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Dunmari Frontier - Session 9

Dwarven Vault: in which Riswynn recovers her family’s heirloom

Featuring: Kenzo, Wellby, Delwath, Seeker, Riswynn
In Taelgar: Apr 12, 1748 DR
On Earth: Friday Sep 18, 2020
Ruined Dwarven Outpost

The Dunmar Fellowship uncovers a trove of dwarven treasures and signs of an ancient mind flayer encounter in a long-abandoned dwarven vault.

Session Info

The party recovers treasure from the ruined Dwarven trading post, including a pearl of power, Shatterstorm, driftglobes, and the Shield of the Brawnanvil Clan.

Summary

Timeline

Narrative

As our session begins underneath the mountains, across the dusty plains and deserts of Dunmar, people are moving. In the west, a tired mass of refugees flees Karawa, hopefully now nearing the River Hara and the outskirts of Tokra. To the south, Alesh and her small group of companions ride quickly and quietly through the deserts, hopefully avoiding danger along the way as they try to learn what lurks in the ruins of Bas Udda and beyond. In Karawa, the acolytes and initiates of the Shakun Mystai remain holed up in the Temple of Shakun, as Centaurs ride fast towards them, bringing news, and perhaps aid in battle, should it be needed, and not too late already.

The party stands in the center of a large, open cavern, a former marketplace and center of trade when this outpost was full of dwarven life. The party spends some time investigating the dead body of the roper, and the remains of the tavern or inn in the cavern. Untouched by the strong acid of the roper’s stomach, they discover a small pearl, magical, and able to restore some spellcasting energy. In the tavern, they find graffiti – a three-fingered, clawed hand, with the three fingers burned to the bone – which Wellby recognizes as a hobgoblin banner, something his people have fled from before. 

After taking a brief rest in the ruins of the tavern, and doing a bit of scouting, the party turns back to the creature Inakara, to try to bargain or threaten their way back into the passageways to the vault. When asking nicely doesn’t seem to get them what they want, and when Inakara lights up at the mention of the vault, a combination of light bribery and some intimidating displays of simple magic gets her to agree to lead them to the vault. 

As the party approaches the vault, Inakara disappears, pointing them down the tunnel in the direction of the vault, but actually following invisibly, which Wellby notices, but ultimately the party leaves her to watch as they investigate the strange mirror doors of the dwarven vault. Seeker and Riswynn eventually notice that, when looking in the reflected image of the two circular doors, keys appear around the necks of two statues positioned adjacent to the entryway, and that removing the keys is possible as long as you never remove your eyes from the reflection. Upon opening the doors and entering the vault, the party is confronted with a scene of death and destruction, albeit one undisturbed for many, many years. Five dead Dwarves, and one dead mind flayer (with its head smashed in) are arrayed inside the vault, which as been partially emptied. The treasure that remains includes the Shield of the Brawnanvil Clan, Riswynn’s goal, as well as a rune-inscribed magical warhammer, a chest containing six potion bottles and two driftglobes, and a number of gold and silver trade bars stamped with the Brawnanvil clan sign. The mind flayer, though long dead, is somewhat troubling, especially as Inakara seemed to be muttering frequently about the brain eaters and their return. Although given her state of mind, whether this is something actually to be concerned about, or a fevered imagining from her paranoid state is quite unclear. In any case, this particular mind flayer seemed to have been killed a century or more ago, by Dwarves.

After taking some time to pay respects for the dead and examine the treasure, the party decided to explore the inner chamber of the vault, where a rubble-strew crack in the side of a wall formed the opening to a tunnel heading west. After Seeker cleared the loose stone, Delwath investigated the tunnel, turning invisible first to maintain stealth. Eventually, the tunnel ended in what seemed to be a mine shaft, stretching both above and below the tunnel entrance, where signs of adamantine ore remained. 

Returning to the vault entrance and Inakara, Riswynn with the aid of the rest of the party, and Kenzo’s soul sight, negotiates passage to a tunnel leading east towards Raven’s Hold for two silver bars, plus three when they arrive at the tunnel. Along the way, some discussion of the mind flayers’ return occurs, with Inakara seemingly excited that, with the roper dead, the mind flayers have a clear path (although the rumors and legends of mind flayers suggests they are much, much more deadly than the stalagmite scavenger known as a roper).

We leave our heroes contemplating a locked iron grate in front of a tunnel sloping down to the east, Inakara retreating in the distance.