Session Summary

The Party, after finalizing their travel plans, departs from Blackwall with Wurinn 'Drache' Fuuldrusch scouting ahead toward Yakawa. They decide to visit The All-Father Temple to gain insights on the Gods and Terathra and plan to investigate The Pyramid that appeared during The War for the OFC's Freedom as they pass through Whitespire. Their journey includes brief stops in Dawnhaven to investigate Galen Verix’s disappearance and a detour along the Verdant Spine, where Kal Korrigan suggests checking out the Wyvern Cave. Early into their travels, they have a tense but ultimately benign encounter with a hunter and his daughter, a Tabaxi who prefers silence. The minor miscommunication is quickly resolved, and they part ways amicably.

Upon reaching Foxtail Orchards, the Party discovers the area’s population has dwindled due to a past massacre led by Caden SteelBreaker, which decimated the Goblin Mafia. They learn that trade has suffered since The Pyramid’s appearance and decide to investigate further once Drache re-joins them. The group encounters a bear and her cub, leading to a near-disaster when Korrigan attempts to befriend the bear with magic. Mordecai and Chenris intervene using illusion magic to drive the bear away. In Whitespire, Aidan Knight reveals that the god Chronovorus recently offered him a deal, which he declined, leaving the Party to consider the ramifications of such divine bargains.

Seeking refuge from the gods, the Party takes shelter in a nearby tower and consults Terathra. Korrigan performs an audit, uncovering vital information about methods to block out gods, the lonely dragon Uti, and the enigmatic Grand Master Ebis Daro. Chenris and Mordecai explore the temple’s library and priest chambers, learning about deep philosophical divides among Ignatius' followers and discussing The Sundering and The Ashen Cult. In Aeloria’s room, Chenris and Mordecai encounter a mesmerizing orb, which reveals that Chenris' soul is permanently bound to Aeloria, making resurrection impossible. Chenris refuses to sacrifice his memories of Professor Varitan Leotoris despite the orb’s tempting offer. The orb then offers Mordecai a deal to erase the memories of everyone who hates him, a deal he rejects after much consideration, remaining steadfast in his principles despite the orb’s mocking laughter.

Full Session Notes

The Party are getting ready to leave Blackwall, Wurinn Fuuldrusch decides it would be best for him to scout the area out ahead of time and to meet him in Yakawa when they can make it. The group decided on their travel plans for the next few days and decided it would be best to check out The All-Father Temple since it is on the way and could have a lot of information about the Gods and Terathra. Since they have to go through Whitespire, they should also take some time to investigate The Pyramid that was summoned during The War for the OFC's Freedom. They also say that if they have the time, they would want to check out Dawnhaven to look into the strange disappearance of Galen Verix ‡. Kal The Korrigan † also suggests walking along the Verdant Spine when they travel down to the Uvam Dynasty so they can further investigate the Wyvern Cave if they're not in a rush. They head off pretty soon after this and have a very good time.

While travelling Chenris Tallfellow ‡, who was on watch duty, heard a strange rustling in the bushes on the side of the road. Chenris goes to investigate before being stopped by Mordecai Reverence who says they should probably get ready for a fight. Chenris uncharacteristically fumbles his words a bit before agreeing and prepares a spell alongside the others. Upon closer inspection, whatever is in the bush seems to have feline eyes. Not being a big fan of cats, Chenris delegates to Korrigan as their resident animal handler. As Korri investigates further, the rest of the group spots a hunter approaching, looking like he is looking for something. Korrigan notices that the cat is actually about the size of a leopard, luckily for the group, it is not aggressive, just confused. The hunter gets closer.

Korrigan gets a piece of meat from the cat and makes friends with it, in a similar vein, he also casts Speak with Animals. He asks if it's being hunted. However, when talks to it, the cat gets even more confused. The hunter is now almost on top of them saying "Can't you see you're scaring her?" The cat reaches out to grab the meat, and Korrigan notices that the cat has thumbs. However, it does eat the meat it just holds it. Mordecai asks the hunter about the cat and he says "Leave it, it's mine". Mordecai seeing that the cat is frightened, sits down at the cat and says "It's ok, we're not here to hurt anyone, would you like a story?". The cat looks confused and then turns to the hunter. Mordecai Minor Illusions some puppets that look like the hunter and the cat walking hand-in-hand down the road. The hunter informs them that this is a daughter, she just doesn't like to talk much. With the situation seemingly resolved, chenris motions for them to leave. Korrigan asks what they were doing in the woods and they explain that they were just out hunting. Mordecai mutters about how he misses his day job. The hunter and Tabaxi speak in sign language to each other and then say goodbye. As they are walking away, Korrigan makes a heart out of Throne Whip and gives them a big eccentric wave.

The Party soon arrive at Foxtail Orchards, they're very tense as they remember the contract they signed with the Goblin Mafia during the war meant that this town was their official territory. Korrigan manages to get a small look inside and everything seems calm. There aren't that many people on the streets, notably less than when they were last there. They decide to go in and have a look, there are no guards so getting to the tavern is pretty easy. Looking inside they see the Halfling barkeep still behind the bar doing their normal work and no one else around them. Chenris and Korrigan enter, and the barkeep welcomes them in. Mordecai asks how things are going. She notes that not many people walk through Foxtail anymore with the Pyramid]] blocking a lot of the trade and the goblins being murdered. According to her, Caden SteelBreaker † came into town during the war and killed most of the goblins on their way to fight. The party promises to help the best they can and move on.

As they're leaving the town, Mordecai questions whether they can deal with The Pyramid. Chenris notes it would be best to wait to be with Drache again before attempting such a challenge. They all double down on their aim to investigate the Pyramid]]. Along the way Chenris spots a black bear and its cub and notifies the party, reminding everyone how dangerous bears are when it comes to their cubs. Korrigan casts Animal Friendship but gets countered and he thinks the bear is ok and doesn't mean any harm and in fact, he should go pet them. Mordecai and chenris rebuke him. They manage to convince him not to go pet the bear and Mordecai minor illusion to make them look way bigger. The bear runs away in fear. They carry on and arrive at Whitespire. As they are deciding on what to do in the town, Aiden Knight reveals that Chronovorus had contacted him the day before to make a deal, however, he refused. They all hope this didn't piss off God.

When weighing up their options, Mordecai says, that whatever they do he can stay with Aidan and cast Dispel Magic If and when needed. Thinking back, Korrigan realises that when he is in or near a tower, it becomes difficult to talk to Lorwyn. he summarises the perfect place for them to stay would be in the tower since Chronovorus would most likely be unable to reach Aidan, plus they could take the time to talk to Terathra. As they approach, discuss questions that they want to ask Terathra. The biggest one is "Are there any other ways to block out the Gods, even better if you could choose which Gods to block". Korrigan figures this would be a very important thing to find out before he falls the tower in [[Niaross †|en]].]] They also want to find out more about Uti † and the island of Itone Isles.

They enter the tower and are greeted by the usual priests in white robes. The receptionist asks if there is anything they can do to help. Mordecai explains how they want to sleep in the tower since the gods can't interact with them here. Korrigan also mentions how they will also carry out an audit on the tower. The receptionist asks who has problems with the Gods. They all point to each other singingly out Chenris, Aidan and Mordecai. The receptionist says they are more than welcome to stay as long as the problem people wear iron-clad cuffs with needles in them to stop their use of magic. Chenris and Aidan refuse to wear the cuffs. Aidan says that if he wears the cuffs then it will bring up a similar level of trauma that made him kill the Tiefling in Minatota. Making the receptionist and the Mordecai quite unnerved and angry. Korrigan is allowed in to complete his "audit"

Korrigan casts the spell to talk to Terathra and receives a warm welcome. He returns the warm greeting and remarks on how nice it is to talk to such an amazing being and asks if he could answer some questions he had. Terathra says he doesn't know everything but will endeavour to do his best to help. Korrigan asks if there is another way to stop the gods from interacting with the material plane. The God says he only knows of one other way to stop the Gods. It explains that pushing back something powerful requires a sacrifice of life. Korrigan asks for clarification on what he means by life and asks if they could use a Herald in its place. Terathra explains that someone has already sacrificed themselves before, they bound themselves to Ember Peak to stop the Gods during The Sundering. Legend has it that every 50 years this person is able to walk the planes but has to return very quickly.

Korrigan then asks about Uti. The God reveals that the dragon was a personal friend of his. The dragon was plagued with loneliness and had lost something very precious to them and spent a lot of its time searching for it. Terathra clarifies by saying they aren't sure what is exactly but they assume it's a mysterious weapon called the Sword of Whispers. However, the being does not know more than that.

Korrigan then asks about Ebis Daro and explains his theory about how Ebis might be High Priest Lyrion. Terathra explains that Ebis is a being that has been around for a long time and has worn many, many different faces. They don't know if Ebis and Lyrion are the same though. God does note that Ebis can be secretly bad even if he is very kind at the moment. Having answered all their questions, they say goodbye and Korrigan ends the spell and rushes to report everything he found out. He tells everyone, especially chenris about we had happened. Mordecai interjects and asks what is even happening, he feels very out of the loop and even left out of Chenris and Korrigan's little science group. Chenris is hesitant to let Mordecai join their group.

Before going to bed Chenris decide to go to the library and to learn anything he can about what was said. He couldn't find anything about Uti or the man who sacrificed himself and mostly just stuff he already knew about the Gods and The Towers. He did find The Eldritch Curse of Eldermire Forest a popular fairy tale in the town. Afterwards, he returns to the Adventurers Guild to get some rest Mordecai is waiting for them as they get back and asks if they find anything interesting they both lament the unfruitful search and decide to get some rest while they can. Chenris goes straight to bed while Mordecai stays awake to watch Aidan make sure nothing bad happens. He sheepishly congratulates Aidan for not taking the deal and eventually goes to bed himself. Nothing happens during the night and they wake up and prepare to leave. Korrigan says a quick goodbye to the people in the tower.

After a short walk, they approach The Pyramid and find that the regular path into the OFC runs right under the structure. Mordecai investigates in-depth to find some form entrance and tries randomly knocking on the wall. Suddenly the entrance appears and reveals a dark long corridor inside. Before actually entering the corridor, Mordecai worries that once they enter, the door might close behind them. Chenris shares their suspicion and decide to test the door my chucking a stick into The Pyramid, as it land the door slowly starts to lower. once the door has closed, Mordecai opens it again but the mechanism gets stuck open this time. they then realise that whatever is in there can get out.

Chenris asks if Korrigan is will send an animal down to have a look for. Korrigan asks him for the necromancy staff they got from the squirrels and asks them to investigate for the party. before they go inside, he ties a torch around one of the squirrels to light the corridors and let them see. They go down the long corridor and take a right turn, go down some stairs and are confronted with a room with golden walls and a sandy floor. around a corner is a another huge dark corridor. They accidentally trigger a trap and the one he is seeing through is most likely dead. Korrigan ends the summon and recounts what they saw. chenris states that the golden room could very good for the OFC's dire state of finances. Investigating the mechanism, he finds some rubble lodging the door open. upon further inspection, chenris surmises that the door would be too difficult for the majority of people to open although he would be able to do it. They travel on

As they reach the board the wall to The Dawn Empire, they find it abandoned and the party are able to walk right through. They decide not to wast any time and head straight to the The All-Father Temple. As they're traveling. they walk past Cliffhall and find it almost empty, vastly different to the last time they traveled by. They arrive at the bridge that gives them access to the temple before they hear someone giggling from a nearby push. Korrigan investigates, wanting to get in on the joke and find a small human who tells him to go away. Mordecai wildly misses throwing an acorn at the boy. Korrigan can't see any traps and decides to walk over the bridge and nothing bad happens, they reach the temple with ease.

The temple is huge and made of white marble with magical crystals and bubbles floating around the large building. There is a small town located around the temple. Inside there are people in similar white robes likes in the towers. Before going in, Chenris pulls Mordecai aside and tells him not to mention their involvement with the gods this time, since he would like to look around. Mordecai sheepishly agrees to stay quiet. Chenris talks to the receptionist and pretends not to know who the all-father is. The receptionist is very accommodating and would love to answer questions about the gods. In this temple, they worship all of the Gods, especially Aetherion. Curious, Korrigan asks about their opinions on the Heralds. They say they like the heralds of gods who are seen as peace-loving and kind like Seraphina however, the heralds associated with gods like Ignatius often come to death's destruction so they would be hesitant to invite this in.

The Party asks if there is any one in charge and finds out the temple is run by a collective. There is a high priest for each of the Gods and they make the majority of the decisions of the temple. Mordecai tries to use his people skills to figure out the best person to ask about the man who sacrificed himself. The receptionist reveals his name almost instantly as Akin Netch ‡. Asking for more information, they are pointed to a book called A Chronicle of Akin Netch - The Man of Many Faces to find out more information. Mordecai asks for a short and snappy version since he can't read. They only had a book but the long shot of it is that he was a shapeshifter who used his body and soul to stop the Gods. No one knows where he is from just of his legend and legacy.

Chenris enquires about the author of the book Nehzahr and the receptionist doesn't know much about him but says he must be important. Chenris thanks him for the time and enters the library. The library itself is a huge circler room with stain-glass icons of the gods above their special sections. Each section has a portal to that priest's room.

Lorwyn's Room

Korrigan looks for the priest for Lorwyn and enters the corresponding portal. It takes him to a place that looks very similar to the Feywilds but isn't. He approaches waiting for the priest to speak first, the priest looks up and immediately says "you have no power over here herald" " He asks the priest if he was sent here directly from Lorwyn and confirms this, Korrigan offers to prey together.

Finishing their prey, Korrigan asks the priest for his name, the priest introduces himself as Tangy. Korrigan admits that he is struggling since he doesn't understand why he was chosen to be a Herald for Lorwyn and assumes it's all a part of some grand joke he isn't in on. He explains this is one of the main reasons he joined Queen Titania's Druid circle, the circle of endless bloom, so he could become more than just a herald and apart of the fey court in his own right. The Priest advises to lean into the joke, life will become a lot easier that way. Korrigan mentions the man giggling outside and how he wanted to be apart of that joke. upon hearing this. the priest ushers him closer and whispers that that man was a bandit who had just murdered many people right before the party rocked up and they were lucky to get through so easily. Korrigan recounts some of the harmless pranks he's pulled on people. Korrigan asks if Tangy has fun ideas for the joke to play at the party and the priest just laughs and says to carry on with his path. On his way out, Korrigan mentions the Man-Eating Horse and apparently, the fey have been sending it all over the place to play pranks on people, although he won't reveal who. Korrigan asked if he could give suggestions as to where to send it next. He suggests

• Ebis Daro's office, Tangy refuses because it might start a war.
• The Red Cult
• The Black Cult
• Arwen Gryffon's office.

The priest notes he must have a grudge and he will see what he can do and they say farewell. Korrigan exists in his room just as the others are leaving their room and Korrigan is left stunned and confused as to why people would want to talk to the followers of Ignatius. They catch each other up on what they see.

Ignatius's Room

Mordecai and Chenris decide to see what the priest of Ignatius is like. This room is full of fire brazers, torches and other flame iconography. They find the priest waiting for them and gives them a warm greeting. Mordecai asks if he sees many visitors. He explains that he doesn't get a lot from The Dawn Empire but he does get a handful from Ehobel, the OFC. Uvam Dynasty, the islands to the northeast and lot from The Desert. He assumes The Sundering is a bit too fresh in the minds of the humans.

Chenris enquires about his opinions on The Sundering. The priest explains he was not a fan of the huge lose of life that the event caused. The priest elaborates, saying every God has their fanatics and extremists. Even the worshipers of Seraphina have been known to use her name in vain and commit atrocities. Fortunately. There are moderates for every faith, including Ignatius. For example, the extremists believe that Ignatius will come down to destroy all evil in the world and make way for good to come take its place. This often comes in the form of mass slaughter and destruction. The moderates of the faction believe Ignatius will come down and wipe away the bad and give way for good just without so much senseless pain or killing. The priest gives the example of the Grayfall Empire and the humans, the Dwarves were all slave owners and treated everyone horribly. The humans, led by Redmund Verix † rose using violence to earn their freedom. e.i. a bad system was replaced by a better one. Another example is the OFC, there is a large war with humungous loss of life on both sides and yet the OFC is a pillar of freedom and equality.

Chenris then ask what would the followers of Ignatius do in a theoretically perfect society, surely there would be no need to worship their beloved god since there is no evil to be wiped away. This question stumps the priest as he had never thought of that before, he doesn't have an answer. Chenris is about to leave when stops to ask one final question, "Do you know anything about one master Ebis?" the priest had heard the name but only as someone leading a magic guild somewhere. Mordecai asks if he knows anything about the grand plan. The priest hesitates before explaining, that the grand plan is often about how The Ashen Cult wants to start The Second Sundering. At this point the priest wants to confess that he was a general in the original army and led a legion of Ash Spawn, however, he feels immense guilt for his actions and is trying to reform, his name is Malin. They thank him for his time and leave.

Aeloria's Room

Mordecai and chenris discuss talking to Aeloria's priest while Aidan and Korrigan talk to Chronovorus. Mordecai is very smug going into this room as he is aware, to an extent, of Chenris' soul. They enter the portal and are greeted with a room where books are floating everywhere. At the altar is a shimmering orb, very similar to the one in Aeloria's library. Mordecai walks up very cock and says hi, they reply in Mordecai's head. Mordecai has a few questions and wants chenris to know the answers. The orb agrees to broadcast their voice to both of them. He asks about chenris soul and the orb snarky remarks "Why does chenris want his soul back"

Chenris perks up and asks what a soul is. The orb tells him, that every creature has a soul which is a manifestation of that creature's very being. When someone dies their soul goes off to the afterlife, or the like, unless they are brought back to life with magic since it takes some time for the soul to travel off. The orb then says because you promised your soul to the goddess it's not there forever. If you die, there is no coming back. The orb theories that Aidan also can't be revived. chenris should be happy since he gets to research. Most gods don't make a pact like Aeloria. Most Gods allow souls to return with spells like Revivify. He would assume Aidan would go to The Black Woods and Korrigan would eventually return to the Feywild. Chenris asks if he gets special privileges for being a part of The Golden Ones. The orb scoffs and says he gets the privilege to access all of the world's knowledge, for a price of course. Mordecai has gone white with shock while chenris seems ok, he says it's a good thing that he has no intention of dying any time soon, the orb laughs and says he said the same thing when he was alive and now he is here.

Chenris asks for information on Ebis. The orb says they will have to strike a deal for this information, as chenris wants information about someone's character then it's only right he gives information about someone else character. Their deal would mean chenris would forget all the information about Professor Varitan Leotoris †. The orb laughs and says he doing Chenris a great service, he would get a lot of information in exchange for forgetting something that has scared him so deeply.

Mordecai steps in and asks what he would have to give for the same information. The orb says because he isn't a part of The Golden Ones the deal would be a lot harsher. This deal would lead to Mordecai forgetting everything about himself. Chenris starts circling through all his emotions as he silently contemplates his options. Mordecai tries to tell him that this isn't right and he shouldn't take the deal, although he is unaware if chenris can hear his pleas or not. The orb tries to[[Niaross †| barg]]ain with more information like info on Uti † and "how to make them treat you right". Chenris hears within the whirlwind of information in their head, that the first part of the passcode is the name of the person who the Auditors]] (Chenris forgets this after the conversation is over). The orb states that he just has to give this information over and he would be free. In chenris' head, he things back to all his memories of Professor Varitan Leotoris †, the good and the bad.

Chenris' emotions finally settle on summer - Rage.

"How dare you ask for such a thing. How dare the gull ask me to forget someone so precious to me? How dare you even insinuate that I am willing to forget a man so precious to me? This is the man who helped raise me to be the mage I am today. I admit that sometimes I wish I could forget everything and finally move on, but that would be the coward's way out, every day I fought to be here and I am not about to throw all of that pain away for a quick and easy cure. Piss off."

The orb is dismayed at this and says he won't get far in The Golden Ones with that kind of attitude. Chenris retorts by saying he has been doing just fine so far. It turns to Mordecai and says that hell sweeten the deal and make it so everyone who hates Mordecai; his father, his brother and Arwen Gryffon would also forget about him. Mordecai would only remember his name and that he travelled with the party. He never understood who he was after this deal, he would be made anew. Mordecai asks Chenris if it is worth it, he states it depends on how comfortable he is with losing his identity. Mordecai would never understand who he is and the struggle he went through to get to this very place.

Mordecai reminisces on his life so far and the orb states how peaceful his life would be if just forgot. Chenris states that he fought to be here, he fought so long and so hard. The orb laughs. chenris explains that it maters because this fight is the reason he is still here, alive and well. At this moment chenris is unable to speak more as Aeloria take hold of him.

Mordecai says he would have to refuse, otherwise the stiflings in the nightclub would never be saved. The orb reasons that the party would free them, he just wouldn't know the personal significance of this action. Mordecai starts to refuse because it is too much of a price. The orb says he is possibly one of the only people in the world who can barter with a god and he should not ruin this chance. Mordecai asks if the orb would take the deal, it would as he is in constant pain as he knows everything but can't do anything about it.

Mordecai refuses because he is not a hypocrite. This entire journey he has kept saying that it is a bad idea to make deals with the Gods and he would not go back on his advice, even though it is so tempting. The orb laughs as they go to leave saying how good of a deal he gave up.