Aerois - Episode 12: The Path to Justice

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Mark Hulmes as Sentry

Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Path to Justice** is the 12th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd channel on 7th October 2018 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The party have caught up to the kidnappers and begin their path to justice!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Rhiannon is away this week (at a hen do).
* Sponsors this week are D&D Beyond (use the code HIGHROLLING for 25% off) and Brilliant.
* High Rollers will be at MCM Comic Con and have a live show at 5pm on Friday on centre stage in the Con. HR will also be signings on Friday and Saturday.
* Merch: Tote bags have been delayed - have had to change suppliers. Not many metal Aerois dice sets left. Use the code HIGHROLLERS to get 10% off anything you buy.
* Podcast is going up Mondays and Thursdays.
* Any fan art should be sent to highrollersdnd@gmail.com.
* A Rogue's Gambit is on Mondays.
* Mark will be away for two weeks in Japan, so Kim will run a one-shot while he is away.

### **Recap**

"*After discovering that two of their companions, that had survived the crash with them, had been killed, and that the young girl Valla had been kidnapped, the party took off in pursuit. Catching up to their quarry, Sentry sent Echo ahead and was distraught when her little familiar was destroyed by the Goliath who had killed Yusef and Corin. The party engaged in a battle that proved to be their toughest one yet; the Goliath, able to jump between shadows, caused untold devastation, nearly killing Qillek and ruining one of his eyes, breaking Lucius's leg and mentally crippling Nova. The party survived, however, and continued their chase, with the assistance of a dryad. They caught up on the kidnappers, rescued Valla, and took one of them captive while the other two were melted by the poison of a plant creature. But before we jump in with the group that had left Rosehall, we're going to jump back in time a little bit and deal with Aila, who left the party temporarily, leaving a note for Nova that you had wanted to try and find some answers about the Wild Elf clan.*"
### **Part 1**

*The party have caught up to the kidnappers and begin their path to justice!*

Aila had left the party temporarily to find out more information about Wild Elves – she had asked around town but got information that the local clans were dangerous and raided the town making them very unpopular. Merrick, the Field Warden, was able to tell her that there is a really old Wild Elf who lives out in Broken Spearwood, about a day’s travel to the east – people sometimes go to ask this Elf about strange monsters or magic that people do not understand.

Aila goes seeking this old Elf, but part way into the forest, she runs into a large brown bear partially covered in long thorns – it looks at her with half a dead bird in its mouth and growls. An elderly voice comes from the bushes nearby asking who she is and introducing the thistleback bear as Thorn – the Elf pokes his head out of the bushes and Aila can see that he has a long spear, the tip of which is well cared for and sharp, he is wearing rough leathers and green fabrics and remnants of a tartan sash across his chest. The Elf is old: he has tanned, leathery, wrinkled skin, his ears droop and the tattoos covering his arms have faded with age – Aila thinks that he must be 130 or 140 years old, well into his twilight years – but his grip on the spear is firm and his eyes sparkle. The old Elf comes out into the clearing, asks her name and sends Thorn to keep an eye out then introduces himself as Cormack Dunbairn.

Cormack is a cantankerous old bastard and is not fond of other people whether they be Humans or other Elves. Aila senses a kindred spirit in him. She tells him that she searched him out in case he could give her any information about the tartan she carries – he refers to it as “a piece of history”. He knows that the tartan is older than he is and has heard some old stories; Aila got it from the clan that raised her – they found her as a child and with her, the tartan. He agrees to tell her what he knows if she will bring back some food for him and Thorn (he says a boar or elk will do). Aila finds a young male and hits it with a javelin but does not kill it – they charge each other and Aila crushes its rib cage with her hammer, throwing it into a nearby tree, which breaks its back and kills it. She takes it back to Cormack.

Over dinner, Cormack tells her that he does not know the name of the clan that had her tartan, nor would anyone alive – she will need to find an Elf who has been dead for 500 years or an historian who collects information on Wild Elves. Cormack says that he heard stories as a boy of the Lair Dir Lann: they were the mightiest of the clans when the Elves rejected the cities and came to the lowlands to live as Wild Elves. The Lair Dir Lann were meant to be the strongest of all Elves and were fighting against what remained of the forces of Kalus Starbane – these Valkyrian soldiers were still killing people and trying to find ways to bring back their dark master. The Lair Dir Lann were winning until one night, one of the four clans vanished – the whole clan disappeared in a single night like they were plucked off Aerois. The other three tried to continue to fight, but without the powers of the missing clan (the powers of storm, lightning and thunder), they had to give up the fight and the Remnant managed to get a foothold all over the planet.

The whole clan was supposedly blessed by the goddess Zephyr with storm powers. Most Wild Elves dedicate themselves to Atelicus, the Earthwarden: they dedicate themselves to his teachings, to hunting, to protecting the land and its animals. Some Elves were drawn to Zephyr’s ferocious but adventurous, curious and cunning nature – it is said that this one clan was favoured by her so she gave them some of her powers, she gave them the storm. There is no known name for this one clan, just for the alliance of four clans as the Lair Dir Lann – there is an old Elven ruin up by Rosewater Lake from before the Sundering that might have some answers, but there is something sinister about the place. He suggests that there may be something in the libraries in the skycities or in big lowland cities like Goldthrone: if she chooses to investigate the Elven ruin, he suggests that she take some people that she trusts with her as it would be dangerous to go alone. Aila beds down at his camp for the evening and makes her way back to Rosehall in the morning when she finds out about Yusef and Corin.

The group in the Ironweald has decided to return to Rosehall, which will take them three days – the elk, because it was told to go to Ironwick, will not go with them but will return to the Dryad’s clearing. They have moved out of the forest and are now travelling along the north road: Arval has secured Fela and is walking behind her with his crossbow threatening to shoot her if she gives them any trouble. Valla is still unconscious and is being carried like a child by Sentry.

Nova questions Fela asking her why she took Valla – Fela tells her that she did it because her father told her to but will not tell Nova why her father wanted Valla, she also tells Nova that the Goliath was a random mercenary. When Nova explains that the Goliath killed Valla’s guardians, who were like a mother and father to her, a brief pained expression crosses her face but is soon replaced with derision. Fela is cocky, believing that when they get her back to town, her father will teach them all a lesson for ruining his plans, and will kill them all. She says that the Goliath was not part of their group, that they were just meant to get Valla because she is worth a fortune: realising that she has said more than she should, she tells Nova that if the Goliath is the worst she can imagine facing carrying Valla around, she is in for a real surprise.

Quill can tell that Fela is genuinely scared and using her anger as a shield, but she has genuine faith in her father, assuming that he will fix everything when they get back. They bed down for the night as best they can, but end up drenched and uncomfortable – Fela is put face down and hog tied for the evening by Arval, and while she tries to struggle her way free during the evening, she fails.

In the morning, Arval unties Fela’s legs, gives her water and then makes her march again. They do not notice many people on the road as they skirt Rosewater lake: in the distance, they can see the old Elven ruin that they have heard about. The party has a discussion about their short rations and realise that one of the jobs that they had considered doing was ridding the north road of bandits that were striking at trade caravans – when Nova says that they are not in a fit state to fight bandits, Fela just laughs. Quill and Lucius realise that the bandits are actually associated with the Brookstones. They have some proof that Brookstone was involved in the letter signed “BB” that they found on the Goliath.

Valla begins to wake up that evening; initially, she is very foggy, having woken from the effects of her drugging, but then she remembers the Goliath coming after them at the stable, Corin being felled and Yusef trying and failing to hit the Goliath with magic at which point she blacked out. She asks them all what happened as she glances around at them, not seeming to recognise Fela. Nova takes Valla in her arms, tells Valla that she will have to stay calm, and that she is really sorry – Valla’s eyes start to well up and she refuses to believe that Yusef and Corin are gone. She gulps and sobs, then there is a change in her demeanour – she looks up, determined and her violet eyes pulse with power while she demands to know where the Goliath is. When Nova tells her that he is dead, the glow of power diminishes, she is pleased at his death but saddened by the loss of her companions and she begins to sob while Sentry pulls her into a motherly embrace: eventually, exhausted, she falls asleep. They camp for the night without incident.

On the next day, their last day of travel, they follow around the edges of Rosewater Lake with its light pink hue until they start passing the Whitebreeze River that feeds into the lake. Eventually they pass Rosehall Palace, the ruin they have heard about, which looks like a manor house with a surrounding wall that is overgrown with ivy and flowers. The gardens within the property are in bloom (despite it being winter) and look pristine; the building itself looks dilapidated, dirty and grimy except for the windows which are clean, although all the curtains are drawn.

They camp for the night: Valla is quiet and withdrawn - Sentry mothers her, making her eat and drink and talking to her quietly, letting her cry when she needs to and supporting her otherwise. Arval guards the prisoner, occasionally tightening her bonds when she manages to loosen them somewhat. The party tries to have another discussion with Fela, her anger showing through again as she proclaims that the strong survive and the weak die, and that her mother knows what Brett, Finn and Fela get up to. Quill puts in a rejoinder that if the weak die, then Finn was weaker than a plant – Fela is incensed and threatens to pull the beak off his face or take his other eye out if she gets free. On his watch, Lucius notices a flicker of a glowing Elf walking through the archway between the two buildings spanning the river.

The next morning, they arrive back at the north gate of Rosehall and see Jessup on watch, they ask him to get Merrick and not speak to anyone else while they wait outside the gate. Ten minutes later, Jessup returns with Merrick, the Field Warden and report to him what happened in the woods: Fela says that she will only talk to Merrick away from the party and in her father’s presence, so he agrees to take her back to his place where he can house her in one of the two town’s jail cells and debrief the party further. Aila is told that the others have returned.

Nova tells Merrick that they don’t know who to trust or how far Brookstone’s power reaches, he says that they can trust him, and at this point Aila arrives to re-join the party and is shocked at Quill and Lucius’s injuries. Nova hands the incriminating note to Merrick who argues that at most, it makes Brett guilty of kidnapping, not of murder. He asks Valla if she remembers Fela, and while she is fairly certain that Fela was there, she remembers one of the men putting something in her food that made her sleepy – Fela, he says, is likely guilty of kidnapping and an accessory to murder because she accompanied the Goliath. Brett Brookstone, as the person that hired the Goliath could also be an accessory to murder; he calls for Tammin to be summoned to give evidence. Merrick says that if Brookstone is imprisoned, it will be bad for the town because his business supports many workers, and this is when they start to hear a crowd building up outside.

### **Part 2**

*We're surrounded by a mob who are lead by Rosehall's most corrupt businessman, and he has some very serious demands!*

Coming from the northwest side of the town are about 15 men and women wielding pickaxes, pitchforks, and other mining gear: in among them is Brett Brookstone wearing a breastplate and carrying a greatsword over his shoulders. Merrick asks Jessup to go and get Windy and whatever Harvest Guards they can find. Brookstone may know that they have Fela, but he does not know about Finn – Merrick says that Brookstone loves his family, so will not likely attack unless provoked or unless he feels that he has no other options. Arval is asked to look after Valla who is looking pained and angry and almost wanting to push out the door to confront the man who ordered the murder of her guardians.

Brookstone demands the return of his daughter and says that if they also hand over Valla, he will let them leave – Nova refuses, saying that he killed Valla’s guardians. Brookstone says that he did not kill anyone but admits to hiring the Goliath who was not told to kill anyone: Merrick hears this and tells Brookstone that he will also be incarcerated for his actions. Nova asks why Brookstone wants Valla, “Because she’s worth a damned fortune,” he tells her, “There’s a price on her head that would set me and my family up for life”. Quill decides that enough is enough and taunts Brookstone with the whereabouts of his son, Finn. Brookstone is enraged and he and his followers start moving angrily towards the party with their weapons raised. Quill and Nova try to persuade the crowd that Brookstone would sell them out if it helped him or his family, but Brookstone offers to split the reward for Valla with them all and get rid of Merrick if they help him – the crowd is behind Brookstone.

Nova tries to use *suggestion* to get Brookstone to stand down, but it backfires when it fails, and the crowd is even more riled up – they get ready to charge the party. Quill pulls his thunderstone pistol, aims it directly at Brookstone and says, “If you stand down now, we can tell you where your son is, you can give him the burial he deserves. Otherwise, like father like son.” For the first time, Brookstone realises that his eldest son is dead, and he is infuriated, threatening Quill with death as he charges at him with his greatsword. Quill fires and misses – a “warning shot”.

The miners attack with Brookstone telling them not to kill the bird man, to save Quill for him. Sentry puts the broken Echo on the ground, and it feeds into the dirt, vines erupt out of the ground (*nature’s wrath*) and grab Brett Brookstone, restraining him temporarily – he pulls free shortly thereafter. Quill hits Brookstone with a *guiding bolt* – one of the miners is outraged and hits Quill in the chest with his mining pick. One of the guards with Merrick is hit with multiple picks and goes down, Merrick is parrying multiple blows, and his hawk swoops in trying to peck a miner’s eye out – they are being overwhelmed.

They hear a cry of anger from behind them as the door of Merrick’s house is kicked open – in the doorway stands Valla in her purple robes with her long dark hair framing her furious face: she holds in her hand the holy symbol of Siaska that Arval had taken from Yusef’s dead body and with a wrathful cry and tears streaming down her face, launches *magic missiles* towards Brett Brookstone. Arval follows, pulling out Evangeline and readying himself to join the fray: Lucius disengages and enters Merrick’s house to keep an eye on Fela. Brookstone attacks Aila but misses, she responds with a mighty hammer blow and lightning damage which knocks him into the air before his body falls to the ground – Aila spits on him.

Nova sends a blast of arcane energy into the air (*eldritch blast*) and shouts “Enough!” - this alerts the crowd and stops the fighting, and they realise that Brett Brookstone is down. Windy Gale and Jessup are approaching with a town militia made up of Rosalina, Reld, Maximillian, Daysa Goodsmith and a few others: Windy orders them to stop and the miners now cease and start to group up, realising that they are outnumbered – they may be about to run. Quill calls to Arval to help him, then runs to Brookstone’s body to heal him – he sees Valla running towards Brookstone with knives in her hand, the knives that Nova and Lucius gave her. Quill casts *gust* to knock her back much to her dismay and puts himself between Brookstone and her; Arval understands why Quill is doing this and uses bandages to stabilise Brookstone. Nova saves the downed guard with *spare the dying*.

Aila takes a struggling Valla from Quill and consoles her while she sobs uncontrollably for the loss of her guardians and friends and pounds on Aila in frustration. The miners break and run off, unfollowed, into the woods; Brookstone is stabilised and thrown into the cell next to his daughter. Merrick thanks the party for their aid, and Lucius is concerned that there may be some animosity against the rest of the Brookstones. Quill tells Merrick that Brookstone’s wife, Gemma, knew what was happening, but he says that this does not make her guilty. He says that he will call for some Harvest Guards from Goldthrone to escort him there for trial, and he will try to find out from Brookstone and his daughter to whom they were trying to sell her. Merrick has already arranged to have Yusef and Corin’s bodies to the Temple of Siaska in Goldthrone, they thank him for being a good man and doing such a fine job before they take Lucius to see Sunbringer Torval Blackhammer. Torval is convinced that Palador would agree that he should share his magic with Nova because it would be of benefit to the world. Torval tells Quill that he does not possess magic that can heal Quill, but that there is a travelling Aarakocra messenger who will be in the town in a few days, and that he specialises in magic and trinkets and has prosthetics: he might have a glass eye for Quill. Quill has issues with other Aarakocra because he does not want them to see him how he is and he does not want to see them out of jealousy – Torval tells him that shame and pride have the same origin, Quill needs to accept what has happened to him and deal with his shame.

Torval casts the healing ritual on Lucius to fix his broken leg, but Nova is not experienced enough to be able to learn the magic that Torval is prepared to teach her – he tells her to come back when she is ready, and he will happily teach her then. Quill asks whether Torval has ever questioned his faith: Torval says it is the nature of faith to doubt, and only when faith is tested that one proves his faith. Other than whether he has cast certain rituals, Torval has never spoken to Palador, but feels his presence daily when the sun rises. Quill asks if Torval has ever felt disconnected from Palador, but he has not – Quill has a connection to H’esper that he feels, but he has not felt it since they have left the Bitterwood: Torval tells Quill that it is a two-way street, that living is not enough, Quill must live by H’esper’s decrees but must also come to H’esper, perhaps through prayer. Torval tells Quill that there is a temple to H’esper in Goldthrone that is run by Humans or Dwarves, so Quill should not be too worried about approaching Aarakocra for help.

Arval says that Quill should get the injured eyeball removed before it gets infected and an eyepatch because while the scar is cool, the effect is pretty gross. Torval removes the eyeball and Daysa makes Quill a leather eyepatch (slapping her son, Eman, who is staring at Quill). Lucius realises that he still never recovered his coat from the Brookstone’s. Sentry tells them that Valla is in shock – she took Valla to see the bodies so that she could say goodbye, every now and then the magic will flicker on and off when Valla is angry or sad. They consider sending Valla to the Temple of Siaska in Goldthrone with the bodies of Yusef and Corin, but since the Palace is on the way to Goldthrone, Arval says that he will stay with them, and Valla can stay with them even though he does not think it is a good idea.

Arval tells Quill that he will happily buy the thunderstone pistol when they get to Goldthrone, or he can find someone to teach him how to actually use the weapon. He also says that they would love the new sport that has started up with spell arena battles, they have been touring all around Aerois and were just starting up when Arval left – they get different wizards and sorcerers who have to destroy a magic shield or get knocked out of the arena (he does not name it, but this will become Spellclash).

They purchase some camping supplies, rations, and prepare to spend another night in The Brazen Hart. Merrick finds them in the evening telling them that thanks to Torval’s magic, they managed to get some information out of Brookstone: he confirmed that he hired the Goliath but did not tell the Goliath to hurt or kill anybody – his orders were to get Valla, go to the north gate then accompany his children to Ironwick where they would meet a contact. Brett dealt with someone called “Lady Veil” whom he has been feeding information about individuals of interest for a while – she was extremely interested that the party had survived an airship crash, told Brett that there would be a girl travelling with them (a young girl, 14-15 years of age with dark hair and purple eyes), and that he would get 10,000 gold if he could capture her alive and take her to Ironwick. Lady Veil was the one who put Brookstone in touch with the Goliath, a mercenary with whom she had worked before and a real killer. Brett knows that Lady Veil also operates in Goldthrone. Merrick tells them that it is likely that Lady Veil is involved in other shady dealings, and that if they learn anything in Ironwick, they should inform his superior in Goldthrone, Sandra Goldbarrow, and they will be paid for this information. Merrick gives them 200 gold for solving the problem of the bandits on the north road.

Lucius offers Merrick 1 platinum piece to recover his coat from Brett Brookstone’s place which he says Lucius will get before they leave town.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:06 Opening
2:25 Kim’s Puzzle “Net Practice Problems”
9:31 Dun Duns
10:44 Recap
11:40 What Alia has been doing
14:00 The old Scottish Wood elf
15:00 Wild Elf lifespan on Aerois
17:35 Info on Aila’s Tartan
22:44 Clan info
33:00 Nova questioning
45:25 Father manipulation
46:27 Valla wakes up
50:13 Lucius Grows a little
53:37 Healing components cost (damn that’s going to be expensive later down the line)
55:13 Cunning and awesome words from Lucius
57:10 Severe 3rd degree Burns from Qillek
1:10:00 Nova’s breakdown on current trust
1:18:36 - Break Music
1:18:53 - mystical adventuring Strings and vocals
1:20:49 Epic/Royal strings
1:22:33 adventuring strings and pianos
1:24:16 Strings and flutes
1:25:55 Break End
1:27:30 Brett confrontation
1:32:50 Oh Shit... Qillek that was great but WHY?!?
1:39:30 Twat confirmation
1:40:40 Damn. Qillek’s on fire
1:48:48 The storm comes
1:54:26 Valla joins the fray
1:57:35 Fall of Brookstone. Good riddance
2:02:20 Knife memes
2:13:40 Sobfest
2:26:35 Daysa eyepatch & fun stares
2:31:03 Arcane info from Lucius
2:32:45 What to expect at Goldthrone
2:37:38 Brett confessions & Lady Veil
2:42:35 The price for completing tasks WAS 200 gold each.

## **Featured Characters**

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

* Aila
* Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto
* Nova V'ger
* Qillek Ad Khollar
* Sentry (played by Mark)

#### **New NPCs**

* Cormack Dunbairn
* Thorn (the thistleback bear)

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Arval Dagos
* Brett Brookstone
* Daysa Goodsmith
* Eman (Daysa’s son)
* Fela Brookstone
* Jessup
* Maximillian Elias (Dalegeld Company)
* Merrick Tallfellow
* Reld
* Rosalina
* Torval Blackhammer
* Valla
* Windy Gale

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Lady Veil
* Sandra Goldbarrow
* Tammin
* Zephyr

## **Featured Locations**

* Suvonna
	+ Ironweald Forest
	+ Rosehall

## **Trivia**

* In honour of Katie’s return, all Wild Elves in this episode were portrayed with a Scottish accent. Katie was *delighted*.
* **Lore dump:** Elves in Aerois generally only live to about 150-160 years old.
* Cormack calls Humans “milk-drinking small-ears”.
* Cormack is a favoured of Atelicus.
* Kim brought pandan chiffon cake for the crew to enjoy during the break. Trott puts the whole piece in his mouth as they come back from break. Tom then eats a slice in two rather large bites, distracting Mark.
* Arval describes the sport of Spellclash. This is the first time that we will hear about this sport.
* Mark tries to get Merrick to reward the party with 100 gold for solving the bandit problem until Kim, Tom and Katie show him their notebooks. He does not trust Kim’s notes (shame, Mark, shame!), nor Tom’s, seems to believe Katie, but still says that he will check it himself. The notes were correct - Merrick was clearly trying something on!