Ellu'kha and her companions were delving deep below the surface in the Underdark in their search for a safe passage through to Moonrise Towers.
While exploring the Underdark they found notes that mentioned a great Adamantine Forge protected by a molten construct that had been lost to time and history, stumbled upon a village of sentient mushrooms who had recently been attacked by grey dwarves and now sought revenge, and in the village had been a most unexpected thing... a mindflayer who wished to help them.
That night, before continuing their trek through the Underdark, Ellu'kha was awoken by the screams of an animal. Eyes snapping open, she raced to where Scratch and the owlbear cub were and asked what was wrong, who had gotten hurt?
No one had gotten hurt. The owlbear had a nightmare about being back in the goblin camp and being poked at with sharp sticks. Scratch was comforting him. They had grown close and were like brothers. Ellu'kha smiled and gave them both a scratch on the head and convinced them to go back to sleep.
Well rested for the upcoming trek through the Underdark they, and a mushroom person who had joined them for their decimation of the grey dwarves, approached the area where they were supposed to be lurking.
It was quiet. The remains of a shabby old village lay below. A campfire burnt bright. They were here... somewhere.
The grey dwarves leapt out of the shadows and brandished their weapons at Ellu'kha and her people. As they appeared, several corpses were risen and controlled by the dwarves too. They were no match for Ellu'kha and her people though.
As the grey dwarves lay dead, the mushroom-person who had accompanied them rejoiced. Where these dead lay, he would set out roots and grow a new grove and become its sovereign.
However, they could only be one sovereign in a region. Could Ellu'kha remove the other one?
She glared. No. She would not.
Angered, the mushroom turned on her, but they defeated it with ease then returned to the mushroom village to inform them that the grey dwarf rot had been removed.
Amongst the grey dwarf corpses, they also found a nice big greataxe that replaced the one Lae'zel had been wielding for some time now. It was a good find!
Once they had informed sovereign of the grey dwarves defeat, it thanked them... but then mentioned that whilst they had killed the rot, they had not removed the source. Using its telepathic abilities, it sent an image of a drow to Ellu'kha's mind and demanded they kill it.
Once the drow's head was before him, he would know that his grove was safe once more.
Lae'zel was displeased. Of course the sentient mushroom wanted more. But Ellu'kha was more than happy to help. She told the mushroom sovereign that they would do this deed for him.
After trading with the dwarf once more and making sure her husband had arrived back safely, Ellu'kha and her group went back out into the uninhabited regions of the Underdark.
They found an old abandoned camp that had once belonged to some drow. There was no sight of them or any bodies.
Continuing onward, however, they found petrified statues of drow. Some looked terrified. Whatever had caused this?
Suddenly, a giant many-toothed floating eyeball flew out of the darkness and blared a stone-ray from its singular eye. It froze Shadowheart in place instantly but thankfully didn't touch the rest of them.
The eye activated the drow and made them fight for it so they had to defeat both drow and eyeball.
Though they had been surprised by this turn of events, they took down the reanimated drow and eyeball and then restored Shadowheart to her beauitiful fleshly self.
They had to take more care down here. This was nothing like the surface and they weren't accustomed to the dangers that could lurk in the shadows.
With the eyeball dead, they turned its orb into a fancy necklace for Gale to wear with magical pride, and then found a memory shard on one of the drow.
This drow had been searching for the Adamantine Forge just as the others had been. Not only that. He had found the Forge. Ellu'kha focused on the memory shard and drew in the knowledge within so as they, too, could find it and use it. It would truly be a boon!
Further through the Underdark, Ellu'kha stumbled upon something she hadn't expected to see — a mushroom circle. A mode of transportation in the forests. She supposed that with all the mushrooms down in the Underdark that something like this would be an inevitability... but this one appeared just as the ones on the surface.
They stepped inside, curious.
...and emerged back in the swamp hag's swamp.
That was not what Ellu'kha expected but at least they had a quick way back to the Underdark. While they were up here they may as well go back to the goblin village and use the blacksmithing equipment.
Once they were at the forge, they determined that with the blueprints they could make either a greatsword, dagger, or sickle... Ellu'kha decided to make a fine dagger with the materials.
And what a fine dagger it was. Though it didn't deal much damage, it had the handy ability to silence whomever it stabbed. That was a worthy addition to their arsenal.
With the new dagger in her back pocket, they returned to the Underdark and found the wizard's tower that the mindflayer had told them about. No one was home and it looked as though it had been abandoned for some time... but it had very active defences that were only shut down by Gale's lightning damage.
Inside the tower were the mushrooms they required for the mindflayer to create his potion so he could communicate with their strange parasites.
Mushrooms in hand, Ellu'kha raced back to the mindflayer and delivered the ingredients to him. He might not be able to remove the thing, but if he communicated with it... they could learn more about this Absolute.
The potion was made and Ellu'kha drank it down as fast as she could.
It was a painful experience. The parasite twisted and contorted within her mind and tried to bury itself deeper into her skull. She used all of her willpower to overcome the thing, when suddenly it engorged with power and the mindflayer before her cried out in agony.
Her parasite had bested him.
The parasite was unlike any he had ever encountered before, its power was unsettling, he didn't know what to think. He did, however, have a ring that she could wear and it should protect her from any other mindflayers. It was what he was using to remain undetected by his kin.
She felt awkward taking the ring from him if it would make this strangely friendly mindflayer vulnerable, but she took it all the same. It would serve her well.
Until next time! 😊
and are from the game: Baldur's Gate 3