Aerois - Episode 17: The Bow

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Bow** is the 17th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd channel on 25th November 2018 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Aila, Arvel(sic) and Valla tackle some nasty Shadow Girls, while the rest of the gang battle their way through the underwater spaceship and find a powerful new artefact...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* This is the last episode for the year that will be sponsored by D&D Beyond.
* Next week is the YogsCast Jingle Jam.
* On 2nd Dec will be the High Rollers Xmas special (a non-canonical Aerois episode), with special guest, Matthew Mercer. Kim will be away for that episode because she will be in Malaysia for the whole of December. Otherwise, HR will be playing other board games.
* There will be a Black Friday sale for merch including bundles. New gemstone dice (opalite and blue sandstone) will be available and come in a wooden display box. The Gemstone Guardian bundle will include gemstone dice, posters, calendar and other items. The Starting Adventurer Bundle will include plastic dice, posters, calendar, etc. Use the code HIGHROLLERS for 10% off. Signed posters are available for sale (same as comes in the bundle), as is the calendar.
* Consider giving your Amazon Prime subscription to High Rollers D&D on Twitch.

### **Recap**

"*The party have uncovered something sinister beneath Rosewater lake. On their journey to the city of Goldthrone, the party stopped to assist in the search for a missing girl. Having learned that something was amiss with three young women working in the local general store, several members of the party and a Beastwalker bunny lady, Sanna Longears, discovered a tunnel that leads into a crashed starship buried beneath the lake. After engaging several guards in a desperate battle and chase throughout the ship's crystalline hallways, the party has arrived at a large chamber, where a magical bow seemed to be contained in some sort of device and speaks to them in their mind. Meanwhile, Aila, the Wild Elf barbarian, offered to watch over the young girl Valla, who bears a striking resemblance to the girls being kidnapped, and was the target of an attempted kidnapping before. Having not heard from the rest of the party.*"
### **Part 1**

*A dangerous gunslinger blocks the path to a powerful bow, but first we catch up with Aila, Arval and Valla!*

Aila, looking after Valla, has not heard from the party since they went to the Acorn and Bale - she knows that they found girls there wearing necklaces with the symbol of Kalus Starbane, a legendary tyrant that tried to take over Aerois. About 45 minutes after the group left, a crowd begins to gather outside the lodge - leading them is Missy Steeleyes, a grey-haired and bespectacled dwarven woman wearing a leather jerkin and a shortsword sheathed at her side. Valla is relaxing in a chair nearby, Galen is reading a book and Arval has his crossbow loaded. Missy is making enquiries about what has been happening in the town, and she wants to speak to Sanna, but Aila tells her that Sanna is not with their group. Missy tells Aila that there appears to have been a break in at the general store, that Bodwin woke up in his cellar not knowing how he got down there, and that the three girls have gone missing. A cold breeze goes through the town, and one of the townsfolk suddenly lurches forward with a red stain growing on his chest. Standing behind him are two shadowy looking-figures - they are young girls, perhaps 14 years of age with long, dark hair, but their figures seem shadowy and semi-translucent: they are not spectres, but real girls, infused with shadow and necrotic energy. They point at the window, where a pale-looking Valla is staring out at them, and Aila notices that they all look very similar to Valla: they point again at Valla and simply say, "Her..."

The villagers start to panic, seeing one of their number has been slain by the Shadow Maidens. Galen thinks for a minute that one of the girls might be Estelle, his daughter, then realises that they are not. The shadows cling to and drip off them as if they are infused with shadow itself; their eyes are all black. Galen moves to protect Valla as the girls drift forwards, stabbing more of the villagers. Arval sees two more girls at the now open back door of the lodge. Aila hits one of them, but notices that the shadow seems to absorb some of the damage, and there is no reaction of pain. Galen manages to put one of the Shadow Maidens to sleep, not wanting to attack someone who looks so similar to his daughter. Aila calls out that they should not be trying to kill these girls because they are people's daughters, too - she knocks one out, and sees that as her body hits the floor, the blackness begins to pool off the girl, seeps into the shadows on the ground, then flies up into the night sky... her body then appears pale and lifeless, and it is clear that she is already dead.

Galen attack another of the girls, and attempts to knock her out, but she reciprocates and slashes Galen's throat, killing him; Valla responds by killing the girl responsible. Missy is hit with a poisoned dagger, and falls to the ground; Arval is also hit, and falls - only Valla and Aila remain. Together, they destroy the last shadow creature that whispers, "Peace..." as the necrotic energy leaves its body. Aila checks on the fallen: Missy, Arval and most of the villagers outside are unconscious but alive. The town has gone quiet.

Meanwhile, inside the submerged ship, the Remnant soldier standing at the open double doors announces that there are intruders, having seen everyone but Sentry. The man behind him, carrying a thunderstone pistol and wearing elaborate bracers, tells the soldier to deal with them. Nova communes with Tiangong and asks about the bow in the next room - Tiangong recognises the voice coming from the bow. Nova wants to rescue the bow, and tells Tiangong not to be scared, that she will not let them take Tiangong - she gets back a sense of agreement about the rescue, and a sense of trust in Nova and relief that she will keep Tiangong safe. Demos walks forward to the door, pulls out the pistol (which is different to the one Quill had - it is elaborate, made of a silver metal and covered in runes), pulls out a bullet-shaped object from his belt, loads it into the gun, says, "Webshot" and fires it at the corridor. As the bullet hits, there is a flash of arcane energy and strings of web explode around them. He tells his men to take them so that they can be interrogated.

Sentry places the detached guard's hand against the door to the room opposite them in the corridor: the door opens to reveal a young girl (who looks like Valla) sitting on a bedroll - she looks dazed and otherworldly with faint wisps of inky shadow curling up her arm. The girl looks at Sentry and says, "You're not one of them..." Sentry tells her to stay quiet and that she will be back for the girl later. On a failed attack, the guard sees Sentry. Sanna kills the guard with a double kick attack, and Sentry uses her flame lance against Demos, destroying much of his armour.

### **Part 2**

*The party continue their battle with the gunslinger in the Remnant ship!*

Demos wonders why Nova is carrying Remnant tech (referring to Tiangong), takes another runic bullet, puts it in his gun, calls “Ice shot” and fires. The bullet explodes, doing damage to Sentry and Quill. Sanna moves up to attack Demos who recognises her as the bounty hunter who has been searching for “the girl”.

The guard in the main room tells Demos that he is finished doing something and that he should be able to retrieve the device. Demos attacks Sanna and knocks her unconscious, then moves back to the crystal containment device and calls, “Nightfrost, come to me!” The bow turns into a solid form of mist, then turns into a shadowy cloak with a cowl that covers the lower part of Demos’ face, and trails shadow and ice behind him.

Nova tries to summon Nightfrost, telling him that Tiangong needs him, but Nightfrost says that he is bound to Demos. Demos is prepared to give them a chance to live – if they will hand Valla over; he then loads another bullet and shoots at Nova.

Demos drops his pistol, extends claws from the bracers that he is wearing, and orders Nightfrost to protect him – his form becomes blurry and indistinguishable. Sanna suddenly regains consciousness (rolls a nat 20) but plays possum. Quill tries to understand more about Demos’ gun – he realises that the bullets are called Spell Shots: they are quite rare, expensive and difficult to make. They are akin to a scroll, but the magic is inscribed onto a bullet, and the bullet must be fired from the gun (an arcane shot) to be activated.

Demos attacks Nova and knocks her unconscious. Sanna’s eyes snap open, and she suddenly leaps up and attacks the guard, destroying him. Sentry delivers the killing blow to Demos, who utters as he goes down, “At least you won’t be able to stop him coming a second time, guardian, and he is coming…” The cloak falls off his neck, warps in shape, changes back into a bow, and falls to the ground. Sanna stabilises Nova as they notice the power in the ship seems to fluctuate.

With all of the enemies now defeated, Sanna limps over to check the girl that Sentry had found earlier – she wants to see if it is Galen’s daughter, Estelle. Lucius looks over Demos’ dead body, taking one Spell Shot (Slick Shot), the Arcane Pistol, the clawed bracers (Force Claws), and a pouch with 15pp and 100gp. As he moves over to the bow, they hear a disturbed voice muttering about a broken bond and freedom. Sanna comes out of the room clutching Estelle. Nightfrost admits to killing four girls because “they made [him]” and because he was “so hungry”. He says that he drained the four girls (because they made him) and instilled them with magic that they could not control: he says that he was made to protect. Lucius is worried that the bow sounds traumatised and that bonding with it may pass the trauma on to the one who bonds with it.

Nightfrost does not want to be left on the ship – he says that he has been here for nearly 500 years.

They search the other rooms: one is Demos’ room and has a small metal lockbox within it. In the large chamber, there is a central containment unit (what had been used to house Nightfrost) that is now empty, and Quill becomes aware that there is a power pulse that is becoming more erratic – Quill thinks that this may be because the bow is no longer powering the ship. Lucius asks if Nightfrost can power the ship – he says he can, that Starbane’s ship was fuelled by his power, but that he cannot move the ship because he is too weak, the ship has degraded over time, and the systems are irreversibly damaged. With him no longer powering the ship, the containment field is likely collapsing and water is getting inside the ship: power is fluctuating, and the star essence is becoming unstable. Nightfrost confirms that there are no more girls, only the “one the child of Atelicus carries”. In the final room is a metal construct, similar to the one that attacked them previously, but this one just floats in midair and does not attack them. Sentry grabs the box from Demos’ room, and they run to leave the ship.

The ship begins to break apart, starting to flood with water, and when they get back to the guardpost by the entrance from the tunnel, the three girls are no longer there: the ropes have been removed and tossed aside. They are about halfway down the tunnel when they see a figure coming towards them with a lantern: it is Aila followed by Arval and Valla.

Arval asks if they have seen any shadow girls, and Aila sees Estelle – she notices that Estelle is alive, but has wisps of shadow curling around her arms and up her neck. Nightfrost admits that he did that to Estelle, and that it cannot be undone: she has been infused with Nightfrost’s power and will carry the magic with her for the rest of her life. He says that he is an Eterna – Sentry is curious and asks him what an Eterna is. He tells her that he and Tiangong are Eterna, but that in his current state, Tiangong is like a splinter or a branch of a great oak. Tiangong was one of the greatest of the Eterna, and a friend to Nightfrost. Nightfrost says that he and Tiangong were taken by Kalus, deceived and lied to. Demos stopped Nightfrost from killing Estelle because he knew that she was not the girl they were looking for. Aila takes Sanna aside, leaving Estelle with Sentry: Aila tells Sanna that Galen has died. Sanna knows that Estelle’s mother lives in Kalie’s Rest, and says that she will take Estelle to Kalie’s Rest ahead of the party for their safety.

They reveal to Aila that there were Remnant soldiers trying to work towards Starbane’s return – Valla says that that won’t be possible with the Cradle in place, but Nova says that he might return if it falls. Sentry thinks it odd that the ship was still operational after all this time, but Nova thinks it possible that if the Remnant were retreating, it is possible that other ships landed safely. Nightfrost agrees, saying that the people who woke him from his slumber were the first people he had seen in centuries: they came a few weeks prior. Nightfrost does not know if there are other surviving ships, but recalls the captain speaking of retreats and withdrawals – Siaska’s actions turned their victory into defeat. They were struck by dragon fire from one of the dragonborn ships, and after an emergency landing, the earth cracked and broke around them, and earth and water buried the ship.

Demos believed that a girl like the others could activate Nightfrost’s full power and give him strength: the four girls died as a test to see if they were the one that Demos was looking for – Nightfrost is haunted by their faces, knowing that he was responsible for their deaths just so that he could become himself again.

Quill says that it looks like they need the Eterna to power the ships, to which Nightfrost replies, “We were placed there, tortured. That existence, having our very essence stripped away from us to fuel his war machines… it is unbearable”. Nova explains that the sliver of Tiangong that she found in the crashed Valkyrian skiff must have been powering it. “He tricked us,” replies Nightfrost, “manipulated us… lied to us… said that we would help him… said that we would protect our world, but it was a lie”. Nightfrost says that he does not wish to seek darkness or to harm others, just to be free and to be himself again. He says that he is not strong enough to be free and must bond with someone in order to do that.

Nova asks about their world: “Eterna, my home world” says Nightfrost, “it is where we are all from (including Tiangong). There were so many of us; he turned us into weapons, armour, power for his war machines. I hope some of them survived”. Lucius points out that Starbane then invaded Aerois and killed Siaska – “Not just your world, Starbane… no, you misunderstand. Your world is not the only world, there are so many others out there. Worlds that he conquered, that he demanded become his vassals to help him in his great war. Yours was just the first one he couldn’t conquer”.

Sentry is disturbed and desolate at the idea of Starbane creating so much destruction on worlds other than their own and Lucius is concerned about Nightfrost’s fear of his return. Nova wants to warn people but Aila says that they won’t believe them without proof – all they have is some indication of a cult trying to bring back Starbane - Valla thinks that the church of Siaska or the scholars in the sky cities might have some evidence to corroborate what Nightfrost is saying.

They make their way back to town (but do not hear the old woman’s voice in the tunnel again); Aila and Arval had wrapped Galen’s body and moved it before they left to meet the party, but they realise that the bodies of the shadow maidens have disappeared from sight, with only marks where they had been.

Sanna pours them some stiff drinks, puts Estelle to bed, and starts drinking heavily with Aila while the rest go to rest. A drunk Sanna tries to flirt with Aila who is having none of it, and Sanna eventually crashes and sleeps on the sofa.

After four hours of meditation, Lucius sneaks into Nova’s room to check on Nova and Nightfrost. The bow asks the “elf from the sky” what he wishes – Lucius wants to know if Nightfrost is planning to hurt any of them, which Nightfrost denies. He says (in Lucius’ thoughts) that he was a protector amongst his people and is not dangerous, and offers to bond with Lucius if Lucius wishes: Demos forced the bond on Nightfrost, but he is now free to choose to help someone. Lucius allows the bond, preferring the cloak form over the bow form, and Nightfrost appears around Lucius’ neck as a scarf of black shadow with a long trailing line down his back, dripping with ice cold.

Once the cloak settles, Nightfrost says that he can now take his other form; the cloak dissipates, and from Lucius’ own shadow a hunched being with glowing white eyes emerges, saying in a whispered, gravelly voice, “Welcome, master Lucius…”

## **YouTube Timestamps**

06:18 - Episode Start
13:41 - Intro
14:45 - Part 1
43:32 - "Is there a roll for apathy?"
43:37 – Mark accidentally flipping off the camera
1:06:10 - that explains everything
1:22:50 - How to make your DM have a nerdgasm. Learn your class kids!
1:30:58 - Break time/Donations
1:38:14 - Part 2
1:56:10 – reaction gifset plz
2:14:28 - Tom denies being a killer
2:20:37 - Demos’ room is full of boy band posters
2:23:50 - Sentry throws the hand at the button
2:35:36 - Trott's prophetic fistbump
2:46:15 - "Man tough dayyyy-bpbpbpbp"
2:47:26 - Drunk Sanna tries it on with Aila
2:51:55 - Lucius has never been in a relationship before
2:52:47 – Are you feeling anything?
2:53:57 - possibly the best thing i've ever seen from Trott
2:54:18 - Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Demos, Remnant commander in submerged ship
* Estelle, Galen's daughter
* Nightfrost

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Arval Dagos
* Galen
* Missy Steeleyes, Field Warden of Ironwick
* Sanna Longears
* Trisha, Ven and Xanni, the three shop girls
* Valla

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Kalus Starbane
* Shadow maidens
* Xarkilla / Xarkira

## **Featured Locations**

* Ironwick
	+ The Acorn and Bale (general store)
* Rosewater Lake
	+ Submerged Valkyrian ship

## **Trivia**

* Katie returned this week from a week away, so Aila was not with the party. At the start of the episode, Aila goes into battle with the NPCs that have stayed with her, and they are played by the other players: Kim plays Arval, Tom plays Galen, Trott plays Missy Steeleyes, and Rhi plays Valla.
* In the battle with the Shadow Maidens, Aila does 3 lightning damage - this is the first time that she has done more than 1 damage with her lightning.
* Kim, while playing Arval, names his hand axe 'Daphne'. Mark made a note and agreed that this was now canon.
* Arval is revealed to be "an NPC with a fighter level" because his hit dice are 2d8 + 1d10.
* Mark said that he sees everything like a movie in his head.
* This is the first time that Nova has rolled a successful death saving throw.
* Kim is told that Nova cannot attune to Nightfrost for more reasons than that she is already attuned to Tiangong ("there is more to it than that").
* Kim asks if they can hear the voice that mentioned “her girls” last episode, calling her “Xarkira” – Mark confirms that the voice was that of an old woman “she spoke of something called Xarkira, or something like that, you’re not sure”.
* **Continuity error:** Mark refers to Estelle as "Estella" a couple of times this episode.