Dunmari Frontier - Session 67

Feywild Deception: in which the party confronts Agata Dustmother for a second time

Featuring: Seeker, Caulaus, Kenzo, Wellby
In Taelgar: Nov 13, 1748 DR to Nov 15, 1748 DR
On Earth: Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Amberglow and the Heartwood Grove

The Dunmar Fellowship discovers Typhina’s true identity as Agata Dustmother and defeats her, with Caulaus becoming the guardian of Heartwood Grove.

Session Info

Summary

• Raven and Spirala depart to Shimmersong; Caulaus meets Wellby and Kenzo.
• The party encounters and defeats harpies, learning Typhina’s (Agata’s) history.
• At Heartwood Grove, Seeker’s attempt to restore Typhina reveals Agata Dustmother’s deceit.
• Agata is defeated and imprisoned, Caulaus volunteers as the grove’s guardian.
• The party exits the Feywild and encounters Delwath and Riswynn at Lastlight Falls.

Timeline

• Nov 13, 1748 DR, on the material plane; Evening, in the feywild: Raven and Spirala depart to return to Shimmersong. Seeker is reunited with Wellby and Kenzo, who are introduced to Caulaus.
• Nov 14, 1748 DRon the material plane; Evening in the Feywild: The group leaves for Heartwood Grove to restore Typhinia. Encounter harpies, and meet a water nymph. At the Heartwood Grove, Seeker restores Typhinia, only to find that she is actually Agata Dustmother in disguise. Defeat Agata; imprison her in the Heartwood Grove. Caulaus volunteers to stay as a guardian until he can make amends to the Cloudspinner.
• Nov 15, 1748 DR, sunset: Exit the Feywild at Lastlight Falls; see Delwath and Riswynn.

Narrative

Our session begins at Lastlight Falls in the fey realm of Amberglow, where Seeker has come with the aid of Caulaus, Raven, and Spirala, though Raven and Spirala have returned to Shimmersong. Kenzo is waiting, and Wellby arrives shortly afterward. Lastlight Falls is a place close to the Cloudspinner’s attention, and the session begins with her memories.

Kenzo and Wellby are introduced to Caulaus, which involves a bit of discussion over Caulaus’ evident confusion over the current time. Caulaus speaks of Drankor, and a battle against dragons, and fleeing. But even after questioning, he remembers little else: his appointment ceremony with Helea, a feast with elves perhaps on the frontier somewhere, but no details the party asks after.

As Seeker, Wellby, and Kenzo great each other in reunion, attention turns to Typhina, who warns Seeker telepathically that there are dangers here, and she has enemies. The grove she defended, and the place where she claims she can be resurrected, is near, and she suggests heading there quickly, as Wellby spies flying creatures in the distance, but closing fast.

The party sets off at a quick pace, hoping to outrun the creatures, while Typhina describes the Heartwood Grove and the tree of the essence of wood. However, the creatures gain, slowly but surely, and the party is forced to find a defensible position, recognizing they are harpies. The battle is not that difficult, except that Seeker is lured and charmed by them, as they keep insisting that he give them Dasoclese (which Typhina says is her name, here, once, long ago). It seems they are seeking revenge against her, for some slight in the distant past. Still, the battle progresses, and as the harpies die one by one, they shift their forms into Fey women of different forms. As some turn to flee and Kenzo stuns the rest, the battle ends.

The party bargins to exchange the answers to three questions, and agreeing not to use her charms or songs on any of them for a day, for the lives of the remaining harpies. From the harpies, they learn that Dasocles is an ancient fey, who once claimed to be a guardian of these parts. The harpies seek revenge on her, for the wrongs she did to their people. And they do not know how to end their curse, except perhaps should the Cloudspinner return.
Typhina explains some of her history with the harpies, and claims not to have cursed them; instead, she simply kept them from the forest as gently as she could (although later relevalations call the true of this into question).
From here, the party proceeds, crossing the dry riverbed of the River of Time that no longer flows here, and finding the grotto of the nymph Melusine, supposedly an old friend and ally of Typhina.

The party speaks with Typhina and Melusine, about Agata, and the fey, and Typhina’s story, but come to no real conclusions and decide to continue to the Heartwood Grove.

The party arrives in the grove, seeing the massive tree before them, and Seeker steps forward to give the Ring of the Warded Mind to the tree, when evil laughter begins to echo through the woods. Emerging from the ring, reformed, is not Typhina, but Agata Dustmother, who has been pretending to be Typhina for months.

Agata greets the party cheerfully, thanking them for the chaos they have caused in her name (“The best civil war is always one where every side believes they are righteous”), and offers to send them back to the Material Plane. Before she can finish speaking, Wellby attacks, and the battle is joined. The party, however, has gotten much stronger since they last faced Agata, and she does not present a lethal danger. Caulaus with his echo deal an incredible amount of damage, including the killing blow, aided by Kenzo’s stunning strike.

Kenzo speaks with the elder tree of the grove, asking what is to be done. The grove asks for a new guardian, and Caulaus agrees to take on the role, until the Cloudspinner returns and he can make amends for the wrongs he cannot remember. And so Agata is imprisoned in a tree, a fate she imposed on so many, and the party listens to Caulaus’ story before they leave, which Kenzo records.

We end the session as the party returns to Lastlight Falls and exits the Feywild at sunset, to see Delwath camped, waiting for them on the other side.