Githyanki in Space

Conjunction

An Ether Cyclone on the Ethereal Plane, a Psychic Wind on the Astral Plane, and a magnetic storm in the Asteroid Shell between Teth and Lothar came into a special conjunction to produce a three-way passage that linked the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and this Prime Material Plane. The conjunction took the form of two large Black Spheres orbiting each other.

Each Black Sphere had a diameter of 5 miles and they were separated (surface to surface) by about 8 miles. The rate of complete orbit was 3.145 hours. They were stationary with respect to the suns and planets of this system. They existed in the Asteroid Shell and appeared to stand still as matter was swept into them. Occasionally an object was spewed forth.

The Outpost

A Githyanki Asteroid Outpost on the Astral plane was caught up in this conjunction phenomenon during its formation and deposited here. We first spotted the Outpost at a distance of two miles. We also saw the Black Spheres at some 10 miles, and a Void Cruiser (a Gith ship) at a distance of 1/2 mile.

The Githyanki Asteroid Outpost included a complex of guard towers, a hanger bay, and a variety of rooms and cells. Four Void Cruisers (see below) were originally docked in the hanger, but only two remained by the time we got there. The Gith were trying to adapt the Cruisers for the vacuum of mundane space, and they had launched two adapted Cruisers before we arrived. Both of the two adapted Cruisers had failed, and one of these failures was what we saw just a 1/2 mile away at the start of the encounter.

The Void Cruiser

One result of travel through the Conjunction was the temporary loss of all psionic abilities of all the occupants of the Outpost, thus rendering them unable to return to the Astral Plane by normal psionic methods. Since the Githyanki were no longer on their home plane they could not mentally move through space or mentally move the ship either.

A Void Cruiser is a craft designed by the Githyanki to aid and speed group travel through the Astral Plane. It has no such motive powers through normal space. Two fruitless attempts to redesign the craft to use as transports to enter either of the Black Spheres ended in disaster.

The Void Cruiser we encountered had a hull like the shape of a large sailing ship without masts, enclosed by a clear crystal dome (one of the added features). The craft normally carried 12 man-sized creatures, powered by mental energy based on intelligence. For mundane space, the Githyanki tried a crude system of jetting gases using various tubes and devices scattered throughout the ship. The ship originally carried 100 cubic feet of cargo. After modifications it had a capacity of 400 cubic feet of atmosphere. That is, until the new outer dome was breached (we saw a very noticeable crack), which explained the 4 dead Githyanki we saw sprawled within.

Gith In Trouble

Even if the Void Cruiser modifications had worked, travel back through one of the two Black Spheres would have been further handicapped by the fact that space debris, whose density is high in the Asteroid Shell, was constantly being swept into the rotating orbits of the Black Spheres (as well as occasional bits and pieces being ejected out of the Spheres). These Spheres evidently had no gravitational fields of their own, but it appeared to an observer that did).

Zero-G combat was unfamiliar to them, as it would have been to any other creature new to the environment.

Aside from movement through vacuum, problems of atmosphere and heat were most immediate to the occupants of the Outpost. By sheer luck, two magic items owned by one of the MUs saved their lives (temporarily at least).

One was simply a gold metal ring with an inside diameter of 6 inches which, from either side, connected to the Elemental Plane of Air. The Plane of Air is at one atmosphere of pressure (more or less, it fluctuates slightly) and when placed in an area of lower pressure, the ring emitted a constant flow of breathable air. No encounters of any kind were made under normal operating conditions of this device.

The Githyanki also had a Block of Heat (a metal cube 6 inches on a side). When the correct phrase was spoken the block radiated a intense heat, glowing white.

Allies in Strange Places

The Githyanki had three prisoners on their Outpost:

Terrazod, a Githzeri warrior - he was the most reasonable being imprisoned there. He helped convince the Mind Flayer to hold a temporary truce with us in order to kill Githyanki.

A Mind Flayer - this creature was temporarily missing all psionic capabilities so it could not use psionic attacks, defenses or disciplines. It was still able to physically attack with tentacles.

A Night Hag

[Frankly, I myself only remember that we allied with the Mind Flayer, but my memory is bad.]

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