High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #147 | The Best Defense (Part 1)

Episode Date: May 24, 2022

The Stormchasers, aboard their giant new vessel, figure out their next steps! 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 & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello, welcome back. Last time on High Rollers, the champions of Erois were in the process of helping the Titan Valena forge an artifact called the Starseed. called the Starseed. Advice that houses the knowledge, memories and magical essence of Erois and acts as a beacon for the souls in the afterlife to follow it to another universe, should this one fall to Hadar's hunger. The process had been extremely challenging and Valaena heavily weakened. However, Valar manifested a fragment of her true divine nature and through manipulation of time and space, altered the challenge to give our champions a fair chance. With Quill completing the Knowledge Fokai and Nova the Connection Fokai,

it was down to Sentry who made contact with the Hope Fokai. After a moving and powerful exchange, and Sentry stating her hope for an Erois that no longer needed heroes. The Starseed was completed. An exhausted, drained Velenna laid down her hammer for the last time and took the party to witness the completion of her other project. The second task she had been given by Siaska, a tool for those who would rise up against their enemy. Transporting the party to the surface in the oceans of the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago, the champions witnessed an enormous vessel emerge from

beneath the waves. A section of the arcane metropolis of Solvin, restored and adapted, converted into a colossal astral battleship, the Astoria. While the Astoria and the gemstone constructs left to operate it in the champion's hands, Valena gave up her divine essence and rejoined with Siaska in the halls of infinite resplendence. And that is where we pick up this week. Very well done, Tom Hazel, for resisting the laughs. I could see you there.

Thank you. Very good job. Thanks. It was a struggle. Yeah. But yes, after a very, very good episode last week, and I think we have to... Don't put pressure on me.

No, no. Some very powerful statements connected through the Fokide for knowledge and for connection and, of course, for hope as well. You guys now are stood in the halls of infinite resplendence having witnessed and you can now sense that Siaska's

power is greatly restored. This third Titan that's now rejoined her, third of her children to rejoin the essence of the god has empowered her greatly. And yeah, what is the plan? What do you guys want to do?

Didn't we just get a message saying that we've... Oh, no. The knights. Sayana said that they've found... Yes, Sayana had told you that she is... You know, Sayana, the sort of goddess of sort of like song and sort of joy and a lot of these kind of traits, who takes the form of this sort of elderly halfling,

has informed you that she's been sort of keeping an eye on Horizon and she's lost most of her divine powers, but is still sort of capable of sort of learning and traveling and things like that. That yes, your scouts, your guardian scouts have returned and they do seem to have more knowledge about what was going on with Kalara's former paladins, the Order of the Blackened Rose. They have some more information about those. It may very well be that there is more information waiting for you in Horizon.

You also have your own information to deliver to your allies, that being the Astoria and what it represents. Yes, we do. Big ship. A couple of things I was going to clarify from last week. Not quite retcons, but just clarifications. One, Mark doesn't really understand scale very well. So when he described the Astoria

previous... Three cities, I think you said. Two or three cities. It might have been a bit big. It might have been a bit bigger than what maybe I could conceive of. So it is still very big. And it is probably equal in two horizon in terms of how many people can fit in. But it is not

quite the size of three cities. It's very, very big. Why don't we put some pressure on you and say, how long does it take to walk from one point to the other? Distance and time is always a strong point. I'm so good at those. It takes long enough for anything important to happen, but too long for you to dilly-dally in doing so.

Okay. It has narrative amount of time. Plot armor amount of time. It has plot armor amount of time. But it is very, very big. And yeah, I think the best sort of like, sort of out of character descriptions of it are thinking of things like the Macross

from the famous anime series, a Star Destroyer, a, anime series, a Star Destroyer, a... Shut up. A Star Destroyer. Something like a big capital ship like Battlestar Galactica or like these kind of big capital ships. An aircraft carrier. A bit bigger than an aircraft carrier. Two aircraft carriers. Sort of, yeah.

I don't want to give a number because that was my issue. It is big and fits lots of people in it. The other thing I was going to clarify is one of the things that D1 mentioned to you, this diamond construct that has been left by Velenia to help run the Astoria, they mentioned something about assigning a commander to the Astoria, right? And they suggested that it probably shouldn't be Lucius or one of you because they'll need to coordinate a lot of other things.

And you guys are kind of like the strike team that's going to go out there and do stuff. The Astoria is like the big backup to like be the powerhouse of the fleet. One thing I wanted to, a couple of things with that I wanted to clarify. One, it doesn't necessarily have to be somebody who is a military commander, right? Like Lucius, you need somebody who's a good leader, who can inspire people around them. Somebody who maybe does have a you know a slight ability in tactics or knowledge or things like that but also somebody that could assemble a team this the the historian will have a bridge crew effectively it won't just be one person controlling the whole thing you know that it think of it like the enterprise or another famous sci-fi ship right

you have the captain and the captain's orders and you know they they need to be a good leader and have a good understanding of everything but they can have their weapons expert they can have their tactical expert they can have their science officer there you know they can have these kind of positions yeah um so don't feel like because it is going to be up to you guys to pick who the commander is that commander can then also pick a bridge crew and that will probably be down to the npc and who they trust and stuff like that. So you want to pick somebody you think is going to pick good people to help them,

but he's going to be a good leader most of all. I think we're all thinking the same thing, right? No, what? No. Howard. Yeah. Nice. Can you imagine? I'll leave that.

That was just a couple of clarifications from last week that I thought of when I was, you know, in the time between, I was like, oh, two cities is quite big, isn't it? I was like, oh, it's a bit big. It's ginormous. Bristol, Swindon, and Reading. Yeah. Well, I was also, like, looking at, like, you know,

like, pictures of, like, the Macross and stuff like that. It's this enormous, like, capital ship, and it still is built in a city. And I was like, oh, I should probably make it a bit smaller. Could it still is built in a city and i was like did you imagine that building a city it's like it was a throwing off is like star destroyers as well it's like massive and then there's the super star destroyer which is like bigger than that and then there's the eclipse i was just like i'm i'm getting lost i need to focus down um but yes it is big it's bigger than Calus' ships. That's the main bit, yeah.

That's what we need to know. I had some ideas for who could maybe be a potential candidate for the Astoria. By all means. I need some help from Sontra, though. I was just thinking, correct me if I'm wrong, because Solven's still quite mysterious

to me, But I was thinking that it is a city of guardians, so surely it should be run by guardians. And I know Rook kind of, you know, has gone, but Bishop appeared.

And if I remember, I don't know if I remember correctly, I was getting hit on the head a lot at the time did you work with Rook and Bishop? I did, I worked with Rook was in the chain of command they were a part of Queen Astoria's

military alongside me I think Bishop was also I didn't see Bishop quite as much as Rook but Bishop was also quite high in command. So they have a good military mind. Would Bishop be a good candidate? A couple of things.

Rook and Bishop were bodyguards of Queen Astoria. So they were high up in the command, but they were like her royal protectors, basically, which is why Rook carried Her Majesty's Rose. The other thing is Solvium wasn't a guardian city. The guardians were helped. They were kind of not built there, but they were sort of created and helped protect it. It was certainly the foundation of it,

but the city was a human-elf-dwarf kind of city. But yeah, guardians kind of were a key part of its defense, but it wasn't a guardian city. I just wanted to, in case that was a mistake. I would still think. Thank you, voice of God. I would still, I'm that was a mistake. I would still think, thank you, voice of God. I would still, I'm just going to maybe take that as

sensory clarifying it. I would still I associate guardians with Solvin and it would feel wrong for Solvin, Astoria not to have guardians at the helms. That makes sense. I think having some guardians on the ship would make them feel very honoured to be still a part of Solvin in some way as well.

And I think it would be something that would suit them really well, actually. Solvin problems. Solvin problems. Yeah. Well, the other thing with the Guardians, and this is something Century would know, is you have all these different lives and souls of these Guardians in the Matrix. It's not just soldiers. You have people there that can operate systems and engineers and architects and stuff like that. There are many Guardians there.

You have most of the Guardians that physically exist in Arois. You already gave life back to, so they already kind of exist, and there's going to be a mixture of types and and types out there and things like that um if you wanted to bring somebody who isn't hasn't been replenished i think bishop has been replenished and is is now existing in a body somewhere um if you wanted to bring somebody else you would need to find a guardian body that doesn't have a soul in it and put them in um with bishop i think you would know yeah bishop was yeah more of a bodyguard um kind put them in. With Bishop, I think you would know... Yeah, Bishop was more of a bodyguard,

kind of like in a similar role to you and Rook. Like you and Rook both kind of trained and you were Petal's protector and Rook and Bishop were the Queen Astoria's protectors. Would certainly be a very good candidate in some form. Maybe not as an overall commander. Didn't necessarily have the leadership quality. Was more of a follower.

Was definitely somebody who was used to taking orders rather than giving them um but certainly could certainly would be a very valuable member of a team uh especially like a bridge crew or like a you know a security force or something like that would be very good um and and and you know you would have to spend some time in the matrix but you could search and see if there was more of a leader type you know somebody that i mean in a way like root chose you to become the inheritor of the prior of the matrix when you know root could no longer function and he chose you because you displayed leadership qualities you know having worked with the team and things like that there will be there may come a day when century needs needs to pass the Matrix on. And this may be a good chance to start searching for somebody that may be able to

take on that mantle one day. You need to spend time searching through the Matrix because there's thousands, hundreds of thousands of souls drifting around there. Cool. Definitely something you could spend some time to do. Nice. Nice.

Hold your own job in at Views. Yeah, effectively. Nice. Nice. Hold your own job in at views. Yeah, effectively. Nice. One day. So that conversation obviously takes place, but what about, like, where do you guys want to go? Are you guys going to go back to Horizon? Is there anything else you guys want to do beforehand?

Any questions you've got for Vala or Sayana while you're here? I don't know. I feel like we asked a lot last time. That's fine. The Storm Chaser is currently docked in the Astoria now, right? Yeah, they basically emerged from the ocean and then they've kind of connected up with the Astoria. Yeah.

Which means that you have a Wayfinder's Guide straight back. Oh, true, yeah. I've got it on the Storm Chaser. Yes. And you've also... Nova's been there now, so it's much easier to transport there and use teleport. There's a slight risk with teleport, but...

Oh, they said they had their own circles anyway, right? They do, actually. That's true. They have their teleportation... Yeah, you would know those sequences, so you can use teleportation circle or teleport. So, very easy and rapid to access. I say we reconvene on the storm chaser okay uh we sort of

discuss our next steps there and discuss the astoria's plan as a whole because i think that could be something very valuable with people of eros and uh that sort of thing that makes sense so yeah and we need to show this to Horizon and the people there, so they know not to fire at us immediately thinking we're some kind of weird new Starbane ship. We can scout ahead. Yeah.

And then alert Horizon of our coming. I can always imagine. And it's not a huge Starbane ship. Yeah. Yeah. I'd say that's a good starting point. Yep. Valor will then say, well, if you're gonna head back to the Stormchaser, I think I'll take Max and a good starting point. Yep. Valor will tend to say,

well, if you're going to head back to the Stormchaser, I think I'll take Max and myself back to Horizon. I need to start researching and planning for breaching Calara and Italicus's demiplanes. It sounds like Sayana said that you have some information on that. I need to prepare for that, so I need to sort of hit the books and start thinking about that so I can meet you back at Horizon if you're coming back that way?

Definitely, yes. We'll discuss our next plans for the next demiplane. All right, yes. All right. All right, well... Hopefully you'll find something, Vala. Yes, I think so. I think that I was close before. We're quite lucky that the Lena sort of invited us here. She was one that I really didn't know where to begin with. So the fact that we had this sort of information was a great boon. Kalara and Atelicus...

Atelicus is the same. I really don't even know how or where to begin with him. He's a little... very different to the others. Kalara, I have a strong suspicion that whatever your scouts tell you, I think that that will be very heavily connected to Kallara's demiplane, and the breach point won't be too far from there. All right, I just need to find the right spot.

We'll get a debrief from our scouts, and we'll reconvene with you in the library? Yes, I mean, I can meet you there, yeah, or the war room. Maybe somewhere else, because the last time we met there, or heading to there we were attacked. Well we can only hope that that won't happen again. True.

Just superstitious. I can also tell Danica a little of what's happened so that at least she's a bit more aware of Astoria and everything else. Forward party. Scouting for the scouts. Yes of course I'm happy to mention that to them. If you could I think it's probably best if we alert, well, not alert,

tell the Stormchaser crew what's going on rather than go straight to Horizon and leave them in the dust on Astoria, a huge multiple city. It looks like at least three cities. Oh, not three. It's big, but not three. Think about it in terms of scale of Horizon, Gusthaven. Yes, I suppose you're right. It's about, but not three. Think about it in terms of scale of, like, Horizon, Gusthaven.

Yes, I suppose you're right. Big ship. Very big ship. Bigger than Starbanes. You think so, yeah. That is true. It is larger than most of the... It is larger than any ship I have seen in the Valkyrian fleet. Phenomenal. So, yes, we should really let the Storm Chasers know what's going on. Very well.

I'll accompany you as always, my lady. And Valor will just head to Max and say, of course, I know. Right, well, we will see you back on Horizon. Oh, wait, do we have any information about the Starseed? Is that just... It's gone. That's just out there now? Yeah, Valena just sort of...

It just vanished from our hands. Went into the well of... Yeah, with her brother, Paldor. Yes. To go to the well of eternity. Okay. She basically said that if the worst happens and Hadar wins, the sun's ship will basically fire the star seed into the well of eternity,

and that will take it to a new universe. And then the hope is that the fate weavers that you met, the three dryad sort of powerful fate sorcerers will cut this universe off from everywhere else basically sealing this universe's fate. But the starseed, well that's

you're gonna hope right, well she will take Max's hand and the two of them she will focus and you see that sort of triangle of purple light open up behind her and it sort of swallows them

and they vanish I've got to learn how to do that Bye! I really need to ask her how she does that I want to learn how to do that If you think where we've come from when Valor was just

a young girl and her father... Took her to a city. To see a... Don't. Just don't. You can see it. I mean, we always... No, I was genuinely going to make a point, and then I...

We always said that Valor, when she grows up, that she'll be a saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned. That she'll be a saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned. But honestly, Katie, I really miss you. I wish you were here to help split this madness up. Right. For her to be just this small, unaware girl with such tragedy around her to a god.

And we're a part of that intrinsically. It's just good to step back now and again. We are in the halls of resplendence right now. Sayana's right there. Hi, Sayana. She just sort of waves. She's been listening. She just doesn't speak or anything.

It's just overwhelming is all. Oh, I've definitely had my moments. Champion of H listening, like, she just doesn't speak or anything. It's just overwhelming is all. Oh, I've definitely had my moments. Champion of Hesper, you know? Font of knowledge, apparently. You died. I died. And why does that keep coming up? You died too. Yeah.

But you're alive now. That's what's important. Yeah. You're a bird. Yeah, you're a bird. I'm a bird. Yes, I keep forgetting that one. We're going to have to do something about that. Tiangong's here. Yeah. Yeah. Hello. I mean, look back. Tiangong's

right here. We are eternal. Larger things than ourselves. And we're at the forefront of it all. No pressure. Aayla's a tree. Yeah. Apparently. A world tree.

I still don't understand that fully. Me neither. Cyan will just say it is always the way. Across many stories, across eons. It is always a strange coincidence of such tales that often our greatest heroes are brought

together very quickly in a very short space of time and so much coalesces around them. It is whether it is the power of destiny, the power of one's will, clearly something differentiates you from everyone else. It is no mere chance. It is something. But, well, it is good, as you said, to step back and look on these things and to realise how far you've come. Don't step too

far back, though, because then you realise that the fate of the entire universe is on us and our friends. Hey, did you know that we almost missed the airship? The one that crashed? We almost didn't get on it. You didn't?

We were going to go get cake, remember? Yeah, we were. That was really nice bakery. I ensured that my first airship would be on time. It was the first time I was taking control, and you were just going to not turn up. I had a handwritten itinerary. I was there an hour early.

Oh, no, we almost... We went to get some... Wow. It looked really good. It had brown stuff on it, and it was like cream. But imagine... We should go back. Well, we should go back,

but imagine if we never got that, if we did go get the cake. Yeah. I don't want to think about it. Yeah. Anyway. Let's go see the storm chasers eh yeah

anyway everyone circle up you know how this works now yep expend a charge on the way finder's guide bam you're back on the storm chaser

I'm not going to get too narrative with it we've done it a million times boom could have teleported for my helmet yeah you could have done it saved you a charge on your book oh yeah but book

book it's a book innit got book book innit I can do it every once a day got book you arrive back on the Stormchaser to a not necessarily bewildered crew,

but certainly a crew that is wide-eyed in everything. The Stormchaser has indeed docked and built into the rocky underbelly of the Astoria because it's mainly a city and it's like a rocky hull, kind of carved still rough textured like it's not been perfectly carved but shaped into like the hull of a ship um built into the sides of it are hollowed out sections that act as like hangar bays basically where ships

airships can be docked uh there are gangways metal and stone the whole construction is um very reminiscent of Solvin architecture with a lot of metal, like a lot of metal. Like normally you guys have been to cities, even the Sky Cities have, you know, stone buildings and things like that. It's very rare to see so much metal used here. And some of it definitely looks like it is, you know, mithril, adamantine, like it is pretty, pretty rare stuff. Vast of of iron and steel and everything else kind of built together um there are sections of crystalline material that you've seen in other astral ships as well um you're not sure where that's come from if that's natural mineral or what

um but yeah the actual interior is kind of enclosed space um it does look like it would just look out onto the sky or out into astral space from one end of it, but you don't know how that necessarily functions. And there are staircases that lead up. There are corridors that lead into the interior, which is almost like a little underground city street. There are buildings. There are lights that kind of illuminate like plazas,

all built underground. And the ceiling is purposely illusioned so that it creates the images of like fake skies. So it feels like you're outside or under a night sky and things. It seems to attune to the actual day outside. And you find Kamara is basically a few of the crew, Howard, Lansian, and I think Penny

would have remained on the ship with Araya. But Araya will tell you that, yeah, Kamara and the Wolfpack and Howard have basically gone out to start just figuring out how to get around and what this hangar bay connects to and stuff like that. And they sort of just point you in those directions. Okay. How big is the Storm Chaser in this hangar bay?

It looks like about five or six similar-sized airships would fit in here. And the storm chaser is a sort of medium-sized airship. It's not the biggest. Some big boys in here. Yeah, there are definitely... You've seen warships like the continent of Gisela when you guys went to the City of Glass. They actually had some bigger airships, like proper warships,

with cannons and things like that, like black powder cannons and stuff like that mounted on them. You could maybe fit like two or three of those in here, but it would be pretty tight beyond that. But like five or six of the medium-sized standard airships would fit in. Nice. Pretty cool. I was wondering if maybe we should transfer the Twin Star here.

Yeah, the Twin Star is odd because it's small, like in terms of how many people that can fit inside of it, but its wingspan is quite big, so it's probably about the size of a small airship. So it would take up probably the space of one Stormchaser and a bit. So just maybe a bit less. You could definitely fit 100%. In fact, I would say that on the top deck,

when you guys emerged on the city streets, the entire front half of the city is kept purposely much more clear. There are still towers and turrets, but it's almost like an area is kept clear. It looks like it was once a very wide city street. And that is almost kept clear as if for smaller fighters and Magitek devices to be placed and to launch from, basically. Like that motorbike we brought back?

Yeah. I mean, that would... You could drive that around the streets and things like that, but, yeah, the Twin Star would probably fit around that. And the roads are going to be empty as well. Yeah. Ugh. It's burning rubber.

I was like, well, you have a big ship. Very big ship. It's very big. Yes. Yeah. The dwarven women, the gemstone people, Well, you have a big ship. A very big ship. It's very big. The dwarven women, the gemstone people, they've been coming by to check and ask us if we need anything. How much do you know? Very little.

They've said that this is the Astoria. They called it the Astoria. They said that it was a gift for the people of Erois and it would, not commanded, but the champions of Erois, they called you, they said the champions of Erois will decide on who shall board it and who shall command it. It was left to you to decide its fate, basically, by the goddess Valena. Am I understanding? Just another day on the Stormchaser, I suppose? Yeah, you know exactly as much as us, then. Well, okay.

So, yes, that's what we know. This is what was being worked on. The great final plan of solving... And now we need to find a crew. Yeah. For this. Assemble a crew for a story because we are obviously preoccupied with the storm chaser.

Yes, I mean, I would like to stay on the storm chaser. I don't really want to fly a boat this big. Okay, but that rules you out. Good, good. Well, less to worry about. I think the crew and I are all aligned. The Storm Chaser we've come to think of as our home, and we would stay here.

Well, and the Storm Chaser can go in the Astoria anyway. Exactly. Well, and my understanding as well is you spoke to Miss Perel, the strange, creepy wizard in Horizon. She had plans to allow the Storm Chaser to go in astral space anyway. We need some creatures for the engines, yes? Two magical creatures. Yes, I have the ball.

Grots. Yes. Capture one. If we can install those engines, then yes, we could dock inside the Astoria. The Astoria goes out into astral space, and then the Storm Chaser can go where it needs to. Yes. We should do that.

We really need to give Grotz a call. We could taunt him a bit. Hey, got your ring. Sucks. Where did you learn that language? I don't know. I think Aayla. The Wolfpack, Kumara and Howard have gone out to sort of explore

and see what they can find. It doesn't look like there are any supplies or things like that here. There are no weapons aboard or anything like that. But the functions, the turrets, the built-in weaponry seems to be functional. Yes, D1 and the cohort will be in control of that, so we don't need to worry too much. They just need to be guided by the crew. Oh, I think that we were speaking to them about it. They are apparently

not soldiers. They cannot fire the weapons. They need gunners and things like that to target them. Penny was speaking to them about it. They are more concerned with the running of the sort of technicalities of the ship. Maintenance. Yes. Maintenance, repairing it, keeping it running.

Okay, so you need a crew crew as well. Yes, there is a, my understanding is that there is a large power, some sort of magical thing that provides power to the ship and the city, I guess. It's a fragment of the world engine. That apparently requires a lot of work for the maidens to maintain and upkeep. So their focus is more on keeping the ship running

rather than it is navigation, weapons, arming it, equipping it, looking around as well, very much like a, in a sense, like a normal airship. You will need people if it was boarded. It can be boarded by another vessel. They could send troopers to fight upon it.

So we would likely need ground forces as well, in a sense. Right. Well, lots to fight upon it. So we would likely need ground forces as well, in a sense. Right. Well, lots to plan. Yeah. Now that the Horizon is essentially a floating battleship as well, maybe they host a surplus of soldiers that we might be able to... We should maybe send word to all of our allies and see if they can contribute and we can make up a crew of everyone. Yes, very democratic as well to have everyone represented on Eros,

maybe even as part of the crew that we select. I think that would be a wise option to get everyone's opinions from all over Eros. The other thing I was thinking of, by the way, which is why I wanted to hold a meeting, this Astoria is a refugee ship as well. We think that Eros might be going really, really south. We might need everyone to get on board and leave Eros. If the war wages here. I mean, it's big, but. As many as we can.

Yeah. I don't see why we couldn't maybe utilize Horizon to go to places where war is waging, gather as many refugees as possible and ultimately bring them to the Astoria. Do we want to do that before or after the Astoria goes to war against Starbane? See, this is what I'm confused about. Lots of...

But if it's our only option left, I feel like maybe it should be... This is a very defended ship. The last bit, you know, if everything goes completely wrong and the Astoria then maybe goes into space with the last, you know, vestiges of Eros, but we probably shouldn't put run-will people on the ship

and then fight forces that are going to... Well, my only concern is that they might already be on a war front, on Aroas. It is hard when your entire planet is at war, yes. So it's kind of the lesser of two evils. At least they're in a highly sophisticated floating city that can go into space. That is also probably...

It will be a target, sure. But it's also got a lot of turrets, and maybe where they're from right now doesn't have that many turrets, is what I'm saying. It might be the safest option, depending on how... Well, it's like on the ground. Exactly. That's all I'm thinking, is maybe we send out some or get some intel on the war fronts on or else if there are any um waging

right now and see if there's some people we can save and bring to this story if they no longer have a home i think again we should probably definitely consult with world leaders because they'd have a lot of experience in this kind of thinking so maybe they could guide us as to what the best plan is. Because also it's their people so, you know, they might want to say. I mean, you have allies on Horizon, you know that the Grand Strategist is there, you have the dragons,

you have Danica, you have Prince Aradan in Gustaven, you have... Horizon's a good beacon for this. I think we should go to Horizon and tell everyone about the Astoria and offer it as a place for people to go if they no longer have

somewhere safe to be I think one thing we should prioritize is some kind of security for the teleportation circles yes don't want insurgents or any destructive forces to get on the inside.

You're right. Any spies. Yeah, we don't know if there's any magical protection at all on the Astoria. Is there any gem dwarves around? There isn't. You look around, you can't see any. I can definitely ask about what protections are in place.

Rain could be a good candidate to run that kind of thing. Remember, that's kind of when we first met him was when we teleported into Horizon. Does anything happen when the mics do need

to pick you up? You can't talk too much. The other thing I would say is you remember when you first came on the ship, this is for Quell, when you first came on the ship, D1 just sort of merged out of the ground

the Maidens of Elena, the Gemstone Drawers just seem to have the ability to go where they need to on the ship, so it might be that you don't need to like, you could probably just say hey, I need like, say something and then one will hopefully appear or something like that it might be the case of, or if you speak their name they might come to you or you can ask

like, it might be like when Nova's connected if you speak their name, they might come to you, or you can ask, like, it might be like when Nova's connected to the Storm Chaser, she can hear you wherever you are on the ship. Everything. It seems to have very similar levels of kind of, there's a lot of connections between what Azari has done on the Storm Chaser and some of the old Solvin Magitek as well, like, which is very, it wasn't quite Magitek,

it was more enchantments and things like that. It was much more magic related solving stuff callus is more magitek and then what azaria does is closer to solving like high levels of enchantment and magical uh infusion um okay i'll turn back after looking around for them and say well i don't know where d1 is so yeah so when you say d1 you do basically like her face, not her whole body this time, but her face like merges out the wall. How might I help you, champion? Can you just appear everywhere? Not quite everywhere, but most places aboard the ship, yes.

That's amazing. Okay. That's terrifying. A little bit, yeah. I am currently engaged in other tasks. Do you have a request? Oh, sorry, yes. We were going to ask about what magical protections the Astoria has.

Let me summon Emerald 4. She has a much better understanding of this system than I do. Okay, E4. The face kind of, like, disappears. You wait maybe 30 seconds, and then kind of walking in, this time just walking in normally, is a green... I'm, like, looking at the wall waiting. Yeah, you're looking at the wall. You hear, like, heavy at the wall waiting. Yeah, you're looking at the wall, but you hear, like, heavy footsteps

coming in from a corridor, and you see this emerald, completely carved emerald, looks similar to D1, but ever so slight variations, different haircut, slightly different sort of, like, outfit. It's like the same face, like, same sort of round, cheerful face. Howdy, champions. My name is Emerald4.

How may I assist you? What is your question? Oh, we were wondering what sort of magical protections the Astoria has. Let's start with the teleportation circles. Protections in what form, champion? Who can come and who can go? Anyone who has access to the teleportation sigils can use the teleportation circle. All right. Is there any anti-scrying

maybe? The ship is not protected from divination magic at this time. Okay. Um. Well, okay. We need to sort that one out. Write that down. What are you doing? It's an open door policy right now. Protecting such a large vessel from all divination magics would be

incredibly difficult. What about just the teleportation rooms? It may be possible to install devices that would prevent divination magics from accessing the teleportation chambers. Okay, that's just a good idea to at least mask the sigils. What about disguises? Is there a way we can detect anyone wearing disguises that may enter the Astoria? Again, it would be difficult to place these sort of beacons across the entire ship. However, it may be possible to place them in strategic locations

that would be able to detect any sort of form of invisibility or illusion. Physical disguises would not be fooled by these sensors. Okay. Illusions. We have lots of weaponry on the outside of the ship, obviously facing outwards. Is there any defenses for anything in the streets? Currently, all weapons are trained for external uses. Okay, okay. There are no interior turrets or sentries available.

It is assumed that the ship will be protected by soldiers provided by the people of Erois. Yes, we'll have to have a policing force, I'd say, or a rotation of soldiers helping with the streets. If the Astoria was to become a salvation for the people of Eros, what would you say the maximum population could be? She gives you a number that is high but not too high narrative high not the entire not the entire no no not even close like again fraction like yeah like maybe half of a big city or like a big city's worth yeah nothing so 90 percent no

uh no this is yeah like this can carry a lot of people. Almost think of it like a bit of, like, Noah's Ark, right? Like, you could fit a lot of people on here, plenty enough that, like, if you had to repopulate a world, you probably could, but not enough to, like, save the entire planet, the entire plane. You should call them planes.

Emerald 4 will say, also, please keep in mind, any additional magical protections for the interior of the ship, the power of the ship is currently very limited for its current uses. They would need to be provided with external power sources.

Right. Okay. External power sources. Such as? Magical power sources. Okay. Looks at you blankly, like, just trying to explain, like, what is air? Breathe air. Ethereum engines?

Azaria. Your Ethereum engines would provide a suitable source of power for these sorts of devices. I wonder if Azaria could be a good member of the crew. Uh, it would also satisfy her need to, um, you know, tear open Sentry. I doubt the Astoria actually has that much that would interest her. I mean, it's a shard of solvent. I think it's more her overarching motivations. Is it to savour us, or is it to, you know... It's to take us all apart to find out what makes us tick.

It's a pursuit of knowledge at the expense of our bodies, or sentries in particular. It's quite admirable, really. True. Well, let's think about it. How about we go to Horizon? Yep. Speak with all the smarties there.

And all the leaders, as much as we can. Like Prince Aradan and Danica. Yeah. Those sorts of people. Oh, is there any navigation equipment on this ship? Yes, the ship is fully navigational equipment. However, we do not currently have the ability, we have no one to control the navigation systems.

Okay. Is there a way to send your location or where you currently are to another place? Like, to update its presence. Are you able to send messages? Yes. D1 is capable of sending messages magically to individuals. Also, please provide a map.

Oh, right, yes. If you hold out a map, Emerald Forge just points and says, we are here. When you say, like, is there a way to pinpoint our location, she draws a little circle on the map and is like, all right, we are there. I think if we open a port of... Cast GPS.

Also, she can just be like, map, we're here. You did ask. Oh, no, I mean, he asked. If we have a port of communication with Horizon, it would be useful if Horizon knows where the Astoria is, and vice versa is all I'm suggesting. It would be possible, we may be able to move the ship very, very slowly currently,

but without a formal navigation crew, it would be very difficult for us to move anywhere quickly. We'll get that crew for you, E4. Thank you, champions. Are you finished? Oh, please go back to your business, unless there's anything else. Okay, she's gone.

She's gone. All right, fair enough. It looks like they can basically do that wherever there's stone. Wherever there's touching stone, they can just sort of swim through it like it's water. Interesting. I want to do that. But like anything metal or crystal, they can also do it with.

But anything like metal or non-organic, they can't do that with. Do they have to have a fully connected amount of stone to go from one place to another? It has to be equivalent of like... Interesting question. It's basically... What about trees? Can you travel via dirt? They can't. Well, could they travel via dirt?

Yes, but not wood. Can they do it through me? You have metal in you though as well, don't you? You have like stone, metal and vines. They couldn't do it through you. No, there don't you? You have like stone, metal, and vines. They couldn't do it through you. No, there's too much wood. Like the stone pieces,

they basically, to initiate their sort of transport, it looked like they had to have, Emeraldfall had to be stood on a piece of stone big enough for her body to fit through. But you don't know if they need that the whole way. It just looks like they need to be able to compress it. Gash's form or something like that, where they just turn into... It's a thing called...

There's a spell called Meld with Stone. And they basically can do that and un-melt them out and they travel much more quickly. Cool. That's the idea of it. But that's how they get around the ship. That's why there's so much stone elements. What does it sound like?

It sounds almost like a liquid melting sound when they kind of... Like a bloopy, gloopy sound. So like the T2 and... Yeah, they're very much like the T1000. It kind of melts in, and then there's no sound. As soon as they're completely engulfed in the stone, you don't hear anything.

Can you put them in a cup when they do that? No. Okay. I think it's very quick, first of all. When they do it, it's almost like they collapse. Like, you know, you just poured water out of a cup. But even if you did want to experiment it and try it, like, they're still made of crystal,

so you'd be like, plunk, and, like, your hand would bounce off it. I wonder if, like, a member of the crew accidentally walks across some stone as an emerald person. It would launch them up in the air. They'd explode or something.. It would launch them up in the air. Explode or something. It would just throw them up in the air. Like standing on a diglet. No, no, I understand.

Yeah, I get that. All right. Yeah, the Astoria, I will tell you, out of game, the Astoria really can't move at this point. It can go very, very slowly, but it's like a crawl. The Stormchaser, however, can move as and when it needs to. Kilek, have you noted where Kilek...

Sorry, that was just very weird. Anyway, carry on. Do you like it? Is it preferable? Well, no, I'm just so used to Quill, Birdie, from you especially, it's just... Anyway, carry on. Very well, Kilek. So, did you note down where she pointed on the map?

Oh, yeah, I know where we are, yeah. We'll let Horizon know. And as it can't move very much, if there's anything that we need to do or bring people to Astoria, there we go. Yeah. Let's set sail. Yeah.

Nice. To the skies. Yeah, you can recall the crew. Kamara and the Wolfpack come back with Howard, like, totally sort of like, this place is nuts. But they get on board the crew. Stormch the Wolfpack come back with Howard like totally sort of like this place is nuts but they get on board the crew Stormchaser can travel

pretty quickly you can reach Horizon no question with Horizon if you forget Horizon is also quite slow it's a big city and it takes a lot of effort

for Danica to move it like she has to basically spend all of her magical power to move it I thought we were going to have ships ferrying to and from yeah probably

I mean that would be faster like using airships to ferry people around would be faster. You know what we should do? We should enlist Arvel and his... He's got a trade network. Trade network. He also has, well, loads of airships.

Yeah. Thousands. Not thousands, but he has... He said that he has, like, a trade network of, like, airships saving ships. Then you can hang a space for some. What about Sprocket and... Lillian Sprocket.

Lillian Sprocket. Mm-hmm. Yes. Use them as a repair shop. Or inventions for adding more, if we need beacons or protection, that sort of thing. More power, that sort of thing, yeah. And Azaria seems to work well with them.

Nice. All right. The trip back to Horizon is uneventful. You travel back without issue. It probably won't even take you a day. You'll probably reach, with the Storm Chaser going at max speed, you can get back to Horizon within, I would say, sort of like six hours. Can I have a moment with Quill on the ship?

Yeah, sure. Of course you can. Do what you want. I invite Quill to the captain's quarters. Alone. Alone. Century. the ship yeah sure of course you can do what you want i invite quill to the captain's quarters alone century yes yeah he called me key like earlier he was just happy with me i think so he didn't seem upset well he just also sent me an invite as well and to go alone did he am i gonna get killed maybe he's maybe the the wolfpack member who delivered the message is like you're in trouble.

That's true. I remember when... I have been pretty lax with the quarter mastering recently. When Queen Astoria was really mad at Guinevere, she would... You don't want to hear Guinevere's full name. That was big trouble. Submit. But then he didn't look mad, though.

He never looks mad. No, that's true. And it's hard to tell with his new beautiful peacock form. It is a beautiful peacock form. Can another wolf member say, why haven't you gone yet? Nah. As if I pulled out another... Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, uh, like, uh, has anyone seen, has anyone seen Quail? Has anyone seen Quail?

He's over here, he's in trouble with the capture. Yeah, he's right, too right, he's in trouble, he's asking where he is. He said that he sent a message... Oh, I should get going. Okay, I... Can we just stand outside? Please. Yeah? If you hear anything. Okay, okay. He said, come alone. All right, it's your choice.

Oh, okay. Kind of third wolf. Yeah, this time it's Faeth, and Faeth is like, he really wants to see you really quickly. Okay, okay, okay. Can we travel down together? Yeah, I'll take you there. How angry does he look?

I don't know. It's hard to tell. He's a bird now. He's beautiful. Faeth will take you up to the captain's quarters, but doesn't come in and just leaves you there. Goodbye. Goodbye.

All right, you have to role play with Trot now. I just crack open a door and you just see the peacock eye. Hi, Lucius. Keyleg. Why do you? And then I disappear from the door, but the door opens. Should I come? Do you want me to?

Quickly, quickly now. Okay. Door open or? I shut the door and I was behind the door. Take a seat, Keelik. Is there a seat laid out for him? Yeah, there's a seat. Okay.

In front of your desk, like with the captain's chair? There's also a little side table and a little teacup. Filled. Is it a teacup for me? Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Lucius is pacing back and forth. I assume you know why I brought you here.

I mean, a couple of weeks ago there was that missing note in the quartermaster log. I mean, I know you don't read those, but maybe it's that. No. Maybe it's... No. Okay. I mean, you were calling me Keelak. Did I say something wrong?

Say something wrong? No. What do you mean? You... What? What's the... Keelak. I don't want to be a bird anymore. Okay.

And I don't know if that's offensive, and I'm sorry. It's... No, it's... Well, I mean... We... There's nothing wrong with being a bird. I just want you to make that abundantly clear. Oh, I mean, I love being a bird.

A birdie. I'm glad you do. And you know what? It's got its perks. It does. I did a little, you can fly, and there is the whole egg thing. There's something about,

I just want to be Me again The old me So if I go back to that You're not going to be offended Are you? Please don't be offended No I won't I'm so sorry

Why did you ask me to come alone? Because I couldn't say that In front of everybody Why? I mean What if you were offended? I'm not offended I couldn't tell You're so hard to read

What is it about bird faces That makes them so hard to read? You've got a storm eye. Oh, I mean, yeah, but I've still got some kind of furrowed brow sometimes when I'm a little bit angry. Very difficult to tell. It's really hard to tell with you. That's why I was so concerned. Also, my vision has changed.

It has. So it's been hard to... It's wider, right? Yes, I'm taking a lot more in. Hey, bird perception. Pretty good. Yeah. Yes.

Can't see in the dark so well. No, no, you have to get used to that. Well, I'm hoping not to. I'm hoping to go back. I mean, I think everyone would be happy to see Lucius back. Not that you're not Lucius now. Yes, I agree. I also don't know how my sister would react.

I mean, could we do that anyway just to see maybe we could just before that would be quite funny wait but how are you going to because I mean that was a wish ring oh I don't know and frankly it's not on the priority list I just thought on the travel back to Horizon I discussed that ultimately I do want to

return to Elven form okay I mean we can try and figure out a way. You're not offended. That's such a relief. It's, you made a... There's not many Arakokras around. I thought maybe it might be nice for another birdie to be about. There's tons around

when you go to the right places. Okay, yeah. Not many on this ship. Not many on the ship, no. Or Horizon. It has been nice, I will say. It's been nice. Well, I can stick around while I don't have any method, so. Will? Yeah? Make an Arcana check for me.

Okay. Arcana. Oh, eight. Plus 860. There's something, like, it's just something. When Lucius is talking about not knowing how to go back and you're having this kind of back and forth conversation, there might be something that just twigs in your mind,

saying, oh, he doesn't know how to go back, it was a wish. And then you remember in the forge, when Valena started to look weakened and it looked like things were going to go wrong and Valor used power, you remember she reversed part of the time in the room and repositioned people and undid things. If Valor is gaining more mastery over that power,

she might be able to revert Lucius' body back before he made the wish. And that might undo it. Oh, hang on, Lucius. My book is vibrating it's never done this before let me just get this really quick so awkward lucius you won't believe this it's supposed to be your knowledge of skill of magic you're a cleric of magic you're supposed to have knowledge of this stuff the wayfinder's guy can't vibrate with notifications. As the DM, I sometimes have to tell you stuff that your character knows.

What if we spoke with Vala? I'm sorry, my... What's that? That's my arcane focus. I'll put it on silent. Put it on, yeah. We don't have a conversation here. Sorry about that.

You're distracted. Oh, yes, please, thank you. I thought we'd feed it to you. Do you want me to feed it to you as well? Yes. I'm struggling. Well, we could talk to Bala. And, you know, she timed stuff in Valena's forge. And maybe

shift you right back. I don't know if it'll change your memories. That's asking a lot of Valor. You saw how tired she was after that battle. Just for me to not be a birdie when we've got such greater things at hand.

Like getting people off war fronts and saving Erois. Yeah, but... Whether I'm a peacock or not. What about your confidence? Is it as high now? Through the roof, everyone was complimenting me after I transformed. Too high? Unbalanced?

A little too much eyes on, if you know what I mean. I don't mind it. It will affect you, though. What about the use of the wings during the combat? I've got a larger surface area. Okay. And I'm not used to feathers coming off of me all the time. And I might be allergic to feathers.

Even now? Yes, I'm a bit bunged up. I don't know if you could tell. See all that gunky stuff around his peacock eyes. I mean, that's not a good thing to be allergic to. Well, yes, I was hoping that I'd just... Wait, is that something that's developed since you changed? I've only noticed it more because I am surrounded...

You've been allergic to feathers this entire time? I don't know. I'm just making connections here, that's all. Well, it's a revelation. It's just, Kim or Rhi, if you guys want to do any role play, just feel free to fucking shut these guys up. Or we're going to have a fucking hour of the Tom and Trot comedy show. I was just thinking about what dinner I was going to have.

I was making a shopping list in my head. I think if it's what you want to be and it will make you you, then I don't think it's a waste of resources or time or energy if that's what you want to be. That's extremely reassuring. Thank you, Keelag. Can you... Quill? Birdie! I was trying to be formal about the whole thing. It was scary.

Oh, sorry. Yes, okay. Birdie works. Thank you, Birdie. There you go. Appreciate it. And, um, you know, if I could switch between peacock and elf at will, I'd absolutely do it. Benefits to both.

We could find a way to do that, too. There is definitely spells that can do that. What would I look like as an elf? What do you think? I've never thought about that before. Do you have ninth level spell slots? I do. Yeah, you would know that there's magic,

things like shape change, true polymorph, many things that can change a person's shape and being. Oh, I cast my 9th level spell. We haven't had a race. I don't know if you have access to them, but you would know that other spellcasters can use them and stuff like that. Yeah. I mean, you could just shift back whenever you want. I mean, I can do what the ring did as well.

Really? Mm. can do what the ring did as well. Really? Mm. However, I feel like the usage of that is trivial by comparison as to what it could be used for. Yeah, and in game knowledge, Lucius would know that there is a risk

whenever he uses that spell, if he tries to do anything too much with it, there's a chance it won't ever work again. Like, in character, you know that that is a consequence of using that spell you can't play around with wishes sometimes they go very very wrong yeah they do but not in this case obviously on no in this case this is great really great very good anyway thank you with that, unless there's anything else going on the ship. Hey, Century.

Hey, Century. All this is going on. Have you ever been to a music concert? We have a lot of them in Vortensar. Jesus Christ. No, I haven't. Yeah, you do have a lot of them in Vortensar right now. What do they like?

They're amazing. Here's some music I think you like. What is that on? What's that on? She just passes her a rock. It's a rock. It's a fucking rock. It's a rock that's imbued with magic on? She just passes her a rock. It's a rock. It's a fucking rock. It's a rock that's imbued with magic.

No, it's just a rock. It's just Nova's gone insane. It's a seashell. Yeah. You wear a pair of them over your head. Stop. I get it. We really like the concert.

We had the first time! I know you did. I feel younger and so energetic. Really in tune with my feelings. It's really making me feel things. Yeah. I'm getting really emotional. So glad we had a good episode last week.

This is gold. Yeah? When you leave, it seems like everyone's treating this very seriously. Can you storm out and look like you're really upset? Do you want to make it look like you really shouted at me and that you're a fearful presence as a captain? Yes.

Well, yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay, I think, yeah, I think I can do it. Yeah, okay. Three, two, one. Performance check. Okay, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry, Captain Lucius. I'm outside the room. You were both powerful and fair. I'm standing outside. Note was there as well, Lucius. I'm outside the room. You are both powerful and fair. I'm standing outside. Note was there as well, because you've been talking about music concerts, apparently. Fortnstar's known for its music scene. All right.

Yeah, I... Total? Performance check? It's a 19. 19. If either of you have a passive insight of less than 19, you believe this. I'm sorry, Captain Lucius.

I won't do it again. You are powerful and fair in your assessment as me. Just get out. I slam the door. Armors. I don't want to talk about it. What happened? What did you do?

I don't know. I do know. He described it in full detail. I know exactly what I did wrong, and I will not make this mistake again. He was very eloquent and kind and fair. A few Wolfpack members are like, looking like impressed faces.

Oh, damn. Quill got chewed out. A true captain. I'll salute the door. Are you crying? Are you crying, Quill? Quill! Listen to this music.

It will cheer you up. When I was... A young elf. Amazing. Well, the Stormchaser arrives back in Horizon. As I said, no situations on the way.

You dock. You're met by guards. You can go to the Citadel of the Rebornborn if you wish. Do whatever you want. I'm gonna go smooch my girlfriend. Yep, you can do that. Do you want us to wait for you?

Mm-hmm. Or should we go speak to Danica? Let's go speak to Danica. I'll smooch her later. Okay, you sure? My girlfriend, not Danica. No, I mean you can go do that while we speak to Danica if you like. I'm gonna go smooch my girlfriend. Yeah, you do that and we'll meet you at the middle

I've got this music to share with her it's a rock literally a rock hold it to your ear oh my god that's really good anyway

episode title told Santa told Santa there wasn't going to be any combat this event I might just it's a huge rock

so Kira's here eat your swarm twice straight on Nova you can pass it three times per round alright so Nova is going to go

smooch Thalia alright the rest of you are going to go to the Citadel of Reborn with Ayla and find Danica basically right

and then get all the tickets and stuff alright well Kim you've just written yourself out of loads of cool RP so have fun. That's fine. I need a pee pee break. Alright. We're going to get that in 20 minutes so just wait. Thalia we said hi! I will! Yeah! She won't get a word in. You can find the Twinstar, you find Thalia, no problem. The rest of you when you arrive at Citadel of Re, you're let in. And yeah, you quickly find Rain, who is just like,

ah, champions, excellent, you're here. We do have some news and updates for you that we've received. We've received some sending spells, giving us some updates. Is it just the four of you? Is Nova not joining us? She will be. She might be a bit late. All right, very well. Well, if you'll come with me, Danica wants to speak with you regarding all of this information that we've got.

We also have a ton of information. Excellent. In response. Let's get everyone together. I will summon the Grand Strategist. I will summon Fairly Sir. We'll get everyone there together. All right?

Excellent. All right. Are you sure you don't want to be there? Yeah, I probably should be there for this, shouldn't I? I was just like, okay, yes, you can do don't want to be there? Yeah, I probably should be there for this, shouldn't I? I was just like, okay, yes, you can do whatever you want, but you were all beforehand like, let's go and give all this big important information to the team.

We can have a smooch break. Can I bring Thalia? Yeah, of course you can. I'm going to Dimension Door to Thalia and then... You can't Dimension Door across the city, but yes. I can! You can't. It's teleport. It's a different spell. You just get loads of messages from Quill's like, you should probably be here.

Yeah, it's like sending spells like, you should probably be here. I'll teleport there with Dali. We'll teleport him. Sorry to interrupt, but don't respond. Oh, I can hear it all. So yes, Nova can join you. It takes some time for everyone to be assembled, but you will all

gather in the War Room of Horizon. Danica, Grand Strategist, Azaria Perel, Felica, the Dragon General from the Dragonborn and the Dragons, Rain, and Nott. There's a couple of other guests

as well. There is a pair of guardians and there is a High Elf you don't recognize. Sorry, not High Elf, a Wild Elf. Dressed all in f guardians and there is a high elf you don't recognise. Sorry, not a high elf, a wild elf. Dressed all in furs and arctic looking clothing. Rugged looking male warrior wild elf. Doesn't look like anybody you've recognised before but they're waiting there as well.

And Danica will sort of say, ah, excellent. Everyone is here. Thank you for joining us. I'm glad you could make it Nova and the rest of you as well. Thank you. Rain has told me that you have some information, and I've received word from Vala, which I feel should come from you. She's given me the details, but I feel like you should explain it to myself and everyone else.

But would you like to go first with your updates before we move on to the information we have? Yes, sure. A lot has happened. Everyone's sort of, like, realised at this point, like, everyone's like, who's that other bird? And then when you start to speak, everybody realises it's Lucius. It's like, there's a lot of, like, oh, mm-hmm.

And Danica's like, yes. Yes, a lot has happened. First and foremost, I want to make it abundantly clear that there's now a ginormous ship en route to... Actually, no, it's not moving. It's not moving. Alloyed ship. It's an allied ship of an incredible display of turrets and defences.

I know that you've got... We have worked with the For mistress velena velena and we have completed her project one of which is the astoria and the astoria is this incredible vessel that can take to astral space and help defend eros it's a couple of things. Sort of murmurs amongst the sort of gathered things. Azaria, normally very calm, collected. Like, where's this veil? You almost never see facial expressions from her. Keeps very calm and collected.

The description of the Astoria, this astral vessel, enormous solvent-based chip, her eyes are wide. And from underneath the veil, you see like a trembling sort of lip um as she's listening to this description of it like you you quill and a bunch of the others pick up on that kind of thing danica will say this is better than anything we could have hoped for from the these encounters with the Titans. I'm relieved to hear that Valena was still with us enough that she could provide these gifts.

Valor has spoken of the other gift a little to me directly. I don't feel it is... We trust this council, but I feel that that perhaps is best left for closed discussions. Yes, I purposefully left that to other matters. Yes. To other matters.

Yes. Because we don't want that ultimately to happen, we want to defend Aroes, and let's focus on the Astoria and fighting back. Indeed. You see Felisa the Dragon is like, I'm not sure about this. Please, General, you have trusted us this far.

I trust the champions, and I trust our gods. And she's like, hmm. She kind of like sits back down and sort of grumbles about it. But yes, I agree, Lucius, and I think that this is a very wise decision. With the Astoria, this provides us a real chance here. There are some in... It's difficult.

Rain, perhaps we should brief them about what is happening with Valkyrian forces. Yes, we mentioned it last time we spoke. The Valkyrian forces across Uroes have withdrawn. They have not retreated, but they have taken hold of their defensive positions in places where they are stationed. Giselle and Zephenna and a few others.

But they are staying there. They are not trying to take anything. They're not trying to take ground. Their efforts to reach out to smaller settlements have ceased. They have almost entirely just stopped any sort of advance or any sort of action against us as an alliance. They are not giving us any ground. We spoke of this last time.

We're not sure if they are waiting for something, some grand strategy or move. The Grand Strategist believes that is possible. He also believes it's possible that your mentioning of this civil conflict between Zarkira and Kallus may also be causing him to pause his actions here on Eros. But we have seen no further movement. Shall we mention the Starbane thing?

Oh, he kind of maybe almost broke his brain. Nova, Eja, to the stage. Hi. Please, tell us more. I know that we did briefly speak of something similar, but you did not quite explain it as you nearly broke his brain. I mean, yeah. Brain, heart, all that.

So when we last encountered Starbane, Aayla found a way to project to him what Quill saw about how Hadar was going to eat the world engine and get even bigger and destroy the universe. So we showed that directly to Starbane. We also perhaps learned a bit more about Starbane's personal relationship with Siaska. And he shouted at us and disappeared.

But I don't see how this would change anything. You had already told him of this vision and he did not believe you. Would he not just assume the same thing about witnessing it? Why would that change his mind now? Because he saw it. He was in it. He experienced it.

Calus is wise enough in magic that it is... He could know... One can project images into another's mind. That is not... Maybe it was the feeling and the emotion that went with it. Possibly. I just... There was something there that really affected him. I mean, very much, clearly.

The Grand Stretches sort of speaks up, if I may. Even if Valkyrian has had a sort of change of heart, he would have had to have ordered his forces to stop sort of any sort of progress. Why not withdraw them entirely if he's convinced by this vision of yours? Why not have them withdraw entirely? I'm not sure if that is the whole answer.

He may not be fully convinced, which is why he's not made a decision yet. May be the case. May be the case. I think we need to find out. Yes, I think that that's... Information is key in these sort of engagements. The more we know of his motives... We've been acting under the auspice, under the strategy,

that his motive is a conquest or destruction. That he will... This must be a victory for him, no matter the cost. That he would take this world engine and i firmly believe we do not drop our defenses of course no i agree um but if there is a chance that uh if if he is reconsidering this plan then that must be we must investigate that further if there is the potential that there at least to rule it out if if we if it is the case of what Lady Danica believes and that this vision has not convinced him any further,

we must find out why his forces have stalled in this manner. Perhaps it is this Zarkira. Maybe his forces are being stressed or tested elsewhere. I think there's an inner conflict among their forces between Zarkira and Starbane, and I think that's coming to a head. It could be that. It could be that he simply cannot commit more forces at this time, Hera and Starbane, and I think that's coming to a head. It could be that.

It could be that he simply cannot commit more forces at this time, so he has paused his advance. We've mentioned this previously before. I still believe that our best option is to deal with these other problems, these titans that are causing issues across Aroes, to gather allies and gather strength, and now we have this battleship. We are a step ahead. We have gained a great asset uh that we can use oh on that note yeah can't quite use it just yet um explain we need a crew it it has power it has a basic crew at the moment but we need an actual trained crew

that can well we need a bridge crew um of experts in various fields to lead a crew that crews the streets and the turrets and the very nature of the Astoria itself. It is just technology provided to Eros. We need to utilize it. For the first time, Azaira speaks up. If it is the magic of Solvin, this will be one of the greatest discoveries, one of the most powerful relics that we have here on the planet. Solvyn's mastery of magic was beyond anything that we have today. And if they have created, if this Astoria is capable of astral travel

without an elemental or a magical engine, that is something worth investigating. We must protect it at all costs. It is one of the greatest discoveries. We must protect it. Danica will turn around and say, well, there may be some good news on that front with regards to a crew. In terms of a crew of experts,

I personally vote that the champions of Varroas decide whom that should be. I do not believe that anyone in this room, and she glances at the Grand Strategist and the General Felissa and Azaria, are in a place to make that decision. General, you have a great military mind, but your interests are firmly with the Dragonborn and your vengeance against Calus.

Grand Strategist, you are a great military mind and a great logistical advisor, but you do not know hearts and minds. As for myself, I must look after Horizon. That is my chief concern. I feel that, champions, you should pick who that should be. Pick the bridge crew or perhaps even a single individual who can decide it. That should be down to you. In terms of a crew for protecting the ship itself

and manning its various services, we have some good news on that regard. Your recent efforts with the forge and with Valena, we received word from Duke Sovrano and Baroness Curlsong that the natural disasters in the Hawkstone Archipelago have ceased. Things have returned to normal. Many lives have been saved. And in thanks, they have formally joined our alliance,

and they have offered vast amounts of resources. Duke Sivano has sent fleets of sailing ships, as well as experienced swashbucklers and pirates, that sort of thing, who could potentially be a good crew for fighting aboard a giant vessel. Less useful for the Astoria, the Tritons have sent beast riders, people that can fight in the sea and sail around, as well as warriors. And Baroness Coruscant herself is joining us to help marshal and train our troops. She is a skilled enough fighter.

But that has increased our numbers significantly. We have added two very powerful forces. Dukes of Rano is also a very financially skilled individual and is going to help us manage resources and acquisitions and things like that as well. Fantastic. Transporting resources and supplies. So we do have at least two new allies.

There are several other things as well. Your guardians, Sentinel Prime, they are here in Horizon. We have sent out your scouts. We have two with us who can update us more on the matter you asked them to investigate. But your guardians are... We do not have a battlefield for them to fight upon at this moment. We were using them when Valkyrian's forces were actively engaging us. Without these military engagements, the

Guardians do not have much of a purpose. I fear that solving this Astoria would be a perfect place to dispatch them and have them protect it, at least, until we decide what else is to be done with it. Yeah, of course. If that is your will, these are your people. I would not choose to not decide anything for them, but...

I'd be happy for them to be on the Astoria. Well, they are not doing anything here. I think that we should put them to use and protect in the ship at least. We were hoping that this crew that we're going to assemble would be a representation of as much of us as we can. We can certainly take people from various elements and aspects, but we are still to win over other parts of the world. But to hear that the Tritons are helping and Guardians,

that's two already. It's the people of the Hawkstone Archipelago. You already have the alliance of both Gusthaven and Horizon. We can send some of our forces there as well. We can issue a small number of troops. Gusthaven has definitely more skilled griffin riders who could be useful in aerial battles. We have a few engineers, but I think that we could easily convince the people of Goldthrone.

The dwarves are great structural engineers. I think it- Yes, we have a contact. Good. Arvel. Good. You know him. I think now, if this is the case, guardians are excellent soldiers, and we know that they have many craftsmen amongst their number. The people of Hawkstone Archipelago

are skilled combatants aboard ships. It could be that even perhaps we could, if we could get some ships from Gusthaven, some airships, we could have them crewed by the people of Hawkstone Archipelago, and those could be part of the fleet within the Astoria. I'm told it can hold airships. We could have them crewed by the people of Hawksdawn Archipelago, and those could be part of the fleet within the Astoria. I'm told it can hold airships, yes? That would give us forces.

We need gunners. Unfortunately, it is not a particular skill. We are not renowned for our marksmen in the Sky Cities or in any of these places. That may be something that if you can find any individuals who are skilled, or skilled with magic, arcane turrets and similar seem to be of a similar nature,

but also officers to lead them. This bridge crew, this command structure. I just got an idea of recruiting a load of spell clash warriors and fighters. Do you say that in character? They're spell clash. They're skilled with magic and aiming and... A lot of people kind of like scoff at the idea, but the grand strategist is like,

no, no, that is an excellent suggestion, Kiloket Kalah. They are powerful mages. They are used to combat and battle against others. They have a ranking. The sport has ceased. Some of them are unreliable, but it was popular enough. I don't know how much of it is theatrics, but... Even theatrics can have a skill in battle distractions.

People that can make it seem that there are 100 warriors instead of only a few, that is not a bad suggestion. I don't think that they could provide a large force, but a force of 20, 30 spell-clash-experienced mages, that could be a useful unit to bring with us. Nice. Mm. Nice.

I was thinking fey creatures, so there's probably a better one. With Rosemeadow at the helm. Yeah, that's true. That's probably a better suggestion. That is possible. This is not exclusive. We can have both ideas.

This is a large ship, to my understanding. We will need many warriors from many different places. The fey wild. The powerful magics in the fey. Certainly, yes. Certainly, yes. We need hope on our vessel anyway. We do.

Maybe that if once we have dealt with Atelicus, the clans of the beast folk, they are renowned to have good archers and marksmen amongst their number. It could be that we could recruit some of them to aid us, but we would need to deal with Artelicus first. My understanding is that people are deep within that conflict. Yes. Danica is like, let us take a short break.

We do have two others, two groups. We have updates regarding both Artelicus, the Titan, and Killara as well, what we discussed previously. Wonderful. We should discuss that when you return. But yes, there is much to think about here. We also, Nova Vija, I believe that we have some information regarding Vortensar as well for you.

Oh good, I was gonna ask, you know, if anyone has any word from my idiot brother? Directed via perhaps Norfair, but at Norfair our agent has contacted us with information. Still live? That's my nanny. My understanding, yes. But we do have some updates.

Yes. Very well. Well, let's just take a short break and we will reconvene. Okay. And I'm back. We're going to end part one. We'll see you in just a second. See you soon.

Bye. Bye. See you.