Aerois - Episode 164: Tornado (MORON!)

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Tornado (MORON!)** is the 164th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was pre-recorded and broadcast on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 6th November 2022 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Our team make contact with the Seekers and Nova finally reunites with her missing brother, THE MORON TORNADO.*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* Merch: There is new merch in the store including a t-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a hoodie (all with new wood print designs courtesy of Nina-Serena) that make up the new core collection and will be constantly re-stocked. There is also the Christmas jumper that has been brought back, as well as two limited-edition items – a pewter tankard and a dice scroll with liquid core dice. Additionally, there is a flash sale on the limited-edition High Rollers Club t-shirt for 48 hours. These can be purchased from Freshstore.co
* Mark will be at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia doing something cool (presumably something to do with Nights of Eveningstar).
* Mark said last week that the pre-recorded episodes would be shorter than usual, however, they will be normal length.

### **Recap**

*"Our party have travelled to the Genasi city of Vortinssar. Once, long ago, it was transported to Aerois by accident – swapping places with an ancient Elven city called Jassavir. Since then, the Genasi have always been slightly separated from the rest of the world, now those feelings have been cultivated and matured by Shansara and Harmony, the leader of Vortinssar, to instil this anti-Aerosian feeling and to celebrate their upcoming return to their home plane of Genas (the elemental world). However, the party, our champions, know that this endeavour is doomed to fail and will result in devastating consequences, so they’ve snuck into the city in disguise, and using all of their espionage skills, they have made their way inside with disguises and cover stories in place and they have made their way to a place called Coalsmoke Street where they were given a cryptic message on how to reach a group called the Seekers, who are working with Norfir (an old ally of theirs) and Lucius’ childhood nanny. They successfully entered said safe house, avoiding the patrolling Valkyrian guards and Genasi forces, and they have made their way into the Seekers’ safe house, or at least one of them…"*
### **Part 1**

*The team, with the assistance of the Seekers, start working on their plans to discover all that Vortinssar is hiding!*

The party has made its way into the safehouse operated by The Seekers under the restaurant in Coalsmoke Street. The room has been magically carved out of stone and contains a few tables and chairs, basic cooking supplies and stores, and waiting for them as they arrive is a Water Genasi woman of about 17 years of age. She is wearing a leather apron and has a bag with pungent smelling herbs and bandages at the ready; she seems surprised to see them, and introduces herself as Stream, a member of The Seekers along with Fuego and Goliath. Stream is a bit nervous, but Lucius reassures her that they are part of the rebellion and working with The Seekers.

Lucius asks if there is anyone else in the safe house, but Stream is the only one there at present – she tells them that Fuego may have sent a message for someone else to meet them, however. Lucius then asks Stream if she is, in fact, Nanny, and is very impressed with her disguise, but the others reassure him that it is not, and he pretends that he has been playing a new character as Azure. Nova realises that Stream is probably a medical student at the Atlas Academy given the way she is dressed and the contents of her bag. Stream busies herself warming a pot of water over a magitek smokeless heater in the corner so that she does not have to talk to them.

Over the next 30 minutes, as they wait, anxiety builds for them. Believing that there may only be the one entrance to the room, Sentry checks the walls for secret passages but finds nothing. They suspect that the guards will probably have been to the restaurant by now and begin to worry that they will not get to meet Norfir. Aila goes to ask Goliath if anyone is coming to meet them, but he tells her to talk with Fuego who he thinks may still be dealing with the guards above. Lucius, meanwhile, decides to check to see if Goliath is, in fact, Nanny Norfir in disguise – he stares at Goliath for a good while before deciding that it is not. Quill hears the sound of stone and two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway – Goliath and Fuego enter the chamber before Goliath leans against the wall near the door and Fuego comes to speak to them.

Fuego tells them that he has dealt with the guards and says that per Norfir’s instructions (“if a bunch of weirdos arrive and ask for this dish, to let her know that her guests have arrived”), she has been informed that there are people at this safe house to see her. He says that it may take a couple of hours before she gets there. Lucius enquires as to the wording of her message, and it appears that “weirdos” may have been “strange individuals” which mollifies him somewhat. Quill keeps forgetting to use his old man voice for Wisp and Fuego gets suspicious saying that he sounds younger and stinks “too much” – he reaches out to grab Quill and his hand passes through the illusion that cloaks Quill’s hair, plucking out a feather in the process. He wonders what they are, but Aila convinces Fuego not to ask, and to keep the information compartmentalised in case they are compromised. Fuego does, however, realise that Quill is actually a bird man. There is a moment of tension when Lucius threatens to punch Fuego if he tells anyone about them, but it is decided that they are working for the same side, and all is well while they wait for Norfir.

Quill shows them his registration document with the arcane glyph, but Stream says that they should not be too concerned unless they go somewhere they shouldn’t, like high value places or districts (for example, places in the upper part of the city or important buildings). Only people who have recently arrived have to carry the documents and guards don’t, so if they can disguise themselves as Valkyrian guards, they could go anywhere. The details that they gave at the gate, including their descriptions, will have been circulated to city guards and officials, so if they want to go around without passes, they will need to change their appearances anyway, she tells them. Fuego reveals to them that Coalsmoke Street is on the low end of importance for The Seekers: their cell mainly does low level mischief – breaking screens, pulling down posters, bribe or beat up propaganda folks, steal things, talk to informants, pass on information, work with people like the party – bigger things, like forging IDs are a bit beyond them.

When asked about how he feels about Vortenssar “returning” to Genas, Fuego does not care about it. He thinks that Shansara is pretty hot - he doesn’t like her sappy music but doesn’t mind “the hard stuff”; he doesn’t care for her propaganda messages about being “the shining star”. Fuego hates people telling him what to do, has seen the Valkyrian troops beating people up in alleyways, and is generally not in favour of “the space cops” – he also happens to like breaking stuff, fighting people, and sneaking around. Fuego is only 20 years old but has been in The Seekers for about 3 months - Nova wistfully recalls to herself when she set up The Seekers in her mother’s basement as a secret society dedicated to finding out information about planar magic.

Lucius asks Fuego about the general mood in the city – the upper city, he tells them, is enjoying the charity balls and concerts, and even in the plazas on the lower levels, most of the people love the concerts and parades because it has given them something to believe in. The Seekers are very much a minority, Fuego tells them, but some of its members are doing important things – like Tornado (who inspired Fuego to join The Seekers in the first place by saving a lot of people in the Atlas Academy protests by calming the crowds, keeping the guards at bay, taking a punch for one of the students, and getting a lot of students to safety before they could be arrested). Tornado, he announces, is the leader of The Seekers. Norfir has done some basic training with Fuego and the others when the safe house was first set up and she works closely with Tornado – Norfir is hard to beat, Fuego says, and even Goliath, bringing all he had, could not lay a hand on her. He mentions the other safe houses in the rest of the city, and when Quill asks where they are, he brings out a piece of wood with a crudely drawn map on it, showing approximately this:

Fuego reminds them that Coalsmoke Street is not a high priority area: this is the first time that the guards have actively come looking for the restaurant. All the locals know each other and look out for each other when they’re in trouble.

Fuego and Goliath tell them about how information is spread throughout the city about suspicious individuals – it is primarily via magical loudspeakers and the crystal screens. If they need to be able to hide better, they can disable these in a certain area, and it will make them less conspicuous.

After cooling their heels for two hours, a piece of stone wall shifts aside and three figures enter the room: the first is instantly recognisable – a middle-aged Half-Elven woman wearing a tight leather catsuit with belts, gadgets and gizmos, and armed with hand crossbows, darts, and daggers. Her hair has been cut very short at the back and sides with a decent quiff at the front, there are many new scars on her face, neck, and hands. She looks every bit the assassin. She is grinning as she enters, looks around, and says that she is impressed because while she recognises some of them, others she would not have known. She picks out Lucius (who has started running towards her) and they enjoy a gentle embrace (with a little more enthusiasm on Lucius’ side). A dagger at Nanny’s side pokes gently into Lucius as they embrace.

The next person who enters is a young Air/Fire Genasi and rather than fire, lightning is coiling and crackling through their hair. They are about Nova’s age, wearing loose red and blue clothing, spectacles tinted like sunglasses, and a Seekers badge on their left breast. Nova recognises the badge as the one she designed and created. This is a person that Nova knows and someone who was one of the first Seekers who joined when it was a small club investigating planar magic. This is Bolt, and they are a very talented mage who is obsessed with planar magic. They stand quietly behind Norfir and do not engage, not knowing who the people in front of them are.

The final person to enter is six-feet-tall, extremely muscular, broad-shouldered, with surfer-style wispy cloud hair. He wears a blue leather jacket with a suit of chain mail underneath it, leather trousers with kneepads (although the trousers are cut off just under the knee), and a pair of sandals. Slung on his back is a shield and a hand lance similar to Starbreaker (but a smaller version).

Tornado stands regally and looks closely at them – he is clearly trying to work out which of the disguised people in front of him is his sister. It is only when Norfir indicates Julienne with her head that he cries out, “Little Novie!”, runs over, grabs him in a bear hug, and picks him up. Tornado is crying, telling her how much he missed her - Nova insists over and over that she hates him before finally acknowledging that she loves and missed him. Tornado is curious and asks if Nova is his “bro” now, putting her down and asking what name he should call her. Nova tells him that she is in disguise (but seems uncertain when he asks her if this is a permanent change). Quill suggests that Nova’s new name could be Brova, which Tornado loves.

Quill asks Norfir where they stand with their current disguises: Norfir informs him that Fuego, Goliath and Stream, who now know their identities, are members of The Seekers and can be trusted – she reinforces that with a subtle threat that both Fuego and Goliath recognise and respect.

Fuego is excited to meet Tornado, and his simple but enthusiastic style of greeting prompts Nova to tell the rest of the party what a moron Tornado is – he dares her to say it again, knowing what will happen to her… she does, he puts her in a headlock and gives her a noogie until the static makes her hair stand on end and he can sculpt it. Tornado denies being in charge of The Seekers despite Norfir believing that it is good for morale that people believe it. When the party starts to gush over Tornado’s exploits in saving people, Nova casually mentions her sacrifice in getting them safely out of Aegis V when she ended up with a skeletal hand. Tornado has heard some stories about Nova saving the world and declares that she is his hero, which drives Nova to tears.

Tornado says that he will leave the strategy to Norfir and the other clever people in the other safe houses, that he only came to say hi to Nova. Nova says a quick hello to Bolt who acknowledges her and says that he is there for advice and knowledge and was a member of The Seekers when they were all about research rather than politics. Nova discloses their knowledge that if the teleportation rings are activated that the city of Vortinssar will explode – this shocks Tornado, but Norfir and Bolt do not look surprised. Norfir believes that Harmony and Shansara have been rushing the teleportation project, she does not know why but they appear to want the city moved as soon as possible.

Bolt discloses that he was initially assisting Shansara and Harmony because when they first arrived, he thought that it was a way of learning more about planar magic but soon realised that there was more ego involved than the seeking of knowledge. Bolt tells them that the magic that Shansara and Harmony plan to use is highly experimental and is not aware whether it has ever been tested, even on a small scale. Sentry asks why there is such urgency and Bolt tells her that he is not sure why Harmony and Shansara are so desperate to make it happen so quickly, but that the older Genasi want to return home to Genas, and they have been persuaded by the musical talents of Shansara and Harmony’s support for the project.

Nova tells them that Harmony is a rare Genasi born of all four elements and is the leader of the council – while the Genasi are not particularly religious, Nova says that Harmony is akin to a god to the Genasi, representing the best (and sometimes the worst) of the people. If they supported the plan from the beginning, it would have swayed popular opinion significantly. Quill notices that when Nova refers to Harmony as god-like, Bolt shakes his head and sneers.

Norfir congratulates them on infiltrating the city, telling them that there is a heightened alert around strangers in general but that it is not to do with them. Nova asks if they can evacuate like-minded people from the city, but Tornado advises her that there are actually very few who agree with what they are doing, and that part of the plan that The Seekers have is to change the minds of large sections of the populace about the project. While the people know the general plan (to transport Vortinssar back to Genas), they do not know any details about the project – Shansara and Harmony have been teasing about “big news” and telling the people that they should be prepared. The crystal screens have been showing simple tease ads with the likes of, “7 days…”.

Norfir takes one look at Fuego’s map and pushes it to the side, pulling a new one out of a scroll case that pulls from around her shoulders. She tells them that The Seekers have two primary objectives before the city is transported: firstly, to find out where the planar transport devices are and to sabotage them before they can be used, secondly, to influence the people of the city to push back against Shansara and Harmony’s ideals, to make them realise that Aerois is not against them, that they do not need to go back to Genas and that it could be dangerous to do so. There are three things that Norfir says may help them in these tasks – the Valkyrian soldiers are well-equipped and have supply houses, warehouses and their two transport ships. Taking care of this would make their future efforts much easier. The second is that there is a group of students who are being “quarantined” at Atlas Academy because of some illness (but are actually being held against their will) – the students stumbled onto some research involving the planar transportation magic that Harmony plans to use, and they are not being allowed to leave the Academy. Norfir needs a team to help break them out and to escort them into the city to safe houses so that they can get away. Finally, a number of council members have gone missing – the official story is that Norfir assassinated them – she has been caught, and a description of her and a number of her disguises has been disseminated to the guards making it harder for her to get around the city (the same goes for Tornado). Norfir believes that they are being held until the city is transported, but that the sympathisers are saying that Aerosians assassinated them to garner support for Harmony’s cause. Norfir thinks that if they can find and rescue the council members, it would do a lot to counteract Shansara and Harmony’s claims.

Quill is concerned about their ability to get around the city without being caught but Norfir says that as Genasi, they should generally be fine except for their immigration papers: if they can store or hide them safely somewhere, they should be able to get around the city as they need to. She reminds them that they were supposed to be arriving with a specialist who can help them alter their appearance as well. She suggests alternatives, too: taking clothes from a wealthy Genasi’s home, or armour from a Valkyrian barracks would both provide things to Kay that they would not normally be able to provide and make their disguises more impressive as well as give them better access to other areas of the city. Norfir tells them that they will have to gather intelligence on where the students and council members are being held, where the warehouses are, and what the best targets would be for the Valkyrian stockpiles, and she recommends that they split up to do so in order to save time as well as suggesting that they work with Fuego, Goliath, and Stream. Norfir suggests that they find all four of the planar devices and hit them at once, saying that she has enough people to destroy three of them if the party can take care of the last one, and it will make it easier to take them out of the Valkyrians are not forewarned.

Norfir will give them a map showing the location of all of the safe houses in the city and makes them aware that she has a network of people who will be at their disposal (informants, runners, etc.) Norfir and Tornado are staying off the streets currently – she is aware that the Valkyrians are looking for them (both with magic and without) and will only be able to aid the party with larger operations. Norfir is the only one with a kill on sight order from the Valkyrians with Harmony and Shansara preferring to capture Tornado and the other Genasi, so it is likely that if they are caught, they will be captured rather than killed. Nova recommends that they use non-lethal methods wherever possible in order to keep the Genasi people onside and Norfir agrees that this is a good idea. Nova begins to panic at the idea of having only six days in which to prevent the destruction of her home city. She lets it slip that she has been in space and tells Bolt that she has a lot of research to give him.

Nova takes Tornado aside, tells him that the family misses him, and that she is proud of him (he tells her that he is also proud of her). Nova gives Tornado a package from their mother which is a scarf that has been knitted in all the colours and is the same as Nova's - Breeze said that it is to keep him safe and warm like Nova's did for her, and Tornado is touched. He is also curious, wanting to know if Nova is a "bro" bro (looking at Nova's crotch), and Nova assures Tornado that he is (for now).

They decide to sleep, thus ending their first day in the city.

### **Part 2**

*The team, with the assistance of the Seekers, start working on their plans to discover all that Vortinssar is hiding!*

The planning begins with Nova and Quill wishing to find out more about the students being held at the Atlas Academy, and Nova gives a data pad of all they have learned to Bolt, the Seekers’ expert on planar magic – Nova and Quill spend some time in the Academy making subtle enquiries and investigations into where the students are being held. Lucius says that he will work on organising new disguises for them all that will allow them to fit into the upper-class sections of the city. Sentry decides to take Fuego and to investigate the Valkyrian guards in order to attempt to infiltrate them and to disrupt the warehouse supplies – they will follow them, pose as workers, and scope out the warehouses, looking at different warehouses each day. Aila wants to influence the city by “breaking some shit” (involving breaking screens and tearing down posters with Goliath).

Quill gets a map of the Atlas Academy and uses his *Arcane Eye* to scope out the place and look for the interred students. Once Lucius has finished with his outfit changes, he assists Sentry in mapping out Valkyrian patrols while she uses *Commune with Nature* to get further information, such as whether there are any particularly powerful beings not native to Aerois in the area. They now realise that if they wish, they may attempt to save the students or infiltrate the warehouses.

Aila then takes Fuego and Goliath with her, and they work on attempting to locate the missing council members – Fuego is happy to do the talking with Aila and Goliath being his muscle. Fuego takes them to some shady areas of the Fire District and threaten some information out of local snitches.

So far, they have learned the following about the Valkyrians: the Valkyrian forces have a number of barracks and store houses in the city, mainly converted warehouses or buildings given to them by citizens. A large barracks and store house is in the upper section of the city near the Air District sky yard where one of the planetary transport docks. The area is fenced off and patrolled exclusively by Valkyrian forces working for Shansara – the store houses contain magical equipment, weapons, food supplies, and other essentials. The planetary transport (one of the two air shops docked nearby) is one of the major military assets in the city. Lastly, several senior Valkyrian officers are stationed in the barracks – if they are killed, captured, or incapacitated, it would be a significant blow to the chain of command. If they manage to complete this task, they suspect that it will reduce the number of Valkyrian forces present in major battles as well as reducing their presence in the city, which will allow them to have more influence over the population.

Nova and Quill have learned the following about the students: a group of five talented students at Atlas Academy have been locked in their dormitories because of their recent discoveries involving planar magic in the transport system. The Atlas Academy is guarded and patrolled by both Genasi and Valkyrian troops but is technically still open for public services. The students are being held in one of the dorms, A Building, attached to the main Academy itself – the doors, windows, and other exits have been magically sealed, and are always watched by guards. Food, water, and supplies are brought to them daily, and they are not being harmed or mistreated. They believe that the students would need to be released from their dorms then brought to a safe house in a nearby district about an hour away from the Academy. The students have absolutely no skills in stealth or combat and are extremely vulnerable. If they complete this objective, they should get useful information and resources to assist in disabling the planar transport devices.

They decide that their current disguises are probably better to rescue the students, and that they should then move against the sky dock, possibly at night. Aila scouts out the area around the Atlas Academy so that she can map the area and find the best alley ways that they can use to get out and plan their exit strategy. Nova practices picking locks, preparing to assist in breaking the students out of their dorms, Lucius helps Stream to prepare packages of medicinal supplies, some of which can be used to relax any students who are uptight and stressed out. Sentry gathers scrap wood and metal and makes rudimentary shields and swords with which the students can protect themselves, although they are not very good (she asks Fuego to assist her with the shields and armour as a result). When going to find supplies, Fuego gets into a fight, and he gets taken away by guards for a few hours – he is roughed up and beaten up, and as a result, makes no useful progress on the armour. Quill uses his *Arcane Eye* to spot pockets of guards in populated areas of the Atlas Academy – he does not do it well but does realise that the Academy is heavily guarded and guarded by powerful magical-looking soldiers. Goliath goes to clear the route between the academy and the safe house ensuring that they will not have any trouble with local ruffians or Genasi guards when they free the students.

They decide that Quill, Nova, and Fuego will attempt the student rescue by themselves with Aila staying back to assist them when they take the correct route out once they are free. Sentry and Goliath start looking for the missing council members, and Lucius starts making headway with city influence.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Intro
05:11 - Dun Duns
06:10 - Part 1
1:32:21 - Break
1:36:54 - Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Stream
* Bolt

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Goliath
* Fuego
* Norfir

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Shansara
* Harmony

## **Featured Locations**

* Vortinssar
	+ Coalsmoke Street (safe house)

## **Trivia**

* This is one of the rare episodes where the podcast taglines are the same for parts 1 and 2 of the episode.
* There was a slight difference of opinion between what the episode should be named: Tom preferred "Tornado" for the podcast, while Kim preferred the more descriptive "Tornado (The MORON)" for the Twitch and YouTube VoD. This is one of the few episodes where there are two different titles for the VoD and podcast. (Kim's is clearly superior ~Crispi).
* Lucius does not remember Nova’s false name, initially calling her Spark, then… Spoon? I’ve still not worked out what element that name would represent… water???
* Fuego confirms that there is no such thing as “Sky Elf style” food.
* Mark enjoyed tormenting Kim in this episode, firstly by talking up Tornado as Fuego, then by playing Tornado himself.
* ReeKorl provided some research on the statues of the four elements in the city of Vortinssar: all are deities/mythical creatures of various cultures, and all are moons.
	+ **Surtur** - Fire quarter: Moon of Saturn. Named after Surt/Surtr/Surtur, who is a Jötunn (English: Ettin, or giant, from the Old English 'Eoten') and leader of fire giants from Norse mythology.
	+ **Namaka** - Water quarter: Moon of Haumea (a dwarf planet out past Neptune). Named after Nāmaka who is the the Hawai'ian sea goddess of fertility and childbirth.
	+ **Atlas** - Earth quarter: Moon of Saturn. The Greek titan forced to hold up the heavens.
	+ **Kari** - Air quarter: Moon of Saturn. Named after Kári, the personification of wind in Norse mythology.

* In terms of mechanics, the safe house in Coalsmoke Street is a secure area, one of very few areas in the city where The Seekers have influence. It is currently one of the only places in the city where they feel safe.
* Disabling the screens and loudspeakers will allow the party to improve their incognito score. This will only work up to a certain point, so that if their identity has been revealed in some way, destroying screens, etc. will not help. There is also a risk that if they fail on some of those ability checks, they may end up in an encounter because people will see them vandalising property and sabotaging things. The destruction of items will take time and must be done in an unsecure area. The ability check that they will have to make for the sabotage will be stealth, sleight of hand, athletics, or arcana (although if the player can think of another check that could legitimately be used, Mark will consider it) – the more people who make a check, the better the chance that the group will be successful. This is essentially a skill challenge.
* On her first appearance, Mark describes Norfir as a primo fantasy assassin, like “Black Widow middle-aged Half-Elf”.
* Mark decided that the Seekers would have a badge and decided that Nova had created it.
* A long rest takes one full time segment. The remaining 3 of 4 segments can be split as individuals rather than as a group. Fuego and Goliath have their own time units. The more time that is spent on a task, the easier it is to do. They must spend time to discover an opportunity, then use their skills to unlock that opportunity as a mission that they can go on. During the skill challenges, if they do badly, it will cost them in time units, their incognito score, and hit dice – when they run out of hit dice, they begin getting exhaustion levels. Stream, as a medic, can replenish a certain number of hit dice, but it is limited and must be spread around the group.
* Mark says that Tornado is inspired by Disney’s Hercules. Kim was reminded of Crush from Finding Nemo (me too, Kim!). If anyone had given him grief about him crying, Tornado’s response would have been, “Nothing more manly than being in touch with your emotions, bro!” Mark said that he “increased the himbo gauge to 12”.
* Coalsmoke Street is now their base of operations (unless they fuck up).
* Fuego and Goliath can go on a mission with the group: they have sidekick stats. Goliath is equivalent to a bruiser, while Fuego is more like a rogue.
* Katie made a TO DO list: 1. Atlas Nerds, 2. Locate devices, 3. Find council, 4. Influence normies, 5. BREAK SHIT.
* Most missions require the group to complete smaller missions to earn points so that they can finish the larger mission. The influence the city mission, however, does not have a completion amount – the more points they get, the more influence they have over the city. With a high influence, the city will rally behind them in the final push, but a low influence would mean that they would encounter resistance.
* Tom took this amazing photo of himself as Mark was explaining the time mechanics after the break:

* Bolt cannot assist them as he has other duties with the Seekers and is their main advisor on planar magic. Nova gives Bolt a data pad full of everything they know, to which Mark’s response is, “Good to know!”. Kim’s automatic reaction was to assume that he’s a double agent. “Maybe,” says Mark.
* Once the students have been located, the whole group must be involved in the skill challenge to rescue them, and this takes one time segment from each of them. Mark hints at the idea that some challenges may be easier at night rather than during the day. While the mission may be unlocked, spending further time investigating it will lower the DC of it and make it easier.
* Sabotaging Valkyrian supply lines will make things easier for the group if they have a combat encounter, and it will stop the Valkyrians from being able to send as much military power. There is a suggestion that it may help in other ways as well, but these are not defined.
* Mark indicated that during the missions, there may be complications (Tom claps excitedly). They are told that if they roll a 1 during the mission, that Mark will roll on a table to see what happens. A complication may help them or hinder them.
* The influence bar is a passive score that is constantly increasing and when they reach certain thresholds it has an effect – they are trying to increase their influence score above that of the Valkyrians. Certain things may have a negative effect on their score (such as blowing up the Atlas Academy, or harming civilians.
* Tom considered using *Incite Greed* in order to pass the pre-mission check for the student mission.
* Tom rolls a nat 1 for his pre-mission check, resulting in a complication. He has to roll a d3 to determine what the complication is and gets a 2. We will find out what that means next week. Mark looks awfully smug about it.

## **Quotes**

* **Quill's younger than he looks...** ([ Link])
**Tom as Quill (as Wisp)**: (in his normal voice) We were given these…
**Mark (as Fuego)**: You sound a lot younger now.
**Tom as Quill (as Wisp)**: Yeah I do.
**Trott (as Azure)**: He’s just had his meds.

* **Hmm...** ([ Link])
**Mark**: He’s not the sharpest tool in the ted. (“It’s the lyrics” Of what, Mark???)
**Kim**: What’s wrong with my husband?
**Trott**: Somehow, Tornado’s in him.

* **Lucius can throw shade as well as spells...** ([ Link])
**Mark**: You don't actually think Sentry has ever made anything before.
**Trott**: You tried your best though...
**Rhi**: I did, I really tried.
**Trott**: ...but it was shit.

## **References**

1. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/190275359932022784/190694050326773761/1039032858037207082
2. ↑ This is likely a reference to an old Achievement Hunter / LetsPlay video, published on YouTube on 7th January 2014