High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #55 | Explosive Revelations (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

High Rollers is back in 2020! The party are split and things are... awkward. Time for a nice meditation session! 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. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey, no, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello, handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your

matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello everyone, welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois, run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Kelek Adkalad, Cleric Wizard. Hi, I'm Rhiannon, I'm playing Sentry, I am a Guardian Paladin. I am Chris Trott, I'm playing Lucius Ewing, Elowin Elinastro. 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 campaigns today. Welcome back to Erois. The last time our adventurers in Erois were in the Vivec City, a dragon-born society, a military society, where they were waiting to speak with the Draconic General to get permission to leave the city, having reported various facts about Starbane and the world to his subordinate. However, the majority of our last time was spent aboard the Storm Chaser.

Having a great time. Just having a real good time. I was having a great time. Just having a real good time. I was having a great day. Drinking coffee. Party secrets became revealed. Nova's interaction with the ILS became apparent to Quillock Adkala, who then proceeded to ask many, many questions

and even use his Eye of the Storm to gaze into things beyond even Nova's knowledge. Meanwhile... I almost used my hand on lightning, too. Almost. I thought it was so rude. Almost. Conflict nearly occurred, but was avoided.

However, the rest of the party spent their time searching the ship to try and find them. Or having conversations with crewmates of new friendships were formed between Lucius and his current wife, I suppose, or bride, or companion.

He's a member of the Wolfpack. Friend Bond. Name I've actually not written down. The name's Bond. Friend Bond. Wait, what? Their name's bond friend bond wait what their name's completely gone in my brain oh sorry

faith thank you you just gave me such a look of intensity I thought you were going to kill me it's no faith with a subtle

accent shut up faith you need faith you gotta have faith bonds of friendship were formed as the realities

of Lucius's drunken escapades became clear in that it is a friendship bond of wanting to help somebody who is in a difficult position more than anything else and I believe we literally left the session with the storm chaser taking off having

been given permission to head off to the city of glass. With a pseudodragon. With a pseudodragon who had joined as a scout is an interesting word. Some could also say spy.

It's not bound to anybody but it took a shining to Sentry and I think Lucius because they have the highest charisma. The pseudodragon's name is Viss. It's a silvery pseudodragon.

Fuck off. That's bullshit. You do, but you actually had shunned away. Yes. Yeah. He's really yawning. Why did I? Well, I'm assuming you spent your ability score modifier on your charisma.

What did you spend your ability score onifier on your charisma What did you spend Your ability score on Oh so you Oh poor sad little boy I need a withered hand Clearly Clearly And that is pretty much

Where we left things off Solid Ten in charisma The whole crew Is assembled Of the storm chaser You also have Helios Back on board as well

Oh yeah You've gathered quite the Band of weirdos. Menagerie of companions. Band of weirdos. There is still occasionally, yeah, ILS is a weird companion. You still have a ghostly goblin that occasionally appears,

but I forget about. Oh, is he coming back? Well, I forget about him all the time because I've got a billion things to remember. Nah, it's 2020, you know. 2020. Bring him back. Let the past die. You need to Marie Kondo this campaign. Sid says,

my boy. We've got Howard. Howard's a companion. Well, that's what I mean by the, you have the crew of the Storm Chaser, Howard,

Lanceon, Penny, Grey Mano, the Wolf Pack. They're all there. Everyone's here. Bunch of good boys's here bunch of good boys bunch of good boys

but best boys we leave we head off that's so cute oh my god what she's drawn Helios

let me see just so I can remember who we've got it's just like a little happy dragon face I'm trying to keep track a very shibby Helios

chubby boy or is it shitty it's a very shitty shibby shibby shibby and you yeah the storm chaser sails onward to the continent of Gisela, looking for a place called the City of Glass,

formerly called Kamina City. Yes. Now, this was never put into a stream, but you have all been to Gisela before. You stopped off at the port city of Imexan in our Session Zero, so it is not a completely unfamiliar place. Oh, the sewer escapade.

That was all in Session Zero. Way back when Quill was a very different character. Thank God we had an Episode Zero. Yep. And yeah, that's pretty much where we're at. And there is at least sort of two weeks of travel time so this is a

perfect opportunity if anything needs to happen conversations need to take place secrets need to be revealed if anybody wants to work on any downtime material here's something I want to do a bit secretive oh what a surprise

part of what our secret society or your own secret society? Actually, I think I probably would consult you on it. Ah, shit. Well, you two had a big moment last time, so let's see what Chris Trotler had to do. Pike leader. I remember that

there was bad air between these two, and then we said, like, is it going to affect our talk with the dragon, Grandmaster General, with this talk? And it kind of, like, was awkwardly left that way. Okay. And so I think Lucius would want to be like, so what happened?

So you kind of gather the two of them and you. Do you bring the others or just the three? I welcome everybody. Okay, so you kind of have a go. Please, for the love of God. You invite everyone to talk about it. I'll talk about coffee for another three hours. Do you invite any of the Storm Chaser crew?

Like, Oriah. Oriah, yes. Okay, so you do bring Oriah on board. Oriah kind of knows everything about Starbane and Valor and everything now. She's been on the adventure. She's had the messenger ring, and she's kind of picked up enough subtle clues of you guys kind of all going awkwardly

silent and looking at each other and communicating telepathically. Now I have to get used to that because I don't have a messenger ring anymore. You don't have a messenger ring, yeah. So this takes place in the kind of like ready room so the long table next to the captain's quarters aboard the storm chaser. Kim, your mic is pointed the wrong

way. Good. And twice it. So we set the scene. The airship travels through. It is winter, so outside, I think, traveling through across basically ocean at this point. You'll be traveling across from Corsadi towards Gisela.

Just open expanses of ocean. You occasionally see little tiny rocky outcroppings. Not so much islands, but just the remnants of land mass that has been long since sunken. Are we closer to clouds than we are sea? You are probably closer to clouds than you are sea. And there is snow. There's like quite a lot

of snow is falling. All around you. All around you. And the wolf pack in particular are basically having to keep it off the sky sails because they can actually inhibit and slow the way down. Are they not playing and having fun? Okay. I don't...

I think Kamara is keeping them on a tight leash because there is the threat that if too much snow builds up on the sky sails, the ship could start to descend or crash. Tis the season. So they are hard at work keeping it clean and keeping it clear. But the rest of the crew are enjoying

the peaceful... Are they playing and having fun? Can we have fun in this campaign? No. Oh, love and understanding. Late morning. That's the next line, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. After a breakfast that Howard provides,

warm steaming porridge with kind of sweet honey and cinnamon to keep everyone warm in the colder climate. Merry Christmas, everyone. And you are brought into the ready room. All right, we're done. I just ignore you wait honey and cinnamon porridge did you say oh my god

that sounds amazing how is it good cooked I think we have all those things literally in the kitchen over there I was thinking impoverished Arois crew we've been through some shit I think honey and cinnamon I'm over the moon.

Plus it's all oats, right? That's basically all quill eats and worms. Dirt. Some worms. You've changed your mind on what quill eats so many times. Eats bugs. Eats bugs. Does he eat chicken? Oh yeah. All the time. This is the point where I hand it over to you

and I'm not involved because this is an inter-party discussion so I've set the scene take it away century fuck off Lucas

I know it's this is very important we both really like this pseudo dragon yeah so maybe we can maybe it's a completely

different topic before we go into this meeting maybe you can have him for today and then we can maybe it's a completely different topic before we go into this meeting maybe you can have him for today and then we can alternate whenever you feel like it

you can have him tomorrow yes just exchange days like that it's kind of like sitting on your shoulders

small point about the pseudo dragon who's going to be sitting on your shoulders does that make sense just as a

the pseudo dragon is listening to everything you know all the meetings just as a little The pseudodragon's listening to everything, you know, all the meetings. Just as a little point. Are you getting what I'm saying here, Lucius? You're looking at me very blankly.

Yes. Yes. Okay. So will he be joining us in the meeting? Are you joining us? I'll ask him if he's joining us. Is he going to... He nods.

Yeah? Is he? Well... He nods. It's Is he? Well, he nods. It's going to be a very short meeting, then. It's like a little kind of tip of the head. I need to just check how intelligent he is. Yeah, I know. He nods, yeah.

He's like... Now, what's his name? Viz. Viz. Viz. Viz. He can also... So you get a telepathic kind of image.

He can't really speak, but you kind of get a telepathic kind of image He can't really speak But you kind of get A vague feeling of understanding Like it conveys It understands what you're saying It's listening to you Today We have some personal matters

To talk about And it's not really anything that Maybe there's some food that Howard could prepare for you if you're hungry and maybe a small tour of the vessel The pseudodragon which I'm assuming you've passed over to Sentry because you were kind of having

I think it already gravitated towards Sentry It floats over and it's just resting on top of Sentry's head its claws kind of gripping onto the vines and it lays its head on the flat earth It's so nice It's doing all the right things It wraps around sort of like hanging down over her chest claws kind of gripping onto the vines and it lays its head on the flat metal thing its wings are kind of doing the right thing tail wraps

around sort of like hanging down over her chest can I summon Echo to sit on this so I have a little pyramid pops out of the

thing and floats up um this doesn't really like it and it's like with one claw he tries to push Echo off um but you does he play can

he get him to like play yeah he kind kind of bats at it and stuff. As long as he's not sitting on him, Viss doesn't mind him hovering above. It could be a 50-year-old scenario here. It's an old man dragon. Viss sends you

a telepathic communication to Lucius, it can only do it one creature at a time, of basically no. It sends you at a time of basically no it's it sends you like a like it maybe like a flash of like a memory or like an image of the of the draconic general saying he will come with you and just this like okay um in which case that's very useful viz uh uh do i have to do we all have to speak everything, or can you just telepathically hear what we have to say

to make things easier? You don't get the impression that he can read minds. He can project images telepathically, but he can't read minds. I'm going to messenger ring everybody and say, any personal matters, we're going to keep into the messenger ring. Oh, that's easy. That's just everything ever. Well, we'll just to keep into the messenger ring. Oh, that's easy. That's just everything ever.

Well, we'll just be standing looking at each other. You guys. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, okay. No, what? I'm winking a lot at Quill. Okay, okay, okay.

Matters that are personal, we'll keep them inside. Inside, sure. Yes. This is going to be a very, very dull conversation for Quill because he currently can't hear us. We can say anything we want about Quill right now, you guys, and he doesn't have a clue. Quill, you suck.

Wait, what? Quill, you suck. You're saying it out loud. No, I'm saying this in the messaging. Oh. So this, usually when we have these meetings, we like to sit in a circle and do some meditation just to calm our centers and make sure that we're all...

He's not a dumb creature. He can understand when people are lying to him. 21. Okay. Close. I don't know if Rhiannon saw that, but it was

like on the 20 and then it rocked down to something else right let's go meditate just like makes a couple of noises kind of like pops his head on sentries

and his eyes close and you kind of hear like a little faint sort of like breathing he's not sleeping but he's maybe like resting is Araya here? yeah Araya's here

like just standing there she's like okay I am ready alright do you mind giving back Quill his messenger ring it will take Is Orion here? Yeah, Orion's here. She's just standing there. She's like, okay, I am ready. All right, do you mind giving back Quill his messenger ring? It will take, I think it takes an hour to refocus it. It would take some time, yeah. This meeting's a mess.

We can wait an hour. We can talk about other things. I can communicate, you know. No. Orion takes it often, is this like. We'll discuss other things that can be summarized

for an hour okay sure how's it going okay so you attune to the messenger ring again I'm assuming you're going to give it back after this

so don't worry about changing your equipment yeah and you fill an hour of nothing and then I'll order some coffee from the kitchen

Howard brings it up during this entire time Nova is just silent. Just silent. Just doesn't say anything. Everyone picks up on that obviously if she's not trying to hide it.

I think I'm feeling bad or so maybe now is a good time to do some meditation. So everybody join me and so Lucius sits at the table okay

I'll awkwardly like sit cross-legged in the chair. In the messenger ring I'll go Quill you suck ah wait shit no that doesn't work you were saying that no unbelievable is it though i'm gonna message everyone but aila and say ava sucks everybody please come and find your happy place in your mind's eye while we drift into a brief meditation and discuss nothing. Okay. I'll sort of awkwardly sit on the floor.

The only thing Nova sees in her mind's eye is a big red light. Happy place. Nova, question for you. Do you have the ILS on you? No, it's still in the boudoir. Boudoir. Nova's boudoir. Sooir so ariya basically without any ability to communicate you will just sit by the door basically and just pulls up a chair puts her boots up on the table and pulls out like a little flask and starts i assume she understands what the hell she just leaves you to

have this conversation right right in our heads okay hello that was a ruse. Oh, good. So for the dragon. Definitely can't understand us, the dragon? Well, you can't apparently telepathically listen to us. Unless he is a true spy and is lying. Probably lying. Are you sure it won't just report back our

hours of silence? It's meditation right now. Make sure you're looking like you're meditating. How do you do that? Just close your eyes and look peaceful. No, I don't trust any of you. I'm not closing my eyes. We're a team. This is the point of this conversation, I will point out.

Yeah, we're a team. Everything is out there. Yeah, nothing is clearly out there. And that there's any bad juju that needs to come out now. Spill the juju! Why me? I haven't got any juju. A problem with the engines doesn't result in two people falling out.

You know nothing about engines. It's a bad engine failure. Engine... You said it was fine. No, you haven't said a thing. Juju. Bad juju. What exactly happened between you two when you were in the library

finding books on Engineering for Dummies by A. Plumbus? Sounds like an excellent read there I said the book was on the top shelf and Nova was saying it's on the bottom shelf and I was saying no it has to be up it was a big thing and and and we had an argument about it and I end up trying to get she made fun of me not being able to fly to get to the top that's why I was so insulted and it really hurt me. She is insulted me and we had a fight about it. We're okay now.

We're okay now. We're okay now. I will just remind everybody I will never make you roll insights against each other. If you think Quill is lying from the way that he's talking then you just, that's what you think. Just putting that out there as a reminder that it's talking then you just that's what you think just putting that out there as a reminder

that it's the way we don't have inter-party checks unless it's shit like sleight of hand and keeping stuff in it's important to get

both sides of the story Nova is what he's saying absolutely correct it was exactly that wow well they both

have to in a suspicious way. You're being weird. Remember, your exterior, your physical body really needs to look like it's meditating. Mine definitely doesn't. I'm pissed off. Tell us what's happening. I'm also squirming.

I'm going to speak just out loud. It's like, if you're struggling to find your happy place now, take some deep breaths and continue. Happy place, everyone. I think I've convinced the dragon. Maybe we need like an anger management room or something. Yes, it's morale officer. I think maybe just swing at some bags or something.

I approve that. That would be great. Yeah? Can we do that? I feel like if you truly did have an argument as to reaching the book at the top shelf, and that caused such a problem, maybe there's a deeper-rooted issue that's just come out in that relatively trivial circumstance. I missed my wing and it

really hurt me. Oh, I'm so sorry. That's the problem. And why would Nova be upset with this? Did you know? I insulted her hand. Fuck.

She misses her hand too. And we had a fight about it and then we made up and now we're a team a good team nova i'm fine we're fine quill is my friend we're good friends besties oh my god century what do you think about this um well morale officer. Falling out with a friend is never a fun thing. I think we need, like, a day. I think you need to, like, you know, sit on this for a day or two. Let it all come out. Let it all just slowly seep away. And then we might be all right.

Right? It's fine. I didn't fall out with a friend. What does that mean? I may punch one or both of you if you do not tell me what's actually happening. Because you can't lie. You can't lie.

Don't punch me, I've said plenty. I... You said it in a very non-convincing way, Quill. Well, I'm not a very convincing person. Yes, stop trying to i say the wrong things at the wrong times and the right things at the wrong times and the wrong things are sometimes the right times so what did you say to nova that was causing conflict i think it might have been the wrong thing then the right thing but at the right time and then the wrong

time okay well then what was it all of the above nova comments all of the above. Nova? Comments? All of the above. Oh my god. I am going to punch you so hard in the face. Not me. I might lose a jaw again. You will. There's really nothing is wrong. We had a fight. It was dumb.

I think maybe. We're fine. This is making it weird. Well, yes, but also I think maybe we're fine this is making it weird well yes but also at the same time I think you understand the importance that we we get a different energy

from you and it's important that we're all on the same page and transparent if we're going to be facing the ultimate threats to Eros

we can't have inner turmoil and conflict going into that no secrets no secrets there's no secrets that was so unconvincing they're on quit what We can't have inner turmoil and conflict going into that. No secrets. No secrets. There's no secrets. That was so unconvincing.

Quill. What? I need to, like, teach Quill to be better at lying. I'm saying we shouldn't have secrets. Like, you've got the fair thing. There are no secrets between myself and Quill. No. No.

No. No. Okay. We do need to be on the same page. Right now, we are in a different book on the other side of the library to you and Nova. Bottom shelf and top shelf, right? Yeah. Really far apart.

Further apart than that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See? She's on the same page now. I'm not on the same page.

That's what it was. Nova. I mean, I wouldn't expect she's on the same page now. I'm not on the same page. That's what it was. Nova. I mean, I wouldn't expect to find you in a library anyway. Nova, your tone is definitely... One, ouch. Two, fair. I'm just practising some of this sass that you keep saying I should be. But this is the wrong time for it.

Again? Awesome. But also, this is the wrong time for it. Again? Awesome. But also, this is so infuriating. There's nothing to tell. We had a stupid fight. We're fine. Okay, well, maybe... What was the fight about?

Well, they've already said that. Who said? So maybe, instead of looking at both of your problems as conflict, maybe you can empathize with each other with your wing and your hand. You both have gone through a real issue. Maybe you can share in that emotion together. I've accepted my problem. But you're suggesting Nova hasn't?

but you're suggesting Nova hasn't? Quill, I'm sorry I said that your wing was a withered out husk of a skeleton. What? Wow. I'm sorry, Nova, that I said that your hand was the result of... You're upsetting something. ...decay.

It would drain the life from everyone it touches. Just like me. I didn't say that. There's clearly been some frustration. Yes. Let's not forget that we all very much owe our lives to Nova for her noble sacrifice. And thus, saying such a thing so soon after it happened

would maybe cause a reaction such as this and maybe isn't very nice. It was a noble sacrifice and there was no ulterior motive. Why would you say that? Why would you say that? I'm involved, I'm involved. I'm involved.

Like, I mean, I don't want to tell you guys how your characters react, but if I was a character right now, I'd be like, what? Why would you even consider that? I just said there wasn't He saved our lives

She did We're alive No, I'm angry I'm going to start humming I just want to say as morale officer My door is always open And you can come into my room And talk to me about any of these frustrations

That you were having Century, I'll tell you right now I'm frustrated by these issues That's a healthy approach Talk to me, let it out I'm here this is my job this is bullshit it's difficult i know bullshit i'm just gonna peek and see what everyone's like poses are right now i think like for the most like ayla is just stood up eyes open like right look century's like worrying Well no because you don't close your eyes You look normal

Just like Nova's personally Closed and he's keeping a very Serene face I'm eerily still Yeah but like Uncharacteristically Silent and still

I'm a chronic fidgeter yeah and Quill is just a mess my eyes squirm my eyes are closed

there's like a twitch in his eye my eyes closed but the storm eye there's like a glow that is coming out between like the the lid

yeah and he's like squirming in place and shifting around comfortably there's probably little crackles of lightning around my fist you're getting mad

because I'm getting angry. I've got a whole this is fine scenario playing out in my head. Okay. So I'm going to message Sentry alone. You can't. Can I not? Nope, the messenger rings. This was never a thing.

We could never do that. Yeah. If you have another spell that lets you do it. Oh, that's what I was saying. You have message. Yeah. I don't have that. So never mind.

I think maybe this is not going as well as I had hoped, but there's clearly some underlying issues. Maybe we should follow Sentry's advice and let this sit for a day or two, and maybe we can approach it in a different manner if you're both willing to discuss this further. Okay. There's nothing to discuss.

We are fine. You're the ones making this further. Okay. There's nothing to discuss. We are fine. You're the ones making this weird. I absolutely disagree with you, Nova. However, I'm trying not to escalate the issue. And I'm going to put a little pin in it until further notice. If that's okay with you, I'm captain. Why do you disagree? Why do you disagree?

Nova, you've never been like this until there's been a serious problem happening. And I don't think a book and a slight insult are a big one. Well, I will remind Lucius, because he does have a decent enough intelligence score. You remember Quill said something was... That Nova had something,

like a magical thing in the room. Yeah. And Quill stayed behind. No, he didn't say something about a magical thing in the room yeah and quill stayed behind he didn't say something about magically he said there was something he said there was something in the room we went there and we had to get over there as well but i'm sure you mentioned something like not necessarily magic you said like something's wrong there's something else going on here try and get nova out of the room yeah okay there you go so you remember that like the quill had an inclination that something was going on with nova before this argument and you know that i was crying the night before as well just as a reminder because like it's been

a month since we played so all i'm saying is there's things that still need discussing and i don't fully believe it's all being put out on the table today. Can I walk out of the room? Sure. Because I can still hear everything. Yeah, it works up to miles. So yeah, you can get up. The rest of you hear the footsteps

in the door open and close. Oriah just looks at you and kind of nods. Can I go to Nova's room oh okay yeah yeah sure you can yeah i'm not allowing that can i so what you like open your eyes and see yeah well uh meditation adjourned so does nova just fall off this meeting over um well Um, well, if I see that she's coming to me, then I wouldn't go. So I think the way this works is because your eyes are already open,

you kind of get frustrated, you just turn, you open the door, you begin making your way out, and then, I mean, does Nova move, or does she just make no visible sign that she's aware? Well, I'm going to say, is this meeting over? Okay, so you hear that in the messenger ring, but you're still making your way out to the deck

because you don't know that she's aware, you know, what she's doing yet. And then I'll leave. No one's going to... Okay, so, like, Nova gets up and begins making her way out as well. You hear someone following you. You hear, like, Nova leaving the room as well.

I'll just go to my own room then. Okay, so you make your way down. And just lock myself in there and do some angry push-ups and just be angry. So the second you know that Nova's aware of you, you're just like,

right, I'm going to go to my room. Okay. When we were outside Nova's room and you said there was something in there, was Century there as well? Yeah. No, I meant it was just the two of you. But you said to me and century

you said then you went and said quill said to get her out of the room i think there's something in the room and you went in there and searched ayla missed the role and didn't find anything yeah right right right so as far as the thing is is the three of you have searched nova's room yeah you didn't find anything so keep that in mind as well. Yeah. Okay. Well, whoever's left in the room, that went... Yes. I'm going to go do captain-y things now. Okay.

This is just kind of, you feel like this kind of like, almost like a cat kind of like pouring your vines on top of your head. You kind of feel him like nestling in a little bit. Just yawns, like... Oh, he's so cute. Oriah's like, okay. Continue on course, staying towards Tisela. Anything to report? Is the snow doing all right?

The wolf pack is busy trying to make sure that it does not affect the sails, but it should pass. I've done some minor rangery things, and it shouldn't last for too much longer, so it should pass in've done some minor rangery things and it shouldn't last for too much longer so it should pass in a couple of days I'm guessing we can't fly above the cloud line because of the air yes it's not a sky city we don't have the ability to generate air and and climb it so it would become colder and the air would become thinner so we need to try and stay below it as best we can but it shouldn't be too much of a problem, so it should be okay.

It'll take us probably about a week and a few more days to arrive in Gisela, and then we will need to try and track it down. Quill and I have looked at the charts, and we think we have a vague location. Quill and I have, sorry? Looked at the maps. Okay. We figured out where we should be going. Yes, yes, we know where we're going. And we should be there soon.

Don't worry. Soon. Yes, okay. Thank you, Quill, Quartermaster. Whatever is going on, I leave to you. Can I just retcon a little bit? Sure. How noisy was Aayla being when she left the room? Probably noisy. That means Aayla, she stopped.

She doesn't move quietly. So I wouldn't need to, like, roll and be like, does she? No. You would have heard her leave, but you also wouldn't have any idea of where she was going. Ayla could just be leaving because she's pissed off. Yeah, I want to make it clear, I'm not following Ayla. I'm just like, is this done?

Because this is going nowhere. Yeah, and I think it's, so Ayla goes to leave the room. And I take that as a cutesy. And then you're like, okay, well, this meeting's done. You get up to leave and Ayla notices, like, oh, shit, Nova's going to realise where I'm going. And Ayla stops. And I think that's how the sequence plays out. Cool.

I just want to be very like, let's not metagame the fuck out of this, shall we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, yeah. Sure. All right. I'm going to go to my quarters, if you need me, for anything. Anyone. There's only two people there now.

Yeah. These two have forgotten. Meat and broke up, innit? Lucius and Quill. You two? Yes, yes, yes, yes. No, I guess. There's always a cup of tea.

Is there? There's someone to chat to. I think we need to ease off the coffee. Yeah, that might help, actually. Yes, I still feel jittery. Yeah. Maybe the whole anxiety came from that. Do you know what?

I have noticed an anxiety spike recently, and that might be why. I haven't eaten yet. No, me neither. Well, I don't need to. It's because of you. No, we have porridge. It's the anxiety. Sorry, I'm not here.

But yes, I'm going to be taking notes about this meeting. I'll be writing down notes. What have you written down for this one? Improvements need to be made. That's a heavy underline in that one that's a heavy underline and I'm bleeding all over it as well hello that's in real life actual Rhiannon blood

alright well with that lovely awkward conversation dealt with there is time like this is we can wrap this up in montage we don't have to play out every single day but you have like a week and a half of travel time here there is like something i want to do in the downtime but i want to talk to quill about it first but i don't want to kind of hijack well does anybody else have anything i can make a very short

conversation does anybody else have anything else no it can make it a very short conversation. Does anybody else have anything else? No, it's fine. It's an important thing. Like, no worries. Mine's a social thing, so I'm going to make it very open that me and Fayeth are... have this bond. Okay, so you tell the crew, you would, like, gather the crew together and you say, this is what's happened. We've made this kind of life partnership

bond. In front of the wolf pack. Yeah, they already know, so they're already aware, so to them it's just like, ah, and they just kind of shrug it off and just see it as like, yeah, we know. We were there. We were part of the wolf pack. Yeah, they already know, so they're already aware. So to them, it's just like that. And they just kind of shrug it off and just see it as like, yeah, we know, we were there. Okay, okay then. But the rest of the crew, I think like Howard and Lansian and that, like Howard is like, oh, that's lovely. That is, oh, look, congratulations.

He thinks that it's like some big thing. Lansian, I think, is interested but doesn't care too much. Same with most of them like Penny Grey Lanow probably will have a private word with you about safe behaviour getting the wrong impression I'll use this message as a

diplomacy thing like it's all about coming together and realising our strengths as a unit and as a team and so let's all try and for this journey, find something that you have in common or enjoy about other people's company. Okay.

The Wolfpack are very confused. We're supposed to talk about feelings. I don't understand. Get down on the meditation circle. Feelings happen when you drink a lot, so maybe start with that. Ah, all right. Yes, sir. They just kind of, of like salute and go back to their job um kamara just shakes her head he's like i'll do it

takes him off and so yeah so everyone is now aware and do you make it clear that this is like a like just as a like a friends being life partners kind of vibe or do you just say we're married in some weird way? I think the agreement was, it's a friendship bond between us. However, I'm making it seem more legitimate for the wolf pack, so that she doesn't get picked on. And bothered.

So that's the impression the rest of you get. So that happens during the downtime. What about you two? So, Nova. You guys want to do anything? No, that's it it I think that was it Aayla's probably just going to spend a lot of time

punching working out making the anger being annoyed the whole shit probably probably being with like she'd probably

hang out more with Sentry sure rather than coming to Nova and Quill well if you feel that they're keeping something from you

the squishy nerds are being annoying more that like if she I think if she spends too much time and things because especially and Quill. Well, if you feel that they're keeping something from you. Squishy nerds are being annoying! More that. I think if she spends too much time and things, because especially if Nova's being very different to how she usually is, she's being very reserved, that just annoys Ayla more. Because she's like, you're being weird

and I don't like it and you're not telling me why, so fuck off. In her head. Cool. What does Nova do? Yes, I guess just like, quietly Fuck off. Okay. In her head. Yeah, yeah. All right. Cool. What's an overdo? Yes, I guess just, like, quietly. I don't know. It's going to be any day or, like, a time of night, whatever.

It doesn't matter. You're not in any threat when you're over just expansive sea. It's when you get to land that the ship might be at risk. I guess I'll just be like, um, hey. So have you come to? I'll probably maybe come to your quarters one night. Okay, so I think when you do, when you go through the door, I'm holding the Hespa symbol,

and then when you come through and say something, I quickly hide it under a book and move it around. Nova? Hey. Hi. You know the other day in that weird meditation circle meeting thing? Yes, yeah. Why did you cover for me?

I thought you were going to... I thought you were going to tell them. We are currently at two very opposite ends of the scale. Of the same scale, luckily. But opposite ends of the scale. Of the same scale, luckily. But opposite ends. If I tell everyone my side of the story, then you're going to get hurt. If you tell everyone your side of the story, then I'm going to get hurt. I don't think it's up to me to tell them what you're hiding from them.

it's up to me to tell them what you're hiding from them. I do want to tell them but I'm worried now that we have this dragon. I was close

but then we've essentially got a direct line to the dragonborn. Watch this. You already don't trust us. I mean, it doesn't we can have the meditation circles. They are embarrassing but they work.

That's at least one way of hiding it from the dragon. Then would have been the time. No. It was too emotional. I can't continue covering for you. I know. Look, I came here to ask you something. You know, we've got some time until we get to the next island, and...

The ILS told me something interesting. When? Well, I haven't spoken to them since, you know, that day. Okay, good. He knows, or at least he could triangulate where pieces of Tiangong are. Okay. But he needs to see a map of Aroas. So he can work out, you know... Oh, it hasn't been updated since the Sundering, I suppose, has it?

Yeah. you know oh it hasn't been updated since the sundering i suppose has it yeah and i mean you know that i want to reunite tiangong i want to bring tiangong back and i think i almost think we need to we need a powerful ally and it's a big ask, Will, but I didn't want to do this without your permission. Would it be okay if I showed ILS a map so it could figure out where more shards are? And then it outputs this information. It has no output. Unless it interfaced with a system. The ILS is a military command. The moment it gets information,

the moment it shuts off from you. Starbane's already here, Quill. Starbane probably already knows exactly what a rowist looks like right now. It's not going to be the most interesting information to him if ILS somehow transmits this information to him. And what if it says, well, hey, there's a stash of shards right down that pit of spikes and just lures you into a trap?

Lures all of us into a trap. I'll go on my own. It'll be my risk to take. This is a decision for the captain, I think. Okay. I don't know what else to tell you. If that's what you want me to do, I'll do that. Okay.

And Quill, don't try to blast me again. That wasn't nice. I didn't know what, we've been through a lot. I know. And when I said I didn't have an argument with a friend, I wasn't saying you're not my friend. I had an argument with a family member. You're like a sister to me. Thanks, Quill. I'm really... Look, whatever I can do to get your trust back,

just tell me. Tell everyone else first. They're more important okay there you go that's the step okay

so I have two questions one for Century one for Quill for Century during this week how much do you slip into an unstable state, shall we call it?

Do you purposely try and find ways? Do you try and try and trigger moments like that? I think she would, yeah. I think she likes it. You rest as much as possible, hoping that you'll kind of snap into these states. And they do happen. You're not ever sure how long they last. Sometimes it feels like they go on for hours.

Sometimes it's like brief moments. But then when you come to it's, you know, nighttime and sunset and things like that. Yeah. But they do, they're not regular. There is no set pattern to them. But they do, they're not regular. There is no set pattern to them, but they do happen. Your mind just rolls back into memory, but it's almost like a lucid dream where you can shape the memories and you begin to create scenarios that you know didn't happen,

but they're still great to live in you create moments of imagining what life could have been like with the royal family after the war seeing the the princess grow up they're not real they're fantasies but they become more toxically real and sometimes you forget whether you're in a memory or if you're in real life. You start imagining the rest of the crew there with the royal family of Solvin. Back in the palace you see Lucius meeting as a delegate of

the elves and you begin pulling everybody into this fantasy you're creating. I think over time it's going to become harder and harder to tell where reality and where memory blur cool um quill how much time do you spend praying you mentioned that obviously when nova came in you were holding the symbol of hesper do you actively try and pray and speak to him i don't think it's necessarily praying as much as theorizing and questioning and considering.

What kind of question? How many lies or how much has been hidden from Quill? From the gods or the titans themselves. Because he you know, he or titans themselves. Because he

worshipped him as a god. And if he's not that, then who is he? Okay. The days pass. The ship functions as normal. The lookouts keep an eye out. You don't see any sign of pirates.

Kamar and the wolf pack make it clear that pirates around Gisela are fairly uncommon. It's not. There are a couple of trading lines here, but for the most part, the pirates tend to focus on the northern parts of Eros. Northern and then the eastern side of Eros, basically. Now that you're traveling into the southwest, piracy is not so common. The main thing they warn you about is as you get closer to the mountains of Gisela, things like wyverns, things like that, beasts will become more of a problem. But on the open ocean, there's little to worry about. A week and a half passes until eventually,out, the Guardian, calls out.

He slides down from the viewing post and reports to Captain Lucius and Araya, like, I have detected a landmass. I believe that we are approaching the continent of Gisela. We will arrive tomorrow morning. Oh, thank you. Very cool. Araya's, I'm going to messenger ring everybody and say, well, we're almost there. We almost did it.

I was like, no, myself and Navigator Quill believe that the City of Glass is located in the northern part of the continent, so we can begin making our way there. And then I'll need to spend some time figuring out a space to land. If the city is as bad as what you've told me, this City of Glass, this ruin, we won't be able to land. If the city is as bad as what you've told me, this city of glass, this ruin, we won't be able to land in the city itself. We'll have to land somewhere outside of it.

How are our resources looking? Do we need to restock? We can stop at the city of glass, but after that we'll need to head to Imikzan or another port to refuel, also bring on cooking and food supplies. The trip from

Gusthaven to Corsari cost us quite a lot, and because of the events in Vivex, we weren't able to fully resupply. Man, we need to be funded by the government or something. The cost of the refueling should not be

too extreme. Same with the supplies. But certainly if you can acquire any valuables whilst you're down in these ruins, I think that would be quite useful. Okay. How long do you think we have on the city of glass? I mean, if we land the ship, I can reduce the fuel limitations to minimum, and we'll have a couple of days.

Food-wise, myself and a few of the others, if we can land somewhere near a forest or something like that, we can hunt for some supplies, gather fresh water, but it depends on what we can find. But, yeah, we'll have a couple of days at best for you to explore. I assume we had some stock from Vivex. Yes, we do, yes. We have enough for I'd say maybe a week or so

once we land, including travel time for the fuel. We'll be as conservative as we can, however. Alright, well, I will send, I'll keep watch and then as soon as I have word, I'll message you in the morning. Thank you, alright. No problem.

You all go to rest for that evening. Quill. Oh, goody. Starting to love these. As night time descends and you find yourself you find yourself

trying to sleep and struggling as you have for like the last week or two weeks. The conversation with Nova playing over in your head, the images that you've seen from the Space Citadel, troubling revelations. Yeah. But eventually sleep does come through exhaustion more than anything else. And with that sleep comes visions of clouds, being upon a great height looking down on a rowis. And you see, kind of sat on the edge of a cloud, like a mythological painting of the gods.

You see Hesper, but he seems older. His hair no longer kind of this brilliant platinum blonde, but now streaked with grey, kind of greying beard falling down around him. His robes look a little bit more tattered. His wings streaked with grey and discolouration and he just is looking down at Eros and he seems quite weary but he senses you approach, you know that he's aware of your presence as you kind of step on these soft clouds that almost feels like walking on thick sponge

as they sink into your claws around, but bear your weight as you stand there behind him. Hello, Quill. Hello. This is quite the vision you've got here. It's nice to be able to look down upon a ruice and see everything. Even if I can't do much to interact with it, I find a comfort in being able to see it all in a single gaze, not be too focused on one minor detail. Taking the big picture.

You look different to last time. You look different to last time. Yes. I've been spending a lot of my energy. It's fading. I think I told you before that since our mother died, we're all getting weaker. I've been trying to speak to many of my followers. Prepare them for what's coming. I've been giving a lot more of my power than I'm used to. It's taken its toll. And he kind of turns to you, and you can see he's not like an old man, but he's wearier. Yeah.

From where once he was maybe his, like, early 30s if he was immortal, now he looks to be in his sort of, like, 50s. But he still smiles quite softly at you. I've heard the things that you've been asking, the knowledge that you're now aware of. I'm sorry that I've not been able to speak to you sooner. I've been trying to speak with many others about Kallus. Right, yes.

But I have some time for you now, if you have questions. And he kind of smiles at that word, questions, this repeated theme between the two of you, always talking about questions. And he kind of, like, just gently puts a hand onto the clouds next to him, kind of indicating to come and sit with him well you've been asking me to ask the right questions and sometimes they give me the wrong answers that I want

so not the wrong answers just the answers you don't want to hear true so nature of questions what would you say is the right question you know what i know i don't know what you know i can't tell you that quill that's the point of being being the essence of knowledge itself i have all the answers but if i just tell them to you you'll never learn you have to ask the questions yourself. That's the point. It's why a telekis can't just give someone strength, they have to earn it. It's

why Sayana just can't make someone happy. She can teach them to share happiness with others. She can teach them to play music, but she can't give them the songs, if that makes sense. And it's the nature of what you know we are. Maybe a god could tell you the answers, but I can't. I'm not a titan. Titan. A term that Kallus uses, but I don't know if it's what exactly we are. It's an old term from an old world.

It used to mean the children of gods, the children of divine beings, but it was more primal than that. We're more like echoes. Echoes of a god. Ghosts of a god. Tiny pieces of Siasco, all broken up, scattered. Given life and strength so that she could create the world she envisioned. So that she could reach more people, teach more people. So, I guess that makes me an echo of an echo. No. You're immortal.

Your destiny has always been in your hands. Your choices have always been in your hands. That was one thing Siasco always wanted to be clear. What you have is... I don't... I don't give you your power, Quill. It's always yours. It's the nature of seeking knowledge that gives you the abilities you have.

Think of me as a conduit to what Siaska represented. I am a trail leading through the woods. You're walking that trail. But the destination is not the path. The destination is something else. But what of all the people that have been wrong all this time? So you're not a god, you're a titan.

It doesn't really matter, but... You've never made an effort to correct them. No, you're right, we haven't. Some of my brothers and sisters relish in being called a god. Who wouldn't? That's what our mother was. It's what we aspire to be. It's what Calus Starbane wants to be.

No. No, I know Calus better than the others. He doesn't want to be a god. But I'm not sure where his crusade will lead him. Madness, probably. But not a god. The way I see it is this. If calling me a god, if believing that knowledge is gained, if being called a god helps people reach the knowledge that they need, then I see no harm in that.

It may be wrong, but we all believe things that aren't quite true about ourselves, about the world. If that helps people, is that so wrong? No, I suppose not. That's for you to answer, not me. There's gonna... Something is coming, Kulik. I've been thinking very hard

and I believe... I believe that our mother can be brought back. But at a great cost. A great cost. Okay. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be around to give you answers. And I'm not sure that all of my brothers and sisters will agree with my plan.

Where will this take place? The halls of resplendence. The home of the Titans. And he kind of smiles. I did say to you, I worry about him. You should be wary, Quill.

It may be that it may be that the chosen, the faiths of Erois might not always be your ally. They may turn against you. They may turn against me. They may turn against the future of Erois. You should be prepared for that. you should be prepared for that but I think it's the only way that we can help defend against callous he's here somewhere hiding from us when when is this when are you planning on doing this? I don't know. I'm trying to convince the others. Syana, Killara, agree with me, but

some of the others are harder to convince. Zephira and Atelicus are headstrong. They still think that we can fight Kalos as we are. They are stronger than many of us. They've kept a lot of their power. Paladar too, but we can't last forever. They are stronger than many of us. They've kept a lot of their power. Palidor too, but...

We can't last forever. Do you remember what I told you to head to the Valley of Storms to secure weapons? Yes. Please keep doing that. The future is in mortal hands now. We have no more power to stand against, to manifest in the physical world. Perhaps Italicus and Zephira and Paladar still could, but the rest of us aren't strong enough. Which means that if Calus invades, if he finds a way to destroy the cradle or disrupt the cradle, you are our only hope.

All of you. Watch out for Italicus. Primal strength. The need to survive has always been at odds with science and magic and knowledge. My brother and I have always clashed.

I wonder who will come out the stronger eventually. He kind of like gives you one last nod. I will not be going immediately. I just wanted you to be aware and to hear my answers firsthand. I've never lied to you. I've never tried to keep things hidden from you.

I always wanted you and all of my followers to find the answers yourselves. The curse and boon of being a god of knowledge and magic. Yeah, I feel that sometimes. Well, thank you. That's relieved a lot of doubt in my mind one thing your friend Nova I worry

Calus is charismatic he is convincing he has brought thousands of worlds to his side with nothing but words I worry too. Find find whatever it is

that he is offering to her. Find another way. Calus can think of only one way to save the universe. As a student of knowledge you must find another.

I will make that my highest priority. He nods. And then begins to just... I think he nods and smiles and he just... into feathers that just float up and then the dream immediately begins to fade. And you go into a peaceful slumber.

For the first time in perhaps weeks, you have a peaceful night's sleep. Awesome. Oh, Quill. Awesome. Most important verb in the world. I feel sorry for you all. It's just so much like when your little burp shoulders of

shoulder when you're when you're a servant of the gods you've got a lot of responsibility Oh God too much knowledge too much rattling around in my old little Tim Tim Tim Tommy Tim brain picking a god of knowledge, that was a smart idea. Oh, damn. Right, tighten, damn. I mean, we could. Right. In the morning? Yeah. What do you want to do? Do you want to talk to your friend?

Does anybody else want to do anything? I want to talk to all my friends. Talk to all your friends. Who are they? Sorry, no, I'm joking. It was just there, I had to. It's low-hanging fruit, you just had to pick it up. Yeah, I just had to.

Right, yeah, what's the plan? In the morning, you are woken up, there is a general call, and you see land. The airship is basically making its way across the coast. You can see small settlements, like, pointing up, like a couple of farmers out on the kind of rural outskirts of Gisela. Um, it is a much more rocky terrain here.

It's very mountainous. Um, the South part of Gisela is very arid desert like, and then the North gets more climate, more temperate. Um, but the airship begins to bank and move towards Northern tip of the peninsula where you think the City of Glass is located.

And you see other skyships in the distance kind of like planes crossing paths that seem to be bearing trade goods and are making their way. Uriah kind of offers some little salute to tip of the cap to some of the other captains as they make their way past.

As you now begin to travel over land. Nice. Lucius is up early. All these days when we're close to Gisela, making sure everything's okay. Yeah. Looking out all the time.

Sure, mate. Checking on everybody. So are you just trying to like, are you overseeing people's work or are you just offering encouragement? Just very excited. Okay. Yeah, sure.

Make a charisma check for me. Just a straight up d20 plus charisma uh 15 15 yeah that's pretty good for a straight charisma check um yeah i think that your enthusiasm um filters out and the crew begin to get excited the the wolf packer you know commit to their work with extra efforts lancean is just bouncing around his Azimar energy, just burning bright as he's super excited to, you know, he keeps talking about like, you know, he's never seen a country like this. He's never traveled

outside of most of his homes. You know, he's amazed to get to see it. Howard kind of takes some quiet moments out on the front of the deck. Fayeth spends a lot of time with you, kind of like looking out on the countryside. And it is, it's different. You've been here before, but in brief um gisela is a country where the northern areas are quite pretty um there's a lot of forests kind of like these alpine pine forests that kind of cover these

hills um and nestled in between all these forests are quite little villages um up in the hills you can find little communities of goliaths and you know they're small to you as you're looking down but you can see them kind of like little sheep and goat farms and little pastures of of you know livestock and things like that it's quite quaint cool

I should be making your way so I hand it over to you guys if there is anything if not I will continue I'm just occasionally doing messenger ring statements like this is like almost going full circle we started off at a port in this area and now we're coming back

and we're going to fix Sentry and Sentry's going to be okay soon yes we just need to find the City of Glass that's all we need to do I guess now we're like close to land we're like yeah I think this would be the best time for you and Orion to start making, like, survival and perception checks, really.

Yeah. Anybody can work on this. So this is kind of something of if you want to really pinpoint where the City of Glass is, this can kind of be a team effort, right? Because you need people keeping an eye out for waypoints, landmarks that can help guide you, because it's not on any maps. You're literally going off research that you've found, physical

descriptions of places and you need to track that and you need to actually analyse the maps and figure out where you're going. So whoever wants to help can help Quill or Quill can just do it by himself. I will roll for a riot. Is there a way I can try and slow it down?

Slow what? Finding? So try and make it difficult for Quill Oh Yeah I mean what do you think? Like how would you just try and distract him Or like be like I don't think it's that way I think it's like over there Like try and like Sure I think that that would just impose disadvantage

On Quill's checks right? Like you're actively trying to subvert I mean she's only sabotaging herself, though. Yeah. At this point. Sam, wasn't it me who was the dark horse? No, but I think that considering what's been going on, like, that makes a lot of sense. Sabotaging yourself is top-tier D&D.

Yeah, I love it. So, yeah, so... So, Oriah and Quill sit down in the navigation, like, in the captain's quarters with all the maps on the ready room, sorry, with all the maps laid out. You've got your research books where you found about the City of Glass, and you're trying to match up, like, right, okay, in this book, it describes it being near several forests on hills.

Like, let's map those out and stuff like that. And then you're coming in and saying, like, but what if it means not forests? Like, what about over here? Like, you're trying to distract it. Okay. So you and Oriah are going to make this check at this advantage, basically. Okay. Just perception or survival.

Oh, they're both the same. So, yeah, I think you do perception, and then she'll do the survival. Oh, dear. That was cocked. Oh, very bad. Unbelievable. Okay. Ten.

Was that the highest one you got? Lowest. Okay. Ten. Was that the highest one you got? Lowest. Okay. Yeah, so. Second one would have been 25. Oh. Well, I think so. The century's there with you,

and the three of you are working together to try and track it down. But it is difficult, and I think that you probably spend an extra, let's say, three days. Basically having to just... Jeez, Venturi! Well, it would have taken you about a day, day and a half anyway, because what you're doing is the airship is having to basically go back and forward over the landscape. Checking these out.

And, like, mapping it out. Because the city's large, but it's it's a huge continent right it's like trying to find a city that's not on a map by just traveling across the landscape and even if you sail over it like you're trying to keep an eye out for it um and it just slows everything down like you put them in the wrong direction you start trailing off one way it's not there all right we'll go back from where we thought oh but what if we try this bit we didn't look here what if it's on bit? We didn't look here. What if it's on the coast? And then they start, like, following one of the coasts along.

And it takes an extra three days. But eventually, despite Sentry's best efforts, and maybe a little bit, like, disheartening to you, Quill, you're out on the bat, and you're, you know, the frustration's been getting to you. Sentry, with the greatest respect. But you see it. I'm the cartographer. I'm just trying to help. I'm just trying to help. Sentry with the greatest respect. But you see it. I'm the cartographer. I'm just

trying to help. I'm just trying to help. And I think you see it. And you only catch it because in the faint distance off on the port side, you catch a glint. Something that must be so large it's reflecting the sun. And you think,

City of Glass. It's something. And you check it and you araya spins the ship around you begin heading towards it and within hours like within about the next four or five hours you begin to see uh on the very tip like of the gisela peninsula they're basically like a stretch of land that stretches out where the sundering happened lots of the land crumbled away and it's left this kind of jagged peninsula of land at the very tip of it is a city a ruin of a city so i guess it could have looked like the glistening of the sea or something like that exactly and that's how you've missed it out before because it's right at the edge of this continent map yeah um whereas you'd be looking inland mainly and you see it's nestled it's kind of almost covered by forest as well,

because the city's broken into two bits. There is what appears to be an outer city, which is stone crumbling ruins, overgrown 500 years of sea air and ocean to erode it away. And it's just broken it down into this kind of crumbling ruin, amidst a kind of very swampy forest. And then in the middle, like a terrible scar throughout the ruin. Pristine, beautiful glass.

The whole city. Buildings. You think you can see tiny people when you peer through it with a spine glass. It's like a jagged scar yeah it's the best way to describe it ripped through the center of the city completely transformed into glass um ariah points out that landing and it's because it's right on the edge it's just cliff face around the outer walls it just turns into cliff face that goes 200 feet into the sea um araya points out this like well we can't land in that city it's far

too ruined we could easily damage the ship i don't want to get us too close to there but there is um there's some hill lands just outside of it i could i could bring the ship down in there uh okay how long travel i guess i'd know how long to travel from that place to... It'll be a couple of hours at best. But there's one thing as well, look how it's spotted. There appears to be some sort of man-made camp on the outskirts of the city ruins

itself. They're waving the colours of the Cezaran Commonwealth, the government here of Gisela. Hmm, okay. I guess it would be respectful to at least acknowledge it.

So they've definitely spotted us. I can see they've had lookouts, seen quite a few of their troops. We don't want to get mixed up with breaking any laws again. No, and we always make our way right to the top of every continent's government straight away, so may as well start from here.

Wow. Way to criticise my campaign. I mean, it's more that we just fuck shit up so much. Yeah, we fuck it up so quickly. Or just get arrested just for coming in. It's nice that we can just land here and they'll talk to us without us having to kill someone by accident.

Just break air laws. So, the, Ori brings the airship in about, about an hour and a half, two hours away from the city ruins because it's also thickly covered in forest as well, right?

She has to find, like, a big open space. And even that, it's trying to find somewhere that's not hilly and scattered with, like, rocky outcroppings and things like that.

It's quite difficult. But eventually she finds a small area to set the ship down. The landing struts are brought out and the ship comes to rest. And I'm guessing you all begin to make preparations to disembark and head down there. Two major questions is, do you want to bring any of the crew with you? Or are you just heading off on your own? Is anybody wanting to stay behind? What's the setup like are you sending is the party just going to go and explore by themselves or what do you

want to do well first i want to have a quick word with quill just quietly and be like um yeah because i thought we might have the conversation when we're getting here you can do that we can do that after the break as well. We can just kind of flashback. Flashback, yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah. We'll do that after the break, though. I guess the only thing I want to clear up with Quill is, like,

do you think this is a good idea to have this conversation before we do everything with Century? I worry, basically. I worry that it's going to impact on her. After. So you think we should... Do the City of Glass and then have a conversation about what you guys know. We're a team now.

I want to go into that place as a team. Yeah. Crikey. So, Captain, do you want to bring any of the crew or anything like that? I'll take on everyone's advice. What do we think in terms of is it worth protecting the ship and having the wolf pack here? Is it worth looking for resources?

I think you hear whispers amongst the wolf pack of like, I ain't going in those ruins. I'll come back made of glass. I'll get turned into a ghost. Like, they've got like the classic sailor superstition, right? If they're like, I've heard that anybody who steps foot in there

is sent to the underworld and they're tortured forever. But then some of the wolf pack are like, but what if there's treasure? We could go in there and become kings. And then like, there's all this kind of rumor and whisperers going around the crew. They're going to be difficult to control.

It's probably best we leave them here. I think here is probably the safest option for everyone, including the locals. We could be the lead scouts and see if it's safe first. What about Helios? We should take Helios. Helios? If should take Helios if he wants to do you feel that there is an eternal present?

there could be you have no idea do you genuinely believe that, Master Quillock? no if you wish my assistance I'm happy to bond with Century Guardian again, if that would please you. In my current form, there is little I can do to offer assistance.

I can rudimentarily scout for you, if you prefer. I am somewhat resistant to harm in this form. Or I can bond myself with Century Guardian again. How would you guys feel? I don't mind. Up to you. You want the fun cape again? You are all such masters of decision making. Fun cape.

Fun cape? Very well. Places a hand on Sentry's shoulder and vanishes. The golden mantle of fur and the flowing golden cape erupt behind her, so you can add the bond of... We don't need a light source for night time. I can't believe that he'd be okay being called a fun cape

is that where he is now he's just put all our shit in a bed and he's probably like I also think that like Eterna like that's what they do

they become things so to him it's not an insult but fun oh I mean the fun bit he's probably like I am not fun and then he does it

right but being called a cape he does okay very fun very glowy so you're gonna leave the crew and everybody here and then the five of you are gonna go in basically yeah all right well as you are gearing down the the ramps because you have like kind of gangplanks that lead down to the actual floor level um and then the airship is weighted there's actually a very kind of like a big, strong grapple that digs into the ground and keeps it locked in place. As you begin making your way down,

because it takes several hours to like land, disembark. On the edge of this grove, you see a force of about 10 soldiers, all dressed in, and I think Quill, you would see this before everybody else. They're wearing uniforms and armor, and you would see this before everybody else they're wearing uniforms and armor and you can see it's like breastplates and goods you know good weapons like they're not like peasants or anything like that but man it's like ragged self-repaired like

it looks like they've like kind of patched it all together or they've like fixed it up themselves um and they march in a disciplined order but you can tell this isn't like a battalion they're kind of moving like skirmishes they're kind of spread out in a thin line they have a mixture of weapons and skill sets and they're basically moving towards uh the ship not aggressively but in numbers um at the head of them you can see a half elven man with kind of dark skin kind of like um very rich caramel brown skin um pointed ears but not elven probably half elven at best um who has a bow in his hands quiver of arrows but isn't kind of like knocked arrows or anything like that um nice fine armor cape um and seems to be in command next to him is a very tall like seven

foot three um goliath woman um quite masculine in some ways but still very clearly presenting as as feminine or female um with a large kind of mace in her hands um and then the rest of them are all like a mixture of humans and dwarves and everything else kind of mixed in. And they're basically making their way. And as they get within kind of shouting range, the man in the cape and with a bow is like, Hello! Greetings! Hail!

Who am I addressing, sir? You're addressing Captain Lucius Viren Elowin Elanasto. Ah, Captain Lucius Viren Eluin Elanasto Ah, Captain Lucius Virion Eluin Elanasto I'm afraid that in the name of the Sansian Commonwealth I must ask you to get back on your very magnificent boat and fuck off And that's where we're going to take a break Yay!

Perfect I'll bring out this room No I'll throw out this room. No.