Sesson 30-B: Mind Over Matter

Key Plot Developments
Misu, gravely drained by the undead in the hidden tomb, has been saved by Trix. Trix yells for everyone to retreat into the previously explored parts of the tomb. Bezekira, left in the room with the wraith and bodaks, is destroyed.

The wraith, who can phase through stone, emerges to face the party. She claims they, like others, will become part of her collection. The bodaks claw their way up, facing the party; their negative energy auras bombard the living creatures in the small room, knocking Tremble unconscious.

Though the group tries to lock the door to the tomb, the bodaks effectively disintegrate the barrier. The wraith is destroyed by Bogtooth (wielding Ilvara's whip), but the bodaks aren't so easily hindered. Pix intuits what they are: the restless spirits of Topsy and Turvy. Bogtooth, heartbroken, tries to express what Bogteam did in Blingdenstone--bringing together wererat and gnome--but they are beyond words.

Misu decides to sprint past them--back INTO the lower chamber--to get to the now-undefended tomb. Pix destroys a bodak with dissonant whispers; she expresses her empathy and sorrow for their predicament as they fall apart. Wild magic surges throughout the fight (summoning and dismissing flumphs, creating beards made of feathers, turning Trix into a potted plant, turning Nomi's skin violent, and more).

Misu makes it to the tomb and finds the sword: Dawnbringer. Dawnbringer, despite an initially awkward interaction with Misu (hearing her mom's voice, she assumed the holy sword was a fiendish weapon), agrees to slay the undead and restore the light. Dawnbringer obliterates the last bodak.

The sword introduces itself to the group; they tell it that it can help them purify Glyn. Y then informs them that Grazilaxx is coming. The mind flayer teleports in and requests their attendance at his sanctuary on the astral plane. The group agrees. There, Shuushar finds Sloopidoop, his former master! Grazilaxx invites them around a table and explains the Society of Brilliance's origins;


 * Grazilaxx, as a mind flayer, believes that illithid relations with other species are unsustainable. They're feared and despised. They also only get food by enslaving and mind-breaking other races, which muddles the taste of their brains (it's like every single mind tastes the same). He thought there could be a better way, where more species willingly give food to the illithids in a regulated manner.
 * Therefore, he reached out to idiosyncratic representatives of other Underdark races--people of influence--so he could convince them of his vision and gain good will by researching and solving problems for each group.
 * However, his plans were disrupted by the surges of uncontrolled faerzress, wild magic, in the Underdark. He researched it in Gravenhollow, the library beyond space and time, and determined that it was connected to the sudden appearance of demons in the Underdark.

Grazilaxx's plans were further disrupted when some members of the SOB were killed (like Blurg) or somehow cursed (like Giggles) in a way he didn't understand. He believes that Giggles has been mind-broken by the Demon Lord of Deception; he found a small book called 'Old Nick's Book of Tricks,' who contained an ominous poem about the demon's tactics.

Grazilaxx wants to use Dawnbringer to break the curse on Giggles, and is fine with it being used on Glyn. He gives information on Glyn and Anna's movements (he says Skriss, a troglodyte, has been monitoring the situation unseen). Trix wonders if Anna has also been deceived, and that she's either speaking with Nicholas Ice Cream (not the true Dark Prince), or is mad and isn't speaking with any deity.

Grazilaxx needs the goblins' strength to take down Anna and save Giggles. He has spell gems with a weakened version of Mind Blank, which can temporarily immunize the wielder to Anna's charms. They learn that Mantol Derith, the merchant town where Shuushar was initially maddened, is an absolute madhouse/in total chaos. Misu asks why Grazilaxx needs Giggles--beyond loyalty, Giggles was supposed to find evidence of a Time Gate, which Grazilaxx says is a shattered piece of a larger artifact. He believes the full time-traveling device is in a labyrinth to the south of Gracklstugh. The mind flayer explains there are two demon lords in the labyrinth right now: Yeenoghu, lord of the gnolls, and Baphomet, lord of the minotaurs.

New NPCs

 * 1) Sloopidoop, Kuo-Toan Member of the Society of Brilliance

Memorable Quotations
Brysis of Khaem: You will join my honor guard.


 * Dogtooth: Woof!
 * Bogtooth's Goat: [Existence is absurd.]

Flumphs: We have been summoned by a dread sorcerer? We were at a party! Are we in the circles of hell?


 * Brysis of Khaem: You have disturbed my tomb. I shall feast on your soul.
 * Flumphs: We hate this so much!

Bogtooth: Topsy! Turvy! We did it! We fixed everything. The deep gnomes and the wererats--they're okay! Everything's okay now!

Pix: Topsy…or Turvy…it’s unfortunate that I can’t tell which one of you I’m talking to at this point in your life… or your death. But everyone is so sorry for what happened to you. Be at peace. Peace.


 * Tremble: Um, did something happen to Miss Misu?
 * Y: I sure hope not!
 * Trix: Misu went back down for the thing!
 * Y: What a woman!

Trix: Why couldn't I have been a plant again? This all would have been so much more palatable.


 * Dawnbringer: Thank you so much. I have been waiting here for so long.
 * Misu: Anything for a fellow fiend.
 * Dawnbringer: What? No! I am Dawnbringer! The sword of the light!
 * Misu: Okay. I can work with that!

Dawnbringer: Okay! Bet your bottom dollar!


 * Shuushar: Master! What have you been doing all this time!?
 * Sloopidoop: Bloololoololooolloololololoooloolololololooloooo!!
 * Shuushar: Trix, we are in a safe place.

Dawnbringer: Will you wield me with fidelity and honor? With a hatred of the undead and respect for the living?


 * Grazilaxx: Let me put it this way. Bogtooth, what's your favorite food?
 * Bogtooth: I like bugs! And dirt! And dirt in water! And Tappy’s bacon! And that cupcake that one time.
 * Grazilaxx: Bogtooth, that is precisely my point--you appreciate many tastes. Enslaved minds don’t satisfy the palette. It's all one flavor. So, I thought there HAS to be a better way.

Old Nick's Book of Tricks: He comes in the winter, compassion and trust. He dances in spring with your love and your lust. He calls in the summer and serve him you must. He withers in autumn, you save him from dust. Your father, your mother, your lover, your child; his son, his daughter, his minion beguiled.