Chapter 12 : Mindflayers

Rejoined, we have have followed the Ice Giants and now enter the Mindflayers' Lair

#### Mindflayer

When we look back – from where this wave of whatever came – we see a mindflayer standing there. Hender had just made his way across the rope (well, almost), but now, as soon as he gets out of the water, he charges back again across the Ladder of Lordly Might and attacks the mindflayer. As we've seen before, after a few hits it disappeared into thin air leaving us behind in a slightly bewildered state of mind (well, Hender for sure, for the rest of us, well can you be stunned and bewildered at the same time?) Our first stop was the corridor to the right where we had seen the prisoners being brought to – we quickly discovered they were all mindless, and even the lowered platform did not spark any interest. Clearly, these had already been had by some Flayers.

A few minutes later, we were going in the direction we had seen the one surviving Frost Giant run away. On the next intersection we took a right turn to find ourselves looking into a large roundish room with a set of big fountains in the center. It was a large fountain surrounded by six small ones. Despite being quite a big cave, and even from this distance away, we smelled a musty oldish odor coming out of the room. But also we saw a dozen or more flayers floating and walking around in the room, clearly at their leisure as we might be strolling in a park or so. We immediately went back the other way. At the next two intersections we also heard the sound of fountains coming from the right, the curving corridor was taking us in a wide arc around the living-cave of the flayers. Somewhere halfway the circuit we saw a door in the left side of the corridor.

#### Breaking and Entering

The door led into a short corridor that ended at the foot of a short, wide flight of stairs. At the top were two massive doors, that looked quite old and in somewhat bad shape. Opening the doors brought quite some noise with them scraping across the floors. We could see this passage was rather well traveled. But as soon as we were all inside the room, Rufus cried out 'Attention!', and we saw him engaging a couple of strange, four-legged creatures that looked much like a walking set of brains. Terrak, who was closest at that moment, engaged, but then made room for Tinder to step in. He and Rufus together were much better able to deal with this situation. There were only four of them, and although the front two went down easily, the other two held their ground for a bit longer. In the meantime, Juneeka was looking out for anybody following us here, while Drew checked out behind the curtain on the opposite wall. When he peeked behind it, he could see into the next room. It was large and circular with eight statues on pedestals and three doors in the wall behind them. Curiously, all statues had hands and feet smashed off. But only a short moment later, he saw again a mindflayer coming in through the middle of the three doors. While Drew waited for an opportunity to strike, we all felt again that wave coming over us. This time, fortunately only Juneeka was affected. Also, Rufus had just finished the last of those brain-beasts. As it fell down, I asked Juneeka if there was any sign if pursuit, but when she didn't answer I warned the rest “We've just lost Juneeka”, and I took her task of keeping an eye on the corridor. A short minute later, however, also Drew and Hender were stunned, and I shouldered away Drew to get into position to shoot some arrows at this mindfucker.

It took me some time to find the bastard, and before I could I noticed Rufus coming up at the other end of the entrance. Apparently he had the better viewpoint, because he started shooting right away. We heard something striking home, then being smashed against the wall and falling down. At the same time, however, everything went dark. I could think of only one thing to do – press forward. So I made my way along the wall into the room. I tried to act as if I was trying to avoid being seen, because at some point I must emerge from the darkness and might be an easy target. When I did, however, there was no sign of the flayer – this was another one of those games of hide and seek, with lots of hide. Shortly after, also Rufus came stumbling into sight, with an arrow already drawn.

In a minute or so, also the rest recovered from the stun and joined us in the large room with the statues. We decided the middle door would be a good choice, and went for it. Somewhere in the middle of the room, we stopped for a moment so I could listen for signs of pursuit or other troubles, but only heard the soft sounds of my party around me. But when we came nearer to the door, we all heard a voice in our heads demanding “Why are you in my house?” The voice seemed to want an answer, so Drew ventured “Well, to seek a jug,” and I blurted “which is part of the Well of Many Worlds.” The answer sounded annoyed “Why do you come looking for it here?”, and I said “well, because we knew no other place to go looking.” This time, the answer sounded final “You are fools to think you can find it here, and you will die.”

#### A string of luck

After a very short deliberation, we decided that going back would be at least as dangerous as going forward – so forward it should be! I checked the door carefully, found no traps and the two locks proved no match for my skills. Behind was a storage room full of expensive stuff. While Drew and Juneeka pilfered some stuff, I was listening on the far door. This lead to a small study. Two things caught the eye – a large golden skull hanging from a chain in the middle, and a desk littered with paper and scrolls to the side. From here, I could see no traps, and Drew could only see that the Skull as well as several of the scrolls were magic, so he went in to investigate. A wave of despair washed over him, but he managed to shrug it off. He cleared all the paperwork off the desk and took it. While he tried to spot any magic inside the desk, he noticed the wall opposite the entrance radiating magic too.

When I saw Drew studying the wall, I wanted to go help him. I must have had a premonition when I asked Tinder to stop me when I would try to get away because the despair that hadn't affected Drew, set me running. Luckily it wore off when Drew put the Skull in his Bag of Holding. The magic turned out to be a Trap – unfortunately I got distracted by a group flayers sending a message to us halfway the job. So instead of disarming, I set it off. When the blast cleared, I found a secret door and fortunately also how to open it. But before I did open it, I heard breaking and crushing noises somewhere from the left – inside the wall! The only conclusion could be that the party that had been chasing us – or something else going in the same direction, was digging its way straight through the ice. We quickly went through the secret door and when we closed it Drew cast a hold portal on it. At the bottom of the staircase behind it, we found a well-stocked alchemist's laboratory and beyond another study, but this one with more magical and alchemist's material and equipment in cupboards all around the room. Through my best efforts we quickly found out there were absolutely no secret doors in this room. Meanwhile, Juneeka and Drew had collected all scrolls and papers and useful magical items as well (1).

Rufus and Hender had taken position at the entrance of the second cave, the study, and signaled us that several flayers were now coming down the stairs. At the same time we again noticed the digging sounds and realized these had become very loud, in fact we could feel the vibrations in the floor already! While the flayers poured down the stairs and marched through the laboratory, one of the side walls (right-side from our vantage point) caved in and several figures came stomping in. The front-most wore chain mail and a frock over it. We quickly recognized the style and colors of the Order of Samui (not quite a surprise, though we hadn't seen any of them in a while). The flayers recovered fast, but as they turned towards this new threat, another of the Samui figures stepped in with raised hand. It looked as if this blocked something that the flayers were doing, or tried to do. They looked a bit puzzled – perhaps even worried – as more soldiers came forward and a fight started. We decided that, for now, we would best sit tight. No chance to get past this cave filled with fighting men (and flayers) anyway. What was more, the flayers seemed to be outnumbered, and if the Samui people would win, they would not know we were here. So, after the fighting, we would have a much better chance of getting somewhere (far away and safe, hopefully).

#### **The Order of Samui**

But on second thoughts, we want (most likely) the same as what the Samui want, so it would not hurt to appear to be on their side - besides by our own we are having a tough time with these mindflayers. So, fighting alongside the Samui people for now seems like the best option. The fighting, meanwhile is already heavy, but the four Samui spell-casters are following an effective strategy; one of them seems to be blocking the mind-control of the Flayers, the others cast their own forms of mayhem.

Rufus, Hender and Juneeka join the melee and each pick their choice of mindflayers to sink their teeth in. Even with the twenty or so Samui soldiers, the flayers are nasty opponents, and one found an opportunity to strike Rufus and lodge onto his head with its tentacles. Luckily it could be killed before much damage was done. Meanwhile, one of the Samui spell-casters had erected a stone wall through the cave, precisely cutting of all the Mindflayers from them and us – except for the two we had just killed. Their commander quickly interrogates us, and seems to be seeking some reassurance that we might not be the party of adventurers he had been warned of. We told him we had been taken by the frost giants and we'd been able to get free again before being enslaved. He thought it odd we still had our gear, but when we didn't offer much of an explanation there, he didn't push but instead said that we had to hurry up.

They went into the study room, where Druw and I had been searching for a secret door. Humiliatingly, it took their mage less than a minute to locate one and open it – it seemed to melt out of the wall. A party of them, including the commander and two of the spellcasters (the other two were still busy blocking out the flayers), went into the corridor, but they left two guards to keep us out. We didn't feel it was quite the time yet to confront them, so we waited. In a very short while they came out, the commander carrying three scrolls and one of the mages a handful of potion flasks. He (the commander) said, you can stay or follow, but we have to be quick. We cannot hold them back much longer. When I asked if they found what they had come for, he said, no but we did find an important clue. With that, we marched out of the roughly cut corridor in the ice to emerge from the chasm that holds Pinnacle's small harbor. While the last people were filing out of the flayers' alchemist's lab, we heard the wall collapsing and the sounds of battle starting again. This was abruptly cut off by the sound of earth (or ice) falling down.

A party of the Samui soldiers filed out onto the gangway that runs along the inside of the chasm down to the harbor and swiftly secured three of the small boats. The commander once more asks us 'You can come with us if you must, but we have to leave now'. We hesitated for a moment. We could go back into the city, and hope to do some more searches under cover of the confusion while it lasted. But their really didn't seem to be so much confusion right now, and we would miss this clue the commander mentioned. So, quite simply, we got into the boats with them and let ourselves be rowed back out of Pinnacle. 2

#### Back to base-camp

Out of the boats, the soldiers quickly filed up in three rows and marched after their commander and the spell-casters in the lead. Nobody seemed to care what we would choose to do, so we simply joined their files. While walking, we shortly discussed amongst ourselves and thought they would most likely join their main force. We struck up a conversation with a few of the soldiers – who mostly seemed to be decent enough chaps and most were willing to talk. We learned the name of their captain, and that they indeed would be getting back to base camp tomorrow. That meant one night camping in the snow in the open, which the soldiers were not too happy about. The soldiers also head heard that their search was not quite done, but that they did now have some important new clues.

The camp was made with the silent efficiency of well trained and experienced soldiers. Each found their own place in a hollow in the landscape to avoid discovery from afar, and no fires were made. The only shelter against cold were the thick cloaks and sitting (or lying) close together in one big group. We decided staying till tomorrow was too risky. Someone in the base camp might well recognize us from Hafan, and we would be outnumbered even worse. Also, they would quite likely have more spell-casters there and might well reach out and capture the Timble magically, by teleportation or something similar.

#### Midnight Rumble

So the best time to strike is now. We decide that I could try and steal the map from the commander, and then we would make a quick escape under cover of Druw's Harp which would likely also throw off their pursuit for a while. A few hours before dawn, well before we would strike camp but after we could get some rest and Druw and Juneeka could study their spells, I sneaked past the sleeping soldiers and found my way to the captain. Remembering where I had seen him put the scrolls under his cloak or chain mail, I made my way around him. I carefully slit his cloak to gain access. Unfortunately, they were not where I had hoped; so I had to dig deeper. I must have triggered something, because suddenly he was moving in his sleep. Moving quietly with him I could avoid alerting him. Next, I managed to get my hand under his chain and felt the scrolls, but then he suddenly woke up and immediately started turning away from me. I moved with him and in the same motion brought my dagger to his throat.

'No movement, no sound' I whispered in his ear. When he seemed to comply, I whispered 'where is it'? He pretended not to understand. 'Give it!' I hissed softly, and he again feigned ignorance. Then I said 'give me the map', and triggered him – he tried to move away, and I pushed and sliced at his throat with my dagger. Amazingly, the blade glanced off of something, maybe a corner of his chain, or the collar of his fur cloak. He immediately called out for help, and the guards took up the call of alarm. With my other hand, I grabbed at the documents, and tried to pull them free from under his chain. But he got me first, grabbed my arm with one hand and caught me with his other arm as well. We started struggling, he to crush me, and me to get free of his grip.

Meanwhile, the others had clearly understood something was going not according to plan. Everybody sprung into action. I saw Rufus from the corner of my eye touching his rod to the captains back, but nothing seemed to happen. Most of the other melee was far out of my vision, though I did hear a lot of things going on. The clash of an axe suggested the activity of Hender, and I though I also heard the familiar blast of Juneeka's Flamestrike somewhere. But, they later told me, we were getting a bad beating here, so we needed to shift our tactics. Rufus grabbed hold of the captain who was still struggling to keep me pinned and was very slowly crushing me. As he put his swords to the captain's neck he called 'Yield!'. Some of them stopped fighting, but the three fighting Druw still took him down a few meters away. I took the opportunity to carefully put my fingers around the scrolls – it felt like I found them. Then the captain said 'Stop fighting!'. Juneeka could Heal Druw. Rufus pulled the captain off of me, and while that happened I managed to pull out the papers unnoticed. We slowly backed out of the camp, and like the good soldiers they are, they obeyed the last order to stop fighting. As planned, we went out under cover of Drew's magical music, silent, invisible and leaving no traces behind us. But with a party with several spell-casters chasing you can never be too careful. At a safe distance, we frisked and bound the captain, and we started going through the maps. It turned out to be of the area to the north of here, indicating a town of sorts by the name of Roshok.

It seemed our journey is not quite at an end. We still have to decide what to do with the captain – it seems beyond us now to keep the knowledge of this map from the Samui party. The map is so simple that a long glance would suffice to memorize it – and besides we've seen the captain and several of his spell-casters discussing the map in quite some detail. It seems far to much to hope they had not yet realized its meaning. Aside from the map, we also found several letters or sheets of text written in what appears to be Frost Giant language – but we cannot make anything of it.

1. Strange, I've noticed, what often happens to otherwise well-respected magic users of many different ways (clerics, mages, druids), when they encounter any items that might be linked to their craft – suddenly they seem to loose all perspective of propriety and property
2. I remember the words of the ferry man when we asked how people usually got back out of Pinnacle – he said they usually don't...