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Dunmari Frontier - Session 32

The Feast of Bhishma: in which the party uncovers truths and forges new paths

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker, Drikod
In Taelgar: Jun 09, 1748 DR to Jun 20, 1748 DR
On Earth: Thursday Oct 07, 2021
Karawa

The Dunmar Fellowship spends time in Karawa, where they prepare for rituals, unlock ancient secrets, experience otherworldly visions, and form strategic alliances before departing for Tokra after the Feast of Bhishma.

Session Info

Summary

Timeline

  • Jun 09, 1748 DR - Jun 10, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers rumors and closes his affairs in town; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Wellby trains Baxter; Seeker studies treasure.
  • Jun 11, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers rumors and closes his affairs in town; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Seeker studies treasure. Wellby town with Havdar’s Warband for Bas Udda to recover treasure left there.
  • Jun 12, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation while Seeker and Delwath unlock more secrets of the mirror of soul trapping. Wellby travels with Havdar’s Warband towards Bas Udda.
  • Jun 13, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers rumors and closes his affairs in town; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Seeker tours the Red Mesa and the Temple of Shakun with Candrosa. Wellby arrives in Bas Udda with Havdar’s Warband.
  • Jun 14, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers rumors and closes his affairs in town; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Seeker studies treasure. Wellby leaves Bas Udda with Havdar’s Warband, returning to Karawa.
  • Jun 15, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers rumors and closes his affairs in town; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Seeker studies treasure.
  • Jun 15, 1748 DR, afternoon: Wellby returns to Karawa. Revaka interrogated in the Mirror of Soul Trapping.
  • Jun 16, 1748 DR: In Karawa, Delwath gathers supplies and speaks with the party in the evening; Kenzo and Drikod prepare for Shakun’s initiation; Seeker studies treasure; Wellby trains with Baxter and works on his map.
  • Jun 17, 1748 DR: Delwath travels into the desert at first light. Kenzo and Drikod are initiated into the Shakun Mystai. Seeker studies treasure. Wellby trains with Baxter and works on his map. 
  • Jun 18, 1748 DR: Feast of Bhishma begins in Karawa. Delwath returns from the desert at first light. Soul Lantern destroyed by Cintra during the remembrance prayers. Living Wood destroyed. 
  • Jun 19, 1748 DR: Feast of Bhishma continues with a day of rest and celebration. Nayan Sura announces herself to the Dunmari of Karawa. 
  • Jun 20, 1748 DR, morning: Drikod leaves Karawa, heading north towards his home village of Kunda. Kenzo, Seeker, Wellby, and Delwath, traveling with Garrett Tealeaf, leave Karawa heading west for Tokra.

Mirror of History

Narrative

The party spends a little more than a week in Karawa, taking care of various activities around town. Kenzo and Drikod spend the time preparing for the ritual of initiation into the Shakun Mystai, culminating in the initiation ritual on the evening before the Feast of Bhishma. Wellby spends the time working on his map, training with Baxter, and traveling to Bas Udda with Havdar and members of his band, to recover the treasure the party left there. Seeker spent his time studying the artifacts recovered from Agata, especially the Mirror of Soul Trapping, as well as visiting the mesa with Candrosa for a tour of the living gardens of stone. Delwath spent his time closing his affairs in Karawa and gathering rumors, as well as spending a day and a night in the desert learning more about his patron and source of power. 

During the week of downtime, Seeker and Delwath discover more about the Mirror of Soul Trapping, including new command words. Using these and a lucky guess as to the hobgoblin’s name, the party also interrogates Revaka, the hobgoblin leader they once saw in the mirror. She is distanful and haughty, and initially refuses to speak with Delwath (“the Elves”), but eventually the party learns from her a few key pieces of information. She was trapped in the mirror hundreds of years ago, in the 2nd year of the reign of Derik III of Sembara (DR 1521), by Cha’mutte. The hobgoblin tribes on the fringes of Sembara were being recruited into Cha’mutte’s armies, but Revaka did not want the risk and war of world domination, preferring to maintain her small empire on the fringes of the human world. The mirror itself was made by her grandfather, a wizard in service to the Avatus, now a footnote in history as the foil for the rise of the House of Sewick of Sembara. 

During this week, the party also looked at the Soul Lantern in Mirror of the Past, specifically focusing on visions of the people that the mirror harmed.

The first morning of the Feast of Bhishma, the party gathered for breakfast all together for the first time in several days, against the backdrop of the morning prayers of remembrance that mark the beginning of the feast days. Delwath had just returned from and day and a night in the desert, where he learned that his patron, Aaviskar, is a small god of an unknown northern tribe, also trapped in the shadow realm at the end of the Great War, who had in desperation thrown a connection to Delwath as Delwath fell from the shadow realm almost a year ago. 

Several others then shared their Dreamworld experience, guided by Candrosa’s Dreamweaver Staff. Kenzo spoke of his vision of Drankor, where he spoke with Rai out of time, and saw a vision of the struggle at the heart of Drankor, between the desire for power and greed and the supremacy of humans, and the inclusive vision of a beacon of hope against the darkness. The fragments of the hand of Rai, which Kenzo saw shatter into five pieces in his vision, are connected to some kind of shield protecting Drankor, and perhaps its descendants like Chardon, the darker side of human nature. 

Seeker also shared his dream vision, of a strange place that seemed to be a map or picture of the planes, like the inside of a sphere of stars with many moving crystal realms floating across it, and elemental planes of earth, air, fire, and water. Through a arch of fire, Seeker reported a vision of the fiery plane, a city of brass surrounded by pillars of flame on a burning plain with mercury rain. 

The morning prayers of remembrance associated with the Feast of Bhishma then drew the party’s attention, as Cintra emerged at this moment to aid in the destruction of the Soul Lantern. Over the course of the day, the party moved from table to table, speaking with Alesh and Ikram and others from the early days of Karawa. Alesh, always talkative, spoke more of the situation in Tokra: crowded, and not just with Dunmari; rumors of something stolen from the Archives; and Chardonian mages camped with the armies of the Samraat Nayan Karnas. 

The next morning, the party spoke with Nayan Sura. She asked them to pledge themselves to her service, and while no one was willing to commit that level of engagement, they agreed to be allies. A few hours later, Sura spoke to the assembled Dunmari of Karawa, announcing herself and asking if those her would be with her, gods willing. With significant support, she and Havdar planned to ride across the plains to gauge support and gather an army before arriving in Tokra to speak with the Lakan Mystai and ask the gods what to do next, what was the way forward for Dunmar. 

Before leaving Karawa, the party also spoke with two other people. One, a Dunmari citizen of Karawa, had found the The Runes of Creation, the book of runes that Seeker carries in the desert, and after some cajoling and promises not to reveal his secrets, learned that this man often scavenged for sellable loot in the desert. He had found three books some time ago, two filled with strange writing and one blank, and had sold the ones with writing to Servius, a Chardonian who worked for some library in Chardon. He found them on an orc, an ancient individual, with wrinkled skin, dried out almost like leather, who carried nothing but a ripped pouch and these three books. 

Seeker, Wellby, and Kenzo also spent some time speaking telepathically (via Wellby) with Selkan, the Mystai of Bhishma freed from the mirror. He went to Agata to trade information for information, hoping to learn more about the other planes, but once he realized what Agata really was, he swore to speak no more to her, or anyone, and cut off his own tongue to prevent her from charming him into revealing the secrets of his order. He told Wellby that Saka, the old mystai near Tokra, could tell more. She was from an old horse-herding family that traveled across the northern plains, and is likely with them still. 

The morning after the Feast of Bhishma, the party leaves Karawa: Drikod, heading north and back to his village, and the rest of the party heading west, towards Tokra.