Session 30 & 31 - Calamari Anyone

18th of Uktar, 1371 DR
Down a windin’ passage we came to a magical sigil in the floor. It was reminiscent to the sigil we found on the Doppleganger leader, but not an exact match. We figured it was some sorta magical trap, so Alabron made a path of dead Drow which did the trick nicely. This place is full of beautiful white marble that has been run through with the most vibrant purple and green veins I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, these veins seem to glow with their own radiance and pulse a little. The effect’s not unattractive, but it’s quite unnerving.

I still think they’d make an interestin’ addition to the guild house if we could figure out how to get them back home.

On the other side of one of the amazin’ white marble doors we ran into five strange, globular creatures. Each one had a pair of long tentacles with serrated claws on the end. I couldn’t see any eyes on them, but it didn’t seem to hamper them in the least. Aedrinar called them Octopians – some kind of experimental pet grown by Illithids. We managed them alright. Alabron killed one, Tyree killed one, Storn killed one, and I finished off one with a Magic Missile spell. Of course, my earlier Orb of Force and some Scorching Rays from Aedrinar softened others up for those killin’ blows.

We did discover that the snappin’ claws of the Octopians were capable of causin’ horrific wounds when it clamped both of them on a single target. They were able to rend flesh from bone as they tore the claws away for their follow-up strikes. Very dangerous.

Through another set of marble doors was a large, domed chamber with a grotesque, white marble brain in the middle. Alabron clutched his head for a moment, then he screamed, Oh no you don’t!” leapt up onto the brain and started hewin’ away chunks of it with his adamantine sword! Durin’ this frenzy, I could tell he was under some sort of mental assault, but he kept at it until the think was pulverized and we all felt a palpable sense of relief.

After we had a chance to study the room, we noticed there were several benches along the outer walls and the benches had manacles built into them. Based on Alabron’s reaction, it seems reasonable to assume that the mind Flayer used this room to soften up his captives to make them easier to dominate later.

Shudder.

Down a gently spiralin’ ramp we came to a study with a large vat full of opaque green liquid in it. As we spread out to see if we could find any useful information on the desk or on the book shelves. Suddenly, I saw Aedrinar’s eyes grow wide as he was reading some notes form the desk. He looked up to shout a warnin’ but, as if on sue, a gigantic Octopian (at least twice as big as the others we faced) lurched out of the vat and tore into Egwaine who was stanin’ closest!

The fight was surprisingly quick as everyone opened up their most powerful spells and attacks on the beast to kill it quickly, but Egwaine and Tyree almost didn’t make it. That’s how ferocious the monster was.

Next, we discovered a scryin’ chamber. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the scryin’ pool to show me anythin’ except us in the scryin’ room. Down a short hallway there was a balcony openin’ up on a really big room with a pool full of glowin’ green liquid. I figured that’s the place we’d have our showdown with the Mind Flayer, but he hadn’t showed up yet.

Down another curlin’ ramp we came to some kind of circular trophy room. The place was full of odds, ends, weapons, and other oddities. All of ‘em looked…strange…like they was made for something not quite Human. Guardin’ all this stuff with a statue of a Vrock (a large, vulture-like Demon). Of course, we figured this was another trap, so we surrounded the thing and prepared to bust it up with Alabron’s adamantine sword. Sure enough, the statue came to life as a real Vrock and started attackin’ us!

In the close confines of the small room, there was no way to escape the Demon’s reach. To make matters worse, he spewed a cloud of puffy, white spores out from under his wings. Everybody caught in the cloud of stuff began to scream as the spores burrowed into the flesh! Moments later, pale green, plant-like (but definitely not plants) things started growin’ out of their skin! It was horrible! And the more the stuff grew, the more pain it caused! To make matters worse, the Vrock was somehow not exactly where he looked like he should be. I guessed it was some sort of Displacement magic and after hittin’ it with a barrage of Fel Drain magic Missiles, I set about tryin’ to dispel the magic with Arcane Turmoil.

All the while, everyone was else was flailin’ away at the Demon, but missin’ more often than not because of the Displacment spell! They were hittin’ occasionally – and hittin’ it hard enough to hurt it, too (although it seemed to be resistant to our weapons). Finally, just as I was able to dispel the creature’s defensive magic, it used telepathy to tell us this was all far from over and then Teleported away.

I figure we’ll see the bastard again before we leave this place.

At last we arrived at the big showdown. We arrived in the grand chamber and there, flyin’ above the pool of green liquid, was the Mind Flayer. Guardin’ the approach to the monster were seven more Octopians! As we entered, the creature’s sibilant voice filled our heads and he threatened to eat our brains.

Yuck.

Seein’ that the Illithid was baitin’ us into his mind blast, I called for everyone to fall back and fight the Octopians in the narrow hallway (where they wouldn’t be able to surround anyone). Aedrinar added a wrinkle to my plan by callin’ up a Wall of Fire between the Octopians and the Mind Flayer. Now they’d have to come get us or die by fire! Aedrinar finished the job (or nearly so) by blastin’ the Octopians with an Empowered Fireball, killin’ all but one of them (and one more on the cool side of the Wall of Fire).

As we fell back, Egwaine and I were castin’ Fly spells on Rumple, Storn, and Tyree (Alabron had his own Fly spell in his Ring of Spell Storing). Ready to deal with the Illithid on his own terms, Tyree and I fell back to cut the Mind Flayer off if he tried to fly over the balcony and come in behind us while all the rest swept around the corner intent on his destruction.

The Illithid hadn’t bothered to circle around behind us, maybe because he knew his guardian Vrock had had a chance to recover from our first encounter. So, Tyree and I had to deal with the Vrock by ourselves while everyone else dealt with the Mind Flayer.

Tyree flew into a rage and started hacking huge pieces out of the Vrock even as he was bathed into another spore swarm. I hammered away with Orbs of Force from down the hall. Even though the Demon’s claws and talons nearly succeeded in tearing Tyree to shreds, the sometimes frustratin’ Illuskan finally succeeded in killin’ the thing before it could Teleport away again. After a quick heal spell from Egwaine, Tyree flew around to the balcony to try to come in around the back of the Mind Flayer while I fell back into the main room.

By the time I got there, the Mind Flayer was surrounded, but he had Alabron in a death grip – his tentacles ready to bore holes into his brain. Aedrinar had already warned me that the thing was highly resistant to magic, so I hurled an Orb of Force at it, but I accidentally hit Alabron! Just as it looked like we’d lose Alabron, Egwaine yelled, “Let him go, or I’ll kill your babies!” gesturing to the pool of green liquid.

The Mind Flayer did let Alabron go, but he unleashed a Mind Blast at the same time, stunnin’ Storn and then flyin’ to the pool. Egwaine released Storn with a Panacea spell and everyone ganged up on the Illithid and killed him.

Then Aedrinar picked up the Mind Flayer’s staff (that was able to Disintegrate people) and the staff tried to Disintegrate him! It was only Egwaine’s Close Wounds spells that prevented him from becoming a vaguely Aedrinar-shaped dust outline on the floor.

We proceeded to methodically destroy all the Illithid’s spawn in the pool (as well as the last Octopian that had gone there for shelter) and loot his room next door. We escaped the lair and sewers and it looks like this threat to Waterdeep is finally at an end. Especially since Tyree insisted on destroyin’ the monster’s brain, “So it can’t be brought back to life.”

We found an interesting ledger written in a stylized version of Undercommon in which there were entries linking Loris Raknian to the Illithid and an entry in which it looked like Raknian purchased something refered to as the Apostolic Scrolls for 25,000 gp. There was also an entry naming the Crooked House Inn and a Dool-Gun and Kaam-Eest with the symbol of a skull next to the names.