Session Date: 1st Mar 2025
Web Vault Link: https://www.ashencampaign.xyz/session-notes/season-4-ignatius-beckons/session-34/
A list Of Spells Cast In Sessions: Click Here

Session Summary

Aiden Knight found himself trapped in a surreal series of trials orchestrated by the Fey Sovereign Lorwyn, beginning with a vision of his own death and the destruction he had caused under Chronovorus’ influence. Transported to a strange dimension, he was tasked with restoring a broken clock by retrieving its missing components. His journey led him through three distinct challenges: a childhood game where he relived his past, a haunting glimpse of an alternate life where his family had never joined the Black Cult, and a trial in a spectral courtroom where he faced judgment for his past crimes. In each trial, Aiden confronted different facets of his identity, ultimately rejecting an illusion of happiness to reaffirm his loyalty to the present and his companions.

As Aiden progressed, he was forced to reckon with the weight of his actions, particularly his role in the destruction of Ishnmel and the unintended chaos he had wrought. In the courtroom, he faced his greatest challenge yet—defending himself against accusations of murder, terrorism, and treachery, with Chronovorus himself smirking from the defendant’s stand. He initially accepted guilt, but when challenged to justify his existence, he admitted to being manipulated in a moment of desperation. Testimonies from Mordecai and an expert in possession, Shoni Anofora, helped frame his actions in a more nuanced light, but the jury still found him guilty. He narrowly escaped execution by seizing the final clock piece and returning to Lorwyn’s domain, where he was forced to reflect on what he had learned.

Waking back in the material plane, Aiden recounted his experience to the party, revealing his determination to find Shoni Anofora and learn how to control his own body. However, before they could leave, Lorwyn briefly possessed Korrigan, physically lifting Aiden as a final warning to uphold his promise of self-improvement. Shaken but resolute, Aiden acknowledged his time in the Feywild had only lasted moments in the real world. With the party now understanding the depths of his struggle, they prepared for the next leg of their journey, burdened by the weight of Aiden’s revelations and the looming presence of Chronovorus.

Full Session Notes

"Aiden Knight" woke up next to his wife in their home, where they lived with their two children. He quickly finished his breakfast before rushing off to work. The details of his job eluded him, but he knew it was important. He put on his heavy, worn robes and rushed out the door. As soon as he crossed the threshold, his body went into autopilot, and he found himself going about his duties at work.

Before he knew it, it was already lunchtime. Suddenly, he heard sounds of screaming outside the building. He rushed out to find a madman laughing maniacally as he attacked his co-workers and the townsfolk.

Knowing this man had to be stopped he reached for his trusty Warhammer the he had had from when he was 20, Now at the at the age of 45 he knew exactly how to use it. If this man wasn't stopped then he could go after his family or the whole town. Gripping the Warhammer tightly, he gave aloud roar as he lunched for the mad man with a heavy swing. The madman, a younger man with light blond hair turned to him, blooded soaking his black clothes and with a cruel laugh he lifted his arm and shot him with a power blast of magic. Aiden Knight did even hit the floor before falling to the floor dead.

Next thing he knew, he woke up in a lush forest filled with flowers and animals unknown to him, a rogue. He took a few steps before his keen senses noticed a lady walking past behind a tree. She gave him a coy smile and invited him over. Aiden Knight instantly recognized her as a Lorwyn; her features matched exactly how Kal The Korrigan † had described her.

Cautiously, he approached her, unsure of how to engage in conversation. She spoke first, her voice trying to sound serious but betraying itself with a playful tone. She warned him that it was not wise to take orders from a "no-good asshole."

Before he could respond, she clicked her fingers, and an image materialized in the air. The vision was hard to look at, as if it broke the very rules of reality, but it clearly depicted his hand in the destruction of the Tower of Ishnmel. He watched in horror as his body became slowly overtaken by Chronovorus, ultimately floating into the air and causing various large time rifts throughout Ishnmel. The sight was chilling, especially since he had never witnessed the destruction he caused from this perspective.

The vision ended just as he collapsed, the last thing he saw being the Lorwyn's coy smile.

He woke up in a room with three doors and what appeared to be a grandfather clock. However, it was missing the cog, second and minute hands, and the pendulum. Suddenly, Lorwyn's voice boomed in his head, informing him that he needed to develop some mental fortitude and that she would only let him go once he retrieved all the missing parts from the clock. With nothing else to do, he walked through the first door.

Upon crossing the threshold, he found himself in a park where four children were play-fighting with sticks as swords. One of those sticks turned out to be the missing pendulum. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that the door he had come through had disappeared. As he approached the children, he realized that they were all younger versions of members of The Party. Mordecai Reverence held the pendulum, which they used to declare themselves the leader. The other kids were fighting among themselves, but without their magic, Halfbie and The Korrigan stood no chance against Drache, who easily won and became the leader's bodyguard.

As he moved closer, Aiden Knight stepped into a puddle and looked down, seeing that he too was a child again, scars on his face intact. The other kids noticed him, pulling his attention away from his reflection, and he asked if he could join their game.

After some argument, they finally allowed him to participate and asked him to suggest a game. Spotting the pendulum, he proposed a race for Mordecai's sword, which he thought looked really cool. They all agreed and took their positions. Halfbie shouted "GO!" and Drache launched forward, his strong legs propelling him ahead and winning the race easily. Ecstatic, Drache claimed his prize and asked what they should play next. Aiden decided they should play Hide and Seek, knowing it was a game he could win easily.

Aiden won with ease, finding Drache first, who had assumed that if he couldn't see them, they couldn't see him. Afterward, Mordecai reluctantly handed over the pendulum after knighting Aiden with it. Once it was in his hands, Aiden returned to the room with three doors but left the pendulum behind as he walked through the next door.

This time, he found himself in a house he was all too familiar with. The smell of pancakes enveloped him as he followed it to the kitchen of his family home in Whitespire. There, he discovered his parents cooking and his sister, Freya, sitting at the table, waiting for breakfast. After they finished eating, his parents were much nicer than the ones he knew. His father then asked if he could go to the shop and pick up a few things. He nodded meekly before rushing off to the nearby Halos Emporium. Inside, he found the items his father wanted, and while paying, he noticed a newspaper detailing the story of a group called The Fatebreakers. They had died in an attack by the Goblin Mafia, which had caused a large forest fire.

He soon fell asleep after returning home. In the middle of the night, he awoke to find a cloaked figure in his room. The figure held out an orb that revealed a life he never had—a life where he was happy with his family, where his parents had never joined The Black Cult. It was a chance to escape to that reality, or he could return to the real world, where he was constantly bombarded with pain and suffering. After contemplating for a long time, he resolved to stay in the reality he knew, surrounded by his friends. The figure then handed him one of the clock pieces, and he found himself back in the room with one final door to go through.

Walking through the courtroom, Aiden Knight was confronted by a guard who slowly walked in front of him and, with a gruff growl, commanded him to take the stand as a defendant. Expecting to see himself as the accused, he instead saw a man dressed in an all-black suit with a neat black comb-over. The man's skin was stark white, resembling a body left forgotten for days. His identity was revealed by his mouth—a smile that somehow stretched from ear to ear, poised to unleash a manic laugh at any moment.

The judge called for silence in the court with a dismissive hand before diving straight into the proceedings, listing the crimes of Aiden Knight: murder, theft, breaking and entering, international terrorism, racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder... The list went on and on, and Chronovorus's smile never wavered. He seemed to take each charge as a point of pride. When the judge finally finished reading his extensive list, he looked at Aiden Knight as a teacher might look at a student caught cheating on a test. "How do you plead, boy?" he asked. "Guilty," Aiden replied meekly. The judge slowly raised his gavel high in the air, and as he did so, Aiden stole a glance at the God of Chaos, whose smile faltered for the first time, dissolving into disdain. Aiden didn’t even hear the mighty bang of the gavel; instead, his final moments were filled with Chronovorus snarking, “Coward.”

Waking up with a sensation akin to that of napping too long, Aiden found he was still at the stand, with the judge rereading the list of his crimes. When the judge asked how he pleaded this time, Aiden was silent, unsure of what to say, as what he considered the truth didn’t seem to be the correct answer. The judge, intrigued, changed his question to, "Why should we spare you, boy?" After a moment of pause, Aiden revealed, "I was manipulated during a vulnerable time in my life while a dear friend's life was hanging in the balance."

At the mention of his friend, the judge called a witness: Mordecai Reverence. He confirmed the story as far as he was aware, although he had no recollection of the specific scene mentioned. After thanking him for his testimony, the judge allowed him to return to his seat.

Next, the man with the Warhammer was called to the stand. He recounted the attack by the possessed Aiden Knight in Blackwall, with each sentence sounding like another nail in the coffin of Aiden's fate. The faces of the jury grew increasingly glum.

As the jurors began to murmur among themselves, many seemed to have already made judgments about the boy. One remarked that it appeared everyone would be better off with both Mordecai and Aiden alive. Just as Aiden's despair deepened, the next witness was called: Shoni Anofora, the realm's leading expert on possession. She revealed that she was currently possessed by at least three deities and that she knew a way to keep them at bay and control them if they took over. The judge pointed out that Aiden had never sought out this knowledge, suggesting it might have been an option for him.

Ultimately, the jury delivered their guilty verdict. Aiden was instructed to step onto a circle on the floor that would facilitate his execution. However, as he stood in the glow of the circle, he quickly grabbed the second-hand, which transported him back to the room with the doors.

This time, when he returned, there was a fourth door. Quite accustomed to this, he walked through the door and found himself in the lush forest with Lorwyn once again. She was lounging on a chaise longue, looking up only when he approached her.

“I hope that was enlightening. What have you learned?” she asked.

He slowly replied that he had learned about cooperation and the importance of approaching it on a deeper level.

“And…?” she prompted. After an uncomfortable pause, he finally explained that there is always a choice regarding whom you care about more: the family you were born with or the family you find. Exasperated, she asked if there was anyone he planned to seek out when he left. He responded that he would try to find Shoni Anofora, whom he had met at the trial. With a simple nod, she shooed him away, and he awoke in the material plane once again.

Waking up in Steve Ulan's office, the Korrigan eagerly asked if he had learned anything. Aiden Knight explained that he had: he wanted to try to be a better person and needed to find someone named Shoni Anofora, who might be able to teach him how to gain more control over his body. With a nod of approval from Mordecai, along with Drache, the Korrigan, and an excited clap from Halfbie, they began to pack their things to leave.

Before they crossed the threshold, the Korrigan's body was suddenly possessed by Lorwyn. Turning to Aiden Knight, she lifted him by his throat before any of them could react and told him to keep his promise to become a better person. Scared out of his mind, he nodded frantically before she let him go.

He crumpled to the floor in a state of shock and panic. Mordecai remarked that it might be beneficial for him to explain his experiences in the Feywild. He sat perched on a nearby step and began to recount his time in the Feywild, revealing that what he thought had been days was merely a matter of moments for the rest of the party.