Aerois - Episode 21: Burning Questions

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Mark Hulmes as Aila

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Burning Questions** is the 21st episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 27th January 2019 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Things heat up at the Temple of H'Esper(sic) as we get a visit from the Palador Inquisition...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players. Katie is away today, being busy with other projects.
* Sponsor this week is D&D Beyond.
* Merch: there is a winter sale on at the moment – included on sale are calendars, tote bags, standard dice, t-shirts, notebooks, mugs, hoodies and more.
* People should be getting their correct gem dice now.
* The Yogscast Royal Rumble is on tonight at 6pm on the Yogs channel featuring Mark, Tom and Trott. It is a 20-man royal rumble in WWE 2K19. Tom edited the video.
* Last night Mark did a D&D one-shot on RollPlay.
* Reminder to use your Amazon Prime sub on Twitch, the High Rollers YouTube channel and Podcast.

### **Recap**

"*After witnessing a Spell Clash match, drinking in a seedy bar with the orc priest Kalu Otoma, and making plans with Arval, our adventurers met once again with the Field Warden of Kalie's Rest, Milika Dawnblessed, who informed them that she had spoken with the Sans family and the mercenary Sanna Longears, and after learning the true nature of Nightfrost, the Eterna relic that you acquired from a Court of Shadows starship, she encouraged you to be cautious with it, but gave you free reign in the city, to leave it when you wished. With the doubts cast on Nightfrost, you sought information about him, as well as to explore your own areas of learning, by heading to the temple of H'esper: a squat little tower in North Street. You found it to be a disorganized hoarder's nightmare of books and scrolls. A strange old man spoke with you for a short time, until you revealed Nightfrost, where he referred to it by its name, an Eterna.*"
### **Part 1**

*In the Temple of H'esper the team have met a man who is very interested in their shadowy weapons!*

The Temple of H’esper seems to loom around the party as Dean Simon stands staring at them intently. The dark shadows of the night and lack of ambient lighting turn the bookcases into cavernous walls, and the book stacks seem like awkward shaped stalagmites rising up towards the ceiling. In the brief silence, they can hear the creak of wood and a gentle hum; the smell of old parchment and polished leather drifts through the room as the Dean rubs his chin but keeps his eyes focused on the long black cloak draped across Lucius’ shoulders, the shadowy fabric swaying softly though there is no breeze, and a gentle mist coils towards the floor. The Dean looks around at all of them and asks them to explain their presence in Kalie’s Rest with an Eterna. Quill tells the Dean that additionally, he is there to learn more about H’esper.

The Dean is serious now, the opposite of the cantankerous old buffoon who spoke to them earlier, because they are here with a real purpose and a real problem: most people who seek him out want cheap and easy answers, quite different to what the party seeks. Nova is still trying to catalogue Dean Simon’s books; he tells her to leave them and puts his hand on the altar – suddenly the books shoot from the floor, tables and barrels into the multiple bookcases around the room to create a tidy, but dusty tower.

They turn their attention to Nightfrost, and the Dean tells them that he had read a description of it long ago when he was learning in Horizon – an elven teacher of his, Dean Ellessandra Vastra from the High Church of H’esper, became very interested in the Eterna. The Temple of H’esper had kept their existence a secret, being concerned about how others would view them, knowing that they had been used as weapons and power sources for the Court of Shadows; they have particular concerns about Lowland tyrants and Sky Pirates.

Ellessandra spent some time researching the Eterna and managed to identify several of them, writing descriptions of their various forms and interviewed Eterna that walked freely among the people of Aerois – she learned of Nightfrost from them, he was believed to be dead. She also learned of the Eternal Triumvirate – their three leaders – all equal in power, who governed the society of the Eterna together. The Eterna are beings of energy and hitherto did not have physical forms. The Triumvirate was a council, and they were law-bearers – the council was comprised of Tiangong, Alyeja and Tassadar. Dean Simon tells them that the Eterna contain enormous amounts of power (some of which was given to the Court of Shadows), and that this was more than what their current forms are capable of. The Court of Shadows knew rituals that allowed the Eterna to power their starships or giant engines of war (great beasts of metal, stone, and magic). He tells them further that Kalus Starbane, the tyrant and demigod, bound the Eterna to his will – through this binding or pact, he stole their ability to change their form and forced them to take on the forms of weapons, armour and devices used to generate power – in doing so, they have gained a sort of immortality: they can be destroyed but do not age, and do not change. They can slowly be drained of their power, however, and once their power is gone (according to Ellessandra), it can only be restored through a willing return of energy from a living host – a symbiotic relationship where a willing humanoid can offer some of their life force to the Eterna and in exchange this awakens the Eterna’s powers. It is also possible, however, for the Eterna to be “force fed” power, life, and energy, similar to the way undead are created by necromancy, but doing so makes the Eterna corrupted, driving them mad and making them dark, twisted things that crave power and energy; there is no cure for this madness, and they cannot be restored. Dean Simon warns them about the potential danger that they carry in Nightfrost and is surprised that Tiangong has not warned them of this.

Dean Simon equates the Eternal Triumvirate in power to the Archfiends and Celestials – great beings who are not quite gods but immensely powerful. He thinks that Tiangong may have been shattered into pieces to spread its power throughout Kalus’ fleet; he does not know where the other two are but suggests that Dean Ellessandra might. The Eterna, he says, can take various forms: humanoid, weapon, and armour, but only those who are considered “free” (those who have bonded with a willing symbiotic being can take on a humanoid form). Some may bond with a being and leave; others may be forced to stay by their side. Most of Ellessandra’s notes came from speaking with an Eterna named Celeste – a luminous feminine form that appeared as if glowing, who could take the form of a spear – she roams freely around Aerois and seeks to free her people from the pact with Starbane (which sadly appears to be impossible). Lucius wonders whether Atelicus’ spear that was used to cause The Sundering was this Celeste, but thinks that it probably was not.

Dean Simon asks what they plan to do with Nightfrost – he is not sure if Nightfrost’s conversion is yet complete because he understands that there would be a physical change if that were the case; he suspects, however, that because Nightfrost was force fed a number of unwilling souls, that he is on the brink of corruption and warns them again to take care. He thinks that because Tiangong is itself so powerful that they do not need to drain so much power from Nova and therefore does not pose a threat to her; Nova hopes that if she can gather more shards of Tiangong, they may be able to help Nightfrost. Dean Simon suggests that they approach Dean Ellessandra in Horizon if they want more information and is surprised that Lucius is so keen to travel there given that the populace overthrew the High Elf nobles that had been in power. Aila waves her tartan in the Dean’s face, asking if he has any information about her clan – he does not recognise it or have any information on hand, but could ask H’esper.

Quill tells the Dean his story and how he has seen “things” – a blinding light, places to which he has never been, cities with people running and screaming as buildings burn and fall down around them, shortly after which H’esper reached down to him before he woke up in the Lowlands, and since that time H’esper has appeared to him and given him a path to follow; Quill has also noticed his magic powers growing, magic that he never had prior to entering the storm and being struck by lightning. Dean Simon tells Quill that what he has experienced is not uncommon – the gods, following the Sundering, pulled away from Aerois in mourning for their mother; it was a dark time, but they had not given up on the people completely. The gods needed some time to adjust – they were part of Siaska, and when she died, part of them died with her, but they still speak to those who will listen and have something to learn. H’esper, he says, sees potential in many, but was always considered strange by his family, loving his books and learning and the sky; if H’esper is speaking to Quill, it means that Quill has incredible potential. He gets a scroll from one of the bookshelves and gives it as a gift to Quill, a new acolyte – it is a scroll of *Divination* and will allow Quill to ask a question of H’esper when he is powerful enough to use it – he also offers to speak to Quill later and teach him more about H’esper.

Sentry asks if Dean Simon knows anything about “The Prime” – he does not know anything in particular but knows that it is not a god of Aerois; he suspects that this may be a powerful being from a planet called Mechanus that houses constructs and golems, similar to the Guardians and it is possible that this is where the original ideas for the Guardians came from. He recollects something about “Primus”, not Prime, but says that is all he can recall.

As they are talking to Simon, they hear the door open and armoured footfalls: there are five armed and armoured persons entering with two more outside by the door. Leading them is a man in a long white and red robe with a burning gauntleted fist embroidered on his left breast (previously the symbol of Palador that they had seen was an open hand). They tell Simon that the Abbotess would like to speak to him and is gathering the heads of all the local churches in the abbey – Simon appears confused, asking what has happened to Abbot Varson. The man tells him that the Abbot has fallen ill and that this has left the leadership of the Abbey to the Abbotess. The man tells the party that they should leave while being especially rude to Aila and insists that Simon goes with them – Lucius agrees that they should go and sees that Simon is disappointed that he would not stand up for him as he is shoved roughly towards the door.

As they are leaving, Lucius announces that he is not very happy with how they are handling the Dean – the men stop and shove the Dean against the wall behind the door, leaving a guard on him and the leader approaches Lucius to “apologise”. As Sentry tries to intervene, the leader tells them that it is a shame that libraries like this are prone to burning down as his form bursts into flame.

The leader slams his crozier staff on the ground, points it forward and shoots a cone of flame (*Burning Hands*) hitting Sentry, Aila, and Lucius as well as several tables and barrels, setting some of the books and bookcases alight. They fight with the intruders, and Lucius uses Nightfrost’s power to *Misty Step* – the cloak expands like a crawling tendril of shadows, it completely covers Lucius who is suddenly flattened into the shadow of a nearby bookcase before reappearing behind one of the Militants. The leader, The Custodus, casts a *Fireball* towards the back of the room – it explodes causing more fire to erupt in the building.

### **Part 2**

*Fire in the temple! The battle rages on, will the team survive Palador's cleansing!?*

Nova pushes over a burning bookcase and retreats closer to Quill. Quill asks the Dean if they can save the temple – he tells them to get out, that the temple will be fine and the books can be replaced. They are still fighting the Abbey thugs – Quill uses *Gust* to blow flames towards some of them, which they seem to resist. Dean Simon suggests that if they can get out, someone may be able to get the Harvest Guard who might be able to help. The room is increasingly filling with black smoke and becoming uncomfortably hot; some of the abbey soldiers begin to cough as they inhale the smoke. Lucius and Sentry are affected by *Bane* courtesy of the Custodus as he grasps his crozier and mutters some quiet words; Nova hits him with *Eldritch Blast* and he hits Sentry, downing her.

Aila attacks the Custodus, swinging a mighty blow at him with her hammer – he tries to block it with his staff but does not put enough strength behind it: he is thrown against the wall and there is a sickening wet thud as his head hits the wall and he slumps to the ground, dead. The soldier that has Lucius grappled places a burning hand on Lucius’ chest, shattering his *Armour of Agathys* and ultimately killing himself as he is embedded with shards of ice. The three remaining zealots look around at their fallen comrades, then back at each other – they nod at each other, tighten their grips on their weapons and stand their ground. Lucius calls to the Dean to escape now that the exit is unblocked – he does so, hitching up his robes so that he can run to fetch help; he then throws a couple of wild icy *Chromatic Orbs* which both fly wide of their targets, although one takes a small amount of damage from *Dichromancy*.

Quill moves over to heal Sentry before he and Nova begin to choke on the thick smoke (resulting in each of them taking a level of exhaustion). Nova attempts to cast *Frostbite* on one of the zealots, but he shakes it off and strikes her with his flaming blade. One of the other zealots hits Aila with his sword, she returns the favour by slamming him into the bookcase behind him, breaking his back and killing him. Lucius tries to throw out two more frost orbs: the two remaining zealots see them coming and raise their shields again, deflecting them – as they drop the shields, however, Lucius’ *Dichromancy* hits one of them in the eye and sends a small shard of ice into his brain, dropping him to the floor. Quill tries to use *Gust* to push the remaining zealot into the flames, but he manages to stand fast. The smoke is getting thicker and the fire hotter, Sentry becomes exhausted, and suddenly one of the beams of the roof cracks under the heat and flame, falling on the remaining zealot, pinning him to the ground and killing him. Nightfrost offers to lead them out of the burning, smoke-filled building, and they finally claw their way out into the open air (Nova grabbing an armful of books on her way out), coughing and spluttering and seeing many townsfolk and Harvest Guard making their way towards the tower with buckets of water. As the people begin to arrive, they notice three similar-looking Dwarven druids, probably brothers, riding stout ponies towards them; they all have bones woven into their hair and beards and are wearing thick leather armour. They ask the party if there is anyone still inside the building (alive), and the party sees Milika talking to Dean Simon. The three druids raise their arms and begin creating giant columns of water that they direct towards the towering inferno; there is a instant sizzling noise as water starts flowing freely out the door, carrying burnt, sodden books and at least one of the dead bodies from inside out into the street. There is an ancient Earth Genasi, Mason (a priest of Valena, The Forge Mistress) with some apprentices who begins to offer first aid to the wounded among them.

After about an hour, their major wounds have been treated, and while they are still fatigued and dizzy, all pain is gone. Milika and the Dean come over to them (Milika carrying the giant greatsword from her office on her back – it has a long golden handle and gold pommel with angelic wings for the guard): the Dean has told her that the incident occurred because the zealots were trying to take him away against his will. The Dean asks about the other spiritual leaders in the town: Milika tells him that Mason was too stubborn and refused to go, but all of the others went, including Elannis, because otherwise something like what had happened at Dean Simon’s tower would have happened elsewhere. She says that there has been a lot of problems in Kalie’s Rest lately, political at first, but increasingly religion-based – the previous Abbot, Varson, was a moderate who followed Palador and believed in all that is good about him; the Abbotess, however, is more extreme and encourages her views in others, having slowly shaped the abbey’s position over recent times. Tonight she “requested” the attendance of the other spiritual leaders at the abbey, and Milika thinks that her plan is to keep them as hostages of a sort, but the party got in the way of her plan. Milika outright calls what the Abbotess has created a cult, that blames outsiders for any ills that they have suffered – the mayor has refused to let Milika act against them and she thinks that they have something over him. She tells the party that she will back them and will try to make it clear that the extremists are the ones responsible for the damage and death. While Nova says that they did not mean for any of it to happen, Milika says that being in a temple of H’esper likely did not help – H’esper is not well-liked in the Lowlands as a god, and that the zealots were probably looking for any excuse to attack the temple.

The party is surprised that the zealots were so ready to lay down their lives for the cause – Milika tells them that one of their strong beliefs is that dying for the cause is to be celebrated and that they believe something about ash and rebirth; Nova quotes one of the zealots, “From the flames, ash purges all”. Milika tells them quietly that they are called the Ashbringers and that they have eyes and ears everywhere. Since the Sundering, they believe that all the problems that people have faced have been caused by the worship of the gods that abandoned them, and they follow extreme teachings of Palador, like “Sometimes a field must be destroyed – a forest must be burned down so that new life can grow” – as an Aasimar, she despises what is going on but is bound by her duty to the law.

Milika tells them that the Abbotess is not the leader of the group, just a senior member of the church, but she has pretty much taken over Kalie’s Rest and the abbey is locked up like a fortress. Milika plans to negotiate with the Abbotess to see if she can get the other spiritual leaders released, but if she tells Milika that they are there willingly, it will be difficult to prove otherwise; the mayor may simply tell her to drop the whole thing. She says quietly to them that she may need to hire the party privately to deal with this problem if they are willing, otherwise she recommends that they leave the town quickly. Out loud, she thanks them for defending a citizen of the town and lets them go.

The Dean thanks them for all their help, telling Quill that while it is sad that the books in the temple were lost, both he and the building still stand, and they can rebuild the temple. Nova apologises for the loss of the books, but the Dean tells her that a book is just a book, and that it is the knowledge inside that matters – Nova offers him the few books that she managed to save on her hurried exit from the burning tower and he is clearly touched by the gesture, accepting them gratefully. He offers to teach Quill what he can from his thirty years of service to the god. He tells them to rest and recover and Lucius pipes up that they need to get ready for Spell Clash! Milika looks at him, aghast, given what they have just survived and heard.

The group discusses the problem at the abbey with many of them wondering what to do; Lucius asks if it is their problem and if they are causing more problems by getting involved. Quill counters by saying that the problem has been brewing in town for a long time – they struggled fighting just five of the zealots, and he wonders how they would tackle a whole abbey full of them. Aila points out that they have one of her people captive (who knows about the Lair Dir Lann) and may have others; Nova thinks they should wait for Milika to give them more information. They agree that they need to rest and wait for more information; they also need to send word to Valla and Arval to let them know what has happened and want them to be safe while they are sleeping. Lucius suggests that they move to a different inn, and Aila begrudgingly agrees. They move to the Dusk Dream Inn and rest for the night.

The morning is cold, but the storm has passed, and things are drier when they look out the windows – it is overcast and there is a solemness to the town. There is a general feeling of unease around, and some funny looks are cast their way by the people in the Inn. As they are finishing breakfast, they hear the bell and call of a Town Crier announcing that a group of extremists had attacked the temple of H’esper and that the Abbey of Flame has declared that this was a group of extremists acting on their own, believing themselves to be working for the Abbotess who has now assumed leadership of the Abbey after the passing of Abbot Varson; the extremists are denounced and it is announced that the Abbey will cover the costs for the repair and rebuilding of the temple of H’esper.

The doors open dramatically, Arval walks over calmly and sits at their table. He suddenly blurts out, “When the fuck were you gonna tell me what happened last night? I have to hear it from some bookish old man!? Y’all almost died!!” Lucius calmly explains that they did not want to put him or Valla in danger. Arval had been worried, hearing that the temple of H’esper had burned down and knowing that they had wanted to go there – he worried that something had happened to them. They apologise for alarming him, and he tells them that Scout had come by last night to tell them that Breeze was around and wanted to meet Sentry on her own because he is not comfortable around non-Guardians: Scout has all the information. Quill is nervous about letting Sentry go with Breeze on her own, however; Lucius is still quietly keen to partake in Spell Clash...

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Episode Start
06:34- Intro
07:35- Part 1
1:23:11 - Break time/Donations
1:32:28 - Part 2
2:44:02 - Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Dean Simon of the temple of H'esper
* Milika Dawnblessed

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Abbot Varson
* Abbotess Braelyn
* Alyeja the Eterna
* Atelicus
* Celeste the Eterna
* Dean Ellessandra Vastra
* Kalus Starbane
* Siaska
* Tassadar
* Valena

## **Featured Locations**

* Kalie's Rest
	+ Dean Simon's tower - the Temple of H'esper
	+ The Dusk Dream Inn

## **Trivia**

* **Lore dump:** When wondering if Atelicus’ spear was Celeste the Eterna, Mark recounted the events of The Sundering thus: “So from what you remember about the Sundering: the history of the Sundering is the god Atelicus, the eldest son of Siaska, seeing his mother die at the hands of Kalus Starbane, being enraged, plunged his spear into the ground of Aerois. Aerois was once one big landmass: that plunging of the spear split the world up into the continents you now know and caused untold devastation. To this day, Atelicus is regarded as a god to be worshipped but feared because of this rage: he represents primal rage and anger. You don't think that his spear would have been an Eterna - he existed before Starbane arrived to Aerois. His spear is like a part of his godly power.”
* Mark calls the planet “Mechanicus” but on his astral map, it is spelled “Mechanus”.
* The battle in Dean Simon’s tower is the first time that Lucius twins a C*hromatic Orb.*
* When Sentry went down, Tom reminded Mark to use the injury table: Rhiannon rolled badly (2) on her constitution saving throw, which made Tom feel terrible, but she rolled a 20 for the type of damage, getting only “cuts and bruises”.
* Trott realises that his D&D Beyond battery pack is named Brookstone.
* Tom complains that he cannot cast two normal spells in a turn and says, “H’esper’s with me, Mark”. Trott’s response that, “H’esper’s dead” is somewhat prophetic (see episode 109).
* There is a theatre in Kalie’s Rest called The Lyre’s Smile.
* Mark has his other notes with him this week so cannot recall the name of the fancy inn on North Street. Tom thinks he wrote the name of the Inn down but can’t read his own writing – he thinks it says, “Dick Dream”. It is actually The Dusk Dream Inn.
* Lucius suggests that they call their party “The Outcasts” because of the effect they seem to have when they come into a town - Nova counters with “The Losers”. Mark suggests “Troublemakers” and Trott says “Foreigners”.
* Suggested titles for this episode were “Fire in the Temple” or “Fire in the Library”.
* A dono question was “Does the zealot group have Kool Aid-like drink?” – Mark’s response was, “Maybe... they drink Flame Juice”.