Veridis’ home is circular and has an open floor plan, similar to the other structures in Crux it is composed nearly entirely of wood. A calico cat lazily eyes you with its single eye from atop a bookshelf.
Veridis is not physically imposing but he does look you clear in the eye which conveys a sense of confident superiority that need not be flaunted. His neatly kept golden hair barely reaches his shoulders and his sharp-featured face is clean-shaven. He carries no weapons and wears a snow-white shirt and pants, with a black vest.
The man welcomes you to his home after Lunk and Savi are introduced. He asks, ”What do you know of our enemy's perpetrator?”
Conor leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, and watches the talky people talk, also prepares to watch a puppet show.
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“Thanks for inviting us into your lovely home!” Savi starts, knowing manners will earn her receptive ears. As for his question, “This may seem like a kind of unconventional way to answer you, Veridis, but Lunk and I put a puppet show together that might provide context.”
With that, she adjusts her sleeves, and Lunk ducks behind a table.
A floating scroll unfurls, blocking the view of the “stage” just long enough so the audience can read the name of the scene.
The battle vs. the visages is the opening act. Savi is wearing the cat pajamas she wore at the bar last night, and it turns out her battle vs. puppets (at the bar) was a rehearsal. This time, the puppets are all identical—white masks with black cloth “bodies,” and the fire-breathing sock puppet is similar.
Between Lunk’s ocarina and Savi’s odd ability to will sound effects and dancing lights, the experience is eerily musical.
There is a column of deep blue (dancing) light. A Catgirl (gray with poofy black hair) Sock Puppet approaches, “meowing” ocarina notes that rise like question marks. She touches the light, and it blinks off, revealing Savi wearing a geezer mask and a prostitute’s skirt.
There is suddenly a sleazy saxophone tune that Lunk is apparently making by wah-wah-wahhing into his cupped right hand. (The one that is still holding the ocarina—and is he playing it like a sax? For a non-magical mute, his sound effects are very realistic!) Savi sings in-character, willing raspy ghost sounds to hum along.
I’m the Glyphim whore
With melty flesh crawling with germs
Cooties, fleas and STDs
Now bow to me, you worms!
Savi takes over the sax, swaying her hips as Lunk plays his ocarina with his right hand. His left moves the Catgirl Sock Puppet’s mouth to represent talking. Savi holds up her palm.
(And Lunk seamlessly takes over the sax tune again!)
You got lotsa questions
And y’know know I got a price
The first one’s free
But kill a friend before you ask me twice
If your friends are truly friends
And you don’t ask – just to save ’em
No worries dear, just leave ’em here
Alive, yeah – I’ll enslave ’em!
Catgirl Sock Puppet forms a tight lipped frown. The ocarina meows angrily, and puppet versions of Conor, Helios, (Ma)Nik, Jek and Lunk drop from the sky and onto Savi one or two at a time. The Catgirl Sock Puppet ocarinas a battlemeow and finishes Glyphimwhore with a gentle headbutt.
(Cue death scene.)
“Nooooo, I’m melting! Curse you! Melting nooooo, I hope you slip in my puddly remains! Melting! No! Darn cat! No, melt, ack barf gag.”
Savi falls offstage. It sounds like she landed in an orchestra pit. A fairy-sized tuba and regular-sized viol both fly up into view.
Savi, as herself, is now onstage on a fairy-sized rocking-horse version of Jek. RockingJek’s lance is pointed forward (diagonally uppish, forward, diagonally downsome, forward…) and to create the illusion of charging, prestidigital objects zip toward them with an ocarinan FWEEE and break against sword and lance:
A door: CRASH!
A robot: BASH!
A jar labeled “Preserved Ghost Fart”: SMASH!
Savi pretends to faint, tumbles behind the “charging” RockingJek, then falls into the unseen orchestra pit again. A pie-plate-sized crash symbol flies up into view.
In a black veil and ankle-length dress, Savi stands by the RockingJek and solemnly announces: “And now, the sad part.”
A vampidrow puppet impales itself on the RockingJek’s lance.
POOF. It’s gone.
The ghost sound audience moans condolences.
Curtain.
At center stage is an egg about seven inches tall, four inches wide, and every color of the rainbow.
Drumroll… snap, crackle, pop!
Savi hatches from the egg, clad in a form-fitting gray bodysuit with a baby bonnet.
“Maybe you wasn’t bown yestewday, but I was.”
The ghost sound audience d’awwws, laughs and cheers wildly.
Both Niks clap while MaNik adds a bit of explanation.
"Too bad Lunk and Savi weren't there for the part with Cuddles. Hey, Rinika, where'd your pet explosion go, anyway?"
Ignoring the response, Nik continues "Also, we can wake up the suicide-vampire if you want. He mentioned something about Arborea, so we might head there. Want some fresh flesh golem parts? You have the right of first refusal."
Jek watches the show along side MaNik and then joins in the applause.
"Great show!"
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Rinika glances over at Nik at his inquiry into Cuddles' whereabouts, scowl momentarily gone. "Oh, cuddles has a life to go live, they're doing their own thing out there now."
Looking to Veridis, she pulls a paw out of her pocket to give a weak wave. "Glyphimhor said he had powers from Arborea. The vampire mentioned another victim on Oerth, so we have a few leads."
She quietly says to Lunk and Savi, "I liked your show." It seems to have tempered her from a hot mess of vexation to quietly simmering frustration and embarrassment.
Conor slow claps from his perch against the wall at the end of the show.
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Slow-clap? F*~~. I told her she shoulda made Conor the hero of Scene 1.
Veridis watches the show with passive interest. He begins to say, ”Quite entertaining and informative…” But he is interrupted as the one-eyed cat who with growing interest in Savi’s fluttering jumps down from his perch and swats at the sprite.
Savi easily flies away from the vicious hunters' attempt at making her a meal. Picking up the feisty cat in his arms Veridis scolds the animal, ”Simon, please.”
He turns back to the party still holding the squirming mewing cat, ”Perhaps we can work out a deal for entertaining at one of the taverns. In any case, I don’t think I’d want to revive a creature as dangerous as a vampire unless you can be certain he’d be no harm to Crux. Do you think the enemy's operations will continue to involve murdering my people?”
He hands out the coins he promised, including half a share each for Savi and Lunk, ”For your part in the matter.” He considers the golem parts, ”I have no use for them unless you can construct the golems yourself and hand their control over to me. I might be able to find someone who wants them, I can send you a message in Sigil if I do.”
Savi flies up to the ceiling, too started to bother to change out of her BabyNik costume.
She grins at the prospect of entertaining at taverns. “Oh, fun! Do they pay as well as you do?”
She leaves it to Veridis to guess whether she’s kidding or has no concept of money. Why not both?
As for the cat, “I can entertain you for free, Simon.” She points at the floor. A red ball of (dancing) light is on the floor, and it moves wherever Savi’s finger is pointed.
Since the cat missed, she will not try to trick Simon into crashing into a wall, tumbling down a flight of stairs, or leaping out a closed window. If anyone asks if such thoughts crossed her mind, she’ll deny it.
Lunk happily accepts the 1500 bucks.
For some reason, fanfare plays as soon as the coin bag touches his hand.
He sighs, then glances at Savi. This is why people hate giving us money.
Conor accepts his payment happily, then looks about the group.
"What next?"
"Oerth seems most pressing if our undead friend is to be believed. We should probably stop by Sigil on the way. I still don't feel right and I haven't seen any unowned small animals." Nik shrugs.
Conor frowns at the last bit of Nik's comment but just ignores it, "Payday and that loot we took, I agree that a trip to Sigil would be a good idea. I could use some upgrades."
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“Sigil, yay! Is there shopping at Sigil?”
The party returns to Sigil through the fastest route they know, back into the color pool that leads to Rainis and then the portal back to Sigil. They are only mildly harassed by the Lovelost as they walk for a day.
After Nik thrusts a clump of spiderwebs through the portal they arrive back at Sigil in a bright day. Well it would be bright if it weren't for the nearly ever present smog that paints what passes for a sky. Ahead of you the City of Doors, the Cage, Sigil, curves upwards and above you. Built on the inner curve of a torus that’s had it’s insides scooped out by some unknown Power.
As expected you're deposited on the busy Revel St right next to the Great Bazaar. Merchants of every description sell wares from all over the multiverse. Two-headed pigs corralled tightly next to fine silks imported from Kara-Tur, across the street specializing in cheeses: Krigalan Black, Bytopian Red, Tiefling's Delight, to name a few. If it's for sale in the multiverse you'd have a good chance of locating it here.
Right before hopping through the portal, the pair of Niks transfer a large number of books from the haversack to a normal sack. The Testimony of Worms gets its own second sack.
"Hey, Jek. Why don't we sell those golem parts first? They looked real heavy..." MaNik says while TitaNik pats Jek's flank.
"Honestly, the workout was nice. We're going to get a lot of odd looks though... Let's head straight for the bazaar. I know a couple odd shops that might want these."
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Contrary to Jeks statement the party does not get any odd looks, well a couple but one was a Heardhead in the traditional red tinted armor giving everyone a peery eye, and the other was a clueless berk gawking at everything.
Jek leads the party to a stall whose proprietor is a snakelike dragon with green and black patterned scales, Mitluss.
And something that looks like a cross between a killer whale and an elf, with an unpronounceable name.
After they finish unloading loot, MaNik pulls the wand of Find Traps out of his bandolier and examines it, hesitant to hand it over to himself.
"Well, I'm going to just hold this up in my hand, and there better not be any cat-girls or other berks that want to steal this while I'm not looking..."
Eventually, both Niks cringing, TitaNik reaches out and snatches the wand from MaNik's upturned open hand.
TitaNik then stuffs the wand into his belt at his side.
"Yup, definitely would be bad to steal that..."
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It appears that the curse can't tell the difference between MaNik and TitaNik.
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Conor wanders off as the party scatters to sell loot and buy new gear, when they regroup at () he is sporting a fine looking crimson Baldric across his armored chest, supporting a different, more curved, great blade in place of his worn sword the group has gotten so familiar with him carrying around.
He seems pretty proud of his new purchases, grinning a bit more broadly perhaps. Or maybe that's just because he's happy to be back in Sigil where booze, baths, beds and broads are readily available.
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Rinika sidesteps up to Conor at the Inn, trying and failing completely to be nonchalant about it, and somehow still managing to look in every direction except for his. She drops a small back of coin in front of him and mumbles. "For you." Her eyebrows and nose wrinkle in annoyance and she petulantly snarls, "For your trouble."
Then she stomps off.
While in Sigil, in order of priority: She'll do some research with the newly acquired Stuff on her condition, she'll do a bit of shopping, and she'll meet up with her Doomlet buddies and she'll spend a bit of time doing faction work.
Savi and Lunk speak in sign language, until finally, she says to the shopkeeper, “My big friend would like a pair of gloves.”
(Lunk has obtained the Legacy of the First World Whispering Gloves!)
Lunk then uses sign language at the weapon shop.
I want a greensteel katana—that one!
The shopkeeper can somehow understand Lunk perfectly, despite the sock puppets on his hands.
(Lunk has obtained the Greensteel Katana of Lunge Training!)
Most of the party returns to where they usually bang around, the Poor Sod’s Tavern. A place for cheap grass harvested from the roof and not so cheap bub. It’s location, hugging the generally agreed upon line between the Clerk’s Ward and the Hive Ward, is enough to justify taking a carriage pulled by a pair of Arcadian Ponies. The darkness of the night is warded off by torches held by the pony’s chest tentacle.
Ariel, the bartender, serves every customer with breezy grace, she even has a new type of grass for Jek to try. Dothion barbed grass, 8 inches tall with rigid, loosely erect aerial stems, which end in rigid flower spikes, consisting of 3 spikelets bearing long stiff awns. She brings Connor a flagon of ale, Savi a thimble of firewine and a fireseed. She is told to put the seed in her mouth and drink the wine. When she does so the seed ignites in her mouth and she quenches it with the wine, it's indescribably good. She brings Lunk blue fermented milk.
Rinika begins to browse through the necromatic tomes, for clues to her condition.
Before joining Rinika to look through the book collection from Tcian Sumere, both Niks take their new pet rat up to their room.
With that, TitaNik holds the rat down on the book while MaNik pulls out his cold iron dagger.
"Here goes..."
MaNik cuts carefully, trying not to make a hole just big enough to squeeze two fingers through.
Despite being used to rotten body parts and fluids, he is rather slow to handle such fresh entrails. The rat squealing, he pulls out a few inches and pushes them onto the page.
Conor looks confusedly at the pouch as Rinika stalks off without an explanation. After pondering both the catgirl walking away and the catgirl stomping away for a few moments I realizes what the pouch of gold likely represents, a conundrum for him, to be sure.
Conor continues to ponder his problem as he walks to meet the group, finally deciding on a course of action.
When the group settles on he wanders to Jek and sidles up to the bar, plopping the pouch in front of the Signer.
"This is the price of Glimmerhoof's spellcasting that she refused to take as payment from me, Rinika was to holding it to facilitate the transaction, but for some reason she's not doing that now. Leaves me in a bit of a spot as this is no longer mine, but Glimmerhoof is gone. I'll just leave it here on this bar, maybe you can find a way to pay Auntie if you ever see her, or find a way benefit the rest of the group. Seems less wasteful than dropping it in the sewer anyway."
Damned cat just had to make things complicated. Guess that's the nice thing about awkward encounters with group mates, you get to keep seeing them every day. At least until this mess is over anyway.
Conor settles into silence staring into his mug for a bit, contemplating mistakes made.
Lunk sips his delicious milk and smiles at Ariel. He signs to her:
I guess I should've just posted about Nik showing up to help with a look of guilt after the rat thing
Savi does as instructed, and in the time it takes her to think HOLY SHlT, she is already sipping the wine. “Oh! It’s like there’s a party in my mouth, and I’m fashionably late.
“Thanks, Ariel.”
Savi thinks the bar tender is very sweet. If anyone gives Ariel crap, he is soooo gonna get pranked.
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Ariel smiles at the party and says with a breathy voice, "Aww aren't you sweet. Say hun have you heard about those berks that attacked the Shattered Temple? They said the Lost put their Power into the dead-book. Luckily there was a Harmonium patrol nearby and the priests were scragged."
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This is also a piece of a puzzle Nik needs for transforming into a Lich.
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This is also a piece of a puzzle Nik needs for transforming into a Lich.
Frowning until they see a certain cat-girl's furry face again, both Niks join Rinika for some research.
After encouraging Rinika to take a break, Nik goes back to his room to learn a new spell and then get some sleep.
Ariel smiles at the party and says with a breathy voice, "Aww aren't you sweet. Say hun have you heard about those berks that attacked the Shattered Temple? They said the Lost put their Power into the dead-book. Luckily there was a Harmonium patrol nearby and the priests were scragged."
“We’re new in town.” Savi gulps down the rest of her wine, then dips her thimble into Lunk’s glass so she can have a fairy-sized share of blue milk. “But we did encounter the Lovelost. Those guys were such berks, ‘berk’ isn’t a strong enough word. How about buckin’ basshoIes?”
Why does every otherworldly noun begin with B?
The next day, Nik copies down another spell and then visits Lu...
"Hey Lu, got a minute? I got the Jink for a couple more spellkeys. Also, I've been thinkin' about yer offer to quit the dusties. What do I do?"
before this post
Supernatural Abilities
. 8/8 Power Over Undead (30' burst; DC 17 will)
. (1 at a time) Corpse Companion
Spell-like Abilities
. 8/8 Bolster (Undead) (+2 profane on attacks and saves; 1 temp hp/HD; +2 turn resistance; 4 round duration)
. 1/1 Pyrotechnics (DC 13)
Spells Prepared:
. 4th (3+1/day) Enervation (S), Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Flaming Sphere, Greater (DC 20; +1 CL)
. 3rd (4+1/day) Vampiric Touch (S), Fireball (DC 18), Fly, Haste, Tiny Hut
. 2nd (4+1/day) Command Undead (DC 17) (S), Flaming Sphere (DC 18; +1 CL), Glitterdust (DC 17), Make Whole, Resist Energy (+1 CL)
. 1st (6+1/day) Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 16) (S), Enlarge Person, Feather Fall, Grease (DC 16), Infernal Healing, Mage Armor, Warp Sense (+1 CL)
. cantrips (at will) Acid Splash, Detect Magic (+1 CL), Message, Prestidigitation
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Nik and Rinika
Nik and Rinika go over the books pilfered from Tcian Sumere. The first books they tackle: The Echiridion of Thanatos and The Book of Iod. Both tomes contain instructions on animation of corpses but from different perspectives. The Book of Iod seeks to catalog the rituals used by priests of various Powers who raise undead: Nephythys, Chemosh, Yeenoghu, and others, curiously an entire chapter has been torn from the book. The Echiridion of Thanatos, despite the reference to the Chthonic Power in the title, is an atheist perspective on animation with methods of channeling negative energy into a dead body.
So far the library, while informative, does not seem to unravel many mysteries that pertain directly to Rinika. There are references to other works, some of which are present, which might be helpful.
Poor Sods
Ariel offers before attending other patrons, ”Barmy bashers perhaps? Never heard of them in any case.”
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Savi looks at Lunk, baffled by the bar tender.
“Okay, if berk doesn’t mean jerk, then we gotta learn all the interworldinal slangs. And she really didn’t understand buckin’ basshoIe, which means the swears are different too.
“I better not spill my drink or stub my toe, or I won’t know what to say.”
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Lunk sees Connor is also here to stay and drink.
I purchased these gloves so my sign language will make sense to you and the others. I could have asked Savi to speak for me, but she is not my puppet. I want her to relax a bit.
Besides, I have nothing important to say. Well, maybe one important thing: Do the gloves work?
Tivvum's Antiquities
It's hard to miss Tivvum’s Antiquities, even in the hectic hubbub of the Market Ward. The huge shop occupies a five-story, cylindrical building made of smooth green marble. The name of the place is chiseled into the exterior marble repeatedly in a continuous line that coils up around the entire building. An open archway is the only exit or entrance which is flanked by teetering stacks of wicker baskets.
Seated high on a stool behind a mammoth, half-circle marble counter is Alluvius Ruskin, Lu, for short, crunching on thing bones. She is an elderly woman and the only thing indicating that she’s not human is the pair of small horns that poke up through her thin, silvery hair. The wispy gray strands curl up at the ends and hang slightly aloft. She wears a long fitted, dark green jacket with tails and leggings of gray and green pattern that define a spindly form. She wears thick, oblong spectacles of darkened glass and is wearing leather gloves.
Inside the shop, a wide iron spiral staircase bores down through the center of the building’s core and is the only means of traveling from floor to floor. The first floor is crowded for space as it's ringed with large, unmovable wooden barrels and tin bins holding things like marbles, bone chips, feathers, flower petals and so on.
Lu smiles at Nik, "Tired of the dusties already? Finally realized Skall has a funny way of penning his own name in the dead-book? Anyway, it'll only take a couple dozen years of training but you'll have all the time in the multiverse after."
Conor starts for a moment as he hears whispers invade his solace, but from the meaningful stare and context, even he is able to deduce Lunk is "speaking" to him.
He shifts over a bit closer to the big man at the bar and responds.
"Aye they work well enough. It is good to not need a translator. Well met my friend."
That’s a relief. These gloves will come in handy if I ever run into an elf. Savi can’t speak Elvish. She managed to pick up every other language I know, though, including the language of Giants.
But anyway, I never got the chance to ask… what’s with all the jumping world-to-world? I mean, it’s what my mother used to do, and my uncle as well, but there was a purpose. Simple stuff, like saving a princess or wiping out an invasive species.
Getting the hell off the First World’s good enough for me. But I get the feeling your reason isn’t so aimless.