We were the Disruptors, champions of the day.

Live session 26 January 2025

Jaf’ar

“Where… Where am I?” I think to myself as I stand in the middle of a hallway. It looks eerily familiar, but I can’t quite place it. At the end of the hall I see someone running towards me. A human. He looks familiar as well, but I still can’t place him. He’s getting closer and closer. I try to cast some light to see him better, but my magic doesn’t seem to work. He”s so close now and not stopping! He’s going to run me over, I brace myself. He walks right through me, to my surprise, and runs around the corner behind me. I follow him and come to a familiar sight. This is the central garden of Candlekeep. Offcourse he looked familiar, as he is me! I see myself running towards another familiar person, my mentor at the time. Hilather, as he was back then. My mentor and love of my life. This is when I was young, a memory of a different life…

“Those were the good times, weren’t they, my old friend?” I hear from behind me. I don’t even have to turn around, I know this voice. It is Halaster, sounding a bit more sane then I have heard him in a long time, but still having that edge.

The last thing I remember is that I stopped time with that scroll of his and then destroyed the scroll. It seemed to have some effect. “You shouldn’t have destroyed the scroll, Jaf’ar. You destroyed time. As we speak, the gods are working to put everything back together again.” Halaster continued. “I am inevitable. We have been through this an uncountable amount of times, it never changes”.

“Why does this all have to happen? Why do you have to destroy Waterdeep?” I ask him in return. “It was all your fault, you started everything” Halaster replies, trapped in his madness. “The people of Waterdeep are better for it. I’ve seen their lives, all the corruption, it is for the best. You are the one that made this happen”.

I don’t think I will ever understand the madness of Halaster, and I have tried. The vision in front of us changes. I see my ‘betrayel’, as Halaster calls it. I see the same garden, a few years later, Hilather and me… I see myself pleading to Hilather to stop his work in Waterdeep, which was just a small village at the time. I see that it is changing him, but Hilather isn’t listening. “Don’t you see the magic it gives us, the new things to discover? The power?!” he asks me in the vision. The first sparks of madness are already coming over him. I already see a little bit of Halaster in Hilather. The beginning of the end. The more I plead, the angrier Hilather gets, until he attacks me… I defend myself to the best of my ability and it turns into a full on mage battle.

The fight is quite even, but my love for him is holding me back. He overwhelms me in the end and uses a powerful spell to turn me in a turtle. Two things have changed here: I will start my new live as a turtle, growing into who I am today, and Halaster is born. His madness shows even more as he plays with me in turtle form and laughing…

“As you see, you started it”, Halaster tells me again. His version of events. “What now?…” I ask him. “The gods fix everything, Waterdeep is destroyed and kill me and my friends?”. Halaster laughs; “your friends? I wish you could see their inevitable betrayal. It always ends the same”. I look at him; “Can’t we just go back? You and me? Leave everyone and everyone alone and just be together?”. “It is to late” Halaster replies. “Never”. Halaster looks a little confused by this, I see a little of his old self return to his eyes.

I try to manifest my old form as I take a step towards Halaster, and it works. Halaster’s eyes light up as he also manifests his old form. An opening, who knows, maybe it is not to late… I walk towards Halaster and kiss him as time around us starts moving forwards again. Faster and faster. As our lips stop touching, his hands keep holding mine. “I have not been completely honest to you, Jaf’ar…” he says, “I wasn’t on the same plane as you all were at the time of destroying the scroll…”. I see his form crumble a little. “I won’t be returned as you will. I was wrong… I’m am not forever. I am not unending…”. He crumbles more and more. “What is happening?! Don’t go!” I ask/tell him. “You are though. Your curse was also a blessing it seems. You can take over, finish everything and more. You can become the very definition of magic. Take this final gift from me…” I cry as I hear him say this. I feel his power flowing through his hands into my body as his body crumbles more and more. “Goodbye Jaf’ar” are his last words, as I give him mine; “As long as you are in my memory, you will never die, you are unending!”. The world around us fades, as his body crumbles completely. The last I see is a smile and a tear as I return to my own time. Time still stopped, but slowly returning to the normal speed. I take this time to try and hurl the comet away, accidentally destroying it completely, not realising my new powers. I see now… All around. As I look at myself I see I have all Halasters stuff on me. I… Am… The new ruler of Undermountain…

Gwen

We’re all scrambling to escape the asteroid’s impact on the planet.

Then, I see him—no, not Halaster. It’s JAF’AR, dressed in Halaster’s robes, gripping that staff, the one we all know too well. He raises it, and when it strikes the meteorite—

It explodes.

I feel it before I understand it. Falling.

Crap.

Shards of stone rip through space, slamming into us. A fiery rain follows us all the way down.

Calyx, Farryn, and I cling to Saffron as we plummet toward Waterdeep.

When we land, the city is chaos. One building catches my eye—it’s drenched in blood. And there, standing in the carnage, is Scarecrow. He’s still up, barely, his body slick with crimson.

Malik saved him. But now, Malik is nothing more than a splatter across the wall.

The city is in full-blown panic.

The City Watch is mobilizing.

And we’re right in the middle of it.

Farryn collapses to his knees, utterly drained from the weight of everything that’s happened. He’s barely holding it together, his energy spent.

Patience doesn’t hesitate. She sits down beside him, giving him a shove. “This is not the time,” he snaps, urgency in his voice.

Scarecrow steps forward, his calm presence working to ground Farryn, helping him regain some composure.

Meanwhile, Saffron looms over the street, her massive form nearly spilling into it. Magma drips from her scales, sizzling on the stones below.

I reach out, gently petting her, my mind racing. There’s no way I can shield her from all the curious eyes watching us.

Farryn and Calyx step away, trying to put some distance between themselves and the chaos.

Jaf’ar, standing next to me, raises a hand. With a whisper of magic, Saffron vanishes from sight—her form now invisible, hidden from the prying gazes of the city.

I glance at him, a question burning in my mind. “How did you get that?”

He looks down at the cloak he’s wearing—the unmistakable dark fabric of Halaster’s robes with the eyes on it—and the staff he holds.

“Loot,” he shrugs, his voice casual.

Farryn approaches us, his footsteps slow. He looks at me with a serious expression. “You’ll have to tell the story of your greatness yourselves,” he says, his tone heavy.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he removes his ring of the Golden Cauldron and hands it to me. “This is for you,” he says quietly. “You’ll get the ranks I promised, in thanks for your service.” 

He passes me the ring, and then pulls out a few items from his pockets: the contract, which he hands to Patience, and a small stuffed teddy bear, which he offers to Scarecrow. He apologizes for not finding a way to break the contract, nor finding Sienna whom the teddy bear belonged to. 

Without another word, Farryn walks away, Calyx at his side. Together, they step through a portal, disappearing from sight. I try to push back my tears, but my attempts are futile. Farryn Flamel, my hero, my idol, is gone. He is going with Calyx, and I don’t know where to, but I know I’ll probably never see him again. 

Jaf’ar shifts his attention to Malik. With a quiet incantation, he reincarnates Malik, his form flickering briefly before fading entirely. Somewhere, Jaf’ar assures us, Malik is reborn. 

But there’s no magic strong enough to turn back time for Patience. She hands the contract to Jaf’ar. “Maybe you can check it,” she suggests softly.

Jaf’ar nods, making it clear that he will prioritize it—but his eyes gleam with a different goal in mind. “Undermountain,” he says, the name carrying weight.

He turns to me. “Will you come with me to set things right in Undermountain?” His question lingers in the air.

I hesitate, thoughts pulling me in different directions. “I want to take Saffron to my birth village,” I say slowly, feeling the pull of home. “Show her to the people there. Once I’ve done that, I’ll catch up with you.”

Jaf’ar doesn’t push. With a knowing nod, he acknowledges my choice. The journey to Undermountain waits—but for now, there’s a different road ahead.

Cross departs with Jaf’ar, intent on meeting his grandfather. He will return to the Temple of Selûne later, but for now, his path lies elsewhere. Patience goes with them, to help Jaf’ar run Undermountain.

As for me—Gwen—I make my way to the Golden Cauldron, ready to step into the role Farryn Flamel once held. But first, there’s something I need to do. Before I take on his work, before I help Jaf’ar reclaim Undermountain, I have to go home.

With Saffron beneath me, I take to the skies, soaring toward my village. Our bond is unshakable, and I can feel the warmth of her power thrumming through her scales.

The heat of her molten form leaves a fiery trail in our wake. Magma drips as we pass, setting patches of land ablaze. I guide her carefully, steering clear of villages to keep the destruction to a minimum.

When I finally arrive, the sight is almost surreal. No one ever expected me to return.

And yet, here I am.

I come bearing the greatest of stories—tales of saving the world, of standing at the center of the cataclysmic explosion they all saw in the sky. I was there.

I see my old schoolmates staring, eyes wide with shock and envy. Their gazes flicker between me and Saffron, my dragon, my companion, my proof of the impossible.

For a while, I let myself bask in the moment. I share what I can, revel in the wonder of home.

But I don’t linger forever.

Eventually, I turn Saffron toward Waterdeep once more. There’s work to be done.

Farryn’s work.

My work now.

The Years That Follow

Time moves forward, and so do we.

I ensure that a statue of the Disruptors stands tall—a monument to what we accomplished, to the battles we fought, and to the price we paid.

For a while, I serve as an investigator for the Golden Cauldron. I uncover secrets, chase whispers, and walk the fine line between truth and deception. At the same time, I aid Jaf’ar in Undermountain, helping him reclaim the vast depths and impose order on the chaos left behind.

But as the years pass, something shifts.

Farryn fades from memory. Five years, and still, he has never returned. His name, once a legend, is now a shadow barely spoken. Someone within the Golden Cauldron is ensuring that his legacy is erased. His history is being rewritten—diminished, twisted, made to disappear.

I dig deeper. I investigate from the shadows. But the more I uncover, the more I realize how deep the rot goes.

So, I step away.

The Golden Cauldron, once a place of purpose, now feels suffocating. I refuse to be part of something that buries its own past.

And then, Patience comes to me with an offer.

A war in Hell.

The choice is clear.

DISRUPTORS RELOADED.

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