High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #147 | The Best Defense (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

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Pickaxe. away and staying out till 2. That's stop-loss orders on Kraken, an easy way to plan ahead. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Welcome back to part two of High Rollers. All right, Rowis. Last time, our players have, you know, now that they've got the Astoria, they have traveled to Horizon. Conversations have been had,

and they are currently getting updates from the various kind of advisors and allies that they've made along the way. And that's Emporiana, and she lost it. And now they're basically getting updates on everything, and they're also exchanging information, talking about the Astoria, figuring out who's going to go where,

and everything else. As we jump back into this meeting, Danik will say so. Now that we've had our short break, there are three pieces of news. We have information about Calara, we have information about Atelicus, and we have information regarding Vort and Saar. Which would you prefer to hear first? I look at Nova. Stupid brother.

As I mentioned, I don't know how... There doesn't seem to be anything specific to your brother Tornado, is it? But Norfyr has given us some information about Vortensar. Whilst the Valkyrian forces across Erois have moved into this withholding pattern, the exception seems to be Vortensar. Oh, good. It seems to almost be acting, not independently, but as if nothing has changed.

Several members of the Ganassi Council have been removed from office. Apparently there have been accusations of various crimes, including treason, sabotage, and plots to assassinate a dignitary of the Empire. Harmony, who I believe... Nova, please correct me if I'm incorrect, but Harmony is the sort of head of this council, the leader of Vortensar,

and Shansara, some sort of officer of the Valkyrian army, but some sort of musician, they have considerable control and influence in the city. Shansara's popularity in particular is becoming very cult-like. Her concerts and fans treat her as a living saint, and she's referred to as the guiding light and the one responsible for helping the Ganassi come home, which has given her a very high status amongst the culture there. The Seekers, who we believe to be an organization of youths who were helping Norfea and were sort

of rebelling against this decision, They are no longer being treated as sort of dissident youths. They are now being fully labeled as criminals, violent activists. They are working to try and prevent Valkyrian forces from doing what they are, but it is difficult. They are a small number against a city that is allied against them. Finally, we believe that they are still continuing their work to build transportation devices which will transport the city. We don't have a clear time frame of when that will be completed, but it is progressing. That is what we have so far. Norfyr, it is harder and harder. Norfear is struggling to get communication out to us as we are

going about this discussion. The city is definitely becoming more locked down as time goes on. Is there anything we can do to aid Vortensar? I'm not sure if there is. We've sent our agents in to, without an outright sort of

attacking it. I'm sure there is much more we can do, and even then there is a moral part of me which would struggle to justify such an action. From what I understand from Norfyr's reports and your own, the people of your city did vote for this. They chose this because they want to return to their homeworld, this plane that the Ganassi come from. They are not from Erois.

There are other ways to do it, though, not teleport the entire city. I feel that then it becomes a question of, do we attack them to prevent this method that may very well work and take them to their home, or... Can we not sabotage the teleportation project, delay it? That is what they're trying to do. That is what Norfira and our forces and the Seekers are trying to do.

We've dispatched as many espionage agents as we have, but Horizon is... We have soldiers. They are not suited for that line of work. They really had to go the music route, didn't they? They really had to... I... I don't know.

If that is a big part of your culture, I imagine that Valkyran is intelligent enough to have figured that out and sent a likely emissary. This Shansara, it is fanatical from the reports that we've received. We've met her before. Ah, I see. You've encountered her. Well, from the reports, she's grown stronger. Ah, I see. You've encountered her.

Well, from the reports, she's grown stronger. Oh, good. If you met her, imagine that she is an influential source. And Eladrin alone has quite powerful, charming abilities, but she combines this with magic and performance and now has this very zealous following that serve her. I just, I can't help but feel that Harmony must be under some sort of influence or... Could very well be.

Because they are meant, by their very nature, they are a Gnasty born of all elements, all four elements. That's why they rule the council. Because they are meant to be harmony. They are meant to be the best of all of us. I cannot speak to your culture. I'm sorry, Nova. I only have what Norfitt has

told me. From the reports of it, I mean, Norfitt has attempted to glean if there is a spell in effect, but she is not a maid. She's not been able to discover anything. Shansara and Harmony seem to be working together closely for the city. Conditions aren't bad there, apart from the Seekers, the treatment of the Seekers, who are committing crimes. They are breaking property. They are causing sabotage, breaking where they should, going where they should not. They are acting illegally. But it

is difficult. It is a difficult scenario. It's just hard for me to believe that Harmony would make this solitary decision for everyone. Their very nature, they would allow people to leave if they choose to stay in Aroas. It seems to be that they are the one who has had several members of the Council removed as well. They are the one who has decreed them as treasonous and had them removed. I suspect that there will be foul play involved, but we do not have confirmation.

As with many other things, a problem, but there are many, and we must decide which ones we deal with in what time. Where did you get that music rock, Nova? Was that Shansara? No, it's another band actually from Vortensar who are all the rage.

My alchemical romance. Your alchemical romance. I just did. He's the DM. Your alchemical romance, yeah. Well, that is all the information I have on Vort and Sarr. We do have... Calara and Atelicus, we both have two visitors

who can brief you on those. Please, I say Calara last. Very well. Because it's more than likely we're going to pursue them first. If we are agreed. Yeah. All right. Hunter Varnir, was it?

Would you please come and speak with the champions? And you see the wild elf who's kind of dressed in these blue and white furs. Almost kind of like that mixture of very arctic, kind of somebody who lives out in the deep, deep snow, but elements of Celtic and Viking dress as well. You see a blue

and white tartan, sort of like bandolier across their chest, but then a thick heavy fur hood and big, thick mittens. They almost have one of those snow goggles as well, perched up on their head. And then the pointed wild elf is. And he sort of approaches and kind of looks around. Very grisly, kind of mountain man looking,

big, thick beard, like Viking beard. And he's like, so you're the ones more green spoke of he looks at a la you I've heard of you one of that chosen my name is hunter of our near I'm with her the wild elves of al-saraf I've come to tell you about the great beasts. I'm told you know of them. Oh, we do, yes. Beast of sky, land, and sea? Aye. They've been given names now.

Oh. Stonemaw. The giant beast. The lizard that walks. Stonemaw, okay. Stormwing. Stormwing? Aye.

The bird. Tide Hydra. Tide Hydra. That's very good. One that dwells in the ocean. They're names that we've given them just to make it easier, that communication.

They've become difficult. Me and my people, we've been hunting them, trying to, well, we can't kill them, but we've been trying to corolle them, trying to guide them, distract them where we can. It worked for a while, but they're learning and adapting. They've begun attacking settlements and ships,

just little ones for now. But we think that they're learning how to destroy, how to hunt. They're getting instructions from Atelicus, from what the druids speak. They say that he's communicating with them, telling them what to do, teaching them. They're also, what was the word that they used? Mutating. Oh. They've grown features. Stone Maw, the one I'm most familiar with,

its body is covered in this runic bark. It's impossibly tough. Weapons, spells don't seem to hit it or struggle to do anything when it does. Their endurance is astounding. We believe there might be some sort of method or trick to disabling them or striking them where they're weak, but we haven't found it yet.

We decided to come and tell you that if it goes on much longer, they're going to only keep getting stronger and deadlier. Okay, mutating. Write that down. Yeah, mutating. Do these names, are they, the Tide Hydra, for example. Aye. Does it possess similar qualities to that of a Hydra? Aye, that's why we called it that. All right, okay. It's water Hydra. Basically, it's a Hydra that of a hydra? Aye, that's why we called it that. All right, okay.

It's water hydra. Basically, it's a hydra that's massive and it lives in the sea. And it has multiple heads? It's a very apt name. Okay, I was just making sure. How many heads? It's not one I'm familiar with. Some of the other wild elves have been chasing those.

We all have different skills. I'm more of a hunter in woods and mountains, that sort of thing. So I'm most familiar with Stone Moor and Stormwing, but I couldn't say how many heads that has. But I've been told, I've been sent to come and tell you. We have established a base of operations in the mountains north of Al-Saraf in the center of the continent.

It gives us easy access to the coast, to the mountain ranges where you can spy Stormwing, and then also the Arctic forests in the land, and the pine forests of the, where Stonewall hunts. We're working to try and figure out how we can beat them. That's our main goal now. We're losing a lot of hunters doing it, but we're making progress.

But if they get stronger, it's going to become harder and harder. Right. Is there any indication of the beasts working together in any way? Not so far, not yet. They stay to their respective realms, if you want to think of it. But if they were to attack together, it would be very difficult to defeat them. Do they sleep? Do they rest? They sleep, aye. Not much, but enough. It gives us moments to rest and recuperate.

At first, we began trying things like drugging food to try and see if we could get them to rest or slumber or poison them. It sort of worked. It bought us time, but it's becoming less and less effective. We now think that they're at least resistant, perhaps even completely immune to the toxin's effects. It seems that whatever we do, they eventually adapt to it and it no longer becomes effective.

So we've tried injuring them. They grew this armor. We try and poison them. No longer affects them. They don't sleep very much they're growing smarter as well they hunt with more tactics hmm

not much but I was told to come and tell you this anyway Mograine sends her regards and she says that she'll welcome you to the camp when you arrive and she'll make sure that you've got the equipment and the knowledge necessary to help us hunt these beasts but she doesn't think that she doesn't sure that you've got the equipment and the knowledge necessary to help us hunt these beasts. But she doesn't think that regular steel,

even the few relics that we carry with us, they seem to do very little. Right. You need a storm hammer. Aye, or whatever the lot you do, I don't know. I'm told that you're champions, you're great warriors and druids or spellcasters of some kind, I'm told. Yeah.

Well, we can thank you for the information. I'm sure that when we do strike back at the beast, we can respond with something more varied and attempt something new that they won't be able to predict. I'm told that you bird... Well, there's two birds. Hang on. Which one? Oh, I'm the...

It's that one. I'm told that you have the power. You can see things that don't exist. Yes. Mograine said to ask the one who can see if his eye can answer any questions. Yes. At least to consider it or something.

I don't know. I definitely will. Though I'm wary of asking now, I don't want to have them mutate again and protect against that attack. But I will. I will definitely use it. Well, the Hunter's

Guild will welcome you when you arrive. I'm done. Thank you. Please hold strong. We'll try and assist as soon as we can. Good. Did you legit just say, I'm done? I'm done. All right. Well, thank you for your time.

He just grunts and leaves. Best of luck. Okay, bye. He said, I'm done, not I'm dumb. No, no, not dumb. No, I heard I'm done. It was just like, oh, wow, okay. He's like, I'm done.

He's delivered his message. And it looks like he's quite keen to get back to this hunt. I'm done. I didn't even hear that. I'm done. I just thought that's why you were laughing. I was like, do you think he said I'm done? That's the weirdest mic drop.

No, but yeah, Hunter Varnir will head back. And if you need answers, if you want to send in a spell, he is a contact you can use to ask about the great beasts. The three great beasts, in fact. Evolving, oh man. So for Tom's benefit, by the way, you've been playing a lot of Monster Hunter. I know.

I've been noticing. When you said, the Hunter's Guild will be waiting for you, you fucking bet they will. Hell yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that can give you a little hint

into how the mechanics against the beasts are going to work. I'm going to have to spend three turns sharpening my weapons. Right, fella. Is there little cats?

So tasty. Calicos. Little calico, maybe. So with Varnir leaving, Danica will now call over the other two for the last sort of update and it is two Guardian Scouts.

You don't recognize these guys before. I mean, you would have seen them very briefly, but they're not, like, named Guardians you guys have met before. Who do they have a name? Well, they're going to introduce themselves. So Danica will bring them forward. She doesn't call them by their name.

She just says, Guardians, please come forward. And the first one you see definitely strikes you as a bit weird because it almost looks like he he or she has like a little antenna that like forks coming out of the forehead like a little sort of like forked twinned antenna that sticks out their forehead very lithe very much built for stealth and agility um uh kind of stone plates much more organic parts to them and a few stone

plates but mostly organic uh very lithe very natural uh you can see that they carry a quarter staff as their weapon is like slung on their back uh the other one with them um uh looks much more mage-like uh they are wearing robes um almost like but they're colored in the same tones as their armor and their cloth it almost looks like these robes are part of them. They've been designed to look like vines and leaves, but it's almost like a wizard's cloak or jacket flying off them. And they are carrying a large metal staff engraved with loads of runes.

The one with the staff has six eyes and sort of like dot, dot, dot, sort of like down the middle of their face and then just a thin line for a mouth. And they are the one who speak first and they say, ah, champions of Aruis, Sentinel Prime. And they bow deeply to Sentinel Prime. I am Stave of our mages unit, of our magicians unit. And this is Scout Dowser of the scouting unit.

And Dowser is the one with the little sort of forehead, which now you see is a dousing rod. And they sort of bow deeply and they're like, pleasure, I meet you, Sentinel Prime. They seem to be a bit more sort of like nervous and Stavis is like, we have come on behalf of Scout Commander Hotshot, who has sent us to deliver a report on the Order of the Blackened Rose.

Are you prepared to receive this report? Oh, yes. Very well. I will begin. May I use magic in this chamber? What kind of magic? It will be a simple illusion to illuminate, to project a map of the area that we've scouted. Oh, yes, absolutely.

Ah, thank you. He sort of looks around. He Oh, yes, absolutely. Ah, thank you. He looks around. He waves his hand, waves their hand, and they project a map of a very dense jungle valley onto the middle of the war table. And they sort of project this illusion, and Dowser will actually kind of say, we traveled to northern Jakesh,

where we believe that there was some information that this place may be, and we believe we have located Nightbloom Hold, which is the sort of base of operations for these knights, these grief knights, or the Order of the Black and Rose. Stave will indicate where it roughly is. And you see that the jungle sort of valley

becomes this much narrower, kind of like changes the illusion. Ping the place first, then zoom in. And it kind of like displays it basically. Yeah, very much like that with illusion magic. Very realistic, like almost perfectly sculpted, like a little miniature diorama on the table rather than like a magical map. It almost looks real.

And you see this very deep cut valley with a river sort of flowing nearby it, but it's incredibly dense jungle. Like the canopy covers it entirely. And actually the illusion goes under the canopy into a very darkened, sort of like very overgrown, natural hilly valley that runs through it. Kind of imagine the Amazon, but kind of combined with like the Scottish Highlands with these deep craggy kind of like depths and things like that.

Dowser will say, we've located the Nightbloom Hold here, but there's a lot of details. We believe that there are a few knights based in the Hold, along with a celestial being. One of our trackers has the ability

to sense the presence of these creatures and believes that there is a celestial within the Abbey itself. We believe that the Celestial might be their commander or their sort of in charge of what's happening. The jungle itself makes approach by airship nearly impossible, but we have created a forward operating base here. The illusion shapes again and you see a clearing sort of open up

that Commander Hotshot is cooperatively operating from. We believe that from an airship, you would be able to airdrop with magic into that space. But there's no place for an airship to land nearby and the nature of the land there is very rocky and steep. It's very difficult to move around with. We had to travel from very many, many miles to the south to reach this point, following the river.

We tracked the knights, and Stave can speak more about some other effects in the area, but we believe the Celestial is also using teleportation magic to send the knights out into Arois, giving them easy access to other locations, but they don't seem to be a lot of them a small number um but there is one matter that stave should speak about and stave says yes i was present in the scouting party and uh it was my duty to analyze any sort of magical effects that may be in the area this valley around night bloom hold is very strange there is an extremely strong and oppressive aura of necromancy in the area. It has created huge amounts of undead. Unusual undead, however.

I have a passing knowledge of necromancy. It is not a particular field of my study, but it was something that I researched many eons before the Sundering when I was with Root Prime. I've never seen anything like this. The undead, when a necromancer animates a skeletal being, it normally has some sort of essence of the soul that it once was that binds it, animates it. It is a horrific, enslaving, torturous existence for the soul. It is an affront to living things.

These undead in Jekesh, around the hold, there is nothing like that there. They are bound by some magical force that is animating them, giving them strength and speed, unlike much of our normal undead that I have witnessed. But it links them in some way, almost like a hive mind, like a colony of ants or insects. It creates a sort of hive mind. I'm not able to tell what is controlling them, but it is present nonetheless. We've also noticed that these undead tend to have black flowers and vines growing inside their bodies, seem to have been part of their process.

The remains are ancient, we believe them centuries old, so they are mainly skeletal. We have not seen any fresh bodies or the like in the area, though some animal carcasses have also been discovered. It may be that these creatures are also being animated. As I said, Commander Hotshot has set up a forward-opening raiding base, but at this stage we understand these knights. We have encountered one knight on our scouting. They destroyed nearly 15 guardians alone.

We have brought their bodies back for Sentinel Prime to take in their spirits. We believe that their spirits are still intact. The Grief Knight, its encounter with us was strange. It fought us when it detected a threat, but after it had killed or destroyed a number of our bodies, it grew disinterested, and it fought only enough that we prevented it. Once we allowed it to leave, it stopped fighting us.

We believe that this may be connected to the nature of Guardian deaths and our essences being trapped within our matrixes rather than being a soul of some sort. That is unfortunately all the information we have on the report, but we do have a location that we can guide you to. But we are loath to engage these knights directly. They are far stronger than any of our Guardians are capable of taking on. Okay. Do the knights seem to possess any abilities

that we should be aware of? Yes, yes, they are powerful. They can channel some magic. Very competent warriors, armored, heavily armored. Unusual abilities. Some seem to command swarms of insects. Some seem to have power over ice and cold. One was wreathed in flame that we saw.

Powerful, fiery, very armored, larger figure perhaps. But they are scattered. They do not ever seem to be in one location at one time. And is it mounted? We have not seen any mounts. Okay. But it is not impossible. The dense jungle makes it difficult for anything that is not on foot to traverse around.

The growth in the valley is unusual as well. It has rapidly accelerated over the last few months. Do you believe they have some kind of connection with this hive mind? The knights? The knights as well, yeah. I could not say. It did not seem to be. They have command of these undead creatures, but I do not know if they are part of this hive mind. Unfortunately, our encounter was brief,

and I was more concerned with shielding and offensive spells at the time rather than divination magics. Is there anything else you wish to know? Sentinel Prime or any others? Oh, Star Trek stuff. Oh. I wasn't smiling at that. If I ever do a reference, it's not intentional.

No, they just sound like the Borg, and the Borg have a hive mind. Oh, yeah, because hive minds didn't exist before the Borg. I know, but it's just the whole disinterested thing until there's a threat, and then disinterested when it's very Borg-y. Well, it wasn't, yeah, because the Hive Minds didn't exist before the Borg. I know, but it's just the whole disinterested thing until there's a threat, and then disinterested when it's very Borg-y. Well, it wasn't necessarily a disinterest at the threat. They fought when there was a threat.

No, but that's the same with Borg. Once they perceive a threat, they'll engage. No, this was more when... And, you know, out of game, like you guys... When they discover they didn't have a soul. Yeah, it was big. Guardians don't die in the same way that normal creatures do, and that's what they were like,

oh, no, I don't care anymore. Like, they just walked off. It's like the High Rollers version of Simpsons did it. Simpsons did it! Simpsons did it. But yeah, so Stave will sort of say, they dispel the illusion, and they just turn around and say,

unfortunately, that is all the information I have at this time. That's a lot of information. Yeah, thank you. Very, very useful. I'm concerned about this celestial figure you were sensing as well. I wonder if there's any way that we can... I mean, we've tried sneaking before. I'm just thinking of the Abbey.

But if we can get to the celestial without the Hivemind alerting the knights, they don't seem connected, which is good. Maybe trying to get past the knights themselves, but I don't know how. I don't know what powers it possesses, the Celestial. I cannot speak to the knights in the Celestial, but I will tell you that in the Valley there is vast amounts of these undead. There are hundreds, hundred thousand.

It is many. The forward operating base is at an elevated position, and we have to maintain a constant perimeter defence in the location. But having travelled through there, we were encountering packs of 20, 30 of these undead at a time. They amass in great numbers. And if they share a mind and can be commanded as such, it could amass a huge force.

The longer you fight them, if we when we encountered them, Scout Dowser has more experience with this, but my experience was whenever we would encounter them, we would try and dispatch whatever we encountered quickly and then we would have to rapidly relocate. If you remain in an

area, more will come. If you kill them, more come. It takes time, but they will constantly pursue. They do not seem to be skilled at tracking, so if you are lucky enough to move past them, or if you do not encounter them by chance, you are relatively safe. But once they have detected you, it is very,

you have to be clever and quick to get away. So they're not very agile? They're very quick and agile, but they do not seem to... They have no independent thought. They do not seem to be able to complete complex tasks, such as searching for signs or evidence of passing, but they are strong and quick. OK.

The natural elements, these flowers, almost seem to give them more strength than I would expect. I have encountered undead many times in my long, long career, and I've encountered undead before, and normally you can dispatch them with spells. They are fairly easy, and they do not hit too particularly powerfully. These are quick to be destroyed, but they are also very harmful if they can get hold of you.

Necrotic energies emanate through them, and they are stronger in number as well. I wonder if there's anything we can do to negate the effect of the flowers, if they are giving them some kind of strength? Could we maybe use the trees as a tactical advantage? Maybe find a way of traversing through the trees instead of on ground perhaps? One thing we also noticed is we carried one of our number... A spell.

One of our number was... is a, I suppose, a cleric or a priest, you would call them. They draw power from the Matrix. And their holy energy that they called forth was able to destroy these creatures as if they were skeletal undead minions. So if you have such powers, yes, they can be turned, radiant. Sort of energies do seem to have a great effect on them

when other types perhaps do not. But myself, they do not seem to have any concern for their own well-being. A well-placed lightning bolt, or a fireball in my case, was able to dispatch large numbers of them. But, as I said, if you are not quick to get away, more and more come. It becomes dangerous to fight them for a long time. So you hear that, Ayla? We need to smash and move, not stick around.

We need to smash, grab, smash, run, run. Just frowns. I'm not gonna run. But yeah, she's sort of just like, mm, don't like that. But it is also the thing that Valor is focusing on right now, and probably our next key god.

Danica will look and say, I am concerned by this. I am no priest. Perhaps I know that we have Miss Ravenscar, the priestess of Calara that you seem to know. Scaldi, I think her name was. She is here. She's not well. But what I know of Calara,

creating undead is an antithesis of what she was. The Order of the Black and Rose sought out to destroy undead. This is either a very bad sign that she is far worse than we thought. She is in a far worse condition than Zephir or any of the other titans. Or there is something else. Corruption. Perhaps, but I don't know. I can't speak to it. Undead, normal undead. I mean, it sounds like there's something unusual about these undead if they do not have these spirits, but, like, creating normal undead

is an antithesis of what Kalara believed in. Yes, to go from the previous reports of just a few nights to now the whole area having undead presence, hundreds of thousands amassing. We need to deal with this quickly, I think. To clarify, I do not believe that this is an army being gathered. The undead almost seem to be a symptom of a greater cause. They are being conjured, summoned, perhaps drawn to the area. But whatever is controlling

them is really not directing them in any way. There's something that unites them, but it is not like this is, we do not see them preparing to march or war or anything like that. Just reactionary. Seems to be, but I'm not sure if this area will expand if left for too much longer or if it will grow stronger. I do not know. Certainly it was not there. Our consultant, we have consulted with locals of Jakesh and that has not always been the case. The Nightbloom Hold was a place of safety.

It was a place that they knew the knights were and it was almost seen as a holy site of Calara. But now no one travels into the valley. They have too many dark rumors and whispers of foul things in the shadows. Are there any settlements nearby that maybe need to evacuate? Not for miles and miles. The dense jungle means that there are settlements where we initially exited our airship.

We had to travel for days following a river up to reach it. And as I said, the undead in the area do not seem to be moving towards the settlement. They are just around this hold. The last time we were in or tried to come back to Horizon, we were blocked by strong forces, blocking teleportation. Is there any indication by which Zarkira was doing these things?

Yeah, are you asking the council that? Are you asking Stave? In a long way. How is she blocking teleportation? Azaria will say, I believe I can answer that question. This Zarkira, what a nemesis I seem to have. Her mind is

devilishly clever. Do you remember that there were these mechanical dragon-like creatures around the city? Very much so. There was a device built into them. We found that the teleportation blocking ability was connected to these devices hidden in the dragons. They were moving around the city and constantly keeping it active. and the dragons. They were moving around the city and constantly keeping it active. For all of my research, I have been unable to fully reverse engineer the enchantments upon this device. It is bizarrely complex and written in a very alien script and language. I am not entirely sure how it was possible, but I do believe it is exceedingly difficult to recreate and expensive as well.

There were many valuable reagents used within those dragons. They've been put to good use. You need not worry about that. But yes, I believe that some power well beyond any force here on Aroas, unfortunately. Okay. I was hoping we might be able to block their teleportation, cage them in

while we slowly remove night after night. But apparently, I could put one in a ball. One, the celestial? The celestial should go in the ball. Yes. Yes, you do still need to acquire me to suitable subjects. That could be a very potent one. If this celestial is connected to this necrotic energy,

that would create a rather, not difficult problem, but it would be worth considering something. If you have a celestial who is infused with negative energy, normally it is the opposite, a celestial is infused with positive, radiant energy. You would need to find a fiend that has an infusion of radiant energy. Remember the opposites.

That would be very difficult to acquire. Stranger things have happened. If there is a celestial infused with negative energy, it is entirely possible there may exist a fiend with positive energy. We could just capture them just anyway, just in case, you know, it's still a start. Well, the usage of this ball is limited to one.

So. You would have to release this necrotic celestial to capture another. Unless I have installed it in one of the engines. I imagine you'd love to meet a necrotic celestial. Yes, I would. That would be fascinating. Such a strange twist of nature is what has caused such a thing. Well, I'm sure we'll-

But I have plenty to be keeping me busy, but with this Astoria, I cannot wait to explore it. Yes, I was going to say, I'm sure we'll be in touch regarding that. Yes, please. At least the Astoria is keeping her away from you two, and Nova points at Quill's eye and says- That's what I was saying.

I told you. I knew it. It may even be possible once I've studied the Astoria, I may be able to develop other ways of traveling astral space. If I can figure out how V'lena has done it. It'd be very useful. Yes. I will look into it. We do need a fleet of ships to take with us, do we not? Yes, and speaking of ships, Lily and Sprocket, who you worked with... The delightful gnome couple.

I think it will be worthwhile, them and their crew assessing the Astoria as well. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, bring whoever you wish. As long as I'm left to my investigations, I do not mind who you bring. Right. Very well. Just smiles creepily. Touches who you bring. Right. Very well.

Touched his dead eyes. Yes, Stave and Dowser will just bow to Sentinel Prime. When you have time, Sentinel Prime, the bodies of the Fallen Guardians, we have them waiting in the barracks nearby that Horizon were kind enough to present

with us. We would like you to come and take their souls and give us and install new ones into their matrixes, if that is possible. Of course, yes. Marvelous. We will await you there. Thank you. Goodbye, champions. And Dowsus, goodbye, and they kind of scurry up together.

Guardians. Nice. Danica will say, that is all the information we have for you. Right, well, unless we have any questions for anyone here in the Citadel. I mean, I am concerned about the beasts evolving quicker and quicker, but again, I still feel like our biggest threat is Killara and the knights. General Felissa, the blue dragon, who's in a humanoid form, will say, the beasts, the dragons, I think, can help with.

We can keep them. We can keep them away from settlements. These wild elf hunters are likely the ones who will figure out how to truly vanquish them. But we dragons would certainly be able to go more toe-to-toe with them and confound them, lure them away, especially the ones in the, we have dragons who are capable

of operating underwater as well. Phenomenal. We must do our part. If I may make a request, and Felissa's like this big kind of like very tall, very muscular blue, like woman with like blue horns and blue hair. This Astoria, if there is a way, whatever is powering it must be immense and strong,

an essence of the world engine, I think you might have mentioned. I would love some of our mages to come and speak with you. There may be a way of awakening the dragons that slumber within our own vessels. We know that they are connected to power, but there is no way to wake them. We were hoping that Siaska may be able to do so, but if we can awaken them early,

that would give us more defenses, more weapons that we can use. There are three such ships here on Arois. If we could restore those, they are equivalent to the greatest of Kallus' warships. They are of the same design and make, but just possessed of a draconic spirit rather than an Eterna. With the Vivex itself?

Yes, of course. Wow. Just need more fragments of the world engine. It may be that there is a way to perhaps siphon a spark of it, something to jolt the dragon spirits awake. They are slumbering, they're not gone. We just have no way of waking them up. And I apologise if this is an offence to you.

I will forgive you for any offence you cause. Great. What if the slumbering dragons are not of a mind to assist? If your enemy is Calus Valkyrian, they will assist. Alright, what if it's not? She looks at you. What if it's just... the other forces? The ones aligned with Hadar. Hmm. Then I guess it would depend on

what agreement we come to with Starbane. Remember, he took our world long before he came to Erois. Draconio was our world. Draconis is our land, our plane. If he were to give it back, release our people that we know he has captured, it could be conceived. It may take a lot of persuading.

The older dragons, I think, could be convinced if we got Draconis back. And if we have the older dragons, the ancient spirits, I believe, will listen to them. Just making it clear and transparent that we're going to be speaking with Starwing and figuring out what position they're in right now with their paused forces. I am not, I'm a warrior.

I do not put much stake in diplomacy. My claws are ready for battle. If you can ensure that a battle is not necessary, I suppose that is less of a problem. But I do not hold much stake in it. It's good to be defensive. You just do not forget the dragons have fought Calus once before. He convinced half of our world to join him,

the rest he put to the sword. We are the survivors of that encounter, or the children of those survivors. I have seen what that man is capable of. Don't worry, we are not going to repeat history where we can, and we will learn from the mistakes of the past, where possible. Very good.

With that, the dragons will aid in keeping these beasts at bay as long as we can. If they continue to grow stronger, that may even prove too much for some of my kind. We are, there are not many of us true dragons left, and the Dragonborn, as great warriors as they are, I fear that they would not be able to withstand

these beasts for long. If you can send word to us as quickly as you can, we will assist once we've dealt with... I will inform one of the more magically inclined dragons to do so. Thank you.

You're welcome. Well, with that, Danica, are we done? Yes, we are done here. Thank you all. We will speak soon. Keep us updated. She was sort of to miss everyone. She remains in the chamber with you guys.

The others all get up and leave. Azaria basically runs out the door. Off to see Astoria. She is keen beans. Well, okay. If you want, I can leave this chamber with you if you have plans. Do you have any further thoughts?

No, no. Off the record? No. I think that we have done all we can. I think that we are growing in allies. The dragons, I'm still wary of them, but I know that we are going to need them in whatever happens. Just because they are me.

Not that I don't trust them. I just do not trust their recklessness. It could be very useful right now against three giant monsters. Indeed. That is why I did not trust them. I just do not trust their recklessness. It could be very useful right now against three giant monsters. Indeed. That's why I did not say anything. Valor told me of the Starseed. And like I said, I do not believe that that is information we should share beyond our most trusted companions. Because it is hope, but it is also despair.

It is also a knowledge, an acceptance that we will lose. Horizon will continue to provide what support we can. This Astoria, if we can learn from it, I may speak with Azaria. If there is a way that the sliver of the world engine can power the Astoria enough to travel to astral space, if I can find a way to unlock greater depths of the Phoenix's power, I may be able to do the same for Horizon. But I will need to know how the magic works. We will need to install devices that I can power, that sort of thing.

If anyone's going to get the bottom of that, that will be me. It's Zarya and you. Oh. It'll be me. No, you are correct. Zarya would get to the bottom of how it works. But you'd totally do it, too. I'm the one who's doing it. Yes.

Of course. But yes, nothing else from me. Oh, also, to go back to the Starseed and similar thoughts, we were discussing a contingency in which maybe the Astoria could become a vessel to ferry people from Aroas off the planet if that situation arises as well. One we didn't want to discuss with the Council. I think that that is an option if Kallus is still intent on war

and we do not think we can stop him, then Aroas would be destroyed. We would need to ferry people away. At that point, it may even be worth us surrendering the people who are surrendering and joining Calus just to spare their lives. If Hadar is successful, being on the Astoria won't save anyone. True. That's true. Yep.

I think that it would be good, if there is anything I've learned from Horizon, it is soldiers need their families near them they fight best when they feel that they are protecting people they care for soldiers need entertainment they need food we cannot just put soldiers in the historia we will need to give civilians positions as well and i think perhaps if we maybe find those who are in desperate need and I think perhaps if we maybe find those who are in desperate need, we can always provide for them. But with these Valkyrian forces stalled, there are no war fronts.

At the moment, there is nobody suffering on Aroes. There were a few misplaced places, but even then, I must admit, Valkyrian's forces have not been unkind to our people. Those who have fought against them, they have fought, they have captured, if resisted, or they have killed if they have fought back. But those who have surrendered have been treated with civility, from what we can understand. Nobody is suffering currently on Aroes. It's good to hear. As much as we can tell. Obviously, places like Vortensar, our information is less detailed, but even there, the people, for the most part, seem happy with the choices. Giselle, it is the same situation, Giselle, and other places, they have problems, but

they are not... we do not have a swathe of refugees or people who have been displaced, luckily. We have not seen a war like that on Arroes since the very beginnings of since this conflict all began many many years before any of us well not century and technically not me but it was a few lifetimes ago still uh i've been rambling enough um you are likely all tired and and please obviously as always you are welcome to rest and i can have guards sent and dispatched to do any idle tasks that you still have. Okay. Is Arvel still here? Yes, yes, I believe your dwarven friend is still here, along with the young lady of Sentinel Primes, and I believe your partner is waiting outside, Miss Vija.

And your friend Valor, our friend Valor, I should say, I've become quite fond of the girl, and Maximilian are both tucked away in their library, studying, as always. I believe any allies that you have are here, as they should be. Great. Okay. I think we should start populating this story

as soon as we can. So if you want to send word to the Baroness Coruscant and Duke Sivano. Yes. Do you want to send the Tritons? My fear is that their skill is fighting in the sea. I do not know. Well, the Guardians for sure, I think.

Yes, the Guardians we can. And I think that Duke Sovrano's men, a few of them at least, they know how to work a ship and they know how to fight on board a vessel. They could be useful additions. They could at least accompany Azaria, Lillian Sprocket. Yes, let us... Survey the land. We can send a few airships with the Guardians

and with Sovrano's men and women, of course, swashbucklers, shall we call them. We won't use the P word. Sailors, perhaps. We will send Sovrano's forces with the Guardians and we will begin to at least defend the Astoria, should anything attack it. Yes.

How integral is Rain to Horizon? Are you asking Danica as Nova, or is this an OOC question? Nova's answer. Nova to Danica. Rain is a talented young mind, a talented officer. They have done great work here, but if you feel that their service would be greater on the Astoria, they would be honoured. There are teleportation circles that are currently

unguarded, and obviously with a mass influx of people suddenly joining Astoria, it would perhaps be good to have a security force that we trust keeping an eye on them. Yes, that is very well acquainted to Rain's skills, without a doubt. Yes, I can absolutely have him

along with them. I think he would relish the challenge and also the opportunity to prove himself. He can also pick his crew. Yes, I imagine he will take Horizon guards with him. Obviously not too many from you, but... We have plenty. Rain has

a few squadrons that he works with on a regular basis. Good idea, Nova. That's a good one. He also has free reign to install... Free reign to install any magical... Security measures. Security measures as need be. I'm sure we can coordinate that with Miss Perel.

She seems to be the main chief of that sort of ability. But yeah, we have a few mages that can help you. Yes, all right. Very well, I will dispatch those. It is good to see you, and I'm glad that your ridiculous adventures continue to go positively. Yeah, yeah.

I'm not even going to ask. I'm just going to just move on. Ask what? I, as somebody who is often born into new bodies and grow... Oh, I'm a... Yes, I'm a bird to just move on. Ask what? I, as somebody who is often born into new bodies and grow... Oh, I'm a... Yes, I'm a bird. He keeps forgetting. It's new, it's fresh. Oh! Yes, go on.

Entire meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Everyone was being very polite, and I think we weren't going to draw attention to it. Not sure if this was some... He did it to himself.

We did assume. I did not think that Valena would have done it to him, but yes. Do you intend on reversing? Is it possible to reverse this change? Considering it, yes. Just so that, you know, it doesn't cause any obstacles or awkward pauses in meetings, which are very important. Well, good luck. I hope you can find a way to do so. Thank you, nothing wrong with it.

No, nothing wrong with it. No, no. I am going to leave now. Okay. Dendaka will awkwardly like, ooh. Maybe we should speak to Arvel, try to arrange his fleet of ships. Start ferrying people across.

Possibly. Have you two made up, by the way? Sorry? Yeah. Don't you ever do it again. I won't, sir. What did he do? I don't, what, Ayla's just, I'm confused.

What did he do? That is strictly confidential between crew and captain. Well, I just wanna know in case we make mistakes as well. Well, you won't, will you? How can we learn from this? Don't make mistakes. But what... You don't want to make mistakes.

What kind of mistakes? How am I supposed to know what mistakes to not make if we don't know what mistakes to not make? I don't like that, though. I'll let you know. Okay. I lied. It was all a joke.

He had nothing to do with it. It was nothing. It was just an intimidation thing. I was just making sure of me. There you go. I'm so confused. That's pretty funny. What's going on? We performed him being upset and angry.

Making it look like he was the scary captain. I thought you were really upset. I'm so sorry, Sentry. I thought you were going to throw him a ball. You guys are jerks. Yeah. Did you think that Lucius was the scary captain for a bit there? I did.

Yeah, see? I did. Some of see? I did. Some of the wolf pack saw it. It works on the wolf pack and they really like that sort of thing. But they don't need you to be scary. You told Starbane

to shut up. We've seen you be scary so imagine that to Quill. He was being a little poopy head at the time. You don't need to be scary

to be respected. No, you're right. But the wolves love it. The wolves do. I did drink a lot with them. They also love you. As you are. You're married to one of them.

As a peacock... I am. Had to think there for a minute, didn't you? I did. Sure, Faith would love to know that. No, it's fine.

It's a mutual agreement. It is, yeah. Question. So you want to speak to Marvel. It is getting late in Horizon. Like, you guys, it took six hours to travel here. You were doing, like, a whole thing in the vault. It is, like, nighttime.

It's, like, sort of, like, 9, 10 o'clock. You can go see Arvel. He's just in your... You've got your sweets. Him and Petal live there. I think we'd probably discuss these things in a kind of relaxed, like, having dinner kind of way. Well, that's the thing.

With Arvel as well, if it's just, like, can he use his network to help ship things? Yeah, he's, like, absolutely he can do that. Like, he doesn't have a huge... He's got, like, maybe, like, five or six airships that he can redirect. But he does tell you it means that he won't be able to, like, fund anything.

Like, he paid for, like, a lot lot of the perels reagents to build the the storm chaser to upgrade it he can't do that if he's using his network to like basically transport stuff to the historian we'll mention that we've thankfully got duke savranos okay his wealth yeah yeah yeah maybe offset some of that yeah okay well arthur will be like yeah i know the duke yeah okay and he'll kind of make that yeah we's like, yeah, we can do something. And he's like, oh, and I guess it comes down to like, what's the, what outcome do you want from Arvel doing this? Like, is this like, because as Danica told you,

it's not like there's like loads of refugees who have been displaced from places. Not like necessarily that, it's also just getting crew people. Like supplies and stuff. And supplies. Like a quartermaster, basically. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's easy enough. Establishing trade, basically. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's easy enough.

Establishing trade with essentially a new Sky City. There's no real cost apart from Arval just can't pay for stuff now. But yeah, and the benefit is just like, yeah, he's going to coordinate

sending people there and helping the Guardians get there and stuff like that. Also, like, you were saying that soldiers need to fight among their families and stuff. I imagine this being

basically a new... Well, more that they fight harder if they know that they're like, their family's there and they're protected. But I mean, like imagine this being... Well, it's more that they fight harder if they know that their family's there and they're protected. But I mean, this being essentially another Sky City, there's going to be businesses trying to move into the place and exist there. Yeah, maybe you could have a merchants' guild or something.

Yeah, and I think that the way him and Rain would probably be like, yeah, we need to make sure we don't let sort of irreputable people come in and make sure that people aren't overcharging for supplies. They're going to have to set rules. And Arvel's like, like, make sure that, like, people aren't overcharging for, like, supplies. Like, they're going to have to set rules, and Arvel's like, yeah, I can do that.

He'll basically come on, and he'll basically, yeah, be a quartermaster of the Astoria. Like, he'll basically take over as sort of, like, the resource and supply. Economist. Yeah, basically. I'd also suggest getting advice

from Prince Aradan of Gustaven. Okay. Because Gustaven was founded on refugees. Alright, well, I can definitely speak to the prince. I've met him. I know him. There's an established set of rules over centuries that have helped and we've already gone through.

Alright, that'd be great. Yeah, if Gusthaven has a history of that. Which is true. You have the Accords, which is how this guy survived. Alright, great. That's easily done. We don't need to roleplay how this guy survived. Yeah, all right. Great. Cool. Okay, yeah, well, that's easily done. We don't need to role-play all that out. That's an easy thing.

Century. No? Do you need anyone with you for when you do your communing with the Guardians? Um... Do you want to give us some space? Do you want to get Petal? I don't mind if people want to come.

They're more than welcome to. I would like to come petals like that, because she's had a dinner with you guys, she's with Arvill, she's like, I'd like to come, of course, yeah. It's always a real sight to behold. New people coming out, others going in to rest, and maybe a crew to join us as we go to the jungle.

All right, so you can do that now. Do you want to do that and then take a long rest? Would it only take eight hours for that to happen? Huh? Would it only take a short time? I thought that was going to be a long time. What, for restoring the guardians? Yeah.

No, since you can do that real quick. Oh, I thought this was the finding a general in there. Oh, God, no, no, no. That would take a longer time. I figured this was the finding a general in there. Oh, God, no, no, no. That would take a longer time. Like, I figured this was to go and help the guardians who were, like, the dead guardians that have come back. Yeah, exactly. Like, I figured it was that.

That's what you're referring to. That would be really quick. Again, I'm, you know... Easy. I can do it if you want to, Reeve, but, like... Just beep, beep, scan them in. After what you did... There's a label on this.

After what you did at the City of Glass where you restored, like, thousands of did at the city of glass where you restored like thousands of guardians at once like this is now so natural to you it's like you know and i'm not going to role play the whole thing but like yeah you place your hand you can pull in the soul that was basically diminished in the same way that you were when you were killed and then you can put a brand new soul in it and the body will start to shift and change and it adapts to to you know accommodate that new Guardian basically the natural parts begin to shift and change but yeah you can do that's easily enough and you've all seen

it before what are they all individually now I'm not doing that there's a much of them whether no I'm not doing that I've not got the brainpower in me to do that today Chris try I don't have 20 MPC Guardian names sitting in my head but there are they are really cool and you love them there you go uh while petal's here there's also something else that i want to do sure um i want to um give petal her majesty's rose yep so yeah she'll she'll she'll take it and say, I haven't seen this in forever. This was Rook's sword.

I remember him and Bishop were always with Mother and they carried sort of a sword and shield each. That was what they carried. Why are you giving this to me? I don't know how to fight with a sword, Century. It was the same reason that I was given all of my gifts. And you're a gift to me. Century, I just don't know what to say, thank you.

But I guess I can maybe find lessons or something? Or you could teach me a little bit what you know? I'd be happy to teach you. Yes, of course. There might be a day where you may need to use it, unfortunately. I think that that day is coming, yes. I know a little bit of magic, but I've never really done swordplay before,

but if you can teach me, I'll try and learn. It'll be an honour to teach you. Of course. I'd love to. Petal will take the sword, yeah. She can start learning to use that. She's got Red Mage as a class now. Oh, hell yeah.

Anyway. Just don't sell it in the shop. Yeah. But yeah, she'll take that. I don't think that'll be a thing, though. And I think that there'll be a bigger thing as well, like maybe next episode or the episode after, where Petal does say she wants to go see the Astoria.

She wants to see the ship as well. Of course. Cool. I was wondering if that'll blow her mind. Yeah, yeah. Not blow her mind. She can kind of, because she remembers Solvang. It'll be like centuries,

but it'll be like century, like, this is home. So it'll be like that. It's a ship now. Yeah. So, yeah, we got that. Okay. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Oh, we need to go contact the Spell Clash.

Yes. People in that. Stuff like that, that, like, the Grand Strategist can help organise that. That's going to be a lot of, like, sending messages. Like, you don't know everybody there. Who gets in contact? What do you mean? Like, the individual Spell Clash? I don't know. Do you want to see?? What do you mean? The individual spell? I don't...

Do you see? This is Mark saying, give me a couple of weeks, guys, to figure that out. But yes, that stuff can all be dealt with on a very quick outer layer of you can get a bunch of those guys and you'll have a chance to meet them and stuff like that. But that's not going to happen immediately.

Do you think we should message them as our spell clash name? You barely made a dent in spell clash. Some of them might remember us. I did very well. I didn't get a token in the end. Oh, no, that's true. Painted Prince, though.

Maybe they'll respond to that. What was I again? I don't remember. It was so long ago. I was going to say the wizard's sleeve. That should have been there. I can't remember. It's somewhere in here.

All of the spell... Well, that can be figured out another time. And it will take time anyway because they'll be scattered all over Arois. So they'll need to be gathered up. All freelancers. It's the kind of thing that when you get back from dealing with Kalara,

there might be progress on it. Yeah. I guess what we do is... You know how in video games you're like, right, set all these things up, go do a story mission, come back. It's all changed. We'd probably rest, I imagine, and then go see how Val is doing. Can I, before we do that,

can I try and send a message to Tornado? Yep. I guess I'd have... What, sending? I'd have to use Quill. Yep. So I don't know. Be nice.

I've only got 25 words, so don't waste it on stupid, idiot, dumb, things like that. Oh, fair. You were gonna, let me read the message. Do you wanna rewrite the message? Maybe. You're gonna have to. How many words was it?

Here, how about I position Thalia right here so she can watch? Oh, Thalia agrees with me. I've told her everything. Okay, Thalia, maybe there's something else for you to do.

Also, I'd like to see you try and position me anywhere. Oh, I'd like to see that too. I won't. I won't dare. She's got like a gun. It just magically appears out of nowhere.

She's like, go on. I'm walking away. I position you. She'll escort Lucius away so that you and... Oh, God. I forgot she literally had... She marches you away like an officer.

She's got a gun. Thanks, babe. She's got a magic gun. She's got a spell gun. Thanks, babe. No problem, babe. I tried, Quill. She called me babe.

Okay, now that you've shortened the message... Dear brother. Dear brother. Idiot. I'm not saying that. There's no one else around here, is there? And you're the only one with a supernatural hearing. Okay, come in close.

Wait, hang on. I'm going to have to be honest with you. I do like to tell Lucius things. You told her about all the messages I sent Thalia, didn't you? No. Cuts to me with Thalia's like, I know everything. Yeah, she's like, yeah, of course you do. Yes, that's what you like.

I don't know why Nova's so weird about keeping secrets about it. I think it's just funny. You'll open her up. I shouldn't have said that. That's weird. Not wrong. I blurted it. I think it's just fine. You'll open her up. I shouldn't have said that. Not wrong. I blurted it. He was badgering me. Fine.

Fine. Okay. Dear brother, I want to help you, but I don't know how. Mm-hmm. Tell me and I will do it.

Uh, got six more words. I'm so proud of you. You try and cast the sending spell. It does not reach its destination. Did it send, Quill? As if something was blocking it. Is he going to reply? As if something was blocking it?

Yeah. You would tell if the person just didn't exist, if they were dead or something like that. This was like trying to use a divination through an area where you can't use divination magic or like, you know, that kind of magic. Okay. Is he replying now, Quill? Uh, no, no, he's...

It was blocked. Magically blocked. Not that it didn't attempt to reach him. It was sent, but it was blocked. Magically. Okay. That's fine. I can remember it for try again next time.

He's fine. I can... He'll be fine. It's fine. I can try and ascend try again next time. He's fine. I can... He'll be fine. It's fine. I can try and send it if you want. Yes, please. Okay. This is fine.

I'll let you know if I get a message back. Thank you, Quill. It does still use up the spell slot. Yep. You doing okay? I'm fine. Okay. I'm going to go over to Othalia's now.

Okie dokie. Tell her to put this device down, please, Nova. I put my gun away eight years ago. Oh, I don't look. Oh, you have the bird eyes, yeah. You're probably looking in weird directions. Sentry, we have a morale issue. I'm not sure if you're watching, but she's very much not fine. Okay, okay, I'll fix that. I'm okay. That's on you.

She likes red velvet cupcakes. Does she? Yes. Oh, okay. I want to make some of those. Okay, good. Distract. Okay, okay, I'll fix that. I'm okay. That's on you. She likes red velvet cupcakes. Does she? Yes. Oh, okay. I want to make some of those. Okay, good. Yeah, just drag. Okay, good.

Okay. Just want you guys to know... Well, do you guys want to go longer or do you want to finish, like, on time? We can finish on time. I mean, have you got much more left? I... I prepped some of your favourite things.

Ready for when you took a long rest? Let's go. Let's fucking go. No, no, no, let's fucking go. I'm sleeping. You might need to end it, because poor Sam will have to shoot off. I collapse on the spot. Okay.

Insta-sleep. Insta-sleep. Toy story. You guys dream. Hell yeah. Some of you dream. Quill. Oh, no.

Why me first? You find yourself on the top of a tower staring across a peaceful valley at night. Despite the darkness, there is enough light to see the shapes of mountains and the lights of civilization

of a great city in the valley below you. A great temple, a familiar temple, stands at the end of the valley, a winged humanoid figure carved into the mountain above it. Something of the perspective, the tower, reminds you of a similar dream once before. You notice as well that the familiar prismatic glow of the cradle is not there. Instead, the sky is littered with brilliant lights, many big and bright that shine down on the world.

Some of them move slowly and steadily, growing brighter or fainter. You realize that some of these lights are stars, distant planes in the astral sea, and some of them are ships coming and going to Orois. You know these ships somehow, you know these bring visitors and settlers, and take the people of Orois to see new places and people beyond their imaginings. It is a peaceful world. You sense a familiar presence. Soft air and wind.

A light touch on your shoulder. You hear the cry of gulls and smell the sea breeze. Vibrations like the beat of a hammer against anvil seem to pass over you from this presence. A soft, feminine voice calls to you. You have always seen the possibilities of the future, and the pain of the past. Whenever you envisioned yourself a proud messenger of the Guild as a young boy, or you pictured the sad origins of a strange person you met on a lost road. Hesper knew this of you. He trusted you with a precious gift, to use that gift to learn, to grow, to ask questions. I am not he, but he is my son. He is my curiosity, he is my mind. Now he has returned to my heart,

along with two more of my children, and my power returns. My body sleeps, but my essence dreams, and here the dream of a god meets the dream of her champions. What do you think you can see? Wait. You used the valley before you, like I described earlier. Um, I see a hopeful future. A dream for Arois. I see a hopeful future. A dream for Eros. As I have said,

you have always been able to see the possibilities of the future. Hesper chose well. That's a quill's dream. Hesper chose well. Lucius. Frequency, yes. Because he's not an elf anymore! He's not an elf. Cool! I suppose so. I suppose so as well. Lucius. Friggin' see-ass. Because he's not an elf anymore!

He's not an elf. Cool! Oh! Oh! You walk down the streets of Gusthaven. You know the route well. It is the path home. Oh no.

The El Anasto estate is missing, but a long dinner table stands in the green field where it once would have stood. You see many people sat at this long table. Some are misty, ethereal things. You know they are people, but their features, their clothes, their voices are unimportant. But some you know well.

You see your companions, Sentry, Aayla, Quill, Nova. You see the crew of the Stormchaser, Oriah, Faeth, Kamara, Howard, all of them. You see Prince Aradan and your sister Edea. They are speaking with your father Varian and your mother Elowen. They are laughing together. Your father looks relieved as though the weight of years and stress has been taken away. What do you do? He, well, Lucius would just observe for a little while. Just really soak them in. Yeah. And then gently walk towards them. Okay.

As you step closer, the sky darkens. The city becomes engulfed by a pitch black void. And that dinner table becomes enshrouded by a red light. It leaves, the darkness leaves only a small space around you and the dinner table before it slows to a crawl, an inch by inch. Nobody else seems to mind or notice the darkness or the light.

They're happy, but your heart aches in pain and feels like it will burst inside your chest. Your body shakes and trembles, the air so thin you gasp for every breath. The darkness looms and a voice seems to call out. I will end it. End the pain, the fear, the grief. Come to me. What do you do? He considers it for a moment.

It would be easy. Yes. Easy. Painless. But what is it all for? The darkness doesn't answer. So that's the problem. You're not an answer.

And I'm still looking for one. The darkness rushes towards you in a burst of speed, a great fanged maw of inky black reaching out to swallow you in rage. And you hear the cry of a gull. You feel the wind blow behind you and the resounding slam of a hammer against an anvil. Motes of light surround you as waves of faint prismatic light, very much like your own magic, weaves around you like waves and air and begins to hold the darkness back. Your companions, your crew, now notice the darkness. They rush towards it and

they drive it back beyond Gusthaven, away from Arois. And as far as they go, you still see the light of Sentry's Matrix. You see the flash of Aayla's lightning, of Nova's Tiangong, and Quill's magic, still there, present, holding that darkness away. A feminine voice speaks to you. There is no peace in the void. There is no relief for those who are consumed by it. Those are things only the living and the ascended can have. You feel your family stand beside you. Your mother holds your hand, your sister leans against your other arm, and you feel your father's hands around your shoulders proudly, standing behind you. Battles fought and lost, great accomplishments, grand grand adventure jokes with friends the comfort

of a lover small joys frivolous pleasures every second we live is defiant against the power of time itself every minute we say i will, is something to be proud of. We do not need to all be great leaders or warriors, oracles or scholars. Art, words, music, they hold a power all their own. Artists can see the beauty in things others do not. Musicians can change a heart when words and spells cannot. Without these things, the heart of a world is lost. You have always seen the world in beautiful ways.

My body sleeps, but my essence dreams. And here, the dream of one god meets the dream of her champions. Who are you? It's a question. I am Lucius Varian Eluin Elinasto. The dream ends. Very finally, I know we're running over,

potentially running over a bit. Well, yeah. Nova Vija. Oh, no. You find yourself in an old city. You don't recognise it, but there is something familiar about it. It is empty,

but clean, and no signs of battle. You stand in a deserted plaza, buildings all around you with blue skies overhead. At the edge of the plaza is a great statue of Siaska, raised on a platform with short steps leading up to a shrine of the Star Mother at the base of the statue. On those steps sits Calus Valkyrian. I did not think we would meet again in this way, Nova Vija. Neither did I. Are you okay? What a question to ask your enemy.

Sort of cast that back towards you. I guess in some ways you are, but in others... I've always said I see your logic. I guess in some ways you are, but in others... I've always said I see your logic, and I see your connections, and I see your motives, and I wish... I wish you would see ours. Ha. What an interesting phrasing, given what ever your friend Aayla did. I have seen much, but I still have many questions, and I will not find the answers to those questions here on Aroas.

I do not know if you will tell your military allies, or if you will keep this to you and your close companions. I do not have the power to stop you either way. I am leaving Erois for a short period of time. There are answers I must find, questions that must be asked, based on what you and your kin showed me. But before I go, I come with two warnings. One for all of you.

One for you. I warn all of you, you and your companions who have marked yourselves the champions of Erois. Atelicus, I know that you are restoring Siasca, helping the Titans rejoin her. Some of them have been driven to unnatural desires. Atelicus is different to the other Titans. This is not something that your history would ever teach you.

They've revered Atelicus as a god, a protector, a warrior. But remember, I was there. I fought them. I know Siaska. Atelicus, they're titans. You know what they are. Yes, you know that they are aspects of Siaska's personality, elements of herself. Yes.

For the most part, these titans were created from positive traits of Siaska's personality, elements of herself. Yes. For the most part, these titans were created from positive traits of Siaska's, things that she is proud of. Her curiosity, her sense of adventure, her love of life and stories. There are a few exceptions. Zephia was perhaps more rebellious than she realised. Siaska's own rebellious streak influencing her adventurous side.

But Atelicus is different. Atelicus is born of feelings that Siasca did not hold in high regard about herself. Atelicus is her temper, her protective nature, her desire to grow stronger in order to protect. And much like Zephyr, who was influenced by another divine, Thor, Atelicus is influenced by another divine called Typhon, a dangerous and powerful one, if I remember correctly.

Of all of the Titans, Atelicus was the one that I was concerned with the most. When you face Atelicus, if you struggle, if Atelicus is more than you can handle, contact me and I will grant you my aid. If he threatens Siaska's rebirth, I will come. How can I contact you, especially if you're in astral space? Either you will find a way, or I will still have many eyes on Erois. Oh, of course, yeah, I got rid of that. Smiles.

Waves. Of course, yeah, I got rid of that. Smiles. Waves. I have no need to spy on you as I once did. The other is a warning for you, Vortensar. Shansara and Harmony, they've shut off communications from my Imperial orders, my command. They've installed devices to prevent communication. Oh, that explains that, then.

I tried to contact my brother, who is not important, sir. You need not worry with me. There are no other forces to listen here. This is a warning for you, for one who has given me respect and at least been willing to talk. A recompense, perhaps. Shansara and Harmony are obsessed with returning Vought and Sartre to Ganas. I believe that it is a part of your harmony's nature

because they represent all people. They are more connected to Ganas than perhaps even I realized. They have become obsessed with returning there. And Shinsara, following this duty that she's been given, feeds into her ego. She has become convinced of her own legend that the Gnassi have created for her. I have ordered them to stop, but they are ignoring me.

It seems that I do not have just one rebellious force within my army. Perhaps my grip is not as strong as it once was. Be careful. Their plans to transport Vornensar back may work. They are intelligent, but what they are hoping to accomplish is a great deed. It may have disastrous consequences. Is... is there a way you can delay the teleportation project?

I have done what I can. I've ordered them to stop and in some ways... I would not wish to refuse the Ganassi who wish to return home. I'm not asking for stopping it, just delaying it so we have time. I will speak before I leave. I will send a message to whatever agents I can and ask them to aid in the sabotage that I know your forces are at work at. What? I... Thanks.

I am no fool. I know. I am going to try and find these answers. When you have... When you have done what needs to be done, when the problems of Erois are resolved, When you have... When you have done what needs to be done, when the problems of Erois are resolved, you will have my answer to your greater questions.

Goodbye, Nova Vija. Just... be safe. Well, I have lived a very long time. Do not worry about me. I dream it. I do worry about you. That's the problem.

Spicy. And that, I really wanted to get those inks. Yeah. That was worth it. That was really worth it. When you guys, I was like, so you guys want to take a long rest, and you were like, no, let's do this role-playing thing. I was like, uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine. That's were like, no, let's do this role-playing thing. I was like, uh-huh. I'm going to drink from a teacup. That's fine. That's what the game is. This game's about role-playing. We're going to keep talking to each other and wasting time. I'm going to drink from a teacup. It was just like, I knew you guys would want the dreams, so I was like, I want the dreams.

If it's going to take this long to get my revenge for Smeak, then I'm going to do it. That's the end of the episode thanks very much see you next time bye see you later bye