The Necromancer's Pact VIII: The Rising Tide

[Dr._Bob]

The two torches provide enough light to see each other's faces clearly.

For perhaps the first time, the drow's calm countenance twists into an expression of ... is it annoyance, or perhaps truly fear? A moment later, he composes his features again.

"It would take too much time for me to explain in words ..."

The drow closes his eyes and sends images to Yix, which the pseudodragon in turn relays to the others nearby.

You perceive through your mind's eye an enormous fish-like, amphibian aberration with three eyes set in the midline, burning with unnatural cunning and intelligence. The creature has three horrific, pulsating orifices set along the bottom of its smooth belly. It has several writhing tentacles and secretes a rancid, nauseating slime.

The beast is depicted in the gray-green shades of darkvision. The aboleth is at least as large as the fell troll you battled just yesterday.

Trinark adds words to his thought-picture, "The aboleth has ... (what is your word for it?) ... psionic powers that can break one's mind and bend it to the aboleth's will, and its touch dissolves flesh. No doubt our friends have succumbed to its illusions."

You receive a new image, one of a drow child wading out into a shallow pool of water, reaching for a glittering bauble. Suddenly the child is grabbed by a slimy tentacle, his skin immediately turning translucent as it begins to dissolve. He opens his mouth to scream only to choke on a thick mucus that fills his lungs, suffocating him to death ...

"And even worse, it is possible that we may be dealing with a brood of aboleths, not just one ..."

The telepathic images and words fade from your minds, replaced by the plaintive cries of the lost girl ...


OOC: The cries are coming from downstream. The cavern itself is enormous, however, and between Trinark and Adalmar, you are likely to be able to find a path through the stalagmite forest that avoids the stream.