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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7624661" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 49: BRAIN TRAUMAPC Roster:  Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 14             Galen Thorne, human paladin 15             Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 15             Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 15             Syngaard, human fighter 15Game Session Date: 19 June 2019 - - - "Hey, why's everybody here?" demanded Syngaard, upon entering the Enchanted Flagon and seeing all of the other conscripts standing about.  "Anybody get a message over their rings?""No," admitted Orion, a frown crossing her face.  "I just...felt like coming down here.  Why?  What are you doing here, if nobody called you either?""I dunno," Syngaard replied.  "The idea just kinda...came to me.""The same here," replied Galen, scowling.  "I don't see Skevros anywhere around.  If this isn't his doing...who put that thought in our heads?""I dunno," Syngaard repeated.  "But whoever did it, I don't like it.""Indeed," remarked Daleth, "one marvels at the very concept of an actual thought in your head at all.  At least the hypothesis of an intrusion from an external source explains its presence in the first place."Any reply Syngaard might have made was interrupted by a sudden rapping on the front door.  On edge as the conscripts were, they immediately pulled out their weapons and readied for an incoming attack.  Galen began to concentrate on his aura sense, so he could detect at once any emanations of evil coming from whoever might be at the entrance to their de facto headquarters."I'll get it," replied Daleth, heading to the door.  "I hope it isn't another dwarven delivery man."  He opened the door to find a good-looking human woman with a cascade of red hair standing before him.  Her eyes were unfocused, as if she were in a somnambulistic trance."Evil!" Galen called out from behind the elven wizard."Cori?" asked Syngaard, lowering his morningstar and stepping forward.  "What are you doing here?"Speaking in an unnaturally deep voice, Cori replied, "We must speak with you.  We await in the caverns beneath the abandoned temple."  Having given her message, she just stood there staring straight ahead at nothing.Galen squinted as he narrowed down the woman's evil aura to being concentrated solely around her head.  "I think she's being mind-controlled by an evil wizard or something," he surmised."This body and that of the prince are held as collateral to ensure your cooperation," Cori explained.  "No harm will come to them unless you give us cause to do so."  With that, she turned around and walked away, shambling as if unused to the confines of her own body."Abandoned temple?" asked Orion.  "Who's this Cori woman?  What's going on?""Cori works at Mama Kat's," Syngaard explained.  "And she probably means the Temple of Pelor - where the orphanage once was.""And below which are the caverns where we met up with those mind flayers," pointed out Kaspar.  "I believe we now know who is behind the young lady's mind control.  Come - we should make haste."  And the monk led the way to the abandoned temple of Pelor, the other conscripts following behind him.  On the way, they prepared their normal "getting ready for combat" spells: magic circle against evil spells centered on both Galen and Daleth; stoneskin spells on the elven wizard, his pseudodragon familiar Todd, and Orion; and mage armor on Orion's ghost-dog Carl, delivered via potion form after he'd been summoned from the Ethereal Plane.Arriving at the orphanage, Syngaard led the way to the secret panel in the floor which led to the caverns below, finding a rope already in place leading down the vertical shaft.  A flickering glow from below told him there was already someone down there waiting for them.  Wordlessly, he grabbed the rope and slid down to the cavern below, the others following immediately thereafter.  (Orion had Carl lower himself ethereally through the floor and made her way down in that fashion.)Not surprisingly, a trio of illithids stood there awaiting the arrival of the conscripts: two normal-sized mind flayers and their leader, a ulitharid named C'thorlumbrox who towered above everyone else present.  One of the smaller beings carried a flaming torch, no doubt for the conscripts' benefit, for the mind flayers could see perfectly fine even in complete darkness."Before you even say anything," Syngaard roared, "you let Cori go right now.  I'm serious: you get your squiddy minds out of her head or there's no deal here."  He had his magic morningstar in hand and looked ready to bring it crashing down on the ulitharid; Syngaard still seethed at the thought that C'thorlumbrox had actually transformed him into a damned halfling before - the squid-head deserved some payback for that!"And release the prince from your control as well," added Kaspar.  "We have come, as you asked - now give us a show of your own good faith."<Very well,> replied C'thorlumbrox telepathically, his tentacled face a mask of inscrutability.  <It is done.>  A mind flayer's face was not built for smiling, so the conscripts couldn't tell just by looking at him whether he was telling the truth or smirking silently at their gullibility in believing he had actually done as he claimed.  But Kaspar nodded, as if indicating that he at least took the ulitharid at his word.<We have information regarding the Mithral Mage,> C'thorlumbrox began.  <983 years ago, the human mage Alexandros attacked our Underdark colony and stole a piece of our Elder Brain.  That sliver of the Elder Brain is still alive and holds together his phylactery.>  Daleth nodded knowingly at this, realizing it to be the "unspeakable thing" Osleth mentioned was living within the Mithral Mage's phylactery.<In order to permanently destroy Alexandros, you will have to kill that sliver of the Elder Brain,> the ulitharid continued.  <Unfortunately, it is still partially psychically linked to the Elder Brain and killing the sliver will cause further harm to the repository of all of our colony's collected knowledge.  Such an offense normally warrants the most painful of deaths to the offenders; however, the Elder Brain is willing to offer its mercy in exchange for a favor on the colony's behalf.>"So you have a mission for us," Galen surmised."A payin' mission?" Syngaard wanted to know.<Around the time of the Mithral Mage's assault,> C'thorlumbrox resumed, <there was an illithid sorcerer outcast living on the fringes of the colony.  He was presumed slain in the assault, but he has recently resurfaced as an alhoon - an illithilich, an undead abomination.  He is a danger to the colony and those previously sent to deal with him have instead converted to his 'Cult of Truth.'  We want you to kill the illithilich and his cult.>  Turning to look directly at Syngaard, C'thorlumbrox added, <You are free to claim any treasures you find in their lair as payment.  We will know when you have succeeded.  Upon the successful completion of your task, you have my promise that our colony will never bother the Kingdom of Durnhill again.>"So we gotta kill a mind flayer lich for you," Syngaard recapped.  "And his minions.  How many minions, and what are their capabilities?"<Three mind flayers: a wizard, a monk, and a fighter.  Neither is as powerful as the alhoon.>"And you know of their current whereabouts?" Galen asked.<We will lead you through the caverns leading to their lair, although we will not accompany you any further.  The crystals within their cavern drain psionic energy, weakening creatures like us unless they have built up an immunity, as the alhoon and his minions have done.>"That's pretty handy," scoffed Syngaard.  It wasn't entirely clear whether he was talking about the defensive properties of the crystals for the alhoon and his troops, or the excuse as to why C'thorlumbrox and his two lackeys weren't going into battle alongside the conscripts.  But the mind flayer trio led the surface heroes through the winding passageways of the Underdark until they stood at the entrance to a large cavern filled with reddish-orange crystals poking through the stone floors, walls, and ceiling.  The crystals glowed slightly, providing ample illumination for the conscripts to see, in the middle of the immense cavern, a structure created from a massive stalactite hanging from the cavern's ceiling, connected by a stone bridge platform to an equally massive stalagmite growing up from the floor.  Viewed from the side, it made a sort of lightning bolt shape.<That is where the alhoon and his cohorts have made their lair,> observed C'thorlumbrox.  <We will leave you to take it from here.>Daleth cast a Rary's telepathic bond spell on the group of heroes, knowing full well that with the telepathic nature of the mind flayers, they'd be able to "join in" on the heroes' silent conversation as needed.  <I'll check the buildings and see where everybody is,> offered Orion, sending Carl onto the Ethereal Plane to see what they could see.  As soon as they hopped dimensions the halfling and her ghost-dog disappeared from view of the others, but both reappeared a mere minute or so later. the halfling reported.  <The lich is up on the bridge, facing away from us.  The fighter and what I assume is the wizard are on the far side of the bottom structure, harvesting those weird crystals.  The fighter's in heavy armor, with a sword at his belt.  What must be the monk is inside the lower building, on the ground floor.  There's an interior set of stairs winding up the middle of the stalagmite leading up to the bridge level and set of double doors facing the area underneath the stalactite - I assume that's their normal entrance.><How do we want to do this?> asked Galen.  <As soon as we rush one of them, the others will all know about it over their mindlink.><We take out the monk first,> suggested Syngaard.  <He's the only one inside a building, so even if the others know we're in there, there are only two ways to get to us - unless they got magic like we do.  Wizard-Pants, can you get us inside the building with a teleport spell?><Of course - if Orion can describe the layout of the building in sufficient detail.>  The halfling climbed down from her mount and began doing just that, drawing a diagram on the stone floor with her finger while Daleth studiously looked on.<Okay, here's the plan,> Syngaard said.  <Daleth, you get us in there.  Kaspar, you take out the monk.  Orion and me will go protect the front doors of the lower building - that's the obvious approach for the others to try to come get us.  Galen, you're the best equipped of us to take out the undead guy - the lich is all yours.  When we pop in, you can head upstairs to go take him out.  Kaspar and Daleth can follow you upstairs after they take out the monk.  Questions?><Yeah - how'd I get stuck on front door detail with you?><Must just be your lucky day.>Once everyone nodded their readiness and took up their positions, Daleth teleported the group inside the stalagmite building.  The lower floor was all one big room with the stairway column in the middle of it.  Kaspar had been positioned in the group to be nearest to the illithid monk upon arrival, and as soon as he saw an enemy standing before him he reached out with a quivering palm attack, touching the mind flayer before he was even aware of the elf's presence and shattering his heart by vibrating its molecules into decohesion.  The illithid monk fell to the floor, dead as a stone.Syngaard ran over to the front door, Carl and Orion at his heels.  Once there, the two conscripts readied their weapons, the bald fighter with his morningstar in a two-handed grip and the halfling wielding her nightflame short sword in one hand and a tanglefoot bag at the ready in the other.  Then, with a flash of light, Burt manifested behind Carl - Galen had summoned him from the Beastlands as extra muscle.  Anyone opening those doors was going to be in a world of hurt!With his greater speed, Kaspar made it to the top of the stairs before Galen, in his heavy armor, did.  Once there, the elven monk took a striking stance, ready to attack if the illithilich opened the door on the bridge level leading down to the lower structure.  Galen cast a bless weapon on the sword of Zehkar as he climbed the steps.The alhoon didn't disappoint; he opened the door to go downstairs and was punched between the facial tentacles with a cobra-swift strike, powered even further by Kaspar's tenryutsume.  Still, the lich retaliated immediately with a paralytic touch from one of his facial tentacles, but Kaspar was far too swift for him to land a blow.  In disgust, the undead mind flayer leaped over the side of the bridge, landing on the cavern floor between the armor-clad illithid and the one wearing a wizard's robes, both of whom had quit their crystal-gathering duties to attend to the threat they'd just learned of telepathically.By this time, Daleth had made it up the stairs behind Galen, only now all three heroes could see their intended target had leaped down to the ground some 30 feet below.  Switching strategies at once, Daleth leaned over the side of the bridge and cast a quickened slow spell at all three mind flayers, following that up with an acid fog spell catching all three within its area of effect.  Once the second spell took effect, covering the illithids in thick, greenish vapors, Daleth couldn't see how they had reacted to his first spell - but only the mind flayer fighter had been slowed.The illithid wizard cast a resist energy spell to shield him from the acidic effects and made his best speed through the thick, cloying fog, trying to find the edge.  The fighter unsheathed his greatsword and likewise started moving - slowly - toward the opposite edge.  Inside the building, behind the front doors, Syngaard remained in his attack stance, waiting to clobber whichever enemy opened the door, but Orion got tired of waiting - and heard Daleth over the telepathic bond mention that all three of their foes were inside an acid fog spell just outside.  Opening the doors herself, she had Carl race outside the building.  She could just see the outline of the illithid fighter at the very edge of the acid fog spell and targeted him with her tanglefoot bag, hoping to pin him in place.  With a typical halfling's penchant for ranged attacks, the bag hit its target smack-dab in the chest, gumming up his armor and slowing him even more, but it failed to glue him to the spot as Orion had hoped.  That would have been fantastic, pinning him in place just inside the effects of an acid fog spell so he couldn't escape the ongoing corrosive attack!But following the impulsive halfling's lead - although he'd never admit to that - Syngaard came crashing outside and attacked the fighter with his magic morningstar.  He was proficient in the use of his spiked weapon against even the most nimble of opponents; against one affected by a slow spell and with gooey tanglefoot glue gumming up his armor, Syngaard found he was even better than anticipated.  The illithid's metal armor soon had several holes pierced in it, as did the purplish flesh beneath.Kaspar ran straight down the side of the stalagmite, his slippers of spider climbing ensuring his perfect balance until he was back on the ground.  His momentum sent hurtling him right at the illithid fighter, his fist stunning the hapless foe with the power of the monk's strike.  The illithid fighter's numb fingers couldn't maintain their grip around the hilt of his greatsword, which clattered to the stone ground at his feet as he swayed in place just inside the boundaries of the acid fog spell, trying to stay upright."Burt!  Attack!" called Galen from the side of the bridge.  The dire lion wasted no time following his master's orders; running up between Syngaard and Kaspar, the beast slashed out with a powerful set of claws and sliced through the stunned mind flayer's throat, dropping him lifelessly back into the acid fog spell, where he was lost to view.The alhoon, for his part, wanted nothing to do with ongoing acid attacks; he cast a dimension door spell and popped into view over by the wide cave opening the conscripts had used to enter the enormous cavern.  Fortunately, he appeared within Orion's peripheral vision, and she warned her companions of his presence over their shared mental link - even pointing out she could see the negative energy coursing through his system, identifying him as the lich they were after.The illithid mage, meanwhile, stepped out of the cloying fog and into fresh air once again.  He turned, intending to race around the spell effect's confines to go join the battle he heard raging at the front of the stalagmite structure - but was immediately blasted from above by Daleth, who sent a scorching ray spell coursing through his metamagic rod of empower.  The mind flayer was engulfed by the three gouts of flame, falling lifelessly to the ground without having gotten to make a single attack against these intruders.Not wanting to get taken out by the alhoon's mind blast, Orion had Carl shunt them back to the Ethereal Plane.  The halfling wasn't entirely sure but she was fairly certain that a mind flayer's blast of psionic energy didn't reach all the way into the ethereal.  If nothing else, this would protect her long enough to set herself up for a sudden attack out of seeming nowhere once Carl positioned himself just right.Having lost his armored foe back into the acid fog and warned by Orion of the alhoon's sudden presence behind him, Syngaard whipped around and saw the illithilich was too far away for the fighter to be able to close the gap before the undead thing could bring his mind blast into play - and Syngaard had been under the effects of an illithid's mind blast before: it could take a guy right out of an entire fight!  He briefly considered throwing his returning javelin at the lich but then came up with an even better plan.  Grinning evilly at the alhoon, Syngaard whipped out his Dick.  He activated the bronze griffon and hurled it at the undead foe; Dick took full form already in flight and closed the gap immediately, snapping at the alhoon with his sharp beak.  And while his attack failed to connect, at least now the illithilich had a foe right there in his face to keep him busy while Syngaard raced at full speed in his direction.Kaspar employed a similar gambit, activating his amber amulet of vermin and causing the stag beetle to disappear from within its confines; John materialized directly behind the alhoon, his mandibles snapping at the undead foe as Kaspar raced up to join in the fight.  Still up on the bridge, Galen sent a beam of healing energy coursing through his illumium scabbard to strike the alhoon, then called for his mount.  Burt raced over to just below the bridge, allowing the paladin to leap over the edge and land upon the dire lion's broad back.  Then the two raced into battle with the illithilich as well, Burt biting and clawing their foe as soon as he was within range.Surrounded by enemies, the alhoon reached out with a paralyzing touch at the largest foe attacking him - and Burt's muscles seized up at once.  Galen leapt from the dire lion's back as the noble steed fell over onto his side, unable to move the slightest muscle.  The undead mind flayer then opted to move away from the group to give him some room for spellcasting, Dick and John snapping at him as he frantically scrambled away.But then, before he could get off a spell, there was an immediate sensation of pain as Orion's nightflame short sword pierced into his back and popped out through his withered chest - the halfling had maneuvered Carl directly behind the lich on the Ethereal Plane, out of his view, and then returned to the Material Plane to get in her sneak attack.  The blow would have been fatal to a living creature; as it was, the halfling had managed to stab the alhoon in a nexus of negative energy, disrupting some of the unholy force keeping him mobile.Keeping up the assault, Syngaard brought his morningstar down upon the alhoon's head while Kaspar sent a flurry of blows striking the lich's neck, chest, shoulder, and head.  But it was another blast from Galen's illumium scabbard - at nearly point blank range - that finally took the illithilich down."Wizard-Pants!  Shut off your spell!" called Syngaard, racing back over to the acid fog.  "You might be eating up lootables!""The spell doesn't work that way!" Daleth called back.  "You'll have to wait for it to run its course."  That left the scarred fighter grumbling about stupid wizards not being able to even control their stupid spells until the acidic vapors dissipated on their own.  As soon as they had, Syngaard examined the slain fighter's greatsword and armor, noting that while both were slightly pitted from the acid - and the breastplate punctured in several places by Syngaard's morningstar - they were both still serviceable (and the puncture holes would smooth over if the armor were claimed by another and magically restructured itself to the new wearer's form).  Checking out the slain bodies of the other mind flayers and the rooms of their twin buildings resulted in quite a hefty pile of loot: several magic rings, amulets, a circlet of blasting, a bunch of scrolls for Daleth to pore over, one of those floating ioun stone thingies, and more gold and gems than the group would be able to haul out on their own in one trip if they hadn't had extradimensional storage space within their bags of holding."Now that's what I call a payin' mission!" Syngaard whooped as they shoveled everything into their magical bags. - - - Poor Logan - I don't know how long he worked on the stats for a mind flayer monk, but any amount of effort was ultimately wasted as Harry's monk took him out (all 107 hp of him, according to Logan) immediately with the first successful use of Kaspar's quivering palm strike.  His dice also seemed to have defected to our team for this adventure, with one memorable set of his attack rolls resulting in a 3, two 2's, and a natural 1 - all misses.Kaspar ended up with the minor circlet of blasting; Orion took the illithid fighter's +3 mithral breastplate (good thing it resizes) and +4 gloves of Dexterity; Syngaard got a ring of evasion; Galen took the ioun stone that grants him a +1 bonus to all his attacks and saves and whatnot and a +3 ring of protection; Daleth learned three new spells and gained a 2nd level pearl of power and a +4 ring of protection.  All in all, not a bad haul!  And four of the PCs are close enough to their next level that it's all but guaranteed that they'll level up at the end of their next adventure.</blockquote>

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