Aerois - Oneshot: A Plane in the Astral

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Nathan Sharp as Paultin Seppa

Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**A Plane in the Astral** is a canonical oneshot for the Aerois Campaign, set between episodes 44 and 45. It was a live show at PAX West 2019, on Monday 2nd September 2019 at 12-2 PM BST.

*Tom (Quill) and Katie (Aila) are joined by special guests Nate Sharp (as Paultin Seppa) and Erin M. Evans (as Havilar) as they're ripped from their universes to a new dimension with some wild characters!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players: Tom Hazell (playing Qillek Ad Khollar, an Aarakocra Cleric/Bard), fantasy author Erin M Evans (playing Havilar, a glaive master fighter, and her pet Hellhound, Zunie), Katie Morrison (playing Aila, a Wild Elf Storm Herald Barbarian), and rock star Nathan Sharp (playing Paultin Seppa, a Bard).
* This game is played at PAX West in Seattle. Thanks to Idle Champions for bringing HR to the convention.

### **Introduction**

"*You feel a sudden lightness in your body, and a lurching sensation, as you are pulled backwards from wherever you are and whatever world you're in by an invisible force, and the world around you seems to shatter like glass. The movement is sudden and swift, and you watch your worlds flash before your eyes with incredible speed. And as quickly as this happens, the movement suddenly stops and you find yourself on what you believe to be a ship's deck, staring out onto a silvery, misty sea. A dull purple hazy sky, with clouds of thing grey mist drift lazily, and between them you catch glimpses of twinkling stars, and in the distance you can see rolling twisted black shapes that seem to connect the silvery sea to the infinite reaches of the starry sky above you. Some of you recognize each other: Aila and Quill, you are pulled from the world of Aerois. But around you, you see two strangers.*"

Aila and Quill recognise each other immediately, but they also see two strangers next to them: a Tiefling woman, and a Human man. The Tiefling, Havilar, is tall with dark purplish-black hair, medium toned skin, and eyes of gold – she carries a huge glaive in front of her, as if ready to attack at a moment’s notice.  The Human, Paultin Seppa, has scraggly and unkept medium-length hair with pronounced stubble on his face. He looks tired and worn. Quill looks around outside the ship, noticing that there is something bizarrely magical about the place, but even with his keen vision, he does not see any islands, or anything recognisable. He realises that he is on a different plane of existence. Quill perceives that all four of them have a thin silvery cord that appears from between their shoulder blades, rises three to four inches, then appears to vanish out of existence.

Aila pulls out her hammer and is immediately ready to fight. Quill asks of the newcomers which of them brought them all to the ship. Paultin looks at Aila, sees the hammer, and tells her that he loved her in Brave, that she was amazing. He then looks at Quill, telling him that he loves him… with gravy and potatoes. Because Paultin is making jokes, Aila is suspecting him of orchestrating their kidnapping and asks why he brought them to the ship. Paultin is surprised that this is not Aila and Quill’s ship but says that he is unsurprised by the turn of events because he has seen a lot of action in the last few months, so he is now numb to evens such as these.

While the rest are conversing, Havilar looks at the ship itself – they are on the deck of a ship, but she realises that the ship is built on the back of a gargantuan spider. Its eight legs are extended from its body, and between its legs are sails made of webs which are being filled with some sort of wind – this is gently propelling the vessel on which they stand. She also sees that on the back of the giant spider are great, glass domes, and that scurrying around the domes and on the webs are small spiders… wearing bow ties and hats. Havi briefly considers chopping some legs off but realises that it may not be the best idea, and this is supported by the other three. As they try once again to determine whose ship it is (they still believe it to be Paultin’s), there is the sound of scurrying legs on wood and crawling up from the underside of the deck they see a giant spider appear before them – it has a thick bulbous abdomen, but still wears a bow tie and hat, as well as cuffs around each of its eight legs. It scurries up to them and welcomes them to the Stroke of Midnight, introducing himself as Garcon – he thanks them for coming and says that he is glad that the Lady’s relic has worked. When Paultin tells the spider that the time is 2pm, Garcon advises him that time works differently where they now are, and that his device may be out of sync. Quill asks if it is always the stroke of midnight where they are but is told that this is the name of the ship.

Garcon apologises for forgetting his manners before extending a hairy leg, offering to shake their hands. Havilar shakes hands with the large spider, but Quill and Aila decline (which Garcon believes to be terribly rude and believes that his Lady may have made a mistake). When he is offered the leg, Paultin grasps the end of it and gently kisses it, which impresses Garcon. He asks them to follow him to meet with his Lady. Havi asks if her dog is here somewhere, but Garcon advises that the spell used to bring them would not have brought any travelling companions and asks if she has a means of summoning the creature. She does, and once she has uttered some unknown words, there is a hissing, fizzling sound in the air before a tear in space appears – three creatures appear from it, a large and excited, muzzled hellhound, and two red-skinned baby imps with pot bellies. The hellhound is excited, bounds out, sniffs, sees Havilar and bounds over to her before jumping up excitedly. The imps, one of whom is called Blip, are unimpressed on seeing where they are – they reveal to the others that they are in the Astral Plane, the realm of thoughts and dreams, and home to many monsters and other “weird stuff”.

The imps ask if, having brought the dog to their mistress, they can be excused, and head back to the portal. Paultin goes to pat the dog, Zuni, but because she does not know him, she growls and flames begin to boil out of her mouth. As he reaches confidently for her muzzle, he attempts to use his natural ability with animals… only to be met by a gout of flame that comes shooting out of her mouth. Paultin ducks quickly, avoiding the fire, then looks back to watch the flame disappear over his head, “She likes me!” he exclaims. Havi chastises her pet, telling her not to flame people, and she whimpers. Aila wants one, but Quill, who suddenly has the hellhound’s eyes on him, is not keen. Garcon interrupts them, insisting that his mistress wants to meet with them and advising that the party is meant to start soon. He scuttles off across the deck, one leg waving them towards him repeatedly. They follow him along the deck to one of the large glass domes into a grand ballroom.

In the ballroom, they see many round tables that have been etched with the symbols of moons and stars, a crystalline statue of an Elven woman covered in webs and silks, and banners made of webbing have been draped around like decorations. They are led through the ballroom and up into a massive stately bedroom in which is a large crystalline bed decorated with sizeable plush pillows. Garcon opens one of the doors, and stepping through into the bedroom is a spider with the upper half of an elegant-looking woman, dressed in a long silk ballgown that almost covers the spider body beneath her. She has onyx black skin with white hair that is decorated with crystalline spiders, and the woman looks down at them with pale lavender eyes. The large spider lady introduces herself as Lady Duskwillow, the Captain of the ship, Stroke of Midnight. She tells the assembled people that she has gathered them together, using a relic, to help with her party.

Quill confirms with Lady Duskwillow that they are there to help with the party and are not actually guests, and also asks about the relic used to summon them. The relic, she tells them, is called the Orb of Needs. Aila asks the most important question: why? Duskwillow tells them that she does not control whom the orb summons – she simply gives it a task and it finds the most suitable life forms in the multiverse and brings them to her.

Paultin offers the Lady a drink of mead from his flask, but she politely declines, telling him that she does not drink planar drinks, preferring to make her own. She offers to have something special brewed for them. Lady Duskwillow tells them more about the Orb of Needs – she found it some time ago in the “wild space”; all she has to do is to state a purpose and the orb will find those unique individuals best suited to perform the task and summons them to the Astral Plane via astral projection. She assures them that there will not be a need for any killing and proceeds to tell them about their task for the evening: Lady Duskwillow is having an invited gathering with all of her friends from across the multiverse (from the Nine Hells, the Abyss, Mount Celestia, and so on), but they suspect the Lady and her spiders. She needs unassuming little mortals whom they will not suspect to complete three tasks for her, then she will send them home with a boon.

The three tasks that she needs them to complete are:

1. Keep the Githyanki and Githzerai ambassadors from killing each other, since their races are mortal enemies,
2. There is something happening between Mammon (the ruler of the Third Hell) and Bel (the ruler of the First Hell). A Devil, Jassemir, who is attending the party, works for Mammon. Duskwillow wants to know what is going on, and tasks them to find out from Jassemir, and
3. An Archon, Erymanthea, has many secrets. Lady Duskwillow wants to know what she most desires in the world so that she can provide it. Paultin immediately offers to complete this task.

Duskwillow asks only that they do not attack her guests who are very powerful and dangerous – she also does not want to clean up the mess that will inevitably occur. She offers them access to her alchemical laboratory if they wish to make their own potions but warns them that the party will begin soon. Paultin asks for more specific details about payment for their services and Lady Duskwillow asks what they want since she is a powerful Druid who has travelled the Astral Sea for centuries – it is likely that she can find or make something for them if they do not simply want gold or to stay on the ship with her.

Havilar is not sure that the Orb has worked correctly – she does not believe that she is suited to any of the tasks described and claims that she is not very good at talking to people. She asks Duskwillow what happens if they fail at the tasks: Duskwillow tells them that if they do not fulfil the conditions for which they were summoned, then they may be cursed, or have pain and suffering when they return to their actual bodies. Quill asks if there will be anyone at the party from their home world – Duskwillow does not even know where they are from, nor does she know all the worlds in existence.

Before they leave her, Duskwillow tells Havilar that since she says that she is not good at talking, she can have some assistance – Duskwillow holds out a leg towards Havilar and touches her gently on the top of the head and all of her garments begin to change into an elegant gown with beautiful jewellery, enhancing her charisma for the next hour. Duskwillow then dismisses them, having to prepare for the party herself.

Paultin tells Garcon that he is not attired for a party and asks if there is a change of clothes that he might have. Garcon advises him that there is an abundance of tiny bow ties and hats for the spiders, and Garcon is happy to provide some of his own spare cuffs – Paultin is delighted to accept, so is led through a beautiful art deco ship interior, then down to a series of tunnels full of webs and clusters of spider pods. He eventually finds himself in Garcon’s room, a large, cavernous, pulpy, organic room that has a single coat stand with eight massive pairs of cuffs, a giant hat, and a large bowtie. When he wears the oversized top hat, it slips past his forehead and rests past his eyes. The bow tie, while small, dainty, and elegant on Garcon, would be comically huge on Paultin, so he leaves it and investigates the cuffs instead. These are also very large, so he considers using the cuff as some sort of neck decoration, taking two of them with him.

The remainder of the party go to the laboratory aboard the Stroke of Midnight – it is an elegant, well-arranged alchemical lab full of vials and a myriad of ingredients. They consider trying to make standard or original potions, but not having any experience in potion-making, they are very nervous. Quill decides to throw caution to the wind, however, and decides to make a love potion that can be administered to either or both of the Githyanki or the Githzerai ambassadors. He passes over the frogs’ legs, dog’s tears, and cats’ nails, deciding to add a Sprite’s heart, glitter, and angel blood that can be activated by a spark of lightning from Aila. Quill successfully makes the potion, but it has the mild side-effect that the recipient will desperately hate each other (in a war-like manner) immediately after the party finishes.

Paultin meets up with them, having cast *Animate Object* on two of the cuffs that he has placed around his wrists, as well as the over-sized top hat. He has the cuffs shrink and re-size themselves to fit, but leaves the top hat large, having it floating just above his head.

All of them are escorted back into the grand ballroom which is now full of some very strange characters. In the corner of the room is a red-skinned Incubus who is chatting to various guests as he walks around with his drink, winking and smiling at everyone – he has horns, wings, and a tail, and wears tight leather pants and a large open shirt with chest hair clearly visible. They also see a 9-foot tall, blue-skinned Angelic woman (a Planetar) who has a single long braid of white hair down her back – she wears ornate armour that allows for the emergence of her large, feathery wings, and she has a greatsword on a side scabbard. Nearby are two very similar-looking creatures that are dressed differently – both have yellow mottled skin, no noses, and elongated ears. One of them wears armour and a military uniform, while the other wears priestly robes – they are on the opposite sides of the room and glare at each other. Among the other guests are a Clockwork Pentadrone (a seven-sided creature with spindly legs that is wandering around examining the trays of food and counting the number of items on each tray), a large Centaur and a winged Elf have an argument in fierce whispers, and there is a Shadar Kai goth band called Doom Train.

Havilar notices a sick feeling in her stomach and notices, in the far corner, lounging on a webby chaise lounge, is a grossly obese pig Demon with tiny wings. It is eating constantly, shovelling food into its mouth, and as it finishes what is on one tray, spiders will arrive to remove the empty tray and replenish it with a full one. Havilar knows that the sick feeling is because she is in the presence of a Demon. She tells the rest of the party that she cannot go near the creature, or she will vomit… also that anyone she touches will need to fight the Demon. It is an infernal “gift” with which she has been burdened, although it also makes the recipient good at fighting Demons.

As they stand in the corner, whispering to each other and observing the guests, the Incubus spots them and makes a bee line in their direction, picking up a champagne flute on the way and downing the beverage before he gets to them. He makes some humorous comments about mortals before making some suggestive offers to all but Quill, which Quill is relived about. This appears to offend him. He asks what they are doing at the party – Paultin advises that they are the mortal guests to ensure diversity. The Incubus is not convinced, however, inviting them to have drinks with him, and introducing himself as Jassemir.

After some flirtatious conversation, Paultin offers to get Jassemir another drink (“ambrosia”, he tells Paultin, “don’t let the spiders knock you off with any of that cheap, mortal crap”). Jassemir lingers, and grabs one of the Shadar Kai as they pass, chatting to them while Quill, Aila, and Havilar try to plan what to do. Aila suggests smashing the Orb, but Paultin thinks that is a very bad idea and wanders off, apparently to get the drinks, but he detours and starts walking towards the Planetar. Zuni is snuffling around Havi’s feet, but every time a spider walks past, her drooling and sizzling maw follows them around the room. Under instruction from Havi, Zuni allows Aila to pat her bristling hide – Aila tells a terrified Quill that she wants one. Havi informs them that they need to avoid Zuni seeing the Demon because she has been bred to attack them.

As Paultin approaches Archon Erymanthea, he sees that she is straight-backed and observant of the crowd, almost as if she is analysing people in a protective way. She greets him and asks how she can help him. Paultin attempts to make small talk, asking how Erymanthea knows Lady Duskwillow – she provides various services for Celestials operating in the Astral Plane and makes her ship available when they need to scout out enemies (at this point, her lip raises in a sneer as she glares at the Incubus and the Demon). Erthmanthea tells him that she is attending the party almost as a protective measure for the other guests. Names are exchanged and Paultin begins chatting about Lady Duskwillow’s generosity and ability to know what people want and need – at this turn of the conversation, the Archon pulls her braid to the front and begins nervously begins to stroke and play with it. When he realises this, Paultin apologises and asks if he has mentioned something that makes her uncomfortable – Erymanthea denies this, however, before trying to excuse herself from the conversation. Paultin will not be shook off and grabs two drinks, proposing a toast between them. Since she does not normally drink, the Archon is not keen, but Paultin persuades her to do soTemplate:TRIVIA. Erymanthea takes the glass of ambrosia and begins to sip it, reluctantly.

Quill approaches Jassemir, who has moved further around the room – he is now watching the bickering pair of the Centaur and winged Elf. The Centaur is getting very drunk and the Elf is slapping him, telling him to stop it because he is denying drinking too much, and saying that the party is garbage. Quill points at the couple, suggesting to Jassemir that they do not get along, but he tells Quill that they are married. Quill suggests that friendship does not require love, and that maybe he and “Jazzy” could be friends – Jassemir is disgusted, telling Quill that while he is a Devil of the Nine Hells, Quill is a chicken with a compass. He threatens to send Quill to Hell or the depths of Stygia if he calls him Jazzy again. Quill almost begs Jassemir to be his friend – Jassemir agrees, despite (or maybe because of) Quill’s desperation and orders Quill to get him a drink, which he does.

Aila and Havi begin to observe the Githyanki and the Githzerai noting that the one in the priestly robes is following the one in the armour at a distance and watching him closely. Havi suggests pouring half of the potion into each glass, hoping that the two would be friendly rather than only one being in love with the other – Aila agrees. Havi divides the potion between two glasses of drink while Aila grabs a glass for herself. Havi and Zuni approach the creature in the robes – he greets her and asks how he may be of help. Havi tells him that she does not know anyone at the party and that he seemed to be alone, so she came to talk to him and brought him a drink. He thanks her and introduces himself as a Githzerai by the name of Merg Zorm and tells her that as a priest, he does not normally partake of alcohol. Havi asks who he is making eyes with – the priest is taken aback but tells Havi that the Githyanki is a dangerous enemy of his people and hers, and that she should be avoided if at all possible. The priest explains that they were once one people, but the Githyanki became the tyrants that they once sought to kill, and that the Githzerai hold them back.

Aila heads to the Githyanki, who watches her approach and assesses her. Aila admires the Githyanki’s armour and is told that she has had it for many years. Aila asks more of the Gith’s fighting style while offering her a drink (which is gratefully accepted but not yet drunk as she pulls a silvery greatsword from her scabbard and points it towards Aila) – she advises that cutting the silvery thread that binds her to the Astral Plane would kill Aila instantly. She re-sheathes the greatsword, telling Aila that she has no quarrel with her, and that in time, the mortals will serve as slaves to the Githyanki. She gestures towards to Githzerai and tells Aila that for now, she is trying to avoid him. The Githyanki warrior admires Aila for being a strong warrior in amongst the pompous idiots on the ship, and for turning away the Incubus and his sexual advances.

After two or three drinks of ambrosia, both Paultin and the Planetar are drunk. She is leaning on Paultin’s shoulder and telling him that the ship and party reminds her of what she does not have in life. She wants to know more about Paultin, but he tells her that history is not as important as what is in front of you. The Archon does not want to talk about it – it is embarrassing – but he offers to go first to make it less shameful. He tells her about his dead parents, house being blown up five times or more, something about a Dark Lord and curses, and how he just wants normalcy in future. She asks him suddenly if he has ever been in love, telling him that as an Angel, she has to fight an endless war against Demons and Devils, but she has never had the chance to be in love. She sometimes goes in disguise to the Material Plane and buys romance books to read when she is back in the fortress. Paultin has been in love a couple of times, telling her that it’s a beautiful feeling, almost like your insides could fly, and that she deserves to have that feeling. They hug and she begins to stroke Paultin drunkenly, calling him very handsome…
Q

uill gives Jassemir a drink before he tells Quill that he can read his mind – he knows that Quill is terrified of being eaten and that there is something that Quill wants from Jassemir. Quill tells him that he just wants to go home - Jassemir offers to make Quill a deal to make that happen, saying that his Lord, Mammon, is working on something big at the moment and that he could always use more help. Just as Quill is beginning to agree to the deal, Havi (who overhears this) asks the Githzerai to hold on, then runs across the room to Quill, telling him not to agree to anything because there is always a cost on the other side. When Jassemir asks about her prior experience, Zuni comes across and stares at him, which alarms Jassemir somewhat. Havi asks what the trade would be for such a deal and Jassemir says that he wants to know what the Githyanki is up to in the Hells – if they can find that out, he will tell them what they want to know. Quill makes the deal and heads towards Aila with Havi and Jassemir staring at each other.

Aila, still talking to the Githyanki, first sees Quill approaching them, then the Githzerai from another direction with a drink in hand. The Githyanki, Zarith, looks over and asks the Githzerai what he is doing there – he tells her that he comes with a peace offering (offering her a drink from the bar) – she angrily declines because she already has one and is talking to Aila. As the two of them begin to make sniping comments at each other, Aila wedges herself between them and asks to know more about the Githzerai while Havi runs over to them and asks the priest to trade drinks (offering him the drugged drink that she had prepared earlier). She tells him that she had found him a non-alcoholic beverage (which he does not believe is on offer). When Quill also joins them and they pressure the two Giths to make a toast, they all drink. While the two Giths glare at each other, their eyes turn a clouded pink… they blink a few times and continue staring as Havilar almost immediately vomits. Where it hits, there is sizzling and popping – there was some sort of poison in the glass that the Githzerai was bringing over to the Githyanki.

The Githzerai looks at the Githyanki and says, “I never realised how powerful you are…”, while the Githyanki mentions how wise she has always believed the Githzerai to be. They decide that they should go into a corner and talk more but Quill interrupts them, wanting to know something from the Githyanki, calling her a man. The rest apologise for Quill’s rudeness as Zuni begins to lick up the vomit. Havi, recovering from throwing up, tells the Githyanki that they have been tasked by “their boss” to ask her if she “is ready with the thing in the place” and points at Zuni. Merg Zorm is confused, but when Quill casually mentions the Hells, Zarith’s hand goes to her sword as she asks what he means. Quill doesn’t know either, and makes a hell of a pun.

Paultin pulls himself away from the Angel, telling her that he needs to pee. He is covered in blue lipstick and has feathers in his hair but tells her that he will be back – she continues drinking ambrosia as she droops on the chaise lounge. Paultin makes their way over to the rest of the group as the Giths look suspiciously at Quill… There is a sudden flash of light from just outside the grand ballroom – up in the purple, starry, hazy sky, there is a colossal emergence of *something* before four giant tentacles wrap around the glass dome of the ballroom. All the guests look around, panicked. Quill sees that where the glass has been cracked by the impact of the tentacles, a faint yellow gas is now seeping into the room and filtering towards the floor. The Planar inhabitants begin to sway backwards and forwards before falling to the floor, breathing but completely paralysed. The only ones unaffected are Aila, Quill, Paultin, and Havilar because they are astral projections. Even Zuni is paralysed.

The tentacles begin to move on the glass dome before a pair of chains falls from the roof of the dome itself to the floor. Five figures begin to rappel down the chains, four of which appear to be grey-skinned Dwarves. They are bald with dark grey skin, white beards, and they are decked in dark, patchwork armour – some even have eye patches and wooden legs. They are armed with cutlasses and weird long barrelled firearms. Leading them, in the centre, is a distorted figure with a bulbous chest, and elongated head with milky black eyes and tentacles over its mouth. It is a Mind Flayer, decked out in leather armour with a long scabbard and an eye painted on its forehead. One of its hands is a hook, and it has a peg leg. “Well, well, well,” he says, “what do we be havin’ here? Right plunderin’ of juicy brains for old Pirate Captain Zerrex! Ha ha ha har!”

Zerrex is surprised to find mortals who are still conscious, believing that they might be stowaways. Paultin tells Zerrex that they have been waiting for him, and that there has been a change of plans – he tells them that the brains are being prepared for consumption, but they are not ripe yet. Zerrex is confused and asks if Paultin is trying to deceive a Mind Flayer. The rest of them see the temples on the bulbous, squid-like head throb as he stares into Paultin’s eyes – Paultin feels the presence of tentacles in his mind, pulling apart memories and thoughts, and looking at why they are here. Zerrex is not fooled but is amused. He tells the mortals that he is not after them and could not eat their brains anyway since they are astral projections, however, he does want Duskwillow’s brain – he has been after that for a century. Quill tells Zerrex that they have a deal, but he does not care – Quill tries to convince him and allows him to read Quill’s memories. Quill remembers all of the painful things that he has been through recently as his mind is read but Zerrex does not care to examine the memories about the deal that they have with Duskwillow. Paultin wonders if they could leave if Zerrex takes Duskwillow’s brain – he does not care, but Paultin tells him that they will have to discuss it. Zerrex loses control of the situation as they tell him to be quiet, so he sends a shockwave of psychic energy through all minds except Aila’s (who resists the effect) and insists that the party be quiet instead.

Having quietened them, Zerrex steps towards Havilar, wrapping a tentacle around her head, and threatening to send her back to where she came from so that she can suffer forever. She can feel the tentacle trying to tear her skull open and this triggers her *Hellish Rebuke*, with a scorching flame erupting from her to engulf him in retaliation. The singed captain orders the rest of his men to get the rest of the crew – two of them pull out the enormous blunderbusses while the others draw their cutlases. The guns are aimed at Paultin and Quill while the swordsmen run at Aila. Both Quill and Paultin dodge the column of flame that comes from each of the guns, but Aila is hit by both of the swordsmen.

Quill uses his bandore to summon *Spirit Guardians* in the form of waves of small birds – the birds fly out and attack the Duergar, blasting them with radiant energy. Paultin asks if any of the pirates will be prepared to leave willingly – they are not – so he holds out his arm, and from under his cloak, a severed hand appears in his hand. He points the hand towards the pirates and casts *Mass Suggestion* on all of the pirates in the room. He recommends that they leave for the sake of their own health. The captain and one of the Duergar fighting against Aila manage to resist the suggestion of the spell, but three of the Dwarves look to be affected and confused.

Aila rages, lightning crackling up and down her body and into her hammer causing the gem in it to sparkle. She smacks the Dwarf, hitting him twice and zapping him with lightning damage – the second hammer blow punches through his ribcage, breaking the bones, and his body is hurled across into the glass dome which shatters before the body goes flying out into the silvery sea. Havilar, grappled by the pirate captain, manages to tear the tentacle from her head and to break free. She steps back and swings her glaive at him, her first swing bouncing off his armour and tough hide but slamming him in the face with her second thrust and knocking out one of his teeth.

All of a sudden, the glass dome above them breaks and one of the giant tentacles falls on Quill, pushing him to the floor and injuring him. Quill’s spirit guardians fly around the captain, pecking at and flying into him. The captain directs a *Dominate* spell at Aila, and while Paultin attempts to *Counterspell* it, he cannot overcome the Mind Flayer’s spell. Aila is ordered to attack and kill Paultin. As a result of the mass suggestion, the three surviving Duergar run towards the (now) open sides of the ship – one is killed by spirit birds, but the other two launch themselves into open space.

The captain, disgusted by his mutinous crew, insists that he will deal with the mortals himself. Quill casts *Healing Word* on Havilar before looking at Jassemir and using his Eye of the Storm to ask “What are you up to at this party?”

*Quill’s vision turns misty and clouded and in a rush, he suddenly sees Jassemir the Incubus meeting with a Devil down in the depths of Avernus, a fiery wasteland of yellow dust, volcanoes, obsidian mountains, and flame. Quill sees him meeting with a red-skinned, horned Devil – an old creature, millennia old, and very powerful – in the depths of a forge. “Xariel is up to something, my dear Jassemir. I would like your master to provide me with some pure platinum that I can deal with her plans. Whatever she’s up to, it involves Baldur’s Gate. Go and speak with your planar allies, see what she can learn”.*

Quill, suddenly back in reality, shouts out to Jassemir that he knows what Jassemir is up to and also that Quill never liked him.

Aila snaps back to reality, losing the urge to kill Paultin because the captain’s concentration had been broken due to the presence of the spiritual guardians – she holds her hammer up, charging it with lightning before launching it at the Mind Flayer. The hammer strikes true, and as lightning arcs up and down his body, Captain Zerrex is heard to utter, “I knew I should have gone somewhere else!” before he explodes, covering them all in Mind Flayer blood and purple goo. Once the Mind Flayer dies, the tentacles withdraw from the Stroke of Midnight and they see the ship behind the tentacles, a giant Nautiloid – it suddenly appears to collapse in on itself to a tiny dot… then vanishes altogether. The gas begins to dissipate, and everyone begins to come to again. Jassemir, Quill notices, is looking at him with all the hate in the world.

Lady Duskwillow comes quickly to her senses and congratulates them on saving them. Quill is keen to return home, so she opens a tiny vial and gestures – tiny silvery lines from their lines begin to fill into the vial. Paultin asks for one final favour – he wants an access at any point bridge between his own plane and the Astral Plane. She agrees, reaches up with a hand, and the image of a spider web with a crescent moon appears as a tattoo on his forearm and begins glowing. The other three each receive a silver coin, telling them to tell her what they want when they get home, and she will make sure that it happens. Duskwillow stoppers the vial, and they suddenly feel the rushing movement that indicates that their departure from the Astral Plane is imminent. Quill and Aila tell the others that they hope to get to work together again some day, and Quill throws and insult at Jassemir before they are all immediately taken back to their bodies.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:12 - Episode Start
05:33 - Intro
06:30 - Part 1

## **Featured Characters**

#### **Player Characters**

* Aila
* Havilar
* Paultin Seppa
* Qillek Ad Khollar

#### **New NPCs**

* Garcon
* Blip (imp)
* Zuni (Havilar’s hellhound)
* Lady Duskwillow
* Jassemir
* Archon Erymanthea
* Merg Zorm (Githzerai)
* Zarith (Githyanki)
* Pirate Captain Zerrex

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Lucius
* Nova
* Sentry
* Lord Mammon (Lord of the Third Hell)
* Lord Bel (Lord of the First Hell)

## **Featured Locations**

* The Astral Plane
	+ The Stroke of Midnight (Lady Duskwillow's ship)

## **Trivia**

* CptnClusterDuck (39SaltyCookies on the High Rollers Discord) posted the stats and analysis for this chapter on Reddit.
* Lady Duskwillow speaks with a pronounced French accent.
* Paultin is Level 12, while both Aila and Quill are level 6. This was allowed because Mark says to Tom that Nate is “really famous and cool, and I like Nate the most”. Mark later describes Nate as his “Pat Rothfuss”.
* The Incubus, Jassemir, has a Southern Irish accent.
* Mark coined a new Markism in this episode: “winged wings”, which Katie picked him up on.
* Paultin has a +13 persuasion.
* Tom spends much of this episode being worried about being eaten – by the hellhound, Paultin, the Incubus, the Gith, and the Demon.
* Aila attacks recklessly in this episode. This is one of the few times that she does so.
* Mark describes the Mind Flayer being hit in the face with a glaive – a little Mind Flayer tooth is knocked out of “his tiny little butt hole mouth… that’s what they have!”
* Mark makes a concentration check for the captain (for *Dominate Monster*) because of the damage from the spiritual guardians. This should not have occurred because the *Dominate Monster* was cast after the spiritual guardians had done their damage.

## **References**

1. ↑ Said by Mark on Twitter, also noted in the YouTube and podcast descriptions.