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Nari frowns, but doesn't say anything. She stays close to Justin. Preferably between him and Mara. He'd be offended if he thought for a second that she was trying to protect him. He tended to view her as a child. She didn't really mind that. But she'd seen the fear in his eyes, and nobody was going to harm one of her friends if she had anything to say about it. So she heads through the portal at nearly the same time he does.
The party steps through to the tomb. It’s looks as if nothing has been moved, and Thakhotis’ mummified corpse lies where he fell, a ragged burn hole through his chest. Memnon zips over the corpse
“Times like this I wish I had a sphincter “
Rhiannon’s body lies where the party left her. She doesn’t seem to be messed with. Mara gazes about the tomb, looking interested in the frescoes. She takes a large broach from a belt pouch and affixes it to her cloak.
Knowledge Sigil (10) or local (12):
Karrin picks up Rhiannon's body and turns to Mara, "Thank you for this, we don't like to leave anyone behind, if you can get us back to the cage we'd be most appreciative."
Rhiannon’s body lies where the party left her. She doesn’t seem to be messed with.
Alessia stands silently for a few moments, looking toward the corpse, seemingly lost in thought. As Karrin retrieves the body of her fallen comrade, Alessia speaks to her in a low voice.
"Make sure you burn the body. Sometimes they come back."
After the party finishes preparations, Mara again twists the golden cube into another strangely non-Euclidean shape. A black-flame portal opens on a wall. Mara nods and strides to the portal
On the far side they group finds itself in an alley off Ragpickers Square. Those who have never been to Sigil are first hit by the size of the bustling market. Beings of every size, shape and mortal condition jostle each other and haggle over prices. The market looks to be the size of a fairly-large town, and the stalls sell almost anything, but seem to tilt heavily towards cloth, rags, books, and paper.
Above their heads the city curls up into the distance, becoming a narrow ribbon of grey in the sky. The day is a rare one, the thick Cager fog is missing and the ubiquitous rain is nowhere to be seen. It’s as pleasant a day as one could hope for in the city. It must be close to Peak, as the sourceless brightness that stands in for a sun is at its maximum. Those who have lived in Sigil know Cagers call these days ‘Greybows’ after The rarely seen phenomenon of Sigil arching into the sky.
The stink of the Lower Ward strikes them, a mix of sewage, coal smoke , and the chemical reek the Foundry pours into the air from its distant stacks. With the unprecedented level of clarity in the air, the party can make out the squatting spider-Skull shape of the Mortuary beyond the stalls of the immense market.
The alley the group finds itself in is one that seems to be lined with book sellers and used clothing establishments. The alley leads to a small courtyard that serves as the entrance to an Inn carrying a sign labeled The Laughing Ghoul. Several palanquins held by gleaming ivory skeletons wearing armor and sword stand idle in the courtyard. The palanquins lie empty, their owners obviously inside. The skeletal bearers stand patiently, awaiting their return.
"Pretty impressive right?" Karrin says to the new comers to Sigil, "Just don't think about what's beneath us." Karrin says with a light tap of her boot on the paving stones beneath her feet.
"Thanks again Mara," Karrin says with a slight nod of her head, "Hopefully we can do business again sometime."
"Okay I'd recommend everyone come with us to our HQ. Seph can you scout ahead? Merl next to me so you can relay any reports from your brother. Nari, Justin, stay close, Ramuah in the front, Alessia you're covering the rear, Hamar, I realize this is a city and one you're not familair with, but could you try taking the point? Seph is small and hard to see but he knows where we're going. Okay, is that everyone? Let's move out. We're just an average group of ne'er-do-wells transporting a dead body through the city, nothing strange or unusual about that, try not to gock at the folks on the streets, that's a sure sign of a stranger or tourist, and this city likes to pray on strangers. They call it the cage round here, and for a lot of people it is a cage, they can't get out and so it's like a massive prison and not sure if some of you folks are familiar with prisons, I'm not, but I hear stories, and so I'd advise against anything that makes you appear as a potential victim. But apart from that it's a wonderful place and I think you're going to like it here."
"Questions? Comments? If not let's move out."
"Ah it's good to be back in town."
Hamar's jaw is wide with awe. "What is that above us... how is that... amazing".
He shakes his head as Karrin's command snaps him out of his mount breathing stare. He takes point as if he has been here before even though every fiber of his being sees most beings here as a threat.
Perception
As Mara turns to acknowledge Karrin’s words, the shattered body of Rhiannon begins to shudder. Karrin feels it twisting in her grasp. Rhiannon’s eyes fly open, the milky orbs darting about. A voice raspy with disuse issues forth from the corpse’s mouth
“Freeeee.....I.....am......freeeeeeeee.”
"Bloody hell" Karrin says dropping the body
The corpse falls to the filthy cobbles with a clatter. It begins to rise slowly, obviously unable to move quickly due to the broken bones Rhiannon suffered from Thakhotis’ blow. Mara reaches down to help the corpse up
“Are you their friend?” Mara asks in an interested tone
“I....am.....Hexnala...F’Moil...I...claim...this....body”
Mara frowns thoughtfully
“Interesting. You are from that world we were on?”
“Yes....centuries...trapped...in ....insubstantial...form”
Mara lays a hand on the undead thing. Black energy flows down into the shattered corpse. It’s arms and legs snap and twist as their bones mend. Rhiannon’s face reforms to a semblance of herself, only deathly pale with blazing blue eyes
“Thank you.” the corpse says in a much stronger voice. It doesn’t sound like Rhiannon
"Not sure who you are, or why you're in our dead friend, but I'd recommend you find a new host before we bury her."
"What the Hells?" Merlr reaching for her wand of lightning bolt
"Make sure you burn the body. Sometimes they come back."
"Not sure who you are, or why you're in our dead friend, but I'd recommend you find a new host before we bury her."
Alessia stands with her arms folded, unfazed.
"I take it you were not paying attention when I warned you of this."
Rhiannon/Hexnala stands and faces the group
“ I understand your loyalty to your departed friend, but I can assure you she has no need of this body any longer. I saw her soul fly off into the Astral.”
The undead turns to Mara.
“This is Sigil, yes? Then I claim asylum with your faction.”
"Make sure you burn the body. Sometimes they come back.""Not sure who you are, or why you're in our dead friend, but I'd recommend you find a new host before we bury her."Alessia stands with her arms folded, unfazed.
"I take it you were not paying attention when I warned you of this."
"That's not Rhiannon" Karrin says turning to Alessia, "It's someone else. They've stolen her body."
Karrin turns back to the Hexnala, "Maybe you don't know much about the living but I think you'll find funerals are not for the dead, they're dead, they're for the living, and you're in the body of a dear friend. We have people that want to put her to rest, there's got to be hundreds of bodies around that you could steal, most who probably don't have any family or friends around anymore care, it's not Rhiannon you're stealing from, it's us, her friends and family."
Mara speaks up
“Actually, there are fewer bodies than you would think. The Collectors Guild does a good job of keeping the streets clean. After all, there is value in a repurposed corpse”
She waves a hand towards the skeletal palanquin bearers down by the inn
“As a disinterested third-party, I would propose a compromise. Perhaps Hexnala could pay a weregild for her intrusion? “
Hexnala whirls towards her
“You will not give me asylum?”
Mara frowns
“I did not say that, although you are very presumptuous to claim it. I am a factor in the Dustmen faction, but I have been ... out of circulation for many years. You are involving me in a situation I feel uncomfortable with, as these people have done me a service, and you have yet to.”
Mara turns towards the party
“I would advise you that forcible discarnation of a being with an alternative existence would not sit well with the Dustmen faction. Which happens to be the faction whose territory you are standing on currently”
Memnon pipes up suddenly, his normally jocular tone icy cold
“Fry that b$%&!! Burn her to the ground! She’s a Master Necromancer. She and her buddies killed Ranaïs!”
Hexnala turns and regards Memnon with her icy blue eyes
“Ah, the bad copper piece that always seems to turn up”
She laughs
“I was a member of the Necromancer’s Guild, what of it? So was most of the family you served, you jumped up abacus. I seem to recall you doing work for the Guild when called upon. I don’t suppose you’ve told your new friends that, have you?”
"I'm not interested in some past dispute, I haven't been paid enough to care, all I know is there's a bunch of skeletons over there that could could hang out in. Kind of hard to claim you got no other options when I'm looking at a bunch of other options."
Mara looks at the skeletal porters
“Undeath isn’t quite as easy as that, Karrin. It’s not like donning a new gown for a ball. I’m surprised that your friend’s corpse was possessed like that in the first place. It must be easier for spirits in that world. Maybe the fact that it was heavily tied to the Negative Energy Plane?”
She nods her head thoughtfully
“I shall have to visit it one day”
Hexnala nods as well
“This body was my chance to escape. The first I had in centuries. I fought a crowd of others to enter this body, and it took all my strength to stay. My spirit is entwined in it, for better or worse. I will not go willingly”
Hamar shifts behind the possessed body of Rhiannon awaiting any signal from Karrin to begin to strike it as an undead foe. The talk of factions confuses the barbarian but the talk of violence is all too familiar, that he can work with.
"I take it you were not paying attention when I warned you of this.""That's not Rhiannon" Karrin says turning to Alessia, "It's someone else. They've stolen her body."
"I will take that as a yes, then."
She and her buddies killed Ranaïs!”
At this, even with her expressionless mask, Alessia appears somewhat agitated. Moving with purpose, she grasps the possessed corpse by the throat and lifts it from the cobblestones.
"I know that name. It was one of the first worlds taken by the one I hunt. Tell me all you know of the Lich-Lord, and I will end you less slowly."
Justin had followed the others, seemingly unaware of Nari's peculiar position in the most recent marching order. He probably thought that she was standing nearer to him, well, not for protection, but because he was one of the ones that she had known the longest.
Justin noticed Mara's interest in the temple paintings, and couldn't help but point out a couple of things that he had found interesting in the dioramas. He also sighed heavily when Memnon made his snarky comment over the body of the Thakotis' corpse. The mage rubbed his eyes tiredly.
When they traveled Mara's next portal and reappeared in Sigil, some of the more perceptive of the group may have noticed a small smile on Justin's lips. Although he would likely deny it, and it was quickly hidden.
When the body of Rhiannon twists and in Karrin's grip, drops to the ground, and SPEAKS,... Justin simply stands and stares, slack-jawed. He is simply too brain-dead and tired to process what is happening in front of him. MAybe it is a side-effect of his recent mind-meld with an undead sorceress, or maybe he has what some Sigilites call 'Planar-Brain', which is what the natives call Planar travelers (Particularly Non-natives) who have simply seen one bizarre thing too many. Most of them end up in the Hive, or worse. But that's another story.
Then Mara speaks calmly to the corpse, and Heals it, and then they begin arguing back and forth about whether or not this spirit has any right to can/will/shoulda/woulda/coulda to Rhiannon's body,...
For a moment, all his spells are forgotten, and all Justin can do is watch, slack-jawed, his head turning to follow Karrin, Mara, Rhiannon, Allessia, and Memnon as they comment and bicker back and forth like old hands haggling in the Market Ward. Justin's head is twitching to one side, then the other, as if watching a very bizarre game of keep-away.
Justin reaches out and elbows the person closest to him, without looking at them.
"Whaaaaaaat,... in the first 8 levels of Hades, is going on here? Exactly?" Justin asks sideways, still not looking, and eerily calm.
"Whaaaaaaat,... in the first 8 levels of Hades, is going on here? Exactly?" Justin asks sideways, still not looking, and eerily calm.
“Apparently Rhiannon’s corpse was occupied by the ghost of a necromancer after she died, and while we were...elsewhere. Karrin tried to negotiate, the ghost won’t budge, and oh, dear, the new girl is turning it into a fight. I know that’s not Rhiannon anymore, but this is hard to watch. This cannot end well,” Nari whispered, catching him up on the fight while still trying to act as a buffer. She was more than a bit concerned about a lot of things at the moment, not least their problematic relationship with the dustmen, but there were very few she could do anything about at the moment, so she was doing what she could.
The resounding click of a pistol being cocked rings out amid the sounds of the street as Blayze draws her weapon, ready to send the undead possessor back into oblivion. "Release her body or be forced from it." she says quietly, staring into the corpse's milky eyes.
"Oh for the love of....." Merle facepalming "Could we please try and resolve this without starting a street battle in front of the pro undead people."
Seph kind of hiding behind Nari and Justin looking as slack jawed as Justin is.
"Oh for the love of....." Merle facepalming "Could we please try and resolve this without starting a street battle in front of the pro undead people."
Justin holds up a finger.
"Again!" He adds emphatically, almost cheerfully.(Nari still isn't sure his eyes are actually focused on the situation in front of him. Or completely focused, for that matter.)
Seeing that the situation appears to be deteriorating as she thinks about a possible solution, Ramuah edges back half a step, doing her best to take a defensive position between her new companions and the body of their dead friend. Only one hand holds the glaive, making it look more like a walking stick than a weapon at the moment, but her other hand is ready to quickly grasp it and attempt to stop any enemy approach.
"......................" Merle kind of backing away a bit not happy at the situation but also not wanting to get involved in a fight here of all places.
Initiative Burial Rights Brawl:
Karrin: 22
Ramuah: 22
Hamar: 10
Alessia: 9
Justin: 7
Blaze: 5
Nari: 4
Mara:
Hexnala:
Alessia steps forward, heading for Hexnala with a purpose. Mara and her square up, unsheathing their weapons. A crowd begins to form, various layabouts and bubbers wandering over in the timeless way fights always garner an audience. The party notes that many of the bystanders are sporting Dustmen insignia or fashion.
"Your all really gonna do this here of all places?" Merle pulling Seph more out of the way.
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Hamar draws his planar and vorpal scimitars shifting to the right of Karrin. The Barbarian does not know the rules of this place but he knows the rules of alliance and friendship and if his allies will fight then so shall he.
[dice=Knowledge (religion)]1d20+6
[dice=Initiative]1d20+5
Seeing that the situation appears to be deteriorating as she thinks about a possible solution, Ramuah edges back half a step, doing her best to take a defensive position between her new companions and the body of their dead friend. Only one hand holds the glaive, making it look more like a walking stick than a weapon at the moment, but her other hand is ready to quickly grasp it and attempt to stop any enemy approach.
Ramuah has heard of incidents where possessing spirits were contained in magical devices such as specially-prepared gems. As for transfer, she is unsure of the technique, but evil wizards have been known to shift their spirits into younger bodies to cheat death, so it could be feasible. The technical whys and wherefores are beyond her knowledge though.
"That body belongs to us and I'm not interested in a debate over it.
Rhiannon died, you know, threw off the trappings of life, and now we're here to have her cremated so you need to vacate. I very much doubt the Dustmen would be interested in you stealing another corpse so you can hang onto the vestiges of life but that's something you'll have to figure out on your own. Now get out of our friend's corpse or else well have to cremate her with you inside."