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Dunmari Frontier - Session 71

Storm’s End: in which Hralgar’s chains are broken and the tower falls

Featuring: Seeker, Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby, Riswynn
In Taelgar: Nov 23, 1748 DR
On Earth: Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Stormcaller Tower

The Dunmar Fellowship battles a spectral Hralgar, breaks his bonds with an ancient elven poem, and watches as he liberates himself by destroying Stormcaller Tower.

Session Info

Character advancement: the party reaches level 11
The party recovers the rest of the Stormcaller Tower Treasure
Hralgar gives his blessing for the party to take Vindristjarna

Summary

  • The party defeats Hralgar’s ghostly duplicate, freeing him from his dreamscape.
  • Riswynn mends Hralgar’s eyes, restoring his vision.
  • Kenzo recalls the elven poem needed to break the iron chains binding Hralgar.
  • Using magic, they obtain the poem from Govir, and the chains shatter as the words are spoken.
  • Hralgar transforms and destroys Stormcaller Tower, then offers the party a reward.
  • Hralgar reveals the location of a phasing stone for the skyship, and assists the party with its excavation.

Timeline

  • Nov 23, 1748 DR, evening: Fight Hraglar’s storm-crazed ghost duplicate. Free Hraglar from his chains, watch as he destroys the tower and the statue of his bust. Sit with Hralgar for the evening, talking.

Narrative

We begin as the party rushes into Hralgar’s dreamscape upon hearing the sounds of Hralgar struggling, to find a ghostly, angry version of Hralgar strangling the real Hralgar. Launching into combat, the party attacks the ghost, Wellby placing two perfect arrows right through each of the ghost’s eyes and Delwath striking hard with his elven sword. Despite a massive bolt of lightning that briefly knocks Riswynn down, the party prevails, and as Hralgar’s ghost is destroyed the dreamscape fades. The party finds themselves in the top floor of Stormcaller Tower, facing the bound and chained giant Hraglar.

His mind now clear, he recognizes the party and tells them he can hold off the madness for a few hours, if they wish to flee again. Showing him the eyes, the party tells him they are here to save him, as promised. Riswynn uses her mending magic to repair the eyes, and as the damage and cracks from the years and the journey are repaired, each eye magically melds with Hralgar, restoring his vision.

The iron chains, however, seem a tougher nut to crack, until Kenzo recalls his memory of the binding from when he was possessed, recalling that the the first words of the elven poem A Lament for Lost Thunder can break the chains and end the enchantment. Unfortunately, the party sold the book containing this poem in Darba, and can’t quite recall the words correctly. However, a quick Sending to Govir has him promising to find a copy in the next couple of hours, when Delwath will scry him to see the writing and translate the words.

At this point, the party takes a breather, Delwath cooking some food while Hralgar talks about Drankor. He tells them about the end of the golden age of Drankor, when the Helea was assassinated by the Omnis Pura, a group that believed in human supremacy, and especially supremacy of those who inhabited Hkar, the land where Humans were created, the longest. Apollyon, Hralgar says, was connected to this group, but he was captured during Apollyon’s reign and doesn’t know how it ended, not really.

Kenzo then listens to Jorundr’s Story, recording it for the Order of the Awakened Soul.

Over the next hour, the party gathers what they can from the tower, focusing on the few books left in the library from their last adventure, and the cleaning stone from Eudomes’ room. Then, it is time to scry Govir, and read the words of A Lament for Lost Thunder through his eyes. As Kenzo speaks the words, the chains binding Hralgar shatter and turn to dust.

The storm grows more intense and violent, and Hralgar warns the party to run, as he turns to lightning and thunder and sweeps out of the tower. An incredibly loud burst of thunder shakes the foundations of the tower, and then Hralgar is there, pulling a giant sword of lightning out of thin air, his eyes flashing as he strikes the tower, the statue, everything about this place over and over. Even once the tower is reduced to rubble and the bust of himself that imprisoned him to dust, he lifts his massive feet and stomps, sending waves of thunder through the destruction. And then, Hralgar thanks the party, asking what he can do for them.

Stormcaller After Storm

The party asks about Vindristjarna, also known as the The Star on the Wind, the skyship upon which Stormcaller Tower was built. Hralgar tells them the phasing stone, the magic that powers skyships, was destroyed, but he sends the storm north. The clouds blow away, the thunder and rain stops, and a beautiful sunset emerges on the wet plains. Hralgar opens his eyes, and tells the party that there is still a phasing stone in his home in the mountains, less than a hundred miles north, that they are welcome to find and claim for themselves.

He then digs out the skyship and gives the party a tour. While much is damaged, when cleared and excavated, it looks like nothing more than a truly massive sailing ship made of stone.

With this task done, Hralgar goes to hunt and say goodbye to his physical form, joined for part of his journey by Delwath. As the sun sinks below the horizon, he returns with a brace of antelope. As Hralgar and the party begin to speak of Apollyon, of his sometimes-ally, perhaps turned enemy Cha’mutte, of the perfectly circular island where Apollyon traveled, somewhere southwest of Drankor and shielded from storms, the smell of roasting anelope wafts over the camp. We end the session as Hralgar and the party share a late dinner, planning to resume their conversation this evening, before Hralgar vanishes to merge with the storm and learn the tales of the snow and storms and wind and rain.