Aerois - Episode 139: Rest and Recuperation

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Mark Hulmes as Aila

 Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Rest and Recuperation** is the 139th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 27th February 2022 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Time for a little well deserved downtime as the Stormchasers relax and recuperate with their friends and family.*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Katie is away, visiting family in Scotland this week.
* Mark has been unwell with Covid, and has been in isolation, apparently "painting the walls with poo". When added to tech issues and others being ill, HR has not been able to play for the last two weeks.
* Tom, Rhi and Trott were at the studio yesterday and Trott reports that they set up a lot of the tech including some lights on the truss. Tom is putting a video of the studio visit together and that will be put out when Tom has time (between playing Elden Ring and sleeping). Kim was out today getting more equipment. There have been some delays due to shipping and design issues, but there is hope that they will get to play in the studio towards the end of March (also given that Rhi and Trott will be doing some tour gigs with their band, Mr Sam & the Deadnutz).
* The sponsor this week is D&D Beyond. Between Feb 25 and March 6, all premium digital dice will be on sale. Two of the sets, the Archmage's Favor and Mythic sets, will be retired after this sale is done. There is also a new dice set available - the Elder Heart set. Use the HR link when going to the site to support the HR crew.
* Thanks to Fox.e.poxy Creations (@Fox\_e\_poxy on Twitter), a custom dice maker from Alberta, Canada, for the beautiful custom dice that they made for each of the High Rollers (customised for their characters and for Mark). NOTE that due to shipping costs that are payable by UK recipients, they did check with the crew before sending them!
* Happy belated birthday to Rhiannon for 22nd February, to Mark for 10th February, and to Trott for 5th February.
* Kim got together with the 3 Black Halflings recently to film 2 more episodes of their game where she plays Shadow Beyond the Veil in their bespoke world. They have now been released on their podcast stream. Kim tweeted about it in the HR Discord and linked to the first episode.
* Tom has been playing a lot of Elden Ring recently, staying up until 5.30am every day. His advice: don't waste runes fighting bosses, upgrade your flasks because you're going to need them.

### **Recap**

*"Having returned to Horizon after their adventure in the Feywild, the heroes found it under attack by the forces of Xarkira, former commander of the Valkyrian Empire and archfoe of the party. Seeing and opportunity while the party was elsewhere, Xarkira sent her and one of her simulacrums to attack the sky city and capture Valla, daughter of Kalus Valkyrian and the Goddess, Siaska, and close friend of the party. After fighting through enemies, including upgraded mechadragons, the party eventually reached the city's war chamber where they were shocked to find Kalus himself protecting Valla and her knight, Maximillian, from a horde of Retriever and Iron Golem constructs. Joining forces temporarily, the party and Kalus fought off the constructs and defeated the final simulacrum. After the battle, the party and Kalus spoke and they were still unable to convince him that his plan to defeat Hadar would endanger the galaxy: things came to a standstill until Aila, using a special coin given to her by the Fate Weaver, Duskwillow, used it to have Kalus see Quill's vision as well as the Web of Eternity. With a final cry, Kalus disappeared, leaving the party with Valla and Maximillian unconscious in Horizon's war chamber."*
### **Part 1**

*The team discuss their last encounter and plan for the future!*

With Quill having cast *Greater Restoration*, Valla and Max are now simply unconscious and no longer poisoned. Nova offers to send her echo to check whether the fighting in the streets of Horizon has ceased – Lucius is a little confused by the presence of the echo and says that telling Kalus to shut up felt really good. The party praises Lucius for his quick thinking in turning himself into a stone backpack, although Aila tells him that it might have been bad if his arms had broken off – Lucius had not considered that and seems worried at the possibility. Nova sends her echo to see what is happening outside while Quill and Sentry revive Valla and Max whose eyes flutter open. Even though their reactions are dulled, Max is immediately on guard as if he was still in combat, reaching clumsily for his weapon; Valla groggily calls for her father. Quill tells Max that the Simulacrum and Starbane have both gone which confuses Max – Max tells them that he and Valla retreated to the War Chamber thinking that the wards would be stronger and that they were pursued by several spider constructs (Retrievers). They were ambushed by the simulacrum who fired a projectile at Max, knocking him unconscious. Valla asks after her father and says that she was not able to stop the Xarkira simulacrum from using a scroll and a wand (both of which were destroyed when she used them) – she used them to open a portal, and the magic was stronger than anything Valla has encountered before, even beyond the ninth sphere. After she conjured the portal, Xarkira sent the Retrievers after her and hit her with the same projectile that she had thrown at Max – it was then that the door opened and she saw her father, Kalus, who had come to save her. Max is shocked to find that the Emperor had been there and fears that he looked foolish, being helpless and unable to do his duty: Sentry reassures him that he did his duty as well as he was able.

Valla tells them that she had been unable to use her rifts to teleport away and asks how they returned to the city – Quill tells her about their use of the Wayfinders Guide and she is concerned that it had to use all its power to break through the immensely powerful magical barrier that the Xarkira simulacrum had erected, saying that Xarkira is now almost rivalling a god’s or titan’s magical power. Lucius wonders if Xarkira is becoming a titan herself or whether she is allying herself with someone they are unaware of in order to claim such power.

Nova’s Tiangong echo sees that while there are pockets of fighting, the Xarkiran forces are in retreat and being shut down by the Horizon forces – they can no longer hear the sounds of the mechadragons and Valkyrian’s ship has disappeared. The Twinstar Longbow is assisting with shooting down some Xarkiran transports that are attempting to escape. Nova, still with the rest of the party in the War Chamber, opens her eyes which shimmer gold, and reports in Tiangong’s voices of many (with Nova’s voice just discernible over the top), “Stormchaser crew: we are pleased to report that Xarkiran forces are in retreat. The metal dragons are in retreat. Thalia Whisperwind, victorious in the skies. It appears we are victorious for now.”

Lucius is still trying to come to grips with what has happened with Starbane fighting Xarkira – he also is not sure what Kalus saw and what he will do as a result. Valla is astounded to hear that they somehow managed to show her father Quill’s vision: she tells Lucius that he does not disbelieve them, more that he is of the opinion that they cannot know everything, and that Kalus thinks that he knows a lot more than they do. Valla says that showing Kalus Quill’s vision may help but on the other hand, it may do the opposite - Kalus has followed this plan for millennia and believed that it is the only possible solution: knowing that it will not work may make him more desperate. Valla does not know of another way to stop Hadar and plays devil’s advocate, arguing that if Quill’s vision is wrong, it may be the choice between sacrificing Aerois or the whole of the multiverse.

Nova points out that Kalus seemed to know that Siaska would be coming back and only got really disturbed and emotional when it was suggested that they use another thing that might work (she awkwardly nods her head towards Valla). Valla understands what Nova is implying but says that she does not think that she can defeat Hadar – Hadar is ancient, has fed on hundreds of gods and had to be imprisoned because the other gods could not defeat it – Valla isn’t even a god, even if she has a divine spark. Nova reassures her saying that Root Prime and a number of others had said that a spark of divinity was all that was needed; Tiangong chimes in saying that the Stormchaser crew may prove to be an “uncertain component” having overcome much adversity and great threats. Even Hadar seemed to sense this about them before sending them to Elysium – the key may reside in the connections that they have with Valla, Kalus and Siaska – they may be the missing element.

Lucius points out that Kalus is “but a man trying to defeat a god” – Valla thinks that his long life makes it very hard for him to see individual lives and cities because he sees things on a much larger scope, and sacrificing one city, kingdom or world can be justified if it protects many others. She points out that she does not believe that this makes him right, but the years of being alone with the burden has made him seemingly cold, unfeeling and callous, possibly as an armour to protect his vulnerability. Lucius says that he does not care about Kalus as an individual, but he cares about the consequences of his actions – he thinks they need to steer him on the right path and wants to see Siaska. Valla asks if there is anything else that she needs to know about the vision – there is a moment where none of the party wants to tell Valla what they have seen before Lucius simply blurts it out. Valla pauses to think before agreeing that it makes a lot more sense that Siaska sacrificed herself than that Kalus killed her – she never really believed that was true and has questioned the doctrines taught by the Temple of Siaska since she was five years old. She wants to ask her mother why she did what she did and thinks that they should keep the lines of communication to Kalus open - she advises them not to let him forget this and that they are people he can trust, without ill-will and more like Kalus when he was younger - heroes.

Lucius says that he is not ready to forgive Kalus and Valla does not ask him to: she does ask him to be open to working with Kalus, however. Sentry says that while she cannot trust Kalus yet, when she saw him clutching Valla to him, trying to protect her against danger, she saw him as a father trying to protect his daughter, and was reminded of the Solwynn royal family. Max tells them that fear can drive people, more than love or hatred, to betray things once held dear, and he wonders whether fear has driven Kalus to do some of the things for which the Stormchasers cannot forgive him.

Valla has some good news for them – she believes that she is very close to locating Kellara’s domain. She also tells them that Valena has been reaching out to her and Valla thinks that she might need their help, possibly willing to allow them into her domain. Valla does not sense any madness about Valena like she did with Zephyr and she does with Kellara – Valena seems more like Sayanna: sad and despairing, but still herself.

They bring Valla up to speed on their adventures in the Feywild then discuss where Xarkira is getting her increase in power, thinking it most likely to be coming from Hadar. Max says that he has fought many Hadar-touched beings and thinks that if Xarkira has made a bargain with Hadar, that she will be one of the most powerful beings ever to have existed. Hadar consumes most worlds that it finds and converts the beings that it finds into aberrations, but others, the most powerful spellcasters, called Starspawn or Starseers by the Valkyrian forces, are granted twisted power – it mutates their physical bodies and enhances their magical capabilities immensely. These pale in comparison to Xarkira, he says – “Xarkira is one of the greatest magical sorceresses, one of the greatest minds of our known world. Hadar will use that.” Max cannot imagine that the process of conversion will be quick, and the fact that simulacra have been sent to get Valla indicates that she is busy elsewhere for now. When they face Xarkira, he says that she will be a fearsome foe. Quill seems confident since she will not have the simulacra to back her up but Max tells him that she will have Hadar’s forces, creations and creatures, Illithids, Beholders, Astral Dreadnoughts, and even her own army that may be Hadar-touched.

The sound of thumping boots and a shouting woman’s voice is heard as Dannica enters the room in tattered, ripped, torn and burned robes with her hair wild and flying all around her, and flames in her hands. She demands to know where they have been and how they got back. Lucius casually mentions that they encountered Starbane, and defeated Xarkira’s simulacrum that was trying to kidnap Valla. Dannica says nothing, but the flames around her increase as her stress becomes apparent. She calms herself and the flames die down gradually. She tells them that they have finally defeated the mechadragons, advising that they needed to destroy their components before they reformed otherwise they would heal completely: Dannica and her troops took one dragon down, Valkyrian troops took down another, and a third that was flying around the city appears to have fled. Lucius tells her about their interaction with Starbane, what they revealed to him and what they have discovered. They recommend staying on high alert and countering the Valkyrian forces as they have been doing until they learn any further information. Dannica asks Valla, Quill and Nova to speak to Azaria Perel to see if they can prevent another anti-teleportation field from being erected around Horizon again. When Valla tells Dannica about the scroll and wand that the simulacrum had used, and that they contained power greater than the ninth sphere, tenth or perhaps higher, Dannica is astounded – Quill offers to use the Eye to try to find out more information about the scroll and the wand. Dannica encourages them to follow their plans to defeat the titans and bring back Siaska.

Nova looks over what is left of the simulacrum to see if it has dropped any items, but there is nothing except snow. There is some dust residue that Valla believes may be what is left of the scroll and wand – Nova collects this to show to Azaria Perel. They decide to go and check on their friends that are in Horizon and will catch up with the crew of the Stormchaser when the sip returns to Horizon (as it is currently off on a mission to help stop Starbane forces). Arval and Petal are fine and have survived the attack. They have a long rest (Sentry goes down to level 1 exhaustion).

Nova reminds the party that Kalus made a titan killer and that they need to kill some titans – she suggests that they find the titan killer and fight Atelicus with it, Lucius suggests that someone asks Kalus if they can borrow the titan killer.

### **Part 2**

*The party really need a win and Lucius has a plan to cheer everyone up!*

A couple of days have passed, the party has rested and repairs to Horizon are underway.

Quill considers what to ask the Eye of the Storm and whether to ask the Wayfinders Guide about the scroll and wand dust, wondering if it will destroy his mind and draw him into madness.

Dannica reminds them that the Horizon alliance is very small – they do not have the power to oppose the larger kingdoms or territories like Vortinssar or Gisella. The Stormchasers have sent spies to Vortinssar, the Guardian Scouts to rescue the Grand Strategist and put some resources into the defence of Horizon.

Lucius is ready to take Nova and the rest of the party to Gusthaven so that he can catch up with Edea, Nova can catch up with her family, and they can all have a meal with Thalia – Lucius is very keen for Nova and Thalia to have a date that the rest of them can witness. Quill offers to pay, although Lucius believes that he would not have to pay and would just leave at the end of the meal. Lucius recommends a lovely restaurant and asks Nova what her ring size is or offers the wish ring if she would prefer that for her proposal. Quill says that he would be able to work out Nova’s ring size and starts making mental calculations before Nova, flustered, casts invisibility on herself and leaves. Lucius accuses Quill of being too pushy and causing Nova to leave. Sentry is confused and Quill asks Aila for help, but she has been staring out the window and picking stuff out of her toes.

Lucius rounds them up, Arval wants to go and suggests that they also take Petal, and Valla and Maximillion. Lucius asks Quill to send messages to Edea and Aridan to advise them that they will be arriving in Gusthaven soon. Shortly thereafter, marching towards the teleportation circle in Horizon is a long line of people: the Stormchasers, Thalia, Arval, Petal, Max and Valla. Once they get to Gusthaven, they are met by the senior officers of the Stormchaser: Oriya, Kamarra, Faeth, Howard, Lancion, Penny, Geylauno and Lookout. They are also met by Edea, Aridan, and Nova’s mother, father, and sister, Breeze and Wade and Aurora. Sentry hoists Petal onto her shoulders and carries her through the streets of Gusthaven, although she is embarrassed by this, now being 20 something years of age – she eventually convinces Sentry to put her down. They all make their way to a restaurant called The Gilded Black Bottle, more commonly referred to as The Gilded Bottle or The Gild – a high-end restaurant in Gusthaven. When they see the Sky Prince coming, the restaurant is cleared and an enormous, long table is set up in the northern quarter of it – this faces a series of balconies that look out onto the skyline of the noble district and palace of Gusthaven. The table is laid with decoration and silverware.

The maître d’, a sprightly but elderly gnome, begs for some time to prepare a proper meal while they bring up some hors d'oeuvres. The restaurant is beautiful with floating magical lighting, the drapes are enchanted so that they swoop out of the way to give them the best views, the temperature is perfect, and there is faint music that plays from some unseen place. Lucius apologises to everyone for the restaurant being a little run down and homely – everyone but the Sky Prince, Valla and Max are gobsmacked at how beautiful and amazing the place looks. Nova’s father, Wade, is looking at the artwork on the walls and spies a genuine painting by the Water Genasi, Spring. Nova’s mother, Breeze, is tasting the canapes with approval and taking notes for her own café. Quill and Thalia start telling Aurora about some of their adventures in the Feywild. Lucius catches up with Aridan, who says that they have all been missed, but that things have been relatively quiet on Gusthaven: he has heard about the recent attack on Horizon. Aridan asks for introductions to Nova’s family, praises Nova to them and invites Wade to see the artworks in the palace while he is staying in Gusthaven. Thalia is desperately trying to avoid speaking to Nova’s family, being clearly embarrassed, and instead talks to the Stormchaser crew.

An elegant but hearty meal is had by them all, and while there are no bugs for Quill, there are seeded dishes that he can eat, and there is lovely wine to be imbibed – Oriya orders their finest wine and whiskey, knowing that the party will be paying for it all. Howard asks for a gin with fruits, Breeze has a snifter of whiskey that goes straight to her head. Nova has been drinking cordials, and hyped up on sugar, decides that now is the right time to introduce Thalia to her parents as “Thalia Whisperwind… *a princess from the Feywild”.* Lucius is overheard by many to exclaim, “Shut the hell up. Shut the **hell up**!” while he (and everyone around him) sits and stares at them.

Nova continues awkwardly with her introduction to her mother, “We met her out in space, she brought us home. She has a spaceship called the Twinstar Longbow.” Her mother believes that she has said the Twinkstar Longbow but is impressed with what Thalia has done.

Nova hurriedly and excitedly adds in a high pitched, rushed voice, “*she’s my girlfriend!”* At that, Wade’s eye go wide, Aurora makes a shocked face, and her mother, Breeze, stares at Thalia, looking her up and down.

The rest of the room is silent while Wade tries to hold back tears. Thalia looks at Nova’s mother, holding her gaze before she bows her head deeply, declares that it is a pleasure to meet her and asks if what Nova has said is all right. Breeze is grateful to Thalia for bringing Nova home, stands up and hugs her but whispers in her ear (which only Quill overhears), “If you break her heart, I know many ways to cut things – I have a lot of experience with knives.” Thalia reassures her, telling her that if anything, Nova has had plenty of opportunity to break hers and she hasn’t. Breeze shoos Faeth out of her seat and summons Nova over to tell her everything where she and Thalia also get a hug from her dad; they both proceed to try to get to know Thalia. Lucius, meanwhile, is openly sobbing, stealing people’s napkins to dry his tears – he is also trying to make eye contact with Nova while she is being grilled by her mother, subtly points at the balcony and then makes a somewhat suggestive, possibly lewd gesture that *he intends* to mean “put a ring on it”, but looks for all the world like something *entirely different.*

Nova is shocked, her mouth dropping open before she simply mouths “No!” while Sentry quietly but pointedly advises him that they are in a “fine dining establishment”. Most other people are too busily engaged in conversation, but Quill sees the gesture, so does Howard, who almost chokes on his drink then looks in a panic between Lucius and Nova. Quill calls Lucius out who vehemently tells him, “Don’t stand in the way of love!” Edea asks Lucius how long Nova and Thalia have been together – he tells her that it feels like years, but that it is destined, and they were meant for each other. Edea is unsure, telling him that maybe they should take their time and let things play out because it is not like the books that Nanny Norfir used to read them about “true love, princes and princes, and princes and princesses” – Lucius says he is just trying to give them a nudge so that he can witness their natural fall into marriage tonight. Edea thinks that he may be trying to find love vicariously through Nova and Thalia because he does not have that special someone – Lucius says that they are fine on their own, but Edea is offended that Lucius thinks that she is on her own, reminding him that she was “busy” on the night that everything happened. She tells him that he does not need to be alone and may be surprised in how many people might be interested in him, looking at Faeth and Aridan (Quill is standing beside Lucius and making suggestive faces as if he is also interested in Lucius).

Lucius feels a slight breeze behind him and when he turns around, Tiangong’s echo is up in his face requesting that he cease with the lewd gestures. Lucius, not understanding, asks what is wrong with the gesture and does it again, only this time, because Tiangong spoke, everyone is looking at Lucius and sees him doing it. Valla is trying not to look, Max is shielding her eyes while muttering, “How dare you…?”, Faeth and Aridan are bright red, and everyone else is looking, shocked, at Lucius. Oriya and Aila, on the other hand, are pissing themselves laughing – Lucius, realising what he has done is bright red with embarrassment and exclaiming that he is sorry and didn’t mean to do it. Lookout bluntly offers Lucius advice, “Perhaps it would be better if you do not imply suggested sexual intercourse over dinner, Captain Lucius” – Lucius chokes and cowers behind a plate while everyone else breaks into laughter. Sentry asks if she can also have a plate.

As the evening winds up, the Gnome asks Lucius how he will be settling the bill, which Lucius thinks is a joke. Quill takes charge and pays the 300 gold (with a 35 gold tip, and Sentry adds a handful of gold on top of it), which includes rooms for those who are a little too inebriated to make it home, such as Oriya (who is sitting with her feet on the table, boots off, nursing a bottle like a baby in one hand and drinking from another bottle in the other), Howard, and a few others. The Sky Prince adds a small amount for gold for the establishment as a small thank you.

Over the evening, there is a deeper sense of kinship and closeness between Thalia and Nova, and Thalia gets on very well with Nova’s sister, Aurora who shares her adventurous nature. Wade finds Thalia’s stories a little too terrifying, but otherwise a lovely time is had by all. Lucius has a second glass of wine and sees everyone being so happy – he starts to cry from joy which sets Sentry and Howard off as well, who crawls up into her lap for a hug. Quill, seeing everyone else crying, begins to cry, too, and when Tiangong walks over to enquire as to the reason for all the tears, Quill tells “Tassadar” to ‘get over here’ and hugs them – they give Quill an awkward pat on the back. Tiangong assures everyone that Nova is exceptionally happy and is proud of her relationship with them all.

At the conclusion of the evening, the Sky Prince has a lingering goodbye with Lucius – he is very prim and proper, but it is clear that he does not want to leave – he thanks Lucius for the lovely evening and hopes that he will see Lucius again soon. Lucius immediately breaks down and hugs Aridan, who awkwardly hugs him back and asks if he is ok, Lucius tells Aridan that he has always looked up to him an apologises: Aridan says that Lucius has nothing to apologise for and that he looks up to Lucius with all that he has done for the city. Lucius is still mortified by his making of “the gesture” – Aridan can’t believe that he did it but thinks that it was very funny. Aridan hugs Lucius back – for a second too long – then puts Lucius at arm’s length before he bows his head and leaves, but not before looking back at Lucius as he gets to the door.

They head back to Horizon and have a long rest (removing Sentry’s last level of exhaustion). Quill wants to know more about the spell scroll that the Xarkira clone used – he decides to take the dust to Azaria Perel so that he can use the Wayfinders Guide later. Azaria is still upgrading the Stormchaser and studying Horizon’s engines – when Quill explains that the scroll uses the 10th circle of magic, she turns her black-veiled face to him and listens intently. She takes the dust that was collected and places it on an workbench and casts a few spells over it – she says that she has never seen anything like it before: she cannot restore the scroll, but knows that it cast the *Gate* spell, normally used to conjure portals between planar realms, it can be used to call forth specific planar creatures if their true name is spoken – the portal will be conjured at their location and they can be summoned through it. Azaria tells Quill that the scroll was made by a creature capable of transcending the limits of magical power – whoever crafted and inscribed it had access to more than just a 10th circle of magic, she believes that they had even more power. In order to create the scroll, they would have needed access to huge amounts of aetherium or residuum that must have cost hundreds of thousands to millions of gold to create. Otherwise, they needed access to some incredibly powerful reagent – something with vast stores of magical energy. Azaria says that she cannot recreate it directly but can make a type of non-functional copy that would allow Quill to divine more information from it. Azaria thinks that to create a scroll of this nature would normally take months to years to create but thinks that whoever created the scroll has a way of bypassing the time required to make it. She says that in order to transcribe a spell of this nature on an object that someone else could use would be costly and that they would take some time to regain the energy that they must have spent in order to do so.

Azaria believes that, having examined the remnants of the Draconic corpses and what was left in the War Room, she can create something to prevent the anti-teleportation field from being raised around Horizon, but it will need node points spread throughout the city walls. Having said that, she does not believe that anyone would be able to stop someone from activating the spell on the scroll, even Dannica, Valla or any of the Stormchasers. She says that if it was a simulacrum that used the scroll, there would be a chance that the scroll would be destroyed without the spell effect taking place, because the simulacrum would not have the power to cast the spell itself – she thinks that Xarkira took a real gamble giving this scroll to her simulacrum, because Xarkira herself would be able to use the scroll without error. Quill tells Azaria that he will share any information that he gets with her – she is intrigued by the idea of magic beyond the 9th circle and says that she is still interested in examining the Prime Matrix. Quill comes clean with Azaria, telling her that sometimes she comes across as “a little creepy” – this delights her that others sometimes find her unsettling, because she finds smaller minds irritating, so she likes intimidating them into avoiding her. She reassures Quill that she has no ill intent towards Sentry or any of them and does not wish to follow in the footsteps of another, or she could have joined forces with Xarkira long ago. She says that she does not need some ill-begotten, hungry, ravenous red star to provide her with power, that she will research her own way to the unknown 10th circle of magic.

Azaria tells Quill that she is curious about him as well, stroking the side of his face, and telling him that she would be curious to investigate the magic involved in his Eye and the Wayfinders Guide. A day later, she provides Quill with a blank, non-functional copy of the scroll for Quill to examine – they physical scroll has been restored, but the magic is gone.

Quill names the 10th level *Gate* scroll and casts *Legend Lore* from the Wayfinders Guide to find out more about the scroll. The Book opens and its pages flip from right to left until it stops on the *Tale of the Desperate Scholar.*

*Quill sees a mage, who looks very much like Xarkira, speaking to an infinite blackness with a tiny red dot. The mage travels across multiple worlds – they visit ancient ruins and ancient abandoned laboratories – meanwhile there is an ancient red dot that leaks words and information, nothing that can be read, but cryptic messages. These messages flow into the woman from the red star as she visits all the different places. As she does, every time she finds something, she seems to grow more powerful in magic; Quill sees her eyes glow, and a pattern start to spread across her body as if she is gaining more and more power, being led from place to place. Every world that she visits, each step of the journey, the worlds become more deteriorated, broken, abandoned, and barren until eventually, she stands on a lifeless moon, staring up at what appears to be a rip in space: around the rip are walls of flesh, tentacles and mouths, all around the edges of the page. She appears before it, prostrated on her knees looking up and the red star whispers more of its nonsense to her. The last page shows that her eyes are now like red snake’s eyes (red reptilian eyes with a black vertical slit in the middle) that have replaced her previous humanoid eyes.*

*The message of the story appears to be that Xarkira gained this power by travelling to many ancient, lost and abandoned worlds across the galaxy and has taken ancient magical knowledge and, with the help of Hadar to unlock it, has mastered spells beyond 9th level.*

Nova is pale and shaken thinking that Xarkira has become a living avatar of Hadar, free to walk to world with his power, and she is terrified. Quill is likewise concerned and thinks that they need to stop her soon, but he does not know if the story depicted *has* happened or *is currently happening*. They may have some time yet.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Intro
10:46 - Part 1
1:22:12 - Break time/Donations
1:31:06 - Part 2
2:49:40 - Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Aridan
* Aurora V'ger
* Azaria Perel
* Breeze V'ger
* Dannica Bloodfire
* Edea
* Faeth
* Hadar
* Howard
* Lancion
* Lookout
* Maximillion Taldros
* Oriya
* Penny
* Petal
* Valla
* Xarkira
* Wade V'ger

## **Featured Locations**

* Horizon
	+ War Chamber
* Gusthaven
	+ The Gilded Black Bottle

## **Trivia**

* Podcast Part 1 was originally numbered as Episode 138 on both platforms
* Mark says that the Starspawn are a little bit like the Tyranids from Warhammer 40K – they suck up all the life juice of a planet and then spew out more Tyranids, also a little bit gene stealer cult, Deadspace, Necromorphs, etc.
* Kim thinks that Xarkira will look gross when they finally see her but Mark says she is quite arrogant and vain and may not want to look grotesque but will want to retain some form of beauty. She will, however, be pretty powerful!
* Dannica getting stressed with her flames growing around her is described by Mark as looking like Hades in Hercules when he gets mad.
* Mark is talking about the Stormchaser and Oriya, but mistakenly says Xarkira – Tom believes that this was a slip and that Oriya has been Xarkira all along. Later suggestion that Sentry is Xarkira (“what a fucking twist though!” says Mark). The *real* twist, says Mark, is that Sentry is an automaton being piloted by a tiny man.
* Mark mentions that Nova’s family survived just fine before Kim reminds him that they are not on Horizon (despite the fact that Mark keeps trying to put them there).
* Quill suggests that Tassadar is with them and they should ask him about the titan killer. Mark responds that “this isn’t Bakers and Blacksmiths, I’m not Rosemeadow, you can’t bully me into DMing, Tassadar isn’t here you fuckers!”

* It is written into Starbreaker’s description that you must call out the name of the weapon when you activate it (in true anime fashion).
* Mark suggested that the ending of the campaign was Quill carrying the World Engine and riding it like a bomb into Hadar, saying “I’m giving Hadar back his bomb”.
* Hadar is described as a red dot with lots of mouths with no lips. His body is formless and red.
* When Tom is trying to work out how to find out more information about the 10th circle of spells, Trott suggests that “You must make a bargain with Hadar, become a Starspawn,” and wonders if he is right after seeing Mark’s response.
* Trott announced before the break that Lucius can’t wait to go on a double date with Thalia and Nova. Mark said that this means that Lucius actually needs to ask Sky Prince Aridan on a date, which Trott agreed to. Mark said that he could see and feel Fael “out there somewhere” vibrating with excitement – “ELVES? HOLDING HANDS?” added Kim. Fael appeared in chat a couple of minutes later. There was some question over whether Quill or Sentry would take Max or whether they would fight over him.

* Mark came down with Covid after doing the Dark Souls TTRPG one shot. He enjoyed playing it and would be up for running it again once they get into the new studio with a huge Dwarvenforge map.
* Artist's representation of the dinner in Part 2 (with apologies to the original artists! -Crispi)

* Mark announced that in the face of Kalus’ proclamation, and with the world of Aerois under the threat of war, Spellclash has been cancelled. “No!” says Rhi, “I should have killed him!” Kim reminds them that the last time they did Spellclash was 2019.
* Horizon’s current resources:
	+ Communications and Resolve Defence 13,
	+ Resources 11
	+ War Assets – Guardian Army (smallish, well-trained, stalwart elite unit), Force of Guardian Scouts, Wild Elf Commandoes, Horizon City Guard, Dragons and Dragonborn, Sky City of Gusthaven.
* Kim says that the warning Nova’s mother gives to Thalia sounds very much like what her own mother said to Ted at their wedding. Mark says that he is trying to base Nova’s mother off her own mother.
* Quill makes suggestive eyes at Lucius when Edea says that Lucius might be surprised who is interested in him: Mark said that “we know that ship will never sail”. Kim says that he is destined for Max’s waters. Mark responds that there is a love triangle between Sentry, Max and Quill at the moment. Rhi offers to share and Mark says that they could, because they don’t know what Max is into.
* Even Mark starts referring to Tiangong as Tassadar (accidentally) in this episode.

## **References**

1. ↑ @HighRollersDnD on Twitter, 3rd March 2022 at 13:00 GMT