C10-95-03-05 - Mindreader in Battlehelm cavern

In recent weeks there have been a growing number of reports from Battlehelm Cavern about an individual capable of reading thoughts. This situation comes up so rarely that many of you, our loyal readers, may not be aware that the act of mind reading, outside of its tightly controlled use in some criminal investigations, is considered an act of assault and theft. The punishment for abusing this power can range from decades of imprisonment through to execution.
There are of course spells which allow a caster to delve into another’s thoughts. Having consulted with an expert spellcaster, this writer was informed that the chant and gestures required for such a spell make the casting fairly obvious. When the first reports reached us here at Under the Stone we initially assumed that the lack of a mention of casting was just down to the victim either not noticing, or being too distraught to remember. However when multiple reports came in with neither the victim nor any nearby witnesses noticing any spellcasting we became more concerned.
From the statements we have collected from both victim and witnesses two things have stood out. The first is the aforementioned lack of any obvious spellcasting. If these mental assaults had happened on a deserted street this could perhaps be explained away, but these attacks happened in the middle of the day, in a crowded market place.
The second is the presence of two elves at each scene. While it could be a coincidence, elves are an uncommon sight in Battlehelm Cavern and their presence at each known case of mindreading seems unusual. At least one of the elves is a spellcaster as they managed to restrain a pickpocket with a spell, but the other’s capabilities are unknown, and they were infact seen fleeing the market outisde the hime of The Battlehelm.
Many questions remain. Are these elves really elves? Could it be something more sinister than a rogue mindreader? What is it doing in Khezdur. Why are the Battlehelms seemingly doing nothing about it? We will be continuing to ask these questions and more as we try to get to the truth of these very disturbing assaults.