Timothy the Tulip, gladiator and dragon hunter, spent over a month in Baffram as he was looking for the next step to take him closer to his goal of robbing a dragon. What was he up to in the colorful port city of Baffram?
He befriended Captain Quellister, commander of the Knucklefists–dedicated guards who have primordial apes for mounts. The guards work the rooftops, so they must be slight and dextrous. They have special saddles to go on the quasi-intelligent apes, because the apes can scramble around up walls and over rooftops with ease, even with a light passenger.
Tulip recreationally wrestled with the apes, and got in climbing contests with them, earning him a rep with the Knucklefists, as well as room and board as their ally.
Their primary enemies are the Gustocarne Gangs; packs of vicious youth riding 200 pound squirrels. Some of the squirrels even have patagia, or long legs, or other modifications to make them even more terrifying.
Long ago, Fokkrin the Elder was a wizard who cultivated the Waters of Life. He was trying to develop a potion of longevity, possibly leading to immortality. However, not wanting to experiment on humans, he left the Waters out on the roof. Birds and squirrels drank from them, and became more vital and lively–then bigger and stranger. Eventually, meaner.
The city guard shot the birds down easily enough, but have never been able to get rid of the squirrels. When the urchin gangs adopted the squirrels as mounts, the two protected and advanced the causes of the other, and now the carnivorous squirrels seem to be a permanent feature in city life.
Over the course of his service, Tulip earned a handsome squirrel-skin drape from a big squirrel he killed himself. The clasp is its buck-teeth; it provides light armor and protection from cold weather.
Fictive Fantasies 