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Dunmari Frontier - Session 40

Saka’s Revelations: in which the past collides with advice for the future

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker
In Taelgar: Jul 03, 1748 DR to Jul 06, 1748 DR
On Earth: Thursday Feb 17, 2022
~North Tokra Plains~

The Dunmar Fellowship learns of past tragedies and receives a cautionary tale from the elusive Saka.

Session Info

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship departs Tokra, traveling north uneventfully by the Hara river, hoping to find Saka, a master of the Order of the Awakened Soul
  • Kenzo experiences recurring dreams of an underground forge, offering a sense of protection.
  • Saka reveals the history of Rai, the Seeds of Chaos that rose with Cha’mutte’s death, and the Mystai’s failed attempt to eradicate them.
  • Saka advises the party to focus on how they can help people now, and not pursue dangerous heroics to reshape the world without more knowledge.

Timeline

Narrative

We begin as the party leaves Tokra just before lunchtime, finally heading north to look for Saka on the plains, after seemingly vanquishing the last remnants of the Fraternity of the Empty Moon. Heading north along the river, the first afternoon of travel is hot, but uneventful, the first night notable only for Kenzo’s recurrent dreams of being underground, near what sounds like a metal forge, the sound of hammers seemingly keeping him safe from some nameless danger of bloodlust and fear. 

Another morning and early afternoon of travel is uneventful, until in the mid-afternoon the party meets Kiran and his family, camped along the riverbank. From Kiran they learn a bit more about Saka, that she is wary of outsiders and that she is camped to the north. He also speaks of his sadness at the loss of the Order of the Awakened Soul, for they used to travel the lands and tell and collect stories, but have not been seen of late. 

After departing Kiran’s camp, the party travels the rest of the day before setting camp uneventfully in the plains. Again, Kenzo’s dreams, just a faint echo of the sounds of the forge and hammers from the prior nights, are all that mark the evening. 

The next day passes quickly in travel, the party realizing around dusk that they were perhaps heading a bit too west, for Saka’s camp is visible due east. After another evening’s rest on the arid plains of north Dunmar, the party approaches Saka’s camp the next morning, asking to speak with her.

After briefly speaking with Jita, Saka’s niece and helper, the party is led into her dark, smoky tent, where she has been waiting. After introducing themselves, the party explains that they are here looking for answers about the fate of the Mystai of Bhishma on the blasted plains thirty years ago, and the connection to Rai. Seeker gifts Saka a copy of “Legendary Gates of Kenzo, a book in which one selects one’s own adventure.”

Saka is skeptical, wondering how many stories Kenzo has collected for the Hall of Stories, and dubious of heroes in general, for her compatriots saw themselves as heroes and all died. She sees Dunmar as a defense against the darkness, not a great conquering force to cleanse the land of evil, and she mourns the loss of the Mystai, the loss of their stories. After some back and forth, she relents, and tells her story.

It starts with Rai, the great wizard and hero of the Great War, and the final battle against Cha’mutte. Cha’mutte was an elder wyrm, a child of Shurat and Sampa from before time, and he existed across many planes. When he died, some pieces of these other planes were pulled into Taelgar, leaving Seeds of Chaos across the blasted plains and the Plaguelands. The Mystai of Bhishma, while searching for the lost dead, came across these cursed places. 

The Mystai argued, with some believing these could be eradicated, and others instead arguing that Dunmar’s defenses should be reinforced against incursions from these evil places. Those who wanted eradication traveled far and wide, even to the ruins of Drankor, seeking answers and information. Those who wanted to fortify in defense argued that Dunmar had always come to ruin when its armies tried to conquer Drankor itself or the evil lands around it. 

The travelers and the faction arguing for action had found, in Drankor, the hero Rai, or at least a link to him. It is from him that they learned of the Seeds of Chaos, and devised a plan, to link themselves together and use the energy of the Plane of Souls to force the Seeds of Chaos back. Saka argued against this, feeling it was too risky, pointless heroism for little prospect of gain. But she lost the argument, and her comrades left, never to return. 

As part of their failure, Rai’s power was also broken or diminished somehow, and some hold that he had had on the land faded. A protection he had cast over the Nashtkar, the blasted plains, was lost, and since then dark things have grown in power. 

With the failure, Saka fled west, and now trains who she can to keep some remnant of the Mystai alive. She ends her story with a word of advice and warning: there are many people and powers whose lives have been touched by the party, from the trapped god that clings to Delwath and grants him power, to the giant Hralgar, to Seeker’s brother. She tells the party to tend to these wounds and not go chasing heroics, as the gods have not seen fit to reveal what could possibly separate the planes again and remove the Seeds of Chaos, and perhaps only Shurat and Sampa can do this, as they did once before. And they do not grant or hear prayers. 

The session ends as Saka answers the party’s questions, and they then turn to discuss amongst themselves the next steps.