The fishfolk's nest lay inside a cavern along the southern harbor.
It was dark and damp. The kuo-toa had constructed primitive, egg-shaped stone huts throughout the cave. When several females and hatchlings saw Skyl and his companions, they released piercing shrieks and charged like wild animals.
Skyl softly recited an incantation, and a 5th-level [Wall of Force] rose before them. The invisible barrier prevented anything physical from passing through it.
The succubus's head shone brightly, illuminating their surroundings. The three companions saw garbage scattered throughout the cavern, along with fish bones, a few human bones, and scraps of clothing. The kuo-toa even possessed fermentation vats in which they soaked meat, producing a bizarre and horrifying stench.
Several freshly severed heads had been placed upon an altar as offerings. In life, they had been fishermen and sailors unfortunate enough to become stranded on the island. Human flesh was probably considered a rare delicacy by this tribe and was therefore deemed worthy of being offered to their goddess.
The Sea Mother's crayfish-head holy symbol glowed faintly red. This was a shrine that had attracted the direct attention of a deity, and the waves of maddening divine power radiating from it had rendered the kuo-toa inside the nest completely unreasonable.
They hurled themselves against the [Wall of Force] like lunatics, surging forward in an unbroken mass. They continued even after their skin split and blood streamed from their heads, hammering and biting at the barrier until they broke their arms and shattered their teeth. Such extreme religious fanaticism made it difficult to imagine just how twisted their minds had become.
Doric attempted to calm the fishfolk with druidic magic, but her strength clearly could not contend with divine power. The holy symbol upon the altar flashed red, and Doric clutched her head with a scream as the backlash struck her.
"No wonder these fishfolk attacked us in broad daylight. Apparently, this town isn't big enough for two gods." The moment Skyl saw the altar, he understood that another deity had set her sights on the Silver Tree.
Unfortunately for the Sea Mother, her followers were utterly useless. Even if every last one of them died, they would never be able to seize the divine tree for her.
"They're only women and children." Stan shook his head. "Killing them would keep me awake tonight."
"I'll deal with the altar first. You find a way to control the fishfolk. We can't simply release them, or they'll threaten the people living on the surrounding islands."
Skyl no longer had the Infinity Scepter, so he relied upon Mora's Book to cast spells. Conveniently, Mora himself was normally covered in slick tentacles and looked like some enormous octopus, making him the perfect choice for dealing with the Sea Mother.
A single chaotic eye opened upon Mora's Book. Amid a chorus of murmuring whispers, a black vortex appeared around the kuo-toa altar, and slick green tentacles reached from within. They wrapped themselves around the altar and tightened until the stone began cracking loudly.
The crayfish-head holy symbol erupted with light. Its furious red radiance turned into a maddening shade of blue and violet, while the thunderous roar of the ocean filled the cavern. A portal leading to the Elemental Plane of Water began to open, and Blibdoolpoolp's deranged curses echoed through it.
The instant they heard her voice, every living creature felt as though it had been plunged into an icy abyss.
Skyl possessed divine essence and resisted the Sea Mother's psychic assault. Doric and Stan were not nearly as fortunate. The remaining kuo-toa, meanwhile, smiled with excitement and began slaughtering one another.
The waves of frenzied magic generated by the bloody sacrifices caused the portal above the altar to expand.
The Sea Mother's head flickered into view. It was an enormous, grotesque crayfish head with two crimson eyes set upon long stalks, each radiating a psychic force capable of driving mortals insane.
Doric felt as though her soul had frozen. Her thoughts stopped for several moments, and then she heard herself laughing hysterically. Skyl restrained both her arms, otherwise she would already have begun mutilating herself.
"Wake up!" Stan began playing his guitar. He sang "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Misérables, using its defiant melody to awaken their will to resist.
"Mora, hurry up."
"This presents no difficulty, my lord. The foolish little goddess opened the door herself and invited me inside. I shall ensure that she remembers this offense for all eternity."
Mora's tentacles pierced through the portal into the Elemental Plane of Water and wrapped themselves around the Sea Mother's body.
"Ahhh! What is this? No!"
Blibdoolpoolp manifested as an enormous woman with a shapely nude body, the head of a crayfish, and massive claws in place of her arms. Her form existed somewhere between horrifying and alluring, endowed with the unnatural attraction of divinity.
Mora's tentacles wound and slithered across the Sea Mother's body.
"Do not be impatient," he said lazily. "Our delightful time together is only beginning."
The portal slammed shut in an emergency attempt to sever Mora's tentacles. However, the Daedric essence that had already attached itself to the Sea Mother would not simply disappear. What followed would be a long struggle between the two entities. If Blibdoolpoolp failed to expel Mora's power, her divinity would become corrupted, her divine portfolio might shift, and she could even suffer a decline in divine power.
The Sea Mother had cast her line for a prize and ended up tangled in Daedric tentacles. She was now in such a miserable state that she no longer had any interest in plotting against the Silver Tree.
The divine power surrounding the altar dispersed, and the stones shattered with a thunderous crash.
Silence returned to the cavern.
The kuo-toa who had been slaughtering one another partially regained their senses. Most had already died, however, while the few that remained alive merely twitched a couple of times before falling still. The strange light faded from their fishlike eyes.
Skyl shook his head slightly but offered no judgment regarding the tragedy.
With Stan's help, their tiefling companion finally recovered her reason from the fragments of her shattered mind. Her face was deathly pale, and she bent over and vomited.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself…"
Doric had suffered a severe psychic assault and would need time to rest and recover.
Inside one of the cavern's larger stone huts, they discovered the kuo-toa eggs resting in a pool. A few had already hatched. The newborns looked like thin, tailless hellbenders. Their eyes showed no sign of intelligence, but hunger still drove them to gnaw upon the unhatched eggs.
In this world, a race's disposition toward good and evil was often part of its nature. Humans were born true neutral, surface elves were born inclined toward good, while kuo-toa were neutral evil. Their wickedness was pure, simple, and entirely without pretense.
Doric folded her arms across her chest. Her body was still trembling slightly, but she nevertheless asked Skyl what they should do with the eggs and newborns.
As a druid, she would never support the complete extermination of any natural species.
"I suggest sending them back to the Underdark," Stan said.
Skyl had something else in mind. He remembered the Lands Between, where Miquella's Haligtree had accepted nearly every form of life without discrimination.
He wondered whether the kuo-toa could be raised differently, taught to abandon evil, and eventually allowed to become residents beneath the Silver Tree.
Skyl treated every race equally. His memories contained the souls of an entire universe, and he had long since transcended the barriers created by species. The kuo-toa might possess an inherently evil nature, but that did not mean they were doomed to fall into wickedness.
"I just remembered something." Skyl looked at the tiefling girl. "Paarthurnax, an ancient dragon who lives atop the Throat of the World, Skyrim's highest mountain, once asked, 'What is better, to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?' I suppose I still believe that even someone born with an evil nature can change. After all, there's an example standing right in front of me."
Doric pressed her lips together. She appeared slightly uncomfortable, but her gaze toward her companion became noticeably gentler.
The warlock pointed upward.
"The Silver Tree represents an entire system of power. In the distant Lands Between, there are two similar divine trees. One is the Erdtree, ancient and inflexible, merciless toward anything it considers foreign, and capable of controlling the fate of every living being in the Lands Between. The other is Miquella's Haligtree, which accepts every form of life but also controls their hearts and wills.
"My divine tree will follow a different path and create a different system. I will kindle myself into a light, and then ignite that same light within every life beneath the Silver Tree. I want every one of them to survive. I want every one of them to possess dignity. At the very least, when the gods try to herd them into the slaughterhouse, they should be able to raise their voices in defiance and stand their ground."
His listeners fell silent.
The newborn fishfolk continued gnawing upon the eggs of their brothers and sisters, producing a steady series of crunching noises.
Stan raised a hand and patted Skyl on the shoulder.
"Don't ever say I'm not a loyal friend. I'll help you. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. We'll simply do what we believe is right."
Doric also reached out and gently patted Skyl's shoulder.
"I'll help you too."
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