Aerois - Episode 154: The Knights of Grief

Tom Hazell as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Knights of Grief** is the 154th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on the highrollersdnd Twitch channel, and hosted on the Yogscast Twitch channel, on 24th July 2022 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The assault on Nightbloom Hold continues but Kellara is sending her finest knights to defend!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players. Katie is away this week because she is late returning from a wedding.
* Welcome to any new viewers. Thanks to all who came to TwitchCon Amsterdam and to those who watched at home. Live viewership was over 40,000 people (peaked at just over 43K), and Kim was in chat even though she couldn’t be there. Thanks to Zac and Kim from Twitch, the Glitch Theatre crew, and to Elyssa Grant for organising and helping with everything. Thanks to Harry Barry from Yogscast for pitching the idea of a High Rollers stream to TwitchCon as well as their new art intern, Jack, for the amazing artwork that was behind the crew on stage. The live game is currently available on the Twitch VoD but will be available soon on the High Rollers YouTube channel.
* Because there are likely to be new viewers, the recap will be a bit longer and more in depth, and everyone will introduce and talk about their characters.
* Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for sending pride t-shirts to the crew. They are still available to buy from here, and proceeds go to charity.
* Trott congratulated Mark on having done a wonderful job at TwitchCon. Mark has done a “director’s commentary” about the episode that can be found on his Twitch channel. Mark thanked the players and their two guests for their amazing roleplay on the day.

### **Recap**

*"The world of Aerois is one of many worlds in the vast stretches of Astral Space. It was created by the Goddess Siaska as a hidden world safe from the planar emperor, Kalus Valkyrian. Siaska also created her children, the titans of Aerois, who have been mistaken as gods for centuries, to help protect it. When Aerois was eventually discovered by Kalus centuries later, a war was fought, and it was believed that Kalus killed Siaska but not before she expelled the invading forces and created a divine barrier from her spirit called the Cradle, which protects Aerois from outside influence.*

*Our heroes in their adventures have learned much, Kalus Valkyrian and Siaska were once lovers who fought against the elder evil, Hadar, a god trapped in the far realm who seeks to consume all of existence. Kalus and Siaska had a daughter, called Valla, who was held in magical stasis for years and was then befriended by the party. And Kalus is not perhaps what their history has led them to believe, that he did not kill Siaska, and whilst he is stubborn and willing to go to any lengths to stop Hadar, there is an honourable element to him, and he cares deeply for his former lover and his daughter. That said, the Astral Emperor still believed that only he could stop Hadar and sought to take a powerful magical object called a Genesis Relic from Aerois’ core, the World Engine, believing it capable of overwhelming Hadar with infinite energy.*

 *And so, the party with many personal quests, to become leaders, to rescue lovers, to finding family, and becoming champions of the gods in between, was set to clash with him once more. To help accomplish this, the party seek to restore the goddess Siaska to life, but to do so, they need her children, the titans, to relinquish their power and re-join her spirit. Some of these titans have done so willingly or after certain goals have been accomplished, but others, driven to madness from anger, grief or fear, have resisted and hidden themselves in their own unreachable demi-planes. The heroes of Aerois now pursue one such titan, Kellara, once the goddess of life and growth, she was tasked with becoming the herald and shepherd of death in her mother's absence. Her grief, fear and sorrow of the world's impending fate has caused her to transform her Holy Knights into merciless killers, and she refuses the prayers of her followers. Her motives are still unknown, but her knights pose a great threat and protect the entrance to her demi-plane.*

*Having journeyed into the dense jungle, the heroes have found the knights’ stronghold, which protects the breach point needed to enter Kellara’s plane. Nightbloom Hold is a walled keep beneath the bowers of a colossal tree surrounded by gardens and mortuaries. Kellara’s corruption of the jungle has spread to plant life, raised the dead, and even blocks out the light of the sun itself, preventing the party from using their airship, the Stormchaser, to gain easy access. So, our champions are in the process of storming the keep to defeat Kellara’s greatest champions, the Order of the Blackened Rose and her four Knight Commanders."*

### **Part 1**

*The assault on Nightbloom Hold continues but Kellara is sending her finest knights to defend!*

The party has stormed ahead through the gardens and mortuaries of Nightbloom Hold in the jungles of Jakkesh. Until recently, it has been pitch black, but there is now some minor illumination as they stand before the walls of the keep that is surrounded by a moat. The high walls contain a raised drawbridge, one section is engulfed with flames that had been conjured by Maximillion Taldros, and the other surmounted by archers. There are undead and a giant Dead Root at the gates.

The party knows that inside the keep are the four Knight Commanders of the Order of the Blackened Rose along with their general forces. They also have Hotshot attempting to sneak in to destroy the gigantic tree, the Rot Heart, which seems to be tied somehow to the undead. The Stormchaser flies somewhere above the dense canopy, ready to assist, but unable to penetrate the gloom, and waiting for a signal from them. Inside the building in the keep, they had just seen a strange blue pulsing light that flashed twice before it stopped: Nova realises that this is likely to have been a teleportation spell of some kind.

The archers on the wall in front of them target the party below, directing their shots towards the solitary Quill, piercing him with arrows. Lucius takes a leaf from Max’s playbook, casting a *Wall of Ice* at the archers above them but chromatically controls it to change it into a *Wall of Acid*; this effectively melts the archers. Quill casts *Beacon of Hope* and moves to hide behind Sentry. From within the walls, they hear the roar of a large creature echo out towards them.

Aila, surrounded by minions, recklessly attacks the empowered minions surrounding her, destroying one and injuring another. Nova tells the group that she things a couple of things have teleported in on the other side of the wall, then strikes at the Dead Root, hitting it with her blade three times and notices that it is beginning to look heavily damaged; she summons Tiangong’s echo next to her to keep the nearby minions from attacking her more frail companions. Sentry attacks the Dead Root with Starbreaker, but it manages to deflect both blows, so she heals Quill with her *Aura of Vitality.*

The Dead Root shudders, the flowers on it begin to bloom, it pulses, and the *Wall of Flame* is dispelled. It then attacks Nova with its vine, missing, then tries to grab Lucius but fails. From behind them, they begin to hear the noise of some packs of minions that had been being kept occupied by Alnisyx and are now coming for them. Lucius casts a quickened *Firebolt* at the Dead Root before also throwing a *Vitriolic Sphere* at the minion pack surrounding Aila, destroying them all as the acid clings to their bones. Max makes Lucius his ward then casts *Flame Strike* on the group of minions behind them, destroying them in a column of fire.

Quill burns the Dead Root with *Sacred Flame* then watches as both ballistae train themselves on Lucius – the bolts are fired in his direction, but both manage to miss. From the inside of the main keep itself, they see a wyvern rise up with someone riding atop it. Aila crushes the Dead Root with two mighty blows of her hammer before jumping across to the other side of the moat with the echo of Tiangong. Nova switches places with the echo of Tiangong, then uses the tip of her blade to carve a magical door frame into the wall – *Passwall* creates a temporary 20-foot-long corridor through the keep’s wall. Another Dead Root and pack of minions begins to approach the group from behind.

*Something* dispels the *Wall of Acid* before they begin to hear the sound of rapid footsteps on stone as people begin to run somewhere nearby. Lucius runs and jumps, trying to clear the moat but ends up landing just inside the edge of the moat – he begins to sink into the freezing sludge and calls to the others for help. Quill flies across to the wall and peers through the tunnel, hearing the pumping of leathery wings, and knowing that the wyvern is hovering above the central area of the keep. He can see the open area of the courtyard and the temple with its closed double doors, and he notices half a dozen squires with bows and swords emerging from the nearby barracks and forming up in a defensive line in front of the keep. He then sees the double doors of the temple creak open: two of the minor knights of the Order of the Blackened Rose in full plate mail and carrying greatswords emerge, they wear dread helms and have glowing red eyes. Accompanying them are six friars in robes chanting prayers, and behind them, Quill can see a pair of glowing blue flame-like eyes and another mass of figures just inside the doorway of the temple. It looks to him as if Sir Godric has ordered his forces to hold the central courtyard. Quill also notices that halfway through the wall is a small corridor that appears to head to one of the ballista towers. Aila, Sentry, and Max pull Lucius out of the sludge and they decide to head to the ballista tower.

The armoured knights see them diverting to the tower and instruct the squires to get them: the squires and the knights (known as Grieving Errants), and the monks behind them, begin to charge towards the party. The glowing blue eyes simply stare at them and watch.

As they emerge onto the top floor of the tower, Aila sends the ballista crew flying off towards the ground with massive swings of her hammer. Behind them, hovering at eye level with the tower, is the wyvern and riding atop it is an enormous Orc woman clad in dark red-black plate armour, the seams of which glow as if lit by molten lava. She wears a helm that completely obscures her face but shows glowing embers for her eyes. Her thick, blonde tattered hair is burnt at the ends and trails behind her, and she holds a giant spear in one hand. As Aila spies her, the Orc hurls her spear which becomes lit with flame as it leaves the War Knight’s hand – it pierces Aila’s flesh before the War Knight makes a gesture causing the spear in Aila to disappear and reappear in the War Knight’s hand. Aila is left with a bleeding wound and the gushing blood will not stop.

The rest of them move out onto the top of the tower which is 25 feet above the ground. The wyvern is now 20 feet away and 50 feet above the ground (about 20 feet above the tower). Sentry casts a *Sunbeam* at the wyvern mount which pulls to the side at the last moment, avoiding some of the blinding ray. Nova, somewhat panicked, throws out multiple *Eldritch Blasts* at the wyvern, hitting with all four bolts of dark energy, and she notices that the rider does not seem to try to avoid her mount getting hit; Nova places *Hexblade Curse* on the War Knight. The War Knight points towards the group saying in a hulking but feminine voice, “First tactic in war, don’t group up. Let slip the dogs…” as she produces six fiery spectral hounds on the tower with the party – they feel and overwhelming sense of vulnerability and feel heat emanate from the dogs.

Quill drops *Beacon of Hope* to cast *Holy Weapon* on Aila’s hammer, which gives them some light by which to fight, and then casts *Word of Radiance,* which destroys four of the hounds surrounding them but does not totally dispel the feeling of vulnerability that they share.

Lucius casts *Dominate Monster* (which Quill portents to ensure that it works), and Lucius gains control of its mind – blue and orange fill the wyvern’s eyes as Lucius orders it to attack its rider. As Lucius takes fire damage from the hounds’ heat, the last of the *Armor of Agathys* shatters, destroying the remaining two dogs, and the feeling of vulnerability dissipates.

Aila recklessly throws The Howling Tempest at the rider, hitting her with both physical and lightning damage (the holy weapon is not effective). She then backs up to the top of the stairs, ready to attack any of the squires that follow them up to the tower. The wyvern attempts to attack the rider with bite, tail, and claw but the rider, irritated by its disloyalty, retaliates, and breaks off its claws.

All of a sudden, at the top of the tower, stormy clouds appear overhead, and large hail stones begin to fall on the party, injuring them and causing the ground to become difficult to traverse. Max puts his hands on Nova and heals her and puts *Shield of Faith* on Lucius.

The War Knight, angered at its mount not following her orders, stands up on her saddle, lifts her hands, conjures a great axe in one and a mace in the other, and begins to attack her own mount. The axe almost decapitates the wyvern, and she snaps it off with a blow from her mace. She dismisses the axe, summons her spear, leaps from the wyvern’s falling body and jumps the 20 feet to land in the middle of the party on the tower’s top. Seeing Quill, she utters, “Feel the rage” before she tries to overwhelm his mind with anger and frustration – he uses the serenity that H’esper had taught him to keep himself under control, however. She then attacks Nova with her spear, hitting her and causing a bleeding wound that she cannot staunch.

### **Part 2**

*Atop a tower in Nightbloom Hold the party face off against the Knight of War while Nova attempts something dangerous!*

Sentry casts *Cure Wounds* on Aila and stops her wound from bleeding. Nova warns the party that she is about to do something that may help but has terrible odds of success, wishes them luck, casts *Dimension Door* and aims it as high up in the Rot Heart as she can get it, then vanishes. Nova reappears next to the Rot Heart, Tiangong has slammed into a large protruding branch, and she estimates that the nearest branch is 60-80 feet below her: she is almost 500 feet off the ground. She summons her echo to on top of the branch and they help her up onto it.

The War Knight believes that Nova has fled, and suggests that the rest of them do the same. She casts *Unleash Hell* on Sentry, Lucius, and Maximillion – only Max is affected, beginning to seethe, his eyes becoming bloodshot red, and losing his concentration on *Shield of Faith.* Lucius casts *Frostbite* on the War Knight*,* which she resists, and he casts *Mirror Image* on himself, creating four duplicate images. Aila strikes the War Knight with The Howling Tempest, and the Knight responds by hitting it with her elbow, causing a deep crack to form within the form of the hammer.

The squires on the ground level reach the *Passwall* and start to move up to the top of the tower. Another *Ice Storm* hits the party, hitting the War Knight as well, she calls out, “Lammalles, you fool, I’m here, I’m fighting!” Max, now enraged, charges the War Knight, and makes a single melee attack against her which she parries.

The War Knight conjures a heavy war hammer in her hand and hits Sentry, winding her and knocking her prone; she then conjures a slashing weapon and attacks Aila but misses, and her last attack is against Quill as she grabs him, picks him up, and throws him off the tower saying, “You’re annoying, go away.” As Quill goes over the side of the tower, he notices the figures in the doorway of the temple and hears a refined husky voice, “Elwyn has engaged. We must go out an meet them. Fetch me my steed, let us advance.” He sees, emerging from the front of the keep, Sir Godric Graves, seven skeletal warriors and three ghoulish-looking figures in armour with weapons. Godric sees Quill, impassively tilts his head, then looks up to the top of the tower before he begins slowly making his way out and towards the tower. The two Grieving Errants begin to make their way into the *Passwall* and up to the top of the tower.

Sentry regains her feet, takes a slashing attack from the War Knight (who has summoned a large, serrated blade) as she moves away, then moves into the stairwell preparing to take on the soldiers as they reach the top of the tower. As a result of the attack from the War Knight, Sentry’s armour is sundered and torn(see Trivia).

Nova looks around and sees Hotshot sneaking up to and looking for a way to enter the Rot Heart. She activates the Rod of Alertness and plants it in the tree trunk before starting to climb down and using *Misty Step* to get a bit further away – a dull white crystal blue beacon is seen by the other party members, then Sentry and Lucius hear through their messenger rings, “Signal received, Captain. Stormchaser commencing fire support now.” There is an almost immediate magical blast as if they have been waiting for the signal – the first blast is slightly off-target, but still hits the tree. The second blast is much more precise and hits the centre of the tree.

Nova, still being in the vicinity of the blast radius, takes a huge knock from the blast wave of the arcane cannon and large splinters of wood, she lets go and tries to shelter as much as she can within the tree branches. As the tree is struck, there is an echoing shriek from the surrounding jungle, and the War Knight, squires, and Grieving Errants (everyone connected to Kellara) clutch their heads as if they have been struck momentarily by a powerful headache.

Quill flies back up to the platform and hits the War Knight with *Guiding Bolt* before summoning Elder Quill. Lucius casts *Slow* on the War Knight, which affects her, Aila then attacks the War Knight, who catches the hammer and causes another crack to form inside it. Aila then grabs the War Knight and throws her to the back of the tower, which breaks apart, allowing her to fall off and down into the courtyard.

Twelve squires come barreling up the stairs towards Sentry who is waiting for them with *Destructive Wave* – they are all destroyed in an instant but are still being followed by the two Grieving Errants. Sentry makes her way back to the top of the tower to advise the party, they see Max shake his head, confused for a moment, but he appears to be free of the rage that had possessed him earlier. Max heals Sentry with his *Healing Flames* then readies himself to attack if required.

The War Knight, now at the bottom of the tower, has the *Slow* effect somehow removed from her, she then summons two pitons and begins to climb up the outside of the tower – she gets back up between Lucius and Quill, then points to Aila, telling her, “I like you. I’ll kill your friends first, starting with you, little mage.” She attacks Lucius three times, hitting him with her mace on the first attack, knocking him prone and winding him, hitting a mirror image with the second, and misses with the last attack.

At the edge of the battlefield, they see a skeletal steed with glowing blue flames in its eye sockets: it rises up on flaming blue hooves like a flying steed and sails through the air. Godric has entered the battle and is making his way towards them. He points, seven skeletal creatures and three wights begin to move towards the walls of the keep. Godric raises his skeletal hand towards Quill as a beam of black energy strikes out towards him – it hits him, but he manages to rebuff the effect with the pure sanctity of his belief. Godric frowns as his *Finger of Death* effect fails.

The Grieving Errants attack Sentry but cannot reach her properly to hit her. Two more blasts come from the Stormchaser on the tree, and Nova takes minor damage from splintering tree parts. A call comes from below her, “Nova, is that you?” as Hotshot can now see her with the gloom beginning to disperse with the increased damage to the tree.

Now that there is dim light, the party can see that the hive undead had reached the moat and were climbing up the wall, but as the tree is hit a third and fourth time, they collapse, as does the deadroot. Sentry sees the Grieving Errants suddenly hold their heads and watch as black ichor starts to ooze out of their eye sockets and any wounds that they have sustained. The War Knight has gouts of fire erupting from her body, and even Godric holds his head for a moment.

Sentry attacks the two Grieving Errants, destroying one of them with two mighty blows, ripping through its undead body with Starbreaker. Nova heals herself with second wind then casts *Fly* to get away as soon as possible, leaving the Rod behind. She yells to Hotshot to get away from the tree. As Nova flies away, she sees a sac of amber or sap at the base of the tree, it bursts and gives birth to a figure clutching a longbow that staggers out and looks around desperately. Parts have not been fully formed, and Serrise still looks very wounded from their previous contact.

Quill casts *Mass Cure Wounds* which affects everyone but Sentry and Nova, then moves to the far side of the platform. Lucius gets up, looks at Elwyn, saying to her, “Do you not remember who you were? Elwyn, a hero!” The War Knight clutches her head, and she looks at Lucius as the flame in her eyes dies down for a moment – her eyes return to the pale green of an Orc. She clutches the helmet and pulls it off, looking at Lucius with her blackened and scarred face.

“Yes, of course I remember, but she’s making us…”, as Elwyn says this, her eyes start flicker and glow with flame as if her former personality is trying to reassert itself as if a fire is being stoked within her. “The rage, the hate, it’s all…” Lucius tells her, “You can be that hero once more, let me in…” as he casts *Dominate Monster.*

Lucius sees briefly into Elwyn’s mind…

*He sees visions of a lifetime spent aboard Orc fleet vessels, but a brutal pirate’s life of raiding other ships and fleets, fighting against each other, killing other Orcs and traders, all at the behest of family members. Her father and brother pushed her, wanting to take advantage of her strength and great combat prowess, to make her an enforcer so they could wage a private war against the other families in order to enrich themselves.*

*Eventually, she left that life, dedicating herself as a Knight of the Order of the Blackened Rose in an attempt to make up for her former life. However, her self-hatred, and the hatred of her father and brother, who had forced her into this life, is still deep within her filling her furnace of rage and hatred. This is the root from which the necrotic power that Kellara has bound to her has come.*

*As Lucius tries desperately to snuff out the feelings of hatred and anger, he feels a presence and hears a soft woman’s voice saying, “No, they are my champions, not yours,” and he is ejected from Elwyn’s mind.*

Aila lashes out with her fists and punches the War Knight twice, snapping her out of her befuddlement – Elwyn begins screaming and bellowing in rage.

They see an Ember Elf with dark purple skin, head studded with blue jewels, and looking gaunt, ride up next to Godric aboard a similar skeletal steed. Lammelles, the Famine Knight, has joined the battle.

(Carry over initiative: Lucius 18, Quill 19, Sentry 21, Nova 20, Aila 15)

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00:00 - Intro
0:06:56 Dun Duns
0:07:54 - Part 1
1:34:45 - Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Maximillion Taldros
* Death Knight – Sir Godric Greaves
* Pestilence Knight – Serrise Fairwind
* Oriya (voice only)
* Hotshot
* Kellara (voice only)

## **Featured Locations**

* Jakkesh
	+ Nightbloom Hold keep

## **Trivia**

* For new viewers, the players introduced their characters:
	+ Rhiannon: Sentry she is an Oath of the Ancients Paladin: she's the big tanky mom of the group, likes to look after everybody and protect them from harm. She is a Guardian, which is a custom race, and is now the leader of the Guardians - The Prime. Big old robot mum.
	+ Tom: Quill or Qillek Ad Khollar is a seer of Aerois and Champion of H’esper. Aarakocran cleric/wizard, and I'm the healer of the gang. He’s literally an Oracle because he has a magic eye (Eye of the Storm) which lets him see the future or the past. He also has one mechanical wing.
	+ Kim: Nova V’ger is a big ol’ nerd. She is obsessed with all things space, books, and scrolls. She is a mixed Air Genasi and Water Genasi (though aesthetically and mechanically an Air Genasi). She used to be a Hexblade Warlock but now she is a level five Hexblade Warlock and a level 12 fighter (Echo Knight fighter). She has a pact with a sentient sword (who is so much more than a sentient sword (actually an Eterna, but that’s a long story). She also has a girlfriend called Thalia who was a Medusa and is now an Elf again.
	+ Trott: Lucius Virion-Elluin Elanasto is of noble descent and a High Elf. His family were very wealthy and was naive when he started this adventure: he learned very quickly that he knew very little. He's got a big heart, and he's looking for a new family because his old one died. He is a sorcerer, meaning that he has innate magical abilities: he is actually an arcane chromat, which is a homebrew subclass that Mark made. His main magical powers are acid and cold and his eyes have heterochromia (they are orange and blue to reflect his magical powers). He draws magic from colour itself.
	+ Mark introduced Katie’s character: Aila is a Storm Barbarian, a Wild Elf, which are like Viking/Celtic elves rather than the more traditional Lord of the Rings High Elves. She gets really angry, takes zero bullshit, and smacks stuff with a giant hammer which is part of her heritage.
* Mark spoke about the ballistae and how they are mounted. They are designed to shoot outwards from the keep into the gardens below, not to turn and shoot into the keep. Mark suggested that “Aila or Sentry could pull it off its mounting, they could aim it and somebody else could shoot it.” Rhiannon loved how cool this idea was.
* Despite giving her Holy Weapon, Tom forgot to add the damage for this effect the next time he attacked with Aila (which he recalled later). He ended up putting a sticky note (given to him by Kim) on his tablet to remind himself to use it.
* The War Knight
	+ causes bleeding wounds. For every bleeding wound you have, you take 1d4 damage (which cannot be resisted) at the start of your turn. Any amount of magical healing, whether from a spell or an ability, will stop the bleeding wounds.
	+ Casts Unleash Hell – choose 3 creatures (wis saving throw). Success no effect. Failure results in overflowing rage (lose concentration and ?)
	+ On a melee hit, the target must make a strength saving throw or be knocked prone and winded (-2 to attack rolls and dex saving throws, use a bonus action to recover from winded
* During the break, Mark had to put together a large battle map, so three (yes THREE) fan art videos were played.
* Once she has cast Dimension Door to get towards the top of the Rot Heart, Nova needs to roll a dex saving throw to see if she grabs onto the tree or plummets to the ground. Kim rolls a nat 20, and in celebrating it, accidentally smacks Trott in the face.
* Mark asked Tom to advise him if he rolled less than a 10 when attacking the War Knight with The Howling Tempest. On a low roll, the War Knight begins to break the weapon. Tom (despite attacking recklessly, and hence having advantage) manages to roll poorly enough that the hammer is damaged twice. It is affected by -2 to attack and damage rolls. **Katie is going to kill him**.
* The War Knight is resistant to melee weapon damage.
* The War Knight, on sundering armour, causes a -1 to AC.
* When Lucius attempts to cast *Dominate Monster* on Elwyn, Trott rolls a natural 1. Because it’s a very cool thing that he’s trying to do, Mark allows him to use sorcery points to use seeking spell. Trott rolls a 2. Mark still wants to give Trott a cool thing for his efforts, so gives him the vision. That’s the mark of a great team. Wonderful play, great DM response.
* Mark confirmed that Nova, by doing what she did, has saved Hotshot and Shade's life.

## **Quotes**

* Max: Lucius, get behind me! Lucius: Daddy!

* Enraged Max attacks the War Knight. Kim: Would you say he’s… Mad Max? (laughs, but has the decency to look sheepish)