Tong-Maa, a Noble Gorilla Witch, with Kuada the halfling is . He is Tong-Maa's Greater Familiar.

My first gorilla ever! I find the concept of having a halfing familiar is quite interesting, I guess he must not be very bright to qualify as a humanoid familiar... Imagine the job application... ... and yes, those are goblin heads on her hand.

The Noble Gorilla and humanoid familiar stuff is from The Noble Wild by the Skirmisher Game Development Group. It's a sourcebook for Pathfinder.

A commission for
Witch Doctor

Tong-Maa was born into one of the many mountain gorilla troops of the Mwangi Expanse. The son of a noble silverback that had taken the position of troop alpha, he grew and learned of his role as ‘keeper of nature’s balance’ at his father’s side largely unaware of the world outside his jungle home. Goraa-Ka, Tong-Maa’s father, was a powerful wizard and (as his only ‘noble’ offspring) Tong-Maa hoped and expected to follow in his father’s arcane footsteps. To this end he studied diligently and although the young ape’s aptitude for the arcane arts grew daily there was a darker edge to the Tong-Maa’s burgeoning skills that greatly disturbed his father.

Like most noble fauna Goraa-Ka and Tong-Maa worshipped their ancestors as a divine force. It was nevertheless a shock to Goraa-Ka when his son calmly revealed to his father that his ancestors routinely spoke with him. Despite his initial bemusement, Goraa-Ka could not argue with the arcane skill granted to his son by the union he claimed to have achieved. Upon Tong-Maa’s taking a small spider monkey as familiar, Goraa-Ka watched as the ritual was completed and at his sons word the spirits of his noble ancestors took possession of the small primate. The little monkey rose and spoke in forceful simian. “I will serve” the newly awakened familiar bowed to Tong-Maa. “I no longer have need of our folded nest of spells father,” Tong-Maa smiled distantly, “Kateo holds my spells now”.

In all likelihood, in later years Tong-Maa would have succeeded his father as troop silverback and lived a long and happy life amongst his non-noble kin. This was not however to be young witch doctor’s destiny. Thurak Deathward, a half-orc slaver and fighting-pit owner out of the Shackles was conducting a ‘sporting safari’ into the Mwangi expanse with an eye towards acquiring some exotic creatures to die in the arena. The band of mercenaries, pirates and slavers fell upon Tong-Maa’s troop with rum-fuelled enthusiasm and ferocity. A volley of heavy crossbow bolts felled Goraa-Ka before he could complete the defensive spell he had begun (the slavers had captured wild gorillas before and knew that felling the silverback of the troop was the quickest way to ‘break the back’ of the group). Tong-Maa screamed in rage and beat his young chest furiously. The lead slaver was thrown backwards and into the nearest tree breaking his neck in the process. Focussed on hexing the big man to his front, Tong-Maa failed to notice the massive half-orc that had charged the noble ape from behind. Tong-Maa spun about just as the large scimitar in the half-orc’s hands descended. The last thing Tong-Maa saw before passing into blackness was a spray of his own blood and his assailant casually breaking the neck of the tiny spider monkey that had leapt upon his back, biting and clawing.

Tong-Maa was caged and brought to slaver’s base camp for packing and transport to Port Peril. He awoke to the rhythmic swaying of his new cage as the pack beasts upon which it was bound traversed the mountainous terrain of the Terwa Uplands. Having never seen outside of his jungle home, a terrified Tong-Maa attempted to call upon his ancestors only to find the bloody gash upon his throat had rendered ‘talking’ all but impossible. Captured as ‘exotic meat’ for the arena and clearly injured, Tong-Maa was assessed by Thurak as a ‘warm-up’ act for the Oathday fights in two weeks time. His injuries were sufficiently severe that Thurak did not expect the gorilla to survive any longer than the trip home.

Upon arriving in Port Peril Tong-Maa was given a rudimentary meal and, early the next morning, cast into the arena before a howling mob of assembled pirates, free-captains and assorted nere-do-wells. The orc gladiator before him swung a spiked chain in a lazy arc and approached Tong-Maa with a smirk, expecting a quick kill. Steeling himself and praying to his ancestors, Tong-Maa rose to his full height, gestured towards his opponent and beat his chest in a violent threat display. The powerful hex rolled towards the orc warrior lifting him off his feet and driving him backwards onto one of the many spikes that encircled the small arena. Unable to see the noble animal’s arcana, Thurak and the attendant mob were struck dumb. Thurak however was a shrewd businessman and recovered his guile quickly. He saw gold coins in the young ape. Tong-Maa was quickly ushered out of the arena and inducted into Thurak’s stable of slave warriors.

The next five years were a blur for Tong-Maa. Bereft of his familiar (and thus his spells and his link to his ancestors) he was unable to rely on his arcane power outside of the limited strength of his hexes. He rose through the ranks of gladiators (as a fully-grown mountain gorilla of Mwangi he was still a formidable opponent) and was taken to many arenas across the Shackles and the Sodden Lands as Thurak Deathward’s star attraction. The half-orc slaver became incredibly wealthy upon the back of Tong-Maa’s suffering. Once his throat had healed, Tong Maa had of course demanded his release in broken common and eventually in orcish as well. Always a quick study, Tong-Maa had picked up the language of his captors relatively quickly. Again however, Thurak simply saw the potential wealth a ‘talking ape’ would bring him and scoffed at the notion of freeing the noble animal.

The gold continued to flow into Thurak’s coffers. Even when Tong-Maa lost an eye in a particularly vicious bout against brutal relluk warrior, Thurak spared no expense in healing to wound. Not out of any compassion for his slave but simply in order to get him back into the arena and bringing in the gold. The situation may well have continued indefinitely were it not for Thurak’s miserly business practices. Journeying from Port Peril to the ‘Green Blood on Black Rock’ tournament in the same shoddy cage he had been in since his capture, Tong-Maa was eventually able to force the rusting bars and overpower the two drunken guards (again Thurak’s greed had preventing him from adequately protecting the caravan). Thurak emerged from his own luxurious wagon to be confronted by the enraged form of his former slave. Snatching the corpulent half-orc’s jewel-encrusted staff (a symbol of his wealth and power) Tong-Maa beat his former master into unconsciousness and walked calmly from the campsite (the staff he kept as a trophy). Unsure of exactly where he was, he decided to head north, away from the Shackles and into the heart of the Sodden Lands.

When Thurak regained consciousness he was furious. Immediately returning to Port Peril he offered a large sum of money for the recapture of his ‘lost property’. Many trackers and bounty hunters answered the call but it was Davar Scarnetti who was ultimately selected by the enraged Thurak to retrieve his property. A tracker of some skill and fiercely proud of his abilities, Thurak had no qualms about giving the ex-patriot Varisian half the offered fee in advance. He set off immediately, after all, how hard could a talking gorilla be to track?


It was several months before Davar caught up with his quarry. As the bounty hunter crested a rare, dry hillock deep in the festering swamps of the Sodden Lands he glimpsed his prey through the mist in the distance. It was not however the scene he expected. The large gorilla was standing over the body of a fallen Halfling. The small humanoid was bedecked in the panoply of a feral shaman of some sort. The woggart mount of the Halfling lay dead several metres from its former master. The gorilla was beating his chest furiously a swiping large meaty fists at the four boggards that circled the fallen Halfling and it’s simian guardian. Another four of the toad-men lay dead about Tong-Maa’s feet. As Davar watched one of boggards lunged toward the gorilla. Tong-Maa cried out and beared his fanged maw as the spear bit deeply into his side but the boggard warrior was too slow. Large strong hands took hold of the creature as it drove it’s spear home. A sickening ‘crack’ followed as he neck of the toad-man twisted horrifically backward and it fell at Tong-Maa’s feet beside its former comrades. This was too much for the surviving boggards who turned and fled into the thick mist of the swampland.

Tong-Maa knelt and carefully lifted the Halfling to his feet. The intricately painted mask fell from the Halfling face as he stood groggily before his rescuer. A guttural growl escaped Tong-Maa’s lips and he blew across the small figure’s chest. Within a few moments the halfling’s wounds had closed. As Davar waded through the knee-deep muck towards the small battleground he watched the Halfling kneel before Tong-Maa in supplication. The gorilla turned as Davar approached and placed himself between the Halfling and the newcomer.
“You are sent by Thurak,” Tong-Maa sniffed, “you stink of the pits”.
“Yes,” Davar replied flatly, “but you have nothing to fear from me ape”.
“I FEAR NOTHING!” Tong-Maa growled.
“Nor should you,” Davar replied. “I too have been prisoner of Port Peril,” he continued, “and do not wish to be so again. If you would allow me to travel with you, I will gladly share the bounty given me to hunt you down”.
“I have no need of your gold,” Tong-Maa smirked, “but if you wish to travel with us your money can help to equip my familiar. This is Kuada”. The Halfling behind Tong-Maa stepped forward and bowed deeply
“Davar,” the man replied returning the bow. “We should move. More of these will return to scavenge on the fallen”. He gestured toward the fallen boggards.
“Not yet,” Kuada replied speaking for the first time. “My master requires a trophy to honour our union”. Kneeling over the body of his fallen mount, the young Halfling retrieved an intricately painted and cured wolf skin from his pack.

The following day, the totem-skin draped the broad shoulders of the Gorilla witch doctor. The three companions travelled northwest across the swamps before eventually bartering ship’s passage to Cheliax. They adventured for a time out of Westcrown before Thurak’s bounty hunters caught their trail and they were forced to move on. Some time later they arrived in Varisia, Davar’s homeland, and on the former bounty hunter’s advice headed for the small town of his birth; a little town called Sandpoint on the Varisian coast.

Tong-Maa’s former life however still hangs over the witch doctor and his companion. When Davar was slain by goblins in a surprise raid on the small town, Tong-Maa swore on his friend’s grave to help defend both Sandpoint and Davar’s resting place. It was an oath that may yet come back to haunt the noble ape. Thurak’s anger has yet to be sated. It hangs like a shadow over every waking moment of Tong-Maa’s troubled life. It is a shadow that he is painfully aware will one day require bringing into the light.