Verdaeth looks to her consort and comes clean, ”I know what they did. Kiaransalee bid them to bury a staff in the depths of one of the Outer Planes. A place called Agathion. One of the Githyanki was able to read the psychic impressions on your ring Erehe.”
Erehe looks angry but contains it well, ”You of course know what’s best. Thank you for sharing it now.” The drow spellslinger taps his finger to his mouth, ”If Kestrod was captured then whomever did so must be searching for me as well.”
Verdaeth asks, ”What can you tell us about Tenenbrous, does she have servants? What is she capable of?The more we know about this new threat the more we can prepare to defend ourselves against it.”
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"Uh. Well. There are these guys that look like gnarled shadowstuff with claws. They have fancy scary masks too, but they're definitely not shadows. Very real claws. We've heard some people are calling them Visages."
Nik looks up and left, thinking a moment.
"Probably the mask." he shrugs.
"Anyway, they're some kind of intelligent undead, but they can do some pretty crazy illusion magic. Got us all mixed up and swinging at each-other a few times. They're pretty scary as spies." Nik says, frowning.
Brightening up, he adds "It's handy to have shamblers around, though; the spooky mask guy magic seems to need a mind to affect. Maybe we can draw a picture of what they look like, but I'm not sure how well the shamblers on guard duty would remember the image. Also, if you can catch 'em when they're a bit farther off, things like Black Tentacles seem to work really well."
"They don't like hugs." He adds, nodding to himself.
Nik sighs.
"Kestrod seemed to think they were too good to be stopped. He... he wanted us to assassinate Erehe before anyone found out about what he forgot, which sounds like that staff. You might be okay as long as you have plenty of shamblers nearby, especially the boney ones, buuuut- it's dangerous without True Seeing to spot them or..." Nik trails off.
"A ta- er- demon recruit?" he shrugs.
Nik turns to the others "Anyone think that stick is safe enough with who-knows-how-many Githyanki reading psychic impressions?"
“That stick isn’t exactly a well-kept secret, so… yeah.”
Savi is relieved that the party isn’t about to go through with an assassination, so it seems. Whatever evil these drow may be up to, Savi doesn’t want to see Lunk stoop to that level.
She says to one of the drow, “I saw one of the women… with no weapon, she singlehandedly defeated many, and then she turned to mist when she was overwhelmed. I don’t understand any of this, but she was very brave.”
It’s as close as Savi can come to condoling the drow. Maybe they don’t even know who she’s talking about. Maybe they’re numb to all of the death.
Completely oblivious to any of the universe shattering plans and relevations being disclosed, Baraxx leans against the wall listening with some interest and no small amount of confusion waiting for someone to initiate the assassination these folks seemed to be planning on attempting.
He figured with the rest of the group weaponless he'd probably have to do much of the chopping and slashing, though the horse guy seemed pretty handy with those horns of his, and that was fine with him. He didn't really care who he fought anyway.
Though, he did hope they had some kind of plan for retreating from this place surrounded by dragons and Githyanki.
Though, I've yet to kill a dragon or any of the Gith, so that might be an interesting way to go
It's not like he feared death anyway, he'd seen and committed enough atrocities in the Blood War he knew exactly where he was going and what was waiting for him after death. It would be unpleasant, to put it mildly, but really nothing to fear.
Lunk assumes that Nik wouldn’t have mentioned the assassination in front of the target if it was still ‘on.’ He signs his thoughts to Nik.
I am relieved you are handling things this way.
I was known as a ‘Hero’ back home. The title was a mockery—long story—but I prefer being called ‘Hero’ at my expense to being called ‘assassin’ truthfully.
It sucked seeing Conner go. I don’t regret taking the head off the Shadow Knave for restarting an ended fight that led to our friend’s death. The Knave’s corpse and the Marvent’s deserve the mockery of being your puppets.
But these drow… they’re locked in a perpetual state of war. Whoever hired us to kill here is an idiot. The drow kill each other in scores, hour after hour. Why outsource?
Nik looks at Lunk with obvious confusion.
"If other people already know, there's no point in offing Erehe, is there? We probably just need to dig up the staff before someone who knows about it gets mind-probed."
Nik holds on side of his head.
"Assuming that hasn't happened yet..." he sighs.
He turns back to Verdaeth and Erehe.
"Hey, do either of you know a good way out of here? We need to-"
Nik blinks as he realizes what they need.
"...go to hell, I guess."
Annoyed, Nik slouches as he continues "Or any conduits to any part of the afterlife besides the one in the temple to Lolth? I don't really want to sneak past those guys a second time. I doubt the spider ladies would be easy to fool. Oh- hey- how did the Githyanki get here? Awful lot of 'em for a series of calling rituals."
Verdaeth and Erehe look at each other and begin to laugh as you casually talk about assassination, "You're certainly going about that in an odd way. We appreciate the information and would hope that you remain allies going forward. As thanks for the information to the new threat we can spare a single githyanki warrior to take you where you wish to go."
The drow spellslinger destroys his wall with a green beam, and the red dragon takes you back to House Tormtor with written instructions to plane shift you to a plane of your choosing.
When Nik remembers that Plane Shift can only move 8 people at a time, he takes a hard look at his shamblers.
<Oh, gee, can’t take them all, that’s too bad,> Lunk signs sarcastically as he draws his blade and beheads the knave (again). He punts the head (off a cliff, geography permitting).
He leaves Zombie Marvent to Rinika.
"So... how do we leave where we're going?"
Nik completely ignores the plight of his undead minions.
"Well, first we have to do something useful with the shamblers. Can't take them with us directly... doubt they could find a way to walk back... oh, and Nansi. Aw man. I can't even bring my ride, I guess. Wait. Nansi likes Rinika's bags-"
Nik sidles up to Rinika. "Mind if Nansi hangs out in my haversack for the trip? I don't want to leave Horsington behind."
Then he perks up when he realizes.
"Wait a minute. Hey, guys, think we can buy a Bag of Holding? I could just stuff all the skeletons into it. Jek can carry their gear while we travel."
After a bit of shopping, Nik spends a few minutes disarming and stuffing shamblers into a bag of holding. Handing the equipment and the sack of shamblers to Jek, he holds out their note that promises them Githyanki soldier based passage back to the planes and says "So... where should we go, anyway? We'll want somewhere with an easy to figure out landmark... the outlands has the infinite spire."
Baraxx looks around at the group and the Drow army, debates for a moment, shrugs and asks.
"Well, I'm out of things to do and you all seem to be doing something interesting. Probably more interesting than enlisting with this lot anyway, I've had enough of being front line fodder in war to last me a lifetime. Mind if I tag along?"
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Jek plays around with the bag of holding as he helps Nik get it loaded. Wait... is this how the other couriers do it?
He smiles at Baraxx's question. "Well of course. You're more than welcome. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that sword trick either. Ever been to Sigil?"
Yeah... we seem to have a problem keeping swordsmen around...
"Sigil? Good idea. Should we try that portal near Plague-Mort? I'd have to figure out the key, but it's easier to walk through than the portal we followed the Khaasta through..."
With little trouble the party manages to make its way back to Sigil, the portal flares to life without you having to divine the key to this side. Apparently you had it on you already, whatever it was.
Savi is relieved to be out of that hell. (Abyss, technically, but same difference.)
“Okay… that trip was unpleasant, disturbing and really not worth Connor’s life. I know Lunk and I are new to the team, but I wanna suggest that next time someone says, ‘whooooo’s up for a suicide mission?’ let’s tell that someone whose butt to jump up.”
"Yeah, we had to leave him behind and everything..." Nik frowns as he hands back Nansi to Rinika.
"So, shall we get some vard gum and go looking for that staff? Or... maybe we should go to that dusty place in the upper planes. Seems like a better lead than some random place that we may or may not be able to get to."
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Rinika stops sneaking about and shows up again for the jump back to Sigil. She gives Savi a mournful look at the mention of Conor.
"I'd say let's go for the staff. We hopefully have a head start on that one."
During downtime, she'll spend a bit of time with the doomlets and a bit of time researching what condition her condition is in.
Nik nods. "Sounds good. Horsington is holding the sack of books we can look through for the- er- your condition."
"Sigil? Never heard of it. Is that a plane or a city?" Baraxx asks as he follows the group to The Cage.
As the group discusses what to do next, he offers no input as at this point he's just following in their wake. Partially out of boredom, partially out of interest, a little bit out of self protection in case some of the Baatezu find him and know that he's a deserter. If that happened a group of powerful adventurers who seemed apt to attack fiends or demons on sight and not bother listening to an infernal bounty hunter's contractually proper warrant first.
In the city, having nothing better to do, Baraxx mostly follows along with one or more of the group (whomever offers, or someone random if nobody does) taking in the sights and sounds of the first big city he had ever encountered in his long yet sheltered (in a manner of speaking) life.
"A city! It's the best city! It's kind of its own plane too." Rinika pulls her well-worn and well annotated copy of Kylie's Big Book of Sigil out of a pocket and starts to flip through it. A smile creeps across her face as she does so, happy to get back to her hunting grounds after the recent upsets. "Anything you want to see, you can find it here."
"Or buy. Like, anything." Nik says.
"And she's the tour guide. Well, one of 'em." He adds, helpfully.
"I think I should probably head to the dusty HQ first, see if anyone missed me." He says.
Lunk points his thumb at his badge. Seeing the glint in Savi’s eyes, he suggests Nik come up with a time and place to meet.
He and Savi got things to do, and people to see… or not. These people aren’t exactly known to be meticulously organized.
Baraxx looks down at himself and shrugs, "Cat say I need to buy anything. Could use a drink and a large hunk of some type of cooked meat though. Someone point me to a good tavern?"
At the further discussion.
"If someone is guiding around the city, I'd be interested. Never seen a town this big." he says, looking around a bit wide eyed. The with a moments thought and effort, he tamps down his excitement and looks around with Stony disinterest.
Don't want to look like an easy mark to the street predators that surely are watching right now
"The best one's the Poor Sod. It's a good place to meet up if we get separated."
Jek stays with the group as they give Baraxx a tour and points out places he remembers delivering to.
"So, is there anything you're looking for? Anything at all?"
Savi and Lunk
As you wander around the smoggy streets of Sigil randomly you pass someone who’s half Lunk’s height. She, (he? you can’t tell), has red and blue striped markings on their skin and is pushing a cart filled to the brim with potted flowering plants. They have a wild grin on their face and are hurrying as fast as they can down a street. Then Lunk realizes that within the cart is a small wooden person wearing a five pointed leaf as a mask.
Nik
Nik walks past the open-air monument where countless cutters have inscribed the names of the dead and up the shallow flight of marble steps between two of the Mortuary’s dark buttresses to a massive gate of copper sheathed wood. Several Dustmen guards watch his approach but say nothing.
He walks past the great hall, an impressive chamber with tall, vaulted ceilings and floors of more polished black marble. The walls are decorated with dark geometric carvings. None of the five Dustmen stationed in this ceremonial chamber give Nik any heed.
As he enters the central chamber reserved for large gatherings he hears a woman stifle a laugh and then whisper in his ear, ”Oh Nikrir, darling, what have you done?” Selveaemmignus Laendrolsiar lurks behind him, but something seems different about the elf.
Rinika, Baraxx, and Jek
The trio settled on the Black Sail tavern because Rinika wanted to touch base with her doomlet. The blackened bowsprit of an ancient galleon juts out over the street end. The remnants of the ship's foresail sag over the figurehead. Soot has stained the sail black. Inside, there is a dim common room with dark rafters overhead and about a dozen curtained alcoves concealing the tables. Several stained and notched tables stand in the room's center, where a group of sullen crafters are gathered, drinking quietly.
A group of Sinker huddle in one of the alcoves, but no one she knows, at least yet.
"No idea, Sel." Nik mumbles with a sigh and look of annoyance.
Then he notices something off and he squints at her "You seem a little different, and entirely too happy." he observes aloud.
Baraxx takes in the ambiance with a grin, happy to see new and interesting things after the endless, boring, horrors of the infernal planes and orders food and booze (assuming Jek and Rinika indicated they were staying for a bit).
"Wow, so this is some cushy stuff here. Sure beats hiding under a rock and trying not to get eaten."
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After some quick sign-language dialogue, Savi zips up to the little lady (only triple her height counts as “little”) and asks, “Whatchya doing?”
Savi and Lunk
As the pair of strange creatures rush forward the little one answers between breaths, ”Going. To. Decorate. The. Armory. Want. In?”
The armory is a 24-story structure covered in what Savi and Lunk have come to know as razorvine. Four squat towers anchor each of the building’s corners; they are somehow free of the invasive vine. From the top of the imposing building billows a tremendous blast of heat, light, and smoke as if there were some raging fire within. The only entrance to the building sits under a bas-relief of a skull of some strange bull.
Nik
It takes Nik a second to register the change, his frenemy elf has ended her life and become some sort of undead. Her tone becomes more muted as Nik calls her out, ”Have I? I suppose I have. Well I’ll see you later.” She leaves Nik to his own devices unless he stops her somehow.
Rinika, Baraxx, and Jek
From the direction of the armory you hear the shout of a man through the tavern walls, ”You barmy leatherheads, you better pike off!”
Nik scrunches his face in frustration before following after her.
"Ugh- what did I do though? Or didn't. What's the chant?"
As she turns to the other side, he circles behind her to the other side and adds "I'll let you know if it's true or not if you share~"
Savi replies, “Sure! …uhhh, but is it supposed to burn like that?”
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Jek buys drinks for their table and grins when the yelling starts outside.
"Ah... the sounds of Sigil..."
Baraxx perks his ears up at the sound of commotion, but relaxes at Jek's comment, content to let the natives of this strange city take the lead.
Still, he keeps his shield close at hand, just in case.
Looking between the pair, he asks "So what's, if you don't mind, the story with you lot? I heard something about destroying the multiverse? It's gotta be important to take that dangerous trip to just talk for a few minutes and leave. Plus there was a vampire, Drow, and somehow your necromancer didn't seem to want to control it. That seems odd.
You lot getting paid for all of this? Sounds like you had a proper brawl in Plague Mort, shame about your friend from what the other guards were saying. Sounded like a stand up chap."
Rinika glances around the tavern with a frown, not recognizing her friends. Her ears perk up at the shouting from outside, and that distracts her a bit from Baraxx's line of questions. "Uh...destroying the multiverse, yeah, I mean its all going to fall apart eventually right? Mostly it seems like we chase down leads, which just lead to more questions. Sometimes we get paid, and sometimes the money's in the journey, so to speak." Shhe flashes him a quick grin and waggles her fingers at him.
Whether she was distracted or just ignores the question about Conor, she shrugs and points to the door. "Let's go check out this commotion."
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Nik
Sel corrects herself, ”I suppose I don’t know precisely what you’ve done. But I can demonstrate.” She makes a come hither gesture and starts walking towards one of the many crypts arrayed around the mortuary’s main structure.
Rinika, Baraxx, Jek, Savi, and Lunk
A strange scene lays out before you. A score of armed Doomguard bashers stand weapons drawn against a motley crew of Xaoscitects, all with various kinds of plants in their hands. Two of them happen to be plants, a large creature shaped like a mushroom and a wood-like creature riding a flower cart. One of the Chaosmen, an aasimar with golden flowing hair, flies up one of the towers of the Armory and begins to decorate it with a long garland of flowers.
Lunk casts Ant Haul and Bull’s Strength on Savi.
Savi offers, “I can help!” She’s pretty sure Lunk’s magic will compensate for her tiny arms so she can decorate.
While flying alongside the aasimar, she says to him, “This is most certainly a very silly question, but what are we hoping to accomplish?”
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Rinika's ears and tail shoot straight out as she hears the ever-so familiar voice. Seeing an opportunity, she loudly addresses the antsy doomguard who have found themselves wrapped up in Xaositect shenanigans.
"DOOMGUARD. Listen up meow. Let them do whatever they think they're going to do with their garlands and wreaths. It won't stand up to the razorvine. What good are flowers? Their job is to look beautiful for a fleeting moment, and then they decay. So too will this prank. And as these plants hang, dessicated and rotting, against the walls of this edifice, they will serve as an inescapable reminder to all, that all will turn to dust in the end."
Savi swoops down and places a flower in Rinika’s hair to give her a bit of fairy luck.
Baraxx nods along and grins at the cat thing's explanation and nods and follows as she gets up, his own curiosity aroused.
Seeing the lunatic circumstance he can only chuckle to himself at the absurdity of it, asking "This kind of thing happen often here? Also what in the nine hells is going on? Who are the gloomy ones, who are the crazy ones?"
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“…who are the crazy ones?”
A smugly-grinning Lunk proudly jerks his thumb at himself.
Nik looks over his shoulder to make sure Horsington is still following before following after her...
Jek laughs and brings the drinks with him. "Often? Yes. There's always something going on with the Chaosmen." He gestures with his mug at the crazy ones. "They're as barmy as the come. The gloomy ones are Doomguards. They break stuff and complain about order, so maybe there's some common ground here..." He hands Baraxx his mug. "Let's just watch."
Baraxx thanks Jek for the offered mug and muses, "Breaking stuff I like. Order? Nah, I've had a belly full of rules, but that lot seem a bit nuts even for me."
With that he settles himself agains the doorjab and sips his ale, watching how things pan out.
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Nik
Nik is led to an out of the way crypt that is not frequented much. Within are a pack of slavering ghouls quietly munching on a rotting corpse. The not-too-often talked about members of the Dustmen stare at Nik with red eyes and lick their lips with too long tongues. They attempt to assault the necromancer, which he is handily able to defend himself against. This isn’t the first time he’s taken down a pack of simple ghouls. Sel smuggly says, ”I may be too emotional but I’m trying at least. You’ve betrayed our philosophy and now you have to pay the music.”
Rinika, Baraxx, Jek, Savi, and Lunk
Choasmen and Doomgaurd alike listen as the catfolk masterfully interprets the Doomguard philosophy and its implications. One of the onlooking Xoasetict yells, ”Sister! It preach.” A few of the Doomguard join in the impromptu decoration of the tower.