Aerois - Episode 163: Veiled in Vortinssar

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**Veiled in Vortinssar** is the 163rd episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 30th October 2022 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*Will our disguises hold up as we pass through Vortinssar’s immigration checks?*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players.
* This is the annual Halloween episode with the crew dressing up as the following characters: Mark – Calliope Mori (VTuber), Rhi – Devil Baby (Phasmophobia), Trott – UNO Wild Card, Kim – Danhausen (Wrestler), Tom – a flame skull, and Katie – Scarlet Witch.
* Thanks to Laurie (Electronics111) who helped to deal with the technical difficulties and make the stream possible today.
* The next couple of episodes will be pre-recorded and shorter because Mark will be going away.
* Merch: New merch will be released next Sunday. There will be a short-sleeved and long-sleeved t-shirt, a new hoodie (all with wood print art style of dragons, wizards, and dice done by Nina-Serena) – this will be the new ongoing prime collection and will be re-stocked for at least the next year. In addition, there is a new pewter High Rollers tankard, and a new dice scroll with pink liquid core dice – the mat has dragons, dice, and griffins on it. The Christmas jumper will also be re-stocked next week.

### **Recap**

*"Our heroes have journeyed to the city of Vortinssar seeking to help out the group known as the Seekers as well as their own ally, Norfir (also known as Nanny Norfir), in infiltrating the city to locate this planar teleportation device that might one day threaten the entire city but will supposedly transport it back to the plane of Genas at the bequest of Harmony, the leader of Vortinssar, as well as Shansara, this propaganda agent of the Valkyrian Empire who seemingly has gone rogue from Kalus’ wishes. The party, having met with a specialist called Kay, began to craft some disguises and personas in order to infiltrate the city as a number of Genasi in order to blend in and not raise suspicions, without having to cause any sort of incident. They began forging these new identities, much debate and discussion was had over whom would be what and how they would be presented, but eventually they made their way on their air ship, and they now have only a few days remaining to try and stop Shansara and Harmony’s plans."*
### **Part 1**

*The Genasi Gang enter the Vortinssar checkpoint to test out their new identities!*

Aila has decided that she will assume the persona of a Fire Genasi who is a guard in Battle of the Elemental Mountain, and she decides to take the name Spark. Kay suggests removing the braids from Aila’s hair, then using the *Seeming* spell to make it look more flame-like with darker roots and body progressing to embers and flames at the tips. Her outfit, being mostly red, can largely be kept, but anything identifying her as a Wild Elf (like her tartan and furs) will need to be stored away. Kay suggests hiding her lightning scars by making them look like lava cracks. Aila decides to store her hammer and crystal of alacrity in her backpack and have Kay mask her belt. Nova also removes her amethyst lodestone, and Lucius and Sentry remove their messenger rings.

Aila is somewhat concerned with being questioned at the gate because she is not good at lying but Nova tells her that she has met sports people through her brother and says that they mostly grunt and scratch themselves. Lucius suggests that she feign an injury from her last “game” where she got punched in the larynx, so is having trouble speaking. Sentry suggests that their team name should be the Volcanic Victors.

Eventually, a guard, a Water Genasi, who carries a ledger-like book with an ever-running quill (it does not need an ink pot, but just keeps writing), asks if they are all together, takes a few notes, and sends them into a small courtyard where she tells them that they will have their interview. The courtyard appears to be a sectioned off area just beyond the gates but not yet in the city itself – it is full of plain wooden tables and chairs. Within the vicinity of the interview area are a few Valkyrian riflemen with magitek weapons and armour conversing with a senior officer who wears an officer’s uniform{{Trivia}} with a belted tunic and regal-looking collar who looks more magical than they. The woman points them to a side room and asks them to step inside.

Two Earth Genasi enter and apologise for the wait, getting them all some water but making them wait for a few more minutes. Lucius (Azuré) looks agitated, bouncing his leg and changing position every few minutes, Aila (Spark) plays dumb with her mouth open and drooling, Nova (Spritz) is manspreading and stroking his beard, Sentry (Crag) is leaning against the wall trying to look tough, and Quill (Wisp) starts nattering on about how the checkpoints are very different to what he experienced years ago when you could just walk into the city. After a few minutes, the guards come to question them, but when Spritz volunteers that they are not related and only travelling together by chance, the group is broken up and interviewed separately.

Crag and Spark interview together, pass their interview reasonably well and, given that they do not have a place to stay, are sent to the Fire Pot. They are given a cheap leather wallet with a piece of stamped parchment inside it which is to show that they have been approved by immigration and should be shown to any official who asks to see it. They are told that this is because of some troublemaking Aerosians who have been attacking guards and causing trouble with services but that they should have no concerns about their own safety.

Spritz is next to be interviewed, saying that he used to write for “the main magazine in the city”, that being the Four Corners Cuisine, under the nom de plume of Julienne. He tells them that his family passed away before he left about two years prior but will try to re-connect with his great-great-grandmother, Splash, who is a “champion cook”. When the guard seems interested in this fact, Spritz tries to downplay this and say that she is just a very good cook, not someone who has won competitions and so would be well-known. With nowhere specific to stay, Spritz is told to stay at the Fire Pot and to inform immigration if they move to stay somewhere else. Spritz is given a leather wallet similar to that given to the others – Spritz recognises that the immigration seal is magical. When he asks for food recommendations, the immigration officer points him to the independent places in the food market on Coalsmoke Street.

Wisp is the next to be interviewed and he has trouble from the outset – he struggles to remember his own name, then struggles with the geography, apparently having taken a long detour to Immixan which he struggles to explain with a highly dubious story. He tells the immigration officer that it has been almost sixty years since he has been back to Vortinssar, having heard the call. Not having anyone to stay with, he is told to stay at the Brazen Pit, a travelling hostel in the Fire District and near the Earth District.

The final interview is with Azuré. He says that he is coming home after six years abroad and hopes that he is not coming home to any family because he has fallen out of contact with them – they did not support his thespian career. He tells the immigration official that his mother’s name is Amulé and that he is likely to be staying in the Air Quarter, in Coalsmoke Street, at the Spicy Rabbit and near the theatre. The immigration official is confused, knowing that Coalsmoke Street is actually in the Fire District and is a food market – Azuré pretends that he has been swindled by a miscreant, and is sent to stay at the Brazen Pit. He is given his papers and realises that the stamp has a slight magic to it. Before leaving to enter the city, Azuré asks the official if they are safe – he tells Azuré that the young rebels (he is reluctant to call them “terrorists”) have not targeted any public services or streets and that it has all been military in nature so far. Azuré is alarmed because he had been talking about problems from outside the city and is reassured that there are no issues there.

Kay passes the interview without incident, and they all meet up on the other side of the gate inside the city.

Lucius examines the seal but is unable to determine with what sort of magic it is imbued, and they discover that half the group has been sent to the Fire Pot with the rest being sent to the Brazen Pit. Quill casts *Identify* on the immigration seal revealing that it is a minor divination enchantment. The seal cannot scry or listen in on people, but it will react to other magic and is designed to ping when someone enters a marked area, or someone casts a certain type of spell. They believe that it can be used as an ID scan to identify who is where in the city and when they were there. Quill suspects that both of the taverns to which they have been directed will register their arrival and departure.

### **Part 2**

*The team, now through the checkpoint, try to navigate the city to find a Spicy Rabbit!*

They try to work out how close their two inns are, but while Nova knows where the Fire Pot is, she has never heard of the Brazen Pit. The Fire Pot is a decent walk from where they are. As they head further into the city, Nova excitedly points out areas that she knows to them. Eventually the group has to split as Kay, Quill, and Lucius head to their own inn, but they agree to meet up at Coalsmoke Street later that night. As they are heading to the Brazen Pit, the three of them notice flags and bunting has been hung, and there is a mood of anticipation – parades are being planned, and there is excitement in the town. There are more soldiers in town than they are used to, but even the more rigid Valkyrian soldiers prove to be human when they stop to help an old Earth Genasi with his broken cart and buy some of his produce for their barracks. The Genasi seem to respect and idolise the Valkyrian soldiers who seem to be heroic, noble, and helpful.

Both groups see magitek crystal screens around the city on the sides of buildings and in public plazas – they have illusions and magic projecting images and sounds onto and out of them.  One group sees screens displaying music videos of Shansara the Autumn Eladrin: she is dressed in Fire Genasi clothes and dancing with Genasi performers, performing the song, “Planar Dance” (a song about how the planes all work together, with the Genasi performers dressed up like races from different planes, e.g., as Angels from Elysium, while Shansara sings a song about how life is a beautiful dance and everyone is coming together in unity for the betterment of society). They notice that many Genasi choose to watch the screens, singing along, cheering, and in adoration of Shansara. At the end of the song, there is a cut to a meeting between Shansara and Harmony. Harmony is a rare Genasi of all four elements combined together, they are androgynous and non-binary. Harmony’s skin has a gemstone/diamanté look about it and rising from it are wispy, bluish flames but also swirling patterns of frost on their skin, and their hair flows upwards like a cloud or nebula that distils around them. Harmony is very young – about 19 or so – and very nervous, but Shansara has her arms around them and is showing them off to the crows while delivering a speech about going home soon, the work that she and Harmony have been putting into the project, and the help that they have received from their Valkyrian heroes. Harmony speaks in a soft, gentle, melodic, whispered voice, talking about the fact that while they were brought to Aerois against their will, their choice to return to Genas is truly theirs. It is a very effective propaganda video stitched in with a popular music video. The other group sees something similar except that Shansara is a Winter Eladrin wearing Water Genasi clothing and singing “Our Genasi’s Love Heart”(see Trivia). A similar propaganda speech is tacked on at the end of this tune.

The messages appear to be believable, and everyone refers to Shansara as “our guiding star”, “the guiding star”, “bright star”, or similar monikers with the same emblematic theme. Nova believes that there may be some Eladrin charisma trickery at work, but when she looks closer at the videos, she is confident that there is nothing special about them – they are just very effective propaganda.

When they enter the inn, Aila spots round Valkyrian crystal spheres with runes etched into them by the door, based on what Quill has told them, Nova realises that they interact with the seals on their documentation and register the comings and goings of people. Both groups are welcomed to their inns, and although the rooms are heavily subsidised, there is a 1 silver piece charge per person per room for the night to cover lodging and bedding. For those who cannot pay the fee, they can organise work in the city on the following day. Nova pays for herself, Aila and Sentry, Kay pays for her room before heading upstairs, but neither Quill nor Lucius has any money on them. They are offered work on the morrow but Lucius persuades the innkeeper that they will be able to pay them by the morning once they get some money from their friends who have been sent to a different inn.

The rooms are basic, containing a single bed, a trunk check, a desk and a chair. Nova casually asks the innkeeper at the Fire Pot (a bald male Fire Genasi with a big flaming beard, dark ashen grey skin and bright red eyes) if it is a full house this evening but he tells her that there is still some room for people who come in from the gate and have nowhere else to stay, and once his inn is full, that he will let the officers at the gate know that he is at capacity. The family that was behind them in the queue arrives at the Fire Pot soon after them, and everyone staying there seems to have a similar sort of story to the one that they have concocted, many of whom are sitting around in a common room conversing. Quill and Lucius have been given separate rooms and Quill attempts to convince the innkeeper to give Lucius a spare key to his room, given that Lucius is posing as his carer. Quill is unsuccessful and is told that the management has a spare key to the room if it is required as an urgent matter, but that they cannot be given to another guest.

Once in his room, Quill pulls out his chest and take out three gold pieces(see Trivia) then the two groups meet up. At sunset, the city lights up with magical light and the crystal screens become more visible. Coalsmoke Street (or Coalstroke Smeek(Markism)) is a narrow street with many small restaurants and street stalls; there are painted artworks on the sides of the buildings that have been illuminated with minor illusions (looking like neon signs with smoke rising from the cooking pots). Here, the large crystal screens are not only playing Shansara’s music videos, but also those of Genasi musicians, and recruitment ads to “Join the Valkyrian Empire today!” running on loops. There are also ads or clips for drama shows that have been brought to Vortinssar by the Valkyrians (there is one that is a serialised tale of lovers on Gideon Prime), and an ad for one that is coming soon – the first V-drama (Vortinssar drama) about a Genasi family living in the city and dealing with new neighbours who are Valkyrians – it is both a sitcom and a drama. Some of the plots are fantastical, others are based on real life: one of the Valkyrian dramas is about the legendary Knight of Gideon on his epic quest. Since people do not have these screens at home, they get together as a community to watch them, and to sing songs together.

Sentry is amazed by the screens, but Nova is abuzz and is caught up by seeing Genasi everywhere and the smells of the food around her. The street around them is very loud – noise blares from the screens, there is the din of cooking and the hubbub of conversation. The smell is also unlike anything any of them (other than Nova) have encountered – it is a mix of heat, spice, richness, there is the fragrance of spices and incense, the sweat of people, embers and ash. Quill suspects that the food is cooked with so much spice to mask the industrial, ashy, sweaty smell. With the blaring sounds, garish lights, and heavy smells, it is hard to see what is going on, but Quill does manage to see some guard patrols going actively from stall to stall and sees that they are actively investigating something. They plan to find the place they need to go and to enter it one at a time.

They start to look for a “sign of the spicy rabbit” while wandering down Coalsmoke Street. Aila is out of her depth, feeling crowded and missing the open air. Nova has wandered over to a street cart and comes back chewing on a meat bun. Sentry in interested in some sort of bird’s leg that has been cooked and smothered in a spicy sauce – Nova buys it for her, and Sentry eats it, bone and all. Sentry pulls her mask down but the illusion on her face does not look right since Kay did not think about her eating – there are no teeth in her mouth, it splits way too high, and it just looks like a gaping, rocky hole.

There are a few spicy rabbit options – a restaurant with a sign out front of a big soup pot with happy bunnies playing with their veggies as they get cooked alive, a market stand with skinned hares that have been smothered with hot dry rubs and spicy sauces, others with names like Hot Rabbit and Hot-Lopped Hare, and the last option is a sign on a smaller restaurant of a burlesque Burrowfolk woman with rabbit ears dancing on a pole.

Aila notices Sentry’s terrible mouth and alerts her to it, instructing her to put her food under her mask if she must eat. They notice that the guard patrol stops at the stall with the skinned rabbits about 30-40 feet away and they overhear them talking to the vendor, “Have you seen… looking for this person… What do you know about…” and see them hold up a small Valkyrian crystal slate on which Quill briefly sees a stylised portrait of Norfir. It appears that they have spotted the same five locations that the party has, but the party does not know which ones they may have visited yet besides the one they are currently at.

Lucius decides to go to the restaurant with the Burrowfolk sign and approaches a mixed Air/Fire Genasi lady behind the counter who has a bright column of hair standing straight up and whipping around her head (almost like a candle), she wears an apron over a shirt with loose, rolled-up sleeves. The venue appears to be a restaurant, but the kitchen also has a window for take-away orders for those on the street. Lucius asks her for the bantu mix, Sky Elf style, and as he utters the latter, she begins pulling things off shelves, then looks at Lucius and she motions towards the back of the restaurant with her head. He walks in as she calls to Fuego to get the man a table in the back, and Lucius advises her that “there are a couple of ruffians that seem to have an eye for the prize” – she looks at him without apparent understanding. They decide to go into the same venue one at a time, although Quill is concerned that they will all be seen at the one place and that it may look suspicious. Quill wants to wait for the guards to pass by before they go in.

Fuego, apparently the son of the woman outside, welcomes Lucius and takes him past a few people who are eating inside, Lucius advises that his “table” is for five people who will probably trickle in (this throws Fuego off a little who looks at his mother as if concerned). Fuego has a punk hairstyle with shaved sides and spiky column of hair in the centre, wears a loose puffy jacket but is bare-chested, trying to be hip and cool. Fuego takes Lucius to a downstairs room that looks like it is set up for both eating and singing or performances then looks around and at Lucius before gesturing him into the empty room – Fuego has his hand on something at his hip and asks Lucius about whether he is “a friend of the other guys” which Lucius acknowledges. Fuego is concerned that the bantu mix (Sky Elf style) is a rare dish that is usually ordered by regular customers, and Lucius is not a regular, but Lucius says that he has a specific need. Fuego gestures Lucius towards a dead-end corridor and as Lucius approaches it, Fuego leans over and bangs on the wall which opens the wall in front of Lucius – it leads to a long underground tunnel. As Lucius back through into the corridor, Fuego calls out to the hidden Goliath to let Lucius through – waiting behind the door, with a huge iron club, is a hulking obese, barrel chested, bald headed (but studded with gemstones) Earth Genasi. Lucius scurries off and Goliath moves the wall back into place.

Aila goes into the restaurant and up to the counter, giving the same pass phrase as Lucius. The woman looks suspicious as Aila says that her dinner companion may have arrived earlier. She calls over Fuego, has a whispered conversation with him and he agrees to take Aila to the table downstairs. Fuego points her down the stairs and tells her to turn into the corridor then follows behind her – when she arrives at the dead end and turns around, she sees Fuego pointing a Valkyrian magitek gun at her. He wants to be convinced that she is actually a friend of theirs, so she describes Azure, and then Norfir. When she describes Norfir, Fuego keeps his gun out, but it is no longer pointed at her, and he bangs on the wall to open up the corridor. Aila tells him what the other three look like and tells him that there are guards outside looking for the place. She is allowed to pass the giant Earth Genasi safely and the corridor is closed off behind her as Fuego heads back upstairs.

The guards upstairs pass the restaurant with the Burrowfolk lady sign and head to their next target. Nova and Sentry go in together, use the pass phrase and advise that there will be one old man who will join them. The people in the restaurant have noticed that multiple people have come in and are being taken elsewhere. Fuego takes them downstairs and lets them pass through the tunnel but asks them the whereabouts of the guards. Quill is the final one into the restaurant and given access to the lower level. They make their way towards the Seekers’ hideout.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Intro
08:20 - Dun Duns
09:18 - Part 1
1:21:26 - Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Goliath, Earth Genasi bruiser working for The Seekers

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Kay Avalin
* Shansara
* Harmony
* Fuego

## **Featured Locations**

* Vortinssar
	+ The Brazen Pit
	+ The Fire Pot
	+ Coalsmoke Street

## **Trivia**

* The traditional Halloween episode deserves some shots:
* Today’s stream was delayed by almost half an hour due to technical difficulties.
* Kim suggested at the top of the episode that right now in Vortinssar, they are celebrating the equivalent of Halloween and it is decorated with Jack-o-lanterns. Mark declined this option.
* Nova’s sister plays for the Tectonic Titans.
* The officer’s uniform is described as being like an officer’s uniform from Star Wars and was seen in episode 112: Assault on the Tassadar.
* Nova’s story about them only travelling together by chance had the group interviewed separately, but it was Tom’s idea that they should all leave the studio while the others were being “interviewed”.
* Mark says that dates on Aerois are “pretty much the same as Earth”. In episode 37, however, Ellois asks if Lucius was born on the 277th day of Pias – that’s a long ass month, Mark!
* Because he forgot his own name and had a bizarre story, Tom’s deception check was rolled at disadvantage – he rolled two 18s.
* Trott also had to roll at disadvantage for his deception check because of his “absolute fuck up” with where he was staying.
* Azuré is recommended to see “our guiding star” (Shansara) because her performances are amazing.
* Mark reveals the whiteboard after the interviews at immigration:
* During the break, the crew was walking around the building in which the studio is housed, trying to scare people, but Rhi refused to go around the corner, saying, “no, they’ll die!”
* In terms of how the time segments work, a “big task” (or presumably a few smaller tasks) will usually take up one of the four segments. A single segment can also be exchanged for a “flashback token” which allows the user to choose later to have automatically done something earlier (i.e., earlier in the day, I organised to leave some rope in this area), and they can choose to spend two segments to find out what their incognito score is.
* The public transport methods (such as the fire elevators) tend to be used more by high society because it is built in the upper sections where the air is clearer. The Fire District, being more of an industrial district (occupied by forges, foundries, and workshops), has a dull orange haze in the air from the ash and embers. Mark describes it as a dull, burnt umber glow that permeates the lower levels of the district.
* Harmony, the leader of the Genasi people, is a Genasi of all four elements and is androgynous and non-binary.
* Mark wrote some lyrics for “Our Genasi’s Love Heart” but chose not to share them at this time.
* Quill starts taking out 2 gold, this becomes 3, then 4, then 6, then 3, then 4, then 3. This was wonderful, confused old man role playing.
* A quick discussion in-game about comparing their rooms (Quill talks about having a roof overhanging his toilet which means that he has to lean back to use it) – this leads to a discussion about the hotel at Rhi’s wedding: Kim’s bed slanted, and she fell out of it, Ted didn’t believe her and did the same thing. Briony had a window in her bathroom that other people could see into. Tom “had a corpse in [his] cupboard”. Mark just allows this conversation to occur with a deadpan look on his face.
* The V-drama is a mix of Hong Kong drama and Korean drama show with cheap sets and over the top acting (a telenovela-style drama).
* There is a suggestion that the Valkyrian drama about the Knight of Gideon is actually about Max, that he was an actor when he was young, and that this is why he does not like to talk about his past. Mark said that it is not Max because this would discredit Max’s character. Excellent, Mark – don’t let them cheapen our boy thus!
* Kim imagines that there are grassy squares where Genasi get together to go tai chi, and Mark agrees that this may be in other districts, but that the Fire District is packed in and a bit smokier, so would not really lend itself to that atmosphere.
* The second wonderful Markism for the episode was when his brain merged the words “mingles” and “merges” into “minges”.
* Sentry gains 13 temporary hit points from eating her chicken leg and cannot gain another benefit from eating a special meal for another 24 hours. Nova gains advantage on Constitution ability checks and saving throws for the next hour.
* Trott is not a fan of open-mouthed chewing sounds. I’m with you on this one, mate.
* Bantu mix is a spicy veg and stir fry type of dish according to Mark.
* Fuego looks like the main character in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime.