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Dunmari Frontier - Session 80

Arrival in Tollen: in which the party gathers rumors and makes connections in Tollen

Featuring: Seeker, Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby
In Taelgar: Dec 10, 1748 DR to Dec 17, 1748 DR
On Earth: Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Tollen

The Dunmar Fellowship arrives in Tollen, seeking allies and information.

Session Info

Summary

Timeline

Narrative

We begin as the party departs Uzgukhar, north to find a volcano in which to destroy the Scepter of Command. Flying nearly 24 hours, the party covers more than 200 miles per day. The first three days are spend crossing the Plaguelands, including a brief flyover of Isingue, a ruined trading city south of Sembara. In Isingue, Seeker brings the ship lower, noting that the entire ground of the city seems to be teeming with a strange black squirming mold. Which attacks, launched a black globule of acidic ooze that begins to burn through the stone of the ship, until it is burned out by Wellby.

Continuing north, the party crosses the Western Gulf, hearing Wellby’s stories of his childhood on the ocean (including the tale of seeing a giant underwater dragon when he was 9). Kenzo also communes with the nature of the gulf, feeling the teaming life on the surface, and the strange dark canyon depths where giant crabs scuttle beneath the reach of sunlight.

On the morning of Dec 16th, the party reaches Tollen, where they are met by a harbor launch with a dozen guards and one of the harbor masters. She welcomes them to Tollen, but insists a guard be posted on the airship to keep the city safe. This negotiation done, the party heads to the busy, cold docks of Tollen in winter, where they split up.

Wellby and Seeker head north, to Scrollwright Street, heading for the shop of Guy Marchand, a mapmaker who Wellby knew from his childhood, who sold Wellby some of his early books and maps. Guy is happy to see Wellby, and they talk about his journeys and life. Guy recounts how the first time he met Wellby, he tried to shoo him away, but Wellby walked up to a giant map, pointed to the further place (an island north and east of the Mawakel Peninsula), and asked “What’s there?” Guy also tells Wellby he is happy to introduce him to a university student he knows, Sarah de Gray, a fellow Isinguer. Guy also shows Wellby a fragment of a map recovered from some abandoned fort north up the Volta, that shows the elevations of a section of the central mountain chain.

While Wellby and Seeker speak with Guy, Delwath wanders through the markets of the Bridgeward district, looking for furniture makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and other artisans to outfit the skyship, buying some kitchen supplies and basic furniture, and getting quotes for larger construction projects. Delwath also collects rumors and news, hearing especially about Melindir, an elf from Orenlas, and Caelynn the Seer, a Fey woman variously claimed to be 4000 years old, or the last in a long line of Caelynn the Seers, who accumulates many conflicting stories and rumors.

Kenzo wanders looking for the best tattoo parlor, ending up across the Tollen Bridge, in the Southbridge district, in the shop of Cecilia Lister. She is a neat and precise woman, with a neat and precise shop. Kenzo and Cecilia talk tattoos (Cecilia is quite interested in Kenzo’s lizardfolk tattoos) – Kenzo expresses interest in getting magical ink. Cecilia agrees, and asks him to come back the day after tomorrow. She also says that, for a client, she will introduce him to Escobar, a student at the University of Tollen who is supported by a Dyer’s Guild scholarship.

Despite not making a plan to meet up, the party manages to meet together at The Windward Sail, a halfling inn in Fiskurth, the sailor’s district near the docks, and recount their days and contacts. Wellby knows the tavern owner, Wendel Quickstep, and after the dinner rush dies down, they speak for a while, after Wellby joins in the halfling storytelling that happens after the music ends. Wendel is happy to hear about Wellby’s journeys, and tells the party about Nika Hyne, a sort-of student who hangs around a lot hearing stories, and knows everyone at the university, as well as the Temple of Kaikkea in the Godshome district, where they can find a Skaer to speak with.

Nika wanders in later that night, and Wendel introduces her. She is a bit squirrelly and doesn’t immediately click with Delwath, especially, but reveals a number of interesting rumors, including that Caelynn trades in secrets, and will take a secret from you if you wish. She tells (for 5 silver) the party about Umli the Exile, a stoneborn metalworker and expert in fire magic, and agrees to guide them around the university, including taking them to meet Umli, the next day after lunch. The day ends with the party heading to sleep having made an impression in Tollen: rumors of the elf with the flying ship, and rumors of the troubles in Dunmar, now spreading like wildfire.

The next morning, the party heads to speak with Melindir, the elf, right after breakfast. On the walk, Delwath talks about his feelings meeting an elf and feeling like he has missed so much of his generation; he is slightly cheered by the thought that perhaps there is another elf somewhere trapped in another shadow realm, who he might still find companionship with.

Melindir lives in the nice part of town, Gold Street, near many guild headquarters, the new Temple to The Warlord being constructed by the shipwright’s guild where Guildgate and Godshome meet. From Melindir, the party learns a little more about Orenlas, and makes plans to visit there, finding an old elf who might remember Apollyon. Melindir also tells them that the Skaer have been looking for adventurers, to help deal with some curse, and tells them to be cautious around Caerlynn.

The session ends with the party leaving Melindir’s apartments, heading to the Temple of Kaikkea.