Stone Circle

In a large clearing (about 300 ft. across) in the jungle stands a crude stone alter, surrounded by a circle of menhirs and a second ring of standing stones. This site has religious significance for the island's girallons and keches, and has seen more frequent use since the rise of the high girallon Kadriku (see below).

[While working out the map for this battle, I decided to render it in LEGO, to better help both me and my players visualize the location. Each stud represents a 5-foot space, making the map model above 400 ft x 400 ft. We ran the combat on this map, using microfigures for the PCs and keches, and small microscale models for the girallons and the druid's animal companion and wild shape form. We also used small plates or dice to mark spell effects on the map. This worked out quite well, and gave us a chance to try a larger battle scene that wouldn't fit on a standard 1" grid battle map. More pictures of the model (both pre-game and during play) can be found at my Brickshelf gallery.]

The circle has no permanent inhabitants other than 1d3+1 kech zombies left here by Kadriku to guard the site; these stay inside the circle, which has an unhallow effect upon it, centered on the altar. (The outer ring of stones marks the effect's boundary.) There is, however, a good chance that the site is in use or being watched by others; roll on the table below:

Kech Zombie (CR 2)

XP 600

Kech zombie (Bestiary 3 167; Bestiary 288)

NE Medium undead

Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

Defense

AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +5 natural)

hp 27 (5d8+5)

Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4

DR 5/slashing; Immune undead traits

Offense

Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft.

Melee bite +5 (1d6+2), 2 claws +5 (1d4+2)

Statistics

Str 15, Dex 13, Con --, Int --, Wis 10, Cha 10

Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 16

Feats Toughness[B]

SQ staggered

A path leads southeast from the stone circle, marked by a double row of smaller stone pillars. This path quickly becomes overgrown, but shows signs of regular use. The path (and stones) peter out on the volcano's slopes near the edge of the jungle. Before that point, however, alert trackers may find an unmarked side path leading steeply up the mountainside. This path leads to a cul-de-sac ravine, where girallons and keches share a series of linked caves about 30 ft. above the ravine's floor.

The first cave on either side of the ravine is a stable for a kech bat-rider and its mobat mount (Bestiary 2 24).

These chambers link via short tunnels to two other cave openings at the end of the ravine. One is the lair of a girallon (only 20% chance to be at home), while the other is the high girallon's lair. Kadriku's cave has two chambers; the first room, which has an exit to the ravine as well as connections to the two adjoining caves, is guarded by a ceustodaemon (Bestiary 2 65) that resembles a maniacal horned ape. This monster attacks any creature it sees who is not a girallon or kech--and even members of those races give it a wide berth, as the priestess has been know to set it upon those who displease her.

The inner cave is Kadriku's room. This high girallon cleric has been possessed by a baregara (Bestiary 3 34); see "Advanced Bestiary: Baregara-Possessed Template" at my Studded Plate blog for the details about this relationship, and for Kadriku's full stat block. Besides the gear listed in her stat block. (an amulet of mighty fists [+0 thundering] and a wooden unholy symbol), her only treasure is the Idol of Gral-Bara (see Religions of Gorilla Island), which she keeps in this room. Note that the idol's unhallow and bane aura extends well past her own room and the daemon's. If Kadriku is slain or incapacitated, then the baregara will leave her body and attack; it appears as a bloody mist that leaves the cleric's body and coalesces in a fiendish ape-monster.