Conor looks around their new surroundings with a grunt, "Oily." Then claps his helmet on his head, grimacing at the smell that gets stronger in the confines, and follows Akrynn, hand on sheathed blade.
Rinika looks around, grimaces, and unsuccessfully tries to find an alternative to the dirty ground to place her feet on. "At least the whole plane isn't made of blinding pain, I guess.,"
Nik casts Prestidigitation again. Some of the muck stains higher up on his clothes disappear.
"Yeah. Seeing is nice, even when the view is this awful." Nik says, trying to look at scenery that isn't near Jek or Zombington.
Plodding across this fetid expanse, your boots grow heavy with a muddy build-up, which is blue with metallic dust. The sky seems ready to burst at any moment, though you spot what might be shelter off to your left. A blackened, scarred cliff face rises up out of the mire, and built alongside it is a round, domed building that sits askew in the mud.
As you watch, a figure emerges from the door of the structure. The skin surrounding its huge, white, pupil-less eyes is sallow brown with a hint of violet. Four small tentacles flail wildly from below where you’d expect to see its nose and mouth. The finery it wears grows filthy from the ooze it runs through as it stumbles closer, but it pays you no heed. Three fingered hands clutch at its soft skull, and suddenly, wordlessly, the creature’s face and head are drawn inward by an irresistible force - an implosion that resembles nothing so much as a giant, invisible hand crushing the skull of the creature like a grape.
It falls dead into the mud.
The druid watches the creature stumble and fall. He waits and watches for few more minutes, traces a Guidance Rune, before stealthily moving toward the hut.
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Conor starts and half draws his blade at the spectacle of the weird tentacle imploding head thing, but relaxes slightly as it falls and presumably expires.
"I'm no expert on planar travel and the Boneyard, but maybe in there is a bad place to go? Nah, we'll be fine, much better than whatever that was."
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"Is anyone else getting a bad feeling about this place? I suppose an extra corpse wouldn't hurt though. Nik, can you use it without the head?"
"Uh, it needs to at least have a nearly complete skeleton. Is the skull still there? I've never tried without the skull." Nik scratches his cheek.
Nik identifies the creature as a mind flayer also known as an illithid. They aberrations that see all humanoid races as either slave stock or food. They are able to extract the brains of people they grab with their mouth tentacles and are potent psychic creatures. They are perhaps best known for creating the Githzerai and Githyanki races which later rebelled against the mind flayers.
Conor cocks his head to the side, "Do what now?"
Looking around at the group, "Uh... Nevermind."
Then looks back at the hut and mumbles, "Stupid place and strange thoughts in my head, funny creatures heads imploding. This place sucks."
"Madarn? Big cat?" Nik looks around.
"Uh ohh. I think whatever broke that illithid's head might be talking to us now. We probably either need to get into that hut quickly, or do the bolt. That 'funny creature' is very psychic and might be more sensitive than us. Or maybe stronger against what crushed it's head..."
Nik looks down on the corpse of the illithid.
Note to self, give all shamblers standing orders to kill any illithids nearby if anyone gets stunned...
Akrynn traces a Detect Magic Rune. He scans the area; while still approaching the hut.
"Karrum Nionimo?" Jeks tries desperately to make heads or tails of the message.
After hearing Nik's explanation he feels slightly relieved. "Let's see how Akrynn does and go from there. Five silver says he makes it to the dome unharmed. Any takers?"
"Unharmed?"
Nik watches Akrynn a moment.
"Since we're not dead yet, I'm going to stick to your side of the bet."
Rinika glances around, annoyed at the intrusive thoughts. "Yeah, let's investigate...I take it you all heard things too? I'm gonna write them down, just in case." She takes out her notebook and scribbles down Porcupinefish feed on shellfish and coral, then looks at the others expectantly.
"Uh. Good idea, I guess? I heard something like 'Madarn doesn't want to kill the big cat'." Nik frowns while watching Akrynn get farther away and decides to get his crossbow ready.
Rinikas eyes go wide and she glances around again nervously before jotting down the note.
Conor manages to look relieved that everyone else seemed to have random thoughts invading their brains too, "Good, I wasn't the only one. It said 'The source of the Tungakim River is at a place called Hinter-rock', whatever in the nine Hells that means."
"Mine was 'Karrum Nionimo keeps a magical dagger hidden under her bed' Whoever that is."
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Arkynn detects random fluctuations of magical energy throughout the area, he’s never seen anything like it and has no idea what it could mean. He does find a single steady aura coming from a ring on the mind flayer.
The interior of this building which is partially submerged is a single room with pillars strung around the perimeter and a raised dais in the center. The dais is made from ceramic and looks old. It is cracked and filthy.
Kneeling on the dais, another sickly mauve, tentacle-visaged creature shudders with what seems great pain. One of its large, white eyes has gone black with blood, and more dark fluid seeps amid the tentacles - perhaps from a mouth obscured by the writhing appendages. As you watch, dark hemorrhages appear, like cracks quite literally forming on the side of the thing’s head.
”Dead,” a voice pounds into your head. ”God is dead! The secrets are lost. It has slain our great Maanzecorian… As the creature’s spirit flees its dying form, so too does the voice leave your brain.
Other foreign thoughts continue to enter your mind, seemingly unrelated to the two illithids.
Arkynn: Ser Armithia--Seendren, has the absolute authority of the Church of Helm of Cormyr to carry out his duty. By order of Bishop-General Tomas of the Church of Ragathial.
Conor: The Kish have had their organs and appendages warped into something different, wrong.
Jek: With his god reborn the Lightbringer’s work is done and all the world shown with the sun’s glorious rays.
Nik: Snowball likes meat and shinies.
Rinika: Accompanied by a melody played on lyre, Ares haughty in spirit, heavy on chariot, golden-helmed…
Ring is magical., he says as he snatches it off the headless body laying on the ground.
He enters the hut.
The druid ignores the nonsensical thoughts, as he searches the hut. He traces a Guidance Rune.
After a fruitless search, he awaits his friends.
Akrynn traces a Guidance Rune. He then traces a Detect Magic Rune, as he studies the ring.
Nik shares about 'Snowball', whoever that is, and then plucks the ring that Akrynn indicated from the headless corpse.
Also casting Detect Magic, he takes a closer look at the ring.
Jek shares his latest message. "Anyone else feel like these messages are like puzzle pieces from completely different puzzles? Also, 'Maanzecorian'?"
Once everyone has made it to the hut, the druid gives the words in his head to Rinika.
A warning perhaps. We continue.
Tracing a Guidance Rune, Akrynn continues to follow the tracks.
Akrynn turns his head back to the others.
Or we camp.
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"Right here? There could be trouble."
"Not to mention disgusting. How bad was it inside the domed thing, Akrynn?"
Walking back, the druid shrugs.
Slept in worse. I will take the last watch.
He goes inside to find a quiet spot to sleep.
Jek looks around inside the domed thing.
"I suppose it could work. Just try not to roll down the floor in your sleep. Hmmm. We should probably see what's on the other side of this trap door."
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"Hmm, but if we go it could be double. Trouble that is. Guess let's checks this place out and set up here."
He goes with Jek to check out the trap door and the general area.
"Maybe let Zombington pull it up, in case of traps. She's easier for me to fix than you guys."
Unless she gets completely destroyed...
Zombington the second, hearing 'Zombington pull it up' moves to pull up on the trap door.
The druid sits up.
What have you found?
He stands up. He traces a Guidance Rune.
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The trapdoor reveals only slick oily mud.
While Conor is scouting the nearby area he notices too late a floating orb of bulbous flesh, a central, unblinking eye and a large maw filled with dagger-like teeth. Ten squirming stalks protrude outward in all directions each ending in a single smaller eye.
A sickening green ray of light strikes Conor in the chest with no apparent effect. It speaks while holding its central eye closed, "Gzemnid has commanded me to find the source of the disturbance. Speak of this."
It is 80ft from Conor and Conor is 30ft from the Rotting Oracle.
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"Ah,uh. Well... we are chasing some lizard things that assaulted a friend, their trail led here." Conor responds to the creature.
Then, raising his voice a bit, "Ah, guys, got a little issue out here."
Turning back to the eyeball monster, "We arrived and this tentacle thing, came out and it's head ... I'm not sure what it's head did, and we began investigating. I took a look about outside and here we are."
"Come, Zombington." Nik says before hurring outside.
Seeing the totally-not-a-beholder that Conor is facing, Nik adds to Conor's explanation.
"Yeah, the two illithids just... dropped dead somehow. Something called 'Maanzecorian' might be involved? That one outside lost his head right when we arrived."
Akrynn takes a step out; views the definitely not a beholder!, feels a sickly acid taste building, and looks around embarrassingly for who made that smell.
"Odd place for a mud room."
Jek follows Nik outside to find out what Conor wants. Seeing the ongoing conversation with a new floating friend, he tries his best not to interrupt while mentally counting and recounting the moving eye stalks.
Rinika follows along as well. "Hi, who are you?"
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The thing says, "Thank you for the information. Now die abominations!"
Akrynn traces a Shillelagh Rune on his club.
He then ducks behind some cover.
"Sorry you missed my funeral!" Nik replies. He then whips out his wand of Minor Image and uses it to conjure half a dozon large earth elementals around the floating creature.
"Rise and serve me, muck! Kill the floating guy! You too Zombington, Kill the floating guy." Nik orders, as the illusory elementals grumble and emerge from the muck with squelching noises.
The undead abomination advances through the muck towards the floating abomination.
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"Abominations? They may only have two legs but you don't even have legs you 8 to 14 eyed jerk..."
Jek moves closer while drawing a chakram and throws it.