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Dunmari Frontier - Session 125

Return to Chardon: in which the party confronts suspicion and seeds revolution

Featuring: Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby
In Taelgar: Jun 27, 1749 DR
On Earth: Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Location: Chardon

The party returns to a riot-torn Chardon, connects with resistance leaders, and undergoes a tense interrogation.

Session Info

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship, leaving Seeker behind on Vindristjarna, covertly re-enters crisis-stricken Chardon using shapeshifting magic, observing severe damage, martial law, and a fractured power structure after Fausto’s downfall.
  • They reconnect with Kenzo’s old friend Xavier, learning firsthand of famine and chaos, and share hospitality with his struggling family in the slums.
  • At the The Cackling Swan tavern, the party meets resistance leaders Andros, Orsino, and Red, mediates heated debate over destroying chalyte refineries, and guides them toward organized, peaceful change.
  • Delwath’s magical lynx delivers a letter from Tiberius, the Windcaller of the naval ship Auratan’s Pride. The party approaches his ship as seagulls but is immediately trapped in a powerful magical cage upon revealing themselves.
  • Tiberius interrogates the group, pressing for proof they are not clone imposters or servants of Fausto, amid rising distrust over magical disasters and lost artifacts.
  • The companions ultimately agree to temporarily surrender their magic items and undergo psychic inspection to prove their intentions, convincing Tiberius of their honesty and gaining his guarded support.
  • Tiberius shares critical insights on Chardon’s chalyte politics and factions, warning of corruption and advising the party on negotiating with the city’s ruler.

Timeline

Narrative

Stories of the Freed Prisoners of the Cleansed opens the session.

We begin on Vindristjarna, seventy miles from Chardon, as the party contemplated their arrival in Chardon, given that Delwath and Kenzo still had prices on their heads, accused of causing the Pandemonium Incursion in Chardon. Seeker, busy with research on the Elemental Plane of Fire, used his powerful transformation magic to turn Delwath, Wellby, and Kenzo, as well as a simulacrum of Seeker for support should it be needed, into inconspicuous birds.

As shapeshifted birds, the group flew over Chardon, scouting the North Bank. They surveyed the scorched Chalyte Levels, the slums where Kenzo grew up, and the collapsed and burning Riverside Quarter and the adjacent refineries of the Basin, all showing signs of recent unrest. Soaring over the South Bank, they noted the disturbance seems to be – at least now – largely limited to north of the Chasa, although the party-as-seagulls does note that Fausto’s Tower seems to have been entered, explored, and is now guarded closely.

Landing near the Foundry Market, the party shed their avian forms in a narrow alley; Kenzo then guided them to the cramped apartment of his old associate, Xavier. Inside the single-room dwelling, the party was greeted by Xavier’s weary mother Francisca and his undernourished sister Adina. Xavier, a sturdy brawler, seemed taken aback by Kenzo’s return, remarking on the strangeness and fortune of his journey. The party offered warmth and food, with Delwath conjuring ingredients for a simple, aromatic meal from his magical supplies. As they ate, conversation turned to the recent riots and troubles. Xavier recounted the fighting, and futility that had set in among the Eightfold Flame as all the leaders of the resistance seem to have vanished all at once.

Amid shared stories and humble hospitality, Adina expressed curiosity for the wider world, eager to her about far-off adventures, which Delwath happily supplied, telling of distant lands and dragons slain. As the afternoon worn on, the party made plans to meet Xavier’s friend Andros, who was more deeply involved in the Eightfold Flame. Before departing, Delwath sent his magical lynx to bring a message to the Magistros, asking to speak about recent events.

That evening, Kenzo, Delwath, and Wellby, accompanied by Xavier, entered The Cackling Swan tavern to meet Andros. Their presence drew immediate attention; the room fell silent in awe and wonder at this strange, powerful travelers, as they made their way to a table where Andros, a well-known, broad-shouldered worker with a burn-scarred arm, met with two associates: Orsino, a rugged, scarred laborer who informally organized day workers, and Red, a fiery-haired crane operator who spoke for the barricaded workers.

After brief introductions, Kenzo expressed their intent to support the resistance and asked about the local situation and needs. Red responded with urgency, proclaiming that with the visitors’ power, they could finally destroy the chalyte refineries—a proposal Orsino pushed back against, fearing for livelihoods tied to the refineries’ operation. Kenzo steered the conversation to long-term solutions, encouraging the group to consider not just rebellion, but the creation of structures—unions or guilds—that could shift power into workers’ hands for generations.The conversation revealed fragmentation among the resistance: leaders were few, and while Red commanded trust among the crane workers, broader organization was lacking. Kenzo and his companions counseled these leaders to begin organizing, identifying trusted figures from each sector in preparation for larger negotiations. As the evening closed, Andros quietly asked for guidance, fearing that unrestrained violence would follow if clear alternatives were not presented. Kenzo affirmed their support, promising help and urging them to plan not just for the uprising, but for the future afterward.

At this moment, a silvery lynx strode into the busy tavern, halting conversation as it delivered a sealed letter. The party accepted the message, which invited them to meet aboard the Auratan’s Pride, a ship in the Chardonian navy anchored in harbor, to prove their intentions to Tiberius, a Windcaller and ally to the Magistros. The party quickly organized to leave and meet Tiberius, but with the lynx returned, Delwath first sent a short letter to Marius Cusico, the general of the Chardonian Legion who had recently been freed from the control of the Crown of Purity, offering guidance and emotional support from others who shared similar experiences.

Eager to reach the Auratan’s Pride, the party avoided local ferrymen and instead assumed the shapes of seagulls, descending upon the warship from above before reverting to their true forms on the deck. There, they drew the immediate attention of the crew. A tall, commanding figure—Tiberius —stood ready near the mast, gripping a staff topped with sapphire. The instant the party revealed themselves, Tiberius raised his staff, invoking a spell. Delwath attempted a countermeasure, but Tiberius’s will held firm and the spell persisted. Instantly, a twenty-foot shimmering cage of force enclosed the group. Despite the magical barrier, the party remained composed, seeking to negotiate with Tiberius and establish terms of trust.

Tiberius, sent by Mitus Verina Auratan to establish the truth of Delwath and Kenzo’s role in the Pandemonium Incursion in Chardon, and whether these individuals are indeed the true Delwath or Kenzo, or might be additional clones under the control of Fausto or working with the The Cleansed, begins his interrogation. Recognizing the suspicion and the difficulty of the situation, Delwath and Kenzo explained their history with the clones and the defeat of Fausto and Apollyon, whose influence had long corrupted Chardon. While being circumspect about the current location and fate of the Crown of Purity, the party sought to reassure Tiberius of their intentions.

Unconvinced and cautious, Tiberius suggested moving the ship outside city waters for increased safety, empowered by his magical command of wind, and anxious to ensure none among the group were servants or successors to Fausto. After some discussion, the party agreed to submit to Tiberius’s precautions. They removed and deposited their magical items for inspection and assented to a psychic reading of their intentions and histories. Tiberius questioned each in turn about their connection to Fausto, searching for evidence of treachery or hidden allegiance. The party, with care and candor, made clear that Fausto had deceived them as he had deceived so many, and that they had acted in opposition to his designs—enduring betrayal themselves before ultimately defeating him in combat.

Satisfied and relieved, Tiberius promised to arrange a meeting with the Magistros, warning the party that he was currently angry with the University of Chardon and the Society of the Open Scroll for missing Fausto’s rise to power and the inflitration of the Hetaeri Magica by The Cleansed. He also shared his perspective on the tangled politics of chalyte, describing the Windcallers, the Hetaeri Magica, and the Chalyte Oligarchs of Chardon. We end as the group split up for the evening, with Delwath and Kenzo remaining on the Auratan’s Pride, while Wellby returned to Chardon to find a halfling inn for news.