Collaborative Undeath

To become alhoons, mind flayer arcanists must cooperate in the creation of a periapt of mind trapping, a fist-sized container made of silver, emerald, and amethyst. The process requires at least three mind flayer arcanists and the sacrifice of an equal number of souls from living victims in a three-day-long ritual of spellcasting and psionic communion. Upon its completion, free-willed undeath is conferred on the mind flayers, turning them into alhoons. Initially, an alhoon can be difficult to distinguish from a normal mind flayer. The most obvious difference is the lack of a mind flayer's ever-present mucus coating. Without that protection, an alhoon's skin becomes dry and cracked, and its eyes might appear shriveled and sunken. Both of these clues are easily missed by someone who hasn't seen a mind flayer. However, in short order, an alhoon's flesh withers away and its empty eye sockets gleam with cold pinpricks of light like those of other liches. Unlike a true lich's phylactery, the periapt of mind trapping doesn't restore the alhoons to undeath if they are destroyed. Instead, a destroyed alhoon's mind is transferred to the periapt, where it remains in communion with any other trapped alhoon minds, as well as the souls of those sacrificed. The undeath conferred by a periapt of mind trapping lasts only so long as the life of the living victim selected. Thus an alhoon who sacrificed a 200-year-old elf looks forward to a much longer existence than one that sacrificed a 35-year-old person. Alhoons can extend their existence by repeating the ritual with new victims, effectively resetting the clocks for themselves. Destroying a periapt of mind trapping consigns those trapped within it to oblivion, and thus alhoons often work together to create elaborate protections for their periapt and their preferred ritual site. Sometimes a single alhoon is entrusted with the periapt of mind trapping, but this is a dangerous proposition. Anyone who holds the periapt gains advantage on attacks, saving throws, and checks against the alhoons associated with its creation, and those alhoons in turn suffer disadvantage on attacks, saving throws, and checks against the holder. In addition, the holder can telepathically communicate with any sacrificed soul trapped within, and alhoons within the periapt can speak telepathically with the holder. A creature carrying the periapt can't prevent communication from alhoons but can silence trapped souls.

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