Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 6

Tracy needed to feed the information on the tying of immortal threads to the Blue Dragon Cult. Relying on the same methods she’d used during the Dragon War, Tracy formed an information network in Cimmeria. Her spies told Tracy that the Cult was making inquiries on the subject in Greshendale. Tracy went there with copies of Shratalanda’s notes and sold them to the Blue Dragon Cultists. The seeds of discord were sown for her enemies and they paid her to do it. Now all she had to do was wait.

As predicted, Bavastatner acted on the information. He sent his followers to the Temple of the Fates on Crete. They stole the threads of Bavastatner and the Styx. With the threads in his possession, Bavastatner entwined his fate with that of the River Styx. With that, he broke his contract with the Lich-queen. All his offspring were recalled to the Shacklack, except for the eggs the githyanki took to the Astral Plane. These captive hatchlings would be raised by the githyanki and bred within the Astral Plane to maintain their draconic force for centuries afterwards.

Furious, the Lich-queen prepared to go to war with the blue dragons. She led the assault herself rather than relying on the sarath or the adlishar. All the resources and manpower of her interdimensional empire came bearing down on the Shacklack Desert. Bavastatner’s children defended their home alongside their patriarch’s demon experiments. The Draco-Gith War had begun.

Tracy and the Gish Trio discussed how to best exploit the separation of Bavastatner and the Lich-queen. Tracy wanted to imprison Bavastatner and Renvesharhialisv. The Gish Trio wanted to banish the githyanki back to their home dimension. The four of them discussed the options for days before deciding to deal with the githyanki first.

The Gish Trio and Tracy began preparing for battle with the Lich-queen. Without knowing where and what her phylactery was, defeating her was pointless. If the phylactery remained untouched, the Lich-queen would return. Tereman came up with a plan. Rather than killing the Lich-queen, they could permanently banish her back to the Astral Plane. He could design the portal magic and with Shratalanda’s notes and Tracy’s experience they could design the lock that would keep their foe eternally on the other side of the dimensional gateway.

While Tereman and Tracy tinkered with their banishment spell, Galandir and Blendegad upgraded the magical equipment of the heroic quartet. Their encounters with the githyanki had yielded a stockpile of silver swords and astral alchemical ingredients. Galandir and Blendegad combined their efforts to rework the magical essence of the silver swords, forging them into new pieces. They made armor, shields, and incorporated the strange metal into other items as they could. Where the sword had attacked the mind, body, and soul these new items enhanced those same characteristics of their bearer. As they worked Blendegad noticed a resonant quality to the items. When two were worn together their magic amplified, creating even stronger effects. He and Galandir resolved to take advantage of this quality in a special project along with Tereman to create the greatest panoply the world had ever seen.

Next: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 8