Secrets in the Mine

"Secrets in the Mine" is the second episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
==Official Description==
"When last we left our adventurers; Bubbles, Synnove, Aelys, Sal, and JB have been given their first task in their entrance exam for the Copper Legion; Journey through the Lifeless Sea, reclaim a mine overrun by Rats, and return by the next sundown. Sal has come up with a plan to create a sandfoil to traverse the desert at exquisite speeds. With the acquisition of the necessary wood from a derelict temple, and after an unfortunate altercation on the beach, how will our examinees fair as the sun sets?
From Sundown to Sundown the next stage of the Copper Legion entrance exam happens now! We entreat you to join us, and an uncover the mysteries of Dark Age."
==Plot==
=== Part 1 ===
* The group returns to Spearhold Keep where they see a few individuals of the other team training and preparing for the exam. As they turn to go to the blacksmith to build a raft for the dune hogs to pull, Sal and Aelys agree to talk later to clear up a few things so that they can work together as a team.
* JB, Sal, and Bubbles are able to get a raft built with help from Damien, the blacksmith, while Syn and Aelys play little angel and devil on their shoulders to keep them motivated. During the crafting session, Damien asks them where they are from. Aelys is from Üthevhenan, Salvador is from Tanel’Inan, and JB lives near the Griseum Monastery. Sal can feel a resonance when he looks at Damien, a shared frequency that he doesn’t have when he looks at other people. Aelys listens as JB tells them that location and asks if he knows another high elf named Maravix, which JB confirms. JB had asked her out while they were sparring, but it didn‘t go well. Damien warns them to not get comfortable in this town as strange things are happening here.
* Before the exam starts, JB and Bubbles go for a swim while Sal, Synnove, and Aelys get to know each other and carry the raft to the stables to prepare for their departure. Synnove reveals that she is from North of the monastery area where she met JB and they decided to travel together.
* While at the beach, JB and Bubbles see Katari standing there, and JB recommends she join them for a swim to stay calm. On the way back to the Keep, they hear the voice of S-Rank leader Acastarok project through the city announcing the start of the exam and the last chance to place a bet on the outcome. JB decides to place a bet and goes to see Solomon; Bubbles also tries to place a bet, but he only has a bag of tin and no gold. Solomon offers to throw in a sandwich as part of the bet. JB stands up for Solomon's daughter, Sally, because her father does not respect her chosen name. The attempt at intimidation does not work on Solomon, but JB will continue to respect Sally's wishes about her name.
* Back together at the Keep, stable master Szerus offers them a few more instructions on the dune hogs, like where to tie them when they arrive at the mine, before Team A heads out with JB at the reins for the 8-hour trip. Secured with lifelines after a rough start for some of them, they have time to rest and talk while the crescent moon shines above them.
* While Sal makes more poison, Aelys and Synnove huddle together to stay warm and talk about Syn's book; Aelys still feels that pull towards the book as it still vibrates at Synnove's hip. Aelys feels like she needs it to get stronger. When Synnove opens the vibrating book, there is a message from Stella: “She is broken. They both are. Fix them.” (01:23:54). As Synnove reads that message, Aelys watches the pages flip on their own and wonders what causes that. Synnove tells her that this is what untainted magic looks like; all the other magic is tainted by the gods. Aelys shares with Syn that she has lost things and needs to find them to grant her clarity and restore her power. The book might be one step in the right direction. Synnove's reason for being here is much simpler: God told her to come here. When Aelys asks which god that is, of the Crucible or the Eclipse, Synnove just answers that there is only one. Though Aelys does not follow a god, she believes in what was and would enjoy some of the old ways returning. Synnove is on a journey to fix what happened to the magic after the gods abandoned everyone, and her book, her God, helps her. The thing that is helping Aelys wants whatever is inside that book, and she cannot promise not to try and take it again. In this moment, two things happen: Stella tells Synnove that “It’s missing pieces. Only part” (01:34:15), while Aelys gets a passing wave of hunger that disappears quickly. Syn thinks that Stella was talking about Aelys and that they are called together for a reason. After that conversations winds down, a drawing appears in Synnove's book: a little version of the handprint with three things; above the handprint, there is a shaded outline of a person that is missing their arms, and each arm is to the side of the handprint with arrows pointing from the person and the arms towards the handprint.
* After about 4 hours, they hear someone crying for help in the distance. The group decides to investigate, but as they come near, the vision reveals itself as a Sand Angler, hunting for food. Initiative starts.
** While they are trying to get away, Aelys gets charmed by the creature; Salvador shakes her out of it before she can move towards it. Sal decides to drink a vial of poison to improve his attacks.
** After they distract the creature with some food they throw at it, they are able to escape.
** Sal still has that poison inside of him, so Aelys tries to help him by smacking him in the face; Sal is able to get rid of the poison.
* During the second part of the trip to the mine, Synnove uses magic to give JB a massage. Aelys questions Synnove on why this magic is not tainted; Synnove explains that her God gave her this ability, and when the other gods left, they took part of their power with them and left the sick parts of magic behind.
* A little later, Sal and Aelys decide that now is the time to talk. They speak in Elvish, not knowing that Synnove can understand what they are talking about. Aelys asks why he lied for her twice; Sal says that the information about her past is not his to give, and it is her decision to share it or not. Aelys still can’t understand why he chose a different name that seems to be so far away from his duty with the Tanel’Inan. Sal reveals that he lied to Aelys too; he is not here on a mission from Tanel’Inan and is trying to figure out why something, and not like the something of whatever/whoever is inside Aelys, was telling him he needs to be here because he wants to serve the greater good for people. Part of his family, mainly his stepmother, knows what he is doing and why. Aelys asks about his mother, but he says that he never met her and “Gil” never spoke of her; he learned in a rather forceful way that it is better to not ask about her. Aelys reveals that she had a similar experience with Sal’s uncle. Sal asks when Aelys was last in Üthevhenan. Five days ago, Aelys went into Dreamscar on her own volition to try to get her strength back after her training with Maravix did not work; the Xilyreon offered her something, so she took it and awoke in the desert, surrounded by glass. She reveals that she could not pass through the river, could not return on her own, and she wants to know why for others like her Grandmother, Ur-Viraan, and Abelas, the Xilyreon was a gift when it took everything from her. Sal and Aelys know that they have changed since the last time they saw each other. Sal wants to help, but Aelys is not sure how he can, now that he seems to distance himself from his duty. Once he might realize how much value the name Elgariis holds, Aelys might be able to help him too. In the distance, they see their destination.
* As they approach the ravine to park the dune hogs, there is a weird stutter, a glitch. When they look again, they can see a campfire with a wagon next to it, and staring straight at them is an individual, an old looking half-elf. As they are about to park the hogs, the individual tells them to come closer, the voice sounding as if the person was standing right next to them. Halifax, as they introduce themself a bit later in the conversation, wasn’t expecting to meet them so early. The group asks the stranger if they are lost and need something to stay warm in this cold desert. Halifax does not accept charity and offers a trade instead: in exchange for a bedroll, they will offer a bit of insight. “There are two things to seek: that which is weaker than the pen and that kept long in a jar.” (02:28:15). He also tells the group that they are quite close to where they need to be; they are soon to be bonded to one another, and they should rely on these bonds. They all share a drink with Halifax’s message to “Watch the Sky. Closed, but not for long.” (02:34:14), before the stranger disappears, leaving only a crudely-carved symbol in the rock.
* After that encounter, the group makes their way over to the Mine where they see an unknown sigil in green ink on a black banner and a very large bipedal rat, guarding the gates.
=== Part 2 ===
* The group decides to try to handle the situation peacefully and follows the command to lay down their arms. The situation escalates because the Rats, the Mossclaws, need to protect their ancestral home where they use of the Salt to breed the young. As the Captain appears, a fight begins.
** Synnove and Aelys are attacked and fall unconscious but can be healed. While Aelys is down, she hears the voice of the Xilyreon again, telling her to get up.
* After the fight and checking in on each other, they take the 30-minute long elevator ride down into the mine. While they discuss their next steps, the group decides to continue down the path where they eventually find it splits. The first path leads to a nursery, which Aelys is able to scout out undetected, while the other branch leads to a railway platform. After Synnove's best rat impression, the group takes out two more rats in a surprise attack. 
* By the railway, they see canisters of a black powder, more precisely Gatlocke, an Isskarian invention that would be able to blow up the whole mine. Just as they step into the room, a voice appears in their heads, pleading with the group to release and free them. They decide to use one of the carts to drive deeper into the mine. Aelys pulls the lever with the help of her Mage Hand, a liquid three fingered hand, which confirms for Syn just how tainted magic is.
* As they drive down the halls, they notice a green light emanating in front of them past a massive gap and a broken rail. In their panic, they decide to try and jump the gap; the cart falls out from underneath them, Sal's jump is a little short, but he catches himself at the last second and is helped up by the others. On the stone ledge, the group is now stranded in the depths of the mine.
* Entering the next chamber, the group finds the center of the rat population. In the center of the room lies the Queen corpse with its bright green eyes and a huge green salt crystal growing out of the corpse. Five rats surround it, also with green glowing eyes. In the center of the crystal, they see a symbol that glows brightly, pulsing with energy. Aelys and Sal recognize the symbol from their ancient history classes as something that could have been on a depiction of an ancient ruin. As they stand there, the pleading voice they heard before appears again with the same request. Aelys and Synnove’s book are driven towards it, so they go closer. Aelys decides to touch the crystal first, and as soon as she lets her energy flow into it, she is completely frozen in stasis. JB enters a rage before striking the crystal and is locked in stasis as well. As Sal tries to make a mental connection with Aelys, he hears a different voice, telling him to keep doing whatever they are doing. Bubbles tries to siphon the magic from the crystal and also gets locked in stasis. Synnove wants to ask Stella for her help to cleanse the magic here; instead of words appearing in the book, the silhouette of a little girl forms that only Synnove can see appears in front of her. Stella tells her that something is here, she knows this, and she thinks it needs them. As Stella transforms into a cloak of light around Synnove to protect her, Syn touches the crystal as well. As Sal, the only one left, drives in to touch it too, the symbol lights up and a wave of energy washes over everyone, completely dematerializing the group.
* They drift in a space made of magic and energy, aware of the others around them, as a featureless shape forms in front of them that speaks:
“Heed well. Whatever you just did, you now echo through the realms and buy us a moment of clarity, of time. I am the Will of Ünen, Moon Smith and Ally to the Prime. Above all, I am sorry for the burden each of you now must bear. The Potter has foreseen something. A glimpse of the great change. She silenced the sky, and she waited and waited, and now the first piece begins to fall. A path has been set and you have been made to take the first step. Each of you now carry that which made the rats grow. In your arms, they will now scurry and return to what they were, but you will be changed. You are becoming more than what you were. If the great change is the doorway, you are all now part of the key. Know this, your fate, your choices must be yours alone as they should always be. To open this door or to seal it shut will be yours to decide. But if the children of the child stir, if they come home and return before their time, there will come to pass a future not even the gods can unwind. I wish I could help you further, all of us do, but the Blind Cartographer is absolute a-” [04:53:22]
* As the voice abruptly stops, the energy around them shifts, as if they are wrapped in a giant dark cloak of energy. In a different voice, “Seek the Heralds. Trust in Sentinel.” are the last words they hear before the energy shatters. They come to consciousness at the gate of the mine, each of them holding a chunk of glittering core salt in their hands and with a the sigil they saw on the crystal glowing on their body, the Sigil of Æons. Aelys’s on the back of her left hand, Synnove’s on the back of her right hand, Sal’s and Bubbles's on the palm of their left hand, and JB’s over his right eye. They can feel the connection, a bond, between them as the sigils glow again before they fade away as if under a thin veil.
* As they stand there, they can see a vessel coast across the horizon.
Level up! - Level 2
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
*Aelys Sa’Viraan
*Bubbles Bathington (portrayed by others)
*Jean-Baptiste
*Salvador E. Montebank
*Synnove Oleander
=== NPCs ===
* Rook
* Voltaire
* Chrom
* Barridyne
* Damien
* Iridia Thane
* Ygritte Bertrand
* Szerus
* Katari
* Acastarok
* Solomon
* Solomon Jr. “Sally”
* Stella
* Halifax
* Rats/Mossclaws
** Captain Marrowdrinker
* Will of Ünen
* Unknown Voice of another god
* The Xilyreon
===Mentioned===
* Gil
* Maravix
* Ellana Ir'Viraan
* Abelas
* Finn'el
* Ur-Viraan
== Locations ==
* Spearhold Keep
* Solomon’s Salacious Selections
* Sun Salt Mine
* Tanel’Inan (mentioned)
* Üthevhenan (mentioned)
** Dreamscar (mentioned)
* Griseum Monastery (mentioned)
==Tarot Card and RP Warmup==
The tarot card for the episode was Temperance, drawn by Jon.
The roleplay warmup question was: "When was the last time your character gave or received a hug?"
== References ==