Our heroes embarked on their journey back to Dougan’s Hole with their dubious ally Vorryn. As they approached the town from the south they witnessed the of silhouettes of the twenty stones of Thruun standing above the small unlit homes of Dougan’s hole. All unlit but one – speaker Durmoot’s home.
Music could be heard coming from the mansion, which Yrso identified and understood as a song of Frost Giants.
The song described a place called the Jarlmoot, where the Jarl of Jarls dispensed judgement either with skillful negotiation or decisive violence. The Jarlmoot is attended at every full moon by seven Frost Giant Jarls beyond the fork of the Shaengarne river.
More interestingly perhaps, was that the voice singing this ancient song was unmistakenly that of Largo.
Yrso kicked in the door to the Speaker’s mansion and our heroes witnessed a mis-shapen copy of Largo (Walargo) singing this song on top of an overturned bucket in the middle of the foyer surrounded by thoroughly enthralled townsfolk.
Largo took this affront to his identity personally and dispatched the copy, which dissolved into a green slime and seeped through the rotten floorboards to dark places below the home.
During the melee, Yrso espied a relatively normal looking resident of the town walking away from the 2nd floor balcony into the northeren wing’s interior.
While pursuing this mystery person through the upper floor our heroes found empty dilapidated rooms containing broken furniture and rotten walls. when the opportunity came to pursue to the attic or back to the first floor our heroes opted to check the attic – where they were assaulted by Stirges: a horrible cross between a large bat and a mosquito.
The Stirges were easily dispatched (and one captured by the excitable Vorryn) and among the refuse in the attic was found a porcelein doll dressed as a sailor, whose eyes were fitted with jade.
Our heroes then ventured back to the first floor into a kitchen, where red mold had advanced from a sink and obvious signs of passage led south back to the main room where Walargo was encountered.
In the main foyer, Speaker Durmoot was found sputtering something about ‘Mr Dory’ before being knocked unconscious by Largo. A hulking man assumed to be Mr Dory emerged from the west wing of the house to attack – his facial expression morphing from cold indifference to unsettling delight. He was joined by a commoner named Gemma. Both of these individuals were victims of an Intellect Devourer – a brain sized beast with the ability to teleport into a mind, consuming it and all memories, and becoming the host. Even after Mr. Dory’s face was melted off his smile was unmistakable, and upon his death his cranium opened to reveal the Intellect Devourer inside.
Mr. Dory’s Intellect devourer was captured by the ecstatic Vorryn, while Gemma’s was reluctantly disintegrated by a well placed shot from his laser pistol.
Our heroes then questioned the speaker, and although mostly delirious, he seemed as though he could see a light at the end of the tunnel – the insanity of Dougan’s Hole was coming to a close, with the former captain of arms Mr Dory and his associate Gemma dispatched, all that remained was whatever resided in the mansion’s basement.