Chapter 4
Quick warning, if you got a weak stomach, stop now.
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The Illithids don`t identify themselves with names. They each have different brain wave patterns that makes them as unique as a snowflake. The two Illithids who claim ownership over the bhaalchild have no names, but for conveniance they are labelled from how they see the demi-god; Catalyst and Inhibitor. Catalyst wants to speed up the transformation, to harness its power for its own gain.
Inhibitor, more wise and patient, wishes to hold back the transformation, to properly study and analyze the potential. The two often had arguments about the human. Illithids did not know of friendship, the only partnership is for mutual benefit.
That is why on the night after the arena fight, Inhibitor sat in his quarters, thinking of ways to assasinate his partner, after all one did not benefit anything if he was dead. Catalyst was too eager to gain more, regardless of the consequence. Althought the gains have come in abundance, the Illithid mused, sipping a glass of Liquid elf brain, the rare surface kind that were near impossible to aquire. He even heard that the central brain, their all sensing leader, has shown interest in his property.
A soft tapping from his door broke his thoughts. A large Orc came in, on its knees and hands, head bowed low. Inhibitor, while known for his wisdom, was also known for his extreme cruelty. " What is it?" a watery voice spoke in the orcs mind, althought he needed no answer. Quickly scanning throught the orcs small mind, he pinpointed the slaves delema. " Fool," inhibitor hissed, throwing his glass at the wall. The Orc cowered in a corner, whimpering, thought the Illithid was floating to the door, ignoring him. He would have to kill his upstart partner, Inhibitor thought as he walked down the corridor, who acted so rashly as to take the prisoner for himself. Inhibitor would have to punish his partner very slowly for this. Perhaps with a hot poker.
Seths eyes fluttered open. He did not know if he was still dreaming, he felt so light headed. The room was a blur around him, but he thought he could see a coat hanger, a sharp iron coat hanger. The thought left his head, to be replaced with fear, then happiness, then a dull pain.
" Gorion, I believe I have overindulged in drink again," Seth said with a childish laught. But Gorion was dead, Seth managed to think, or sleeping, he couldnt remember. A sharp stinging pain made his head hurt, a great big headache. "Ow", he mumbled, " cut that out Boo." He tried to lift his head, but it was fastened down by something.
" Perhaps Im participating in one of Safanas love games," he said, feeling that his appendages were tied down to a table. Once more he tried to remember, a brief image of the woman dead in some bandit camp. The problem is, he thought, is that I cant feel anything. He could turn his head left and right, and caught sight of his hand, fastened down on the table, twitching uncontrolably. " Never mind ale, perhaps I went on one of my old opium trips again", he mumbled. His eyes tried to focus in on a distant table, an object resting on it.
" A wig", he said, " a little bloody, but it has nice black hair on it, kinda familiar." Then he saw the streak of white. " Its mine", Seth said. But thats impossible, he thought, `cause my hairs suppose to be on my head. Then he remembered how bloody the hair was. His eyes widened, fear overcoming any grogginess he had. " By the gods", he screamed, trying to get up. He felt someone press into his mind. " You are awake surfacer," the watery voice said, " I believed for a moment that I had destroyed your mind." An Illithid came into view, its ugly face inches from his. " What have you done to me", Seth screamed, " why can`t I feel my body."
" I have opened your brain," the voice said calmly, " I will meld with it, go deep into it. A pleasant experience. Well, for me. I assume it will be excruciating for you."
" You cannot, please," Seth wimpered.
" Come now, you act like one of your young offsprings, " the nonchalant voice said, "One more adjustment and we`ll begin." The Illithid brings down the metal coat hanger, which on closer expection is more like a metal hook.
" I`ll insert this it into the back of your crannium, to gain access to your nerve center."
" No don`t...", Seth started to say, but all was lost in a wave of blinding pain, as if a thousand knives pierced his spine at once. All he could do was scream. And scream. For what felt like hours, he yelled and cried, trying to crawl away. But he could not move, his muscles no longer responded. He still felt pain, a lot of pain. He stopped screaming, and lay there, completly helpless, sobbing like a child.
" Are you done your whinning," the voice said, " I do not have much time."
" Oh gods, the pain is unbearable," Seth cried out.
" I hope so. There will be much more. I find the mind more easy to break into if it is flooded with pain and terror. And so I introduce my...facilitator, and your torturer. I believe he speaks your tongue, which will get rid of some communication problems."
A yuan-ti slithered into view, its snake face grinning wickedly. " You do not seem to take pain well," it said," too bad, I enjoy breaking humans will. This will hurt, mage, perhaps more than anything in the world." He pulled out a long sharp needle, the tip coated with a brown powder. The yuan-ti passed it over a candle, making it turn red hot. " I know of ten points in the human body were the nerves are the most sensitive. This powder will coat itself into these nerves and send pain signals to your brain. The powder wears off for an hour, so be thankful its not permanent, althought I assume it will hurt considerably."
The yuan-ti burned nine more needles, placing them in front of Seth.
" Please, you can kill this Mind-flayer," Seth whispered, " then we will both be free."
" You think me a slave, foolish human. Nay I do this as a passtime, an artform I like to think of it. You are my canvas, we will make a painting of pain, you and I"
" Just let me go," Seth pleaded, feeling the Illithids tentacles probbing inside his brain. Sweat formed on his forhead as he watched the yuan-ti flash a serrated scalpel, and his eyes widened as it lowered it near his chest.
" Mystra, help me," Seth sobbed.
" And we begin", the voice said, and the Yuan-ti nodded.
And once more came the pain, seering fire that seem to eat inside his body, never relenting. And once again Seth could only scream.
Imoen jerked violently. Keldorn stood by her, catching her before she fell.
" What is it ?", Jaheira asked from across the hall.
" You do not feel it, like a dam about to burst," Imoen said weakly.
" Feel what", asked Keldorn.
" Power", Imoen said simply, " bad power."
Catalyst went throught the Bhaalspawn`s mind like a knife in butter. The pitiful human could not fight back on his own, so completly overwhelmed with pain that all the Illithid felt was terror. Catalyst sifted throught memories, deep sentimental feelings of joy and loss, remeberance and denial. None of these interested him, he would have to go deeper, to find this humans very essence. It found it easily, thought the changes from his last excursions into this mind disturbed him. Instead of the growing black cloud that was the mans being when he first entered, it was now a ball of shifting white and black, each not growing or shrinking, but perfectly balanced. Each colour represented some awesome forces, the Illithid could feel it, and both were very angry. It felt a power whiplash so strong that it send the Illithid flying out of the mind of the bhaalspawn and kept pushing until this powerful force reached the mind-flayers head. And it was lights out.
The Yuan-ti dropped his needle. His canvas had stopped moving, stopped his screams and sobs, and the Yuan-ti feared that he might have killed it. The body had withstood a massive amount of pain, of stabbings and slices, that perhaps the torturer had overestimated this body`s strength. But then the human`s back arched, and a noise wrose from its mouth, like rushing wind. And the Illithid went flying back, its head exploding like a fleshy baloon.
All throught the complex, every creature felt great power course around them like a wave, shattering all the warding glyphs and control spells.
Then came the chaos. Magic gone wild.
Quick warning, if you got a weak stomach, stop now.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Illithids don`t identify themselves with names. They each have different brain wave patterns that makes them as unique as a snowflake. The two Illithids who claim ownership over the bhaalchild have no names, but for conveniance they are labelled from how they see the demi-god; Catalyst and Inhibitor. Catalyst wants to speed up the transformation, to harness its power for its own gain.
Inhibitor, more wise and patient, wishes to hold back the transformation, to properly study and analyze the potential. The two often had arguments about the human. Illithids did not know of friendship, the only partnership is for mutual benefit.
That is why on the night after the arena fight, Inhibitor sat in his quarters, thinking of ways to assasinate his partner, after all one did not benefit anything if he was dead. Catalyst was too eager to gain more, regardless of the consequence. Althought the gains have come in abundance, the Illithid mused, sipping a glass of Liquid elf brain, the rare surface kind that were near impossible to aquire. He even heard that the central brain, their all sensing leader, has shown interest in his property.
A soft tapping from his door broke his thoughts. A large Orc came in, on its knees and hands, head bowed low. Inhibitor, while known for his wisdom, was also known for his extreme cruelty. " What is it?" a watery voice spoke in the orcs mind, althought he needed no answer. Quickly scanning throught the orcs small mind, he pinpointed the slaves delema. " Fool," inhibitor hissed, throwing his glass at the wall. The Orc cowered in a corner, whimpering, thought the Illithid was floating to the door, ignoring him. He would have to kill his upstart partner, Inhibitor thought as he walked down the corridor, who acted so rashly as to take the prisoner for himself. Inhibitor would have to punish his partner very slowly for this. Perhaps with a hot poker.
Seths eyes fluttered open. He did not know if he was still dreaming, he felt so light headed. The room was a blur around him, but he thought he could see a coat hanger, a sharp iron coat hanger. The thought left his head, to be replaced with fear, then happiness, then a dull pain.
" Gorion, I believe I have overindulged in drink again," Seth said with a childish laught. But Gorion was dead, Seth managed to think, or sleeping, he couldnt remember. A sharp stinging pain made his head hurt, a great big headache. "Ow", he mumbled, " cut that out Boo." He tried to lift his head, but it was fastened down by something.
" Perhaps Im participating in one of Safanas love games," he said, feeling that his appendages were tied down to a table. Once more he tried to remember, a brief image of the woman dead in some bandit camp. The problem is, he thought, is that I cant feel anything. He could turn his head left and right, and caught sight of his hand, fastened down on the table, twitching uncontrolably. " Never mind ale, perhaps I went on one of my old opium trips again", he mumbled. His eyes tried to focus in on a distant table, an object resting on it.
" A wig", he said, " a little bloody, but it has nice black hair on it, kinda familiar." Then he saw the streak of white. " Its mine", Seth said. But thats impossible, he thought, `cause my hairs suppose to be on my head. Then he remembered how bloody the hair was. His eyes widened, fear overcoming any grogginess he had. " By the gods", he screamed, trying to get up. He felt someone press into his mind. " You are awake surfacer," the watery voice said, " I believed for a moment that I had destroyed your mind." An Illithid came into view, its ugly face inches from his. " What have you done to me", Seth screamed, " why can`t I feel my body."
" I have opened your brain," the voice said calmly, " I will meld with it, go deep into it. A pleasant experience. Well, for me. I assume it will be excruciating for you."
" You cannot, please," Seth wimpered.
" Come now, you act like one of your young offsprings, " the nonchalant voice said, "One more adjustment and we`ll begin." The Illithid brings down the metal coat hanger, which on closer expection is more like a metal hook.
" I`ll insert this it into the back of your crannium, to gain access to your nerve center."
" No don`t...", Seth started to say, but all was lost in a wave of blinding pain, as if a thousand knives pierced his spine at once. All he could do was scream. And scream. For what felt like hours, he yelled and cried, trying to crawl away. But he could not move, his muscles no longer responded. He still felt pain, a lot of pain. He stopped screaming, and lay there, completly helpless, sobbing like a child.
" Are you done your whinning," the voice said, " I do not have much time."
" Oh gods, the pain is unbearable," Seth cried out.
" I hope so. There will be much more. I find the mind more easy to break into if it is flooded with pain and terror. And so I introduce my...facilitator, and your torturer. I believe he speaks your tongue, which will get rid of some communication problems."
A yuan-ti slithered into view, its snake face grinning wickedly. " You do not seem to take pain well," it said," too bad, I enjoy breaking humans will. This will hurt, mage, perhaps more than anything in the world." He pulled out a long sharp needle, the tip coated with a brown powder. The yuan-ti passed it over a candle, making it turn red hot. " I know of ten points in the human body were the nerves are the most sensitive. This powder will coat itself into these nerves and send pain signals to your brain. The powder wears off for an hour, so be thankful its not permanent, althought I assume it will hurt considerably."
The yuan-ti burned nine more needles, placing them in front of Seth.
" Please, you can kill this Mind-flayer," Seth whispered, " then we will both be free."
" You think me a slave, foolish human. Nay I do this as a passtime, an artform I like to think of it. You are my canvas, we will make a painting of pain, you and I"
" Just let me go," Seth pleaded, feeling the Illithids tentacles probbing inside his brain. Sweat formed on his forhead as he watched the yuan-ti flash a serrated scalpel, and his eyes widened as it lowered it near his chest.
" Mystra, help me," Seth sobbed.
" And we begin", the voice said, and the Yuan-ti nodded.
And once more came the pain, seering fire that seem to eat inside his body, never relenting. And once again Seth could only scream.
Imoen jerked violently. Keldorn stood by her, catching her before she fell.
" What is it ?", Jaheira asked from across the hall.
" You do not feel it, like a dam about to burst," Imoen said weakly.
" Feel what", asked Keldorn.
" Power", Imoen said simply, " bad power."
Catalyst went throught the Bhaalspawn`s mind like a knife in butter. The pitiful human could not fight back on his own, so completly overwhelmed with pain that all the Illithid felt was terror. Catalyst sifted throught memories, deep sentimental feelings of joy and loss, remeberance and denial. None of these interested him, he would have to go deeper, to find this humans very essence. It found it easily, thought the changes from his last excursions into this mind disturbed him. Instead of the growing black cloud that was the mans being when he first entered, it was now a ball of shifting white and black, each not growing or shrinking, but perfectly balanced. Each colour represented some awesome forces, the Illithid could feel it, and both were very angry. It felt a power whiplash so strong that it send the Illithid flying out of the mind of the bhaalspawn and kept pushing until this powerful force reached the mind-flayers head. And it was lights out.
The Yuan-ti dropped his needle. His canvas had stopped moving, stopped his screams and sobs, and the Yuan-ti feared that he might have killed it. The body had withstood a massive amount of pain, of stabbings and slices, that perhaps the torturer had overestimated this body`s strength. But then the human`s back arched, and a noise wrose from its mouth, like rushing wind. And the Illithid went flying back, its head exploding like a fleshy baloon.
All throught the complex, every creature felt great power course around them like a wave, shattering all the warding glyphs and control spells.
Then came the chaos. Magic gone wild.