Aerois - Chapter Fifteen: Plots and Schemes

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

 Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Plots and Schemes** is the fifteenth chapter of the Aerois campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel between 3rd January and 7th March 2021, and consists of eight episodes.

*In Chapter Fifteen, the party return to Gusthaven. At Sky Prince Aridan's request, they set out to investigate the mysterious links between the murder of the Elenastos, the piratical Cloud Barons, and the Valkyrian Empire!*

## Summary

As the party prepares to set sail in the Stormchaser and leave The Valley of Storms, Xarkira teleports in and attacks them with a Meteor Swarm. A desperate party manages to save the crew, but the ship is almost destroyed – it limps its way back to Gusthaven where they dock for repairs. The party sells a number of treasures and magitek weapons to Azaria Perel, a powerful mage in her own right, who runs the shop, The Aethegora. Meeting with various allies, Lucius’ sister Edea, and Belanor Magrona, amember of a noble family of Gusthaven, they discover that the Wind Barons, a network of nationalists and criminals, may be working with the Valkyrian Empire and helping them to develop new aetherium-powered weapons. It is possible that this is why the Elenasto family was killed by the same group.

After planning their next move with Sky Prince Aridan and Edea, Quill uses the Eye of the Storm to learn the teleportation runes needed to access a hidden weapons factory in a freezing area to the north, Shadowsong Pinnacle. Sentry meets with a few Guardians and has a chance to save two ageing Guardian souls – one she sends back out into the same body, and another she takes into the Prime Matrix for a well-earned rest before filling the old Guardian body with a new Guardian soul from within her Matrix. Soon after, they watch as the Twinstar Longbow flies overhead pursued by Wind Baron ships. Coming to her aid, and finding Thalia wounded at the helm, the party recovers the situation and makes plans to hide the Twinstar in Gusthaven.

They use the teleportation circle that Quill had seen in his vision to travel to Shadowsong Pinnacle in pursuit of a Wind Baron agent, Democles Magrona and make their way into the facility that is in a mysterious floating castle somewhere in the northern mountains. Inside, they discover a priest and gunsmith, Reverend Ocelon, in his forge and they defeat him. Investigating some of the other areas of the complex, Edea scouts ahead but does not return, and the rest go after her, realising that something is trying to dominate their minds. Nova succumbs, , and when Sentry and Quill try to stop her, they alert strange, mechanised Deurgar that attack them. Nova, free of the charm, still wants to investigate, and is pulled into the room, when Moonstar (Edea) appears and begins to fight against the party. Attempting to save his sister, Lucius casts a spell that reveals two invisible figures that have been in hiding – they are mindflayers. All foes are defeated and they move further in.

The Champions encounter a magitek-enhanced Githyanki warrior who has slaughtered all of the engineers and scholars working on the main project, called Project Vanguard. After defeating this warrior, the party discovers one scholar who had hidden themselves nearby, Malatir Emrys. Fearing for his life and begging for safety, Malatir promises to reveal all about the projects and takes the party to the lower levels of the tower to recover their schematics and learn more about Starbane’s plans.

Theyrecover schematics of Project Vanguard – an enormous titan-killer construct and are surprised by a programmed illusion of Democles Magrona who informs them that the facility has been sabotaged and will soon be destroyed. Racing back up to the surface, locating the aetherium refinery, the party attempts to fix the damage, and to save the base as well as themselves. In a desperate battle at the very limits of their energy and spells, the party fends off weird, bizarre magical creations whilst Nova and Edea repair the machines, saving them all from destruction.

The triumphant Champions save some airship crewmen who have been held captive at the facility, including Augrin Dallas, a Dwarven airship captain who works for their friend, Arval Dagos. They return to Gusthaven to brief the Sky Prince on their success and discoveries. Malatir is taken into protective custody, the schematics for Project Vanguard are presented to the Sky Prince, and statements are taken. With only a day before the leaders’ meeting in Horizon, the party spends time with their crew, friends, and family. Nova and Thalia speak honestly to each other about their feelings, and Edea upgrades Lucius’ gauntlet to help him protect himself since he is the only family that remains to her.

## Major NPCs

List of major NPCs encountered in this chapter.