Another fun week of D&D with Brian, Cody, David, Dylan (who has returned), Glenn, Henry, and Taylor!

Recap

This week at Alakazam Comics in Irvine, CA, the Game show continues the slaughter of an evil drow cult. We capture the kitchen, find a secret door in the cabinet (while looking for snacks for the pet owlbear), find the librarian’s office, some drow slacking in the reading room, and then enter the main library where we negotiate with the Henlifel brothers.

Summary

Since that attack, various bandits and monsters have squatted in the abandoned temple. Sometime after the mind flayers’ reign, aspiring lore-seekers brought one piece of the shattered obelisk into Talhundereth’s chapel and another into its crypt, hoping that studying the pieces in close proximity might reveal more about the obelisk’s previous powers. That group was twisted by the psychic magic resonating in the crypt. The lore-seekers lost all interest in scholarship and abandoned the fragments.

Cult of the Obelisk

The most recent faction to enter Talhundereth is a gang that calls itself the Cult of the Obelisk. These cultists were drawn to the broken obelisk, responding to a psychic call to serve a greater force. Once Humanoids—such as humans, dwarves, and elves—the cultists embraced the power of the Far Realm and transformed into Humanoid mutates. They believe the obelisk provides them a conduit to an entity from the Far Realm.

A malevolent Aberration called an encephalon cluster never leaves the obelisk’s side. The encephalon cluster occasionally gouts bizarre offspring called gemmules, which the cult members view as progeny of the alien intelligence they worship (and which they treat like vicious pets).

The cultists capture any unsuspecting individuals they find in Talhundereth and feed them to the encephalon cluster as sacrifices to their strange god—if the gemmules don’t eat the captives first.

The Cult of the Obelisk is led by Ontharyx Henlifel. Ontharyx abandoned his family to follow the malign whispers that led him to the obelisk. Ontharyx‘s sons have come with a few retainers to see whether they can talk some sense into their father. These drow are in Talhundereth’s reading room (area T14) and might parlay with the characters.