Help Your Protector: Difference between revisions

This quest starts automatically after the party completes [[Defeat Ketheric Thorm]] and moves on to the road to Baldur's Gate. After this, the party rests at [[Campsite|Wyrm's Lookout]] before entering the Outer City. After ending the day, the party is awoken by the [[Elder Brain]] commanding them to submit. The [[Astral Prism]] goes out of control, seemingly pushed away. Shortly after, a portal opens and three Gish'ra warriors step through and attack the party. The party has only three turns to make it to the Astral Portal. Only one character needs to make it for all of the party to get transported. It is not necessary to actually fight any of the attackers; they do not pursue the party through the portal, and any that are left behind will be found dead when the party returns.

Once the party makes it to the Astral Plane, the [[Dream Visitor]] calls out and asks for help, explaining they are under attack. The party is attacked by two Gish'ra - High Gish'ra [[Sh'ari]], Ember Gish'ra [[Mir'ic]] - and aided by intellect devourers. Proceed to the skull, where a mind flayer is doing battle with several Gish'ra warriors. The mind flayer explains that it is the Dream Visitor and, if asked, explains things that happened during the party's adventures. If the party agrees to help it, they must defeat Prelate [[Lir'i'c]], High Gish'ra [[G'imre]], Ember Gish'ra [[M'i'hayk]], and Zephyr Gish'ra [[Verik]]. If the party insists on attacking the Emperor they must fight it ''and'' the Gish'ra, though the two factions of enemies will attack each other as well.  

After the battle, the party learns that the power used to protect them from the Absolute is stolen from a Githyanki Prince named Orpheus, who is trapped by infernal chains in the Astral Prism. The mind flayer, known as [[the Emperor]], was tasked to acquire the prism as an agent of the Elder Brain, but became freed from its control once within the prism's shield.

The Emperor finally explains the full story after the battle. It was once an adventurer just like the party, living in Baldur's Gate. Eager to do more, the Emperor went to [[Moonrise Towers]] in search of treasure and was captured by the Mind Flayer colony below, who transformed it into a Mind Flayer. For years, the Emperor served the Elder Brain that is now the Absolute as a thrall like any other, but it was able to break free and return to Baldur's Gate. The Emperor lived in the shadows, feeding on criminals and worked along [[Belynne Stelmane]] as the governing force behind the [[Knights of the Shield]]. Those who knew it called it the Emperor, for its role in the Knights. However, the Emperor's identity was found out by [[Enver Gortash]] who forced it back into servitude for the Elder Brain. After being sent on a mission to retrieve the Astral Prism, it broke free and set out on a mission to take down the Elder Brain.

The Emperor tells the party they would be stronger as an illithid, and the already consumed tadpoles have made them stronger. It gives them an Astral-Touched Tadpole that can transform the whole party into half-illithids, should they agree to it. The party can either agree or refuse, though the Emperor urges them to consider it.