Aerois - Chapter Sixteen: New Horizons

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

 Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**New Horizons** is the sixteenth chapter of the Aerois campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel between 14th March and 6th June 2021, and consists of eleven episodes.

*In Chapter Sixteen, the party reach Horizon at last! It's time for meetings with world leaders and titans, shocking news, desperate rescues, and heartfelt reunions.*

## Summary

The party arrives in the sky city of Horizon to attend the meeting of world leaders at the Aerosian Defence Summit. There they plan to discuss the threat of Kalus Valkyrian and his Empire, and the greater threat of the mad Divine, Hadar. When they arrive, they are introduced to their liaison to the city, Reyn Talevir. Reyn is efficient and no-nonsense, giving them a brief overview of the security in place for the meeting before taking them to meet the steward of Horizon, Dannica Bloodfire.

Dannica is a young woman, but inside her is a phoenix that makes her both a powerful sorceress and almost immortal. Dannica has protected Horizon since the Sundering and she makes it clear to the party that whatever the troubles they face, Horizon and its people will always be her first priority. With a preliminary social gathering set for that evening, Dannica sends the party out to explore the city where they run into their old friend, the Centaur, Rosemeadow. There is a tearful and joyous reunion with Arval Dagos and after they catch up on the months apart, Arval reveals a suit of armour that the group had commissioned all those months ago. Arval promises to use his accrued wealth to assist them and also to stay in touch. As they are heading back to the Citadel, Quill spies a small shop called Solwynn’s Legacy and he encourages Sentry to take a look. Inside, she finds a somewhat familiar young woman – it is Petal, the princess that she guarded with her life before the Sundering occurred. It emerges that Petal, now Guinevere Astoria, was Sequestered by her mother after escaping the destruction of Solwynn, found by Dannica, and she now lives a quiet life on Horizon.

With the group anticipating a Valkyrian attack on the leaders’ meeting, Quill uses the Eye of the Storm to see that the city is still standing in 3 days’ time.. The party attends an informal gathering where they meet many of the leaders of Aerois: from monarchs and nobles from Suvonna, Gisella, and Myrskyr, through to the admirals of the Orc tribes, ambassadors from Vortinssar (the Genasi city), and the high-ranking military of the Dragons and Dragonborn. They are surprised by Quill’s mother, Mireeka Ad Khollar, a high-ranking official of the Messenger’s Guild, who loudly berates Quill for allowing his family to think that he had died. He promises to write to her often and Nova says that she will ensure that he keeps that promise.

Nova tries to scry on Kalus before the meeting, but he is shielded from her magic, so she has a discussion with Tiangong. Nova and Kalus have both assembled almost half of the shards of Tiangong into weapons – Tiangong tells Nova that both she and Kalus have a sympathetic and possibly symbiotic bond with the Eterna, making them both very powerful. Aila spends some time with the Wild Elf emissary about people like herself with strange powers. She discovers that occasionally, the Wild Elf clans will come upon an orphaned Wild Elf with powers but no memory of their origins. There are three tribes that make up Aila’s true clan, the Lair Dir Lann: those with powers over ice, fire and lightning. They fought in the war against Kalus Starbane but then seemed to disappear, and nobody seems to know much about them since that day, but Aila believes that there is some connection between the appearance of the Elves with the strange powers and the war against Kalus.

The day of the meeting arrives, and the world leaders come together to discuss the war that raged 500 years ago, the threat that another such conflict will engulf their world (possibly ending in its destruction), and the threat that is posed by the mad and hungry entity known as Hadar. It is revealed that the Cradle is expected to fall within the space of a year, making Aerois vulnerable to attack, but that the gods are divided as to how to proceed: some believe that they must give up their power to Siaska so that she may be reborn in her full glory, but others think this is a ploy and that their best bet is to retain their power and fight against Valkyrian. Quill surprises all by revealing that the gods are not gods, but powerful beings called titans who do not have a spark of divinity – Siaska may be their only hope against Kalus and Hadar. As the Champions are speaking to the assembled crowd, and Nova is telling them of Kalus’ wish to use the World Engine against Hadar (despite destroying planets in the process), Nova receives a message from her old tutor – Vortinssar has been locked down and no one is able to leave. At this point, the representative from Gisella steps forward and projects an image of Kalus into the centre of the room.

Kalus tells them of his thousand year long struggle against Hadar and the risk to the universe if Hadar is left unchecked. He invites Aerois to join him, telling them that he needs the World Engine that is at the heart of their world, that taking it will destroy the planet, but that those who wish to join him can have a new and wonderful life on any other world in the Empire – everyone else will be killed. He drops the bombshell that Vortinssar and Gisella have already agreed to his terms and joined him. The meeting is adjourned, and the ambassadors from Vortinssar and Gisella are led from the chamber and banished from the city.

Dannica meets with the Champions in private. Quill asks the Eye of the Storm the fateful question, “Does Kalus’ plan for the World Engine work in defeating Hadar?” – the answer is no. Kalus hopes that the energy contained in the World Engine will be too much for Hadar to consume and will destroy him; instead, it simply accelerates the destruction of all worlds, leaving only Hadar. He tells Dannica, Aridan, and the party of this outcome, and they decide that now is the time to strike and rescue Valla (and Tassadar of the Eterna if possible).

Nova’s family is rescued from Vortinssar and reunited with her, except for her brother, Cloud, who is missing. Nova’s mother reveals that Vortinssar had been asked to vote on joining Kalus and that through a combination of ignorance and propaganda, most had happily voted to join the Empire. In further discussions with the remaining leaders, it becomes apparent that the leadership of Aerois is split on the issue of which side to join – fully half are prepared to consider joining Kalus if they have not already done so. Discovering that Gusthaven is under attack, the party heads back to aid in the fight, along with the powerful mage, Azaria Perel, and while they eventually succeed against the invading forces of Xarkira, Quill is snatched and kidnapped. They defeat Xarkira, only to find out that this is a simulacrum and not the real being.

Quill wakes to find himself captive of the real Xarkira aboard her personal flagship, The Serpent’s Coil, somewhere in astral space. He gets a telepathic message from another prisoner, Rana’iel, a Celestial upon whom Xarkira is performing experiments because she wants to be able to control Celestials. On Aerois, the party makes plans to rescue Quill, speaking to the priestess who previously resurrected Quill. H’esper appears before them, explaining to them the dangers of Xarkira getting control of the Spear of Oracles or the Eye of the Storm, and he takes them to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence, the home of the gods from where he can concentrate his energy. Sending out millions of copies of himself, and with help from the party to control his magical power, he locates Quill, but at a great cost – all of his divine power is spent and, handing a magical grimoire to Nova that will take them to Quill’s location, he fades from the world, returning to Siaska.

Quill, meanwhile, is interrogated by a Mind Flayer, and while he valiantly attempts to keep his information secret, the Mind Flayer learns of his intent to save Valla, and his vision regarding Kalus Valkyrian and his failed plan to defeat Hadar with the World Engine. The Mind Flayer leaves immediately to report this to Xarkira and the party that has infiltrated the ship thanks to H’esper’s tome, frees Quill. Lucius rushes after the Mind Flayer and uses the Dominate Monster spell to control its mind – it retrieves Quill’s gear for them while the others free two other prisoners, Rana (whom Xarkira has blinded and hobbled by cutting off her wings), and a mysterious, intelligent, and magical Kobold, Vessek.

They are accosted by two simulacra of Xarkira and a force of elite guards, but Nova again uses H’esper’s book to teleport them back to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence. Quill is distraught to find out that his god has sacrificed himself to save him, sharing that grief with H’esper’s sister, Sayanna. Sayanna heals Rana of her physical wounds, and a subdued party is sent back by her to the Stormchaser.

Having decided that it is time to save Valla, Quill contacts Zellion, the leader of the Wings of Ishtar, with whom they made a deal so long ago to storm the Tassadar, Kalus’ flagship. On hearing that Quill’s mind had been probed by a Mind Flayer loyal to Xarkira, Zellion’s enthusiasm for the mission wanes – the party decides to continue, however, taking with them both Rana and Edea. On arriving safely aboard the Tassadar, Quill contacts Zellion and finds that he now considers the mission too risky for his rebels to aid them and withdraws from their agreement. The party splits up with one half moving through the ethereal plane and the other in disguise: they locate both Valla (under heavy guard on the bridge) and the Eterna, Tassadar,, and as they do, they overhear an announcement that Xarkira’s ship, The Serpent’s Coil, has arrived and will be docking with the Tassadar.

Both groups end up in a fight for their lives until Valla uses her blossoming abilities with portals to bring the crew in the bridge, plus herself and Maximillian Taldros to the engineering section. Nova convinces Tassadar to join them, and just as they are about to escape, Xarkira arrives with her two simulacra. A magical battle ensues, and Quill uses the Wayfinders Guide to Plane Shift them back to Horizon – Xarkira sees this and Counterspells the attempt – Lucius attempts to do the same and fails, but Valla, now angry, yells, “Not this time, you snake bitch!” and casts a Counterspell of her own that allows the original Plane Shift to work and take them safely back to Horizon.

Safely back on Aerois, Valla and Tassadar reveal information to the party about Kalus’ past and the fate of Tiangong and Alyeja, the third member of the Eterna Triumvirate. The party takes Valla and Max to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence where Valla interacts with Siaska’s spirit. She tells the party that four of the titans have been driven mad by their waning power and Kalus’ impending attack – each of them will need to be defeated inside their own demi-planes where they are currently hiding, but only Valla will be able to take them there, and this will take some time to accomplish.

The party plans to head back to the City of Glass to lend aid to the Guardians whom Sentry had asked to gather there. Sentry hears about some Guardians who are searching for her somewhere in Horizon and they come upon the Guardians at night: these Guardians call themselves Dominators and have been corrupted by Hadar. They attack Sentry and the party.

## Major NPCs

List of major NPCs encountered in this chapter.