High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #139 | Rest and Recuperation (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

The team discuss their last encounter and plan for the future! 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: https://bit.ly/HRDNDBeyond2022 Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and Studio updates on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. with D&D Beyond using the link in the episode description. Welcome back to Eroes. Having returned to Horizon after their adventure in the Feywild, the heroes found it under attack by the forces of Zarkira, former commander of the Valkyrian Empire and arch foe of the party. Seeing an opportunity whilst the party was elsewhere, Zarkira sent her forces and one of her simulacrums to attack the Sky City and capture Vala, daughter of Kallusacrums to attack the Sky City and capture Valar, daughter of Kallus Valkyrian and the goddess Siaska, and close friend of the party.

After fighting through enemies, including upgraded Mecha Dragons, the party eventually reached the city's war chamber, where they were shocked to find Kallus himself protecting Valar and her knight Maximilian from a horde of retriever and iron golem constructs. Joining forces temporarily, the party and Kallus fought off the constructs and defeated the final simulacrum. After the battle, the party and Kallus spoke and they were still unable to convince him that his plan to defeat Hadar would endanger the galaxy. Things came to a standstill until Aayla, using a special coin given to her by the Fateweaver Duskwillow,

used it to have Kallus see Quill's vision as well as the Web of Eternity. With a final cry, Kallus disappeared, leaving the party with Valor and Maximilian unconscious in Horizon's War Chamber. And that, my friends, that's where we're at.

That's where we're at. How do we wake up? Valor and Maximilian. Is it a magical? You know that there was some sort of poison because I believe Khor used Great Restoration spells to remove it that was preventing them from

regaining consciousness. The poison is cleansed. You could, in theory, use healing to wake them up now. So they're just regular unconscious? They're just unconscious. They're not even injured. They're not dying or anything because they're just unconscious.

They've been put to sleep. Is there still fighting going on outside? Would you like to go and check? Right now you are deep in sort of like the base of the Citadel of the Reborn in this war chamber, which is fairly deep into the island. It's kind of away from the main town. You would probably have to kind of move up into the main Citadel to see if there was still fighting

going on or you know magically communicate with somebody to check if that's what you'd like to do century you can run up and check everything i've am i i guess am i still holding valor uh you would be yeah because i think like uh callous kind of passed it to you didn't he and then um i i i could i could check uh uh tiangong um can go and and check and report back um okay i think we should probably stay here because if it is under attack we need you know this is a great place to hunker down nova what was what was all that? What was all what? The other version of you? You mean Tiangong? And that Tiangong will summon again and reform.

What's happened? It's Tiangong. Lucius, Varian, Elowen, Alinasto I We would like to remind you That you have seen us before Did you receive an attack to the head During that fight? You seem

Rather concussed I am, yes, to be honest I said I told Calus to shut up And it felt really good. That was amazing, Lucius. It felt really good. Anyway.

You were also a rock backpack for a small period of time. That was quick thinking, by the way, with the arms. Thank you. Because last time, that was trouble. It might have been bad if your arms had broken off, though. That can happen. I mean, maybe.

Patches can break. I wanted to say what you did to the Zahkira Simulacrum, counterspelling her, you tore her apart. That was insane. Thank you. I appreciate all the praise but let's see if there's a war still going on outside yeah uh okay uh Tiangong um can you uh

just go outside and and and check um and then in terms of you realize saying that no like you both you share the same thoughts you don't need to ask I know but it's still it's still news for nova right it's still new and i think say that like you do realize like nova vijer you do not need to vocalize your thought yeah um that would very much happen but um in terms of technicality i'm using the echo avatar um ability where basically i can temporarily transfer my consciousness to my echo. Cool. Which means I can send Tiangong away up to a thousand feet without being destroyed. I am deaf and blinded, but I can see through their eyes and ears.

Nova basically kind of goes blue screen. Or like you can still speak, but you're just seeing and hearing through. Yeah. As in it teleports a thousand away? Or it's just a sickly run. Yeah. What is that? is that a new ability

well nova just literally goes like stand still maybe eyes rolling back in her head i think yeah eyes rolling back in her head and then this like new tiangong nova just walks off like goes off and you can still speak uh like as regular nova like you can still like describe what you're seeing and stuff like that it's just like the familiar basically like you can still speak you're just seeing and hearing um and sensing through that one um but to everybody else you're kind of definitely i think ayla would probably kind of just kind of stand behind you and sort of like put arms on your shoulders and like make sure like you know you don't fall over or something like that yeah um so yeah what do i what do i see what is tiangong see well it takes a little bit of time so like you know there's definitely a couple of

minutes where the tiangong is like running down the corridors running up the steps trying to get to a point where they can they can see really um so if there's anything anybody else wants to to do whilst you're waiting on Nova to report on that... Sentry, do you want to help me bring Valor and Maximilian back? Or wake them up? Of course, yeah. I can try and heal Valor and see if I can

wake her up. Sure. We should probably let them know that they haven't been captured by the spider things that grabbed me at one point. Because they suck. they don't like those. That was scary. On record, write that down. I'll just use a Cure Wounds on...

If Sentry is looking after Valor, I'll use a Cure Wounds on... Yeah, sure. As soon as you restore one hit point to these guys, their eyes do flutter open whatever this poison was that was preventing them from waking to consciousness, flushed from their system. One hit point is enough to sort of like stir them awake. Their reactions are dulled, but Maximilian is immediately kind's like looking around in a panic

as if he was still as if he was in combat when he was knocked unconscious like he kind of his eyes dilate he like reaches very clumsily like his body's still sluggish and waking up he reaches clumsily for a weapon um valor is is more subdued uh and as she kind of like blinks her eyes open she probably would just be like father father what are you doing what and she's sort of muttering but she she definitely seemed to know that callus was there with them um or at least that's like what she seems to be saying as she wakes up maximilian it like kind of grips the ground but sees quill and he's just like keelek vala where is she and he's like looking around Kelek, Valar, where is she? And he's looking around like, you know.

Maximilian, it's okay. There's no one, well, it's just us here now. The simulacrum, she's gone. Those creatures. The simulacrum is gone. Starbane is gone. The creatures are gone. What do you mean?

Oh, God, I don't know what you remember or at what point this poison hit you, but... Her Majesty and I retreated down here into the chamber thinking that the wards would be strong enough. We were being pursued by several of those spider constructs, the retrievers. We fled here hoping that the wards would be strong enough to protect us, and then the simulacrum ambushed us.

She fired some sort of projectile at me. That was the last thing I remember. I was trying desperately to stay conscious to protect Valar, her majesty, and every enemy gone, including the simulacrum. Lucius destroyed it completely. We all contributed, it wasn't entirely me. You went full rainbow. At this point Valar's sentry, Valar is kind of like, yeah, you hear her kind of say like, Father, what? And then she blinks. She's like, Sentry? What happened? Is he still here? He's gone.

Starbane's gone. He... We rushed in here, and it was a war zone. Zarkira Semiakron was... She was here. She took out Maximilian, and she opened that portal. I couldn't stop her. She seemed to have some sort of... She had some sort of scroll

and a wand. They were destroyed when she used them, but I wasn't able to stop them. It was a type of magic I've... It was even stronger than any magic I've encountered before um beyond the night sphere i i don't know how she did it but uh she conjured the portal and then then she set more of

those things on me and and then she i remember she hit me with the same thing she hit maximilian with ordering the retrievers to take me and And then that's when I saw him. The doors opened, and I saw my father. He... I think he came to save me. He did. As much as I hate to admit it,

he had your interests at heart, and he was protecting you. Maximilian, when he hears this, it's like, the Emperor? The Emperor was here? He was. I must have looked foolish, being unable to serve in my duty,

being helpless. Not at all. You served until you no longer were able to that's very noble you gave everything until you no longer could thank you for the kind words sentinel prime what any of us would do max where do we stand now where where are things is Is Nova all right? And Vala looks over like, oh my god, is she okay? I don't know, there's something wrong. She's totally fine, just her eyes have glazed over. By the way, Lucius,

if you're worried about glazy eyes and, you know, colors in their eyes, I just want you to be aware that when you went full rainbow your eyes did that too so what not really a problem yeah what do you mean i don't know i just point really like my fingers like inches away from nova's nose that well not exactly like that you had full control over yourself, Nova, right now. It seems to be transfixed in another place. But your eyes were glistening. Every colour. It was incredible. It was probably after you told Starbane to... Shut up.

I don't want to say that in front of Max, but... I would never. I think Max definitely narrows his eyes, but it doesn't say anything. Valor probably laughs. So long as you're okay, Valala, are you feeling all right? I feel woozy, yes. Whatever they did to attack the city, I couldn't even teleport away.

My rifts, my powers weren't working. How did you all get back here? We thought that when I couldn't teleport that it would prevent you from returning to the city. Oh, luckily. I mean, unfortunately it had to use all of the power of my tome, but I managed to push through whatever barrier they placed down. That was the gift from Hesper, right? The Wayfinder's Guide. Yes.

Whatever magic Sarkiro has used magic you're in the moment used the fact that only the fact that the wayfinder's guide had to use all of its power to break through whatever barriers arcaea created is is worrying in of itself that sort of level of magical power is immense that's nearly she's she's rivaling a god's power a titan's magical power the question is is she becoming a titan herself or is she allying herself with someone we are unaware of to claim such power meanwhile uh tian gong uh has reached the point i runs up to sort of like a long corridor with windows that look out um they see that there is still pockets of fighting but it is a it is a uh the zarkiran forces are in retreat uh that they are basically trying to escape

and the horizon forces are shutting them down uh you don't hear the sounds of the dragons anymore um you can sort of you know you hear some faint cries and shouting but it does seem that yeah the horizon has at least won the day there are still some zarkarian forces trying to escape but these you know it's the city is not in danger it doesn't look like uh you do not see the sign of the ship uh that you assume callous and come in on and i mean is there is there any sign as well of like maybe um the twin star longbow or anything like that yeah i think i think that yeah you would probably see i think that that's like they thalia definitely would have been aiding in this battle so like you probably see it kind of like shooting down some of

the escaping transports right like one of those zarkira transports is trying to get away and then taping transports right like one of those vast zarkira transports is trying to get away and then the twin star comes swooping in x-wing style and then you know goes down that's my girl um yeah so i guess down in the chamber um you'd probably see nova's eyes kind of shimmer gold and then she starts to speak and when she speaks it's that sort of voice of thousands like the way that tiangong speaks you know voices overlapping and then you can just hear novas in there as well um storm chaser crew i am we are pleased to report the zocaran forces are in retreat the metal dragons are in retreat th Thalia Whisperwind, victorious in the skies. It appears we are victorious for now.

Okay, no, if there's anything to be terrified of, it's that voice. That's really scary, right? Yeah, that's terrifying. Is Nova aware? Nova, are you in there? We are here. We can hear you. Lucius, Varian, Eluin, Elinasto. Okay, I'm just going to step back a little. When you're wanting to come back and bring your pupils down, let us know.

We shall see you momentarily. He's looking around for that echo to come back. Yeah. It's the echo that like that echo to come back yeah it's the echo that doesn't seem to come back go on sorry Sentry alright they're retreating, horizon the winning this is great

I do feel as much as this is a great victory for the city I imagine that Zarkira's forces were more meant to sow confusion and to erect this magical barrier. Her goal was clearly Her Highness. I do not feel that Zakhira launched as much force as she could perhaps choose to muster if she wished.

I feel that this is but a taste of her power of those loyal to her i'm struggling to comprehend the situation here we bust through these doors to witness fighting amongst fighting the confusion of seeing starbane and Zarkira fighting each other and defending Valor, understandable, but there's one piece you're missing from this situation, and that's what Aayla showed Starbane. Well, I think I did. I mean, I don't really know how the coin works.

I just know that Quill did something with it and something weird happened i think the look on his face was quite telling but what did but we don't know what he saw i know what i wanted him to see i i wanted him to see quill's vision i wanted him to see the web of eternity that that that the other spider lady showed us but i don't know if that But I don't know if that's, I don't know what that's going to mean to him. Is he going to believe us now? Or is he going to double down on what he thought before? Well, either way,

hopefully you provided him exactly what we have seen and that he sees the truth in his predetermined future that he's deciding to charge down, which is to sacrifice everything. What exactly happened, Lucius? I don't quite follow what you're talking about. You showed

my father something. Did you find a way to show him Quill's vision? Yes. He wasn't taking our word for it, of course. And we had quite the discussion on that. And then Aayla came up tops with her coin. She was able to provide the vision for him. I don't, I should make it clear.

I don't think that it's my father doesn't believe you per se. I think he knows that you're all, I don't think he believes that you are all, I don't think he thinks that you are liars or trying to deceive him. I think that he has this belief that there's no way you could possibly know everything. And unfortunately he does think he knows a lot more than you do. But if you've shown him Quill's vision, it could help. My worry is that it might make him even more desperate if he knows that this one thing that he's believed in for millennia is not going to work he's following this course of action he believes that the world engine can stop Hadar and I think it's because it's the only way he can see I don't think he believes that there is another way to defeat Hadar.

The trouble is, we know that that is a doomed course, and we have to stop it. You understand this, right, Velo? Of course, but are we just not delaying the inevitable if there is no other way?

You want the world engine to be consumed by Hadar I just I don't know of another way to stop Hadar either and if there's a chance that Quill's vision is wrong if the world engine could stop Hadar even if it means sacrificing a Rois it would save so much more I can't it's not that I agree with him it's not that I want to give sacrificing a rowis, it would save so much more. I can't, it's not that I agree with him. It's not that I want to give up a rowis. But if there's not another way, I just don't, I don't know. And I worry that my father has invested so much of himself.

He's believed in this cause for so long. This could really go either way. Either perhaps he will see that he needs to find another solution maybe reach out to us for help but it may also just drive him to become more stubborn he may he may become even more desperate i don't know which way this will fall hi it, it's me again. I'm back. Hi. I imagine she kind of just wakes up halfway through that conversation. Hi, it's great to see you again, Vala. Hi.

Oh, I've fused with Tiangong now. But if I could just make an observation. He mentioned during that conversation that he knew that siaska was coming back he said to us why don't you ask siaska when she is reborn so he he seems to he seems to know that that much and if anything i think he does i think he does know that perhaps we are right and this won't work. But the thing is, he doesn't want to use the thing that perhaps will work. And I'm sort of like awkwardly nodding my head towards Valar. You know, as soon as we mentioned any hint of nod, that's when he got the most emotional

I can see you nodding to me Nova by the way I mean the thing is I don't think I can defeat Hadar Hadar is this ancient thing it's fed on divinity hundreds of gods before me it had to be imprisoned away because

other divine powers couldn't defeat it i'm not even a real god i'm i'm sort of half or maybe not even half you are a spark though you are a spark and every one divine but every every Undivine. But every ancient being we've spoken to, Root Prime, others that I definitely have in my notes, they all said a spark of divinity is what was needed. And also, you have us. We're here. Tiangong, you know stuff.

I, yeah, what? Tiangong will probably say, you know, and obviously like sometimes I'll have to jump in as Tiangong. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, Tiangong, like the other sort of spectral blue figure that's sort of like standing beside Nova now, almost mirroring some of Nova's, you know, body movements as she's speaking and things like that.

It will speak and say something along the line of, I do believe that you may, that the Storm Chaser crew may prove to be an uncertain component in many of these plans and depictions. You are not divine creatures. However however you have overcome much adversity, you have withstood greater threats than believed possible. Even Hadar seemed to sense this about you when you encountered it in the islands before you were transported to Elysium.

before you were transported to Elysium. It may be that the key to all of this resides in your interactions, your connections with Valar, Kallus, Siaska. You are unpredictable. You may be the element that has been missing. After all, Kallus is but a man trying to defeat a god he is a very powerful man

but yeah it's difficult for me because I have seen a side of him it's I don't see him as this mad tyrant he has been kind and he has been generous and i do see that he cares

greatly for the universe i think he struggles to see individual lives i think that his empire his long long life has made him has made it hard for him to see the things that we see. And she looks at Sentry when she says that. He doesn't see a city or a person or a kingdom. He sees in a bigger scope than this. And I think for him, that makes it easy for him to justify one world, one city, one kingdom, because he's sacrificing that to save much more. That doesn't make him right, of course it doesn't.

But I think years of this, of being alone, of having this burden has made him, I think it's made him very callous. She kind of makes a face when she says it. She kind of makes a face when she says it. To that element, I think that it has made him cold, unfeeling, but it's sort of an arm or a shell to cover up a vulnerability there. But that doesn't excuse all he's done. I must say, like, in conversations I've had with him in the past, don't look at me Quill, he has mentioned that he has tried diplomacy before.

He has tried alliances and offering options, but in every circumstance, worlds have turned against each other and turned on him and asked for more. I suppose that has coloured his opinion in some ways too that it's just easier if he just does things his way rather than try diplomacy again i don't sorry valor care about the individual calis starbane himself i care about the consequences of his actions and everyone else that's affected by him i believe we need to steer callus on the right path and prevent the one that you are fearing yourself of callus and that he's going to double down in his determination to fulfill the thing that he has set himself to do just because

he feels there's no alternative i I want to see a real God. I want to see your mother. I think that much of what we discuss here, I think Siasco may be able to answer a lot of the questions that we still have, all the gaps in our knowledge. Was there anything else that you, was there anything else he said or as part of this vision? Lucius looks around really awkwardly.

No, nothing. That's not entirely accurate, is it? We learnt some truths about your mother! How entirely accurate is it? We learnt some truths about your mother! I mean, I could tell her, but this is me we're talking about. I'm not good at this. Sentry! I fear if I talk I might start crying! And then I don't want to start a crying war! Oh, it was a vision. I can't share visions.

I think Ayla has to do it. I'm not saying anything. I'm not talking. What we know about Siaska is wrong. The annals of history are different than what actually happened. We saw a vision of Starbane with Siaska when Siaska sacrificed herself. Vala kind of looks at you for a moment. She sort of like thinks.

And that does make a lot more sense. The way that he speaks of her, I struggle to believe that my father ever actually killed her. That makes more sense. It actually answers a few things. The tapestries! The tapestries are all incorrect the entire history

Quill I grew up in a temple of Siaska I've had the doctrine of Siaska fed into me since I was a young girl if you think that I have not been questioning those tapestries since I was five then you're a bit mistaken they're going to have to redraw them

I guess this is a think of it this way then you're a bit mistaken. They're going to have to redraw them. I guess this is a... Think of it this way, it's probably easier for the people of Varroa to believe that story rather than a goddess doing something which even we don't understand. I don't understand. I don't think my father understood why she did what she did. So we have to ask her, we have to bring her back. I agree. We need that other perspective. Lucius, I think you're right.

We do need to keep the lines of communication open with my father as best as we can. Did I say that? You did. You said that we should try and steer him onto the right path well perhaps nova or quill or myself can but if you have the opportunity to reach out to him i would i would recommend it don't let him forget about this don't let him forget that you are people he can trust you came to save save me. He knows that he can trust you.

He knows that you aren't... You have no ill will. He knows that you aren't self-serving. He knows that you are... Kind of like he was when he was younger. Heroes. He did apologize for threatening to kill me the last time I saw him. He did say sorry for that.

Yeah. Maybe that's a step forward. I still want to punch him in the face. Oh, yeah. He also entrusted Valor's safety onto us during the fight against Arceara. So, I mean, that's also kind of a step forward. I'm not ready to forgive him. I don't know in what direction. We need to be careful.

I don't think... I'm certainly not asking you to, Lucius. I'm not asking anyone to forgive him. Just be open to working with him, perhaps. For the fate of Eros, an entire existence. Absolutely. Indeed. But, looking at Sentry... For the fate of Eros, an entire existence, absolutely.

Indeed. But, looking at Sentry... I'm telling him to shut up. What he's done is unforgivable. I thought I was going to kill him. Or at least try to, when we entered that room. I didn't know what was going to kill him or at least try to when we entered that room I didn't know what was going to happen and she just sort of like puts her arms around you

I saw the way he held you and it reminded me of Solvin, it reminded me of the royal family how they did everything they could to protect Kettle and for a brief moment I saw a father, I saw they could to protect Kettle. And for a brief moment, I saw a father.

I saw a man just trying to protect his daughter. And that brief glimpse changed that second for me. I'm... I can't trust him. I can't find it in my heart to trust him. Not yet. That's fine. And I wouldn't expect you to. Thank you for working with him to save me, but I do understand. I know his heart's in the right place. I know where he's coming from. We just need to change his direction.

I agree be rational like Nova take in the facts that we have provided and not be clouded by emotion that's the worry it's also the the penalty of being a father I would also say in fact actually I think Maximilian would say this not to I do not wish to suggest otherwise Lucius but is being too emotionless not the problem that caused Calus to become

the issue that you see today him no longer caring absolutely but has not what happened to him in the past also carved his path out as it has because of his emotions with siaska and what happened there i believe there is a knife edge that once you fall over it's hard to come back it almost it i cannot speak to know the Emperor, but...

Fear can make us do... Fear can drive us more than hate, more than love, more than anything. I was afraid to fail, Her Majesty, and that drove me to abandon things that I thought I held dearest in my heart, things that I thought I would never betray. But it was the fear of failing that drove me to it. I wonder if there is perhaps not some kinship with the Emperor in this. Perhaps it was fear of something that drove him to these actions.

Well, I know there's one thing something that drove him to these actions. Well, I know there's one thing that could smooth out that callous nature of his. And that is Valor. So, we've

got you, Valor. Yes. For now. Yes, for now. I do have some good news. I'm assuming that the city is all safe and fine. We don't need to worry about any further attacks or friends being in danger or anything.

Well, there is still a little bit of residual fighting, but Horizon seems to be on the upper foot, upper hand, upper foot, hand, claw, one of those. Good, good. Sorry, a lot's, upper foot, hand, claw. One of those. Good, good. Sorry, a lot's happened. No, it's good. I was obviously waiting for you all to return from the Fane Wild, but in some good news, I do have some progress to report.

I'm very close to deciphering the location on one of the Titans. I think I'm very close to breaching where Kalara is located. But there's been something else. Valena, one of the other Titans, she's been reaching out to me. I think she might need your help, and I think she's willing to allow you into her domain. I need to meditate on it a bit longer i need a little bit

more time but i think kalara we will need to stop i think that she's doing something dangerous but i think velena i think she's more i think she's more with it than we realized and and i think she needs your help with something something good good, or at least something not bad, I think. But that should at least give us two more of the Titans, perhaps. I mean, we'd be fools not to accept an open invitation into a domain rather than stealing a boat and trying to break our way into one. Indeed. We just need to keep our wits about us, I guess.

As long as you sense good things from her and it's not a trap there's grief there there's sadness and fear but i don't sense madness like i did with zafir like i do with kalara i think that they have both

been their grief and their fear and their rage have sort of distorted their essence. But Valena feels more like Sayana does. Sad, despairing, but still herself, if that makes sense. All right. Well, we'll give you all the time you need and we'll be ready to go.

It shouldn't be too much longer. It shouldn't be too much longer. It shouldn't be too much longer. Perhaps a few more days, perhaps. But I think I can lead us there. Once you're all ready, did everything in the Feywild, is everything all right? I'm assuming that you returned to Thalia as well, and everything worked out all right in the end? Oh, boy.

Oh, wow. Wowee. Did you know that Rosemeadow's a unicorn? Oh, okay. Well, actually, they're not called Rosemeadow anymore. They're Hope now. Hope the unicorn. Yeah, yeah.

She stayed behind. Yeah. We met some interesting people. a lot of them tried to kill us none of them did kill us that's about standard for you lot yes that sounds about right zarkira was involved in a way um yeah uh but we're back and we didn't get you a postcard. We didn't get our postcard. I'm pretty sure I can go to the Feywild if I need to go pick myself something up, but it's fine. The grass is blue.

The grass is blue. The grass is blue. Yeah. Weird. Amazing. Blue grass. Strange. But speaking of Zarkira, knowing that she has the power to break through magical wards,

at least beyond any power that we're able to conjure, we should probably figure out some better place for you to meditate on these titans. But I don't know where we could go that Zarkira doesn't know we are there um i must admit i'm i'm at loss as well quill i don't know if there is any other place to go i mean yeah i mean is there a chance that she's been powered up by hedana is that is she using his energy it you know? I'd say that it's extremely likely, given her reaction to the vision.

She seemed to believe it, thankfully, but I mean, he stood her in a very bad direction. Kind of me. I mean, mainly the brain-sucky guy. Mainly him, that was his fault. I want to place my brain sucky guy. Mainly him.

That was his fault. Let's blame him. We blame him. Entirely on him. That wasn't my fault. I don't think it's your fault that a mind flayer probed your brain. I don't think that's your fault, Quill. No.

Thank you. We're blaming the mind flayer. Are there different levels of Hadar touch? Because, you know, the moments I've interacted with Hadar touch things, there's glowing red eyes, there's that impending fear of doom that all reality is going to be unwound. But what we've seen are

simulacrums. We haven't seen the true Zarkira well since I was taken. That's true. Max kind of is looking more serious. I have of is looking more serious. I have fought many Hadar beings. If Zarkira has truly,

and from the sound of it, if you've spoken with the Emperor, I have no reason to doubt that this is not the case. If she has made a bargain with Hadar, she will be one of the most powerful creatures to ever join him. Hadar consumes most of the worlds that it encourages it finds. It converts the residents of these worlds, these planes, celestials, fiends, fey, other creatures, constructs. It converts them. It changes them. It warps their flesh into these amalgamations, these aberrations that it has under its command. But there are, there are some.

We sometimes encounter them, we call them starspawn or starseers. Powerful spellcasters from other worlds that have made agreements with Hadar. Hadar gives them twisted powers, enhances their physical bodies, mutates them, but also enhances their magical capabilities immensely. These spellcasters pale in comparison to Zarkira. Zarkira is one of the greatest magical sorceresses, one of the greatest minds sorceresses one of the greatest

minds of our known world adar will not adar will adar will use that i can't imagine that such a process will be quick if anything we should have some time if she sent simulacrums to capture valor rather than herself this to me suggests that this suggests to me that she herself is not able to come she would have come to grab valor if she could have i imagine that that her majesty being partially divine would be something hadar greatly desires. But I fear that when you do encounter Zarkira, and I say when, not a matter of if, but when, she will be

a fearsome, fearsome foe. Oh, good. I mean, she won't have backup, I think. Let's have a headcount on how many times we've killed Zarkira. There's this one here. The one in the Feywild.

She may not have simulacrums, but that does not mean she will be alone. She will have Hadar's forces, creations, creatures, disgusting things like illithids, beholders, astral dreadnoughts, all of these things. She has her own army. She has her own forces, which I imagine have gone with her. Perhaps they will receive the same treatment

that Zarkira will. This blessing of Hadar, these mutations, these grafts, these powers that it often grants to its followers. We've seen it before. In desperation, people turn to Hadar in the face of destruction. There are many who would choose to worship it, to join Hadar, rather than be destroyed by it.

We see cultists of Hadar frequently. One of my early careers was to stamp out many of these cults and heretics on worlds. Even in Gideon Prime, we find cults of this, of the Red Star. And they often have strange gifts given to them. Magic, physical powers. I just can't keep character.

This idea of star spawn is just the coolest thing. Yeah. Very, very cool. You've been squirming in your seat for the last five minutes true I've been watching you it's a little bit if you know Warhammer 40k it's a little bit Tyranids

where like they basically suck up all the life juice of a planet and then spew out more Tyranids and a little bit Genestealer cult there as well where they sort of like you get these human cults that worship the Tyranids and they get all like weird mutations and stuff all for it um and then it's a little bit like uh yeah just like uh dead space like necromorphs and stuff like that i love that space yeah love it oh she's gonna be gross when we see well i mean maybe maybe you know i imagine somebody like zarkira seems to be

quite she seems to be quite arrogant and vain she might not want to be completely grotesque. She might want to retain some form of beauty to her. But she's probably going to be pretty powerful. Great. There is a sound, as you guys are having this conversation, you hear a loud thump of boots. And you hear a woman's voice just like, are they where are they in here and then danica in tattered robes like you know burn marks rips and tears danica just sort of bursts in hair sort of like flying all around

the flames in her hands she's just like where the bloody hell have you all been? Well, we were in the Feywild, and then when we travelled back here... How did you get back? We almost didn't get back here at all, but thanks to the Wayfinder's guide, we managed to break through that ward. We almost didn't make it at all.

I take it that we have you to thank for the field being disabled and for the forces retreating, at least. Yes. We encountered Starbane, and we took out Zakir Simulacrum, who was trying to capture Valor. Oh, just encountered the enemy

that we've been fighting this whole time. You just casually just encountered him, did you? Yes. You were stood right there, actually. Well, you're stood right now. Dispatch them. You know like Hades in Hercules? When he gets mad, the flames get bigger.

Like that's what happens with Hanukkah. She's like, calm. And the flames kind of like die down. She's like, well. We have won. The forces have been rooted. The flames kind of die down. We have won. The forces have been rooted. The dragons, irritating as they are, have finally been destroyed.

Turns out you need to destroy their components before they reform, otherwise they completely heal. They've been destroyed. Write that down, Nova. I'm writing it down now. Well, hopefully we never have to fight those things again. We probably will.

My guard and I managed to take down one. There were some Valkyrian troops who destroyed another one. Seemingly some sort of inner conflict is happening. Some Valkyrian troops destroyed another and then another one was flying about free. We believe it's fled um um rather than go over the same information that we have lucius will describe

how our interaction with starbane and what was revealed and stuff like that by the gods what is this what what have we got ourselves caught into? I thought we had one enemy. Now we've got two? Or is Calus not an enemy anymore? It's complicated. Yes, I gathered that, Nova Veejo. If he continues down his path, we have to stop him. But our intention is to

appeal to him and that there is an alternative way and find that alternative way. So how do we progress? We have forces dispatched across Eros. We've been trying to counter his efforts to recruit troops, to take cities. Do we continue doing that?

Do we let him gain a greater foothold? No. I think we stand as we are because we are uncertain of his next actions. We need to protect Aroas still, in my opinion. Until we make contact

with him again and know his true intentions, I suggest we stay on high alert yeah while Valor is still here we need to be ready in case Zarkira may come back if not Starbane then from Zarkira

we have to protect in fact young Miss Valor I would have you speak with Azaria Perel see if you can figure out some way to prevent whatever that field was that prevented teleportation, that prevented us from communicating with our allies. We need to, if we can't have that happen again,

we must find a way to prevent that. Perhaps Nova Vigia, Kila Karkala, your services could also be rendered in this. You have a great mind of Magitek, Nova Vigia, Kila. Your magic seemed to be able to breach it. Perhaps there is something that can be gleaned magic seemed to be able to breach it. Perhaps there is something that can be gleaned from that, a way to prevent it, perhaps. Hopefully.

Do what we can. Not that I'm trying to give you orders. I understand that we have you to thank for saving us, but just from an organizational point of view, we need to figure out how we step forward with this now. It's all well and good, us having won this brief victory over what seems to be this Zarkira, but we need to plan forward as well.

I'm glad you are all safe. Yes, please, Sentry. The simulacrum had a scroll and a wand. Is it worth trying to find out what they were, what they do, how it got here. Certainly, if whoever has that knowledge can interpret it, I can have Azaria try and figure it out. Do we have this scroll and this wand? And Valor will turn around and say, unfortunately we don't, Danica, no, they were consumed when she used them. But as I mentioned to Sentry, it was a type of magic more powerful than i've ever seen greater than even the ninth sphere and danica like looks at her like what um uh yeah what nine no no it goes to nine and then nine spheres of magic yes the power levels but there were traces that what i saw of this magic being used when she conjured that gate,

which I know to be a sort of a magic spell of the ninth sphere, it was more than that. Tenth or perhaps higher, but such a thing doesn't exist, but it seemingly was so. I mean, if she's able to breach that too, then we should definitely try and find a way to do that. I'd hate to spread myself too thin here,

but I could also use the Eye of the Storm and maybe try to discover what that scroll, what that wand was, or find some way to recreate that magic ourselves. Well, not ourselves, but as a collective. Certainly. If you can do that, Key, like,

Horizon will be in your debt of course right question you answer right question and be specific with it um any other not orders rest get i mean i mean you don't seem to be particularly injured. Horizon is definitely going to take some time to recover and repair. Yeah, I forgot. Some of you are injured. 14 hit points, just, you know, bleeding away down here. Coughs of blood. I stand corrected.

Some of you appear to need rest and healing. I guess we continue, as Lucius says, we continue as is the plan. We continue to defend Arois. We try and stop Kallus' forces. Perhaps we should keep a closer eye on Kallus' forces to see what sort of steps he takes.

If there is any change in his plans, it may give us a clue as to what he's intending but now we also have to keep out we have to watch out for this separate force who seems to be far more magical and more more cunning uh gross as well very gross uh lots of creations like one one my god to be on the lookout for blah, blah. With another monster, cut them up, put them together, Zarkira. Wonderful, super gross. But also we must continue with these plans.

Do you still intend to pursue the Titans to reawaken Siaska? Is that still? Yeah. Yes. You are the only ones capable of doing that. So focus on that. The rest, leave to me, leave to our allies, and we shall see.

Right. Before we leave, can I route around where the Zarkiris Simulacrum was and, you know, just be looking out for anything magical? Just dig through the snow. No. This time you don't find anything. Unlike the previous Simulacrums, who seem to be carrying a few magic items, there is maybe some residue, like dust,

that isn't ice and snow. But that's not where she was killed. You actually find that scattered around. And Valor will tell you that's what turned... The scroll and the wand collapsed into dust when she used them. Hmm. Is it... This is Kim asking, is it worth examining

and scientific forensic stuff, or is it just fucking dust? Maybe. If Scientist Nova is like, I'm going to get a test tube out and scoop up some of the dust. You know I'm going to do that. I'm a freaking scientist. I'm getting a little vial out.

Don't ask me if it's worth doing. Just do it. I'm getting a little vial out. Don't ask me if it's worth doing. Just do it. I'm getting a little vial out and I'm scooping in the dust. Yeah, sure. Sounds good. Yeah, and I think Danik will be like, yes, very good idea. Make sure you share that with Azaria as well.

I will. I'll be able to identify it. Putting it in my inventory right now. Dust. Dust of weird my inventory right now. Dust. One vial of dust. Zarkiria, Similecrum's ashes. Hence the level spells roll dust.

I mean, that does seem to be the suggestion of what it was. Right. With all of the npcs fully briefed and having their say on everything and obviously not wanting to play ala too much i'm sure ala will have more to say next week um but what do you guys want to do now what's what's the plan uh rest i think furthest of all probably check in on our fellow people in Horizon

whoever's here like Petal okay was the storm chaser here was that in the battle no I believe the storm chaser is in Gusthaven Gusthaven

it might have been here probably what is more likely is the storm chaser is in gustavus gustaven it might have been here or probably what is more likely is the storm chaser was off doing huh yeah where do we put it where do we go where's my ship where's my ship i don't know exactly where it last was let's assume if it wasn't here it it wasn't in horizon when the attack happened either because it's in gustaven or it was doing some sort of riot and the crew were like on a job doing you're the dm you can just say where it is and we'll say yeah that's true all right well i don't want to say that if then kim is like um i've just looked in our notes and it listed specifically in Horizon with orders to protect Vala. What did you find? Yeah, then I have to come up with a reason

of why it didn't do that. But for now, let's say it was here in Horizon. However, Oriah and crew were basically off on one of those missions to help stop Starbane forces and stuff like that. The kind of stuff that we were doing as a downtime thing of spying on Vort and Sa forces and stuff like that. The kind of stuff that we were doing as a downtime thing

of spying on Vort and Saar and stuff like that. Zarkir... Not Zarkir. Oriya has been helping with that kind of stuff. They are not here now. That's it. Damn it. I've given it all away. Oriya's been Zarkir all along. What? That's why Rhi was was smiling it was her character

i was in on it the whole time yeah man what a twist though sentry is zarkira oh my god sentry's mask comes back now no the real spoiler is that sentry is actually a full auto automaton and inside there is a tiny man that pilots yeah yeah that would be amazing um yeah can that be real please no yeah please take your take your star spawn and like it um cool yeah yeah resty poos i think and also i guess trying to figure out where vala could go if if magical wards can't stop zarkira albeit needing a spell scroll to do it um then where do we put Valar and Maximilian? And anyone we like, really.

Hall of eternal doodads? Infinite resplendence. Yeah. Yeah, you want to put Valar there where Sjaskr's body is? Yeah, actually, yeah. Yeah. Okay, sure. What could go wrong?

What could go wrong? What could go wrong? What could go wrong? yeah. Yeah. Okay, sure. What could go wrong? All right. What could go wrong? What could go wrong? Nothing. Nothing. All right. Well, I mean, yeah, long rest. You can all take a long rest. That's pretty easy.

You've got your suite. You've got your rooms. I will tell you, Arvel and Petal, both perfectly safe and fine. Nova's family, all good. They're on Gustaven. Stop trying to make them on Horizon. That's right.

That's right, they were. You moved them to Gustaven specifically. Stop it. Stop it. Or are they? It was more that I was like, oh, that's weird. Kim hasn't asked how her family was. I'll mention them just so that in case she's forgotten. No, no, no.

I had forgotten where they were. I still have level 1 exhaustion because I had level 2 exhaustion. Oh, dear. You only get rid of one. You only get one. Really? Yeah. It's tough. But also, I mean, you guys might just decide, like,

I mean, yeah, we're not going anywhere in the next day. We're just gonna spend a couple of days in Horizon. I think we're kind of on Valor's time now, and her ability to seek out the domain and i'm going to tell you right now uh you're not gonna she's not gonna give you the domain this week so no matter how much in-game time you spend she still isn't ready so i think um yeah i think in terms of down time like if we're gonna do a little bit of like our opinion you've got like as much as time you need really i mean this probably you guys want to check up on and yeah

I don't necessarily want to RP this out, but Nova would definitely if there was time go to Gusthaven and visit her family Maybe take Thalia there, too I'll take you there the storm chaser. No, we're not RP in this I'll take you there in the Storm Chaser. No, we're not RPing this. I'll come with you. I want to go to Gustaven. No.

No. I also had another idea. I mean, I want to see the prince. I also had another idea. And Moonstar. I had another idea. Can I do the other idea first, and then we can see where we want to go? It sounds like we're going to go to Gustaven at some point.

Yeah. But very quickly, Storm Ch chaser team i had an idea um you know this whole like we've got to kill the titans thing and the biggest baddest titan of all is our telekis and he's kind of really scary and big um but also starbane made a titan killer have a crazy idea i know what the idea is already I feel like you could just stop there what do you think it is then quill-ack kill-ack quill-quill

okay it sounds like your idea is steal a titan killer use it to kill a titan that's better than my idea what was your idea please Mr. Starbane please give me a titan killer That's better than my idea. What was your idea? No, no, no, that was... Please, Mr Starbane, please give me a titan killer.

Daddy, can I have a titan killer for Christmas? I've been such a good insurgent. Yeah. So yeah, we should find the titan killer, get it, fight Artelicus with it. That's my idea. That's a good idea. Granted we have no idea where it is. I could find out. But if I find out where it is, we also need to find some way of attacking this thing.

We saw how big it is from sketches and things, sure, and visualizations. But it's huge. Right? Huge. There must be somewhere. I loathe that I'm entertaining Nova's idea. But would it not make more sense if we're trying to find an alternative route for Starbane's path

to at least try and ask for it? Trying to find an alternative route for Starbane's path. To at least try and ask for it. It may alert him to the fact that we're looking for it, though. And then he'll hide it even harder if he doesn't. But this is where the smart people come in. And find a way to ask without us asking. If that makes sense. Huh? On our behalf.

Or something. I don't know. I mean, he built a titan killer to kill titans. That's what we've been calling it, the titan killer. Maybe we just let him. Hold on a minute. If he knows we're killing titans to bring back Siaska and he's built a thing to help us do that. Wait, no, we've been over this.

He's bringing the cradle down. That was it. That was it, right there. Bringing the cradle down. He's trying to weaken it. Yes. We've been here before. I was going to say something. No. It's okay, because there's a really smart NPC here who's with us, actually.

Who's that? The smartest one? Who's the NPC? Starbane? Danica's not smart. No, it's, um, it's, uh, uh, oh, why have I got his name? Tassadar. Tassadar. Tassadar's here. Hey, Tassadar Tassadar's here

Tassadar's here you can't summon Tassadar we have the titan killer Tassadar hey Tassadar give us the titan killer you look great by the way nice holidays you've been having sorry this isn't this isn't bakers and blacksmiths I'm not rosemary you can't bully me into DMing

Tassadar isn't here you fuckers nice Hawaiian shirt Tassadar where did she go blacksmith so i'm not rosemary you can't bully me into dming you nice hawaiian shirt tested out where did you go great yeah no i didn't think you like blue would look good i really love it wow this fanfic you guys are writing is really cool but it's not canon so he got us postcards but we forgot to do that from oh amazing oh we're bad friends got to do that from an amazing son. Oh, we're bad friends. I wish I was there. I wish I was there too, Tassadar.

Maybe next time, though. Anyway, Titan killing Tassadar. Would you like to power it, Tassadar? Because you're a power source as well, so you can, you know, do you want to drive that in a big bench? That would be so good. And Lucius stands up from the table, takes a cup off of the clattering cherry that Sentry's provided,

takes a sip and is like, and that's what we would say if he was here, I'm sure. Thank you. That would be nice. Very well made into canon. Lucius, you just made a lot of noise so quickly. That was impressive, but also terrifying. Sorry about that. It was amazing. I love impressive, but also terrifying. Sorry about that. It was amazing.

I love the way your mind worked. I tried to include all of you there. Sorry for not including Century, but yes, I thought Nova would say this, and then Quidd will be like... At one point, you said that I would say something is ace, and I don't really... Sorry about that, yes.

I thought I... Yeah, I thought I nailed your language, but I'll work on it. Maybe next time. Anyway, the impending doom of the entire reality of our existence is in peril, so... Oh, by Siaska. You know, it would have been really nice

if for once we could have just solved a situation by just talking really nicely to someone and just having a nice open conversation. That is the dream, isn't it? It is the dream and it requires both parties to be equally nice about the situation. There have been things that you've talked and

it's resolved things. It just doesn't tend to resolve big things. It tends to resolve small things. I shout at you a lot. I shout at you a lot. No, bad guys. Bad guys a lot. Yeah. I shout at you a lot. No, bad guys. Bad guys just like... Bad guys get a bad guy. We shout at each other and then...

Yeah, yeah. You do that a lot. You do a surprising amount of that actually. Yeah. Well, when they commit atrocities I think it's warranted to elevate your voice a little. Shut up! So good.

I was quite taken aback when Trot did it because it was like really just out of the blue. I was like, he was playing Lucius a compliment and Lucius goes, shut up. Shut up. Okay. Are you going to choose to talk to Lucius when he's all rainbowy and funny how dare look at me i'm amazing i'm gonna have an authority figure try and like connect with chris trot how dare i try it out of a battlefield next time callus out of a battlefield if you pay lucius a compliment he's like oh

when you're out of a battlefield if you pay lucius a compliment he's like oh oh and callus comes back yeah but in a battle he's like get the away from me i mean i mean was this road was there that was not the time it is now in mid-combat conversations and compliments is the best time. That's the best time. So it's the sassy comics. That's when you've got to confess loves and you've got to, like, yeah, like, rousing speeches. It's like, bruh. You've got to get anime with this shit. The man calls out his weapon attacks, okay?

Plasma sweep. Plasma sweep. Sweeping plasma cutter. Bruh. Sweep move, bruh. Yeah. I need Sentry to do it. plasma sweeping plasma cutter bro sweet move brah yeah i need century century needs to be like sunbeam that was star killer where you're like literally it's written into the item description that you must call out star you must call out star breaker to activate it. It's written into the description. Anyway. Should we take a break?

No. We can take a break. We can take a break now. Sure. And then I guess you guys want to do some planning, do some downtime-ing, go back to Gustaven. I like to go to Gustaven.

Let's just go hunt down Zarkiro right now. Fucking kick her up the butt. Just finish the fight. Yeah, let's do it. I need a weapon. Can we just skip to the end and go fight Hadar?

Yeah, can we do that when we come back? The ending of the campaign is Quill carrying the world engine and riding it like a bomb into a car. And giving the car back its bomb. And then he crash lands on an alien planet in armour and he gets saved because of the gel layer. I'm wearing Sentry armour.

How does Mark Noah plan? I've become the tiny person inside sentry's face out of everybody assembled here sentry is absolutely master chief not queer it's the most inappropriate casting of master chief Like, it's the most inappropriate casting of Master Chief. I mean, I do have Tomb of the Vistas, so... That's true. Yeah, you probably could. Well, it's not as good now. It used to be, like, Mega Absorption Tomb,

but now it's not. Anyway. All we need to do is speak to Hadar. Nova, for some reason, finds him very attractive, starts to reason with him and be like you know what he's actually not that bad a guy blow up the storm chaser again and then be like well maybe we should just chat uh figure it out two problems with that one i have a girlfriend now and she's caught and two uh he doesn't have long black hair and black and purple armor. We don't know that.

He's been described as a red dot. You have seen him. We've seen him. Lucius and Sentry have seen him. They've seen a physical manifestation of Hadar. Hey, what did you see? I'm into it. Did he have long black hair?

No. Lots of mouths. lots of mouths i'm out lots of mouths yeah tons of mouths for kissing i just need long black hair and rippling abs come on no lips it's all just teeth yeah and his body like, Hadar's body is like almost formless, right? There's no muscle or definition. It's just like red. No abs. It's like in SpongeBob when Squidward takes the bite of the Krabby Patty and he does like the

really like tiny teeth. Oh my god. We're gonna take a break. Yeah, enough is needed. We're gonna have more of this. It's gonna be a lot more going to take a break. We're going to have more of this. It's going to be a lot more of this after the break.

We don't want to push on without the entire party getting here. But we can have a nice little Lucius can't wait to go on a double date with Salia. Excuse me. Let's back up a minute because that means you've got to ask Sky Prince Aradan on a double date with salya and excuse me oh let's go back up a minute because that means

you've got to ask sky prince aradan on a date yeah that's true this is true and what's quill gonna think i can see fail i can just i can feel fail out there some way i sense a disturbance. Elves! Holding hands! It's alright, I'll bring Faeth. Yeah, that's true. I mean, yeah. You can bring Faeth. Yeah, Sentry, you bring Max. Sentry, you bring Max. Sentry and Max? Woah. Sentry and Max or Quill and Max?

I got the... Are we fighting? Are we fighting for Max right now? Everyone brought there partners. I brought books Quills that meme of the guy in the corner of a party game. They don't know that I've got my cool. I Don't know I can see the future Yeah, right Break, break, break Break time I got a fucking donut to eat I'm gonna go get a new drink

I'm gonna go get a new drink