It seemed the adventurers were strong – two powerful frontliners, the silver scaled paladin Shamack and the lumbering minotaur barbarian Karr, eagle-eyed Odrich, who peppered enemies with arrows or crossbows, the newly joined healer Melisa & the ever dodgy no-one-knows-his-source-of-power warlock Azure. Fyf was also hiding somewhere. No one saw him since.
Yet after leaving the troubles of Underdark they didn’t not expect to face the Gith armada (but saying armada is kinda a lie, only a scouting force). They had this coming for a long while. Shamack once joined his order’s expedition to the Astral Plane, in search of the Gith and their strongholds. The paladins being not the most sneaky of fighters, they were soon discovered and forced to retreat. By sheer luck or an accident, Shamack ended grabbing the weapon of one of the most powerful Gith warriors – a long, beautifully crafted silver greatsword.
Little did he know at the time, that touching, even more so – wielding that blade is considered a sacrilege. The retrieval of such a blade then drives the warriors to pursue the thieves at any cost. Yet if the blade remains unused, tracking its location remains difficult. It took the adventurers quite a few months until Karr decided to try out the blade, first on a dummy, then various enemies of Blindgestone.
His usage was crude and unskilled, the potential – far from achieved. Yet he mowed enemies down with ease. And when finally they left Underdark, the Gith scout, riding a wyvern, caught the glimpse of the blade wielding minotaur. It doesn’t take long for the ever-fighting Gith to launch and attack. The adventurers took solace in the hospitality of a couple of farmers and later in the night did not expect much after hearing strange sounds coming from their hosts house. Yet the sounds and the burning house was only a distraction for the incoming forces – a scout airship and a group of warriors, some again riding wyverns, surrounded the farm. They were quick, quicker than the adventurers expected. And they hurt. No matter how much Shamack and Karr tried supporting each other, blow after blow they were hurt. Bad. Karr, still holding on to the blade, was at death’s door not once, but a few times, yet Shamack’s healing powers kept him up, barely. They wyverns mauling his body, the blades cutting deeper and deeper, they fell. Azure, seeing the predicament dimension doored 500 feet up, while Melisa, at first safe because of her fire magic, just ran.
But it’s not so grimm as one would expect. At the first sight of the Gith airship, Shamack asked his deity, the platinum dragon Bahamut, for help. Little did he know the moment he was in trouble Bahamut was aware of the Gith and their allies, the hated red dragonflight. He just needed the exact location.. Here.. The airship was immediately surrounded by platinum dragon like spirits, and soon, a bigger more dragon like formed. The airship trashed, tried all the maneuvers it could, but if it had stayed any longer, it’s destruction was certain. As the warriors plane shift, so did the ship. In a moment it was gone. So the dragon turned his attention to the fight near the farm.
Melisa was running as fast as she could, without ever looking back. The Gith were messing around with her, yelling words she did not understand, laughing, yet stayed, it seemed, only a few feet away. For a second she glimpsed a strange silvery light race above the trees. Then silence fell. She slowed down, looked around, yet no one was following her anymore.
Shamack was, at the time, drifting between consciousness and death, yet he didn’t feel hopeless. And he didn’t know why, but felt.. safe, somehow. Something familiar, something he truly believed in was coming. He felt reassured. Even when the Gith were cutting his hands off – like a true thieves punishment. The pain was excruciating, yet he knew it was going to be alright.
While Karr didn’t even feel a thing.
It took a while before any of them returned to consciousness. The traumas they suffered were extreme. Shamack opened his eyes, in pain, with huge cuts on his body, still feeling each hit as it happened just know. How much time it has been since the fight? An hour? A day? A soothing voice distracted his thinking. “You’re finally awake”. He heard Melinda talk. “You’re healing nicely and I bet you’ll love to hear what happened. Look at your new hands!”. “What does she mean “new””, he thought. His vision was still blurry, but when he saw what she meant, a tiny tear raced through his cheek. He could still see where the scales on his hands ended, midway between the hand and elbow, but the rest.. Was pure platinum. Flexible, durable, warm. He slowly made a fist, then stretched his fingers again. “Thank you.” he said and drifted to sleep.
What Karr woke to was different. Due to his, hmm, animalistic nature, he had to be treated in a less crowded place. And for some reason, unbeknownst to the hospital staff, two cows stayed next to him the whole time. Mooing when he seemed to be in pain, silently watching when he slept peacefully.
The rest of the adventurers got off easier – with less scars and less treatment required. And while they would occasionally visit the sick two, Neverwinter, their goal for now, was reached. New adventures await and we’ll see what they bring.
