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Awakened Mind — Description

Pwdre Ser. The very mention of this new Godly Fluid fills people with dread. The star rot has fallen rarely upon this world, yet even the slightest rain has led to anomalies and disaster. Folks worry that it has come to replace Ichor, that the age of man is coming to an end. Yet not everyone looks upon this fluid in fear. The Academy and its Astrologers is one such faction, fascinated by its bizarre energeiai and ways. They see the potential in harnessing such a fluid, mastering it so that Veritas Mundus may become the new ruling power in the coming age. But there are others that look on in interest, even those from groups that do not care for the purple jelly. A Philosopher from the Emerald Court pondered Pwdre Ser, and left the institute behind in search of its rain.
All that is known of this is that there was a Philosopher that believed the Pwdre Ser could offer answers about the universe. The Emerald Court spent its entire existence debating and wondering about the ways of life and the cosmos. Could this star rot be a chance to learn more? To expand the mind to reach a scale far beyond the reach of man? That is why they searched, eventually getting word of a remote village in the wilds that had experienced a starfall. They hurried there to see the freshly fallen Pwdre Ser, to try and find a way to harness its energeiai to aid the mind. And that was the last anyone heard from them, the messages back to the Emerald Court ceasing abruptly. In fact, all communication from that village stopped, and no one could recall seeing one of its inhabitants in quite a while.
Curiosity and concern would eventually cause a neighboring town to send an armed group out to investigate, fearing some starspawn had attacked the settlement. Yet as they approached, they noted that the village had not been consumed by a starfield, which would mean it was safe from the terrible spawn. But there was still something....off. Survivors of the incident would say that the air seemed to pulse and buzz with some kind of energeiai, yet they saw no pools of Pwdre Ser or anything to create such a phenomenon. As they got closer to the town, it was said that the sensation would get stronger, with the comment "your brain sorta felt fuzzy." This would be quickly forgotten when they found the first bodies.
The report states that a number of townsfolk were found sprawled out on the outskirts of town, as if they had been trying to flee in their final moments. What horrified the investigators was the wounds upon each of the corpses. Every single one of them had their skulls cracked open, revealing an empty cavity. Worry spread that some brain-eating monster had attacked, yet it didn't explain how it had claimed so many. How did all these victims die in their flight? Surely one would have slipped away amongst the chaos! Unfortunately, the bodies kept piling up as they stepped into town, seeing more people strewn across the road or slumped over in their homes. Each one with an empty skull. The group was determined to look for survivors, even as they felt odd headaches creeping up upon them. This attempt would quickly be foiled, as when they started poking around and making a racket, things began to slither out from the empty homes and dark shadows.
They were described as slithering brains, creatures made of green nerves tinged with purple. They slithered like snakes or inched along like caterpillars, and they all were crawling towards the group. Weapons were drawn as the people banded together, seeing how the brains were quickly surrounding them. Bolts of Humor and arrow were let loose, striking some of the creatures and killing them instantly. The squishy organa offered little resistance, and the team got a bit of hope that they could carve their way out of this mess. Such feelings had come too soon, as many of the brains would rear up on their stalks and begin to pulse with purple energeiai. Each member was struck with debilitating headaches and strange visions, reality seeming to warp before their very eyes. Some claimed they saw impossible entities, things once invisible to the eyes of man now horrifically real. Others felt that they had been teleported into the cosmos, overloaded with strange colors and lights, while their heads felt like they were going to burst. The mental attack weakened their defenses, and that was when the brains pounced. Literally.
The strange fiends used their nerve bodies and wings to leap at the team, striking as their minds were crippled by the invisible assault. Some were coherent enough to dodge away or bat the creatures out of the air, but several would quickly be snared in their nerve tendrils. The report says the brains would coil around their throats as if trying to strangle them, yet this was not how they killed. The "wings" and eye stalks would make contact with the victim's head and begin to pulse at an accelerating rate. Choked screams would soon turn to strange noises of bliss and wonder, as if one had been struck with an epiphany. This would happen as their heads expanded, something within growing impossibly. Then, in a single gory moment, their heads would burst open like rotten fruit, and their brain would come slithering out. It was then the team realized where all these creatures came from, and where all the brains of the dead had gone.
Unable to focus and fight, those who survived the first wave would make a run for it. They tried to flee, but a number of them would be taken out by the leaping monsters. All it took was one to grab hold and coil on tight, then another would join their ranks. It felt hopeless for the few that remained, as they were sure the slithering horde would soon catch them, but then their pursuit suddenly stopped. They didn't realize it at first, but as they escaped that strange buzzing sensation in their minds, the brains refused to follow. It was later theorized that this strange aura was how these things were able to stay alive, much like how a starfield sustains the starspawn. This weakness allowed the survivors to escape, and tell others of this terrible fate that befell the town.
The village would be quarantined, with no one daring to go near it. Those who live in the surrounding area have sent word out to the Academy in hopes that their forces may be able to put an end to the menace. Others, however, fear that the Astrologers may be too smitten with these odd things to destroy them, and instead turn this doomed village into one of their wretched testing grounds. As for survivors of the incident, they had weeks of migraine-filled days and sleepless nights. Strange visions when they closed their eyes, and alien thoughts whispering in their brain. There were times they swore that their mind didn't feel like their own, that something else sat in their skull. Memories of things beyond, thoughts that could never be put into words. There is something vast and infinite out there, something that no human mind, or skull, could ever truly contain.
And out there, in that abandoned town, a Philosopher sits within its center. Their mind ascended to the cosmos beyond, and seeking others to impart its "blessing."
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A mind that has truly freed itself, ascended to new heights! What once crawled in ignorance now leaps with knowledge and wisdom! Go on, ask it a question! NO, NOT "AXE" IT A QUESTION! Stop that! You fiend!