Aerois - Episode 89: Domain of the Arcane

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Ravs as Johan

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Domain of the Arcane** is the 89th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 25th October 2020 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Having reunited with Johan, it's time to enter H'esper's temple and see what dangers await the party inside...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomed everyone and introduced the players: there is a guest player today, Ravs, playing Johan.
* This week's sponsor is D&D Beyond.
* New merch will be coming out soon: a Quill t-shirt, dice tray, plastic dice, a restock on the prime hoodies and a big epic winter collection including a long-sleeved t-shirt, an Xmas jumper and some pins.
* Rhiannon finally got partnered on Twitch.

### **Recap**

"*After dreams and visions plague their sleep, the party make their way towards Voksar, a continent they visited once before, though not by choice. Here they will find the Valley of the Storms, a place that has called to Qillek ad Khollar since his journey began. A man named Johan waits for them there, as does a mission sent by H'esper, the god of sky and magic.*
*But as their airship, the Stormchaser, approaches Voksar, they see the continent is engulfed in an epic storm like none that they have seen before. The only solace in the face of such an event comes from Nova V'ger, who has diligently crafted a new prosthetic wing for Quill. Though hesitant, he tries it on, and once again feels the freedom and joy of flight.*
*The storm beckons, however, and as the Stormchaser plunges in, the crew battle against fierce winds and storm, thick fog, a tornado, and eventually, in the last desperate stretch before the temple, a rampaging storm that is almost alive with fury. Aila takes her place, after a vision from Quill guides her, to channel the lightning that strikes the ship into her own body. The pain is intense, her body scarred, but with each strike, she is taken to another place. A being speaks with her, a divine, a true god from a time before Aerois. The party struggles to keep the Stormchaser flying, as each bolt sends Aila to speak with this divine force. Eventually, he reveals himself as a divine who fought Hadar; he offers advice and gives Aila a gift, before imparting his name: Thor.*
*The Stormchaser lands at the temple, and the party make their way into the entrance, where a lonely fisherman appears to be waiting for them. And that is where we begin today's episode.*"
### **Part 1**

*The team explore the Temple of H'esper with an old and extremely patient friend!*

The Stormchasers have made their way to the front of the Temple of H’esper which is built directly into the Stormwall Mountains: above them looms a giant statue of H’esper, a winged humanoid being. It rises hundreds of feet into the air above them – the left wing and right eye have been destroyed by lightning, mirroring Quill’s own injuries, and the statue carries a staff whose tip has been broken off to leave it looking like a sharp-tipped spear. The storm still rages on around the valley, but they appear to be at the eye of the storm, for where they are standing is relatively peaceful.

Standing in the hallway leading into the temple is the familiar figure of Johan. Johan has long brown hair and a beard (which has more grey since they last saw him), he wears blue and grey and carries a fishing rod that has been struck and burned by lightning; in the hallway behind him is a small white cloud that follows him (Nimbus). Lucius takes a moment to recognise the shadow of the man appearing, then grins as he recognises the fisherman, and greets him. They confirm that Johan’s vision has come true and that Aila had diverted the lightning to allow them through to the temple. They tell him about their adventures so far, and he notices the changes in Sentry and Quill since he last saw them. Nova introduces Tiangong to Johan – it looks much the same to Johan, but he then hears Tiangong introducing themselves in his head.

Johan tells them that he waited for them for a while before seeing purple-armoured men, Remnant soldiers, making their way into the temple. He is asked if he has seen any “snake ladies” (Quill refers to Xarkira), but says that he has not. Lucius and Aila note that Johan is exuding an aura of considerable power, much more so than before. Johan says that he feels something in the temple, but is not sure what it is, his memory is quite hazy.

They make their way into the temple, which is pitch black until Johan conjures Dancing Lights for them to see: they begin to notice murals along the walls as they get towards the main part of the temple. There are eight murals in total:

1. H’esper protects himself from arrows with some sort of barrier,
2. H’esper summons birds and other winged creatures around him,
3. H’esper gazing into an orb and seeing a far off forest,
4. H’esper calms an angry crowd,
5. H’esper shoots fire and ice into the air from his outstretched palms,
6. H’esper creates multiple copies of himself,
7. H’esper brings a dead person back to life,
8. H’esper turns a pile of rock into a pile of gold.

There is an inscription below each one, and it is written in common, auran and elvish: “I give you the winds and the skies to inspire your sense of wonder and curiosity. I give you magic to make your dreams reality”.

The passageway opens up into the large main chamber of the temple, which is in ruins: many pillars have collapsed and the pews are broken and crumbling. Towards the front of the room is a shallow stone basin carved into the ground, full of tiny holes; at the far end is a large statue of H’esper himself, holding a staff and an open book. In front of the statue is a golden disk set into the floor, and there is a similar golden disk set into the ceiling directly above it. There are bodies scattered around the stone basin on the floor, and there are a few passage ways leading off to either side of the room. They move closer to investigate the dead bodies and note that most are humanoid wearing Valkyrian armour, but there is one body which is a larger winged quadruped with what looks like fur.

As Johan moves his Dancing Lights forward, they illuminate badly damaged stone creatures standing in the corners of the room – they resemble angelic creatures with more avian features – they are set into the wall, with folded wings and clutching staves, but are gashed as if they had been attacked by weapons and spells. The furry creature they had seen previously has the body of a lion, the face of a cat and with a giant pair of wings – its body is adorned with a ceremonial headdress and shoulder armour, bearing the emblem of H’esper.

Nova asks Quill what the purpose of the temple was, but Quill is not sure: he wonders if this is a temple of arcane knowledge. He tells them that the murals depict the eight schools of magic, and that H’esper was a master of all of the schools – it is possible that the creature was protecting the spear or a repository of H’esper’s knowledge. Some of the dead soldiers are teenagers while others are forty or more, and there is a mix of races – humans, dwarves, and even an eladrin.

Quill casts Detect Magic and passes eight standing pillars which each glow with a glyph in the colour of the school of magic that it represents – behind them is a mural representing each of the schools. He notices that the pillars and murals are in a particular order: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy and transmutation. They see five Valkyrian bodies and notice footprints leading off to the east with blood trails. Nova and Lucius identify the leonine body as that of a gynosphinx (Lucius believes that it is called a “sink”) – they are created by powerful beings (often by gods) to serve as protectors and guardians of sacred places, they are seers and oracles, often ask riddles, and have magical abilities.

Quill moves up to the stone basin – it is a non-magical, recessed stone bowl covered with tiny holes: Quill feels a very faint breeze coming from the holes. As he is examining the basin, the main doors slam shut with a rumble, and lightning surges through the walls, floors and doors of the entire temple. The lightning courses through the dead bodies on the floor and the two giant stone statues, and they begin to twitch and lurch; a disembodied voice echoes through the room, “No! Too late, you must…” and is cut off. The giant stone creatures begin to move, uttering, “Hate! Fear! Rage!” with the blue glow of lightning coming from their eyes and mouth, and the animated Valkyrian bodies lurch to their feet.

The party attacks, and the bodies do lightning damage to attackers when struck. They destroy the undead bodies, but the stone golems still need to be dealt with.

### **Part 2**

*Magic runs wild in this place... but H'esper isn't the source!?*

While they are attacking the stone golems, Lucius has a panic attack, and Nova attempts to calm him. Quill finishes off the last golem, and sarcastically calls out to H’esper to thank him for creating the creatures: a whispered voice replies that “H’esper did not create these”. A shimmering translucent form appears over the corpse of the sphinx, a leonine body with a regal lioness face and a pair of curled wings – Sentry kneels before it. “I know that you are not like the ones that came before. I recognise a guardian, one that carries the power of the Prime. I also recognise a high priest of my own Lord,” and she bows towards Quill. Quill asks how the sphinx died, but it remembers only that figures entered the temple ‘rececntly’ before her death; she says that the golems were created in part by a sickness that has taken over the temple since the Valkyrian army was pushed from Aerois. Quill tells the sphinx that H’esper has tasked him to recover an artefact, the spear – the sphinx tells Quill that the spear, an heirloom of H’esper, is located in the inner sanctum and is bonded to another being. The spear was created in conjunction with the creation of Siaska, and it is bonded to the guardian of the skies of Aerois, the Tempest Dragon, which itself was bonded to the Temple of H’esper.

The Tempest dragon, says the sphinx, sleeps in the sealed inner sanctum, but is plagued by nightmares courtesy of some spell cast by the “Serpent Queen”. For the last 500 years, the guardian’s twisted dreams have manifested the arcane storms that have ravaged Myrskyr; they have been growing in power and been twisted by fear, hate and anger. The sphinx does not know how they will free the dragon from the nightmares, but suspects that this is why Quill was sent to the temple ("to fix that which even H'esper could not"). The sphinx introduces herself as Zuhemi, one of two guardian sphinxes of the shrine: her duties used to be to welcome pilgrims, to help them solve their problems, to offer them wisdom and knowledge, and to teach magic. The fact that her spirit lingers means that her work is not complete - they must free the guardian to free her spirit.

Zuhemi tells them that in order to reach the sanctum where the spear is located, they will need to gain access to the Winds of Ascension, and to complete a set of trials to prove that they have mastered H'esper's domains: she says that her mate, Kuratas, will be one of those trials, and he will not be an easy opponent. In order to access begin his ascension and the trials, Zuhemi tells Quill that he must bless himself in the winds of knowledge then kneel before his greatest enemy and tell them what they must hear; she cannot give him any more information than that, for Quill must prove himself a master of H'esper's domains. While this conversation has occurred, Lucius has started to calm down with Nova's help, but he had started to feel like he was suffocating again.

Johan tries to use his Storm Guide ability to make the wind coming through the stone basin gust harder, but he realises that something is closed, preventing more air from coming through - there may be a mechanism somewhere to allow more airflow. Johan kneels on the metal disk in front of the statue of H'esper - he realises that this is not a test for him, but for Quill, and that there is a possibility that someone may have been able to funnel the four winds onto this valley and temple. Nova and Lucius head down the left corridor and there is a small room off to the north with books - it is a small library. Once, it would have been beautiful, but now, it is mostly in ruin with the ceiling having collapsed, and the books mostly being ruined by the weather. On the far western wall, however, is a beautiful mural imbued with illusory magic, and it moves ever so slightly: it depicts a man wearing farmer's clothes building a road out of books with the spines representing the bricks. He holds a plain book and is about to place it in the next slot in the road, while many rich people in the background point and laugh at the man. Nova talks to Lucius, checking that he is OK, which Lucius appreciates.

Sentry goes into the western corridor, and it leads into a prayer room: there are murals of flying creatures engraved into the walls, and in the four corners are giant metal pipes that go up into the walls. To the north and south are doors, and there is the noise of muttering and something metal moving about coming from the northern room. Sentry goes back to the main room and tells them that they are not alone. Johan goes to retrieve Nova and Lucius and notices that the man in the mural is holding a book that looks different to the rest of the books: it is plain whereas the rest are beautiful: Nova thinks there might be something about this mural that they want to examine. Nova approaches the mural and hears a voice, "If a wise man is someone who asks a lot of questions, then what is a fool?" Nova answers, "Someone who asks no questions" - there is no answer. She tries, "Pyri, someone with no knowledge, someone with no interest in learning..." Johan approaches and the question is repeated, he tries, "One who doesn't listen, one who asks the wrong questions". Nova then says, "One who has no answers? One who has the wrong answers?" - there is no change.

Sentry and the rest of them hear metal clanging and a blast of wind, Aila sends a message through the messenger ring asking where Nova and Lucius are, and Nova tells them about the library. Johan replies to the riddle, "One who thinks they know it all," and the farmer turns to wink at him: the arm moves and holds the book out towards Johan - the hand is now real and the book is embellished with silver and gold draconic script, which Johan says that he cannot read. Nova reads the title of the book: The Sum of All Understanding by A Plumbus. It is a magical tome.

Quill bows to the H'esper statue, wondering if the storm is his greatest enemy, and he gets the sense that the disk and the disk above lead to a different part of the temple, and that he must pass them to get to the trials. While pondering his question, he gets the sense of a teacher who is not disappointed exactly, but Quill knows that this is not the answer, and he senses encouragement for him to solve this riddle. Johan returns and hands Quill the book he has just found: when Quill looks at it, it is not by A Plumbus, but by H'esper. He identifies it as a Tome of Understanding.

Johan suggests that they try to fix the mechanism, Nova goes into the prayer room and feels a strong breeze coming from one of the pipes. From behind the door to the northern room, she hears a high-pitched muffled voice talking over gale-force winds: as the wind dies down, she hears, "By the Emperor!" Nova uses Ghostly Gaze and sees a set of stone steps, and a few feet in front of the door, a young girl (perhaps 10 or 11 years old) wearing a roughly cut dress - she is staring at something beyond Nova's vision, there is one large golden chain hanging down near her, and she is pointing and gesturing at something Nova cannot see. The girl has dark greenish-tinged hair that is messy and loose about her shoulders, she wears over-sized (adult) bracelets around her arms, and is bare-foot. Nova returns to the group and reports what she has seen to them. Sentry sends Echo into the large mouth of one of the pipes - the pipe goes up, then splits - one direction goes into the room that Nova just saw, and the other keeps going up for a long time. Sentry sends Echo into the room and sees a large room with a spiral stone staircase that goes up a long way, and four huge gold chains dangling down from up above - there is about 15 feet between each chain. Also in the room are two magitek constructs (similar to the crabs they last fought with Johan on the Stormchaser) that are bipedal, but have four arms, and they have gripped and are pulling the chains: as they pull the chains, a huge blast of wind comes out of a pipe opposite echo across a golden disk in the centre of the room. Near them is a pouty-faced young girl, and she seems confused then delighted to see Echo - Sentry quickly pulls Echo back as the girl runs over to see what it is. Sentry tells them what she has seen.

The doors to the northern room suddenly open, and the metallic creatures emerge with all four arms pointed towards the party.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:05 - Episode Start
02:53 - Intro
09:20 - Part 1
1:28:19 - Break time/Donations
1:35:52- Part 2
2:45:56 - Outro/Donations

*feel free to add extra timestamps of significant events!*

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Zuhemi
* Unnamed Valkyrian child

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* H'esper
* Kalus Valkyrian
* A Plumbus

## **Featured Locations**

* Voksar
	+ The Valley of Storms
	+ The Temple of H'esper

## **Trivia**

* The battle in part 1 features Quill’s first use of Spellbreaker.
* New mods were appointed this week: 39SaltyCookies and Viztee.
* A dono question at the half-way point was asked: "Will they ever get that wyvern armour they sent to Goldthrone?" Mark answers, "no" and Tom says that if it's medium armour or above, he doesn't want it any more (because it affects his ability to fly). See episode 104 for what happens to the Wyvern hide armour.
* Tom says that Quill is much wiser than Tom, and then asks if Johan is dragon man ("that's where Tom wisdom comes in" he says, suggesting that it is a massive conspiracy theory).
* Mark confirmed that the belt that Aila got last session is just a Belt of Strength with cool storm powers.
* There was a fan art video at the end of the episode that appears on the YouTube VOD.