Aerois - Episode 27: The Land of the Roving Storm

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Oriya Marius

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Land of the Roving Storm** is the 27th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 10th March 2019 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*A new continent, a new path; the gang struggle to cope with recent events and meet a new friendly face in a land of roving storms.*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* The sponsors this week are D&D Beyond and Displate.
* Mark will be doing DM prep notes and showing some thinking behind episodes for High Rollers on his “Behind the Screen” show on his own YouTube channel every Friday(see Trivia). He will go over all the notes, monster stats, ideas, discuss the player choices from the latest episode of High Rollers.
* Lophify sent the High Rollers some printed weapons minis: Tom got a spiritual weapon mini, and Katie got a Howling Gale mini. There were also some tiny echos.
* High Rollers will be at Twitch Con on April 13th and 14th 2019 in Berlin, and will be doing a live episode.

### **Recap**

"*Our band of adventurers fought desperately against the Ashbringer cultists within Brightflame Abbey. A desperate battle against one of the high priests was eventually won, though leaving the party weakened and wounded. As reinforcements arrived, Nova was knocked unconscious while searching for Valla, and in an attempt to save her, Sentry fell and died. The party were captured, taken underground where they found the other faith leaders that they'd been sent to find, as well as a Wild Elf girl who bore similar powers to Aila, before they were taken down into a chamber far below the Abbey, a chamber that housed an enormous stone archway gate: a planar portal. Abbotess Aurelia discovered Nightfrost and destroyed it with the power of the archway's magic, before realising her terrible mistake, as the portal led to an infernal planet, and an archfiend named Charradys the Ashbringer revealed his corruption and his scheme, and dragged the Abbotess away screaming. Charradys made the party an offer; but Valla, still alive, having survived her own trials and tribulations, snuck inside the chamber and with a nod from Lucius, activated the control stone and redirected the portal somewhere else: somewhere unexpected. We begin as you guys took a long rest on this distant strange beach of jagged rocks and lapping waves. As you rest and tend to your wounds, the sound of the strange shore lapping against jagged rocks echoes around the empty beach, memories of the last few hours dance around in your mind. The portal shifting, revealing the long dark corridor with the endless stars on either side, the black, obsidian-like throne, and the man sat upon it. A man spoken of in legend, depicted in paintings, made real: Kalus Starbane, the enemy of Siaska and Aerois, standing before you, looking at the young girl you had saved and calling her daughter. Valla's panicked confusion, the fragments of Nightfrost beneath his armoured boots. "I cannot have you interfere with my plans." His voice echoes and resonates like a deep drum. "Ten days to bring back your friend, and if you attempt to stop me, I will kill you." A raised gauntlet, crackling with violet arcane energy. "What will you do?" Nova's question hangs in the air. "What I have to." The sudden shift of the world, the sudden smell of salty air, and the calls of gulls and birds overhead; the lapping of waves, and Sentry's dull, grey, lifeless form laying in the sand.*"

### **Part 1**

*Still reeling from the events of the last episode the party are desperate for any help in this dangerous new land!*

It is very early morning, and the sun is just beginning to rise. The party is on a beach and takes a few hours to come to terms with the situation they find themselves in. They try to rest and take stock – most of their rations have spoiled, but they have their equipment. Lucius tries to trance while sitting in the sand but cannot look at Sentry’s body, so Aila covers her body with spare traveller’s clothes. Nova sits away from the group with her back to them, but the others notice that while her armour and clothes are the same, Sentry’s eyes and matrix are devoid of any colour or power, and the vines that make up her hair are beginning to wilt and turn brown. There is no sign of her Echo. From a fair distance, they can hear the dull rumble of a large storm.

Quill takes some time to work out exactly where he thinks they are - he is certain that they are on Voksar and can narrow it down to them being in the southern part of the continent, Myrskyr. To the northern horizon, he can see the Stormwall, a huge mountain range and his home, which he thinks would be a few days’ travel from where they are on the eastern coastline. He knows that somewhere north of their location will be a large city, Katuvagg, which nestles on the border of the Stormwall, and that in a northwest direction will be the Valley of Storms where the tower in which the Aarakocra perform their rite to become part of the Messenger Guild is located. Quill knows that travelling along the coast in Myrskyr is dangerous because it is open territory, there are sea monsters that will attack, and the severe storms drive large waves onto the coast. He also knows that the small, faint dirt trodden paths that lead from the beach go northwest towards a swampy forest and west towards a fen.

Quill tells the group about where they are. Lucius is clearly upset and asks Quill how he simply moves on and how things do not get to him. They notice that Nova is not with the group and see her in the distance with her back to them; Lucius suggests that they make sure that she is ok before they get moving. Lucius is upset about Sentry’s death, but Quill says that he thinks differently: they have time to bring Sentry back, and he knows roughly where they are – this is how he copes. While Katuvagg is some days to the north, Quill recalls the recommendations that have been made for travelling this land: most of the settlements are built in valleys, dug into earth and built into hills – places that will protect them from the storms and winds. There are trade roads built inland, and beasts of burden that pull wagons mean that they could travel, even in the storms. He thinks that it might take four to five days to get to Katuvagg, and while it might take a little longer to get to other settlements, it would most likely be safer.

Lucius walks over to see to Nova and, as he approaches, he sees over her shoulder that all of her books are dumped in the sand. He tells her that they are going to have to make a move and notices that her eyes are red from crying. He tries to lighten the mood by asking gently if she has been reading, but Nova starts to question the whole point of what she has been doing, saying that reading and knowledge is useless, that she is weak, and that her inability to protect herself and to fight was what got Sentry killed. Nova’s guilt is deep-seated, and she lets Lucius understand how she feels about Sentry, a Guardian built to defend royalty, dying for she who is nothing. Lucius puts a different spin on it, however, telling Nova that they are lucky to be alive *because of* Sentry, who succeeded magnificently in her duty, and that they owe it to Sentry to move on and for Nova to use the knowledge she has learned from her books. Nova is not just guilty about Sentry, she also feels deeply about the loss of Nightfrost, having offered to help him. Lucius tries to motivate Nova, telling her in no uncertain terms that they have to move in order to save Sentry and cannot wallow anymore – Tiangong agrees and sends feelings of agreement, strength and confidence to Nova. She remains unconvinced and says that she needs to go home. She picks up her Book of Shadows and rips a page of rituals out of it. As the page is ripped free, it turns to dust as the magic that was bound there by Tiangong goes free, and it is swept away by the sea breeze. Nova dumps the rest of her books and walks away, leaving Lucius behind her, tearing pages out of her Book of Shadows in sympathy. As she leaves, he calls out to her, "Let's write some better ones".

Aila thinks that they need to get moving and Quill is of the belief that if they follow the paths that he has seen, they will eventually find people with whom they can talk. They move off up one of the paths. The landscape is strange to most of them: it is hilly with rough, jagged rocks; the trees have long flexible branches and boughs, and they always sit on the leeward sides of hills protected from the high winds, their leaves are more akin to firs; and the grass is coarse and tough. They see no one for hours as they travel, finally approaching a mire or fen with boggy, spongy ground becoming common and trees dotted around. Ahead there is the sound of battle with humanoid cries of despair and hissing of reptilian beings. Aila moves stealthily to the crest of a hill and peers over to see a group of tall bipedal lizards with shelled shields and axes made from bone and rough-cut metal; some of them appear to be riding crocodiles with deep blue and white scales and the occasional crackle of lightning around their jaws. In their midst is a Half-Orc woman dressed in regal, emerald green sea-faring clothing with a massive pirate hat that glimmers where it is trimmed with gold – she is trying to fend off the four Lizardfolk (three of which have weapons and one of which appears to be a shaman) with her fearsome-looking rapier.

(Oriya, the Half-Orc, has come into the Witchmoor because the locals have asked her to investigate attacks on outlying farms and the destruction of a windmill; she has been patrolling in case of attacks, presumably by Lizardfolk. She was investigating ruins in the area with strange carvings on them and was ambushed by the patrolling Lizardfolk.)

The party moves down the hill and assists the Half-Orc in defeating the Lizardfolk, with the three surviving mounts choosing to run away after their riders are dispatched.

### **Part 2**

*After encountering some of the locals of this new land the party get to know their new ally!*

The party and the Half-Orc watch the crocodiles (which are Stormscales) run off into the swamp leaving the bodies of the Lizardfolk behind: Aila loots them, finding a necklace made of bones and small, ornate beads. The Half-Orc thanks them for coming to her rescue and introduces herself as Oriya, captain of the Goldtooth, an ocean-going vessel. Quill asks if she is part of the “Wide Kings”, but Oriya says that the Goldtooth is more of a trade vessel – they would go around trading and looking for treasure… until her bastard brother stole her ship and crew and ruined everything. Oriya’s plan is to make enough gold that she can buy a boat, find her bastard brother, and get her ship back. She agrees to take the party back to the nearby town of Karkkulle and they introduce themselves to her.

They travel towards the city, but it is slow-going with an injured Quill (whose ribs were broken in the Abbey) and an overburdened Aila (who is carrying Sentry’s body). The weather is getting worse, but Aila does not feel that there is a storm coming, believing that these may be magical storms. Oriya explains to them that Karkkulle is a small town: it does not have an inn, but it does have a drinking hall, a blacksmith, some crafting halls and a windmill, but is otherwise comprised of people’s homes. There is no one there who will be able to heal Quill’s ribs, with the nearest cleric probably being at Stenhill, a day or two’s travel to the north from Karrkulle. Oriya keeps them to the bases of valleys where plants cling to the sides of hills and bend in the direction that the wind is blowing – as the wind gets stronger, many of the plants shrink down into themselves for protection, and they notice that the trees have incredibly thick and tough bark.

They finally make it to the village where stone cottages are built into the bases of tall hills, and on the hills above are a number of wind turbines. There are a number of pale, fair-haired and blue-eyed people milling about as they enter the village, but they also notice a lot of diversity in the population – there are Goliaths, Rock Gnomes, Halflings, Tieflings, and even a Wild Elf and a Genasi. There are about ten to twelve buildings in the village, and they make their way to the tavern which has a low ceiling, a wooden floor over flagstones, wooden tables, a bar with dirty clay cups, and a large fire being fed by peat moss: it is run by a Wild Elf called Umald. Umald is a tall, fair-skinned Wild Elf with long blond hair in multiple braids down to the middle of his back with bones and beads woven into it, blue tattoos of various knots and lightning bolts on his arms, but he does not display any tartan. He wears clothing that is more common in Myrskyr: tightly wrapped cloth bound to his wrists and calves, and a loose grey tunic.

They get food and drink, and Umald tells them about a rumour of “The Woman of the Night” who stalks the moors at night, recommending that they take care if they are travelling in the Witchmoor at night. They tell him that they want to move forward and are thinking of travelling to Stenhill, and he recommends hiring Oriya as their guide. Umald tells them that there is a priestess of Kellara in Stenhill who can cure diseases and mend broken bones; she often has to fix up people who have landed on the wrong side of the Lizardfolk or the Frogmen who fight over territory, dragon bones, or the mirror at the ruin, which he calls The Mirror of Twilight. This was in part of Siaska’s domain before the Sundering, and the Frogmen protect it with their lives – there may be treasures or magic there, but the townsfolk don’t know because they cannot get close. The Lizardfolk protect the dragon’s bones out in the swamp and there are rumours of the ghost of the dragon coming alive, but the townsfolk cannot get close because of the tenacity of the Lizardfolk in defending them. The Witchmoor, he says, got its name because of the story that a witch lived in the moors and would occasionally grant boons, but this normally involved a quest or task – if this task was not completed, the boon became a curse.

They ask about someone who might be able to bring Sentry back from the dead: Umald says that the priestess of Kellara in Stenhill probably won’t look kindly on that request, but there is a fellow called “The Shepherd”, Dromar, in Katuvagg (two to three days by wagon from Stenhill), who is a powerful spellcaster and would no doubt be able to bring her back but may bring her back in another form. There is also the old Midwife’s Forge, a temple to Valena long ago, before the Sundering, and there have been rumours of miracles of life happening there – women who were unable to have children have visited and become pregnant, people who are sick and dying come back from the forge as happy as anything. The goddess of the forge, the Forge Mistress herself, said she could re-shape life like a smith re-shapes a blade or an axe. Finally, he tells them of the powerful shamans amongst the Aarakocra somewhere up in the Stormwall – they can speak to the dead, fly on the winds and talk to the gods – they must surely know something about bringing people back from the dead.

Umald warns them about the risks of travel in Myrskyr, telling them about storm Griffons, ankhegs, bulettes, and other dangerous creatures. He also suggests that they could travel to Kusthal, which is a coastal city closer than Katuvagg. Umald says that the Orcs also have shamans and clerics, but that they live in the Hawk’s Dawn Archipelago – they could get a ship at Kusthal and travel to the Orcs if they wish. Oriya tells them briefly of how her brother, who wanted fame and fortune and to make a name for himself as a pirate, staged a mutiny on her ship (The Goldtooth), nearly tried to kill her, and put her off her own ship – she washed up on shore in Myrskyr and has been there for a year. Oriya’s plan is to get enough gold to buy a ship, chase down her brother on the Goldtooth, and get it and her crew back so that she can be happy – she knows that it will take a lot of gold to get the sort of ship that she needs, and it will take her another year or two of saving up. Quill asks Umald to mark all of the places they have discussed on his map.

Quill recommends that they find the priestess of Kellara to try to extend Sentry’s time before needing to be brought back, and Nova tells them of the *Gentle Repose* spell which is often used to prevent people being raised as undead with the side-effect of extending the duration in which they can be brought back to life. Kellara is very opposed to undead, so the ritual is usually cast on bodies before they are interred so they do not become undead – it is necromantic magic that is used to protect against other necromancy. Umald wishes them luck in their travels. Katuvagg is about four days by foot – longer if they are slowed down by burdens or injury, and he warns them again about the dangers that they may have to face with the local beasts.

The thunder grumbles directly overhead, the floor vibrates as it does, the wind howls outside, and there is also a flash of light as lightning crashes outside somewhere, possibly Blarne’s lightning rod. It frightens Quill, who calls out for Sentry, then clutches Aila's arm. Aila says that the storms here do not seem natural and Umald tells her that the Shepherds have been looking for a way to stop them for centuries. The storms, he says, come from the Valley of Storms: H’esper created the storms when the Sundering happened, and it is suspected that he did this because he was angry with the people of Aerois for not protecting his mother. The Shepherds argue about whether the storms should be stopped, but most want to try to stop them. The storms are irregular, dangerous, and move quickly across the land.

Umald tells Aila that there are no clans here any more – the people of Myrskyr have co-mingled with all races, including the Wild Elves, and now they are one race. When he shows his tattoos to Aila, she notices that the knotwork is older and the lightning bolts are newer additions, and he tells her that there might be elders that she can ask questions of. When Aila suggests that Zephyr might be responsible for the storms, Umald disagrees, saying that she would not punish them in this way – these storms are all attributable to H’esper. They buy some mushroom bread, some mole cheese, and some boiled snake eggs to use as rations. Oriya agrees to guide them (for a fee, of course – ten gold as a retainer, and ten gold when they get to Stenhill).

The party takes a quick rest and prepares to travel while the storm rages unabated outside for a few hours. After several hours, the storm dies down, and there is an unnatural calm. The party follows Oriya out of town who, knowing the terrain, takes several shortcuts to speed up their travel. Along the way they see a number of ancient ruins, and sometimes Oriya guides them away from them, knowing from the tell-tale signs of fires that they are being inhabited by bandits. The dark of night dominates the landscape as they travel, and they only have the dim glow of their torches, *Dancing Lights*, the Cradle and the stars; there is a strange unease about the country. It is near midnight when Oriya senses a creature somewhere – there is a slight raising of the ground that has given it away: she warns them about it and tells them to move with as much stealth as they can muster. They are moving towards a series of rocks so that they can get off the ground when an insectoid creature with large mandibles and arms pushes through the dirt, scanning around for something that it knows is nearby – it is an Ankheg, and there may be a second nearby.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

4:33 intro
5:38 Recap Start
8:35 Recap End
25:00 holy shit, Kim’s RP gold
28:09 Trott: "well you know what?"
28:24 and so begins his change to the dark side
34:17 in this world, it’s wack, or be whacked
34:57 OK, Lucius has probably called quill by his real name before but the fact that he didn't call him birdy this time is kinda heartbreaking
1:13:38 I bet Rhiannon is secretly hoping they don't revive Sentry xD
1:21:12 Break start
1:30:07 Break end
1:38:00 Trott’s tragedy
1:40:55 the most English insult ever 😂
1:41:50 Ah, so I see why they call you Sherlock
1:49:22 is one of my favorites moments
1:49:30 = My favorite Lucius moment from this episode
1:49:47 Lucius says that and breaks my heart into pieces
2:05:07 Please Someone make that a Gif.
2:07:27 Lööps
2:23:58 aw poor Quill security ‘sentry’ blanket isn’t there for him now

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

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Oriya (to become a PC while Sentry is "dead")
* Umald – Wild Elf tavern owner in Karrkkule

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* The Witch
* Dromar, The Sheperd
* Blarne, villager in Karrkulle

## **Featured Locations**

* Myrskyr
	+ The Witchmoor
	+ Karrkulle

## **Trivia**

* During one of the sponsor notices, Mark cries out “Legendary!” in a Scottish accent. Trott says this is “a WoW reference for D&D” – Mark was impersonating Magni Bronzebeard from World of Warcraft.
* As stated previously, Mark discontinued doing the “Behind the Screen” show and these are no longer available anywhere.
* **Continuity error:** Mark states in the recap that they would have ten days to bring Sentry back. In the last episode, they were told that they had seven days.
* The notes made by the party about last episode: Katie, “Oh snap!” and she updated them today with “Things are a bit poop”, Tom, “Hoy shit!”, Kim’s had “a lot of red ink”, while Trott may not have taken any at all saying, “notes, who does that shit?” Rhiannon may have been a bit preoccupied to take any.
* Lucius, while trying to console Nova, starts to complain about sand being coarse and says that it “gets between your toes”. This is a reference to Anakin Skywalker saying that he does not like sand in Star Wars episode II: Attack of the Clones. Mark makes one of the most distressed faces you would ever see.
* Rhi’s first roll for Oriya is a nat 20 for initiative.
* Mark did not have crocodile mount miniatures, nor did he have an Orc miniature for Oriya. Mark instead used these miniatures for the mounts: a snake, a (something), a dragon, and a (something else).
* **Lore dump:** Quill knows that Lizardfolk live in swamps and places with lots of water, can be savage and have primitive cultures. No one on Aerois knows where they came from, but they did not appear until after the Sundering: they are not native to Aerois but now make their homes in the swamps. Many people believe that they were brought with the evil dragons that came with Kalus Starbane to Aerois.
* Mark mentions that the area in which they are travelling is heavily inspired by Roshar from the Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson.
* Umald serves them food: Loopslappa (a bread made of mushrooms), Frubosk (a root vegetable/tuber, sliced and fried, and spiced looking like calamari rings), Klakk (crab, salted and steamed with garlic), although these are the small ones, not the larger ones you can ride. He would normally make lutefisk but has not had any luck fishing lately.
* Tom hates mushrooms.
* There are no cows in this area, so they keep some large underground moles that they milk for milk and cheese, and also use for meat.
* Mark pronounces Galanodel as “Gala-NODE-el”, much to Katie’s disgust.

## **Quotes**

* **Mark:** "Technically, it's peat!" (Link)
* **Kim:** "Sorry, I'm really distracted because Trott's biscuit disintegrated into his tea!" (Link)