High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #182 | The Final Farewell (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

The Stormchasers gather their most trusted allies as they say their final farewell to Aerois on their journey to Hadar! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and more 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

Pickaxe. She gonna fuck you. It's trying to get in. It's trying to get in before it can. You got it in, but you broke yourself. No, I'm pretty sure it's in. I'm pretty sure it's in. I guarantee you he didn't get it in.

It's 100% in. That was all in there. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome, everyone, to this episode of High Rollers. Last time, our champions enjoyed a moment of peace. Having defeated Calus Valkyrian, the Astral Emperor, emperor. They were rewarded with a moment to take stock, to speak with those important to them, to reaffirm, in some cases regain connections, to talk of trauma and mistakes of the past, lingering scars, to embrace new avenues, unexpected avenues

of potential hope for the future, to reminisce on memories, to reconnect with home, and to forge new oaths. to reconnect with home, and to forge new oaths. And that is where we pick up today. With all of those things having happened, I don't want to go into the specifics because I feel I could not do them justice. It is not an episode to miss, the previous one. No, no sorry.

So, the time has come. Siaska, the Star Mother, goddess of Erois, has been reborn. And with her awakening, the entropic being called Hadar is roused to press its attack and consume the last divine spark in the universe. So, are we all right yeah we're good yeah yeah we're good yeah yeah yeah i made tom laugh and i didn't expect me a really dumb picture of angus good do you want to share with the class yeah yeah that's what i really love it when when there's like laughing when i'm trying to do my serious recaps.

For podcast listeners, it's a funny picture of a cat, okay? I'll tweet it. So, having had the emotional experience of the last episode, of our last session, this time there is much to be done. This time, there is much to be done. With a few days past, at some point, and you guys can kind of tell me when this might be. I imagine this would probably be after the sort of meal on the Astoria where you all kind of gathered and century forged it.

But how much longer after that, if you guys did bits and pieces before in between. but how much longer after that if you guys did bits and pieces before in between but Siaska, Kallus, Valar would probably Send you a message. In fact, I'll play it out. Siaska would message you It would be in your minds telepathically champions the time is approaching when we must leave Erois and travel to battle Hadar.

There is much that Kallus and I must discuss with you. Our plan for the battle ahead. Gather the allies that you trust most. The allies that you would take with you into what may be your final battle. Bring them with you to a meeting to discuss this next step of our journey. I'm going to make a list. Make a list. Who we're taking, who we're not taking.

Basically, I'm going to make a maybe list, a definite list, and then we can. Who is precious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do we go with the strongest fighters? Well. Or do we go with the sexiest? Why not both? Both is good. I mean, the easy one on the top of the list

is Thalia, Big Cat, and Kairi, because they come in in the Twin Star. Yeah. Literally can't stop her. Can't stop her. It's a bundle discount. Yeah. Thalia.

It's a two for one. What I'm going to specify here, I'm not going to get too out of gamey meta with this, because you don't know what's going to happen. What I will say is we are going to make a blanket assumption that things like generic soldiers and things like that. We'll have a discussion about who they are going to what that's going to look like as well. What assets you're going to bring along with you.

Things like the guardians, for example, they would be a generic asset, like a kind of like we're going to bring the guardians to be an army with us. Right. What I'm looking at for these trusted NPCs is these are going to be like your Mass Effect companions, your loyalty. These are the companions that might end up in a mission with you, in a battle with you. These are companions that you might want to send off to do tasks or missions whilst you're out in space. I'm also going to make it very clear now,

anybody you don't specify today isn't coming. You can't then, in two, three weeks time be like, oh, can we say that we have brought blah, blah, blah with us? Fair enough. It's going to be like, this is the, once you set off from Erois, once the Astoria leaves Erois, there is no bringing people along for the ride, right? Just as a way to prevent sort of like, oh, let's bring,

oh, we forgot about blah, blah, blah. Let's bring them along and stuff like that. Like, you know, like this is your chance. And you can take, you know, take some time, talk about it now, figure it out in character. But just, this is basically like, assemble your Bioware RPG crew. We have to have done their loyalty missions first.

Well, I mean. We've done them. You've done them. I mean, I'm dating her. You tell me, you tell me whether, you know. Okay. So Thalia whether, you know. Okay. So Thalia and the twin bow. So Thalia, big cat, Kairi, Max.

To set the role play scene, where should we be for this meeting? Yeah, that's great. I kinda wanna be on the storm chaser. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, in Lucius's captain quarters, maybe surrounding the big table that you've used in the past for Meetings and such like, yeah.

So we can set that. It'll probably be, you know, sort of mid-morning. You know, Howard would have brought, like, food and prepared everything. You know, almost preparing for, like, a conference. Like, this is probably going to be a couple of hours for you guys to sit there and figure this out. Greilano and the others are all kind of, like, making sure. Kamara's making sure the ship is being looked after. And, you know, you know that Quill,

you probably would have had plenty of sending spells. You've got plenty of sending spells to send messages to people and stuff like that ready to go. Don't worry about things like spell slots today. We can just assume that if you need to contact somebody, you have a magical means of doing that, whatever that happens to be. Hey, so you want to come to space with us?

Like a big demon? Yeah. And this would be also uh think about not necessarily who you want to take with you on this final arc this final chapter of the story but also who you want to take to actually meet with callus and siaska to discuss the plan going forward as well the dragonborn yeah i was gonna say that's probably a good idea to return to shish now are there specific dragons you want to take with you? The ones to meet Starbane. That'd be an interesting conversation. But yeah, is that like a specific dragon or dragonborn that you want to take with you,

or is that something again where they might be more like the guardians and be like a war asset that we're going to take along? Maybe both, because we do have some named ones that we definitely remember off the top of our head, but also the general, like they would be a good asset just as a unit. Sure, yeah, you tell me. I can't remember them off the top of my head. Yeah, I'm trying to find the right part of my diary.

Shh. Um. Now that Hope has realized her true potential and power, that makes her strong enough to join the fight, right? Certainly. I mean, Hope was basically, and is not quite a full archfey, but is close to being one. Like, she's very powerful.

She's a powerful druid. She's immune to her da, being fey. Not necessarily. Let's a powerful druid. Huh? She's immune to her dart being fey. Not necessarily. Let's bring her in. Yeah. But yeah, you know that Hope is a powerful druid. She has like druidic magic. She's not a full druid.

She's not wild shape and stuff. Yeah, she was a vendor before this and has had little combat experience. She made healing flabs. Yeah. I'll put her in the maybe pile just now. I like the idea that Aayla is the one who's writing down the maybe pile. Ayla's got a piece of stone.

Like a caveman. You can't read a thing. Not one bit of it. Norfyr? Norfyr is a good one. Do you want Norfyr to go? She's very skilled. Specific though. She's very stealth.

She's more of a stealth infiltration. Is she maybe someone to use elsewhere then? Doesn't necessarily mean that they will necessarily be in a D&D style combat encounter. But they may be available to send on a mission or do some a task or something while you're out there you don't know what you're going to really be facing again so that's something to keep in mind i guess with the astoria we can take everyone we know if you want pretty much if well yeah yeah you point to a point do we want to leave arval behind or do we want to take arval i think arval should be left behind. He's not a battle boy.

That's what I was thinking. He's a money boy. As much as I wanna have Arvel with us, I don't think he's the right call. Yes. Yeah, that's fair. Arthusa's stayer. Going back to Hope, by the way,

there are certain characters, like Hope, when you were in the Feywild, she very, like, when she became this unicorn centaur form, her power vastly increased. I'm happy to tell you, you can say, is this character got combat ability? Is this person actually high level? I will give you a vague yes or no.

Arvel, for example, has almost no combat ability. He is pretty much a civilian. He's a tradesman. He's very good with numbers and talking to people um but you'll be able to talk to her dog it could potentially be we don't need fighters we need lovers all right you also i will also say that you know with callus and siyaska on side it's highly likely and think people like azaria perel and like the whole of aroya is kind of like backing this um your things like npcs even if they're not like, you know,

characters like Maximilian, you know, aren't anywhere really near your level of power, they can probably be given like magical items and like enhancements and enchantments to like boost their power a little bit, right? So assume that anybody you decide to take will be about an equal power level. They won't be as powerful as you guys, but they will all be powerful and useful. No, exactly.

Are they in Stormlighted? Kind of, yeah. They're kind of being bestowed with power, whether that's through magic items or divine blessings or enchantments, but they will be, on a gameplay level, equivalent to each other, but not as powerful as you guys.

Sure. See, ask your neighbors. So, for the Dragonborn, I have Amadracis, General Amalas, and General Thamalas. They were the three that came to the big meeting. That's the ones that... He made that up. Yeah.

He made that up. You know this is a fan. No, I know, it's just when you say them all back to back like that, General Thamalam. Yeah, I think. It's just when you say them all back to back like that. General Thamalam. Yeah, I think they're worth taking. I think so, yeah. General Thamalam and Ding Dong.

Yeah, yeah. Are they valid? Anybody's valid. Anybody's valid. I think so. They're dragons. There were actual dragons that escorted us to Nyrskir as well. Some of them were dragons and some of them were dragonborn.

So we actually, there's two categories here. How did the dragons after fighting the titans, the great beasts, how did they recover? No casualties? There probably were some casualties, but nobody of significance to who you know and things like that. But there would have been casualties for sure. There definitely would have been casualties for sure. There definitely would have been some dragons and dragonborn who lost their lives 100%.

I'll also inform the crew about my conversation with Sky Prince in that they mentioned the Wind Barons and there might be others that have been taken in by Zarkira, so actual forces that we might need forces to fight against. Yeah. Yeah. So Norfair's valuable and stuff like that, and Dragonborn. Having physical fighters might actually be really valuable.

So for now, what I'm going to do is I've written down Thalia plus crew. Thalia's going to be our focus, and then Kairi and Big do is I've written down Thalia plus crew. Like they kind of, Thalia is like going to be our focus. And then Kairi and Big Cat kind of like sidekicks for Thalia. Yeah. Maximilian, I'm assuming you've mentioned, and that seemed like a pretty reasonable one. He's going to be with Starbeam, right? And Starbeam's going to be there.

Potentially. And Valor. He'll be with Valor. Assuming that they're going to be available to you. He is a trusted NPC, yeah. Sure. In terms of the Guardians, century of to be available to you. He is a trusted NPC, yeah. Sure. In terms of the Guardians, century of this is up to century,

like you know that there are many Guardians who aren't fighters and soldiers. You know that many of them are built for that purpose. Like, and many of the ones that you rebirthed in the City of Glass, the ones that you gave new life, they were the Guardians who first fought Hadar long, long ago and have been stored in the matrix ever since so a lot of them are warriors and soldiers who know this fight very well um if you have specific named guardians we can make them

figure that we've got two columns here we have like npcs and we have war assets if you want to have specific guardians for your npc allies like some of the guys that helped you fighting against um the the knights the the grief knights um you could maybe pull some of those guys out and have them as npcs otherwise i was going to count the guardians as just a kind of army that you have with you right yeah but that's up to you like that's how i was seeing it in my head but if you have a different theory let me know no no it sounds good yes have like a whole group of guardians and one or two that's like chain of command kind of thing yeah sure yeah and like this it wouldn't be taking every single guardian on a rowist this would just this would be taking probably a good majority of them but like you would leave most of the ones who are like artists and you know laborers and stuff like that

you know back here um this would be taking all the soldiers but it's enough to count as an army nice guardian army basically um so if you have any specific ones let me know otherwise i wrap them up into the war assets right uh for example and then uh say for like the dragons and dragonborn right the same thing there if you have specific ones that you want to have as like actual characters that will interact with you and go along with you they would need to be named npcs otherwise dragon slash dragon one will just be another sort of similar to the guardian army they will be a force that you can use um i think so i'm going to put them down as a war asset for now but you tell me if they're specific i think they could stay like that right um unless there's anyone that there's like hotshot andhot and Rook, I don't know. Oh I meant the dragons. Oh sorry, dragons. Also yeah, Hotshot is dead. Yep. And Rook

is in the matrix. Herald? Herald's also in the matrix. Herald's gone, yeah. We've got Scout. Lookout. Lookout. I mean, part of the Stormtrooper. Protector. Protector, yeah. Protector survived. Yeah. If we do Protector and Scout, I think it would be a good combo. Yeah.

Protector recovered as well into the Matrix? Yes. No, Protector survived. Protector was the one that you thought was dead, and then when you went back into the forest to find them, they had managed to survive. They were the ones that lured all the undead away and you thought had done it but they had survived okay i thought we'd found them and they were very very worse for wear they were but they they they would be more able to recover than yes okay even if they went into

the matrix like sentry can reassign them to another guardian if need be. Rook and Herald were a lot worse off, so they need more time. But Protector could be called out. Okay. Sentry, a quickie. Mm-hmm. You know when you bring guardians out of your matrix

and you put them in a guardian that's already, which has lost its matrix. Was there ever a time when guardians made new bodies? So it's put old matrices into? Like enhanced new bodies? That's what Solvin was doing. It's like Solvin did like work with Root to create new bodies and new matrices. But that technology was lost with Solvin was doing. Solvin worked with Root to create new bodies and new Matrixes. But that technology was lost with Solvin.

And there would have been a time, Root would probably tell you this in the Matrix, but yeah, there was a time and the height of the Guardians of Civilization and Culture where they were a race. They were a people out in natural space. They built worlds and they built bodies. But they don't reproduce like an organic being. They sort of grow new bodies.

Like back in, probably in Roots Day, they would have grown bodies from wood and plants and then affixed stone and metal and wood and things like that. Whereas with Solvin, it was more constructed, so they're more like armour and they're more metallic. But yeah, like 100%. But that's lost knowledge now, sadly. Yeah. They're more metallic, but yeah, like 100%. But that's lost knowledge now, sadly. Yeah.

Just thought maybe some enhancements for the guardian race, but we could... We could always get armor for them and give them weapons and... We have the Astoria with the gem ladies. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we could help forge some weapons and armor for you. Yeah, we have access to that sort of thing. I just wonder if there's any that could do with the sprucing, so to speak.

We'll have a look and see who needs it, I suppose. I'm sure Azaria would love to do something like that. Yeah. She always looks at Sentry funny, you know, like she wants to... Yeah, she's been meaning to study for a while,

but I'm sure you already know that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's a bit on the fence about it. Yeah. I think stay this side of the fence. The do not let her

do that side of the fence. But speaking of, she'll definitely bring Zarya with us. She's fought Zarkira before? Question mark? Yeah, she has. We watched her do it. We didn't know which way it was going to go.

She's a very powerful mage. And she has an understanding of magitek now as well. She's been sort of understanding Solvin and Valkyrian technology. Yeah, and she's already sided with us once before. That seemed permanent. At least if I was Zarkira, it would be permanent. Until she has a better offer. Well, her flavor of creepy is very different

from Hadar corruption creepy. It's kind of, she's willing to pick things apart to see how things work and seeking knowledge rather than unraveling for unraveling's sake. Yeah. That reminds me, did you put a skull in my room? What? Someone put a screaming skull in my room

and I'm trying to figure out who it was. Oh, one of Azaria's creepy skull. Oh, no. Well, it definitely wasn't Aayla. That passive insight doing some work over there. Your passive insight of 22. Oh, no. Yeah, so Azaria can join us.

Just going back to the dragons, there was Commander General Velovixus, who was the gold dragon that was asleep. Like he was a big sleepy boy. Sleepy boy, yeah. And he woke up and he went to sleep. But I've got here written down that the older dragons became sleepy and fatigued because of the cradle.

Now that the cradle's gone, are all the old dragons who live in the Vex area, are they woken up? That's a great question. It's only been a few days. Not something you've investigated, but if you want to. Can we investigate that? Yeah, can we do that? Sure, yeah. After we have this discussion.

Although they don't really like us that much. They don't like Hadar. Yeah, but we did lock that little dude in a cupboard. I think we could assign them to lead their own dragonborn army, rather than have any specific people on the Astoria. Well, in our group. Sure.

I mean, perhaps we liaise with Amadrasus, just so we're all on the same page. But I think they're very much military, structured, they know what they need to know. There's the target, go. Yeah, it would be good to have that. A force to be reckoned with. Yeah, a dragon force.

And they can fight alongside Yohandrius. Every dragon, oh, Yohandrius. Yohandrius is gone. Is he, though? He vanished. So you call him back? I don't want... No.

Why? We'll see. Dragon. It could be useful. It could be useful. If it works. Well, we can investigate when we investigate dragons. Yeah.

We'll see. Now's the time to ask. So right now, in terms of NPCs, Thalia, Maximilian, Protector and Scout, to sort of be commanders but to be active NPCs to join you. Maybe Azaria? Is that a yes-no on Azaria? I think so, yeah. She's a yes. She's the...

She's on Astoria. What about Norfear? There was a sort of like, do you want to maybe, but wasn't sure. I think it's Lucius' call. Yeah. I'm more interested to see if Norfear wants to. Any NPC that you have significant connections with will come along if you ask wants to. Any NPC that you have significant connections with

will come along if you ask them to. There is not going to be really a discussion. You guys are the champions of Arois. If you tell people you need them to come, they come. It's not really a... They have a choice in the matter. It'd be useful to have a stealthy, silent sneak round stab him in the back she was a very talented spy and assassin oh she slit hadar's throat from behind okay yeah sure northea okay on the list

you're right um we don't need moonstar because i'm moonstar now i'm like rain and danica i am I am the knight. Yes. Yeah, Danica should be a go-to. Danica? Yes. Yes. Rain, I will say, is not... In a similar sense to Arvel, they are a combatant in a sense of they're maybe a second-level fighter.

There's no amount of powering up that's going to enable Rain to be a strong combatant. However, they could be a war asset because you will need a command crew you still don't have a command crew for the astoria still so having that would like you could assign rain to be part of that command crew and then that will be an effective that will affect how well the astoria is how useful the astoria is yeah you know i think we offered it to him before but yeah in the state of Eros at the time, he had to refuse, but this time might be more.

All right, I will put rain down as command. I was going to ask, well, originally I was going to ask the new Tiangong, if they, or Antasadar, if they could ask any Eterna that they knew if they could help with the Astoria, like power it, run it. So I don't know, A, if there are any Eterna,

and B, if they would want to join the Astoria. You would feel you'd hear a voice. All of you would hear a voice, kind of going back to something that has been missing for a little bit of time. It is entirely possible the Eterna will fight alongside both Valkyrie and Anaerowis against Hadar. Individually the Eterna will not be as strong allies as we or Tassadar are, and the other member of the Triumvirate is more of a healer and protector.

But there will be a force of Eterna at your command if you request it. This would take the form of another war asset. You would have basically the Eterna as another sort of unit or army to utilize. Well, shit. Did you all hear that?

Yeah. No, I heard that, yeah. So that's back. That was amazing. I am indeed returned. Or we, sorry. We have joined with Nova Vija, but it is important that you understand

we are not the Tiangong you knew before. How does that work? So when Tiangong went, plunged into the... Very painful moment, yes. Fortin Tsar to save. Leaving a big empty hole in my heart. Yes.

The Triumvirate and Eterna, they can't truly... Fortin's are to save. Leaving a big empty hole in my heart. Yes. Triumvirate and Eterna, they can't truly, energy is just transferred? No. That Tiangong was destroyed. Right. Nova Vija's memories, that connection Nova Vija had to that version of Tiangong has been merged with the Tiangong that had bonded with Calus Valkyrian.

Through those memories, parts of us have been recreated and forged new ideas, new beliefs. The physicality is provided by the Tiangong shards that Calus Starbane collected. Yes. And I guess I provided the other half with my memories of my Tiangong. Nova Vija's bond to the Tiangong you once knew is very strong.

Magically, it left an echo. And through that echo, we were able to recreate a part of that Tiangong. But when the two forms merged, something new was created. Perhaps in a simple way to explain it, it is similar to a metal alloy. Two individual metals, when merged together, become something stronger, something new, with different properties.

Wow. That was very insightful. Thank you. You are welcome, Lucius. I didn't get what he just said. Yeah, okay, so there's no hope for Nightfrost then. Sadly, no. There was nothing left. It is possible. Eterna, Nightfrost's energy would not be destroyed,

but the form you knew would be gone. That energy cannot be recreated into a new form. Well, scientists would disagree, but yes. Lucius doesn't say that. At all. Also, magic. Magic. Magic.

All right, so the Triumvirate and the Eterna are on our side. Fantastic. We will be with Nova Vigia. We will provide the same benefit that we have before, but we will be present. The we being... Tiangong. Tiangong.

And the Eterna... There will and the Eterna. There will be numerous Eterna that will join as warriors, I suppose. Under yours and Nova's command? They will function as their own. Right. Consider me a part of Nova Vigia now. Okay. Consider us part of Nova Vigia now.

Tassadar is another matter. You would need to inquire with Tassadar themselves if they wish to aid you in some manner. They have always been very independent. It's right here, so... Are they not linked to Calvus' ship? They are, but they are able to manifest themselves in many places. Yeah, I remember they went on a bit of a holiday in Erois. Have you... No.

Has Tiankong ever been on it? No. Has Tiangong ever been alive? No. Bow to to astral space. So Tassadars are possible. They would be powerful. Yeah, it would be a fragment of Tassadars, so not like an incredibly powerful. They would, again, be a very similar nature to everyone else,

but they would be a fragment of them. They are very knowledgeable about magical and magitek. Will they... And they have the benefits of being sort of not a real person so they can sort of be destroyed and it doesn't kill off Tassadar completely.

But that might also mean that there are limitations to what they can and can't do. Think of them as like a magical projection of Tassadar. Gotcha. Would you like me to put Tassadar down? Yeah, I think that would be... I see why not.

Yeah. What about Rethra? Rethra, Hunter of Vanya, and the Wild Elves. So Wild Elves will be like a asset unit and then Rathra and Vanya on the... Big Jack? You want Big Jack? You leave that sweet boy.

I feel like to his war. I'm gonna say on this, just so I can simplify a bit for myself, Vanya will still come with you. Vanya will act as a commander for the war asset because he's not as powerful. Rethra will be an NPC for you guys to use if that's cool. Just because then I don't have too many things to do.

And also I think it makes sense that Varnia would be more like a squad leader for the wild elves. There'll be a smaller war asset. There's not too many of them. They're kind of spread out. But the ones that you fought the great beasts with will 100% come along. And there'll be like a commando unit basically. Good at like they're kind of spread out, but the ones that you fought the great beasts with will 100% come along. Nice.

And there'll be like a commando unit, basically. Good at sneaking, good at like taking out, you know, maybe sneaking around and taking out, you know, targets and things like that, but not like an army like the guardians. Very cool. Hmm. I'll give them like some keywords so you know like, oh, they're good at this, they're good at that.

Nice. You know, so you can kind of think about how best to use them when the moment occurs i'm going to try and i'm going to try and make it not too mechanical and complicated i'm going to try and keep it kind of simple uh i am not going to ask tornado or the seekers i think they're far better suited to what is going on in vortensar and um i also don't feel like there's a group in Vorten Sarr that really could help, you know, in terms of, you know, maybe like... It would be the Seekers if there was one. Yeah, and I feel like they're probably more valuable staying...

Nova's core. ...in Vorten Sarr. I don't know, what do you guys think? I agree. So you know what we use the Seekers for, the kind of espionage and information. Yeah, I mean, if we brought them, then Norfear would be their commander, right? Yeah, yeah. Probably Tornado would be.

Norfear was helping them, but like, Norfear's a Skylight and an elf. I think we need to worry about Eros as well, and what we're leaving behind, and what we're leaving behind. Yeah. And what we're coming back to. There's a lot of unrest in Vortensar, a lot of problems that need rebuilding and healing. And I think the Seekers would do best. And I feel like if we were to remove all the Seekers and be like, hey, you're gonna come into Astral Straits, possibly near to our home, where we tried to stop you from going to,

it's not a good look. Yes. So yeah, I think Tornado would be better, and the Seekers would be better off staying on Arois, and also, therefore, if I die, there'll still be something in the way. She trailed off, but I heard everything. I think we should bring along the Harvest Guard

from Rosehall. Now we're talking. We do need a meat shield, yes. They're a vibrant, enriched city now. You want me to write it down? Yeah. Major NPC. Rosalina.

Of the Harvest Garden. Well, she's not. Unless you tell me right now. No, are you joking? Yeah, of course, it's me. Listen, you tell me something like, write that down, I'm going to write them down.

Yeah, okay. Jokes aside, I will be like, okay, sure. Who else have we got? Aaron. Coral Song? Coral Song, yeah. The Tritons. I had to think then.

I know. I was trying to think of the people who fought the beasts as well. Yeah, no, no. They were on a force of the beasts. There were ones of them in astral space. Yeah, I'm not sure. Do we need like a fishbowl in the Astoria? Like astronaut helmets

but the fishbowl bit. I can still walk on it. I mean, well, I mean, you know that astral space, like you can't just go out and fight in astral space. Like the storm chasers

in the Astoria are protected by like these magical fields. So like you can stand on the deck of the storm chaser, you can stand on the deck of the Astoria and you're fine.

But if you get separated from that, if you get pulled out of the protective barrier, you are going to be taking a lot of cold damage and suffocating because it is basically outer space, vacuum of space. There's a grace area. Mm-hmm. Cool. I think perhaps the Tritons are best off defending Orois.

Yes. What of Starbane's forces? Do we have to worry about them in terms of coordinating them? You don't have to worry about that. Okay. They will be present, and for the sake of, because they've been not part of the narrative, you don't know those forces,

they will be basically doing the grunt work of, you'll be able to focus on specific things because they'll be like fighting the millions and millions of Hadar minions that are going to be present they'll be taking care of that so you can be like fight that special enemy do this special mission they're going to be like the background force cut scene in the background they're the big fight in the background yeah basically, basically. What about your boyfriend? Oh, Sky Prince, I think, should remain leader of Gustaven. I agree, I just wanted to say boyfriend.

Just removing the... I ignore that. It's a monarchy. How did that happen? What? Tell us about it. There is no time. We are facing the end times.

Time stop. Everyone freezes except Quill. Well. Sky Prince Aradan, emotions aside, very similar to the Seekers in Vortensar, I think there would be unrest in Gusthaven without a ruler seated. It would be unwise. Also, no offence to him, I don't know what his combat capabilities are.

He would be a suitable combatant if you wanted to take him. But you can also choose to leave him behind. What does everyone else think? It makes sense to leave. I mean, if we're hoping Danica would join us, we need some leaders back in a row, as it makes sense. Agreed. I'm trying to think of who else now. Did you make a decision on hope?

Yeah, I'm for it. I'm nervous about it. I'm a little nervous about hope. But she's powerful. Yeah. She's powerful, but she's not battle. She's not experienced combat. But she's been enhanced since the Fae.

Since we saw her. Again, it might not always be combat that you need these allies for. It might be other tasks, other things that they can do that can help. Emergency Sloth. Faeing up the place. She has magic now. I mean, she was the one that basically gated her and Mesmera here. Does she have any control or command

of any fey wild forces? She could. Eradicants. Yeah. It would be the... What was that place that you went to? The fey world? Yeah, but there was the...

Where Mesmera's tower was. Heartspire. Heartspire. It would be the forces of Heart Spire. Thank you, Ray. My brain was like... Is it an army of dandelions, though? Armador would be amongst their number.

But yeah, it would probably be led by the Rose Knight. Like, they're sort of like... Yeah, it would be a Fey Wild force of, you know, magical soldiers, basically. Okay. Plants, animals, satyrs, like fey beings, like fey creatures, which they will have unique traits

because they're fey. Army of fey. Do we want to take Hope and Mesmera? Mesmera would have to stay behind. Yeah. She's tied directly to the fey world. She can't leave it. She can leave it temporarily,

but not to go out to astral space. She can come to a dinner. Yeah. Not to battle at the end of the universe yeah yeah yeah um but yeah i think hope makes sense alongside some of the rose knights was it sorry yeah the rose knights of um hearts by hearts by nights we'll call them having an eclectic mix of different Having an eclectic mix of different races and playing our entities would suit us, I think. Benefit us. Grasped. I was wondering, I think he might be pissed at us.

He's probably on the other side. We literally escaped a deal gone wrong, or a gamble gone wrong. Let's make another deal. Yeah, but we did beat the shit out of him. We did kick his ass, yeah. Yeah, let's make a deal. Let's make another deal. Who, but we did beat the shit out of him. We did kick his ass, yeah. Yeah, let's make a deal. Let's make another deal.

Let's do him. I mean, I feel like storm chasers are guaranteed coming with you. There's no escaping that. Those officers and the wolf pack are coming with you. Even that one wolf. Oh yeah. Especially that one. They are

your Normandy crew. Just like the dust settles, everyone is standing victorious, and then... I get shagged. I do have actually an interesting question. Going back to the concept of the Astoria and its command crew.

Araya currently is the first mate and the pilot of the Storm Chaser, but Lucius is capable of flying the Storm Chaser. Would you want Araya to mate and the pilot of the storm chaser but Lucius is capable of flying the storm chaser would you want Araya to basically be the pilot on the Astoria because they need

more command crew or do you want to keep her alive now Araya is a much better pilot than Lucius unfortunately but also still be able

to pilot when Lucius is not exactly but you do need to think about again that command crew for the Astoria you currently have

Rain is like Rain is probably going to oversee it, again, that command crew for the Astoria. You currently have Rain. Rain is probably going to oversee it as the CO, the overarching officer of making sure everything gets done. But you will probably need a pilot. You will probably need a communications person to help coordinate communications. Kind of want to ask Thalia to pilot, but I know that she'd love her twin star.

That would also remove her from being an NPC for you guys. Yeah. Also, it would remove the twin star. Yeah, and I feel like that would be an asset. We should just, if we're going right past, let's just pick up Palador. Palador cannot leave a rose, because the Sunship needs to stay here.

Some of his little Modron army. You could ask for a Modron from Palidor. Yeah, absolutely. Could you take his entire ship? You absolutely could, yeah. If you don't have anybody specific in mind, there will be people that will take that role that may have, like, they may not be as good.

I'm thinking the Astoria is, like, the biggest asset. It's a very powerful weapon you have, yes. So we should put someone we trust implicitly with it and also our communication with them second to none. And Araia is that one to me. Oh. Because I think with regards to the storm chaser, we're going towards Hadar. And then when we stop sailing the storm chaser,

we are fighting Hadar. So we don't really need a captain. Well, we don't know what we're doing. So we're at our destination. In terms of the chain of command, if Lucius, if Araya was on the Astoria, and Lucius left the Stormchaser, I think Camara would basically be the next in line, and she would take on the, she would basically become the pilot. So it's not like it just drifts into...

No, of course not, yeah. Somebody would, of course not. It would either be... Like, Kamara would take command, but she would probably have Lansian become the pilot because Lansian's a bit better of a pilot than her. He's not as good as Lucius or Oriah, though. But he'd be the next sort of, like, to take the helm. He's the next helmsman. Yeah, I mean, if Oriah's capable of the massive upgrade

from Stormchaser to... Well, I mean, Ryu Oriah is capable of the massive upgrade from Stormchaser to... Well, I mean, really, you created Oriah. She was a captain of an orc ship before the Stormchaser. She had a crew. She's been a leader for most of her life, right? She's been a pirate captain kind of thing. So, honestly, the Astoria is just bigger ship. But it would probably add a bit more of a mercenary flair to it.

It wouldn't be a military vessel. It would be like a free captain, a mercenary flair to it. It wouldn't be a military vessel. It would be like a free captain, you know, taking command and being like, yeah, fuck the rules. I'm going to do what I want. So it might not necessarily mean that she plays well with, like, Valkyrian and, you know, the dragons, because she'll be like, I'm going to do my own thing. But that could be a good thing.

That sounds like a good thing. Yeah, you don't know. There's lots of ways it could all go. Yeah. It's up to you guys. Yeah, I mean, you don't know there's there's lots of ways it could all go um yeah it's up to you guys yeah i mean i'm not saying anything to be like you should do this by the way i'm just saying these are options maybe one you've not thought of this well my worry was if ariah's not there and lucian's not on the ship then the storm chase is just gonzo basically but if that's not the case then it makes sense for ariah to be on the Astoria alongside Rain. I was thinking of maybe, like, I guess it's just come down to

the only connection we really have with the Messenger Guild is Quill backstory. Beyond that, we haven't really done a huge amount with them. So I don't know how much of an assistance they would necessarily give but it could be useful maybe to have a small regiment of just communications yeah could they help with comms yeah you can certainly i can put them down um the other thing i'm going to say because i you know something i want to pick up on you said there there tom i will make it clear araya is the best pilot for the storm chaser lucius is pretty good pilot lancean is next in line the storm chaser might not just be useless good pilot lantian is next in line the storm chaser

might not just be useless that doesn't mean there won't be risks if you don't have the best people in the best places the risks increase now that means that it will be random there will be dice rolls and stuff involved you guys might not even be the ones making them but i'm gonna say this now don't just think oh it's fine like we can just have somebody else take it. That means the risk increases. And that goes for everything. Like the same with all these NPCs you're going to take, same with all these war assets.

You need to think about who do you trust, who's capable, who do you think is going to do best at that job? And that's not just a decision now. You're going to be making decisions in this final, you know, this assault on the Far Realm realm that is going to be a constant thing where you're going to have to make decisions based on the tools and people you have around you and there will be risks not just to you guys but to the people that you take along with you as well yeah i will make that clear what if we went and organized by job role and then just said who's the best in all of our rows at that one thing?

Yeah, you could do that. Just keep in mind that if you don't have a personal connection to those people, then they may break. Their morale might won't be very strong because they don't know you. They don't trust you. But you could put somebody who isn't maybe the best at that thing but is kind of okay at it it but implicitly trusts and owes you their life and they may actually

be better at it because of that. And again, you don't know what the challenges you're going to have to face are. So just something to think about. It's not just who's necessarily the best. It's not just necessarily who's powerful. It's also a part down to how well they trust you

and how well you trust them. I think Uriah is the right choice for the Astoria. Danica, maybe? Danica, I think, moves Horizon with her magic. Yes. So I don't know if she's a good pilot for the Astoria. She's a good leader, though. She is a good leader.

Again, yeah, she absolutely would be. It would remove her as an NPC that can join you in battle or on tasks and stuff like that. She would basically be taken out of the NPC pool and put into the war asset pool. I think that makes sense, to be honest. As a commander of the Astoria, I suppose. But, also a very powerful fighter.

Houred entire city. Okay. The decisions. Depends if we want to secure two very good captains on our two most important... Vessels. Vessels. Or if we want to...

I'll also say, if you want to come back to this decision just before we finish the episode, we absolutely can. You can move on, discuss a few things. Also, when you feel like you've got enough people, let me know, and we can literally have you guys

meet up with Siasco and Calus as well. As long as I know before this session ends, we're good, but it doesn't have to be right this second. Sure, yeah. Who else do we know? Is there anyone we're missing that's integral? I know.

I was wondering, probably not integral, but there's the Grand Strategist who we rescued. He might be useful in terms of, you know, consulting the Grand Strategy. Yeah. A Grand Strategist as a war asset would probably be a good idea, yeah, for sure. What about that tiny mage Cobalt?

Vesic. Yeah, Vesic. Who's this? Vesic. Vesic. Oh, you have to meet Vesic. I've not met Merzig. You have. He was on the ship when we rescued Quill. Yeah.

I'm trying to remember if, I think maybe you weren't there, but Sentry was. I think it might be one of those situations. Yeah, it was a little cobble that had control of gravity, but beyond that we haven't spoken to them again. Definitely some kind of worshipper of valor. Bit chaotic. Yeah, we don't really trust him.

I mean, he's literally disappeared. Because I was looking at Rana as well, so I remember when we had Celestials and stuff like that. You should bring Sim-Sam. Who? Sim-Sam. The con man? Sim-Sam, Simbalor.

The dream. He's gone. The dream. Okay, he's gone. The lie that Quill keeps telling everyone. The pretender. Yeah. The minor illusion.

Did you say the Celestials? The Celestials. It was Rana who we rescued from the ship. But the ones we met. And then the ones that we met. Well, they didn't betray us. They just wussied out. Yeah.

But I don't think they probably want to work directly with Stormain. I don't feel like they're very trustworthy they bailed on us when we were relying on them they have their best interests in mind and they've already proven that by abandoning us for death did you ever send them a message again

you said you were going to send them a follow up message it involved a hand gesture a very rude hand gesture, yeah. A very rude hand gesture. I can't send it though, unless I see them. If I see them, I'll be sure to give them a message. Okay. Can't really do much hand gestures through magic.

Yeah, Quill said that he couldn't. Could you draw it? And like- And then look at it, and then- If we meet them, I can, yeah, use telepathy. I guess we're there though, I can, yeah, use telepathy. I guess we're there, though. I can just do that. So is that a no to them?

I think it's a no to... I don't even know how to contact them, to be honest. The wings of Ishtar. The wings of Ishtar, that's it, yeah. Yeah, I could contact them. But again, can't attach hand gestures. Also, I don't think it would be a good move to say, hey, you bailed on us. Now you owe us.

Now you owe us. By the way, who's Starbane? Also, we're working with Starbane. Yeah, they were a resistance force from Gideon. Yeah. Yeah, that one. That's great. Good handshake, though.

Hadar, bigger problem. There's those drow on Gratz's planet. I'm really scraping them earlier. I mean, like, if you feel like you're done, if you feel like there's nobody that really springs to mind or any sort of assets that you feel like... I don't feel like there is people that we've forgotten. I mean, there probably is, but... There's only 182 episodes.

Yeah. Think through. I'm trying to go through different places in my head. We don't have like a cleric sort of healer force. There was the Skaldi. Skaldi. I don't know how she is

since the power's been drawn away from her. You've not checked in, but yeah, you could always, you could check in. If you want to say now, you kind of be like, hey, let's go and see how she is and stuff like that. We could do that. There's also Starcaller Navarine,

the representative of Siasca, who was at the world meeting. Just watching Trot's face. You're like, Starcaller Navarine, and Trot just went, basically his brain just went. I feel like if we're bringing up names of people that we've literally spoken to once.

Yeah, but if they were at an important world council meeting. She helped us bring you back. Yeah. Yeah. And, um... What about Piri? What about Piri? Oh, my God, what about Piri?

Again, I haven't met him. Does everyone remember the group hallucination that was Piri? He was real. He's just dead. Was he? Yeah. He's just dead now. Is he dead?

Yeah. How did he die? I couldn't message him if I tried. I have never met him. I don't have any connection to him at all. What about the statue

in the underdark of the box of life? Oh, what about Gurley? Fucking asshole. What about Gurley? Nobody who's watched the Rose... People are like,

who? What? What are they talking about? That was like 20 million years ago. They know. Okay. Let me read out who you have. Yes. Thalia,

Maximilian, Protector and Scout. These are NPCs. These are NPCs. This is your named loyal crew companions. Your Baldur's Gate Bioware companions. Sure. Thalia, Maximilian, Protector and Scout, Azaria, Northeer, Danica, Tassadar, Rethra, Hope.

Also does show my slight bias for female NPCs. I'm just realising now. On the war assets, you currently have the Guardian Army, the Dragons and the Dragonborn, Rain, Commander Rain as part of a command crew, the Eterna, Wild Elves with Hunter Varnia,

and then the Heartspire Knights from the Feywild. And the Grandstrat? Do we want the Grandstrat just in this? If you want me to, I can add them on. Yeah, makes sense. I will add them to the command crew. Firmly on our side, I think, after we convince the Grand Strat, just in this? If you want me to, I can add them on. Yeah, makes sense. Yep. I will add them to the command, firmly on our side, I think, after we convince them. Basically.

Just chuck everyone on the list, why not? I found even more names here. Do you remember when it was five weeks to the leader meeting and Tom decided he wanted to role play sending 15 people messages? Oh, I drunk. Yeah, I've got all their names here yeah yeah yeah who did i message uh arval sky prince aradan malika dawn blessed nor fear

joanne shallow stride drexia johan missy steel eye sanna scaldi custodian amadrasis dean alessandra vastra adea elenasto and dean Simmons. Why did I message half of these people? Mark's face was just like, what? I remember most of those. The only one I don't remember is Shallow Stride, but I think they were part of the Half Forks, like the pirate Half Forks. Yes, it sounds like a half Forks.

Shallow Stride. Missy Steel. It's from Callie's Rest, right? Yeah, yeah. She's the one who told us off oh she always pissed us yeah

Dean Simmons is the librarian who had his tower burnt down what about the there's the vampire person the Helios

was protecting that was um come on that wasn't Azaria was it no it wasn't Azaria. It was a vampire lady.

It was one of the first people I talked to about... But they were both on Gustaven, weren't they? They weren't on Gustaven. No, they were Kelly's Rest. Dean Alessandra Vastra. Oh, no, I believe, yeah, she might have been in Gustaven, yeah. But the other Dean was in Kelly's Rest. Yes.

No, they remember a kiss on me. Yeah. Dean Simmons. Dean was in Cowley's Rest. Yes. No, they remember a kiss, don't they? Yeah. Dean Simmons. Dean Simmons, yeah. No! Let's rock and roll! I hear they're going on tour with my alchemical romance as well. Yeah.

Okay. There's a tour. It's actually, in this universe, it's not kiss, it's kith, and they're all Kith Yankee. Yes! Now Kith. Now Kith. That's why I call Kith.

Kith and my alchemical romance, we're inventing so many good bands for a row. Jesus Christ. Trots is looking at Kim's notes. I would say if it's not somebody who immediately stands to mind, then I'm worried. I'm just worried. No, there's going to be someone. A very important one that's like, we point.

Maybe, but then that's the case. Well, I mean, I could jump to like the meeting. I feel like anyone who was important was there. I mean, again. Yeah, I think so. If we're stretching to find important people, they're not important. It's more thinking about if those people that we know

have armies at their disposal. Who here has an army? Hands up. You're coming with us. Yeah, I mean, like, in a way, I mean, the Valkyrian Empire is huge, and there will be plenty of soldiers that will be in this fight uh this is more about the people that you trust to get the job done when you need people

to act like you are not going to really be able to command the valkyrian army to go and do anything like they're going to be there like taking the brunt of the pressure off so your strike force is going to be able to do the things that actually need to be done and it's why callus hasn't been able to win he's not been able to have that force that can come in and do this like he has this vast army but he just he's holding the pressure back he needs a force that's going to actually get stuff done um that's what you're assembling with get stuff done. That's what you're assembling. We're the get stuff done guys. Yeah, basically. Finally, we have a team name.

The get stuff done guys. Get stuff done. It's the try guys, but we don't try. We get stuff done guys. Eventually. All right. Well, how about this? How about this?

We'll jump ahead. You can chat with Siaska and Calus about this plan, and then we'll take a break and when we come back if you do think of somebody and you're like we want to go speak to this person I'm going on the wiki

we can do that alright I'm just imagining like all of us collectively oh we forgot Valor yeah yeah oh Siaska, Kalos and Valor

are guaranteed I just mean there's someone yeah Chauncey super someone Chauncey super obvious Chauncey let's recruit

the spell clash the spell clash you did already technically recruit the spell clash team when you thought you were going to end up fighting Valkyrian

so they are already kind of like involved as an asset potentially I'll see you later wolf pack Chauncey Chauncey's Chauncey's shit

you're not replacing the wolf pack on the storm chaser I'll tell you that now they'll kill you in, Wolfpack. Chauncey, Chauncey. Chauncey's shit. You're not replacing the Wolfpack on the Stormchaser. I'll tell you that now. They'll kill you in your sleep before that happens. One of them will anyway. One of them will eat you. If you would like me to write down spell clash in your war assets, I'm poised to do so. They would die so fast.

Desire, the great Chorzad! Look, would Hadar... It's like sending actors off to war. Hadar is expecting common fighters. Alas, I die. I don't think he's expecting people... You can put on a show. He can put on a show with flashy spells.

A diversion. Yeah. I think he's easily distractible. Old Hadar. Couple of fireworks. What about your sister? Yay! She's staying.

Stay. Hadeus is staying. She's got to build some stuff. I don't think we're putting down spell clash fighters. What? As much as I'd love to. Chauncey! What if we come back and the spell clash

have, like, overthrown Eros? And, like, made a great coalition. I think it'll happen. What if the Ganassi just take over? Like it's our planet now. One city versus an entire world

might struggle a little bit. Shut up. Let girl dream. Do you hear the people say? Okay. I'll let you guys give you time to think.

You are having debated this and kind of reached out to your allies eventually a point comes where Valor kind of on the deck your allies eventually a point comes where valor kind of on the deck of the storm chaser the purple door opens up valor and maximilian come through uh friends um mother and father uh are meeting uh on the tassadar they've asked me to show you

the way and take you to see them. I want to discuss this plan, this... this... what they can. Tell you what they know. OK, good, because we've been talking for hours. I think we've got a list of people. Good. Who will join us. All right, shall we go and collect them and bring them with us?

Is there anybody... Are there any among them that you want to be in part of this discussion? God. Thalia. I can go fetch her Thalia? She's on the Astoria, right? Somewhere. She'll probably be on the Twinstar.

Fine. I'm familiar enough with her. I'm pretty sure I can locate her. Anyone with a commander role would probably benefit from knowing the plan and what's going on. Danica. Danica. Yep. I'll bring a protector knowing the plan and what's going on. Danica. Danica. Yep. I'll bring Protector, Scout.

Sure. Hope. Fae Wild, I can get us there. Great. Oh, she also has her own rainbowy flowery portal. I might go fetch Hope. I'll take you all to the sass, then I'll go get Hope, because it's a bit more taxing going between planes, but I can do it.

Okay. Reim would be good to bring, so he knows the plan. Yeah, I mean, Danica, if I go to get Danica, I can bring Reim with us as well. Does Grim Strash just, like, if he's going to be hot, well, come on, Groot. Now, do we remember how he felt about Starbane? Actually, he was swinging on either side. He was swinging either way. Yeah, he'll be fine.

I just don't want to bring someone there immediately, just go and attack Starbane, you know? I think that anybody who did that would be pretty foolish. Yeah, they would die immediately. He'd kill them. You can't predict people. All right. It sounds like we're inviting most of the people that are on our non-war asset list.

Is Tassadar already there? Yeah, the meeting's on the Tassadar, so he'll be listening whether we want him to or not. All right. Well, let's go pick up Thalia and Danica and those folks on Horizon and the Historia. And we'll gather everyone else up and then we'll head in. And she'll lead you in.

And then, yeah, you gather up these allies. I've also left five golden tickets around Eros. Whoever finds them is part of our trusted crew. Oh! Oh, my God't. No. I've been recruited. I've been conscripted to die. No.

So initially, I think Valor would go and grab Thalia, Danica, Rain on their own. And the Grand Strategist as well. And with you guys, go to the tassadar and she teleports you straight into or gates you into uh a sort of not quite conference room but it is this sleek metal table with one of these kind of magical illusory maps on it um with a kind of projection of the the galaxy basically uh callus uh imperiously stood at the end of the table, decked in... No, it would be decked in his magitek,

the thinner magitek armor, the closer worn sort of like lighter suit. He's waiting. He has a few people around him. I don't think anybody you would recognize. It looks like some of the crew that were on the Tassadar are no longer here. So many of the ones that were...

Zarkirian forces. Yeah, the ones that were working with Zarkir are no longer here. But there would be at least one Celestial and one Fiend. Probably an Irenese, which is a female devil warrior clad in armor. Throw the Pokeballs now. Throw them into the void with me. The pokeball you don't have anymore.

Now would be the perfect time to power up the storm chaser. I love how in that scene, Nova, Harmony, Shansara died. And I just threw a fucking ball at you. It hit me on the head in the last minute. I was like, ow. I choose you. This will help.

Help. No, but yeah, there is an Irenese, a kind of warrior devil woman. You try, bud. You know, fully emblazoned in black plate armor, looking very Commander of War. Next to her is a celestial man, but he's wearing more like mage robes,

and he has a staff, very beautiful, long blonde hair, longer than Lucius's even. It almost goes down all the way to his feet. Well, shit. Looking very Kael'thala sun-blessed from WoW, sort of like the glowing eyes, but that kind of skin that's almost porcelain white, like it's not like pale, it's white, like alabaster. And you can see that his eyes are actually gold spheres.

They're not magical lights. They are pure gold, the eyes, and things like that. And just kind of stood there. We just got another trusted ally. Okay. He's on the team. I love him. Okay. Stands up, and the cyclone is tiptoes a little bit.

Yeah, this man is, like, nine feet tall. Both the Irenese and the cyclone is tiptoes a little bit. Yeah, this man is like nine feet tall. Both the Irenese and the Celestial Tower, even over Calus, they are massive. But they are kind of stood there waiting as well. I mean, you're not the only one feeling intimidated. We just came through into this room. It's got like a holographic map of all of like Arois and all the galaxies.

I look back through the portal. There's a scattering of hand-drawn maps. Written by me. In your little room. You've got your stone-scrawled list. People we's likes. People's we's don't likes. With a Z.

Not an S. Ayla writes so many Zs. Ayla is biggest. Ayla is best. I imagine it's like when you have a notepad and they've just written so hard, it's like in the back of the notebook. You've also scratched out so many chunks as well.

It's not usable. The people that come with you, Danica, Danica seems sort of unfazed and is very imperiously sort of like, yeah, whatever, I'm a big deal too. Rain and the Grand Strategist are a lot more like, very nervous. They're kind of like looking around,

very, not subjugated, but just very much in awe and sort of, oh my, that's Kalas Valkyrie and that's Kalas Starbane. We've heard about them. We've never really seen them kind of thing. Eventually after a little bit of time, Protector and the

Valor would go and fetch Protector and Scout and bring them through as well. Thalia and the rest of the crew. Thalia, again, very much like Danica, just is like, whatever, comes in. Literally, Riker maneuvers onto a chair. That's my girl! I know you'd like that. Literally, Riker maneuvers onto a chair. That's my girl. I know you'd like that.

That's my girl. Just takes a seat immediately. Kairi kind of nervously squawking at the back. Big Cat just stretches out, lays down on the floor, rolls around, it's nice and cool. Eventually, Valor pops out again, and when she returns, just hear like oh my goodness as Hope returns

immediately it's like Bernie! hugs even though you see like Calus kind of raise an eyebrow

like who is this I'm glad that even in this room I'm still a squishy one oh yeah oh yeah and just immediately

like is much more careful with her horn this time now that she has her unicorn horn. Yeah, she's already gouged me one. She's gouged you once. But, yeah, just, like, it's like, ooh, what's this?

Like, ooh, it's very, like, Deedee in Dexter's Lab. Like, what does this do? Like, which is the fun. Like, that kind of, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to. And just kind of, like, it's very much that kind of vibe. And eventually, probably Thalia is like,

hope, just chill. Like, stand here. Stand here. Get to the stander side. Can we bring anyone from the Stormchaser as well? You could do. Would you like to? We can bring Rethra as well. Rethra and Thalia.

Yeah, I guess just any of the officers of the Stormchaser makes sense. Maybe Uriah, Kamara. Yeah, out of everybody it would would be Araya, Kamara, and either Lookout or Penny. They kind of have the seniority over the others. Although I do kind of want to see Howard and Starbane talking. Yeah, if you want them to come along. I mean, Howard could just slip in through the gate

whilst everyone else, he's like, what's going on in here? Is there something? Where's the door gone? He's trapped in the room. He's trapped. He's like, what's going on in here? Is there something? Where's the door gone? He's trapped. He's trapped. He's like, I didn't mean to come in here. Oh, no, he's panicking again.

Does he have a lunch trolley as well? Yeah, he's probably got like baskets of things he's carrying. Like the butler in Tomb Raider. Oh, he trapped him in the freezer. So he just sort of like stands in the corner awkwardly. He probably faces the wall. He's like, I don't want to see nothing. He's of like stands in the corner awkwardly. He probably faces the wall. He's like, I don't want to see nothing.

He's just like looking into the corner like. Didn't hear nothing. Didn't hear nothing. There's a murmur of things like that. And the cowards would probably, you know,

you see him sort of hold a hand up and he's like, has like things like water and refreshments brought into the room. It's probably brought in by a hulking, red-skinned demon in its Valkyrian armor.

It kind of like... Emperor. It's carrying a number of carafes of drink or whatever in its 12 arms. It just places them all on the side and hands a bunch of things out. It looks down at Howard. What are you looking at?

No, no, no, no. And then Hope's just like, hey, don't be mean to him. And then eventually he kind of gets led out. Charming. And everyone's kind of gathered, but there's a moment of silence and then Calus will just say,

you'll wait one more. Okay. Who? He just smiles. And then you see, would she appear? Almost like a part of the room seems to almost fall, like the sun sets, even though you're inside.

It's like a part of the room becomes shadowy and night and you see starlight glitter as that that amorphous darkness takes a humanoid woman's form and a white dress kind of materializes and then the hair spills out as siaska emerges into oh that's who my actual god yeah uh she wasn't here i mean when she enters there is this almost especially from the erosians probably rain the grand strategists probably um kamara would i don't know if a raya like they they a bunch of them basically like neil almost like you know like oh my god, they're kind of stunned. Yeah.

Just her presence is enough to, like, almost floor them. I don't know how Oriah would feel about it. Yeah, because she used to worship Zephia, so. Yeah, okay, so she would, like, almost, like, you know, kneel in sort of, like, respect and things like that, as the Erosians are all sort of, oh my god, like, that's the Asuka kind of thing. Oh my god, that's literally. And she just smiles. Thank you all for coming here. I know the champions have reached out to you. They trust you. And so we have brought you to this council to discuss what must come next. Calus,

will you begin? Of course. He stands up, looks around and there's maybe a couple of furrowed brows looking at Callus' protector. You sense it, Sentry. Protector's hand immediately goes to the sword. The stiffened back.

Put a hand on Protector's shoulder. Yeah, like no action, but just like that almost reflective kind of like threat kind of thing. And you see that like a few of the others almost, you know, take a breath of fear in. But Calus nods. He waves his hand and the map shifts, focusing on a section of the galaxy, basically. You see some familiar planes. Those of you Nova, you would probably recognise, you know, Ganas and a few other planets and things like that,

but the rest of you probably wouldn't really be able to understand this map, but Thalia, Nova and a few others are, like, looking at it like, OK, yeah. In a few days, once preparations have been completed, the forces of Erois will head into astral space. It will then journey alongside my own forces to the far reaches of our current astral galaxy. Along the way, we will reinforce them with ships from my fleets, many of my forces. We will make our way to this. He twists his hand and the map almost seems to focus in and the magic shifts and blurs and it focuses on a section beyond the maps that you had seen previously,

going past Ganas, going past some of these outer planets, to show what looks to be a section of the galaxy of planets that have been ripped apart and strewn about, like Debris, almost like an asteroid field, but on a huge scale, on a colossal galactic scale. Planets that have been broken and ripped apart and scattered like crumbs this is the broken veil it has been the frontline of my battle against Hadar for a thousand years or more it shifts it began here and he gestures since I began this fight, it has grown to here.

You can see that it is expanded. You can see the worlds as this line, this battle line has progressed. The planets get destroyed and broken up and scattered, stretching further and further. The Broken Veil is the front line of the fight against Hadar. It is where we will encounter a vast amount of resistance. But it is not our final destination. Here, he points at a section.

This will be our rendezvous point with the rest of my forces, this forward operating base. From here, along with my forces and the forces of Arois, we will punch through to make our way to this place. And he draws the map out, and you see beyond the broken veil, beyond this battle line, there is a single unbroken planet that sits at the edge of astral space. Beyond it is just blankness, the astral void, where no

planes and no worlds exist. This is Entropis is a world that existed before the first divines came through the Genesis world. It existed even before Hadar. It is where the divines battled and weakened Hadar in their first encounter. They built a prison connecting it to the far realm. It is called Terminus Keep. It can be accessed only at this world. Champions, you are familiar with my daughter's ability to breach the demiplanes of the Titans, my children. It will be a similar situation. It is only here on Entropis, at the location of what was once Terminus Keep,

that can we breach into the far realm itself, where Hadar has twisted Terminus Keep to its own ends, now uses it as a citadel rather than a prison. From this point, the champions, Calus, Vala and I, will go to confront Hadar itself. But reaching it will not be easy. She gestures back to Calas.

The broken veil represents one of our first threats. Punching through it will not be easy. It will take our combined forces just to be able to survive the onslaught of Hadar's minions. But when we reach Entropis it will be another matter. Our ships won't be able to get close to the planet. We will need to use smaller vessels to descend to the plane surface. Your storm chaser, I have very similar ships that will transport us down. From there, we will need to secure the breach site, the site where Siaska and Vala can actually pierce through into

the Far Realm. Nobody has been to Entropis in thousands of years, we do not know what to expect. Once we reach the Broken Veil, our knowledge of what to expect evaporates. Not even Siaska has that knowledge. There is perhaps one who may know more when you look at Sentry. You carry the matrix of the Root Prime, correct? I do. Root is even older than Siaska. Root was present at that battle against Hadar on Entropis.

It may be that there may be memories or knowledge that Root may have that may aid us in time. It may be something that if you have the ability to communicate with them, you should. Okay. But we can't rely on it. As I understand it, Root was defeated in that battle and their body was hurled to the wall that became Erois, yes? Yes. Yes. Maybe that their memories are limited.

They may not remember the battle much at all. So we are going into the unknown. This is all we can plan for. If you have questions, if you have suggestions or ideas, now is the time. Once we reach the Broken Veil, we will be committed to this. Once I bring all of my forces to bear,

if we do not defeat Hadar, Hadar will overrun the rest of the galaxy. So, hi, everyone. To reach Entropos, the only smaller vessels will work. Does that mean the- Once we get past the Broken Veil, once we are in Entropis' planar orbit. Okay.

So even the Astoria would have to be left to fight the main forces rather than- The Astoria would still be able to provide support to those of us on the world itself. It would still be vitally important to doing so. We will also need to fend off Hadar, we'll recall forces or send forces out to try and bring weight of numbers against us.

We will need every fighter that we have in the air above Entropis to defend us whilst we are there. Okay. Is there something you had in mind, Kilik? No, I was just wondering where the Astoria would be in that final descent. It will be above Entropis, providing what fire support it can, delivering troops where we need them. It is a powerful vessel, but I fear that Entropis... Magitek does not work very well on Entropis because it is so tainted with the Far Realm and Hadar's power. Magitek has a tendency to fail. This is why I have always struggled against Hadar. The very nature of my army's strength is weak against Hadar's power.

Erois is different. You have warriors, you have vessels that are not strictly magitek. This may give us that chance. It will be on your forces, once we reach Entropis, that we will be most reliant on. I can keep the skies cleared. My forces can defend us as we reach through

the Broken Veil, protect us from above. But Entropix itself, I feel that your forces will be the greatest use of all." How modified is the Twin Star now? It's modified but… It's still Magitek. And yeah, Magitek will work but it has a higher risk of failure. It is subjected to entropic magic. It is unreliable.

Okay. Do you have any intelligence on Zarkira? Calus. Calus kind of, like, nods, and you see his face. Like, for the first time, maybe there's a hint of the anger that you remember from your battle that rage and there's a hint on his face like just the name she will be on Entropis I'm almost certain of it she will either lay an ambush for us in the broken veil or she will be on Entropis itself. She will not be far from her new master.

And you see there, Inis, the devil commander next to Calus, is like, she's biting into her own lip and blood is curling down her chin. She's like, she will pay for her treachery, Emperor. I will gut her myself if I must. I realise this is probably a sensitive question to ask, but do you know how many forces joined her? We do. She has a significant number of my ships, my troops.

She has also acquired many allies on Eros. Cultists, believers, people that she has made deals with. Not enough. I have calculated this in our grand strategy of battle. Her exact forces, ships, vessels, that sort of thing, you do not need to concern yourself with. I would worry more about the sorceress herself. Hmm.

Okay. Would she have enough time to develop new simulacrums? Most likely. It's been, what, months since she left? That's plenty of time for her to do that and potentially more, but we also, we do not know what new power she has acquired from Hadar. She may not need simulacrums anymore.

She used them as a way to be in multiple places at once to conduct many of her plots without knowing exactly, without the rest of us knowing what she was doing. I fear that she will not need that now. But it is still potentially a threat. We should be prepared for trickery, misdirection, diversions, and you know her as well as I. I say nothing.

What kind of forces can we expect from Hadar? Are we talking abominations, mind flares? What sort of attacks? Celestial Man speaks. We have encountered a number of abominations over the many years that we have been battling against the Hadar, the entropic forces. We break them down into various categories. The creatures that you describe are Mind Flayer. There is a similar being. Mind Flayers once

were a world taken over by Hadar, but rather than being destroyed he assimilated the creatures. Now they are called Neo-Elythians. They are similar in nature, but far more deadly and powerful, with far more magical arcane potential. Good. There are also other abominations, monstrosities, creatures called Beholders are common.

There is also the powerful Astral Dreadnought, a very powerful being that can exist within astral space. We've encountered many of them. There are also the Star Spawn, or Hadar Spawn, we sometimes call them. These are creatures that are empowered with Hadar's entropic magic. Cultists sometimes devote themselves to Hadar, in exchange Hadar allows them to live for a brief period of time, as long as they are useful. But mainly, their... its forces are not thinking sentient creatures. It does not have warships. It has writhing masses of biomatter and magic combined together.

Astral dreadnoughts. Oh boy. Oh boy. Neo-illithids. Yeah. I think that's the name of them in the Monster Manual. Intellect devourers. No problem here. Kind of insulting really, isn't it? Yeah. But it is likely that we will encounter varied life forms, perhaps ones that we have not even seen.

As the Emperor mentioned, no one has been to Entropis in thousands of years. We have no idea what awaits us there. Are we certain Entropis even exists anymore? Siasker, yes. It is a world... I was taught of it by my predecessors, the First Divines. It was a world much like a rois,

a material plane, we call it, not bound by elemental magics or divine celestial fiendish magics. When the first divines came into being, when they journeyed through the Genesis world into this universe, it was there. But the people, the culture, the civilization that had once resided on it was already long gone.

It stood empty. Any living matter, long gone. Just grey stone and steel left behind. A ghost world. It sits at the edge of the astral void, looking out onto the vast, empty space of nothing. The divines were not sure if it was the beings, the people of Entropis that destroyed themselves, or if it had been a threat from the astral void. So Terminus Keep was built initially as a watchtower,

a citadel, to safeguard the rest of the universe from any threats from the astral void. But when Hadar began to consume, destroying other divine sparks, absorbing their power, and they battled against Hadar, they forced Hadar back to Terminus Keep, where a last stand was formed. It was in that last stand Hadar eventually weakened enough

that the First Divines, those who survived, were able to trap him, trap it, within Terminus Keep. And then they sealed Terminus Keep away in the Far Realm, and then they sealed Terminus Keep away in the Far Realm, splitting, breaking the space between our realm and the Far Realm, sending Terminus Keep into it, locking it in place, before sealing it up. So we know it exists.

For some reason, it is the one world Hadar has not destroyed. Perhaps knowing that it is somehow tied to his prison or perhaps to his escape, we do not know. It may simply be, for Hadar it may simply be a joke to keep it there, a taunt, a trap. But it is our only chance. We need the, we need the breach point. Without it we cannot access his prison. And if we do not defeat

Hadar itself, it will continue to grow in strength. It will continue to break free of its prison and will eventually consume the universe. So is the priority speed in this or strength? Do we try and get there as quick as we can, or just fight our way through?

Camus will say, if only we could do both. Speed will be essential, but we will require overpowering strength to break through the broken veil. You must remember this is a war front I have been fighting for thousands of years. It will take everything we have just to buy us enough time to reach Entropis. I do not, I am not, I speak plain when I say if we do not win this battle, there will be no force left to withstand Hadar

taking the rest of the universe. It will take every ship, every fighter, every soldier I have, that you have, to give us that opportunity to reach Entropis potentially facing down Zarkira and Hadar, would that only strengthen Hadar? Once we enter the Broken Veil, not even Entropis, once we arrive on the edges of the warfront, that is where planar space begins to overlap with the Far Realm. Hadar's influence has corrupted much of that area, the magic there. The longer we take once we break through the broken veil, it will not be a pleasant experience. I would advise you to conserve your strength as much as possible. If we are forced into battle, do not overextend yourselves.

There will be very scant few opportunities for us to rest and regain strength. For you champions in particular, remember, you, Siaska, Valor and I will be the ones to confront Hadar at the end. It may be possible that Siaska and Valor will be able to restore our strength, but only once. And that will be before we enter into the Terminus Keep itself. Keep that in mind. And then what do we know of Hadar himself? He has ways of stopping magic, manipulating time. People. Manipulating people. He consumes. He uses hallucinations and illusions to install fear. He

can send people to other realms. Am I missing anything out? I believe that you have covered many of its strengths, Veeja. Hadar is capricious, violent, aggressive, but cunning. Manipulative. We do not know what to expect on Entropis, but I would be wary if things seem too good to be true. Maybe Hadar's work in your mind. The power of entropy, Hadar is also capable of eroding, destroying things, leaving no trace. If Hadar or its minions hit you with their magical power,

there may not be a body for us to return to life. I know how that feels. Even then, your soul survived, Nefbija. With Hadar, I cannot be certain that that will be the case. Well. Oh, it's all very dreary, isn't it? That's Howard looking. Howard's just like sat on the floor,

just like eating, shoving shortbread into his mouth. He's just like... He's eating it. What a guy. Thalia just kind of like leans back, stretches. Okay. So, fly to the edges of the universe, punch through a wall that's been going on for a few thousand years

to reach a planet of people that died before even the first gods came into being, fight our way to a prison of a planar entity that can destroy matter and control our minds. And if we don't win, everything's fucked. Yeah. Sounds about right? Yeah, no, that's it. Do you have faith at work?

Who are you asking that to? Whoever was just speaking. That was Thalia and Elia. Do you have faith at work? Fuck no, but it's worth trying. That's my girlfriend. Better than sitting around doing nothing, waiting for him to come kill us.

That's my girlfriend. Right. Calus, that's my girlfriend. A final stand. A final stand. Final stand. We can maybe, we can maybe have another 10, 20 years. Take that long for Hadar to wipe out my forces.

Now that it knows Siaska is awake, it hungers for her divine spark, the last one left potentially in the universe. It will do anything to acquire it. It will come at us with a strength that we have never seen before. Maybe a decade, maybe two, and eventually it will win. I ask you this. Do we risk it all? Do we potentially doom ourselves to not just death, but an infinite void of destruction? Do we enjoy two decades of life, the people we love, the people we care for?

Or do we risk it all now, here, in this moment, for one chance, one final battle, to set this right? Statistically speaking, standing together, all of us, here, the unlikeliest of alliances, we have higher odds than if we did it individually or on our own. Statistically speaking, I don't have a decade or two decades in me. So I think I'd like to, yeah, I'd like to join the fight as well. Statistically speaking, we're fucked either way, so we may as well just try and know. speaking, we're fucked either way, so we may as well just try and know. Hadar is arrogant. It believes itself to be the most powerful being. It believes that all things must end, that it alone will surpass us. Hadar is greedy, full of avarice. There's never

known courage or love. There's never known friendship. There's never known hope these will be our weapons in these final days when none others may work seek those seek those from those here today those around us for they may be our last defense of all.