Inner Demons

*Inner Demons* is the title of the first episode of the fifth season of S.H.A.D.O.W. and the forty ninth session of the entire game.

This session was played on April 14th, 2019

## Inner Demons

### Writer

Jonny Christie, Matt Christie, Richie Maynard, Eric Rios, Corey Sexton

## Plot

The Demon Sachayoj begins his conquest of Eris.

## Synopsis

*The Vale. A gorgeous forest. Standing before it is a black mass. Things are being infected by the second. Standing in the blackness is Sachayoj. Across from him is the queen Persephone. His horsemen step up behind him. Her army steps up behind her. The battle begins heavily in Sachayoj’s favor. It is down to her as everything dies around her. She tosses her staff into the clouds, far away. He steps up to her as the last tree gets corrupted. There is a brief moment of a young Aguero covering his eyes in a black liquid.*

 The party is still in the midst of terror from their interaction with S.W.A.R.M. and the death of their allies. They finally break their chains and Darrow picks up Amelia. Lara asks him what he’s doing and he tells her he is going to build a pyre for her. Lara reminds him there are three bodies as she picks up baby Gris. He tells Grekkus and Sirobe to grab the others and follow him. Mort is petrified, just looking at Vida and snaps at Sirobe when he goes for his wife. Lara gets down to his level and shows him his daughter. He then stands up and walks out. The rest build the pyre and burn the bodies. The meeting of the Saints commences. Sitting is Saint Hylophagous and his brother Saint Ibis. Standing behind H is Phylyco and Mal. Saint Wroth and his minion enter and he immediately makes claim to Opia’s territory. Hylophagous is reasonably against this. Ibis stays out of it. As the two argue another portal opens and a much younger female Tiefling woman enters the room. She greets her Uncles and it’s revealed that she is the daughter of the late Saint Opia. With her appearance, none of the others have a stance so they end the meeting. Hylophagous stresses to his niece that should she retaliate for her mother, he won’t hesitate to send Phylyco after her. He leaves with Mal leaving only Phylyco and Elbije. He compliments her ring and she tells him off before leaving. He waits for a moment before she reappears and they make-out.

One Month later the party arrives back at Aethel. They realize there are no guards and it is too quiet. Lara sends Sirobe and Locus in to scout the city. It is destroyed. There are black-thorned branches all over the desolation. Locus finds Phylyco and Mal and gets the other to them. Phylyco leads the team to the STG House where the Saint has been staying while they deal with the issue at hand, Sachayoj. Darrow, who was not with the group in Aethel, arrives at a church. There are S.H.A.D.O.W. members there, guarding the children for Amelia. Ali is in charge and asks why the barbarian is there with what is going on in Aethel. He tells her his plan to spread Amelia’s ashes and take the children but before she can argue he asks her what’s happening in Aethel. Meanwhile in Maeurt, Sachayoj arrives. Standing before him is a group of Paladins led by Arcos Emberstorm. They fight him as best they can but he is too great. Phylyco has decided to take the fight to the spriggan immediately. Grekkus asks if they are going to even acknowledge Wroth but Hylophagous reminds him that this is a much more pressing matter. So, they build a small team led by Phylyco to hunt the demon consisting of Locus, Grekkus, and Mal. Darrow decides to also head in the direction, leaving Ali to care for the children. Arcos and a few paladins still stand, having done their best to allow most of the citizens escape. Rather than kill them however, Sachayoj takes them into his corrupted army.

Darrow is racing towards the border. He remembers the ashes and rears the horse, falling off. He begins to have a bit of a panic attack and pulls his sword out. He ignites it and begins swinging at nothing, and the trees cry. Things begin to burn and Darrow notices a brief moment of a phoenix in the flames with the word “home”. He tosses the sword towards it. In his heavy breaths he puts out the flames, picks up his sword, gets on his horse and keeps riding. The strike team arrives in Maeurt. They immediately begin to look for Sachayoj and run into Arcos. Mal and Grekkus deal with him as the other two continue to look for the demon. They find him, walking across the Gladelake. The two tanks waste no time dealing with the fallen paladin and head in the direction of the carnage. Phylyco and Locus are fighting Sachayoj and doing a pretty fair job. The demon decides to abandon his original path and heads back to the coast. They continue to fight and Sachayoj removes the shell from Aguero, leaving the man on the beach and for the first time having a body of his own, kind of.

Darrow arrives at his location, a building of red stone with two guards. A young boy greets him, it is his youngest brother, Ike. They both enter the Crimson Keep. Grekkus and Mal arrive at the Gladelake. Mal immediately checks on the unconscious Aguero as Phylyco continues to fight Sachayoj. They all prepare to fight the spriggan but Mal catches on immediately that physical attacks wont work so he shoulder checks the opponent into the water, hoping the current will drag him under. The body is taken but a black smoke emits from it heading in their direction. Phylyco grabs Aguero and runs, the others following suit. The smoke cannot catch up to its vessel so it connects to the next available thing, the body of Arcos.

## Cast

### Main

* Phylyco Brokenwhisper
* Lara Youngheart
* Aguero Cryhawk
* Mal Bloodjaw
* Sirobe
* Locus Fochuckl
* Darrow Emberstorm
* Grekkus Raisir
* Saint Hylophagous

### Special Guest

* Elatherial Ebonscar
* Calapharious Ebonscar
* Amelia Retter

### Supporting

* The Demon Sachayoj
* Persephone
* Mort Soulspark
* Gris Soulspark
* Elbije
* Gregory
* Alidiana Pegason
* Arcos Emberstorm

### Guest

* Darrin Pacsis
* Thoen Dagarkin
* Hayvard Ximer
* Vida Soulspark
* Saint Ibis
* Saint Wroth
* Amarel Jenella

## Trivia

* Season 5 Premiere.
* This session reveals that Sachayoj began his take over with the Ebonscars and Pachosis as his horsemen.
* Elatherial and Calapharious Ebonscar return in a brief cameo during the opening flashback.
* Amelia Retter, Hayvard Ximer, and Vida Soulspark return as corpses for the beginning of this episode.