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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NoOneofConsequence" data-source="post: 484444" data-attributes="member: 5400">Part 3 - The Mind Flayer's LabWhen Mark returned with the news that a mind flayer lurked at the end of the passage, I knew that we had stumbled upon something of greater scope than some random monster terrorising the lizard folk of Scalytown. Illithids are not given to random acts. They are calculating, cruel and extremely dangerous. I conveyed as much to the others.Orallec was extremely interested to learn whatever I knew about this creature and its strange environs. I explained that what Mark described was typical of mind flayer bases of operation. The illithidim know the artifice of manipulating living flesh the way mortal races manipulate stone, wood and metal. Where a dwarf, elf, halfling or human might build a table out of wood or a chair from stone, mind flayers grow their furnishings from flesh and bone, often rendering down living beasts and mortals to do so, as though flesh were merely an ore to be smelted for their use. Discussing the depravities of the illithidim there in the dank, cold dark left all of us cold in our hearts and bodies. It was at this point that Tellara noticed that some of our number were missing. During our whispered deliberations, Harmony, Mark and Kakita had snuck forward to engage the monsters alone. Their rashness endangered us all. The mind flayer almost certainly had heard the sounds of our battle with the lizard folk halberdiers and would be waiting for them.As swiftly as I could I explained that the most fearsome weapon in the mind flayer arsenal was their ability to assault the minds of others directly, by thought alone. It is a deadly and effective power. I knew that of all of us, I had the training that would give me the best chance of survival against the monster’s powers. In a moment of joint epiphany, those of us who remained in the sewer tunnel devised a desperate rescue plan. Aria cast dweomers over herself, Tellara and Pax, rendering them each invisible. Orallec trusted to his skills with stealth for his part. Alone of the party, I would make no attempt at stealth, instead trying to draw the mind blast of the illithid down upon myself.We snuck as quickly as we dared to the entrance of the mind flayer’s lair, each one in turn stealing inward on stealthy footsteps. At last only Orallec and I remained in the doorway. The halfling rogue flipped himself through the doorway and over the edge of the stairs with the silent confidence of a monkey through high tree-tops. Now the whole of the company were sneaking their way through the lair. In the far corner from the entry stairs we could make out the figure of the lizard folk holy man chained to the wall. In between stood the mind flayer, bending over the collapsed figure of the umber hulk, and the clustered bodies of our companions, apparently limp. Most likely, they had assaulted the umber hulk directly and had been caught in the mind blast of the illithid, which had not hesitated to use its powers on the umber hulk as well as its enemies. Between the doorway and mind flayer was a sheet of membranous skin, like a living curtain. From where I stood, I could see the illithid over the top of this ‘curtain’ but found it disconcerting to have to look at, at the blood vessels in the sheet of skin seemed to move and congregate like symbols, letters and words. The illithid was writing in veins and arteries on a curtain of living flesh. I had heard of such things before but this was the first time I had seen it.From my left there came a noise, like metal scraping against metal. It sounded as though Pax were readying her chain for a strike. I froze, watching the illithid to see if it had heard. It seemed as though it must have, because it turned in the direction of the noise, focussing its lidless eyes in space, doubtless using its psychic powers to scan the space before it. Trying to take advantage of the distraction to sneak closer, Orallec made his way silently around the suspended sack of fluid. He was almost past it when he was suddenly assaulted by the half dissolved figure within. The dying body was no longer strong enough to pierce the fleshy skin of its prison; nonetheless its deformed features were pressed against the flexible surface like a distended silhouette. In spite of himself, Orallec cried out in horror. We all cursed his ill luck as the mind flayer’s head whipped in his direction, intent on finding him out.Realising that I had no more time to wait, I emerged onto the stair’s landing. “Over here, squid face!” I shouted, raising my musket to my shoulder and firing. There was a loud report, and through the smoke of my weapon I saw the musket ball hit home, tearing a hole in the illithid’s chest. In spite of this effort though, the mind flayer was not off balance. The air between us rippled with psionic force as it unleashed its mind blast at me. I felt the wave of alien mentality crash against my mental defences like a the brutal tide upon the rocks, but my defences held. Another like that might finish me though.With a whooping cry, Pax emerged from her invisibility and struck the mind flayer across the head, the taloned end of her chain leaving a brutal gash. As grey ichor ran down the alien humanoid’s face, Tellara likewise struck, sending a flight of three arrows to their target. Bristling with fletched shafts, the mind flayer staggered back, having forgotten about Orallec’s presence. The halfling’s knife sliced through muscle and tendon, finding a vital organ. Even so sorely pressed, the illithid never uttered a word, disdaining speech, like so many telepathic races.Aria had not emerged from her covering enchantment, hoping instead to see to the health of our friends. Still invisible, she checked the life-pulse of first one and then the others, finding them to still be living. However, she had no idea what danger she had placed herself in, for the mind flayer had decided to flee rather than face our continued assault. Utilising a power I had not anticipated, it stepped into the midst of the bodies upon the floor and then vanished, along with the unconscious umber hulk, our comrades and Aria. It was a moment before we realised that our invisible bard had been swept up in the power of the mind flayer’s translocation.</blockquote>

Verification