High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #125 | Curse of the Feywild (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

Thalia receives Seyana's blessing but something more sinister arises with the Curse of the Feywild! 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 Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. seasonal favorites. You can look forward to new discounts throughout the aisles at Loblaws to get your essentials at great prices. It's your cue to stock up and save. Look for new value programs when you shop at Loblaws in-store and online. RBC has helped millions of young Canadians turn their most likelies into most definities, making their ideas happen with scholarships, internships, and skill development, plus resources for artists and athletes. Learn more at rbc.com slash support youth. 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 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 Erois. As the Valkyrian Empire, as well as the divided nations and factions of Erois prepare for war, the party must also contend with the errant Titans, once worshipped as gods of Ero now mad with grief or anger they refuse to give up their design essence to return the true goddess see Asuka back to life see Asuka is Eros Eros is only hope of standing against the full might

of the Valkyrian Empire and so the party must face down each Titan in their own demi plane and force them to surrender their power. After Vala, daughter of Siasca and Emperor Calus Valkyrian, used her demigod powers to locate the demiplane of one such Titan Zephir, the party managed to breach the barriers enough to enter and face off against the Mistress of Adventure, Storms and Sea. The battle was fierce, but eventually the party forced Zephir to submission and her essence returned to siasca's body held in the divine sanctuary called the halls of infinite resplendence nova vega brings thalia a medusa astral space pirate with her to the halls hoping that the titan sayana who still

retains her mind can remove the curse upon her and after a little teasing siana performs a magical ritual to do just that and that is pretty much where we left off uh last week uh not last week two weeks ago in fact actually um blimey it's been a little bit of a break uh as a little refresher, you all stand in the white, almost quartz-like stone of the Halls of Infinite Resplendence. In every direction around this central area, they seem to just stretch on for infinity. It just seems to stretch on and on and on. You can see that there are segments where it may look like there may be other chambers or rooms, but these corridors just seem to endlessly continue on forever and the very center of the halls of infinite resplendence is a dais

with a crystal sarcophagus like a large chunk of crystal from which a large column of light beams upwards into the sky and in that in that crystal sarcophagus, you know, is the reforming body of Siasca. Around the dais where you've all kind of gathered, you were all facing towards where Thalia Whisperwind, the Medusa space pirate you had previously traveled and adventured with, you were watching her as Sayana begins singing this song, this kind of pitch note perfect music, which seems to vibrate all around you.

It seems to vibrate the air around you. It seems to vibrate within your bodies, within your minds. There is something incredibly ancient, melodious and powerful about this song. And as it kind of echoes around the chamber thalia's body is covered with vines and leaves and flowers that completely kind of enshroud her you see patches of the green scaled skin just peeking through between these fronds and vines and it

begins turning a kind of dark caramel brown. You can see it slowly shifting. You can see light and metamorphosis beginning to take place. However, as all of this is happening, you see Syanna begins to strain her voice, and you watch as the vines that had curled around Thalia begin to grow thick thorns. The flowers turn bloody crimson. Some of them turn black

and you actually hear a gasp of pain from within. Can everyone make a perception check, please? Oh, good. Plus 11, baby. Hell, good. Wow. That's 11, baby. Hell yeah. I rolled an 18. I have advantage, so I'm just

going to roll again. 24. I think that's the highest perception check I've ever rolled for Ayla. 17. Anybody who got above a 15 on that perception check, there is a kind of, in amongst this beautiful song of Syanna's, you can almost hear her straining to keep it and you can see sweat beginning to kind of pour down her face as the goddess, this little halfling goddess or titan is trying to kind of keep this spell of transformation going there is another voice that kind of um you can just barely hear mixed in coming from these kind of bloody red flowers and these black flowers which are beginning to kind of take over and bloom on these thorny vines um and you hear this kind of

hissed woman's voice no you don't deserve a happy ending um and you hear another kind of like gasp of pain and then sayana seems to project her voice in sort of like a kind of uh boom like a kind of blast of of energy um the note becomes so high that you stop hearing it like the the note rises and rises and rises until it becomes silence to you but the flowers and the vines around Thalia burst into multicolored lights. They become like fragments of light that just drift away from her. And as the light begins to dim, you can see a humanoid figure, an elf, standing there. I would say that there is very Indian features and skin tone. You know, if I was to relate it to earth basically to give you

an idea of how she looks um yeah very indian features and skin tone her hair is long uh kind of dark green very very straight but it has a very soft glow about it kind of an ethereal lord of the rings kind of ethereal glow to it um as she blinks she opens her very elven eyes which you can see are green but like the saturation has been turned up to maximum they almost glow they're so vibrantly colored um uh you see that kind of draped around her shoulders now sort of coiling around her arms you see a dozen or so snakes some of them have kind of slped around her shoulders, now sort of coiling around her arms. You see a dozen or so snakes. Some of them have kind of slid down to the floor

and are kind of curled around her ankles, happily hissing and sort of like curling around this now standing elven woman that you see. The last thing you do see, though, is her left arm. Thalia's left arm. There is a trail of blood kind of all down it where it looks like she's been pricked by many needles all down her left arm. like there is a black tattoo that you've never seen on thalia before like a a thorny briar twisting up her forearm like kind of curling around sort of like her her forearm wrist but she kind of staggers you hear thalia kind of like gasp for air and you're all transfixed

all staring at thalia uh as she emerges from this light. Yeah, completely transformed. All Medusa features now gone. Instead, standing before you is this dark-skinned elven woman with these sort of ethereal, fey-like traits. That's certainly the word to describe Lucius's face. Transfixed, with a little tear rolling down and a little smile and a little bit of concern, but otherwise non-vocal in any way. Yeah.

Just allowing Nova. Nova, yeah. As soon as she appears out of the light and the briar, Nova will run over immediately and I guess try and hold out. Like if she looks like she's falling, you know, hold out to try and grab her and steady her and be like are you all right are you are you yeah i think she stumbles she doesn't quite fall she sort of stumbles but catches herself and she does reach out and sort of like places a hand on your shoulder and i think that's when

you would glimpse over this kind of black briar tattoo on her wrist. And also the blood, like the blood is like dripping down her arm. And it kind of, some of it splatters onto your sort of like coat. And Thalia kind of grips you with it and sort of like, she opens her eyes and then immediately shuts them again. And then very slowly opens them as if like worried that somehow the Medusa's gaze is still going to be there. And she kind of like looks down at your coat and then she slowly lifts her eyes. as if worried that somehow the Medusa's gaze is still going to be there. And she kind of looks down at your coat,

and then she slowly lifts her eyes. Her eyes aren't like Lucius's, where they're this solid block of color. These appear to be more, I guess, like traditional irises, but they're so green, and it's like the saturation has been ramped up on them. They're actually almost like glowing in the light that you're kind of looking at. And her eyes match yours, Nova, and she kind of looks... And she looks nervous. She looks kind of scared.

And then she sort of looks down and sees the kind of dark, kind of brown color of her skin. And I think that she probably just... Like, the tears start small, but then it just grows and grows, and she just, like, buries her face into your shoulder and just sobs. There's just wailing of tears.

She probably kind of, like, collapses, like, to her knees and sort of, like, is holding on tightly. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay. Everything's okay, Thalia. Please, please. It's okay. I's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay. Everything's okay, Thalia. Please, please. It's okay. I'll just wrap her in a big hug. And she's...

Yeah, you're kind of saying this, and then you realize that there's like a laughter. There's like a kind of like a... In between the sobs, there is this kind of smiling laughter. This kind of joy. There is this kind of smiling laughter, this kind of joy. There is this kind of happiness there.

What about the rest of you guys as you kind of watch all this happening? Century, Quill, Ayla, anything? I'm trying to figure out to the best of my ability what that was we just saw in its entirety. If there's a role I can make, great, but if if not I'll still

be next to Sayana anyway and say like what exactly make an arcana check for me and then yeah we can you can turn to Sayana if you don't 21 yeah so Quill the

what you saw the shift to the thorny briars, the flowers, the voice, the tattoo, you have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't over for Thalia. Whatever Sion has done has undone the curse of the Medusa, this kind of transformation into a creature, but there's still something here. There's whatever curse was placed on her is still existing in some form. And you suspect with a 21, you suspect it's worse. You suspect that whatever is now in place

by undoing that first transformation has unlocked an even worse curse. Powerful magic, this would be. Very powerful magic. And if you turn to look at Syanna, Syanna looks old. She looks like before she appeared as a young halfling woman, and you've seen

this before with Hesper, your own god. Syanna looks much more like a middle aged kind of halfling now like you can see gray beginning to form in her like golden hair you can see like wrinkle lines around her mouth and her eyes um and she lets out like she looks exhausted like sweat is dripping from her face she actually kind of like falls and sits down on the dais kind of letting out like these deep sort of like kind of like deep breaths yeah in that case I'll yeah as I turn to

sayana I'll like try and not catch her but in the same thing just like guide her to a place to sit down like a wing around her yeah yeah she's almost like struggling to speak like you can tell that she's like...

She's struggling to breathe. She's struggling to get the words out kind of thing. Sentry, Ayla? After Nova and Thalia have had some time to get reacquainted, can Sentry make her way over to Thalia and do a medicine check on her arm? Sure. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think you could even look at that, like, Nova's clutching Thalia and you can begin trying to examine at least what's wrong. Yeah, she'll make a medicine check for me. That's a six.

Six? I mean, there's clearly, like, the thorns from the vine must have like scratched her or like dug into her skin. You don't think it's anything serious. Like it probably doesn't even need like it probably just needs bandages or like cleaning up. You don't think that there's like anything. You can't smell like any poison or anything like that. It just looks like she's been scratched and stabbed by thorns. I think Sentry will just quietly wrap up Thalia's arm, make sure she's okay.

Yeah. Sure. Aayla? And if not, we'll go back to Nova and Lucius. Aayla's probably... She's probably watching, but seeing that Sentry's already helping Thalia, like, that's what Aayla would have done as well so she's probably just gonna stand in between make sure siana maybe go

and give some water to siana or something just to make sure that she's okay yeah yeah yeah you go over and like it's kind of funny like you've seen zephir at the height of her power like this you know impressive magical being that like could smash your ship with power and now you're kind of looking at like a middle-aged old like middle-aged halfling lady who's like struggling to get her breath and like you know she gladly takes the water and drinks from it it's almost a little bit off-putting to see these kind of powerful titanic beings that arois worshipped as gods they look so human they look so mortal like sometimes um it's a little bit you know strange to see i think now that like ayla is

over here and i'm guessing we're kind of distant enough from uh thalia and nova and century that we can kind of talk relatively quietly i'll sort of say if you're If you're whispering, especially with Thalia sobbing and stuff like that, I don't think Sentry and Nova would be able to hear it if they're next to Thalia. Yeah, I'll sort of... They're distracted right now. Lucius is inching towards them, and I'll explain that in a sec. Sure.

I'll say to Aayla, look at Thalia's arm. I don't know if what we did necessarily released the entire curse. There is something worse going on here. There's a mark on her arm. Do you have any idea what this could be, Ayla?

I only ask, as you're an elf, maybe some attunement with the fae. All I know is that every elf I seem to meet is some kind of prince or princess and I ain't one of them

so I got nothing that you know of Jesus Christ I'm not Sayana like hearing you talk like she kind of is like the champion of Hesperus right there is something far more powerful at work here. We are not done.

And I don't know if I can be much more help. And she's struggling to breathe. But she rests her hand on your wing, Quill, and she's like, you're right. Your instincts are right. And she taps you to confirm what you're saying. Nova and Lucius, what about you guys? So Lucius, you said you were inching closer? Yeah so lucius was clasping his hands watching the transformation

and post reveal he's like oh he's just reacting almost like a commentary is that so romantic it's a beautiful moment uh oh she's going to look she's going to look and he's doing little grabby hands and he's inching closer and i think at that point when Sentry's over there with Thalia bandaging the wounds he's basically reaching out for a big group hug at that point. Okay. So he's like stood behind

them just with his arms out. Awkwardly. Yeah like nervous so like you know after a few moments Thalia is like sobbing into your shoulder, and you can hear this kind of, like, half-lie, but it's, you know, what do you do if not? Let me know. I think probably I'd be holding Thalia's face and just, like, you know, trying to wipe away her tears

and, you know, giving her little kisses on her forehead and, like, it's okay. It's okay. Are you hurt? Do you hurt? Say something. Please, Thalia, say something. She, like like she finishes like she kind of lets you kind of wipe away the tears and like comes up and like holds her hands over your own um and she kind of just grasps and she's just like i've waited a very very long time i've waited a long time for this um i didn't think i ever i don't think i didn't i didn't think I ever, I don't think I didn't, I didn't believe that this would ever happen. I, I was convinced that I was going to suffer for things I'd done in the past for eternity.

I just can't believe that this has happened. And she kind of like takes your hands down with her and she kind of looks up at you. And even like her speech has changed, like, you know, the the lisp the snaking lisp is gone um things like that and you as you're kind of holding one of the snakes is actually coiled around her wrist and it becomes kind of like licking your hand and over it's like little tongue um kind of like hissing and stuff like that uh and yeah like you can see that there's probably about 12 of these snakes and they've all just like gathered around like thalia like some of them are like coiled around her legs like you know trying to like and sliding up her body and things like that like once like and they're only like little garter snakes they're not like big pythons or anything like that so they

all kind of like happily kind of like coil around her wrists or up on her shoulders. And like, she like looks at them. And I think you could see that there is a big relief almost. Like, she's just like, I was worried I'd lose you as well. And she like pats them and strokes them and stuff like that. But yeah, she's like, no, my arm hurts a little bit. It itches. And she kind of like looks at the blood. I think some of those thorns

scraped me or stabbed me or something. Yeah, I think I saw something strike. I heard something. Did you hear something? Did you hear a voice? No, a voice. I heard

the titan singing, but a voice? I got stabbed and it hurt. I remember screaming out, but it was like I was enveloped in light. I couldn't really see or hear anything except for Sayana's music. Oh, maybe it was just me. There was a lot going on. Very distracted. Wow. Your eyes. They're beautiful. A little bit of the Fae, obviously.

Being so connected to Lunaria and the Fae Wild. God, I've haven't actually... I've kind of forgotten what they were like. I've not seen them in so long um and yeah she kind of like if you can see she's looking at her hands and like like staring at her hands and she pulls some of like the green hair forward and is examining it

and things like that but she hasn't seen herself yet there's no mirror or anything for her to look into so um thalia i don't I don't want to ruin this moment. If I could, I would hold you forever. But I think if Lucius doesn't get in on this hug, he might explode. You can hear a high pitch It's like trying to release pressure

that's been building up in him this whole time. And you'll just sweep them both up. You're beautiful, naked, glorious. Thalia sort of like wraps you in as well and she looks at Sentry and she looks up at you and you in the face, Sentry, and she just mouths like a thank you.

She's like, thank you. You know, where you've been banishing her arm, but she's like, and then she just turns and says, thank you, all of you. I wouldn't, obviously Nova I know is the one who brought me here, but I wouldn't be here on Erois without all of you. Obviously, Nova, I know, is the one who brought me here, but I wouldn't be here on Erois without all of you. And I just never thought this day would come.

I'm so happy. And you can see that she's still trying to wipe away some of the tears and things like that. But Syanna, with Quill and Aayla, Syanna shoots you both a very grave look. Yeah, I think seeing everyone now sweeping in for hugs and stuff. It's like, oh, happy time! Yay!

I'll have to go in there and say, wait, everyone stop, please stop. Ayla's just gonna just hit Quill. Ayla's gonna just hit Quill slightly and go looking good, Thalia! Looking great, buddy! Just a moment! And then she's gonna just hit Quill slightly and go, looking good, Thalia! Looking great, buddy! Just a moment! And then she's gonna just pull

Quill and Sayana aside and be like, okay, before we maybe tell people about, you know, shit, but can we just wrap up what could be done, what it might be, any more information because currently all we know is that

we're gonna tell her, hey, sorry bud no I'm just wary we have no idea the nature of this brand new curse and they are hugging her and anything could happen to anyone here

I know a little of magic and song and stories but magic was really Hesper's this is magical in some nature and i suspect that well i suspect that the person who may know the most is thalia herself whoever put this curse upon her this is i i expected an archfey of lunaria but this person there is there is something darker at work here this this magic this this curse has it reeks of demonic influence now i want to hug thalia as much as everyone else here however i'll come and bring it in

thalia can we borrow you for a moment siennaana wants to speak to you. She's like, yes, of course, yes, I must thank her. And she kind of stands up and sort of like, you know, she probably holds Nova's hand, like she probably would hold your hand and sort of step towards Sayana. She's a little bit, not too much taller, but she's definitely some of the kind of like, she's definitely thin, not like a reed or anything like that, but there is this very elven quality to her now,

which wasn't really there before. And the sort of like straight hair makes her look even taller. It makes her, you know, kind of stand more empirically. Her long ears now kind of stretch out, you know. She definitely looks very royal in a sense with the kind of green eyes and stuff. Sort of like posture. Quill, when they start walking over to you, that tattoo of the briar,

it first was only a very kind of like, it probably barely kind of like grace past sort of like her wrist. It's extended a little bit. Like it's such a small change that I don't think anybody but you would pick up on it, but that thorn has grown longer in the short time that Thalia... Already? Yeah. I'm sorry, Ayla, we can't be delicate here. Thalia, I am so happy...

Can I see your arm, please? ...to see you as you are. Please. But you need to tell us about that marking on your arm. What marking? And then she looks down at it, like seeing it for the first time. And then those green eyes go white. And there is like a look on her face.

Like, it's not over, is it? She's done something else she I didn't realize that she would hate me this much what are you saying thought folly we brought you to a Titan it's gone I thought I thought it did yes I thought so but she looks at quill now like, something happened, didn't it? During the transformation. There was a voice that spoke out when you were turning and these briar thorns and everything

saying that you don't deserve a happy ending. You seem to know who caused this curse. Tell us everything you know and we'll be able to solve it. I don't know if we can but she kind of grips Nova's hand a bit tighter. I thought this would be the end of it. I misunderstood the extent of

how much she hates me. I thought that the curse, the Medusa curse, I thought that I thought that that would be the end of it. She kind of looks around. She looks at Lucius and Sentry. I told you all once before, I wasn't... I used to be a very unpleasant person. I told you this when we first met.

I have told Nova when she looks at you, I told you that I wasn't the person you thought I was. A long time ago, back on Lunaria, many call it the Feywild, where I'm from, I was royalty. was royalty. I was very spoiled and I was very cruel and very vain and there was a sorceress. She was good-hearted, an ally of all sorts of good fae and I was very, very cruel to her. Bullying is not quite enough of a phrase for it. I was malicious. I was very, very malicious. I did things to her that I will never forgive myself for. And over time, I twisted her good nature, her good heart into something so dark, so fueled by revenge that it drove her to take action against me and my family um and you can see there's just like haunted shame like there's just immense shame as thalia is kind of revealing this to you her name was mesmera a silly name perhaps in this

realm but in the feyild such names are quite common. She is a sorceress, or she was. I suppose she still is. She's blessed with gifts of unicorns, of fairies, of satyr. She would aid people who came to speak to her, sort of a good witch, if you want to think of her that way. good witch if you want to think of her that way. I tormented her, I bewitched her lover, stole him from her and then tossed him aside. I did all sorts of horrible things. I burnt her home, I was jealous of her, of the love that people gave her and of her beauty and many things. And then one day she snapped. One day she had enough and she came to my home. She came to Heart Spire, which is a place on Lunaria, my kingdom. And she had some dark artifact that paralyzed our guards. It was a magic

I'd never seen before, immensely powerful. And she cast a curse upon me. She said that I did not deserve my beauty, that I did not deserve to be looked upon with love, that everything I looked upon should turn to stone. And that's when I transformed. And then she turned my own family against me with magic, and I wasn't able to control my powers. I petrified them there in my palace home. But she didn't kill me. She let me live. She said that I'd have to wander and be the hated monstrosity that I always was.

And so I ran. I fled. And it caused goodness knows how much suffering in my escape. Eventually I made my way into astral space and then the life of Thalia the astral space pirate began. And for many centuries I was still that cruel person driven by hate and bitterness, cruel person driven by hate and and bitterness by cruelty and maliciousness I conspired to strike back but I knew that Mesmera was more powerful than I could possibly imagine so I gave up and then I met I met Bim, I met Kiri. My life began to change, slowly. It took a long time, but all that bitterness, all that hate eventually went away. And really all that was left was shame and regret.

And then of course you all had to come walking into my life and she squeezes Nova's hand, especially this one. I'm walking into my life and she squeezes Nova's hand, especially this one. Kind of convinced me that maybe I did deserve a little bit of happiness. Maybe I had made enough of an amends, but it seems that, and she kind of looks at her arm once more, it seems that that's not the case. I don't know what this is. I don't really know much magic. Back on Lunaria I have access to powers but I certainly don't have them now. I don't know what she's done but she's powerful and clever and certainly has enough motivation to make me suffer. I'm wondering if there's something I can do to examine it further but... has enough motivation to make me suffer. I'm wondering if there's something I can do to examine it further, but...

There definitely is. Let's have a look. Ooh! I can! I have that lore thing. That lore thing, you know? While you look up that, I want to check in and make sure nobody else wants to say anything while you read up on spells that you can do you can see Thalia like especially with I think Century

Lucius because Nova she's kind of already said at least some of this too and I think she thinks that Aayla doesn't care too much but you can see that like Century and Lucius like she's definitely she can't really look you in the eyes like as she's saying all of this like she's kind of like looking keeping her gaze down and she seems very very ashamed and she's kind of revealing a lot of this youth can be cruel i've seen that growing up in Solvin.

With Petal, I've seen... I've seen young girls, young boys pick on each other all the time. This was a little more than that, Century, and I wasn't that young. I was a woman. I knew what I was doing. I was petty and vain and cruel. Some people just are. For whatever reason, we're selfish and vain and greedy. And I was all of those things. I don't want to just excuse it. I know you're trying to make me feel better, but I can't just excuse that as foolish foolishness of youth i wasn't i i knew what i was

doing and i realize that now i i can see why i did those things and and everything else i just think i've learned now uh how wrong those things were i appreciate your kind words that's important you're not who you were and maybe it's important that you confront that maybe the only way to break this curse is to confront her

I think so ask for forgiveness I don't think that that's even... I don't think that there will be any forgiveness to give, but maybe I can convince her that I've changed. Maybe that I can convince her that there can be another way. I don't want her to become this thing that I've made her. She used to be a good person.

I think that that good person must still be there but the difficulty will be getting there the lunaria is not just um it's not like as a grat or or elysium it's hidden within the twilight nebula it's not easy to reach and i can't i i my connection to it's been severed I don't think I can help you get back there I mean we did once think that space wasn't a thing and then we ended up in astral space I'm sure we'll find a way maybe

you don't have time for that you have a rowist to protect and save travelling through the astral sea even if we could get the twin star beyond this cradle of yours even if we could get out twin star beyond this cradle of yours, even if we could get out there, Kallus's warships are waiting for us. Plus it would take maybe days

for us to reach the Twilight Nebula. And even then, I don't know if I can navigate you through it anymore. Like I said, I'm no longer, I'm not really connected to it anymore. Until I go home, I'm not a fey creature yet. Not until I return home I'm not a fey creature yet not until I return

back to Lunaria we've come this far we ended up on the other side of the astral sea and we came back we fought a titan we've come this far Thalia

we can do the rest it won't be tomorrow. It won't even be next week. But I will make sure it happens. Thank you. She just sort of like looks at you and she's like, I don't know what I did to deserve you, Nova. I certainly never did.

I'm glad that you're here. And she just sort of squeezes your hand a little bit. Quill, you wanna hit us with that spell? Yeah, so it's not quite as powerful, I think, for this specific situation. However, I will use my eye. The Eye of the Storm. Legend? Why do you not think legend lore will work?

So it says that I'd have to ask about a specific person, object, or place and it has to be of legendary significance and I think if I use this spell to... I can't necessarily ask about this curse because it's not really an object.

You could ask about this curse because it's not really an object i also know you could you could ask about the you could ask about thalia like the curse is on thalia i would say that you can the curse is something you can cast legend lore about through thalia it doesn't have to be about a specific like the curse isn't an object but the curse is affecting thalia well could i ask about the the marking Would that be an object? No, but I'd say you just ask about Thalia and it's the same thing. Like, if there is any legendary element to this curse, it will be revealed by the spell.

Oh, okay. In that case, yeah, with the Wayfinder. Just try it. I will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Spend three charges, five charges, sorry, of my ten. And yeah, I'd like to find out about Thalia and by extension this marking, if possible. And legend lore itself says

that it has to tell me everything about it and how to get rid of it. That's what it says. Wow. It doesn't say that. What it does say is the spell brings to your mind a brief summary of the significant lore

about the thing you named. The lore might consist of current tales, forgotten stories, or even secret lore that has never been widely known. If the things you named isn't of legendary importance, you gain new information. So I think if you ask like, what is the curse kind of like,

and again, it's like you name what is the curse on Thalia Whisperwind, right? Like that's the kind of thing that you get. How would this information be displayed to you? Ah, you're doing it through the book. So as you open the Wayfinder's Guide, like you know that the Wayfinder's Guide has like all this information about all these different worlds.

And as you ask it, the pages of the book begin to turn and the pages like very rapidly, like they begin really rapidly scrolling and you realize it's flicking through more pages than are actually in this book like the book has more pages than it physically has and it's skipping through them until it falls open onto what almost looks like a like a children's fairy tale story like it has illustrations it has the big over the top kind of like fairy tale font um and it is a story i'm going to summarize it because i don't i didn't write out a full story um but it is it is it is called the tale is called the tale of the cruel princess and it shows this kind of like fairy tale kingdom. And it tells of how the good witch was tormented

and tortured by this wicked princess, the cruel princess that lived in a tower of thorns at the heart of the castle in a tall spire, sorry, in a tall fantasy spire. in a tall spire, sorry, in a tall fantasy spire. And she placed upon a curse that would transform the princess into a hideous monster. And should that curse ever be removed, a secret curse would be unlocked. A secret curse hidden amongst the first. As her cruelty was a poison to others,

it would become a poison onto her and it would slowly writhe its way. And when the poison reached the princess's heart, she would die, never able to return. And looking at the illustrations, you see this kind of curling briar pattern seems to be reoccurring. And judging from it with your intellect and knowledge as a seer,

you think that that briar mark is a kind of indicator of the poison and how much it's progressing. Does this story have an ending? It doesn't currently. Well, actually, I think that like in this story, the princess dies and the good witch inherits the kingdom and becomes a you know a wonderful ruler and you know looks after everybody else and everything else and everyone is happy happily ever after okay uh you estimate quill using legend law um you suspect that this could take anywhere between a week and two weeks. The rate that this thing is like ever slightly growing, you reckon you've got like a week to two weeks before it reaches Thalia's heart.

Okay. Okay. And they didn't get rid of the curse in the book, did they? That damn story. Okay. Cool. But you know it was cast by the good witch the good witch cast it um and i think actually maybe in the story there would be hint that the good witch got help

from her shadow there was like a there's like a kind of like plot where her shadow offers to help her create the curse um and the shadow appears as like this uh dark you know almost all in black figure who appears behind the good witch and whispers secret magic to her cool fake stories this is why he smirked when Nova was saying like

maybe not today maybe not today maybe not in a week I had a feeling I had a feeling Maybe not today. Maybe not today. Maybe not in a week. Oh, yeah. My daughter, when you said it, I was like... I had a feeling. I had a feeling. I knew the dryer was blowing, too. When I said that, I was like... I was so ready to say to you, like,

we don't have that much time. Okay. Anyone else got anything else? So does Quill basically read out that story in front of everybody, or does he read that in secret and then shuts the book and looks at everyone? I'm going to show it to Nova and, as best as possible, cover up the paragraph where the princess dies. The cruel princess dies.

The end of the story. Just put a feather over it. What's behind your claw, though? Could you just move your claw, though? I can't finish this sentence. No, the story ends here. It really doesn't, though, Nova. It's definitely the sentences continuing.

No, it waffles on for a bit. No, the story writer got bored here. And no, it just ends here. Really weird. Okay, you can read it, but you writer got bored here. No, it just ends here. Really weird. Okay, you can read it, but you won't like it. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. Um. Oh. From the outside, Nova goes very still and just almost frozen with her finger on that sentence in the book. Inside Nova's head, it's kind of like it's doing that frantic, like almost calculations, formulas. She's thinking of every spell she knows. What spell do I have?

Can I contact Mesmera? Can I find, who is this shadow? I need to find this shadow. Can I go to a library and find out more about this shadow? I have a book about Lunarian royalty. Can I cast this spell? And it's just like a mess of like, what can I do? And she's just physically, but outside,

she's just frozen. Just going, oh oh over and over again yeah i think i'm now saying to nova but i imagine like just not really listening but also saying it to everyone else like the the briar is growing up her arm quite quickly uh maybe in a week maybe two weeks it will reach her heart and well you know uh does anyone have any ideas uh anything in connection to the fey wild some way of reaching some way of contacting anything at all you do hear a cough coming from like a fair distance away where Max and Valor have just been sort of like stood

and are like staying out of it. They're sort of like, Valor is like wiping tears. Like you can see that like she, like kind of like Lucius, she was like, oh, it's so beautiful. Oh no, it's so tragic now. But Max will say, I can't help you with any of what you just asked Kelek but I should inform you that Lunaria is part of the

Valkyrian Empire it is a sovereignty they maintained much of their own power which means that you will be unlikely to encounter Valkyrian troops should you travel there but it is not impossible there will be governors, there will be guards.

Of course there is. Of course it's part of that. Traveling there via astral ship, if you can get past the blockade which currently surrounds Arois, there will be warships outside of Lunaria's planar space watching. They monitor traffic in and out of the Twilight Nebula. That is not to say that there are not some benefits. The Twilight Nebula is notorious amongst soldiers of the Empire. It is one of the

reasons that Lunaria is a sovereignty rather than a complete territory of the Empire. Magitek does not like the Twilight Nebula. The Twilight Nebula is filled with strange magic. The magic there is fickle, unstable. The elves, the fae of Lunaria, have learned to control it, and their lands are strange. There are many strange creatures and beasts, plants, magical beings there. But Magitek is...

It works occasionally. This makes it very difficult for Valkyrians to truly mount any sort of larger scale assault. This is why we leave it to the Lunarians to police themselves. I hope that that information

is at least useful to you. But, well, perhaps I should keep my opinions to myself. No, no, that's useful. It's very useful, Max. Thank you very much. But we still need to find a way to get there. It's not going to take weeks, basically. Let's just find another Hadar hole and jump on in and pray for the best

maybe we'll land on the Nari no more Hadar holes please, no more of those the other thing that your Valkyrian friend here doesn't quite understand is if you don't travel

via astral ships it is very If you don't travel via astral ships, it is very difficult to navigate the Twilight Nebula unless you are a fey creature, or you have a fey creature as a guide. This is one of the ways that we have avoided encounters with the Valkyrians before. Even teleporting in, using magic to travel between the planes,

is unpredictable. You need to have a creature native to the fey wild with you in order to progress sir i don't count yes ayla you don't need to put your hand up rose meadow she's all flying seeing stuff right it can't just be somebody who is fey like It needs to be an actual being from the fey wild. How do I know if they're actual? I don't know who this is. Well, they won't be from Erois.

They'll be from somewhere else. But as I understand it, nobody can travel to Erois. Nobody can get to Erois through the cradle, is my understanding. I thought that Rosemadow being Rosemadow would work. Never mind. I'm back in my hole of no ideas. I don't know who this rose meadow is. So unfortunately I can't help you much there,

but yes, just having, just having fey elements like yourself or Lucius elves are partial fey creatures, but it's not enough you need to be an actual fey being what i'm part fey well i i don't know exactly how your elves here on arois were created but you are extremely similar to the elves of lunaria and other worlds um you seem to have a natural resistance against charm

magic and things like that. This is quite common in fae beings. Whatever Siaska when she created you, I assume that she based it on some elven subspecies. Wow. Wow I don't know if you

royal like elves can't figure out that I'm pretty stumped because yeah you're the fancy ones yes unfortunately I don't know any other fae and I don't know how they would have even gotten to Erois if they did it may be i don't think that guardians would count but i do remember in old stories old old stories guardians did come to lunaria long long ago before

before any of this valkyrian empire before hadar guardians traveled across many planar realms. Maybe you're, maybe there is something there, Century, maybe there is something you may be involved in, but maybe there's a matrix or someone you could call out to for advice. Cool, right? I think

Aayla idea here again You know I have them sometimes They're not great Library Nova Library Huh? Huh?

Library? Nova's in her own world She's uh Yeah, she's Calculating Whenever Nova wants to find out something amazing she says we should go to a library so we should try and go to a library find something

that's all fairy like maybe Danica would know something I don't know Danica's all ancient and fancy please don't feel... I appreciate everything that you have done for me so far.

And obviously I don't want us to just give up. I don't just want to accept my death. But I also understand that your world is a threat. Calus and this war and these titans, this is something you must focus on like trust me whatever this is i i sort of deserve it and if i can't stop it then i'll just accept it and maybe i can travel there on my own. Maybe that palador of yours will let me pass and I can travel back to Lunaria on my own and try and set this right.

Bella? Bella? Yes, sorry. I just sort of watched all of this and it's all just a bit tragic. How long, sorry, time estimate, roughly, how long do you think you've got until you've got the next Titan for us? Are we still a little while? Yes, it will take me at least another month at least. It will take me some time. Thalia!

Finding Zephyr was hard enough. We've got a month, Thalia. Let's go! We're between war fronts right now and I don't think any nation necessarily needs our saving just yet. No titans are running rampant. I think we've actually got a free schedule. Well, I'm glad that you can squeeze in my little problem. Sequester! No problem too big, too small, we used that. We used that. Does anyone... No, but we can find a scroll.

I... Money. We know... What if we put her in sequester? Surely that would slow the poison down. Quill. It should do. Yeah, we can almost literally buy you some time. Quite a lot of time, in fact, for us to get to the bottom of this curse. Uh, I mean, we could give it a go.

I think use it at the last, last possible time, I think, we should, is when we should use it. Um. Okay. I've got all these potionsions i've got bags of potions take take any any of them any any potion essentially i think that's very no problem too small storm chaser's on on the job come on right library danica rose meadow maybe because she's fancy as well i just think we find find fairy-like looking things and just ask. Point one, let's just go and ask people. Okay, okay.

Come on, time's against us. Let's go. Aayla's just going to start walking towards Max and Vala to go. Sure, yeah. You walk over to them. I mean, they're literally five steps away you know, five steps away from you. You get to them. You look around. There's just infinite corridors stretching out in every direction. There's no exit.

You're like... Lucius will storm up to Thalia and point. Don't you bloody... Don't you bloody ever say... Don't you say that. That you're not bloody... Sorry, I'm not very good at this. Don't do bloody ever say that you're not bloody... Sorry, I'm not very good at this. Don't do it.

Okay? You're worth it. She kind of... I think she would look at Lucius. I'm trying to remember if Thalia knows about some of the stuff Lucius has been saying. I don't think she does. So she just kind of looks back and says, I will keep fighting until the end. Even through

all of this, even at my lowest points, that's the one thing I've managed to do. Always keep moving forward or at least moving somewhere. Maybe not forward, sometimes moving backwards, sometimes running away, but going somewhere. I'm not just going to lay down and die, running away, but going somewhere. I'm not just going to lay down and die. But I just don't want to... I feel like you've all done so much for me. It's a lot

to ask you to put everything else on hold to fix this. Something which I brought upon myself and deserve. Sorry. To everybody here, do you remember Thalia asking us for help? I don't remember that. Do you remember that?

No. This is on us. Thalia, saving a rowis is about keeping our allies with us throughout the entire thing. If we can't do that, then, well, what's the point? I'm just saying, Ms. Mera tried to make a monster out of you, and you've clearly proven her wrong with the efforts you've made to help all of these people, to save us, just getting us back home. You deserve a happy ending.

We also said that we were going to stop it when we find you first in astral space just saying and we said that we'd pay you for delivering us back to Rois, just saying Can we go now? I'm very glad, do you know I'm actually quite glad that we never found, we never got that ring I feel that

at least now we stand a better chance of figuring this thing out i've i've written 20 points of what we do next uh and a time timeline for them um and the probabilities of which we succeed and which at least will progress us along the timeline towards a successful ending um I think, yes. I can't move. Move. Let's move. Otherwise, I might fall apart.

Let's go. Let's go. Yeah. You hear some coughing, and you look to see Sayana kind of standing up from where she'd been resting, still looking visibly older. She says, yes, you should. You should get going.

I need to rest here for some time that that took more out of me than i was expecting whatever it is i wish you luck champion and she looks at quill i do think that that gift that my brother left you and she points at the book there should that should at least help whatever this is he if he was with you when you met this woman i'd be very surprised if he didn't have an inkling of what was behind all of this but also you've all done so much everything i've heard about you everything i've seen of you you've all accomplished so much you've seen so much in your travels i'm certain that you'll find a way through this good luck i'll keep watch over mother's body until next time nice man i love sayana

she's very wholesome i think um nova in all of this would not in her kind of tunnel visionness would have completely forgotten about sayana and seeing having sayana stand up and say that now, as soon as she sees her and sees her age, it's like, oh, oh, I didn't realise. What's there to realise, girl? There's nothing to apologise for. I knew that this would happen. I didn't think it would affect you this much. Of course not.

I didn't expect it to have this much of a drain, but I knew that it would drain some. The more and more I use, the more I bring to bear of the divine magic, the more this happens. As Mother is regenerating, we're all becoming weaker in our own ways. And unless I retreat to my own domain,

this will keep happening happening just as it did with hesper but mother put us here for a reason my reason is well if i can't help love if i can't help a woman who has clearly seen the error of her past there's no point in me There's no point in me keeping what little power I have left if I'm not willing to use it for these causes. Do not worry about me. Do not be sad for me.

I want to join Hesper and Zephia. Thank you. I If there's anything I can do thank you she's not you already have she smiles oh boy I can't deal with this Phil's train anymore! Uh, yeah. I mean, Quill's got the way out of here, so... That's true. What's on the list? What's on Nova's hit list? Not hit list, that's a different thing.

Number two, Quill. Yeah, this one I'm leaving fully in your hands, by the way, guys. Like I have not written like any, this isn't a railroad situation where I've come up with everything. This one I'm like, I've given you many tools and many things across the many years we've been playing. This is on you guys now. We have many tools.

This is sandbox time. We have D&D Beyond, the best tool. The best digital toolset. Wow. Very nice plug there. Smooth. Nice. This is sandbox time. D&D Beyond's the best tool. The best digital tool set.

Wow. Very nice plug there. Smooth. I'd like to go and ask D&D Beyond. Sure. I think Ayla's suggestion of speaking to Danica is probably a good place to start or just to try and get some more information on maybe The shadow one thing one thing I have it probably won't help but I have in my inventory a

Book chronicling the lineage of a minor noble family family from Lunaria And I don't know if that would contain any information that we haven't learned already in the last and i don't know if that would contain any information that we haven't learned already in the last no yeah no um you when you looked into this book before because it's not thalia's family that's in the book it is just some random minor family it's like a kind of like family history biography you don't see any mention of like i mean even flicking through it there's lots of mentions to like all sorts of like witches and archfey and sorceresses and sorcerers you know the the feywild lun Lunaria is made up of this. Like these tend to be like the rulers of kingdoms.

You know that it's very whimsical. Well, not whimsical necessarily, but like it operates under a lot of strange rules. There's rules about like hospitality. There's rules of like, you know, being kind to strangers and people that give you gifts and things like that. I think that reading through that and like with thalia's revelation the only thing is like this is kind of a big deal if thalia was really really she would have had to have been very very cruel to this this good witch to turn her like to make her take these kind of steps um and it's

kind of yeah this is a big deal this isn't just like a normal curse or anything like that this is definitely a big thing but yeah unfortunately the book isn't really going to be too useful the only other immediate idea i had outside um trying to gather intel was um i was pondering about using contact other plane to contact Mesmera herself. Yeah, but I know that they can only give like yes, no, maybe sort of like one word answers. So I need to think very quickly about what I would ask. But also I need to roll to make sure I don't go insane and fail it. Yeah. Well, you'll have the break to come up with the questions And then we can do the roll in later. But yeah, sorry go insane

Yeah, don't worry about it. Don't worry about that bit might not happen My cool So is the plan to head back to horizon talk to Danica? Literally Tom has got the the he gets to pick where you go I'm ready to click it he's late the fast travel to check though Tom you have used some of the buttons already haven't you because you've used the button for the whole of influence and I think you use the horizon one already yes well have I used the Horizon one?

Yeah, because you went to pick up Thalia, you went back there. Okay. Uh, well, we can go back to Gusthaven or the Stormchaser. Unless anyone wants to teleport us, right? Can we teleport to Horizon? Yeah, you, if you've got teleport got teleport, you can cast your own teleport spells for sure. You know the teleportation circles and stuff. You know the sequence. A helm?

Yeah, the helm of teleportation would work as well. Yeah. Yeah, I've also got Teleport spells. The only thing is with teleportation spells is they wouldn't get you to the Hall of Infinite Resplendence because it's protected against teleportation magic. The only thing with teleportation spells is they wouldn't get you to the Hall of Infinite Resplendence because it's protected against teleportation magic. The only thing which gets you to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence is the book,

is the Wayfinder's Guide. But to get out of it, yeah, you can just use normal teleportation magic. But getting in, it is warded. Yeah, well, I mean, if we want to go to Gusthaven or the Stormchaser, I'm your guy, at least for the next 24 hours. Or I think both Lucius and Nova can teleport the party as well. Yeah, I've got teleportation circle as well, so there's ways. But where are we going?

Nova? Gusthaven? Or Gusters? Isn't that Horizon, right? Isn't Danica Horizon? Danica is on Horizon, right? Isn't Danica... Danica is on Horizon, yeah. Yeah, that's what I meant. I'll edit it so it says Horizon.

Old Horizon's? Old Horizon's? Yeah, I guess, yeah, I think what Aayla said about Danica, and isn't Rosemeadow there as well? Yeah, Rosemeadow's in Horizon as well, yep. Yeah, that's a good starting point, I think. And I'm sure they'd have great libraries as well.

I feel like Horizon would have awesome libraries. Maybe. You don't know, actually. I don't think you've ever inquired about libraries on Horizon. And sequester scrolls. I think that's Nova's top three thoughts at the moment, is what Ayla said, some way to sequester, like as an emergency, you know, like counting down to the last day, sequester

Athalia and then contact Outerplane. That's my thoughts. All right. Some solid options. Anybody else? Yeah. Anybody else got like any ideas or things that they want to do? Essentially,

we speak to Root and ask them about the Guardians in the Feywild. What they were up to. Yeah. Could do that. Alright. Cool. Well, it sounds like the party's going to Horizon then. So who's teleporting what? Who's casting the spells?

Yeah, I can't. Well, I'm happy to, but if we've got a helm that does it, then ding dong. Ding dong. Helm of teleport. Does it take all of us? It can teleport up to eight creatures. Yeah. Three charges, it's one charge, and Yeah, I think that would work

again Nova would know the like Yeah, you don't need to roll as long as you know the teleportate You can basically go to a teleport circle with zero chance of failure if you know the the rune sequence Which for horizon you do you know the rune sequence for horizon and gustavion? So you can go to either of those locations without worrying about teleport fucking up. Um, cool. All right. And we need to buy a scroll, a sequester scroll. Man, who thought we'd need a sequester scroll

twice in this campaign? And I was almost going to spaff it away for 8,000 gold. Uh, and a library. We need to find a library, too. The teleport helm feels much more like the traditional teleportation that you're used to as opposed to the Wayfinder's guide version of teleportation. You kind of feel yourselves yanked out of your bodies and propelled at a very rapid distance, kind of unaware of your surroundings, but aware that you are traveling very quickly in a matter of moments.

are traveling very quickly uh in a matter of moments and then you kind of come to a slamming halt as you appear in the guarded teleportation circle room of horizon itself uh you do startle quite a few of the guards who are like but then when they see it's you um they quickly there is like a brief kind of like you know are they illusions nope they're clear. And they just sort of like nod. Welcome back to Horizon, Storm Chasers. Thank you. Never get used to that. You see all the guards are still... They all relax, but when they seem...

You can see that they're all keeping their weapons because they're looking at Max. They all trust you, but they're watching Max very carefully. He's just kind of like ignoring them alright we'll head to

either Danica for advice maybe on where the library is but I feel like that's going to the leader of the place to ask for directions you tell me what you want to do tell us is there a

sign on the corner of the road and one of them is pointing to a wild no damn it nice try should we do a break and then decide what we're doing yeah you can take break now yeah we can take break now and then you can let me know what you want to do all right in that case we're gonna take a quick five minute break and then when we come back figure out what the f we're gonna do what in the f yeah danica will know it's fine she's got all the information she's like 500 years old or something yeah she is mesmera on a road turns out in a past life yeah i knew it all right we're gonna go kill danica point of note keeping we scoop we scoop the snakes up and bring them with us the snakes oh yeah yeah

yeah like thalia keeps the snakes with her on like a whole time yeah yeah the snakes how many how many snakes were there just think well all right we've left lucius behind we've left ala behind we left no the snakes i'm not gonna count the creep the snakes as creatures for the teleport 12 snakes. We've left Lucius behind. We've left Aayla behind. We've left Max behind. I'm not going to count the snakes as creatures for the teleport. I'm not going to do that. I don't care what the spell says. The snakes can't be. Talia puts all the snakes in her micro bag of holding.

She puts them in a bag of holding and then gets them out when you finish. I just love Ayana. We all bamf away and then one person bamfs back, scoop up some, we all bamf away, and then one person bamfs back. So I was just left with snakes. Scoop up some snakes, and then bamfs away again. Sorry. Sorry about this.

Sorry. Forgot my snakes. Forgot my kids. Yeah. Cool. Forgot the kids. Left them at the pub. It's fine. I mean, Nova, you have inherited 12 snake children.

I hope you know that in this relationship. Yes. You are now stepmother to 12 snakes. Yeah, absolutely. That's fine. It's okay. Thalia's inherited a lot of war crimes. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. Nice. All right. We're going to take a five-minute break. And then when we get back, we're going to play some more D&D. Some more D&D. Thank you.