Battle with the Mind Flayer

After months of play, the players finally had the epic final battle with the Mind Flayer who had been engineering attacks upon them. But the Mind Flayer is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Maybe I can finally introduce the campaign plot.

Session 70: Confronting the Mind Flayer

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alonso (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Domago (human cleric NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC).

The Company of the Black Dragon has brought their fallen comrades, Domago (priest of St. Aleena), and Vervork to the Church of St. Cuthbert. Their friend Abbot Marta has agreed to Raise both of their dead comrades.

“There is more work on this earth for Brother Domago and for your friend Lord Vervork, but there will be a price put forth by the God of Law!”

After a few of the adventurers pay for healing prayers they all leave the church and head back to their Manor House. Lakima asks Aashdoshan to spy on the Laboratory of the Mind Flayer using his Crystal Ball. Aashdoshan does this for a while and observes the Mind Flayer enter the area and place the dead octopin abomination in the tank. While most of the adventurers decide to rest, Lakima, Alonso, and Aashdoshan walk across town and visit Malyn at the apothecary. Malyn tells them that they are being scryed upon and takes them back into the Temple of the Dark Lady where they are protected from scrutiny. Lakima tells Malyn of their encounter with the Mind Flayer and asks for help. Malyn tells them he is not interested in challenging a Mind Flayer. He does examine a tentacle Aashdoshan had removed from the Octopin creature they killed. He is unable to tell them very much.

Aashdoshan, Lakima, and Rune Frost take turns watching the Mind Flayer with the Crystal ball. They see it pour green slime into a pool before the main doors to its lair. It also replaces the wooden bar on the doors with an iron one. There is some indication that the Mind Flayer may be abandoning the lair, they see humans and zombies packing books in crates in the laboratory.

The next day Brother Corwin of the Church of St. Cuthbert arrives to tell them that Domago is awake and asking for them. Lakima, Eathwund, Lantosh, and Alonso go to the Church to visit Domago. Their comrade is alive but weak from the ordeal. He also appears a little delirious. He asks Lakima to promise to find and return the Mace of St. Aleena. Brother Corwin listens intently. Lakima advises Brother Corwin that documents the Black Dragons found suggest the Mind Flayer may know that St. Cuthbert’s cudgel is here in this church. Corwin tells them that this is a secret they must not tell anyone. He also slips up and implies that the cudgel is missing.

On the return to the Manor Lakima and Aashdoshan drop in to meet Malyn again. Lakima asks Malyn to search for records of a Manual of Learning. A rare magical tome sought by many magic-users.

They continue to spy on the Mind Flayers lair for the next few days. The Mind Flayer rarely appears in the view of the Crystal Ball. During this downtime, Aashdoshan purchases a cow in the market and has it lowered down into the cellars for some unspeakable purpose.

Alayna collects her entire stock of Healing potions and Neutralize poison potions to prepare the group. Lakima argues that they should wait for Domago and Vervork to recover before going up against the Mind Flayer again. But others are concerned that the Mind Flayer will get away. They decide to question their doppelganger prisoner.

The doppelganger maintains the guise of Nevain, Alayna’s father during much of the interrogation. Lakima places a Circle of Protection around the doppelganger in hopes to remove it from the domination of the Mind Flayer. But the creature still seems beholden to the Mind Flayer. The creature does tell them that the Mind Flayer instructed them to capture Aashdoshan by infiltrating the Company of the Black Dragon. It does not seem to know much else. It changes its appearance to that of Aashdoshan and taunts the necromancer. Aashdoshan responds by stabbing it in the heart with his dagger. The creature dies. Aashdoshan then uses Speak with Dead to determine if it was lying but it seems to know little. Aashdoshan raises the corpse as a zombie minion.

The adventurers have one more visit with Domago who seems better now. He worriedly asks if the Mind Flayer is still alive. With some convincing from Domago, they decide that now is the time to confront the Mind Flayer in its lair. They prepare spells and potions for the expedition. The smaller group consists of Lakima, Eathwund, Alonso, Aashdoshan, Lantosh, and Fenris. Rune Frost and Glason decline to join the group. They enter the abandoned Cold Forge Smithy at noon and descend into the sewers. They are forced to wade through some stagnant water to get to the entrance to the caverns. Inside they pass over the burned-out areas that provide evidence of their last foray. In the cavern of the naga they find the naga’s skeleton picked clean of flesh with the bones polished clean. Lakima uses Animate Dead to raise the skeleton as a minion. As they watch, a horrible black ooze slowly advances on them out of the darkness. The black pudding ignores the raised naga skeleton and slowly moves toward the living prey. The adventurers are able to kill it with lantern oil set on fire from a distance, magic missiles, and well-placed arrows fired by Eathwund.

In the next cavern, they find the cleaned bones of the Drow they had killed a few days earlier. They see that the portcullis to the south is now open. They pause while Aashdoshan raises four of the skeletons as minions under his control. As they cautiously advance into the cavern, three of the octopin abominations slide down the walls from the ceiling and move to attack them. Aashdoshan and Lakima both cast Fireball and immolate the area in flames. Two of the Octopins are killed but the third moves forward and destroys all of Aashdoshan’s minions and the Naga skeleton. Lantosh attacks the remaining Octopin but it strikes him with both pincers crushing in his chest. His lifeless body falls to the chamber floor. Alonso and Eathwund manage to kill it before it can do much more damage to the group. Alonso gives Lantosh a healing potion and revives him. Lantosh drinks three more of his own healing potions before declaring himself ready to continue.

Finally, they arrive before the stone doors to the Mind Flayer’s lair. A large pool of Green Slime lies before the doors filling the cavern. Lakima casts the spell Luminous Bridge and funnels light from his staff into a bridge of light. The adventurers quickly walk across the bridge and stand before the stone doors. Aashdoshan casts Knock and they hear a clang as the door bar falls to the stone floor and the doors swing open.

The adventurers pass through the chamber of the stone brain and enter the laboratory – the scene of their battle with the Large Octopin days earlier. The corpse of the abomination rests in the iron tank. The chamber shows signs of being cleared of useful items.

Fenris checks the door from the chamber and tells everyone it is unlocked. But they decide to head up the ramp leading from the chamber which they saw the Mind Flayer using when they spied on it. At the top of the ramp is another unlocked stone door. Fenris pushes it open but an obstruction blocks it. The door opens only about 2 feet. In the chamber beyond, they can see a display case and a zombie standing near it. The zombie stares vacantly into nowhere and does not react to the door opening. Aashdoshan moves up and uses his necromancy to take control of the zombie. Fenris and Lantosh slip into the chamber and yell out in surprise. The rest of the adventurers join them. They find three humans and three more zombies emptying display cases and placing items into wooden crates. Aashdoshan takes control of all of the zombies and uses them to grapple with and hold the humans. The humans behave as if they are under the control of the Mind Flayer – shouting that they are under attack by intruders.

Looking about the chamber the adventurers realize that they have entered a museum. There are three display cases some partially emptied. Several wood crates, a large glass tank with an iron lid, and in the center of the chamber on a marble pedestal is an onyx statue of a winged demon.

Feeling the Mind Flayer is nearby, the adventurers leave the zombies and captives behind and leave the chamber down a spiral ramp. The wall of the ramp is carved with an elaborate frieze depicting Mind Flayers ruling over all other creatures of the surface world. As they reach the bottom of the ramp they see their adversary, the Mind Flayer.

They reach a large round chamber with a high ceiling. The Mind Flayer floats 15 feet up in the air over a stone pool of green liquid. Behind the Mind Flayer is a black stone obelisk with glowing green sigils on its surface. The adventurers feel a sense of disquiet looking upon the obelisk.

Lakima shouts for his comrades to spread out just as the Mind Flayer hurls a small flaming bead at the floor. The bead strikes the floor and a fireball explodes amongst the heroes. Several of the heroes are badly burned or injured. Aashdoshan’s Ring of Fire resistance protects him from the worst of the flames. Aashdoshan casts dispel magic at the Mind Flayer and it falls with a splash into the pool of liquid. The Mind Flayer pulls itself unceremoniously from the pool while Lakima tries casting Confusion upon it without success. Eathwund hurls his Javelin of Lightning at the Mind Flayer and the Lightning bolt that is generated strikes it in the chest knocking it prone again. The Mind Flayer struggles to its feet and levitates up in the air again. Alonso hurls a spear at it but misses. Eathwund fires arrows at it and hits once. The Mind Flayer hurls another Fireball at the party and it explodes hurting everyone but Aashdoshan. Now Lakima casts Dispel Magic and the Mind Flayer falls ten feet and strikes the hard stone floor beside Lantosh. Getting to its feet the Mind Flayer’s tentacles wrap around Lantosh’s head and drag the struggling fighter to the Mind Flayers' mouth. Lantosh begins screaming as the creature bites into his skull. Before the Mind Flayer can remove Lantosh’s brains and consume them, Alonso, Eathwund, and Fenris all join the melee and the horrid creature is finally struck down. Lantosh is released from the tentacles with only a bloody and scarred head.

With the battle over, Lakima yells for the group to quickly search the body and the area. The Luminous bridge will only last for a short period of time. They spot small tadpole-like creatures in the pool of green liquid. When no one is watching Aashdoshan scoops a sample of the liquid and a creature into a jar. Eathwund searches the corpse and finds a magical rod, a magical necklace, and a simple, iron key. He tosses the key to Fenris. Fenris opens a wooden door into a small chamber. Inside they find a Ledger in an unknown language and an iron chest. The key fits the chest and inside Fenris finds bags of coins and gems. Lakima places the ledger into the Bag of Holding. Back in the main chamber, Lantosh dumps his last flask of oil in the pool. He sets the oil on fire and the entire pool is set alight with flames.

The heroes return to the museum and discover that the humans are now free from the domination of the Mind Flayer. They plead to be released from the grip of the zombies. Aashdoshan drops his control of the zombies and they collapse to the floor. The rescued humans plead to leave immediately but Lakima stops and begins looking into the chests. One of the humans warns that they were told by the Mind Flayer not to touch anything or they would die. The zombies moved all of the items that were being packed up. Lakima then promptly picks up a large book to examine it. As he does this Alonso’s sword, Nuldrang immediately shouts a warning in his mind, “Demon!”

The onyx stone statue of a demon animates into a demon that roars in anger and fixes its glare on Alonso. Lakima tries threatening it but it ignores him and moves to attack Alonso. The human prisoners flee from the chamber screaming. Alonso attacks the demon and it manages to bite him on the shoulder. Eathwund strikes the demon twice knocking it off of Alonso. Lakima and Aashdoshan both try casting controlling spells on the demon but they do not take effect. Luckily, Alonso and Eathwund are able to kill the fiend on their own.

Lakima begins picking up everything small in the room and dumping them into the Bag of Holding. While he empties the crates and display cases, Eathwund runs off to find the humans who fled, and Alonso removes the demon’s wings and stuffs them into the Bag of Holding. By the time Eathwund returns with two of the humans they are ready to leave the museum. As they pass out of the Mind Flayer lair, they find a third captive, and this one they realize is actually an elven woman. They all reach the luminous bridge over the green slime pit before the bridge enchantment ends. They then travel out of the caves without further problems. The two humans, who introduce themselves as local merchants, and the elf are sent on their way to friends or family in the town. The adventurers return to the Manor House.

In the next few days, Lakima and Aashdoshan examine the artifacts taken from the museum. Lakima casts Comprehend Languages and reads through the Ledger they found. It details the transactions in magical devices that the Mind Flayer has been conducting. They note that someone named Loris Raknian had made some recent purchases. Loris Raknian also requested the Cudgel of St. Cuthbert should be “procured” six months ago. He also finds a letter from Loris requesting the capture alive of the necromancer known as Aashdoshan.