We left our heroes on the evening of Saturday June 1, having arrived at the Dawnstone with the Granite dwarves Frayka and Meerak.
June 1 (cont) - Around the campfire that night, within sight of the Dawnstone, Frayka told the party the following story. He and Meerak (his kinsman) are from a group of Granite dwarves called the Farandui. The left their homeland in the distant south, beyond Rendalia, in early March. The name of the land translates to "Mountainhome", which the dwarves Thalmyr and Badric recognized as a near-mythical dwarven kingdom. They had traveled ~1200 miles in ~80 days, generally disguised, riding with caravans and merchant trains. As he told this part of the story, Frayka mumbled the words of a spell and transformed himself and Meerak to the appearance of regular dwarves. Frayka said that an artifact crucial to the safety and well being of their kingdom, and to the health of their Great Thane (who was in an un-wakeable slumber), had been lost. This artifact was called the Heartstone. Meerak was on a quest to craft a new Heartstone, and Frayka was his companion on the journey. Meerak believes that there are only a few places in the Realms where this item can be crafted, and that the Dawnstone is one of these few powerful primal places.
All through this storytelling, Meerak sat by himself on the edge of the firelight and read from a brass-bound leather tome. When he was done his reading, he asked to see some of the party's weapons, and spent some time inspecting, studying and mumbling over each of them in turn.
June 2 - After an uneventful night, the party was wakened by Frayka well before dawn. Meerak was dressed in elaborate black robes, which were covered with red and gold embroidered runes and symbols. He was laying out and organizing all sorts of materials on the Dawnstone itself: a large and ornate golden amulet with a hole in the center, a very large red ruby, a number of what appeared to be small rune-covered clay tablets, containers and jars of various powders and liquids, a large vial of a thick red substance, a small golden knife, and a small golden hammer encrusted with gems and inlaid with runes.
Frayka went to several characters and made requests to borrow Thalmyr's axe, Badric's warhammer, and Malachy's sword. He also asked that Thalmyr be ready to cast Protection From Evil and Melior be ready to cast Thunderwave. [It was at this point that one of the players observed "umm, is it just my imagination, or did we just let this guy disarm all of our melee guys?"]
When the first light of the morning hit the Dawnstone, it began to glow red deep within the translucent white stone, just as the legends said. Meerak began a complicated series of spells and rituals, sprinkling the liquids and powders on the clay rune tablets and then shattering them with the jeweled hammer. As the tablets were shattered, swirls of multi-colored magical energy were released, and were bound into the amulet. The dwarves in the group recognized that they were watching a Runesmith at work. [Aside: Dwarven Rune Magic is a rare and powerful kind of magic that most people will never witness - Runesmith magic is the type of Rune Magic related to crafting metal items and weapons]. As the ritual continued, the Dawnstone glowed brightly, and tendrils of magical energy snaked out of some of the surrounding standing stones (which were now also glowing), coalescing around the altar, and creating a web of glowing and pulsing light and energy. As a final step, Meerak set the ruby in the center of the amulet, poured the thick red liquid over it (the blood of the Great Thane) and struck it with the jeweled golden hammer. There was a blinding flash of light, after which the ruby could be seen, embedded and glowing, in the center of the amulet.
As the light within the Dawnstone began to fade, Meerak, looking tired, performed quick rituals on each of the three borrowed weapons. While Meerak cast a spell over Thalmyr's axe, Thalmyr was asked to cast Protection From Evil. It seemed to those watching that Meerak's spell as able to capture the magical energy of Thalmyr's spell and cause it to vanish into the axe. Thunderwave cast on Badric's warhammer had a similar effect. Lastly, Meerak cast a final spell on Malachy's sword, then handed the small golden knife to Malachy and asked him to spill his own blood onto the sword. Mal slashed his palm, and drops of blood splattered onto the sword blade. The drops sizzled and smoked, and then were absorbed into the blade, leaving no trace. Meerak collapsed as the last light faded from the Dawnstone. The whole process took only 15 minutes.
The Heartstone ritual was a success.
After a short rest, Meerak handed Thalmyr's axe back to him, and said "this is a fine dwarven-forged weapon made 35 years ago by Tarrack Swifthand in the dwarven hold of Rockforge. It is a fine weapon that will serve you well." [In game terms it was now a +1 weapon that can invoke the Protection From Evil spell once per day].
Handing back Badric's warhammer, he said "this was made in Iron Gate 72 years ago by Brimdall Silvershard son of Sarndall, Use it well." [In game terms, the weapon can now invoke Thunderwave once per day, and is a "magic weapon", but not a '+' weapon. Brimdall Silvershard is of Badric's clan, and is in fact his great-uncle].
Meerak then told Malachy the following: "Your sword is Dralikin. It was forged in a place called Fellsar in the Elder days, by an elven craftsman named Friliar Stormwarden. It is a remarkable weapon, fit for a great warrior. It has lain dormant for a great many years. It is happy to have been awakened." When asked how he knew all this, he shrugged and responded "I asked it, and it told me."
When asked what enchantment had been placed upon it, Meerak hid the sword and then asked Malachy to concentrate on it, and tell him which stone it was behind. Malachy could sense the sword, and knew where it was. Meerak then asked him to concentrate again and call the sword to him. Mal did so, and the sword appeared in his hand. Meerak said "I have bound the sword to you, and you to it by blood. You can call it you and it will appear to serve you for as long as it wishes. I think it possible that it could choose not to respond to your summons, but I am not sure of that. Treat it well."
With that, Frayka presented the party with a few tokens of Granite dwarf friendship and the golden items they no longer needed (the hammer and knife), thanked them profusely, and teleported the two of them away. [Teleporting works fine for "going home", but is extremely dangerous when going to a place you don't know well. Teleporting to a place you hadn't been to at all, and weren't even sure where it was, would be suicidal.]
Next - North of the Dawnstone.
GM Commentary - The first two-thirds of this session (with the last third to come next), was good for revealing more of the mythology and background of the world, and provided the characters with some tangible benefits in terms of enchantments added to some of their primary melee weapons. There would be some exploring and fighting to come in the session. I like the mix of different aspects to a session. I especially like continuing to build the web of people that the characters have encountered, and what could be considered their circle of acquaintances and friends. This provides a lot of opportunity for going back to those relationships and drawing on those ties in the future.
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