High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #148 | When I was a Young Elf (Part 2)
Episode Date: June 9, 2022If we could turn back time... and we can! It's time to un-bird the bird! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and Studio updates on our Patreon:Â www.patreon.com/HighRolle...rs 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Pickaxe.
Pickaxe.
Hello, welcome to part two of High Rollers.
We are picking things up after our break
where the party have been talking plans.
They're making plans to head off to an area called Nightbloom Hold
to deal with the Titan Kalara.
But they've also been catching up their fellow party members
on what's been happening.
They've been having discussions with Valor
and a few of the other NPCs,
and recently Scaldi Ravenscar,
formerly Priestess of Calara as well.
A mixture of things.
There has been discussions of turning Lucius into a baby.
Then there was very serious, deep, heavy discussions
with Scaldi about the existence and purpose of life
and the nature of death
and now
I believe that we're doing everyone's
favourite, it's a D&D shopping episode
Except it's not going to be
It won't be long
It's going to be a speech
You burnt your tongue
We
We've had an emotional break
We have
We got locked in the corridor
Yeah
Yeah
We lived in corridors
Yeah
It's always a worst nightmare
It really was
It's real life
Your worst nightmare
Yeah
Yeah
Door just defeated us
Yeah
In real life
We had to get Tom to shave us
Shave us
Get Tom to come in with his
I ran so fast
I shaved
No
You just looked at us You shaved Because I accidentally said. He just looked at us.
I accidentally said shave.
He looked at us with disgust and very slowly moved towards the door.
Skyrim lockpicking skills out.
Tick, tick, tick.
Open it up.
Nice.
Now we're all here.
Ready to play some D&D.
Ready to play some D&D.
So the plan is to teleport to the Astoria.
Yes.
Yes.
A helm of teleportation.
Not my bookie work.
Oh, because we want to also figure out what Zarya's doing
all up in the business of the Astoria as well.
She's all chickened in.
Making sure she's not tearing it to shreds.
To shreds, you say?
To shreds, I say.
Shreds.
She's probably made, like, a bone throne somewhere.
Oh, there's a bone throne.
A bone throne.
Bone throne.
I mean, in her Mordenkainen's mansion, yeah, absolutely. Bone? she's probably made like a bone thrown somewhere oh there's a bone thrown i mean
in her modern kynan's mansion yeah absolutely uh so you teleport you're gonna spend a charge yes spend a charge uh you will feel the familiar pull uh that fast immediate travel sensation um
different to the way find this guide there is no the bifrost you didn't feel that physical like
traveling sensation this is more like an immediate
kind of sense of rushed movement.
It is less impressive. Yeah, Quill, you're right.
And you guys find
yourself in a
large, round
stone and metal chamber.
You see the flare of the teleportation
runes in a circle on the ground.
And then immediately, about 20
Horizon guards, all in elite looking armour, the ground uh and then immediately about 20 horizon guards all in elite
looking armor uh draw weapons uh and then you hear the familiar voice of rain say it's all right
seems to be the champions can we get an illusion check for illusions um and you see a mage cast a
spell a couple of spells in fact um spell magic a uh a sort of sea invisibility spell, and
a few others, just generally kind of cast.
And there is an all-clear set,
and then Red's like, they're cleared.
And he's like, champions, welcome back.
Amazing. Well, you've gotten to work very
quickly. Well, we already had the system.
We already had the, we're just using the same
system we used in Horizon here.
It's really just a different location
to do it in.
I told you he was good for the job.
Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate the challenge.
The Astoria
only has the one...
The Astoria
only has the one teleportation chamber, so we have
focused our efforts here.
Is that how we clap now on the crew?
Yes.
We've got our salute. We've got our salute.
We've got our clap.
The only problem is that currently
we only have a handful
of mages who are capable of casting this every spell
for things like illusions and
dispelling of enchantments.
If there were
ways to incorporate some sort of
device that could automatically
do that or a way to replenish our mages energy from time to time, that would be very useful.
Right now, there will be a limit where we won't be able to check,
and I wanted to check in with you.
Do I have permission to detain people if we do not have the means to check them for illusions
until a mage can be prepared?
I mean, we aren't 100% sure of the faculties we have aboard this Astoria.
There's definitely rooms that we can use to detain people in as a makeshift sort of holding
area.
Yeah.
Simple dural work, no one can use them anyway.
I imagine there's better rules and regulations set on Horizon dealing with these sorts of
things.
Well, with Horizon, we have more
mages. We generally don't have periods
where we don't have someone on shift
who can cast these spells. If we have
somebody who runs out of their necessary energy,
we can replenish them with reserves.
Here, we are more limited in number.
So, it does mean that...
We trust Rain, right?
Yes.
I think, within reason, yes. The idea will be that
if we do not have a mage available who is able to dispel or check for certain types
of magic, any visitors will be held in a nearby facility. We will make sure that they are
comfortable. If they resist, obviously we will have to enforce a more sort of...
Make them uncomfortable.
Yes, you understand my meaning.
But as long as they're willing to cooperate,
they will just be held until a mage can come in
and check their appearance and things like that as well.
The only area that we have a weakness is any natural shape changes.
People that are able to disguise themselves
without using magic so physical disguises or even uh creatures such as doppelgangers
they generally certain spells dispel magic wouldn't affect them for example of course
but we do still have an internal security force at least i've been working with duke
savrano's men and some of the guardians that you sent as well.
That we have been organizing shifts and rotations
and things like that as well.
Oh, brilliant. Wonderful.
And has there been much traffic, at least through?
No, not through the teleportation circles.
You were in fact our first.
No, correct me, you are our second.
As Laurie? First was, yes, Miss Perel.
And how did she seem when she arrived?
How do I best describe this?
Erratic?
Spooky?
No, she was quite giddy to be here,
but that in itself is unsettling to witness.
A smile, yes.
No, we've seen her smile before.
Yes.
Was that a smile?
Oh, I think it's her smile.
Right.
Terrifying.
Yeah, terrifying.
Yes, I believe that she,
after leaving the teleportation,
she encountered one of the maidens,
whom she promptly began asking lots of questions
and demanded to be taken to various areas of the ship.
She wants to dissect one as well, probably.
Good luck.
I don't know if she could.
Made of diamond and emeralds.
I wanted to as well.
Is that not right?
No.
It seems wrong, doesn't it?
Anyway, where is she now?
I couldn't tell you for exact purpose.
My purpose has been focusing on these teleportation chambers
and organising some of the other forces.
Azaria Perel is known to us.
She's a member of the council.
I have no reason to detain her or distrust her.
I'm sure if you ask the maidens, they will be able to locate her.
Do you want to do the thing where some...
Oh, yeah. D1?
Or E1?
Wait, which element do we need? Which mineral?
A maiden could...
You wait for a few moments, but you did say D1.
D1's face creepily merges out of the wall.
Doesn't fully manifest, but just her face kind of like...
Oh, there she is.
Howdy, champions. How may I assist you?
Not so much.
We're just wondering where Zarya Perel is.
Miss Perel is currently located in one of the lower decks
in one of our previous solvent engineering facilities.
I'll check that.
Yeah, that makes sense.
They wouldn't say engineering.
They would say, like, enchantment facilities.
Thank you very much.
Remember, it's a much more magical ship than the thingy was.
Yes, I can provide you directions if necessary.
Yes, please.
Okay.
The face melts back into the wall and disappears, and you then basically see a hand stick up
like down a corridor and it points in a certain direction.
And if you follow, if you go down, turn, and then you begin walking down the corridor,
out of a wall, another hand then points into like a set of stairs going down.
Basically like appendages stick out of walls, pointing in different directions, like saying this of stairs going down. But basically like appendages stick out of the walls,
pointing in different directions,
like saying this way, this way.
Sometimes it's not always diamonds.
Sometimes it's like another, like an emerald or like a sapphire hand or something like that.
It does change.
It seems that whoever's nearby D1
basically tells them to provide directions.
I'm just trying to like predict them as they come out.
Like, okay, it's going to be a red one.
A green one.
Nope. Roll a red one. A green one. No.
Roll a d4.
A four.
A four.
Out of eight, Century guesses half of them correct.
Yes!
Wow.
And of all the different colours,
that's actually statistically impressive.
It's very impressive, statistically.
But yes, very much just manages to predict which ones. Maybe there's some sort of connection there.
It's like I'm made for this.
Before we do leave
Rain, I would probably tell him that
he can work closely with Azaria to
try to create
whatever magical
security systems are
needed. And if she needs supplies,
then I suppose she asks us?
All right. Very well.
Yes, I think, you know, full transparency on what she's up to as well.
Yes.
I will keep an eye on her in that case, if I can.
As often as I can spend.
It's not that she would do anything bad,
it's just she can get carried away, so to speak.
Very aloof.
Yeah, you remember that giddy smile?
Don't want that to happen too often.
It is rather unnerving, yes.
Very well, good luck.
And you guys make your way down.
Anyway, we have to follow the hands.
So when you get down, it leads you down into basically the Astoria.
I haven't fully mapped out the interior in my head,
but there are multiple kind of lower areas.
And they're like streets.
So it's like you have the top, the very top of the Astoria
is like a huge grand street with buildings along either side,
occasionally buildings in the middle.
And then as you get to the front of the Astoria,
it becomes more sparse and open with only a few defensive turrets and things.
When you go down into the Lower Decks, it's very similar where, but it feels more sparse and open with only a few defensive turrets and things. When you go down into the lower
decks, it's very similar where, but it feels
more like a closed-in city street.
It does feel a bit more compact and a bit smaller.
But the ceilings are
enchanted to provide illusions of
mirroring what is outside. So you
just feel like you're out on another
city street.
If you've ever been to Las Vegas,
there's a very similar thing where they have this
like big archway and it kind of has like stuff projected overhead and it's very disorientating
because it can feel like it can be the middle of the night and you'll be like oh what time is it i
don't know um and it kind of has this very similar vibe um for century the top street you remember is
like yep this is how it was laid out these secondary streets look like
they've almost been cobbled together from other parts of the city so when you saw the maidens
recovering materials and buildings it looked like they were bringing them and reassembling them
here and they've tried to keep the streets as as accurate as they can but being a resident who
spent so much time there you definitely it's like somebody's
made a recreation of like a street that you've walked down a thousand times right you're like oh
that that wasn't here before that's actually from a couple of blocks that way and stuff like that so
you can kind of pick up where they've altered things um there's all sorts of facilities down
here a lot of them seem to be connected to uh the outer turrets and things like that as you're kind
of like walking through some of the buildings on the far edges actually then connect to what
appears to be like a glass dome with a giant arcane turret in it and that is actually you know
it's almost like a gunnery battery basically at points but then you'll reach other areas that
look like medical facilities uh you find areas that look like um training halls and barracks
for soldiers um you find places that look like places halls and barracks for soldiers. You find places
that look like places like eateries, almost like taverns, but a little bit more sort of regimented
and constructed. You find Azaria Perel on one of the lower levels near the bottom of the Astoria
that looks like a grand sort of wizard's lab mixed with a sort of a production facility.
So there are these kind of long tables
with these metal plates that seem to move and slide around them
and things like that.
But also there are these strange glass conical flasks and ambics.
There are like ritual circles embedded onto stone platforms and plinths.
There's all sorts of crystals and dozens of weird stuff all scattered around.
You also notice that some of it has also been slightly decorated.
Black lacy cloths have been hung up.
There are bone furnitures, like stools,
that are made from a bunch of fem like femurs and like clawed like feet
with like a very decadent red velvet cushion on top of it um it is like mega goth vibes of like
you know morticia adams meets kind of like necromancer kind of like vibes going on can
we just observe her for a bit? Like you walk in
when you walk in
there is a
skull mounted on the inside of the
wall that just goes
when you walk in.
Like a ringing of a bell in a shop
but it's just a screaming skull.
And Azaria's
just like, just a moment.
And waves her hand. But she is in the middle
of, as you fully predicted,
there is a Maiden of Valenia just
stood there on one of these plinths.
And Azaria is like, she has
a device which is holding loads of different
wands, and she'll move one,
activate it, and it blasts the Maiden
with fire. And the Maiden's like,
I have detected an increase in ambient
temperatures and you feel
fine I am currently functional
excellent and then she slides it around and
she moves another one in presses it
a jet stream of acid sprays
all over it and you actually see the acid melts
like a little like little pit marks
like not damage but like I have
detected a structural anomaly in my body
and Az i was like
fascinating acid and she like takes a little notebook the notebook is obviously also made of
bones uh it has like pipe page parchments and she's like oh it's fascinating and she's yeah
she's currently experimenting on one of the maidens like trying to just yeah figure out what
hurts it what doesn't hurt it what kind of causes it to react in certain ways.
I want to discover
where the line is
for the skull to go, meh!
Oh, yeah. Because that spooked me.
I don't want that to happen again. It's basically
one of those, like, infrared
lines that you step in through a door
and it triggers something. So when
we all walk in, does it go, meh, meh,
meh? It does seem to have, like, a delay. It doesn't, like, if it's activated once too many times. So, like, jumping in, does it go, meh, meh, meh? It does seem to have a delay.
It doesn't like,
if it's activated once too many times.
So jumping back and forth,
it's maybe once every 10 seconds.
So I can't make it just go,
bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.
Yeah.
Every 10 seconds,
you can make it go, ah!
Once it's activated
for the second or third time,
Azara's like,
whatever is happening?
She turns around,
ah, champion. Azara's like, whatever is happening? She turns around, ah, champion.
Sorry, the skull, it spooked me, I'll be honest.
Just a really sharp noise just all of a sudden.
Yes, I find I need something loud and sharp,
otherwise I get so lost in my work.
Many times the maidens or some of those guards from Horizon
or some of the guardians and many others have come to find me,
and I find I'm so absorbed in my work.
Yes, your work.
Yes.
Important Astoria breakthroughs, I hope.
Yes, these maidens are fascinating.
Absolutely.
The most advanced constructs are not,
obviously, including Guardians,
who are not really constructs. not, obviously, including guardians,
who are not really constructs.
They are living, sentient beings.
These are... Their programming is very clever and the enchantments written upon them,
but yet there are no runes, no markings.
They are fascinating.
And also, some of them are near impervious to harm.
Others seem structurally weaker than others.
As she's doing this, I'm just going to go up to Quill and whisper.
Quill, do I sound like this sometimes?
Especially when I was about your wing.
Kind of less...
It's speedier. You're speedier.
Much speedier.
And less... You don't linger on your S's speedier. You're speedier. Much speedier. Unless you don't linger on your S's.
Okay.
And it's less creepy.
Much less creepy.
Oh, okay, okay.
How is your wing, by the way?
Oh, it's great.
It's really good, thank you.
Because I have a second prototype.
So while they're doing that,
as Lara is just like,
look, observe,
and she rotates another wand in
and she activates this one
and it's like some sort of charm spell
and the maiden just completely unaffected seemingly immune to so many different effects
and like tries like a bunch of different things and like and like once these wands are like once
the spell goes off she takes them out and they seem to be one use kind of she throws them away
she's got like a little basket of like bones obviously as well bones um but like a little
basket bin that she's just throwing these discarded one-use spell things in.
I love her.
Little cantrips and stuff.
Okay, well, is there something I could aid you in?
Yes.
Actually, we're going to be facing another Titan.
Excellent.
Getting used to the word.
And we're looking at potentially an area full of undead.
Oh.
Oh.
My specialty.
We thought so.
Is there anything that can aid us against the necromantic effects of the undead?
Oh, there are many things.
There are various spells.
Protection from necrotic energies, obviously.
I'm sure you've already considered that.
There are also spells that can protect you from certain effects.
Are there any more longer-lasting effects?
Say, like a potion that lasts longer than an hour. Oh, no.
Potions are, it is very difficult, only very very rarely do potions
exceed such a limit.
A scroll then, maybe.
Scrolls, even then, the spell of protection against necrotic energy would still only last
approximately an hour.
There is a spell called Death Ward which will, if you were to perish, if you were to be reduced to an unconscious state,
instead you would maintain your consciousness, you would still be heavily injured, but you would not be...
Your book doesn't do that anymore.
It is particularly effective were you to, the spell Death Ward, were you to encounter say a creature such as a banshee
which can kill you with but one whisper. It can help you negate that effect.
If a spell or an effect would kill you immediately, the Death Ward spell will protect you from it
and then the spell will break. It will no longer be functional.
I think we need that.
Yes, I can do that.
You can do that?
I can do that.
I need to prepare it. I need a day.
But I can get that ready.
Many undead can also infuse you with an aura of fear.
It's a protection against being frightened, perhaps.
That would be nice.
Can that be a permanent effect?
There are some.
I know I have heard of great champions that
are able to protect their allies or are
immune to the effects of it.
But there are spells such as the Feast of Heroes.
Hero's Feast enables one to be protected from against fear
and the like.
It does have a rather pricey component, that spell.
But I do have, I think I have at least one
of the jewel-encrusted bowls that it requires
that I can acquire for you.
I think it's back in my shop somewhere,
but I could have it sent for.
It'd be nice, the components for that.
I could have it sent for.
What else?
I can give us resistance as well.
I need a day to prepare all this,
but I have a few spells that can help.
Okay.
That'd be useful. And maybe to help alleviate some of to prepare on this, but I have a few spells that can help. Okay. That'd be useful.
And maybe to help alleviate some of that stress on you,
we could take some other things as well.
Do you have to concentrate on the spells?
I do, yes.
They're all concentration, but they're all verbal.
Well, it means you can only cast one at a time.
At a time, not the other.
Yes.
So we should probably get...
I should make a point that things,
potions of necrotic resistance,
I sold you some fire resistance potions previously.
Potions of necrotic resistance are harder to come by.
It is a rarer type of energy.
I am capable of making them, but they are more costly.
Oh, that's all right.
We have so much money, according to Quill.
Oh, marvellous.
Excellent. Yes, marvelous. Excellent.
Yes.
What was it? 11,000 gold?
It was 11,000.
Oh, wonderful. Yes, then I can certainly acquire...
It will take me some time to make them, but I can do so.
If that's not taking up too much of your project time,
the other thing we were alerted to was the ability to be quick flexible on our toes
so to speak yeah um because the undead are overrunning the jungle and if we were to be
caught in one area uh the undead would literally pile on and we wouldn't be able to escape so
is there anything that could speed us up make us fast yes yes yes
enchantment there is an enchantment i could apply it to a pair of boots or braces perhaps or
a belt any sort of leather item that you wore upon your person leather is the best material for this
particular enchantment so it does not work on armour necessarily, unless leather.
But it would allow you to vastly increase your speed,
your running, your walking, your ability to dash.
And also it will apply a very slight blurring effect to your body,
making any attacks that were you to run past a combatant
and they were to lash out at you,
it would make it harder for them to hit you with such an attack.
Excellent. That sounds great.
Can we have one of each?
One of each?
One for each of us.
One for each of you?
Well, the enchantment is quite difficult.
Material components alone are costly.
And, of course, the effect would only last for a total of ten minutes.
And you can use it once per day, but it would only last ten minutes.
I could make... It would take me, let's see...
Three days per individual enchantment.
That's quite a while.
And it would cost around 4,000 gold.
Per what?
Nothing, right?
Per?
Yes, per.
Yes.
Okay.
We can afford that, right?
No.
No.
We can't?
No.
No, no, no.
Well, you could afford at least two.
You could get two.
Yeah.
Okay, we'll take two.
Well, it's going to be six days from now before we even...
We'll be there before...
That won't benefit us in terms of time at all.
No.
I've heard that most magical enchantments, you will have to wait some time if you desire something.
What if we put an order in now and they'll be useful for the next Titan?
I mean, we could figure out what we might need for a telekis, and then play some sort of order in there.
Protection, strength.
Yep, yep.
Combat prowess.
Yep.
Make everyone giant.
Somersaults, backflips.
Can I cast spells twice as fast?
No, it is very difficult to maintain.
The enchantment of speed that I previously mentioned is quite...
Unless you were an immensely powerful being, such as a titan or a god,
or a legendary smith,
it would be difficult to make anything of that sort of power.
My own enchantments, I have a very large catalogue of enchantments that I know,
but making something that could allow you to cast spells twice as fast or attack, swing a weapon twice as fast is very difficult.
There are spells that allow you to do such things, but even the spell itself, once the
spell ends you are left stunned and exhausted, unable to function for a period of time. It
can be quite debilitating. Okay, well, we can send a message remotely to you
if we get more information about how we're going to face Atalicus.
Well, you will need to leave some funds with me then
because I will need to buy materials.
Leave the 11,000.
I mean...
Well, that's not yet.
We don't know yet.
We're not going to buy anything.
We're not placing an order right now.
I can't start anything until I have my material components, I'm afraid.
Okay.
But we don't know what it is yet.
No.
Well, we could just cut some time out just by giving her all the money now.
That way she won't be waiting for us to pay her.
That is true.
giving her all the money now. That way she won't be waiting for us to pay her.
That is true.
If you were to contact me via a sending spell
or some such with your desire,
I could begin work on it immediately
if you left me the money.
What if we left it with rain?
You could do.
Do you not trust me with your funds?
No, it's not that.
No, no, it's not that.
You are aware that I am one of the richest nobles
of Gusthaven. I have no need for's not that. You are aware that I am one of the richest nobles of Gusthaven.
I have no need for
my own personal...
Why are you charging us then?
Because this is my business.
I am a businesswoman.
Lucius doesn't say that.
We did get you a whole ship.
Well, you provided the ship
for a rowist.
And you clearly...
My own expertise
was greatly beneficial
to the Stormchaser.
Now I have an opportunity
to learn more and to aid further. I'm just japing, by the way. I fully trust you and expertise was greatly beneficial to the storm chaser. Now I have an opportunity to
learn more and to aid further.
I'm just japing by the way. I fully trust you and I think you should have the money.
Well thank you for your trust, Nova Vita.
Maybe a down payment.
I love what you've done with the place by the way.
Well I had to bring a few home comforts of course. My mansion is still where I'm residing
most of my time but it just didn't feel right.
This place is very...
Oh, it just has such a cold, uncomfortable feeling.
I simply had to bring in a few things to liven the place up.
Can I try and get the skull off the wall without activating it?
Not going near it.
Yeah.
Pick it up.
Bring it behind Quill and point at him okay you can make a slight
of hand check that it makes a noise well you can make a slight of hand check let's see how well
you can get it off and also afterwards you're gonna make a cell check against king of the
perception oh that's not fun his head is just what do you mean not fun that's not fun. His head is just fine now. What do you mean not fun? That's how the game works.
What's that games do you do, Logan? It's just an eyeball. Never soft.
23 sleight of hand. 23 sleight of hand. What's your passive? 27.
You see Ayla like, take the skull off the wall, now make a stealth check, Ayla.
Well there's no point! Oh no, this is what you want to do, you gotta make the check.
I mean, like an owl, my head.
Just whips around.
You do it, you get the skull off the wall, Azaria doesn't notice that you've taken the skull off the wall,
they don't activate it, but as you are sneaking up to Quill, yeah, his head just falls 180 degrees.
I know what you're doing!
I see you! It's thing is is that what triggers the
skull is the doorway and you've moved taking the skull oh I just did it when
it was like sensing move no no it's the doorway entering through the doorway
during the skull so you've got the skull and then you look back and you're like
oh it's not making the noise. While Quill's
180 looking at Aelic, can I just
go the other side and go, boo.
Thank you for your
support. Okay, fine.
How much do you need?
Well, I don't know. I don't know what you want
yet.
Neither do we. We'll decide at a later
date and we'll send you the funds.
The cost of, say, two decent enchantments as a down payment.
It depends on the type of enchantment.
8,000. You can have 8,000.
We can... Look, look.
And you have it here.
Do you summon a little chest?
Why are we giving money before we're...
We don't know if we want anything yet.
If you do not want anything, I will return the money to you.
Aren't we getting stuff against dead stuff and speed stuff?
Yeah, we need to pay for that now,
but we don't need to pay for any future things yet.
We don't know what we want.
It would expedite the process.
Because then we only have to send a Zario message being like,
can we have this piece?
We can start the project whilst we're away.
I want this skull as well.
Oh, yes, you can have the skull if you want.
I have so many skulls.
So little time.
She just reaches into, like, a little black silk bag
and pulls out another skull.
This one, you're not sure, maybe a dwarven skull.
It's kind of squatter and flatter.
And she just begins
like fiddling with it
casting a little rune
on its forehead
and then she goes up
and puts it on the wall
can I put my hand
in front of it
yeah
can I put my hand
in front of it
does it make a different
noise than the last one
this skull
if you wave your hand
in front of the skull
no
if you go to the doorway
and enter the doorway
this one goes
it's more of a scream If you wave your hand in front of the skull, no. If you go to the doorway and enter the doorway, this one goes, ah!
It's more of a scream.
Where are you getting these?
Skulls?
I collect them.
Yes, okay.
Where from?
Where else does one find skulls? Okay. At this point, just take the chest.
The whole thing?
No.
I mean, I'll empty it out.
Oh, no.
Before you do that, please don't make a mess.
And she will come over.
Don't make a mess.
You've got bones everywhere.
She pulls from...
She wouldn't keep it in a bag.
She pulls it from a little pouch on her hip.
It looks like a little black, like, cloth, like a handkerchief.
She folds it out into, like, a round shape and puts it on the ground.
You can pour it in here.
Oh, okay.
How much are you pouring in?
It's hard to...
I've got 11,640 gold pieces.
I don't think any of it's platinum.
So I'm just going to...
Give her the full 11.
Keep pouring until there's still some left.
What, do you want to keep like 1,000 on you?
Yeah, keep...
How about you give her 10,000
and then the rest you can keep?
Sure.
All right.
Sure.
You pour 10,000 gold into Azaria's portable hole.
And when you're done, she folds the napkin up
and then she puts it in her little pouch.
I will keep that safe for you.
Please do not...
Have no fear.
Okay.
I'm not afraid.
Rain might be in contact as well
in order to build some extra enchantments
for the teleportation room.
And should I use the funds you've just given me for that?
Not without permission.
Of course, I can wait. If you desire, I can send, I can use a sending spell to contact you.
Bill Horizon.
Well, I will approach Lady Danica about it.
What?
It's for the good of Eroa, so that the Astoria doesn't fall into bad hands.
Should we open the tab? Hmm. But it was for the Astoria.
And I will continue to have free reign
on the Astoria as I wish.
Not free reign.
And also, rain is trying to reign you in
from the free reign.
Well, then I will request the funds from Lady Danica then.
I fucking hate her.
She's a business woman she's like
she's very smart
she'll use her money
if she gets something
out of it
respect game
if we find any
interesting trinkets
from Kalara's domain
we'll be sure
to bring them to you
yes that seems
yes very well
to observe
I will
I could buy them
off you as well if they're of particular interest.
All right.
With your vast fortune.
Yes.
So, yes, if there are any, I know they're rare,
necromancy resistance potions or...
I could have some made.
I could try and rush one by tomorrow.
Great.
It will take me at least a day per potion and that is at a rush
so I will have to charge a small extra fee.
Do you know where our quarters are?
Or just put it on the storm chaser?
I can ask one of the lovely maidens.
They will direct me to where I need to go
and your ship is here, is it?
I can send it there.
It's stopped on the Asteroids.
Yes, I can send it there then.
They will be about 700 gold
per potion of necromantic resistance.
We have two, did you say?
You've got two already.
So...
Two more will be good.
That will take me two days.
One more will be good.
Very well.
So two people won't get...
That's right.
And they will last one hour, obviously.
But you will not need to maintain concentration upon it.
That's one of the benefits.
Very well.
So just one.
Yes, that death sword.
That sounds good.
That's a spell.
That is a spell.
I could conjure, I could create a scroll of it for you.
Could be handy for more than one of us to have it.
Yeah, I know you know it.
You can do it, yes.
But maybe just in a pinch might be good to have one more.
Yeah.
Now that we don't have Nova's Book.
Minus 750 GP for Potion.
Do 250 damage.
It's fine.
So do you want a scroll of Death Ward?
Yeah.
Let's see.
Let's check who can cast it.
Clerics can cast it. Yeah. Paladins can cast it. But I can't do necromantic stuff. But Let's see. Let's check who can cast it. Clerics can cast it. Paladins can
cast it.
But that's it.
So that's just a choice you've made, is it?
That you're just like, nope.
Yeah, that's nasty.
Well, in that case, only
Quill and Sentry can cast it without issue.
Other spellcasters can
cast it, but you have to make a roll to see if it
works.
Well, Sentry, I think this would save you your own energies Other spellcasters can cast it, but you have to make a roll to see if it works. Okay.
Well, Sentry, I think this would save you your own energies doing it and wouldn't require you ten minutes or so to prepare it.
Let me see.
Maybe your next.
It's a good chance.
What was that?
It lasts, say, hours.
It does.
What did he say?
It's just an action.
Kim said that she does necromantic stuff,
and I said, yeah, but you're nasty.
It's not concentration as well.
No.
So I can just...
Well, a scroll of Death Ward, again,
I can probably scribe that.
It is in my preferred school of magic.
I could make two by the same time I finish the potion, and there will be 800 gold each. It is in my preferred school of magic.
I could make two by the same time I finish the potion,
and there will be 800 gold each.
That sounds reasonable.
Yes.
Yes.
Minus 1600.
I like how I'm in control of the potions. You're doing very well.
Anything else, me and Cedric, goodbye.
Azaria, well, it depends what you are looking for.
I have many things. What have you got buy. Azaria, well, it depends what you are looking for. I have many things.
What have you got?
No skulls, though.
It would be far easier for you to tell me what you want
rather than list my expansive catalogue of items.
Do you have a catalogue?
I do, yes.
Can I have a look?
I do not have a physical copy here.
It would all be on Gusthaven in the forum.
You can look in the Dungeon Master's Guide if you want.
You can look through that, because that's basically her catalogue.
I was thinking Argos catalogue.
No, she doesn't have one here.
The laminated book.
Whatever you want.
Apart from, like, artefacts and legendary items,
Azaria can basically make any magic item in the Dungeon Master's Guide,
or in any of the sort of D&D books,
as long as it's not a legendary or an artifact item.
So up to very rare, she can pretty much make.
But she does have to make it, so it takes time.
And I'm not going to use the DMG guidelines,
because then you'd be waiting, like, a month for, like, one item.
So I'm generally pricing it around sort of, one day per a thousand gold um or thereabouts okay
i'm fine with what we've got okay so two two death scrolls uh death ward scrolls and uh
let's scroll death death scrolls death roll squads death roll squads uh death wards rolls
1600 gold yeah so she's minus that yeah take that away yeah she's done that uh so that you'll get
the you'll get one potion so who wants to take these items because we'll just assume that you
get i'll take it i'll take a death scroll ward okay so one death roll squad yeah uh for quill yeah and then resistance you'll take the
resistance potion then century you have the other scroll of death okay i also wouldn't mind a that's
a fourth level resistance potion as well one of your fair ones give one to you all right and do
you want to give the last one to someone else are you going to keep it yeah i can give... Who wants it? Who wants a potion of necrotic resistance?
Question. If I...
Lucius.
I've already got one.
Lucius has got one.
So...
Aayla or Nova?
While you're thinking, question.
If I... So I have an ability where if I drop to zero,
I can come back.
Yes.
If I pass the constitution save constitution safe yes would that be affected
would the ability of something like a banshee negate it's a great question i think i know the
answer to this because there is a thing so this is the uh is this your i'm so angry i refuse this
relentless rage if you drop to zero hit points while you're raging
and don't die outright, you can make a DC.
Yeah, so if you die outright, like a Banshee Scream
or like a Disintegrate spell or something like that,
Relentless Rage doesn't work.
Right.
It will kill you outright.
Okay.
Whereas the nice thing with Death Ward as a spell
is if something were to kill you outright,
it basically, the spell ends and that effect is ignored.
It's basically, it like tanks the special death.
Do you want this as a discount?
It's a spell shot.
Slick shot.
I'm sort of like, take it.
And she kind of makes sense.
Oh, this is Valkyrian Magitek, I believe.
She'll take it and she'll kind of accept it. Oh, this is Valkyrian Magitek, I believe.
Yes, I would buy this for, let's say, 200 gold.
Seems very reasonable at the cost of anything.
Yeah, me neither.
Yes, we'll deduct that from one of the potions or something.
Yes, yes, I will.
She summons an invisible, like, unseen servant.
She hands it the clipboard.
Flick to my spreadsheets, calculate this.
She just basically has this thing to her Excel for her.
Nice.
Yep.
Buying spell shot. Nice.
He has her word.
She sort of, like, puts it in her bag of holdings.
She just is like, I'll deal with that later.
Cool.
Great.
I'm happy.
Yeah.
I think if we just prepare all the spells we need,
Death Ward for Sentry,
we should be pretty much ready to go, right?
Anything missing?
Tomorrow we'll have everything we need,
and then...
Into the jungle.
To the jungle.
Well, good luck.
Do try and come back alive. I would be remiss to lose out on my best customers.
Yes, so you can examine our bodies.
Oh, I had not thought of that.
You do not have permission!
Oh, that's a terrible shame.
You have such unusual physiques and abilities.
I would be fascinated.
If you do not mind, obviously I have a request for not being dissected,
which I will respect.
But if you don't mind, please find a way to have your remains at least returned to the Azoria so that I can examine you.
Sorry, all my... I have a Gusthaven donor card, so...
Oh, excellent. You can't interject that. That's Gusthaven's property. She's from Gusthaven donor card, so. Oh, excellent.
You can't interject that, that's Gusthaven property.
She's from Gusthaven.
Yeah, she's from Gusthaven.
Who do you think would?
Ah, damn it.
She's just like looking at Lucius like,
heh heh heh. Excellent.
You're mine.
Where do you think she gets all them skulls from?
The donor skulls.
Like you look at your donor card and it's like, sponsored by the Perel. Sponsored by.
I agree to be used as a doorbell. It's written in tiny fine print on the donor
form. Your remains may be used as components for.
Alarm bell, yeah. What would be the sound that Lucius' skull made
if it was the doorbell?
Eh!
There you go.
Wow.
A bit central.
What kind of business would that be used on?
Yeah.
Anyway.
Anyway.
Anyway.
Oh.
Well, if you...
Are you heading off immediately?
You do have some time to wait while I'm working.
You're more than welcome to avail yourself to my mansion,
if you wish, for rest and recuperation.
No, thank you.
No?
Sorry, much to do.
Oh, what a shame.
Well, you're welcome any time.
I think the bones would like to rest.
What?
I was like, what?
As in, let the bodies rest.
I thought it was.
Yeah, because they're not resting.
They're in her bag.
I guess to, like, Century,
it's like she's got Matrix souls,
like, just in her bag.
How is it any different, Century, you hypocrite?
But she's not using them as, like, doilies and notebooks.
As far as you know.
Oh, we're onto you!
She can use them as notebooks.
They've all got knowledge.
Out of interest as well, like, when you were saying that, like,
Rhiannon loves Azaria, but Sentry is, like, fully against it.
In the new campaign, there is an entire continent of Azaria perils.
Yes!
I want to start there.
Rhiannon was talking about it.
Can we start there?
No, you don't start there.
We're going to find out. But there is is like a whole whole ass nation of the zari we're going there straight away sure
right yeah um i mean where is there a place in the historia that we could
yeah i mean there's there's places to say, there's barracks and stuff, yeah.
D1 can take you to, like, quarters, basically.
Like, a kind of, they are quite utilitarian.
They're, you know, it's not as fancy
as your suite on Horizon.
They're not as homely as the Storm Chaser.
You've kind of all made the Storm Chaser your own,
you know, you've filled it with your own stuff
and your own things.
It's much more homely on the Storm Chaser.
Can we not just stay on the Storm Chaser?
Because the Storm Chaser's on the Astoria. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely can. Yeah, so you much more homely on the Stormchaser. Can we not just stay on the Stormchaser? Because the Stormchaser's on the Astoria.
Yeah.
Absolutely can.
Yes, you should probably check in on the crew,
make sure they're okay for the travel ahead.
Get them ready for the next.
Make sure they're not too hungover again.
D1.
This time, like, the full head comes out the floor.
Howdy, champions.
Amazing. I love that. I love you. She loves that, but not as much out the floor. Howdy, champions. Amazing.
I love that.
I love you.
She loves that, but not as much.
I am also greatly appreciative of you.
Sentinel Prime.
Oh.
If Azaria summons you, don't go to her.
She might.
Just a warning.
I'd rather you didn't.
Think how deep I'll respond to this now.
Is there some concern with Azaria Perel's presence aboard the Astoria?
It's just what she does. Just stay clear.
She is currently experimenting on one of the maidens to determine our current breaking point.
Or some technical kind of... To determine our current breaking point or like you know some technical kind of
you know to determine our stress uh thresholds and and damage possibilities but it's just d1 just
like it's like yep that's a thing that's happening do you consent to that we consent to any request
made by the approved board of the champions of arois basically they anybody that you let on this
ship the maidens will do whatever they tell them.
Because the maidens are just following orders.
They're just literally following a program.
Can you take your orders from Rain?
You know, if someone new was to come on the ship,
don't take their orders unless Rain tells you that they're approved.
Because in some cases,
if someone comes onto the ship and is not approved
and they're in a holding cell,
they could in theory ask you to do something
and we don't want you to do that
unless they're approved.
D1 says,
Acknowledging.
We are...
We are...
I am currently in the process
of designating Rain as our...
Moderator.
Authorization.
Yeah, authorization will be dispatched to Commander Rain of Horizon.
Would you like us to retract Azaria Perel's current command status?
Oh, she'd be pissed.
I don't think so.
It wouldn't be wise.
We just gave her all our money.
Just please ensure that any maidens involved in her testing
have explicit consent
and can withdraw their consent at any time.
We understand.
I don't think they understand.
And that all of Azaria Perel's requests are reported to rain.
Yes.
That can be arranged.
Thank you.
Thank you, champions.
Will that be all?
I think she's going to meld.
So quick and sudden.
Just disappears on the floor.
I want to do that.
Don't try it.
It looks dangerous. I go really small.
And she just lies on the floor.
Just like presses her face into the stone.
I'm like, is it happening yet?
We'll just find a tree and then maybe...
Saviour of the Guardian people.
Sentinel Prime we're looking at right now.
Imagine Optimus Prime just laying on the ground being like,
How I wish to become the ground.
Are there bots?
Is it happening?
Is it happening?
Are there bots?
Roll out.
Or bots just rolling slowly away.
Just like grinding their face on.
Love it.
All right.
So you guys make your way back to the storm chaser.
Everyone's fine.
They're not drunk.
They are all kind of like, you know, staying on top of things.
They know that they've got missions upcoming and things are happening.
Yes.
I'll give a brief, brief to like the wolf crew.
Telling them that we're entering a jungle,
and, you know, the basics that there are undead,
so be careful of being overwhelmed,
that sort of thing.
Stay in a pack.
Oh, you always stay in a pack.
What am I talking about?
A riot will say, so is the...
Just so I understand,
we are landing the storm chaser and...
No, we're being dropped.
All of us, or just us?
Just us.
Right, okay.
Oh, yeah.
However, if there is the threat of undead,
I don't know if there's any flying entities
out there or whatnot.
That's fine.
We've trained to deal with flying threats
and if they trample the storm chaser,
we will obviously fight them and see them off.
You have a messenger ring.
I do, yes.
So either me or Central will be in touch when we require an evacuation.
Yes, very well.
I have only briefly seen reports.
I was not present in the meeting, but I've been contacted to say that I know that there
are specific points that we can only access.
This jungle is quite a thick canopy, so you will need to make your way
to one of these evacuation points if you need us but we can arrange that normally rivers can be
accessed as well so if you can make it to a large river the storm chaser should be able to descend
at least close enough for you to use magic to reach us or something. Good to know. Thank you. But yes, we'll be departing tomorrow
once Valor is back, and we
have our supplies.
Alright. I will have the crew prepared
that we will set sail tomorrow.
Full salute.
Full salute.
Nice. Wonderful.
Alright. Well, with that, unless there's
anything else going down, it's going to be a long rest.
Yeah.
I want to have a quick talk with Quill, though.
Okay.
Is this about the prototype?
Oh, yeah.
I haven't quite finished it yet.
Oh, but you said, what is it?
No, it's like a version 2.0 of your wing.
Oh.
I've been watching you use it,
so I was thinking of a few improvements and things like that.
Is it, like, smoother in the elbow?
Because I have noticed sometimes it catches.
Okay, I'll work on that.
Oh, okay.
It wasn't about that, though.
Oh.
I had a really personal question for you.
Oh, I'm really good with personal questions.
Okay, but it could help us with what we're about to encounter.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, sure.
You know when you died?
Uh, yes.
Bringing up again, yes.
Yes.
Century also.
Okay, I guess.
No, she didn't.
No, but this wouldn't have affected Century.
Sorry, Century.
Did you see Kalara?
I did, yes.
I did.
Yeah, she guided me past the cradle and beyond
and then put me in some calm state.
It was nice, though.
Really nice.
Was there anything that you remember
from your interaction that could help us?
Note to podcast listeners,
Tom is pulling a face.
One that Kim expected
when she used the word,
do you remember?
Yeah, and I get told that the book vibrates
any time I give Tom information, so he's on his own this time. the word do you remember yeah and uh i get i get told that the book vibrates anytime i give tom
information so he's on his own this time um well what scaldi said about lantern
i definitely definitely remember the lantern uh lighting the path and guiding us through and also
this tether tying me to Eros.
And it's the tether that I use to find the way back.
I don't know necessarily if the lantern was creating that tether,
but when she said to trust the lantern, I believed it.
And that's all I remember.
No, it could be of great use.
It's all hazy.
You know, I was dead.
And now you're back with me.
And now I'm back with Ayla.
And me.
Who's the tree?
And you.
I'm not a tree.
But you can.
Maybe part of it.
I don't understand it.
Okay, it's a sensitive topic.
Trees are weird to me right now.
Wait.
No.
Century, that goes through Ayla.
No, you can't do that, Century.
Can we try? No, absolutely not.
What would happen?
You would get hurt. Because I would stop you from doing that.
Fair point.
So, anything else?
No.
Alright. Long rest. Evening comes.
Yep.
You sleep?
I have prepared a whole new host of stuff.
You basically have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day.
I have to spend a whole day. I have to spend a whole day. I have to spend a whole day. I have to spend a whole day. I have to spend a whole day. So, anything else? No. All right. Long rest. Evening comes.
Yep.
You sleep?
I have prepared a whole new host of spells.
You basically have to spend a whole day waiting.
You can do obviously small bits of prep
and spend time with the crew and things like that.
But eventually, one of the maidens delivers a package from Zarya Perel,
which is the scrolls and potions.
She didn't even come and deliver it.
She's busy.
She's got stuff to do.
There's bones on it.
It makes no sense.
Oh, no, no.
It's like, yeah, it's absolutely looking
at a wrapped, like, black package
tied with, like, two little crossed bones,
like, to hold the package top in place.
It's like a lovely little cute Japanese bento
that's been wrapped up,
but it's had bones used to seal it in place,
and the black fabric has, like, embroidered lace skulls.
How is it?
So is it just hands appearing and throwing the package along?
No, this is like an actual maiden is actually physically carrying it.
Nice.
That's a relief.
This one would be a topaz.
T-19.
This will be T-az. T-19. This will be T-19.
T-19.
Yeah, Topaz 19.
Topaz is not T-2000.
T-100.
T-100.
Do-do-do-do-do.
Do-do-do-do-do.
The maiden's just like in a lava pit.
Do-do-do.
Yeah.
But yes.
Thank you for the package. You are welcome you are welcome champions well here's the potion
okay i'll take that for now yeah so do you get the death ward uh i'll have that one two of those yeah
there you go thank you um who wants the books i'll put my spare potion of necrotic energy in there
but that means you have to keep the box with the bones on it, Sentry.
Oh no, this is for either you or Nova to have.
Who wants the potion?
Oh. It's up to you. I mean, someone can death ward me, you can have a potion.
I'll take the potion, thank you.
Potions roll the box.
No, I'm keeping that!
Tiangong catches it.
Yeah!
I'm guessing Valor will know we're here,
but we could check in on her.
Mm-hm.
I thought you said you were going to send her a message
when you were ready to go.
Yeah, I mean, if we were just waiting for this package to arrive,
I probably would have sending to her.
Yeah, yeah.
She'll teleport in with Max,
and also she will bring with her Steve and Elsa as well. I probably would have sending to her. Yeah, yeah. She'll teleport in with Max.
And also she will bring with her Stave and Dousa as well.
Of course.
Who are still on Horizon.
Sort of Max, you know,
went and fetched them
and they've come with her.
Stave will kind of look around
and be like,
ah, champions of Rois.
Good to see you again.
Good to see you too.
Looking forward to the trip?
I expect it will be easier and faster aboard the Storm Chaser than it was previously. Good to see you again. Good to see you too. Looking forward to the trip?
I expect it will be easier and faster aboard the Stormchaser than it was previously.
Let me introduce you to Uriah, who's Helm's... Very good. I will be happy to assist in any navigation purposes.
Dowser can also provide his support.
This is the crew.
Hello.
Crew, Guardians. I am Stave. This is the crew. Hello. Crew. Guardians.
I am Stave.
This is Dowser.
We are with the scouting unit based in northern Jakesh.
And the crew are just like, okay.
Lookout's like, it is a pleasure to meet you, fellow Guardians.
It is also a pleasure to meet you.
Hello.
What is your designation?
I am Lookout.
I am Stave.
They have that awkward conversation.
And then Dowser weirdly sounds
completely different to these two as
sometimes Guardians, there's like a default
voice profile that some Guardians have
and then there's ones who have more original
voice. Dowser's like, I don't know why they talk like that!
Who is your Captain Lookout?
Lookout?
Captain Lucius
Varian Elowen Elanasto of Gusthaven.
Well done.
Kelek Adkolar.
Yeah, nice one.
Son of a bitch.
Stave will work with Quill and Araya to basically set the coordinates.
Show them the map.
It's really cool.
Yeah, so Stave waves their hand,
and they project this illusion onto the sort the main deck of the Storm Chaser,
and you do see that there is this thick jungle canopy
that covers this wide area,
and there are pockets where there's clearings and glades
and a big long river,
and Stave points those out, and they say,
these are the only points that we can attempt entry.
The jungle canopy is too thick.
Airships will be unable to provide support.
Here, and they point to a certain one,
we've established a forward outpost at this location.
Excellent.
Well, if everyone is ready.
Mm-hmm.
And Valor arrives.
Valor is here.
Oh, there's Valor.
I'm here, Lucien.
Sorry.
Yes, I don't know how you want to...
When we arrive there, the Guardians mention that we'll need to sort of drop down.
Max and I can just come with you immediately if you want,
or we can wait on the airship for a bit,
wait till they're all clear and then come down, or...
Maybe we should scout ahead first.
If you want to, yeah.
Figure out what we're actually up against.
Max will say
I would prefer it if her ladyship is kept out of harm's way
as long as possible
her powers are still developing
and I know that you are
more, you will worry less
if we are not around to be watched over
I think once we've laid a path
to the hold itself
we'll contact you
a safe route Valor will actually say Once we've laid a path to the hold itself, we'll contact you.
A safe route.
Yeah, and Valor will actually say,
ah, if that's the case, let me give you this.
And she will give you... It's just like a hair clip that she wore when she was a kid,
and it doesn't really fit anymore.
It's too small.
But she will give it to you, Lucius, in fact.
She'll say, if you keep this with you,
it will make it easier for me to teleport to you.
Write that down. I've only got feathers now. Right. with you it will make it me it will make it easier for me to teleport to you um
i've only got feathers now right and you don't have to wear it you just have to have it on you
you can wear it if you really want to he'll just clip it on his little jacket it's like um it's just like uh it's a siasca's holy symbol but like as a little barrett like a little barrett hair
clip that she wore when she was a little kid.
It's lovely.
Thanks.
It was a gift from Corrin and Yusuf.
Very nice.
I'll make sure it doesn't get lost.
You don't have to make that face.
What?
Everyone knows they're dead. They got brutally murdered.
I'm just thinking about how horribly they died.
Evil Hadar-touched Goliath man killed him um anyway uh so with that yeah you
make your way it is gonna be i think on the storm chaser three days to travel there okay
so you have some time you could do the magic thing i'm not the magic one that is oh my God yeah if you would like me to try yes we do
have some time baby I won't ask throughout it would have to be someone else prodding Valor
turn Lucius into a baby now I don't want no I'm not going to I'm hoping not to turn him into a baby. Okay, but if you do, it's fine.
I can try and use my power to try and make him a high elf again, yes.
Thank you, Vala.
Baby's fine.
Vala will sort of gather everyone and is like,
now Lucius, we have some time.
Would you like me to try and turn you back into being a high elf?
I suppose so.
If you think this is possible, it's not going to exert you or
compromise our mission in any way i don't think so i think we have three days worst case scenario no
i think yes i think it won't compromise anything i i think it will be all right all right um
at least i can certainly try the first two days,
and worst case scenario,
maybe you go back to being a peacock
if I can't get it quite right.
All right.
Then I trust you, Valor.
All right.
You should probably order the crew
to stay clear of the open deck.
If we do it out here on the main deck,
it's going to be safer, I think.
I don't want to do it near the engines or anything that's important okay now I'm
panicking do we need to get pants on standby I don't know Nova I don't know
what's going to happen pants on standby oh we shouldn't need to I think cuz
remember the clothes changed with him on standby yeah that's So, didn't plan for this.
It's a bit off the cuff,
but I have in my head an idea of what it's going to be.
Valor places you on the main deck of the Storm Chasers, Lucius,
and has everybody...
I just pictured her literally picking me up like a toy.
No.
She has you stand sort of on the main open deck,
away from her.
Right here?
And she has everybody like, she's like, everyone keep your distance, stay clear.
Do I breathe?
Yes, just breathe.
Wings out, wings in?
Just whatever is comfortable. Just don't ask me too many questions.
Sorry.
Just let me focus.
Don't think of the baby. It's too late.
And she places her hands in front of her.
And when she opens her eyes,
they're pure purple,
like this pulsing magic.
And you see the hair sort of beginning to lift
off of her shoulders like it did before,
like her mother's hair.
And it begins to pulse with magic,
purple flowing through to the ends.
And you begin to see that familiar shape
of a clock and a wheel
and these kind of different geometric shapes appearing around her
kind of turning around her um she then projects outwards forming a triangle with her fingers
and around you lucis uh a series of triangles forming like a 3d shape kind of appears around
you it's different and you feel like magic over you. I need you to make a...
charisma saving throw.
Okay.
Can I messenger ring to Lucius whilst it's happening and just say,
remember, we all love you for you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Fifteen. Okay. Thank you. 15.
Total?
Oh, wait.
Charisma save.
Yeah, charisma save me through.
21.
Okay.
You feel this pulse wave of magic kind of wash over you,
and Valor begins twisting one of her hands.
She kind of pulls it back.
Doctor Strange-esque begins kind of like spinning a clock almost.
And you all watch as, yeah, like Lucius,
your mind stays the same.
Like your memories, your consciousness stays aware of the fact,
but you do feel like a tingling all over your body.
Your vision becomes so blurred,
you can't see anything, Lucius.
You're aware of stuff happening,
but everything just becomes colors and shapes,
completely unaware of what exactly is happening.
The rest of you do begin to see Lucius's body change.
I am going to roll a d100
okay the complications dice yeah
interesting so i would like chris trot to roll a d12 interesting and also tell me what that is well we'll find out and also tell
me what your base like human years age would be like is lucius like would he be like a sort of 26
25 yeah i think 27-ish 20 okay 27 right roll the d12 for me. It's an eight.
An eight.
Okay.
So you guys watch as Lucius,
the peacock form, almost like in reverse,
when he used the wish ring,
you watched his whole body turn white
and then it kind of shifted and distended
into the peacock form.
The same thing happens, but now in reverse.
The peacock becomes pure white
and you see the form shift back into the limbs of a high elf.
You see it begin to shift.
And Valor, you can see sweat pouring, dripping down her
as she's like trying to tweak like a clock.
Like she's trying to edit the seconds, the milliseconds of it.
You watch as Lucius's body shifts back into being a human.
You see the skin color begin to return and things like that.
But there's definitely a step too far
where the limbs seem a little bit shorter.
Not too much, only ever so slightly.
Well, I guess I'll leave it up to Chris Trott in a minute
to fully describe it.
But Valor eventually has to stop what she's doing, and you feel this kind of, like,
pop in the air as the magic is released, like a pressure was building, and Valor is, like,
gasping for air, you can see sweat kind of dripping down her skin, and she kind of slicks her long
dark hair back, her long, like, straight dark hair, and she she kind of was like that wasn't 100 right but it was
close it was close i think i think i can do this next time and what you see is what would lucius
have looked like when he was about 19. so like would he have had like a different haircut would
he have felt like you know like would he have been skinnier would he have been bigger like
that's when we saw it go backwards in time would we have seen like the brown hair lucius flick
yeah you do yeah you did but it's like instant it's like you've and like you see also beyond
that but yeah very lucius you see like a scar like rip up lucius's chest like from when he got
the impaling and stuff like that that'd be gone that be gone now? Yeah, yeah. It just like, it goes...
And then it, you know,
like you basically see anything that's happened to Lucius
in the last sort of eight years
flash by like super quickly.
But the Lucius that appears,
that appears in front of everyone
is like a 19-year-old Lucius.
Like equivalent of human years, 19.
So in elven years, that's probably like 30-something.
Because we don't do quite as long-lived elves in Arisa.
I was going to say, does it have dark black hair and a fringe?
Or is that too obvious?
Not quite that far.
Lucius definitely did have a rebellious streak.
He was coming out of it at this point,
but he's always been a good boy.
So at best, at this time in his life,
I think he'd still have long hair,
but it's shaved on one side.
Oh!
Yep, so still long blonde hair,
but a buzz cut on this kind of side.
And it's just got intricate patterns and things shaved.
Like a Nike zipper.
No, but like elven run of like you know runes and
yeah yeah yeah that's cool um the clothing stays the same uh because it was your body that she was
fixing not the clothing so it is still like peak though it would have gone back to being lucius's
clothes that you wore before but she doesn't know what you was wearing before. She can't change that.
So it's what you were wearing as adult Lucius.
Maybe it just fits a little differently.
Like you haven't quite grown fully into the shoulders yet.
It's definitely gone up since.
Yeah, exactly, right?
Like you're not as broad, but you're probably still as tall.
You're just not as broad and it hangs a bit looser.
Everything else is the same.
Your mind is exactly the same.
Like that was the charisma saving throw
you've retained 100% of your personality
your memories, all of that
remains the same, but yeah
it's just ever so slightly younger
I did not roll a
crazy roll on the D100
catastrophic
it's very minor inconvenience
for now
she does now need to try and age you up
to get you to match
and if things go wrong
that could change.
Yeah, doesn't Lucius have a small little goatee as well?
Ordinarily.
Not at this age.
Yeah, so he's clean shaven now.
It would be clean shaven.
Or is it like just this really gross...
No, I didn't get...
Fail will kill him.
He's past the like,
nah, just give up on the beard for now.
So it's just clean shaven.
Clean shaven.
Yeah.
Shaved patterned side of the head.
Long flowing blonde hair.
Yep.
A bit more, you know.
Yeah.
Creasy.
You would still have your dichromancy as well
because that I think came in when you,
like you wouldn't have had that as a baby baby
That came in like the magicka kind of took effect
So you still have your dichromancy and stuff
So yeah
And yeah you feel
So for Lucius you're like
And you can you know you have fingers
And elbows
Oh it feels so weird
Like I've lost a lot of weight
But with feathers
Wait Valor is it good to approach now?
Yes, yes, I...
Thank you, Valor, you've done it.
Not quite.
You're a bit younger than you were.
I can try and fix that tomorrow.
A few years, it's hard to get the exact details,
but I kept it mostly in control.
It's okay.
You're not a baby.
I'm not a baby, and I was very worried about that the whole time.
I thought my thoughts would...
You'd think and hear my thoughts,
and then I'd be a baby and we'd both be babies.
I don't know, I was worried.
I think that if anybody had gotten too close,
that might have changed,
but we'll need to see what happens tomorrow.
But yes, I think tomorrow I might be able to just adjust ever so slightly
and bring you back to where you were.
I think it's about eight years. Eight years difference.
I need to rest. I'm so sorry, Lucius.
I just need to rest now. That's fine.
And Max is like, come on.
Thank you, Velma. It's wonderful.
Yeah, the rest of you, yeah. It's like a 19-year-old Lucius.
Your hair looks amazing.
I've always wanted to do that.
Oh.
I've always wanted to do that.
I didn't... How did this did this okay yes um i went through
a phase it's good thank you how long does it take to do the the pattern oh i had it done obviously
oh it's very nice it was on custom and you just paid someone else to do it thank you i'm trying
to remember there's something else missing as well from your face i can't what do you mean
eyes are still the same yeah? Eyes are still the same?
Yeah, the eyes are still the same.
No beak.
Have you always had...
Did he ever go to you before?
Oh.
Oh, I guess, yeah, that makes...
Yeah, it feels a bit colder on the chin.
That checks out, yes.
Naked little baby bum.
Yeah, I couldn't really grow a good one.
I'm sorry I didn't turn him into a baby.
Damn.
But... Goo-goo-ga-ga. I'm sorry I didn't turn him into a baby. Goo goo gaga.
I mean, you're still
Lucius, the one that has
been an Aarakocra, right?
Quill. Perfect. Great.
I remember being a peacock
and now I'm not a peacock.
Great. You haven't de-aged in that way then.
I'm trying to like
feel my arcane
energies.
Sense my powers. that's a good question
like the gauntlet
does this make sense to me?
yeah yeah
like all your memories are there
but it's an interesting one
because your mind is the same
there's a realisation
when you were this age
you could not conjure half the spells
you could barely conjure magic like you were still discovering you were this age, you could not conjure half the spells. You could barely conjure magic.
Like, you were still discovering, you know, you were level two.
So you were still conjuring, like, first-level spells,
and you were unlocking that power.
You know, but that knowledge is still there.
And with it comes a realization.
This power, the sheer volume of magic
that you've been able to conjure in these last few months has always been there.
It is through these experiences, it is through everything that has happened to you that have unlocked that potential.
And that potential is still unlocked now.
So your body is younger and is in a state where you couldn't have conjured these spells before.
Now, you never attempted to use
this kind of magic when you were
younger. Who knows if that might have
some consequences, but
you still remember how to do it.
You've not lost any of your abilities.
You are still the same high-level
character. It's just a physical change
of your body. The magic were the friends you
made along the way.
It's just a physical change of your body. The magic were the friends you made along the way. It's more like
dire circumstances have unlocked
this hidden potential. Yeah.
Hindsight's a
funny thing.
I wish I had
this power.
Just a few months ago.
Oh well.
Yeah. You also, like, your memories of being a 19-year-old, you were very different. Oh, well. Yeah.
You also, like, your memories of being a 19-year-old,
you were very different back then as well, like, as a person.
Like, you've still got all of that knowledge. How is that fresher in my mind?
I think so.
I think that there's, like, you can recall memories of that time easier.
And it's, there's an element,
and it's up to you how Lucius feels about this,
but, yeah, you can see yourself as that younger person being a lot more attached to Daddy and it's there's an element and it's up to you how Lucius feels about this but yeah
you can see yourself
as that younger person
being a lot more
attached to daddy
and being a lot
less independent
and being a lot less wise
as well
and like having less
of this knowledge
and those memories
are fresher
so how Lucius chooses
to deal with that
post being bullied
at skydusting
by the McGruder family
and that caused the rebellious streak.
I'm just kind of coming out the tail end of it now, I think.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So those memories are fresher.
A bit raw.
It contrasts with this hindsight, with this, you know, grown-up mentality.
Like an adult looking back.
Yeah, but looking back with, like, super clear, like, oh, God, yeah.
Yeah, basically.
Cool.
Got it.
But, yeah, there you go. Some, yeah, basically, yeah, got it.
But, yeah, there you go.
Some lucky rolls.
That could have gone very badly.
Could it?
If I had, I basically had it that, like, the lower the roll,
the less dramatic of a change it would be.
So, like, you know, it would be, like, a threshold.
So a D12 potentially could have resulted maximum of being, like, 15 again.
So, like, a teenager, and, you know,
you made the saving throw to keep all your abilities. Oh, so lower would would have been closer then so if it had been a higher percentile roll if i'd rolled like 99 i was gonna be like you're a baby rolling of the age like
but i rolled very very low so i kept it like i kept it like it was like a 30. So I was like, okay, a D12 might end up as a teenager,
but could also just lose a couple of years.
And then you could decide.
You might just be like, if it had been two years,
you might be like, no, I'll stay like this.
I've got an extra couple of years shaving off easy.
So, yeah.
So there you go.
One less scar on the body as well.
Yeah, yeah.
That's the other thing.
It's like, yeah, no scars.
Yeah.
But all the memories, all the physical. Scars are well. Yeah, yeah. That's the other thing. It's like, yeah, like, no scars. Yeah. But all the memories, all the physical.
Scars are inside.
Yeah, yeah.
Absolutely.
Scars are the friends he made along the way.
Here's a My Alchemical Romance music rock.
There you go.
Enjoy.
I'm so into this at 19.
And with that, that's where we're going to end the episode.
Okay.
With that lovely little Lucius.
Back, baby.
Lucius is a young boy.
There he was. A, baby. Lucius is a young boy. I was a young boy.
My mama.
Took me into the Sky City
to see a jousting man.
Wow.
Lucius would be more
into like niche alternatives.
Oh, right.
Out of form of the romance
or too mainstream?
Too mainstream.
Yeah, yeah.
Whatever.
Yeah.
Oh. At least it's not Fae Pop, you know.
Oh, God, Fae Pop.
I'm so angry that you've made that a thing.
Discord made Fae Pop a thing.
Yeah.
I didn't think of the name, but I love it.
I'm like, that's perfect.
Pretty good.
Hell yeah.
Well, that's the end of the episode.
Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time. Bye good. Hell yeah. Well, that's the end of the episode. Thanks for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.