Anachronism
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Chapter 41 - Elf and Spirit
The images swam in front of Kory's eyes, dragging her deeper into them until she was a part of them. Images of battle, of love, of terrible confontation, and victory all passed before her, and they were all someone else's. She was living someone else's life. Everything that had happened had already been concluded. Everything she saw, felt, and heard was done, centuries ago. It did not matter, she was ageless. She was power, she was a god. In the lifetime of a God, years pass by like moments, and the fall of worlds to their might is as unstoppable as time itself. And then everything, everything is taken away. She is alone in her darkness.
In the darkness she was lost. Who was she? Where was she? When was she? Where was her power? A golden light washed through the darkness, and a door opened. Through the door she could see the life of mortal. And elven woman, asleep, people watching over her. Why was this a concern? Who could care less about the trifling of a mortal creature? But something about the face. The features. So similar. If only.... With a gentle shove, something pushed her into the doorway, and the darkness of the vast knowledge was gone. That was her! She was her! She was Kory! Her life memories flooded back in, as quickly as the darkness had fled. What had she been thinking about? She had been someone else? What had happened? It didn't matter, she was safe. She could awake.
Kory opened her eyes. Over her stood Zendrak, and at her side, touching her arm, an older man, who's eyes opened as he smiled at her. "You have come through the storm my dear. The god's are kind."
"What do you remember Kory?" asked Zendrak.
"We had the golden tiara, we were going to lure a Gyshin to us, so that I could look into his eyes, and know his life."
Another figure stepped forward, a familiar woman. It was Alarra, the Amethyst Dragon. "The plan worked. We lured a Gyshin. When you looked into his eyes, you screamed and collapsed."
"You have been unconscious for 10 days. Only through the help of JarMin, Alarra's father, was your mind able to be healed." said Zendrak.
JarMin spoke, "Yes young elf. You took in all of the knowledge of a demi-god, but it nearly destroyed your mind. You would be more cautious in the future, who's eyes you look into with my daughter's artifact. I have saved your personality from the mess in your mind, but your mind will continue trying to absorb the information. I'm afraid you will see the Gyshin history in your dreams for the rest of your life, unless you live over 10 000 years. Good-day. I would suggest you give that artifact back to my daughter before you destroy yourself with it. I also took the liberty of making available the last 4 months of Fate's memory to you. I'm sure you will find it useful. Good luck."
Kory thought for a moment. "There is an item. Fate wants it badly. It is powerful. We must get it before him. I can see a place, a dark place. It is known as Penumbra..."
"Let's go." With that Kory, Zendrak, and Alarra made quick plans to travel.
Chapter 42 - The Mighty Pride
"We will gain nothing by staying here! The Gyshin may have taken our homes, our land, our neighbors, but they have NOT taken our hope, our future, and they shall never take our souls! We will resist! But we can not do this here. Here there is nothing but death. I know some of your love your city, I know some of you would say I do not, because I have always been a stranger here, but hear me now! If this were my beloved, beloved Cormyr, and the situation were turned, out of love for my people, and their freedom, I would make this same choice! We must leave Westgate. We must leave behind a token force to delay, and we must ruin the shipyards, but we must leave, so that our lives may be added to the great resistance that will occur in my homelands. Please listen." With that, Stamp sighed and stepped back. The crowd was torn by the powerful, reasonable words, and pride in their city and their lives.
Finally, a man stepped up to the podium. "Steven Obarskyr.........you are right. Those of us that can flee to Cormyr, will do so, with you!" A cheer went up, and the crowd began to disperse, heading home to take a final look around and head for the docks.
The town guard not however. They remained, until their captain spoke. "Those of you that wish to leave, may. If you have a family, I encourage you, go. Those of you that wish to hold the gates and destroy the docks after they leave, I welcome you to join me." Half of them left, lowering eyes, and grasping hands in companionship, as they said their final farewells.
"Steven, you would probably wish to head to the docks soon. I thank you for your words. They were true from your heart." Steven responded, "Aye, they were, and so are these. You are a valiant man. More valiant than many so called hero's I have met in my time." He grasped the captains arm, "May your God accept you into his grasp." Without another word, they parted.
Steven was going home.
Chapter 43 - The Price of War
The party settled down into a subdued make shift camp, inside the vacuous ancient Illithid cavern. The rotting corpse of Neolithid had sunk back into the water, and the dragon was off in another chamber, so the smells of rotting were reduced, but the fishy smell of the Illithid brood in the connecting caverns wafted occasionly into this cavern. Not that anyone noticed. The injured sunk into restless sleep, the gem dragon was unconscious, and even the tireless minatour had succumb to exaustion after the adrenalin of the battle had left him. Albeit it had lasted long enough to carve off most of the red dragon's flesh.
The only conscious one was Zendrak. The 'man' sat invisible in the middle of camp, his eyes closed, legs crossed as if in some sort of trance. The sounds of the shifting forms in camp were few. Many had passed out almost immediatly. The silence echoed about the cavern.
It was about 2 hours later that Zendrak sensed something. Life forms, approaching from the brood caverns, 200 feet away. He recognized the vibrations of the anti-paladin Githyanki. As silent as air, his invisible essense flowed to the intruders. He watched them as they gathered in viewing range of the party. "This will be easy. I despise this, but for all the universe we must do this, and they are too powerful. It is a dark day for me, but do not let one of them rise."
With lightening speed Zendrak was then next to Thorlin. "Wake up Thorlin. We have guests. Put your armor on."
Thorlin woke groggily and began putting armor on almost immediatly. Before he had put on more than his shin guards, Zendrak felt the life vanish. "No need to hurry, they are gone for now. It would seem they didn't want a fight." Thorlin, barely rested, decided to stay away anyway, and finished putting on his armor.
Another 3 hours later, or more, Zendrak felt a sudden shift in energy, and a life form appeared in the air 35 feet above him. He could recognize the powerful vibrations of a Gyshin. "Thorlin! All of you! To arms!!"
Thorlin watched as a glowing sword appeared in mid air, and flashed into the air slamming into something. As people began to rise a humming noise could be heard, and within moments is rose to the clamor of clicking and clattering that could only be the mantis creatures. Coming out of the darkness, a wave of nine foot tall mantis creatures came flooding into the cavern. Thorlin's hammer flew.
The battle was short, the party fled before long, Xej shifting them all to another plain. Unfortunately they could not bring a large amount of the dragon hide, nor the bodies of the fallen. As well, Gorvagio was not able to be shifted for some reason. Upon the beastlands they met a lost warrior woman who wished to join them. They then returned to Toril.
Back on Toril, the PC's visited Suzail to find the huge Toril armies camped out there, and the council still in session, though now it was more of a strategic council than a diplomatic one. Generals of all races conferred with each other constantly, as they watched Toril being conquered all around them. The PC's joined and told them of their failure's and losses. Thorlin had his dragon hide turned into a beautiful suit of red dragon armor. The PC's informed the war council about the Illithid threat, and they wished the PC's luck, with a heavy sigh. Kory, Zendrak, and Alarra (the gem dragon), decided it was necessary to stop the Illithid threat before the Gyshin, because even if the Gyshin were stopped, if the Illithid folded over the universe, nothing would be the same, and non of this would matter. So, they needed to get in touch with the Githyanki. In other words, they had to go to the Astral plane, and find them. There, hopefully, they would be able to speak to the Githyanki and offer them their help. Maybe they wouldn't NEED to use the Annulus. At any rate, the rest of the party decided they would go with them and offer them help, even though a number of them didn't understand why this was necessary.
Before they were to leave, Xej decided to look in on Wolanin, who Kory said the Gyshin were using as a spy on Toril. Using his magic, he viewed Wolanin, standing upon a ship, his pirate bandoleer on, and a small fleet behind him. It seemed he had returned to his position as the Dread Pirate, except this time he was under Gyshin control....
Chapter 44 - Reunited
The PC's returned to Toril. The decided to spend 1 full day here, and met with the council of Toril in Suzail, informing them of the current situation. They also requested some resources, some quick armor making, and some general update information. The council gave them the go ahead to deal with the Illithid threat, since the council is already too wrapped up in the Gyshin threat to think about yet another impending doom. Elminster, being a good friend of Zendrak, has faith in the party to be able to deal with the Illithids.
While leaving town, Xej spotted Stamp, sitting in a tavern. After a brief reunion, they left Suzail together and headed for the PC's temporary camp a few hours out of town. Next, Xej magic mirrored Wolanin, and was amazed to see him functioning as the Dread Blade yet again. The suspected he was a Gyshin spy, but Alarra, the gem dragon, assured them that her father could rid Wolanin of any control or possession that may be occurring. They used magic to travel to Kara-Tur and attempt to rescue Wolanin. It went off very messily, and some time later Zendrak managed to get Wolanin and start flying him back to Cormyr. But when Zendrak told Wolanin to shut up because he was a spy, Wolanin vanished. It seemed their chance to rescue Wolanin was gone.
Amazingly enough, Wolanin appeared at the PC's camp. They quickly subdued him, and Alarra's father released the Gyshin probes upon him. The party is curious as to why the Gyshin would just 'release' Wolanin back to the party, though he did have Gyshin links that Alarra's father removed, so maybe they had hoped to use him as a spy. Whatever the reason, both Wolanin and Stamp are back in the party.
The group is now ready to travel to the Astral Plane, in search for Githyanki, so they can assist them in defeating the Illithid.
Chapter 45 - Astral Travelers
You appear floating in a vast expanse of silvery nothing. You might call it the sky, but it surrounds you. There is no ground. There is no up, no down, and as you look about, your body twists and turns, seemingly of it's own volition, and soon you are all tilted in every which direction. The silvery "sky" expands in every direction. You can not tell if it is like cloud, or if it's an infinitely far off wall. Whatever it is, it is far away. Looking at your own body, it is pale and translucent, as is all equipment. Testing, you find that everything is still solid enough. You look about. Talking it over quickly, you realize you have no way to decide which way to go, so picking randomly, you all begin to 'move' in that direction. Movement is odd, without any points of reference, you find that it is difficult to tell when you are moving. After you all get underway, only by reducing your movement, and others begin to move away, can you tell that you are moving. You also seem to be able to move quite quickly, and not all at the same speed. Alarra, Xej, and a few others seem much more quick here, while some are a little slower. Moving at the slowest rate, you will yourselves to hover through the nothingness. You find you can not even call it air, and you also find that you are not breathing. You simply do not seem to 'want' to, though you can force the physical movement if you wish. Continuing on your chosen path in this strange place, you try to keep a grasp on what is real.
Time passes, as you all fly through the void. It is very difficult to judge the passing of time, everything takes on a dreamy quality, and you feel detached from yourself. It is like you are sleeping somewhere, and this is nothing but a dream. It is a strange dream where you are weightless, and float about by will, and everything is pale and silvery. Everywhere, is the horrible silvery nothing. What if you become stranded here, in this nothing?? Conversation amongst you is the only thing that tethers reality to the situation. You find yourselves talking, just to hear your hollow eery voices, for it is better than the silence of your moving. There is no wind to rustle clothing, and no noise anywhere. You continue to talk, as your journey continues.
You can not be sure how long you have been traveling. The scenery has not changed. You might be in the very same spot you left, it is so continuous. The silent periods have begun to stretch, and at times you have found yourself wondering how long it's been since anything changed. Your thoughts are loud in your head, with no noise to distract you. People speak sparingly, only when they remember to try to break the silence and the monotony.
Time continues to pass. Some time later...
Alarra comments that monotony is perhaps the worse form of torture. Dwarf Vader tells her that he had a friend named Monotony once, who was tortured. No one laughs. Everyone is thankful to hear Dwarf Vader's voice break the silence.
It has been sometime, you are not sure how long since someone has spoken. No one even breaths. There is no need to adjust yourself since nothing seems physically uncomfortable. It has been only complete silence. You are not sure you are even moving anymore. Has it been days? You are not hungry. Don't you need to eat? You don't bother to ask as your mind continues fluttering through dreamy thoughts.
Time continues to pass.
At first you discount it as an imagined glimmer, but your mind is quick to remind you that there is no sun, or light to cause a glimmer. With that, you look again. Sure enough, you see a strange, difference in the 'sky', below you and to the right. You slow down, the others do not seem to notice and continue moving away. You shout for them to stop. Everyone slowly wakes from their silent reverie, and looks around. You move towards the glimmering. It does not take you long. It seems to grow in size, while the party shrinks. But then the party also grows, and again everything is the right size. You are looking at a purple pool. It wavers of it's own will. It is slightly odd, and as you move about it, you realize it is two dimensional. As you move further, you realize it is invisible from one side. It is a one sided 2 dimensional object. You are tempted to call it one dimensional, and you continue your silent wonderings. Someone breaks the silence.
"What is it?"
You realize it must be about 20' across, after moving around in a circle. It sits in mid air, doing nothing. Alarra answers.
"It is a color pool I believe. We were told it will lead to the outer planes. I suggest we do not play with it."
The color pool is looked at, and the party stops to rest and talk, but soon realize they shouldn't play with it and decide to continue on.
Everyone sits about silently, realizing that if they leave this now, they will quickly leave it behind, and again be moving through the unchanging monotonous silver…you also realize you're not exactly sure what direction you were heading, relative to the color pool…With a small amount of talk, and a silent yearning at this item floating in the endless silver, you begin again moving away, into the endless silver.
The silver is endless. It is all. With no sun, no direct light, it is like there is no time. Nothing moves. The party continues on it's way. The lack of air makes the movement false. You compare it to swimming, remembering a time at a lake, long ago. You quickly lose yourself in memories of your life.
At first you blink, attempting to dislodge the hair from your vision. It is like a hair, caught in your eye, waving across your vision. It is only a few minutes later when it begins to get larger, that you realize it is a huge tube, grey, that stretches vertically in front of you. You begin to pass over it, and realize it must be several miles away, and that it must be several hundred feet across. It stretches left to right, slightly down and up, into infinity. As you slow and watch, it wavers back and forth like it is alive, in a mesmerizing wave like motion. On your current path, you will get no closer, and presumably leave it behind fairly quickly.
As you get closer, you see it is like a huge whirl wind, or vortex, stretching off forever. It makes no noise, as the huge tube, at least 200 feet across thrashes back and forth, closing distances on 100 to 300 feet in mere moments. A safe distance is about 500 feet. You can see the wispy smoke that makes up it's solid exterior spinning in a constant circular motion. If there is anything more solid inside the whipping smoke, you can not see it.
Leaving the huge tube alone, the party continues on.
The silvery void yet again continues, as you leave the huge, endless vortex behind you. Looking back once, you see it disappearing into infinity, the huge tube appearing now as nothing more than a minor fracture in the endless silver. A few minutes later it is completely gone.
The silvery void is endless. You see nothing but silver, and the ghostly images of your friends.
A small grain of darkness mars the perfect silver. It is above you, and apparently moving in your direction. As you watch, you see it become larger and larger, as apparently it moves on an intercept course to your group.
The party stands and waits to see what approaches.
As it gets larger, you see it is a huge vessel, over 100 feet long. It is built like a regular ship, though mirrored, as if you were looking at it, and it's reflection on the water. It has two decks, and as you watch, you can see people both on the top and bottom, so that the ones on the bottom deck look as if they are standing upside down. The ship slows as it approaches, and you can see archers, and warriors on both decks, and huge ballistas being arranged on the decks. It slows and pulls "beside" you, about 1000 feet away. You hear a loud voice echo from the ship. "Xircho. Puch nor kalma zifmore yay Githyanki. Zor millto foosh krek." A moment passes, and then the voice continues. "Halt. Leave your weapons, and surrender immediately or feel Githyanki Wrath. You are trespassing in Krek space." You can not make out who is speaking.
The Githyanki bring the PC's to a home city where they talk with their leader. The Gith at first refused to accept the PC help, and attempted to get them simply to give them the annulus. When the PC's demanded a prominent role, they escorted them to the Ethereal Plane where the Ilithid have set up shop.