21 Shyrdus 1120
Betrayal
With Tika's map, drawn from the images received from the illithid slaver, as their guide the party made their way toward the mind flayer sept. The stone tunnels left little in the way of usable clues to confirm their path; they were relying entirely on the veracity of the slaver. This made the group uneasy and they became painfully aware that they were low on certain basic supplies, like healing potions. But as there was nothing they could reasonably do about that at the moment, they soldiered on.
The map led them to a wide cavern peppered with hundreds of small tunnels all around and a thin layer of loose soil covering the floor. Vondran examined one of the holes and opined that it was dug, as if by a burrowing animal. There was no sign of the animal itself, though.
With weapons drawn the heroes crept through the space, staying as clear of the holes as possible. When they reached a point about a third of the way in they were suddenly enveloped in a mind fog that formed around them. They moved out of the fog quickly and looked for its source but were not prepared for the huge worm-like creatures that emerged from two of the tunnels. These giant psurlons towered over the party menacingly but did not initiate any physical attacks. Instead Tika and Hyros felt their minds under assault from a dominate person effect and had to muster their own wills to resist it successfully.
Vondran charged forward and threw the Arm of Telomir at the lead psurlon. It struck home and lodged itself in the creature's hide, but then Vondran fell victim to a hold monster and could not move to follow up on the attack. Hyros charged the other psurlon and delivered impressive smiting attacks and Tika and Ash backed that up with, respectively, cometfall and earth reaver to try and end the combat quickly.
The giant psurlons, however, were not alone. From the far end of the chamber came two earth drakes, dragon-like creatures with impressive power over earth and stone. Ash had time to hurl a repeating fireball their way but this did not discourage them from entering the fray. One leapt directly into the middle of the encounter and caused a violent tremor that knocked most of the heroes prone while the other bounded straight for Ash. Tika got off a mass freedom of movement that put Vondran back in action but the momentum was clearly not on the party's side.
Loki had a particularly hard time. He first succumbed to the mind fog, which left him virtually defenseless against the mental powers of the psurlons. He had trouble maintaining his concentration and lost his mind blade twice, then a mass suggestion to "go away and leave us alone" had him and Vondran both seeking to leave the battle area. Fortunately Vondran's path took him inside the radius of Tika's magic circle against evil, which negated the effect for him. Loki had no such luck and had to abandon the fight.
The giant psurlons continued to use their spell-like abilities against the party. Hyros was targeted by two disintegrate rays, dodging one completely but taking a partial hit from the other. He responded with a slay living against one of the giant psurlons and managed, through the grace of Belain, to overcome the creature's resistance and slay it.
Ash, with the earth drake breathing quite literally down her neck, used baleful transposition to bring Loki back into the fight against his will and to take his place in the safety of the chamber opening. Loki struggled against the suggestion and began to defend himself from the drake.
With the death of a giant psurlon a new pair of enemies appeared: elder psurlons, smaller in size but greater in psionic power than the giant kind. The leader spoke to the party telepathically and demanded to know why they had invaded the psurlon's colony. The party replied that they merely sought to pass through on their way to the mind flayer sept. The psurlons, in a tone as derisive as telepathy allows, informed the group that there was no through passage and that the mind flayer sept was nowhere near this place.
The party realized then that their illithid captive had deliberately sent them into a trap. They agreed to a truce with the psurlons, who were not their enemies (though Hyros was not entirely happy about making peace with the lawful evil psurlons), in exchange for better information about their true objective. The psurlons told the party that the mind flayer sept lay somewhere beyond the Valley of Eyes, a deep canyon that was home to an aberration-worshipping cult, and provided rough directions toward it. They also directed the party to a svirfneblin settlement where they might be able to engage in some trade for needed supplies.
The deep gnomes were quite hospitable, as it turned out. Curious to see surface-dwellers traveling on their own and even more intrigued to learn that they were actively seeking to invade a mind flayer sept, the svirfnebli were more than happy to trade for some basic supplies. The party unburdened themselves of a fair number of masterwork weapons (all captured from defeated half-illithid sahuagin and similar dead foes) in exchange for a supply of healing potions in clay tile form and sufficient diamond dust and granite to fuel several raise dead and stoneskin castings if it came to it. And, since the name of the Valley of Eyes strongly hinted at beholderkin in their future, they also picked up two scrolls of stone to flesh.
A few days after parting company with the svirfs the heroes found themselves at the edge of a vast underground sea. The deep gnomes had told them about this and warned them that it was kuo-toa country, but the only known way to the Valley of Eyes was through it. Though the water was cloudy and unwholesome-looking, it was breathable and contained enough salt to activate Loki's cloak of the manta ray, so the group girded themselves and entered the brakish sea.
Tika used find the path to get them started in the right direction and the trudged along the sea bottom, their various magic items keeping them breathing and able to see to the extent the murk allowed. They saw little but fish and weeds for the first hour and half, but then drew the attention of some locals: an anguillan hunting party.
The heroes became aware of the anguillans as they were surrounded by the wormlike aberrations. There were six in total, and their primary tactic was to dart over the party's heads and make swim-by jabs with their spears. Tika and Hyros tried to communicate their non-hostile intent but the hunters ignored the words and kept attacking, forcing the party to retaliate.
Ash cast a scintillating sphere near a group of the enemy and did enough damage to at least change the attackers' tactics. Two of them moved in to engage her and Tika directly instead of continuing their quick jabs. Loki, Vondran and Hyros paired up with opponents and began trading blows.
The anguillans seemed to be entering a rage state, so Tika cast moonbolt and weakened one of the leaders considerably. Ash followed that with a sonic scorching ray to discourage their attackers from staying close. Hyros scored repeatedly against his enemy and Loki put on a dazzling exhibition of swordsmanship, slicing and dicing a nearly-fully-healthy anguillan into bits with one attack sequence.
Loki's display sent exactly the right message. The two most injured anguillans fled the scene immediately, giving Ash time and room to snap a much-needed healing tile. The two leaders followed suit seconds later, and the party held back to allow the final opponent to retreat with its life.
They continued along the sea bottom for another day and a half, using find the path after each rest stop to keep them on their route. On their third day underwater they began to notice signs of organized life: small stone huts and neatly-planted rows of kelp replacing the thick, random clumps.
They also noticed that they were no longer alone: now and again through the murk the heroes caught a glimpse of humanoid figures with webbed hands and feet, following and watching from a safe distance. The Arm of Telomir confirmed that the lurkers were monstrous aquatic humanoids -- they were clearly in kuo-toa country.
As the party progressed the numbers of kuo-toa increased all around them, but nobody moved to attack or even to communicate. Loki occasionally forayed nearer and the kuo-toa backed off in response. Then, as the density of the stone huts increased, the group came to a large clearing area and three authoritative-looking kuo toa appeared in their path.
The heroes stopped and the kuo-toa leaders spoke. They seemed particularly interested in Vondran, the darfellan. None of the heroes understood kuo-toan, so Tika cast tongues on Vondran and Hyros cast it on himself to be spokesman for the group.
The kuo-toan leader addressed himself to Vondran, however. He noted that Vondran wore dragon hide and a necklace of scales. "Are you a hunter?" he asked. When Vondran confirmed that he was, the leader replied, "What do you hunt?"
"Sahuagin," Vondran said. "And their ilk."
There was a muttering among the crowd, and it occured to the party that in some ways kuo-toans could be considered the sahuagin's ilk. The leader inquired about Vondran's business in their land. With Hyros translating for the party and offering advice as quickly as he could, the two explained their desire to reach the Valley of Eyes and ultimately the mind flayer settlement beyond.
The kuo-toa leaders conferred in hushed voices and the leader addressed Vondran again. "Are you willing to prove yourself worthy of our respect?"
"Of course," the cocky darfellan answered.
"Then you will agree to face our champion in single combat. If you win, we will give you safe passage through the sea and direct you toward the Valley of Eyes. If you lose, you go back where you came from in shame."
Vondran agreed without even waiting for his companions' input. He watched in eager anticipation as the three leaders debated among themselves and then the largest of them stepped forward, promised to return shortly, and swam off toward a large cave.
Good as his word, the kuo-toan returned in just a couple of minutes and the crowd backed off to define a generous-sized battle arena. Vondran grinned and brandished his harpoon and noticed that the kuo-toan had no armor or weapons. "I am not the champion," the creature explained. And then a giant mass appeared from the cave and swam over to the improvised arena. "This is our champion."
The leviathan struck first, batting Vondran with its claws. Vondran, using his speed and agility against the creature's brute strength and size, attacked on the move with the Arm of Telomir. This tactic frustrated his enemy and led to a lunging stun attack that shook Vondran for a round, giving the leviathan the chance to move in for multiple claw and bite attacks.
Taking two or three hits for each one inflicted left Vondran in dire condition and forced him to change his strategy. He hefted the Arm of Telomir and called on its Shining Vengeance legacy power. The harpoon shed daylight-level light that blinded the leviathan long enough for Vondran to use a healing potion and position himself for a nonlethal sneak attack that severely weakend his enemy. The leviathan, still dazzled by the bright light, missed with several blows but finally got its jaws around the fast-moving darfellan. It bit down, seeking to swallow him whole, but Vondran just barely wriggled free and then delivered a pair of well-placed sneak attacks that put the leviathan on the ground.
The kuo-toa leaders were so impressed by Vondran's victory -- and appreciative that he had not killed his enemy -- that they replaced the healing tile he had used and offered the party their hospitality for a rest before continuing their journey. The leviathan recovered from its wounds and personally guided the party the rest of the way across the sea, where it pointed out the path to the Valley of Eyes.
The heroes emerged from the water and prepared themselves for more horrors ahead.
<MR>
3/24/2010