Aerois - Episode 170: The Star of Siaska

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Howard Swiftwhistle

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Star of Siaska** is the 170th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 8th January 2023 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*The Stormchasers try to recover from the last few days but luckily a new character joins the fray with a very interesting past!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* This is the first episode of 2023.
* During the two week break, the crew did a Gundam building stream.
* Mark anticipates that the Aerois campaign will finish some time around March and then High Rollers will begin their Campaign 3.
* The new table (that was purchased from Geeknson after the fundraising stream) will be in the studio soon.

### **Recap**

*"Racing to the centre of Vortinssar to stop Harmony and Shansara’s plans, our heroes engaged in a frantic battle but missed an epic concert. Desperate to stop Quill’s vision of the city’s destruction, the party did their best to prevent the activation of the teleport devices hidden throughout the city, even going as far to use Lucius’ wish spell to rewind time to buy them a second chance, but sadly, Shansara was still able to activate it. As the statues of the city began to power up with elemental magic, it became apparent that something wasn’t right, and when the air statue of Kari exploded, the entire system went haywire. Temporarily, the group aligned with their enemies and teleported to the location of the device and tried to control the powerful magic at work but sadly, despite their best efforts, they couldn’t overcome the sheer power of elemental forces at work.

As Nova, Tiangong, Shansara and Harmony all vanished into the magical maelstrom, the rest of the party were forced to flee. The out-of-control power suddenly vanished as the remaining champions and the Stormchaser returned to Vortinssar and sought out the ruins of the air statue to find Nova, but they could find only broken remnants and, using the Eye of the Storm, Quill saw her soul returned to Astral Space, gone."*

### **Part 1**

*The Stormchasers recover from recent events... but luckily a new character is here to help!*

While the Air District has suffered from some fairly extensive damage thanks to the collapsing statue of Kari, most of the rest of the city of Vortinssar has been saved (although some other parts of the city have suffered some damage from the out-of-control magic). The people are still largely in a state of shock, and the Stormchaser has flown in, unopposed, to land at the site of the magical explosion to allow the crew to look for Nova. Poring through the rubble to try to find anything, Aila has found the broken and crumbling remnants of the Eclipsed Twin Moonblades, the aritfact of Kellara. They are they only things to survive in any shape, but it is obvious that they will never be able to be repaired and will never function again - it is testament to the power of the magic that the four of them stopped. There is no sign of any bodies in the area.

Oriya reports that the city guards and some of the Valkyrian troops are starting to move around the city and she suggests that they may want to leave soon. Lucius agrees, saying that it does not matter where they go, as long as it is away from where they are. Quill receives a *Sending* spell from an unknown Genasi to tell him that Norfir, Tornado, and a few others managed to survive, and while they count the city’s survival as a victory, they know that the Seekers and Stormchasers are being blamed for the destruction around them, so they are making their way out of the city, heading north to safety.

Sentry spends some time pulling civilians out from under collapsed buildings, and in their shock, they do not care who their rescuer is. She hands the survivors to their relatives nearby, healing those who are at death’s door and generally staying busy so that she does not need to think about what has happened. As the people begin to rally their spirits, they begin to look upon the Stormchaser crew with looks of blame and start to back away from them, knowing that they are powerless against the mighty – Sentry feels this to her core and cannot look them in the eye, eventually returning sorrowfully to the ship.

Aila has been digging through the rubble looking for anything at all that remains of Nova. Straining, with her muscles aching and tired, she is despondent when she cannot find any remains of any of them. Aila is quietly angry at the crowd given that Nova tried to save them, they did not listen to her, and Aila blames this on Nova no longer being with them. She stares down the crowd and they immediately recoil and start to run away from her – Aila walks towards the ship with lightning crackling in her clenched fists. Lucius stands nearby, almost dazed for a moment before looking to Quill who is running through options of things that they might do – using wish, he does not think they can use the crumbling blades, getting more answers from the Eye of the Storm – Lucius is happy that they still may have some hope. Quill wonders quietly if what has happened to the city was actually their fault but Lucius tells him not to dwell on that for now. As they start to make their way back to the ship, they notice the other Valkyrian cruiser making its way towards them, and Oriya tells them that they must leave. Lucius considers addressing the crowd but thinks better of it before they all board and head north, unpursued by the Valkyrians.

After travelling for roughly two hours, with messages coming in from the same Genasi as before, they manage to organise a place to rendezvous with Norfir and her group the next day (since they are travelling on foot). The Stormchaser sets down in a large open field and some short messages are sent back and forth between the parties while they wait. Tornado is pragmatic about their situation – the Seekers may be hated, but the city is safe, that’s what they wanted and what is important. He does not care if the people hate him or the Seekers because they were saved from destruction (bro). Norfir asks if everyone is ok, and Quill lets her know that Nova is gone – Norfir’s response is that they will get to where the Stormchasers are as soon as they can.

Lucius summons the others to a meeting in the meeting room next to his quarters and solemnly asks them what they should do. Sentry notices lots of things that need to be cleaned, not wanting to face the reality of the situation, and not wanting to feel the same emotions she has been feeling since she discovered that Nova had died. Lucius says that he does not want to lose any more of his friends and selfishly wants Nova to come back so that she can see their fight through to the end – he thinks that she gave too much and is now hated despite her great sacrifice. He believes that this was not her time, even though Quill points out that she and Tiangong seemed ready to go. Lucius understands Nova’s sacrifice but wants to ask her if she would be prepared to come back since he believes that they will need her to go into the final battle against Hadar. Quill suggests that they could try to Speak with Dead before Aila, saying that she carried Quill and Sentry’s dead bodies across Aerois, pulls the crumbling fragments of Tiangong out of her pocket and lets the dust fall to the table – she points out that she cannot carry Nova since they do not have a body and hence cannot cast the spell. Quill is concerned that Nova will feel at peace, being happy with her actions and believing that this was, in fact, her time – he does not want to pull her back to what they are facing only to have her hate them for it. Lucius thinks that she would want to face Hadar.

Quill then recalls his own death and remembers being called back to his body by his friends – he remembers having the choice to return or not as he pleased, and so is comforted. He feels a divine presence, a maternal one, and he knows that bringing Nova back is possible, even without a body if he calls on divine magic and is in possession of a large, natural diamond. Quill believes that he may be the only one on Aerois who might be able to cast this spell, now being far more powerful than most. He looks through the Wayfinders Guide, casting *Legend* *Lore* from it to discover more about the spell – the book’s pages flip to a section that tells the tale of priests, believers, and people who have acquired great magical power: there are legends and stories about them bringing back loved ones, even when there is no physical form to call their soul back from the Astral Sea or the Great Beyond (wherever it is that souls go when the body fails). The spell forges them a new body but requires immense and powerful magic that is known by very few. The new body is formed out of an incredible jewel – a large, perfectly cut gem that is resplendent, almost glittering with starlight, but the problem is that gems like this are incredibly rare.

Lucius vaguely remembers reading about and hearing stories from centuries before the war with Kalus Starbane when the gods and Siaska walked Aerois – there are tales of brilliant jewels that were so rare and expensive that they were legends in their own right. There was one gem called the Star of Siaska, a legendary diamond that seemed to be full of starlight, but he cannot recall more than that. Even so, he excitedly tells the rest of the party what he can recall. As he says the words, “Star of Siaska”, they hear a bumping noise outside the door of the Captain’s quarters followed by a knock at the door – it is Howard.

Howard has overheard the party talking about the Star of Siaska and tells them that stories of the diamond have been passed down through generations of his family. He tells them about a Suvonnan family of Halflings, hill folk, who would dig (although not very well) for treasure in the hills. He tells them that his surname is Hornsilver(see Trivia) and that he is descended from a young Dwarf woman and a Halfling man who fell in love and had a family, bringing the Dwarf and Halfling families together to form the Hornsilvers. The Dwarves used their mining skills, knowledge of minerals and ability to locate deposits of rare resources. The Halflings were hard workers and owned the rights to the hill lands. Howard’s ancestors made a contract with some Dwarves to help them mine and they found a lot of riches and gold, including one very large, rare diamond that they called the Star of Siaska. Together they amassed a fortune, storing it all (including the diamond) in a massive vault called the Hornsilver Vault, which is magically protected and could only be opened by the Hornsilver family. The family was very wealthy for a long period of time until bitterness and jealousy eventually caused Howard’s great ancestors to split off from the rest of the family. They were seeking a simpler life and rescinded all claim to the wealth. Howard knows that the vault is somewhere in Suvonna and has long been abandoned and forgotten.

He pulls out his recipe book and leafs through it until an old crinkly piece of paper falls out of it – his grandmother told him never to lose it because it was the key to finding the lost vault. He reads to them from it, a riddle most vexing:

“Hidden by the Creator’s Face,

The legacy of our Kin rests within the stones north of a Gilded Grace.

Within the lover’s grove many roads they built to lead astray,

But the mark of an heir shall lead the way.”

Howard knows that there is more to the story than he can immediately recall, but it is a bit fuzzy in his memory at the moment.

Quill finds and pulls out a map of Suvonna – he thinks that the Gilded Grace might be where the Council of Suvonna sits (Goldthrone) where the Auric Mountains stretch north and south of Goldthrone from the tip of the northern coast, south and west into Bloodvale.

They take a well-earned rest for the rest of the day while they wait the other party to catch up to them. Eventually, they appear – Tornado, Norfir, and about thirty members of the Seekers – while Norfir wears a grim expression, the rest of the party appears resolute and satisfied with the outcome of their mission. A smaller party of Norfir, Tornado, and half a dozen of the Seekers make their way onto the ship while the rest take a break on the plains below, preparing to move on after the meeting.

Norfir moves straight to Lucius and puts a hand on his shoulder, but he immediately hugs her, and she embraces him back, reassuring him that things will be alright. Tornado congratulates them all on a great job and looks around, only starting to appear worried when he cannot see Nova anywhere. Howard offers to feed the rest of the Seekers, taking them down to the galley and promising to take food to those waiting below. Tornado asks what is going on and where Nova is and Sentry, not knowing how else to do it, tells him straight to his face that Nova is gone. Tornado is confused momentarily then asks, “Gone where?”

Sentry gently tells him that Nova died in Vortinssar, but he does not believe it, thinking that Nova is playing a prank on him and thinking that he would believe it because he is a “moron”. Eventually Sentry gets the message through to him – he is clearly frustrated that he was not there to save her but says that it is ok because the party must have a plan to get her back. Lucius breaks that thought by pointing out Howard who has arrived with snacks – Tornado misunderstands him, thinking Howard to be a “crazy wizard dude” who might be able to bring Nova back, but Howard instead hands him some soup. Tornado hears the plan to get into the vault in order to get the diamond and bring Nova back – he throws the soup away (much to Howard’s displeasure) and tells them that he is ready to go with them and will give his life to bring Nova back if that is necessary.

Norfir makes a counterargument to him, however, that it would be selfish for him to risk his life to save Nova – the Seekers who followed him and now had no home to go back to are looking to him for leadership and he owes that to them, telling him that Nova would not respect that choice. Tornado is clearly torn, wanting desperately to go and save his sister: Quill promises that he will be one of the first people she sees when they get her back and he finally agrees to let them go to find the vault without him. Norfir reminds Tornado that they still need to save the council members of Vortinssar who are still somewhere in the city, and they need to make sure that the Genasi know what really happened on that day and to counter the Valkyrians who still occupy the city. The Wolfpack supplies the Seekers with their old weapons (now that they have upgraded to Valkyrian force rifles), and Tornado tells the Stormchasers that if they fail to bring Nova back, he will beat them all up (he then departs the ship). They make their way over the next couple of days towards Suvonna.

They decide to talk to Arval, hoping that he may know more and discover that he is currently going between the Astoria and Horizon. He tells them that he has heard stories of the Hornsilver Vault, believing it to be lost somewhere up in the mountains north of Goldthrone. The Vault was lost hundreds of years before the war with Kalus and most records will have been destroyed.

They consider the riddle while they travel with Sentry and Quill believing that the “Creator” is probably some sort of god and they know that the Goddess of Creation is Valena (especially important to Halflings and Dwarves), although it might also refer to Siaska as the mother of life. They believe that they may be looking for an effigy of Valena and ask Arval to check with the Maidens of Valena (since Quill tries and fails to message them directly). Arval tells them the following day that the Maidens know nothing of the Star of Siaska, that they were made by Valena and are not natural diamond being forged from her essence. They do know something about the Face of Valena, however – there is a mountain north of Goldthrone that has been carved in Valena’s image. A river flows from the mountains through her eyes that makes it look like she is crying. It is incredibly old.

Once they enter the mountainous area north of Goldthrone, despite it being cloudy, Quill spots a hidden area of the mountains that contains a 200-foot-high waterfall – it does not take him long to realise that the surrounding structures have been carved in such a way that, when seen from a certain angle, it resembles Valena’s face, otherwise it resembles nothing more than jagged mountains. From the depth of the eye sockets flow branches of a river that look for all the world like tears that flow down her face and body, joining up with the river below that then flows off away from the mountain in a large valley.

Quill realises that the eyes are caves that are large enough that people could enter the mountains through them, but they are quite high in the mountain and there is no obvious trail leading to it. Quill and the others could fly across, but the Stormchaser has nowhere to land. The caves are large at the mountain’s face but narrow as they go deeper into the mountain. Quill notices that they appear to be carved tunnels.

Lucius makes enquiries about Howard’s adventuring and flying experience – Howard tells him that he has a little of both, having adventured with them on the Stormchaser. Oriya brings the Stormchaser to a crawl and moves closer to the tunnels while Lucius casts *Fly* on himself, Aila, and Howard, but since he is unused to it, Aila gives Howard a piggyback over to the cave. Oriya tells them that they will anchor nearby and be ready to retrieve them as soon as they are required. The river is flowing from the eye caves with immense force, creating massive amounts of water spray – they fly into the caves and about sixty feet down the tunnel where the tunnel narrows to about twenty feet wide and high dark with a low ceiling – Quill casts *Light* on his staff and Lucius makes *Dancing Lights* bob around Howard - they notice that the tunnel has been carved and shaped by hand.

They begin to see a path made of stone down the middle of the chamber with water passing on either side of it and every twenty feet down the path (including right at its start) is a stone brazier inlaid with metal. The ceiling of the cave is about fifteen feet from the stone path. This continues for at least another sixty feet down the tunnel before the darkness allows them to see no further.

They start flying down the middle of the tunnel with Quill in the lead. As he passes within five feet of the first brazier, it lights up with magic fire that changes from the usual orange to a deep crimson and they hear a deep pulsing. Lucius likes it not, has them stop and back up, and after six seconds they hear a rumbling from the tunnel ahead of them. Lucius believes that there may be a massive amount of water coming towards them, and true to his word, they are suddenly faced with a tidal wave. Desperately trying to fly back to the cave mouth, they are hit from behind by the torrent of water. All of them manage to avoid being ejected from the tunnel but Howard who is sent flying out of the eye socket and it is only because he is flying that he survives. The rest of them fly out of the tunnel (which is now filled with water) and re-join a startled Howard mid-air. After about a minute, the water recedes, and it returns to its usual level.

### **Part 2**

*The team hunt for the Star of Siaska in the mountains of Suvonna!*

Quill decides to check the other tunnel in case it provides a safer course but finds that it is exactly the same – the tunnels appear to be heading towards each other, presumably to merge somewhere further into the mountain. Both Lucius and Aila believe that eventually the tunnels will converge into a single point.

Lucius suggests either sending Howard first or dispelling the magic. Quill decides instead to cast *Detect Magic* and sees a twenty-foot sphere of abjuration magic surrounding the brazier, filling the tunnel. Howard agrees to go ahead, thinking that his bloodline might protect him – nothing happens when he gets near the brazier. Aila has been staying at least twenty feet away from the brazier but steps in to test it and it immediately lights up and starts flashing. It does not stop when she steps back out of the aura. Quill immediately casts *Dispel Magic* – the light goes out, the sound stops, and they do not hear any grinding of stone like they did the last time. They progress down the tunnel with Quill pre-emptively casting *Dispel Magic* on the two braziers further up the tunnel and manage to pass them safely. Beyond the last brazier is more tunnel, but it now begins curving inwards, presumably to meet the tunnel from the other eye.

They follow the curve to the place where the two tunnels join up and find an antechamber with stairs that lead downwards. Above the stairs is a large circular disc from which run channels that lead the current water out (which is what normally fills the tunnel), and there are sections of the disc that look as if they slide open, which from where the extra, torrential water comes.

They follow the stairs downwards, moving through beautifully smooth, unadorned tunnels for at least ten minutes and appear to be moving in towards the heart of the mountain. After another five minutes, they find themselves in a large, beautiful, carved circular chamber that is decorated like an open field in the hills with stone trees, carved benches and banners all along its sides. Along the walls is a mural carved in bas relief that shows the marriage of a Dwarven maiden and a young Halfling man with their families (adults and children) on each side in happy celebration, throwing flowers into the air and onto the ground. From the chamber, twelve tunnels lead away to other places, but Howard cannot sense anything special about any of them. The stone flowers have been painted twelve different colours and a path of each flower leads down each of the twelve tunnels.

Aila thinks that the tunnels may be a red herring because of the line in the riddle, “Within the lover’s grove many roads they built to lead astray”. They then consider what the mark of the heir may be – Howard has never had a crest or a family colour. They examine the bas reliefs and cannot see any text carved in any language to give them any clues. There are twelve figures, a mix of adults and children, some are in common clothes and others in fine clothes. All of them are focused on the happy couple. Howard tries to recall anything from his family history about a family crest or symbol but only remembers that all of the clues have been cryptic, so starts to believe that they ware looking for something else entirely. Howard plucks a hair from his head and throws it in the air – it drifts gently to the floor and points to tunnel number eleven.

Aila believes that the mark of an heir would be most likely to be the bloodline and while Howard is talking to Quill about the fridge, she quickly pricks his finger (he screams) and she then casually smears his bloodied finger on the wall – nothing happens.

Quill sends an *Arcane Eye* down the red tunnel. After a while, the path leads into a series of winding paths that generally descend into a smooth, flat corridor and eventually comes to a large antechamber where the flowers stop. It has a giant set of stone stairs that leads up to an ornate door that is decorated to look like the entrance to a great Dwarven hall. At the top of the stairs, before the door, is a stone dais that a Dwarf or Halfling could easily stand on. Around the dais are twelve black and white discs set around it on the floor – seven are made of white marble, while five are made of black onyx. Standing, scattered throughout the room, are twelve statues, six Dwarves and six Halflings, each posed holding out a hand as if they were putting a key into a door lock, and each key has a different number of teeth on the bit.

At the foot of one of the statues, the *Arcane Eye* spots a set of rusted chain mail in a heap along with some tattered pieces of cloth.

He brings the eye back and sends it down the green tunnel next and it hits the same winding and confusing path structure eventually ending up on a straight path that seems to continue for a long time, until the eye hits a solid wall even though it looks as if the tunnel continues. Quill gets the impression that the wall has been painted to look like the illusion of the tunnel continuing.

They decide to follow the red tunnel to the ante chamber where Howard’s memory is tripped, and he recalls something that his grandmother told him:

“The Legacy’s path shall not yield to any but a child of stone and field.

The Legacy’s Keys are held by those who came before, Seek their Name to open the door.

The Miner, the Master, the Weaver, the Maker. Their Key’s{Sic} turned once shall Touch the Taker.

When All Four Keys are Quiet and Still, an Heir’s caress unlocks the Will.”

Sentry casts *Detect Magic* on the statues and they all give off a strong magical aura, but from a mixture of schools of magic – transmutation (they all resonate very strongly of this), abjuration, and enchantment. Sentry also notices that where the keys emerge from the statues, there is a seam around the barrel which makes it look like the ends of the key can be turned. Sentry then turns to the dais and the twelve black and white discs, and notices that they resonate with magic, too. Lucius notices that the discs on the floor follow a peculiar pattern: white, black, white, white, black, white, black, white, white, black, white, black.

Howard thinks back to what he might know about Miners, Masters, and so on – they are all archetypes in Dwarven and Halfling societies. Jobs can form part of surnames, identities, and functions in society. He also knows that each of the professions has a name associated with it which can then become a given name as well. There is nothing written on any of the statues, and none of them hold anything but the key that they hold out. Their clothing varies from common to fine, and their faces are finely rendered in perfect detail. The statues are all pointing in different directions.

Sentry decides to turn one of the keys that the statues is holding and chooses number six. This statue is a Dwarven boy, a teenager, dressed in fine clothes, and its key has six teeth. When she turns the key, she hears a ‘thunk’ noise and feels a pulse of magic before they all hear a rumbling as a large stone disc rolls across the entrance tunnel, blocking it off from the chamber. There is a faint hissing as gas begins to pour into the chamber from small seams in the cave walls and the statue of the boy begins to come alive and move.

Aila starts coughing from the poison as she runs towards the door to see if she can roll the heavy stone blocking the entrance out of the way. Even with her incredible strength, she can barely move it, but manages to create a small crack that she hopes may allow some of the gas to escape. Lucius tries to grab the key and twist it back to its original place but is unable to grab the key since the statue (a stone golem) is moving too quickly for him. The golem turns and smacks Lucius in the face, to which Sentry reacts by hitting the golem with Starbreaker; the golem clobbers Sentry in return. Quill calls on Sentry to turn the key back before hitting the golem with *Sacred Flame,* the radiant energy breaking away part of its shoulder. A desperate Sentry manages to grab the golem’s key and twist it back to its original position, but nothing happens. Howard picks up a rock and throws it (badly) before calling to the golem, “Oi! Your mother’s a rockery!” – he then goes over and tries to help Aila to move the stone door (instead managing to wedge a frying pan into the crack that Aila has opened up). Being now free, Aila moves to the golem and hits the golem twice, damaging it badly.

Lucius lashes out with The Captain’s Command, cutting into its arm and breaking part the forearm off the golem. The golem activates a field of magic around it, S*lowing* Aila, Sentry, and Lucius. The poison gas has started to build up again in the cavern, causing some of them to start coughing. Quill finishes the golem off with a *Sacred Flame* and it crumbles into pieces. The slowing effect and gas cease, and after six seconds, the door stone rolls back, allowing the remaining poison gas to ventilate from the chamber.

Howard notices the chain mail that is lying on the ground in a heap near the fourth statue and recalls that as a result of the falling out between the Halflings and the Dwarves, there was a battle within the vault, but on inspecting the armour, it does not look like Dwarven armour – he thinks that it is possible that this may have belonged to a thief who broke into the tomb, but allows that it may also have been from the battle that he has heard about. When he investigates further, Howard believes that someone has fallen here an age ago and that their body has decomposed, leaving the chain mail and fragile scraps of dark cloth behind. There is nothing to identify the remains.

They re-examine the remaining eleven statues, noting that six of them are wearing common clothes, one is wearing armour, and four fine clothes. The notice again that the statues look like petrified people, and that they could almost converse with them. Lucius calls out in common, “What are your names?” but nothing happens. Aila moves up to one of the Dwarven statues and asks his name (in Dwarvish) – the statue’s mouth animates and says, “Faro”. Both Aila and Sentry know Dwarven and understand that this means “miner” in Dwarven. Howard speaks to the Halfling statues and finds that the second statue in armour is called “Milo” (meaning “warrior” in Halfling). Going around the statues, they discover the following names:

1.      Shyra – ? - baker

2.      Milo – Halfling - warrior

3.      Faro – Dwarf - miner

4.      Mivna – Dwarf - baker

5.      Mavna – Halfling – weaver

9. Arvos – Dwarf – master

12. Vallen – Halfling – maker

They realise that they will need to turn the keys in the order 3, 9, 5, 12.

Howard twists the key being held out by the third statue and begins to hear a musical tone in his head – he cannot hear anything else as the note deafens him. He then tries to turn the key of statue number nine but the key will not turn. After a few seconds, they see a small trickle of blood starting to flow from Howard’s nose as he takes psychic damage from the constant ear ringing. Aila turns the key on statue number nine and immediately starts to hear a music note in her mind, deafening her to all else. Sentry turns key number five, and Lucius twists key number twelve. Nothing else happens.

Nova moves to stand on what she thinks is the third disc around the platform – there is a pulse on the dais, and while nothing happens for Nova, but Quill hears a tone. Quill drags them all over to the disc that corresponds to the key that they turned and motions them to step on – they do, and Quill hears each note and sees the dais pulse every time a note is pressed.

They realise that they are standing on a musical instrument and must match the tone in their head to the tone played by each of the discs. Because the discs are in a circle, they do not know which one is which to match it to their tones. Since they cannot hear anything beyond the tone in their head, Lucius starts to sing his note for Quill to hear – Quill moves around the discs, pressing on them until he finds the one that matches the tone that Lucius can hear, and gets them all to stand on the discs that match their tones – nothing happens. They continue to hear their notes, and to take psychic damage. They try moving up a note each and then down a note each but there is no change. Quill notices that when a disc is touched, it vibrates. He stands on the dais – nothing happens. He gets everyone to stand off their notes, then step on and off one-by-one – again, nothing happens. Quill gets Howard to step on the dais while Quill stands on the disc that Howard was standing on – suddenly, Howard no longer hears the tone in his head, the disc vibrates, the pulse reverberates, and the door shudders for a second. Quill directs the rest to follow the same sequence with them standing on the dais one-by-one, and once all four have been done, they can all hear again and the door starts to open.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00:00 - Intro
0:02:14 - Dun Duns
0:03:13 - Part 1
1:22:44 - Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

* Aila
* Howard Swiftwhistle
* Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto
* Qillek Ad Khollar
* Sentry

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Oriya
* Howard Hornsilver (AKA Howard Swiftwhistle)
* Norfir
* Tornado
* Arval

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Siaska
* Valena
* Kalus Valkyrian

## **Featured Locations**

* Vortinssar
	+ Air district
* Jakkesh
	+ Plains
* Suvonna
	+ The Auric Peaks north of Goldthrone
		- The Hornsilver Vault

## **Trivia**

* Mark likes deadlines.
* The diamond required for the True Resurrection spell cannot be created by magic (for example by the Wish spell), presumably because that would be too easy. Wish could create something of the same value that could be sold for the same price, however.
* Howard tells the crew that his name is Howard Hornsilver. According to Mark, this is his original name, and he took on his husband’s surname, Swiftwhistle, when he got married.
* Howard is mostly Halfling with 1/16th Dwarf (Kim says this is where he gets his height from). He is a “stout” Halfling according to Mark. He is not (and won’t ever be) Level 19.
* Tornado tells Howard that he’s “not really a soup guy”.
* Tom wonders at one point what happened to the mask that he had that gave him Darkvision – Nova reclaimed it in Episode ???
* When Howard is ejected from the tunnel, it is the *Fly* spell that saves him. Lucius had to roll a Con saving throw because he took damage and rolled a 1. Fortunately, his bonus and that from Sentry allowed him to save, otherwise Howard would have fallen 200 feet (presumably) to his death.
* Mark wasn’t sure but checked during the break: Halflings do not get Darkvision.
* Ironically, Tom (playing Quill, the Champion of H’esper, titan of wind and magic) did not know how to classify spells from the school of abjuration.
* Tom did not listen to Mark’s description of the magical aura around the braziers in the tunnel – this was the first “metal crates” moment of 2023.
* Quill’s Aerosian version of “eenie meenie miny moe” is: Oogy boogy googy go, Starbane’s forces gotta go. Grab his nose, punch his throat, Oogy boogy googy go.
* The flowers were green, blue, yellow, purple, pink, red, orange, brown, teal, magenta, black, and white. Mark was struggling to think of 12 colours and named brown twice, needing Trott’s help with magenta.
* **Continuity error:** Kim talks as Howard about bringing Quill “soup with a straw” when half of his beak was blown off. This is not possible, as Mark pointed out, since Quill’s jaw was broken in the late 30s/early 40s, but Howard is not hired to be part of the ship’s crew until Episode 42
* Tom remembers about the fridge. He does not remember who was going to make it for him, thinking it was “Zam Zim Zim…?” Mark quietly simles, laughs and bows his head.
* Mark did not give Kim all of the information that she would need as Howard because he didn’t want her to be able to work on the puzzles before the show went live.
* Thank you to Kim for providing the riddles as supplied to the crew by Mark.
* Aila rolled a 32 DC to move the large stone blocking the door to the tunnels. The DC was 35.
* When Howard throws a rock, it distracts the golem, Lucius, and Sentry. They all take an extra 1d4 damage from all sources because they are within 5 feet of the target.
* Howard ended the episode on 22 hit points out of a total of 31.
* Kim considered a number of temporary characters (including Tornado, Penny, and Lancion). It was Mark's idea to play Howard and for his ancestors to be in possession of the diamond they would need in order to resurrect Nova.
* Statistics for Chapters 22 and 23 were provided by 39SaltyCookies. You can see them here.

## **Quotes**

* Mark to Tom “The longer you do this, the more you have to put up with Kim playing Howard. Every time you interrupt, the longer you delay getting Nova back.”

* Quote 2