High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #64 | A Hawk's Dawn Holiday (Part 1)
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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 Adkalad, the Cleric Wizard.
I am Chris Trott.
I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastro.
And I am a High Elf Sorcerer.
Hi, I'm Rhiannon.
I'm playing Sentry.
I am a Guardian Paladin.
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.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to High Rollers.
The party have travelled with Sentry into the heart of Volcanos, an ancient volcano that hid a Solvin research facility.
Here they found the Prime, the first guardian, and discovered the secret of the Prime Matrix,
an ancient relic from the realm of the true gods. As Root Prime was no longer able to function or leave the facility,
Sentry was asked to undergo a test to see if she was worthy to carry the Prime Matrix,
and all of you accompanied her. Inside the Matrix, you fought against a creature that
made your nightmares reality, and eventually,
with Sentry's encouragement and your own willpower,
you all managed to succeed
in defeating it, and Sentry ascended
to become Sentinel Prime.
But there was no time to celebrate
as the volcano furiously
erupted, and a desperate escape
back through the facility, exhausted
and injured, nearly turned fatal
for Nova. But you escaped,
returned to your airship, the Storm Chaser,
and now set sail to locate
another piece of Nova's
eternal weapon, Tiangong.
Having rested for the night, many of
you still injured or exhausted
from the trials of escaping the facility,
Quill
encounters a strange dream.
Oh my god. There we go. Just as a reminder for everybody Quill encounters a strange dream.
Oh my god.
There we go. Just as a reminder for everybody,
us playing remotely, this is a
temporary measure. We will be back
to our studio for High Rollers
as soon as we can be. This is a temporary
measure. Thank you for supporting us and
sticking with us as we try this out so we
can keep playing D&D and you guys can keep watching
us play D&D. It will be just like before.
Sort of.
Yeah.
Right. Tom, Quilek,
Adkalar. Yes.
You find yourself in
Rosehall, a small
village you encountered
at the very beginnings of your
adventures, effectively.
You stand in a small watchtower looking out over the rolling green hills
and the still waters of the Rosewater Lake
when you hear a very familiar young female voice from behind you.
Quill! Quill!
And as you turn, you see Vala,
the young girl that you had basically rescued when you first started your adventures,
and was later revealed to be the daughter of Calus Starbane and of Siaska as well.
Yeah.
And she stands before you.
She looks slightly different.
She is dressed much more nobly, much more regally.
She has, like, a long gown with, with like a trailing kind of like purple robe.
Her hair is being cleaned and properly kind of styled.
It has like small hair clips of a purple gemstone in it.
But she looks facially no different.
Same bright violet eyes kind of looking at you.
And she, as she looks at you, she just says,
Quill, I don't have much time.
Can you hear me? Is this working?
I can hear you. Is it safe?
I'm sure this is safe.
Yes, yes, it is.
I'm using...
There's a machine that my father, I guess, uses to replicate this spell.
But it's safe. There's nobody around. I made sure of it.
Okay, okay. As long as we can keep talking.
Why are you contacting me now?
This is the first time I've been able to get to the machine
without anybody noticing.
I think they're finally starting to accept that I'm not going to go anywhere,
that I'm not going to cause trouble.
And I wanted to make sure that you were all okay.
Calus said that you were, i don't trust his i don't trust him like i wanted to make sure that you're all all right we're okay we're gathering a crew we've got an airship we're
building a resistance we're trying to save you okay that okay good not just me though there's i mean i there's so much going on i'm sure there's
so many questions but before anything there might be some time but before anything and she kind of
waves her hand and you see the watchtower around you begins to shift and change um and now you find
yourself in a large crystalline black crystalline chamber very similar to the Starbane ships you've
been on before.
This one is not a particularly
large chamber, but in the middle
there is a ring of symbols
like these glowing arcane
symbols. You can see
that there are panels with
lit up crystals
and lit up glass panels
and Valor is standing there
and she points down at the
symbol of circles like, Quill,
this spell that I'm using
to contact you, you'll be able to
remember this crystal
clear, like perfectly. You need
to memorize these symbols, Quill.
This is the
teleportation circle.
It leads to his circle. It leads
to his flagship. It leads...
He calls it the Tassadar.
So if we build it ourselves...
Oh, snap!
If you can find...
It's a spell. I think you...
I don't know if you can learn it, but somebody will know it.
You just have to use
these sequence of
symbols, and then you can come here
please come and get me, I want to come back
to Erois
we want you back, we will do this, we absolutely will
thank you
and she seems relieved, like she kind of
lets her like a deep breath out of her system
like, you'll be able to remember
the sequence but as soon as you wake up
you have to write these down, okay
this is the exact sequence um okay he won't know he won't know that you know this okay okay i'll
do this i will okay thank you it's it's heavily guarded so i i can try if you can find a way to
let me know when you're coming i'll try and find ways that I can keep guards away or something.
Yes, yes, I will.
We'll have to prepare.
When do you want this?
Do you want us to come as soon as possible?
She kind of looked like there's a moment where she's like,
well, I know that there's probably a load of stuff going on,
but it's not that I'm I'm not unsafe here.
I think I'm OK, but I just want to
I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to
be part of this. And she kind of gestures
around at the kind of interior
of the ship itself.
Okay. I don't want to just
I don't want to be his
his pawn or whatever
he wants from me. I don't know.
I understand.
I obviously appreciate that. I understand.
We obviously appreciate that.
We'll do whatever we can and try to be there as soon as possible,
but I will let you know when we do find a way to use this circle.
Okay, thank you, Quill.
We've got some time.
Is there anything you need to know, anything I can try and find out?
Have you heard any of his plans, any idea of his intentions no no he doesn't he doesn't it's not that he doesn't trust me it's just that he
it's strange he's not cruel he's not mean or anything like that if anything he's
he's not mean or anything like that if anything he's gentle but he he won't tell me anything he just tells me that when this is all over he can finally be at peace and we can you know he can
teach me things and he'll show me the galaxy he'll show me the universe that's all he keeps saying is
that once this is all over once this hadarar creature... I just know that that's...
All he wants to do is
destroy it.
He must know of your connection to us still.
He would know you're
trying to contact us.
I don't think he'll give too much away.
What about...
What about Maximilian?
He may be an ally.
I did scry on him for a bit and I saw you talking to him. I know some Maximilian? He may be an ally. I did scry on him for a bit,
and I saw you talking to him.
I know Sir Maximilian, yes.
Yeah, he's good.
He's kind.
He's loyal to my father faultlessly.
If it came down to a decision
between helping me or helping him,
I still feel that Max would choose his emperor.
But he does look out for me and he he treats me kindly okay well at least you're safe but i will do whatever we can to to get to
you as soon as we as we possibly can okay i know that my powers are getting stronger as well i can
do things that i couldn't do before. He's taught me a lot about magic
and the nature of the universe, I guess. And every time I learn more, I just, I dunno,
I there's like, I knew how to use these machines and I wouldn't have known that before. So
if I learn anything else, I'll try and use it. Okay, okay.
If you can work on that, I mean
anything that you can learn to
be
a force against him. But
once you join us, once
we take you out of there, that's going to bring
down Calus. It's going
to bring him down to Aroas. That will start
the invasion proper.
As far as I know, that's already happening,
Quill.
We opened the gateway. He has
a way down to the planet.
I don't know much more than that,
but I know he's up to something.
He keeps going away for these long
missions where he's gone for days at a time.
And I know that he's
going to Aroos to do that
i know but it's not at the moment at the moment you're safe if we take you there's no turning
back i just want you to be aware of this i know i know but i just it's the more i'm here the more
stuff he says makes sense and i don't want it to make sense. I want to be back with
you and Lucius,
and I want to be back on Erois.
That's my home.
It is. It is.
We'll do whatever we
can, as soon as we can.
I've got it, Quill. And then
the whole dream just ends.
And you just fall into a blank sleep.
Am I able to memorize the uh no yeah so part of the spell itself is that when you wake up as everybody wakes up uh you
recall that dream picture perfect like you can you can describe it down to the details um and
yeah if you find like a parchment or something like that you can note down the symbols of the circle
I've got some of that
so you basically now you know
the code sequence for a
teleportation circle that leads to
the ship that Valor is on
Starbane's ship
yeah just the big one
just the big main one
we can just have a casual visit whenever
hey sup dude how's it going how's your evil plans Yeah, just the big one. Just the big main one. It's fine. We can just have a casual visit whenever. Hey,
dude. How's it going?
How's your evil plans?
Yeah.
Everybody else
wakes up, so you have now
completed another long rest, so you can lose
another level of endurance.
Exhaustion.
Exhaustion, sorry. Yep. Anybody that had
one.
Me.
You complete a long rest as normal.
The ship is currently...
Three.
I'm numero uno.
I'm done. I'm clear.
Perfect. Oh, we hoity-toity people
who have really good endurance.
To be honest, Quill would have been as bad as Nova
if you hadn't given them that potion.
I think...
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah.
I'll sacrifice you.
Perfect.
Okay.
So, yeah.
So, you guys wake up.
This ship is currently just over ocean.
It's over open ocean at the moment
as it is making its way in the vague direction
of the sea between
Gisela and Voxar.
The sea of
broken swords, I believe it's called.
Sea of broken swords.
We've all got
messenger rings on, haven't we?
Lucius,
did you take yours back?
I took mine back, I'm pretty sure.
Sea of broken spears is the name of the sea between
Popsar and Gisela
Okay, in which case, I guess
when everyone is up, I will messenger ring
and say
basically, recant the dream
if I have
a crystal clear imagination of it
then I'll retell it as best I can.
In which case,
I will say, we need a meeting
urgently. I say we will meet
at Captain's Quarters, straight away.
Yes.
Greylano?
Doc?
Yes?
Am I allowed to go to a captain's meeting yet she like looks at you
sternly like hmm she kind of like takes your temperature and like you know measures like your
pulse and things like that just generally looks over you as a doctor um she's like well yes you
can go to the captain's quarters but this you're allowed out for brief periods of exercise,
but nothing extraneous.
You still need to keep resting as much as possible.
Okay, Mom.
I mean, Doc.
Don't ever call me that again.
That is...
She kind of lets out a little shudder.
It's like, go on, get out.
Okay, bye!
Okay.
Ugh. Ugh. okay bye okay cool should we all meet up then yes yep alright
let's go to the meeting I immediately grab
Quill you saw Valor
in a dream tell me everything
tell me everything again quickly
is she okay is she safe
did she have a dagger did she have both of the daggers
multiple daggers did she have any dagger? Did she have both of the daggers? Multiple daggers?
Did she have any more of them? Was she defending herself?
She did not have any daggers
that you saw. No daggers.
God damn it. She has said that she is
learning more magic
by the day. However, at the same
time, she is also
understanding Kallus more and more.
This isn't good.
She's being manipulated. She's being manipulated she's being
manipulated either magically or he's just winning her over it makes sense i mean look
she needs to be taken out of callous's ship but that means we need to build a teleportation circle.
Okay.
She told me the code. I know the way.
We just need the circle.
Oh, she's brilliant. Good job, Valor.
She's doing
so well, but
she needs to be with us.
Okay, how do we do
the circle thing? I'm on it.
I'm ready. Let's go.
Let's get her. Bring her home.
I hate to point this out, but this is going to paint a giant target on our backs if we just get her now.
Oh, you mean the one that's been there for quite a while already?
It's really, really in there.
No offense, Ayla, but Kallus hasn't really been that bothered with us.
I think we'd be dead if he was.
But if we take his daughter now...
That is true.
Valor is the one thing that links us very strongly to Starbane.
Okay.
And Starbane must know that.
I'd hate to think we're walking into a trap, guys.
Oh, it could definitely be a trap if it's his big
headquarters like who knows what's on that ship
targets and people and starbane be damned i want valor now you make a good point i don't know the
limits of the spell they're using are they able to manipulate themselves that was vala i
saw her she was she was speaking to me just like vala she looked like vala you can you can
i'd say tom you can make an arcana check as well or kim if you do does nova know the spell
i know the spell okay then yeah then nova knows it yeah um yeah uh i i if i could uh i i actually um
so i had a long think about things after we last talked about um you know carolus visiting me in
my dreams and um i think i've learned the spell i i reverse engineered it and i think i've taught
it to myself um so so you can get valor now go get Bella no I can talk to her in in dream
in a dream I can I can cast a spell that no I have to be asleep to do it I mean
yes so you can you can shape what's around you in the dream.
So Quill, whatever environment you are in, she can shape that.
She can also maybe make it that she's terrifying, monster.
She can give you a nightmare.
Can Calus act as Vala?
Yes.
Yes. Maybe. um but i don't know act as valor yes yes maybe i um i could i could try like if tonight or when we sleep i could maybe cast the spell on one of you and and see if i could appear if i could change
myself to look like whoever i want good idea i mean yes it's either way we have a way into his ship i
would starbane give us that access he could obviously know when we're coming and just
take us out the moment we arrive but i mean i would imagine his teleportation circles are very
heavily guarded so yes we could teleport into a room full of guards.
But you also said
that he doesn't seem that bothered about us
just now. Why would he care
right at this moment
about us? Because we would have teleported
right into a teleportation circle in the middle of his ship?
Yes, but I mean
why would he
yeah, why would he lure us
there now?
Why would he bother doing stop, why would he yeah why would he lure us there now why would he bother doing stop why would he bother being vala in quill's dreams to lure us there if he's not bothered about us
unless he just got bored and just wanted to kill some people for funsies because you know that
seems like the kind of guy he is. As a note,
just for Kim,
the dream spell,
it doesn't have to be you that enters the dream.
You can touch a creature and send them into the dream
to deliver a message instead.
Yeah, I'm just reading now.
I'm looking at the wording of like,
the messenger can shape the environment.
You can shape the environment. I don't think
they can appear as a different creature i think it appears
as a creature
you can create other images though so surely
i can create an image of
it doesn't say creatures
for me like the wording
the fact that it specifies
environment objects landscapes
but doesn't say you can appear as another
creature to me suggests that you
can't so and that's a hard rule i'm making with say you can appear as another creature to me suggests that you can't. And that's a hard rule I'm making.
With Dream, you can't make yourself look like somebody else.
You could not have yourself.
You could make yourself invisible
and then make just a scary environment
or monsters or things like that.
But I don't think you can use it
to make yourself appear as somebody else.
Okay.
Well, that's reassuring.
There you go.
It was valid then.
Right.
Yeah.
The fact that Nova knows the spell, I'm happy to just be like, yeah.
Yeah, I'll retcon that.
Imagine I just said that so that she wouldn't be able to hide herself.
So retcon that.
Imagine I said that.
Amazing.
Dream.
You should dream now.
Why?
I could
I could message her.
You're not sleepy.
You can message her.
The thing is
if she's not
if she's not asleep
I can't
talk to her freely
like this.
I can leave her a message
for when she's asleep
but she needs to sleep.
Maybe it's sleepy time
in Starbane.
She might have a different time zone.
We don't know.
Are there time zones in space?
Exactly.
I...
Well, I think I'll focus...
It's just terrifying at all times.
And when we have previously been there,
it has not gone well for us.
So...
That's coming from a space elf.
Don't even start with that no planet doesn't exist god okay gonzo okay i think you did raise a good point about painting a target on our backs we do
have other things that we as much as i do want to see Valor right now, right now, immediately, we have to concern ourselves with the tasks at hand and not jeopardize our mission.
However, we go and gather lots of weapons and then go in guns blazing when we've attached about 20 more guns to sentry because that's probably going to happen, let's be honest.
attached about 20 more guns to sentry because that's probably going to happen, let's be
honest.
True. I think it might also be worth
continuing our conversation with Vala
and maybe strategizing
with her so that the time
of teleportation she can do something
her end to aid us.
We can also do it before we
go into the Valley of Storms.
If we have the
ability to get into the Valley of Storms. If we have the ability to get into the Valley of Storms,
does Starbane have that power?
I mean,
does this assume Starbane has all the power?
Yeah.
Johan said that he reported
that there were Starbane forces there at the
wall, but whether or not they actually got in,
who knows? Didn't seem like they
had gotten in yet, though.
I think they were there already
before it got too bad
but either way
I mean it's been pretty bad for a while probably
we need to
we need to get a teleportation circle
anyway
on that note Quilek Adkalar
as a cleric of the god of magic
if you wish to make an arcana check to know the details of how that spell works,
I will allow it.
Arcana, okay.
Sure.
Bam.
17.
17.
Yeah, easily enough.
Teleportation Circle is a spell.
Normally it can be learnt by those of a more scholarly magic nature,
such as wizards or
bards um or sorcerers so a sorcerer could learn it lucius could in theory learn this spell um
it's a fifth it's fifth level um when you cast it you basically have to draw a it takes a minute to cast. You draw the symbols on the ground, and then you and up to...
It opens a portal until the end of your next turn.
So as many creatures as can go through it in like six seconds, basically,
can travel through it.
You can make it permanent if you cast it in the same space every day for a year.
And when you do it, you can actually create two of your own circle in
it like you can create two of your own locations so you can basically like if say lucius learned
the spell he could have like okay i'm gonna set a location which is the deck of the storm chaser
and that's going to be a location the other one's going to be my base in gust haven and that's going
to be another location and then you can learn more
as you go. It does cost 50 GP,
which every time you
cast a spell, you have to spend 50 gold.
It requires rare chalks and
inks infused with precious gems.
I think I could learn it as well.
It would be
50 times 365. Arcana Domain can also learn it,
so Quill will also technically learn it at fifth
level um warlocks may be able to with some of their funky stuff but it's not normally on the
spell list yeah yeah so i can learn it as part of book of ancient secrets nice it's not a ritual
spell it's not a ritual spell so i don't know if you can oh yeah magic ritual sorry yeah yeah
it's not a ritual it just just costs, it takes a minute.
But both Lucius and Quill can eventually learn it when they can.
Yeah, I do have fifth level spells, but I guess it's...
Don't forget you've got the multi-class,
so maybe you haven't actually learned it yet.
Right, okay.
You might have fifth level slots, but you don't have fifth level spells.
Oh, yeah.
Or do you? I don't know.
No, I don't. I've got fourth.
There you go.
So not yet.
Or we could get a scroll.
Someone can make a scroll for us, right?
Absolutely.
You could definitely go and find somebody to make you a scroll of this.
Anybody who can cast the spell could create a scroll of it.
100%.
So we could try and find out in the next port.
We're going to...
Imixan.
Imixan, right? Did you want to go to
Imixan? Because there was a conversation
about going to the Hawkstone
Archipelago as well.
Because Oriah knows Hawkstone.
I think we're going to Hawkstone
because they had a port there
so that they can refuel and everything
while we go and do Tiangong stuff.
And they were going to give the crew a day off in the port.
Well, you'll need the airship and the crew
to go find the Tiangong Shard.
Because the Tiangong Shard, as far as you know,
is in the middle of the ocean.
It's kind of like a stopgap.
We can at least...
Yeah.
But the other one is,
Hawkstone will be closer than Imixan.
Imixan is... It's like an en route. Yeah. Yeah, sorry one is Hawkstorm will be closer than Imixan. Imixan is like an en route.
Yeah.
Yeah, sorry, I got mixed up.
I think that was priority place anyway.
So, yeah, we'll do that.
That sounds good.
Okay.
How far away are we from that again?
Any thoughts?
You all good?
I'm good, yeah.
All good.
Okay.
Hawkstorm sounds good.
How far away is Hawkstorm in days?
From your current location,
maybe like three or four days.
If you want to
continue pursuing
the Tiangong Shard,
because you don't know exactly where that is,
it's going to require a couple of days of
flying around and trying to
locate it as best you can.
You could speed that up by using the eye.
If you've got spells like locate object, that might help.
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
If we go to Hoxton, you can use the eye while we're there.
I could use the eye now, and then in three to four days,
that's when I'll get a recharge.
So I may as well use it now.
So I guess while we're in this meeting,
is there anything we need to know?
Because I can find out.
Now's the time to use the eye.
How many wires has she got?
Ayla, do you want to find out about your
elves? Nova,
do you want to find out about the shard?
Lucius, if we could look for uh for for valor
again we've all got questions i guess yeah i have well two um one would be the exact location of the
nearest shard and the other one is where is the world engine oh that be good but
that's what Starbane's
going for right
true
would us knowing jeopardize us
though would he come for us
for that information
he doesn't know about the eye
he doesn't know but if we
make it clear we're heading to somewhere
if we change it clear we're heading to somewhere... He's tricksy.
If we change our course, for example,
or he knows through our conversations or some sort of infiltrator
that we're planning this sort of thing,
like a pseudo-dragon or something...
Where is he?
I forgot about him.
Yeah.
What's he up to?
Like, I know you guys, considering how distrustworthy of him you are, Where is he? I forgot about him. What's he up to?
You guys, considering how distrustworthy of him you are,
Viz isn't in the room.
You've probably got him locked in a store cupboard
somewhere.
He can't get in.
Speaking of which,
we should
make sure that
our Dragonborn Friends Council are up to date on our discoveries.
I think that would be beneficial for our relations to them and to build this trust and maybe a counter measure to Starbane's forces.
Okay, but if we've locked the little shit in a cupboard, I don't think they're going to take too kindly to us in our updates.
He's got a cushion.
Have we put a cushion in there?
Nova, just speak him.
Otherwise they're going to keep talking about you.
No, I like to think that while this is going on,
Nova is just quietly in the background.
You want to go back to the dragonborn?
The dragonborn who...
Or we could message them.
Just message them.
Send them a message.
Okay.
I can do that.
Nova, what are you thinking?
I can see the cogs turning in your little brain.
You know, all the current events that happened.
I kind of feel like the little dragon
has probably sussed a few
things out. I don't
feel very
happy going anywhere near
Dragonbornsville.
Because
I think they might kill
me. You? I because I think they might kill me.
You?
I, I, I, I, because I talked to the ILS and Starbane!
Right, but... You know, the big thing they hate.
But, all things considered, hopefully the pseudo-dragon understands what you've done.
Yeah, but we destroyed it. It's fine.
The pseudo-dragon
is a spy. I doubt that that thing
has the depth of
emotion and complexity to understand
that I am not an agent of
Starbane. I was trying to get Starbane to help
the world and join us. All he's
going to be like is like, hey, that
blue thing's talking to Starbane.
Oh, she's going to
do Starbane. And she'll make the ship blow up. Starbane. Oh, she's gonna do the Starbane.
And she made the ship blow up.
The pseudodragons don't know our purpose.
They're our allies.
The pseudodragon is a tool for them
to trust us.
If we
show behind its back and throw it off the ship.
You mean the tiny thing that we put in a cupboard?
That's reporting back to all of them.
Top notch.
It could well be.
I'm sure if they had a problem
it would have been spoken.
Yes.
I think ultimately
I'm so dead.
us hiding the pseudodragon
from the dragonborn
is also a dangerous thing to do
and may make us look far more...
What if we just killed the thing
and told them it died
in a horrible, horrible
unalleged accident?
No, no.
What?
That's a solution, right?
No, because if we
kill it, they will not trust
us ever again.
No, we won't say that we killed it. We'll just say that
Starbean killed it.
While you are having this conversation,
everyone, Lucius,
you hear a voice in your everyone, Lucius, you hear a voice in your head.
Oh, here we go.
Lucius, you hear a softly spoken female elven voice.
Master Elinasto, Sky Prince Aradan will attend a meeting of leaders in five weeks in Horizon.
He requests you join him.
Regards, Magister Luminara.
It is the sending spell. You may reply
with 25 words or less.
Lucius, why did you just glaze over
like that? We're not talking in the thing right now.
It's not what's happening.
Prince Aradan,
we will do
our very
best to attend
this crucial meeting
in five weeks
hope all is well
love Lucy's
Lucy's
22
22 there was three left but you don't have to finish it
fantastic kiss kiss kiss you can kiss kiss kiss 22 22 there was 3 left but you don't have to finish it fantastic
kiss kiss kiss
kiss hug kiss
I just had a message from Gustaven
that Prince Aradan
will be holding an important
meeting
attending a meeting
well that's where the Dragonborn are going to be
so perfect in 5 weeks Attending a meeting. Well, that's where the dragonborn are going to be. So perfect.
Oh, perfect.
That's where a lot of people are going to be.
Five weeks?
That's plenty of time to kill the dragon and pretend it was an accident.
No, who contacted you?
No, not killing the dragon.
There's some...
It's a beautiful voice.
It's lovely.
Right, okay.
Can I just say I'm holding it now? That meeting's getting attacked.. It's lovely. Right, okay. Okay.
Can I just say I'm holding it now? That meeting's getting attacked.
That meeting's getting attacked. It's not my fault.
I'm not saying, I'm not reporting anything.
I'm not telling anyone nothing.
Don't tell me anything about it.
Put all the leaders in one place.
Stop that information out of my brain hole.
But that meeting's absolutely getting attacked. All those leaders are dying.
Yeah, pretty much.
Call it now.
Then at least we'll have a head start right it couldn't possibly
the forces are on the way already forces are on the way already
i i live in a place that is on a main road with lots of ambulances. Sorry. No, it's good for the team.
I'm sure if all of the most prestigious leaders are attending a single meeting,
it will have the best defences known to a rowist.
Mm-hmm.
I'm sorry, we just came out of a simulation
where we saw the attack on Solven
from a big spaceship coming from space.
What defences does a rowist have that from a big spaceship coming from space. What defenses does a rowers have
that stops a big spaceship
coming from space and just going
The cradle.
The cradle stops that happening.
And what was Starbane
doing?
Laughing gleefully.
What did he specifically ask
Nova to help him do?
Bring down the cradle.
When are you going to get to that, Nova?
Get on that.
Starbane's waiting for us.
Hurry up.
I just got to talk to the dragon about that.
Let me just talk to the dragon about that first.
You know, hey, dragon.
I'm dead.
We're all dead.
Dead, dead.
Everyone's dead.
So, to recap.
Go to port
Get everyone happy
Find a Tiangong Shard
Valley of Storms
Save Nova
Attend this meeting
Don't die
Kill the dragon
Save Valor
Not kill the
Save Valor
Okay
Okay
I appreciate who
Saved the world
And now what about the eye
I've got two questions I can ask
back to the topic at hand
okay
Quill
if no one else wants to
use the eye for any reason
I suggest
looking at the events
Nova gave two
two things
Nova gave two questions
I think I'm going to need a bit of time
to process the whole
planet
thing and I feel like Nova's probably got I think I'm going to need a bit of time to process the whole planet thing.
And I feel like Nova's probably got more pressing questions than any of us.
But Lucius, anything to add?
One more to add, and you can make an executive decision, Quill.
Or everybody, as a democracy.
I'm not a strict captain.
Anyway, show the meeting. I'm not a strict captain. Anyway,
show the meeting.
See the meeting itself.
Ooh.
Will the meeting in five weeks get attacked by Starbane from the sky because he's brought down the cradle, man?
Nova, I think
you might need to go back to the medical
bay.
You're stressing yourself out, and I think you need to recover, okay?
Just deep breaths.
You're all stressing me out by not taking me seriously.
We're taking you very seriously, but us, our elevated emotions,
will not help our executive decisions.
I don't trust anyone.
I don't particularly want to see the dragons again.
They've got a very big dragon.
They do, but they're also our strongest allies so far.
True.
That is also true.
What have they done to help us?
Yeah, I was going to say that.
They've lost their airspace without killing us.
They also fought Starbane for like 100 years
before you were born, while Sentry was still alive.
I might have been alive,
we don't know.
It's true. Yeah, that's true. You might have been.
We know nothing!
So Quill,
two charges. What do you want to do?
Okay, world engine,
find the shard. However,
I do know locate object,
so I don't think we need to use the eye for that
uh i think yeah because i it might work i could use my special tiang bing uh tiang bane oh no
that's what i didn't mean to happen he's infiltrating he's coming
starving on the brain star brain ayla Ayla I will always save the card
for you if you need it
if you want to find out about anything
just please let me know
Sentry
I appreciate that
okay
Sentry
my brain
do you want to know anything about the prime
about being the prime
I'm still trying to digest it all myself.
So when I'm ready, I'll let you know.
Okay.
Where is the World Engine located?
Okay, just going for it, eh?
Oh, okay.
Crap.
Big plays.
Okay.
If I ask quickly, he can't
think fast enough.
Mark Humes, here's the thing,
here's the thing, Tom. I reserve
the right to say, like, that's a great question,
Tom. I will answer it next week.
Okay, okay.
But I can answer this one. I'm just thinking
of the exact details because you only
get to see a brief glimpse and i guess this would be more close to the scrying spell than looking at
the past or the future because you're asking where is it currently where is the world engine located
is what you asked so it's actually the more present uh version of using the eye. So, I'm just going to quickly have a look
at the scrying spell.
Yeah, the real world engine
was the friends we made along the way.
Do we need to put our hands together and go
Go planet!
No, this is a particularly
unique version of scrying, because scrying normally
only affects a creature, but you can do it on
a thing as well, because of the eye, the way
that the eye works. Okay.
So. It does say a creature for scrying. but you can do it on a thing as well because of the way that the eye works. Okay, so...
It does say a creature for scrying.
Yes, it does.
That's why I'm saying this is kind of a special
version of scrying. This isn't just...
If you were doing this on a creature,
let's say if you wanted to say
how is Valor or what is Maximilian up to,
we would use the rules for the scrying spell
because you're asking about a place or an object in the current timeline,
then it's just an alternative version of it.
So we see Quill's eye, your vision clouds Quill,
as it has done many times now,
and you see a flash of lightning,
and then your vision begins to
accelerate very quickly from the
airship and you see it
pass down
and down across the ocean
and at high speeds you accelerate
at a rapid pace.
You're not quite sure where you are.
You pass through the maelstrom
which is caused by Italicus' spear
when he sundered the Eros, the continent. you pass through these howling winds and swirling waters
and you come to a series of islands um not in the middle of the maelstrom far beyond
a place that you know would be the starfall archipelago and one of the islands there there is a grand temple um an ancient temple from long ago from
when arois was first populated by the gods and the prime races constructed there to honor the
gods themselves and this temple isn't just made of stone but it is made of pure light. It is resplendent and radiant.
And as you enter into its halls,
it seems to stretch on forever in multiple directions. You see rooms upon rooms upon rooms,
this infinite halls and corridors.
And then suddenly your vision turns
and you see in a central chamber,
there is a beam of light that seems to extend from basically what appears to be, I guess, like a stone sarcophagus.
And this beam of light goes up into the cradle and it seems to tether the cradle to Erois.
But your vision goes down beyond past the sarcophagus, through the earth itself, deep down through layers of magma and earth and stone until it reaches the very core of the planet where you can see that built around is a metal sphere as large as perhaps, you know, the greatest city that you can dream of. This huge metallic sphere full of arcane symbols
and glyphs and energies.
And it beats like a heart.
Or like an engine. It kind of rotates
and turns and beats. And it is
what is giving Erois life
itself. And then the vision
sucks back
and you are back in the present.
And my head explodes.
Quill's head explodes.
Nice.
Quill is dead. Rip.
He's not dead.
It's in the center of
Erois, the world engine.
I saw it. I saw the
halls of infinite resplendence
too. I think I saw
Siaska. I saw Siaska's sarc's sarcophagus i think it was tethering the
the cradle in the starfall archipelago that's our first place to go if we're looking for looking for
the world engine i think okay never say that again out loud i won't. Sorry, I have to get it out of my head.
I have to get it out of my head.
He was just so excited.
He was so excited.
Okay.
The visions vanish quickly in my mind,
and by that I mean my memory is awful.
But we know more than Starbane does.
We're one ahead.
And this is the most important piece of information we have
and we must hold it
as precious as we hold Valor
okay
but I think Starbane does know
because when I spoke
to the ILS
I asked the ILS how would you destroy the cradle
and it said about
destroying the hall of infinite Resplendence.
I told you this, Quill.
So if there's a way to the core from there...
It's through the halls.
It's through there.
I said to you, Quill, to warn Hesper...
But it doesn't mean the cradle is the strongest in that area.
It must be.
If that's the tethering point,
then the cradle has to be the strongest there.
I'm trying desperately as
Kim the player to remember
if Tom spoke
of a vision he had
from Hesper.
Tom, did you
tell people of the vision you had from
Hesper? Because I don't want to metagame
this,
where he saw a quarrel between all the gods in the Hall of Resplendence.
Yeah, I'm sure I did.
I did, yeah.
I think I also warned Hesper of Italicus.
Okay.
Yeah, you did.
Remember that?
Yeah.
Because if the gods are going to fight amongst themselves and possibly destroy themselves,
then what's leaving the Hall of Resplendence guarded from Starbane?
Good question.
But yeah, I think we all know exactly as much as each other, I think, at this point.
But yeah, I did warn Hesper about Italicus as well.
I don't think we should operate under the illusion that that place is safe
and that Starbane doesn't know its importance
or that it's key to doing what he wants to do,
which is probably bring down the cradle and take the world engine
and, I don't know, fly it into Hedar or something.
But we can't devalue the importance of that knowledge.
We know where it is now.
We know where the halls are. I'm just saying we can't be naive enough to think that we have one up on starbane
we're on a level playing field maybe we're catching up behind yeah but we're catching up
eventually we're catching up i like that attitude yeah that's good. I think our morale is as
important as knowing
the fact that we feel
we can do something
we have to hold strong
to, even if
it's futile.
What else have we got?
I'm bleeding out of just one ear,
so I have room for another question.
What's inside the world engine?
Maybe, I don't know.
I mean, obviously, there's Lucius's question of what's going to happen at the meeting.
Is Starbane going to attack?
But also, I mean, my question would be, why is the world engine crucial to destroying Hadar?
That's the thing I can't figure out,
is this engine, this relic that's created life,
that's created a whole planet,
what is it about that that Starbane believes is going to destroy Hadar?
Is he going to harness the power?
Is he going to fly a rover into Hadar?
Does life destroy Hadar?
Does life kill what cannot live?
How can you kill
that which does not live?
Hadar might be
the polar opposite of what the world engine
is. The world engine is
life. It's the world.
It creates
worlds. Hadar
swallows them.
What if Starbane is working with Hadar and wants
to feed Hadar the world engine
well there's also
that possibility as well
then the world engine is a very
big snack
great big snack
I mean you've got the question Quill
anyone else I mean yeah I
suppose I did want to I mean, you've got the question, Quill. Anyone else? I mean, yeah, I suppose.
I did want to ask about Hadar.
Ask about Hadar?
What did you want to ask?
I wanted to ask Harold about Hadar
because she has that direct link to Hadar, right?
Do I want to save a question for her?
Will that kill me?
That'll kill me, wouldn't it?
That would legit kill me.
I would die.
Crystal skull!
I reveal nothing.
Ask your question or
do something else.
Anyone else? While I've got the charge.
I think you don't need more questions.
Just throw it at me.
Yeah.
You've got a bunch of questions.
It's just what you want to do, bud.
I've forgotten all the questions what were the questions like oh my god so it's either what's going to happen at the meeting in five
weeks or i'll do that one what is about well hang
on let the others like explain what the
other options are yeah i think it was down to the two because
if we're going to use locate item and other
boogie woogie foul as to find Tiangong, then it's between
what's going to happen at this meeting at five weeks
or what is
it about the World Engine that will destroy
Hidalgo? Calus wants, yeah.
What does Calus want with the World Engine?
Yeah, what does Calus plan to do with the World
Engine?
I'll do...
Oh, God.
Alright.
What does Calistar Bane want to do with the world engine?
Boom.
Question asked.
You watch Quill, your vision clouds
another flash of thunder.
Oh god, okay.
And
you feel
your sight traveling back through the ages.
It travels deep into the past, away from Erois as your vision pans out to just a speck of light as you travel through the universe.
And you come.
And you come.
Your vision clears in a...
On the bridge of a Valkyrian Empire starship.
It is empty, save for two figures.
One is Calus, looking ageless as he has when you've met him before in black powered armor with a long sword shaped very much like tiangong but now fully like almost complete um various shards it is in a
complete state but silent next to him no he doesn't know he doesn't have tiangong that's a correction he has he has a
weapon he has like a long black sword with a kind of like red energy around the sides but it's not
tiangong i've got to get my timeline straight next to him you see the most incredible figure figure being you have ever seen her skin is like the night sky completely covered in stars and
nebulas her hair ignores gravity and just floats around her kind of spilling out and is the color
of the cradle itself and she wears a white robe and hovers slightly off the ground. They are staring out of this huge kind of viewscreen window from the ship onto a planet.
A beautiful green planet with blue oceans that seems, for the most part, exactly like Erois.
And they are conversing.
And they are arguing.
Siaska turns to him and says,
You cannot do this, Kallus. You cannot do this.
I understand that we have to fight Hadar, but this is a step I cannot follow you in.
Kallus looks at her pleadingly, and you can see that there is sorrow and anguish in his voice.
It's like, please, Siaska, you must understand, this is it.
This is how we defeat Hadar once and for all.
We take that device and we...
He cannot consume that much energy. It will destroy him.
It is a planet of people, of living beings, Kallus. Will you just destroy it?
What will happen to them? I can take them to their new home. We can give them place within the empire.
You would kill millions of them. You would destroy their home for a chance. You don't even know if
it will work, Kallus. It will work. It has to work. You know the other option, Calus. We know
the way that we can fight him. Why
will you not let me go? No, I will
not let you. You will not make that
sacrifice. We have a weapon
here, in that planet, now.
We take it, we
weaponize it, and we send it into the
Far Realm, and we destroy Hadar once
and for all. I will not speak of this again.
And the vision fades.
Messenger ring.
Messenger ring.
Starbomb
spurring it out to everyone.
I saw
Siaska and Starbane
talking. He wants to weaponize
the world engine to use against Hadar.
It's too much energy for him to consume.
It will destroy him, but we know that we remove a world engine from use against Hadar. It's too much energy for him to consume. It will destroy him, but we know
that we remove a world engine from the planet
and the planet
dies.
That's why he wants a Rois.
Will it destroy Hadar, though?
Or is that just what Starbane
believes? Siaska wasn't
sure. She thought it might,
but she had an idea, an
alternative way to fight him.
But,
I never got to hear it.
Sounds like we've got another question now.
For those new charges.
Would we get an answer, though?
He can see the past.
I could ask about Siaska's plan
to fight Hadar, rather than Starbane's.
Why don't we ask Siaska's plan to fight Hadar rather than Starbane's why don't we ask Siaska
how
we know where the world engine is
we know where the cradle
thread leads
if we can find a way
to the halls of resplendence
maybe
that's an option
but there is
there has to be an alternative
otherwise the only way to stop
Hadar is by killing Aroas
and we can't
have that
and it's not a certainty
it's not a certainty
it's not
exactly
so we have to find out this other way.
Indeed.
And maybe we...
Maybe we could convince Starbane.
I feel like if even Siaska couldn't convince him,
we're not going to get much of a...
We're not going to get there.
It's either that or face his forces.
Did
Siaska look like Valor?
Or Valor look like Siaska?
Siaska would look like a goddess,
Quill. I mean, it's hard, like, you've seen
Hesper in your visions, and Hesper
still looks like a mortal person,
albeit, like, an angelic one.
Siaska looked like...
I mean, she was made of galaxies
and stars it wasn't just
that she had like dark skin
that was like you know that was
painted it she was made of
the universe itself it was like
looking at a completely alien
being um yeah it was
for the first time in that vision
you saw what a true
divinity was.
There were definitely elements there that reminded you of Valor,
but it was more in just, like, the shape of her body and her face,
the way that she spoke, the way that she kind of looked at, like,
it was more like a personal thing rather than her physical appearance.
Looking at the two of them side by side and
seeing the way that like there was a look of genuine love and care and when he even when he
was angry it came from a defensive place you could see that callus and siasca to debt together
you can see how valor would be there you know from there yeah okay okay cool um well anyway that's that's that's
that's that's my charge is gone but soon they will regain and again i'm always of use to you
if you need it if you need an answer answer. Ava. What did that planet do?
There is a
realization, Quill, that
you know that that vision was
thousands of years in the past.
The planet that they were looking at, if it
had the world engine in it, must have been
Alfheim.
You've seen it.
Oh, shit!
With your intelligence and the way that
thingy works, it has to be
it was alfheim before that was a planet that was destroyed i see so before so okay
here's a timeline so that was them looking at alfheim under my desk for a while. Kallus took the world engine from Alfheim, destroying it.
No, but then Siaska took it, went to Erois,
planted it there, hit it deep from Kallus,
made the cradle to stop him from getting to it.
Okay.
Oh!
Quill, this raises a question.
Oh my god, rain moment!
This raises a question I'm not sure is too sensitive for Ayla right now, but...
I'm tough, it's fine.
Ayla's not thousands of years old.
As far as Ayla knows...
I mean, he spoke of rehoming
citizens from the planet,
so maybe he rehomed
the elves.
Or, well, when I spoke to the ILS,
the ILS spoke of cloning.
You know, Starbane uses cloning technology.
I would guess that's kind of what we saw a bit of on Aegis V.
Maybe there's more out there.
Yeah, I definitely...
I mean, if you talk to
when we talk to Maximilian
the things that Starbane has shown me
that the ILS has talked about
he talked about rehoming entire civilizations
I don't
yes Alfheim might be gone
but I definitely think there's more
of you and I gesture towards
Ayla out there
there must be yeah There's more of you, and I gesture towards Ayla, out there.
There must be.
Yeah.
I mean, why are you here, Ayla?
That's a very good question.
I have no clue.
But that's what I'm saying.
You're right.
You're dead.
You are here.
Yeah, but the wild elves that I grew up around weren't like me.
Why am I the only one there?
And that's something we have to figure out.
But I don't think that just because the planet's gone,
I don't think your race is gone.
Just makes me super special and delightful, right?
If I'm the only one.
Exactly.
Positive spins on planet death.
There is a knock.
There is a
knock at the
captain's quarter slash
meeting room.
Yes?
It's Oriya, Captain. Just wanted to see
if they had an update on our destination.
I still have us just heading out to the Sea of Broken Spears,
if we still intend to search for Nova's missing piece of her sword.
Come in, Uriah. Don't speak through the door. You're more than welcome.
She comes in.
Yes, we're still heading for Hawke's Dawn Archipelago.
Well, we are now at the situation, Captain,
where if we wish to go to the major port city in the Hawks Dawn,
we will need to divert off.
Otherwise, we head towards the Sea of Broken Spears.
We are now at the point where if we want to go searching for the Tiangong piece,
we must decide that.
Or if you wish to go to port, we must decide that.
Right. Let's go to port, we must decide that. Right.
Let's go to port. Nova's still a bit tired.
We have
supplies, but the sooner
we can dock, the better.
Then we shall head to the port.
Okay.
I believe it is called
Porta Sovrano
in the Hawkstone Archipelago.
It's the only place with an airship dock.
There are some other settlements, but they are not really accessible easily for an airship.
Right. And what are their laws and regulations for airship flying into their territory?
Well, they're not the Dragonborn.
They don't really have anything there.
It's been some
time since i've been back to uh these kinds of places as you know i didn't have a ship for a
long time um but the last time i was there uh porter sovrano is ruled it's it's an independent
city it doesn't the hawkstone archipelago doesn't have a central government. It doesn't have a ruler. It doesn't have a government or an army.
It's a collection of independent settlements.
The port is run by an individual called Duke Leon, a human man.
I've never met him, but I believe that he has a chance for wine and sword fighting and making
lots of money, which is what the Hawkstone
Archipelago is quite good at.
Right.
Can you do me a favor?
Can you do me a favor, Araya?
Yes.
Obviously set sail for
Hawkstone port,
but also inform the crew that
we shall be arriving shortly
and that they have
free reign of the town
so long as they return
sober
and ready to get back on the
airship and attain our goals
a few days after.
Of course, how long do you wish,
do you want any of the crew to remain to
guard the ship, or
are we just letting them all out?
A rotation, so we have
some people. Yes, of course. Kamara will be
able to draft that, so.
Great. In which case,
yes, let them have at it, but
you know, knowing that they're going back
to work. Well, we'll have them on
a daily rotation, so we'll have some folks on going back to work well we'll have them on a daily rotation so
we'll have some folks on the ship um and then we'll rotate them out um also as a reminder if
you did want to hire any more crew these kinds of places are good places to keep an eye out for
individuals that you may wish to bring on board right uh we'll keep an eye out for sure how's
our capacity and we've still got some spare rooms,
and obviously we did sadly lose a member of the Wolfpack,
so there is some room.
I don't want to tread on any dangerous territory. I've spoken with Kamara,
but the fact is that we're a hand down.
People may have to do extra work.
We will need to find at least one other person.
Right. Then we'll do so with the utmost respect.
Thank you.
Yes.
All right. I'm good to it.
And she makes her way out.
And you can hear her calling out orders and things like that.
Great.
As long as the crew are sworn to secrecy,
I think you made them very aware of that in the last speech you gave.
We can't have them
spreading out information across this town.
Kamara runs a tight ship with her crew
and I trust her and I trust
Howard and I trust the rest of them.
So they should be good.
As long as there's no gambling debts
at the end of this short stay
we should be okay
should be okay
in which case this is also a good time for all of us
don't forget we've been through a lot
ourselves maybe it's time for us to
unwind
I agree
how does one do that
yeah
you punch things I assume
but in a legal and safe manner that doesn't rustle the town How does one do that? Yeah. You punch things, I assume.
I do. But in a legal and safe manner that doesn't rustle the town.
Okay?
Boring.
There's probably a fight pit somewhere.
Maybe.
Who knows?
It's a town of prosperity by the sounds of it.
There's probably money to be made on fights.
Maybe. Yeah. Who made on fights. Maybe.
Yeah.
Who knows? Maybe there's spell clash.
Who knows? I want some tokens.
Oh.
Oh.
They've definitely
expired.
Oh, Kelly's dressed.
It's just such a long time ago.
Well,
the ship begins making its way
You have three days
What goes down?
You tell me
Can I
Can I find a blacksmith?
Well you're not there yet
You've got three days
You've got three days before you arrive
So what are you doing for three days?
You're just literally everyday resting.
I've still got three levels of
exhaustion.
Is it worth us trying to contact
Valor some more?
Yeah.
Do you want to cast sending spells or dream?
I can't cast dream but I can do sending.
Do what you want.
So yeah, we could.
I'm looking forward to what you know.
Actually, no, that's too close.
It's too close to Cass.
Hey, I can talk to Starbane.
Does anyone want me to talk to Starbane?
I'll talk to Starbane.
Not really.
I feel like I don't really care how he's doing right now.
I don't really want to know how his day is.
You know what?
He has to use a machine to cast Dream.
I don't.
I just want to point that out.
See?
I'm just better than Starbane.
Exactly.
Go Nova.
We could look for someone who could either cast Teleportation Circle for us or some means to learn to cast it or even just
scroll.
That's true.
But we're on a ship.
You can also look for more crew.
This is when you get there. You have three days before then.
Yeah, we're on the ship.
Is anybody thinking three days?
I think Aayla will probably
just after the
horrible dream-like sequence where our fears came true she'd probably
spend some more time working out than usual like some more time trying to keep herself keep herself
strong and ready um and just check in on nova every now and then and maybe occasionally like
go into nova's little library
because she's not there right now
and try and pick up a few books
and see if she can learn anything about
space elves and
stuff. But like, when no one
else is around.
Yeah, sure. Why don't you make a
just make a
history check for me.
Just to represent your
absent research.
That's so sweet.
Ooh.
So what was that?
I'll take the first one.
What's the role?
It's doing two roles, yeah.
It's just doing two roles.
I'll take the first one.
Sadly, you spend some time
at Nova's small collection of books
that she's accumulated on the ship most of them aren't going to really cover enough information
to like really provide you with any benefits um yeah just not enough to give you anything
i mean there's there's i mean the i think that what's more likely with ayla is there are tons
of things that could have been interesting but they're not related to the things that you care about, so you don't bother
learning them.
You don't see really any references.
I like the fact that she learned a bigger word
than she would usually use.
Sure, you can decide that though.
Drop into conversation at some point.
What word did you learn?
That's up to Katie.
Can you read out the rolls for podcast listeners
it was a 7
so yeah
it messed it up
it rolled it twice but also with advantage
no it's because you told us to roll on
you told us to set that up
it's fine
you rolled bad
that's the fact of the matter
I rolled bad is the fact
cool anything else You rolled bad. That's the fact of the matter. I rolled bad is the fact.
Yeah.
Cool.
Anything else? Anyone else?
Sentry?
Sentry, you'll probably check him with Herald.
Herald is in a very bad way.
Herald is in a very bad way.
When you go down to find her...
Look her over.
She is technically in the medbay,
but there's not really anything Grey Lano can do,
so she's basically just kind of sat in a chair.
One arm has been melted beyond the elbow, so it's kind of melted at the bicep.
The other and her leg has been melted up to the knee.
The lava just completely demolished the limbs um and then she
still has her broken melted wings as well from when you fought her the first time so she can't
move about on her own she can use a crutch to kind of vaguely get about but being a garden she
doesn't guardian she doesn't really need to move around that much anyway um she doesn't need like
food and drink so she doesn't bother getting up to like go
to the mess she doesn't need to use the bathrooms or the privy or anything like that so she's mainly
just been sat there in very quietly um and it's only been like a day anyway since you guys got
back um but when you come in there she kind of like looks up and kind of registers a moment and
she tries to stand up but obviously can't. Forgive me, Prime.
I'm not really able to get up.
No need to get up, Harold.
You stay sitting down, it's okay.
I just came to see how you were getting on.
We're making way
for port soon, so I was going to see if
maybe we can try and get you fixed up somewhere.
Try and get you ready to go.
That is far kinder
than I deserve, Prime.
I would like at least to be able to walk.
There is something I want to do
once I can walk again.
I feel that I must complete the task
of which I was originally assigned.
But also, you are now the Prime.
You have a future for our race. but so many will not know what you
can accomplish there are so many guardians and i know this because i led them to me in my darker
moments there are guardians out there who are fading who need hope to need need to know that there is a chance for survival you have such a great task
i know that you have a mission beyond just the prime matrix that you and your companions
are fighting against a force that very few will be able to stand against you cannot afford the time to go and visit and gather guardians
yourself and that is my purpose i want to go to the cities to the towns to the villages where our
people are find them gather them in a place and then contact you to let you know where they are
so you can visit them when you have when you when you can so that you can visit them when you can, so that you can take their sentience into the Prime Matrix.
Otherwise, I feel that our race is too spread out,
our race is too divided.
We need to find those who have not long left
and bring them to you, or make them easier for you to find.
That should be my purpose. It should be my penance.
Harold, that's amazing. That's such a noble thing for you to find. That should be my purpose. It should be my penance. Harold,
that's amazing. That's such
a noble thing for you to do, and I
agree. That's
an amazing thing. We can do so much
good with more
of us out there in the field looking.
That's so helpful. We'll get you
fixed up. We'll get you ready to
go. I am
grateful to you,
Prime. Without you,
I would have likely
ended my existence
alone,
with no hope.
But now, having seen you
take on the mantle of the Prime Matrix,
I know that
there are so many of us out there
who will fade. But now they have hope.
I am just glad that I can be a part of this.
I owe so much to you, Harold.
If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have found the City of Glass, we wouldn't have got to Volcanos.
Without you, I would surely have died.
We need to help each other, Harold.
I believe that you would have found your way to the Prime, no matter what.
No way. Not without you, Herald.
I needed you.
Well, with that, we must simply disagree.
She kind of, like, half smiles.
But you can see that, like, the fact that, like, she's still in pain.
Like, she's still suffered quite a lot.
But, yeah, she kind of smiles softly and just kind of brings a hand up to the chest.
I place a hand on her shoulder and just say, thank you, Harold, for everything.
Thank you.
You're an amazing companion.
And you are my prime
and she just
passed ahead
yeah
nice
yeah
cool
this goddamn music
aww
I know
he's loving it
he's loving it
um
Trotson's in charge of the music
by the way
yeah
I'm in charge of everything
he's in charge of everything
yeah
um
in terms of uh fixing up Herald by the way. Yeah. I'm in charge of everything. He's in charge of everything. In terms of
fixing up Herald, by the way, Rhiannon,
fashioning
a very basic
leg for her wouldn't be too
complicated. You just don't really have the supplies
on the ship to do it.
So, but
yeah, finding a blacksmith in the
port town or any sort of skilled
artisan,
they'll be able to create, like, a basic leg and maybe even, like, a basic arm for her.
It's not like creating something like a wing for Quill,
which is a very complicated limb with, you know, different parts to it.
Yeah, I'm just saying if you were to look at doing it.
But the thing with Herald is, like, her arm,
you could just replace with, like, a
sword. Like, you could literally just give her, like,
a bladed hand, and then
give her a leg, and she'd still be able to, like,
function and do everything as necessary.
Awesome. Yeah.
But yeah, you wouldn't be able to give her, like, a fully working
appendage, sadly. Yeah.
That's cool.
Yeah. Cool.
Anything else from anyone else
that's about it
yeah okay
well in that case yeah three days
go past
the time on the ship is quiet
and reserved
I think that
the only other thing which I think would probably
happen is
Century, you're currently bound with Helios, right?
I am, yeah.
Yeah, so I think he would probably manifest himself,
because he has been quiet for some time,
but perhaps maybe when you're just on your own,
so it's just you in your room quietly,
or when there's a quiet moment.
And he would just manifest himself like kind of the
golden cape kind of like reforming into
the lion, Leonine man
as he joins you for a quiet moment
and is just like
I'm not sure whether to address you still
as Sentry or by your new title
Address you by Sentry
that's fine, I'm still getting used to
the new one
You will need to accept people calling you it title. I've addressed you by centuries, that's fine. I'm still getting used to the new one.
You will need to accept people calling you it. You have clearly
become a symbol amongst your kind.
It reminds me of
how we saw
Tiangong and Pasadar and
the other leaders.
You are a symbol, a symbol of
hope to them.
I guess that yes, that is true. It symbol of hope to them.
I guess that, yes, that is true.
It's a lot to take in, Helios, I'll admit.
It's a lot.
If I, may I offer some advice?
Please do.
Please do.
Embrace it.
Do not be so quick to dismiss it.
Dismiss their praise or dismiss their reverence for you.
Because doing so gives them hope.
If I were to meet Tiangong when he is
when they are fully formed
I would be
respectful and it would give me comfort
to do so.
Okay.
We are beings
you and I the guardians in the Eterna.
We are different to these other beings.
We are not, we will not technically age.
We can be killed only by destruction.
We will not fade as time goes by.
We place importance in different things.
Some is to honor, to duty, to loyalty.
To others it is purpose.
I am grateful to have spent time,
to have seen the sacrifices you and your kind have been willing to make.
The others I still do not fully understand.
I think that they are reckless.
I think that they are perhaps a little naive.
But there is a deep sense of wisdom
and a deep sense of understanding with you.
I just wish to offer that piece of advice.
Thank you. It's really appreciated.
You've always been such a guiding light to me, Helios.
I really, really appreciate it.
I find myself at a crossroads sometimes.
I find myself at a crossroads sometimes
I wish to seek my people
but now I understand that you and your companions
fight for a greater purpose
I am still not sure what I should do
but for the time being
I will continue to support
as long as you're here then I'll always
honour your way of life and your meanings to support. As long as you're here, then I'll always honor your
way of life and
your meanings, your teachings, and your
guidance. I always try
to fight with honor when you're by my side.
I have noticed,
and it is appreciated. You are
a true champion.
I am proud
to work with you.
I'm proud to work with you in Eterna. It's a great honor. I am proud to work with you. I'm proud to work with you in Eterna.
It's a great honour.
I am but a simple soldier.
Nah, you're more than that.
Just remember, do not be so quick to dismiss their reverence.
And with that, he kind of forms back into the cloak.
This very royal mantle.
It is this kind of furred into the cloak. This very royal mantle is this kind of third
collar and golden cape.
It adds a kind of very royal
slash iconic
element.
Yeah. Apart from that...
On my shoulder.
Yeah. You can sense
the kind of warmth there.
He can communicate, but you just get a sense
of, yeah, he's pleased um no uh i think everyone else uh nova hi um as you are resting you do get the
sense that as the ship is over these ocean open waters and you know that there is another shard of Tiangong close by,
there is a sense of eagerness that comes from your current form of Tiangong.
There is a kind of, not quite hope, but a pensiveness, a kind of eager anticipation.
a pensiveness, a kind of like eager, um, anticipation, um, wanting a sense of wanting to be complete. Yeah. Complete, um, to be able to communicate more as well. You sense it almost
like an element of frustration there. Um, and you know, that somewhere, you know, maybe a day,
maybe more, maybe less nearby, there is a shard somewhere um within grasp
and there's just this quiet moment where you can sense that coming from the blade
as you lay there but with that we try and send comforting thoughts back
yeah and you can you have that two-way communication, like it is received and acknowledged, but more in a kind of like, you know, grateful matter
rather than sort of like endearment.
But after that, three days,
the airship encounters no difficulties
as you come into what is, yeah, effectively,
yeah, a series of islands.
You can see them approaching.
Let's see if I can actually
add a map here.
I can take off the level of exhaustion
then.
Yes, you can, yeah.
Hooray!
Hang on.
It's gone.
You have three long rests,
so basically...
No more exhaustion
for anybody. She's back to normal.
Woo!
Everyone's healthy.
Everyone's awake.
Ready to go.
Ready to go.
But this is
Hawk's Dawn Archipelago, right?
Yes.
Port Soprano.
Yeah, and I'm trying to
put an image into
all 20 at the moment for you guys.
While Mark's fiddling with that, I just remembered
where I heard Tassadar before.
He's one of the Eternal Triumvirate.
He is.
He's one of Tiangong's buds.
Oh, sweet!
It was bothering me for ages. I was like,
why do I know that? And I'm like, yeah,
I've been flicking through my notebook.
He's one of the triumvirate.
Oh, cool. There you go.
So, if you flick over to roll 20,
you should now see the story of the violence.
Oh, wow. Amazing.
So, as the ship sails in um in fact actually let's take a break
let's take the break there and then when we come back i will describe uh the hawkstone archipelago
and your nice we finally arrive in a new new place yeah cool Thank you.