Aerois - Episode 41: Moonstar, Monsters and Money

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Moonstar, Monsters and Money** is the 41st episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 21st July 2019 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*Time for Lucius to make some grown up decisions, while Nova seeks out a new Aether...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* The sponsors this week are Critit.co.uk and D&D Beyond. HR will soon be filming a “cool thing” for D&D Beyond.
* New mini-series, Lightfall’s descent is on after this stream on the D&D Twitch Channel. It will be available on YouTube and podcast afterwards.
* There is no stream next week because a couple of the HR people will be at LARP.
* Mark, Katie and Tom will be at PAX West this year – there will be a signing with the Idle Champions booth (with an exclusive HR poster). They are trying to do a Q&A panel as well as a live game.
* Tomorrow (22nd) is the last day to get the Sentry and Paladin shirts. Once they are gone, they are gone.
* Thank you to everyone who subbed on the HR Twitch channel. The Smeek emote is now available and active. Reminder to use your Prime sub if you have one available.
* The week after next is YogCon. HR will be streaming from YouCon but will not be as long as a normal episode. This will be the first time that HR is streaming on their own channel with their own audio equipment.

### **Recap**

"*The party faced off against a number of assassins in Norfir's apartment after a Fireball explosive detonates amid them. Quill's beak is broken by a long-ranged marksman with a thunderstone firearm from a nearby building, but is rescued by Lucius who drags him to safety. The rest of the party take care of the assassins, though some may have escaped. The city watch arrive, along with the Captain of the royal guard, Valera Demethal, who questions the PCs and explains the severity of the attack. The party are given permission to openly carry their arms about the city and instructed to be careful. Quill is healed at the Cathedral of Siaska, and uses the power of the Eye of the Storm to look back into the past, and witnesses a masked and robed figure sending the assassins after them. Revealing this power, he also offers to look into the fate of Virion Elenasto, Lucius' father. At the remains of the Elenasto estate, Quill uses the power and sees Lucius' father setting off a trap, similar to the one that nearly killed them, but far more powerful. It is unmistakable that he dies in the blast. As Lucius comes to terms with the loss of his family, a masked figure flies down and confronts him, claiming that he is not the real Lucius Elenasto.*"

### **Part 1**

*A mysterious figure has ambushed us and wants to interrogate Lucius!*

In the ruined, blacked Elenasto estate, in the heart of Gusthaven’s noble district, there is a momentary scene of quiet serenity. Aila, Sentry, and Smeek stand at the gates of the estate looking over what used to be a large manor house, now reduced to rubble. Quill stands a little distance off, and in front of him are Nova and Lucius, in the remains of a basement, Lucius kneeling and Nova standing beside him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. A slender figure swoops down out of the night sky to stand in front of the workshop – they give the impression of being feminine, but it is hard to tell, what with them being covered in tight leather armour and fabric. There are bandoliers of strange canisters and devices arrayed on a belt and holsters around their legs, and on their face is a white porcelain mask that displays a crescent moon and several stars. Their voice is modulated by magic as they look down on Lucius and Nova saying, “You are not Lucius Elenasto.”

Lucius looks up at the figure, “I wish I wasn’t”.

The figure stares at him, impassively, and they can see that hanging from their belt is a circular-bladed weapon, a chakram. Their hand lingers near belt but does not go for the weapon. Lucius asks if the character has been hired by the Wind Barons to kill him, but the figure denies it, saying that they are hunting the Wind Barons. They advise Lucius that the Wind Barons think that he *is* Lucius and want to kill him for it, telling him that he got lucky at Norfir’s and should leave Gusthaven while he can. Lucius asks the figure who has hired them, but they declare that they work for themselves, declaring that the Wind Barons are a blight on Gusthaven and are corrupting the city. They declare that the Watch and the Palace are under the influence of the Wind Barons and that they are the only one able to deal with the outlaw organisation. The figure tells Lucius that they knew his sister and that they were very close – Lucius declares that he would have seen this figure at some point, but the figure tells him that his father would not have approved of his sister seeing someone like them.

Lucius turns the tables on the figure, asking whether they are trying to claim what is left of the estate themselves – they announce that they have no claim to it, saying that Edea and they were “close but not that close” and telling Lucius that they do not need the family’s money. The figure tells Lucius that Gusthaven needs more people like his family – they stood against the Wind Barons and stood for something and so do they.

Lucius asks if all of this happened while he was away – the figure tells him that it has been going on for months but it is possible that Lucius was unaware of it. Quill, Sentry, and Aila have moved up to join the group, and Quill asks the figure why they believe the scryers who believe that Lucius is dead – the figure says that they may not, but that this is not Lucius Elenasto. Lucius, they say, was a cry-baby noble, not the type to associate himself with a group of mercenaries. The figure repeats their warning for Lucius to leave Gusthaven.

Nova asks the figure if they are this “Moonstar” figure that they have heard about – the figure gives a sarcastic laugh, admits that they are and announces that they are Siaska’s champion in the city, ensuring that real justice is done. Lucius tells Moonstar that he will do the right thing by his family and will not let anyone stand in the way of that, Moonstar responds that they will meet again, slaps something on their wrist and vanishes.

Soon after, Quill spies a shadow in a nearby street, then sees Moonstar shoot a grappling hook to one of the roofs and vanish from sight. Lucius walks away, clearly disturbed, despite the fact that the others are discussing how cool they think Moonstar is. Nova runs after him, trying to console him and apologise for being so insensitive.

They need to find somewhere to rest, but somewhere that people will not try to kill them. Lucius knows that Gusthaven is a huge city, visited by many travellers, and that there are therefore dozens of hotels, at the docks, the trade ward, the noble district, and the living district.

Nova knows that in the merchant district, there will be hotels for those with a rich lifestyle, those in the Aetherium trade, merchant airship crews, and so on – if they pose as travellers, they should be fine. Aila thinks that if they take a couple of rooms at the docks, no one would be suspicious. Both places will still be busy at this late hour of the night.

They find a comfortable looking inn in the trade district called the Feather and Flange which specialises in Aetherium industry workers. The on-call porter is a young Halfling man who is busy reading a fiction book about at adventuring knight going around during the war at the time of the Sundering. People are not paying any attention to Lucius, concentrating on the Goblin with its armour and massive halberd.

Lucius plans to go to the Skyward Trust Bank in the morning with his writ so that he can claim the gold that has been promised to him. Aila is concerned that the Wind Barons will be waiting for him at the bank but since it is a public bank, the risks are probably fairly low and they will need the money at some stage soon.

The Halfling gives them keys to the rooms they have just paid for and directs them to stairs – this is a 5-floor establishment built into a large spiralling tower, similar to Norfir’s apartment. They decide that it is safer for Sentry to room with Lucius, and since Smeek will stick to Aila, that Nova and Quill will room together, Nova promising to ask Quill lots of questions about his death experience. Quill decides to take Smeek instead of Nova as his roomie and instead ends up with both Nova and Smeek.

Using the translator earring, they get to hear Smeek’s history. Smeek was one of 17 brothers, and a middle child. Half of his brothers died to humans. Smeek wandered around in the mountains until the storm spoke to him, telling him that he had to die. After that, he met Vezzek, who told him that he and many of the other goblins had been chosen to become great warriors, and that only by dying to the storm could they become stronger goblins. Because of the death of his brothers, Smeek was afraid of being weak, and wants to become strong: this is why he wants to die. After hearing this, they all sleep, trance, or power down (in Sentry’s case).

Lucius, who has been pretending to trance, waits a few hours until he thinks that Sentry has powered down before her moves to sit in the corner with his back to her. He takes out the photo of his family and breaks down, sobbing quietly. Sentry, who has been faking her power down to keep and eye on Lucius, observes him, quietly until he drifts off into an exhausted meditation. Sentry then powers down to be bombarded by flashes of memory – the Astoria family teleporting away, an outstretched hand reaching towards her as she is pulled away by a strong current of water, she is dragged under water as she tries to make her way to the surface so that she can get her bearings. She sees a giant volcano spewing molten lava and ash as it erupts. The earth is shaking and moving, and she knows that somewhere distant, Atelicus’ spear has pierced the earth in rage at Siaska’s death and torn apart the lands. There is blackness… and a voice… “Find the Prime”.

Waking early the next day, Quill takes Smeek, goes outside and stands in the streets of Gusthaven to see the start of a glorious summer’s day. He knows that in the Lowlands, it is winter – it is the Long Night, a period of cold, rain, and darkness. Gusthaven, by contrast is beautiful, warm and sunny with a light breeze – shops are beginning to open in the nearby market with merchants starting to put out their wares. Because this is designed as a tourist area, Quill can already see people from other places wandering around, amazed, staring at the goods, and wishing him good morning – they are curious about Smeek but there is no judgement or suspicion from them. Quill finds a nearby Cuisinary with a long line and spends 4 silver for them to have a full breakfast of bread, eggs, mushrooms, meats and vegetables.

The rest of them shower while Nova has a lie in, then join Quill at the Cuisinery for breakfast. Sentry holds a warm plate to her face and Nova eventually joins them. She tells them that Tiangong feels that there is another Eterna in the city, somewhere in the Trade District (Faren’s Fortune). Quill makes the point that every Eterna they have found to date has been encapsulated in some device and being used to power something (usually evil). Nova also thinks that it may be worthwhile trying to figure out what is happening in Kalie’s Rest and thinks that it might be worthwhile trying to contact Arval (possibly to apologise to him) – Quill is prepared to use the Eye of the Storm to see what is happening with him and can use a *Sending* spell to contact him.

Quill uses the Eye to scry on Arval:

*The rush of the clouds fills Quill's vision once again, but now he knows that he is not looking through the past or into the future but rather across the current world. His vision seems to swoop, not unlike that of a bird as it sails across the land, the sea, and mountains until it comes to rest in a very well-furnished room, lavish in some ways. He sees a Dwarven man, tired, haggard looking, but alive. He pulls himself from his bed, and his first instinct is to grab a bottle of something on his bedside table - he takes a long drink, coughs a few times, then begins to get dressed. Quill sees him move to a desk and begin working on some papers that look like merchant orders and bills of sale. His hat is hung up on a coat rack next to him. The room does not look like it is in Kalie's rest - it looks much more well-furnished and more homely to Arval. Arval appears to be working but is obviously unhappy and looks dejected. There is a knock on the door, and he meets with a young Dwarven girl, who tells him that she has reports from the Cherry Tree Company and reminds him of his meeting with the Merchant Lords later that afternoon (after the 7th bell); he acknowledges them without any real enthusiasm.*

Quill quickly follows up, contacting Arval with a *Sending* spell: “We’re OK. How’s Kalie’s Rest? We’re in Gusthaven. Been a long journey. Is it safe to come back after Starbane in the cathedral?”

### **Part 2**

*The team are awaiting a reply from an old friend and start to make plans for the future!*

After a few moments, Quill receives a message from Arval in response:

*“By the stars! Quill, you’re alive! What happened? Where’s Valla? Is she with you? What do you mean Starbane? Kalie’s Rest was fine. I’m back…”*

They discuss the fact that Kalie’s Rest appears to be fine and that no one seems to know that Starbane was there, and they wonder if he has done something to tamper with people’s memories. They decide not to tell Arval about Valla until they get a chance to see him face-to-face again. They decide to collect Lucius’ gold, look into purchasing an airship and hunt for more Eterna.

Quill casts another *Sending* spell to Arval warning him of the message limit, telling him that Valla is safe and asking what happened at Kalie’s Rest after they left. Arval sends back that nothing happened except that they vanished – a few days later, the Harvest Guard investigated and only found bodies but did not know what had happened to the party.

Lucius proposes that he holds a secret lease over his family land that is let to another family and that they make a secret base for themselves underneath the building that they will build. Lucius has a choice of noble families to discuss this proposal with – he eschews the Magronas and decides to go for a minor family, House Virinor. House Virinor has a matriarch and there are three sisters who run the family (known as the Virinor Sisters).

Lucius works out a deal with the family – they will pay him 800 gold per month to rent the land (the deposit being made discretely into Lucius’ bank account in Gusthaven), they will construct their manor house on the land above and it will be separate from the secret basement (which they will also build for Lucius although it will be an unfurnished series of rooms). As a good will gesture, Lucius gives the family the prototype briefcase. Aila and Smeek stay with Lucius while he organises this and the rest head to the Trade District to look for the mysterious Eterna.

In Faren’s Fortune, the trade district of Gusthaven, one of the largest buildings is an enormous temple to H’esper. His holy symbol, the winged book with the single open eye, dominates the stone visage of the building. This is one of the oldest surviving buildings since before the Sundering (it was preserved when Gusthaven was lifted up as a Sky City). Over time, the Empyrean Archives have become the greatest repository of written knowledge in Aerois. As a temple dedicated to H’esper, the god of knowledge and magic, their quest is to ensure that the annals of destiny will not be forgotten again, and many disciples of H’esper bring their scholarly works to the archive. The number of written works is so large that it is essential to get the assistance of a priest or archivist in order to find any works of interest. Nova plans to look up many things, including information about Aila’s clan, which she has promised Aila previously.

When they get inside the building, Tiangong gives Nova the impression that the Eterna is somewhere within the same structure. Sentry wishes to research “The City of Glass”, “Volcanos”, and anything available about Solwynn. Nova asks how much it would cost to provide materials on Hadar, Starbane and Xarkira, the Lair Dir Lann, and anything written by Ellesandra Vastra. When she mentions the name of the latter, the young Human priest of H’esper who has been assigned to assist Nova advises her that Dean Vastra is in the building, but that Nova should be cautious if she wishes to speak to her. Nova is told that the Dean is not well, being afflicted by some magical malady.

Nova, Quill and Sentry are escorted to a back room that has a spiral staircase down to a basement, down stone corridors, past restricted areas of the library and temple, down another set of stairs to a darker area of the temple, all built of stone. They are taken to an iron door, near which is a bright globe giving off light almost as bright as sunlight, and the young man advises them to stay close to the door, telling them that they should be safe as long as the Dean’s companion is in the room with her. It is at this point that the young man admits that the Dean has been afflicted with vampirism. She is still dedicated to research and is provided with animal blood to slake her thirst, but the priests tread warily around her.

Sentry knows of Vampires since they were part of Xarkira’s attack forces – she “gifted” vampirism to her most trusted lieutenants to make them stronger, to give them power over creatures of the night, and they were a force of the Court of Shadows. Sentry knows them to be terrifying commanders on the battlefield and almost impossible to kill – they have rejuvenation chambers (coffins) aboard Starbane’s ships, so are effectively immortal commanders of Xarkira’s forces. Vampires were one of the few types of undead forces that were used by Xarkira in the war, and Sentry knows that Xarkira’s forces would often attack separately to Starbane’s. Sentry is aware that Vampires do not like sunlight, are resistant to weapons, and are able to regenerate.

Being concerned about whether they can trust the Dean with Tiangong, Quill decides to cast *Arcanist’s Magic Aura* on them, making Tiangong appear to be non-magical. They knock on the door and are summoned into the room – when they walk in, they are greeted by a thick, black curtain that separates the antechamber from the rest of the room and blocking the sunlight from the orb outside the door. When they close the door, the curtain is suddenly drawn back – standing in front of them, illuminated by dull blue lights on the ceiling, is a 6-foot 4-inch tall, armoured warrior, with leonine features (a huge mane, golden fur). The man carries a long spear, and his intricately carved armour is glowing slightly. The lion man look dawn at them, appraisingly, then allows them to enter to see the Dean.

They enter a lavishly decorated room with a 4-poster bed, a desk, and piles of books everywhere. At the far end of the room is a High Elven woman who looks to be in her 30s. She is pale, has long dark hair, long ears like Lucius’, blood red lips, and is wearing a fitting blue dress and wearing the holy symbol of H’esper dangling from her wrist. The woman is flicking through a book, and they notice a wine glass full of a dark red liquid on the desk in front of her. When she turns to look at them, they are astonished to see that her eyes are blood red with a black pupil.

Despite the woman’s striking appearance, she seems very pleased to see them and tells them not to worry about her hurting them, that her companion, Helios, will protect them. Ellessandra is immediately taken by Sentry, having mainly seen non-functional Guardian bodies on battlefields across Aerois. Being a student of history, Ellessandra recognises the crest of Solwynn on Sentry’s shield. Quill introduces himself as a Priest of H’esper, which interests Ellessandra greatly, and Nova introduces herself as a scholar who is interested in Eterna. Ellessandra drinks the blood from her glass, showing off her pointed fangs, and introduces Helios, who welcomes the “matter-born”.

Quill discovers that Ellessanda is not exactly happy about her captivity, given that she has Helios to protect people, but she puts up with it because it makes the priests more comfortable and gives her access to the library. Nova is staring at Helios and finally blurts out her question, asking if he is an Eterna - Ellessandra confirms that he is while Helios stands nearby, radiating light. Helios, she says, is the reason that she is not some crazed, blood-sucking monster, and she tells them her story.

Many years ago (50? 100? - Ellessandra is not sure), she was exploring the ruins of Dusthallow in Aelseraph, and in those ruins, she found a starved, feral Vampire lieutenant of Xarkira. He attacked her, and bit her but she managed to destroy him by blasting a hole in the ceiling and burning him with sunlight. It was only later that the curse took hold of her. The commander that she had killed had been bound to an Eterna in the form of a piece of armour. Sensing the curse beginning to strip away her mind, her humanity, and her empathy, Ellessandra reached out and bound herself to the armour. She knew something of the Eterna and the symbiotic relationship that they could have with others, and when she heard Helios speak, she uttered her first and only command to him: that he must not allow her ever to harm the innocent. Helios has performed this duty ever since.

Nova asks Helios how he has taken this form and not that of armour or a weapon, but Ellessandra explains to her that Eterna are beings of energy. In their home plane, they would exist as beings of energy, but they could always take physical form in order to interact with other species which is how they came to communicate with Kalus before the Sundering. Since they came to Aerois and have been bound by the Court of Shadows, they can now take the forms of weapons, armour, and the like. Ellessandra is impressed that Nova knows anything of Eterna – when Nova tells her that she learned of them from Dean Simon, Ellessandra is sceptical, thinking it unlikely that Dean Simon would have mentioned Ellessandra’s name unless Nova already knew something.

Nova tries to bluff her way out of the interrogation, telling Ellessandra that she was researching the Eternal Triumvirate and, wanting to know more about them, Simon recommended that Nova speak to Ellessandra. She is not fooled, however, telling Nova that knowledge of the Triumvirate is known to very few, even within H’esper’s ranks. Nova offers to tell Ellessandra how she has her knowledge if Ellessandra will tell her where the Triumvirate may be found but Ellessandra does not know. Tiangong, she says, was splintered into many shards that have been used to power Starbane’s war machines, vehicles, and weapons, and Starbane himself is said to have wielded a chunk of Tiangong. No one has heard from Tassadar – Helios has tried to contact him without success. She says that it would be extremely important to recover Tiangong if that was possible. The Triumvirate were the leaders and three greatest of the Eterna, known as “Princeps Eterna”, and they governed the race of Eterna. Helios is what they refer to as a Clypeus Eterna, a protector or guardian, they would form shields and armour and protect the others. There is another type, called a Gladio Eterna, the attackers and warriors, who would form weapons and spears.

Helios steps forward and asks menacingly why they are asking so many questions about the Eterna and wants to know what Nova knows of his people, wanting to know if she is one of those who enslave them and bind them, making them fight for the binder. Ellessandra tries to calm Helios, reassuring him that Nova is not like Kalus Starbane. Helios remembers the day that Starbane came to speak to the Triumvirate, using charm and words of victory against a powerful enemy. Helios claims that Starbane has turned his race into slaves, nothing more than batteries from which he can drain power.

Quill asks Helios what became of the Triumvirate. Tassadar, Helios tells him, was taken to be used in Kalus’ greatest warship (that was then given the name of Tassadar). No one knows what happened to Alyeja – she vanished. Tiangong was powerful – they were split up into many shards and used to power Kalus’ war machines, but no one knows where all the pieces are. Helios goes silent. Ellessandra commiserates with her friend telling the party that the Eterna were convinced that they were convinced that they would be helping to protect the universe, and yet were used to attack Aerois.

Nova nudges Quill, who nods imperceptibly. Nova then draws Tiangong and Quill explains that he has put an aura on the sword – he believes that this may be what they are looking for. Ellessandra raises a long finger with a painted nail then clicks it and the aura vanishes. Helios’ eyes go wide and his face screws up as he begins to snarl, accusing Nova of enslaving Tiangong. Nova tries desperately to explain that she rescued Tiangong and is trying to re-form them. Sentry moves in front of Nova as Ellessandra can do nothing but stare at the blade in Nova’s hands. Helios steps menacingly towards Nova, insisting that she release them, but Nova insists that Tiangong speaks to her. Helios pauses as there is a pulse from Tiangong, almost as if they are trying to speak to Nova, but it is projected outwards – Helios staggers back, reeling from an unseen force, before immediately dropping to a knee and bowing his head towards his leader.

Ellessandra is intrigued as Nova tells her story of finding and liberating Tiangong. She tells the Dean that she wishes to re-form Tiangong but does not know how to find more shards. Currently, they are only able to communicate through emotions, feelings, and dreams. Ellessandra tells Nova that her research shows that Tiangong was broken into thirteen pieces, and Kalus carries the largest and most powerful to this day. The other shards may be on Aerois, or on others of his ships, along with other Eterna. Ellessandra believes that many shards may be on Aerois because only Tiangong’s power could have been used on some of Kalus’ war machines that were deployed during the war with Aerois. She does not know where the shards can be found, however, and cannot leave the library, although she tells them that Helios can leave and recommends that he does so. In order for Helios to leave, he would have to unbind from Ellessandra – as long as they maintain the sunlight and keep her fed, she believes that she will be safe (and others kept safe from her).

Given how important it is to Helios to see Tiangong restored to power, he decides to accompany them, but says that he will do so under his own terms, not as one bound to them. Ellessandra asks them to return in a few days while she gets her affairs in order and she offers to give her research to Nova – she will give her the names of a few Eterna who are on Aerois, and others that are lost. Her only price is that whatever knowledge they gain is brought back to Ellessandra so that it can be shared with future generations. Before they leave, Nova sits with Ellessandra and Helios and tells them the story of Nightfrost – Ellessandra takes extensive notes and Helios looks pained as the tale reaches its end.

The party comes together and travels to Lily and Sprocket Shipwright Company. It will cost them 30,000 gold to purchase an airship – most of the components are at the workshop, but the ship has to be assembled. Lily and Sprocket are a Gnomish couple, one is a Tinker Gnome and the other is a Whisper Gnome, with seven children who are various ages and all work for the company. They only take custom orders but are renowned for what they do.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:28 - Tom is very tired
1:23 - Trott’s Crit It ad
3:19 - DnD Beyond ad (ft. Roasting Tom)
4:58 - The only thing DnD Beyond can’t do
7:22 - Mummy and Daddy
8:01 - For paladins and plants only
10:05 - Aerois intro video
11:08 - Recap
12:55 - New rule, crit hits = max damage + another damage roll
15:07 - Episode begins
17:05 - He was a doppleganger all along
25:16 - Quill is a motion detector
27:50 - Aww Lucy :(
28:49 - Time to cry
33:46 - Quill’s gonna be filthy by the time they find some sand
34:34 - The Feather and Flange
40:03 - Sentry the sentry
40:13 - Smeek’s language lessons
41:10 - Tom will even trade Nova for Smeek
41:44 - Instant regret
43:03 - Smeek and the earring
43:42 - Tom may implode
45:19 - The story of Smeek
49:26 - It’s a fake sleep-off
51:05 - A sorrowful culmination
52:19 - Sentry’s dreams and memories
54:46 - Quill now has a child
55:35 - They are lovers now
1:01:26 - Sentry’s first warm plate since her res
1:06:04 - We love Kim’s leading questions
1:09:42 - Scrying on Arval
1:10:50 - A “productive” week
1:14:51 - Messaging Arval
1:16:58 - Break begins
1:26:31 - Break ends ft. Butts
1:27:11 - Episode resumes
1:27:29 - Arval’s reply
1:37:54 - Sending again
1:47:06 - For Daddy!
1:56:21 - A. Plumbus
2:02:25 - The stoner area of the temple
2:02:55 - Dean Alessandra’s “illness”
2:15:16 - Nova and Kim are a bit excited today
2:21:02 - Nova’s guilty Tiangong face
2:21:47 - Eterna lore
2:27:23 - A Smeek interjection ft. Tom’s Smeek rage
2:27:59 - Tiangong’s protection
2:34:05 - Helios and Smeek
2:35:16 - Airship talk
2:39:17 - Donations
2:42:03 - Stream ends
2:42:07 - Fan art video
*feel free to add extra timestamps of significant events!*

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Helios
* Dean Ellesandra Vastra

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Smeek
* Moonstar
* Arval

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Norfir
* Tassadar
* Alyeja
* Nightfrost
* Kalus Starbane

## **Trivia**

* They decided to keep the crit rules from last week. Mark explained that a nat 20 can still crit but miss – if the Bane spell is applied, for instance, and it does not hit someone’s AC. Bless would also work.
* This PAX event will be their first PAX event.
* Mark is excited about returning to Top Pot Doughnuts. Kim wants to return to Mox Boarding House because the food was amazing when she was there last. This will be Tom’s first trip to Seattle.
* The PCs gained XP from last week due to recent fights and the discovery of Gusthaven. They received about 2000 xp each.
* **Lore dump:** Edea was often secretive and would go off by herself to work on things. Lucius always assumed that she was doing research or something else for the business. He knows that she had workshops that were not at home that she would go to. She had a social life, and it was very active. The Elenastos were a traditional family, and marriages and relationships were monitored and controlled, with the idea of preserving the noble lineage and preventing fraternising with people below their station. There was a traditional sense of purity to be upheld.
* Mark describes Moonstar as “clearly being dressed up as some sort of vigilante”.
* Quill, with his 22 perception, is compared to the Terminator (T-1000).
* Tom made it canon this episode that Aarakocra have sand/dirt baths rather than water baths.
* There was reference to sand being coarse and getting everywhere. This was a reference to Star Wars (Episode II: Attack of the Clones).
* Initially, the hotel they stay in is called the Swan Hotel until Tom throws out the name Feather and Flange.
* **Continuity error:** Lucius mentions sobbing over the family photo that he recovered from the Elenasto estate. Mark described the photo as having been burned away and only part of the frame surviving. Mark corrects him.
* **Lore dump:** hotels in Gusthaven are just places to sleep – they do not serve food. All the food in Gusthaven is highly moderated and monitored. There are places called “Cuisineries” which are essentially government-owned restaurants to which people can go and get their food rations for the day. Only the very rich can have their own larders because they buy the food independently. Most of the poor in Gusthaven (which is most of the citizens, who are not nobles) do not own anything – everything is provided to them by the state in exchange for the provision of work.
* Mark tells them that at this point, they have been gone from Kalie’s Rest for 10 days (the passage of in-game time between episodes 26 and 41).
* The rest of Arval’s message (before the 25-word limit kicked in) was “*in Goldthrone”.*
* Kalie’s Rest is 3-4 days’ travel from Goldthrone.
* Mark revealed that he wanted the party to have an airship rather than have them using teleportation circles to get around.
* There is a brief discussion about teleportation magic and which spells would maintain momentum when the person teleports. The thought is that *Misty Step* would not but that *Arcane Gate* would.
* The maintenance costs for an airship of the sort that Lucius is looking into is 1,500 gold per month: this covers the wages for staff, general maintenance, docking fees, and 300g-worth of fuel (which will take them around a continent).
* Lucius owns the land on which his family manor house stood: he can choose to rent it or sell it to the state of Gusthaven but he cannot rent it privately.
* This is the first time that the secret base is mentioned.
* There are three major noble houses in Gusthaven: the Magronas, the Etherons, and the Perels. There are three minor noble houses in Gusthaven: House Naemis – primarily focused on the agricultural needs of the city, have the largest and best orchards in Greenborough, make use of druidic magic, are vintners (create wine). House Elanore – not very rich but heavily reliant upon the city’s provisions, maintain the climate ward (weather system) of the city – this gives them a lot of influence. House Virinor – known for their craftsmanship and owning land, they do not have many members with magical talent, use their skills to make and refurbish housing and other buildings, mainly architects and masons.
* The Empyrean Archive contains works on everything from the location of the “Blade of Galgoth” to “Turnip Farming” by A. Plumbus. This is the first appearance of A. Plumbus as an author. Aplumbus was one of Tom’s World of Warcraft characters.
* Researching in the Empyrean Archive takes time and money – you donate money to the temple to get the assistance of the archivists and must take time to copy any information that is found (since the books cannot leave the archive).
* Trott suggests that they may find the book “Plates and How to Warm Them” by A. Plumbus in the Empyrean Archive. Mark counters with “100 Uses for a Warm Plate” by A. Plumbus.
* Maps would not be found at the Empyrean Archive and are more likely to be found with the Messengers Guild.
* Mark pronounces Clypeus as “Syphus” in this episode.
* Helios becomes armour rather than a weapon. Mark retcons a little and says that Helios would not have a spear but would use his claws.
* Mark took much of his airship design from the Acquisitions Incorporated book.
	+ Cosmetic Feature
		- Design ship to look a certain way e.g., the ship has spectral servants who help out but are more visual, or the ship looks like a giant dragon with spectral wings.
	+ Weapon Feature
		- Ballistae
		- Arcane Cannon – takes some time to charge up then fires a big beam
		- Hydraulic Ram at the bow – a giant piston ram
* Quill suggests that they get Oriya as first mate of the new airship.

## **Quote**

* Nova: So, what do you want to do next?
* Lucius: Um, lie on the floor, try not to cry, cry a lot.
* Nova: after that?
* Lucius: I haven’t thought that far ahead.