Aerois - Episode 88: On Wings of Storm

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**On Wings of Storm** is the 88th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 18th October 2020 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*It's finally time to return to the Valley of Storms.*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomed everyone and introduced the players.
* D&D Beyond is this week's sponsor.
* Quill t-shirts will be out very soon. Prime hoodies will be re-stocked, as will the plastic dice and a foldable dice tray.
* In November, there will be a full Winter Xmas collection including a jumper and a number of other gifts.
* Chaos Twins are playing through Balder's Gate with Trott and Mark on Tuesdays. The only episode has been a "hot mess" according to Tom.

### **Recap**

"*Having returned to Aerois, the party head off in search of a nearby Tiangong shard for Nova. They track the shard to an island of frogmen who attempt to sacrifice the party to a froghemoth; but defeating the frogmen and the froghemoth is only the prelude to greater danger.*
*The island begins to break and fall apart, and is revealed to be the back of a giant dragon turtle. Enraged, the dragon begins to thrash, and dives underwater; and with a blast of steam breath, knocks out Quill, and Aila, Lucius, Quill, and Sentry are left stranded in the water, waiting for their airship the Stormchaser to rescue them. Nova uses Tiangong to dimension door to the airship and then creates an arcane gate for her friends to escape through. But sadly, Lucius is bitten by the dragon turtle and suffers a terrible critical injury: a pierced lung. Sentry manages to get Lucius onto the ship, and their medic, Greylauno, is called, but things look desperate.*
*As the party escapes the dragon turtle, they struggle to save Lucius's life. After a failed divine intervention, Quill produces a sequester scroll that they've been saving, and uses it to place Lucius in suspended animation until Nova can ritual cast a spell to save him. And that is pretty much where we ended last week's episode, with all of you taking a long rest.*"

### **Part 1**

*The Stormchaser charts a course for Myrskyr and the Valley of Storms while Nova finishes Project Flock Together!*

The party takes a long rest.

Quill dreams…

*He feels wind, the smell of burnt air and lightning. Thunder rumbles through his chest. Everything is a dark, grey fog. He feels no ground beneath his feet but he can sense broken earth and destroyed villages around him, sundered mountains and many, many dead. A light begins to appear in the grey haze – a desperate, faint blue and white light, the form like that of a dragon that flickers briefly to become a man, and then vanishes. A spear takes its place: its head is twisted in a spiral, and three blue gemstones, flickering with storm light sit beneath its tip. Its haft is wrapped in loose cloth marked with runes that dances as if caught in a breeze. But then he feels something else in the grey fog, slithering things with red eyes, their bodies covered in spikes and blades; they hiss and shriek, reaching for the spear. A woman with iron wings flashes in the dark, like a shadow created by a burst of lightning: he face is cold and void of emotion, but she smiles a thin, red smile over snake-like fangs. The spear pulses with power, and suddenly all is white – the grey fog, the creatures, the woman, all blown away, leaving behind only a man with angelic wings, his hair has gone grey, one of his eyes is now blind with cataracts, but the other still sparkles, sky-blue. He smiles softly as he turns towards Quill: “It’s time, Quill. You must mend what I broke – save the one I could not”.*  The dream ends.

Aila dreams…

*She stands on the Stormchaser’s deck, though it is empty. She looks out towards a wall of grey clouds, of vicious storms. The lightning cracks, thunder booms, but it seems far away – it seems almost to be listening to her. “Who’s there?” she asks. The lightning and the thunder rolls once more, but no answer comes. She then sees flashes – a world of green fields and rugged rocks, a house on the edge of the coast made of woods with shields painted in tartan colours hung above the door. The trees nearby are huge and mighty, the cliffs are dangerously tall and imposing. Elves, red and blonde-haired, with tattoos like her own, spar by the house whilst children run through the woods, laughing, a bear cub, playfully chasing after them. There is a pause, then another flash – the world is now dying, the cliffs break away, crumbling into a boiling ocean that has turned ink black like the void. A terrible red light fills the air, creatures of malign flesh and purpose shriek as they fight in the air. The house is burning; a shield with tartan colours lies on the ground, a broken hammer beside it. Above, Valkyrian ships fight the monsters as the ground begins to crack and shift around her, collapsing in on itself. There is another flash – Aila stands on the Stormchaser once more, but it is not empty: behind her stand her allies – friends, the ship’s crew, and dozens of wild elves she has never met. Some wear her colours, some wear Valkyrian armour, but she knows they are not her foes. Another peal of thunder echoes from the thick wall of grey fog that stands before her: the storm calls.* The dream ends.

The rest sleep soundly, although the previous day’s events weigh heavily on them. Sentry goes to check on Lucius and Quill: Quill is by Lucius’ bedside keeping watch over him. Quill’s face and Lucius’ chest are badly scarred and no amount of magical healing will fix that, but Lucius is at least sleeping soundly. As Sentry and Quill consider the previous day’s events, Lucius wakes and asks after them both, and Quill suggests a meeting of the officers. Nova bursts in, jumps on the bed and hugs Lucius gently, then does the same to Quill; Aila stands back in the corner, quietly, smiling at the scene. Greylauno sends Lucius to have a wash, then speaks to the rest of them in private: she is concerned about this mental state after the trauma that he has suffered, and asks them to keep an eye on him, then leaves. Nova insists that she is going to fix Quill’s wing today while they make their way towards the Valley of Storms: Quill is concerned that he is going to let Nova down, but reluctantly agrees.

Quill tells the rest of them about his dream, and they discover that Tiangong’s intelligence has increased 300%, and that they can now communicate with more than one word, although communication is still limited. Nova recalls that Tiangong had mentioned that a large amount of power may be able to heal them, but Tiangong says that it depends whether the storm is magical, and is more likely to create a clone than to repair themselves.

Quill estimates that they are 3 days out of Myrskyr, 4 days if they divert to Porta Sovrano to pick up supplies. Quill sends a message to Johann: *“Clear skies. We’re on our way. What is the situation in Myrskyr? Is it safe?”* There is no response. Quill suggests that they go directly to the Valley of Storms and do not divert their course. In the meantime, Nova suggests that they summon and fight the air elemental required to finish creating Quill’s artificial wing: they summon the elemental on the deck of the ship and it is immediately destroyed by multiple attacks. Nova takes the remains and heads down to her workshop: unseen and unnoticed by the others, Lucius has not taken part in this battle, but has disappeared to his quarters, having had an anxiety attack.

Quill casts Divination and asks, “Does Johann meet us in the Valley of Storms?” – in response, he hears H’esper’s voice carried on the winds, saying, “*The spirit of the storm will meet you past the Great Hall*”.

Aila takes Quill aside and tells her about her own dream, and asks what he thinks it means: she thinks it may be a terrible omen, but is not sure if she should be doing anything about it. She thinks that she may need to gather the wild elves in order to stand against Valkyrian, but she does not know why the wild elves would listen to her because she is just a random elf who does not even like talking to people because they suck; she says that she is not a leader.

Sentry talks to Greylauno to learn some humanoid anatomy in order to become a better medic, and she begins some training immediately. Lucius appears to be going about his duties as normal, but looks a little more tired than usual; Faeth spends time with him and converses about every day matters as if to keep his mind off what happened, and it seems to help. Kamarra is not fooled, however, and she takes Lucius aside and asks how he is – she tells him that seeing Nova and Quill save his life has done a lot of their morale. The crew has become very attached to Lucius; she tells him the story about when the wolfpack fought off some sky pirates, and a young Beastwalker, Finn, was afterwards unable to hold a blade due to his paw trembling – he told no one of this, and ran off when they got to the next port. Kamarra tells Lucius not to make the same mistake, and to talk to his friends or to her – he nods to her, but says nothing as she walks off, having said her piece.

Aila relieves Lookout at the watch post and can feel that the weather is changing: the storm is bad, and the wind is growing stronger and more intense – she makes Quill aware of these changes. After a few days, Nova emerges from her workshop covered in oil, smudge stains and magical dust, carrying a metal and leather magitek apparatus – it is thin and light-weight, and looks very similar to Quill’s own wing. It has a harness that attaches to the front, but fits over his missing wing area; there are mechanical parts and counterweights near the shoulder. It shimmers with a sight glow.

Quill sees Nova walk out and is immediately apprehensive, and tries to hide behind the mast, almost wanting to sneak away and delay the moment as long as possible. Aila is up on the mast, calling his name and pointing Nova out to him: this causes the crew to start to gather around him, curious. Quill is obviously nervous, so Aila tells everyone to fuck off (in the nicest way), and they start to clear the deck, Oriya suggests that Aila also fucks off, which she does not, staying where she is. Nova starts to explain to Quill how everything works, then explains that this is her repayment for him trusting her after the ILS debacle: Aila comes down from the mast and holds the apparatus up so that Nova can strap the harness onto him. As Quill pulls his cloak aside, they see his lightning-scarred and burned left side and shoulder: it is comfortable and feels almost like his own wing is back on his body. Quill moves to the bow of the ship and extends both arms, catching the wind in both wings – he is tentative and afraid, shaking and says, “Nova, I don’t know how”. She reassures him, showing him an emblem that she has stamped into the leather straps nearest to his heart: it is an outline of the Stormchaser – it is to represent them all as a family and their trust in each other. Quill turns, dropping his wings, with tears in his eyes: it is more than he had ever asked for. He hugs Nova with both wings, then steps back and drops off the front of the ship.

There is a moment of panic as he starts to fall before he recalls his first flying lessons with his brothers and sisters: he spins to face the ground, catching the wind in his wings… and starts to fly again. Quill flies around the ship, performing some acrobatics – in the distance, he can barely see Voksar, now there is a large dark grey wall of fog completely enshrouding the land in a thick grey storm. Dark purple lightning flashes in the fog, followed by a peal of thunder rippling through the air – Quill starts, as if reacting to well-buried memories, but he manages to make his way back down onto the deck of the Stormchaser. The rest of the crew notice that on the sea below, great waves churn and roil around the coast of Myrskyr, and several dozen orc ships make haste away from the land – each ship is packed with Myrskyr citizens carrying whatever belongings they could take in their haste to escape.

### **Part 2**

*Lightning awaits the Stormchaser as Quill realises his vision and Aila awakens ancient powers!*

The Stormchaser makes its way towards Myrskyr: the continent where Sentry was brought back to life, Quill died and they met Oriya – it is shrouded in a dark grey fog, and they are a few hours away from the storm wall. There are metal pylons set into the deck ready for Aila to hold them and channel the lightning. As the winds pick up, Oriya calls for all hands on deck: they begin to tie down ropes and adjust sails.

The crew makes a number of checks to keep the ship sailing in the right direction and making sure that the crew is able to cope with the difficult conditions. After a couple of hours, the bow of the Stormchaser enters the dense grey fog: as they emerge on the other side of the storm wall, the winds die down somewhat – there is thunder and lightning in the distance, but visibility is down to about 10 feet due to the thick fog around them. After some further checks, and Sentry casting daylight on her sword to act as a beacon, they manage to keep the ship on course despite the lack of visibility. Ahead, Quill can feel that the aethyr currents have formed a whirlpool around the aarakocra messenger tower, and they will not be able to avoid passing through the outer rim of the whirlpool: there is ground debris swirling around in the whirlpool, and Quill knows that if they get sucked into the middle of the vortex, it will throw their ship to the ground.  Lucius is struggling to be heard over the wind, the crew is beginning to panic, and Quill is struggling with the strength of the winds, and they start being pulled in towards the centre of the vortex. After struggling with the ship against the winds, they manage to turn the ship away from the vortex and make some headway against it and eventually emerge on the other side into the Valley of Storms. Quill sees the Messenger Tower - it is now a broken ruin and sections have been destroyed by lightning.

Quill can now see the storm in its full fury: there is intense lightning and the storm seems to come alive - the dark, grey clouds are shaped into a large draconic form, its large face roars in fury and rage. A lightning blast just misses the Stormchaser, and leaves smouldering ruin on the ground below. Aila takes a deep breath and moves to the bow to hold the rods that have been placed there for her. As they plunge into the storm, they notice at the far end of the valley, a temple nestles between the cliffs as they come to a point: at that point, a bolt of lightning strikes the Stormchaser with uncanny accuracy, almost as if it was targeted. For a brief moment, the ship is shrouded in lightning energy, but it is quickly funnelled into the metal rods and then into Aila herself. She is injured and her vision goes white - *she appears to be standing in a long, golden hall, but it is hazy as if she is not fully there. Men and women, all elves, sit at tables, feasting, drinking and cheering together; some are wounded and scarred with lost limbs that have healed. They wear different tartans, some of which match Aila's.* *At the end of the hall, sitting on a large chair, laden with furs, with many weapons behind him, sits a well-built human man with a thick, blond beard; he wears a blue cape and a red tunic cinched with a heavy leather belt. He sees Aila, though the others do not - he raises one curious eyebrow and grins...* Aila suddenly snaps back to the Stormchaser.

The crew works at keeping the ship on course. Quill realises that this is the vision that he had seen - everyone is where they should be and doing what they were doing when he saw it. The ship hurtles downward, now starting to pass mountains on its way towards the ground, and another immense bolt of lightning strikes the ship - Aila is shocked again, and her vision returns to the hall. *As she stands before him, the figure cocks his head, "What's this? A strange mortal to have in my hall". Aila is irritated and tells him to let her through. "You misunderstand, little elf," he says. "Wherever you are, whatever is sending you to me is none of my doing. I am far from your realm, father than you can imagine!" "Then give me the resistance to help me," Aila demands, "I'm trying to save an entire planet here. It's not about me". He nods at her, "I can do no more for you than what you already have. You already carry my power within you. There is only so much more I can do. Is that all you have to ask?" Aila asks what is causing the storm. "Ah, it is both of me and not of me. It is a storm, natural as a storm can be - fierce, wild, tempestuous, but there is a darker magic at work in it. I can feel a presence - an evil, malicious, greedy intent that shapes and corrupts it. Whatever you face, little elf, it is a mighty foe indeed".* The vision fades as Aila returns to the deck of the Stormchaser. Sentry can see steam rising from Aila's body and red marks and lines appearing all up and down her body - she lays hands on Aila, and Quill also does some healing.

The crew maintains the Stormchaser's course as the ship is hit by lightning, buffered by Lucius with his Absorb Elements ability. Aila is hit by lightning once more and Aila reappears in the same hall once again - *she asks the man how she unites the elves and who has powers.* *"I wish I could help," he responds. "I am very far from your realm - it has been eons since I was last there. I left after I defeated Hadar and gave a portion of my power to a young woman. I left in mourning for my brother, my father, and found a new realm. Your people, whatever power you carry, is a remnant of mine that I gave to someone else. I do not know how we are connected, I do not know across time and space how we speak of this, all I know is that you are one of mine. A cousin, a tiny, tiny cousin of mine perhaps - you carry just a small, small fragment of my power in you, little elf. But I ask you this: why do you need others? You stand before me, suffering such great pains. You are clearly a mighty warrior, you need no one else". Aila advises him that Hadar has returned. "And I trust that when you meet him, you will show him my power once more".* Aila is returned to the Stormchaser a third time. Sentry heals Aila again and cheers on the crew who hold the ship's course.

They are nearing the end of the valley and the ruined, huge stone statue that stands above the temple: the figure, once of a two-winged man holding aloft a giant quarter-staff, now only has one wing and holds a broken staff that appears to be a spear-tip - it is H'esper standing above his temple. One last mighty lightning blast hits Aila and she is transported to the hall once again: *it is peaceful and quiet. Aila is weary and asks simply, "How do I defeat Hadar?" The man looks at her, "when my brothers and I, the first divines (we called ourselves) of your realm, we knew there was only one way. We sealed him into the Far Realm, a place where his power is lesser, but it took much. Only a deity, a true divine can open the gate between the Far Realm and yours. He is most vulnerable inside the Far Realm; if he were to escape back into yours, his power would be extreme, but only a divine can create enough space for you to exist within the Far Realm before being driven mad. If you can find her, that young girl, Siaska, the one who took over the responsibility for your realm, she is the one who can let you exist in that space". Aila tells the man that Siaska is not here and asks whether her daughter might do. The man gives a belly laugh, "my, my! If the young woman has had a daughter, then she, too, carries a spark of divinity, she would be able to create the way. Our time is coming to an end, little elf, I can sense that you have already passed through the worst of the storm. But let it not be said that my hospitality is lacking!" He stands and takes the belt from around his waist, strides forward and snaps it around Aila's waist. He puts a firm hand on her shoulder, holds out his other arm, and a hammer that rests on the wall behind him flies from the wall into his hands, "and when you face that bastard, Hadar, you show him the power that resides within you. Show him the power of THOR!"* The lightning flashes and Aila is back on the Stormchaser.

The Stormchaser screeches through the air and Oriya somehow manages to glide it into a nook just underneath parts of the temple, sheltered from the storm. The looming Temple of H'esper stands before them. Aila is now wearing the Belt of the Storm King that was not there before the last lightning bolt: it is a studded leather belt with a buckle in the form of a single, wide-headed, short-hafted hammer. She also now has thin, lightning-shaped streaks from her hands to her biceps looking like tattoos, and collapses to the deck. Aila tells them about her visions.

The valley is completely silent and feels dead. Kamarra advises that the crew is fine, and that they will stay with the ship and look over it for damage and start trying to repair what they can. Lookout advises that there are several empty camps in the area around the temple - the people are either inside the temple or are no longer here. Lookout also noted several mechanical beings, similar to what attacked them last time Johann appeared on the Stormchaser. Sentry asks Lookout to stay with the crew, then checks on Lucius to make sure he is ok. Quill is looking around the valley, and notices that embedded in the wall below the statue of H'esper is a long metal pole with rings attached to it - he knows that each one of these would have had a piece of cloth attached to it, ready for a candidate for the messenger guild to take and return to the tower as part of their final test, the test that Quill did not pass. They are currently all empty, but Quill tears a piece off his cloak, wanting to attach it to one of the rings when he gets down there.

Tiangong speaks to Nova, "Warning... area... likely at threat... soon. Should... move quickly. Storm." Nova asks if this is because the storm will get stronger again soon. "Yes," replies Tiangong, "but also... powerful being inside... ancient... old... sense... Valkyrian Empire". Nova asks if Tiangong senses any Hadar corruption, which they do not. Nova postulates that Starbane's forces must have come here to control whatever power is here, and she asks if Tiangong knows if there is an ancient weapon here. "Unknown," says Tiangong, "outside my... knowledge base. Mostly... part of... Valkyrian army... ships... fleets... weapons. Was not... involved... with Aerois... much". Nova asks if Tiangong came across Xarkira: "Yes... Xarkira... dangerous... enemy... cunning... clever... powerful... rival... Kalus... more... dangerous". Nova tells Tiangong that she thinks Xarkira might be here. "Likely... Xarkira... keeping secret... from Kalus... always... at odds... secret... research". Tiangong apologises for their fragmented memory and says that it is difficult to understand their past lives.

Sentry calls to Helios and asks if he will protect her in the temple: Helios agrees, and his cloak form appears around Sentry. The area near the ship is an old, wide road, leading to the temple beside which are multiple broken smaller shrines and ruined buildings. Once they get to the entrance of the temple, Quill flies up to attach a piece of his cloak to one of the rings, and when he lands, he stands in front of a huge archway leading into the temple built into the Stormwall Mountains. Quill casually notices that the statue is missing the same left wing that he is missing, and as he looks through the archway, he sees a humanoid shape take form - initially Quill thinks he has materialised from nothing, but then believes that he has just come out of the darkness. It is a worn-looking fisherman with a burned fishing rod on his back - it is Johann. "It's good to see you," he says, "I've been waiting".

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:03 - Episode Start
07:36 - Dun Duns
08:36 - Intro
09:55 - Part 1
1:20:01 - Break time/Donations
1:29:56 - Part 2
2:44:43 - Outro/Donations

*feel free to add extra timestamps of significant events!*

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Oriya
* Greylauno
* Kamarra
* Faeth
* Lookout
* Johann

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Xarkira
* H'esper

## **Featured Locations**

* The Stormchaser
* Voksar
	+ The Valley of Storms
	+ The Temple of H'esper

## **Trivia**

* Tom consecrates and uses a scroll of identify level 1 in order to cast Divination. Mark had advised the team previously that he was getting tougher on them having to have required spell components in their inventories. Tom wanted to use Quill’s own feathers to cast the spell, but Mark said that they would not reach the 25g threshold, and were worth 0 gold.
* Sentry trains in medicine with Greylauno – in 2 days, she is able to add half of her proficiency bonus (+2) to her medicine checks, after a week, she is able to become fully proficient, and can add the full +4 to the medicine skill.
* Information about the Magitek Wing: Only Quill and Nova can remove the item, no one can forcibly remove it. It can be critically injured. It feels like having a natural arm again, and has a mechanical hand – it is a fully functioning arm and wing – it allows him to cast spells with it as well.
* To get through the storm, there was a group skill check: the captain or first mate had to make an intelligence check with air vehicles to navigate; the first mate, captain or morale officer had to make a charisma/persuasion/intimidation check to keep the crew on task and ensure the morale is high during the storm; the engineer had to make an arcana check and needed to nominate another character to make a strength check using carpenter’s tools to attend to any damage to the ship; the quartermaster had to make a wisdom/survival/perception check to keep everything on course. The more people succeeded, the better the ship would stay on course.
* The Belt of the Storm King gives her 25 strength and allows her to add her constitution modifier to damage that she does with her storm aura.
* Aila removed her ring of free action to attune to the Belt of the Storm King. Nova took the ring.