Compromise & Ceremony

"Compromise & Ceremony" is the sixth episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
==Official Description==
"After braving the dangers of The Rusted Tomb, our heroes now face an even greater challenge above ground. A mysterious figure has abducted Sal, leaving Synnove, JB, Bubbles, and Aelys to deal with the aftermath. The path to the Copper Legion is nearly open—but the true cost is yet to be revealed."
==Plot==
=== Part 1 ===
* The group has just seen their friend Sal get taken into the shadow by an individual, before all the moving shadows disappear and go back to normal. Bubbles immediately recognises them as Keno, a member of the Nevricīl that he traveled with for a while. Nevricīl are a nomadic faction of elves that choose or aren‘t allowed to live within Üthevhenan; separatists that don‘t see the true worth of the elder blood, as far as Aelys knows. As they stand there, shocked, the shadows begin to move again but it is just Hareem who arrives, asking what happened. Acastarok joins them too, asking if they got their copper and telling them that it might be better that Sal is gone if he has crimes to atone for. They could return to Faleeria if they want to or could wait for the rest of the examinees. They decide to take the skyship back to the Keep, a heaviness sitting upon their shoulders and in their chest that makes everything a blur. They remember the ship taking off, briefly halting by the farm and Wellby saying goodbye, they remember arriving at the Keep and the hours passing by till sundown, they remember a ceremony to end the exams but can‘t get a hold onto what really happens. All that they remember later is that it is required of them to temper their copper alloy in the next few days. Their handler, Hareem, can start to assign them missions now but they are not supposed to go on these missions until they have their tempered alloy badge. 
* What snaps them out of this blur is Rusty, the aarakocra that works at the post office of the Keep. He invites them into his office/the rookery for a drink. While they enjoy their drinks, Bubbles‘ first, they talk about how to reach a higher Rank but also their reason why they joined the Legion. Rusty knows that most of the time it means either they are hungry for something or running from something and he wonders if that is true for them too. Aelys reveals that she is looking for something, a book, and she wants to acquire certain knowledge and find certain things about it, and that once she finds it, she would rather go home to Üthevhenan than stay with the Legion. Because Bubbles is always looking for books too, Rusty tells them to check out the Exactionem Inquisitorio, the Vanguard place where magic items are registered. As the conversation comes to an end, JB decides to go and meditate for the night but the other three make their way into the city. Stopping by Solomon‘s Salacious Selections to get some food, talking to Sally and wondering about money, they end up at the beach. 
* Bubbles catches some fish, mostly to bring to Sally later because she asked for help when they have time, and they enjoy their food, while talking and sharing things about them and their lives.
* Synnove asks about Aelys‘ relationship to Sal because she had such a strong emotional reaction when he was taken, so Aelys tells them that they grew up in similar circles but she knows Sal by the name Eralan. She just wasn‘t expecting to see anyone she knew when she came to Faleeria. Bubbles asks about the story they told them a few days ago where some kid seemingly died. Aelys basically admits it but she is not that person anymore. She then continues to tell the other two about elvhen politics, that her family is the left hand of the Elgariis, the Spirit Leader and the person guiding the elvhen people. Sal is part of the Elgariis family bloodline and it was nice for her to see a familiar face. 
* Synnove then asks Bubbles the questions Rusty asked earlier, if he is running from or searching for something. Bubbles is looking for more understanding, especially of magic. He came from the Sundead Claw and he traveled a long way to get here. He was told on the way down the continent that this would be the best place to learn about magic. He escaped the orcs up north but does not really remember about his past and if he has always been able to speak.
* Aelys asks Synnove the same question, running or searching, so Synnove tells them that God told her to come here. And that it is complicated with Katari because she grew up differently than Isskari normally do, not past the Arm of Aldwyn, the Isskari homeland, but in a community with rules that follow one god, which just sounds like a cult for the other two. She tells them how that fracture from the other Isskari came upon and as she talks about it, it is almost like a gilded silhouette is standing behind Syn. 
* They continue talking about their beliefs and the gods, when they are interrupted by a drow, who introduces himself as S-Ranking Legionnaire Arcturus, telling them that it is way past their curfew. As they were not aware that there is a curfew, Synnove invites him to join their picnic for a bit before he brings them back to the Keep. He sits down next to them and asks about how the exam went. After a conversation about the different ranks, jobs and responsibilities that come with it all, they make their way back. After a quick stop by Sally to bring her the fish, they arrive at the gates, where they say goodbye to Arcturus and the there waiting Vaxal, the Goliath.
* Back in the bunkhouse, they see no sign of group A and B but group C is complete, Voltaire with a brand new scar in the face. JB greets them before they all head into bed, where Synnove writes a message to Stella. “Did you tell me to come down here so I could find the Legion or find these people?”
* At some point, Bubbles absorbs a piece of orichalcum to upgrade his abilities with Divine Speech. 
* Sleep finds them quickly, but Bubbles and Aelys each awaits a strange dream:
** Aelys dreams and finds herself “in this well-like chamber, greenery that bleeds into ancient stone at the bottom of this basin with all these geometrical lines converging on this central point, and where there‘s clearly a divot in the basin of the large ancient well, there look to be almost broken pieces of either armor or artifice or machinery on the ground. And a hollow emptiness, a vacancy.“ Aelys feels like she is falling through this image but has an alien familiarity to this space even though she has never seen it before. 
** Bubbles dreams and finds himself drifting through a triangular chamber of polished, black stone, almost like a reversed pyramid. The closer he gets to the inverted peak, there are more and more Sigils and hieroglyphs and geometric lines that all converge at the base. Instead of there being a vacancy at this base, there is a figure, feminine in stature, they seem to be made almost out of papyrus and parchment but have almost like Armory pieces made of oricalchum. Their face is completely shrouded by one large wrapped bandage of paper and scroll. They almost seem aware of Bubbles drifting through this space, watching him. The figure clasps their papyrus arms with metallic orichalcum fingers behind their back before their eyes glitter green behind the bandage. “Two have been taken. Find the rest“, they say before the dream stops. 
=== Part 2 ===
* When Synnove wakes up first in the morning, she is not in her bed anymore. Instead, she sleepwalked into the bottom bunk of Katari’s bed, who is still sleeping. With the help of a good old melt out of the bed, she is able to sneak back before Katari notices anything. She then opens her book with an answer from Stella: “There is a piece here. It is hidden. I don’t think it should be”.
* As soon as Bubbles wakes up, he writes down his memories of the dream. One rune that sticks out to him from that is a familiar rune carved into the cryptoglyph, the Beaconsign for Knowledge. The thing that stands out most to Aelys about her dream when she wakes up is the sense of a missing piece, the knowledge that there was this ancient construction but the last final piece is not there. 
* After Katari finishes her morning routine workout in the barracks, she makes her way to Damien. The other legionnaires are still sleeping, so Bubbles, Aelys and Synnove make their way into the courtyard to talk about the dreams they had, but Katari, who is waiting for Damien to wake up, listens in and joins their conversation. Under a Zone of Truth, Katari asks them what they are hiding but they are able to talk around it and don‘t tell her any of their secrets. Only the question about if Bubbles is his real name stays unanswered under the truth zone. After that question, Bubbles leaves the other two alone with Katari. He finds a spot where no one else is and just takes a few minutes to breathe.
* Synnove and Katari have an argument about their different views of life as an Isskari that ends with a deal between them: In exchange for Katari being nice to Synnove, Katari will teach Syn about her path and how the Isskari live up the Arm of Aldwyn. And if Syn finds it appealing, she will consider changing her tattoos.
* Aelys and Syn go to the mess hall, where the warforged introduces themself as B-Rank Leader I.G.N.1.5., probably named after one of the realm‘s greatest heroes. Ignis was part of a group called Erthe, Wynd, and Fyr that ended the previous era through their sacrifice. When I.G.N.1.5 leaves them alone, Synnove tells Aelys what Katari wanted (and Syn finds out that Aelys did not get enough hugs), before Bubbles arrives. They ask if he is alright but he just tells them about his dream. When Bubbles tells them about the individual that he saw, the description reminds Aelys of Cheriavar, the Tome of Origin. As they theorize about what that could all mean and that the orichalcum was responsible for their dreams, Synnove gets a message from Stella: “You gave me a missing piece. You have my permission to take a piece of the piece of the piece.“ She thinks it will help.
* Syn absorbs the piece of orichalcum and as it lights up, she updates her abilities with Word of Truth.
* JB enters the room, feeling a bit left out and as he gets breakfast, he asks about the plans for the day.  
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
*Aelys Sa’Viraan
*Bubbles Bathington
*Jean-Baptiste (portrayed by Will)
*Synnove Oleander
*Wellby Chubb (portayed by Will)
===Mentioned===
* Ignis
=== NPCs ===
* Acastarok 
* Hareem Lord Hareem
* Voltaire
* Chrom
* Barridyne
* Katari
* Daisy-Mae
* Rito "Rusty" Featherstone
* Sally
* Arcturus 
* Vaxal
* IGN15 
* Cheriavar
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* In front of the Rusted Tomb
* Faleeria
** Spearhold Keep
** Exactionem Inquisitorio (mentioned)
** Solomon’s Salacious Selections
** Beach
=== Organizations ===
* Nevricīl
* Copper Legion
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was Death, drawn by Dan.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is your character’s favorite season and why?"
== Notes ==
Both this episode and the spin-off series Sons of Üthevhenan occur simultaneously and take place immediately following the events of the last episode "The Rusted Tomb".
==References==