Aerois - Episode 44: The Elenasto Fiasco

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**The Elenasto Fiasco** is the 44th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 25th August 2019 from 5PM to 8PM BST.

*Time for interrogations, as the gang are accused of the murder of Elois Ironstaff...*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players. Katie is welcomed back from gamescom and it is announced that she is feeling a little better but is still under the weather.
* Sponsor today is D&D Beyond. There is access to an overlay of the characters on Twitch that will update in real time.
* Use your Prime sub or real-life moneys to sub up to the HR Twitch channel.
* PAX West is this Friday coming which means that there will be no regular streams this weekend (Aerois or Descent) because Mark, Katie, and Tom will be at PAX. Friday is an autograph session with Anna Prosser at 1.30pm, Saturday is a panel in the Raven theatre at 5.30pm. Thanks to Idle Champions for getting HR to PAX. There is an exclusive HR at Pax West poster available. This is HR’s first open US appearance.
* Immediately after this stream is the Lightfall’s Descent stream on D&D’s Twitch channel.
* Please send in fan art and fan music. There is a fan music segment before the stream goes live. Everyone loves the fan art, and Mark loves the fan art of his NPCs.
* Merch: The Sorcerer and Lucius t-shirts are available in the Yogscast store at the moment, and they can be purchased as a bundle. A HR hat is also available.

### **Recap**

"*Galecrown, the royal palace and the seat of power in the sky city of Gusthaven. Here you met with Sky Prince Aridan, and his advisor, the Royal Stave, Ellois. There are discussions - new clues and leads related to Lucius' falsified death, and in turn clues to his family's murder. A scryer is missing in The Chains, a shanty town hanging from the bottom of the flying city. However, the party also has their own clues to follow, Quill's vision granted by the Eye of the Storm - they decided to investigate the palace library to see if it matched the one that he saw in his vision. Ellois accompanies them, taking them to see the library in which Quill finds a secret door. Intrigued, the part investigates, with Ellois clearing the library to give them privacy.*

*They encounter wards and protections of abjuration magic, and the presence of a golem-like creature. Lucius leaps across the wards, and discovers papers, some torn and discarded, that reference the Wind Barons and their actions. But one final letter could not be clearer: "How did you let this happen? First you fail to kill him after you found out he was alive, then you fail to kill him again in the tower. He's a pathetic milksop daddy's boy and a bunch of Lowland mercenaries. How did this happen? He's pissed away a good chunk of my money on an airship, a bloody airship, and sold his estate to those second-class Virinors. You need to do something, Ellois. I know you don't like leaving paper trails, but not all of us have access to sending spells, dammit, and one of us needs to hold you accountable." The battle is intense. Ellois is a powerful spellcaster, and his guardian golem leaps to his defence. Smeek, your goblin companion, lies dead, frozen solid by magic. With quick thinking, he is overcome; the party and Sentry attempt to knock him unconscious, but a reckless blow from Aila's Howling Tempest causes him harm and leaves him bleeding out as his golem desperately races for the exit, only to be brought down. When the party reaches him, Ellois has died, and the party are left in the cold stone corridor and secret passage, alone.*"

### **Part 1**

*A secret room in the Galecrown Palace? What could be hidden inside?!*

The party finds itself in a lit corridor. The light is faded and dim with a slight pulsing coming from the arcane runes. The body of Ellois, the High Elven arcane mage, lies on the ground crumpled next to a deactivated mechanical golem and the dead body of Smeek. Nearby is the round room of the library with books on the shelves and papers on the table, and the secret door leading into the corridor behind them is shut.

They decide that being seen moving bodies will look very suspicious, even if there is no one in the library, so decide to bring the Sky Prince down to the crime scene, which they will try to leave untouched. Nova decides first, however, to reclaim the translator earring, and when she tries to remove it from Smeek’s ear, she instead snaps the frozen ear off his head. She apologises to Aila, who doesn’t care. Aila zaps Smeek’s body with lightning in order to make him happy, but this irritates Lucius, who has realised that someone that he trusted and considered to be a friend has actually been a traitor to the Crown, and given the seriousness of the situation, he asks the others to have some respect. Lucius and Sentry go to find the Sky Prince while the rest remain behind to protect the crime scene. When they slide the secret door open, there is no one in the library, so they make their way to the main door where they find a guard in the livery of the Sky Prince whom Ellois had asked to stay by the door and restrict entrance to the library. The guard cannot leave his post but advises Lucius that the Sky Prince will be in his office, having concluded his morning forum, and Lucius, as part of the nobility, has the right to go to see the Sky Prince there.

Galecrown is a very large palace – Lucius and Sentry are stopped a few times but arrive at the Sky Prince’s office about ten minutes later. There are many people waiting to speak to the Sky Prince but Lucius asks one of the young pages to advise Aridan that there is an urgent matter that involves Ellois and a crime scene that needs his attention and also needs discretion and urgency.

Aila looks for a way to block the secret door from the inside but there is no obvious mechanism on the inside of the door – instead, she stands at the door and looks menacing. Quill is walking around the library trying not to disturb anything and also looks at the letter that Nova had taken – he sees that it has been signed by Salvarius Aetheron.

Nova makes a quick copy of the papers that she has taken from the desk, including the letter and envelope in which it came, along with less incriminating documents like the movement of Gusthaven patrols and City Watches, the names of City Watch officers who work at the Cloudharbour Immigration Centre (the port of entry into Gusthaven), a list of cargo shipments destined to arrive in Gusthaven and their port of origin, the names of several nobles including Salvarius Aetheron and the department businesses that they have influence over, and the letter from Kalie’s Rest from Lucius addressed to his father, Virion. The letter to Ellois looks to have been sent less than 24 hours prior, and Nova suspects that Ellois has only recently had time to read it, explaining why he has not yet destroyed it. Nova notices a spellbook on the desk alongside the papers, and while she is keen to look through it, Quill convinces her not to disturb the crime scene too much – Nova believes that this is Ellois’ personal spellbook. The last thing that they notice on the desk are two more of the metal spheres, Spell Globes, that explode when activated.

Within minutes of relaying the message through the young page, Aridan appears and catches  Lucius’ eye – he looks serious before turning to the waiting crowd (who have stood upon his appearance), and apologising that he must deal with an urgent matter. Aridan invites those who are waiting to leave their names and tells them that he will endeavour to get back to them about their issues as soon as he can: there is some grumbling, but a general acceptance. Aridan, meanwhile, makes his way to Lucius and Sentry, asking quietly what has happened. Lucius recommends that they speak in private or make their way to the crime scene – Aridan is about to ask Lucius’ advice before he requests a valet to fetch Captain Valera to attend him. Lucius recommends that Aridan also bring someone with the ability to compel the truth from people, and he says that they will get someone from the Church of Siaska to come to them. Aridan then makes his apologies to the assembled petitioners before Valera arrives dressed in full plate and the blue and silver livery of Gusthaven.

Valera escorts them towards the library and Aridan asks an attendant to get a message to High Priestess Eris{{TRIVIA}}, asking her to send one of her more competent priests directly to the royal library. With the corridors mostly empty, and them moving towards the library, Aridan asks them to explain what is going on – Lucius explains about the secret door in the library leading to the hidden room and Ellois’ treachery. Aridan is stopped in his tracks, disbelieving. Lucius explains that this is why Lucius has requested someone who can use magic to get to the truth, because the Sky Prince does not believe that someone who helped raise him would work against him. Valera advises that they go to see the evidence and the Sky Prince agrees but cannot meet their eyes as they move along.

When they enter the library, Lucius sees that the secret door is shut. He knocks on it and calls to the others to let them know that he is there with the Sky Prince. Aila strains to pull the door open with her raw strength, but it is obvious that there is another means to open the door magically. Lucius tries to reassure the Sky Prince that this is not an attempt to get him into a secret room alone – this startles Aridan, who clearly had not thought of this, but it is obvious that Captain Valera had been thinking just this: at the only door to the library are now 12 Royal Guards that Valera had quietly signalled. Lucius recommends that they all disarm themselves as a show of good faith – Valera agrees and asks them to pass their weapons out to the guards who will hold them. Lucius, Sentry, Aila, Quill, and Nova hand over their weapons. The Sky Prince remains armed with his greatsword strapped on his back.

Valera recommends that they do not say anything until the priest arrives, and that some of them remain in the room with them (the other half with the least knowledge wait outside), while the Sky Prince has a chance to examine the scene. After a brief discussion through the messenger rings, it is decided that Nova and Sentry will stay in the room while Quill, Aila, and Lucius will wait outside for the priest. Aridan looks over the scene and is visibly upset by the death of Ellois – there are tears streaming down his cheeks for the passing of someone who was so close to him. He regards the golem creature strangely and sees the frozen body of Smeek. Aridan then invites Valera to conduct her investigation as a Human priest arrives from the Church of Siaska. The man is young, wears spectacles, and has floppy brown hair cut into loose curtains with a ponytail – he shuffles in wearing the white and black robes of a Siaskan priest, carrying a book and a small pendulum with a silver star hanging from it. He introduces himself as Thomas and confirms that he knows the spell *Zone of Truth,* normally using it for judicial reasons and assisting with investigations.

Nova volunteers the information that she touched some of the evidence during the fight, fearing that Ellois would destroy it, but Valera stops her, telling Nova that she does not have a reason to trust Nova and that all will come to light once the spell is cast. Valera examines the scene, making notes about what she can see before she takes the papers and looks through them, eventually passing them to a squire who runs them upstairs to the Prince in the library. She calls Thomas forward who asks for the names of the witnesses – Nova and Sentry introduce themselves before Thomas explains what will happen with the spell and how their answers will be viewed (with a non-answer being considered suspect). Thomas performs the ritual, swinging the pendulum backwards and forwards and chanting in a deep baritone, and neither of Nova nor Sentry elect to try to resist the spell. Valera asks Sentry what happened in the room. Sentry tells her the truth, advising that they tried to render Ellois unconscious. Valera asks why Ellois is dead, given that there was an attempt to keep him alive. Sentry replies that Ellois would not stop, and they just did too much damage to him.

Nova is asked how Ellois attacked them, and she answers truthfully. She is asked why Ellois attacked them, and why he attacked them in the secret room – Nova explains that Lucius read the letter (explaining its contents), and that Ellois realised that he had been exposed as a traitor, hence his attack. She then explains Ellois’ death – that because the golem had tried to run off with his unconscious body, when they had tried to stop the golem, Ellois was inadvertently hit and killed.

Valera leans in, asking the priest to step back before asking them quietly if they had any suspicions about Ellois before coming into the secret room – they both declare that they did not, but under pressure from Valera, Nova tells her that Ellois has implicated the Sky Prince in taking money from the outside of Gusthaven to fund public projects (and that this was known to Anastasia Magrona), but that she does not know if it is true. Valera places them temporarily under suspicion of murder but confirms that it is not an accusation of guilt and acknowledges that they have told the truth as far as they know it. Nova indicates the letter on the table{{TRIVIA}} that discusses the attempt on Lucius’ life from Salvarius Aetheron – Valera nods and tells them quietly that she does trust them before telling them that because she is common-born, she has been subject to persecution multiple times. She says that the Sky Prince and the nobles of Gusthaven are blinded by loyalty to each other. She knows Ellois to be a dangerous man, and he, along with Salvarius and the Magronas, have threatened her. She suggests that Ellois was not acting alone and that they should be careful – she will try to protect them. Valera then nods and leads the two of them up to the library, before speaking to the guards who manacle them and lead them away to the dungeons until the investigation is completed.

The three remaining in the library are invited to come down to the secret room while Nova sends a message through the Messenger Rings to advise that everything is ok and that while they are under suspicion, they are not being accused of anything, recommending that they tell Valera what they can. Valera goes to Aridan and points at the papers that he is now reading – he hands them to her, and she reads a couple quietly before nodding and whispering to him. Valera makes her way back down to the secret room with an extra guard, and the guards leading the three suspects deliberately lead them down past Ellois’ dead body into the centre of the secret room where the priest waits quietly.

Lucius, Aila, and Quill give their names to Valera before the priest reads them information about the spell that they will be under and the conditions that will be in place while they are questioned. Lucius interrupts a few times to ensure that everyone will be under the effects of the *Zone of Truth* spell, including Valera and the priest, and even suggests through the Messenger Rings that Quill might cast the same spell himself. Because it will be obvious that he is casting it, however, Quill does not think that this is a good idea. Thomas continues and casts the spell on them all – none of them tries to resist the spell.

Valera asks Aila what her impression was of Ellois before coming to the library today, and she tells Valera that she had no reason to suspect him. Quill is asked what happened in the secret room and he tells Valera not only about what happened in the library with Ellois, but also about his vision at Norfir’s and how he discovered the secret wall. Lucius is asked about his relationship with Ellois – he tells Valera that he has known Ellois his whole life through his family, and that Ellois had been a mentor to him and his father. He agrees that he had had regular business meetings with Ellois at the Elenasto estate. Lucius is also asked why he left Gusthaven, and he responds that he was send on an errand of trade by his father – Lucius wanted to be helpful and to prove himself to his father. When he is asked about the airship crash and how he met his current companions, Lucius is unsure as to the relevance of the question. Valera tells him that the information in his letter from Kalie’s Rest contradicts what they had been told about his death. Lucius explains that the airship was attacked by the Court of Shadows and that his companions have travelled with him ever since the resulting airship crash. He is asked if he had any reason to suspect that Ellois was connected with what happened to his family, but Lucius did not because he had known Ellois for his whole life and had no reason to distrust him. They are grilled about the details of who killed Ellois, and they explain that Ellois’ death was inadvertent because Aila was attempting to stop the golem from escaping with Ellois’ unconscious body. Lucius suggests that Valera is trying to use race against Aila, but she smirks at the idea since her family were gutter Elves and she grew up in The Chains. Because of this, she says that she has no discriminatory tendencies, and even feels closer to the Wild Elves than the High Elves – her interest is not in pushing an agenda of prejudice, but simply to get to the truth, and that sometimes her line of questioning may be misunderstood. Valera tells Lucius that her official duty is to protect the Royal Family, but her personal code of ethics is to protect the people of Gusthaven. She believes that Prince Aridan is a just man and says that she serves him because he shares her sentiments.

Valera gestures for Thomas and the guards to move back and leans in to whisper to them: she asks them whether they suspect anyone else of being involved other than Ellois. Quill names Salvarius Aetheron and Anastasia Magrona, Lucius says that he suspects everyone and trusts no one any more. He asks Valera when she last saw his estate, and she answers that she last saw it on the night of the explosion when she was sent to investigate it before she asks Lucius if he is beginning to suspect her. Valera tells them that she is convinced that they are telling the truth but that they will be held for a few days while the investigation is completed – at this time, her intention is to let them go free. She asks if there is anyone else or any other evidence that they can provide who might corroborate some of their story. Quill suggests Adaela Venethor, the one who scried on Lucius and gave the report that he was dead, although she has since disappeared – Valena has reports that she has been sighted going down into The Chains, but they do not know who she might be working with. Valena would like to try to track her down but has concerns that there are people within the Royal Guard who cannot be trusted – she asks if they know of anyone who could assist with trying to find the mage, but they prefer not to involve Norfir.

Valera says that she will speak with Aridan – he will be taking Ellois’ death hard since he was very close, when Aridan’s father died, Ellois helped to raise him and provided support like a parent. She asks the guards to take them to the cells until the investigation can be completed. When they enter the library, they are manacled, and Aridan approaches Lucius, looking him in the face with his own eyes still glistening. He asks Lucius to tell him that Ellois was behind things. Lucius looks Aridan in the eye and tells him that he is as confused as the Prince is – he had thought that Ellois could be trusted but now does not know what to think and whom to trust. Aila asks to say something, and the room goes awkwardly silent – she tells them that Lucius has told them how amazing the city and people of Gusthaven are, but that since they have been in the city, Lucius’ world has been turned upside down. The Prince assures her that the city is a great one, safe and kind but he recognises that Lucius’ arrival has set in motion events that the Prince cannot explain or accept. Lucius takes exception to this until the Prince clarifies – the events were taking place out of sight and Lucius’ presence brought them to light. They all agree that they want the best for Gusthaven before they are led away to the palace dungeons.

### **Part 2**

*A secret room in the Galecrown Palace? What could be hidden inside?!*

The party is led down to the empty and clean dungeons of Galecrown. Lucius knows that because Gusthaven is a sky city and land is at a premium, there is no prison here. People found guilty of minor crimes are held temporarily and then dumped at the nearest lowland city or town that Gusthaven passes over, and they live their lives in exile, never welcome to return. The penalty for serious and crimes is death, where the criminal is often pushed off the side of the sky city (usually over an ocean) – there is no space for a cemetery or crematorium. If the criminal admits to their crime and is honourable, they are given a quick and easy death before being disposed of over the side of the sky city.

Each of the party is kept in an individual barred cell where they can see each other. They have been disarmed and obvious spell casting items have been taken, but personal effects (such as jewellery) have not been taken or removed. Sentry’s flame lance has been encased in a magical stone barrel that is sealed to her arm by a mage, and she is informed that this will be removed when they are released. Their manacles are removed when they are in their cells. They are left alone for hours, but during the night, Quill hears something moving from outside or near his cell. He begins to see a soft blue-green glow that begins to take the form of a small goblin – a ghostly Smeek wearing only a loincloth forms in front of Quill and starts speaking to him, confused, in Goblin. Smeek moves up to Quill and goes to tug on his wing, but his hand goes straight through it. Sentry and Aila hear the noise and call Smeek’s name, Sentry is delighted but Aila is nonplussed. Smeek walks through the bars to Aila’s cell and begins to get down on his knees to worship her, but when he realises that his feet have sunk into the ground, he begins to hover above the ground, spinning around, as if he cannot control his movement. Smeek is angry about something, shouting something in Goblin at Aila.

Smeek begins to walk through walls, greeting the cell occupants, floats through Sentry, and eventually tries to tug at his halberd but cannot hold it and seems resigned. They do not believe that Smeek knows that he is dead. They notice that where Nova broke off Smeek’s ear, this is missing on the ghostly version, his skin is covered in scars, and because his skin was rapidly frozen, all of his veins are standing out. Smeek suddenly vanishes from sight before reappearing three cells down and walks out into the main corridor, shouting in Goblin, and pointing around him rapidly, before vanishing again.

Quill wonders why Smeek has reappeared in a ghostly form to haunt them, and Lucius suggests that it could be because he did not die to lightning as he wished to. They watch as he angrily jumps up and down, starting to float in the air as he does, and they know that he is mad about something. Hearing loud snoring coming from Nova’s cell, Smeek shouts her name and begins to wander in that direction. Lucius wonders if zapping his ghost with lightning would help, arguing that leaving him to wander the world as a ghost would be cruel. Aila calls to Smeek, whose face appears through her wall, and she zaps him with lightning – while he clearly feels it, he is now resistant to its effects, but moves closer to Aila, dancing around her, and trying to get zapped more.

Smeek continues to pop in and out of existence, but as the sun begins to come up, they see that he gets scared and vanishes.

The next day, food is brought down to them, but they are left in their cells for another day and night. On the second night, as soon as the sun sets, the ghost of Smeek reappears. Nova is awake this time, and sees the ghost, having thought that the others were under some sort of group hallucination the previous night. Now wearing the translator earring, Nova understands Smeek when he tells her that when the sun comes up, Smeek goes to another place, but when the sun goes, he will come back. He tells Nova that he wants to know where Aila is and wants Quill to bring a storm. He also wants to know why they are in a hole and why they are staying where they are before telling her that he is bored. Nova tries to mime to him what has brough them to prison (“old man”, “die”, “prison”, and “chains”). Smeek, not understanding, copies her movements and then wishes to know why she, a “strange human”, is dancing.

While Nova is attempting to communicate with Smeek, Quill hears the sound of guards running somewhere rapidly. After a few minutes, the door to the dungeon opens but nothing appears to happen. The door shuts again before he hears a quiet padding of feet nearby. There is a shimmering in the air as a feminine form dressed in tight leather with a moon mask and wearing bandoliers appears. The figure tells them that she has been looking into what has happened (news has spread quickly despite the Sky Prince’s attempt to keep it under wraps), and that Ellois’ body has been moved temporarily to the Church of Siaska while the investigation is completed. Moonstar acknowledges that Lucius may be who he claims to be and offers her help – she is not sure whether they will be let out because the rumours are split on their fate. Moonstar seems to think that in a best-case scenario, Aila would be exiled for delivering a death blow to Ellois, and the rest may also be exiled or may be allowed to remain.

Moonstar asks them if they have any other evidence to show that Ellois was planning it all along and was not just a threat to Lucius, but also to the city. Lucius is angry – the last time that they saw Moonstar, she came at an inopportune time and accused him of being a fraud. Moonstar agrees but says that she thought that the real Lucius was dead, and that knowing his sister the way that she did, his claiming to be Lucius pissed her off a bit. Lucius tells her that the feeling is mutual. Quill says that they have met many people whom they thought they should trust that they no longer trust, and that now Moonstar is coming to them in a disguise, telling them that they are going to be exiled… He tells her further that he could simply find out who she is, which Moonstar dismisses. Quill uses the Eye of the Storm to ask, “What is your (Moonstar’s) real name?”

The rest see Quill’s eye swirl as the storm moves, showing that he is using his seer’s vision, but the vision is not seen.

Moonstar turns to the rest of them telling them that while they have no reason to trust her, she has been trying to help them: she has been opposing the Wind Barons and Ellois. Lucius asks if Moonstar can see a ghostly Goblin in the room – she looks around and nods, telling them that it seemed so strange that she was not going to bring it up – Smeek screams something in Goblin, then vanishes.

Quill asks Moonstar how she knew about the explosion at the Elenasto estate to which Moonstar replies that it was known to the whole city. He asks further how she knew enough about it to escape from it – she claims that she didn’t know about it, but left Edea there and was sneaking out because she didn’t want Edea’s parents to know about her. Quill tells her that the person left in Edea’s room was not Edea – Moonstar, wearing her mask, takes a moment before answering and telling Quill that she does not know what he’s talking about, insisting that she is Edea’s partner.

Quill declares that Moonstar is, in fact, Edea Elenasto.

Moonstar insists that Edea is dead, and that she died in the explosion. Quill insists that she wasn’t at the explosion because he saw her (Moonstar/Edea) leave. She takes a visible step back and denies Quill’s magic, telling them that they can have her help and that she will visit them again tomorrow if they are still in the cells. Aila asks why she would let her brother think her dead, but Lucius thinks that it would have been logical for Edea to think that it was not him when they met at the Elenasto estate. Moonstar turns and breathes deeply. Sentry calls on Moonstar to admit her identity since her brother is here – Moonstar pulls away the mask to reveal an almost identical face to Lucius’ with long brown hair that falls down to her shoulders (excepting that her eyes are the same colour). She stares at Quill as Lucius stumbles back in his cell and asks Quill how he knew when no one else does or could know. He tells her that he has a gift from H’esper that allowed him to discern the truth.

Edea reveals that she did not know about the explosion, but that she had been sneaking out to go to her workshop for months. She had left her partner, Lorna, in her room and had planned to return in the morning but then she heard about the explosion. When she heard that they had reported her dead, Edea realised that she could take this opportunity to find out who had done it, since no one would have expected anyone else to be in her room. Edea glances briefly at Lucius but will not meet his eye as if she is ashamed to look at him.

“You’re alive?” he asks her. Edea denies it saying that technically, Edea Elenasto died in the explosion. Lucius apologises but she stops him, telling him that he has nothing to apologise for – she (and everyone else) genuinely thought that he had died in the airship crash, and she has been living as Moonstar ever since. Given that she had always loved Siaska, and that they had always been a very religious family, it seemed a natural fit to proclaim herself Siaska’s champion, and to try to dispense some justice in the world. She saw this as an opportunity to go after the people who had attacked and killed her family. She knew that something had happened, and that her father would not have made the sort of mistake that people had alleged and assumed that the explosion was something to do with the Wind Barons. Virion had mentioned to Edea that the Wind Barons had been pressuring him, trying to get him to join their alliance, and he had also told her that he had refused them – she did not think that they would go to such extreme measures as to blow up their estate.

Edea decided to use extreme measures of her own and, given that she had always had a talent for invention and engineering and knowing how to use magic and technology despite not being a wizard or a sorcerer, she has been trying to hit the Wind Barons where it hurts them. Edea does not care if Moonstar has a bad reputation in Gusthaven, only that justice is done to the Wind Barons. Edea tells them that Ellois is not the only member of the Wind Barons, that they are numerous and also in other sky cities – from Horizon to Cloud Garden. Edea had not thought about what she would do if she managed to get rid of the Wind Barons – as far as she knew, all her family was dead, and so was her partner, Lorna.

Edea reiterates that she is not certain what will happen to them – she has some spies in the palace but things are still unsettled, and they need to present more evidence than they already have to prove that Ellois was involved. Quill asks Edea which part of her was coming to help them – the one that wanted to see Lucius safe, or the one investigating Ellois? She looks hard at him, wanting to know if he is always this nosy, but Lucius stands up for her declaring that her motives are irrelevant if she wants to help them. Edea declares that she realised that there was no way that a fraudulent Lucius would have gotten involved, certainly to the point of handing himself in to the Sky Prince. She calls him naïve and tells him that he could have left the body in the secret room and left, rather than handing himself in and being incarcerated. Lucius declares that they have each chosen their own way – that Edea has chosen to give up what she always was, while Edea tells him that he has chosen to become what he never wanted to be.

Edea offers to help, not just for Lucius’ sake, but for the sake of Gusthaven – the Wind Barons are a plague that needs to be removed because they keep hurting innocent people. She calls the Prince naïve, and knows that he is up to something, but does not think that he is involved with the Wind Barons. Aila says that they need to find the Scryer who declared Lucius dead, Adaela Venethor, who was last seen going into The Chains – this is news to Edea who thought that they could not find her at all, but she says that she and Norfir will try to track her down. Lucius is surprised, asking if Norfir knew that Edea was Moonstar – Edea says that she thinks that Norfir suspected it because they fought once. Edea was going after a group of Wind Barons at the docks and Norfir was trying to find answers of her own: Edea did not want Norfir to know that it was her, so she threatened her to stay away. Virion had Norfir train Edea as a girl in the sword and the bow because he was worried about her going on long trips when sky piracy was on the rampage. She also trained her in some of her “special skills”, of which Lucius was now aware. Lucius asks how all of this was happening under his nose without his knowledge – Edea tells him that he was distracted with his painting and jousting, and along with the other things he was doing, it was easy enough for him to miss things (especially the things he did not want to see). Virion always wanted Lucius to be the creative soul that he is and to explore avenues that suited him because he knew that the business wasn’t right for Lucius which is why he wanted Edea to take it over, and it is why she studied the things that she did, such as aetherium.

Lucius believes that Edea should still take over the family business once the issues with the Wind Barons are sorted out, but Edea thinks that it would be difficult. The death of the Elenasto family gave her the ability to move about as an unknown and had the Wind Barons looking for “Moonstar” rather than an Elven noblewoman – she thinks that it may be impossible to undo it. Lucius tells her that he has done some things with the money that he was left – she is aware of his purchase of an airship, and suspects that he has some business with the Virinors, but does not know what, and Lucius does not tell her any details as yet. Edea says that she will look for the Scryer – it may be that she can connect her to Ellois and get them out of the dungeons, but she must act quickly.  She apologises to Lucius for not telling him who she was earlier, thinking it safer for him not to know. Lucius apologises for not being there when the explosion happened – she is glad that he wasn’t and tells Lucius that she has a gift for him when he gets out of prison. So saying, she puts the mask back on and turns invisible – there is the soft padding of footfalls before the door opens and shuts quietly.

Lucius collapses in a ball of confusion and emotion in his cell.

There is a brief discussion about whether they want Moonstar to help them – there is a risk to Edea now, and Moonstar does not have a good reputation in Gusthaven.

Two days later, Valera comes to release them without charge. Norfir had given them a tip on where to find the missing Scryer, Adaela Venethor, and they were found in an apartment block in the Breeze. They had been beaten and tortured, and someone had been supplying them with Comet, a narcotic from The Chains. When found, they were coherent enough that they could be subjected to the *Zone of Truth* and other rituals to ensure that their evidence could be trusted. The evidence they gave was that Ellois had engineered Lucius’ falsified death, and also confirmed that Salvarius Aetheron was also involved. Democles Magrona also delivered information to confirm that his mother, Anastasia, had been involved in their schemes, and he had only discovered this after hearing what had happened with Ellois. Democles ransacked his mother’s private vault, found ledgers confirming the information, and presented these to the Sky Prince. As a result of the new intelligence, both Salvarius and Anastasia have been arrested and taken into custody elsewhere – they will be tried for treason against the Sky Prince. The Sky Prince asks to speak to them before they are released.

Quill asks what will happen to the Magrona and Aetheron companies – Valera tells him that the companies are not necessarily tied to the individual wrongdoers, so Matthias will take over Aetheron Refining and Democles will take over Magrona Manufacturing. Belanor was offered the Magrona business but turned it over to his brother.

Lucius fears that matters run deeper than have been discovered, and this is why Valera has come to speak to them personally. She has found that the Sky Prince is involved in something with his funds coming from somewhere unknown – Valera does not believe that he is involved with the Wind Barons but says that he is hiding something from her. Many of the nobles in Gusthaven have opposed businesses, merchants, and non-nobles who have risen in power, and she believes that there is something brewing under the surface – she believes that the Wind Barons are behind it, and that they are fomenting discord in the city. She thinks that Lucius’ arrival may have caused some of this to rise to the surface and thinks that it might be a good idea for him to leave Gusthaven for a while.

As Valera leads them out of the dungeons and up to meet with the Sky Prince, Nova speaks to the rest of the party through the messenger rings, asking when they should start to tell people about Starbane and Hadar. Aila believes that they should get out of Gusthaven first, but Lucius thinks it right to share the information with the Sky Prince. It is suggested that they instead share the information with Moonstar in case the Sky Prince is in league with Starbane, but Lucius points out that there is no harm telling the Sky Prince if he already knows about Starbane. It is decided to tell Moonstar and Norfir and let them do some investigation of their own before passing the information on any further – there is too much distrust of other people at this stage. They are brought back to the present with some guards clearing their throats – they are standing at an armoury, and the guards are holding out their weapons, wondering why they are not taking them. Gathering their items and weapons again, they are asked to go with Valera to the Sky Prince’s audience chamber, but she recommends not mentioning the issue of the Sky Prince’s source of money for now.

They are escorted upstairs to the empty audience chamber where the Sky Prince, alone, stands with his back to them, hands clasped behind his back, looking out the huge windows over the main part of the city below. They see his greatsword, sheathed, on the floor beside his desk, embedded into a plinth and they see the bright gem on the pommel, gleaming at the top. Aridan thanks them for coming and dismisses Valera, who moves to stand unobtrusively at the back of the room. Aridan offers them thanks and an apology. He tells them that when his father died, he was uncertain of his future, not expecting to take over for a very long time, if ever. Ellois was there to guide him and offer him advice, acting like a rock to a drowning man.

Now, Aridan believes that much of Ellois’ advice was given only to further his connections – the revelation of his conspiracy with the Wind Barons, Anastasia, and Salvarius is now making Aridan doubt himself once more. He reveals that he now feels as if he is drowning once more but would rather feel as if he is trying to swim that being pulled into the depths by something unknown. He thanks them again, for even though he is saddened by his mentor’s death, he is glad that the truth has been brought to light. He further apologises for making them wait so long but wanted to make sure of their innocence before letting them go – he has suspicions of who found the mage in the Breeze, and he is glad that they did. Sentry believes that Aridan is sincere, and it is clear to her that Aridan is afraid that he will not live up to the position of Sky Prince and will let his people down.

Lucius thanks Aridan for doing his duty and taking Gusthaven in the right direction, but he worries that there is still evil in the city. Aridan expresses his fervent wish that Gusthaven will be a city good for both its people and the world of Aerois. Lucius offers Aridan some advice – “nothing comes for free” – Aridan looks hard at Lucius but agrees. Aridan recognises that everything that has happened would have been very difficult for Lucius, saying that he is very different to the young boy that he remembers, and that he has given Aridan a lot to think about. He wishes Lucius luck in finding whatever he is looking for. Aridan’s owl, Malachi, flies down and lands on Aridan’s shoulder – Aridan scratches the owl before inviting them to leave. Sentry also offers the Sky Prince some parting advice, telling him not to let the uncertain times sway him and to ensure that he does the right thing. He nods and they leave, with Lucius bowing to Valera on the way out – he quietly asks her to keep Aridan on the right path, which she agrees to do, telling them that the Stormchaser will always be welcome to dock in Gusthaven.

They make their way to the airship docking area in the Cloudharbour District – as they approach, they start to see emerging from the back of the ship’s dock and emerging from the quay is a dark coloured wooden hull with sleek sails. Shadows ripple along the sides and blend it into a dark mist that forms around the hull of the ship – a great open maw is at its prow, looking like a beast rising from the mists. When they arrive, they see Sprocket gesturing at forty odd Gnomes all over the ship, doing tiny detailing – chiselling out tiny bits of wood so that all the planks fit uniformly, measuring so that nails are exactly the same distance apart, but they work extremely rapidly, and they almost look like ants swarming over the ship working as a cohesive body. They also see Goliaths doing the heavy lifting, the rocky-textured Humanoids are carrying heavy lumber, and hoisting the second mast into place. They notice that the sky sails have a soft blue magic pulsing through them like wind, and the ship looks near ready to fly. The whole ship is gargantuan, with three decks, and can hold thirty people easily.

Sprocket welcomes them back, casually mentions their arrest, before asking their opinion of the ship. He believes that the Stormchaser is one of the best ships that he has ever worked on, telling them that the redundant second engine has posed some mechanical problem for him that he believes that he has solved. Sprocket tells them that the ship will be ready tomorrow morning, and only the finishing touches (“the Lily and Sprocket dazzle”) still needs to be put on before it is finished. Lucius begins to panic that he has done the wrong thing spending his money on the ship, but the rest are delighted with it. The crew have been around, says Sprocket, and they will be ready to leave with the ship when it is ready. Having not decided on the specialty rooms, Sprocket has left them empty, telling them that they can take a few more days to fit them now, or they can fit them and any upgrades or weapons that they might wish at a later date. He recommends not going to other shipwrights but coming back to Lily and Sprocket for these modifications.

Sprocket suddenly remembers that an older Half-Elven woman, calling herself Lucius’ nanny, had dropped off a package for him, and that he would understand that it was a gift from someone. The package is in the captain’s quarters. Sprocket takes them onboard and shows them around the ship as the finishing details are being done all around them. To board the ship, gangplanks can be lowered from the main deck to a dock. There are also safety railings around the outside of the ship. Sentry asks for some rope because she is worried about falling over, but because she has tied herself to the railing, when she gets to the end of her 50ft of rope halfway down the stairs, she cannot move any more.

As they go around the ship, they hear guttural noises, not quite barking but close, and they see two wolf-like beast-like crew – they are startled but then salute Lucius when they realise that he is the captain. Aila begins to speak and is asked who she is in a very affronting manner (“who the fuck are you, bitch?”). They are all shocked and Aila is ready to murder someone, but they are informed that she is an officer, and the Wolfpack members salute her with an apology. Because Kamarra had identified all of the officers to them (Lucius as the Captain, Oriya as the First Mate, Nova as the Engineer, and Quill as the Quartermaster), they had assumed that Sentry and Aila were mercenaries, and got irritated when Aila was speaking over the Captain. Quill insists that they do not refer to anyone on the ship in that manner (which they agree to) before asking whether he looks delicious to them – he does, but they tell him that Howard’s cooking is pretty good so Quill will be ok. The Wolfpack likes Howard and they play cards with him all the time. Lucius tells the Wolfpack members that he will have words with their pack leader, Kamarra, at which point the crew, who had not looked very sorry, hunch down, flatten their ears, and genuinely appear chastised – Lucius makes it very clear that Aila and Sentry are valued members of the crew, and to be accorded the same respect as any of the officers. They salute, agree, scratch behind their ears nervously and then run off.

They make their way to the Captain’s quarters where they see an Orc woman in a green uniform going over diagrams on the table. The Captain’s quarters are separated into two rooms: a meeting room which is segmented and has its own entrance, along with a table covered in maps, and a sleeping room with a double bed, a desk, a chest of drawers, and a foot locker. It is refined but not elaborate – there is a rug and comfortable bedding. She is slightly annoyed when the door opens until she realises that it is the Captain and the rest of the party, when she greets them and salutes. Nova breaks formality and gives her a hug instead. Oriya is very impressed with the ship – although she has never been at the helm of an airship before, she has trained with the Gnomes and thinks that it will not be too unlike sailing a ship at sea. She thinks that the crew is interesting but should be workable. Oriya reveals that when they departed, she travelled back with Skaldi and although they encountered a few Goblins and things, there was nothing that they could not take care of. Skorb survived the trip back and is staying with Skaldi who is very attached to it (Oriya says that she would have cooked it for dinner).

Oriya is hoping that there will be some chances to get treasure aboard the Stormchaser – when asked by Quill if it is better than her brother’s boat, she clarifies that the ship is *hers*, that he took it from her, and that she would like it back at some point. For now, however, she is content to sail the Stormchaser, and is excited when Lucius says that they might one day use the Stormchaser to locate her brother on her old ship{{TRIVIA}}.

Oriya asks whether they have a course to plot, given that they have one day before the ship will be ready to sail, but they are yet to decide on that. Aila reminds Lucius that he has the gift waiting for him – there is an elaborate wooden chest with an orange and blue gem in place of a lock – Oriya tells them that the woman who dropped the chest off was a gift from someone that Lucius knows before putting the chest on the table. When Lucius touches the gem, it lights up in response to his touch, and the chest opens. Inside is a long strip of bands of aetherium connected to a gauntlet, fabrial-like device{{TRIVIA}} with a prism in its centre. There is a note reading, “Prismatic alternator gauntlet v1. To my brother, may this help you on your journeys. It’s unique, just like you”. It is made for his left hand and replaces the fabrial (so he does not need that any more), and the bands wrap around his hand, becoming like a second skin. He looks like he has a silvery metallic arm made of aetherium with a prism in the palm, and each fingertip has a small prism in the fingertip.

A ghostly Smeek appears in the Captain’s quarters and garbles in Goblin.

## **YouTube Timestamps**

02:37 - Episode Start
11:00 - Intro
13:25 - Part 1
1:22:00 - Break time/Fan art video
1:30:57 - Part 2
2:50:20 - Outro/Donations

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

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **New NPCs**

* Thomas (Priest of Siaska)
* Wolfpack member (unnamed)

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Sky Prince Aridan
* Captain Valera of the Royal Guard
* Smeek (Ghost of)
* Moonstar
* Malachi (Aridan’s pet owl)
* Oriya

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Ellois
* Siaska
* Elris (High Priestess of the Church of Siaska in Gusthaven)
* Anastasia Magrona
* Salvarius Aetheron
* Adaela Venethor
* Nanny Norfir
* Kamarra

## **Trivia**

* Unusually, both parts of the podcast have the same description.
* The next episode (Episode 44.5: A Plane in the Astral) was played at PAX East. The only regular players at the table were Tom Hazell and Katie Morrison, but a couple of very important items were introduced in the one shot.
* Mark hates the character of Trinity in The Matrix movie, believing her character to be “garbage, pointless, and absolutely useless”. He also believes that Switch is just as useless for the story.
* Kim showed off her injured (“gross”) elbow and scratch from Milo in the cubital fossa area (inner elbow) just as the DunDuns came to a close, causing Trott to laugh, and ruining the intro for Tom with the podcast. Kim fell over while skating outside (‘only a 20-minute skate) and was not wearing elbow pads – she kept picking at it because there was a hair in it.
* There was a minor retcon with Smeek, as Mark discovered that Smeek would have died in the freezing magic that Ellois cast (he had 7 hit points and took 40 points of cold damage, so the fire damage would have been ignored). This was one of a number of mistakes that were made in the episode. As a team, the crew went back and rectified what occurred where there were errors. Mark advised that there will never be significant retcons, but there may be revisions. Even though Sentry knocked Ellois unconscious, the Howling Tempest, when thrown did damage to him, and would have caused him to begin making death saving throws. He failed one, had one done by the lightning bolt, then Mark and Tom played an additional turn off stream – Ellois rolled a 2 (failing) because no one got to him in time, so he still ended up dead.
* For the fight against Ellois, for defeating his wards, for discovering the secret room, and for discovering Ellois’ part in the Wind Barons’ plot, everyone got 4,800 XP.
* Mark added more to the letter to Ellois (read in the recap) because the players caught him off guard last session.
* **Inconsistency**: Mark refers to “High Priestess Eleris” as the High Priestess of Siaska in Gusthaven. She was previously introduced as Eris, although she was referred to as Elris in episode 40, as well as later in this episode by the priest, Thomas.
* **Inconsistency**: Nova tells Valera to read the letter on the table to do with Ellois’ involvement in the attempt on Lucius’ life. The letter and other documents had earlier been sent upstairs with one of the Sky Prince’s squires.
* Tom corrects Mark on the pronunciation of Qillek in this episode.
* When the party is left alone in their cells at night, Kim says that she was hoping for a Super Sexy Starbane dream, to which Mark responds, “Not yet…”
* Tom asked why Ghost Smeek was brought in – Katie says it was done just to annoy Tom Hazell (correct). Mark had planned ghost Smeek and sent Rhi a picture saying “Ghost Smeek” on WhatsApp, which Rhi loved (she was told not to tell Tom). Tom decided that Smeek has “Merch Armour” because, as Kim said, “we have t-shirts to sell, bud!”
* When Quill uses the Eye of the Storm to ask Moonstar’s real name, Mark takes his microphone off, asks Tom to do the same, and they step out of the room to have the discussion in private, away from the rest of the players. Mark tells the rest to talk about “D&D Beyond and Merch”, but they instead discuss who they think Moonstar is. Katie says it must be someone that they know, Kim thinks that it could be Lucius’ mother, and Rhi thinks it could be his sister (although Kim points out the implication that Moonstar was Lucius’ sister’s lover). Kim suggests Adaela (Venethor), Trott suggests Smeek and then wonders if it is actually his sister (which they all agree to), but he’s not sure if it’s “too easy”. Tom and Mark return with “cheeky smirks” and Mark says that he had to give Tom context to what Quill sees because that was very important.
* There is a comparison between Moonstar and Batman. Lucius is Batman’s brother, paying for a hideout for her.
* Democles Magrona was always the quiet brother compared to Belanor. When Belanor bullied Lucius as a child, Democles would be there watching, but would never do anything about it either way.
* Mark changes the way that the Eye of the Storm recharges to just d3 charges recovered every week in this episode.
* **Inconsistency**: Mark refers to the party returning to “Cloudgarden”, the airship facility – Mark misspoke here, meaning to say the Cloudharbour District where the airships dock.
* Mark describes the Stormchaser as gargantuan (about 80ft long and 20ft wide) and able to hold thirty people. It has three decks: “the main deck, the two half decks on top, and then two decks below the main deck”. (Is that three or four? ~Crispi) It is larger and slower than the Sparrowblade and has a second (redundant) engine that acts as a backup engine if the main engine ever fails.
* Both Nova and Sprocket used to build model airships in bottles.
* Wolf Beastwalkers are known to be very territorial and family is the most important thing to them. If they were not told that someone was part of the crew, they would see that person as an outsider. When Mark described them as being territorial, Rhi, Kim, and Tom imagined them pissing on everything and maintaining eye contact as they did so. Kamarra is their alpha and has told them what to do.
* Mark decides to play Oriya so that Rhi does not have to switch between the two characters. He starts Oriya with a French accent which Tom calls out as inconsistent. Rhi and Mark agree that Oriya’s accent was a weird mix of accents, so Mark decides that she will sound French… for now. It will change later.
* There is reference in this episode to using the Stormchaser to find Oriya’s old ship. This will occur later in Episode 123: Zephyr’s Domain.
* A fabrial is something from the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, which is a book series that Mark enjoyed reading. It is an artifact which harnesses the power of Stormlight in order to perform a given function.
* **Magic Item**: Prismatic alternator gauntlet v1: When you see a spell being cast within 30ft of you that deals damage of acid or cold types, you can use your reaction to absorb the spell’s energy into the prism and that will be converted into charges (one charge for each level of the spell cast and absorbed). If the spell is 3rd level or lower, it will absorb it automatically (similar mechanic to *Counterspell*), but if 4th level or higher, the player must make a charisma check (d20 +Chr modifier) to beat the level of the spell. When you deal damage with your dichromancy ability, you can expend the charges as additional damage (d6 per charge). The gauntlet can only hold a maximum of 7 charges at one time, and if any more than 7 charges are absorbed, for every additional level/charge over the maximum, the wearer takes d6 psychic damage with no saving throw. (It may be further balanced at a later time). The description of the item makes all of the players think of Winter Soldier.

## **Quote**

Wolfpack member: Kamarra said that you were busy doing something, or something.

Lucius: Well, I could appear at any moment.

Aila: We were actually being arrested, but we’re not arrested…

Wolfpack member: Who the fuck are you, bitch?

Everyone: Woah…