Manithan Vaanam

After the chants "Maranam, Indhiri, Vaalu" are silenced forever, the formerly hanging monkey releases himself from his bondage and thanks Bhavannan and Shwari for freeing him. He introduces himself as Anjan, and Bhavannan explains his quest to find him. Then, Anjan rushes to the unconscious monkey, whom Haavani was healing. He explains how the comatose one is his mother, and that she was kidnapped by the soonyam mages for an experiment. When asked what the experiment was, he instructs the party to look through the mages' robes and dig up an conspicuous leaf pile, claiming that they would not believe him if they did not see it for themselves. Aadhi, Haavani, and Shwari search the robes: Haavani finds a neatly cut cobra head, Shwari finds instructions to a ritual and Aadhi finds a small spine, stripped and cleaned. The spine is dropped in horror and Aadhi surmises that the mages were wanting to cast a ritual identical to that cast upon her. Then, the party moves on to the leaf pile, where Shwari shifts some of the leaves aside with a mage hand, revealing the rotting corpse of Ashitham. It dawns on the party that the mages were trying to place Ashitham's soul into Anjan's mother. They quickly look for the Dharma Villu as well, to no avail. They return to the monkeys and Anjan asks for help carrying him and his mother to their village. The group confers and ultimately agrees. However, before leaving, they consider cremating Ashitham's corpse but decide to come back for it the next day. Aadhi and Bhavannan help Anjan walk, and Shwari and Haavani carry Anjan's mother, leaving the massive demonic shrine behind.

After the sun has fully set, they finally reach the entrance to a village. The rainforest canopy shadows simple huts, and a loud conch sings through the air, signaling the party's arrival. Emerging from these huts and the trees above are monkeys of all shapes and sizes, vibrantly colored as Anjan is. They look upon the group with curiosity whilst the group looks upon the monkeys with wonder and befuddlement. An aged, wizened monkey with a staff walks towards the party and thanks them for rescuing Anjan and his mother. As other monkeys take over carrying the two wounded monkeys, the elder monkey leads the party through the town, taking them to an unfinished plot of land. Monkeys pass through them and start building huts for each member with remarkable speed. In mere minutes, the huts are done, and the elder tells the group to meet him at the school tomorrow morning. The party, in complete amazement, rest their weary heads, contemplating their new friends.

The next morning, Bhavannan wakes first and heads out early, wanting to ask questions. When he walks through the village, he hears the villagers speaking in an interesting language combining monkey sounds and Tamil, baffling Bhavannan. Eventually, he finds the school: a larger hut accompanied by a cleared out field. He enters the hut, and waits for the elder monkey, who at last arrives. They have a discussion of how the monkeys came to be: the elder monkey is the first of his kind, his mind awakening to a streak of blue and green feathers flying above him. Then Bhavannan asks him about jaadhi and whether the community believes in it, which the elder rejects, expressing that their gratitude is more valuable than born self-worth. At this moment, the other three members of the party arrive, having walked through multiple monkeys bowing deeply towards them, and noticing that classes have started, all revolving around martial arts, or varma. The party, reunited, continue this conversation, asking about how these lands are thriving when the rest of the Kaalu Kaatu is corrupted. The elder explains how the fog originated from one place and that the town is placed far from the origin. He also mentions how the monkeys have slain soonyam mages multiple times, yet they keep coming back. After this knowledge is given, Anjan and his mother enter the building, expressing their gratitude to the party. They pledge their loyalty to the group as well, declaring that they shall aid in their endeavors. Bhavannan and Haavani explain their major quest with the megham, and Anjan promises to help, but claims that he has already visited the Soodam Kingdom. The party then requests their aid in freeing Karikala[1] and investigating the origin-point of the fog and the Raatchi Raasa shrine. Anjan explains that it will take a day or two for him to be able to fly, so helping Karikala and the point of the fog may have to wait, but that they can go to the shrine this day. The group exits the school, preparing for their short trek to the shrine, astounded by their discovery of a new people.