Schliss Raiders

AK510-40 Cool Summer End Week 4
[Charon Guiding, Shale Resting, Cycles Watching]

Moonday (afternoon)

They left the temple having showed considerable restraint in face of the vast wealth therein and descended in search of the construct storage levels.
Carraig's heavy foot steps thudded monotonously on the marble staircase.
Up through the darkness drifted three cloaked shapes. Silent as death they came, to feed on the brains of the living.
A trio of Illithids appeared out of the darkness, floating in the open air in the middle of the stairwell. They struck the explorers with a succession of psychic blasts. The alien psionic energy ripped through their conscious thoughts and paralysed their minds, they all staggered back stunned by the mental onslaught.
The illithids signalled to their grimock slaves to ascend from the dark depths and capture the hapless humanoids.
Somehow Ivellios' mind resisted and he managed to retain his will. He called upon the power of Draiocht to thwart the illithids psychic powers.
Before the Mind flayers could react Ivellios' magic had restored his companions. He threw the kellum rod to Tim Tanner. "Tine Time!" he advised.
Tim Tanner grabbed the kellum rod and called upon Croi for the power of the sun. Sunfire drenched the open air where the illithids floated. The sun-fire burned all the more brightly for the power provided by the kellum rod.
The illithids screamed as the burned, their resistance to magic failing them in the face of Tanner's might. One disintegrated in the blaze while the other two were horribly burned. The blackened corpse of the mind flayer plummeted into the depths.
Ethan and Charmer unleashed a volley of arrows which spelt doom for another flayer. It fell: dead and silent, into the gloom.
The desperate flayer lashed out instinctively with another alien mental blast and this time Ivellios' mind was unable to stand the psychic bombardment. The others still under the protection offered by Ivellios' magic shrugged off the assault.
As Ivellios had done only moment's before, Tim Tanner called upon the power of Draiocht to dispel the illithids powers. Ivellios was revived and the magic holding the cloaked figure in the air was broken. The scorched figure screamed Fallen curses in the name of Schliss as it fell.
They listened for the inevitable crack as the body hit the ground far below. It never came.
"The minions of Athru have many black arts at their disposal," quoted the Vedic. "Well see that spawn of Schliss again".
"Looks like his highness knows were here then," observed Ethan.
"Stop yer yapping. I hear something coming," Bob Charmer barked, his keen ears straining. "There!"

A band of grimlocks hurried up the stairs towards them. One of them moved to touch a symbol on the wall. Then they were engulfed in darkness.
"Nobody panic, I've got a light spell," said Ethan. He sang and produced a light from thin air.
He smiled triumphantly before his noticed that his companions weren't that easily impressed. Tough crowd, he thought.
"Watch this!" Ivellios produced the DeDannan schema with a flourish and invoked its power. A mass of writhing black tentacles sprang from the ground around the grimlocks and they were ensnared. The tentacles began to crush their prey. Charmer casually practiced his archery skills on the hapless would-be attackers and struck down a pair of the with a few nonchalant movement of his arms. The Vedic rushed to Ivellios, grabbed the Jester's Sceptre and pointed it at the grimlock's with unexpected vehemence.
"Hah!" he shouted as he lashed out at them with the jester's chaotic magic.
The entire stairwell was instantly covered in a mass of luxuriant thick green grass.
"That's useless!" complained the Vedic.
Ethan was inclined to agree. Pity Appleby and Stuffitt weren't there to see it. They would have loved it.
"Next time," he consoled the cleric.