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Raiders of the Overreach
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8407116" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 42: THE TEMPLE OF THEPHOBAK</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 13/psychic warrior 1</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 14</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 14</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 22 September 2021</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>C'thorlumbrox had said it would be another three days before the group made it by foot to the ruins of the fallen illithid colony of Thephobak - and he had been absolutely right. Fortunately, the rest of that trek had been uneventful; they'd encountered nothing dangerous in the lightless tunnels of the Underdark caverns and the telepathic map the ulitharid had provided them allowed them to continue on to their destination without any concerns about getting lost. And thus, three days after having set off, the five adventurers found themselves in Thephobak.</p><p></p><p>"Let's stop here and prepare our combat spells," suggested Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"Why?" asked Jhasspok, "Do you see something?" The lizardfolk didn't see anything, but his vision was limited to the radius of illumination provided by their <em>slave-light cloaks</em>. (So was Cramer's for that matter but Jhasspok had no idea if the little gnome might have done something magic to enhance his vision, the way he always cast that <em>longstrider</em> spell on himself the first thing in the morning so he had a better time of keeping up with those who stood a normal height and had what the lizardfolk considered to be a normal-sized stride. Spellcasters were always doing weird stuff like that.)</p><p></p><p>"No, but it makes sense if we're going to end up fighting a giant worm, it'll be here where the Writhing Gate stands."</p><p></p><p>"Do you see a giant worm?" asked Jhasspok, looking around and seeing nothing but an enormous cavern, with some of the massive stalagmites he could see in the radius of illumination apparently having been carved into dwellings, given the openings for doors and windows that hadn't been made that way naturally. For all the place looked to have been deliberately crafted into a series of buildings, none of them seemed occupied at the moment - the cavern was entirely silent but for the echoes of their own words.</p><p></p><p>"Not at the moment," conceded Cramer, "but remember what C'thorlumbrox said: if there's a neothelid anywhere around here, it's liable to be attracted to the Writhing Gate."</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok looked around again. "I don't see a Writhing Gate," he supplied.</p><p></p><p>"It's probably somewhere in the cavern," Marlo suggested. "Now hush while we prepare our spells." Jhasspok knew what that meant. He settled on his tail for balance and pulled out a dried dung beetle from his satchel. If past experience was any indicator, this could take a while.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, Marlo took the time to cover herself in a <em>stoneskin</em> spell and then a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell, following those two up with a <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell upon the entire group of five. Cramer cast a different variety of spells upon himself than usual, first a <em>magic vestment</em> spell that he hoped would protect him from physical harm and then a <em>spell turning</em> spell that would hopefully keep him safe from enemy spellcasting, for while he wasn't sure what all to expect from a neothelid he was willing to bet if the Writhing Gate were active it would have at least one mind flayer around to "pilot" it, possibly more.</p><p></p><p>Marlo tested the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell - a process that always startled Jhasspok, who doubted he'd ever get used to people talking to him inside his own head. But this time he didn't seem like the only one startled, for everyone gave their head a shake as if trying to clear it; none of them realized it, but a <em>mass cloud mind</em> spell had just been successfully cast upon them.</p><p></p><p>"We ready?" Khari asked, heading into the cavern with the others following behind. Before too long, Marlo discovered (with the double-strength darkvision granted to her from her new <em>robe of eyes</em>, a piece of loot she'd taken from the female assassin who had ambushed them days ago) a 100-foot-diameter dome ahead. <I think I might have found where our Writhing Gate is located,> she told the others over their telepathic communication network. As they got closer they could see the dome had been carved in the image of a giant illithid head, with its open mouth - between four tentacles, two along the ground and two raised in the air - forming the doorway. <Betcha anything the Writhing Gate's in there.></p><p></p><p><It does seem likely,> Cramer agreed.</p><p></p><p>Khari led the others inside but was instantly wary of danger. He gripped his <em>earthglide warhammer</em> tightly, looking around for enemies but seeing none. Just ahead of him was a raised circle of stone, the inside of which was filled with briny water, likely the location of the illithid city's elder brain, back in the days when it was still populated by mind flayers. In fact, the pool was where the illithid tadpoles would have lived; the neothelid would have started life as one of those tadpoles, then it no doubt fed on its brothers and sisters after whatever cataclysm occurred to force the mind flayers to evacuate their city.</p><p></p><p>And behind the pool of water stood the Writhing Gate, a ring of ten tentacles reaching up to the very top of the dome. The tentacles swayed and twitched every now and then, but the Gate itself didn't look like it was active. And no wonder: at the base of nine of the tentacles were the petrified illithid statues the group had seen on the Writhing Gate close to the Underdark city of Overreach, but these ones had mostly been smashed up and parts of them lie strewn in the form of rubble beside the fungal-wood growths by each tentacle that served as a chair. It looked as if someone had already attempted to take down this Writhing Gate, although the sole unoccupied seat - where the illithid "pilot" would sit - was unharmed and none of the ten tentacles looked any the worse for wear.</p><p></p><p><I don't like it,> Khari told the others over the link. <It's too quiet - too still.> He gripped his warhammer tightly and prepared to use it against any enemy that might show up.</p><p></p><p>Marlo was also feeling uneasy for no reason she could put her finger upon, so she decided she didn't want to walk by the pool of open water in case something might jump out at her. She thus cast a <em>teleport</em> - sometimes a risky thing to do in the Underdark, but given she was merely relocating herself to somewhere within visual distance she figured it was probably safe. (It was.) But then something unseen brushed past her mind and also into Utred's, while staying far from the minds of the other three: <Open...open...> it said in a whispering mental voice that sounded like more than a mere suggestion, more like an out-and-out command.</p><p></p><p>Utred followed Marlo into the chamber, walking past the pool without incident. He reached over for the <em>Null Axe</em>, which was wrapped in its special silvery blanket inside the <em>bag of holding</em> the sorceress kept on behalf of the entire group. She passed the weapon over, but before the dwarven barbarian could unwrap it he caught a bit of motion up above him and happened to glance up.</p><p></p><p>That was a mistake.</p><p></p><p>Utred's eyes took in a sight his mind didn't want to acknowledge: hovering far above him was an enormous, pink-skinned worm that had to have been at least 120 feet long. Its body was currently held in a sideways arc, with its four-tentacled head looking down at the group of heroes below it. Utred felt as if it had pierced him in its gaze, although later he wouldn't be able to tell for sure whether he had seen eyes on the monster worm or not.</p><p></p><p>But Utred - by no means a coward - felt an unfamiliar terror creep over his brain and he fled back the way he had come, screaming a warning out about "The worm! The worm! It's here, above us!"</p><p></p><p>Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok looked up at the ceiling and saw nothing out of the ordinary: a few scattered stalactites hanging down from the top of the rock cavern, but that was to be expected. Still, just to be safe, Cramer cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell on himself.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok (as was so often the case) had no idea what was going on. The plan, as he understood it, was to use the <em>Null Axe</em> to destroy the Writhing Gate and he had no idea why Utred was suddenly fleeing from his duty, screaming about a giant worm floating above them. The lizardfolk ran forward to intercept the panic-stricken dwarf, grabbing up the <em>Null Axe</em> as he passed. Then he made a bee-line for the Writhing Gate, not sure what had caused the normally level-headed dwarf to panic like that, but the lizardfolk was just as capable of swinging an axe as a dwarf. Jhasspok had no idea that as he sped across the stone floor he was passing underneath the coils of a levitating neothelid some 40 feet or so above him. The worm watched him pass beneath it without any apparent concern. But one thing Jhasspok did notice was that it was nice and quiet on the telepathic link set up between the five heroes. That was a welcome relief; these mammals sure liked chattering back and forth among each other all the time! (He had no idea the reason for the sudden quiet was the <em>Null Axe</em> in his hands blocking out all forms of magic, even the <em>mass cloud mind</em> effect that had been blocking the neothelid from the heroes' awareness; had Jhasspok merely looked above him he would have seen the levitating worm - but Jhasspok was on a mission and his focus was solely on the Writhing Gate before him.)</p><p></p><p>Khari was still gripping his weapon with both hands, ready to strike, and was now looking above him. He wasn't aware of it but he was looking directly at the worm and the <em>mass cloud mind</em> spell effect was blocking the information the dwarf's eyes were picking up from being delivered to his brain. As far as Khari Hammerslammer was aware, there was nothing above him...although he still had that odd feeling of dread. He stepped carefully and slowly into the cavern as if fearful that each step might trigger a tripwire or something.</p><p></p><p>Marlo saw nothing overhead either and decided to focus on the task at hand: taking out the Writhing Gate. There were ten slowly-moving tentacles ahead of her; she picked the one physically closest to her present position and cast a <em>disintegrate</em> spell at it. She knew the part of the tentacle she could see was only the tip and that the rest of the appendage - indeed, almost the entirety of the Dying One's severed head - was floating in the Far Realm and her spell would not be able to take out what was left of the Elder God, but she was hoping to at least cause the portion of that one tentacle intruding upon the Material Plane to be eaten away into nothingness. Unfortunately, the spell had no effect whatsoever; she assumed the Dying One had some powerful form of spell resistance that would allow it to ignore most spells cast upon it. If that was the case, her spells would likely be totally useless and they would have to rely upon the power of the <em>Null Axe</em>, which had been specifically constructed to take down the Writhing Gates.</p><p></p><p>However, Marlo's attempt had not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by the tentacle she'd targeted for disintegration lashing out and slapping her for the attempt. She reeled to the side but managed to retain her footing on the stone floor of the vast cavern.</p><p></p><p>Looking down upon the five scattered figures below it, the neothelid thought puzzled thoughts. For whatever reason, the two figures it had targeted with a command to open the Writhing Gate had failed to obey. It focused its psionic might on the one with the long hair, attempting to charm Marlo into doing its bidding, but the sorceress was able to fight off the mental attack without even being aware of the attempted intrusion into her will. Utred, in the meantime, turned about again and ran back into the cavern, following Marlo and Jhasspok. He had absolutely no idea what he should do.</p><p></p><p>Cramer cast a <em>spell resistance</em> spell upon himself. Either because of the sudden ability to resist spells or perhaps due to the perceived attack on Marlo and the telepathic link they currently shared, all of a sudden the <em>mass cloud mind</em> stopped affecting the gnome cleric and he now saw the neothelid floating above him near the cavern's ceiling.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok stood before a tentacle in the same stance as a lumberjack about to fell a tree and swung the <em>Null Axe</em> at the rubbery appendage. He felt the axe blade slice its way into the tentacle and cut its way back out again, seemingly meeting almost no resistance; Jhasspok smiled to himself at the thought of how easy this was going to be! But then, to his astonishment, the tentacle before him sealed up almost immediately and was as good as new, without so much as a scar to show where the blade had cut its way through the rubbery flesh. Jhasspok's brow furrowed in puzzlement as to why this "Writhing Gate Destroyer" weapon was proving to be so ineffective against the very item it was built to destroy. He was still standing there trying to puzzle it out when the tentacle lashed out at him, smacking him on the side of the head.</p><p></p><p>Behind the confused reptile, Khari cautiously approached the Writhing Gate. He was still on full alert, his senses screaming that there was terrible danger nearby but unable to perceive exactly where it might be or how it was hiding. He was still under the full effects of the <em>mass cloud mind</em> spell and had no idea he was standing directly underneath the neothelid they'd been warned by C'thorlumbrox might be nearby.</p><p></p><p>Marlo still couldn't see any neothelid above her, but with Utred having warned them about it and now Cramer confirming its existence over the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em>, the sorceress decided to take it on faith that such was the case. Cramer was saying it was up near the ceiling, and the ceiling was high enough that Marlo figured a <em>fireball</em> would surely hit the worm without also hitting any of her friends still down here at ground level. It exploded upon impact as expected, although Marlo still couldn't see if there was a worm up there and if so whether or not it had been hit by the spell.</p><p></p><p>It most certainly had - and the neothelid decided that was just about enough from this upstart spellcaster who refused to do his bidding. He retaliated against her with a <em>mind thrust</em>, causing her to scream in pain even though she had successfully resisted the worst of the psionic attack. But her telepathic cries over the mental link overrode the <em>mass cloud mind</em> spell effect and now she and Khari were also able to see the levitating neothelid floating in the air above them.</p><p></p><p>Utred raced over to Cramer, calling out for the gnome to cast a <em>fly</em> spell on him so he could go take the battle to the neothelid. Cramer, however, had his own ideas about the best spells to bring to bear and ignored the overeager dwarf, instead opting to cast a <em>flame strike</em> spell on the neothelid. A mental cry of pain washed over the <em>telepathic bond</em>, leading the gnome cleric to believe he'd caused the worm some amount of suffering.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok's reptilian brain - not always the most sensible organ when it came to devising logical plans of attack - had made a series of what passed for him as logical conclusions. They went somewhat as follows:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The <em>Null Axe</em> isn't hurting the tentacles like it's supposed to.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There's a petrified mind flayer by each tentacle, but they're already smashed up so further smashing up likely won't do any good.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The wooden fungus "pilot seat" is not only not currently occupied, but looks to be fully intact.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Therefore, if I attack the "pilot seat" I should be able to bring down the Writhing Gate like we're supposed to.</li> </ul><p>Satisfied with the unassailable logic of his plan, the lizardfolk sprang at the unoccupied seat and brought the blade of the <em>Null Axe</em> crashing down upon it, breaking it nearly completely into splinters. His back was still turned to the neothelid, focused as he was at the task at hand.</p><p></p><p>Khari looked up at the neothelid, thought about getting out his magic longbow, and decided he'd rather wait until it came down to the ground to attack. His history of fighting giant monster worms was limited to the purple worm they'd fought on their way to Brunniir; as a result, he assumed it would want to come down here to ground level and try to swallow a few of them up as a meal (or at least a light snack). Marlo, on the other hand, wanted to keep the thing in the air away from them if she could, so she launched a <em>Bigby's grasping hand</em> spell up at the neothelid. The spell manifested just fine but couldn't get a grip onto the worm's slick body; she assumed she had failed to overcome the creature's natural defense against spells.</p><p></p><p>As Khari had anticipated, the worm started lowering itself back down to the ground, forming a coil in midair so its head was aimed at Cramer and Utred when it hit the cavern floor. But rather than try to swallow either of them up, it did quite the opposite: disgorging a wide spray of acid that coated both figures, head to toe. Utred, as was his custom, grimaced in pain but refused to give his foe the satisfaction of letting it know he'd been hurt. Cramer, on the other hand, screamed aloud at the pain as his skin bubbled and burned.</p><p></p><p>Utred charged forward at the neothelid, his greataxe out and ready to swing. But the worm's tentacles were nearly four times as long as the dwarf was tall and they swatted him aside before he'd gotten close enough to strike with his axe. That sealed it for Cramer: reaching for his most powerful spell, he let a <em>destruction</em> spell fly at the neothelid, realizing he probably wouldn't be able to cause the thing to be utterly destroyed but hoping to at least deal it a decent amount of damage. To his surprise, though, the spell not only made it past the neothelid's natural defenses against spells but also against any additional defenses it was able to bring to bear - and the creature vanished, its body dissolved entirely, with not a speck of living matter remaining.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok by this time had finished his heroic attack upon the pilot seat beside one of the Writhing Gate's tentacles and was now trying to figure out why that hadn't destroyed the Gate. Then he turned his head to see why the other four had broken out into full-voiced cheers. "What's going on?" he asked as Cramer cast healing spells on himself and Utred to deal with their acid burns.</p><p></p><p>"We killed it!" Khari called out. "It's dead!"</p><p></p><p>"What's dead?" Jhasspok asked. He looked around the cavern and didn't see any dead bodies.</p><p></p><p>"The neothelid -- the giant worm!" Marlo said. And then Jhasspok understood completely: this was like the time three days ago when Utred had said there was a fish but there had been no fish; now they were claiming there was a worm but there was no worm.</p><p></p><p>"You're making that up, trying to trick me!" accused Jhasspok, eyes narrowed in disbelief.</p><p></p><p>But then Utred stopped celebrating, as a ghostly hand and arm reached out from his own body and slapped him in the forehead. Then it pointed back to the entrance to the cavern; Utred, cowed, walked away from the gate and back the way they had come. The others followed, and once they were no longer inside the domed building in the shape of a mind flayer's head, the ghost of Dolthran Greyale departed from Utred's body and spoke to the group.</p><p></p><p>"Ye've messed it up but good, ye have!" he griped.</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean?" demanded Cramer. "We killed the worm, just like in the prophecy!"</p><p></p><p>"That weren't th' prophecy!" argued Dolthran. "Only that 'the Dark Champions would stand before th' Worm,' not that ye'd kill it! We need it alive, so it can kill th' Dying One!"</p><p></p><p>"Now wait a minute," Cramer argued, "if the worm kills and eats the Dying One, he transforms into the new Uboros and the Elder God is reborn! That's certainly not what we want to have happen!"</p><p></p><p>"Ach, but it is!" argued Dolthran.</p><p></p><p>"Why would we--?" began Utred, but he was cut off by Jhasspok.</p><p></p><p>"Your axe doesn't work," he said simply, holding the <em>Null Axe</em> out to the one who had crafted it.</p><p></p><p>Dolthran sighed in exasperation. "Well, ye cain't expect t' take down a Writhing Gate with it <em>now</em>, not with th' Dying One still alive!"</p><p></p><p>"Maybe you'd better explain from the beginning," suggested Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"Aye, mebbe that's th' best fer it. Very well then, listen up. No weapon forged by mortals would ever be able t' destroy the Writhin' Gates 'cause they be part of th' Primordial Avatar of Uboros, th' first version of th' Elder God t' set foot upon th' world. All attempts t' destroy th' Gates to kill th' Elder God would fail - as ye saw. But by killing th' Elder God first, then th' Gates would no longer have their diving protections."</p><p></p><p>"But then the worm eats Uboros and becomes Uboros!" argued Cramer.</p><p></p><p>"Aye, but all studies of th' prophecies point t' there being a 20-year period 'tween th' Dark Champions standin' before th' Worm an' th' destruction o' th' world. So apparently however long it would take fer th' neothelid t' transform into th' new Uboros in the Far Realm, it'd be th' equivalent to 20 years here on th' Material Plane. So by lettin' th' neothelid 'win,' the Writhin' Gates would become vulnerable and ye'd 'ave 20 years to destroy 'em all."</p><p></p><p>Cramer fumed. "That would have been handy to know <em>before</em> we fought the neothelid!"</p><p></p><p>"Had me grandson not made a pact with th' evil Elder God, I'd've been able t' tell ye all this before. But since--"</p><p></p><p>"Wait, what now?" Cramer interrupted. He looked over at the burly barbarian, who was looking down at his feet in shame. "Pact?"</p><p></p><p>Utred was apparently in the belief that his boots were talking to him, because that's where he directed his answer. "I got a mental summons, He'd boost my vitality if I agreed to serve Him. It seemed like a pretty good deal, especially since I figured I could always betray him at the last minute, like."</p><p></p><p>Cramer was flabbergasted - so much so that he didn't notice Marlo also suddenly becoming very interested in the tips of her boots as well.</p><p></p><p>"So since Utred'd made 'is pact with Uboros, I couldn't tell ye the plan or else th' Dyin' One'd snuff out me grandson's soul immediately, instead o' puttin' th' slow curse on 'im like what he done now. By me possessin' me grandson, I were able t' protect Utred's mind - such as it is, the blamed fool - from bein' read an' keepin' 'is plans on betrayin' Uboros a secret. But there were no way fer me t' provide th' rest o' ye th' same protection."</p><p></p><p>"What's this about a slow curse?" asked Marlo.</p><p></p><p>"It's a mind thing," Dolthran replied. "Day by day, a piece o' Utred's mind'll be whittled away, until one day, in about two weeks' time, he'll be no more'n a mindless beast - at which time 'is body'll explode into a mass o' tentacles an' claws an' all sorts o' whatnot. A chaos beast, is what it be called, an' that ain't nothin' what can be fixed - once he turns, there'll be no turnin' 'im back."</p><p></p><p>Utred's complexion went white as the blood drained from his face. Unnoticed by the others, Marlo's face did the same. "Is there anything we can do to prevent that from happening?" the dwarven barbarian demanded. Dolthran conceded that a <em>restoration</em> spell cast upon Utred would delay the process. "But it won't put it off ferever," warned the dwarven ghost. "Eventually, ye'll be losin' more an' more o' yer mind each day, until a <em>restoration</em> spell won't be able t' catch up."</p><p></p><p>"Don't worry," Cramer reassured the dwarf. "I'll prepare a <em>restoration</em> spell each day until we figure this out." Marlo mumbled something at that and the cleric asked her to repeat it.</p><p></p><p>"I said, 'better make it two.'"</p><p></p><p>It took the gnome a moment to understand the meaning behind the sorceress's comment. "No!" he cried. "Not you too!"</p><p></p><p>"It was the first time we used the Writhing Gate, to go ambush that caravan for Calish," Marlo explained, her eyes starting to tear up. She closed them, not wanting to face her friends, and found she could still see them just fine through the eyes in her new magical robe - just what she didn't want at the moment. "I got the same deal as Utred: serve the Dying One and He'd reward me with a much greater ability to cast spells, or defy him and be punished. I...I opted to take the easy way out."</p><p></p><p>Cramer shook his head in disbelief. Then he looked over to the others. "Khari? Jhasspok? Anything you'd like to tell me? Now would be the time."</p><p></p><p>"Me? No, nothing!" sputtered Khari Hammerslammer, insulted at the very thought that he'd have made a bargain with the Dying One - an evil entity capable of destroying the world.</p><p></p><p>Jhasspok thought it over, then answered the question as he understood it. "Yes, I have something to tell you: I don't think there really was a worm, or I would have seen it. I think you just like to play tricks on me." Cramer sighed; if the lizardfolk was going to have a portion of his mind whittled away each day, the process would probably be complete in two days, tops, and they'd be sure to notice.</p><p></p><p>"Okay, so we shouldn't have killed the worm, but we did. Where do we go from here?" asked the gnome cleric.</p><p></p><p>"Bring the worm back to life," suggested Khari. "Are you strong enough to cast a <em>resurrection</em> spell?</p><p></p><p>"I am, but it wouldn't do us any good - we'd need a piece of the worm's body and I destroyed it to absolute nothingness." Jhasspok just snorted at this assertion: sure he did! "We'd need a <em>true resurrection</em>, but I'm not powerful enough to cast such a spell."</p><p></p><p>"So who is?" asked Khari.</p><p></p><p>Cramer thought it over. "Matron Jalamir - but I can't imagine us being able to convince her to abandon the Overreach for three days to trek out here and bring our dead worm back to life."</p><p></p><p>"A <em>wish</em> spell?" suggested Khari.</p><p></p><p>"We'd need a wizard or a sorcerer for that," Cramer answered.</p><p></p><p>"Isn't Marlo a sorcerer?' asked Jhasspok. He was pretty sure she was, but he was still kind of fuzzy on the different types of magic and how they all worked.</p><p></p><p>"I'm not powerful enough," Marlo told him.</p><p></p><p>"A <em>miracle</em> spell would work, though," theorized Cramer. "Matron Jalamir could cast that for us from the Overreach, so she wouldn't have to leave the city. But that would just cause the dead body to be brought back to where it was killed. Oh - but then I could cast a <em>resurrection</em> spell on it! That would work! Then we could have Marlo or Utred open the Writhing Gate and let the neothelid go get his yummy Elder God snack!"</p><p></p><p>"I destroyed the chair," Jhasspok reminded the gnome, only to have the dwarven ghost explain that the seats by each tentacle were not an intrinsic part of the Writhing Gate; they merely made a comfortable place for the pilot to sit. The nine petrified illithids, it turned out, were also just window dressing; the reason the ones at this particular Gate were already smashed up was likely to make it appear as if this Gate was already out of commission.</p><p></p><p>"What about me and Marlo turning into chaos beasts?" Utred asked.</p><p></p><p>"Well, an <em>atonement</em> spell would probably be a good start," Cramer mused. "I could cast it, of course, but that takes quite a toll on the caster...." He was already thinking ahead of how Marlo and Utred would both owe him one - a big one - if he cast the spell for them and how he might be able to collect on their debts.</p><p></p><p>"I've heard tell o' a Hall o' Redemption, where paladins o' old would go when they needed atonin'," suggested Dolthran.</p><p></p><p>"No offense, Cramer, but I think if I was going to atone I'd rather do it in a Church of Boccob," Marlo said. Partly this was because she had been raised to revere the God of Magic, and partly this was because even though the <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em> spell was no longer in effect she could read on the gnome's face quite clearly how he was planning on collecting the debt of gratitude they'd owe him if he helped them atone for their betrayal.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, though, the group came up with a cohesive plan. Cramer had a <em>teleport</em> spell ready and was reasonably sure he could use it to get the group back to C'thorlumbrox where they'd left him three days ago, as that location was apparently a safe place to use as an Underdark <em>teleport</em> destination. The ulitharid could then <em>teleport</em> the group back to Greenvale, where they could have Matron Ky'hulcressen cast a <em>miracle</em> spell on their behalf to return the neothelid's body to solid cohesiveness, if not back to life. The group - all but Utred, who could be shielded by his grandfather's ghost hiding inside his body - would need to purchase <em>rings of mind shielding</em> to prevent the psionic worm from reading their thoughts and learning of their scheme, then <em>teleport</em> back to the safe place in the Underdark and from there make the three-day trek back to Thephobak, where Cramer would cast a <em>resurrection</em> spell on the neothelid's corpse. Utred could open the Writhing Gate, the neothelid would go through, and when the Dying One was slain the <em>Null Axe</em> should be able to cut through the dead flesh of the tentacles. Plus, with any luck, the death of the Dying One would also mean the obliteration of the slow curse that had been put on Marlo and Utred since they would have engineered Uboros's death as he had desired.</p><p></p><p>And the plan worked out as anticipated. This time it was Utred who wielded the <em>Null Axe</em> after the ten tentacles of the Writhing Gate had turned to a grayish white and collapsed, and he had no trouble slicing them off at the bottom, chopping away at the dead flesh with relish at the thought that he'd no longer have to worry about ending his days as a chaos beast. And best of all, he still had his increased vitality, a permanent gift from the Dying One that hadn't disappeared upon the death of Uboros. Marlo was equally pleased to see her increased spellcasting ability hadn't reverted to its previous level upon the death of the Dying One. And Jhasspok was pleased that the other four <em>hadn't</em> been lying to him about the worm after all.</p><p></p><p>"Well that's one down, eight more to go," Utred said, wiping the sweat from his brow after having chopped away all ten tentacles.</p><p></p><p>"Better make it nine," suggested Cramer. "I know one of them was supposed to have been already destroyed, but it wouldn't hurt to check and make sure."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah," Utred agreed. "Good point."</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>We opted to go with Matron Ky'hulcressen (the sister of the original) instead of Matron Jalamir since she was more approachable and since we'd already done her sister favors in the past, even when we technically were slaves of House Jalamir. Matron Ky'hulcressen agreed, but we now owe her a service in the future - which is okay, as she's pretty cool for a drow.</p><p></p><p>And apparently the lesson to be taken away from this string of events is: "It's okay to go behind your adventuring companions' backs and make a secret pact with the Elder God you're all supposed to be defeating, because in the end everything will work out and you'll get to keep the awesome benefits without any penalties." Or in other words, Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok were apparently fools to not have traded token service to the Dying One in exchange for a permanent +6 increase to the ability score of their choice. Oh well, Khari basically got that benefit in any case when his suddenly-revealed psionic nature bumped his Intelligence up from a 5 to a 12 - and he didn't have to fake-worship any illithid Elder Gods to do it, either.</p><p></p><p>And I'm probably better off that the Dying One never approached Jhasspok with an offer, as he'd have probably traded his immortal soul for a fish.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8407116, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 42: THE TEMPLE OF THEPHOBAK[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cramer Appleknocker, gnome cleric 14[/INDENT] [INDENT] Jhasspok, lizardman 3/barbarian 3/fighter 8[/INDENT] [INDENT] Khari Hammerslammer, dwarf fighter 13/psychic warrior 1[/INDENT] [INDENT] Marlo Pendragon, human sorcerer 14[/INDENT] [INDENT] Utred "Buckets" Butterflinger, dwarf barbarian 14[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 22 September 2021 - - - C'thorlumbrox had said it would be another three days before the group made it by foot to the ruins of the fallen illithid colony of Thephobak - and he had been absolutely right. Fortunately, the rest of that trek had been uneventful; they'd encountered nothing dangerous in the lightless tunnels of the Underdark caverns and the telepathic map the ulitharid had provided them allowed them to continue on to their destination without any concerns about getting lost. And thus, three days after having set off, the five adventurers found themselves in Thephobak. "Let's stop here and prepare our combat spells," suggested Cramer. "Why?" asked Jhasspok, "Do you see something?" The lizardfolk didn't see anything, but his vision was limited to the radius of illumination provided by their [I]slave-light cloaks[/I]. (So was Cramer's for that matter but Jhasspok had no idea if the little gnome might have done something magic to enhance his vision, the way he always cast that [I]longstrider[/I] spell on himself the first thing in the morning so he had a better time of keeping up with those who stood a normal height and had what the lizardfolk considered to be a normal-sized stride. Spellcasters were always doing weird stuff like that.) "No, but it makes sense if we're going to end up fighting a giant worm, it'll be here where the Writhing Gate stands." "Do you see a giant worm?" asked Jhasspok, looking around and seeing nothing but an enormous cavern, with some of the massive stalagmites he could see in the radius of illumination apparently having been carved into dwellings, given the openings for doors and windows that hadn't been made that way naturally. For all the place looked to have been deliberately crafted into a series of buildings, none of them seemed occupied at the moment - the cavern was entirely silent but for the echoes of their own words. "Not at the moment," conceded Cramer, "but remember what C'thorlumbrox said: if there's a neothelid anywhere around here, it's liable to be attracted to the Writhing Gate." Jhasspok looked around again. "I don't see a Writhing Gate," he supplied. "It's probably somewhere in the cavern," Marlo suggested. "Now hush while we prepare our spells." Jhasspok knew what that meant. He settled on his tail for balance and pulled out a dried dung beetle from his satchel. If past experience was any indicator, this could take a while. Sure enough, Marlo took the time to cover herself in a [I]stoneskin[/I] spell and then a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell, following those two up with a [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell upon the entire group of five. Cramer cast a different variety of spells upon himself than usual, first a [I]magic vestment[/I] spell that he hoped would protect him from physical harm and then a [I]spell turning[/I] spell that would hopefully keep him safe from enemy spellcasting, for while he wasn't sure what all to expect from a neothelid he was willing to bet if the Writhing Gate were active it would have at least one mind flayer around to "pilot" it, possibly more. Marlo tested the [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell - a process that always startled Jhasspok, who doubted he'd ever get used to people talking to him inside his own head. But this time he didn't seem like the only one startled, for everyone gave their head a shake as if trying to clear it; none of them realized it, but a [I]mass cloud mind[/I] spell had just been successfully cast upon them. "We ready?" Khari asked, heading into the cavern with the others following behind. Before too long, Marlo discovered (with the double-strength darkvision granted to her from her new [I]robe of eyes[/I], a piece of loot she'd taken from the female assassin who had ambushed them days ago) a 100-foot-diameter dome ahead. <I think I might have found where our Writhing Gate is located,> she told the others over their telepathic communication network. As they got closer they could see the dome had been carved in the image of a giant illithid head, with its open mouth - between four tentacles, two along the ground and two raised in the air - forming the doorway. <Betcha anything the Writhing Gate's in there.> <It does seem likely,> Cramer agreed. Khari led the others inside but was instantly wary of danger. He gripped his [I]earthglide warhammer[/I] tightly, looking around for enemies but seeing none. Just ahead of him was a raised circle of stone, the inside of which was filled with briny water, likely the location of the illithid city's elder brain, back in the days when it was still populated by mind flayers. In fact, the pool was where the illithid tadpoles would have lived; the neothelid would have started life as one of those tadpoles, then it no doubt fed on its brothers and sisters after whatever cataclysm occurred to force the mind flayers to evacuate their city. And behind the pool of water stood the Writhing Gate, a ring of ten tentacles reaching up to the very top of the dome. The tentacles swayed and twitched every now and then, but the Gate itself didn't look like it was active. And no wonder: at the base of nine of the tentacles were the petrified illithid statues the group had seen on the Writhing Gate close to the Underdark city of Overreach, but these ones had mostly been smashed up and parts of them lie strewn in the form of rubble beside the fungal-wood growths by each tentacle that served as a chair. It looked as if someone had already attempted to take down this Writhing Gate, although the sole unoccupied seat - where the illithid "pilot" would sit - was unharmed and none of the ten tentacles looked any the worse for wear. <I don't like it,> Khari told the others over the link. <It's too quiet - too still.> He gripped his warhammer tightly and prepared to use it against any enemy that might show up. Marlo was also feeling uneasy for no reason she could put her finger upon, so she decided she didn't want to walk by the pool of open water in case something might jump out at her. She thus cast a [I]teleport[/I] - sometimes a risky thing to do in the Underdark, but given she was merely relocating herself to somewhere within visual distance she figured it was probably safe. (It was.) But then something unseen brushed past her mind and also into Utred's, while staying far from the minds of the other three: <Open...open...> it said in a whispering mental voice that sounded like more than a mere suggestion, more like an out-and-out command. Utred followed Marlo into the chamber, walking past the pool without incident. He reached over for the [I]Null Axe[/I], which was wrapped in its special silvery blanket inside the [I]bag of holding[/I] the sorceress kept on behalf of the entire group. She passed the weapon over, but before the dwarven barbarian could unwrap it he caught a bit of motion up above him and happened to glance up. That was a mistake. Utred's eyes took in a sight his mind didn't want to acknowledge: hovering far above him was an enormous, pink-skinned worm that had to have been at least 120 feet long. Its body was currently held in a sideways arc, with its four-tentacled head looking down at the group of heroes below it. Utred felt as if it had pierced him in its gaze, although later he wouldn't be able to tell for sure whether he had seen eyes on the monster worm or not. But Utred - by no means a coward - felt an unfamiliar terror creep over his brain and he fled back the way he had come, screaming a warning out about "The worm! The worm! It's here, above us!" Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok looked up at the ceiling and saw nothing out of the ordinary: a few scattered stalactites hanging down from the top of the rock cavern, but that was to be expected. Still, just to be safe, Cramer cast a [I]magic circle against evil[/I] spell on himself. Jhasspok (as was so often the case) had no idea what was going on. The plan, as he understood it, was to use the [I]Null Axe[/I] to destroy the Writhing Gate and he had no idea why Utred was suddenly fleeing from his duty, screaming about a giant worm floating above them. The lizardfolk ran forward to intercept the panic-stricken dwarf, grabbing up the [I]Null Axe[/I] as he passed. Then he made a bee-line for the Writhing Gate, not sure what had caused the normally level-headed dwarf to panic like that, but the lizardfolk was just as capable of swinging an axe as a dwarf. Jhasspok had no idea that as he sped across the stone floor he was passing underneath the coils of a levitating neothelid some 40 feet or so above him. The worm watched him pass beneath it without any apparent concern. But one thing Jhasspok did notice was that it was nice and quiet on the telepathic link set up between the five heroes. That was a welcome relief; these mammals sure liked chattering back and forth among each other all the time! (He had no idea the reason for the sudden quiet was the [I]Null Axe[/I] in his hands blocking out all forms of magic, even the [I]mass cloud mind[/I] effect that had been blocking the neothelid from the heroes' awareness; had Jhasspok merely looked above him he would have seen the levitating worm - but Jhasspok was on a mission and his focus was solely on the Writhing Gate before him.) Khari was still gripping his weapon with both hands, ready to strike, and was now looking above him. He wasn't aware of it but he was looking directly at the worm and the [I]mass cloud mind[/I] spell effect was blocking the information the dwarf's eyes were picking up from being delivered to his brain. As far as Khari Hammerslammer was aware, there was nothing above him...although he still had that odd feeling of dread. He stepped carefully and slowly into the cavern as if fearful that each step might trigger a tripwire or something. Marlo saw nothing overhead either and decided to focus on the task at hand: taking out the Writhing Gate. There were ten slowly-moving tentacles ahead of her; she picked the one physically closest to her present position and cast a [I]disintegrate[/I] spell at it. She knew the part of the tentacle she could see was only the tip and that the rest of the appendage - indeed, almost the entirety of the Dying One's severed head - was floating in the Far Realm and her spell would not be able to take out what was left of the Elder God, but she was hoping to at least cause the portion of that one tentacle intruding upon the Material Plane to be eaten away into nothingness. Unfortunately, the spell had no effect whatsoever; she assumed the Dying One had some powerful form of spell resistance that would allow it to ignore most spells cast upon it. If that was the case, her spells would likely be totally useless and they would have to rely upon the power of the [I]Null Axe[/I], which had been specifically constructed to take down the Writhing Gates. However, Marlo's attempt had not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by the tentacle she'd targeted for disintegration lashing out and slapping her for the attempt. She reeled to the side but managed to retain her footing on the stone floor of the vast cavern. Looking down upon the five scattered figures below it, the neothelid thought puzzled thoughts. For whatever reason, the two figures it had targeted with a command to open the Writhing Gate had failed to obey. It focused its psionic might on the one with the long hair, attempting to charm Marlo into doing its bidding, but the sorceress was able to fight off the mental attack without even being aware of the attempted intrusion into her will. Utred, in the meantime, turned about again and ran back into the cavern, following Marlo and Jhasspok. He had absolutely no idea what he should do. Cramer cast a [I]spell resistance[/I] spell upon himself. Either because of the sudden ability to resist spells or perhaps due to the perceived attack on Marlo and the telepathic link they currently shared, all of a sudden the [I]mass cloud mind[/I] stopped affecting the gnome cleric and he now saw the neothelid floating above him near the cavern's ceiling. Jhasspok stood before a tentacle in the same stance as a lumberjack about to fell a tree and swung the [I]Null Axe[/I] at the rubbery appendage. He felt the axe blade slice its way into the tentacle and cut its way back out again, seemingly meeting almost no resistance; Jhasspok smiled to himself at the thought of how easy this was going to be! But then, to his astonishment, the tentacle before him sealed up almost immediately and was as good as new, without so much as a scar to show where the blade had cut its way through the rubbery flesh. Jhasspok's brow furrowed in puzzlement as to why this "Writhing Gate Destroyer" weapon was proving to be so ineffective against the very item it was built to destroy. He was still standing there trying to puzzle it out when the tentacle lashed out at him, smacking him on the side of the head. Behind the confused reptile, Khari cautiously approached the Writhing Gate. He was still on full alert, his senses screaming that there was terrible danger nearby but unable to perceive exactly where it might be or how it was hiding. He was still under the full effects of the [I]mass cloud mind[/I] spell and had no idea he was standing directly underneath the neothelid they'd been warned by C'thorlumbrox might be nearby. Marlo still couldn't see any neothelid above her, but with Utred having warned them about it and now Cramer confirming its existence over the [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I], the sorceress decided to take it on faith that such was the case. Cramer was saying it was up near the ceiling, and the ceiling was high enough that Marlo figured a [I]fireball[/I] would surely hit the worm without also hitting any of her friends still down here at ground level. It exploded upon impact as expected, although Marlo still couldn't see if there was a worm up there and if so whether or not it had been hit by the spell. It most certainly had - and the neothelid decided that was just about enough from this upstart spellcaster who refused to do his bidding. He retaliated against her with a [I]mind thrust[/I], causing her to scream in pain even though she had successfully resisted the worst of the psionic attack. But her telepathic cries over the mental link overrode the [I]mass cloud mind[/I] spell effect and now she and Khari were also able to see the levitating neothelid floating in the air above them. Utred raced over to Cramer, calling out for the gnome to cast a [I]fly[/I] spell on him so he could go take the battle to the neothelid. Cramer, however, had his own ideas about the best spells to bring to bear and ignored the overeager dwarf, instead opting to cast a [I]flame strike[/I] spell on the neothelid. A mental cry of pain washed over the [I]telepathic bond[/I], leading the gnome cleric to believe he'd caused the worm some amount of suffering. Jhasspok's reptilian brain - not always the most sensible organ when it came to devising logical plans of attack - had made a series of what passed for him as logical conclusions. They went somewhat as follows: [LIST] [*]The [I]Null Axe[/I] isn't hurting the tentacles like it's supposed to. [*]There's a petrified mind flayer by each tentacle, but they're already smashed up so further smashing up likely won't do any good. [*]The wooden fungus "pilot seat" is not only not currently occupied, but looks to be fully intact. [*]Therefore, if I attack the "pilot seat" I should be able to bring down the Writhing Gate like we're supposed to. [/LIST] Satisfied with the unassailable logic of his plan, the lizardfolk sprang at the unoccupied seat and brought the blade of the [I]Null Axe[/I] crashing down upon it, breaking it nearly completely into splinters. His back was still turned to the neothelid, focused as he was at the task at hand. Khari looked up at the neothelid, thought about getting out his magic longbow, and decided he'd rather wait until it came down to the ground to attack. His history of fighting giant monster worms was limited to the purple worm they'd fought on their way to Brunniir; as a result, he assumed it would want to come down here to ground level and try to swallow a few of them up as a meal (or at least a light snack). Marlo, on the other hand, wanted to keep the thing in the air away from them if she could, so she launched a [I]Bigby's grasping hand[/I] spell up at the neothelid. The spell manifested just fine but couldn't get a grip onto the worm's slick body; she assumed she had failed to overcome the creature's natural defense against spells. As Khari had anticipated, the worm started lowering itself back down to the ground, forming a coil in midair so its head was aimed at Cramer and Utred when it hit the cavern floor. But rather than try to swallow either of them up, it did quite the opposite: disgorging a wide spray of acid that coated both figures, head to toe. Utred, as was his custom, grimaced in pain but refused to give his foe the satisfaction of letting it know he'd been hurt. Cramer, on the other hand, screamed aloud at the pain as his skin bubbled and burned. Utred charged forward at the neothelid, his greataxe out and ready to swing. But the worm's tentacles were nearly four times as long as the dwarf was tall and they swatted him aside before he'd gotten close enough to strike with his axe. That sealed it for Cramer: reaching for his most powerful spell, he let a [I]destruction[/I] spell fly at the neothelid, realizing he probably wouldn't be able to cause the thing to be utterly destroyed but hoping to at least deal it a decent amount of damage. To his surprise, though, the spell not only made it past the neothelid's natural defenses against spells but also against any additional defenses it was able to bring to bear - and the creature vanished, its body dissolved entirely, with not a speck of living matter remaining. Jhasspok by this time had finished his heroic attack upon the pilot seat beside one of the Writhing Gate's tentacles and was now trying to figure out why that hadn't destroyed the Gate. Then he turned his head to see why the other four had broken out into full-voiced cheers. "What's going on?" he asked as Cramer cast healing spells on himself and Utred to deal with their acid burns. "We killed it!" Khari called out. "It's dead!" "What's dead?" Jhasspok asked. He looked around the cavern and didn't see any dead bodies. "The neothelid -- the giant worm!" Marlo said. And then Jhasspok understood completely: this was like the time three days ago when Utred had said there was a fish but there had been no fish; now they were claiming there was a worm but there was no worm. "You're making that up, trying to trick me!" accused Jhasspok, eyes narrowed in disbelief. But then Utred stopped celebrating, as a ghostly hand and arm reached out from his own body and slapped him in the forehead. Then it pointed back to the entrance to the cavern; Utred, cowed, walked away from the gate and back the way they had come. The others followed, and once they were no longer inside the domed building in the shape of a mind flayer's head, the ghost of Dolthran Greyale departed from Utred's body and spoke to the group. "Ye've messed it up but good, ye have!" he griped. "What do you mean?" demanded Cramer. "We killed the worm, just like in the prophecy!" "That weren't th' prophecy!" argued Dolthran. "Only that 'the Dark Champions would stand before th' Worm,' not that ye'd kill it! We need it alive, so it can kill th' Dying One!" "Now wait a minute," Cramer argued, "if the worm kills and eats the Dying One, he transforms into the new Uboros and the Elder God is reborn! That's certainly not what we want to have happen!" "Ach, but it is!" argued Dolthran. "Why would we--?" began Utred, but he was cut off by Jhasspok. "Your axe doesn't work," he said simply, holding the [I]Null Axe[/I] out to the one who had crafted it. Dolthran sighed in exasperation. "Well, ye cain't expect t' take down a Writhing Gate with it [I]now[/I], not with th' Dying One still alive!" "Maybe you'd better explain from the beginning," suggested Marlo. "Aye, mebbe that's th' best fer it. Very well then, listen up. No weapon forged by mortals would ever be able t' destroy the Writhin' Gates 'cause they be part of th' Primordial Avatar of Uboros, th' first version of th' Elder God t' set foot upon th' world. All attempts t' destroy th' Gates to kill th' Elder God would fail - as ye saw. But by killing th' Elder God first, then th' Gates would no longer have their diving protections." "But then the worm eats Uboros and becomes Uboros!" argued Cramer. "Aye, but all studies of th' prophecies point t' there being a 20-year period 'tween th' Dark Champions standin' before th' Worm an' th' destruction o' th' world. So apparently however long it would take fer th' neothelid t' transform into th' new Uboros in the Far Realm, it'd be th' equivalent to 20 years here on th' Material Plane. So by lettin' th' neothelid 'win,' the Writhin' Gates would become vulnerable and ye'd 'ave 20 years to destroy 'em all." Cramer fumed. "That would have been handy to know [I]before[/I] we fought the neothelid!" "Had me grandson not made a pact with th' evil Elder God, I'd've been able t' tell ye all this before. But since--" "Wait, what now?" Cramer interrupted. He looked over at the burly barbarian, who was looking down at his feet in shame. "Pact?" Utred was apparently in the belief that his boots were talking to him, because that's where he directed his answer. "I got a mental summons, He'd boost my vitality if I agreed to serve Him. It seemed like a pretty good deal, especially since I figured I could always betray him at the last minute, like." Cramer was flabbergasted - so much so that he didn't notice Marlo also suddenly becoming very interested in the tips of her boots as well. "So since Utred'd made 'is pact with Uboros, I couldn't tell ye the plan or else th' Dyin' One'd snuff out me grandson's soul immediately, instead o' puttin' th' slow curse on 'im like what he done now. By me possessin' me grandson, I were able t' protect Utred's mind - such as it is, the blamed fool - from bein' read an' keepin' 'is plans on betrayin' Uboros a secret. But there were no way fer me t' provide th' rest o' ye th' same protection." "What's this about a slow curse?" asked Marlo. "It's a mind thing," Dolthran replied. "Day by day, a piece o' Utred's mind'll be whittled away, until one day, in about two weeks' time, he'll be no more'n a mindless beast - at which time 'is body'll explode into a mass o' tentacles an' claws an' all sorts o' whatnot. A chaos beast, is what it be called, an' that ain't nothin' what can be fixed - once he turns, there'll be no turnin' 'im back." Utred's complexion went white as the blood drained from his face. Unnoticed by the others, Marlo's face did the same. "Is there anything we can do to prevent that from happening?" the dwarven barbarian demanded. Dolthran conceded that a [I]restoration[/I] spell cast upon Utred would delay the process. "But it won't put it off ferever," warned the dwarven ghost. "Eventually, ye'll be losin' more an' more o' yer mind each day, until a [I]restoration[/I] spell won't be able t' catch up." "Don't worry," Cramer reassured the dwarf. "I'll prepare a [I]restoration[/I] spell each day until we figure this out." Marlo mumbled something at that and the cleric asked her to repeat it. "I said, 'better make it two.'" It took the gnome a moment to understand the meaning behind the sorceress's comment. "No!" he cried. "Not you too!" "It was the first time we used the Writhing Gate, to go ambush that caravan for Calish," Marlo explained, her eyes starting to tear up. She closed them, not wanting to face her friends, and found she could still see them just fine through the eyes in her new magical robe - just what she didn't want at the moment. "I got the same deal as Utred: serve the Dying One and He'd reward me with a much greater ability to cast spells, or defy him and be punished. I...I opted to take the easy way out." Cramer shook his head in disbelief. Then he looked over to the others. "Khari? Jhasspok? Anything you'd like to tell me? Now would be the time." "Me? No, nothing!" sputtered Khari Hammerslammer, insulted at the very thought that he'd have made a bargain with the Dying One - an evil entity capable of destroying the world. Jhasspok thought it over, then answered the question as he understood it. "Yes, I have something to tell you: I don't think there really was a worm, or I would have seen it. I think you just like to play tricks on me." Cramer sighed; if the lizardfolk was going to have a portion of his mind whittled away each day, the process would probably be complete in two days, tops, and they'd be sure to notice. "Okay, so we shouldn't have killed the worm, but we did. Where do we go from here?" asked the gnome cleric. "Bring the worm back to life," suggested Khari. "Are you strong enough to cast a [I]resurrection[/I] spell? "I am, but it wouldn't do us any good - we'd need a piece of the worm's body and I destroyed it to absolute nothingness." Jhasspok just snorted at this assertion: sure he did! "We'd need a [I]true resurrection[/I], but I'm not powerful enough to cast such a spell." "So who is?" asked Khari. Cramer thought it over. "Matron Jalamir - but I can't imagine us being able to convince her to abandon the Overreach for three days to trek out here and bring our dead worm back to life." "A [I]wish[/I] spell?" suggested Khari. "We'd need a wizard or a sorcerer for that," Cramer answered. "Isn't Marlo a sorcerer?' asked Jhasspok. He was pretty sure she was, but he was still kind of fuzzy on the different types of magic and how they all worked. "I'm not powerful enough," Marlo told him. "A [I]miracle[/I] spell would work, though," theorized Cramer. "Matron Jalamir could cast that for us from the Overreach, so she wouldn't have to leave the city. But that would just cause the dead body to be brought back to where it was killed. Oh - but then I could cast a [I]resurrection[/I] spell on it! That would work! Then we could have Marlo or Utred open the Writhing Gate and let the neothelid go get his yummy Elder God snack!" "I destroyed the chair," Jhasspok reminded the gnome, only to have the dwarven ghost explain that the seats by each tentacle were not an intrinsic part of the Writhing Gate; they merely made a comfortable place for the pilot to sit. The nine petrified illithids, it turned out, were also just window dressing; the reason the ones at this particular Gate were already smashed up was likely to make it appear as if this Gate was already out of commission. "What about me and Marlo turning into chaos beasts?" Utred asked. "Well, an [I]atonement[/I] spell would probably be a good start," Cramer mused. "I could cast it, of course, but that takes quite a toll on the caster...." He was already thinking ahead of how Marlo and Utred would both owe him one - a big one - if he cast the spell for them and how he might be able to collect on their debts. "I've heard tell o' a Hall o' Redemption, where paladins o' old would go when they needed atonin'," suggested Dolthran. "No offense, Cramer, but I think if I was going to atone I'd rather do it in a Church of Boccob," Marlo said. Partly this was because she had been raised to revere the God of Magic, and partly this was because even though the [I]Rary's telepathic bond[/I] spell was no longer in effect she could read on the gnome's face quite clearly how he was planning on collecting the debt of gratitude they'd owe him if he helped them atone for their betrayal. Eventually, though, the group came up with a cohesive plan. Cramer had a [I]teleport[/I] spell ready and was reasonably sure he could use it to get the group back to C'thorlumbrox where they'd left him three days ago, as that location was apparently a safe place to use as an Underdark [I]teleport[/I] destination. The ulitharid could then [I]teleport[/I] the group back to Greenvale, where they could have Matron Ky'hulcressen cast a [I]miracle[/I] spell on their behalf to return the neothelid's body to solid cohesiveness, if not back to life. The group - all but Utred, who could be shielded by his grandfather's ghost hiding inside his body - would need to purchase [I]rings of mind shielding[/I] to prevent the psionic worm from reading their thoughts and learning of their scheme, then [I]teleport[/I] back to the safe place in the Underdark and from there make the three-day trek back to Thephobak, where Cramer would cast a [I]resurrection[/I] spell on the neothelid's corpse. Utred could open the Writhing Gate, the neothelid would go through, and when the Dying One was slain the [I]Null Axe[/I] should be able to cut through the dead flesh of the tentacles. Plus, with any luck, the death of the Dying One would also mean the obliteration of the slow curse that had been put on Marlo and Utred since they would have engineered Uboros's death as he had desired. And the plan worked out as anticipated. This time it was Utred who wielded the [I]Null Axe[/I] after the ten tentacles of the Writhing Gate had turned to a grayish white and collapsed, and he had no trouble slicing them off at the bottom, chopping away at the dead flesh with relish at the thought that he'd no longer have to worry about ending his days as a chaos beast. And best of all, he still had his increased vitality, a permanent gift from the Dying One that hadn't disappeared upon the death of Uboros. Marlo was equally pleased to see her increased spellcasting ability hadn't reverted to its previous level upon the death of the Dying One. And Jhasspok was pleased that the other four [I]hadn't[/I] been lying to him about the worm after all. "Well that's one down, eight more to go," Utred said, wiping the sweat from his brow after having chopped away all ten tentacles. "Better make it nine," suggested Cramer. "I know one of them was supposed to have been already destroyed, but it wouldn't hurt to check and make sure." "Yeah," Utred agreed. "Good point." - - - We opted to go with Matron Ky'hulcressen (the sister of the original) instead of Matron Jalamir since she was more approachable and since we'd already done her sister favors in the past, even when we technically were slaves of House Jalamir. Matron Ky'hulcressen agreed, but we now owe her a service in the future - which is okay, as she's pretty cool for a drow. And apparently the lesson to be taken away from this string of events is: "It's okay to go behind your adventuring companions' backs and make a secret pact with the Elder God you're all supposed to be defeating, because in the end everything will work out and you'll get to keep the awesome benefits without any penalties." Or in other words, Cramer, Khari, and Jhasspok were apparently fools to not have traded token service to the Dying One in exchange for a permanent +6 increase to the ability score of their choice. Oh well, Khari basically got that benefit in any case when his suddenly-revealed psionic nature bumped his Intelligence up from a 5 to a 12 - and he didn't have to fake-worship any illithid Elder Gods to do it, either. And I'm probably better off that the Dying One never approached Jhasspok with an offer, as he'd have probably traded his immortal soul for a fish. [/QUOTE]
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