Session 54
"All too easy . . ."
Ch’r’ai heard the signal immediately. There were intruders in the Palace of Whispers! The warlock hoisted himself off his bed, his lack of legs no longer a factor as he was now empowered through magical flight. He had no idea of the nature of the intruders, but he opened the door to his chambers and ordered a squad of Duthk’giths to immediately intervene while he prepared himself for battle. In a few moments, he would join the fray with his own personal guard – assuming there was anything left. Somehow, Ch’r’ai doubted it . . .
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The party was teleported into the palace, which was constructed of the same black granite as the Githzerai warlord’s chambers. Surrounding them in this room were five portals of writhing black tentacles, it was difficult to tell if they were in fact magical constructs or merely ornately designed doorways. With the power of his true seeing Amal spotted a hole in the wall approximately 20 feet above the floor – apparently an illusory wall had been sloppily placed over it.
“Githzerai, there seems to be an inconsistency in the wall there,” the Dreadmaster pointed out the exact location, “why don’t you go and check it out?”
“What, do I look like your personal servant Zhent?”
“I assumed you were the scout of this group, now get up there!!”
Grumbling, Hor’ahun withdrew his broom of flying, mounted it and made his way up the wall. Unfortunately, his inspection was rudely interrupted as the portals in the room opened revealing decidedly draconic Githyanki, four appeared to be warriors, while the fifth looked like an arcanist.
Assuming the form of a Beholder, Entropy wasted no time. Her eyebeams began to fire with abandon as one of the Duthk’giths collapsed from a finger of death; two more dropped their bows, one from a telekinesis and the other from fear; the final warrior was charmed. Finally, Entropy directed her anti-magic central eye towards the arcanist.
Though Noir was in the path of the anti-magic cone, she was currently wielding Helltongue and the artifact was unaffected by such mortal magic. With a flick of her wrist, the three heads of her weapon went flying at the Githyanki mage. However, the wizard was quick and managed to avoid two of the strands, though he was energy drained by the third. Knowing that he would be quickly annihilated without his magic, the Githyanki fled and the portal closed. “Come back coward, and face your death like a man,” cried the Blackguard.
The charmed Githyanki felt compelled to leave the Beholder alone, but he had no such compunctions against her companions. Using the ability of the Silver Void to quicken spells, the warrior wrenched Hor’ahun's rapier from his grasp via telekinesis. The half-dragon then flew up to engage the Githzerai. The remaining warrior drew his silver sword as well and deftly cut into the Beholder’s thick hide. Before Entropy’s attacker could do any serious damage, however, he was promptly destroyed by Amal.
From the door through which the Githyanki mage had fled appeared a large Red Dragon who used the anti-magic to his advantage as his maw gripped onto Noir’s torso. Before thing got out of hand, Entropy’s eye rays flashed again as the dragon was petrified into stone and then swiftly disintegrated. Charging past the dust that remained of the dragon, Noir found her prey fumbling with some scrolls. Before he could do anything else, all three strands of Helltongue were upon him as he became a lifeless husk. Screaming in ecstasy, Noir felt the negative energy inflicted on her foe surging into her, feeding her power.
The first wave had been crushed.
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A second squad of Duthk’gith approached, once again led by a mage of no small skill. In a bloodlust, the magic-user ran ahead of the rest – eager to obliterate what few enemies remained. He stopped in surprise after the black-tentacled portal swished open at his approach. Instead of dead or dying intruders, he saw that the Gith had been slaughtered while the four attackers – two humans, a Githzerai (!) and what was apparently a large devil of some sort gazed upon him as he entered.
Working quickly, the mage launched a greater dispel magic in the room though it was somehow counter-spelled even though he saw nothing to indicate that an enemy spellcaster had done so. He followed this up with a chain lightning but he was unable to inflict appreciable damage. Before he could act further, the large devil began gesturing and the Githyanki felt his body go rigid with paralysis. However, his mind still functioned and he used dimension door to flee before anyone could administer the coup de grace.
Hor’ahun, having recovered his rapier, ran towards the portal from which the mage had appeared and, strangely, it opened for him as well. Turning the corner he saw six more half-dragons running towards him down the corridor. With his psi power, the Psychic Warrior sent a mind blast down the hallway. Expecting his foes to be stunned he was surprised as they continued forward, having had the sense to activate their psi defense modes prior to combat.
The room containing Amal, Entropy, and Noir began to fill up as Duthk’gith began to dimension door inside. They began to cover the room with fireballs though the effects were minimal as the party had warded themselves appropriately. Deciding to direct all of their attacks on a single opponent, the half-dragons ganged up on Noir. One of them tripped her while the rest began hacking away with their silver greatswords. However, the unbelievable influx of life energy that Noir had leeched allowed her to ignore their powerful blows.
Hor’ahun and Amal moved into melee, swinging with reckless abandon. Though they were not tanks, they deemed it unnecessary to waste their spells or psi power on such weak opponents. In any case, their potent, well-crafted defenses made a successful counter-attack unlikely.
The same could not be said of Entropy, who had shapechanged back into a Pit Fiend. Grabbing one of the half-dragons she literally tore him into pieces with her unmatched strength and infernal power. Before further damage could be done, a Beholder walked into the room. It was one of the strangest sights any of them had seen, the creature was clad in some type of armor which apparently granted it legs in addition to multiple limbs wielding swords. It flew into the room with deliberate carelessness as Entropy tried to rip a chunk out of it with her claws – which simply could not penetrate the aberration’s armor.
Moving next to Amal, whose blow the creature similarly shrugged off, it directed its anti-magic central eye towards Entropy (who resumed her normal form) and Noir.
This was the chink in their armor -- their dependence on magic -- that would undo them. Yes, indeed, the tide of the battle had swung. At least that’s what the Beholder thought, before Amal finished him with an empowered destruction. The Banie priest was mysteriously left out of the anti-magic area.
Without the Beholder for support, the remaining Duthk’gith were speedily turned into bite-size chunks.
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Ch’r’ai silently floated towards the foyer. He had had time to ward himself with his arcane power and knew that he was nigh invincible. As he turned the corner, he, too, was shocked at the pile of Githyanki corpses (and ash) he saw. He threw a greater dispel magic into the room followed by a wall of force to separate Noir and Entropy from the rest of the group.
Shaking his head in contempt, Amal destroyed the legless Warlock before further harm could be done.
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Pausing only so briefly to remove the ‘powerful’ magic equipment from their dispatched enemies, the party contemplated their next move. “Well, I suppose we could send Hor’ahun back up to the wall to try and find the mechanism that opens the hidden door. But perhaps a more expedient method would be advisable. I don’t want to wait her for more reinforcements. Entropy, why don’t you . . .”
Before the Dreadmaster could complete his sentence a thin green ray of energy flew over his shoulder as Entropy had resumed the form of a Beholder. In moments, she had disintegrated a hole in the wall.
“Fascinating, I do believe the palace wall is regenerating the damage. I advise caution, my friends, when we first invaded the Undying Temple we learned the pitfalls of dealing with a sentient construct.”
Flying through the opening, the party found several rooms that appeared to be barracks. Taking what they wanted from these chambers, they moved on until the path bifurcated. Choosing one fork, they came upon a very strange sight. They found what appeared to be a slaad, writhing in pain, encompassed by a pillar of light. Around it stood eight jet black pillars.
Noir moved up to the slaad, delighting in its agony, “This thing almost looks like Nurn. What do you guys think?”
“Elementary, my dear Blackguard. Nurn was a Death Slaad, but this one is Grey. Apparently this appears to be an exceedingly powerful domination effect of some sort. Should I release him?” Entropy turned to her companions.
“Leave him. We don’t need any more critters running around this place,” Hor’ahun flatly stated.
The party agreed and resumed their journey down the alternative path. The next room they came upon was truly massive, its most notable feature was a dead gargantuan worm-like creature with a single-eye and two arms ending in pincers which hung from the ceiling with the aid of many spiked chains. Below it were 18 Duthk’gith and many dozens of zombies, ready for battle.
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Turning into a wight, Entropy cast a quickened time stop and entered the chamber. Seeing all of her foes frozen in time, the Alienist simply couldn’t decide upon the myriad ways through which they could be sent to horrible, screaming deaths. Finally, choosing an old favorite, she opened a reality maelstrom in their midst – sculpting it of course, she did not wish to hurt her allies . . . yet. When the normal stream of time resumed, all the zombies and ten half-dragons were flung into the Positive Energy Plane.
The remaining Githyanki drew their silver weapons and charged at the wight in a fury beyond reason. Before Entropy could respond, she felt a slight tingle in her head.
NO!! Winterwood is trying to contact me from the Far Realms! Of all the inappropriate times!
Though she tried to resist, Entropy gave into temptation as she entered one of her trances.
Amal frowned, before he could act Entropy had cast her time stop and disappeared from sight. He drew his adamantine flail and ran forward and saw something . . . he did not expect. The reality maelstroms he understood, one of the Alienist’s calling cards. However, he was flabbergasted to see all eight remaining Duthk’gith ganging up on what appeared to be a Mind Flayer! And the pathetic thing was pleading for its life!?
With the aid of his true seeing, Amal could see the Illithid was Entropy, but by the Dreadlord, he couldn’t possibly fathom what she was trying to accomplish. He gestured quickly as a wave of negative energy lashed out at her attackers, damaging all of them. He was soon supported by Hor’ahun and Noir who tried to thin the crowd with their greataxe and unholy longsword, respectively.
After serious punishment, sanity slowly creeped back to Entropy. She looked up and was shocked to see the Githyanki beating on her with impunity. “What in the Nine Hells is going on . . .”
Before she could complete the thought, she was smashed again by a silver greatsword. Assuming the form of a Trumpet Archon, she teleported away before her foes could dispatch her. Though the half-dragons nearly slew Entropy, they were no match for her three companions who ripped them apart in record time.
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“Entropy, what in the name of Bane were you doing back there? Pleading for your life?” Amal laughed at the irony of it all.
“Bah, I must’ve been contacted by the damnable elf from the Far Realms again. You are fortunate that it manifested itself in a relatively benign way this time, I could’ve killed all of you.”
Quickly turning serious, the Dreadmaster pointed towards the dead worm-like creature hanging from the ceiling as Entropy’s reality maelstroms continued to rage in the background, “Well, in any case, what should we do about that?”
Hor’ahun examined it carefully, “Very impressive, that thing is actually an Astral Dreadnought. Extremely nasty, be glad it is past its prime. Think Beholder meets Tarrasque and you’ve got a good idea what it would be like to fight one.”
“Get rid of it, it offends me,” demanded Noir.
Once again a thin green ray flew over Noir as the rear of the Astral Dreadnought was disintegrated. Much to the party’s chagrin however, it turned out to be a piñata as magical goodies fell to the floor and were whisked to parts unknown by the reality maelstrom. Flying quickly to the Dreadnought, Hor’ahun was only able to recover a small piece of metal bearing Githyanki runes, though it was non-magical.
Venting their frustrations at this loss of treasure, the party dumped the half-dragon corpses into the maelstrom. Time would tell if the Energons in the Positive Energy Plane would object to this bio-hazardous waste.
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Just as with the foyer, this chamber sported numerous tentacle-filled portals.
“It has become clear to me that we will never find our way to Vlaakith if we simply stumble blindly from room to room. I will ask Lord Bane to show us the path to her phylactery. Once that is destroyed, then we can give her the final death that she has so richly earned,” Amal suggested. Praying to the Black Hand, the Dreadmaster cast a find the path spell as the way to the library, containing the Lich Queen’s Achille’s heel was made clear to him. “Follow me . . .”
Along the way, the party saw many strange sights including a room where the walls were constructed entirely of stitched Illithid flesh and another chamber adorned with three frescoes of female Githyanki warriors bearing heralds that they had seen on Gith’s statue in the courtyard. Eventually, Amal paused before continuing, "Bane tells me that the next room is exceedingly dangerous – though there is a shaft in the ceiling which will allow us to safely continue, the room itself should be avoided."
Inching his way forward, the tentacle-filled door retracted as Hor’ahun approached. The next chamber appeared to be cloaked in shadows, though he could see a stone shaft ascending in the center of the room. Before he could act, three beings teleported into the room. Each of them appeared as robed humanoids with elongated heads sporting two extremely prominent eyes that swirled with color. For a moment, the Githzerai wavered as he peered into the colorful depths of their eyes, but he was snapped back to reality as he successfully dodged a crackling, black beam of energy one of them directed towards him.
Drawing his axe, Hor’ahun tried to take a chunk out of his attacker but found that the majority of the blow was absorbed by the creature. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him back, “Stand back weakling and let the real warriors work.”
Noir approached brandishing Helltongue as all three heads of the whip lashed against one foe, and then another. The Blackguard reveled in their power as their smoking bodies collapsed to the floor. In retaliation, their fellow fired a black ray at Noir which connected – sapping her life energy, not unlike her use of her artifact whip. However, Amal stepped forward and destroyed their remaining adversary, consuming him in unholy fire.
The trio heard a clapping from behind, “Very nice, my friends. I knew that I had chosen my allies well. If you would like to know, those creatures were Ultroloths – officers in Yugoloth armies. They have a well-deserved reputation for cruelty and cleverness, but it seems not to have served them well.”
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Wary of Amal’s warning, the party decided that Hor’ahun and Noir would dimension door up the shaft and, if everything was safe, Entropy would follow with Amal.
The plan seemed to go well as the duo felt no unusual effects inside the shaft. They yelled for their comrades to follow and ascended. As they emerged from the shaft, a few hundred feet up, they found that the room they were in was similar to the one below in terms of ambient lighting (in a word, none).
They landed and waited for their comrades to catch up. However, a noise from above caught their attention. To an outside observer, it appeared to be a shapeless shadow that was descending upon them.
However, to Noir, it was the Red Knight herself! “Human! You have taken my goodly powers and spit in my face. You have betrayed Cormyr, your principles, and your order. Prepare to be crushed by my divine power!”
To Hor’ahun it was an Alhoon, a psionic Illithid lich of extreme power, “Githzerai, get ready to join me in death!”
