The Brine Pool
Weeks of secondhand rumors and barside muttering had set Neverwinter into a minor panic. Not that anyone believed there were illithids underneath Castle Never. If they did believe it, Lord Neverember could just say a few platitudes and be done with it, but no. No, Lord Neverember had to hire someone to look into it.
Someone probably should've told the lord that hiring an assassin with no credentials to look into an illithid problem didn't exactly scream "pragmatic" but in the aging lord's defense, he didn't actually hire Artemis directly. He'd hired the Bregan D'aerthe, whose actual leader had sailed to Waterdeep and left a vindictive little monster in charge. At least the vindictive monster took interest in illithids because Artemis didn't actually have a plan for what to do if he came across one of those squid-headed things . Kimmuriel usually had at least the start of a plan in mind before he went and made a move. He also decided to accompany Artemis, which certainly made a lot of things a little less stressful.
The first thought either of them had was to go to the source of the rumors. Castle Never had sat abandoned since Mount Hotenow erupted, but the castle sat uncomfortably close to both the Bluelake District and Protector's Enclave. If the rumors held any water, reclaiming the ruin would prove more dangerous than the city expected, and it already proved itself to be, on some level, unsafe. Kimmuriel and Artemis would be walking right into an illithid hive, a prospect that even Kimmuriel seemed hesitant about.
The dungeon was locked when they arrived, an easily remedied problem. Kimmuriel leveled a hand on the door and glanced down the crumbling hallway they'd come through. His red eyes flicked about like little pinpricks of scarlet light, as if looking for something.
"We're not alone, are we?" Artemis guessed as the lock clicked. Kimmuriel shook his head and nodded to the far corner. Something small and doglike peered around the corner at them. Artemis raised an eyebrow and looked at Kimmuriel.
"A warren nearby is a good sign," Kimmuriel clarified. "Illithids like to keep kobolds like livestock."
"Illithids like to keep everything like livestock," Artemis pulled open the door. Immediately he was hit with a wave of hot air that reeked of rotten fish and offal. Artemis forced back a retch. Kimmuriel turned towards the door, not stopping himself as his lip curled up into a disgusted sneer.
"Is that a good sign?" Artemis asked, even though he knew the answer. Kimmuriel started down the stairs, steadying one hand on the wall. Artemis didn't fully grasp why until he took his first few steps and the heel of one boot skidded out from under him. Kimmuriel spun quickly and halted Artemis in mid-air, lowering him to the next step slowly. Artemis scraped his boot against the stone step, finding it uncharacteristically slick, despite looking dry. With the steep angle the stairs took, the descent was a deathtrap if one didn't walk carefully.
"Steady?" Kimmuriel signed. Artemis nodded. Kimmuriel turned back around and kept moving. Artemis followed, slower this time, and mimicking Kimmuriel's steadying hand until the stone wall gave way to an open room, and the stench became a choking constant, lingering in the air with an uncomfortable weight.
The room, consisting of a few holding cells and a moldering desk, had filled with murky, greenish-brown water, enough that the last few steps had disappeared beneath the water's surface. Two torches inexplicably burned on the walls, though the light had an unsettling green hue. Kimmuriel paused and dipped his boot into the water where the next step ought to be, then lifted it out. He ushered Artemis back, then took a running leap off the last step. For a moment, the drow floated before he slowly sank, knee-deep, into the water.
"The steps stop there," Kimmuriel indicated towards the edge of the water. Artemis felt along the edge with his heel, nodded sagely, and retreated up a few paces. Kimmuriel stepped out of the way and Artemis took a running jump. The second he reached the peak of his jump, he went weightless. Artemis cast a glance across at Kimmuriel. The drow's eyes followed the assassin's slow descent, and he stepped closer with a cocked eyebrow. Artemis felt his feet hit the cobbled floor, and he scraped one boot along the stones. There was no layer of grime or silt.
"This water hasn't been here long," he noted, casting Kimmuriel a look. Kimmuriel looked down at the water, then took a few tentative steps.
"Too much drag," he muttered. "And that rot isn't waste."
Artemis inhaled through his nose, taking in the oppressive stench, "No," he agreed. "There's salt in the air. This is seawater or brine."
"We're near enough to the bay for seawater to be possible," Kimmuriel nodded and cast a glance down the hall. "But if it is illithids, brine would also make sense."
Kimmuriel started out of the room, and Artemis followed. At the edge of the door's torches, Artemis struck up his own, making a note to keep behind his partner and slowly raise the flame.
The brine followed through the next doorway, where the room grew wide and cavernous. The pair stepped in, and Kimmuriel made a strange noise as the brine rose to his waist. He lifted his arms so they wouldn't breach the water's surface and tried to stand taller. Artemis couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Hold on," he said, handing Kimmuriel the torch. The drow squinted at the bright light but accepted the discomfort. Artemis pulled Kimmuriel's hair out of the brine and coiled it into a knot at the back of the drow's head, tying it tightly with a length of leather cord. Some of the brine dripped down Kimmuriel's back and he shuddered. Artemis took the torch and took the lead, tracing the floor with his foot in case another dip in elevation claimed the other half of his companion, and probably most of him.
Artemis paused after a few steps and held his hand still, feeling for water flowing past his hand. Sea currents would've shown them to a breach, but Artemis didn't feel anything.
"There's no current," Artemis whispered, turning to Kimmuriel. "How did it get in?"
Kimmuriel bit his lip. "How will it get out?"
Something, certainly not a current, brushed against Artemis' hand and he retracted it from the water, thinking perhaps he'd touched a fish, or maybe a rat, but finding nothing visible in the water beside him. Kimmuriel quickly looked down at the water and made a face. Gingerly, he took a handful of the water and immediately dropped it the second he saw the contents.
"We need to get out of the water," he said quickly. Artemis stared at Kimmuriel blankly as he rushed past.
"Why?"
"Tadpoles," was all the mortified psionicist offered. A few steps away, Kimmuriel dropped under the surface with a startled yelp. Artemis immediately dove in after him, forgetting the torch or the thing that had brushed his hand. After groping around in the murky water, his hand closed around a slender wrist, and the hand it was attached to gripped his sleeve tightly. Artemis pulled through, drawing Kimmuriel into view. The psionicist kicked at a tendril that had coiled around his leg. It didn't look natural, a slimy, pitch-black appendage that certainly wasn't supposed to be there. Artemis released Kimmuriel's wrist and wrapped an arm around his waist. He flicked his dagger out and drove it into the tendril. The slimy thing shuddered and retracted. Free of the tendril, Artemis kicked off the ground and pulled himself and his companion to the surface. Kimmuriel gasped as they breached fresh air, almost trying to scale Artemis in the process. His eyes were wide, and his head darted around, looking for something he couldn't see.
Artemis blinked, slowly processing that he could still see Kimmuriel clearly, despite the torch going out when he dove under. Kimmuriel's eyes no longer showed their infrared glow, for the room was filling with an eerie green light.
The brine, topped with an iridescent sheen, glowed, only overpowered by the now-extinguished torch flame. In the depths of what was once opaque murk, thousands of little blackish creatures swam about, wiggling pathetically in the water. Every time a pair crossed paths, there was an altercation, and the larger creature swam on, having well devoured its smaller opponent.
"Tadpoles," Kimmuriel repeated, gasping for air. "This is a breeding pool and we need to get out of it."
The clarification wasn't necessary, Artemis started walking, trying not to trip as Kimmuriel gripped his arm for dear life. The floor started to rise, and Artemis was happy to finally step onto dry stone, not the least because Kimmuriel stopped holding onto him.
"You didn't get any in you right?" Artemis glanced down at the psionicist. Kimmuriel shook his head, but his gaze had turned to the darkness. He took several steps back, holding a hand out to keep Artemis away.
" Haszakkin ," he whispered with a horrified reverence. He wasn't addressing Artemis, but he vaguely remembered the word: illithid, mind flayer, exactly the last word he wanted to leave Kimmuriel's mouth.
The creature stepped into the dim light as if the word were its cue to reveal itself. Artemis exhaled slowly, trying to keep his breathing steady.
The illithid moved slowly, each step methodical and quiet. The crown of its head pulsed along raised cartilage ridges that encircled its skull cavity. With the flaring of the nostrils on either side of its mouth, the effect rendered the domed head fluid. It watched the pair with cold white eyes, a barely visible milky gray pupil tracing between them. As it drew closer, it reached out one bony hand, its long fingers hooking under Kimmuriel's chin and lifting it. The hand on Artemis' chest trembled, nails digging into the boiled leather of his armor as if the psionicist's instinct was to grab at loose fabric. It hadn't really occurred to Artemis that Kimmuriel, often so fascinated by illithids, might be just as afraid of them as Artemis.
The illithid's other hand reached for Artemis, and he flicked out his dagger before it got too close, holding the tip against the illithid's narrow palm. He had an idea of how slimy and cold the thing's flesh felt, and he had no desire to feel it.
The creature gurgled, as if laughing, and retracted both hands.
Kimmuriel gave a shallow, respectful bow and edged towards another doorway, pulling Artemis along by the collar. The illithid drifted into the doorframe, and Kimmuriel startled back. Artemis looked between each potential doorway, then the pool they'd just emerged from. Neither seemed all that appealing to him at the moment, especially as dread mounted in his gut.
"You look...familiar," the creature spoke, the tentacles covering its mouth shifting slowly, uncurling delicately. Its voice gurgled and choked. "Yes. Familiar. A delicate little thing like you. I have seen you before."
The illithid reached out to touch Kimmuriel again, and Artemis swiped forwards. He swung the dagger up through the creature's hand. Kimmuriel jumped back, his grip tightening on Artemis' collar. The creature, on the other hand, didn't seem to care.
It didn't even flinch.
Artemis felt his hand trembling, and he gripped the hilt of his dagger tighter to hide it. Some part of him couldn't even muster the strength to draw life from the creature. Mulling on it only made him very certain he didn't want to do that at all. The illithid slowly lifted its hand from the blade and looked at the wound.
"And him." Its milky eyes turned to Artemis now. Pressure seeped into Artemis' mind, urging him still, but he gritted his teeth and fought past it. "Willful, for something so lesser." The creature narrowed its eyes. "Artemis...and...Ah, Oblodra, I see. One of K'yorl's brood."
Kimmuriel pushed Artemis back a few paces, towards another door. His face had gone pale, his hand's tremor had become constant, violent.
"Are you trying to leave? Little drow?" The creature grabbed Kimmuriel by the jaw and pulled him forwards. "I think not. You come as guests, so I insist, you stay."
Artemis felt a chill run down his spine, and he turned back.
"Kimmuriel," he breathed, and the psionicist whimpered.
There were at least ten of them, all closing in slowly from every possible doorway, and over the brine pool.
"Please tell me you have a plan," Artemis said. Kimmuriel started to turn his head back, but it was pulled back forwards. His hand moved from Artemis' collar to grip his hand. On instinct, Artemis closed his fingers around Kimmuriel's hand, holding it tightly.
"Indeed, I am curious." The illithid's tentacles traced lines on Kimmuriel's cheeks. "How will you get out of this one, little drow?"
A/N: This short came out of the entire premise of "Artemis is afraid of illithids and Kimmuriel studies them so let's just stick them in the middle of an illithid colony and see what happens."
Also the sheer nope factor I assign to illithids is a testament to how much I never want one near me, ever.
-Salt