Session 9: A Baboon Too Many

Reunion in the Gap

Evening, 3rd Sunday, Stormswane, 25 AR   The heroes return to Brevin's Gap with the surviving orc captives in tow. It drawing toward evening, but a large crowd quickly gathers and several boats are sent out from the town to gather the group as quickly as possible. Althea gives a cinnamon candle of telescription to Domoth Brevin and leaves instructions for how to use the magic item. She returns to the bunk house to find that Brevin had send carpenters to begin fixing the house and adding furniture. Dances on Stumps follows Varad Verdoorn and spends the night swapping tales and finishing a bottle of wine between them. Gnarly Toes spends some time in solemn reflection at the Norward Gaze, Usalea Chaeleth playing a soft lyre melody while he thinks about recent developments. Xabu prays before bed, asking the Silver Flame for guidance...

A dream journey

As Xabu prays...

A tingling warmth begins in your feet, spreading and drawing up through your legs and torso to suffuse your entire body with an invigorating warmth. It is familiar to you- the touch of the Silver Flame. A chorus of voices speak to you as one.   "Your quarry grows close to their goal. Demogorgon draws nearer this land with each day. The Lords of Dust must not be allowed to succeed."   Your vision shifts to the north, not to the teeth of the dragon where your dream first took you, but to the singular mountain north of Brevin's Gap. Your vision flies through the rock wall until you see a dimly lit cavernous chamber. Inside, a familiar cloaked figure mutters abyssal incantations over a circle inscribed in the ground. You watch as tendrils of grey mist pour through the rock walls to swirl about the figure and infuse the ritual circle with faint glowing energy. As this scene finishes and your vision retracts from the mountain, you hear the chorus of voices saying multiple overlapping words   "Purge, purify, cleanse, destroy, abomination, unclean"   Your vision jarringly zooms to the East, out of this mountain and swiftly toward the Teeth of the Dragon (4 mountains to the northeast). You see below you the length of Survivor's Shelf, over 100 miles in length and 30 miles in width. You speed toward the Teeth of the Dragon, and you see the jungle of the island growing taller to the South of these four peaks. The trees here tower ever higher through the verdant undergrowth, thick and ancient.   The forest thins to the south, dwindling to a low swampland as the land turns into a river delta pouring into southern sea. The last thing you see before you fly into the mountain is a single ship, sailing from the east along the southern edge of the island. As you swiftly fly through each, you see similar ritual chambers, with arcane circles already dully glowing and surrounded by mist, the rituals at these circles seemingly already complete.   "There is more. Great powers from beyond, held back by the darkness you hunt. The power of the Prince of Madness keeps them from this land. We can sense them, waiting."  

A morning of purpose

Morning, 4th Moonday, Stormswane, 25 AR   Althea is the first to wake, with one resounding thought: "The Masks were meeting last night!" She curses and hustles out the door, but is too late for the midnight meeting.   She returns to find Xabu and Gnarly Toes working on a map of the island based on Xabu's dream, and Althea steps in to help make sure the scale is correct. Dances on Stumps arrives as they are finishing, after taking an impromptu bath in the ravine.   The team decides to go back to the Norward Gaze to see what Usalea Chaeleth was able to find out from Nitin. The teenager had been released to the Bastions of the Gap by this time, but he had revealed to the Masks that the "DG gang" was growing every day, and that they had a big, deadly surprise for the town.   Fearing the worst, the party steels themselves to investigate this threat the city. They follow Xabu to the Bastion's Stronghold to begin. Their investigation reveals:

1. The DG gang will be wearing black bands around their neck as they amp up their recruitment
2. Something big and dangerous will be happening tonight
3. They seem to be based out of an abandoned warehouse in the Creaky Quarter
4. The creature that threatens the town is a product of many experiments the gang performed in a cave outside the city.
5. Some of the kids have been seen gathering in the home of Ivar Adson, a man who was 'lost in the mist' years ago. Come to think of it, one of the ringleaders, Annet is the man's daughter.
6. Inside the Adson house, a partial map of Brevin's Gap is found
7. The map is interpreted to find the correct location

Two minds, one madness

As the group approaches the storage shed marked on the map, Lil' Wheezy runs ahead to investigate, and notices a fetid stench of decay and excrement coming from the building. He also notices a rhythmic thudding. The heroes barely have time to take stock of their surroundings before the doors burst open, and a huge simian shape hulking forward and roaring, two voices joining in discordant harmony from its two heads. Two arms wave in the air as the creature roars, and two more fists pound upon its own chest.   Let's roll initiative!