Gorilla Island!

Post date: Aug 22, 2015 3:0:30 AM

The crew of the Growler, a pirate ship operating out of Freeport, have been investigating the disappearance of merfolk from the waters around the Serpent's Teeth. They learned that the local tribe was obliterated by their ancient enemies, the sea-devils (sahaugin). While hunting down sea-devils, the PCs encountered references to "Gorilla Island," an earthly paradise mentioned in the legends of the vanara (a race of monkey-like humanoids, of which one PC is a member). They now believe that a small number of merfolk escaped and can now be found near this island. They discovered directions to the island, and this map, labelled in Aquan (the language of water elementals and most sea-dwelling races). After a few weeks of sailing, the Growler has just dropped anchor at Gorilla Island, and has started to explore inland...

(This page and its linked pages provide some of my GM notes about the final adventure of "Winds of Freeport.")

Gorilla Island is a tropical island located about two weeks' sail south of the Serpent's Teeth. The geography of the island is dominated by the cone of a volcano at the center; four peninsulas (called "arms" by the maker of the map below) extend in the cardinal directions.

The island is home to three intelligent simian races: vanara in the southern jungle; kech in the northern jungle; and a handful of girallons roaming the northern half of the island. A mysterious new leader has risen among the girallons, who have forged an alliance of sorts with the kech. This bodes ill for the peaceful vanara.

(Click image to view full-size.)

Random Encounters: Lists of monsters found on Gorilla Island, grouped by terrain type.

Religions of Gorilla Island: There are two new deities worshiped on Gorilla Island: Der-Maga, the winged goddess of the derhii and vanara; and Gral-Bara, the demonic ape-god of the girallons and kech.

Central Island

Ape Rock: Ape Rock is a large rock formation on the slopes of Mount Girallon that resembles a giant gorilla face. The mouth and eyes are formed by large caves that give access to tunnels into the volcano's interior. These caves are the home of a tribe of derhii (Bestiary 3 75) led by a silverback. These winged apes fear no flying creatures on this island except for the larger drakes (the lava drake inside the volcano, and the spire drake on Rocky Fist Point).

Lizard Lake: The lake holds the lair of two forest drakes (Bestiary 2 107).

Mount Girallon: This conical mountain is an active volcano. The crater vents smoke frequently, and the island feels occasional tremors, but the mountain has not had any erupted that threatened the island's inhabitants in quite some time. A lava drake (Bestiary 4 78) makes its lair in a cave inside the vent itself; it can only be reached from above, or by traversing a tunnel that the derhii of Ape Rock guard. The interior of the volcano is regularly visited by magmin (Bestiary 3 189) and magma elementals, (Bestiary 2 188), which suggest that a portal to the Plane of Fire lies within the magma chamber.

Ruins: Most of these stone ruins predate the arrival of the kech and vanara to Gorilla Island. Most of them are claimed by keches (Bestiary 3 167). The two complexes in the northern jungle house about a dozen keches each, plus 1d4 dire apes (Bestiary 17) and 1d4 mobats (Bestiary 2 24); each mobat is the mount of a kech bat-rider. A kech ranger leads the tribe, and is the one who deals most directly with Kadriku (see Stone Circle, below).

The Shrine: A shrine to the ape goddess Der-Maga can be found on the southern slope of Mount Girallon,, where the jungle thins out directly below Ape Rock. The clerics from the vanara village tend this shrine, and know signals they can use here to contact the derhii, who they revere as the Children of Der-Maga.

A reclusive vanara spellcaster named Featherhead lives in a stone hut within an hour's walk of the shrine. He has explored more of the island than most the villagers have, so is sometimes consulted by the tribe's priests. He also maintains a forge at his hut, making him the only smith on the island.

Stone Circle: This stone circle is a religious site for the island's girallons and kech. The new girallon leader, Kadriku, makes her lair a short distance from here.

Treetop Village: This vanara (Bestiary 3 280) settlement is built high in the trees to protect the tribe from island's numerous land-bound predators. The tribe posts a number of sentries in the surrounding jungle to alert the village of any approaching danger or strangers.

East Arm (Dawn Point)

The survivors of Maladara's merfolk tribe live in a coral reef located a mile or two off of Dawn Point.

Ruined Temple: A ruined temple stands at the high point of the peninsula. It consists of two rings of broken columns rising from a shallow, spring-fed pool; this pool feeds a small stream that flows northeast to the sea. Inside the inner ring, the water gets very deep, forming winding shaft down to a series of flooded caves. The other end of these caves can be found below the islets in the stream's mouth, a half mile away.

North Arm (Broken Arm)

The Shards: This narrow strait contains several dangerous rocks, with at least one sunken ship among them. One such ship forms the lair of a colony of fuath gremlins (Bestiary 3 142) and reefclaws (Bestiary 2 234). A sea drake (Bestiary 2 109) and its mysterious master dwell in a cave in the deepest part of the strait.

South Arm (Sloth Hook)

Sloth Hook is named for the giant sloths (megatheriums, Bestiary 2 187) who graze in the wooded parts of the peninsula.

Tortoise Beach: This wide sandy beach is the home of a large community of giant tortoises (Bestiary 4 263). These reptiles are under the protection of "The Old One," an immense tortoise who is the oldest living animal on Gorilla Island.

West Arm (Rocky Fist Point)

The tall, steep, stony tor that gives Rocky Fist Point its name is ruled by a spire drake (Bestiary 4 81). The lower slopes are occasionally haunted by wights (Bestiary 276) created by the dragon's accursed breath, but these encounters are rare now that the vanara and kech avoid this peninsula.