DnD: Their Own Power Against Them...

A scene from a recent session of our weekly D&D 3.5 game.

The story so far: An alliance between Mind Flayers, a Lich, and other unsavories have stolen a rather powerful artifact which now threatens the world. Our group tried to get to the artifact before them but was unsuccessful. Now we're on their trail spelljamming across the stars to a massive Mind Flayer stronghold. In the pursuit we encountered and destroyed one of their ships. With the information salvaged from that vessel, we learned the general layout of the stronghold and discovered it has a massive defense. It can fire a huge beam of magic... several energies fused together capable of crippling or destroying most ships in a single shot, which makes approaching the asteroid fortress nigh impossible. Sneaking in is an option, but the chances of discovery are great, even more so once we reach the landing. Studying the information about the weapon and the base, our wizard, Talis of the Seeking Flame, proposes a radically dangerous alternative.

The weapon is not one massive magic, but an amalgam, so it is only as strong as the sum of it's parts. Talis himself intends to turn the weapon against them. Standing on the prow of their spelljammer, Talis readies himself for the attack. In their party there are two magic rings with spell turning properties. Talis has one, our Sorcerer Bertrando has the other. Talis now wears both. Flowing between them is Talis' most powerful spell of turning he can cast, maximized to full effect.

The beam hits and the ship shudders and quakes, but the three-fold spell holds the beam in check. The prow flares like a sun and with a scream Talis sends the beam back against their attacker. It hits in the eye of the skull-like facade, shattering their observation decks and burrowing deep into the fortress. The stronghold is thrown in disarray and our small ship speeds into the smoldering cavern. Well past the outer defenses and close to our goal now it is a race, fighting on the run down to the central chamber where the artifact is kept....

[[ In reality this scene lasted in the game only a few seconds ("I'm going to turn it back..." "yah ok that'll work"), but I felt it needed a bit more dramatic treatment. Technically also what I did is a bit outside the scope of the rules, but our DM is great. If it's a clever idea and it progresses the story along, he'll bend things a bit now and again. ]]