Speculese reveals some things to the party after the drow raid on the town.

“The things you are about to learn have been around for as long as time itself. Men, elves and dwarves greater than the people gathered here tonight have gone mad from such knowledge. You may ask, “Why us four?” I’ll tell you. It’s because you all come from a different plane of existence than the one you currently reside in. You see my friends, as you already know from personal experience, there are various planes of existence. There are inner planes, elemental planes, outer planes any of the multitude of quasi-planes and infinite variances of the prime material. In all of those planes of existence, demons, devils and their ilk are about the most horrid creatures you could imagine. They are evil personified in most intelligent and civilized creatures’ eyes. And, even as evil and horrid looking as some demons and devils are, they are still somewhat recognizable as a humanoid form and can be taken as such. Most of them, mind you. Fangs, wings, horns and tails aren’t all that extraordinary to see in today’s world of creatures like Beholders, Grell and Otyugh being common knowledge. Surely they’re horrendous creatures, but not ones that would drive you mad just by gazing upon them.”

“There are other places, my dear gentlemen, or planes if you will, that are not of the same… alignment… as the planes we know of and exist in. That is to say, the planes we know of usually have rules that are just the natural laws of that particular plane. Laws that we normally don’t even notice and often take for granted… you throw something up, it will come down, a fireball will burn you, cut me I bleed, grass is green, you eat so you won’t starve, etc, etc. These other places do not abide by the same laws that we do. Their existence is in an altogether different reality than our own. They have an inherent wrongness to them for lack of a better term. Where the pits of the nine hells is as an evil place indeed, it is the place itself and not the natural things that make up the place, that is evil. The stone of the pits is not itself evil, it is still just stone. These other planes that I speak of, their very existence, just being in it, around it, has an inherent feeling of just being wrong. It shouldn’t be this way, it couldn’t be this way. But yet they are. And they are real.”

“What if I told you of creatures that would make even a beholder seem normal and make the denizens of the Abyss and Nine Hells look like school children in comparison? These creatures could even give greater gods like Pelor and Nerull, or in your world, Tyr and Cyric pause in their might and evil, as they are gods themselves, some greater, some lesser, but gods nonetheless if that thrice damned book is correct.”

He pauses and looks directly at Lazerrus.

“Have you ever heard of The Outer Gods, or The Elder Gods? How about The Beyond One? The All in One? No? The Book of the Dead? The Necronomicon?”

He pauses and looks around to everyone else

“Any of you heard any of these names before? “

He turns and continues while walking towards a bookcase.

“I happen to have come across one of these things I just mentioned in my many planar travels. It is a book. I got it form a wizard I knew from decades past whom I adventured with. He found it in a tomb on a planet called Earth in an alternate prime plane and after years of studying it, eventually found out what it was. I eventually had to fight and kill him because he was beginning to use it in a way that would be worse than if the gates of Hell itself were opened here on Oerth. It was badly damaged in the inevitable fight, but I took it from him afterward and kept it for research. I read it, Boccob help me I read it and the things it tells are unbelievable, and the spells that accompany the tales are not only plausible, but readily doable. I was tempted to burn it, to be rid of it, but I didn’t. I still don’t know why, but in hindsight I’m glad I didn’t now. I haven’t opened it again until today when you brought me that pendant. I thought I had seen the symbol before. When you first showed it to me, I got a shiver down my spine for some reason. Now I know why. I guess I just didn’t want to remember the reason.”

He pulls a book out from the case and walks back to his dais and sets it down while leaning on it as if for support. Its cover is made from some sort of black and grey leather, almost skin-like. It has runes and sigils all over it in patterns that seem to be chaotic at once, then seem to form a coherent pattern, then back again. As he seems to gain his strength back, he opens the cover and the room darkens ever so slightly. (make perception rolls at +10 to notice)

“This, my friends, is The Necronomicon. In its infernal pages lie the knowledge of these beings called The Outer Gods and the beings that serve them. It tells of how to summon them, how to open the gates necessary to allow them back into this space, and thankfully, it also has ways to stop the gates from opening and what can harm these things if they do happen to come through.”   

He then begins to read to you passages from the book. What you hear is so fantastical and horrific that even being used to encountering the things you do, this new knowledge sets you back and you begin to wonder about the infinite realities and the infinite horrors that must be out there. You listen to him go on about the horrors of the book, about the different realities, the abominations that reside there…all you hear is a drone, yet you are able to understand exactly what he is reading to you as you explore these vast realities and realizations in your own minds….

 ***

“….Stars, millions and millions of stars, and these things come from beyond that, from beyond time… What can be beyond the stars?... These things can travel through the stars… through time as well?!?!... How is that possible??... Older than the gods themselves… So alien, so wrong… How can they exist?!?!... How haven’t we heard of them before now?!?!...” You continue to hear nothing but a drone as your own individual thoughts race around in your heads, trying to fathom and grasp the reality of it all… and then, the trance like state is broken when the arch mage utters a single name…..

***

"Yog-Sothoth."

“This pendant… this symbol, is one that represents one of the Outer Gods. It is a being called Yog-Sothoth, who in turn represents all of space and time. He IS space and time from what I read in the damned book. “Past, present future. All are one in Yog-Sothoth.” It also says that he has the power to control these things as well. Which means he can travel not only through the planes, but through time itself; AND he can send others as well. All he needs is a conduit from his plane to ours to come here.“

“I fear the worst and that the Drow have somehow gotten hold of a book on the Outer Gods and are going to attempt using it to do something very, very bad. More than likely, summoning Yog-Sothoth to this plane. I don’t think I have to tell you what the consequences would be if this happens. The drow must be stopped at all costs.”

“From what you’ve told me about yourselves, I believe you all have come here for this reason. If not, then why did the gate put you in this particular place at this particular time? I believe it is your combined destinies to attempt this task. Whether it is your destinies to succeed at it, will be seen.”

"For all our sakes, I hope I am right."