Protection is extended to caravans of other merchant houses, provided they pay the toll as they pass through Altaruk. For caravans, the toll is one gold piece per caravan mount, an exorbitant price that prohibits most merchants from spending more then one day in the village.
For ages, Altaruk was heavily fortified; surrounded by a fifteen-foot wall and defended by hundreds of free mercenaries armed with mekillot-hide shields, wooden lances, and daggers of sharpened bone. Despite its formidable defenses, the trade town was constantly destroyed on a regular basis by giants from the islands of the Forked Tongue Estuary. The three Merchant Houses went to great expense rebuilding the town promptly after each attack, for its garrison was a key deterrent to the raiders that would otherwise prey on the heavy caravan traffic at this critical junction.
Today, however, Altaruk is a wall-less town. For ages, the undeclared war waged between the residents of Altaruk and the giants who sometimes waded that far up the Estuary of the Forked Tongue, cost the town huge amounts of wealth, labor and lives. Each attack destroyed walls, towers, and buildings, not to mention the large number of residents who were killed or injured.
Years ago, after one such attack, in an unprecedented act of cooperation, the three major Merchant Houses collaborated in an effort to prevent further attacks. It was they, after all, who suffered the most when they were forced to finance the town’s reconstruction, as well as the loss of trade from caravans who chose to bypass the town in favor their own security.
For the greater part of a season, each Merchant House supplied workers to establish a series of battle outposts built along either side of the estuary. The dozen or so outposts would be able to provide defense for adjacent towers, while all of the ballista emplaced at each outpost could engage any giants venturing up the estuary, bent on destruction of the trade town.
Along with the outpost towers, the Merchant Houses went to great expense importing dozens of caravan carts full of agafari trees harvested from the distant Crescent Mountains. Each of these trunks were stripped of there bark, sharpened on both ends, and driven at a sharp angle into the hard soil that lay beneath the silt. The result was a triple row blockade of spikes, hidden under the surface of the silt, which inhibited any giant from passing further up the estuary. This blockade also served as a delineating line that marked where the outposts would begin to engage the giants with their massive ballistae.
As a result of their combined efforts, Altaruk and its Merchant Houses have gone many years without a successful attack by giants. At first, the battle outposts were forced to fend off numerous attempts by the giants to bypass the blockade by climbing out onto the ground, but each attempt was met with success in either turning the attacker away, or else killing them where they stood. It seems for the time being that the giants are content to leave the cross-roads trade town alone, and Altaruk has begun to grow in prosperity and size and thrive under its new found security.
As for the walls which once surrounded the town, many of the mud bricks were salvaged and reused in the building of more dwellings and structures, but the line in the sand that once marked the battle line with the giants has not yet been erased.
The contingent of warriors who guard Altaruk are commanded by Arisphistaneles (male human/7th-level preserver/LG), a powerful Preserver. Because of Arisphistaneles’ influence, the Veiled Alliance is openly tolerated in Altaruk, although they are not open about who they are. The town is fast becoming known as a safe meeting place for Preservers, though Defilers are strictly forbidden and dealt with harshly.
Arisphistaneles
Male Human Warrior/Preserver, Lawful Good
Level: 2/5
AC: 4
Hit Points: 63
