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Dunmari Frontier - Session 2

Into the Desert: in which lizards are defeated and the party heads east

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Seeker, Delwath
In Taelgar: Mar 22, 1748 DR to Mar 25, 1748 DR
On Earth: Friday Jun 12, 2020
From Gomat Oasis to the abandoned Dunmari fort

The Dunmar Fellowship defeats giant lizards at Gomat Oasis, uncovers signs of unnatural disturbances, and battles skeletons at a ruined fort.

Session Info

Character advancement: the party reaches level 2 crossing the Daraar Canyon and entering the Nashtkar

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship arrives at Gomat Oasis, fights and kills three giant lizards.
  • They meet Akan, a survivor, who recounts his family’s deadly encounter with the lizards during the Festival of Rebirth preparations.
  • Following the lizard tracks east, the party discovers abnormal animal behavior and a canyon with unnatural features.
  • Upon reaching a ruined fort, the party is attacked by skeletons emerging from a disturbed mound, hinting at recent activity.

Timeline

  • Mar 22, 1748 DR, evening: Kill three giant lizards at the Gomat Oasis and camp for the night
  • Mar 23, 1748 DR, morning: Meet Akan at the Gomat Oasis in the morning, a survivor of the giant lizard attack. After, turn east into the Nashtkar.
  • Mar 23, 1748 DR, late afteroon: Arrive at the Daraar Canyon, camp.
  • Mar 24, 1748 DR: Cross the Daraar Canyon heading east into the desert.
  • Mar 25, 1748 DR, morning: Reach the abandoned Dunmari fort east of the Gomat Oasis. Kill skeletons that emergy from the ground.

Narrative

Seeker of Highkeep, Wellby Goodbarrel, Kenzo, and Delwath, arriving at the Gomat Oasis past sunset, tired and weary from a long journey in the desert sun, find the oasis beset by three giant lizards, feasting on dead sheep. Deciding to attack, the party made relatively quick work of the beasts. Exhausted, and unable to determine much in the dark, the party camped for the night.

In the morning, exploring the oasis, they found signs of a battle and clear tracks of the giant lizards heading east, into the wilderness. While dissecting the lizards in search of clues to their particularly vicious and bloodthirsty behavior, an older man, wounded but alive, appeared on the horizon on horseback. Hailing him, the party learned that he was Akan, one of the survivors of the giant lizard attack on Gomat the night before. His extended family had been camped at the oasis, grazing their herds, for several days, intending to rest and relax before the Festival of Rebirth. In the afternoon, the lizards attacked. They tried to fight them off, and managed to kill one while fleeing, but the lizards were relentless and would not be scared away, and several members of Akan’s family were killed before all could get on horseback to flee. He had returned to reclaim supplies – food and water and the like – before heading to Karawa. Before departing, his nephew headed north and west to warn others to get to town as quickly as possible. 

The party, however, headed east. Traveling and talking during the long hot day, they followed the trade road due east. Along the way, they noticed the rotting corpses of several dead peccaries just off the road, killed in the past few days, with obvious signs of lizard tracks. Some were consumed, but others just left to rot – very unusual behavior for giant lizards. 

In the late afternoon, they came to wide canyon ripped into the earth. Seeker especially was taken by how unnatural the landscape seemed, both the rugged badlands to the south, and the canyon itself, which clearly was not formed by the usual processes of gradual erosion. Descending the slope was easy enough to start, but a basalt outcropping about three quarters of the way down stopped them for the evening. 

Returning in the morning after Seeker magically created a doorless earthen barn for Delwath’s horse, the party made their way slowly down to the bottom of the canyon. Here, it became apparent that many animal tracks crossed and criss-crossed the terrain, all converging in the east on a sloping side canyon leading up to the remains of the trade road. Following the path, the party stood on the other side of the canyon, where the entire landscape seemed bloodthirsty and enraged. Ants and scorpions swarming the ground, the remains of a battle between a giant scorpion and a giant hyena – everywhere they turned something was attacking something else. 

In the distance, two towers, the gatehouse to a ruined fort, drew them in. Approaching the fort, the party saw before them a path leading to an earthenworks dike, upon which was set a ruined wall, with the two partially intact towers guarding the gate and causeway leading into the fort. Outside the walls were the foundations of a small cluster of buildings, all collapsed, and two large mounds – on the left, a grassy mound, on the right, one of rubble and dirt. Passing the mound, Kenzo felt something evil, an undead presence, and shouted a warning just as a skeletal hand began reaching out of the dirt. Four skeletons climbed out of the disturbed ground and attacked, although were dispatched without much damage as the party discovered newfound abilities within themselves. 

After the battle, searching the area revealed clear indications that the skeleton mound had been recently disturbed, in the past month or so at least, and Wellby noticed signs that someone had been around in that time frame. Seeker, with his historical knowledge, identified the fort as likely dating to the Great War, being a typical Dunmari layout and design at that time. 

With that, the party headed up the causeway to the fort, ready for anything.