Merlin looks at Jax, insisting he hands him the compass-- seemingly already knowing he had something for him. He asks the party to follow him and it's not long before Seven asks Merlin if he dreams. and Merlin promptly responds with "no I do not dream!" As Merlin continues to lead them across the field and away from the dock, Bishop makes it quite clear to Jax that he DOES NOT TRUST Merlin in the slightest. Eventually Merlin leads them to a abandoned mine with a chain blocking the entrace. “I am going to ignore this!” Merlin states, opening up the cavity in his chest. He pulls out quite a large key and unlocks the chains, motioning the party inside.

Merlin locks up the entrance behind them and he returns the key to the cavity in his chest. The mine extends seemingly endlessly into darkness, the party barely able to see a couple feet in front of them. The supports of the mine are seemingly holding up the mine by pure chance, the wood water damaged and moldy. “And on we go!” Merlin says, prompting the party to follow him– but after taking a couple steps he realizes something. “You all probably can’t see can you.” “Let me fix that!” He mutters some gibberish before waving his makeshift staff in the air, producing a small cube of yellowish light. The tunnel is now illuminated a bit more, but the supports of the mine are still eventually swallowed by the darkness that awaits the party. Merlin begins to walk. “Quite a rocky journey to get here, wasn’t it??” “I must say, you are a resilient bunch.” “But you sort of have to be under these circumstances.” “Well I will say your journey is going quite to plan. I’m impressed!” -- The party questions the part about the journey going "to plan." This seems to be quite offputting to Bishop and Jax in particular. Eventually Merlin reaches a dead end of the mine– a thick wall of flesh. Merlin mutters a couple things under his breath- seemingly a random string of words before pressing his “staff” against the wall. Merlin’s screen glitches for a moment, as a spark of electricity conducts through the staff and into the fleshy tangle. The flesh twitches before pulling back to the edges of the walls revealing a ledge that seemingly leads to complete nowhere. Merlin motions the group to follow as he carefully steps to the edge of the ledge, beginning to descend on a small pathway just barely big enough for you to stand with your two feet next to each other. “If you’re afraid of heights, I hate to say that your only option is to look down so you won’t fall! Careful footing, travelers!”

As the party further descends into the seemingly endless pit, they’re met with a curious sight. Small old electric lanterns begin to flicker to life within the darkness, beckoning the group forward. Something even odder– This area is completely untouched by the flesh. After a while, the group finally reaches the bottom of the pit. Merlin raises his hands, “alakazam!!!” Merlin exclaims. thousands of lanterns up on the rocky ceiling flicker to life lifting the veil of unnatural darkness. What lies ahead is miraculous… a MASSIVE sprawling commune with structures built into the natural cubbies and offshooting mineshafts and the people aren’t sparse here– it’s almost as if the party has entered a bustling town square. Jax is distinctly shocked and sort of offput by the sheer amount of people in the commune that lies before him. Bishop feels much the same. Seven and Scraps are a bit more excited at the prospect of a commune entirely untouched by the flesh. Scaps distinctly ready to wander like an excited puppy. “Tada!” “Welcome to the mines!” “I’ll take you all to my quarters. I have some VERY important things I’d like to discuss with you.” “Like the whole reason why you’re here, actually.” Merlin says as he begins to walk through the makeshift town.

Merlin begins to walk into the crowd of citizens. The population here is diverse- a mixture of humans and robots of all kinds. As Merlin walks forward the crowd gives the wizard plenty of space, they seem to treat him with a lot of reverence. There’s also a lot of stares pointed in your direction. They’re not ones of hostility or judgement, rather of curiosity. Merlin eventually reaches a sparser part of the commune in a rather secluded tunnel. There’s an odd looking structure at the far end of it. A rickety looking building that’s made from scraps of wood and metal– seemingly from mine cart rails and possible supports of the few collapsed tunnels that you passed by. Many things hang from its crooked roof, shiny bits of glass, bottlecaps, bits of uniquely patterned fabric. The shack looks barely big enough for all of you to fit. My humble abode!” Merlin opens the make-shift door…. but once you all step inside you realize the interior of this shack is MUCH bigger on the inside. Bookshelves line practically every wall extending all the way up to the shack’s tall ceiling. A round table sits in the center of the room atop a large intricately patterned circular rug. The chairs are mismatched at the table… There are exactly enough chairs for all of you. “Now travelers, I am going to go grab something real fast, please make yourself comfortable. BRB!” Merlin walks into one of the many tunnel-esque hallways that lead off into small side rooms. He disappears behind a tattered old cat blanket that acts as a makeshift curtain. In one of the hallways is a basin, where Jax makes sure to clean off all of the blood off of him from the blood lake. Seven goes into the potion room and looks around while Bishop goes into a library room that has (somewhat) neatly organized books. Bishop ends up finding some pretty strange documents stashed within the pages of a couple of books. He found the lyrics to a song--

"Draft #4 Sad Song. (Still thinking of a name)"

Metamorphosis is a journey, everything I know will be gone. Time is just a cycle, that repeats on itself whether I'm ready or not. My head is full of stars, my stomach of butterflies, I yell out to you. One day we won't return, one day our goodbye will be the last. I do not wish for death, I do not wish for sorrows. But the ether calls me, I must follow it's song"

Second, Bishop found a paper for a school assignment written by a guy named Ethan, and finally, Bishop finds a lab report.

"ETHER LABS PROJECT PYTHIA REPORT #115 The subject is conscious. It has begun typing back to us explaining things that it could have never known. The subject is not connected to the internet, so it's completely impossible how this knowledge could even occur in its mind(?) I'm completely baffled. Subject can seemingly even read the thoughts of the attendees that continue it's upkeep. The subject can't see, so it's impossible for it to predict thoughts up on seeing someone's behavior. We are running emergency turing diagnostics now."

Bishop stashes the lab report, writing down the lyrics to the song, leaving the school assignment behind. Scraps is looking at various pondering orbs, some of which being actual crystal balls, one being a fisbowl and the final one which caught Scraps' attention is a Fushigi. Scraps picks up the Fushigi and recieves a distinct, sharp shock after a failed Arcana check. Seven leaves the potion room and makes an odd decision, he charges in Merlin's charging station. After the party has reconvened in the main room of Merlin's house, he returns. He invites the party to take a seat at the round table in the center of the room, all of the chairs being mismatched. Jax takes the comfiest armchair, Bishop takes the lawn chair, Seven takes the diner stool, and scraps takes the claw footed stool. Merlin takes the most elaborate chair at the table, a large antique armchair with lots and lots of decoration.

Merlin reaches into the cubby in his chest, pulling out a small unmarked box. He sets the box down on the table, carefully opening it up. “Now, you must be wondering… “What exactly does Merlin want with us??” And I will answer that question….” The lanterns in the house suddenly dim, bathing the room in an eerie darkness. “After I read your future!” He then pulls out a deck of nearly mint-condition cards, and he begins to shuffle them. “I will hand you your cards flipped over… DO NOT flip them over until I say so. Understand??” After he's done shuffling, he very intentionally and carefully chooses cards for each of the party members, handing them each one card. The lanterns in the room suddenly go dark, the room only lit by the display on Merlin's face. The eye-like shape on his display glitches, flickering a couple times before making a popping noise as Merlin’s whole body flinches in protest, slumping over for a moment. The table suddenly gets bathed in a bright blue light– A loading screen appears on his facial display signaling that he’s updating. The bar fills up quickly before the wizard sparks to life once again. “FLIP!” Merlin yells. The party was given the following cards: Jax- The Fleshtorn Path Seven- Duality Scraps- The Scholar Bishop- The Lost