Page 221 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

influence. The order was run until recently by its founder, Sir It was only later that, upon Albaric’s insistence, Sir Jeremy

Jeremy Costineux, a high-level cleric of St. Cuthbert. Although made the society less formal, more open, and less closely
his aged body is now too frail to lead his knights in battle, Sir aligned with his own church hierarchy. In the time since,
Jeremy’s mind remains as sharp as ever. bards, druids, rangers, sorcerers, and wizards, as well as mem-
The society was born thirty years ago when a group of mind bers of the psionic classes, have joined the society in greater
flayers that lived under the mountains near Sir Jeremy’s small numbers. This diversity of talent and viewpoints strengthens

home village attacked the town in a “brain raid.” Every living the group in its ongoing crusade.

man, woman, and child that was not killed by the illithids or Feeling that the society needed a strong battlefield com-
their mind-controlled thralls was captured and taken deep mander to succeed, Sir Jeremy recently resigned his post and
named Albaric as his replacement.
underground.
CHAPTER 9 THE ABERRATION HUNTER Jeremy (his knighthood would come later) was already a Albaric hopes to expand the ranks of the society even further
by offering the order’s special training in combating psionics-
devoted adventuring cleric in service to St. Cuthbert. The
using creatures to all members of the group, not just to the
journeys he and his compatriots took to vanquish evil and
humans, as was Sir Jeremy’s practice. He has also promoted
chaos led them far from home. The attack on his home village
occurred while Jeremy and his allies were hundreds of miles
away, helping a druid named Melisé and her small band of elf younger members of the society, especially those undergoing
the order’s special training, to new positions of responsibility

followers repel the attacks of a band of bugbears, ogres, and in the field and in the society’s ward houses.
trolls. It wasn’t until months after the raid that Jeremy returned
to the abandoned ruins of what had been his home. SAMPLE MEMBER
It didn’t take him and his comrades long to determine Korrath grew up in one of St. Cuthbert’s martyrs’ orphan-
that illithids were behind the attack, and the party headed ages, never having known his parents or what caused their
underground to rescue any villagers who remained alive and deaths. As he aged, his piety, strength, and willpower came
heap bloody revenge upon the tentacled heads of the mind to be noticed by the church officials, and he was approached

flayers. by members of the society. At the time, he wished merely to
The illithids had learned much about Jeremy and his allies serve his deity in valorous battle, not waste his time studying
from reading (and digesting) the minds of his family and such rare, esoteric, and, possibly mythical foes. Korrath chose
friends, and thus they were prepared when Jeremy came his path and excelled at it, becoming a hero of the church.

looking for them. After they sprang their trap, Jeremy was the Perhaps the adulation that he earned led to overconfidence,
only member of the party to survive and escape back to the but an event a few years ago brought Korrath’s path back

surface. He was aided by Albaric, a dwarf fighter/rogue the toward the society.

mind flayers had recently captured while snooping around Korrath and his allies were pursing a band of what they
the edges of the mind flayers’ subterranean home. thought were drow slavers. Instead, they unknowingly fol-

The pair returned to civilization, reported the events that lowed a party of mind flayers, their thralls, and the captives

had occurred to the government, and then returned to the they had recently gained in a brain raid. Korrath led the charge
region, reinforced with powerful allies. They destroyed the to free the prisoners once the heroes caught up with the large

nest of flayers, but Jeremy remained unsatisfied. He’d lost party, only to discover, to his horror, that the illithids were now

almost everyone close to him to the illithids, and he vowed trying to kill him. Korrath fought like a true warrior of St.
to do all in his power to spare others that same torment. He Cuthbert; his fury was such that no illithid could lay a tentacle
also had the foresight to realize that mind flayers were not the on him—but his martial prowess didn’t protect him from the

only threat to surface civilization. He knew that any group of illithids’ psionic powers. Through circumstances he claims to

psionics-using creatures with a penchant for enslaving weak be unable to recall, Korrath fell under the mind flayers’ mental
minds could have eliminated his home just as quickly, and he domination and turned on his allies, attacking them while

broadened his focus to include all creatures that used psion- protecting the mind flayers. In one brief moment of clarity,
ics to further their dark and evil goals. The allies Jeremy and he hesitated in his assault. His oldest friend, a paladin named
Albaric brought with them pledged to join his crusade. When Illyria, didn’t notice the flicker of cognizance in his eyes and

the group returned to the capital, the authorities officially struck Korrath down.

sanctioned the society, made Jeremy a knight in service to When he regained consciousness, Korrath discovered that
his country, and appointed him commandant. Albaric took Illyria had dragged him clear of the battle and healed the most
his place as Sir Jeremy’s adjutant. grievous of his wounds. What else she might have planned,
Sir Jeremy ran the society along militaristic lines, taking his Korrath can never know, for he found her body not far off. Her
inspiration from the knightly order of St. Cuthbert in ages past. skull was torn open like a burst melon and her brain was gone,
This policy attracted a certain type of adventurer to the society food for one of the mind flayers. Korrath found no evidence

in its early years: Lawful fighters, paladins, clerics, and monks that any other of his comrades survived the battle, but he did
made up most of the group’s ranks. This strict adherence to not find their bodies as he had Illyria’s.

doctrine and tradition served the group well, as it suffered as Left with little choice and less hope, Korrath returned to the
many setbacks as victories early on. temple his party used as its base and asked to speak with Albaric
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