[sblock=XP]Yeah, apply the results immediately.
If I waited until the last encounter, that would be too much XP at once.
[/sblock]
-''The reconciliation?'' Par'Dhun says, wide eyed. ''Those fools? That's a political faction. Traitors or deluded, depending on who you ask. But not a cult! Are you all pretending to ignore the dragon in the room?''
He looks at the three giths, confused.
-''Don't you know who we are? Have you lost your identity? We are githyanki! We once were slave but now are free. We don't submit to anyone. But she... SHE MADE A PACT WITH INFERNAL FORCES! SHE SOLD HER SOUL!'' he roars, pointing at Tsi'Ri. ''What is so hard to understand, here? We are the true Giths! If we overthrew the illithids, it's not to submit to a prince of hell!''
Par'dhun slumps back in his cell after this burst of outrage, looking weary.
-''Well, that's why the commander wouldn't let even a single member of this cult live. He was obsessed. We had pretty much destroyed them back on Ea and as far as I was concerned we should have turned our attention to better things.
They called themselves the Scions of Caiphon and their leader was a gith called Dan'Hoi. The commander wasn't very interested in learning their theology, just how to destroy them. They babbled something about the power of submission, about how their Master Caiphon would grant them dominions over the world in exchange for their devotion. Classic stuff. I can see the lure; it takes many years to become a competent wizard. It takes only months to become a dangerous warlock. They were spreading like a virus, especially amongst the gith who had been sidetracked to less glorious roles after they failed the basic tests.
We crushed them. We showed them; there is NO shortcut to power! Only the skill and the will. It should have been over right there; only the master knew the joining rituals and we killed Dan'hoi in the first assault. Let the guards mop up the rest, I said, they are of no consequence. But the commander was incensed. He wanted the entire cult dead. His own daughter had joined them, you see. It was a stain on his honour. And that's how, weeks later, I ended up assaulting a Reconciliation ship; Your friend was the last one and she had found refuge within the organisation. They knew we were coming, I don't know why they'd be so stupid as giving asylum to an infernalist. But then, they were stronger than we expected, perhaps they thought they could win.
As it turned out, it was a stalemate, and on the sea that's not a good thing. What a waste. Both vessels sank. I had lost my amulet in the fight so I couldn't teleport back home. I remember hanging to a piece of wood and drifting for days. I don't remember much else until I woke in this cell. Some weasel was telling to a tall and gaunt man that I was a gith, that I came from beyond this plane. He thanked him and then he personally tortured me for weeks, asking all kind of questions about the astral planes, about travelling between planes, about prison planes... He was never satisfied. To this day I don't know what his goal was.
It was absurd but I guess it was a fitting end to an absurd quest. The commander lost half the cadre in a pointless quest to kill a lone girl, barely able to extinguish a candle with her power in comparison to Dan'Hoi, who never knew the joining ritual and who, by the look of it, has now become amnesiac. The universe is having a laugh right now and I'm the butt of the joke.''
