#this took ages cuz it was formatted weirdly pls enjoy...

[lanaevyssmoved]

The dwelling described below belongs to Geddeil, a standard illithid claiming membership in the Abysmal Creed. Geddeil is only 10 years past its ceremorphosis but already has good standing among other members of its Creed. Thus, its dwelling is only two levels above the axial plaza, and its balcony is quite wide.

Balcony Hanging 20 feet above the plaza is a large stone balcony jutting out from the spherical side wall. A narrow stair connects the balcony to one below it, and then to the plaza's floor. Above, below, and to either side of the balcony, windows, stairs, and ladders protrude from the stone wall, forming a two-dimensional community wrapped around the spherical plaza. Geddeil has placed a portable stone pool at the lip of the balcony, allowing the mind flayer to relax comfortably in its own domicile. For convenience, the balcony possesses a feeding-stock, but it is currently pushed against the far railing away from the steps.

Sitting Room This large chamber serves as the living, dining, and recreation rooms for Geddeil. It contains various throw pillows (filled with spongy, dry moss), artistic sculptures (best appreciated by tentacle touch), resonance stones (small crystals embedded with pleasant emotions; see Chapter 7: Illithid Technology for more information), several feeding-stocks (in case guests show up for dinner), and a large musical instrument, called a bonethriven. While in its dwelling, Geddeil works on a couple of different pet projects. Happily, its hobbies coincide with the stated aim of the Abysmal Creed. Geddeil also spends many hours a day composing discordant music on its instrument; this music unsettles and horrifies any humanoid creatures that listen to it. When not composing, Geddeil gives in to gluttony, eating far more than a single brain per month. Geddeil justifies this resource drain by claiming that it aids the mind flayer's own exploration of the effects of horror on thralls. Its obesity, combined with its sickening pallor and the accumulated debris of past meals caught in its clothing and upon its tentacles, has a certain demoralizing effect on nonillithids. So far, the Abysmal Creed con tinues to pay the extra expense associated with Geddeil's "experiments."

Bonethriven: A massive assembly of tubes carved of discarded thrall bones surrounding a resonating chamber. Illithids proficient in this instrument can produce a wide range of sounds by blowing through the mouthpiece while opening and closing the 12 different stops with both fingers and tentacles. A master thrivenist (a player of the bonethriven) can elicit sounds of such horrible intensity that humans and demihumans must check morale each round they hear the instrument played. Victims failing a single check suffer a -1 to ail die rolls while the "music" continues.

Thrall Quarters Every illithid has at least one personal thrall that rarely leaves its side. Personal thralls open doors, pick up items of interest to its master, clear paths along busy throughways, compliment their illithid owners on a regular basis, and generally accomplish menial tasks. In many cases, once an illithid finds a personal thrall that agrees with it, the mind flayer goes out of its way to avoid eating the thrall's brain in a bout of hunger or anger. Some thralls have lived out their entire lives as the personal servants of a single mind flayer. Personal thralls live in their masters' dwellings; their quarters provide for their basic needs and wants, containing moss mattresses, bundles of dried rations hanging low from the ceiling, and basins of drinking water. Geddeil's personal thrall, a grimlock male named Ogham, is also allowed to store a few changes of clothes in this chamber, as well as a few small trinkets (shiny rocks) and toys (very crude dolls) to keep him happy during his "off" hours.

Study This chamber resembles the office of an eccentric surface-dwelling sage. A clutter of cultural artifacts from various thrall races cover shelves, a desk, and even the floor. For example, an elven wall sconce hangs over a dwarven battlemask, bracketed on one side by a human-crafted decorative clay pot and on the other by a gnomish toolsuit. Geddeil has collected these items in order to make an honest attempt to understand their cultural significance. The creature feels that if it can truly understand the mindset of the various thrall races, it will be that much more successful in devising means of promoting cultural terror and fear. It's all in a day's work for Geddeil. Geddeil´s desk is a simple stone platform. Below it sit several sheaves of stiff blank parchment. A striator (a psionic pen used to imprint parchment with qualith; see Chapter 7: Illithid Technology) lies on the desk along with several sheets of qualith-imprinted parchment. The parchment pieces rest beneath a black, egg-shaped paperweight; the paperweight is actually a resonance stone imprinted with pure horror. Any creature touching the stone must make a saving throw vs. spell or suffer effects similar to a fear spell for 3d6 rounds. The written records beneath the "paperweight" have Geddeil's notes recorded upon them. These notes include such observations as "humans fear the dark," "dwarves fear deep water," "elves fear moral compromise,' and "halflings fear starvation."

Storage This locked chamber holds the fruit of some of Geddeil's past projects—not all of which were completely successful. Piled against the walls and upon a central stone table lie jumbles of odds and ends. These piles include stuffed grouse, dried limes, metal shavings in a steel chest, a bone horn that sounds with a weak and plaintive blast, a water pipe half filled with formic acid (4d10 points of damage if spilled or swallowed), candlelamps carved to resemble illithid heads (the light shines from the illithids' eyes and mouths), a dish of hard candy shaped like miniature human hands, a petrified human foot, and dozens of other items.

Sleep Chamber The fact that illithids require sleep is the best argument that currently exists for the supposition that illithids originated from a planet with periodic sunshine. Why else would illithids develop sleep patterns that so closely resemble the sleeping habits of surface-dwelling creatures? Geddeil's sleep chamber is a 10-foot-diameter mass of thick, damp, cushioning moss bounded by a small stonestep in the center of the room. Various small stands and shelves in the room contain odd knickknacks that appeal to Geddeil's sense of decor: ghastly shells collected from a nameless subterranean sea, humanoid tooth sculptures, a collection of silver bells, and an infra-painting. The painting shows (to those able to distinguish wave-lengths in the infrared) a landscape of foaming chaos through which a shard of floating earth is visible. At the base of the painting, a line of qualith reads, "Beyond the Pale: A Resonance Island." The painting is a memento of Geddeil's travels. An open archway in the chamber leads to Geddeil's walk-in closet. The closet contains several dozen robes, boots, gloves, and other illithid clothing accessories. Most of the clothing is imprinted with the raised sigil of Geddeil's Creed association. Hidden in the inner lining of a robe at the very back of the closet is a contraband wand of magic missiles (56 charges remaining) that Geddeil secretly keeps in disobedience of Abstemious' ordinance. Geddeil keeps the wand out of a secret fascination with magic, a fascination that the mind flayer has only just begun to explore.