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Previously on Call from the Deep

Starring:
Gotwald Ironhorn, level 11 minotaur Rune Knight Fighter
Mac, level 11 tortle Drakewarden Ranger/Rogue
Savra Akkedis, level 11 lizardfolk School of Necromancy Wizard
Torrel, level 11 kenku Fathomless Warlock Pact of the Amulet/Fighter

As the party enters the coastal Temple of Tentacles in Purple Rocks, the kraken priests, led by Deep Lord Ingrimaar, are in the midst of a ritual.

In the middle of the domed temple lies an ominous hole. A bound man is shoved into the pit, dropping down the water slide and disappearing into darkness.

Holding an exquisite magic staff, Ingrimmar then pronounces a traitor among them, accusing Frannis of conspiring against the Fathomless, and orders the other priests to shove him over next.

Torrel steps up, calling out this ritual as a dangerous pervasion of the Fathomless. It’s a priest-off!

Torrel wins the contested CHA check, and the people begin to question, looking at the kenku with confusion and curiosity.

A telepathic voice screams, “YOU!” Torrel tries to cast silence on the room, but Ingrimaar absorbs the spell into their staff, and orders the priests to attack these intruders, instantly recognizing them as enemies of the Kraken Society Colony of Zellix’Phor!

One of the priests casts Evard’s black tentacles, but the party wriggles out of its grasp.

Mac turns invisible using his new Ranger power Nature’s Veil, runs along the wall using his Ranger climb speed, and grabs the staff using his superior athletics. It’s a Staff of the Magi!

Ingrimaar does not respond well to the staff disappearing from their clutches. “ENOUGH,” the telepathic voice screams, and the gaunt priest reveals their true form: the mind flayer Thilliosk, last seen in Berranzo Mines!

How long as Thilliosk been posing as the priest? How deep does the Colony’s control extend?

Thilliosk blasts half the party with mind blast, but most make the save using their abilities (save for poor Mac, who would spend the rest of the battle stunned).

Gotwald charges forward to snatch a priest, pick them up, and drop them into the pit, while Frannis scrambles out of the way.

Savra summons a powerful reaper spirit to hunt the priests and strike with necrotic attacks.

Torrel lies down his own Evard’s black tentacles, grabbing Thilliosk and a priest. It’s a tentacle-off!

call from the deep temple of tentacles

While most of the rocklanders flee, two others remain out of loyalty, or perhaps some sort of brain-washing, transforming into deep scions. 

One of them explodes onto mac with nasty claw strikes, while the other is trapped in Torrel’s tentacles.

Frannis takes out the loose scion, while Gotwald hurls a javelin of lightning at the mind flayer, then takes out his anchor axe, and buries it in the alien’s head.

Frannis notes that the scions, who are still alive, appear to have been altered psychically. Indeed, the party recall the mind-altering and conditioning that created a serial killer subservient to the mind flayer in the Styes. Maybe with time their minds will be restored.

The other priests were slain, though, leaving Frannis the sole authority in the village.

The priest is shocked over Ingrimaar’s reveal. He recalls that Slarkrethel once had a mind flayer attendant that helped rule over Ascarle, his lair, long ago. But these mind flayers appear far more in control, taunting that they hold the leash to the Fathomless himself, which Frannis finds incredulous.

He begs the party to travel to Ascarle and purge whatever control these creatures have established from their god. 

He knows of a possible route — an old crumbling tower further up the coast, with an abandoned, subterranean shrine. He’s learned from older texts and rumors that the shrine is also a secret route to the dungeons of Ascarle, parts of which should be magically protected from the water.

The party short rests and examines the staff. Savra is elated at finding the staff mentioned by Hoch Miraz way back in Session 12, claiming the legendary magic item for herself.

Frannis opts to stay behind to lead his people in these uncertain times, and asks the party not to kill anyone, if they can help it. He’s unsure how deep the mind flayer’s control has been, but has witnessed his people acting more extreme and desperate.

The party heads out toward the crumbling tower ruins. After an hour of travel, they spot a gathering of over a dozen rocklanders on a cliff’s edge. They’re passing a few wriggling bundles to several scions, who approach the edge of the cliff.

The party realizes they’re about to hurl young babies off the cliff.

MVPC – Mac

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