Aerois - Episode 160: Howard

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Howard** is the 160th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was pre-recorded and broadcast on the highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 11th September 2022 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The team take some much needed rest and recuperation, as they tie up loose ends around Nightbloom Hold.*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* This episode has been pre-recorded.
* Merch: the High Rollers Club shirt is still available through the Fresh Merch store.
* The players levelled up after last episode.
* Tom ate mayonnaise (a lot of it) – see the High Rollers Tik Tok account for something that almost made Katie throw up.
* There will be no Aerois episode next week.

### **Recap**

*"After an arduous journey, the Champions of Aerois have defeated Kellara. Titan of Aerois, bestowed with divine power over the dead, she was driven to desperate and selfish acts because of the burden of her role and the despair of the incoming threat of Hadar. But defeated, her essence has re-joined with Siaska, and the Champions finally get a moment for a well-earned rest."*
### **Part 1**

*The team returns, tired and beaten, to a welcoming Stormchaser where they catch up with crewmates and more!*

The party is in the Temple of Kellara with Nova just having lit a fresh candle and placed it inside the lantern on Kellara’s altar. The Stormchaser is currently looking for the Guardians that had left them in the jungles of Jakkesh, seeking to find a way to safety. They use the Wayfinders Guide to head to the mirrored and seemingly endless Halls of Infinite Resplendence. As before, they are met with the sight of a beautiful crystal sarcophagus on a raised plinth, but this time there is no sign of Sayanna.

Quill notices that the sarcophagus has all the familiar sounds as before: the cry of seagulls, the sounds of the ocean, the sound of a hammer on an anvil… only now these noises are joined by the sounds of bells and presence of flowers (mainly black roses), grass and moss growing around the base of the plinth like a miniature garden. Quill also notices that along with the smell of the sea, there is now also the smell of freshly overturned soil. Quill offers Valla the opportunity to go forward to see her mother first, but she suggests that as her Champions, they should feel free to see and speak to her.

Sentry leads them all forward and there is a soft pulse of radiance from within the sarcophagus like a heartbeat. Sentry realises as she gets closer that the light is not from one single source but from thousands of tiny star-like pulsars all pulsing at the same time – looking into the sarcophagus is like looking into astral space. Quill stands solemnly and thanks Siaska for her assistance during the battle, and while he does not hear anything, he feels the presence of the sea breeze pushing on his back, almost as if pushing him forwards up to the edge of the sarcophagus. He leans in and sees the outline of a feminine form in flowing robes – her hair is flat and lifeless, but it is the source of the pulsing light. Her form is hazy, like a spectre, but she appears to be sleeping.

Quill considers the three remaining titans: Sayanna, Atelicus and Palador. Aila puts her hand on the sarcophagus and hears a familiar, soft motherly voice that greets her by name and asks her to tell the others that she can only speak to them if they place a hand on the sarcophagus. The Champions all place their hands upon the sarcophagus and Siaska speaks to them, responding with a laugh to Lucius’ usual question of what her favourite colour is: the stars do not have one colour, but many. She tells them that Sayanna is still in Aerois but making a final journey before the end, that there were many songs that she wished to hear. Siaska tells Quill that Palador is no longer connected to her in the same way, that he is connected to the Sun Ship – a powerful Genesis Relic – and this connection has changed him and severed that connection that he once had with Siaska. She says that she will be weaker for not having him re-join her, but that his energy has reached her in a form, however.

Siaska tells the party that she had not realised how far Kellara had fallen, but that Atelicus is the titan that she worries the most about. She worries that those emotions that he embodies – her rage, her desperate need to protect and to survive – will make him difficult to defeat. She tells them that Atelicus is not a mindless beast – he is no fool, is cunning, and there is a reason that he has not yet revealed himself and been so successful at hiding from Valla. Siaska’s sight and understanding is still limited, and she does not know how long they have to defeat him.

Lucius asks her what Siaska expects from them after they finish returning the titans to her. She tells them that she wants them to defeat a creature that has not been defeated, that they will help her to protect everything from the end. Siaska says that it is merely a hope and that she knows that while it would be a great burden upon them, she will only ask it of them, not require it of them, as the universe’s best hope. Lucius asks why it had to be them, but Siaska replies that she did not know it *would* be them and that it could have been anyone: it is them, though, through fate or the will of the universe, and now it is only they that have the strength, heart, mind, and will to do what must be done to defeat the evil that awaits them. She hints at others who have asked for her help to defeat Hadar before, but she says that they were not ready and would not have succeeded, so she refused them her help and at great cost to herself and to many she held dear. The Stormchasers, she says, represent her last chance and last hope.

She impresses upon them that whether or not to fight is their choice, that there may be others who would fight, but that she will not force them into a fight with Hadar: the Champions agree that not fighting is not an option for them. Siaska warns them that Hadar is an ancient and powerful evil but that like all great evils, Hadar underestimates those that it sees as beneath them – it is cautious around Kalus and Siaska but knows that it can defeat them. Hadar thinks that it could easily destroy the Champions, but it does not know or understand them or their capacities and this is where its weakness lies. It was always capricious and arrogant before its corruption and believes that mortals are inferior to immortals, but it does not allow for the idea that mortals may achieve what Divines may not, and it is in that that Siaska believes Hadar’s defeat is possible.

Aila asks how they can make Kalus see what they see: Siaska says that Aila has already done much to make this happen and that Kalus may yet surprise them before the end. He is frustratingly stubborn, driven, and cynical, but in his heart, he cares for every world and the universe beyond; if he sees that they can offer something that he cannot, he may come around.

Siaska grows weary and Aila quickly asks if she wishes to speak to Valla, but Siaska says that they are closer than they know and that she does not need to speak to Valla – she awaits the day that she can see her and hold her with her own form. Siaska wishes them luck and then goes silent once more.

Nova has been thinking all the while and suddenly decides that the answer is boredom: what Divines cannot do is be bored. The other Champions are not so sure, however. They discuss what may happen in best- and worst-case scenarios, considering the Starseed and how much hope Siaska has in them. Sentry asks what they will do if they manage to defeat Hadar – Quill tells them again about his vision of a future Aerois, saying that it looked peaceful and wonderful.

Lucius says that he would open a bespoke tailoring shop and Nova insists that he hire someone to run the business, maybe Arval. Max asks Sentry what she would do, she considers the question before deciding that she might travel the universe, helping lost children, lost Guardians, or lost souls, being a protector for everyone. Sentry asks Max if he would return to the Emperor but he does not know if he would even be welcome to go back: being a soldier in the war against the Great All-Devouring Evil, he always expected to die and has not really considered what would happen if they were to defeat Hadar. He knows that the Emperor wishes to have a peaceful, united universe and had some vague thought that if he somehow managed to outlive the battles and grew too old to fight, that he would mentor, teach and train troops but if there were no need for troops, he does not know what he would do because he has only ever known battle. Blacksmithing, he tells Sentry, is something useful that his father taught him, but is not a passion of his. Fighting Hadar has gone on for so long that they do not discuss its eventual defeat in the Empire.

Aila decides that she probably should not go into training after her last attempt to train the Wolf Pack and they failed to dodge her rock throwing – she wants to find others with her powers and to try to understand them, she also wants to try to understand her origins and to keep the powers alive. She thinks that after a while, though, she might get bored, so may look for small fights in which she can partake or could go with Sentry to help with the Guardians. Quill also thinks that teaching may not be his thing given how unsuccessful his lecture series was and suggests that he may return to the Valley of Storms to restore Johandrius, try to build the world that Siaska showed him, train with the Messenger Guild again, and work with librarians and researchers, becoming the Seer of Aerois. Quill is worried about losing touch with them all and wants to help them with their endeavours, suggesting that they could restore the City of Glass and make it a new Guardian stronghold.

Nova may fly around in space with Thalia, but she still feels responsible for Tiangong and feels the need to return them to the Triumvirate or to help them unite the Eterna, whatever they want to do. Once that business is concluded, however, Nova says that she would need Quill’s help, she wants to establish an astral library – a central resource with knowledge from the entire universe.

The Champions ask Max if he would consider commanding The Astoria but while he has had some naval training, he is still concerned about his situation: while he considers the party *friends*, he is still in his heart, a Knight of Gideon, and a Knight of the Empire – he could not command Aerosian troops while Aerois and the Empire are still at war. He considers that if they manage to defeat Hadar, that the Fiends will be unlikely to stay in line, however, and considers that he may have a role to play in policing them. The party considers a united universe – a federation of planets – which Max thinks sounds like the Empire (although the party would planets to be able to join voluntarily rather than be conquered). Max says that Aerois is an exception, and even the Elves left Alfheim voluntarily according to the history that he has been taught.

They ask Max to consider the High Elves of Jassavir and how they were treated when they accidentally teleported their city into the Empire – no one knows where they are now but Max asks them to consider what would happen if the situation was reversed and an alien culture teleported itself to Aerois. Nova responds that she doesn’t have to imagine it: her ancestors did just that, and after some initial conflict, they made peace with the rest of Aerois and were able to work together with its people. Max acknowledges that he is learning that there are elements of Empire that do not live up to the same ideals that he does but says that the Empire and Emperor Valkyrian do stand for good things. He wonders if the High Elves were taken somewhere for their own safety or they are being kept somewhere to protect the rest of the Empire’s subjects – he does acknowledge, however, that maybe something nefarious has happened to them. He knows that the Empire is not perfect but also says that its intent is to unify, not to conquer. He points to the Feywild as an example of this.

Nova points out that there is conflict on Aerois, and Max agrees that the history he was taught about conflict on Aerois was not accurate (but also points out that what *they* were taught was not accurate either). Max states that both Siaska and Kalus made decisions for other people, and it appears that they both have much to answer for. Max has observed the people of Aerois and is saddened that there has been conflict that has cost Aerois and the Empire so much, and he hopes that the Emperor will see that there is another way forward.

Lucius suggests that Max could be a pastry chef, but he says that he does not cook and finds Aeroisan food either bland or very sweet: Nova suggests that he tries some of her mother’s cooking since she makes Fire Genasi food, which interests him. They discuss their first meeting with Max, and only Max seems to remember that they first met in the City of Glass: Nova suddenly asks if he still has her fire elemental(see Trivia) but he tells her that his companion took it.

Lucius asks Valla what she will do when all of this is over but she thinks her calling will be very different from everyone else’s, but as someone who is only half mortal and a demi-god, her future may be out of her own hands. Sentry goes to Max and puts out her hand, Max takes it and they shake. Sentry tells him that she is glad that he’s with them, even more than he knows. He thanks her and tells them that they have all taught him things in the last few months, he is closer to Sentry than the others since they share an understanding that the others do not, and he is glad to have her companionship and her friendship: they agree to let the past go.

Quill mentions that he would like some apple crumble, so they head back to the Stormchaser, leaving Valla and Max in the Halls for a while, to regroup with them later. Some of the Wolf Pack are startled by their appearance, worried that Aila is there to throw more rocks at them, but Oriya is glad to see them: they are flying towards the southern borders looking for the errant Guardian pack and she asks Quill to assist in locating them. With Quill’s help, the scouting party is located on Jakkesh’s southern border: they have made a tiny camp with a small fire. The jungles around appear to have returned to normal: the Rot Hearts have disappeared, the eternal darkness in the valley appears to have gone, and there is no sign of any undead around at all.

Lucius spends some time sneaking around the ship frightening the Wolf Pack and Howard. Howard has been running around madly trying to deal with the “lunch rush”. Lucius goes into his Captain’s Quarters, breathes in, flops on his bed, breathes a sigh of relief and takes off his messenger ring: he is home. It takes about an hour to get to the Guardian camp and in the meantime, Quill and Aila startle Howard, too. Quill takes stock of the galley, wanting some apple crumble, but Howard says they are low on fruit stock so he can make biscuits instead.

Howard tells them that when the party is off on their adventures, the crew worries about them and this makes them stressed and hungry, drinking and fighting as well. This means that he is constantly cooking (needing to provide twice as much food). He asks if there is the possibility of getting a magic cool box in which he could keep supplies fresher for longer, and Quill thinks that he could make something like that for Howard within the next couple of days. Howard would also be interested in pots and pans that are not really heavy or in a creature that could carry them for him – he says that he would love an assistant, magical or mundane.

Quill suggests having a suggestion and feedback box. Quill goes throughout the ship, greeting the members of the Wolf Pack, and continually spies Bone Eater who is always watching Quill and either gnawing on a bone or picking his teeth with one. Aila ties a rope to Sentry, who is leaning out over the edge of the ship, trying to catch first sigh of the Guardian camp. Nova later teleports into the kitchen, startling Howard and asks why there was cake found in the engine pod: he offers to make her a fresh cake while he starts to have a nervous breakdown about having to do all the cooking and cleaning. Even Tiangong seems to realise that Howard might need some assistance and advises that Nova make that suggestion to Captain Lucius. Sentry tiptoes down to the galley and sees Howard shaking and taking biscuits out of the oven: the poor man is clearly not coping. Sentry asks him quietly if he is ok and needs help. Howard says that he needs help, and that he has not slept for three days – he is clearly mentally unstable at this point. Quill makes a loud ship-wide announcement and Howard, startled, watches as his trays of biscuits shoot up into the air and land on the floor before collapsing. Sentry takes Howard to Greylauno who puts him to bed and begins to look after him.

When they get to the camp, the land is cleaner and free of rot. There are about 40 Guardians in the camp, and they are looking after their injured, many of which now seem to be up and walking around. They see Helper, Wayfinder, and Vines among the scouting party. Rope ladders are dropped from the side of the Stormchaser (given that the skiff has not yet been replaced), and a flustered Sentry emerges from the galley with biscuits and seems unsure of how Howard has been coping for this long without help.

The party descends to the camp and meets with Helper, Wayfinder, and Vines who are delighted to see them. Vines tells them that the sickness vanished a few hours ago, and while there are a few Guardians who are still regaining their strength, at least now they are able to heal. Oriya says that they could take 20-30 Guardians aboard, but Wayfinder says that if they send word to Horizon, they can send ships to pick them up. Lucius suggests taking the 10 unconscious Guardians and Vines aboard and that they send other ships to pick them up. Wayfinder asks Lucius the whereabouts of Hotshot and the other Guardians and Sentry gives them the sad news that Hotshot has fallen in battle. They point out that Shade (who is with them) survived and he comes down to the camp to meet them. Aila and Quill tell the party that Protector chose to lead more forces away from them while they were resting and they suspect that he died in the jungle, but they didn’t tell Sentry because of how she reacted to Tinker’s death.

Wayfinder thinks that without the threat of the undead it will now be safe for their scouts to look for any Guardian bodies so that Sentry can take their souls back into the Prime Matrix. Sentry believes that Root may have been able to call the souls back in from a distance (which is not something that she has tried yet), but knows that if she does this, she will miss out on the opportunity to re-house a new soul into the old bodies.

The Stormchasers work over the next few days with Wayfinder who leads a scouting party to search for all of the fallen Guardians. Quill, in the meantime, casts *Locate Creature* (which does not work with the dead) using the Wayfinders Guide: from the camp, Quill senses nothing, but as he travels and just before the hour runs out, Quill gets a sense of Protector’s whereabouts - they get to the tree in which they took their long rest. Lying, propped up, missing and arm and a leg but still alive, they find Protector. He thanks them for believing in him and coming back for him and Sentry thanks the brave soul for the sacrifice that he has made for them. Protector asks about Hotshot and is dismayed to find out that she is no more but responds with a simple, “Til all are one.” They reclaim the rest of the dead bodies and Wayfinder wants to try to reclaim Hotshots remains, so they head back to Nightbloom Hold.

It is quiet with a hint of gentle birdsong from the tops of the tall trees. The area is no longer shrouded in darkness and the mortuary gardens now look beautiful and serene rather than gloomy and foreboding. At the back of the temple where they had fought Godric, they take the side door out to the courtyard where they see the broken and burnt remnants of the once colossal tree. It takes maybe an hour for Sentry and Aila to clear away the logs and other debris before they find both the scattered remnants of Hotshot’s body, but also Serrise’s malformed and plagued remains. Of Hotshot’s remains, they find only the torn-up torso and head and her arm cannon, the chest cavity where her matrix once was is torn open, and there are only a few scattered crystalline fragments that remain of what once contained her soul.

They take Hotshot’s body into the Temple of Kellara and lay it at the foot of the altar with the lantern and its brightly burning candle. They see Godric’s body nearby, and outside, those of Elwyn and Lammalles. Protector asks if he will be allowed the honour of taking Hotshot’s arm cannon as a way of keeping her with them, a suggestion that Sentry is happy to agree to.

Sentry manages to commune with Root and discovers that now that the pestilence is ended, it is now safe to return the Guardian souls to the Matrix. She is also able now to return new souls to the Guardian bodies that they have recovered. The other Guardians struggle to know that Hotshot is lost to them forever, so Sentry addresses them saying, “May the Golden Sea guide them to whatever beyond waits for them.” The Guardians repeat the sentiment, but they wonder what happens after death – there is faith that if The Prime has suggested that there is something after death, that there must be. They are encouraged to remember Hotshot and keep her with them in that way.

Nova suggests that they inter the Knight Commanders in one of the mausoleums dedicated to them, and she notices that this is warded against anyone interred being raised from the dead. They inter the bodies and notice that the plague that had infused Serrise’s body, and the other things that had affected Elwyn, Lammalles, and Godric (whose skeletal arm disappears until he just displays an amputated stump) begin to burn away as the holy seals on the mausoleum purify the bodies. Eventually, they are just themselves, at peace.

Quill sends a message to Horizon to ensure that the Guardian scouting party is picked up before they use the Wayfinders Guide to take themselves there, too.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:46 - Dun Duns
0:02:45 - Part 1
1:27:28 - Nova Teleports in front of Howard

## **Featured Characters**

#### **The Stormchasers (Player Characters)**

* Aila
* Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto
* Nova V'ger
* Qillek Ad Khollar
* Sentry

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Maximillion Taldros
* Valla
* Shade
* Oriya
* Howard
* Bone Eater
* Greylauno
* Helper
* Wayfinder
* Vines
* Protector
* Hotshot
* Sir Godric Graves
* Elwyn
* Lammalles
* Serrise Fairwind

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Lancion
* Penny
* Lookout
* Tinker

## **Featured Locations**

* Jakkesh
	+ Nightbloom Hold
	+ Jungles
* Halls of Infinite Resplendence

## **Trivia**

* There is a faint sound of a fan in the background for this episode.
* Level up information:
	+ Aila – got more HPs! Also got the barbarian class feature Indominable Might, meaning that if her total for a Strength check is less than her Strength score, she can use that score in place of the total.
	+ Quill – Now 16 Cleric/2 Wizard – took the Skill Expert feat with expertise in Perception – Perception checks are now +18, passive perception is 33. Also increases Dex for a higher AC (which is now 15, or 20 if he uses *Shield*)
	+ Nova – 5 Warlock/13 Fighter (believes that she will level up fighter to the end) – Now have more HPs and 2 uses of Indomitable.
	+ Lucius – New Sorcery Origin feature, Prismatic Mastery – spend 6 sorcery points and his eyes are changed into brilliant prisms of light. While transformed in this way, you gain True Sight with a range of 120 feet and also gain resistance to fire, acid, lightning, poison, cold, thunder, force, radiant, necrotic damage. In addition, once per turn, when you use your dichromancy feature, you can choose to have it do damage of any type on the dichromancy table (the damage is now increased to your charisma modifier plus your sorcerer level). You can remain in this state for up to a minute and it ends immediately if you die. (Mark indicated that he may change the bonus damage to the dichromancy to half the sorcerer level but will see how it plays out).
	+ Sentry – 5 more Lay on Hands points (total of 90). Aura for Aura of Protection, Warding, and Courage is now a 30-foot radius. New 5th level Paladin Spell: Circle of Power.
* Lucius revealed that the inside of his already colourful coat is pink with gold filigree – and there was the sound of fan artists everywhere crying and screaming in frustration…
* Max took a fire elemental stone from Nova in episode 58? (**check**). His companion at the time was a Duergar sorceress, Dana Gloamfire.
* After they get to the Stormchaser, Quill asks where Shade is: they had forgotten him and left him behind at the keep. They decide to retcon the situation so that they took him to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence. Kim refers to this as “another fucking Rosemeadow situation”. When they were considering that he may have joined them in the Halls, Kim says that they “need a Men In Black memory wiper”.
* There is a protracted discussion about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies in the middle of this episode.
* After discussing with Howard the possibility of getting a magical fridge, Mark looks up utility magic items and advises that they can get a Chest of Preserving.

* Other items that Mark suggests they could get are: a Cleansing Stone, an Orb of Gonging (that Howard could use to summon the crew to meals), an Orb of Time, a Pot of Awakening, a Tankard of Plenty, a Thermal Cube, or a Wand of Smiles.

* Rhi, on hearing about the Pot of Awakening’s ability, shouts, “A shrubbery!” referring to Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the Knights who say… Ni!
* Protector only survived because Sentry rolled a 66% and Mark rolled a nat 20 for his death saving throw. Mark had decided that if Rhi rolled >50%, he would make death saving throws, but under and they were automatically dead. The first death saving throw was a 12, then the nat 20 that raised them to 1 HP.
* Mark misspeaks and talks about them fighting “Gideon” in the Temple of Kellara, meaning Godric. All those damned G names!
* **Lore Dump:** Mark says that there are no burial rights for Guardians because normally their souls are taken into the Matrix and new ones are put into old bodies provided they are still functional. Root would tell Sentry that if a body was no longer functional (body was destroyed but the Matrix was intact), they would take the soul and a new body would be forged for that soul, but that knowledge is lost.

## **Quotes**

* Mark: Just watch Lord of the Rings. Just watch the extended editions.
* Trott: Can Lucius role play? Ah, he will just open the captain’s quarters…
* Mark: No, I wanna talk about Lord of the Rings more, Chris Trott. Fuck your role play.