Part 10: The Control Mind and You

The Control Mind and You

We've finally made it to the Spiral Burrow. Relax, light your favorite scented candle, pour yourself a drink, and savor the slaughter which follows.

Your return to the eastern side of the island reminds you that you have some unfinished business. The vlish Warp is still around and a rogue as vicious as it sounds can't be left alone. You trek back to the narrow tunnel you found in Crag Valley, taking care to avoid Forney and Dern. If they have been waylaying the Awakened, there's no guarantee that they won't try the same tactics on a Shaper not deemed "true" enough by the Obeyer sect. You'd rather avoid causing a fuss.




On second thought, you're less interested in avoiding them than in destroying them. A den of roamers is bad news. Eventually hunger will drive them out of these warrens and onto the roads between Pentil and Vakkiri. If anything, this extermination is a mission of mercy -- in time, the serviles will stop traveling infested byways, and the roamers will starve one by one. You can stop this madness now. You have the power.



You've already dealt with roamers since coming to Sucia Island, and these are nothing special. Thorny Fen is full of the bones of rogues killed at your command. This burrow won't be any different. GreatEvilKing and idhrendur burn blast the first roamers you see with fire that scorches down to the bone, filling the cavern with the stench of burned hair.



Roamers have strong pack instincts and you're certain that some malign intelligence is here, guiding them. Whether it's Warp or something else remains to be seen. You take great care to slay roamers before they can flee your creations. Let the rogues be on the back foot for once.



The roamers have dug in long enough to build nests and mark this entire den in foul-smelling urine. You find the remains of walls and tiled floors back here, but so little remains that you can't possibly determine what function this place originally served. Any evidence was destroyed by the combination of rogues and moisture.



You find more ancient masonry, but it's in poor shape. This place doesn't have any utility for the serviles, so no one has maintained the walls. Water and shifting earth have rendered some dangerously unstable. Scattered rubble only proves that anyone who ventures back here should take great care. You don't linger here.



In the far northwestern corner of the warrens, you find a locked room. Inside are three mildewed cases full of long-forgotten pods. While you investigate them, two shrill cries echo through the tunnels. You wince and swiftly direct your creations to hunt down the roamers before they can regroup and return with numbers on their side.



You catch one in time for placid saviour to spray it with acid. The rogue roamer dies before it can escape. Unfortunately, the other roamer escapes into the shadows.





It's not long before the roamer reinforcements arrive. They're no match for your creations. Even though roamers are more complex creations than fyoras, these ferals can't stand up to the combination of GreatEvilKing and idhrendur.



You track down the rogues' nests and scatter them. Another roamer approaches while you're kicking apart the piles of garbage, far too late now to help its kin, but not too late to join them.



The tunnels' twists and turns seem to be guiding you somewhere. You can't be certain, though. You keep hearing whispers, faint but insistent. Perhaps something is trying to guide you. It doesn't quite sound like the vlish from Pentil Woods...



You stumble into a guard just outside a nest of roamers and slay it before it can warn its brethren. There are half a dozen or more roamers here. You throw down your salvage and direct a speedy offense. Placid saviour melts the nearest roamer before it even notices you. The fyoras account for another. Berryjon advances into the cave and swiftly pulps a roamer's skull with about as much effort as you take to crush a raspberry.

The survivors try to rush you. You've caught them in a dead end and they're desperate. Panic hobbles them. Their simple minds can't decide whether to attack you or try to slip past, so you easily avoid their feeble blows and finish them off.



Some of the roamers dragged useful things back to their nests along with the detritus. You find a few pods mixed in with the grass and garbage here.



You meet a large patrol where the tunnels narrow and curve. At first it seems like your two parties will simply pass each other buy, but then both sides suddenly unite in shared confusion and horror. The melee that follows is a confusion of smoke, spittle, and blood.

But the side that reacts the fastest is awarded victory -- and that side is yours.



The last roamers flee southeast but are cut down before they manage to escape.





More are drawn towards the noise and stench, but idhrendur and GreatEvilKing pick them off before they can close with the fyoras. With the way clear, you investigate this last odd corner.



This place has some sort of odd symmetry. You initially believed it was dug out by rogues, but that doesn't seem to be the case -- at least, not entirely. The Shapers definitely built a facility here. Time and rogues have conspired to leave much of it a ruined, useless mess, but you're certain this place was important at one time. Perhaps it was another research center, securely built underground in case it ever needed to be permanently sealed.

Inside the southern chamber here you find another canister. This one improves your healing magic, giving you greater command over the powers of rejuvenation. You have no doubts that this enhancement is worth at least a thahd's weight in gold. As if reading your thoughts, berryjon blinks wisely at you.

Now that you've cleared out four dens, the tunnels are much quieter. No more calls echo off the stone; now you hear only drips and the noise of your own party. You and your creations aren't exactly stealthy.

You push deeper into the warrens, spiraling through ever tighter tunnels until you find yourself in front of a door set into living rock.


This has to be Warp. The other vlish you fought didn't have such focused thoughts. This one does. It's definitely a vlish; here, so close to the source, there's something about those whispers that you recognize, a certain taste that rises in the back of your throat... You open the door and swiftly bless your creations before they charge.





Placid saviour's standard opening gambit is just as good against this enormous, bile green vlish as it is against the regular kinds. Warp makes a sound like air escaping a punctured bladder as acid eats at its vestigial eyes. GreatEvilKing and idhrendur struggle to hit Warp, but it can't flee far. It's forced to fight by choosing this dead end cavern as its den.

Try as it might, berryjon can't close with Warp. This turns out to be lucky for you, because Warp's nature becomes clear when idhrendur wheels around to face you... and snarls. Berryjon blocks you from idhrendur's sight and pins it by a dolomite pillar while you focus on finishing off Warp.

The vlish lists from side to side, slowly losing altitude. You've gravely wounded it, but you won't be safe until it's dead and no longer able to turn your creations rogue. Placid saviour and GreatEvilKing prove more than enough to finish off the dying vlish. Warp deflates gently and gradually dissolves into ooze.

You hope the backlash hurts whoever shaped it, but you doubt they're anywhere nearby.

Warp's chamber must have been some sort of demonstration hall at one time. There's no shaping platform, but you do find plenty of chairs and shelves. This place once hosted large numbers of Shapers. You find a lone, long-dead servile in the back. The body has lain here so long that you're unable to figure out what might have befallen it. Perhaps the servile starved to death... Or perhaps it met Warp. In that case, at least the servile's death is now avenged.



There's a canister in this tiny side room. When you use it, you understand enough about roamers to create one yourself. You ponder its creation while you finish exploring the burrow.



Surprisingly, there's a servant mind tucked away in this small room. It hasn't noticed you yet, so you check the obelisk, which reads "Control Four." This is the servant mind that Ellhrah wants you to kill. Before you do anything, though, you check the case nearby.


You approach the servant mind. It is still alive and functioning, though it is clearly weak from lack of nutrients. It looks up at you.

"Welcome, Shaper. I am Control Four. I am pleased to be in contact with you." It speaks slowly and with great effort. Its long wait in this burrow has not been kind. Its hide is flecked with fungi that have opportunistically infecting the weakened creation.

"The creations here attacked me! Are you responsible?" Servant minds are often granted a certain level of control over simpler creations -- roamers certainly qualify.

"No, Shaper. I am so, so sorry for your inconvenience," Control Four moans. "I captured the creations there and influenced them to keep the rogue serviles nearby in line. However, I have been too weak to keep them from going rogue as well. Your destroying them relieves me. I am sorry you had to perform my duties for me."

"There are many rogues outside these warrens. Do you know anything about that?"

"There are? No, Shaper, I would never make a rogue. It would completely violate my purpose. I control and destroy rogues, not make them," the mind says. You don't have any reason to doubt it. "I have been too weak to have an influence in affairs here for some time. I am sorry."

"What is your given purpose?" you ask. Unlike the other minds you've met, this one wasn't hibernating when you approached -- it's simply faint. It hasn't been maintained at all. Has Rydell misled you about feeding and caring for it? This servant mind is wasting away.

"I am one of Sucia Island's control minds. We watch the creations here for signs of roguism and deal with problems when they occur. When the Shapers left, they left us here to watch over the creations left behind." Even as it speaks, Control Four's voice quivers and dwindles to a whisper. Any energy it's received from seeing another Shaper after so long has already faded.

"I'm sure you did as well as you could," you comfort it. Ellhrah asked you to kill Control Four, but it hardly seems like a threat to the Awakened. If anything, you almost think you should euthanize it for its own good. The poor thing is suffering and you're not certain that any amount of feeding and nursing now can restore it.

"You are very kind, Shaper," it whispers.

"Tell me about the Shapers. Why did they leave?"

"I was not given that information. I am sorry, I am only here to control. In the hierarchy of servant minds, my ranking is low." You've learned more about servant minds since landing on Sucia Island than you ever did during your studies. Perhaps one day you might even learn how to Shape them. They're a terribly fascinating sort of creation, with enormous brains nearly as complex as a human's and capable of storing far more information.

You continue probing the mind with questions, but you soften your tone. "How have things been?"

"Terrible. Oh," Control Four gasps, "Shaper, I have been in such anguish. I have watched the serviles grow more and more disobedient, coming up with their own thoughts and beliefs, questioning the wisdom of the Shapers. I have attempted to eradicate as many of the disobedient ones as I can, but it is so difficult and I have been so weak."

You're actually surprised to hear it confirm both Rydell's and Ellhrah's words. This shriveled creation has managed to suppress the Awakened? Impressed, you press for more details. "Have all of the serviles been disobedient?"

"The serviles in the village to the east, Pentil, have been good and loyal. They are deserving of many rewards," it says. "The serviles of Vakkiri, though, have questioned the wisdom of the Shapers. I have tried to contain their dangerous thoughts as much as possible."

"Can you tell me how many control minds there are on the island?"

"Four. The other three were based in the east. I have heard nothing from them."

So the servant minds don't have their own communications at all... You wonder if that is a deliberate decision by the Shapers. If the minds could've coordinated, the serviles might not have been able to establish sects at all.

"You seem very weak," you venture.

"I have not had nutrient solution for many, many years. I am very feeble. There was solution here, but a rogue servile raider managed to destroy it before I was able to absorb it. Please feed me, Shaper. If you do, I can continue to serve you well," the mind pleads.

How have the Obeyers been maintaining this mind without feeding it? What was the point of misleading you about Control Four? You're grateful that you met this servant mind; now you know that Rydell is not to be trusted at all. That kind of confirmation is priceless.

"Where can I find more mind nutrients?"

"I don't know," it whines. "Please, Shaper. I am weak. Please feed me. So hungry. Please." It closes its eyes again, eager to conserve its strength.

You extend your senses into the control mind's body. You're not an expert by any means; your knowledge is scant and your experience non-existent. Still, you think this mind has some life left in it. The longer it goes without food, though, the more permanent damage it will sustain. You can't decide whether you should part with some of your precious nutrients for this mind's sake, or if you should hold onto both cases in case you find a starving mind who can help you. And... you also think that perhaps the kindest thing you can do for Control Four is to order it to shut down. This creation has served the Shapers for many bitter years and has only suffered for it.

You don't know what to do. "Goodbye, Control Four," you murmur, and pat its broad forehead.

To your surprise, it answers, "Goodbye, Shaper. I will try harder to please you in the future, Shaper."

It makes you want to cry, but you find that, for some reason, you cannot.



You meet with Ellhrah and let him know that you've disposed of Warp and the roamers that infested the burrow. When he asks you about Control Four, you shrug and leave. Nothing you can say will do aught but betray your inner turmoil.

While you're here, you barter with some of the merchants. Thanks to clearing the roads to Pentil, new stock is starting to circulate. Hopefully prices will fall soon.

Swan is speaking with a new guard from Vakkiri when you stop by. You overhear him; he's certainly noticed you. You don't think too much gets by Swan. "Warp was a vlish," he tells the guard. "It lived in a ruin in Crag Valley. It hated us. It had roamer servants, which it sent to harass and ambush us. Then the Shaper slew it. And don't think that there is a single servile in this area that isn't thankful for it."

Next time: Shapeless Days