Ellu'kha and her group had strode into a goblin encampment in hopes of finding the druid healer, Halsin, and to take down the leadership of the goblins so that they were in a state of disarray and no longer capable of moving with such strategy and intellect, so the tieflings could move away from the druids safely.
Only... they discovered that there were three leaders, not just one.
They took down one of the leaders, and after the battle they were so exhausted... they set up camp and fell asleep, hoping that no goblins would walk in on them as they regained their strength.
A pain rushed through Ellu'kha's body, writhing, squirming within. Was it the parasite? Lae'zel jumped upon her and brandished a blade. She could feel the squirming painful sensation also and believe it to be the beginning of the end. She could kill Ellu'kha, kill the others, and then kill herself. None of them would become mindflayers.
Ellu'kha shoved her away and convinced her that it wasn't time yet. Sleep. They were exhausted, they needed to rest. Lae'zel lowered her eyes and agreed. For now.
Falling into a restless sleep, Ellu'kha found herself speaking with a strange woman from another realm. Surely that's what she was. She calmly told Ellu'kha that the parasite was causing her to transform... but, she could stop it. She would stop it. She would be there to look out for her, protect her, and make sure that that didn't happen.
The strange woman also told Ellu'kha that she needed to stop fighting the parasite. It was most important that she learned how to wield it's power. All of Faerun was at stake, a battle was ongoing to save the realm, and Ellu'kha needed to harness the power the parasite provided to help them.
Ellu'kha didn't quite understand what was going on, but she felt she could trust this woman. She would do as the woman wanted.
When Ellu'kha awoke, all of her companions seemed lost in their own thoughts. Speaking with each of them, she discovered that they had all shared a similar dream.
Astarion was the only one who seemed willing to use the power of the parasites... and herself, of course. The others were a little more reserved and Lae'zel was very direct with her disgust that Ellu'kha would believe what the dream woman said.
She felt she could trust the dream woman though. It didn't matter what her companions thought, she would do as bade.
There was still the important matter of taking care of the goblin leaders and finding Halsin.
The hobgoblin leader was surrounded by many followers, as was the third leader, a goblin woman. But Ellu'kha spoke with the goblin woman who immediately sensed that she, too, was a True Soul and offered to help her deal with her shadows.
Ellu'kha smiled, thanked her, and asked if they could do this in private...
The goblin woman happily led them off to speak alone... where Ellu'kha turned on her.
That was two leaders down. Only the hobgoblin and his followers remained.
When looting the goblin woman's body though, Ellu'kha heard the dream woman's voice in her mind once more. She told her to consume the parasite. To absorb its potential. To become stronger.
Ellu'kha acquiesced.
It was a highly unpleasant, painful experience. But when it was complete, she did indeed feel a bit stronger. She hoped she wouldn't live to regret trusting the woman from her dreams...
Also on the goblin woman's corpse was a letter referring to Halsin. He was here! The goblins had locked him in the pens. They needed to find him,... and they needed to kill this last goblin leader.
The one surrounded by many followers.
Hopefully they could lure him away too...
When they left the chamber, they were suddenly greeted by screaming. Rushing down the hall to find out what was going on, they stumbled across a man held on a torturing rack with two goblins "interrogating" him.
Ellu'kha quickly tried to persuade the goblins that she had been sent to assist, their work was sloppy, they could leave and she would finish the interrogation, but they didn't believe her... raising her eyes upward, she brought out her bow and shot one in the butt.
The two goblins were easy to take down, then she freed the man from the rack. His name was Liam and he had been with Halsin. He needed to get out of here to warn the druids of these goblins. He then leapt through a hole in the ceiling and raced away.
While she watched Liam disappear, Ellu'kha felt a squirming in her mind. The parasite she had consumed was burrowing its way into an area of her brain she hadn't known existed. New knowledge swept over her and her fingers tingled with a new power.
That could indeed be useful. Especially against a goblin leader surrounded by guards and lackeys.
Strolling back to the hobgoblin's chamber where the big red beast yelled about the Absolute's glory to his followers, Ellu'kha and her people climbed up the ladders and entered the rafters as though they belonged there. No one batted an eye.
Coating her arrows with poison, Ellu'kha aimed for the hobgoblin... and struck true. He leapt up, roared with anger, and the entire room of goblin's flew into action.
It was a terrible battle and Shadowheart fell, briefly, but finally Lae'zel struck the killing blow and the hobgoblin leader lay defeated. Once they cleared out his followers, Ellu'kha leapt down to the corpse, retrieved the parasite, and consumed it.
More power!
With great power came great fatigue, especially after the battle they had just fought. That hobgoblin had been no laughing matter, that was for sure.
Ellu'kha didn't exactly have the most peaceful of rests, however, as she snapped awake in the middle of their rest to find Astarion trying to bite her neck.
He apologised, profusely. He just wanted a nibble. A small sip of blood to strengthen him so he could hunt his more typical prey — a boar or other beast.
She was probably crazy, but she lowered her guard and allowed him a small sip of her blood. Astarion then walked off, happy, and thanked her for the gift. With that over, she at last fell into a peaceful sleep.
When she awoke, however, she felt weak. Now they had to retrieve Halsin from the pens and get the hell out of here... and she was weak. She would think twice before allowing Astarion do that ever again.
After everyone in her camp made their thoughts known about their vampiric friend, they continued through the ruins... fighting every goblin in their path for the murder of their three leaders had made them all hostile.
If all of these goblins were hostile, they were going to have a difficult time getting through to the pens. Ellu'kha wondered if there may be another way out of this ruined temple.
First they went down into the spider pit. Ellu'kha tried to speak with them and convince the spiders to leave them alone, but they were more interested in a feast walking straight into their lair.
THe spiders were easy to squish, though, and after a quick investigation Ellu'kha found a cave.
Unfortunately, it only led to a mass of spider eggs. They very quietly and carefully left the cave so as to not disturb the eggs.
While searching for another possible exit, they came across the bard who had been outside entertaining the goblins, imprisoned in a tiny cage. They swiftly killed his one goblin captor and released him.
He was most grateful for his release and mentioned that he would reward them properly once they were all safe, then he took a sip of an invisibility potion and vanished. That would've been useful. Too bad he didn't seem to have enough to share.
Finally, back where they had lured and killed the goblin woman, they investigated her personal room more intently and discovered a passage further down into the temple.
Once there, Gale's keen perception noticed a lever at the back of the room, which led them to a ladder the descended down, down, down into the crystalline earth.
Going 'down' didn't seem like much of an escape route out of the temple, but they would investigate all the same.
Until next time! 😊
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 