Whereabouts of the Mind Flayers

There had always been assorted accounts regarding the origin of the Kuo-toa Goddess. Some believed that this Kuo-toa Goddess truly was one of the primordial deities born from the depths of the ocean at the dawn of chaos, ranking among the oldest of gods. Needless to say, the Kuo-toa Goddess's greatness was absolute: she wielded ancient magic unknown even to the Goddess of Magic, and rightfully belonged among the mightiest tier of the pantheon. This claim had once circulated widely, and Anbaixiu had read several versions of it himself. After all, this was the Kuo-toa Goddess's own "self-proclaimed" account. Mortals were generally unable to falsify the declarations of deities, so they recorded them as fact. However, the author of this *Compendium of Deep-Sea Creatures* had spent a great deal of time studying the myriad lifeforms of the ocean and reached the exact opposite conclusion. The kuo-toa race appeared later even than the merfolk, and in the myths passed down by other aquatic races, none of the Kuo-toa Goddess's boasted heroic feats lined up at all. Bragging about one's own patron deity was perfectly normal, and occasional contradictions were hardly unusual. Yet the contradictions involving other deities were different. Most disputes between divine mythologies were merely over whose stance was wrong, who contributed more or less, and who won or lost. Take, for instance, the elven god-king Corellon shooting out an eye of the primary orc deity, Gruumsh—many versions circulated in the mortal realm. The orcs claimed the elf launched a shameless sneak attack, shooting an arrow from the dark while they were still talking before the duel had even officially begun; the elves claimed Gruumsh was shot full in the face before he even laid eyes on Corellon's face. Yet no matter how they bickered, both deities—Corellon and Gruumsh—truly existed. No one claimed that Gruumsh had never actually shown up, nor did anyone believe Corellon was hiding at home minding his own business as an elf. The Kuo-toa Goddess, however, was an entirely different matter. None of the major events she boasted about could be corroborated by other gods. This goddess once boasted of using ancient magic to suppress the Prince of Demons, Demogorgon, during his invasion of the Prime Material Plane. Demogorgon's response? "Kuo-toa Goddess? Who?" There were countless other examples like this; across all these grand historic events, the Kuo-toa Goddess was completely absent from the record. Furthermore, her divine image seemed to shift constantly throughout these fabricated tales. What was even more intriguing was that these shifts in appearance bore an unmistakable, strong correlation with the periodic bouts of madness suffered by the kuo-toa. The kuo-toa race was once enslaved by mind flayers. Mind flayers were creatures born with formidable psionic power, commonly known as illithids, and derisively referred to by some as octopus-heads. These monsters enslaved other races and reproduced through methods like psionic control and larval parasitism. Mind flayers fed on the brains of intelligent races. Kuo-toa were not originally insane and chaotic; it was their prolonged enslavement under the mind flayers that caused severe psychic warping, leaving the entire race burdened with severe hereditary mental illness. And many of the records concerning the Kuo-toa Goddess emerged only after the kuo-toa regained their freedom. Not the timeline described in the stories, but the actual time they were carved onto stone tablets or inscribed in books. After the kuo-toa regained their freedom, these chaotic mythologies began springing up. The oldest extant record that could be found—a supposed primordial meteorite carving—was later verified to be an artifact from the late Mind Flayer Empire. In the end, the author had no choice but to record a conclusion bordering on sacrilege: the Kuo-toa Goddess did not appear to be an actual, naturally existing deity at all, but a divine delusion conjured by the chaotically disordered minds of the kuo-toa. Centuries of enslavement left the kuo-toa in desperate need of a spiritual anchor, so even after winning their freedom, they needed a deity to worship—and thus fabricated one out of thin air. The greatest piece of evidence was that the earliest depictions of the Kuo-toa Goddess somewhat resembled a mind flayer. Back then, her head wasn't a lobster, but an octopus. While mortal creation of gods sounded bizarre, it conformed to cosmic rules. Belief could forge deities. With the blessing of such intangible power and a nod from Ao, even a blob of snot could become the God of Slimes. The kuo-toa were immense in number. If the concept of a Kuo-toa Goddess became their unified conviction, conjuring a deity from nothing was hardly surprising. This also explained why the Kuo-toa Goddess possessed the divine portfolio of mental insanity—because the kuo-toa were insane to a man, a madness so severe it was permanently hereditary. And through all the hard work of digging up this history, Anbaixiu gained a crucial piece of intel: the kuo-toa's greatest enemy was not any oceanic race, but the mind flayers. Having subjugated the kuo-toa for ages, the mind flayers surely possessed measures specifically effective against them—and there was an extremely high probability that such methods would work on the Kuo-toa Goddess as well. Whether mortals or gods, all intelligent races were shaped throughout their lives by their origins. Some called it their family of origin, others referred to it as an unhappy childhood; whatever the name, the significance was identical. Some things were lifelong, incurable scars that drove one mad whenever brought up. Was it mental domination, intimidation, or the implantation of specific agonizing memories? Anbaixiu did not know yet. But if he could track down a mind flayer, he might find the key to dealing with the Kuo-toa Goddess. This was a promising angle. However, the history of the Mind Flayer Empire lay even further back than that of the Demonic Dragon Empire. The Demonic Dragon Empire had existed a mere 1,700 years ago, whereas the Mind Flayer Empire had to be at least seven thousand, if not ten thousand years in the past. Mind flayers had long since faded into monsters of legend; in all his several hundred years of life, Anbaixiu had never seen a single one. Even Ryan's wanted list no longer included this wicked race, suggesting they had been extinct for ages. In that case, he needed someone knowledgeable to point the way—such as his beloved relative and dear friend, that most erudite of historians, Mr. Heji Stone. Anbaixiu didn't hold back. He pulled out the Necrotic Codex and messaged Heji Stone directly—and did so right in the group chat. [Ultraman Tiga: Learned vampire historian Mr. Heji Stone, I have a historical inquiry to consult you on. How much do you know about mind flayers?] Heji Stone seemed to stare at the group chat around the clock. Barely had Anbaixiu sent the message before Heji Stone replied: [Why ask about that all of a sudden?] [Ultraman Tiga: Just wanted to learn more about the race. If possible, catching one to bring back and study would be even better. Do you know where mind flayers can be found?] [Dislikes Humans: Don't bother looking. Extinct. At least, extinct on our plane. Mind flayers might still exist on other planes beyond our realm, but you won't find a single one here.] Disappointment washed over Anbaixiu's face. Seriously? The faint lead he had just uncovered, snuffed out completely? [Dislikes Humans: Why are you looking for mind flayers out of nowhere?] [Ultraman Tiga: I'm planning to kidnap the Kuo-toa Goddess, but found she's tough to deal with. Looking through some materials, I learned mind flayers used to enslave the kuo-toa, so I wanted to nab one to interrogate and see if there are methods specially tailored to counter kuo-toa.] [Dislikes Humans: If you want to deal with kuo-toa, why not just kill them? Why make it so complicated?] [Dislikes Humans: Wait, strike that last message! Did you make a typo? Did you just write Kuo-toa *Goddess*???] Anbaixiu was reluctant to reply. Now that mind flayers were extinct, what was the point of chatting further with this dwarf? Unfortunately, the group members were already abuzz. Gareth jumped in: [Brother, have you lost your mind? Do you have any idea what you're saying?] [Rose of Decay: I told him he was crazy too, but he refused to admit it.] [Pale Little Skeleton: Wait, what riddles are you talking in? Rose, you already know about this?] [Poet: It seems I've spotted something rather extraordinary!] ... With even senior member "Poet" showing up, Anbaixiu could no longer maintain his silence. He had no choice but to explain everything that had happened to him in the chat, concluding with: [It's not like I wanted this. Talos pressed me too hard, and the Kuo-toa Goddess is an utter lunatic with whom negotiation is impossible. What else was I supposed to do?] [Poet: Mortals are like ants; that's just how it is. You'll get used to it in time. Still, thinking of using mind flayers to deal with that lobster-head is indeed a fine direction.] [Ultraman Tiga: Pity they're all dead.] [Poet: Extinct on this plane, naturally, but plenty certainly remain across other planes. The Mind Flayer Empire was once a brilliant civilization spanning multiple planes. Their nautiloid warships could traverse time and space at will, plundering and dominating intelligent races across different worlds. If you want to find one, it shouldn't be too hard.] Anbaixiu was left speechless. Naturally, a near-godlike powerhouse like Poet wouldn't find it difficult; he was likely capable of hopping planes at will. But Anbaixiu genuinely couldn't pull that off. Opening a single Astral portal took tremendous effort on his part, and he didn't even know if there were mind flayers in the Astral Plane. Even if there were, pinpointing their location would be exceptionally difficult. The time and logistical costs were far too steep to resolve his pressing emergency. [Poet: Though I don't know which plane the mind flayers are hiding in, I can offer you a hint. Mind flayers can transform any intelligent race into one of their own through larval parasitism, which is why nearly every deity loathes the species. Nobody wants their believers stolen away and mutated into octopus-heads, wouldn't you say?] At first, Anbaixiu didn't grasp what Poet meant, but upon turning it over in his mind, the realization struck him immediately. [Ultraman Tiga: Evildoers and abominations unacceptable to the gods are banished to the Lands of Chaos. Senior, do you mean to say there might be mind flayers in the Lands of Chaos?] The Lands of Chaos were the gods' dumping ground, where anything vicious or disruptive to the world's balance was discarded. By that logic, the odds of mind flayers being banished there were exceedingly high! Now the advantage of having many friends showed itself: Anbaixiu happened to have a bosom buddy and beloved relative who was thriving quite nicely in that world of exile.