ACT 1 – GARN’S DISCOURSE
After escaping the attempted assassination on the docks of Bral, Garn begins to discourse on the following as you travel towards his homeworld…
Valcannus, the realm in our crystal sphere, has been the home of we, the Yashchery, for the past 40 generations. The “Yashchery” (or “Lizardmen” or “Scalefolk” as some have labled us and our kind) have historically been slaves to the Illithid, slaves to the Githyanki, slaves to the Elves – both Drow and Astral, slaves to the dwarves, slave to various human civilizations, and even at times enslaving each other. The Yashcerey ancestors were ruled by the Duegar when they first fled into Wildspace. We “Scalefolk” were always brutes both ruthless and physically powerful – even able to match an ogre’s strength at times. Thus, we were often conscripted to fight other people’s wars and work in other’s mines and similar sorts of hard labor. It was on the battlefield against the Drow Armada of Kyllan that our ancestors rebelled and stole three Duergar Hammerships and fled in the far flung corners of Wildspace…
When they first arrived, my ancestors were hopeful that the energy of this crystal sphere would affect our generations positively, and it has…more than we even dreamed. For the first time, after just seven generations, we began to develop into a race able to fully master magic, invent mage-tech, and even foster psionic abilities. The star of Valcannus has blessed us even more than we could have asked or imagined.
We discovered that Valcannus had a previous civilization. On the surface, our world appears to be a vaste wasteland dominated by volcanic activity with rivers of lava and sulphur saturated air that is barely breatheable. There are two shallow and very salty “seas” on the northern and southern poles of Valcannus. Outside of this the one sole continent is nearly devoid of standing water with little flora and fauna on the surface to speak of. Miles of dead, dried-up, seabeds surround the sole continent. Life was harsh, hard, and short for many of us. Food was very scarce, but we learned to farm and harvest varying fungi and lichens, and how to hunt sandsharks. After the first 6 generations, we began to both Spelljam again and to mine. It is then the real treasure of Valcannus was discovered. Our home is extremely rich in minerals, gems, and even unique metals and alloys hereto undiscovered in any other crystal sphere. We discovered after digging deep enough that there are underground aquifers and there is a vast underdark – unexplored, unsoiled, and full of life.
With our newfound magic, wealth, and spelljamming power, we went to war against ancestral foes, vilifying them through our own historic rivalries and injustices. The seventh generation conquered an entire nation of Duegar and brought them home as slaves, placing them in our mines and ruthlessly working them. Seeing the lucrativeness of this, we proceeded to conquer and conscript various historic enemies for the past 10 generations. The irony regarding the Duergar is twofold, as this particular tribe had never even crossed paths with our people and were from a completely different crystal sphere and yet they became a sister race to us on Valcannus, submitting to our rule for the past 5 generations. We produced so much wealth from the (mainly Duergar) slaves in our mines and at our forges that a blinding greed drove our theology and thus our society.
My father, Garn The Greater, fought to give the Duergar rights, and preached in the Sacred Assembly that we need to evolve not just in our magic and intellect, but also in our wisdom and charity. He was the first to say openly what many Yashchery were feeling but unwilling to admit – they were ashamed that they had become the very thing that they hated – overlords, slave drivers…hypocrites.
My father was killed, poisoned, even while he was a priest in the sacred senate. I was but a youngling, 10 cycles old. As the poison took him, he made me promise that I would free the slaves. This I have done. With the help of House Arayes, and the count, I was able to free Duergar and appoint Viktor Vage as their representative on the council. After the initial celebration, we were ill prepared for the consequences…there is now a growing rift on my homeworld, and I fear that it will become a civil war.
ACT 2 – The Nightmare Beast
The Astral Elf Town-Ship “Khasosi” is being attacked by a nightmare beast…
Khasosi – before being raided by Yashchery, the scattered survivors are being stalked by a nightmare beast. The town is home of around 1,200 Astral Elves and orbits a nearby star inside a water and hydrogen rich nebula – the remnants of a long-dead water-rich planet or perhaps the incubation of such a planet. This town has a treaty with the Yashchery, and Garn knows the Chief, Elkhazel Daliore. The survivors will not parlay with the party unless they kill the nightmare beast. There are half-dozen trashed ships.
Description
Nightmare beasts are enormous quadrupeds that stand 20 feet tall, or 40 feet tall when rearing on their hind legs. A nightmare beast’s legs end in claws, enabling it to climb well despite its size. Its skin is thick and tough, and its teeth are long and sharp. A pair of long, curved tusks jut from the sides of the beast’s mouth, and its large red eyes glow in the dark. The creature smashes through structures and fortifications with ease, and it doesn’t hesitate to rend foes with its claws and gore them with its tusks, but its most devastating attack is its magical ability to disintegrate foes with its terrible gaze. Powerful spellcasters create nightmare beasts to serve as living siege engines. A single beast can lay waste to entire cities and armies.
WASP WARSHIPS
TURTLE HEAVY WARSHIPS
Choices in this encounter
Pursue the attackers. When they see the parties ship, they flee, having already done a great deal of damage.
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