Aerois - Episode 19: Echoes of the Past

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Echoes of the Past** is the 19th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 13th January 2019 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*The gang explore Kalie's Rest, recover an old friend and Aila meets a mysterious orc...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Returning sponsor is D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond is apparently running a presidential campaign at the moment and Sam Riegel of Critical Role is running as president: HR will be following his campaign.
* Merch: was meant to come out before Christmas, there has been a delay, but emails will be sent to anyone affected.
* Reminder that you can use your Twitch Prime sub on High Rollers Twitch channel.
* Tom’s 27th birthday is tomorrow.

### **Recap**

"*Our party of adventurers left Ironwick after a late night conversation with their new... friend, the Eterna Nightfrost, a sentient bow with the ability to change forms. After learning some key information about Nightfrost, and discussing their worries and some plans for the future, the party made their way on the Golden Road, a trade road which leads to the city of Goldthrone, the capital of the continent of Suvonna. Along the way, you encountered a pair of Guardians, the same race as Sentry, this long forgotten or abandoned or lost race of sentient constructs, more advanced than golems, but not as powerful in some senses. Along the Golden Road you encountered two of these Guardians fleeing from a wyvern which was attacking them. The party and your allies jumped in to assist, and defeated the creature with not too many losses, a bit of a scary moment for Qillek but not too much else. Then you carried on to the city of Kalie's Rest. Now Kalie's Rest is the second largest city in the region, it is a walled city, it has stores, it has temples, it pretty much has a lot of the things that you've not had access to so far in your journey. You arrived there, the two Guardians revealed themselves as Tracker and Scout; Tracker is an old Guardian who is nearing what they call shutdown, which is where Guardians tend to go feral or go crazy. The last thing you had done was go and seek out the Field Warden, who acts as a sheriff of the town in most regional places, called Milika Dawnblessed, a woman with silver hair who greeted you and gave you a little bit of information about the town.*"
### **Part 1**

*The party have some time to find out what Kallie's(sic) Rest has to offer!*

The party had arrived late in the afternoon with the evening starting to come in and the sky darkening: the weather has taken a bad turn with a howling wind, dark clouds overhead and heavy rain coming down – it is not pleasant. They are accompanied by Valla, Arval and Tracker who, unperturbed by the rain and weather, has offered to show them around the city.

Milika says that she will speak with the Sans family to ensure that the story that the party has told them is true and ask them to stay in Kalie’s Rest for at least a day, and she directs them to inns such as the The Dusk Dream Inn (which is expensive) or the Golden Road Apartments in North Street, or they can go to the Barrel and Over on South Street which is more rustic and less expensive; there are other inns in the town with which she is not overly familiar. Sentry tells Milika that she is looking for somewhere to have her Echo repaired – she tells Sentry that there are artisans in South Street and that they congregate around the Temple of Valena, which offers free workshops, that there are also a number of independent blacksmiths and metal workers, but that knowledge about Guardians is limited. Tracker offers to take Sentry back to his place, also in South Street, to help repair Echo and she accepts this offer. Lucius casually mentions Sentry’s “angelic vision” which interests Milika but she asks no more about it after Lucius advises (under a *Zone of Truth* spell) that it is something that he also saw when he touched echo and briefly describes the vision.

Milika reminds them that the priestess of Kellara, Rest Keeper Jasna, has been asking for help: she had come to Milika with concerns about a vision or dream, but Milika does not have the time or resources to deal with visions and dreams, so she recommends that the party can deal with it as private individuals. Milika also tells them that Star Mourner Elannis, a priest of the Church of Siaska wanted to hire some people. They agree that the party will come to see Milika at around dusk the next day.

They emerge into Queen’s Plaza, a circular district at the centre of which is a raised hill covered in gardens and a beautiful, white-stoned mausoleum – it is the mausoleum of Queen Kalie of Suvonna and it lies at the centre of the town Kalie’s Rest. In this district there is also a small cathedral dedicated to Siaska with a domed glass ceiling that looks up to the night sky. There is also a tall Aarakocra spire known as a wayspire – it is a tall stone tower with dozens or more wooden poles and balconies sticking out of it: occasionally an Aarakocra will land on one of the poles or balconies and collect or deliver scrolls or a satchel and then fly off again. There is a large open door at the ground level which is beautifully painted in bright colours and decorated with spirals and shapes. This is the tallest building in the Queen’s Plaza district and can be seen from anywhere in the city. The Aarakocra visitors to the wayspire are infrequent.

Valla is looking around in amazement, having never been in a city this big before; Arval offers to go and secure them some accommodations and Nova gives him 20 gold to do so at the Barrel and Over Inn on South Street. He calls Valla to come with him, but she prefers to stick with the party – he tries to guilt her into coming with him, but Sentry offers to let him come with them instead – he goes alone until the party remembers that they are also going to South Street to get help with echo at Tracker’s workshop.

South Street is a long line of several narrow alleyways between various tenement houses and artisans’ workshops. Even with the rain and the wind comes the faint but pungent odour of the tanneries and there are several tall chimney stacks smoking away. They pass by the Temple of Valena, a long stone building with various workbenches in it with an open garden inside where the adherents perform medical services. Down several narrow alleyways, tucked into a small space beside the town wall is a recently re-built house: some of its timber still looks worn and rough, and while it looks mostly clean, there is the odd scorch mark or stain of grime, outside under a canvas tarp is a woodworking bench where a Guardian with a saw is cutting cheap pieces of lumber. This Guardian is not as heavily armoured as Sentry, mainly wooden framed with bits of metal plating, vines and leaves – he has one large eye on the right and two smaller ones on the left. They see that his right hand has been replaced with a saw, and other woodworking tools are around him; he is introduced as Chipper. Chipper calls out to another Guardian, Sweep, who looks more feminine – like Sentry, she has a human-looking faceplate, her hair is made from one shaped piece of metal and stone (made to make her look like she has long hair that falls down her back), she is slender-framed with little musculature and almost no armour (the only metal present on her frame seems to outline her obvious feminine form) and she is carrying cleaning tools. Chipper also calls ‘Smash’ to come and meet them: they hear large, heavy footsteps before they see a giant, ogre-sized metal fist (almost all armour-plated) grip the side of the house and pull around – a huge wide head with a single eye and a hinged jaw moves around the house – he is 9 feet tall and very wide. One of Smasher’s arms is a chain with a wrecking ball on it while the other is a shield built into the arm itself. Nova, excited, runs up to meet him and Smasher threatens to smash them until told not to by Chipper: he extends his huge shield hand down to Nova, engulfing her arm and shaking it gently. Smasher has taken some damage in the war and has some mental damage as a result – the notice that he is covered in dents, gashes in his metal plates, and shoulder plates covered in broken spikes. None of them know Smasher’s age but he has not yet shown any signs of going feral.

Tracker is the reason that all the Guardians have congregated in Kalie’s rest – he rescued Sweep from northern Suvonna where she was working for Humans who were not treating her well, and he found Smasher in the middle of a stone quarry “just smashing stuff”. The house looks like it was an abandoned home that has been patched up simply, but well, by Chipper, and there is a large tarp erected at the back of the house to keep Smasher dry – it is revealed that the Mayor gave them the house when they proved useful in hunting down some of the monsters threatening the town. When they enter the house to repair Sentry’s echo, they notice two echoes floating around the room – one is very plain, an orb made of wood with a blue gemstone and metal bands (it hovers near Sweep), the other is ornately shaped wood that is sculpted into an octahedron (the shape of a d8) with metal tips and an orange gemstone, and that one hovers near Chipper. The house is one large open plan space with 4 hand-made chairs, a small table, a bookshelf with books on it, an easel with a canvas that has been painted over many times using the paint in pots in the corner of the room, and small beds with straw-mattresses.

Quill asks Tracker what the public opinion is towards Guardians in Kalie’s Rest and he pauses briefly (as if there is something that he does not want to say) before saying that people don’t like what they do not understand, and they don’t know if they can trust the Guardians, but by and large it has been fine. They tell Tracker about their experience with the feral Guardian in Dwalinden and Lucius’ curious ability to see memories when touching a Guardian’s matrix, which is something that Tracker has never heard of before. They introduce themselves to the Guardians and Chipper fixes Sentry’s echo while Nova looks on; while they are doing this, Sweep and Scout call the rest over to the corner of the room away from Tracker, not wanting him to overhear them – Scout tells them that they have met another Guardian who knows how to stop Guardians going feral. Scout wants them to convince Tracker to meet with this other Guardian, Breeze, to see if it is possible, but Tracker has given up and is prepared to shut down when his time is up. Breeze used to be a soldier in the war but is no longer that; he travels around and tries to convince Guardians (without pressuring them) to use his method to extend their life – Breeze has not told any of them how he extends life, but he has told them it is a spell or ritual and he does not want to share the secret in case it is given to some dangerous Guardians. The party says that they are happy to talk to Sentry but would like to meet and talk to Breeze because Sentry may start showing signs of turning feral soon and has no more than two years of life left; Scout says that he will speak to Breeze when they next meet.

Chipper and Sentry are having to essentially rebuild Sentry’s echo around its central crystal core. Tracker asks Sentry about herself and what she wants: Sentry tells him that she wants to find Solwynn, find out what happened and salvage some things from there if she can. He tells Sentry that it is probable that everything was destroyed during The Sundering and offers her a place with him if she would like. They discuss The Prime and whether it is a real thing and Tracker tells her about this Guardian offering other Guardians an extended lifespan – he does not trust the other Guardian but says that he would extend his life if he could: Sentry admits that she would also consider it. Echo’s rebuild is completed.

Lucius touches Chipper’s and Sweep’s echo but sees no memories at all, when he touches Sentry’s echo, he gets the same memory he did before. Lucius discovers that a Guardian’s echo is a small fragment of their matrix which is why he normally gets visions when touching either of them. Quill asks about Guardians’ purposes, Tracker tells them that Guardians were built to fulfill many purposes – soldiers, labourers, domestics, librarians, scribes, bookkeepers, etc. Valla and Scout have been sitting in the corner showing each other their knives.

They make their way to the Barrel and Over Inn – it is off the main street, tucked into a corner – it is a double storey, cottage-style building, its sign depicts a plump Dwarven woman sitting side-saddle on a large barrel. Inside, there are paisley-patterned curtains, there is a warm fire in the fireplace, doilies, thick knitted rugs and blankets are everywhere over tables and chairs, and many framed pictures of cats on the walls. There is a cheerful middle-aged (50-60 years) greying haired Dwarven woman wearing a peasant smock and loose blouse standing behind the bar. The Dwarf, Melinda Merriwether, the proprietor of the Barrel and Over, tells them that Arval has rented all four available rooms from her. As they sit down to eat their dinner, they overhear grumblings about the priests from the abbey getting more and more vocal.

### **Part 2**

*The team make the most out of Kallie's(sic) Rest and finally get some long sought after answers!*

Sentry goes to sit by the fire, holding a warm plate up to her face, while she is away, Lucius tells the group that he thinks that Sentry is going to die soon because he has seen her memories when he has touched her echo. He explains that he believes that he can do this only when a Guardian is due to go feral because of the fact that he saw nothing when he touched Chipper and Sweep’s echoes. Nova explains that some Guardians do not go feral, they just shut down and stop – there is no known reason as to which Guardians will go feral. They agree that they need to find Breeze.

As the party takes a long rest, Lucius sees the shadow of Nightfrost perched, staring at him at the foot of his bed: Lucius hears Nightfrost’s maddened voice muttering in his mind about the four girls, the darkness and Kalus.

Arval says that he is going to go and meet with some merchants in the city in order to get some money to support them. He asks them to think about what they want to do with Valla when they get to Goldthrone: he tells them that his wife left him several years ago and that he does not have any children or anyone to take over his business – he is happy to give Valla an education, have her learn to control her magic, give her a place to live, and have her take over the business when he is gone – if that is what she wants. He wants to hire the party to make sure that Valla is safe – to put an end to the threat that Brett Brookstone brought on her.

The party heads back to the wayspire in the Queen’s Plaza and pass the Harvest Guards at the door with no issue. Inside is an enormous circular lobby: there are many desks with both Aarakocra and Humans writing, there are maps on the walls and there is a large, raised circular desk at which is seated a female Aarakocra. She has bright plumage like a parrot, wears silk clothing, has a jewellery chain around her beak and bright gold gemstoned anklets. Quill knows that at the wayspire they can send letters or packages and also copy maps for a fee. They see people coming and going, wrapping packages and putting them into satchels for the Aarakocra to deliver. Another Aarakocra, more like a sparrow, approaches them and asks them if they need help: Lucius tells her that they want to send a letter to Gusthaven which will cost them 100 gold even though it is about 3 weeks away by flight (the Sky Cities supplement funding for messages to them). The woman tells them that they can choose to have the letter paid on delivery, but if the recipient refuses to pay, not only is the letter not delivered, but the sender (whose name they will take down) will be black-listed and unable to use the Messenger Guild’s services again – Lucius decides to pay himself and asks if there are any messages for him. The woman goes to ask the Wind Rider, the brightly coloured Aarakocra, who flies over to them to speak to Lucius and introduces herself as Wind Rider Hesser von Battesh. She tells him that there was a message posted about two weeks ago that any information regarding Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto or the crashed Sky Shio, The Sparrowblade, it was to be sent back immediately, with a reward of several hundred gold, but this request was recently rescinded. The initial request came from the Elenasto estate but was rescinded by the officials of Gusthaven. The Wind Rider recognises Quill’s plumage and tells him that a few of his brothers work for the Guild, passed their exams and are doing well – one of them passed through a few months ago. She asks if Quill wishes to send a message to his family, but he politely declines and she leaves.

Lucius, obviously upset, sends the following letter to his father (he dictates this to Nova, who writes this in Elvish):

*Mr Elenasto, I’m sorry that I haven’t lived up to your expectation. Unfortunately, the airship did crash, I’m sorry that I couldn’t prevent it and I wished I could have done better. I know you sent me on this first mission, hoping I would do a good job, but it went really badly and I’m sorry. I will aspire to be a better person; I met great people <insert details of the party and their exploits so far>. I’m actually stronger.*

Nova watches Lucius as she is making rough notes, clearly very worried about him – she tells him that he sounds very doubtful about himself despite all that he has actually been through. Lucius tells her that she should meet him, that he has very high expectations of the family: Nova says that she thinks his father sounds a little mean and that were she his parent or his sibling, she would be very proud of him – he thinks she should meet his sister. Quill is also writing a letter – quietly, slowly and thoughtfully… before suddenly he scrunches the letter up and throws it away. Aila steps outside, worried about the potential for Aarakocra poo from above – she is on the lookout for Wild Elves wearing any sort of tartan: it is raining heavily, and she hears the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. She sees Humans, Dwarves, a few Halflings and Gnomes, very few Half Elves and Wild Elves but no High Elves – she does notice a broad-shouldered greyish-green Orc, about 6’4” in height, with thick matted dreadlocks down their back, he wears no shirt despite the rain and his upper half is covered in tattoos showing different scenes – the sea, a storm, an Orc woman grabbing a lightning bolt and taming the sea. The Orc swaggers through the crowd in a sailor’s garb and disappears off down a side street as there is a peal of thunder – in the flicker of a moment, Aila senses a connection between them.

Sentry accompanies Aila in pursuit of the Orc while Valla goes back to the rest of the party inside. They find the Orc again and follow him down the street – Sentry manages to blend into the crowd somewhat, but Aila is a bit more obvious. They follow him down East Street which is a poorer area of the city with a few parks, tenement buildings and a large barracks for the Harvest Guard: he comes to a halt at a plaza which has a large tiled pool at its centre (10’ x 10’) – at the tip of the pool is a statue of an Orcish woman in leather armour wielding a long curved sword in one hand and raising her other fist to the sky, her proud face is raised to the sky. The man gets into the pool, waist deep in the water, raises his hands to the sky, claps them together and starts muttering under his breath – he lowers his hands, leans back and starts to float on the water. “So, what are you doing, following me?” he asks Sentry and Aila. Aila mentions his tattoos and he moves to the edge of the pool and gets out.

He explains that he is a priest of sorts of the Stormchaser. He recognises Sentry as a Guardian saying that his ancestors in the war sailed in great fleets and that Guardians would ride on great metal ships beside them. He says that he has seen some Wild Elves around in the city but has fought with them because he called their tattoos ugly. He has seen them go to the Shrine of Atelicus, fight with beasts in illegal fights and are thugs. He indicates the pool and tells Aila that it is a shrine to Zephyr, the Stormchaser, the Mistress of the Sea, the Mistress of Storms. Aila tells him that she wants to know more about Zephyr and the storms – she clenches her fist and lets the lightning crackle around her arm – he is impressed and tells her that this power comes from Zephyr. He tells Aila that most of Zephyr’s worshippers are Orcs, called Tide Watchers, and they help guide the Orc fleets. The priest has not heard of anyone like Aila who is not a wizard or sorcerer – he offers to ask Zephyr but tells Aila that there will be a cost, possibly even her life. He offers to fight Aila, and if she beats him, he will get her answers – as he says it, thunder and lightning erupts over Kalie’s Rest: he introduces himself as Kalu Otoma and warns Sentry not to interfere, no matter what happens.

Aila rages, clenching her fists around the hammer as the lightning crackles around and above her – he parries her first blow with his scimitar, but she zaps him through the blade with lightning. Kalu holds his hand out, attacking her with a thunderous force, throwing her backwards. Aila recovers and dashes forwards to strike him with the hammer and lightning; Kalu swings fast with his scimitar, slicing Aila and summons a trident of lightning, striking her with that also – as the pain hits Aila, she begins to feel the world rolling like a ship with the storm above her and waves below as the fog rolls in. Aila tries to hit him again, but he dodges, and she zaps him once more, he slashes her once more with the scimitar, but the trident goes wide. Aila swings and misses, she dodges the scimitar but takes a mighty blow from the trident in the chest – Aila is surrounded by fog and waves, looking up to see a crackling form raising his lightning trident ready to slam it down on her. She attacks again, causing him to stumble back: he asks her what answers she is seeking. Aila tells him that she wants to know why she has the power: she is now in the eye of the storm – he asks Zephyr to give Aila the answers she seeks and pulls a lightning bolt into the ground in front of her – Aila throws herself backwards but the lightning hits her and knocks her unconscious and she starts sinking into what she thinks is waves. She feels a hand beneath her, lifting her up through the water, she gasps as she sees the outline of a feminine form sheathed in cloud and lightning – Aila is lifted up and she hears, “Your powers, they are mine, given to your clan long ago when they came to Aerois. When they gave up their pretty lives among the clouds and came to live as beasts, I saw great worth in them. Your people are my people – I gave them the power to survive, to take what they wanted, to fight. What else do you wish to know?”

“Where is my clan?” asks Aila as the woman lets her go to stand on the water, bobbing and swaying, the lightning coursing over her body.

“You’ll find the answers that you’re seeking. Things will become clearer in the Golden City, but I can tell you now, there are others like you, not of your clan, but of the Lair Dir Lann, the four clans that allied themselves against the Remnant. There is one, she controls flame as you control the storm, but the abbey believes her to be a heretic. She will have more answers. Go, find what you seek. Prove that you have the courage to delve the depths and I will travel with you.”

Sentry sees Aila on the ground with Kalu standing over her, his hand out: she is not sure if Aila is breathing – Sentry begins to panic, but Kalu reminds her that she promised not to interfere. He reaches down suddenly and casts *Spare the Dying* on Aila before asking if she got the answers she sought. Aila replies in the affirmative.

Meanwhile, Nova, Lucius and Quill go looking for a place to buy potions – they are directed to a store called “Rosemeadow’s Medicines”. The building is completely out of place with the rest of North Street: it is an elongated fairy tale cottage with a thatched roof, flower boxes beneath the windowsills, carved wooden beams and pastel-coloured stained-glass windows; there is a sign outside of a beautiful flower garden with beautiful illusive script saying, “Rosemeadow’s Medicines”. They step inside and are greeted by the smell of lavender and fresh flowers – there are flowers everywhere, and behind a tall (4.5’ tall) wooden counter is a beautiful woman wearing delicate silks with long blonde hair woven with flower, plants and vines – she is talking to and tending to a small plant.

Rosemeadow sees them, welcomes them and introduces herself – she is immediately taken by the “birdie”. As she starts to move out from behind the counter, they hear hoof beats – she is a Centaur with the lower body of a slender white horse. She hugs Quill then brings him a blanket and wraps the very wet Quill in it because she loves animals. Nova informs her that they are looking for potions and she offers them all organic, home-made potions made from local plants: healing potions, essential oils, anti-toxins, flame or cold resistance, potions that make them larger or smaller. Rosemeadow also offers crystals, possibly peridot, to Lucius when Quill tells her that his aura is a little off. In addition, she says that she makes her own style of “healing slav” that is a bit stronger than a normal healing potion but takes longer to apply – she calls it her “miracle ointment”.

Nightfrost whispers to Lucius that Rosemeadow is not originally from Aerois, but from another realm and he does not know how she found her way to Aerois. Lucius asks Rosemeadow where she came from: she tells him that she was found in a forest by a nice Dwarf lady who taught her everything she knows – she cannot remember where she came from, but knows that it is another world, not Aerois. Rosemeadow tells them the cost of her potions, 75 gold, a bit more expensive than normal due to taxes – Quill plays up his eye injury which makes her cry, and she offers them the healing potions for 55 gold instead.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:10 - Episode Start
05:24 - Intro
06:45 - Part 1
1:16:06 - Break time/Donations
1:23:59 - Part 2
2:45:08 - Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Chipper
* Kalu Otoma
* Melinda Merriwether
* Rosemeadow
* Sweep
* Smasher
* Wind Rider Hesser von Battesh
* Zephyr

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Arval Dagos
* Milika Dawnblessed
* Scout
* Tracker
* Valla

## **Trivia**

* Throughout the episode, art of the PC “Dunell” keeps showing. This was Matt Mercer’s guest character in the 2018 Christmas episode.
* Milika has silver skin and is an Aasimar. Her people are not native to Aerois but arrived with the Tieflings.
* Guardians are not common in the Sky Cities – this group is by far the most that the party has seen in one place before.
* All echoes are a reflection of the personality within the Guardian that owns it.
* Mark added a retcon to Episode 7 where Lucius got a glimpse of “something to do with the Prime” when touching the second echo.
* Sending a letter via the Messenger Guild costs 25 gold per day of travel. Vortinssar is months away from Kalie’s Rest and would take 400-500 gold to send a letter – it would be cheaper to send a letter from a Sky City.
* It is revealed that Lucius’ full name is made up of his parents’ names: Virion is his father’s name, Elluin is his mother’s name.
* Mark advised that Orcs are fairly rare inland – they mainly live on the coasts because they are always on the sea and sailing. He confirmed that they met an Orc in Session Zero.
* The Orc that Aila and Sentry follows is described as very Polynesian in features, like Maui (from Moana) with tattoos up and down his body – like Dwayne Johnson but grizzled with pock marks on his face and dreadlocks.
* Kalu Otoma speaks with a Jamaican accent.
* Dono question was “Mark, are Beast Walk a playable character race, and if so, do you plan to release it?” Mark’s response was “When I release the Aerois Campaign Setting, one day, eventually, yes.” Hahaha. Aerois Campaign Setting.
* This was the first time that Mark mentioned taking the characters to Level 20.