Aerois - Episode 144: A Wish for Wings

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**A Wish for Wings** is the 144th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on the highrollersdnd Twitch channel, and hosted on the Yogscast Twitch channel, on 17th April 2022 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*Ghul'xor the Great Worm threatens the party at the bottom of Volcanos...will the Stormchasers be able to compete(sic) their mission?*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Mark wishes everyone a Happy Easter.
* There have been some technical changes made to improve on last week's episode. There has also been feedback that people want to see the chaos of the opening on the YouTube VOD, so that will now be included; the break and donations at the end will be removed from the YouTube VOD, however.
* Tom invited people to join the HighRollersDND Discord which has almost 6,000 members. He highlighted the Fan art channel, and the Livestream channel, and Mark reminded him about the brand new CLIPS channel! Tom advertised the High Rollers wiki and invited people to help put information in. Mark encouraged people to join the Patreon and use their Prime sub.
* **(addendum after the stream in the dono section):**
* There will be no episode next week due to Mark being away for Empire LARP.
* There is an HR TikTok account coming soon.
* Mark will be playing in a full campaign with Joe Fudge soon.
* HR has recently switched over to StreamElements from StreamLabs for donos.

### **Recap**

*"Our heroes have travelled to the Hawk's Dawn Archipelago to help subdue some of the environmental disasters there after speaking to a series of construct aides called the Maidens of Valena, they have set out to stabilise Volcanos. Descending into its caldera, the party fought against a pair of giant malfunctioning constructs which were dealt with via oscillation, commanding voices, and a crashing sky skiff. With Valla creating a barrier shield, the party begins to descend into the magma chamber of the volcano - they endure intense heat, even with their magical protections. After a quick rescue of a gemstone construct, D1, Quill notices movement in the cavernous shaft, and something stirs."*
### **Part 1**

*Gholzor(sic) the Magma(sic) Worm threatens the party at the bottom of a volcano!*

The party is travelling through the main vent of the volcano within a barrier sphere created by Valla and Quill has spotted movement on the edges of the vent about 20-30 feet away from the dome and he sees a giant open maw heading towards them.

Valla is concentrating on maintaining the protective sphere which merely hold the lava away from them, D1 appears to have no offensive abilities, but Max is prepared to defend Valla and assist where he can. Aila swims into the lava and attacks the great worm with her hammer before moving back into the bubble, Ghul’xor regurgitates a magma elemental that prepares to attack the people in the shield. Sentry calls forth Starbreaker and attacks, cracking its carapace and hurting it greatly – the beast responds by smacking Sentry with its tail, knocking her towards its head. Lucius casts a frostbite at the magma elemental and a quickened *Chromatic Orb* against the worm before sending his *Dichromancy* against the smaller creature; he calls out to the others that they should keep the extras under control.

The magma elemental flows into the sphere and over Max, Quill and Aila, engulfing and burning them. Max pulls himself free and attacks it with his greatsword before casting *Warding Bond* on Valla saying, “Friends, you need to take care of these, I will protect Valla” using his *Royal Guard* ability with her. Nova summons the echo of Tiangong in the gullet of the worm and attacks the magma elemental, killing it, but causing it to explode. Nova is attacked by a tail and is pushed backwards out of the bubble into the lava and Quill urgently heals the whole party except Valla and D1.

Ghul’xor the Great Worm bites Lucius and swallows him, restraining and blinding him: it also attacks Aila and Sentry with a tail attack (Quill uses his portent on the latter attack to make it miss). Aila throws her hammer at the great worm, cracking its carapace and exposing fleshy material – Ghul’xor repositions nearer to Nova damaging Sentry as it leaves. Lucius casts *Cone of Cold* and also does damage with *Dichromancy*, but it is not enough to make the worm regurgitate him. Max uses his *Healing Flame* to heal Nova a little then resumes his guard duty on Valla. The echo of Tiangong immediately takes damage and vanishes, Nova casts *Hex* on the great worm then swings and misses a number of times so uses *Action Surge* to make extra attacks.

The magma elemental rolls over Sentry, Aila and Quill inside the bubble; Quill heals Nova and casts *Arcane Abjuration* on the magma elemental which starts to move away from them. Ghul’xor moves to the side of the bubble and breathes out at the party – a stream of condensed heat and force ripples through the lava and causes the heat to increase in intensity: Max uses his *Royal Guard* ability to hold Valla and himself in place, Aila grabs Quill, but Sentry and D1 are thrown backwards 30 feet away from the barrier. D1 cheerfully announces that they are 18 seconds from hitting the bottom of the magma chamber.

Aila attacks the worm with her thrown hammer – it smashes into the worm’s underbelly and crackles with lightning as lava flows from its wounds and it lets out a mournful cry. A tail strike suddenly hits Quill knocking him out of the dome towards the magma elemental, Sentry grabs D1 and makes it back to the shield before the worm regurgitates another magma elemental. Lucius, inside the worm’s gullet, attempts to use the *Binding Sphere* – the worm resists the pull of the sphere (via legendary resistance), but Lucius also felt as though he was being pulled into the sphere. Lucius casts *Wall of Ice* to create a dome inside the worm’s throat and while the worm gags, it does not regurgitate him. Max attacks the new magma elemental as the other one disappears somewhere into the caverns Nova moves next to the worm and carves into it with Tiangong twice – it repositions next to Quill and Nova uses *Tomb of Levistus* to soak some of the resultant damage. The magma elemental hits D1 and Valla, engulfing them both; Quill moves into the bubble and casts *Mass Cure Wounds* to heal everyone except Lucius. Ghul’xor bites Quill and swallows him then attacks Nova and Sentry with its tail attacks – Nova is knocked back, and Ghul’xor, heavily injured and gullet full, begins to move away.

### **Part 2**

*The team retreat to the Stormchaser and say some things that they'll definitely regret.*

Aila swims through the burning lava to reach Ghul’xor as it tries to leave – she sets off her *Aura of Lightning* which Ghul’xor manages mostly to avoid while it tries to knock her away with its tail. Sentry casts Moonbeam on the worm which tries again to smack Aila away with its tail but misses. Lucius, still inside the beast, casts an icy *Chromatic Orb* against the wall of flesh nearest him and feels something tear and collapse as it strikes, blood and lava rushes around him – Aila sees the worm rear up with a cry before it goes limp and floats motionlessly in the lava – Quill and Lucius are still stuck inside. Max determines from D1 that they are still six seconds from reaching the base of the magma chamber and turns to deal with the magma elemental nearby, entreating Sentry to do the same. Valla manages to hold her concentration from within the magma elemental’s grasp as it attacks Sentry and Max, hitting them both – Sentry loses her *Moonbeam*.

Quill casts *Expeditious Retreat* and makes it out of the fiery worm’s mouth into the lava outside where he quaffs a healing potion to sustain him for a short while. Aila finds one of the slashes that Nova has made in Ghul’xor’s carapace and tears it open, seeing a white glove with a purple sleeve – she grabs it and pulls Lucius through into the lava. Sentry hits the magma elemental, killing it, and uses *Shield Master Shove* to push it out of the shield, saving everyone but herself from the explosion damage. Lucius dashes to get inside the safety of the shield where Max heals him; Nova makes for the shield as well and uses *Second Wind* to regains some health. Quill makes it into the safety of the shield where he heals himself.

They finally reach the base of the magma chamber: Aila gets inside the shield, Sentry heals Nova and holds Starbreaker aloft so that Nova can grab on an be pulled in when she gets closer. Lucius casts *Armor of Agathys* on himself, Nova holds the *Amethyst Lodestone* out behind her and casts *Gravitational Thrust* to push her towards the shield, smashing into it and the floor of the chamber. Quill casts *Beacon of Hope* on everyone but Aila while Valla concentrates on maintaining the shield. They tell D1 to activate the device now that everyone is safe – she plunges it into the ground like a spike, touches some sigils around the base and slides some rings of crystal and metal around – the device expands and begins hovering in place before they feel an intense thumping that becomes more rapid. The lava around them begins to flow in a current around them, rocks begin breaking from the wall and start falling towards them: Valla yells to them that she will not be able to keep them out and Nova uses the *Helm of Teleportation* to take them back to the Stormchaser – with the crystal that she took from the Stormchaser, they teleport without error.

They appear on board the sky ship and Lucius runs to the edge to see the volcano – after a couple of minutes, the ash and lava stops coming from the volcano which darkens in colour and Lucius slides, exhausted, down to the deck of the ship. They all look lobster red except for Max who looks normal and thought that the ambient temperature was quite pleasant and close to his home. D1 confirms the success of their operation and tells them that seismic and volcanic activity in the area has been reduced by 70%. Quill starts to slide across the ground to go to his room before Faeth and another Wolf Pack member pick him up and start to carry him to his room; the crew bring cold compresses and water for everyone to drink (Howard brings Aila a beer). Oriya asks about reclaiming the skiff but is told that it has been destroyed: she suggests speaking to Lily & Sprocket about building a new one when they get back to Gusthaven.

Lucius is drenched in sweat, his hair slick against his head – he asks Nova and Sentry is they think that birds sweat but they don’t know, so Aila shouts to Quill to ask him – his answer is in the negative. Lucius wishes that was were him, that he was a bird…

Unfortunately, Lucius is still wearing the *Ring of Wishes* that they got from Graz’zt, and they watch as the ring flares to life and Lucius’ body is completely covered in white light – his limbs begin to shift and change, and what emerges is a peacock Aarakocra, still dressed in Lucius’ outfit, but now with wings with hands (instead of arms). Lucius is blinded and numb as the transformation occurs, but when he regains his sight and realises that he is a bird, his tail unfolds, and he starts running around madly flapping his wings in a panic: the *Ring of Wishes* turns to dull black and falls to dust. They realise that he is still very much Lucius – he still has one orange and one blue eye, his feathers have a blue and orange motif amongst purple and normal peacock colouration, and his blond hair has become yellow-white feathers. Lucius is still wearing his coat, but no longer wears any pants. Lucius needs to process the change and runs to his cabin, slamming the door behind him: he stares at himself in the mirror and checks the colour of his tongue. Sentry tells Quill that he will have to teach Lucius how to be an Aarakocra, but he is not sure how to because there is so much for Lucius to learn. Valla has been laughing at the events but says that if it needs to be reversed that maybe Sayanna or one of the titans can do so.

The party differs in their approach to what has just happened: Sentry finds it more distressing than what they just went through in Volcanos (which surprises Max), Nova is fascinated and not at all disturbed, and Aila says that she needs to be kept away from Lucius because all she can think of is jokes to throw at him which she knows is going to upset him – Valla opens a door to a demiplane in which Aila can chill and stay away from Lucius. Quill appears to be jealous of Lucius’ transformation, especially when the party and the crew start talking about how beautiful and resplendent Lucius is now. Valla recommends that they all get some rest – they are all tired and worn and it will take her some time to find and breach Valena’s demiplane. Aila, meanwhile, uses the demiplane as a rage room and goes mental – she cannot damage the place.

Lucius spends time trying to work out how to lie in bed – he ends up finding that perching on the bed, sitting down, and tucking his wings in is the post comfortable, and he finds that he cannot meditate and go into a trance anymore. Eventually, Lucius falls asleep and dreams for the first time while Valla releases Aila from the demiplane.

Oriya and Howard wake them eventually to advise them that D1 wishes to speak with them all: Oriya is deliberately trying not to look at Lucius – he is wearing his captain’s hat, but it does not fit anymore, so he throws it off. Nova asks Lucius if he is ok, and he mentions that he has a bit of extra plumage – this results in an angry comment from Quill who is clearly jealous. Quill asks if he can change back; Lucius tells Quill that he can, but there is a risk that he will never be able to “do the Ws again” (cast wish) – Quill is prepared to accept the risk and tells Lucius that he should. He tells them that he went on a strange journey overnight but was not always himself and that he cannot remember everything – Quill and Nova realise that Lucius has had his first dream.

D1 enters and tells them that she bears a message from Valena who has invited them to complete her final project within her demiplane and that D1 is there to guide the way; they do not need to complete the other task set because Valena believes that if they finish her task, that and their efforts at Volcanos will be sufficient to decrease seismic activity and will allow the gemstone Dwarves to complete their task faster. D1 does not have information about what the final project is but knows that it is related to the preservation and safety of the knowledge and identity of Aerois. Howard brings Valla to the meeting, and she agrees that they should go to Valena’s demiplane as guests if possible, and she is happy to accompany them in case of complications.

Lucius advises Oriya that they will soon be disappearing from the ship and orders her to keep it stationary until they return. Quill asks D1 is they need to accept the invitation immediately, wondering if Lucius would like to return to his Elven self first. Aila starts to make punny comments to Lucius in a friendly, teasing manner, which Valla joins in on.

D1 gives them coordinates in runic script on the palm of her hand – Quill inputs the coordinates which will take the ship underwater into a cavern that goes deep into the earth itself amidst a number of significant Solwynn ruins – ruins of the old capital of Solwynn, Starfall.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00:00 - Intro
0:06:27 - Dun Duns
0:07:25 - Part 1
1:29:50 - Part 2
2:39:19 - Outro

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Max
* Valla
* Ghul’xor the Great Worm
* D1
* Oriya
* Faeth
* Howard
* Lancion

## **Featured Locations**

* The Hawk's Dawn Archipelago
	+ Volcanos
	+ The Stormchaser

## **Trivia**

* Mark was surprised at the “number of bloody portraits” he could see on D&D Beyond after last week’s fight.
* Mark felt that the lava damage that they took last week was too weak, so increased it for this week.
* Ghul’xor has an AC of 22; it also has two tails. The magma elemental has an AC of 13. Doing enough damage in one turn (50 points) from the inside of Ghul’xor will make it regurgitate a swallowed object/person. To save against Ghul’xor’s breath weapon takes a CON 24 check – it does 12d8 damage.
* Tom reminded Mark multiple times about extra damage that people should be taking. Thanks, Mr Rules Lawyer!
* Kim rolls a significant number of 1s this stream – when she finally hits the great worm, she rolls multiple 1s on her damage for her Action Surge, so walks away from the table to get a drink – of iced tea. Fox.e.poxy’s dice is then put back into the bag from whence it came (essentially dice gaol).
* Once the *Binding Sphere* is used against a creature, it cannot be used again in that fight (wait a day to use it). It takes a WIS 21 saving throw to beat.
* There is a callback to last week when Trott mutters, “You were the chosen one” – Rhi cheekily says, “Lord of the Rings reference!” Tom just smiles and shakes his head.
* Mark had been waiting for Trott to make some wish as Lucius and took great delight in asking him, “What did you just say??” Mark had played in a campaign where he had a ring of 3 wishes and had carelessly said, “I wish that…” – his DM gave him the same reaction. Kim described Mark as looking like a shark that had just scented blood in the water at the moment that Trott uttered the phrase. Mark points out that wishing to undo the transformation may result in Lucius never being able to cast *Wish* again (33% chance). There was a “what if” conversation had where Kim asked what might have happened if Lucius had wished that he could not sweat – it is likely that he would have lost his sweat glands and died of hyperthermia.
* Trott said that he checked the colour of his tongue as a peacock and the question was asked what colour it is:
* Mark points out that Lucius’ stats will shift around slightly: he said that he would gain Dex and lose Wis. When the updated character sheet came out, the change was Con +1, Int -1, Wis +1.
* Trott asks how age will work with the transformation: Mark says that he is about Quill’s age since he had just come of age as an Elf, but with 70 years of experience behind him.
* Aarakocra peacocks are also confirmed to fly like any other Aarakocra.
* **Continuity Error:** At one stage, Mark breaks into a Suvonnan (Texan) accent for Oriya before he chides himself for doing so and resumes her regular accent.
* Lucius made a comment about cosplaying, and Mark decided that if Bakers and Blacksmiths exists in Aerois, then so does LARPing and cosplay.
* When discussing what Trott’s plan was regarding wishing back from his new form, the conversation went like this…
	+ Trott: "To decide if I'm doing it, I got a nat 1. I assumed if I got a high roll that I'd choose to wish back. It's the thing I didn't necessarily want to do."
	+ Mark: "Logically, Lucius wouldn't choose to use his own wish to turn himself back because there is that risk that he wouldn't ever be able to use it again, and I think Lucius is so dedicated to saving Aerois, I don't think he would want to make that self-sacrifice."
	+ Kim: "Could Valena help maybe?"
	+ Mark: "Maybe, the gods can definitely be a thing. Me and Trott will chat about it and see what we want to do."
* There was some concern expressed at Lucius being changed against the wishes of the player. Mark and Kim commented in #livestream-chat of the High Rollers Discord that:
	+ Trott loved the session and was OK with what happened
	+ The players were warned how Mark would deal with the ring
	+ If the players don't like something that Mark has done, they know that he will give them an out
	+ The players and DM trust each other and had fun with today's session
	+ Mark had indeed "been waiting for this"
* There was a suggestion that there should be a Lucius peacock plushie following this episode, but it is likely that they would be well into campaign 3 before it could be made.
* If Lucius stays as an Aarakocra, Mark has to break it to Nina that they will need new character art.

## **References**

1. ↑ Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 20:56
2. ↑ Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 20:54
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 21:02
4. ↑ Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 21:03
5. ↑ Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 21:04
6. ↑ Official Discord, 17 April 2022, 21:04