Dunmari Frontier - Session 75

Shadow Assault: in which the party repels an ambush and heads east

Featuring: Seeker, Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby, Riswynn
In Taelgar: Nov 29, 1748 DR to Dec 04, 1748 DR
On Earth: Tuesday Apr 11, 2023
From Stormcaller Tower to Xurkhaz

The Dunmar Fellowship successfully defends against shadow attackers, strategizes with allies, and advances eastward towards orc territory.

Session Info

Summary

The Dunmar Fellowship is attacked by shadow dogs and a shadow assassin sent by Fausto, with Kenzo briefly captured.
Seeker transforms into a yeti to fight off attackers while [Wellby]’s precise shot kills the fleeing shadow assassin, saving Kenzo.
After surviving the night, Seeker and Kenzo practice piloting the skyship Vindristjarna.
Sura contacts the party via Sending Stone, discussing strategic moves against Tokra and the impending Day of Atonement
Riswynn seeks divine guidance, interpreting the advice as a need to build a strong foundation; Kenzo sends a letter to the Lakan monks via Delwath’s spirit messenger.
The party travels east, switching pilots to cover significant ground, and sights orc territory from the air.

Timeline

Nov 29, 1748 DR, midnight: Shadow hunters attack at midnight. Defeated, but not before the shadow assassin knocked Kenzo unconscious and attempts to flee with him.
Nov 30, 1748 DR: Seeker spends the day learning to control and fly Vindristjarna, while the rest of the party prepares for the journey east.
Dec 01, 1748 DR: Kenzo attunes to the phasing stone and spends the day learning to control and fly Vindristjarna; speak with Sura via Sending Stone
Dec 02, 1748 DR: Riswynn asks the Baharazel about their chosen course of action; Delwath’s lynx spirit leaves to take letters to Lakan monks; take off flying east, with Kenzo and Seeker alternating piloting; fly 22 hours
Dec 03, 1748 DR: Continue flying east, Kenzo and Seeker alternating over 22 hours
Dec 04, 1748 DR, dawn: See the edge of the orcs territory from the air, maybe 40-50 miles distant, in the early morning light.

Narrative

The session begins as the party is awakened by the howls of shadow dogs, the same chalyte zombie assassins created by Fausto that chased Kenzo, Seeker, Wellby, and Delwath down on the flight from Chardon.

While Delwath peels off to fight a flying shadow demon, and Seeker begins to steer the skyship towards the fight, the rest of the party engages. Kenzo attacks the lead assassin, while Riswynn summons a sunbeam to blast away the shadows and Wellby takes careful aim at everything he can see. But the shadow dogs vanish into the darkness, even as Seeker animates the Ladder to stand guard, and emerge, surrounding Seeker, on the deck of the ship. Under heavy attack, Seeker polymorphs himself into a giant ape-like yeti, while Kenzo is brought down by a blast of necrotic energy from the assassin, who, leaving the dogs to distract the party, begins to flee with Kenzo. For a moment it looks like things will be okay, with Riswynn healing Kenzo, but then Riswynn is driven off by the shadow assassin’s fear spell, Kenzo is knocked out again, and it is only Wellby’s perfect shot that brings down the shadow assassin before he can escape with Kenzo’s unconscious body. The shadow assassin turns, in death, to a normal, if ragged looking human man, a pallid, haunted look on his face in death. As the rest of the party cleans up the shadow dogs, Wellby tends to Kenzo’s wounds, stabilizing him.

The next morning, the party prepares for the journey east while Seeker continues to practice with Vindristjarna. The day passes uneventfully after the chaos of the night before; Delwath hunts and preserves some antelope for the trip, and Riswynn continues to clear rubble from the deck of the ship. Deciding that having two people able to control Vindristjarna would speed the journey, the party plans on taking the next day for Kenzo to learn the workings of the phasing stone, before heading east.

Around lunchtime the next day, December 1st, Kenzo’s practice is interrupted by Sura’s voice coming from the Sending Stone. Sura tells the party that, while she appreciates the warnings of danger to the east, she cannot march her army across the plains while leaving Tokra unwatched in her rear, especially not with a small force of Chardonian mages still camped outside the city. Sura says that they plan to ride for Tokra, to claim the city and expel the Chardonians. Sura tells them that in about 20 days, is the Day of Atonement, Sonkar’s Day, which begins the most holy month of the year, and she will not wage war then, and neither will the Samraat Nayan Karnas. So Tokra must be taken soon, or not at all.

There is some debate, about whether the better course of action is to march her army east, now, to defend the borders should the party fail, or whether to take Tokra as planned first, to secure her position before Grash marches west, should he succeed in acquiring the Cloak of Rainbows.

Wanting the guidance of the gods, the next morning, before the party heads east, Riswynn prays and asks the Bahrazel for insight. Although the gods often speak in riddles, the message Riswynn hears is one of fortification, of strength, that buildings with strong foundations last longer than those with weak roots. Eventually the party agrees this is probably guiding them to leave Sura to strengthen her position, that she will be better prepared for Grash, if needed, with a solid foundation in the central plains. Kenzo also meditates, and feels the strength of Dunmar as a solid core that maintains Shakun’s Protection, and that if the center were lost the protection would fall anyway. But again, no clear, obvious right course of action.

Speaking to Sura one final time, Kenzo argues the most important thing is to be united, and if Sura believes that taking Tokra is what must happen for an army to be ready to face Grash should he turn west, the party will not argue against that. Kenzo agrees to send a letter to the Lakan monks, reporting on all that has happened. As he finishes, a spirit steps from Delwath’s shield, a lynx, and takes the letter, before racing at speed across the plains for Tokra.

Over the next two days, the party falls into a routine. Seeker pilots the ship for 11 hours, often taking Vindristjarna as high as it can go, into the freezing clouds far, far above the desert, often removing his shirt to feel the cold wind on his bare skin. Then, the ship lands for an hour, for Kenzo to attune to the phasing stone, and Seeker rests while Kenzo flies through the night. The cycle then repeats, allowing the party to travel 220 miles per day.

On the morning of Dec 4th, the party spies a fertile green crescent along the edge of banks of a river, cattle grazing, and orderly wheat fields watched over by a colorful guard tower on the banks of the river. We end, in the pre-dawn light, as the party considers their course of action, maybe 50 miles from the homeland of the orcs they have come to find.