A Light in the Dark Forest

He nodded in approval as the stalactite crushed several more of the creatures. "Well done." He said, simply watching the remainder run away. "Perhaps that is enough bloodshed, for now. Needless violence does horrors for one's mind." He mused while resting his club on the ground. "Speaking of which." Turning to Nakata, he eyed him directly, a rather stern look. "Your mind appears to have undergone some.. improvements."

He found it unlikely Nakata had kept it secret the entire time. He appeared to be genuinely as confused about it as he was. He could tell simply by Nakata's movements that something about him had changed. He did not think like a human did, any longer. At least, not all the time. He wondered if his improved mentality would cause him to reconsider his own words about God.

He sensed confusion as well as amazement coming from Nakata, clearly he had no idea what his newfound power was from either. "You are okay to continue? I wonder if perhaps this place is too dangerous for us to explore. He left his club on the ground, retrieving the staff. It was lighter and more his style.

"I have no idea how deep this place truly is, Master Nakata. It is, at the very least, below sea level. And we have already found more than one type of creature." The Illithids though.. were extraplanar creatures. Not a good sign. He wondered if there would be more down below. "There is no telling how long it will go on, and we have lost our single source of light. Beyond that glowing corridor, there is no guarantee you will be able to see well. That is, assuming whatever is making that glow doesn't get us first!" He laughed.

He knew of a few creatures, plants, and even minerals that could produce such a thing. Most of them harmless, many of them not. Hopefully, they would come across the former.

Clearly Nakata had never been to the world where the glowing slugs exploded when approached by foreign creatures. He decided not to mention that, for obvious reasons. "Very well then, if you are confident in your abilities then we shall proceed. Extreme caution is recommended, however. Especially if we run into more Illithids. They literally eat brains for sustenance. As well as place their larva inside your skull so that it can take over your body and become a new Illithid." He spoke of all this as if it was just the answer to some quiz in science class.

"Do you intend to keep your rock club as a weapon?" He asked as he began leading the way into the glowing corridor. He poked one of the slugs with a stick to see if anything would happen, but it just wiggled and fell to the floor. "I suppose they truly are harmless. Very good, indeed."

"Very well, your advice is indeed commendable." He used some of the slugs as Nakata had suggested, but was sure to keep parts of it - namely, the places he held most often - clean as much as possible to prevent his hands from slipping too much. "I suppose I could place a few of them in the pockets of my pantaloons, however it is possible they will just make a mess. Poor slugs." He frowned, not really wanting to use them in such a way. However, it wasn't like they were just killing them without a good reason.

—

His minions had been slain. Unfortunate. It mattered little, though he had at least hoped Illithids would have been enough to cause a ruckus. They were usually much better than that. Whatever foe they had faced had clearly been strong. They had even slain his pet lizards!

He had to be sure to summon something even more powerful this time.

What Plane should he pick?

—

"Well then, let us see where this cave takes us next, shall we?"

"There is an estimated 76.568 percent chance we will encounter more foes. Illithids rarely hunt in such small squads. And it is strange they would take up residence so close by to the shock lizards. Something strange is going on in this cave. I wonder if, perhaps, they are drawn here by something." The sound of rushing water came from the room ahead. "Do you hear that, Master Nakata?"

Once again the tunnel opened up into a large cavern. But this wasn't an ordinary large cave room. It was filled with water. Besides the cliff-like ledge they stood at now, which was actually fairly wide and offered quite a bit of room to move, there was a huge open cavern filled with an ocean-like pool of water. The water often slammed up against the ledge and splashed over it as if it carried a tide. It was slightly brighter in this room than the others, which appeared to be due to whatever it was on the other side of the cavern. It was too difficult to make out clearly, but it appeared to be another ledge with bright lights on it.

"This room must be a mile across..." He said in amazement. The pathway they were on continued down another dark corridor. There did not appear to be any way across the underground ocean.