Session 5: See you in a while, Man and Crocodile!

General Summary

Waking up to an irate Azaka is not a cakewalk. After Azaka threatens to double her charge for "laundry fees", the party agree to clean her Su-monster-organ-splattered tent. The arguing annoys Chomsky and Rubi, who rather value their beauty sleep. Waking up and walking outside, John Notagnome stands drinking coffee (??) by the fire in passive-aggressive, sullen silence while Douglass cleans down his tent and patches the still-smouldering hole made by Burg Quott (the notably less Burg-Quottish).
Before the party break camp, they see the blood trail left by the fleeing Su-monster from last night. Seeking to get their crossbow bolts back - and maybe some vengeance for a sleep ruined - the party track it to a clearing where it lies dead. It seems the bolts weren't enough to kill it but the tiger walking through this area sure was. Strange that the tiger didn't eat the creature... Backtracking the tiger footprints you found more Su-monsters similarly ripped to shreds, yet uneaten. Following the footprints forward, the trail runs out at the edge of the river. Maybe the tiger didn't like the smell of those damn dirty apes and needed a good bath?
Heading upstream, the party land before another waterfall as the sun beats down. Rubi and Chomsky hear a jingling sound, and walking alongside them are two Chwinga, one sitting on the other's shoulders carrying a leaf the same way they were carrying their canoe. The tiny nature spirits keep pace, walking along logs and phasing through trees and boulders in their way. Excited, the gnomes run to say hi to their adorable mimics.
The Chwinga initially shy away, but when Rubi places a small clockwork Chwinga on a rock they immediately run over to inspect it. As they do, the mechanism triggers and it starts walking, scaring them into hiding. After it falls over and off the rock, the curious creatures creep back, put it upright, and wind the mechanism again. They soon overcome their fear and jump around in absolute delight, jingling excitedly! A Chwinga hops on another's shoulders and run up to Rubi and Chomsky. Both Chwinga jump, separating in mid-air, and boop both gnome's noses at the same time. A strange, magical tingling sensation makes them sneeze, and the Chwinga happily run into the forest with their new clockwork friend! During this, Douglass heard a whole lot of jingling, but put it all down to fey fuckery he had no intention of dealing with.
On the river, the party slip under a flying snake, basking on a tree branch. It hisses at them, but doesn't do much else. Well, at least until Chomsky slaps it with a mage hand. The winged serpent hisses and tries to attack, but is quickly bagged and tagged by Douglass, with Rahlg'n ready to beat either him, the snake, or Chomsky with an oar. Azaka mentions those snakes go for a modest sum back in Port Nyanzaru, and after about an hour the snake in the bag calms down.
After paddling upstream a few more miles, the group come across a burned out camp, tents tattered, torn, and disintegrating from mildew and jungle rot. Behind the encampment, an enormous stone statue of a stylized man holding a crocodile on his shoulders looms over a temple entrance between its feet. Once the canoes are tied off at the dock, Azaka tells you the story of Man and Crocodile... "Ages ago, a man sat forlornly by a river shore. A crocodile asked what upset the man, who told him his plight: he could not get across, for the river was teeming with the crocodile's brethren. The crocodile offered to take him on his back in return for a favour in kind. The man agreed, and was escorted safely across. The crocodile then asked a favour in return. He wished to travel across the human realms, but feared to do so, for it teemed with the man's brethren. The man had been tricked, but a promise was made. He carried the crocodile on his back across the realms of man for many years. Enraged, man swore that he and crocodile would never be friends. So it has remained to this day..."
Exploring the camp, Rahlg'n upsets another snake (the non-flying but decidedly poisonous kind), and crushes it with his prosthetic leg. He also goes looking through a burned-out shrine, which looks like it may have also held building materials. Seeing a silver holy symbol of Torm hanging by a splintered beam, he decides to leave it, respecting what sanctity this place has.
In a small animal pen, a baby axe-beak walks around, clearly unable to escape. Sneaking up on it, Douglass moulds the earth around it with speed and stealth, but not quickly enough to stop it squawking in alarm. Several adult axe-beaks answer its call. Retreating into the temple to make a stand, John steps over a pit trap and plummets down, his Chwinga-given feather fall charm doing its thing. John is pulled out by Undril Silvertusk just in time for the axe-beaks to charge out of the forest. The party let loose with spells, slings and arrow, felling them before they get too close. Except for Douglass, who got cassowary-jumped before Burg-Quott (the Pestilent) could give the axe-beak a terminal case of bird-mites.
Dusting themselves off, the party then enter the temple. The air is dank, and beneath the cobwebs you can make out weathered but colourful murals depicting the travels of Man and Crocodile on their journey, seemingly walking into the temple.
Edging around the pit trap, Burg-Quott (the Smarmy) lauds his success in edging around the pit just in time for a blade to whip out and nearly sheer his arm off. Rubi examines the mechanism, hammering pitons into the trap with minimal success. Asking the goliath for help was more fruitful (after the party helped him out of the pit he also fell into).
Proceeding up a 7-foot high ledge, the party find a floor covered in markings. The door above another 7 foot high ledge opposite the puzzle floor shows the same markings in a 4 by 4 square. Some of the runes on the door glow faintly, and the goliath is tall enough to see the final marking, which lets the party walk safely across the floor in the pattern set by the glowing runes. Once hoisted up to the door by Rahlg'n, the gnomes, imitating Man and Crocodile, touch the markings in the same order they walked on them along the floor. With a grinding of stone and a draft of stale, dead air, the party are greeted with a room full of dinosaur bones. In the middle, bathed in a soft light, is a string of crocodile teeth, gold filling in cracks that have opened with age, or some past damage.
Ascending the steps carefully, Rubi sweeps away the dust to reveal that the stairs are trapped with Glyphs of Warding. Ascending to the top, avoiding the traps, they come to the altar at the top, the stand holding a fine chain with 5 gilded crocodile teeth attached by rings. With Rubi unable to find any traps, the goliath picks up and puts on the necklace. For a moment, all is fine. Then the stand sinks into the altar. The room shakes as rocks fall on the party and a large stone slab descends over the exit! thinking quickly, Rubi takes two pitons and places them on the altar, stopping more rocks falling as the stand rises. The door is still falling, however, and she uses her boots of speed to zoom out of there with Chomsky hanging on for dear life as she swiftly overtakes everyone.
After everyone escapes (and Douglass has to be pulled out of the pit), Azaka and Undril ask to be caught up, and Undril heals some wounds. Immediately going out to retrieve his entombed axe-beak, Douglass attempts to bag his prize, taking some pecks and scratches for his effort. While doing this, he notices a wooden boar mask staring at him in the distance. Staring intensely at it, he begins to think it's just propped up, until it suddenly drops out of sight.
As he attempts to get the party's attention, a volley of arrows come out of nowhere and pincushion several party members. It's a goblin ambush! The Batiri must have been waiting for you to come out with the prize! With a shout of "Booyaaaagh!! Get the things!!" the goblins swarm in, only to be swiftly dispatched by the party. You see Azaka get hit, Rahlg'n and Douglass nearly go down, and with a bombastic shout, Burg-Quott (the Gloriously Incandescent) immolates several goblins. Losing numbers fast and terrified by the carnage wreaked by Rahlg'n Istvaan, the Batiri flee, their wounded leader shouting "Plan B! Plan B! Retreat!".
The jungle erupts into a cacophony of horns, clanging, and animal calls. Something definitely heard this. Something big. Azaka yells for everyone to get back into the boats. You hear - and feel - the booming footsteps of something approaching. You turn around as a deep, thrumming roar shatters the noisome air and chills you to your core. Lumbering towards you is the massive form of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, King of the Dinosaurs! The pall of smoke and fire from the rows of burning tents illuminate this beast in a hellish glow, it's large maw splitting open with each roar, and its beady, yellow eyes lock onto you! Pushing off just in time, you get into deep water before it can clamp down on you with its colossal jaws. Burg-Quott (the Vengeful), who was close enough to feel its breath on his turtley neck, fires a panicked eldritch blast, tearing a piece out of the Rex's jaw. It lets out one more furious roar as the party paddle into the distance.
Examining wounds, Azaka pridefully brushes off her injuries, politely but firmly declining aid from Douglass. She was lucky, those little Batiri blades got through her armour, but only that. The party paddle on, leaving an enraged T-rex, and a burning camp casting an eerie glow under the house of Man and Crocodile...

Rewards Granted

The Teeth of Katam

Report Date

07 Oct 2021

Primary Location

The Temple of Man and Crocodile

Related Characters

• Azaka Stormfang