Humans may dwell here

Larva №218 of the spring brood in the lava tunnels in the south of the Misty Gorge was less fortunate than others — it received defective biological material. How this old, mangy, degenerated disabled lerberg ended up in an anabiosis chamber is a big question with no answer, but a fact is a fact: the little larva had to work tirelessly to gain control over the body, and it took her several weeks longer than normal.
Then things got worse — while all the other newly converted illithids were fully mastering the basics of psionics, physics, philosophy, and the glorious history of the Misty Gorge, young Zinomalleum spent entire days sitting in a rat grotto performing the simplest and stupidest work — watching the creatures scurrying back and forth, bending and unbending the stiff joints of the new body and fighting the veil clouding the host's iodine-deficient brain. None of the senior comrades he questioned about his strange condition could give a coherent answer as to why his body functioned so poorly, and some even felt too disgusted to speak with him. The "boy" also found no answer in any smart book on the anatomy and physiology of their species, and this made him very nervous. Logic suggested that even in separate unique cases, everything takes time, but a worm of intuition hinted that something was seriously wrong here. The illithid failed to find a solution, and therefore resigned himself and, for the time being, simply cataloged all the details of what was happening in his head.
Gritting his metaphorical teeth, two hundred eighteen showed wonders of persistence and endurance, and after half a year finally gained full control over his new body, after which he began to study all standard disciplines from scratch. His kind was not characterized by any particular emotionality, so the illithid calmly realized that the teachers and other specimens considered him inferior, and he understood this himself, but did not accept it. Having mastered psionics and introductory courses in natural sciences, he even managed to somehow study basic magic, but the instructors were not impressed. In the end, having reasoned maturely, the illithid stopped tossing and turning and decided to focus heavily on biochemistry and pharmacology — he was certain that with the help of these sciences he could find the key to his unusual condition.
Reagents in chemical stores were plentiful, substances were successfully mixed, and Zinomalleum conducted his first experiments on those very rats he had watched for so long. Many of them had grown accustomed to him during the time he spent in complete helplessness, so they treated him with less apprehension than full-fledged illithids, who could not pass by without climbing into your head and forcing you to lick the dirty dusty floor of the cave, and even trusted him in some ways, which was necessary for the young researcher for the purity of the experiment. Hopeless slaves, for the chance to experience any new sensations, willingly became test subjects for all sorts of mysterious decoctions and always greeted their "master" with a joyful squeak. Some of them, unfortunately, died during the experiments, but this did not bother the others in any way.
After some time, as a result of scientific activity, Zinomalleum developed several fundamentally new recipes for stimulants, euphoretics, and hallucinogens, and noticed that the slaves were indeed ready to go far for them. This planted certain thoughts in his head, which developed over several years.

The fifteenth year of life in the tunnels had come, and many of his same-age kin had already visited the surface and accompanied senior specimens in trade deals and other sorties, but the leadership unanimously agreed that two hundred eighteen was "for now" not worthy of such responsibility. The young illithid could not argue or contradict the old brood, but deep in his soul he harbored a poisonous malice. He had long since exhausted all the resources and knowledge of the dungeon; to continue his research, he needed fresh reagents and biological material from the surface.
An old but not forgotten paranoia resurfaced, and the illithid began to dig — from then on, all the rat slaves of the lava tunnels, whose trust and adoration he had built in a specific way over many years, became his eyes and ears in the dungeon. All conversations, events, and actions of the old and young broods were brought to his attention by loyal rats, and since hundreds, if not thousands, of servants scurried through the caves, not a single shred of information escaped his attention and found its proper place in the already strengthened, expanded, and powerful consciousness of the illithid.
Zinomalleum collected information, ferreted out secrets, put forward theories, and planned if not a revolution, then certainly some large-scale form of revenge. Despite all his achievements in the chosen field, despite the silk rats who had scrubbed every tunnel to a shine as a result of his work, discoveries in chemistry and botany, successes in psionics and even magic, everyone continued to consider him a nobody, and finally he managed to find out why. The answer came from the tentacled mouth of Zalliamus — the direct supervisor of scientific work in the lava tunnels of the south of the Misty Gorge.
He revealed that a separate group of experts had been monitoring all the torments of the young illithid since birth, as part of an experiment to study the infection reaction of a maximally inferior host organism.
- Congratulations, son, you have made an invaluable contribution to our science, - Zalliamus gently placed a tentacle on the young illithid's shoulder. - We wanted to increase our birth rates by purchasing more biological material on the surface, but I always believed that higher quality selection was necessary in this matter. With your help, I have been able to confirm my theory. Excellent work. You may stop your antics.
The scientific supervisor left, and Zinomalleum finally calmed down and breathed deeply. In his soul he had long suspected something like this, but having no physical evidence, for years he simmered in a hell of doubts and conjectures — it is hard to imagine a worse fate for a young and inquisitive illithid mind.
That same day he gathered all his things, prototypes, blueprints, and developments, said goodbye to the grief-stricken rat slaves, and left for the surface — no one even stopped him; he was no longer needed by anyone.

All this happened many years ago; since then, the illithid has firmly established himself in the outside world and made significant progress in biochemistry, pharmaceuticals, and even mysterious alchemy. Naturally, not everyone wanted to deal with the creepy newcomer from the dungeon at first: it turned out that the surface was mostly populated by low-developed high-primate tribes and states of savages whose minds were permanently gripped by prejudice, senseless emotions, and dark ignorance, but some knew how to see a benefit for themselves, and others were subject to different methods of persuasion. Speaking of the mental inferiority of the surface dwellers, it is worth noting that many of them could not even properly remember or pronounce his name, so for the especially stupid, the illithid shortened it to simply "Zim".
Strangely enough, there turned out to be far more rat communities on the surface than underground, and experienced rat breeder Zinomalleum had no problem finding "assistants" for his dubious affairs. Surface rats readily consumed huge amounts of narcotic drugs; many paid well for this. However, the brazen rats of the surface behaved too insolently, and every gang sooner or later tried to commit some kind of foul play — steal, rob, or in any other way lay a hairy clawed paw on the peaceful preparations. Zinomalleum, as usual, did not pry into souls unless the situation dictated it, and these unafraid rat-folk had never lived underground and therefore realized their mistake too late.
However, even among all this riffraff, the illithid managed to find a more loyal assistant than the others. Young but battered Vassar, for some personal reason, was left without a community and became an outcast in the rat society, so he understood that he had not much to hope for. A peculiar fruitful cooperation was established between him and the illithid — protection, a fairly decent life, and of course high-quality narcotic substances in exchange for various services such as escorting, searching for information, various small errands, obtaining reagents (and sometimes test subjects), and so on.
The scientist did not forget Zalliamus's role in his fate and decided in his own way to start where he left off. Taking his inferior organism as a starting point, the illithid tested some of the resulting preparations on himself, sparing not his fragile health for the glory of world science, while also finding biological material of various quality for his own larvae and ruthlessly subjecting them to tests. He defined his goal as an attempt to breed the ideal illithid organism — fast-growing and adapted to any external environment conditions.
Nevertheless, these methods of natural scientific cognition had their limits; however, during many years of research, the illithid came to learn about the phenomenon of own nature magic, which was not even mentioned in his homeland, allegedly healing and rejuvenating the body and granting it regenerative qualities. This information could have a critical influence on the course of research, so the scientist could not help but verify it.
Fortunately, a long journey west into the mysterious lands of ancient civilizations bore fruit: the good-natured people inhabiting those lands turned out to be perhaps the only people on the surface who earned the illithid's respect for their wisdom, selflessness, and understanding. The underground dweller spent several meditative years, very unusual for his rational mind, learning the mysteries of wild, untamed nature that had not been reduced to chemical components, and eventually mastered this amazing skill.
Parting on the most pleasant terms with the local population, inspired by success, two hundred eighteen returned to the rich lands of the Barbarian to move to a new stage in his endless developments, with a firm intention to one day return and repay them kindness for kindness. And for now, new fascinating research awaits him for the glory of illithid and world science.

Characteristics:

Strength 7
Endurance 8
Agility 8
Intelligence 14 + 6
Will 13 + 10
Luck 8


Inventor
Botanist
Chemist
Alchemist


Stone Fist
Renewal

Telekinesis
Will Suppression

Recipes.

Chemistry.
- mana extract: a small piece of paper is soaked in the finished solution, then dried and placed on the tongue at the necessary moment; the user undergoes colorful harmless hallucinations for some time, losing touch with reality and enjoying a surge of spiritual power;
- reaction powder: the result of a complex and lengthy chemical process is a scattering of small transparent crystals, which are then ground into a fine powder and absorbed by any mucous membrane, for example — intranasally; the user notes a sharp surge of strength, speed, and clarity of thought, which is followed by lethargy and apathy after the stimulant's effect ends;
- fortitude pills: taken internally, action occurs within a minute; an increase in the threshold of natural physical strength is observed in the user, as well as a decrease in pain sensitivity, however, with regular use, thinking functions undergo a slight recession;
- paralysis potion: a strong drug in liquid state, administered by injection; causes severe muscle spasms and completely paralyzes the affected organism.

Alchemy:
- levitation potion;
- invisibility potion;
- living creature detection potion;
- elemental potion: all basic elements in one vial — do not shake, do not consume internally.

Inventions:
- Mustard gas;
- Smoke bomb;
- "Devastator 10,000": the latest cry of illithid engineering thought; simply point it toward the enemy, cover your ear cavities and press the button.

Equipment:

- hand telescope, chronometer, sets of all necessary tools for chemical, alchemical, and inventive activity, personal protective equipment for eyes and respiratory organs, airtight container with a brood of illithid larvae in anabiosis, money;
- supply of reagents, supply of potions and narcotics, supply of smoke and mustard bombs;
- injection gun, light multi-shot rapid-fire crossbow, combat staff, light leather armor.