[quote=FuryouMiko][quote=fkhaller]I do like this idea. but the thread itself asks "why are the tadpoles sexy". I do not see sexy tadpoles as a very mind flayer trope, more of a succubus demon kid of thing. Also the powers they are given are class specific, what they desire most. With a huge story progression around devils something tells me they main devil is not just there to "help" you. It's almost as if they made a deal for the souls of the tadpoles but they still need your consent. As for motive, mindflayer powers might just tip the blood wars in there favor.
I don't know about that, there are lots of Ctulhurotica out there. **whistles innocently**
I've been thinking the transponder thing goes to particular places. It's not by random chance we end up on a random stretch of land where the Absolute faction is already established (and deliberately so going by the studies of goblin customs and culture that you can find on the ship) and working. So hell is probably involved somehow. Maybe not at Zariel's top level of it though.
I think that the way the transponder itself looks and its mechanics might be a clue. The first time I watched it I thought of those 20's Cable Girls / Phone Operators "Hold on tight, I'll connect you!" moving cables to establish communications between different parties. My working theory, on a macro level, is that each of the transponder's little hands acts as a cable connecting the nautiloid to a psionic center / elder brain. The navigator makes the tentacles hold hands and strums them together with a very satisfying, musical thump to reach another plane. It also makes sense that only special tadpoled thralls would be able to use it; I tried using Us to connect the transponder (Us can open coffers, has an inventory and seems to be more connected to the Mind Flayers than we do) but only Lae'zel and my MC are actually able to do it.
Which, to me, suggests three things:
1) There was a Mind Flayer enclave somewhere in Avernus
2) We will be revisiting both Avernus and those cold peaks (putting that "cold resistance" and "robe of summer" to good use and becoming a truly ultimate weapon).
3) (very excited about this last part) the MC and the party will be able to travel between planes on their own at some point, as long a member of the party is already there. We know that Gale has a quest connection to the Astral Plane, Wyll to Avernus, Lae'zel to that weird timeless plane, and I'm assuming that Astarion's master lives in a Ravenlofty demi-plane. This jumping into the Abyss with your friends could be foreshadowed with all those feather-fall jumps into the Underdark.
