Lighthouse of Longing (episode)

"Lighthouse of Longing" is the fifteenth episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
== Official Description ==
"When last we left our adventurers, the core four—joined by Lenore and Katari—had narrowly escaped Spearhold Keep with the Orichalcum Lance, stolen from Commander Bertrand’s office. After a restless night aboard Hareem Lord Hareem's ship, The Heirloom, our heroes find themselves at the mysterious Lighthouse of Longing. There, they must prove themselves worthy of a Herald. With each step they take, the weight of fate grows heavier. Which side of history will remember them? Only time—and the trials ahead—will decide.”Lighthouse of Longing (YouTube).
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* The group walks into the stairwell that revealed itself after they were scanned. The door seals shut behind them but their sigils begin to glow. Lenore and Katari ask when and where they got those so they explain the most important part and decide to reveal everything else later. Theagus is shocked about the information that was just revealed to him at the door. Katari leans down to him and says that names only have as much weight as you choose to give them. He is he, no matter what name and that is all that counts.
* They move on until they reach the first chamber with a large circular carving on the ground and a diamond-shaped indentation in the middle. They use the spear as the key, which opens a new chamber.
* In this room are four dull crystals and a large stone bowl in the center. The crystals slowly begin to glow and a voice appears, telling the Sigil Bearers to step forward onto the path. They step in, their Sigil and the crystals light up and create a projection of a female human person, exhaustion visible in her eyes. The second they are all in, this door seals behind them as well. The hologram speaks: „Sigil Bearers, at long last, long have we waited for you. I am but a memory. I was known as Seraphyr once, before I became She who awaits you now below. This temple that you enter, this Lighthouse is one of six built by we, those that were the Penitent Harbingers. Two now lie defiled, ruined by Envoys of Change. But not Longing. Longing persists as it has always. You must seek them, seek us, seek her. She has called you. But to claim the beacon you must follow the path. Through four veils will you trespass until at last you will stand before They that I have become.“ She tells them that their guests, Lenore and Katari, are welcome, as they come with their blessing. But they should be warned, as nothing awaits them below but thankless harm. They will participate in the trials but gain no benefit from them, as they do not wear a Sigil, though both of them may be marked. Seraphyr is just a memory of what she was, but That which she has become, a Herald, might know more. Theagus asks her where the eye at the door got their information from. Seraphyr tells them it is from the Dreaming Valkyrie, as is all of this.
* The first step to understanding is to speak truth to the altar in the middle. In this first trial, the Veil of Unshackling, they have to speak their truest desire, their innermost wantings, their Longing, into the bowl.
** Aelys: “I want to return to the role which is my birthright. I want to bear the spark of Ur-Viraan again. I want to control and understand the Xilyreon. I want to be the spearpoint of my people. I want to be what I was born to be and not a pretender any longer. I want power.“
** Jean-Baptiste: “I want to find balance in myself and everything else.“
** Theagus puts his hands on the bowl but asks questions about what was just revealed instead of telling his innermost wanting, as energy ripples up his body and hurts him. He then says: “I want to understand my purpose in this world and the outside worlds and how I can be a better Seeker.“ 
** Katari: “I want to earn the right to call somewhere home“
** Lenore: “I want to be with my family.“
** Synnove turns her back to the others and whispers, only Aelys is able to hear her. “I only ever told this to one other person and that was my God. I want to help Stella be free and grow. I also wanna grow with her. I wanna surpass the prophet. I wanna ascend to something new, something powerful that can change lifes for the better and if that means I ascend to godhood, so be it.“
* With that, a door opens into a lift that will bring them down. The others ask Synnove what she said, but she keeps her secrets. They step onto the lift, and JB can hear whispers somewhere down below. They keep talking about some of their answers and the trust in the group. Synnove tells them that the others were a bit judgemental in the past when it came to her God, but she reveals a part of her secrets, that she wants to help Stella get her godhood back.
* They reach the next chamber, where the Veil of Unbinding awaits them. They see seven pillar-like podiums in the middle of the room with inscriptions on them. Seraphyr appears again and tells them that the way forward is bound, sealed by and with a being from the original realm, that which is now faded. Is it kept by them and bonded with the Penitent of this Lighthouse and resides in one of these pillars. It is kind and knowing, but the other six house its kin, also knowing but unkind, that will try to get out. They have to find and summon the one that aligns with the goals of this Lighthouse, or face the judgment of the others. All they have to do is place their hands on the pillar and speak the inscription out loud, and the binding will be broken.
Inscriptions:	Inscriptions:
1 	“I keep in place the pieces, held together by my will. // Until at once at last, are all things perfect, all things still.” (Sloth)
2 	“My passion knows no equal, nor my fervour nor my zeal. // March forward shall I ever, ‘til our goals are right and real.” (Rage and Wrath)
3 	“Reaching ever onwards, my yearning burns like coal. // To realize our cravings true, unlimiting your soul.“ (Desire)
4 	“Against the harshest odds, will we do battle to survive. // Insatiating want, we will begin for good to thrive.“ (Hunger)
5 	“Across the mountaintops I stride, with knowledge in my wake. // To see the Truth and look beyond, and then my Fate remake.” (Pride)
6 	“Like fountains cold I overflow, I spring forth strong and deep. // I seek to trust in what’s to come, of Faith I make a leap.” (Hope)
7 	"The oldest shield of all, I safely house the thought of flight. // Upon the path ahead, shall I maintain a watchful sight.“ (Fear)
* Lenore asks Synnove about the goal of this all, and as Syn mentions the Children of the Child, Seraphyr snaps her attention towards her. Synnove asks if she knows who they are, and Seraphyr tells them that this is why they are here, it is what this is for, but they have to pass the Veil of Unknowing to get more information. Synnove knows from Stella that the Faded Realm is home to spirits, beings of potent energy that tend to reflect what happens in the Prime. Those spirits can turn into demons under specific circumstances. There is only one spirit here that they have to find, all the others are demons.
* They decide to try Number 3, but a Desire Demon appears that they have to fight. Synnove gets charmed by it and attacks Theagus, but she does not remember that she did it afterwards. Aelys is able to get the last attack, but the cloud that is left behind seeps into her arm, leaving an agonizing chill. Aelys checks in on the Xilyreon but gets no answer. Katari grabs Synnove to make sure that she is herself again, before they try another one. Katari tells them that if she is ever possessed by a demon, the others should kill her immediately. That does not count for the rest of them though. 
* They then try Number 7, but a Fear Demon appears. Some of them get frightened by it, but they are still able to defeat it.
* They ask Seraphyr about the purpose of the Lighthouse again. She tells them that “we served as an envoy to those whom we watch and to become Longing's emblem, to be worthy to be such a beacon. We must always seek to strive. That which is can always be better, even if the path to reach achievement is unclear and filled with strife.“ 
* After a discussion, they decide on Number 6 next. Aelys reads the inscription and a Spirit of Hope appears: “I am freed“, it says, now finally able to rest.
* They reach the next chamber, where Seraphyr explains the Veil of Undoing. 4 paths lie ahead, the Path of the Exile, the Lost, Purpose and Detachment. They will only walk one of those paths, most of them will walk forwards and continue the path while the bearer whose path they choose to walk will stay to keep them all safe with the strength of their mind alone. They look at the four paths: one made of roots and vines, one rocky, unhewn with cold air billowing down, one with unmown grass, one with sleek polished stone and metal. They decide to take the first path. Aelys will stay behind, so they say their goodbyes and start to walk the path.
* Aelys sees a version of herself from almost 80 years ago that says she has something to offer. Aelys sits down in front of her and they talk. Young Aelys offers to give her back some of the magic that she has lost. A part of her is tempted by this, her tattoo almost reaching out for the potency that she was offered. This thread of weakness still lies in her, causing the others to take damage on this path they are walking. Aelys denies, she wants it, but she won‘t because she does not want to hurt her friends. Young Aelys says that this did not stop her before, as she shows her a silhouette of a young kid. But Aelys thinks they will and can help her reach her goal. Young Aelys stands up and changes her form to that of Aelys‘ mother, Alara. Her mother tells her that by denying the offer, she is betraying her own bloodline all for the sake of her wants. Aelys can‘t exactly go home right now but her mother says that this potency can help her with that, if she wills it to. 
* Synnove opens their mind connection and sends the feeling to Aelys that she is not alone.  
* Aelys is here because of the duty to her family; she is still the spark of Ur-Viraan. Alara tells her to prove it. “I am“, Aelys answers. 
* The form changes again, back to the original form of Seraphyr, who tells her that she can walk the path now. The floor above them tilts and they begin to slide down the path, before they gently come to a stop in a new, wide domed chamber.
=== Part 2 ===
* In the domed ceiling of this room is a beautiful gilded ancient mosaic of gold and emerald pieces. It shows a great sphere, three-ringed, shattered in half with six pieces flying away from it - the Fracturing of Uro. Serapyr appears and welcomes them to the Veil of Unknowing. They have been proven halfway worthy and now their minds must withstand new burdens, knowledge that befits a Herald. Theagus imbues the mosaic with the Sigil energy and the pieces begin to slightly animate the image. Seraphyr looks at it with awe and tells them that this is what was made known to them first, the truth that all Penitent must share. “The Infinite was the first child, first to spawn from the Void, first to think of thinking and then it tore itself asunder, a miracle of creation. One half to forge the Prime, one half to seek the Sun”. When she says that , the first half of the image becomes a sphere, the other half turns into a spiral. “For indeed, the sun was not born of the Infinite, but a foundling. Born were the seven. Seven fractured fragments of the Infinite. One stayed behind, eschewing its brethren, becoming separate and divine in its own right, now the Moonsmith.” She then gestures to the broken off pieces in the mosaic that begin to glow and form a silhouette of a person. “The other six, these are the true heirs, the children of the child, the progeny. Flung to the far corner of existence, they were cast aside by the infinite, abandoned for the wheel, told only to return when it was their time. And it is the progeny for whom we wait , for whom we watch, for whom we will beckon.” Aelys asks about the wheel. Seraphyr tells them that the wheel is that upon which all was spun, where the clay was made - The Wheel, the Mapmaker. She says that they were abandoned, but they do not know why. They only know the truth of their creation. The progeny have no names directly, the symbols are given by their meaning alone, by their embodiments now faded: Beauty, Knowledge, Solace, Regret, Temperance and Longing. They were not here long enough to be gifted a name by their parent, the Infinite. The Infinite is the one who abandoned them, who opted for a different path, at least that is what the gift tells them. 
* Seraphyr then leads them to the next chamber for more information. Before they follow, Synnove raises concerns over being here, but they decide to still hear the rest of the story.
* In the next chamber are 4 more mosaics, which they activate one after another. 
** The first one shows an Angel holding their hand down. Between their hand and the foreground in the empty space is the Sigil of Æons in a sphere of green, and at the base are a bunch of featureless people reaching up towards it. The resplendent angelic being gifts the Sigil downwards to them. “This is the gift of the Dreaming Valkyrie. She came to us all in a shared dream, bestowing us all that we would need. The truth of the progeny and the means by which to keep them at bay and call them when their time has come.” Seraphyr was there when this happened, nearly 6000 cycles ago. It was in the shared dreams that they became the Penitent. Their goal is to call the progeny home, but only when it is their time to return and not a moment before. It is a duty of the Heralds to know when it is time. “She that I have become knows, I that I am does not”, as she is the Herald of Longing. Seraphyr tells them that the mantle of Longing will be passed to one of them in this group, that is why they have to take these tests. Someone has to become the new Herald, as someone is besetting the Lighthouses and the current Herald is bound to this place, but the new one won’t be. They should earn the Beacon and keep it from the Envoys of Change, the ones that seek to call the progenies too soon. Aelys asks about the Dreaming Valkyrie, so Seraphyr tells them that it is the God of Dreams and Foresight, Eui. Some eons ago, she came to them with a vision, imparted to them all that they needed to know.
** The second mosaic shows in its static form the same cloaked figures, all raising their hands up with the orb holding the Sigil of Æons in there, a canopy of constellations above with lines of some sort being drawn from the constellation down into the Sigil and then coming out the bottom into six people’s hands that are being held out like bowls. As they animate it, from the heavens lines of lights are being drawn like thread down into the Sigil being melded like rope and then unspooling out the back end into six bowls with symbols on them, The Beaconsigns. “This is the forging of the Beacons, the gift was a conduit, siphoning pieces of the first first, the fundament to create these sigils of great and terrible power. Each aligned with one prospective member of the children of the child, all part of the Valkyrie’s plan, her ideal.”
** The third one shows a cloaked humanoid woman, long hair coming out from beyond the hood, that holds a full sphere with the Sigil of Longing on it at chest height. Above this figure, sand or granules seem to spiral down towards her, and from below her, artifice or wires seem to reach from below towards her as she stands there. When they activate it, these grains of deep golden sand cascade as from an hourglass down towards the Beacon, and from above these almost plasticine tendrils, little joints and limbs made of steel and iron reach up from the ground towards this pulsating, glowing Beacon of Longing. Seraphyr explains that this was her sacrifice. “Longing bestowed such wisdom and such burden, the awareness of all things the Prime bound being could attain, the very heights of innovation, and the awareness of all horrors that innovation would be used for. And so there was only one choice, to become one with that innovation and intomb myself with it. This is the last that I remember, that I knew to be engraved upon our very walls.”
** The last one is one Seraphyr did not yet see, as it was made after she became. Each one of these Lighthouses has one such visage, granted exclusively by the Dreaming Valkyrie, a piece of a dream meant only for Sigil Bearers. They activate it, and as their sigils crackle with awareness and energy, Lenore’s tattoo constricts around her arm and begins to vibrate, pulling her to the mosaic. The image now reveals a jagged mountain range, clear skies, and the blazed sun high above. On the mountain peaks is a beautiful set of gilded scales, unweighted and perfectly balanced. From the sun the mosaic reveals a brilliant ray of radiance, blasting towards the set of scales which buckle and tilt inwards, obliterating into fragments along with a chunk of the mountain side until all there is is a shifting crater.
* Synnove asks Seraphyr what bringing back the children of the child will do. “It will make things whole, it will heal the scar at the Heart of the Prime and defend it from any grievous wrongdoing. But if brought about at the wrong time, the Dreaming Valkyrie was generous in her visions, it will bring something catastrophic, a great change.” Aelys thinks the Dreamscar is meant by this, but Lenore knows that her power, the very essence to which she is tethered, also stems from a magical wound. Lenore touches the mural, as the bands around her arm completely unspool and leave her hand, bleeding onto the mosaic, repainting the tiles, until that wound, that crevice carved in the mountain by the ray of radiance ripples with a purple, black smoke. She confirms that the wound is the Distortion. Seraphyr adds: “If a body lies on the forest floor, it decays. So a body decayed there.” Lenore tries to reach V but gets no answer. When she pulls her hand away from the image, the bands sling back around her arm. 
* Seraphyr tells Lenore that she is marked by an ally. Aelys asks about the tattoo, but looking at it just causes black liquid to thrum up Aelys’ throat. She tells the Xilyreon to please wait, but it answers to get who made it and follow the tongue to the mouth. The others are able to calm her down. Synnove asks if she is too marked by an Ally, but “she has not yet been found”. When Aelys asks the same question, the answer is “you are as paint that has been smudged by water. An image left clouded”. Theagus asks, so Seraphyr says “I am sorry. One day you will be released” from his binding. He has no inscription to read, but he is trapped in a cage he chose to make. JB does not want to know the answer to this question, so all Seraphyr tells him is to be careful of the wind. Katari does not want to know either. 
* They make their way down the stairs until they reach a landing and the stairs behind them vanish. The room opens up into a large chamber. The walls of this semi-spherical room are lined with glyphs and symbols and the floor centers on a large circular dais. It is in six segmented pieces all connected and converging on a figure in the middle. Embedded in the floor from the waist up is a humanoid woman, half artifice, half flesh. Tubes snake in and out of her skin and she is mostly wrapped in decaying bandages, including a cloth completely covering her eyes. Above her is an array of windows impossibly displaying a perfect view of the night sky miles above. The lights trickle underneath her, as she speaks: “Thou hast done well to come here. Thou hast seen the signs, walked the path, and now you reach the lighting of your fate. I am to be thine final test, whether the gaze of the orrery”, as five orrery drones fly down, “prove worthy, and I shall bestow my great burden unto thee. Art thou ready?” 
* They want to make sure they are prepared and ready through their mind connection, but the Herald of Longing in front of them just chimes in, telling them they should be. They agree, so the Herald tells them to "release [her] from [her] penance". She twists her mechanical arm and five pools of green light appear. “Come and defeat me.”
* A fight starts. They attack the orrery drones, and as they piece themself back together and fly back into the hole where they came from, the corresponding pools disappear one after another. Aelys stands in one of the pools which causes one of the drones to hover up higher in the air. 
* The Herald attacks. Katari falls unconscious but is later healed. Theagus is directly in the space where it impacts. He is not able to avoid it and takes so much damage that he is insta-killed. His body starts to dematerialize. 
* Theagus finds himself in the room where the Veil of Unbinding took place. Where once a pillar was now stands the icey blue specter they freed. It says: “Don’t leave yet, it isn’t time. You don’t have to go and I don’t have to go either. Where are you from?” Theagus is not sure about that anymore. The specter, Hope, sits next to him and says that they can make a home wherever they are. She had to make a home here in this chamber for a long time. But she always hoped that someone would come along, take her hand and show her the way out. And now that they have done that, she would like to show him a way out, if he lets her. It is Theagus’ choice. They have so much more to offer “and the doctor would be very sad”. All he has to do is let Hope in. He agrees and lets his magic flow into the spirit, connecting their two magical essences. As a flash hits his body in this space, Theagus real body gets stitched together by blue light and drops to the ground. He has never in his life felt so magically powerful. 
* They are able to defeat the Herald, but her form starts to change. Where she was once bedded into the floor, she is now able to move freely as the drones fly in an array around her. “I am the Herald of Longing once more. Crush upon the shores of my resolve and be tested. You shall be our Legacy or you shall be our Ruin.” Phase 2 of the fight starts.
* As the Herald is about to hit Katari with Cosmic Damage, Synnove takes the hit for her. Synnove falls unconscious. Katari just looks at her in shock. Lenore immediately heals her sister and the rest of their group. Katari shouts at Synnove why she did that and that she should think next time. 
* When Synnove gets hit by another attack of Cosmic energy, she can hear Stella screaming.
* At the end of combat, the Herald holds up their mechanical hand and tells them that it is enough. They have passed the trials and have been proven worthy, so it is time for her to pass down the mantle of the Herald of Longing. She reveals the same sphere depicted on the mosaic from before, glowing with the Sigil of Longing. She tells them which of them they choose to become its Bearer is up to them, but its burden, the responsibility of the Herald of Longing passes from her to all of them. They don’t have to decide now, but Theagus takes it for the moment. They must keep it safe, as “To be my legacy is to prevent our ruin”. Synnove asks what that means. “The progeny, they must await their time. There are those pillaging the Lighthouses, those who would call them too soon. It cannot happen. [...] They seek to change the state of things and that the progeny will do. You are the rightful bearers, the rightful owners of the mantle of the Herald. Those without the Sigil claiming Beacons, it upsets the balance”. She tells them that two have been taken, Regret & Solace, those closest to the culprit. Their Lighthouses are in the center of the Heart. One is here, one on the other side, the first place. Those Lighthouses have been ruined, defiled, her family, the other Heralds, torn asunder.
* They can see how tired Seraphyr is, so they tell her that she can rest now. But she tells them not yet, but soon, and they have to go. “Do right by the Penitent, become Heralds, protect the Beacons, gather the rest before they are all defiled.” Seraphyr tells them that they need all the Beacons to bring back the children of the child.  Once they are Heralds they will know when the time is right for this. Only three Lighthouses remain: Temperance, Beauty and Knowledge. 
* Aelys feels sorry for her, but Seraphyr says that it was her choice and that she would do it a thousand times over if it meant protecting the gift, the dream that Eui held. That is all that matters now, the dream of a world where we are free to choose, free to dream.
* As they cannot take the path they came, they decide to call Hareem. They can see the Heirloom coasting around the window, as the glass of the windows gets shattered. Hareem tells them that he will come to assist them, but as he twists one of his rings, a ripple bursts through the air. Theagus is knocked back and feels this mental pressure as he gets stunned, the rest of them are blasted back and are knocked completely unconscious. As Hareem ripples with energy, he says: “Finally, to be shackled for so long. Sorry to keep you waiting. Let me assist”. He reaches out his hand and the Beacon flies into his hand, as he continues “Perfection. At last attained. You have done great wonders, Legionnaires.” The Herald tries to intervene, but Hareem just flicks his fingers, as the Herald gets disintegrated. Hareem goes on: “Where were we? Rest assured, my colleagues. When I return to Heart of God, the Elgariis will know what you have done.  Your names will be etched into the stone of history. Legends will be sung of you, of how bravely you fought for the world to be brought into a new and brighter age. But regrettably, the Court of the Star cannot have variables with so many thousands of lives at stake. So, my dear Theagus, this is where we part ways. Tell the Legionnaires I shall never forget you for as long as I live. Farewell.” Hareem sends a shock wave throughout the ruins of this temple, the Heirloom jettisons away, and the chamber collapses, as everything turns to black.
End of Book 1 
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
* Aelys Sa’Viraan
* Theagus SOT
* Jean-Baptiste
* Lenore
* Synnove Oleander
===Mentioned===
* Eui (God of Dreams and Foresight) - The Dreaming Valkyrie
* Maravix
* Ur-Viraan
=== NPCs ===
* Katari
* Hareem Lord Hareem
* Seraphyr 
* Herald of Longing (Future Seraphyr)
* Stella
* Alara Ir'Viraan
* V
* The Xilyreon
* Specter “Hope”
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Lighthouse of Longing
* Distortion 
=== Organizations ===
* Penitent Harbingers
* Court of the Star
== Notes ==
The next four levels Theagus takes are in Warlock.
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was The Sun, drawn by Jon.
The roleplay warmup question was: "How would you want your character to have bad news broken to?"
== References ==