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Dunmari Frontier - Session 19

Desert Travels: in which the party aids a monk and battles desert threats

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker
In Taelgar: Apr 25, 1748 DR to May 02, 1748 DR
On Earth: Saturday Feb 13, 2021
From Karawa to Bas Udda and Pava and Avaras’ House

The Dunmar Fellowshipassists a monk with funeral rites in Bas Udda and battles ogres en route to the home of two desert monks.

Session Info

Summary

Timeline

  • Apr 25, 1748 DR - Apr 26, 1748 DR: Make preparations in Karawa to head east with Havdar and his warriors
  • Apr 27, 1748 DR, morning: Depart Karawa with Havdar’s warriors
  • Apr 28, 1748 DR: Travel southeast towards Bas Udda
  • Apr 29, 1748 DR, mid-morning: Arrive in Bas Udda. Meet Amil, an apprentice monk who is burning and giving last rites to bodies left untended after the gnoll attack. Fend of giant vultures. Amil surprised to see Delwath and mentioned his masters Avaras and Pava saved an elf in the desert some months ago.
  • Apr 29, 1748 DR, evening: Spend night inBas Udda
  • Apr 30, 1748 DR, morning: Help Amil tend the dead of Bas Udda
  • Apr 30, 1748 DR, afternoon: Leave Bas Udda with Amil, parting ways with Havdar.
  • May 01, 1748 DR: Travel with Amil through the desert.
  • May 02, 1748 DR, midday: Fight ogres in the desert.
  • May 02, 1748 DR, evening: Arrive at the stone house that is the home of Avaras and Pava

Mirror of the Past

Narrative

Having decided to leave Karawa for the deserts and the blasted plain to the east, traveling with Havdar and his band, the party spends a few days taking care of business in Karawa. You find a place to store the loot you are not planning on taking into the desert; Candrosa offers space in the outbuildings of the Temple of Shakun, where it will hopefully remain safe. Each time you see him he seems as if he is wrestling with a decision, but with the preparations for the expedition you don’t have time to speak in more depth with him.

You speak with Havdar, and make a plan to head south to Bas Udda and then east to a spot he knows that can provide shelter and water, to set up a base camp for further scouting. Havdar believes as long as there are not more than 100 Orcs, he and his band, with your aid, can defeat them; if there are more, flight will be the only option. 

The morning of April 27th, just before you depart Karawa, Kenzo slips off for a bit, as does Delwath, followed by Wellby. Then, you set out with Havdar’s troop into the desert. The journey is uneventful for two days, as you get into a rhythm of traveling in the morning, pausing for a few hours in the heat of the day, and then traveling until past dark. Havdar’s troop is an efficient group, and moves quickly.

The morning of the third day, you arrive in Bas Udda some time before noon, intending to spend the hot part of the day resting here, and investigating the situation. The town is in ruins – few buildings are standing, and the wreckage is far worse than the ruins of Karawa. There are also signs of many dead: there are bodies laid out, as if to be buried or burned, with some care, and seemingly freshly prepared. This has attracted the attention of some giant vultures, who move in to attempt to drive off the party and Havdar’s band. While one manages to snatch Wellby, they are killed and driven off by the quick action of the party and Havdar. 

Upon ending the vulture threat, the party enters the Temple, which appears to have been recently cleaned and is one of the more intact buildings in the town. Here, they find a young man cowering from the vultures, among what appear to be hundreds of small idols to the gods, collected from the dead. They learn that this is Amil, a young Dunmari monk, part of an order that has as its mission putting to rest the lost souls of the blasted plains. He is here to help send the souls of the unburied dead into the next world, so they can be at peace. He is particularly a devotee of Bhishma, the human founder of Dunmar, its first ruler and queen, who has since seemed to achieve some divine powers. He tells you that Bhishma watches over the souls of all her people, and her Mystery cult is devoted to helping with this mission. He is training with two monks who live on the edge of the desert, in a small stone house. Upon seeing Delwath, he is taken aback, as his masters Pava and Avaras found an Elves in the blasted plain six months back. 

Taking this as a sign, the party decides to enlist the aid of Havdar’s band in helping Amil finish his work in Bas Udda, and then part company with Havdar to travel to the stone house of Pava and Avaras. It takes the rest of the day and the first part of the morning to find, bless and lay to rest the remaining bodies of the dead Dunmari, but with Havdar’s warriors helping dig through the ruins it goes quickly. Havdar and his band give Wellby careful directions to where they intend to set a base camp, and then depart, while the party leaves with Amil towards the stone house. 

The party leaves Bas Udda the afternoon of April 30th, and that afternoon and the next day are uneventful. On the next day, May 2nd, they expect to arrive in the afternoon. While traveling down a canyon to a shaded spring that Amil knows, hoping to spend the noon hours resting in the shade, they notice something is not right. Wellby goes ahead to scout, and finds three ogres sleeping in the sun, but manages to accidentally wake one. As he begins to negotiate, the orge instead decides that a halfling would be a good snack, and begins to chase Wellby back to the party. In the ensuing battle, the ogres are dispatched with only some minor difficulty. 

The session ends with the party arriving at the stone house, Amil running ahead to tell his masters who is here, and Pava and Avaras standing outside to greet them.