High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #72 | Astral Styx and Astral Stones (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

We're jumping into the Styx and beginning our astral journey! 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. Add your team to your Uber account today. Your mom hates it when you leave six half-full glasses on your nightstand. It's a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country. And it's an even better thing that you can get six IKEA 365 Plus glasses for just $9.99. So go ahead. You can afford to hoard because IKEA is priced for student life. Shop everything you need for back to school at Ikea today. So, we had the crew. Everyone's kind of doing their own little stuff,

but Sentry and Quill make their way back to the cockpit. You see Thalia, the little snakes, hiss once more. She turns around and she's like, oh, that's actually somewhat surprising. I was expecting my little Ganassi friend to have been the first to come up and see me. I'm not entirely...

Not that your company is unwelcome. I'm just surprised. She's out. I'm suddenly there, pressing my face against the cockpit like, hello. You've got your new imp friend. We're nerding. Yeah. If you're the engineer, you're got your new imp friend. We're nerding, we're nerding.

Yeah. She's doing a great job learning. Yes, she's learning a lot. Yes, I'm sure. She seemed very excitable about certain things. She can talk until she goes purple. Yes, I'd rather avoid that, honestly. So, what can I do for the two of you? I don't know if I've fully learnt your names yet.

Oh. Well, I'm Sentry. Or Sentinel Prime. Sentry. Whichever you prefer. Which do you... Ah, well, Sentry sounds much sweeter, doesn't it? And we'll go with that.

Oh. Sentinel Prime is quite official. I'm Quill, but if you need to know the full name, then Keelak and Kalal, but Quill's good. I don't need to know the full name, Quill, so Quill will suffice. Excellent. Well, did you find your accommodations?

I know they are small, but it's the best that the Twin Star can offer. Oh, they were very nice. Thank you for the fifth bed as well. I'm sure we'll try it out. Yes, as you need to. Certainly. Anyway, so how can I help either of you?

You and I, Quillik, must go over some of the basics of your role um but i'm assuming that you have uh a decision for me yes yes um we think we would like to go to this argent palace to assist you in this demons bargain trial thing we are wary of the danger though yes I can't promise that it will not be dangerous

obviously going up against a figure like Gratz is uh it's no small feat I will promise you that um he has his minions and his guards It's no small feat, I will promise you that. He has his minions and his guards. But the Argent Palace is also home to many visitors from across the different realms.

Grast is... If nothing, he cares greatly for his reputation and his indulgences. Something of a pleasure fiend, shall we call him. That is his sin, his sphere of influence. So I think that it's workable with. And if nothing else, well, if nothing else, if we can find how he grants these wishes then we can steal it and make a very very quick getaway to your planet which is protected by planar attack yes yes yes uh in the In the interest of transparency, you should probably be aware that I have a power that should be useful in this demon's trial, though I don't know how traceable it is. I don't know if the demon will know if I'm using it.

But with my eye, I can see, well, whatever I ask a question of. can see well, whatever I ask a question of. So when we're there, whatever the trial is, if he rigs it, then there's potential for us to do the same in return. That is most

exceptional. And she kind of leans in, she puts like one hand under her chin. What a remarkable power. Yes, that would be very, very useful indeed and no doubt Sentry you seem to be most a capable warrior as does

your elf friend so having some folks of your skills will be appreciated yes this seems like it would be a most fortuitous venture for both of us. One wish for

me, the other two are yours to do with as you wish. I only need the one. Okay. And of course if we manage to gather up any other treasures along the way, there's no harm in a little bit of that either. Absolutely, we're happy to

give whatever you require as long as the journey is made well safely enough i will do everything i can yes of course i will do everything we can obviously things like attackers if we are just unlucky uh there's only so much I can do, but yes, you have my absolute... I will do my best to look after you. I entrust that you will do the same for me. How about that? Absolutely. Yes.

Sounds a fair deal. Thank you. Thank you, my dear. That's very kind of you. So, with that in mind, I will plot a course for Azaghrat to stop by. Hopefully we can accomplish what we need in a couple

of astral days, and then we can be on our way back to your home. Okay. Is there anything else? Is there anything else you needed to know, or anything you would like to know about anything? The co-pilot role, is that a two-hand job or...?

No, no, I think I can teach it despite your loss of appendage. It shouldn't be too difficult. It's mainly a support role and then activating certain systems upon the ship which are difficult for me to do whilst I am piloting. It's quite simple in a sense. And she gestures, come, and she

pats the little chair next to her. Come and sit next to me and I'll go over it with you. Perhaps it would be advisable for Miss Century to have a listen in and learn as well. And she just gestures, the main function of the co-pilot is to act as a guide

to other stations upon the Twin Star. You'd be able to, you will be able to provide assistance to myself, to the gunners, to the engineer, providing, depending on the situation, being able to spot a danger would be able to assist me in piloting, or perhaps the gunners, to the engineer, providing, depending on the situation, being able to spot a danger

would be able to assist me in piloting or perhaps the gunners to aim. The engineer, if you have any knowledge of magic, could be useful for giving guidance to the engineering team as well. But there are two specific systems that you'll be in charge of as well. Mainly our shields, our arcane shields.

You'll have the ability to activate and deactivate these from the station. Just keep in mind that whilst our shields are active, we are not able to boost the engines, charge weapons, or deploy any anti-magic chaff. So it's something of a double-edged sword. It protects us but disables other systems okay and then the last one is simply to

deploy as I mentioned I have a system built into my ship it was a custom made one I have the ability to deploy micro fields of anti-magic now against these wouldn't be useful against anything other than magical

ship attacks, but it can be deployed to effectively negate a powerful attack against us. But it does take time to recharge. Okay. So, would this be basically you shout at me and I activate it? Or is it something I would be actively...

You will need to be actively making the decision to do. My attention will be focused... If we get into a space battle, into an astral battle, I'm afraid that my attention will be focused on defensive flying, maneuvering us into position, avoiding laser blasts uh arcane blasts uh my attention will be focused you'll you will be responsible for these systems master quill um but it is quite simple to activate and she'll basically in a montage she will show you the different systems how to read you know the outputs and things like that and it's quite simple like even with one hand

you can read the arcane runes you know you are a wizard and a cleric of the arc and things like that. And it's quite simple. Even with one hand, you can read the arcane runes. You are a wizard and a cleric of the arcana domain. It is magic you can understand. Century, maybe the runes don't mean a lot to you, but you can copy, you can see what Quill's doing and you think, maybe I could copy this if

I had to. But yeah, the ship systems make a lot of sense. and for everybody there's going to be like a cheat sheet on the actual actions themselves so don't worry too much about writing anything down can i at some point uh the most inopportune time messenger ring yep and the voice is kind of muffled because my face will be half buried in a pillow. So, yes. Don't forget to tell her about our side mission. Oh, you know, yeah. I'm sleeping now.

I'm getting to it. I'm perfectly fine with you making meta reminders of please ask this NPC about this thing we need to know about to cut down on Mark's time. I'm perfectly fine with that yeah okay so yeah learned co-pilot thing agreed to the job okay yeah

so there is one thing we require messenger ring back thanks Lucius okay choir. Messenger ring back. Thanks, Lucius. What's that? Just use a little sippy cup. Do I want to mention the wings of Ishtar? Sentry, do you want to go over it?

I can go over it. So we require a couple of items, but to get them we need to look for, I suppose, Starbane ships? Is there a way we can... Ah. As a kind of like...

I guess like scavenging, like space junk kind of stuff. But... Ah. like space junk kind of stuff. But is there a way we can look for baby old Starbane ships out here? Well, what are you looking for, Miss Century? Because that does change things. I should point out that the Valkyrian Empire, whilst I have no love for it, one cannot help but admire their tenacity and their organization skills. Things like their wrecks, they don't tend to leave them for very long.

Wrecks of, let's say, pirates managed to take down a Valkyrian warship well the pirates will have merely hours perhaps before another warship is sent to rescue them or uh recover it so there doesn't tend to be a lot of salvage in that regard the empire protects its technology very very carefully but that doesn't mean that there are not ways that such things cannot be acquired. What are you looking for? Okay, so we've got a couple of things. One of them, I think one of them was, I think there was Cygnets?

Or like badges? Somebody wants badges. They've asked us to get Cygnets. Cygnets, yes, I'm familiar with the term. I've had my encounters with the Valkyrian Empire before. Their technology sells quite profitably in the black market. Their signets are special devices,

normally bracelets, emblems, badges, rings, that sort of thing. They're coded to specific individuals, and it allows them to access parts of the valkyrian empire weapons ships um their war suits things like that um without those signets that technology doesn't work for other people it's one of their security protocols um they're generally manufactured in their foundries um the valkyrian foundries, there are some. They exist on certain planets in particular, most of which are heavily controlled by the Valkyrian Empire.

But there's a few that I can think of that could be potentials. What would they be? Well, I know that Gehenna and Avernus, both infernal planes, they have foundries. Now, the devils that inhabit these places, they work with the Valkyrian Empire

because of contracts and deals. But they aren't exactly loyal to Kallus, which means that sometimes smugglers can make their way inside to recover unbound weapons, unused signets

perhaps. But the devils themselves are dangerous to do business with, as you will find out for our little endeavor with Grazt. So that can be dangerous. Their planets are very hostile generally other options um archeron has a foundry on it it's home to the the orcs of archon very tough very warlike

honorable sorts but again they're they are not they are members of the Empire and fiercely loyal to Calus, but that doesn't mean that we cannot get access to their foundry. This would likely be more difficult to enter through subterfuge, but there may be ways around it. There is also Mechanus. Mechanus is currently home to the Modrons and the Primus, that construct beings, I suppose, like yourself, I imagine. Mechanus is a planet of lore.

The Primus and the Modrons are, well, you just can't simply, they don't understand the concept of lying. They don't understand the concept of, ah, everything is a bureaucracy. If you do not have the correct forms nothing will happen if you do not present them with official oversights they will not give you what you provide but modrons are not the cleverest creatures in the multiverse and things like that can be forged by the right people and then lastly which i think would be our best option for something like this,

is a place called Brass City. It is... The planet is more of a gas giant more than anything, but it has magical cities that float in it. Magic zones where people live. It is home to the Ifriti, the fire genies.

They are incredible at creating magical relics and scrolls, potions, artifacts, technology. They have a foundry there and they are not loyal to Kallus. They despise him. They work with him because they must, but they do not like serving another being that is not themselves. So that could very much be an option. Interesting. Loads of options. Yes, yes.

That is for the Cygnets anyway. Did you mention that there was something else that you were looking for? I think there was. Quill, do you know? Oh, yes. We need to get... Oh my god, none of you know what we're looking for! We need to get a detailed map of the Tassadar.

Tassadar. Kallus's warship. Well, you certainly have ambitions, don't you both? Ha. Acquiring the schematics of something like that. Places like Valkyrian

Archives are... They're so closely guarded. I don't even know where to begin looking for a facility like that. But I know somebody who could acquire these schematics. They are a criminal, a particularly dangerous and nefarious criminal that I have had dealings with in the past. Of course. Um, yes. You, the person that could achieve this is a being known as Zax Ravus, the Dark Sage. He is an Ultraloth.

They are a type of fiend, similar to devils and demons, but different. They are much more mercenary and out for their own interests. Zax Ravus runs one of the largest criminal organizations in the multiverse. If anybody can get you these schematics, it's them. I have worked with them in the past. Yes. I'll need to do some investigating through the system to find out where he currently is,

but I could find him if I need to. You can see that she's like, I don't want to, but I could. So it's either, from the sounds of it, fire genies who are able to potentially

create these signets? Well, I imagine that... Yes. Well, I imagine that with the Ifriti, they would not necessarily be responsible for making the signets themselves,

but if you got one of the noble genies, one of the noble Ifrit of the city, if you tell them that what you are doing is to countermand Kallus, I imagine that they would be willing to perhaps open certain doors for you to steal some you would have to deal with any valkyrian guards simply simply perhaps inferring what i would do how about that okay what do you know if in obtaining the signets they would also bypass any countermeasures the ship may have i don't know the exact details when i've used signets before in the past generally they allow you to access doors they will allow you to pass through

doors without having to pick the lock without without having to disable a security system. Things like surveillance would still recognize you as not being a member of the crew, purely on a visual basis, so you would need some sort of spell to disguise yourself, perhaps. But they would allow you to access doors, use any equipment that you find,

disable security systems if you can recover the correct codes, that sort of thing. They will allow you to interact with the ship as if you were a member of its crew. Okay. Would this...

Was it Zax Ravos? Zax Ravos, yes. Zax, I call him. Just call him Zax. He doesn't like it, but I don't really care. Okay, would he be able to also procure maybe some Valkyrian uniforms?

It's likely, yes. I imagine so, yes. He could probably do something like that, yes. Okay. Messenger ring. Hey, what else I'm sleeping I think that's everything isn't it

we have two options it's either the signets and the uniforms or the schematic which one sounds best because it was the wings of Ishtar said they would be able to do one of the two wouldn't they?

And it makes sense honestly it makes sense that they would go for the genies on Brass City because people who hate Valkyrian literal resistance group they get along very well rather than random crew asking for

signets Meanwhile Thalia she knows very well, rather than random crew asking for signets. Meanwhile, Thalia, she knows. Okay, I know you don't want to, this Zax, Zax Ravos, but it seems like you have an in.

Yes, I have. Please don't use the word in. Yes, I have. Please don't use the word in. Yes, I have a connection to Zax Raffus. Yes, I can. I will work with him. This may even kill two birds with one stone. There's some unfinished business I have with Zax. And if we can use him to...

He owes me, is what I him to he owes me is what I mean he owes me a few things and this may just deal with something that I've had on the back burner for a while okay as long as you are willing that is

yes if you can you've agreed to help I will you've agreed to help me with something very personal to me so then I think... If you can contact him, then please do. I will. You've agreed to help me with something very personal to me, so yes, I will. Okay. Not for your own. You get your own out of it, but I'm glad.

Well, this seems very... How businesslike, how wonderful. I'm glad that we have this partnership. I know our first impressions are normally quite haphazard and nervous and scared and terrified, but first time in astral space, we're astral

scared of astral everything right now. So we'll go get some astral sleep and we'll astral see you in the astral tomorrow? Are there astral tomorrows in Astral Space? You can think of it that way, yes. You're quite sweet. Yes, go get some rest.

And yes, Astral Space is a scary place. You're wise to be cautious. Just don't let that caution make you hesitate. Hesitating out here will get you killed, little bird. Okay, okay, okay. Little bird. Okay. Okay. Okay. Alright. Just say, we're Astral Week, and when we sleep, you can Astral and steal anything you want from us as well.

While you're at it. Just Astral kill us now. Right. Oh boy. Cool. In that case so unless you guys want to talk to each other yeah yeah I'll also

I guess I'll you sending to Wings of Ishtar I can't remember his name Zelion yep Zelion

and let him know his end of the thing in 25 words I'll tell him the mission he needs to do yeah yeah you're basically gonna say we'll take care of the sink of the um plans you take care of the signets we'll get the we'll get the schematics you get the signets sure and yeah he responds he responds in his deep bassy angelic

voice i am pleased i am pleased that you have found a solution. We will do our best to acquire what is necessary. I wish you the best of luck until we meet again in a deep, angelic, awesome voice. Okay. I rolled 87 on both of those sendings.

Nice. Cool. All right. Well, unless you guys want to chat to each other, which you can still do, while you take a long rest, how about that? You guys can take a long rest.

Go away! The first time ever. I was on 11 HP. Perfect. Nice. I had so few spells left. Spell slots left. Spell slots!

You know you can get HP back with short rests, or did you not have any hit dice left, Lucius? He got smacked up when we got chased off. It was the battle. Oh, that's true. He was the only one that you could hit just again and again and again. Yeah, that's true.

I love characters with low end stuff like that. I was weak. Nice. Good play. Well, yeah, you take a long rest. I love characters with low and stuff like that nice good play you take a long rest it passes uneventfully anybody who comes out of the room because there's no way to track the time you notice that

the other members of the crew seem to have an awareness of roughly when they should be sleeping and at some point Thalia emerges from the cockpit and goes to her quarters. And you see Bim make his way into the cockpit. And it seems that he, you don't get the impression that Bim ever sleeps. He doesn't seem to need to sleep or to eat. He just kind of exists and just does whatever he wants to do whereas the rest of them

yeah eat you probably have at some point Thalia has food with you all a very nervous Kairi comes down grabs a bunch of food goes bright red when she sees all of you looking at her and then runs back up to her turret and doesn't speak to anybody

big cat comes under the table and will eat anything that hits the floor. Anything that does not land on your plate, Big Cat has. And he normally gets his big paws up and he's looking at food on the table

like... Wow. Fabio kind of throws some space, some astral steak onto the astral floor where the astral cat eats it but yeah it's time passes until you know after some time

Thalia calls you to the cockpit I believe that several of you might want to see this. Out of your curiosity. She calls you all to the cockpit and you can see she gestures Quill to sit in the co-pilot seat. Bim is kind of like on his tiptoes

in between the two of you um and you can see he's got his little crystal pad up he's looking up and he's like ah yes yes here just here thalia um and he taps the the kind of like big kind of see-through screen uh and you see that in the astral in the kind of flowing purple gray misty hue of the astral sea you can see almost like a thin crack um with a slight amount of green energy coming out of it um very hard to see until it's pointed out to you quill you probably notice it uh and thalia's just like ah yes excellent work bim uh that's the breach point uh once we will travel through that and then we'll enter stick space um i thought that you might want to see what that looks like

and she puts her hands on the controls at all well it's better that you get used to it now it's a little off-putting um and she the ship kind of rolls although you don't feel it inside, and it banks and then it lurches forward. And as it touches this crack in the astral sea, you feel the ship is kind of almost sucked in and you emerge into a corridor of a kind of a cylinder where the inside of it looks very much like the astral sea did, this kind of like flowing purple gray mist. The outside of the cylinder is like you're trapped inside a hollow cylinder,

which is a swirling vortex of green, black, and crimson, woven together in strips of pulsating color that surges and flows like streams. At first, you don't notice them. It just seems like this kind of swirling mass of color all around you. But occasionally, when you're looking into the green vortex around

you, you can see the shape of humanoid figures, bestial creatures, or ominous shadows. Amid the vortex, they look at you with these empty, haunting eyes as their bodies stretch and elongate as they're pulled along the eddies and the

currents of the vortex. We call them astral souls. Nobody really knows what they are. The energy of the sticks can... It scrambles a creature's mind if you're exposed to it. It warms them into fiendish creatures. The legends say that they're the souls of creatures

who die in the Astral Sea and can't find their way home. And it's only because of them that the stick space actually works. They're harmless, but a little off-putting she kind of grins she looks around everyone like i'm showing you a spooky thing this is a dream this isn't real i don't like it oh no it's quite real you really must learn not to panic so much mr elf it's very harmful for you i think you're doing this on purpose. Doing what on purpose? This, and then she makes the ship rotate and roll.

And this time you do feel it. Like you're all kind of like, whoa. And she kind of like brings it back into a steady kind of drift. Super high pitch yelp. And then just dash to the crew cores. Meanwhile, Nova's having the time cores. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Meanwhile, Nova's having a time of her life. Your friends really should

learn how to do it. And what's Nova doing? Like, looking, like, trying to, like, on the back of the chairs, like, looking at the front? Getting as close to the the, um, not the window pane, the, the... It's like a screen, like a view screen, yeah, a viewport. I'm just getting as

close to the screen as possible and just like whoa! Farlia will put a hand on your scarf and like, no, don't get too close to that. Come on, if we have a break don't get too close to that. Just sit here and she kind of like

in fact, she pulls you into her lap. And she's like, if you want to look at it, you can look at it from here. And then she's like, poof, and sits you on her lap. And then she's kind of like leaning around you with her hands on the controls. Bright purple. Bright purple. But still, like, she doesn't know what to do. Like, there's a space, and then there's a soul, and then there's a cool thing.

But here's the question. And then she's sitting on the pretty lady's lap. Is Nova saying that or is Nova quiet? I think for once, Nova has gone quiet because there's just so much running through her head right now. She's short-circuited.

And you see Thalia looks back, she looks at like Century, Quill and Ayla and just kind of winks and mouths like, at least now she's quiet. And then she goes back to the plane. This exact posture. Don't move. Lean back that far.

She didn't know what to do! You feel like a little snake kind of like tickling your neck because you're leaning so back into Thalia that the snake is like like Oh god Little danger noodle Nope rope This is great, I love it

Do you guys want to talk about anything else or do you want to just jump ahead in some time? Is there anything you need to discuss? No I don't think so some time? Sure. Is there anything you need to discuss? No. I don't think so. I'm going to try and befriend Big Cat.

I want Big Cat to be my friend. Yeah. Big Cat likes you. Like, a hundred percent. Like, Big Cat sees the big, strong elf

and is just like, yeah, you're cool. And he's not like, he won't let you pet him, but he'll follow you is just like, yeah, you're cool. Uh, he's not like, he won't let you pet him, but he'll follow you around and like, kind of just like, you don't hear him purring, but you hear these occasionally like chattery noises,

like that chatter noise that cats do, like that kind of noise. Um, and he'll follow you around. He'll like sniff at you. Uh, and yeah, he just kind of looks at you um

expectantly big cat's cool yeah he doesn't take crap like if you like sit on the floor or like if you sit in the lounge big cat will come and sit by your feet and just kind of like sit there and clean himself while you're just like sat next to him. It's weird. He takes to you almost too quickly and too well. There's a very unnatural kind of bonding that goes on. Oh, fine.

Maybe. It's a flerken. It's a flerken. We got a mount. Can I ask? Technically, I think yeah, you could. Yeah, he is large. You could, well, he's medium, but he's on the big side of medium. So, maybe.

Alright, Quill, can you ask? Letting me pet him thing. Yeah, so yeah, you can start working on that. Yeah, it's like, you get the point like you can touch him and he doesn't growl that's like in in the first couple of like hours and stuff like you're like touch and he looks at you like and then you have to take your hand back he nods puts his head down um there's an element can i ask can i ask thalia about Pallador sure what do you want

so Thalia when we do get to what is hopefully Aroas it will most likely be protected by a ship yes the sun ship we've heard the legends

everyone has A Eros is something of a... it's a bit of a myth really. It's a bit of a legend. The kind of place that smugglers and pirates always talk about. The hidden planet that Calus doesn't want anyone to know about. It does somewhat arc the eyebrow, if you understand

my meaning. And the Sun ship protects it. Yes, well, that's the thing me and well at least when we've seen him before he has shown a recognition for both me and ayla i'm hoping that when we get there we will be able to communicate with him to at least well let him know that the twin star is not something to be you know do you have a way of communicating him it is difficult to see into the

cockpit I'm afraid we can see out but it is difficult to see in so you will need some sort of way to perhaps communicate I guess I've seen him before right so I can send him I suppose can I send a titan? You can try.

I mean, he exists, right? He is a thing. So I guess I could try sending him. I'm looking at the wording of it now, and it says you may send a short message to a creature with which you are familiar. So you can certainly try. I have seen him before. Sir, let us on the planet, bro! And I do know him. Like, I have seen him before. Let us on the planet, bro. And I do know him. Like, I know of him. So I could do ascending,

but then also in that it's like, hey, we're on a ship. It's called the Twin Star. It looks like this. It's got red on the wings and it's got like a big cockpit in the middle. Yeah. I'm not going to say anything because this is up to you.

Okay. Well, Thalia, what I was mainly wondering is I could potentially message him and give a forewarning that we're coming. I was just wondering if you had any ideas with the ship itself, how we could identify ourselves to another probably more primitive ship,

but a ship nonetheless ship nonetheless oh primitive certainly not no the sun ship absolutely not the the legends that they tell of the sun ship this this it must be ancient it might it must be one of the legendary uh genesis relics it must be the power of this ship the The stories that we hear, Kallus doesn't speak of Eros. His churches do not speak of it. They speak only of his conquests. But of course, people speak.

Stories are passed down. A soldier that served in Kallus' army back when he assaulted Eros, but perhaps changed his viewpoint, tells his friends, he writes it down, that becomes a blacklisted item that the Empire tries to recover, and a smuggler buys it, or a pirate, or a criminal. It gets degraded over time, but we manage to get fragments of it, and then another story from another source comes about. From my understanding, the Sun Ship was the only defense

against all of Calus' battleships and warships that he could manifest. It rained such power upon his fleet that Calus could not bring it all to bear. He was powerful enough to defend against even the Tassadar

legions oh yes of course yes absolutely legions of course these are just stories these are the stories ghost stories that we tell amongst

the crews but if that ship turns its attention on us, if it is as the stories say, well, I certainly hope that he does know it's you and your friend. Otherwise, this will be a... Well, I suppose it will be quick. Yes. I mean, there must be some truth to it.

The ship is out there still. If Starbane was assaulting Arois as much as he was, then the starship would be the first to go, being outside the cradle. But, I mean, that's another thing. Getting through the cradle, I... Your world is a mystery to me, Master Quillick, I'm afraid. You know more than I.

I can simply deliver you to the planet. After that, I'm afraid it is up to you and your friends. Okay, well, I appreciate the story. I'll do what I can, at least, to make sure the ship doesn't tear us to pieces instantly. Good to know. Good to know. Okay. That's all.

Alright. Okay. Yeah, unless there's anything else, we'll skip ahead some time. Probably about an astral day or so. So if there's anything, say now. Speak now, forever hold your peace. Yes.

I'm good. The journey so far goes without incident. On the first day after you enter the sticks, stuff does happen there. Thalia calls out, not in alarm, but she calls out, you know,

some of you are in the lounge, some of you perhaps are resting in your own quarters. Nova, you might be up, or Quill might be up in the co-pilot seat. But Thalia, her voice is projected throughout the ship. She's just like, we do have,

the ride may get a little bumpy in a moment. We're entering into a debris field in the sticks. I'm going to have to switch to fully manual piloting here and I may need to turn off the gravity dampeners. So be aware this may get a little bumpy. Oh no.

Okay. And my question is where is everybody on the ship? Can I go to the gunners? is where is everybody on the ship? Um... Can I go to the gunner's? I'll go to the south gunner thing. Why would

you guys, you know, look, it's like you think something's about to happen. So Quill is in the co-pilot seat, so you rush up to join Thalia in the cockpit. Use the help. That's right. Yep. Ayla is in the gunner turret, the one that Kyrie is not in. Lucius?

Krukor is gripping the bed. Just like under the blankets like... Okay. Nova? Hanging out with Bim wherever Bim will be. For now he's probably up in the cockpit because there's four seats.

So he's probably sat up there. He's probably kind of keeping an eye on the debris filled with Thalia. So you can be up there as well. So you, Quill, and Bim, and then Thalia in the cockpit. Sentry, where's you at? I think I'd be in the mess,

like tidying in the kitchen, pottering around, doing all that kind of stuff. Just like normal mum stuff? Like while the ship's like, we're about to enter a debris field and Sentry's like, oh, I better make sure in the kitchen pottering around doing that kind of stuff just like normal mum stuff like while the ship's like we're about to enter a debris field and century's like oh i better make sure the plates are packed away like do do do do do do do um i love it i love that sent sentinel prime with a little pinny on just like a living god way like i love it i love it um perfect um so quill and nova you guys are the the main two that

see this you see the upper head um in the sticks um there is a scattering of debris uh this is a very bad map i apologize i tried to make it look like old game. It looks like a really old 2D shooter game. And you can see that the debris here it's not asteroids necessarily. The debris here looks like huge chunks of a

stone building. The wreckage of a ship. It looks like enormous fossilized frozen trees floating through space. Like it's this chaotic mix of loads of stuff, but it's really dense and it's spread out throughout the entire central cylinder that you're currently flying through. Thalia is just like,

unfortunately, sometimes the sticks overlaps into other worlds, into debris fields, asteroid fields, that sort of thing, or even sometimes planets or areas. And it will copy some of the things it sees there. It generates mess like this. We should be fine as long as... And then there is a loud trilling alarm that seems to spread out through the cockpit. And Bim is just like, oh, oh, oh, by the by the nines, by the balls.

Valia, we have company. And he brings up a small little kind of like illusion projected from the console which shows that appearing through similar tears that you entered from are three ships. In fact actually no, let's roll a d6 before I do this. I forgot that I was

going to randomize. So who wants to roll a d6 for me? Oh you want one of us? Rhiannon does. Yeah. Yeah. Rhiannon does!

Okay. Sorry in advance. He's gonna roll a 6. That's alright. Two. Two. Okay. It's not too bad is it?

Not too bad. Alright I just need the right layer. I wonder if that means one ship. So yes. One ship. Hmm. yeah I just need the right layer so yes one ship you see

three ships emerge from similar tears these all appear to be when you look at them they are a kind of graying yellow in colorization. They look almost husk-like or carapace-like. They are studded with strange spines and fins.

And they look like they don't hold more than maybe one or two occupants at a time. They're much smaller than the twin star. But they appear out. They seem to orientate themselves and then immediately gun towards the twin star. Bim calls out. He's just like, Githyanki! Githyanki!

Thalia, they're raiders coming for us. There's probably more of them somewhere up ahead. And Thalia's just like, Alright, everyone. Hold on. This is going to get dicey. Ayla, I trust that you are up in one of the guns. If not, get into one now. Kairi, you too.

She turns back. Nova, my dear, I'm going to need you back in the engine and get your large, get your big friend Sentry to help you as well. Yes, ma'am. Anything to say, ma'am? Just make sure that your other Just make sure that Lucius is not going to, I don't know, hurt

himself. And then she immediately kind of turns her attentions to the controls. So everybody who has a station on the ship, and those of you who don't have one, so Lucius, I would recommend you familiarize yourself with the gunner actions. If you go to the newspaper tab, the journal, you should see handouts,

co-pilot actions, engine actions, and gunner actions, as well as the stats for the twin star longbow. Hello. You should be able to see those. These tell you how your station works. So this will tell you what actions you can take on your turn. These will tell you what damage the weapons do. These tell you all sorts of things.

Big Cat is up in the cockpit as well. He comes with his pot pads in. And they'll tell you what you can do and other stuff. When you guys did Descent into Avernus, this is very much based on the War Machine. So it's going to use similar stuff, right? But the first thing we need to do is roll some initiative. Is the first thing we're going to do.

Is that for everybody? Yes, that is. Or is it like the token for everybody? No, it's for everybody. Oh, that's a very good one. I didn't know if it was like twin star or you know versus these things no so thalia's piloting it so i'll use thalia's initiative for the ship itself um and then you guys will have your own turns to do your own actions Yep. D20 plus 3, so Nova, yours is 11, yes? Yep.

Hela, total? 10. 10? Quill, total? 18. 18. Century? 17. 17 total.

Lucius? 16. 16. Yeah, Century, you are technically in the engine station as well so familiarize yourself with engine cool um these three ships waste no time they come screaming out of the breach point and they are basically going to accelerate to get into a position to shoot at you but they already are each square on the map represents 20 feet by the way okay i mean at this point imagine that you are all traveling at the

same speed so they you can't really go forward unless thalia takes the boost action which is the dash action um but these guys just come in and they come blasting. Arcane Energy arcs out the front of these strange insect-like ships and it attempts to blast the Twinstar. Can somebody get the Twinstar stats up and remind me of its AC?

Just because I've got to flip through a lot of tabs otherwise. I can't see that. Oh, maybe I can. Sorry, I haven't said it so you guys can see it then uh okay got actions but no stats i've done it and i'll just i'll keep it up as well i've got it as well now um so the first laser blast uh is uh thalia kind of swerves the ship and the blast just kind of goes wide um as they take a shot at this thing uh the

next one however the next one will uh glance against the hull uh and it deals let me see here 2d6 plus four so it deals eight points of damage uh to the hull of the uh of the thing, which is not enough to go over the damage threshold. So actually, you don't take any damage. So the impact kind of sends the ship shuddering. You kind of feel like the blast hit the hull. But Nova in the engine room and Quill, you can see that no damage has actually been detected to the ship itself.

The blast wasn't strong enough to really give it enough umph um to do that uh cool yeah uh and then the last the final ship will take one more shot but this one also thalia manages to swerve and avoid uh as the blast smashes into a piece of debris nearby uh after enemy goes it is quillek and kular okay um so i will use the guide action uh which means i can help another station so what would that be because obviously with the gunner i imagine that's spotting ships pointing out targets things like that and how is that what are the other stations i can help with so so the helm which is engineering, which is the guys, you can do Arcana checks to basically help them make engineering checks. Or you can do, I guess it would also be perception for the pilot as well.

So for Thalia, if she has to make any piloting checks, which to navigate through this debris field, she's going to have to do. Okay. I will use. So when i make it against a station does that mean both gunners i'm assisting both of them or am i assisting one of you choose one you choose one so you could you choose ailer i'd imagine i know that kairi's a good shot already so yeah i'll assist ailer just to make sure she does hit the hit um okay so yeah i'll assist ayla just to make sure she does hit the hit um okay so yeah i'll assist sure so you make a perception check why even dc 13 no i even need to

you didn't need to so yeah you begin sending ayla like information like all right they're coming up on the left they're coming you know you kind of relay information to her to help her aim on your attack you you have advantage. Yeah. Aayla, you have advantage on your attack roll. Sentry, is there anything you would like to do? So, is it possible to hold an action in this? So, be like, you know,

if the ship takes damage. So, can I do that? Can I hold action, say if the ship takes damage, then I will attempt to help Nova charge the weapons and shields. Sure. Okay. Yeah. So you're, then I will attempt to help Nova charge the weapons and shields. Sure. Okay. Yeah. So you're going to hold your action to help Nova, basically. You can also just help her

now and then give her advantage on her check. So you could just take the help action and give Nova help now. Which is different, because you're in the same station. Yeah. So you're going to use your action and give Nova advantage on her check. Okay. Cool. I'll do that. Lucius. Yeah, so you're going to use your action and give Nova advantage on her check. Okay. Yeah. Cool.

I'll do that. Lucius. What is Lucius doing at this time? I will attempt to help in some way, so I'll get out of crew quarters and look around panicked and then go to one of the gunners. Because I didn't have the tour, though, can I roll a d4 to see which gunner I am?

See which one you go to? Sure. we'll say evens for Aayla's, odds for Kairi's. One. So you go, and you're like, oh, there's two. And you begin climbing up the ladder

that you can see that leads up. And all you see is a feathered wing. You see this young girl's face turn around she kind of goes bright red um and she's just like uh and then this uh well we'll see uh make a you can just take that help action actually so you're just going to try and what point out like targets and help her while she's looking at me if the uh a ship comes into visible range i'll be like look shoot it and then she turns around yeah so and she's like um you probably probably should be up here

and then she kind of turns her attention back to it but yeah you've given her the help action perfect right uh nova is there anything you would like to do can i charge the weapons, please? Yes, you can do that. So that is an Arcana check? Yeah. Yes, yes. So DC 10. And then also, do I have advantage as well from Sentry?

You do, yes. I mean, you've already succeeded, for sure. Let's see how much more I succeed i got 25 and an 18 you did so yeah it doesn't it very quickly you send power to the weapons which gives them three shots before they need to be recharged um so you send the sufficient power to both weapons they can now fire three times before you need to recharge them. So is that three turns? Or is it three shots? Three shots. Three shots. So, for example, Aayla has extra attack, which means she can shoot

twice. That's two shots. Right, I see. Oh, does that apply here? Oh, okay. Yes, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can use extra attack. Yeah, for sure. It's your skill of being able to, like, find the targets and fire quickly and stuff. Or the trigger fast enough. Yeah. Cool. Nova, that's your skill of being able to find the targets and fire quickly and stuff. Pull the trigger fast enough. Yeah, cool.

Nova, that's your go. Ayla, you may take a shot. Hello. Okay, so it's with advantage because Quill has... It's giving you an A, yes. It's a good job. Fucking hell!

Wow, three and a two. Roll 20 hates Katie. It's like good job. Fucking hell! Oh my god, Katie. Roll 20 hates Katie. It's like twos and ones, two natural 20s, nothing. This entire thing. So yeah, you buy two shots, but they go wide. So that doesn't work, and then the second one. These little ships

dart around. The first ship darts to the side. 13's okay. 13 plus 6. 19. 19. Just managed this to catch one of these. Oh, actually, it does it.

I'm looking at the wrong ship stats. It's hit 18, it says. That's your... No, that's the damage it deals. That's just like the auto damage. Well, you're going to roll the damage if it hits. Kairi does the default damage. Sadly, these raiders are extremely agile

and they zip out of the way. I'm never going to hit! If I can't hit with a 19, I'm never going to do it I mean you guys can still if you want to use stuff like using spells

like bless you can do stuff like that like you have ways of boosting your own skill checks I'm guessing my advantage doesn't go

for both of her attacks it's just the first one no it did it was for both attacks yeah she rolled it with advantage right

I think the second one you didn't roll an advantage on, I mean. Yeah, she did. Oh, you did, yeah. Sorry, I didn't see you rolled a 3, 2, 3 and 13. Oh my god. Yeah, thanks, Robert. He's gonna murder you.

It's a good thing you're socially isolated right now. So I do absolutely nothing this turn. Okay. Thalia manages to keep... Yeah, okay uh thalia manages to keep yeah exactly thalia manages to keep the ship from impacting into any of the debris but uh because you're basically going at the same speed as these raiders she does not gain any advantage on them for now um but she does manage to avoid smashing into anything the raiders will first make a test to see if they can avoid being smashed. Yes, they just do.

Yeah, all three of them do. And then they are going to shoot at you some more. As they do so. Miss. Hit. And a miss. So again, three volleys come in, but only one of them really connects.

Bloody hell. Roll in not great damage. Bloody hell. This one, again, also... Roll 20 hates everybody. It does hate us a lot. The damage just glances across the hull. And yeah, just nothing.

Nothing significant happens as the ship takes on the blast. Oh, I forgot about Kairi's attack, actually. She will take a shot at one of them. She also misses. She's too panicked by Lucius being there. Whereas Lucius is like, oh, she had advantage, actually. Because Lucius gave her one.

So Lucius, you point out, like, there's one there! And she kind of throws the controls and fires and the blast comes flying out and smashes into one of these smaller ships i'll do a little uh oh she does the default damage so one of them takes uh 18 points of damage um so you can see the blast hits into the carapace of this ship it nearly knocks it off pace it does cause a mishap so do you want to roll Lucius you roll for me a d20 okay so it went past the threshold then 16 I went past its threshold so you can see that the armor on the outside of this carapace of this little fighter a huge chunk of it has been

blown off and you can now see like internal structures and workings its damage threshold is reduced until that is repaired which these ships can't repair themselves. Hey look what you did to that ship that's really far in the like it was that's it. Yeah Lucius you are now

looking into that green swirling vortex of these horrid souls flying around and it's terrifying. Lucius, you are now looking into that green swirling vortex of these horrid souls flying around and it's terrifying as you do so Quillek I am going to do again

use the help action on Aayla and sort of point at the same one and say okay, now aim a little bit further ahead. Now you know how to slow the bullets travel. A little further ahead. Try again. Try again this time. Oh my god, I'm Falco!

Yay! He's so happy. Bird in space! He's so happy. Bird in space. He's so happy. Oh, 11. Mr. Big Boy Perception, you are trying to call out, but the ships come streaming past.

It's hard to get a bead on them. You're trying to call out to Ayla, but there's just too much going on that you unfortunately do not guide her this turn. Sentry. I think I'll use the help of action again on Nova and give her more advantage. Give her advantage.

I just say to her, you know this better than I do. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know. Woo! High five! High five! And yeah, Nova, you know that if certain systems get damaged, Sentry's going to have to fix them because they normally require brute strength. Lucius. I'm going to ask the bird lady.

What sort of energy does this thing fire? I don't know It just shoots light Or something You can see like she's not freaking out Because of the fight She's freaking out because you're here She's just like

And she's like looking around But like the fight doesn't bother her When she's like focusing she's just like But your presence Is freaking her out really bad. Is that it? You just ask a question? I'm going to cram into the gunner seat with her because I feel like I'm helping. Oh, dude!

Okay, hang on. I'm going to make a check for her. Oh, no. She f***s out. When you're, like, trying to trying to like get into the seat with her She's like wait what are you doing And she's gonna shove you I'm stepping on things Make an acrobatics check or an athletics check

For me I better not break her little figures She got a 15 11 No she shoves you and you fall down the ladder Like she's like ah And she panics and like shoves you And then you down the ladder like she's like and she panics like shoves you and then you're like down below i'm sorry and then she calls out as she does so but yeah like getting

in her personal space freaked her out and she just was like uh nova lucius is the only person who could die inside a ship that has taken no damage i'm a jet nova um i can't decide weapons or engine the weapons you don't need to well you could charge ayla's weapon the weapon is wait is it three each or is it three all together because three shots have been fired you've got extra attack yeah we'll do we'll do it with um attack. So it's like, using extra attack is one shot, but even though you get to fire twice. So three turns, effectively, yeah. Okay. Otherwise it's... In which case

I will do a boosty check. Okay. So Arcana check. Arcana, okay. Yes. If you fail the check by five or more... Oh, yeah. 28. Oh, that was a natural 20 as well. It was a natural 20.

So you watch as, yeah, you call out, you kind of, yeah. Do you say anything to Thalia or are you just like, engage boost? Captain, I'm giving it all she's got. I was waiting for you to do that. All right. Two, three, four, five. I was waiting for you to do that alright two three four five yeah and you hear her just like

excellent work sweetheart and then she rams forward on the controls and you feel the ship lurch as you can only do that boost action by the way Kim I didn't put this in the notes only three times can you do a boost and then it needs an extended rest it needs like a time only do that boost action, by the way, Kim. I didn't put this in the notes. Only three times can you do a boost.

And then it needs an extended rest. It needs a time for the ship to regain its energy. The nitrous needs to refill! Yeah, you don't get Vin Diesel's nitro. Ayla? They're out of range, so I can't shoot them, so I'll take the aim action.

You can do it, yeah, you can aim, yeah. Take the aim action for the next turn. Okay, perfect. That will just give me advantage next time. Yes, yeah, it will. Thalia, however, unfortunately on this turn, actually, no, 15, yeah, she still gets gets enough she manages to avoid any more of the debris um as the ship kind of like flies in and out in between this these large chunks of detrius

uh of various forms a huge stone column comes spinning through um but she manages to avoid it uh at the top of the round oh and then kairi is the last one to go she's out of range she will take the aim action as well uh the enemy will try and surge forward um they can take the boost action once which they will do now they will go one two three four five and then they will make checks to see if they can successfully pilot one guy goes smashing into something. The other two are fine. But one guy takes and I'll say this is the one that was damaged by Kairi's blast earlier. One guy takes

where's D10s. You watch as one ship gets too close to a huge fossilized tree and he just doesn't manage to get out of the way as this huge trunk comes slamming down on the front of the ship where the armor had already been ripped off. It just explodes

into like light and you just watch as the tiny little ship just pops apart basically. Bye! As it does so. Oh my god. But then they're going to take a couple of shots in the ship's direction. However, I am rolling as bad as Katie,

so only one of them were hit. And this one does 11 points, which is over the threshold, so the ship takes 11 points of damage total. Not mishap damage. No mishap damage, which is good.

That's the main thing you want to avoid. Sure. And yeah, after those guys go, it's another round. So, Quill, your turn. Okay, knowing that... I guess we're communicating and, like, Katie's using aim. Yeah, yeah, you can just

shout and stuff to each other. I will then communicate with Kairi for the first time and say enemies this way, I guess I've got like a compass on me and like a radar type thing, right? I think I killed your friend! Which one, Lucius?

Focus on the bad guys, the actual bad guys! You pushed him! Sure. Make it second to me. Sure. Perception. 27. Wow.

Alright, so she's in Vantage. Hey, cool. Sentry. Perfect. I'll do the help again. Okay. If you want to go to somebody else, if you want to go and help somebody else,

you can do. You don't have to stay in that position. But yeah, you can help Nova. I mean, to be honest, it does help. Okay. You're just assisting Nova in the engine room. Lucius, you are currently prone at the bottom of some stairs. I'm going to get up and then... I'm sorry!

I'm going to just dart my eyes to all the different exits from this central area. It's like, I could go to the cockpit and help there. I could go to the other gunner and help there. Go to the engine. And I'll just messenger ring. Does anyone need help or something? I don't know what to do.

Right. And that's the response you get. Nova. They're all still charged, aren't they, for weapons? Weapons are still charged. Two more turns of shooting. They are, okay. You can just basically be like, yeah, I'm gonna

hold my action, I'm not gonna do anything this turn. I'm just thinking of doing another boosty, I'm just thinking of trying to get us ahead. I guess I'll shout up and be like, what do you want? Boost?

Shield? Or engines? No, shield, or engines? No, guns! And then can I hold my action until Captain Quill or Captain Talia tells me what to do? Sure. All right. Sounds good.

Ayla? I will shoot, I guess. Sure. You have advantage. Yep. A-C, you have advantage. Good job. I still rolled a faggot two.

You've got 18, plus six, 24. And the second one, 14 plus six. 20. Both of those hit. So resolve the damage, Emily, so it's 3d10 plus 6. 20. Both of those hit. So resolve the damage so it's 3d10 plus 2. That's a lot of damage. 17, 18, 19.

And 13, 14, 15. 15. So the second small raider, I'm not even going to roll mishap because these two shots from Ayla, and you feel the whole kind of little turret that you're in kind of rocks and shudders as you fire.

The two blasts of light smash into the insect carapace and it just crumbles into nothing, into space dust, into astral dust as the two blasts hit. Ayla. I think I'm getting the hang of it now. This is really cool. Thalia calls out,

great shot, kid, but don't get cocky. Nova. I don't know. I didn't know you were going to do that. We're getting all our rocks off today. She will call back she deathly avoids another large piece of debris and then calls back and is like Nova as soon as Kairi finishes shooting hit that boost

affirmative captain Kairi takes a shot but is too busy looking over the railing to make sure that Lucius is dead oh she has advantage thank you I remembered which is a hit so thanks to Quill's

guidance she takes a shot she just does 18 I gotta remember she just says wow 18 she shoots perfect so yeah the blast hits and you can see the other you can see the other Raider is now kind of skimming and stuttering and kind of falling all over the place. It does suffer a mishap as well.

And you see that it's, it's main cannon explodes and then the Raider just sort of peels away and gives up because it no longer has a gun. And that is where we're going to finish today's episode as the engine boost. So we'll make it just to see because Nova can fuck up the boost. So Nova, hit the boost. I accidentally rolled completely the wrong thing there. So ignore that one.

Just make another roll. Let's do another roll. 20 on one. And well, what are you going to take from the first one? Like 19 plus 8, I guess? No, yeah. Because I had advantage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just take the 19.

So without any problems... Keep rolling. Without any issues, the ship flies forward. And you seem to have escaped the pursuers. And you seem to have escaped the pursuers. However, those, I think, for Quill and Lucius, who are the closest to the cockpit, you do hear Bim sort of like,

this is, three raiders isn't very many. I don't know. Something's not quite right here. And she's kind of looking things over. And you begin to feel a kind of warping in space as a much larger vessel appears. I think they were running from something! As another ship appears.

A giant mollusk. A giant mollusk-like nautiloid. I don't like that. Five big tentacles. Tendril. Definitely illicit. Definitely illicit.

And that's where we're going to end today's episode as the nautiloid reaches through into thick space um that was the warm up that was the tutorial guys

that was the like learn how the ship yeah that was so fun we took no damage do a barrel roll you did take hey Einstein

I'm on your side gee I've been saved by Fox how swell so uh yeah we just need to get we need to get a sentient frog and a sentient rabbit and a sentient fox and then then you've got it complete tom get old get old slippy old slippy and hit we got we got Big Cat already.

That's true. That'd be Star Wolf. We don't align with Star Wolf. Alright, calm down now. Nobody cares about your Lilat Wars fantasy. Andross's enemy is my enemy. Shut up! Tom Fox!

Alright, perfect. Well, thank you much, everybody. Thank you for all your support on any platform. We appreciate it. Go and check stuff out. We will see you next week. Have a lovely Sunday. We love you. We miss you. We'll see you soon. Bye-bye. Bye! Thank you.