"We were lying awake or so it seemed
Trying to figure out what was happening
Are we already up from the dream?
Or do we need to wake up again?

Something you see wakes you up from the dream
Wanna go back to sleep but now you're up from the dream

And you have changed in the blink of an eye..."


The rest of the day was consumed with preparations for the battle ahead. Apparently the tieflings and druids had come to blows the previous night, and Zevlor ended up knocked out cold by a swipe from a bear's paw... But, eventually, the shared threat had caused the two parties to come to a shaky agreement. The tieflings, along with Del's group, could stay until the battle as long as they promised to help defend the grove, and then just long enough afterward to lick their wounds and regroup for their respective journeys ahead.

The druids planned to wait for the goblins to attack, then defend from the heart of the grove where they were strongest. The tieflings were already setting up a series of explosives near the entrance to the grove that would hopefully thin the ranks of the attackers. When the raid began, Del's small group of fighters would invade the goblins' own camp while the majority of their forces were distracted in attacking the grove. There, they would rescue Halsin and any other prisoners, and return to hopefully find the battle over and the druids victorious.

In the meantime, the group of tadpoled castaways helped with the preparations. Del, Lae'zel, and Karlach were particularly useful as the strongest of the bunch, carrying barrels and digging holes in the ground to hide explosive charges until their arms and backs begged for a break.

Late in the day, however, the pace of Del's work began to lag. Even after Shadowheart had healed him that morning, he still wasn't feeling his best. At first he thought it was just lingering weakness from Astarion's bite, but as the day progressed, he felt like he was coming down with some sort of illness. His headache from the day of the nautiloid had returned, and he felt alternately hot and cold. He kept wiping sweat from his brow, only for it to be instantly replaced with more.

He tried to push aside his worries, mentioning none of this to his companions, but found himself wondering if their luck in avoiding ceremorphosis was finally running out. He bore his pain in silence, but noticed that his companions seemed to be slowing down as well. They all retired for the night early, shooting suspicious looks at each other, but no one wanted to be the first one to admit that anything out of the ordinary was happening.

No sooner had Del closed his tent flap and collapsed onto his bedroll than he heard the entry open again. He sat up, expecting Astarion or perhaps Gale, but instead laid eyes on the perpetually scowling face of their resident Githyanki.

"Uh, hey, Lae'zel," Del tried to act as if it was totally normal for her to pay him an evening visit. "Is anything the matter?"

"Yes," she hissed. "Can't you see what's happening here? Tendrils squirming in your chest, gripping your heart, piercing your belly... Your bones popping, your flesh swelling? I see it in you and feel it in me. We are lost."

Del looked at Lae'zel more closely. It was true; she looked about as healthy as Del felt. Her face and bare arms shone with swear, and her skin was a paler shade of green than normal.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Del chuckled nervously. "I'm a bit tired, sure, but nothing like what you describe."

"We are lost," Lae'zel repeated. "I will be quick with my blade. First you, then the others, then myself."

"Come on, Lae'zel," Del cajoled, trying to figure out how to stop her without having to start a fight or outright pleading for his life like a coward. "Maybe we've caught a regular cold, or are just exhausted from digging all day. Can you please just... lower the blade before you do something you can't take back?"

"Tsk'va," Laezel swore. "I know exhaustion, and this is not it. But... I do hesitate to end your life before we can be sure. I will wait, for now. If this is ceremorphosis, a few more hours will make it clearly known. But know this: I am watching. If our sickness does not pass come dawn... I will end us all."

With that, she stalked out of Del's tent in agitation, leaving the flap to swing shut behind her.

Del sighed in relief at having avoided the confrontation... at least for now. He hoped against hope that what he'd said to Lae'zel was true, but he couldn't quite manage to convince even himself. If this really was ceremorphosis, it would be too late to prevent it by now. Del wondered if he should leave; escape, find a quiet place to hide away and transform...

But no. He couldn't. The moment a newborn illithid was spawned from his skin, it would fall under the influence of the Absolute. Eldriss had given clear orders not to do anything that could serve the rogue elder brain's purposes. So the only option in that case was death, it seemed. Perhaps better by Lae'zel's hand than his own.

Del didn't want to think about it. He'd accepted the likelihood of his own death a long time ago, whether by the teeth of an illithid or the blade of a competitor in the arena. But he'd hoped it would be quick, coming upon him before he had the chance to contemplate it too deeply. This was something else entirely.

He sighed, head falling limply back onto his lumpy pillow. Del thought he'd have trouble falling asleep after Lae'zel's little visit, but in truth he felt so sick and weary that staying awake was the greater challenge.

Del found himself back in Eldriss's lavishly appointed domicile, lying on a bed of moss as his master sat beside him, their tentacles stroking his sweaty forehead.

I found you just in time, Eldriss crooned. You will not transform, Del. Not while I'm around. I'll protect you.

The illithid shifted to lie down on the bed next to Del, their clawed hand moving to encircle his shoulders. It was a rather intimate position, and one that his master only adopted on nights when they were feeling particularly cold or lonely in the years after they had retired Del from the arena and made him their personal thrall.

Del relaxed and leaned into the sensation of the tentacles stroking his face as his jaw muscles unclenched and his stuttering heart settled into a more normal rhythm. He'd heard of illithids who did more than this with their thralls; those who indulged deviant reproductive desires left over from their humanoid hosts. He had wondered, sometimes, what that would be like... But this touch, this proximity, was more than enough.

"I missed you so much…" he whispered, leaning into his master's side. "I thought you were dead."

Not dead, my boy. Just away, fighting a new battle.

As Del's symptoms waned, whatever passed for his rational mind began to make a return. Wait a second, he wondered to himself, forgetting for a tiny moment that the illithid could hear his thoughts as clearly as if they were words. That was different, earlier. Since when have they ever called me Del? Doubt crept into his mind. Was this real, or was he dreaming? Was this illithid truly his master, or a clever imitation crafted by the Absolute?

He looked up to see that Eldriss's gaze had turned cold, their eyes changing color from blue to a vivid purple as Del watched. The comforting hand on his shoulder suddenly clamped down into a firm grip. Their tentacles separated, revealing a mouth lined with concentric rows of serrated teeth. Del gulped and closed his eyes, wondering what in his internal monologue had been so offensive. This erratic behavior was nothing like his master, but it didn't change the fact that he might be about to end up as their next meal...

And then the dream shifted.

Del realized that he was standing up now, without any memory of rising. He opened his eyes to an utterly bizarre landscape the likes of which he didn't realize his subconscious was capable of creating... which meant that it probably wasn't generated by his mind at all. A collection of boulders ranging in size from pebbles to mountains floated in an astral void, surrounded by swirling galaxies and constellations against an inky black sky. The long spur of stone upon which Del stood looked like nothing more than an obscenely enlarged rib bone, cracked in places and colonized by strange plants like nothing he had ever seen either on the surface or underground.

Well this is... unusual. A silent voice resonated from the void ahead. I sifted through your mind for the best shape to take, but you saw through the illusion almost instantly. I did not mean to frighten you earlier, but I was simply surprised. In your particular case, I suppose my true form will work as well as any.

Del saw a far-off shape approaching in the distance. Squinting into the inky void, he saw that it was simply levitating between the boulders and through the empty space between. As it came closer, Del was able to make out the purple skin, four facial tentacles, and ornate crested robe of an illithid.

"You're not my master," Del confirmed with no small measure of disappointment. "But… you're not with the Absolute either, are you?"

As it landed on the rib-like spur of rock, the illithid gave the mental equivalent of a chuckle.

Far from it. In fact, I am the only thing standing between you and the Absolute. Have you not wondered why you haven't fully transformed yet? Why you are neither an illithid nor a cultist?

Del said nothing, allowing the stranger to pluck the questions from his mind .

I'm not with the Encephalithid, or any other colony for that matter. I consider myself something of a free agent.

Del's surprise must have shown on his face or in his surface thoughts.

Yes, boy, I can do that. Illithids do not need to slave under the tyranny of an elder brain.

Del tried to project images of content and fulfilled illithids with the freedom to pursue their own goals as long as they fell under the umbrella of the Grand Design. The stranger pushed these images aside roughly, leaving Del's head spinning.

Hive mind propaganda. You will cease this.

"I'm sorry… sir?" Del bowed his head respectfully. "How would you like to be addressed?"

You may call me the Emperor, for reasons I will explain at a future time. For now, I come to you with a request.

Del waited patiently, noticing with some concern that his illithid visitor seemed distracted. The Emperor winced, raising a hand to his temple as if to calm a sudden headache, and his tentacles involuntarily flicked back toward a far-off boulder that looked suspiciously like a giant floating skull.

"Is everything all right?"

It is nothing. Now, as I was saying. There is great potential within you, Fidelius. It comes from the parasite. Your instinct is to resist it, to flinch away from the power it gives. But you must embrace it, nurture it. Use its power to fight against the Absolute, and I will prevent it from transforming you while so far away from your home colony. But for the sake of both of us, you must learn to –

"I'll do it." Del said.

The Emperor threw back his head and laughed, his tentacles writhing in hysteria. Oh, this is so much easier than with the others, Del managed to make out through the stream of psionic hilarity. Why didn't I just turn them all into thralls?

Recovering from his laughing fit, the Emperor inspected Del more closely. Del stood still, unable to help an involuntary shiver as he felt the illithid probing deeper into his mind, tracing the shapes of mental scars Del didn't even know he had. At the same time, a tentacle brushed against his forehead, reading the raised lines inscribed into his skin. The psionic seal was inactive now, with Eldriss gone, but the Qualith could still serve as a written warning to any illithid who touched his master's property.

Such subtle work, the Emperor murmured. The City of Loretakers lives up to its reputation. But I prefer my collaborators with a little more... agency. I didn't mean what I said earlier, about turning your friends into thralls.

The Emperor broke the mental contact, or at least the part of it that Del could feel. He knew from experience that the illithid was still reading his thoughts more subtly, and he tried to hide his simmering anxiety.

"I'm sorry I realized you weren't Eldriss," he said to break the silence. "And that I might have offended you earlier. But I can try to use the tadpole's powers more, at least until I get it removed. It's still okay for me to get it taken out later... right?"

Come, sighed the Emperor. Walk with me. The two of them walked – well, one levitated – to the edge of the rib-shaped rock, and then the Emperor floated out beyond it. Del hesitated when he reached the edge, but he felt the Emperor's psionics tugging his body upward, so he steeled himself and stepped out into empty air. Good. You trust me.

Del followed the Emperor past more oddly-shaped boulders until they approached the one shaped like a skull. As they got closer, Del could see that it actually was a skull, though he couldn't begin to fathom what kind of creature could have had such a large head. And the thing was glowing, surrounded by a barrier of flashing lights that pulsed in a multitude of colors. Small humanoid shapes were throwing themselves at the glowing barrier, trying to access the interior of the skull.

This is the battle I fight. A battle for the fate of Faerún, and one I am currently losing. You can help change that, if you embrace your potential. The parasite is a weapon, Del – one you must learn to wield. I will not stop you from investigating methods for its removal, but I must warn you - it will not be easy to rid yourself of this creature.

"Are you the tadpole?" Del asked, hoping that this wasn't another insulting question. "Is that why you don't want it to be removed?

Tadpoles are children, the Emperor said dismissively. They could no more manipulate you than an infant could. But someone has modified these tadpoles... There is a strange magic surrounding them, a magic that slows ceremorphosis but makes their removal nearly impossible. The Absolute is behind this, most likely. It isn't behaving the way a normal elder brain would. Rather than using the tadpoles to reproduce, they have become an agent of control.

He winced again at a particularly intense assault on the skull-rock by multiple glowing figures at once. Some part of him seemed to be in both places at once, speaking to Del and fighting the battle from afar.

We will talk further another night. I must go now; the enemy is closing in. But I am glad to hear you will support my cause. Oh, and Del?

"Yes?"

This is so obvious it goes without saying, but do not tell your companions what I am for now. You have already seen how they react to all things illithid. They couldn't handle the truth.

With that, the – dream? Pocket dimension? Microcosm? - began to dissolve, and Del opened his eyes.

In the morning, all the symptoms of ceremorphosis were gone. Del wasn't exactly well-rested, what with all the murder threats and dream revelations, but it was a dramatic improvement over how he had felt the night before.

Gale was the first to join Del in the central camp clearing, fully dressed and ready for the day. "Good morning! And it truly is a very good morning."

Lae'zel exited her own tent, which was rather distastefully decorated with a practice dummy in the shape of a mind flayer with a spear stuck through it. "I don't see why you're so happy today, considering we all nearly transformed last night."

"But here's the thing," Gale replied. "We didn't. And I was visited in my dreams by someone who claimed she was the reason why."

"I had the strangest dreams last night," Astarion drawled, yawning as he exited his tent. "Sounds like you did too?"

"Me three!" Karlach exclaimed. "I had some mighty strange dreams. This beautiful entity came to me, said it would protect me."

"The Mother Superior came to me and said I was in danger of turning," Shadowheart said. "But she protected me. Except it wasn't really her, was it?"

"Mine wasn't a 'she'," Karlach smirked.

"Neither was mine," Del added, not wanting to go into any further specifics. "But the details match up. He said he was stopping us from transforming."

"Did anyone else catch the second part of our oh-so-convenient dream visitor's discussion?" Lae'zel demanded. "How it wanted us to embrace the tadpole and use our ghaik-given powers ?"

"Doesn't sound half bad to me," Astarion replied. "We need any advantage we can get. At least, as long as using these powers doesn't make us turn into mind flayers any sooner."

"Sounds spooky to me." Karlach shook her head. "I say we don't use them, at least not until we learn more about what we're dealing with. Besides, if we find Halsin today, we may be getting these worms out of our heads soon enough."

Somewhere in the distance, a war horn sounded. Two short notes, and then a long drone that seemed to go on forever. Everyone's heads snapped up in unison.

"Goblins," Del said grimly. "They must be on their way – we'll have to talk later."

The six of them hurried out of camp and met up with the closest band of tieflings for one last check of the plan. As had been determined the previous day, Gale and Karlach stayed behind to fight at long and short distances, respectively, and the remaining four of them slunk out of the grove through a back entrance just as the first round of explosives went off at the front gate.

It was time to hunt some goblins.