. Caves of Chaos

While perusing the Book of Wrath Unveiled, the adventurers gain a bit of knowledge about Baphomet.

Baphomet, who is also known as the Prince of Beasts, the Trampler, the Minotaur Lord, and the Horned King. Born from the churning chaos of the Abyss near the dawn of time, Baphomet is the embodiment of savagery, one of nature’s most destructive aspects, and the catalyst that looses the beast residing in us all.The Prince of Beasts is a towering horror—a perfect fusion of humanoid and monster. Baphomet has the muscled body of a burly titan. Coarse black hair covers his hide, his feet are cloven hooves, and from his back extends a bovine tail that ends in a stinking tuft of fur. The demon prince has a brutish bull head that is covered in dark fur. Lambent ochre eyes look out from under two outward curving horns engraved with blasphemous sigils. These sigils form phrases so foul, to utter them aloud would forever darken the soul of anyone who hears the filthy words.

Baphomet exults in his muscled physique. He coats his fur with blod fat culled from his victims to accentuate his build. When he dons clothing or adornments, he does so to sate his depraved vanity and augment his appearance. He might wear bracelets,
as well as rings in his long tapering ears, his nose, and in the flesh of his torso. The demon prince dons an iron crown.

A prominent force in the corruption and subversion of mortal communities is the Horned King, Baphomet, known as the Prince of Beasts.
A demon lord of the Abyss, residing on the 600th layer, he finds the greatest
following among minotaurs. His cult is widespread and influential throughout their secluded communities.
Numerous minotaurs resist the Trampler’s allure, but the cult spreads and grows as its vile cabalists spread the faith. Baphomet’s cult threatens to consume the minotaur population with widespread and pernicious demon-worship.
Baphomet sees himself as the darkest aspect of nature—as unbridled savagery. This makes him a rival to Yeenoghu. So Baphomet wages war eternal against the Beast of Butchery.

As an agent of chaos, Baphomet demands little from his followers, preferring to let their madness and brimming evil guide their pursuits. Central to their service, though, is embracing the inner beast. Those new to the cult find their inhibitions weakened until they act without thinking, giving into their darkest desires without thought of consequence. In time, his followers fall so far they begin to manifest monstrous traits, twisting and mutating into feral versions of their former selves until they bark and howl, shrieking and hooting as they enslave and slaughter.

The minotaurs have long had a strong connection to the Prince of Beasts. Baphomet’s cabalists have a great deal more freedom among these people and can often operate in the open.
Outside the minotaur society, Baphomet enjoys a strong, though hidden, following among humans, dwarves, and orcs.

The party once more awakens stiff and sore from sleeping on the cold stone floor. It takes them a bit longer to get moving this morning. They quietly break camp, and then head back into the long corridor to explore the door and area the Demonic Gnoll had come from. This side corridor is hewn from black rock and connects three different areas. Ahead, the passage opens into a chamber while along the eastern wall, one open door and one set of closed double doors can be seen. The doors are made of black wood, and each has an iron knocker carved in the shape of a Minotaur’s snarling face. The flagstones on the floor each have the symbol of a bull’s horned skull worked into them in blood red stone. The first room beyond the open door seems to be a make shift bedroom. A flimsy table of some dark wood has been dragged in here. A bottle of ink and quill rest on the table along with several pieces of parchment. A bed and chest make up the rest of this rooms contents. Inside the chest, which they open with a key found on the body of the demonic Gnoll, they find a pair of black leather gloves, a gold necklace inlaid with diamonds and rubies, a jade bracelet with carvings of birds on it, and a small leather bag with 62 gp.
They make their way to the next room, and open the set double doors. Two tall candleholders stand on either side of the shrine’s entrance, each with a black candle set in it. Near the back wall stands a tall altar. The altar is made of humanoid bones stacked to form a four-legged table. The bones are joined with black wire. A small black leather bound book rests open on the altar.

With a sudden burst of brimstone and a sound like a whip-crack, a huge hulking creature covered in fur appears before the shrine. It roars, scraping its huge incisors together, flexes its deadly looking claws, then fixes its blood-red eyes upon the group. The Barlgura slams both fists into Gendar, then roars again. The party is surprised at how far this creature can reach, and they have a hard time getting close. With a flurry of ranged attacks they are able to defeat even this formidable beast. Once that grisly task is complete, they examine the book on the gruesome table. The book is titled The Book of Wrath Unveiled. It appears to be a treatise on the cult of Baphomet. Baphomet is a demon lord who rules the 600th layer of the Abyss called the Endless Maze. He is the Prince of Beasts and the Demon Lord of Minotaurs. Baphomet hates Yeenoghu, and the two are bitter enemies. The two have been warring against each other for as long as they themselves could remember, and both have forgotten the origin of their feud.
Finding nothing further of note, the party presses on.