Search for the Illithid Three

[Kenshin]

Guilhem leaned over the desk, carelessly brushing back a strand of shimmering white hair that has fallen over his face, as he studied the symbols on the tablet. It was no use of course, the ceremorphs did not use writing like most of the other sentient races of Toril. Regardless, these symbols did not look like the samples of qualith that he had seen before.

Besides, he had already had one of the senior instructors at the School of Divination look over the inscription. The wizened mage had indicated that the symbols could not be deciphered by divination alone. When he saw the sorcerer's sour expression, however, the old dodderer did mumble something about a pattern and a key. Bah! diviners made their living through mysterious and enigmatic pronouncements, in the end, the canny old trickster never did reveal if the symbols were a key, or if a key was required to decode their meaning.

It was all rather puzzling. The raid on the Illithid outpost had been organized and carried out with the required speed and precision. The source was well paid and had never failed them before. Other than the tablet though it had only yielded a score of dead thralls and a scattering of ceremorph corpses.

Time was of the essence, and yet he was no closer to fitting the pieces together than when he began his investigation two score cycles before. What was the connection between the alhoon, whose army had set Sshamath on edge and convinced the Conclave to seek allies, and the three mysterious ulitharids, whose aims and means had thus far proven all too elusive?

Guilhem knew that he had to find an answer soon, the humans were getting impatient...