Diosamblet

"Doctor Fran's painting skills seem very primitive" said Drovic to Varrid as they made their way back to the guest house.  "His gloved hands are none too nimble, I wonder how he performs the necessary surgeries."

"At least he started over several times" replied Varrid, "I would like the painting to match my angelic reality."    As Ralom, Grunyar and Arvien returned from the river, having found little evidence of the nights seal engagement, they noticed Felix leaving the compound armed with bow and arrows.  Inquiring of Orson where Felix might be headed they learned he was out hunting game for dinner.  Baru was intrigued by the fact that Dr. Fran was never seen without gloves, "I wonder what is under those gloves and the robe for that matter also."  The group reassembled around the guest house discussing their plans for tomorrow.  "I think we should search one of the abandoned villages" said Arvien, "There is one to our southeast less than a days trek away."  Grunyar was intent on finding the EVIL MONKS which Baru kept insisting may not even be in existence since Dr. Fran had not seen them for years?  Ralom wondered what the monks could be guarding with such fervor.  After two or three hours Felix returned carrying a brace of rabbits and a groundhog.  Orson took the newly killed game and headed for the kitchen.
Soon the call came for dinner and the party headed for the dining room where Fran, in another robe and set of gloves, and Delphi were already seated.  Delphi insisted that Varrid sit next to her again.  Normal dinner talk was had as the rabbit was served, again Delphi refrained from the meat dishes.  Dr. Fran assured the group that the Monks were still living on the cliff top at the southern edge of the island, the abandoned villages once held human population but the disease or plague that affects the island.  Dessert was served and Fran soon stated that he had to head to his room for nightly study but that he had a request of the group and would meet them at breakfast.  As Baru left the table he patted Fran on the back and shook his hands thanking him for his hospitality.  The hands felt five fingered but there was something akin to fur or a thick hair on them, the same was true of Dr. Fran back.
Back in the guest house the group made plans to head for the abandoned village in the morning after talking to the good doctor.  The nightly pattern seemed similar as Delphi brushed her hair by the window in her room and the doctor sat at his desk studying or writing.  Delphi's shutters were closed and her light extinguished as Fran shut the shutters on his windows but the light stayed on.
Shortly thereafter Fran emerged from the Manor house walked to the gate and exited, soon after Delphi left the manor house and climbed the wall, leaving the manor house door ajar.  Varrid, Ralom, Seglun and Grunyar quietly left the compound following Doctor Fran.  Arvien took advantage of the open door to enter the manor, moving up to the second floor to the door to Dr. Fran's room.  She told Baru and Drovic to warn her if or when the doctor or Delphi returned.  The door to Fran's room was unlocked and apparently not trapped so Arvien pushed it slightly open and peered inside.  The room was a badly-kept mess of papers, diagrams, dirty clothes, clean outfits, and bedding scattered about.  Arvien entered the room looking at papers which were written with formulae in a clumsy hand, diagrams crudely drawn.  Moving to the desk she found a set of five massive volumes bound in red leather.  Picking one up she opens the cover to find a book plate with the initials "F.M." on the inside, each volume has the same book plate.  A few pages in scrawled in a bold clumsy hand is the declaration "This is the work of Frantisek Markov, Lord of the Land of Markovia, who is called Diosamblet by the twisted things which fear his shadow."
Arvien looks for the latest volume, which has fewer pages written on, and reads a morose account of the owner despairing of finding a cure for the plague.  Within a few pages the arrival of a new group of adventurers, no humans in the group but certainly interesting, raise the spirits of the writer as he hopes for new blood in his experiments.  There are three volumes which are consumed by self-pitying commentary on the writers' distorted form, and the remainder details his current projects, their success and eventual failure.  When a transformation succeeds, the diarist becomes jubilant and predicts that he is within days on conquering his own curse.  When it fails, his commentary becomes morose and sullen and he speaks of creating a hunting party to destroy his failures living in the wreckage of Markovia.  The fourth volume details the wrenching alteration which plucked Markovia from its inland location and surrounded it with water.  It mentions, only in passing, the plague and famine that struck many of the interior villages during this time, decimating what population survived.  It then details the arrival of his latest servants, Felix, Delphi and Orson.
A little shaken by the revelations in the journals, Arvien searches the rest of the desk, writing utensils, paper, etc., and then moves to Delphi's room which is tidy and sparse.  A canopied bed, cedar chest, armoire and dressing table.  The armoire holds clothing, mostly simple gowns, although he teal and blue ones are of finer fabric.  The wall holds a painting of the sea signed by Dr., Fran.  Arvien then heads back to the guest house to deliver the disturbing news to Baru and Drovic.

Meanwhile the rest of the group trails Fran who moves intently inland away from the river.  As the party moves up country they began to hear the beating of drums and an odd, mystic chant from somewhere up ahead:
Diosamblet, Diosamblet, Diosamblet.
The cry strengthened to a roar as Dr. Fran stepped out into a wide clearing.  There were all manner of Broken Ones of every description in the clearing -- cats, wolves, bears, sheep, goats, monkeys, bats, gorillas, apes and other creatures whose heritage was much murkier.
Upon seeing Dr. Fran, the entire assemblage fell to their knees(?), with hands, flippers and claws extended in supplication.  Dr. Fran ignored them and strode to a low platform of raised earth ringed with stakes,  The stakes were topped with skulls -- some of them human.
The chanting rose again, and Dr. Fran stood upright, then held out his naked, hair covered hands and shouted "I have come!"  He no longer sounded like some potty old wizard, power flowed through him.
"I have come!" he repeats.
Diosamblet.
"I have come to bring you power!"
Diosamblet.
"I have come to bring you justice!"
Diosamblet.
"I have come to bring you pain!"
Diosamblet.
"Let the judgement proceed!"

In ones and twos the Broken Ones approached the platform.  Some confessed their sins of murder, of blood lust, of acting like the lower beasts, of stealing another's hoarded grain.  These were forgiven.  Others accused their fellow Broken Ones of such crimes,  Often the accusation was followed by an immediate confession by the accused.  These were forgiven as well.  Diosamblet was merciful.
One goat-man accused another of listening to the words of Akanga.  The other denied his guilt in a bleating whine.  Dr. Fran listened, then nodded to on of the great bear-men at the periphery.  The bear-man stepped forward and wrenched the wretched goat-man's head clean off.  Varrid felt a strong rush of repugnance to this sight and dropped her weapon and stood gaping at the scene.  Dr. Fran took the head and held it aloft before the assembly, who prostrated themselves in terror.  Then he placed the head upon an empty stake.  Other confessions and accusations followed.  Finally Dr. Fran held out his hands to this followers.
"I have coem!"
Diosamblet.
"I have brought power, justice and pain!"
Diosamblet.
"I am the living god!"
Diosamblet.
"Akanga will pay for his crimes!"
Diosamblet.
"As will any who thwart my will!"
DIOSAMBLET.
The multitude went wild in cries of joy and dance around in paroxysms of ecstasy.  Dr. Fran moved in strong strides to the edge of the clearing and headed back toward his estate.   
By this time Varrid had recovered her wits and the party moved downwind out of Fran's path.  They slowly followed back toward the manor wondering how to escape the island.

Orson opened the gate for Dr. Fran as he returned to the manor, the group waited and climbed over the fence.  Delphi had already returned to the manor house earlier.  With their shared revelations the party spent a fitful night with visions of Broken Ones in their nightmares.  In the morning Orson brought breakfast, and second breakfast for Arvien, followed closely by Dr. Fran who came directly to this offer.
"You have noticed a monastery to the south of here," be began, sounding old and tired.  "This monastery is a dark, evil place, infested with leprous monks who worship a vile magical device.  This device is called, or miscalled, the Table of Life."
"After much work, I fear that this Table is responsible for the foul state of my island home and that the monks are in the service of the evil Akanga, seeking to thwart me as I try to find a cure to the Broken Ones' horrid state."
"I want you to got to that accursed place and recover that table.  I cannot go, nor can any of the Broken Ones, because of the magic which surround the peak.  If you could bring it back here, I could unlock its secrets and free this island of its curse."
"I have opened my home to you, fed you, and protected you.  Will you now help me to help all these poor people?"
Baru immediately asks about this Akanga, who is he?  Where does he live?  What evil has he done?  Dr. Fran responds that "Akanga is a foul lion headed creature who rules some of the Broken Ones in the west.  He lives by the law of savage nature -- survival of the fittest.  He has prevented my escape for years.  Only by finding the cause of the disease, and destroying it, can Akanga be negated."  "Please help us by bringing the Table of Life to me." 
After pondering for a bit the group, hoping that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, agree to travel to the monastery.  Dr. Fran will provide food for the trip as he adds further details.  "In  the old times, before they turned to evil, the monks had a great bell or gong at the foot of their mountain.  Travelers would ring the gong, and the monks would then lower a great basket and haul the visitors up.  Undoubtedly there must be another way up that puts one less at the mercy of the cultists, but it is said that these other entrances were destroyed by the paranoid monks."  Dr. Fran says "I believe the Table is harmless, at least in the short-term, and is nearly indestructible.  Though made of stone, it will float in the air and seems resistant to every form of magic and physical punishment.  I am working on a solvent which may destroy it."
Orson brings a cache of food, at least two days worth even for Arvien and the party sets off to the south.  The group decided to visit the Abandoned village to the southeast before heading toward the Monastery, but they do not let anyone in the Manor know this detail.  Approaching the village the group spotted a group of 15 or 20 buildings, all with stone foundations and now rotting upper structures.  The buildings looked more suitable for some cold, upland climate than the island's current tropical climate.  The slate roofs had all fallen in, the stone floors being torn apart by fast growing creepers.  A larger building at the center could have been a cathedral.  All the building seemed to have been looted at some point, only rotted foodstuffs, mushy books and rusted weapons were visible.  Searching the group found a rotted painting, much of which was lost, showing a man-headed tiger savaging a villager.  The tiger's face looks remarkably like that of Dr. Fran.   Also found, a doll with its arms torn off, a pouch with 7G.P., minted in Nova Vaasa, a torn card of "The Beast" from a Taroka deck, a cask of vinegar, a locket with a monk in a blue robe with a high necked collar.  He is holding a closed box in his hands both presenting it and holding it securely.  Ralom says it is the symbol of the Order of the Guardians.  There is also a vial with small centipede poison in it.   After finding nothing else of value the group headed for the Monastery.  The day was hot and muggy, and the insects swirled about the heads of the group.  The trek to the monastery seemed to take forever.  Suddenly all the birds have gone quiet -- it is a creepy, dangerous silence.  The party all reached for their weapons.
There were cries of "Akanga Hai!" all around as the brush erupted with Broken Ones.  They were as twisted and malformed as any the group had seen and they were armed with crude black swords of cold, beaten iron.
The battle was on as Arvien cast enlarge person on Varrid, Grunyar moved to a rock to fire arrows, Seglun raged and Baru moved forward and attempt to calm the situation with a peace prayer.  Drovic stayed behind to try lightning arc.  There were monkey, fox, wolf and boar broken ones who moved forward to attack with their swords.  Ralom cast Bane to hopefully weaken the enemy, Arvien used her large size to block the forward movement of several Broken Ones while two monkeys flanked Baru.  The group made short work of the foxes and wolf with arrows, magic missiles and talons of Summergale.  Soon cat and gorilla Broken Ones joined the fray and took bites out of the party.   None of the group fell to the attack and when only one monkey and the cat were left fighting the noises were heard from the underbrush as several(?) other creatures scurried away.  The final two enemies were finished off and the party licked their wounds pleased that they actually survived.

DMs Notes:  The party earned 1350 XP for the night and now have 2350 XP needing another 650 to reach 2nd level.  We will meet at Rich and Joette's next week, Mark will miss as he will be in the air flying back from San Diego.