High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #170 | The Star of Siaska (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

The Stormchasers recover from recent events... but luckily a new character is here to help! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to Erois. Racing to the center of Vortensar to stop Harmony and Shansara's plans, our heroes engaged in a frantic battle amidst an epic concert. Desperate to stop Quill's vision of the city's destruction, the party did their best to prevent the activation of the teleport devices hidden throughout the city, even going as far to use Lucius's wish spell to rewind time to buy them a second chance. But sadly, Shansara was still able to activate it. As the statues of the city began to power up with elemental magic, it became apparent that something

wasn't right, and when the air statue of Kari exploded, the entire system went haywire. Temporarily, the group aligned with their enemies and teleported to the location of the device and tried to control the powerful magic at work, but sadly, despite their best efforts, they couldn't overcome the sheer power of elemental forces at work. As Nova, Tiangong, Shansara and Harmony all vanished into the magical maelstrom, the rest of the party were forced to flee. The out-of-control power suddenly vanished as the remaining champions and the storm chaser returned to Vortensar

and sought out the ruins of the air statue to find Nova. But they could find only broken remnants, and using the Eye of the Storm, Quill saw her soul returned to astral space. Gone. And that is literally where we pick fresh up. Should I be here right now? You can be here for now, yeah. But you have to just sit there and be quiet.

Get out of here! I'm just gonna browse Reddit. Yeah, sure. You can try and ruin the somber mood. You can try. The city of Vortenstar is mostly saved the air district has suffered pretty extensive damage thanks to the the collapsing statue um there are several other parts of the city that have suffered damage from the out of control magic as well

but the city is in that sort of state of shock initially and when the storm chaser flew in you were unopposed. You landed, you've been pouring through the rubble trying to find remnants, and I believe that the very broken, and they are clearly unsalvageable, almost crumbling in your hands, the eclipsed twin mood blades, this artifact of Kalara, the only thing that even remotely survived and will never be able to be repaired or function again um you find no bodies you find no sign quill having dispensed the information of

the vision you stand there amidst the rubble of this terrible terrible thing so the twin blades they are literally crumbling away right now within Within... they are broken. They are gone. Okay, I was gonna try and preserve them in some way or... They are. You can see that the only reason they are even in the state they are in now is because of the sheer power of the artifact form of their nature but this maelstrom whatever Nova and Tiangong harmony and Shunzara were in was so powerful it has you know it has destroyed this artifact um and you know it has created a huge extensive damage to the city as well it isn't long before the storm chaser crew do sort of come running to report to you and say like uh Araya would say, Captain, I know that this is a grave, grave scenario, but we've seen some of these Valkyrian forces

that are still in the city. There are also the city guards. They are now surging through, and it is causing quite a storm. I'm not sure if we can, if we should stay here. I don't know. Lucid just shakes himself out of a thousand yard stare. And yes, you're right.

We should go as soon as possible. It doesn't matter where. Just take us away. Sure. And I was like, OK, I'll start getting everyone on board. And they start kind of like pulling people up, kind of getting the crew ready to leave. You guys, obviously, you know, they give you as much time as you need but they are the ship is making themselves ready

at some point quill you would receive a sending spell it's a ganassi voice one you don't recognize but they basically are on behalf of norfear they contact you to say that Norfear, Tornado and a few others managed to survive the efforts that they were going for, but are clearly aware that something, as far as they're aware, it is a victory, even though something went wrong, the city is still here, it's still safe, but they are making their way out of Vornsaar and heading out of the city because right now the city is blaming the Seekers and you guys for this event. And the Seekers, they're gathering everyone up and they are leaving Vornsaar, heading north to try and get somewhere safe. Hmm. A victory. Thank you.

Well, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, if we were all just on the ship, just fleeing the city. Well, right now, I'm assuming like the ship is getting ready. I'm assuming you guys are still down by the rubble because I wanted to check on Century and everyone else. Make sure that everyone else had something, you know, if there was anything you guys wanted to do. But yeah, once you're ready, just say the word and the ship will take you out of here.

I think Sentry would be like just trying to help people and just like just being busy. Yeah, there's definitely injured around here and like you're pulling people free of like collapsed buildings and rubble and stuff. And in their sort of shock and the situation, they don't really care who you are. You know, you can probably spend, I'd say like maybe sort of like if you want if you have you any hate lay on hands left let's see I might have used it all I've got some cute I've got 20 points of lay on hands left okay so with I'd say if you use up the remaining of that 20 points of lay on hands or if you want to spend some first level spells you can kind of

heal the people who are on like death's door yeah you pull a few citizens free you kind of give them to their families who are waiting nearby or trying to pull them out and help them um busying yourself with doing what you can just try not to think just yeah and the efforts are not rebuked but there is clearly as you begin to pull people free and as people are kind of overcoming the shock there is this sort of look towards your group and in horror but also you know like knowing that they are powerless against you like you get start seeing the looks of blame and sort of that hurts century a lot yeah yeah sort of nobody says anything but it's not hard to tell that everyone's looking in sort of your direction the direction of the ship of like they did this she just can't like look them in the eyes she's

just just yeah like walks away kind of thing once thing, once you've helped them and stuff. And it's not immediate, right? It's like, once you've pulled them through and people overcome the shot, they start looking and they begin backing away. And you can just, you recognise it. It's not... What is Aayla doing? Probably still looking for any... Sign.

Any sign, anything of Nova's at all. I think like, Aeloy, you literally pulling up rocks and throwing them to the side, digging through the ground, almost like hands covered in marks and cuts and bruises as you're pulling stuff up. You get to the point where you're feeling on the edge of exhaustion and your muscles are aching and tired and there's just nothing.

There's just nothing here. Nothing of either or any of them. Harmony, Shansara, Tiangong, nothing. Ayla's not upset looking at the people that are clearly blaming. In the opposite of Sentry, she's angry at them because Nova tried to save them and they didn't listen to her.

And it's because of that that she's not here. And so Aayla's not upset by that. She's just going to be really angry and she's going to walk away. They recoil. As soon as they see your look of anger, they recoil and run as if... She's not going to go away. They recoil. As soon as they see your look of anger, they recoil and run as if... She's not going to go towards them or anything.

But if you look at them, they immediately are pulling themselves away and running for cover almost. Scared people who just don't really understand what's happened. And she'll probably just walk, start leaving towards the ship, but lightning crackling in her clenched fists, she's not gonna do anything, but she's just so...

Repressing the rage right now. Yeah. Yeah, cool. And then Quill and Lucius, I'm gonna go to Lucius, you're making your way back to the ship and sort of helping get her ready, or are you sort of taking a moment? It's kind of like, definitely out of sorts, kind of just drifting through the motions at the moment,

just looking around and not really getting stuck into anything, like seeing Sentry help, seeing Aayla trying to dig up. Just kind of watching you. It's almost like a flashbang went off and he's got the ringing in his ears of just trying to absorb everything that's going on at the moment. But then he looks to Quill, kind of it all kind of settling in. There's something we can do.

I was thinking that. I think this entire time, if he was phased out completely, I've been suggesting like, I know you used Wish before, we can resurrect, but I mean, the blades, they're crumbling away.

I don't think we can use those. I could wait until the Isle of Storm comes back and maybe I can get some answers that way. Just tell me there's something we can do. I'm thinking as hard as I can. That's all we need right now is hope. Okay, before we get to hope, Lucius, was this our fault? Let's not get to that until we're on the ship.

Okay. We're not in the right circumstance right now to debrief. Let's get on the ship. As you guys finish that conversation, begin making your way, you begin seeing in the distance one of these Valkyrian, that remaining transport ship that you didn't steal like making its way in this direction and you begin to hear sort of like cries and shouts um and arise like quickly now we need to leave like kind of like

calling out like these people don't look like they're here to talk like they look angry um and you begin to see like a few of like you know in the distance few of in the distance things happening. You board the ship, you board the storm chaser and Araya pulls it away. The storm chaser, much more adapted to Eros's environment, is much quicker than these Valkyrian transports and you can leave unless you want to engage them, unless you want to be like,

no, fucking let's take these guys down. But Araya's like, I'm happy to just get us out of here, head north. They can't keep up with the Storm Chaser. There's a moment where Lucius is like, I should address the crowd, but he thinks it's going to be futile and everyone's at peak emotions, and

this is something we're going to have to come back to when things have settled somewhat. Diplomacy can come later, but at least they're alive. Sure. Storm Chaser heads north. Somewhat. Diplomacy can come later, but at least they're alive. Sure. All right.

Stormchaser heads north. You know, we can jump ahead a little bit. Like, it takes you maybe, like, you spend a couple of hours traveling, getting away from Vortensar, and the Valkyrians don't pursue. They focus on what's happening in the city. You guys make your way north, and through a combination of sending spells sent to Quill by Ignacy, who working with the Seekers you can probably rendezvous with Norfear and arrange a place to meet with them. It'll take them a little bit longer they're traveling by foot so they'll reach you within a

day but you could basically the Storm Chaser settles down it finds somewhere to you know a big open field and you know somewhere to kind of like moor and anchor itself down and arise like the crew and I can keep things running here. I suspect you all need some time to think and talk and settle things down. We'll be nearby if you need us. And if there's anything, if you need to go anywhere, if there's something we can do,

if there's a place we can go to bring her back, we go as soon as we're ready. It's the first thing we're going to do. We're just going to decide how. All right, well, we'll leave you to it. She'll kind of say, like, I'll be on the deck. I'll have Howard and Greilano will be outside if you need them, and everyone will be around

if you need us. Thank you. Yeah, and you know, yeah, like Tornado and Norfear are coming here. Quill, do you tell them via sending what has happened i don't want to like necessarily do the full 25 words like you guys have got enough spell slots that you can exchange a few messages back and forth words no yeah yeah i mean do you but do you tell them i mean i i kind of have to. Like, I feel like they, through all their messages,

are going to be asking, like, what happened? How did you do it? Blah, blah, blah. I think they don't necessarily, like, because the sending is not as unlimited as that. It's basically a case of, like, you know, Norfyr's message would be, like, is everyone okay? Have you gotten out of the city? You know, people, you and it's they basically say

that like in terms of like and tornado probably one of tornado's messages is basically on the lines of like yep the seeker like the seekers and you may be hated but the city is safe that's what we wanted that's what's important i don't care if they hate me i don't care if they hate us what matters is they're safe. Bro. Got a bro in there. There's a bro in there. Bro. But yeah, but yeah, but that's like, you know,

you kind of get those messages and then, you know, do you in your response tell them? I mean, I don't think I have it in me to tell Tornado, but if Norfair is asking, is everyone okay yeah then I mean obviously the answer is no then I'll tell North it but you and you want to say that Nova is is dead like Nova is gone yeah yeah yeah you just get a very short communication back which is like we will get to you as soon as we can. Yeah.

All right. Will you guys gather together in the, I guess, the captain's quarters in the Stormchaser in the meeting room? Yeah, Lucius would have called everyone to be like, come to, or send a message around to everybody. It's not hard. And yeah, he's just solemn as everyone comes in, I guess. Just head in his hands, and the captain's hat on the floor.

What do we do, everyone? How's everyone holding up? Oh, we need to clean. There's a cobweb up in the corner there, and there's scratches over there that need to be polished out, I think, over there. Crumbs on carpet down there that need sorting out, so we'll have to do that.

Um... Sentry. I think there's wolf hair. Sentry. Over there. That will all get done. It's time. We don't need to do it now, Lucius. It needs to be done now. I understand, but... I think it's important to take stock of what's going on and process it together.

We're all here. I can't feel those feelings again, Lucius. I don't... Well, saying that, we don't have to. I don't want to. I don't want to lose anyone else. And I refuse to. It's stubborn. It's selfish.

But she gave too much. And she's now hated. I think she deserves to see all of us through to the end. The real end. That was not her time. Although you did see how she spoke with Tiangong at the end. Again, it's her choice. gone at the end. Again, it's her choice. If we have any way of getting her back,

I at least want to speak and ask her first. I think she took the noble act that was the only option available at the time, and she put everyone else instead of herself. Of course. at the time and she put everyone else instead of herself of course but there's so much more we need her for we need her we can't do this without her no we can't oh she's really gone isn't she i i refuse to believe it century she may be gone now look at us. Look how far we've come. The powers that we have together combined,

is there not one way? Well, ordinarily we could try what we did with Sentry and what I imagine you did with me is we could try and speak, but we don't have- I carried your body across Oroes, both of you. And then Aayla will reach into her pocket and pull out just the crumbled bits of the blades and just pour them on the table.

Can't carry Nova. How do we do it? I just don't wanna make the wrong choice I just don't want to make the wrong choice. I don't want to... I'm scared that she is at peace and is happy with the actions she's taken and she, unlike you, thinks this was her time. I don't want to pull her back to this mess

and this madness for her to hate us for it. It's her decision, but I disagree with you. Okay. I don't think this is her time. And I think she knows that. And I think she wants to face her da. Quell, as you kind of say these fears and you speak to Lucius and you hear Lucius' words,

you do remember that when you were gone, it was a choice. You heard your friends calling to you, offering you a path back to Eros, but it was your choice to take it. Right, okay. It is not enforced. A soul cannot be forced back uh to this world

not without you know evil necromancy but that was not what happened with you yours was a choice the um have we technically leveled up yet? Yes. Okay. If you'd like, as this conversation is taking past and Aayla pours the scattered remains and you see Sentry just heartbroken and Lucius with this determination to bring Nova back. Aayla probably wouldn't have cried. No, no, no. That's fine.

We can disseminate those two. You missed the last episode. Yeah, yeah. Just been thinking about it all over the holidays. It's fine. Well, you do feel a presence. A divine presence. A voice, a woman's voice, a motherly voice.

Not necessarily words. You wouldn't hear words, but almost intent. You feel it. And as Lucius says the words, like, there must be a way, it's like, you know it's possible. You know that you can call on divine magic to make this happen even without a body you have you have gone beyond the limits of the other priests and the other believers here on your connection to hesper and now siasca is stronger than pretty much anybody else's

but you do know that it has requirements, as you know with the spell. And just as a point, there is a physical item you require. That item must have... It isn't just something that can be conjured or created. It is a very specific thing. Something like the Wish spell, even though technically it has the same value,

it can't create that object. Not for this purpose. Okay. It could create a similar object to sell to somebody. We are talking about the diamond requirement of the spell. But the Wish spell, because it needs to be a natural gemstone used for this purpose. A non-magical...

Yes. It cannot be created by magic. But I'm just imagining the extent of the spells that we all now have access to. These are legendary, unspoken, kind of beyond... This is a magic that nobody else on Erois possesses. There are maybe a couple of individuals that can cast 9th level spells,

but they are very rare and exceptional. You are at the pinnacle of magical power. Pretty cool. That's pretty awesome. Like, even though it's in my spell list, I don't know it's a thing. But that's what I'm saying is, as you're having this conversation,

you feel Siaska's presence basically telling you you can and telling you that this is something you can do, imparting the knowledge of what is required. My birdie son, you've dinged. Thou art a dinger. Rats on your ding. GZ. GG.

I mean, yeah, I'll happily, in order to learn about this spell that I know about, I'm happy to, like, legend lore it, like, with the Wayfinder's Guide. Sure, makes sense, yeah. Pass through the book, try and discover... Yeah, so Quill, you open the book and you're like, I'm happy to legend lore it with the Wayfinder's Guide. Sure, makes sense. Pass through the book, try and discover... Yeah, so Quill, you open the book and you're like,

tell me about this power that I have, or tell me what I can do to bring this back. That's part of the spell, is you name this thing. And the rest of you watch as the Wayfinder's Guide flips and you begin to see images created. And you see it's a simple thing. It's a simple tale. It tells of priests and believers and people that have acquired great magical power. There is a legend and stories of them bringing back loved ones, even when those loved ones don't have a physical form, to call their soul back from the astral sea from the great beyond whatever it is that souls go to up there

and it forges them a new body but it requires immense powerful magic it is it is a magic known to a very rare few but the body is formed out of a incredible jewel a diamond large perfectly cut resplendent almost glittering with starlight a gem of incredible rarity and you see that sort of presented in the book and I believe that's the main material Yes, a diamond worth 25,000 GP and the diamond is used to forge that body

which the spell consumes so if you say no, by the way, 25,000 down the drain, remember what I was like with the sequester? If you say no, fuck off, get back here now. That's how much you're worth. I'm saying none. I feel like the cost components should depend on the person. Yeah.

Would you like me to make the GP a 50,000 GP die? A 100,000 GP die? What, you think Nova's worth that? I'm saying it should be like 5K. Silver piece that someone found on the bottom of the room. I mean, you do also have a godly artifact and Tiangong. Yeah, maybe 25,000. Do you relay this info?

I mean, it's there in the book. You can all see it. It's a stat block. It's called true resurrection and the material cost is this this diamond oh on the other page it's time stop weird we ignore that we know entities that are made out of gems that are helping us i mean the spell will consume that no no i'm not saying use them. Right.

But if there are entities that are working with us, with the Astoria... You think they would be able to... They might know at least a place where there's a bounty of such a thing or a legendary artisan that can craft, a jewel crafter that can make such a thing. I mean, you could also, if you want,

like any of you can make checks. If you'd like to make a history check or an arcana check to see if you've heard legends or stories about these kinds of things. I'll go with, I'll go with... Are you doing arcana, Lucius? Drop. I want to magically... I was just looking at the pile of dirt.

Oh, in that case, I'll let you do it. This would be like, have I ever been told magical stories? Nat 20?! Oh! Nat 20. I'm fucking pet. I have one right here. Best run of the year.

It's been connected to your clothes. I will remind you, a natural 20 is not an automatic success. You know, so please tell me the total, because this is a very high DC. 26. 26, okay. That's not as high as you would need to know exactly the details, but you will get something.

It's a legendary artifact, right? I'm assuming nobody got higher than a 26. All right. Me, you know. There's no way. Quill is talking and you're saying, like, we know people, we know things. There is something, Lucius, that begins to kind of like tickle in the back of your mind.

And I think it would be related to the fact that in the Sky Cities, you know, you have these beautiful jewel crafters and and you know artists it's very cultured up in especially in Gusthaven and there are always stories about you know pieces of art and statues and legends of of you know centuries before you know even necessarily before the war with Calistar Bane when when you know the gods walked across Eros and Siasco was more prominent here. And there's something, it's like tickles at the back of your mind, some sort of stories about these brilliant jewels.

And they were so rare and they were so expensive that they were legends of their own kind. And yeah, it begins to tickle. Who told me about this? Like Norfyr or family? This would have been like a story you heard in, yeah, probably like Norfyr or like, you know, read in a book when you were younger

or something like that. Like a story, almost like a fairy tale, right? And then you begin to like think and you're like, oh, there was one. And you remember it because being sort of very dedicated to Siasca, because I know that Lucius always had a strong connection with Siasca.

There was one called the Star of Siasca. And you think that that was like this legendary diamond that was said to almost have like starlight in it, captured inside it. But you can't remember any more details. It's like that would have been the 30, would have maybe known the full story if you'd got 30. I relay that in a kind of fragmented, excited, but also really abstract way. Sure. When you say the word Star of Siaska, you almost hear like a bump outside the door of the captain's quarters. A bump?

Yeah, you hear like a noise. Yes? There is a knock at the door. It's a fucking grung. Kind of in the middle of a meeting right now, but, uh, yeah. Century, do you mind? Um. Dispatch them.

I'll go and do it. And Aayla is not in the mood. So she opens the door and goes, what? Uh, you see Howard stood there. Are you fucking kidding me? Huh? Yes! Are we stirring the, what? You see Howard stood there. Are you fucking kidding me? Huh? Yes! Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Taylor.

Sorry, Howard. Are you joking? Are you playing Howard? Oh, my God. I'm screaming! For fuck's sake. This was your grand plan. Howard!

Howard. Hello? Yes, it's me. You should cook Howard um yeah I know you are Howard

Howard you heard you I mean you heard them talking you've heard the whole conversation and yeah when they said the star of Siaski you

you look stressed Tom I mean I know I know all the shit Howard's gone through and it's hard to be angry at him right now and I just opened the door and yelled at his face

he's gonna be angry at me I was expecting it to be a grung so you know be angry at him right now. And I just opened the door and yelled at his face! He's gonna be angry at me! I was expecting it to be a grung so you know. There was a deep expectation about that, yes. Howard, I mean, now is, I appreciate you being here, but now is really not the time.

What is it? Well, firstly, my condolences, I heard about Miss Nova, and the first thing I did was I rounded up some spare apple pie. I thought I'd, you know... You actually made it. Well, no, no, it was in the larder, but, you know, you don't want to be sad and hungry, you know.

So I got some apple pie. Okay, thank you. Not that I was earwigging or nothing. We should reinforce that door. We should, yeah. Thank you. Not that I was earwigging or nothing. We should reinforce that door. We should, yeah. I just heard you say something about the Star of Sjæsker. You are joking. Howard, what, I don't mean to demean you,

what do you know? What do you know about that? Possibly know. About the Star of Siaska. Did you hear about the story too? Yes, I was told by my father and my father's father and my father's father's father. All Howards, I assume.

Stories that's come through the generations, you. Grandpa Howard, Grandpoppy Howard. We get told a lot of these things, you know, through the story. On the knee, see, around the fireplace. Please help me because I recollect it, but it's been centuries. I mean, even then, the story didn't have all the details. It was just like, you heard about this one diamond,

like where it was or, you know, who, that was never something you knew. I was young, I only really cared about like the fighting and the battle bits. Oh, there was a fight involved in it. Yes. I'm sure. I only really cared about the fighting and the battle bits. Oh, there was a fight involved in it. Yes. I'm surprised you don't remember that. But nowadays I'm more about the diamond. It was a war.

Well, it wasn't a war. It was more a battle between the halflings and the dwarves. Oh, so it affects you personally. Battle. What? I just love the pronunciation of battle. Are you mocking my accent? No, not Qu personally. Bow. I just love the pronunciation of bow. Are you mocking my accent? No, not quill.

Tom. Cook. How dare you. Look, okay. So what happened, yeah? What's the story? Well, so I don't know if you know much about us Huffland folk. Very little.

We're very up high on our island of Gustav. And we get a few halfling refugees, but not many. Well, a long, long, long, long time ago. Okay, all right. Can I have that apple pie? There you go. Do you want us to take a seat? How long will this take?

I don't know. It depends how long, you know, how long is the string? If the string, if the very end of the string is the location exactly of this gem. Would you rather I skip to that bit then? I mean, I'm interested now. The full story? A long, long, long, long time ago. I want to fill in the gaps of my memory.

Yeah. Halflings, you see, we live in the hills and we dig. And we dig and we dig. And a long time ago, my ancestors, they found a lot of diamonds and a lot of gold in the hills. This accent's going fucking wild. It's going everywhere. I've practised it in the car with my Bristolian husband.

He's not here. No, he'd be a lot better at this, wouldn't he? But we also, we're not that good at tickets, so we made a contract with dwarves to help mine the hills. And we found a lot of riches, a lot of gold. Don't know where he's going. Right, okay. I'm Irish now.

A lot of riches, a lot of gold, and one particularly large? A very rare and large diamond. Okay. Was it very deep? I'm going to add a slight element to Howard's story here, because Kim is reading what I wrote. This is specifically not all halflings and dwarves. This is a family in Suvona. Sorry, sorry, I forgot that. A Suvonan family in thingy. I forgot that actually. Hashtag not all halflings and dwarves. This is a family in Suvona. Sorry, I forgot that. A Suvonan family in thingy.

I forgot that, actually. Hashtag not all halflings. Because my surname is Hornsilver. Howard Hornsilver. Oh. Is it? Yes. Hornsilver.

Are you a descendant of the Suvona? How have we not known that for so long? I didn't tell you when I joined the ship. I did tell you. Oh, you did? He did tell us. It's on your Qu did tell you oh you did he did tell us it's on your quartermaster

list of stuff oh yeah yeah that that thing that I keep with me at all times yeah well stocked

well I'm really good at my job this is beyond a legend then this is reality well it's happened because I I suppose so

I've never I've never been you know so basically we built a vault in the hills. Well, like secure treasure. What hills where? In Sivona. Oh, okay. Okay.

Where I'm from. Yeah. You know that. I do know that. It's on your staff list. Yep. Hey, Howard, would you like to visit home? Well, it's funny you should say that, Captain Lucius.

I was going to say, maybe we should check on this Thera vault and see. I've never been to it. I've never been to it in my lifetime. I don't know if it's legend or if it's true. Wait, it's missing. Add some context to the story as well. Howard can explain this. But it's basically Howard's ancestors.

He has descended from a halfling and dwarf. There was a young dwarf and a halfling man who fell in love, and they had a family, and they brought the dwarves and the halfling families together, and they formed the Horned Silvers. And they were very wealthy. The dwarves, using their mining skills and their knowledge of minerals and their ability to locate deposits of rare resources resources worked with the halflings who are hard workers and had this these great hill lands and that they had the the rights to they amassed a fortune and then they

stored it all in this great vault called the horn silver vault and they were very very wealthy for a long period of time howard's great um eventually split off from that family because bitterness and jealousy kind of drove them against each other um and howard's family went off to live a simple life and basically rescinded all claim to it and was like we don't want to be any part of this um howard is one 16th dwarf um and he's halfling one 16th dwarf he's a stout halfling that's where I get my height from. Yeah. The tall or the... And that. Oh, God. And yeah, but Howard had this story,

and he remembers parts of it, but has this story about where this vault, and it contained the Star of Siaska, this legendary diamond. The Horned Silvers owned it. A lost vault somewhere in Savona. Do you have any idea where it could potentially be? Well, let me see.

Let me see if I remember. Tell you what. He gets out this big battered recipe book and starts flicking through it. Oh my God, there's a map. How are you carrying that on you? What? It's my recipe book.

I have it with me always. I don't know where you stored it. It's got me grandmother's... You just didn't see it. It my pocket okay that's a big okay I don't know my name I do know your name Howard and your birthday when's my birthday then can I just stop a second as Chris Trott I would just like to stop the role play yes okay we're not role playing right now Kim just okay I'll put my hand up. Put my hand up. Out of every possibility,

like Doctor Strange style, of how our campaign would go at level 19 after Vought and Solemn was destroyed itself, I didn't expect fucking Howard to give us a quest! Why not? Because it's Howard. That's why it was Howard. That's precisely why I came up with this idea.

This is genuinely going to be a brunt. I expected a legendary hero to walk through the door, some Mastercraft character. I did call that she was going to lose the accent immediately. Oh, yeah. There was going to be a thing. Depending on how things went, I kind of flubbed it a little bit by having you guys immediately left

before Norfair and Tornado could catch up with you, where I was going to be like, yeah, and you see Tornado. Yeah, we planned that. And I try and hint towards you guys that Kim'sfair and Tornado could catch up with you, where I was going to be like, yeah, and you see Tornado. Yeah, we planned that. And I try and hint towards you guys that Kim's going to play Tornado, and then I'd play Tornado, and you'd be like, what?

And then Howard would come in. But yeah, I mean, this is like, yeah, literally as you were discussing these famous diamonds, like Howard literally overhears this, and this is like an old story he knew. Anyway, funny, isn't it? It does, but as it continues. There's a bit.

There's, yeah. so i got my recipe book here hang on sorry um we're role playing yeah we're all playing okay my hand's down now okay let me just let me just get my quill voice back i'm back in my terrible accent back in my quill voice one two three one two three i'm back in hold on let me go i can find all right me babber yeah there we go well there we go okay All right, me babber. There we go. Okay. A bit of paper, a crinkly bit of paper falls out of the recipe book. Okay. My grandmammy told me never to leave this bit of paper

because it's relevant to finding this vault. Unbelievable. Got a little thing to read out for you here. Go on. Can't look at you while I do this. Yeah. Okay. Hidden by the creator's face,

the legacy of our kin rests within... Sorry, hang on. Sorry, was the first word hidden? Hidden. Hidden by the creator's face. Okay. Hidden by the creator's face... Hidden. The legacy of our kin

rests within stones north of a gilded grace. The legacy of our what now? The longer you do this, the more you have to butt up with Kim playing Howard. I know. Every time you interrupt, I'm just letting you know... There's more here to put up with kim playing howard every time you interrupt i'm just letting you know there's more i'm just making sure i get every word in there and okay look some of the words yeah okay go unless you want a level 19 hour to go all the way to our door let me tell you that howard's not level 19 he could be though he's not he won't be

kim's like this is how i finished this campaign. Can I push the second sentence? I'm just making sure. 25,000 GP diamond. And Nova goes, no, no. Hello. Hello. I'm just making sure. I'm level 19 now.

She's not. Making sure we get every word. I don't want to miss any detail. Okay, you want the second sentence? It's written down, Quill. You've got to steal this. That's very precious of you. Howard is holding it very close to his face right now.

I can't see it. Okay. Within the lover's groove, many roads they built to lead astray, but the mark of an heir shall lead the way. And Howard knows that there's more to the story, but it's not written down. His memory's a bit fuzzy.

He might need to get closer to the vault to remember the part of the story. Do you think you're that heir, Howard? Are you? Oh, he is. Well, I've got the same surname, haven't I? You do. It's related by blood.

As fate would have it, we have a legend in our midst. And another detail which I forgot to give to Kim is like in the stories, the vault is protected. It's like sealed. It's got magic. It's warded. Only the family, the like in the stories, the vault is protected. It's like sealed. It's got magic. It's warded.

Only the family, the Horned Silver family, can open the vault. So Howard will have to go with you. And it just so happens you've got a descendant of the Horned Silver Famer right in front of you.

Famer. Famer. Okay. I mean, I... I'm a little Horned Silver Babber. And you've known about this the entire time. I mean, obviously the relevance of this diamond.

You'd need the Star of Siaska, don't you? There is a Star of Siaska! I mean... It's in a vault. Greed... It's protected by those that own it. ...is what tore everything apart. Howard, you were literally, like, begging us to hire someone to help help you and you could have been rich this entire time.

It's not worth it. You don't want to be torn apart by greed. Memories are what keep me rich. Memories and experiences. Lovely. Big lesson of the Horns, you know, Howard's past is the truth. That is delightful.

Just what I needed to hear right now. Thank you. You know what? Out of everything right now, I didn't expect you to come in our door, but I'm glad you did. Sorry, I shouted in your face. You are exactly what we need right now.

That's all right, Hila. I know you got a bit of a temper. It's a bad day. Real bad. Pretty much the worst. And, you know, I keep this a secret. We keep it a secret because that treasure, it ruined many a life, but...

Well, thank you for sharing. If anyone needs it right now, I'd say it's Miss Nova. Well, as you're blood right, we shall claim that star of Siaska and get our friend back. And without the accent, it is hidden by the creator's face.

The legacy of our kin rests within the stones north of a gilded grace. Within the lover's grove, many roads they built to lead astray, but the mark of an heir shall lead the way.

Just for the American audience who probably don't know what the fuck is Kim saying. I can't understand it. They don't know what you mean. It's perfectly clear. They don't know what you mean for you to steal an accent.

It's a lovely bit of outward, isn't it? Yeah. Lovely bit of outward. Lovely bit of outward. Butit? Lovely bit of Howard. But there are a lot of people who aren't native English speakers who might have needed a bit of a clear... Let's be honest, Mark. I need a little help. The English speakers need help.

I mean, the first time when I first moved to Bristol and I met locals, I was like, Huh? You're from Scotland. And I'm Scottish. From Scotland. I don't understand a whole lot of the sea

I don't know no clue what you've said pal no fucking clue no fucking clue yeah okay so I mean I'm gonna

if we're in the captain's quarters I imagine somewhere around here I've stored some maps of Eros I'll find the Savonin map

I've stored them in like every cabin yeah let me just get my map it makes sense keep your maps close and your enemies where you plot journeys yeah where you plot journeys and map. I stored them in like every cabin. Yeah. Let me just get my map. It makes sense. Keep your maps close and your enemies. The table's a map.

Yeah, it's where you plot journeys and stuff. I've started pushing like used underwear and stuff in that same cubby hole in the captain's quarters. God's sake, Lucius would not put used underwear there. Come on now. Chris Trott wants that to be true, but I don't think Lucius is that. Why is Lucius sleeping or getting changed in the captain's quarters? I assumed this whole time my bed is in the captain's quarters.

There's no bed in here. Clearly no bed. There's the captain's quarters, which is where your bed and all your stuff is. And then this is like the captain's chamber. This is like the meeting room basically adjacent to your bedroom okay there's no underwear in the cup

oh good if there was I'd like to think it was because Lucius didn't know how to wash it himself that would probably be true he just puts it on the floor and assumes someone else

will pick it up yeah he'll pick it up for him I do say which is probably Howard yeah if you wouldn't mind getting that cup whip on the way out

that would be it's annoying me now oh sorry I pointed that out but yeah yeah you pull them out you get the backs of that cobweb on the way out, that would be... It's annoying me now. Oh, sorry, I pointed that out. But yeah. Yeah, you pull them out of there, you get the maps of Sivona. North of the Gilded Grace, I mean, that could be the capital of Sivona, which is called...

Goldthrone. Goldthrone. Arval. Arval. So maybe... The Oric Mountains basically stretch north and south of Goldthrone. They go all the way to the coast on the northern tip of it, and then they go south into a place called Bloodvale,

where they disseminate out into large fields. Okay. If anyone's going to know about this as well, it's going to be awful. I was thinking that. I mean, Savonin Dwarf has a lot of connections. It's awful, and Howard are related in some way. That would be wonderful. I quite like Mr. Dagos.

Yeah? Yes, he. Dagos. Yeah? Yes, he's got... I mean, we can lead. Yeah, we can try and contact him and see if... I mean, he knows everyone. He's well connected. I think he knows everyone in Eros. More to the point, he's quite wealthy there

and he'd probably be able to help us out, but in a, you know, on the down low so that no one really gets wind of it. If this is like a huge legend, like Howard says, we probably don't want to be advertising it around. There is a part of me that's like, this is also a treasured object of a whole group of people that's been stored in a vault for generations, and we're just taking it for our own means. I mean, it sounds to me...

I mean, to save the entire planet, though, because realistically, I can't decipher Nova. There is that angle. Yeah, and it sounds to me like it's a long-forgotten story that people are trying to cover up as much as they can. You were saying greed tore them apart. It ended badly. Right, so it's not actively guarded.

Well... I mean, well, guarded by... It's guarded by. It ended badly. Right, so it's not actively guarded. Well... I mean, well, guarded by... It's guarded by the vault. Yeah. The vault's cursed. It doesn't have, like, living people. It's not, like, being used by living... Like, it's ruined and covered.

This is, like, an ancient, forgotten place. I mean, that page that Howard has has pictures on it. I think, to them, it's a fairy tale. I mean, I... Look, I don't know if it actually is there. This is something that's been passed down generations as a story on the fireplace, around the fireplace even. And that piece of paper survived all those fireplaces.

Amazing. That's probably like a small written version. Just made a copy of it. There's only part of the story as well. Yeah, I was going to say, the drawings aren't good, the pictures, are they? Oh, they're my drawings. They're very good, though.

Oriah! I'm gonna go. Chris, do we have a destination? Sivona. Okay, do we want to, I know that Master Quillard said that we had some people on their way to meet us, do we want to wait for them and let them know what we're doing? Yes, that will be

our next destination. Where? Sivona will be after we've met. I see. Okay. Right. I will get everyone ready and we'll set sail for Sivona then. Yes.

Do we know where we're heading in Sivona exactly or just to the continent? Wherever. I mean, is Arvel in? Goldthrone. Arvel is in On the Astoria. He's on the Astoria. He's helping. He's your core.

He's basically leading all the logistics. Yeah. Let's find a good airship dock near Goldthrone or in Goldthrone and start there and make contact with Arvel and see if Arvel can get to us. Yeah, unless your story is on the way. Hopefully he's got a teleportation circle

from Horizon to Goldthrone. Yeah, there'll be a Horizon-Goldthrone teleportation circle. Actually, yeah, Sivona from where we are right now, it's like the opposite. Yeah. Oh, no, unless we go west.

No, no. Sivona's like in the middle. You guys are currently on the very east kind of like... Oh, yeah. I, no. Sivona's, like, in the middle. You guys are currently on the very east, kind of like... Oh, yeah. I totally forgot. Sivona's in, like, the middle. To be honest, I have to remember it as well. But, yeah, Sivona's in the middle.

You don't know where the Astoria is. If they've moved it, they could have moved it slightly. We lost our battleship. Very good. Yeah, if you want to, you can wait and then set sail once you kind of know everything

if you guys wait yeah about sort of just under a day so if you'd like to take a long rest those of you who can you can with you

tornado nor fear and around about sort of 30 seekers all using sort of like you know whatever modes of transport they

can acquire looks like like some wagons some carriages some horses and things like that um begin to appear sort of coming towards your direction to meet up with you and everybody else um it's uh there's uh they seem jubilant like they seem like we're not jubilant but they're like pretty like they're not sad they are in that kind of like yep we did what we had to do they're resolute i guess um norfair has a bit more of a serious expression when she kind of sees the ship and everything else uh sentry how do we how do we navigate this we're gonna have to tell them um but i mean obviously we have the good news that we have a potential solution but we need to tell them i mean i don't know the order of things do we say the bad stuff first, then the good stuff?

Or the good stuff, but then there'd be no context for the good stuff without explaining the bad stuff. Let's not sugarcoat it. Let's just... Let's just tell them honestly. I know it's hard. You're the morale officer. I know. Good luck.

The group gathers sort of underneath the airship and they sort of send up,ship and they send up words. They're like, Hey, we're here! Calling up to you and stuff like that. Tornado's like, Brode! Calling up. And yeah, you can lower down a rope,

bring them all up and lower down rope bridges and bring them all up onto the deck of the ship. The ship is full at that point with all the Seekers, if you bring all the seekers up as well um but they're also happy to like i think most of the seekers would stay down because it looks like they're probably going to move on from here anyway um so maybe norfear tornado and a handful like five or six of the seekers come on board um norfear kind of looks around um comes up probably would like come over to you lucius put like a hand on your shoulder

and just sort of like nod i'll hug norfear and she kind of takes you in like she kind of she doesn't hug you first but when you hug her she just kind of like puts her arms around you and sort of like pats you on the back it's all right it's okay um uh and tornado is like oh great he kind of like moves around he like looks around and then there is that kind of like he's like oh good yeah great charm he's kind of like saying all this stuff to you and then there's that realization of like, he's like, oh, good, yeah, great job. And he's kind of like saying all this stuff to you. And then there's that realization of like, he's like, where's Nova? And the moment I see his eyes like... Looking around. Even just that slight glimmer of something's not right here.

I'm going to like nudge Sentry and try and like get everyone away from the deck of the ship and into, or like the main players, I suppose, the Seekers, into the captain's quarters so we can talk about it properly okay um i'll go get dinner on for our guests sorry go entertain them thank you thank you with me everyone yeah so like all the seekers will be like yeah sure like they're all hungry like they've been traveling so like oh yeah food can we get some food sent down to the others as well and they'll come with howard and yeah they'll come down with you into like the the mess basically on the ship can we have you on standby? Just, you know, you just call. We will.

But Norfair and Tornado will remain with you. And so Tornado is like, yeah, get me something to eat as well, bros. Like, is Nova downstairs or what's going on? Tornado, I'm just gonna say it. Nova's gone. Gone where? She died.

Tornado, I'm... so sorry. It's like... He just doesn't... he's like... No, that's not... that's not... that's not true. That can't be... that can't be right. She's... Is this a prank? She's playing a prank, isn't she? She's trying to get one up on me.

Stupid brother, moron. Ha ha ha, bro. Nice one. Where are you, nerd? Tornado, I'm just gonna... I don't know. I'm struggling to process it myself, but she gave everything to save Vortensar. Everything.

Oh. It just goes quiet for a second. Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do a hug. Okay, okay, okay. She died and I wasn't there to protect her and look after her, but that's, you know, it's okay. Don't say that. It's okay though, because you guys are gonna get it back, right? You guys are like, you guys are heroes of Eroes,

you guys are the champions, you're gonna get it back, right? You got some magic spell or there's some like, cool thing you can do and bring are the champions, you gotta get it back, right? You got some magic spell, or there's some cool thing you can do, and you bring the dead back to life, that's possible, right? That's in the story. Perfect timing, Howard with the snacks. He's gonna bring Nova back?

Is he some sort of crazy wizard man? Are you like a crazy wizard dude? No, that's our cook. You tell us, Howard. Okay. I guess I do do wizardry in the kitchen. I brought you some soup. Howard is part of a long line of horn silvers who have...

Who are great wizards. Don't need to be wizards. Okay. They have access to a vault which has a very powerful... Scroll, which brings the dead back. Object in it. Right, object, yeah.

Which will allow Quill. Who's a powerful wizard. Who's a powerful... Exactly. Cleric. I can use that to power a spell to hopefully bring Nova back. Great, okay. That's our plan.

He throws the suit. So it's like, let's go. Okay. We're going out. That's some of my maps ruined yeah you're coming with well yeah i mean yeah i mean you can't i've got right you're gonna go get my sister back right i'm gonna come with you okay great if you if you if you wish to join we would love to have you with us we're just going to it's just the fault right it's not we have to go fight anybody or there's

no it's cursed yeah it's definitely okay well you know i fight anybody or there's no, well. It's cursed. Yeah, it's fine. It's definitely cursed. Okay, well, you know. I mean, if I, yeah, sure. I'll do anything to bring Nova back. Then we'll be happy to have you. Well, Ternate, just bear in mind that this is, this is legend that we've heard and we still need to find the vault. Okay. So,

we are basing a lot on a legend. Yeah, well, I mean. I'm trying my best here. But there's nothing you could have done more. But this is just like one way, right? There's got to be other ways. There's got to be other things you can do. Or you know some powerful things that can do some stuff.

Whatever it is, we are either way going to need this very powerful gem. Whether it's in this vault or it's across the Astral Sea or... Well, whatever it is, I'll die bringing her back. So it's in this vault or it's across the astral sea or well whatever it is i'll die bringing her back so it's fine or whatever happens any risks i don't care we'll do it all right that's how we feel too cool in which case i guess we head for saverna norfair are you okay yes i'm fine i mean mission was what the mission is, and unfortunately I'm well aware that sometimes missions don't always go to plan. Tornado, I know you want to go and rescue...

I know you want to help them recover Nova. I don't think that's a good idea. He's like, what are you talking about? He's like, well, think about this. You go to this vault. You get killed in the process. They bring Nova back. Now she has to deal with the fact that her brother's gone.

The city she gave everything to save hates her. Who's left to go and tell her parents? Who's left? What does she have to tell them? She died and lost her brother in the process, bringing her back? That's selfish. You need to help these people,

these seekers who have no thing, they have no home to go back to. They followed you because they believed in what you were saying about Vortensar. To leave them now, I don't think Nova would respect that. Leave it to her friends. She'd call you a moron, to be honest.

But, and he's just like, you can see that like he's so torn, like now that Norfiz called him out, he's like, but I, but I can's just like you can see that like he's so torn like now that Norfiz called him out he's like but I but I can't just I mean I need to

we can handle it but we'll make sure that if she comes back you'll be the first well one of the first people she sees seems like

yeah he seems to be softened by that but Norfiz just like I it's harsh, but they need you. The Seekers need you. People need to know that what we did in Vortensar, we need to start telling people, and hopefully, think of the Council members, they're still somewhere in the city. They need to be helped and rescued.

We've retreated for now, but that doesn't mean we're done. Vortensar still needs work. The Valkyrians are still there. The corrupt council members are still there. And they'll continue spinning the lies of what was happening there. They'll make you and these good people here the villains if we don't stop them. Yes. If anything, do it for Nova. And the reason she is not here right now

is because she had those same morals and tried to save that city, so. Okay. I mean, I know my limits. I'm just a meathead, and I can swing a lance good, but you're right, some magic vault with special wizard diamonds, I'm not going to be much help, so I'll stay here. But you tell me as soon as she's back. You let me know. We will. not gonna be much help, so I'll stay here. But you tell me as soon as she's back, you let me know. We will. We will. Okay, bro, okay, all right. I'm sorry I threw your soup away, little guy.

It's all right. I was kind of like just really excited, and I was like, let's go, you know? Do you want some more? There's more in the kitchen. I'm not really a soup guy. Do you have like anything else? Well, I guess anything for the bereaved. Yeah, cool.

Okay, I like your ship. I'll just sort of follow how it's like. Hang on a minute. I'm looking at the map of Savona. There's this big red X now on the map. Made in soup. Nope. Soup.

But yeah, I mean, with these guys underway, like Northfield, they'll spend like a couple of hours kind of getting resupplied, getting some food. The wolf pack is probably like, yeah, we've got a bunch of old weapons. We don't use them anymore because we've got these cool laser guns. And they give them all their like old weapons and stuff like that if they didn't have them and things like that.

Hayley, you did teach them about trigger warning, trigger safety. Yeah, roughly. What is it? Trigger guns don't shoot? No shooty. Whoop! It makes lights. I said that they could only do it on the top deck,

so you know that's enough, right? Yeah. We can't do it underneath because then we shoot holes in the ship. Right. But we can do it up here. We can shoot holes. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew!

So it's like, whoa, bro! I think that's sufficient. Okay. Sure. With that, so it's like whoa bro I think that's sufficient okay sure with that Norfear, Tornado and the Seekers will basically go back down and they'll continue their mission

but a very Tornado's still unsure like he doesn't you can tell that he doesn't want to leave but Norfear like puts a hand on his shoulder and is like we need to go

they need you he's like yeah yeah okay if you don't bring my sister back, I will come and beat you all up. Okay. He just begins to learn himself. I don't care if you're super powerful and strong, I'll beat you up.

Thank you, Tornado. See you soon. Bye, bros! Which accent would you guys have preferred? Honestly, it's a toss-up. The himbo or the Howard? Wait, if you were doing... Tornado, bro. Yeah, because there was a chance I was going to come back as Tornado. It's all Boomer at the end of the day, isn't it?

It all just becomes Boomer. All roads lead to Boomer. Which is why Mark has banned him from the table. Yeah. Forever. Every game. From Hyrule. Sweet.

Okay. So you guys, Oriah can plot a course. You begin making your way towards Savona. It'll take like a couple of days to reach there on the airship. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to send a message

to Arvel, find out. You're sending? You know, if he's willing to. Sure. This one will do the 25 words unless you're like, I don't care how many

spell slots it takes. I mean, how many days is this going to take? Yeah, like, I'm happy to just send him, how many can I do? Well, there's as many spell slots you have after third level,

so quite a lot, I imagine. Yeah. Yeah, you contact Arvil. Arvil will tell you he's currently in between Astoria and Horizon. He's going between the two. So he can't meet you, like, meeting you in Savonia. He could do, but it would take him away from what he's doing there. But he'll be honest and say, like,

truth is, I don't know much "'about this Horr and Silver vault. "'We've all heard the stories and the legends, "'but it's lost somewhere up in the mountains "'north the Gold Throne. "'But I don't think anybody in the city "'would really know too much about it.'" You kind of get the, you know,

kind of cuts back and forth between a couple of messages. But yeah, it's one of these things he's like, I mean, centuries, you're talking hundreds and hundreds of years ago, long before even the war with Calus, so a lot of the records were destroyed. I mean, if your friend has got information about the vault, that's probably your best source of information you've got to follow. Fair enough.

Okay. Do we need to read out the riddle again? Nope. Eden, by the Creator's face. Yeah, we got the Creator's face, the legacy of our kin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, legacy. Rests within the stones, north of a gilded grace. Goldthrone, yeah. Within the lover's grove.

That seems important. We're looking for a lover's grove north of Goldthrone, and a big face. Many roads they built to lead astray, so I think that's like a disguise route. Oh, yeah, Ayla, I think we might need you for this. I mean, we need you for most things, actually. Well, there's the last bit, but the mark of the error shall lead the way.

What do you need me for? Ignore, no, don't worry. Somehow, we're out of the pool. So, Howard! Hello. Highlight the real path. Yeah. Were you going to use me to just shove me in front of dangerous things again?

No, no, no, no, I was going gonna say, if there is roads that lead astray, you'd probably be the best to navigate us through it. Actually, maybe that'd be me. Probably. Ah, don't worry, anyway. So, lovers grow. That's certainly a very literal interpretation of the riddle, yes.

I'm a literal guy. It could be like magical traps and deception. And if you guys ever wanna like, if you're like, can I just make a check to see if I can work out what this means? Who's the creator's face? Yeah, that's great. Great question.

It'd be by the creator's face. You can make, you could use, yeah, you could, if you wanted to see if it was one of the gods, it could be a religion check,

you could use a plan check, history check, it could be a face figure. I'm just asking the room. I'm just in the room. You're the champions. I'm just a cook. Religion.

11. 19. 19. Religion. 25. 25. Sentry and Quill. I mean,

creator definitely implies some sort of deity or god. I think, and Lucius, you kind of like would definitely pick up on that creator's face. You don't think that somebody

would be referred to as a creator just for being like a famous figure or something like that maybe the person who built the vault but that would you know seem they probably use the word architect or something like that instead creator generally the goddess of creation is velena like the forge mistress like she is responsible for many great creations amongst heroes siaska could also be creator, like the mother creator of life. But generally, especially if this is halflings and dwarves, a lot of them tend to deviate towards Valena as a goddess and follow her faith. So it could be like an effigy of Valena, perhaps.

I need to look for Valena. The face of Valena. I mean, maybe the gem, I've forgotten their names. Star of Siasca? No, the gem. To the Maidens of Velenus. The Maidens of Velenor. Would, might know something about that.

Hey, you're made entirely of diamond. Where's this big ass diamond? Can you ask Arvel if he's going between Horizon and Astoria to ask the Maidens if they know anything about this and can relay the information back through more messages over the next coming days.

Might be worth it. Can I call sending on them? You can try. I'll try and send a message to them. Doesn't work. I'll ask Arvel. It's weird, then. Your eyes rolled back, like, very briefly.

Well, I mean... Arvel asks when you next speak to Arvel, like, maybe the next day, you kind of catch back up with Arvel. He'll tell you speak to Arvel, like maybe the next day, you kind of catch back up with Arvel. He'll tell you that he spoke with the maidens, but it's weird. They didn't know nothing about no star of Siaska. They said that whilst they might be made of diamonds,

they were created by Valena herself. They're not natural diamond. They were forged from her essence. But the face of Valena, they seemena, they said is a mountain in, I mean there's stone effigies of Velaena all over the place, but you said you were looking in Suvona, right, near Goldthrone? There's a mountain north of Goldthrone

that's being carved in Velaena's image. It's got tears coming out of her eyes, like a river comes out, and it was carved around that. It's old tears coming out of her eyes like a river comes out and it was carved around that. It's old, real old. They said that maybe that might be somewhere. Great, yeah, I mean it's a good starting place. It's literally the start of the riddle, so yeah.

If you wanna do, if you basically, when the airship arrives there, unless there's anything you wanna do in the next couple of days, Quill, being the navigator, or anybody, you can also have Oriah or somebody else do it, you can make a survival or perception check to try and

basically track down this mountain. I knew you'd make that face. Please don't be in that one again. Oh, baby! Do I see anything with a 36? Yikes! I'm assuming perception.

It doesn't take Quill long. Scanning through. He just goes, see anything with a 36. Yikes! I'm assuming perception. Perception. It doesn't take Quill long. Scanning through... He just goes, there! I said this three days ago. It's a cloudy day, but it does not take Quill very long at all. Once you enter the mountains north of Goldthrone,

Quill very easily spots, and it's kind of hidden, right, because it's a mountain that's been carved in an effigy, but it's hidden behind other mountains and things, but Quill spots a waterfall up high and begins to see, like, oh, that kind of looks like the outline of a cheek or a piece of hair kind of coming down.

And then when the storm chaser comes at a different angle, the mountain has been carved in such a way that it's only when it's seen from a certain angle does it resemble Valena's face. When it's seen from the other angles, it almost just looks like another jagged piece of land. Oh, like Channel 4. Yes.

Yeah. But when it's seen from a certain angle... And filtered. Tom doesn't have a filter. No, no. But yeah, the... That was a question of joy and a terror. The storm chaser lines up,

and you see this great sort of like huge tall mountain carved in Valena's image, roughly, not like, you know, perfectly statuette. Brianna's gone. Brianna's gone. But from her eyes, it looks like a river, like either two rivers or one river that's been divided have been forged so that they fall out of these giant cavernous eyes

and form like tears going down her body into a river that then flows out. But the caves, the eye caves look big enough for people to enter into. Oh, I hate that. It's a huge mountain, right? So the storm chaser won't fit in there, but people would. We're going in there. Little boys crawling up in your eyes. That's what we're doing.

Is there a place to actually stop here, I guess? The storm chaser, there's not. Yeah, I mean, you would have to, like, this is, you can see that as the storm chaser gets closer, the Valena's Face Mountain kind of thing is part of a giant valley and it kind of forms the edge and then the river formed the valley below it. The waterfalls are up quite high.

The eye kind of cabins are kind of forged quite high into it. There's no trail. You don't see like any path that leads up to it. And the storm chaser can't get too close to it because it is like a sloped mountain. But they can get you close enough that you can try and sort of like,

you know, jump across or fly across potentially. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm happy to fly and it's just everyone else. The two caves are about, I would say, 20 feet by 20 feet sort of like chambers. They start off bigger and then they get smaller as the sort of eye sockets go back. And you begin to see Quill with that 36.

You can see, although it's pitch black, you're pretty sure you see that the ambience of the light changes to a 20-foot tunnel. It's like a carved tunnel hidden behind the flow of the water and the cavernous chambers. Okay. Just see within the stones. Howard?

Hello. I know you've, or have you been on an adventure before? Oh, I've been on many adventure. Halflings are known for it. Like what? Well, I ventured all the way to Gustavus for you.

Name every adventure. That's true. Have you flown? Flown? I'm on a ship right now, flying. With your body? Well, there was that one time. Not recently, no.

Right. First time for everything, Howard. Mm-hmm. You ready to start your adventure? Oh, I am. I've collected my best pots and pans, got myself a little knapsack. Please be careful with...

Well, I mean, I know what's about to happen, but you could go any direction. Just don't go too far away from... Feel free to tell the dysentery or Aayla, someone that will guide you. I was going to suggest, like, ladies, if... Do you want to piggyback? Yes, please.

I will cast Fly On You just in case. You'll be able to fly on your own. In case something bad happens, like you fall off or whatever, you can fly. But it's easy. You just focus on being upright and not moving. It's that easy. Think happy thoughts.

But... Okay. Just hold on for now. Just don't think about falling and you won't It's that easy. Think happy thoughts. But... Okay. Just hold on for now. Just don't think about falling and you won't fall. I'm thinking about falling now. Don't think about falling. But you... The more you say falling...

If you think about falling, you're going to fall. Sentry, come back. Stop falling. Everyone's saying the word falling. Everyone's saying the word falling and now all I'm thinking about is falling. Fly. All right, flying.

Think about flying. Fly. Ascend. Yeah. Top. Going up. Above. Not below. Not Fly. Ascend. Yeah. Top. Going up. Above. Not below.

Not down. Not decline. On everyone that can't fly. That's me. That's it. The four of you and then Quill's got his own little wingies. And you just zip off. Made by Nova.

Your wing's made by Nova. It was, yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was. All right. You begin to fly. Howard, being unfamiliar with the sensation,

but the magic gives you perfect control. Oh, my days! He has to grab his leg. But, yeah, you now all start flying. The storm chaser kind of hovers or, like, you know, it doesn't quite hover, but it kind of slows to a very gentle pace. And Ari's like, we'll keep the ship nearby. We'll keep an eye on these caves. Keep circling. circling and cool send you a message when we're coming or we can teleport

back we might find a place to anchor just so we're not spending too much good idea yeah we'll anchor nearby all right um and yeah you guys can fly out uh these caves uh it's like 200 feet from sort of like the bottom where there's uh the river begins to flow down into the ground and then it slopes away. So it's a big drop, these waterfalls. These are huge waterfalls. And you can see as you get closer, the spray is a very strong current as well. It's really pouring out of these caves with immense force. You begin making your way into the caves, kind of flying above the water. The ceiling gets narrower and narrower until you get to these about 20 foot tunnels that have been carved out.

You can still keep flying above the water. The water is still at the bottom of it and it still looks quite strong and deep. And you begin making your way down into the tunnels. I'm trying to remember where that mask I had that gave me darkvision went. Did Nova have it? I have a feeling I shouted at you to give it back to Nova. I remember where that mask I had that gave me dark vision went. Did Nova have it? I have a feeling I shouted at you to give it back to Nova. I don't have it in my inventory anymore. That's a shame then. You don't have it. Okay.

So as you fly in, yeah, it very quickly, you move about 60 feet down into the caves where it becomes this 20-foot tunnel. It is getting very dark. There are no light sources in here. So anybody without dark vision, you quickly become blind. You'll do yours. I'll... Dancing lights.

Cast light on my scarf. So you've got light on the scarf. I'll mostly focus the lights around Howard. Yeah, sure. Howard, I think I didn't put it down, but I think you do have darkvision as a halfling. I do have darkvision. I have blind Howard. Oh, well, yikes.

I need them to see. Once you enter the 20-foot tunnel... That's all right, Howard. Yeah, well done, Howard. I need them to see. Once you enter the 20-foot tunnels... That's right, Howard. Yeah, well done, Howard. You progress about another 60 feet

down into this shorter, more carved tunnel. You can immediately see this is carved. This is shaped by hand, by tool. This has been carved on purpose. And about 60 feet away from the open chamber that leads out into the waterfall, you begin to see a path built out of stone, carved. Still water flowing on either side of it,

there's almost like a central channel made of stone. And there appear to be stone brassieres with this kind of almost magical, no, they don't have a flame in them just yet, but there are these stone brassieres inlaid with metal, paste at certain sections. One at the very tip of the, you know, where the water meets the platform

and then as it continues further down. And looking down, those of you, I think when you've got 60 foot of dark vision, it continues for 60 feet, you don't see any further than that. But you don't see an end, it's just the chamber continues. I guess we make our way in, see what happens what happens yep are you guys flying or are you gonna land on the platform are you gonna keep flying it's like last about an hour right flying i think well we can fly sure and it might be slippy on this like very smooth yeah it looks

it like it looks like water's kind of splashing up onto it and stuff yeah i think for sure stay together in like a train format. How long does it last again? An hour. An hour, okay. Cool. And you've probably not been traveling much. Ten minutes.

Ten minutes, okay. Yeah, it's been like maybe a minute or something like that getting into this cave, like flying from the Storm Chaser to get into this section. Once you're here, taking ten seconds. It's about... Okay. In your brain.

Like sonic drowning. From the platform, the stone platform, it's about 15 feet up to the roof of this tunnel. Are you guys going to fly at the very top of the tunnel, like over everything, or are you going to hover just a few feet off the ground? And what's the order you're going in as well? Like who's at the front? I'm on Ayla.

You're on what? I'm on Ayayla. You're on what? I'm on Aayla as a backpack. I'm a backpack. Run, run, run, jump. It can be your backpack or your jump. Ah, okay. I'm happy to take front. I'll be behind Quill because Harrod's probably helping to navigate as well.

Oh, I'm absolutely helping you. Look at that over there, that's interesting. So you've got Quill, Aelin, Howard, and then Lucius Sentry or Sentry Lucius? I can go at the back and just keep people protected from that. And then you guys all flying at the same height, are some of you like... Why? This is like a 20 foot wide and about 15-foot high tunnel. I sense a trip.

We're going into an enclosed space. I feel like we'd be dead in the middle, so we're not scraping our heads and spearing stalactites. Yeah. Okay. When you begin making your way down, when you approach that stone platform

with these stone braziers, Quill, when you get close, when you pass over the first brazier, it lights up with magic kind of... But the red that was a kind of like standard flamey sort of like orange and red begins to turn a deep crimson and you begin to hear this pulsing kind of like... Okay, now that doesn't sound good. I'm going to...

So the first one, you can see that this tunnel stretches like 60 feet more down and there are more of these braziers spaced out every 20 feet. Has Howard passed it? No, this is as soon as you got to it, it started doing that. Okay. I mean, what's that? And it doesn't stop. Everyone stop?

Okay, I mean... You stop above the brazier. What's that noise? Just back up a little from the brazier. Yep, okay. Sounds cursed. Cool. After about six seconds,

you hear a From what direction? Like a rumbling from up above. I think water might have just been opened on us. And you see this torrent tidal wave. Oh, jeez! Yeah, so you begin flying your way back and the water quickly chasing behind you guys.

I need you guys to all make strength saving throws. Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah, everyone, yep. The water slams into your back. Can I assist Howard by the fact that- No, not on a saving throw. I'm sorry, Howard! I get plus three from me. Yep. The water slams into your back. Can I assist Howard by the fact that... No, not on saving throw.

I'm sorry, Howard! I get plus three from me. Everyone gets plus three from Century. Good start to the year. I'm going to use my ability, Lucky. You want to use Lucky already? Nice. Because I rolled a two. All right, that's one of your uses of Lucky.

Is it dex? I rolled a six. Six. Well, you got the plus your uses of lucky. Function. I rolled a six. Six. Well, you got the plus three as well. 25. 12 plus 13. I have a plus 13.

Oh, okay. I got 14. 14. 18. 18. 26. 26. Nine.

Nine. Is that with the plus three? Well, everybody but Howard is only gonna take three points of bludgeoning damage. Howard, you take six points of bludgeoning damage. You're going to have to manually do this, unfortunately, Kim. Yeah, that's right. You've got no people. But also, more importantly...

Half HP. Like, he's on Ayla's back. The force of the water, as you're going through, like, the rest of you kind of manage to resist it. You feel it trying to, like, force you back out of this tunnel. Howard goes flying. As he's, like, on the ice, he's like... Catch him! He's here!. Howard goes flying, like, as he's like, on the ice, like, whoop! Catch him, DC!

No! And he goes flying out, and he goes to fly out of the tunnel. Luckily, the flying spell, Howard, you manage to like, whoop! Well. But you nearly go flying out. You do have to make a concentration check.

Lucius does, yes. Yeah. DC 10, constitution saving throw. Oh my god! That's a nat one total it's not an orthopedic failure you might get DC 10 still is he within five foot of me

concept right yeah so nine it's nine it's not enough plus three no okay plus three

plus three from century from century it is a constitution saving throw yeah that's right so yeah you do manage oh god for a moment it throw, yeah, that's right. So yeah, you do manage to. Oh, god! For a moment it's like. Turbulence.

But yeah, Howard, you kind of go flying out of the cave and without that fly spell, you would have plummeted down 200 feet. I'd be dead. But you managed to like, kind of like hold your sword in place. The first thing. Yeah.

Oh my god. And the water kind of, you know, it fills this whole chamber and suddenly that waterfall becomes much stronger as the water pumps out of it and suddenly that waterfall becomes much stronger as the water pumps out of it. The rest of you manage to fly out and rejoin Howard. The whole tunnel got full. There's no space above the water anymore.

After about a minute, you see the water level drop and it returns to that normal waterfall that you saw before. Was there a second tunnel? There's two. There's two eyes's two, there's two eyes. Yeah, there's two eyes. Oh. I don't wanna go back in. That was too much.

Well, hang on, we can figure it out. That was too much adventure for me. We should probably stand. It was cool, it was when you got within five feet of that bridge, like within five feet of that bridge, yeah. Like when you basically So there is, is there like a path I could take that would go not five feet if I went forward? You could get like, yeah, I mean, you could get like, if you were on So there is... Is there, like, a path I could take that would go not five feet if I went...

You could get, like... Yeah, I mean, you could get, like... If you were on the very side of the tunnel, you could, like, maybe skirt it. But, like, yeah, that was... It was when you sort of, like, flew over it. It might still trigger, yeah. Let's all land just on the entrance to this eye hole.

Sure, yeah. Because the fly's about to run out. Okay. How is it shivering? We can also find out... The fly spell, you've got ten minutes. It's's about to run out. Okay. How is it shivering? We can also find out... The Fly spell, you've got ten minutes. It's not going to run out. Like, this has been like two minutes.

Press to digi. Oh, thank you, Kevin Lucius. Is that concentration? Fireball. Oh, no, I'm dead. Is Prestidigitation concentration? It can still be concentration. I think it's just a...

It's a one-use thing, right? Is it? I think it's an insta. You're just... Oh, is that? I'm pretty sure it is. Some spells are concentration, like some cantrips have concentration, man.

At will, action, no concentration. All right, that's fine then. Yeah. I mean, I'm happy to... Are we all heading out and just checking out the other tunnel? Because I was going to detect magic. Let's debrief.

What just happened? Okay, so that lantern, I think when I went near it... That's a brassiere. He's not wrong. He's technically right, yeah. Well... You want to know what happened?

Is this what we're doing, Lucius? It was a hand-carved brassiere as well. Okay, look. From the very stone of the mountain. Is it like this every time you go off and when you're away for a chance? Pretty much. Usually, actually, it's worse.

Right, okay. To be honest. I'll be honest with you, nobody usually kind of keeps it together. This is a lantern. Okay, great. That's wonderful. I made a mistake. Yeah. Okay, great. That's wonderful. I made a mistake.

Specifics are important. I thought you were smart, Cora. I thought you were smart. Wow! Oh, shots fired! He's wise. It's not necessarily something he's been doing all his life. Didn't think you were such a bitch, Century.

Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no! Turns out it was an overhaul. well on that i think is where we'll come back to this okay i mean i imagine that's not actually after the break so thanks for watching part one

roll initiative part two deuces I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead

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I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead you