📜 Session Overview

Night fell too quickly over Eldraine, and a woman's face watched from the moon as the Flarebound gathered beside the boulder that had nearly crushed them. The crystalline dome surrounding Ardenvale still glimmered pale on the horizon, roughly a day's flight away, but the forest between them felt wrong in ways they couldn't name. When Zar'Keth tried to charge the attunement rods Aedric had prepared, he found them already saturated with power, as though Eldraine itself had filled every empty space before they arrived.

Then a spear tore out of the darkness and buried itself in Aedric's shoulder. Broj wrenched the weapon free and hurled it back into the trees with fatal precision, killing its rider — a feral boy no older than thirteen, his teeth filed to fangs, a great bear-skin cloak draped across his shoulders, riding an orange-striped beast that vanished into the jungle. The Flarebound were left shaken by yet another beloved childhood story twisted into something murderous. Aedric kept the cloak and Broj carried the spear, both burdened by what their survival had cost.

Before entering Ardenvale, the party had to help Sorina and Sinora hide what their father had made of them. Only one Necklace of the Impostor existed, so Zar'Keth built a second vessel from conjured metal and the rattles of the dead boy's spear. Warwick folded mirror magic around it, Aedric contained the surging leyline power, and Sorina poured herself into the ritual until she was nearly spent. The spectral claw of Vespera, the being imprisoned within the sisters, rose above their joined hands. In a brilliant flash, the necklace duplicated. For the first time, both sisters could return to the city of their birth disguised as human, neither forced to face it alone.

Flying low toward Ardenvale on draconic mounts, the Flarebound were suddenly dragged through the canopy. A colossal hooded hydra rose from the forest, its cobra-like necks joined to one hidden body. Its enchanted scales reflected magic, sending Zar'Keth's own power crashing back into him. Broj cleaved off a head, only for two more to grow, so he seized another by the throat and killed it with a savage headbutt. Warwick's mirror images turned against him, his own scorching rays burning his face and chest. Sorina reached spectral hands through the monster's scales and squeezed one of its many hearts. Sinora marked the beast for death and severed a neck with all the fury a tiefling could muster.

The hydra overwhelmed them. Broj was crushed nearly unconscious, but Sinora fought through the fangs to force a healing draught into him. Sorina raised Nymis's staff and sent healing across the battlefield, restoring her battered friends. Zar'Keth twisted his own body into a weapon, growing a painful, spiked draconic tail. Still the heads regenerated, and every victory gave the monster more mouths.

Aedric made a desperate choice. He drove two attunement rods, each bound to a different plane, beneath the hydra's scales and flooded them with leyline power. Reality tore in opposite directions. The hydra split through every neck and collapsed into nothing — but Aedric vanished with it.

Without hesitation, Warwick dove into the ruptured leylines after his friend. He landed in a world of smoke and flame where the ground burned his hands and every breath scorched his lungs. Unable to find Aedric, he clawed his way home. Aedric awakened elsewhere, on a tiny barren patch of earth beneath the shadow of a dragon so enormous its body disappeared into the clouds — an island adrift among them.

The others waited in the bloodstained jungle beneath a motionless sun, then withdrew to the training grounds at Wyrmhollow. Nearly two days later, Warwick fell back among them still burning, though only a minute had passed for him. Sorina and Sinora extinguished the flames and bandaged his ruined hands. He insisted he was fine, but Sinora commanded him to rest, refusing to lose another friend to pride.

For three days they waited. When Warwick tried to contact Aedric, the spell found nothing and violently recoiled, leaving blood running from his ear. Sinora sought the familiar fortress of Aedric's mind but found only the scent of tobacco and an empty vision. Fearing him dead or lost beyond all known worlds, they carved a dated message into stone: they had returned to Eldraine, and he should follow if he survived.

Ardenvale still suffered beneath the crystal dome. Jebediah and the Patron Saint still waited inside. Grieving but unable to abandon their mission, Warwick, Broj, Zar'Keth, Sorina, and Sinora continued toward home without Aedric.

Far away, and out of time, Aedric finally emerged before a vast funeral pyre surrounded by the mourning Kin and Cord. Told that his companions had searched for him three days earlier, he approached the flames, rang the Bell of Restful Sleep twice for the dead, and threw it into the fire. Yellow and purple smoke rose as the bell melted. Alone but not defeated, Aedric turned toward Ardenvale and realmstrode again, chasing the Flarebound toward the ending the Patron Saint had prepared for them.

⚔️ Key Events

• Eldraine's Saturated Leylines: Zar'Keth discovers the attunement rods are already fully imbued, as though Eldraine itself filled every empty space before the party arrived — a sign the plane itself feels wrong.
• The Feral Rider: A spear from the darkness wounds Aedric. Broj hurls it back with fatal precision, killing a feral thirteen-year-old boy with filed fangs and a bear-skin cloak, riding a beast that vanishes into the jungle — another childhood story twisted into murder.
• The Second Necklace: Zar'Keth, Warwick, Aedric, and Sorina combine their skills to duplicate the Necklace of the Impostor, letting both Sorina and Sinora disguise themselves as human before entering Ardenvale.
• The Hooded Hydra: Flying low toward Ardenvale, the party is dragged from their mounts by a colossal, magic-reflecting hydra. A brutal, regenerating battle follows as every severed head grows back new ones.
• Aedric's Gambit: Aedric drives two attunement rods bound to different planes into the hydra and floods them with leyline power, tearing the creature apart between realities — and vanishing with it.
• Warwick's Pursuit: Warwick dives into the ruptured leylines after Aedric, landing in a world of smoke and flame that burns his hands and lungs before he claws his way back home.
• Aedric, Lost Between Worlds: Aedric awakens on a tiny barren patch of earth beneath the shadow of an impossibly colossal dragon, an island adrift far from any leyline he recognizes.
• The Long Wait: The party waits three days at Wyrmhollow's training grounds. A Sending spell recoils violently against Warwick, and Sinora's attempt to reach Aedric's mind finds only an empty vision and the scent of tobacco.
• Moving On Without Him: Fearing Aedric dead or lost beyond all known worlds, the Flarebound carve a dated message into stone and return to Eldraine without him, unable to abandon Ardenvale any longer.
• Aedric's Farewell: Aedric emerges before a funeral pyre among the mourning Kin and Cord, rings the Bell of Restful Sleep twice for the dead, and casts it into the flames before realmstriding once more to chase the Flarebound home.

⚔️ Combat Encounters

👥 NPCs Encountered

🔍 Important Discoveries

💰 Loot & Rewards

• Duplicate Necklace of the Impostor: Forged from conjured metal and the rattles of the dead boy's spear, giving Sinora her own means to disguise herself as human.
• Bear-Skin Cloak: Taken from the feral boy rider and kept by Aedric.
• Rattling Spear: The boy's own weapon, carried afterward by Broj.
• The Bell of Restful Sleep: Rung twice by Aedric for the dead and given to the flames of a distant funeral pyre — a loss rather than a gain, but one paid in respect.

✨ Character Moments

🖼️ Session Images

📝 DM Notes

This session was built to physically separate the party for the first time, testing how the table would handle losing its most tactical player mid-arc. The hooded hydra was designed as an unwinnable war of attrition specifically to justify Aedric's drastic, plane-tearing solution. His disappearance and Warwick's failed rescue were left deliberately costly — burned hands, a recoiling Sending spell, three days lost — so the reunion (whenever it comes) will feel earned. The funeral pyre and Bell of Restful Sleep were a chance to give Aedric his own quiet, solitary beat away from the rest of the table before he starts racing to catch back up.

🎭 Looking Ahead