High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #84 | Home (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 3, 2020

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Pickaxe. 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. As a very short recap, I believe that you were discussing a plan on how you are going to get past this fleet of astral

ships belonging to the Valkyrian Empire. Nova has proposed an invisibility, a boosted invisibility spell to try and cloak the ship. What would you guys like to do?

Yeah, so I can cast it as well. I like it. So I think I want to help boost. I need a co-pilot, though. I can help whoever I can. Yeah. Well, intent. Go on, Lucius. This connection you have with Valor

through dreams, maybe there's something she can do on her ship. Or at least provide a distraction. I wonder if it will put her in danger. I feel like if we were to do something, if she gets found out, or if something suspicious happens, then

they're going to put her down even more of a lockdown, and that's going to make it even harder for us to talk to her or maybe even do the rescue mission. True. That's the risk. I can do it but if she gets caught

there'll be consequences. It also means that it takes us a lot more time. Yeah, I need to sleep. More importantly, she needs to be asleep as well., I need to sleep. More importantly, she needs to be asleep as well. And she needs to sleep. We're not sure about sending

into the Tassadar either. We're not cool upon our... Oh, you destroyed that creature, didn't you? With the hammer. It's a shame. What creature? The astral creature that

we rode onto the back of and you guys defeated while I was stoned. Oh yeah. The tyrant? No, he means the astral serpent. The... We didn't... Did I forget something?

Sentry spoke to the snake and it let us it's almost like you messed up telling lucius what happened yes yeah you didn't clarify that when you were talking about the death yeah is it just no no i made a joke the death hasn't landed we just oh no i didn't even make a joke i think death tyrant. It hasn't landed. No, I didn't even make a joke. I think everyone misheard me. I meant the death tyrant. No, I didn't even make a joke.

I didn't even make a joke. I meant that Aayla smashed the death tyrant. He asked about the death tyrant and I said Aayla smashed the death tyrant. I actually did do that. I did that. I'll take it. I did wonder why everyone was laughing. Oh, gosh. He mentioned the thing

and then it was just bad time conversations. So they're both still alive? No, no, no. The tyrant is dead. Also, we have a bike. Yeah, did we tell you about the bike? The bike's nice. It's a bike, is it? I want to have a bike. Yeah, did we tell you about the bike? The bike's nice.

That's a bike, is it? I want to start a gang. I think that we use the word bike. I think that perhaps Lucius and Quill are the only ones who know what, like, Nova would as well, actually. Would know what a bike is. Because on the Sky Cities,

they have, like, penny farthings, I imagine. And that's, like, the bike that you can pick to. But this is not like those bikes. You have a motorized penny farthing. But it's small. Why are the wheels the same size? I don't know how it rides, but it does. Well, we shouldn't use it in space.

Well, no. No. No. I don't know why you're bringing it up. Why were you bringing up the serpent? What were you saying about the serpent? What do you think? If it's still alive and Sentry communicated with it

and it gave us its blessing and helped us through, could it not help us now it only gave us permission to go until this point it wouldn't help us any further the sun ship it said would decide if we get through or not

it took sentry a little while to talk to it it didn't seem very very right did you jettison the wreckage of that Valkyrian ship off of it to help it no

there wasn't any way to do that there were no engines left I couldn't do it it was covered in ships Lucius it's injured but it's not corrupted anymore by Hadar. It needs Siaska to heal it. Right.

How far away... How long was I out? How long have we been traveling through that ice? A few hours. It's been years, Lucius. What? Negative. She's making it funny again.

Years and years. Negative. You know what? Nova, I like this. I'm enjoying it. What is real? You just need to get a little bit better about it. Actually, you know what?

Lucius is the perfect person to test this on, so continue to do that. Well, hang on. I think? Lucius is the perfect person to test this on, so continue to do that. Well, hang on. I think melting Lucius's mind by giving him an existential crisis is not a sense of humor, let's say. Sounds great. Maybe we'll do it with less life or death,

existential crisis type things next time. We'll do it with like small small everyday ship things. Yeah. It's been hours. Affirmative. It's been a couple of hours. A couple of hours. Right.

Thank you Quill. So what if this is a radical idea? Big thinking.y thinking what if we went back and we found a ship carcass and flew inside it and use it like cover oh like a physical disguise spoke our ship with another ship. A shell. We need an intact ship.

We need to hollow it out. We need to have enough engine power to propel it. We need to get rid of the entire core of the ship. It would probably be recognized by the fleet and it would probably be registered as missing in action or deactivated or lost. I like Nova's make the ship invisible plan. Can we talk about that one?

That seemed quite good. I can provide any magical power you need. I don't think it's a bad idea, Lucius. I think it's one that will take a lot longer. Affirmative.

Plug the ship. Try and fly by silently. If nothing else, if you can... The longer we can go without being detected by the fleet... I mean, the Twinstar is a fast ship. If I can get us to this sunship... I mean, we know that

it will attack any Valkyrian vessels. We just have to hope it doesn't attack us. It may deter any pursuers. Beeline for it. Are we still clumped in the... Oh, believe me, I will. Still have the goop of the thing.

The essence that has stuck to the ship I mean there doesn't appear to be any physical residue if you can give me 10 minutes I can detect magic do you want to take 10 minutes? may as well, ritual caster

detects magic just to see if I can see any magic goop around the ship I think for Quill it's kind of hard, you spend 10 minutes but when you kind of begin looking around with the 30-foot range of detect magic, I mean, the whole ship is magitek. You're all wearing magic items. Sentry's glowing with magic.

Tiangong's radiating magic. There's so much magic, and it's I can't tell. It's not blind, but it all merges into this huge mass of magic. What if I press my face

against the window? You do not have any sense that, as far as you're aware, there's no physical, like, you can't see magic, you can't see any essence coming off the ship anymore.

Like, there's, you can't see any. Okay, well, I, I, I can't see any essence coming off the ship anymore. You can't see any. Okay, well, I can't tell if it's still affecting us, but I mean, I could try and talk to Palidor again

and ask him another question, ask him another question, but I mean, it would recognize us and ask it another question, ask him another question, but... I mean, it would recognize us from the Guardian goo essence thing, and we don't have that, I don't think. I believe...

Maybe we lost it in the time. We'll be fine. I have faith in our gods that they will recognize their own creations of Siasca. We're not Valkyrian. I'll stand on the roof and wave at him if you want. That'll work.

We're not Valkyrian. Unwise ship. Hey! So just a small risk, big reward. palador lets us through i feel like palador much like hesper has powers we don't even

fathom they can see through things uh through time through dreams so i think it would be okay without risking our lives we can try yes

I mean we our biggest risk is Yangon called Titans which is what Starbane calls our gods incorrect I told you all of this.

They're Titans. Affirmative. I know. It's just hard to swallow some information. Tell me about it. Look, let's close the ship. Yeah.

Cleric of Hesper. My god. Not god. Titans still pretty cool. yeah the cleric of hespa my god not god titan still pretty cool let's float the ship i mean let's try to cruise by yeah i mean who is helping nova uh with this with the the stealth thing so basically everybody that has magic so not i mean ayla yeah sure what how do you want to help that has magic. So not... I mean, Ayla, yeah, sure. How do you want to help?

I don't know. Zap it. Zap it. I can provide lightning. Who can provide powering up by channeling lightning? I don't know if it would work, but I'm willing to do that

if it will. Maybe. I think, Nova, you would know that if Ayla did want to try that that the best place for her to do that would be in the engine room and to literally apply lightning energy directly to the infernal engines for the ship um there is a risk that it could cause problems but it could also give a power boost to the ship itself which will power the spell

i will relay that so you could definitely try um like we can all do something if i can do it then that's fine but i don't want to i don't want to damage honestly i think that if we get caught the ship will be destroyed so i'd rather we take if if you think that it can help i let's let's roll the dice. Our luck's not been fantastic up till now. Let's hope that we get a turn of luck. I always roll terribly on dice.

Brilliant. Quill, I need you. I don't think we could do this without you. And Lucius. Yes, but you're the one who wants to be a co-pilot. You're the one who wants to be a co-pilot. You're the one who wants to be a co-pilot. No, no, no. I was saying that if we need a co-pilot,

then Sentry is also trained in it. Well, I will say this, Nova. Based on what you are, first of all, you're going to have to basically, you know, kind of make yourself a small device that can translate your will, you know, kind of make yourself a small device that can translate your will, your intention, your spell into the ship systems to cover the whole ship

and to draw on the power of the ship. One person, so I'm going to tell you, this is how the mechanics are going to work, right? This is a little bit on the spot, but one person will have to act as a conduit for the ship's energy because you're going to have to draw on the ship's infernal engines to power most of this spell.

One person will need to provide the theory of how the invisibility spell works and so can apply it to the massive ship. The conduit is going to be somebody who needs to be resilient but also somebody who has

magical ability. Somebody who can actually conduct power through themselves probably not ayla um century or lucius would work because century has the matrix and so she can channel energy through her matrix lucius is a sorcerer so his inherent ability is through that um the person you know let's call them like the overseer or something like that would need to probably be best you or quillick somebody who has a high knowledge of magic who can apply the theories of magic beyond its normal scope this is something where you're going to be taking a spell and magnifying its effects using the power of the twin stars engines anybody else who has magical

power or can create energy like ala with lightning their best bet is to channel as much power into the ship's engines as possible, either by spending spell slots or other features or powering it with damage. There is a risk that the more power you put in, the higher chance that the ship will suffer some sort of mishap. But there will be a fine balance between having enough power and having too much power that it's going to cause a rupture, a problem. some sort of mishap. But it will be a fine balance between having enough power and, you know, having too much power that it's going to cause a rupture, a problem.

This is very experimental stuff. So, and you're trying to do it without any formal system. Without testing. Insert Gimli meme. High chance of failure. The stone... What are we waiting for? High chance of failure the stone I love it you all seem fresher than I do

I don't think I've rested I think you have so maybe I shouldn't channel energy through me but I'll provide whatever I've got left to the engines oh okay yeah I don't need to copilot for this my dear it's literally go as fast as I possibly can that way

excellent good stuff besides I could if we're not if I don't think there's any point in having that way. Excellent. Good stuff. Besides, I don't think there's any point in having Kairi on the turrets. I think we're going to need to draw every single bit of power we have into the engines themselves, and for this cloaking spell. So Kairi can co-pilot with me if necessary. She knows the systems.

She's not as perceptive as Quill is, but she can still do her job. She's still a gunner. Rethra. I mean, I can channel fire. She's kind of in the same boat as Aayla, really. This magic stuff is a bit over my head.

I'm not sure what I can do. If we run into trouble in the engine room it might be useful to have you around to see if we can keep it under control if heavy things need lifting about then you and I are the best bets to be in there true

okay yep alright we've all got our jobs done yeah who do you want where Nova this is really Nova's. This is Nova's plan. This is all in Nova's head. So I'm going to let Kim make the decisions. Oh, God.

Kim's favorite thing in the world. She loves making decisions. She's really quick at them as well. Like, just bam, bam, bam, decision. I didn't write it down because you didn't tell me it was going to come down to me. Okay. Let's play a game. I think Conduit. It's you didn't tell me it was going to come down to me. Okay, let's play a game. I think Conduit. Conduit, century.

Boom. Yes. Okay, what was the next roll? Alright, somebody with high magical knowledge who can shape the nature of the spell. Pull on over. Well, what level of cast invisibility would that affect it?

That won't affect it. This is going to be an Arcana check. I'll tell you that for the Overseer role, it's going to be a series of Arcana checks. I have plus six Arcana, Tom. I have plus six Arcana, and I rolled a five and a one on Portent. Useful. So either of you, it's not going make a huge difference yeah okay what's the other

roles i'll come back to that one uh that's it and then anybody left is is putting power into the ship's engines um and that will be done as spell slots or natural magical abilities like ayla's thunder where she could channel directly into. I have a ton of spell slots, so you be the overseer, and I'll be the spell slot burner. I'm the overseer, and Quill and Lucius

are power, and then I guess Ayla, I mean, Ayla, if you want to be a power as well, or yeah, I guess we need people to help with mishaps and stuff as well. Yeah but like yeah i guess we need like i couldn't channel to help with mishaps and stuff as well yeah yeah sure okay right so the first step of this nova it's a three-step process the first is going to be um the power spenders let's call them so lucius ayla quill need to decide how much power they're going to put into the engine then it will be up for the

conduit to transfer that power through to you and then you'll shape the magic to cloak the ship basically right so it's like a three-step process so spenders how much energy are you willing to put in so for lucius and quill how many spell slots and at what levels like add them up basically so if you're going to be like i'm going to spend three level threes that's nine we'll call it nine power points right um ayla uh if you spend a rage because this is like this isn't pure magical energy you're basically throwing lightning into the engine as like a way of like extra power we'll say spend a rage yeah spend a rage and then your lightning damage normally does 2d6 so we'll just call it like a

second level spell basically you'll generate the equivalent magic of a second level spell nice right Lucius hasn't got much left so what he's gonna do he's gonna spend a level three and a level two but yeah he's using the rest of his fonts of magic to twin them both how many sorcery points is that total five okay so i'll say so it was it was a level two and a

level three did you say and then five sorcery points so we'll call that 10 we'll just call that a straight up 10 so five sorcery points and then the five spell slot levels um i think that works out um so we've got 10 points from lucius quill i'll do a double level four and then we'll see if this is overkill uh 18 plus two from from um ayla okay uh all right so you begin channeling all this energy lucius and quill what are you guys doing so it led down into the engine room and you can see these you know throbbing spheres they're like these big metal spheres that contain the two infernal engines what do you guys do describe this to me how you're how you're making this work well lucius will take off one of his gloves and can i do like an arcana check to see where there's

a the closest um i don't even think you need i'm not gonna make you make a check for this because it's there's no real chance you can fail it's more that you can reach out with your senses and yeah you can sense like a point where like you could if you gripped it with like your your uh gauntlet you could channel your power into the engines yeah for sure yeah then okay i think i yeah sorry is is there um just before we begin this is is there anything anyone can cast to to help me Anyone? Any, you know, just feeling very nervous. I mean, things like guidance are going to take a minute. It's not going to help. Okay. And give you a really

really nice little electric shock. Brilliant. I'm feeling nervous. Fine. Just before I start doing this thing, I'm like moving my hand around ready to cast a spell and then boop, guidance, and then carry on. No, guidance won't work because you guys are in the engines.

Nova's going to have to be in the centre of the ship and it's going to take longer than a minute for you to channel, for you to empower the ship. So a guidance isn't going to help here. If you had something that lasts longer, like 10 minutes, like a bless, that could work. You don't need us, Nova. You've got this.

Shield probably won't help Nova. It might help you, Sentry. You don't need us nova you've got this shield probably won't help nova it might help you century you don't know how it's gonna what it's gonna be like taking this damage it's a good point yeah don't worry about it just give me a pep talk tell me it's fine tell me it's gonna be fine tell me oh god i can't believe you've all taken is there any way that i can i can't take any of the damage on behalf or try and help Sentry to absorb some of it and reduce some of it to her? Not in your role, unfortunately. No.

So this is you're channeling it straight through. This is going to be going through the ship and then feeding directly into Sentry. And then Nova's going to have to manipulate it. She will take half damage from lightning damage because I will be raging. So my aura will be protecting everyone your aura is from that she's not within 10 feet century and nova in the middle of the ship you guys are gonna be all the way in engineering so yeah you're gonna be too separated you guys also can't see each other when this is happening

so the three of you lucius yeah they're with you yeah they're all with you basically you guys you can see you three can see each other but you can't see sentry and nova um but you can communicate with the messenger rings um but yeah you begin channeling this energy quill what does it look like with you are you just like i think any areas where lucius is casting all of these colors and all that they're floating around in the air, I'm kind of drawing things in the air in the gaps in between

to like fill up the space and then kind of focusing on those individual points to kind of make this kind of massive mural in the air in between all of these colors and things. Yeah, like glyphs and stuff. Like you actually doing like arcane symbols with your wing yeah cool um as with the connection to the engine touching i'm using the ethereum gauntlet arm i'm going to try and regulate the amount of power going into it so that i've got my level threes and level twos i can visually see them channeling

through my gauntlet and making sure the energy is consistent at least consistent sure i'm putting my energy into doing that and then ayla you're just sort of letting the lightning arc out of your body straight up into these spheres like in the middle just like cool so but also the surge of power make it steady yeah steady if i can between the three of you the surges of power run through the ship and you feel the ship itself kind of lurch the engine seems to kind of kick start and jump forward the lights grow lighter brighter and brighter you're almost having to close your eyes against how bright the lights are becoming inside the ship the gravity feels

heavier the air feels thick like everything in the ship is being enhanced as this huge surge of magic is channeled through it is that at this point you feel like you're giving a lot of energy are you going to add any more quill because this is a you have to make the decision now like are you going to spend more or is this the amount of

energy you're going to give uh spend more i mean if the energy you are currently at you are currently at a total of 20 power yeah i mean if the energy if like the gravity is getting stronger and the lights are burning now then i feel like this is enough power i think next time i'm probably gonna give less okay um right sentry hello hello you so the way that it's set up is you are basically almost like you're gripping these crystalline pipes that run through the flooring of the ship itself these long kind of almost like you're gripping these crystalline pipes that run through the flooring of the ship itself, these long kind of almost like crystal tree branches. They're not quite pipes, but they're just raw material crystal. And you're having to grip them,

and you can already feel power surging through it from the ship normally. And you can barely just kind of concentrate. You can feel this power trying to surge up into your body. And then Nova, you're actually connected to Sentry herself, kind of channeling the power through your mind back into Sentry to send it back through the ship. Sentry,

the wave of force that hits you is immense. You just feel this overwhelming surge of magic. I need you to make a constitution saving throw. I remember your plus three is already

built into your saves. Too much power. Ooh, 21. 21. You are going to take half damage from this, and this is spell damage, so you have your aura of warding or something I think it's called, where you take half damage from spells.

I'm pretty so you have your Aura of Warding or something I think it's called, where you take half damage from spells. Warding... I'm pretty sure you have that ability. So that will also apply, so you're going to take a quarter of this damage, which is a good thing because it would have been 75 points of damage. Half to 35...

16? 37. Half of 37 is... She's a beast. She can take it. Yeah, let's call it 16. And you just feel this power just surge up into your body and you just grip and you can feel in the matrix this golden sphere. If you imagine almost that you're holding these channels and this energy is about to overwhelm you,

you begin to see like golden spectral hands of other guardians kind of gripping it beside you and more and more and more of them kind of spread out from the center of this matrix in your mind, kind of holding onto it with you and you feel that some of that pain, some of that energy is dissipated into these additional kind of minds and

souls, and then your eyes just glow, and this bright golden light streams out of them, and yeah, you're holding onto the energy. Nova, you can see that Century's body is being wracked with this powerful spell force. You kind of hold onto

her, and with Tiangong in your hand, you can feel that knowledge of the invisibility spell, the mechanics to it, the glyphs, the words that are needed to be said surge through your mind. I need you to make an arcana check for me. Okay, I'm using physical dice because roll 20. Sure. Sure.

19 plus 6, 25 yeah with tian gong in hand you take that energy this huge surge of energy and you feel and you know the applications the science of it all the schematics and where you would normally kind of spread that magic across these multiple creatures instead you channel it back into sentry and looking down you can almost see sentry turning translucent and then the floor around sentry turns translucent and then the walls and the tables and the magitek bike and big cat and thalia and everything around you just turns to perfect crystal glass and then it all kind of seems to recede out. Sentry comes back into view, but it's almost like a curtain now, forming.

And you can see it kind of covering around the ship like a thin layer of gel. As the whole ship just seems to vanish. You don't know how long this will last. It normally lasts an hour, right? Invisibility?

Invisibility? Uh. How long this will last? It normally lasts an hour, right? Invisibility? One hour. Yeah, at least until we attack. Okay. Roll a d10 for me. Are you a d10? No, you're a d8. What the hell?

Five. Five. You reckon this spell will last about half as long as it normally does. Just the sheer amount of energy it's taken to create this effect, it's unstable. You estimate you have about 30 minutes before it dissipates. Do you say anything when it's completed? Yeah, I'll message ring everyone or just shout as loud as i can we have 30 minutes of this spell

i can maybe cast it again but obviously century will take more damage that's if our it's if our people in the engine room have enough power but 30 minutes i can make this work um and then you feel farley kind of almost lean back in her chair as she grips these kind of orbs for the controls and she just turns around and sort of winks at Nova. I suggest you hold on to something, dear, now. And then you just feel the ship just lurch forward. Nova, you're nearly thrown backwards. Sentry, you manage to grab her.

As you just feel the twin star rocket forward as the thin purple mist of astral space warps all around you. Thalia deftly twists and turns in between the debris of all these different wrecked ships. And for 30 minutes, there's no sign of anything detecting you. And then Nova,

you know that the invisibility begins to flicker and fade. What do you guys do? Do you want to try and cast it again? I'll try and cast it again. Okay. Yeah. You're going to need power.

We're going to need to cast it again. I'll put in two rages. Okay. So for a fourth level spell, basically, two level twos. So power of four. How much distance did we cover?

In 30 minutes, some, not enough. You're still going to be quite, but you've got a great head start now. If anything tried to pursue you now, it would be very, very difficult for them to catch up, but they might be able to shoot at you.

They may be able to fire on. I've got very little left. I can give two more spells of my own at the weakest level. I can give a bit more. Do you need more? It's harder for you, Aayla The more you give, the more exhausted you're going to make yourself This isn't just spell energy for you This is brief moments of intense rage

It's two level ones Okay, we need to give less anyway It was too much last time I'll do a sixth and a fifth, so eleven So a sixth and a fifth So you give another eleven So that brings us up to You want to do less and you do that 11. So a 6th and a 5th, so you give another 11. So that brings us up to... You want to do less and you do that.

I've put more myself. It's less than 20. It's like 7. Oh, is it 18? It's 18. It's still less. Yeah, 18. Ayla, did you want to try and give any more? I can give another rage.

So 3 altogether. I can take it. So 20 again. She can take it at the moment. Century, con save. Con save! 17 plus 6. Same thing again, you're going to take quarter damage. This time

65, so that's half to 32. 16 more points of damage should you feel it rocker through we need an arcana check from nova again you feel that surge of energy erupt through sentry as this powerful wave of magic 19

okay can you where's our twinstar Longbow stats? Is it here? Where are my mishaps? Where are my mishaps? Where are they? I've got it in handouts. Engine mishaps. Sorry, I think I've got it.

Yes. Roll a d20 for me, please. Nova Vigia. Uh-oh. D20. Yep. 14. 14. Yep. 14. 14.

Okay. So this time, you managed to surge some of the energy. Can you roll a d10 for me? The invisibility, you do manage to divert the tension, but you feel, as you are trying to send this energy through the ship,

it splinters like a fracture. Kendralls of energy erupt from sentry. Sentry, you kind of feel the shooting, jolting pain as these blasts of energy erupt into other parts of the ship. What would you get on the d10? Ten. Ten. The spell's going to last as almost for the full hour this time.

But you hear sections of the outer hull as pieces of armor and chunks of the outer hull as pieces of armor and chunks of the hull are blown off by this errant energy that you channel back through the ship. The whole thing shudders and if we were to see it, if we were outside, none of you know this, but where the ship is invisible

kind of like becoming this translucent mirror, there are now these big chunks where you can see the flickering of arcane energy along the hull kind of giving away uh dispersing some of the illusion of the invisibility oh so it's like squares of just squares of like crackling magic and things like that along where the hull's been blasted off basically that's so cool yeah you travel for perhaps another 20 minutes, and then Thalia's like, something's gone wrong.

I think the spell's still active, but three patrol craft are following us. They're quick. They don't seem to be firing, but these three ships begin following and following. Once the hour, you can see now Erois growing bigger and bigger and bigger as you approach it faster. But you also see this burning, burning light.

And as it comes closer, it becomes more clear what this light around Erois is. Almost like an old galleon, not too dissimilar to the storm chaser and the airship designs of Eroisis but rather than made of wood and metal it is made of light golden pure light and flame itself a giant ring of fire erupts around its main torso and it burns with a blazing intensity so much so that you almost can't bear to look at it and you can hear the sound of sizzling hot fire running along the edges of the twin star as this sunship gets closer and closer and then from its main deck you see three arcing beams of flame erupt towards the twin star past one side past the other side,

past overhead as it impacts against the three pursuit ships. They quickly turn diverting away, pulling away as fast as they can. You have narrowly escaped the Valkyrian cruises. And then Thalia, um, we do have a problem. I'm, I can't control the ship.

It's not responding. I can't turn. I can't maneuver. I can't move away from this thing. We're going straight for it. Drop the invisibility. He needs to see us. He needs to see it's us.

Yes, so you cancel the spell you drop it and the twin star becomes visible once more the rest of you kind of rushing up into the main area into the cockpit where you can see that the whole twin star is bathed in this golden light being projected from the ring itself

and it is pulling the twin star in what do you do? We need to reach out. Say something. I'm drawing you closer and closer. We're ages away from it, like real world distance, aren't we? I mean, you're getting damn close

like this thing is moving you fast oh my god uh sending on on I'm gonna start sending to palador and I have seen him before okay uh champion of hespa

and friends of errois, trying to return home, do not fire upon us. Please. Okay. There's no response, Quill. But instead, that ring of flame around the sunship grows brighter and brighter

until the cockpit of the twin star is so bathed in light you can't see out of it anymore it's so bright that the light filters through the heat is warmth and intense but that blinding light is so much that none of you can see you are all blinded

and then eventually the movement stops the light dims. And you see that there is nothing but darkness around you. It's just, you seem to be in a void of darkness. Alia, do you have any idea where we are? No. I have no idea this is your world

this is your gods or titans or whatever you want to call them this is beyond me now my friends I think that this is on you if this is truly a protector of your world affirmative If this is truly a protector of your world. Affirmative.

I think we ain't... Past Paladar. Negative. Just have faith in Paladar, everyone. Think of home. Affirmative. Paladar, if you're judging us, you know... You've seen me and ayla before

you hear a hissing as the door hatch that leads into the twin star opens a small delicate light in the shape of a small sphere with arms and legs stands there and it gestures with a little hand. Okay. Okay. And if he sees us, that's good. We have to follow. Okay. This isn't my world. I'll stay here

along with Kyra and Rether. I think, well, you're the ones from Erois. You should go and speak with them. Okay. Okay. Wilder are talking. It's fine. It's fine. Let's go talk to him.

The little orb of light kind of gestures once more and it begins walking into the night, seemingly stepping on nothing. I'll walk through. Yep. Yep. Follow it. You guys will follow it. The little orb leads you out into nothing the door on the twin star shuts and then the twin star

vanishes from sight leaving you in an empty void but he keeps walking and eventually little lines of golden light begin appearing alongside you forming almost like a walkway until they lead to a large circle disc upon which the little orb stands

and it gestures around it. We stand around it? Yep. Everyone? Yeah. As you do, it suddenly lurches and you begin moving upwards. You don't see any movement, it's just darkness,

but you can feel something lifting you. And then after a few moments, the sky opens, and you see astral space, and you see blazing fire and golden light shining in, and you emerge up onto the deck of the sunship itself. Like standing on translucent amber glass filled with luminous energy you see the ship all around you many more of these small geometric shapes made of light with arms and legs are attending to sails to ropes to weapons they seem to be scurrying all

around the ship but at the top on the deck where the captain would stand, a giant, not quite wheel, but a crescent moon in his hands, a pair of large golden gauntlets enshrouded around his fists, his hair flicked back like blazing flames, but instead a golden blonde luminous hair swept back and a cape made of fire descending from his shoulders you see a grizzled soldier

a veteran with scars and burns across all of their body they have one eye the other one burnt away by a long deep scar across their face so the children have returned home

he looks down and you can see this one eye this one remaining eye is like an orb of fire like a little sun inside his socket and then he grins golden gauntlets nice I love that you

have done well I'm glad to hear it I'm so glad to hear it oh we thought for a second you might just take us out of the sky my duty my duty champion of Hesper is to protect just take us out of the sky. Yeah, we thought we were partners. My duty. My duty, champion of Hesper,

is to protect this world and to protect its citizens. Even those not born here. Anyone who holds Erois as sacred in their hearts is a child of Ziasca. I would have it no other way.

But you were to be judged that your worthiness needed to be measured and I have not found you wanting. You... Okay. Um... So,

you have traveled far and you come home home but I ask why you have seen what dangers await you you have seen the wonders of the multiverse that Siaska has hidden from you so why return we need to protect our home and you think that you alone can protect it?

Lucius, son of Varian, son of Elowen. You think that you are ready to protect Erois from the horrors that you have witnessed? From the spawn of Hadar? From the might of Valkyrian? You? When Erois has protectors? Absolutely not. Alone, I would be shot into dust in microseconds.

But why wouldn't I join the fight? Why wouldn't I be part of this war to protect our home? You are too humble son of Varian I think that alone you would put up a greater fight than you realize but what of the rest of you

I know there are warriors and he looks at Sentry and Aayla I know that there are scholars he looks at Quill and I know that there are scholars. He looks at Quill. And I know that there are those who have found different reasons.

And he looks at Nova. So why? Why return? No one else is gonna fight. Someone has to. Eros is our home. Eros is the only place that I've ever known as home. I was going to say, you must know now that it is not your home originally. She of Alfheim?

But it's not about the planet. It's about the people who live on it as well. And that's my home. Now that is a good answer. One that the Storm King himself would have been pleased to hear. Not that I knew him. But I know his descendant, and she would also be pleased to hear it.

Any of you else? Have you nothing but to say? Um, I would fight. Because I don't fear death. I've seen death before. I fear a life of... I fear a life without purpose, without meaning.

And Eros has given me that. My friends have given me that. Eros has given me so much more than I could have ever asked for. And to lose that again would destroy me. But you carry very precious cargo, Sentinel Prime. Not just the fates

of, not just a Genesis relic, one of their most old, ancient, powerful devices that came from even beyond the Prime divinities. You carry the souls of your people. You carry the souls of your people. You carry the future of the guardian race.

And still you would risk a fight? You would still go into battle? Without Erois, there are no guardians. Everything that I've worked for would have been gone. Mm-hmm. I can't lose. None of us can. He just nods. Looks towards Nova and Quill.

I mean, we've seen what the multiverse is and we've seen it controlled by Starbane. Eros is hidden from the rest of that. Starbane. Erois is hidden from the rest of that. Starbane knows about it, sure, but he doesn't have control. We can stop that as best we can.

Also, I've learned this from Hesper. We can find out the secrets of Erois, find out how to destroy Hadar, maybe. But I've learned this from you. We can keep defending it. One man controlling an airship in the sky,

fighting against hordes of Valkyrian ships. Five people on the ground in Arois, rallying troops and trying to protect it from those that get through. You are wise, Quilek, chosen of Hesper, but there is still much you must learn. I may defend Eroes against Valkyrian for now, but I cannot defend it against Hadar. And even then, there are some things about Eroes I cannot save. But, you are right. There are still things we can all do. Mysteries that need to be unlocked.

How would my brother put it? There are questions that need to be answered, perhaps. And what of you, Nova Vigia? No longer of Ganas, but of Vortensar. You have learned much, I can see. There is now wisdom, clarity, but perhaps a little conflict, perhaps a little understanding of things greater

than just one planet's problems. Why do you return? There is a place for you out there, a world, an empire. They're not free, though. You know, probably, that there was a time when I didn't side with Starbane, but I understood his reasons and I understand the fear of Hadar and I understand why he moves in the way he does against Hadar and for a time I thought of helping him of convincing him but in

seeing the other side of the galaxy in finding out that my people are part of the Empire... Well, they're not free, are they? And it's not right. So, I'm here because Starbane is here. And... That's where I am with that. And... Ultimately, I'm here because of Tiangong. I made a promise and I intend to see it through. And there are still parts of Tiangong here.

There are. A promise is a mighty thing to keep. And freedom. That was my mother's ultimate wish. And freedom? That was my mother's ultimate wish. She knows that Kallus's empire is safe, strong. She knows it is prosperous. She knows it is full of knowledge that we would never understand on Aroas.

But she knew that it lacked one thing. The freedom to choose. And that is what she sought to preserve. That is why I am here. That is why of all the titans, of all the gods of Aroas, I do not have as much contact with my worshippers. Because I am here, and I must always be here, and I cannot leave. I cannot visit upon the people that worship me. I cannot send them dreams or messages.

My duty is here. This ship. This war. This fight. And I have fought it for so long that now this ship and I have become one. This ship is too a Genesis relic. Powerful device that my mother found was

gifted in reality by the divine of light. And now it is as much as part of me as I am it. And that has protected me against something you must all know and understand. The other titans, the other gods,

their power is fading, and it is fading fast. Look upon Erois, and he gestures. You see the cradle, the swirling barrier of color. It is fading. It is falling. I suspect that it has less than a year before the cradle is completely gone from Erois. No ship will be defended against. No planar travel will be dispersed.

And when it is done, when the cradle falls, Siaska will be reborn. But she will be weakened. Siaska will be reborn but she will be weakened and as her and as the cradle falls the other titans their powers will go their powers will fade

they will not have the strength to fight against Valkyrian again and they certainly will not have the power against Siddhar so I have watched I have cast my golden eye out to the multiverse, and I watched as five

travelers were sent far from their home. I have seen what you have done. I have seen what you have done, and I have seen what you are capable of. And you, you are our of. And you,

you are our hope now. The child of Starbane, the child of Siaska, Siaska herself. It is between you and them that a new hope must be built. My power is here. I cannot go beyond Erois. I cannot journey out into the multiverse. The ship cannot travel. You have met the Frostwatcher.

It is bound to the shifting straits. It cannot go beyond those realms. We can protect Erois, but not forever. Not against Valkyrian. Not against Hadar. And so it is with this that I charge you. Find the way. Find the hope.

Rebuild it. And destroy those that threaten our world. Now I can open the way. I can allow your ship to pass. But if you have questions now is your time to ask them

because we will not meet again oh god um um I have one speak if the titans if your brethren,

sacrifice themselves to reform, will it reform the cradle? Will it bring Siaska back, but stronger? It would not reform the cradle, but it would give our mother more power. The more of my brethren that do not exist when she is reborn, the more powerful she will be. The titans are formed of Siaska.

They are elements of her, facets of her personality, of gifts given to her by the other divines. The less of them there are, the more power she will have when she is reformed. But you will find that not all of them will give up this power so easy. My brother, Telekis, Zephir, maybe some of your Kelara. They take their position seriously. They believe that they still have a chance against Valkyria and Hadar. That will fall to you. Would you sacrifice yourself?

I am no longer in the equation, young Vija. Since for five, six, how long now? A thousand years have I sat aboard the helm of the sunship. As I said, I am it and it is me. I cannot no longer be separated from it. But nor am I connected to the cradle. My connection to Siaska is long past I am no longer the titan that she created

I am new something different the power of this genesis relic and I we have merged but the people of Aroas gain their powers or at least the magical people of Aroas gain their powers or at least the magical people of Aroas gain their powers from

from Hesper from Alador from you obviously from everyone if we remove them from this equation then doesn't that weaken the people of Aroas you fear for the magic that you have gained Quillik champion of Hesper

are you afraid to lose these powers I mean of course it's what I need to be able to fight myself I ask you this I ask you this do you think that without Hesper there is no knowledge

do you think that without Hesper there is no knowledge? Do you think that without Hesper there is no magic? Who brought those things to Eros before Hesper? Who created the air and the sky and the sea and gave those domains to him? As long as there is Siaska, your powers will not go anywhere. Remember, he is her.

He is her knowledge, her magic, made form. Hesper will always be there. But not as a physical being, not as a titan, but as a concept, as a belief. Perhaps he will be more of a god once he is gone than he ever has been.

The ones that aren't willing to relinquish their position, how do we even approach that? We don't fight them, do we? We don't try to take them down ourselves. That is not for me to answer. I'm afraid. They are my brothers and my sisters. Palidor.

Lucius. You protect outside. Do you look inward? Ever? It is hard for me. you protect outside do you look inward ever it is hard for me I must be honest Lucius beyond the cradle my vision is distorted I was built to

look outwards to see the threats coming from beyond to fly this ship to protect it to guide light and warmth around our world I know that some of my followers, I can feel that they have been swayed, that they have become, not corrupted, but led astray by a pretender in my name. I have no way of reaching them.

I do not speak to them as Hesper speaks to Quillek. People look up and they see light and warmth, and that is what they believe in. That is what they worship. They see fire in their hand, or they feel fire in their heart when they battle. Those are the ways that people know me, not through dreams or books or scripture.

I believe we will need guidance. So of your kindred, your fellow titans, who would you trust? I trust Lucius. Lucius, you ask me, if I were to ask you of your family, choose ones that you trusted, could you truly choose? Even those that I know would not give up their power for our mother, Atelicus, Zephyr, Calara. I know that they have their own areas that

they are, that they know. If I were to go into battle, I would trust no one to be as firm a spear at my side as Atelicus. If I were to sail the waves, I would trust no one to guide me but Zephyr. And if I were to die, I would would trust no one to guide me but Zephir and if I were to die I would trust only in Kalara to see me into the next life I cannot choose them tell you who to trust and you must remember that

many decisions as I told you before our mother valued freedom to choose above all else. That is what she wanted for you, for all the people of Aroes. That you must choose, make your own decisions, guide your own destinies. You must not be led by emperors. You must not be led by tyrants.

You are your own people. Trust in those that you feel you can trust, who have proven themselves to you, whose actions and words speak to your heart. That is all I can suggest. Um. Well, where is, where are the holes of infinity i this is a very good question nova vidya and i will do one better uh he pinpoints he raises up one of the gauntleted fingers, you notice that the whole time he's speaking, neither of his

hands leave the helm, but he lifts one up, leaving one, and you can see he kind of strains when he does it he points towards Erois, and a thin beam of light projects from his finger and you see it you know, penetrates through and highlights the Starfall

Archipelago, which is an area of Erois, a series of island chains. And it pinpoints. It is here. But to access it, you will need a key. Two keys, in fact. I present you with one myself. And he grips the helm once more and nods his head.

And a small bead of light kind of appears in front of you, Nova, and solidifies into a golden pearl. That is my key to the hall. You will need another. Oh, thank you. Where can we find a second

you will need the titans possess the keys for it is our home it is the place where we can be our most powerful but even that is fading I no longer need it the sunship and I,

it provides me power. I provided connection to Aroes. But the others still need the Halls of Infinity. The Halls of Infinite Resplendence are... It is where our... The essence, it is where everything is kept. You will find many answers there. We try to get Hesper's

key that seems like the best one Lucius I trust Hesper I don't think that's misplaced I don't know Quill faced with losing everything even Titans could change what would you do to

protect your own life I mean Haspa guided me this far he knows the risks if anyone would it would be him. I wouldn't want to let him go, but I have to. Our time is coming up short.

Soon, soon the sunship will be too far out of range for me to guide you back. If you have any last questions, now is the time to ask them of me I can't think of any I have one more but

I don't wanna Guardian, Sentinel Prime yeah perhaps you do not have a question yes how Perhaps you do not have a question. Yes? How do we unite people? That is a question I cannot answer.

I have been alone for a long time, Sentinel Prime, but I believe that you have that gift. Root would not have chosen you if you did not know the answer. But I can perhaps help a little way. I have learnt to unify myself with a Genesis relic. You too carry a Genesis relic. I could share my knowledge with you, help you

strengthen your connection to the Prime Matrix. Very well. Yeah. Come forth. Stand beside me so i may touch you okay you make your way up the stairs these golden amber lights as uh emerge as you begin making your way towards him and you see now i mean palidor must be sort of 12 feet tall he's huge you know he's way bigger than a normal human would be you know this perfect physique just blended with flames and light this golden hair spilling up behind his head um for those

of you who are familiar there's almost an element of a light born about his hair where the hair is just this golden radiance uh and he reaches out sentry and places a hand just in front of the Prime Matrix. So he kind of reaches down with his giant gauntleted hand and he closes his eyes. And you feel this intense warmth and heat beginning to build up. But you can also now begin to feel the energy of the Matrix stronger. You can feel it pulse and move. You can almost feel many of the matrix stronger you can feel it pulse and move you can almost feel many of the beings within it you can hear their voices more clearly

and you feel that connection go stronger and stronger and that skill and expertise that palidor has gained transfers to you and you and i will sort out that upgrade uh off off screen but you feel your connection to the Prime

Matrix strengthen oh man that's awesome thank you champion of Paladol I'm going to give him a little solvent salute the three fingers on the chest and just give him a really deep bow yeah he kind of brings his

hand back to the helm it kind of almost magnetises in place it snaps up when he draws it close he just nods well my dear friends companions brave travelers I do believe it is time for you

to go home goodbye and your vision he grows I do believe it is time for you to go home. Goodbye. And your vision, he grows brighter and brighter and brighter until again your vision is just nothing but golden light. And then suddenly it goes. You blink and you find yourselves back in the cockpit of the Twin Star Longbow. Nothing but black void Thalia kind of whips around

Rether is like are you alright? what happened? we spoke to Halador and he gave us a lot of information but he said we're free to go I think the void is still here though will it clear out?

it's not gone yet. I've tried moving it. The ship just doesn't respond. And then as Thalia is kind of looking around, you see like a pinprick of light in front of the cockpit that begins opening like an iris. And you see a rowis before you, the colored swirl of the cradle around it.

And then a beam of light projects forward and you see it opens a hole in the colourful pattern of the barrier and then the ship begins to move forwards. Thalia turns, I am not doing this. This is not me. I am not

flying my own ship. And then suddenly the twin star launches forward at a lightning fast pace, guided by the light of the sunship itself. Suddenly, astral space becomes bright colors of the

cradle. Suddenly the cradle becomes swirling clouds and then the twin star soars amongst blue skies and white clouds and the endless ocean oh oh my god whereabouts though we did it we're on a ship whereabouts indeed whereabouts indeed we'll find out next week because I think

even though we're a bit early there's not a more perfect time to end the episode so we've arrived we've finally made it holy shit my god that was chef's kiss

that was amazing man those two shots going over the ship and then you pause for a second i was like yeah and then you said it soared right past us i was like oh my god that was perfect yeah i know i know what i'm doing that whole cloaking thing as well like oh i wanted to wet myself fucking great idea as well using the invisibility spell. That was a really cool idea.

Yeah. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. Like, I just completely forgot that Nova had that spell. And then when you were like, is there a way we could, like, and then when I said, like, using the minor illusion, and you said, oh, I don't have major illusion, I was like, oh, that's a shame. But then, yeah, you were like, what about invisibility?

I was like, yeah, that would totally work. Yeah. Cloaking device Star Trek nerd was so happy. Yeah, and then, you know, it was a little bit of a sort of like, how can I make these mechanics work? I've basically done a similar thing in the past to

this. Let's do that. And then that's what worked out well. The whole idea of like spell slots powering it and then the checks and stuff I thought was kind of cool. And then you got to meet another Titan, another god. Why not? It was cool.

It was cool. Yeah, Palador's been one of those characters where I wrote loads of stuff about Palador when we first began the campaign, and then it's never really come up again. And so it's kind of fun that I was like, oh, you actually get to meet him now. And he's cool. Yeah. We're never going to see him again.

Yeah. No, no, never. No. That's how I work with my NPCs. We left Arois on the 26th of April in Earth time. Wow. Holy crap. It's been a few episodes.

It's almost like when this pandemic hit, isn't it? Oh, roughly. We'll see you for more High Roller stuff soon. Take care. We love you. Goodbye. Bye.