| Kresseck sailed aimlessly through the Astral Plain. His first impulses had been to try to track the trails of the survivors of the Battle. The As In the Astral, the only way to reliably move yourself was to will yourself forwards, the speed dependant entirely upon the mental power of the person doing so. In The sensitivity of the Astral to these thoughts worked in reverse as well, leaving mental footprints in the silvery void that a skilled denizen of the Astral could track them. As a bizarre side effect, more powerful brains had the tendency to leave stronger trails in the Astral, somewhat like a larger carriage would leave larger marks in a Prim Material road. By that logic, the Illithid party should still have a fresh trail, Most peculiar. Opening his mind as he did, after a few minutes of slow travel, he found himself aware of two other minds in the area, one being clever hidden, though, of course, not clever enough for his skill. He couldn�t make out what was out there, but there was only a limited number of things in the Multiverse which could have masked their path like that. And since he doubted his fellow Githyanki The other possibilities were equally unsettling, that the Githzerai might have found out how to shield their trails in the Astral. Barring that, an Illithid, or even a power, none of which boded well for him. But he didn�t have very long to dwell on that problem, for, if I even though he�d have thought it impossible that one of those threats could have something worse following him than them, he�d have laughed and clocked some sense into the berk�s brain-box, there it was, clear as Gith, One of the brilliant colored pools that dotted the Astral, the very pools which gave transportation from the Astral to everywhere in the known Multiverse (well, every important, as far as he was concerned), was chasing him. Now, be mindful that pools don�t often chase someone across the Astral, in fact, they never do. That led him to the conclusion that he was either hallucinating, or this was something like the Mimics he�d read about in a Greybeard�s encyclopedia of unique prime Material creatures, that hid in the shape of a treasure chest, or even an entire house at times, luring in unwary berks to be eaten. He�d never heard of �em before, but, chances are, they would�ve killed anyone who�s seen�em. Well, not sodding likely. I�ve already escaped Death once today he thought to himself, before willing himself faster through the Astral, towards the nearest Color pool that led to anon-inhospitable plane (A vacation in Baator was, arguably, worse than being eaten by a Astral mimic). When he came to the shimmering colored pool, one of a reflective black color - it should be one to the first plane of Mechanus - safe enough, and the Modons might even be able to aid him in his search, if for no other reason than to Spite the Limbo-dwelling Githzerai. But, before he leapt randomly into the layer, for there was no time to concentrate upon it and secure a pre-planned entrance, he turned from it, straight towards the first being that was following him... The bloody bandage that hade covered the puncture wounds of the Illithid�s tendrils into his skull, he ripped from his head, crumpled up into a ball, and threw in the direction of whatever�s mind was chasing him. �Fetch, Akumai!�� He shouted (Akumai being the Githyanki equivalent of Dog�s) - before disappearing into the eternal depths of the Colored pool. ************ Sliressik was rather stunned when the Gith turned to stare straight at him. You�ve done it now, Shouldn�t you have prepared something that would work on the Gith before you went following him around? You haven�t offered anything constructive. What�s he doing anyway? You�d think if he saw you, he�d be trying to wring your neck... Again. Which means he hasn�t seen me. He knows something�s here, but not that I�m here. He can mindtrack. Weren�t you blocking that? He�s better at it than I am. It wasn�t easy to admit being inferior to a Gith, but it was the most likely reason. It confused him, the Gith was removing the Bloody bandage�s it had tied about it�s head, and throwing them at him. The purpose wasn�t immediately clear, other than, perhaps, something of an attempt to spite him. When the Gith disappeared into a nearby color pool, he finally noticed the third moving thing within the immediate area. A Portal... The point of throwing the bloodied bandages at him soon became apparent, it sped through the Astral Plane, consuming the bandages like a Prime Material Shark in a feeding Frenzy, the cloth slipping across it�s edges, and disappearing into the extra-planar depths. The portal then, it seemed, noticed him. The portal, it also seemed, was faster than he was. |