Session Information

Session Date: 1st Jul 2025
Saga: Season 4 - Ignatius Beckons
Attendance: Sam Gallon,Rowan Hales,Tom Brothers,Caleb Hamlet,Jae Knight

Session Summary

After defeating the Angel Under the Well, the party discovered a strange vial filled with shifting magical smoke. Halfbie, driven by curiosity, uncorked it the next morning and fell into a magically induced sleep. Inside the dreamlike realm, they wandered through an ethereal city before meeting Somnora, Goddess of Sleep. The god explained that she had previously aided the party and asked only for lavender as thanks. Upon waking, Halfbie shared their experience, and the party honoured Somnora's request at a dilapidated multifaith church, receiving a boon that allowed them safe rest anywhere.

Later, the group encountered a surreal mock trial by illusionary children on the road and were warned by an unknown voice that they had narrowly missed something important. Eventually, they reached Old Earthgrog, an abandoned dwarven mining town filled with dormant Automatons resembling Bruce. Halfbie reactivated the Automatons using ancient Dwarvish, commanding them to march to Blackwall and deliver a message to Steve Ulan. Exploring the mines, the group discovered a sealed chamber guarded by the Automatons and found a massive golden coffin with buttons. Upon pressing the green one, they awakened a long-dormant soul—Ruldrim Thunderroot, a dwarven commander whose consciousness now lived in an Automaton body.

Ruldrim, shocked to learn how much time had passed, asked to see the graves of his wife and child. The party deduced their remains were back in the wyvern caves and, using old dwarven teleportation tech in the chamber, transported Ruldrim and the room there. In a sombre moment, he found the locket on the woman’s skeleton and confirmed their identities. Grateful for the party’s help, Ruldrim offered his aid should they ever need him.

Full Session Notes

The Party stood in silence over the body of the Angel Under The Well. The room was huge, with people and bodies strewn about the floor and hanging from the ceiling by their legs. The silence broke as Korrigan cried out in pain from battle wounds. Mordecai tried to heal the man but had little magic to spare. Halfbie, still filled with magical vigour, stepped in and released a wave of healing energy over Korrigan.

With Korrigan no longer in danger, Halfbie 's curiosity improved, and they began to poke at the angel under the well's body. A body that was slowly fading to magical dust. Mordecai told them to leave it alone lest they encounter another Vaelrith situation. Halfbie looked at them blankly ^[1] before complaining that the Party never loots the body, and a Herald could have some beneficial items on their quest. Before Mordecai could protest, Drache said Halfbie had a point.

With a cheeky smile, Halfbie exclaimed that they would do what Drache said, as Mordecai's suggestions are always so dull and get in the way. Before quickly returning to their snooping. Their efforts were rewarded when they found a small vial of black smoke topped with a large cork. Halfbie examined it, but the item was from the gods and was wildly beyond their comprehension. Korrigan stepped forward, cast the spell on Augrey, and learned that opening the bottle would lead to a bad outcome. Mordecai suggested that they put the vial away before something bad happened. Halfbie ignored them and held it up to the light ot get a better view. Examining it closer, they got an intense urge to shake it. Doing so changed the colour of the inside from an inky black to a pearl white.

Seeing that Korrigan didn't have it in him to cast Augury again, they asserted the best thing to do was to get some rest before and then look into the bottle more. Whatever happened with it, it would be best to take it at full strength. Mordecai let out a sigh of relief.

Exiting the cave, they returned to Oceanvale and found a safe spot to set up camp. They all awoke the next morning, saw slightly better, and returned to full health. Halfbie excitedly grabbed the vial and, surrounded by their companions, uncorked the bottle. As soon as they did so, their bodies crumpled to the ground, completely asleep. Drache rushed over, pulling them up and shouting at them to wake up, to no avail.

Halfbie awoke on a bed. Their entire body was lying on cushions made of duck feathers and silk. Aware they were most likely in Somnora's domain, they slowly opened their eyes and looked around without drawing too much attention. When they knew the coast was clear, they slowly got up.

The place they found themselves was strange and bewildering. The ground did not feel solid but stayed firm beneath each footstep. The smell wasn't familiar but not recognisable, and the sounds felt simultaneously muffled and clear.

Cast in a hazy hue, their soundings were simple, with many people around them sleeping on similar beds to theirs. Following the path with their eyes, Halfbie's gaze fell upon the impossibly large castle. Looking around, hungry for information, Halfbie's body almost unintentionally moved towards the nearest sleeper to wake them up for clues. Shackling them awake, the common woke in confusion and fear, splurting out, "What?! Is it time to wake up?"

Intrigued, Halbfie asked what they had to be awakened for, but was seriously disappointed when they were told it was for work. Looking around, the commoner began to panic, asking where they were and where their family was. Halfbie, colder than they ever meant to reply, stated they were most likely in the Slumbering Vial. The common had no idea what or where the place was and began to panic before Halfbie quickly told them this was a bad dream and to wake up. The common was fast asleep after directing them to go back to 'sleep'. With little else to do, Halfbie continued through the plane until they came to the castle.

They could see people playing music and being generally merry from the outside. No one was on watch, so they walked in freely. The castle was empty apart from one large room filled with star-like structures surrounding a large purple crystal. The crystal held a vision within Mordecai, Aidan, Drache and Korrigan floating in space around the view, before they slowly ebbed into the dark as the view is pulled into a bright white light ^[2]. Halfbie had no idea what this was showing, but something profound inside them remembered and stored the memory unfolding before them.

Halfbie instinctively shouted out to their fellow party members, but none seemed to hear or react to their calls. Unsure what to do, they grabbed their notebook and began writing, but each word came out as a twisted imitation of itself. Giving up, Halfbie edged closer to the crystal, as if it was calling them.

Looking into the crystal more, they found it now showing a scene they didn't recognise again. This time, it showed from a third-person perspective, Halfbie and Korrigan working together in a Chicken Noodle restaurant. Halfbie was elated at seeing one of their dreams come true. After watching the scene, they suddenly noticed a strange figure slumped on one table. Halfbie tried reaching out to the person and instantly felt their perspective shift to being next to them in the restaurant. The shift would have alarmed Halfbie, but it felt natural, like something strange in a usual dream.

The person at the table awoke suddenly, revealing themselves to a lady with deep and dark eye bags. Her voice seemed to reverberate through the air with authority even amongst the frequent yawns. Halfbie asked if they had just woken up, to which Somnora replied, "I'm constantly awake and asleep. I am all that happens between the living hours."

Halfbie remarked that they understand; most of the time, they struggle to wake up in the morning, especially when it's very early. Somnora smirked, noting they seemed more drawn to this place than most. Halfbie commented that many gods seemed to reach out to them and the Party, and assuming the person informed of them was really somnora, that would be another checked off the list.

Somnora nodded, saying, "At the end of every day, you know...That I am here. However hard your day, however long, however painful, you know that I'm always here. I will always be here for your species, for your people, for... your planets. I will always provide a safe space. What would you say I am?"

Halfbie, after a moment of thought, simply said, "inevitability?"

Somnora, slightly taken aback, quickly changed the subject, mentioning how many of their friends seemed to be worried for Halfbie. Gesturing to heaven, the world went quiet. Halfbie had begun to hear their companions shouting their name repeatedly. Sad they had to leave so quickly after arriving, they started making an awkward farewell. Somnora passively said, "It's ok, maybe next time you'll remember"

Confused, Halfbie asked what they were talking about. Somnora explained, "We've met before, we'll meet again. Please tell your Party to thank me. For warning them"

There was a moment of confusion before Halfbie linked what Somnora was talking about ^[3], immediately stepping back and thanking them for their help. And asked if there was any way the Party could properly thank her for her help. Somnora simply requested that the Party leave some Lavender at their altar when possible. Plants don't really grow where they live, and they love flowers. Halfbie nodded and returned to the waking world.

In the waking world, Korrigan Mordecai and Drache try to desperately wake up a sleeping Halfbie. Korrigan, beginning to panic, decided to try hitting Halfbie, knowing their punches also did psychic damage, they assumed that it would have at least some effect on a spell about dreaming. After no reaction to the first punch, Kerrigan hit Halfbie for a second one. After no response again, he began winding up for a third punch but was stopped by Mordecai, worrying for Halfbie's health.

Confused, Korrigan grabs Mordecai's arm and tries to use it to hit Halfbie. Mordecai casts a shocking grasp to stop Kerrigan from doing this, leading Korrigan to loudly exclaim, "How can you hurt a member of your party?!" before promptly turning around to slap Halfbie again.

Mordecai let out an elongated sigh, muttering about how the definition of madness is doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting a different outcome, before getting annoyed that it had fallen upon them to be the voice of reason. Drache only chucked saying, "i mean thats fin, Korrigan is the definition of madness". Korrigan nodded approvingly before returning to shout at halfbie. Suddenly, the elf awoke; however, celebrations were cut short, and Halfbie cried out in pain, unsure whether they should clutch their stomach or head.

After Halfbie recovered from the pain, they explained, very matter-of-factly, that they had met Somnora, meeting the Party's surprise by queering if this really was a weird experience for the Fatebreakers, to which they all had to admit that it unfortunately wasn't. When asked what they talked about, Halfbie explained how Somnora felt that the Party was indebted ot them and how they had helped the Party with prophetic dreams a week ago and hadn't had a single thanks for it. Upon Korrigan hearing that the goddess wanted lavender, he snuck away to find some ^[4].

Strangely, Korrigan, usually very good with all things plants and nature, confused lavender with some brambles. He immediately recoiled in pain, and they all ran over to find Korrigan on the ground with a bleeding thumb. Halfbie instantly identified the lavender, which coincided with the bramble bushes. Drache then asked Korrigan if there was anything he could do to help with the pain. Korrri pointed to a different thorny plant and said it should help; it, in fact, didn't.

With the lavender in hand, they returned to Oceanvale, hoping to find a multifaith church in the town. Entering, they found the city was now less empty than before, but many were still concerned and worried about their loved one who were still missing. Before Mordecai could interject, Halfbie had already approached a nearby guard, and judging by the insignia on the armour, they were one of the flaming sons. Halfbie approached the guard and explained that they were a friend of Kaelis Ignithar. The guard didn't believe them until Halfbie showed him the bell used to contact Kaelis Ignithar.

With the guards' trust, Halfbie explained in detail how the herald had kidnapped all the missing townsfolk and where to find them. The guard looked at the boy in disbelief as he assumed the heralds were nothing more than children's stories. By this point, Mordecai had caught up and tried to explain that Halfbie was strange and that most of what they said should be disregarded. Taking offence, Halfbie used minor illusion to create a model of the herald; however, this did not help the guards' shrinking belief in the elf. After Mordecai smoothed everything over, the guard quickly ran off, claiming that this was just the thing the flaming suns needed to win favour in the town and take over.

With that out of the way, the Party continued on and found a multifaith church. The building was old and rotting, and the inside wasn't much better, as it was completely empty and dilapidated. On the far end were 4 altars. One was dedicated to Aeloria, one to Chronovorus, one to Somnora and the last to Eldros. They approached the altar and laid the lavender on it. They all turned to Drache and asked him to pray. After doing so, the lavender vanished, and the Party felt a rush of strange energy wash over them. As Drache was the one to pray, he immediately knew that this was a boon from Somnora and would allow them to sleep anywhere and not fear the consequences.

The Party quickly got up and began to leave. Halfbie stopped and said they had an idea. They began to write down the events of what they saw in Somnora's celestial plane. They then put that on Aeloria's altar and prayed. This led to the Party receiving a new boon that told them about all the interesting things in the area.

While this happened, Korrigan turned to Aidan and asked how they felt after the last possession. The Party had been so busy that they didn't have the chance to talk. Aidan admitted that his biggest fear was having it happen again and doing severe damage. He reassured Korrigan that his number one goal was to find a way to fix it. he then relented that before all of that, they needed to go to Lost Haven, something Korrigan admitted that he was pretty worried about.

Korrigan explained that although he knew he had to kill a kind, he had no idea why his past self would need to do that. Korrigan tried to reason that maybe he could let the kind go, but the Party wasn't so sure, as they had never seen such hatred before Korrigan had spoken about the king of Lost Haven.

Halfbie told the Party, after their prayer, that the most interesting thing in the area is an old dravern settlement called Old Earthgrog and explained how it came up in a few history books ^[5] and might hold something interesting. The Party soon all agreed, and they set off for Old Earthgrog.

Along the way, they encountered a child standing in the middle of the road who shouted, "HULT, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST." Halfbie, Korrigan, and Drache immediately raised their hands in mock serenity. At the same time, Mordecai asked what charges they were being arrested for. The child simply said, "for being a stinky head. "They were then taken before another child in a clearing acting as a judge. So began a mock trial.

The judge explained they were accused of being too stinlky, the evidence? The child stood up and sniffed the air before gagging at the 'smell'. The Party managed to win the trial by bribing the judge with gold and finery. As they were leaving. Korrigan spotted the judge wink at him before leaving. Kerrigan, immediately curious, was shocked into spying and tried to spy on them. As soon as he approached, the children disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a voice rang out in Korrigan's head that sinisterly said, "You were so close, if only you had just been nice to them". Kerrigan couldn't recognise the voice and returned to the Party defeated.

They soon reached Old Earthgrog. It was an old-fashioned mining town swarmed with Automatons similar to Bruce. Halfbie suddenly felt very nostalgic again and immediately approached one and said hi. The Automaton outputted an error. Halfbie then tried to say hi in ancient Dwarvish. The Automaton immediately looked their way and asked if the fighting would soon continue.

Halfbie, seeing an opportunity to get the black tower's gold back, explained that there was some fighting and Automaton needed to meet them at Blackwall. The Automaton didn't recognise the name, so Halfbie had to explain where they needed to go with directions. Once the Automaton understood. It and every other Automaton began marching to Blackwall. Halfbie quickly stuck a note on one addressed to Steve Ulan explaining all of this and to wait for them to get back to start trying the gold back.

Halfbie smugly explained their genius plan before they all went inside the mines, which were essentially the only notable thing in the town. Inside, they approached the first person they could find and asked him to point them in the direction of the man who ran the mines. He gave them complex and annoying instructions on how to get to Paul, who ran the mines. After following the instructions, they returned to the same room they started in. Halfbie immediately connected the dots and greeted the man as Paul. he chuckled and returned the greeting.

After a quick chat, Paul revealed that there was an area of the mine that none could get to as all of the Automatons in the area guarded it, hurting and even killing people who got too close. The Party convinced him to take them there, where they were confronted by an empty corridor. They then quickly entered a set of heavy doors at the other end of the corridor. On the other side was a ginormous circular room. In the middle was a large coffin ornamented with gold and intricate carvings. Around the outside of the room were many, many Automatons in what seemed to be a low power state. Approaching the coffin in the middle, they found it had three buttons on it. One red, one orange, one green.

Korrigan immediately pressed the orange button and a robotic, robotic sounding voice asked if they were sure they wanted to eliminate the 'spesiman'. Pressing the red button led to all of the Automatons powering on but not moving. Finally, Halfbie pressed the green button, and the robotic voice changed to a much more natural-sounding one that sounded like it was stretching as it expressed how nice it was to move again. They quickly noticed that a few of the Automatons began to move as if they were stretching.

One of them approached and thanked them, waking him up, and asked how the war effort was going. Halfbie explained everything they knew from history books, leaving the 'Automaton' incredibly, saying it explained that he was actually a Dwarf called Ruldrim Thunderroot and had been to sleep in this room. Drawvern science, then let him live on in one of the automatons. The realisation then of his Ruldrim, if it had been several hundred years since the dwarf's defeat, then his family was most likely dead.

It began to weep, but no tears came from the Automaton's eyes. Ruldrim Thunderroot then asked if it would be possible for him to see his wife and child's graves. After a few questions, they realised that his wife and child were most likely the ones found in the hidden rooms in the Wyverns' cave. They lamented that that would be a long journey in the wrong direction. Ruldrim then revealed that towards the end of the war, his people had created a time machine, and although the time-travelling Party was missing or destroyed, he could still teleport this room if he was given the right coordinates.

They soon teleported to the cave. Ruldrim Thunderroot's metal body slowly made its way through the ruins of Iron Forge, where it soon found the skeletal remains of a mother and child. The locket around the mother's neck with a picture of a happy family confirmed this was his husband and child. After a long moment of silence, Ruldrim Thunderroot turned to the party, saying they had done him a great service and that he would be there for them if there was anything they needed.

Trivia & Notes

• The Party officially unlocked teleportation by finding and befriending Ruldrim Thunderroot

Footnotes