The cleric grimaces as the sound interrupts his chanting
He slowly stops his chanting, and begins a babble of nonsensical gibberish
As Justin's usually organized mind does loop de loops, several random thoughts flitter through, refusing to stay in place long enough to to grasp and hold still,...
'Man, Isaac would totally be loving this. The Poo-puns would fly!'
'I don't like popular music, so PICK a KEY already! Or at least a NOTE! Stupid Shoggoth,...'
'Silly Shoggoth, Holes are for traps! Shoggoth go in deh hole! Heheh, no, wait, it DIDN'T go in the hole,...'
'Excuse me Mr Aberration, but do you know you have some GREY POOP-ON you?!? Bwahaha,... ow,...
'Pit-trap, rat-trap, clap-trap, clip-clop, big-drop, tip-top, Rat-trap, big-train, rat-brain, big-pain,... OW!'
A sharp shard of memory flashes through, the pain nearly as sharp now as the original had been. Justin blinks heavily, straining to focus his eyes.
All of his teammates seemed rather occupied, either with the impossibly double-jointed insect-man, or reeling from the effects of the Shoggoth's terrible wailing. At least he was fairly certain they were as brain-fuzzed as he was. Justin was pretty sure that Hamar wasn't spellcasting, and if Mel was speaking in tongues, it wasn't any language that he recognized.
Justin struggled to hold onto that last coherent, if painful, thought he had. What was it? Something to do with Rat brains, ow pain, CRANIUM rats! That was it.
Justin wondered if the Cranium rats minded sharing their realm with a giant puke-golem? He'd have to try and remember to ask them. If he lived that long. Which if he didn't get and keep a coherent train of thought for more than 3 seconds, VERY soon, was highly unlikely.
Justin liked solving problems, so instead of tackling the tough question of the hour, 'How do you stop a Shoggoth once it turns your brains to pudding?' He started with something easier, 'How does one summon a swarm of cranium rats?'
The wizard pictured his spell book in his mind, he could modify one of his summoning spells, but what would you use to summon a Cranium rat? Cheese please? Gouda is Gooda, but Cheddar is Better! ARGH!
Justin shook his head again, stumbling to one side and leaning against the now slime-covered wall to hold himself up.
'FOCUS Case! Why cranium rats? Why now? They broke into my home to try and steal the rod,... I trapped them instead, I made a deal with them, and sort of forced a friendly agreement that they owed me a favor. Which would be REALLY nice if I could call it in, like, NOW.'
Well,... why not? He was no sorcerer, adapting spells on the fly was Merle's thing. but he was good at using what he had. So Justin decided to borrow a trick from Nari's book.
Justin filled his lungs with the reeking air of the alley, redolent of the Shoggoth and his own fear and sweat. He focused on the memory of the mind-spike the Cranium rats had tried to use on him, recalled the flare of pain, the creepy sound of their feet scrabbling across his apartment floor, The oily feel of the mental voice in his head, claiming that they were legion, pictured a swarm of rats with pink brains on their skulls, their eyes glowing red in the darkness, and mentally shouted as loud as he could,... (Wondering fleetingly if it was actually working, and if Nari could actually hear him),...
'HEY RATS! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME I'D LIKE TO CALL IN THAT FAVOR! JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW THERE'S A SHOGGOTH IN YOUR SEWER! CALLED BY A PSYCHIC INSECT! HELP ME OUT AND WE'LL HELP YOU CLEAN HOUSE! HELP A FELLA OUT WILLYA?!?'
Justin opened his eyes, still straining to focus them, but all he heard was the terrible wailing of the Shoggoth, and the incoherent gibbering of someone nearby.
'Ah well, it was worth a try. Now, what was that spell I wanted to use? I like that spell, it's a good one,... Tire Sale? Fire Bell? Tar Smell? No that's not it,...'
'HEY RATS! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME I'D LIKE TO CALL IN THAT FAVOR! JUST THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW THERE'S A SHOGGOTH IN YOUR SEWER! CALLED BY A PSYCHIC INSECT! HELP ME OUT AND WE'LL HELP YOU CLEAN HOUSE! HELP A FELLA OUT WILLYA?!?'
Justin feels his sanity being carried away on a dark raft of confusion. He suddenly sharpens. The muddled feeling lessens, replaced by a familiar greasy feeling of small things scuttling through his cortex
::A debt has been made. A debt has been paid::
The hole where the shoggoth erupted out of is suddenly alive with pinkish-grey forms. The party can feel a mental battle going on. The mouths on the Shoggoth stop wailing, and the party’s focus snaps back. The shoggoth whirls and dives back into the hole, covered in rats. The chitinous man follows, taking the opportunity to flee while the party is stunned and confused. Suddenly the back lot is empty, save for the broken form of Ramuah, dropped by the shoggoth during its retreat. Mel runs to her and begins working spells. The dwarf with the broad brimmed hat whistles
“Just when I think nothing in the city can surprise me anymore “
Mel shouts over
“I’ve got her stabilized, but she’s in a coma. I’ll need help getting her up”
Justin shakes his head, clearing the (majority) of the mental fog remnants from it. Then he makes a face, sticking his tongue out as if to get rid of a bad taste.
"Blecch! Meh, still better than whatever the Shoggoth was to doing my brains!" Justin mutters to himself.
The dwarf with the broad brimmed hat whistles
“Just when I think nothing in the city can surprise me anymore “
"Oh yas. NOTHING but fun when we're around!" Justin quips before he has even managed to focus on the dwarf's face. He smiles gamely, not quite sure what to say to the hat-wearing, pistol-packing fellow.
Mel shouts over
“I’ve got her stabilized, but she’s in a coma. I’ll need help getting her up”
Justin's smile fades, he mutters "Excuse me,..." and moves swiftly to the side of Mel and Ramuah.
"Some if us still have a few minor to moderate healing potions, tiles and other knickknacks. Will those help? Or this is an 'Only rest or high magics can help her now' sort of a thing?" Justin asks as he kneels next to Mel, the concern clear on his face.
Hamar scowls and sticks his head down the hole looking to see if he can pursue, his face is red deeply crimson red.
"...."
He turns towards the group's fallen companion and sheathes his weapons remaining silent until asked to assist further.
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Karrin moves over to assist Mel:
"I'm here, I can carry her, but I guess our shopping trip is over, I mean it's unlikely that we'll see either of those two anytime soon, but there's no reason to think that they don't have friends and stuff, I mean maybe friends is a bit of a stretch, I mean who would hang out with someone with that many mouths right? I mean they'd probably just talk and talk for ages without saying anything interesting or worth listening too, but I'm sure they'd be real useful at parties and such where you got this obnoxious guest that you don't want to talk to so you put them in the same room as the guy with 33 mouths and hopefully he get annoyed and leaves on their own, but would you call that person a friend? I think more of an acquaintance. So we better head out before they can get word to their acquaintances and business associates.
"Maybe finish buying whatever we're going to get here, I mean they couldn't possibly get their quote unquote friends and get back here before we could finish out shopping here, but any other trips we had planned for the day is probably a no go, I mean that guy might have seen our shopping list, and there's no reason to tempt fate, also we're down a fighter, and nobody wants to run around shopping while lugging a body, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to haggle when you've got a body. Everyone always wants to know about the body. I mean in theory it could be intimidating, like if we got a body the shop keeper is likely thinking these people are dangerous and are gonna kill me if I don't give them a good deal, or maybe they're thinking our party member got beat up by local tavern bouncers or something like that, anyways it can lead to a bad reputation and we don't want that. So the best course of action is finish here and then let's get back to base so I can put Ramuah into her bed.
"Sorry to be so abrupt and concise with my opinions, but you know after that encounter with a gibbering mouther I just don't feel like fully expanding on my ideas, I mean after all that noise the last thing the group needs is me yammering on and on about shopping and stuff, when the correct course of action is plainly clear, so there's no need to talk about it further, and if you guys insist on talking more about it I really think it'll be a waste of time. Also is anyone getting hungry? I think I could go for some nice pork buns on the way home. They're probably more like dumplings than buns but that's what they call them, even though they got this pork filling, it's really nice, I could eat like 15 or so, I mean I got to save room for supper, but you know something to snack on for the trip back home, we could even get some for Ramuah for when she wakes up, but somebody else better carry that one as I'm worried it could accidentally get eaten on the way home. When you're eating pork buns who could possibly keep count?"
Justin looks at Karrin. He blinks once, slowly, Then he opens his mouth, and says,...
"Yeaaas. Exactly."
Maybe YOU would argue with a 5 foot plus (barely) red-headed feisty tiefling woman with a magical axe almost as big as she is. But Justin would sagely point out that if that were true, it is only because you have never survived,... erm, participated in, one of said tiefling's 'Training Sessions'.
Where 'Training Session' is a polite Justin-ism for 'Getting the living tarnation beat out of you until you cry UNCLE in various languages'. Not the best method for teaching a wizard to fight, in his opinion, but very good at teaching squishy wizards how to take a beating and live through it. Which, in hindsight, IS a very useful skill for typically weaker-than-heavy-armor-wearing-types to learn.
A Painful lesson,... but useful.
Standing up, only a little wobbly, The wizard slowly walks over to the sewer entrance that Hamar was scowling at.
It is worth noting that Hamar's scowl is truly a frightful thing to witness. If the sewer entrance were capable of fear, it would definitely be begging forgiveness by now. For whatever it had done or had ever considered doing. Justin adds 'Do not make Hamar angry at me if it can be avoided' to his mental list of 'Things to Avoid Doing'. He filed it directly under 'Do not make Karrin angry at me. Ever. Period.' on the list.
Hey, Dont judge Justin. No offense to Hamar, he's a healthy, large, strong fellow. And a dang good fighter from what Justin has seen of him in action. But the wizard had known Karrin for a lot longer. He was just prioritizing. OK ok,. YOU prioritize your 'Things not to do because they will get me killed' List in YOUR way, and Justin will organize his in his way, OK?
Anyway, Justin joined Hamar at the sewer entrance. He nodded at Hamar, completely in understanding and agreement with what the burly barbarian was probably thinking, but not wanting to risk conversation with his own mind still muddled.
As Justin peered pensively into the hole, he didn't know if he could re-create what he had just done. Reliably anyway. But felt that after the reminder he had just witnessed of their potential power, a polite farewell to the rodents was never a bad idea. So once more he closed his eyes, focused what he could of his recovering equilibrium, concentrated on the memory of the oily, scrabbling rodent feet through his brain sensation, and thought hard:
"Debt is repaid. Accepted with Gratitude. Agreement will be honored. If I ever try to call you again, it will be to hire you! Peace."
Honestly, the mental effort made him a little dizzy, (although he blamed that completely on the after-effects of the abomination's terrible singing voice) and wondered idly if it worked, and again if Nari could hear him.
Turning to the group, he decided that Karrin, while even more long-winded than he was, was also correct. The shopping trip could wait. Not wait forever, but they needed a regroup.
Justin looks at Karrin. He blinks once, slowly, Then he opens his mouth, and says,...
"Yeaaas. Exactly."
"Nice, pork buns it is"
Hamar grunts at the Wizard and turns to Karrin Kind, "I could eat..."
He starts to walk and then pauses turning back to Justin, "Wizard, I want something that stops whatever just happened to me from ever happening again. Can such a thing be found in this place?"
Looking at the gold filigreed pistol in her right hand, Blayze gives an impressed whistle as she walks over to the dwarf. "She's got quite a kick!" the gunslinger says with a smile.
Hamar grunts at the Wizard and turns to Karrin Kind, "I could eat..."
He starts to walk and then pauses turning back to Justin, "Wizard, I want something that stops whatever just happened to me from ever happening again. Can such a thing be found in this place?"
Justin blinks as his attention is drug back from,... whatever he was doing, by Hamar. The wizard looks thoughtful for a second.
"Hm. Maybe. If it was a direct mental takeover, a possession or mind control, then yes. We can protect you from that with a high success rate. But this,... THAT was just pure, unadulterated, brain-scrambling confusion, delivered unceremoniously by a sewer monstrosity on illegal enlargement spells!" Justin declares petulantly (as if the monstrosity had been an affront against him, personally), flapping an arm at the still uncovered sewer entrance.
"Sooo,... Yes. It's just a matter of finding the right place to shop. OR figuring out how to make the charm myself!" Justin smiles at Hamar.
Looking at the gold filigreed pistol in her right hand, Blayze gives an impressed whistle as she walks over to the dwarf. "She's got quite a kick!" the gunslinger says with a smile.
The dwarf touches the brim of his hat
“Pleased you like her. I assume you’ll be buying?”
"Nice, pork buns it is"Justin looks at Karrin. He blinks once, slowly, Then he opens his mouth, and says,...
"Yeaaas. Exactly."
The diminutive gunsmith grins
“There’s a pit barbecue joint just down the road that makes the best pulled pork with all the sides”
The cleric finishes his ministrations and Ramuah sits up , rubbing her head
“She’s OK. I had enough juice to heal her. “
He helps Ramuah up
“Take it easy for a while”
"Nice, pork buns it is"Justin looks at Karrin. He blinks once, slowly, Then he opens his mouth, and says,...
"Yeaaas. Exactly."The diminutive gunsmith grins
“There’s a pit barbecue joint just down the road that makes the best pulled pork with all the sides”
"Oh that does sound pretty good, and I do like all the sides . . . "
Justin casts one more lingering look back to the uncovered sewer entrance, where supposedly both the aberration and humanoid/insectoid have met an unpleasant end.
Or at least are having a very unpleasant time for the moment.
"Yeah. ONE of these days I'll get a straight answer. Or maybe just an answer. That would be nice." The wizard grumbles dryly.
He sighs in relief as Mel helps Ramuah to get back up. He claps the clerics shoulder in gratitude. (For ONCE not being over-verbose, his grateful look to the battle-cleric says it all.)
Turning back to rest of the group, he shrugs and spreads his hands in a 'what you gonna do?' look.
"YOU heard the boss-lady. Pork buns it is!" Justin grins, gesturing for Karrin to lead the way.
Hamar falls in line and thinks happy thoughts about enjoying buns.
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Barron takes the coins and waves away the thanks
“You folks look like you’ll need it”
He directs them to a restaurant on the edge of Hellgate called the Fiery Pit. The restaurant seems popular with the Lower Planes crowd, demons, daemons, and devils all sitting down to heaping plates of barbecue meat and various side dishes. Several succubi and incubi dash through the restaurant serving the clientele. Despite the variety of sworn enemies, there is no hostility evident. Food seems to soothe the savage fiends
Hamar's eyes widen at the denizens in the place, he has never seen more than a handful of such creatures before much less dozens of them all sitting in a building doing something as mundane as eating. As a barbarian he could not tell a demon from a devil nor would he care why there are distinctions.
He turns to his friends, "Should we eat here? This place is crawling with foes who would have eaten us on my world. What stops them from doing so to us now?"
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"The fact they already have meals on the table?"
Hamar turns to Merle, "Cannot be. Karrin Kind is a quarter their size and eats more than the rest of us combined, even me!"
Karrin, despite having lived in The Cage for the better part of a year now, was still very uncomfortable around demons, daemons, and devils, nearly to the point of panic, but, wanting to appear cultured and cosmipolitan amongst her new companions does her best to appear like seeing the denizens of the underworld running about as no big deal.
"Guys this is no big deal," She lied, "This is the cage and we see demons and devils and stuff all the time here, hardly any of them are interested in eating us, I'd guess less than two in five anyways, and less than half of that number is going to try to do that in public, I mean that'd be rude, also lots of dangerous folks in human form, and if I were a devil . . . er, if I were a full devil, I wouldn't want to chance trying to eat someone who I didn't know. I mean don't trust devils . . . full devils I mean, but don't be scared at how dangerous they are, but also don't let them know we're scared of them and stuff. Not that we're scared, I mean we're pretty much badasses and all, but if they think we're scared they might try something, and demons and devils are always after our souls and stuff if they feel they got the chance. So, make sure we don't accept any free stuff, and don't accept any offers to see the kitchen or anything, even if they offer to let you lick out the stew pot, which is very tempting I'm sure, Ramona and Bess tricked me into doing that a couple of times, I mean technically they asked me to wash it out, but I knew what they really wanted, but you climb into a big copper cauldron to lick it clean in a secret back kitchen here they might put the lid on it and put you over the flame. So totally don't do that. But just eating here is probably perfectly safe and fine."
Karrin leaned back, amazed at how worldly she'd become, hardly a single racial stereotype in her speal at all, and she was sure to put her new friends at ease.
Hamar considers Karrin's words but still pushes his point, "But what stops them from doing so? This is all very unusual behavior, isn't it?
I thought these creatures would even cut each other up and eat them if they could.
Still, we should get a table before they all fill up!".
The barbarian enters and looks for a table big enough for their party.
Mel looks about. A distinct belly gurgle emerges from his midsection. He turns to Hamar
“The Cage is a big neutral meeting place. The Lady and her Dabus keep the peace, and woe to any who challenge her! Besides, it’s convenient for all involved to have somewhere to palaver where you don’t have to fight. Even the bitterest enemies sometimes need to sit down to discuss something. They talk Blood War treaties here all the time, whenever one side or the other gets a claw up and wrings a concession from the other. Look over there”
He points to a table where several relatively humanoid-looking fiends in ornate uniforms demolish large platters of steaming meat
“That’s some of Generallisimo Bel’s headquarters staff. Likely in town for a sit down with their Abyssal counterparts. Way above my pay grade “
A smiling succubus greets the party and leads them to a large table in back. Thanks to the relatively early peaktime, the restaurant isn’t full. Menus are proffered that list a variety of exotic foods and drinks.
"Well look at it this way, things here aren't always what they seem, a lot of these demons are used to finding weak and vulnerable humans on the human's prime material plane, but this isn't the human's native plane, this is a middle ground, and humans encountered here aren't often of the weak and vulnerable variety. Demons and devils love exploiting weakness but there's a real danger of biting off more than you can chew here. I mean the stuff Mel just said is also true, but that's to do with other demons, devils and other things, I'm not sure how much I trust that to include prime material plane folk, but folks from the prime material plane powerful enough to get here are kind of an unknown quantity. I mean you get some folks that just sort of stumbled across the planes by accident and then you also get folks like Melf, powerful wizards, that are powerful enough to do a break and entry on . . . well, you know, powerful enough to go adventuring on the planes. These demons might be big shots amongst most humans, but here on the plans there are some real heavy hitters who really shouldn't be messed with. Probably a lot of folks keeping the peace just in case. Others aren't going to do anything unless they know who they're dealing with. Somewhere at the hart of this all is a really really dangerous individual, who we don't talk about, but she's reportedly not someone you want to piss off. I'd share with you what I know about her but that'd be a short conversation and I better save that for if we're ever in an awkward situation and I need some way of changing the subject, like let's say Justin here starts going on and on about wrestling again, as he's wont to do, and I'd rather not get dragged into another wizardly discussion about the grappling art, I can instead say "Hey you guys ever hear about the lady of pain" and suddenly we're onto something else."
Justin starts suddenly, his head whipping away from the pleasant view of their dangerously appealing hostess weaving her way through tables, with a panicked look in his eyes.
Justin was trying to figure out how his name was being dropped so suddenly into a conversation he had yet to enter, (which, admittedly, was unusual for him), about a subject he never talked about, AND in the same breath as the LADY for powers sake!
Karrin was REALLY on a roll today! (And it wasn't a pork bun!)
The wizard makes frantic 'shushing' motions with his arms as he furtively looks around the room, as if expecting said 'Lady' to appear any moment.
"Shards and Shells Karrin! Are you TRYING to get me killed?!?" Justin hisses, relaxing a smidge when no otherworldly being immediately appeared to make his life even MORE 'interesting'.
(OK, ok. Technically the dining establishment was packed with 'otherworldly beings', Just not the ONE Justin was actually afraid of meeting.)
Recovering his composure, Justin straightens back up and gives Karrin a pensive stare. Their differences in height makes it look like a schoolmaster scolding a young student.
"JUST for the record. I can get myself into trouble all, by, myself. Thank you. I don't need any help with that. Even tossing around the NICKNAME of 'She Who Must Not Be Named' is a casual invitation to biting off more than I can chew. And right now I'm hungry enough to give YOU a run for your money!" Justin smiles a forced smile and deliberately pulls out a chair at the table for Karrin.
(Some people, who did not know Justin as well, might have trouble telling if he was inviting Karrin to sit in the chair, or considering hitting her with the chair. But while the wizard may be crazy at times, he is not suicidal.)
Relaxing as Karrin sits, Justin starts pulling out chairs for the other women of the party, Merle, Nari, Blayze, Sophi,... and it dawns on the usually observant wizard that the majority of their group is now female.
When he finds himself pulling out a chair for Allessia, he stops, staring at that inexpressive mask for a long moment, and shrugs.
"Sorry, Old habits." He mutters, and moves back to an open seat, leaving her chair still pulled out for her.
The wizard pointedly ignores any snickers by any members of their group.
"To continue Hamar." Justin says as he sits down, as if nothing untoward had happened.
"In short, Sigil is a kind of an inter dimensional crossroads. Ruled over by a very powerful being. The only REAL rules here seem to be 'No Powers allowed'. Everything else is up for interpretation and negotiation. Most of us take that to mean "treat others as you wish to be treated'. But there are a few who think of it more as 'Do anything you want, as long as you dont get caught!'" Justin shrugs.
"As Mel, and Karrin, were trying to explain, Sigil is used as a way station for planar travel, and a neutral ground, where peoples from any plane, any world, can meet for whatever. Open warfare between anyone is strictly forbidden. That doesn't mean it's SAFE. Like any big city, I wouldn't follow a stranger into a dark alley with out friends along." At this, Justin plucks a bit of detritus from their recent confrontation from his sleeve and gives a wry look.
"As for the ruler of Sigil, 'She who must not be Named', She rules over Sigil with an iron fist. She doesn't interfere in day-today operation, but,... How to explain her?" Justin looks at Karrin and very sincerely says,
"I think Isaac said it best." Justin coughs, and does a passable imitation of their former traveling companion,....
"As far as the Lady goes, you don't call her name, you don't attract her attention, and you DEFINITELY don't worship her! If you are ever unlucky enough to catch sight of her at the other end of the street, you bloody turn around and run the other way, and pray to whatever Power you DO worship that she didn't notice you!"
Justin looks at Karrin and the others who are knowledgeable of Sigil and asks, "That sums it up pretty well, yes?"
"And THAT, Hamar, is why we can all sit down and have a nice meal in the middle of a bunch of other Planar travelers, without having to worry about becoming said meal ourselves. Simple really." Justin grins.
Hamar nods, "I understand. This then is not the same Lady of Pain my friend Mao used to visit in Unther".
He sits at the table and remains silent, belly rumbling.
Looking at the gold filigreed pistol in her right hand, Blayze gives an impressed whistle as she walks over to the dwarf. "She's got quite a kick!" the gunslinger says with a smile.The dwarf touches the brim of his hat
“Pleased you like her. I assume you’ll be buying?”
"Definitely!" Blayze answers with a grin, happily paying for her new weapon, before heading out with the others.
As the others explain the nature of interactions here in Sigil, she slowly eases her hands away from her hips, resisting the urge to draw. "That's crazy, in a thousand different scenarios, walking in here, it'd be the fight of my life to walk nack out alive."
Hamar nods, "I understand. This then is not the same Lady of Pain my friend Mao used to visit in Unther".
He sits at the table and remains silent, belly rumbling.
Justin takes a second, it may be the after effects of the Shoggoth's singing voice, but it takes a moment for Justin to process the meaning of Hamar's statement fully.
Justin looks, thoughtful.
"Um,... NO, pretty sure there's no relation." he agrees with the burly warrior.
As the others explain the nature of interactions here in Sigil, she slowly eases her hands away from her hips, resisting the urge to draw. "That's crazy, in a thousand different scenarios, walking in here, it'd be the fight of my life to walk back out alive."
Justin grins. "Hey, don't relax TOO much. In some places in Sigil, if your a lousy tipper your lucky to make it out the door alive!" He says mischievously.
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Blayze shows the diminutive gunsmith the magical arrows, and he excuses himself for a moment. He returns with various smithing tools and heats the arrowheads in a fierce miniature forge. Soon he cracks several gleaming bullet slugs from molds, and quenches them in a bath of holy water. He inscribes Dwarven runes on them with a delicate tool. He hands them to Blayze, the smooth slugs heavy and bright
"Hmmmm. I am sadly out of my depth here so far, though I thank you all for your kind explanations. Like friend Hamar here, I briefly wondered if this 'Lady of Pain' was some relation to Zon-Kuthon, but of course he is The Lady of Chrysanthemum's brother, so not likely to be the same thing.
"I would not have thought myself weak before unwittingly beginning my strange planar travels, but the variety of foes I have seen since leaving Absalom has shown me a sharper focus on my craft is in order."
Ramuah contemplates the scuffs in her armor and fingers the muddied ends of the rainbow of ribbons tied beneath the blade of her glaive with a faintly annoyed expression.
Her face brightens. "Food would be a welcome familiarity that might allow me to work toward regaining my bearings, however! Much more familiar than talking gear beings or that horrible thing we just faced!"
Mel keeps up a running commentary of the clientele. He seems very familiar with the various demons and devils
“That table there, those demons wear the warlord Abryxx’s colors. He’s an up-and-coming demon, some say a by-blow of Graz’zt. His warband is about division strength, mainly Glazebru.
“Over by that cactus there is Malthege and his coterie. He’s not a soldier, but he is the quartermaster for Dispater’s Avernal detachment.
“That group of human-looking cutters are from the mercenary army they call the Horn Cutters. They like to collect trophies from their foes, thus the name. They’ve fought on either side, whoever pays them best. Their velociraptor cavalry is a thing to behold on the field.”
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Justin listens to all, and makes his usual snarky comments whenever he can. The wizard is filing away the info Mel is providing in case it might come in handy later. (Not often you get a friendly person willing to part with actual USEFUL information for free! Justin is doing the mental equivalent of rapid note scribbling!)
But Justin actually LOOKS at Mel when the cleric mentions dino-cavalry.
"OK, just when I think I've seen, or at least heard, it all. They actually RIDE the dinosaurs?!? Into battle?" Just asks incredulously.
The wizard gets an unfocused glaze to his eyes. He is clearly imagining himself riding a T-rex or similar large dinosaur. Then he shakes his head with a bemused grin.
"Naaaah. Prolly never happen."
Ramuah looks up from her food at the wizard's excited response, then nods as he dismisses the idea of riding a tyrannosaurus rex. "I think you are correct. Besides, I have heard that the largest ones do not corner well."
"Naaaah. Prolly never happen."
Mel chuckles
“Never say never. Horses don’t do well on Avernus. Heck, Dino’s barely do either. Unless you have a nightmare or a friendly djinn to squire you about Dino is the way to go there”
The food is mostly slow-roasted smoked meats, in a variety of species. Barbecued axbeak with Avernal pepper relish seems to be Mel’s favorite, but alligator, wyvern, iguanadon, and rothé also hit the table. Various bean dishes, cornbread, fried potatoes, and a concoction of pasta and melted cheese round out the feast.
“Well, once we eat, should we finish your shopping?” Mel asks
Hamar eats some of all the dishes that hit the table, until he is full. After some silent time he grunts, "I have gone a fortnight not eating so much as I just ate in this sitting. Truly, this is like a paradise..."
He turns to Mel, "Hamar has no more gold, he wears it in the form of various trinkets. I am hoping that the Wizard can make me a bauble that will prevent ah whatever happened with that creature from happening to me again. How much that is, the Wizard will let me know and can take the gold from whatever treasures we discover wherever it is we are going".
Justin carefully speaks around a large bite of barbecued axebeak, (Boy would his family have a fit about his table manners if they could see him now!)
"Yeah. I have a couple of ideas about that." Justin swallows, and points to Memnon, currently doing his impression of a macabre table centerpiece.
(OK, HOW an inanimate skull can so clearly be leering at the ladies around the table is both fascinating, and frightening.)
"Potions to prepare and boost your Willpower and resistance to outside influences when you know their coming. I think there are a couple of alchemical trinkets that can help with that too. Right Memnon? Memnon? Ah-hem. Mem?"
Justin Sighs, picks up a small bone from his plate, and gently tosses it so that it 'plinks' against the back of Memnon's purple skull. For a moment nothing happens. Then the skull, ever so slowly, rotates on the tabletop to face Justin. It's eyelights are no longer 'leering', they are 'glaring'.
"You've got a little drool. Right here." Justin says casually, pointing at his own cheek.
The sight of the eye lights widening in horror then frantically bobbing around in the crystal skull, trying to find the non-existent drool, is too hilarious for Justin to resist, and he laughs out loud. Although he regains his composure immediately as Memnon slowly rises from the table to face him.
"Hah. Hah. Hah. Very. Funny." The Crystal skull intones flatly in a voice devoid of mirth.
"I mean, COME ON!" It blurts out, suddenly bobbing actively and expressive once more.
"I have been locked away in a mystical prison for like, a few THOUSAND years! Do YOU have any idea of what it's like to go ANY length of time without companionship?!? Oh, well, you are a wizard, yeah, nevermind then. YOU'RE used to it. I'M just catching up on what I've missed! NOTHING wrong with appreciating beauty! Right toots?" Memnon calls out to a passing Tiefling (Or possibly succubus) waitress as she expertly wriggles between the tables with plates of food.
(Justin had to admit, to himself, that her squeezing between table 'skills' were, indeed, worthy of appreciation.)
Out loud the wizard merely mutters "Sorry' and turns Memnon to face the table once more.
"ANY-way!" Justin says cheerfully, forcing a broad smile.
"I was thinking that there might be a way craft a device that prevents outside influences, fear, confusion, that sort of thing. But that will take time and research. In the meantime, boosting your innate Willpower is probably the easiest way to go. If not the cheapest."
Justin turns and looks at Hamar. "So, how would you feel about a nice, new headband?"
The waitress sidles up to Alessia
“I know in your state of being you cannot partake, but we have a special menu if you are interested? We get the freshest soul seeds daily from the Positive Material Plane, or if you like darker fare we have freshly incarnated larvae from the shores of the River Styx”
"Headband? Would this look sensible on Hamar? Perhaps a bracer or bracelet Wizard?"
"Oh. Well. I mean,... It COULD be done that way. I suppose." Justin admits slowly. If the wizard is disappointed by Hamar's less-than-enthusiastic response, it doesn't show. Much.
"But there ARE several reasons to keep such an item as a headband. Not the least of which is it is actually much easier to focus mind and spirit boosting enchantments when they are worn on the head, which most bonafide mystical traditions agree on as the seat of intelligence, willpower and charisma. Just like it is easier for physical-enhancing enchantments to be worn in the center of the body, on a belt usually."
Realizing by Hamar's blank look that he lost his intended audience after 'Oh, Well,' Justin gives a polite, embarrassed cough.
"Yes. Absolutely. Very sensible. A broad headband makes you look fierce, and keeps your hair out of your eyes in battle. They are very 'IN' this season. All the best-dressed warriors are wearing them." Justin assures Hamar with a straight face.
A beat passes, and one side of Justin's mouth does curl slightly upwards at a recent memory (Has it only been a few weeks ago? it seems like he has been through SO much lately!) Of a broad-shouldered barbarian who emerged unannounced through a portal on the side of a street Justin had been walking down. The Burly barbarian had hugged the nearest person available, Justin, in a fit of boisterous joy at making it back to Sigil. The man had indeed been wearing only a pair of furry boots, a loincloth, bracers and a headband. Unless you counted the oversized sword slung on his back as clothing.
Justin takes another bite of the excellent Smoked Axebeak to hide the grin of the memory.
"Hmmmmmmm", Hamar rumbles at Justin's explanation.
"But what if we find a helmet with magics, would that make the headband still uh..." Hamar seems to be grasping for the correct words and settles on, "Work?"