Session Information

Session Date: 5th May 2026
Saga: 7th Saga - Winter Warriors
Attendance: Sam Gallon,Rowan Hales,Tom Brothers,Caleb Hamlet

Session Summary

As the party plans their raid on the Golden Fort, disagreement arises over whether to rescue the remaining New God eggs hidden around its perimeter. Mordecai argues that attempting a rescue would slow them down, risk exposure, and draw Auric’s attention, as releasing even one New God had already caused a massive energy surge. While Drache reluctantly agrees that the raid must take priority, Halfbie is deeply conflicted, torn between the children’s lives and the money the OFC desperately needs. After several plans fail, Halfbie proposes a daring solution: crafting three Bags of Holding to preserve the eggs’ heat and using hidden tunnels beneath the fort to retrieve them unseen. The party splits into teams, successfully infiltrates the tunnels, and retrieves the eggs. Along the way, Astra Goldmark intercepts them, not to stop the rescue, but to deliver a dire warning. Mordecai’s father has set something catastrophic in motion, and the party must not interfere with him, no matter what they see. Instead, Astra insists Auric must die, entrusting Drache with her dagger and extracting a promise that Thornwood will be left alone.

The party regroups as the raid begins, only for Robert Thornwood’s airships to arrive overhead, carrying hundreds of screaming hostages tied beneath them. Though enraged, the party is forced to accept the grim reality: Thornwood has technically upheld their agreement, and any delay will only worsen the hostages’ suffering. They push forward into the fort, where Astra confronts Mordecai over his impulsive attack on his father before leading them directly to Auric’s lair. In the dragon’s presence, Astra gives the signal, and Drache strikes her down without hesitation, fulfilling her own instructions and removing herself from the future she foresaw. As Astra falls and Auric rises from his hoard, the party forms ranks, fully committed to the battle ahead and the consequences that will follow.

Full Session Notes

The party began making preparations to rescue the rest of the New Gods that were scattered around the border of the golden fort. They were about to designate the best way to tackle the problem when Mordecai suddenly stopped. They were unsure whether rescuing them was the best choice for several reasons. The first was that travelling through the fort would not only take time but would drastically increase the likelihood that they would all be found out. Arguing that the raid was already difficult enough without the baby rescue mission.

Additionally, they also argued that when they reused Cas, it released a large amount of energy that the leader of the golden fleet, a gold dragon, was surely to notice. Releasing another 3 would probably make him investigate. Everyone agreed that this was definitely a problem. Even Drache was freeing with Mordecai. However, he did not like the idea of abandoning the children; he stated that the raid was more important since there were a lot more lives at stake. Halfbie was incredibly conflicted about the decision, feeling it was between the children and the money the OFC needed.

Upon seeing Halfbie clearly having a problem with the situation, Viktor couldn't help but wonder if it was Halfbie struggling or if it was something to do with Chenris' mysterious plan.

After coming to a dead end with a few plans that involved saving both the new gods and getting the money, Halfbie's face suddenly brightened up. They grabbed a notebook and began various calculations, referencing a map of the fort. The rest of the party exchanged glances as they watched Halfbie work. After some time, the calculations were done, and Halfbie looked up. "I have plan, that might work," they said, looking unconfident.

"With some time, I can create 3 Bags of Holding, because the bags technically enter into the astral plane and don't just have a permeable wall of a regular bag; the conditions will stay the same," the paty response in a confused silence. "... Things inside the bag maintain their temperature and will stay hot."

They then pointed to the 3 locations where the eggs were and highlighted that there were various underground tunnels beneath the fort that they could use to reach the eggs without being seen. The closest and easiest-to-access entrance to these tunnels was right by the Maintenance crew office. Mordecai said they could probably distract the team manager long enough for the others to get in and gather the eggs, and that they would join them later.

The plan was for the party to split up into three teams. Mordecai and Drache would go to the egg east of the fort, Aidan would make a solo trip to the north egg, and Halfbie and Viktor would tackle the West. They then went to a nearby green area to have a rest. Being an Elf descendant Halfbie, they would only need 4 hours to rest fully; they used the rest of the time to create the 3 bags of holding needed for their plan.

Once everyone was fully rested, they made their way to the tunnel entrance they intended to use. Before they could properly find it, the Manager spotted Mordecai and came over. He was happy to see Mordecai back and wanted to know who their friends were. Mordecai introduced Halfbie as a person who could potentially solve some of their canon problems.

It was at this moment that they all realised the fort was incredibly busy, with many of the palace canons being moved. The Manager looked quite excited to meet Halfbie and gave a brief overview of their problem. Halfbie seemed relatively interested until he mentioned that they used magic as a part of the system. Upon hearing their Halfbie demanded to have a look. Before heading off, the Manager asked Mordecai and the rest of the party to go down into the tunnels and redirect the underground lava-heating system to the walls.

When asked why, he said he didn't know the details, but it was orders from higher up because they suspect an air-based attack is imminent. The party nodded their heads and found the entrance to the tunnels. It was behind an unlocked cupboard, leading to a deep hole with a ladder down. As they were about to head off, Halfbie quickly dropped the bags off before joining the Manager. Halfbie was theorised to use a spring-loaded, friction-based piston system, which seemed to really interest the Manager.

The party slowly climbed down the shaft until they reached the bottom. It was noticeably hotter here, as the walls were covered with thick metal pipes carrying lava. The junction needed to be redirect the lava was close by. Seeing it, Mordecai wondered if this was all part of some elaborate plot from Astra to get the party to mess up the raid. Viktor took a closer look at the pipe junction and concluded that changing the junction would indeed redirect the lava from the palace to the outer walls. Leaving it as is would not affect their plan.

They soon split up for their various roles. While making his way down to his egg, he suddenly felt an insatiable hunger overtake him. He even killed a nearby rat, but the meal did not subdue his hunger. After trying a few more times, he gave up and kept looking for the egg while his stomach rumbled. He found the egg, and just like Halfbie had instructed him to, he quickly took it out of its cage and put it in his Bag of Holding. upon turning aorund he came to face with Astra, who was twirling their dagger.

Viktor awkwardly greated them. Astra cut straight to the chase and asked what Viktor was doing. Viktor stated their intent to take the eggs and save them from their current fate. Astra nodded in understanding before commenting on how they never liked the captain's plan and thought it was immoral. Viktor asked if Astra planned to stop the party, and she absent-mindedly shook her head before wandering off.

Mordecai and Drache were the next to find their target. They quickly broke into the incubator and grabbed their prize. They were heading back when they pumped into Astra, leaning against the wall. She explained that she wasn't there to stop the party from grabbing the eggs, but she needed to tell them something very important.

"A lot of people are going to die if you don't do what I tell you to. he has done something none of you are going to like" Astra look fiercely at Mordecai when they said 'he'. Clearly referencing Mordecai's father. Mordecai's eyes narrowed as they asked what he had done.

Astra said that she was unable to tell them what he had done because it would change the future too much. She then looked at Drache, "When I tell you to, I need you to use it without hestitation" as they handed their dagger over to Drache. Drache nodded solemnly.

"I know it's going to be very difficult, especially once you see what he's doing," said Astra, "but you need to pommice me to leave him alone." Don't try to stop him or hurt him. If you do, so many people will die"

"ok, so what can we do then?2 asked Mordecai.

"You have to Auric Thalassar, if you don't he will hunt down the new gods and kill everyone in his way"

They both nodded, and Astra walked away back into the darkness. Everyone met up and climbed out of the tunnel in a solemn silence. Breaching the surface, they found Halfbie using Minor Illusion to create a 3D model of the canon system they were proposing.

Mordecai caught Halfbie's eye and nodded: it was time for the raid.

Halfbie nodded, and around 100 feet above them, the workshop, their Mystic mind cast a fire bolt into the air, a single flame to begin the raid. Halfbie made their excuses to join the party, where they were told what Astra had instructed them to do. Halfbie nodded solemnly as they started to prepare for the fight against Auric Thalassar.

Preparations made: Mordecai and Halfbie cast mage armour on themselves Mordecai set up Melf's minute meteors Halfbie prepared the haste spell for Drache and set up their arteficer'ss turret. Viktor cast false life and Holly weapon on Drache.

Just as they finished their preparations, they began hearing screams in the distance. They looked up and saw their Airships approaching; however, 100s of people were tied upside down and hung from the airships, screaming in fear and agony ad at the helm of the flagship was Robert Thornwood barking orders.

The ships landed without issue as the automatons began to fan out and secure the perimeter. None of the fort was either ready or willing to take a shot in case any of the hostages were hurt. Mordecai's father smirked at their sun before shouting, "I told you I'd make a butcher out of you yet, didn't i?"

"This isn't what we agreed!!" Mordecai shouted back, barely keeping a hold on their anger.

"As agreed, I did not kill a soul and it was effect right?"

Halfbie couldn't help agreeing with the man. "His methods are crude, but they did get the job done. Come on the longer we take to kill Auric Thalassar, the longer the hostages will suffer"

Everyone followed Halfbie inside. Before crossing the threshold, Mordecai turned and flicked on one of their meteors at Robert, narrowly missing before flipping him the bird. Astra was waiting for them inside he face a mask of her and anger. "Why did you attack?! I specifically told you not to attack him!"

"Calm down i didn't hurt him"

"No, but you also still attacked him!! Gods, I hope this doesn't backfire as badly as I expect."

They stopped themselves before showing the party the way to Auric Thalassar's room. She created a small purple portal, which took them to the bottom of the query. It was there that they came face to face with the man himself.

"Astra, I hope you haven't betrayed me. What are these insects doing here? Come for gold, have you?" He said. His gargantuan body lay across a huge hoard of gold coins and valuables while his tail flicked back and forth menacingly.

Halfbie stepped forward and bold declared, "One small correct, I think you mean we're here for our gold!"

It was then that Astra shouted 'NOW' at Drache, who, without hesitation, plunged the dagger into Astra's body. She crumpled to the floor, unmoving.

The party got into battle formation, ready to take on Auric Thalassar.