Underdark South of Chrysoprase
In the dawn we are attacked by a trio of the The Elder Brain’s collectors, the Mind Witnesses. These are beholders that have been captured and changed by the Elder Brain. Their eye rays are reduced, as some of their stalks are turned into tentacles. We fight against them, barely defeating them.
We prevail, and travel further into The Elder Brain’s domain, along the river. We take a moment to Scry for Ferrin, and find out that he and Berdyn’s old friend Gayla are prisoners of the Elder Brain. Berdyn sees in his Scry a dozen mind flayers, numerous troll guards, and additional slaves to the Elder Brain.
Then, we are attacked by a Spirit Troll, a translucent creature that hits with psychic damage. It is formed when it is hit with a massive psychic attack. The healing of the Troll is stopped only with Force based magics. It wrecks both Codex and Maud with it’s psychic attacks. We manage to defeat it.
Codex sees some of the cranium rats watching, and tries to enter into their minds. He ends up connecting to The Elder Brain’s network of mind slaves. He sees within 600 feet of us are 12 Mind Flayers, several dozen cranium rats, and a number of alien monsters.
Miles away, The Elder Brain connects and speaks to us. We converse, and Codex manages to use Suggestion to find out that this is the Elder Brain that has Ferrin and Kayla. Then The Elder Brain finds out about Codex’s Mother and Father, digging into his mind with relative ease. It tries to take over Codex completely, but Codex resists … barely. He has to hit himself to break the link.
SouthSpire
We then use Teleportation Circle to return to Southspire. We take some time to recuperate at the Inn, and then head to the public pools to clean ourselves and relax. After some time of relaxation, we separate into the city, Codex gets some rest from the mental ordeal.
He realizes that because of his actions, The Elder Brain will be able to get into mental contact with him when he is within 5 miles of it. It has shown an interest in Codex, which is … not great.
Codex heads into the Archives to research Deseragar, the city far to the West. He finds out it is a resort town for the Nobility and the ultra rich, and it had not one but two Teleportation Circles. One for the Servants, and one for the Nobility.
Deseragar contains luxury mansions, and was used as a Summer holidays for Nobility before the great freeze. The servants would go early in the season to prepare the area, and the Nobles would come later to delight in the area. There was skiing and other activities.
The Dwarves assisted in building Deseragar, and made a lot of money to keep it supplied. There are lots of notes on how before the great freeze dwarves would come in with supplies, and work in the city over the Summer season. They created the great gondolas that would move the nobles up the mountain, where they would ski down the mountain over the course of a few days, with comfortable lodges dotted on the way down.
Now, it is far too cold, and the lack of spellcasters to cast teleportation circle has resulted in it going to ruin. The goblinoids and Giants have retreated from the more desolate areas to the north into the Deseragar area, and it is MUCH closer to the Necromancer’s lair.
If we can get the teleportation Circle Sigil Sequence, we can surprise the Necromancer by coming in at an unexpected angle. But to do that, we would need to access the libraries of the Nobility, one of the older libraries in Kingstown. And the Royal library would 100% have it.
We have dinner at the Spice House, enjoying our free dinner for providing them with a great deal of dragon steak. Codex and Bale get pretty drunk. They retell the story of how the dragon was slayed, Codex covers himself in flour to make him look like a white dragon.
Berdyn then tells us that we have a meeting with someone at the Grey Vicar. We meet with Kari, an operative from the Ministry of Knowing. He collects information on the Elder Brain, and then offers us 5 minutes of questions and answers.
We find out a lot. The Elder Brains are known to the Dwarven intelligence, and there are a number of them throughout the region. They don’t like one another. We then find out a number of other pieces of information:
The Citadel is filled with extraplanar creatures, and the humanoids that are part of the Cult ofTiamat.
Xiammantoneldrym was also seen there in the last 20 years.
Pyyrhos Elynbrigge-Alegan was not aware of the destruction of the Everlife Walls, he was a pawn. And his soul is somewhere in Kingstown.
We find out that the relationship between Orcus and Vecna is complicated.
They suspect that the metal smuggled by Farrin was being used to supply an army.
There’s a map from the citadel to the lava fields. There’s also a map of the underdark.
There are spies in Southspire passing information to Hooks.
The illegitimate son and daughter of Pyyrhos Elynbrigge-Alegan are still alive. They are aware of Bale and Jacquette Nethre Elynbrigge-Morley.