Stowaway

"Stowaway" is the twenty-third episode of Regolus: Dark Age. It is the eighth episode of Book 2: Courting the Divine. 
== Official Description ==
"When last we left our adventurers, the “Golden Sentinels”, had finally departed from Faleeria once more, eyes toward the city of black stone, Disterra. The hours before embarking into the Lifeless Sea were far from uneventful. Stella left Synnove’s side, and Lenore returned to it, though this 'Valor' appeared to be more hollow than her former self. Synnove and Aelys each are struggling to find their paths and purposes, with Katari and JB offering guidance respectively. Now; Synnove, Valor, Theagus, Katari, JB and Aelys must pass through Storm’s Gap, against a ticking clock… and who knows how these Sentinels will fair…”Stowaway (YouTube).
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* The midday desert sun is beaming down on the party as Katari and JB take turns driving the dune hogs across the sands. Katari, Synnove, and Aelys are not enjoying the heat as the group prioritizes speed over comfort, positioning the sand rafts’ sail to catch the wind instead of block the sun. Valor on the other hand is completely unbothered by the heat as weather no longer seems to affect her.
* Theagus makes his way over to Valor who’s currently sat next to a journal-withdrawal Synnove. As Synnove starts journaling on the back of the books she got from the Exactionem Inquisitorio, Bubbles starts up a chat with Valor. “I was most intrigued at something that I was observing when you came through the gate… It leads me to wonder if you are actually, um, living?” To which Valor responds by telling Bubbles that she is not 100% sure but she believes she is both alive and dead. 
* Valor then asks Theagus not to inform Iridia about her death to which Theagus admits that he’s not sure he can keep that from her but he will try not to until Valor feels comfortable with it.
* After a brief discussion about how Valor’s hair is a lot closer to how it used to look before she left the cult and how the penguin isn’t crazy, just curious, Theagus waddles over to Aelys and we’re left with the sisters.
* Synnove asks Valor if she’s uncomfortable with her and Aelys’ friendship, to which Valor responds that although Aelys is a ticking time bomb, she does not care about their friendship. In fact, she is more worried about Synnove’s journal-withdrawal scribbling, telling Synnove that, “as far as I can remember, you have always been magical, and always been special. And you didn’t need that book to make you that way.”
* We then go to Theagus starting up a conversation with Aelys. First and foremost, Theagus looks at Aelys with his goggles, using which he sees a polarity shift around Aelys’ root tattoo, “not necessarily absorbing magic but, well, eating it.” 
* Then Theagus admits to making things official with Iridia, and attempts to go in depth about their mental connection before Aelys cuts him off and the entire party, having only heard part of their talk over the wind, chimes in.
* Back on topic Theagus offers Aelys his help in whatever she is going through, to which Aelys sarcastically responds, “how loose are your morals.” Theagus goes on to clarify that Hope might be able to help Aelys, to which she admits that she would not trust herself with Hope. Aelys informs Theagus that Hope is only kind because he is, and that in her hands, Hope would not be the same because of how impressionable spirits are. 
* Aelys tells Theagus that she must feed The Godsleep, otherwise it will take over, over the next 6 days. Theagus ends the conversation by casting Fortune’s Favor on Aelys, “just in case you need it.”
* As Aelys begins to complain about the blistering heat of the sun, Synnove chimes in to inform her of the sun creams they were given. To which Theagus responds that he doesn’t think cream should go on feathers. Synnove, like a knife in the back, responds, “it’s not like you have to fly,” Theagus reacts by stumbling and walking away in order to investigate the  orichalcum Halifax gave them.
* He finds that this specific piece of orichalcum, unlike the rest, either “comes from a different plane of reality or went to one recently.” In addition, he learns that by taking this orichalcum something unnatural and unpredictable will happen. After asking Hope about it, she responds that she had seen it very often, that those who built the lighthouses had lots of it.
* After warning the party to not let him fall off the raft, Theagus proceeds to take the orichalcum. Upon which, he hears Halifax speaking in a language that he doesn’t understand but, breaking the fourth wall, Dan does, ”I have heard you, and so it shall be done.” Theagus feels a sharp icy tingle down his spine and Hope reacts in almost pain saying she felt like she was being pried away from Theagus. Valor sees Theagus talking out loud to nobody and prods Synnove saying, “that’s why I thought he was crazy.” 
* Theagus then hears a bump from the storage chest and goes to investigate finding Damien stowing away inside. Damien recognises Valor, asking her if they’ve met before, to which Valor responds that they haven’t. When asked why he followed, Damien responds that he felt obligated to seeing as they have his work on them and that he needed to improve it. Bertrand had told him that the party had been suddenly promoted and sent on a mission, which he didn’t trust.
* JB then decides they should make camp, in the process calling the entire party “weak little babies,” which Katari does not react well to, threatening JB to say it again as steam comes from her brands. Then Katari challenges Synnove to round one of their training. Synnove gets ready and makes a comment to Valor about their siblings being jealous not to see her fight, Valor remembers their names like titles of paintings but doesn’t actually remember them. 
* While Synnove goes to spar with Katari, Valor moves to sit with Aelys under the table and takes her hand, the Xilyreon reacts to this saying, “they’re right there…” Aelys then asks Valor why she’s come and sat next to her, to which Valor responds with a simple “sorry, you were closest.” Aelys asks her if she has earplugs because all the noise is preventing her from meditating, Valor rips her sash and gives the bits to Aelys for her to use. Aelys asks Valor if she is okay, which she responds with a no, returning the question back to Aelys who also says no. Valor then gets existencial asking Aelys, “do you ever feel like you’re here but you’re not really here?” Explaining that touching someone helps her feel grounded. Aelys questions if Valor minds her presence which Valor responds with a no, yet again returning the question, which Aelys also responds with a no, stating that she’s simply confused.
* Back to Katari and Synnove, they discuss the terms of their deal and Katari explains that in Asaal'atāsh, all must “earn their right to persist” at that she fought her way through the Tallīs Rasaan (“The Chosen Proving”) and that although she will not subject Synnove to such, she does intend to make her “strong where you are weak, and stronger where you think you are already the strongest,” asking her what she wields, Synnove responds saying her amputation knife, which Katari responds to by hitting her and asking again, “who you are is what you wield, what do you wield.” Yet again Synnove responds with her amputation knife, getting herself knocked on her back for it. Finally Synnove responds “myself” and that she is going to kick Katari’s ass one day. Katari takes this and responds “then you wield your confidence.” Katari then tells Synnove that she likely would have been born with the brand of Adaaren, and have inhabited “The Vein of the Spirit”, any more answers will be gained by hitting her. 
** The first hit: Katari, “What is magic to you?”
*** “The air I breathe, sun through a window… a cold drink of water on a hot day, the breath in my lungs.”
** The second hit: Synnove, “What’s the Spirit, Adaaren?”
*** “They are discipline and ritual incarnate, they are severed from the temptation of the fading, and they stride the Prime with truth in tow. They are the leaders of doctrine, they are the head of the priesthood, the medical practice…”
** The third hit: Synnove, “What’s the prophecy you heard that you didn’t like?”/”What’s your brand?”
*** “That is not part of these lessons, speak again.”
*** “I proudly wear the brand of Karnak, our bones bare weight and our actions carve meaning into the Prime itself. We are the workforce, the military might, and I earned my place as Rasaan. I am honored, right hand of Senevok, the Vel’Karr…”
** The fourth hit: Katari, “What do you miss from your home?”
*** “My siblings… The hot springs, the library because Lenore worked there, the structure.”
** Synnove, “What do you miss?”
*** “The structure, the roads made of marble, the Beresaadataar, the Great Spire, people who knew what they were, not having to question what my neighbors think, and I miss not worrying about the f–cking sun.”
** The last hit: Synnove, “If I had been the Spirit thing, and you were the Body, would we have been friends?”
*** “There are no friends in Asaal’atash,” It doesn’t make her lonely because there’s work, “you do as you are meant to do, we are [ants], do the ants have friends?”
* Katari believes that Synnove was robbed of her brand, and can get it back, Synnove asks how that works because her’s were done in a painful ritual. Katari responds that those were a pitiful attempt to replicate what they cannot understand or will not understand, that the brands are in her, part of her, and that she has been robbed of them. Katari then assigns Synnove 100 notches in the mast by tomorrow's dawn. After being asked how it felt to act without the book, Synnove responds that it’s “like a different kind of magic.” Synnove attempts to start her homework but fails and gives up, Katari then promises her that if she does it she will sharpen the knife every day herself.
* Synnove goes over to Aelys and Valor asking them why they’re holding hands. Valor responds that it’s because Synnove left. Synnove then in the mindspace asks Aelys if she killed Valor because she had a crush on her, which Aelys reacts to by immediately dropping Valor’s hand and Theagus pops in, his interest piqued by the mention of love. 
* Gold flies down from the mast and informs the team of a dust storm in the northwest and that if they go fast they might be able to avoid it but that it is also moving fast. They ask Damien if he can make something to protect against the sand and realize that he can understand Gold.
* The team sets up camp and Valor goes over to Damien, grabbing his arm, then they both have a mini vision, “standing in a brilliant blue sky, sunlight but no sun, and a grass field as far as the eye can see.” Damien states in a way that only the two of them can hear, that he definitely knows Valor, he then asks Valor, “are you, you?” And she responds that she’s still figuring it out. He asks her where she went and she responds that she went to Phylaxis; Daimian’s eyes go distant and he mentions a storm. He quickly changes the topic, back to speaking in a way that the rest of the party can hear, asking why Valor has his arms. She lets go of him, telling him to let her know if he wants to talk about more places, stating that she thinks he knows more than he remembers, which he responds with “I think you do too.” As Valor walks away, Theagus approaches Damien about a potential “spark” between the two of them, a conversation which Damien quickly excuses himself.
* JB lets the hogs go for the night but tells them to stay close, Katari then gets down on the sand to look them in the eyes and say, “what he said.” As they finish setting up camp, Katari hands Synnove a healing salve. Valor offers to take the full night on watch.
* Aelys attempts to meditate, finding herself back home, channeling her ki like the branches of the tree. There’s a prickling through her and her negative energy is for a very small moment now positive energy.
* We then go to JB’s meditation, he threads ki through himself, focusing on the cold wind on his back and the presence of his party mates around him. He becomes aware that he is now on the mountain that he met Sindar on, he keeps his eyes closed throughout the meditation while he chats with Sindar. He confesses that he needs strength and to be able to help his friends, to which Sindar responds that he already has and that he is not alone but that it’s good that he believes it’s not enough, because then he will not stop. JB then asks Sindar to tell him more about the Godsleep, to which she responds, “it wasn’t part of the plan, and now she’s trying to make it one… my mom.” When JB mentions that he feels as if they’re the only ones doing good, she tells him about a temple in the Grift, that they still practice and she helps them. He asks her about her family and Sindar responds, “I can’t, I wasn’t there, they killed him and I wasn’t there… You know what you have to do, Ünen told you, they both told you. Seek and trust. And Jean-Baptiste, I trust you.”
* JB is awoken by the sound of a horn in the distance; the talisman with the symbol of Sindar in his hand is now polished and as good as new. When he and Valor look around, they see a dust cloud in the distance but something seems to be moving out of it. Suddenly, Katari bolts up. She tells them that this is a Karnak Horn, her people. When Valor tries to wake up her sister, the sigil on Synnove’s hand is making weird patterns of light and she seems to be scratching something into the wood. Duty-bound Katari lets the Kithadaar, the gaatlok-powered scouting vessel that seems to be coming from a bigger Dreadnought, know their location with her own horn, which wakes up the rest of the group. They try to stop her, as the last time they encountered other Isskari, they immediately attacked the group. But Katari thinks these ones should be friendly, as they are her people and not “Isala”. Katari will vouch for them. Before the other vessel comes closer, she tells Synnove and Valor to hide in the chest on the ship and they do so. JB steps up to Katari and reminds her that she has made multiple promises and if this goes bad, there won’t be a second chance. She puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him that they are her people and she needs to believe they are here to help. “But Jean, I do not break my oaths”, she says as she pulls out her Sentinel amulet. 
* When the Kithadaar comes closer, the Hassrashok ("Leader of Many"), the commander of the troop, steps forward and speaks in Isskaren; Synnove translates for the rest. “Katari of Karnak, you have betrayed your brand. You willingly harbour folk of dust. You must be returned to Asaal'atash for reeducation and your quarry is to be extinguished. You will comply or we will reduce your vessel to ash and rubble.” Katari looks at JB and tells him to trust her, before she turns to the commander. She heard their orders clear as glass, but she cannot comply. She is oathsworn to fulfill a task that will help understand if these roads are indeed to be paved in blood and gold - as is her purpose. Hassrashok tells her that her purpose is overwritten and she is to be returned for reeducation, as her judgement is flawed; she knows not what is blood, what is gold, and what is dust. Katari stands up for herself, she knows what these things are. But the commander only offers her this branch out of respect for her station and title. Senevok wishes her return. Katari thinks she has no home in Asaal'atash until she has something to return to it with. She cannot go with them yet, not today. “I cannot offer you courtesy twice, Endcrafter. Do you understand?” Katari does, they will do what they must. 
* JB steps up to speak but is interrupted by the commander. In common, they tell him to stand aside and let them do their business. JB disagrees, as they are on common ground here - he is ignored. “Endcrafter, prepare yourselves”, the Hassrashok tells them before they tell the Gaatlokiin in his troop to start. Before the Golden Sentinels and Damien can do anything, barrels of Gaatlok bombs, extremely explosive black powder, are thrown onto the vessel.
=== Part 2 ===
* While most of them are able to get out of the way, Katari pushes JB aside, saving him but engulfing herself in flames instead. As the fire dies down, Katari emerges from it, her eyes on the  Hassrashok as she walks through the flames. All of her brand tattoos start to steam and glow a rippling bright red - she enters her first rage.
* With that, combat starts. Synnove gets out of the chest and out of instinct puts her hand where the book used to be and tries to cast a spell. She channels herself outwards and pushes the energy away from her, and all she sees is Stella’s face, now back to her bald child form, who looks straight at Synnove with almost tears in her eyes. “Why?”, Stella asks before the magic shoots out of Synnove, hitting not only the Hassrashok but also herself in the process. The commander sees her and tells his team to cleanse and purge the filth. 
* Aelys runs onboard the other vessel to fight the opponents. In the middle of the fight, Aelys notices a ping somewhere in her awareness, stemming from the space she is normally meditating in. She feels that somewhere to the North something or someone is moving. The Hassrashok stands in front of her after she has attacked him and tells her that even though she is elvhenan, she is still “made of dust” and assaulting a vessel that is not her own, and is interfering with matters that are not hers to meddle with. And so they have to deal with her - Aelys falls unconscious.  
* When Theagus casts Mirror Images around him, they don’t look like him. He can’t see what form they are in, but it is not his own. 
* After his meditation and conversation with Sindar, JB feels calm and focused. It is not Alewjin who fights, - it is Aegis.
* When Valor gets out the chest, her now changed whip in hand, she looks at Synnove and asks if Synnove meant it when she said that it is okay that Lenore is different now that she is back. When Synnove confirms it again, her sister says: “I am now unbreakable, and unending, and I am fearless. Will you call me Valor?” Without a doubt, Synnove agrees. “Absolutely.” Valor turns around to fight. 
* With her brands still glowing, Katari steps in front of the Hassrashok. “I uphold my oath”, she says. The last words he responds is that she will be stripped of everything she is. “I have found new meanings.” Katari plunges her spear into the commander, defeating him in the process but still on the brink of death.
* When the Gaatlokiin hit the vessel a second time, Katari is not fast enough to get away and gets hit; she falls unconscious.
* Seeing both Aelys and Katari go down, Synnove tries to talk to Stella again. “I know you can’t let Aelys die.” She puts one hand on her heart, the other reaches up. As her eyes refocus, Synnove finds herself in the first ruined temple she found that book in, Stella standing across from her. But instead of the form Stella had before, she looks like the bald child again. “Now you need me?” Synnove tells her that she never stopped needing her and she knows they miss each other, and that she didn’t mean to hurt Stella. “What we don’t mean always hurts the most. I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want you to be alone again. Swear we'll be together forever and I will help. But it has to be forever, just you and me.” While Stella says that, the cracks behind her on the stone wall of the temple begin to shift, as if laced with extra shadow that almost take up the silhouette of a cloaked figure. Stella doesn’t seem to notice. Synnove tries to explain that it can’t just be the two of them, that they need other friends and family, and that that’s okay. Stella disagrees. “Families fail you.” She thinks families turn away from them, “all of them always do, that is what they are meant for”. Synnove says that she will never leave Stella alone, but it can’t just be them alone together. Her love for Stella will not change. “But what if I ask you to break your own heart to heal so many others? Would you do it? Could you?”, Stella wants to know. “Depends on how that heart is broken”, Synnove responds. When Stella takes a few steps forward, the shadow on the wall materializes like liquid and reveals a cloaked figure with a cane made of shadow in their hand, also moving a few steps forward, their gaze still on Synnove. Stella thought it was “Us who were meant to be found as one”, and she doesn’t think Synnove is strong enough for that anymore. Synnove can see the anger and fear and hope in this wounded, scarred child’s eyes - a need for safe solitude. Stella seems to believe that Synnove could give that to her. Synnove reassures her that she loves her and that won’t stop, but that it can’t be just the two of them. When she is ready to accept that, Synnove will be there for her. “I don’t have that kind of time”. Stella’s silhouette begins to distort. Synnove reminds her that they cannot lose Aelys. Stella’s voice begins to shift. “We won’t. We already have her.” The being that was Stella begins to melt, as the whole temple around them seems to melt as well, only pieces of it left floating in the air. In the distance, a laugh echoes from a voice. The cloaked figure only says “That will do” before they rush towards Synnove and tell her to take a breath as the shadows whip around her. 
* On the battlefield, a shudder goes through Synnove’s body, as instead of the golden light of Stella’s magic, a beautiful iridescent twilight shimmering veil erupts like starlight and nebulas all around the field. As it reaches Aelys and Katari, they both awake. Synnove reaches out a hand to help Katari up.
* When Aelys feels that closer coming presence in her head again, she asks who goes there. “Lethallín”, a voice says. The fight continues, as suddenly a glinting bright green light appears, and with it a figure, an elvhen man in a midnight blue green cloak, black hair and bright green eyes. He defeats the last standing enemy and turns around to Aelys. “Lethallín, Ir-Viraan. Emmasalin var suledin evanura.” [transl. “Sister, Child of the Scholar. Your actions should not make you carry sorrow forever.”]. He then turns to the rest of the group. “I am Bathriel, of the Xilreth Clan. You may know me as the Starseer. And I have been searching for you for weeks. We have much to discuss.”
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
* Aelys Sa’Viraan
* Theagus
* Jean-Baptiste
* Katari
* Valor
* Synnove Oleander
===Mentioned===
* Iridia
* Ygritte Bertrand
* Szerus
* Kasamir
* Oksanna
* Nikola
* Senevok the Glory
* Sindar's Mum
* Ünen
=== NPCs ===
* Gold
* Hope
* Halifax
* Damien
* The Xilyreon
* Sindar
* Other Isskari
** Hassrashok (Commander)
** Taam-kas
** Nehra-kas
** Gaatlokiin
* Stella (Dark Age)
* Cloaked Figure
* Bathriel, the Starseer
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Lifeless Sea
* Asaal'atash
** Beresaadataar (The Great Spire)
* Phylaxis
* Temple in the Grift
=== Organizations ===
* Triumvirate
* Xilreth Clan
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was Force, drawn by Jon.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is an unspoken rule your character always follows?"
== References ==