Aerois - Episode 39: Disguising and Dealing

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Disguising and Dealing** is the 39th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 7th July 2019 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*A visit to a very nervous Nanny and we need to give Lucius a makeover! Foul plots continue in Gusthaven...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players. Kim is running late for today’s stream. Mark retracts his statement of last week that Tommy B is his favourite Tom and announces that Tommy H is his favourite Tom.
* The sponsor today is D&D Beyond. This week, Trott had Mark (as Smeek) make a quickbuild character on D&D Beyond to show how easy it is.
* Merch: Shirts are still available including the Sentry bundle (Paladin shirt and Sentry shirt).
* There is a new mini-series, Lightfall’s Descent, that is showing straight after Aerois.

### **Recap**

"*Last time, our adventurers travelled to the sky city of Gusthaven, home of one Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto. The party having arrived via transportation provided by Pyri and his planar transportation device, which had been fixed in the Midwife's Forge, with a newly resurrected Sentry, they fought off what appeared to be bandits or pirates of some form in a warehouse, and were then promptly - not arrested, but taken into custody by the city watch of Gusthaven. There, they met an Elven mage called Ellois, who has broken the news that the Elenasto family estate was destroyed in an explosion, and the Elenasto family killed. Having revealed this information to Lucius, taken him before the Sky Prince of Gusthaven, the party then went on to the church, the Starsorrow Cathedral, where they acquired the assistance to resurrect Qillek Ad Khollar. Having provided the materials from Lucius's new wealth, which has been bequeathed to him in a will, the party acquired the platinum and aetherium rod necessary to channel the Raise Dead spell, and Qillek was brought back to the world of the living, but not before a brief conversation with his god H'esper, and a new boon being given to him.*"

### **Part 1**

*Lucius continues his investigations into the Elenasto Estate!*

Quill is still seated on the altar of the Starsorrow Cathedral surrounded by his friends, and now with one magical eye outlined by a scar with a swirling storm for an iris. Quill is surprised to see Sentry back with them, knows that they are in Gusthaven, and is alarmed by the presence of a Goblin, whom he is introduced to as Smeek. Smeek climbs up Quill’s body to stare into his storm eye, then falls to the floor and starts to worship both him and Aila. Aila introduces Pyri to Quill and Pyri tells Quill what has happened to date.

Light Seer Eris, wearing the symbol of Siaska (a half-circle with stars over it) steps forward, greets Quill, and asks to speak to him in private about some god-related matters. Eris leads Quill down beautifully marbled stone corridors with stained-glass windows depicting all the gods to a private side chapel with a small altar and font and a few pews inside. Eris says that the news she bears could cause great panic amongst the populace and asks if Quill spoke to H’esper upon his return. While he did, H’esper did not mention the “threat” that she asks him about but reiterated his mission in the Valley of Storms. She tells him that the gods are currently in council, and that being a priestess of Siaska, she no longer speaks directly to the Star Mother, although they feel her presence in the Cradle. The other gods, out of reverence to their mother, still send messages to Siaska’s clergy, however. A Chosen of Sayanna sent a message from Horizon to Eris – H’esper has informed the rest of the gods that the tyrant has returned to Aerois. H’esper said that had witnessed one of his followers in Kalus Starbane’s presence, that Kalus had emerged from one of the old Archways that had been activated by some cultists, but Eris says that H’esper had otherwise been sparing with more details and wants to know whether he had said anything else to Quill.

Quill deflects the question by asking how many chosen each god has – Eris does not know – and then says that H’esper is guiding him on a path and that his messages are often cryptic. Eris suspects that ending the storms and reclaiming the relic may assist in fighting against Starbane but she wants Quill to mention this warning to the Sky Prince since she thinks his ideas of a united Aerois may be somewhat naïve. Aridan and most of the leaders of Aerois have already been informed about Starbane’s return, some of them do not wish to believe it while others wish to try to face the storm alone – it is hard to make them work together and the gods, says Eris, are tricky. Some, like Sayanna, are trying to help where they can, others remain silent on the issue – they have generally retreated to their Halls of Resplendence and are harder to communicate with than normal. Eris asks that if he hears anything from H’esper, that Quill contacts the Grand Dean if the Empyrean Archives (the temple of H’esper in Gusthaven) or any of the senior spiritual leaders in any of the temples wherever he travels.

Quill asks Eris about any attacks in the sky cities from the Court of Shadows or the Remnant, but Eris says that they are more of a problem in the Lowlands than the sky cities, and she is not even certain if they have working air ships in their forces. She leaves him to go back to his friends.

Quill catches up with the group and notices Aila’s improved hammer and Sentry’s upgraded armour, Nova tells him that she is now married (which startles him) and then shows him her improved Tiangong. They apologise for Quill’s death, but he absolves them and himself for that episode. They decide to go elsewhere to discuss the woman who killed Quill and her relationship to Hadar.

Lucius tells Quill that he is very happy to see him again and gives him a gentle hug – to Quill with his enhanced eyesight, it is clear that Lucius has barely slept, he has dark circles beneath his eyes, and those are bloodshot. Quill can see that Lucius does not look ok. Pyri decides that it is time for him to go, but not before Nova hands him a letter and asks him to deliver it to her parents in Vortinssar – she says that they live in the Water Quarter, and that they own and operate a food stall called The Voyager’s Rest (her mother and grandmother operate it). Pyri tells them it was great meeting them, apologises for the bad stuff, and says that he never finds them again before running off into the distance. Smeek waves farewell.

They walk back into the city noting that there are hotels but no taverns, as well as cuisineries (restaurants) that are government approved and citizens exchange coupons at these to get a meal since food is heavily regulated in the sky cities (due to population control). Lucius recommends finding his nanny, Norfir, since she should be able to provide them somewhere safe. Lucius recalls Ellois providing him with an address in a district called The Breeze, a domestic district, which was Flat 4 of (some building address). It is now evening, and the city streets are illuminated by lamp posts with flames that magically come on at night. Nothing really stops because it is night, however.

The fastest way to get around the city is by carriages that are drawn by Pegasi – each carriage has a minor aetherium engines that levitate the carriage – these can be hailed from anywhere by the casting of *Dancing Lights* or the waving of arms and they can take someone anywhere in the city (they are not cheap, however, and getting from where they are to The Breeze would cost 20 gold as opposed to hours of walking).

Lucius casts *Dancing Lights* which summons a beautiful, wheelless, gilded carriage their way, on the bottom of it is a large sphere of metal that vibrates and hums with pulses of magic and force projecting from it. Attached by elegant chains and reins are two Pegasi – it swoops down and hovers in place. The Half Elf driver asks if they want a ride for the six of them, and Lucius manages to convince him that Smeek can go on a child’s ticket. Over the twenty-minute ride, Aila brings Quill up to speed on Hadar, The Midwife’s Forge, Lucius, and Nova’s conversation with Kalus. The carriage is built for large parties, but six pretty much fills it – Smeek sits on the floor between their feet, and it is apparent from his holding onto the floorboards with his claws that he does not like flying. Aila lets Quill know that Lucius thinks that his family is still alive and that it is all a conspiracy – Quill tells her that he may be able to find out what happened with his new eye. As they are flying, Nova feels the presence of another Eterna somewhere below them in one of the trade districts – she also hears Tiangong whisper the word, “Friend”. Looking out of the carriage, Nova sees two large buildings, one of which has the symbol of H’esper on it – it looks like a temple but has multiple storeys and also seems to be a library, the other is a very large, rich-looking store called The Aethegora, but she cannot tell from which building the presence is coming. Smeek, seeing that Sentry is also terrified of flying, grips onto her leg and speaks to her plaintively in Goblin. Lucius, seeing the bright lights of the city below, cannot help but replace them with the sight of the burnt-out husk of his estate. They pull up in a narrow street with multiple 4-5 storied round spires (almost like wizard towers with tiled conical roofs) on either side of the street that appear to have been converted to living quarters. They find the address for Norfir Tramadel and go up to her door – the building is not fancy, but it is comfortable. They head upstairs to flat 4.

When Lucius knocks on the door, it creaks open. He calls out to his nanny, but there is no answer. Sentry sends her echo into the residence and looks through its eye: she sees a short hallways with a cabinet surmounted with a small house plant, a kitchen that looks fairly bare with some cooking pots and knives as well as a loaf of bread, a small table, and unlit candles, and a lounge with a table and chair and a bookcase. As echo is looking around, there are two closed doors but on the desk are several opened letters and there is a single crossbow bolt. Nova casts *Detect Magic* as echo returns and Lucius runs in to look around, panicked. He steps into the lounge, followed by Aila, sees the desk and begins to make his way over when he feels something sharp pointed into his neck. Aila sees someone dressed in common clothes, a mess of long brown hair up in a ponytail, and a feminine hand holding a hand crossbow that is pointed at Lucius’ neck. The woman says, “I don’t know who you are, but Lucius Elenasto died, so if this is some sort of trick to torment an old woman, you’ve made a mistake here my friend.” Lucius recognises the voice and Aila asks the woman to stop, reassuring her that it is Lucius – before she sees a second hand crossbow levelled in her direction.

Aila disarms herself and reassures the woman who wants to know why they are travelling with a shape changer in the form of her deceased ward. Lucius turns to look at her, but this is not the Nanny Norfir he remembers – this Norfir is scary, looking like she would shoot Lucius in the face without blinking. Norfir wears no make-up, and while she is wearing loose clothing, her sleeves have been tied to her wrists, so they do not flap around (as have her trousers to her legs). There is a moment when Lucius sees her sternness flicker and her hand twitch, almost as if she is second-guessing herself. Lucius appeals to his Nanny, asking her to trust him and ask him something that only he would know – she prefers him to tell her something known to them, since she knows that minds can be read, or memories fuddled. He reminds her of something that she had given him when he was a small boy – something that he has now lost – the one thing that turned everything around for him and allowed him to pursue his sorcery, it was a small toy… the crossbow begins to dip, and she eventually drops them both and embraces Lucius who reciprocates. Unseen by anyone except Quill, Smeek had been sneaking up behind Norfir with a club and been ready to clobber her with it, but when Norfir drops the crossbows, he picks them both up and gives them to Aila on her command. Norfir is sobbing gently as she embraces Lucius but he can feel the sharp edge of a knife at her belt.

Norfir tells Lucius that she believed that she had lost everything, but that the people who had killed the Elenastos would come for her next. Aila returns Norfir’s crossbows to her and warns her about Smeek’s sticky fingers. Norfir warns Aila bout the Goblin’s nature and advises her that they are killers – she has seen many instances of this in the Lowlands since she lived there for some time. Lucius introduces everyone to Norfir – she finds Nova to be very energetic, and bows her head to Sentry, grateful to the Star Mother that Lucius had a Guardian with him (referring to Sentry as “Ancient One”). Norfir is a Half Elf in her late 40s or early 50s (but because of her Half Elven lineage, she looks more like a Human in her 30s).

Lucius asks Norfir to tell him the truth about what has happened with his family, and she tells him that while she information, she is not sure if it is the truth, and that it is most certainly a ploy. When Lucius asks her whether she agrees that his family could be somewhere else, she just shakes her head and tells him that his family is dead, that they were inside when the explosion occurred. Norfir had had dinner with a friend and was returning later than she had expected to – she was walking down the avenue on the plaza and watched the explosion. She ran in past the fires to see if there were any survivors but there was nothing. She agrees that there is a small chance that they left the house, but she thinks it unlikely. She knows that this was a plan to kill his father – Norfir overheard conversations between him and Edea – it was the Wind Barons without a doubt.

The Wind Barons, she tells him, were once a petty band of sky pirates but have grown extremely powerful in the last few years and now have agents in many of the sky cities. Norfir believes that Virion was targeted because he was working on a new process for refining aetherium and that this somehow threatened their involvement in the refining business. Norfir says that she was always more of a bodyguard than a spy. Lucius starts to glaze over and looks like he is about to pass out before Norfir slaps him and tells him that he needs to be careful, that this puts him in danger. Norfir tells Lucius that his father always saw potential in him, even if he was not traditionally kind to him – Virion did not know how to connect with him, but he wanted Lucius to be happy, jousting, doing art, exploring, or whatever made him happy. Norfir tells him that the reason she was asked to look after him was not that Virion did not have time for Lucius, but because he wanted Lucius to do things with his life. Virion cared about the city and did not trust the future of aetherium refining to the Magronas or Aetheron because they were just in it for the money. Norfir is concerned for their safety saying that they may uncover things and put the Wind Barons’ operation at risk.

Norfir is on alert because whoever blew up the estate believed that the family and everyone connected to it would be there – they did not know that she would be leaving that night, and they also managed somehow to use a false scrying to confirm that Lucius was dead. Lucius wonders if the same people were responsible for the attack on the Sparrowblade, although Nova thinks they were going after Valla. Norfir thinks that the attack on the Sparrowblade was not related since its crash came as a complete shock to people in Gusthaven.

### **Part 2**

*The team go shopping for some new disguises. With Smeek. SMEEK.*

Aila tells Norfir that they have met Belanor, and that he seems like “a bit of a douche face” and Norfir reveals that she has put a lot of thought into how she would eliminate him after she saw the way he tormented Lucius as a child. She tells Aila that Belanor is not the smartest of the family, but is strong, athletic, driven, and ambitious, and that there are reasons that he picked on Lucius. She says that he is not a conniving type, and he will generally face his problems int eh sky jousting ring, hitting it with an armoured fist. Norfir says that Belanor’s mother, Anastasia, and his brother, Democles, are more the conniving types, and while she does not know if Anastasia was involved in a plot against the Elenasto family, she thinks it is possible. Virion and Anastasia worked together, however, both brought a unique offering to their partnership – they needed each other. Virion was very good at his business – Anastasia is very good at manufacturing and providing complicated components for aetherium refining. No one could make the materials that Virion did - the central aetherium core, the platinum core, cannot be off by more than a slight amount or it is inefficient, and Virion had the production perfected. Edea was the only other one with a head for that sort of business. Norfir had planned to leave Gusthaven in the next few days, having heard what had happened to Lucius and the rest of the Elenasto family.

Norfir tells Lucius that the Wind Barons are not just a group of thugs, but are a large organisation, and that they had been causing his father problems for weeks, before he even left Gusthaven. Norfir had overheard Virion and Edea speaking, and apparently the Wind Barons had been pressuring Virion to join them for some time, but he kept refusing them. Aila asks if Moonstar might be associated with the Wind Barons, and maybe is one of their leaders, but Norfir isn’t so sure – she says that Moonstar is certainly trained in some things but is sloppy in others. She has targeted various businesses, mainly aetherium refineries, but seems to have more of a problem with the palace than the noble families. Quill questions whether the Wind Barons are tied to the Court of Shadows but there is no evidence, so they suggest speaking to the Sky Prince. Norfir says to Lucius that she cannot stay with him – he is with good people who will look after him, and she must have a reckoning with those who caused the death of the Elenasto family. Aila suggests that Lucius should disguise himself, and Norfir says that she will help him with a new outfit, a haircut, and some hair dye before she leaves. After Lucius accuses Norfir of getting up to a lot of “naughty things”, they regale Norfir of Lucius’ slaughter of cows.

Norfir will help Lucius with his disguise before she takes a sky ship to the lowlands where she plans to investigate some contacts of hers where “Norfir Nightshade” is still remembered. She promises to pass on any information that she hears – only underhanded elements of the lowlands, and now the party, know that name, she tells them. She offers to let them use her residence as a safe house – the rent is paid up to the end of the month, then she will let the property go back to the city. Norfir asks one of the party to get Lucius some new clothes, although nothing as outlandish as he currently wears, it should still be keeping with his station as a noble. She also reminds him that he will need to keep his spell focus, and she recommends some dark glasses to hide his distinctive eyes.

Nova scans Lucius with the Glamourdisc before he starts to change his appearance in case they wish to use it to create a distraction, then plans to go in search of some off the rack clothes for Lucius. She is also keen to search for the building where Tiangong sensed another Eterna. Norfir knows that Virion left a large amount of money in his will to Lucius, plus she says that he should reclaim the amount of the business that was sold off to the Magronas and the Aetherons. Lucius is not sure who to trust and Norfir tells him that she thinks he can trust the Staves – Virion spoke to Ellois about a lot of the troubles, so she recommends that Lucius speaks to him.

Norfir takes Lucius to another room and pulls out an emergency healer’s kit complete with scissors and bandages, as well as a smaller kit with small bottles of coloured liquid and wax for making scars. Lucius is anxious about the change of style, but Norfir gets on with the cutting, dyeing and styling, making sure that she also gets Lucius’ eyebrows with the dye. He ends up with hair of a length that is just below his ears and is a very dark brown. Lucius sits, holding his cut hair in his hands and sobbing.

The rest take a sky carriage to the Trade District for 10 gold. The Trade District of Gusthaven is called Faren’s Fortune, and despite it being quite late, the shops are still open, and the district is bustling with people. Many families are having dinner at restaurants, there are tourists from the lowlands wandering around and seeing the sights, and theatres offer all sorts of plays for viewing. The area is a large open circular plaza with an Elven statue at its centre with streets spiralling out from it. At the ends of the plaza are two large buildings – the Aethegora, a very large multi-storey store that seems to sell everything but with a focus on aetherially enchanted goods: there is a produce department, but the produce is thick, juicy, and larger than normal, and there are armours and weapons being sold that have no sign of being dulled. The store is packed with people. There are smaller shops on the side streets, but most people seem to be interested in the larger building. The other building shows a symbol of H’esper, appears to be a large library or temple, and is called the Empyrean Archive.

Nova tells Quill that they should look for some armour for him – he indicates his ring… that is no longer on his hand, but Lucius’. They ask about the bandalore that was looted from the temple but Quill also realises that he will not be able to play it one-handed. He attempts to play it with his beak, but not being attuned to it, he gets a sudden pain in his head. Nova shows Quill the pipe that she had taken from the dungeon, blowing a flumph made of smoke. A Halfling parent and their two children passing by clap at Nova and throw a copper piece on the floor for her. She continues blowing smoke creatures and a small crowd gathers. Smeek attacks the smoke creature – the crowd sees him and runs off. He chases after the smoke creatures, pulling out his stone knife to attack them all, then running up to Sentry, pointing at them and tugging on her axe. Sentry reassures him that everything is ok and waves her arms to dissipate the smoke. Smeek seems relieved that she has killed the monster. Guards are watching Smeek.

They head for the Aethegora, a large store with many floors built around different themes – airship crews, traders and workers, and agriculture. The ground floor appears to be dedicated to more mundane things like clothes. As they enter, they are approached by a very well-dressed Human man who offers to assist them and direct them around the store. They tell him that they are after noble clothing for Lucius and armour for Quill. The man recommends Aetherforged Armour – it is lighter and easier to wear, especially as a breastplate or chain mail shirt. He tells them that they have a number of unique items that are crafted by the owner of Aethegora, Azaria Yorien Perel, such as messenger bracelets that allow people to communicate over distances, earrings that allow people o understand languages that they cannot speak (‘translator earrings’), tokens of feather fall (known as ‘sky wards’), and the like. He adds that they have lenses that can assist with scholarly pursuits, cloaks that can make it easier for one to hide (especially in the woods), and custom items can also be created since the Perel family is well-versed in artifice.

Nova expresses an interest in one of the earrings: it is a small cuff that would allow her to understand any spoken language by common races, but not languages of dragons or angels. This would cost 200 gold.

The messenger bracelets are called ‘whisper rings’ and come as a set – you normally purchase one for each member of your company and they allow you to message each other. These are normally 500 gold each, but for 5, they would be 1,500 gold for the set. There are limitations to the messaging – you can send the *Sending* spell to another wearer across any distance (with a limit of 25 words per message). The bracelets must be bought as a set to be on the same system – if one is bought later, it is not connected to the others.

In terms of armour, they have armour that is enchanted to increase defence for 1000g, and an enchantment to make it lighter is 300g on top of the cost of the armour. They decide to get an Aetherforged breastplate for Nova and a regular breastplate for Quill for 1100g. Sentry buys a set of studded leather armour and a halberd for Smeek.

They offer to sell the potion that they picked up in the Night Eye – Quill identifies it as a Potion of Longevity. The Human assistant is astounded at being offered so rare an item and asks them to wait in the VIP suite while he fetches his mistress. After ten minutes, the man opens the door to the suite, bowing his head very deeply, and in walks a woman in an elegant, black, royal gown that trails behind her. Jewellery encases her beautiful, slender, Elven neck, and long Elven ears protrude from her hair (which is tied up tightly and adorned with a silver hair piece). The woman introduces herself as Azaria Yorien Perel of House Perel. She identifies the potion and tells them that she knows of only one other person on Gusthaven who has ever owned one (a scholar/researcher in the Empyrean Archives). She offers them 3,500g after a short moment of thought.

After some discussion about exchanging the potion for other items, Azaria offers to make them upgraded messenger rings: they would allow unlimited telepathic communication but would have a range of 10-20 miles. 5 rings would be 2000g and would take a couple of days to make.

They agree to exchange the potion for the messenger rings, the earring, 3 greater healing potions, and 10 lesser healing potions. Azaria is happy to give them the remaining 200g in coins. Azaria will keep the potion for herself. Quill tells Azaria that they come across many old items – she tells him that she is interested in old and new items and likes to study how old enchantments were made, being fascinated by how old power works. She tells them that they are always welcome in the Aethegora.

They find Lucius with a fresh haircut and dyed hair. He is insistent that it does not work for him. They give him his new clothes – the clothes look ok to him. It is strange seeing Lucius in muted tones with dark hair, but his eyes still stand out as unique.

Nova clips the earring on and hears Smeek, standing near Sentry with his too-large Halberd, claiming to be a great warrior now. He says he will fight for the “lightning goddess” and the “bird of sky, Quill”. Smeek is impressed that they now seem to understand him and begins worshipping Aila again.

Not sure what they should do next, Norfir suggests that they start looking for answers. She suggests that Lucius leave things like revenge to people like her with a colder heart. Lucius agrees, telling her that he has no intention of doing what she does (Aila immediately offers to do it, prompting Norfir to smile). She asks what he plans to do now, “I don’t know,” he replies, “maybe watch my friends save the world or something.”

Suddenly, there is a strange warping of the air in the middle of the room and, appearing from a small hole, a metal sphere drops suddenly to the ground and starts ticking…

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:20 - A quick rewind
0:55 - Frantic back-pedalling
1:20 - Trott and Smeek’s DnD Beyond ad
4:52 - New merch!
7:05 - Put it away Tom
7:21 - Aerois intro video
8:28 - Recap
10:25 - Episode begins
11:25 - What’s a Smeek?
12:03 - It’s been 84 years
13:18 - Pyri and Quill
14:14 - Tom discovers Mark’s turmoil
14:24 - Kim arrives
16:07 - God chat
25:14 - A reunited team
27:39 - Quill and Lucius
28:13 - Speak with dead chats
28:29 - The Lava Plaza
37:33 - Yay, slums
42:36 - Aila and Quill
45:04 - The eterna
48:01 - Sweet traumatic memories
49:34 - Nova is half guardian
52:47 - Apartment no. 4
57:00 - Meeting Nanny Norfir
1:03:33 - Introductions
1:06:15 - Lucius’ delusion
1:14:21 - Break begins
1:23:41 - Break ends
1:24:29 - Episode resumes
1:34:30 - Nanny’s so naughty
1:37:53 - His fashion is all he has left
1:38:48 - Skilled pass off to the DM
1:41:23 - Shopping trip hype
1:43:35 - Lucius is not okay (I promise)
1:44:44 - Cutting Lucius’ hair
1:48:50 - One armed bird tries to play magic instrument
1:49:56 - Trott loves the flumph
1:52:12 - Tom really hates this goblin
1:53:57 - The Smeek chronicles continue
1:54:12 - Tom is going to lose his shit
1:58:23 - Tom might murder Kim
1:59:30 - Trott’s goblin face
2:00:21 - Aila’s got priorities
2:08:41 - Tom may also kill Rhi
2:09:28 - Smeek’s weapon of choice
2:10:16 - Tom needs a moment
2:10:46 - DnD at its finest
2:12:46 - Smeek is Mark’s alter ego
2:18:11 - Baby Quill should not drink that
2:18:18 - Sentry the iron nugget
2:29:30 - Tom will wear anything you want him to
2:30:55 - Smeek’s voice is finally heard
2:34:26 - Episode ends
2:36:12 - Inventory exposed
2:36:57 - Donations

2:44:22 - 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
* Qillek Ad Khollar
* Sentry

#### **New NPCs**

* "Nanny" Norfir Tramadel
* Azaria Yorien Perel

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Smeek
* Pyri Adhara
* Light Seer Eris

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Siaska
* H'esper
* Sayanna
* Kalus Starbane
* Ellois
* Hadar
* Elenasto Family
	+ Virion Elenasto
	+ Edea Elenasto
* Magrona Family
	+ Belanor Magrona
	+ Anastasia Magrona
	+ Democles Magrona
* Aetheron Family
* Valla

## **Featured Locations**

* Gusthaven
	+ Starsorrow Cathedral
	+ Nanny's apartment
	+ Faren's Fortune (Trade District)
	+ The Aethegora

## **Trivia**

* Now that Quill is alive again, Tom RPs by tucking his left arm behind his back once more.
* Mark estimates that it has been 5-6 days since Quill died.
* There is an awkward conversation between Quill and Pyri and Mark has to remind Tom to pull his arm out from behind him when he is talking as Pyri and to tuck it away again when he is speaking as Quill.
* Kim arrives as Tom is realising what it is like to be Mark and having to speak to himself as different characters.
* Eris is not sure how many Chosen each god has.
* Eris refers to H’esper as “the Sky Lord” in this episode.
* Gusthaven is a huge city, Mark suggests that it would be the equivalent of central London (not including the Burroughs).
* **Lore dump:** Even though Gusthaven has a lot of refugees, High Elves get preferential treatment for many things. 70% of the population is High Elves. It is the most welcoming sky city, however, and there is no discrimination against refugees or those of other races. Gusthaven is limited in space, so if someone new wants to move to the city, someone else has to leave it – Gusthaven will not exile someone unless they cannot pay their taxes or unless they commit a crime. People who come up to Gusthaven to live (rather than to work) tend to be very rich, and in order to counter this, Gusthaven has been building inexpensive residential housing on the bottom of Gusthaven suspended from the rocky island – the residents have to climb up ladders to make it to the main street. It is mainly populated by Halflings and Humans from the Lowlands and is called The Chains.
* Kim revealed that she only makes notes that are relevant to or heard by Nova. While she may remember what has been said or done, these things are not recorded in her journal unless Nova is there.
* When Tiangong speaks to Nova, it sounds like multiple different voices of different genders and ages combined into one.
* Tom said that he still panics when he hears the word “Breeze”.
* **Lore dump:** When the Sundering happened, Gusthaven was suddenly lifted up into the air with few resources, and no idea of what was going on. With the sudden change in their situation, many people died of starvation before they could grow food. Many buildings such as wizards’ towers were appropriated by the state for housing, gutted, then refurbished into flats for the general population. Norfir’s dwelling is not run down, nor is it fancy – it is a utilitarian space designed for people like cleaners, artisans, cooks, (the general population) etc.
* Lucius almost made a roll on the wrong character sheet, using the one that Mark had made in the D&D Beyond sponsor read during the announcements.
* Norfir admits that it has been decades since she has killed someone but also says that she knows how to break into someone’s house and kill them while they sleep, and how to shoot someone through the heart from 1000 feet. She admits that she was hired because she was an assassin (although Lucius had thought that she was just an adventurer). She worked for the Dwarven Lords of Goldthrone and the various people and kingdoms of the Lowlands.
* Kim disappeared after the break to “sort out some house stuff”.
* When Mark talked about getting a “crack on”, Tom turned this into Sky Kraken, which seemed to give Mark some dangerous ideas.
* Norfir confirms both that she was employed as a bodyguard and has worked as an assassin.
* Lucius’ slaughter of cows references Epiosde 8: Cattle Rustlers.
* The name for the Empyrean Archives is inspired by Final Fantasy, according to Mark.
* This episode introduced the concept of the Messenger Rings – a magic item that Mark would come to regret offering to the party.
* Trott was largely left out of part 2 of the episode. Mark felt bad about this so handed him a piece of paper to “give him something to think about”. Trott looked very excited when he received it. The piece of paper would be brought out and its contents revealed next episode in part 2.
* **Continuity error:** Mark accidentally introduces Azaria as “Azria”.
* The group liked the idea of the team name “Iron Sloths” but did not necessarily see the need for a group name at this time.