Select a result to preview

Session 55

Session Information

Session Date: 20th Jan 2026
Saga: 7th Saga - Winter Warriors
Attendance: Sam Gallon,Rowan Hales,Tom Brothers,Caleb Hamlet,Jae Knight

Session Summary

The session began quietly but uneasily within Leomund’s Tiny Hut, as the party attempted to recover from the previous night’s battle. Viktor, driven by morbid curiosity, enlisted Drache and a deeply reluctant Mordecai to haul zombie corpses inside for study. The task was as grim as expected, rancid bodies, mismatched limbs, and a great deal of nausea, but was made easier with Halfbie’s help via Tenser’s Floating Disk. During the effort, Mordecai narrowly avoided slipping on black ice by forcibly stabilising their magic, triggering a wild magic surge that cursed them with an overwhelming compulsion to eat gold coins before dawn or face a sense of impending doom. What followed was a deeply unsettling mix of coin-eating, awkward humour, and rising concern from the rest of the party.

Their unease deepened when one of the assembled corpses reanimated, muttering “Hunter” and reacting instinctively to heat. Viktor’s experiments revealed that warmth caused the creature to heal rapidly, confirming Halfbie’s suspicions that the hunters were afflicted by the same ancient curse as the elven cannibals—magic placed by a power far beyond mortal means. Viktor escalated matters by banishing both the zombie and Mordecai as part of an experiment, subjecting Mordecai to a timeless void and an unwanted, lingering embrace from the undead. When they returned, traumatised and screaming, Ringo abruptly ended the experiment by killing the zombie outright, admitting the party had grown dangerously complacent. That night, paranoia set in: strange “venison” meals, Hunter’s metal arrows, Viktor secretly cutting at the fused cloak in his flesh, and Halfbie warding the party’s gold to stop Mordecai from stealing it.

The session spiralled into the surreal as Mordecai, left alone and driven by hallucinations of Halfbie and Chenris, succumbed to their curse and devoured stolen gold before passing out. Dawn arrived violently, with purple lightning tearing apart the Tiny Hut as the Korrigan burst through a portal, mocking Mordecai before killing them outright, only for Viktor to resurrect them moments later. Shaken and sleepless, the party pressed on toward the Golden Fort. When Viktor attempted Divine Intercession for disguises, the call was answered not by a distant god, but by Vaelrith himself. Reapers slaughtered nearby pirates to provide clothing, and Vaelrith left Viktor with a chilling promise before cheerfully greeting Halfbie as “Father.” The session ended in stunned silence, Halfbie nervously joking as the horrifying implications settled in.

Full Session Notes

Halfbie cleared a space on the first floor inside their Leomund's Tiny Hut and tried to get comfortable. Their spell had made the area much warmer than the frigid, never-ending winter outside. From within, they watched as Viktor called over the exhausted Drache and asked him to help gather the zombies' corpses and bring them into the Hut, for further study. Drache began helping and even called Mordecai over to help them. Mordecai was extremely hesitant at first, but eventually agreed to help.

With his helpers recruited, Viktor ventured into the Hut to take a break as they both watched the two struggle. Mordecai crouched down to pick up the body, but as soon as they touched the body, they immediately recoiled. Rigour Mortis had well and truly set in to the body, and they stunk like someone hadn't washed ever, the same being true for the pelt they wore.

Mordecai nearly vomited as they jumped back and out of the way. Drache, slowly becoming more confident with his magic casted Calm Emotions on the tiefling, and Mordecai finally calmed down enough to slowly help Drache pull the bodies together. Drache struggled to figure out which parts of the body matched with what, causing Mordecai to laugh and try to explain that the arm doesn't connect to the neck.

After a lot of back-and-forth, they had collected a zombie. They began the arduous task of pulling the body towards the Hut. Halfbie took pity on the two. They quickly wrapped their coat tightly around themselves [1] before poking out of the Hut. They summoned a Tenser's Floating Disk, which they could both more easily drag the corpses around.

Mordecai tried their best to help Drache, but at somepoint the ice underfoot must have transformed into black ice, and Mordecai slipped [2]. They could feel their grip failing and their feet beginning to fly out from beneath them. Mordecai, not wanting to look like an idiot, decided in that split second to try something they had used very often. Their magic is frequently chaotic, but after using it every day for so long, Mordecai had somewhat learnt to control the chaotic nature of their powers, as well as the world around them [3].

This ability helped them avoid tripping. Still, the blowback from using the ability caused a wild magic surge. Mordecai, standing upright, suddenly gained two new feelings: the first was an insatiable need to consume gold coins. The second was an incredible sense of impending doom that happened if they didn't eat enough by dawn.

Without really thinking, Mordecai turned to Drache and asked if they could have a few gold coins. Thinking nothing of it, Drache obliged. Mordecai is taking the coins and immediately eats them. If it weren't for Mordecai maintaining direct eye contact with Drache while doing so, Drache probably wouldn't have questioned Mordecai. However, they now stood stunned.

Before he could question Mordecai properly, Hlafbie leaned out of the Tiny Hut, coat still wrapped around them like a dressing gown. They yelled out, "Boyyyyysss, stop snacking, you'll ruin your dinner!"

Looking up to the sky, they both realised how late it was getting, and a rumble from Mordecai's stomach showed how hungry they were. They began walking back to the Tiny Hut when they started hearing a third set of footsteps. These steps were much heavier and sounded clumsy, each with a thud.

Drache and Mordecai turned around and too their shock, the corpse they had put back together had reanimated. It shuffled forward and growled more like an animal than a human, "Hun- ter, Hun- ter"

It shuffled closer, its hand slowly raised to point at Drache, its head cocked to one side almost mechanically as it tried to understand the dragonborn. Viktor, from within the Tiny Hut, quickly noticed that the hunter was back on its feet. He rushed over to get a closer look; he was barely holding back his excitement as he inspected the body. With its frostbitten finger still pointing at Drache, the zombie grunted, "He-at"

Drache shook his head, and the zombie's head moved to face Viktor. Viktor, for his part, was muttering about how this one had been killed with Hunter's arrows and should probably be dead. Mordecai nodded, saying it's almost like it's defrosting.

Upon hearing this, Viktor asked Mordecai for a lit torch to see what would happen. As soon as the fire began to burn, he watched the zombie instantly start following it, first with its eyes, then as it lumbered towards it. Viktor held out the torch, and the zombie rushed over to grab it from his hand, then began rapidly warming its body. As it did, the cuts and wounds all started to heal.

From inside the Tiny Hut, Halfbie watched the whole scene as they held their hands up to their face like looking through a frosted window. Aiden, who was sitting down near his bags, whittling some wood, was the only one to notice that Ringo was nowhere to be seen. When he finally pointed this out to Halfbie, worried for a sec that Ringo might have abandoned them, espailly has his pack and bow were missing. Halfbie quickly cast the spell Locate object, assuming that a seasoned hunter would never be caught without his bow. Their hunch was correct, as the bow was found relatively close by and wasn't moving further away from the Tiny Hut.

While Viktor continued observing, Mordecai took the opportunity to gather more gold coins. Drache was directed enough that he handed them over without thinking it through. Mordecai began eating the coins like popcorn while they.

The group watch the zombie slowly heal some of its wounds before taking the torch back. The zombie almost looked annoyed that someone had taken away its source of heat. pointing to itself and grunting "Co-ld" with a cheeky grin, Drache waved, saying "Nice to meet you Co-ld, i'm Drache"

Halfbie, who was suddenly watching from within, got a flash of memories from chenris, and they began putting a few things together. These zombies were not only under a similar curse as the evelen canibels, but the curse was placed upon them by the same powerful mage. This magic was so powerful that one would need a lot more magic than anyone could gather in their lifetime. Interestingly, the zombie actually died during the fight, but Chenris didn't study Magical Fauna enough to know why. Halfbie passed on some o thier observation to Viktor, who began to wonder about the creature's nature.

He turned to Mordecai and asked if they would be ok with joining the zombie in an experiment. After some convincing, Mordecai eventually agreed, and Viktor began casting Banishment as soon as the spell was finished. Mordecai and the zombie suddenly blinked out of the material plane.

Mordecai thought they had their eyes open. It was strange; it was like the only thing that existed was the Mordecai and the zombie. They weren't surrounded by darkness, because that would still be something. They were surrounded by nothingness, but saying as much made the nothing into something which did not exist where they were right now.

With the source of heat from the torch, the zombie enveloped Mordecai in a bearhug. The zombie smelled terrible as it would not let go. Mordecai struggled for a while before eventually giving in. Viktor had explained that the spell would last 1 minute before they returned. Mordecai waited... and waited... and waited. The thought that time might not exist where they were, but they pushed that away before they could start to panic. After either a minute or a millennium, Mordecai blinked, and they were back in the freezing cold of snowport.

Mordecai could not believe what was happening as their mind tried to process their experience in the void. They tried to make a witty remark, but all that came out was a single scream as their mind slowly unravelled. The zombie let go of Mordecai, also confused about what was happening. it stumbbled back and right into the sword of Ringo, who had snuck past everyone to land the killing blow. "Someone had to end it, and i'd didn't think it would be you lot"

Everyone nodded; it was true they were having too much fun. They soon all returned to the tiny Hut, where Ringo began building a fire to cook some food. Mordecai also explained their sense of foreboding and their need to eat gold coins. Halfbie donated some coins from the share account purse. When that wasn't enough, they melted down some more coins and turned them into a milkskae for Mordecai, who happily drank it down. This still wasn't enough, so halfbie was called a 'Coin Shandy' by mixing some of Drache's beer with molten gold. This wasn't enough, and now Mordecai was slightly drunk as it went immediately to their head. However, it did help with their panic attack.

After this, none of them were happy with the idea of using more of their gold when Mordecai's appetite didn't seem to slow down. they didnt have much money as it was. Halfbie put a Glyph of Warding spell on the purse and explained that if Mordecai tried to grab coins for it, then the bag would shoot them with a guiding bolt. Drache put his purse under his mattress, which immediately became too scary to grab.

Aiden hid his bag of gold, and Viktor had none to speak of. Ringo's food was ready; it was more 'deer'. They all ate some meat. Viktor took his meat basically raw, something Ringo did without even being asked. Drache went in for seconds and soon found the meat almost addictive; Ringo was glad to give him more food.

While the other slowly started getting ready for bed, when no one was looking, Viktor took a small parry knife and began to cut back the cloth from his skin where the two had fused. He worked slowly as he methodically worked his way through. It was painful, and blood began to flow from the cut areas. He managed to cut a good amount before his experience told him that going further would be unsafe. Closing the wounds with his magic, he soon fell asleep more from exhusten then tiredness.

They soon all went to sleep, and Mordecai was left alone, awake, surrounded by the one thing that made his sense of foreboding feel better.

Snooping around the area, they soon found the gold purse and took out a handful. In their delirious state, a minuture halfbie appeared on their right shoulder and Chenris on the other. Chenris whispered in Mordecai's ear, "Go on you know you want to!"

"Nooo! You can't do that; people expressly didn't want you to eat any more." said Halfbie.

Mordecai looked at both, unsure of who they should believe. "Hmmm, Mordecai i think you have to eat these coins," said Chenris, and after Mordecai asked why, he said, "Well, if you die now, then you'll never be able to stick it to the man, you know Arwen"

The Mini Halfbie let out an enormous exhale, and Mordecai thought for a moment before taking out a handful of coins and eating them all in one go. Mini Halfbie manage to interrupt Mordecai's gorging of coins by asking Mordecai, "Are you really going to listen and believe in Chenris?"

"Just becasue they dont like lisetrning to me doesnt mean hey know im not right." Chenris retorted, "Besides they taste good, don't they Mord?"

Mordecai's mind finally broke as they let out a confused laugh before essentially pouring the coins into their mouth and eventually passing out, covered in the stolen money.

Everyone was suddenly ok in the morning when purple lightning crashed into Leomund's Tiny Hut, smashing through and destroying the spell. Drache was on his feet, greatsword already drawn and ready. Halfbie already had their spell book at the ready, and Aiden had their knives drawn and ready. Mordecai slowly blinked awake as he registered what was happening. They got up, and where the lightning had landed was a magenta portal.

With a chorus of manic laughter, The Korrigan (Herald) step out of the portal. His blackened fur swayed in the bone-chilling wind. His cranned his neck to Mordecai. "Times up, boy, looks like you could stuff enough coins in you," he growled.

Before anyone could react, another bolt of purple lightning zapped from the korrigan's hand, striking Mordecai square in the chest and leaving them dead on the spot. The korrigan joined his ensemble in a fit of crazed laughter and returned to the feywild. Viktor rushed to Mordecai's side and healed them back to health.

With none being able to sleep again, they continued on. They crunched through the snow in silence, and the sun crested the horizon. They walked along the shore, still hidden behind the treeline. Viktor broke the silence by asking if they had a more solid plan, to which halfbie said that they would need to get closer to the golden fort to see what their options were. As they carried on, the fort came into view on the horizon, and two fleet members were seen walking along the sea bank towards their base.

Mordecai mentioned it might be easier if they all had disguises, to which Viktor began casting Divine intercession, expecting it to fail like usual. Suddenly, a dark and silky voice rang out in Viktor's head. "What do you want alive one?"

Viktor panicked upon hearing the voice and shouted that he wished to enter the golden fort. As soon as he spoke, two reapers emerged from the ground, near the two pirates walking along the beach. One of them was instantly recognised as Vaelrith. The toll of a bell rang out across the beach, and the party watched in horror as the souls of the pirates were harvested by the reapers, causing their bodies to vanish and leaving only their clothes behind.

More reapers appeared, carrying additional sets of clothes and dumping them onto a pile. Everyone except Vaelrith left, as he floated in the air above the heap of garments. He turned to Viktor and, in that same dark and silky voice, said, "I will come for you soon." His words echoed as if he were standing right next to them, despite being several hundred meters down the coast. Viktor's already pale skin seemed to go even whiter as he struggled to process what was happening.

Vaelrith then turned to look at Halfbie and, with a much more pleasant voice, waved and said, "Hi Father!"

Halfbie waved back, "Hi... Son...?"

Vaelrith soon vanished, and the party we left in stunned silence. Halfbie gave a nervous laugh, "They grow up so fast..."

Trivia

Footnotes

  1. Sam imagined it as looking like this. ↩︎

  2. Sam Gallon's internet bugged out, and they didn't fully rejoin the call until the hunter from the deathless tribe had resurrected. ↩︎

  3. This is Mordecai's Tides of Chaos feature. ↩︎