The first Mirror Realm visit
A birthday interrupted
The Hero and Twig were helping get Battleon ready for its second birthday when two strangers interrupted the preparations. Paul and Storm introduced themselves as bards who traveled between dimensions. A hero from the Mirror Realm had sent them to find this world’s greatest hero and bring them back.
The Hero agreed to help before the bards had finished explaining the stakes. Paul and Storm swept them off to the Mirror Realm. Their request to bring the cake along went unfulfilled.
Battleoff and its champion
The bards brought the Hero to Battleoff, where even the town’s name ran backward. When Drakath appeared, the Hero braced for a fight. Paul and Storm explained that Drakath was the champion who had sent for them.
Drakath said King Alteon the Imbalanced had seized the throne from his father when he was a boy. The tyrant’s undead army had taken Gravelyn the Good prisoner, and Alteon had since captured the Lords of Order. Drakath had escaped, but he could scarcely hold the remaining free lands by himself and needed someone to reach the prisoners.
Why the Hero could cross
Paul and Storm explained that the Hero had no counterpart in the Mirror Realm. A traveler with a reflection would have to trade places with that reflection, but the Hero could arrive without a swap. Drakath said that meant Alteon would never see the Hero coming. Paul and Storm said they came from outside the multiverse altogether.
Alteon planned to use the captured Lords of Order to tear open reality and flood the Mirror Realm with raw Chaos. According to Drakath, destroying this world would set the Hero’s world unraveling too. With both worlds at risk, the Hero agreed to take on the rescue while Drakath held the front.
A spell for the shadow prison
Warlic and his allies had studied Alteon’s shadow magic and found a spell in Cysero’s library that might free the Lords of Order. The Hero suggested the sort of eccentric invention they knew from home. Cysero brought the conversation back to the spell, which called for three powerful objects.
Drakath put his faith in the Hero and asked Paul and Storm to help. Their first stop was Lightovia to ask its ruler Safiria for the Crown of Blood.
Safiria’s Crown of Blood
The Hero was still adjusting to the Mirror Realm when they met Safiria. In this world she was Queen of the Werewolves, and she took offense at the suggestion that she would side with vampires. She said she had taken her Crown of Blood from the Vampire King Constantin after defeating him.
Safiria said that many had sought the crown, and the Hero was the first to ask her for it. The Hero explained that it might help stop Alteon from destroying the world. Safiria insisted that the Hero earn it in battle. By the time the party was ready to seek the last object, the crown was on their list of completed tasks.
The Nugget Man’s feather
Drakath was still needed on the front when the Hero and the bards went looking for the second object. The bards described the Nugget Man as a farmer who had found a way to infect his chickens with Chaos. He used the Platinum Feather to control his army of chaotic chickens.
Paul and Storm promised to explain the rest in song. The Hero came away with the feather. With two ingredients secured, the party met up again with a worn-out Drakath, who still believed their worlds could survive if the Hero finished the spell.
Skullcrusher Mountain
The last object was the Shadowreaper of Doom, held by Alteon’s greatest champion. In the Hero’s world, Artix fought the undead. Here, an undead DoomPaladin named Artix commanded the tyrant’s army. The Hero would have to go to Alteon’s secret lair on Skullcrusher Mountain.
Paul and Storm backed out of the climb, citing chores and a gig. They promised that their friend Jonathan Coulton would meet the Hero there to help.
The prisoners go free
The Hero faced the undead DoomPaladin in the lair. With the armored champion down, Drakath urged the Hero to break the spell holding his friends. Wolfwing declared that they were free. Escherion said he had expected Drakath to find a way to save them, and Vath realized Drakath had recruited help. Alteon appeared in the hall after their release.
Drakath thanked the Hero for the rescue. The Hero was ready to go home, where their own world still needed saving from a different Drakath. Paul offered the Hero a ticket whenever the bards played in their dimension. The Hero told them to call if they ever needed help.
Back in Battleon
Back at the birthday party, the Hero hoped someone had saved a slice. Twig was sprawled on the platter next to what was left of the cake. The story of Undead Artix was already giving their own Artix something to think about.
Artix was jealous that he had missed the chance to fight his own undead counterpart. The birthday story closed with thanks to the players for another year of adventuring.