Velon nods at Lawrance and Morgaine.  Looking to see that the corridor is only about 15ft wide before opening up into the room where Lawrance will drop his spell, Velon asks Poljen, Cratol and Morgaine to hold the line and not let them out of the spell effect area.  Velon will stand a few feet back to support them, casting spells while they hold.  He reminds Cratol "if this works, you don't need to kill them all by yourself, so Dodge or do whatever else you need to do to stay alive, eh?"

Once everyone is in position, Lawrance stands way back of the frontliners and chooses a good center point for his spell, making sure the leading edge of it's dangerous light doesn't touch his friends. With appropriate gestures and powerful words, the greenish light comes into being, illuminating the whole room with it's debilitating aura. 

 Cratol nods at Velon as he gets ready for the next attacks.  He eyes the creatures and wonders just how easy or hard this is going to be.

The moment the fighters appear at the entry to the room, the strange reptilian creatures charge forward en masse, tentacles flailing. There doesn't seem to be much coordination between them, and they ignore Lawrence's spell, though it does seem to impacting them.

They move oddly, shifting from one place to another in an erratic motion. Lawrence can see that there's some sort of illusion effect involved, with the image of each creature slightly off from its true position. In addition, the stink down her becomes overwhelming as they approach, threatening to gag those they get near.

Velon initiative: 8

Velon watches Lawrance's plan unfold and, despite the chaos of their foes, their illusions and the stinking cloud, it seems to be working for the most part.  Seeing a good deal of chaos and burden upon those holding 'the wall', however, Velon decides to move up to within 15ft of them or so to back them up and then unleashes a Fireball.  A fiery dragon's head appears near the cavern ceiling just ahead of Poljen and the team and breaths fire down upon the mass of reptilian enemies.

Fireball:  DEX DC17, 25. (oops, original Fireball damage roll was 30, but I did forget to add sorcerer bonus, so 34 please)

OOC - Right, Initiative...13

Cratol smells the things but he is not worried about them. 

3 for initiative plus add 4 so 7 total

17 for save

The Reptilian creatures pack in closely, trying to rip their way into the defenders as the fireball detonates in their midst.

But only a few of them are able to get at the wall of people at once, and they are unable to bring them down before the radiance renders them incapable of action.

The rest is a simple matter of finishing off be incapacitated creatures. Soon enough the room is quiet again.

"Well that went far better than I expected." Lawrance remarks "Let's check out the room and doors ahead and keep moving." Helping where he can with his font of knowledge and magic, the wizard also examines the dead bodies for hints to their biology and nature. 

Velon gives Lawrance a sincere "well done" as the plan unfolds perfectly, following it up with a few slaps on the shoulder for Poljen, Cratol and Morgain holding the line.

"Now let's see about this door" he says to Mari, Lawrance, and anyone else who might be able to help.

Lawrance finds that the creatures appear to have once been simple troglodytes. They could not be called that now, as they've been heavily altered by some manner of fleshwarping technique. Without a proper autopsy it won't be possible to determine the full extent of the changes, but some things are quite obvious, they're tougher and more muscular for one thing, and then of course there are the tentacles grafted to their backs, which prove to have the same properties as those found on displacer beasts, and were certainly the source of the odd visual shifting effect.

It would appear that these creatures were molded to serve as shock troops, intended to overwhelm threats between the displacement effect and their natural nausea inducing stench while tearing others apart.

Mari steps gingerly over the bodies and up to the door while Lia heals the wounds taken by those on the front line.

It takes several minutes for her to get the door open, during which you can still hear the man you heard before continuing to scream. Whatever is happening to him, it doesn't appear to be ending any time soon.

The rogue trips a trap at one point, but manages to dodge the spears thrusting up from the ground. After getting Poljen to break the things, she gets back to work on the lock and eventually gets it open.

The vault beyond contains nothing in the way of simple valuables. Apparently the illithid do not consider such worth keeping. Instead a number of magical items have been carefully placed on shelves.

It does not take long to find the one you came here for. An exquisite cup made from what appears to be platinum. A small amount of what looks to be clear water lies within. It radiates divine power, even those unattuned to the weave can get some sense of it.

Poljen does his best during the brief fight, then helps slaughter the helpless creatures.  He shows no signs of emotional discomfort as he does so.

Cringing as the screaming hits particularly strident notes, Lawrance suggests they head back the the doors junction and search there, possibly aiding the poor soul in misery if it works out. 

"Unless it's just an illusion of some kind. It's gone on so long - I don't know anyone who could survive being tortured at that continuous degree. Except maybe Pol. "

"Just for peace of mind, we should ship the Cup via Secret Chest and get it somewhere safe before we proceed. In case things go south." Lawrances additonal offers. "It could then be retrieved by Poppo at the Castle and delivered to the Zhents to keep the deal intact."

Yes getting the cup was the main reason now lets continue on to see about ridding this area of these vile mind controlling creatures. 

Velon nods at Lawrance.  "If you can send it to Poppo, that's great.  Can he keep it safe from scrying eyes?"

"Now how to find the brain..."

"Let's check a few more doors down here, then head up" says Velon, pending any more information from those smarter than him such as the wizard or dragon.

Lawrance nods at that "Our vault is extremely we secured against all forms of scrying, as well as trapped beyond belief , if anyone was able to get inside. It should be as safe as possible there. " he brings out the Chest from its ethereal vault and puts the sacred object inside, sending it away for Poppo to retrieve. Once its gone safely, he asks the holder of the Sending Stone to tell Poppo to get it and put it into the castles buried vault.

With your main objective secured, the group presses on, back towards where you have been hearing screaming ever since you came in here.

The other passage takes you to a series of halls with prison cells spaced out. Some of the cells are occupied by despondent figures. Some of them clearly dead, others you're not sure, none of them look to be in good health.

The screaming leads you to what looks to have once been an elaborate torture chamber when this place was still run by the drow. Its current masters seem to have a different use in mind, as all the torturing equipment has been stacked off to the side. Arranged at the center of the room are five tables with restraints. On one of them is a drow man, locked in place.

There is one other figure present. A grey dwarf. He watches the drow struggle with a blank look on his face.

The drow's source of torment is readily apparent as you draw close. His right eye is gone, and wiggling in the eyesocket is the tail end of some small wormlike creature. It currently appears to be digging into the brain.

Velon immediately tells Lawrance and the others to get the worm out as he moves in and tries to swiftly kill the grey dwarf.

Poljen follows Velon's lead and will help slay the grey dwarf, or any others that arrive to stop them.