Skip to content

Dunmari Frontier - Session 87

Erelion’s Secrets: in which the party uncovers hidden lore in Erelion

Featuring: Seeker, Delwath, Kenzo, Wellby
In Taelgar: Jan 08, 1749 DR to Jan 16, 1749 DR
On Earth: Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Erelion, Orenlas

In the elven city of Erelion, the Dunmar Fellowship learns about Cha’mutte and Apollyon from the ailing elder Arheste, before receiving an urgent plea to aid besieged Riswynn.

Session Info

Character advancement: reach level 13 at the end of the session

Summary

  • TheDunmar Fellowship returns to Vindristjarna after constructing magic items at the Elemental Forge.
  • Using the planar prism, they construct a rainbow bridge to Orenlas, where they experience dreamlike visions.
  • They are welcomed in Erelion and explore fey gardens and the elder tree.
  • An elder elf named Arheste, ill and cared for by Ealwen, shares ancient tales with the party after being soothed by Kenzo’s ki.
  • An urgent plea from Riswynn arrives, warning of an impending attack on Uzgukhar.

Timeline

  • Jan 08, 1749 DR, evening: Settle in at the elemental forge while Faldrak prepares for magic item construction.
  • Jan 09, 1749 DR: Remain at the elemental forge while Faldrak Bronzehammer crafts magic.
  • Jan 10, 1749 DR: Remain at the elemental forge while Faldrak crafts magic.
  • Jan 11, 1749 DR: Remain at the elemental forge while Faldrak crafts magic.
  • Jan 12, 1749 DR: Remain at the elemental forge while Faldrak crafts magic.
  • Jan 13, 1749 DR: Remain at the elemental forge while Faldrak crafts magic.
  • Jan 14, 1749 DR: Return to Vindristjarna, depart for Orenlas.
  • Jan 15, 1749 DR: Arrive in Orenlas in morning after traveling through the evening across the ~Cymea Border Mountains~; dinner party.
  • Jan 16, 1749 DR: Visit Arheste; soothe her pain with powerful ki; speak with her all day; depart at dusk for Uzgukhar.

Mirror of the Past

Notes, Letters, Visions

The Story of Apollyon and Cha’mutte

Piecing together what Arheste told you, you reconstruct the following timeline of Apollyon and Cha’mutte.
This story is told from Arheste’s point of view here.

  • After the Drankorian civil war, Omnis Pura and Cha’mutte became allies, and when Apollyon came to power, he continued to ally with Cha’mutte.
  • However, Cha’mutte became angry when Apollyon stole the Cloak of Rainbows from the free Orcs, as Cha’mutte’s goal was to free all species from the “shackles” of their divine creators, whether they wished it or not. The cloak was a step in that direction. You saw part of this in the Mantle of Protection Vision.
  • As Apollyon grew in power, he began systematically slaughtering the peronar, the Elves who had allied with Humans long ago on Hkar. He used powerful magic to turn the people of Drankor into slavishly devoted subjects, hoping to further his dream of an empire of only the “purest” of humanity.
  • Using the Cloak of Rainbows, Apollyon was able to defeat the Elves of Rostaurë (Arheste’s home), as the cloak prevented the divine power of Aldanor andElmerca from protecting the land. He brought Arheste, captured back to Drankor, where she saw his rise to power firsthand. You saw some of this in the Scepter of Command Vision.
  • Cha’mutte fully turned on Apollyon when Apollyon attempted to ascend to godhood, in defiance of Cha’mutte’s plans and hopes for the world. At the moment Apollyon attempted to claim divine power, he was struck down by the First Plague, a devastating magical force of Cha’mutte’s creation.
  • Arheste survived the plague, but at great cost. It left her sick and weakened, and stripped her of her formidable magic.
  • Apollyon also survived the plague, by drinking of vial of a pure black substance. Arheste later learned that this was the key ingredient in a ritual of undeath, and had turned Apollyon into a lich.
  • However, Apollyon was trapped by Cha’mutte, who for unexplained reasons did not seek to destroy Apollyon utterly. Whether it was because he couldn’t, or because he didn’t want to, Arheste never learned.
  • When Cha’mutte was killed, Apollyon began to break free, until Rai teleported to Drankor, warned by Arheste, and sought to maintain the bonds. Arheste never learned how Rai did this, but speculated it was as simple as grasping Apollyon’s phylactery in his magical jade hand.
  • At the beginning of this leya, around 1720 as Humans reckon time, Arheste felt something change. A break, a shift, in Apollyon’s bonds, letting him break free and slowly gain power, recovering from the weakness of his long imprisonment.
  • Arheste, though too weak from the ongoing effects of plague exposure to seek Apollyon herself, will do anything in her power to ensure that he is defeated, once and for all, his phylactery destroyed utterly, and any hope of his resurrection crushed.

The story of the scepter of command, as told in later days by the halflings, is here.

Narrative

We begin on Vindristjarna, as the party has returned to the skyship after several days at the Elemental Forge while Faldrak constructed a number of magic items from the residual energy of the forge left behind by Sh’shethis’s departure. The day before, as Faldrak finished his work, the party had viewed the forge itself in Eudomes’ mirror. Now, we pick up as the party heads south for Orenlas, and Faldrak writes in his journal.

Faldrak’s writing is interrupted by the arrival of another message from the Philosopher’s Guild, this time concerning the binding stones. The party reads and discusses.

The next day, the ship arrives at the edge of Orenlas. The forest is shrouded in mists, and the party is forced to land outside, on the shores of the large lake, using the planar prism for the first time to construct a rainbow bridge from the ship to the ground. While Faldrak stays behind, the party ventures into the forest.

The paths open up as they walk, revealing visions and fragments of dreams of possible futures: Kenzo, mediating in an alien place of impossible depth; Delwath, traveling across the planes, protecting those in need across the multiverse; Seeker, writing a book in his home full of the laughter of his children and visions of his friends across the multiverse; Wellby, at sea, leagues and leagues west of any known land, perhaps, just perhaps glimpsing sight of a mountain rising from the horizon in the distance. You feel, as you walk, that this is Aldanor testing your desires, your hopes, and accepting you.

The party arrives at the gates of Erelion, where they are greeted by Caretaker Erdhin. He settles the party in a guest house of a sort; plans are made for a dinner party; and then the group leaves to experience the wonders of the city.

The party strolls through the fey gardens where silver grows in delicate flowers, where vines are laden with fruit at all seasons, where oysters grown from the roots of lily pads. They find their way to the massive elder tree, the tree of dreaming, the sacred space where the echoes of the footsteps of Aldanor on the land, that created the first forests, can still be heard. Kenzo communes with the forest, and is gently guided to safer paths, told he is not ready for this, the original forest, the place that still retains some of the magic of the days of myth when the world was young.

After an afternoon exploring, the party returns and hosts guests for dinner, cooked by Delwath. In addition to Caretaker Erdhin, the guests are a young gardener named Ealwen, a retired solider namedVahaiya, and a poet named Cirdore. As conversation flows, the party learns there is an elder here who could speak of Apollyon and Drankor; her name is Arheste, and unlike nearly any other elf her age, she is very sick. Ealwen, her caretaker, is reluctant to disturb her, but relents after speaking at length about herbs and ki and healing powers with Kenzo. While Ealwen does not feel she can leave Erelion, she does say she has a few people in mind who might want to join the ship as a gardener.

The next morning, the party travels with Ealwen to visit Arheste, outside the city. Arheste is clearly ill, unable to sit without wheezing, and struggles to tell her story until Kenzo uses some of his precious ki from the jungles of Orekatu to ease her damaged soul. While not strong enough to completely undo the evils done to her, it helps, tremendously.

For the rest of the day, Arheste tells her story, about Drankor and Apollyon and Cha’mutte, which is recorded here.

As evening comes, the party receives a desperate plea for help from Riswynn: Grash is nearly done constructing a massive trebuchet, and if they do not arrive to help soon, the city will be destroyed.