Grom nodded. "Yes, we should go. We can perhaps use divination magic to find out where they are."

Dusk stroked his chin. "I have two spells I could use. One is the scrying spell but I need to be more familiar with the target, really. The other spell will let me conjure some birds for an hour. They can share all they see and hear with me simultaneously while within 1 mile of me - it's great for scouting out places and getting a bird's eye view. But this assumes our quarry could be seen from the air. If they hide in buildings or underground, this would not be useful. There are spells that are better designed for locating creatures but these are not spells I know. My apologies, I am more conjuration, not so much detection."

"Hmm I could cast arcane eye, to scout around, in buildings aswell, but would at least need a general direction to know where to scout."

((Subtle Spell  wish to duplicate the effect of commune ))

Grom hesitates for a split second then makes the decision. "I must consult the elder gods. I was sent here to deal with this threat, so I trust that they will answer." His eyes briefly lose focus as he asks some questions to someone no one else can see.

"Are the illithid we're looking for based above ground? Is their base under ground? Is it on another plane of existence?"

Maerwyn feels relieved to be welcomed by the party positively, it's a graceful feeling when people do not judge her straight from the beginning or try to alienate her out of fear for being hurt. When the men offer her assistance, she keeps observing them. Dusk has a tabby cat cautiously guarding about the companion and an air-elemental, both of these little buddies might be of further advantage. The mechanical badger should be great addition to their party of four underpowered adventurer though she's not yet aware of it's power.

She waits for Grom to complete his ritual then continues to speak, "These creatures do have extraordinary psionic abilities to overpower us, we need to take all type of precautions. And last but not the least, approval from Luric is certainly required."

OOC: omfg, Grom is Raiden. This is brilliant.

"I hope whoever Grom is asking has these answers," Dusk says thoughtfully. "This will give us the place to start. If we know they're in the village then between my flock of familiars spell and your," he looks to Magron, "Arcane Eye spell we should be able to find out where they are. I am not too great in combat myself, I prefer having other things fight for me, but you," he turns to Maerwyn, "seem like a very capable warrior. I'm sure we can face these aberrations if we do find them."

((I knew that would give it away lol I always wanted to play him but never got to high enough level... can't quite be the thunder god with 20 hp))

Quote from ikarbino >>

((Subtle Spell  wish to duplicate the effect of commune ))

Grom hesitates for a split second then makes the decision. "I must consult the elder gods. I was sent here to deal with this threat, so I trust that they will answer." His eyes briefly lose focus as he asks some questions to someone no one else can see.

"Are the illithid we're looking for based above ground? Is their base under ground? Is it on another plane of existence?"

 1. Yes. 2. Yes. 3. No.

Maerwyn listens to Dusk with unwavering attention taking in every words that he uttered while explaining his capabilities. The compliment that she has received earlier from him hasn't been able to surprise her since she'd heard it so many times and it's become a cliché. It's not her arrogance that contributes to this mindset, rather she defines it as the only rational truth. 

They've been trying to get information about the mindflayers from Luric, but it makes her wonder if they were trying hard or not. She casts Charm Person in order to charm Luric into revealing whatever information he has been trying to hide. She's seen whispering some unintelligible foreign words, and making invisible signs using her fingers. A horizontal line, then a vertical line intersects the previous line to form a letter then it is supplemented by a half heart sign, almost forming another letter. (DC 15 Charisma Saving Throw from Luric is required)

Quote from InkedBee >>

Maerwyn listens to Dusk with unwavering attention taking in every words that he uttered while explaining his capabilities. The compliment that she has received earlier from him hasn't been able to surprise her since she'd heard it so many times and it's become a cliché. It's not her arrogance that contributes to this mindset, rather she defines it as the only rational truth. 

They've been trying to get information about the mindflayers from Luric, but it makes her wonder if they were trying hard or not. She casts Charm Person in order to charm Luric into revealing whatever information he has been trying to hide. She's seen whispering some unintelligible foreign words, and making invisible signs using her fingers. A horizontal line, then a vertical line intersects the previous line to form a letter then it is supplemented by a half heart sign, almost forming another letter. (DC 15 Charisma Saving Throw from Luric is required)

 Save: 17.

Grom's eyes focus again. "Well... the good news is that they aren't on another plane of existence. The bad news is, well... I'm being told their base is both above the ground and below it." He shrugged. "Not too much help there." And he had wasted the most powerful spell he had available to him, for the day.

Luric hands everyone a potion of psychic resistance. "You might need this to defend yourself from some of their powers. I hope you will be able to defeat the ones in this city. When they're around for too long, bad things happen."

Dusk takes the potion, "Thank you, I am sure this will come in very useful. If I remember rightly, Illithids attack the mind. I assume this is a potion that helps to defend that?"

He turns to Grom. "It is helpful in knowing that part of their base is, indeed, above ground and extends below it. This confirms that with our scouting we have a good chance of finding the part of the base above ground - which is much easier to find. By knowing it extends below ground we can understand there will likely be restrictive spaces, and we might be able to bottleneck them. It is always advantageous to know beforehand what terrain your battle will be in."

He takes a deep breath, "I am going to go outside now and summon a couple of birds to scout from the air." He nods and does precisely that. He leaves the establishment and once outside chooses an area of the ground. He traces runic symbols in the air as he mutters arcane words and two small circles of green light appear on the ground, with strange arcane glyph-like symbols inside them. After a minute these circles dissolve into a green smoke that forms two hawks. Once formed their eyes briefly glow green as does Dusk's own eyes. The spell, Flock of Familiars now cast, he telepathically commands the conjured fey hawks to take flight and scan everything within 1 mile from the air, relaying all they see to his mind. 

Perception Checks for the Hawks, in case needed. They have +4 Perception, and advantage.

Hawk 1: 13

Hawk 2: 21

Maerwyn lifts the potion of psychic resistance upwards, bringing the tiny vial to eye level she examines the liquid inside it. "Thanks Luric, the potion had better be useful for a critical situation when all other magic items fail"- she gets up from her seat and leaves five gold pieces on the table as a reparation for the careless act she had committed earlier. The broken shards of glass is trampled by her boots when she follows Dusk outside.

She watches Dusk to cast a spell to summon a flock of familiar hawks, what seems like a bunch of fey hawks might come handy for overhead surveillance providing the party with a bird's eye view of their enemies location. She attempts to memorize the physical details of the fey hawks and looks out for any marks that might distinguish them from other non-magical hawks. In fact, she will like to track them till the end so that she can search for the Mindflayers in places that can not be reachable by the hawks. "We meet here just after an hour, precisely"- she whispers to Dusk and the others, then she's seen to vanish before their eyes in the backdrop of dark night with a dash, a closer inspection might reveal her moving at an inhumane speed to get away from the place.

Hunter's Bane Feature is used to track the fey hawks or Undead Mindflayers with Advantage: Wisdom (Survival): 9

Quote from InkedBee >>

Maerwyn lifts the potion of psychic resistance upwards, bringing the tiny vial to eye level she examines the liquid inside it. "Thanks Luric, the potion had better be useful for a critical situation when all other magic items fail"- she gets up from her seat and leaves five gold pieces on the table as a reparation for the careless act she had committed earlier. The broken shards of glass is trampled by her boots when she follows Dusk outside.

She watches Dusk to cast a spell to summon a flock of familiar hawks, what seems like a bunch of fey hawks might come handy for overhead surveillance providing the party with a bird's eye view of their enemies location. She attempts to memorize the physical details of the fey hawks and looks out for any marks that might distinguish them from other non-magical hawks. In fact, she will like to track them till the end so that she can search for the Mindflayers in places that can not be reachable by the hawks. "We meet here just after an hour, precisely"- she whispers to Dusk and the others, then she's seen to vanish before their eyes in the backdrop of dark night with a dash, a closer inspection might reveal her moving at an inhumane speed to get away from the place.

Hunter's Bane Feature is used to track the fey hawks or Undead Mindflayers with Advantage: Wisdom (Survival): 11

 If she is searching lower areas, she sees a few rats that are glowing running in the opposite direction as her. If she is searching higher areas, she can barely see the birds if they aren't hiding out of view.

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

Dusk takes the potion, "Thank you, I am sure this will come in very useful. If I remember rightly, Illithids attack the mind. I assume this is a potion that helps to defend that?"

He turns to Grom. "It is helpful in knowing that part of their base is, indeed, above ground and extends below it. This confirms that with our scouting we have a good chance of finding the part of the base above ground - which is much easier to find. By knowing it extends below ground we can understand there will likely be restrictive spaces, and we might be able to bottleneck them. It is always advantageous to know beforehand what terrain your battle will be in."

He takes a deep breath, "I am going to go outside now and summon a couple of birds to scout from the air." He nods and does precisely that. He leaves the establishment and once outside chooses an area of the ground. He traces runic symbols in the air as he mutters arcane words and two small circles of green light appear on the ground, with strange arcane glyph-like symbols inside them. After a minute these circles dissolve into a green smoke that forms two hawks. Once formed their eyes briefly glow green as does Dusk's own eyes. The spell, Flock of Familiars now cast, he telepathically commands the conjured fey hawks to take flight and scan everything within 1 mile from the air, relaying all they see to his mind. 

Perception Checks for the Hawks, in case needed. They have +4 Perception, and advantage.

Hawk 1: 24

Hawk 2: 19

 They notice an few intellect devourers walking into a dark alleyway.

Dusk telepathically commands one hawk (Hawk 1) to keep following the intellect devourers and has one hawk (Hawk 2) focus on an aerial view between where the party currently is and where the Intellect Devourers are, so he knows what paths and routes to take to get there.

"I have found some of the brain-things Illithids use, scurrying in dark alley." He says aloud. "Can somebody go find and tell Maerwyn? She's run off for reason and I'd rather not wait an hour - my birds with vanish by then."

OOC: I have assumed the others came out with dusk. Also, how far away, as a direct line, is the dark alley? Couple hundred feet? Half a mile? If within 500 ft, would Dusk be able to create an Arcane Gate to there since he'd be able to see it using the hawk's eyes?

Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>

Dusk telepathically commands one hawk (Hawk 1) to keep following the intellect devourers and has one hawk (Hawk 2) focus on an aerial view between where the party currently is and where the Intellect Devourers are, so he knows what paths and routes to take to get there.

"I have found some of the brain-things Illithids use, scurrying in dark alley." He says aloud. "Can somebody go find and tell Maerwyn? She's run off for reason and I'd rather not wait an hour - my birds with vanish by then."

OOC: I have assumed the others came out with dusk. Also, how far away, as a direct line, is the dark alley? Couple hundred feet? Half a mile? If within 500 ft, would Dusk be able to create an Arcane Gate to there since he'd be able to see it using the hawk's eyes?

 *A quarter of a mile. If it was in 500 ft., I would rule that you could do that.*

Hawk 1 notices that the intellect devourers crawl into a hole in a wall in the alley. Suddenly, the hole lights up as a swarm of glowing rats crawl out. Hawk 2 figures out the paths and routes.

"OK," Dusk says also, "I think I fou- What the heck?" Dusk suddenly exclaims, alarmed. "Well, good news everyone. I found a potential entry to their hideout. The bad news, it is now spilling out a swarm of glowing rats. So. Ew. It's too far to make a portal to it, and the teleport spell gets a bit risky if you don't have an anchor-point - it's not a precise means of travel. We may have to go on foot. But, I think I know the best route to get there and it's not far, really. I say we go, I suspect Maerwyn might meet up with us there. I can send the hawks to go find her, if we need to. Everyone ready?"

Grom accepts the potion with thanks, then goes to collect his shield and hat, donning both. "Well done. It's our luck that they were so reckless as to send their minions out openly where we could spot them." Assuming it was not a trap. "I'm sure they'll have sentries or magical sensors about their base, or both. Teleportation may allow us to arrive without warning them, but you're right. Let's walk there and avoid calling attention to ourselves along the way."

Magron takes the potion, "Thanks should be useful", before heading out with the rest. Hearing Dusk's hawks found the place, he walks with the others.

"Ill cast arcane eye when we get close, to have invisible means of scouting it from a bit closer, where was the entrance you were mentioning?" 

When they get close Magron will cast arcane eye, and move the aye into the alleyway and when its clear what is there he will se if he can move it into the hole in the wall, assuming Dusk tells were it is.