High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #74 | Criminal Negotiations (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 8, 2020

It's time to meet Captain Thalia's contact and begin some criminal negotiations! 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

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Learning to water ski. Applying sunscreen to your dad's back. Yep, definitely the best summer ever. Squeeze more summer out of summer with Skip. Did somebody say skip hello everyone welcome back to high rollers a dungeons and dragons podcast in the world of eroes run by dungeon master mark shawlock humes with me tom playing keelakad khalad cleric wizard i am chris trott i'm playing lucius virion eloine elenastro and i am a high elf sorcerer hi i'm

riannon i'm playing sentry i am a guardian paladin hi i'm katie i'm playing ayla 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. Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset.

Create your free account and speed up your campaigns today. Hello, and welcome back to Erois. Hello and welcome back to Erois. Our party are currently traveling through astral space, trying to return to their home plane of Erois. They have escaped a planet of angels controlled by their enemy, Calus Starbane, met with a rebel cell of Celestials, and made friends with a Medusa ship captain who has agreed to transport them for a fee. Aboard Thalia's ship, the party have made plans to infiltrate one of Calus' warships,

but they must first obtain schematics of the ship's layout and design. Captain Thalia has told them about a criminal contact she has, an ultraloft named Zax Ravess, who owes her a favor. While traveling through the Styx, a demi-plane that allows for faster travel between the different worlds, the ship and party come under attack by an illithid Nautiloid, a psychic spelljammer ship

that attempted to capture them. Fending off a boarding party, psychic attacks, and escaping the Nautiloid's grasping tentacles, they escape. Sadly, Thalia loses a member of her crew, the Scholarly Navigator Imp, Bin. And that is where we pick up today's episode.

We're going to do a little bit of, not necessarily, we're going to do a little bit of time skip slash montaging because there are several days still to go on the journey you have 11 days before you arrive in arois and there's a few things you want to kind of do on the route so my question is going to be and we can take turns or if anybody has anything in particular they want to do or say um is really just how do your characters fill the time uh the ship is kind of limited in space so there's not really a lot of places to do

you know any you know big projects or really have much time alone you're kind of uh condensed into a couple of living quarters and then the main lounge most of the time um the only real kind of schedule there is is food apart from that you just have hours and hours of not really doing that much. And then we'll talk about some of the stuff that the NPCs are doing. But generally, yeah, you guys have got like a couple of days. So now is if there's anything you guys want to talk about, if there's NPCs you want to talk to, if you guys want to make plans amongst yourselves, now is the time to do it. Or we can just skip ahead and pass over stuff.

Yes, Kristrop. Lucius, immediately, as in I imagine it won't take days to do this, but we'll check in on Harpy Lady. Kairi. And try and make waves with her because I felt like

the Tara incident was pretty awkward and there was a lot of attention on her and Lucius will try and make amends and just take some time to kind of gain a rapport with her, I think. Okay. Okay. Alright. What about anybody else and then I'll jump around and do like

RP bits like when I've got a vague idea of what everyone wants to do. Because there might be ways that stuff syncs up and things like that. So just in terms of time, is this enough for me to get the Eye of the Storm back as well? I mean, well, how many days until it refreshes? You know, some.

You've got to be tracking it. I think I got it back on the first day of the holiday, right? And that was like a couple of days of Hadar and then a day in the thingy and then X amount of days travelling. Well, right now, there will be three days

before anything happens. So, it's not been a full week, I don't think. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is... There's three days, so... You've got three days...

Yeah, I mean... Tomorrow at the end of the montage. Yeah, okay. Cool. Okay. Anything else? Can I see if someone can help to put the upgrade onto the Howling Tempest? You will not be able to do that on the ship, sadly,

just because the ship doesn't have facilities for for like like forging and making materials and stuff like that you have i thought i thought nova i thought that nova and quill could do it or lucius he said the guys yeah the thing is is the guys can do it but you need somewhere like a forge like a blacksmithsmith's forge or somewhere where you can actually You failed to tell me that part of it, Marku. I think I did say that it would, all of the upgrades would need some sort of way to actually be applied. Like, the guys can do it, but you need

tools. You need things like, you know, yeah, blacksmithing tools, inscribing tools. Like, any kind of major city will have this, but, yeah. Or maybe you can find somewhere that will have, like any kind of major city will have this, but yeah. Or maybe you can find somewhere that will have like something similar, but the ship is very small and doesn't have the facilities to do that unfortunately. Fine. I don't have anything else.

Okay. I think Sentry would just go around repairing the ship trying to help out Valia wherever she can. Okay. So just like doing physical work around the ship and stuff like that. Yeah. Okay. Nova? So I'm guessing I've probably left

most of the bits to project flock together back on Aroas. I feel like she got the kind of final bits made at the Cerenzia or whatever. Our super fun island time.

So yeah. You had it done back in the port. Yeah, yeah. So I guess I can't really... I mean, I can summon an air elemental if you want to smack the crap out of that. Do you want to do that on the ship? I feel like close quarters on a ship

is perhaps not the safest place to do that. In which case, I think Nova would, with Captain Thalia's permission, try and read as much as she can. Like, if Bim has any notes, I don't know if Bim has any notes or data slabs or anything. I think she would try and just inhale as much

knowledge as she can about the ship, about navigation, about, like, you know, I think she would definitely be looking towards, like, trying to find out more about Ganas, about her homeworld, and then also, I guess, yeah towards like trying to find out more about ganas um about her home world um and then also i guess yeah just trying to yeah just uh pick up maybe where bim left off sure sure um okay so going back around and starting with lucius yeah lucius uh on the first day it

doesn't take you much uh you know it's a small ship uh kairi is she's a harpy so she has feathered wings she has big taloned feet um her hands are more claw like they're humanoid but they're long elongated with sharp claws but the rest of her is not too dissimilar to a young sort of maybe in her like very late uh sorry a very early 20s um young woman and you there is a moment where for the first couple of times you try and approach her every time you try and get nearer she immediately changes direction and like tries to walk away or like anytime anybody kind of gets nearer she like runs back up into her little turret nest um and doesn't appear but if you keep persisting if you keep trying to kind of you know say hello and things like that eventually she manages to kind of get a few words out here and

there where she'll just be like hello yeah i'm fine thanks thanks i've got to go and then she'll run off and then the next time you know you kind of speak to her she'll just be like uh yeah hi is there something I can help you with is there anything you need I don't really know anything oh I don't believe that I'm sure you know plenty that we don't know we're from a planet

where we've never left and done space travel so what is there out here you know what you do in space um well i i kind of just thalia kind of joined thalia and she needed a gunner so and i'm kind of a good aim so uh sometimes i i shoot stuff and how do you know you're a good aim what did you do training to go to an academy or something no i don't i don't i don't know i just she just just well i just i i she maybe like target some rocks once and then

i shot them and i hit them and she said i was a good shot i i look and she kind of like covers her face and you can see that it's kind of a habit of hers that when she kind of goes bright red she completely covers her face with her giant claws um and then she kind of like like takes one weight one down she's like look you're very nice i if you couldn't tell i i really struggle talking to people because i i get very very anxious when people are looking at me and i i come from a world where they don't really know much about any of this stuff. My people, the Harpies, we're kind of just like, we're not very educated,

so I don't know how any of this stuff works. Thalia found me. I had run away from my family, and I was lost, and people were being quite horrible to me and she found me and she brought me in and she's been trying to teach me this stuff

but I don't get it I don't understand any of it I just know that when I push the buttons it makes the magic fire out and I've slowly been figuring out how to do that. I sing

sometimes. You sing? Wonderful. Not with anybody. Nobody's allowed to listen. It's only when everyone's asleep. Right. Well, I'll be sure to plug my ears if you do try singing. That's probably a good idea. You're very nice, Mr.

Lucius. Just this is hard okay I'm gonna go don't worry I understand don't worry just just quickly don't forget that we absolutely know nothing about spaceships as well

we know literally zero so we've got that in common at least and although I'm from a very wealthy manor house, I learnt barely nothing. So even though I was given everything, I literally know very little

about the situation I'm in right now and I'm sure the others of our party. They're all very nice too. Maybe someday you could join us for a communal meal or something. And we could all get to know each other a little better. We're all stuck in this vessel.

Can you tell them not to look at me, though, to start with? Just don't look at you. And I look around. She kind of like, there's like a little laugh, like a proper sort of like, yeah, that's actually really nice. Thanks.

Anyway, I'm keeping you. you go off and do your thing okay thanks yeah uh she goes back up into a turret and then i think probably at some point lucius something is slid under the door like later on the first night after you talk to her something is slid under the door and it looks like a little no it's like a little metal disc exit file um it's a little metal disc with a piece of paper that says play this uh and then it just has a k like it really and it's the writing is clearly somebody that doesn't know how to write very well because it looks like it's been written very crudely um but it's just like a little disc uh and it just says play this um very sweet i'll inform the party via messenger ring about my progress with her and how everyone should currently approach her based on what i've

managed to achieve and that we shouldn't maintain eye contact that sort of thing and i'm encouraging her to come to dinner with us you you know, that sort of stuff. Okay. I'm sure other people will try as well. Do you play the little disc? Like, you can find, like, there's a system on the ship where you can put it in. Yeah, it's... When no one's around.

Yeah, when no one's around. It's a Shansara music, like, song. Like, it has, like, a little illususory shansara and it's a really poppy preppy upbeat song like a little k-pop song um i'm gonna start learning it right okay yeah and yeah it's very but here we go yeah it's very there's lots of dancing involved there's lots of like illusory dancing and special effects and things. Do you learn the dance moves? Do you learn the dance moves?

Yeah. Sure, okay. All right, so on his own in your bedroom when no one else is around, Lucius learns the Astral Pop Star dance. Perfect. Yeah, it's very Macarena. Okay, perfect. Century, you wanted to kind of just help things around so nova as well i'm assuming at parts you are just generally helping repair

the ship and stuff as well um yeah yeah so the two between the two of you by the way any remaining systems that weren't fixed are fixed and the hull is repaired by a hundred hit points so over like three days you guys are going to manage to repaired by 100 hit points. So over like three days you guys are going to manage to repair about 100 hit points of hull. A lot of it involves when Thalia learns that Sentry doesn't need to breathe, there's a lot of

discussion of, well perhaps Sentry could just go outside and patch some of the holes and things like that. Yeah, but it's kind of quickly abandoned by the fact that she would probably still freeze to death if out there for any lengthy period of time.

But yeah, you guys spend some time fixing things. The one thing, Sentry, make a make a perception check for me. Dorky. That's a 14 check for me. Dorky. That's a 14 total. 14.

You, at some point, perhaps late at night, when the others are resting and you are, you know, got some, you know, you don't need to rest as much as the other characters, you head towards near the cockpit where you can hear you hear this very slurred drunken voice um from the cockpit uh that is captain thali you can recognize her signature kind of voice with the the hissing s's and things like that and you just kind of hear this kind of drunken rant of like just my fucking life does the multiverse just want me to keep on suffering or something was i really this bad deserve all of this

fuck and you hear like a big slamming on the counter and like a smashing of bottle and then it very quickly turns into like a quiet sobbing coming from inside um you can just hear these kind of choked back tears and this kind of labored breathing and seething. Like you can hear the sounds of somebody just kind of quietly mad at themselves whilst they're struggling not to cry. Does Sentry do anything or do you just leave it for now? I think she'd probably try and quietly sort of like to peek around and just see if like she's okay.

Yeah. Are you trying to be unnoticed or do you care if you are noticed? I think she'd try and like pretend like she's doing something else. Like maybe she's pretending to like sweep the floor or something and just. Okay. Keeping a close eye on her. So you're like trying to pick up things or something and just... So you're trying to pick up things or something like that. You do that and

at first you're kind of unnoticed and you can see that Thalia is... There's a few empty bottles. Glass, kind of long, thin bottles that are scattered around her chair. She currently has her boots up on the cockpit and she's just leaning back with her hands

over her face and you can just hear these kind of like restrained sobs. And then she kind of seems to like sniff, kind of pull herself out of it, sit back up and she seems to notice you're there.

You're not very good at keeping quiet, Miss Century. I hope you're not spying on me. Oh, no, no, I was just sweeping up a little bit of astral dust. Is that what you'd call it? Astral dust? Hmm,

astral dust, sure. Whatever, whatever you say. Do you think I'm a bad person, Miss Sensory? Of course not. Not at all. I've actually come to really admire you in the short time

we've known each other. You don't know if you would say that if you knew me before. That's very kind of you to say now. We're all a ragtag bunch of misfits, I think. No matter what we do in our past, it's what we do

now that makes the difference, right? It's what makes us good people. You have a very good heart to you. You shouldn't stay out here in astral space. It's not meant for people like you. Too many people out here just care about themselves. Care more about what happened in the past

than they do care about what happens in the future. I used to be someone once. I was a princess of planets I was all taken away quite rightly in some ways and yet so unbelievably unfair in others

all I've got left is this ship you've done a very good job of it so far I think you're extremely capable capable yes going around stealing and smuggling it's hardly the life I imagined for myself

but I suppose I'm free suppose I can help out a few people where I can and she looks in the direction of the turret where Kairi's sleeping and Big Cat. You're very kind. Well, I used to know a princess, so I guess you're the second one on my list.

It's an honour to meet another princess. It was a very, very, very long time ago. Well, it's certainly any right I had to such a title has long since passed. But that's very sweet. I imagine, what, I'm going to guess you were a bodyguard.

Oh, pretty much. Au pair of sorts. You seem a protective thought Was she quite young, I take it This princess of yours She was 15 when we last spoke Ah, well I'm sure that you must have helped her grow into quite a Quite a little character

Well She really was She was she must have helped her grow into quite a quite a little character well she really was she was she was cheeky but she had a good soul she was strong like her mother fiercely independent aren't we all at that age

I certainly was you say was so I won't trouble you with the difficult memories of asking what happened. I think that your friends are very lucky to have you around. I'm lucky to have them.

I've not... You know, we've heard stories, legends about guardians. You're the first one I've met. It's quite an honor, in a way. You're the first one I've met. It's quite an honour in a way. My family knew of the old legends from the time before. It's good to meet you as well. You're the first

Medusa I've met. I've met a lot of very unique and interesting people since I've met my party of friends. She seems to get a little bit more saddened when you kind of point out the Medusa thing.

But she doesn't seem to take offense. It's more that it obviously brings up a sad memory. I hope that you don't meet any other Medusa. We're not meant to be nice. It's a punishment it's a curse and many don't take to it as well as i have luckily i've got this and she holds up a bottle of some sort of clear

liquid this helps keep me a little bit sane. And she takes a big glug of it. Anyway, go back to your friends. Keep sweeping for astral dust, if you must. I think I should probably get some sleep myself. Well, do you want me to sit out here for a little bit and keep an eye on things? Would you like a hot drink? Hot chocolate or something? Sure.

Why not? We have to live a little sometimes. Sounds good. Live a little and have hot chocolate. Yeah. And by the time you come back from making it, she's fallen asleep. You can just see the bottle drooping out of her hand and just a soft snoring as you come back from making it she's fallen asleep uh you can just see like the bottle sort of like drooping out of her hand and just a soft snoring as you come back where she's passed out

can i carry her to her bed and just put tuck her up in bed and then keep yeah she's passed out enough that she doesn't notice uh when you take her in fact actually i hadn't thought about this i wrote information about her in a while ago when you take her in fact actually I hadn't thought about this I wrote information about her a while ago when you take her to her quarters it's the first time any of you have been in them and it opens up into the room almost looks like nobody slept in it for a while or used it

for a while the only thing that you really notice is that there is a crate of bottles similar thin glass bottles of unopened alcohol in one corner there's a small shelf which has a series of books

like little fiction books that all have they all have titles like Hard Night and The Dead of Night and things like that um they all have quite like gaudy colors and bright like fonts and titles on the spines um and you also notice that there's

a little kind of half pulled out from under her bunk little trunk um and inside you can see what appears to be a piece of green fabric um very beautifully made with very delicate uh leaf designs and elven almost in make um some sort of like piece of clothing that's been stored and it looks like it's recently been pulled out and opened um but you kind of lay her on the bed and she just is like and a kind of drunken mutters to herself but doesn't seem to stir or wake up or anything like that but there's nothing else really in the room okay i'll just still quietly just say i'm sorry about them i'll i'll do better next time and then just close the door oh, and just leave her to it. Nice. Cool. Nova,

it doesn't take much, and yeah, Thalia, there's almost an element of... There's an element of coldness in the way that this happens where you ask for permission to go through Bim's notes, and she just plucks the little crystal slab that he used and just

seems to give it to you without looking at it. She's just like, yeah, sure. Take it. Do what you want with it. I can't make heads or tails of his system. But there's... Make an insight check for me, actually, as Nova. Insight.

Oh, minus one. Cool. nova's not the best at reading people i rolled a natural one mark so that'll be a zero yeah i guess like i guess it's up to you how nova feels about this but thalia is super disrespectful like it's just she just tosses you this data pad and it's just like, yeah, knock yourself out. And just doesn't seem to care. Like, doesn't seem to show any sort of care about Bim or anything else.

Quite rude. But yeah, you, if you analyze the notes, Bim, the little imp, for all of his, yeah, strangeness, kept very detailed scholarly notes about places that he

had been, that he'd visited he was quite the little yeah, like a little scholar really, like a little plain ass scholar and he has detailed notes of different planets, he has the maps the navigational maps, he has

an extensive collection of notes which relate to Erois, which is known as the Lost Planet. And it's basically a collection of stories, a collection of what appear to be recovered data files of ships

that tried to find it. And he's slowly, and it looks like he's been working on this for maybe decades maybe centuries where he's just been piecing together little pieces of information about how to find it and it was like his little his little mystery that he was trying to solve right like his little i'm gonna do it i'm gonna find the the magic planet that everybody says doesn't exist um there's probably yeah there's that little there's that little pang of sadness as you realize like oh you would have you would have been so excited uh but he's dead now so yeah

i didn't even prepare it because quill doesn't want to use necromancy spells, which apparently it's not anyway. It's not even a necromancy spell. Ah, well. Ah, well. In terms of Genas, it's not... Bim doesn't have the most detailed notes on it because it doesn't seem to be a planet

he was particularly interested in. His planets more relate to the infernal planets, to the celestial planets um to gideon prime but what he does have is it makes a couple of facts quite clear one ganass is firmly loyal to the valkyrian empire um but only in yeah like recent recent centuries um judging by the notes that bim has you think that when vorten sar came to arois when it was swapped with jasavir uh the valkyrian empire wasn't in control of ganass at the time um but it has recently since then become heavily under the sway way of it um jasavir is not really referenced but there is rumors uh bim has notes that report on a the arrival of elves from another world uh these were quickly assimilated into ganass culture

but then when the valkyrian empire came they were all taken away um and the city has basically been um refurbished and turned into a new like habitat for ganassi um but the elves of jasavir were taken away it seems um judging by bim's notes um it's primarily a military planet ganass um ganassi a lot of ganassi become pilots and a lot of them become foot soldiers um air ganassi are known for being quite exceptional pilots um they tend to be the pilots of a lot of spacecraft and astral ships uh earth and fire ganassi tend to be more like foot troopers both ranged and up close um and water ganassi tend to be quite good as engineers there tends to be like a kind of mix of all of these

different things built in but yeah that's kind of the summary notes without me writing up tons and tons of stuff but there's definitely some information there that you would be of use to nova and looking through it as another

scholar, you're pretty sure you could use any of Bim's navigational maps. You can now act as a navigator with them. You could use these to help Thalia navigate and everything else if need be. Plot new courses. Cool. Yeah.

Thank you. It's probably on the third night. Actually, it'd be on the third morning thalia calls all of you to the lounge um kind of wants to address everybody um big cat has been extremely lethargic ever since bim's death uh he tends to just sleep and look sad all the time and he just kind of moves around and like swats at things on the floor like he finds like discarded food and just like knocks it around

and then he watches it and it doesn't move afterwards and then he gets sad and then pads away and goes and lays down somewhere um stop it Chris Trott I can see you I knew that this was gonna happen I knew this was going to happen I knew he was working on something

I knew it it wasn't even him it was Jules it was Jules who sent it to him was it a little floating imp animation there we go don't you're going to set Rihanna off again rip in peace rest in peace in peace um but yeah uh yeah big cat big cat seems sad he doesn't have

his uh he doesn't have his thing to bully around anymore so he's kind of taken to like knocking over stuff and being destructive in other ways um but thalia calls you all uh in um and addresses a lot of you you mentioned that you needed these schematics for one of callus's ships uh i mentioned to you that i had a contact that i could reach out to they've agreed to a meeting. It will take us about a day to arrive. Zax is willing to discuss the matter with you at an old mining facility that was abandoned several years ago.

I'm assuming that you all wish to go ahead with meeting him? Yes. Where do we need to go it's not too far it's not too far from it's a few hours travel we'll need to come out of the sticks

there's a breach point near Arcadia we'll come out of the sticks and then it's a short journey to an old asteroid field they were using it to mine materials. But there's a facility there. It was long abandoned. Smugglers use it from time to time as a drop zone, as a drop point for delivering illicit goods and things like that.

Zax will be there. He has his own ships. I suspect he will have a few guards with him. He's a paranoid creature. They are a paranoid creature, I should say. A creature like Zax Ravis doesn't really have gender. They're beyond that, in a sense. Just keep in mind that Zax is a criminal. Zax is paranoid, and he's not going to just do this because I owe him a favor.

He'll meet with you, and my hope is that he'll agree not going to just do this because I owe him a favor. He'll meet with you. And my hope is that he'll agree to listen to you and he'll cut you a good deal, but he's, they are going to, they are going to want something in return. I don't know what that will be for you to negotiate, but I can make the contact happen.

Thank you. I guess we'll make our preparations. Prepare for the worst. Yes, it won't take us long. We should arrive by tomorrow morning or in a few hours, 24 hours or so. And what will you do in that time? If there's any preparations?

Oh, well, I mean, I'll come with you if you want I'll need to introduce you to Zax Ravis anyway it's only the polite thing to do the whole crew? no probably just me and Big Cat I'll leave Kairi here on the ship to protect it just in case very well

yeah I think Ayla will be trying to by the way when Big Cat's sad Ayla will be trying to trying to by the way when Big Cat said Ayla will be trying to gradually become friends again with Big Cat sure make an animal handling check oh no

I don't think you're as bad at these as other things 13 13 so you get the impression that what Big Cat misses the most is something to pick on. Like, he just wants to

fight stuff. He wants something that he can just push around and play with. You don't get the sense that he was actually trying to bully, but he wants something that he can play with in the same way that he would play with Bim. Hey, Lucius. I'm going to come over here for a minute. Yeah, you can pull Play with in the same way that he would play with BIM You want to play a big cat

Big cat Just little No, he's there. I'm back. My PC did a really weird thing where I couldn't see any of my windows anymore. No, you never left for us. Yeah, weird. You never leave us.

I'm having some weird problems. Big Cat looks at Lucius. I don't think he would be that interested in Big Cat. I don't think Big Cat would be interested in Lucius. Maybe, like, he pads some of the things on his jacket, like the little dangly jewels and things. He's like... Big paws.

Careful. He just slinks off. I don't think Big Cat likes me very much. Maybe Quill. Need a new friend. Need a new friend for a big cat quill no think about this very carefully he's a big cat and i'm a tiny bird in comparison think about it he does look like he is looking at quill more than he's looking at lucius because

lucius isn't lucius has a bit of like you know he's tall and he's got a decent build to him he's stronger than a person he's he's got like a 13th strength but quill oh yeah quill quill and nova look like quill and nova look like the kind of things that pit cat can can push around um so how sad does my cat look mean, like, you own cats, Tom. Do you ever look at your cats and think, oh, they look really sad? I mean, so that then, okay. Yeah.

He looks like a sad cat. Yeah, I'm on, like, the opposite side of the room when they're talking about me, so I kind of, like, really slowly lift up my wings so there's a lot of feathers kind of on display and kind of like give him a little twinkle.

Just like a... To see what he does. If you do the movement, you see him kind of get really low to the ground and he starts to get a bit closer. I can't. Not too quickly, please.

Raise my wing up a little higher and then just kind of do it again. Are you sat down or standing up? I'm like in the corner of the room. Just gets a bit closer. Nudges a bit closer. Looks up.

His butt goes high oh no no no no no no and I just like try and run for the door and he's waiting for you to run and as soon as you start running he into a sprint and he knocks you down he was waiting for you to run

100% nah he doesn't kill you but he like knocks you down and then like pushes you around and you just hear like ow ow 100%. He doesn't kill you, but he knocks you down and then pushes you around. You just hear like, ow. Ow. He burps in your face. Just lie still. Cocoon. Lie still.

Just let him bat you around a little bit. It's fine. I mean, I don't hear that. I'm trying to gust him off me. The more you struggle, the more he is, like, just, like, puts a paw on your arm, pins you to the floor, like, like, burps in your face,

like, knocks you around. This is so, like, minor. Oh, my God. He's a big cat. He's a big cat. But, yeah, Thalia kind of watches this. You see a little smirk in Thalia in the corner of her mouth as she sees Big Cat playing around. Kairi's probably

watching from her little perch and she's kind of like snickering to herself. There's a bit more mirth. A bit more mirth in the room watching Quill get beaten up by Big Cat. Quill's having fun. It's all fun. Look at the stupid bird. Ha ha ha

Yeah basically yeah Good day we're having Yeah Still frame free frame Credits Starly turns around and is like Well I shall

Leave you all to it Um yes Just get what you need Uh Do think of Something that you can offer Zax As payment

Um Whatever you have Uh He'll want something Have a think Hmm something that you can offer Zax as payment, whatever you have. He'll want something. Have a think. Something quite big, I imagine. And powerful. Knowing him,

knowing them, they will... They will want either some sort of favor in return or something they can sell, something that's going to make them more powerful. He's not too dissimilar to myself. They are not too dissimilar to myself, I must say.

Those of us out here who are not on good terms with the Empire, we're always looking for something that can give us an edge. Right. Think on that. We'll be there in a few... We'll be there in around a day or so. And then she just makes her way back to the cockpit. She probably turns around and is like,

Big Cat, do leave our passenger alone for at least a little while. And you hear Big Cat like... And then he pads after her and follows her into the cockpit. A lick in my face, I guess. Yeah, he's not that loud. One big lick. Ugh.

His breath stinks. Big Cat's breath stinks. Yeah, he's a cat. Do you have a gem worth 50 gold? Do you have a gem worth 50 gold? That's a great question. Do you? I've got a chest worth 100 gold. I've got gems all over me,

but whether they have value or not... No. Okay. unless it says fair enough value okay yeah okay okay anything else anything from anything else

I think I'd request a group gathering to kind of collect ourselves post battle and travel to get our heads straight and what the plan is so I basically say that to the team

what are we planning on doing and how are we preparing for bargaining haggling, who's going to do that hmm we didn't even have anything for do that um hmm well we didn't even have anything for Thalia and now we're going to a criminal who is able to

gather expensive materials stolen materials like like this he's gonna want something good um and I don't like the idea of a favor because that becomes open-ended and flexible

rather than an object, you know? People have a way with words and twisting them. I mean, we are getting three wishes from this thing that Dahlia wants us to do with that demon two two wishes if he's getting one we're getting two we don't even know what that entails that could be something far too dangerous or risky for us to achieve so we shouldn't hedge our bets on that either. But it's something.

If he really wants something wildly expensive or something like that, that is something we are going to achieve. Yeah, we want two wishes, but also we want the schematics. Gibby will definitely agree to that. It's a big deal. Yeah, I don't agree with that because we could use the two wishes to really make a difference. You know?

We could wish for... I wish for some outfits and some schematics. Now I do have a sequester scroll. You do. That is valuable. I have Gad sequester scroll. You do. That is valuable. I have Gadwin's hammer.

I have a trident. I don't want to give up. So we have some things to give away. We do. We could start with our lowest value items and see and bring in others. the haggling

I've got a lightning cable launcher right we have that that's good okay we could put it in this pretty chest from the abatis from the wine place the wine oh wow

that was only like a few days ago yeah really once tests from the wine place. Oh, wow, that was only like a few days ago. Woo! Really once. I'm not sure. Well, they might like the novelty of an Erosian wine, but I don't know how much value they put on it. We could try.

We shouldn't call it Eros, we should call it the Lost Planet. It's got an air of mystery to it. Yes, the lost planet. Artifacts from the lost planet. How do we prove that? I like it. Can we find it anywhere else?

Well, that's a label on some wine you can ponder. Aren't Paracocas only on a road you don't know have a bird have a bird man someone else to beat me around cool keep your big cats occupied

you guys can continue having these conversations throughout the day. Unless there's anything else you would like to do or achieve, we can just skip ahead. I think we're good. All good. I think the only thing is at night, a few of you hear something.

hear something. So, late at night, those of you who are who probably don't need to sleep as much, so I think Quill and Nova, you need to sleep normal amounts, right? But Lucius, Aayla, and Sentry

only all need about half as much rest. I need all three of you guys. You begin to hear, coming from inside the ship somewhere, a beautiful melody. A song that is ethereally captivating. And I need the three of you to make a wisdom saving throw. The two elves have advantage, which is a

charm effect. So you have advantage on the saving throw. 18 total for me. Laura? 18 total. Nine. Oh yeah, and a plus three for everybody else. 19. Plus three for us. everyone else so what did you get

12 so all of you managed to resist this pull this luring you can tell that the song you're not sure if it's intentional or not but you almost feel yourselves wanting to follow where the song is coming from like you can feel yourselves like standing up like being pulled

towards the source of it you feel like something tugging you towards the lounge but you manage to stop yourselves from acting involuntarily you manage to keep hold of your own willpower um as this beautiful like a like a more like almost like a like a hymn like this very choral singing voice this this harmonious light female voice just kind of echoes through the halls of the ship um am i i'm not mastering it because i'll wake up the other two but if we're all in the corridor being lured out i see you're not you're not being led out no because you pass the safe you're not being pulled away yet but you feel that that's the effect is trying to you know call you towards the source of it um but you resist i might go

snoop might go snoop on it quietly sure and see if i can recognize it. If it's the Shansara. It's not. It's not that kind of preppy, bouncy music. This is like something you might hear in a church or like something before a battle. It sounds almost like a hymn or a prayer, almost. What does Sentry and Ayla do? I'm probably going to go out as well and try and see if i can find what it is

same same so the three of you make your way out um following the source of it you are led out into the lounge um you can see that thalia is in the cockpit but she appears to have um like very large ear muffs over her ears and the snakes are kind of awkwardly kind of split, you know, kind of wrapped around this, this thing around her head, um, and doesn't seem to be paying any attention to it.

Um, but the song's coming from Kyrie's turret. Like you can hear it echoing down and through, um, as this incredibly beautiful alluring song is, uh, drifting through the ship. Ah, you've all heard it too. I need to be very quiet, because if she hears or sees us listening,

she's going to get very embarrassed. Oh, if she doesn't want to be disturbed, then I'll go back. I'll let her sing in peace, if that's what she wants to do. Did you feel something? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that her or is she playing music? Because I've seen that she's got music that she likes.

It sounds live. It doesn't sound recorded. It doesn't sound like this is created by magic. This sounds like a physical voice singing that is filling the ship and echoing down the long metal corridors and things like that. And it stops after a little while. You know, you kind of listen to it for a moment. A few minutes pass,

and then just one long, beautiful note kind of echoes and then just fades away. And then you hear like some muttering coming from the turret, some shuffling around. That's it. Beautiful. But I don't think she'd appreciate us hearing it. As much as I'd like to give a round of applause right now. She probably wouldn't like that.

Do you think she's aware of the, you know, effect that it has? It looks like Sara is aware, at least. Look at the size of those headphones. They're like little muffles I might go

I might go up to the cockpit and just pat Talia on the shoulder yeah she kind of like looks up oh pulls them off well you see she kind of hesitates for a moment looks at you and then is like ah okay and then she takes these little earmuffs off wraps them around her neck uh she

looks and she's just like i should have thought of course yourself and master lucius are elves i had not realized that elves of eros had the same tendencies to not sleep as my old kind did as well. Forgive me. I forgot to warn you about Kairi's song. You weren't affected by it, were you? You weren't drawn out of it?

No. No, we're fine. It affects Sentry too, by the way. She doesn't sleep as much either. But, I mean, it's fine. We just got any spare earmuffs that, you know, we could maybe have? I don't. I had to have these custom made for myself

once I became aware of the effect of the song, obviously. I will just ask her not to sing normally i i ask her to only sing to herself when it's everyone else is asleep she tends to stay up a bit later than most uh because most of my passengers sound asleep by now so uh the song doesn't affect them so i had not thought that yourselves and century obviously would not be affected. She only does it rarely, but I'll ask her simply to hold off until you've made your way to your world,

to your home. It's... What is the effect of the song? Just curious. It obviously didn't affect us, but if it did didn't affect us. But if it did... It's not too dangerous. Her people, back on Lunaria

anyway, I know that there are some harpies that live on Archon, but on Lunaria they are primitive people still. They live out in the tall trees and the mountains and their songs are used to lure the unwary into ambushes uh they are

used to lure people uh to unfortunate ends or sometimes in battles uh groups of harpies form choirs um these battle choirs distract and disrupt enemy forces um whole infantry men will wander off away from their objective pulled away by the harpy's song um obviously you can tell it's incredibly beautiful she has a wonderful voice i'm loathe to stop her singing uh she does find it quite peaceful and relaxing to do she loves music kairi one of the few things that she can enjoy without fear of judgment or fear of embarrassment but yes all it would simply do is draw you to her uh leave you in something of a do is draw you to her uh leave you in something of a stupor like state just listening to it not paralyzed but just enamored by the song is all well maybe we could uh work out a system of us saying hey we're gonna sleep now but we need a little bit less time and then

she doesn't need to eliminate it entirely it would be a shame to deny her well as long as you're comfortable with that obviously I want you all to be comfortable and at peace aboard the ship so whatever works for you

I'll speak to the gang we'll come up with a system aboard the ship, so whatever works for you. I'll speak to the gang. We'll come up with a system. It's fine, but good to know. Good to know. She just kind of nods and the little snakes kind of hiss and then she's just like, well, you should go back and rest. Night!

I'll go back and tell that to Lucius and Sentry and see if we can work out a way to for when we are asleep she can sing for the smaller amount of time she can sing

frankly I don't mind if I'm lured I think it would bringing attention to it might cause it to stop entirely, knowing that we've heard it already. Yeah, she has finally said it was harmless, right? Mostly?

It's harmless, but also I don't think that... I don't know. it would be good to keep our wits about us if there's another battle that we need to come into and get ready for it just might delay us a little bit

it might but I'm sure she would stop singing if there was a fight maybe it could be of use we could lure all the enemies to us enamored by her voice and stop them all fighting us that could be useful

put her on an amplifier of some kind I'm sounding like Nova all these techie words. Clearly Lucius has been listening and picked up a few things. Someone's got to replace Bim. Am I right? Anyway, I'm going to go back to that. Cool.

Yeah, the rest of the evening passes uneventfully. The next few days pass uneventfully. The ship, eventually, the twin star longbow, is pulled out of the sticks. The green cylinder-like vortex that has been around you for the last three days, a crack appears in it,

and Thalia basically dives the ship directly into that crack. And there's a horrid moment where you see this rushing green wall of these shadowy figures, all seemingly screaming and being stretched thin, loom closer and closer, and the ship begins touching it. But then it is sucked and pulled through this tiny crack in the demiplane. And you emerge back out into the purple- blue hazy fog that is the astral sea itself a couple of hours go by as the ship draws closer and closer to a long string like a

long jagged scar of broken rock and asteroids and thalia deftly maneuvers in between them and brings you to a stop, uh, outside a particularly large looking asteroid, enormous in size. It could easily house, um, perhaps a small town inside of it.

If you kind of hollowed it out, one section has been cut away leaving a very obvious shelf um that seems to extend out and you can see there are the makeshift signs of stone buildings metal devices that have been stuck into the rock itself that seem to project some sort of field around the asteroid um thalia brings the ship and lands it uh next to a almost pier-like structure made out of carved rock from the asteroid itself a long bridge of stone juts out from the side. Thalia brings the ship alongside it and fires long wire pitons that anchor themselves into the edges of the

asteroid and hold it in place as she begins lowering the disembarked ramp that leads down. She picks up her holsters for her arcane pistols and her spell shots. She whistles. Big Cat

pads up next to her. Well, this is the rendezvous place. This is the mining facility. Zax should meet us out there. You can see that three figures are beginning to make their way

out of a large stone building and are standing out in the open. It's quite dark, but there are these glowing spheres of metal and crystal that emanate like a large sphere of light around. You can't see them super well, but at a distance, one appears to be tall and thin with a very elongated head of a kind of greenish tinge. Wears very vibrant, outrageous clothing, a big long cape behind them.

Almost looking a bit like Lando from Star Wars with a kind of like tunic, but then this long cape rolling behind him, behind them. Alongside that creature on either side are two suits of armor that appear to just walk on their own they don't appear to have anybody inside them kim's favorite so this is like a it's it's like standing on an asteroid but there's a bubble of air like like i guess a sky somebody had carved with imagine you had like a big round asteroid and then somebody carved like a big chunk out of a corner of it like a big cheese wedge

which has left like a flat shelf and then the rest of it becomes asteroid and you can see that there are dozens of like little shelves and little tunnels all amongst this whole asteroid you can see mining equipment scattered all over the place big drills

that have long since been abandoned but like outside of the bubble this is just open to space yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah have you seen Arcadia? no it's too far away you can probably see it in the distance like

a like a glowing green orb in the far far far distance okay we're close to right now okay well okay yeah yeah yeah that's the closest to would find out what to or or plane yeah plane it um but yeah so uh i mean and that is hours and hours and hours of travel away um but yeah there is this little uh thing and in fact i will show you guys before we go

on break oh we've got oh oh look how big the cat is. So, I think I've got all the dynamic lighting set up. You should be able to see everything

that you need to. Lucius will obviously see what he can see, and then the rest of you should be able to see what you guys can see. Cool. Nice. Yes, the lighting is working. So, just on just on dock except that's not the ocean that's space that's just basically yes it's just astral space just astral space that looms out the asteroid floats and rotates but the ship is anchored by these like wire pitons um and yeah

seems to roll and rotate with it. But you also get a sense that there is gravity out there. Thalia leads the way. She's just like, right, follow me. Let me do introductions, and then I'll leave you to negotiating. I'm assuming that's Zax Ravos, right? That is Zax Ravos, yes.

Not Zax. I call him Zaxxra. Yes. Not Zaxx. I call him Zaxxra. How ready for a fight should we be? Medium ready? Red ready? Not ready? My dear sweet Nova. I had to interrupt.

You did. You've all had multiple long rests. You've had like three days of long rests. So you're all good. Thalia looks back at you. My sweet little Nova. Out here in astral space, always be ready for a fight.

Zach says me a favor. I've worked with him multiple times. I don't trust him. I never trust him. I don't trust anyone. Wow. I trust you. She kind of puts a hand on the side of your face and is just like, you shouldn't, my dear.

At the end of the day, I am still a smuggler and a criminal myself. And she turns and kind of smiles and winks and then begins leading you guys to this meeting. Okay. Criminal meeting. We can do this. I'm very

nervous seeing just empty space around us. Okay. So Thalia moves over along with Big Cat. And she just kind of ushers for you all to follow. She kind of gestures. You can see all sorts

of open crates. You can see all sorts of open crates. You can see these weird generators, these glowing lanterns and things like that. But the rest of it is just this rocky, rough ground terrain. And then you can see what appears to be some sort of structure that's been built into the parts of the asteroid itself. The creature known as Z zax ravis is i wonder if i still have

a thing i can show you i don't think i do i think i deleted it like a dingus i did um best way to describe him would be to say uh you know how you see aliens in sci-fi shows like Grey Aliens, big elongated head, big just eyes, no mouth a green skinned, quite well muscled quite well built version of them

no mouth but these glowing yellow orbs for eyes a big elongated cranium head he's wearing a long golden tunic with a big cape behind them um tall boots made with black leather and little crystals and studs um you can see a a very intricate kind of belt very much like thalia's made of some sort of strange material and metal clasps uh The rest of you can see

that he has some sort of scabbard with a very fancy looking black crystal-hilted sword. And it kind of looks at you with its head cocked in different directions. Nova,

as you draw closer, as soon as the ship opens and you draw closer, there's two things. One, you begin to feel pulse coming from Tiangong. The second is as you draw closer to Zax Ravus it is unmistakable that the sword in his scabbard is a piece of Tiangong you can see the

telltale blue and black crystal um out here wow well this is a conundrum yeah now we have to make a double deal well this is a conundrum yeah conundrum isn't it

now we have to make a double deal Zach's Ravass gestures it kind of makes a very formal looking bow and in your minds all of you here he doesn't speak there's no they don't speak there's no mouth but you hear a voice in your minds

ah it is most pleasing to be or they don't speak, there's no mouth, but you hear a voice in your minds. Ah, it is most pleasing to be seeing you once more, dear Thalia. Much time has passed between our last coming together. I am disappointed that you have not spoken with us with us before now we have missed your company uh and you can see no smile but there is uh the eyes seem to sparkle and and shimmer uh thalia kind of rolls her eyes yes yes zax let's get over with the pleasantries, shall we? You still owe me for the last job. I have some clients that are in need of your services. You're going to help them, and you're going to do it at a good price, and we'll call ourselves in.

How about that? I don't want any of your false pretenses. I know what a cold killer you are. false pretenses. I know what a cold killer you are. Ah, we are most deeply wounded by these statements you are to be making, Thalia. We are but a businessman, and business is ruthless. Welcome, strangers. I am the creature Zax Ravis, most humble and worthwhile businessman. Your language is difficult on occasion, so please to be forgiving of my strange speaking. Though perhaps speaking is not the correct terminology for my communications to you.

Hello. It's good to meet you. I'm Lucius. And everybody else introduce yourselves oh I am Quill hopefully this form of communication works for you Zax Ravos

yes I am to be understanding your speaking words even if this one cannot replicate them itself. This one is to be understanding, yes. This one, okay. Zach's Ravus.

Sorry. No, go on, go on. No, go, go, go, go. Hi, I'm Sentry. Nice to meet you. This one is most honored. A guardian. Such beings believed lost.

Remarkable. Much price would you fetch in many collectors? How about no? No, thank you. Century belongs in a museum. A disappointment. Many credits. But there is other business we are to be negotiating.

You have a need for this one, for Zax Ravas. What need can I fulfill? um i'm not gonna say anything but can i um can i connect with tiangong and just staring at zax's sword can i test like what it would feel like if i try and pull it not not enough that they would sense it, but just that I could see that there's a movement. Sure. Let's make an arcana check, just to see how... This requires

deep meditation and concentration. This requires an innate sense of... Maybe not an arcana check, actually, before you roll. Just do a charisma... Sorry, do a charisma roll so d20 plus your charisma modifier because this is more about your innate power rather than your knowledge of magic 17 better so here's here's the kicker nova and you're gonna know this and then

it's up to you to communicate it and everything else. Tiangong is sensing that there is a shard of Tiangong here, but it's not where this figure is standing. You can see the outline of it. You can see the shape of it. But the sense of where the Tiangong shard is, is much deeper, maybe on the other side of this asteroid. It's here. That's why you didn't notice until you stepped out onto the thing. Like, it's on this asteroid, but not right where it should be.

Okay. So, Zax Ravis looks at the rest of you and is like, What am I to be assisting? What is this one to be assisting with? Please, inform me of your desire. And it looks to everyone else. I'll look at Quill. Fuck. Oh, Hesper.

Oh, Hesper. Flick through notes. Hesper, Hesper. Oh, Hesper. Flick through notes. Hesper, Hesper. Zax Ravos, we require... Well, we would negotiate if you have in your possession schematics

to the Tassadar. Ah. Very complex. Very difficult. to the tassadar ah very complex very difficult powerful ship much much much price to be asking but possible yes this one has such things what negotiation do you offer what repayment can you provide thalia do you good captain thalia's favor only worth so much you see you consider yourself do you consider yourself to be an enemy of the Valkyrian Empire? The laugh isn't a laugh. It's somebody telling you, ha, ha, ha, ha. We are all.

We are all both enemies and potential allies of the Empire. The Empire wishes much to control, to dominate, but business opportunities, plenty. Information valuable. Possessions and magical trinkets. Maybe he's only found on the Tassel. Greatly valued. Perhaps, but immediate payment required. No promises then. Doesn't sound like a negotiation to me.

I can provide immediately what you seek. My payment must be equally immediate. Come. And then he turns and begins gesturing to head back, like with his things. Discuss inside. Safer. Hmm. Okay. Lucius is making

his way back to the ship. As we... I guess as we start walking, can I messenger ring the gang? Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. And just say ha ha ha. Um, can I...

I think Nova would just be like, Tiangong! He... Sha... They... They... Sha... They... He... Tiangong! Someone's talking in her mind. Nova manages to get out. He, he, Sha, they, they, Sha, they, he, the, Tian Gong. Someone's talking in her mind. Nova manages to get out. Are you okay, Nova?

Their sword, but, but it's not here. It's, it's not, is, is this an illusion? Is this, is this Zax? Does she need a new ring? This Zax? Your ring is breaking up nova come see you now business yeah

who talks in our minds who talks in our minds yeah I wondered that as Kim but as Nova no fair you might have heard it yeah okay well we can head inside no fair he might have heard it yeah

okay well we can head inside and talk I mean what's it going to be more armoured guards just guns pointing us straight away probably before we get too separated can I give everybody a quick blessing

a real quick blessing so yeah you watch as Sentry begins Can I give everybody a quick blessing? A real quick blessing. So yeah, you watch as Sentry begins focusing her energy of her matrix and begins generating this spell. And I think that as you begin doing that, Sentry, you cast Bless, but that's the point where the Zaxxaravis turns around and is just

like, ah, discovered perhaps, making preparations. I'll say, no, forgive me. We've had many difficult journeys, and

many of our friends have fallen along the way, just a precaution. Of course. Sure. Oh! We're boned. Yeah, I guess we follow him then.

As you move forward, you see that there are more figures waiting inside. You see a couple of shadowy... I don't know who exactly can see them. I imagine Quill, Century, and Nova can't see them um but uh lucius are you moving up lucius or are you remaining where you are

he's lurking so lucius and ayla may just start to see uh the very edges oh maybe not um but yeah he begins leading you inside uh and as he reaches the doorways uh the two kind of armored figures stand on either side uh zax turns to you all and i'm trying to think this is where i should have done some preparation activates his trap card or just to prepare in the break if you wish yeah let's do that Give me a second to think about something. So yeah, let's take a break while I have a think about something. We go into a room, we see some guards, and he does something. This sketchy criminal, he's about to A, you can vote for it in the break.

A, screw us over. B, be totally chill and give us what we need. Or C, we somehow find a way to screw him over. Or option D, asteroid blows up. Vote in the break.