Aerois - Episode 142: Solwynn the Problem

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Solwynn the Problem** is the 142nd episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 3rd April 2022 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The crew of the Stormchaser try out their new wheel- wait, sails? Then it's off to Porto Suvrano(sic) to see what exactly is going on with all these earthquakes and volcanic eruptions...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* There is no sponsor this week.
* High Rollers will come from the BRAND NEW STUDIO next week! The first in-person Aerois stream since 22nd March 2020 will occur on April 10th 2022. Sam Gibbs (of Mr Sam and the Dednutz fame) will help them to run the stream. Mark has bought some very cool Dwarven Forge miniatures and those are on their way to them.

### **Recap**

*"Facing a number of threats to the planet, and with knowledge that their enemy, Kalus Valyrian, has (at least for the time being) halted his efforts to take Aerois by force, the party have decided to head back to the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago and deal with a number of natural disasters and mysterious Gemstone Dwarves who have appeared in recent weeks. Before heading out, however, they are approached by Azaria Perel, an unusual Elven woman, formerly of the sky city of Gusthaven, who has become a sort of source of magical resources and information for the players(Markism) and their alliance on the sky city of Horizon. For months, Azaria has been working on their airship, The Stormchaser, incorporating elements of Thalia Whisperwind's star fighter, The Twinstar Longbow. Called to Azaria's Magnificent Mansion, where her love of undead and bones is a little unsettling for some of the party, she uses an observation window to show them the improvements made to The Stormchaser: a reinforced hull made from the same crystalline material as the Valkyrian and Draconic ships, new navigation controls, an environmental barrier that will allow them to travel underwater or in extreme temperatures, new arcane weaponry such as her self-appointed Perel Missiles, and a new control system for a willing Eterna or Humanoid symbiote to have complete control over the ship's functions. The crew all now have uniforms - they are wearing what were once Valkyrian leather soldier suits - the suits have been recoloured, so while keeping the darker hues of black and grey, the purple and the emblems of the Valkyrian empire have gone, to be replaced with a design of Lucius' own that represents all of the party - an embroidered set of stylised wings on the back, a gemstone embedded into the chest to resemble the Matrix, the armbands have a strip of Aila's tartan around the biceps, and the collar has on either side a stylised Tiangong sword and a strip of prismatic/rainbow light going into Siaska's emblem that then splits out into a white light chevron. Azaria has also equipped them all with headbands that they can touch, which activates a helmet that conforms to their head and provides them with atmosphere if they were to fight underwater or in Astral Space.\**
*This new and upgraded Stormchaser, however, has reached its zenith: with its current aetherium engines, it will be unable to travel to Astral Space or make use of further, greater weapons designs Azaria has planned. She does, however, give the party a tool, and suggests that if they can bring her two powerful Fiends, Celestials or Elementals, she could upgrade The Stormchaser even further. Lucius suggests that perhaps now is a good time to update the ship's name, and Nova steps into the new engineering pod and experiences the strange sensations that an Eterna would have in control of one of these great ships."*
* Note the comments about the uniforms and the helmets were added a few minutes into the episode as "something that [Mark] forgot to mention in the recap".

### **Part 1**

*The crew of the Stormchaser try out their new wheel- wait, sails?*

While The Stormchaser looks very much the same, its deck and prow is a bit longer than before and it is coated in crystalline armour. Nova, in the pod in the engine room, has gone into a serene, meditative state as if she is submerged in water – her voice has emerged from all over the ship, and it sounds more like Tiangong than Nova V’ger. When she emerges, she tells them that it has been one of the most invigorating experiences in her life. Sentry checks Nova’s vital signs, asking if she has a headache, wanting to check her eyes and pulse. Lucius is curious if Sentry has a heartbeat and listens to the Matrix, hearing a low, steady hum of power.

Sentry decides to *Commune* with Root, hopefully to find some answers as to what is going on in the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago: she focuses, feels the power of the Matrix spreading warmth through her body, closes her eyes… and suddenly she is drifting on the familiar amber river among the souls and sentiences of thousands of Guardians who have lived and are yet to be reborn, or ones that have been rescued and are in a restful, healing slumber, patiently waiting. At the heart of it all is a brighter light: an amalgamation of all the previous primes, but Root as Sentry knows him.

*“Sentinel Prime,”* comes his voice, *“you have need of my wisdom.”* Sentry tells him of their plans to investigate the disruptions in the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago and their belief that Valena is behind them, asking if it is so. She feels Root scanning through her memories in order to get more information, *“I believe that Valena is responsible for these disruptions.”* Sentry asks him why she is doing this. *“As Valkyrian and Hadar draw near, the titans, like children without a mother, are frightened. They fall back to what they know, their nature – the parts of them that Siaska gave them – she does what she was always meant to do.”* Sentry asks why she is in Solwynn – *“Solwynn was once Valena’s land: the patron titan, the deity of the domain. She and Guinevere Astoria were very well-connected. Much of the Queen’s knowledge was born from divine inspiration. It is her home.”* She thanks Root and he concludes with, *“I answer all that I can, but even I do not know the mind of a titan – I do not know the reasons that Valena does this, I can only make my assumptions on what I have observed and what I know. There may be more to this than meets the eye. ‘Til all are one.”* Sentry’s consciousness drifts back and her eyes open and light up as she returns to them.

She tells Quill about what Root has theorised as Lucius arrives. There has been some talk about renaming The Stormchaser now that it has been upgraded – the crew have their hearts set on The Starchaser (which the rest of the party except Aila seem keen on), but Lucius had proposed Siaska’s Salvation, and he comes to them bearing some new banners with “Siaska’s Salvation” printed on them, which he is very excited about. Aila suggests instead that they could save money by changing the name to “The Starchaser”, simply crossing out “Storm” and replacing it with “Star” – Lucius is obviously taken aback and disappointed but tries to hide it; Quill blames the crew and Lucius pretends that he had that banner made as well, but that he ‘didn’t bring it with him’. Nova tries to save the situation by suggesting that they name the lifeboat “Siaska’s Salvation”, but Lucius knows that there is no lifeboat and that she is just trying to humour him. She instead suggests the skiff adopts that name; Lucius changes the subject.

The party decides to go shopping, looking for such items as potions of fire resistance and water breathing. They go to Azaria who has enough water breathing potions for each of them at 180 gold each, potions of fire resistance (300 gold each), and spell scrolls of *Water Breathing* at level 3 for 200 gold (which only Lucius can use). They purchase two scrolls, two potions of fire resistance, and two water breathing potions, spending 1,360 gold in all.

Nova considers removing the Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location because she thinks that Valkyrian may not be looking for them anymore – Lucius agrees that it seems pretty useless now, and they both remove them.

Azaria says that she will buy them back but at a much-reduced rate. Both Nova and Lucius finally decide to keep the amulets despite their concern that Kalus seemed to know their every move even when they had been wearing them, but don't re-equip them. Nova attunes to her Helm of Teleportation instead.

Sentry asks who is still wearing their Messenger Rings, realising that everyone else has removed theirs and this explains why no one has been answering her for ages – she had thought that her ring might be broken. Lucius re-equips his ring now that he has removed his amulet, with both he and Sentry believing that all of the party now has them re-equipped (when, in fact, it is only them and Oriya using the rings currently). They talk to Valla and take her and Max with them: they give one of the spare Messenger Rings to Valla.

They make their way back to the docks where the privacy screens have been removed and now a large crowd has gathered to see the new and improved Stormchaser: they board to salutes from the crew and see Oriya standing at the new command console that has replaced the ship’s wheel. Lucius makes a stirring speech and the Stormchaser takes off with Nova taking her place in the engineering pod – she experiences the same feeling of floating in water and gradually loses focus as her senses become the ship’s senses, and she becomes aware of the power thrumming through it.

Quill has a new station near Oriya that makes up part of the main command console: there is a series of crystalline plates or squares held up on metallic stands and by metal poles – these give Quill a 360-degree view around the ship, projecting magical illusions. Additionally, there is a range of sensors that give map readouts and geographical locations. Quill presses one of the plates and the image zooms in – Quill exclaims at how wonderful it is to be able to see everything, and Aila immediately flips him the bird (Nova also sees this). Nova is aware of who is using what systems and what is happening with each. While she cannot override the use of each system, she can increase or decrease power, expand functionality, transfer power as required, and she becomes aware that the environmental shield will draw more power from the engines the longer it is active, reducing the amount of fuel available; she also knows that the shield will deflect magical attacks. Nova cannot see what Quill sees but is aware of what he is doing and can assist: she is controlling the power outputs of the ship and managing some of the smaller subsystems to keep things running – she is not in control and cannot override what is being done by the crew. Additionally, while Nova is in the pod, she is under a compulsion to do what Lucius tells her to do, because the ship is keyed into the fact that Lucius is the captain and that what he says should be happening – she may be able to override the compulsion, but she will actively have to do so.

Lucius moves to his new station near Oriya and Quill. It has raised metal sceptres on which he can place his hands – these project his voice to all the consoles and the rest of the ship. It takes about five minutes for the aetherium engines to power up and the sails to be set. There is a great sense of anticipation amongst the crew who have been in dry dock for several months and now work on deck proudly in their new uniforms – they want to see what the new ship and equipment can do.

Aila spends her time with the Wolfpack training them in melee combat and training them for boarding actions. She and Sentry find a section of the mid-deck of the ship that appears to be stored under the deck and is a work in progress (it looks as though work on it was abandoned halfway through) – it looks like something a person would crouch in between a V-shape and looks like it would launch an individual a great distance – it appears to be a giant catapult. There is no retrieval system, but its dimensions make it too large for the Wolfpack, and they suspect that Azaria has built it for the two of them specifically to be able to be launched onto other ships.

Eventually, the engines are fully powered, and the ship leaves the dock, headed for the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago.

### **Part 2**

*Arriving in Porto Suvrano(sic) the Stormchasers try to discover the source of the calamities!*

The Stormchaser sets out and sails for the first few days without incident while they familiarise themselves with the new aspects of the ship. At the end of the third day, they notice that the clouds seem to be lower and darker, and visibility becomes less as they draw closer to the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago. They see through the gloom, flashes and pulses of red and orange light on the horizon surrounded by plumes of grey smoke – as they get closer, they see the air is thick with ash and Quill uses the new sensors to help stay on course without having to detour. The deck and the crew are very quickly covered in ash, and they notice that the sails are also getting a similar buildup on them, risking the safety of the ship. As they are still half a day out from Porta Sovrano, they decide to engage the environmental shield but are somewhat concerned that doing so will deplete their fuel reserves by approximately 30% - they feel a pulse as an invisible bubble forms around the ship and they notice the ash stops falling around them as it is burnt up by the shield.

After about eight or nine hours of sailing through darkness, they begin to make out the shapes of Porta Sovrano – it is packed to the gills with airships and sailing ships at the docks, the tide is high and choppy with buildings by the docks copping brutal waves from the high swell, and they spy lines of armed forces attempting to coordinate panicking refugees who are attempting to board ships to evacuate the city – it is clear that the ships will not take all the refugees, and the soldiers are trying to maintain order despite the chaos. Quill sends a message to advise the duke that they are on their way and he promises to have people there to meet them when they land. The people sent to greet them are not soldiers, but appear instead to be well-armed mercenaries and two officials in deep hoods that are covered in ash – they and the soldiers on the docks clear the Stormchaser a place to land. One of the officials is a Tiefling woman with curved goat-like horns that go from her forehead and around her skull to the back of her head; she has thick black hair that is pulled back into a braid and wears thin gold-rimmed spectacles – she tells them that the duke is waiting for them with information. Lucius asks Oriya and Kamarra to make sure that the crew remains on alert and defensive to ensure that the people do not try to get aboard the ship: they turn the shield off to conserve fuel and leave Valla and Max on board the ship.

They are given parasols to keep the ash off and led up through the city to meet with the duke: along the way they pass through a mostly abandoned part of the city with a few people trying to barricade their homes to protect it from whatever is coming, however most have left the area and are trying to leave the city. They agree that Sentry will speak to the duke on their behalf and are led into the duke’s study – there are framed maps on the wall, luxurious armchairs, a fireplace, various weapons mounted on the wall, and a painting of the duke wearing an open shirt, displaying his chest hair, and hugging a maiden and a young man in either arm. The duke, however, looks haggard, as if he has not been sleeping, and his hair is unkempt; he asks what news they bring and how he can help them.

Sentry tells him that they want to get to Solwynn: he tells them about Suncrown, the capital city of Solwynn, which was immense and almost a nation itself (he says six times the size of Gusthaven, Horizon, or any of the great Sky Cities). He tells them that much of the city was lost beneath the waves when Atelicus caused the Sundering, but not all, and that they have found treasures and pockets of it (areas containing towers and broken buildings) – he can point them in the direction of these areas that are still above ground. Most of what was Solwynn is beneath the water, however, and inhabited now by the Tritons, including their city of Silver Reef, which occupies one of the largest remaining ruins of Solwynn. Porta Sovrano has had a tumultuous relationship with the Tritons.

The duke tells them that wherever there are Solwynn ruins, they have had reports of crystalline Dwarven women – they do not talk to people who speak to them, except to say that they are “unrecognised individuals” and saying that their work must not be interrupted. When the duke’s forces have tried to capture them, they have used magic to send his forces away. The duke says that no one knows where the heart of Solwynn’s city is, and that it could be buried deep beneath the earth at this point. Sentry believes that the best place to start might be Silver Reef and the duke is willing to get in touch with Baroness Coralsong (who can take them to King Gale), but he also suggests that they may wish to investigate the crystalline Dwarves made of gemstone, some of whom are nearby on a small island, which he indicates on a map on the table. The duke tells them that the Dwarves are not golems, being very detailed and moving like people – he believes that they are connected to the troubles that are affecting his lands. The duke speaks of the activity that is making the evacuation of his people so dangerous – Volcanos has become more active as have several smaller volcanoes, there are underwater currents making sailing perilous, there are underwater geysers, as well as earthquakes and other seismic activity. The duke tells the party that what he needs is air ships to transport people away from the area, but that he has struggled to get people to agree to sail into such dangerous conditions.

After a short while, Baroness Erin Coralsong appears – the blue-skinned Triton with pink hair is dressed in a ramshackle manner with ship wreckage, cloth, and a strange plant-like material. She offers them any help they require. Sentry tells her that they need to get to Silver Reef, the largest Triton city in the area that is ruled over by King Gale Mawbreaker. She tells them that getting to Silver Reef will be tricky – it is deep in a valley where there has been the appearance of steam vents, changes in currents and an increase in frenzied underwater creatures that are attacking anything that comes close. Lucius worries about taking the Stormchaser into the strong currents.

Baroness Coralsong also tells them about the gemstone Dwarves and their plundering or repairing of the ruins of Solwynn: when approached, they have told the Tritons that their work must not be interrupted, that they will endeavour to keep loss of life to a minimum and that the Tritons should move to a safer location – if they try to interfere with the Dwarves, they use non-lethal force and magic to get them to leave the Dwarves alone. The party decides to head for the gemstone Dwarves to do some recon and head towards the small island about two hours away. There is the vague shape of a tower on some rocky outcroppings – it is made of pale white stone and still has a vague oval shape to its wind worn substance. As they approach, Quill notices on his screen, three Dwarf-shaped figures watching and holding their hands against the earth and stone as tunnels and troughs seem to appear as they sculpt the land: all the dwarves are made of some crystal material - one is made of emerald green, another a deep dark red, and the last a yellowy topaz. It looks to Quill as if they have dug out a section of the tower and are in the process of recovering something that looks like an Arcane Canon – it is obviously broken, but they are removing pieces of it and examining them; they seemingly ignore the arrival of the Stormchaser.

Everyone except Sentry makes their way onto the small island – as they approach the gemstone Dwarves they notice that they are all women with an identical-looking face (round-cheeked, chubby-featured, slightly flat but rounded nose) but all have different hairstyles (braids, dreadlocks, shaved sides) and dresses. One dwarf is made of emerald, another of ruby and the last of topaz – they are all incredibly detailed statues, and they move as if they were living humanoid creatures (as if they were gemstones brought to life). When Quill, Aila and Nova approach (Lucius is busy stealthing towards the Dwarves), the ruby Dwarf woman stops dead, turns and looks at them saying, “Life forms identified as H’esper, Sayanna, Siaska champions: contacting D1, establishing cognitive transfer.” At this point, she goes dead still while the emerald and topaz Dwarves keep dismantling the cannon, removing burnt-out gemstones from it, as well as metal and crystalline components – the latter, they hold to their chest, and they appear to be absorbed into the Dwarves’ bodies before they move on to examine other components (some of these are thrown away, others are also sucked into their bodies like the previous items). Lucius reports from his hiding place back to Sentry who is still waiting aboard the ship, using the Messenger Ring.

Suddenly, the ruby Dwarf’s eyes open and her expression changes from neutral to a big, bright smile: “Champions! I am so mightily happy to see you! The Forge Mistress was hoping you’d come a-calling! Please stand by as I travel to your current location.” The ruby Dwarf’s eyes close again briefly before the neutral face returns – she pivots and goes back to the others, joining them in examining components. Quill casts *Legend Lore* using the Wayfinders Guide to ask more about the mysterious “D1” that has just been mentioned, and the book flies open before its pages flip rapidly to open at a page that shows, painted in the style of Dwarven art (blocky, geometrical shapes), a story called “The Maidens of Valena”. It tells the story of the great goddess Valena, The Forge Mistress, and when she was building the world and building homes for the people of Aerois, and creating places for them to learn and live; she found that she could not complete all the great works that she needed. She could not mine all the ore, gather all the stone, and could not sculpt the land as quickly as she wanted, so she took 6 or 7 of the greatest, most beautiful jewels that she could find in the earth and from each one, she sculpted a Dwarven woman in her image. She breathed into these Dwarven women, not life, for she did not have the strength to give them sentience or life itself, but a complex series of instructions that allowed them to fulfil dedicated purposes. The gemstones were diamond, ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, (and some other gemstones that go unremembered), and from each of these spawned more – they recreated themselves from other gemstones that they found, creating a workforce that could assist Valena in her tasks across Aerois. These are known as the Maidens of Valena, and they would sometimes appear to the faithful of Valena – the powerful priests and priestesses could sometimes call upon the aid of the Maidens to help them with great tasks – mining, building, and gathering. (Quill gets the idea from the story that while each Dwarf could perform the same general tasks, each was a specialist at something.)

Nova is curious as to what the gem Dwarves are doing, wondering if they are rebuilding Solwynn or building something else – they call Sentry down to join them and ten minutes later, while the gemstone Dwarves are continuing about their work, they begin to feel the ground trembling: Lucius hides, Quill flies up and the others back up a little. The earth in front of them begins to churn before a diamond gemstone Dwarf woman pops up in front of them as if growing out of the earth itself. The same great smile appears on her face as had appeared on the ruby Dwarf’s face previously as she introduces herself as Diamond 1 or D1.

She tells them that she recognises them and does not mean them any harm: she is there to ask them for help. She further tells them that the task of the Maidens of Valena has progressed to a very large and expansive project – The Forge Mistress has allowed the Stormchasers to be identified should they approach, but they are only some of the few who would be recognised. D1 tells them that their current work involves excavating, repairing and manufacturing a number of subsystems based in and around the ruins of the domain of Solwynn or the City of Suncrown: they are currently working to complete one of two major projects that Valena seeks to complete before “the inevitable failure of the planet”. When asked what they are building, D1 tells them that the information is classified, but that The Forge Mistress would be willing to discuss it with them – she is based in one of her final forges, deep beneath the earth, close to one of the geothermal engines of the World Engine. She is constructing one of her projects in her secret demiplane and the other is being worked upon deep beneath the earth – it is the work on this latter project that has been causing the volcanic eruptions and seismic instability to the surrounding regions, which they regret. The Maidens attempted to place safeguards to prevent the loss of life but encountered difficulties and were therefore unable to put their safeguards into place.

Quill tells D1 that they are not talking about small losses, but a massive number of deaths throughout the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago – D1 tells him that when compared to the alternative, the loss of all life on Aerois, Valena considers this an acceptable loss of life: Valena’s work is of the utmost importance to Aerois’ survival. Lucius asks if they can pause their work until the party has had a chance to talk to Valena, but D1 says that the work is too important, and they cannot stop; but if they wish to reduce the loss of life, there are two projects with which they may assist – these are the things that the Maidens were attempting to do but failed. D1 estimates that if the two safety projects can be accomplished, they would reduce the environmental impacts of the rest of their operations by 75% - completing only one would have a significant reduction, but not to the same level. Sentry asks if Valena is planning to leave: D1 says she would never abandon her children in their hour of need and is working on projects to ensure the survival of Aerois.

Quill thinks that they may understand Valena’s current projects by understanding what she has worked on in the past, so he asks D1 – D1 begins to list a number of projects of which Quill has never heard such as “Terraforming Protective Mission 09” and so on. Nova gathers from some of the things listed that Valena has been doing maintenance on the World Engine to ensure that it does not cause problems, she built war ships and defences for the war against Kalus 500 years ago, she helped to mitigate the effects of the Sundering by erecting underground systems to keep tectonic plates together, and so on. D1 does list a number of projects such as “Completion of Suncrown City” and “Completion of Suncrown Defensive Systems” which Valena and Queen Astoria would have worked closely together on, developing the technological and magical advantages of Solwynn. It seems that Valena was not involved in the development of the Guardians – that seems to have been a project that Astoria and Root worked on together without her, but Valena played a big part in creating Solwynn and its infrastructure.

Nova wonders if one of Valena’s projects is to do with protecting the World Engine from Kalus. D1 tells them about the projects that they were working on to mitigate the damage to the nearby areas: one is a stabiliser that should prevent Volcanos from erupting, but the crystal device (which she can provide them) needs to be delivered deep inside the magma chamber at the heart of the volcano; it must be taken to the base of the chamber, but none of the Maidens’ bodies can cope with the intense heat and pressure at that depth. The other involves a seismic activity dampener that has been lost in a deep section of ocean called the Feldraven Traverse – they have lost contact with all Maidens nearby and any sent to retrieve the device have also been lost.

D1 tells them that as Valena works on her projects, the World Engine is putting out tremendous levels of heat and this is creating seismic activity, but they can be assured that there is currently no damage to the World Engine. D1 also offers to show them to an area close to the demiplane entrance if they prefer not to assist with either of the damage mitigation projects. There is discussion about what happened the last time they entered Volcanos and consideration of whether Valla may be able to help with some protective magic. The caldera of the Volcanos volcano is 40-50 feet across, but this is not big enough to admit the Stormchaser. They would need to enter the volcano through the top and go through the magma (rather than through the base and via the research facility as they did the last time they were there): the volcano is currently spewing rocks and lava, making it difficult to approach, and the crystal they would need to deposit inside the volcano is five feet in diameter and will need someone with high strength to carry it. D1 offers to accompany them as a liaison, telling them that she will be able to answer questions if they have any – they agree and she follows them, smiling constantly.

They speak with Valla, who tells them that she thinks that she can create a bubble that would protect them from the lava itself, but not from the heat – she does not think that they would be the only life forms in the volcano, maybe some more lava worms such as they told her they fought the previous time they went to Volcanos, and they would need to protect Valla from them and the heat; it is possible that Valla and Nova could also teleport them out once the device has been delivered. Max has magic that can protect someone from fire for an hour and he is naturally resistant himself because his planet had quite intense temperatures, Aila suggests that Max protects her and that she give her potion of fire resistance to Valla in case his concentration is broken: he agrees this is a good idea. They agree on this plan of action, realising that they have only one hour to get through magma to plant a crystal and to get out again, hopefully alive.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Intro
07:45 - Part 1
1:14:01- Break time/Donations
1:23:27 - Part 2
2:48:30- Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Diamond 1 (D1)
* Emerald 9 (E9)
* Topaz 3 (T3)
* Ruby 4 (R4)

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Root (ex-Prime)
* Azaria Perel
* Valla
* Maximillion Taldros
* Duke Sovrano
* Oriya Marius
* Kamarra
* Baroness Erin Coralsong

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Valena
* Guinevere Astoria
* Kalus Valkyrian
* King Gale Mawbreaker – king of the Tritons

## **Featured Locations**

* Horizon
	+ The Stormchaser
	+ The Aethegora
* Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago
	+ Porta Sovrano
	+ Unknown island

## **Trivia**

* Tom had some trouble with his vision at the end of the episode and was made to hand over dono reading to Trott. It is possible that he was getting a migraine but insisted that he would be playing hours of *Slay the Spire* after the stream. Don’t be Tom, kids! See your doctor!
* Trott joked (at least hopefully it was a joke!) that if putting a Fey creature into the binding sphere was allowed, he’d put Hope (Rosemeadow) in it. Rhiannon was very upset at that idea – Trott was delighted with it.
* Mark advised that Monsters of the Multiverse has come out with an updated stat block for Graz’zt since they last fought him. Mark will use the new block if they fight him again.
* Nova’s attempt to name the lifeboat “Siaska’s Salvation” was meant to echo the real-world boat naming competition where the public was invited to vote for the name of a £200 million polar research ship: they voted overwhelmingly for “R.S.S. Boaty McBoatface”. The Minister for Universities and Science announced that the ship would instead be named R.S.S. Sir David Attenborough (which had come 4th in the poll). The name Boaty McBoatface was assigned to one of the submersibles deployed aboard the R.R.S. Sir David Attenborough instead.
* Tom suggests that Quill’s heartbeat is extremely fast, like a bird's.
* There was a “metal crates” moment where Chris Trott failed to listen to Mark when he described the effects of a *Water Breathing* Scroll affecting numerous people for 24 hours. Lucius wanted to purchase four "so that they would have enough to cover everyone" (when one scroll would do ten people). Later, he believes that they have bought healing potions when they have not – Sentry had them all along. Mark just shakes his head in disbelief.
* Mark recommends using Sane Magic Item Prices because the DMG does not give prices for magic items.
* Trott jokingly suggests that they might want to purchase four immovable rods.
* One of the dono questions at the break was what each person's favourite Pokémon was:
	+ Mark – Bulbasaur but “Gengar’s pretty close”, he later posted in Twitch chat “Bulbasaur, Haunter, Gengar, Scyther, Beedrill all pretty cool". TBH most of the og 151 are pretty cool", especially Squirtle, Bulbasoar and Charmander. "Vulpix is cute", as is Oddish. "Ninetails 0\_0 mommy”;
	+ Tom – used to be Mew, but now prefers Jirachi;
	+ Rhi – Charizard or Tyranitar (although she typed “Argumon” in Twitch chat;
	+ Kim – Gengar, Oddish;
	+ Trott – Probopass (he googled “worst Pokemon designs”) but he then said his favourite is Poliwhirl;
	+ Katie – Togepi and Charmander.
* Mark suggested that one day they would do a High Rollers Smash or Pass Pokemon stream.
* Baroness Erin Coralsong was portrayed by Mark as having an American accent for this episode.
* Valena’s tenet is “Better the self and add more to the world than you take”.
* Nova surmises that the magma is created by the World Engine since there is no “earth’s core” as such – the core *is* the World Engine.
* Kim asked which of the options have corridors – Mark said that they all do, and they all have doors. Kim responded that they were doomed.
* Each of the gem Dwarves has a designation: the ones they encounter are E9 (Emerald 9), T3 (Topaz 3), and R4 (Ruby 4). Kim is reminded of Borg.
* There was discussion of how much completing only one of the tasks would reduce the damage by: Trott suggested 37.5 (recurring), Mark responded with 33.3 (recurring, of course) – a reference to Leeeeroy Jenkins of World of Warcraft fame.
* Mark confirmed that the reason that the catapult/launcher has not been completed is because they do not currently have enough power in the ship for it.
* Forevrzero posted in Twitch chat, “diamond dwarf? “Champion! We had ta heel her woonzz!”” to which Mark responded “Bingo 😉”. This is a reference to Magni Bronzebeard in World of Warcraft.
* Mark confirmed again that an Empyrean would be a better match for Graz’zt if they were to use him in the engines. They might get away with a Solar, but a Planetar would be a bit weak to get the benefits of having someone as powerful as Graz’zt.
* There was a long discussion during the end donos about how the spell *Travel via Plants* works. Tom was of the belief that all trees must be connected via the roots in order for a tree to be able to be used as part of the spell. Mark disagreed, saying that it was magic, and any tree could be used regardless of any connection: “It’s not *Travel via Dirt*!” he said. Kim requested Tom run a oneshot about this, which Mark refuses to play in; Tom suggested it could be "Quill teaches magic", or "Quill's arcana degree". Kim later linked a wiki article in Discord about the Pando forest in Utah which is scientifically accepted to be a single living organism and assumed to have one massive underground root system.
* Possibly the last mash-up that we will get of the gang now that they are going to the studio. Rhi/Tom:
* Grumpy Goblin Wizard suggested that this might be what Quill looked like in the ship's new catapult system: