The group arrives at Riverguard Keep A small castle overlooks the mighty Dessarin River, which is a good half-mile wide at this point. A gatehouse and keep stand atop a low bluff, but the walls are built to the waters edge. On the river bank, another low tower guards a boat basin where keelboats are moored. The keep seems old and worn, but new timbers and shingles suggest that repairs are underway. A white banner with a blue gauntlet flies over the keep. The front gate is closed.

Four people who are clearly muscle come to the top of the gate and listen to Og. "We come seeking Gar Shatterkeel." The four muscle look at each other with looks of curiousity and suspicion.  They then open the gate and one of the men speaks up. "Follow us, you can talk to Grimjaw."

The party is then lead to the north to and are lead in through a wooden door. This room is the great hall of the keep. It is two stories high, with stone stairs on both sides of the room leading up to a stone balcony at the west end of the chamber. Heavy double doors lead east to the castle yard, while two interior doors open to the west. Arrow slits look out to the north and the south. At the west end of the room, below the balcony, a large wooden chair sits behind a wide table littered with papers and discarded plates. A second table, this one long and furnished with benches, runs down the middle of the hall. The walls are painted in green and blue, decorated with tattered banners showing nautical designs.

A hairy thickly beared man sits at the table and grunts out. "Who are you and what do you want!?"

"My friends and I are seeking membership with those who follow the ways of the water.. My name is Og and these are my companions Taten, Yarabon, and Akraliph.  We have come a long way to seek an audience with one Gar Shatterkeel who is supposed to be able to help us on this path."

Og lies through his teeth hoping that Grimjaw buys it and it seems that he does.

The bearded man rubs his chin thoughtfully snorts thick mucousy snorts then responds. "Sure, you can stay with the other members and maybe we can setup a meeting between your party and Gar." He gestures towards the bandits that escorted you in here. "Give them a few of the bunks." The bandits ask for the party to follow them and they do so.

The men in the bunkhouse are extremely rude and purposely run into the party members shove them around or generally get under their skin.  Og and Akraliph make a point of keeping Yarabon and Taten under control and that seems to work without issue.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:11, Wed 24 Oct 2018.

The party glad to be free from the unwelcome members in the barracks leaves their bunkmates and heads down the stairs toward the docks. The keeps eastern wall juts out into the river, forming a good-sized basin in which a couple of keelboats float. A wide gap in the southeast wall provides access to the river, although it is blocked by a heavy chain. A twenty-foot tall bluff of rock and earth separates the landing and a nearby tower from the rest of the castle grounds. To the north, a wide stream flows out of a cave mouth into the boat basin. An iron grate blocks access to the stream.

The party goes from the landing farther so the south and slightly east and enters the southeastern tower. The upper floor of this tower looks deserted, but the ground floor is still in use. Curtains hanging across the eastern half of the room wall off someones private quarters, and several straw pallets lie on the floor near the door. A capstan stands against the north wall, with a heavy chain disappearing through a pipe to the northeast. The river laps just beneath the arrow slits of the tower.

Inside the tower are three guards bearing various sea related weapons, armor and shields. Behind them is a man with a sour look upon his face. He has a drooping mustache and a very arrogant manner as he turns to the party. "Who the hell are you!? What do you want?" He immediately goes to pulling out his weaponry.  Akraliph steps in to the surprise of the rest of the party. "We are recruits awaiting the arrival of Gar Shatterkeel."  Reash the drooping musached man puts his weapons away and begins speaking bluntly. "This isn't an area for recruits, get your asses out of here or ill make sure your hanging as a masthead on one of my boats."  Akraliph looks at the others with a smile and begins to walk out and the others follow suit.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:32, Sun 16 Sept 2018.

Realizing they were deep in enemy territory and that this was no ordinary keep, Yarabon remembers some of the closed doorways back in the great hall where they meet Jolliver and his guardsman.  A plan is concocted to send Yarabon in to sneak into the great hall and gain access to the rooms in the back.  Meanwhile the others would wait at a relatively short distance outside in case something went awry.

Yarabon starts to make her way in and slips in the front door when the strap holding her axe comes loose and her weapon clatters loudly upon the floor echoing and alerting anyone nearby.  She grabs the axe as Jolliver realizes what's happened and stands up from his seat in front of a desk full of paperwork. "Raise the alarm! Kill this woman and find her companions, now!" Jolivar exclaims loud and brutishly. With his shout his men turn ready to act the battle about to begin.

After a brutal clearing of the entire keep the party still lives.  Heavily wounded but wounds that will recover.  Akraliph being the only one with a true injury, her left leg nearly hacked in half by a bandit in one of the guard towers.  They were able to save the leg but its left her having to walk with her quarterstaff as a true crutch to prevent her from falling to the ground.

Among the loot that was gathered mostly by Taten they found a key in Grimjaw's belongings.  They found it unlocked the iron grate the river flowed into.  The party was thanked profusely by Lathna and Oric two enslaved people who had desperately wanted to escape.  With Og's offered gold and warnings of the dangers he was aware of and Akraliphs prayers to her lord Illmater made all the more passionate with her ailing leg, they left.

Yarabon was chomping at the bit to continue going after these bastards and Taten was eager for more gold to add to his purse.  They decided a quick hours rest was all they required before they continued onward.  During their rest they spend time reading over the coded letter they found.  "We should investigate this in Red Larch" Og thought out loud. "They've been watching us they will eat my axe those cultist fucks!" Yarabon exclaims loudly.

Taten is busy counting his coin seeming nonchalant about the whole ordeal.  "Oh mighty Illmater may my suffering be a boon onto others, allow me to use this pain to pass on your blessings throughout the land." Akraliph remains contemplative in prayer though she nods in agreement at Og's comments

They gather their belongings and head down to the river grabbing a keel boat and heading to the locked gate.  Sure enough Grimjaw's key unlocks it and they sail inside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:53, Sun 16 Sept 2018.

The party enters the gate and finds a landing with other docked keel boats and a set of stairs.  They find the set of stairs leads back up into the keep where a secret door was set.  Taten walks out onto one of the keel boats to get a better look when he clearly notices undead six of them in fact waiting under the water seemingly coming to life and grasping onto the boats the minute he realized they were there.

Taten pulls out his glaive and calls to the others. "Grab your weapons undead are in the water! Some sort of guardians for this river, must be something up stream they want to protect."

With a few extra wounds and now surrounded by the unmoving corpses of ghouls the party gathers together and decides they should take a rest before proceeding forward. The party decides to sleep in one of the barrack facilities they were housed in when they first arrived.  That way they could all sleep close by in case of trouble and each person would have a bed.

Og removes his armor and pulls out his book of the word of Lathander.  This light brown leather bound book is emblazoned with a giant sun the symbol of lathander.  He leans back onto his bed and enjoys reading the word he has dedicated his life to.  His mace and shield reside next to the bed, easily retrievable in case of an attack.

Taten when he's not counting his money is busy throwing insults at each of his teammates and enjoying any retorts they may have even more.  The quick wit of the elderly Akraliph being a personal favorite of Taten's.  He then regales the party with tales of great war heroes, usually orcs.  Tonight it was Obould Many Arrows, famed orc warlord who was far more intelligence than most of his kind and had many great battles with Drizzt Do'Urden the famous drow and his partner Bruenor Battlehammer...least that's what the tales say, who knows what's actually true.

Yarabon and Taten go back and forth talking of the old war heroes getting great joy out of trying to one up the other.  The talkative Yarabon usually enveloped in rage when it comes to battle but in normal conversation she seeks attention always trying to steal the spotlight and when she doesn't get it some of her battle rage comes through even towards those she cares about.  Tonight she got cooking duty, grabbing some meats, breads and various stored fruits and veggies from the castles food stores.  It was mostly seafood but nobody seemed to mind instead just enjoying a chance to take a break.

Akraliph seethes in pain because of her leg but unlike most she seems to embrace it like an offering that her deity would appreciate it.  Illmater was a strange god to most but Akraliph was strange already being a divine touched Tiefling so that bothered her little.  She shared barbs with Taten but eventually got deep into prayer.  Sometimes her and Og would break into a theological discussion or argue points where their religions didn't add up.  They biggest issues generally came from Og being the more book trained religious man vs Akraliph who was chosen and gifted powers but has never been one to contemplate in hours of study.

Eventually after a hearty meal and much discussion they each doze off to sleep awakening refreshed and deciding to meet back below the keep and to head farther upstream to see where it leads.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:48, Thu 28 June 2018.

Firelight shines from a large cavern ahead. The stream opens into a large underground lake. To the right, a crumbling stone quay leads to a tunnel heading northeast. A ten-foot skiff is moored to the quay, and a torch burns in a bronze sconce by the tunnel mouth. Beside the quay, a twenty-foot wide canal leads north from the large lake. The lake stretches westward into darkness.

The landing at the east end is guarded by more of the reavers they fought up top a strange pale blue scale covered knight with a bone sword with jagged teeth  up and down each side.  A shield made of some sort of crustacean shell and a necklace made of sharpened jagged teeth. Along with them is another in robes that resmbles one of the snake shapeshifters they fought up in Rivergard and in the water as they come up to the landing they see what appears to be a very large shark on the side to their left.

The party doesn't even attempt to parley instead drawing weapons and the temple guardians do the same.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:06, Fri 29 June 2018.

The party kills off the temple guardians but a few get away and run down a hall to the east that then shifts to the north.  they chase them down to a barracks killing the runners plus a few other guards which were awakened.

Inside they see This old chamber has been furnished with six plain wooden bunks and sacks of provisions. Stone doors exit to the south and the west.

The group has a few choices either go back to the water head north or head west.  They decide to head west since they have already started to infiltrate the temple.

A stone bridge spans the canal in a single elegant arch. Steps on each side climb up to the bridge. The bridge has a low stone balustrade, and its weathered sides are carved with images of dwarven battles. A single torch burns at the apex of the bridge.


A musty odor pervades the hall outside the first room that the party approaches. The doors are marked with crudely drawn pictures of monstrous eyes and fanged maws. They open the door and see the following inside

This room is filled with a rank reptilian smell and cluttered with tattered animal hides and dank straw. A battered iron brazier brimming with hot embers glows in the middle of the room. Half-gnawed carcasses heaped beside the brazier attest to an indifferent effort to cook them over the coals. There are two doors: one north and one south.

The party wipes the lizard creatures out but the sounds of combat draws in their leader an alien looking water witch with a horridly terrifying appearance along with two ogres and some cultists.

The group defeated all of their foes but one of the cultists reached a common room with long tables and a gong resting upon a quay to the west.  A cultist rang the gong and out of the water came a massive scaled turtle, a monstrous beast part dragon and part turtle from the looks.  Each member of the party agreed it was time to get out and recuperate before trying to return.  So they left successful in their first foray and able to avoid the massive monster.

The party regroups and decides that they want to face the massive turtle head on and defeat it now that they are refreshed for the day.  First they explore the rooms they fought and cleared and collect any excess loot.  The following are the descriptions of each of the rooms explored.


An ancient fountain shaped like three dancing merfolk stands in the middle of this court. The fountain is dry, and the sculpture has been badly damaged-two of the merfolk are missing their arms, and the third is missing her head. Hallways lead north, south, and east from this chamber. A glimmer of torchlight comes from the north, and another glimmer to the east. A door to the northwest is covered with painted glyphs and images with aquatic motifs, marred by long scratches that obscure their meaning.

Fine wooden furniture, tapestries of green and gold, and a bearskin carpet decorate this richly appointed room-but the furniture has been scratched up, the tapestries badly torn, and the carpet rent with foot-long holes. To the northwest, a tattered green curtain screens off a large alcove. Two large heaps of dank pelts lie in the southern part of the chamber. A wet reek like rotten seaweed hangs in the air, and small crabs scuttle around the room.

Then the party decides to bang the gong summoning the mighty dragon turtle

A pale glimmer plays over the waters of this subterranean lake. The cavern ceiling is naturally formed and speckled with hundreds of tiny points of blue light, mimicking a starry night. The canal that runs through this lake continues north and south. To the east, a wide quay at the end of the lake leads to a large hall with red pillars. Rising out of the depths and heading towards the wide quay as the gong rings is a massive dragon turtle known as Bronzefume

The party valiantly fought the dragon turtle but the massive beast was much too difficult for them to handle.  Taten and Akraliph managed to escape but Og and Yarabon were left behind.  Taten was too worried for his own skin to save the others and Akraliph was far too crippled.

The wounded Og and Yarabon were captured by the cultists and thrown into the jail which the party had explored when they first entered the Temple.  Upon the next day Akraliph and Taten returned, fighting a large water elemental creature on their boat ride in then with Akraliphs investigative help they found blood and signs of something strange which lead them to the small jail cell that housed their bloodied friends plus two large trolls.  The trolls were a fierce fight for Akraliph and Taten and Akraliph ended up sliced down and killed by the feral beasts just as Og was breaking free from his bonds and recovering his gear from the corner of the room.

Og helped free Yarabon and heal Taten and they finished off their foes now down one ally and looking towards their newly garnered wounds while also left deciding what would be the next best option.

After Analysis of their wounds Og's got several bruises and flesh wounds but nothing more severe on the gnome.  He appears to have avoided the worst of it.  Yarabon's head is cloudy and she still bares severe steam burns from the dragon fight but she too otherwise appears to have survived relatively unscathed.

They also find currently unconscious but groggily waking up another adventurer tied up in the small jail.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:25, Mon 06 Aug 2018.

Og frees the halfling man who stretches and rubs the ligature marks from the ropes that bound him.  He begins gathering pieces of his gear that were scattered about the room and with Og's help rearmors into a set of full plate fit for his small but muscular stature. The halfling man has a dour look upon his face as he begins to speak to the party.

"I am sorry about your friend, to be so noble and save those who are captured while sacrificing ones self is worthy of the highest of honor when she reaches Onatar's forge...surprising for a tiefling but seeing the symbol on her neck I assume she must have been religious....oh pardon me where are my manners." the man reaches out his hand to any who will take it. "Kynt Blackwater at your service"

Taten starts makes a grunting hmph sounds toward Kynt then begins rummaging around in Akraliphs belongings.  Yarabon looks between the trolls and the body of Akraliph and builds herself into an emotional frenzy which she releases throwing several excess blows with her axe at the flaming remains of the trolls. She then sees Taten searching about their fallen comrades corpse which Yarabon puts an end to quickly with a stiff kick to his left shoulder.  Taten returns to his feet quickly and the two companions come face to face and at each others throats.  Tensions rise until Og provides the voice of reason  "Taten! Yarabon! Both of you stop this nonsense! None of it will bring her back." Og accepts Kynts hand "Names Og, Paladin of Lathander. We are here trying to destroy these elemental cults that have popped up.  We've been to several of their temples already and they are horrid, we've also lost two people throughout our journey."

"I am a cleric of Onatar" Kynt replies "The cultists have been around for years hiding out in various underground locations.  In my earliest adventuring days I unknowingly encountered one of these cult members a woman named Aerisi Kalinoth.  They were in the midst of summoning a large elemental when my party surprised them and Aerisi used her magic to painfully transport us through pure wind magic several miles away. I was shocked but determined to stop them so my party and I found our way back back to where we found Aerisi but at this point the wind elemental had come out in its full form and I....I ran in fear leaving my party behind." Kynt swallows hard and painfully fighting back an emotional outburst he continues

"I vowed from that day forward to kill the bastards that destroyed my old friends. Unfortunately the cultists got the upper hand until you all arrived. In honor of your friend who served valiantly and to avenge my fallen companions what do you say we team up?

After a small discussion ranging from indifference to a sure thing Kynt is accepted officially into the party. Og holds a small service for Akraliph which is held quietly hoping their extrended stay doesn't draw in any unwanted visitors. The party rests comfortably and continues about their journey.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:05, Wed 12 Sept 2018.

The party gets docks the boat at the same location. Heads north then west across the bridge to where the broken merfolk statue was located and the gore of their previous battles litter the walkways they pass through with a few extra bites and missing bodies here and there with accompanying bloody drag marks indicating something hungry claimed them as a prize.

They then head south and see to the east a filthy room that must be the trolls den and then a bridge to the west which is where they decide to head.

Stairs on each side of the canal climb up to a stone bridge, which spans the canal fifteen feet above the water level. The sides of the bridge are carved in the image of dragons standing guard over treasure hoards. A single torch illuminates the bridge. On the west side of the canal, passages lead to the west and to the north. On the east side of the canal, one passage leads east.

As they cross the bridge a soaked massive water troll bursts from underneath and clambers up on to the bridge blocking the party's path. Without a thought Yarabon's weapon is out and shes going for the kill, wild rage in her eyes.

The party easily destroys the beast and continues their journey west across the bridge.

The party heads north and finds there is a door and then farther north another door.  They skip the first one and head to the farthest northern door which buts up against the hallway as it turns east and drops into a watery canal.

Yarabon and Kynt try opening the door and find it locked so they try bashing it down unsuccessfully.  The noise leads to movement inside the room so in response Taten builds up moemntum and kicks the door in. Dropping to the floor when the door is kicked in is a bronze hasp and pin.

Parts of this chamber are buried in piles of crumbling masonry, but enough remains intact to serve as an arcane workshop. A long wooden table in the middle of the room is littered with pieces of a complicated apparatus involving a large glass tank, copper fittings and piping, and a leather carrying harness, while shelves full of alchemical reagents stand against the south wall. The air is quite cold in here, and a chill mist clings to the floor. A large adjoining room to the north looks like someones bedchamber. Doors lead out to the south and the east, and another door leads east from the bedchamber area.

The party is on the northern end of this chamber in the bedchamber and along with reavers which they have fought before they find a one eyed creature that emanates a frigid frosty mist ten feet in every direction around it.  It is missing an eye and in that missing eye socket gleams a glowing bluish light coming from a solid frosty white orb resting in the empty eye socket.

This cultist whose powerful aura can be felt by all around him smiles as he sees the party.  "Truly I must thank you for taking out Thuluna she always was a pain in my side.  This temple needs true leadership not that buffoon and her simple minded underlings.  Allow me to show you the power of a true master of the many states of water!   The deadly combat begins...