High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #89 | Domain of the Arcane (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

Magic runs wild in this place... but H'esper isn't the source!? Today we're joined by Ravs playing Johan! Go show him some love here: https://www.twitch.tv/ravs_ Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Dairy Farmers of Canada. Quick recap. The party is currently in the first chamber in the Temple of Hesper. Having arrived, we noticed several bodies belonging to Valkyrian soldiers, as well as the body of a sphinx. However, just as they begin investigating, power surges through the temple, lightning courses through the walls and the floor, sealing the doors shut and bringing to life two stone golems and a selection of undead creatures.

The undead creatures have been dispatched, but the two golems continue their attacks on the party. And we go to the top of the round with Nova Vija. Yeah. You know, all my spells work on things that have a pulse, so... Then it will be Quill and then Aayla.

I'm going to do the triple blast again against Golem on the right. I mean, it does a lot of damage. First attack. Oh, let me get my stats up. 15 plus 9 is 24. 5, 6, 7, 8 points of force damage.

One blast slams into it. Rolled a 15 again. So 24 again to hit and 10 points of force damage. This creature is now You can roll the damage if you want ten plus a d10 hell yeah, but it is three hit points Three hippos say what it was that on the second beam or the third?

That was the third beam. You rolled the crit on the third beam. No? Unless you want to leave this creature alive. No, I thought you meant that never mind. It's dead. First beam, second beam and then on the third beam, the beam strikes into what remains of its chest

and it just crumbles to pieces as it falls to the ground and is animate no longer as that third and final strike eliminates it. Awesome. Whoopsie. I'm going to go scooch around and just scooch

my little butt in front of Lucius again. Sure. Okay. Kulik and Kalah. Right. I want to dip behind Ayla. Is it just Johannes affected by a slow now? Yeah.

Okay. In that case, I will do a... Yeah. I'll do a Sacred Flame on the Titan boy. So he needs to do a deck save of 17 I roll 18 minus 1 17 this giant stone

golem leaps out of the way and I will do a I'm trying to figure out what level this slow would be so I'll do a third level healing word. Sure, brother. Sure, third. Yeah.

Okay. Sure. See, either way, you get 3d4 plus 5, so you get healed for, wow, 11. 11 hit points, Johan, and you are no longer slowed. Oh, thank God. Thank God. You feel your body kind of return to its natural speed

as the magic of Quill's divine magic heals your wounds and restores your energy. Nice. Anything else, Quill? That's everything. If not, Ayla. I'm going to move up to... Can I hit him from here?

Yeah, the pillar kind of is rounded, and so there's enough space between the pillar and sentry that you can step forward and strike. Yes, it can strike you, though, without penalties, so... Sure. Um... pillar and sentry that you can step forward and strike. Yes, it can strike you, though, without penalties. Sure. So, 22 to hit.

And 24 to hit. So, two hits. Yeah. You were not paying attention, were you? I know I was, but yeah, I was momentarily distracted, but I knew you rolled well above its AC, so. Sorry about the sirens there. All right, it's the whack brigade coming in.

Woo! We got a whacking. He's rolling too high! 19 damage on the first hammer. Hammer's slammed in. Ripping chunks of the stone golem out. Ooh, that's not as good. 12 on the second hammer

and a dex save. Both hammers come slamming in. 17 minus one is 16. Ah, just saves. I can only roll high on fucking deck saving throws for these things. Well, seven is cool,

so half of seven. Half of seven. Three points of lightning damage. You see the lightning kind of crackles over its surface, but the creature is still standing. Perfect. After that, sentry. Unless there's anything else, Ayla?

No. No. Sentry. Cool. I'm going to carry on smacking this dude. See if we play? 13 plus nine. Two hits for if we play. 13 plus 9. Two hits for the first one.

13 plus 9, 22. Yeah, that will hit. 22. Nice, nice, nice. And then I will do the level 1 Divine Smite again. So 3d8. 17 plus 5. 22 plus a d4. 24 on the first hit.

Majesty's Rose. Between you and Aayla you're just like carving chunks out of this one where Nova had been blasting chunks with Eldritch Blast of the previous one you and Aayla are just now tearing into the stone of this nice and then I will do it again oh that's a 9

no no nine this time 12 to hit yeah no this time it manages to just kind of parry it with this kind of stone staff it's carrying blocks your strike okay and then as a bonus action can I cast a wait no I can't do it because I've used up all my spell slots no I have prepared badly for this I was too busy fighting if you have higher level spell slots you can still use them

to cast a lower level spell I was going to cast Heal the Faith on Johan but I can only cast it at level 1 you can cast it with a second level slot it just doesn't get any additional benefit it's a bit tricky but it just doesn't get a bonus benefit so you can still use it but it just doesn't get a bonus benefit. So you can still use it,

but it just won't help. Yeah. I'll cast a, yeah, Shield of Faith on Johan and give him a plus two to his AC. Plus two to AC for Johan. Thank you. Yeah, and I think that this,

let's see if it's slow comes back. It does not. So it's going to make two slam attacks and yeah, it's going to target Aayla and Sentry, the two biggest damage dealers, which it sees as the biggest threat. And yeah, it's going to target Aayla and Sentry, the two biggest damage dealers,

which it sees as the biggest threat. So Aayla. Can I protect Aayla? It's a good job you've said that before I said what I rolled, because that was another natural 20. My second roll is a two. So that's a 12 total to Aayla. Thank you, Sentry.

Thank you. I'm about to slam Aayla, just bring this massive stone staff down her head, and then you manage to knock the staff aside with your shield as it just slams into the pillar instead. And then the one against you, Century, is 19 plus 10, 29. Yeah, that's going to do it.

And now it's good time rolling. So 10, 16. That is going to be 22 points of bludgeoning damage. So 10, 16. That is going to be 22 points of bludgeoning damage. Its second strike takes you as you're protecting Aayla. Slams into the side of you. Understandable.

Okay. I'm just going to place a hand on my chest, take a deep breath in and cast Dragon's Breath on myself. Ah, cool. Nice. You get to breathe in the same turn as well, by the way. Yeah, so

that's my bonus action. So then I'm going to shoot this thing with a 15 foot cone of acid damage. Oh, you can do acid, are you? Yeah. Nice. Nice. So what's the save

on that? That's a... 15 deck saves. DC 17. 15 minus 1, 14. And then it goes 16 acid damage. Yeah, and also 6... Nearly.

And 6 lightning damage from Heart of the Storm. So the acid damage. Yeah, and also sex damage. And sex lightning damage from Heart of the Storm. So the acid kind of erupts forward, coating the creature, and you can see it's beginning to pit away at the granite and stone, and then another blast of lightning just comes from around you. The clouds and mist that have

gathered around you just blast it. Still staggers back, still functional, but badly damaged lucius um lucius is gonna move up it's ola uh ola ola yep good old ola nova next to nova and he looks a little bit uh vacant, he's going to continue to attack. But he's going to resort to spells he doesn't usually use. So Melf's Acid Arrow. He's going to attack the statue with that.

So it's just a straight hit, which is a 19 to hit. Just manages to hit, actually. The acid kind of slams into its back uh for a small little bit is that nine acid damage nine on this turn four next four next turn yeah perfect at the start of its turn so the acid kind of sprays against its back kind of where johan has coated the front of the creature you're now kind of coating the back of it in this pitting orange liquid uh and then dichromancy yes please so that's six points extra. Six points extra. Just kind of, yeah, covering it from both sides, this thing now being surrounded.

But it shows no sign of wanting to retreat or fear. It just continues fighting as if driven by some invisible force. Anything else, Lucius? If not, Nova? That's it for me. Thanks. Nova, Quillik, then Aayla. Can I blast this guy from where

I'm standing, or do I need to pop out a little bit more? No, I'd say, because Lucius just did a Meltzer Acid Arrow. You can kind of lean to the side and do it easily enough. Okay. I'm so distracted by the three warriors anyway, so three fighters in front of it. Yeah.

I'm just gonna, like, over my shoulder, Lucius breathe with me one two three four and kind of just count sort of methodically like do a little happy little breathing exercise and while I'm doing this breathing exercise and I count one two The first one is a 7 plus... Why do I click off at every goddamn time? 9, so 16 to hit. That does not hit. The blast actually kind of gets deflected off of it. Much better on the second one.

14 plus 9 is 23 to hit. That's a hit. 9 points of force damage. 18 plus 9, 27. And I rolled a 6 plus 5 is 11 points of force damage. These two strikes, this one, kind of similar to when Aayla smashed the back of the knee of the previous stone golem.

Your blast striking to the back of its legs, causing it to buckle down onto one. You can see it kind of puts one hand out to steady itself. This thing is about to fall apart. So, yeah, all three, the two hitting strikes, rendering it badly, badly damaged. Anything else, Nova? I just want to ask Tom if he's proud of me doing all this math real quick.

Oh, man, I am so impressed. You're the best. There you go. You're the best. And Tom, you're go. If it's nines and fives, I can do it. Nines and fives, man. That's all I can count with.

That's insane. That's the hardest ones. My question, Mark. Yeah. Dragon-like does Johan look when he does that spell? I mean, he doesn't look like a dragon at all. He just, like, he kind of takes a breath in, and then he just...

Magical acid. It's not like he's breathing real acid. It's like when Lucius conjures acid. It's kind of a magical manifestation of it is ejected. Dragon's breath is a spell.'s it's a spell that is i don't know i've done it one of the last times i was here yeah yeah cast this before spell name okay it's a cool spell name isn't it i think you're looking for things that uh i think you're trying to look at things that aren't really there tom to be honest. You'll see. You'll see.

I'll be right about it somehow. I want to do another Sacred Flame on this weirdly dexterous boy. One minus one is zero. Perfect. 3d8 plus five of damage to this one. Oh, my God. 22. Does it look like your sacred flame?

Is it the feathers? I can't remember which one your spells are. They all look like feathers in some way. It's like a storm of light golden feathers, right? Yeah, and it explodes in a burst of feathers. They kind of burn through

this burst of feathers, burns through the creature's stone body as it just kind of... The lightning dies in its eyes and its mouth and it just... Aelin, Sentry. Sentry, you kind of have to yank Johan back as this thing falls towards you guys and it just slams into the ground.

And that is you out of initiative. Ooh. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. is you out of initiative. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. Well,

we did what the Starbane guys couldn't do, so that's good. Thanks, Hesper, by the way. Thanks for creating those. You hear a kind of whispering voice. Hesper did not create these. And a shimmering, translucent form begins to appear over the corpse of the Sphinx.

A spiritual, translucent, leonine body with a noble, regal, lion-like face, lioness face, and a pair of curled wings begins to shimmer and appear. A spirit. The Sink. I think Sentry would get down on one knee after seeing it. Just bow at this being.

This powerful being. Sure. Yeah. It seems to kind of nod its direction. Helios doesn't react, no. He's a big lion dude. No, he appears as a big lion dude to you guys. He is

a thing. He's an Eterna. They take forms that they think you guys understand. He's not actually a lion man. I know that, but... He just doesn't react. Fine. He's cloaking.

He's a cape at the minute. He's cloaking. This figure just sort of seems to appear out of thin air and looks in your direction. It nods its head towards Sentry. I know that you are not like the ones who came before. I recognize a guardian, one that carries the power of the prime. As do I also recognize a high priest of my own lord.

And she nods her head in Quill's direction. She actually bows sort of on these spectral paws in your direction, Quill. I'm so sorry for what happened here. What happened here? That is a vast question. This is a haven of questions, but I'm afraid that I must ask you to perhaps be a little more specific. Many events have transpired here.

To which do you refer? How did you die? That is a question that even I am afraid I cannot fully answer. My memory of my death is hazy. It must have happened recently, though time has somewhat lost meaning to me. I remember only figures entering the temple and the rest has become a blur,

as if peered through a fog. In the past few weeks? Oh, most certainly. Although a week, I struggle to remember the exact nature of that time period. A week to you may feel like a year to me, or vice versa. I have been here a very long time. And you remember everything

until recently, very easily. Until my death, I remember it well. The creatures that you fought against were in part created by the sickness that has taken over the temple, a sickness that has grown,

a storm that has been brewing ever since the Valkyrian army was pushed from Aroes. Hesper tasked me to come here to recover an artifact, a spear. Do you know where it's held? I do. I know it is located

within the inner sanctum the spear that you speak of is part of another being it is bonded to it the spear was an heirloom of Hesper, an item created in conjunction with the creation of Siasca,

the guardian of the skies of Erois, the creature that was bound to this temple, the Tempest Dragon. The spear lies in the inner sanctum deep within the temple a sanctum that has been sealed a sanctum that the tempest dragon now slumbers in it is plagued by nightmares some spell cast by the serpent queen over the last 500 years the guardian's dreams have manifested in arcane power, creating the storms that have ravaged this land.

They are building. The dragon has been afflicted by a spell, but does it carry the sickness? The spell... Is it the same thing? It is, yes. Okay. The spell creates... In the Guardian's dreams, it creates nightmares.

It ravages its mind. And in doing so, the Tempest's primordial nature has manifested in these great and powerful storms, but it has become twisted by fear, hate, anger, the negative emotions that we often so repress. They are now manifesting

making it violent, aggressive. How do we free the dragon from the nightmare? I am afraid that I do not know. I suspect that this is why the High Priest has been sent. To fix that which even Hesper could not. Forgive me. Introductions. My name is Zuhemi. I am one of two guardian sphinxes of this shrine. It was once my duty to welcome pilgrims, to offer them wisdom, to help them solve their problems, or to grant them knowledge, teach magic. But sadly, she kind of drifts her spiritual eyes down to her body. It seems that my time here has come to an end.

But my service is still undone. My spirit lingers. What can be done to release your spirit? I suspect that once the guardian is freed of this spell, this nightmare, there will be no longer a reason for me to protect the sanctum. Hesper will be able to call me, my spirit, back up and beyond the cradle. Can you guide us to the spear?

I can offer you only this. The spear is located in the sanctum, to reach which you will need to gain access to the winds of ascension, as well as complete a set of trials that will prove

you have mastered Hesper's domains. My mate, Kuratas, is one of these trials. I fear that he will not show you the same kindness that I do. To begin your ascension and face the trials of the Tempest, you will need to bless yourself in the winds of knowledge, then kneel before your greatest enemy and tell them what they must hear. This

is the only guidance I can give you, for you must prove you are a master of Hesper's domains. Bless yourself in the winds of knowledge Just cast bless Kneel before Starbane Unlocks the door

I mean Where's Starbane Up Up there That's our greatest enemy Up there Anything from you guys Anything from you guys anything from you guys

while this is happening just back there with the pillar it's just imagery while it's happening Lucius just back up against the pillar kind of getting his breath back also nodding to Nova and

soaking in the conversations going on. Sure, yeah. Like, it takes a bit of time, but the pain in your chest does begin to subside with Nova sort of talking to you and the breathing and the counting. But yeah, it was like an intense pain, like you were suffocating again.

Yeah, I'll be counting again with Lucius, I guess. Yeah, actually, yeah, I wouldn't be talking. I would have been just, like, counting with Lucius, trying, yeah, actually, yeah, I wouldn't be talking I would have been just like counting with Lucius trying to distract him, ask him dumb questions Sure Yeah, Zuhemi this spirit, she kind of makes her way I'll use her token for now

she just kind of makes her way to the center of the temple and just kind of sits back on her back paws, stands very regally and proudly, her wings folded behind her, just as if waiting. Bless yourself for your greatest enemy. I am happy to repeat

the message if you need me to repeat it. I am not here to trick you, merely to test you. me to repeat it. I am not here to trick you. I am here to test you. This is where I am so disconnected from Quill. He is so wise.

And I, so dumb. You can always ask me. You can always be like, Mark, can I make a check? Like, give me a clue here, buddy. Like, can I make a check to get a clue? But is Johan Dragon dragon man that's that's where tom wisdom comes in i mean i mean yeah i mean if that's what someone thinks he's i mean you've seen him use this magic before like he doesn't have any scales he doesn't have any like wings i don't know what you want i'm a crazy conspiracy theorist compared to quill's massive wisdom um yeah i mean can i make a check well yeah sure what do you want to know like what's the what's the what's the angle here like you need to give me something and i can give you

clues around stuff but you can't just roll for answer. I would like to roll the luck skill. No, can I try and deepen my connection with Hesper to see if I can hear his guidance in this trying time? I mean, that sounds like a divine intervention that you want to use to me. If you would like to cast the commune spell you can cast the commune spell when i say like get a hint i mean like uh is there anything in the teachings of hesper i can think of that might relate to this is there you know can i make an insight like to see if i can

pick up on what she's what the the sphinx is implying you know that's the kind of thing like the sphinx is saying it but I can see their eyes are kind of like, I don't know, it's over there. No, but you can infer the movement of things, right? You might be able to figure out that there's certain elements that have got more meaning behind them. Sure. Is that so insight for that one? Sure, insight, yeah.

19. 19, okay. There's a couple of things i mean you don't you were never formally taught as a priest of hesper so things like the trial of the tempest the winds of ascension like none of that means anything to you but you can pick up on the way that she speaks and it's very similar to the way that hesper often speaks where there is clearly more meaning to it's not just literally her words like when she says things like kneel before your greatest enemy she doesn't mean starbane or an actual enemy there will be some sort of you know uh you know uh what's the word i'm thinking of the metaphor metaphor metaphorical enemy that she

that she means likewise bless yourself in the winds of knowledge you don't think that there's that could be perhaps a little bit

more literal you get from her meaning that there is probably some sort of blessing that you can receive that will show that you're worthy

and it's probably somewhere here in the temple that you can achieve that i'm thinking about the uh the fountain with holes i felt a small breeze from uh johan anything what was i'm looking at my uh okay i'm gonna use my storm guide uh which lets me control the weather around me and i'm gonna see if i can like make the wind that's blowing out of these little holes if i can like lift up

and like make it gust gust out i will say so you try to do this you kind of stand by the stone basin with these holes and you try and kind of conjure the air to make it stronger but something is blocking like you feel that whatever these tiny holes are connected to um it's either blocked or it's closed and not enough air is getting in for you to really create a draft to like make the wind stronger um there might be some sort of mechanism or like something that can open up the channels that it's clearly getting it is air you can tell that it's fresh air coming from somewhere but there's it there's not enough of it like it needs to be opened somehow and the statue that's on top of this thing is it's holding a spear and a book right uh yes the big and it's a bit further back like the stone basin is in the very middle of the

temple the statue of hesper is further back with a golden disc in front of him, like a big 10-foot diameter golden disc on the floor, and then a similar one set into the ceiling. But the statue of Hesper is at the back of the room with, yeah, the staff and a book open. There are some exits from this room as well. There is, like, corridors leading

east and west. It is not just this one room. What's the third line after the kneel before your greatest enemy and tell them... Tell them what they need to hear, was the line. Thank you.

Need to hear. Can I get changed? Into my slightly less heavy armor. Do you have less heavy armor on you? I do. I have studded leather armor. It's light armor.

You can equip that. I want to do that. Yeah, sure. Whilst the fate of the Stormlands, the fate of Miscura, gets changed. It's just getting Nicky. It's just getting Nicky.

Sure. Lucius says to Nova, maybe we could book down one of these other exits to see if there's anything else that we might have missed. Let's do that. I mean, Johan says that the basin's blocked somehow,

so I'm guessing we probably have to unblock it. Plumbing. Hmm. Right. Simple plumbing problem. I'll head off down the left exit then, this way. So this one over here? Sure. So you and Nova are going to start making your way down that left exit then. This way. So this one over here? Sure.

So you and Nova are going to start making your way down that corridor. Sure. Okay. While Nova and Lucius head off, anything from anybody else? Aayla, Cetri? Your hand? Could I try going to the centre of this circle? Mm-hmm.

And kneel before Hesper? Mm-hmm. Uh, what would I say? Tell them what they need to hear. No, I can't. is there something I could do I'm trying to think make a

just make a religion check so religion skill check could be worse ok 16 did you really yell down the statue of hespa isn't looking down it's looking up it's actually looking up at the golden disc set into the the ceiling you can feel the cool

gold metal beneath you there's a connection here first of all this isn't a time this isn't a test for you this is a test of the one that was guided here the one that you came to support you think that there is an old saying maybe it's something that that Johan heard once on a fishing boat, or maybe it's something that you just picked up in passing. Maybe a priest of Hesper mentioned it once. And it just something about it kind of reminds it in your mind. Hesper is a God of magic,

but also a God of knowledge and the sky. Something like bless yourself in the winds of knowledge i mean it could be literal it could be you know find air to to bless you with it could also mean you know books it could be a certain thing that you need to learn or understand around here maybe there's a library hesper's also really connected to the four winds there's generally people always talk about the north wind the south wind the east wind the There's generally people who always talk about the north wind, the south wind, the east wind, the west wind. Something about like being set into the mountains here.

It's the kind of place where you could maybe, somebody who is very clever could maybe build some sort of system to funnel the winds down into the temple somehow. There might be somewhere here that could, you know, you may be used for like a prayer purpose or something like you know funnel the winds in to create like an effect or something like that maybe

okay I'll go ahead I'll stand up after a minute and head over to Quill and I'm going to say I think that this task falls to you. Hesper's not my greatest enemy.

Not by a long shot. Oh. I don't know. I knelt down and I felt that while I pray to Hesper that this is

this is not my not my battle not my not my problem to solve what I'm seeing is I have no idea I hear you I hear you

okay okay so Quill, ayla what are you guys doing just while um like lucius and neva go off so i know um is it the storm quill like lightning is lightning your biggest enemy because i feel like i don't really think anyone else should be hit by lightning today, but, you know, it's not the best for you. If it's lightning, then what do I say to lightning? I'm terrified. You destroyed me. You took everything away from me. Like, what do I tell lightning?

Hesper found me because of you. My life was torn to pieces because of you. And now I walk this world because of Hesper's teachings, when I didn't deserve it. I should have been dead. Is that what I tell Lightning? Is Lightning my biggest enemy?

Is it Hesper? Big chamber. Cetri. Anything? Is it a Hesper? Big chamber. Sentry. Anything? I think Sentry's going to start making her way towards this corridor here and walk down that way. Peering down that way. So Nova and Lucius, as you guys are making your way

down the left-hand corridor, it splits into two. It carries on straight ahead, but then it turns to your right, so heading sort of north. And you can see that's a short corridor. Nova, you notice it because you can see the telltale signs of library stacks. You can see worn, very ruined books amongst it. Ahead of you, there is a door.

It is a stone door. It does look like it opens, but it's set into the wall dead ahead of you. Those are the only two places you can go. What do you think, Lucius? Shall we go on or turn around and go back, or should we go look at the books? I look at

Nova like a... with a, come on. There's a library there, and you're asking me if you wanna... You can go and look at the library. It could be valuable information. You wanna come with me? Come on.

I'll come with you, yes. Yeah, okay. You guys make your way down the short corridor. Um, who's You guys make your way down the short corridor. Who's out in front? Probably me. Okay. The first one to enter the library, it's kind of, it's very tragic to Nova.

This would have been a beautiful library once. Wooden, beautifully carved wooden library stacks, stone pillars, reading tables, magical kind of dim glowing lights hover above, casting just enough light to read by without being too bright or damaging the paper. Sadly, it's fallen desperately into ruin. Part of the ceiling has collapsed, crushing many of the books.

Moisture and air has gotten in, so the pages have rotten or worn away. Leather has um yeah it's a it's a right mess in here um and it's chaotic as well like if you wanted to search through this is going to take some time and you'd have to make a check to actually like see if anything was salvageable you could do it but it would just take time the only thing which has survived which is still quite beautiful and magical, is on the far western wall. So the left side wall, there is a untouched mural that's made from illusions. It's made from illusory magic. It appears magical and it moves ever so slightly. It shows a man dressed in farmer's clothes building a road,

but out of books, each one the spine being placed upwards, so to create like bricks. He holds a plain one in his hand next to him and is diligently about to place it in the next slot in the road. In the background, you can see many ro robed and rich looking individuals who are pointing and laughing at the man that's what you can see at a distance anyway

oh is there anything sadder in the world than a ruined library all this knowledge just lost true All this knowledge... just lost. True. I'm sure it's retained in the followers of Hesper and anyone that has visited this temple, though.

And that Sink back there probably knows so much about the place. Yes, the Sinks probably does know a lot. How are you, by the way? Are you okay? I'm alright, Nova. I'm sorry, I wasn't fully ready for that attack. You don't have to apologize for anything,

Lucius. Come on now. You've never had to apologize for anything with me. I know, but it's still a detriment and it's something that's going to take some time. It's affecting me more than I thought it would. And that's fine. You take all the time you need. It's okay. I understand. You don't have to explain yourself. you need it's okay I understand you don't have to explain yourself you know me I'm just gonna babble and babble and babble and babble and babble and babble and babble and babble until you tell me to shut up so if you need me to shut up

tell me to shut up if you need me to keep going so that all you want to hear is just the sound of me talking about the theory of aerodynamics that could distract you I'm good for that I can do. I will do what you need me to do because I'm here by your side to help you. I'm just terrible at helping people. The only thing that kept me going in that moment was hearing your voice giving me encouragement. So please keep talking

okay it was just there's gonna be a tiny quaver in her voice as she says that because Nova herself isn't quite over it you know like kind of healing Lucius when he was dying watching him heal Tiangong she she hasn't quite processed that either so she's just gonna babble and babble and babble and babble about every thought that just comes into her head um and i think that's probably all she's gonna do for right all right okay so doesn't that stood sort of at the entrance to the library this kind of beautiful scene around you yeah you guys uh just take this moment and uh nova just kind of chats away about stuff um century you

are making your way in the opposite direction into the western corridor it's a bit longer you kind of make your way down um and it leads into a large prayer room of a sort. There are, you can see that there are murals of all sorts of flying creatures engraved into the walls. Griffins, Pegasus, birds of all different types and shapes and sizes, all kind of spread around the walls themselves. kind of spread around the the walls themselves sections of the wall mainly in the four corners there are these giant kind of gaping pipes these kind of metal pipes that kind of loom out and go up into the walls um but they're empty there's just no no sound coming from them uh you can see that to the north and south there are two doors um and you can definitely hear the sounds of like kind of

muttering or complaining and something metal moving about in the northern room okay it's the northern room yeah okay okay I think after hearing that

Sentry's gonna hurriedly come back into the room the main chamber Okay. Okay, I think after hearing that, Sentry's going to hurriedly come back into the room, the main chamber, and just say, we're not alone, there's somebody in the room behind me. To anyone that can hear it,

Quill, Johan. Yeah, head over. I think I'm still mid-rant. The Sphinx is still there, right? The ghost of the Sphinx is still there. Yeah.

Did you see who is in the room down there? Do you know anything about the other people who are in here? I'm afraid I do not. You were the first ones that I've become aware of since my death. But there should be no living soul within this place.

Okay. I heard voices. There's somebody definitely in that room. Hmm. Perhaps they are part, and she gestures to the bodies of the Valkyrian soldiers. I do not remember where these came from. Perhaps it are part, and she gestures to the bodies of the Valkyrian soldiers. I do not remember where these came from. Perhaps

that is part of their group, the Valkyrian. Keep alert, our fighting might not yet be done. Lucius and Nova aren't here, by the way. They're in another room. If I head over here, could I just point in the general direction

of where they went and cast Message? Do you have to be able to see them? Cast this through solid objects if you're familiar with the target and know it's beyond a barrier. Okay, yeah, if you can cast it through objects. One foot of stone will... The'll i'll go retrieve them i'll go get them okay yeah johan you see the same thing when you enter the library you see this kind of ruined library you see this mural with the illusions

of the man making the the road out of the books um uh the book he's holding looks different to all the rest of them one thing you do notice uh when you're looking like all the books um uh the book he's holding looks different to all the rest of them one thing you do notice uh when you're looking like all the books in the road have these beautiful spines and they've you know got titles when he's holding his plane it's just like a plain empty book that he's just holding in his hand uh but yeah you see lucius and nova uh sentry she's she's just come back she's hurt others in the other. We might want to head that way first. Okay. Oh.

Or they could come here. I think there's something... There's something... I don't know. I feel like there's probably something we can find here. I don't know. I'm cold to this mural. There's something it's trying to teach us.

The sink said that this place was about trials, right? No, it was just like, books! Everything is in full of books. Kim's like, Mark is describing this mural in too much detail. I am called to the mural. The mural must have meaning. I am called to the mural. Well, it's like freaking Indiana Jones and the last one with the cup,

and it's like you've got to drink from the plain cup because the Jesus cup is not a fancy cup, and if you drink from the fancy cup, and it's a plain book. It's a plain book, and there's loads of rich dudes behind it laughing at the plain book. Back out of the room. Well, as you start backing out of the room, Nova, when you approach the mural, you hear a voice. Everybody in the room hears a voice.

If a wise man is someone who asks a lot of questions, then what is a fool? Someone who asks no questions. Nothing changes. Perry, because he never paid attention in class. No answers. Someone with no knowledge. Someone with no learning.

Someone with no interest in learning. One who doesn't listen. I think that there is a pause. Yeah, I don't think anything changes just yet. It just repeats. Actually, Johan, when you approach it, it repeats the question. If a wise man is someone who asks a lot of questions, then what is a fool? The one who asks the wrong questions.

No change. One who has no answers? No change. Or has the wrong answers? Meanwhile, Johan and that don't return immediately for the rest of you. Century and Lucius and Quill. Sorry, Century, Ayla and Quill.

You don't hear the creatures. You don't hear the creatures, you don't hear the noise, the people that you heard before, Century, or the things that you heard before, I should say, you don't hear them coming back this direction. You do hear some metal clanging, maybe like a blast of wind,

like a... And then it stops. Okay. Aayla, sorry. I was just going to messenger ring. Oh, yeah. Guys, what are we doing?

We should get back with the others. There's people here. Guys. Guys. Guys. There's a puzzle in this library. here guys we'll come back guys what did you say rams what did what was it you said out one who thinks they know it all ah and with that the oh you didn't say it like Well, he thinks that they know it all. He thinks he has the answers. The figure, the farmer, who's placing the book, the face turns and winks at you,

and then the arm moves and holds out the book, but you see that from the mural, the hand becomes real and the book was once plain, is now embellished with silver and gold and in a very detailed draconic script written on it, and it holds it out to you, Johan.

Can I take it and read it? You take the book. Yeah, you... Oh, wait, draconic script. Can you read draconic? No, I cannot. You can read draconic. If Nova looks at it... Nova, the title of this book is

The Sum of All Understanding by A. Plumbus. He's back. Throw it immediately. Well, Johan's holding it. You're not holding it. Johan's holding it. Johan, when you're not you're not holding it johan's holding it johan this you can this this when you like holding this book like this is a magic book this isn't like

just a book it is a magical tome um this thing you don't know what it does it needs to be identified but you can tell it's magical i'm feeling some sort of power from this any can any of you suss that out? It's a magic bookie. I can tell you that Ape Plumbus is a very knowledgeable person. Ape Plumbus? I can't say I've heard that name. We should be getting back with the others now, everyone.

Meanwhile, since they they've gone quiet after nova said the word puzzle i'm gonna assume that she's somewhere stuck in a puzzle and start making my way down that corridor towards them century quill yes then centuries come the long of ayla it's like yeah let's go get them what about quill and i i wanted to in that entire time i wanted to stand on the golden circle and see if i can divine anything uh unique from it from from what johan said do you want to is this a little bit annoyed now like the question of is the storm my greatest enemy so we're starting to question that one but yeah see if I can pick anything up from it. Sure. You get the sense, kneeling on this

disc, like an awakening of your mind. This disc leads to a different part of the temple. You don't know how, but you know that this disc and the disc above you will lead you to the trials that you need to face, and

maybe to the sanctum, where this spear is. This is... You need to face and maybe to the sanctum where this spear is. This is, you need to find a way past these. And in terms of whether you're questioned, it's not really like a message. It's more of a sensation. A kind of mixture of, like a teacher who is not disappointed,

but gives you a look that's if to say, you know that that's not the answer Think this through You can solve this You big dumb dumb Yeah, use your brain, Tom. Jeez. My friggin' bird brain. Channel A Columbus.

Aayla and Century, you guys make your way and see the other three kind of making their way out as they are heading back in your direction. Johan is carrying a very nice-looking book. But other than that, seem fine. You can see that, it seemed fine. You can see that where the direction they're coming from, there is a door that they didn't come from.

They came from a corridor that connected to, but behind them is another door that seems to lead into a chamber, you assume. Are you all okay? What's the name of the book? The Sum of All Understanding by A Plumbers.

We're okay, thank you, Sentry. We have this book now. The library over there is destroyed. Ruined. Oh no. It's awful. It is pretty. I heard...

You heard a commotion or something? Yeah, I heard like a metal clanking noise and some voices coming from a room in the opposite chamber. There's also some metal pipes on the wall. I think we can investigate those a little bit further. We should stick together from now. I don't think we're alone. If there's still people here.

What was that feeling I got, Mark, about being told that I had had someone smart could fix fix the wind in here I don't know what feeling you are referring to but yeah

when I kneeled down you said I got this feeling and all this stuff happened. And he said, you get the wind could be channeled in here or something like that. It was when you were in the stone basin, the stone basin, you feel there was a breeze there. You tried to kind of make the wind stronger,

but it was being blocked by something. And you felt that like it was fresh air. It must be coming from somewhere, but it was blocked in it must be coming from somewhere but it was blocked uh in some way gotcha uh you guys if you guys make your way back into the main room you see quill kneeling on the golden disc looking perplexed and confused thomas hazel i want to make the point that you chose to play a cleric of the god of knowledge and a wizard, and I'm gonna give you this metaphorical shit to deal with. No, I mean, it's also like, if Johan is saying that some mechanism will bring about the wind, then like, there's probably nothing that can be done now anyway.

Oh fuck, I am the mechanism aren't i i'll just i'll just walk over there and be like don't want to add to your problems but here's this and throw the book uh yeah so you he gives you this this very fancy looking book in silver and gold um quill when you look at it um it's not by a plumbus um it's by hesper it says does it have a silver feather on it uh no it's it's silver and gold in like the kind of wrappings and things like that um uh because i was wondering if it's a similar to that book that i divined when I came back to Erois in the tower that was with the ghost lady.

Different book. You can tell like Johan, this is a magical book. This is magic. You will need to identify it if you wish to know what it is. I was hoping for an A plumbus. Okay.

I will, you know, I'll identify it then. Okay. I will tell you this is a tome of understanding. So you can add that to your inventory. A tome of understanding. This book contains intuition and insight exercises, and its words are charged with magic. If you spend 48 hours over a period of six days or fewer

studying the book's contents and practicing its guidelines, your wisdom score increases by two, as does your maximum for that score. The manual then loses its magic, but regains it in 100 years. Oh. Wow. Pretty cool. 22 wisdom. That sounds pretty juicy.

It does require you to spend a significant amount of time. Yes, with these books it's possible to go above 20. Same with the belt. It can increase her strength beyond 20 as well. I just noticed that Aayla's stats are wrong. Her strength is 25 now. We'll need to change that on the overlay. Oh yeah, that's right.

On the overlay. I was going to say D&D Blender should be to change that on the overlay. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, because on the overlay, I was going to say D&D Blender should be correct. Just on the overlay. This is a magic book that when you read it and you consume its contents, it will increase your natural wisdom. Thanks,

Johan. You just went into that room and brought back something this powerful? This is a plumbus-y powerful wizard? Aplumbus is an author. This is Hesper. Hesper wrote this book. It's... it's... it's... It says right there that it's from Aplumbus. He's pointing at where it says Hesper. Okay. Okay.

I mean, it's... I mean, it's right there. Are your eyes okay? Are you sure you haven't had any berries? Trust me, my eyes are wonderful. How dare you? A plumbus. Esper. Anyway, anyway, was there any...

H-E-S-P-E-R. A-P-L-E-R. V-E-R. What a thing. Be here. Oh, B. Well, was there any way of blessing this room with the winds of... I mean, we have a book that is all knowledge. Was there... We have to unlock that mechanism.

We have to unlock that mechanism. Okay, well, this disc will take us to the further levels of this trial that Hesper has set for me and all of us. One that requires, well, knowledge. No doubt surpassing or equaling his infinite wisdom, which is just wonderful. It's typical of Hesper. The storm, well, the storm is not my enemy. The storm took everything away from me,

away from my family, away from my teachings, away from it all. Sorry, shouldn't have suggested it, my bad. Sorry, I've really struck a nerve here, but, you know. I got hit by a lot of lightning recently. My brain doesn't work. Excuses. But it can't be the storm.

The storm resides in... I see what you did there. The storm resides in Johan and Aayla, and it protected me so many times. How can the storm be my enemy? Cyquil, if I could just... I feel like you're kind of... Breathe.

One, two, three, four, and exhale. Two, three, four. I would like to just posit my theory that if we're going to be metaphorical like Hesford loves to be, it could be something like time or death is our greatest enemy. Okay. Perhaps. Death is our greatest enemy. Perhaps.

I don't mean to play Starbane's advocate here, but how about we fix the mechanism behind us first before we try to solve the riddle. I think Johan's onto something there. Priorities. Priorities, indeed. I look at the book.

Um. Two, three, four. I'm just going to go and stand over here. You just let me know if you need me to, you know, hit things. I'm just going to... Too smart for me? Step back? Mark Humes, can I go over to this door that there was clanking noises by uh yeah so you have to make your way into the chamber that century was in before this kind of

prayer room with the engravings of the flying creatures these pipes in the corners um as you enter one of them you feel like the strong breeze like a wind kind of washes over you um then maybe sounds like a very very high pitched voice um beyond the stone door to the north uh it's kind of muffled a little bit like you can hear that there's like galing winds coming from that room like this immense kind of pressure of wind but when it dies down you just hear the final clip as if a little voice was just oh for goodness sake like kind of you know cursing through the door like in fact it would say by the emperor

can I use ghostly gaze which will allow me to see through solid objects for a minute how thick solid objects for a minute. How thick solid objects? Dummy feet. It just says solid objects with dark vision to a range of 30 feet.

Ah, that's okay. So range of 30 feet. That's good to know. Okay. So when you look through the door, this stone door that's engraved into the northern wall, You look through the door, this stone door that's engraved into the northern wall. You look through and the first thing you see in this chamber is there is a set of stone steps that goes up. And then the rest of the room is kind of beyond that vision.

So it kind of stops and you don't get to see much more of the room. This seems to be quite a large room. You do see stood almost maybe like 15 feet in front of the door that you're currently looking through. You see the back of a young girl. Like she can't be more than 10, 11. Roughly cut dress, like really shoddily cut and tailored. Hands on hips, just kind of staring at something that you can't see in the room um and there is one large golden chain hanging down just on the very edge of your vision

um and you can see them you can't hear through it but you see her like gesturing and pointing and things like that um does she look similar to vala um no no uh she has almost greenish tinged hair like a very dark green hair uh that's kind of loose around her shoulders it's actually quite long and messy um you can see like oversized bracelets around her arms that almost look like an adult's bracelet but she's wearing them um and yeah barefoot and it's just sort of like pointing and gesturing at something but it doesn't look like they can hear like yeah you can hear like this very loud wind coming from that room um one of the chains that you can't you can see no you wouldn't be able to see that chain

actually you can just see this one chain that's not being pulled. Yeah. No one else in the room? Just her? In the 30 feet past the door that you can see. Yeah. Okay. I'll return to team argues a lot and belay this information to everybody. That there's a girl in the room, blah, blah, blah, chain, 30 foot. Could be others. And she's cussing about the emperor okay

is she wearing Valkyrian uniform uh rough cut clothing no emblems, nothing but she did say something about by the emperor or something like that we need to be

cautious here can I go into the chamber where the pipes are and summon Echo to maybe can you fit through one of the pipes to see if there's maybe like a blockage or anything in there yes Echo will

fit through one of these pipes. They're quite large. They're like mouths or horns carved into the shape of signaling horns. And he can fit inside. And Echo can... This little ball made of brambles and twine and metal. It's dark inside, but he has dark vision. And so Echo begins flying up.

The pipe goes up and then it splits. So it continues going up really high. He kind of goes at an angle and then it just seems to go up and up and up and up and up. Um, he can't see, like, you can start sending him up that way, but it will take some time. The other one is it seems to lead into the room that Nova just looked into. Um, it seems to lead into there. Hmm. just looked into. It seems to lead into there. Hmm. Which direction would you like Echo to go?

Let's go into the room. Let's just get a little look. Just make a stealth check for Echo for me, please. Okie dokie. Okie dokie. Ooh. What would Echo's... uh what would echoes uh you might not have his stats for him i guess and he might i don't think i've got his stats

for him yeah because i think he only had like a i think he had like a plus three bonus let's say like he wasn't super like mega stealth no so 13 13 probably yeah let's just go with that okay so echo and you see floats into this kind of uh second pipe and then lowers down and it goes into a much larger opening um and he looks into a room seeing more than what nova could the room is quite large uh there is a stone staircase that spirals up and it seems to go up very very high the middle of which separated by sort of a good sort of like 10 feet uh 15 feet between them are four huge golden chains that hang down from somewhere up above echo can't see that far up it's he can only see these chains dangling down in his vision there are two uh constructed magitek constructs,

very similar to the one that you fought on the Storm Chaser when you met Johan last time. These kind of crab-like creatures, but these ones are bipedal. They actually have like four arms, two smaller arms, and then two large shoulder arms. And they've gripped the chains and they're pulling them down. And as they do, one of the pipes opposite Echo blasts incredibly strong wind into the room, cutting across the middle of it where there appears to be another golden disc stood in its place. But they blast it and the air just doesn't seem to fully open up kind of thing.

just doesn't seem to fully you know open up kind of thing um stood next to them uh you glance at echo just catches a glimpse of her before uh she basically looks to be she can't be anymore like she's petals age you know she looks like 10 or 11 uh green hair very wild like vines and tangles around her um pouty little face uh looks kind of a little bit annoyed when you first see her really rough cut tunic um as if somebody's hastily quickly made it for her uh big bracelets around her arms and then no shoes um and she glances is looking around and seems to look directly at echo uh her face she kind of like tilts her head a little bit in confusion um and then her eyes kind of light up as if she's seeing you know she kind of her eyes quickly lighten up um and she runs over to kind of get a closer look at echo can i pull echo back just yeah

you see like the the girl kind of pokes her head in and is now looking around inside the tunnel she seems to call back something but Echo can't hear she just calls back something to the creatures in the room okay so there's okay

alrighty okay Hmm. Alrighty. Okay. Okay. Okay. It's okay. Okay, it's okay. What'd you do?

I think there's somebody else with her. I think she tried to call back to something. There's somebody else with her. I think she tried to call back to something. There's something else with her. But yeah, young girl. Like Nova said. What are they doing in there? She's trying to do something. I'm not sure.

There's a pipe that blows wind out. I don't know if it's to do with the mechanism that Johan mentioned. Maybe she's trying to activate that. But she's so young. Why is... What is she doing here? Another mystery. Another mystery.

Another cryptic mystery. Add it. Another cryptic mystery. Add it to the pile of mysteries. So, what's the plan? Do we just go in? There's two of them. As you guys are having this discussion, thinking things over, where is everybody?

Are you all in the prayer room outside this chamber where the girl is? So you're all in that same chamber? Yeah, I think so. Quill? Ayla? Same? Sounds like everybody is there. I don't know where this prayer room

is in relation to. It's on the western side, Ayla, so I haven't drawn a map for it. Okay. So it's in a different room. It's off to the western side, Aayla, so I haven't drawn a map for it. Okay. So it's in a different room. It's off to the western side. Okay. I mean, I think she'd probably be hanging back a little bit

because she feels a bit amused. I can't do that. Okay, sure. Well, you never know. That kind of practical thinking may be more useful than you think. Well, at the moment, she just feels like this is a place of knowledge and she's just giving Quill a little bit of space. Well, you know, knowledge is a different thing to different people.

The doors of the prayer chamber where into this chamber with the chains and the wind blowing and this little girl, the doors open and these metallic creatures emerge out and they have got all four arms pointed uh and next week we're gonna roll initiative but that's where we're gonna end it today it's a little bit early okay well yeah i mean like i don't want to start a combat right away like 10 minutes to go like we're gonna have to just roll into next week so damn all right are these the crab things they are different it's like an upgraded version of the crab robots they are like less crab like they're like a human

meets a crab in a robot form so it's got like a big carapace to back these four arms uh with a giant like clawed hands and then two more manipulator arms. Beady ice storks, but all made of metal like constructs. Yeah. Upgraded crabmen. And these were the things that absorbed my lightning attacks last time, didn't they?

That's what the last versions did. Okay, Mark Humes. Alright, Mark Humes. Alright, Mark Humes.