View source for Field Report: Izlude's Torment Infiltration

'''[Xanalress]:''' 

"To defeat an illi'hadone has to emulate its cognition, and communication is the key."

"Striving to hold co-conspirators close, holding close to the foe is of far greater importance."

|Location|: Mind's Eye/Izlude's Torment Second Colony

|Date|: approx. 06:00-10:00, day 11 month 6 187AR 

|Agents|: Vulgrva'ti& Fturrh'ln'egga'trg

|Objective|: infiltrate the illi'hadcolony, conduct reconnaissance, establish connection with the elder brain and gather intel. 

|Execution|: insertion via the Burning Shores portal -> Abulán's domain -> lowerdark proper. 

Facing no significant resistance continued north-west through the caverns to reach the Mind's Eye. 

Encountered and eliminated illi'hadand thrall patrol there. 

Forced entry to the colony via the trap set up in the center of Mind's Eye (ironically, more of a vulnerability) and swiftly dispatched the darkeners inside;

Vulgrva'tiwent on to breach the communion first, while I stayed behind to search the first level.

Concealed, I ghosted through the winding biomechanical bowels of the colony, reconnoitering, logging their forces and equipment. 

Still unseen, gained access to all 4 psionic resonators and mapped them to my brain patterns before joining Vulgrva'ti(who by that point had cleared much of the second level) below.

Regrouped we surged the communion chamber and executed the ulitharid with its retinue.

When the area was secured and with necessary preparations done, I slipped into the horrid dreamspace using the communion chamber's bioware interface to establish psionic link with the foe's cranial centrum. 

After conducting psionic recon we left the colony via the communion level portal.

'''[Deep Speech]:''' 

|Connection|: as metal kissed flesh and pernicious currents surged through my body, I allowed the massive psionic assault to take hold, leaning into the peril.

Trusting Profit to destroy me, if necessary to avoid the thralldom, I let it to wash over my senses, as it struggled to devour my self. 

All in order to gain the entry into the cranial centri core. 

For a breath it was sterile and silent, then the world peeled away as I fell inward.

After the initial interference collapsed into a steady carrier, the perilous fortress of glistening braided lobes and vascular ramparts spilled open, revealed to the mind's eye in a wet light, pulsing and spewing hostile ideas in bilious ropes.

Vast cerebral archives of harvested memories sprawled behind the gravely psionic surges, each a slick, throbbing vessel of pillaged thoughts.

My presence was noted, and it unleashed an abhorrent fractal swarms of parasitic, self-replicating memes, writhing, ravenous to take hold and subsume.

With the psionic resonators mapped, it was possible to dodge the obvious countermeasures, slipping inbetwixt the caustic, obsessive ropes of foe's cognition.

Threading deeper into its viscous dream, clinging onto paranoia, balancing on the brink of obsession, a welcomed overflowing sensation was felt as information from a memory cache assaulted my consciousness. 

However, anything pertaining to its actual strategy, plans, thoughts remained woefully out of reach, apparently stored within the self-replicating parasitic memes of mindflayer dominance themselves. 

Instead, I was exposed to a surge of phonetic larvae and tonal topologies, morphological grafts and semantic spores, unvoiced, unworded, unshaped knowledge seeping into my brain as a virus. 

The less obvious countermeasure suddenly became apparent: cranial centrum dispensed an ancillary boon (temporary language proficiencies) as a bribe to send an annoying intruder away.

With my mind linguistically violated, realizing that one can only know its plan by becoming a enthralled part of it, I launched a psionic assault of my own in desperation.

?ave after wave, my attacked chipped off its will, though, seemingly to little effect.

Having established the futility of further assault this time, I severed the connection, before the flurry of bilious ropes closed on me.

Even though I failed to achieve a substantial breakthrough, I still dare to hope that my actions that cycle made Matron Mother proud.

'''[Xanalress]:''' 

|Observations|: - no unusual activity within the colony itself so far;

- currently no indications of abnormal increase in thrall force;

- scrying device seemingly unusable;

- clay guarded within the abhorrent sanctum may, in fact, indicate a resource shortage.

|Outcome|: limited success.

- Reconnoitered the colony;

- Culled foe's forces to a limited extent;

- Terminated the current ulitharid;

- Despite establishing the perilous psionic link with foe's brain, were unable to gain insights into the specifics of its plans, or past communication logs;

- Instead, counter-intuitively, attained an increased level of proficiency within the linguistic field;

|Conclusion|: no abnormal activity discovered within the colony currently, will continue the surveillance.

        Day 27, Month 6 (Kythorn), 187 AR

        <nowiki>''Fturrh'ln'egga'trg Claddath''</nowiki>
[[Category:180-189 AR]]
[[Category:Reports & Records]]
[[Category:Andunor]]