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Dunmari Frontier - Session 85

Edge of Echoes: in which the party traverses treacherous waters and ancient ruins

Featuring: Seeker, Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby
Companions: Faldrak
In Taelgar: Jan 03, 1749 DR to Jan 08, 1749 DR
On Earth: Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Tollen to the Edge of Echoes in Cymea

The Dunmar Fellowship contends with treacherous waters and elemental forces as they delve into the mysterious caves of the Edge of Echoes.

Session Info

Wellby acquires a darkvision tattoo from Cecilia Lister

Summary

  • The Dunmar Fellowship leaves Tollen after completing business, including spell component purchases and entrusting Adam Gower with various tasks.
  • Members of the party engage in personal activities, such as Seeker’s contemplation and letter writing, Wellby’s community reconnection, Kenzo’s gardening and storytelling, and Delwath’s provisioning.
  • They travel to Cymea and enter the Edge of Echoes, where they face challenges such as navigating rapids and fighting water elementals.
  • After overcoming elemental hazards within the caves, they are greeted by a mysterious woman speaking Drankorian

Timeline

  • Jan 03, 1749 DR: Spend afternoon in Tollen
  • Jan 04, 1749 DR: Take care of Tollen business
  • Jan 05, 1749 DR: Take care of Tollen business
  • Jan 06, 1749 DR: Depart; reach middle of the Western Gulf by nightfall
  • Jan 07, 1749 DR: Dawn over Western Gulf; reach coast of Cymea by evening; fly over Cymea overnight
  • Jan 08, 1749 DR: Arrive at Edge of Echoes early afternoon. Land Vindristjarna, descend into cave. Navigate down underground river by boat; fight water elements in a vast underground lake; traverse elemental hazards; arrive at ancient Drankorian ruins.

Notes and Letters

Narrative

During the first days of the new year, the party spends time in Tollen, taking care of personal and party business.

*Over the past few days, you have finished your business in Tollen, for now, and said your goodbyes, with the hope to return soon. You are leaving with your stock of coin lighter by 22,500 gold, and without the Flaming Tempest, the trade goods you recovered, or the Skaer Steel. Some of this went to the purchase of a number of important components for spells (four jeweled bowls for Hero’s Feast, diamond powder for Greater Restoration, two diamonds for raising the dead, should it be necessary, and ruby dust for Forbiddance), and a tattoo for Wellby, but most was left behind with Adam Gower, a trusted agent who has worked with the Goodbarrels in the past. Adam will coordinate with Umli to have the arrows and shield she is making transported to you via magical courier when ready, hire a crew to begin breaking down the Flaming Tempest into usable timber, and sell the trade goods.

During this time, everyone has taken care of personal business, too. Seeker spends time contemplating the planes, and also composing a letter to his parents, updating them on where he has been and asking about Frankar’s disappearance. When not in thought, he is tinkering around the skyship with Faldrak Bronzehammer.

Wellby, in addition to getting his darkvision tattoo and connecting the party to Adam Gower, has spent a lot of time with the halfling community here, listening to stories, chatting with elders, and reconnecting with his roots. In his spare time, Wellby works on the growing map room on Vindristjarna.

Kenzo spends time cultivating the garden on the skyship, and wandering Tollen learning of the local fauna and the local nature, while also spending time with Iskra, who he shares a deep connection and spiritual journey with, and is perhaps kind of his girlfriend now. While not out and about, Kenzo has also been working on a hall of stories for the ship, in honor of Bhishma, telling not just the tales of the party, but those they have met as well.

Delwath spends time returning to his quartermaster roots, both working on the kitchen and the storerooms on Vindristjarna, and spending time stocking the ship with a variety of useful goods for the journey. He also visits Melindir again, and gets the packet of letters he promised to deliver to Orenlas.

The party departs Tollen the morning of January 6th, crossing the Western Gulf and arriving on the western shores of Cymea by nightfall on January 7th. Traveling through the night and into the morning, the party arrives at the Freccila River and the cave entrance to theEdge of Echoes at midday. Before exploring, they are interrupted by the arrival of a paper bird bearing a message for Seeker.

The party explores a bit, with the aid of a bat summoned from Wellby’s hat, Faldrak and Seeker investigating the cave, and Kenzo communing with nature. Eventually they determine that the best course of action is to continue down the river. Pulling out the portable boat, they set out with Wellby taking the helm.

After navigating a brief stretch of rapids, the party hears the roar of a waterfall ahead. Delwath sends a moth to scout, and reports the waterfall falls into a large underground lake. At the last minute, Wellby tries to stop the boat as he notices a landing area on the top of the waterfall, but slightly mistimes the immovable rod activation, so is instead left hanging above the lake while the rest of the party and the boat falls over the edge. Seeker and Faldrak fall into the lake, while Delwath and Kenzo manage to reactivate the boat and land safety on it.

Before the party can regroup, everybody but Wellby is surprised by the sudden emergence of several water creatures, some shaped like giant flying manta rays, other more like elemental forces of water. They attack, trying to drag the party into the water and pull them down into the depths. The water elemental succeeds in grabbing Seeker and beginning to drag him into the depths, until it is banished (temporarily) by Delwath. Seeker and Faldrak are both able to use magic to teleport to shore, while Kenzo and Delwath defend the boat and eventually take down the elementals attacking, and Wellby shoots from a distance.

The party continues into a large, clearly constructed room that is just off the small shoreline of the underground lake. Two rows of columns support the ceiling and lead towards a large stone door. The entire hall seems to be overgrown with stone, that creeps and oozes over everything like some kind of strange fungal growth. After some investigation, Seeker and Delwath try to crack open the stone that encrusts the door, while Wellby scouts some other tunnels.

As Seeker chips a big crack in the stone around the door, suddenly, the floor turns to mud, and Seeker sinks up to his chin. It takes some effort, but Kenzo and Delwath manage to pull him out. Each attempt to crack open the stone seems to cause more mud patches to open up in the floor. As the party dodges around the mud, Faldrak uses his cane to cast Shatter at the stone, causing it to burst open. Between Delwath’s fly spell, Wellby’s armor, and the Raven Whistle, the entire party is able to fly above the sticky mud on the floor, into the passageway.

The corridor splits, and the party turns left, with Wellby scouting ahead. Soon ahead, he encounters a swirling wind, fragments of voices of all kinds, whispering for a new tale of freedom. Wellby tells them about the Kenku who flew from one end of the Endless Isles to the other, and the winds quiet. Further down, mists envelope the corridor, dotted with dancing lights that entice you to join them, but Wellby resists their call and steps forward. The mists clear, revealing a door, covered in magical runes.

The rest of the party, warned by Wellby about what to expect, proceeds, telling their tales of freedom to the whispering winds, and resisting the lures of the dancing lights and mists. Except for Seeker, who is distracted, lured in, by the shimmering colors of the lights in the mist, colors he has never seen before. It takes some time, but finally he is released from the allure of the mists by Kenzo, and the party regroups at the door.

The door is not locked, and Seeker identifies the runes as providing magical protection against elemental incursions. We end as the party steps through the door, into an antechamber with three exits. Stepping from the far wall is a woman, maybe sixty or so, elegantly dressed in silk robes, with graying hair cut short, green eyes, and sharp and angular face marked by a scar or old burn running from her left eye to her jawline. She bows slightly, and speaks before you can say anything. Kenzo recognizes the language as Drankorian, and translates:

Greetings, visitors. I hope your journey was not too difficult. I am looking forward to consulting with you on your needs, but sadly I am indisposed at the moment. Until I return, my servant Claudio will tend to your needs. Please, be comfortable, and I will be with you shortly.

As she finishes speaking, she gives a slight bow, and then vanishes.