CXXXI. Lead Astray

General Summary

Felstadt

  The Ring & Wren had just arrived home from fighting the Astral Terror atop Primordius Mons, but as soon as their feet touched the wood floor of their home, someone urgently needed to talk to them. Waiting in the arcane library, hulking over the text was a Minotaur, who seemed to be accompanying Torryn and Festiv Fullsprout .  

"Finally, you're back."

-Festiv Fullsprout

"What's going on here?"

-Amari of the Ring and Wren

"Ask your new friend here."

-Festiv Fullsprout

"Torryn! It's good to see you again, we've been worried about your journey."

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"My friend, I'm happy to see friendly faces. I've had a harrowing day."

-Torryn Songheart

"I can see that. After you've had a little rest, Krux can make you a nice hot cup of tea."

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"There's no time for rest."

-Festiv Fullsprout

"I found the shard of intelligence, but it slipped through my fingers."

-Torryn Songheart

  Torryn told the party of his visit to Mont Briller: the town had been taken over completely by Mind Flayers. He'd managed to get information from the keeper of the inn he'd been staying in before the man's brain had literally exited his body in front of him. With that intel, he'd made his way into the mines where he'd met Arkantos, the only slave out of hundreds (pulled from the town's population) to acknowledge his presence.   The two had fought their way through the mines against Beholders and Mindflayers before coming upon an ancient Amethyst Gemstone Dragon being held down by some sort of anti-gravity magical devices. The Fourth Shard was embedded in the Dragon's forehead. Torryn and Arkantos had a hard fight ahead of them, but managed to kill several Mindflayers despite spending most of the fight being stunned and barely finishing alive. It was too late for the Dragon, however. It had recently been forced through the Mind Flayer ritual of Ceremorphosis--becoming a vessel for one of their Elder Brains.   Before it died, the Dragon, Armanthinatorix, transferred some of its memories into Torryn's mind, boosting his intelligence and rejuvinating him enough to be able to Teleport into the Ring and Wren, where he came immediately to report what he had learned. Torryn warned that by now, the Elder Brain would have already taken control of the town and would soon expand its reign over the surrounding area.   Wynna introduced Torryn to Lady Kohinoor, who was a new face to him. She was polite, though more keenly interested in the rise of the Mind Flayers, having encountered them before herself. In fact, she was the only one of the party besides Torryn to have had any experience with them.   The party decided to rest before traveling to Mont Briller, still exhausted from their climb and subsequent fight against the Astral Terror, despite Festiv's protests. Before they left, King spent ten minutes reassuring the group that this would be an adventure just like any other. Jäger suggested commissioning helmets of lead to protect the party from any mind-reading or divination. Instead, Amari cast Mind Blank on Jäger Ironbeard, granting him a peaceful, clear mind as all his mental pain receded. Finally, Torryn cast Aid on the party before teleporting them to an area Mont Briller that had cover and with which he was familiar.  

Mont Briller

  The party arrived in an upper class boarding house. On the stairs was the headless body of a halfling man; a few feet away, the party could see a brain that had sprouted legs, lying motionless on the floor and apparently dead. It was dead quiet. Kohi, King, and Wynna felt a sense of something latching onto their minds. Amari sent Archimedes out into the sky above town, from where he could see hundreds of people outside, walking north but staring blankly ahead. In the center of town was an open courtyard, around which had gathered a mass of villagers and animals, who all stood stock still and stared down toward the center. Airborne birds wheeled in large concentric circles around this same center.  

"I wonder if there is some kind of magnetic effect."

-Wynna Cannari

  The earth shook. King, Wynna, and Kohi heard a voice speak directly into their minds.  

"I thought you would have arrived sooner."

-Soundless Voice

"We got here as soon as we could. Why don't you tell us where to find you?"

-Drayton King

"Around you. I am every mind you see. I extend beyond. More coming and more after that. You stand upon the heart of a new world. And you've brought me everything I desire. Make it easy on yourselves and give up now."

-Soundless Voice

"That might be good if I thought that your world would win. But I always bet on my own world."

-Drayton King

"Where is the entrance to the mines?"

-Wynna Cannari

"You don't need to find the mines. I'll be with you shortly."

-Soundless Voice

"Exactly what you want will be used against you. Think twice before you go against us."

-Drayton King

  The ground began to shake, then cracked, sinking in before exploding into a shower of dirt and stone. Things began to emerge from the depths--floating horrors, strange, alien, starfish-like creatures that pushed and pulled silently through the air. The glint of gems catching the sunlight was the first sign of the dragon's body--followed by a gargantuan back covered in glowing sapphires, connected to massive wings with shredded webbing. The lower jaw was slack, and the upper skull covered in a huge brain from which hung long black tentacles. A low, warbling roar was the only warning the party got before they were all hit with a psychic shockwave.   In the seconds before combat began, Wynna took the opportunity to cast Bless on the party, while Amari cast Protection from Evil and Good on himself. Amongst the gems still visible on the dragon's head, there was one that glowed brighter than the rest.  

"Welcome to Obliviation."

-Mind Obliviator

  Soora shot first with a fire arrow, but the flames burned out as soon as the arrow hit. She took cover in a nearby building, devoid of its inhabitants. She narrowly avoided being hit with a mind blast, which rocked everyone else except for Jäger, who was immune thanks to the Mind Blank spell. Those who had been hit found themselves stunned, unable to move. Soora felt the creature probe at her mind, trying to gain access, though the attempt was unsuccessful. With most everyone immobile, Jäger rushed forward to engage with the dragon. Amari managed to free himself from the stunning effect with the aid of the Protection he'd cast earlier. The Mind Obliviator tried to invade his mind, though Amari shook it off. Unsuccessful at that, the Mind Obliviator instead fired magical rays at Wynna and King, who were undefended.   Soora leaned out to attack, but the Mind Obliviator used the opportunity to gain access to her mind, and she felt the same mental presence that King, Wynna, and Kohi did earlier. The Mind Obliviator stretched over Jäger and bit him, then lashed out at him and a helpless Kohinoor with tentacles, grappling them.  

"All minds are one, here. Let's see how well you understand my meaning. Join me in the ether..."

-Mind Obliviator

  Amari, King, Soora and Kohi began to feel woozy and disoriented, as if they'd just been teleported. The telepathic bond they shared became a jumbled mess of confusion as they realized they hadn't been teleported--they'd switched bodies--Kohi with Amari, and King with Soora.   While the four of them tried to figure out what to do with themselves mid-fight, Jäger threw his hammer at a one of the Mind Witnesses that had exited the shaft with the Mind Obliviator. King, who had been suspended in the air when became stunned, fell thirty feet to the ground.   Kohinoor, in the body of Amari, found herself able to access strange new abilities--at once, she could now perceive the Weave: the thin wispy lights that connected all things, the intuition that she could actively exert her will through magic. Looking at her own body wrapped in the Mind Obliviator's tentacles, she could only think one thing: that body needed to be able to fight. She ran up and put her hand on her own shoulder, using Wish to replicate the Mind Blank spell she'd seen Amari cast on Jäger--the one that was allowing him to keep on fighting now--on herself. Or on...Amari?. She was still sort of confused about the whole thing.   In response, the Mind Obliviator tried to invade Kohi's mind--now that that mind was in Amari's body, it was under the Protection of the spell Amari had cast on it before the fight, and one of three that was no longer psychically linked to it. Meanwhile, one of the Mind Witnesses casted rays at Amari (in Kohinoor's body), slowing his movement.   King found himself in the body of Soora--no longer stunned, but rather hidden in a dark building and very much at liberty to do whatever he wished. So, he did what they both knew best: shooting for massive damage. The Mind Obliviator mind blasted again, stunning Soora (who was in King's body) and Wynna, both of whom had been stuck in place for the past few seconds.  

"I see the remnants of your past. They exist within your mind. They shall exist again in snuffing you out."

-Mind Obliviator

  The members of the party felt the sensation of something tugging at their minds, and forms began to materialize on the field in two shapes...  

"Felstadt will be mine."

-Baron von Krauss

"So many years in that cell...all my plans foiled for nothing. This is not how the story of Alazar Faunt ends!"

-Alazar Faunt

  Amari found himself in the body of Lady Kohinoor, weighed down by both her heavy armor and the fact that he was wrapped tightly in a tentacle, stunned--dead weight. Jäger, still grappled, continued to attack the Mind Obliviator from within its grasp as it attacked him with more tentacles. One of the two Mind Witnesses fired a telekinetic ray at Amari, picking him out of the tentacle's grip and delivering him before von Krauss. Alazar Faunt fired a Lightning Bolt at Amari and Soora (in the bodies of Kohinoor and King), who were both stunned and unable to dodge it--or at least he tried. From across the field, Kohi counterspelled him. Even in Amari's body, her first instinct was to protect.  

"Ahhhhh, always spoiling me!"

-Alazar Faunt

  There was only so much she could do though. From afar, she watched as Baron von Krauss bit into the flesh of her neck, then attacked her with a sword--Amari, trapped within her stunned body, could do nothing about it.   The Mind Obliviator severed the psychic link it had made with Soora after King, in her body, attacked it. King clutched at Soora's head as psychic pain wracked through him, clouding his vision. In his compromised state the creature was able to immediately re-invade his mind and re-establish the link. Kohinoor tried to cast a Vitriolic sphere at von Krauss and Alazar Faunt, discovering with relief that she was able to sculpt the spells around her allies. It didn't ultimately matter though, as Faunt counterspelled it.  

"You think such meager spells would get past my defenses?"

-Alazar Faunt

  She realized with some dismay what the life of a wizard truly entailed. Wynna and Amari finally shook off the stunning effect.  

"Barbarian, this is your end!"

-Alazar Faunt

  Alazar Faunt tried to disintegrate Jäger, but fortunately missed. Baron von Krauss once again targeted a helpless victim, this time King, whose stunned bit into King's neck. When he pulled back to attack him again with his sword, Jäger took the opportunity to teleport in between them with the Emboldening Bond and take the damage instead, teleporting out of the tentacle's grip. King (in Soora's body) killed one of the Mind Witnesses despite the disadvantage the broken psychic link had given him. Amari, who was now free to do as he pleased, had had quite enough being battered and helpess to von Krauss' whims. He summoned a righteous fury from within and powered his attack with a divine smite, Lady Kohinoor's voice ringing out as he swung Waythe overhead:  

"You vile creature! You will never stand against the light."

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

  Von Krauss hissed in pain. As Amari attacked, Soora was finally able to shake the stun out of King's body. Jäger had joined the party as well, moving in on von Krauss.  

"Why don't you two play with me for a bit."

-Jäger Ironbeard

"Be careful what you wish for."

-Alazar Faunt

  Alazar Faunt cast Disintegrate on Jäger again and this time it hit: Jäger took it in full, his armor singing and smoking from the damage. Like Amari, Wynna had taken quite a few hits while she was stunned and unable to defend herself. Now that she was finally free, she casted Harm on the Obliviator. The gems lining its body began to form cracks.   Kohinoor had stayed quite far from the fighting, unwilling to put Amari's body in danger, and instead cast Fireball to try and do her part without getting too involved. Faunt went to counterspell it, but Kohi counterspelled that, pushing for her spell to go through. Faunt and von Krauss both ignored its effect regardless, but Kohi realized her role would have to be to distract Faunt while the more martial party members took him on up close. King, still hidden from the Mind Obliviator and the Ring & Wren's old foes in the building, thought he was safe. He was proven wrong however, when a Mindflayer emerged from the darkness and attacks him.   The Mind Obliviator severed its psychic link with Wynna and King, then mind blasted again, doing psychic damage to everyone who wasn't magically immune to it. The dragon's stolen corpse began to float upward.  

"You've done well to make it this far, but now you will face obliviation. This body is nothing to me now. I am everywhere."

-Mind Obliviator

  The crystals on the dragon's body began to vibrate and glow as the fractures on them grew longer and splintered out. Suddenly, they all shattered and burst outward in a psychic storm. King's body, with Soora's mind inside, fell limp as his brain completely fried. All of the bespelled townspeople, animals and birds fell dead. A tentacle lashed out at Wynna.   Amari got in one more attack on von Krauss with Waythe before Jäger electrified him to death with his hammer, dissipating him into mist. The he turned around and punched Alazar Faunt through a wall, killing him.  

"This can't have all been for nothing..." -Alazar Faunt

  Whatever terror King must have felt at seeing his own body drop to the floor was delayed by the Mind Flayer that he now had to deal with, who began to fire out its own psychic blasts. Another two emerged from of the shaft in the center of town and sent out blasts as well, supporting their elder brain.  

"It is futile to resist."

-Mind Flayer

  The psychic damage was proving to be too much. After all the physical and mental damage she had taken, Wynna passed out. King, reaching back into Soora's quiver, paused as he felt something which he thought might put the battle into their favor...and fired an arrow of dragonslaying into the crease of the Mind Obliviator's brain. A burst of energy pulsed through its body.  

"What?!"

-Mind Obliviator

  Amari jumped out of the way as the dragon crashed to the earth, the Elder Brain detaching from the skull and the tentacles writhing in pain. It let out a psychic scream that made the Mind Flayers double over and moan. The two lesser ones' heads bursts, while the elder one fled back down the hole into the mines. As the last pulse of life left the brain, which was leaking cerebral fluid, Soora, Amari and Kohinoor found themselves back in their own bodies, to their great relief. Wynna and King were unconscious, but Jäger cast Mass Heal Wounds to bring them back up and restore some of the damage everyone else had taken.   King's eyes were glazed over when he awoke, looking around dazed--his intelligence was all but gone. With worry, Wynna cast Greater Restoration on him, sighing with relief as his intelligence seemed to return. But King himself looked distressed as he realized could no longer wield his hand crossbows--the knowledge, memories, experience he had had of them seemed to have left for good.   With the Elder Brain dead, Jäger and Amari raced toward the final shard. Jäger held himself back at the last moment, and Amari tensely requested Lady Kohi's help to remove it from the Dragon's skull. Not understanding the gravity of the moment, she acquiesced with some confused hesitation. As she held the shard in her hand after pulling it free, she finally began to understand just how powerful these shards were.   At this point, the party finally revealed the full story of the shards to her; not just that they were looking for them, but what they could do, how dangerous it was to hold more than one, what they had planned on doing with them now that they had them all, and how important it was that they not be put into the wrong hands. After some hesitancy on her part, the party successfully swore Kohinoor to secrecy on the topic of the shards. Specifically, they asked her not to reveal their existence to the Imperial government, which she agreed to, having some of her own reservations about it. Kohi and Amari swapped shards, trading by putting them down on the ground so that neither would hold more than one at a time.   The Elder Brain's destruction had killed the entire populace of Mont Briller. Everywhere the party checked was piled with dead bodies, and to their knowledge, elder Mind Flayer had been the only survivor of the entire hive. At this point, there was nothing to be done but report the damage to Empire. The party teleported back to Felstadt...

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