Session 94: Wishful Thinking

General Summary

26th Unndilar 836PD   The party gather their senses after the mental and physical barrage of the Outsiders. As they take a short time to heal and recover, Raven, Pluto and Simeon all hear background whispers in their mind. A voice in undercommon asks “Why have you come here?”   It seems that those members that had fallen to the alien mind magic had now formed some sort of connection with the hive mind. The Elder Brain is reaching out to them, but they manage to break off this connection one by one. Although the mental efforts take a toll on them.   They follow the path of the amulets, but even as they travel under the cover of Pluto’s magical stealth, they can’t shake off the feeling that something is watching them. But try as they might they can never see it, for it’s always just at the back of their mind.   Simeon notices some Outsiders track along with them from afar, their elongated heads pulsing as they ‘look’ towards each of them, except for Raphael. The non-detection magic of his amulet protects him from the whispers in his mind, and the sense of the outsiders.   The tunnels get hotter as they travel deeper underground, and feeling the presence in their mind grow larger Simeon asks if the party could cover him for a moment whilst he calls on the help of his mistress’s celestial host. The Couatl, a winged serpent of silver moonlight scales and wings of twilight hue is conjured from the prayers of the Moonweaver’s chosen.   Readied, the party move through the final stretch of the tunnel reaching the peak of heat and the soft amber glow at the end. They enter into the large chamber, and immediately see the large pulsing brain in the centre, surrounded by a moat of magma.   The Elder Brain questions why they are here, and tries to intrude into Orlando’s mind, gleaming their search for a ‘gateway’. Orlando notices the path of the Amulet leads right beneath the Elder’s Brain base of viscous brine. He imagines the Chains of the mad god, and the oblivion that will befall the Elder Brain, it’s colony and all of existence if they’re stopped in hope that there could be an easy path to avoid conflict.   But what mutations and corruption that have plagued the Kraken and the aberrations they’ve faced had originated from here, as the Brain remarks that Tharizdun had blessed them with gifts. The bulbous organ raises itself with its tendrilled stem, showing Tharizdun’s mark of madness- dark spiralling septic veins across its cortex. The hard path is chosen.   A flurry of Outsides spews from crystal hubs across the chamber and soon swarm Raphael and Raven. Orlando clears a short path for himself with the magical lead of his firearms, and the Couatl protects Simeon with their sanctuary and blesses half of the party, before biting into a Mind Flayer that was hiding behind a central mound. Raph covers himself in the cold shadow of his patron Mab, and slinks through the shadow closer to the Elder Brain to escape the claws of the Outsiders.   The Elder Brain points a tentacle towards Raven and tries to dominate his mind, but the gloomy elf resists its alien influence. Pluto summons his wildfire bees and their molten honey burns the surrounding Outsiders. Another Mind Flayer reveals itself and attempts to psychically blast Raven and Orlando but their resolve continues to remain strong against the mental magic.   The fates seemed to be behind the Chosen of the Prime Deities as they met head on with the Illithid’s opening salvo, the Winter Knight’s confidence grew to the point of cheering on his comrades!   However, surrounded by the corruption of the foulest of the Betrayer Gods, fate proves fickle and its pendulum soon swings against the Unbroken. The Elder Brain’s tentacles reach out and grapple the divine Couatl, its corrupting touch knocks the celestial’s concentration on blessing Raven, Orlando and Pluto leaving them vulnerable. Orlando’s Prayers are unanswered as it fully breaks. The Outsiders swarm Pluto and Simeon, and one of the creatures’ attempts to devour the Aasimar’s mind breaks his connection with the celestial. The Couatl bursts into moonlight as it blinks out of the material realm.   It seemed the Winter Knight had inherited his predecessors’ curse of hubris.   Simeon taps into his radiant soul to soar above the synaptic snacking swarm below, and attempts to rebuke the Brain with a spiritual crescent blade. Raph marks the Brain with the hex of his blade and pushes onwards over the magma to go head-to-head with the Elder Brain. But his bravery turns fool-hardy as the Brain stuns him and grapples him in its tentacles. Holding the Winter Knight’s body precariously over the molten earth.   As Pluto shields himself in fire from the Outsiders, the Elder Brain shields itself from the sharpshooting Raven by encasing the ranger in a wall of force.   The psychic sting of the Elder Brain’s tentacles knocks Raphael unconscious, and then it drops his limp body into the magma below. The Winter Knight starts to go up in flames.   The two Mind Flayers press their advantage, one grapples and stuns Orlando with its tentacles and the other’s mental blast knocks Simeon down from the air. The stunned cleric is soon swarmed by hungry Outsiders.   Raven escapes from the wall as he activates his ring of spell storing to misty step outside it, and barrages the Brain with arrows. Pluto pulls the flames from the magma to create a whirling storm of fire around the Elder Brain and the roaring flames reach across to the Mind Flayers. It’s a race to see who dies first, but the Unbroken are going to be first.   Orlando feels the Mind Flayer’s beak pierce through his hat and skull, the leaking cerebral fluid sends the Outsiders into a frenzy, the surrounding swarms start devouring the stunned Orlando and Simeon. Pluto is assailed with invigorated mental magics of the aberrations.   Raven is the lone ranger; the total party of the Unbroken will be killed soon if he can’t think of way out of this or if he decides to go down with them. As he grasps the hilt of his blade, he looks down to the Luck Rapier gifted to him by Sabali, a testament to his skill and impression made to be entrusted with such a legendary gift after only 4 days traveling with them.   There is only one wish in the blade. He surveys his fallen comrades, pulls out the sword, the quick-thinking former Syngorn operative rushes through several scenarios. Analysing the key missteps of their assault, what words would have the most impact to save them or defeat their foe? The swarms chase towards him, he feels something spike in his heart, is it panic? There’s no time for that!   And like clouds that clear to reveal the bright of the full moon, there’s the answer; time. More time now would only save Raven, but what if we do this a second time and know what to expect?   His mind set, his words clear, Raven raises the sword and he wishes for "time to be turned back 10 minutes whilst he retains the memories of what has happened in this battle".   The Alien hordes leap towards him, and blink….