High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #60 | Under the Ash (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 10, 2020

With a prisoner in tow the team make their way to Volcanos to fix Sentry! 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. as you rise to a new day rise to something more good financial game introducing the new bemo eclipse rise visa card the credit card that rewards your good financial habits and helps you rise from bill payer to reward slayer rise to it with the bemo eclipse rise visa card and get rewarded for paying your credit card bill in full and on time each month. Terms and conditions apply. Click the banner or visit bmo.com slash rise to learn more. 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 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 Eul and Elowen 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. Last time, our party of adventurers began their journey towards Volcanos, a hidden research facility of the exalted domain of Solvin, and the current location of the Prime Guardian, a figure that has been calling out to Sentry to come and meet them for some greater purpose. to Sentry to come and meet them for some greater purpose. Along the way, however, a brief distraction came in the form of an old companion called Johan, a storm sorcerer of Mirskir, who arrived to find the party to inform them about some

mysterious visions he had had regarding the Valley of the Storms, and a growing power that has now made the entire valley inaccessible. Having spoken with Quill and finally updating him on information that should have been passed his way several months ago, Johan and Quill deduced that the Storm Chaser, their airship, as well as Aayla, as well as Aayla would be an integral part into re-entering the Valley of Storms when they decide to pursue that particular avenue of development. However, trouble was not far behind as a group of Starbane forces working for Kallus' commander, Zarkira, chased them with the intent to kill Johan. A battle aboard the storm chaser ensued,

but the villains were soon seen off with the party taking one of them prisoner as well as scrapping one of its uh one of their constructs for parts and that is pretty much where we left off johan departed the party uh the ship has been built to some sort of ritual or enchantment that will now enable ayayla to channel the power of the Valley of Storms into her rather than attacking the ship itself. And that is where we left off and where we in fact begin anew. As a new dawn emerges

as the Stormchaser sails across open waves heading towards the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago and the mountain called the Dawnbreaker, which is the current, the known name for the volcano called Volcanos from the past of Solven. What would all of you like to do, if anything?

How long do we have? The journey will take another two, three days probably to make with the airship. So you have time if there are things you want to do. If you just want to skip ahead, we can just skip ahead. Can I just roll for some enchantment research for project flock together? Yes. That was an arcana check, I believe. Sure.

So you can make an arcana check. Do I get any... Straight up arcana check. Project flock together. Sure. Birds of a feather. fly together yeah i like it it was a natural one plus seven is an eight okay oh my god so plus seven it is gonna take you more time so that is a week's worth of research or like effectively for the next kind of several days nova spends time

researching you try and look into various um rituals around flight and levitation magic you look into your own nature as an air ganassi trying to find some way to uh achieve what you want to but the going is quite hard um an airship is not the best place for magical research i'm probably quite distracted as well by things that have happened things that have been going on are playing on your mind um you don't make any progress sadly and you know that there is still this vital magical component that you're going to need and you don't quite know what it is you suspect it could be maybe elemental in nature but the exact nature it, you're not sure. In the next week, you can try again to continue that. So just mark down that in another week,

you can attempt again. Or if you have access to a wider library, you may not even need to make a roll. But just with the materials you have, you don't make any progress. Would my eye have recharged now? So it has been... I think it was like, it had been four days when we left.

Four and a half days, it's only been, no, it's five and a half days. You've got like, I think you've got like a day left to go. So you'll get it back before you arrive where you want to go. Sure. So if you want to roll the d6 now, but just remember you don't have those charges until... Um, okay. D2 plus one charges. Okay.

Okay. So half of a d4, right? Yes. So three... Halfved is one then? If it's a d2, it's one and two is one, and then three and four is two. So two plus one, you get three charges. Oh, cool, I get all three charges back. Wow, perfect. My Isle of Storm

is fully charged. Alelucius or Sentry, anything from you guys? I feel like we should quiz this. Do you have a prisoner? Currently locked in a storeroom I guess because you don't have a brig oh before we do that I want to say as a point of admin we decided at the end of the last stream

that we were going to use the gatling gun we're going to attach it to the ship but we're not going to do that yet because we've got other facilities but eventually we will attach it to the ship not to Sentry. Okay. Okay.

She's just going to have two heads. Yeah. Just dubs everywhere. Lasers. And then the war machine, like... Well, I mean, there's other things where, like, if you try and attach anything, like, not to her arms or hands,

it's going to be very ineffective in that, like, it's like me sewing an arm to someone's back and giving it a crossbow and saying now shoot the target, right? You'd be like I don't know how to control it whereas putting it on your arms and things like that that's where the flame lance works because it's just built into your arms but any kind of third appendages

it's going to start getting difficult to use What if you had more appendages? You would need to learn to use them and that will take some time It's a chest arm. It would take time. Third life. So Aayla wants to interrogate, or is Aayla just saying we should interrogate?

Aayla's saying we should, but also it's me, and I'm just going to say dumb shit. Yeah, but you're scary. You're scary. I'll be there. I'll be there to look mean and stuff. If you need me to ask any questions that it's not answering that you really want the answer to

that's what I can do. I can do. Okay. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, thanks. I'm not that dumb. I'm pretty dumb though so I shouldn't do the interrogation. I think I'd probably ask Quill

about his eye Century would ask Quill about his eye So when does your eye come back? Oh good point Not yet So did you have any charges left? It's not until I get into

So it'll take him another day So he's got like 24 hours before the eye recharges 24 hours? So when it's ready, can I borrow you? Yes. Yeah. What for? I just... I've been thinking a lot,

and there's things I want to know about Solvin and how things happened. I just want to know what happened when Starbane attacked. If you think of the question, then I can definitely give you the answer. Whatever you want to know. It's just, like Hesper told me,

just make sure you ask the right question. As long as you're okay with seeing things. Yes, absolutely. That you might not want to see. I will see whatever I need to as long as you get the answers you want. Thank you, Quill. Unless it's weird stuff. It's not going to be weird stuff. I hope.

You have 24 hours. Do you want to try and talk to the prisoner? Do you want to try and talk to the prisoner or do you want to try and talk to the crew? Do you want to mention anything? I think that after the battle, um, the crew are kind of busying themselves with work.

Um, quite a few of the more named NPCs, uh, are focused. Penny, there is kind of a, uh, at least for the first night after the battle,

um, there is quite a lot of celebration amongst the crew. There's quite a lot of drinking, a lot of cheering for Penny and Lansian who were arming the ballistas that shot down the enemy skiff. And generally, mood is good. You know, you've had some knockbacks, but I think having a small victory has helped,

maybe not boost morale, not boost loyalty, but it's boosted morale, certainly. Is Kamara off my back? No, and in effect, she's not on your back. She's not giving you a hard time. She's obeying orders. She's doing her job. But there is a tension there.

And you suspect it's because she knows that you've not been fully honest with her, that you've kept things hidden from her. But she's not bringing it up. She's not coming up to you and making accusations. She's like's not my place it's my job to do to do the work but you get the sense that she is upset that you are keeping things that she worries might harm her people so um but she's not going to certainly give you give you any direct hassle that's not her place to do that and it's not the way of her job and her pack to do that either um helios is uh he's a bit more around because a mark keeps forgetting about him but b

because he doesn't have a physical form there's not much he can do so he often just spends most of his time just wandering around um he has at least been chatting with people like howard and lancean he finds howard insufferable umansian. He finds Howard insufferable, and he finds Lansian also insufferable, but in different ways. And so he just kind of wanders around unsure. So if at any point you have anything you want to talk to him about or want him to do, you can push him to do that. Harold, this mysterious guardian figure

that Sentry saved in the City of Glass, um, basically sticks to herself and is either very closely behind Sentry or is often just sat down in the bottom of the ship away from other people trying to avoid contact. Um, probably volunteers to watch the prisoner quite a lot, um, just because nobody else has the time to do it, do it and she doesn't want to be in anybody's way. So where is the prisoner being held? In the bottom of the ship, in a cupboard. Right. Because you do not have a break. Do we also have a guest room? Or for all of these extra people

we're adding? Nope. You have officers' quarters, so everybody on the ship either has the big bunk, which is where all the wolf packs sleep. You have your officers' quarters, and then Lancey and Howard, all those guys, have separate quarters as well. It's like a bunk room, so they share that room.

That's what I mean. Where's, I guess, Harold? Harold doesn't have anywhere. And what about where's, like... Harold is also a guardian, so she just sits on the floor and powers down. And Helios doesn't need to sleep because he's an energy being. Oh, yeah. I mean, we just keep having those sorts of people and we're good, right?

You're fine. But yeah, you basically have... He's not in the privy. He's probably literally in a storeroom that is full of, like, probably Howard's taken out loads of, like, spices and bread and things like that. He's like, I guess he can go in the pantry. And there's, like, a lock on it like that. He's like, I guess he can go in the pantry. And there's like a lock on it so that it can be locked,

but there's not really any more secure means of securing him. The prisoner is tied up. So what do you guys want to do? On a side note, really quickly, would heal minor injury fix Sentry's eye? No, it would be greater. Major, yeah. And I think it would, yeah, no, yeah, yeah,

heal greater would work. Yeah. Because it was a destroyed eye. Yeah. Was it Grievous? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

So I guess, what are we doing with the prisoner? Hitting him in the face real hard. No, I don't think we should do that. Why? Because my nanny always used to say pummeling someone's face in doesn't give

the right answer, it gives them uh, what was it? They just say anything to make you stop? That's it, yes. They'll say anything. We need to be tactical with the mind. On the other hand, he did hurt us.

Oh, Quill, Quill, you're magical and cool. Do you have that thing that that woman did to us in that place where we really screwed up with the purge? Was it zone, zone, truth zone, truth zone, zone? Zone of truth. I mean, I was going to say, while I disagree with pummeling and getting them to say just things to make them stop, I could just make them tell the truth. And I don't have to use the eye to do it but then they might

just not answer at all if they're compelled to tell the truth they might just stop speaking they could be trained if they're starbane and they weren't remnant were they they had some technology on them so if they are Starbane, they're probably trained not to speak. I mean, they're probably trained to quicker

get rid of themselves so they don't let loose information. But, as long as they stay tied up and don't anger the wrong people

in the ship, then Very important. they won't end up killed. But, what are we going to do with the thing? The person? Man.

Oh, I guess find out what we can from them. They were in the Valley of Storms for some reason. Johan said that there was people in uniforms and lots of bad things happening. They were after him as well. They were after him. And they mentioned Zarkira as well. So we could at the very least try and find out what Zarkira is up to. Find out what they're doing in the Valley of Storms.

The storm's getting worse in the Valley of Storms. So maybe that's because of them. Maybe it's not. Probably not. Whatever. They also had something that... The crab thing. Yeah, that thing. Was absorbing lightning. And if they're doing something weird in the Valley of Storms, then...

They could be trying to power up mechanical things, making their own type of guardian. You know if someone resists the Surn of Truth, right? Yes. Yes, you do. You know if someone succeeds on the Saving Throat. So if it works, and there's some encouragement to make them speak,

they have to speak the truth, right? Yes, well, but I mean, they could skirt around the topic. They could cleverly... Not if they're beaten to doing it. If that's the path that we take, yes, sure. If they are trying to speak to stop the beatings from happening and all they can do is tell the truth, then sure, eventually they'll say exactly what we want them to hear not that i want to i was going

not that we need to go to that level but however we are against time here and if we are to send ayla and us through a storm wall with her absorbing all the lightning we need as much information as we can get about what's on the other side. There's another option. Yeah? We could lie and say that I'm with Starbane. He said he was going to send a spy, so I could be like, hey, are you the spy?

Secret sign. He did say he was going to send a spy, but I think it's pure chance that Johan found us. He knew who you were, though. Yeah, when we were fighting, he said he seemed to know who I was. I could try that angle. He probably has one of those doohickeys. He's like, yes.

I really want to know what it says. I hate it when you have report cards on you. No, but definitely not the spy. The teacher has your report card, and you're like, you want to know what the teacher says about you. Who cares? Let's just try our original method and if that doesn't work,

you don't have to be in the room. You could approach him later. Yeah, maybe you guys try first and I could be like, nice, nice, nice official person and sneak in in dark and be like, hey. So what's the plan?

So Quill's going to cast Zone of Truth and then Ayla's going to punch him until he talks? So I mean, I don't know if he does. I have punched him when we leave. So you can prepare it

the next day, though. But that's what I mean. Do we have to wait another day? Well, you'd have to wait eight hours. Well, we've had a long rest, you said. Yeah, we're starting as if it was a new day.

Yeah, he didn't prepare it for this day. I mean, there's no immediate threat, right? Like, you probably don't want to try and force yourself to rest for eight hours, prepare a load of new spells, and then you'll struggle to sleep.

You could just do it the next day. Sure. There's no, you know, it's open air, open ocean all around you. Or do you want to just try and do it as quickly as possible? Or we could do the Nova approach first, and then the R approach. Yeah, I could go in first and wait. And I can just be right outside.

Whatever you guys want to do. If you need to give a signal. I mean, either way, I'm probably going to prepare Zone of Truth for this and then unprepare it for whatever I take out of it for this place. Because I've put spells for this place. Yeah, you've got enough time. Okay, so do you want to try the Nova thing first

or are you going to wait for Quill next day? I'm going to screw this up so bad, everybody. What's the sign that you want to give if you want me to storm in and, like, punch him in the face I could messenger ring and just oh yeah that's true oh yeah we have telepathy

just let us know what's going on we'll be right outside I'll just hang out with Howard for as long as I can tolerate him talking at me what do I need to ask him you know people keep saying that about me they can't tolerate me I can just shut up if you like oh do I need to ask him? You know, people keep saying that about me. They can't tolerate me. I can just shut up if you like.

Oh, no, no, you're very lovely. I'm just really bad with talking. People keep telling me. Honestly, Harry. That's all right, you don't have to talk. Who says that? That big lion man. Oh, don't listen to him.

He's a grump. He doesn't like any of us. That's all right, then, as long as you're all lovely, as long as you don't wait on Howard and his stories, proceeds to tell you about some famous soup he once made. Sentry loves his stories.

Sentry is someone who loves his stories. Gladly tell Sentry. I love not so much the stories. Okay. I'm going to just stand over here

and eat some food that happens to be here. You're in the pantry. Well, before Nova goes in, I'll guidance her. Okay. Which is like a minute. It's a minute.

It's a default. So what are we going to do? I'm going to wait until like, I don't know, two in the morning, like really dark and quiet. Okay. Yeah.

So he thinks like, you know, I'm trying to sneak. Hang on. I have to do a thing. What is this, for someone else to determine whether this is fake sneaking?

No. I have to look up something. Oh, is Starbane going to peep in and be like, oh, hey, what are you doing? Are you sleeping yet? You sleep yet? Sleeping. Go to sleep. I've got stuff to tell you. I want to talk to you, boo.

What are you thinking about? I don't know, just think about destroying the cradle, you. Okay. Think about, you. Okay. Think about joining you. Okay, so two in the morning. I love and hate you. Two in the morning. Harold has been probably watching the door,

and as you approach, kind of awkwardly looks away. So I'm going to go invisible. Okay. So I'll communicate my plan to everyone, so I'm going to go invisible Okay I'll communicate my plan to everyone So I'm going to go invisible I'm pretending So invisible, open the door Go in

And then Sneak in And yeah, so I'm sneaking in invisible So, dead of night A few members of the crew Look out, patrolling the ship. Harold seems to be in a down-powered state. As you sneak in, key in your hand, Howard's given you. You unlock the door, creak it open, and you step inside.

You see the unclothed, because you stripped his armor off him, laying on the ground. Wait, is he naked? Can we say that we gave him clothes? I'm not talking to a naked dude. I didn't say he was naked, I just said he didn't have his arm around. Let's say we gave him some clothes. Potatoes. Lying on the ground.

You see he's lying on the ground. What do you do? Is he awake? Do you go up to him or do you do? Hey. No response. It's dark. You can barely see because it's so dim in here.

Can I nudge him with my foot? He's cold. He's killed himself. No, you look and you can see that blood has poured out of his ears. Oh, my God. Some sort of, you don't know what's happened. Oh, shit. He's dead

so communication ring look bad bad he said he said he said he said but how how i don't know if there's blood out of his ears throw the message ring okay technically it's still attuned to you so even if you take it off it's a reaction to a can I

can I spare the dying him just like just you try he's probably been dead about an hour I've touched I've touched

damn it I don't know what's going he's got blood ears everywhere I I'm just gonna run up and like yeah

I assumeald is also like appears like this looming shape you know she has returned to her form but there's a moment where you just see this looming feminine herald form with the scythe looming over like is everything alright he's dead

that's not possible nobody has been in here and she like goes down and looks at him I didn't do it I didn't do it. I didn't do it. It wasn't me. I found him. The rest of you all arrive as Nova and Harold. I think I'll try and get the doctor as well.

You have to wake her up. It's two in the morning. She's like, yes. Kick open the door. You kind of kick open the door. You can't kick open the door. You can't. Okay.

You knock. She opens the door, and you can see that she's basically, you know, she's quite, she's a half a woman. She's not, like, super muscly. She's actually quite lean. She's got, like, a very nice kind of, like, nightgown on, and is, like, bleary, like, her hair's all over the place. Like, quartermaster, is everything all right? Yes, sorry for waking you. Medical emergency.

The prisoner. Okay. Something has happened. All right, give me a second. Just let me put some clothes, and then I will come down. Okay, thank you. Okay. Something has happened. Alright, give me a second, just let me put some clothes and then I will come down. Okay, thank you. You know where he is? Yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, so you all arrive and then shortly after, Grey Lano appears.

She just basically has like a pair of trousers and a shirt on, basically. A small medical kit in her hand comes rushing in. And yeah, you see the same thing Nova did, you know, bringing in a light source, lying there, blood has leaked out of the ears, down the nose,

formed a pool behind his head. I didn't do this, I didn't do this, I was ready to do the thing, and talk to him, and... Raylano, like, kneels down and begins, like, basically performing an autopsy, like, kneels down and begins, like, basically performing an autopsy. Yeah. Like, an initial examination. Do you guys wait for her, or do you want to investigate yourselves?

Wait for her to do it. I mean, I guess we can, like, make our own medicine checks, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, you can. Who else was here? No, my medicine's gone. Harold is like, nobody else has been here.

I've been depowered. I was watching it until I had to take some momentary rest, but I've only been asleep for three hours or so. I was sat in front of the door. I wouldn't notice. Has anyone fed him anything? It doesn't look like he was... Howard did.

Howard gave him a small meal and some water. Grelano kind of is prodding his body like, small meal and some water. Grelano kind of is prodding his body like, I do not see any sign of poisons that I know of. It seems to be brain trauma, like an aneurysm

or something. Something has perhaps magically caused damage to his mind. Can I cast Detect Magic? Sure. Cast Detect Magic. Ritual casting it, I guess.

Yeah, ritual cast takes ten minutes. Yeah, you take ten minutes to do it. Detect Magic. I'll see... Duration you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a thing or... And you can see the school of magic as well. The school of magic.

And it penetrates most barriers. Like brains? Like brain. Make an arcana check for me, because this isn't... You're going to get some extra info, potentially. Eleven. Eleven? There was clearly...

There was some magical residue, but it's been over an hour now. It's mainly dissipated, so you can't really tell what it was but definitely there's something or something there was some magic spell or something that's affected him is it just on him there's nothing like in the door or anything like that just on him there's there's some magic there's some magic in his brain head that there's nothing else there's it's the maybe a spell maybe it's not being killed him. I mean, it sounds, yeah, that's exactly the type of thing he would do.

Could I make, like, an arcana check based on brain magic and just see if I potentially know of a spell that does that? Absolutely. You can take advantage because this is very much a test wheelhouse. Did you tell us that you've had dreams with him? Oh, that was awesome. Yes. You've mentioned that.

17. 17. 17. There are most certainly spells out there that can affect the mind in this way, that can basically... What we're looking at here is psychic damage. Something has attacked his psyche to the degree that his own mind has ruptured

and killed him. And then he's probably bled out over an hour. But it would have been almost instantaneous because he was obviously injured when you captured him. He was low on health anyway, so he basically bled out from this effect. With a 17, there is quite a powerful spell With a 17, there is quite a powerful spell that is more of a wizard's domain than a cleric's,

which allows communication via dreams. Oh, no. Oh, shit. But if the caster wishes, they can instead make the message monstrous and terrifying. And if they fail a saving throw, it basically prevents them getting any rest and deals damage. Do I know from that 17 how you're able to communicate with that person? Because with scrying you need a piece of material off them or whatever. You don't need it. It makes it easier.

Yeah, I was just wondering if there was... There is a similar effect with this spell, where if you have something of their person, it makes the spell easier to use. They'd probably have to be on the same plane of existence. Okay. Yeah, I'm just wondering. That's all I'm going to give you for a second.

That sounds Starbane-y, but then it's also like, if Starbane can do that with the dream spell, why doesn't he just do that to all I'm going to give you for a second. That sounds Starbane-y, but then it's also like, if Starbane can do that with the dream spell, why doesn't he just do that to all of us? Because he can't... Do you say it? Oh, well, no, I... Okay, so, yes, there is a spell that is...

And I don't mean you to panic, Nova, but it's similar... Well, it's the same... I'm panicking already. Okay, it's the same as the dreamicking already it's okay it's the same as the dream one that starbane uses to communicate with you he's he's able to manipulate it and that's what he did to this person he changed it so that it was damaging that it was hurtful it was enough to destroy his mind i'm going to preemptively put my hand over neville's mouth for her inevitable screams so

that's why i'm saying do not panic it's fine it's all fine i'm trying to work this delicately why not though yeah good question i don't know over the telepathy ring you hear he's gonna kill me in my dreams i'm to put the ring back on. He's going to blow my head up. She is. Yes. But he hasn't. For some reason, he hasn't.

Grey Lano, who has been here this whole time. Fine. Welcome to the club, pal. She is just like, I am aware that you have some materials. Did you say that he is... This is Calus Starbane, I'm assuming you are talking about, has been communicating with Nova? There is a lot of potential dangers with that.

I don't know much about it. Tell me! But to be able to do that sort of thing, yes, there's many unpleasant things that I've heard curses, powerful enchantments, that sort of thing yes, but he must need

a lot to be able to just target specific people, like with this person maybe he put something in his head what? maybe he put something in there that did the thing maybe it's not, maybe it could be he said something in his head. What? Maybe he put something in there that did the thing. Maybe it's not.

Maybe it could be. He said... Because they all had the little feather fall, boop boop. Okay. Boop. Yeah. So maybe they have another kind of technology

contingency plan in the noggin. In the head? In the noggin. In their head. In the noggin. In their head. Noggin means head. He said the last time we spoke there were reasons

why he could only communicate with me and you, Quill, but you were protected by Hesper. Rilano looks at what Ayla just said and it's like begins examining his head

as if searching for something. Like trying to see if there's like incisions or something. It's worth looking. Yeah. But that's one reason not to panic, is that if he can't communicate with me because of Hesper,

then he can't communicate with anyone else. And he's communicating with you, but he's not turning it into this damaging nightmare. He had a temper last time. He was angry at first. I mean... Don't look at me. For any things, any...

Oh, Grey Lano is like, I can't find anything. There are no incisions or implantations. I can't find anything, I'm sorry. Damn it. But if you are talking about who I believe you are talking about, then it makes sense that they perhaps may have enough medical advances that

they can regenerate bone and flesh that I would not be able to. That is beyond my capabilities to find. But then knowing Starbane, he has items from every soldier in his army that he can just pick up and destroy them when he needs, when their uses are met.

Harold probably chimes in and is like, it does sound something that his empire would do. Zarkira was especially known for brutal tactics during the war. It was constructed near the time, but... It doesn't necessarily just have to be him. Like, Zarkira could do it as well if they were part of Zarkira's forces. Yes.

I mean, do we know anything about Zarkira or her capabilities? Is dream control part of her thing? Does it matter? Well, no. What we need to do is protect Nova from any potential threat to her mind. Yes, we can probably figure out some kind of barrier to stop.

If I'm protected, then maybe we can find something that does the same for Nova. Sure. It's definitely possible. Exactly. Might require a bit of research, but easily done. I think we should make that a priority. Definitely. I don't want to die like those people.

Well, that's the priority. No one wants you to, Nova. And frankly, it's a compromise having him be able to do that to you. If, my apologies, Nova, and I know that this is perhaps a little beyond me, but you mentioned that you've been communicating with him before. Even if he was angry, he's not done this to you yet, yes? There is clearly some...

Whether he is trying to lure you to his side or something like that, it sounds like at least for the time being, as long as you maintain the status quo, then you will not end up like this. But you will need to maintain this visage, this visage that you are carrying up, this double agent. The good news is he sees worth in you. My worry is if we cut that tie, then he's kind of come looking for you himself.

Not through dreams, not trying to track you. I told you what he wants, though, and I can't... We talked about this, I can't we talked about this I can't I know the next time he speaks to me he's going to ask why I haven't told him given him intelligence and

I don't think he's a man with much patience I just mean that we need to be sure that cutting the tie between you and him is the right thing to do. Quill, with your past perception, more people are starting to come down towards the pantry. Obviously, the noise having woken them and things like that. We're going to go silent for a bit, Grey Lano.

Oh, okay. And then, messengering. Perhaps what's done here, go back to your rooms or go up to the captain's quarters or something let me deal with the body I can tell the crew that perhaps what we believe has happened

that he has killed himself or something to avoid interrogation much appreciated I think that is far better than especially with recent events captain any more of this callous talk circulating. So, as far as we are all concerned, clearly stop themselves from giving away any secrets. Of course.

I suggest you all head back and I will deal with the body. Thank you. Thank you. You can see that, obviously, being a medic, she's not squeamish about dealing with it. Well, yeah. I guess she was expecting saving someone's life rather than doing an autopsy. But, well.

What was I saying? What was I saying, Nova? About protecting my brain from exploding. Yes, yes. If we cut, making sure that it was protecting my brain from exploding. Yes, yes, yes. If we cut, making sure that it was the right thing to do. Yes. Starbane is definitely using you for something, and that is keeping you safe for now.

If you cut that tie, he knows that something is going on, obviously, and then that anger, he'll manifest that in, well, not by turning your dreams into nightmares. What? You've got Tiangong. But Tiangong's weak. Yeah, but if he has some of Tiangong and you have some of Tiangong, then there's something that he wants that you have. That's also probably...

And you have a connection to it. Yeah. So what, you're saying I should... Did I do it smart? You're saying I should dream him back and blow his brain up? No. How do you do that, though? That would be funny.

You'd have to know the spell. Yeah. Not be sure. If it was him in his dreams, that would be pretty... He'd be mad. It'd be so good. Yeah. I think counter-dreaming is a little way off.

I think we're underestimating Calus Derbain a little too much. We're very black and white with our assumptions, in the sense that cutting ties suggests that Callus suddenly is aware that Nova is trying to battle with her own mind of what right and wrong is. Callus is already far too aware of our dealings, what we're trying to achieve. He's not oblivious to our antics in the sky. Cutting ties is not going to be a sudden shock to him in any way. Also, Nova panics at the best of times, so she definitely has not been keeping it a secret.

No offense. I love you. No offense. You're not good under pressure. He probably knows already, so I think he's holding on for a reason. I kept the ILS secret from you long enough. I had to tell you about it. Touche. Anyway, what I mean is he clearly has a mission in communicating. Still him. He clearly has a mission in

communicating with Nova. A mission that he does want to complete. And if we take the initiative to cut that tie and cancel his mission, then he'll find another way to complete that mission. He'll just kill us the good old-fashioned way. The good old-fashioned way. Yeah. By sending assassins or bringing himself down.

I'd rather that than her, you, having to deal with your brain exploding. It does also mean that if he has this strong connection with you, then what's stopping him from just scrying? What's stopping him from just finding, knowing where we are at all times? What a great question, Gwil. That's what I'm saying,

is he already knows more than we probably even know. I assume he just knows everything. So we need to find the thing that is linking you. Might be Tiangong. It might not be. He apparently has some connection to me. He's able to scry on me, but I don't know how. So we need to just find a way to block that, if possible. Maybe it's a magic circle.

The key thing is, though, who acts first? Me or him? I don't think we should allow him to act at all. That's what I'm saying, though, is we could use this. Yeah, but I don't think that we're... We don't have a clue what we're doing. So... What do we do? How do we even...

All we're doing at the moment is playing an act and hoping that he believes it. We're not, though. Bad buddies. Bad buddies. Do you two share the same sleep schedule? No, they have their own rooms. Well, sleep schedule maybe, but... Bed buddies? Okay, bed buddy Quill, bed buddy Nova, okay?

Right. Every time she goes to sleep, you're there, okay? Sleeping as well. Oh. However, if she starts receiving psychic damage, we need to find a way for her to wake you up, and then you to eye the storm through into it. What if someone who doesn't really need to sleep, like Century...

I can watch her. It's your ability. You could watch her die. I don't want to watch anyone die. But utilising your power, you could... You saw. You saw the line before, did you not? Yes. But... It's the best thing we have right now

but we don't know that she's to prevent it dreaming about things to interject to get in there to stop it you could just slap me awake I'll give you a gentle

well pat not necessarily we don't know what would happen if someone pulls you out of this thing he's trapped you in but we know what happens

if we don't it's better than her staying in it is it didn't we know that well it's better than her staying in it and maybe dying like if there's a chance we can get out how do we know that she's dreaming though unless there's a visible sign that something bad's happening but if if if do you like flail in your dreams a lot do you know i don't know if her mind is tether you, like, flail in your dreams a lot, do you know? I don't know. If a mind is tethered to Starbane and we try and pull the mind back, that sounds dangerous to me.

I'm suggesting you utilise your Eye of the Storm to interject rather than pull her out. Can it do that? Can it? I don't know. You can do past, present, or future. You can find out exactly what he's doing in that moment, at least. What did you see last time?

Because you mind-blitzed me last time and saw a thread. Oh, that was, no, that was detect magic. That was when I first entered your room. You did it post, like, you said, what is your connection? When I went into the room, I did detect magic that was when i first entered you did you know you used the eye but you did it post like you said what is your connection because when i went into the room i did detect magic and i think i saw the thread after no no you saw you use that when you use oh yeah yeah yeah it was when you use

the eye um what did you see did it go back you saw you saw where he was right yes but what did you see like did you see him yeah did you see him this is a long time ago man you saw him it's fine if you don't remember because at the moment it's 2am you were woken up suddenly maybe Quill doesn't remember right away you guys haven't even finished technically the long rest

you guys this is in the middle of the night have a think on it Quill if you remember what he was doing at the time the night. Have a think on it, Quill. If you remember what he was doing at the time, did it seem like he could conjure that ability without any technology around him, or did he need a device to do it?

Have a think about it. I will. If that's the case, maybe you could utilize your scrying to find a way to... Get through to him. Get through to him or find someone that could destroy it for us like that. Maybe. Maybe communicate with the scry or just see through their eyes.

Just see through. And you go and see through their eyes. It's like you place like a sensor in the area. Right. A round person. But then with sending, he can communicate with people. But if Starbane is asleep while he's communicating through dreams, that would be the perfect time to cast Sending to Valor, I suppose.

When he's not watching over her, then again, he might just do it later. I don't know. There's opportunities, there's downsides, there's also cutting the ties completely and then we don't have to worry about it ever again until he comes down and shatters us. What about Counterspell or Dispel Magic or anything? I know those. I know those. Can I conduct them when I'm asleep? I don't know.

You wouldn't be able to. I'd say that Quill would know that you can't dispel magic or counterspell it. But with the 17, there are definitely ways to inhibit those kind of effects, any kind of mind control effect. A magic circle. I know if it's high level, right? Yeah, and a magic circle would do it. Magic circle would actually hedges out stuff like dreams.

Could you cast that every night? It lasts for... I don't have it prepared. How long does it last for? Four hours. I think it's like an hour. We could install, I don't know, a magic circle generator on the ship.

And then that's just Nova's room. Just a weird little magic sigil cage. But then... I think the word cage didn't go down while there no no safe safe zone safe safe from callous zone no it's okay i understand faraday cages are pretty cool it lasts an hour yeah anyway why don't we continue on our journey first a century, deal with this. We need to do some research, regardless. Scoop up a little piece of Tiangong on the way back from that. Then find a place that has real good libraries.

Eh? You like libraries? Eh? Real good libraries and real good people to ask these questions of about installing the magical bubble. There is a spell that you could know now. This is why I'm telling you about it with your arcana check. Okay. It's called non-detection. Costs 25 GP of diamond dust but for 8 hours, the

duration you hide a target that you touch from divination magic. The target can be a willing creature or a place or an object no larger than 10 feet in dimensions. The target can't be targeted by any divination magic or perceived through magical scrying senses. What? What level spell is that?

Interestingly, though, dream is an illusion spell. Oh. So ignore me. It's an illusion. I am... Well, yeah, I think it's... I feel a bit sick, everybody. I'm going to...

Lone time. Don't want to do bed buddies then. I just need to go, and then I'll just stumble. And as you know, I've just gone pale, like really pale blue, and I'm just leaving. I'm just going back to my bed. That's the thing. I would ask Nova about how to deal with this, but she just leaving. I'm just going back to my bed. That's the thing. I would ask Nova about how to deal with this,

but she just left. I think we need to go somewhere bigger that has people that know about these kind of things. Yeah. If we just say, we're looking for this space on our ship that's nice and protected. We don't need to go into details.

No, we don't, no. But we need someone who can install that. So where is the next best place to go to? Starbane. Let's continue to Vulcanos. Are you asking me as a DM where that place is? Do you want to make a roll? You're asking the group, okay. I say we don't go off course because then he would be suspect that something's happening. Either way we need to look into ways to block it maybe there's something we can make for Nova to wear that just protects her block it maybe there's something we can make

for Nova to wear that just protects her from it maybe maybe we try and install a magic circle thing maybe

there's other spells also that's just useful in general if we had an area in the ship where we could be safe from that kind of stuff the captain's quarters

I'm resistant to magic I could just stand over her and and just block just catch it I'm resistant to magic. I could just stand over her. And just... Block Kira's dreams. Just catch it. Yeah, I could dream catch her. Catch the dreams. Catch the dreams.

I wish that worked. Me too. What if... This is very Nova right now, but augmenting the Ethereum core that powers the ship to project magic in that way. Those all sound like really cool ideas that you're going to need to spend time researching. Yeah, there's stuff we've got to do.

Nova's safe right now. She doesn't feel it clearly, but she is. She's not going to sleep now, you realise that? I know, I know. So my next question is, what happens? Nova, do you try and sleep? When I go to my room, can I just sit on my bed and cuddle Tiangong? Yeah.

And can I... I guess I assume that Tiangong kind of hears and vaguely knows. And, like, can I just say to Tiangong, like, can you help me you sit in your room on a new bed and there are those horrible memories of the ils explosion because the wood is now different in places the floor is different in places and my room's empty as well it's empty it's kind of haunting emptiness and you hold the blade kind of close, awkwardly clutching it like a child with a toy,

kind of pleading this hope. Tiangong isn't strong enough to fully communicate back, but you get a sense of... not yet. But with more power, maybe. So I think after that, Nova would just sit up

for as long as she can until she eventually just falls asleep. I mean, yeah, you could just not go to sleep tonight. Like, you can go, like, 24 hours without really passing out. I think just in sort of, like, human, erganassy terms, I would just, like, you know out I think just in sort of like human Ergonassi terms I would just like

you know I'd just try try just but I would probably eventually fall asleep especially because we've just had a fight and everything

so it's like yeah she's not the most stamina don't you fucking roll those dice I think he's busy what's everyone else doing

he's busy he's busy What's everyone else doing? He's busy He's a busy boy He's already killed one person Is your room empty? Because it blew out, right? It would have been a good start Where's the project workshop going on? Probably in the

Engine room I'm assuming everybody else just takes a long rest. Pretty much, yeah. I might sit with Herald for the night. Just hang out. Yeah, you sit and now that there's no prison to guard, she actually spends most of her time on the top deck now that it's empty, looking out on the clouds and things like that.

Do you say anything or do you just sit with her? I think I might just sit quietly with her, just let her know she's not alone. There's not many... She doesn't say anything. You get a sense and a change in her demeanour that the company is appreciated. But there's still this just...

You can feel it flowing off of her, this lingering guilt, this heart-wrenching self-loathing for what she's done, and it's only this kind of vow to help you that's kind of keeping her together. And so you coming up and sitting with her offers a moment of solace, if nothing else. But you just kind of both watch as the clouds turn dark, or already are, but the sun begins to slowly rise as you enjoy those quiet moments. Anything from anyone else?

If not, you wake up the next day. Spells are prepared as you need them to be. I'm guessing you don't need Zone of Truth now. No. So, yeah. You wake up the next day. You have another day or so before you arrive up the next day you have another day or so

before you arrive at Volcanos so if Sentry you want to quill to use the eye now is the time what's the charge now it is charged now

per three charges okay go ahead yeah I'll just knock on your door what time is it?

What is time? It's whenever you want it to be. Quill. Century. Century. Hello. Are you awake? I mean, it's like one o'clock.

Okay, cool. It's now. Okay. My day. Yeah. What the hell, dude? You said you could be whatever time I wanted to be.

I thought I'd just cancel it. Half the day? That doesn't mean that you two can't go back and say like, oh yeah, this morning I did this

if there was something super important you wanted to do. But I'm guessing there's not. Anyway, yes. Yes, I am, yeah. Should we do the I thing? I mean... Yes, yes.

Well, where do you need me to be? What do you need me to say? What's the question for? I want to know what happened to the royal family when Starbane attacked. And that was in Solvin? That was in Solvin, yeah. Is Volcanos...

I mean, Volcanos is I guess linked to that I mean I could ask it if we can see it then I can ask it of Volcanos to try and find out what happened Volcanos wasn't I mean the Volcanos was a separate place to the Royal Palace it wasn't the city of Solvin

Solvin was a city itself and then Volcanos was separate to it I ask it of things I I can see, right? I mean, Sentry's right there. But would it give me information based on Sentry? I mean, you don't know. You've not really tried it with something that you don't have a direct line of connection to.

Normally it has to be a creature, a location, or an object. I guess Sentry is massively tied to it. You've got a shield, don't you? Yeah, I've got my shield. Remember, you can also see potentially forward and backward as well. Yeah, but that's the thing. Okay, anyway. At least that's how I think it works.

You obviously have a tie to that family. Maybe that's enough. Maybe that will give me the information I need. Even though you didn't really see it yourself, it's the thread that I would need to get to the answer. You need an anchor point. You need something to use as something that connects to the person you're asking about, the place you're asking about, or the object you're asking about.

So he could ask a question about you and, like, your connection to the royal family, but it would need to be framed in that way. Like, something related to your connection. If Century carries something that was given to her by one of the royal family, that could be an object. Like, you could use that as a focal point, and then that could help him connect to them.

But he's going to need something like that. Okay, let's forge the question first. Okay. When was the last time you saw them? When Starbane attacked, I saw the princess and then that was it. I just remember letting go of her and

screaming and that was it and and then out of sight out of sight a rowis i'm here right okay i mean maybe we could use that as the point to figure out what happened after that point after that but maybe they kept going for long after that and i won't be able to see beyond that. We could try. If I don't get the answer, if you frame the question correctly and I don't get an answer from it, we could just keep trying.

Well, we could. We could keep trying. What about the sword, Her Majesty's Rose? I've got that, but that was Rook's. I've got my axe and my shield. They were given to me. I mean, I think we've got you. That's as much of a link as your axe and shield.

True. But we could just try to ask the question. Okay. You want to know what happened to the royal family after you shut down? Or during the attack. Um. Maybe. That might just give me what you've already seen.

Or after I left, perhaps. Maybe that would be the way of phrasing it. It might not give the full extent of their story. I just need a little bit. Just, all I hear is screams. All I think about is a scared girl. And I miss them. I just want to know.

I just want to know beyond that. If they carried on, if they disappeared. I don't know. I just, before all this happens, in case I don't make it, in case something goes wrong, I just need to know. I just, I need a little bit more. Do you want to find out about the princess specifically? Yes.

Okay. Okay. So we could ask simply what happened to the princess. What was her name? I just called her Petal. That's enough. If that's tied to you, then it should recognise it. We could be frank with the question. We could just ask how she

went and I would see that. Feel free, if you guys want to chip in on out of character advice as well for things to frame the question. Oh, I don't want to. That's fine. I don't mind. Otherwise

it's just going to be a Tom and Rhiannon conversation for like... I don't mind. That's fine. Okay. It's your thing. I was thinking it might be good to use the axe or the shield that was given to her by the family. Yeah, rather than that.

Rather than her. Because they're... The reason that, like, yeah, you guys can't... Was the axe and shield made, given to her from the ship family, though? Or just some... Yeah, ceremonial. Ah, okay. Queen Astoria physically gave her the axe and shield made, given to her from the ship family though? Yeah, ceremonial. Queen Astoria physically gave her the axe.

Okay. What happened to the princess after she lost sight of her? Yeah, or you let go. In the Starbane attack? After we let go, yeah. We could go with that. After you let go, what

became of Petal? Yeah. And are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it's you who's seeing this. It's not me. This is you. And you can say no. If there's something you don't want to see, then... I have made peace with the burden of knowledge. And for you, I would carry that weight a hundred times over. I'd do the same for you, Quill. I just wish you could see it with me.

This is just going to be a description. Oh, it's better than the questions I've got in my head. It's better than not knowing. Okay. In that case, I'll look at Sentry and say, what happened to Petal after Sentry let go? Okay. Does work.

Cool. You see, and I'm just going to read it out. I was thinking I was going to whisper some stuff to Tom, but it's just easier if I read it out loud. I'm pretty much speaking as you speak to me anyway. I figured you would be. So the Eye of the Storm clouds and mists, as it always does,

and you see that flash of lightning and thunder, and then the mist begins roiling backwards as you see history and time in a flash of a moment. Speeds away and you see a beautiful city. White stone, crystal glass under attack. Ships of black crystal descend upon it. Magic fires from the sky, from the ground.

The defensive towers and battalions strike back. Guardians, scores of them, hundreds, legions, clash with troopers of all different shapes and sizes and species you've not seen before. As they clash against each other across these beautiful flower fields that seem to extend for miles. Just trampled underfoot. Your vision almost focuses in on these tiny details, not quite taking in the full picture. But then it rushes forward into a palace. forward into a palace. And you see Sentry holding hands with a young girl dressed in finery, running behind a very regal-looking woman

in a beautiful dress, and she has a long, elegant wand in one hand and a sword in the other. A husband at her side, clad in full eldritch armor, kind of glowing with runes and glyphs and two great gauntlets on his hands as they rush through the corridors you see rook a guardian you have seen before carrying her majesty's rose beside the queen and another guardian carrying a shield as well as another similar sword at its side, but rushing together ahead.

And then you feel everything change. You can sense Artelicus's rage and power as his spear strikes Eros's continent and the world itself is broken and shattered. Everything twists and turns as this ripple of power rips through the palace and with it comes rushing waters and wind agonizing power just ripples through you see century's hands just gripping with this young girls as eventually they are pulled apart as a wave smashes into them the queen grabs the girl a sentry is being pulled away and huddles together

with the husband and you see her in a last kind of takes one big gulp of breath as this water consumes the palace driving it beneath the waves. The three of them kind of clutch together. She forces the air out of her mouth and she speaks a spell. Teleport. She slams the start of the one down. A circle appears beneath the three of them and they

vanish away. I don't follow them. You don't follow them. So I guess I was just word gushing while I was watching that. I guess it happens like an instant for me, doesn't it? So that. I couldn't follow to see where they went. They teleported somewhere, but they didn't get hit by the wave.

They just didn't take you with them. They left. They escaped. I've just got no idea where, or where they are now. That's okay. That's okay. Thank you. That's better than knowing what I thought I knew. Thank you, Quill. That's OK. Thank you. That's better than knowing what I thought I knew. Thank you, Quill. That's... It's not a complete answer, and I'm sorry about that, but...

The one thing with The Eye of the Storm is you know that there's definitely more to that story. Yeah. But the question you asked, that's the answer. That's perfectly OK. That's... I'm happy's I'm happy with that good well anytime if we can concoct a better

question or find some way to determine where they went or I don't know we can just follow the trail thank you Quill I'm going to give Quill a hug thank you so much does it hurt you're like huge compared to me I've got bird bones give Quill a hug. Thank you so much. Does it hurt?

You're like huge compared to me. I've got bird bones. I'm careful. Hollow bones. Metal bits to pinch. Yeah. The laser goes off. Where are you? So unless there is anything else, the next morning

you see, look out, calls your attention up on deck as you see in the distance it looks like a thin trail of mountains leading from a few scattered islands that seem to get grow more dense and become more populated the further away they get. But at the very end of this kind of trail of mountains is this enormous volcano. And it is active. Oh. Smoke is spewing up into the air.

The smoke is actually becoming, you're not quite close enough where it's becoming a problem, but Uriah is having to keep the ship above a certain level and you can see that the ash is still hot. The airship will

not be able to survive long in the area around the volcano. It can probably drop you off. It's a hot drop. It's a hot drop. Uriah is like, I can get you close to the base of the volcano it can probably drop you off there's a hot drop it's a hot drop hot drop um ariah is like i can get you close to the base of the volcano and century you having you know connected with herald and lucius technically as well um you know that the path to this facility where the prime is being housed is there is somewhere at the base of the volcano underwater there is a secret entrance that is

marked by the royal crest of solvent um and you'll be able to open it only a guardian a member of the royal family can open it okay so you can open it but you need to find it and it's underwater down there somewhere right uh ariah is like i can drop the ship momentarily but if we if we dawdle it will affect the sails. So you will need to think of some way for you to signal me to come and pick you up as well. Unless you want to do sending? Messengering is probably the best way. It's most likely going to be one of those.

All right. Quick, give me mine, too. Okay, so on a tune from it. There's a limit on how far that goes, isn't there? It's like five miles. Don't go away more than five miles from us. If I do, I will make sure that I come back every day to make sure that you have an opportunity to send it.

But if this cloud gets worse, I might have to momentarily back away. Okay. What about land? Try and check in whenever you can. But we can't always do sending. Yes. Can you land at all? Maybe to go under the yet the ash

falls mr quillick it does uh i can drop you off but then i will need to try and very quickly ascent otherwise i mean i could stay down there for longer but the longer we're down there the higher risk that this cloud is going to damage the sky sails it's like embers from a fire and the prime's in there either way i mean we're going to be under there. There's no reason for you to be floating around damaging the ship anymore. My thoughts exactly. Okay.

Helios will put his hand, well, kind of not touch you because he can't, but he kind of is like, do you require my assistance once again? I know that this is important and you have been a fair and stalwart champion. I would be honoured to assist you if I can. Thank you, Helios. Yeah, I'll accept.

Of course. Thank you. He nods his head, and you see the kind of shimmering swirl of energy as he forms the golden mantle around Sentry. Harold follows closely behind, like, nods. She will be coming with you as well so if you have any preparations now is the best time to make them

I'm going to go to the wolf pack and ask if any of them have any swimming gear don't do a lot of swimming unfortunately we kind of don't like water at the best of times really has no one got anything my size? Anything like that?

Howard, have you got anything? Didn't bring my trunks, Captain, I'm sorry. Didn't expect me going on any swims. Normally, I just get in my buff anyway. Yeah, it's cold. Yeah. I mean, that checks out really, doesn't it? I actually might have something for you.

I've got the Coral Song Trident. The thing that... It makes fish. It makes fish. I think Lucius is looking for underwear. I mean... Just protection from the cold ocean. Oh, well, you don't need to worry about that too much, Captain.

This is very temperate waters around here. The volcano, the geothermic around these waters heats the water. And if anything, just be careful that it doesn't get too hot when you get closer to the base. Well, I'm prepared for that. I was just wondering if you wanted to be in charge of it. Tridents, one arm, not really my thing. I won't be able to do much using it.

So if you want it, make some doorposts. Sure, I'm just unattuned from a messenger, eh? Okay, sure. So if you want it, make some doorposts. I'm just unattuned from a messenger, eh? Okay. Sure. So Lucius will wield the Coral Song Trident. I guess we've got enough time for him. Aquaman. You've got my gauntlet.

You can say. I will say, as Kim and not as Nova, there was a conversation I had with Mark earlier this week. There is one person in this party who would benefit from having a trident because a longsword works with disadvantage underwater. Sentry. Because Aayla has a swimming speed

so she can fight fine underwater. But apparently Sentry will be at disadvantage underwater because of the longsword, but a trident, she can achieve with a trident. What about her axe? Axe is the same as a longsword. I was going to say, if it wasn't, that's wild. It's too big and too heavy.

Because I was asking about attuning Tiangong to it, and then Mark pointed out that... So if you want to make some fish, dolphin, crabs, things like that, that's what the trident does. That's Kim saying that, not Nova. Nova knows shit. Amazing. So, enjoy. Thank you. I think you'd be

best with it. I think you're right. I'm the worst. right I burnt mid-max yes make sure you add it make sure you remove it I have I mean I sure

so I gave a magic person a magic trident I still have the short sword from okay because you borrowed that didn't you actually yeah

because you you used that the last time you went on the water yeah I'll just un-tune yeah I'll just un-tune it's cool no you can stay attuned to the went underwater. Yeah, I was on a tune. Yeah, I was on a tune.

It's cool. No, you can stay attuned to Her Majesty's Rose. You can just use a short sword. It's just a normal short sword, I think. Nice. All right. Yeah, you can just use that. Nice. And I think you've got the plus one dagger.

I've got a plus one dagger. You can have it if you want. I could give it to Sentry. You can still use your shield with a dagger. You can still use the shield. I could give it to you if you want it. Yeah. Do you want a plus one dagger?

I'll un-equip for mine little holes in the shield just like shanking holes so unless you have anything else the ship will literally hot drop you halo style down into the water and then quickly assail there's two things

firstly can I sneak up to Araya and just quickly say to her, Araya? Yes, Nova. If something happens to me, can you give these to the relevant people and I just hand her a bundle of letters and then I just run away? Of course. She just tucks them into her shirt straight into the the bra fair yeah it's probably like a gold noise as well yeah yeah that's where she keeps her gold yeah uh

i think that that's oh yeah uh yeah okay and then yeah when we about to go like or jump or whatever i'll go okay line up everybody. And you can tell Nova's being really super perky, but a bit too... Okay. She's faking. Lined up. Salute. Okay. Everybody ready? I got a spell for you guys. Okay. Is it the water-breathing one?

Maybe. And I boop you with the sword with Tiangong, and I boop you with Tiangong. And I boop you with Tiangong Tiangong. And I boop you with Tiangong. She doesn't need it. And I boop you with Tiangong. I'm good. I'm good. I need to breathe underwater. Yeah, and everyone who's coming with us,

basically, I cast Water Breathing, which means... I think it's just Qualusius and you, really, that need it. No, she doesn't need it. Harold's a guardian. Just don't breathe. I'm going to boop it on me anyway, because I can do the... She can hold her breath, but Water Breathing lets her breathe normally. It's still worth her doing it.

It's 24 hours, so you can breathe normally. Okay. When the airship dips down, you can see this thick plume of just thick black ashes spewing out of this active volcano. And Quill, as you get closer, you're pretty sure you can see little creatures

made of flame and magma on the lip of the crater, kind of trying to pull themselves free, like like kind of trying to pour out of it, like little fire elementals and mephits and things like that. Araya's like, nope, we're not dealing with that.

Aims the ship down. As it dips down, the air, like the heat in the air just shoots up. It becomes arid and dry you kind of have to like shield your mouth and your eyes as this ash is just being blown everywhere i mean it's not boiling is it what's that the water's not boiling it's not boiling but it's gonna be warm yeah um but as the ash is hitting the sky sails you can hear like that faint sizzling sound. It's like this ash itself is so hot it's damaging the wood and the sails

itself. It dips in low. You're basically all, you jump off, land in very, very warm water, like a hot bath basically. And then the ship just immediately sails up beyond into the clouds out of reach.

And that's where we're going to take the break. And you know what? We should just stay here. A nice hot bath. That sounds great for those four muscles. Four moussals. Nice. Awesome. We'll raid the Vulcanos in a little bit. Well, that was a lot more of a

RP-heavy opening session. I was expecting to get to this bit a lot faster, and then that happened he's made maps and we're just like you can always rely on us to delay your plans with some hardcore RP well that's just something I expected you to interrogate

the prisoner before the night time but was it a timed thing? we're not smart Mark just saying I just expected it it's not about you being smart. I just didn't expect it.