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Dunmari Frontier - Session 24

Flight from Kharsan: in which the party spies on Grash and flees from orcs

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker
In Taelgar: May 11, 1748 DR to May 13, 1748 DR
On Earth: Thursday May 06, 2021
Monastery of Bhishma and Kharsan

The Dunmar Fellowship explores a desecrated temple, evades revived orc enemies, and scouts the ruins of Kharsan with magic and stealth.

Session Info

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship investigates the Temple of Bhishma, encountering desecration and sensing undead.
  • The party encounters shadowy figures in the temple and retreats to camp as night falls.
  • Orc prisoners and bodies previously thought dead have revived and escaped, disrupting the party’s plans.
  • The group decides to head south, then circle back to Kharsan via rocky terrain, evading orc pursuers.
  • Delwath scouts the ruins of Kharsan while Seeker uses clairvoyance to spy on Grash in the palace.

Timeline

  • May 11, 1748 DR, evening: Depart Hall of Stories, explore the Temple of Bhishma. Find shadows lurking, and retreat to camp for the evening.
  • May 12, 1748 DR, morning: Awake to realization that the orcs killed and imprisoned the day before have revived and escaped, bringing news to Grash.
  • May 12, 1748 DR, mid-morning: Flee south, hoping confuse anyone tracking them in the desert.
  • May 12, 1748 DR, afternoon: Turn west. Camp for the night.
  • May 13, 1748 DR, morning: Depart camp heading north and east, back towards Kharsan.
  • May 13, 1748 DR, late morning: Arrive at road and canyon of the Samraat Tombs. Hide horses and gear. Delwath scouts Kharsan while invisible; Seeker spies with clairvoyance on Grash.

Narrative

We begin as the party leaves the tower attached to the Hall of Stories in the evening, as the long shadows begin to stretch across the desert, heading to investigate the Temple of Bhishma at the monastery. As they approach, Delwath sees a warning that no one else can sense, but despite the warning the party cautiously enters the temple. 

The entry chapel, dedicated to Dunmari Religion, has been desecrated and looted, with little left to see or find. Uncertain of the situation, Kenzo reaches out his senses to detect the presence of good or evil, and notes that something undead is lurking about 20 feet below this room, but nothing ahead or in the side rooms. Continuing on to the main temple, the party finds it more intact, the high windows, now devoid of glass, letting in the evening sun and illuminating a large statue of Bhishma, standing with her hands palm up in supplication. Kenzo senses more undead in a hallway to the left, and he and Delwath go to investigate, carefully. Catching only the barest flicker of shadowy movement as a patch of darker shadow detaches itself from the wall, Kenzo and Delwath proceed with extreme caution, and eventually illuminate the hallway with Kenzo’s Driftglobe, revealing three humanoid-looking shadows that retreat from the light. Deciding to retreat in the face of the coming night, the party leaves the temple and the shadows, and heads past the dead orc bodies back to camp.

During the night, Delwath hears something, a distant clink of armor. As morning dawns, after some conversation about plans, Wellby sets out to investigate, and quickly discovers that the orc prisoner and the dead bodies of his companions are gone, seemingly come back to life in some form. They have freed their commander and returned to base, upending the party’s developing plans for scouting.

After considering a variety of options, the party decides to turn south, and ride fast, not trying to hide their trail, but then cut west and north on the rockier terrain of the cliffs and canyons west of the now-dry Kharja river, to try to circle back towards Kharsan. Pushing hard and into the night, they seem to have lost the trail of the Orcs in the rocky lands to the west, as the night of May 12th is quiet in the desert.

Heading north, the party circles back to the old Dunmari road that cuts through the Samraat Tombs above the city. After hiding the horses with Seeker’s magical assistance, the party creeps east, to the old bridge, just under a mile fro the palace, with Delwath and Seeker traveling invisibly and Kenzo and Wellby sneaking. Despite thinking they may have been spotted during the last desperate dash across 100 yards of open ground, the party gathers in the shelter of the bridge, seemingly safe. Here, Delwath goes to scout the city, and Seeker casts clairvoyance targeting the middle of the palace, seeing a vision of Grash.

Meanwhile, Delwath is scouting the city, looking through the ruins of the northern part of Kharsan. Much has been destroyed here, either long ago, or more recently mined for stone to reconstruct the palace and the orc’s fort to the south. As Delwath travels through the city, all is quiet save voices in the distance, speaking in Dunmari and calling for help, but seeming to never come nearer even when Delwath walks towards the sound. In his explorations, he finds some ruins from a glassblower’s shop, some old tools and shattered glasswork, that he brings back with him. 

We end as the party gathers, just before noon, in the shelter of the bridge, with a few minutes of invisibility left, ready to return to the horses and head west, back west out of the desert.