Stormgate (episode)

"Stormgate" is the twenty-fifth episode of Regolus: Dark Age. It is the tenth episode of Book 2: Courting the Divine. 
== Official Description ==
"As the Golden Sentinels embark on the final stretch of their journey to Stormgate, no moment is left idle. Damien, eager to enhance their Copper Legion gear, stands ready for the first to step forward and seize the opportunity. Meanwhile, martial, spiritual, and magical training occupy the focus of others. True names are shared—offered and embraced—and profound truths emerge, forcing some to confront what may lie within their hearts.”Stormgate (YouTube).
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* Over the next two days of traveling to Stormgate, Damien forges and updates some items of some of the group members. 
** For JB, he updates his shield so he can cast Warding Wind with it, and also the possibility of an area of effect attack that could hit multiple enemies. Damien also adds the Sindar symbol JB found at the old temple to it. 
** When JB shows interest in Damien’s work, Damien tells him that smithing is a very zen activity and induces clarity, and he thinks JB would like that.
** Valor asks for an update to her shield to make her harder to hit. Damien can easily do that and asks if that was it or if she wants anything else to challenge him a little. Valor lets out her whip to show it to him, but when Damien wants to take a closer look at it, Valor tells him that she can’t let go of it. He puts his hand under hers, the gold veins on his arm start to glow and little tendrils of golden light wisp out like a mage hand. This golden hand is able to pull the end of the whip off of her arm and separate it from her. Her mark of Phylaxis, where the whip comes from, is still there, and it is still part of her, but for the first time, it is being fully held by somebody else. Damien curiously inspects the whip. “I’ve never worked on this before, have I?” Valor tells her that it was a gift. Damien uses a bit of Valor’s obsidian to update her shield so that it can be connected to the whip and thrown, but it comes back to her easily. 
** As she thanks him, she touches his arm again but nothing happens. Damien asks why she is doing that and what it means, so Valor tells him that she thought he “might be a blue sky to [her] stormcloud.” 
** Theagus asks Damien about an update to one of his magic abilities (Temporal Anchor) and demonstrates it on Damien, but that is not something that is in Damien’s purview - unless he can get a piece of orichalcum. Theagus gets one of the pieces they have from Aelys, and Damien is able to forge the item in a way that saves the excess energy that this ability leaves behind and channels it back into Theagus himself. Theagus is fascinated by Damien's magic. Damien tells him that they all have their special abilities that others can’t do. “We do what we do because it makes us mean something. [...] I am what I can be the best. That’s all we can do.” 
** Before Theagus leaves, he asks Damien about something that was mentioned in the letter from Salvador, about someone or something called “Darkstar”. Damien cannot say he has. 
** On the second day, Aelys asks about the long-range possibilities Damien mentioned the other day. He asks her if she would like to be separated from the being within her at some point because the more they update, the harder it gets to separate them. Aelys denies it's not something she wants to get rid of but something she wants to learn to carry. “Of all the things that I was made to do, the things I was made for in my youth, this is the one thing I think should be mine to bear.” Damien says he understands that as he looks at the golden veins on his arms. If Aelys is willing to undergo a rather precarious operation, Damien can help her bones conduct. Aelys agrees, and so Damien updates her bones which grants her the ability to conduct and project negative energy in a more than melee range. 
* Synnove is doing the task Katari gave her and trains with her knife on the mast. Katari is watching her and gives her advice on how she can improve her hits and tells her to do it slower if she has to because each strike has to mean something, or else it is not worth fighting. Katari then shows her how she does this task and what it means to her. “Every single slice is a small step towards understanding my meaning and my purpose.” It can’t just be simple attacks for the sake of it; every single mark someone makes is a part of their history. Synnove has to carve these strikes with intention - always. Synnove continues her training under the eyes of Katari. When she is done, Katari makes sure it makes sense to Synnove why it has to have a meaning. It does, so Katari thinks that is a success for Synnove; she has earned a question. Synnove asks about the third brand, Saaresh, and the reason why she is called the Endcrafter. The Endcrafter is who Katari is; it is her name. They are named for a task, for an assignment or work. Endcrafter is what they saw in her and her brands, and so that is what she is. Katari says that even now that she is as dust, she still has her brands, and that’s why they can’t take that name from her. They would have taken her brands, but they didn’t get the chance; Aelys ate them first. Synnove says he deserved it, but Katari disagrees; he earned it. “We do not deserve anything -  we are what we do,” is Katari’s opinion. Synnove disagrees with that; some things you do not have to earn, like love. They start to discuss why they believe this. Synnove asks what end Katari is crafting, but Katari doesn’t know that anymore. “My own?” Synnove hopes not. What Katari meant by that is that she is now writing her own story and crafting her own end and not the one they would have made her craft. “I earn my ending.”
* Katari then begins to tell Synnove more about Saaresh, the third brand. “They are the danger; that is what their name implies. It is those who are born with magic - born to wield it in a way that others can only do with study.” Katari says that all magic is dangerous and Saaresh are treated as such. They are often chained, bound, or muted, depending on the situation. It is a harsh life but also one of honor. No one can submit themselves willingly to the breadth of pain a Saaresh will endure in Asaal'atash, and as a result, they are not only seen with fear but with respect and admiration. Each Saaresh is different but they all have no choice but to live under their purpose. And perhaps this is where their tradition and Synnove’s offshoot culture intersect - in a rigorous punishment of magical prowess - Synnove’s just took that too far. Katari thinks Saaresh are treated too harshly, as she has only benefited from the presence of magic first hand in her years since leaving her hometown. As the conversation ends, Synnove reminds Katari that there are worse things than dust.
* Katari lies down under the blanket-covered table where Aelys is currently sitting to avoid the sun. They don’t want to take up the other person's space, but they decide that there is enough for both of them. Aelys goes to get some snacks that Katari asked for.
* Synnove walks up to Aelys after the training. Aelys heard little bits of what was being said and asks if everything is alright. Synnove thinks she will get through to Katari, and Katari is getting through to herself. Katari teaches her about the Isskaren culture, and even though Synnove doesn’t agree with most of it, she finds it interesting to learn more about the culture her people originated from. Changing the subject, Synnove then asks why Aelys lied to her when she told her she had killed Valor. But Aelys didn’t lie; Valor is not who she used to be. Synnove still thinks it is partly her fault and not just Aelys’s. Aelys disagrees; Synnove did nothing that would have caused that. Synnove tells her that Stella made her live through what Aelys did, and she knows it wasn’t just Aelys. Aelys explains that it made her focus on a feeling that was hers - the desire and drive to do what she did came from within herself. In her youth, she did a similar thing to another student - and that was long before the Xilyreon. He bragged he threw a chair at her because he could, and so she turned him into dust - because she could. During the situation with Valor, that is what came up again, and that is what she is working on. It is her fault because she let the Xilyreon use a weakness of hers. Synnove still doesn’t think it was totally Aelys, and she still wants to be friends. It also seems like Aelys has the Xilyreon situation a little better under control. Both Synnove and Aelys are confused as to what to do with the Beacon situation and the request to give them to the Court of the Star. Aelys reveals that she has been hearing Stella talk to her after she left Synnove; there is a connection between the Xilyreon and Stella that they still don’t understand. What is also confusing for Aelys is that Bathriel told her not to return to Üthevhenan because of Karator’s plans. Karator was the one to tell her she can’t spill elvhen blood, and now he is planning on doing the same thing. They both agree that the group has to concentrate on the task to get the Beacons and figure out their next steps from there on.*
* Synnove asks Aelys how she knew she could do magic and what it felt like. For Aelys, magic was like breathing. “It is like the sensation of looking out at starlight or something, feeling yourself connected to everything, and being able to pull and tug and shift.” There are so many possibilities with magic, and everything is yours. Synnove says she has been feeling a bit weird lately, so Aelys wants her to try if she could do magic that comes from inside her - that is hers alone.  Aelys tries to teach her how to do it, to try and channel the coldness from where Synnove comes from, but nothing happens besides the feeling of a prickle at her neck.
* When the night comes, Theagus sits down to talk to Hope to check in on them after what happened the last time they spoke, when he heard Hope scream. Hope says that things are different for them, as everything -time- happens all at once. They then talk about the concept of knowledge and how Theagus knows how to cast spells. Hope manifests next to Theagus, just as a featureless stick figure of blue light. Theagus tells them they look parched and depleted - but that is just how they look today. They are not stuck in their form as Theagus is, for example. Hope doesn’t feel the need to be anything other than what they are today - they just get to be. It is very nice of Theagus to check in on them and speak because most of the time, Hope just gets to hear a lot and doesn't talk. They, for example, heard whispers of birds today, hungry vultures and whatnot, or the worms digging, and they heard people worry less today. People have strong feelings, but Theagus thinks he is more of an analytical being and not just driven by emotions. “When they feel strong, hold onto me.” Hope asks. It’s like a tide; when they feel strongly, Hope feels themself getting pulled. It is easy for them to get swept out because the feelings around them are so quickly before they move on, which is different for Hope. Things stay. “It is different for me than it is for all of you. When you feel and move on, I feel and stay, and I cannot just let go. It is not in our nature. If you lose hope, you may be able to regain it. If I lose hope, then I am lost. Hold onto me when they feel strongly, please.” Theagus agrees. 
* Valor notices that Theagus is talking to someone and asks about it. Valor thinks she saw Hope behind him once a few days ago. After clarifying that Valor uses this name now and not the old one, Theagus asks her to let him know next time she can see Hope next to him. 
* Aelys returns to Katari for their sleepover night, snacks in her hands. When Aelys tries to eat them, the food and drinks still taste horrible. Katari notices that and offers her a piece of the raw meat rations they use for the worms. Even though Aelys hates the thought, she makes sure that Katari is okay with it. Katari just doesn’t want to keep seeing Aelys pretend to like things; Aelys eats - and it tastes good. Katari tells her that some of the warriors in Asaal'atāsh dedicate themselves to violent asceticism, and they draw their skills from their more animalistic instincts. Aelys is not that, but there is something of that in her, so it is nothing new to Katari and doesn’t shock her. Aelys is not trying to hide this unfortunate side effect, but she still doesn’t like it.
* They talk about what happened to the Hassrashok. They could have ended his life for no other purpose than to end it, and now his death served a purpose - and that is enough for Katari. She doesn’t need to know the details.
* Katari turns the conversation back to a comment she made the day before about Aelys and JB. After making sure that nobody can hear them, Aelys asks for clarification and directness; Katari tells her that she meant intercourse - volatile intimacy. Aelys asks what gave her that impression. Katari responds that both Aelys and JB are drawn to each other but pushed away from each other at the same time. There are things that are the same and things that are different, and that is good because it is like pieces that mesh. In Asaal'atāsh it is more transactional, and Katari is not implying that that is how it has to be. Aelys confides that nothing has ever meant anything in that regard for her. Katari asks if Jean-Baptiste means anything to her as a person now because she saw that JB is affected by Aelys. Aelys answer is “yes”; but people weren’t exactly lining up to be with her emotionally in the past. She turns the question around to Katari’s feelings for Synnove. Katari says that this is transactional and that she does not have that much experience in the matter either outside of transactionality. Katari advises her to at least speak to JB. She is speaking to Synnove - or at least she is teaching. She is attempting to mitigate the understanding of her own emotions in any sense by a way of interacting in ways that are not violent. All her problems have been solved by violence before, but now she is trying to solve a new problem by teaching and speaking, and it is working. Katari is sure that Aelys and JB should speak and “would have many things to teach each other.” 
* Aelys asks what happened when she passed out and woke up next to JB, so Katari tells her he seems to require physical contact; and that this is a biological indicator usually. When Aelys tells her she knows an awful lot about this subject, Katari reveals she had to study it because she didn’t understand it. Aelys, on the other hand, is more used to courtship. Katari questions that and figures out that Aelys likes romance novels - to which Aelys goes on to explain that there is a difference between romance and storytelling.
* The next morning, during breakfast, Valor touches Damien’s arm again - and again sees nothing. Damien asks why she does that, and Theagus chimes in that consent is key and she can’t just touch someone and should ask first. Valor explains that the first time she touched his arm, she saw a blue sky somewhere that wasn’t here. She tries to see it again, but it doesn’t work anymore. Damien asks if she has ever trained at Tanel’Inan or has any telepathic abilities because he pictures a space, a big rolling field, to calm himself down and ground him before he forges something. It helps him to zone everything else out. And if Valor saw that, maybe she should have trained at Tanel’Inan. Valor asks if Damien sees anything when he touches her arm, or if he saw anything when he took her whip yesterday. The whip just felt familiar to him but he saw no vision. He asks if it has always been Valor’s, so she tells him that Væxtaar gave it to her, personally - information that Damien didn’t know before. Væxtaar gave her this whip and her life; Daminen needs to sit down and process that. 
* Valor then clarifies for everyone that she wants to be called Valor now. The others agree that it is a very fitting name for her and that they will use it in the future. Plus, the name would also make a good battle cry, as Gold demonstrates - loudly. 
* Midday on their third travel day, Katari pulls Synnove and Aelys aside for a training session that is different from the ones before. She wants to teach them some of the Isskaren doctrines, not only so they can better understand how Isskari live but also because it will show them a way to be present and how to mean something. The others can listen if they would like, but she wants to focus on Synnove and Aelys. The three of them sit down and Katari pulls out a bowl, the inside and rim of it lacquered in some kind of metal. Katari takes her spear and grinds it on the edge of the inside of the bowl, creating a humming sound. The bowl almost starts to vibrate on its own, as she begins to speak. “We are not just warriors; we are not just belligerent. The brands are a way of life.” In Asaal'atash they are not only schooled in their own doctrine for each brand, but they function as a people by the Karasaam (“Pathways of Discipline”). These are drilled into the,m and they are as important as their brands. Katari wants them to hear these first and then internalize them.
** The first Path: “Viddathas shokra ad kos-asaal,” means to convert struggle/internal anger to purpose. The last part is what they often say to each other before a battle or a moment of self-proving to remind them of this. Katari speaks the words again; Aelys and Synnove repeat them after her.
** The second Path: “Asit ad katoh tal-eberaas,” is to remind them to work to make things as they are meant to be. You do not deserve; you have to work and earn to get things the way they must be. Even if things are preordained, they will not stay that way without one's actions. Again, Katari speaks the words, Aelys and Synnove repeat them after her.
** The third and final Path, the one that is most crucial to living as an Isskari: “Astaar ashkaari shok ariqun,” strive to become one who seeks Blood and Gold. Blood and Gold is the destiny of Isskari; it is to remain pure and whole while all else falls and crumbles to dust and ruin. It is to be as you are, to be your best version, always, or at least every step you make is, to grip the rungs on the ladder which leads towards Blood and Gold. A final time, Katari speaks the words, Aelys and Synnove repeat them after her.
* Katari then guides them both through these paths again, asking to connect them to pieces of themselves.
** For the first path, she wants them to find a point connected within themselves where they have struggles within their own rage or inadequacy, a moment in their past where they were not enough or acted too hastily. Once they have found that moment, they have to find the piece that helped them, that felt like a step forward even if all the other steps in that moment took them far backwards. 
*** Aelys thinks about the moment she lost control and killed Lenore, and then the moment JB moved her focus, the shift of her perspective back into reality.
*** For Synnove, it was the moment she lost Lenore, Stella, and her power simultaneously. What helped her was the moment Katari offered to train her. 
** Both Aelys and Synnove then speak the words of the first path again, which allows the negativity of those memories to be excised so they can really focus on that forward step. Synnove again feels that prickling in her neck.
** For the second path, Katari wants them to picture what they believe they are meant to be, what they are striving towards, or why they are doing what they are doing.
*** Synnove imagines an empty throne room of the gods, mossy stone and an infinite sky above her, and her standing in it.
*** Aelys struggles to understand why she is doing what she is doing. She knows that she must protect what she has right now, so she focuses on that.
** They both speak the words of the second path, clarifying the pictures and reinforcing them. The others notice a heat haze that is beginning to form around Synnove, while the pinprick in Synnove’s neck gets worse. 
** The final path is the one Katari struggles with the most and the one she repeats most to herself. They “need to visualize the You you want to be,” and the version of themselves that is best suited to do what they are meant to be. There is no Blood and Gold if they cannot hold it up on their own. 
*** For Aelys, it is the duality manifesting from both sides of her hands: the trifold tattoo on her right shows the joining/partnership with the Xilyreon, and the Sigil of Aeons on her other side is like a reacquisition/return to the Spark of Ur-Viraan and their magic, something equally as powerful; it is bearing the mantle of a Herald and using what she has gained an equilibrium - synthesis.
*** Synnove wants to be capable of anything. She wants the magic of creation and manipulation at her fingertips, not the magic of others but her own. She wants to feel powerful enough to fix the problems she sees in the world by pulling the arcane strings herself.
** Katari makes sure the images they have in mind are true to themselves before she tells Aelys and Synnove to say the words of the third and final path. “Astaar ashkaari shok ariqun,” again, and again, and again, and again. 
* The haze is building more and more around Synnove, as suddenly light begins to ripple around her. A piercing sheen of light emits out of the back of Synnove’s neck and cleaves the air. It radiates down her spine and around her body before it trickles away, leaving a gold trail of lines with the slightest hint of silver on either edge behind. Similar to the bands on Katari, golden bands are left behind that stem from the point in the back of her neck where a new symbol is emblazoned.
* Synnove’s normally green eyes turn almost iridescent green and begin to sparkle, but Synnove doesn’t notice that. For her, everything around her stills. 
“As you breathe in, it’s like you're not just breathing air, but breathing in almost life and light itself. You feel completely imbued with energy and around you - for at least this first moment - everything is moving so slowly. You can perceive everything. Not just physically, but now you can see that there is a whole other substance that affects every facet of the world around you. It’s like this just essence; this energy intermingles with everything - the sand, the sky, your friends, the boat, the worms - it’s like you can perceive the atomic structure of magic itself. If you imagine the Prime as a bowl, you now see the realm as being placed under a waterfall of magic, and the magic that spills into the bowl and over it is left in everything. It is beautiful. It is sublime. And the sun! The sunlight! The things that you heard the Solarborne referencing and using the sun’s grace, you can see more than that. And the particles - every shaft and ray of sunlight, you can see these motes of pure magic that exist more purely than anything else. And not only can you see it and smell it and relish in it, but you know - you know - you could reach out and touch it all. Move it all. Shift it all. And that this is what magic is.”
* Slowly, the world around her begins to speed up again, but this new way she perceives the world stays. When Aelys asks if she is okay, Synnove tells her that she gets and sees now what Aelys was talking about yesterday; she sees everything. Aelys, happy for her friend, instinctively pulls her into a hug and then tells her to try it out. Katari, on the other hand, is just staring at Synnove - because she was wrong. Synnove turns around so they can see the brand on her neck: it is not Adaaren; it’s Saaresh. She is chosen by magic. For once Katari is grateful Synnove was not born in their halls. She has never seen the brands manifest other than red, and she doesn’t know what this means. They would need an Adaaren to define this. Katari looks at Synnove and says: “You are of our people, Synnove. You are of Blood and Gold as anyone is.”
* Katari ends the lesson and tells Aelys and Synnove to learn the pathways. She can attempt to assist Synnove in learning about her brands and what they mean to Synnove, but there is only so much she can do. But she thinks this is good, very good.
* Theagus looks at Synnove with his goggles and sees little motes of white golden light that trickle all over Synnove’s body like a cloak. It is the same kind of magic that Theagus saw when he looked at the Fading Book. 
* Synnove feels different and the same, awake in a way she has never been before. Without trying at all, she puts her hand out and blows snowflakes through her hand onto the mast.  “And so you are Saaresh, as true as the dawn,” Katari says.
* Gold speaks from the top of the mast. “Land ho!” They begin to see a cloud of smoke in the distance and ruined stone pillars rising from the sands - Stormgate is near.
=== Part 2 ===
* As the party approaches the Stormgate, Valor and Theagus take a moment to examine Synnove’s new brands. Theagus tells Synnove that the magic radiating from her is like nothing he’s ever seen, while Valor checks in on Synnove, asking her how she feels. Synnove responds that it feels like she’s on some kind of drug, but she never wants to be off it, a drug that makes her “alive in a way that [she] was not alive before.” Valor relates to this, by asking Synnove if she understands why she could not give up her magic to stay in the Isskari cult; they tried to take her magic but weren’t successful and kicked her out. Synnove offers to help Valor get her own brands because she doesn’t want Valor to feel left out. Valor responds that she doesn’t need anything else but will let Synnove know if that changes. Synnove admits that she’s worried that Katari will like her more now because she has the brands and not for being herself. 
* Aelys chimes in that she doesn’t think the brands will change too much between them, stating that if she is truly worried things will change, she could always ask Katari. She also offers to help teach Synnove magic, although she probably “won’t be as helpful as she could have been,” before quickly leaving the conversation.
* Valor wonders out loud if Aelys left because of her expression, to which Synnove responds, “I think she’s sad. Because, I mean, honestly if I had lived my whole life like this, and then it was taken away from me, I too would be a miserable pill like Aelys is sometimes.” Valor responds that she did feel like Aelys could be a miserable pill sometimes, but when Synnove asks if that’s how she feels about Aelys now, Valor quickly changes the subject, telling JB, to look at Synnove’s new brands. JB says that they look pretty cool, and Synnove responds that she knows she is, giving JB a quick high five as the party make it to Stormgate.
* Eight great, old, pillars rise from the sand, outlining the makeshift encampment that is Stormgate. Large wooden stakes, capped with obsidian, bridge the gap between each pillar to form an actual wall. A large tarp is connected to each pillar to form a kind of roof over the top of the bustling encampment, filled with many tents and some permanent buildings, and a large set of ruins, almost completely repurposed to form the encampment. On the eastern wall, two huge ovals of polished black obsidian are wedged into the sand, beyond which is where diagonal smoke starts to wreath.
* As they approach the gatehouse, a knoll walks into the desert to greet them, “Who goes, who approaches Stormgate?” Synnove introduces them as Copper Legion, telling the gnoll guard that they’re here to make the Storm Run. The knoll, Gryla, tells them to park their sand raft and to come to her so she can smell them; as they walk up to her, Synnove tells the group to “be cool, [they] don’t want this to end up like Faleeria.” Gryla sniffs each of them, claiming that she vets new arrivals and can each unwanted visitors; while she doesn’t react to most of the party, she does recoil when smelling Aelys’ godsleep arm and really seems to like the way Theagus smelled, causing him to threaten her, saying that he’ll throw her into a different dimension. She says that the party smells like salt water, asking if they came from Faleeria and if they were going to “make the ride tomorrow or gonna wait like leeches and take [their] stuff. Gryla then whistles, calling four jackals out, who use their teeth to drive the raft into the encampment. Katari does not appreciate this, very concerned for her dune hogs, threatening Gryla before the party heads into the encampment proper. Before they can leave, though, Gryla seems very intrigued by Theagus, clearly wanting to eat him, even asking the party if they have revivify.
* As they enter into the camp proper, Synnove asks whether the Lighthunters are part of Sentinel, to which Aelys responds that they are basically the Disterran Secret Service, their job is to enforce Disterra’s monopoly over magical historiology and archaeology and that if anyone was to know about the lighthouses nearby, it would be them. As they’re strategizing, a human recruit walks up to them, introducing himself as Squire Jamie, welcoming them to Stormgate and informing them that they’ll have to get their briefing from the Lighthunters and check in with Commander Deimos and that they can leave their stuff on an empty bedroll if they’d like, reassuring them that the crime rate at Stormgate is 0%. Theagus asks Jamie why he’s at Stormgate, to which he responds that he wants to make a name for himself but also doesn’t have to kill people. Theagus then tells Jamie that he’s proud of him and that he’ll do great things. 
* They decide to first meet Commander Deimos, a woman, whose species is hard to tell; she welcomes them to Stormgate and introduces herself as Lord Commander Deimos, telling them that they are free to use any materials as long as they make the run. She explains that she is neither human nor tiefling at the moment and that because of the treaty between the Infernal Caliphate and the Coalition, they used the Kartan Twinstones to fuse one member of each leadership to ensure neither party was favored at Stormgate.
* The commander then leads them on a mini tour through the encampment, stopping at the back side of Stormgate to a pair of massive double doors, beyond which a massive storm billows. She points to a cavern in the distance, explaining that in it lives Kelestrazax (The Living Tempest), which stays dormant unless something attempts to cross the gap. JB asks if they’ve ever managed to speak to it. Deimos responds that they do have records of it speaking, but she personally has not. They do not know how old the dragon is but it has been there for enough generations and has not yet reached “ancient status.” She informs them that they will make the run tomorrow morning, asking if they have any other questions for her. Valor asks if she volunteered to become Deimos, and she answers that they both did once and that it is a great position of honor. Aelys asks if the magic can be undone; it cannot.
* Deimos then leaves them in the care of Lighthunter Straax, telling him to lead them to Dragon-priest Thrausz. On the way, he questions them about why they're making the run, to which Aelys responds that they have business in Disterra; JB asks him if he’s made the run, to which Straax responds that he’s from Disterra and therefore had to have made it before. 
* They leave Straax and walk into the ruins the Dragon-priest is using, a Dragonborn greets them inside, introducing himself to the party before he starts briefing them about their run. He informs them that they’re facing a blue dragon, one that specializes in electrostatic fields and that the dragon is a thinking, sentient creature that they should not attempt to subdue; their only goal is to outrun it. He requests that the party send any new discoveries or any resources from the dragon back to him so he can analyze them. He establishes that the dragon attacks in bursts, and that during the moments of calm, they are encouraged to speed as quickly and as irregularly as possible, that the dunes are the dragon’s territory, they are at a disadvantage. Theagus asks if they’re opposed to killing the dragon, but Thrausz establishes that it’s a bad idea to try and attack the dragon and that any attempts to fight or talk to the dragon have led to many deaths. That any attempt to attack or talk to the dragon requires writing of their plans in order to not affect the Lighhunter’s reputation. Synnove asks about something to help Aelys, who is especially vulnerable to lightning; Thrausz lets them know that they will line the sand raft in a kind of rubber and that something similar can be used for Aelys. Theagus then asks about anything they can do to dissuade it from following them, and Trausz responds that each dragon is different, but most dragons cannot refuse a challenge and that if they need to, they can make that gambit, but that yet again, they would need that plan in writing to protect reputation. Aelys asks how it became a self-proclaimed god; Thrausz explains that it had “bellowed to the sands that it is the last of the living divines,” but that they are unaware of what that means. He wraps up the briefing by explaining that in the morning, he will cast some blessings on them to make the party appear more draconic in nature, something that has been known to prolong how long they can go without being attacked, but that eventually, they will be targeted. Finally, he tells the party that he is excited to see them make a successful run.
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
* Aelys Sa’Viraan
* Theagus
* Jean-Baptiste
* Katari
* Lenore
* Synnove Oleander
===Mentioned===
* Finn'el
* Bathriel
* Karator
* Stella
* The Xilyreon
* Væxtaar
* The Living Tempest - Kelestrazax
=== NPCs ===
* Damien
* Hope
* Gold
* Gryla
* Jamie
* Commander Deimos
* Lighthunter Straax
* Lighthunter/Dragon-Priest Thrausz Lightsbane
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Lifeless Sea
* Stormgate
* Asaal'atash (mentioned)
* Faleeria (mentioned)
=== Organizations ===
* Lighthunters
** Dragon-Priest
* The Copper Legion
* Court of the Star (mentioned)
* Tanel’Inan (mentioned)
== Notes ==
*While Aelys and Synnove are talking about Valor, a flicker of purple light washes over her, restoring her hitpoint reduction back to normal. 
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was The Lovers, drawn by Dan.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is your character irrationally afraid of? How has this impacted their life?"
== References ==