Aerois - Episode 112: Assault on the Tassadar

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Assault on the Tassadar** is the 112th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 16th May 2021 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*The mission continues as the team look for Valla in the flagship of the Valkyrian Empire...but things aren't looking good...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* The team loves seeing fan art of current and old campaigns, and fan artists were encouraged to post and share their art everywhere, but also to mail it to highrollersdnd@gmail.com.
* The sponsor today was D&D Beyond. Last chance to pre-order Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (and get the bonus Memento Mori digital dice set, 15 spooky character sheet backdrops, 8 new spooky themes and 8 new spooky character portraits). Van Richten's Guide is not just the setting for Curse of Strahd, but is also a D&D resource book about creating and running horror-themed adventures, details all the other domains of dread, demiplanes just like Ravenloft, includes complete rules for the College of Spirits and the Undead Pact sub-classes, new lineages the Dhampir, the Hexblood and the Reborn, as well as new background, lots of horror-themed monsters and much more.
* Merch: there are a few things left in the merch store but things are selling out fast - the Kalus pin has sold out in the UK store, and shirts are running very low. Use code HIGHROLLERS for 10% off. Note that all t-shirts on the merch store are unisex fit - the images on the merch store show how they fit on women and men.

### **Recap**

*"The Stormchasers have decided to make good on their promise long ago, and have set out to rescue Valla, a young girl they met when their adventures first began, and is somehow connected to Kalus Valkyrian, the goddess Siaska, and may be a key part of the fate of Aerois. Having originally made plans with a faction of celestial rebels called the Wings of Ishtar, the party acquired the runic sequence to teleport aboard Kalus' flagship* The Tassadar*, named after the powerful Eterna that is bound within.*
*"Quill contacted Zellion, the solar leader of the Wings, and informed him of their plan, but a last-minute revelation that Xarkira's minions had probed Quill's mind left the celestial deeply concerned. The party pressed on however, and after gathering some allies - the deva Rana'iel and Edea Elenasto, Lucius' sister - they teleported aboard the astral warship.*
*"Whilst trying to subdue the guards within the teleportation chamber, Quill reaches out to Zellion and the Wings of Ishtar, but received no response... yet..."*
### **Part 1**

*We're in the flagship of the Valkyrian Empire waiting for our allies to join us! It's time to assault the Tassadar!*

Nova is wrestling with one of the guards at the console, and he is trying to reach the console to activate the alarm crystal on it: Nova hits him with Tiangong and Green Flame Blade - she slashes his throat, killing him. Nova positions herself to stop anyone else from approaching the console. Lucius, looking on in horror at what Nova has just done, uses the Captain's Blade to try to hit the other guard on the back of the head to try to knock him out, but does not quite manage to finish him off. Quill finishes him off with a Sacred Flame, and he is now unconscious - Quill is still waiting for contact from Zellion, but there is still no response. Rana looks to Quill and asks if there has been any word from the Wings, then tries to knock the lieutenant out - she manages some damage, but not enough to render him unconscious. Aila moves over to the officer and hits him with the hammer (twice) and kills him outright with her additional lightning damage - he falls to the deck with his eyes smoking and steam coming from his body, Sentry just nods to Aila. (The alert level of the ship is raised by 1 due to the noise made - knowledge was for players, not the characters).

Quill tells the team that while he has contacted the Wings of Ishtar, that they have not yet responded to his message. Quill asks Nova to check the console to see if anyone has been alerted to their presence - she checks, and sees that the main function of the console is to operate the teleportation circle by dialling up the runes to set the destination, but there is also an alarm and a small administrative readout showing a scheduled shift change in two hours, that there is a general alert state across the ship (posted several days ago, asking people to keep vigilant and to report anything suspicious), it also shows guard rotations, sleeping schedules and the fact that currently, the Lord Emperor Kalus is not on board the Tassadar (he was last present two weeks ago, remaining on board for a few days before leaving). Nova advises the party of her discovery and that they have no more than two hours before their presence is likely to be uncovered.

Lucius rummages through the lieutenant's uniform, finding a very well-made, fine suit of chainmail under his Valkyrian Empire uniform as well as an energy whip, a hand crossbow and a keystone (level 3). Rana says that she would rather not kill the unconscious guard given that the low-level soldiers may not be malicious, and the suggestion is made to teleport them away to a quiet place so that it is not immediately apparent that something has happened on the Tassadar. Nova looks through the console, but while there are stored previously-used sequences, there is no indication of where they will teleport anyone to.

Lucius takes the lieutenant's military uniform (cloth with a high collar) and dons it after Edea casts Mending and Prestidigitation to fix and clean it up. He cuts the lieutenant's undergarment to make a rudimentary eyepatch to cover one of his eyes, since the two different-coloured eyes would make him stand out. He takes the lieutenant's hat (described as being like an imperial officer's peaked hat) and wears it.

Given that there has still been no word from the Wings, Quill contacts them again, "Teleportation circle clear, Tassadar still unaware. Remember, this is our only chance. We will proceed with or without you. Join us for this decisive attack". Zellion finally answers, saying "I am sorry, Qillek. This is a painful decision but if Xarkira knows of the plan, the risk is too great. You must leave now!". Quill advises the party of the new development: there is general disbelief and some discussion about whether they continue with their plans. Rana tells the party that Zellion runs a large network of agents across many worlds and is very protective of all of them - if he thinks that this mission will fail, he will not risk them: there is too much risk of giving up hundreds or thousands of other agents if someone were to be captured. Rana, on the other hand, says that she owes the party her life, and that she will do whatever she can to assist them to repay her debt to them.

Aila is worried about what Xarkira may do if she comes aboard the Tassadar - she says that they cannot afford to take her on in battle at this time. Edea points out that if she were Starbane or Xarkira and that they knew the party was coming to this chamber via the teleportation circle, she would have had a battalion of guards waiting for them - since there does not appear to have been a trap set in the one place that they knew the party would be, To let them into the ship allows them to hide, to escape, to influence or do damage. it is possible that Xarkira has not informed the Tassadar that the party is coming and that it is safe to proceed; it is also possible that Xarkira is playing a greater game. Lucius wonders if it is possible that the mind flayer died when they escaped and did not pass any information to Xarkira, but Nova points out that Xarkira would likely want to speak with dead to find out what happened. Quill asks a question of the Eye: "What is Xarkira doing with the information the mind flayer got from me?"

This is the first time that Quill has attempted to use the Eye since H'esper's loss.

> *There is a flicker. The storm clouds form, but they form slower and are not as thick, Things are thinner, almost shifting: the clouds seem to change across different time, days - he sees sunlight, but it does appear - there is a flash of lightning, but the vision is now hazier, as if seen through crystal or frosted glass like that of a sarcophagus Quill once looked through. He can see something: he begins to see shapes and the vision begins to clear as he sees Xarkira, this very darkly beautiful female with long dark hair, red robes with a high collar and bladed wings folded behind her, as she sits in a large chamber with windows that look out onto Astral Space, Quill sees her in deep thought, no other soul around her, and for the first time she looks concerned, doubtful and contemplative. She mutters a few things to herself, but with the filter, he can't make out what she is saying, even by reading lips. She then steps forward, moves to the glass and presses a hand up against it, looking out into the distance where a tiny red light is just visible in the distance - it must be millions of miles away across Astral Space. Xarkira places her hand upon the glass and thinks, saying out loud, "Well, if it is a choice I must make, then better to negotiate what is best for me". She begins to etch runes upon the glass with her finger: Quill recognises this as a spell that she is crafting which will allow Xarkira to contact another plane. Quill sees the red star glow brighter for a second...* and then the vision ends, but not cleanly as it had before, indicating that there may have been more information that Quill could have seen.
>
>

Quill tells the party that he now understands why they were worried about Xarkira learning the information about Starbane's failed plan: he says that the good (and bad) news is that Xarkira is now in contact with Hadar, and not using the information to contact Starbane about the party entering the Tassadar. Nova believes that Xarkira will now come for Valla and use her as a way to control him. Quill uses the Wayfinders Guide to cast Locate Creature to find Valla, but if Valla is on the ship, she is not in range of the spell from where they are. They agree that they should proceed with the plan because they want to rescue Valla and Nova wants to try to speak to Tassadar. Meanwhile, Moonstar has placed manacles on the unconscious guard after removing his uniform (a leather sci-fi jumpsuit with a helmet) and donning it herself (and taking his level 2 keystone) - the regular guards can access the lower deck and the mid deck, while the officer can also access the top deck but not the bridge deck (which requires level 4 access). The last guard's uniform is given to Aila to wear, and because Quill and Sentry are obviously Aerosian, Quill is prepared to plane shift himself, Sentry and Rana (who is happy to take a uniform if they can get another one for her from the crew quarters). Nova warns Quill that the generals will be able to see ethereal beings with True Sight.

Quill says that those who are ethereal should be able to move through the ship (including walls) to get through to Valla: Lucius is concerned about splitting the party and the added risk that the people who will be able to detect those who have been shifted to the ethereal plane will be on the upper decks where Valla will be. Rana counter-proposes that those who are ethereal shifted can act as scouts for the others in the party who are having to traverse the ship if they have a way of communicating. The messenger rings will not work because the ethereal plane is a different plane: the Message spell will work, however, as long as Quill can see them. Rana further asks if they still intend to disable or destroy the Tassadar, or whether they wish to focus solely on rescuing Valla: Lucius says it relies on their communication with Tassadar the Eterna.

As the party is about to leave, they consider how to hide the dead and unconscious bodies, but given that there are no bins or crates around, the best they can do is try to hide them around the corner from the main doors so that they are not immediately apparent to people looking into the room. Quill casts Etherealness on himself, Sentry and Rana - all ambient sounds become muffled, and they enter a space where their skin feels cold to the touch and their vision becomes grey and their surrounds appear wispy as if everything is made of smoke and mist (they cannot interact with any objects that are not in the same plane as they are): it is only the three of them that appear to be solid objects. In this space, their bodies no longer obey the law of gravity and have no weight, and they have to think where they want to go because moving their arms, legs and wings does nothing to propel their bodies in any direction.

The ethereal three leave the room with the teleportation circle and move into the fore mid deck area, realising that there are a lot of guards nearby, it is a very busy ship, and there is someone at every major bulkhead, junction and doorway: some are guards on duty, and some have stopped to have discussions. They pass a number of rooms - armouries, barracks, and maintenance bays. When they get to the magitek lift, there are guards checking keystones.

They proceed to the lower deck where there appears to be a little more chaos - compared to the pristine black and metal corridors of the mid deck, down on the lower deck there are large copper pipes lining the ceilings and walls, steam vents that occasionally erupt and fill the space with hot air and even flames (described as "hellfire") in some sections. They see engineers in their dirty overalls and with magitek tools sticking out of their pockets, covered in soot and blast marks as if they have been in some hot environment; they see soldiers in normal gear coming and going, and then they move into a cleaner area with the black and metal walls that has a large number of rooms filled with bunks - each room will take four or five people. They estimate from these crew quarters that there are probably 200-300 soldiers aboard the ship, but they also notice giant cargo bays full of constructs - multiple racks full of automatons/golems, some of which are 12-13 feet tall, others that appear to have a space for a driver to sit in them. They appear to be a different design from the colossus that they saw at Shadowsong Pinnacle. This is a warship, and it is prepared for a war. Among the crew, they notice Genasi, Humans, Orcs, Eladrin, Fey creatures - they do not see any elite angels or devils on this level. No one on this level appears to be particularly on alert: the security only appears to be a little more tight where the entrance to the elemental engines is.

The ethereal party heads back to the rest of the team, taking a shortcut by moving through bulkheads instead of following the corridors: this creates an odd sensation because moving through the crystalline black metal feels like moving through viscous liquid, as if something is coating them or they are moving through layers of powerful, dense magic. Quill notices that between the mid deck and lower deck are small maintenance hatches and tunnel: they run from the teleportation circle to the lift shaft, and probably to the engines. At the back of the teleportation circle room is a hatch with a very small tunnel, and Quill messages Aila to tell her about the vent/maintenance hatch in the room. He then sends a message to Lucius to advise him that there are a lot of guards outside the teleportation room and on the way to the lower decks - he advises Lucius to use his charisma to get through them. Aila searches for the vent but cannot see anything but the metal floor (failing her investigation check). Quill messages Nova telling her about the vent - Nova checks the console to see if there is any information about the vents, she touches a rune for "repair" and the hatch over the vent opens with a popping hiss. When Aila looks into the tunnel, she sees that it is very small and narrow, there are jagged sections of wall and steam occasionally passes through the tunnel - it would be a tight squeeze for any of them to get through and uniforms would be wrecked if they try. Nova suggests hiding the bodies in the tunnel, so they shove the bodies in with the unconscious guard sandwiched between the two dead bodies, Aila stomps on the last body to make sure it fits in - Lucius, Sentry and Quill are horrified.

Nova considers going invisible and following the uniformed party, but Moonstar reminds them that the lifts are equipped with sensors that will detect invisibility. She reminds them that the reason they are using the lift and the lower deck area is to bypass security that they would otherwise have to pass through, and the same problem will occur if Nova uses a magical disguise. Lucius proposes luring a lone soldier into the teleportation room to "check on something that needs maintenance" and that they can subdue that person to steal their uniform. Nova counters with the proposal that they "unsquish" the bodies and that she uses the vent network as Quill had originally planned to get to the elevator shaft and beyond.

### **Part 2**

*The mission continues as the team look for Valla in the flagship of the Valkyrian Empire!*

With Aila's help, they remove the bodies that had been stuffed into the vent and Nova squeezes through and starts on her difficult journey; Aila replaces the bodies after Nova has passed through far enough. Lucius, Aila and Moonstar step out of the teleportation chamber and make their way confidently towards the elevator, noting multiple guards along the way, but with a lieutenant leading them, nobody passing them seems to take much notice (they pass guards and patrolling automatons). Once they get to the magitek lift, they are waved to a halt by one of the guards who requests Lucius' identification - he silently hands the guard his keycard which is scanned, the scanner chimes in the affirmative, and they are asked for their intended destination: Lucius tells them he is going to the aft mid deck, and the guards look at each other and ask why he does not just pass through security. Lucius says that he is heading that way, but they wonder why he is not just heading directly there, instead heading down and away from his intended destination - Lucius tells them that he needs to collect another crew member and convinces the guards that this is the truth, so they let him, Aila and Moonstar pass while they summon the elevator.

The ethereal party starts to notice that there is a creature with a powerful magical aura coming from mid deck security: the party at the elevator starts to smell sulfur, brimstone and flame (a strong smell of hell itself) getting stronger as they notice a 12-foot tall, red-skinned, muscular, black-uniformed creature with curled-up wings; it holds a whip made of fire in one hand and a flaming blade in the other, and exudes a powerful aura of evil - its heavy footsteps reverberate throughout the ship as it makes its way towards the lift. The ethereal crew back up into a wall, concerned that the pit fiend may be able to detect them. The doors to the lift open, and the uniformed crew step onto a large metallic disc with a geometric pattern of sigils laid into the floor; the guards turn and salute, recognising Admiral Falagor as they begin to feel the heat from the approaching pit fiend before the disc begins to descend, taking them away from the new threat. As they descend the lift shaft, they overhear the pit fiend asking the guards, "Have you had any reports on suspicious activities?"

The ethereal crew follows the lift crew downwards. Nova has spent about 15 minutes crawling through the duct, seeing into other rooms as she has travelled though, and she notices that up ahead she hears what sounds like a metal spider - she also sees something scuttling through other intersecting maintenance tubes. She casts Shroud of Shadows to become invisible then sees a construct spider that fills the space of the tube - it has legs in a circumference around it, and it looks to where Nova is with a single red eye, but seeing nothing, it turns and goes the other way. On a number of occasions, she has to dodge similar constructs, but being invisible, she is able to avoid them: she suspects that if she comes into contact with them, the outcome will be quite bad. Eventually, Nova comes to a long vertical shaft and hears a magical hum, the lower deck looks to be 50 feet below her; she is happy to sit back in the tube until the platform drops to below her position, but suddenly hears the metallic click-clack of spider legs in the tube behind her moving towards her position. She crawls forward and notices there are two other vents on the walls of the shaft which is ten feet wide - she will not be able to jump. She hears the spider very close, so casts Dimension Door to go to the lower of the two vents, and moves just as the lift passes and the spider moves into the area she was just in to fix something. Nova sees Lucius, Aila and Edea on the lift platform. The uniformed party steps out as the doors open and walks past the lift guard, moving into the crew quarters: there are busy engineers, off-duty soldiers, sleeping soldiers, soldiers washing their uniforms and so on, although there is no galley. All of them manage to blend in and move through the area with Lucius asking Edea to keep an eye out for locker rooms or spare clothing for Nova, she thinks the laundry areas or barracks might be the best source for uniforms. Edea sneaks into a barracks room and quietly takes a couple of uniforms and puts them in a rucksack then leaves. Nova comes to a fork in the tunnel that she is in - one leads up, the other leads down, she thinks the latter will lead her to the Shipheart and Tassadar, while the former will lead her to the crew quarters and the uniformed party. Nova asks if Tiangong can speak to Tassadar, but they say that until Nova is in the same room that they will not be able to communicate, though Tassadar is very close to them; Nova uses the messenger ring to contact Lucius and Aila and asks what she should do, they recommend sticking together as a party and concentrating on rescuing Valla first. Nova moves along the upper vent until she gets to the end which comes out in a shower room of the crew quarters: she waits while an elven man and orc woman complete their showers before they leave and she calls the others in - they lock the door behind them and Nova changes into her uniform, stowing her breastplate in her backpack so as not to stand out; Lucius holds up the second uniform to show the ethereal party that the uniform for Rana is available. Because Quill must end the spell for all of them, he tries to dispel the effect only on Rana, but fails: Rana decides that it might be better to remain ethereal for the time and they leave the extra uniform behind.

The ethereal crew moves to the second elevator shaft and move up to the aft mid deck and the engineering station, noticing that this area is much more heavily guarded: no one can go into any of the rooms here without being examined, questioned and having their IDs checked. To go any higher up, one must have a level 4 keystone, and it seems that all officers who have access are known on sight and are checked. It has taken them almost an hour to get to this point in the ship, but now Quill's Locate Creature spell detects that Valla is up on the bridge deck area somewhere near the commander's quarters. He confirms to the other two that she is above them somewhere, and Rana advises that Lucius will not be able to access the bridge deck with the keystone he has - only senior officers or Kalus' personal guards have access to those areas. Quill suggests that they can go up and message Valla and see if she can come down to them (Rana is not sure that she will have free movement of the ship, but agrees that this will help greatly).

The uniformed crew finds a room that is mostly unoccupied while they wait for the ethereal crew: they find a room that is occupied only by an orc man who has removed his armour and uniform, and has fallen asleep reading a book; he is snoring softly. There is one bunk that is empty but has gear on and beside it, and three remaining bunks that are empty and unclaimed. Nova wants to head to the Shipheart and Tassadar, but Lucius and Aila are wary of creating a second problem when they need to concentrate on Valla. Moonstar recommends finding Nova an engineer's outfit from a nearby room, so she and Nova go to do that while they wait; they succeed in getting Nova some overalls and a toolbelt.

As they are making their way back to the others and the ethereal party is making their way to the top deck, a message starts to play ship-wide: *"Soldiers of the Empire, the Emperor's Scry Division believes agents of Aerois may have infiltrated the Tassadar within the last few hours in order to kidnap her highness, Princess Valla. Please report any suspicious activity to the nearest security detail and be vigilant, loyal warriors of the Empire. The Lord Emperor has promised glory and honour to those who aid in capturing these agents, and will be returning to personally lead the efforts shortly. Praxis Val!"* There is murmuring from among the soldiers in the crew quarters. The alert level in the ship has increased significantly with this notification - they see guards who were previously off-duty and relaxed now pulling on armour and weapons; the orc who was asleep wakes up and asks them what he missed - Lucius gives him a vague notification about being more alert because there could be activity on the ship. Lucius says he is going to take a look, as the orc pulls on his armour and grabs his enormous axe from a nearby locker.

Just as the Locate Creature spell is about to end, Valla begins to move from the commander's quarters towards the bridge. Quill casts Sending and tells Nova *"We have found Valla, will attempt to make contact. Stay safe, don't get discovered, Stay safe. Clear skies. or Praxis Val."* Nova responds with *"Clear skies. Entire ship looking for us. Want to go to Tassadar. Not sure what to do."*

Valla is still moving towards the bridge when the Locate Creature spell ends.; Quill follows in the direction she was last moving. Nova and Edea return to the uniform crew while the orc is still arming up - Lucius asks Engineer Nova if she is ready to carry out the maintenance, telling her that she needs "to be extra vigilant because there could be jeapordised maintenancy doohikies in the..." - the orc agrees because "mechanical doohikies are always causing problems on this deck". They head to the lift, and Lucius tells them through the messenger ring that given the situation, the Shipheart and Tassadar may be their best option. Nova tells them about the message from Quill. They are checked when they go to the lift, with Lucius giving his keystone again, but this time they are checking faces and using detect magic; they raise their eyebrows at Lucius' gauntlet and some other gear, but magitek items are not that uncommon here, so they let it go (Tiangong has morphed into a dagger and is hidden from them). One of the guards asks whether they know her from somewhere of whether she is new to the ship: she says she has been on the ship for ages, and Lucius asks if they cannot tell a clone when they see one - they think that may be why Aila looks familiar and let them onto the lift. The guards tell them to keep vigilant and report anything they see to their nearest officer - Lucius asks for any new data but they have nothing to report other than that they could be hidden somewhere, so they are checking all of the maintenance hatches and maintenance ducts. The party are told to keep an eye out of anyone acting suspiciously, and to inform the security detail, especially the automatons that have been trained to locate them. Lucius says they are taking the engineer to make some improvements and check for vulnerabilities.

They take the lift up to the mid deck area, and they have to pass through a large section of laboratories and workshops to get to the Shipheart. In this area, they notice security is much tighter with areas that control elements of the Tassadar itself: energy levels to the weapons, the drives that allow extra-Astral Space travel, and so on. While there are many of engineers working in this area, there is also a patrolling guard in the area which is an ice devil - a bug-like creature with a centipede-like body with antennae and scintillating eyes - there are a few guards stationed around the area as well. The ice devil walks over to them and stops them, telling them that there are no scheduled assignments to the Tassadar; Lucius tells him that they are checking for vulnerabilities and anomalies given the infiltrators. The ice devil says that Engineer Silfar has given him no instructions that anyone would be making modifications, and that they will need to speak to her before he can give them access. He moves to a console with a round metal plate embedded into it, inscribed on it are runes and glyphs similar to their messenger rings - he touches the plate and seems to think - he then tells them that Engineer Silfar is not aware of any command, and will come to speak with them directly. Nova sees a giant 16-foot metal door with huge metal locking mechanisms - she believes that the Shipheart is beyond that door.

Sentry casts Locate Creature and discovers that Valla is now on the bridge. Quill occasionally ducks out of the bulkheads to check where they are and notices that there are no longer any human guards in the area - the patrolling guards are now made up of winged beings with golden haloes of flame and demons in Valkyrian armour - these are the elite planar guards of the Valkyrian Empire. Quill pokes his head through into the bridge to allow him to see Valla so that he can send her a message. He sees a beautiful oval-shaped bridge with a large open area looking onto Astral Space. There are dozens of people manning consoles surrounded by magitek devices; one main figure stands in the middle of the bridge wearing a crisp white and purple uniform - it is a handsome, regal-looking man with long crimson hair tied back into a pony tail, a pair of horns coming from his forehead and curling back into his hair, his nails are long and talon-like, and he has a tail coming out the back of his trousers: Quill believes this to be the dragon officer. To the side at the far end with three figures around her, Quill sees a young, dark-skinned girl in a purple/black dress with a large collared mantle behind her head that is engraved with symbols of the Valkyrian Empire; her dark brown hair has been tied up into a bun, and she stands with her arms folded, smirking but looking annoyed - it is Valla. Standing next to Valla is a tall dark-skinned man with flaming hair, wearing full plate armour and carrying a burning sword; Maximillion Taldros, the Knight of Gideon, is still acting as Valla's protector. Flanking them both are two women to whom Max is deferential and under their command: one is a fiendish-looking woman with red skin, black horns, a tail and infernal wings, dressed in armour, she carries a whip in one hand and a pistol rifle on her belt. The other is an angelic woman with angelic wings, pale blue skin, a golden halo with short blonde hair (a "Joan of Arc style haircut) with sharp, chiselled features; she carries a giant 2-handed mace in her hands - both are constantly vigilant.

Quill lets the others know what he has seen, and tells them that he is worried that Valla is actually the spy in disguise: Rana thinks that the spell that has been cast must take them to the correct version of Valla since they look for a creature "known to them" - they believe that this is the true Valla standing on the bridge. Quill ducks out again to send a message to Valla, and tells her that it is him, that they are nearby and have come to rescue her, he asks if she can get away from the bridge. Valla says that she had heard the announcement and was hoping that it was them, she also says that her guards will not let her leave, and that they should not go back to the commander's quarters because the spy is in there disguised as her. She says it will be difficult to get away. Quill suggests trying to appeal to Max for help, but Valla says that he is loyal to Kalus and that she is not sure that he can be trusted in that way; she says that her powers have grown, and that she will think of something, she may be able to cause a distraction so that she can get away. Valla asks where she should go if she can get away - Quill tells her to go to the Shipheart, because he thinks the rest of the party will be there. Quill ducks back, but he sees the devil-looking woman (the erinyes) looking in his direction, and Quill swears that he sees her raise an eyebrow. The last thing he sees before he pulls back is that outside the bridge in Astral Space, there is a shimmering - a giant crystalline ship appears in a sudden flash. A message is sent shipwide by the dragon on the bridge, *"Crew of the Tassadar, it appears that we are being visited by Commander Xarkira and the Serpent's Coil, Prepare for docking procedures".*

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:05 - Episode Start
2:18 - Announcements
8:37 - DUN DUNs
9:35 - Recap starts
10:45 - Part 1
1:27:20 - Break time/Donations
1:35:54 - Part 2
2:43:21 - Outro/Donations

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Lieutenant and guards in teleportation room (see trivia)
* Xarkira (in Quill's vision)
* Valla
* Maximillion Taldros

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Tassadar (the Eterna)
* Engineer Silfar

## **Trivia**

* A fan art video was shown at the start and end of the episode containing approximately 120 pieces of fan art!
* Mark referred to tight-fitting t-shirts as "the old boob sleeve".
* Twitch chat (Nightjar, in fact) nicknamed the guards Greg, Terry and Joe. Initially, Greg was the dead guard, and chat came up with some truly awful scenarios about Greg's backstory and family, however, Nightjar used her incredible mod power to decide that Greg was the unconscious one, and so would be ok after all. Chat immediately jumped on this and decided that dead Terry and Joe were a couple who had adopted an orphan, had plans, etc.
* There was reference to the changed power of Quill's Eye, indicating that the vision cut off, and while he saw the most immediate thing that Xarkira did with the information, that there may have been more information that he could have seen to fully answer the question. Quill is not 100% sure if there was more information. Now that Siaska is not fully formed, the Eye is not as reliable as it once was.
* Mark defined a new ship measurement this episode, "tip to bum".
* Mark describes the officer's uniform as similar to a Star Wars Imperial Officer uniform, and the guards as looking like Star Trek stormtroopers... ("a hybrid of Star Trek uniform and stormtrooper merged together" he declares as Kim tries to reconcile the previous statement).
* Confirmed by Mark in this episode that Sentry can only enlarge using the Prime Matrix, she cannot reduce her size.
* Mark says of Trott's "can't you tell a clone when you see one?" that it is "a very clever little line, actually".
* After someone tried to backseat during a donation, Mark revealed that when the team had been scried upon by Valkyrian forces, he had rolled for them so that they were not aware of the scrying and could not metagame.
* Because there had been some recent saucy fan art posted ("sexy pics and shipping" according to Mark, "spicy" according to Rhi, "sexy" according to Tom), Trott said that he wanted to see some "naughty Lucius". Tom added that "Lucius x Quill is allowed", "yes" replied Trott.