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Dunmari Frontier - Session 42

The Journey West Begins: in which the party leaves Tokra for Darba

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker, Riswynn
In Taelgar: Jul 13, 1748 DR to Jul 18, 1748 DR
On Earth: Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Stoneway

The Dunmar Fellowship receives gifts, rumors, and magic in Tokra, and then sets out towards Darba.

Session Info

Kenzo receives a branch of the ancient elder tree in Tokra from Rishi, to shape into a staff

Summary

  • The party receives thePortable Hole from Basu, learning its rules and potential dangers, and Kenzo receives a special branch from his mentor, Rishi.
  • They depart Tokra, travel for three days, and stay at inns along the way, encountering a notable Drankorian bridge.
  • At the ~Crossroads Caravanserai~, they exchange stories with travelers, including rumors of a dragon, stories of Kobolds, and a deal involving Karnas and Chardon.

Timeline

  • Jul 13, 1748 DR: Spend time in Tokra
  • Jul 14, 1748 DR, morning: Visit the giant tree of Tokra.
  • Jul 14, 1748 DR, afternoon: Restock and resupply. Sell treasure in Tokra. Kenzo receives a branch from the giant tree from Rishi.
  • Jul 15, 1748 DR, morning: Receive portable hole, as well as instructions on its care and use, from Basu. Finalize business in Tokra.
  • Jul 16, 1748 DR, morning. Depart Tokra, heading west, with Johar.
  • Jul 16, 1748 DR, evening: Spend the night at a roadside caravanserai a day’s journey west of Tokra.
  • Jul 17, 1748 DR: Travel west along the Stoneway. Spend the night at a caravanserai.
  • Jul 18, 1748 DR: Travel west along the Stoneway.
  • Jul 18, 1748 DR, evening: Arrive at the crossroads where the Tokra-Darba Road turn south and west. Spend the night at the ~Crossroads Caravanserai~. Speak with the Greenleafs, who report on rumors of a dragon on the road. Speak with Marcella.

Mirror of the Past

Narrative

We begin with the tale of the monsoons that have just begun, as the party rests in Tokra, waiting for their Portable Hole to be ready and to begin the journey to Darba, and planning on wrapping up a few loose ends. The first of which is looking at the scroll associated with Pandemonium, recovered from the lair of the Fraternity of the Empty Moon, in Mirror of the Past. As Seeker unrolls the scroll to hold it to the mirror, the runes shift and squirm and reach out to him, but he resists whatever effect might have occurred and sees the following.

The next morning, the party explores the giant tree, going so far as to climb to the top, where they see the first buds of the new leaves beginning to appear, and Kenzo communes with the tree. Despite his wishes, a branch does not fall for him. However, later that afternoon, his old mentor Rishi gives him a branch from the tree that he had been saving for Kenzo when he was ready, telling him that it must be shaped into a staff by Kenzo’s own hand. The rest of the party sells treasure and gets organized for the journey to Darba.

On the morning of July 15th, the party speaks with Basu, who delivers the Portable Hole along with four rules: 

1) never open an extradimensional portal instead another extradimensional portal; 

2) no fire (or acid, or similar effects) in the hole, because eventually the silk of the cloth itself will burn and the item will be destroyed; 

3) be careful which direction you open it – if you put it on the ceiling everything will fall out; and 

4) don’t rip the material from the outside or especially from the inside, as any tear can rip apart and eject everything inside into a random other plane. 

After some conversation in which Basu gets increasingly dubious about the safety of handing over the item, he relents and turns over the Portable Hole. 

The party leaves Tokra on the morning of July 16th, escorting Johar and heading northwest on the main trade road before turning south and west in a few days for the direct overland route to Darba. The first two days are uneventful, as the party rests in inns each night, the main notable landmark a soaring night-glowing single arch bridge of Drankorian make, over a now-seasonal river.

The evening of July 18th, after three days on the road, the party reaches the crossroads. The ~Crossroads Caravanserai~ is busy with travelers, including some halflings and a Chardonian. Wellby speaks with the halflings, brothers, Alton Greenleaf and Lyle Greenleaf. They’ve come from the west, heading for Tokra. They report news of kobold attacks near Songara, hard-to-believe rumors of a dragon on the trail to Darba, and that the Chardonian was traveling with a group of four others that they passed on the road heading west yesterday, all adventurers.

The party then speaks with Marcella. She tells them that she in here because she is waiting for details from Drusa, in Tokra, about the kobold threat near Songara, which she and her companions have been tasked with dealing with on their way back to Chardon, while the party tells her they are heading south and west to Darba. As the party exchanges stories for stories, they learn that she and her companions were traveling in the Garamjala Desert searching for lost ruins of Drankor buried in the sands. Delwath gives her the letters from Stormcaller Tower, and she reveals they didn’t find much in the desert, the site of a battle from the time of the Great War with a few treasures, but none of the Drankorian ruins they hoped to find. Marcella also speaks of orcs: they found a hunting party, who were chasing free orcs in the name of Grash. The party tells her about their encounter with Grash, then, and the conversation turns to Vola. Marcella traveled with her, and is relieved to hear news of her. Delwath and Marcella then trade stories of ancient artifacts: Delwath speaks of a circlet set with a single white gem that gives perfect foreknowledge, and Marcella speaks of a ring that lets one cheat death forever. 

Finally the conversation turns to the Great Library and the Society of the Open Scroll. While Marcella seems to be quite cagey (lying, according to Kenzo’s Bhishma-enhanced sense about stories) about who she has traveled with or knows, she does tell the party that the Society is open to all, and if they make it to Chardon they should ask after Crispus, a senior archivist in the Library who is in charge of many of the expeditions to collect magical artifacts from the past. 

As the conversation ends and the party talks into the night, Johar mentions the rumors that Karnas had made a deal with Chardon in the past few years, giving them access to the treasures lost in the Nashtkar in exchange for magical aid. We end as the party turns in for the night, preparing to take the potentially dragon and bandit infested road to Darba in the morning.