High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #91 | Trial of Aeons (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

The invisible wizard has been taken care of... now the party explore the first floor of the Temple of H'esper! 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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to try out D&D Beyond for free. Last time on Erois, the party have entered the Valley of Storms, the heart of a powerful magical tempest that has consumed the continent of Voxar. They have done so in search of the Temple of Hesper and to fulfill a task assigned to Tequilac Adkalar by the God of Air and Knowledge. Inside, the party have been reunited with Johan, a mysterious sorcerer who seems connected to the storms and Quill's fate, and as they explore the temple, they find that they are not alone. While investigating a chamber, the party are attacked by Valkyrian constructs, but an invisible mage hounds them and traps them within a force cage. A tense battle ensues, and the frustrated party try and locate the spellcaster who makes a desperate escape attempt,

but is eventually caught by the party. The mage, it is revealed, is a Valkyrian researcher who has become the victim of a sphinx's ability to alter a creature's age, turning her into a young girl. Fearing she will attempt to harm or sabotage their progress in the temple, the party knocks her unconscious unconscious though this unsettles the paladin sentry who was once the protector of a young girl of a similar age keelix ability to see the past and future yields no answers to the temple's puzzles and riddles and so the group must

attempt to solve them unlocking something called the winds of ascension and passing the trials of the tempest and that brings us to where we are today. As you are all currently stood in the main temple of Hesper, this ruined temple, a large statue of the god himself at the very back, numerous corridors splitting off in different directions. The key feature of the whole room is a recessed basin with lots of tiny holes that johan had sensed there was some element of an air current but very very weak um and that is where we end with an

unconscious uh very strange young girl with snake scales and serpentine eyes um unconscious on the floor century having stepped away for a moment uh and that is where we begin today, my good friends. Okay, so now that we've dealt with them and the mechanical crab things, are we good to continue? By the way, some bad news. Hesper's blocking

the eye. I can't use it here. So if we're looking for quick answers, I can't give them to you anymore. Well, I guess it is kind of like cheating on a test. And you probably really shouldn't cheat on tests. That's really bad. No, well, I suppose. But it means we have to do things, well, I suppose correctly. Which is interesting.

For Hesper to do that, but... Shall we carry on through this place? Are we just leaving her here? Is she going to wake up any time soon? I'm pretty sure I've knocked her out good. So, this is Ayla speaking. Pretty sure I've knocked her out pretty good. I don't know when she'll wake up, though.

Good enough for me. We have no up, though. Enough of me. We have no choice, really. Do you want me to tie her up? Yes. Probably for the best. I think that's a good idea. Okay. We should probably search her as well, just to check that we've got all her spell components and focuses and everything, so that

she's not able to do very much if she regains her abilities. Yeah, I mean mean there's no way really for her to keep anything that isn't the she had these kind of like magical braces and then she has a shirt with a belt but even that's all very loose you don't get the impression that there's really anywhere for her to hide anything else um as a note spell casters um you can still cast spells without like a wand and stuff as long as they only require a verbal or a somatic component so um it may be that she's still able to cast spells

if she can get her hands free but she's also unconscious right now so that's she's certainly not going to pose any sort of threat immediately uh ayla will take some rope out of a bag and we'll tie her up kind of put tie her hands behind her back and tie her legs together and stuff like that. She's super strong, so it's very, very tight. But yeah. Perfect. Okay. Shall we carry on through, see what was actually in that room, you know, before the crabs? Sure. What's Sentry doing in all this?

Sentry, are you kind of watching from afar, or are you off on your own while they've been dealing with this? I think she's just kind of watching from a distance. or are you off on your own while they've been dealing with this? I think she's just kind of watching from a distance. I think she's just taking a quiet moment by herself for a second, just trying to gather herself, try and compose herself before carrying on. Okay, sure.

Yeah, it doesn't take very long. And yeah, you guys are free to explore. You didn't sense any more threats in the immediate area, but you don't know what lies in the rooms you haven't explored um if you guys make your way back to the chamber you were in before i will re-describe it for you and just to give a sense of where you are so the room where you fought the constructs um it appears to be a sort of prayer room there are murals around the room which depict various flying creatures.

Looking around, I think Quill, Nova, Johan, as you kind of look around, there is a mural depicting griffins, a mural depicting wyverns, a mural depicting various types of birds, and a mural depicting various types of insects. Each one seems to be flying through the air across various different landscapes.

That's what you see at a close glance anyway. I'm not going to describe them in too much detail. There is also like a small altar, if anything. There's nothing fancy about it. It looks to be like a raised piece of stone with just some engravings of the symbol of Hesper, the open book with the eye and the wings um six wings um the only other thing of note in this room is that in the corners of the room there are these small just about big enough for echo to crawl through

um horns like and they seem to connect to pipes that connect to the ceilings and the stone walls and things like that uh and these pipes seem to sit rest in the the four corners of the room um there is a door to the north uh which was opened and you can see into i think nova's already looked into that room briefly um and then there is a passageway to the south that you did not explore oh okay um yeah we might as well check out the entire area so let's go north see what was in that room sure Lucius are you following with them just to make sure I'm just going to move tokens and stuff

Ayla will come with you as well okay in the room beyond this small prayer room the one that was opened where the constructs and this mage girl came from is slightly different. It's a very, very tall room.

You can see that there is at the far side of the room, there is a stone staircase kind of spiraling around that stretches up maybe 100 to 200 feet. In the corners of these rooms are enormous pipes, these huge stone pipes that seem to stretch up all the way to the roof of the room. Each one ends in the mouth of a great beast one appears to be a griffin one appears to be a wyvern one appears to be like a screeching hawk and the other one like a beetle with its maw with its mouth open each of these four giant statues probably big enough for a small creature to crawl through if they needed to with a big open gaping open mouth there is also a wind compass set into the floor and four chains

that hang down the four chains hang over the compass points so the north south east and west a chain lingers over each point, descending from the very, very tall ceiling. Hesper has some strange customs here. What would this be used for in the temple? Century, when you sent Echo

through the pipes, was this where it came out? Or was it in the previous room? It came... I believe Echo came out into this room from one of the pipes and the other pipe sent it from the pipe in the previous room into here yeah there was actually yeah exactly there's a diversion so the pipes from the previous room connect to this room but also the pipes go up but echo couldn't go up um it was like blocked okay so winds from this room somehow divert into the next room um maybe from upstairs as well i don't know about this wind compass though or the chains or what they'll do i mean if you look at

the wind compass uh quill there is an inscription written around it in common. There's like around the edges of the wind compass. The inscription reads When all four winds have blown each year, we offer up a prayer. Oh Hesper, watch over us all and let all our winds be fair. Oh god.

It's a puzzle episode. Puzzles and dungeons and traps! Yes. Can you copy-paste that into the roll 20? Yeah, I can do it in the roll 20. That makes sense. Could I take a quick moment

to convert two of my first level spell slots into sorcery points? You're not in initiative, that's absolutely fine. So people know. Okay, back to full spell sorcery points. Oh, yeah. Nice. When all four winds have blown each year, we offer up a prayer.

Oh, Hesper, watch over us all and let all our winds be fair. Oh, God. and let all our wins be fair. Oh, God. I mean... Does it suggest that all four of these wins here, if they could blow onto this compass, maybe equally, the same amount?

And once they're all like that, you offer the prayer? There's probably some correlation with the paintings in the other room as well. It looks like the statues are the same creatures in the paintings. Oh, let's have a look at those. I'll move down. Yeah, Lucius, if you go into the room, there are four murals. Which one would you like to look at?

There's one of the griffins, there's one of wyverns, one of birds, and one of insects. I'll start top right of the room there are four there are four murals um which one would you like to look at there's one of the griffins there's one of wyverns one of birds and one of insects i'll start top right of the room so uh sure that's uh the griffin um they're not placed on compass points the murals are just placed around the room they're not they don't seem to correlate to compass points um in case you're wondering uh the griffin one it depicts a bunch of griffons flying through the air, but you do notice that there is a very small inscription written at the bottom of the mural, and the inscription reads I will not let the east

wind call before me. Oh, here we go. Oh, it's all these ones. Okay. It appears that there is an order to the winds that must happen, so the Griffins will not let the east wind call before it.

So it must come before the east wind, the Griffins. We need to figure out what the east wind is. Can we have a look at the other uh no no i was gonna go look at the other paintings and look at sorry that's the wrong as well i'm gonna i made a mistake that's actually that's actually written on the statue of the griffin in the room with the chains what's written under the murals is this god i had text too close to each other, so I got it mixed up. So what's written under each of the murals is the following

sort of, not riddle, but it's kind of like a, not even a poem, really. It says, The proud griffins of the cold north roost for winter. The fiery wyverns soar with the sun in the east. Birds flee in the wake of the western storms. Swarms of

insects spread out, carried on southern winds. And then if anybody looks at the griffon statue in the chain room, there is an inscription that says, I will not let the east wind call before me. Okay, so

griffons are north, wyverns are east, the birds are west, and the insects are south. So do they line up with the statues in the north room? Do they line up with the compass as well? Because it looks like the compass statues are diagonal. The statues are diagonal, the compass is as it should be. It faces northeast, southwest correctly. But the statues are diagonal, so no, the statues themselves

don't match up to the compass points. And if we were to rotate them like 45 degrees, do they then line up? Or are they completely out? The statues don't move. The statues don't move at all. They are massive, set into the walls themselves, sculpted from the natural I just mean if we were to like visually

rotate them around, like is the griffon north, east, and then the thingy south? Yeah, the griffon is north-west, yeah, but you don't imagine that they would correlate. You'd have to rotate them, the whole room, but then the compass would be wrong. But the chains do match up to the compass points. So the griffon goes before the wyvern.

Because if we take it from this, then north represents griffon, south represents insects, east represents wyverns, and west represents birds. And if it says griffon, I will not let the east wind call before me. It will not let the wyvern go before it. Yes, so we activate that first and then the Wyvern. Well, let's see the other

paintings first. So the murals all say the same thing. They all say the same thing. The Proud Griffons of the Cold North. The statues have different engravings on them, yes. Can we look at the statues, please? Yes, each of the statues.

So under the Wyvern statue, it says, None shall stop my roar. Under the bird statue, it says, I must share the sky with at least one other. And the insect statue says, I shall never cross the east and west when they blow together. Oh, God! Together? Together.

Lucius' head explodes. The dial-up sounds playing in it. Okay, so it's the north goes first. On their own the griffin none sure the east the east wyvern and the western birds fly together and then the beetles are lost in the sack right east and west you're the smart one, Quill, I don't know! Although, I must share the sky with at least one other. Who said that? That was the West, right? The birds.

The western birds said they must share the sky. None shall stop my roar. That's the questionable one for the Wyverns. And then the Wyvern, but then the Gryphon says, I will not let the east wind call before me, and the east wind is the wyvern. So it must be the griffin in the north first. And then the wyvern? No. And then the wyvern and the birds at the same time.

And then finally the insect. Christra is like, totally totally got this but I'm like really in my character right now and Lucius has yeah I'm just intelligence just out of curiosity I like to show right okay yeah sure I can just stop speaking then so 11 I mean 11 is like yeah I think 11 is you can have Chris Trott's intelligence as Lucius. I've got some. Your hand has 10 intelligence,

but I feel like Rouse has a 4. Okay. I mean, you guys... I am always happy for folks to make checks, like if you want to make an Arcana check or like a nature check or anything like that to see if you can get a clue or a hint, investigate the statues. What is Nova's intelligence out of interest?

15. It's the highest, I think. Yeah, 15. I think it's the highest in the team. I've got cracking. Damn it. Okay. Shit.

Books, go! I feel like that's correct. Tom feels like that's correct. Is Quill smarter than me? Yes. Am I wrong? Would you like to make an correct. Is Quill smarter than me? Yes. Am I wrong? Would you like to make an intelligence check, Quill? Sure. Yeah, I mean, so what I'm saying is that it goes north, east and west at the same time, and then south last.

Sure? Sure! Let's try it. What could happen? I mean, that's the other thing, you can try it right? What's the worst that can happen? Absolutely. Just tell me if you need me to do anything and I'll do it, Quill. Ayla says the same thing.

I don't understand, but if you want me to pull a chain or smash a statue, just let me know. I think insects might go first. I don't know. I shall never cross the east and west when they blow together. So it might mean it needs to go first. So south wind first. Oh, wait. Once we pull a chain, the wind will start blowing constantly. Yeah.

So then it must be insect. Insect, and then insect. So south, north. And then... Go on, Johan. I shall never cross the east and west when they blow together, so sure, the south can't go last. It can't go last, no. That's what I'm saying, it goes first.

For some reason, I imagined it like you pull the chain, and it's like, cool, that's what i'm saying it goes for some reason i imagined it like you pull the chain and it's like cool that's me i'm done then the next one is done but if the wind is constantly blowing then it has to wait all four winds have blown each year we offer up a prayer oh first line oh lucius lucius galaxy brain None shall stop my roar It doesn't matter Where they go Because none shall stop it The winds regardless

They go last I think maybe East and west Have to go together If east is wyvern and West is Bird, Bird says, I must share the sky with at least one other, and Wyvern says,

none shall stop my roar. So I think East and West need to be pulled together. Maybe. Right. So East and West and then North. No, not North. North can't go last. So insects first, south.

Whilst you guys calculate this on your own, the only thing I'm going to say is these chains look very heavy. Somebody is going to need to pull the chains as well. I just look at Aayla. I mean, Aayla can pull one for sure. They are distanced enough apart that one person can't pull both chains, two chains at once. One person has to pull each chain.

If you want to, unless you want to pull one and then move to the next one. Does it look like when you've pulled the chain, it's going to remain in that position? Or do you have to hold it there? You have no idea. The only way to know that would be to pull it and see. Yeah. Yeah.

Pull my finger. Must share the sky with at least another. Yeah, so I think West needs to be pulled at the same time with another wind. I must share the sky with at least one other. So I think

two chains need to be pulled at the same time. Griffin will go before... I'm not so sure about that now. No? I feel like... Once the winds are blowing, the sky is beginning to be shared. Yes. As long as any other wind is blowing. They must be second. They don't have to be at the same time. They're not second necessarily. They can't be first. The south is pulled at the same time as the west that way the insects are sharing it with the

griffins. And then north and then west is last. I just think it's because I shall never cross the east and west when they blow together. Ah, but they're not. If south and west are

blowing at the same time, then they're not If South and West are bowing at the same time then they're not bowing together West and East Oh my god What if we jump Let's just give it a go Let's just trial and error If you want to just be like

I'll pull one, you can I think it maybe needs to be Southwest, Northeast Southwest, Northeast is my first guess Have we considered where this wind is coming from? Try a format. Southwest, northeast. Southwest, northeast. I agree. That's my first guess. Have we considered where this wind is coming from?

The statues, I imagine. So anyone want to find out where I can entry? Let's everyone position ourselves around the compass to pull the right ones. Okay, I'm ready. Southwest, northeast. So you guys place yourself where you want to be. So who's going to pull the chain I will tell you this

Now that you start moving into position You need at least a strength of 10 To pull these chains They are heavy chains Or you need something heavy enough to pull it down I have a 9 so I'll just sit in the corner I have a 7 What if Johan and I pull together

I'd say if you both pull together, that's enough. Yeah, I'd say that both of you pulling together can pull one. You also have Ayla. Ayla will basically just do what she's told. So if you want Ayla to pull one, she will. Let's have Ayla on the south one. Okay, so Ayla, pull the south wind. Okay, so Ayla pulls the chain down.

Do you tell her to just pull it and then let go or keep it held down see what happens when she pulls and lets go okay when she pulls and lets go uh a wind does begin blowing out of the southwest statue um which is the insect uh it begins blowing out this wind but as soon as she lets she lets the chain go, the wind dies down. The wind just kind of putters out into nothing. There is a kind of acrid, kind of fungal smell to the wind as it's being pulled when it initially blasts, but then it fades when the chain's let go.

Is it a really strong wind? Hold down. Yes, I will tell you that's about a 15-foot cone of wind that's constantly blasts foot cone of wind that's like constantly like it blasts out of the statue. Okay, this is going to get really tough when all of these four are blowing, but Okay, Ayla, you need

to pull it and hold it. Alright, okay, here we go. And she pulls it down. And yeah, the south the insect statue begins blowing out wind. Everybody takes a d6 point of poison damage. So if you have any resistance to poison damage, let me know. Everyone, everyone, actually not everyone, sorry.

So Sentry and Aayla, who are in the current cone of that sphere, will take five poison damage, halved if you have resistance. And the wind keeps blowing. So it's like... So we'll kind of take a turn order now, as Ayla is holding this down. That was her action. She's holding this one down. Cool.

What did I say? Southwest, northeast? Yeah, southwest, northeast. Insect, bird, griffon, wyvern. Okay. If you want to delay, you can do, but if you want to take an action, you've got to take it now. If you want to delay you can do But if you want to take an action you've got to take it now If you want someone to pull a chain

Pull the west Pulling away Century you begin pulling the west I'm just going to check my rules here So south West is Which one is west again West is the birds West is... Which one is West again? West is the birds.

West is birds. Must share the sky with at least one other. So yeah, the wind begins blowing. This one crackles with slight elements of storms that kind of crackle through the air. So Century, Johan, Nova, as the cone kind of emanates of wind, D6 of lightning damage.

So half if you have lightning resistance. It's another five. So half if you have lightning resistance as it begins blowing out. The two of them are, you can feel the wind coming from both of these statues is growing stronger the longer that the chains are held down. So Sentry's taking an action. A those are centuries taking an action uh ala's taking an action johann nova uh what do you guys do or like well who's doing what next five damage was that the half damage or no so it'd be two damage for you uh two damage okay

okay yeah uh i'll um leverage myself up on the cloud and trying to grab from a higher point since you know me and Nova are weak babies. Pulling together. I'll literally just use my whole body weight to just, like, try and sink it. And you're pulling north. Yeah. North griffon.

A freezing cold wind emanates from the north, from the griffon's mouth that kind of coats Quill, Johan, Nova. You each take five points of cold damage. If you have any resistance, you can apply that as this cold, freezing wind begins to blow.

But all three winds are now blowing, beginning to build in strength the longer this goes on. So, Quill and Lucius. And finally, the Wyvern in the east who needs to go after the Gryphon

I'll pull the east chain A fiery hot wind kind of pours out from the Wyvern's mouth encapsulating Quill and Aayla. You take one point of fire damage as this hot wind begins to blow But as all four winds converge in the center um

the whole mechanism you hear like the heavy sound of stone locking into place the magical effects the poison the lightning the fire the cold dissipate and just this constant breezy wind begins to fill the room um as it does so and lucius in this in the room behind the prayer room the winds the four horns in the corners of this room are filled with a wind that creates the sound of almost like music like faint kind of uh flute and horn sounds begin to emanate through the room and it's very calming and relaxing um as does so. And yeah, you hear this kind of like, lock into place, and the wind is now flowing through the chamber.

And you let go of the chains, and the wind continues to blow through. Excellent work, everybody! Wow! Quite the spectacle to watch. I can't hear anything! Can we let go of the chains now on top

you can let go yeah yeah you let go of the chains and the wind continues to blow but there's no more magical kind of power to them you should hear it in here beautiful yeah anybody who steps into the prayer room yeah there is this very faint

um delicate horns delicate flutes uh you know woodwind and and brass instruments kind of merges to create this hymnal uh choral music um that fills the room um quite patiently and if you close the doors ayla will step through with you as well uh the effect becomes more pronounced um and there's a serene quiet in the room as well. The wind noise from the northern chamber doesn't really seem to make its way through here. You just get this very pleasant, like a meditation

chamber, almost. Nice. I'm wondering about these other rooms we haven't gone to. Did that seem to have any effect on the big boy in this room uh if you are you making your way back there to check your house i'll let back out quickly see if it's if it's making sure yeah wind uh yeah you you make your way over to this kind of stone recessed basin and

you can now tell that each of these tiny holes has a powerful jet stream of wind kind of blowing through it and is creating this kind of vortex in the center of the basin. Make a nature check for me. Name. You're not sure. Like, it just seems to create like a powerful draft of wind. You're not really sure what that means. Yeah. Okay. a powerful draft of wind you're not really sure what that means um yeah okay uh it looks like this uh this mechanic is working now the spirit of the sphinx this kind of glowing translucent

sphinx is just looking in your direction and just nods very slowly. I just nod back like Yeah, me. I got it. Okay, so face your greatest enemy. Tell them what it needs to hear. Bless yourself on the winds of knowledge first, obviously. You see the sphinx just sort of smile

as you add the first bit on as well yeah uh i guess i'm up what do you think she gestures the sphinx gestures a large paw to this basin filled with wind current just gestures towards it can Can I sort of get myself floating kind of with the wings and then sort of slowly move into it? And that's exactly it. As you step up, Quill, you feel that even if you weren't an Arakokra,

any individual that positioned themselves, the wind currents are formed in this basin. They're so delicately drilled and placed that it holds somebody aloft you can actually sit and be lifted off the ground and held in place by these wind currents inside this basin you're actually kind of like floating as you sit down kind of sitting on it yeah kind of on a cushion of air basically um and you find this seems to almost be like a nexus of the spiritual power in this place.

There's a deep sense of Hesper here. The winds don't just feel like natural winds, but channeled into this place for a specific reason. This is a place of contemplation, meditation. Somewhere that a pilgrim, somebody who sought answers would come. This is incredible in here. Even without the wing, I could have flown all along.

But my greatest enemy, my greatest enemy, it wasn't the lightning. It couldn't have been the lightning. I said it before. And well, I felt your disappointment, Hesper, when I suggested so. So not the lightning.

Could it have been... Close your eyes, Priest of Hesper. Answers will come on the winds. Okay, I'll take like a rested sort of meditative position in the winds and then close my eyes. As you do so, you begin to kind of lose a little bit of track of time. You kind of hear, it's hard to hear your own breathing over the winds, but eventually something, subtle whispers almost imperceivable unless you were sat in this very

nexus whispers carried on the winds reach your mind and it is hesper's voice that speaks who we are no who we were is often the enemy of who we can become jealousy anger fear self-doubt arrogance these are the weapons of ignorance who we were is often the enemy of who we can become. My greatest enemy is myself from so long ago. Before I found the storm chaser, before I found my friends,

before we achieved so much, before we were taken away from Aroas and had to fight our way back, we achieved so much. Sphinx smiles. There is much more to the temple. Perhaps you will find a way to tell yourself this. She smiles. Thank you.

I did need to hear that. Thank you, Hesper. You don't get an answer, but you feel that if you speak in this place, even if Hesper is not present, Hesper probably hears it. A temple like this, prayers are often easily heard. The rest of you, you watch. Quill seems to sit there for some time, like five, ten minutes,

just kind of levitating on this current of air beneath him as he's lifted into the air. What about the rest of you? What are you doing? I think it's Smeek. Smeek's the greatest enemy. No. Hadar could be.

Who was that one that killed him in the night eye? The void lady. She was pretty bad. Lots of enemies whatever figure it has it may be puzzles yeah i puzzles are my biggest enemy johan for sure yes the greatest enemy i'm personally living for these puzzles i've never been so excited i love that that was a great puzzle is there more puzzles i want more puzzles let's go see more puzzles wait we can't forget about cool uh i'm going over here can i check on um the wizard lady and check that she's

you know she's breathing okay and yeah she's unconscious yeah she's breathing okay yeah she's you know ayla just knocked her out it wasn't that she's done any kind of like harm or damage to her she's knocked her out um she's still unconscious has it doesn't seem to have moved yeah just making sure she's you know warm and covered and not warm probably not covered no uh if you've got like a blanket or a cloak you could put it over her but i probably i have a bedroll it's more like putting a it's like putting a mattress over a really you can try that

still warm sure sentry anything from sentry oh how are you doing for rest do we need to take do we need to take some time

I could probably do with a short rest I could do with a short rest. I could do with a short rest. I'm not great. I'm almost completely spent on magical ability. Okay, maybe we should have a rest before we go any further.

Right, good idea. I guess I'll set up a bedroll here. Yeah, you can rest here if you want you want I mean it's a short rest you don't even need a bedroll out like a short rest is only an hour so oh short it's the short like an eight four hour trance and well you could do that if you want Lucius I'll maybe take an hour and then explore a bit more of the temple time must be pressing uh i mean you can still hear the sounds of thunder outside it's almost kind of a background noise but it's still present um yeah about five minutes

Quill kind of comes not comes to but you kind of those words reach you and you kind of open your eyes a bit I think that's at the end of my thing where I say thank you Hesper and that comes out loud to everyone else

I think I think I've solved it. I think we have access to the rest of the temple now. I think we're good to go. I think we're ready. I think everyone wants to take a little rest just before we carry on,

if that's alright. You know, be up to full speed and all that. I was going to say I am totally spent on magical energy. Has anyone said that already? Lucius is already trancing, so... Sure. Might do a small smirk. So are you trying to take a long rest, Lucius?

Yeah. See if I can sneak one in, you know? Yeah, sneak in eight hours. Yeah, I mean, just remember that it's still eight hours because the trance is four hours, but to get spells back, you still need eight. So the golden platform on the floor and the one on the ceiling

hasn't changed What are we doing? Are we going to take the evening or are we just resting briefly? Quill, this is your trial well I am totally out of

yeah I would use the rest I'll be honest I think we all will after that fight as well okay now we're here I mean the trial awaits I think

although the platform hasn't changed I wonder if perhaps we should take small shifts at least to check that the and our gesture towards the sorcerer, the wizard just to check that she doesn't come to while we're

asleep and try to murder us all while we're snoozing. We can double check the other rooms we haven't been to yet as well, just to be sure. What do you guys like to do? I could watch on the temple door, make sure no one is approaching. I'll watch on the temple door, make sure no one is approaching. Okay, I'll watch this corridor. I'd like to check up on the storms out there anyway. Okay. So what's the plan?

So Lucius is resting in the middle. Johan's going to go stand watch by the temple entrance, did you say? Are you taking a long rest as well, Johan? Yeah, i'll just take the first watch outside i'd like to say like the front door and just like keep an eye on the storm see if anyone's approaching the temple things like that okay assuming i can get out the temple doors which yeah yeah you can you close okay in fact yeah um yeah yeah the temple doors open um you can hear the kind of distant rumbling of the thunder of the storms you can. You close them, in fact. Yeah, the temple doors open.

You can hear the kind of distant rumbling of the thunder of the storms. You can see the great grey fog kind of completely enshrouds the valley. Okay. I'll sit outside there for an hour or two by a fire or whatever and then come in and rest with the rest of them. Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to have a look at the rooms that we haven't looked in at all, just to see what's in there, just like a cursory glance. You can poke your head in if you want to.

Do you want to head down the corridor? I'm assuming you're going to go down this southern corridor that you're next to. Yeah, the little southwest room. Yeah, it heads to the west and then it turns south and eventually seems to lead into priest's quarters.

You would guess a small room. It doesn't look like it's meant for permanent living in. A few beds, some desks, a couple of old storage trunks. That's about it, really. More comfortable than sleeping on the stone floor, for sure.

Someone should go grab Lucius before he trances. We found... Oh. Yeah. I'm going to go... I mean, it doesn't interrupt. You can be like, come rest in this room instead. Lucius.

Lucius. Yes, I'm very aware of this. We found soft beds. Do you want a soft bed? Yes. Come on, Lucius, this way. I found soft beds. Oh. Do you want a soft bed? Yes. A soft bed. Where? I want Lucius this way.

Yeah, you can lead Lucius to these quarters. Follow the sound of my voice. The beds are old, but they seem to be in good state. Maybe you kind of need a quick sort of like dusting or like kind of shaking out just to kind of shake a few bits of stone and debris. But otherwise, they're not rotten or in any sort of bad condition. They're certainly better than the hard stone floor.

Are there any, like, Hesper symbols or trinkets or anything like that that I could use to... There's a couple of storage chests. You need to open them to see what's inside. Yeah, I'm having a rifle. Priests don't use traps. Sure, pop them open. Arcana priests. Oh, sure. Yeah, I'm having a rifle. Priests don't use traps. No. Sure, pop them open.

Arcana priests. Oh, sure. Yeah, I'll have a little look, just to see what I can see. They're not even locked. You open them up. The chest, each one contains a set of what appear to be like ceremonial robes of Hesper, emblazoned with symbols and things like that. Well-made, but simple, not ostentatious.

Kind of a white cream cloth with a little bit of decorative blue trim. And that's really it. And just, you know, clearly priestly robes. There's also some holy books of the teachings of Hesper, as well as two silver icons of Hesper worth 25 gold each. Two of them.

Perfect components for certain spells. Ooh. Very interesting. Let me write that one down. Maybe you should write it down because I'm not. I'm not. Can I take, I guess with Quill's blessing because Nova would probably be really nervous

and want to check that she's doing it alright and not desecrating things but with Quill's blessing could I take some of the robes and like use one to cover the wizard lady and maybe another one to just have a little pillow under her head I wouldn't

use Hesper's robes. She came here to desecrate this place. That's true. Leave the bedroll mattress on her. That'll be enough. Okay, I'll put my bedroll... I do have a set of traveller's clothes, so maybe I can just

throw some clothes on her. Dump your laundry on her. I'm just going to dump my really stinky laundry on her and I'm going to choke her with the smell. But yeah, so I just want to, yeah, just make sure she's not choking on her own tongue and all that. Yeah, and then I guess, yeah, let everyone know that there's beds in here

if people want to slip in a bed. Yeah, you can let... Century's the only other one, and Johan is by the door, but you can let Johan know. And then what? You guys want to take a long rest in here? Yeah. Sure.

Century, take a long rest. Yeah. Yeah, take a long rest. Aayla will come in and be like, Okay, and then go to sleep. We're bringing the girl in too, right a long rest. Ayla will come in and be like, okay, and then go to sleep. We're bringing the girl into you, right? The wizard. Yeah, just to keep an eye on her.

Okay. Wizard. So what, like, put her up against, like, the wall or something? Stuff her in her chest. Wait, what? It's more than nothing, eh? I'm just doing long rest for Ayla okay yay okay so we all get long rest all right um so any any specific things you want to mention to me about this long rest like

any plans you want to make or anything like that or just taking one and i've taken it okay i think uh there was some shift work going on as well just to make sure the wizard doesn't wake up and people checking like lucius is trancing now ayla i suppose would take first shift or whatever i mean yeah like again if you want to kind of have it's an eight hour rest but lucius and ayla can be conscious for four hours of it and just do light activity so they can just sort of like be sat there watching and things like that. So the two of them could just be awake.

Like, yeah, like Ayla can watch her the first half and then Lucius can watch the second half. If anybody else wants to do it, it's going to extend your long rest to at least however long you want to break for. So, because you'll need to have like the U-Quill. If you decide to do an hour of watching the girl, that's another hour on top of the eight hours of long rest because you'll need to get the full, for you, Quill, if you decide to do an hour of watching the girl, that's another hour on top of the eight hours of long rest,

because you'll need to get the full eight hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it makes sense for Aayla and Lucius. Okay, sure. Sentry can do four hours. Sentry can do four hours, too. A very brief look outside to see the condition of the storm and if there's any big spooky storm elements up here.

You do that while Nova and Quill are exploring the room and then Nova comes and says, oh, we found some beds if you want to come and rest in with us kind of thing. Sleep time. Century, do you want to go on watch with Lucius or with Aayla? Aayla's taking the first watch and Lucius is taking the second.

Or do you want to kind of overlap them at the midway point? Yeah, I can do an overlap. So like two hours in or whatever. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's see what she gets up to. Yeah, so it's round about

Century, you kind of come online, if shall we say about three hours in onto the long um to kind of take the mid mid point and then get some more rest afterwards uh ayla is still awake um and is just kind of bored like picking and i don't know doing whatever ayla does when she's got four hours of doing nothing to do um hitting stuff but yeah you make a perception check for me okie dokie i've already made one for ayla

12 12 okay um you don't you don't see anything but uh you can see the mattress is kind of laying over the girl's body or whatever um and you do kind of you think like maybe it shifts a little bit like they're kind of stirring in their sleep or something like that you can kind of like see the mattress turn a little bit um and that's about it ayla doesn't notice anything okay um i think sentry would like try and get like a little glance to make sure he's okay not not trying to get too close but just like with the bed roll over it's kind of hard to see her completely because the bedroll is obviously a lot bigger than her and she's kind of like underneath it but you can see the kind of like her little arms and legs still there, still bound.

Okay. I think you should just then go over to Ayla and just be like, Ayla, can you, is she okay? What? I don't care if she's okay. She looks alive and she's not run away. Go kick her if you want. No kick her, if you want. No, no, no, please. Don't.

I might just see if she maybe would like something to eat. See if she might be hungry. Sentry, she tried to hurt us. I know you care about her, but remember, she's not really a little girl. She's an adult, right? You know that, right? It's

hard for me to distinguish. I'll be honest. If you want to check on her, I see her. I see Solvin. She's not, though, Century. She works for Starbane. You know that.

You know, she works for Zarkira. They were the ones who destroyed Solvin, right? Yeah. I miss her. I miss her so much. Maybe we can... I don't know. Maybe Quill can help find out what happened to them again

or something like that. I don't know. I'm not the best person to ask about this stuff. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for putting all this on you. No, it's... You know, I just...

I guess for me, I see her as a threat. What if she tries to do something when we're asleep? Or when Quill's about to get the staff or whatever it is, and she tries to steal it, you know? That's all, that's just how it is. Well, it's your perception, I suppose, that's got us this far. You're very good at spotting when things are wrong,

and you're good at distingu for what's right and wrong are you talking to me? no I don't know about that but sure I'm good at whacking I give it a whacking but um now you're tough

you're strong and I think I need to I I need some of that. I need to get a bit tougher, I think. Okay. Well... I think you're pretty tough. When you look back, Century, as you've been kind of conversing with Ayla, the bedroll is at an awkward angle

um can i just say something doesn't the bedroll seems a bit odd i'm just gonna go have a look i'm just gonna peel it up just have a quick look. So when you peel it up, in your conversation with Ayla, in that momentary distraction, after about three hours, you can see that the rope that was bound around her hands and legs is now just loose on the ground, and she is not there. Everybody, wake up, she's gone! We need to go now. We need to go now.

Now! Now! Okay, okay, okay. Where'd she go? I mean, obviously through the corridor, but where after that? I don't know. How far can we move? You can just move like your normal movements,

like take your turn. I'm kind of doing the same for her at the moment. Let's cover all the exits from this room. I'll go up to this one and look down. I'll hold the door. I'll follow Sentry. I'll go with Johan.

Yeah, you guys move around so you don't see any sign of her. The door... Johan, would you have shut the door on your way out when you came back in? I would have caused it back for you. The door is still closed. There's no way a girl of that age and size could have

opened this on her own. Unless with magic. If she used powerful magic, maybe. But you don't think that she went out the main door. I don't think she could have come this way. This door's way too heavy for someone

their size. Should we search for the others or stay here just in case she comes this way? Perhaps we should wait here just in case she comes this way? Uh, perhaps we should wait here? Just in case. Uh, okay. Um, yeah, I think we'll wait by the main door. I could hold it if you'd like to, you know, join the others. It's fine by me.

Okay, I can always come back real quick if you need me. Just shout my name. No problem. And I'll just hunker down, keep my eyes peeled. I'm going to crack the door a little bit. Not enough for someone to sneak through, but so I can peek out. Peek out? Yeah, you peek out. It seems to be exactly as it was before.

Okay. Cool. I don't see anything down here, Nova. Yeah, if you guys look down the corridor leading towards the library, you don't see any sign of her. Just looking down the corridor. There is a door at the far end that doesn't appear to have been opened. We may as well investigate, right?

Yeah, might as well check everything. I'll kind of have a quick look into the library, just as Lucius goes to the westernmost door. You look into the library, no sign of any change. You don't see any... You know, it's hard to tell. Like, if you were looking

for somebody, you can make a perception. Like, I've got your passive perceptions. You don't see any you know it's hard to tell like if you were looking for somebody you can make a perception like i've got your passive perceptions you don't see anything because you're looking around um uh okay i'll come back to lucius okay and then you want to open the door into this other room yeah okay when you open the door to this room, it's a room you haven't gone in before. This is very clearly a shrine to Hesper. It has survived any damage that the rest of the temple has suffered, like the library. There is a quiet serenity here. The room is dimly lit by glowing spheres on either side of a large statue of Hesper. The base of the statue is polished to a mirror-like sheen,

and the figure himself appears to be half-kneeling, with one finger pointing towards anybody who would kneel in front of it and pray. The other hand is clasped over the heart, and Hesper's eyes appear closed. There is a small cushioned step set before the statue's base for somebody to kneel and look into the mirrored surface. There are also four columns with caged compartments that contain rich incense and candles. The whole room gives you a deep sense of calm when you enter it. You are actually immune to being frightened whilst you are in this chamber. Nice.

I don't feel frightened anymore. Nothing is disturbed here, at least. It all seems in order. Yeah, and there's no other exits from the room as well. It's just a chamber on its own. Let's meet the others, right? We can always come back to this. Cool.

Okay, Sentry, you go that way. She was interested in this one. I'm going to check upstairs, just in case you did go up the staircase. Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Messenger, ring me if you're in trouble. You got it. All right, Quill, the staircase heads up like a good 100 feet,

so it takes you a bit of time to kind of make your way up. But the stairway just leads to the very top of the chamber where the chains are attached, and you can see that the stone pipes seem to just go up into the walls. The staircase seems to lead up, not quite for no reason. It seems to just be for maintaining the chains themselves. The stairway kind of gives access to where the chains are connected and the large tubes of the statues. and the large tubes of the statues.

As you reach the top, there is just kind of a flat platform where somebody could stand and maintain the chains or make sure they're attached correctly and stuff like that. Okay, so kind of like just a mechanical engineering room. Yeah, almost like the mechanism of the wind pipes and the statues below. This is how you would kind of access it all and make sure it was all functioning correctly i guess i can't hear any like spells being cast or that's true you could have flown up here as well i forgot that yeah i mean i do i did yeah there you go yeah i mean do you want to cast detect magic to see if there's any spells or anything like that

uh i mean i'll just, I'll just do perception. I don't want to really burn too many spells before I get into this trial. Yeah, no, with your passive, you don't have to roll. Your passive doesn't notice anything. The whole time you came up here, you didn't notice any kind of signs

of anything being disturbed or any leftover components or anything like that. Okay, yeah, I'll say that through the messenger ring. I don't think she's up this way, I think. Maybe where you guys are, or Sentry. Sentry, as you make your way down, you appear to enter into a

simple kitchen or dining area. The only thing which is strange, I should really draw it on the map, is the far end of the room appears to be... A girl. It's kind of odd. It's like a curved

surface, like a stone, like a grey stone surface covers the section, the far section of the room. Clever. Okay. I'm going to messenger ring. There's something

weird in here. We might need to check this out. It's like a stone column? I don't know. It's weird. Define here! I'm in the room below the painting room. Ayla's like like that little shit yeah is that like an arcana check or anything i could do um you can make an arcana check sure yeah you can make an arcana check

oh head round that's all that is an eight um it's it looks to you like it doesn't quite match the rest of the stone of this room you don't think it's you think it is magic but you don't know what kind of spell could have created something like this um uh quill nova lucius this could be something you guys might know i'm not sure a voice echoes from the middle of the dining room from where you guys are. An illusory voice. I just want to leave. That is all.

I am just reclaiming what is mine and leaving. I don't care. I don't want to fight you. You are clearly more powerful. I just want to leave. And what is yours? what are you trying to reclaim? my research my spellbook

I've poured countless years into its accruement, I was not willing to leave it behind I could have run for the door but I want my spellbook and i wish to leave here that is all you are welcome to whatever whatever death awaits you in this place how did you manage to lose your spellbook well as you may have guessed the and it's like when she speaks it stops for a moment and then almost like somebody is like using some sort of minor illusion to create a voice on the outside of the dome.

Right. She just, it takes another moment and then you just hear another kind of voice kind of emanate. Like when the Sphinx caused my current situation, I have no way of carrying it. I stored it in this room. This dome, you will not be able to pass through it however you could just sit outside and wait for me I can conjure another one I also have spells at my disposal

to cause great harm I am proposing a truce do I know this spell and how long it lasts yeah you can make a I'm not going to make you make an arcana check you are a cleric of the god of magic proposing a truce. Do I know this spell and how long it lasts? I'm not going to make you make an arcana check. You are a cleric of the god of magic. That's fine. This is Leomund's Tiny Hut.

It lasts eight hours. It lasts eight hours. It's not concentration. It basically gives you a safe place to rest. You can't see through it, but she can see you. It's actually translucent from through it, but she can see you. It's actually translucent from her end. So she can see everything you're doing. Creatures can't pass through it.

Spells and other magical effects. Okay, so they can't extend through the drone or be cast through it. She's maybe casting it on the inside of the dome and you're hearing it from the other side or something like that. Otherwise, there's no way to communicate. But yeah, it's like a way of... You did not finish. This was

exactly three hours in, because I rolled to see how long she was unconscious for. Ah, okay. I've got my spells back. Yes. Yeah, you get the... Well, yeah. It's the effects of a short rest, but you don't get spells back if you don't get them back.

I guess she can dispel this spell on her end whenever she wants right yes she can unless she's just trapped in this thing for eight hours are we going to attempt to sleep after this or we just think we had a short rest uh you had a short rest so well yeah if you want to continue it i'll just continue it onwards as if you know you will continue i'll just continue it onwards as if you know, you will I'll just get my short rest at the way. Sure Sure, folks want to do that So do we find what do we what do we do with her? Finding her spell book letting her go. It would be one less problem to deal with

Is the logical solution? Mess can I oh, yeah, that's better. She doesn't reply problem to deal with. That is the logical solution. Can I message her a ring? If Quill says that out loud, she replies. But then Johan can't hear you. I guess I'll just messenger ring everyone and be like,

I kind of feel at the moment that we should just let her go. We can't explore this temple thinking that she's going to be lurking around, although I guess she could just lurk around anyway. I don't know. This is out of my sphere of knowing what to do.

Tactics is my worst thing. She's difficult to restrain. She's very powerful. I think regardless she's going to be a nuisance if she remains here. I think we've beaten her going to be a nuisance if she remains here. I think we've beaten her enough. If you wish to...

Sorry, is this on messenger ring or is this out loud? This is all messenger ring. Without Johan, sorry. What? Johan, they just all go quiet. Yeah, I'm just staring at this thing like, what the hell? I say we ensure that they leave uh we we escort them out and then

we close the doors and we hope for the best okay yeah she doesn't seem able to we throw it into the wind as soon as she's out before then she doesn't have it only until she's outside then she doesn't have it. Only until she's outside. How about that? Doesn't she have it now, isn't it, in that thing? I can't hear them.

Obviously. This is all telepathic. What I'm going to see is I'll know that Kems just said it. It's going to sound like I'm nagging here, but I'm going to see, do you have your spellbook now?

There is no reply god damn it okay I'll just wait patiently what would Hesper do Quill someone came into this place in an attempt someone came into this place in an attempt to take knowledge away from it would Hesper look kindly on someone like that?

possibly but it's a question of what would she do with the spellbook after she leaves with the powers that she has? Would she go back to Zarkira, tell everyone that we were there? Use it to attack the temple again, but with more forces next time? Take away the knowledge from everyone else.

I don't know. Would Hesper agree that knowledge should be restricted to certain people? Do we have that right? Hesper would agree that knowledge should never be destroyed or used for the wrong reasons. If it's available to everyone... This is all still messengering, yes? Yeah.

Well, if Lucius's isn't, mine isn't. Okay. That's on Lucius then.'t, mine isn't. Okay. That's on Lucius then. All right, yeah, I'm saying it out loud from here on. Yeah. Okay. With the talk of knowledge,

that means something to this character. Destroy knowledge? I do not know what you have been discussing. I have no intention of destroying knowledge. I came here as a researcher to understand the project that Zarkira created initially. That is all. This spellbook is my research. It is not from this temple. It was my work

that I have cultivated over years. I was not prepared to abandon it. I have taken nothing from this temple. This spellbook, so she does have it. Okay. Astute, Arakokra. What would you do when you return to Zarkira?

Are you planning on coming back? I'm honestly not sure if I can return to Zarkira. I have failed. She will not look kindly on this. I am hoping I may be able to find someone to reverse this age curse. Perhaps I may even be able to find someone who can remove the gas that Zakir has placed on me. That is my best chance of survival. But I do not suspect that I will survive.

I will either not survive around you. You will either kill me or you will abandon me here, which is as good as killing me. Or you will turn me over to your authorities, who will likely extract information from me or kill me as well. Who killed the Sphinx? I'd much rather be on my own. My men and the constructs killed the Sphinx. I ordered them to stop because

I wanted it to reverse what it has done to me. But it was too late. She had already died from her wounds. It's unacceptable. Do you honestly think I would kill it knowing that it has it could have reversed this this childish form that I've been restricted to?

I do not care for your business, but you are a threat I wish to survive, that is all. We can play this stalemate. I still have plenty of powerful spells to cause you harm if need be. I reserve my most powerful. She's got a big

fireball. You do not seem to be killers, but I cannot take risks. What was that? Sorry, Tom? She is useless to Zarkira now. She failed her task. Zarkira isn't the kind to forgive. She is not.

If you have your spellbook, we may as well just let you go. You're not a threat for now, and by the time you are, we'll be long gone. Besides... Zarkiro is already aware that you were coming to this temple. As I mentioned, we were initially supposed to be an ambush for you, but I wanted to investigate the temple. I suggest whatever business you have here, you conclude as quickly as possible.

I will tell you this, perhaps as a way of you understanding that I am being genuine in my wish to merely escape, that I am not trying to deceive you. I cannot tell you the purpose of my mission, but Zarkira did something to the Tempest Dragon here. Long ago, during the battle, the original invasion of Erebus,

she did something. Whatever it was has caused these storms. If you can undo that, you will be robbing Zarkira and Kallus of a very powerful weapon. And how does this benefit you, telling us this? I am hoping that it will encourage you to believe me.

An exchange of information, given freely, but to show that all I care about now is my own survival. What do you think, Century? It's... it's difficult, but, but the more I see of her, the more I see Starbane, the more I see an enemy of Erois. She desecrated this place. She killed the Sphinx, her and her men. I did no such thing.

I did not kill the Sphinx, nor have I wished to desecrate it. Well, you came here. They are zealots of Kallus and Zarkira. I ordered them to stop. They did not listen. And I have suffered the consequences of it. Did you order them to attack? We were being attacked by the creature itself.

They defended themselves. I defended myself. Saurus is a threat. Understandably, we do. We are part of the force that once invaded this world. I'm a researcher, not a warrior, not a general, not a commander. I was sent here to study what has occurred. To report back, to ambush you, if you appeared. That is all. I offer you this peace,

this... a moment for you to go about your business and for me to go about mine. For us to forget this incident. This ambush plan. Capture or kill. It came from Zarkira. I will let you make your own conclusions to that matter. But how is this any different? If you had found Valkyrian forces, if your forces, your armies, your dragonborn, if they encountered me and mine, if they ambushed me, would they

have spared me? We left you alive for now thanks to your protective guardian and perhaps some better sensibilities I say we throw her out and be done with it you do not need to throw me out leave this room and I will make my own way I say we throw her out and be done with it. You do not need to throw me out.

Leave this room and I will make my own way. We want to make sure that you're not here. No offense. We know what power you have. If you give me eight hours of rest and time to prepare a new spell, you will watch me disappear. I do not fancy my chances out in the valley as a child, in this body.

My intent was to rest in this dome, in this spell, memorize a spell that will allow me to escape, and then leave. This is a toughie, this one. I suspect that all of you are requiring of rest after our engagement. It is mutually

beneficial. I'm fine. Shall we wait here for eight hours then and ensure she leaves? What spell is it you want to cast? I will intend to teleport. To where? I cannot disclose that location.

Chaos? Safety. Worth a try? Away from here. Let me put it that way. Nowhere that will cause any harm or deliberation to any of you. And you're not going to go back to Sarkira and tell us that we're here?

Even if I did, what would it matter? What would it change? She knows you're here already. Yes, they already know. Fine, I suggest we rest here and ensure that they disappear when they mean to. That way we benefit from the rest as well and we can rotate watches. Good idea.

Is that fair? I concur. I will refresh the duration on this spell to protect myself. And then we will rest. Agreed? Agreed? Agreed. You watch as the dome briefly flickers.

It turns off for a fraction of a second and then reforms as she casts the spell again. It will take a minute, but you can't see her doing it, so she's been holding on to it. And the dome reforms in the same place there, eight hours

and then I will be gone I'll begin my trance once again are you going to stay in this room? yeah, so you'll rest in this room? yeah, and you guys can watch this time go on, Nova I'm just going to move. I'm going to be more

on the out... Okay, you're trying to... Yeah. Ayla sits on a table with a hammer and is just looking at the dome. It's just like... Just give me a reason. Just give me a reason, kid. One excuse. Yeah.

Yeah. Alright. We'll continue the long rest See how long we get this time So this time I will be long resting Because I want to get my arcane gate back So I'll be long resting

This time you get the 8 hours Uninterrupted Watching the dome, nothing changes The dome is this impenetrable Grey half sphere for the whole duration um i think it evaporates as everybody finishes their long rest now this is gonna come down to you guys but there is a stalemate where as the dome drops you see the girl holding like clutching a book with a second wand she has like a very loose like a big adult satchel around her

um she's clutching the book and has the wand pointed in your direction but doesn't do anything she's she's almost expecting you guys to try something um and there is this kind of awkward standoff as the eight hours finishes you guys get your long rest to take your long rest mark um yeah just as a question like out of character so nova knows dispel magic which she can cast at fifth level given that nova is a caster would she know that that is strong enough to dispel gas gas gas how do you say gas uh it depends on if it is it depends on if it is a guess i don't believe gas can dispel um Dispel Magic can get rid of Geass. I think it has to be Remove Curse or Greater Restoration or Wish.

Yeah, Remove Curse, Greater Restoration or Wish is the only stuff that removes a Geass. And that's if it's a normal Geass. Yeah, Nova would know the more spiritual side of things, I think. Quill might, if you asked Quill and said like, hey, do you know how to get rid of this thing? So. I think quill might if you ask quill and said like hey, do you know how to get rid of this thing? so But yeah, so you guys finish your long rest

You do have to restart the long rest basically because there's been activity since then But yeah, it's if you end up after eight hours Like do you guys do anything like are you gonna try and like if get anything stone her or or if anything worse happens like i see a spell being cast i'm gonna try and counter spell it at level six okay all right well she doesn't do anything immediately she looks like she's holding if it looks offensive i'm not gonna just counter spell a teleport. Okay. You're stuck here now, kid. Nope. I think Century would just say to her,

please leave before I make a very difficult decision. Please go. If you do not intend to dispel it, and then she will raise the wand up, and she will cast teleport. How long does that take? Teleport's an action.

Oh. When does she get her wand? We have to get our wand back. We have the second one in the bag. She has the second one. Oh, you tricksy little minx. What, you think a wizard's not going to bring a second arcane focus with them? Like, oh, I've only got the one.

Broken, lost it. I don't know. Yeah, who would do that? Yeah, who would do that? Yeah, who would do that? Same way that when she casts Force Cage, Force Cage has a spell component cost, but she had one in prepped. But yeah,

if you guys aren't doing anything, she teleports away. Well, seems like your answer is on. Could I? Oh no. Subtle spell, so she doesn't notice me casting it to code spell it. Cast banishment

to send her back to Starbane. I mean, yeah, you can do that. I'm just trying to think of the effects of it. The problem is banishment's not a reaction. What? No. So basically it's

let's roll initiative. I'm going to use a sorcery point to subtle spell it so she doesn't notice it. Well that's fine but she's casting teleport as you go to cast banishment so we'll see whose spell goes off first. She doesn't know that you're doing it. When are you doing this? Are you doing this

like just after Sentry says her thing? Because I feel like there was a timeline of things that happened. As she lifts the wand to say, well, if you guys aren't going to dispel it, she lifts the wand to cast. Okay. Well, that's when she goes to cast it. I think it's still more fun to roll the initiative

and see which card goes on. Yeah. Okay. Give me an initiative roll, Ravs. 20. Oh, God. Okay. And banishment is a what kind of spell?

It is a spell. Let me tell you, my friend. It is a spells uh let me tell you my friend it is a charisma save of the abjuration category okay it's just it's a charisma save yeah yes 17 17 and if she's not from this ah Ah, fuck! So you subtly... This magic effect kind of, like, wipes out as she's beginning to cast the spell. She kind of feels it, but looks around,

like, can't tell who's cast it. And you just see this kind of flicker of hate as she then finishes casting her own teleport as the banishment erupts. Shit. I'm going to check as well. If he settles it, does that

nobody would know. It doesn't affect the saving throw because the spell she can't tell who's done it or when. It's just like they still get a chance to resist it. There's no disadvantage on the saving throw or anything like that. That would be quite powerful for a single sorcery point.

That would be crazy for a single sorcery point. But she just doesn't know who did it. So there is this kind of look, and she knows that only a few of you can cast spells. So there is like, the look of hate is split between Quill, Johan, and Nova and Lucius. But the teleport

finishes. The party then, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And you just watch. It was a 15 plus 3, by the way, on the saving throw. So it was just half it. Very close. But yeah, she just sticks to her word and teleports away. She looked rather nervous at the end there.

You little cheeky sod. But at least that's one less problem, hopefully. Yes, yes. Yeah, one less thing to worry about. Okay. Now. Had we solved this little problem...

That was tense. Oh, man. Can we... I'm not happy that the little shit got away, but yeah, let's... What are we doing now? Well, the little shit still needs to remove her curse, which I could have done for her, but...

And they were probably right about us not sticking around. So we should probably be as fast as we can. Yes. Okay. Lucius and I found a little chapel room in the western wing. Very pretty. Yeah.

I don't know if you want to check it out, Quill. It looked like there was a place to pray to Hesper. I felt a bit uncomfortable investigating, but you might want if you want to check it out quill it looked like there was a place to pray to hespa Um, I did I felt a bit uncomfortable Investigating but you might want to take a look at it It makes you feel so nice in there Sure okay, yeah, if you want to just lead them over and over you can just lead quill to the to the shrine Yeah, yeah everybody who enters this room uh it's the same effect when you enter you feel very calm you feel like all your fears kind of melt away um and you see the same thing before you

the statue with the polished base like a mirror um the small little step for kneeling on um and then the four caged kind of pillars with incense inside um uh mean, the platforms in the first room haven't changed since I blessed myself with the winds of knowledge, so maybe this is the place to face the greatest enemy? Do you want a moment? Should we leave you? I don't really know how... I've got spells, Quill.

I'm ready to fight this enemy. No, trust me, you don't want to fight the enemy. You really don't. Century, you're ready, aren't you? I'm always ready. Yes. What enemy are we fighting? I'm ready for whacking.

No enemy. Yes, I'm ready too. Okay. Who are we fighting? I'm feeling for whacking. Yes, I'm ready too. Okay. Who are we fighting? I have all of my spell slots left. Every single one of them. It's doubt. I've never heard anyone refer to magical energy as spell slots.

It's definitely concerning, but... Look. The enemy is... Well, my fear, my self-doubt. Who I used to be before I found all of you guys. It's easy, really. Classic. I used to be terrified of lightning. Don't you remember?

Century, century, century, century, century on the airship? The one that crashed? That's who I used to be. Scared of everything. Scared of death. Scared of what could happen to me. What could happen to all of us. It's obvious. Now, though, we've banded together.

Found a team that are able to do great things incredible things i should kneel first before i say all these things well not just that but um quill as you as you kneel the mirrored surface you do see um yourself you don't anybody else in the room doesn't seem to appear in the mirror and the version that you look at isn't the same version you are now. When you kneel down,

the quill you see doesn't have a prosthetic wing. They don't have the stormy eye. They look scared. They look nervous. They look unsure. Somebody who is still confused about everything you are terrified because you feel so alone you you think that you have to face everything on your own you don't you really don't if you if you attempt whatever task that faces you you'll feel like

you'll fail but you need to know that you have the strength to to carry on to persevere to to complete whatever you need to if you just focus on it and trust in your friends and allies you'll find people that want to hurt you and you'll find ones that love you. Trust in the ones that love you. Hold on to them. They'll help you through no matter what and they'll trust in you and you will give them guidance. As you finish speaking, when you look up you see the statue of Hesper whose eyes were previously closed and the hand clasped over the heart. The eyes are now open, smiling on the statue.

And you feel a kind of soft glow kind of fall around you. I mean, anybody who looks at Quill, Quill doesn't see this himself in the reflection, but Quill has, where his own two wings are, there are now two more sets so six wings in total but four of them are kind of semi-spectral they kind of hover over his shoulders and then down below they're they're small they're not full wings but they're and they're semi-translucent um but they seem to just hover in place and there is a soft white glow that kind of just surrounds Quill entirely now.

And you can't... There is a similarity looking at the statue of this kind of six-winged humanoid in the robes. The same kind of wing pattern that Quill now has. Yeah. There's a similarity that's just

noticeable now and you hear the sound of metal and wind coming from behind you in the main temple I guess I also said this out loud as well for everyone to hear yeah Johan's just like

putting his sleeve up his eyes like is it raining in here or is it just me? So that's what I have to say. Greatest enemy. Hopefully I've told it what it needs to hear. Maybe. Maybe it will help.

Maybe it won't. That's for him to find out, I suppose. I'm just going to go over and give him the biggest hug. Like, just no words, just like a huge hug, and just say, I'm so proud of you. Oh, well, I mean, it's not me to be proud of. It was all of you that helped me you're on you too

thank you I uh know there was something to you in that vision when I saw you soaring through the sky something about you yeah I was tempted to ask Hesper

why me all this time but I think I'm learning why why not you will Quill from the moment I woke and saw you the first time I knew to trust you and to follow you and I've never been wrong

I don't think you've been you've been... You've been such a wonderful friend, and you've been such a beacon of hope for me, and I think for everybody. I think Hesper knows that, because we know that.

Ayla sort of just lightly punches your good arm. You're pretty good, Birdman. Yeah, thanks. Glad we met. Sort of big sort of arm hug around your shoulder. It's the nicest thing you've said to me, but the punch wasn't really necessary. It was. It was 100% necessary.

It's too emotional. Need to bring it down a level in here yeah thank you always trusting you we're all very proud of you quill without you we wouldn't be where we are today what you've given to all of us it's important you reflecting on yourself, without that, I couldn't look at myself and what needs to grow and change and adapt and be defeated and improved upon. Thank you for that.

We've all grown since we, you know, smashed into the ground in an airship. We're much, much better people. And birds. Let's get your spear. Yeah. So when you guys make your way back into the main temple, you can see that the golden disc

has either retracted or vanished, you don't know what, but in the middle of the chamber, rising up from the ground and leading up into the ceiling where a similar gold disc was placed, there is now just a giant current of air that leads up. And you can see that it's up. There is a platform above, and then it appears that there might be another platform

even higher up, but the wind current doesn't go up that high. But before we explore that that we're going to take our break we're going to take a five minute break oh yeah i forgot that's a thing that we do sometimes i don't want to take a break i actually just want to keep playing but i know so my bladder would like to take a break a break and it has been reminding me hour bladder would like to take a break and it has been reminding me for the last hour.