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Doom from Below: The Illithid Ascension (Last Updated: 1-1-03)
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<blockquote data-quote="Phasmus" data-source="post: 455606" data-attributes="member: 1827"><p>It was dark. Cold. Also, wet.</p><p></p><p>Their heads swam and ached. Vague, half-felt memories swirled like a spiral of cream in a stirred cup of coffee.</p><p></p><p>Semaki groaned and sat up slowly. The dark was absolute, even to her eyes. Her skull felt...bloated somehow. As though her brain had been inflated. "Quadim?" she probed into the black. "Are you there?"</p><p></p><p>Another female groan. Shayuri's voice crawled out of the gloom. "Ooog...my head..."</p><p></p><p>Elfin hands slapped bare stone as Semaki patted around her. "Where is he? Quadim?"</p><p></p><p><em>I do apologize for the necessarily rough treatment, but there are reasons; which will be explained shortly. Until then, welcome to our enclave.</em></p><p></p><p>A rectangle of light appeared, and swiftly expanded upward with the grating of stone on stone. Shayuri and Semaki stumbled out of the testing chamber, wincing and squinting in the sudden illumination.</p><p></p><p>Sitting at their ease in the warm, comfortable room they entered were Mark, Shar and Piklum who looked up at them quizzically.</p><p></p><p>"How'd it go?" piped Piklum as he scooped the coins he'd been counting back into his pouch.</p><p></p><p>"I feel like someone actually put their hand into my brain and wiggled it all around," Shayuri complained with a hand on her temple. "It was like being back with the illithid."</p><p></p><p>Mark shrugged. "It was your own fault, you know," he said. "You could have just come in."</p><p></p><p>"Quadim and Mana are just as much part of our group as you are," Shayuri shot angrily back. "If he distrusts any of us, he distrusts us all!"</p><p></p><p>"Where are they?" Semaki suddenly interjected. "Quadim...and the boy. Where are they?"</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps they're on their way?" Shar suggested. "It took you two over an hour after all."</p><p></p><p>As Semaki and Shayuri digested that tidbit, the stone door ground open again, admitting the adolescent druid, Mana, into the room. He looked around blearily and coughed.</p><p></p><p>The elf stepped nearer and demanded, "Where is Quadim? Was he with you? Where was he taken?"</p><p></p><p>Mana stepped back, alarmed. He raised his hands defensively. "I don't know! I was alone, I think...but it was dark. I couldn't see! And there was...something..." he winced and touched his scalp. "...something in my head. Asking things. I didn't like it."</p><p></p><p>Now furious, Semaki whirled and looked up at the ceiling. "Where are you, mage?! Where have you taken him! What is the meaning of this?!"</p><p></p><p><em>Excellent questions, Semaki. And ones I will explain at once. Please come this way.</em></p><p></p><p>Another slab of stone, a different one this time, slid up to reveal a smallish but well-lit passageway. Standing just inside was the burbling amorphous shape of a water elemental. Shayuri immediately stepped back, a hand going to her throat. Semaki narrowed her eyes.</p><p></p><p><em>It will not harm you unless provoked,</em> reassured the voice. <em>Follow it, please. I look forward to meeting you all in person.</em></p><p></p><p>"Is Quadim with you?" demanded Semaki.</p><p></p><p><em>He is.</em></p><p></p><p>Shar rolled her eyes and stepped into the passageway, following the water elemental as it trundled away, leaving a trail of wetted stone behind it. </p><p></p><p>Mark gave Semaki a severe look, "Try to be respectful," he said. "You're about to meet a leader of the Caronian Resistance; a great man. He's saved more lives than I can count."</p><p></p><p>"Five?" Shayuri asked in a scathing tone.</p><p></p><p>Piklum burst into laughter and scuttled after Shar into the hall. Mark's eyes threw daggers at Shayuri, but he decided not to dignify it with a response, and proceeded as well. The three who were Tested followed brought up the rear.</p><p></p><p>After following the oddly winding passage for a few minutes, they were brought to another door. The elemental stood aside and gestured with a glassy pseudopod for the others to enter. No sooner than they had then Semaki cried "Quadim!" and rushed ahead.</p><p></p><p>The room beyond was largish, apparently a natural cavern that had been "dressed." The floor was smooth, but uncut; the same stone as formed the rough walls and ceiling. At the far end of it was a stone table large enough to hold a person lying down, an older man of perhaps fifty winters with a rather impressive-looking staff and red robes, and a low cut open doorway with a hallway partly visible behind it. Lying on the table, unconscious, was Quadim.</p><p></p><p>The old man didn't flinch at Semaki's maddened rush, and halfway through the room the reason became apparent. Semaki struck an invisible <em>something</em> and rebounded, falling backwards onto the ground. Shayuri rushed to help her up, but Semaki shrugged assistance aside, darting to her feet with elven grace.</p><p></p><p>"What is this?!" Semaki raged. "Release him at once!"</p><p></p><p>The old man bowed slightly, not directly reacting to Semaki's words. "Good afternoon," he said in a deep, rich voice. "I am Zoyster. As Mark has informed you, I lead this cell of the Resistance."</p><p></p><p>"DO YOU HEAR ME!"</p><p></p><p>Face tight with anger, Shayuri stepped forward, careful not to hit the invisible wall. "I think we deserve an explanation, Zoyster," she said coldly. "This isn't exactly the welcome we were promised."</p><p></p><p>Zoyster's eyes flicked between Semaki, Shayuri and Mana for a moment, then he nodded. "Yes. Quite. Routine mental probes are usually enough to ferret out thrall infiltrators. The more..extensive...tests you were subject to are in reaction to a recent development by the mind flayers. You both have my apologies, though you chose to be examined of your own will." He walked behind the table and raised a forestalling hand. "I realize that my words will not suffice though. That is why I brought you here to see this." He began to chant hollowly in High Arcane as his hands described looping figures in the air.</p><p></p><p>And Quadim began...to melt.</p><p></p><p>Semaki rushed at the wall again and pounded futilely against it, screaming "NOOOOOO!!"</p><p></p><p>The others watched in horrified fascination as Quadim's flesh ran like wax...then began resculpting itself, knitting into an entirely different form.</p><p></p><p>Pallid grey flesh. Long arms, with long fingers. Blank white eyes that dominated an otherwise almost featureless face. </p><p></p><p>A doppelganger. Only the gridwork of scars on its skull linked this creature with the monk that it had been.</p><p></p><p>"A trick!" Semaki bellowed, tears flowing freely. "A lie!"</p><p></p><p>Mark rounded on Semaki furiously. "An illithid spy! I <em>knew</em> there was something wrong with him! If it hadn't been for you, I'd have left him behind long ago!"</p><p></p><p>Shar shook her head slowly. "We were fools to have trusted him." Her dark eyes raised to meet Semaki's with mute accusation.</p><p></p><p>"All of you be quiet!" Shayuri demanded. "It's not Semaki's fault! She had no one else!"</p><p></p><p>Everyone fell quiet though as Semaki suddenly roared defiantly and ripped her sword from its sheath. "Drop this wall, mage!" she howled. "Drop it and face me! If you harm him, I swear on the blood of my ancestors that I will hunt you and yours until the world BURNS! FACE ME!"</p><p></p><p>As if in response, the invisible wall suddenly became very visible indeed...and quite opaque. A featureless onyx field, utterly smooth, and impervious to any force Semaki could muster.</p><p></p><p>"Semaki, are you MAD?" Mark yelped. He lunged for her, trying to restrain her. "He decieved you! That's no reason to get angry at Zoyster. Imagine how much worse it would have been if we hadn't found out in time!"</p><p></p><p>"Stay back, human," Semaki snarled, leveling the blade at him. "Confederate of this evil. I'll have no qualms about starting with you, if you interfere."</p><p></p><p>Shayuri quickly ducked in, pulling Mark back. "How dare you?" The question was aimed at Mark and Shar. "Both of you! Quadim and Semaki have been our companions for weeks, and this is how you repay them?"</p><p></p><p>"The truth is plain, <em>sorceress</em>," Mark returned with contempt. "Open your eyes and SEE!"</p><p></p><p>"I've SEEN a wizard turn a man into a doppelganger," she retorted. "That, in itself, means nothing."</p><p></p><p>"Not a man!"</p><p></p><p>Shayuri folded her arms. "We have only his word to accept for that. And at the moment, I'm more inclined to trust my own intuitions about Quadim than this...Zoyster."</p><p></p><p>Mark bridled. "This Zoyster is one of the last court mages of Caron! He's wiser and smarter than any THREE of you!"</p><p></p><p>"Oh?" Shayuri asked archly. "I have yet to see any evidence of that. We come to him as friends, and he rewards our amity by raping our minds and subjecting Semaki to this...display."</p><p></p><p>"Are you a <em>complete</em> fool?" Mark demanded of Shayuri. "He said it himself! This was to protect us from illithid infiltration!"</p><p></p><p>The sorceresses silver eyes flashed angrily. "A convenient excuse but it doesn't hold, Mark! You didn't see what happened after you went in. We were brutalized by elementals, our minds all but...DISSECTED with magic, and now this? How can any Resistance movement hope to endure when it seems hells-bent on making bitter enemies out of potential friends?"</p><p></p><p>"Friends that are dominated by the illithid are friends we don't need," Mark growled.</p><p></p><p>"Anyone with some power and ambition can turn a time of justified fear, into a time of tyranny," Shayuri replied sadly.</p><p></p><p>Before Mark could reply, the wall winked out. Semaki, having collapsed against it, sobbing, leapt to her feet...but Zoyster was nowhere in evidence. The table was also bare.</p><p></p><p><em>It seems that I...erred in my judgment. Quadim is not a threat to this enclave. You all have my apologies.</em></p><p></p><p>"Where is he, wizard?" Semaki shouted. "Show yourself!"</p><p></p><p><em>Quadim is through the doorway, in the last room on the right. You're welcome to see him, if you like.</em></p><p></p><p>"Don't do it, Semaki," Mark warned. "He may be dangerous."</p><p></p><p>Semaki's bloodshot eyes regarded Mark for a moment, but any response she might have been brewing was interrupted by Shayuri.</p><p></p><p>"I'll go with you."</p><p></p><p>Semaki hesitated, then nodded, and the two went through the arched doorway into the darker passage beyond.</p><p></p><p>The hall was lined with doors, but all were closed and barred except for the one at the far end, on the right. It stood open, letting an oval of light out into the corridor.</p><p></p><p>When they reached it, Semaki said in a dry whisper, "I...would like to see him alone."</p><p></p><p>Shayuri nodded. "I understand. I'll be just outside here."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you."</p><p></p><p>Semaki entered Quadim's cell alone.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------</p><p>Next Time! Illithid scouts threaten the Resistance! Can our heroes help? WILL they help? And what dark secrets lurk within the woods nearby... To Be Continued!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Phasmus, post: 455606, member: 1827"] It was dark. Cold. Also, wet. Their heads swam and ached. Vague, half-felt memories swirled like a spiral of cream in a stirred cup of coffee. Semaki groaned and sat up slowly. The dark was absolute, even to her eyes. Her skull felt...bloated somehow. As though her brain had been inflated. "Quadim?" she probed into the black. "Are you there?" Another female groan. Shayuri's voice crawled out of the gloom. "Ooog...my head..." Elfin hands slapped bare stone as Semaki patted around her. "Where is he? Quadim?" [i]I do apologize for the necessarily rough treatment, but there are reasons; which will be explained shortly. Until then, welcome to our enclave.[/i] A rectangle of light appeared, and swiftly expanded upward with the grating of stone on stone. Shayuri and Semaki stumbled out of the testing chamber, wincing and squinting in the sudden illumination. Sitting at their ease in the warm, comfortable room they entered were Mark, Shar and Piklum who looked up at them quizzically. "How'd it go?" piped Piklum as he scooped the coins he'd been counting back into his pouch. "I feel like someone actually put their hand into my brain and wiggled it all around," Shayuri complained with a hand on her temple. "It was like being back with the illithid." Mark shrugged. "It was your own fault, you know," he said. "You could have just come in." "Quadim and Mana are just as much part of our group as you are," Shayuri shot angrily back. "If he distrusts any of us, he distrusts us all!" "Where are they?" Semaki suddenly interjected. "Quadim...and the boy. Where are they?" "Perhaps they're on their way?" Shar suggested. "It took you two over an hour after all." As Semaki and Shayuri digested that tidbit, the stone door ground open again, admitting the adolescent druid, Mana, into the room. He looked around blearily and coughed. The elf stepped nearer and demanded, "Where is Quadim? Was he with you? Where was he taken?" Mana stepped back, alarmed. He raised his hands defensively. "I don't know! I was alone, I think...but it was dark. I couldn't see! And there was...something..." he winced and touched his scalp. "...something in my head. Asking things. I didn't like it." Now furious, Semaki whirled and looked up at the ceiling. "Where are you, mage?! Where have you taken him! What is the meaning of this?!" [i]Excellent questions, Semaki. And ones I will explain at once. Please come this way.[/i] Another slab of stone, a different one this time, slid up to reveal a smallish but well-lit passageway. Standing just inside was the burbling amorphous shape of a water elemental. Shayuri immediately stepped back, a hand going to her throat. Semaki narrowed her eyes. [i]It will not harm you unless provoked,[/i] reassured the voice. [i]Follow it, please. I look forward to meeting you all in person.[/i] "Is Quadim with you?" demanded Semaki. [i]He is.[/i] Shar rolled her eyes and stepped into the passageway, following the water elemental as it trundled away, leaving a trail of wetted stone behind it. Mark gave Semaki a severe look, "Try to be respectful," he said. "You're about to meet a leader of the Caronian Resistance; a great man. He's saved more lives than I can count." "Five?" Shayuri asked in a scathing tone. Piklum burst into laughter and scuttled after Shar into the hall. Mark's eyes threw daggers at Shayuri, but he decided not to dignify it with a response, and proceeded as well. The three who were Tested followed brought up the rear. After following the oddly winding passage for a few minutes, they were brought to another door. The elemental stood aside and gestured with a glassy pseudopod for the others to enter. No sooner than they had then Semaki cried "Quadim!" and rushed ahead. The room beyond was largish, apparently a natural cavern that had been "dressed." The floor was smooth, but uncut; the same stone as formed the rough walls and ceiling. At the far end of it was a stone table large enough to hold a person lying down, an older man of perhaps fifty winters with a rather impressive-looking staff and red robes, and a low cut open doorway with a hallway partly visible behind it. Lying on the table, unconscious, was Quadim. The old man didn't flinch at Semaki's maddened rush, and halfway through the room the reason became apparent. Semaki struck an invisible [i]something[/i] and rebounded, falling backwards onto the ground. Shayuri rushed to help her up, but Semaki shrugged assistance aside, darting to her feet with elven grace. "What is this?!" Semaki raged. "Release him at once!" The old man bowed slightly, not directly reacting to Semaki's words. "Good afternoon," he said in a deep, rich voice. "I am Zoyster. As Mark has informed you, I lead this cell of the Resistance." "DO YOU HEAR ME!" Face tight with anger, Shayuri stepped forward, careful not to hit the invisible wall. "I think we deserve an explanation, Zoyster," she said coldly. "This isn't exactly the welcome we were promised." Zoyster's eyes flicked between Semaki, Shayuri and Mana for a moment, then he nodded. "Yes. Quite. Routine mental probes are usually enough to ferret out thrall infiltrators. The more..extensive...tests you were subject to are in reaction to a recent development by the mind flayers. You both have my apologies, though you chose to be examined of your own will." He walked behind the table and raised a forestalling hand. "I realize that my words will not suffice though. That is why I brought you here to see this." He began to chant hollowly in High Arcane as his hands described looping figures in the air. And Quadim began...to melt. Semaki rushed at the wall again and pounded futilely against it, screaming "NOOOOOO!!" The others watched in horrified fascination as Quadim's flesh ran like wax...then began resculpting itself, knitting into an entirely different form. Pallid grey flesh. Long arms, with long fingers. Blank white eyes that dominated an otherwise almost featureless face. A doppelganger. Only the gridwork of scars on its skull linked this creature with the monk that it had been. "A trick!" Semaki bellowed, tears flowing freely. "A lie!" Mark rounded on Semaki furiously. "An illithid spy! I [i]knew[/i] there was something wrong with him! If it hadn't been for you, I'd have left him behind long ago!" Shar shook her head slowly. "We were fools to have trusted him." Her dark eyes raised to meet Semaki's with mute accusation. "All of you be quiet!" Shayuri demanded. "It's not Semaki's fault! She had no one else!" Everyone fell quiet though as Semaki suddenly roared defiantly and ripped her sword from its sheath. "Drop this wall, mage!" she howled. "Drop it and face me! If you harm him, I swear on the blood of my ancestors that I will hunt you and yours until the world BURNS! FACE ME!" As if in response, the invisible wall suddenly became very visible indeed...and quite opaque. A featureless onyx field, utterly smooth, and impervious to any force Semaki could muster. "Semaki, are you MAD?" Mark yelped. He lunged for her, trying to restrain her. "He decieved you! That's no reason to get angry at Zoyster. Imagine how much worse it would have been if we hadn't found out in time!" "Stay back, human," Semaki snarled, leveling the blade at him. "Confederate of this evil. I'll have no qualms about starting with you, if you interfere." Shayuri quickly ducked in, pulling Mark back. "How dare you?" The question was aimed at Mark and Shar. "Both of you! Quadim and Semaki have been our companions for weeks, and this is how you repay them?" "The truth is plain, [i]sorceress[/i]," Mark returned with contempt. "Open your eyes and SEE!" "I've SEEN a wizard turn a man into a doppelganger," she retorted. "That, in itself, means nothing." "Not a man!" Shayuri folded her arms. "We have only his word to accept for that. And at the moment, I'm more inclined to trust my own intuitions about Quadim than this...Zoyster." Mark bridled. "This Zoyster is one of the last court mages of Caron! He's wiser and smarter than any THREE of you!" "Oh?" Shayuri asked archly. "I have yet to see any evidence of that. We come to him as friends, and he rewards our amity by raping our minds and subjecting Semaki to this...display." "Are you a [i]complete[/i] fool?" Mark demanded of Shayuri. "He said it himself! This was to protect us from illithid infiltration!" The sorceresses silver eyes flashed angrily. "A convenient excuse but it doesn't hold, Mark! You didn't see what happened after you went in. We were brutalized by elementals, our minds all but...DISSECTED with magic, and now this? How can any Resistance movement hope to endure when it seems hells-bent on making bitter enemies out of potential friends?" "Friends that are dominated by the illithid are friends we don't need," Mark growled. "Anyone with some power and ambition can turn a time of justified fear, into a time of tyranny," Shayuri replied sadly. Before Mark could reply, the wall winked out. Semaki, having collapsed against it, sobbing, leapt to her feet...but Zoyster was nowhere in evidence. The table was also bare. [i]It seems that I...erred in my judgment. Quadim is not a threat to this enclave. You all have my apologies.[/i] "Where is he, wizard?" Semaki shouted. "Show yourself!" [i]Quadim is through the doorway, in the last room on the right. You're welcome to see him, if you like.[/i] "Don't do it, Semaki," Mark warned. "He may be dangerous." Semaki's bloodshot eyes regarded Mark for a moment, but any response she might have been brewing was interrupted by Shayuri. "I'll go with you." Semaki hesitated, then nodded, and the two went through the arched doorway into the darker passage beyond. The hall was lined with doors, but all were closed and barred except for the one at the far end, on the right. It stood open, letting an oval of light out into the corridor. When they reached it, Semaki said in a dry whisper, "I...would like to see him alone." Shayuri nodded. "I understand. I'll be just outside here." "Thank you." Semaki entered Quadim's cell alone. -------------------------- Next Time! Illithid scouts threaten the Resistance! Can our heroes help? WILL they help? And what dark secrets lurk within the woods nearby... To Be Continued! [/QUOTE]
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