Aerois - Episode 115: Dominator's Destruction

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Dominator's Destruction** is the 115th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 13th June 2021 from 5PM to about 6:15PM BST. The episode was only this long due to being cut short by a power cut.

*The party suit up to face down THE DOMINATORS!*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* The VoD opens with a special introduction from Thomas Hazell advising that this episode is short because there were a few rounds of combat before there was a power cut at Trott's house, since he runs the stream, the game ends abruptly this week.
* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Sponsor this week is D&D Beyond. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is now available for pre-order.
* Merch: New merch was launched before the stream including the new Quill plushie. It is currently sold out in the US but there are a few left in the UK store. Cam and Elora pins are limited but still available. Starbane Coffee mug is not limited but currently available.
* Biomutant TTRPG oneshot was done last week and is now available as a VoD on YouTube. Support HR by watching the VoD. The second part of the VoD is coming soon.

### **Recap**

*After a desperate rescue attempt our party have brought Valla, a young girl with divine gifts, back to Horizon on Aerois. Accompanied by Maximillion Taldros, a Knight of Gideon and Valla's sworn protector, as well as Tassadar, one of the three members of the Eterna Triumvirate, a being of pure magical energy. Valla's return is a deeply heartfelt one, and amidst the happy moments she reveals much information - as does Tassadar - from Kalus' past, to the fate of Tiangong and Alyeja - the other members of the Triumvirate - and much, much more.*

*The party take Valla to the Halls of Infinite Resplendence and the body of Siaska, the true goddess of Aerois. Here, something happens between Valla and Siaska's recovering spirit, and Valla gains insight into the Titans of Aerois. Four of them have been driven mad by the waning power and Kalus' impending invasion. Each will need to be dealt with, but hide within their own demiplanes that cannot be accessed by mortal means. Valla believes she can breach these demiplanes with her own divine powers, but will need time to determine this.*

*As Horizon prepares to move, Sentry is informed of a group of guardians searching for her in the city. Investigating at night, the party intercept the guardians who reveal themselves to be corrupted by Hadar, and now refer to themselves as Dominators. Blades are drawn..."*

### **Part 1**

*Overlord Varacitor and his newly formed army of Dominators take aim at the Stormchasers!*

The party is in a dark, empty street in the mid-tier of Horizon: it is fairly well-lit by flaming golden orbs that line the city, but there are dark alley ways with pronounced shadow around them; the buildings on the street have signs of life within.

Three guardians stand before them, all have the appearance of skeletal constructs: their living elements of their previous forms have vanished, to be replaced with red tendrils, and they all have red, glowing eyes. One is heavily-armoured and carries a large greatsword, the second appears to be more lithe and has long claws for hands, and it is looking around with very intelligent eyes, the third lurks in shadow near the corner of a building and has long armblades sticking out from the tops of their gauntlets. Nova, Lucius and Aila are currently invisible.

All three guardians are focused on Sentry. Aila rages, and moves to the group to hit the clawed one, but it knows that she is there, even though she is invisible – Aila notices that within 5 feet of the guardian she is about to attack, the world seems weightier, and it is harder to move (her speed is reduced by 20 ft). She hits twice, doing moderate damage with hammer and lightning. The armoured guardian calls for the adept (the guardian that Aila has just attacked) to attack Aila as they have been warned about her: it hits Aila doing physical and necrotic damage.

Nova casts Hexblade Curse on the commander, then casts slow on all three of the guardians, but only the commander is affected; Quill casts Beacon of Hope. The guardian with the armblades runs along the wall of the building, and lands, hunching next to the commander, then vents open on its side emitting a thick, roiling green fog: the whole area becomes heavily obscured and they take significant poison damage (Sentry and Quill taking half damage due to a save and the wyvern armour!) – everyone in the fog is considered blinded. Sentry casts Shield of Faith and moves to attack the commander, but misses both times – it responds, “Your efforts are useless, Sentinel Prime. We will claim the Prime Matrix for Overlord Voracitor!” He then calls for the stalker to attack.

The stalker attacks Quill, hitting for minor damage; Lucius stumbles, coughing and spluttering out of the cloud – he casts vitriolic sphere but both avoid the spell, taking only minor damage (dichromancy goes off against the commander). Sentry takes necrotic damage from being so close to the commander, and she notices that tendrils of red light emerge from him that attach to her and seem to magically drain some of the life out of her to heal him.

The commander attempts to attack Sentry, but she fends off the attack; the lithe guardian casts Slow on Aila, but she avoids the spell – it looks annoyed that she is not affected, and slides around her to move away from the commander. Aila responds by hitting the lither guardian twice, doing moderate physical and lightning damage: the guardian is now barely standing, with parts of it looking like they will break off at any moment. The commander orders the adept to attack again, and it hits Aila for significant damage. Nova attacks the commander with Eldritch Blast, hitting twice for significant damage – he staggers under the blows. Quill casts Mass Cure Wounds, healing the party significantly, and he then stumbles out of the poison cloud – he is hit by the lithe guardian as he moves away and takes significant damage, disrupting Beacon of Hope. The commander attacks Sentry with his Draining Blade, doing damage and stopping Sentry from healing until his next turn.

The smoke drifts away, and the lithe guardian now runs up the wall, leaping down and flipping to come to a stop behind Nova. It tries to attack her twice, but misses both times. The commander bellows at the Stalker to ‘finish its work’ and it attacks Nova again, hitting this time for moderate damage. Sentry tells the commander, “You are no longer fit for purpose. Stand down or be terminated. I’ll give you some time to think.” She casts Banish on the commander, but he resists, saying, “I don’t think so, Sentinel Prime. I do not obey the orders of lesser beings!”

Lucius casts a twinned Chromatic Orb against the commander and the Dominator with the armblades: the commander cleaves his orb in twain, but the other heads to the heavily-wounded Dominator whose chest is beginning to open, showing a red beam that looks like it will explode out of it – the orb strikes it just in time, and it causes an explosion of orange and red light, destroying the Dominator, the commander takes dichromancy damage. “She said terminate!” cries Lucius, and he responds “I shall show you termination. We are legion, we are endless. One means nothing” – the lines of red power attach to Sentry again and drain power from her. The commander hits Sentry again for significant damage, and again, she cannot heal until his next turn.

Aila cannot see the stalker, so hits the commander instead, doing significant physical and lightning damage to him. He calls to the stalker, telling it to finish its work and assist him: it attacks Nova, hitting her for moderate damage. Nova casts Synaptic Static against the stalker doing moderate damage; the commander attacks Aila, doing minor damage and stopping her from healing until his next turn. Quill attempts to banish the commander, but he resists the spell. The commander attacks Quill, but misses; the stalker focusses on Nova, and hits once, doing significant damage and healing in the process as it drains her life force with its red light vines.

Sentry attacks the commander, but misses both times; Lucius casts Chromatic Orb at the stalker, doing significant damage as the ball hits it in the chest – it staggers as it takes the damage, its eye twitching and swivelling to look at Lucius, but still concentrating on Nova. The commander’s red light vines strike out at the three surrounding him (Quill, Sentry and Aila) and he heals as he drains life from them all, he then attacks Sentry, but misses. Aila hits the commander, doing moderate damage with hammer and lightning. The commander directs the stalker to finish Nova off and come to his aid: the stalker hits Nova, and she goes down, but her name is in the Book of Secrets, so Tiangong shocks her to keep her alive – she manages to keep her concentration to retain the Slow spell on the commander. The stalker does not seem to understand how Nova is still alive. Nova casts Etherealness and disappears to everyone else – the creature looks around for its target as Nova moves away.

POWER CUT.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

0:00 - Episode Start
1:00 - Announcements
9:16 - Recap starts
8:07 - Part 1
1:11:39 - A final word from Thomas Hazell

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

## **Trivia**

* A power cut in the Bristol area caused the stream to be cut short. Tom intimates in a message at the end of the YouTube VOD that this was caused by Nova casting Etherealness which "destroyed Trott's computer, and house, and entire road".
* The sexy evil Starbane style of making coffee is "nude" according to Tom.
* Katie suggested changing the merch description for the Starbane mug to Mark's casual comment, "I like my sexy Emperors like I like my coffee: tall, dark and in a mug".