Mawar Adventures Episode 04

Ryu, Nerissa, and Ander investigate killings near Eskorola, battle fire cultists, and free the dragon turtle Chaessenth from a mage seeking to contact Khathayi the Flametongue.

Timeline

• Nov 01, 1747 DR: Ander, a recently retired Chardonian soldier, returns to Hamri after twenty years away.
• Nov 08, 1747 DR, morning: Ander finds Ryu at his cliff tower in Hamri. Their reunion is interrupted by Jaeson with a rumor that a beast is killing lizardfolk near Eskorola.
• Nov 08, 1747 DR, afternoon: Ryu, Ander, and Nerissa travel to Eskorola, where Itzal describes burned bodies and a note demanding that the village leave its gatza tribute on a harbor barge in three days. Amaya guides the party into the Tzingola Marshes, where they find an enormous claw print and signs of scalding heat.
• Nov 09, 1747 DR, morning: The party enters Tzingola by canoe, survives an attack in the fog, and finds Chaessenth under a fire mage’s control. The party frees Chaessenth and kills the fire mage.
• Nov 09, 1747 DR, afternoon: Chaessenth departs for the Endless Ocean, escorted by Turk, while the party returns to Hamri.

Cast of Characters

• Jaeson (he/him, Mawaran human): rumor source.
• Itzal (he/him, salt lizardfolk): village elder.
• Amaya (she/her, salt lizardfolk): young scout and guide.
• Chaessenth (dragon turtle): captive dragon turtle.
• Khathayi the Flametongue (mysterious creature): dead fire-linked figure sought by the mage.

Places

• Hamri (town in the Mawar Confederacy, the Mawakel Peninsula): coastal Mawaran town where Ryu keeps a cliffside tower and where the investigation begins and ends. Session context includes: Ryu’s tower on the cliffs above the bay and return from Eskorola and Tzingola.
• Eskorola (es-ko-ROH-lah; village in the Mawar Confederacy, the Mawakel Peninsula): salt lizardfolk village near the southern end of Tzingola, threatened by a predator demanding gatza. Session context includes: village harbor, Itzal’s briefing, and route into the marsh.
• Tzingola (tseen-GOH-lah; salt marshes in the Mawar Confederacy, the Mawakel Peninsula): extensive salt marshes north of Hamri and around Eskorola, where the fire cultist hid Chaessenth in a mist-covered nest. Session context includes: marsh-side attack site, canoe channels, mist-covered mound, underwater tunnel mouth, rotting mound roof, and mist-nest interior pool.

Narrative

Ander climbs to Ryu’s cliffside tower outside Hamri, where Ryu is keeping warm by the fire and watching the sea with Blu nearby. The old friends trade recognition, jokes, and fragments of what has changed in the years since Ander left, including Ryu’s bond with the ocean and gatza. Their reunion is interrupted by Jaeson, who arrives with a lead from the coast: lizardfolk near Eskorola are being killed by something monstrous, and the creature appears to be demanding a full tribute of gatza. Jaeson frames the crisis as a chance to corner the gatza market and hints that Ryu could make money by stealing the tribute.

Ryu and Ander decide the rumor is worth pursuing and draw Nerissa into the plan before taking a half-day sail north along the coast to the salt lizardfolk village of Eskorola. There, they meet Itzal, who explains that villagers have been killed by something that looks and sounds more like a sea beast than a normal predator. A burned body washed ashore with a written warning, and the village is being told to leave its gatza in the harbor as tribute.

With Itzal’s permission, the young scout Amaya ferries the party through Tzingola to the shoreline where the most recent attack happened. Ryu’s examination finds a claw print far too large for an ordinary local beast, and vegetation scorched as if by blasts of boiling water. Blu’s later reconnaissance spots a vast mound hidden in the fog, giving the party a target. As the sun is setting and there is not enough daylight to risk an immediate assault, the party decides to settle in Eskorola for the night.

At dawn, the party returns to Tzingola by canoe, following the channel torn through the vegetation north from Eskorola. Cold rain turns warmer as they approach the steam cloud, and Turk scouts ahead until flying steam creatures attack him near a giant tunnel or passage. With that warning, the party paddles forward carefully; visibility falls to only a few feet as the canoe edges into the pool at the mound’s edge. With no clear target in sight, Nerissa quietly prepares Faerie Fire and aims it ahead and slightly right of the boat.

Nerissa’s Faerie Fire goes off just before the ambush lands. Her spell catches two steam imps in faint green light, but other winged attackers remain hidden in the fog around the canoe as combat begins. The party fights from the canoe and shallow water, holding position through scalding steam and poor visibility as the canoe starts taking damage. Then the larger guardian emerges from the mist, a cracked, burning humanoid in armor with a flaming spear. After trying to capsize and pierce the canoe, he dies in a blast of metal shrapnel that badly wounds Ryu and Nerissa.

With the outer defenders dead and the canoe damaged, the party pauses to patch their wounds and choose a safer route into the nest. The tunnel descends into deep water, so they climb over the unstable mound instead and find a weak point in the roof. From this vantage point, they see a hidden pool below. On the inner shore stands a fire mage, apparently commanding a dragon turtle who swims in the inner pool, a burning black spear lodged deep in his neck.

Combat begins when the mage blasts fire up through the hole and shouts another command to Chaessenth. The fight then turns on freeing the dragon turtle rather than killing him: Ryu drops onto Chaessenth’s back and burns his hands loosening the spear, Blu works it farther free, and Nerissa uses Misty Step to reach Chaessenth and yank it out. The relief is incomplete, but Nerissa calms and soothes Chaessenth enough for him to fight the spell and force out that the mage’s concentration still binds him. Ander crashes through the roof and cuts into the mage until the spell breaks; when the mage answers with a dazzling pattern that catches Nerissa and Chaessenth, Blu wakes the dragon turtle in time for Chaessenth to lunge from the water and finish him.

With the fire mage dead, Nerissa heals Chaessenth and translates a calmer conversation in Draconic. Chaessenth names himself, says the fire is gone but still hurts, and reveals that he is young, no more than about twenty, and has been captive for as long as he can remember, probably since he was an egg. He explains that the mage wanted gatza to speak with Khathayi the Flametongue, who is buried or associated with a lost tomb on an island north of the peninsula. Chaessenth also speaks of the Wanui Teora’s ocean songs, the stars below, and the dazzling lights of the deep sea; when he sings one, Nerissa begins to pick up the melody. The party notices that the mage’s golden amulet matches the symbol on Hiyasa’s treasure map and points toward that same island, then rides Chaessenth back to the lizardfolk village before Turk swims west to escort him to the deep ocean, and the rest of the group returns to Hamri.

Combat

• Marsh Tunnel Ambush: steam imps, fire cult guardian. The party defeats the steam imps and fire cult guardian at the tunnel mouth, but the guardian’s death blast leaves them wounded.
• Freeing Chaessenth: fire mage. The party removes the black spear, breaks the fire mage’s control, and Chaessenth kills the mage.