Aerois - Episode 37: A New Way Out

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Pyri Adhara

**A New Way Out** is the 37th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 23rd June 2019 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*Our lost friend has returned to us, and the gang discovers a quick way to get to Lucius' home in Gusthaven...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Immediately after today’s stream, HR will be streaming another D&D show (on the D&D Twitch channel): a brand new mini-series, Lightfall’s Descent. The Lightfall characters will be going to Avernus.
* The sponsor today is D&D Beyond. Trott did an ad read with a quiz show.
* Merch: new paladin and Sentry limited edition shirts are now available.

### **Recap**

"*Days have passed since the battle inside Brightflame Abbey. So much has changed for the survivors but for Sentry, the Guardian paladin, there's been only darkness. The rest of the group have seen portals to other worlds, narrowly avoided a demonic invasion, and met the tyrant, Kalus, who killed the goddess Siaska. Transported across the sea to a new land, you made allies and helped settle an undead threat in the ruined fortress the Night Eye. But in doing so, you lost another friend: Qillek ad Khollar died at the hands of a servant of Hadar, an entity of endless hunger and consumption. You made your way to a place called the Midwife's Forge, a temple to Valena, the goddess of craft and life. Having restarted the Forge and dealt with a traitorous goblin, Sentry was revived with numerous improvements, and greater knowledge of her home, Solwynn. However, one friend is not there to greet her. And I believe that we ended last time with Sentry asking a very important question, which was "Where's Quill?"*"

### **Part 1**

*Pyri offers the team a brand new path to revive their fallen ally!*

Sentry sees both familiar and unfamiliar faces, including the party (although Lucius is now a Faerie), a group of Goblins, but no Qillek. Pyri is put in charge of looking after Smeek and the rest bring Sentry to the cart and gently introduce her to both Skaldi and Quill’s body, upon which Skaldi has just refreshed her *Gentle Repose,* giving them ten more days to bring him back. Skaldi shows her Quill’s dead body, and she offers to take Skorb and the Goblins ahead of them so that they can catch up quietly.

The party makes their way back into the small chamber where Vezzek had his table, Sentry meets Oriya, and they have a brief but awkward discussion before Pyri drops the bombshell that Starbane has been involved with them since Sentry died. The rest of the party brings her up to date with their adventures at the Abbey including their meeting with Starbane, which causes Sentry a great deal of distress. They explain that Kalus and Siaska are Valla’s parents and Valla’s sacrifice that allowed them to be free but sent to Voksar.

Sentry also discovers that Starbane is now on Aerois and building up his armies, but they are not sure of his reasons. Nova, however, tells them that she may know what Starbane is up to, telling them about her dream talk with Starbane. She reveals that the woman who killed Quill was a servant of Hadar and that Starbane’s plans are not about conquering Aerois, they are about stopping Hadar (Nova then corrects herself – he does want to conquer Aerois, but he wants to do so in order to stop Hadar). Nova suggests that they need to consider allying with Starbane because otherwise the world may be doomed but Sentry objects to this because Starbane took everything of value from her – her home, her family, and her purpose. Nova makes a passionate plea for them to listen to her – she says that they need to work with Starbane and might be able to convince him to share his knowledge with the people of Aerois if they use Valla as his weak point.

Lucius gets the odd sense through his magic that someone is trying to observe them, nullifies the spell, and cuts Nova off, telling her that he refuses to make any plans until they get Quill back. Nova agrees but insists that they recognise that Hadar is real, terrifying, and worse than Starbane. They wonder whether the attempted observer was Starbane – Nova thinks it likely given that they have just used the star fragment and tells them that he knows that she has fragments of Tiangong, but so does he. Nova tells Sentry about the message that came from her body before she was brought back and the information that the attendant told them about the Sentry unit and her destiny to take the Prime Matrix.

They decide to question the attendant and as they re-enter the Forge, they notice that where it was once silent, that it now hums with power. The central console is a dark metallic stone glimmering with runes and crystals inlaid in it and at the central core where Sentry was awoken is a beam of light. The attendant, a 12–13-foot stone statue, is pacing around the room, analysing crystalline rune plates around the wall. Aila asks if it would be possible to power up her weapon and the attendant tells her that the Forge was designed to assist with the re-building of Guardians and to mend and re-power magical relics of the Starborn Allliance. While the Forge is currently running at 25% of its maximum power, this will be restored over time (it was at 100% before restoring Sentry). She says that she has enough power to both empower The Howling Tempest, and to fix Pyri’s watch. When Lucius tugs ineffectually as his crown, the attendant scans him and tells them that the crown is a powerful cursed fey relic that cannot be easily removed (and the curse makes the wearer reluctant to try). While the item is not harmful, the changes will not go away until the item is removed. The crown makes the wearer more mischievous, more fey-like, empowers their natural persuasive ability, grants rulership over other Fey beings, and also allows them to replicate the effects of several spells. The attendant says that she could create a scroll to remove the curse that would also nullify a number of the properties of the crown (although some would remain).

Both Pyri and Aila are keen to get their items fixed or upgraded but Aila is faster, slamming the hammer and javelin into the attendant’s stone palm, and she warns Aila that some minor properties of both items are likely to change. The attendant holds them up to the central light and Aila watches as they lift from her hand and begin spiralling around each other inside the light beam. The attendant places her hands on the console and they hear the hum of the Forge powering up, a metal protector slams down over the weapons, and they see through a viewing window that the weapons are spinning faster and faster, shooting off light as they do. Soon, there is a sound of powering down and the metal shield raises –  the javelin is gone but The Howling Gale remains, now with lightning bolts engraved on the metal parts of its head and the gemstone at its centre now crackles with blue lightning. The attendant holds out her hand and the hammer flies to it, she then offers the hammer to Aila telling her that she has transformed her hammer into The Howling Tempest, a weapon commonly used by warriors of Zephyr in the Starborn Alliance.

The attendant then takes and scans Pyri’s watch, saying that it contains powerful teleportation and planar magics and has been created using unusual methods. She holds it up to the central column of light and repeats the previous actions. When it returns to her, the central gemstone is fixed and she says that it will now work as it did previously, allowing teleportation to a number of fixed locations and can take up to eight creatures with the wearer. Pyri says that he can go back to “the Agency” (also known as the Cypher Academy) by himself or he can take them all to somewhere else before he goes. His job (with two others) is to retrieve magical items from ruins and magical places so that they can be restored (they “bamf in, grab the stuff and bamf out again”). Pyri tells them that when he met them, he was meant to be going to the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago, but it took him to the wrong location. Pyri offers to take them to any of the following locations on his watch: Gusthaven, Horizon, Immixan, or Vortinssar.

Nova asks Pyri how powerful the Cypher Academy is, but he doesn’t know: he has just been hired by them and has stayed out of any of the politics to date. He tells her that he left school to join them, that he did not flunk out. Nova wonders what they would do if they were told about Starbane and Hadar and asks if they would help and share the magical artifacts they have, Pyri does not know but thinks it is possible. Nova asks if they are actually working for Starbane already, but Pyri says if they are, he does not know about it, and that that knowledge would be way above someone like him, especially given how secretive they are.

While they are chatting, Aila catches a glimpse of Smeek touching The Howling Tempest and he gets zapped by the lightning contained within it. Aila quietens him down, but he occasionally dances around or jumps up and tries to touch the hammer again. The attendant tells them that the Forge is now at 10% power and is happy to answer questions that Sentry has. The attendant does not know where the City of Glass is, tells her about Volcanos as it was when Solwynn was still around and ruled by Queen Astoria

(although she knows nothing about it since the Sundering), and shares what she knows of the Prime, although it is mainly hearsay from priests of Valena. She has heard that the Prime is a very large, powerful Guardian and theorises that the Prime is somehow connected to the creation of the first Guardians. The attendant says that she does not recall being powered by the dark magic but does know that its source was The Valley of Storms, that it was growing in power, and that the power was not Aerosian in nature. The attendant moves to a plain part of the wall, pulls open a hidden compartment full of empty crystal vials and scroll cases, and creates a scroll by etching glowing runes into the parchment with her hand (they hear a slight sizzle as the runes are drawn). This is a spell that will break the curse on Lucius, and she rolls the scroll up, putting it in its case, then gives it to Aila.

Pyri asks about similar Forges and is told that there are sister sites: the attendant tells them that there are five named forges and one unnamed one (which she finds curious). She does not know where the sixth site is, only that it was created after the Sundering. The other five sites are the Daughter’s Forge, the Mother’s Forge, the Midwife’s Forge (this one), the Maiden’s Forge, and the Crone’s Forge. Each of the Forges was dedicated to Valena and each was tasked with a different process of creation. While the attendant used to know where each Forge was, with the Sundering, the information may no longer be accurate.

Nova asks to see Vezzek’s weapon, and the attendant brings it to the room: it appears to be a backpack with a large crystalline orb built into it, connected by a long cable to a cannon-like device that is wielded in two hands. The crystalline orb contains a swirling mess of red, blue, and orange energy, and there are a number of runes and devices powered on it. There are also crystals on the two hand grips, looking like someone had to channel something through them. Nova knows that this is Court of Shadows tech, primarily used by Goblin forces. She knows that it is *extremely* unstable and that if the crystalline backpack were ruptured or broken, it would explode in magical force with the equivalent power of a *Fireball* spell. The weapon allows a user with certain training to convert their own magical energy into blasts of magic (so someone with small amounts of magical energy could amplify them significantly and fire it as a magical blast through the weapon). There is a mental process required to activate the device. Nova takes some sketches but sadly decides that it may be safer to leave the unstable weapon behind.

As they prepare to leave, Smeek stealthily follows Aila. She notices and mentions it to Pyri who wonders whether any flashy thing will excite him, not just lightning, so creates a flame and waves it in Smeek’s face. Smeek is frightened and attacks Pyri, slashing him with his rusty scimitar before hiding behind Aila. Pyri offers to kill Smeek if Aila does not want to do the deed.

They go outside to find Skaldi and Oriya chatting. Skaldi does not wish to leave Voksar, nor does she wish to go into the Valley of Storms because of the danger it poses. Aila asks Skaldi if she can use the *Remove Curse* scroll – she can (as can Nova), but Lucius is averse to it being used and flies away in a panic. Aila tries to grab Lucius, but he manages to fly out of her reach, not wanting the crown to be removed. Nova quietly suggests that she try to remove it while Lucius is asleep or trancing.

Knowing that the Starsorrow Cathedral, a huge temple to Siaska and the other gods, is in Gusthaven, they decide to teleport there. Lucius also knows people in Gusthaven who may be able to help them, whereas none of them really know anything about Horizon or very much about Immixan. Skaldi asks Oriya if she will accompany her as she is worried about getting home safely to Stenhill. They agree that they can return Skorb to his owner. Nova gives Oriya a ruby statue from the Night Eye as thanks to Oriya for her help and they invite her to come and visit them some time, wishing her well with recovering her ship from her brother. Nova learns *Gentle Repose* from Skaldi in case the worst happens (again), and they say farewell to their travelling companions of the last few days before they teleport to Gusthaven.

### **Part 2**

*The team have a plan to "bamf" to a sky city, the home of Lucius Elenasto!*

Pyri warns them that teleporting may make them feel sick but gets them to hold hands in a circle while Smeek grabs onto Aila. Pyri tries to work out how he is going to hold hands and hit the button, but Smeek leans over and hits it. There is a flash of light and a sense of incredibly fast movement as if they are thrown through the air, they feel a sudden rush then air starts to fill their lungs as they find themselves in a large stone room with a faded circle of runes on the floor and above them, hanging from wires attached to the roof is a crystalline disc. Smeek promptly throws up on the floor, when he starts to get excited, Aila tells him to sit, so he sits in his own sick.

Pyri recommends that they leave quickly, and he opens the door to check if it is safe. The door he opens pushes outwards and is disguised on the other side as shelves – they are in a secret room. In front of him is a large stone column that normally shields the secret entrance, and beyond that is a large warehouse – he hears people moving around but otherwise it is fairly quiet. The warehouse has a stone floor, wooden walls, and there are various shelves, crates, and boxes around the room, there is a staircase that leads up and a large set of double doors at the opposite end of the room.

Pyri cannot see anyone wearing Cypher Academy colours, instead seeing six individuals, Dwarves, Humans, and Elves, in rugged leathers wearing dark blue shirts, fabric, or strips of cloth, and they are rough-looking sorts. The individuals are prying open crates and prying apart shelves as if they are looking for something, they are muttering that they have already cleared this place out and that they don’t know what else they think they are supposed to find. Pyri quietly closes the door again and tells them that there are people out there and he thinks that they are thieves. Lucius does not believe him because crime in Gusthaven is unheard of to him, and he pushes through the door seeing what looks like a warehouse attached to an air ship dock. Lucius is excited, crying, “This is home!” which catches the attention of what he believes to be air ship crew or pilots. Lucius asks the men (who are pulling out desk drawers and pulling things apart) if they are refurbing – they say that they cannot risk leaving him alive and are ordered to kill him.

Lucius tries to convince the men not to kill him since his father is an important figure in the city – the men don’t care and decide to stick to their plan of killing him. Lucius backs up and tells the rest of the party that they are under attack as he is hit by three crossbow bolts. Pyri steps out and strikes the nearest target who is surprised at the person coming from nowhere. Aila moves out and immediately strikes another with her mighty hammer, taking a slash on the face for her trouble. The men rush over and attack Aila and Pyri before Sentry rushes out and hits one of them. Nova bursts out, swinging Tiangong, but misses. Lucius bursts out and moves towards the door, threatening to get the authorities resulting in one of the bandits shooting Lucius with more crossbow bolts. Aila smashes one in the face with her hammer, pushing his jaw through his face and killing him then smacks another one. Sentry hits one of the attackers, throwing him across the room with a *Thunderous Smite* before turning around and downing a second foe with a mighty swing of her axe.

Nova, inspired by Sentry, slashes at one of the men with Tiangong empowered with *Green Flame Blade*. The crossbowman, their leader, makes for the door and dashes out of the warehouse – Pyri follows him out and sees that the warehouse is at the end of a narrow strip. There are similar warehouses nearby with small alleyways between them but in front of him, a fair distance away is blue sky and clouds that extend below the street level. On one side is a large air ship that has docked, sails glimmering with magic and energy. Members of the public are startled and wonder what is going on as Pyri catches up to the jackrabbit and pummels him. Aila finishes off the one raider, then the one that Sentry had knocked down. Sentry heals Lucius and Nova makes for the door, shooting the escaping leader but is unable to bring him down. The leader runs down and throws himself into an alleyway, followed closely by Pyri – Pyri, however, loses sight of him once he disappears into the alleyway which has people travelling through it. Pyri scans the crowd and just manages to catch sight of him, having thrown a hood up, and travelling next to some merchants, then runs up to him. Aila pursues them both.

Sentry returns to get Quill’s body and to recover Smeek, who is still sitting in his own vomit. She picks him up and moves him, but because the last thing that Aila told him was to sit, he remains sitting. Nova rifles through the bodies – the only thing identifying them as a group is the blue cloth, some wear it as a bandanna, others as a sash around their waist and it has a faint white and silver trim.

The leader turns suddenly on Pyri and shanks him with his dagger, much to the shock of the surrounding people. Pyri knocks him out with a palm strike as the astounded bystanders see a bloodied knife and yell out for the militia or the watch. Pyri says that he is going to take the body back to where they were, hoping that the man will be taken to prison, but there are no prisons on Gustahven, and the man is likely to be exiled to the Lowlands, which to the merchants, is “far worse than prison”.

As first Pyri, then Aila, drag the leader back to the warehouse, they start to hear the whistles of the city watch from nearby – they sound like they are a minute or two away. Pyri hurriedly closes the door to the secret room after Aila retrieves Smeek and has him sit at her feet – he uses his foot to get one of their hooked knives, and when Aila objects, he holds up his rusted scimitar, so she allows him to swap it for two curved daggers and a crossbow. When she makes it clear that he is not to use the weapons on any of them, Smeek appears shocked that she would suggest such a thing. Aila asks Lucius to speak to the city watch on their behalf as they hear whistles and the thud of armoured boots.

Lucius steps outside and sees three people, a female High Elf, a male Half-Elf, and a female Halfling, approaching them in chain mail over which is beautiful silver, ornate, plated armour with elegant silver and purple livery(see Trivia). They appear shocked and ask Lucius what is going on and ask what sort of Fey creature he is. Lucius announces that he is an Elenasto which, given his current Pixie-like appearance, they find hard to believe. They ask for an explanation given that they had heard that there was a stabbing – Pyri tells them a story about being on a sightseeing tour, seeing shady men enter the warehouse, and following them to see that they were trying to steal things after which the party was attacked. The High Elf does not seem to be convinced and asks Pyri to show his identification mark – Lucius shows his, but they need to see it for every member of the party. Pyri says that he didn’t get one which they tell him is impossible – he would have received on at the docks when he arrived. Lucius admits that the rest of them do not have the mark but that his daddy will vouch for them all.

The Halfling admits that Lucius does look like the Elenasto boy and Nova convinces him that he must remove the crown to prove his identity. Lucius reluctantly agrees, Nova uses the scroll of Remove Curse and touches Lucius – the crown falls from his head and his features return to normal. As the crown hits the ground, Smeek’s eyes light up and his head tilts as it tries to get him to pick it up, fortunately, he resists the urge. The watch is warned not to touch the crown, but it is suggested that they hold onto it for safe keeping – they say that they will have the royal magi examine it. With Lucius’ features back to normal, the Halfling recognises Lord Elenasto and advises that he will have to come with them immediately, while his companions will need to go to a watch station. The Halfling tells Lucius that there are circumstances that need to be discussed and they will need to make a report on what has happened in the warehouse.

A crowd has now gathered, and they are led, carrying Quill’s body and with Smeek in tow. The weather in the city is perfect (sunny and bright but not too hot with a light breeze that is refreshing and cool) and the people are wearing light, airy, elegant fabrics that are loose around the body. There is murmuring in the crowd that variously attributes the actions of the criminals to either the Wind Barons or to someone called Moonstar (who seems to be considered to be either a menace or a hero).

They are led through the elegant streets of Gusthaven – built with white stone that are beset on either side by spiralling towers. Pennants and flags are hung from every window and sit atop every spire, and with the beautiful stained-glass windows in store fronts, they fill the city with colour. Everything in Gusthaven is meticulously crafted – every building has been shaped to fill exactly the right size required. They are led through several districts to a small fort-like building that could accommodate ten individuals, are taken in and put in a waiting room. They are told that word has been sent to a royal magus and to some others to verify other matters, but statements will be taken in the meantime.

The party is deliberately vague about how they came to be in Gusthaven but reveals everything from the time that they began fighting the thieves. Lucius, seemingly not able to lie, reveals that they used Pyri’s teleportation device to get to the sky city – Pyri tries to lie and says that Lucius actually cast the spell, but he was trying to deceive Lucius into believing that he could do it with help from Pyri’s “device”… the lie is unconvincing.

Eventually, an elderly, purple-robed High Elf wizard arrives. The man appears to be in his late 60s, has thinning blond hair with silver streaks throughout it, he is wizened with a wrinkled face and a chin beard. As he enters, his eyes immediately light upon Lucius – he asks Lucius to comply with a ritual and for the rest to remain silent as he conjures a glyph in the air that fills the room which ensures that Lucius will tell the truth. Lucius is asked his name, whether he is the son of Virion Elenasto (the Director of Elenasto Trading Company), whether he was born in Gusthaven on the 277th day of Pias, and whether he has a twin sister called Edea Elenasto. When Lucius answers the first question and an affirmative to the rest of them, the mage nods, clicks his fingers to dismiss the spell and advises Lucius that it had been thought that he had been killed a month or so ago in an air ship crash, hence the confusion. Sendings and scryings had been attempted some time ago and he had been reported to be dead. Nova asks when Lucius was last scried on and she is told that it was several weeks ago – once it was confirmed that the spells were unsuccessful, and that his body had been spotted, it was determined that he was dead. Aila asks who confirmed that and the man says that both he and the Sky Prince will be very interested to discover that, and that an investigation will be forthcoming. The man tells Lucius that there is another matter that needs to be discussed and asks Lucius to come with him.

The party is led from the fort through streets familiar to Lucius to a rich district, and Lucius recognises it as the way to his home. As they round the corner, Lucius expects to see the beautiful manor with the ivy growing up the trellises, and the large stone buildings. What he sees instead is blackened stone, ruined timber, scorch marks, and the empty shell of a building that is no more.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:32 – Sleeping Tom
0:44 – Rhiannon dies
3:14 – Trott’s mighty burp
3:24 – The Beyond Show with your host Chris Trott
7:20 – New merch!
8:16 – Aerois intro video
9:16 – False start
9:26 – Recap
10:41 – Episode begins
12:02 – Explaining things
13:19 – Skaldi and Quill
15:28 – Nova and Sentry
17:08 – New introduction
17:33 – Oriya and Sentry
18:28 – Higher, Lucius
18:43 – HIGHER, Lucius
19:38 – Explaining Valla and Starbane
23:40 – Nova reveals her little chat with Starbane
27:22 - Mark enjoys creating conflict between his players
28:22 – Something’s watching
32:41 – Sentry’s very heavy
37:23 – The Attendant is a bit buggy
40:22 – A fairy intervention
41:55 – Playing the daddy issue card
42:10 – Aila vs. Pyri
43:03 – What? Howling Gale is evolving?
45:02 – Aila is Thor now
46:16 – The Agency
48:22 – Pyri’s “watch”
52:00 – Big whoops
1:00:24 – Forge lore
1:02:41 – Vessyk’s weapon
1:07:58 – Smeek vs. Pyri
1:12:31 – They’re all just jealous
1:13:00 – Lucius really wants to stay as a fairy
1:13:50 – Lucius has turned into an angsty teenager
1:14:33 – Just a pretty face
1:21:36 – Break begins
1:22:45 – Fan art video
1:32:16 – Break ends
1:34:07 – What could go wrong?
1:34:28 – Teleporting
1:35:01 – Trott has a sudden realisation
1:39:50 – Map time!
1:40:19 – Daddy runs the Cipher Academy
1:43:18 – Battle begins
1:59:08 – Aila’s kill
2:03:59 – Sentry’s kill
2:09:42 – Aila’s double kill
2:16:00 – Staring him down
2:29:47 – Removing the crown
2:37:53 – The power was inside him all along
2:38:09 – Zone of truth
2:40:16 – The Elenasto Estate
2:41:04 – Episode ends
2:41:21 – Donations
2:44:56 – Stream ends

*feel free to add extra timestamps of significant events!*

## **Featured Characters**

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

* Aila
* Nova V'ger
* Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto
* Pyri Adhara
* Sentry

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Smeek
* Skaldi Ravenscar
* Skorb
* Oriya

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Valena
* Kalus Starbane
* Siaska
* Zephyr
* Vezzek
* Valla
* The Prime Guardian
* Queen Astoria
* Sky Prince Aridan

## **Featured Locations**

* Myrskyr
	+ The Midwife's Forge
* Gusthaven
	+ Cypher Academy safehouse
	+ Elenasto estate

## **Trivia**

* Sentry first met Quill in Voksar. Quill found her on a shore locked in her stasis form and she woke up to see his face.
* Lucius has no idea what happened to bring Sentry back – he thinks that she now has a star inside her. Nova knows that the star was just used to power up the Forge.
* **Lore Dump**: Volcanos was once part of the Exalted Domain of Solwynn and was a dormant volcano. Its geothermal energy was used to power a lot of Solwynn’s magical technology. Inside Volcanos were mines, and a magical research station – it was a known part of Solwynn. When Sentry was washed away, she saw the volcano beginning to erupt and be plunged beneath the waves with the rest of the broken city.
* In this episode, The Howling Gale is infused with the power of the lightning Javelin and becomes The Howling Tempest.
* Pyri’s watch is set to safe houses in Gusthaven, Horizon, and Immixan, and the Cypher Academy headquarters in Vortinssar. The former are places that he can go if it is not safe or convenient to go back to Vortinssar. He can use the teleportation power once per day.
* The scroll created by the attendant is a scroll of *Remove Curse.*
* Sentry now has thicker metal plating and more metal that stone, accounting for her higher AC.
* When they are agonising about whether to leave the area, Mark reassures them that “unlike a video game” they can come back. There is a teleportation circle from Katuvagg to Gusthaven, they can book passage on an air ship, and other methods.
* While Oriya agreed to return Skorb to his owner, it appears that this never happened since later, Skaldi still has Skorb.
* A fan art video was played during the break. The same video… twice!
* Trott realises after they have teleported to Gusthaven that none of them was touching Quill’s body – Mark graciously allows a retcon since otherwise, Quill would be dead (they would not be able to teleport back to where they were, and it would take them more than 10 days to travel back there).
* Gusthaven does not have prisons. Those who break the law are exiled to the Lowlands.
* People entering Gusthaven have an arcane mark or glyph inscribed on their palm which indicates that they have the right to be in the city. Anyone officially leaving the city would have this removed, except that because Lucius was planning to come back, his glyph is still on his hand. Immigration to the sky cities is *heavily* monitored because they have to monitor the population extremely well. Trott did not know this because he did not read a document that Mark sent to him about the sky cities when he made his character.
* The weather in Gusthaven is magically controlled by a number of metal orbs that are suspended overhead by thin ropes or cables. They are spread out throughout the city.
* Mark will retcon the colour of the livery next episode to black and white.
* Leaving this here with no comment or context (except to say that it was on Tom's Twitter):
* CptnClusterDuck (39SaltyCookies on the High Rollers Discord) posted the stats and analysis for this chapter on Reddit.

## **References**

1. ↑  The question itself was repeated by Rhiannon, rather than Mark.