{Janis}...Bral is a well-known asteroid city, a mercantile hub for all of Wildspace, ruled by a Prince, Andru, whose policy is peace for prosperity, meaning anything for money. Though slavery is officially outlawed, so is much of the economy on Bral, where anything that can be shipped can be bought. In that way it’s a lot like Sigil, except it serves the inhabitants of Prime Material Plane worlds with Spelljammers, rather than the inhabitants of the Outer Planes.
The only truly serious offense on Bral that will get action by the Prince, and everyone else who lives there, is fooling with or fouling their limited atmosphere. Everyone will cooperate to hunt down a party using too much in the way of Fire-based spells, or spells like Cloudkill.
The hidden truth of its history is Bral was a Forge, a gigantic Dwarven Spelljamming mountain from ancient times, abandoned when the ores ran out. Its interior is riddled with tunnels and caverns, mostly beautifully hand-hewn according to Star, I haven’t seen them myself, for the Dwarves' mining and manufacturing base.
The oldest Dwarven sections, closest to the surface and near the modern-day Spelljammer docks, were vast underground warehouse complexes, and this is where the Illithids base their operation. The old open-bar cages for goods are ideal slave pens. The underground stream, cycling endlessly to and from the surface lake due to the effects of the Rock's uneven gravity plane… yes, it has flat gravity, not round… supplies fresh water. The Prince won’t like it if you foul the water supply either.
The caverns go on for unmapped miles. Most are unexplored, and most of the curious explorers don't return, except for guess who. Star had to go in there with a lot of Nondetection and other Effects, I didn’t ask and she probably wouldn’t tell me all of it anyway. Her efforts to Scry the underground corridors themselves have been mostly unsuccessful, as have Divinations to find out why. The Illithids are interested only in their defensible area, and consider others' enforced ignorance to be an advantage.
I’ve been told that the Royal family has raided the slavers from time to time, when their political situation would be strengthened by a show of legal force. Lately, Star has been inviting adventuring bands to do the job for them, thus saving Royal expense, so the Prince has closed his eyes to the brief disturbance of the peace that sometimes ensues. After all, the Illithid ambassador can't protest an illegal raid on an illegal operation.
This time, Star tells me that the Illithids received information from somewhere that there was about to be yet another raid. This was no surprise to them anyway, I’m quite sure; you heard Star say they watch us, we watch them. From what we have seen, they've increased the security, trying to make their underground fortress impregnable. That's why you're here; perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't, but you and the rest of your little high-powered force are going to try.
There is a lot of thinking to do, about possible traps and ambushes, magical and non-magical defenses and counterattacks, what to do if slaves are caught in the crossfire... The slaves are what this little game is about, after all, and if you think about it just a bit, you’ll realize that neither side wants to have them dead.
Your intructions are simple, though your task is not: plan as best you can, and coordinate your efforts well; the enemy's strength may be uncertain, but is certainly too strong for any less than best efforts to have a likelihood of success. Feel free to ask questions, to gather whatever information you think you need, but there may not be much available, so be prepared for contingencies, always. Be prepared for the worst. Always.
You can see on the map, only the most commonly used areas have been fortified enough for safe passage; the rest of the tunnels and caverns are in various states of disrepair and ruin. Many tunnels have collapsed, especially in rear areas.
The parts of the Compound in use by the Illithids have been labeled -- the rest of the areas are not in use, either because they are (a) in bad repair, (b) inconvenient and difficult to get to, (c) partially flooded, for some areas near the river, or (d) on the other side of the Rock's gravity plane and therefore seem reversed in gravity. Of course, where the Illithids are now seems reversed in gravity from the viewpoint of someone standing over the other side of the gravity plane.
The gravity plane in a lot of this mapped area is rather uneven, and runs very close to floor level. There are some places where it comes up slightly, and several where it dips down; the river follows the gravity plane and its acceleration back and forth as its "up" and "down" oscillate, spiraling the rushing foam crazily around the walls through the rapids in the passages of the uneven rear areas, keeps it flowing.
The guards for the open-barred slave pens are mostly Umber Hulks, in some of these lettered areas. If you don’t know about Umber Hulks, Star can tell you all about them.
{Janis} These are the lettered places on the map:
AA is the Auction Block.
This is the public area of the compound; she says it’s the only place that the buyers see. The river enters here from the surface, and buyers are brought down the river by a nice, swanky ferry. The ferry stops at the dock and the buyers are offloaded; they can browse the pens to check out the stock which is on sale that particular day. The large central area there is the small amphitheater where the auction takes place.
Janis points at an area at the top left corner of the map. {Janis}For the most privileged guests, this island of highly carved and polished rock in the center of the river is supposed to give a scenic, formal area for an elegant dignitaries' reception to admire the glorious Dwarven handiwork throughout this part of the caverns. Even the areas that have been left naturally rough are artistically positioned, framed by ornately carved surroundings. She says negotiations with big buyers for larger groups of slaves are often conducted there, after inspections in the pens are finished.
From what intelligence I’ve heard, the Illithids are neither interested in, nor affected by, the Dwarven artistry, but they do not hesitate to use the business advantage of having some of their customers be awestruck by their surroundings, and consider the advantage to be a fringe benefit of this site for their operations. I’ve done the same with my own business negotiations. Always negotiate from a place of seeming strength if you can, that shows off your power.
Once everyone has their purchases finalized, the buyers reboard the ferry and are taken back up the river to the surface. Most buyers are completely ignorant even of the existence of the rest of the compound.
BB. That’s where the Slave Pens are.
The Illithids keep the hundreds or tens of hundreds of slaves here, in open-barred pens which are inset a few feet into the floor. Remember that there are Umber Hulk guards circulating all through these areas.
CC, over there, is supposedly living quarters.
It’s this island in one of the lakes. The buildings there are larger, and furnished as barracks. When the Illithids are in the Compound, they have rooms there as well as any non-Illithid help they have. They practically stack the Umber Hulks up in close quarters when they have to rest, which isn’t often. Umber Hulks can go for a long time without rest.
DD. The Warrens.
You can sort of picture it, Star thinks this area used to be one enormous room. However, the roof collapsed some time in the past, and what's left is a maze of twisty, rubble-filled passages wrapping around the bases of massive, ornately carved columns that disappear into low, uneven remains of a tumbled-down ceiling. The roof doesn't look too stable, though Star says the Illithids have no record of further collapses in the time they have used this area and believe it’s safe to walk through. It looks like the only reason the Illithids use this area at all is that it provides the fastest access from the Pens to the Auction Block.
EE, this back area, is storage.
This area has a lot of small buildings and cages with supplies and other various and sundry items. Only part of it is being used -- the sections further from the Pens is still mostly rubble.
{Janis} That’s it for the map. Now here are some other points that Star has worked out. Like I said, the Illithids will take great pains not to hurt the slaves and so will we. They have to be alive at the end of this, or it's all pointless.
On the other hand, the Empire is not going to move out or abandon this area unless we force them out. The Empire has put a lot of time and money into this operation, and they won't abandon it. Besides, where else are they going to find somewhere that's so hard for people to Scry into? It's a great natural defense. Negotiate from strength; fight from a place of strength, too.
If the Empire has an idea for a defense, they may be able to come up with something on short notice, and given enough time, their resources and reach are both vast. I should point out to you that's why almost no one who crosses the Empire lives for long afterward. Think about that if you feel you still want to do this.
Last, and I think this is Star’s least favorite point, although we all recognize that there may be some collateral damage to the scenery because we’re a violent crew, and want your first priority to be the destruction of the operation whatever it takes, destroying the site to save it is not a good idea, and angering the Prince by seriously affecting the surface dwellers is also not good business for The Trading Company. If he kicks us off-world, it will be that much harder to keep a close watch over the Illithids afterward.
That’s all of it that I know.
