Tempered in Copper

"Tempered in Copper" is the seventh episode of Book 1: Sand & Starlight of Regolus: Dark Age.
==Official Description==
"Our brave examinees have made their way back to Spearhold Keep, where they’ve officially joined the ranks of the Copper Legion as D-Rank recruits. Now they must forge their hard won copper to signify their status within the Legion. With a brief moment of respite in the enchanting city of Faleeria, our adventurers prepare for the challenges that lie ahead."
== Plot ==
=== Part 1 ===
* The group finds themselves in the mess hall for their breakfast and planning of their day. The first stop is the Armory Tower, where Damien currently helps Katari with her Tempering, melting the copper around/into her horns. He finishes the work and as Katari leaves, Damien asks the others what they have in mind and what their item should mean to them. Synnove decides for a Diadem of Hope, Bubbles for a Lense of Knowledge and JB for Gloves of Strength. Aelys is interested in a body modification like Katari had and asks Damien about it. She does not want to be able to be disarmed and that would fix this problem. Damien is unsure about it as he is not sure that Aelys would survive it if he tries to graft it onto her bones, to her skeletal structure in totality. Aelys is confident that she would, but she steps away for a second to look inward, to see if the Xilyreon would let it get grafted. She feels the familiar chill but the entity she is looking for is not here at the moment, almost as if distracted.
* Meanwhile, Bubbles asks Damien if he could fix his goggles, as they can‘t do what they once did anymore. Damien wonders where he got them, so Bubbles tells him that the orcs gave it to him. Damien, who trained with the orcs for a long time, doesn‘t believe him but would like to speak to the creator sometime. Bubbles wanted him to forge some of the orichalcum into the goggles, confusing it with the copper they are currently working with. If they somehow find such ancient and rare material as orichalcum, Damien, intrigued, would love to work with such metals. 
* JB tries to talk Aelys out of it, as Damien can just graft the copper to her skeletal structure but has no assurances that he can put her back together, but Synnove is there as a Healer and Bubbles can try to keep the Magic together.  Aelys decides to take the risk but as they all go into the Tower, JB stays outside to keep watch, not wanting to see what is about to happen. They prepare the ritual.
* With the first hit of the hammer, Aelys is in the ice place she was before, but for the outside there is a moment where the Copper Legion and the Armory Tower disappear, instead for a second there is a field of beautiful green grass, bright blue sky and a stone plinth in the middle of the room on which Aelys lies, before it is gone. As Damien moves on, a cloud of liquid night and star and shade begins to form around Aelys‘ torso. Aelys and Bubbles are able to stabilize the body.
* While that is happening, Voltaire steps outside to get to Damien but JB is able to stop him from getting in.
* The black mass around Aelys stretches out and wraps around Damien‘s arm but they can sever it and free the arm. 
* Aelys finds herself in that field of dark ice, the languid being sitting on the icicle throne. The Xilyreon asks what Aelys is doing and she answers that she is making herself something worthy of standing against it. It tells her that there is no “You“ or “I“, that it is an “Us“. It wants to help her, “make sleep far away“ (01:41:20) so they can be “strong, the strongest that there ever will be“. After making sure it does not hurt any of them, only her in the process, they have a deal.
* With a last smash of the hammer, the black mass flares out and wraps itself around every single inch of Aelys‘ bones right before the copper encases it and the body is put back together. 
* After Synnove shakes Aelys awake, Damien takes his vitrifier to complete the ritual. Aelys just hears a last “Forever“ from the Xilyreon. Aelys thanks Damien but notices that his arm is decaying. She channels her positive energy which calms it down a little bit. Damien tells them to come back later to get the other requested items.
* The group makes their way to the Exactionem Inquisitorio to get some Spell Scrolls for Bubbles. To purchase those here from the Vanguard‘s place, they have to get magically documented. Bubbles agrees. He buys a few spells and a floating skull scans and registers him as a magical entity. 
* They return to the Armory Tower, where Damien gives and vitrifies their items to them: For Bubbles the Prismatic Lens, for JB the Tactile Converters and for Syn the Polarity Diadem. With those, they are officially able to take on a contract from Hareem. As if hearing that, Hareem arrives and leads them to the Heirloom. Before they leave and when Hareem can’t hear them, Damien tells them to remember what he said when they first met and that he thinks Hareem can be trusted.
=== Part 2 ===
* On the way, they meet Commander Bertrand, who congratulates them. They also remind her that she made a deal with Synnove to eat some of that salt from the mine. They agree to do it in front of the whole Legion at some point later. 
* On the Heirloom, Hareem informs them of a private mission for them. In a few days, a train will arrive here in Faleeria and there will be some privateers aboard that train. They will be carrying among them a small carved piece of ancient stonework. He believes this to be a key rune, one of the cryptoglyph‘s missing pieces. After the recent birth of five new Sigilbearers, he refuses to believe that it is a mere coincidence that a key rune should arrive here so shortly after. He thinks somebody here at the Legion knows more. Hareem wants the group to acquire this key rune before the train arrives in the town. For that, they have to travel to Sulevara, the town that connects to the Heartwilds, and be on the train when it stops there. He believes there is another A-Rank Legionnaire currently stationed outside the town that will meet them and they can camp there before their mission starts. Hareem tells them to detain or dispatch the privateers without causing a scene and without anyone in the Legion noticing. Hareem will give them a fake contract that confirms they have to be on the train but for a different reason.
* They tell Hareem about what has happened in the Tomb, about the Orichalcum and their dreams.
* JB absorbs a piece of orichalcum, updating his ability with Speed Syphon.
* Later that day, Aelys and JB join Chrom and Barridyne for a sparring session, while Synnove and Bubbles and Daisy-Mae watch them and talk. Daisy-Mae also visited Damien and got an item called The Wild Stone, that will help them feel like it is supposed to.
* The three on the sideline play a game of 3 questions to get to know each other more. One question is about their real names, but Bubbles doesn‘t remember his name. He explains that Bubbles isn‘t his real name, that when he was very young, his family was killed by orcs. Only Bubbles survived but they did tests on him and deleted his name, so Bubbles is what he calls himself. Bubbles asks about Synnove‘s book and when the sparring is over and Aelys and JB join them, Daisy-Mae asks them all 3 questions, including where they most want to go and what their greatest fear is. 
* Back in the Bunkhouse, they all go to bed. 
** Synnove dreams and finds herself in the familiar surroundings she has been before, with the ruins of the temple and the young phoenix sitting on the wall. They wait and wait but the white serpent doesn’t come from the roots. As the tree suddenly vibrates three times, the phoenix flies to the tree  and pokes its head around the roots and into the tree. It turns to Syn and without moving its beak, it says “They need us. Follow.“ before it slinks into the tree, Synnove follows.
** Aelys has another dream. She too is in familiar surroundings, the throne of ice in front of her. But the languid being is not there this time, it is empty. Instead, there is a hole where the seat should be. She approaches and peers in, hearing three knocks and seeing almost like wood grain in the blackness. She leans into the hole, but falls down, through the tree roots, but they are pockmarked and cratered; once carrying these great fruits, they are now ruined. She plummets and plummets till she reaches the base of the roots, where she falls into a great black, starlike pit of ichor. The second she submerges, she wakes up. 
* It is the dead of night, the only light in the barracks coming from the window on the other end of the room. But the knocks don‘t stop, as floating outside the window is a stretched, gangly thing. Synnove awakes, seeing it too. It looks humanoid in shape but stretched impossibly as if pulled apart. The knocking continues, Aelys and Synnove approach the window. But the thing is only focused on Aelys. It opens its mouth, and only Aelys hears: “Mother“.
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
*Aelys Sa’Viraan
*Bubbles Bathington
*Jean-Baptiste
*Synnove Oleander
=== NPCs ===
* IGN15
* Damien
* Katari
* Xilyreon
* Stella
* Voltaire
* Ygritte Bertrand
* Scribe Threnodius
* Hareem Lord Hareem
* Chrom
* Barridyne
* Daisy-Mae
* Solomon
* Aloysius 
* Leonaard
===Mentioned===
* Sartor, Forge Master
* Vaxal 
* Euphoria 
* Værina
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Faleeria
** Spearhold Keep
** Exactionem Inquisitorio
* Sulevara (mentioned)
=== Organizations ===
* Copper Legion
* Vanguard
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was The Star, drawn by Jon.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is your character’s morning routine?"
==References==