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Dunmari Frontier - Session 128

Dhurkmir’s Fall: in which the party shatters a chalyte death ray

Featuring: Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby, Seeker
In Taelgar: Jul 04, 1749 DR to Jul 05, 1749 DR
On Earth: Thursday Jul 31, 2025
Location: Ulgrathar

The party infiltrates Dhrukmir’s tower, destroys the deadly death ray, and defeats the colossal chalyte giant, Dhrukmir Skybreaker.

Session Info

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship teleports into the lightning-chained tower housing Dhrukmir’s chalyte death ray, overcoming vigilant stone giant guards amidst deafening lightning; during the battle an animated chalyte husk of a stone giant petrified Delwath.
  • Seeker uses a Wish spell to restore Delwath, while Kenzo and Wellby scout below, finding an empty living quarters with detailed murals and runes depicting the creation of the death ray around a massive polished chalyte mirror.
  • In the control room, the party fights a chalyte sorcerer giant while Kenzo and the Ladder enter the lightning pillar and destroy the chalyte mirror, causing a magical explosion and the tower’s catastrophic collapse.
  • Amidst the chaos, the party rescued a chained giant prisoner and escaped the collapsing tower using a variety of magic.
  • From the mines below, the 70-foot tall form of Dhrukmir emerged, armored in chaylte crystal, sparking a brutal final battle in which the party, aided by magic and summoned creatures, ultimately slew the giant despite Kenzo being nearly killed.
  • With their foes defeated and allies scattered, the party regrouped, battered but alive, amidst the ruins of the giants’s settlement and the crashed tower.

Timeline

  • Jul 04, 1749 DR, evening: Rest on Vindristjarna and plan for the attack the following morning.
  • Jul 05, 1749 DR, morning: Teleport to Dhrukmir’s Lightning Tower, defeat the stone giant and chalyte guards; descend into the tower and destroy the chalyte mirror powering the lightning chains holding it up; flee the falling tower; face and defeat the 70-foot tall giant Dhrukmir and his chalyte weapons.

Narrative

Our session begins on Vindristjarna, as the Dunmar Fellowship gathered at dawn on the deck of Vindristjarna, preparing to assault Dhrukmir’s lightning tower that houses a chalyte death ray. After yesterday’s parlay with Brunnar, a disaffected stone giant, the group had gleaned critical details: Dhrukmir Skybreaker, the colossus ruling this valley, drew his power from chaylte; his death ray, powered by the lightning pillars holding up the floating tower, disintegrated intruders before they could approach the mine below. Octavia Antussus and Tristan Brighteyes, allies of the Magistros with the party on Vindristjarna, prepared for the day’s events: Octavia would take command of the legion in Argento when the death ray was destroyed, while Tristan prepared to relay updates to the Magistros via his Windcaller magic.

With preparations settled, Seeker’s magic shifted the party through space. Their arrival was precise, thanks to Seeker’s practiced hand, still having never failed to bring the party to their goal via his Teleportation magic. The party arrived in a vast, thunder-racked chamber. The place shook constantly from a huge pillar of lightning that dominated the center of the room, its thunder deafening and disorienting. They spotted two stone Giants posted on opposite balconies, distracted and facing outward. Giant statues inlaid with glowing purple veins, possibly chalyte, stood nearby. A ladder led to the roof, and stairs descended to a lower floor.

As the noise muddled speech, Seeker maintained the party’s telepathic link. Seeing an opportunity to get the drop on the guards, Kenzo rushed the northern giant, his staff and fists striking true several times, disrupting the creature’s focus. Seeker followed with a psychic assault, leaving the giant incapacitated and easy prey for the others’ spells and arrows. Wellby gave covering fire, and Delwath’s blasts of force battered the guardian.

As the first giant toppled, the second sounded the alarm and retreated down the stairs; Kenzo and the others gave chase. Seeker and Seeker 3 summoned constructs to pursue, while Delwath and Wellby cut down the second giant. The commotion drew the attention of a third, more imposing giant—clearly their superior—who seized a chunk of crackling lightning from the pillar, and moved to press the crystal lightning into the chest of a wall-mounted statue, animating a massive chalyte giant. After this, he tried to flee and warn others below, but the summoned construct and Kenzo attacked as he fled, and Seeker 3 Slowed him with magic.

During the chaos, Delwath was seized by spreading chalyte crystals growing from the blow struck by the animated chalyte husk of a giant, restraining him and then petrifying him completely despite his frantic efforts to break free. The chalyte giant stepped into battle, but Seeker, thinking quickly, cast a spell to unravel the giant’s magic, causing it to revert to lifeless stone. Meanwhile, Kenzo engaged the fleeing spellcaster and managed to stun him, allowing the party to inflict heavy damage before Wellby finished the job with well-placed arrows.

With the immediate foes defeated, the group gathered, thunder still echoing in the chamber. Delwath stood unmoving – stone to the core. Seeing no better option, Seeker evoked powerful Wish-magic, restoring Delwath to life and flesh. Amid the fading tumult, the adventurers caught their breath, warily eyeing the remains of their petrifying foe and considering their next steps. Seeker examined a crackling conduit of energy, avoiding the jolts that leapt outward whenever he drew near. Through his arcane goggles, he observed veins of purplish gemstone – chalyte – hreading through the pillar and vanishing both above and below, the lightning visibly channeling through them. No apparent spell or ritual anchored the effect; instead, the structure itself seemed to perpetuate the magic. Dispel Magic was unlikely to have any effect.

Meanwhile, Wellby and Kenzo descended the broad stairs, the crashes of thunder ensuring their approach went unnoticed. The lower level proved to be living quarters, with giant-sized beds and a table holding several obsidian bird sculptures. One, a five-foot-tall obsidian hawk, was stowed away in their portable hole. The walls were covered in elaborate Giant runes, which Delwath translated. The mural detailed the legend of the Dauðleiptr, literally “Death Lightning” in Giant, and the installation of a great chalyte mirror at the tower’s base, which harnessed and projected the tower’s formidable power.

The group pressed down to the tower’s lowest level. There they witnessed a tapestry of red and purple lightning veiling a vast, reflective chalyte mirror at the base of the lightning pillar running through the entire tower, clearly the heart of the mechanism. Before the obsidian walls, a mighty giant wearing a chalyte helm manipulated gold and purple runes to operate a magical viewing portal. Nearby stood a distracted younger giant, while to the north, a third, chained in place and flanked by two inert chalyte statues, appeared imprisoned.

Launching their attack, Kenzo charged first, landing a stunning blow and dislodging one of the giant’s chalyte crystals from its helm, each apparently tied to its legendary will. Others quickly focused their assaults to break through the creature’s defenses, burning through its reserves of magical resistance. Meanwhile, Wellby and Delwath coordinated disabling magic and ranged attacks, while Kenzo pressed the assault and weathered brutal counterstrikes. The apprentice pressed forward, clearly aiming to animate the stone statues. Delwath conjured a spectral beast to hamper the enemy and finished off the weakened sorcerer. Seeker 3 was destroyed by a blast of lightning from the central pillar.

Determined to shatter the chamber’s defenses and destroy Dauðleiptr itself, the Ladder advanced into the pillar of lightning, suffering immensely but landing a solid blow on the mirror as it began to crack. Kenzo, battered but resolute, made the decision to brave the wall of crackling lightning to help destroy the mirror. He dashed across the chaotic chamber, enduring a severe jolt as magical energy seared through him. Ignoring the pain, he brought his staff down on the towering chalyte mirror, widening the cracks first split by their enchanted ladder and siege equipment. Striking again, the glass gave way; the mirror buckled, then burst apart in a spray of deadly shards. For a heartbeat, silence held—then deafening thunder erupted, joined by arcs of uncontrolled lightning engulfing everything nearby.

Kenzo, caught within the storm, barely clung to consciousness as the magical backlash ripped through the chamber. The heroic ladder was shattered, but happy, its enmity against mirrors satisfied. As the last echoes faded, the group realized that, with the lightning vanquished, the enchanted tower was beginning to fall from 150 feet above ground. Acting swiftly, Wellby used the Chime of Opening to free the imprisoned giant, and everyone used magic and flight to escape the fall, as the ruined tower crashed to rubble. With the sounds of Dhrukmir emerging from the depths below beginning, Delwath used a prayer to the tanshi to give the party a moment to breath and recover before facing the chalyte colossus.

After making their preparations, the party faced Dhrukmir himself, an immense 70-foot tall giant climbing from a deep pit, his body armored in chalyte crystal. Wellby summoned a magical triceratops to aid them, while Kenzo, fighting in astral form, launched a fierce assault of unarmed strikes, inflicting serious blows. Dhrukmir retaliated with crushing sweeps of an enormous crystal club, blinding Kenzo with radiant energy, but Kenzo managed to shake off the effects with trained focus.

Wellby loosed enchanted arrows, using a seeking arrow to strike the giant in the head. Daleth invoked dark magic, landing a series of hexed strikes, while Seeker unleashed psychic and elemental powers, forcing Dhrukmir to expend his magical resistances. Throughout the clash, the giant’s chalyte armor pulsed with bursts of harmful energy, bathing the battlefield in blinding radiance and hurling boulders that battered the party and healed Dhrukmir ’s wounds. Dhrukmir focused his fury on Kenzo, bringing him down after a relentless barrage. But Wellby and Delwath concentrated their fire on the already-wounded giant, who finally collapsed in a titanic explosion of stone and lightning. Debris buried Kenzo, but Seeker rushed to revive him amid the rubble.

As the dust settled in the cold mountain air, the party found themselves on a devastated field, victorious but battered, while ogres and other foes scattered in confusion—the mountain quiet once more, at least for now.