Five Tower Keep Session 12: 10/25/2018 The Breaking of the Covens

We begin this week’s session around 10 am in territory 2k10 just after our encounter with a giant and its bitch hag-wife. On the hag’s dead person is a bag containing 3 fist sized rock-chunks of silver ore.

Our characters continue exploring SW when our characters come across an area of jungle where animal noises are prevalent but without physical evidence of birds or lizards. We take precautions and find the ghostly noise has moved beyond us. It is not long before a couple of swamp giants with their hag-wives attack us. Our characters are able to kill the giants but both of the hags escaped by traversing through a tree. We fully explore the area noting that in 2k10 there are is a broken hag coven with two hags remaining. We are awarded our 5^th character level.

We rest in a tiny hut and during the course of the rest Alaric and Melderon have similar dreams of a crony hag who warns them that if our characters intrude further; the hags promise death to us and our families. Together the characters agree this was the effect of a dream spell common to a coven. These two targeted because their names were known.

The next day (27) we pass into 2m4 and discover the typography here to be similar to the territories north and east. Our initial exploration attempts are sub-par...

Next week we will have one round of preparation before combat as our characters have accidentally wandered into another coven- The Black Root Coven. We believe the hags that escaped from us, these broken covens had returned to Horcton and informed on us.

Five Tower Keep Session 11: 10/18/2018 Excuse Me, Can You Give Us The Directions To Horcton?

We begin this week's session with Melderon establishing practice routine... using magic device on the horcton relic ring of protection in order to gain the benefits from an item that wouldn't otherwise work for anyone other than an orc-blooded individual. Our characters affix the two masterwork great axes to Stoutwood’s camel, left overs from a previous battle before setting out with the threat of a thunderstorm gathering. The area 2k8 is in no danger of being flooded however and is considered fully explored.

Our characters decide to travel NW to a plateau to get a better vantage of the immediate jungle. As we travel south to do just that, our characters notice the ground begin to slope down into what will eventually be more swamp.

Eventually we feel the ground shake, foreshadowing dinosaurs ahead. Stoutwood casts Ginger ahead to investigate how many and how large the creatures are; she eventually reports back with a remarkable count of animals. We close to one hundred feet where we see a huge triceratops charging to and fro agitated and aggressive. Seven other huge creatures with armored plates on their back and six of what look like dire rhinoceroses. Our characters wisely skirt around them.

Not long after we come across tracks that look like giant deer or giant goats which seem to be their destination as well as origin: 2k9 (the territory with the plateau). Stoutwood also comes across a tuft of bladeleaf grass- a successful harvest yields a metamagic component for leafspray (roll successful for +4 to the DC of the save). We also conclude that this dinosaur herd is the dominating animal feature of the area. Our characters move on to succeed in fully exploring 2k8.

About mid-afternoon our characters reach a sheer cliff that soars up about 150 feet. To the west our characters see manticori flying about further west in an adjacent territory. We circle around to the west and about an hour later Ginger indicates animals ahead, Stoutwood also hears a moving herd of giant deer moving through the area. Getting closer four Sythehorns break from the herd and attack! Our characters prevail and kill each one and gather their skin (worth 100 gp each.) Link to other skin harvested.

About a half hour before sunset we come to the top of the plateau and are able to lookout across the jungle canopy. Here our characters can smoke rising in the far off distance- signs of Horcton! Looking down from the top of the platuea our characters see several dead forms at the base of this lookout. Using fly magics Mesha identifies a very dead kobold, what looks like a hag, a very ugly human man and a half orc lying about bereft of clothing and equipment, scarred and broken. To Stoutwood they look to have been killed by biting and slashing attacks- Maderon believes these attacks came from summoned creatures.

Bangor

Eventually we make camp and moments after midnight Stoutwood finds a tiefling standing holding a flag of Lowport as a form of truce. We introduce ourselves and learn his name is Bangor- he has claimed a cave beneath the plateau as his territory. He asks if are associated with Shystermeth. We converse for a while outlining our exploration as we search for Horcton. He offers what he knows for trade in magic weapons: we learn the high priestess hag has her coven call her a living god and actively motivates the hags that populate these swamps. In Horcton there are members of the sisters that aren’t hags however, one is rumored to be a half-dragon. Bangor tells us the direction of Horcton: at the bend of the arm of the low river (where the smoke can be seen in the distance).

We ask who Shystermeth is, the individual Bangor assumed we were agents of and are told he is a ‘rat’ and a competing explorer from Lowport. Bangor explores dragons-kind and tells us of the black-as-night dragons that come out of the swamps. Shystermeth talks about them as old-world creatures but ones that have returned.

The rest of the night will pass and our characters have fully explored this region: home to Bangor of the cliff-cave. From here we return to 2k8 and beyond to what is 2k10 SW along our course. Passage into this hex is quickly met with an encounter with a giant and a hag that attacked from below the surface of the water.

We destroy them both and end our session there. Good game. 

Five Tower Keep Session 10: 10/11/2018 Oink Oink Muther F*er

We begin this week’s session picking up on the morning of Day 25 after a night’s rest that was filled with the din of insects in territory 2k7 which is now fully explored. Here, our characters observe dinosaurs signs that include the Compsognathus, Triceratops and large-sized herding Parasaurolophus in this hexagonal territory.

Next our characters travel SW into 2K8 (adjacent to SW K3). Here our characters find hunting trails made by lions, including dire lions who hunt this territory regularly thanks to its elevated ground sloping up NW to the next territory and what looks like a cliff-face in the far distance. Also in the distance thunder can be heard as storm gathers off the coast.

We come across a group of humanoids that seem to be finishing killing off a huge dinosaur. We initiate aggressions and manage to defeat and kill Ogg, Togg, Olf along with his hunting cat; however Gregg and Rey-regg escaped, running off in the direction of the far off plateau.

Our characters recover 2 masterwork greataxe’s (horcton relics), (2) masterwork slings, (2) +1 chainmail (Rob), and one +1 greataxe (Russ) and a +1 chain shirt with light fortification (James), (2) +1 cloak of resistance *orc blood attuned (horcton relic), +2 cloak of resistance (Troy), +1 ring of protection *orc attuned (relic of Horcton), belt of mighty constitution +2 (Rob), (12) +1 flaming arrows, and potions of with abyssal writings upon them- five of each: endure elements, CSW, protection from good, remove disease, and restoration, lesser. Collected coin 500 (divided).

We find an area camp after and pick up on the morning of Day 26 refreshed and ready to explore more uncharted jungle terrain. 

Wandering Monsters III, There Will Be Blood Tonight

Wandering Monsters

It was a almost a week after the orog barbarian Olf first picked up the scent of the tiefling he believed to be traveling with his treacherous half-orc brother Skutt. Olf had tracked the scent up a wide flat mesa where he, Olf was loathe to admit, lost the scent. The orog took his frustration out on the horclings inciting Olf’s hunting cat in the process. 

Olf promised his team of trackers that if they could not find out how Skutt and his group of traitors descended the mesa by the morrow- one of them would die by the cat. It was not a threat idly made this deep in the jungles but Olf’s pride was on the line.

Ogg and Togg were Olf’s brutes; his muscled warriors and handled well most of the grunt work in the jungle, but the other two horclings Gregg and Ray-regg were Olf’s trackers and animal handlers, and they were failing at their duties miserably.

“They got off this flat rock somehow. FIND IT!” Olf had commanded the two horclings and to accentuate his point commanded Cat to pounce on Ray-regg to further motivate the trackers.

 

Cat

As Olf stroked the fur of his hunting cat sitting at eye level on a jutting rock the barbarian watched as the sun was yielding to the day; in the near distance he could hear the commands of the animal handlers; it was Cat who turned toward the direction even before the call was made.

“Your Greatness!”

The leopard preceded her master to the source of the call. Olf arrived to Ray-regg who was restraining her dire rat and motioning at the jungle floor about 300 feet down.

“Your greatness I have found the traitors and,” she indicated a second place much closer on the side of the mesa. “a way down.”

Olf squinted his jaundice eyes and looked down on the travelers. He absently clenched his fist. It was not his half-orc brother or his companions; no, these individuals are a different group Olf could see humans among the group. Perhaps a second hunting party for the exile? Regardless, Olf would not suffer his brother meeting his fate at anyone else’s hands other than his own.

“Very good Ray-regg! Get ready for our descent down the mesa,” Olf turned to the others who have also gathered, “we will have blood tonight.”

Five Tower Keep Session 9: 09/27/2018 The Land Before Time

We begin this weeks session with our characters in hexagonal territory 2k6 on day 23 having fully explored this region noting its occupants as consisting of a manitcore nest and not much else. To the west and SW there is a noticeable slope to a higher ground (2k7 and the territories west and SW of 2k6). One of the western territories looks to have a plateau within its boundaries. We continue on our declared route SW running a parallel route to our previous original route before heading SW to 2k6.

Our characters rest and on day 24 of our exploration from Five Tower Keep we enter 2k7. As we travel the typography changes, it’s enough to disorient our characters before we get our bearings (less than desired exploration check). Here Ginger indicates that several species of dinosaurs could very well reside here. Stoutwood further notices the giant foliage as well, this is about when 9 giant (size of a pony) solider ants looking for easy prey come at us. We route the ants and eventually continue on only to discover a large ant-hill that looks newly sealed against intruders.

We travel on and surmise that manticores hunt in this area and that there are large lizards here as well. We come to a grassy area where giant bees flew and buzz about the tall grass. While we assess our options a large lizard darts out of the ground and charges at our company. We are successfully able to kill the creature yielding 30 lbs of Giant frilled lizard skin. After which our characters notice the giant bees had scattered giving us clear passage.

It wasn’t long when we are set upon by a huge beetle that first trampled most of the group but eventually fell like the rest. We end the session around 5 pm in the evening after gaining 4 large ivory tusks from the elephant carcass the huge beetle was feasting on when we encountered it. We eventually seek refuge and rest in a magical tiny hut.