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Dunmari Frontier - Session 21

Rumors of the East: in which the party uncovers orcish plots and learns of Grash

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker
In Taelgar: May 05, 1748 DR to May 11, 1748 DR
On Earth: Saturday Mar 13, 2021
Nashtkar

The Dunmar Fellowship interrogates an orc cleric, attends a funeral for fallen warriors, and begins a covert journey to the Monastery of Bhishma.

Session Info

Kenzo and Wellby receive gifts from Havdar, the Ring of Jumping and the Flaming Bowstring.

Summary

Timeline

  • May 05, 1748 DR, evening: Interrogate the orc survivor Gorkil in Havdar’s camp, who rants about being a servant of Grash, the Blighted One, and that Grash’s protection means he will rise stronger if he is killed. Eventually commands Seeker to kill him, ending the interrogation. Funeral for members of Havdar’s band who died; Havdar passes a magical bowstring to Wellby. Meet Aram, a member of Havdar’s band who can heal with a touch.
  • May 06, 1748 DR: Leave Havdar’s camp, heading south, to approach the Monastery of Bhishma while avoiding approaching Kharsan.
  • May 07, 1748 DR: Travel south through the desert.
  • May 08, 1748 DR: Travel south through the desert.
  • May 09, 1748 DR: Travel south through the desert, slowing pace to try to move unseen.
  • May 10, 1748 DR: Get slightly lost, and head further south into the Garamjala than planned prior to turning east. Find dry riverbed of the Kharja and a place to camp, well south of Kharsan.
  • May 11, 1748 DR, morning: Turn north to approach Kharsan via the dry Kharja. Rest south of the city while Wellby scouts ahead through the eyes of a desert hawk.

Narrative

We begin as the battle with the orcs ends, the party collecting themselves after a tough fight, and deciding to deal with their captive, one of the orc clerics named Gorkil. There is little to note among the wreckage of the battle, although the party does take note of the symbol that seems to be painted on these orc faces and gear: a rising sun, below a screaming face. 

Heading into Havdar’s camp, they speak briefly with Havdar, and Aram, a holy warrior and healer of Aagir. Havdar lost four of his warriors in the fight, which was tougher and more deadly than expected, both because of the sophistication of the Orcs battle plan and their magic. 

As they prepare to interrogate the orc, Aram touches him to revive him. The orc is a servant of Grash, the Blighted One, whom he believes will bring him back ten times stronger if he dies. He rants continually on Grash’s power and how if you serve Grash, you will never die, and the battle is not yet over, which prompts the party to suggest that the bodies of the Orcs be burned. As Havdar leaves to take care of that task, the party continues their questioning. They learn that Grash is in Kharsan, and that the Orcs found him perhaps a year ago. Grash demands that they seek treasure and tribute, especially that they seek to take the treasure of the other group of Orcs, Uzgash’s brats Gorkil calls them, dismissively. He says they (Uzgash’s brats) are peaceful, farming and raising animals, although where exactly he does not say. As the interrogation continues, Gorkil suddenly demands that Seeker kill him, adding a magical command to his voice that compels Seeker to lunge forward and cut his throat. 

After some conversation about where to go next, Havdar returns to tell the party they are ready for the funeral of the four who died in the battle, and asks if the party would join them. The bodies are burned – with care, not in a pile like the Orcs – and both Aram and Havdar speak a few words. After, Havdar approaches the party with the magical bowstring used by Camana, the leader of Havdar’s scouts who died in the battle, and asks Wellby if he would like the magical bowstring, which can light arrows on fire as they launch. 

The next day, after hearing from Havdar’s returning scouts that there is little moving in the lands west of the Kharja river (the river which Kharsan is on), the party decides to head for the Monastery of Bhishma, traveling south some distance before turning east and north, hoping to approach from the south and avoid Kharsan entirely. The journey through the desert is several days of walking under the hot sun, everything brown and dry at the end of the long dry season before the brief summer thunderstorms arrive. Traveling quickly for the first two days carries them far south, and a bit further west than intended, so it takes a bit longer to reach the dry river and turn north than expected.

Five days after leaving Havdar’s troops, the party arrives at the Kharja river, briefly considering scouting what appears to be a stand of trees far to the south, but instead turns north to their destination. The river bed is dry, with cliffs on the western edge and a floodplain on the eastern edge, and after a hot journey the party arrives within sight of Kharsan in the late afternoon of May 11th. 

The city of Kharsan stretches out on the floodplains, a walled city at least a mile across, once a place of great monumental architecture, but now partially in ruins. A huge temple, a stadium, and a palace in the center of the city are notable surviving landmarks, as are the bridge over the river and the main gates to the city, a pair of horses rearing to form an archway. On the cliffs above the city and across the river, twelve tombs stand, all sharing a pentagonal step pyramid design, but otherwise different in form and scale. These are the tombs of the rulers of the first Dunmari dynasty, starting with the tomb of Bhishma (marked by a large – 40’ tall – statue of her). South of the city, an orc fort is under construction, a warren and maze of walls and enclosed spaces. Further south beyond that is the monastery, seemingly untouched.