"Good story old man, I liked the man who was not from Gotham the best." A single coin flashed through the air, before vanishing somewhere near the old man's nimble hand. "Do ya know any stories 'bout them bastard Illithids and their mind tricks?"
"of course I do, warrior. I wouldn't be able to sit by this warm and wondrous fire and get old Spider to give me free drinks if I only knew one or two stories, now would I? Speaking of free drinks... Ahem, speaking of free drinks..."
"Heard you the first time, Dugan. Hold your belly, one's coming up." The tavern owner sat with his chair in a corner, the spider tattoo on his cheek dueling with the glow from the fire. He turned to speak as the tavern girl handed a great leather jack to the old man in the favored seat. "what do you know about Illithids, Dugan, were you around when they ruled Megalos?"
" Ah... thank you lass, thank you. Was I around when the ‘Lithids ruled? No, of course not." The old man took a sip, settled back into his chair, scratched the end of his nose and waited for silence. It didn't take long "They were long since driven from the shard when my father was a child, and he sired me at the ripe old age of seventy-two. Remarkable man, my pa, remarkable.
"So anyway, if you want another story about the Mindtwisters, then I suppose I must oblige you, empty pockets or not.
Who did you say was paying for my tale then?" The little bowl that the old man had put out was quickly passed around. Dugan's eyes gleamed as it came back, but he did manage to act disappointed that the bowl wasn't quite full.
He shifted in his seat again, working the chair from side to side, until he was satisfied that it was in the absolutely warmest, most comfortable position possible. Once he was absolutely sure that he had irritated Spider as much as he safely could, he began.
"The Illithid have been gone from the shard for almost four hundred years now. Only the elves and dwarves can claim to have fought them personally, though it was humans who fought against their minds, humans who made the potions that destroyed their powers, and humans who found and used the Godtears against them. I must admit that we had a little help from the Elves, but the Dwarves just sealed their doors and waited things out. Not much help at all.
"When Megalos was still a tiny town called Standing by the Edge, and humans were still wandering around saying yessir to the Elves, the 'Lithids came. They crawled or floated up the sides of the Edge and grabbed our minds, without even so much as a whistle of warning. They walked through the Spellwall without even slowing down, like it wasn't there. There was absolutely no defense against them. Elven and human magic just seemed to bounce off the bastards, that is if somebody actually managed to launch a spell at them. Generally, the Illithids just turned and blasted anyone who even looked at one of them cross-eyed.
"The Illithid have been gone from the shard for almost four hundred years now. Only the elves and dwarves can claim to have fought them personally, though it was humans who fought against their minds, humans who made the potions that destroyed their powers, and humans who found and used the Godtears against them. I must admit that we had a little help from the Elves, but the Dwarves just sealed their doors and waited things out. Not much help at all.
"When Megalos was still a tiny town called Standing by the Edge, and humans were still wandering around saying yessir to the Elves, the 'Lithids came. They crawled or floated up the sides of the Edge and grabbed our minds, without even so much as a whistle of warning. They walked through the Spellwall without even slowing down, like it wasn't there. There was absolutely no defense against them. Elven and human magic just seemed to bounce off the bastards, that is if somebody actually managed to launch a spell at them. Generally, the Illithids just turned and blasted anyone who even looked at one of them cross-eyed.
The Elves never recovered from that, losing so many of their number at once. The rulers of the shard were gone, It was up to us humans after that.
"The things couldn't be stopped, we tried ambushes, but they knew exactly where we were, an invisible man would stand out like a virgin at the house of dreams to them bastards. We tried arrows from horseback, out of range of their powers, but the arrows missed, every blasted time. We hit them with every spell, every weapon, and every lowdown dirty Gnomish and Goblin trick we could think of, but the ‘Lithids just gurgled at us, then blew our brains out of our ears.
"We lost every battle we fought against them, they took over the entire coastline of the shard. They had us in a hold so tight, that it seemed a man couldn't even dream about fighting them in his sleep and get away with it. The only free people at all were in the deserts and mountains far from the edges. The things didn't seem to like going too deep into the shard, they stayed fairly close to the coastline.
"They had limits. We found that out, at least. They had trouble messing with a smart man's mind, and if you tried real hard to think of something else, like Father Dominato's boring speeches, then they couldn't tell what you were really thinking. They couldn't control everyone at once, only five or six people at a time, but they always grabbed the nastiest people and thingies that they could to guard themselves.
"There are two basic types of Illithids. There's the tall, skinny mindflayers that are all long tentacles, except for teeny little eyes and a soft sack to hold their brains and stomach. Them things are the real nasty ones, they could be sitting here in this room, and tell you that Jack Torbin just killed a man behind Mount Megalos. The thing would be right, too. He could even tell you what both of them were thinking about.
"The other kind is dangerous, too. They look like a big giant eye, with lots of little eyes on stubby tentacles. What else can you call a thing like that, but a Beholder. They've got a huge mouth that can easily swallow a man's decapitated head, and lots of sharp teeth to make the separation easier. They bigger they are, the meaner and nastier they are. the biggest one they tell about was as big around as a barrel of beer. These things floated on the air just like soap bubbles do, as if they weighed less than an Ellyon's fart, but it was their mind tricks that was keeping them up. They could squeeze a strong man to death just by looking at him, and they could rip a tree out of the ground by glaring at it. Some of them could play with your brain like the Flayers, but not many.
"I think the Flayers kept them like pets and servants, because they did everything the Flayers told them, even if it killed them. They must have been the 'Lithids idea of a bodyguard.
"After the Monsters took control, things got worse. They did things to people that make Bales look good. Well, for one thing, they made humans into Bales. Bales were sort of like overseers for the Illithids. They needed something that could do magic, because the 'Lithids couldn't, thank god. The 'Lithids took humans and ate them, and made the Bales eat them too, and taught them to like it. But that didn't satisfy their depravity, so they made some humans able to read minds. Some say they did it so the humans could hear each other mind-scream when the Lithids were hungry, to improved the flavor.
"Humans weren't all standing still, of course. The free people in the mountains and hills were desperately looking for some way to take out the Mindtwisters. At first they figured undead was the way to go… A bunch of Necromancers called the followers of Lazarus gave it a go… Used a lot of zombies and golems and such. For while it looked like it was going to work. They didn’t reckon on the Baals.
“Human folk just don’t have the stomach for necromancy but Baals wallow in the stuff. And Baals were working for the Flayers. They wiped out the Lazarites pretty quickly, leaving them broken and toothless. What's worse, they learned from the Lazarites, every damn trick, and used it against us.
"The things couldn't be stopped, we tried ambushes, but they knew exactly where we were, an invisible man would stand out like a virgin at the house of dreams to them bastards. We tried arrows from horseback, out of range of their powers, but the arrows missed, every blasted time. We hit them with every spell, every weapon, and every lowdown dirty Gnomish and Goblin trick we could think of, but the ‘Lithids just gurgled at us, then blew our brains out of our ears.
"We lost every battle we fought against them, they took over the entire coastline of the shard. They had us in a hold so tight, that it seemed a man couldn't even dream about fighting them in his sleep and get away with it. The only free people at all were in the deserts and mountains far from the edges. The things didn't seem to like going too deep into the shard, they stayed fairly close to the coastline.
"They had limits. We found that out, at least. They had trouble messing with a smart man's mind, and if you tried real hard to think of something else, like Father Dominato's boring speeches, then they couldn't tell what you were really thinking. They couldn't control everyone at once, only five or six people at a time, but they always grabbed the nastiest people and thingies that they could to guard themselves.
"There are two basic types of Illithids. There's the tall, skinny mindflayers that are all long tentacles, except for teeny little eyes and a soft sack to hold their brains and stomach. Them things are the real nasty ones, they could be sitting here in this room, and tell you that Jack Torbin just killed a man behind Mount Megalos. The thing would be right, too. He could even tell you what both of them were thinking about.
"The other kind is dangerous, too. They look like a big giant eye, with lots of little eyes on stubby tentacles. What else can you call a thing like that, but a Beholder. They've got a huge mouth that can easily swallow a man's decapitated head, and lots of sharp teeth to make the separation easier. They bigger they are, the meaner and nastier they are. the biggest one they tell about was as big around as a barrel of beer. These things floated on the air just like soap bubbles do, as if they weighed less than an Ellyon's fart, but it was their mind tricks that was keeping them up. They could squeeze a strong man to death just by looking at him, and they could rip a tree out of the ground by glaring at it. Some of them could play with your brain like the Flayers, but not many.
"I think the Flayers kept them like pets and servants, because they did everything the Flayers told them, even if it killed them. They must have been the 'Lithids idea of a bodyguard.
"After the Monsters took control, things got worse. They did things to people that make Bales look good. Well, for one thing, they made humans into Bales. Bales were sort of like overseers for the Illithids. They needed something that could do magic, because the 'Lithids couldn't, thank god. The 'Lithids took humans and ate them, and made the Bales eat them too, and taught them to like it. But that didn't satisfy their depravity, so they made some humans able to read minds. Some say they did it so the humans could hear each other mind-scream when the Lithids were hungry, to improved the flavor.
"Humans weren't all standing still, of course. The free people in the mountains and hills were desperately looking for some way to take out the Mindtwisters. At first they figured undead was the way to go… A bunch of Necromancers called the followers of Lazarus gave it a go… Used a lot of zombies and golems and such. For while it looked like it was going to work. They didn’t reckon on the Baals.
“Human folk just don’t have the stomach for necromancy but Baals wallow in the stuff. And Baals were working for the Flayers. They wiped out the Lazarites pretty quickly, leaving them broken and toothless. What's worse, they learned from the Lazarites, every damn trick, and used it against us.
"Ah thank you my dear, Now see Spider, this lass right here is why I keep coming back."
"Finish the drink and keep on with the story, Dubin."
"All right then"
"Along came Marcus Megalos, and his Brother Augustus, who had led the Lazarites. When the things weren't looking, which wasn't easy, he somehow managed to make off with a few of the humans that the 'Lithids had experimented on. He took the poor things to a hidden cave in the mountains, and raised them as his own kids. These people had mind powers, but nowhere near the strength of the Illithids. But they could hide their thoughts, and managed to spy on and find out some things that could help defeat the monsters. Over the years they discovered the 'Lithids were afraid of Godtear Opals. a clear stone with a layer of another stone inside, like a cats eye. Where most opals make good powerstones, these never seem to take to magic. Someone wearing a Godtear can't be senses by 'Lithids powers, and can't be blasted by a Flayer. A Beholder could still tear him apart with his mind, but it couldn't read your thoughts. They also found out by a lot of trial and error, that a certain mixture of herbs could Give a mind master the shivers something fierce. After that, the bastards couldn't hurt a lame rat with their minds for days afterwards. Can you imagine how they figured that out, trying potion after potion on themselves. God, it makes me hurt all over just to think about it.
"And the surviving Elves came up with something useful, too. I guess that the stuck up Tree lovers do have a few redeeming characteristics. It seems that the Silversteel they make their armor out of was hell for a mindtwister to wear. It gave them awful headaches, and they only had a quarter of their power when they were wearing them." The Elves, wearing Godtears, and hiding in deep forests (where else), made a lot of Silversteel bands, to clamp on legs or tentacles or eyestalks, or whatever. And they hexed a lot of them too. Remember Bold Tom and that hexed blanket?"
"Aye, I remember that, the poor sod almost smothered to death, running out of the candle shop with his pants down and that blanket wrapped around him like he was wearing a giant's turban. He was hollering like it was a leech or something. I helped carry him to The House of Wands."
"They had to get a wizard to disintegrate the thing. Bold Tom wasn't quite so bold with Widow Gillian after that.
"Well, things were coming to a head when Marcus stepped into the picture. He led a band of men who called themselves Nightcrawlers, on account of the sneaky way they liked to fight, against the 'lithids. He, and about two hundred men, using God's tears and Mindshaker Potions, Silversteel and shear obstinate determination, managed to defeat the things that had made a mockery of every army on the shard. He really kicked some 'Lithids Arse! Er, umm... he kicked something in that general area.
"There never were that many Illithid to start with. Only a few hundred were on the shard when the Megalos brothers started the Great Crusade, and they relied way too much on their mind powers. The Flayers couldn't find the small commando legions, because of the Godtears, let alone destroy them. Silversteel arrows weren't stopped by Beholder brain tricks, either, and a little of the Potion on the tip turned the great, big, all-powerful eye into a quivering pudding. Bales turned on the 'Lithids whenever they could. Bales are nasty even to their creators. and then the bales crawled into hidey holes and disappeared. Megalos didn't kill many of those slimy monsters, which was a crying shame.
"The Lithids fought back of course, but now it was them that didn't have any defense. Emperor Megalos drove them off the Edge like a flock of sheep into a dip trough, one by one, kicking and screaming. People were revolting against the things everywhere, and they had made too many of the humans into mindtwisters for them to control everyone at once. It took the Megalos brothers less than two years to rid the shard of an enemy that had ruled it for over a century.
Most of the human mindtwisters were carried off the shard by the Illithids, so we don't have many of those around anymore, thank god. Those bastards worked for the mindlflayers, and liked it. A lot of them got together in the last days and tried to take power for themselves. The knightcrawlers took care of a lot of them. They didn’t have the power of their masters though… They could only control one or two people at a time… The easiest way to take them out was to get a crowd together and stone them.
The city where the last Illithid was driven off the shard was named after Megalos, and for that matter, so was the Shard. The city lived happily for many years after that. That is, until the Dragon Longflames arrived, and we lost Marcus.
"Of course, the right thinking people of the shard made Augustus Megalos the Emperor after that, and his family has ruled ever since.
"But that's another story." The old man looked into his jack
"Hey Spider... this thing must have a leak. It seems to be empty."
"But that's another story." The old man looked into his jack
"Hey Spider... this thing must have a leak. It seems to be empty."
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