Aerois - Episode 168: I Am Nova V'ger

Katie Morrison as Aila

Kim Richards as Nova V'ger

Rhiannon Frost as Sentry

 Tom Hazell as Qillek Ad Khollar

**I Am Nova V'ger** is the 168th episode of the Aerois Campaign. It was pre-recorded and broadcast on both the Yogscast Twitch channel and highrollersdnd Twitch channel on 4th December 2022 from 5PM to 8PM GMT.

*The clock is ticking and events have been moved forward...can the Stormchasers stop the destruction of Vortinssar?*

## **Summary**

### **Announcements**

* Mark welcomes everyone and introduces the players. Tom is away this week (for the first time in over 4 years) because he is busy working on the Jingle Jam for Yogscast.
* Merch: The HR Christmas jumper is available in the merch store and will be 15% off until 7th December in preparation for Christmas Jumper Day in the UK (8th December), which is a charity day,
* The Yogscast Jingle Jam has begun
	+ Get a bundle of games worth £1000 for a minimum of £35 (although you can donate more if you wish)! You can choose which charity to support.
	+ HR will be doing a silly, fun one-shot next Sunday (11th December). The audience will be able to influence the game via donations.
	+ Kim will be doing a boardgame stream with Briony on Monday 5th December at 2pm GMT.
* For Patreon supporters, Kim has made a video about The Tome(TM).

### **Recap**

*"Trying to save the Genasi city of Vortinssar from a terrible fate, the Champions of Aerois have been attempting to aid a resistance group called the Seekers help influence the city from within. However, whilst trying to sabotage the supplies of the Valkyrian Empire forces in the city, a turn of unfortunate events caused significant chaos, exposed the party, and has forced the city’s leader, Harmony, and their ally, Shansara, to accelerate their plans for the city. With little time left, their identities exposed, and the enemy forces on high alert, the party have few options left to save Vortinssar."*
### **Part 1**

*The gig is up, the Stormchasers are revealed in a Shansara controlled Vortinssar! The final day is upon us!*

After their somewhat disastrous mission to destroy Valkyrian supplies, the Champions of Aerois are taking a short rest at a new safe house somewhere in the city. The Valkyrian and Genasi forces are on high alert and actively looking for troublemakers, including the Champions and any member of the Seekers.  In the early hours of the next morning, Norfir, Tornado, and some other Seekers meet them at the new safe house to try to work out what has happened and coordinate how they are going to move forward. Norfir points them to one of the Valkyrian screens that has been taken and jacked into the city’s communication system, and it is now displaying a projection of Shansara and Harmony – Harmony is not much older than Nova and wears ornate, ceremonial robes that cover their head and most of their body. Harmony’s skin appears glass-like, a clear crystal substance that is lit from within by a fiery glow, steam or smoke also radiates from their skin. Their robes ripple around them as if caught in a gust of wind, and their eyes are like pools of turquoise water that ripple when they blink.

*“My dear citizens,”* Harmony addresses the populace, *”several hours ago, in the dead of night, a group of soldiers sent by the powerful kingdoms of Aerois, attacked a military station used by our friend, Shansara’s, forces. The powerful w-weapons and equipment were stolen and-and several soldiers were killed,”* she stammers, hesitantly. *“This follows the recent attacks on our beloved Atlas Academy as well…”* Harmony falters, Shansara touches them on the shoulder in a gesture of support, and continues for them.

*“My beloved friends,”* Shansara says, *“the ones responsible for this attack are the so called “Champions of Aerois” who have opposed anyone from this world joining the Valkyrian Empire. They are powerful and dangerous figures, and their presence can only mean that the army of their allies are on their way to stop our efforts of taking you home. We believe them to be working with a group called the Seekers, and the leader of these Seekers, the former sky jouster, Tornado, is the brother of the Aerosian Champion, Nova V’ger. Do not be afraid, my dear friends, we will not let them stop us, or you, from returning home. Your Guiding Star will light the way.”* Shansara smiles brightly into the projection, then takes a step back, encouraging Harmony forward once more.

*“W-we have been working with Shansara and her incredible artificers and engineers to develop a powerful planar teleportation device that will break through the Goddess Siaska’s barrier and take us home to Genas. Using the old magic that brought us here but improved and developed with the minds of bright young Genasi, and our new friends in the Empire. This device is now ready, and with the threat of Aerois upon us, we will not waste any time to use it. Tonight, Shansara will put on an incredible concert in the heart of the city which will be open to the public and broadcast across the entire city, live for all to enjoy. It will be a celebration of Vortinssar’s history and struggle with performers from throughout the city and, of course, the wonderful songs of our friend, Our Guiding Star herself, and at the end of this concert, we will activate the device and go home.*

*“To the Seekers, and these so-called Champions of Aerois, I give one warning: leave, today. We will not stop you. Any who wish to leave may do so. We all just want to go home, and we will not let anyone stop this incredible moment in our history.”* The projection ends and the screen goes blank.

Their new safe house, an old, rundown warehouse, one of the few safe houses remaining to the Seekers is silent and tense. Norfir and Tornado are clearly shaken, only Fuego seems unfazed. Nova believes that Harmony was nervous, which accounts for their seeming stage fright, and feels that Shansara’s touch on the shoulder was the action of a friend more than someone trying to control the situation. Norfir tells them that the broadcast just came through a moment ago and that they managed to hack into a system that is replaying it throughout the city. Nova asks if they could broadcast to the entire city, but Norfir says that they cannot from where they are – the concert, however, would certainly give them a platform to do so.

Nova tries to work out if they can use their knowledge of magitek somehow, while Sentry wonders if they could use her echo to film them and pug it into the system in order to broadcast. Nova wonders if Tiangong might be able to break into some of the Valkyrian systems given that they have worked with them before and have knowledge of how they work, Tiangong tells her that they think it might be possible if they can get access, but the system is likely to have been reconfigured, so they might need some time to be able to break into it.

Tornado is more concerned about disabling the devices than speaking to the people. Nova is concerned about both – she wants the people to know what is really happening and what they are risking. Aila is frustrated, wishing that the people could just see what Quill has seen, but Norfir tells her that the people have no more reason to trust what Quill would show them than the Champions would trust what Shansara shows them.

Norfir tells them that the students have discovered something about the devices and asks Bolt to explain. While the devices are in or near the statues, there is an activation switch that either Shansara or Harmony will have – they may have to both deactivate the devices and the switch. The Seekers have neither the numbers nor the power to storm the Central District, but they may be able to deactivate or destroy one of the four devices. Nova’s last idea of destroying one of the statues is not one that Norfir supports – she says that while it might work to stop them, it may also bring about the very thing that Nova is trying to prevent – the wholesale destruction of the city. Norfir fears that if they have accelerated their plans because of the destruction of the base, they may decide to go ahead with the device activation no matter how many of them they destroy.

The group ponders over the motivations of Shansara and Harmony, Norfir has studied them both and has not seen any indication of a charm effect – she believes that Harmony and the rest of the city are acting as they ordinarily would without any magical compulsion.  Norfir, Tornado, and the Seekers tell the Champions that the concert in the evening will be heavily guarded, and because Quill has been seen using *Etherealness* and others *Invisibility,* there has been chatter among the Valkyrian troops that there will be additional security including drones that will detect creatures using magic.

Lucius suggests that they split the party and that one group tries to find the four devices near the statues while the other attempts to discover if there is a second activation device, but Nova is concerned about how long that will take and whether they will be able to do it all before they use the teleportation device. Norfir suggests that if Nova wants to face Shansara and Harmony, that they need to get into the concert, and that the best way of doing this may be using the nobles’ outfits that Lucius had procured. Aila wonders if they could get the Seekers to try to find the devices – Norfir cannot because she is too well-known (as are the Champions), but she and Tornado will be able to take out a device if one is found; Fuego and Goliath can go out and try to find the devices with Bolt’s intel. Lucius thinks that they might be able to use the transport ship somehow, given that it is connected to the communications systems, but he is not sure how the “magiteky-wecky stuff” works.

The group goes to visit Kay and, because their disguises are no longer useful, they revert to their true selves. They try to work out how they are going to get into the concert knowing that the Valkyrians have used a dampening field or jammer that prohibits the use of teleportation magic. Wondering how many activation devices for the planar magic machines there are, Quill uses the Eye of the Storm to ask, “Show me all the ways that Shansara and Harmony (and anyone in their control) can activate the planar devices.”

*Quill's vision goes cloudy, and he sees, in the middle of Vortinssar, in the Central District, a huge area has been cleared out and turned into a hastily-built (but still spectacular-looking) concert stage with a central raised platform stage, great seating surrounding it, magical lights and cameras and everything placed around it looking down. He sees gantries hosting these magical lights and devices and things cast down as well as this raised section where you can see these consoles and control desks. He sees Shansara in this beautiful, dazzling pop star-like outfit, and built into a cylindrical device that she's holding, he sees a trigger. He sees her grip the trigger, activate it, and then he sees the city - he sees the devices being activated (although he does not see what happens to the city). He sees the statues begin to glow and the planar devices begin to activate, built into a microphone that she's holding.*

*Then the vision seems to rewind, and he sees Shansara calling out, "Activate the devices!" and that little desk that's controlling the concert has feeds of the crystalline illusory screens and everything broadcast around the city. Built into that there appears to be a button in a sealed crystalline container, and one of the engineers there opens it and hits the button - he sees the statues begin to glow and the devices beginning to activate, then the vision ends.*

Quill realises that while he sees Shansara involved in activating both of the detonation mechanisms (in her microphone and at the “’tek-desk”, he never sees Harmony involved, which he finds odd. Having done what he can for now, Quill heads off to sleep.

Nova manages to hack into the communication systems on the transport ship they stole, hoping to overhear chatter about where people are gathering and hoping that this might reveal the location of the planar devices. She also manages to pull communications logs and gathers some intel that will assist them with the problem.

Lucius sends Fuego to go and retrieve Kay to help them make new disguises, while Sentry tries to use her echo to plug into the communications systems and assist with making a broadcast. Unfortunately, Sentry has no idea how these systems work, and she cannot make head nor tail of them.

Aila tries to teach the Seekers how to use their survival skills and dodge patrols, but she misjudges how strict the Valkyrian patrols are, and they spend a lot of time running away or fighting their way out and having to knock out a number of guards – she makes little progress with them. Lucius decides to take the bull by the horns – he takes Goliath with him as muscle, then goes to talk to the citizens of Vortinssar as himself – it does not go well with the first group not wanting any trouble and running away. Goliath persuades the second group to stay, but they cannot (or will not) tell Lucius anything, and eventually they are spotted by guards and have to run in order to stay free.

While the rest are struggling with their own assignments, Nova sends a couple of the Seekers and Tornado to sneak into the V’gers’ house and rescue her mother’s wok. They bring it back to Nova at the safe house.

As the afternoon wears on, there is growing excitement as the Genasi people start to gather in the streets for the free concert. Some of them have enchanted glow sticks (which the Valkyrian troops are handing out for free), many are wearing Shansara or “Guiding Star” t-shirts. There is general excitement about the prospect of going home.

Tornado and Norfir are concerned – no one has managed to locate the whereabouts of the devices, and Norfir believes that the Seekers will have to make their attacks on the devices while the Stormchasers attend the concert. Norfir is grateful to them for acquiring the mech and the transport ship, thinking that even if they cannot take all four devices out, at least they may be able to disable them temporarily to give them more time. While they have spoken about trying to sway the citizens before, Lucius now thinks that they are out of time, and that they must now save the city and its people and ask for forgiveness after the fact. Nova still thinks that they can speak to the people, especially since one of the activation devices is with Shansara in her microphone.

Tornado agrees with Nova, saying that currently, the only ones telling any kind of story are Shansara and Harmony – he thinks that if they wait to explain until afterwards, it will look like they are trying to cover things up, and that they must talk to the people now, and explain what they are doing and why. Tornado tells Lucius that the Seekers will try to disable the teleportation devices long enough that the Stormchasers can stop the activation devices and speak to the people/ Tornado says that he is not sure that they would be able to destroy the teleportation devices but should be able to disable them for a few hours.

Nova assists Bolt going through the history of Vortinssar, trying to work out where the underground areas (and thus the teleportation devices) might be. They start to work out where the underground chambers are but don’t know how to access them. Quill uses his *Arcane Eye* to try to find the entrance and succeeds – there is an old access tunnel that is not on any maps that leads down to maintenance corridors and crypts that connect to the tunnels where the teleportation devices are. He realises that there is a degree of symmetry in the underground zones, revealing where the teleportation devices are hidden. Now that they know where the devices are, Norfir believes that the Seekers could destroy all four (especially since they now have the mech and the ship), in fact, she will destroy one herself.

Lucius pends the afternoon practicing his disguise for the evening, Sentry manages (successfully) to disguise her echo as a Valkyrian drone so that it can move safely around the city and scout for a good way into the concert area – she thinks that, if they can talk fast enough, they may be able to make their way past the lax elite Genasi troops who are acting as security at the VIP entrance rather than facing the Valkyrian troops at the other entrances.

The group invites Fuego to go with them, but he would rather stick with “his” mech which he has painted red with stylised flames up the side and a large grinning skull face on the chest plate. He has also made a scrappy claw arm to replace the missing limb and called it “Gurren” which he tells them means “red” in Genas. He is going to take the mech and destroy one of the planar teleportation devices. Kay uses the high-class outfits that Lucius had purloined earlier to make Lucius and Nova look like noble young Genasi while they make Aila and Sentry up to look like armoured bodyguards. With the rest of the disguises being physical ones (to avoid being discovered by the guards on the lookout for magic), Quill, being too difficult to disguise, is put into a box that is to be carried into the concert area. Kay warns them to let Nova speak for the group because their disguises will not stand up to much scrutiny,

### **Part 2**

*Nova makes a desperate bid with the people of Vortinssar to cease their planar plans!*

With the Stormchasers discovering where the teleportation devices are hidden, the Seekers will try to take care of them, either temporarily or permanently disabling them so that the Stormchasers have as much time as possible to do what they need to do once they infiltrate the concert and confront Shansara and Harmony. They also want, if possible, to give Nova the chance to speak to the people of Vortinssar. They head to the concert venue dressed as Genasi nobles (using physical disguises) and their bodyguards and are carrying Quill in a large box because he was too difficult to hide.

The city is abuzz and so many people wish to attend the concert that many are forced to watch it on the big screens from public plazas or even their own homes. The Central District, the venue for the concert is packed with people – it has been rigged with gantries, lighting rigs, seating and a massive stage. All security forces, Genasi and Valkyrian alike, are on high alert and using drones: they scan people looking for signs of magic and checking identities. They approach the VIP area and are stopped by a pleasant Genasi guard who asks to see their tickets and wants their names. Lucius nudges Nova who responds with the old, ‘don’t you know who I am’ trick and tries to catch a peek at the list of ticketed guests but can’t quite make it out. Nova then threatens to “call daddy”, getting the guard in trouble and maybe causing them to lose their job if the group is not allowed in – Aila looms over the guard to further intimidate her. There is grumbling from further back in the line at the hold up, and a more senior guard allows them through telling his junior that they aren’t the terrorists and not to worry about them.

They look around noting that they can move to a box seat area (that looks as if it has been repurposed from a sky jousting arena), go into the crowd, or try to make their way to the backstage area. There is no set running order that they are aware of, only that there will be many performers, that Shansara will perform a mix of songs, and then she will do a big number at the end before the device is activated. As they are trying to work out what to do next, the magical lights dim and the entire arena goes dark. A deep voiceover welcomes the people of Vortinssar and invites them to take their seats before introducing Shansara – nothing happens for a few minutes as people take their seats and the murmurs from the crowd begin to quiet down. A spotlight suddenly shines on an empty raised stage before the whole arena begins to shift and warp with illusory magic – it suddenly resembles a grassy Feywild glade. Large flowers start to bud and bloom releasing the noises of water flowing, wind blowing, and the sounds of joyous laughter. Faint music begins to build as the illusion of a castle tower begins to appear on stage. From the tower comes Shansara bedecked in a green and yellow Springtime outfit with Harmony next to her.

Shansara panders to the crowd and tells them that the time is nigh but that first they will see some Genasi performers telling the story of Vortinssar before they enjoy some last few moments and then go home. Shansara welcomes Harmony to the front and invites them to mount some large flower petal stairs so that she can address the crowd. Harmony is wide-eyed and stunned for a moment before they find their voice saying,

*“My people, I… I have always wanted to do something. Too long have the other Harmonies of Vortinssar kept the status quo. We have always been responsible for keeping balance between the elements but sometimes, it is so easy for us to do nothing in keeping balance, to only let the scales shift so that nothing changes. That has not brought us anything, that has not brought us happiness, that has not brought us progress. I did not wish to be another Harmony that would do nothing, and when I met my friend, Shansara, and we spoke of returning home, I knew that this was my chance to give you something – a legacy, a gift that could be remembered for all the ages: we’re going home.”*

The crowd goes wild, calling out for Harmony and their Guiding Star. Shansara, now flying over the rotating flower upon which Harmony stands, swoops down and scoops Harmony up into her arms. She takes Harmony on a flying tour of the crowd which goes wild, trying to touch them both, and being sprinkled with illusory flower petals that fade into nothing. Shansara takes them back to centre stage as music begins to play an Genasi performers file onto stage. The illusory glade changes into that of a plain and an Elven city of early Aerois – the story of the replacement of Jassavir by Vortinssar is told as Shansara and Harmony disappear into the illusion and vanish.

Lucius decides to create a diversion while the others try to sneak into the backstage area. He goes to the Genasi guards looking after the backstage access area and pretends to be an entitled young noble who is disgusted with the state of the VIP area and asks the guards to go and deal with some people causing a ruckus in the stands – he is not convincing and the guards tell him that they will send someone but have other responsibilities – they need to keep the hard core Shansara fans from trying to sneak into the backstage area.

Nova manifests Tiangong behind the guards and switches places with them but trips and knocks something over nearby that then makes a noise and attracts the guards’ attention – three of them go to retrieve her when she fails to convince them that she is a stagehand (since she is clearly dressed like a noble). Aila and Sentry take this opportunity to grab the box containing Quill and push their way past the guards, convincing them that the box contains expensive equipment that is needed on stage for the show. While Nova is being wrestled back to the public area of the arena, Aila calls out to her, telling Nova that she has the costumes that she asked for in the box. This arouses the suspicion of the guards who then move to intercept Aila and Sentry as well. Lucius takes this opportunity to slip past the rest of the party and the guards and manages to make his way backstage as the others are led back to the concert area, leaving their box of “backstage items” behind which is then dragged nearer to the stage.

Lucius finds a costume for a dancer who has not yet been on stage and dons it – it is a fancy, Elven-looking spangly outfit that is shiny with tight lycra leggings, and red, orange, and yellow flame tassels draping down under the arms. It also has a domino mask that goes over his eyes. Once changed, he starts to look for ways to turn the lighting off but can only see one very high gantry behind the main stage area where he can see magical spotlights and a control system for them, but there are no generators, making him believe that they are being controlled by spellcasters somewhere.

Quill sends a message to Lucius, *“Lucius, clear skies. What are you doing? I’m still in the box. I think I’m backstage now. Xoxoxoxo”* Lucius responds with, *“I’m trying to sabotage the lights so that they have another chance to get in and you to be picked up or pushed in by them.”*

Lucius goes to some of the other performers and begs them to help him get the box further into the backstage area, they do and then tell him to hurry because he’s on as one of the next (and main) acts.

The person dragging Lucius onstage is dressed in a blue, wintery outfit and he is led to meet two more in spring and Autumn outfits… he then sees Shansara. Shansara hurries her backup dancers into place and encourages them to give the Genasi people a hell of a show. She steps onto a lifting platform, and around it begins to swirl with magical mist and cloud. Shansara and the dancers are hidden from the crowd by an illusory landscape and Lucius notices the other three dances getting into position, posing for the start of the number – Lucius does his best to follow suit.

The Autumn dancer quickly points out that Lucius has struck the right pose but needs to mirror it, so he swaps over. The performance before them, a storytelling dance number with big mascots and illusions, tails off and as they leave the stage to Shansara and her dancers, the air begins to shimmer so that Vortinssar now takes on the look of a galaxy full of stars and bridges of rainbow light. Shansara, dressed in a sparkly, astral nebula coloured pop star outfit (a J-pop skirt with trailing ribbons), has her hair done up and mic in hand – she comes spinning out and starts singing her song surrounded by her Genasi backup dancers dressed as Eladrin... one of whom looks incredibly familiar to the rest of the party in the audience. He is wearing tiny, tight, red, leathery hot pants, tall red boots, a big cowboy-esque jacket with flame tassels, and a domino mask. The party watches as the familiar dancer tries to keep up with the other dancers and notice long blond hair whip around where there should actually Air Genasi vapour – they soon realise that it is Lucius. Lucius is busy trying to keep up with the dance, which is a fast-paced number, and improvising where he has to, and he thinks that he is doing a fairly good job of blending in, even if he is just behind in his movements.

The party decides that Nova must make for the stage and try to get the microphone off Shansara and Aila decides to go with her, Sentry decides to go backstage and go for the desk controls – Nova makes herself and Sentry invisible before they separate. Sentry runs past security into the backstage area, seeing Quill’s box and a gantry that stands twenty feet above the stage with a control platform set on it with a couple of technicians at the desk.

Aila removes her disguise, grabs the invisible Nova, then uses the Howling Tempest to jump onto the stage. The crowd thinks that the flame haired Wild Elf warrior woman, soaring through the air with a crackling hammer made of lightning, and landing on the stage, is part of the show. Shansara does not miss a beat, looking at Aila and smiling as she continues to sing. Soon after, however, she holds up a hand, clicks her fingers and the whole illusion disappears. The crowd is confused until Shansara speaks, telling them that a special guest has joined them, one of the Champions of Aerois. The crowd boos and jeers as Shansara points down at Aila (who takes a bow to the crowd). Shansara, seeing through Nova’s invisibility, declares that Aila’s friend might be a little shy, calling for Nova by name and asking her to show herself.

The dancers are confused – this was not in the rehearsals that they had done and realising that the Champions of Aerois are on stage, they decide to flee. Lucius does not go with them but pretends to run so that he can remain incognito to Shansara.

Two drones have been rigged as cameras for the event and they now present a close up of Aila and Nova as she comes out of her invisibility, and this is put up on the crystalline screens for all to see. The crowd continues to jeer and catcall the Champions. Quill breaks out of his box and Sentry calls to him while the engineers try to contact Shansara to see what is happening – she touches something near her ear and says simply, “Signal my forces – they’re here.”

Nova asks Shansara if she has broken away from the empire – Shansara denies this saying that her loyalty is still to Kalus but that he does not understand what she is doing in Vortinssar. Nova asks what that is and Shansara tells her that the people needed it, and that this is the first time that she has not just “sold the Emperor’s dream” – the people needed her, and as their Guiding Star, she is going to help them get home. She tells Nova that she has always wanted to make a difference, and this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Nova demands to speak to the people of Vortinssar, and Shansara introduces her to the crowd. Nova wants to approach her but Shansara is wary and tells her that she can address them from where she is, pivoting the camera to focus on Nova so that she fills the screens. Shansara looks to Harmony in the crowd and asks if they will allow Nova to speak, announcing that she has no problem with it – Harmony simply nods to Shansara.

While there are small portions of the crowd who are silent, given the effect they have had since they came to the city, the majority are still against them, and call out disparaging slogans and cries: these are the true believers. A trembling Nova takes a deep breath and begins to address the crowd,

*“My name is Nova V’ger, and I am a daughter of Vortinssar. Born at Brookmeadow Hospital, I grew up in the Water District in the rooms above my mother's cafe. My father, Wade, teaches art at the nearby school. Maybe you've seen his paintings at the Four Corners Gallery? My mother, Breeze, has probably fed you one of her award-winning dishes at our cafe, The Voyager's Rest. My sister plays for the Technotic Titans and my brother was on our national sky jousting team. I, myself, I was a student at our esteemed Atlas Academy, that is until I was expelled.*

*"I was expelled because I, like the Elves of Jassevir, wanted to experiment with planar magic. I wanted to bring us home. And when my inquiries into planar magic caught the attention of Atlas Academy's professors, I was stopped because it was too dangerous and temperamental. This same Academy is now deeply involved with returning Vortinssar to Genas - by using planar magic! They've been building devices powered by this unstable element in the hopes of teleporting our city back into astral space. This magic, these devices, they are all untested. I, myself, have seen firsthand how disastrous planar magic can be. I know how this is going to end - with the complete and total destruction of our city and the death of every citizen within her walls.”*

There is a building boo of disapproval that ripples through the crowd and a few shouts asking how she knows and others that she cannot prove it. She begins to control the crowd again and continues,

*“Listen to me, please. You have not been told the truth. You have not been told all the facts. There is a way back to Genas that is safer. I know because I have been beyond the cradle and travelled through the astral sea. I've met Genasi from our home planet. They're all members of the Valkyrian Empire, fighting in a war that isn't theirs, like we are now. We **can** safely travel to gas on ships, but teleporting our city with untested, volatile magic that has long been banned is not the answer, it will only lead to our total annihilation.*

*"As I speak. The Valkyrian army is embedding those untested devices in the statues of our elemental guardians. Shansara has taken what is important to us - Surtur, Namaka, Atlas, Kari: the very representations of our virtues and unity, the togetherness of our people, our **true** guiding stars - and corrupted them, turning them into weapons of destruction. Aerois is **not** our enemy. They aren't going to control us or impose their rule, they aren't going to stop us from going home. Don't let fear divide us. Don't let division breed resentment. Don't let resentment inform your decisions. Please listen to me. Give us time. I can prove this to you, but I need time. I ask all of you, brothers, sisters, children of Genas, children of Vortinssar, don't allow the destruction of our city and the deaths of our people. Resist the Valkyrian Empire, resist Shansara.*

*"My name is Nova V'ger, and I am a daughter of Vortinssar.”*

The crowd is now mainly silent with the odd jeer – Nova knows that her message has hit home. From the stage, despite the blinding lights, Nova now starts to see uncertainty in the faces of people in the crowd and knows that her words will have affected others who are not in the stadium, too. Shansara speaks,

*“But it's not just me, Nova V'ger, I am not some servant of the emperor who has come to lie and cheat. I have not come to corrupt. This is all them, this is all Harmony. I am helping Harmony do what they want, what they wish for you, the people of the city, who have been trapped here not by choice. And if you wanted to help your people why, with all your knowledge and expertise, were you not here helping? Why did you not come to Harmony or to me to tell us of these errors and problems that you were foreseeing? You could have helped to solve them. I think that this is a desperate gamble. You fear the people seeing home, you fear that I am just another liar.”*

Nova tells Shansara that she has found a safe way back to Genas that will not destroy the city. There are muffled voices from the crowd asking what it is and how they can get home. Nova tells them that the Cradle is coming down and that they can fly with airships, but Shansara clears the air to show that the Cradle is still very much in place. Harmony’s voice comes from the crowd,

*"W-we've waited long enough. No more waiting!"* Harmony looks down on them from a high box, trembling, *"I know that you think you know what's best. I know that you have been to these places, Shansara has told me. I'm just so disappointed that you did not come to share this with your people.”* When Nova says that she is here now, Harmony tells her that it is too late, that they have found another way with their Guiding Star. Nova pleads with Harmony, but her request falls on deaf ears as Harmony tells Shansara to continue. Shansara tells them that she will allow one more performance.

While Shansara, Harmony, and their diehard fans are not convinced, it becomes apparent that there are significant numbers of doubters in the crowd. Shansara rises up on the stage with two of the drones next to her and they hear some other parts of the stage moving around mechanically.

Quill flies up to the desk to try to commandeer the button – he surprises the two engineers who hold up their hands and surrender, not wanting any trouble. Quill tells them to leave, and they do, hastily. He sees the activation button, then looks for any way to assist with the oncoming battle – he knows that he will be able to disable the button so that it cannot be used, he can control the illusory terrain in the arena, and can use the controls at the desk to shut down the lights, cameras, and microphones (although these must be done one at a time), and he can control what the cameras are showing to the crowd inside and outside the stadium. He takes the time to disable the button so that the station can no longer be used to activate the planar devices. Sentry begins destroying the ladders that lead up to the tek desk knowing that Quill can fly down.

Shansara calls out to her fans, telling them that their belief in her makes her strong – the Champions see some sort of energy surround her, covering her head to toe like a shield. The drones begin to glow with magic, and as the crowd begins to chant her name, they can almost feel some sort of magic and love being directed at Shansara. The disk that she is standing on starts to fly 60 feet into the air, taking the two drones with her (the raised stage that she had been on was 10 feet high). Shansara begins to sing the first verse of her song, Burning Heart of Summer.

Nova mounts the main central stage and uses her Amethyst Lodestone to try to pull Shansara down with a gravitational thrust, but Shansara dodges it – Nova realises that the disk that Shansara is on is a magitek device that is emitting illusions and flight power, also that Shansara is somehow empowered by the crowd’s fervour, possible offensively and defensively. Nova manifests Tiangong on the stage near her. Shansara looks at Nova, clicks her fingers and turns Nova into a tiny white bunny rabbit in a sparkly blue outfit.

Aila moves closer to Nova, rages, then throws a gold coin at her, hitting her to break the polymorph before shouting at the crowd, telling them not to be so irresponsible that they will be responsible for the death of everyone in the city, but this does not seem to sway them.

Lucius flies to the top of the gantry, grabs the camera and points it at his own face saying, “This is not a performance, this is a battleground. If you have any doubt about anything that’s been said today, run! Leave this place!” While he almost gets through to them, the crowd still firmly believes in Shansara, and while a few people are leaving, most are staying and reinforcing her. Shansara uses *Shooting Star* to move her platform 60 feet, hovering over Lucius – her platform spews out magical energy and force, creating the image of a blazing comet underneath her. The magical force pushes Lucius off the edge of the gantry and knocks him prone (but fails to blind him), and he goes crashing to the ground, sustaining more damage. Lucius loses concentration as Shansara tells him delightedly, so that only Lucius can hear, that there is only room for one star.

They notice that from the stage area and from backstage, two new figures appear – one is a Valkyrian Phase Knight, the other is an autonomous mechanised Valkyrian construct which comes up from a stage piece in the floor. The latter scans for threats to Shansara and says that it detects threats.

(initiative rolls: Quill 23, Sentry 23, Nova 17, Aila, 16 Lucius 16)

## **YouTube Timestamps**

00:00 - Intro
03:55 - Dun Duns
04:53 - Part 1
1:36:08 - Part 2

## **Featured Characters**

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

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

#### **Returning NPCs**

* Bolt
* Norfir
* Fuego
* Goliath
* Harmony
* Shansara

#### **Mentioned NPCs**

* Kalus Valkyrian
* Siaska

## **Featured Locations**

* Vortinssar
	+ New Safehouse (whereabouts unknown)
	+ Central District

## **Trivia**

* This episode was recorded on the evening of Wednesday 30th Nov, which was why Tom was unavailable - he was madly working on the Jingle Jam.
* Tom nearly choked after trying to deep throat a banana snack. There is a delightful clip of this available on the HR Discord (link).
* At the beginning of the first mission, their incognito score was 16, but after the rescue of the students, it was 8. Once they found new disguises, it went back to 13. After the Valkyrian supply mission, it became 0.
* The inquisitor and the acolyte of Shansara arriving for an inspection was a random chance event complication that Mark rolled. Other options on the table were:
	+ There was another squad of Seekers who did not know that they were going to be there and they were going to blow everything up, and
	+ The air transport would have taken off sooner than expected.
* While Mark was describing Harmony, Katie rolled *a lot* of digital dice (10) on D&D Beyond, making a loud noise. Mark equated this to the Coke can opening incident.
* While Harmony was making her initial speech about the Stormchasers and their attacks on the Academy and the Valkyrian base, Kim sat at the table with her head in her hands, distraught at what had happened to her city.
* Nova has seen this Harmony speak once before.
* When the previous Harmony passed on, this new Harmony was chosen to take over. She is very young, about Nova’s age.
* This episode was full of horrible rolls from the players.
* When rolling to see if Sentry can use echo to help hack into the communications system, Rhi rolls 1, which with her Int, gives her an arcana check of 0. Mark tells a story about how they recently filmed a Tik Tok video about how Rhi rolls badly and says that this just proves why that Tik Tok video exists. They compare Sentry trying to work this out as someone struggling with different types of USB port and cable, or a child trying to put a square peg in a round hole – Mark says that the square peg goes in everything, referencing this video.
* Trott, trying to use persuasion when talking to people (as Lucius), with advantage rolls a 1 and a 2.
* Mark equates the Shansara concert to the opening ceremony of the Olympics with locals performing cultural dances and music, telling historical tales, and providing general entertainment.
* **Continuity error:** Last episode, Fuego had named the mech “Bessie”, but this episode, he has decided that it is “Gurren”, a reference to one of Mark’s loves, the anime, Gurren Lagann.
* Nova convinces Lucius that standing with hands on hips is rude and an invitation to fight, which it is not. Nova is just a troll. Trott announced that Lucius will never, for the rest of this campaign, stand with his hands on his hips.
* When they came back from the break, Kim was “complaining about a tiny LED light that was blinding [her]” according to Mark thought she was complaining about nothing. Katie turned it to camera, and… BLINDING LIGHT.

* The way the Vortinssar story is told, they joined Aerois in the wars because they did not really have much of a choice, and Siaska banned the study of planar magic, basically saying “you’re here and I’m not letting you leave, so deal with it.”
* The cursed dice rolls continue with Trott rolling a 1 on his persuasion check for the backstage guards, Rhi rolling a 3 and a 5 on a deception check with advantage, and Mark countering the latter by rolling a 1.
* When Lucius was doing his best to keep up with Shansara’s backup dancers, many people seemed to think of this:

* When they were starting the combat, Mark mentioned something that “wouldn’t appear just yet”.
* Katie worked out that Aila would have seen a polymorphed being and would know how to break it out since they had kicked a polymorphed roper (a reference to Episode 35: Riddle of the Forge). Kim advised that they are still getting comments from Americans about how long a football field is, because Mark used this as his unit of measurement at the time.

## **Quotes**

Tom is there (even when he isn't...) (link)

* Trott: Did you long rest Quill, by the way?
* Mark: I did, but I don’t know if it took.
* Trott: No.
* Mark: Ok… TOM, IF YOU’RE LISTENING TO THIS AT HOME, LONG REST QUILL!
* Trott: Oh, wait. I think it has worked now.
* Mark: OK, nice. WELL DONE, TOM! *(It’s even more impressive given that this episode was pre-recorded!)*