CITY OF THE GITHYANKI
premise by Richard Merwin
written by j.e. burton
Chapter I: Gimme a Break, Will Ya?
After a long afternoon of catching stray lizard hens grazing on herbs on the outskirts of the Black Lake, the Young Ones- with Eric bringing up the rear- wander through a verdant garden while in search of today's way back home.
They come to a sign that reads:
GARDEN OF EVIL
"See that, you guys?" asked Hank, pointing to the sign. "Looks harmless. Should we trust it?"
"Garden of Evil? Hmmph. Doesn't look so evil to me," mumbled Eric, looking around, half dazed.
'This looks like a good plane to rest for a bit,'muttered Presto.
"Let's stop here," said another.
One of them, however, has trouble getting to that.
"Hey, a little hand here!?" shouted Eric, who just fell over. "I can hardly move!"
"Well that's what you get for stuffing your face full of roasted sludge snails!"
teased Diana, sitting Eric down on a smooth stone.
"Thanks Diana."
Right at that moment, Eric let out a belch as loud as the croak of a Bogbeast!
"ERIC!" Everyone shouted as Diana backed away.
"Well how was I s'posed ta know Presto could pull something so tasty outta that hat?"
Presto smiled, pleased to hear a kind word from Eric, who had been goading him over skunk chickens
that eluded them since breakfast yesterday.
From the small commotion, Sheila looked heavenward.
"Gee guys, it's only noon... why is it so dark so fast?"
"Hey guys, Sheila's right!" shouted Presto pointing in the same direction. "Look!"
"What in the blazes?" gasped Diana. "And the stars... have they dropped from the sky?"
"Great," Bobby muttered. "Now this whole place has dead batteries."
"Nothing on this forsaken realm runs on batteries ya dummy!" countered Eric.
Eric flipped his shield behind his head, landing on the firm of Bobby's left arm.
"Now I'll just lie here on this rock and -"
"Watch where ya put your dumb shield, Eric!" yelped the Barbarian, springing up in reflex.
"Well," growled the Cavalier, watch your dumb mouth, you barbaric midget!"
Diana arose to create a barrier between the two. "You two have been at it all day! When are you two gonna stop bickering?"
Hank stood up, starting to pull the Barbarian off of Eric.
"I wanna go back home an' eat ice cream and play video games!" sobbed Bobby as he dropped his club.
"Is that all?" dribbled Eric, drifting back in and out of consciousness.
At that moment, the DungeonMaster emerges from a bush. He appears exhausted, on the verge of collapse.
"Pupils!" the words escape his lips like a cry for help.
Eric's food stupor abated. "Oh brother, it's dungeondrip! To show us our latest sacrifice home."
Bobby backs off of Eric as Hank looks on at the crinkles on the Dwarven regnant's dome as the Ranger eases his restraint on the boy.
"What's the matter Dungeonmaster?"
"I have good - and bad news!" exclaimed the tiny lord, catching his breath.
"There is yet another way back home!"
"Where is it this time?" asked the Acrobat.
The DungeonMaster drew them closer."Just beyond the gates of Krelm...you will find a portal in the astral plane containing the floating city T'unerath - an ancient metropolis untouched by time of an ancient race of undead known as the Githyanki.
"Great!" exclaimed Sheila. "Sounds a little scary but...maybe they'll help us."
"I'm afraid not, thief," lamented DungeonMaster. "Once human, millennia of enslavement by the mind flayers have changed them into monsters on their plane with a thirst for war and ruin.
"Well surely they are reasonable people," reasoned Eric. I've got a few bucks."
They are friends to no one here but red dragons who guide them through our realm," continued Dungeon Master," which is now inhabited by Vlaakith, their Lich queen of the Githyanki."
"Great! She can bring the light back and help us!" said Presto, joyfully.
"I fear not, Magician," muttered DungeonMaster."You see -"
"Don't tell me," interjected Eric.
"Vlaakith is the one plunging the realm into darkness."
"I said don't tell me!" gulped a quivering Eric, clutching the collar of his cape.
"Far encroaching on the gates of Krelm, Vlaakith has brought her own city T'unerath to our realm, over yonder in the sky -
"In those black clouds?" Diana asked.
DungeonMaster nods.
"Gives me the shivers!" uttered Sheila.
"And with her, are her legions of undead, and her own necromancy- dark magic," continues the spritely man.
"Can't you help us DungeonMaster?" pleaded the Acrobat.
At this DungeonMaster turned away, shaking his head in sorrow.
My realm -based magic will not stop her fierce might and magic from the Astral plane, I'm afraid, her sorcery is without equal. Vlaakith's cold hand rots all it touches. Her minions are bringers of destruction. To defeat her, you must make your fiercest enemies your friends."
"You mean..we gotta-?!" interjected Hank.
"Once you have wielded the amulet of endless flames atop the highest peak of the flame mountains, one of you must use it to banish her from our realm once and for all.
"Piece'a cake!" Bobby interjected.
"Pnnhaa kaynnnk!" mimicked Uni.
"In exchange for the amulet, Nayr the gnome keeper of the gates of Krelm shall grant you passage home."
Suddenly DungeonMaster looks this way and that.
"Time is short. Make haste by dawn... added the man as he slipped behind a nearby column, "... or forever be shrouded in pitch of night."
It is now nightfall.
"Dungeon master wait!" exclaimed Hank, arms reaching out, drawing his bow for a light source while approaching the column.
"Remember, yesterday's darkness... holds tomorrow's light," echoed the spritely man's voice traveling up the building.
"WHY does he still DO that?!" Eric gasped.
"You heard him," said Hank, bow still drawn. "We've got no time to lose."
"Do we have to now? All this walking's got me tired, you guys," complained Sheila."
"We could use a little shut eye, Hank," said another.
"Fair enough you guys," replied Hank, holding up his drawn bow.
Presto conjured up blankets from his hat as Diana passed them out.
"Let's get our rest." answered Hank.
"N-not Too much rest, Hank," quipped the Cavalier. "I'm sure the sign doesn't read 'Garden of Evil' for nothing."
"We leave for the city in the morning."
"If there is a morning," mumbled Presto.
The kids settle in as an owl hoots overhead.
"Good night," said Hank.
"G'night."
The kids go to sleep.