Five Tower Keep Session 23: 01/24/2019 Alibarum Klamphus, Fulroc Shystermeth, and Stone Gardens (M3)

“You have wandered into my territory! I am Alibarum Klamphus! Tremble at my presence!”

Our characters engage the terrible beast. Indeed it was; turning Alaric to stone not once but Eventually the half-dragon half-basilisk flees before our brutal might.

Not long after the battle Stoutwood hears faint scuttling sounds and encounters the rat-folk individual Fulroc Shystermeth of Lowport (and his rat familiar). We find him odd but follow him to where he says survivors are and who have taken refuge in a sinkhole. Here inside a cylindrical cavern are 8 children. Jamal Riverwalker immediately recognizes some of them and comforts them.

Fulroc says he only arrived a few days ago and states he is a collector of treasures and information gathering. When pressed Fulroc believes Alibarum Klamphus is a new creature to the area. When asked about possible lairs Fulroc points out these odd tunnels in this area; he seeks to find more about them. He says there are tunnels like this near the areas of stone gardens. With this news, the stone gardens and the basilisk eyes all confirm a basilisk. Fulroc believes the amulet Klamphus wears is key to how powerful the dragon hybrid is.

Furloc produces a map that 'Acadami wishes they had back'… It is an ancient map dated from the defeat of Rappan Athuk. Soon enough he reveals himself as a wizard and offers to guide us to one of the stone gardens.  He has been to three of these stone gardens but he says a lonely iron tower lies at the center. He possess three stone to flesh scrolls and all he asks is an equal share.

Our attention turns to Jamal, the riverfolk and the children and what to do; Stoutwood gives Jamal a bird feather token to contact Low Port on their situation. Most of the hirelings stay with Jamal for now; Sonayo and Bosley however travel with our characters.

Our characters decide to rest here in the odd tunnel and plan on heading to the closest stone gardens in M3 the next day. Our night is spent in a rope trick as usual to escape the hag induced nightmare.

Melderon takes possession of two stone to flesh scrolls in preparation of heading out; Furloc retains one. In the jungle our characters come across two manticore nests that have been pillaged by the dracolisk. We pass through areas of swamp trolls, but are adept at evading notice. All in all it’s a fast three day jungle travel.

When our characters approach the stone garden; from about 100’ out we begin to feel the presence of the Old World. We are soon set upon by a swarm of basilisks (six). We destroy the basilisks and learn that the blood of a basilisk can restore a turned to stone victim. We gain our seventh character level. 

Five Tower Keep Session 22: 01/17/2019 A Dragon Emissary, Three Named Dragons, and Travel to Dock Port

Sa'di Abd Al-Aziz the Ifrit

We start this week’s session at the Banana Tree Embassy and our social gathering. The gathering is small but soon enough an exotic Egyptian gentleman walks in, tall and strong, he appears to be flame-touched and is handsome in a rugged way dressed in reds with a fire motif. He introduces himself as Sa’di Abd Al-Aziz and comes as emissary to King Kazzurog. His name translates to 'lucky' and 'servant of the powerful'. He is decked out in magic some of which, Melderon ascertains are tainted in such a way that they are attuned to him. Al-Aziz comes in response to Mesha's letter of personal introduction to the Lowport embassy that is in service to King Kazzurog.

When asked about his resources and does he come with an offer? Al-Aziz laughs and says he comes with the questions of similar nature. The rumors, Al-Aziz says are that our characters trade in hides and raw alchemical ingredients. In fact our trade has enriched those markets. There is also word that we fight the ‘dragons’ of the swamp. Mesha emphasizes to him our fight against the Hags and asks him if he comes here for merchant opportunity or something greater?

Mesha mentions the half-dragons (owlbears and Minotaurs) encounters on the road. Mesha believes the Hags are inciting general disfavor against half-dragons (and by extension Kazzurog) thereby expanding the Hag's influence. At this Al-Aziz begins a series of questions where some of us pick up on that he’s really uninterested about the Hags.

He mentions Dragon Hill and was asking if our characters would be interested in establishing business relations. Mesha says that she would be interested, the rest of our characters say that we will consider the offer.

We ask if Al-Aziz is aware of the uprising in the swamp? He has only heard of reduced river traffic. Has he heard of Gyronna? And yes he has. He inform him that there are those who believe Gyronna itself is in Horcton. Al-Aziz does confirm Kazzurog awaits a dignitary from Stormhaven to court. Our characters ask if he has heard of our battles against the half-dragons on the road and/or if there have been attacks from half-dragons? Not to his knowledge, however the road from Five Tower Keep is not a well-traveled road.

Our final question is will Al-Aziz be reporting back to Kazzurog directly? He says he will report to the Ambassador but will include some personal notes when he sees Kazzurog. He seems keen to be the one to introduce us to King Kazzurog.

Arnil Garrod

Later Arnil Garrod or A.G. is introduced to our characters by Thethmommon, this attracts the attention of Jamal Riverwalker who is pleased to see Arnil, Jamal joins us after introductions.

Arnil, grim and defeated, comes with news of the destruction of Dock Port. He describes a massive dragon laying waste to what was Dock Port five days ago. The attack was made all the more terrifying as the creature announced his name as Alibarum Klamphus as he defiled and destroyed Dock Port. Klamphus was a scaled draconic terror who’s gaze turned villagers to stone. He doesn’t recall Alibarum using a breath weapon. Arnil also mentions a second dragon terrorizing the elves of Elf Lake (Elfhome) a black dragon and declared a hunter of a family of wild elves (the family of elves that raised Melderon). Its name is Saturim Crueldruentherruurr and it is spoken of as having acid as a breath weapon. Arnil is gravely concerned about dragons on the rise.

At the end of the social night Jamal sates that he plans on traveling up the river to Dock Port; it is our character’s agreement to travel with him.

The next morning we meet up with Jamal who has six long flat boats that will take us five days up the river.

On the morning of the fifth day our characters will come into view of the destruction Dock Port and eventually our characters see several petrified humanoids. Eventually our characters identify four tails in the water and the approach of drakes. We dispatch them in short order and return our attention to the devastated Dock Port. In places our characters discover evidence of people returning to the village scavenging for supplies.

Stoutwood looks for clues and finds the dragon in question was a large size and confirms a dracolisk which soon reveals itself.

We begin next session with two rounds to prepare for the dracolisk.

Five Tower Keep Session 21: 01/03/2019 The Camel Named Black Crocodile

We begin after ten days of downtime and pick back up with our characters during Immewrath’s full moon fights. The club, close to the Applesnooks (and not in Immewrath’s territory), is an old abandoned church (built by dwarves) are where the contests take place; the matches are non-lethal against his stable of monsters.

Weston, a fighter from Gibraltar, came to Lowport to make enough money to start a mercenary company. Fights with a pole-axe and wears a magical mithril breast plate. He comes to Alaric as his hireling.

 

After these ten days word is still about that the Dragon-king remains in the harbor and because so, he must be waiting for something. Word is that it’s a large convoy of trading vessels from Stormhaven.

Weston

The old church is a sturdily built dwarven built one story construction with vaulted ceilings and is surrounded by a rail fence. Two towers lead to the fighting area; one for Immewrath’s favored monsters and one tower for challengers to enter by. By the end of the night we correctly guess that Immewrath rents the temple from Bushwood Applesnook.

The night starts with minor fights between challengers (humanoid vs humanoid). In the stands, rat folk jeer and jape at the combatants. Dwarves represent the brokers here. Some of our characters gamble for the first hour before the first combatant from Immewrath’s stable. All around us are what seem like a hundred and a score of smokers, gamblers and party-goers.

Jamal Riverwalker

The first fighter from Immewrath’s stable looks like an ogre-crossed rat folk who comes in with much fanfare. The fight lasts for nearly 15 minutes where a human beats the barbarian rat folk to a pulp.

Next was Drake against his combatant and after a heated battle, Drake defeats his opponent earning gold for himself. Also during this time Alaric invests in training and gym fees for a group of fighters.

The next item on our character’s agenda is our social gathering at the Banana Tree Embassy with hopes to attract investors; create a staff here in embassy for upkeep in our absence; as well as continuing recruiting efforts to expand the Black Parrot Mercenary company. We focus on the possibility of lost mines, lost magic from souls who have been turned to stone, and a variety of treasures from previously undiscovered ruins and the promise of old world treasure.

A sponsor named Jamal Riverwalker offers his services in two ways having heard of our intentions, he could pilot a vessel to Dock Port or sail to said port and wait for us at Dock Port for our character's eventual return to Low Port. It was an offer to the company for his services. He is our first investor.

Garnered Devotion

Fen stood in silence as he watched Father Borone strap the silver bracers around Mesha’s wrist. A mixture of celestial imagery and Yahweh symbology they were a gleaming representation of both her heritage and her faith. Fen could feel her aura of goodness strengthen as the last clasp was securely fastened. Her hands began to glow with a warm light as she laid her hands upon the bloodstained book titled Reborn.

As Father Borone began his sermon Mesha started pushing her life-giving energy into the book. With every passage, the resolve in Father Borone’s voice strengthened. With every passage, the holy energy emanating through Mesha’s hands into the book intensified. As the sermon reached its climax the edges of the book had already begun to curl, straining to contain the powerful energy being forced into it. The tree embossed on the cover was barely visible as the integrity of the book began to break down. Mesha and the high priest joined hands as the last line of the sermon was spoken in unison. Suddenly the book burst into flame consumed in a matter of seconds.

Fen was first to admit his utter lack of magical knowledge. Some of his gear functioned in ways that he could not comprehend or even explain. It was only recently that he stumbled across Father Borone and began to accept the teachings of Yahweh. Before today his religious experiences were limited to feeding rabbits and tending the gardens. As he worked he would listen to Father Borone make comparisons between life today and the historical events from his bible. He had never read or heard about anything like the events he just witnessed. He didn’t even know how to describe what he had seen. All he knew was he felt better than he had in years. The holy energy released had completely alleviated all his aches and pains. Beyond that, he felt a calmness of mind for the first time since his dismissal. After being falsely accused of making advances towards the daughter of Lowports Minister, he was removed from his position as sergeant at arms for the trade council. His dishonorable discharge had disgraced not only his reputation but left what he felt was to be an everlasting mark on his soul. Just his presence during this ceremony of divine cleansing had eased this burden and given him a clear conscience.

He watched as Mesha counted out 500 coins the bulk of her remaining funds. As she hugged Father Borone goodbye she handed him the sack gold. Admiring his recently enhanced bow, another gift from Mesha, Fen knew he was finally back on the right path. He looked forward to the swamps, to be back in action and to serve the greater good. He was humbled by the opportunity Yahweh had presented. He would prove his faith by honoring his patron and in the process bring honor back his family name.