Aerois - Episode 42: Legends and Libraries

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Legends and Libraries** is the 42nd episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 11th August 2019 from 5PM to 8PM BST/GMT.

*Time to hire some crew for our new airship, and to also share all the research we found in the Imperium(sic) Archives!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* The team were at YogCon last week, and Mark thanks everyone who came to see them, got things signed, watched the live game, and the 10 VIPs who played in a special Aerois canon game that may eventually become part of the lore: there was 1 survivor in the first session and 2 in the second session.
* D&D Beyond is the sponsor this week (and was also a sponsor of YogCon); Beandog Sykbound sponsored the live show at YogCon.
* Mark, Katie, and Tom will be at PAX West in August for meet and greet and signing sessions, as well as a Q&A session (possibly also a live game).
* New merch: new snap back hats, a Lucius t-shirt (Trott gave his to his mother) and a sorcerer t-shirt.
* Viewers are reminded to donate their Twitch Prime sub to HR with the promise of a Stupid Sexy Starbane emote (his butt).

### **Recap**

"*Last time, the party have travelled to the sky city of Gusthaven, a magical flying city of lore and magic. Sadly, Lucius's hopes to be reunited with his family are dashed, after discovering that they were killed in a magical accident. A conspiracy soon begins to unwind and at his family estate, Lucius is confronted by a masked vigilante called Moonstar, who believes him to be a fraud and tells him to leave Gusthaven. With a hefty payment in the form of a will and compensation from the crown, Lucius commissions an airship to be constructed for the party in their quest to protect Aerois, as well as an alliance with the noble house Virinor to construct a hidden base in Gusthaven. Meanwhile, the rest of the party head to the Empyrean Archive, a colossal library where they aim to research various topics. Nova inquires about the Eterna, and is led to meet with Dean Ellesandra, a priestess of H'esper who has been afflicted with vampirism, but also knows much about the alien beings and is even accompanied by one, a great golden lion man called Helios. The party have weeks before the airship is ready to fly; they have subjects to research, a crew to hire, and a conspiracy to investigate. And that is where we begin today's session.*"

### **Part 1**

*In the airship construction downtime the team are researching some of their most elusive topics!*

House Virinor offers the party temporary accommodations while the secret basement is built. Nova, Sentry and Quill begin research: Nova wants to research Hadar, Kalus Starbane and Xarkira and the Lair Dir Lann, Sentry researches Solwynn and Quill begins research into the City of Glass. Nova sells the broken lightning cable launcher for 250g and gives the working one to Aila. The party members each equip a messenger ring that allows them to talk to each other telepathically. Nova pays for Quill and Sentry to be able to use the library, and pays another 100g to give her a bonus to her roll for the Hadar research; Sentry also pays 100g to get a bonus to her roll, and Quill spends 100g to aid his own research. The results of the research will be **proven facts**, not rumours or possibilities. Meanwhile, Lucius is doing therapeutic art, while Smeek paints beside him (Mark rolls a natural 20 for his check). It is the 6th of Ferron - the middle month of the Long Dark (the 3 months that signify the end of the year).

Nova has done a week's worth of research on Hadar and says that they are all doomed. She tells them that "his name is only found in the oldest of history texts going back to the beginning of the founding age, the beginning of history". He's old. Siaska referenced him, saying "the Dark Beyond is full of creatures and beings that would consume the light of what I have built here, consume your very essence into utter oblivion, my children. You are safe here beneath my light and in my arms and I will protect you, but beware the darkness of the void, for Hadar's hunger is endless and eternal, and even the greatest man I have ever known has not the strength to find it." Nova and Quill make the logical guess that Starbane is "the strongest man [Siaska] has ever known"; Quill wonders why Starbane wants to pull the Cradle down, since it would expose Aerois to Hadar and possible destruction. Nova also reveals that she might be able to find more information in Vortinssar because the Genasi ancestors who dabbled in planar magic tried to, and succeeded in, making contact with Hadar. All the High Elf and Genasi scholars who succeeded in making contact went mad, killed everyone, and fled the city leaving a message written in blood saying "The void hungers".

Quill has found out that "the City of Glass is the ruins of a city that used to be called Kamina, which was a town in the Exalted Domain of Gisella near Gisella and the heart of Aerois. It is where warriors and knights used to train to fight but it was attacked by a large battalion of the Court of Shadows. It was hit by an immensely powerful spell from one of Kalus' battleships that transmuted stone, wood and living matter into glass". During the war and before the Sundering, Aerois was one large continent, split up into places called the Exalted Domains (like kingdoms) with a ruler called the Divine Sentinel who was chosen by the Gods and blessed with various abilities. When the Sundering occurred, the continents split up and the new continents took their names from the old Domains.

Sentry has located information about Solwynn, discovering that it "was once one of the Exalted Domains of Aerois and the place where guardians were created. It was ruled by the Divine Sentinel, Genevieve Astoria and the Astoria family line. It was destroyed and sank beneath the ocean during the Sundering, however much of its technology still washes ashore in the Hawk's Dawn and Starfall Archipelagos". She further researched Volcanos, and learned that the goddess "Valena herself shaped Volcanos, and there are many large volcanoes still alive on Aerois today, but historians are convinced that the Dawnbreaker Mountains on the coast of the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago are the remains of Volcanos. People say if the Dawnbreaker is Volcanos then Solwynn would likely be found beneath the waves nearby".

They don't know how deep under water Solwynn may be, but they believe they might be able to find some clues in the technology that has been washing up on the shores of the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago.

Quill tries to work out what's on their list of things to do: finding the City of Glass and the Prime, finding Solwynn, finding out more about the Lair Dir Lann, working out the rest of what happened to Lucius' family, going to Voksar to stop the storms and get the weapon, don't allow Starbane to kill them, find more fragments of Tiangong, and get Valla back. Lucius, meanwhile, has been designing an airship that he will call the Stormchaser - he is now at design number 18.

They take the design to the docks (the Cloudharbour district of Gusthaven), to the gnome shipwrights Lily & Sprocket Shipwrighting Co. They speak to Lily's daughter, who is minding the store; she gets her little brother, Bellen, to keep watch while she gets her mother and father. Before long, an older-looking female and male gnome come to the shopfront holding hands. They are both wearing rings on their fingers, are dressed elegantly in vests, trousers and a dress, and they also display small grease stains on their faces and calluses on their hands: she is Lily, he is Sprocket. They were surprised to get a commissioned ship, especially from a race other than halflings. The shipwrights and Lucius discuss design and form, looking at the artistic design and engineering requirements. Aila wants a crash-proof ship, which she is told does not exist, Lucius wants to prioritise speed, to have the ship surrounded by illusory shadow and to have weaponry on the ship (options are 4 ballistae, an arcane cannon or an hydraulic ram); the payment includes the hiring of a crew. They decide to take the ballistae, having them mounted on the forecastle, the quarterdeck/aftcastle, port and starboard sides of the ship. The crew will be trained, as will Lucius (daily lessons on helmsmanship), and so will the rest of the party depending on the roles they will take on. Lucius considers some extras, thinking about 7x7m of dance floor with a full lighting set-up so that he can change the mood of the dance at whim.

The ship will be approximately 80 feet long by 20 feet wide and will always have a main deck, a forecastle and a quarterdeck/aftcastle; it will also have officers' quarters and a captain's quarters (which comes with a ready room), a large hold for cargo, an aetherium engine room and a privy. There are six rooms that may be designed to specifications, and these may include a medical cabin, guest cabins, a brig, an armoury, additional cargo space, a workshop, or a kitchen. Lucius gives up his dream of a dance floor, saying that he could always dance on the main deck.

Lucius starts talking about aetherium engines, at which point Nova brings out the engine she recovered from the crashed Sparrowblade - Sprocket can see that it is badly damaged, saying that it looks like it survived a crash: he says it is a good engine and can be repaired to reduce some of the cost, but Lucius says they should use it as a redundancy system to alleviate everyone's fears. Sprocket says a dual-engine system could be possible, that the engine could be used as a back-up system (built-in redundancy), but it could also be used at the same time as the main engine to give a power boost with a bit more risk (possible explosion).

There is discussion about the crew: the first mate needs to be someone they know they can work well with - they will run the ship the way Lucius wants and also take on responsibility when the party isn't there. Lily and Sprocket also recommend that there be an engineer, a quartermaster, a doctor and a cook. Lucius enquires whether the party could take on any of these roles, which they can with the right training.

They decide that Nova will be their best candidate for engineer, Quill will suit the role of quartermaster, and they decide to get a skilled doctor and an unskilled cook. They consider Sanna Longears, Oriya, and Nanny Norfear for first mate, and decide to contact Oriya given her background on ships. They also decide to equip the six remaining rooms as a medical cabin, a guest cabin, a workshop, a kitchen/mess room, an armoury, and a blank room that they can decide on at a later date.

Quill sends a message to Oriya, *"Oriya, it's Quill! We've got an airship, want in? More adventure, more loot, maybe revenge? Let us know. Come to Gusthaven. OK, bye".*

### **Part 2**

*In the airship construction downtime the team are researching some of their most elusive topics!*

Lucius has come up with a salute for the crew of the Stormchaser. Lucius is Captain, Nova is Engineer, Quill is Quartermaster, Sentry and Aila are Security/"Lifty Squad". Oriya responds to the Sending and agrees to be First Mate aboard the ship - it will take her a week to get to Gusthaven. Lily & Sprocket send them a message that they can come to meet and select the potential crew, and they head to the docks.

They first meet a candidate for the Doctor position, Greylauno, a female Orc with prominent tusks and long brown hair. She is over 6 feet tall, with green-blue skin, wearing traditional orc robes (a long skirt with a halterneck crop-top) and a belt with various pouches full of components, and she is covered in tattoos of fish, plants, islands and waves. Greylauno is interviewed and says that she is interested in traveling because she wants to learn more about an affliction that can affect Orcs called the Glint, a kind of madness that takes over: it exacerbates greed and diminishes empathy, and she thinks it is curable. She says she is fearless, blunt and pragmatic and answers the questions put to her by the party.

They then interview a bald male gnome with a spiraling goatee and curled mustache for the position of Engineer. This is Mirkell Windytop, aetherium engineer and refiner from Gusthaven; he is dressed in very tattered, dirty, worn-looking clothes. He has 50 years of experience in the aetherium industry only working in a factory, and provides competition for Nova's application, which upsets Nova greatly. He says that incompetence is the one thing that really frustrates him, and even Smeek has an opinion of "fuck this stupid gnome. I don't like this old gnome, can I kill him now?" (while hoisting his halberd into the air as if to attack him).

Finally, they meet the Chef who is a female Landsguard dwarf: she is low-set with an athletic build, wearing elegant form-fitting clothing of a dress with a split up the side; she walks tall with a prim posture and has a tight bun on top of her head. This is Shikara Gildenheim, a trained chef who has been working in Gusthaven cuisineries for some time. She grew up in Goldthrone, moved to Gusthaven and is looking to travel to expand her horizons, taste new flavours and visit new places.

Quill wants to hire the Chef, because "anyone can wrap a boo-boo" to which Aila responds "maybe you should try it some time" - there is awkward silence. The Stormchasers decide on selecting Graylauno as their specialist hire, and to look into unskilled crew members. They meet a tough, athletic-looking Human woman with a backpack, bow and arrows - Penny Maywild; a tall, lithe-looking, androgynous non-binary Guardian with eyes wrapped around its head - Lookout, who served the continent of Jakkesh; a young aasimar man of about 18 or 19 years with a golden halo behind his head, whose eyes are like golden light, wearing loose clothing - Lancion; and a halfling man wearing a vest and britches with suspenders, who has large lamb chop sideburns and a beard, short hair and freckles over his big wide nose, and looks for all the world like a commoner - Howard Swiftwhistle. Penny is very keen to fire the ballista and used to serve in the Harvest Guard in Suvonna. As an aasimar, Lancion can do some healing, but is happy to turn his hand to anything. Howard says he is good at making people laugh, and can make a good stew and a good breakfast, so he would be a good candidate for ship's cook; Lancion is happy to assist. They are all hired.

There are three options for general crew, and they interview the three leaders/liaisons: Beastwalkers led by Kamarra, performers/mercenaries called The Mummers led by a sister of Sayanna, and the Attendants of Lady Celia, a "daughter" (a bastard) of House Perell. Lucius is wary of the latter group, while Nova is wary of the middle group because they have mimes and clowns. They are first introduced to Kamarra, a humanoid woman with wolf-like features: she is dressed in rough dark leathers with serrated short swords at her side, furred boots, and a furred dark mantle around her shoulders, which her long shaggy grey hair blends into; her tufted ears poke out of her hair and her lupine yellow eyes are apparent, as are her sharp fanged teeth. She says that the wolf pack has experience on airships, they are strong, fast and loyal; if they are respected they will be good soldiers. Kamarra says that the pack are her brothers and sisters, and will be a hired crew until they get to know the Stormchasers better. Kamarra says they will not kill innocents, and will not be disrespected because they are neither simpletons nor savages.

They then meet Sister Glenda, the liaison for the Mummers; she is a young halfling woman with dark curly hair, and is very smiley and happy. Her crew is not strong-looking but are quick and nimble. They insist on having time in any places the airship docks to go out and perform and spread the word of Sayanna. Lucius feels that there is something mischievous about Sister Glenda.

Lady Celia comes with three of her crew who set out a chair with a blanket for her; Quill is immediately put off. She is putting on airs of nobility, but is thick-muscled beneath her dress and wears a long rapier at her side. They suspect that she has engaged in piracy and smuggling, and would be able to gut someone like a fish. Lady Celia insists on having her own quarters.

The Stormchasers decide to take on the Beastwalkers, believing that if they can earn their trust, they will be an amazing crew. They also decide to take on Greylauno as doctor and use Howard's services as ship's cook.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:07 - DnD Beyond ad
6:18 - Stream begins ft. Rhi’s shit
6:32 - Creative introductions
7:45 - Mark “No Survivors” Hulmes
8:29 - Trott is unprepared but DnD Beyond is great
9:30 - PAX West announcement and info
10:24 - Merch!
12:36 - Aerois intro
13:36 - Recap
15:17 - Episode begins
17:23 - Nova has a fantasy library card
20:56 - The Dummies Guide to Bereavement
28:20 - Lucius’ therapeutic art
28:57 - You cannot escape Smeek, Tom
29:13 - Smeek the artistic prodigy
31:25 - Days do not exist in Aerois
31:43 - Nova’s book addiction
32:19 - Hadar lore
36:06 - Delicious books
36:40 - City of Glass lore
38:48 - Solven lore
42:52 - Quill’s to-do list
44:28 - The Storm Chaser design
51:25 - Lily & Sprocket
58:37 - The dance floor
1:05:12 - Roasting Quill
1:07:58 - H’Esper and Hadar share their comments
1:09:11 - Torman Senior
1:10:03 - Nova shares her feelings through head movement
1:10:50 - Nova’s job application
1:13:01 - Lucius doesn’t know how to salute
1:13:58 - Report to Q
1:15:55 - Nova’s mum
1:17:52 - First Mate Starbane
1:20:01 - Unorthodox interrogation
1:22:31 - Room ideas feat. the soft warm room
1:26:52 - Messaging Oriya
1:29:27 - Break begins
1:29:43 - The Storm Chasers
1:40:34 - Break ends
1:40:55 - The salute
1:42:21 - Giant Guardian ship
1:47:51 - Lucius drops that bombshell
1:48:45 - I don’t think healers can do that, Lucius
1:50:55 - Orcish interview
1:52:26 - Lucius asks a personal question
1:52:47 - Lucius needs some therapy
1:59:05 - Nova really thinks they should hire her
1:59:46 - Merckle Windytop
2:03:26 - No food or sleep for the crew
2:04:53 - Smeek shares his opinion
2:06:42 - Shekar of Gildenheim
2:07:36 - Security Smeek
2:11:08 - A very hypothetical question
2:11:54 - What’s does one cook for Starbane?
2:13:30 - All officers are eaten
2:17:46 - Roasting Quill pt. 2
2:21:31 - Hiring Jesus
2:21:54 - Tom almost chokes and dies
2:23:52 - The biggest mental breakdown we’ve ever seen on High Rollers
2:39:58 - The Wolf Pack leader
2:47:45 - Sister Glenda
2:51:55 - Donations
2:58:03 - Stream ends
*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

#### **New NPCs**

* Bellen
* Lily
* Sprocket
* Greylauno
* Mirkell Windytop
* Shikara Gildenheim
* Penny Maywild
* Lookout
* Lancion
* Howard Swiftwhistle
* Kamarra
* Sister Glenda
* Lady Celia

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Arval Dagos
* Nanny Norfear
* Rosalina
* Sanna Longears

## **Featured Locations**

* Gusthaven
	+ City centre
	+ Cloudharbour District/Docks

## **Trivia**

* This episode started with a special live-action ad for D&D Beyond, starring Mark, Rhiannon, Trott, Kim, and Tom. Matt Toffolo also had a cameo appearance voicing a flumph. Katie was unable to participate due to work scheduling conflicts. The ad is available on YouTube.
* Unusually, both halves of the podcast have the same description.
* Mark made a comment in the opening that "I love the fact that this cool antagonist I have developed for the campaign has been objectified by his butt".
* Mark uses Xanathar's Guide to determine how research is done: 1. a character needs access to a library or group of scholars (they have access to the Empyrean Archive), 2. Each character who is performing research must choose one topic to research and spend one work week researching and studying that topic (50g to access the library; more gold in increments of 100g gives +1 bonus at final check), 3. access to a well-stocked library gives check at advantage (int + gold spend bonus).
* This is the first episode in which the party equips their messenger rings.
* When discussing the placement of the ballistae, Mark says the first would be placed at the "aftcastle, the front of the ship" which should have been the forecastle. The diagram made of the Stormchaser shows a ballista on the forecastle. He does also place a ballista on the "quarterdeck at the back of the ship", which does not appear on the diagram. This is mentioned in the donations by LightningWingDragon.
* Kim asks Mark about the Wyvern Hide Armour that they had made in episode 10 and whether they could have it sent to Gusthaven. He tells her that they can have it sent by teleportation for quite a lot of money or that the Messenger Guild will bring it to them for less, but it would take more time. They will not see the armour for some time.
* Quill says that once they have the airship, they can go to all the places he's listed previously, "not space though" says Lucius, "NOT YET!" says Mark...
* At the end of part one, Tom says "Stormchasers assemble!" - Katie replies "wait, did we just name our group?". This is the first time the Stormchasers name has been used.
* The Stormchaser salute: one hand (left or right) extended with fingers and thumb held straight and brought up to and in line with the nose. There was a concern that this might be offensive in some way, so they wanted to check that it wasn't before confirming this as their salute.
* Greylauno's hobby is sewing. She says it helps her with sutures, but she also enjoys it.
* The party gives Nova grief for fancying Greylauno.
* Mark implied that the Engineer was essentially Millhouse Manastorm from World of Warcraft.
* Shikara Gildenheim, candidate for ship's chef, is partial to a romance novel.
* Mark has a Markism moment trying to say Lucius' full name, which gets him grief from Tom and laughter from the rest of the players. The result is one of the funniest moments of non-play you will ever see. Mark will get his revenge in episode 45 when Tom misspeaks a simple name, and the crew enjoys the bitter revenge.
* Quill realises/remembers in this episode that he lost his spyglass in the Elven mansion.

## **References**

1. ↑ Mark later confirmed the name to be "Empyrean Archive".