High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #126 | Teleport Troubles (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 11, 2021

The Stormchasers need to find a way into the Faewild and have many plans on how to do it! 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. Now at Joe Fresh, get 20% off children's active wear only until Wednesday, August 14th. Shop smart with one cart and check everything off your back-to-school list all in one place. Now that's some smart shopping. Conditions apply. See in-store or joefresh.com for details. Hello, welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond, the ultimate online D&D toolset for both players and DMs. Make your dungeon-delving life a million times easier

with D&D Beyond using the link in the episode description. Hello and welcome back to Erois. After returning to the halls of infinite resplendence, following them defeating the titan Zephyr, the storm chasers ask for aid in undoing a curse placed upon their friend Thalia. Thalia's transformation however takes a darker turn. During the ritual, a voice calls out and strange magic seems to warp the spell before vanishing mysteriously. Thalia reappears, her Medusa form gone and returned to the elven woman she was before, but Quill notices a strange mark upon her wrist. The origin of Thalia's curse is revealed. As she was once a wicked and cruel fey princess, she tormented a good-hearted sorceress called Mesmera, who turned to darker powers in search of revenge.

Cursing Thalia, she then took over Thalia's home of Heartspire and cleverly weaved a second curse should the first ever be broken. And now a deadly disease spreads through Thalia's body that will kill her in time, if not undone, or if a way is not found to undo the magic. The party now face the problem, the complexities of reaching the Feywild, also known as Lunaria, as there are many magical and physical obstructions and obstacles to overcome. A number of options were discussed. They sought out their old companion or like a person of interest, Rosemeadow, and they also have some ideas of their own,

but that is pretty much where we left things off last week uh well following as well i guess the other bit i forgot to put in my recap was nova vege's attempted contact other plane where she attempted to contact the sorcerer mesmera to ask questions however failed saving throw resulted in some consequences with nova being subjected to powerful visions and memories of this sorceress, Mesmera, which showed all of the horrible things that Thalia had done to her, causing Nova to be repulsed, to be revulsed by Thalia's presence, resulting in a confrontation that saw the two of them split apart. At least temporarily.

We don't know what the next steps are. Ayla had spoken with Thalia. Thalia has returned to her ship, the Twin Star Longbow. And I believe that we just left things with Nova getting some much-needed rest away from the party as the party discussed their next steps. Yeah. Which was basically my plan, or at least my idea, was to try and find a way to infuse a crystal on my bookie wook,

the Wayfinder's Guide, with a energy. If that's a thing, if that is a thing at all. It could possibly be. It could possibly be. That is something that you will either need to think of something that you think will work or you go and do some research or something like that i know that there were plans uh nova wanted to inquire into finding another sequester scroll to see if that could at least help as an

emergency measure um century had some plans about talking to maximilian about the archways um nova had some other plans around her professor and things like that i don't know if uh you know what lucius and ala plan to do is there anything else i've got to mention that you feel is important for people to know before we start today's session um i don't think so i think you've covered it all yeah thalia said why are you guys helping and we were like shut up yeah basically yeah the classic kind of like, you know, and, you know, to make it 100% clear, if you are either a new viewer or maybe if you missed last week's episode,

Thalia has made it very specifically clear that she was a very awful person. And Nova's witnessing of these events included, you know, things like this sorceress's home being burnt down. I forgot to mention one thing. Well, it's a slight retcon. It's a retroactive ad. You would have felt, Nova,

that part of that process of her home burning down, Mesmera once had, like, wings. She had, like, kind of, like, fairy wings, and they were burnt off, basically, by the flames. Oh, my God. Again, just to kind of, like like really kind of ramp it up. Oh, it wasn't bad enough. Thalia like bewitched and ensorcelled Mesmera's lover

and took him away from her. She, you know, bullied and tormented and caused physical harm to and was just generally a very horrible person. Thalia's made it very clear that she understands that and she knows who she was and isn't entirely sure if she deserves to be saved. That was very much a big part of it. It's only really Nova that knows that.

All the rest of us know is that Thalia has told us that she's been bad. She mentioned that she had done some very awful things and things like that is what Thalia specifically said to you guys. But it's that classic thing, right? Of somebody saying, oh, I've done some terrible things in the past and then actually

as Nova has now experienced it from a sort of perspective of the victim. I thought she was just talking about stealing a dip dab from a co-op or something. Yeah, from Lucius' perspective it's similar to when he was a kid and he dropped daddy's favourite

mug and blamed it on Moonstar. Oof. Awful stuff. Although saying that, Lucius you know, is probably one of the few people Well, I was gonna say he hasn't done anything wrong. He maybe somebody who would understand what the being the victim of of young you know as a young boy he was bullied as well like he he was tormented by peers who then uh you know

were different people uh yeah that's a potential thing so point yeah would um quill not have seen it though because wasn't the story played out in the wayfinder's guide no no the story was very um so in the wayfinder's guide quill used it to understand the curse and so the details only really reflected the curse itself um which was told through this very allegorical story called The Cruel Princess, about a cruel princess who gets what she deserves by a sorceress with a living shadow who is her friend and helps her devise a curse that ultimately kills the cruel princess.

And that was what the book explained. But it didn't go into any of the details about Farley's specific actions or any of the details about farley's specific actions or you know any of the actual um you know i think i might have put in the book that there were things like there were scenes of like the the good sorceress's house being burnt down and stuff like that but that was about it yeah so with quill's crystal idea explain that in summary again. So I want to... Because I can use the Wayfinder's Guide to teleport to places I've been before

and have attuned a crystal to. I want to find a way to almost pre-attune it to, I guess, I wouldn't have any control over exactly where it would go, but just the ability to go to the Feywild as a plane by fusing it with Fey, scrunch up some fairies and just slap it into the crystal. Get Rosemeadow and just take her entire life essence and distill it into a crystal. Yeah, you can suck her dry. Yeah, you can suck a drawing. Yeah,

certainly could. And just to explain with the whole planes thing, Lunaria aka the Feywild because they're basically the same thing exists in something called the Twilight Nebula and I think it was Max who might have explained

this, Maximilian explained this. The Twilight Nebula makes things like planar travel difficult and it stops Magitek. It causes problems with Magitek. You can't actually just plane shift into Lunaria normally. You either need to have

a guide, somebody, a natural born fae who can act as a guide, kind of like a compass or a waypoint or an anchor that can actually help guide you to the plane itself or you need to have some other sort of um magical way of breaching through the kind of uh the unnatural magic that the twilight nebula kind of infuses into everything even starbane's forces they they have established like a garrison and they they have starships

can reach there but only because they've now allied themselves with the fey of lunaria and that means that they have guides and they have compasses and things like that that help them and you said i think last time that guide is not necessarily the correct term for it that the guide themselves is not necessarily knowledgeable about the direction exactly they just need to be somebody who is a guide. Who is from Lunaria, who is a natural born fae. A summoned fae creature

wouldn't work because they're not actually from that plane. You're conjuring them out of air, for example. You're conjuring them from magic. The person doesn't necessarily need to be aware of their nature or where they're going. They just need to be from the place. Okay.

And then, yeah, also the travel there, if we did choose the astral space route, would take longer than Thalia has left, right? Potentially. Again, it's difficult to say. You know, there are ways to travel fast through astral space. The other complications with the astral ship travel plan is you have to A, hope that Paladol will open up the cradle and enable you to pass through it like you did when you came back to Erois. B, Kallus has fleets basically blockading Erois now.

He has sent his fleets to basically be like, right, when this cradle comes down, we're attacking. So you'd have to get past them. Then also Lunaria is a sovereign plane of the Valkyrian Empire, which means there would be Valkyrian ships at Lunaria as well, and you'd have

to get past those. Potentially possible. You guys have done... Exactly. You guys have done get past those. Okay. Potentially possible. Like, you guys have done... No problem. Exactly. You guys have done that kind of stuff before. It just makes it complicated. More time.

And, yeah. Yes. So, I guess maybe Sentry's plan of trying to find a gate and teleporting to it in the same way that they tried to do below the abbey, but that one is destroyed now. Maybe find another one of those and maybe is it destroyed or moved

disproved well i mean do you yeah would you want to start with century or do you want to you know start with cause plan or nova you had some stuff you wanted to go talk to jocelyn um your old professor about some stuff i had a couple Who wants to take the lead? Reed, do you want to... Yeah. Reed, do you want to go first? I don't mind. Can do, I guess. Sure. Yeah.

It's probably easiest because Max is here on Horizon and, you know, Jocelyn can be... is as well. But, yeah, you can go and find Max. Him and Valor have now been given a sort of more leeway to move around Horizon, although they are carefully watched

by the Horizon guard. You horizon although they are carefully watched um by the horizon guard uh you know they are kind of kept uh under surveillance but they they are allowed to kind of go about the place um max is still tattered you can still see that like he isn't shaving so like he started to grow like this kind of almost like flickering embers beard like that's starting to come through like almost like uh you know the hairs are softly glowing so it kind of almost like flickering embers beard, like that's starting to come through, like almost like, you know, the hairs are softly glowing. So it kind of gives this look of like, you know, campfire embers kind of thing. His hair, this kind of like flame-like hair is growing longer.

He looks a bit more, he looks like he's eating and like looking after himself in other ways, like, you know, training, but he's definitely looking a bit more disheveled. He's much more sort of strider Aragorn at the moment than sort of clean cut king aragon that he probably was when you first met him when he was much more of a proud sort of knight of gideon um but yeah yeah you can easily find those guys uh vala is pouring away you can see that she's got like maps kind of spread out all over a table and she's you know using crystals and she seems to be going

into long moments of meditation um and max is just kind of arms folded leaning against the wall uh watching her while she does stuff um when he sees you he just nods his head century max oh i'm glad i'm glad i found you um century like pulls out her little notebook that she bought a few months ago. I've been speaking to people. I spoke to Root and he told me that Valkyrian forces are in the Feywild. Is that correct?

Yes. It is no secret for me to share that the plane known as Lunaria swore its allegiance to the Valkyrian Empire it is a sovereignty state a sovereignty plane they maintain their own government there they continue to rule themselves but they they are sworn allies of the Valkyrian Empire we need your help You saw what happened to Thalia.

Yes, I'm aware of your pirate companion. And I understand if there's information you maybe don't want to share, but we're running out of options. We need to get to the Feywild. Do you know of any way to get there? Any archways on Arois? There must be some set up. We've encountered one. There must be more.

Do you know of any more? When you say the word archways, there is definitely, Sentry would be able to pick up that there is, you know, there's a twitch in his face. He shuffles on his feet a bit more uncomfortably. The ways that I know that he would reach Lunaria are via an astral vessel. I am not a particularly talented magician. I do not know much about teleportation magics, but astral vessels can travel there. The Twilight

Nebula makes it difficult to navigate. One must have somebody connected to Lunaria to accurately travel there. As for archways... I am still a Knight of Gideon, Sentinel Century. I am not an ally of Erois. I've told you this. I can't give you any information that my Emperor deems a military secret.

I'm sorry, but I won't share that information. I'm sure that you care for your friend greatly, but she is just a pirate to me. I still have my vows. She's not to us, Max. She's really important. And the more people we have around us, the more we can keep Valor safe. Do not try and use Valor as leverage in this matter.

I do not believe that this woman has any interest in protecting Valor. I'm sorry, Sentry, but... You are asking me to give up information that I... That is... I'm still a soldier of the Empire. I will not betray that trust. I... The knowledge of the Archways... Whatever you know, I...

Cannot offer you more. I cannot offer you more I understand he just kind of resolutely like stands there I mean there's definitely you know Max is not a heartless person I think again you can tell that like he doesn't like saying this to you

I think that that's very plain he's not happy that he's kind of stonewalling you about this but there is something which is making him stick to this. There is something very important to him that means that he's not willing to share this willingly. Or certainly not as things currently stand. Maybe if circumstances were different,

maybe if you said the right thing to him, or maybe if you could convince him in some other way but you know just for the sake of helping thalia you don't think max is gonna share any information that he may have um i appreciate your honesty and i know it's difficult for a knight to break their vows i'm glad you understand it i know i know that out of everyone you are perhaps the one who would understand it best. I'm in a difficult position here. I am not your enemy. I know that you and your companions fight for things which are good, which are true and valorous, but you still stand in opposition to my emperor who i'm still believing

we share a common goal in protecting valor i believe that we share a common goal in doing what we think is best for the people of not just eros but all worlds and i fear that if i tell you what i know, if I tell you the information, the military secrets I share, then maybe not you, but perhaps the people who listen to our conversations, these Horizon, this Danica, they may use that information to strike back against a man whom I trust to do the right thing. Is there nothing I can do to change your mind? We wouldn't use it

against you. We just want to help our friend. I will say this. I know... I know of these archways. I do not believe it would be me breaking a vow to tell you that Kallus has a great interest in them. That he knows of them.

That he knows that there are more. There are several here in Aroes. I believe it is written in your histories that they were once all destroyed, but that is not true. There are some which survived. You know this. You've encountered one. My understanding is that you met the Emperor via such a device. That device is not where you think it is. It's moved?

That is all I can say. It's moved? Where would it be? Even I do not know the answer to that question, and I say that honestly. Kallus is cautious. He knows that the more information is spread around, the easier it is for information to be revealed,

even with those he trusts closely. Even individuals such as Zarkira does not know everything that my emperor has planned. He keeps many things close to his chest. Thank you for telling me. That's huge. Okay, so we might have a way. There might be a way.

Okay, I'll let the others know. But thank you, I won't... This is but... Thank you for... Thank you for... Honouring my vows. Like I said, I think you are one of the few who could understand it. There is something powerful in an oath.

Something that makes us who we are. I will not break mine as I expect you will not break yours. I will not. And I swear I will not use this against you. Thank you. It is not you that I distrust, Sentry. It is not you or Kelek. It is not even your Captain Lucius or that that barbarian woman i do not distrust them

nova vija is too clever for her own good i think that she would use information i think she would use information in a way that she thinks would benefit with other people but perhaps is a little naive when it comes to its usage but it is, it is the rest of Erois. You have at least seen my emperor for more than just a villain. You have seen him as a man who has good intentions, I hope at least. I believe that the rest of Erois still sees him

as a, as a boogeyman, as a man of legend and myth, a villain, a killer. It's hard not to I understand this good luck helping your friend I hope that you find a way to help her just nods thank you so much

just kind of like sprint down the road back to the yeah you kind of turn and run yeah i think like we would probably see valor like as you run away like you don't see this but like any you know the audience in the movie style kind of um valor is just looking up and smiling oh and then she goes back to working cool all right yeah yeah century comes back she tells you everything that she just that conversation she just had with max so there's any thoughts or ideas around that oh okay uh i mean i was under the impression it was destroyed this this this portal it's moved it's gone i don't know where i i mean i i could find out but if this is something that's under valkyrie in control he was the last one we saw coming out of the thing

it could be in the middle of some fortress, for all we know, and it would be next to impossible to get to. I just want you to be ready for that. Well, there'll be Valkyrian forces on either side of it. Feywild's under Valkyrian control anyway. It's gonna be difficult. But we can do it. We have been to a fortress,

and we did kind of take them out. So it could be fun. Also, Quill and Nova would probably remember this anyway, so I'm just going to mention it. With the archway, it wasn't just a set. It doesn't go to a set location. It's basically a stargate. You dial where you want to go.

So if you can find one on Erois, in theory, you can reach any other archway on any of the other planes. You just have to know the code to put into, you know, dial in basically the wormhole. It's a stargate. It's a stargate. Yeah. I mean, Vala with her knowledge...

She's protection coded. Her lost knowledge managed to find the correct code to get to Starbane. I can cheat. I can cheat, use the eye and find the way... or find the code that we need. I can also maybe try and locate it again with the eye. But is that the strategy we want to take

if it is in some horrendously difficult place to get into? I believe it's still worth seeing what condition it's in. It could be valuable information for Eros as a whole to know where these archways are. If Calus indeed tries to use it to invade Eros, it could be to our benefit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if he tried

to save this one in particular, the one we know about, maybe there aren't others. Maybe he desperately needs this one, so if we control that, great. Who wants to control that, great. Who wants to bet that wherever the gate is, there's a giant, giant Project Vanguard just waiting right next to it?

Well, in that case, and I hate this phrase, we would be killing two birds with one stone. Really don't like that one. It's quite handy, though. Really don't like that one. It's quite handy, though. I've never heard that. It makes a lot of sense. Do two things with one action.

We find out two things. One that we didn't even know we needed. Or wanted. Two birds, one stone. Who kills birds with stones? Monsters do. Monsters. I've seen people do that before, actually. Not, like, quill kind of birds, though. Like, small

birds. Normal sized birds. It would be a hunter's thing, right? Yeah, you'd hunt birds. It's quite common. Cece, stones are right there. You know. Pick them up when you go, dinner far too much visual imagery

for me to conjure up, thank you for that anyway yes I say we leave Valor to her finding the next titan plane and utilise Quill's magnificent powers of all seeing to locate the archway

ain't no stone gonna hit Quilly. Except the one that blew my jaw off. Oh, sorry. I told Max we wouldn't use this against him. This information he's given us, it's

meant a lot to him to tell me that. I mean, it's hard not to. I know. This is an important asset to the Valkyrian Empire and a way for them to get into Erois. We have to stop it. But it's also important to Max. I know he's a Valkyrian soldier, I know,

but there is good in him and I don't want to give him a reason not to trust us. It's taken him a lot to get this far. We need him on our side. But he is withholding information from us. I would too. If I was in his position, I wouldn't tell him everything. I wouldn't tell him anything. I... No, but...

It means he knows. He knows more. He does. He knows something about the archway. We know it's been moved, so I'm trying to figure out if it's still on Arois. Hmm. That's enough at least.

Well, he's getting on to Erois somehow. Did someone not say that? He's definitely getting in somehow. That's a way to do it. He's done it before. That gateway is his way to our world. The same way as it's our way to piss off to some other fae place.

So... I do think there are other gateways. I was reviewing my notebook and I remember that we were told once that archways were built from ancient Ganassi technology and knowledge. The person that told us that was in fact a ghost, the ghost of Rosehall. If you remember, she was going to teach me a ritual to contact her friend, partner, prince that looked a lot like Lucius, Prince Swiftsong,

contact him whatever planet he was from. So there is a possibility there. There is also another possibility because we were told recently by my professor that the Ganassi have built a planar archway recently. I don't know if that's the same thing or but we she

told us after the meeting after she came here to horizon those are she said she said there was the Atlas Academy have built a planar gate and I don't know how. So there are answers there. But you need to know you need to know what Thalia did to Mesmera. I know that you were all jumping into action in that wonderful way you do.

A friend of ours my girlfriend is going to die You are all jumping into action in that wonderful way you do. A friend of ours, my girlfriend, is going to die in two weeks. And you've all jumped into this without even thinking about it. But I need you to know what she did. And I want you to know that I am still going to figure out an answer to this. I am... yeah. If you want to join me... You're gonna do it anyway, aren't you?

Yes. So you're gonna do it on your own and maybe get yourself killed or are you gonna do it with us and do it probably a little bit better because you know we can punch things and stuff

I do lack the physical strength yes Ayla and I won't lie it would be a great relief to me if you all came but you need to know how how bad she was might I interject dear Nova but you need to know how bad she was. Might I interject?

Dear Nova, have you made a decision? Yes. That's all you need to say. We're behind you. We're coming. She did some very bad things, Lucius. Some very bad things. And you're still choosing to help her. You saw this just yesterday,

and yet you love her and you wish to save her. And that's all we need to know. We're not doing it for anyone except you at this point, Nova. We don't need to know anything, but we know that we want to stick with you. And I'd rather you didn't get smooshed, please, because you are too clever, but we kind of need that clever on our team.

So just stick around. You do realize the fate of the universe is in all of your hands, and you are all far more important than this than a stupid ganassian love You are our universe as much as- Exactly You mean everything to us, we're coming with you whether you want us to or not There are things erose about you and isn't all this what we're fighting for

in the first place I just when we see Mesmera know that she has a very valid reason for this. She really does. Well, frankly, Nova, I'm very, very squeamish, so the less I know, the better.

True. But, I mean, granted this is just some storybook, but this Mesmera found some shadow that allowed her to cast this curse. She may have had a good reason, but there's something evil there. So we might need to eliminate it anyway, or whatever we choose to do to stop this curse. We might need to eliminate it anyway, or whatever we choose to do to stop this curse. I think she may have made some bad decisions too. I'm not saying I'm gonna hit her, but I might. You know.

Maybe. But if you tell me not to then I'll consider not doing it. Maybe. Consider it. you know maybe but if you tell me not to then i'll consider not doing it maybe consider it i mean maybe the solution is to hit everyone and then sort it out afterwards frankly i think it works myself i'd prefer not i don't want to i don't want to be hit i'm just saying that's uh that that's that's the end i don't want to be hit by Aayla no I don't think any of us

I'm not going to hit you guys, jeez that's the nicest that's the nicest thing you said Aayla regardless of who doesn't deserve to be hit I think it's upon us to find and seek the truth. It's all very well painting. We're good.

They're bad. Thal has done bad stuff. Mesmer's done awful stuff. Let's find out the truth. Because that way we know we're doing the right thing. And that goes beyond to the grander picture of Eros itself. And Nova has that ultimate desire to seek the truth, I do believe, with the conflict with Kallus,

the thoughts that she has regarding the finer points of Kallus Darby and the nuances i think we need to let nova's science mind and curiosity lead the way and that's why we're behind you 100 within reason though uh we don't want another you on the... Yeah, I was about to say this goes so far but if there is a secret Starbane device

or you're being mind controlled by Starbane I might revoke the saying that I'm not going to hit people. Let's go with assisted curiosity. I solemnly swear I do not have secret Starbane tech.

That's all we need to know. That's all fine then. Good stuff. That's what a dominated mind control person would say. Tiangong, could you help me out here and reassure everyone that I'm not bluffing? Finally!

The real truth. I'm just standing. That's very strong. Oh, whoa. Tancor, are you okay? I'm just standing. I might have turned into a droid. My apologies, Nova Veeja. It seems that there was some magical interference with my personality device.

It's Starbend! I can confirm that Nova Veeja does not appear to be under the influence of any enchantment spells or mind control, to my knowledge. All right, that's enough to go on. If Tiangong's not the purest thing in this universe... It is possible that my systems have been corrupted by the other version of myself. I was fine with that. However, I would be unaware of this change in my personality.

Oh. Okay. That definitely didn't help. That did not help my case. You should really stop using Tiangong as a weapon. There definitely seems to be some strange magical effect which is altering my personality systems. Has Tiangong learned to tell jokes now?

Humour is a little beyond my comprehension. I do not fully understand these jokes that you constantly make. Constantly? Okay. I mean, it sounds like Tiangong, so... It does. Is that because things are not very good?

Because that's fair enough, really. If I may make a simple suggestion regarding this concern with Lunaria. Oh. By your silence, I am assuming that this is an approval. It is. Yes, it is. It's very much a proof.

My own knowledge is limited due to being separated from many of my other shards and form. However, it is entirely possible that Tassadar still remembers everything there is to know about Lunaria and is very well aware of everything that is going on with the Valkyrian Empire. I understand that he made some agreements to visit around Erois, but if we could track Tassadar down, I'm sure that Tassadar would have much to share about archways and similar technology. Do you share a connection with with them? Yeah.

No longer. Unfortunately since the creation of the triumvirate we have become separate individuals and now we operate very much like yourselves as individuals. Any connection that I once had has long since been gone. Perhaps Tassadar might be our first point of call. Rather than try and locate the archway, we could seek Tassadar, who has vastly more knowledge about potentially that and Lunaris itself. And might be more willing than Max to tell us things. Assuming what he saw, he left

us to explore Oroes and discover well, the point of it, I suppose. Hopefully what he saw was the nice bits. You know, Rose Hall, that sort of thing, not the bad bits. I mean, Rose Hall wasn't great.

All in all. Let's be honest. Yeah. Thinking about it, is there any way that has been? There was a murder. Yeah, there was a murder there. Couple of them. That's two. And then you've got the ghost.

Your spyglass is still there, Quill. Do you remember? Your spyglass? Yeah, no, I remember. They stole my spyglass too, yeah. Okay, so maybe not there. Where else could you have gone? Ironwick? What happened in Ironwick? Oh, bad stuff in Ironwick. Little kids. Yeah, there was children being absorbed by... Yeah, and then the space under the lake.

Yeah, the space in front of the lake. Then Kaylie's Rest, and we all know how that went. We don't talk about Kaylie's Rest. Yeah, no, we don't talk about that. I remember like half of it. Then there's stuff after Kaylea's rest. There's the Tower of the Night Eyes. I died there. We had to carry her body for a while.

Hey everybody. Lovely reminiscing there. Perhaps we should also consider that um that tastar may not want to help us at all what is it what true what incentive does he have we're helping a friend that said sorry never but like a pirate who's cursed he's done horrible things what what is that again He's done horrible things. What's there to gain? We could approach it in more of a tactical way. We would like information on what Starbane's up to

and where the gateway is. We don't need to tell them about the pirate girlfriend right away. Just saying. Side note, pirate girlfriend. Main point. Info. Okay, just saying. Side note, pirate girlfriend, main point, info. Trying to get information about a aetherically protected planet in case of fallback from Erois, could all things go negatively. You can, I fucking, Tom, you using the term aetherically infused planet, you can tell you've been playing too much Final Fantasy.

I used the wrong word. I have never used the term aether or aetherically. The wrong word! You can just tell. It's like infested his mind. It's just there. He's got alphinaud in the back of his head, like... Oh yes, the aether. Just summon a primal and be done with it. Yeah.

R'Hange is going to come out and give a big explanation. Right. Anyway. Praise Sooth. Well, you guys sound like you've got a bunch of different things that you want to pursue because Nova wanted to talk to Jocelyn about Rose Hall and the archways and all that stuff. You've got Tassadar, which was Tiangong's suggestion as well.

And again, might not yield anything. It was just that was what Tiangong would think of to suggest. You've got Kul's Eye. You can always use as well. You might have other spells. Those of you who can cast spells may have things that you can ask or inquire about. Oh, I could do contact out of the plane again. Why don't I do that?

Yay! This time, I'm going to ask Kadar. He knows a lot. Please do. Much higher chance of failure for that, I think. Have a little catch up, see how he's doing. Lucius suggests Quill uses

the eye to find Tassadar. To find Tassadar, not the portal. Interesting. Yeah. Because I am so ready to use this information against Max because it seems like the exact kind of thing we want to stop, right? A portal that Valkyrian Empire has under their control straight into a rowist and

a paladin that we like versus a portal into a rowist. This is Tom speaking, not Quill, right? This is Tom Hazel the player. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd love to see Century's reaction to Quill using that information when she specifically

said not to. I'd love to see that. I pinky promised with my bro. That's his oath, though. It's his oath. It's not yours. Technically, we utilised the information that he very sparingly gave us and didn't even break his vow for.

So we're not doing anything wrong. Just saying the truth. and that's chris trot speaking not lucian he won't give us any more information ever again that's for sure but uh this is why i love people playing paladins because like yeah what everything you're saying absolutely logical makes loads of sense paladin oath shit is just like nope like nope that's not honorable that's not fair. You promised you wouldn't. You promised you wouldn't.

And he gave you a code of honour. Oh, lol. Yeah. From one paladin to another. Yeah. Paladin pals. Let's find two dragon eyes with the power of the Aether. No!

I'm going to use the Eye of the Storm. I'm going to use my Dragon Eye of the Storm. And I would like to ask, where is Tassadar currently? Okay. Actually, that's going to show me the ship. The Eye... That's going to show me the ship. That was also called Tassadar.

I mean, yeah, like, I think that the eye, you see, and it spends a use of the eye because it can answer it, the eye clouds over, you see the grey mist, and you see a flicker of images. Like, you see, like, a TV channel that's changing the images too quickly you can just about take in snapshots of the scene um you see the ship the tassadar you see the interior sort of

engine chamber the power reactor where you see the the staff form of tassadar like his natural or the weapon form sorry of this kind of-black crystalline staff in the power core. You see the humanoid version of Tassadar walking around the ship, the Tassadar, like helping run science experiments and like grinding magical theories and stuff like that. Then you see a slideshow of Tassadar around Arois. And it all seems to be that this is, like,

happening in the present. Like, he is literally, in one minute, he's, like, observing a mountain range in Voxar. And then in the next one, he is watching a bazaar full of people in Zephenna. And then the next one, he's trekking through the woods of El Seraph and, like, noting down the foliage.

And it's just like this um he seems to be pretty much like loads of places all at once not everywhere you don't quite get he's not like in the room with you like there isn't enough things but he seems to be in like many many places at once he's just taking in a little bit of everything all of the time um okay in that case how do we find... All right, I'm going to say this as Quill this time. He is... Tassadar is experiencing all of Erois at a breakneck pace. He is here, there.

He's probably gone to 10 different places in me saying this. I don't know how we can track him down into one spot. But he is teleporting everywhere. Hmm. Well, sorry. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know how to stop him in his tracks. It's not a smart one. I don't know how to stop him in his tracks. I'm not a smudge man. I don't know. Bad suggestion. Maybe I can try. Can I try and cast Scry and do a little Scry on him?

Yeah, Tassadar gets a saving throw. It's a magical effect. I mean, I guess I'll roll a dice. A wisdom saving throw. Wow, that tone of voice really fills me with optimism. He gets advantage. Even

with an 11, his result would be something like 30 or like 27 or something like that on a wisdom saving throw so yeah and and he is like you you can feel that he's just like no don't look at me like nope no scry just like waves his hand and it's like no no go away um doesn't know who cast it though that's the problem doesn't know who cast the scrying spell Okay So just Yeah

Your understanding of the scrying spell Is Tassadar would sense That somebody was trying to scry on him And he just went like No Go away Hmm Oh yeah

If they know you're casting it They can fail the saving throw voluntarily Okay But he doesn't Okay Fair enough quill could you perhaps send him a message um okay i could tell him to stop in his tracks and uh appear before us right now i think he's more asking kind but that was quite forceful stop in your tracks and appear before us now i mean i i i'm trying to find a way he he could have he could have appeared in this room for like a second just then and he still carried on but yeah i will send him a message and it is a nice message

sorry to bother you on your vacation, Mr. Tassadar. Please can you come and say hi? We miss you. That's perfect. That's very cordial. Very polite. Working on my friendship. It was great.

Okay. Tassadar, hope all is well. If possible, mm, could you drop in on us for an update?

Um, uh, no rush. Where's guys? Small rush. Okay. The message you get back is very, the message you get back is very short.

It is, who is bothering me? What is your name? I'll send another one. My apologies. You didn't say that. I said clear skies. I'm sorry, you're saying clear skies.

You don't know what clear skies means. Yeah, I know. My apologies. It's Quill of the Storm Chasers. Okay. Before you finish sending the rest of the message, there is a shimmer in the air. You sense that a few wards

that have been built into Horizon's palace, you actually hear like the smell, like you smell burning and you see invisible runes just burn away. You see them suddenly flare to life and then burn as if he's just overridden some sort of spell. Well, certainly a defense.

You're not sure if it was all of them, but there is certainly a defense and a elderly-looking mixture of human and elven, but with this very strange kind of like these eyes that are like stars, you know, like night sky kind of like these eyes that are like stars, you know, like night sky kind of glittering with stars.

Long ears, droopy kind of like white hair. Looks like, and you've never really seen like a really elderly looking elf before. Like normally elves, even in their old age, still look like they're sort of like in their middle years. Tassadon looks like an old elf, like an old man elf. Wearing robes, clutching a staff that matches his own weapon form. He appears, the only difference is that you can see that there is like what appears to be suntan, like he has like lines, like on parts of like his like robes, like where his robes can see, you can see like the signs of like a tan line on his arms, at his sleeves and stuff.

He took a selfie at all these popular tourist locations on Arowas, obviously. You can also see he has a satchel bag which is overflowing with just stuff. You can see what appears to be a scarf that comes from somewhere on Arowas. You can see plants, you can see books have been stuffed in there it's just like a collection of things overflowing out of this bag um and he

appears and kind of looks around very sharply uh yes yes yes yes yes i remember i remember all of you now yes my apologies i believe that I promised I would return and speak with you after a few, after perhaps a day or so. I believe that my investigations into your world, as well as Calus's plans, have taken longer than I expected. But a curious world. I hope all was to your liking. You seem to have gathered many trinkets from across the rose. Yes. Exploring a world that is unknown to me has been quite invigorating. It has been centuries, centuries since I've been able to explore a world so freely. I've been enjoying myself, taking time to examine this world, learn its histories, learn its legends and stories, learn of its magic.

Very curious place indeed, very curious. And what... You likely wish for an update on my opinion regarding Tal's Valkyrian and the Hadar problem. That is why you've summoned me, yes? Oh, and among other things, but yes, an update would be appreciated. Other things? What other things? I believe I made no additional promises to provide you any assistance or succor regarding other matters.

Let's go with the update, and we'll see where things go. I'm very busy, you understand. Very well, I suppose I have kept you waiting. I do at least owe you a brief moment of my time. I've examined your world, Erois. I've examined your defenses. This cradle, an incorrect and rather infantile use of a term for what it represents.

A divine etheric barrier would be more an apt process. A theory? Created by the remnant energy of a divine creature, of a true divine being, very powerful, very ingenious in some ways. Yes, yes, yes. Because I used the word etheric earlier and everyone laughed at me. How curious. This is a very apt magical terminology used for powerful magical energies. But anyway.

Still. Also, this world is not a genuine world. It is artificial. I find that quite curious. Created by this world engine that I believe you mentioned to me before. I've also examined Kallus' own strategies and battle plans. He is unaware of my

investigations into these matters, of course. I am concerned. I'm concerned with Kallus' plan. I'm concerned with his intentions in using this world engine against Hadar. However, I've also examined my own... What is that word you use

you living forms morality no no no no i have no biases child i am tassadar i am i am perfection but morality i made a agreement with callous valkyrian, and I still believe in such an agreement. In fact, I believe that without the Eterna, the Valkyrian Empire would destabilize. It would become a greater problem. There would be more loss of life, not quite to the same scale as Hadar's. However, it would cost many lives. And as such, I do not believe that the Eterna nor myself can fully divert ourselves from serving the Valkyrian Empire. In fact, I believe that this may be the future of the Eterna, but conditions must be improved.

There are many Eterna here on Erois who are neglected, who have been degraded by this absence of a connection to our wider network. Things must change, but at the same time, things must stay the same. Therefore, I have made a decision. I will

neither aid nor hinder your encounters with Calus Valkyrian. I will not inform him of our conversations between us or that you have your knowledge. And I will also begin to try and persuade the Emperor that perhaps his path is misinformed.

Okay. Okay. Everyone else catch that? That sounds great. Misinformed in the way that the world engine is not going to do anything. That he will only exacerbate Hadar's power, yes. By my calculations, the energy emitted by the world engine, Kallus has the belief that the world engine's power is limitless

and that such a being as Hadar would be fed. It would be satisfied by the power of the world engine. That perhaps it may even be too much for Hadar to fully consume, eventually overpowering him, destroying the creature known as Hadar. I do not believe so. The world engine was created by powerful beings. Indeed, its energy is immense, beyond the comprehension of perhaps even myself in my perfection.

But it is not enough. It is not sufficient to destroy Hadar. Hadar is bound by rules and some of those rules have been unbound by the far realm no I do not believe that callus's plan for the world engine will succeed but I also believe that it is still worthwhile to support Calus's empire, to support the man himself. He is a rare specimen of your kind. I find him compelling. Oh, boy.

Nova? You mentioned other matters. I was wondering what you knew about archways and if you encountered any in your travels. Ah, yes, the archways. The archways indeed. An old remnant of Erois' past. It is interesting. They were constructed by Siaska. Although she was hesitant for the world of Erois to truly integrate with the rest of the multiverse, there must have been some part of her that still wished there to

be access to these other worlds. Buried, hidden, but still accessible. Perhaps it is indeed that this divine being Siaska once believed that perhaps Erois could be integrated, perhaps she believed that there could be a way forward for Eros to be a part of the greater multiverse, but she hid them. From my understanding of your own history, it was ancient Erosians, very early in your planet's history, who discovered these archways. They saw them as a means to power, to greed, to bettering themselves or to perhaps understanding the world in which they lived. Curiosity and greed. They opened these archways, not thinking of the consequences, unaware of where they would be opening them to. And thus a war was begun.

They opened these archways to demonic realms, demonic worlds, worlds of war and suffering and pain. The demons poured forth, and so your Siaska and your Titans and your warriors of old battled against them. The archways were believed to be destroyed, but not all were. Some were buried, some were hidden, some were simply disabled so that Siaska and her titans would not find them. The knowledge of these archways was lost over time, and even I have struggled to locate many of them. Calus has control of at least one here in your world. here on your world. It is, I believe, the very nature,

the very archway you used to first meet with the emperor, if my understanding of your history, the reports recorded in Calus's logs indicate that you met him beneath an abbey using one of these ancient gateways, and that is where he was reconcited with his daughter. Is that correct? That is correct. Yes, the archway was moved.

Calus took it. Yes, he understood that if he had left it there, you would likely find someone to inform of its location, so he had the archway moved. A delicate process, but not beyond the Emperor's powers, especially once he had brought through more researchers and majors to aid him in this. It was moved to a new facility, a remote outpost in the northern part of your world, a northern

continent. El Seraph, I believe it is called, a mountainside top. It is a remote outpost, difficult to reach, but a group was sent there, a collection of mercenaries. There were airships missing in the region, and so various mercenary groups were tasked with locating this fortress. They did not know what was inside. The survivors who did find it, however,

shortly became familiar with the archway and Kallus Valkyrian himself. Some were captured, most were killed. Do you know who was sending these mercenaries forward? Some government of your world, I believe. Okay. I believe one of the Sky Cities, Cloud Garden or some such. Cloud Garden? One of the Seven Sky Cities. We've heard of it before. Uh, Black Garden? One of the seven sky cities.

We've heard of it before. Yeah, you've heard of it, but it's not. Been there. Yeah, you've never been there. Okay. Did you manage to locate or hear of any other archways? Despite my perfection, it is difficult when a gatchway is disabled it leaves no etheric trace no etheric resonance for me to be able to locate and find

i believe that there must still be some callous is quite keen to find others they enable him to move troops enable him to bring forth war machines and powers to then send across Aroes, but Kallus has control of one. That is enough. More would simply make his invasion easier. This fortress in El Sarraf, it's not the Shadowsong Pinnacle, is it? No, no, no. I believe that that is something else.

Your own forces, I believe, occupy such a location now. Yes, because that's in northern El Seraph as well I don't know if you would have been privy to this before you left the ship but I heard that recently that Vortenstar left the ship I have not left the ship I am still aboard the Tassava. This version of yourself

that has graced us with your presence. Yes. It is merely a projection. It allows for communication, but my operating body is still fully within the Tassava. So the Tassava is still power... Wait, no, we already knew this.

I... The Gnassi apparently have built a planar gate. Do you know if that's the same construct? The same technology? It uses... It is a new creation. This is highly classified information.

Normally I would not feel the need to get involved. However, I do owe you. I was late to my appointment and so I will tell you this for free. The portal constructed in the Ganassi city is a new creation. There is an academy there, learned of a sword, as advanced as your world can be. They have been given schematics designs they've reverse engineered the original archways and have begun constructing their own deep within their fortress even i was unable to fully breach their defenses their wards of awarding much much stronger than the ones you have here you should replace them they are inferior uh being such

myself was easily able to overcome them the ganas however have perfected such wards and i was unable to bypass them i do not know the full extent of their completion of the project but i have seen it reported in logs callus has begun transporting troops there using it it is not as large or as potent as the original archways but it is sufficient okay it's far more information than i was expecting thank you test off your time why what was you expecting surely if you are conversing with a being such as myself, you should expect the highest level of intelligence and answers and information. Absolutely. Although you said at the start that you were very busy and that any extra information was seemingly out of the question. Ah, very true, very true. I have perhaps lingered here for far too long. There are too many other things to explore and intervene in.

I must arrange a meeting with the Emperor. I must begin to inform him of my doubts about his plan. If you do, could you also... I mean, he probably already knows, but just in case, could you inform him that Zarkira has betrayed him and is siding with Hadar? Yeah, this is not as easy to prove. You have claimed as such, but even in my travels, this has not been easy to prove. Your understanding of Hadar, your understanding of the world engine, this I was able to quantify. These accusations against Commander Zakhira, I fear

that these are a little beyond my realm. I am not able to confirm or deny these matters myself. Why not ask her? It is possible. I do not, I must admit, I am loathe to speak with Commander Zarkira. She, the way that she gazes upon my form, it reminds me of a predator looking at its prey i do not appreciate being regarded as some object some knowledge to be consumed i find her distasteful she probably does want

to experiment on you yes indeed indeed she is a... I find her compelling in some ways. I'm not familiar with this term. I find her compelling. It's really powerful. You could tell Calus that she's a bitch if you want. I will investigate the meaning behind this word, and then I will decide if I should call her a bitch. She is powerful, and she's very very clever

I admire her ingenuity she finds new ways to tap into magical power to transform it I find that quite compelling what I do not appreciate is her arrogance her disregard for intelligent

life something that I have found Calus has a great deal of respect for still i have taken up too much of my time i hope that my answers have been sufficient if this was indeed you attempting to scry on me i advise you not to attempt it again and if you wish to contact me please inform me of whom i'm being spoken by and to the purpose of your nature of query. Okay, I'll read more to the point next time. Very good. I appreciate your...

He just like... And he's gone. He's gone. Well, he knows a lot, but... Wow. He, uh... Bit of a... I can't say it.

He's probably here still. Or now. And he's gone. He's gone again. You don't know. You didn't get the sense that he's omnipotent. It looks like he has a great ability to project himself or maybe multiple copies of himself

to a place, but you don't think he's omnipotent. You also don't think that given Nova especially, you would probably gather, you think that that was really just an illusion. You don't think he, given Nova especially, you would probably gather, you think that that was really just an illusion. You don't think he would have been able to do anything in this space. You don't think he would have been able to attack you

or anything like that. It's just like he can project himself out. We are much too boring for him to keep an eye on, I think, in terms of Tassadar's eyes. When he could be going to the beach and getting a suntan. I know. Okay. Interfering with his margarita time.

Well in that case, that opens up some options. Now Vortensar is certainly a tough option, but it's an option. And the portal they're building is sufficient. Sufficient for Valkyrian forces, certainly sufficient for us. It's certainly concerning. But, yeah, very difficult for us to get in, by the sounds of it.

Test darkened game. The rest of Eros council, are they aware that there's this planar magic being perfected? Probably not. It's probably worth informing. I think my professor did have a debrief with Danica after the arrival. Certainly Danica would know.

Whether the other places like Giselle would know, you don't know, because they're currently at war with you and stuff. That kind of tends to put a hamper in those kind of discussions. But certainly Danica would probably know about it. Because you guys have mentioned this as stuff anyway as well. Okay. However, to send us into Vortensar is, without a doubt, an act of war from Horizon and not a movement we can take so freely.

Whereas northern Alceraph, some outpost up there, you mentioned Cloud Garden is sending mercenaries out to identify what this is. Maybe that's our next steps, to talk to people there find out what they know uh get more information try to find the original portal and seize control of it at the same time with that max's wishes we we need the we need the the glyphs we need to know the address for Lunaria. When Vala dialed in as it was to Kallus, she knew the address. We don't know that for Lunaria,

and I don't know how to figure that out. It would really suck to dial a wrong number. Yeah. We could end up speaking to that demon again. He didn't... Yeah, I don't like him. No. Yeah, no.

I believe your... Or that area must have a wealth of knowledge. We just need to find it. If they're creating an archway, I'm sure they've got destinations in mind. creating an archway. I'm sure they've got destinations in mind. I wonder if Valor would know...

I presume she knew Kallus' coordinates from some innate knowledge that was in her, but maybe she was able to see... I feel like the ship, I feel like Kallus would have the knowledge in his database somewhere of coordinates.

Right? Maybe? He most certainly would, but whether he keeps it on Aroas or not is something else entirely. Again, I could find out, though the knowledge I'm getting from the eye is spottier and spottier as time goes on. But I could try and find out the coordinates from there um i think in either

case we need coordinates if we go to vortensar or if we go to northern alzaraf we need if you wish to use an archway yes you will need to have a code uh a dial number for the archways still other options but i think that that is a great time to take a break you guys can have a think because you still have a bunch of you know avenues to explore like there's still this like is rose hall a thing um you still have rose meadow you also mentioned like talking to the summer eladrin and stuff like that like you still have yeah oh the summer eladrin yeah yeah you you don't know. There's still a bunch of stuff that may either give you information or may be able to provide alternatives or might lead to nothing.

You just don't know. But have a think about what you want to do. We're going to take a quick break, and then when we come back, we can jump on that stuff. But cool. Lots of things. Tassadar is a great character. I hate him.

He's a great character. Oh him, he's a great character everybody can't be super lovable and nice and friendly some people are just an asshole he's a thousand two thousand year old magic stick that has the personality of a superior being and he knows it

and he knows it. There was a reason that the Eterna were ruled by three super powerful Eterna because nobody would just listen to Tassadar on his own. Like, he's too much of an asshole. Fair enough. But he is very knowledgeable. And so they're like, yeah, okay,

we'll listen to him about this stuff, but fuck this guy. Wow. Two thousand year old stick that loves butlins yeah absolutely