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Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad split the work of investigating the githyanki. Galandir inspected the unusual silver swords the githyanki wielded. He discovered that they somehow attacked the body, mind, and spirit simultaneously cutting through every aspect of their victim. Tereman used divination magic to probe the other side of the dimensional portal the githyanki used. He saw the void of the Astral Plane where the githyanki made their home on the titanic corpse of a dead god. Blendegad examined the various alchemic items the invaders brought with them. He determined that they could be used to collect some form of energy from the githyanki’s captives. Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad’s investigative and adventuring work together would earn them the name “The Gish Trio.”

Gish is a word in D&D that refers to a character who is good at using magic and fighting in melee combat. The term originally described the githyanki style of fighting! Over the years gish came to refer to all D&D characters that know how to swing a sword and cast a spell.

While the Gish Trio did their work, the githyanki spied on the Material Plane and their eyes fell on the dragon cults of Cimmeria. After the Dragon War groups of the draconic side’s followers began to worship the primordial beings as gods. These dragon cults ultimately sought the return of their gods by destroying the Draconic Orbs. Applying the old saying of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the githyanki began building an alliance with the dragon cults. Trading arcane knowledge and information about their two locations made both sides stronger.

While the githyanki strengthened their position they also attacked Shalerton again with even greater force. They opened a large rift between the Astral and Material Planes allowing one of their flying astral ships to pass through. The ship ravaged the pastoral countryside of Shalerton, killing hundreds of people and the livestock the town depended on.

The Gish Trio responded with lightning speed using the githyanki’s own tools and knowledge against them. Blendegad used the githyanki’s alchemy to draw power from the dead people and animals of Shalerton. He used this power to track the astral ship. The trio used their magic to increase their speed and fly into the sky alongside the ship. During their assault they wielded versions of the githyanki’s silver swords that Galandir had enhanced.

The Gish Trio had the upper hand until more and more githyanki appeared out of nowhere. These new githyanki had long silver tails coming out their heads. Weathering this new challenge Tereman used his silver sword to cut the silver tails. This proved surprisingly effective. When the head-tails were severed the githyanki immediately disappeared. With this knowledge the Gish Trio defeated the githyanki reinforcements. Realizing that all hope was lost, the githyanki scuttled the astral ship, crashing it into the ground outside of Shalerton. The Gish Trio saved the town and gained the attention of the githyanki once again.

Next: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 3