BLOOD AND SOULS FOR MY LORD ARIOCH : ELRIC OF MELNIBONE
WAYNE'S
WORLD
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BLOOD AND SOULS FOR MY LORD ARIOCH : ELRIC OF MELNIBONE WAYNE'S
WORLD
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Assault on the Githyanki Fortress Where the ruse of the rescue of Pharin results in the disappearance of Swiftsword and the party learn to their loss during an explosive melee and magical contest that there is nothing like a home turf advantage. Winter 2,304 Meldigian Reckoning The party presented some general ideas on the development of the temple complex of LBM which will be finalised next adventure. (Hopefully!) General concepts for the full scale development of a fortress suitable to such mighty heroes was also discussed and conceptual plans will also be presented at the next adventure. These are to be passed onto an engineer/architect (The DM) who will prepare construction plans for the builders. It is hoped the hill dwarves that the party saved in the Irilian adventure will agree to build the fortress. After the party returned to LBM following the previous adventure to rescue Pharin from the dreaded Githyanki they decided to Dimension Fold to the Norse Temple in Dresden City to have regeneration performed on Pharin who was severely mutilated following extensive torture by the Githyanki who had utilised the non-bleeding properties of the Astral plane to there fullest to inflict the most painful and horrendous injuries upon Pharin whilst him keeping alive (for potentially eternity) whilst suffering the agony of their foul and diabolical ministrations. Unfortunately the use in Dimensional folding resulted in the aging of all the party members. The party upon reaching the temple found they would have to wait till the following day to procure the needed regeneration so they had Pharin installed in a private room in the Temple’s infirmary. Whilst there Caldo realised that he had advanced to middle age and that his strength and constitution had diminished due to his age. He decided to use a longevity potion found in the Temple of Tharizdun but unfortunately that potion was tainted and caused him to age two years instead of restoring his youthful vigour. The party them decided to visit various apocatheries and alchemists in the city to procure potions of both healing and longevity. Also Caldo searched for a more robust hireling and an engineer/architect was sought for the planning of the LBM fortress. Swiftsword stayed in the infirmary to guard Pharin whilst the party performed these tasks. Whilst the party was out Swiftsword found himself under psionic attack which resulted in him been confused and powerless to act. His senses were however operative and he was horrified to see the mutilated features of Pharin to transform into the leering visage of a Githyanki who rose from the bed, grabbed Swiftsword by the shoulders, and transported him to the Githyanki fortress on the Astral plane. The party returned late in the day to find both Pharin and Swiftsword missing. An attempt to scry there whereabouts was fruitless but it was rightly assumed (in part at least) that they had been abducted by the Githyanki. The temple hierarchy, inclusive of the high priest, was berated by Chutikik amongst other party members, for allowing such an abduction to occur. The temple in turn refuted such allegation pointing out that they should have been warned of the potential for interplanner visitations and that the welfare of other patients in the infirmary, not to mention in the rest of the temple, had been put at risk by them not been warned of the danger. Indeed if such a warning had been issued then more secure lodgings could have been provided. Suitably rebuked the party organised for some protective spells to be cast in readiness for an expedition to the Astral plane to rescue their comrades. Upon arriving on the Astral the party Dimensional Folded into Astral space near the Githyanki fortress. They then dimensional folded into one of the glassteel topped watch towers and descended into the complex. An invisible creature was detected down a shaft leading deeper into the fortress so Caldo unleashed a fireball. The party then ventured down the shaft hoping to find a dead Githyanki guard however whoever was there had survived the fireball and fled. In the fireball scorched corridor at the bottom of the shaft was two sets of doors, one of which showed signs of been opened after sustaining fire damage. Ankara burst open the doors with Cathos Beastslayer on his heels. Inside they engaged in melee with Githyanki knights wielding mighty two handed swords as well as other Githyanki warriors. Ankara was kept from engaging with the knights because of their protection from good aura however other foes were battled. Caldo elected to stay outside the room to secure the corridor whist the balance of the party entered the room to engage the enemy. A charge of Githyanki warriors who had entered the corridor from a shaft leading to a lower level caused Caldo to flee into the room and the fighters to turn to confront the enemy on a new flank. Caldo upon advancing into the room (with the aid of Detect Invisible Objects) reported the presence of other invisible Githyanki, presumably warlocks, that had yet to engage in combat. Also a secret door was noted at one end of the room. Chutikik and Caldo went and investigate the secret door in case fighting would commence from another front whilst the rest of the party continued the melee. Chutikik opened the secret door to reveal five Githyanki in a small room along with the tortured bodies of Pharin and Swiftswod chained to the floor. The secret door was shut and held by Chutick whilst Caldo planned an assault. The next round the fighting continued with the Githyanki unleashing magic into the fray. Caldo decided to launch a lightning bolt into the secret room which rebounded off the back wall to cause double damage to the occupants before dissipating against his Minor Globe of Invulnerability. The lightning slew two Githyanki with the balance severely injured. Fortunately neither Pharin or Swiftsword were slain. The melee continued till eventually the Githyanki were beginning to be worn down and Caldo captured those remaining in the room with a Web. Chutikik then from a scroll cast a Blade Barrier which slew a Githyanki Warlock and injured the Githyanki Warlock known as Zolta the Black. The remaining Githyanki then shifted out of the room. The party attempted to work out their whereabouts by using the Astral movement concept to think in their direction which indicated the Githyanki had moved to a lower level in their fortress complex. The party headed out into the corridor and descended down a shaft into a short corridor on another level. Another attempt to think in the Githyanki’s direction indicated they were dead ahead on the same level. Ankara burst open the doors at the end of the corridor to reveal a large octagonal room with many doorways and with a descending shaft in the middle on either side of which were two Githyanki warriors. Caldo noted that Zolta the Black was hidden invisibly in the shaft and had commenced incanting a spell. Ankara slammed the doors shut but they were blown apart by a lightning bolt that then rebounded off the back of the passage to do double damage to the party. Fortunately the party’s Protection from Lightning spells minimised the damage. The Githyanki warriors advanced so the party fighters charged into the room to engage. A melee ensued with the warriors and Ankara attempted to fight through to confront Zolta. Zolta then unleashed the powers of a magical staff causing a clap of thunder to reverberate through the melee causing Chutikik to be stunned as well as to detonate another lightning bolt into the corridor in which Caldo and Pharin were stationed. At the same time Calso unleashed an Ice Storm that hailed down opun Zolta and the surrounding Githyanki bodyguard. Following the thunderclap four Githyanki knights entered the room through a set of doors the front rank of which engaged Cathos in melee and the rear rank unleashed psionic attacks on Ankara which caused him physical damage. With Chutikik stunned Cathos took the brunt of the knights onslaught and he was soon failing the contest. In the interim Thoros Quickfist in a dazzling display of martial prowess stunned Ankara’s direct opponents opening the way for Ankara to challenge the Githyanki warlock Zolta and Thoros then crossed the room to assist Cathos in the fight against the knights. This intervention was none too soon as Cathos fell under a hail of mighty two handed sword strokes. Luckily Chutikik had regained his wits and produced a Heal spell scroll which he used to restore Cathos to full health whilst Thoros kept the knights at bay. Zolta commenced descending into the shaft so Ankara decided to pursue so as to press the melee challenge on Zolta as well as to escape the psionic attacks directed upon him. Unfortunately rising up the shaft were another four Githyanki warriors so Ankara decided to retreat into the general melee. By this time however Cathos, Chutikik and Thoros had retreated to the corridor leaving Ankara isolated in the room and was engaged by Githyanki knights who cut him down. Cathos, Chutikik and Thoros however pressed an attack upon the knights enabling the unconscious Ankara to be dragged back into the corridor whilst Cathos held the door with a flurry of desperate sword play. Another set of doors into the octagonal room opened heralding the advance of Githyanki reinforcements whilst from shaft leading above came the sounds of warriors preparing an assault. With the party in danger of not surviving another assault from both flanks and holed up in a narrow corridor a Plane Shift spell was cast to escape back to the Prime. Cathos was sorely wounded under a hail of blows which he could not fend against whilst linking hands with the rest of the party during the casting of the spell. The party reappeared in the Prime in the Silver Hills some 50 miles from LBM. Ankara in a brainstorm decided the party should hide out in a lead mind where they would be safe from detection and could recuperate. They quickly sought out the nearest Dwarven mine and descended a shaft into the cold and wet depths into an area of old workings. Putting up with the dank and foul air seemed a small price to pay for a short period of relief from the dreaded Githyanki. After a week of recuperation the party had restored to health other than both Swiftsword and Pharin who are both disfigured and disabled as a result of Githyanki torture, as well as been without any of their equipment and magical items. The party will need to have these two members back to their prime before any further action against the Githyanki can be contemplated.
Credit : This adventure was based on "Fedifensor" by Allen Rogers that appeared in Dragon Magazine #67 1982. |
