High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #84 | Home (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

Sentry connects with the giant astral serpent guardian that protects Aerois in hopes that it'll let us free! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. list in the app and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost add coffee to your list then swap it for one that's cheaper craving chips the app will suggest some on sale to get started just open the app it's as easy as that see the pc optimum app for details with uber reserve you can book your uber ride in advance 90 days in advance Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Uber Reserve. See Uber app for details. Welcome back to Aroes. Last time, our party have been traveling through the Astral Sea, a great swathe of space that connects the various planes of the multiverse.

They're traveling aboard the ship, the twin star Longbow, with the aid of its Medusa captain Thalia. Our party have nearly reached their homeworld of Erois. However, to reach it, they must pass through the Shifting Straits, an ancient barrier of huge ice chunks and debris that has been used to hide Erois away from the other planes. But hidden amongst the ice was a very powerful threat. A giant serpent made of frost and stars, a colossal being that dwarfed

anything the party had seen before. Its body covered in wrecks of many other astral ships, including several warships of the Valkyrian Empire. And it was in one of these warships that the party noticed a taint from the presence of Hadar, the hungering one. Deciding to cleanse the ship of the Hadar presence, the party made a desperate attempt to land and made their way into the crashed ship. Inside, they found a death tyrant, a powerful agent of Hadar, who was trying to feed off the energy of a fragment of Tiangong, an Eterna that Nova Vija has made a pact with. Defeating the tyrant came at no small cost, with Lucius Virion Eloin Elenasto permanently turned to stone,

and several of the party members heavily injured and narrowly escaping worse fates. Now, they must return to their ship and confront the last two obstacles keeping them from returning home. Sentry, the guardian paladin, has stepped out into the freezing winds of the creature's body and is trying to heal its ages-old wounds, connecting briefly with its psyche and that is my friends the very moment we are going to begin today uh sentry you had rushed out leaving the relative safety of this crashed ancient warship and stepping out onto the back of this giant this this colossal gargantuan, one might say, frost worm, this kind of like frost and star snake. You'd made your way over to this jagged scar where this crashed ship had torn through the creature's body.

You'd laid your hands down and tried to heal it. And in doing so, you felt this connection and you felt this voice enter your mind. And it spoke to you. To clarify, it's speaking to you not in common, but in a language called primordial, which I've already checked and Sentry does understand. And yeah, the words that formed in your head were, who are you? So what does Sentry do whilst these raging freezing winds blow around you?

I think Sentry would stand tall and try and look brave and confident and she would say I am Sentinel Prime descendant of Root Prime and those that came before him.

The voice kind of forms in your head. And... Prime, Root, we do not know these things. You are not Valkyrian. You are not Hadar. But I do not know you.

I must protect the Starchild's legacy. I must not allow any to pass. Threats must be destroyed. Essentially, you are going to take another five points of cold damage as

the environment of this whole place. You feel the frost building up on your armor. And you can feel that there's like, not just a, this is telepathic, but it is speaking to you in this ancient primordial language. But there is this connection there as well you you've this isn't just like you're speaking to it you get a sense that it can feel your emotions it can detect things that you imagine

like it's reading your thoughts as well as your emotions and and the kind of force around you. Please, calm your fury. We're trying to get to Arois. We are from Arois. We need to pass through. You are unfamiliar. Your

construction is that of old magic. I can feel a Genesis relic within you. You are correct. I carry the Prime Matrix within me. Why do you bring this to Arois? The Starchild's legacy is a world of peace. Arois is soon to become a world without peace, unless we pass through. Hadar and Starbane are coming. You felt them yourself.

I am built to protect from them. Many Valkyrian ships have passed. I have destroyed some, but many others. They have found hidden ways past me through the ice. Now they gather forced away

by the sun ship the star child's creation. But Hadar you have destroyed its agent, its infection, but you are not strong enough to stop it. Then join us. Fight with us. We're on the same side. Fight with us. We're on the same side.

Please. Whatever else is coming, Hadar, Starbane, all they'll bring is death and destruction. You can help prevent that. While Sentry is doing this, what is everyone else? I know Nova, you had stayed behind in the main hangar with the Shard of Tiangong. Lucius has turned to stone. He's got his finger up,

so I'm going to assume this is a Chris Trottris trot question yeah wow i feel pretty called out but you're not wrong mark so carry on there wasn't anything that you would like to do you just wanted to make the point i just uh need to get into role play okay thank you Chris I mean Aayla and Quill you'd moved up with Sentry you have I believe you have the Magitek bike

that you had recovered the Akira bike with Lucius precariously balanced and I'm guessing like roped to it planking on the bike and we're just trying to make sure that he doesn't, you know, topple. That's our main job right now, is making sure the statue

of Lucius doesn't topple. Well, you guys can see, like, the door is open and you can look out. There's this freezing wind blowing in, but you're kind of safe from it as long as you remain in the ship. But you can see Sentry stood out on the back of this creature, and you can see this thick layer of frost is

beginning to crawl up her limbs she appears to be speaking to something but you can't really hear what it's saying back do you guys do anything? so we've got the shard haven't we? no

Nova is with the shard you picked up a few magic items ayla has a bag full of platinum bars and you have this magitek bike um yeah i think the original plan was to drop off lucius and go back for nova on the bike um but i can't remember who was doing that i think nova was going to catch up to us because she yeah doesn't i can teleport breathe so because the power's gonna go out can i go and join sentry you can yeah yeah so you begin wading away you're immediately gonna take five points of cold damage, Aayla, as you're kind of like, you know,

pressing through these freezing cold winds. And as you stand next to Century, you can feel this presence more emanating from her, some sort of connection. You can even see strands of starlight flowing up from the ice, and they're now kind of, know touching caressing century's fingers her limbs the golden matrix in the center of her constructed body um you can see all these kind of like wisps of starlight you can hear a voice but does ayla speak primordial No. To your ears, it would almost sound like the creaking and crashing of great ice-y old glaciers.

The background hum of astral space all kind of merged into this warbling, heavy tone. But you can feel that Sentry is deep in some sort of connection with this thing um century after your words to the creature you hear back i am bound i was created by the Star Child and bound to these icy planes. I cannot leave this place. I cannot help beyond protecting from here. If you truly do not seek to harm Erois, you must show me how. You travel with this one, and you feel Aela's presence. You can see Aela approach you through the ice.

This one once served Valkyrian. I feel I have seen this one's kind before. They have come as warriors in his name. She served against her will. Starbane twists people, turns them against good people. Aayla's not a bad person. She fights with us. She fights with us. I do not know if I can trust you, strange creature, that I do not know. Or I can trust those who once served my enemy. You are not children of the Starchild.

You are not her wards or her creations. We know her daughter. Can I just put my hand on Sentry's arm just to let her know that I'm here and just in the earring say to her if there's anything I can do to help

let me know. Anything. I don't know how to help. I can't understand it. You both are going to take five more cold damage as this conversation continues building like you are literally being frozen by the atmosphere. Tom, did you want to do anything? Are you just like...

I mean... Just waiting for, you know, the call okay all right sure um i feel bad yeah so uh century in your mind you hear there is no daughter the titans live upon a rowis siasca and starbane had a child The Titans live upon Aroas. Siaska and Starbane had a child. This... this cannot be true. He is the enemy. I was built to defend from him. They were in love, and they had a child. And we've met her. And we know where she is. If we can rescue her and bring her back to Arois,

she might be our chance. I do not understand these... You speak things that cannot be true. You can get the sense that this thing... It doesn't... It's not quite unintelligent, but there is almost like a bestial kind of primality to it like higher concepts like love um things like that it almost doesn't seem to quite fully understand in that sense based on this connection, this magical kind of moment you have, this thing is old, but it's also, it is the ice and it is astral space itself.

It's like those things have been brought to life. This is elemental in nature, almost. This isn't like a sentient thinking being. It is what it is. It's kind of base nature is perhaps more simple than that um well i can give you a minute to think because i can check in with our resident uh magitek agonasi uh nova vija what is nova doing kim um so you are surrounded in the very dark uh chamber uh this kind of hangar bay almost like a kind of you know sci-fi-esque hammer bay

hangar bay with all sorts of magitek everywhere and in the middle is just this very faint blue glow coming from this shield the shard of tiangong that you are currently stood outside. So, guessing I probably would check in with the crew. This is probably running parallel to when Sentry starts talking to the Primordial, to the Frost Warden, checking that they've made it to the edge of the ship so they're safe. And then I guess, yeah, I would stand in front of the shard the shield shard and look at tiangong in my hand and let's go are you ready and then yes as soon as i hear that try to summon the shield okay uh you get the sense that now there is no longer this kind of prevalent threat uh the shard reacts and you can sense this trepidation but you know the shard the weapon in

your hand pulses with power kind of flows through you and you watch as the shimmering blue field uh slowly kind of fades away in parts as if you know slowly breaking away um and yeah you see that the shield breaks down and the shield shard begins slowly floating towards you um what do you do i guess i would i would hold out tiangong in my hand and and and just wait for it to approach. Hold out the sword. Yeah. You do that and you see as the two points, the tip of the shield

and the tip of the sword, the front of the shield, as they become almost touching there is a flash of light and suddenly the shield form of Tiangong breaks down into little pixels of light and it is all just drawn into the blade. You can

go ahead and add, if you search in D&D Beyond, Tiangong Shard Shield. So you've already got Tiangong Edge of the Galaxy or something in the galaxy, but yeah, this is called Tiangong Shard Shield. It's an independent item, so the way that this works

is as a bonus action you can pull the shield out of the blade basically so it forms around your hand and it becomes a separate shield that you wield um but the other thing it does uh is it also uh so it acts as a normal shield it doesn't give you any additional ac over what a normal shield does, but it does increase Tiangong's sentient intelligence. And as the as you form the shield along your wrist, this kind of same blue

black crystalline glowing shield you hear in your head I'm trying to think of the word. Maybe. Uh, no. No, no, no. You hear, uh, progress. A new word! How many new words do you know?

Some. How, how do you feel? How do you, how, how are you? How are you? How do you feel? How are you? How are you? Trying to think of one word answers, given its motions and its current situation. Better. Good. Good. I'm so happy. We're getting there. We're getting there. I'm so excited.

Oh, I can't congratulations no congratulations to you you're the one leading me to all these things i'm so excited okay um i guess we better we better go i i have so many questions affirmative but we better go before um and join the others before this station shuts down. Are you okay? Can we? Yeah, true. Oh, God. You're really chatty. Or are you?

I don't know. Or is it me? I'm so nervous. We almost died. I was a statue. Lucius is a statue. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

Destabilizing. Yeah, I think I am destabilizing. Let's go. Well, yeah, you're not sure whether he's talking about the the hanger around you or you yourself um or they are talking about you um but yeah you can feel that there is definitely there is a more completed personality there um it is limited so tiangong the more it speaks the more energy it drains so it will get quieter the more it speaks. So it's kind of a, you don't want to talk to it all the time. Well, it's kind of like a Furby.

And you feel it connect. Without Tiangong, any residual light that was in this hangar bay begins shutting down. And you can already tell various systems are disabling. The Magitek that was being powered that kept it warm kept oxygen they are fading um it's getting colder uh and yeah even if you start making your way if you start to leave you can already tell that yeah there's only a limited amount of oxygen in this place and it's going to go uh so what would you like to do

um i guess before it all starts going down i think just rp wise nova just wants to take a deep breath and go excuse me tiangong i just need to get something out of my system take a deep breath and just scream at the top of my lungs because she's just she just needs to get it out because you know the last few days it's been really stressful other side of the galaxy grats lucius's statue death tyrant yeah okay Yeah, sure. Okay, done. Move. Quill, you definitely, maybe after like a few seconds, you hear a very faint echo with your incredible perception. You do hear a very faint...

Ah! From down this deep in the corridors. Oh, God, Nova, are you okay? Nova? I'm fine. I'm fine. I have Tiangong. I'm coming back. It's all fine. It's good. Just a little bit of therapy.

Okay, come quick. Yeah, it's quite a distance to get back to those guys. So are you teleporting? Are you just going to run over? I will cast Far Step, which allows me to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space.

I can see it's technically a bonus action. So you can move, dash, and then bonus action, fast step every turn. How long does it last? It lasts a minute, so I don't know how much. It'll speed you up significantly. It'll still speed you up significantly because it's like an extra 60

foot of movement every turn, basically. Okay, cool. While Nova is horridly making their way back to the entrance, Sentry and Ayla, anything from you guys? Sentry, I guess specifically, as Ayla can't speak to this creature.

I think I'll message ring Ayla and just say to Ayla, this being is really old. Extremely old. He doesn't trust us. We're new to him. Okay. old. He doesn't trust us. We're new to him. Um, okay. I guess we just need to show him we're not

trying to sneak past him or anything. We're trying to help him. Does he understand that? I think so. A little bit. Can I, um, just kneel down and put my hammer down and put a hand on its back just trying to sort of freezing cold but yeah yeah sure no um no desire to hurt him

that's a thing i hadn't thought about okay as you touch it back you've always said that Aayla occasionally just has like flashes of lightning up and down her arm is that all the time or is that like only when she's mad like are there any sort of like traces of lightning now tends to be when she just when she's angry

but I don't know how much of the residual would be sort of she could try she could like but I don't want to hurt it DM bae DM bae I don't want to hurt it

I think she wouldn't be this thing's pretty big I don't think a little bit of lightning is going to hurt this thing but it's a violent action, you know? She's trying to be a good barbarian and not get mad. I don't know if it would be able to sense that power within her, though, given that...

Maybe. So as you touch down, first of all, it's freezing cold, and it's not like touching... It's like touching solid ice, but it's less cold and it's not like touching it's like touching solid ice but it's less substantial than that you can almost feel that there is some give and it's almost like touching the the purple mist of the astral sea mixed in with this freezing cold temperature um but as you do Sentry, you get a sense in your mind. This one. I feel his presence.

This one has a divine's touch. The fur, the Storm King. The Storm King's power is in this one that is not possible she means no harm none of us do we're just trying to get home what does sentry think of like are you thinking of anything

in particular when you say all of this like are you drawing on sort of like any memories or power or anything she's just thinking back to she's just thinking back to, she's just thinking about Arois. She's thinking about all the friends she's made. She's thinking about Rosehall, Solvin. She just wants to go home. Yeah, okay.

You can feel this swelling trepidation, I would call it. There is an anxiousness, a kind of momentary pause. The creature is not moving. Whatever it was doing, it's definitely not doing anything violent, but almost as if waiting for something. As in somebody that's on a knife edge an animal that could either fight or flee at the drop of a pin one false step on either side or one step on either side will either drive this creature to

you know mistrust and drive it to attack or could gain its trust. Like I said before, we're on the same side. That Hadass born within you is gone. But more will be coming. We know that. More of Starbane will be coming. But if you let us through, we might be able to stop it. Thanks, woman. Rowis is our home.

Perhaps this is true. I can sense you carry many, many souls within you. There is ancient magic at your heart, Construct. And this one, she has been touched by the Storm King. The first of the lightning. The hero of ages. These are good things I will allow

you to pass and it shall be for the sun of flames to judge you you just feel the creature kind of go more still you are going to both take five more points of cold damage as all of this conversation has continued to build up around you um and the ice this is that is not the creature attacking you that is just it is so unbelievably cold on this

thing's body that being stood on it is just so cold it's hot it's hurting um your skin is blistering it feels tight uh painful almost it's cracking from dryness well sensory doesn't have skin but uh same same logic applies all the wood in your joints you know becoming stiff intense um cool what do you guys do? What does everyone do? Ayla doesn't know yet that they've said. She's like, Sentry, Sentry, would it help if

the other guys were here? And if they put their hands up, you know, we come in peace. Kind of a dealio. It's okay, Ayla. You've really helped. It saw you. It felt you. We're fine.

Did I accidentally zap it with lightning because I was really trying not to do that? It says something about the Storm King power. That guy that keeps cropping up. Who knows? Yeah. We'll deal with that problem at some point.

Gift problem. I don't really know what it is. That is terrific. Now we just need Nova to get us a portal and make Lucius not a statue anymore. And then we can call this a successful day those of you who have the messenger rings Thalia contacts you over

them I don't know what you did but this this thing does seem to have stopped attacking am I safe to approach has it cloaked the ship in any way?

It was meant to do that for us to see Palidor. I certainly don't think it has. I'm not seeing any sort of magical effect from it. Sentry, can you ask it

if it can do that? Tell Palidor that we are who, you know, we said? Quill, what exactly did he say that he wanted to see? Oh, just we would be cloaked by the Guardian, protecting Arois, so Paladar would know it was us. That was it. If you guys

continue staying out on the creature's body by the way, it's going to be another five points of cold damage. Can you help me get Lucius down by the way? He's very heavy. I'll scoot back and help Quill with Lucius. Okay. Sentry, are you going to stay out? I'm so tired.

I should probably ask. I should probably ask. I should probably ask. Okay. You're going to take five more points of cold damage if you stay out, but you'll be able to have a short conversation. That's fine. Yeah. What'd you ask?

I'll just ask, would we be safe from the Sunship? That is not for me to decide. I am the outer defense. The Sunship is the inner defense. I can allow you to pass through my domain, aid you. But once you arrive there, that is for the Sun of Flame to decide. But be warned, Valkyrian patrols past my defenses too.

Many years ago he found a way past my barriers. I have killed many of Valkyrian ships, but not all. Hopefully, once we get home, we'll be able to help too. I will do what I can, but I am old, and I am injured.

The star child has been missing for so long. She no longer attends to me, replenishes me. Without her, I cannot leave this place I promise you we will do everything we can that will be seen construct prime I give you my word

go quiet it takes you not too long over but probably by the time this is wrapping up is when you are sort of arriving at the end of the corridor with Quill and Aayla now, who has joined him, and a stone-formed Lucius, who Chris Trotter's had to be quiet this entire time.

I'm sure it's agony for him. Hi, hi, hi. I'm here, I'm here. I have a shield, I have a shield, Tango has a shield, Tango, Tango can say more than... Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova, Nova. It's real cold outside, Sentry's a bit frozen, can we... It's also starting to get very cold in here as well, by the way. Air's getting a bit thin too. as well, by the way. Yes. Are we safe? Are we safe? Is the big astral serpent... Is it okay? Have we been covered in its essence?

Is that what's happening? Yes. Protector. Covered in its essence? You all hear... Tiangong, by the way. You all... Anybody who stood near Nova

hears this protector. That's not the word maybe. I expected maybe. Protector is a lot. Let's have this conversation aboard a nice toasty ship, shall we? I don't know if anyone's noticed, but the oxygen is getting a bit thin.

A bit thin. I'm surprised you noticed. I keep a monitor of it for you because you can't... You need it to breathe. Oh, good. Okay, great. Let's go then.

Yeah, I mean, at this point, you are not in any danger. So with the messenger rings, you can just tell Thalia it's safe to approach. And if Sentry basically is like, please don't attack our astral ship, please, Mr. Ancient Primordial Serpent thing,

Thalia can basically descend low enough where you'll probably still need to use the gates, Nova, if you still have the arcane gate, just because she can't fully land the ship. But you can do enough to kind of like transport everything through. How big is the arcane gate by the way like so um five ten feet in diameter it's big enough for the bike that was my my main question yeah so this magitek bike which is this very sleek black purple crystalline thing um you just managed to get it through the the gateway into the main living area of the twin star

uh you can see kairi the harpy kind of yelps a bit as um everything is is kind of being pulled through uh and then when she sees lucius uh turned to stone she kind of lets out like a thalia um lucius is is made of rock uh is that what should i do um thalia just manages to kind of look behind her and it's like uh not really going to worry about it right now my dear um do we have everyone is is everyone clear everybody can we go three four five bikes yes one two three four bike yep we've got the bike too let's go all right good and then you just feel the kind of thrum of power as the twin star longbow pulls away from this ancient creature um it moves very rapidly quickly and brings its face directly looking into the Twin Stars cockpit.

And you all see this giant, luminous, glowing blue, made of constellations face with these eyes that look like nebula, just stares into you. And anybody who speaks Primordial, which I believe is Nova and Century, I don't think i will speaks it nope um you understand its words of

you will be the first i have allowed past my domain if you bring a threat to arois the sun of flames will eradicate more than just your vessel than your bodies you will eradicate your minds and your souls do not betray this chance. And then it moves, and it seems to head straight into one of these huge icy glaciers, but rather than impact, it just flies into it and seems to just get sucked into the ice itself.

And then it is gone. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We're safe. Sentry, well done. For now. Well, we're not done yet. We have to get past the sunship.

You do notice the shifting straights, all these floating like asteroids and shapes made of ice. They begin very much on purpose drifting and a corridor of them begins opening as different ones are moved and pulled out of the way and they begin forming a corridor that leads

away from your current location. Another one. Corridor. But no wreath or anything like that from the Guardian. It does not appear to be any sort of like, you know, there is no spell that you can see that's being cast on the ship or like there's no physical effect, it seems.

We got his verbal blessing yeah he said kim kim what's the actual words that he said because i know you've got them written bathe your ship in its essence it says restore the mind of the guardian the, and bathe your ship in its essence. Seemingly. I mean, I'm not sure what that means, but there's not any sort of effect around the ship or anything like that. I mean, we've been in the area and we got out of it,

so maybe. Shall I take this mysterious corridor that's been opened up for us, or are we not taking that? I guess so. Sentry, did you ask about its essence and bathing in it? Is it gooey? I don't know. I asked if we'd be safe from the sunship,

but he said Palidor would judge us. I suppose it's up to Palidor to decide if we're worthy of going through. Oh, ambiguous. As long as Palidor gives us the time, then me and Ayla can talk to him. I'm really good at talking to people. Yeah. It's a real skill set I have.

Yeah. Well, you certainly calmed the astral snake down, that's for sure. That's good to know. You really helped. I can calm people guys calm things and stuff did a thing anyway continue how do we make lucius not a statue again oh um how long until we're there uh it's difficult to say um now that we've had this opened up for us, I mean, I don't know how far this goes,

these shifting straights. It could be a few hours. I don't think... I imagine it won't take me more than a few hours. With a long rest and another chunk of gold... Diamond dust. Diamond dust. I can probably bring him back, with a long rest and another chunk of gold um diamond dust I can probably bring him back but uh until then

Tiangong is there anything you can do uh negative negative sorry Lucius I tried just pat stone Lucius petrification hmm yeah Thalia just looks is like well on that note and she begins adjusting the course and the twin star Lombo begins going down this corridor

of ice, this kind of sphere, and you can see that all of the pieces are still independent chunks. They haven't fused together, but they're kind of rotating, and they've been moved into a way that gives you this perfect cylinder to travel through. Do you

start trying to take a long rest, Quill? Are you going to begin the process of a long rest? Is everyone going to begin trying to take a long rest quill are you going to begin the process of a long rest is everyone going to begin the process of a long rest i guess so i don't really see much else to do in this time traveling you don't have to sleep a long rest is just a period of of resting time so you can sit in the cockpit and do it uh yeah i think so uh maybe sort of an hour into the journey this cylinder never changes like you can see up ahead occasionally there are these giant chunks of ice and you think oh god there's more eyes out of a house and then it just moves out the way as if something is gently plucking it and moving it so that it provides this safe passageway nice and then you notice that tiny tiny fragments of the ice begin sort of drifting away and as the ship is moving

through them it's picking up these trails of effervescent you know ice trails and ice particles um starlight the very purple essence of the astral sea begins merging and almost creating like this glow around the twin star as it passes leaving these long tendril like trails behind it as it as it moves um and eventually after only two hours i'm afraid not long enough to get a long rest, I'm sorry, Tron, the corridor comes to an end, and it looks out onto a new scene, a scene that is both familiar, but in a strange way,

because now, rather than looking out up into the night sky from below arois you are looking onto arois from far away you can see in the distance a tiny beautiful colorful planet enshrouded by a multi-colored sort of barrier shimmering prismatic sphere that shifts and changes in hue and color that protects the planet itself. You can see a small, very, very bright light that is moving around the planet, but perhaps more threateningly, as you emerge from this corridor, you also see in the distance 10 20 30 valkyrian ships edged at the very very edge of the distance this gulf of space between the edge of the shifting straits and eros itself all of these 30 black and purple crystalline ships that you have seen crashed versions of but these are now you know blossomed with light and life you can see smaller ships coming and going

between them you can see flashes of magic there's even a similar station a kind of cylindrical uh kind of tower with rings built around it similar similar to Aegis V, the ruined station that you explored once. And it projects a kind of trapezoid-shaped barrier around many of the ships, creating a safe haven. And at the very centre of this fleet is an enormous ship, twice, three times longer than any other one, shaped like a blade. Like its hilt kind of spreading out, a handle behind it, and then a long, flat, narrow blade itself.

A flagship. At the very heart of the Valkyrian fleet. And in between this space, between the fleet and Eros, you can see a battlefield that has existed for centuries. Dozens of Valkyrian warships, older wrecks that seem ancient, perhaps different in design that you've ever recognized, litter the space

between the two of you. What would you guys like to do? I mean, this sword ship, does it look anything like Tiangong? Well, I think, yeah, Nova would say to Tiangong, Tiangong, is that the Tassadar? Tassadar. Affirmative.

Yes. Oh, shit. No. Oh, fuck. Come on. Friend. It on. Friend. It's right here. Where else would he be, Thomas?

Where else would the Tassadar be? I know. Can you communicate? Yes, indeed. With this moment of realization, yeah, this is the ship. This is Calus Valkyrian, your enemy, I suppose, if you want to call him that. This is one of his flagships and it is where Valor, your

old companion, Calus' and Siaska's daughter, is currently being held, shall we say. Right. Right. Okay. Tiango. Right. Can you communicate with Tassadar?

Negative. But can you feel them? Affirmative. Right. Connected. Well, looks like that's where we're going. well looks like that's where we're going not right now we're not

we have to get through all these other ships yes Nova my dear I've got to say the twin star is fast but one small pirate ship against a Valkyrian fleet is certainly not, well, it's not possible.

I can maybe get us to your planet before their cannons can tear us apart. Maybe. With all this debris and the ship's speed, if they haven't noticed us, I think I can make the distance, but this is a one-shot thing. If I don't make it, if this sonship of yours doesn't let us pass we're finished they'll tear us apart i know but we're having to go there eventually right we said we'd get vala we said we'd join the resistance and they would help us remember we did say that very much we're not in a fighting state right now lucius is a

statue this is not i'm not ready to go yet frankly my dear i'm putting my foot down on this this is i that that is your business my job was to get you to your home planet which i will do i we cannot simply this is not a fight we can win. Sure, there may be another way. I didn't mean now. I'm just saying to everyone, that is where we're ending up. Well, good news, he's very close. Bad news, he's right there.

He's very close. I mean, I'm no military strategistist but that looks like an invasion fleet to me that's somebody who's prepared to take a planet I mean yes he was already building a base on Arois it's not surprising that he's already

summoned a fleet and they're here especially as the Frostguard warden said, he's found a way in. Well, what would you like me to do? I think as long as we remain in the ice, we might be okay, but the second we get out there into open space, they're going to be on us. Do you think let's plan? We can hide for a bit.

Can we hide for a bit, at least long enough that we can cure Lucius? I can hide here, yes. I could certainly keep us in the ice for a few more hours if that's what Quill needs. I can do that. It's just the getting out there. The thing is, these Valkyrian ships, their magitek is much more advanced. Um, it's just the getting out there. The thing is, is Valkyrian ships, their magitek is much more advanced. They'll likely be able to detect us once we get out past this ice.

This ice, well, we saw it when we first entered. It interferes with magitek. It's why the ship was malfunctioning. Once we're out there, we'll be an open target. But yes, I can hide us here if you'd like to kind of gather your strength, finish your resting. As long as that giant frost snake doesn't come for us, we can linger here for a moment.

We need Lucius. We do. Well, that seems like what we're going to do then. I've got a little tactic for this. Even if it does manage to make it past whatever magical protections this ice has, it's always quite hard to see something in this kind of position. And she ends up kind of like flying the twin star,

depowering it so all the lights, internal lights and any kind of magical effects fade off. And she clamps it onto the side of one of the big ice spheres and it just kind of like rotates and holds in place. Nice. The little pitons

snapping into the ice. Cool. So, long rest then. Seems like it. In that case, I will take it if there's anything you guys want to discuss on this long rest now's the time otherwise we can just

yes Chris drop I kind of would rather discuss he's muted himself that's how much he knows he wasn't going to be speaking he muted He's muted himself. That's how much he knows he wasn't going to be speaking. He muted. He's still muted. Or is this just Trot not saying anything? Yep. Nope, still muted. Still muted.

Oh, there we go. Okay, nice. Hello. Anything you guys want to talk to Thalia, talk to each other about, make a plan? Do you want to wait until Lucius is awake? I would recommend it. In fairness to Chris Trott, I think let's call him out.

You guys can take a long rest. Take your long rest. Eight hours pass. Nothing happens. Nobody comes looking for you or anything like that. You are fine. Okay. Cool. I'm just going to keep my spells I had, pretty much. Yeah, I've also

got Portent as well. Got that back. Yeah. What'd you get on those? A five and a one. Okay. Those are good, though. So a pretty offensive portion. And yeah, I guess once I've got my spell back, did Remove Curse work?

I think I tried that, didn't I? And it didn't work. It's Greater Restoration. You tried Remove Curse on Thalia. Petrification is greater restoration. And as a point, and I'm saying this now so audience can keep you in check as well. This is the last. Oh, we just happened to have 100 GP's worth of diamond dust on us. From now on, if you want specific things like material components where it's like a 500 GP diamond

you have to buy the 500 GP diamond no more like we're just going to market off our money right you have to physically go and buy the stuff right I'm not fussy on any other components but paid for ones you have to have the specific thing

you have to go and shop basically okie dokie well in that case 100 gold for that the specific thing. Yeah, you have to go and shop, basically. Okie dokie. Well, in that case, 100 gold. Are you going to mark it off, Tom? I have 82. Okay, I'll mark it off then. It's fine. I got it. I got loads of money.

And, yeah, greater restoration. Oh, Lucius. Okay. Channeling the power of Hesper, which you now feel being closer to Erois, Quill, you feel that connection strengthen. The closer and closer you get to Erois, you feel that connection grow.

And this transformation, this transmutation that has taken place, you begin undoing it uh like unraveling uh you know a garment by its threads each individual strand of magic you begin pulling away until the color begins to fade back into lucius's limbs um and the stone fades away and lucius you are no longer petrified you are however completely unaware of everything that happened from like whilst you were petrified so for you it's, completely unaware of everything that happened from, like, whilst you were petrified. So for you, it's as if you were just hit by this ray, and now

you're awake, and you see Quill looking over you. Get to cover! No, wait, no, Lucius, no, wait, no, wait, Lucius, calm down. I'm a magazine! That thing's gone. No, don't! Lucius, wait, stop.

It's fine. It's gone. You're on the twin star, Lucius. Wait, what happened? We made it out. Sentry talked to it and it kind of let us go. Okay.

Look out here, look out here. Oh, we're in the ship. Look out the window. Wait. Is that... What I think it is. Eros. Yeah, the Tassadar.

No. It's Eros. We made it! So, what happened to the giant creature we were on? Aayla smashed its face in. Oh my gosh.

I knew it. I knew you'd do that. Oh, we can destroy anything. But that's a that's a big fleet. We're in big trouble. It is.

Oh yeah. You could have brought me back when we were on Aroas. You need me you Lucius for what? what can we do against that? yeah but if you rolled over for some reason if the

gravity and stuff if you hit against something you would have smashed and then you know no more Lucius that did almost happen on this bike we're doing you a favour we kind of have to balance you like a weird kind of no more Lucius. That did almost happen on this fight. Actually, we're doing you a favor. We kind of have to balance you like a weird kind of

plank statue to get you out. You're not that heavy. Oh, yeah, you are. Well, thank you for bringing me on board and dealing with the issue. I feel I didn't contribute at all.

Nova, did you get the thingy? Yes, look! Wow! Greetings. And you hear Tiangong. Is that affirmative?

Affirmative. Greetings. Affirmative and Preaching. You can say affirmative and yes now. Incredible. And the word roller stop. Lucius. Tiangong. You can say his own name. Phenomenal.

That's wonderful. Patronizing. Oh. What? That's not my intention at all I like it got roasted in one word wow got a personality

affirmative Tiangong king of the one word roast yeah you're the best Tiangong you're the best so asinkle. You're the best. As a point, just to interrupt because I know you guys might

potentially forget. Ayla, did you want to get those magic items identified that I believe you also picked up whilst on board before you made your escape? Do you remember what you have? Do you remember what you picked up? Hang on, I wrote it in my inventory. I had to write it in.

Hang on. Where be they? It was a plus 20 hammer of awesomeness. It wasn't with lightning. It definitely wasn't that. Oh, no, I didn't write it. I wrote it in my... Damn it, I think I wrote it in my damn it i think i wrote it in my um

notebook which i don't have in scotland that's okay i will forgive you this one time as you have been traveling it was yeah no i know um it was i mean you had the you had the platinum bars you had a bunch of platinum bars you had the arcanite, which you already used one of to power the Magitek bike. But there was also a staff and a suit of black heavy metal armor. There you go. Nova's got it. There you go. Kim saves the day again.

So, Quill, do you want to identify those on your long rest as well with ritual spells? Yeah, I can ritual cast that. Yeah. I can tell you that the armor is called Grav Armor. It is a suit of Magitek heavy plate, so it is heavy armor, which I believe not a lot of you can wear.

Can you wear heavy armor, Quill? No, I can't. Well, medium armor, damn it. I was going to say, because some clerics can wear heavy armor. Some clerics can wear heavy armor. it's called grav armor um it basically is a suit of magical plate plate armor which does offer you considerable protection but also allows the user to control the weight of certain objects around it so it can cast um it can it has a number of charges. It can cast Feather Fall, and it can cast Magnify Gravity a certain number of times per day.

Stent, you could use that. It is black and purple, but you could get it painted. I'll spray paint it, yeah. We can fix that. You can definitely fix that. It's definitely easy to cosmetically change its looks. But yeah, it's quite powerful. Whether Sentry wants to wear it or not i leave to century um the other the staff is

it's actually quite powerful quill when you begin examining this staff it's another piece of magitek but it looks like it's mad it's magitek that has been inlaid over an already enchanted magical staff um that looks old like ancient old um you can see that there are it was probably once made of wood engraved with very ancient um sylvan symbols but it has then been overlaid with these kind of metallic uh you know ends with these circles of metal on either end, this purpling crystal. It is called a Staff of Striking. This is a plus three

quarter staff that has a number of charges and when you hit with it, you can expend one to three charges. Each charge you spend deals an extra D6 of damage. Holy crap. It is pretty strong.

It is pretty strong. Oh, no, there's nothing here. Sorry, Ayla. It's worthless. I'll use it. I'll use it. Don't worry. Yeah, with the one arm.

He's a bit weak. He needs a cane. He needs to use it as a cane. Yeah. I have these. He's going to use something that's clearly magical and has runes on it as a walking stick. Cool, yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, those are the two items. The Arcanite Crystals, you reckon they're worth about 500 gold each, but they are necessary to power Magitek. The Grav Armor is also powered by these. It looks like it needs to be inserted. So once it runs out of charges,

it doesn't regain charges like a normal Magikite per day. You have to spend one of these crystals to power it up with charges, basically. And then there is also the 10 platinum bars, which are worth, I think, was it 100? 100 gold each? 1,000 gold each. So it's about 10,000 golds worth of monies in those bars. It's pure platinum.

Oh, boy. Ayla's got all of that. We better get home. Yeah, Ayla definitely took the platinum bars. Yeah. My platinum. God damn. Nova also seems Yeah. My platinum. Um, goddamn. Nova also seems

to have 300 platinum. I think it was from... You might have, like, platinum monies. Yeah. Oh, but these are bars. Okay. Yeah, this is,

these are 10 solid platinum bars worth a thousand gold each. So they're, you know, like, gold bars, but they're made of pure platinum. Got it. Fine, we'll keep the sequester scroll.

No need to sell it now. We will. But if you did sell it, you'd have even more money, Tom. Double the money. Oh. But there, there you go so quickly century century century um just I just wanted a quick ask do you have a ranged weapon just notice during the death tyrant fight running around a lot nothing ranged I have I have my

flamelands but that's a one-use thing. Once that's gone, I have to rest before I can use it again. Do you want this energy crossbow? I know you said no before, but I just wonder if you want it now. Well, if... I mean, if you don't want it, then okay.

It's fine. I've got the blasters. Blaster A, blaster B. Pew, pew! Yeah, okay. Referring to your hands. I've never used one of these before. I'm kind of the one-two punch kind of thing.

I guess that's probably why you said no before, but I think it'll be really useful, especially if we ever get attacked by a death tyrant again, and I really hope we we don't but it's fine um can you not uh hello uh i'm back can you put it on a other arm uh like the lance uh the other arm holds the shield no the other arm has the shield connected to it so you wouldn't be able to actually use the ranged weapon. If I put it on her shield arm,

it's just going to fire into the shield and just fire straight back at her. Yeah. It's also because it's a heavy crossbow. It is a two-handed weapon, so with a shield, Cintra wouldn't be able to wield it. What if you put it on her back and then she leant forward

and then boom. You've already said this. If you would like to try and have some sort of like, I don't know, back shoulder mount, you could try. It would be very awkward because this is a heavy crossbow. It's very

powerful. But sure. So so century can't use this at all right because of the shield i mean she could but she wouldn't be able to use her shield and i don't think century has the highest decks in the world so she's not going to be very good with it but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have but i don't like it oh no i mean ayla but ayla you've got like a you've got your long bow I have a bow but

if that's better than my bow then I could upgrade I'm gonna put this crossbow on the table anyone who wants it you can have it big catch it would be Aayla it would technically be better than your bow you won't be able to use the plus two arrows with it but it's a plus two energy crossbow. It would be Aayla, it would technically be better than your bow. You won't be able to use the plus two arrows with it

but it's a plus two energy crossbow anyway. So it just means you wouldn't have to worry about ammunition. It'd basically be the same as your longbow. The only problem with actually with a heavy crossbow is it's awkward to reload so you don't get as many multiple attacks with it. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, we'll hang on to it. We'll consider what to

do when we... Sounds like you should hang on to it we'll consider what to do when we sounds like you should hang on to it nova okay i'll keep looking at i'm happy to take it if if it's going like i guess it'd be like an action in combat to swap like swap it out so it'd be like an action yeah um yeah so generally like the rules for like dropping items are kind of a bit loosey-goosey and the idea is that if you move or make an attack you if you move you can normally put a weapon or draw a weapon away so doing things like but shields and armor it's a little bit more awkward because a shield is supposed to be like you're strapping it or you're holding it and you're gonna have to drop it and then pull it out um it's

doable the other option is you guys could always like sell it and try and buy like you know a light crossbow or a hand crossbow and give that to century and that would be a one-handed thing that she could fire um how about right we put it in the middle and then we start building an arsenal that we can store and give to all our friends for the big fight sure that is what's perfect uhra? Would Wraithra want it? Wraithra is kind of watching all of this from the back, leaning up against the wall. This, you know,

folded arms, heavily tattooed, very similar in sort of like coloration to Aayla. And he's just like, a crossbow. No. Not for me. Now he wants to hit something, you know? He just physically feel

the damage. Also, no. I mean, I don't mind a bow. I can use a bow. I prefer a rifle. That's what I used to use when I was serving in Valkyrian Army. I prefer energy weapons, to be honest. This thing, I could

use it. I could use it, but I'd rather not. I'm not a great shot. Okay. I'll be honest. Well, let's hold on to it. That's stuff that the bird's holding. I could definitely use that. Good.

I can't use it at all. I was thinking about it. No chance. I mean, sure. Okay. Are you going to give it to him what no come on what else are we gonna do with it powerful weapons we could do stuff with it like the thing is is that magical weapons like this we can always take that to a place and put channeled power into other things and get stuff done with it in a different way it's not necessarily like uh it does this and we can't use it so it's gone we should like actually pull it and see what

we can make that's actually useful we've seen like something you've literally done that before yeah ayla's done that before at the midwife at the forge she had the the magical midwife's forge she had the javelin of lightning infused with um the howling gale you could do the same thing again right that staff you could in fact actually ayla like one of the things you were advised when you wanted to get the the hammer upgraded is it's not just a case of like take magic item b take magic item a mash them together things like that staff you could take the haft of that staff and replace the haft of the howling Tempest and then that might transfer some of its magical properties into the hammer.

Like, it's that, you probably wouldn't get the full power of the staff, it would lose some of its power being infused into the hammer, but it would bolster the hammer if you did that, because it could be used as the haft of the hammer instead. Okay, Retro. But you'd need a skilled

person to do it. Oh yeah. We'll put this in a pool and when we get back to Aroas, we'll build an armory. If you want it, you put it in your application form to rent it. Okay? There's no farms. It won't be yours. I thought I got out of bureaucracy when I left the

Valkyrian army. I'm not interested. Surely as well. I'm the quartermaster. I decide. An armory would fall under Aayla because Aayla's security, so I think Aayla gets to decide. Stop with the armory. It falls under me.

Thalia leans over and is like, I have to confer with Quillik. Technically a quartermaster would be the one who is in charge of any requisition. Yeah! Captain Lucius! Of course, the captain would have finals, say, of everything.

It also means more forms. Lucius has walked away and is just looking out the window quietly with his hands behind his back. Okay. I think Thalia would probably walk up to Lucius actually

kind of like stand next to you it's a funny thing isn't it seeing home from this sort of angle when you're not used to it what do you think of it you've never seen it before it's very pretty it's a very pretty planet I must say

colours very vibrant very beautiful. It reminds me... This is awkward, but it does remind me a little of my home. It reminds me of Lunaria. It's very similar. Very... I get the impression it's full of life.

Full of interesting places and interesting people. Oh, you have no idea. I think I have more of an idea than you realize uh lunaria is a very interesting place aren't you i think you'd get on quite well in lunaria i am i am now that i know that uh well now that my chances of uh undoing this curse on me is beyond my limitations, beyond my reach, I think starting a new life somewhere seems quite tempting. Where there's plenty of space. That's always a good thing. Overcrowded places like Gideon're not i don't really like them too dirty oh our ship you're going to see our ship the storm chaser oh you'll

love it phenomenal i didn't think that your world had any astral ships airship airship oh it's just it only flies through the air how quaint only it goes all the way through the clouds well the felucious you do realize that the vessel you're on right now can also do that but also travel the multi-worlds don't be the reminder thank you i'm sure it's a very nice ship captain it's wonderful and the people on it sublime i can't wait to see them all again she kind of just puts her like a hand on your shoulder and is just like enjoy this moment seeing it from this i think in a way seeing your world seeing a world that for was everything was all you knew seeing it from out here it's a reminder that things are just much bigger there's a lot more going on than than just the little problems we have in our day-to-day that was one of the first lessons i

learned all the things i used to complain about, all the little things that used to annoy me or frustrate me or make me sad, I realized how infinitesimally small they are compared to everything else out here. Kind of puts a lot of things into perspective. It does. But... Don't put those things aside everything's relative

even the small things are important but best not to get stuck up on them as I used to now that is wise she just nods kind of pats you

and then goes back to her cockpit. Now if we don't have registration forms and applications, then all these weapons will get lost in the processing. I don't understand. Will, if you make anyone fill out a form, I swear to god you will meet this hammer with your face.

Lucius? Lucius, Captain? Yes? Application forms to rent out from the Armory, Captain? Yes? Application forms to rent out from the Armory. Yes or no? Pros? Everything. Negatives? None. What do you think?

Quill, I've spent my entire life in a noble house filled with rules, regulations, forms, meetings, events. It's a fantastic idea. Please go ahead with it. Thank you. It's so efficient.

The absolute worst. I will not fill out a single form. Brilliant. Thalia turns around. Well, now that we have Captain Lucius back and all of your things are settled, your treasures

identified properly. What are we going to do about that? And then she points to the Gulf of Space with a fleet of Valkyrian astral ships on one end and Erois and the Sunship on the other one. All speed ahead. I can speed ahead

I can speed ahead no speed ahead they're not going to attack Palador so can we not wait for Palador to orbit near us and then fly in Palador's the sun ship is going around but there is

still a gulf of space between that so the Valkyrian ships are on the very edge, and they are staying far away from the orbit of the Sunship, which is only slowly going around. Quill, is there anything you can do to talk to Paludor? I guess not. I can...

Yeah, I can not. I can... Yeah, I can ask him a question. What sort of question? Can he see us? Can he protect us? Does he recognize us? If not, I have an idea. Okay. Depends how Star Trek-y we're gonna be. Recognize us. If not, I have an idea. Maybe.

Okay. Depends how Star Trek-y we're going to be. Okay. It's more Star Wars than Star Trek, I will tell you that. Oh, okay. Star Wars. Your voice instead of the Trek. Mark. Yes.

Speaking of our character. Because I don't know how your sci-fi works in this world, but in that lovely, wonderful Star Wars way... There's not a lot of complexity to it, Kim. My answer is probably going to be magic and crystals. It is cool. It is cool. Is there a way, like, given the notes and the intel that Nova has seen and been through and sifted through,

is there a way for her to kind of create an encryption so that it sends out a signal to the Valkyrian, if this Valkyrian fleet's like communicate with them, that it tricks them into thinking that they are, that the Twin Star is a Valkyrian vessel, like a scout vessel or something like that. Yeah. I mean, don't think of it in terms of like hacking. I know we've kind of used those terms before.

Like it's sort of, think of it more like spellcasting, right? Like Magitek is driven through the same way that spellcasters conjure magic. You summon a source of energy, you weave symbols or you make signs or you speak magic words and then you make an effect happen. What Magitek does is it takes that part where it speaks the magic words and it waves its hands in a funny way it does all of that for you you still need to provide an energy source you still need to have a desired effect and then something normally in the terms of magitek it's in the crystals themselves it will have a i guess a program like yeah maybe hacking's like maybe like software is a good way of doing it. The Magitek crystals provide a program that once a source of energy is fed into it, it then creates the effect as to do what the Magitek does, whether that's fly through astral space, whether that's make wheels go, whether that's, you know, activate another spell, whatever it happens to be in theory if you have access to something like illusory magic

that could disguise the whole ship or you know create an illusion and you had enough power enough magical power to do it yes in theory that is possible but this is probably going to be stuff you're making up on the fly and so there's going to be an element of risk involved can we transmit an old code that checks out do you have an old code that checks out it's an older code sir it checks out in the in the my casual no the intel was schematics for the Tassadar. No, the intel was schematics. That was a hard fact we established. And this is the thing. Maybe Nova doesn't have that type of spell, like an illusory thing. Maybe somebody else does, and Nova can help them.

Well, here's the thing. I used to have major image. I swapped it out in my last level up. Oh, that's a shame. That would have been a perfect spell yeah what's what what's silly twat or we've got invisibility i could power that up yeah i mean trying like a ship wide cloak is certainly something you could try like robulance i mean yeah sure or cling on birds of prey whatever it is that you want to go with sure um what if i just do that go on calm emotions on the ship

and then we're just admitting calm emotions around the galaxy um to do something like the invisibility trick you would need more than just your own source of magic your because yeah your effect is what three creatures this ship is gargantuan it's a huge fucking thing yeah so you would need in theory you could tell you could tell the ship what to do but you would need additional magical energies to do that. What if... What's that? Yeah. Certainly more spellcasters working together

channeling more of your energy into it, for sure. What about using these magitek crystals? You could certainly try with those as well. One's probably not going to be enough. It might take two or maybe three. Depends on how well you can transfer that energy.

But yeah, certainly something you could try. But we'll find that out after the break. Yeah. Well, you guys can think about it while we take a break. How the hell do we get past this?