Jek's hooves clank against the corroded plates. "Hmmm... isn't 'jingling' usually a light and fun sound? No matter, let's find a tavern." He pushes the heavy chains aside for his friends.
As you pass through the strange door you enter an even stranger room. It is formed entirely of chain pulled taut in places to form a semblance of walls, a floor, and ceiling. Still wind rattles the chains causing the structure you're in to sway violently. Rain beats down through the chain links, and the rust and wet slime on the chains indicates that the weather is commonplace. A chain ladder guides you downward into a bustling city.
Everything here, the streets, buildings and all, is made from chain. The city is in almost continual motion. The sound is constant susurrance of rattling chains, distant moaning, and distraught gasping. The street opens up to a market quarter.
"No more chain," a dark-eyed vendor growls, closing a curtian-like door fashioned from rattling links of metal. Her customer a wretched elderly woman with hideious dark blue-violet skin, jet black hair, and glowing red eyes cackles angrily and retorts, "I'll tear it from the wall of the shop if I have to!" The hag's eyes are met by two enforcers: a human or humanoid, wrapped in thick iron chains, spotted here and there with barbs and spikes until you only see a hint of flesh, a glint of teeth or a single gleaming eye. The weight of the chain would render a normal person immobile from the weight.
The hag slinks away into the gloomy crowd.
Summoning: Requires an elaborate ritual to bind a creature being summoned. No spell keys are necessary but to control a summoned creature you need to make a DC 10+CR intelligence check when casting the spell.
Healing: spells that grant life or heal must always be saved against to apply their effect. If the save if failed no healing happens.
Necromancy: Spells that cause damage or control undead function as if they are one level higher.
You know that on Avernus a chunk of obsidian from the River of Blood serves as a spell key for the first layer and that for every layer below you need three times the number of keys to make a spell function properly, meaning you need 9 keys for Minauros, but you don't know what they are.
Kytons are vulnerable to silver and good weapons and will regenerate from any other wound inflicted on them. They also can possess and control nearby chains as if they were a part of their own bodies.
"Oh boy. How'd Jangling Hiter connect directly to the stairs? Are the Kytons really so crafty? All they use are chains for everything. Well... I guess that needs some ingenuity..." Nik explains, scratching his cheek.
He motions the others to come closer so he can talk over the wind better.
"So I'm not sure why the lillendi want to keep the third layer of The Pit attached, but here we are. Think we should look for someone doing good deeds to be the problem? Or maybe somehow they're running out of chains?" Nik shrugs before glancing back at the vendor that had 'no more chain'.
"So I'm not sure why the lillendi want to keep the third layer of The Pit attached, but here we are. Think we should look for someone doing good deeds to be the problem? Or maybe somehow they're running out of chains?"
Jek steps trepidatiously onto the chains unsure of how they will move underhoof. "Well, I was told to keep things from getting dull. Perhaps problems are a good thing?" He takes in the chain landscape for a moment. "What do you suppose they do for fun around here?"
"Torture? Theft? Oh, actually, probably they'll have a tavern." Nik suggests, scratching his cheek for his first two suggestions.
As you wander through the streets of Jangling Hiter you wonder if the strange sense of apathy is a feature of Baator, Minorus, or something else. Everyone you come across is some mix of despondent or desperate. Through overheard conversations, you come to understand the quarter you are in is the Merchant’s quarter, one of two places where non-natives can safely walk. But little in the way of goods are sold as there seems to be a stoppage of the creation of Jangling Hiter’s primary export, chain.
You wonder if taverns are a universal constant in the multiverse as you approach the Bloody Oubliette. Inside the sheets of chain that serve as its walls there are only two people, a man behind the bar wrapped in chain, a kyton whose only visible eye radiates dourness. The second person is a woman with dark angular features, pale almost bone colored skin, and a pair of ivory feathered wings sprouting from her back majestically.
As Khikril makes his way through the dour lanes of Jangling Hiter, he cranes his neck, peering about in the hopes of finding any of Sigil's telltale signs of industry. "If the insectification sickness is affecting the city's exports, then we'll need to identify where it is concentrated. The chain factories would seem to be a good start, seeing as how the Merchants' Quarter is practically empty."
When the group enters the Bloody Oubliette, his onyx eyes light up, and he approaches the winged woman, fishing in his pocket for a notebook. "Finally, a test subject! Excuse me, I am Skeessannak'khikril of the Vrr'kininr'wraak tribe - perhaps you've heard of me?" He looks hopefully at the patron for a moment, giving another one of his characteristic sideways blinks before continuing. "I am a healer researching the Malaise here - I have a battery of diagnostic questions, if you don't mind."
Opening the notebook, he flips through its pages, looking for a particular question as he mutters to himself. "Let's see... infectious disease... loss of creativity... arthropods..." Straightening, he clears his throat. "Have you come into recent contact with any material, animated or otherwise, of a organic, lithic, noncorporeal, or quintessential nature that you thought was unusual in any way? Have you observed any of your fellow residents acting in a manner calculated to spread infection, such as charging towards other residents and having their skull erupt in fungal matter? If you were to paint a portrait more interesting than your cityscape, what would its subject and the primary color used in its creation be? If I asked you to invent a nonverbal language, what would the first word in its vocabulary be? Have you had any recent urges to preen your antennae or drink sugar water of a sort that you do not usually have? Have you felt recently that your endoskeletal body is simply too fragile and squishy to survive sustained subzero temperatures?"
The woman smiles at Skee and quirks her eyebrow while saying, ”I’m not interested in you or your questions. Find someone else to bother.”
In Skee’s mind he hears her voice silky and smooth, ”You can call me Gibbaren. I can answer your questions of course, but there is a price.”
She glances at the kyton bartender before thinking at Skee, ”Direct your thoughts at me and I will hear them. The kytons are hoarding a secret in Panos Qytel. A prisoner that is a threat to the order of the multiverse. Deliver that prisoner and I will answer the questions you posed to me as truthfully as I’m able. Do you consent?”
Rinika picks up a lesser rod of silent spell before they head out.
Once they get to the bar, she sidles up to the bar itself and idly bats at hanging chains. "Drinks if you would, sir. Is there really a chain shortage? Seems plenty around."
The bartender serves a round of drinks mechanically, a clear liquid with what looks like flakes of rust mixed in. The flavor is tangy like blood. He nods and answers monotone, "Crafters have no will to work. Or if they do the quality's bad."
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Jek takes a cautious sip.
"Well, how's the jink? Sorry, let me explain: we get jink for work in The Cage. If no one worth hiring is taking a job, it's probably the jink's not right." He nods knowingly. "Oh, and then there's folks like Nik here. Nik, can your homemade friends make chain?"
"Depends on what 'bad quality' means. I'd guess they'd help for moving materials, but they're not much for craftsmanship." Nik explains.
After a sniff and a shrug, Nik takes a sip of his questionable beverage as well.
"Anything you know of change that could sap them of the will to work, or did they just finally notice the weather?"
Rinika takes an exploratory sip of her drink and her ears prick up in excitement. "Oh,this is good!"
She follows up with some more questions to the bartender. "Where do they make the chains, anywhere particular? All over? The foreman changed, or ownership? Where's the material come from? Any changes in that? Where's this drink come from?"
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The bartender gives Rinika a peery eye as he serves the bub, "You ask a lot of questions."
The chains serving as a structure seem to jingle more in the breeze and the chain underfoot seems to slacken slightly, threatening to come loose and spill the catfolk to powers know where.
A feminine voice enters her mind and slithering words, "The kytons won't reveal the dark willingly. Consider this bit of chant free. Focus your thoughts at me and I will hear you. At the table here."
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"Thanks for the bub and the friendly warning. We didn't mean to pry, right?" Nik explains, giving Rinika a concerned look.
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Rinika gives the bartender a shrug. "It's boring sitting in silence. What else you got to talk about?" She makes a point of turning her back to him.
When the voice comes into her head, her ears flatten and she looks around for a second. She thinks, 'Spot!? Can you talk now? Wait, no, the table. Hi!'
The woman with angel-like wings scoffs at the party and gets up to leave, making a point to turn up her nose as she leaves.
In Rinika’s head she hears the woman’s voice telling a different story, ”One block on your right as you leave another right down an alley. We can speak freely there.”
When you head down the dark rain slick alley you find the woman alone grinning mischievously. She speaks in perfect common, ”The job is to be my minder while we invade Panos Qytel. I will see to it that the nupperibo is smuggled safely away. Quimath is a kyton of some power in Jangling Hiter and the owner of the fortress. Do you have a means to disguise yourselves? We need to travel to the Kyton Quarter and no one but kytons will be allowed in alive.”
"Uh- I can turn undead for a little bit." Nik shrugs, wondering what kind of shambler might be suitable.
"They have shamblers occasionally, right?"
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After quietly listening to the intense chatter, Xibalba floats forward assuredly, the jingling of her bangles joining the chorus of chain around them.
"Xibalba hasen such cloaking magics. Only lasts for half a solar day and a group must herd closewise post casting." She offers a toothy grin and cracks her fingers, genuinely happy to be of aid.
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"Oh thank you Xibalba!" Jek looks extremely relieved. "I'm rather good at herding but not so good at being a biped." He jumps up to balance on his hind legs. "See? I look ridiculous enough, but now I'm far too tall."
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Rinika snorts in amusement at Jek's antics and shrugs. "Yeah, that works. They won't find me if I don't wannem to."
Planes on their sponsor.
"How about you? You ain't a kyton either, are ya? And what's your name? I'm ready to go whenever."
Rinika will accept Xibalba's magics, and will click her heels together when they get close to the Quarter to give Nik, Jek, Xibalba, and Skee each a +5 competence bonus to their stealth checks, to avoid attracting notice in the first place.
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At the winged woman's offer, Khikril's ebony eyes light up. "Fascinating, fascinating! You certainly won't regret this - I'll gladly help you in this endeavor if it means more information about the source of the Malaise." He tilts his head, giving a sideways blink at the winged figure. "Incidentally, how critical is this nupperibo? It would be much easier to smuggle out a brain or other vital organ. I'd even get to do invasive surgery!"
He eagerly clusters around Xibalba as she casts her spell, and he steps back after he goes invisible, turning around in an attempt to get a look at himself. "My refractive index has been aligned. My limbs are all rrwkk'arvii!" As he turns, his invisible wing smacks Rinika in the back of the head. "Apologies. We seem to have been superimposed." He pauses as though considering an unpleasant thought. "...You are Rinika, right? Not one of the invisible shadow assassins?"
As he turns, his invisible wing smacks Rinika in the back of the head. "Apologies. We seem to have been superimposed." He pauses as though considering an unpleasant thought. "...You are Rinika, right? Not one of the invisible shadow assassins?"
"H-ow!" Rinika objects to Skee's superimposition but quickly smiles at the opportunity more some mischief. She whispers, close to where she thinks his head mayne possibly is, "What about the Glabrezu makes you think we're not the same thing, nya?"
Rinika knows that the woman is an erinyes, a type of baatezu, the lawful and evil natives to Baator. They are fond of contracts and complicated legal systems, and orderly military tactics against their eternal foe the Tanar’ri. Erinyes specializes in the corruption and punishment of mortals. It’s rumored that they are the only kind of baatezu that is allowed to travel to the prime material plane without being summoned.
All of them possess a rope that only functions for them that is able to bind foes, Like most baatezu they are immune to fire and poison, resistant to acid and cold , and have some measure of magical immunity.
The erinyes says, ”You may call me Gibbaren, and no I am no kyton. Let us set out immediately.” She pats Skee’s head like a mother would a child, ”My dear don’t you worry I will be able to deal with the nupperibo. You just need to deliver me to it.”
Panos Qytel
You pass through the kyton quarter cloaked in magic disguising you as the chain-bound fiends, no one challenges you as you walk the nearly empty streets. You see kyton patrols but they pay you no mind, so disguised. Xibalba finds that her illusion meets no resistance from the plane, and she feels a perverse sense of satisfaction that she had so simply fooled the fiends that haunt this place.
Pale yellow light, flickering as it is filtered through layers of swaying chains, reveals this foul place as a triple-towered cathedral-like structure. It seems completely quiet. Except for some sinister shadows, ever present in the city, nothing moves around Panos Qytel. A single main entrance to the structure is unguarded, a fine chain curtain easily walked through.
Nik seems to hold his breath when Xibalba conjures the illusory disguises. He tries to track their charge as they move around, hoping to learn something from the nupperibo smuggler that can help him smuggle shamblers.
"So, do you want us to wait outside?" Nik asks, still minding her more than their surroundings.
She says, "No, you shall accompany me inside until we locate its precise location. Once you verify that is safe to proceed." She motions to the door, which the illusion interprets as pointing with a length of chain attached to her arm.
Rinika shrugs and sneaks forward to check out the door, checking for any traps:
and any critters:
Rinika notices a subtle wobble in the chains just beyond the threshold and they lean unnaturally towards you. Rinika suspects that if she were to step through they would detach from their mores and bind you tightly.
Rinika grins an even toothier grin than normal and slips Nansi out from....a pocket? In the chains?
"Alright kiddo, let's crack this."
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The main entrance to Panos Qytel appears to be open and unguarded. Through the find chain curtain that serves as a door you see a vast hall made of particularly rusty chains. While not noticeable at first, a body spending a few minutes here realizes that the rust forms intricate patterns on the walls, floors and vaulted ceiling.
A chain ladder leads to a chamber above and another fine chain curtain serves as a door on the far side of the hall.
Nansi crawls into the room beyond clicking and whirring in the ordered language of the modrons, you think cheerfully.
A chain detaches and lashes out at Nansi! Luckily for the tiny brass spider it manages to jump out of the way at the last minute.
Nik is certain that the spell will disintegrate a section of chain ten feet in length, it is not likely to negatively affect the structural integrity of the building. He gets the sense that it was designed in such a way that several chains could be removed before it even begins to become a problem. Especially around this particular section of the building.
Rinika whips Nansi back like a Toyota and stashes the little spider in a jangly chain pocket, then takes a step back to evaluate what's going on and assess threats.
Nik gets ready to blast any chains that follow Rinika from the door.
"Don't touch Nansi." Nik warns the not quite inanimate objects.
"I wish these chains wouldn't attack." Nik adds over his shoulder, not letting his hopes get too high.
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Jek cautiously tiphooves into the chain room while staying within the closewise limits of Xibalba.
He readies himself to attack anything hostile.
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Xibalba's eyes glow gold at Nik's plea and she prepares to drop her focus on their illusion magicks. She smiled to hersfelf, confident that it's power would still remain for at least half a prime day. She gestures a protective symbol with her right hand, fingers twisting in an archaic and strange manner. With her left she readies a snap of her fingers to dismiss any magically controlled chains which attack her wardens.
"Ask and receive..." the Djinn whispers drifting forward partially thought the wall.
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Nik's wish is granted by Xibalba and the animate chains become quiet and still. The magic empowering them dispersed back into the surrounding weave.
Gibbaren grins maliciously and exclaims, "Excellent. Shall we venture further forward?"
"Thanks Xibalba. Let's get through quickly. Some spells come back after being unwound." Nik explains as he steps through and puts a good ten feet between himself and the entrance.
He looks around at the walls and ceiling, waiting to see if anyone gets zapped or... chained?
"Huh, rust-art?"
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Rinika gives an apologetic grin. "Oops!"
She'll head in as well. "Oh, yeah. Weird patterns. Passes for art, I guess? Bet some of the Doomlets would love it."
She'll head over to the ladder and check it over for traps too.
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Jek rolls his eyes at the chain ladder. "Bipeds..."
"This is their art? It seems... kinda like everything else. Maybe this is why we were sent here to help? Do any of you have a little paint?"
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"Let's not make it super obvious we were here. Anyone with the right spell could do something about the jingling curtain, but the second we bring our sensibilities in here we're asking for trouble to come find us. Maybe the issue we're here to solve is helped by the rescue, maybe we need to recommend some paint in the market district, maybe we need the post-job chant, or it could even be the chain supply chain. Let's just try not to say too many words that link us to where we're from while we get this job over with." Nik recommends.
He frowns and scratches his cheek.
'Link'... By Sarenrae, maybe we've been in this place too long already... he wonders to himself.
before this post
Items with limited uses per day
. 3/3 Lesser Rod of Metamagic, Extend
Supernatural Abilities
. (1 at a time) Corpse Companion
. 12/12 rounds Life Sight (20' range blindsight (to detect and differentiate between living and undead creatures only))
. 10/10 Power Over Undead (30' burst; DC 20 will)
Spell-like Abilities
. 10/10 Bolster (Undead) (+3 profane on attacks and saves; 1 temp hp/HD; +2 turn resistance; 6 round duration)
. 1/1 Pyrotechnics (DC 14)
Spells Prepared:
. 6th (3+1/day) Curse, Major (DC 23) (S), Disintegrate (DC 23), Disintegrate (DC 23), new slot I plan to use for Undeath Ward
. 5th (4+1/day) Possession (S), new slot I plan to use for Fabricate, Shadow Evocation, Undead Anatomy II, Wall of Force
. 4th (4+1/day) Enervation (S), Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Flaming Sphere, Greater (DC 22; +1 CL), Summon Monster 4
. 3rd (6+1/day) Vampiric Touch (S), Appearance of Life (DC 20), Fireball (DC 20), Fly, Haste, Haste, Tiny Hut
. 2nd (6+1/day) Command Undead (DC 19) (S), Blur, Flaming Sphere (DC 20; +1 CL), Glitterdust (DC 19), Levitate, Mirror Image, Resist Energy (+1 CL)
. 1st (6+1/day) Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 18) (S), Feather Fall, Grease (DC 18), Infernal Healing, Infernal Healing, Infernal Healing, Warp Sense (+1 CL)
. cantrips (at will) Detect Magic (+1 CL), Ghost Sound (DC 15), Mending (+1 CL), Prestidigitation
Rinika finds no traps on the ladder upwards.
Galleries
You find a chamber cordoned off into long hallways. Within each hallway are a series of grisly displays artfully posed. Each is a collection of bones, usually humanoid of some variety or other, arranged in an abstract pattern, held together by metal chains, drenched in gore and let out to dry.
Gibbaren takes in the galleries appreciating them for their austere beauty. She comments after appreciating the majority of them, ”The kytons haven’t visited this chamber and updated their art in some time it seems. The age of the most recent display is weeks old.”
There are three exits, two that lead to the corners of the building exterior, likely leading to the towers, and one leading towards the center of the building.
"Great. Let's not become the next display. Anyone have thoughts on where they'd keep the package we're picking up? Princesses are always trapped in the highest tower, right?" Nik muses with one hand scratching a cheek.
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As the group enters the grisly display room, Khikril's ebony eyes sweep over the displays, but unlike Gibbaren, he seems less intrigued and more disgusted by them - though likely not for the same reasons as some of his companions. "Look at this. Such sloppy anatomical knowledge - krevaar, where did these imbeciles learn about bone structure? What, is that ulna supposed to be a metaphor for a tibia? And these ones here - if they wanted to arrange them in a hyperbolic spiral in order of size, I'd think they'd at least take the time to make sure all the bones were from the same species!"
"Anyone have thoughts on where they'd keep the package we're picking up? Princesses are always trapped in the highest tower, right?"
Khikril shrugs. "Actually, it would seem most logical that the most valuable areas would be placed at the geometric center of the building. With the objects of value stored in a tower, any amateur capable of flight such as myself or Rinika - no offense, Rinika - could access it with minimal preparation. I mean, at most, we'd have to breach one or two layers of chain, probably with an oxidation agent of some sort, and we'd bypass most of their defenses. At the center of the fortress, on the other hand, would maximize the number of defenses capable of being placed between the target and any given angle of attack."
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Jek stares at the gore. "What a mess... say Nik, do you want any of this for the barrel?"
"Anyone have thoughts on where they'd keep the package we're picking up?"
"I think so... People leave packages in nice easy-to-reach yet well-guarded places - like a post-house. This package isn't supposed to leave... so, my guess is that it will be the opposite: hard-to-reach and unguarded. Then again... some clients had me carry expensive deliveries all the way into a 'safe room' with lots of guards. Hmmm..."
"I think that's two votes for the center." Nik shrugs.
"After you, Jek." He adds, making sure that even with a Veil his squishy self isn't first in line.
Rinika raises her eyebrow at Gibbaren's comment. "Does the rust...grow that much? Do they gotta update by like...cleaning it? This art is weird."
She shrugs at Khikril, unbothered. "Center works."
The erinyes gazes at Rinika demurely, ”I can answer your questions in good time my dear.”
The party picks their way through a series of rooms that appear to be abandoned. They are empty save for disused chain hammocks.
After nine of these chambers you find one that remains in use. In addition to a hammock you find the rotting corpse of a man dangling from a hook and suspended in the air. Numerous bite marks show evidence of something gnawing on the corpse.
After a minute of looking around you see that the room has an unusual number of spiders crawling on the walls and floor, they seem to concentrate below the hanging corpse and moving under the floor there. Nansi hops off of Rinika’s shoulder and begins to pace in a circle with the other live spiders. He speaks repeating the same thing over and over in a smooth tone unusual for him,
The shield is a shield of spell resistance (15).
Another door leads into a final tower on the other end of the building.
"Huh, something weird under the deader." Nik comments before pulling open the compartment under it. He fails to pull out the heavy urn.
"Geez, this thing must weigh over a hundred pounds." He pulls out the stone cap.
"Ah. Jek, we'll want this." He explains, pointing at the nearly 200lbs of jink and other valuables before replacing the cap.
"I can levitate it out if you have a problem with spiders." He adds, thoughtful for once.