Dread of Dyrrn

Dread of Dyrrn is a book discovered in the Fomorian Citadel of Moorcrown within the Feywild.

## Description

Actions ancient and recent are discussed within the Dread of Dyrrn, detailing the actions of the being known as the Corruptor and the Foul Labyrinth. Cults aplenty have served Dyrrn over the years, but few that know that name can stave off the visage of the illithids which whom he most frequently is associated. The text has been written by at least a dozen different hands - some formal and scholarly, others more haggard and of beldame proclivity, suggesting documentation over many years, decades and centuries.

## Research

### Completed by Ragmond McDougall

*Dyrrn the Corruptor is thought to have not always existed within the Plane of Existence upon which Ahlus resides, but rather breached through where the deepest depths of the Underdark blend with the infinite layers of the Abyss. While those that dwell on the surface may not have noticed his arrival, it was felt through all aspects of the Underdark, as detailed within records kept by all those with intelligence enough to do - drow and duergar plagued in trance and dream alike by pervasive thoughts that prompted fortification and bolstering of armies, hobgoblins, orcs and bugbears alike driven to the surface in trepidation (and in doing so finding a great number of conflicts with the newly-formed surface Realms, eventually unifying under the banner of the Black Hand), and the more fathomless and uncommon monstrosities shifting and awakening from the gloom. The greatest threat came from the sudden and immediate unification of every known ithillid colony in Ahlus towards a common goal - servitude. Elder Brains that had served as bastions of mindflayer hiveminds now transformed to mere beacons and conduits for his own whims - and with it all connected to them slave to the will of the corruptor. It is reported that some ithillids were pardoned this fate, rogues exiles for use of arcane magics instead of psionic arts, but even they in time found themselves drawn in, bringing with them all manner of thralls, servants and minions of their own. While the entirety of the Underdark held its breath on the edge of the coming storm, it did not arrive - for instead Dyrrn and his servants descending once more into the deepest reachs of the Lowerdark, finding conflict with the Aboleths allied with the Cold Devourer in the immemorial city of Uxxans.*

*Not all escaped the unseen conflict, for even in passing the Corruptor's presence warped some realities into madness. Seeking to bolster his strength and provide new thralls for his servants, he took the denizens of the Underdark and reshaped them as per his delights. Hobgoblins, proud and strong were stripped of eye and flesh, granted new vision through ciliated touch and aberrant life. With goblins, he molded them with the ease of a potter and clay, binding two bodies as one, creating beings with four armed limbs and two slathering, gibbering mouths set into a bulbous, headless torso. Bugbears were stripped of their fur, savage hooked claws bound in place of prying fingers, and flesh bound within symbiotic armour of organic scale, chitin and flesh. It is not just physical attributes that the Foul Labyrinth warps, though, for the extent of his maddening presence extends far beyond even this. Manipulating the greed of duergar to reform them into creatures of utmost avarice, malice and rapacity, he created the Neogi, guided now only by their desire to consume and control, most labouring beneath the being Valaara, the Wormkeeper. Drow were stripped of their pride, reshaped into beings near so hollow and devoid of presence that they are said to more readily exist within the Ethereal Plane than the Material. Living weapons, coiled flesh granted existance for singular purposes - assassination, destruction, domination subterfuge. This has always been the greatest weapon within the domain of the Foul Labyrinth, for nothing, save perhaps a Divine Wish or other similarly powerful being, has been proven to undo this immutable transfiguration - not even spells as potent or costly as True Polymorph.*

*This talent for control and influence garnered the attention of the Hunter in the Ephialtes, and, sensing the pull of the Cinder Star's influence, Dyrrn separated his mind from his flesh - leaving the physical form devoid of most of his abilities, though fearsome nonetheless. A connection existed between the pair, Mind and Flesh, but without both the full extent of his powers could be utilised and so his servants, through use of Slaad scouting parties scoured the surface of Ahlus until they uncovered the location of the Great Seal of Ahlus that contained him. Spurned by previous rivalries with the Glorious Eye, Dyrrn lured her first and favourite daughter Magnhild Juniperspawn into a trap, transforming her into a child from one of her memories - a boy from Festertarn called Trele. In doing so, he locked away her knowledge, implanting the boy's memories as her own - before sealing her away deep in the earth. Now his illithid servants and slaad thralls continue to scour the Underdark and surface alike - although their new quarry is unknown.*