Session Information

Session Date: 22th Mar 2026
Saga: 7th Saga - Winter Warriors
Attendance: Sam Gallon,Rowan Hales,Caleb Hamlet

Session Summary

The Party wakes up to a hungover Halfbie stumbling into Astra's house after a rough night. Mordecai, intrigued by Halfbie's state, checks on them and learns that their night with Receptionist 3 did not go well, despite their long study of the Kuma Sutra. As Drache helps Halfbie settle in, the trio discusses the ramifications of their recent actions and the potential raid on The Golden Fort, which could yield significant financial resources for their organization, the OFC. The conversation shifts to the ethical implications of their plans, particularly concerning innocent lives during the raid.

Halfbie expresses a cold pragmatism regarding the casualties, arguing that most of the fort's inhabitants are not innocent and emphasizing the need for a successful mission. Mordecai raises concerns about those who may have reformed, but Halfbie insists that identifying such individuals in a crowd of over a thousand would be impractical. The tension mounts until Halfbie suggests instructing their army to avoid harming anyone who flees during the attack, a compromise that is met with approval from both Mordecai and Drache, as well as Astra from the other room who overhears their conversation.

Full Session Notes

The party awoke to a noisy Halfbie shamberling into Astra 's house early in the morning. They were a wreck. Spilt wine adorned their hastily donned clothing as they stumbled their way into the house and onto a nearby chaise longue. Mordecai was the first to poke their head out of their room to check what the ruckus was. a smile infected their face as they saw the haggard and clearly hungover Halfbie lying down in the living room.

Mordecai sauntered into the room and coyly asked how their night went with their 'special friend'. Halfbie, with their arm covering their eyes, groaned in pain before admitting that the night wasn't great, as Receptionist 3 was no better than they were. Then, with a twinge of frustration, they asked where they had gone wrong; they had studied the Kuma Sutra for ages and thought they understood the... theory of it all.

Drache was slowly opening his door with a shallow yawn and, upon seeing Halfbie in such a state, helped move them into Mordecai 's room where they flopped them on the bed. Halfbie grew about how their lower back hurt, so, while holding back a laugh, Mordecai began massaging their back.

There was a long silence before Mordecai asked the question that was on both his and Drache's minds: Should they continue the raid now that the party had been found out?

"A wise man once said, 'How many times have people used the quill because they were unable to pick up the sword?' Taking The Golden Fort down allows for freer seas, money in the coffers for the OFCs and most importantly, the ability to get my money back" Mordecai's massage stopped for a split second before they continued with more malaise, their fingers really digging into Halfbie's back. It was meant as a punishment, but it actually really helped get some of the knots out.

Mordecai asked them to repeat what they just said before they blew up and nearly screamed at Halfbie for dragging them into a potential war with one of the most powerful factions in the Verdant Peninsula. Halfbie, still struggling with a hangover^[1], looked up and explained that they would never be so idiotic as to get them into a situation like that over such a petty grievance, even if it did anger them to the end. "It would be stupid, I pushed for it as it would greatly benefit the OFC, making us the new financial capital of the world. We would have near-unlimited funds to raise people out of poverty and fund education, not to mention the immense soft power we would have. I mean, if you wanted to, you could even buy Nightshade's Crown and free all of those Tieflings"

That last one made Mordecai pause, before they hesitantly agreed that having that kind of money would help many people, not just themselves. Drache slowly came on board as well, agreeing that taking down the fort would free the seas, allowing nations to trade freely with one another.

Mordecai finished their massage and moved so Halfbie had room to sit up as they began discussing their game plan for taking down the fort. Halfbie explained that with Mordecai's father giving them an air superiority and a small army, they would need to find out what the best place for the land would be to do the most damage. The armoury was quickly agreed to be the best place to drop off the bombs and troops. This would also give them enough of a distraction to tackle the vaults and the fleet's Captain.

Drache asked if there was a way to minimise innocent lives. His question was unexpectedly met with a very cold response from Halfbie, "The vast majority of the people here are not innocent, besides it would lower the success rate of the mission and i think we need to have percent we can get"

The two were stunned into silence before Mordecai asked, "What about the people whove realised they were bad and have reformed or are close to reforming?"

"As I said, they would be in the vast minority of the people," Halfbie said with a clinical detachment, "I don't doubt that they exist, and there may even be people that were seconds from reforming when the attack starts. But are we truly able to not only figure out who they are in a crowd of over 1000 people AND complete the raid?"

The two nodded in silent and reluctant understanding. Halfbie could've cut the tension in the room with a dagger. "We could always tell the army to not kill anyone who runs away when the raid starts?" Halfbie offered, as some warmth returned to their voice. They both nodded, knowing it was probably the best option.

"That sounds like a good idea!" Astra shouted through the walls.

"Thanks..." Halfbie answered through the wall, "Could you hear everything we were talking about?"

"Not everything, but the walls are thin, and I could hear you when you spoke a bit louder", Astra replied.

"Hang on, we'll join there", Halfbie replied as they all got up to see Astra.

Leaving the room, they found Astra cooking themselves breakfast, the smell causing Drache's stomach to rumble quite loudly. Halfbie sat at the table and, after twiddling his thumbs, asked if Astra had any interested in documents that they could read to gain a better advantage.

"Not here, They replied bluntly.

"Do you know where w could find them?" Mordecai asked.

"yes im well aware of where my documents are"

"Where are they?"

"That not something I'm willing to share with you", she replied, blunter than before.

"Worth a shot i guess", Halfbie remarked.

Mordecai then offered that they could ensure her safety during the attack if she gave them those documents. She politely declined, stating that she was more than capable of defending herself. "Throw something at me and you'll see," she said coyly.

Halfbie threw a nearby form at Astra. She disappeared, reappearing behind Halfbie with a fork pointed at their neck. They were very impressed with her speed. "I told you, i see everything," she said. "I can what is happening and what is yet to happen, although not every far into the future mind you."

"And do you see a future in I don't know if 9 billion different realities where you could help us with these documents?" Halfbie said, their voice half joking.

"I don't see any fur where I do."

"How helpful..." Mordecai said sarcastically.

"Oh, I said I'd let you do the raid, even search the place yourselves, but I never said I would help you do it." Astra replied like a lawyer.

"I think that is still quite generous of you, so thank you!" Halfbie said with a smile, "Also, if you put a small weight on your bacon, it makes the bacon crisper as it fries in its own fat." They said as they stood up and started getting ready to leave.

Astra stood by the pan, frozen, unsure of how to respond. They soon nodded and put a small weight on the food as the watch the bacon slowly get crisper, much to their delight. The rest joined Halfbie by the door where they had cast prestigitation to clean their clothes and get ready to leave.

Leaving the flat, they found the levers in a long corridor with various other doors in it. At one end of the corridor was a large golden door, with two guards standing by it. Halfbie and Mordecai begand approaching the door, the guards paid them no mind as Mordecai had a quick through the gap o see it was dark on the other side Halfbie nodded at the guards, greeting them before opening the door as confidently as possible. Drache quickly followed suit as they entered the room. One of the guards sighed and wished them luck.

They found themselves in a large cave, and in the middle was a huge quarry that they could not see the bottom of. The only thing they could make out was various gold coins that littered the floor around them and the rough edges of the quarry. Wondering how deep it was, Drache dropped a small stone down the pit and listened for the sound of it hitting the floor. After an extremely long puase they finally hear the sound of the pebble metal. Halfbie 's head quickly did the maths: the quarry was easily several hundred meters deep. Then the sounds of a huge being stirring from their slumber could be heard. That confirmed it for them; that was where the Captain slept.

The party quickly backed off and returned to the long corridor to regroup. They decided it would be best for them to split up to gather as much information as possible. Mordecai went by themselves to talk to as many people as possible and to find out where defences are and maybe even sabotage them.

Halfbie & Drache's POV

Halfbie and Drache left as a group to find the information vault. They first went to the general administration area, and the line to speak to a receptionist was exceptionally long. Halfbie stood in a line that did not lead to Receptionist 3 and began waiting patiently. After a 30-minute wait, they finally reached the receptionist, who impatiently asked them what they wanted.

Halfbie 's voice was as cold as ice as they said, "We're here for an inspection. The receptionist didn't look fazed and asked who they were here on behalf of and what they were auditing. "We're here on behalf of Astra Goldmark," they replied, "We're here to do a safety inspection of defences and maintenance; staffing and personal safety, we'll need to rotas and documentation"

The clerk didn't even blink as they pointed them in the direct of the document library, "We don't carry any of that information here, go to the archive, it's the shelf on the right."

Halbfie nodded before marching over, grabbing a spare clipboard on the way. They found the archive relatively easily and approached the clerk. before Halfbie could speak, Drache, a little nervous about lying, blurted out "INSPECTION, we need to see the shelf on the right!"

The clerk looked very unimpressed and turned to Halfbie, asking if Drache was new. Halfbie gave a lukewarm apology before asking for the documents mentioned earlier, and the clerk pointed to what looked like a drawstring bag in the wall. They walked up and pulled the bag open, revealing a corridor that stretched far beyond their line of sight. The clerk gestured for them to enter, telling them they would have to walk for about an hour to reach the section they needed.

Before entering, Halfbie learned into Drache, who warned him of the bag man and that they would need to be quite willful during their search. Before Drache could even nod. The clerk chimed in, explaining that no one had to worry about the bag man as they had 'taken care of it'

The two thanked the clerk for his help before crossing the threshold into the bag of holding archive. With the draw strong close Drache, they excitedly turned to each other and simultaneously pointed out that the archive had a single line of sheleves, which was on the right side of the bag. They then began their long walk.

Mordecai's POV

Mordecai found themself in the mess hall, they confidently strolled over to a group sitting at a table and asked if they could bum a cig. One held out their pack, and another conjured a small flame to help light. Sitting down and thanking them for their generosity, they struck up a conversation, quickly finding common ground with them as they all agreed how annoying Astra was with their cursed eyes.

Mordecai lied, telling the group they worked in weapons maintenance, but they had only started recently and didn't know who the best person to talk to was. The group pointed out a older looking man sitting at a table by himself, eating lunch. The group of works wished Mordecai good luck as they all stood to return to their regular shifts.

Getting closer to the first thing, Mordecai noticed waste; Samhadn't bathed in ages and was clearly obese. He was at present scoffing down an incredibly huge plate of food. Mordecai, through shalled breaths sasked if they could have a seat. They sat down and ran a simulate route as before. This time, they took on the role of lazy workers, and the two quickly started laughing.

Sam explained that his primary job was moving and maintaining the canons, while he was ft for any smaller, more technical work. He also complained about how he had to keep up his work even though no one had dared invade the fort in decades. however apparently Astra insisted that the fort stayed battle-ready because something would eventually come for them. After some more moaning, Mordecai eventually cast suggestion on the man, hoping to convince him to block the canon barrels so they would miss fire when used.

The man was no longer enchanted as he looked Mordecai in the eyes suspiciously. Mordecai quickly tried to laugh it off, saying it was a joke that was probably in poor taste. the man returned to his food, shooing Mordecai away.

As Mordecai looked for another target, a familiar presence appeared behind them "How's it going?" Astra asked smugly, "I think it'll be tought to find anyone despeatre enough to give you anything"

Mordecai shrugged, pawning them off with an excuse.

"Remember, you can't lie to someone who see everything"

Mordecai sighed before offering a pack of cigarettes to the commander. She gladly accepted. "You know... its quite exciting having someone try and bring us down"

"Yeah...?"

"Well no ones been dumb enough to try in recent memory." Astra quickly finished her fag, put it out, and left. "Keep up the great work!" she said sarcastically.

Mordecai furiously trpued a message on their iCrystral to Halfbie and Drache, however both message failed to send. Mordecai stormed off to the battlements to try and find someone else they could use to sabotage the canons.

Mordecai soon made their way up onto the battlements, where they found a lone worker fixing a small part to do with a canon. Mordecai explained that they were a new requirement and asked whether the man needed any help or could teach them a few things. The man seemed slightly confused but said yes anyway.

The man explained he was doing a fairing pin replacement. He explained that a lot of the old canons used fuses. However, most of the crew grew fed up with them because they were constantly wet from the snow and kept breaking. This new style of cannon worked by striking a metal pin, which created sparks and ignited the gunpowder.

After showing Mordecai the ins and outs of the pin replacements, Mordecai took their chance and cast a suggestion ^[2] and said the man should go around and break all of the pins in the rest of th canons. The man looked increasingly confused and concerned, "Hmmm i think you should tell me exactly what you're doing here"

Mordecai, frustrated that their spell didn't work for the second time, accidentally told the man something close to the truth, "I mean, I'm looking at the canons, and I don't really understand how they work, and I thought that if someone could tell me that, I could then figure out how to make them not work"

"Right... I don't think you're going to make it very long in this job with that kind of approach"

"I am still open to learning though..."

"Right..." the man said, exhaling deeply before sitting down. He handed Mordecai a small tool and pointed to the canon, "These jobs aren't hard, ok, you just need to give it some finease. Let me show you"

After fixing the firing pin, he gave a lot of kind encouragement, then showed Mordecai how to fix many of the other common issues that appear in canons. By the time they were finished, it was late, and they needed to get dinner. After a great high five, he showed them in praise before making his way into the mess hall. Mordecai paused for a moment, looking at the now unguarded canons and considered sabotaging them. Their thought process was interpreted when the man called out to them from inside, asking what they were waiting for. More instinctively said nothing and ran to join him and the rest of the crew.

Halfbie & Drache's POV

Back in the archive Halfbie and Drache found what they were looking for and learned the following information:

• There are two canon shifts rotas. There's one fr the wall and one for the place
• The fort has a few squads whose primary purpose is to patrol outside the fort; however, they're mostly there to keep an eye on the cannibals and Snowport
• The patrols are frequent, but because the outer wall is much larger, there are many gaps
• The palace is constantly patrolled.
• All weapons are stored in the armoury when not in use, including excess gunpowder; however, there are many stores all over the fort.
• Everyone, including guards, has their own private residence scattered throughout the city.)
• The amroruy primarily holds generic weapons like Sabers and flintlocks.)
• The fort owns a minute golden canon, which does work, no details on how lethal it is.
• There are records that a lot of the heating within the fort's walls comes from large underground lava pools. Upon closer inspection, the lava distribution is strange. The fort is producing a lot more lava than the pipe system would require.)

With information in hand, they began walking out of the archive to meet up with Mordecai. Upon leaving, they were greeted by a flurry of notifications from Mordecai, giving them essentially a play-by-play of what happened while they were gone.

Trivia

• The mention of excess Lava made Sam Gallon immediately think its connected to one of The Towers.

Footnotes