Him

## The Prophet

The Voice of Amoth

**Him**, once known informally as **The Figure** but known as **The Prophet** or **The Voice of Amoth** by the time of The Psion's Night, is an Illithid Alhoon who serves as a semi-protagonist in A Cry in the Dark and main antagonist in The Psion's Night. Much of His history is unknown, by his intention. During His time in the Illithid Hive Mind he was of a particularly high rank, describing himself as an Ulitharid, before becoming an alhoon. Him hated the Illithid Hive Mind, particularly the Elder Brain, seeing it as an abhorrent symbol of the Illithid's fall from grace as the chosen people of Amoth. He assembled The Underparty with the intention of using them to destroy the Elder Brain and stop its planned conquest of the surface world, instead using its force to resurrect Amoth and start The Psion's Night.

# History

## Past

### Mind Flayer Empire

Very little is known about His time in the Illithid Empire. He was apparently an Ulitharid of some distinction, and held a rank with enough autonomy for him to eventually turn against the Hive Mind.

### Amoth's Truth

At some point, some how, Him learned of the Mind Flayer's true origins. That they did not truly come from the Far Realm, but where in actuality the Lesquin, chosen people of the dead primordial Amoth. Following Amoth's death the surviving Lesquin were corrupted by far realm Essence and eventually became the Illithids. As a result of this knowledge, Him secretly became a devout worshipper of Amoth.

### Turn to Alhoonage

Him eventually grew disillusioned with the Hive Mind, likely a result of learning the truth of its origins. Now seeing the Elder Brain as the embodiment of the illithids' corruption, stagnation, and slavery, he secretly began plotting against it. Realizing that only death could relese him from the Hive Mind's clutches, He began working with a lich to become an Alhoon (a mind flayer variant of a lich), in exchange for helping the lich create a powerful artifact.

After becoming an alhoon, He was finally free from the Elder Brain's watchful gaze. Yet this was only the beginning, for He planned to uproot the vary cosmos to restore his god and tear down the Elder Brain's sinful empire.

## A Cry in the Dark

### Assemblage of The Underparty

It was Him, under the guise of a humanoid Figure, who sent letters gathering The Underparty at the Frostmaiden Inn. There he claimed to be operating on behalf of concerned parties in Nerath which had taken note of the opening of the Terrah Pit. As a result of actions taken by Blarg Deaff during the Bloodreaver War, the pit had become a chute straight to the lowest levels of the Underdark and threatened to usher out a Demon invasion if not shut. Supposedly wanting to "not create mass panic", The Figure had selected The Underparty members for their inauspiciousness and lack of local notoriety.

### True Intentions

Once The Underparty had accepted their task, The Figure set out with them to the Terrah Pit. He casually watched as they fought to the lower chamber and slew the invading demons. Then, with the pretense of sealing the pit, He invoked a spell which promptly restrained the party and sent them tumbling down the chute. When The Underparty regained consciousness they were in a cave in the Underdark. Him revealed his true identity and motives, that the party had been assembled based on no one noticing them missing and that their goal was truly to slay the Elder Brain, thus stopping the Illithid Empire's plan to invade the overworld. He knew that they would not have followed him voluntarily and thus had create the charade to bring them here. While they were trapped in the Underdark, Him offered to return them topside when the task was done and as a sign of trust even divulged his True Name (an psionic essence so true that it could only be described as "Him"). With little other recourse The Underparty reluctantly accepted this fate for the time being.

In actuality Him still retained part of his true objective. While indeed he wished the Elder Brain slain, stopping the planned invasion, this was for the purpose to using the Elder Brain's resources with the Rod of Amoth to revive the dead primordial Amoth.

### First Test

Him still needed additional preparations in order before going after the Elder Brain and thus gave The Underparty the task of regrouping with him in Maelbrathyr. This objective was twofold; both giving Him time to prepare and testing if The Underparty was capable of navigating the Underdark's dangers enough to reach their destination. Should they die He would simply need to find a new group more suitable for the ultimate task. The facilitate their travel, Him gave The Underparty an enchanted map of the Upperdark while also keeping a copy of his own to keep track of their location. They then parted ways.

### The Rod of Amoth

Once The Underparty arrived in Maelbrathyr, Him contacted them to meet at his safehouse in the Severed Horn Lodge. Although annoyed at their acquisition of Celeste Alinet, he spared her life under the condition she aid his goals. He then divulged the next stage of their operation: locating the Rod of Amoth. Him claimed the Rod would be necessary to circumvent the Psychic Bulwark that protected Oryndoll and thus the Elder Brain, which was true, but left out his final intention to use the Rod in Amoth's resurrection.

Him had discovered that the Rod had fallen into the possession of Vance Dungrim and was hidden somewhere around Maelbrathyr, but was unable to find its exact location. He was unable to search for the rod himself without provoking the suspicious of the watchful Mind Flayers and instead would use The Underparty, who were unknown to the illithids, for this task.

The Underparty eventually found the Rod in the old prison ruins. However, in order to escape Ordu Dekaan and the Rolling Terrors, Oesis Diety was forced to briefly utilized the Rod. This sent out a powerful psionic pulse akin "to a thousand blazing suns", quickly alerting all mind flayers in the city. Luckily He reached the party first and immediately teleported them out of Maelbrathyr.

### Attack on Oryndoll

With the Rod acquired and The Underparty having proved themselves, the final portion of His plan was set into motion. Masking the Party's presence with the Rod of Amoth, they were able to slip through the Mind Flayer settlement of Ch'chitl and reach its Cenotaph of the Hive Mind. The device linked straight back into Oryndoll, and quickly brought the group to the inner gates. There, above the swelling thrall army of the illithids, they gained entry. Inside one last matter needed to be attended to. The Elder Brain was guarded by Mindwitnesses, powerful creatures which would surely end the assassination attempt. Yet the Mindwitnesses were under the control of the Elder Concord, a cabal of Mind Flayers which administrated the Empire.

Using the Rod to silence and weaken them, Him had The Underparty ambush and slay the Concord. The hurtle dealt with, they descended into the Elder Brain's chamber. As The Underparty did battle with the Encephalithid and its Brain Golems, He focused his efforts in transmitting the Rod of Amoth to shield their minds from psionic oblivion. When the Elder Brain was finally slain, Him finally put his long sought resurrection into action.

### Reviving Amoth

Driving the Rod of Amoth into the dying Elder Brain, Him channeled its power through the collective minds of the Illithid Empire, sacrificing the life force of uncountable thralls into a single thought: Amoth. In a sudden moment, the long dead primordial was reborn under His power. Cataclysmic tendrils of psionic power unfurled through the Underdark, causing it to crumble under the weight of a god's birth. Responding in kind, the city of Oryndoll began to wake up. Rising in the form of a giant mothership up towards the surface.

Out of apparent sentimentality, and keeping somewhat true to his promise, Him offered for the Underparty to join him. They would have a place in the future at his side. Yet as his companions seemed ill-set with the turn of events, He moved to eliminate the potential threat they now posed. But at this moment Araumycos intervened, rescuing The Underparty upon one of its roots. Him, now too busy with the task at hand, decided to leave them to their fate. A much grander purpose was about to consume the world: The Psion's Night.

## The Psion's Night

### His Shadow

Him appears to have grown reclusive since the start of The Psion's Night, directing the events of the apocalypse through his servants, the Scions of Amoth, while interperting the will of Amoth itself. To this end he has become known as The Prophet Him, or The Voice of Amoth. As Amoth's chosen, Him has gained considerable power by channeling his god. He is able to return S'naraxx's deceased essence as I'Llazar and (if rumors are true) prophisize the future.

While the first Araumynauts (The Underparty) would not again encounter him, Him took speciel interest in foiling their plans and sent Scions (particularly S'naraxx) to counter them. When The Afterparty comes to Chernoggar, it becomes apparent that Him is still intent on opposing them, even if he does not personally appear. I'Llazar directly claims to have been sent by The Prophet to undo the machinations of Araumycos, and Aubrolf Glasser claims that the Voice of Amoth is well known by the Black-Chosen to be the leader of their true enemy.

In the epilogue of The Ashen Skies, Him takes congress with the other Scions. He inquires of I'Llazar's encounters with The Afterparty, the status of Oesis Deity in relation to them, and for updates on the Daughter of Amoth.

## Appearance

Him is tall and thin, even for an Illithid. Most Mind Flayers look alive, but being an Alhoon, He is distinguishable by a pale, wrinkled complexion. His skin is dry in comparison to the normal moisture of his kind and veins very pronounced. In addition his eyes are white and emit a faint yellow glow, somewhere between the dead eyes normal for an alhoon and the normal yellow eyes of an illithid. He often wears magical linen wrappings which completely obscure his true nature as an illithid. He wears a wide brimmed conical hat and tattered robes.

By The Psion's Night, Him has gained a slightly altered appearance. His hat and robes remain the same, although the robes have apparently further deteriorated and have a long wisplike trail behind them. He no longer wears concealing linens, but instead has vast wings composed of the same material, capable of wrapping around him to mask his immense psychic presence. Most notably, however, is that He now bears the Rod of Amoth on a chain around his neck. Through its power seven psychic eyes float around Him, three on each wing and the seventh above his head. His eyes have also changed slightly, now being more yellow in nature and sporting three irises in each.

## Abilities

Him is a master of avoiding detection and concealing his presence. His enchanted linens prevent anyone from being able to detect his true nature as an alhoon, even his powerful magic or perceptive ability. When attacked by demons at the Terrah Pit, Him is able to easily manipulate the monsters' minds as so that they do not even notice his presence. He remains undetected in Maelbrathyr for a decent period of time, although he admits that vigilant mind flayer agents would be able to sense him if he is not careful. After acquiring the Rod of Amoth, His power if further accentuated. He is able to shield his presence and that of The Underparty from the Psychic Bulwark of Orydoll. Additionally he is able to counteract The Encephalithid and remain invisible to it while in the same room.

Him is an illithilich, and therefore can be surmised to have the immense necrotic power signature of all liches. However this has never been confirmed as Him has seldom utilized these abilities. It is known that he is functionally immortal and is he shown to be able to cast other high level magics, both fully sealing the bottom chamber of the Terrah Pit and summoning a swarm of spectral arms which entangled The Underparty within seconds. He also maintains a network of teleportation ritual sites across the Underdark, similar to that of Lianmar the Lich.

The most prominent of His abilities are psychic. Being a former ulitharid, Him possesses potent natural psionics. His able to enthrall a number of servants who serve as attendants at his hideouts across the world. With the aid of the Rod of Amoth he can mentally duel The Encephalithid to a standstill and is later able to impose his will across the whole of the illithid hive mind. It is strongly implied that most of His ability to make creatures blind to his presence is psychic in nature.

# Trivia

* It is implied that the lich who helped Him become an Alhoon was Lianmar and the item Him helped create was the Elitin Varguim.