Kings and Queens

Examining the prime loot taken from the fallen flayers in the upper brain pool, the companions discovered three items of note; a bastard sword and two slender octaganal crystal rods, one pale red, one dark blue.An Identify spell revealed the sword to be a named-blade called Klaustomiehet, with a +8 enchantment, and the two crystal rods to be Dorjes; one of Deep Impact and the other of Blur. Questioning a Githyanki of their party, they discovered that a dorje was the psionic equivalent of a wand or rod; a portable device capable of carrying and producing a psionic power a set number of times before being exhausted. Sack, the only one skilled with the hand-and-a-half sword, took Klaustomiehet, and the dorjes went into storage. Sack attempted to communicate with the sword, and felt a resonance, a possibility of communication, but no firm results. 

The strike force's leaders were summoned into Vlaakith's presence immediately on arrival, and Kazoth was questioned intensely by his Queen as to the events of the last four hours. Humbling himself before her, he succinctly described the attack on the Heppetah monolith, clearly filling in extra details mind-to-mind as he did so.

Vlaakith turned her attention to the two Primes. "My commander tells me you fought well against the ancient foe," she said in her dry, rustly but powerful voice. "A  pity there were no prisoners, and that we have no complete idea what was being done. The slaying of two Elder Brains is a good day's work none the less."

Surya lifted his head, but his eyes remained in shadow as he said, "The death of the prisoners is no barrier to their interogation, if you wish it so." Vlaakith considered this for a moment, and then gestured her approval. Two knights left the thronehall, and returned mere minutes later with two Githmorein corpses and a Mind Flayer one.

Sack knew what was coming, and felt unwilling to watch the process again. He withdrew from the chamber - eliciting startled glances from several of Vlaakith's courtiers; clearly the only usual ways to exit her presence were by permission or feet-first.

Surya stepped up to the chosen body, a Mind Flayer of the more common variety, slashed badly around the head and chest by the terrible inertial Silver Sword of a Githyanki knight. Extending the Sword of the Dead Legions over it, he closed his eyes and concentrated. There was effort, but far less than in the past; the power seemed to come more easily. Slowly, the pseudoform accreted around the tattered body, and the hollow mindvoice spoke. It dripped with scorn and distress. Surya was used to his interviewees being unwilling to return, but it dawned on him that this creature was deeply unhappy with its' afterlife as well as its' summoning back.

He engaged its' will, dragging answers from it through the torment of the Sword's magic. The Monolith had been a giant lens, it emerged, designed to focus the accumulated suffering of ten thousand tormented dwarves into energy; sufficient energy to form a conduit backwards through time.

Each Mind Flayer community was led and controlled by an Elder Brain - similar to the two the invaders had slain lower in the tower. On death, each Flayer's brain material was given into the elder brain, adding its'accumulated knowledge, memory and mental power to the communal store. So the distress of this subject, who had been denied merging with the Elder Brain on its' death. It seemed these Flayers were trying to restore the ancient, lost Mind Flayer empire, toppled when Gith led her people to freedom millenia ago. But the modern-day flayers were a remnant people, far fewer in number, and their Elder Brains were simply not up to the task of leading such an enterprise. And so the Monolith at Heppetah was prepared, with sufficient donor brain material to comprise a true Imperial Brain, and enough power accumulated to form a link to one of the most powerful Elder Brains ever to live, Akachta. Had things gone well, a copy of his every thought pattern would have been impressed onto the hundred dwarvish brains, fused together, and an exact duplicate of Akachta would have lived in the present day.

Vlaakith intervened here, demanding it tell how many more nests of "Imperial" flayers existed, and where they were. This creature did not know all, but named three other planes where it believed nests to be.

Surya relaxed, and let the creature slip back to it's damnnation - eternity as a wandering lost soul. He offered his assistance to the Githyanki, especially if they should find themselves pursuing Ithilids to the Prime Material.

Vlaakith spoke to both Sack and Surya. "The truce between foes of the Flayer has been observed, but your continued presence here would be... awkward. You must return home. But your aid should not go unremarked. What reward would you ask of the Queen of the Githyanki?"

Sack said nothing (of course), merely thought. Vlaakith grinned horribly at him and laughed, "Granted!"

Surya asked for a dragon mount of his own. Vlaakith replied that she would be happy with such, but that the dragons were allies not servants, and that she would turn the question to Morodric. The human-formed dragon bowed deeply, and it was clear that, allies or not, he would not dream of disobeying the Dark Queen.

The audience ended, and the victorious warriors left the thronehall. Surya and Morodric spoke more, with the Tellaran enquiring whether he or Ruthric would be interested in coming to the Prime Material for a fly around. Morodric grinned at him. "When we fly the skies of the Prime Material, we will come in greater numbers," he said evenly. "You will be welcome any time," said Surya warmly. Morodric chuckled. "A bold statement - for a ruler." he said.

At that point several servants entered, carrying between them a heavy-looking metal box, four feet high. Faint tendrils of smoke emerged from the bottom, where some sort of heating equipment was attached. Morodric opened the top, revealing a large, leathery reddish-brown egg. He then spent some time instructing Surya on the care of the egg, and in the process of rearing and imprinting a young dragon.

Khemla Sidira, Astral Plane, 20^th April 1602

The next morning, Sack and Surya stepped into separate Gates wrought by the Gith and were transported home to the Prime Material Plane. In different places!

Nisur, Erean Mountains, 19^th April 1602

Meanwhile, Hildraft had been busy. In an eyeblink, the Gate had taken him from the heart of a howling battle to the relative quiet and dimness of Nisur. As he looked around him, the sight of a nation in tatters met his gaze. Slumped in corners, tucked into makeshift blanket beds, the wounded, the shocked and the brain-burned huddled together, still barely able to absorb the fact of their rescue. Faint moans and occasional screams of pain or horror were the only sounds.

Moving among the refugees were a few less stricken individuals, trying to create order out of chaos. The depradations of the Ithilid habit of feeding off the best brains, added to the creaming off of the best for Akachta's pool had wiped out most of the leaders, but three survivors had found themselves preciptated into the situation of organizing the recovery. These were:

• Morgar, the King's Champion. The last survivor of the King's own blood, Morgar was in many respects an ideal of a dwarf warrior; strong, handsome, visibly noble in appearance. He was, however, young and with absolutely no experience of leadership. His was a face the people would follow, but he had nowhere to lead them. He was not without help, however.
• Ulfdor Magni, sorcerer. Ulfdor was of very low birth, and further was a practitioner of sorcery, not a very common dwarvish pursuit, and one regarded with just a little wariness by the average dwarf. His advanced age - Ulfdor was actually old enough to be counted a member of Hildraft's generation - had given him enormous experience and wisdom. No-one was ever going to accept Ulfdor as King; but as an advisor he was going to be very useful.
• Yngrid, priestess of Kord. Yngrid was the only surviving ordained priest of Kord in Nisur. She had clearly been using her healing magic unstintingly, and was exhausted. Her expression brightened on seeing Hildraft, who was quite literally a gift from the God to her at this point.

Hildraft lost no time in getting to grips. Over the next few days, he questioned Morgar keenly, gauging him as a potential King, and, satisfied with his ability to do the job, threw his considerable influence into getting him accepted as such. He organized food supplies to be restarted, sent messages to Kobur and Gloiran (the latter without success), expended every remaining scrap of his magic on healing, and, using his de facto rank within the church of Kord for the first time in this regard, raised Yngrid High Priestess of Kord for Nisur.

Sack arrived the following day, and on understanding the situation, made Yngrid a present of the holy greataxe and Necklace of Prayer Beads, without mentioning that he'd lifted them from Nisur's own treasury when he'd thought it abandoned.

He then leaned nearer to Hildraft and extracted a dorje from the dwarf's Bag of Holding. To Hildraft's amazement, he explained that it was an item he'd lifted from a Githyanki during the strike on Heppetah, and had hidden on Hildraft in case its' loss was discovered!

A day or so later, he appeared at the door of Hildraft's chamber, his steps leaden and his movements strangely altered. By signs, he explained that he'd kept the book he'd found in the treasury and read it, believing it to be a Manual of Quickness of Action. Too late he'd discovered it cursed, and that his dexterity had been damaged by its' effects. The priest was able to reverse the effects with a Greater Restoration, leaving Sack wiser if not sadder.

Next came the heartbreaking part. With his council, the new King pored over the ancient maps of Nisur, deciding what parts were to be abandoned. For two-thirds of the population were gone; there were nowhere near enough dwarves to fill the city, and empty dwarf-halls were a hazard. It had already occurred to Hildraft that Nisur was a ripe target for a dragon - or for orcs, had the orcs still been living in Orcland. The lines drawn, companies of miners went reluctantly off to collapse corridors and seal portals, suturing the wound before the city bled to death.

Hildraft spent another day writing scrolls of several very useful spells not yet within Yngrid's power to cast, and handed these to her as they parted. She thanked him profusely, and for some reason her smile stayed with him as he Wind Walked across the mountains to Kobur en route to Reital.

Kobur, Erean Mountains, 23^rd April 1602

In Kobur, Hildraft visited briefly with Cardinal Axeedge. Increasingly, the two dwarven priests felt the incongruity of Axeedge's seniority in the church, when by any measure of achievement, divine favour, or simple power, Hildraft was by far his superior. Despite the older priest's discomfort, Hildraft had no intention of supplanting him; he - and Kord - valued his freedom to act too much.

As he left the temple, a messenger ran up to him, and informed him that the King of Kobur demanded his presence before he left. Hildraft acknowledged this, but then returned to his clan halls to speak with Ivhold Crusher about increasing trade to Nisur before going.

King Berrin Ironfist was clearly aware of the subtle insult, but made no reference to it, instead questioning his technical vassal closely about the status of Nisur. While Axeedge's interest had clearly been humanitarian, Ironfist was worryingly interested in Nisur's weakness and resources. Hildraft came away disquieted.

Reital Castle, New Tellare, 20^th April 1602

On his return to Reital, Surya found things well under way for the upcoming ceremony. Having enlisted Delgarde to locate somewhere safe and secret for the egg to be stored, he caught up with what had been happening.

His future Queen had everything well under control. The city, and more so the surrounding countryside, was noticeably quieter; the oversized population had begun to expand out into the new territories to the north and south-west. The crops were sprouting in the fields. The castle itself was a-bustle with preparations for the double ceremony set for the Maying.

Hildraft arrived a few days later, but Sack did not. The pair waited for him, wondering what had induced him to shun the gathering, but no sign was forthcoming. Other guests appeared, though. Such a mighty assemblage of the mighty - kings, heroes, demigods and monsters - had not been seen in Alair since the army of the Last Alliance gathered at Lantalaure before going down into the darkness against the Dragon.

• From Dalaghendor, San'gram the High Priest of Shuskrah, ruler of that most enlightened of realms and allay in the Invasion;
• From Tarlanor, Skufruss of the Kin, Dark Lord, paramount wielder of the Art Magic in Alair;
• From the Kordasa, Manton Vanechka, Holy Commander of the Church of Kord Triumphant, and an honour-guard of a hundred sinless Knights of Kord;
• From Kishshul, Shuumash Death Tongue and Thend the Seer, two of the four current leaders of the remains of the Orc nation;
• From Gloiran... no-one;
• From Kobur, Faldin Axehand, eldest son of Berrin Ironfist King of Kobur;
• From Nisur, Yngrid, High Priestess of Kord in Nisur, councillor to King Morgar;
• From Enning, Thelvian Tyrkor of the Kin, Seer and Oracle, Lord of the land;
• From Belamir, Elverandil, Mastersmith of the Elves, forger of the Seven Swords of the Noldor, Lord of the House of Swords;
• From Stryre, Sigred of Narthal, representing the Basilica of Aderra and Archpriest Delloch;
• From the Theocracy of Nhased, Bishop Coltrane of Karsten, high-ranking member of the Church of the One;
• From the Erlyid Empire, Imperial Crown Prince Crixus and his adopted son, Rolc of Thornal, with four exardii of crack troops

Reital Castle, New Tellare, May Day, 1602

The Great Hall of Castle Reital bulged with the combined presence of these worthies - and with not a little tension between some of them - as Surya stood before the great and the good of his land and accepted his crown - not from any local hands, to the surprise of some, but from the Hand of Kord, Hildraft of Kobur. Then his marriage to the lovely Leonora, Countess of Rhorien, was solemnized by Thornal's High Priestess of Aderra, Nective.