I’m working on an adventure involving mind flayers.
The party has been tasked by a retired adventurer to track down his party to find out what happened to them. They were investigating disappearances related to a trade route to the north.
A mind flayer splinter colony (in this context, a small colony led by an Ulitharid) has taken control of the small village of Tarna. They have been using the village’s popularity as a trade spot to capture travelers, and either devour their brains or ceremorphosize them.
The entire village has become enthralled, and work to incapacitate travelers and deliver them to their Illithid masters. The mind flayers have constructed a temporary lair in catacombs below the church in the village. After their thrills deposit victims into the catacombs (via a deep shaft under an altar in the church), the villagers set out to destroy any evidence of the travelers, so as to avoid suspicion.
Here’s where I’m struggling: how can I flesh out the mind flayer lair?
I’m already planning on the first room (at the bottom of the shaft) including a trap in the form of a shield of far sight (a mind flayer psion blasts the party with mind blasts until they are all incapacitated). What other fun stuff can I throw in to make the lair more interesting (other than more encounters)?
PS: The ulitharid is working in league with an elder brain that is MILES away, but plans to sever that connection when it’s time for it to become an elder brain.
It plans on becoming an elder brain after increasing its colony’s ranks to a satisfactory number, then moving on to an ideal location much farther below the earth.
And I’m terms of enemies, the players will fight thralls, mind flayers, and possibly the ulitharid (which will try to avoid conflict to ensure it’s survival), but I’m also considering employing a spirit troll, or maybe an oblex.
There's a wide array of NPC stat boxes you could use. I like your spirit troll idea, too. I'm not sure what the odds are of an Illithid Arcanist being involved, but if there is one, maybe have a few zombies (created from the corpses of victims) as well. The zombies wouldn't be heavy hitters, but they could be "trained" to take the assist action so that the real heavy hitters can attack with advantage.
An idea I've been toying around with for a while is the concept of a non human/humanlike humanoid illithid. Nothing says that the process of ceremorphosis cannot be performed on something like, say, an ogre, or a troll, or something. I think it could be interesting if you posted some unusual illithids around the lair, and I already have an 'illithogre' stat block on this site that you can use, though I'm not entirely sure if its completely balanced.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
New idea: these catacombs are currently occupied by three mind flayers, their thralls, and a mindwitness. I’m still doing the trap at the beginning, but what sort of layout would make sense for a small operation like this?
The mind flayers and mindwitness are in direct contact with an ulitharid, who is within two miles of the catacombs, with more thralls and mind flayers working on constructing a new lair.
It’s gonna be one of those things where everyone in town acts totally normal, like nothing is wrong. But a high perception check is going to reveal that everyone in town is watching (staring at) the players when their backs are turned.
I’m gonna lull them into a false sense of security before the entire village attacks en masse, leading them to the church where they will be forced into a pit.
Mind flayers can levitate, right? Adding a few pit traps or ones where the mind flayers would be able to prevent their presumably flightless opponents from easily getting to them would make sense. The flayers might also use monster sentries that can detect invisible creatures or automatically ignore illusions. Grimlocks and dark mantles would fit that description. You might also throw in a few oozes or scavenging monsters that the flayers use to get rid of "garbage."
Howdy!
I’m working on an adventure involving mind flayers.
The party has been tasked by a retired adventurer to track down his party to find out what happened to them. They were investigating disappearances related to a trade route to the north.
A mind flayer splinter colony (in this context, a small colony led by an Ulitharid) has taken control of the small village of Tarna. They have been using the village’s popularity as a trade spot to capture travelers, and either devour their brains or ceremorphosize them.
The entire village has become enthralled, and work to incapacitate travelers and deliver them to their Illithid masters. The mind flayers have constructed a temporary lair in catacombs below the church in the village. After their thrills deposit victims into the catacombs (via a deep shaft under an altar in the church), the villagers set out to destroy any evidence of the travelers, so as to avoid suspicion.
Here’s where I’m struggling: how can I flesh out the mind flayer lair?
I’m already planning on the first room (at the bottom of the shaft) including a trap in the form of a shield of far sight (a mind flayer psion blasts the party with mind blasts until they are all incapacitated). What other fun stuff can I throw in to make the lair more interesting (other than more encounters)?
PS: The ulitharid is working in league with an elder brain that is MILES away, but plans to sever that connection when it’s time for it to become an elder brain.
It plans on becoming an elder brain after increasing its colony’s ranks to a satisfactory number, then moving on to an ideal location much farther below the earth.
And I’m terms of enemies, the players will fight thralls, mind flayers, and possibly the ulitharid (which will try to avoid conflict to ensure it’s survival), but I’m also considering employing a spirit troll, or maybe an oblex.
There's a wide array of NPC stat boxes you could use. I like your spirit troll idea, too. I'm not sure what the odds are of an Illithid Arcanist being involved, but if there is one, maybe have a few zombies (created from the corpses of victims) as well. The zombies wouldn't be heavy hitters, but they could be "trained" to take the assist action so that the real heavy hitters can attack with advantage.
I’m not planning on using an arcanist here, but I do like that idea for a necromancer idea I have.
An idea I've been toying around with for a while is the concept of a non human/humanlike humanoid illithid. Nothing says that the process of ceremorphosis cannot be performed on something like, say, an ogre, or a troll, or something. I think it could be interesting if you posted some unusual illithids around the lair, and I already have an 'illithogre' stat block on this site that you can use, though I'm not entirely sure if its completely balanced.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
New idea: these catacombs are currently occupied by three mind flayers, their thralls, and a mindwitness. I’m still doing the trap at the beginning, but what sort of layout would make sense for a small operation like this?
The mind flayers and mindwitness are in direct contact with an ulitharid, who is within two miles of the catacombs, with more thralls and mind flayers working on constructing a new lair.
It’s gonna be one of those things where everyone in town acts totally normal, like nothing is wrong. But a high perception check is going to reveal that everyone in town is watching (staring at) the players when their backs are turned.
I’m gonna lull them into a false sense of security before the entire village attacks en masse, leading them to the church where they will be forced into a pit.
Mind flayers can levitate, right? Adding a few pit traps or ones where the mind flayers would be able to prevent their presumably flightless opponents from easily getting to them would make sense. The flayers might also use monster sentries that can detect invisible creatures or automatically ignore illusions. Grimlocks and dark mantles would fit that description. You might also throw in a few oozes or scavenging monsters that the flayers use to get rid of "garbage."
Thanks for all the help everybody!