Session Information

Session Date: 29th Aug 2025
Saga: 5th Saga - Freedom's Flame
Attendance: Sam Gallon,Rowan Hales,Tom Brothers,Caleb Hamlet

Session Summary

The session opened with the party bracing themselves for their long-anticipated confrontation with Malachi, the tyrant king of Lost Haven. The battle was fierce and gruelling, with Malachi’s magical Aura of Avarice warping the minds of those who faced him, even as his golden form drew blood without lifting a blade. Still, the party pressed on. Mordecai hurled meteors and lightning, Drache fought through agony to land vital blows, Aidan unleashed his pact-forged strikes, and Halfbie shifted between offence and healing. For Korrigan, however, this battle was more than combat—it was a clash of ideals, a fight to free his people from chains. Each arrow he loosed carried the weight of every soul lost under Malachi’s rule. When the king finally fell to Slyva’s strike, the relief was short-lived: his body transformed into a towering Golden Golem, escalating the conflict to near hopelessness.

The golem proved devastating, striking down allies with blinding beams and even turning Korrigan into solid gold. In the void between life and death, Korrigan encountered Lorwyn, who offered him freedom at a terrible price. Returning to the battlefield, he channelled raw, forbidden power through Sara’s sword, sacrificing his body to annihilate the golem in an explosion of necrotic and divine fury. With Malachi defeated, the cost was revealed—Korrigan’s mortal shell was rotting away, and no healing could save him. He shared final words with his companions, affirming his purpose as a symbol of freedom and passing on his hopes for each of them. At last, his body crumbled to dust, and Lorwyn herself appeared, collecting his soul in a cruel display. To the party’s horror, a twisted, corrupted version of Korrigan emerged and led young Misty into the Feywild, while Mordecai collapsed under the weight of his worsening lung rot.

In the aftermath, a week passed as Mordecai received urgent care while Halfbie and Drache grappled with grief and the unstable future of Lost Haven. Riots shook the city as freed slaves sought governance, though symbols of hope were raised in the rebellion’s name. Mordecai eventually awoke to meet Dr. Viktor Malkovich, a travelling cleric who soon joined the group on their journey. Reunited, the party reclaimed their possessions, though the absence of Slyva cast another shadow over them. With Viktor’s aid and Ruldrim Thunderroot’s device, they prepared to journey onward toward the OFC and the Blackwall, their next destination, carrying the weight of sacrifice, freedom, and unanswered questions.

Full Session Notes

The party readied itself for the upcoming fight. They knew it was coming, and with many struggling to stay standing, they all knew it would be rough. Korrigan looked especially nervous and tightened the string on his bow. He stood, feeling the weight of Sara's sword hanging from his waist. Drache handed out the potions they stole from the magic shop in Luminara and distributed them amongst the party. Aidan, Halfbie, Mordecai and Drache drank potions to recover some of their health.

They all entered the next courtyard, where Malachi stood atop a balcony overlooking them. His crooked smile emanated evil, and he let down and drew his weapon. The battle was long and complex as the party traded blows with the King of Lost Haven. Although he wielded a weapon, his magics were much more deadly. Surrounding him throughout the fight was his Aura of Avarice, which caused anyone who entered to have their senses attacked, making them look at Malachi in awe for his beautiful golden form. Lying a finger on him would hurt them without Malachi having to do anything. Despite this, they pushed on, absorbing the waves of deadly attacks and psychic pain.

Mordecai unleashed miniature meteors and powerful spells that struck the king with the force of lightning, targeting his golden visage, which conducted electricity to the detriment of Malachi's health. Drache thought through the mental anguish and onslaught of attacks from close range, striking weak points at every available opportunity. Aidan used his pact magic to cause his strikes to hit harder and faster than ever. Halfbie stood back, letting the spells arc across the battlefield, elegantly dancing from dealing damage to healing and picking their friends up to continue the bloody fight.

Korrigan's arrow landed from his bow, hitting their mark accurately. At the same time, others thought of a battle in real space, while Korrigan also thought of a secondary struggle of wills and ideology between Malachi and himself. He stood with the weight of his people's freedom on his shoulders. He ran with the cries of his friends as they were slaughtered mercilessly for a regime that could not hear their pleas. And nooked each arrow for every person who died of starvation, or had been whipped for trying to breathe or those that had gone to bed knowing they would not wake up when dawn broke. All of it was theirs, and all his might, skills, and knowledge were leveraged in this battle to free the slaves of Lost Haven.

As the fight waged on, Malachi's rage became increasingly rapid, and he resorted to cruel methods to beat his old enemy. At one point, he even ripped his golden arm away from his shoulder to stop the party from using it to hurt him even more. Roaring in pain, he set his eyes on Korrigan, goading him to come closer. The battle continued, and Korrigan did not fall for the king's provocation. Soon, Slyva landed the final blow, and Malachi's body crumpled to the ground.

There was a brief pause as the party watched Malachi's corpse on the ground, almost not believing he was dead. Their unsceretained was proven correct when the king's body began to glow a brilliant golden light. Light got brighter and brighter before vanishing; its place was a Golden Golem that stood before all of them. Malachi's body was missing as the Golem began to charge up its next attack.

The party dove for cover as it began firing golden beams of raw power. It quickly dispatched of Drache and Aidan, summoning a golden wall between them and the party, temporarily blocking all healing attempts. It quickly jumped over and landed before Korrigan. He stood firm as he nocked an arrow. The Golden Fist arrived at his side like a bullet as Korrigan crumpled to the ground, struggling to breathe. With an incantation, the golem easily turned Korrigan into solid gold. Before anyone could react, it moved with frightening speed to Halfbie, landing three powerful blows on the boy's frail body.

Korrigan floated in a void not unlike Terathra's domain. However, instead of an eldritch beast standing before him, Lorywn stood, her face twisted into a crooked grin. He greeted her with a magnificent grin, which she returned 100-fold. She declared it was time for them to play a fun trick on that king. Korrigan nodded enthusiastically.

She explained that she could break him out of the golden statue, but he would need to switch spaces with a certain someone. Korrigan had no idea who the man could be, but he needed to return to the fight as soon as possible and accept the price. However, soon after agreeing to the deal, it dawned on him: he knew who the person would be. Lorwyn's wild cackle drew out any of Korrigan's attempts to change her mind or plead to keep him alive as he was whisked away back to the material plane.

With laughter echoing on the wind, Korrigan appeared next to a frozen statue of Tish stuck in a state of fear forevermore. Unable to stop for a moment to see the man who had helped them so much, he rushed for Sara's body. His suspicions were correct; this was a regular tower. In fact, he could practically hear the Terathra voice calling out to him. Remembering Chenris' notes from when he destroyed the tower of Ishnmel, he reached out to the power left in the tower's crystals and accepted it.

The power practically begged to be used. Korrigan felt Lorwyn's gaze fall on him; her expectations of him were clear. However, Korrigan's face twisted into a grin. "You know what, Lorywn?" he proclaimed to the heavens, "You played a fun trick on me. Let me return the favour!" as he channelled the vast and wild power into Sera's sword. The sword began to glow with an otherworldly power.

The power began to corrupt Korrigan's body as the flesh on his arm began to decay and fall off, revealing rapidly, bone and tendon. Chenris whispered to Halfbie with grim neutrality, explaining that mortals were never meant to wield such power. Korrigan knew his time was limited, so he rushed towards Malachi's golden golem and launched the word like a spear. It flew through the air with a cackle of laughter and power. Upon making contact, it exploded, throwing Halfbie back into a wall, but completely decimating the golem.

Everything fell deathly silent. It was done. Malachi had been defeated, but at what cost?

All who could ran to Korrigan's side as his body slowly failed him. Mordecai attempted to heal with a healing word, but it had no effect. halfbie's magic was depleted as sparks sflittered into existence before quickly fizzling out. Korrigan can barely stand and is only conscious due to pure willpower.

The sounds of slaves fighting off in the distance could be heard as screams, and swords clashing could be heard dancing on the wind. He looked at the battlefield sounding him, then at the palace, then at his hands, all in complete disbelief. He began to laugh manically, "We did it, we killed him!!" He roared in disbelief.

Halfbie/Chenis' eyes began to well up as they watched their best friend die slowly in front of them.

Korrigan quickly stopped his laughter and faced his friends. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said softly. Kal Truly did die on that mountain. I was just his rage given form without it, without my purpose... I will soon fade.

The rot was making its way up his arm towards his face as he fell to one knee and grabbed Mordecai for stability. He told them with all sincerity that he needed to ensure evil in the world was burned away. Mordecai nodded with conviction. He then turned to Halfbie, instructing them to trust in Chenris as he was the best teacher and the best friend.

Tears flooded Halfbie's face as chenris and Halfbie spoke in union, saying they loved him and vowed to live for him. "This battle may not have made you feel brave, it may noit have even made you famous, but it id give you one thing: freedom"

"It is everything I want in the world; it's the reason I fought. At the end of the day, Kal is a message to all that freedom is possible if you fight for it. Thank you for fighting with everyone," said Korrigan weakly, the skin of her face slowly falling off.

Turning to Drache, Korrigan spoke softly, "You were like a father to me. Despite what she expected of me, I've always tried to do my best. I want to hurt a lot of people right now. I don't know what to do with those feelings. But then I think of you."

He turned to Aidan and told him to repeat after me, "FUCK THE GODS!"

Turning to Slyva, he gave her a heartfelt thank you. She responded with silence and a kiss on the forehead, knowing that any more would leave her in tears.

With that, Korrigan's body gave up and crumpled into dust. With that, a wild purple portal opened, and a mad woman with wiry golden hair floated out of it. Halfbie and Aidan instantly recognised her as Lorwyn. Before they even had the time to consider the implications that a god could enter the material plane, she summoned Kal's soul from what was left of Korrigan's body, causing a purple ball of light to float up to her.

She gave the ball of light, explaining that this made it easier for her, slammed it into the ground, and muttered under her breath, "And now for your punishment." She then floated back through her portal to her domain.

Watching how Korrigan's spirit was treated, Mordecai broke down, no longer able to hold back the tears.

Misty appeared running through the courtyards and collapsing to her knees, tears spluttering as she saw Tish's harrowing fate. She fell entirely to the floor as she cried over her father's death. "You were the best father I never had..." she thought.

At that, another wild purple portal opened beside her, outstepping a warped, wicked version of Korrigan. His eyes were glowing purple orbs with no whites or pupils. His hair was long and overgrown, and the interlace grew wild like a moose that had grown old. He outstretched his hand, which misty took and guided her into the feywilds.

The others were too broken to do anything as they watched in horror as the true herald of Lorwyn whisked away an innocent child, never to be seen again.

As they tried to comprehend what was happening, Mordecai suddenly began coughing violently, with waves of blood flooding their hands. The coughing soon became too much, even causing them to lose consciousness. Sylva rushed to help, but their limited healing magics did not support or even ease the pain of Mordecai's lung rot. She ran off to find a healer while Halfbie and Drache finally snapped out of their trance and moved Mordecai into the palace, where the doctors were.

### One Week Later
A week passed as Mordecai received around-the-clock medical help. Halfbie did not leave the room they were given for two whole days and contemplated all that had happened. The deep sadness they felt was enough for two people. Unfortunately, their attempts to think about anything else only led their minds to relive their lack of control over their bodies and words and consider how their existence worked.

Soon, they gained enough confidence to leave their room and eat something while walking around the palace. They learnt that the slaves drove away the rest of the Lost Haven Guards, but now there were riots on the streets as some tried their best to put together a governing body to sort out what would happen in the near future. One of the first things they did was go to the museum and recover all of their stuff, donning their robe woven with magical circuits and, most importantly, their spell book.

Finally, they started preparing for the party to head off on their next adventure, wherever that might be. During their preparations, they found Kal's bow. They traced the intricate eleven carvings in the soft, well-cared fore wood and silently slung it on their back, not to be used but to remember their friend.

Drache fared better and helped people rebuild and even commission a statue of the rebellion's symbol to be made out of some of the gold taken from Luminara. And soon the symbol of a mouse with antlers was erected at the heart of Lost Haven ^[1].

One day, Mordecai awoke in a dreary panic. Medical professionals rushed them, flooding them with a million questions that were only drowned out by the ringing in Mordecai's ears. The questions stopped when a taller-looking Drow entered the room with a handful of papers. He spoke in a thick accent as he asked how Mordecai was feeling.

Mordecai barely acknowledged the doctor as they began to get out of bed, searching for their comrades. The doctor continued his questions, flatly advising that Mordecai didn't move too much, but his recommendations fell on deaf ears. Mordecai pushed past him before they realised how rude they were and returned to the room to thank them for all their help. The doctor introduced himself as Dr. Viktor Malkovich, a travelling cleric.

Seeing that Mordecai wouldn't return to their bed, he decided to follow the tiefling and ensure nothing bad happened, dispersing the rest of the physicians as he followed.

Drache and Halfbie were finalising their preparations. Drache offered a silent prayer for the safety of Korrigan's soul, which was met with faint laughter on the wind. However, Drache didn't notice, as when his prayer was finished, a doctor rushed over to them and, between panting breaths, explained that Mordecai had awoken. For the first time since the emerald fort, Halfbie looked geneieunly happy again as they rushed at full pace to find their friend.

They soon found Mordecai and Viktor, and Halfbie happily jumped at Mordecai and wrapped their arms around his neck in a big hug. Drache wasn't far behind him, following up with an enormous bear hug around the two of them.

Mordecai quickly introduced everyone. Viktor was particularly displeased when Drache called him by his nickname, preferring his actual name. Halbfie also gave him some cause for concern as it sounded like a nickname, but Halfbie explained that, to their knowledge, it was their name.

Viktor explained that he was a travelling cleric who needed to go to the museum and collect a particular cloak that had been stolen from him. Halfbie and Drache showed them the way. Along the way, Viktor explained that he was adventuring to the OFC and the desert for his own reasons but declined to explain why. He offered to accompany them along the way, and all the party agreed it would be good to have an influential cleric on their team.

They soon reached the museum, where a clerk asked what they wanted. Viktor described a cloak made of black fabric and decorated with vulture feathers. The clerk left to find it and soon returned with the item described. Mordecai also took this opportunity to retrieve their items. While waiting, Mordecai read the label and considered taking more items that weren't there, but a stern look from Drache stopped that plan in its tracks.

Leaving the museum and heading for the main gate, Mordecai asked where Slyva was, to which Halfbie explained that, apparently, when she went to get a doctor, she never returned, and someone saw her leaving quickly, never to be seen again.

Along the way, Viktor revealed that he was a native of the Deadlands, and an excited Halfbie asked if he knew of Name Poisons, as they had recently come across one that killed someone named Dave McDuffin †. Unfortunately, Viktor was familiar with Name Positions but not with any of the details surrounding them.

They all decided it was best to travel to the OFC before continuing their journey. Drache and Mordecai began planning the route. Halfbie suddenly had a thought, grabbed the device that Ruldrim Thunderroot had given them, and clicked the button. Soon, the Ancient Dwarven Tomb appeared before them, and Ruldrim greeted them politely in one of his many bodies. Viktor was incredibly confused as Halfbie and Ruldrim quickly caught him up to speed.

Halfbie began to explain the location of the Blackwall to the Dwarf, but he soon revealed that the Dwarfs originally named it Blackwall, and he knew exactly where to go. Halfbie sheepishly remarked on how weird it was that none had wanted to change this name, but Ruldrim countered by saying it was the most remarkable thing about the place, and you didn't want to advertise the riches that lay within. They all nodded with understanding, as the tob began to shift once again back to the OFC.

Trivia & Notes

• James Absolom later revealed out of session how the Antimagic Field worked. Essentially Malachi Darkthorne † had reengineered The Tower to force all magic in the affect area to go through it rather than just straight from The Realm of Mana to the material plane. He could then hook into the tower and control which spell happened and what didn't. this is also how he was able to hear Mordecai speak while they were turned into gold as he could understand all magical communication happening within the tower's reach.
• This is was Kal The Korrigan †'s Herald form looks like:

Footnotes