The fan of death

We start our story, standing in a corridor looking at a fan, spinning merrily away and blocking our progress. Rusty spends some time asking details about fan orientation, corridor shape, means of support and hub diameter. Then he tries Lightning Bolting the hub of the fan, and we find that this makes it speed up. Noting that speeding it up beyond the materials ability to withstand centripetal acceleration is one option for disabling it, we table that for the future, because we’re afraid of the effects of a disintegrating turbine.

Horus then casts Wall of Force in the path of the blades, which has basically the same effect. The fan explodes, and Horus has to bullet-time Rusty out of the way of a supersonic blade. Unfortunately for Horus, everything happens so fast that nobody but him can see his heroics. Rusty surveys the carnage after everything settles, and says “Missed me!”

The Psionic Forge

The room is huge, the air is filled with the scent of ozone and psionic power. Previously, we didn’t know psionic power had a scent, but now we do. The chamber is filled with alien magic. The floor is covered with dust, which absorbs sound and makes the chamber feel deadened. In the centre of the space is a large cylindrical machine - the Psionic Forge. It is this artifact that allows the Illythids to craft their magical equipment. The cylinder has several openings that appear to be for putting raw materials in, and an output hopper. The Captain is first to the loot chute (of course), and he notes that inside it are a ring, and a circlet.

The Captain grabs the ring and immediately puts it on. What could go wrong? Well, nothing, this time. The Captain is now the proud owner of a Psionic Ring of Mind Shielding.

Rusty finds some notes lying about, and reads them:

Behavioural Study - Phase 1

Recorded by Psionicist Xal’Thun, Overseer of Experimental Observation.

Subject 6-F exhibits a unique feeding pattern, selectively siphoning psionic energy from specific chambers and conduits. It avoids areas of high psychic density, suggesting either caution or an inability to process overwhelming stimuli.

Notably, it lingers in regions where experimental emissions are strongest - particularly near glyph matrices and psionic amplifiers. This behaviour indicates a preference for refined psionic outputs, making it an ideal candidate for passive observation.

Direct interference has been deemed unnecessary at this stage. Instead, we have adjusted the psionic lattice to subtly guide Subject 6-F towards areas of interest. Its movements are predictable enough to allow for controlled exposure to various energy frequencies.

Dennis finds “The Gith Rebellion”. It comes with words and a vision. Apparently the words are as follows:

Surveillance Logs – Cross-Domain Activity

Recorded by Psionicist Velnara, Overseer of Cognitive Manipulation

Subject 48-D’s filament has facilitated covert observation across multiple domains of dread, revealing unexpected adaptability:

1. Mordent Incursion:
   • Deployed to infiltrate the Van Richten Dwelling and is being trained to resist need for blood.
   • Filament harvested 14.7 terahertz of residual necrotic energy from spectral interactions, refining our understanding of Mordent’s ‘haunted lattice’
   • Note: Subject exhibited temporary resistance (23% spike) when exposed to Gryphon Hill’s Apparatus, necessitating a 44.1 kHz compliance pulse.
2. Har’Akir Deployment:
   • Tasked with defeating Set. Filament passively recorded 89% of Har’akirs layout.
   • Energy siphon metrics doubled (0.6 terahertz/day) due to proximity to Ankhtepot’s cursed sarcophagus—suggesting latent psionic resonance with mummified desiccations.
   • Behavioral anomaly: Subject developed a ‘compulsion’ to collect scarab relics, likely triggered by subliminal exposure to Akiri funerary rites. Memory purge recommended post-mission.

Conclusion: Subject 48-D functions as a viable vector for multiversal intelligence gathering. However, domain-specific stimuli (e.g., Mordent’s hauntings, Har’Akir’s solar curses) risk destabilizing the filament’s neural cloaking.

Dr Elaris says to The Captain, “Excellent! You have found the Ring of Mind Shielding! And that is a Cerebral Circlet!” She picks up the circlet. Rusty ends up with it, because as the only psionic party member, he gets double damage and nobody else does.

Horus wanders around the room, inspecting the room’s contents. He finds Psionic Energy Cells, Cerebral Interfaces, Tadpole Incubators, and Psychic Projectors.

Rusty dons the circlet, and as soon as he does he hears scat coming from somewhere in the room. The fact that scat can mean nonsensical jazz music gibberish, as well as animal droppings is pretty appropriate. The noise is coming from the shelves somewhere, and as Rusty scans for it, he sees an eye on the shelf. As he watches, twenty more eyes open up and the jar shatters - a Gibbering Orb bursts free!

Simultaneously, as The Captain is admiring his ring (the new one) he sees a slug come out of it, which burrows into his hand and up his arm. Nobody else notices, and The Captain doesn’t tell anyone.

The Orb of “Dennis can’t hurt me!”

Initiative! Dennis is first, followed by Horus, the Gibbering Orb, Louie, Raymond, The Captain, Gary then Vilgax.

Round 1

Dennis hits it with his Astral Whip. It’s resistant to force damage. It Legendary Actions to evade his first hit. Dennis doesn’t get any crits, and it makes it save vs Stun.

Horus has a go with a firebolt, but misses.

The Gibbering Orb fires a Prismatic Spray at Rusty, Dennis and Horus. Then it Ray of Frosts them. Then it zaps them with something that doesn’t appear to do anything, but Horus backflips backwards for no reason that he can explain.

Louie drops a Moonbeam on the Gibbering Orb. Raymond fails his Wisdom save to act, and moves in a random direction on his turn.

The Captain also fails his WIS save, but rolls better on the d6 and can act normally. He attempts to hide but fails (WHAT? HOW?), so he walks up to the Gibbering Orb and tries to hit it twice with his rapier. He misses both times, despite assistance from Oriana.

Rusty is suspicious that something is up and figures out quickly that he’s stuck in a Forcecage. He attempts to teleport out, but fails the attempt twice. He’s stuck.

Vilgax casts Haste on Horus and Louie.

Round 2

Dennis manages to Shadow Step out of his Forcecage, and starts hitting again. Again it Legendary Actions to evade the first hit. Dennis only gets one more hit (he used his Bonus action to Shadow Step) and while he hits, he doesn’t crit. The Orb saves vs Stun.

Horus casts Guiding Bolt, but misses. Twice. Then he rewinds time for another go and misses again. This things AC may be a bit high for most of us.

The Gibbering Orb attacks Louie, Raymond and Rusty. Rusty is still in a Forcecage, so everything bounces off. It manages a crit on Louie - but Louie’s Rusty-made shield saves the day! This is the only impact Rusty has on the entire fight. It also hits Raymond. Louie and Raymond take necrotic and magic missile damage. Louie maintains concentration, so the Moonbeam is still up.

Louie fails his WIS save, but rolls well on d6, so gets to act normally. He moves the Moonbeam onto the Orb, the hits it in the face. It’s all face.

The Captain makes his WIS save, but misses twice, again. Then the DM makes something weird happen, and he gets another go - critical! The critical hit does thunder damage, which shuts down the Confusion effect for one round. That’s worth remembering.

Rusty concentrates, casts Resistance to give himself an extra d4, and finally makes the save to Misty Step out of the Forcecage. Then Minion pops out of his pocket and waves a screwdriver at the Gibbering Orb, hitting it with Shatter. More Thunder damage! Then he bravely hides behind his forcecage.

Vilgax hits the Gibbering Orb with a psionic blast.

Round 3

Dennis gets the full 5 hits on the Gibbering Orb with his Astral Whip, but still no crits. And it still hasn’t failed a save vs stun.

Horus fires another Guiding Bolt - miss. Then he casts Word of Radiance, which does a little bit of radiant damage. This is apparently the kryptonite to Gibbering Orbs, because it fucking explodes.

Get the Eyes!

Dr Elaris urges us to pick up as many eyes as we can and close their eyelids to prevent them from decaying. Everyone makes their skill rolls and manages to get one each, except Raymond and Dennis who both roll Natural 20s and get 2 each. Where the fuck were those rolls during combat?

Each eye is a one use spell. Dennis gets Ray of Frost and Power Word Stun. Rusty gets Slow. What the others got was only recorded by them.

Then we short rest. During the short rest, Rusty whips something up that he gives to The Captain - it is an Improved Cloak of Billowing

Puzzle of the Vials

The only door out of the chamber, apart from the one we came in through, glows green. Nearby there are 5 vials filled with coloured liquid - red, blue, orange, green and yellow.

Horus picks up the green vial and drinks some, and the door glows more brightly green. The party universally confuses correlation with causation. The green vial refills itself within about 30 seconds. Horus pours the green liquid into a cup, which works, but it will not go from there into his mouth - he can’t drink any more. Dennis tries drinking it, and that is fine. The door gets a bit brighter. So Rusty drinks some too. Brighter again. Louie casts “Purify Food and Drink” on it before drinking, then tries to drink some, but it won’t work for him. It also will not pour onto the door. Horus feeds some to Gary, which works.

We figure out that the other vials won’t refill, unlike the green one. There is much frustration, apparently shared by Ethan, because then the green door opens for no explainable reason.

The party sees a long corridor, and proceeds down it. Horus notices The Captain pull a molar out of his mouth and put it in his pocket. He asks The Captain what he is doing, but The Captain’s Performance to gaslight him is better than Horus’ tenuous grip on sanity, so nothing comes of this.

The corridor exits into a gallery filled with Mind Flayer artworks. The smells of ozone and salt fills the air. Rusty is starting to think that Illythid fart must contain ozone, but why salt? You can’t smell salt unless the humidity is high enough to dissolve some, which means calcium and chlorine ions floating in the air. That’s a horribly corrosive atmosphere - why would you store artworks in an environment where they would degrade within weeks? There is a poster on the wall, predictably weathered. I think Ethan was trying to imply aged, but it could be nearly new and still look like that. If it were older than a year or so, it would be bleached white and falling apart.

Anyway, the poster is of a Mind Flayer in a laboratory. Surrounding the image is writing talking about the “Elder Brain”. The poster is entitled “The Grand Design”, and the title is linked to the symbols and glyphs that adorn the image. Rusty takes the poster off the wall, rolls it up neatly, and eats it.

Further in is a painting of a Mind Flayer in a grocery store. In one hand it holds a cabbage. Around the Mind Flayer are various humanoids, seemingly unaware of the Illythid. There is a brass plaque titling the painting: “Among you they walk - unseen and ever present”.

There is a memory crystal floating about - Dennis grabs it and reads it. “Our vessels once darkened the skies across many worlds. Although few remain, they will be the seed from which our navies will grow again. They are the hope for the future.” The ships in Dennis’ vision disgorge tadpole shaped drones, which fall through the atmosphere and burrow into the soil. “Behold the Norskan Armada. With it we will reconquer the multiverse.” Sure, buddy. No military action with an Armada in it has ever been won by the Armada. Just ask China, or Spain, or Rome.

Horus spots a statue, of a Harendon in a cloak. It’s him, again. Horus snaps - that’s it! He’s sick of being confused about the timeline, and now having to add free will and predestination to the list of things he worries about! The statue has a plaque: “We remember the elder brains loss during the end at the beginning. This is what remains of the rabbit who unmade the future. May we all get through this paradox.”

Nearby there is a book, made of stopwatches. It is locked, and appears to need a specific time and word entered to open. Horus cheeses the guess and gets an Arcane Grimoire.

The door of decay

At the end of the gallery is a door. On its face is an hourglass. Before the door are two columns, one on the right and one on the left. The space before the door is split down the middle - everything on the left is pristine, but everything on the right is decayed.

Over the left column there is a pristine crystal. Over the right column there is a cracked, broken crystal.

Rusty grabs the leftmost crystal, and it duplicates - he now has one pristine crystal in his hand, and there is still one on the left column. Rusty puts the crystal in his hand onto the right column, and the hourglass on the door begins to spin. There is some experimentation, everyone gets bored, and then the door opens. No idea why.

Before the party is a macabre cellar. It is dimly lit, and looks like the place where any sane person would store wine. Instead of shelves loaded with bottles, there are rows of pods - each pod containing a humanoid with the top of its skull removed, so that its brain is exposed.

Standing behind a bar there is a Mind Flayer who says “Ahh, fresh critiques for our vintage cerebrums.” Idiot. The plural of cerebrum is cerebra. Anyway. “Shall we begin with the 92 Elven, or the Glass Coast Reserve?”

We wait a week or two while we decide how to kill this guy.