Aerois - Episode 179: Duel of the Fates

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Duel of the Fates** is the 179th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 26th March 2023 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*It's come to this...a duel against the Valkyrian Emperor himself - Kalus Starbane!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Merch: Go to Freshstore.co to check out the amazing High Rollers collection. They have a glitter dice set (“The Blessing”) which comes in a scroll case, and the core collection: t-shirts, long-sleeved tees and a hoodie with the new medieval style wood block print – available until they have sold out. The poster has already sold out.
* Mark and Katie thanked Lou from YRS TRULY and Elise from Wizards D&D who invited Mark and Katie to the D&D movie Premier. They got to see a lot of professional D&D players and DMs as well as a couple of HR fans.
* Kim is being interviewed by BBC Radio 4 (on Front Row) about D&D on Monday sometime between 7.15-8pm BST.
* Katie will be on the Chaotic Questers stream this week on Thursday. Keep an eye out for a Tweet from her about it.
* The last episode of Fury of the Black Rose will be screening tomorrow on CNE Games’ Twitch channel at 6pm BST. Mark’s character, Miria, is available in the game now.

### **Recap**

*"Last time the Champions faced off against a Seed of Hadar: an insidious fragment of the entropic creature that had infected the mind of the titan, Atelicus. A desperate battle with twists and turns aplenty was eventually won as Quill delivered the final blow after rising from near death. But even with the seed destroyed, Atelicus’ rage remained, however, a blast of magic from the great Astral Warship, the Astoria, as well as a strange figure in the sky city of Kassatoris, forced him to submit, and as the anger subsided, it turned to grief and regret and the giant titan decided to give up their power back to his mother, Siaska, Goddess of Stars.

However, in order to battle Atelicus, the party had agreed to receive aid from Kalus Valkyrian, also known as Starbane and Astral Emperor, in exchange for meeting him prior to Siaska’s awakening. As they travelled to the sky city of Kassatoris to fulfil this agreement, Kalus appeared to them and told them that he had come to understand the truth about the visions they and he had shared, and that he believed that the party may be the key to truly defeating Hadar. But to ensure that they were capable of doing so, and protecting that which he loves most, they would first need to defeat him."*
### **Part 1**

*Kallus(sic) Starbane vs the Stormchasers... the Duel of the Fates!*

Kassatoris was once a great city of Aerois. When Atelicus heard (incorrectly) that his mother had been slain by Kalus Valkyrian, he drove his great spear into the earth, causing floods, earthquakes, and devastation, and the face of Aerois was changed forever. Some cities, like Solwynn, were drowned, sent to the bottom of the ocean, but others, like Gusthaven, were saved. H’esper lifted seven cities up to travel on the winds and to protect them from the ravages of the great cataclysm – one of these seven sky cities was Kassatoris. Unlike Horizon or Gusthaven, which prospered with their sudden elevation, Kassatoris was unlucky: its path on the winds did not take it on a route that allowed trade or resource gathering and, slowly, over the years, the people within perished and the city was left as a haunted ruin. At some point, at a time unknown to the party, Kalus Valkyrian claimed this abandoned city as his own, and cleared out any undead and other undesirables. The city is now a floating stone mausoleum – it is silent as the grave, bereft of life of any kind.

Much of the city is full of tall, beautiful, architectural buildings, but the area in which the party finds itself is a flat, open plaza that once looked out onto the blue sky of Aerois. Now that the city has crash landed, it has become a floating island city, and the blue-sky vista has been replaced with a view of the azure oceans of Aerois. Within the amphitheatre are broken walls and statues, and standing amongst the rubble is Kalus Valkyrian, clad in thick black plate armour with purple crystalline power conduits between the joints. Kalus’ long, dark hair blows gently in the wind and on his back is strapped a greatsword that is highly reminiscent of Nova’s former sword, Tiangong.

Kalus reassures the party that they can take a rest and recuperate – he does not want to fight them until they are at their strongest so that he can be reassured that they are strong enough and ready for their battle. Nova notices Kalus’ sword but is unable to pick up any magical aura or telepathic communications from it and she is not sure if it is because she is tired and overwhelmed from the last few days or whether there is genuinely nothing to pick up on.

Quill examines Sentry, standing in front of Starbane – she looks weary, as if she wants to finish whatever this is with Starbane and move onto the larger problem of Hadar. He also notices that Starbane, who looks very stoic in his facial features, is also standing rigidly, showing very little movement, and Quill suspects that Kalus is waiting for them, almost expecting that they will want to fight him and take out all their anger on him, especially Sentry, Lucius, and Aila.

Lucius challenges Kalus, asking if he would stop them from fighting Hadar if they cannot defeat him. He tells Lucius that he suspects that he knows what Siaska plans and that he wants to make sure that they are strong enough, given that he would be entrusting them with two of the things that he cares about most in the world. Kalus doubts their strength but because of the visions that he has been shown and the faith that Siaska has placed in them, he has begun to doubt and is prepared to give them a chance. If they cannot defeat him, though, Valkyrian tells them that they have no chance against Hadar, and this is a chance for them to test themselves.

Valkyrian admits to them that he has been a conqueror, and denies Sentry’s allegations of being a murderer but agrees that his actions have led to war. He regrets that his former friend, Xarkira, was more duplicitous than he realised. Kalus is aware that Hadar must be stopped, not just because of the threat that it poses to Aerois and Gideon, but also because of the threat that it poses to multiple other universes if the Fateweavers fail to cut their universe off from the others in the web in the event that they fail to stop it.

Aila suggests that they don’t waste time fighting against each other, since they both care about Valla a great deal, but fight together against Hadar. Valkyrian tells them that he does not doubt their will, which has been demonstrated time and time again, what he wants to test is their competence – he wants them to prove that they can protect Valla and stop Hadar. He holds in reserve the plan of using the World Engine if all else (including the party) fails and is concerned that if they do fail, that the party would be handing Valla and Siaska directly to Hadar. Valkyrian confirms to the party that if it meant stopping Hadar that he would sacrifice both Aerois and Gideon as well as his own life without hesitation. Lucius points out that Kalus somehow let Xarkira work directly under him, then defect to Hadar, all without him knowing – Kalus, looking despairing, simply nods and tells them that Xarkira’s betrayal hurts more than they know. He tells them that Xarkira had been a long-time friend and ally, and that they had journeyed together much like the party has and asks them to imagine if Aila, Quill, Sentry, or Nova suddenly turned into a horrible creature bent on nothing but power and greed and asks how they would feel. Valkyrian admits that they have proven to him that he can be both blind and stubborn but indicates the rest of Kassatoris and tells them that even their gods, like H’esper, made mistakes.

Valkyrian agrees that they can fight together and says that he is even prepared to call off his armies whether or not the party loses to him in their contest. Staring straight at Quill, he says that some of them agree with him that if they cannot defeat him, they will not defeat Hadar. Kalus tells them that he has studied them as Hadar will likely have done, and while they have defeated many powerful foes, they have never fought anyone like him, Xarkira, or Hadar, and he thinks it likely that they will have to defeat both Xarkira and Hadar before the end. Nova and Quill agree with him.

Aila, however, is still angry, saying that it is not Kalus’ place to make a choice for Aerois, that the people of Aerois have the right to choose their destiny. Valkyrian vows that he will give them the same choice that he gave the people of Alfheim and Nova, mentioning Vortinssar, tells Aila that she might be surprised by the choice that the people make. Kalus tells them that a slim chance is better than no chance at all but agrees that, should he defeat them, the Stormchasers can provide the people of Aerois with information and allow them to make a choice. He also tells them that if neither of them can stop Hadar, nothing will, regardless of whether they use the World Engine or no.

Nova gets a flicker of a feeling in the back of her mind – admiration and maybe guilt, directed towards Kalus, and she believes that it is from what remains within her of Shansara. Nova gets the sense that Shansara, Harmony, and Tiangong’s essences are tethered or bound to her soul but that they are only present and do not control her – she has to call them, but still does not have control over them. She suggests that they rest after what must be two days of fighting; Starbane agrees to let them rest safely and tells them that he will return in a few hours. Lucius says that he does not care about his own safety, only about the invasion of Aerois, and for that he blames Kalus. Kalus is aware that Lucius does not like him but says that he called off the invasion after Aila showed him the visions using her coin – he also believes Lucius when he says that he does not care about his own safety and cautions Lucius. Kalus tells Lucius that he fears for him, seeing a longing for death in his eyes. Lucius breaks off the conversation abruptly, telling Kalus that he knows nothing and that the party will rest ahead of their battle. Kalus says no more, turns away and walks off.

The sun has set and the Cradle is in full view – Kassatoris is silent except for the odd ocean breeze that whistles eerily through the empty city streets.

Sentry sits on the edge of the city and dangles her legs over the ocean below, looking out, and thinking her own quiet thoughts. She holds Briar in her hands and he slowly starts to collect pebbles and loose scree from the surrounding area.

Nova suggests to Lucius that they take a quiet moment to remember Morgaen and Sanna, but also says that they have gained much – the Astoria, new allies, and Nova has Thalia. Lucius is more cynical, suggesting that they must now win against Starbane or doom everyone.

Nova understands how Lucius is feeling but asks him to remember why they are doing what they are doing; Lucius counters that he never forgot, but that some people have lost their way (suggestive of Kalus). He tells Nova that if they are to beat Starbane and Hadar, they must be the force that wants kinship and wants to live. Nova is puzzled, asking Lucius if he is one of those, and he responds that he is not. Nova is concerned because during the last few fights, she has noticed that he has fought hard, being meaner and crueller to himself than ever before, pushing himself to the edge of death again and again, and she reminds him that he does not have to die for them to win. Lucius appreciates the confirmation.

Nova speaks to him of the peace that she felt in the Astral Sea when she had died and tells him that she returned because they called her back, because everyone needs them and because they are fighting for a world that does not need heroes (even though they are those heroes at this time). She tells Lucius that they must therefore stay alive for everyone else, no matter how burdensome, and that they cannot lose him. Lucius promises that he will fight with every breath that he has but that he will not give himself up easily, except for the right reasons.

Quill is peering out at what only he can see – a tiny purple triangle way off in the distance that is the entrance to the Halls of Infinite Perception. He knows that on the other side, with all of the titans having returned, Siaska is currently re-forming, and he looks forward to returning there as soon as possible. It is also true, however, that Quill agrees with Starbane – he knows how tough the fight with a simple Seed of Hadar was, and he thinks it a good thing that they should test their mettle against Starbane, a person they have been chasing for some time. He also thinks that beating Starbane would give them a morale boost before they head for the final battle with Hadar.

Aila finds herself wandering around the ruins, thinking about possible futures. She worries that what happened to Alfheim will happen to Aerois and is determined that it will not.

They take some rest for a few hours, and Quill hands out some healing potions that he had been holding onto. As they take their rest, Lucius stares at the prismatic light of the Cradle above them and feels magic restoring within him – he learns the spell *Prismatic Wall* to replace his lost *Wish* spell.

After 5-6 hours, Kalus returns but stands back, waiting for the party to complete their rest. As dawn breaks, Nova and quill wake from their sleep to see red streaking fire and golden amber light streaking across the sky. The light is reflected from the water into the city, creating an eerie atmosphere. As the Champions take their place in the arena, Kalus strides out to meet them and asks if they refuse the challenge – they do not. He reaches behind him an draws the greatsword at his back. It is a long, blue and black blade, but not an exact replica of Nova’s Tiangong - it is different in its size, shape, and proportions, but it is similar, like looking at a similar brother. For the first time, they hear a voice, and it is the voice of Tiangong asking his Emperor if the challengers are ready. At the sound of the all-too-familiar voice, Nova’s heart drops as she recalls her friend who was destroyed. Lucius asks one thing of Valkyrian as he adjusts his gauntlet – he asks that Kalus does not hold back. Kalus laughs, saying that neither of them should show any mercy to the other since Hadar will show none. He nods at Lucius whose eyes flicker prismatically.

Valkyrian is wearing thick, heavy, full plate armour, the likes of which they have never seen on him before, he creaks into position, lifts the blade to rest it on his shoulder and signals at them with one hand to come at him.

Starbane begins by sweeping Tiangong through the air in front of him and four force blasts hit Quill, Lucius, and Aila, missing Nova – all four of them are pulled ten feet towards him. He then pulls out a round Magitek orb and throws it in the air, creating a *Fireball* which Aila and Sentry resist and Lucius uses *Absorb Elements* on. Finally, he throws out a hand, pulling his arm into an upturned fist – the ground in a 20-foot square (a *Dampening Field*) around Sentry, Aila, Quill, and Lucius is suddenly coated in a flicker of purple magic and they suddenly notice their legs become stiffened and their movement is slowed.

Aila moves out of the field, feeling the slowing effect diminish before she rages – she takes some damage as the lingering energy from the magic field reacts with her effort. Using a charge of The Howling Tempest, Aila flies at Kalus and hits him twice with it, noticing that her lightning seems to be somewhat absorbed by his armour. Starbane is taking his blows but almost seems nonplussed by them as if analysing Aila’s attacks, and he is barely raising a sweat. Aila smirks at him. Kalus drops down and elbows Aila in the stomach, knocking her prone.

Lucius examines the magic field, realising that it is attaching its magical energy to them and that it has the effect of the *Slow* spell. He moves out of the field, quickens *Mirror Image*, creating 3 images of himself and then appears to throw four *Firebolts* at Kalus – the real one hits, but Kalus is also resistant to fire. Kalus hits the prone Aila with Tiangong.

Sentry moves out of the magical field, pointing Starbreaker at Kalus and activating it before plunging its tip into the ground and casting *Circle of Power.* Nova holds up her sword, shouts “Heavensward” and blasts Kalus with one single bolt of *Eldritch Blast*, noticing that like fire and lightning, Kalus is resistant to it. Quill analyses the magic that is clinging to him from the field, understanding how the magic causes damage. He flies above the field, 10 feet up, and casts *Beacon of Hope* before Kalus attacks Aila once more with Tiangong.

Kalus then holds out a hand and teleports 60 feet, only to appear, cape flying, hovering in the air just above Quill (15 feet in the air). He hits Quill with three slashing attacks from Tiangong, disrupting *Beacon of Hope* and almost warping part of Quill’s body away, which he resists. Kalus then looks at Lucius, pulls out a small, flat disc, and throws it at him – the disc hits the illusions, lets out a spark of magic and all of the illusions disappear.

Aila flies up using the rest of her hammer’s charge and hits him twice before zapping him with lightning. She notices that Kalus is moving extremely slowly for a seasoned warrior – the armour is very thick and it appears that this is what he is relying on to protect him. His attacks are not rapid attacks, and even in the air, his movement is sluggish. Aila moves to land and Kalus hits her with Tiangong as she drops. Kalus then spins in the air holding Tiangong and shouts, “GEMINI VORTEX!”, conjuring two spinning auras of bladed energy that manifest near him and are sent down to the ground where one pulls Quill close to it as both vortices remain on the ground.

Lucius casts *Armor of Agathys*, pulls out his Captain’s Command, adds his fire damage stored in his gauntlet, and attacks the nearby vortex. There is no physical form to the vortex which is made of wind and energy, and Lucius’ strike does little or no damage to it so he attempts to move away from it. Sentry moves away and *Enlarges.* Kalus points at Sentry, taps his wrist, and hits her with a *Mind Whip*. Nova *Misty Steps* up to Kalus in mid-air and slashes at him with her sword, hitting him three times – his armour absorbs most of the radiant magic from her sword before she begins to fall to the ground and hides behind an outcropping of rock.

Quill moves away from the vortex and heals himself and tries to work out some information on the device on Kalus’ wrist – because it is Magitek rather than magic, Quill cannot fathom how it works.

### **Part 2**

*The epic duel continues as the Stormchasers start to bring out the big guns!*

The party is currently engaged in a battle, a duel, with Kalus Valkyrian, an enemy that has had a presence since they first met each other aboard the Sparrowhawk, the airship that crash-landed and set them on this adventure together. Kalus is now putting them through their paces in the city of Kassatoris to see if they are strong enough to face Hadar.

Kalus looks to Nova and asks, “So, you wish to reunite?” and, saying so, he flicks his blade and calls a manifestation of the blade to stand next to her. Instead of Nova’s humanoid form, this is an Eterna form of Tiangong – it slashes at Nova, hitting her, and she hears an all too familiar voice in her head, “Aah, so you are the one. The one that bonded with my other self. Strange they are not here now.” Once he has called this manifestation, Kalus turns to the rest of them, beautifully lined up for him, swings his blade and yells, “SWEEPING PLASMA CUTTER!” as he sends a blast of magic out towards them.

Lucius manages to dodge all damage, but Quill and Aila are injured by the blow. Kalus presses buttons on one of his wrist devices and moves the dampening field to cover Aila, Lucius and Quill. He finishes by slashing Aila with his sword. One of the vortices swings past Quill, slashing at him, but also pulls him out of the magic field.

Aila smacks Kalus once with her hammer and tries to knock him prone, however, he manages to avoid it with his incredible strength. He counters by hitting Aila and attempting to smash the hammer out of her hands, but she manages to pull it back and avoids the disarm attempt. Aila notices that while the armour is still absorbing much of the damage that he is taking, Kalus now seems a lot more aware and cautious as he fights them. Lucius moves to the edge of the field and engages his Prismatic Mastery. Kalus casts a spell in Lucius’ direction, injuring him and limiting some of his abilities the next time he acts. Sentry *Misty Steps* to get nearer to Starbane.

Nova moves towards Kalus, taking an attack from Tiangong as she does. She casts *Hexblade Curse* on him and swings at him, missing and leaving an opening for Kalus to riposte - he hits, knocking Nova’s sword, Farseeker, out of her hand, and it drops to her feet. Nova, seeing the Eterna blade in Kalus’ hands and having had another of her weapons taken away from her, is distraught and furious: she channels all of her rage and sorrow into two mighty swings of her fists. In her anguish, the first goes wide. Kalus is surprised and shocked, however, as the tiny Nova jumps up and makes a furiously controlled swing with her fist - it is targeted perfectly, catching Kalus directly in his smug face. The punch, incredibly powerful in Nova’s mind, simply taps Kalus’ jaw and bounces off – he looks at Nova, impressed, telling her, “I did not think you had it in you…”

Nova retorts in a cold fury, “I am done with having things taken away from me!”

Kalus glances at her and answers quietly, “Then you should hold on tighter.”

Nova, focused on Kalus, and wishing to slap him for his devastating retort, is slashed by a cool and unforgiving Tiangong.

Quill is desperate – he wants to do far more than he will have time to do in a few seconds, and decides that it might be a good time to cast *Time Stop.*

Quill sees multiple futures with different Quills, and he attempts to manifest them all into a single reality as they pass through the world, all casting spells at the same time. Quill flies above the magic field to a height of 15 feet and casts *Beacon of Hope.* He then summons Elder Quill who casts *Holy Aura*, Quill dispels the magic field beneath him, then casts *Mass Cure Wounds* to heal everyone and remove the magical effects on them. To everyone else, the battle proceeds as normal when suddenly, Quill is not where he just was, he glows with a holy power, and Elder Quill is beside him as they both cast spells. The magical dampening field disappears as healing magic flows across the battlefield through them. Quill then returns to land behind Sentry.

Kalus smirks at Quill, “You’ve mastered time magic – that’s the only way this is possible.” Kalus looks at Quill with respect, but Quill can also sense that he is now going to be Kalus’ next target. The vortices disappear before Kalus uses *Misty Step* to move to Quill and Sentry.

Manifested Tiangong attacks Nova and slashes her before asking, “What have you done with my other half? Where are they? I do not sense them.”

Nova, in moral indignation, responds, “They sacrificed themselves to save Vortinssar. I tried to stop them.” There is no response from the manifestation.

Kalus swings thrice at Quill, hitting twice, which disrupts *Holy Aura* and *Beacon of Hope*, and Quill narrowly avoids Tiangong warping him to another place. Aila moves up to Kalus and smashes him with her hammer before Kalus hits Quill. Tiangong slashes into Nova again. Lucius throws an icy *Chromatic Orb* at Kalus, and hits him, watching as it is partly absorbed. Because he is in his Prismatic Mastery form, Lucius changes his Dichromancy to do turn the ice to black necrotic magic and watches as it strikes Kalus straight on without being absorbed. Kalus is almost surprised. Lucius, meanwhile, has taken a fragment of the necrotic spell that has splashed onto Kalus and twisted it to turn towards Quill – with Chromatic Control, he changes it to force, and makes it look like Lucius’ face – it kisses Quill and he is suddenly surrounded by a shimmering barrier that protects him temporarily and partially from force damage.

Kalus is distracted by the hits on him and misses Quill with his next attack, but Tiangong slashes into Nova once more. Sentry steps in and drills into Starbane with Starbreaker twice – parts of the armour start to crack, and Kalus is clearly impressed, trying to push the lance away, saying, “This is a warrior – this is a battle now!”

Nova grabs the ethereal Tiangong blade, feeling searing pain as she does so. She begins to channel everything that she has learned from her Tiangong - memories, emotions, the death, everything, into the blade. The sword tries to defend itself and attacks Nova, who activates *Tomb of Levistus*, freezing her and the sword in place. She and Tiangong are locked in a contest of wills – Nova is trying to pour the memories, knowledge, and personality of her Tiangong back into the other half of the sword, and she can feel that knowledge being pulled from her.

Quill casts *Shocking Grasp* on Kalus, causing lightning to course through the armour – small purple sparks can be seen as Quill thinks that he may have interrupted the power of the thick armour suit. Kalus lets out a grunt as his body spasms. Quill takes this opportunity to fly up and away and gives himself a *Shield of Faith.* Kalus, seeing Quill trying to escape, throws a small sphere after him – it detonates before imploding, creating a gravity sinkhole. Before it can hit Sentry, Lucius, and Quill, however, the power of the Prime Matrix pushes out to force the dark magic away from them, before it dissipates. Kalus, not realising Sentry’s abilities, looks impressed for the first time.

“Very well,” he says, “you have proven that you are stronger than I first expected, and you have powers far greater than I knew. Very well!” He reaches up to press a button on his left shoulder, “Tassadar, disengage restraints.” They watch as some sort of pneumatic releases begin to activate causing connecting pieces of the armour begin to fly apart. As the heavy plate suit falls away, they begin to see the more familiar, skin-tight black armour with patches of Magitek – the armour that they have seen him in before – is revealed. He stretches his neck from side to side and twirls his sword a few times. They notice that as the armour hits the ground, it kicks up dust, and they realise that the armour must have weighed tonnes. Once the dust has cleared, they notice a brief shimmer in the air around him and two drones appear from the shoulder pads of the armour as they break away from the rest of the suit. They notice that one drone has a pivot-mounted cannon on it while the other has a generator device with a crystal inside it, and it appears to be generating a field.

Kalus raises his sword into a high guard position and attacks Sentry, hitting her four times, breaking her concentration on *Circle of Power*. Aila moves in and trades missed blows with Kalus before striking him with the hammer and zapping him with lightning (to which he is no longer resistant). Kalus plants himself on the ground and appears disappears - Lucius cannot see him, even with *True Sight* (although he does notice two versions of Tiangong wrestling with each other). He twins a *Chromatic Orb* and sends them towards both drones – when the orb gets to about fifteen feet from the drone with the crystal, it winks out of existence. The other orb hits the second drone and a streak of acid from Dichromancy joins it, coating the drone with the cannon.

Aila and Sentry feel something move past them – for a brief second, Lucius sees Kalus appear in front of him. Both Aila and Sentry make attacks against the unseen foe but miss, while Kalus strikes Lucius with his sword before disappearing again. Sentry summons a defender Celestial that looks like Herald – a golden Guardian with wings and a large shield - and works out that because Lucius cannot see Starbane that he must simply be moving so fast that their eyes cannot keep up with him. She believes that the Magitek on his suit is assisting with this ability, and that he only really seems to appear when he stops to attack. The defender Celestial heals Quill.

The attack drone, equipped with the cannon, emits an aura and pushes Aila away from it before firing at her and Quill with two different coloured beams. Quill casts *Shield,* deflecting the beam. The beam hits Aila, restraining her and tethering her to the ground.

Quill sees Nova trapped in a large block of ice, engaged in a mental battle with Kalus’ version of Tiangong. He uses *Portent* and sends Elder Quill to fly towards Nova – he reaches through the icy prison to place his hand on top of Nova’s, the hand that is holding Tiangong, and gives Nova a surge of confidence. She knows that her allies are there with her and that no matter what happens next, they will be there for her. Previously, she could feel Kalus’ Tiangong and its mind overpowering her memory and magic, but now it swings back the other way as she begins to channel the darker and more emotional moments towards it – she recalls the feeling of terror as she stood on the precipice of the rift in Vortinssar, Tiangong standing near her, and many other heart-breaking moments that help to tip the balance back towards the centre. The *Tomb of Levistus* shatters, leaving Nova standing, eyes shut and arms extended, desperately grabbing onto the still blade, almost as if they have been frozen in time.

Quill flies to line up the drones and blasts them with a *Sunbeam –* the attack drone is scorched and part of its armour is torn off as it begins to look slightly worse for wear. The crystal carrying defence drone initially appears to try to *Counterspell* the effect but fails, then tries to block the *Sunbeam* with some sort of shield - eventually the powerful magic penetrates it and burns this drone as well. The drone then attempts to *Counterspell* the *Sunbeam*, but Quill detects this and uses his other *Portent* to make it fail.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00:00 - Intro
0:06:40 - Dun Duns
0:07:38 - Part 1
1:36:1 2- Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Kalus Valkyrian
* Tiangong

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Tassadar
* H'esper
* Xarkira
* Hadar
* Siaska
* Morgaen
* Sanna

## **Featured Locations**

* Starfall Archipelago
	+ Kassatoris

## **Trivia**

* Mark refers to himself as being known as “the cloak guy”. This is following his appearance on the red carpet at the UK pre-screening event of the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in a majestic cloak.
* Tom said that he “fuckin’ adores” Starbane and wore purple because of that this week. Kim said that she almost wore her Mark Hulmes original “Sexy Starbane” t-shirt for this week’s stream.
* Tom and Trott were both using their Starbane Coffee mugs this week.
* Lucius can learn the spell *Prismatic Wall* because of his special Arcane Chromat subclass ability. Normally, this spell would be barred to him as a sorcerer. He takes this spell to replace the *Wish* spell that he can no longer cast.
* Tom insists that he told them when he was downed that he had a potion on him. Mark pointed out that he would not have been able to tell them in game if he was unconscious. (Tom called for the VoD squad to confirm this, and he did mutter something unintelligible to Katie about potions when she complained that she had no way of healing either of Quill or Lucius (who was about to render himself unconscious with a spell)).
* Mark fixed Trott’s broken Lucius miniature for this episode. Katie advised Mark that the end of her hammer broke off Aila’s mini some time ago but she does not know where the broken bit is. Mark assured her that he would fix it as he has the “back-up mini”.
* Mark converted a Stormcast mini to make the Kalus Valkyrian mini.
* Mark asked the players to be patient, saying that the Kalus stat block is probably the most complex one he has ever made.
	+ Kalus has an ability/feature called Replicate Spell that allows him to use a Magitek orb to replicate a spell. Kalus can replace one of his attacks with his magic Replicate Spell.
	+ Kalus’ Magitek is “like a spell” but is not technically a spell (considered a “magical effect”), so many of Nova’s abilities will not work against Kalus. Likewise, Sentry’s aura will not affect it, but her saving throw aura will still be effective.
	+ The *Dampening Field* gives each person inside a stack of “Magitek Field” when the field is cast and every person who starts their turn in the field gain another stack at the start of their turn. Once out of the field, a player will lose a stack of Magitek Field at the end of their turn.
	+ Those within it must make a Wis saving throw (DC ? at least 22 – 21 is a failure, 25 a success) – a fail results in being affected by the *Slow* spell. Moving out of the field cancels the effects of the *Slow* spell.
	+ Once out of the field(?), taking a bonus action will result in d? (6?) of force damage being done to the player.
	+ Kalus has a legendary action called *Powerful* (something muttered). This does ? damage and can either knock the hit recipient prone or ?. There is no save if hit.
	+ Any time they are hit by certain Magitek attacks, it will give them a stack of Magitek Field. The stack is triggered when they move more than 10 feet, attack more than once per round or use a bonus action on their turn. When triggered, force damage is caused at 1d4 per stack. 1 stack is lost at the end of every turn, 3 stacks are lost if the player did not trigger any damage from the effect during that turn, any effect that can remove conditions or spells from a target will also remove stacks.
	+ Kalus has a bonus action, Deep Strike, that allows him to teleport 60 feet. There is a similar ability named Deep Strike in Warhammer 40K.
	+ Once Tiangong hits someone twice, it has the potential ability to warp parts of the person struck away. They must make a charisma saving throw or ????? effect unknown.
	+ The disc that Kalus uses to dispel Lucius’ mirror images costs him 3 energy.
	+ Legendary Action – Gemini Vortex – Kalus creates two auras of bladed energy that can be sent 20 feet away. Any creature within 5 feet of the vortex as it moves must make a strength saving throw (DC between 18 and 26) or take d?? of slashing damage, gain a stack of Magitek Field, and are pulled along in its wake (if they fail the str saving throw). The cyclones remain in place at the end of the turn.
	+ Replicate Spell – Kalus uses Mind Whip against Sentry.
	+ Kalus makes a strength save against Aila’s attempt to knock him prone – he rolls a natural 20 for a result of 37. Mark confirmed later that Kalus is stronger than Aila.
	+ If someone misses Kalus with an attack, he can use his “Try Again” reaction to hit with Powerful Strike.
	+ Kalus’ attack bonus is +18.
	+ Gravity Sinkhole does 5d10 damage and requires a constitution saving throw – DC ? (24 was a success). Success results in half damage and not being pulled into the gravity well.
	+ Remove Restraints is the ability that activates to remove Kalus’ heavy plate armour and takes him to Phase 2 (his mythic phase).
	+ These types of drones have been seen before – in the Valkyrian ship under the lake in Ironwick and also at the Shansara concert in Vortinssar.
	+ Kalus is much faster in Phase 2.
	+ In his Phase 2, Kalus has a number of stances:
		- Highguard stance – Kalus is more vulnerable but does more damage when he hits. If he is hit, Kalus ripostes the attacker, doing 10 slashing damage.
		- Some form of defensive stance.
	+ As a mythic action, Kalus can move so fast that he appears to be invisible.
* Mark does not like how restrictive Time Stop is so he agreed with Tom to make some changes to how it works in this campaign. As long as he does not interfere with the hit points, location, or equipment of a creature, (e.g., try to move them, or interact with a specific creature (taking their equipment away, move them, heal them, or damage them)), he can take multiple turns. Quill is immune to the vortices and the magic field that Kalus had created.
* Kim asked Mark if she could do a “cool thing with Tiangong” that would use up both of her spell slots. Mark promised Kim that a cool thing would happen regardless of what she rolled, but the extent of the thing’s success would depend on the roll. Kim was told that if Nova succeeded, she would implant a memory or fragment of her own Tiangong into the other sword. The roll would be a best of 3 with the blade winning the first round and Nova winning the second. The final roll would not be made until episode 180, and Kim was not coping well with the wait.
* While Nova was locked in the battle of wills with Tiangong, the manifestation of Tiangong was unable to attack Nova further, Kalus was able to fight with the sword but would not get the benefits of manifesting the Eterna, and he would lose other abilities that were not known.
* Mark mentioned that Sentry’s solo mission that is seen in the Idle Champions’ Fury of the Black Rose “happens in real Aerois” but that they don’t know when it happens yet. This confirms that what happens in that campaign is canon.

## **Quotes**

* Katie: I’ll take the 2 regulars because I’ve got more movement…
* Tom: 2 regulars? So I’ve now got none.
* Mark: Yeah.
* Katie: But you can heal.
* Tom (incensed): Not if I’m dead!
* Katie: So I come over to you with one of my fucking potions and put it in your face!

## Notes

1. ↑ Segment with Kim starts at 12:13. Signin to bbc.co.uk required, VPN may be needed if outside the UK.