Dunmari Frontier - Session 23

The Hall of Stories: in which the party travels through mystic memories and learns of the Order’s past

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker
In Taelgar: May 11, 1748 DR
On Earth: Friday Apr 23, 2021
Monastery of Bhishma

Kenzo’s initiation at the monastery leads to a quest for a missing artifact, while the party learns of the land’s dark history through magical memories.

Session Info

Summary

Kenzo undergoes a near-death initiation, revealing Bhishma’s history and a quest to find the Heart of Shakun.
The party explores the monastery, uncovering its history and the monks’ enchanted paper-making.
Kenzo’s mystic sign gains them entry to the Hall of Stories, guarded by spectral warriors.
In the Hall, the group experiences profound personal memories that lead to explorations of the monastery’s past.
They meet Karmana’s ghost, who informs them of a growing darkness and a pivotal event a year prior.

Timeline

May 11, 1748 DR, late afternoon: Kenzo and Seeker return and share Kenzo’s vision hinting that the Heart of Shakun is missing from Karawa. Explore, learning the history of the Order of the Awakened Soulby controlling the chaotic memories contained in the Hall of Stories. Meet the ghost of Karmana, the last master of the monastery. Learn that Sajan, the keeper of stories, went mad long ago, trapped in evil dreams in the Hall of Stories.

Narrative

We begin as Seeker and Kenzo return to the dining hall where Delwath and Wellby have been resting and waiting. Kenzo looks pale, and is barely walking, leaning on Seeker and stumbling as they emerge from the hallway. Kenzo and Seeker tell the story of the initiation rite: following the hallway, the story of Bhishma was gradually revealed, from her perspective, using a combination of visuals and sense-impressions of feelings and memories of, seemingly, Bhishma herself. The passage told the story of the Dunmari arriving in what is now Dunmar, finding it desolate by the curse that ended the Drankorian Empire, and despairing and starving. Then, being saved by Jeevali, who sacrificed herself to cleanse the land, and then Bhishma’s sacrifice. In the end, there was one question: would you sacrifice yourself for Jeevali? While Kenzo answered yes, and died, Seeker answered no, and awoke, briefly panicking until Kenzo was brought back and opened his eyes, weak but alive.

In the afterglow of this initiation, Kenzo asked Bhishma about Shakun, and the message he saw was: “She (Shakun) is here with me (Bhishma). As always. But cannot reach Karawa. Something has been taken that should be there. Something that helps her reach the world. Find it and bring it back.” This was accompanied by an image of a red ochre stone heart, rough hewn from rock like that of the Red Mesa in Karawa.

While Wellby explores the dormitories and the outbuildings – discovering they are workshops for making paper, especially paper that can take enchantments – Kenzo rests and recovers a bit. The party then sets out for the tower and the Hall of Stories.

The doors to the Hall of Stories are protected by magic, and the tower is guarded by ghostly warriors. But when Kenzo approaches, making the sign of the Mystai of Bhishma, they recognize him and let the party pass. They died fighting, but cannot remember their names or much of what has happened since.

The party proceeds through the tower, passing the library and study on the first floor, to the Hall of Stories. It is a vast open room, the ceiling supported by columns reaching three stories high and carved with many, many names, light shining from the windows set high on the walls. For a brief moment, the room is clear, but then the room itself fades, and the party is taken into the memories of the stories of Dunmari:

First, via a brief memory of Seeker as a young dwarf, studying, a memory of a acolyte of the monastery preparing for initiation, studying in the library and then proceeding to the hall of initiation
Then, via Delwath’s memory of the last battle he fought before he vanished to the shadow realm, everybody dead but him, to a monk, fighting a horde of undead, 30, 40, 50 skeletal creatures in front of the tower, his companions falling around him, then feeling the killing blow, but also the determination in your soul that the monastery will not fall, and rising from your body as a ghost to strike down the invaders
Then, via Seeker’s memory of the moment of discovering his brother’s divination that led to his disappearance, the sense of hidden magic and knowledge, a vision of an apprentice monk with two masters, in a building with a large domed roof, a small lizard-like winged creature with faded purple scales flying towards you, then a voice speaking from the shadows in a language you do not understand, then leaving the building, walking through a vast city, trees growing through the ruins, the other two monks talking excitingly about this being the answer, what they should do.
Then, via Delwath’s memory of the shadow darkness, of forgotten memories that he is trying to suppress, a series of memories: first, a commander of a group of soldiers, the eve of battle, telling them they should run, fighting in Drankor is a fool’s errand, Dasa is doomed, then in rapid succession nameless memories of fleeing battle, then slowing to focus on a particular memory. An older woman talking to a middle-aged man, the older woman saying that this is going to fail, it is too big a risk, and she will not go. The corruption, the pestilence of evil planes that lingered in this land is not so easy to remove, and a failure will be devastating.
Then, via Wellby’s memory of being young and his great grandfather pointing out sights as they journeyed to a new place, a memory of a campfire, and a man telling his young child about a trip he took before they were born, far south with the monks of the monastery. Traveling along the Hara river, past its confluence with the Kharja, crossing through the desert, way south until the land turned green again and a new river cascaded down great cliffs in a massive waterfall, to a green coastal plain full of jungles and savannahs, and an ancient city in ruins, trees growing through it.
Then, via Kenzo’s memory of when he left Chardon, filled with a sense of purpose to find the Lakan Mystai and learn from them, a dark scene, a battlefield in the Great War, armies arrayed against great evil, their purpose clear – to fight and die so others could live. The terror of the moment is briefly overwhelming, and for a moment the fears of another mind, something else living here in despair – the mind of Sajan – intrudes. The vision of a dark future, where evil wins and Dunmar is no more.
Finally, via Seeker’s memory of a moment when he was a young dwarf, curious about the world, and eavesdropping on a meeting his parents were in, a vision of a young apprentice monk, unable to sleep, walking the stone circle near the fountain, and hearing faint voices. Going to listen, and hearing the deliberations of the masters, to go east. A debate about some portal, some infiltration of evil, that if it could be closed or removed would heal the Plaguelands. Arguments that it is risky, but decided to proceed anyway, as the mage Rai will help.

After that, the party leaves the Hall of Stories to explore the tower itself. The library and study on the first floor seem to have been emptied entirely by the monks, and the scribing workshop on the second floor is also empty. On the third floor, is a secret library protected by a magical trap, which explodes as the party opens the door. Inside, the room is mostly empty, except for a few spell scrolls left behind in some scroll cubbies.

The party passes quickly through the fourth floor – a council chamber – to the fifth floor, which seems to be the private chambers of the master. Here, they find the ghost of Karmana, the last master of the Bhishma Mystai at this monastery. He is skeptical of them at first, but comes around especially once he realizes that Kenzo has gone through the initiation rites.

From Karmana, the party learns that darkness started growing in the land 30 years ago, after the attempt to close the portal failed. He has trouble remembering or even thinking about anything beyond the safety of the tower, and protecting the Hall of Stories, which is his sole purpose now. He does say, however, that maybe nine months ago, or perhaps a year, something changed, a wave of darkness like a shadow ocean washed across the tower, presumably when Grash arrived.

As the sun nears the horizon and darkness and night approaches, the party leaves the tower.