Bounty Hunters - Session 36

Mental Tickles. Ten of them!

• Continuing their conflict, Elian continues to slam himself into the golem. Helongum takes aim at the mind flayer.
• The golem goes berserk! But its state makes it spread out its blows, doing less damage to the very vulnerable Whip than it might have otherwise done.
• The mind flayer makes a calculation, and focuses its attention on Bern. It probes hideously into her brain, with a sensation as if the tentacles on its face had somehow made their way into her cranium, forcing her hand. Bern takes aim at Whip, but some small remnant of self-control causes her aim to err, and the arrow misses its mark.

Joana: No, shoot at the bad guys

• Whip shakes the fog out of his mind, and evaluates the situation.
• The rest of the party keeps up the assault. A wave of mass magical energy from the party's casters take down the mind flayer, and Whip finally recovers enough to finish off the golem with a flurry of blows from his borrowed dagger.

Whip: come on, let's get out of here You leave the scene, fleeing through a tunnel. You are currently wandering, lost, through crystal caverns on an alien plane. After fifteen minutes of hurried flight, you feel like you have thrown any direct pursiuit. However, you do not think you could easily navigate your way back to where you came from. Helongum: Heavy magical enchantments are present on all of us. It seems that they are largly related to memory... Whip: I don't like the sound of that Whip: Not much we can do about it right now though Helongum: Yes well, we can investigate it after resting, but I suggest some basic self examination to determine if there are unaccounted scars or things of that nature. Joana: If you insist. Joana starts undressing Whip coughs and averts his gaze Whip: I guess this place is good enough, I'll go do that over here to keep an eye on things Helongum is going to start getting ready for sleep You drift off to sleep, too exhausted to keep effective watch. Alexandria, or perhaps the dread powers of this place, must be watching over you. Elian awakes from his meditation and the rest of the party slumbers peacefully. The sounds of combat have ceased. Whip screams and grabs at his belly Whip feels at it desperately, then realizes he's awake and untenses. He's sweaty Joana: How's it goin', bud? Whip takes a bit Whip: Bad dream I think Whip pulls up his armored shit and inspects his abdomen carefully Whip looks puzzled Whip: I think we've been here a while Whip: Not just like, a little bit Helongum: Would you like to try remembering? Whip tenses up Whip: Maybe later Whip suddenly looks like he's done talking about it and busies himself packing up Helongum: So, what makes you think that Whip? Whip: Oh look, I left something way over there, what a dumbass Whip walks way over there Bern: pulls Helongum aside Bern: (whispering to Helongum) he noticed something on his belly. His back was to me so I didn't see what. Helongum: Well, we probably should finish checking things over. Helongum goes over and uses a blanket for some privacy to examine herself In awkward and nervous silence, you break your megre camp. You consume Elian's goodberry and.... remain lost in a maze of crystalline caverns. Helongum: I think we could use some guidance and I think it might be worth trying to remember some of what happened. Unless anyone has strong feelings about it, I can try to dispel magic from myself Whip looks wary but doesn't comment Helongum: Alright, well give me a moment, this could be weird...

• Helongum unearths several memories in sequence, and relates them:

You and the party -- along with Bern's Daughter -- are in a bitter fight against some of the creatures you have already encountered. The cepholopod humanoids and their intellect devourer minions. The fight is going poorly, and you yourself are badly injured.

The memory is a chilling one. You and the party, absent Bern's daughter, are being marched single file. Your conscious will is supressed in this memory, in a way that is quite familiar to you. You hear no footsteps but your own and your friends', but do have a sense -- as in a night terror -- that one or more sinister creatures are just off camera, lurking at the edges.

Choking. Poison. A green fog extending in every direction. In the distance -- a mountain. Less a mountain than a spire to heaven. A blasted landscape. No plants. No animals. Lava floes and obsidian. You and the party look in a panic. The Daughter sputters and collapses. No one is able to rush to her side. She flees in a direction and the party chases after her.

You are in a battle. It's the same battle as the earlier memory. Bern is downed. Whip and Elian are engaged in batttle with one another. From a side cavern, you hear a sounds. Many sounds. HUNDREDS of sounds. Claws on stone? Within seconds, an explosion of movement from that same cavern. Bones -- the bones of many dozens or hundreds of skeletons animated by fell magic. You are able to snatch more details from this more familiar scene: (1) Whip and the others are fresh faced here, no signs of stubble or grey. (2) Bern's daughter is absent from this memory.

• After a while of this, Bern alerts the party.

Helongum clutches her staff and scoots closer to Elian You wait. After a minute or so, an intellect devourer crawls out from a shadowy nook. It approaches you tentatively. Helongum: What is it doing? It waggles its body. It hops up and down a couple of times. Whip: What is it boy? Did Tomothen fall down the well again? It turns around and begins to slowly walk away. Joana: Anyone have any trivia to feed it? GM: It is making no attempt to conceal itself and is moving at a normal pace. GM: You follow the brain. After about a 20 minute walk, the intellect devourer comes to a halt. It waggles and hops. Whip: I don't speak brain bud A figure steps out of the shadows. A familiar one. GM: It's Peter! Whip: What the fuck Peter: Hello, old friends. Whip: Holy shit he talked Whip thinks Peter gives a wave. Whip: I don't know if that's better. Sorry, man Whip: Anyway it's good to see you alive Helongum -> Whip: That's not Peter Whip deflates Whip: Ah Whip: Well at least this one talks Peter: It is good you survived and that the High Master's scouts found you. You must come with me, much time has already been lost. Peter turns and begins to walk away, expectantly. Whip: You're gonna have to give more context Whip pulls his dagger Helongum: Perhaps a bit more explanation would be good, yes. Joana: A few quick questions, who are you, who's the High Master, why do you look like Peter, does that lil guy have a name? Peter stops and turns around. Peter: You must be confused. I will entertain a few questions in exchange for your compliance. Then, we really must hurry. My master wishes to speak to you directly. Peter holds up a pointer finger. Peter: One. The High Master is the master of Mt. Grysl, where you now find yourselves. Peter holds up a second finger. Peter: Two. I calculated it might buy me a few seconds of non-hostility when I came to interact with you. This proves to have been correct. Peter holds up a third finger. Peter: Three. He does not. Peter: I am sure my master can answer your questions more thoroughly. Whip: You've got your non-hostility so I'd appreciate it if you stopped wearing his face, now Whip: What's the point of getting questions answered if someone's just gonna blank us again? Peter: Very well. Do you have a form you would find more appealing. Bern: rubs face, follows Not-Peter Peter: In their last moments, I know many of your kind find the appearance of loved ones of comfort. Peter: Perhaps that would be better here? Whip: Just gimme your face A shimmer, and the Deathlock reveals itself, shockingly similar to the one from before. Deathlock turns to leave, expectantly. Deathlock: You follow the Deathlock for a short time. It leads you to the entrance of a large cavern. It gestures for you to enter. You follow the Deathlock for a short time. It leads you to the entrance of a large cavern. It gestures for you to enter. Deathlock: I recommend you behave. You can ill afford my master's wrath, especially if you wish to escape this realm. A short pathway opens into a large cavern, luminous crystals casting a soft light. There are maybe a dozen Intellect Devourers, milling about or else in a stance that indicates they are regarding you. Helongum: Forgive our manners please, we are missing some memories and are a bit jumpier than usual. In the middle of the room, thirty feet up, levitates another of these alien humanoids. His skin is pale, though, not purplish and is sagging and dusty, not rubbery. He floats down to only a few feet above the ground to welcome you. The High Master: I am aware. Those memories will not help you at present. The High Master: I will tell you we are not friends, which you no doubt have divined yourself. We do now, however, find ourselves of use to one another in this moment of crisis. The High Master: My offer to you is one of truce and mutual benefit. Whip maintains his politeness by not talking Joana: We're willing to listen to your proposal. The High Master: Good. The High Master: you are no doubt ignorant to the inifinite celestial history of my kind, and the glorious history of our astral empire is of little worth recounting. The High Master: Suffice it to say that when the gods your races revere were but infants, my kind ruled all. The High Master: You may not realize it, but this world we are now trapped on is dying. The High Master: Not as fast as you, but swiftly enough to be sensed by those untouched by time and mortality. Joana: But it seems so vibrant. The High Master: The God-Brain of this world is sick. Dying. The High Master: I wish to accelerate this process. The High Master: In exchange, or rather, as a byproduct of this process, you should have a window to escape this world. I know already of your circusmstances coming to this world. Do not feel the need to waste time recounting them. Helongum: What will the death of this world provide for you and your people? It seems... grim. The High Master: Perhaps this world will disintegrate, and we will be released onto the astral plane. Perhaps the world will endure and the God Brains servants will be freed as I was freed. Perhaps nothing. Joana: What assistance could a few pitiful mortals such as us hope to provide to someone with your unfathomable power? The High Master: I will tell you what will happen if you do not. It will continue to snatch those of the many realms from their dreams. It will continue to drain your kind and torment mine. The High Master: It will continue to spread its mad malignant cancer across this world and others. The High Master waggles his tentacles at Joana in appreciation. The High Master: One by one, the extensions of the God Brain -- my people -- wither and die. Such that it has resorted to the darkest blasphemy of our kind: necromancy. The High Master: As the numbers of true Illithids, so we name ourselves, fell, the gap was filled with reanimated monsters to carry out the abductions needed to sooth the God Brain's pain. The High Master: For some reason, your appearance here has agitated the God Brain. For centuries it has been content to leave me here, cut off from its mental umbrella. Now, it accelerates its campaign. It flings precious resources at me it can ill afford. The High Master: This, in fact, is your opportunity. I had hoped my experiments might bring forth means to tip the scales in my favor. This attack on Mt. Grysl, the one that freed you from my containers, hints that my plan is not madness at all. The High Master: The God Brain risks all to stop me! The High Master waggles his tentacles in excitement. Whip: You'll have to pardon since I'm sure this is all tedious detail to you ::whip is saying this sardonically::, but just as a quick recap: All us abductees are here to be relentlessly experimented on in a desperate grab at continued immortality? Do I have the gist there? Whip: And why isn't the Daughter with us? The High Master: So far I do not detect anything incorrect with that analysis. Whip: if so The High Master: Oh, the other one of your kind? Yes. She was taken by the God-Brain's minions in the conflict where I rescued you from its clutches. The High Master: In the exchange, I took something of even greater value: Athaekeetha! The High Master: Sadly, this advantage has now perhaps turned against our cause. Whip anticipates exposition Whip is disappointed Joana: Oh damn, you got Athakeetha? The High Master: Yes! Captured and imprisoned. Whip: Is the knowledge of what Athakeetha is useful to us? The High Master: But, now I fear Athakeetha has been freed. Joana: Bummer. The High Master: The knowledge Athakeetha contains is perhaps of use, yes. More valuable, however, is my command center, which Athakeetha no doubt now controls. The High Master: Without the command center, we cannot hope to launch our attack on the God-Brain. Joana: Well, as it happens, tracking and capturing targets is something of a specialty of ours. The High Master: I can tell you this. Athakeetha will know details about the person of concern to you. More than I. She has no doubt been taken back to Mt Makab. The High Master: Good. Whip: I get the impression we've done something _like_ this several times. Pardon my pitiful lack of scope ::SARCASM THICK AS A KNIFE:: but what is different this time? The High Master: I was keeping Athakeetha a prisoner in my command center. In the chaos of the breech attack, the God-Brains followers have taken control of the command center and I have magically sealed them inside. The High Master: The God-Brain's power extends to the very fiber of this land. This stronghold, however, was cut off as one cuts off a limb long ago. Many of their powers, such as Plane Shift, will not operate here. The High Master: At great cost to my own faction, I have cleared Mt Grysl of the God Brain's creatures. However, they have occupied my command center and -- perhaps -- freed Atthakeetha in the process. They are now, themselves, trapped inside. The High Master: Oh, no, Whip. You have not done things like this from me before. Most of our work together was merely physiological in nature. Whip: Glad to have our real talents finally recognized Joana: Alright, well, let's get a rundown of what you've got on Athakeetha and this group of GB's followers so we know what we're getting into and can put together a plan of action. The High Master: I am glad your sense of reason outweighs your emotional need for vengeance. We are all now of great use to one another. Joana: All water under the now-forgotten bridge. Bern: Respectfully: I am still unclear on what Athaekeetha is. I am, after all, an ignorant rogue. The High Master: Athaekeetha? Oh, of course. They are something of a sibling to myself. The High Master: Like me, they are freed from the God-Brain's direct control through odd circumstance. Unlike me, Athakeetha chose to continue to serve rather than rebel. The High Master: Athakeetha now swerves as the God Brain's "high priest" of sorts. Leading the experiments and treatments. The fact that Athaketha lead the assault, leaving even for a moment their position by the God Brain's side, is indicative of their feelings of threat Whip: How do we keep ourselves from simply being dominated into submission? The High Master: Willpower? Also, there are perhaps magics to act as some prophylactic to mind control. The High Master: I expect the command center to be occupied by any of the God Brain's commanded: Perhaps human thralls captures from other realms. No doubt many intellect devourers. The High Master: Perhaps a Brain Golem or even Vampiric Illithid. The High Master: I do not expect any True Illithid, as they are too precious and few in number to expend. The High Master: I can even provide some support from the rear in the breeching exercise. I have many reasons to wish to take back my nerve center. Helongum: And, what is the plan after you regain this nerve center to finish off the god brain? The High Master: What will I do from my command center? Issue commands. To you all, and my forces, as well. The High Master: Taking the command center isn't the plan, it's the necessary starting point. The longer we discuss it, the more chance Athaekeetha has to free themselves. Although not as smart as me, they are free willed and intelligent. They could make great trouble in my labs and control rooms, even trapped as they are. The High Master: We have already wasted a great deal of time in the search for you! Perhaps we could have stopped the capture had you not hidden away and allowed yourselves to be found by me. But, as you say, water under the bridge. Joana: Quick point of clarification: commands like, hey, here's what I would like you to go do as part of the plan we discussed, and then we're like, yeah, that aligns with our interests and the terms that we agreed to Joana: or... the other kind? The High Master: The former. Joana: Cool. The High Master: A fair question. Whip: Well, point my blade I guess Joana: All we need to get this party started is whatever info you can provide on the command center; maps, magical defenses, secret entrances, and so on. Joana: And any other resources or equipment you might have available to help ensure our success. Joana: We are weak and squishy, after all. Folder assets refreshed. The High Master: I will be with you to lead you through the command center. Come with me, I will lead you. Unfortunately, there is no secret entrance. We will have to commit to a direct assault. The High Master: you have encountered, in your escape, creatures of the sort that have likely taken my command center. Prepare yourselves appropriately. Joana: We also would greatly benefit from being able to draw on our past experiences in order to learn and adapt, so if you would be able to do anything with regards to restoring our memories, that'd be great. The High Master: Even if we had time, which we do not, I do not have that power. The High Master: well, that is not entirely true. The High Master: Unlike most of my kind, I have studied arcana and have the ability to dispel magics. The process would be a long one -- likely spanning weeks. It is the only way at my command. Easier, really, to just erase the parts of you that desire those memories. I can do this for you very quickly. Joana: Hmm, let's hold off on that for now. Whip: I don't really need any desire for those memories erased, I'm already good Whip: Should we get going? Helongum taps her staff on the floor with a nod

• A brief travel commences, and they find themselves in front of a very large set of doors.
• They do some thiefery. While the door is solidly barred from the other side, they are nevertheless able to disengage some locks that were also helping to hold it in place.

Joana: Okay, quick team pep talk to get in the right headspace, then we'll be ready to kick down some doors. Joana: Let's huddle up, gang.

• With a roar and a thud, they burst open the door. They are immediately greeted by brain golems, and intellect devourers skitter from hiding places in the room, but a ready shatter discomfits them mightily.
• Session ends.