As he falls asleep in the welcome comfort of his bed, Ffethpaar tells himslef not to sleep too long as he has an errand to do in the morning.
Eir is going back to the base with her goblin. To the nine hells with that ditsy Tiefling.
Ffethpaar's mind arises from the depths of sleep like he used to swim to the top of a sunlit marsh pond. He surfaces and it takes a bleary second for him to realize he is not in a marsh, he is in an inn sleeping in a creaky bed.
His mind turns over, chewing at why he woke after but two hours of sleep. Then he remembers, the letter.
Dressing quietly, Ffethpaar attempts to clear his mind of cobwebs. Did Bedlar say that the proprieter of Tivvum's Antiques was named Alluvius Ruskin or was it Ellivius Ruskin? He isn't quite sure but the first sounds the most correct.
Descending the back entrance stairs to avoid the common room and any entanglements, Ffethpaar heads down Copperman Way enroute to the Great Bazaar. As always the thoroughfare is crowded with shoppers and travelers of all stripes. A beholder levitates down the street, its many stalked eyes swiveling to and fro as it converses with a leather-clad tiefling sporting ram's horns and a wicked-looking skull-topped staff.
The Great Bazaar is thronged with the lifeblood of the Cage, trade. Vendors sing, shout and wheedle as Ffethpaar wanders by, exhorting him to sample their wares.
"Finest Baatorian green steel daggers, sharp as honed razors!.."
"Philters of good health, knits bones in a trice! .."
"Astral Plane fetishes! Carved from a dead god's very body! .."
"Cabbages, parsnips and peas! Fresh from the Prime to your marketbasket! ..."
Ffethpaar sees his goal in the distance. Its smooth green marble cylindrical shape rears above the Great Bazaar, fifty feet above the crowded stalls. A line of writing is inscribed on its exterior, winding around the outside from bottom to top over and over:
Tivvum's Antiques
There is a door at the base, which Ffethpaar enters. Inside he sees a large floor space. The marble building has a diameter of close to 200 feet. The floor is crowded with various boxes, crates and barrels all jammed with bits and pieces of strange gear. Close to the door is a barrel full of what could only be rat skulls, their empty eye sockets staring out at Ffethpaar.
At the center of the building is a large winding iron staircase that presumably leads to the upper floors. Between the stairs and the doorway is a huge semicircular marble counter, behind which sits a wizened old tiefling woman with dark round spectacles perched on her nose. She is chatting with a plate-clad fellow who has a wicker basket filled with various odds and ends. The man passes her a few gold Ladies and she wraps his purchases in some rough brown paper and twine.
As the other shopper moves off, the kindly-looking old woman peers out at Ffethpaar and croaks in a quavery voice:
"Is there summat I can help yeh with cutter?"
Eir rewraps her stinky kidnap victim and shoulders him again. She grits her teeth and tries to breathe through her mouth as she travels through the Temple District.
Nurkrak isn't twitching anymore, which makes carrying him a little easier. His smell is not improving though, and there is distinct wetness on Eir's shoulder now, as a rancid mix of bodily fluids seeps through the thin cloak, staining her armor.
Eir marches on, deciding to head for the Greytowers District, which if there is any gods-damned luck left is quiet at this point of the day.
Greytowers is a clean and orderly district, as befits the area where many of the Harmonium, Mercykiller and Guvner faction rank and file call kip. The buildings are primarily grey stone, leading to the oh so imaginative name.
Eir curses under her breath as she travels the streets, suddenly aware that although many of the men who call this area home are working, their wives and children are still out and about. A group of children playing Hardheads and Sinkers whoop past Eir. One Aasimar lad stops and wrinkles his nose at the smell wafting off Eir and her mystery bundle.
"Hey lady, are yeh collectin' dog turds fer the tanners or summat?" He asks with a grin "There's a good pile out back of the next kip."
"Aye. Just out and about cleaning up the turds."
The blonde lad smirks at Eir
"You're doing a swell job too. Keep up the good work!"
The lad skips away to rejoin his friends
<Through clenched teeth.>
"Why in the name of Callistra would anyone have kids in this place?"
Eir manages to make her way out of the Lady's Ward with little else than a few strange looks marring her journey. She fairly runs through the Great Bazaar, the crowds parting before her as she hurries, the goblin's smell like her own personal fecal herald calling way for her.
She arrives at Copper Court tired, angry and desperately needing a bath. Deciding that lugging Nurkrak into a crowded inn at breakfast time would probably not go over well, Eir makes for the Silver Rose. The door is unlocked and when she opens it, there at the little desk at the front is her new friend from yesterday Hanali Hal'Oight.
Hanali looks up and smiles at Eir, then the smile washes off her face like a sandcastle at high tide.
"Dear Pelor! What is that hideous smell Eir?"
Evidently, strange dreams mar Greep's sleep. But he continues to snore.
"Dear Pelor! What is that hideous smell Eir?"
"A gobbo with loose bowels. He needs a nurse and several armed guards. He's a mage. His hands are to be bound, all spell ingredients confiscated, and he should probably be gagged. I respect you too much to throw him on the floor here, so where can I leave him."
"Then I'm going to my kip for a bath and some sleep. I'll interrogate him when I wake up."
After reading the note Zigel goes back down stairs for his breakfast.After that and a good smoke he head back upstairs to look into the magic items from the nights little adventure. He has a long day ahead he thinks "ah well I'll do me work and get some sleep, spells to prepare there after,then time to pay a call to an old blood in the marrow."
Tivvum's AntiquesAs the other shopper moves off, the kindly-looking old woman peers out at Ffethpaar and croaks in a quavery voice:
"Is there summat I can help yeh with cutter?"
"If you are Alluvius Ruskin, I hope that you can. I have a letter which I would very much like sent to my home tribe and I was advised that you may be able to help me."
Hanali frowns and gets up.
"Probably out in the rear courtyard for now. Ach the stench! I'll go fetch Renkar and see what his opinion is."
Hanali runs up the stairs to the upper offices.
"You don't have a dungeon?"
<Eir totes the gobbo out back and sets him down a little harder than necessary. Then she checks his pulse and breathing.>
The old tiefling woman cackles, the light of several glowing orbs set in the walls glinting off her smoke-colored glasses. She gives Ffethpaar the once over while sticking a long ivory needle into a bowl of what look to be fried locusts drizzled in some red sauce. She spears one with the needle and brings it to her wrinkled lips, cruching and smacking the insect with obvious relish. A small blob of crimson sauce escapes from her mouth and slowly traverses the hairy knob of bone that is her chin.
"Well now, me fine cutter, I'd be of a mind to help yeh, but I really only deal in portal KEYS yeh see. If its a way of openin' doors I have more a those than you can shake yer tail at."
Alluvius spears another suace-laden insect.
"Course, that doesn't mean ol' Lu can't help a new-found friend!" A sudden sound of crunching halts the words. "Ummm, now where was I ... OH YES! Hmm.. hmmm"
Alluvius stares over her dark glasses and smiles a red-smeared grin. Ffethpaar can see several sharp teeth in the gumline, but they are lonely soldiers forlornly holding the fort after the majority have fallen.
"D'yeh ken WHERE the portal to yeh world is, cutter? I knows a courier who works cross-planar for a fee. I'm assumin' you came out of the Prime, yes? I can set you up with her if that's what yeh want. And d'yeh know what the key is? If yeh know, that I can help yeh with."
Alluvius looks over at Ffethpaar, spearing another insect and masticating it with gummy enthusiasm.
"You don't have a dungeon?"
<Eir totes the gobbo out back and sets him down a little harder than necessary. Then she checks his pulse and breathing.>
Eir chucks Nurkrak down on the dirt of the rear courtyard and checks his vitals. He's still down for the count, though the healing magic she spared him seems to have stabilized his condition. He seems to be in a coma. Eir sees a rainbarrel in the corner of the courtyard, and fetches a bucket of brownish Cage water from its interior. Using the unsoiled bits of cloak she manages to clean most of the feces from his inert body. Whatever this lil' gobbo was eating last, it wasn't right.
Renkar appears in the doorway with Hanali. His face puckers when he gets a whiff of the captive.
"Well, this is an interesting specimen you've brought us Eir. What's his story?"
"I'd rather not talk about it in the presence of our little friend. So to put a long story short, my attempt to make contact with the gobbos blew up and turned into a bloodbath. The troops turned it into a plundering raid and I carried poopy pants out with the hope of asking him a few operational questions - so here he is."
The three find roughly 100 GP in various denominations in pocket change on the bodies. They also come across these trinkets:
A ring with a large black opal stone encased in a basket weave of gold wires. (On Duuvarg's finger)
A palm-sized crystal orb that slowly changes colors between red, blue, white and brown. (In Duuvarg's beltpouch)
3 blue potions, each bears the same label in Common: Wooly Cupgrass’ Philter of Health Improvement. Cures what ails you.(Duuvarg, Horv, Sargak)
A bilious green potion without label.(Duuvarg)
2 necklaces in silver with a banded agate set in a silver mounting.(Horv & Sargak)
A rusty horseshoe, a white marble, a banded agate and a brass key. (All in one of Duuvarg's beltpouches)
Eir begins to clear the gobbos pockets and remove everything he's carrying that may be dangerous to her later. She'll put it in a sack for safe-keeping.
Renkar frowns at this less-than-stellar After Action Report.
"Hmm. Well, hopefully he has something good to tell us. He looks a bit worse for wear. I'll see if I can get something cobbled together to hold him, the Rose has a basement room we can keep him in for now. Finish cleaning him up, and I will take care of the rest."
After Eir cleans up the hapless Nurkrak, Reankar binds him expertly, both his wounds and his limbs. They search his body and find a small amount of coinage (20 GP) a palm-sized skull made of transparent crystal and a holy symbol of an eye wreathed in flames around his neck. He also carries a loose banded agate stone.
Renkar brings Nurkrak to a small hatch in the floor of the training room. He opens it, revealing a small space underneath cluttered with bricabrac. He lowers the comatose goblin inside.
"That should keep him until we deicde to interrogate him. " Renkar sighs "Why don't you go get some rest Eir? I was going to call a Peak meeting, but I think I might hold off until Antipeak."
Ffethpaar looks at Alluvius and guesses he can trust her with a little information
"I came here from the Prime plane as you say, from a world called Seculan by the menfolk who live there. My tribe live in the land between the Central Ocean and the Great Lake Bazzari near a land of men called the Len Republic."
He pauses but realises he needs to say more.
"The portal I came through was outside a small village near the border of Len. I believe they called the village Templeville or some similar name. I had to sell the key when I first arrived here to pay for my lodging and upkeep, but it was a ring with a design upon it that looked like some kind of flower."
After so many words, his mind starts wandering a bit and he wonders what the insects must taste like. Not as good as a fine fish, of course, but could be tasty nevertheless.
Alluvius munches a locust while Ffethpaar speaks, then when he mentions the ring, she smiles another big sauce-smeared gap-toothed grin.
"Up on the fourth floor I have a whole mess of jewelry wots used fer keys. Take a look up there cutter and if yeh see summat that works, I'll come up and unlock the case."
Alluvius points to the large spiral staircase in the center of the building.
"I'd go up with yeh, but these old bones do get tired."
Up we go to the fourth floor to look at the pretty rings.
Eir shuffles off, back to her kip.
Time to wash up and get some sleep.
Ffethpaar ascends the spiral iron stairway up into the upper reaches of Tivvum's Antiques. At each landing he sees huge collections of materials, everything from boxes of iron nails to barrels of stone chips. The fourth and final floor doesn't feature barrels or boxes though, it features glass cases zig zagging all over the large expanse of the circular building. The magical glowing lighting picks up sparkles from many of the cases.
Ffethpaar begins browsing the glass display cases. He sees several others doing the same here and there. The items on display here are absolutely fascinating. There is a huge horned skull literally covered in precious gems. A collection of flowers dipped in molten gold sit in another case. An entire crystal skeleton is on display in one case, the bones a translucent blue like the finest sapphire. Rings, amulets, jewels and precious metals from around the Great Wheel lay gathered in the glass display cases.
As Ffethpaar looks around, he sees a case with various rings. He squints closer, and then sees it, a ring shaped like a flower, exactly like the one that first brought him to the Cage.
Eir trudges back to the Copper Cauldron. She enters the common room, and Ramona waltzes up to her. From the sudden change from pleasant smile to horror Eir realizes she must still be pretty ripe after her adventure.
"Eir, what happened?" Ramona squeaks in a strangled voice. "Did someone drop a chamberpot on you? DARROTH!"
Ramona calls her younger sibling to draw a bath post haste in Eir's room. Ramona, pinching her nose says to Eir.
"When yeh get scrubbed I'll get a bit of grub on for yeh, yeh look as if yeh could use a hot meal. Some o' yer friends are back, but they're all sleepin'."
Eir hustles up to her room, unwilling to fug up the common room of the inn more than neccessary. Darroth gets a bath set up in record time, and he inquires to Eir as he dumps in the last bucket of warm water.
"We haves some saddle soap and leather oil if yeh need tah work on that stain in yer leathers Miss Eir. I'd be happy to work on it a bit for yeh if yeh like."
Darroth, a slim teenaged boy, blushes redly as he makes this offer.
After about two hours in the Temple of Rao, Karrin emerges, her soul all squeaky clean. Unfortunately, her two friends are nowhere to be found. Meat Market Square still hums with activity, but Eir and Ffethpaar have moved on.
MEANWHILE...
After Blacky/Swift finishes her meal of sweetbreads, she sees Eir enter the common room. Eir carries a miasma of funk that literally blitzkreig's Blacky's sensitive nose. Eir heads to her room, but the smell lingers like a fat man at a barbeque.
MEANWHILE...
A bit before Peak, Greep regains conciousness after a confused dream involving flying goblins and pitchfork-toting gerbils. He starts out of bed, the reality of the forgotten prisoner smiting him on the skull.
"We haves some saddle soap and leather oil if yeh need tah work on that stain in yer leathers Miss Eir. I'd be happy to work on it a bit for yeh if yeh like."
"Thanks Darroth."
<She pulls them off down to the clingy silk she wears underneath and gives him something to think about for the rest of puberty.>
The poor boy's eyes bulge out of his face as he gathers up Eir's shed leathers clumsily. He stammers as he takes in Eir's scantily-clad silken glory.
"Uh yem uh no worries Miss Eir I'll gettim good as new, I'll bring 'em back soon as yeh've rested a bit."
Darroth's color has transitioned from red to an interesting shade of puce. He seems to have forgotten how to breathe, and he stands at the doorway frozen in place.
"You can go now, Darroth. Thank you."
Darroth jumps as if he was cattle prodded and hurries down the corridor with Eir's leathers, shutting the door and leaving her to her bath and rest.
Greep prepares himself for the new day, hurrying downstairs to learn who of the team had returned.
Karrin bounds out of the temple happy as a song bird . . . then she realizes her friends have abandoned her and her face seems to collapse.
"Where did everyone go?" she asks nobody in particular.
Had watches been invented, or had Karrin figured out how to tell time in Sigil she would have realized that she'd spent more then an hour talking to her new priest, but seeing as none of these things are are the case Karrin can't help but feel crestfallen that her companions aren't right out side to welcome her.
"They must have wandered off," Karrin mumbles to herself, "I hope they don't get lost."
Karrin then starts following the road in the same direction that she remembers originally traveling in. She occasionally stops and asks for directions.
Karrin begins travelling back towards the Copper Cauldron through the Temple District. There are literally hundreds of temples crowded together here cheek and jowl. Vendors of religious paraphenalia and refreshments wander back and forth calling out their wares.
"Good luck travelling medallions blessed by Fharlanghn's own proxy!.."
"Hot chesnuts! piping hot roast chesnuts! ..."
"Incense, Spirit money! Votive candles! ..."
As Karrin heads closer to the Noble District side of the Temple District she notices that the temples get bigger and more ornate. Many passersby are well-dressed, and there are many coach-and-four conveyances and palanquins in the streets. Even the vendors get more upscale, with a silken-clad girl walking by Karrin carrying a silver platter with a dozen crystal bottles of odd-colored liquids. Another carries a selection of rare temple offerings like frankincense and Myrrh.
As Karrin takes this all in she sees an amazing sight. A 7-foot-tall man with a blinding whilte chiton tunic stands by a marble fountain chatting with a fat halfling fellow in an gold-embroidered waistcoat. The man carries a huge trumpet, and an enormous set of wings sprout from his shoulders. Can he be an angel?
gazing with relief at the magical ring, he notes where he saw it and bounds down the stairs again to Alluvius
"I have seen the key, I can show you where it is and then you can tell me who I can entrust with my letter."
Bath time.
The tiefling woman Alluvius looks up from her bowl of fried locusts.
"Back so soon, yeh? Well this is a fine thing it is at that! Let me fetch me keyring and I'll get up there with yeh."
The elderly tiefling hops off her stool and grabs a walking stick carved of yellow ivory. She is dressed in a man's green frock coat and brown trousers, which accentuate her scrawny frame. She grabs a large ring of keys off a peg, and hobbles next to Ffethpaar as they ascend the wide spiral stair.
At the top the two make their way over to the case. Ffethpaar points the ring out to her, and she cackles.
"Ah yer portal key in the flesh as it were, eh? That little piece will fetch fer 500 Ladies. D'yeh have the jink on yeh, cutter?"
Alluvius looks at Ffethpaar, smiling sweetly, a touch of crimson sauce lingering on her wrinkled lips.
"By the way, new friend, what's yer tag?"
Eir scrubs the filth and feces from her battered form and relaxes in the hot bath. It seems like a long time since her visit with Hanali to the Great Gymnasium's baths, but this more modest cleaning feels just as good right about now.
After getting clean Eir dives into the thick linen sheets of the inn's bed and drifts off into an easy sleep.
After getting clean Eir dives into the thick linen sheets of the inn's bed and drifts off into an easy sleep.
... Tortured by dreams of Karrin changing her name and bowling with goblin heads while Eir is waiting for her to bring a clean washcloth and a bucket of soapy water.
Karrin gawks at the sights and sounds. She's been in cities before but nothing like this! Three years ago Karrin had lived in a monastery secluded and sheltered from everything, now she was in one of the biggest and strangest cities she'd ever seen. She finds all the sights and sounds strange, frightening, and exhilarating all at the same time. She does her best to keep her mind from wondering too far, she knows she has a job to do, but she can't help but feel she's sight seeing. Thankfully in all the excitement Karrin has forgotten that she's alone in a big city for the first time (as well as the fear and panic that might come with it).
When Karrin spies the angel she can't help opening her mouth in surprise. Her father and his fellow monks often talked about angels, the servants of light, and the opponents of evil, but neither she or her even her father (who was in Karrin's eyes the embodiment of Rao's ideals) had ever seen one. Karrin gawks but continues moving. She'd gained forgiveness but she didn't finish saying her prayers. Gaining forgiveness was only part of cleansing the soul, only doing her penance would make it stick, and Karrin knew she hasn't had the time to do that yet. KArrin couldn't talk to an angel with sin still stuck to her soul! What would a servant of good think? Karrin suddenly wonders if angels can see tainted souls? She quickly hurries past. Maybe she talk to an angel someday but not today. Today she needs to get home.
Karrin subconsciously reaches into her belt pouch to nibble on some rations from her pouch of never ending rations whenever she passes a food stall or vendor. It's been hours sense she's last eaten (a lifetime to Karrin) but again she remembers her duty . . . if the others have wandered off and gotten lost only Karrin can report back to Renkar and tell him the bad news. With steely steadfast determination Karrin trudges on, anxious to get to get home . . . and perhaps four a search party for her missing friends.
Karrin hurries past the shining angelic figure and moves quickly through the rest of the Temple District into the Noble District. The streets here are thronged with uniformed servants, couriers and seneshals, all doing their masters' biddings. A few give the blood-bespattered Karrin a strange glance, but she manages to traverse the district without too much trouble.
The Great Bazaar greets her as she enters the Market Ward, the smells coming from the food vendors making her dive into her everfull food pouch again and again. It is now approaching Peak, and her stomach puts up a tattoo of groans and growls. Karrin hurries on, remembering that she has free reign at the Copper Cauldron to eat all she wants.
Karrin finally arrives at the inn. She enters the common room, which is fairly empty before the lunchtime crowd arrives. She spies Kratos dozing by the hearth, his paws twitching as he eviscerates goblins in his dreams. Bess smiles and says hello. Ramona walks up to Karrin and asks:
"Hello Karrin, you're running a bit late! Most of yer friends save Swift are back now, but most of them are sleepin'. Oh and yer cat came back, I gave her some chicken parts and she's running around somewheres. Can I get yeh summat to eat? Or are yeh tired? Renkar was gonna have yeh all meet at Peak, but since yeh all came in strung out like yeh was he asked me to tell yeh all to rest up till the start of Before Antipeak."
While Ramona imparts this information to Karrin, she sees Greep descending the stairs, looking a bit sleepy.
"Good morning, Karrin. Did you and Eir get clear of that mess without trouble? How's the prisoner?"
-greep-
"Good morning, Karrin. Did you and Eir get clear of that mess without trouble? How's the prisoner?"
-greep-
"I'm sorry," Karrin mumbles, "they left me at in the temple district, so I don't know . . . wait, Ramona, did you just say Blacky was back?"
Ffethpaar looks around at the other customers and then back to Alluvius. The price seems outrageous to him as everyone in Sigil must be buying portal keys or holding them at least. He tries to assess how much he needs that particular ring or whether he could wait for another day. Waiting doesn't seem like an easy option but...
"I am intrigued by the dish you were partaking of downstairs. We have a limited cuisine back home and I am sure there would be some interest in new flavours and textures. Would you mind telling me where I might find some to try for myself?"
"Oh and my name is Ffethpaar of the Arrlgo. We try to make our way as traders. Anything new we could trade in would be of interest to us."
"I'm sorry," Karrin mumbles, "they left me at in the temple district, so I don't know . . . wait, Ramona, did you just say Blacky was back?"
Alluvius smiles and put out her bony gloved hand
"Names Alluvius, but you can call me Lu." The old tiefling states with a grin.
"Now those little lovelies I was munchin' on were Carceri crickets, fried in olive oil and with some Baatorian chile sauce on them. A bit hot, but if yeh've got the stomach fer 'em they are a right treat. The vendor's is in the Great Bazaar, he has a pushcart, stops by every day to give ol' Lu her daily treat."
Lu squints at Ffethpaar through her smoked glasses.
"Yeh never did say about the ring, friend Ffethpaar. Was it a bit dear for the coinpurse? I can maybe sees to lowerin' the price a bit. How much we yeh figuring to spend on the key?"
. . . wait, Ramona, did you just say Blacky was back?"
Ramona looks at Karrin
"Aye. The little black beastie strolled right in pretty as yeh please. I gave her some food an' she was right over there, but I don't see her right now. 'Course that fool dog came in a while ago and snuffled around the place so I'd figure she's gone off into a corner catching some sleep after a big night out."
"Yay!" Karrin shouts, "this is going to be the best day ever! Can I get some bacon, eggs, sausage, trench toast, tomato, mushroom, orange juice, and a double order of whatever the breakfast special is? I'm going up to my room to put some stuff away but then I'm coming back down because I need to eat something before I settle in for a nap.
"Oh," Karrin says turning back to Greep, "we might need to have a search party for Swift if we don't see her soon. I wasn't sure if the goblins got her or something . . . plus we're going to want her for the meeting because I think she might have started the . . . well the unprofessional bit after the unpleasant bit. I went along with both, which I'm not pleased with, but I was playing a role and I needed to pretend to be a bad person just in case anyone overheard us."
Karrin runs up to her room and unloads her treasures, placing them into the small linen chest each room in the inn comes equipped with. The goblin's axe is still chilly, and Karrin feels strangely reluctant to leave it, but it just wouldn't do to be toting big weaponry around in a friendly place like the Copper Cauldron. She lays it down gently on her bed for now and polishes the few splatters off its blue crystal axehead. Her other axe she puts in the corner.
When she returns downstairs Ramona has done her best to provide what Karrin asked for. Greep is already at the table, eating his breakfast. Piles of bacon, eggs, sausage, cinnamon egg-battered toast, fried green tomatoes, fried mushrooms, home fries and a pitcher of freshly-squeezed orange juice line the table. A jar of Mallorn syrup and a stack of fresh griddlecakes completes the scene.