Rune
Rune had been hunting down the derro Yuk'tyl, and had tracked him down to the outskirts of the Gold Dwarf domains, called The Deep Realm by the gold dwarves. Yuk'tyl had been moving erratically, heading in all different directions, but Rune had managed to follow. She was a good tracker, but not so good at stealth, so she had to follow from a safe distance, never getting close enough to the derro to extract her revenge. As she followed Yuk'tyl further and further, his movements got more and more erratic. The derros were all mad, but this was not simply madness here. Yuk'tyl must have known that Rune was on his trail, and she found Yuk'tyl's movements harder and harder to track. He tried all sorts of tricks to throw her off his trail, moving through water, doubling back, following heavily trafficed tunnels before slipping off in hard to track areas. But Rune was determined to exact her revenge. Yuk'tyl could run, but he could not hide.
The last few days, Yuk'tyl actions had seemed to become more and more desperate. He had stopped staying in inns or the usual type of camping grounds. Instead, he had hidden himself in tiny cracks and crevasses, just barely large enough for him to squeeze into. Yesterday Rune had tracked him to one such crack, and he had not emerged. This was unusual. He had always moved quickly from campsite to campsite. Perhaps this crack led to another entrance? Rune would have to follow. Gathering her gear, Rune moved into the tiny cave. Crawling through the tight spaces was difficult, and took all her strength. She needed to rest often. Several hundred yards through winding tunnels, though, and the cavern seemed to level out. It was still extremely small and tight, but ran mostly horizontally, and straight. As she continued down the tunnel, she saw a dim light in the distance. Moving closer, she saw it was Yuk'tyl, at the end of the tunnel, his back to a wall, clutching an everburning torch in his hands, his eyes wide, staring down the tunnel at Rune unblinkingly.
Rune was too far away to be seen, she knew. Yuk'tyl couldn't possibly see her, could he? No, he couldn't, though he probably could hear her coming. He knew she was coming, and he was afraid!
But Rune knew this was not the right moment. In these tight quarters, the smaller derro would have a large advantage over her, and she knew it. She could not maneuver properly to fight in here. It would be better to wait for him outside the cave.
Slowly, and with great difficulty, Rune began to make her way back out of the cave. The cave was so narrow she could not turn around, so going back was twice as hard as coming in.
After what seemed like an eternity, her fingers numb and worn from the climb, she was no more than half way back out the tunnel. She was tired, and hungry. But she would be out of the tunnel soon. She could relax, eat a refreshing meal, and wait for Yuk'tyl to come out. No more hiding from a distance. She was ready to finish Yuk'tyl off. But she just needed to rest here a moment before continuing her climb out.
Then she heard it. A sound, shuffling, scraping, coming from behind her. What was it? A small harmless animal? Or, could this tunnel be the lair of some dangerous creature that was just now returning? Rune was in a tight spot. Whatever it was was coming up behind her, and she could not wield her weapon behind her in these tight tunnels. Rune began to climb ahead. Maybe whatever it was wouldn't follow her too deep.
And then she felt it, in her mind, that sickening feeling, the presence of... an illithid!
It was right behind her, closing in. She heard the snarl and the blast of psychic energy washing over her. It wracked her mind, but she shook it off, and kept climbing. Forward, ever forward, towards Yuk'tyl. With the illithid in pursuit, she was faster than she thought possible, banging her body against the rocks, but that would heal. She must run!
The illithid was hot on her heels, and when there was a tight spot, and the illithid caught up a bit, she would endure another of those horrid mind blasts. Rune kept going, and going, listening to the horrid, drooling noises of the illithid just feet behind her. But where could she go to? There was no escape? It did not matter. There was still hope, wasn't there? She had to keep going!
Too soon, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Yuk'tyl was her enemy, but even he was preferable to what was behind her. She scrambled over the rocks, getting closer to the derro. Entering the light of his torch, Yuk'tyl's eyes hardle glanced at her. They were looking past her, over her shoulder. Yuk'tyl had not been running from Rune this whole time. He had been running from the illithid behind her.
There was no where else to go, Rune was right on top of Yuk'tyl, and the illithid was getting closer and closer. She looked desperately into Yuk'tyl's eyes, and knew there was no hope. Then the mind blasts came, one after another, and both she and Yuk'tyl were overcome. She watched, helpless, as the illithid climbed over her, its strong, slimy tentacles forcing her body out of the way so it could move forward. She watched as it took out manacles and bound both her and Yuk'tyl. She watched in horror as its tentacles closed over her head, wrapping it in a warm, tight, slimy embrace, and her mind screamed in terror.
But then, the illithid let her go, its tentacles wiggling free and then moving past her, to close on Yuk'tyl's head. She watched as, in the confined space of the cavern, under the flickering light of the everburning torch, the illithid's tentacles squeezed tight around the derro's head, just inches from her face. The illithid's eyes gazed into hers as the flesh of its muscular face rippled. She heard the crunch of bone, and knew that underneath the tight embrace of those horrid tentacles, the illithid's maw had bitten through Yuk'tyl's skull. The derro gasped, and his eyes rolled up into his head as spittle flew from his mouth, combining with the slimy secretions from the illithid's tentacles, and splattering juice from Yuk'tyl's skull. The sickening liquid leaked out, splashing Rune's helpless face, and she heard the loud sucking sound as Yuk'tyl's brains were drawn into the maw of the mind flayer, killing the derro instantly.
The rest was a blur, her body being dragged roughly back out of the tunnel, where another illithid was waiting. Severely wounded from being dragged out of the tunnel, and faint from lack of blood, Rune fell into a merciful unconsciousness.
