Aerois - Episode 127: Lilac Grass and Giant Trees

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Mark Hulmes as Aila

 Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Lilac Grass and Giant Trees** is the 127th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 24th October 2021 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The team gather Thalia, Big Cat, Kyrie and Rosemeadow to travel into the Feywild!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Katie is away this week visiting family.
* Apologies for no game last week because Mark was feeling poorly.
* The sponsors this week Privateer Press and D&D Beyond.
* Merch: New limited edition pins will be up on the store next week – DM pin and Thalia pin.
* High Rollers achieved the 100,000 subscriber milestone on YouTube this week. Susan will be sending them their plaques… eventually. They did not plan anything because they were not prepared to reach the milestone this week.
* Don’t forget your Twitch Prime sub and to subscribe to YouTube.
* A podcast for Aerois is available.
* Voting for thegamehers Awards ends tomorrow. Aerois is up for the best TTRPG campaign award.
* (announced at the break) Please consider supporting High Rollers via the Patreon page because they are now looking at studio spaces (which would allow them to play in person again). It also gives early access to the Podcast (Thursday’s episode is released on Monday). Funds received go towards improving the show.

### **Recap**

*"Last time on Aerois: Previously, our heroes, having vanquished titans and travelled the planes, attempted to undo a curse placed on their friend, Thalia Whisperwind, a Medusa who had aided them in returning to Aerois from the Astral Sea. When the goddess Sayanna undid the curse, however, it revealed a second and more powerful one hidden within it, one that will slowly kill Thalia and for which there does not appear to be an apparent cure or way to break the curse. Along with these revelations also came the knowledge of Thalia’s past crimes and her history with the Fey sorceress Mesmera, the one responsible for the curses. Now the party plan to travel to the Feywild to find Mesmera and undo the curse."*
### **Part 1**

*The team gather Thalia, Big Cat, Kyrie and Rosemeadow to travel into the Feywild!*

Nova wants to buy 600gp worth of diamond dust for two castings of *revivify*… just in case. She also sees Azaria Perel (normally stationed in Gusthaven but she teleports to Horizon to meet with them) about whether she can get another *sequester* scroll – she is dressed all in thick black robes embroidered with gold and silver (mourning attire) and a thick black veil over her face. Perel has to consult an old tome to know what that spell is and tells Nova that while she is capable of casting spells of the equivalent level in power, that knowledge of the *sequester* spell and how to cast it has long been lost. Perel tells Nova that that spell has not been seen since the days of Solwynn and that there would be very few on Aerois who know how to cast the spell – Quill does not remember how to cast the spell. It is possible, she says, that there are other scrolls or spellbooks of great mages somewhere in the world that contain the spell, or there may be a library of Solwynn as yet undiscovered that holds a copy, but without any of those, Azaria Perel cannot learn the spell or create them a scroll: all magic of the 7th, 8th or 9th circle are very rare and hard to come across. Nova wonders if Petal would know anything about it, but because she was a young girl when she was sequestered, she would likely not know anything about it.

Azaria knows magic that will bestow a curse, and simple magic to remove a curse, but probably nothing that would remove a stronger curse. Quill says that they just need to get to the Feywild and deal with the problem – at the mention of their travel to another realm, Azaria Perel looks interested and asks if they will do her a small favour. She understands that the Cradle will not always be present and wants them to take a thin metallic rod with them to the Feywild, place it in a place of magical nature and wait with it for an hour or so. Quill is not sure what she plans to do with this metal rod, but he agrees. Lucius wanders in in his bath robe with a coffee cup in his hand at this point and hears that the work on the Stormchaser is going well – there will shortly be a working prototype of the environmental shield that will allow the ship to exist in Astral Space and protect the crew from many of the dangers they would otherwise encounter. Perel is also still keen to spend time alone with Sentry in order to examine the Prime Matrix: Sentry is understandably nervous and not so keen on this idea.

They discuss whom they should take to the Feywild – the Eye of the Storm showed them taking more people than the *plane shift* spell would normally allow, and Sentry suggests that they may want to have room in case they want to save someone who is running from the Valkyrian Empire. Quill knows what he saw with the Eye, and that the book has the ability to get around some of the usual restrictions of the spell because it can get past the Cradle.

Sentry suggests that they tell the Summer Eladrin that he will not be coming with them. Nova asks what they promised him – Sentry says there was a contract which Quill denies, saying that they never promised him anything and that there was only a potential for a contract, that he is their prisoner and a bad guy because he is a servant of Kalus. Lucius agrees with Quill that there was no resolution but that the Summer Eladrin deserves to know that the deal will not happen. Since none of Lucius, Quill nor Sentry wish to give him this message, they send Aila to tell him the news. When Aila returns, she tells them that the Eladrin was “pretty pissed”, that he could not speak because of the gag, but she told him, “Oi, flame guy, deal’s off” and left. He looked mad, she says, then must have got sad because it started to get cold in the area. Sentry feels bad until Aila points out that “He’s an asshole. He works for Starbane”.

Lucius says that he is prepared to take on any items that resemble flower crowns for the sake of the team which they are all happy to cede to him. He gets changed into his armour and they head to the market area to get Rosemeadow. Quill says hello and lifts his arms up in preparation for a hug – Rosemeadow was not prepared for this but is delighted: her face lights up and she picks him up to squeeze him in a big hug. She hugs everyone else, bar Aila, who pats her on the shoulder from a distance. Rosemeadow notices haw luscious Lucius’ hair is which she lovingly runs her fingers through to Lucius’ delight. Quill tells her how important she is to their proposed trip to the Feywild, but she does not really understand what he is talking about – she says that she used to play imagination games like this with her friends in Kalie’s Rest.

Quill tells her about the others who will be joining them on their trip: Thalia, Kyrie and Big Cat: Rosemeadow is very excited about the idea of a big cat because she loves cats and all animals love her, she says that she is also good with shy people.

When Nova gets to the Twinstar Longbow to collect them, Thalia is telling Kyrie and Big Cat that they should stay on Aerois and not come with them to the Feywild – Thalia is ashamed and does not want them to know what she has done. Nova is supportive but thinks that Kyrie and Big Cat have the right to come – she holds Thalia’s hand while she explains why they are going and all about her background: she does not describe things in the gruesome detail that Nova experienced but does not hold back and even tells them more than Nova knows about her time as a bandit queen just after she left Lunaria. At the end of her tale, they both still want to go, and they walk hand-in-hand from the ship (with Big Cat snuggled up beside them) and head back to Rosemeadow.

Quill, meanwhile, has been entertaining Rosemeadow, talking to her in detail about this game she used to play with her friends in Kalie’s Rest. When Thalia sees Rosemeadow, she is gobsmacked to find out that Rosemeadow is a Centaur and does not understand how she is on Aerois. Rosemeadow hugs Thalia, waves at a very shy and withdrawn Kyrie and immediately makes friends with Big Cat who purrs loudly like he does for no one else but Thalia and gets scritches in return. Thalia leans over to Quill and asks quietly where they met her because, she says, there is something about Rosemeadow – she has never seen Big Cat take an instant liking to anyone, even to Thalia. She tells them that a space bandit kept Big Cat like an attack dog and that he was set on her, so she shot him – it was only when she was leaving that she realised he was injured on the floor, so took him with her and patched him up.

They form a circle, ready to travel via the Wayfinders Guide: Quill points out a gem on the cover and asks Rosemeadow to touch it – she moves her hand to touch the gem indicated but it is forcibly pulled to another, green, gem on the cover and she touches it. There is a sudden sound of glass breaking or shattering, there is a sudden distillation of energy around Rosemeadow as if there are small petals, leaves and motes in the air around her that are quickly drawn into the gemstone. Rosemeadow steps back, apologising for doing it incorrectly, but the gem begins to glow as if it now has a charge. Quill asks Rosemeadow if she wants to come with them and she decides to accompany them despite the fact that she is clearly terrified and trembling, snuggling close to Sentry.

They travel via the Wayfinders Guide in the same way that they have before, but for the first time, Quill hears the familiar whispered voice of H’esper, almost like a message in a bottle waiting to be found: “The wayfinder brings lost things home”.

### **Part 2**

*The team warp themselves to the Feywild and are instantly lost in a magical land of lilac grass and giant trees!*

They travel across Astral Space in multi-coloured light, familiar to any who have travelled by the Wayfinders Guide previously – it begins to fade, revealing to them the smell of the woods, the sound of wind rustling the leaves of nearby trees and the warm but gentle touch of sunlight on their skin. They stand in a wooded clearing, surrounded by trees that reach immeasurably high into the sky, their thick branches covered in leaves of luminous blue. At their feet is a soft grassy carpet of lilac hue spotted with shrubs and flowers of pink and green – all have a gentle ethereal glow to them.

Sentry is immediately defensive, casting *divine sense*, but detects nothing of concern. They are in the heart of a dense woodland of incredibly tall trees (hundreds of feet tall) with a thick canopy that blocks the sky. It is not dark because of the faint glow of the flowers spread throughout the woods – the entire area is dimly lit as it if is twilight with a pink/blue glow. Thalia collapses to her knees, gently touching the grass and weeping openly but stunned and absorbed in the new world. Nova sinks down beside her and gently says, “So this is what grass is” – Thalia laughs around a sob and tells her that in this place it is, but there will be other areas of the Feywild that will look more familiar to her eyes (her snakes, meanwhile, have crawled out of where they were hiding in her clothes and are wriggling around on the ground enjoying themselves).

When they look around at Rosemeadow, she is stunned and amazed at how pretty everything is; she then starts frolicking around, picking up flowers and smelling them. Quill wonders where they are, thinking that Rosemeadow might know, but she is busy gambolling in the grass, laughing and chasing squirrels. Thalia is not sure where they are, but knows that it is not her kingdom, Heartspire, because that looks more like Aerois (though it is possible that Mesmera has changed Heartspire since Thalia left), and it does not look like any of the bordering territories that she remembers either. She tells them that the Feywild is made up of many different territories, each ruled by a different noble: if this territory is ruled by a sentient Archfey, rather than a beast or creature, there may be imposed magical rules (not like laws) for which there are severe consequences if they are broken – she advises caution. Thalia advises that these rules are generally devised to ensure order and can make it difficult for subjects to attack other creatures or steal from them; it is 700-800 years since Thalia has been in Lunaria. Emotions have power in the Feywild, she tells them, the stronger the Archfey, the more they can control their province – in an area with a weak ruler, those with strength will be able to shape their own world. Thalia points to Rosemeadow who is gleeful, surrounded by butterflies and carrying flowers that now have smiling faces in their florets, and to Kyrie who stands nervously on the grass that has turned from a warm lilac to a cooler blue: it is clear that their emotional states are influencing the area around them. Lucius asks if there is any likelihood that time will run differently for them now that they are in Lunaria and how that will affect the course of Thalia’s curse: she thinks that they will continue to experience time as if they would on Aerois, so may not have any affect on it at all (they note that the thorn tattoo has progressed a little further up her arm in the time they took to prepare for the journey).

Quill flies up towards the canopy and has to climb through the thickly growing branches to get above it; when he eventually does, he is met with a brilliant chromatic sky streaked with purples, pinks and blues. To one side of the horizon (the west) the sky loses its colour, moving to a slate grey streaked with black and white, but on the other (the east) is the most incredible mix of blues and light greens that he has ever seen, even compared to Aerois and the Cradle. They canopy stretches on for miles and miles all around: there are no obvious settlements, but he can see the forest start to thin on multiple sides. Thalia suggests that they enquire of Heartspire from a traveller or local; she thinks that Kalus will keep his troops in a major city or in orbit, but they may be handed over if it is known that they are wanted by the Empire. Thalia tells them about the Twilight Nebula and the power of thought: she tells them the story of the Rose Knight – the concept of love given a physical form which is its champion (it will help people fall in and out of love). She also tells them of Death, the concept made into a physical being – most creatures in the Feywild are immortal and will be reborn, but Death will bring them finality on Lunaria and end their existence. Quill notices that the grass around Lucius is quivering and forming skull and crossbone patterns in the space around him – he worries that he will manifest something, but Thalia assures him that even though he is powerful, it would take a number of them working in tandem to manifest something more than a simple spirit. Lucius, Sentry and Quill try to imagine a creature that could decurse Thalia, but because they are all imagining something different, the form takes an erratic shifting appearance before it disappears altogether (Nova does not partake because there is something deep within Nova that makes her think that this curse will not be lifted – the creaking branches behind her sound for all the world like they are saying “failure” to her).

Aila and Quill notice that there is a well-worn but very faded woodland trail, not obvious to the casual observer, running north to south. They decide to head north, and Rosemeadow offers to take Kyrie on her back which she nervously accepts; Big Cat, being in unfamiliar territory spends time sniffing around and stalking his way forwards. They travel for 6-7 hours through the stunning, vibrant forest only occasionally hearing the skittering of nearby animals -they stop eventually for a brief rest, pulling out rations and taking a short break. Not long after they resume, Quill hears and sees something going on a hundred feet ahead. He sees something large moving rapidly in the undergrowth and hears in the distance clattering armour, drums, shouts and cries, a bestial roar and trees being felled – there is some sort of battle going on. Quill tells the group, and they eventually see someone being thrown through the air before Quill decides to get an aerial perspective for them.

Thalia offers to stay back to protect Kyrie, Big Cat and Rosemeadow because her pistols will not work because they are magitek. Quill sees an enormous creature with the body of a lion, draconic wings, a twisted man’s face with a huge jaw full of razor-sharp teeth and a long tail ending in a hammer-like club with spikes growing out of it – it is a giant manticore. The manticore fells a tree with one swipe of its claw causing many knights to run and scatter as they try to avoid being crushed: the knights wear a purple tabard with many colours interwoven through it and resplendent chest plate armour. Some of the knights have bows, some have spears, others are on steeds and carry lances, but they are all retreating. Three figures stand apart from the rest: a woman with a humanoid face but long feathers for hair (not unlike a peacock’s) and a long-hooked nose, wearing resplendent gleaming mail, and carrying a shield in one hand and a spear in the other. Standing beside this woman is a Harengon, an anthropomorphic rabbit, wearing a padded gambeson and a round pot helm, and he carries a large longbow. Cowering under a log beneath them is a Satyr with a big pot belly and curling ram’s horns, dressed like a little soldier – a drum is on the ground beside him, he is covering his ears and curled up trying desperately to hide underneath the log. Quill sends a message to Sentry telling her to bring everyone and that they need to help.

The giant manticore has created a 120-foot clearing by knocking over trees and sweeping the brush away with its tail – it senses them as they enter the clearing and knocks the peacock woman and rabbit man prone – they look to be unconscious. The manticore flicks tail spikes at Quill, Aila and Sentry: Quill avoids his, Sentry is hit by two 12-inch-long spikes that embed into her body and stay put making it harder for her to move and attack; Aila takes a further two spikes in her side and upper thigh. The manticore starts barrelling towards them and regenerates some of its tail spikes. Nova moves away from the group, casts *Hexblade's Curse* and *Blight* - the manticore can speak, but in very broken common, and it is clearly irritated by the damage it has just taken. Aila rages and manages to hit only once also zapping it with lightning. Quill flies close to the creature and casts *thunder wave*, breaking ten of the spines, one of them is flicked back at him and impales him before he moves back. The creature pounces on him and bites him leaving a deep wound that bleeds profusely.

Sentry moves forward towards the manticore, and casts *turn the faithless*: she raises her shield, the Solwynn emblem on the front glows golden and a radiant light springs forth towards the beast – Sentry shouts at it to leave them be and the creature immediately feels the need to get as far away from Sentry as possible. Sentry rips one of the spikes free from her body. Lucius casts *mirror image* and removes one of the spikes from Aila. The manticore takes flight and flies as far away from them as possible (approximately 1,000 feet).

A number of the knights come out of the woods, cheering them on for making the beast flee. All of the knights have feathers for hair, hook-shaped noses and tabards, but the feathers that each bears are from different species of bird – some are owls, others are chickens or parrots. They call out that they must see to Lady Penelope and Radovan. Nova brings Lady Penelope around – she is dazed and confused but wants to set an ambush for the beast if it is planning to come back since it has been ravaging the lands: her knights are less than impressed because the beast is much stronger than they were led to believe. While the avian knights are all bird people, the archers are a mix of races with Goblins, a Hobgoblin, the Harengon and Fairy Folk, all dressed in the same way in purple and green gambesons and pot helms. Quill heals most of the party and several of the others, bringing Radovan around.

Radovan tells them that if they need to engage the creature again, they must have a group for the beast to focus on so that his archers can take cover in the trees. The knights, he says, fled when it was clear that the beast was so strong, and he warns them that its claws can easily cut through steel. Sentry asks Radovan why they are fighting the manticore but Lady Penelope answers before he can respond saying that they are hunting it because it has been ravaging villages, causing terror and killing people, so they are here to slay it as true knights: they are the Knights of the Splendid Panoply, and she is Lady Penelope el Pavo Real. She tells them that they are free knights, and that the lands they are in do not belong to any Lord or Lady, but to the wilds.

Lady Penelope asks Radovan if his archers are ready this time because they must not flee when the beast returns – he assures her that they are, and that they will not flee (having watched only the knights flee from the previous battle). They look around trying to find Dago, the Satyr musician – Nova sees the discarded drum nearby, but Quill sees the little Satyr trying to sneak away: he covers for Dago telling them that he has no idea where Dago has gone. Aila and Sentry remove the spines from their bodies while Nova tries to work out some tactics that might work against the Manticore, like cutting off its tail.

Quill casts *aura of vitality* to help heal the party then Lady Penelope and they make plans for when it returns (with all of its tail spines regenerated).

## **YouTube Timestamps**

1:10 Katie doing off family things
 1:48 Sponsor #1: Privateer Press
 7:07 Sponsor #2: D&D Beyond
 10:04 Get your pins
 13:42 100K subs on YouTube
 16:43 DUN DUNS
 17:43 Recap starts
 18:30 Recap ends
 21:24 Diamond dusts
 28:14 Sequester scroll
 34:50 "Feywild, you say?"
 39:19 Azaria's getting creepier
 46:29 Aila is the messenger
 53:34 Rosemeadow gets the news
 54:28 Rosemeadow is lost immediately
 55:38 D&D Inception
 1:00:00 Lesbian moms
 1:04:49 Subliminal D&D Beyond
 1:05:32 Thalia sees Rosemeadow
 1:06:16 Rosemeadow meets everyone
 1:07:17 Big Cat likes Rosemeadow
 1:10:28 Touch the book
 1:14:00 Hesper's voice
 1:14:45 Break starts
 1:16:56 Butchers, Bakers, Candlestick makers
 1:20:07 Mid-break Donations
 1:28:50 You wanna play PP?
 1:30:05 Break ends
 1:30:32 Mark describes the Feywild
 1:34:19 Feywild Grass
 1:35:00 Rosemeadow frollicking
 1:38:45 Archfey impose rules
 1:40:17 Thalia is at least 800+ years
 1:44:04 Different skies
 1:46:29 Emotions have power
 1:49:10 The Rose Knight
 1:51:40 The Uncurser
 2:00:43 Impending battle
 2:13:11 Mark avoids controlling too many NPCs
 2:13:52 Fey Manticore = Feyticore
 2:04:46 Knights of the Splendent Panoply
 2:07:03 Initiative
 2:21:33 Tail spikes hurt and are scary
 2:10:11 Mark was in a Discord call
 2:23:59 Turn the Faithless
 2:26:01 Mirror Image
 2:28:08 Combat is over. Wah wah
 2:30:38 Lady Penelope
 2:32:50 Radovan, the Harengon
 2:35:14 Penepelopeleponaplepineapple
 2:37:09 Quill lets the satyr musician go
 2:41:14 Mark's Spanish accent
 2:41:32 Livin' la vida loca
 2:44:14 Halloween episodes go bad
 2:46:12 Outro Donación
 2:49:18 MK13Wolf said it was a joke
 2:52:21 Feyticore is a deadly boomerang
 2:53:18 Bye

Thanks to Nick Ahn for doing the timestamps!

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Dago (Satyr)
* Lady Penelope el Pavo Real
* Radovan (Harengon)

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Azaria Yorien Perel
* Big Cat
* Kyrie
* Rosemeadow
* Thalia Whisperwind

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Genevieve Astoria
* H’esper
* Kalus Valkyrian
* Petal

## **Featured Locations**

* Horizon
* Lunaria
	+ Unknown land

## **Trivia**

* Players were introduced this week as Rhiannon “Dadofax, Lord of all Dads”, Tom “La Hee”, Trott “La Hee” and Kim “Mistress of the Big Furry Boys”.
* Kim refered to the DM’s pin as having “that vacant evil stare of all the danger and consequences they’re gonna inflict”, “the loaded d20 so that they can always smite you with crits” and the “book of secrets and lies” (DM’s notes/the DMG).
* The Thalia pin has snake hair because they “didn’t tell Nina” that she was going to lose it.
* Kim introduced the Thalia pin and mimed kissing it with with her Nova pin.
* Tom got razzed because the limited edition Reynard pin has not yet sold out. He countered with “you could buy the Lucius plush…oh wait”. Later, Trott asked Rhiannon to mime talking and said that he’d tell a joke for her, “Reynard pin!” he said.
* None of them (except Rhi) could remember Azaria Perel’s name. Kim said it sounds like hand gel (Purell makes hand creams and lotions). This resulted in photoshopped images of “Azaria Purell” and “Azaria Pirelli” (tyres) in the Discord.
* Azaria Perel wants them to take a rod of adamantine, mithril or high grade silver with them to the Feywild because she wants to be able to cast *plane shift*.
* Rosemeadow used to play the Aerosian equivalent of D&D in Kalie’s Rest with her friends. She played a baker, Betty Beeswax (who had an 18 in Friendship), while other people played a blacksmith and a carpenter. Their village was called Stardew Valley. Lucius is keen to play this game. Tom says they cannot play D&D in D&D, but the rest are keen, and it was suggested that this is what they play for the Christmas one-shot for the 2021 Jingle Jam with Rosemeadow running the game for the Aerois characters playing another character each: it was suggested that people could donate for fun/silly things to happen. Mark suggested that he could dress up as Rosemeadow for this one-shot. Suggestions for the name of the game (that Mark indicated would be more of an Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley style game than D&D) were “Boulders and Bakers”, “Professions and Profits”, “Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers”, or “Bread and Breakfast”.
* **Continuity error:** Mark describes them feeling the sunlight on their skin when they arrive at the Feywild but then describes the trees as incredibly tall with a thick canopy that blocks the sky – the woods are only lit by the luminescence of the flowers, shrubs and grass giving the wood a dim twilight appearance.
* The satyr, Dago, is described as looking like Philoctetes from the Disney movie, Hercules.
* Mark confirmed that the Manticore he used in this episode is a custom/homebrew creature because he needs to be able to challenge them now that they are high level.
* The manticore’s tail spikes, when embedded, cause a player to lose 10 ft of movement and a -2 to all attacks, saving throws and ability checks. The effect is cumulative with each spike.
* The Manticore’s bite puts a DOT on a player: the amount of damage taken must be healed (can be done over multiple spells), a medicine check, or a *lesser/greater restoration* spell must be cast to stop the bleeding.
* Radovan has a very strong Cockney accent.
* Lady Penelope is meant to speak with a Spanish accent – Mark’s is more French…ish?
* Next week is their Halloween episode where they dress up: someone pointed out that every time there has been a Halloween episode, things go tragically badly – people die or dark serious emotional stuff happens – all while they are dressed up in stupid outfits.
* According to Mark, he has a Halloween costume for “Personal Party Time” and another for High Rollers.