High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #80 | The Great Escape (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

Gratzt on our tail, the Twinstar behind multiple barriers... It's time to plan our great escape! 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 and NordVPN! NordVPN allow you to browse securely and protect your data online! Get three years and an extra month free for 75% off with the code HRDND here: www.nordvpn.com/hrdnd 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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alcohol in select markets see app for details hello everyone welcome back to high rollers a dungeons and dragons podcast in the world of eros run by dungeon master mark shawlock humes with me tom playing keelak ad khalad cleric wizard i am chris trott i'm playing lucius virion eloine elenastro and i am a high elf sorcerer hi i'm rian. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowen Elanastro, and I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon. I'm playing Sentry. I am a Guardian Paladin. Hi, I'm Katie. I'm playing Ayla, a Wild Elf Barbarian. And I'm Kim. I'm playing Nova, who is an Air Ganassi, and she is a Hexblade Warlock. Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset. Create your free account and speed up your campaigns today.

Last time on Erois, our adventurers have traveled, not entirely willingly, into astral space. Here they have learned more about the wider multiverse, the influence of the Valkyrian Empire across it, made a few new allies

and enemies across different worlds. Captain Thalia Whisperwind took on a job to bring them home to Erois. Thalia is a Medusa who seems to have a broken past. She agreed to waive payment if the party helped her attempt to win a ring of wishes from the demon prince Gratz. Travelling to Azaghrat, the Pleasure Planet, and into the heart of Graz's empire, the Argent Palace, the party attempted to beat the Demon Prince in a game of his own creation. But trickery was afoot, and despite the party's best efforts, they lost. Quillik, Lucius, and Thalia were all bound for 200 years of servitude to Graz.

But a recklessly daring escape saw them flee from the palace with a furious demon prince issuing a command for their capture. With the party split and vastly outnumbered by the hordes of demons and mercenaries under Graz's grip, the party were rescued by a mysterious group of figures who revealed themselves to be drow dark elves. And that is where we begin this week's episode. You have all been taken to some secret location, appears to be almost like a lounge beneath a club or a bar or something like that

where, yeah, you have been staying in these rooms provided by Matron Ilhara Sembral and her two children that you have previously met as well, whose names are Jevan and Fyra. And yeah, you are in the process of taking a long rest,

so by all means, go and take that on D&D Beyond and mark yourselves on as a long rest. Long rest. But there may also be various things you want to discuss, plan, maybe some spells you wish to cast or things that you wish to do. So this is the time to be doing it. Oh, God.

Okay. So I have prepared a plan board for you, which basically has the objectives of escaping as a Grat. Your current problem is that you need to escape this planet, which is controlled by Grats, or this city really is controlled by Grats, and begin making your way back home. There are a few things you need to do to achieve that. You have some assets available to you in the forms of NPCs,

and you also have the potential to make some plans. I believe that you may also have some individual character things that you want to do. You currently are traveling with a wild elf that Aayla and Nova rescued from servitude in the Theatre of Steel, whose name is Rethra. And yeah, there's a lot going on.

So you tell me what you guys want to do. If you've got any questions or things you would like to do. Okay. So the objectives are you need to break the tethers holding the twin star in dock, which is okay, fine, fair enough. I mean, we don't know

what tethers are holding them in dock. Here's a question. Was it magical tethers or was it like mechanical tethers? It says right there on the objectives there, Tom Hazel, physical restraints will need to be broken or magically removed

whilst also dealing with guards. Nice. Next slide, Dan. Perfect. There it is. Disable the force net over astral port. Now, is that a magical force net? Or are these metal?

Are there any metal crates nearby, actually, as well? Disable the force net. Oh, that was the thing. We did say in the last episode some way of getting two birds with one stone. Disabling the force net and preventing pursuit ships from following us was by disabling the force net for a time.

Just enough time for us to leave. That was one thing. And the final thing is to prevent guards from alerting grab i mean how do we do that and the the idea for that was to create versions of us like the dark elves did uh yeah drow sorry yeah yes uh there so they they can definitely do that. That is an ability that they have, and you can see under your assets, you have three drow agent squads,

which contain four agents each, and they are specialized in deception and disguise and scouting. Now, those won't fool Gratz for long, so you need to think about where you want to send them, how you want to use them. Do they wait until some sort of signal before they try and pose as you guys? But also the problem is that if any of the guards

at the Astral Port, sorry, manage to get word to Gratz that you're there, that will alert him that you are at the astral port and and that that will be a place for him to come and find you so think of those three squads as you can use them kind of however you want but one option may be to kind of use them to buy yourself a bit more time um if their guards do manage to alertats, but you'll need some way of signaling them to make them kind of appear and cause trouble and stuff.

Yeah. You could use sending or message to do that. You absolutely could. You absolutely could. Yeah, message doesn't have a huge range. No. Message probably would be...

Message is good for local communication, so like where you're kind of in sight or vaguely in range of each other. Sending is good for much longer distances. Or, of course, you could give up things like the messenger rings. You could give somebody a messenger ring.

I don't know. I am a messenger ringer. Yeah. So you this map is all in character so they the drow uh jevan provides you with a map probably uploads it to nova's crystal slab um which is this map as you can see it uh displayed it has everything marked on there the only thing obviously it doesn't mark is things like you know where you can be seen from or any patrolling guards that sort of stuff you'll need to deal with that uh as in the moment um there might be guards at the twin star there might be guards in the pursuit ship bay you'll need to determine that as you get there um but this gives you an idea of areas you may need to go um go on for podcast as well i will be posting this map on to the patreon for free so if you want to check

it out uh and understand what we're following then onto our patreon yeah see it as well i'll give you i'll give you an audio description now um the map is basically split up into three kind of core three or four core areas you have the main street which is a large open street that leads um onto the main thoroughfare through the city um you have the two generators which are the devices that power the force net um which are divided um into a small street with offices and administration buildings between them um you have the hangar where the twin star is located and then you have the pursuit ship bay um the twin star and the pursuit ship bay are much more heavily guarded there are guard posts outside of them uh there

are also security doors the red lines on the map that you guys can see indicate a door that can only be opened by people with a magically connected rune um you physically have to have the rune on your person to open these doors so you would need to either find somebody with that rune or you just steal it from them or knock them out or you you know take them hostage or something like that um the two generators one of them is in a secure building with a security door entrance the other one is at the top of a large spire and if you're looking at the map the one on the large spire is the one with the kind of like um uh barcode like pattern um that is at the top of a very very tall spire about 200 feet tall um and that is like situated at the top there uh there is also a storage area next to the twin stars hangar uh which is basically a place where pilots um store you know trade goods or you

know store things that they're going to come back for later um what is this kind of the vague in in uh nova's little nova's little crystalline slab so she kind of has like a little magic magical ipad we call it which is like a slate of clear crystal um and it displays rudimentary illusions which is why it's all these kind of blocky colors because it also adds to the sci-fi element to make it look a bit more like tron um can i have a look at that nova how clean are your hands i'm wearing gloves oh okay just don't get any grease on it i saw you eating ham earlier there are sun prints all over this it's oh it's gross i'm gonna start wiping it down.

I'll get a little handkerchief out. Anyway, so we have lots to do. I'm sure you all have ideas. So we'll start going through each individual piece. The one thing I'm worried about is looking at these busy streets in the middle, which is essentially access to everything, the generators, the twin stars there, there's a lot of people.

If we enter, any of us enter that area, everyone's going to know that we're wanted and will instantly take us to, Gratz will be held under custody and the whole thing will be scuppered. So how do we stealthily do all the things that we need to do without uh the drow doing everything for us could we get a hold of some physical disguises i know we could i mean i can disguise self but i think demons and devils can see through that so but if we have physical desires disguises then

they couldn't see the physical disguises because there are disguises. Yes. I mean, even in a... I was going to say, in a busy street like that, you wouldn't even need to have an elaborate disguise. Things like people like Quill and Sentry, probably

very difficult to disguise, especially Quill. You know, he is a birdman. You can't slap a prosthetic nose on him or a wig it's not really gonna work but things like a cloak a cloak is enough that you can move through those busy streets without being immediately recognized um and in fact if you're in a busy street it might easier to hide if you're wearing like a you know like a cloak or you know a coat or a disguise or something like that you will need something but a cloak will be enough surely the secretive uh cohort here uh that work underground have a variety of cloaks at our disposal surely they can lend us a few

yeah you can send for jevan or fire if you want to speak to them and ask them for things you can send for Jevan or Fyra if you want to speak to them and ask them for things. You can definitely send word to speak to them. You also have kind of sat in the corner with you. You guys are currently in almost like a suite. There's like a large dining table, some food, water has all been placed out for you. There are long couches where I'm going to assume that those of you who need to sleep might grab a few hours of sleep. where i'm going to assume that those of you who need to sleep might grab a few hours of sleep um and sat kind of in the corner uh just kind of like back pressed up against the wall kind of staring at everything but not quite fully aware is rethra this other wild elf that's currently uh being that was rescued by ayla and nova um imagine they're probably eating a small amount

but they're you know they're staying quiet and just sort of like i can imagine this whole scene playing out cinematically like in avengers when you have iron man uh the hulk and the other well who's the other one they're all doing like a montage of like coming up with an idea remember that scene that yeah i mean cinematically yeah this is this is your your quintessential kind of heist planning scene right like nova's got the crystal slab you've got the the plans everyone's kind of gathered around this is the the heist a reverse heist where you're trying to escape or like 11 yeah sure. So, breaking tethers. I think there's only two people here that are physically capable of breaking physical tethers.

And that is Quill and Nova. That's a little cheeky. That's a jokey there. I totally agree. They can be magically removed as well. I knew this day would come. Well, we've all been working out, to be honest. I think we're all.

But I think those that excel in the physical realm is Aayla and Sentry. So we need to get you to the tethers at the Twin Star. And I feel like that might be one of the last things that we do, because that's going to be very visible it's going to be right at the ship that we're escaping in and all the attention is going to be on us at that point yes quite loud too although what if it's magical and i can't just smash my way through it would it make sense to maybe have someone who is capable of doing that too? Because if I hit it and nothing happens, I'm out of ideas, honestly.

I say no one does any mission standalone. I say we always have some partner going into this. So if we can pair up people, say Ayla and someone magical that can have a fallback, I don't think we leave anyone on their own doing anything. We have Thalia. That's a good idea. We do have various assets available to us, and we

don't need to accomplish all of these steps ourselves. The drow did offer their services, and they seemed certainly capable enough when they came to our assistance. I imagine that that if I'm correct the restraints, the tethers will be

large metal chains something that it would be difficult for the twin star to break on its own with pure thrust using magic tethers the force net itself is enough of a deterrent the tethers, there's already the magic, the force net itself is enough of a deterrent. The tethers are more just to prevent the ship from getting away as a safety net, I imagine.

Right. Just an extra piece so it doesn't fall off. Yes. Talking of the force net, we need to get rid of the generators. We need to shut them down. One of them. Only one. One has a security door and the other is on top of a tower.

So maybe this is something the drow agents could help us with. Unless we think we can get in there stealthily without being detected and shut it down. Do you think Nova? Well, I can cast invisibility. Yeah, I can cast invisibility.

Yeah, I can levitate. I'd like someone to come with me, maybe Thalia, because Thalia, you know about Magitek, and I'm still learning. Yes, I still stand by what I said earlier. I am concerned about all of you splitting up again. Twice now, we've been in very risky situations where you've been separated,

and I still am concerned of any of you being caught in a situation without your companions. But, yes, I still think that that is certainly something that i can assist with um obviously close range i am not much of a fighter uh i have my spell shots but um

yes any sort of close range engagement i imagine that they will have guards at the twin star as well it won't just be these tethers. There will probably be physical guards watching for us to return. Those will need to be dealt with quickly to prevent draughts from learning of our location. If I remember this city, if I remember the guard stations, the ones marked with the G's on the map here they contain

sending stones to request reinforcements if a guard reaches them if a guard manages to escape from a battle and reach one of the guard stations then that could be a potential problem for us ah so much to contend with. So potentially getting into the guard stations and taking away the sendings to stones before they even get there is an option. That could be an option, yes.

In terms of getting in and doing these things. It seems like the best way to stop the pursuit ships from following us is also re-enabling the force net after we've left. So that involves creating some kind of magitek system to bring it back online

in just enough time for us to leave. A timer. It does put us under pressure. That's all we need. It does. That is... There's two possibilities there. One,, there's, well, there's two possibilities there. One, if the timer is incorrect, the force net seals before we have a chance to escape. The alternative is that the force net doesn't seal fast enough,

and several pursuit ships still manage to chase after us. The only other option is to have somebody stay behind to reactivate it. Obviously not for any of us couldn't fulfill that purpose, but perhaps one of the drow could. But I could try and create some sort of timing algorithm, I suppose, a magical feedback that will give us a rudimentary timer. It won't be able to last more than a couple of minutes, I imagine. And there's still a chance that even with my knowledge

and even with Nova's assistance, it might not be 100% accurate. It's worth trying, but I'm just saying that there are risks, as Quill mentions. If we approach the generator in the tower, then I can use Dusk Willow's Ring to make them fly, and that will make them much faster to get down to the ship

for when we leave. There's an option. Although I don't know access from the outside at that level. Don't forget, I also have the Arcane Gate, and I can cast Dimension Door as well. That's true. I think both of those will be essential

for escape um century and ala one thing if you are going to the twin star my concern is that this entry but the main entrance is clearly watched by these two guard posts um will need some alternative way in without giving them any sort of alert. I can't imagine that Graz will have well, I imagine any guards he has posted will be quite capable individuals. Not just in terms of detecting creatures. This could be a maintenance port.

Something where people that need to work on the various systems that keep the starport running, they may have to access it. It is a secure door. We would need the entry rune and there is a guard point next to it but it is a better option only having to deal with one guard post rather than two um i feel like if we're needing to get in through other security doors anyway being able to open this maintenance store would be very useful in avoiding these guard posts altogether. Certainly.

Another option is perhaps this storage area here. This crosshatch section on the map, I believe that this represents this whole area, the port itself. There's lots of areas where it is a maze of pipes and cabling and access ways. Small crawl spaces.

If there was a way that we could perhaps cut through the wall on the storage area, we may be able to traverse through there. It could be quite dangerous. Things like arcane energy traveling through these conduits means that somebody who, if we tried to traverse this way, it could be physically dangerous, harmful, but it could be another alternative. We can use my size if we need someone to get through the pipes yeah that would certainly make it easier um nova is a point by the way for all of you uh feel free to draw on this map if you want to make notes

uh nova this is you know you you can touch screen a drawer on it as you need to make notes. Okay. Trying to figure out, so how would we cut through the storage area? Do we need to get particular tools for that? Hey, that's a great question. You don't really know what material. If it's stone, you know, yeah, digging through

it, but maybe there's magic that could do it as well. As this is all part of the long rest do feel free to swap out spells those of you who can by the way um yeah you know an explosion would certainly open up a hole um it would obviously draw attention but it would certainly create an opportunity

um you know just try and smash down a wall. If it's made of stone, Aayla might be able to do it. If it's made of metal, that's going to be significantly harder. I don't know. You tell me what tools you've got.

I'm also just wondering how much of a pursuit if, like, we sent in a drow agent to look like us, or a drow agent squad, sorry, to look like us, if they ran in and just, like, very obviously was like, oh, no, to look like us, if they ran in and just very obviously was like, oh no, there's guards here, and then ran off, how many guards would just follow them and just chase after them?

Because they're almost definitely expecting us to go to the Twin Star. That's our escape route. I think that we probably shouldn't split up given I feel like Mark's sending us a message of for the love of Christ

don't do it not again you guys can do whatever you want to do that you think makes sense Thalia is concerned that some of you might die for her like what she wanted to do, and she doesn't want that to happen.

She feels guilty. Mark doesn't give a shit. Mark, if you want to split the party, split the party. Mark is neutral. I'm not trying to send any signals. Because of Thalia. Yeah, so she feels guilty about it. 100%.

I do think we could probably figure things out better if we split the team how we think. Like, just for a pure exercise, like, how do we think we would split us up now to deal with what tasks? So we got Nova and Thalia going to the Force net.

So, and we got Aayla doing the restraints. Does anyone else want to go and deal with restraints? Who else wants to be team restraints? Well, like they say, like we said... We're also going to give you guys access to these asset characters as well, so you guys can move these guys as much as you like. It might be worth having someone magical there, just in case Brute Force doesn't cut it,

so maybe I could go there. How much magic does sentry actually have like how much do you have guiding bolt or um i'm just looking at my spells now just seeing what i've got um i've got your shield doesn't it uh no that was all right all right i did got Guiding Bolt. Orion had that. Orion did. Ah, right. I've got things like... You've got the physical power, and you could smite it, and that turns it magical. So, right, you've got both in one there.

Yeah. I've also got, like, Missing Step, I can teleport. I've got bits and pieces here and there. Assuming that the breaking of the chains when i when you're referring to magical you're just assuming magical damage rather than like it needs to have dispel cast on it or you know there's a tree like it needs an arcane you know combination lock to be you know done or something like that you know like some sort of skill

challenge maybe you know it could also be magically resistant and you need magical and you know Fire or lightning or whatever to deal damage to it at this point. You don't know Oh Have an idea Just go with the twin star with strengths. I could do a turn onesie With the twin star restraints, I could do a two and onesie. So I have the wall of ice. Quite a potent spell.

If I use my ability to convert that into a wall of acid, that could both break the restraints and create a barrier from these guard posts from reaching us for a time. Let me get the green color out. i want to put it on the map i understand so create a wall while also breaking how many tethers are there actually you don't know also as a point if you use the ruler uh this is all actually to scale so that the entrance to the to the thing is yeah is about sort of 80 feet across or 90 feet across um all the distances from like the generator to like the entrance is like 240 feet to the you know it's like feet of wall so i can cover that that's if the tethers are all on one

side however i could at least break the front ones and create a blockade. That's not a bad idea. Just a thought, Cesar. Any thoughts or opinions? Are you going to remind Quill to create a restoration Rethro, or are you just leaving him be for now until you get on the ship? He could help us.

He sure could. Right now, I will tell you now, in his current state, Rethra cannot help you. He will follow Aayla like he won't wander off on his own but he is not in a state to fight or make any conscious decisions. At best, he would be able to defend himself

quite viciously, you imagine. He's no help to you right now in his current state um if his sentience is kind of like if his if his moral uh if his mental trauma is healed then he'll probably he won't be fine he'll still have you know various whatever issues that all of this has caused him but he'll definitely be able to contribute more than he currently can. Likewise, you can also just talk to the Drown. If you have questions like, how many tethers are there? How do we get to this? How does this work?

You could ask them. They might know. If you guys need equipment like cloaks, you can ask them. They might have magical equipment that you can use. Cloaks is definitely definite. Asking about how many tethers there are is also definite, and potential locations

for them. I'm just trying to think of other things. Do we want to break through the storage area, or do we want to try and get through the maintenance area? To get to the twin star. The storage area would be a good it requires

scouting so these drow parties can also scout so we could send them to scout out the the twin star bay and see what what comes from that before we make a decision absolutely you can so if you want to do that you

basically spend that drow squad to go and scout now and i will you can i'll answer any questions you have about it so you could say like how many tethers on the twin star how many guards are there is there you know can we get them to uh open this way or you know you can get information like how many entrances and exits you can basically spend them to get more information about a certain location oh that's more than worth it personally yeah i feel like we should team agreement do you want to spend one i think we probably need yeah yeah i think we should spend one but also um at the twin star might be an area where there's a lot of fighting, so it might be worth having a backup squad to help us combat that.

Sure. That part comes to it. Yeah. So, you send for Jevan. Jevan, the male drow, who arrives. You inform him that you want to send out one of these squads. He nods. And then about sort of an hour later, he comes back and

he provides you with a report. First things first, I will show you the map of the shipyard. Oh, sweet. What's Ganondorf doing here? So, what you see, the scouts come back. It is another male drow.

We investigated where the ship is located. It's heavily guarded. They have two giants with large chains coverantly connected to the ship. There is also a... That's not there anymore.

There also appears to be a mage and a bodyguard who are watching the entrance to the ship itself. The main door is covered by two guard posts getting through there without being seen will be almost impossible they have caragans stationed at the entrance they have the ability to see through invisibility they're also very good at sniffing out disguised creatures in general um the two chains look to be made of solid metal uh we don't think that they have any magical enchantments to them but they will require significant damage to destroy uh

as you can see um the mage looks quite competent and the bodyguard seems designed it's a creature almost like a construct um it seems designed to protect the mage as best as it can the giants also look like powerful combatants themselves uh it does look like there is a section of the wall that connects to the storage unit and that you would be able to bypass into uh this area up in left. These pipes connect into the systems that join into the storage area. We imagine you may be able to enter through that

space. There is also a maintenance corridor which connects to the grate that you can see there. There appears to be a maintenance access point as well. Both of these would bring you behind the giants and keep you hidden for the time being.

Perhaps allowing you to get a first strike on the guards stationed there. Yes, this is what the reports discovered so far. Thank you. If you have any more questions, let us know. Using the pipes, we could go in from

the storage area, enter the pipes, could go in from the storage area enter the pipes me and ayla you will need to you'll need to create some sort of entrance at the storage area into the uh we call it the the gut works of the astral port into the access ways and the power conduits you'll need to create some sort of um entrance you know through maybe a back of a storage unit that's there. I'm sure we could manage that with a huge hammer or a sentry's brawn. That sort of thing.

This could also be a little HQ. That too. A little door in it. So, we go through the pipe door in it. So, yeah. If it's metal, you could definitely use the flame lance to cut a hole if it's a metal

door. Stone would probably be a bit harder, but metal it would definitely, you know, superheated. The metal is going to be a little bit challenging to smash through as much as I'd love to be able to just smash through it it but maybe if you could freeze it before I hit it

maybe we can weaken it or try and do something to smash it I can cone of cold my issue is hitting them both so that has a range of 60 feet I believe

so it wouldn't catch them both That has a range of 60 feet, I believe. So it wouldn't catch them both. And I fear the wall of ice will simply go around it rather than pass through them and sever them. It's a liquid. It's an amorphous form which could slowly deteriorate the chains so that you could smash them if it drops and they're still not done, but it would severely weaken them. Yep, I'm thinking if we go through the pipes and while we're hidden,

I cast Wall of acid straight away thus blocking those huge guards from us allowing everyone else to get through the pipes and we attack those two on the other side of the wall closest to the twin star giving us the upper hand on those two initially and I'll keep the wall of

acid up if you can get inside the twin star and let Kairi know that we're trying to leave, she could mount one of the guns as well. That could help perhaps give you some covering fire if any reinforcements arrive. She probably won't be able to help anybody. She won't be able to attack anybody who's outside the Twin Star, the guards that you saw from the guards the scout described.

But any aerial reinforcements? We've seen they have these vulture demons if any of those come down to attack kairi can probably keep them off your backs for a short period of time but i imagine that if that if the twin star starts firing the word will get out very quickly that we are attempting to take it back um yeah let's make the last thing we do in the plan agreed but everything needs to run like clockwork I feel like every step

needs to happen almost straight one after the other or at least at the same time perhaps so what do we do first I think Quill had the right idea with disabling the sanding stones yes that could be something done covertly Quill had the right idea with disabling the sending stones. Yes.

That could be something done covertly. We should send a drow to do that one, I think. That's a good idea. Jevan, who's been listening in after his scouts delivered the report, I can take care of one of the guard stations. Trying to take out two

in rapid succession would be difficult. The guards there are no, they're not just nobodies. There's powerful demons and powerful fanatics of Gratzis. I can take care of them, but I can only deal with one at a time. Fyra,

my sister, may be able to take out another one, but we are, you would be losing both of our skills to that sort of task yes the other one is we could try and distract one of the guard stations with a squadron of agents they will not be able to

take out the individuals inside but they may be able to keep them distracted long enough that word does not get sent out immediately they may be able to buy you a minute or two of time once things kick off. Do I know about sending stones? Are they different to sending where

it's done through the mind? And do they have to actually speak into it? Why don't you make a arcana check for me? Sure. Can I help? You could have tom roll with roll with advantage as nova is is helping okay no you're uh so uh no the the fact is is that you guys have things like the messenger rings um you know the sending spell. If it operates like the sending

spell, which given its name it probably sounds like it would, it would be mental communication. But they're not an item I don't think you have personally encountered before. Okay, as an addition to that, do I know I'm not sure you have anything to add on either,

sadly. Do I know if the silence spell, it creates like an area of silence, but does it also create like a wall of silence? Any noise happening on one side of it doesn't carry through to the other side. I believe that's how it works. Let me have a look.

So for the duration, no sound can be created within or pass through a 20-foot radius sphere centered on a point you choose within 120 feet. So within 120 feet you create a 20-foot radius sphere. No sound can go in or out of that space.

Or pass through. Yeah, because I'm thinking of doing ascending spells. Mental communication would still be enabled through a silent spell yeah but if I did a silent spell like in between the two guard stations then any noise we're doing when we're

casting a wall of acid and smashing the chains doesn't carry through to the main street right it would but here's a problem it's also 40 feet across 20 foot radius I think is yeah 20 foot radius. 20 foot radius, I think, is...

Yeah, 20 foot radius is... Oh, yeah, right. Nice. So, yeah. So, that's an option. I could silence that entire area and potentially block any noise that comes through there. Pretty smart.

I've got Dispel Magic, so if there's any magical effects, I can get rid of those. But you might dispel his silence spell. True. I think you choose the magical effect. Yeah, you choose which one you want to cancel. So you could leave silence but cancel something else.

Yeah. I have dispel magic as well. Okay. It sounds like you guys have got some pretty solid plans here yeah so far the plan is go through the busy streets which shouldn't be too bad with cloaks get into the storage area break through the wall to get to the pipes so that we can then access the tethers create a wall of acid kill the two things maybe the giants silence to stop any noise from that coming out but that doesn't solve

the net force net or the pursuit ships I think that Phyra would be good for preventing pursuit ships maybe

because she's got some magic, some kind of magic and magical combat utility magic and detection she might be able to do something in terms of helping with i don't know well i feel like if she comes you could you could send words to her and yeah yeah well also we could just be like if she comes with nova and thalia it's quite a distance from the the the spire generator to the pursuit area talking like 350 feet um to get into the pursuit bay area like 400 and something feet to get to the actual individual ships um but you could get her in and ask her and say like hey you know what's the what's the what can you do or if we asked you to do this do you think you could do that you could

just speak to her um no i thought if because if we're developing a program to shut the net down we could reactivate it we could just have her with us to just press the button again to reactivate it yeah she could just physically you wouldn't even need to make a program then. It would just basically be a case of, like, you and Thalia disable the net, and then you tell Fyra, once our ship is out, reactivate it. You could do that. Yeah, 100%.

Yeah. That's everything, I think. That's pretty much everything involved. I mean, we haven't picked which one of the two generators to go for. I think my only worry is the amount of combat and having two giants

to get through. The hope is we can distract them long enough to get in the Twin Star and out before we have to face them for too long. We need to peel away and get in the Twin star and out before we have to face them for too long we need to peel away and get in the twin star and take off as soon as those tethers

are broken we should all evacuate well you'll need to break the tethers and then myself and Nova will need to disable the force net and then Nova you have that portal spell you used to get us out of the

palace right can you do that again so that's i can't i mean um within range to get us to the twin star if i can if i can see the twin star that would be the best so but if we go to the elevator generator i imagine that we would be able to see the twin star from a height i think so i think we saw that tower on the way in i think it star from a height i think so i think we saw that tower on the way in i think it does overlook the hangar so yes i think that you would be able to see um into it um providing that the wall if lucius you create your wall as long as we can see over that or through it or something like that i believe it's maybe 10 feet high oh well then that should be fine.

It's not that high at all. Yes, and then if Fyra is with us, she could go and quell, sorry. That does mean we're all pretty much together. I'm just thinking about activating the silence, because that means we have to be quite far into the thing. What's the range on silence? Because I'm thinking if I'm outside

in like a cloak and disguised and whatever else, activate the silence, give you sending to basically say right now you can do the wall of acid and start whacking and then make my way through the storage area to get to the twin star. Oh I see so you

stay on the edge of the busy streets, ready to cast the silence spell, which you would be in range to use. Make sure that... Yeah, to make sure that it's active, because I feel like that's a big thing to stop all the guards. But it does mean I'd be out of the initial combat for a couple times when I'm running there. Doing that, you're on your own.

Yeah, that's true. That's a huge risk. That's true. Unless we have a range that you're not you're on your own I'm invisible oh no wait concentration um unless I stay back and make sure you're okay so it's the silence

concentration as well Tom yeah make sure you don't get hit let's hope you don't get hit yeah uh huh I love it to make sure you don't get hit. Let's hope you don't get hit. Yeah. Where are our drow squads going? Where are the

drow squads going? We've used one. We've got two left. We're using one to prevent the guards, but we could have one squad with Quill. Yes. The other option is if you Yes. Or the other option is, if you wanted to, the other

option, the initial option was you could send one of these guard squads out disguised as you, which in the incident that if anybody does trigger Grats will buy you extra time before he arrives. Because he'll have to investigate one, realize that, oh, that's not them, they've tricked me, and then he'll come after investigate one realize that oh that's not them they've tricked me and then he'll

come after you basically yes why don't we have them with quill so that quill can peel off someone assumes quills form and blends into the busy streets so because of the distance is involved if you have the unit

with quill they will not be able to get somewhere far enough away to provide enough of a distraction for Grats. So you have to make a choice. Either you can send that squad out as the distraction to buy yourself more time, or they can protect Quill. You can't have both. You can choose one or the other.

I think we need all the time to get against Grats. Oh, so you could come with us to the pipes then and cast from in there, right? 120 feet. I can actually just do it from the pipes, pretty much. And you don't need line of sight.

You could literally basically say behind the doors, silence globe. Yeah. Silence globe. Oh, man. I think we should... Yeah. So many moving pieces okay yeah let's use the final

of drows final dry squad let's use that as the distraction for grads to delay him i think that's a worthwhile use because he's terrified and it's yeah if if he if if you if the guards managed to send word to him as well because in theory you've got Javin is going to go take care of at least one of these guards units, right? Did you still want him to do that? You still want him to basically assassinate two people in these guard posts? Because he can do that. I think it's worth it.

And then you were wanting to send the other ones to basically keep this other guard post busy if any trouble happens. That was my understanding. Or do you want to do something different? That's another guard post. Another guard post. That seems to be watching over the pursuit ships.

The entrance to the pursuit ships and the maintenance corridor. So that was like another option if you... Go on. I'm just wondering if we could send some drow to disable the pursuit ships just in case our plan doesn't work you can try that's not something that they're tailored to so the other thing so now we're getting on to like sending people off to do stuff um you'll

see down there that they have um each of the npcs, Phyra, and then the drow agent squads, have two things that they're good at, right? If you assign them to a job that is fit with that general theme of what they're good at, they have a higher chance of succeeding at it because I'm going to roll a percentile dice to see if they pull it off, right? So there's still a chance of failure. If you send a squad that is neither good or bad

at the thing they're trying to do, it's like a 50-50. If you send them to do a neither good or bad at the thing they're trying to do, it's like a 50-50. If you send them to do a job that they're bad at doing, it reduces the chances. If multiple NPCs stack up together, they get better chances. Nova going with them to the tower increases their chances

because you've got more of you and you've got player abilities and stuff like that to do so. So that's something to consider. I think it makes sense to have, because that other guard post is far away, and in the time, like I've got 10 minutes of silence, once the tether's

broken, once you teleport down, once the net is gone, it's going to be done potentially in a space of like two minutes. Potentially. Hopefully. Depending on how much percentage rolls go.

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. But it makes sense to have one spare drow squad to basically, the moment any guard sees us, they assume our looks and then run off and they get chased by the other guards. At the moment, this drow squad

you said you wanted to send to be a distraction if Gratz finds you. So right now you currently only have one of the guards. Yeah. So I can basically make them invisible. So you've got one guard squad. You can decide

whether you want to send them for this guard post or as a distraction for something else or what you want to do with them i'm getting confused with distracting and grunts with disguising as ourselves to provide a distraction everything it's the same thing right it's the same thing because you know it's not going to become a distraction for everything there's too many demons in this city to like you can't lure guards away from the starport like there's guards fucking everywhere but what you can do is if you send them out disguised as you guys what it will mean is that if you do get if these guys do manage to send word to grats that you're here it will buy you maybe a minute before he arrives and i will

tell you this now as a DM, if Graz arrives, he will probably kill every single one of you, because he is that powerful. Like, he is like a CR24, legendary actions, can fucking cast, like, a whole person on all of you at once. Like, he's

bad fucking news. So, having that extra time is probably a good idea. The hope is they're in the busy streets right with their cloaks on and as we know we're in the twin star the thing's severed uh nova's teleported over they come out looking like us so that everyone around thinks we're not at the twin star yet that's that's the hope keep in mind trot this is only a this is only the area around the twin star the city's much wider these busy streets that continues on like those busy streets go on for miles all the way to the argent palace um i mean

somewhere else in the city yeah i still want it to look like oh we did they haven't reached the twin star at least yeah yeah that yeah, that's the plan. There's a ruckus being caused around it, but they're not in yet. So let's just deal with them outside. Therefore, they're distracted away from the twin star itself. Okay, so if you keep the guards in this area to be that distraction, keep in mind that if, because again, the idea is that they lure grats to wherever they are.

He can just jump like 120 feet around. He'll just go, that's an illusion. They're somewhere else. Where are they? I'm going to find them. Isn't he going to do that anyway? Well, no, because the idea is that he can one-range teleport

to like, yeah, it'll take him longer, which is why you get an extra minute before he arrives. I thought he could just teleport anywhere he wanted to. But he can once, and then he has to basically more manually get across the city which he can do very quickly but the idea is that you send them to like the other part of the city yeah cause a ruckus he goes there goes fuck they're not here and then he has to run to to the twin star okay let's do that let's have an anti-grats party i think he's a he's an end yeah he is he really is pretty scary yeah and the other shit we're just going to deal with that guard post is uh sending out sending stones we just have to get away faster yeah yeah for sure

make sure like well if no noise is heard, you can hear them. This guard, this drow squad here, that's near the side, yeah. If they're on that guard post, the other drow is on the other one, I think that's the best chance, because this one is, the one over there by the pursuit ships is farther away. I think to give ourselves the best chance,

that is the area that we need to send a squad out so that that's a distraction and then focus all of that attention to silence and keep those guards as... So with the... So Jevan himself can basically eliminate the guards at the post, right? You're sending him... He's an assassin.

His job is to be an assassin. You can send him to kill the guards in there so they can't activate it the other drow squad i mean killing isn't their speciality their best thing is deception so are they trying to just prevent people from getting to the guard post are they trying to like lure the guards away like what do you guys what do you actually want these guys to do? If they can disguise, could they be... I have command, and I can target two people, so I can tell them to go somewhere and busy themselves

for a while. It's 60 feet. It's a whiz 15 saving throw. How do you do this? It's just a little like a circle with a ruler icon in it.

What happens if command fails? If command fails, it just doesn't do anything. I don't get that. Also, with command, it's a one word, so you would have to say flee or something like that to make

them go away yeah it's the fourth icon what'd you say ruffle grovel oh grovel yeah i think that's one of the options um but then it saves us using it does

it's that gamble of saving through yeah you could do it from there if the door's open i think you have to be able to see the creatures so there is a door that is between these guard posts and the hangar wall of aciding as well you might not be able to see through that yeah and you might be smashed up by some giants but it's a good

idea to have as a backup it's still a useful useful spell if shit hits the fan then definitely do that okay okay i mean if nothing else if you end up fighting these guys in the by the twin star re and it looks like they're gonna run away and escape to the guard post that's a perfect time to be like command stop and they're just like nice cool yeah okay so i've got your majesty's rose to go into the back of their spines. Go.

Tom. Violence it is. Three final things for me. Sure. Is A, we need something to get to break through the wall in the storage area to get to the pipes. B, how is Nova Thalia

and Phyra actually getting to that tower generator and three, did I say three right? The final thing is, do I create a restoration, the elf now or do I wait until we're on the ship? Do it now. Because he can't help us right now.

Do it now. I'm just wary that he's going to say If we do it he'll actually be of sound enough mind to maybe fight on our side to be fair he could just leave he could just be like no way

well then we don't have to take him on the ship then yeah I think that from the fact that he's followed Ayla and she can say that she's from the same planet as him and is releasing him from being a captive, I think that it's a good other person to potentially have on our side

who has fire powers. I'll use Greater Restoration just before the giants attack and then he's got no choice but to come with us. Do it now, you butt. Do it now. Fine. Okay. Greater Restoration.

I have it prepared. I will mark off 100 GP. 100 GP of Diamond Dust. It costs. So, Kim, I have 100. May you spend that? Oh, there you go. Quill's got 100 on him. There you go. I got it.

I got it. And then take it away, Kim. Plop him on the head. Yeah, one effect, one curse, any reduction to ability scores, and one effect reducing the target's hit point maximum. Gone. Okay.

It's more than a boop, I imagine. Well, you tell me, what's it like? You know, how does Quill cast the spell? You know, Retheras, you kind of get close to him, kind of looks up, kind of hunches almost defensively, but doesn't seem particularly threatened by you, so he's just sort of watching you I mean in the same way as like Fly gives me

another spectral wing I think in this instance it's a spectral Hesper's hand in replacement for my left arm comes out and it's kind of like Shadow of Mordor he like touches his head you will kneel

and yeah just removes the curse with Hesper's hand rather than Quill's. Yeah, you see kind of wisps of white light encircle his head, his eyes, his face kind of gets enshrouded, and you hear not like a scream of pain, but kind of like a gasp like somebody breathing, you know when desperate for air somebody who is suffocating finally get into sucking air

this gasp kind of echoes through the chamber and as you pull back, you see Rethra, these almond eyes these kind of long pointed ears and the fiery scars. He kind of blinks a few times

and kind of looks around, taking a lot in. Who are you? Who are you? Where am I? What did you just do to me? I can... The voices, the noises, the...

It's all gone. It's... The theater. Is this the theater? You've been... No, no. You've been in the theater for a long time, but we freed you from there.

My name is Ayla. Can I use your face? Ayla. Ayla Ayla Ayla I don't know you but I kind of do at the same time I know your face, that hair but I don't know your name

uh, thank you why? why did you help me? and he kind of like stands up where are my weapons? my weapons my armor where the last thing I remember is that

damn arena then that woman the snake woman making me fight and then the dergar the beatings hit me so hard why did you help me I think we're from the same place from Alfheim Why did you help me?

I think we're from the same place. From Alfheim. Alfheim? You must be an exile. You carry... You carry tartan that's similar to mine, but I've never met another wild elf from Alfheim before. You must have been spared from the recruitments. Or you didn't serve in the Valkyrian army?

I don't know. I don't think so. I think I was born from someone who did. Maybe. Somehow. born from someone who did maybe somehow most of us we're inscripted by birth after the regeneration process we're inducted into the army the only other wild elves I know

that don't that aren't part of it the elves from Alfheim they're exiles like me people that fled or abandoned their positions. It's strange to meet one who's not used to that. Yes, I'm from

Alfheim, and the tartan is one of the few things we kept from our world, a symbol of a clan. Normally it's given to those who are chosen by the divines. It's given to those of us who have unique powers. Do you... I'll just...

I'll let my lightning crackle through my hand. Huh. Storm King. It's been a while since I've seen anybody with that power. I thought it was forgotten. It was lost. There's a few of us from Flame and Frost, but Storm King, that's a rare one

I've never known anyone to have any of those powers so this is new to me, I don't know where I got them I'm learning more, but I couldn't see you trapped in a theatre like that

and not at least try and help. Forgive me, this world, the Empire, it's not one that is... Well, there's not a lot of kindness in it. And you, when he looks at Quill, I've never seen a creature like you before. Forgive me if I was a little disorientated. Thank you for seen a creature like you before. Forgive me if I was a little disorientated. Thank you for whatever your spell magic you used. Who is it that cursed you?

I don't know if curse is the right word. It's been years. That place, that theater. Even now, my memories of it are so fragmented i can't even remember what's real or what was a nightmare but i mean it was brutal every day forced to fight and kill i took beatings worse than anything i've ever faced i think i was just lady the marilith sheith. She runs the place.

No magic, just, well, probably the greatest fighter I've ever encountered. She would train me, but it wasn't training like you might imagine. It was torture, really. I think maybe part of me just stopped thinking to kind of cope with it all. I just got so lost in just surviving that I forgot who I was you say you don't know how you got these powers then

you have to understand I just know that I got very angry one day and the lightning started. And since then, it's been something I've been trying to get a hold of, really. That's the anger is what unlocks it. It is only through moments of great upheaval that the chosen are selected, that the divines favor us, those of us who have

lost, those of us who have something to fight for. But it's a gift. It's given by the divines before they left us. It's not something that normally you just wake up with. It had to have been something that was given to you.

I don't know how to explain it to you, but the Storm King, he's been gone for centuries, millennia. I don't know how long it's been, but he's not really a part of this world anymore. I don't understand how you have these powers. It doesn't make sense. Where are we? what are you doing here?

why are you on this planet? this is not a planet that any of you should be here on we're trying to leave it currently and if you like we can well yeah I was gonna say you're welcome to but we need to get out of here in a safe way

and we might need your help to do that. I mean, I'm not really one for planning. If you need stuff burnt, or if you need stuff smashed, or cut, or punched, sure, but I'm not really one for thinking or planning.

I need weapons. I need armor. Can we get that can we get armor can we ask this is Mark speaking you can absolutely ask them you can ask Jevan

you turn around Jevan kind of nods does the elf have any preference for weaponry you see Rathra kind of nods uh does the elf have any preference for weaponry you see breath kind of he's like i get it i get to pick batlax and uh a long knife preferably something not quite a long sword but short short blade he nods the armor heavy light something sturdy but not too heavy for me, no shields and he just kind of like looks disgusted like

I don't fucking care Jevan just nods they will be ornamental drow weapons but they will service you well enough I can't imagine that they will be to your tastes, as long as they cut stuff I don't really care very imagine that they will be to your tastes. As long as they cut stuff, I don't really

care very well. I will see to it. If you have any other requests for basic equipment, you mentioned cloaks. Quilek, was it? I can fetch those as well. To disguise me, mostly, because there's a lot of me to cover.

Not many are co-creators. I think it best if all of you wear them I have my magical abilities but even then the drow in Azaghrat is not entirely it doesn't stand out so I'll be fine can we have some with some lining

because I do get a little itchy now and again if it's fully woolen. If it was maybe part mixture with something softer, maybe preconditioned and softened, something like that. Maybe put it in the wash first? If we have time. Something like that? He shakes his head. I'll get the cloaks now.

And he just leaves. Excellent. I'd be a yes. Okay. I think Aayla would want to probably introduce Rethra to everybody else. His next question was who is everyone?

Who is that? Who's the man who just requested the fanciest of capes? Yeah. So yeah, do you go around and do the introductions as a la like this is blah blah blah blah i think she'll probably explain that um these are my companions i know we look like a bit of a strange group but none of us are from anywhere around here we were

taken from a planet as a group and we're fighting to get back they're all very good people glad you said that it's unusual to see ganass

here hi you aren't okay Ganass here hi you on okay sure Nova actually helped get your captor away while we

we broke the chains free so I stopped him from killing us all she's usually not very threatening but she she really ramped it up we're teaching her we're learning impressive he's a bit of a stubborn what memories i have of him he was stubborn but quite fierce used to be a fighter in the arena but good well thank you uh nova was it thanks yes my pleasure uh you are definitely not from any of the valkyrian planets i can tell that you have far too much happiness and energy

about you uh he kind of looks at lucius this one i can see coming from Gideon Prime. He looks like the sort that would benefit from Valkyrian's rule. I'm not sure whether to be offended or... You look rich, is what I'm saying. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That's very kind. I haven't washed in weeks. Do you want to take it as a compliment? By all means. Elinasto. At your service.

It's good to have you with us. If you're getting off this planet, then yes, I'm with you. I don't really care where you're going, to be honest. I can't go back to any of the Valkyrian worlds. I'm a branded exile traitor, so I can't go back there. So wherever you're heading heading sounds good to me. Well, you're in luck. Yes.

Okay. So with Reth resorted before we go on break there's just one thing just to confirm because what I'd like to do is when we come back from break is we will

end this whole thing off. Begin the operation. So the only other last question I think Tom had was how is Thalia, Nova and Fire going to get up the tower into the generator? You said something about flapping a ladder. I can

cast Fly on one person with his ring. Lady Dustbill's ring. Lady Dustbillow's ring. That is also concentration. But once they're up there, I feel like we're getting them up there, and then beginning our end of the operation, right?

Sure. Might get noticed. Just flying on the outside of that. I can cast invisibility on a bunch of us. You can do up to three, right? So three plus me, so four

people. I could even cast on one of you guys because it's touch, so we can cast it and then go and it lasts an hour or until I'm not concentrating on it it yeah as well get as much as we can yeah yeah uh thalia you can levitate can't you nova so the flying is if you have somebody there to sort of propel you in horizontal directions exactly then you should be fine. Perhaps if you cast Fly on Me,

Quillik, and then... Well, this firer seems to be a capable woman, a spellcaster of some sort. Perhaps, hopefully she'll have some mana. Who knows? They're so obsessed with spiders, perhaps she has some way of doing some sort of spider climb. Hmm.

Okay, so you three, plus one of us, invisible, fly on Thalia. The moment you're up there, I'll cast Sending so that we can keep in touch and you can let me know when you're up there. That's when we start. We have the messenger ring with Nova, don't you? Yeah. We'll do that

instead. You can let us know when you're up there. Break the concentration, go through the storage area, drill through the concentration, go through the storage area, drill through the pipes, create a wall of acid, break the two tethers. Once they're broken, you teleport into the ship. Vyra disables the thing,

re-enables it the moment we're out, and then we're out, and then we're free! Sure, that sounds great. What's your go to shit? After this break, we're going to take a short break. When we be back, we're going to kick off this whole messy adventure. What are we going to call this operation? Isn't that the most important bit?

As we call it, Operation... Well, you can think of that. We're trying to break through the sky of this planet. Operation Broken Sky. No. No. I'll let that ruminate.

A statement that means nothing to anybody who didn't watch Campaign 1. Well done, Tom. Yeah, there you go. Right. Let's take a quick break. Wonderful. Well, holy holy crap are you all excited it to do this operation you were excited to see how it goes are you now that marks are optimistic i'm scared