Session Date: 23rd Apr 2025
Web Vault Link: https://www.ashencampaign.xyz/session-notes/season-4-ignatius-beckons/session-37/
A list Of Spells Cast In Sessions: Click Here

Session Summary

The party, upon reaching the fortified walls near Camp Sophia, made a series of alarming discoveries. Using divine senses and sharp observation, they uncovered that the guards’ armour seemed to have its own agency—likely magical or sentient, possibly binding the wearers against their will. Despite the tense atmosphere, they extracted critical information from the Clerk about the fractured desert militaries and the history of the Great Wall, learning that the wall's magic might connect back to the imprisoned being Terathra. After a tense but humorous departure, they decided to continue toward Oceanvale, encountering unexpected resistance from a hostile druid in the forest. Following a heated battle, Korrigan realised he had dreamt of this druid, Sylva Riverstone, who then agreed to join their cause after a heartfelt and chaotic trip into the Feywild.

Through conversations with Sylva, Korrigan opened up about his death, the deal with Lorwyn, his new goals, and his fractured memories of Lost Haven. The two shared an emotional bond strengthened by past friendship and the mutual desire to bring down the oppressive powers harming the world and Terathra itself. With Sylva now part of the team, the party travelled onward to Tulan Fort, encountering brutal scenes of forced combat and shocking cruelty. Drache and Halfbie proposed a creative solution: sparking a workers' revolt against the fort's corrupt leadership by magically influencing the guards to unionise.

Their plan initially succeeded until Korrigan was caught casting a spell, exposing the group’s involvement. A towering figure recognised Drache and immediately sounded the alarm, triggering chaos as the fort's warriors turned their bloodied and brutalised aggression toward the party. Now cornered and vastly outnumbered, the party braced for an intense battle against overwhelming odds.

Full Session Notes

With a quick smile at the rest of the party, Korrigan used his divine senses to see if anything interesting was in the area. Alongside the usual Fae, Celestial, and Fiend readings, he detected a significant presence of Undead. He quickly gathered everyone aside to notify them of his findings.

Halfbie took this opportunity to reveal that the guards at the wall were wearing armour that "didn't seem to have their best interests at heart." Many party members looked confused until Halfbie pointed out that the armour could behave this way only if it were sentient or magical.

Upon hearing this, Korrigan suggested using his spell, Protection from Evil and Good, on one of the guards to determine if the armour was possessed. However, Halfbie and Drache immediately rejected the idea, arguing that casting unknown spells on formidable warriors could lead to disastrous consequences—at best, they would be seen as aggressive and imprisoned; at worst, they could be killed on the spot. Korrigan quickly understood their concerns and abandoned his plan, proudly stating that he had learned his lesson.

Aiden returned to the Clerk to ask if they had any information on Shoni Anaphora. Without a word, the Clerk began flipping through his old scrolls, revealing they were in luck. Though the records were usually poorly maintained, Shoni was quite famous in the area, and her record was better preserved. The Clerk informed Aiden that she had returned to the desert a few years ago and could be found in Camp Sophia. When Aiden asked if he knew where Camp Sophia was, the Clerk smirked and told the rogue it was still by the river, as it always had been.

The rest of the party joined in on the laughter, with Drache 's hearty chuckle rising above the others as he commented on how typically towns moved around. Once the laughter died, the Clerk explained that Camp Sophia was much harder to relocate than other places due to its significant military presence. Korrigan 's interest was piqued at this mention, prompting him to ask whether this military was The Desert 's Military or belonged to someone else. The Clerk sighed in irritation and clarified that the desert had no unified force; not even The Watchers could be termed a "unified force." He likened it to the Verdant Peninsula, which had a cohesive military presence. At this, a few guards snickered before quickly regaining their composure.

Drache ignored them and asked who commanded these forces if no unified groups were in the desert. The Clerk explained that several large Nomad Families each maintained their own guards and armies on retainer. Halfbie then inquired if their role was to prevent another Sundering should it occur. He asked whether they regularly checked places like Ember Peak and the Broken Throne. The Clerk responded that they had no part in that and mostly left it to external researchers, adding, "We used to, but for reasons, people stay here."

Curious, Halfbie asked what those reasons were. The Clerk replied, "Well, the desert 's quite unstable nowadays. Many families aren't as powerful as they once were, so a lot of the militaries that kept it safe are gone, and... Other reasons."

Halfbie couldn't resist asking if the actual reason had to do with the guards' armour. This question caused the tension in the room to become palpable. However, the Clerk refused to answer. Drache complained that they had asked very nicely. The Clerk blinked twice before lowering his voice and said, "Tell no one I told you this; ah, well, the armour keeps the soldiers here; it kind of links them to the wall."

The Clerk seemed surprised at his own revelation and leaned back defensively, refusing to answer Korrigan 's next question about the armour's origin. Trying to hide their disappointment, Halfbie casually mentioned that the armour likely didn't have the wearer's best interests at heart and probably kept them there against their will. Suddenly, the Clerk became defensive, asking who would say they were there against their will. Halfbie bluntly replied, "Me? Like, two seconds ago," completely missing the point.

The Clerk insisted that the guards wanted to be there, which only confused Halfbie and Drache further. When they pressed for a reason why they would want to be there, especially given the job's lack of pay and security, the Clerk sternly stated, "That's confidential."

An awkward silence fell upon the party as they struggled to figure out how to proceed. Suddenly, Halfbie perked up and asked the Clerk what his favourite soup was. The Clerk, slightly puzzled, replied that his favourite was chicken. "Perfect!" exclaimed Halfbie, who then began jotting down notes in a small journal labelled "Market Research for Restaurant." They thanked the Clerk for his time and left, having exhausted their questions.

In an uncharacteristic move, Halfbie approached the Clerk to shake his hand. In reality, they were trying to sneak a glance at what the Clerk was writing on his scrolls. Two scrolls were laid out on the desk; one appeared to be of significant importance.

"Speaking of the wall, who built it?" asked an intrigued Korrigan.

"It was a combined effort from the coalition and was planned out by the Grand Architect," explained the Clerk.

"Ah yes, we're familiar," replied Korrigan without a second thought.

The Clerk looked up, intrigued for the first time in the conversation, expressing his amazement, as very few had met the Grand Architect. Curious, the Clerk asked what the architect was like. Korrigan explained that they were a nice "person," with Halfbie quickly adding that they were quick to anger but still very friendly, and the rest nodded in agreement. The Clerk surmised that, as a genius, the architect was probably allowed to be that way. Seeking more information, Korrigan said, "Yeah, probably. It's a shame what he did to that poor creature..."

The Clerk's face stiffened as he asked what they were discussing, but Korrigan was already halfway out of the office. Halfbie leaned on the desk and said in a coy tone, "You know, we could explain what that was, but only if you tell us a bit more about the armor..."

The Clerk hesitated before explaining that he couldn't speak any more on the matter, going as far as to say it would kill him if he did explain further. Halfbie exclaimed that this was unfortunate before strutting out of the room. However, Halfbie quickly reappeared to ask if the Clerk wanted the door left open or closed. The Clerk asked for it to be left as it was found, to which Halfbie confidently replied, "Open," and left.

Once out of earshot but still being watched from afar, Halfbie exhaled, pleased that they had learned so many interesting things. They were particularly intrigued by the fact that Niaross significantly influenced the wall and The Towers, which could mean the Great Wall had something to do with Terathra. Korrigan tried to sense Terathera's presence from the wall but couldn't detect anything. Halfbie, looking closer at the wall and then The Verdant Spine, tried to understand if anything was happening. As far as they could tell, the stone had been taken from the mountain range, but it was nothing more than regular rock. After a long pause, they assessed that it was probably sedimentary rock, but no geologists were around.

The rest of the party didn't get the chance to ask what Halfbie was talking about; they quickly began walking down the path toward Tulan Fort, muttering under their breath about how geologists weren't real scientists. Suddenly, one of them opened their pack, retrieved a map for the Tour Du Ashen, and explained that their next stop was likely Tulan Fort unless they wanted to return to Gimsu to check out the goblins outside of it. They decided to continue to Oceanvale and possibly check out Tulan along the way.

Making good time through a wooded area, most of the party was not paying attention until suddenly, a long stick flew out of nowhere, thudding into Drache 's chest. After a moment of shock, the party jumped into action. Halfbie cast Mage Armor on themselves and conjured an illusionary box for cover when they saw a second arrow fly from the tree line. With a brief moment of reprieve, Halfbie looked at the arrows and realised they were most likely tree branches that had been magically augmented to act as arrows.

Taking command, Halfbie told Drache to charge into the forest once they signalled. The rest of the party nodded in agreement as Halfbie turned to the source of the arrows and began to cast Fireball. The party watched as a mote of fire started to form in their hands before suddenly disappearing and being replaced by what could only be described as a pure magical force. Noticing everyone's confused expressions, Halfbie explained that they didn't want to burn the forest down with an accidental fire. The rest looked at Korrigan before agreeing that this was for the best. Halfbie then threw the mote of force into the forest, creating a massive explosion and clearing out a few enemies and a portion of the forest for them to fight. They then gave the signal, and Drache rushed in.

Unbeknownst to them, the party was attacked by a Druid and a pack of wolves. Halfbie 's Fireball had killed a few of the wolves, and Drache finished off the others. The druid proved more difficult, firing bows from the cover of trees and bushes. Eventually, they cornered the druid using Halfbie 's Web spell. Just as Drache was about to hit the druid, it Wild Shaped into a large spider and began to fight back with fangs and poison. Eventually, the druid was defeated, with Korrigan ensuring that it wasn't killed, as he seemed to recognise the druid, Sylva Riverstone, from his dreams as his "friend."

Once they realised this, the party healed her back to health so they could chat. Korrigan exclaimed that he had seen Sylva in his dreams and had been worried about her; she coyly remarked that if he missed her so much that he dreamed about her, he should've gotten in contact sooner. When asked, she explained that she was attached because these were her woods, and most of the people who ventured through weren't very kind and often tried to kill the animals around them.

Korrigan explained to the group that they used to work together on the other side of the mountain, close to the board of the Uvam Dynasty. She must've travelled down to this forest afterwards, which would explain why they hadn't run into each other since they had been down to this region before. Sylva elaborated by saying she moved here when the Fruit Cutters cut down their tree house, which outrages Halfbie, who had wanted to go to one ever since they were little and even offered to help Sylvia get revenge. Before they knew it, they had all decided to go and get revenge, with Sylvia taking it one step further and announcing that they should kill all the fruit Cutter for all the crimes they committed. The party was less enthusiastic about this; however, it was easily convinced.

Drache wanted to join as he reasoned that Emmeline was fighting them for a reason but didn't want to kill everyone. Korrigan asked if Sylvia had ever run into Emmeline, but she had no clue who that was. Hlafbie revealed they thought every woman knew every other woman. They quickly explained that their mother knew everyone in their home town when Sylia glared at them for such a sexist remark. However, when Halfbie came to mention their home town, their voice trailed off as they realised they did not know where this was ^[1].

Feeling the awkward silence, Sylvia asked what they were all doing in her woods. Drache simply stated that they were on the Tour Du Ashen as if that cleared everything up, much to Korrigan 's enjoyment. He complained about how nerdy he sounded to Sylva. Drache smirked and told Sylvia that the name and plan were his ideas and he wouldn't want to take credit for them.

Through blushing red cheeks and after a loud laughter from Sylvia, Kerrigan explained from the beginning how they came to be exploring and on their way to Lost Haven.

"Do you know Lorwyn?" he asked, nodding to Sylvia, "Well, I died in a fight with a Wyvern, and now Lorwyn has a new Herald. AND LOOK, NOW I HAVE HORNS."

"That's slightly concerning, but we put you in charge." remarked Sylva Riverstone.

"Yeah... Also, I remember nothing before the Ivory Crest." said Korrigan, "She rebuilt my body. She probably did some stuff to my brain too, but I'm all good. I'm all good."

"So she rebuilt your body so it's not your original body?" questioned Sylva Riverstone.

"Well is the ship still the same ship if you replaced each and every party?" Drache counted, quite pleased that he knew about The Ship of Theseus paradox.

"No" she replied bluntly.

"Well... Then this isn't Korrigan," replied Drache

"yeah yeah, im a crude copy of my past self. I can take you to the Feywild; that should help clear up a few things." said Korrigan

Before the rest of the party could firmly reject the idea based on past experiences, Sylvia agreed with a smirk, and they both disappeared. When Sylvia opened her eyes, she found herself in a quiet part of a meadow where he once made his deal with Lorwyn. He invited her to sit down and admire the view of the Feywilds. She sat down, amazed by its untamed beauty. After a few moments, she turned to him, and with a coy smile, she asked, "We're you really that desperate to get some alone time with me?"

Kerrigan began to stutter through a sentence about how he just wanted to show her rather than try to explain it with words. She then asked about his death and to explain it in more detail. "Oh, um, we were heading to Steelwick, and this little bitch called Merrick the Wise decided to disturb a dragon, or wyvern, and the wyvern got angry and killed me." He explained.

"I guess that's a cool way to go out," she murmured.

"Yeah..?" said Korrigan, not quite sure how to answer.

"Then you ended up here?" She asked

"Yeah, I appeared here, and Lorwyn came up to me, and we made a deal", Kerrigan explained.

"Wait, you made a deal with a God?" she exclaimed in alarm, "Are you thick? Actually, don't answer that. I know you're thick."

"Yep. I am... I am streetwise. I'm not smart, actually; I'm not very streetwise, either." Korrigan said, "I like puzzles. I like figuring things out. Oh! Speaking of, did I tell you anything about Lost Haven?"

"I believe you mentioned it briefly, but you were quite mysterious about the details. You shared that you're from there and hinted at having killed several people but didn't elaborate much. I'm still not sure about the whole story." She answered.

"I ask because I can't remember. Part of my deal involved unfinished business at Lost Haven. I made the deal to go back and finish that unfinished business I've lost. In return, I am Lorwyn Herald, and I do some really funny stuff - like, did you see the horse?! Its always angry and wants to eat Human and i can summon it!!" explained Korrigan excitedly.

"I did see the horse. I do remember you used to talk about your sleep. You used to see stuff about A revolution against some king or something and see your dad. She said.

"Oh yeah, I want to kill the king as well," he interjected.

"you said something about, yeah, your friend, some girl or something; you kept mentioning her name or whatever. It's a bit weird, but whatever, I'm not jealous." she stated.

Kerrigan confirmed this, saying that her name, Sera ‡, was one of the few people he remembered after his new role. He then explained that his new goal was to head up to Lost Haven with his party, and she was more than welcome to join them, saying it would be like old times. Sylvia agreed to join them, stating that Lost Haven was known for polluting a lot, and it would be good to stop that by killing the king and killing everyone involved in destroying the environment.

Korrigan ignored her alarming comments and instead focused on telling her all about Terathra and how they were sealed away and The Towers were hurting them. Korrigan explained that one of his goals in Lost Haven was to destroy the tower. Sylvia initially didn't believe him until he showed her the book he stole from Strixhaven, which explained everything to her. After reading the book, she was immediately on board and wanted to help.

Excited to be adventuring with Sylva Riverstone again, Korrigan jumped up, teleported them to the temple, and excitedly showed her his statute. She thought it was cool, but she wanted one herself.

They soon returned to the human realm, where Sylvia began to breathe heavily to try and make it look like they had been having sex while in the Feywilds. This made everyone laugh, leaving Halfbie confused and asking if they had gone on a long run or something. Much to the other amusement and pity

"Is there like a 400-meter running track in the Feywilds or something?" questioned a very confused Halfbie

"You'll learn a lot about this when you're older." said Drache ^[2]

"There's plenty of books on it. I've got some if you want them." remarked Sylvia, and much to everyone's horror, she handed Halfbie a book called the ' Kama Sutra '

Drache quickly signalled for the group to continue their journey and attempted to steal the book when no one was watching, wanting to protect the elf's innocence. They all climbed into the carriage and travelled until they reached the gates of The Tulan Fort, where they could hear distant sounds of people training hard. Drache tried to open the door, only to find it locked, which everyone presumed was for the best. However, Drache was determined to see what was happening inside the fort and found a spot to peer through some cracks in the wall.

To his horror, he saw that they were all training, but the exercises were all brutal and barbaric. There were groups of people punching rock and stone, crying in pain with the thud of their bloody fists against the stone. On the other side of the camp was a massive combat ring where people were fighting to the death with real weapons. The floor was soaked in blood, and many of the bodies were lying either in piles or on the floor. Drache declared that something had to be done as this wasn't right.

Halfbie agreed, stating that this couldn't go on and they should inform OSHA about this as they began to write down all the violations they saw.

They devised a plan for Halfbie to use their Suggestion spell to influence them to unionise and revolt against their new leadership. They convinced a guard leaning against the wall to run off to start their revolution. Korrigan then tried to do the same but was caught casting a spell on another guard. The giant stood up to see what was happening before shouting, "EVERYONE DRACHE AND HIS MATES ARE BACK, KILL 'EM!!"

Trivia & Notes

• Rowan Hales was very tired and wants present for this session. Mordecai Reverence spent the session deep in thought regarding his family troubles.

Footnotes