The Past Beckons

"The Past Beckons" is the eighth episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
==Official Description==
"A nightmarish specter haunts Spearhold Keep, and the adventure is only just beginning!
In our last episode, our D-Rank recruits faced The Tempering, the Copper Legion's sacred rite. Each earned a unique, evolving magic item, setting the stage for their journey ahead. Armed with new artifacts and enchanted scrolls, they now prepare for their first bounty, issued by their enigmatic benefactor, Hareem Lord Hareem. But as darkness falls over Spearhold Keep, a chilling specter appears, beckoning Aelys… What dangers await our adventurers? Don't miss this thrilling episode!"
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* Aelys just heard the word “Mother“ from the being outside the window, before it continues “We are lost and now we find you“. As it moves further, three more beings drift into view. “Let us in. Cherish us“, they all speak in unison. As their aura radiates from them and comes into contact with the window, the beings start to move through the walls. Synnove tries to wake the others as the aura-like fog spreads out. The ones that were sleeping felt a brief scent of rotten meat and spoiled fruit before they bolt awake. Only Daisy-Mae, Chrom and Barridyne stay asleep, the fog creeping into them. Aelys feels a resonance seeing that fog, almost as if she uses her negative energy. Synnove stretches her hand toward the beings. 
* Bubbles‘ harness goes wild, showing that the energy that these things are radiating are close to what he is looking for. He examines it and finds out that the fog is being projected into this space but does not originate from this plane. 
* Aelys decides to act as a conduit for the negative energy and channel the energy, as the fog gathers around her. They then all hear “Cherish us, Mother“, before one of the beings stretches its whole body towards her. Aelys blacks out, her eyes roll back and out of her mouth forms the word “Children“. Hearing that, the other beings race towards her. 
* One of the wayward children takes Synnove‘s reached out hand and as the cold washes through her, she is affected by the first stage of Birth Rot. 
* They fight the children, but Aelys is again in that space with the oily liquid at the base of the roots, a pinprick of light above her. She can hear whispering below her but she can‘t get out of the water, being constricted by the ichor. Before Aelys submerges under the water, she sees three images: First, the bandaged sealed relic that she knows as the Sacred Treasure, the Xilyreon itself. The second is an archaic looking clay pot, lined and etched with (proto-elvhen) runes that move and shift all over it in a landscape that looks like it‘s made of wind and ink. The third is in an otherwise pitch black chamber, a plinth with something almost wedged into it that looks like living crackling black light. While Aelys sees that, the others hear on the outside “Seek what is mine by right, children. The Godkiller. Find the path to the wound and leave devastation in your wake so that we…“. It is stopped before it can say more, as Aelys gains control over her body again. Aelys is able to stop the creatures by emulating the voice of the Xilyreon, but instead of the word “stop“ like she intended to speak, the word “go“ leaves her mouth. As the wayward children follow the order, the room goes quiet. 
* Bubbles identifies the leftover goop as pure magical essence now forcibly decayed. He lets some of it seep into his goggles, which changes them somehow.
* While they try to figure out what just happened and why some of them are feeling unwell, Stella messages Synnove and tells her that she is worried and “not alone“. Dr. Iridia helps to heal them but only has enough for three, so Synnove tells her to heal the kids first. Synnove has to promise to update her in the morning if she still feels poorly. While the rest goes back to bed, Aelys and JB stay awake to keep watch.  
* As Bubbles falls asleep, he hears some scratching sounds in his mind.
* As Synnove slips between the space of awareness and slumber, the shimmering gold form of Stella appears beside her. She tells her that the sickness is here, that she feels them crawling. Stella helps her to get rid of them, to get rid of the Birth Rot.
* Aelys checks if Synnove is still breathing, as Syn does not move throughout the night. When she touches her, a vision appears of grass underneath her feet, ruined stone walls, a tree in her peripheral vision. It is only a second before it is back to normal. Aelys then goes back to stare out the window, but the reflection she sees is not hers. She concentrates back on the visions she had before about the pot and the plinth. Instinct tells her that the pot is probably somewhere in the Faded Realm. 
* When the morning comes, they prepare their travels and get their official (fake) mission from Hareem. Synnove visits Iridia and tells her that her God helped to heal her. Iridia can tell that Synnove is infused with divine magic and would like to study that when she is back. 
* With a pep talk from Commander Bertrand, they start their mission and journey to Sulevara. Synnove asks if anyone knows more about ‘Godkiller‘, because that’s what Aelys said last night. Aelys knows that out of an act of divine necessity a couple of thousand years ago an artifact was forged from the concept of violence itself, that was meant to be, or at least some people from the Elvhenan viewed it as, a deterrent for the gods to take action against the Elvhenan at any point in time. But it is mostly myth and not even real. Aelys then opens up about her bloodline‘s history. There is an artifact, known as the Xilyreon, the Sacred Treasure, passed down her bloodline that was given to her but it made her weak instead of strong like it was supposed to do. Ur-Viraan, her ancestor, saddled with a Divine Burden and he fragmented it. One he kept, the other was sealed in this treasure and bound to her blood. There have been six wielders of it, herself included, and that is what comes out of her sometimes. She did not know what it was before and she is looking for something that will clarify things. The first wielder, Abelas, the Dreamer, lay dormant in the Mortal Realm but existed entirely in the Faded Realm. Everyone has had different reactions to it but he documented what exactly the Xilyreon did and Aelys is trying to find that. It is her burden but it can be her strength and with it, she should have been able to fix what is wrong with her people. She won‘t share what exactly that is but she tries to fix her mistake. She lost her magic and she is seeking to amend that. Her purpose and her allegiance do not lie with the Legion nor with the group, it aligns with her ability to do what she needs to do and she will leave them once she reaches her goal. It did so many good things for the last wielder before her, her grandmother, so she needs to figure it out. Her sister, Maravix, was supposed to inherit it but Aelys was the better fit. She did not want to bring others into it but she needed the resources of the Legion to find certain things and did not know about the groups. The last thing she knows is that when she went and communed with the Xilyreon and it asked her to let it in, she did, and awoke in the desert. She is worried about what it might have done in Üthevhenan so she hopes to find out more and contact her family once they reach Sulevara. The others think their threads are intertwined for the moment so they should all help each other. 
* While Bubbles and Aelys rest, Synnove asks JB about his alias again, Alewjin. He tells her that he took something initially negative and made it positive. It meant Demon Wind or Wind Spirit to the people where he grew up but he made it his own. 
* The journey continues but after a while, they notice another vessel on the horizon. Synnove spots a red cardinal on the sail, a familiar symbol for her. She tells JB to keep driving, but a voice calls out to them: “To the heretic Synnove, stand down! Your apostasy has gone too far. You have spread tainted magic beyond your confines and your existence is no longer tolerated by our God“. JB turns the skiff. As they come closer, they can see 5 Isskari on deck and a familiar face, the cult member that Synnove converted. Synnove recognizes them as a part of the Migrant Cardinals, a militant faction of the Reeducaters. 
* A fight starts, the other group focused mainly on Synnove. Suddenly, a flash of black light appears and a tendril of smoke wraps around the throat of one of the attackers, as another Isskari appears. She leans behind their shoulder and says: “I am not going to let you lay a hand on my sister“.
=== Part 2 ===
* Seeing her sister Lenore, Synnove stands still, shocked about the arrival. They are able to defeat the attackers, some of them by throwing them off the skiff where they get eaten by the dune hogs. Bubbles and Synnove are thrown off too but are able to land safely with the help of JB. 
* Wary of the situation, Aelys keeps an eye on the new person, who makes her way towards Synnove. In isskarin, Synnove asks why Lenore is here and that she shouldn‘t talk to her because Synnove was not banished like Lenore was and still believes in her God, as she was the one who gave her magic. Lenore got magic too, but from a different god. She is very excited to see her sister but Synnove is still taken aback because they told her things about her sister and that she was supposed to consider her dead. Lenore tells her that she was saved by her god, V. She thinks they are doing similar things for different people so maybe they could work together. Synnove gets a message from Stella: burned into the pages are the words “She is lying. He is false“. Syn asks about V and that they can‘t be true because the other gods left. Synnove is confused. She didn‘t leave by choice, they were trying to reeducate her back home. Lenore tells her that she too had no choice but to leave but she is happy to see Synnove again. Synnove wants to hear Lenore‘s side of the story because she thinks the prophet back home was wrong about a few things and they agree to talk more later.  
* While they talk, JB frees the cleansed individual from the other skiff, who sits down next to Synnove. 
* Synnove introduces Lenore to the others. Bubbles notices the magic around Lenore’s tattooed arm. When Aelys sees it, she hears the familiar voice of the Xilyreon in her head, seemingly interested in it. Lenore seems to dislike Aelys.
* They loot the other skiff and find a letter in isskarin and a ritualistic dagger.
* Lenore will come with them on their journey, so Aelys asks Synnove through their mind connection if she is sure about it. Synnove thinks Lenore is lying about something but she deserves to hear her side so Syn agreed to it.
* They venture forth and reach the outside of Sulevara after a few hours. In the distance, they not only see the Gethi’zharel (“The Warning Sky”) but also what seems to be a meeting happening, seemingly of a few Vanguard Knights and the member of the Copper Legion, the A-Rank leader, that they were told about. They hear the skiff approach, so she turns to the knights and with a quick motion, she freezes the Knights and dispatches them, calls for her companion Pterry and introduces herself as Euphoria. She invites them inside the tent.
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
*Aelys Sa’Viraan
*Bubbles Bathington
*Jean-Baptiste
*Lenore
*Synnove Oleander
=== NPCs ===
* Katari
* Voltaire
* Daisy Mae
* Chrom
* Barridyne
* Dr. Iridia Thane
* Ygritte Bertrand
* Xilyreon
* Stella
* V
* Szerus
* Hareem Lord Hareem
* 5 Isskari (One of them a Saar'Kadaash, a mage specifically designed to counter other magic use)
* Sol/Averik (cleansed cult member)
* Vanguard Knights
* Euphoria (and Pterrance „Pterry“)
===Mentioned===
* High Vanguard Beatrix Avalon
* Ur-Viraan 
* Abelas, the Dreamer
* Ellana Ir'Viraan
* Maravix Ir'Viraan
* Prophet in Synnove's hometown
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Faleeria
** Spearhold Keep
* Lifeless Sea
* Sulevara
=== Organizations ===
* The Copper Legion
* Vanguard 
* Reeducators
**Migrate Cardinals
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was Wheel of Fortune, drawn by Dan.
The roleplay warmup question was: "When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?"
==References==