Lark and Jastra had moved to the spare parishioners’ chambers in Kali’s temple. They didn’t want to live next to the horde of Illithid, just in case. Slethrelach had spoken with the city council regarding his peoples’ application for asylum. Owen had been tasked with training guardsmen who would in turn train more guardsmen. Kali went out early in the morning and purchased various sundries to distribute to the Illithid refugees. Oisin checked in with Trey, who was less animated than he had been upon reawakening. Pip spent his morning covering the hibernation dens of some of the rarer creatures within the forest in an attempt to prevent them from being harassed by the Illithid refugees.
The Divine Foundry
Kali went to speak with Afra regarding the conversation with Slethrelach. It had been difficult since they had to use translators, but they were considering asylum with conditions. There would be more refugees arriving behind the current group of 200. The city would be able to accommodate at least 400 refugees, but any more than 800 total would be difficult. With the threat of war, the council did not want to be the type of leaders who resorted to just mercenaries and refugees to fight on behalf of the city.
The Beer Forge
The group met up and decided to head to the forest to speak with the refugees. They wanted to find as much information as possible about their country of origin, with Owen acting as translator.
Refugee Camp in Green Iron Village
Owen used Undercommon to communicate with the Illithid and asked to speak with Slethrelach. Slethrelach answered questions and relayed the information the group was seeking: the illithid were freed from captivity “by the Heroes of Cinderhaven”. They did not know who exactly the heroes were, at first.
When asked about “Rinth,” the illithid reacted negatively, asking pointedly whether or not any worshippers remained. Owen replied that they had been dealt with. Then, the group answered questions from Slethrelach.
Slethrelach asked whether different things had occurred: “Had the sky been blackened or any shadows over Cinderhaven?”, were there “Any females that worship spiders?”, and “Are there any drow within that group?” in Cinderhaven.
Owen informed him that the sky had not been darkened since the vampire was overthrown. There was no group of Rinth worshippers, but there was a group within the city that used spider symbolism. To Owen’s knowledge, there were no drow within Cylinder, the group that used a spider symbol. It came out that there are two drow females within the city, Anica and Kythra, but the party vouched for them.
The refugees were seeking a safe place to live and came to the city “of their saviors” in hopes of a better life. They were freed weeks ago, and had been walking since. When asked what had held them captive, Slethrelach said that he couldn’t tell them, because of a fugue state the illithid seem to be in after being freed. Through the use of a ritual he could show them. The party would need two brains of the same creature type, no more than 1 hour old, and two linked silver rings.
Cinderhaven
The party consulted with each other and discussed the option of letting the refugees take up residence in the recently vacated goa mines. Kali, Owen, and Saxi headed out to grab food, winter blankets, and clothing for the refugees. Pip, Lark, and Oisin went to the Chalice to see if there were creatures to fight that could be harvested for brains after the fight. They decided to fight a herd of “stenchcows”, a creature twice the size of a cow, but seemingly crossbred with skunks. The stenchcows were dispatched with flair by the group, and harvested for their heads.
Refugee Camp
Slethrelach was pleased with the delivery of the stenchcow brains and the ritual commenced. Everyone ate a piece of the brain, except for Oisin who just held a piece of the skull in his mouth. A vision appeared before everyone.
Vision Quest
Owen, Saxi, and Lark were each in a sparsely furnished cage, one of several, all containing an illithid. Looking down at themselves, they saw that they were not in their own bodies, they were Illithid versions of themselves.
Oisin, Kali, and Pip found themselves in a grey tunnel with mining picks. They turned to walk down the tunnel and an itch began in their head, growing more intense as they proceed. One of the other illithid in the tunnel told them to keep trying if they wanted to find out what would happen. They continued to dig and discussed what to do.
Lark and Saxi were able to construct rudimentary holy symbols and Misty Step out of their cells. Lark proceeded down a hallway towards a key hanging from the ceiling and his head began to hurt. The pain became more and more intense the closer he got to the key. Saxi ripped slats from the bed and used rags to attempt to craft a rudimentary 10 ft pole.
Kali moved through the pain, to push further down the tunnel, and her head exploded. Tentacles appeared from the air, a horrid slurping sound could be heard, and her body dropped lifeless to the floor. The tentacles slowly faded out of sight.
Owen persuaded one of the caged illithid to speak with him and found out more. The illithid said that the Master was everywhere. They had always been there, it was their life, their punishment. The Master wanted only loyalty, and the illithid had been forcefully trained to give it.
Saxi approached the key with her makeshift pole and attempted to free it from the wall. Her head exploded as soon as the pole touched the key. Lark went to grab the tentacles attacking Saxi, Owen cast Vicious Mockery against the tentacles. Both of their heads exploded.
Pip and Oisin went through a shift change and other illithid were lead into the caverns and they saw the bodies of Saxi, Owen, and Lark. Pip picked up a body and chucked it at the key, his head exploded. Oisin used thorn whip on the key and his head exploded.
Once they all had died, they wake up. They all woke up in the same moment that they had first appeared. Saxi, Lark, and Owen were in cells. Kali, Pip, and Oisin were all in the tunnel. They repeated the cycle again, and again, and again, and again. They repeated the cycle until they barely remembered themselves. Until they felt almost as broken as the illithid.
Over time, they all were able to craft an item of totemic importance. Lark crafted a straw bear from his bedding. Saxi and Kali carved simple holy symbols. Owen crafted a makeshift drum from things he gathered. Pip made himself a fork. Oisin used druidcraft to create a flower and kept the dried flower nearby. The items were simple, and imperfect, but they allowed the group to hold on to enough of themselves. Just enough to remain sane in their day to day, monotonous existence.
One day, punishment didn’t happen when it should have, and the itch was gone. They regrouped and worked their way towards the tunnel exit, they came across a beast that they recognized as the Master. They, and the rest of the illithids, entered the room and heard the sound of combat.
Owen, Saxi, and Oisin realized that the creature they were seeing, in the tunnels with the illithid, was the same one they had fought when they closed the Shadowfell Portal. They were on the other side of the portal and the combat sounds were their previous selves fighting the giant tentacles of the Master.
As the realization of what they were seeing hit the group, they felt power flowing into them from their totems. They realized that their totems, along with the absence of the Master’s full influence and attention, somehow gave them control over reality within the caves. They immediately began to attack the Master.
Saxi smashed her holy symbol into the ground, and it turned into a giant mace, causing the room to shake and stalactites to fall, piercing the Master’s flesh. Kali prayed for protection for her friends and shining, divine armor appeared around them in the colors of the metallic dragons. Lark transformed into a huge bear made of straw and attacked the Master. Owen surrounded by blue flame, uttered “No Masters” before he attacked with lightning and force magic. Oisin rusheed forward and began to claw at the tentacles, ripping them from the Master’s body, while his hands glowed as radiant as the sun. Pip conjured a huge dinner table and stabbed his fork into the tentacles, winding them like spaghetti.
As the Master was defeated and banished, one thought appeared in all of their minds: Cinderhaven.
Refugee Camp
The group came back to themselves as the illithid in the caves began to leaving, heading for Cinderhaven. Slethrelach told them that now they understood what the illithid had seen. The group now understood what had happened.
Slethrelach also said that there were other captives waiting to be freed from the avatars of the King of Secrets. The group now knew that they were the “Heroes of Cinderhaven” and that there were more avatars still to deal with.
Owen: “One down...”
Saxi: “...and more to go.”
Lark: “We shall kill them all.”
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