Session 1
An excavation south of the Moonsea in a region between the rivers Lis and Duathamper was being conducted to uncover the last resting place of a fallen knightly order: the Order of Dawnfire. However, there have been run-ins with undead assailants, and adventurers from the guild had been dispatched to deal with it: Avery, Blaine, Blink, Madeline, and Talon. The guild adventurers met up with a caravan heading to the excavation site, acting as an escort.
The caravan was led by a mustached, middle-aged human named Albric Von Howtz, and there was additionally a contingent of Zhentarim guards led by the human Callam Aurn. The group and the party was travelling near a mountain pass leading into the Star Mounts when it was ambushed by a group of undead, consisting of revenants and wights.
The undead claimed to seek justice, and that those in the caravan had transgressed against their sacred mission to guard the relics within the barrows. They claimed to be of the Order of Dawnfire, acting in the name of their Lady Alisandra Solina. The undead focused on the merchants, with reinforcements consisting of wraiths and specters arriving afterwards.
After a hard fought battle, the undead were dispatched, and the party was able to converse with the surviving members of the caravan.
The party learned of the Order of Dawnfire that the undead had spoken of: it was once a knightly order of paladins who were known for gathering and securing various evil relics as well as defending settlements along the Moonsea They were so named for the holy sword present from the founding of the order, Dawnfire, a holy artifact wielded by the Order's leader at the time of its fall, Alisandra Solina. The Order of Dawnfire made its home in a keep known as Cear Coron Llachar: Bright Crown Citadel, a bronze citadel that would blaze at sunrise. The Order of Dawnfire had been wiped out over six centuries ago in a climactic battle against a war band of giants from the Galena Mountains, led by a powerful frost giant. The battlefield was said to be littered with undead as well, and the Sword of Dawnfire was sundered and shattered.
Speaking further members of the convoy, the party learned that the Zhentarim had arranged an expedition to excavate the barrows in which the Order of Dawnfire was entombed, near the site of their final battle.
They spoke with Grindan, leader of the original expedition. The Zhentarim had gone into the barrows, but met fierce undead resistance after recovering what they could and had to retreat. The barrows they had gone within were the burial site of the Order of Dawnfire, and it was said that the Order of Dawnfire had been destroyed in a battle with the frost giant shaman Vornjolnir. It was not long after that final battle that Bright Crown Citadel was also attacked by a mysterious force, and the Citadel collapsed into the ground below.
Grindan believed that even if the relics stolen from the barrows were returned, the now undead knights of the Order of Dawnfire would not cease. There was something wrong with the barrows, with a cold, dark presence of some kind within. Grindan then provided the party with an orichalcum grip, with a ruby in the shape of the blazing sun embedded in the pommel. It was the remnants of Dawnfire, the very sword for which the order had been named. It retained powerful magic despite lacking the blade, and Grindan asked the party to set matters right: the Zhentarim weren't what they used to be, and there was some noble blood left in those who remained.
Session 2
The party made their way towards the barrows, coming across the remnants of the previous Zhentarim caravan, as well as a farm that had been ransacked, likely by the undead knights. As the party made their way within the barrows, they found that the grip of Dawnfire seemed to react to it, igniting to form a blade of light! Heading further within the barrows, the party found a variety of areas, meeting undead resistance along the way.
They uncovered a room where there was an ancient system of justice outlined, explaining the code of justice the Order of Dawnfire followed. They also found an area in which the history of the Order of Dawnfire was provided in the form of murals, providing histories of various knights of the Order of Dawnfire, as well as the tale of the fall of Bright Crown Citadel, and how the Citadel was said to have disappeared entirely, with not even a single stone remaining.
The party also found a variety of ward stones around the barrows, providing the area with ancient protective magics that still functioned to the present day. The party also came to learn of the ten heroic ideals of chivalry: bravery, justice, mercy, honesty, perseverance, empathy, temperance, discretion,
selflessness, and humility.
Session 3
As the party made their way towards the central portion of the barrows, they found the entrance to an anteroom. Preceding the room was an alabaster statue of Alisandra Solina, wielding an intact Dawnfire, proclaiming the following:
Alisandra Solina, our Lady of Dawnfire, favored of the sun, our Lady of Grace, touched by the divine, may her spirit endure, may her deeds persist untarnished, unbroken, unforgotten..
The lives she saved were countless.
The peace she brought was long.
The evils she slew were legion.
Her star was brightest, a light undimmed and undaunted even in the darkest of times, in the most dangerous of nights.
Below, the party could hear raised voices, and they entered within to find an assortment of undead knights, including Alisandra Solina herself, clad entirely in ceremonial armor. She was holding trial over the surviving members of the Zhentarim expedition, as well as captured caravaneers and those of the farm the party had seen previously.
Alisandra Solina accused those present and captured as being in league with Vornjolnir and for desecrating the barrows. The party spoke with Alisandra Solina at length, and at last seemed to be able to convince her to spare those present. However, as she was about to let them go, she said she could feel a presence making her still want to execute those within: the influence of Vornjolnir, who was twisting her mind and those of her now undead companions.
She asked the party to destroy the barrows and to allow the dead to remain dead. She saw the party had the grip of Dawnfire with them and was gladdened that it was being wielded in the cause of good, and asked that it be used to purge the darkness from the place.
Alisandra Solina explained Dawnfire could be used to destroy the ward stones anchoring the barrows, and bring it down entirely. As the party left with the former prisoners, making their way to the ward stones to destroy them, they heard a voice within their minds that echoed:
Mortal wretches, your efforts will avail you not. I am Vornjolnir, the Foe-hammer of Galena. I defy death; I defy you. I destroyed these knights as I have destroyed countless others, and I will crush you. I am the hand of the Harrowed King, Lord of the Bleeding Throne, who awaits my return. I am his watcher, I am his wrath, I am his warlock for he has blessed unto me immortality
Vornjolnir continued to taunt the party as they destroyed ward stone after ward stone. After the final stone was destroyed, he promised to seek vengeance for the party's actions, and summoned a powerful undead champion of the Harrowed King: a dark devourer. After a long hard fought battle, the party defeated the champion of the Harrowed King and escaped the barrows.
As the barrows collapsed behind them, the ruby in the grip of Dawnfire separated from the rest of the grip, and the magic within Dawnfire faded, seemingly disappearing as the barrows had as well. Its magic seemed tied to the barrows, only functioning within there, and with the barrows destroyed, so had whatever magic within Dawnfire faded as well it seemed. Talon chose to retain the remnants of Dawnfire for himself for the time being.
In the end, the party had successfully rescued the prisoners and set to rest the remnants of the Order of Dawnfire. But the matter of Vornjolnir remained, and there was still the mystery of Bright Crown Citadel to uncover. If there was any chance of repairing or reforging anew the sword of Dawnfire, that would certainly be the place to start...