go down the chute? They're definitely going to break something rather than being like, you know, we can dunk, dunk, dunk. Reminds me of a very specific scene in The Expanse.

Anyway, let's move along. I'll be lieutenant, so I assume I'll be in front of you two. You two just have my flank, and then we're just going to walk determined, not make eye contact with anybody, straight to the elevator, okay? If anyone stops us, I'll take the conversation. Sure. Just act like whatever other people are doing.

I will. Oh, I will. The acting of my life. We can stay ahead and warn you if there's anything coming up that's surprising. Right. Good. Okay. Right.

You guys step out of the teleportation chamber. And yeah, within a few paces, you round a corner and yeah, you see that there are guards and people moving to and fro. You are kind of lucky that whatever sounds were overheard in the teleportation chamber, people didn't seem to immediately either come and investigate or perhaps they didn't hear them or yeah, it just seems to be

temporary. You begin making your way through with a lieutenant leading you. There isn't any immediate sort of like, nobody passing you really takes much notice. People are going about their own business. You see guards moving to and fro. There are several of these automatons that seem to move in patrols,

like just groups of like squads of three or four of them move through the corridors, a bit like Cylons coming through the corridors. Just seem to be a security detail. But when you begin to come towards what you think to be this Magitek lift, you can see that you're going to be stopped. And as you get closer, you don't really get called out by anybody. Lucius, I'm going to say that, yeah, you said that you were moving with confidence, not looking at anybody.

Nobody really challenges you. But as you get there there one of the guards holds up a hand and is sir and he kind of looks like i'm already identification sir gonna get out the key card and just hand it to him silently okay uh they take it they seem to scan it with like a kind of almost like a magic wand it's like a long long, slender, cylindrical device with a gemstone. They pass the wand over it. There's like a sort of chime and the tip of the wand glows. The keystone glows

and they kind of nod. Destination, please, sir. I'm needed at the aft mid-deck. And they kind of look at each other. Why not just pass through security, sir? I'm heading that way. Because they gesture because the after mid-deck, you could just carry on going through the middle of the ship and not go down,

which is why they're sort of raising their eyebrow at you. I need to get another member from the crew quarters first. Ah, can you make a deception check for me, please, Lucius? Yeah. Uh, yeah, sure. Uh, here we go. Roll in. Whoa.

21. Okay. Uh, they kind of like, you know, your terse answer. Uh, they do seem to kind of pause for a moment you can see these two guards thinking about it um but they they kind of just nod their head and they start opening the doors you can see it takes time for the the lift they they call it and it begins making their way the magitek platform begins making its way to this floor uh those of you who are ethereal uh are you guys are you sticking around the elevator are you

kind of like moving off what are you guys doing while lucius is having this conversation what are you doing century uh i guess we'd stick by them right like make sure they get through okay yeah i think it's if they're moving we're a little bit ahead as much as we can see them and communicating with them and stuff but if they stop people yeah yeah okay monitoring um i think because of the nature of the ethereal plane you guys would spot this before the others do because they're kind of in this like lucius is talking to this guard he's having his thing scanned ayla and adea are trying not to look at anybody trying to keep their heads down coming from the mid-deck security which is kind of further along the corridor to where the lift is located you begin to see a very powerful aura because this creature is

clearly magical and it is making its way uh in your direction those of you in the material plane uh ayla would probably notice this uh first um because you can smell it before you can hear it and you the hair on your back of your neck begins to prickle ayla as the smell of sulfur and brimstone and flame begins to fill your nostrils and you begin to see that the section further down the corridor coming from this mid-deck security, you see a very large, maybe like 11, 12 feet tall, muscular, thick red skin beneath a kind of black uniform, a whip made of fire in one hand

and a flaming blade in the other and a pair of wings curled up you sense this aura of powerful evil its footsteps reverberate even throughout the ship and this smell this strong smell of hell

itself follows it and you begin to feel the sensation and it's making its way towards uh the the lift itself when it gets to those of you who are ethereal i mean are you going to stick around here are you gonna what do you what do you want to do you can sense this thing coming i don't know if it can see us but the pit fiend is coming uh we should probably get back into the walls or something so it can't see us anymore okay okay she's like sink down into the floor or something like that homer simpson into a wall you merge in uh the lift comes before you see this creature like you can see it further down

the corridor and you can your main thing is you can hear this pit fiend coming um you can see the officers on the the lift begin turning their heads just as the doors kind of open and you step onto this large metallic disc with this kind of uh sigil geometric pattern laid into the floor um they just turn and say uh good luck sir they just kind of like give you like a brief kind of goodbye and they call out like ah a general and they kind of snap to salute like uh i guess he would be admiral actually because he's part of the fleet uh admiral faligore and they kind of like just snap to attention as you feel this wave of fire just like

this heat just emanate through the corridor and then gracefully the disc just begins to lower and you see you hear this booming voice just like, have you had any reports on suspicious activities? And this kind of booming voice up ahead, you can hear it as this figure looms. Ethereal crew, I'm assuming you follow down, do you want to kind of like

Yeah, we'll follow. Okay. Nova, you crawl. It takes you a good fair amount of time. Like, you've probably been doing this for like 10, maybe 15 minutes, like just crawling along, making your way through these Jeffrey's tubes-esque elements.

You can see that there are other sections that can sort of connect into other rooms, but none of them are particularly important. This seems is very much a maintenance access. One thing you do notice, and you have to pause because up ahead, you hear like something on metal legs, like it sounds like a metal spider. And you see something in the darkness ahead of you scuttle past through one of these little maintenance tubes. Can I go invisible i have shroud of shadows so i can cast invisibility at will um so i'll just like

stop go invisible yeah you just watch you kind of stop for a moment and just go invisible you do see this little uh it is like a little construct spider. It fills the space, like its legs on its back, on its belly, on its sides. Like it's kind of got legs all the way around it. It looks and the single red eye like looks down the space where you are. And then it just turns back and goes the other way. But the further you go on as you spend more time going through these things, there are numerous times where you have to avoid these things these things go around these corridors and it seems that these are built for these things to move around the ship in uh these are like little repair drones or something like that that just kind of

occasionally you have to like stop uh at one point you have to kind of almost one looks like it's about to come down the corridor you're coming down, but it just thankfully passes over. But if one of these things were to, you know, connect with you, it would probably be pretty bad news. But with invisibility so far, so good. You eventually come to a tall vertical shaft, Nova. You can hear something traveling down and you can hear like this kind of humming this magical hum like uh but looking around this shaft is just like a vertical shaft to look down to the lower deck is probably a good sort of like 50 feet down um to get to the bottom where this thing

empties out into the the crew deck okay um and i'm guessing there's no like platform or anything like i can't you can hear something coming down but that you would assume is the lift itself like the lift platform itself going down yeah um i guess can i I guess, can I... Can I wait for it to pass, but far enough back that if anyone was on it, they wouldn't see me. Like, I just want to be cautious and invisible and like, so they can't quite see me and wait for it to pass down

and then look again and see kind of where it's... Yeah, okay. What has passed. So you kind of crawl back into the passage space and then as you're waiting for it to come down you hear coming towards you coming in the direction and there's no turnings this thing is coming from behind you you can hear this lift beginning to pass but you don't know which one's going to take you know is this thing going to reach you is the lift going to pass you before

this thing gets here what do you want to do um can i see like on the shaft the lift shaft can i see like an access point that like you know if i was to i guess like another another vent on the other side of the shaft yes in fact you can yes you can in fact you can see two one is slightly higher than the others um let's move that to the map layer uh so you can see one now obviously kim knows where one leads uh or they both seem to lead but they are directly opposite you there is an upper one and a lower one um and they're open there's not like there's not like a grill on it or anything like that you could now it is about a sort of uh 10 foot wide shaft um so and there's no way that you can get like a running jump or anything like this you would have to do basically you would have to hang outside

the the shaft you're currently in jump 10 feet across to the other side and then pull yourself back in or use some sort of teleportation spell if i levitated could i like pull myself out and sort of like yeah i'd say that you could use levitator basically like anti-grab yourself across uh you have got six seconds before this lift and this little uh repair drone hit you what do you do? You got one action here. Any other action is going to delay you enough that one of these other things is going to either pass you or this drone is going to see you. Okay, so given...

Okay, I think levitate, I'd have to... Yeah, I don't have enough. So I'm actually going to dimension door and teleport from my side to the other side. So you managed to pull Tiangong, hold Tiangong close to your chest, and you close your eyes and you feel Tiangong shoot this beam of light out and you

whip across to the other side. Do you want to go for the upper one or the lower one? Upper vent or lower vent in the shaft? I don't know what Kim wants to do, but I'll go lower because i we said we were going to meet in the crib so i presume it would be lower yeah you feel yourself dash across just as the lift kind of passes and you see that little spider drone pull itself right

to the edge of the lift as the lift passes and it begins fixing something in the space where you were just waiting basically it starts twiddling with something in the in the the shaft it's what these little tiny spidery legs like uh when you pass over the lift you see lucius ayla and adea uh on the platform just like going down god damn it uh but yeah uh those of you who are on the lift you just seem to pass quietly uh down um and eventually it comes to a stop hopefully nova's doing all right in the air vents anyway back uh back into character everybody good posture and all that now we have to face a lot more i assume you do when you step out uh the

doors once again kind of open there is a guard here uh things are a little bit more as i said they're a little bit more relaxed you see um there are definitely a lot of people down here but the soldiers all look like they might be either off duty um or they they are just kind of in basic you you know, waiting. They're, you know, they're attending to other duties. There's no galley or anything down here. This is all just sleeping quarters. But there are things like laundry areas where people are kind of scrubbing uniforms and things like that.

But it is busy with engineers. What I need from Lucius, Ayla, and Edea is I need all three of you to make deception checks. This is to basically blend in. Whereas before, you were kind of moving through a space where you could get by with determined purpose, here this is definitely a case of there's more eyes on you, so it's an attempt of blending in.

22. 19. Oh! 19, and then just Edea to go. Edea rolls a natural 20. So the three of you managed to move through without much incident. A couple of people seem to nod in your direction. Go on, Lucius.

Can I ask Edea to keep on the lookout for potentially locker rooms or spare clothing that we can give Nova? You're good at stealthing through and looking for things. I think one of our best options may be one of these laundry areas. It seems that they clean their uniforms down

here or one of their barracks where we can take something unseen. I'll keep an eye out, brother. And she just kind of like nods to you. I look for air vents or ducts. Sure, yeah. You can see that there are these maintenance hatches kind of scattered um along the place like yeah there's definitely access to them whether they connect up to the

ones that nova was in you don't know yet um but yeah you make your way through i will say uh that it is not difficult to find like an empty barracks like you walk past there's a room there's a couple of guards sleeping in one and adea is stealthy enough like she is trained as like you know stealthing around and being sneaky um she sneaks in and she can kind of like you know open a closet rummages through find something that she thinks is um nova's size probably oh no because rana wants one as well so she kind of rummages through manages to find a couple of things um bundles them up puts them into like a knapsack next to a bed slings it over a shoulder and then just walks out like she's you know just gathered her own things basically um and she kind of slings that over a shoulder and then makes her way out uh while you and ayla kind of keep watch

on the doors uh nova you emerge into this other you know vent and you begin crawling your way along uh there doesn't appear to be you don't hear any of these recon or repair you know constructs around um but as you're making your way through perhaps in about five minutes time you come to another shaft this one's a smaller one like another maintenance shaft um one appears to go up and to the side and then one seems to go down um and then diagonal which one would you like to take um would given tiangong had uh projections on him on them uh would i be able to kind of ascertain from that which one would take me towards the quarters the schematics didn't have any of these interior vents on them it had just like a layout of the main decks and the rooms and things like that it didn't have any of these interior vents on them it had just like a layout of the main decks and the rooms and things

like that it didn't have any of these maintenance hatches or anything like that on there um judging by just the location of the rooms and things like that in a kind of 3d map um kind of examining it in this really tight space he you know tiangong they project like a little micro version of the schematics kind of casting you in this purple glow you suspect that going uh there's a chance that both of these could lead you down into the crew quarters but you're also quite close to the ship power you are quite close to the engineering section and thinking about it these maintenance areas would make sense that they connect to that space because that's probably where a lot of the power you know you know cabling and crystals are all connected to.

So they would need to have access to them from these kind of spaces. Okay. So there's a gamble here. It's a 50-50 chance it could lead you to engineering or it could lead you straight into the crew quarters. Can I speak to Tiangong and say, Tiangong, can you reach out to Tassadar?

I'm trying to make sure that I have the right voice. I do. I can sense Tassadar is nearby. I will not be able to speak with Tassadar until you, my symbiotic vessel, are within visual range, but they are close by. I believe that if we take the down passageway, that should lead us to the ship heart, Nova Vija. Can I messenger ring people? Yeah, Lucius and Ayla are the only ones who can hear you with it. But yes, you can.

Lucius, Ayla, I presume the others can't hear me because they're in another plane of existence. I'm in a vent, and I have an opportunity to go to engineering directly to where Tassadar is. Should I go, or should I come with you? Uh, well, if things go awry, you're on

your own. And we have Edea getting you an outfit right now. We could make it to the ship hut through normal means rather than you crawling through a vent i'm sure there's a door but it's up to you if you think if you think it's going to be successful and you can swing the tacitar in our favor in terms of controlling it but maybe it's better in numbers. It's risky.

Why do I know? Remember, there could be a high-level engineer in there. That's where one of the... It probably is going to be one of these. Yeah. In which case, I'd wait for us. I think let's focus on Valor first. Okay. Okay, I'll come to you.

Understandable, Nova Vija. Don't worry, Tiangong. I won't leave this ship without speaking to Tassadar and doing everything we can to rescue them. Nova Vija, I wish for you to ensure your safety first and foremost. Whilst I would like to rescue my companion it is most important that both you and i survive this matter yeah you're right uh let's go to the others and get a uniform one okay so taking the up and across section there's like a little ladder that you can kind of pull up and crawl along

eventually it leads you um and with the messenger rings you guys can kind of coordinate it you look down into what appears to be a kind of um shower room um it seems to be empty for now um there's a couple of people come and go uh you see a couple of uh an elven man and a orc woman uh both come in and have quick showers it seems to be you know a you know a gender neutral shower you have to kind of sit there as they kind of chat and listen steam kind of rising up but eventually they kind of clear out and you can coordinate the others and yeah you can kind of meet them in this space basically there's like a little kind of changing area that the the guys can enter as if looking like they're about to use it they lock the door behind them

if they desired and yeah this is a space where Nova can come out and if you that the guys can enter as if looking like they're about to use it. They lock the door behind them if desired. And yeah, this is a space where Nova can come out. And if you wanted to, you could begin swapping over uniforms and things like that. Giving you a moment's respite, perhaps only a few minutes before anybody notices something's going awry. I'll also hold up the second uniform, like top, and just show it to the air around me and rotate.

Okay. We'll look over at Quill. Can you end it just on me? Or can I end this spell? Quill? That's a good question. I don't believe so. When the spell ends, then we

are returned. If it's when the spell ends, I believe that you as the caster can choose to end it, but I think it might end it for everybody. Probably. Yeah, it doesn't say anything about ending on individual people. Could you dispel it from just me? Oh, that's a... I might be able to.

No, I can't. It's an 8th level spell. It would have to be... Well, you can attempt it. It just becomes a dice roll. It becomes a roll D20 plus wisdom versus DC 18. Okay. When I cast a spell of a force lot higher

Sure. I will cast spell magic at third. G20 plus wisdom modifier. G20 plus whiz. Whiz. Oh god. 12.

12. Enough to overcome your own spell. Yeah, I needed 18. Yeah. Nope, doesn't look like that one worked. Perhaps you should just tell Lucius to leave the uniform then and I will accompany you in the ethereal realm until we are needed. Don't worry about that uniform.

Rana's going to stay here with us for the time being. We'll keep scouting ahead and communicating with you on any more things we might see. You should be coming up to another elevator. Where is it we intend to go now? Nova knows where the ship part is she was in a duct but I assume we push through the crew quarters

and up the next elevator but look ahead for us please okay I'll let you know how the elevator looks great Balor's here Paddy what was that noise

the big bed at this point I think that the message is Balor's here Baddie What was that noise? The big bed At this point I think that the message has ended Lucius is just thinking this in his own mind I think Aayla would say to Lucius Have you heard from Quill? Yes, just then, in fact Rana's not coming out of etherealness

and they're going to scout ahead for us and tell us where to go. Do they know where Val is? No. No one does. Damn. Nova, as a point, if you're going to put on this Starbone uniform, you won't be able to wear your breastplate. You'll have to temporarily, like, store your breastplate.

No, my boobs they're cold i mean this uniform does cover them but yeah it just means that uh because the thing is is ala lucius and moonstar well moonstar normally just wears leather armor anyway so it doesn't affect her but lucius and ala don't wear armor so like it's not affecting their ac really whereas you have have physical armor that you're going to have to take off and store in the backpack or something like that temporarily. Poop. Okay.

Just as a note. It's in my backpack. Okay, cool. Sure. Great. So, as the ethereal crew... 19 to 16. You went from very high ac to 16 yes not so fun that sucks does it uh i mean 16 16 is still better than lucius what i'd get for an ac of 16 um ethereal crew you guys begin carrying on trying to kind of scout ahead the second elevator that

heads up um you can see that uh yeah everything seems fine everything on the lower deck is kind of about the same um if you make your way up um and you begin examining the aft mid deck and the engineering station you can see that this section much more heavily guarded once again very similar to the mid deck nobody can really go into any of the rooms here without having their ids checked without being asked questions um without being examined to go further up to head up to the top deck it seems that yeah you have to not only have like you have to have a high level keystone but they also you know seem to know most of the officers who have access to that and they they seem to be checking them um so this is going to be a lot harder to progress

up into the high level force yeah this is like the officers area basically if we're in the after midday what sort of range uh on this ship would a thousand feet be? Like, if I was to cast Locate Creature here. You don't know? You can try. Based on how far I've travelled, how big does this blueprint look scale-wise? No, it never went up. Yeah. Well, it's

ten minutes, I think. What's the duration on Locate Creature? Is it an hour? Up to an hour. Up to an hour, in that case, yeah. Is Ethereal not concentration? It's not, is it? It uh something like that oh it's up to an hour yeah up to an hour in that case yeah and is ethereal not concentration it's not is it it's not no okay so that's fine yeah so it's still active so i would say that it's about the ship sort of like from the hangar bay to the galley the cells which is like the furthest two points i would say is maybe about three and a half thousand feet maybe close to four thousand all right so by the time you've traveled and it's taken you like nearly an hour like you're nearly at the end of this spell like you're running out of the the duration on locate creature but as you get to the the uh

lift as you get to the after mid deck i would say that you do get a sense of direction to where vala is she You get the sensation that she is up, probably near the top of the ship, on the bridge deck near the commander's quarters is the direction. Based on what you remember of the schematics, you get the impression she is up here.

Good, okay. As you do that. She is there. I guess Sentry can't see that bead but um century rana vala is here she is here i've picked it up excellent she's somewhere above us right now um okay do we know how far up how where exactly is she do you know i mean if it only just got picked up here give or take a thousand feet away um so my worry is that based on based on the keystone that lucius has he'll only have access to the communications top deck if she's located up near the bridge he won't have access to that we'll

either need to find some other access or we need to find some other way to reach there is my only problem. Only bridge officers, senior officers, or Akalos' own personal guards have access to those areas. Now, we can... We can get to the office quarters. Maybe there's... We can go up there.

Maybe we don't get Lucius and the crew up to Valor. We just get Valor down to them. We can go up there, Maybe we don't get Lucius and the crew up to Valor. We just get Valor down to them. We can go up there and just message her, right? That's if she has free reign to move. But yes, if we can do that, that would help us greatly. Rather than risking Lucius and the others accessing areas they're not supposed to be. Is it worth a try? We could try that. I leave this in your hands. I will help you if battle occurs or if you need me in any other way i have a little knowledge of how military matters work

aboard valkyrian vessels but i feel that this is your friend and this is your mission i just wish to be here to help you if you need me okay century what do you think we could go back down there tell lucius that we've found valor and that that we could get Valor down to them, or we just go now? And I'm wary of time. It's taking us a long time to travel. Well, if we go now, we risk being seen. Lucius risks being captured as he comes with us.

It's difficult. We could try and see if there's maybe key cards in the office quarters, but then again, time is pressing. Also, we can't pick anything up. No, we can't pick anything up, but... I'm starting to panic. Okay. Let's...

Lucius and the crew are somewhat safe in the crew quarters right now. Let's... Yes. Let's... Yes. Let's go to Valor and see how much free range she has. We can talk to her discreetly up there. Okay. Get her down to them. Okay.

Okay. All right. So, meanwhile, what are the... Let's cut... So we have Ethereal crew, and now we have disguised crew disguised crew you don't hear from quill what do you guys what do you guys do you're gonna wait the shower's like you can't wait here forever people will kind of be like where are you know

what are you doing um could we maybe go to one of the bunks and pretend that we're just off duty sure yeah you can try and find like an empty or mostly empty bunk and try and pretend that you're just chilling yeah for sure okay can we try and find one that doesn't have any belongings on or near the bed that looks unoccupied that doesn't have a name that's my bunk make make a perception checks so all of you guys uh including the death make perception checks let's see if you can find something that would suit your needs. And depending on the highest result will be the best thing you can find. 17 for me. First you bonk, then you bung, then you bung.

21. 21? Nova, higher than a 21? I got a six. Because it was in a different order. No, I mean, Nova, I think that makes sense for Nova, because I think Nova being down in these areas, like you can see more magic. this is incredible magic tech like looking around like you can see

how the ship functions it's kind of amazing for nova probably like yeah it's a lot of things to take in and kind of aware um lucius and ade you're looking around but ayla you're the one who spots it first uh you do find a they oh there's one person in it. They are an orc man. You can see they've taken off their armor and their uniform. They're just, like, basically sleeping. It looks like they fell asleep reading a book. And, yeah, they're just softly snoring. There are...

Three of the bunks are empty, and it doesn't look like anybody is in there, but there's another bunk which looks like it has belongings with it. But, I mean, on a place like this, it's unlikely you're going to find a completely empty room like this is you know probably the best you're going to find father's day is just around the corner and nothing says i love you dad more than a world-class trimmer for his own natural 20s you heard that right the lawnmower 3.0 from Manscaped is the best body hair trimmer on the market. Manscaped offers precision engineered tools for your family jewels, and you can get 20% off and free shipping by going to manscaped.com and using code

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No, very risky. Otherwise we're just spending more and more time. We're spending time in a place where we're less likely to be interrogated by security or anything that is on patrol. Down here at least people are off duty. If we go too far and start something else. But if Valis starts moving

through the ship that's going to... How's us going to the ship going to help? Well maybe I can talk to Tassadar and convince Tassadar to help us. Tassadar is intrinsically linked to all of the ship's systems. They could open doors. They could, you know...

Tassadar's going to have a guard. It's not Tassadar I'm worried about. It's the person that's probably responsible for making sure that people don't go near Tassadar. And if Vala also has a guard, then we've aggravated two separate areas of the ship. That's who I worry about let's i trust quill and century and rana they'll find some information whether it's there's a blockade or we have to go another route i'm worried about going up blind let's just wait a few more moments. They also wonder where we are.

A few more moments. Perhaps, perhaps Nova, you and I, if we, there are several other bunks nearby here. We currently have outfits for guards, keystones for the guards. Maybe we can find you an engineer's outfit. That would perhaps make it easier if we do try and access the Tassadar.

That would give you more reason to be there. Perhaps you and I can go search for that, leaving Lucius and Hela here while we do that. How about that? Good idea. Let's do that. Let's plan. We're going to the ship part. I don't know what an engineer needs, so I'll need you to come with me.

Yes. Brother, what were you going to say? Yes, we're going to the ship part anyway, so anything we can do to make that easier and better for us, let's do it now. Well, all right. So, Nova, if you and Edea both make stealth checks, this is to basically kind of, like, sneak in and see if you can find some engineer's gear somewhere.

Luckily, Edea is pretty good at this. 19. 19, okay. The two of you, the stealth isn't like at this. 19. 19. Okay, the two of you. The stealth isn't like you're trying to stay hidden. It's more that you're trying not to draw attention to yourself. So you're just moving around, trying to act casual. And yeah, you managed to kind of make your way a couple of bunks down.

You find this one's got a few different engineers in it. But Adea kind of like looks around, sees that there's like some overalls and like a belt of tools has been hung up on the side um she pulls out like a small uh little kind of dice coin or like a little dice device um she clicks a few of the sides throws it in and it just begins like making like a very pungent smell and like some of the other like the guards inside the room are like what is that and they're like looking around um and then she basically notions and like the two of you, she grabs the uniform, you grab the tool belt and then you quickly whip around. As you are making your way back to the others and Quill, Sentry and Rana are basically making their way up ethereal to the top deck. A message begins to play out across the ship. It seems to be coming from all around you

as if somebody is kind of projecting a voice through magic. Soldiers of the Empire, the Emperor's Scry Division believes agents of Aroes may have infiltrated the Tassadar within the last few hours in order to kidnap Her Highness Princess Vala. Please report any suspicious activity to the nearest security detail and be vigilant loyal warriors of the empire the lord emperor has promised glory and honor to those who aid in capturing these agents and will be

returning to personally lead the efforts shortly francis val i can hear a murmur those of you near to guards everybody's just like agent how did they get on board the Tassadar this is supposed to be the securest ship the emperor's scry division if they found it then it's gotta be true they're his elite magical surveillance team

like blah blah blah just like murmuring and speech kind of going on around you guys scry division? no we got scrubs it's almost like bad guys have access to the on around you guys division no we got scrubs like bad bad guys have access to the same spells you guys do you screwed us shouldn't be allowed shouldn't be allowed uh i will say so with this by the way you guys are still like nobody's like you mysterious people like immediately point fingers however it is very clear that the alert level on this ship has dramatically risen with this.

You see guards that were previously off-duty begin kind of pulling armor on and, like, gathering weapons and things like that. The orc, who is, like, asleep, you hear, like, a... Ugh. Uh, well, hey, what was that announcement? I just missed it. Oh, oh man i've been pulling some late shifts did i miss something apparently in the bunk we have to be more alert there could be activity on this ship uh i'm gonna go take a look yes good. Good, yeah. You see him turn over. He's like, oh, I was just getting to the good bit.

And he puts his book down. Braxis Val. And he begins like, Braxis Val to you, Lieutenant. And he just kind of snaps a salute. And then begins pulling like his boots and his armor and stuff on. You can see him go over to like a locker and he pulls out a giant serrated axe. Clips it onto his back. Yeah.

Begins getting ready. Getting ready it onto his back. Yeah. Begins getting ready. Getting ready for action. Hell. Hell! Quill, as the locate creature spell just is about to end, Valor begins to move. Valor seems to be moving across.

Staying on the same level, but moving across. What, towards the bridge? Towards the bridge. Okay. This kind of puts our plan in a

bit of a mess. If they know that we're here to get Valor, there's no way Valar is going to be able to leave wherever she is. No. She'll be under lock. Do we at least try and make contact? I mean, it's worth a try, but they already know

we're here, they just don't know where. Okay, okay. Trying to think, trying to think, trying to think. How could we get Vala out of here and also meet up with the crew at the same time? Hmm. Right. Also, we need to let them know.

I can try and send a message to one of the guys back there and let them know what we're doing. But what do we do after that? At least we can know... Well, I don't know. At least we can find out what activity is like all over the ship, right? We can message Valor,

and then Valor will tell us what her situation is. And then we message the other guys, and they can tell us what their situation is. And then I guess then we can figure out what's generally going on. Right? Sure. Okay.

I will cast Sending to Nova and say we have found Valor. Well, hang on, Tom. Oh, yeah. You're on a different plane of existence. There's a 5% chance of failing well look at that I rolled a 93

that fails the sending spell fails it's a 5% chance wait you're going through I thought it was 5% of failing should it be 95 oh that's right yeah fucking hell I'm an idiot I was like yeah I'm an idiot no I was that's yeah that's it yeah i'm an idiot

no i was like i for some reason i got 98 and 93 switched in my head that's a little bit of dyslexia for you there um yeah that would have been 10 so yeah it does go through just oh it It was close. Spicy. We found Valor. We'll attempt to make contact. Stay safe. Don't get discovered. Clear skies. Or Praxis Val. Who do you think that is? You've got 25 words.

There's so many different endings there, Tom. Praxis Val? He's been compromised. What's the code word? What's the code word? I'm trying to make him... Worst comes to wit. Wasn't that it? If the worst comes to worst.

Worst comes to worst. Nova? You're under arrest. Any response? to rest. Any response? Okay. Clear skies. Entire ship looking for us. Want to go

to Tassadar. Not sure what to do. That's the reply you get. Essentially, they want to go to the ship, and honestly, I don't think it's the worst idea. Kayla and Lucius are just like, do-do-do!

Haven't heard from anybody in a while. I wonder where those infiltrators are. We should really look around for them. I'll be back in a minute. I'm just letting Sensory and Quill do their thing, where those infiltrators are. We should really look around for them. They'll be back in a minute. I'm just letting Sensory and Quill do their thing and then Nova will be back. It makes sense to meet there because if anything, they're going to be in the above decks more than anywhere, right?

Keeping Valor protected. I assume. So maybe it's not so bad. Maybe it's... I don't know. But then there's people everywhere. Look at them. Look at them run know. But then there's people everywhere. Look at them. Look at them run around. They are all over the place.

Oh, they're like bugs. If we get to Valor, make contact with her discreetly, and it will be discreetly, if she can get out, she can get out. If not, then she can't. The only way I think the alarm is going to be lowered is if they control the Tassadar. I think. And once the alarm is lowered is if they control the Tassadar. I think. And once the alarm is lowered,

we can get Valor out of here. Maybe. I mean, it's worth it. Anything's worth a try at this point. Honestly. Oh, I don't... So where are you guys going, Ethereal Crew? And then I'll switch over to the other guys.

Like, where are you heading or what are you doing? I mean, during this, I'm following the bead. Like, oh, I'm actually moving in that direction. Yeah. The locate object, you get the sense that the Valor is moving towards the bridge and then the spell ends. Cool. I'll head in that direction. It was the last guy all right follow nova and adea return to the thing uh both obviously you guys have heard the same announcement you arrive and see lucius and ayla are still there

uh the orc is in the process of arming up still he's still in the room it's only a few seconds that you were gone or like a minute or so there you are engineer are you ready to carry out the maintenance sir yes sir now you need to be extra vigilant because there could be jeopardized

maintenance doohickeys in the let's go jeopardized maintenance-y doohickeys in the... Let's go. You're gonna have to give me a deception, Lucius. The orc is still there. The orc is, like, right there.

Give me a deception. Fifteen. Hey, yeah, the orc is just like, yeah, mechanical doohickeys always causing problems on this deck just sort of totally goes with it I rolled a three

this is why I'm a lieutenant and they're an engineer let's go and so yeah so what's the plan where are you guys heading you gonna go straight up to the engineer station you gonna get in the lift and head up yes and I'll messenger ring saying

I think given the circumstance, maybe the ship hut and Tassadar is our best option. And I'll messenger ring back and say Quill messaged me just moments ago saying they were going for Valor and I think that was it, wasn't it?

I'm trying not to murder game. Can't remember. Just that they're going for valor and uh i think that was it wasn't it didn't say anything else i'm trying not to murder game can't remember just that they're going to valor and do they know that we're going to the ship heart well that's the idea i told them i was thinking about it but i didn't get a message back it's good enough for now let's go all right uh infiltration team when you make your way to the lift uh you can see that yeah they are you know checking everybody going in and out uh when you approach they hold up their hand lieutenant uh keystone please of course present your keystone uh they scan it um can you make i think at this point uh, just give me a...

In fact, everybody in the infiltration team make a deception check. This will be like a group skill check against their insight because they start checking faces now. So with this kind of alert level, they begin sort of examining everybody's faces. They're casting spells like detect magic and stuff like that on on things um so uh what was the lowest deception checks we got an 18 from lucius nova what'd you get 23 23 ayla 12 12 so that's probably going to be our lowest because the day i got a 15 um okay so as they're examining like lucius they pass they scan your

keystone you see one of them cast a tech magic and begins examining things they do kind of like raise their eyebrow at like your you know cool arm and like some of your gear but magical gear on this ship isn't actually that uncommon like there's all magic tech around they're just kind of like you know trying to see if there's anything hidden um as they kind of scan everybody and look everybody around uh i think the tiangong you kind of keep sort of like hidden away for a little bit and over and they they kind of just see a sword they don't check it fully yeah yeah i was wondering if i could get tiangong to morph into another like a smaller shape um yeah you can make him you can make tiangong like a dagger or something like that for sure uh they kind of check those but with ayla they do stop

for a second and they're kind of like like checking ayla and kind of like do i know you from somewhere from do i know you from somewhere soldier are you new to the ship no been here for ages mate can't you tell a clone when you see one oh they look at Lucius oh that's probably why yeah one of the elven clones yep no worries and they just move you into the elevator that was a very clever little line

actually that definitely they just shake their head and like yep move along keep vigilant report anything you see to your nearest officer any new data not as far as we know sir we the if the scrying division thinks that they are on board the ship they could be hidden somewhere we're currently checking all of the maintenance hatches all of the current maintenance ducks uh we believe that the individuals uh we've been advised about them before, they do have a lot of magical abilities on a ROAS.

Their agents may be able to use invisibility, they may be able to disguise themselves. If you see anybody acting suspicious, please inform any of the security details, especially the automatons. They have been trained to locate them. This is why we're taking the engineer up, hopefully to do improvements and check that anything's vulnerable.

Good to hear. They just kind of nod their head. And yeah, they just wave you in. Heading up in the lift. Now, you do only have, if you're going to the engineer station, the doors open back up into the mid deck. And yeah, it kind of stretches out. You can see that there are kind of like, you know,

guidelines and maps that lead you towards uh the engineering station to get to the ship heart you have to pass through a large section of sort of laboratories and workshops and things like that um and yeah this is uh you can see that the security here is much tighter these seem to be almost like controls for various elements of the tacit are itself they seem to control you know the energy levels to the weapons they control things like uh the the drives that allow them to travel through the kind of um extra astral spaces and stuff like that you can see all sorts of engineers working on things um a god this time however it is uh this is not just a human god um this is a devil you see an ice, kind of almost like a bug-like scrape,

this centipede-like body with antennae and these kind of scintillating eyes, kind of is patrolling up and down the whole area. And you can see that there are other guards stationed around as well. I would like to messenger ring, trying to poke a face as much as possible, but Lucius is clearly distressed on his face. So, Nova, you're going to have to come up with some engineering jargon as to why we're checking the Tassadar for something or other. That's as good as I had.

Yeah, okay. Something about the flux capacitors being overloaded. And, yes, I can figure it out. Yes, you've got this. Okay. All right. As you begin making your way down, this devil turns around and kind of hisses this, like, large bug-like creature.

Moment, Lieutenant. What are you doing here? There are no scheduled assignments to the Tassadar. Of course, we are sending an engineer to make sure there's no vulnerabilities, right? Yes, sir. There is reports that the possible infiltrators have knowledge in which they could interfere with the Tassadar. I am going there to check for anomalies. This is highly irregular. I have not had any news from Engineer Sylphar

that there are to be modifications. You will need to speak with her before you have access. Very well. I'm not making... before you have access. Very well. I'm not making... He kind of looks and then just sort of goes.

You see he heads over to a console which has a very similar kind of crystal layout and you almost recognize there's a device, like a kind of round metal plate set into this console. And inscribed on it are runes and glyphs

that you are very certain is very similar to your own messenger rings. Like the glyphs and the engravings, it's like it's being built from the same sort of enchantments. He touches the metal plate, and you can see him thinking, and kind of takes his hand off. Engineer Sylvar is not aware of any such command. She will speak with you directly. She will be with us shortly.

Braxisvar? Braxisvar! And he just turns and angrily begins stalking his way over. You can see that there are other guards in this section as well who begin making, you know, sort of busying themselves. How far away from, like, the door to... So you can see there is a giant, like, 15, 16-foot metal door with huge kind of, like, metal locking systems,

all connected with, like, crystal pipelines and things like that. And it's beyond that. You're in the section where there's all these workstations and consoles. Then there's this giant door, and the ship heart must be behind those. And this thing does not look like it's easy to break down or bust down if necessary what would you like to do nova did you have something you'd like to do i was thinking of maybe

gas in my way in there um or something but i need to distract you would need to distract this ice devil because they are watching you they're keeping an eye on you while they wait for this other engineer to come. Meanwhile, Quill, Sentry, and Rana, following Quill's lead, you just begin floating up through these panels, heading in the direction that you saw Valor making her way through the locate object spell.

Are you guys going to do anything else or are you just going to go straight there and figure it out? Can I cast locate creature and get another line going? You certainly can. Yeah, you certainly can. As Quills has faded

you now get this kind of golden trail coming out of the matrix that is leading you there and yeah as mentioned they have been taken to la bridge excuse my crappy star uh valor you see is being led into this into this bridge uh as you can see following the trail what do you guys want to do you guys can kind of poke your heads up like moving through the physical walls and things like that you can't see anything else but occasionally quill you can kind of fumble your way to like a corridor poke your head out

look around make sure you're going in the right direction continue kind of floating along when you get towards the bridge you can see this upper section you don't see any humanoid guards anymore. All you see are winged individuals with, like, halos of flame. You see demons and demonesses all in Valkyrian armor patrolling this upper level. These are the elite, elite guards. These are the planar guards of the Valkyrian Empire. Oh, good. the planar gods of the Valkyrian Empire.

Oh, good. Any sight of Valar at all? You can see, yeah, she is from Sentry's locate person. She is on the bridge. She has been taken to the bridge of the Tassadar. Okay. So could we just go into the walls or into the floor and just still follow that while not going up? You can, yeah. As long as you follow the thing, yeah.

You can follow the trail that's leading you to it. It's just that eventually you're going to come to the point where are you just going to float into the bridge or are you going to hang back? I mean, I need to see Vala to communicate with her. Okay. I guess I'll have to. I'll poke just a head through. So if anything

in there does have true sight, they'll just see a bird head at the wall. I mean, that's a pretty bad thing to see, but for sure. Let me just check and see here. So, okay, they've got that. Check who has what in her retinue.

Ah, she does. And they do. Uh, and then finally, they do as well. Okay, so, uh, you make your way up, and the three of you, a sentry and coil you eventually float yourselves to the point where you believe you're outside this chamber quill you kind of stick your head through and you see this beautiful kind of oval shaped bridge with a large kind of open space looking onto astral space below you can see dozens of people manning various consoles

magitek devices and things all scattered around it. There is one main figure that stands in the middle of the bridge wearing a crisp uniform, white, not black and purple, but white and purple. And you can see that they are a very handsome, very regal looking man with crimson hair, long crimson hair tied back into a ponytail. They have a pair of horns coming out of the hair itself, curling back. They have long nails and talons and a tail coming out of their trousers as well.

And they appear to be looking around, commanding and speaking to various individuals around them and stuff like that. To the side, at the far end, with three figures around her you see a young girl a young girl that you recognize that you have seen dark skin purple black kind of almost dress like a kind of princess gown she's wearing with a big sort of collared mantle behind her head engraved covered in symbols of the valkyrian empire uh her kind of brown darkish hair has been kind of tied up into like a little bun and she is looking around not scared vala never looked scared she just looks annoyed and she's looking around with her kind of arms folded and there's a slight smirk there's a slight grin to her uh as she is kind of looking

around to everybody next to her you see another familiar figure a tall man in full plate armor flaming hair dark skin huge burning sword be still my beating heart Maximilian Taldros

the sort of Ganondorf looking personal guard the knight of gideon who has been assigned as vala's protector uh but beside them keep it on flanking both of them and you can see max is uh in differential like he is he is uh under their command you see two women one is a fiendish looking woman you can see that she has red skin, black horns, a kind of tail and infernal wings dressed in armor. She has a whip in one hand and a probably like a pistol, like a pistol rifle on her belt. The other one is an angelic woman with angelic wings, pale blue skin, a kind of golden halo with this short kind of Joan of Arc style blonde haircuts around her very sharp chiseled features and she has a

giant mace like a giant two handed hammer in her hands and they are basically stood on either side of them and they are just constantly looking around um okay are either of them the officers that I saw before

no but the man with the red hair and horns you have a suspicion is the dragon you've seen dragons take humanoid shapes before and it's very similar to when they've done that you know they still have their draconic traits and you think that that's the the bridge officer that basically the uh the the captain of the tassadar um okay um okay i'll dip back to century and everyone else and uh rana okay she's in there with maximilian um i also saw the dragon the other officer i still have no idea where this archmage engineering person is or even the spy i that's my biggest worry. If they know we're here and they know we're getting Valor, what if the spy is Valor?

How do we contact them? Would your spell, the spell you cast, it's a person you must know, right? It's somebody that you are familiar with. It must lead you to the right, the correct Valor, surely. Oh, that's true luke he yes uh it's a creature a specific creature known to you or the nearest creature of a specific kind

i mean i i don't know i've heard of these Kallus has them in his intelligence divisions, doppelgangers, but there are others. There are almost like mages who have engineered themselves to be able to disguise themselves. They can read minds. They can appear to be others that may fool magic. It says if the being's under the effects of polymorph, it won't locate the creature.

Yeah, if the creature you described or named is in a different form, such as a polymorph, it wouldn't locate it. So, okay. We asked for Valor, it gave us Valor. That's Valor. So that's good. Now she is undergone. I mean, we could... Heading up there is going to be difficult. There's a lot of things that should be able to see us. Yeah. I could message her really quickly

and then head back again. But what do we do? What do we tell her? How do we get her out of the bridge and out of security well you should definitely let her know you're here let her know that her friends have come to rescue her for certain okay um century is there anything you wanted to say before i head up there i'm just excited to see her again I'm ecstatic she she's here

and we could get her home me too okay I'll I'll peek up send a message to her be fast there could be a dozen creatures that can see through these spells on that bridge.

Okay. All right. I'll pop up. I'll cast message. Valor, it's Quill. We are very close. We can't stay here for too long.

We need you to find a way out of the bridge. Quill? You can see her. She kind of, like, covers her mouth because she has to whisper with message. She covers her mouth. Quill, I heard the tannoy. I was hoping it was you.

I'll try and think of something, but these guards, they won't let me leave. You shouldn't... Don't go back to the... Don't go back to the quarters. Don't go back to my father's quarters. They've left a spy in disguise there to try and fool you wonderful wonderful uh maybe it's going to be difficult to get away what maximilian maximilian might might you leave, just appeal with him

Max is a kind soul but he's loyal to my father I don't know if we can trust him in that way Quill I'll think of something my powers have grown if there's a distraction, if there's something I might be able to get away

okay where should I go though? If there's a distraction, if there's something, I might be able to get away. Okay. Where should I go, though? If I can get off the bridge, where should I go? If you get off the bridge, head towards the ship hut. Head towards the ship hut. I'm sure the rest of us are there. Okay.

As you pop back, you kind of pull yourself back before you see the the devil looking woman the iranese almost like looks and you swear for a second just before your beak vanishes through the wall like she was just about to look at you and you see that like she kind of like raised an eyebrow in the direction of the wall where you just back through um that's my long b i'm not sure if she saw you okay as you do quill the last thing you see before you pull yourself back is outside the bridge in astral space something begins to shimmer a giant crystalline ship kind of appears in a sudden flash like another message begins to apply you hear the dragon that you saw on the bridge speak

crew of the Tassadar it appears that we are being visited by commander Zarkira and the serpent's coil prepare for docking procedures and that is where we end by Commanders Akira and the Serpent's Coil. Prepare for docking procedures. And that is where we end today's episode.

Oh no! We should have left when we before we started this. No! This is way more fun. Hey, look how far we've gone. Look how far we've gone. Yeah.

You're so close! She's there! She's right there! Hey look how far we've gone Look how far we've gone Hey look at us You're so close She's there She's right there And yeah she's right there And you're almost in the ship part Ignoring talking to that officer that's coming in But you're almost there

This is going great But there's some good things Like those of you who are about to go into engineering None of you have like magical disguises you're all just physically disguised so this is probably going to come down to a battle of wits and words rather than like you're not who you say you are kill them magical doohickeys but yeah it seems that zarkira oh weird coming to visit visit Tassadar. Why? What are you doing? Why could she? Yeah, why?

Zakhira. Yeah. We just need to go. Like, quit. Yeah. No, it's fine. There's going to be a very big distraction in the form of a... True.

Maybe Zakhira is the Siaska we need. You know? Maybe we thought about that. Yeah, just let her come aboard and do her thing for sure yeah because i don't think it's going to be a nice visit no you know no why why wouldn't it be a nice visit uh but yeah that's where we're going to leave things this week exciting stuff i'm excited for next week oh i love it big things happening me too it's awesome yeah Good. Oh my god.

Love that. Love that. Hope Tom's got good portents. What portents have you got, Tom? I've got a 19 and a 4. Oh, that's great. Those are really good. Should be able to help us and screw them.

I believe. I have the wisdom to use them at the right times too. Definitely. Well, thank you very much, everybody, for watching. Also, big thank you to D&D Beyond. Once again, our sponsor for today's episode, go and pre-order Van Richten's Guide. And don't forget, if you use the link in our video description

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