Prologue - Part 5
Kaedyn reached the top of the stairs. The others were trailing close behind him. There was a wide entranceway that opened up onto a lower deck of the nautiloid. As he made his way towards the opening, the roar of a dragon caught his attention. It shot past the hull breathing fire along the way. Thralls and intellect devourers screamed as they died. Then it dove onto one of the decks with such force that a large portion snapped. Mind Flayers, intellect devourers and thralls alike went tumbling into the hellish landscape. Imps that were on the deck fluttered away, and the dragon shot up into the air blasting right by the half-drow and his companions. Kaedyn, Vexir and Ryth-Shan were knocked flat by the force of the dragon's passing.
Lae'zel casually walked out into the open. She was hardly phased by the titan monster. She had been last up the stairs and therefore partially inside when the powerful gusts from the dragon's wings had knocked the others flat. She smirked at them. "What's the matter? Have you never seen a red dragon before?"
Vexir picked herself up quickly. She was embarrassed that she had been knocked prone. Not having a witty retort, however, she kept silent. Ryth-Shan and Kaedyn also got to their feet. Kaedyn ran his fingers through his hair. He was not afraid to admit the truth. "I can safely say that I haven't. I had also hoped that I never would."
Ryth-Shan chuckled. "I don't mind meeting one, as long as it's on my side. I'm not entirely sure they are."
Lae'zel shot him a dirty look. "They are on the side of our kin," she remarked. "Therefore, they are on our side."
"Are they?" asked Ryth-Shan, clearly doubting this.
Vexir sighed heavily and started on her way. "We have no time for idle chit-chat. Move it, Gith!" Then she headed for the stairway on the starboard side. There were two stairways, in fact, leading up to one of the upper decks. One was on the starboard side of the entranceway they'd just exited through, and the other was on the port side. Vexir made up their minds for them. She reached the bottom of the starboard stairway with Kaedyn following close behind when she suddenly noticed that he stopped.
There was a red-haired woman there. She was clearly quite injured. Vexir hadn't even noticed her. She was of no consequence to her. Kaedyn, however, could not bring himself to pass her by without trying to assist. He stooped down over her to examine her.
Lae'zel rushed up to him with Ryth-Shan. "Leave her. She's a thrall. Her mind is lost."
"Bull got me...got me," the woman was muttering. "Right in the horns. Take care of the babes for me, will ya?"
Kaedyn looked up at them. "I'm not leaving an injured person to die."
"Don't waste your resources on her," Lae'zel snapped. "She's as good as dead anyway."
Kaedyn ignored her and cast Healing Word. Lae'zel's Relationship Score was reduced by 1. The red-haired woman glowed with a blue aura, and her bleeding stopped. The woman jumped to her feet, startling him. "Hah!" she cried. "Time to put that bull down before it hurts someone else." Then seeing the red dragon flying just under the starboard side of the ship, she bolted and leapt over the railing.
"No wait!" Kaedyn cried, making a lunge for her to stop her. Too late. She was already gone. As he came to the railing to see what happened to her, he saw her slam onto the back of the dragon. She tumbled and could not find a handhold, so she rolled off of it and towards the fiery river below. At the last second, the dragon's head twisted around and snatched her in its jaws. Crunch! Blood splattered everywhere. The woman was gone.
Kaedyn felt terrible. As he stood there, staring, he mourned the woman's loss. Even if no one else would, he wasn't going to let her die without a prayer.
Lae'zel snickered. "See? I told you. Perhaps now you will listen to me?"
"Can we stop wasting time now?" asked Vexir. For once, she and Lae'zel were in agreement. Lae'zel's Relationship Score for Vexir increased by 1. "How long do you think this ship is going to last?"
As if to emphasize this, several demons descended onto one of the upper decks. There were shouts and screams from above. "Agreed," said Ryth-Shan. "We're running out of time."
Then without another word, the four raced up the starboard stairway. Fires were everywhere. Off to the right, the upper deck was full of demons battling Mind Flayers, thralls and intellect devourers. The ship's canons were also there, firing at everything. Straight ahead was the primary viewport of the ship. The helm could be seen inside. To the right of the helm, on the port side, there were more imps and a fallen thrall. The imps were tormenting him. There was, once, an entrance into the inner sections of the ship on that side, but it was devastated now and on fire. The only way they could see to get into the helm area was off to the left past blazing walkways. Another doorway opened up into the starboard section of the main deck.
Vexir turned to glance at Kaedyn. "Can we just proceed to the helm now?" she asked. "Or are we going to try to save every idiot on the ship?"
Kaedyn's brows furrowed. He made it quite clear that he was unhappy with the whole situation and the attitudes of his companions. He gestured to the starboard entranceway. He wanted to call her and Lae'zel heartless witches, but instead he said, "After you."
Vexir was satisfied. She led the way towards the entranceway, weaving around the fires and ignoring the fallen. She no longer felt it wise to delay and search their bodies. Most were thralls anyway and not likely to have anything good on them. They entered a long hallway that led to a membranous doorway. It wouldn't open. Therefore, she took her greataxe and began to hack away at it. The others joined her. A few good hacks each and the doorway was tattered to pieces.
They rushed inside to find a strange mechanism at the center of the chamber. One of the glowing healing chambers was just off to the right. There was a control panel of sorts directly in front of them. Each button had a plaque over it. Strange writings were edged on the plaques. There were seats all around the primary mechanism. Three thralls were resting on the chairs off to the left. Wires were hooked up to them. There were several pods in the room, but only one was occupied. Strange magical energy was swirling about it. Another control panel was near it. There was a door off to the right that probably led further towards the helm and another on the far side. A desk with some objects on it was just to the right of that door.
"Tsk'va! Touch nothing without knowing its purpose," Lae'zel barked. She was clearly concerned that they would not listen to her. Something about the tone in her voice resonated with the others. They decided to heed the warning.
They hurried to the restoration chamber. Instantly, they were fully healed, one after the other. As each fully healed, they started making their way to the door on the right. Ryth-Shan glanced at the control panel as he walked by. Because Aberrations were his favored enemies, and Mind Flayers in particular, he had chosen at character creation to be able to speak Ghaik. Therefore, he understood without a roll exactly what the plaques said. One would obliterate their minds and leave them brain-dead. One would cause them to become hostile. The last would turn them into allies. He made a mental note but did nothing.
Just as they reached the door, there came a banging from the pod. Someone was crying out for help and banging on the reinforced glass. "Help! Help me! Please! Get me out of this thing!" a woman screamed from within.
Kaedyn stepped out of the healing chamber, for he was the last to use it. His attention was drawn to the woman. She wasn't one of the thralls. He could see that her eyes were clear. She was not living in some sort of dream-state. Vexir and the others noticed him staring at her, and they sighed. They knew there would be no way to deter him. He was going to do what he could to save her.
He ran to the pod, and they joined him. As the woman within saw him, she became more desperate. "Hey! You! Please! Help me! Get me out of this thing! Hurry! Don't leave me!"
Kaedyn examined the pod with the magical energy swirling about. He couldn't find any way to free her. "This is a waste of time," Lae'zel said, deciding to speak up regardless of knowing it wouldn't do any good. "We REALLY need to get to the helm. Leave her!"
Kaedyn ignored her and tried to grab what he thought was a latch on the side. The magical energy zapped him. He jumped back. It was not that painful, but it was definitely a warning.
Ryth-Shan decided to try to help him. "We're never getting out of here unless we help," he said to Lae'zel. Then he hurried to a control panel near the pod. There was a single button. The control panel was sparking with energy as well. It seemed it might have been damaged. "Do you think this will open it?" he asked.
Arcana rolls were made by all. The difficulty was 15. Kaedyn rolled a 10 with no bonus. Vexir rolled a 4 with no bonus. Ryth-Shan rolled a 13 and a 19 with no bonus. Again, he got advantage because it was a Mind Flayer device. Lae'zel rolled an 11 and 14, and since she got a +2 for her Arcana proficiency, she succeeded as well. So both her and Ryth-Shan determined that the panel did indeed unlock the pod. However, it was too damaged to function properly.
"I'm sorry," said Ryth-Shan to the woman in the pod. "There's nothing we can do."
"Can we leave, NOW?" asked Lae'zel. "I swear. I was probably better off without you all. By the time we reach the helm, the whole ship is going to be destroyed."
Kaedyn sighed and shook his head. Meeting the woman's gaze, he said, "I'm sorry. They're right. There seems to be nothing we can do. If we get out of this alive, we'll try to come back for you."
Vexir rolled her eyes. "I'm with the Gith. Let's MOVE!" Her Lae'zel Relationship Score increased again by 1. Meanwhile, because of Kaedyn's choice to once again stall them, his relationship score with all three decreased by 2. He was not making friends of his companions.
Turning, they began to head back towards the door leading to the helm. As they went, the woman within the pod cried out again. "No! Wait! Please! Don't leave me!" Kaedyn felt his heart wrench. He hated leaving her, but he really didn't have a choice.
Suddenly, the door near the desk opened, and an intellect devourer rushed into the chamber. All at once, it determined that they were enemies. Because Ryth-Shan had butchered the newborn, the collective mind decided that they were hostile. Instantly, it fell into an attack stance. Recognizing this, the entire party also prepared to fight.
Initiatives were rolled. Kaedyn rolled an 8 with a +2 for his Initiative bonus to get a 10. Vexir rolled a 4+2=6. Ryth-Shan rolled a 10+2=12. Lae'zel rolled a 13+1=14. The Intellect Devourer rolled a 16+2=18. Therefore, the initiative order was Intellect Devourer, Lae'zel, Ryth-Shan, Kaedyn and Vexir.
The Intellect Devourer decided to rush Vexir. She was the closest. He had a multiattack ability, allowing him to make one attack with its claws and also use Devour Intellect, another special ability. It rushed Vexir and rolled to hit with the claws. It rolled a 17. It's attack bonus was +4. It rolled a 21 total. Vexir had an Armor Class of 16. Hit. It did 2d4+2 damage and rolled a 5+2=7 total damage off her. She had 12 HP. Now she had 5 left.
Then the Intellect Devourer used its Devour Intellect ability. It targeted Vexir again. She was within 10 feet, so she was within range. She was forced to roll an Intelligence savings throw against a difficulty (DC) of 12. She rolled a 9. Her Intelligence savings throw bonus was 0. Therefore, she failed. As a result, she took an additional 2d10 damage. The Intellect Devourer rolled a 12 total. Vexir's HP was reduced to 0. She was now on the ground, dying.
But that was not the end of it. The Intellect Devourer rolled 3d6. It rolled a 13. Vexir's Intelligence Score was 10. Per the Devour Intellect rules, if the total of the 3d6 roll equaled or exceeded her Intelligence Score, her Intelligence Score would be reduced to 0. Therefore, her Intelligence was reduced to 0. She was stunned until she regained at least one point of Intelligence.
Now it was Lae'zel's turn. With a roar, she charged the Intellect Devourer and swung with both hands gripping her longsword. She rolled a 7. She got a +5 attack bonus. Fortunately, the Intellect Devourer's AC was 12. She hit! She rolled 1d10 (because she was using both hands) +3 for damage and rolled a 3+3=6. Intellect Devourers, like imps, had resistance to bludgeoning and piercing and slashing. Therefore, it only took half damage. It had 22 HP total to begin with and lost 3 HP. Therefore, it had 19 HP left.
It was now Ryth-Shan's turn. He remembered that he could turn the thralls into his allies. He rushed to the control panel not far from him and pressed the correct button. Instantly, magical energy surged into the thralls and they stood. He then commanded them, "Kill that thing!" and he pointed at the Intellect Devourer. All three twisted their heads like zombies towards the monster and immediately sprang into action. Ryth-Shan's turn was finished.
It was now the turn of the thralls. One rushed at the Intellect Devourer and attacked with fists. He rolled a 17 and hit. He did only 1 HP of damage total after resistance applied. It now had 18 HP left. The second was a magic user. She cast Magic Missile. Three missiles flew at the Intellect Devourer. He rolled 1d4+1 per missile doing a total of 7 damage. Since the monster was not resistant to magic, it lost a total of 7 HP so that it only had 11 HP left. Finally, the last thrall attacked. He rolled an 8 to hit with his bare fists. His attack bonus was +4. A total of 12. Hit. He did a total of 1 HP as well. The Intellect Devourer now only had 10 HP remaining.
It was Kaedyn's turn. He knew that Vexir was dying, but he needed to ensure that the Intellect Devourer didn't attack again. Therefore, he cast Guiding Bolt and hurled a fiery, golden missile at the beast. He rolled a 13+4 (his Spell Attack bonus) = 17. Hit! He then did 4d6 radiant damage off of the monster. He rolled an 8 total for damage. Bad roll! Though it took full damage, it still had 2 HP left.
Vexir's turn. She had to roll a Death savings throw. She rolled a 3 and failed. 1 Failure. She only had two more chances before she officially died.
The Intellect Devourer's turn. Using multiattack, it struck both of the thralls attacking it. Both died instantly. On Lae'zel's turn, she swung her longsword again with both hands. She rolled an 11+5=16. Hit. She rolled a 3+3=6 again. That's 3 HP off. It only had 2 remaining. It was dead.
Because one of their party was down, Turn-Based mode continued even though the enemies were dead. This allowed the heroes to make it to their fallen companion quickly before she had to roll again to see if she died. It was Ryth-Shan's turn again. However, he decided to use a Dash to bolt for the door the Intellect Devourer came through. He opened the door to see if the chamber beyond had any other surprise enemies. He readied his bow just in case but found no additional hostiles.
It was Kaedyn's turn. He hurried to Vexir and used Cure Wounds. He rolled a 1d8+4 and rolled a 6+4=10. Vexir recovered 10 HP. Turn-Based mode ended. After defeating the Intellect Devourer, each player received a total of 112 XP. Each now had 262 XP. They needed 300 XP to level up.
Her eyes fluttered open to see him hovering over her, his hand on her face. His eyes were closed as he focused Tyr's power into her. Seeing him there, she was momentarily stunned.
His eyes opened and he smiled at her. This surprised her even more. She could see that he cared. His concern for her was genuine. In spite of how much abuse she had dealt to him, he was actually happy to see that she was okay. It wasn't like the healers in her own society. They healed her out of obligation. Kaedyn, however, healed her because he truly wanted to. Vexir's Relationship Score with Kaedyn increased by 1.
He helped her sit up, but because of her Intelligence Score still being at 0, she was not able to function. She was still completely stunned.
Seeing this, Kaedyn said, "Let's get back to the restoration chamber and fully heal up," he advised. Then he wrapped his arms under her arms and around her waist. After that, he dragged her towards the chamber.
Lae'zel only watched for a moment. Then she joined Ryth-Shan at the door. The surviving thrall also joined them, but she said nothing. She was like a zombie mage, doing exactly what her master told her to. Lae'zel gazed into the chamber and was horrified. The chamber was filled with pods. They were too numerous to count. There was one locked into a floor mechanism in the center of the platform that overlooked the massive room. Other than that, she saw a dead thrall on the far side near another control panel.
"Tsk'va! How many thralls have these Ghaik infected?" she commented.
Ryth-Shan shook his head, unable to answer. As Kaedyn pulled Vexir into the restoration chamber, the two Githyanki dared to venture into the chamber full of pods. As they approached the center pod, they saw a woman asleep inside. Maneuvering around this, they came to the control panel. Ryth-Shan saw the plaque. It read, "Transform".
He pointed at the plaque. "Transform," he said. "What do you think it means?"
"Best not find out," she advised.
He agreed. "I'll search the body to see if she has anything good," he told her. "She looks like a mage. Might have something good on her."
"Fine," said Lae'zel. She was uncomfortable being there. "Then let's get out."
Ryth-Shan hurried to the body and found another potion of speed, some gold and a key. He held the key aloft. "Looks important," he commented.
"Perhaps," said Lae'zel. "Are you done?"
He nodded. "Let's get back to the others." He rejoined her, and the two made their way towards the door. As they went, he added, "You know, this would have gone a whole lot better if it had been just the two of us."
She snorted. "Agreed," she replied. Ryth-Shan and Lae'zel's Relationship Score increased by 1.
Meanwhile, Vexir fully recovered. She stood and stepped out of the chamber. Kaedyn was standing there, waiting. In the background, she could still hear the imprisoned woman screaming for them to help her. Vexir ignored her. "What happened exactly?" asked Vexir.
"You were dying," Kaedyn replied. "It hit you hard."
Vexir looked over at the fallen corpse of the monster. "I've decided I REALLY don't like those things."
Kaedyn followed her gaze as he stepped into the machine to be fully restored as well. "Me too," he replied. "We killed one when Ryth-Shan and I checked out the upper platform back when we first escaped the pods. I'm now very glad we did."
She looked back at him as the pod restored him. Their eyes met. Hers was a steely gaze, but it was softened. Her near-death experience had obviously had an impact. He just continued to smile warmly at her. She sighed. "Well, I appreciate you healing me and not leaving me for dead."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Is that genuine gratitude I detect?" Then he took on a playful, sinister grin. "Well, don't be too grateful. I only did it because I know I can't live without you."
A play on words! How cute! Did he mean that he knew he couldn't survive and capture the helm without her, or did he mean that he was falling in love with her and emotionally couldn't live without her? She figured it was an intentional attempt at flirting and decided to play along. Maybe it would increase her own control over him. "A wise choice," she replied coyly. "It is always best to recognize your superiors and aid them."
He chuckled and shook his head. Still, the pounding in the background continued. He was trying to ignore it, but it was messing with him. Nevertheless, this was the first time the two were actually getting along. Therefore, he wanted to make sure he didn't mess it up. "Naturally, My Lady," he said with a bow even as Ryth-Shan and Lae'zel returned with their mindless mage thrall. "Even facing that Intellect Devourer, it was only your sacrifice that allowed us to survive. You endured much to save us."
She couldn't help but smile back at him as he completed his bow. "Enough," she said, but her manner was no longer harsh. "Let's continue. The others have finally returned." His Relationship Score with her increased again by 2.
They then gathered by the desk with the items on it. There was an ornate chest and several necklaces and scrolls. Ryth-Shan produced the key for all of them to see. "Maybe it goes to the chest," Kaedyn suggested. Trying it, the lock popped open. The companions quickly gathered up the items on the desk and in the chest. Then they hurried for the door leading towards the helm. "Nice work, everyone," Kaedyn said, trying to encourage them. "I think we actually fight well together."
Vexir shook her head as they entered the last chamber before the helm. It was filled with brains in jars and another restoration chamber. They could still hear the strange woman locked in the pod banging and crying out for help as the door shut behind them. Vexir asked, "Are you always like this?" She said this as they paused at the door to the helm.
Kaedyn smiled at her again as their eyes met. "What? Happy? Yes. I am generally happy. Do you know what happy feels like?"
She broke eye contact and looked away, shaking her head once more. Without knowing what else to say, she simply opened the door and led the way inside. His Relationship Score with her increased once more by 1.
By the time they reached the helm, Kaedyn's Relationship Score with Vexir was 50. Though he had done some things to reduce it from 50, he had done some things to restore it to 50 by this point. His relationship with Ryth-Shan was 50 as well. His relationship with Lae'zel was 49.
As for Vexir, her relationship with Ryth-Shan was 52. Her relationship, surprisingly, with Lae'zel, was 50. Though she had pissed her off in the beginning by fighting for supremacy, reducing her score by 2, she had made up for it later by agreeing with her in regards to Kaedyn's constant delays. As for Ryth-Shan's relationship with Lae'zel, it was 49.
To determine Relationship Score levels, 26-75 is Neutral. 75-99 is Friendly. 100+ is Good Friends (also potential romantic interests). 1-25 is Barely Tolerated and 0 or less is Enemies. Thus far, none have truly done much in the way of building solid relationships with one another. Still, through these various interactions, they are learning more and more about each others' personalities.
