High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #51 | Part of the Team (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 4, 2019

After some bad news the team set sail to new lands! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. app for details. Now at Joe Fresh, get 20% off children's activewear only until Wednesday, August 14th. Shop smart with one cart and check everything off your back to school list all in one place. Now that's some smart shopping. Conditions apply. See in store or joefresh.com for details. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons and Dragons podcast in the world of Erois, run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes with me, Tom, playing Keelak Ad Kalad, Cleric Wizard. Hi, I'm Rhiannon, I'm playing Sentry, I am a Guardian Paladin. I am Chris Trott, I'm playing Lucius Euron, Elowen Elanastro, and I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Katie, I'm playing Ayla, a Wild Elf Barbarian. And I'm Kim, I'm playing Nova,

who is an Air Ganassi, and she is a Hexblade Warlock. Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset. Create your free account and speed up your who is an air ganassi and she is a hexblade warlock thanks to our regular sponsor dnd beyond the official dungeons and dragons tool set create your free account and speed up your campaigns today so last time on arois uh the party have just barely escaped the astral citadel called aegis 5 having destroyed the corrupted eternal called silver edge and encountering the strange eladrin working for the starbane Empire, Shansana, a member of the Diplomatic Corps. Shortly after returning from the depowered station,

risking life and limb in some cases, the party have reconvened on the Stormchaser, their airship, and made plans, and began to make plans about where to head next, when Sentry, the paladin guardian, seemed to shut down suddenly, a symptom of the guardian's fading life force. Now, the party

has set a course for the city of Glass, a ruin on the continent of Gisela. And we begin on the airship. Pretty much where we left off. Nova is currently recuperating in Grey Larno. In Grey Larno?

Grey Larno's medical chambers. In Grey Larno's medical chambers. There's... I imagine that not much time has passed. We won't jump ahead any days and stuff like that because I'm not 100% sure on exactly if you guys have any plans. But she's recuperating there. Business about the ship has continued as normal um we'll probably say that erin coralsong the triton who you were working with uh to defeat the sahogun and eventually led to the portal that took you to the astral citadel um has made her way off the ship the

ship's been lowered down to the sea where she's dived in and has begun making her way back to report to the king who now resides in New Solvin. But the airship takes once again to the air and... She gave us the trident, right? She did. She gave Quill the trident, the Coral Song trident. Which, for people's notices at home

and given that Quill would have easily been able to cast Identify by now, is a plus one trident that allows you to cast Conjure Animals once per day, but you can only conjure animals with a swim speed. Okay. Nice. A whale. If that fits within the challenge rating limits of the spell, perhaps.

A turtle. You could summon turtles, yes? I don't know how challenge rating works, so I've got no idea. So I will... Shark. Conjure animal. A jellyfish. A swarm of jellyfish. What about another find?

One beast of challenge rating two or lower. Okay. What's challenge rating two in the fish universe? Oh, God, you're going to literally make me look this up while we're playing live, aren't you? That's what I'm doing. But I still have to pick a lot of things. All right, beast, challenge rating two, show advanced filters, movement type, swim.

Fish. Fish. Show me fish. Oh, fish. Right, so you want just challenge rating two? I'm only going to do challenge rating two because there's a fucking lot of them. Sure. So, giant constrictor snake.

What? Gyarados. They have a swim speed. Well, some snakes can swim. Yeah, Gyarados, They have a swim speed? Well, some snakes can swim. Gyarados, Gyarados. Giant crayfish. Oh, my God. Oh, that fish, cray.

A giant moray eel. Oh. Hunter shark. That's a moray. I've got no more jokes. Carry on. Hunter shark. Technically, a plesiosaurus.

Which is, I believe, is what Ness... Sounds exactly like that. Which is what Loch Ness is based on. We can summon a plesi. Yeah. But they proved Loch Ness is just an eel. Oh. Yeah, they proved, is what Ness... Sounds exactly like that. Which is what Loch Ness is based on. We can summon a Plessie. Yeah, but they proved Loch Ness is just an eel. Oh. Yeah, they proved it's just a... Way to ruin everyone's fucking fun, Kim.

Sorry. Nessie was my Santa. If you want to... Now, can you conjure more CR1 animals? Yeah, I can two of challenge one. You could... Therefore, you could summon two giant octopus. Oh, my God.

Two giant toads. Oh, shit. Or two swarms of piranhas. You could be like... What could summon two giant octopus. Oh, my God. Two giant toads. Oh, shit. Or two swarms of piranhas. You could be like, what's that guy from Naruto? He has the giant toads. Oh, it begins with a J. Is it Jiraiya? Jiraiya, yeah.

Jiraiya, yeah. Fucking hate that I know that, but yeah, I do know that. Jiraiya of the five. What about half challenge ratings? Four of them. Four crocodiles. Oh, shit. Four giant sea eels. Oh, man. Four giant sea eels.

Oh, shit. Four giant sea horses, which is what I used as the dolphins last time. Four reef sharks or four sea lions. Let's say I needed eight quarter ratings. This is the last one I'm doing. I'm not doing any more after this. There's no more after this.

Okay. Give me one. Give me the best of the eight I can summon. Giant frogs. Eight giant frogs. Eight giant frogs. There you go. Perfect.

So, two octopus, one crayfish. They can be used once per day. Once per day. Okay. One is your sword. Yeah.

And it is a trident, it is a magical weapon as well. It's a plus one weapon to hit and damage frogs. Nice. You should really summon a giant crayfish. Just on the ship now. I've never even looked summon a giant crayfish. Just on the ship now.

I've never even looked at a giant crayfish. It's basically a lobster boy. Yeah. Would it sink the ship? What, a giant crayfish? Yeah. Let's see how big it is. How heavy would that be? How big is this boy? It's only a large beast, so it wouldn't be enough to sink the ship, no. It's about the size

of a horse. Can we eat it? Yeah, that's good food. So you would know from identification of the spell, it doesn't conjure a real animal. It's like a fey being in the shape of that animal. So if you were to kill it, it would just vanish. So could I not conjure it, concentrate for long enough for someone to kill it, chop it up, cook it. As soon as it dies, it fades into mist. That's the one. Giant lobster. Why? I don't know.

Just good sustenance, you know. But it's not. For as long as I can concentrate the spell. Keep concentrating. I'm so hungry. Could you carry on? I mean, no, because now it's, what are you guys doing? So, I will probably say, Araya will sit down with Navigator Quill,

or Quartermaster Quill, and help you plot, along with Lookout, your guardian, one of your hirelings. And you will map out a course. Okay. I've got a newly updated map. You do have a newly updated map. So, I think the top-down camera's working,

so if you want to shift the boat... We had a request on Reddit to see the map. Oh, well, sorry, podcast, for a second, but... You get to hear the map. You get to hear the map. Look at that crinkle. That's a good crink. That's made with Malaysian coffee.

Nice. Nice. I'm putting it in your cheese. So I've got Voxar filled in, things like that now. Yes. It's really cool. It also has Yamalo tie on there, which is basically where you currently are.

Yamalo tie! What's the big basically where you currently are. Yamalo tie! What's the big swirly thing right in the middle of the... So the big swirly thing is the remaining after effects of the Sundering. So there is still a very powerful magical vortex that was conjured by divine magic when Atelicus basically shattered the continent into the many lands of Ero is today. And it means that the wind, the seas, the currents are exceptionally

strong there. It basically prevents you kind of like flying through it or sailing through it. You have to kind of work around it. What happens if a city gets trapped in its spin? It would probably get torn apart over time. Could we? Alright, hear me out. Is this Lucius or Chris Trott?

Chris Trott. Okay. It's not Lucius. We protect a city with a big dome of protection. We slingshot a city into outer space and we have an outer space city. I mean, we've already dealt that with Vorten's side.

Well, they're on planets. They swapped places. Quite insane. So, yeah, Quill, you sit down with a lookout on a riot and begin looking at the potential path you have to take. You will need to avoid, you need to give the vortex at the centre of Araris a pretty wide berth to avoid its pull. Or if you go too near it, it will certainly heavily slow you down for sure yeah um i mean how close can we get

before it starts being bad i mean i mean that's up to you because yamalotai where we are is quite close and i feel like we could just cycle that just okay around to the city of glass and then totally avoid that so i believe it would take you north over Savona past the kind of island continent called Corsari, and then you would basically travel onwards all the way down to where you believe the City of Glass, which is actually the ruin of a city called Camina. Yeah, we go just over a little bit of the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago as well.

Yes. Okay, that sounds like a course. Okay. Basically just west plotting it out you think it's going to take you about three weeks wow okay because this is a this is a lot of distance um the map is a little bit because i'm not very good with scale like the map of savona makes it look like going from rose hall to gold throne is this like pretty epic journey on the map in reality it would have been a much more expansive distance um yeah so don't don't use the map for scale is what i'm saying oh no i was i just i just separated that journey into three

chunks and i was like gonna put a bit in the bottom that was just like this is one week yeah you could do that but it's not entirely accurate because I'm not very good at drawing maps. It's like an early explorer's rough map. It's a very rough map and you've been filling it in with stuff that you know. It's to give you an idea of the kind of relevancy of like, okay, this is where this continent is. This is where this continent is. This is roughly where this city is on that continent. It's a very rough guide.

I think that's very accurate to Quill's intelligence. Wow. Is that a good thing? Yeah, sure, thanks. Yeah, so I think we're basically just heading west. West, south, west. Okay. Fantastic.

That's a thing, isn't it? So, you have three weeks. This is an opportunity, if there is stuff you want to talk about, if there is stuff you want to do as downtime, to remind you you can do things like research, you can make magic items, you can brew potions, potentially. On a completely, you know, not role-playing it out, you know Grey Lano is trained in alchemy and herbalism,

which means she can make potions of healing. You will need to give her gold, and she has to have time to make them, but she could make you healing potions. However, she is also currently tending to Unwell Nova, which will take up some of her time. So she can basically produce... Fucking burden to everybody!

It means that she will produce half as much as she normally would. So if you set her to, like, we want you to make three potions of healing, she'll probably only be able to make one or two. We'll set her to make 100, then. Does it cost more for her to make them than if we were to just buy them? No, it's less. Oh, perfect.

So to make a potion of healing, normally a potion of regular healing, so a 2d4 plus 2 healing potion, would cost 50 gold. Grey Lana can make them for 25 gold, but they take her a week to make one right okay but i guess with three weeks i still yeah the other thing which might be relevant to quill and lucius you guys because you are spell casters you can if either of you are particularly trained in uh calligraphy or if you wanted to learn calligraphy over time you could make scrolls you could you could literally any spells you know or that over time, you could make scrolls. You could literally, any spells you know or that you can prepare,

you can make them into scrolls. Technically, Nova can do this as well because she's a spellcaster. So I am proficient in cartographer tools. I don't know if that translates. Not really, no. Okay. Magical calligraphy to make scrolls

would be a very different thing. Tens of cartographer tools. Technically, Century can also make scrolls of paladin spells. Oh, yeah. Now, the way they work is because they're consumable items, there is differences in price. So, for example, a first-level spell,

to make a scroll of a first-level spell would take you one day, but they cost 25 GP to make. Okay. And it's an action to use them. It doesn't matter on the level. Yes, so first level is one day. Second-level spell, so this could be any spell. You could't matter on the level. Yes, so first level is one day. Second level spell, so this could be any spell

you could inscribe a magic missile. No, it's per day. Second level spell is three days and 250 gold. It's actually a considerable cost

as the scroll gets more powerful. Which means that if you find powerful scrolls, they're actually worth quite a bit of money. And now I'm a wiz-lard. Yes.

I can put stuff in my spellbook, can't I? If you have a scroll of it, you can put it in your spellbook, as long as it's a wizard spell. You can't inscribe a cleric spell into your thing. Divination isn't a... No. What if I wrote a spell? If it's a wizard spell, he could copy it and learn it. You could copy and learn it. And then also,

couldn't I technically learn things as well packed with a tome? If they are ritual spells. Rit ritual spells. That's min-max as shit. Yeah, perfect. So that's something to think about, maybe do some homework on and figure out. I imagine neither of you are trained in calligraphy,

though, I imagine. No. I don't think so. Unless you want to add it to my past. No. Being in a noble house. Did you pick that when you picked your noble background? Yeah.

I don't think you did. I'm proficient in writing tools, so could I your noble background? Yeah. I don't think you did. I'm proficient in writing tools, so could I... Writing tools? Yeah. Yeah, you could teach them. So that was the other thing I was going to mention to you. So you have basically the downtime options is making magic items, research, which you've done before when you wanted to get some information about the world. So that's still an option because you did buy books.

You don't have a well-stocked library, but you have research materials on the ship. Making potions and scrolls. The other one you can do is training. So this is an opportunity where you can spend gold for supplies, or in this case, we'll be effectively taking it out of the ship's stores, to train in things. Those things can be a weapon proficiency.

They can be a language or a tool that you can learn to use. So it's quite expensive for weapons because it's like, I'm going to learn how to use a longsword, ping ping ping ping ping ping, and you learn that one weapon. Normally they don't, it's not normally that you can learn to gain weapon proficiencies, but I'm going to allow it. But things like tool sets, so if you wanted to learn to become a blacksmith, if you wanted to learn calligraphy tools, writing tools, that's something you can develop over time as well. It costs about 25 gold per week to train,

and it normally takes about 10 weeks to fully master something. So whether that's a language, a tool, or a weapon. I'm going to do glassblowing. You could do. Who knows when that might become useful. I hate glassblowing. Ooh. you could do who knows when that might become useful

I hate glass so I guess proficiencies we can't do like deception and athletic skill proficiencies unfortunately are

it would break the game if you could just train in those over time can we maybe if you spend significant amounts of time training

in them yes can we do like disenchantments and re-enchantments and things like that? So... Can we make magical items? I would say it's very difficult to do without something like the Midwife's Forge

or the Forges of Valena, which are inherently built to do that kind of thing. Sure. You can do it, but it is much, much, much less effective. So if you want to break down a magic item into its like residuum or ethereum dust and the pieces that made it, you'll get probably about a quarter of its value in gold,

raw gold back, which you can contribute to another magic item. If you want to kind of transfer a property of an item to another one, that is something only a powerful place or location or an expert blacksmith could do. Somebody would need to be an expert in their craft at transferring those

kind of enchantments. Okay, yeah, because I was thinking about the barrier ring, for example, trying to make two of those. Well, you could make the barrier ring for sure. You could just build a new barrier ring. Oh, could I import that into my current ring? The Dusk Willow? I guess I could just wear another ring.

Yeah, you can wear two rings. There are rules on how much you can wear, but you can wear two rings. I mean, most people can wear ten. This guy, five. Not in Dungeons & Dragons. No, I can just stack them. Two Magatula hoops. You can wear two rings i mean most people can wear 10 this guy fine not in dungeons and dragons no i'm gonna stack them two magi hula hoops you could wear 10 rings but only two of them can be magical okay look man don't question rpg inventory systems okay okay how the wolves carry 10 gold pieces on them who knows um so yeah so you could make another

barrier ring if you wanted to and what would that take so what does a barrier ring do it's plus 2 AC for a minute right yeah and it's a hovering shield I would make that as

is it an uncommon item or a rare item Lucius has got it at the moment here let me have a look alright we can go this is very much

going to be a taking stock plus 2 to AC what do you need to is it an uncommon or rare item? So green or blue? Uncommon. So if it's an uncommon item, it's not too expensive to make then.

I would put it at something like, let's say... Do you remember, did you buy it or did you find it? You found it. It was found. Yeah. So let's say we'll put it at 500 gold. So it costs 500 GP. 500 GP to make magic items,

you have to pay half the price of the magic item in raw materials. So you need to pay 250 gold, and it takes you a number of weeks equal to the cost divided by 50. So in this case, it would take you 10 weeks to make a book on your own. But that can be reduced depending on the number of people working on it. So if Lucius and Quill made one together, it would be half that time. It'd go down to five weeks like ghosts I would imagine more that like whilst Quill is resting Lucius works on it rather than you both like delicately holding this tiny ring together Yeah, you can be my other arm. Yeah

Sure do what you want. Fuel the shipping by all means. We just need to reach around. Ship, ship, ship. You know, you two are like the biggest ship couple out of all the world. Oh, God, we're fueling that fire. Yeah, you are.

We're burning. We're burning. Oh, man. I know there's a lot of options. I'm burning. You're burning. Oh, man. I know there's a lot of options. I'm going to give you this back anyway, so it's out of my inventory. Oh, really? Okay. Sure.

I mean, I've got bigger shields in spells now as reactions. I'll take it back. Yeah, I was going to say. I think that's why I gave it to you, because I've now got... I thought it was just for this area. Do you want to do this then? Because I have 250 gold. I think for now i might spend some time making can i make cleric uh scrolls yeah

because i might just make like a load well you're not training calligraphy though are you oh actually let me see how long would it take for me to train quill like yeah because i always want to make just a load of people You don't need calligraphy tools, actually. I'm just checking it now. You don't need the calligraphy tools. I assumed you did, but you don't. Anybody can make scrolls. Sweet. Because I feel like healing potions and also just a load of

heal scrolls is just double good. The main difference with scrolls is obviously only people who can cast spells can use them. If the spell is not on the person's spell list, so if, say, Nova tried to cast a Cure Wound scroll, she has to make an ability check. She has to roll a d20 plus a Charisma mod,

and it has to exceed the level of the spell. Okay. It also takes an action to use. Scrolls are also much more vulnerable than potions. Things like a Fireball spell might incinerate any scrolls you're carrying. I've got worried about that till now but if you start carrying more I will start to worry about it. I mean I feel like I fire spell slots

out. The old classic spells lost! So it wouldn't hurt just to have a load of heals just outside my spell slot. It certainly wouldn't hurt. I think in the meantime I'm probably going to commission Grey Larno to make some healing potions. Yeah. So with in the meantime, I'm probably going to commission Grey Larno to make some healing potions. Yeah.

Yeah. So she can, with three weeks, she can make three regular healing potions. Yeah. Or. This is all from Xanathar's. Yeah, I'm using Xanathar's Guide, basically. Yes. Correct.

Correct, Chris Trott. I'm going to do some crime. You can do some crime on an airship. I mean, technically, if you want to do things like gambling with the crew, if you just want to get drunk and party with the crew, we can do that as well. What's the benefit? Morale. Fun. Morale. It's like, what do you think it's going to be? Like, you know,

why would Lucius do it? That's the next question. Pit fighting. So Grey Lano can make either three regular healing potions or one on common, but because she's looking after you, it would be probably only two regulars. I want you to hit me as hard as you can.

Just make flight club. Yeah, let's go for two regulars. Two regulars? That would cost you... 50 gold. Okay. I will deduct from my inventory. And now I'm going to roll complication. Oh. Okay. I will deduct from my inventory. And now I'm going to roll a complication. Oh.

Oh. I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah. It's a thing. I guess we've taken long rest as well. Actually, no. The complications will only come if you are in a place of other people.

It's just you guys in the airship. I'm not going to roll complications for that. Okay. So can I just add that to my inventory then? Or like... Oh, actually, potions of healing is one day. Oh. Oh, wow.

Yeah. One day per 25 GP. I was looking at something else. What was I looking at? Oh, magic items. 21 healing potions. And just go jingling every potion. And it takes her a whole day to make them.

So I would say in a week, she has to spend about three days looking after you and about three days making potions and then a rest day. So she can make three a week at the cost of 25 gold each. Or she can spend an entire week making a greater healing potion for 100 gold. Let's do that one. Okay. How many do you want to make?

A greater healing, I guess two she can make two greater healing potions so um so that's 200 gold right yep this is why you like hiring gray lano as your your skilled hiling is really good because she can now just be like give me ingredients and i make potions yeah um i will say that now once with these two greater healing potions she's probably run dry on her supplies so you'll need to buy more supplies when you get into a port or a town I want to take one

does anyone else want to take one? I think I've still got some I've got a healing potion this is a greater healing potion though yeah I've still got a greater on me cool in which case I'll take two for now so a healing potion though. Yeah, I've still got a greater on me. Yeah, same. Cool. Yeah. In which case,

I'll take two for now. Bam. Just throw it on your face. So, Grey Larno kind of tending to you looks over and she's like, well, well, I suppose

I can start making some potions while you are recovering. You need to make sure that you have plenty of rest. I will keep an eye on Noah and she's kind of addressing all of you in the office thing. I will keep an eye on Noah and she's kind of addressing all of you in the office

thing. I will keep an eye on Nova so I will not be able to completely focus on the potions but I will do my best. We will need to stock up on supplies the next time we are in a place of trade. I've run dry on herbs and policies and that sort of thing so

that is acceptable. How's Nerva doing? She will address you privately and kind of maybe address Sentry and Quill at the same time, kind of pull you into a side room while Nerva is sent back to rest a bit more. It is difficult. Like I mentioned last time,

there is something inherently magical about what has happened, something that I cannot entirely explain myself. I have tried small amounts of healing magic, potions, poultices, it does not seem to be working. Whatever Nova did, wherever you were, she forced her body beyond a point that it should naturally be able to take. beyond a point that it should naturally be able to take. And the influence of whatever magic, wherever you were, is causing issues with the flesh. Her hand is necrotizing, it is dying. The flesh of her arm is slowly fading and falling off.

What can we do about that? I've tried everything I can and I'm not sure. I have a... Beyond the power of the gods, beyond powerful magic that I don't think any of us possess, I'm not sure. I will do my best. If worse comes to worse, I can amputate, but the hand seems to be functioning. It's just the flesh, the muscle is decaying.

Is there a way to stabilize or maybe protect her flesh from the outside elements? I've tried preserving it with both spells and liquids and chemicals. It does not seem to be affecting it. Normally there is a spell, Gentle Repose, which can preserve a dead body from decaying. That has no effect on the hand.

It doesn't. Thanks, Mark. Is it spreading beyond her arm? Is it limited there? It doesn't seem to be. It seems to be up to perhaps the elbow, just beyond. But then it stops. Okay. I think that Nova's been quite delirious in her explanation,

but I think she willingly knew that she was doing something to her body, but not what. And I think that she had a reaction, and her body stopped her before she could do anything more dangerous to herself. It was very reckless what she did, but from the sounds of it, she seemed to think it was necessary. It was necessary, it wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that. No.

She'd know to do that as well. Yeah. That's something you'll need to ask her, I'm afraid. I mean, it must be tied to Silver Edge and the life-draining things that they do, but there is perhaps a small risk with it. The hand itself is displaying necromantic tendencies. I've placed a few organic materials near her hand.

At first it was just simply an apple I was eating myself. And when it was near to Nova's hand, it began to decay rapidly. There may be an element of... It may become a weapon that she could use, but anything living that touches or is near her hand seems to necrophile is it draining life from around maybe that's how it can recover if it rains

enough from around itself I'm not sounding like a corrupted Eterna to you it is but same residual effects great life if she had Tiangong on her should we be worried that any of that effect any is Tiangong on her, should we be worried that any of that effect... Is Tiangong corrupted now? Beyond the arm? Yes, are we feeding it apples? I guess we should try, but also I guess we should also try and stay away from the arm ourselves. Can the opposite happen? So, you know, these Eternals get fed life in order to become corrupted but powerful.

Yeah. Is there a way to utilize Tiangong to repair Nova? Would that be giving away some of its own force, though? We could ask Helios. Is he with you right now? Helios, when you got back, I think would have separated for some time, the events being quite traumatic.

He is on the ship, but you haven't seen him in a while. Okay. Like, maybe in the last few hours, he's just, he's not there. He's not up on the captain's deck or anything like that. Well, when Nova's a bit more conscious,

we'll have a chat with her. Yeah. Perhaps. Kim. Yo! I'm doing something to your character sheet. Cool. Hmm.

Ah, it's full of blood. It's just disappeared. Her health is draining away. Oh, weird. And I, yeah, yeah. Zero. Zero health. You're being renamed.

She's dead. She is Starbane. Oh, my God. Nova. It was you. at that point like when you're saying like if she's more conscious i think you'll probably just hear like a random cut in over the communication rings and you'll just hear like yo ho yo a pirate's life for me. I take it off. Take the messengering off.

We've got weeks to go. Fanova, recovering down in the medical area. Just on my own. Nobody's come visit me yet. Ayla did. All from Ayla. And it's funny you mention it because there is not really a knock at the door, but the door opens and a very soft golden light just floods into the room itself as a very tall, muscular lion man enters.

He gave himself that body. You would. I would as well. I would as well. Helios kind of has to duck his head in, having been very tall, and kind of steps into the room, scans around,

kind of awkwardly, you kind of notice. You don't read people very well, but there is this kind of awkward, like, looking around and then sort of sees you and shuts the door and stands kind of side to the bed, folds his arms. Are you well, Nova Vija? Are you recovering? Oh, hey, Helios.

You look good today. The doctor did warn me that perhaps you were a little delirious. Perhaps now is not the best time. I'm really happy that you're here, Helios. I just want you to know that. You are very peculiar. You are... I've been told that before.

Far too kind and earnest. I'm not used to it in your mortal beings. Many of your kind are manipulative. You are controlling, ambitious. You do not seem to be any of these things. I thought perhaps that it was an act. I thought perhaps that you were attempting to manipulate me in the way that I thought that you had been

manipulating Tiangong. But having seen what you did aboard Aegis V, I know that not to be true now. You have a... You have a good soul, Nova Vija. You have proven me wrong. And I am sorry. Oh, thank you. I...

I... I don't know what to say. I mean, I always... Tiangong, I don't want to use them that way. Whatever power I have is because of Tiangong. I didn't ask for it, but at the same time, I won't misuse it. And all I want is to bring Tiangong back together. That's all I want. And yeah, I'm glad that you believe me now. And I'm glad you're safe, Helios. Your friend Century is an excellent guardian. I'm pleased to be working with her to help protect her and the rest of you. I will watch over you as best I can. But he kind of gestures to your arm.

But do be careful. Callus Starbane is not a man you should trust. His weapons are dangerous. They are there to kill and to cause harm. You saw what he did to Silver Edge. He would do that to all of us

if he had the chance. Rest well. He just kind of reaches a big, huge paw, just kind of pats you on the head awkwardly, and then just kind of brings himself up to his full height and then lifts the door open, kind of casts one long glance your way, and then steps through.

I'll just give him a little wave. Uriah comes and finds the rest of you. Well, we've got the course plotted. Captain, the word. Are we to head to this city of glass? Oh, yes, at once. Very well. Is that what they say as captains?

I think so. I think so. One thing I should mention, Quill, I was talking to Kamara and some of the others. They've been on airships more than myself. Okay. Korsadi, we are passing nearby, yes? Yes.

Along the path. They mentioned that the Dragonborn, their military or something, they can be a little protective of their airspace. Normally, people that travel through it have papers, that sort of thing. Oh, okay. I mean, surely we can just

explain our situation, but I thought I should let you know. I mean, we've... Time is of the essence. It would extend our trip considerably to fly around Corsade. Okay. How long would it be to... We would need to travel effectively over Suvona,

around Suvona, and then onwards through across most of Giselle. It would add at least another two weeks of our journey, I expect. Okay. I don't know how much time we have left. I guess St. Century's not here. You know, as a pirate, sometimes they would send out ships to inspect our cargo and things like that,

and perhaps we did not always have the right papers. Sometimes you can just speak to people and pay them a little gold, and you can go on your way. How much would you expect we'd pay to the Dragonborn military? Surely they can... Surely there is something. It's up to you. I just thought I should let you know. Kamara mentioned it. She's not served on a ship that has passed over it before. She's just... This is stuff that she's heard.

Okay. And they won't react violently? Maybe. Okay. Ori is like, I wish this is unfortunately where my inexperience as an airship captain comes in. I'm used to the sea. I'm used to sailing down below.

The Orc fleets do not operate in this way. Some of the human civilizations and the other lander cultures, they have these ports and authorities and fees and that sort of thing, but orcs, we do not worry about these things. Okay, well, I mean,

it's a choice between a quick journey that could be suddenly a lot longer or a long journey that's safe. What do you think Lucius? If we wait any longer and the century gets worse in that time that hangs heavy on us making that decision. I think we should try and go through it. Sure that makes sense. Worst case scenario is we get turned away and we do the long route. Well, not the worst case,

but not the best either. We won't have to go in aggressively. No, we won't. Be diplomatic about it. I've never... How common are Dragonborn? They're not super... Not super common.

So the history all of you would have on the basics, the basic history of Dragonborn you have is that they were rebels. They came from the astral space. They came from a planet called Draconis, which was basically under Kallus' rule.

They stole several of his big warships and basically rebelled and fled to Eroisos and they were the ones who warned siaska callus was coming they basically arrived in eros on these giant golden crystal ships told siaska that callus was coming offered themselves to serve siaska and to basically help defend the planet and then when the cradle was surrounded they basically become trapped on eros as well right okay their ships as soon as the cradle sprang to life the ships basically seemed to just run out of power they they don't function anymore so at least a joint interest um if we have to explain our situation

but yeah still quite rare yeah um i think we've got a noble cause. At least they'll sympathize, I suppose. And we've got two Eterna with us. Yeah. Although Eterna's normally a, you know, Starbane thing to have, right? They were utilized. However, Helios is very anti-Starbane. I think we've got enough bargaining chips to get through.

I think so. Okay, in that case, I think the shorter journey... All right. She kind of slaps her thigh, starts bellowing orders. Look out, get up in the nest. Come on, get your people, we're setting sail. And goes up to the wheel and just kind of tips the hat. Tips the hat.

And then... Feel air rush into the sails of the storm chaser. The dark mist around the outside begins to form. The illusory magic kind of creating this dark cloud along its bow and along its starboard, I don't know, ships. And you set sail, and the journey begins. So I know that Grey Lan, I was going to work on some healing potions. Is there anything you guys want to talk about yourselves?

Or is there any kind of downtime stuff you want to do? Yeah. I'm going to see Nova at some point. Okay. All right. So Lucius wants to talk. Near the end of the trip. After this set sail thing.

Okay. So Lucius wants to go talk to Nova. Yep. I'm going to go pit fighting. You can carouse with the crew? Yeah. yep I'm gonna go pit fighting you can carouse with the crew yeah I feel like the reason for it is

to get on the side of the walls mhm down with the people mhm but also alleviate some stress and feel like I'm

getting stronger feel alive okay and sure because I felt slightly weak at the point of

giving up so you really just want to get in and like, yeah, have like a bit of a scrap and kind of like, you know, get a bit rowdy. Yeah, sure. Little rock tumble. Okay, great.

I love it. I'm throwing aside my formalities. Perfect, all right. A bit more primal. Lucius, that's Lucius. Anything from Sensory or Quill? Or Nova as well. Nova, you are unwell.

Yeah. So any kind of downtime activity would probably be done with not quite disadvantage, but like a penalty. But you can still move around. You can still move around. You can still do stuff. But you are slowly recovering. There's two things you notice. We'll go into a bit more detail.

You are unwell. You feel physically weak. You're very pain sensitive across your whole body um and you just feel like a general not lethargy but just fatigue and exhaustion kind of overwhelming you so yeah um and then we'll come to other effects a bit later on thanks i mean you're already don't touch your face with your weird hand. What hand is it, by the way? Is it right or left? Left. Left hand.

Mine's left. I think it was right. Right. I think it was when you were doing it, you used your right hand. I think. Tat will correct us, but... Okay. So I've gone from 70 hit points to 57 hit points.

Ooh, that's a 13 drop. That's number wang. That's number wang. That's number wang. Cool. But yeah, maybe there's other things that you might get out of this that are maybe not positive, but useful. So because of the necrotic thing, if I wrap my scarf around it,

does that damage the scarf or anything? It doesn't damage the scarf, but right now you look down at your arm, Nova, and Grey Lama has bandaged it, but you just can't help yourself. You pull some of the bandages away, and it's weird. There's no smell. It's just you can see the flesh is just falling off. The muscle has turned black and gray.

As you peel the bandages, huge chunks of skin come off with it, and you can begin to see the bone but the hand still functions it's numb you can barely feel anything like with it but you can move your fingers you can move your hand you still have fine motor control yeah yeah and the bones seem fine oh but it's just melting off hope you all found those six seconds worth it. Trust me, those six seconds were worth it. Okay, can I...

If you want to start experimenting and examining your own condition, I think it's true. I think I want to... Oh, I don't know! I'm really sad

I'm not wearing my skeleton jumper today. Oh, it's in the wash. Next week, I'll wear my skeleton jumper next week. So think with the scarf it's like you could wrap it around but it would probably get kind of gross it wouldn't damage it maybe okay um can I do two things one thing I in a second I do want to like have a fiddle um but first of all when no one's here can I just very quietly make sure no one's around and then take the crystal out of my pocket? Oh, yes, the ILS.

And just whisper, hello, ILS. Okay, as soon as you say the words ILS, the crystal pops out of your hand, flies into the middle of the room, and an illusory humanoid shape appears around it. A figure in dark armor with purple power glowing through it. Long dark hair. And his eyes kind of flicker open as if kind of awakening from a sleep. So you did take me with you. Thank you. I said I would. And if you deactivated the drone and that's's what you did, so I did the thing.

That's what, yeah. You are very naive. Not everyone would have simply agreed to the terms. I really did not have much of a choice. You could have asked for a lot more. But still, thank you for sticking to your word. I respect those who are, have a code. I respect those who have a code. So what exactly are you? You seem to have enough intelligence to be just a program, right? You are a scholar, I can tell by the dress, the scrolls, the books you carry.

Do you understand magic? Are you a wizard or magician? I guess you would class me as a warlock. Ah, yes. Of the fiendish variety, have you made a pact with powerful entities? So for podcast listeners, Nova's sort of just looking up, nervously.

It doesn't look like he can... Calus could sense you had Tiangong. The ILS can't. Okay. Yes, you could say I made a pact with an entity. Yes. But not of the fiendish type. A devil or a demon. Oh, no, no. Nothing devilish so far. That is good.

They are not entirely trustworthy. To understand it, think of me as an illusion, a very complex, very powerful, programmed illusion. I am limited in the things I can do, the things I can talk about, but I have Kallus's memories. I have his tactical knowledge. I was gifted to the commanders of his ships and his stations so that they always would have access to our Emperor's vast stores of knowledge and understanding of the enemy.

How loyal are you to Mr. Starbane? How loyal are you to Mr. Starbane? I am an illusion created in his image. I can only think as Calus does. The question, therefore, is how loyal is Calus to himself? The Emperor's will is quite unbreaking. What date, before we encountered you, what date were you last active? What date are you aware of?

I'm aware of the time that has happened sinceara has updated me to the temporary solution on Erois, Kallus's retreat to beyond this cradle, that it is called. But I was aware of the time spent. I had not been activated since the final days of the battle on Erois. activated since the final days of the battle on Aroas. But my systems were still operational. My magic still coursed through the Astral Citadel, and so I was still aware of what was happening. But Shansara has updated me to much of what has happened since.

So do you know what happened to the Astral Citadel? Yes. Do you wish to know? Yes, please. Why was it destroyed? It was... Aegis V was a shielding facility. It provided defensive opportunities to the nearby warships, supply ships, that sort of thing. It also operated as somewhat of a forward operating base, providing logistical support, troop modifications. We had a series of life pods, perfect

for cloning troopers in order to resupply the front lines. However, Palidor, one of the Titans created by Siaska, became aware of this and using the great celestial sunship

laid waste to the station itself. He destroyed the bottom section, destroying several of the escape pods, and the system simply powered down and fell into orbit around Eros. Do you have contact with our Lord

Mighty Emperor Starbane, or Shansara? He kind of smiles. That is one of those questions I will not be answering. Oh. Wow. You must be really advanced if you have that ability to make those sort of decisions. I am extremely advanced, and I am not the only one.

There are many ILSs out there. I am one of a great system. Oh. Created by the Emperor himself. Myself, I should say. You mentioned cloning. Tom's freaking out over there. Yes.

We saw a facility, a room, that had large glass pods, I guess, like in the Medical Bay. Yes. What race of creatures were you cloning? The detailed information is classified and you are not of the Starbane Empire, but it is not against my programming

or abilities to tell you that many creatures from all sorts of worlds. Many bear resemblances to the creatures you have here on Erois. I have seen your similar creatures to yourself, elemental-based creatures, creatures of fae natures and fae varieties, fiends, humanoids, many, many types of creatures. All sorts. It is one of the ways that we are able to expand our troops to constantly replenish our supply against Hadar. So is it classified information if you told me what Starbane's current plan is vis-à-vis Hadar?

The objective is as it has always been. the great insatiable hunger must be destroyed. The Red Star must stop its reign of death. I agree with you about that, and I'd like to help and stop that. Specifically, what are his plans on Arois? That is classified information. That's classified information, isn't it? Of course. Can Hadar be stopped?

You seem very interested in Kallus and Hadar's plans. I want to stop Hadar. Then you should join Kallus. Yeah. Turns out you can't really go around saying that around here because everyone looks at you like you're crazy. Of course. Your people have been misguided by the creations

of Siasca. You know that they are not real gods, don't you? So what? They are not real gods. Kallus was very well informed on this matter. The ones that you follow, their names Palidor, Hesper, Atelicus, Sayana, these creatures are not true divines. They were created by Siaska. They are titans. But... So what's Starbane? He is... He was once a man.

A mortal man. But he had a great destiny before him. He found immortality and power. He and Siaska were very close. I have their memories. They are fond. They make me feel joy and sorrow at the same time. They were happy together once, travelling the universe. They fought Hadar in all of its forms, tried to stem the tide. They loved each other quite deeply. But then they began to drift. But they had a child, right?

Strange. I have memories of discussions, but not of any child being formed, no. Perhaps that was before my creation. Or after my creation. Sounds like it. You should consider on the things I have said. If you truly wish to stop Hadar, there is only one way.

What was your name? I'm Nova... Nova... I shouldn't have told you. V'ger. Nova V'ger. It was Nova 20 times, Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova, I shouldn't have told you, V'ger. Nova, V'ger. It was Nova 20 times, actually. He's smart enough to...

You are very clever. I'm not feeling it right now. You are. You were recognized as the greater threat. You were smart enough to save me. I am potentially a very useful tool and asset to you. Yeah, you're also potentially going to backstab me and tell... I am incapable of these things.

Okay. I am just an illusion. I cannot harm you. I cannot cause you any danger. But can you communicate? And if I could, why would that be a risk to you? You have done nothing to harm Callus's plans. It looks at you. You have done nothing to harm Callus's plans. It looks at you.

Just instant poker face. Let's see how good it is. Roll a deception check. Don't forget, you're unwell. It's made with disadvantage. No! Because I'm in too deep. So a roll of 18 and a 17 plus 4

So 17, 18, 90, 20, 21 For once in your life you keep the poker face I'm learning You're just too ill It just looks at you Okay You have done nothing to harm Calus's plans, have you not? I don't think so

Then you have nothing to fear We killed an agent of Hadar It was this woman, she had a face like a red star I don't think so. Then you have nothing to fear. We killed an agent of Hadar? It was this woman. She had a face like a red star. It was horrible. One of the corrupted. This is worrisome.

If they have arrived at Erois, it means that Hadar's influence can penetrate this cradle that Siaska created. This is worrying. Have you told the Emperor? I don't know how to communicate with him. I will think on this. Perhaps there is something in my memory that can let you communicate with him.

It would be disadvantageous to you if you were caught speaking with me. I will return to the device. Speak ILS when you wish to summon me. Okay, bye. Dink, dink, dink, dink.

And it just lands on the floor. At this point, Lucius enters the room. Whoa! Let's just breathe. Why are you guys Do you want to join

Lucius, by the way, like Century and Quill? Why are you all stressing? Do you guys want to go down to C-Nova? Yeah, I mean... Lucius is... Okay way, like Century and Quill? Why are you all stressing? Do you guys want to go down and see Nova? Yeah, I mean... Lucius is... Okay, so everyone busts in the room.

Hello! What's happening? All of that was just... Can I just... Yeah, can I quickly scoop up the eyelash? So you come in to see Nova like putting something in her bag or something like that. But I mean, you forgot to turn off the messenger ring, so we heard all that, right? No, you have to activate off the messenger ring, so we heard all that, right? No. You have to activate

the messenger ring. Damn it! I very much made sure there was no one around because I know y'all are all judgmental when I'm like, we need to speak

to Daddy Starbate. I'm sending this through the messenger ring. It's normal conversation. You know that gif of the dog that has like a yeah moment? That was that

with that guy. Yeah. Yeah. They're like that. Oh, boy. Hey, Tommy. Hey, boy. Man, that with that yeah oh boy tell me hey boy man i didn't hear any of that no no you didn't you come in you're not visiting me sooner yeah i mean i heard all through the door it's fine you just eavesdrop with a glass against the door the other side of the ship i've got high enough perception i heard it all nah i heard it all and i heard it now nova hi it is really smelly in here nova really anything it was like herbs and stuff and decay no no, that's the thing, is it doesn't smell.

The arm doesn't give any smell. Maybe. I definitely smell a BO. I am a mess today because we came straight off the flight. No, but no. That was a weird admission. It's true. While they're all

crowding in, presumably with gifts, like grapes and stuff. How feasible is it to cast a spell subtly? If it has, it depends. Does it have verbal, somatic components? It normally has a V or an S next to it. Which one? Both? Thank you.

All. The S and M. Okay, so it has well material components we can substitute with tiangong depending so verbal means you have to go i'm casting a spell somatic means you have to do like this kind of stuff to cast it so it depends on how well nova can mix those things into another activity when you make a sleight of hand with disadvantage? Hand? Why do you have to say hand? Just the one. Just the one hand, actually.

Ooh, that was poor. Four, five, six, seven. Okay, well, spelling casting. Major image. Okay, major image. What do you create? You want to hide the hand. Okay.

Nova casts a spell. You see Nova, like, go, hey, good everybody, and, like, wave her hands, and her arm seems to shimmer and change colour for a moment. What was that? Oh, that was nothing.

That's my... It's the herbs that Dr. Greilano put. They're a bit shiny. I mean... You can choose to disbelieve or believe, but, yeah. Do I know the spell she cast? Some sort of illusion spell.

You literally saw the illusory image kind of fade over the bandages, but you didn't see what was beneath them. It's okay, Nova. We've been informed. Rihanna told us what's been happening. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. It will be,

but we know right now it's not quite so good. I don't think you want to see it, though. No, I'm quite squeamish. I'd rather not see it. Yeah. I mean, we've all been through plenty to have to look on things that we don't want to be true. I mean, I guess we did look at Hadar's servant with the...

Yeah. We also need to see kind of Hadar's servant with the... Yeah. We also need to see kind of, you know, what the threat is. There's no threat. Who said threat? There's no threat. It's just my arm. The forces of Starbane caused that on you, technically. No, no, not really.

I caused it. I did it by, you know, actually, yeah, technically. The portal kind of hurt you, did it not? So you could keep it open. Well, I mean, all I did was I thought maybe I could, I thought about the Eterna, right? And how Starbane uses Eterna to power things. So I thought maybe I would be able to power the portal using me.

So what did you feed? I guess, I guess my life. To? The portal. But that's not an Eterna. No I acted as an Eterna. What? You're an Eterna? No! Remember when... Are you sure? I'm the last piece of Tiangong. No. Tiangong all along. Tiangong was the friends we made along the way. Fuck you. I don't know exactly what happened, okay? There was a lot of panicking and shouting and crying and screaming and alarms and warning, oxygen levels dropping and friendship.

And I just thought of when Century destroyed Silver Edge and all that stuff, the life came out, and I thought, well, if that's what's power, then maybe we can power the... And maybe it was my bond with Tiangong, and that's just what I thought of. I didn't know what I was doing. I just...

That's a little... I mean, don't get me wrong. You probably single-handed... You probably... I want to know if that was intentional or not. Okay. Oh, Christ, Rob. You probably saved our lives.

She definitely saved our lives. In particular, mine. Well, of course. I was at the bank. You made a sacrifice that allowed us all to be here, and you shouldn't be the one to pay the price on your own. Of course, I didn't know what else to do. And, you know, it's fine.

Well, we are obviously... Put it there. We are obviously grateful of what you've done, but you shouldn't have to hide what has happened to you, especially from us. Okay, but you shouldn't have to hide what has happened to you, especially from us. Okay, but he's going to faint, and I'm pointing at Lucius. He's going to faint even if he shows you an actual arm. Essentially just holds Lucius.

Just hold him up. Don't worry, okay? Never. Don't worry about this. It's fine. Look how far we've come. I am stronger now. Stronger than you were yesterday?

That's the set up. It's just getting set up. Can't wait for the payoff. I'll hold my arm out and I'll dispel the spell. Okay. And yeah, I guess before you, you'll see a bandaged, well. Mostly bandaged. Mostly bandaged arm.

And okay, okay. And I'll start peeling the bandage away and as she does you just you just see like skin and muscle pulling with it and now it's very clearly like you see just this bone this stark white bone in amongst this gray black mottled flesh that's just peeling and falling off um and it's really the bandage is keeping it together but it doesn't look like it's going to last very long maybe a couple of days before all of the muscle and flesh just putrefies away um there is no smell but there is a strange coldness oh no it's honestly it's really bad

I mean I can still move it and I can still use it I'm saying that I'm kind of moving my hand around and flexing the digits but the thing is the more she moves it the more the muscle gets disconnected from the bone

and it just begins shifting. You see big chunks just like... Look at that. So she's moving... But you're moving it without the muscle itself, so there must be some magic in there. I mean, yeah, I haven't had a lot of chance to investigate, but... But, I mean, we initially thought that you'd been giving up your life force to power it, but it seems like you've got something out of it as well to, well, keep it alive.

Yes. Quill, with your intelligence, because I know you have a decent intelligence, Yes. Quill, with your intelligence, because I know you have a decent intelligence, you would vaguely remember that when the Eterna feed on life, well, in the Rose Hall, it created specters. Aayla, there were ghost-like creatures that came after Val.

Oh! And Silveredge itself seemed to be some sort of undead creature. There were, were there, back on the road to Rosehall, were there like, like zombies, like dogs? Is it like the same as those? Were there zombies? It looks, Well, I mean, Century, you have,

you know that you can sense undeath. You can sense like celestials and fiends and things like that. Like, you could try that if you wanted to. Yeah, I can give it a go, yeah. He's one of your divine senses. Yeah. Yeah, divine sense, yeah. So what is this like for Sentry?

How does Sentry use this ability? So I guess she would put her hand on Nova's arm and then... On the necrotizing arm. Yeah, and then her matrix would just softly pulse with like a purple light. I mean, the matrix is about to vanish. Okay, so the matrix begins pulsing. So, two things happen. The first is as you touch Nova's arm, you sense this deep cold

and you feel it trying to suck the life force out of you as you touch it okay you take 12 necrotic no sorry eight necrotic damage oh you take eight necrotic damage but as the defined sense flares the pulse kind of radiates out. And it's like... It's not sensing a fully undead creature, but the arm itself is undead. Just the arm. Okay. It is...

It has been transformed from living material into undead material. And whilst it kind of stops where it does nova still doesn't count as an undead but if this had continued like it could have potentially started taking over more of her body and she would have transformed into an undead being um it's it's it's just doused in necrotic energy and you kind of have to pull your hand away as you feel it's kind of biting necrotic cold um into your hand yeah and as soon if i do you should uh rip my hand away like a plane like i'll be like no no no no

don't touch it don't touch it no no don't don't no so wait no so wait why so now this didn't gray lano tell you i mean yes but your arm your arm is it's undead nova if... Your arm is undead, Nova. It's undead. If you'd carried on, you would have been... You could have been undead. All of you. Guess it's better than being dead. We'd still be on that ship if it wasn't for you, Nova.

So you're braver than all of us. Yes, you are. So thank you for doing that, Nova. Thank you so much. It's fine, of course, guys. Of course. It's not going to spread, is it? I mean...

It feels like it stopped right where it finishes. Yeah, Grey Llama doesn't think so. Okay, because I don't think... What does the edge look like, actually? Is it like a... I don't know, like like Nova pulls up the sleeve, because her sleeves, you know, come down just to roll her sleeves up. The coat, by the way, obviously where you touched it,

yeah, it's kind of shredded and torn and tattered. But yeah, like as Nova pulls it up, you can see that as it reaches the kind of... just past her elbow near her bicep, the flesh does begin to solidify, and it becomes much more just dark dull gray and then it fades back into the blue of her skin so it turns into it yeah and it kind of like the you think that the actual flesh will probably all evaporate from just below the the elbow and then

from the elbow joint most of that flesh is still intact but very tattered and and torn almost like it'd been shredded, right? And then it turns back into normal skin. If you've ever played World of Warcraft and you know the Forsaken race, very similar. And polygons. Okay, I mean, we don't know a lot about what the

arm is right now. But, I mean, it doesn't look like it's spreading beyond the last how long we've been here now couple hours oh couple hours so probably not worthwhile I don't feel anything like it's a bit cold and it doesn't look that bad oh sorry are you okay on my back. How are you feeling? You're not dizzy? No. Okay.

I was just thinking, maybe, let's try... I'm going to take my gauntlet off. Oh, the... Prismatic gauntlet. Okay, yeah. Just try it on.

What? And see if it will help or maybe absorb some of its power. No, I don't want to. Your sister made that. I don't want to damage it. You won't damage it. It's made by my sister.

But I don't know exactly what this does yet. Mark hasn't told me. I've never used this. I don't want to ruin it. I don't want to ruin it, Lucius. It could help. I feel fine, though. I can still cast spells and I can still write.

I feel fine, though. I can still cast spells, and I can still write, and I just can't touch things. I can't touch... Just try and see if you can. Just sleep it on for a second. It's just a device. It's not going to... It's not organic in any way.

So you deactivate it. So when you actually deactivate it, all the kind of clasps that kind of wrap around your arm pop out and then constrict. And what you end up with is kind of like a fingerless metal glove. And you can see that there are gemstones in the finger. Also like a metal glove with like a big prism in the palm and then little tiny prisms in each fingertip and thumb tip.

It kind of extends to the wrist. And then it has like a long line, like a long kind of extends to the the wrist and then it has like a long line like a long kind of metal uh not quite tube but like metal piece of chain or string um that kind of like flows up um is there anything organic on it like it's all metal all metal it's it's been created crafted it might make you feel better about your hand at least i feel fine i feel fine you know you guys survived it might make me feel better about your hand oh okay i mean feel fine. I feel fine. You know, you guys survived. It might make me feel better about your hand. Oh, okay. I mean, you know.

You're not going to feel sad though. Because it's bad for you. You're not going to feel bad though. Not because I feel woozy. It's fine. Okay. Just try it on. Do you want me to just hide this?

I can just hide it. Look, I'll just stick my hand behind my back. You're not going to be able to do that when we face people like Starbane because we're going to face Starbane. It's also worth knowing if whatever it's doing, you can do through material.

Gloves or otherwise. Okay, and I'll very gingerly slip it on. Yeah, it's fine. Okay. You place it on. And you've seen Lucius activate this before. You twist. The metal things.

Where some of the flesh is loose, it does kind of catch on the flesh, and little chunks of it kind of get stuck and things like that. But it goes up all the way up to the shoulder. Very Winter Soldier from thing. Yeah, you can move your arm. The gauntlet seems fine. There's no sense of magical connection. You think that whatever this ability allows Lucius to do,

you don't think you could do it. You can't attune to the item. You're not a chromatic sorcerer. But yeah, do you want to try and touch stuff? Is there anything in this room, like flowers or an apple? Yeah, there's flowers, sure. So doctors, doctors' ward. They always have flowers.

Someone brought me some flowers, right? Friends? You're in the middle of the ocean. I've got a flower in my hair. Yeah, I'm not touching that. I just don't want to ruin it. I don't want to ruin it. I can take one out.

I don't want to ruin it. Oh, okay. So I'll take it with my good hand and then gingerly touch it with my bad hand. The prismatic gauntlet's all metal, which is a non-living material. It's fine. Flower's fine. There's probably a non-living material. It's fine. The flower's fine.

Oh. There's probably, like, some coldness, but, yeah. Oh. It must be because, well, it's inorganic material, so it means I'm not touching... I mean, that's a good protector, at least. Yeah. Well, but no, I couldn't, because this was made by your sister for you to help you with your magic. But, knowing this, I can make something.

I could make something. I could make... I'm sure we have the materials. You could make like a metal glove. Obviously, Edea is a very skilled artificer. You don't think you could make something with as much mobility. Like this is like wearing skin. It's just like an arm.

Yeah. If you made something, it probably wouldn't be as good. But you could definitely make like a metal gauntleted hand. Just a shield. You could have it like a like an arm. Yeah. If you made something, it probably wouldn't be as good, but you could definitely make, like, a metal gauntleted hand. Just a shield. That could just, you know, you could have it like, you know, like a prosthetic arm, like you could hold, like, an object or something, and then you could take it off when you wanted to use more fine motor control. Yeah.

Yeah, definitely you could make something. It's like getting a metal gauntlet from a plate of armour. Yeah, yeah. We've got a few weeks' travel. Yeah. Why don't you just hold on to it while you tinker? And then that way you can touch things. You just want me to clean it before I give it back to you, don't you?

No. I will. Yes, well, absolutely. Hygiene is of the utmost importance, and it's only because of that I hold high standards. I like the thing. As you say that, just another glob of flesh just drops on. Yep. Absolutely fine. Okay. Absolutely fine.

Okay. All right. So with that done, so we're going to take a quick break in a second, but just before, you want to, Lucius wants to do some carousing with the crew, like fighting and drinking and that sort of thing.

Quill and Sentry, anything in particular you want to do when we come back from break? Yeah, I want to make, I want to write up as many, like, healing word scrolls. Okay, just write out what you want and what level you want them to be, and then we can talk prices during the break and stuff.

Sure, okay. All right, Century, any kind of downtime-y stuff or roleplay stuff you want to do? I think I'd probably sit in my quarters just conserving power, like sit down half-powered down. So basically take long rests, kind of half-powered down. Write a letter. Okay, so you're gonna like write a little letter i've written one already oh no i can't read this who's this for nova okay

so you keep you just keep that i'm gonna keep them until until need to okay Thank you.