Re: The Souljammer, Part Two

[More in-character posts, but less ranting this time.  All, or at least
most, of the NPCs are sane this time.  :)]

Kalu Yeagun, of the Chainmen, on what he saw in the Sphere of Nocturne.
     "We'd just taken our new prize, we had.  A lovely cargo, lovely.
Fine lasses to sell to the brothels, good strong men for the fields or the
pits, even a dwarf.  A beauty of a ship as well.  Never seen the like of
it before.  Designed like the Spelljammer itself, it was;  like a graceful
manta, with a building on it's back.  A fine haul fer a good day's work.
     "We were just gettin' ready to...test...out the lasses, when the
watch begins callin' about how there's something off to port.  So I looks
meself, an' there it was.  Looked like a star when yer near the Shell, it
did;  y'know, how they look big at a distance, even when y'know yer at a
distance?  Like that.  Only it was odd-shaped, like...well...like a man
an' a bat at the same time.  Made all outa silver it was, too.
     "That's when we saw 'em.  The silver...thing...rippled, an' started
bleedin'.  No, really.  Started drippin blood, it looked like.  An' those
blood drops came flyin' toward us, fast.  I've seen military ships move
that fast, the one's with powerful sorcerers on the helm, but not that
many.  A dozen, maybe?  No, more.  Two dozen, if there was one.
     "They come sailin' in, the lot of them.  Big, too.  Twenty tons easy,
if they was even ships.  I'm not sure about that, either.  They didn't
look like ships.  They were all glossy, lookin' like drops o' blood flyin'
through space.  Came in at us, an' started attackin' that odd prize ship
o' ours.  I don't know with what, some kinda ray, looked like it was made
outa blood too.  It burned, no...more like melted the ship.  
     "I'm not ashamed to say we cut it loose and ran.  Just before we got
away from them, they finished the prize ship an' came after us.  Tymora
was with us, though.  We got to 'jamming speed before they caught us.
Never seen the like before or since, and I hope I never do.
     "I still wish they hadn't destroyed that prize, though.  Would have
earned us a lot of gold, it would.  Ah, well.  The slaves still sold
well..."

Tehv'in, a Githyanki Knight, speaks of an odd sight in the Astral Plane.
     "We were crossing the Spiritweb in pursuit of a - how do you say? -
post-knight who had stolen one of our sacred Silver Swords.  The
pattern of his thoughts was still clear, and we were posessed of the hope
that we would quickly overtake him.  None are so swift as us, in the
Silver.
     "We then sensed a new current in the medium, a wave like unto the
front of the mindstorms.  But it was not the psychic wind.  Our Senja'si
informed us that it was created by a conflict.  A great conflict.  We knew
not more than that, but it was important that we seek to illuminate the -
how do you say? - darks of it.   That which may disturbe the Silver in
such a manner may be of concern to the true children of Gith.
     "We approached the origin of the disturbance, with difficulty.  The
wave pushed at our thoughts, seeking to drive us back.  But we persevered,
and drew within sight of the cause.  It was the Chac Mool, the Guardian of
Dead Gods, and another.  Like unto a beast of the seas of the Prime it
was, so much that I believed at first it had swam from the Living Sea.
But it was most certainly not a beast of any ocean.  Black and white and
red were it's colors, white like unto bone and red like unto blood.  A
pattern like unto a skull was on it's back, surrounded by spots of blood.
The consistency of it's flesh was like unto stone, as if it were created
of the substance of the Dead Gods itself.
     "The Chac Mool contended with this, this, creature?  I know not if it
lived, or if it was a vessel like unto our own.  I and my fellow warriors
could sense many minds within it, but also a single mind of power and
wrath.  The Chac Mool contended with it, and it fought back.  Great power
was invoked by both parties, and neither seemed to gain.  The medium of
the Spiritweb itself distorted with the unleashed fury of the adversaries.
     "We withdrew, of course.  It is not proper, nor is it safe, for
mortals to witness the contests of such as they.  Neither were they our
first objective;  the traitor still remained to be found."

Fevlin Nestral, Torilian expatriot and eye-witness to the Souljammer.
     "Yes, yes, I saw it.  Gods help me, but I saw it.  I was returning to
the Rock after a visit home to Waterdeep, and we had just entered 
Braalspace.  That's where I saw it.
     "At first, I thought it was the Spelljammer, and I didn't know if I
should be excited or nervous.  It *was* the Spelljammer, after all, and
you're never sure it that means good luck or bad luck.  But I wanted to
see it for myself, anyway.  A chance like that only happens once in a
lifetime, after all.
     "But it didn't look right.  I've never actually seen it, but it
didn't look the way the bards describe it.  Oh, the shape was right.
Mostly.  But it didn't have a city on it's back, just some odd ridges and
lumps.  And the color was wrong;  black and white, instead of grey and
purple.  
     "It was near a small planetoid that had drifted out toward the sphere
wall, just hovering near it.  As I watched, there were flickers of red and
the planetoid began to, well, shrink.  Like it was melting.  And the
Spelljammer - if that's what it was - looked like it was *drinking* it.
     "Then the flickers of red began to circle it, moving faster and
faster.  As I watched it turned, so I could see it's dorsal side.  The
flickers of red moved faster and faster, and that's when it hit me what it
looked like.
     "You know those pictures, right?  The ones that look a goblet and
then, suddenly, they look like two faces?  It was like that.  The white
with the black patches, surrounded by a red flickering ring.  It looked
like, like, like the symbol of Bhaal.  Not exactly, but close.  Bhaal's
symbol, spread across the Spelljammer.
     "Then the flickers of red lept onto the Spelljammer, and it seemed to
scream.  It still terrifies me, that scream.  It sounded like hatred and
madness, only a million times, with terror in it as well.  Like it
knew me, and hated me.  Then it turned silver, and vanished.
     "I never want to get on a spelljammer again.  It might be out there,
somewhere.  Waiting for me, and whoever else is with me.
     "But, isn't Bhaal dead?  That's what they say, especially the dark
priests of Cyric.  He's dead.  So how can he control the Spelljammer?"

[End in character post.]

Next post, some solid answers about the Souljammer.  Also, if I have time,
game stats (where appropriate) and some possible campaign uses.

Richard Gant
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