Aerois - Chapter Five: Distant Shores

Katie Morrison as Aila

 Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

 Rhiannon Frost as Sentry
and Oriya Marius

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar
and Pyri Adhara

**Distant Shores** is the fifth chapter of the Aerois campaign. It was broadcast live on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel between 10th March and 23rd June 2019, and consists of eleven episodes.

*In Chapter Five, the gang struggle to cope with recent events, and find themselves in a new, storm laden land called Voksar.*

## Summary

On the shores of Voksar, far from where they just were, the party grieve the loss of Sentry and decide to head inland to find assistance. They help a Half-Orc woman named Oriya Marius, who has been working as a monster slayer and guide for the nearby town of Stenhill, and she tells the group that the land around is filled with magical storms of great power.

Once back in Stenhill she introduces them to Skaldi Ravenscar, a priestess of Kellara, the goddess of death. Skaldi wards Sentry’s body against decay, giving them more time to help her, and in return asks for their help against a necromancer living in the nearby ruins of The Nighteye. The party takes a night’s rest at the local inn, run by the flamboyant Tiefling Veskin Dexit Galloway, but Quill stays with Sentry's body at the temple of Kellara. There, he receives a dream from H’esper which tells him of the first war with Kalus Valkyrian, his growing strength and cunning, and explains why the region is plagued with storms – the Tempest Dragon, once H’esper’s Chosen, had fought and lost against Xarkira (Kalus’ lieutenant) and a small army. They released the Tempest Dragon’s fury and since that day, the storms have been getting worse.

Before they leave in the morning Skaldi allows them to speak with the dead Sentry, but before they are able to ask any questions a booming voice emerges from Sentry’s body telling them to find The Prime, and to return Sentry’s body to the City of Glass. When they speak with Sentry’s spirit, they discover that she does wish to return to them, and preferably as a Guardian. Skaldi gives them two options: in the large coastal city of Katuvagg to the North they can see The Shepherd, who may be able to reincarnate Sentry (but cannot guarantee that she will return as a Guardian), or they can seek out The Midwife’s Forge where it is rumoured that witches will grant magical favours.

Leaving Sentry at the temple, they go to The Nighteye where Nova senses a shard of Tiangong nearby. They head through the underwater entrance to the submerged area which is actually an old temple of Siaska. In the temple, they find an altar to Siaska with offerings upon it and a blue sphere containing a tri-bladed throwing dagger, which Nova recognises as the shard of Tiangong. A woman emerges wearing dark tattered robes and a silver mask and activates a red-bladed energy sword - she is an ex-agent of Starbane and... something else.

The woman has exceptional power, and it is only by giving their all that they are able to defeat her. When she is almost defeated, the woman removes her mask to reveal not a face, but darkness and a single red point of light at its centre. The woman kills Quill, and his spirit passes beyond the Cradle where he meets H’esper and Kellara. With righteous fury the party destroys the woman, who vanishes into nothing.

Heading back to Stenhill, Nova is shown a vision by Tiangong: a tiny red star amid an ocean of stars. The red star, Hadar. An ancient being that hungers. Tiangong is afraid of it, even more afraid than they are of Starbane. When she tells the group about her vision, Aila has flashes of visions of herself as a toddler on a distant planet with her clan, and they are being called on as warriors by the armies of Starbane to defeat Hadar. Skaldi tries to reassure them as they take Quill back to the temple.

As they make plans to take both Sentry and Quill to The Midwife’s Forge, strange portals begin appearing around Stenhill, one of which drops Pyri Adhara, a Fire Genasi. He tries to activate some sort of device on his wrist, but it explodes. More portals appear and the party is attacked from many different planes, including by Pixies from the Feywild. The Pixies keep putting Lucius to sleep, and when he manages to wake up for the third time he attacks and kills them, causing a crown to fall from one’s head to the ground. Lucius gets it and puts it on, and suddenly becomes a glorious Fey being with faerie wings. The crown is cursed, and he cannot remove it.

Loading up their supplies and the two dead bodies on a wagon drawn by a klakk (a large lobster-like being) called Skorb, the remaining party, along with Oriya, Pyri, and Skaldi, make their way towards where they believe The Midwife’s Forge to be. Along the way, they run into Johan, a strange Human man who appears to be a fisherman but may be so much more. He has been following his visions of a one-eyed, one-winged hawk into the mountains and hopes to get some answers from it about the odd storm powers that he has. Being told of Quill and seeing his body, Johan believes their fates are tied together and he joins them. After fighting against a horde of Goblins and a raging river, Johan tells the group that he thinks that he knows how to stop the storms but needs their help – he leaves the party to head for The Valley of Storms, telling them that he will meet them there when the time is right.

The party locate The Midwife’s Forge in the mountains and manage to overcome the still-operational ancient security systems. They bring Sentry to the Forge and activate it using the star fragment; the darkness in Sentry’s mind forms a vision of the Solwynn palace and the royal family – Queen Astoria and the young princess are huddled in a crumbling room as the king, protected by Sentry’s shield, performs magic. The royal family is teleported away, and Sentry is thrown backwards into the sea before being taken by darkness... only to open her eyes to the now familiar face of Quill.

The Forge surges to life and so does Sentry, and she emerges with her stone armour having been replaced by metal plate; she is excited to see them all but devastated to realise that Quill is not with them. They upgrade their weapons at the Forge - Aila combines her hammer with the lightning javelin, allowing her to throw her hammer like a boomerang, and Pyri fixes his device which allows him to teleport them all to the sky city of Gusthaven. As they set off, they are followed by a Goblin named Smeek, who is obsessed with Aila’s lightning power and, for better or worse, joins the party. Oriya, Skaldi, and Skorb say their farewells, making their way back to Stenhill, whilst Pyri teleports the rest to Gusthaven.

When they arrive, they are immediately attacked by a piratical group known as The Wind Barons, who are raiding the stores from the room in which the party appear. Whilst fighting the pirates, they are all accosted by the Gusthaven City Watch who summon a mage to confirm Lucius’ true identity – it was generally believed that Lucius had died in an airship crash a month ago, so his presence in the city is a surprise. He takes Lucius aside for a quiet word then leads them to the Elenasto estate which now lies in burnt-out, smoking ruins. Lucius is quietly informed that an explosion had ripped through his family home and that no one had survived.

## Major NPCs

List of major NPCs encountered in this chapter.