Brikhalna Ipprszhen

Brikhalna Ipprszhen, also known as Dutch, was an illithid gambler, businessman, restauranteur, and criminal enterpriser of the Underdark in the 14 century DR. "It's nothing personal, just business."

- Dutch

Description
Brikhalna always dressed according to high society fashion, and was only seen in formal robes or jackets from the finest tailors. He also trained his tentacles to hang in a manner evocative of an elegant mustache.

Personality
Brikhalna lacked the innate malevolence so common among mind flayers, and was instead a charming and sociable fellow who sought out the thrills and satisfactions that came from business ventures and gambling. He was particularly fond of his own ale, and was usually seen drinking it.

He especially disfavored physical weaponry, seeing such implements as a crude method far below his urbane and cultured status.

Abilities
Brikhalna had the typical abilities of a mind flayer, including a powerful mind blast. He also knew a number of arcane magic spells, such as suggestion, charm person, charm monster, ESP, levitate, astral projection, and plane shift.

Along the course of his life, he picked up and practiced the skills of brewing, gambling, and fine etiquette.

Possessions
Aside from his wardrobe of finely tailored formal-wear, Brikhalna had a prized stock of expensive Haba na'Kyubazs cigars, and regularly gave them out as gifts to his friends. His most important possession was a jug of alchemy that he kept in the brewing room of the Gehirn Cibus and used to make his prized UnderDark Ale.

Activities
Brikhalna enjoyed a variety of legal and illegal hobbies and enterprises. He gambled with high stakes, fixed drider races, and courted the wealthy and powerful. He operated the Gehirn Cibus restaurant and accompanying Think Easy, and was also responsible for brewing the famous house ale, UnderDark Ale.

Relationships
Brikhalna held himself above other illithids, and considered himself a distinctly better class than the thugs and gangsters he dealt with. Despite these feelings, he treated his criminal cohort with respect and decorum if only out of practical concerns for their wealth and power. He managed to befriend the eccentrically uncouth beholder Vikhrumn Coll, and had a genuine and close friendship with the drow matron mother and crime lord Felyndiira Shi'narrvha, though they always seemed to be loudly arguing when seen together in public.

His prominence in the criminal underworld of the Underdark also won him the righteous and unfavorable attention of Sir Elliot of Kness and the Forthright Band of Investigators.

History
As a young illithid, Brikhalna fell out of love with the traditional mind flayer hobby of conquering and enslaving all creation. The peculiar Brikhalna left his people and circulated among the wider Underdark, fulfilled his passion for entrepreneurship and gambling, and lost several fortunes in the process. Brikhalna finally hit on a winning move when he began fixing drider races instead of betting on them, and soon had a plenitude of wealth and favors owed from the Underdark's richest gamblers.

He eventually settled down and invested in part-ownership of the Gehirn Cibus restaurant, and expanded it with a secret "Think Easy" club for his various companions and associates. He fostered his club as a neutral meeting ground for all manner of business, and enforced this peace with a hidden group of drow assassins that took care of anyone who didn't get the message. His club hosted all manner of customers, including the fashionable Felyndiira Shi'narrvha, the unnerving musical assassin Gray'shivnarien Taliain, the hit man Vikhrumn Coll, and the fence Gnormahlenvaey Catoneriehn.