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Dunmari Frontier - Session 48

Chardonian Connections: in which the party navigates secrets and rumors in Chardon

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker, Riswynn
In Taelgar: Aug 21, 1748 DR to Aug 22, 1748 DR
On Earth: Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Chardon

In Chardon, the Dunmar Fellowship learns about the dangers of Chalyte, speaks with friends old and new, and hears about Fausto’s wealth and influence.

Session Info

Summary

Timeline

Narrative

We begin as the Emerald Song arrives at Chardon, and the party recalls the two items they looked at in the mirror during the voyage, first the vision of the Raven Whistle, next the vision of Agata’s Chardon Fan.

After a brief discussion about how to approach their time in the city, the party speaks with Dani Silversong, who warns them that magic is regulated, and to be careful. Disembarking separately, the party registers with illegible signatures under the careless eye of the customs’ agent, and then finds tables at a nearby tavern, The Salty Squid, while Kenzo goes to find Kaeso. 

After making contact with Kaeso, greeting him warmly and finally realizing the secret Kaeso would not share with the Society of the Open Scroll was the magic he learned as a Mystai of Shakun, Kenzo returns to bring the party to Kaeso’s house. 

After some very brief introductions, the party and Kaeso talk a bit about their history and what is happening in Chardon, learning that Kaeso’s concern these days is the abuse of chalyte. The chalyte trade has been controlled by the Auratan family for at least a generation, and they have used it to become powerful indeed; the current Magistros is of this line. But, in Kaeso’s eyes, chalyte is dangerous, and there are rumors that those who overuse it become like zombies, their souls burned away. The human cost of the power it gives it too great. 

He doesn’t, however, have any recent contacts in the Society of the Open Scroll. He was a member, long ago, before he was expelled, and what he remembers is basically a learned society, a debating group, of scholars and explorers. Nothing with a hierarchy or strict organization. But the only one who still speaks to him is his old teacher at the Faculty of Magic, Roscelia; he arranges a letter asking for a meeting for the party with her.

After dinner, the party contacts Marcella using Sending and learns that she is safe and heading to the Stoneborn villages to hide and recover, and then contacts Vola with Sending, arranging to meet her at The Thirsty Scholar, a quiet tavern in the academic quarter.

Vola is a little anxious to see the party, unsure of where they left things, but once it becomes clear they are meeting as friends, or at least acquaintances, she relaxes. She agrees to send a letter to Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer, the adventurers who explored Stormcaller Tower before the party (along with their companion, Alban, who was killed), asking them to meet with the party. From Vola the party learns a bit about the situation with the Society – apparently rich patrons fund many of the treasure hunting expeditions, although some are funded directly by the Great Library. She spoke poorly of Casian, who would sneer at those beneath his class, and highly of her mentor Agon, who encouraged her to study to reach her full Drankorian potential. Despite a bit of perhaps excessive Drankorian pride from Vola, the party leaves on good terms.

In the morning, the first stop is Seeker’s colleague Ulfgar Frostbeard, a Dwarven professor in the Faculty of Metaphysics, a student of the Feywild and the Shadowfolds, but never of experimental metaphysics. From him the party learns that Galen, apparently a bit of a academic rival of Ulfgar Frostbeard’s, and also apparently a bit full of himself, has gotten a new Dwarven artifact recently, a chalice that he says is connected to other planes. Ulfgar Frostbeard is up in arms, that a human managed to get this and is meddling with it, when it should be safely observed, and not meddled with, by the Dwarves. After talking about the Feywild a bit, promising to bring Ulfgar Frostbeard back something from the Feywild should they travel there, speaking with Typhina, and getting a book by Ulfgar Frostbeard on the Feywild as reward for a bet Seeker made, talking about the Shadowfolds and Pandemonium, and asking Ulfgar Frostbeard to get a book called “Secrets of Reflective Magic: Planar Prisons” from the Great Library in hopes it will teach them more about how to use the Mirror of Soul Trapping, the party leaves. 

The next stop is The Chapterhouse, the tavern where Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer frequently take their lunch. From Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer (but really mostly from Dee Wildcloak, who spends most of the story eyeing and flirting with Wellby and hinting that maybe he should join her when she gets enough funds to start her inn at a crossroads somewhere), they learn the story of their adventures. They left Chardon with Servius, Arcus, and Alban, all humans. Servius and Arcus argued constantly - Arcus was obsessed with Drankorian artifacts and kept pushing to press ahead, while Servius kept wanting to chase rumors and find old stories and look in books for clues. Alban, Dee Wildcloak, and Dain Goldhammer left on the road east of Songara, heading across the plains – passing a giant statue of a Stoneborn warrior that had a looted dungeon beneath it before coming to Stormcaller Tower. When they arrived, there were no storms or anything. They began to explore, and when they reached the large carved giant’s head, Alban told them the eyes and the five gems set into the crown were magical, so they took them. That is went things went wrong - lightning came alive on the walls of the tower, and killed Alban, while Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer fled into the growing storm. 

From Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer, the party also learns that Fausto funded their expedition, and probably Casian, Kadmos, and company as well. Fausto is a very rich scholar – no one knows where his wealth came from, although rumor says he is a retired adventurer. But he likes to spread it around, spend money on expeditions, collect treasures, and trade things around. He will certainly be happy to talk to the party, they say, if they claim to be adventurers looking for work. Indeed, Dee Wildcloak and Dain Goldhammer are about to head south, to Illoria, on another mission for Fausto, to aid Servius who has found rumors of treasure but cannot find adventurers to help him get it. 

The session ends as the party leaves The Chapterhouse, heading to look for Gnaeus, the scholar who wrote the book “On the Lost People of the Forests” that mentions Rai.