Page 79 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

About half the time, a urophion operates in solitude. The Mind Blank: This spell is perfect for masking one creature
rest of the time, two or more urophions work in concert. These against detection by an elder brain for 24 hours. It is the best
groups are much more dangerous. They allow intruders to defense available when facing mind flayers. Its biggest draw-

move past the first urophions; the last one springs the ambush, back is the need for a high-level spellcaster.

then the others seal off the route of escape. Nondetection: While this spell is potentially effective against
the elder brain’s telepathic awareness, a spellcaster must be
Inquisitions (EL 14) very high in level to resist an elder brain’s caster level check.

If the mind flayers of Lagurno become aware of an intrusion into Psionic powers that might be tried in an attempt to block
their hidden city, as opposed to adventurers bumbling around in an elder brain’s detection include the following:
Conceal Thoughts: Since the elder brain’s telepathic awareness

the passages around the thrall village, they quickly and efficiently
CHAPTER 4 THE MIND FLAYERS organize inquisitions to hunt down and destroy the intruders. offers no saving throw, conceal thoughts does not help.
Detect Remote Viewing: Telepathic awareness is not a clairsen-
A typical inquisition in Hidden Lagurno consists of the
tience power but a supernatural ability, so this power does not
following creatures:
Mind Flayer (4): hp 44 each; Monster Manual page 186.
help.
Troll Hunter: hp 130; Monster Manual page 247.
spell of the same name, is the best protection possible against
Troll (2): hp 63 each; Monster Manual page 247. Mind Blank, Personal or Psionic: The psionic power, like the

Duergar Warrior (Warrior 1) (8): hp 9 each; Monster an elder brain or a mind flayer. Also as with the spell, its biggest
Manual page 92. drawback is its high level.

Null Psionics Field: This field blocks the elder brain’s probing
The Final Defense and has the capacity to shield multiple individuals.
The last line of defense for the community is the elder brain Power Resistance: Telepathic awareness is not a power and
itself. The elder brain constantly scans passages and tunnels therefore not subject to power resistance (or spell resistance,
in and surrounding the city with its divination magic, looking for that matter).
for any living, thinking creatures. If it finds sentient beings Remote View Trap: This power offers no protection against an

that it cannot recognize or identify, it mobilizes active defenses elder brain’s telepathic awareness, but if the brain attempts to
against the intruders. use a scrying power to view the intruders, it becomes subject
As long as intruders remain outside the elder brain’s zone to the spell’s effect.
of telepathic awareness (more than 350 feet from the brain, in Suspend Life: A character under the effect of this power is
other words), standard defenses against scrying magic should undetectable as anything but a corpse. A character could be

serve to conceal them from its searching mind. The elder brain suspended, and then smuggled into a mind flayer compound.
is an exceptionally potent psion, and its divinations are power- This unorthodox approach could work.
ful enough to shatter simple defenses such as nondetection.
Within the elder brain’s zone of telepathic awareness, there UPPER LAGURNO
are few ways to avoid being detected. Standard defenses against Upper Lagurno appears as a normal duergar village in most
clairvoyance and clairsentience don’t work because the elder brain respects. Huts of stone with moss roofs crowd the center of
doesn’t search for visual or audio clues; it scans for thought. town. On the lower side, a collecting pool stores water that
The only effective defense is one that shields a character’s drips from overhanging stalactites. Animals are penned or kept
thoughts from any sort of detection, not just mind reading. in sunken pits. Mushrooms grow abundantly in side caverns.
The following spells are useful or useless against an elder In other words, nothing readily apparent about the village
brain as noted. alerts anyone that it’s more than meets the eye.
Antimagic Field: This spell blocks an elder brain’s detection Almost every illithid community uses its thralls as a form

entirely. Creatures protected by an antimagic field are completely of camouflage. Because the mind flayers rarely linger in the

hidden. The chief drawback of this defense is its high level and thrall village without good reason, travelers logically assume
short duration. that the duergar (in this case) are the masters of the place.
Detect Scrying: This spell does not help against the elder The entrance to the illithids’ deeper lair might be hidden
brain’s telepathic awareness, because the elder brain’s ability inside a home, a temple, a well, a protected cave, or another
is not a divination (scrying) effect. secret location. It is designed to blend into the site and not
False Vision: This spell offers no protection because the elder stand out or attract attention as an unusual structure. It
brain isn’t “looking” into an area and can’t be fooled by images. won’t necessarily be the biggest, cleanest, strongest, or best-

The spell doesn’t mask the user’s thoughts, so it has no effect protected edifice in the village. The entry point to the mind
in this case. flayer community proper is always guarded (from the inner

Globe of Invulnerability: This spell has no effect against an side) by illithids that visually inspect and mentally scan
elder brain’s detection because the elder brain’s telepathic everyone seeking entrance. Three illithids remain on hand
awareness is a supernatural ability. to perform this vital service at the entry point to Hidden

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