Episode 59: A Ribcage Full of Illithids
General Summary
Discovery and Strategy
The far realm cleaners gaze up the spine of the gargantuan skeleton surrounding the cave, identifying a potential route to another level. Nia, suspecting a trap, partners with Lance to investigate. Their scouting reveals numerous mind flayers, equipped with advanced psionic technology, preparing for an ambush along the main skeletal path.
Undeterred, Spark explores the lower level, discovering an alternative route up a skeletal arm bone, which is guarded by a significantly smaller force. The team decides to take this path, setting the stage for their counter-ambush. Nia's tactics prove devastatingly effective, supported by Aginnad's brute strength, leaving the mind flayers barely able to retaliate.
Concerned about being flanked, Aginnad erects a firewall to cover one side, while the group advances up the other. Their coordinated attack, featuring a salvo from Nia, El's prowess, and Lance leveraging his wedding ring's power, swiftly clears the side passage.
Breaching the Main Hall
Facing a well-defended main hall, Lance devises an ambush plan of his own, creating a tunnel through the wall. Aginnad, embodying the force of a hellish entity, breaks through,eliminating a mind flayer. Spark follows, unleashing his new psi-tech rifle, while the mind flayer leader attempts to seal the breach with a grotesque barrier, only for El to forcefully keep it open, allowing her and Bedlam to dispatch more foes amidst a haze of noxious gas.
The Illusion and the Chase
The onslaught disperses numerous lesser mind flayers and unveils the leader's illusion, revealing his true location nearby. Lance's intuition leads them to the hidden enemy. El and Aginnad press the pursuit, with Nia and Lance providing covering fire. El's relentless assault forces the mind flayer to teleport, but not beyond Aginnad's reach, who delivers the final blow, banishing the foe to the far realm.
The Final Revelation
In the aftermath, the group confronts the last remaining threat: a rebellion of Goblins, now grotesquely augmented with extra tentacles, serving under a sapphire mind flayer dragon. The sight underscores the depth of corruption within the cave, signaling a broader conflict that the far realm cleaners must prepare to face.
