After vanquishing the hydra, the party wearily makes their way down the tunnel. They enter a cavern with a locked door with a panel of five colored levers. The skeletal remains of a humanoid are slumped in front of the panel, its bony hands gripping a tattered scroll. There is another tunnel entrance opposite of the strange door.
The scroll has a riddle that seems to be the key to opening the door. Feikiran volunteers to use his telekinetic mage hand to pull the levers from a distance while the rest of the party prudently waits further behind. His first attempt results in a necrotic blast that lays the sorcerer unconscious.
Peals of laughter echo into the dark cavern as Azul and Illidan begin whooping with uncontrolled laughter. After healing Feikiran, the bard-certified medical practitioner, Gileas, realizes that the stress-induced giggling came from an infection known as the “Shrieks” and that the pair may have caught it from their little dip into the fetid water that held the hydra.
The party decides that the best course of action is to rest and recover in Gileas’ magical hut. Three neighborhood Fomorians wander to register their complaints about Gileas’ unpermitted structure. After the party responds with arrows and bolts, the Fomorians decided to undertake their own demolition project by bringing down the ceiling over the hut. As the stone ceiling begins crumbling like stale cookies, the Fomorians make a hasty exit. The party quickly escapes the hut and barely manages to avoid being crushed by the stones that collapse over the hut.
On his second attempt, Feikiran manages to pull the levers in the correct order and the door opens. The encounters Quallux, the mindflayer, and his Derro servant.
The party strikes a deal with Quallux. Declan is searching for his woman, Embree, who had been taken as a slave by the Elder Brain. Quallux seeks the destruction of the Elder Brain Sayrog who has been dominated by the demon Orcus. In exchange for sending the party to the Elder Brain’s location and providing them with a “special worm” to conceal their psychic presence, the party would need to destroy the Elder Brain.
The party agrees to the terms. The ever-polite Gileas is the first to allow the slimy, writhing worm to burrow up his nasal passage and latch itself onto his brain. Reluctantly, the others followed his brave example.
Upon arriving on the first floor of the Elder Brain’s lair, the party quickly dispatches a few weaker minions. They make their way up to the second floor.
After Feikiran tosses a fireball into the room, Illidan and Declan rush into the room to confront the Elder Brain. The creature’s tentacles lash out to entangle the ferocious barbarian as the drow rogue fires his crossbow bolts at the monster. From a distance, Azul, Feikiran and Gileas lend their assistance. Jax uses his sharpshooting skills to pepper the Elder Brain with arrows.
The Elder Brain, ever mindful of its position, decided to use the old “divide and conquer” tactic. It uses its powers to erect barriers against the party members on the outside to keep them from rendering aid to those within. Sayrog launches a devastating mind blast at Declan and Illidan.
The barbarian and rogue lay helpless and stunned in the sea of squirming tentacles with their companions on the other side of a Wall of Force.
Azul clenches his teeth in determination and misty steps into the room to attack the Elder Brain.
Gileas turns to Jax. There is a curt nod of understanding between them. Gileas puts his hand on Jax’s shoulder. Casting a dimension door spell, Gileas takes the pair into the room. And into the fray.
Feikiran draws in a deep breath, realizing that despite his weakened condition, he needed to render whatever help he could to his friends. He misty steps into the room to unleash his psionic-powered spells at the Elder Brain.
Declan and Illidan recover as their friends attack the Elder Brain. The barbarian tears himself from the tentacles and begins raining blows upon the monster. Illidan frees up himself from a tentacle and continues to attack the monster.
The power of Declan’s love for Embree combined with the power of the party’s friendship defeats the Elder Brain. As the bulbous brain deflates into a puddle of oozing gray matter, Declan continues to pummel it.
A glow appears in the back of the room to reveal the sinister visage of Orcus, the demon-lord. As the party stares in horror at the arrival of the demon lord, mindflayers begin to teleport into the room to take up their tentacles against the demon.
The party quickly escapes to the room to find the mindflayers’ conversion chamber. Trapped within one of the chambers is the beautiful Embree. Her eyes are closed and she appears to be sleeping. After Azul and Feikiran confer, the wizard figures out how to open up Embree’s chamber. As Embree falls forward, she is swept up into Declan’s embrace. The barbarian looks desperately into her glazed eyes to see signs of life and recognition.
Instead, he finds an empty look in her eyes.
Gileas uses the sending stone to relay a message to Quallux. The mindflayer teleports the group back to Quallux’s chamber.
Quallux informs the group that Embree is in the early stages of being changed into a mindflayer. He places her onto an examination table and extracts a worm-like creature from Embree and then explains to the group that she may have suffered some memory loss.
Embree slowly rises from the examination table. She looks around in confusion at her surroudings. Embree walks over towards the party.
The red-headed woman turns to look at the towering barbarian. In her eyes, there is a faint glint of recognition.
“Do… Do I know you?” Embree asks hesitantly.
With his voice thick with emotion, Declan answers her. “I know you.”
After a touching reunion, Quallux teleports Declan and Embree back to their home in Ten-Towns. Declan’s quest is complete and true love prevails.
As for the rest of the party, after a prickly exchange between Quallux and Illidan, the party is eventually returned back to Luskan.
What new adventures will our heroes find in the pirate city of Luskan?
