The Rusted Tomb

"The Rusted Tomb" is the fifth episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
==Official Description==
"This is a long one folks. We had to send Woody off in style!
Last time on Dark Age, the adventurers were jolted awake by Lord Hareem's urgent call. They rushed to defend the Chubb Family farm from a horde of rabbit-masked cultists and, thankfully, emerged victorious! After a day of helping the Chubb family with various tasks—some more arcane than others—our heroes are ready for their next challenge.
At sunrise, the real test begins. The Copper Legion entrance exam takes them deep into the Rusted Tomb, where ancient secrets and untold dangers lurk. With Wellby Chubb joining their ranks, will our heroes uncover the mysteries below or fall to the tomb's dark magic? 
Join us for this thrilling episode filled with heart-pounding action, mystical encounters, and the camaraderie of our fearless adventurers. Will they pass the test and rise to new heights? Come join the mythweaving to find out!"
==Plot==
=== Part 1 ===
* The group spends their evening with a Heroes' Feast in preparation for the exam the next day. While sitting around the table, Fengwen, Wellby‘s wife, asks if anyone knows what happened to the cultist, Averik, in the barn as he seems different than before. Synnove says that she spoke to him, but he seemed fine to her. Before they make their way to bed, they stop to check on him. Averik wants to go wherever Synnove goes because “she is the way“ (00:38:35), and he doesn‘t have any recollections of what has happened this morning. Bubbles believes this condition only occurs when somebody is completely sheared from their ability to link to the Faded Realm.
* While the cultist stays in the barn for the night, Wellby leads the rest to the bunkhouse where most of them immediately fall asleep. Synnove stays awake for a bit longer to write in her book.; after a few minutes, she can feel and see the light of Stella next to her. Instead of the silhouette of a child, this version of Stella has grown, radiating more energy than before. Synnove tells Stella about her first convert. They agree that the change that is happening is good, and Stella confesses that she remembered something today, that somebody loved her once the same way Stella loves Synnove. She worries for her and cares about her, and somebody once did the same thing to her. Synnove gave her a piece today and that will help Stella help her. If Synnove can make Stella proud, Stella can do her mother proud. Stella has also put something in the book for Synnove that should help her, and Synnove asks about the black marble she got. Stella confirms that it will help them too, but she feels sad for the being. They were talking in the dream last night, and they have the wrong idea about a lot of things, or at the very least she hopes it is wrong. Stella takes the marble, and as the ink sinks into her arm, her eyes flash a blinding light. Synnove sees Stella in a form that is not understandable to her, a bristling ball of light with threads tethering everywhere, crackling with brilliant gold and green flame. With a wash of warmth over her, Stella is gone, leaving only a sigil on Synnove‘s book from the marble and the ability to cast Dispel Magic once per day. That night, Synnove dreams again of that youthful phoenix and the white serpent.
* When they all wake, Synnove has sleepwalked, her book once again in Aelys‘ bed. Aelys flips through it, seeing the sigil that looks alienly familiar, as if that was actually hers, before she gives the book back to Synnove.
* Prepared with enough food for days, the group meets on the Heirloom where Wellby says goodbye to his family before the ship makes its way to the Rusted Tomb. Up in the air, JB meditates again, building up focus and feeling pure elemental peace. 
* Salvador arrives at the Rusted Tomb, taking a few deep breaths after a long day. After a while, S-Rank leader Acastarok and the individuals of the former Team C arrive. Acastarok tells them that the tomb was once the mausoleum of King Gorrwhyn, a ruler from the time before even the mortal states existed who decided to build this monument to his own death.
* Not long after, the Heirloom arrives. Sal joins them on the ship where Hareem reminds them of the orichalcum they should seek. After another quick briefing from Acastarok who questions why Wellby is here and informs him about the risks that await them inside. Each prospective legionnaire receives their return stone and materials to mine the copper. He reminds the participants that this is not a team exercise, but they are welcome to work together nonetheless. Team A and Wellby decide to stick together.
* The exam starts with the Trial of Ash. They enter the first chamber through one of the entrances. Inside, they see a large statue of the King, six ladders, and inscriptions on the plinth and on the walls around them.
* The inscription of the wall says:
* The inscription underneath the statue of the King says:
* They are able to solve the riddle, following the light of the flame from the statue down one of the ladders. When the last person, Synnove, disappears down the ladder, she sees that the light behind her dies out and the statue of the King is now looking in her direction.
* In the next chamber, the group finds five identical ornate wooden chests, three giant ancient rusted torches, and another inscription:
* After a investigating the room, they burn one of the chests and are able to step through the smoke onto the next floor.
* In the back of the next room lies a stone hourglass with crystal sand in the bottom of it. In the center of the room is an octagonal fire pit with six statues of gargoyles around it and another stone plaque that says:
* After reading that inscription, a timer starts, giving them only moments to throw things into the pit. With only five successful offerings as the final bead falls into the bottom of the hourglass, one of the gargoyles start moving. A fight starts, but the group is able to defeat them before they step into the fire pit to the next floor. With that, the Trial of Ash is complete.
=== Part 2 ===
* The arrival on the next floor marks the start of the Trial of Ruin. They move through the tunnels of old stone when Bubbles feels a magical presence that he can‘t ignore. Arriving in the next, larger chamber, they realize they are not alone. Standing in the room is a shadowy almost liquid mirror of Bubbles, the Envy of the Lost. Stella tells Synnove that they should get rid of it, that it shouldn't be here. Combat starts, but they quickly defeat it. It turns into shadows again that lingers in the air before moving through the walls, leaving only a white mass behind. Bubbles and Wellby scoop up some of that pure liquid magic and flesh that is left behind. As Wellby cooks and tastes it, he feels envious of JB‘s pauldron, feeling like he should have it instead. Stella informs Synnove that there are more of them.
* The group moves forward as they hear screams in the distance that sound like Chrom and Barridyne. They run into the next chamber where they find Chrom and a bleeding Barridyne fighting against a shadowy version of Aelys, the Envy of Purpose. The Envy attacks Salvador, punching him unconscious before JB is able to defeat it. Salvador and Barri are healed, and the kids decide to join the group for now. On the way to the next room, they find some treasure, the Universal Solvent.
* They come across an alcove with a large stone chalice, being filled with an oily liquid coming out of the gargoyle head above it. Several people drink out of it; Aelys, Sal, and Wellby notice the sour and acrid smell, but Barri receives further healing.
* The group follows the path further and further and reaches a pond. Wellby knows that they have to step through this fountain threshold to get through the other side for the mushrooms he needs. On the other side, a guardian of the fountain, an elemental, waits peacefully until somebody does any harm. Wedged into the snout of the seahorse statue above the fountain is a piece of orichalcum. As they are about to take a short rest, they notice that Chrom and Barri are not with them anymore; they might have left them after the chalice. Bubbles casts a spell to be able to understand the elemental, assuring it that they don‘t mean any harm and just want to get the orichalcum stone. In this chamber, they see another inscription that says:
* The Penitent Harbingers were a niche cult on the Prime from well into the previous era, a joining together of mortals and elvhenan. They were members of both groups that left their home abruptly to join the cult. Wellby gets the mushrooms and prepares a few while they take a break, which gives everyone a boost of self-confidence. Before they head back, they get their first piece of orichalcum; without it, the fountain light dims.
* The group makes their way back through the pond, following another path until they reach a portal. They step through it into another hallway which Wellby recognizes and leads them towards the second fountain. On the way there, they come across a church-like chamber, an altar in the middle of the room. They step into the cold room, finding an object made of sleek black stone, the Harbingers Seal, on the Altar, that looks like a key. As they pick it up, a bunch of ghosts of different kinds of species appear. They look at the group, nod, and disappear again.  
* They head to the other fountain, dive in again, and see the elemental guarding the fountain. Sal asks if it is okay to take the orichalcum here, but the elemental reveals that they can‘t go back to the other fountain now. The group decides to leave the orichalcum where it is and just get more mushrooms.
* Following the path, they reach a chamber with an ornate, slightly rotting carpet with nine strange unique items on the ground, a binary orichalcum amongst them. In an alcove next to it is a cross-legged skeleton, a shawl draped over their shoulders. Bubbles and Aelys step forward onto the carpet, and the skeleton awakes, introducing themself as Igonar, the undead merchant. Aelys makes a deal: in exchange for the binary orichalcum, she will unbind Igonar and give them a name of a place they can go to afterwards. Aelys mentions the city of Calanthus as a place; before she unbinds Igonar, she requests to see their wares again should she ever find herself in the city. With the help of her negative energy, Aelys frees the spirit, which disappears, leaving only the orichalcum behind. Aelys absorbs one of the three orichalcum stones they have collected, upgrading her Sigil powers with Speed Syphon.
* The group follows the path again and enters another room where a shadowy black figure with a glowing fragment of orichalcum in its chest awaits them, the Envy of Exile appearing just like Synnove. The group quickly defeats it without breaking a sweat before JB even notices that they were fighting. Synnove picks up the orichalcum, the fourth piece in total, before they head forward.
* They enter the biggest room they have seen so far in the dungeon and find Chrom, Barridyne, and Katari fighting a construct that looks like a wingless dragon and a shadowy version of JB, the Envy of Detachment. They join the fight and are able to defeat the dragon first. As it crumbles, it leaves a piece of orichalcum behind. As they fight, a sudden flash of bright light appears, revealing the Coat, still without his coat and way bigger than he was before. He looks back at Bubbles and says “I promised I protect“ (05:28:29) as he joins the fight. They are able to defeat the Envy, its smoke sinking into the walls again. The Coat takes off to find Voltaire and get revenge, and the rest of Team C leaves to take care of their wounds and find Voltaire. With that, the Trial of Ruin is complete.
* Alone again, they use the Harbingers Seal to open the big door in the room that brings them to the final chamber of the Tomb. In there, they can see five ancient-looking murals lining the five sides of the walls, very similar to languid, erratic chisel strokes seen on the Errant Cryptoglyph. While four of them look similar in style albeit with different depictions on them, the one on the far back wall is markedly different, almost more like a single image. In the center of the room are two objects: a small rusted, bronze sextant inlaid into a plinth and near the largest mural is a stone sarcophagus, beautifully inlaid with carvings of a statuesque noble King in repose. Around it is a mound of amalgamated metal that now takes on the sheen of rusted patinaed copper.
Murals (05:41:05)
A bunch of people at the bottom, at the top a female figure with two large wings outstretched. She holds her hand down and seems to be gifting these people the Sigil of Æons
Same small people, now all holding up the sigil. There seem to be lines tracing from the sigil to the six impossibly long weird figures they saw from the errant cryptoglyph. They do not have these strange symbols over them this time, but they are the same long, odd figures, much larger than both the angel or the people
Six of the small people in the middle of the frame, the six languid giants above, and it seems that each one of the languid giants is passing down one of those six symbols from the cryptoglyph to the six people below
A great tree sitting in what looks like a chasm or a ravine, six more figures around it, hands outstretched. The more they look at it, it’s almost as if the chasm seems to grow
Different art style: An image of the great and mighty sphere cracking in half, rivulets of light spreading off in the distance, six sort of strange fragments around it. It is the shattering, the fracturing of Uro
* Bubbles touches the mural in the back, the last one. As it shimmers green and the Sigil pulses in response, it reveals a map of Regolus Prime. The only thing that stays from the original mural are six little pieces of Uro that seem to correspond with six places on the map:
6 Locations on the Map (05:44:36)
one somewhere in the northwest of the Heartwilds
one somewhere along the southern coast of the Mortal states
one up in the northwestern isle, the Anvil
one in the mountains in the northeast
one on the peak of the boot on the southeast of the isle
one is moving, doesn’t seem to fix anywhere
* When Synnove reads the plaque by the sextant. It says: (05:47:31)
* As they try to mine some of the copper, the room stretches and black smoke begins to trickle from the cracked open edges of the sarcophagus. A voice appears, the Envy of the Forgotten King: “You are all the same. You petty soldiers of copper and gold. You crawl into my house, you hack my heart to pieces and think nothing of the precious freedoms you keep. I will bear it no longer. If we are to slink back into that fetid dream, we will carve ourselves into the stone of your memories. Bask in our glory for the king of all that glitters manifests one final time“. (05:54:42)
* The final fight starts as a figure forms and four motes of shadow drip over the Envy of the Forgotten King.
** JB takes the moment of calmness from earlier in the day when they were on the Heirloom to enter a Focus. He looks up to the King, who flew up in the air above them, and is able to leap up to reach him.
** Wellby summons a spirit and a barn owl that attack the king; as the copper death mask falls down, the creature reaches its second phase, the Unveiled Envy of the Forgotten King.
** The King attacks Synnove, who falls unconscious. It begins to unfold above her, wanting her to stay.
** JB is able to stop it and attacks, pinning the Envy of the Forgotten King against one of the Murals before it melts down. Aelys feels hunger seeing the shreds dripping down the walls. She places her hand on it and it sinks into her. The Xilyreon tells her it wants more of it.
* Wellby immediately heals Synnove. After checking in with each other, everyone collects some copper before using their token of return to return to the entry of the Rusted Tomb where Acastarok is still meditating.
* The shadows around them seem to shift, as though the sun were moving. The shadows pool around Sal‘s feet, as if something is clinging to him. As the shadows darken around him, like he has two or three shadows that merge. Sal reaches for Wellby's staff for help, but tendrils of shadow catch his hands. Aelys runs to help, but she can't get through the shadows that block her way. As the tendrils restrain Sal, two leather-clad hands emerge from the show; a white-haired figure partially emerges and grabs Sal around the shoulders. With his mouth covered, Sal is able to quickly make eye contact with everybody, giving them a little wink, and telling Aelys through the Sigil “You really are one of the greatest mages I have ever known“ (06:51:19). As Aelys continues clawing at the shadows, the figure looks at all of them and says “You should choose your allies more carefully. This one still has crimes to atone for.“ (06:51:48), and they dip back into the shadows, dragging Sal with them and leaving nothing behind.
Level up - Level 4! 
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
*Aelys Sa’Viraan
*Bubbles Bathington
*Jean-Baptiste
*Keno
*Salvador E. Montebank
*Synnove Oleander
*Wellby Chubb
=== NPCs ===
Hareem Lord Hareem
* Chubb Family members (Fengwen, …)
* Averik (Cult member)
* Stella
* Xilyreon
* Aloysius 
* Leonaard
* Voltaire
* Chrom
* Barridyne
* Katari
* Daisy-Mae
* Acastarok
* Undine, the elemental
* Igonar
* The Coat
* King Gorrwhyn
* Envy of the Forgotten King
* Envy of the Lost (Bubbles)
* Envy of Purpose (Aelys)
* Envy of Exile (Synnove)
* Envy of Detachment (JB)
===Mentioned===
* Envy of Legacy (Wellby)
* Envy of Bloodlines (Salvador)
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* The Chubb Family Farm
* The Rusted Tomb
=== Organizations ===
* Penitent Harbingers 
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was The Tower, drawn by Woody.
The roleplay warmup question was: "Do you think your character would survive alone in the woods?
== Notes ==
Both Chapter 6 "Compromise & Ceremony" and the spin-off series Sons of Üthevhenan occur simultaneously and take place immediately following the events of this episode. 
==References==