Merico grimaces and writhes uncomfortably as the spell forces him to admit ‘My patron is the elder brain dwelling at the heart of Ilkalith’s caverns, and it seeks to unify all three of the ancient mind flayer colonies that live in secrecy below you. My goal was to provide passage for a band of illithids to come up into the castle and capture Qualksander, before converting him into a mindwitness to be our powerful servant. From there we would continue our search for the last remaining renegade alhoon; X’iritig The Gray. After he is slain, all illithids will be unified, and they shall seize the minds of mortal men to reclaim their dominance over their forgotten kingdom!’ He gasps for breath as the spell relinquishes control over his speech, and then glares at you, a smirk of annoyance on his face. He growls ‘Tsch - even now you know our plan, it is impossible for you to stop us. We’ve already eliminated the other two rogue illithids scattered across this land, and now that one remains, unification of the colonies is inevitable.’ 

"Or perhaps their extinction..." mutters Silvos.

"And how did they take you as a servant in stead of just eating your brain?"

"Are we sure they did? Have we checked his brain? He might be controlled by an intellect devourer."

Abishai laughs nervously as Merico tells the group of his master's plan. The bard begins to pace back and forth in the room before stating, "We should secure our prisoner properly. The secret Illithid empires are not so secret anymore, thanks to our friend here." Abishai gestures to Merico, "Thanks for that, by the way. Targeting Qualksander was a hell of a risk. One that didn't pay off for you."

Wanting to know more, Abishai prods, "If we were of a mind to hunt down this Alhoon for you, where would we find him?" The bard thinks one less mindflayer would be good for the world.

As Wendel suggests, Merico could be controlled by an intellect devourer, Abishai stops pacing and gives Merico a scrutinizing look, and says to Wendel, "Let's find out, shall we?" He walks up to their defeated foe while swinging his lute around and begins to play a few quick notes while singing, "Abberation, there's nowhere for you to hide. Abberation, today's the day you die." Placing a hand on the warlock, Abishai unleashes the magic of his melody into Merico.