Aerois - Episode 123: Zephyr's Domain

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Zephyr's Domain** is the 123rd episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 5th September 2021 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The first Titan realm has been discovered... we're heading to the realm of the storm god Zephyr!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* There will be new merch available next week: 3 different shirt designs, a cropped hoodie and pins for Jiǔtóu and Reynard. It will be available Sunday 12th September at 4pm BST.
* Mark will be doing his Comic Relief charity D&D game at Warwick Castle tomorrow, and may post photos and videos. He may also do some jousting.

### **Recap**

*"Our heroes, the crew of the airship the Stormchaser have spent over a month organising and reinforcing their forces, as conflicts and intrigue begin to grow across Aerois. Called back together after defeating a squadron of Eladrin propagandists, the party meet with Valla, the daughter of the goddess Siaska and the tyrant Kalus Valkyrian, who updates them on their search for the errant Titans of Aerois and the demiplanes that they’ve hidden themselves within. With one located, the party must now travel to breach the titan’s domain and take them down."*
### **Part 1**

*The first Titan realm has been discovered... we're heading to the realm of the storm god Zephyr!*

(A minor retcon from last week, a small magic item was bought for Lucius to give him a bonus to his spell attacks, and built into the Captain’s Command (his sword).)

Valla has found Zephyr’s domain and knows roughly where it is, but the Stormchasers will need to travel there. Valla recommends that they take a traditional sailing ship into Zephyr's domain rather than the Stormchaser, which is still having upgrades done to make it able to travel in astral space. Valla will have to go with them to breach Zephyr’s domain, and Max will not leave her side, so will accompany them.

Oriya tells them what she knows of Zephyr so that they can prepare somewhat – she says that all Orcs are connected to Zephyr, and that they get their recklessness, adventurous spirit, fickleness and (some say) the glint madness from her. She is neither good nor evil, but fickle, tempestuous angry and greedy yet generous: sailors always make tribute to her before they travel on open waters, hoping for safe journeys, but they know that if she chooses, she will take them on “an adventure”. Oriya confirms that the sea is very much related to Zephyr, as are storms, winds and sea beasts. Quill wants to know if there is any suggestion that Zephyr is affected by the Glint and wonders if a tribute from the Stormchasers would help - Oriya says that the Glint affects orcs and seems to be part of Zephyr, but that there are many non-orc Zephyr worshipers who are not affected by the Glint. Oriya mentions that Zephyr is ambivalent but loves freedom - she is the wind, the sea and the storm. Quill is concerned that Zephyr has a love of freedom, but that they will be going to ask her to surrender her divinity.

Valla tells them that while they might be able to negotiate with Kellara or Valena, they should not go into the space with Zephyr or Atelicus thinking that trickery would work, and that they should expect a battle, and a hard one at that. Valla says that if Zephyr feels threatened, she will lash out, and they are asking her to surrender, and give up her self, but without Siaska, Valla feels that Aerois has no chance against her father. They need to sail closer to where they are going before Valla can open the portal to her domain - she does not think it wise to take aetherium engines into the space, because they would be entering Zephyr's very essence, and she does not think that an element purely of Aerois (like aetherium) would work in that space: she recommends a traditional ship which she says she will be able to protect. She knows that Zephyr's domain is called The Maelstrom, which is older than Zephyr herself: it is connected to her essence, but it is its own thing.

They decide to find a small transport vessel to get them to their location - Oriya says that she can introduce them to some captains in Myrskyr, but that this is a dangerous mission, and that it may be difficult to convince a captain to take his crew and ship on the mission. She suggests that since Lucius is a capable captain, and the rest could crew it, that they just rent a ship: another alternative is they take her brother's ship, since Oriya hates him, and says that since it's really *her* ship, if they can take it, they can have it.

They take the Stormchaser, and over the next couple of days, make their way to Katuvagg, the main city of Myrskyr. The city is busy with rebuilding and repair work after the Valley of the Storms incident, and there are people flooding into the city. They see dozens of small bars that hold no more than 6 or 7 people at a time that are constantly full of people singing and drinking, and there are many docked ships in the port. Oriya points out an especially dingy-looking bar, The Kingfisher's Cabin, full of humans, orcs and dwarves - she then points to an ostentatiously-decorated ship nearby: it is gilded along the sides, and the figurehead on the prow is an orc maiden with gems encrusting the clothing and gold leaf decorating it. Oriya tells them that this is The Gold Tooth. her old ship. Lucius is unimpressed at the gaudy ship, but tells Oriya (almost painfully) that he loves it like she does, and that it's fantastic.

Oriya suggests that they take the ship by knocking the crew out or throwing them overboard. Nova wants to use an illusion to make herself look like Oriya's brother and get them to disembark peacefully. There are other ships available, but most are fairly dingy, and Aila refuses to fight a god on anything other than the Gold Tooth. Nova asks Oriya what her brother sounds like so that she can impersonate him: he has an accent like hers, but puts on a different, pirate accent, rough with gurgles and growls to sound more intimidating. Nova casts her illusion spell and walks onto the ship, trying to impersonate Oriya's brother, Aegir: she does a woeful impression that is immediately spotted by the crew, and they end up having to throw the crew overboard before stealing the ship. The Stormchaser flies down and Howard announces to everyone that the ship is being "borrowed" on behalf of the Horizon Alliance. Oriya is delighted to have her ship back, and makes Lucius promise to return it without a scratch.

Once they get out to sea, Valla and Max join them via one of her portals; while Max is sure-footed, Valla does not deal with the movement of the ship very well, and has to levitate to avoid being sea sick. Valla tells them that they will be sailing for a couple of days until she can find the anchor locus - a point on the material plane that is connected to Zephyr's energy that she must maintain with Aerois. Valla believes the closest one will be in the deep ocean. Quill notices that Max is trying to hide it, but he is looking out at the sea, enthralled. Sentry makes a comforting and beautiful apple crumble that Howard had taught her to make - Valla is delighted, comparing it favourably to the awful Valkyrian rations. Maximillion is affronted, but deigns to try the crumble at Valla's request: while he says "this is very sweet, and I suppose it is indulgent enough - it is a treat of some sort", he is clearly enjoying it because he goes back for a second taste, and praises Sentry's cooking as "good". Max says that it is impressive that Sentry can cook without having a sense of taste, and no need to eat herself, and that it shows that she greatly cares about others; Sentry is delighted with this praise, believing that she is starting to win him around.

Valla wants to discuss what is ahead for them: Lucius agrees, revealing that he cannot handle the colour coordination on the boat (red and green paint, gems and gold leaf) - he has been prying the jewels off the front and throwing them into the ocean - it is too garish, even for Lucius. Valla advises them not to try anything too clever when facing off against Zephyr: she will not be able to be charmed, frightened or polymorphed, can probably see invisibility, and banishment won't work the way they think it will - this is her space, and she will have almost complete control over it. Zephyr's powers will be different to what they have seen before, and there are three states in the Maelstrom: the squall, the calm and the fury. In the squall, they should expect rough seas with heavy rain and wind - flying will be difficult and visibility will be limited. The calm is still and beautiful, inspiring full of creatures and shipwrecks - the spirit of adventure but peaceful. Finally, the fury is dark and stormy with powerful wind and rain, giant waves and tides.

Valla makes it very clear to them that once they are inside Zephyr's domain, the only way that they will be able to escape is to defeat her (although Valla will be able to use her powers to give them a second chance should they fail). Zephyr's domain is like a ball of glass that is impenetrable - the only way that Valla will be able to allow them entry is to create her own domain but to have them cross over - once created, they will not be able to leave Valla's domain until Zephyr is defeated. Nova suggests tying ropes around the deck in case it tips.

### **Part 2**

*Valla finds the entrance to Zephyr's domain... it's time to fight a god!*

Valla concentrates, and purple steam seems to start rising from her - she opens her eyes, which seem to have turned black and appear to be infinite - her hands plunge down, slap the deck of the ship and an aura of purple spreads from her hands to cover the whole ship to form a bubble. Suddenly, they feel peaceful and an odd sense of déjà vu: the crackle of a fireplace, a woman's perfume, the feeling of a soft bed and cushion, the song from a music box... as Valla screams and releases her power. The ocean drops away and there is darkness: they are still sailing on the ship, when suddenly the ship appears in a furious storm - the wind almost blows them down, and they can see no more than 30 feet in front of them.

Nova rigs some safety ropes on either side of the ship, and Lucius uses Nova's scroll to cast water breathing as they sail into the storm with Valla keeping it somewhat stable. Suddenly, the water in front of the ship begins to rise, and a voice cries out, "so, I see that my little brother's champion and his friends have decided to come to my little home. One last adventure before everything comes crumbling down". Quill stammers that they are there to restore Siaska and need Zephyr's cooperation. "Cooperation? No, you need my life, little bird! I am not my mad brother, I know what you are asking me. We all know what you want from us. She gave us life, I'm not going to give it up, not for anyone. It's my freedom! You don't get to take this from me, and if I'm going to go, I'm going to have one bloody good last adventure for it". With that, a colossal Zephyr emerges from the sea in front of the ship, dressed in pirate garb with two gigantic scimitars, one in each hand, arcing and sparking with lightning.

Lucius casts an acid chromatic orb at Zephyr, and as it hits her, it is clear that her form is all made of water. She grins at Lucius, saying "that's enough of that" and suddenly a watery prism encapsulates Lucius. Three sea-green spheres suddenly appear on the deck of the ship, apparently formed from the salt water spray - it looks like something is inside each one, but they cannot tell what at this point. Aila rages, walks up to Zephyr and hits her twice, but she is immune to Aila's lightning damage. Zephyr looks at Aila, saying that she remembers her from when she came seeking answers: she hopes that Aila got them because Siaska "won't tell [her] anything". Zephyr links Aila and Quill with a lightning tether, then hits Aila, and both she and Quill get a stack of Gathering Storm. Zephyr hits Aila again, doing lightning and thunder damage to both Aila and Quill, and giving them another stack of gathering storm. Nova glances at one of the sea-green orbs near her, and sees that inside it is a beautiful, still, calm sea - she thinks that if she touches the orb, she will be teleported inside for a short time, but that the orb would probably vanish. She puts a *Hexblade Curse* on Zephyr and Eldritch Blasts the watery orb around Lucius - after three blasts hit, the orb is almost destroyed, but still present. Zephyr does a *Stormcalled Strike* against Quill (a blast of lightning that comes from her eyes), but Sentry dives in front of Quill, deflecting the blast. Quill examines the lightning tether between him and Aila - he believes that it will draw lightning and thunder to them, doing damage to both people tethered, and also that any time either tethered person is hit, both will take gathering storm damage and get another stack. He also notices that as he gets closer to Aila, the tether weakens - when he gets within 5 feet of Aila, they can touch each other to generate a small spark that will break the tether. Quill casts Beacon of Hope. Sentry uses Starbreaker to hit the water bubble and destroys the bubble in a burst of water: she then misty steps to Zephyr and attempts to hit her with Starbreaker, but misses as Zephyr deflects it with one of her scimitars. Maximillion casts Scorching Ray, but all three rays miss.

Lucius casts a frozen chromatic orb at Zephyr and hits her; she responds by raising her left hand and her scimitar crackles with storm energy. Aila realises that in order to get rid of the Gathering Storm stacks, they will need to get away - Aila touches one of the sea-green spheres and suddenly disappears along with the orb. Aila finds herself on a replica of the ship in a peaceful version of reality - she no longer has any stacks of Gathering Storm, but is stunned until her next turn. Zephyr sweeps her right scimitar in an arc in front of her, creating a 15 foot wide column of air blasts all but Lucius and Aila: all of them take damage, and Quill manages to stay upright, but Sentry and Nova are pushed back 20 feet. Sentry is slammed through the mast, which starts to fall, but it is suddenly wrapped in purple energy, rewinds in time and is repaired - Valla's shield pulses with power. Zephyr summons a Storm Sprite, a small ball of lightning that floats above the deck, but apparently doing nothing. Nova moves back to stand by Lucius, then casts Blight on Zephyr: Zephyr responds by putting Nova into a watery prism. Quill casts Healing Word on Sentry and Sacred Flame on the watery prism - it is damaged but not destroyed. Sentry staggers forward, uses the Prime Matrix to enlarge herself, and activates Starbreaker - green energy swirls around it and turns it into an energy lance - then takes a defensive position. Zephyr casts *Stormcalled Strike* on Sentry, hitting her with a lightning blast from her eyes, and giving Sentry a stack of Gathering Storm. Max casts Scorching Ray and blasts the sphere around Nova three times, which breaks the sphere and frees her. The storm sprite moves randomly towards the stern of the ship, and bumps harmlessly into the shield next to Valla. Zephyr slams her left scimitar onto the deck of the ship ("Rock the Boat"), tipping the ship and making them all slide towards the edge and the water - Nova manages to right the ship before they fall off.

Lucius casts a twinned Chromatic Orb, hitting the orb at the back of the ship (destroying it) and Zephyr: she creates a lightning tether between Lucius and Quill. Aila appears back in the realm, and immediately hits Zephyr who raises her left hand - Zephyr casts Rebuking Wind, using the energy from the attacks to push Aila back 40 feet. Zephyr attempts to blast Lucius and Quill with lightning: Quill takes a large amount of damage from Gathering Storm and gets another stack. Lucius takes damage from the lightning attack, Gathering Storm damage, and he and Quill get another stack of Gathering Storm: she then summons another storm sprite on the mid deck next to Aila. Nova raises Tiangong and casts Maddening Darkness - Zephyr is not blinded by the spell. Zephyr then puts a lightning tether between Aila and Nova. Quill casts Shield of Faith, and then enters one of the sea-green spheres - he loses his stacks, but is still tethered, and the orb disappears. Zephyr attempts to blast Nova with her lightning eye beam - Tiangong pulls her arm up and protects her with Armor of Hexes, and the attack misses. Sentry attacks with Starbreaker, but is thrown 50 feet backwards with Rebuking Wind. Zephyr's form is beginning to break apart as Sentry moves part way back towards the titan. Maximillion casts Healing Word on Aila, as the storm sprite moves randomly away from the group and bounces off the railing of the ship. Zephyr's left scimitar comes crashing down again, knocking them off their feet once more - Sentry almost goes off the side of the ship, but manages to hang onto the edge of the ship; everyone else is fine.

Lucius moves to help Sentry, pulling her back up onto the ship and onto her feet. He then casts a quickened Chromatic Orb at Zephyr, her right hand raises its scimitar, and she puts Lucius into a watery prism. Aila hits Zephyr twice and is then thrown 40 feet backwards with Rebuking Wind. Zephyr attempts to zap Nova with her lightning eyes, but misses. Maddening Darkness goes suddenly affects Zephyr who cries out in pain: suddenly the darkness rips apart and the spell disappears.

Zephyr leans down, yelling, "no, NO! I won't go back, you won't take me!" She suddenly grabs the boat and drags it down into the water. They feel like they should be underwater, but instead, as the ship is dragged beneath the surface, it seems to bob up as if it was underwater in the first place. They emerge into a dark, stormy area with lightning crackling in the distance and thunder clouds grumbling overhead; roiling geysers of water are around the edges of the space. Suddenly nine storm sprites appear around the ship's deck. Nova runs over to Aila and they remove the lightning tether between them - she blasts the nearest storm sprite with *Eldritch Blast*, and it takes all three beams to dissipate it. Quill reappears (still tethered to Lucius), emerging into the same space that Nova is in, and takes some damage, but has cleared his stacks of Gathering Storm. He uses the wand of Magic Missiles, and destroys one of the storm sprites - the wand is not destroyed, and Quill does some healing on himself. Sentry casts Sunbeam on Lucius' watery bubble and a storm sprite towards the bow: the bubble breaks, and the storm sprite is weakened but not destroyed. Valla tells Max to help, and he casts *Flamestrike*, hitting two of the storm sprites - both are weakened, Max is next to one of the sprites, and gets a stack of Gathering Storm. All of the remaining storm sprites spring to life and start moving erratically - they also start swelling in size, flashing violently and pulsing with energy. As the sprites move around the ship and end up next to people, they get more stacks of Gathering Storm: Sentry takes 1, Max takes 2, and Lucius takes 1 (as does Quill because they are still tethered).

For next week: starting stacks of Gathering Storm - Valla, Aila and Nova 0, Quill 1, Sentry 2, Lucius and Max 3. 1 sea-green sphere remains on deck for stack removal.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00 Episode Start
1:36 New shirts
2:42 And new pins
3:20 New merch coming out Sept. 12
5:42 DUN DUNs
6:42 Recap starts
7:27 Part 1
11:17 Zephyr lore
16:02 Only sea-faring ships. No airships
17:51 The Maelstrom is Zephyr's domain
19:58 Aila: "It's a piece of paper"
22:02 Steal Oriya's ship back
24:20 Mark knows the Wiki team is watching him and will break his balls if he gets something about his *own world* wrong...
25:07 Katuvagg in Myrskyr
26:52 The Kingfisher's Cabin
27:12 Oriya's "ostentatious" ship
33:12 Oriya's description of Aegir's (Oriya's brother) voice
35:04 Oriya's ship: Gold Tooth, Oriya's brother: Aegir
37:11 Sentry's gonna keep a Lookout
38:34 Alter Self already failing
39:40 Nova mashed every pirate trope into one sentence
42:02 Unexpected combat music
44:40 Howard speaks for the Stormchaser
46:30 Oriya is reunited with Gold Tooth
47:58 Bilbo and the One Ring
49:52 Set sail
50:47 Valla's first time on sea
52:02 Destination is an Anchor Locus
54:06 Max is amazed by the sea
55:11 Awkward moment with Quill and Max
56:22 Sentry's apple crumble
58:05 Quill's Nat 20
59:29 Max is complimentary to Sentry
1:00:49 Lucius' crimes against the ship
1:03:18 Mark getting into Max's character
1:04:00 Zephyr's condition immunities and senses
1:04:39 Quill's burn to the entire party
1:05:53 3 states of Maelstrom
1:06:03 The Squall
1:06:23 The Calm
1:06:50 The Fury
1:11:01 Zephyr is depicted as a warrior
1:13:22 Second chance ropes = "deck" saving throw
1:15:36 Break time/Donations
1:20:17 Angus cam
1:22:46 Part 2
1:24:40 Ship coating
1:25:05 Valla's domain ... is her dream from the 2020 Xmas special?
1:26:24 Zephyr's domain
1:26:54 Game mechanics
1:28:29 Battle map is out
1:31:16 Zephyr is here
1:32:55 Zephyr's token is...a lot
1:33:41 ROLL INITIATIVE
1:37:24 Elemental Adept
1:38:49 Legendary action: watery sphere
1:39:40 3 sea-green spheres appear
1:41:09 Zephyr is immune to lightning
1:42:20 Zephyr and Aila talk
1:42:54 Legendary action: Lightning tether
1:44:12 Stack of Gathering Storm
1:46:13 Orbs are safety zones
1:49:10 Legendary action: Storm-called strike
1:51:48 Reaction to cancel lightning tether
1:55:04 Max is in the fight
1:57:06 Zephyr's Master Hand appears
1:59:52 Aila is in the Calm
2:01:04 Zephyr airbends with Wind Cutlass
2:02:42 Valla is returning this item in perfect condition
2:03:26 Summon storm sprite
2:09:14 STARBREAKER!
2:11:52 Legendary action: Rock the Boat
2:15:52 Reaction: Rebuking wind
2:23:52 Nova avoids an incinerating blast of lightning eyes
2:27:12 Max's low roll of healing
2:30:51 Lucius's Nat 20
2:32:17 Zephyr's other hand appears
2:35:28 Nova was saved from another lightning eyes
2:36:07 Nova's Maddening Darkness
2:36:56 Stage 2: Fury Unleashed
2:42:12 Wand of Magic Missiles
2:44:10 Sentry uses Sunbeam
2:49:51 Pausing new round for next episode
2:51:22 Party's stacks of Gathering Storm
2:53:22 Outro/Donations
2:55:50 Angus or FFXIV
2:59:48 Plaque made of lies
3:02:31 Warwick Castle, falconry, and jousting
3:03:06 Bye

Thanks to Nick Ahn for doing the timestamps!

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Aegir (Oriya's brother)
* Zephyr

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Oriya
* Valla
* Maximillion

## **Featured Locations**

* Horizon
* Myrskyr
	+ Katuvagg
* Zephyr's domain

## **Trivia**

* There were Ricky Martin shenanigans before the start of the stream that were used to irritate Trott.
* Mark commented that Tom has been playing an exceptional amount of Final Fantasy XIV, and says that this is more likely to make him heal.
* Mark created this encounter based on raids that the group had been doing in FF XIV. He said on Discord, "Sliding mechanic is 100% Leviathan. I've been learning a lot of what makes fights in ff14 FUN, and applied that knowledge but it's still a unique fight. I was quite happy with Gathering Storm, if some of my attacks had hit more often, that really would have shown how scary it is. I think If I had 1 fewer MMO mechanic (no tether, or no slide) it would have been JUST right."
* Mark revealed on Discord that Zephyr's constitution is 20, and "she got proficiency in others", he also said that "she had a shit ton of XP".
* Gathering Storm: 1d8 lightning + 1d8 thunder damage per stack.
* The second phase? is called The Fury Unleashed.
* The token that Mark used for Zephyr was a scantily clad woman, which was the only map token that he could find that was a woman standing upright. He plans to find a better token for next episode.
* Rhi’s roll for Sentry’s apple crumble was a “dirty” 20 (16+4). That’s a damned good crumble.