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It did not take long for the Githyanki to lose their patience… and call in an aerial bombardment!

Afterward an apparently higher ranking Githyanki landed and began berating the on site group. Lae’zel insisted we needed to speak with them, and ran ahead to do so despite Jasper’s misgivings. So they followed behind and let her take the lead.

The commander turned out to be none other than Kithrak Voss – and extremely high ranking Githyanki general who Lae’zel clearly idolized, Jasper wondered once again what was going on behind the scenes to be pulling in such high ranking adversaries…

Voss immediately began to question Lae’zel about if she had any knowledge of “the weapon” that they were searching for – and made it *very* clear that what he was looking for was Shadowheart’s artifact… Jasper could feel her tense anticipation through their link. He tried to subtly signal Lae’zel to play along, but not give them away. And surprisingly enough, she did just that. Neither betraying their possession of the artifact or revealing their infected status. Voss commanded her to report to the Creche to assist in the search, gave her directions, and then dismissed her.

Jasper gave her a questioning look, and she merely replied “He would have killed us all where we stood had he known of our infection. And without the protection of the artifact we would be helpless. It belongs by right to the Gith, but we need to be cleansed first.“

Jasper was glad her devotion hadn’t overcome reason.

With the bridge destroyed they had to take a longer route towards the creche. And on the way they ran into a large pack of ghouls and ghasts feasting on the remains of young Githyanki and travellers alike.

Continuing along the path the came upon a rather unexpected traveller. “Ho there Wanderers, stay a moment and listen” indeed! It was Elminster himself… with a message for Gale. And she had sent Elminster to make *sure* it was taken seriously. It seems Mystara was offering Gale a path for redemption. But it did not sound particularly redemptive to Jasper. Mystara wanted him to find the Absolute… which was apparently a grave threat to the entirety of Faerun… and intentionally detonate the Netherese Shard in his chest. Thereby obliterating the Absolute (as well as Gale and anything else in a several kilometer radius). Jasper consider “suicide bombing” to be rather uncharacteristic of Mystara, but Gale seemed to be taking the suggestion seriously. Jasper rather thought they could find a better way to save the day than blowing a hole in reality. But what did he know.

Soon they came to the location of the Crech… and discovered an old, overgrown Monastery dedicated to Lathander. It seemed that the Githyanki had overrun and slaughtered an existing stronghold rather than bothering to construct their own. Jasper gave Lae’zel a dirty look as she insisted the Gith would still help cleanse them for hatred of the Illithid. As they grew closer they could all hear the “Dream Guardian’s” voice in their minds – warning them that they could not trust the Githyanki and should stay far away. As far as Jasper was concerned this made him *more* and not *less* decided that this was the correct path.

His look grew even dirtier as they came upon a Githyanki patrol herding slaves wearing amulets of the Absolute into the building. One of the slaves panicked and ran… and was dismissively shot in the back! No. They may have a common enemy for the moment, but Jasper had no illusions that he could consider the Githyanki any form of “ally”.

The patrol sealed the entrance after leading in the remaining slaves. They would have to find another way in. The area to the left of the entrance the patrol had used had a large, damaged hole in the wall – so they entered there. Inside they found what had apparently been a storage area of wine – which prodded a memory for Jasper. This had been Rosymorn Monastery – home to the famous Rosymorn Firewine. And this priceless remnant was leaking all over the floor…. and being slurped up by drunken kobolds. Kobolds with torches. Suddenly remembering one of the properties of firewine, it became an immediate priority to down the massing kobolds *before* they got close with torches.

They found a variety of old papers, journals, and inscriptions around the ruins, while looking for an entry to the Creche. Many of these hinted at a powerful weapon – the Blood of Lathander – hidden somewhere at the site. They eventually found a room with altars honoring four honored clerics from the Monastery’s past. One displayed a ceremonial longsword. The others were empty. A beautiful tiled floor display made clear which weapons were required for the other altars. They found the Mace and Hammer in the course of the exploration, but the axe was somewhat more challenging. It turned out to be lying near the nest of a Giant Eagle. A Giant Eagle mother not inclined to let intruders near her nestlings! Fortunately Jasper could speak to her diplomatically…. while Shadowheart snuck around behind to fetch the weapon.

With all of the ceremonial weapons in hand they returned to the altars – where replacing the weapons led to the opening of a hidden compartment containing… a ceremonial crest of Lathander. Jasper wasn’t sure what to do with that, so they stored it away for later.

Eventually, they found their way into the Creche. The guards were suspicious, but accepted Lae’zel’s claim that the rest of them were her “slaves”. Shadowheart could not have glared any harder. Out of earshot, Jasper suggested they scout the place out a bit before continuing directly to the infirmary. Lae’zel was impatient, but agreed that it was wise. Much was as expected. A lethal training area where Githyanki students actually killed each other to “cull the weak”. Portraits and writings extolling the power of Vlaakith. Tomes detailing weaknesses and technology of the Illithid. And an actual birthing creche. Apparently, Githyanki laid eggs? Lae’zel would not comment further on this matter, saying only that it was a manifestly superior method of reproduction. Nevertheless this particular creche had a problem. Only one egg remained, and it had not yet hatched. If it did not hatch soon it would be destroyed to make room for a new batch. The creche caretaker – a Gith named Vash – was unhappy with this plan, and wished to see the egg given a chance to develop. So Jasper offered to find it a home.

Vash hesitated, but then gave Jasper acid-resistant boots to navigate the hatchery pools, and wandered off to distract the guards with an argument to enable to Jasper to collect it. He wasn’t quite sure what they were going to do with it, but Lae’zel immediately insisted she be its guardian – and so he handed it over.

Finally they made their way to the infirmary, where a Githyanki named Ghustil Stornugoss was intently studying Illithid larvae. She questioned Jasper without even looking up, ignoring Lae’zel when she attempted to cut in.  She queried him on his knowledge of ceramorphosis, and despite his efforts to keep matters close soon discerned that they had all been infected. And that they had not yet turned despite long since passing the normal incubation time.

She invited Jasper to step into a Zaith’isk – a device integrating Illithid and Githyanki arcane technology to target and extract illithid tadpoles. Lae’zel protested that she should have the honor of being first, but Ghustil claimed she would learn more from studying a new type of host. And she had never before studied an infected gnome. Jasper talked Lae’zel down, silently reminding her to play along and asking her to watch for anything unusual. He was asked to concentrate on the tadpole as the device began burrowing into his mind. It was excruciatingly painful – as the device sought out the tadpole and it burrowed deeper into his brain to hide. But the tadpole fought back, and soon the device was overwhelmed. Jasper had to leap clear before it exploded and collapsed!

Ghustil was *not* pleased with this development, and questioned Jasper intensively to determine if he knew anything of what had happened. He knew better than to give her any excuse to look into his brain further, and also knew she was far too clever to be taken in by anything complicated he could devise. So he pretended that the event had completely wiped his short term memory – that he could remember nothing whatsoever of the entire incident. Which led to them being dismissed with disgust as she began to sort through the remains of her device for clues.

Lae’zel was convinced the device must have been sabotaged. That an enemy agent must have damaged it. Jasper… was not so sure. He suspected both that the tadpoles in their minds were more unusual than they realized, and that “patients” in the machine were not actually expected to survive the process. That would be the real reason why Ghustil had wanted to use it on him first. As a “mere gnome” he was considered the least worthwhile… But he merely nodded along to Lae’zel. She would do better figuring such things out for herself than if he pushed her.

They went to see the commander of the creche, to see if anything about the nature of the device or the threat could be learned from her. She turned out to be a very focused Gith named Kith’rak Therezzyn. She was very irritated, and launched into a tirade with little prodding. There was a know Illithid infestation somewhere in the area, growing steadily in size and power. She wanted to use all available forced to assault it before it became to strong to roust out. But when she had requested reinforcements she had instead been sent an Inquisitor – who had explicitly forbidden her request and instead forced her to use all available resources to hunt for an “object of power” which she considered little more than a wild goose chase. But since she couldn’t pursue her desired objective until it was dealt with, she had put out feelers for bounty hunters to widen the search. This left an opening for Jasper, who slide right into the role of adventuring mercenary. She unfortunately knew little of the object’s purpose and abilities – but she knew exactly what it looked like. And she intended to give them a device to allow them to verify their target. Before he could divert her she demonstrated its use… detecting that it was already in their possession! Some fast talking by Jasper convinced her they had been bringing it in for reward, and over Shadowheart’s strenuously hinted objections he began to hand it over. It turned out to be an irrelevant dispute – as they device refused to allow the Captain to take it. She hissed and scowled as she pulled back her burnt fingers, and then directed them to continue past her office into the Inquisitor’s quarters.

Shadowheart was growing even more apprehensive now, but they really had no choice. There was only one path forward towards learning anything new – and it lay in playing this out to its conclusion.

Inquisitor Ch’r’ai gave Jasper no room to maneuver whatsoever. He had strong elite Githyanki backup, and immediately demanded the device with no foreplay. And though they could hear the “Dream Guardian” screaming in their heads, they so no alternative but to hand it over. The Inquisitor gave a thin smile, and then began a summoning ritual… making things far, far worse. For what appeared in the circle was none other than…

A sending of Vlaakith, the god-like lich-queen of the Githyanki herself.

“YOU ARE PERMITTED TO LOOK UPON ME. YOU ARE INVITED TO KNEEL”

Jasper obeyed immediately. He had no love for the Githyanki or their god, but he was not stupid enough to defy a goddess to her face.

Vlaakith told them the object was an Astral Prism, the last defence against the return of the Illithid Empire. But she declared it CORRUPTED by an agent of the Illithid Grand Design. Someone was inside! The Inquisitor offered to cleanse it, but she silenced him – and demanded that Jasper do the deed. She ordered them to enter the Prism, and kill the intruder.

Jasper had no illusions about his ability to defy a god. He also had little reason to trust one. This one especially. So for now the simplest plan was to play along, enter the prism, and then decide what to do when he discovered what was actually there. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer. But he wanted to hear what they said for themselves.

And with that, they were whisked away. They found themselves in what appeared to be the Astral Plane. They were in what seemed to be an endless void of floating plateaus, and they could jump for miles from one to the next.

After getting the hang of the motion, and a little bit of exploration, they came upon a strange cave with a purple glow. Jasper knew this was the place. And knew he would have to go in alone if there were any chance to extract useful information.

As expected, what – or who – he found inside… was the “Dream Guardian”. She told Jasper that she had stolen the prism from Vlaakith. And Vlaakith not only wanted it back but wanted the Guardian dead because she knew something Vlaakith could not afford to be known. Vlaakith could not protect the Githyanki from a second coming of the Illithid Empire. She didn’t have the slightest idea how the original empire had been brought down. She knew the Astral Prism was involved, but she didn’t know how to use it. The “Dream Guardian” did – and was currently using it to protect them from the Absolute. She claimed to be an adventurer herself. An adventurer from Baldur’s Gate. Seeking to rid herself from the Absolute just as they were. Jasper wasn’t sure how much of this to believe. Plenty still didn’t feel “right”. But he knew he couldn’t believe a word from Vlaakith. And he did believe that whoever this “Dream Guardian” was, she was opposed to the Absolute. Which made her as much an “ally” as anyone these days. He agreed for now to maintain the alliance. Which meant they would make enemies of the Githyanki.

When he came back out of the cave and told the others of his decision Lae’zel was furious. She demanded to know how he could justify betraying her people. He sadly told her that they had already been betrayed. Vlaakith had had no intention of allowing them to leave alive, and the would be attacked the second they returned. Lae’zel denied this, insisting that her loyalty would be proven as soon as she was given a chance to explain.

Unfortunately for her, Jasper’s conclusion proved all too correct. They were ambushed the second they returned from the prism – with none even asking the results of their mission. They immediately fought off the Inquisitor and his squad.

And then had to fight their way out past the Captain and her forces.

Before they were overwhelmed, Jasper noticed something in the rooms behind the Captain’s office. A couple of old Statues of Lathander facing each other… oddly. Although they could hear more Githyanki coming, he stopped and adjusted their positions to something that felt… right… And a secret door opened behind them. They quickly ran inside and shut it again behind them. It was a hidden Lathanderite right-of-passage. There were puzzles and traps to solve to pass further, but Jasper did not find these difficult. Soon they found themselves in the inner sanctum, where a glowing mace was set prominently in an obviously trapped altar.

With a missing seal on the front. Jasper carefully placed the seal they had recovered earlier in the inset…. and the defenses dropped. The mace was theirs. The Blood of Lathander.

And as sunlight shone in from above they found a route to the surface. A route that did *not* involve contending with the Githyanki forces searching for them.

They would have to backtrack. They would have to abandon the mountain passage and try the alternate route through the Underdark. But they had learned much. Lae’zel had grown quiet, and the others gave her space. It was clear her loyalties and her faith had been tested. She would have to decide for herself what this meant. In the meantime, they could only press on.

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Author’s Notes:

This set was a bear mostly because I find it extremely difficult to get consistent Githyanki – and its even worse when there are multiple of them together. I can do okay with a lot of finagling with a single portrait, but man are they difficult otherwise. I may do a “Monsters & Mayhem” post just on the joys of rendering Githyanki.

I took some liberties with the end of the mission. Mostly to justify going back and taking the Underdark route instead of continuing through the mountain pass. But I think it works better narratively than believing we slaughtered the entire Githyanki contingent and merrily went on our way.