The party confronted Lucien Drekanov in a brutal aerial battle within the shattered great hall of Drekanov Manor. After retreating into the Verdant Nexus Prism to regroup, they returned to finish Lucien, only for the first dragon to roar into the world, shattering the hall and the manor itself. Bogdan was transformed into the Avatar of Radiance, and the party began their first desperate battle against the dragon and its shardborn echoes.

The session opened with Lucien’s disembodied voice taunting the party while the proto-dragon stirred in the chapel. Lucien eventually revealed himself, suspended in the air and hurling powerful spells. Much of the fight focused on bringing him down from the sky, while he pressed his advantage with devastating magic supported by balcony cultists and fleeing laboratory scientists. Several party members were knocked unconscious and revived multiple times, significantly draining the group's resources.

As the fight against Lucien raged, the dragon’s roar split the air and shook the manor to its foundations. The shardstorm outside surged, shattering the great stained-glass windows of the hall in a rain of emerald shards. The ground trembled and the manor began to fracture as the beast’s presence grew, signaling the imminent birth of a global threat.

With Lucien preparing to execute Carl, the party activated the Verdant Nexus Prism. Inside the pocket dimension, the group took a long rest, identified items, and discussed strategy. During this time, Bogdan’s patron spoke for the first time, urging him to endure for a light that would rise to counter the darkness. Upon returning to the manor, the group suffered the Prism’s side effect: ravenous hunger and disadvantage on Constitution saves until a large meal could be consumed.

The party reappeared directly behind Lucien just as he unleashed a devastating spell into the empty air where they had previously stood. Seizing the opening, Thorun struck from behind with his Emerald Rift Glaive, beheading Lucien Drekanov and ending his reign of terror over the hall.

With Lucien slain, the dragon was fully born into the world, tearing through the chapel and filling the sky with its shardstorm. Each party member was gripped with fear as the enormity of the threat became clear; the beast was a force of nature unlike anything they had faced before.

In response to the dragon's arrival, Bogdan was engulfed in radiant energy and lifted into the air, transforming into the first Avatar of Radiance. As the divine counterforce to the dragon, he engaged the beast while the rest of the party found their attacks doing negligible damage. Both the proto-dragon and the Avatar showed signs of instability, unleashing unpredictable area effects across the battlefield. The dragon twice split itself into “shard-born echoes”—shade-like fragments of its form. While Bogdan destroyed one with a well-timed Hellish Rebuke, the echoes proved formidable.

The session concluded after two full rounds of combat with the manor collapsing around the party. Though Lucien is dead, the dragon remains alive and the battle for survival continues amidst the fracturing ruins of the hall. The party has been warned that their survival in this historic confrontation will depend entirely on tactical precision.