A Tiny Part Of The Dimension Wars (Interdimensional Spy Follies

Game Master GM Hansj

Just FYI, you have Andreesha held in stasis...

(at the pirates' funky but pleasantly arrange space frigate on the moon's surface, probably moved next to the Lyra's ship)

Boinga looks worried. "True, we are interplanar desperadoes but we stick to each other. Tell us where Andreesha is or where you last saw you saw"

Meanwhile, Snobarny comments, "It seems like we're getting somewhere - though it's very dangerous. It seems like Gift has drafted us into a part of the dimension wars we didn't expect. Does this make sense? I was only briefly acquainted with her but that did seem like something she'd do. But you know her better." he pauses for a response or reaction, then "But with the virus and counter-virus. We shouldn't just wait but rather bring Fentor or his agents here again to continue their effort... Perhaps disguise ourselves as agents ourselves or even send these pirates back to get more supplies. Of course that too would be dicey. But we are full agents of The Organization, we can show this villain what we can do...

The were-dog's tail flicks excited as he end the speech.

We have some history with Fentor, Terexaltherin replies to Snobarny, allowing the others to deal with the pirates. He narrowly escaped us once, and he's obviously a major threat to the planes. It doesn't surprise me that Gift would want us after him.

He considers the suggestions. We have to assume he'll know pretty quickly that Throat has perished. He'll be on his guard, probably looking for threats. We *could* see which of the pirates seems genuinely willing to help because of the threat he poses and use them, have them tell a tale of barely escaping from battle... Fentor would probably get aggressive, he didn't seem like the sort to just fold and run in the middle of a plot like that. We might be able to use that... what do the rest of you think? He asks the rest of the group.

Snobarny nods. "It would be hard to convince him that the pirates would willingly return to him. But, hmm, we could have the pirates flee but not far enough and have Fentor "re-recruit them". Indeed, we could have them be seen gambling at the Pillars of Time. Or we could find someone else to contact Fentor... He somehow likes people from Arlo's ex-home world. Who else could we return from the dead and how? hmm, hmm... His eyes narrow and his forehead wrinkles...

"Running away but not far enough seems hard to credit, surely Fentor would get suspicious? Gambling at The Pillars of Time, however... I think you might be onto something there Snobarny." said Azzim.

"Ah yes, gambling" Snobarny sinks back, conjuring a fine mithral inlaid oak-burl pipe filled with aromatic Dimonian Pipe Weed, takes a puff and looks out the ship's port into the middle-distance of this moon's bleak, airless landscape. "We would have to try one of the truly great houses, these 'pirates' betrayed Fentor for raw temporal alloy and now seek to gamble it to win back their lost future..." Another couple puffs. "But what house do they gamble in? It must be one of the great houses, a place where even such Fentor would mind his manners. The story is they're counting on this being one place they're safe. And who did they trade with? We have to make our story compelling He looks around at the other part members with an amused look on his hound's face.

If anyone wishes, you can create a short description of a house, mostly what sorts of adventurers frequent it, what the staff looks like and a few ambiguous rumors and have your character "remember" the house. There is very little known about any of the houses...

Azzim thought for a moment before suggesting, "If they're truly desperate they might consider the The Night Market at the fall of Sarokin. A difficult place to reach but I judge they would just about be able to make it, and on their best behaviour they might even be let in..."

That could work... it's probably our best chance, Terexaltherin agrees. So how do we disguise ourselves so we can observe? How do we catch Fentor when we can't fight in the house?

"Brilliant, Azzim, as usual ... Snobarny smiles and you can see a just hint of jealousy along with his admiration... "But risky. It hasn't been The Organization's style to head so close to the lower planes but we have to start some time. And it's a place we won't be expect. Naturally, our pirates will be in over their heads. That will be the ploy, they come to The Fall Of Sarokin desperate to sell or gamble their thing, what they got for 'selling out' Throat and word spreads. Fentor appears and somehow we offer him the 'counter code' of Gift, victory ensues. Well, there will be more to figure out as we go..."

The were-hounds pauses, takes a long drag on his pipe and blows a cloud of smoke that form a map of The Sarokin Timecrystal, with Palaces, Banquet Halls, gardens and dimensional portals all visible. "We'll have to do some talking with our pirates. I think we can be level with them, they'll be taking a great risk, many possible fates worse than death here but I think they can take it, they're even used to it. That doesn't mean we won't have to watch them.... And we'll need to create our 'legends'. Some of us should be allies or servants of the pirates but some can be independent and we won't be too constrained here, many hide their identities in this place. Also, the pirates should perhaps only contact a few of us. An effort to betray us might even play into our hands...

I heard years ago the US Special Forces uses the term 'legend' for false identities, an interesting choice...

I'll see what I can tell about which of these pirates we can get to go along with this plan. Stasis for the rest? Terexaltherin suggests. We'll definitely need to drastically change our own appearances. I suppose I can be a bird-like familiar creature again? Let's see, we'll probably want to offer something beyond their freedom to those who go along with this. I don't *like* the idea, of course, but I'd rather have them motivated to make this succeed rather than trust we can threaten them well enough for them to go along with it.

Terex and Snobarny talk to the group of pirates they have captured, Boinga answers "I think we would be willing. Believe it or not, you may call us infamous villains but redeeming ourselves is in the end what all of us want - even if some of us have less than savory appetites, admittedly. And the deal would be - just three of us go. Myself, Andreecha and one other you choose and you can keep the rest of us in stasis as surety. And we know our way around some dark planes, though clearly not at your level."

Snobarny continues brainstorming, "We should also think what force the pirates sold Throat out to. The Red Legion? A demon prince meddling? Hmm. Some other dark force wanting to use the Fentor's prank for their purpose... It's not uncommon... He refills the pipes and continues puffing.

Lyra looks at the three.

"Just be aware I don't trust you. One wrong move and I will end you"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (5) + 29 = 34

Azzim smiled, "Don't worry, I will set magical guards and wards on your friends in stasis, to keep them safe. To seal the deal I'm considering summoning something powerful from the upper planes to guard them, haven't decided what yet though."

So, the party preps the stasis field for most of the pirates and preps Andreecha, Jerlanech (female albino tiefling) and Boinga (goblin) for the mission. Let me know about any other preparations.

Then, to enter the Sarokin Time Crystal, you spend four days hiking the Sortlige Maelstrom 'till you find the appropriate transit pool and, once the gate spirit is paid off, you enter the The Fall Of Sarokin proper, in all its malevolent splendor. The main occupations here are gambler, servant and gangster but still let me know how you set yourself up. All sorts of decadent luxury is available

As they prep and place the pirates into cold sleep she checks her suit, fixing and repairing it. Her seage railgun was gone, beyond repair, buit the suit itself was a weapon. It would have to do. Packing in survival gear and tech kit she went to Arlo and checked he was ready.

At Sarokin Time Crystal she had her senses up and followed the others.
hiking the Sortlige Maelstrom he was able to help Arlo, his little legs having to move so much to keep up. When they get to the The Fall Of Sarokin, she takes uo her vanguard position behind the others.

"So then what next"

Had to look this up. Azzim can summon a Planatar however since the task of guarding the stasis area for a long time is super expensive (costing 17k + 2.5k) and I doubt we've got that sort of money at had right now, Azzim is going to try and pull a fast one them instead, via the permanent image spell.

Before the party leave, Azzim eagerly tells the pirates. "I've decided to place a permanent prismatic sphere over the stasis pods and to summon a powerful Angel known as a Planetar to watch over your friends while we are away. No harm shall come to them, and nobody shall disturb them until we return of that you can be assured!"

Bluff: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37

He them arranges for a permanent illusion of a prismatic sphere and an incredibly lifelike angle, weapon drawn standing deathly still and ready to strike anyone unauthorised who might wander past.

Before entering the Fall Of Sarokin, Azzim took on the shape of a snake like Marilith Demon in a suit and expensive sunglasses.

In answer to Snobarny's earlier question Azzim suggested, "My thought is the pirates sold Fentor out to the lower planes, perhaps to agents in the abyss although the hells could work too. For tonight's performance I shall be known as Zzas Arass the inevitable, possibly their minder, possibly not. My pla is to wander the gambling halls in plain sight awaiting the intervention of Fentor any of his agents."

Exiting from the Maelstrom at the edge of Sarokin, the party's view of the timecrystal is spectacular. The "Fall" is metaphorical and literal - a river surrounds Sarokin and beyond it is ... nothingness, rainbow chaos. This nothingness flows around and over the city Sarokin like a Klein Bottle shaped waterfall... Fortunately, within the city, reality is more conventional. Hotels, brothels, blood-sport arenas and casinos of various sorts line the lines outside the palace (which you able to easily navigate picking up minor rumors and contact) . The palace itself takes 60% of the "island/timecrystal" and seems a huge party ... Rumor has it the night market will happen in three days (one day early as sometimes happens)...

Snobarny explains his idea of the plan "So what our friends will be shopping around is access to the CnC servers in Madelainreat, a thing specific enough that it will get Fentor's ear. Ideally, they give access to the gnome, flee and we feed Gift's code back to him when he attempts access..."

Hmmm... I could do a larger creature for once, anyone need a fierce dracohound companion? he asks the rest of the group.

We'll have to be careful with spreading around what they're supposedly selling. We might get some other 'offers' if we're not careful.

Diplomacy (gather information): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (20) + 16 = 36
Arlo looks for a decent hotel for the group to stay in. The dwarf and the android will share a room.

She walks with her husband

"Arlo what I don't get is how all this helps us with Gift message? We wanted to get the mecha computers to decode it and now we are looking for some lower planes smugglers."

The dwarf ponders Lyra's question.
"I'm not sure. GIFT is the creator deity of this universe. A relatively new one. Maybe. Maybe, the only way GIFT can communicate with us is with low-level punks. Like..trying to spell out words with household item in an attempt for us to understand. I don't know. That's the feeling it get."

Arlo looks up into his wife's eyes trying to understand it.

She thinks about this. Gifts world, he made this place, and yet she sent a message. Lyra knew her Daughter but a god, one that would be now 1000s of years old. A being on a whole other plane of existence. She just could not think about that right now. But what Arlo had said rang true. If Gift was trying to reach out to them, then she may only be able to do so in this way.

"I trust you with this Arlo, you understand divinity more than me."

Snobarny seems to sense Lyre's unease and approaches her discreetly some time after the pirates are established in a luxury hotel with the party nearby. "I know you're eager to have Gift's message decoded and we can't be sure that coming here to set a trap for Fentor will take us towards that. But I think we've got some clues that at least part of this message was an effort to thwart an extremely dangerous plot - both the people following us in Sigil and the way the message was so carefully encrypted point to that... Still, we're just following our intuitions here in the end, so we have no guarantees. Still, the intuitions of The Organization's agents should be good..."

The town and palace are luxurious. While there are a number of glad-handers and servants eager to "help", most denizens are quiet and in a hurry though you can guess that in some exclusive establishments, some might open up more.... The Castellan's secretary keeps hours at the palace gate and there is even a small "ministry of tourism" in the town (though it has a hint of being a joke).

Meanwhile, Andreecha approaches the party, "I know I come off as boastful, even arrogant but here, I'm a little nervous. Should be we directly approach the castellan about the time of the game or seek to make side contacts, how should we be doing things?"

She said nothing. But thought on what had been said.

Azzim listened to Snobarny and gave what he said a lot of thought. He agreed that, "There is a danger here, we assume we're dealing with Fentor's maciations, but what if he is just a lieutenant of something bigger. We must be wary, but not so much that we jump at the sight of our own shadows..."

When Andreecha spoke, Azzim's in his guise as Zzas Arass the inevitable hissed as he wove a sinuous dance around them, "I appreciate we're asking you to take a leap of faith here. If we can lure Fentor in, then we can offer you a future where he's not around anymore. Think what a weight of your minds that will be. To do this I'm afraid you're going to need to seem somewhat desperate, that is dangerous in a place like this as you well know. Remember you are not alone. So yes you should talk to the castellan and also you should make side contracts, make it known you have something truly valuable for sale to the highest bidder. Like a moth to a candle I judge Fentor won't be able to resist."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (3) + 23 = 26

"There is a danger here, we assume we're dealing with Fentor's maciations, but what if he is just a lieutenant of something bigger. We must be wary, but not so much that we jump at the sight of our own shadows..."

Snobarn cocks the jackal head he wears in the guise of an Ambarian Rakasha currently... "Fentor is a conduit ... a conduit to a different dimension. " He pauses either thinking or for dramatic effect "This is confidential knowledge, even within The Organization. Above my pay grade but I make a point of knowing things..." Another pause. "Fentor, through his glove and eyepiece, is a conduit to a dimension of madness. We don't know if it's outside the multiverse or merely outside our understanding but it is terrifying even compared to many other things The Organization has faced." His eyes are a bit shiny. "Of course the multiverse is big, many disruptive forces are in it and many forces exist to clean up the disruptions. But this is personal. Before The Organization existed as such, when it was just an ad-hoc group of amoral adventurers with a plan to put a quick end to the Dark Traders, Fentor was a part of that group. His flirting with these forces of madness was tolerated, possibly encourage. Of course, there came a time when harsh words turned to combat, the willy gnome fled and Ari, Arjunara and the core group formed the group in a more principled manner. But suffice to say, Fentor knows more than he should about operations of The Organization even though core group took all conceivable precautions. This is how to understand the danger of Fentor. "

Later, when Azzim speaks Andreesha, she seems to buck-up and take a look of determination and leaves for the palace. Hours later she returns, "Speaking vagaries and euphemisms, I was still able to get his interest in 'special and unique access to an upper plane server...' and he said he would contact me in a day with what interest parties he could find. We must wait. The Castellan! (she's impressed) Perhaps some of you could come with me then..."

Later, that day, Andreesha receives a message to meet "Proctor Consolium" the next afternoon at well know cafe, along with the Castellan. As the time for the meeting gets closer, Andreesha seems to get more nervous. "I definitely will need someone to come with me ... I don't know why just that name fills me with dread..."

Zzas Arass the inevitable replied, "I shall accompany you, perhaps posing as a potential investor."

Later Zzas Arass circulated among the gambling halls, listening in for any rumors that might be doing the rounds. Diplomacy: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (10) + 23 = 33

"And I'll be the Muscle", Arlo sighs.

I'll stay out on the floor and keep an eye out--keep in contact, Terexaltherin 'says'.

Lyra opens her suit and jumps out, reaching back in she pulls out a bag in which is her Noble clothing from Sigil.

"Well Husband mine, shell we take the roles of rich lady and gruff bodyguard once more."

Hearing the plan, Andreesha and Boinga buck-up and rehearse their patter. Snobarny volunteers to be protection for the pirates while Azzim as Zzas Arass lead a group of potential investors to bid along those offered by the Castellan.

So the hour arrives and the pirates and the party, separately enter an ornate wooden door and descend to a sumptuous conference room provided with all mortal and demonic amenities... Cigars beyond compare, fresh drawn carafes of bloods etc. And finally see the rival bidders and a couple of the Castellan's suave tiefling servitors. The bidders, introduced as "Xon & C" are likely daemons, partaking of both human and insect anatomy, one looking a grossly fat man from which insect arms occasionally protrude in random locations. The other is thin, nervous, something a elf with faceted eyes, drool black ichor. The two manage to seem bored, nervous and angry simultaneously...

Boinga lays out the offer - a set of compromised servers in a high lawful plane of powerful influence.

The thin bidder speaks first "In principle we are interested. To begin, what do you seek?" Andreesha replies with just the appropriate "We seek 100K of universal gold and 10k orichalcum. Pauses, this is standard "We seek a contract for Azure level on level II plane the bidders pause, unconsciously look at the party...

Aim of the bidding is to raise interest... Andreesha is asking for more protection than what a small bidder could easily offer - but what they offer with some difficulty. It's a calculated approach to get interest... The party's task is seeming interested but also reluctant. Enough so the bidders won't try 'low balling'

Terexaltherin, currently in the form of a fiendish microraptor, hangs around nearby, keeping watch for anyone looking too interested in the goings-on.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 19 + (4) = 29

Terex scans the area. The conference itself room secured by powerful magic guaranteeing neutral and "fair" deals. The hall itself is much more lightly protected and as tiny raptor, he recognizes a small, silver spider with a tinier red rune on it's belly - a daemonic tracer, most likely waiting to spring on the pirates when they leave.

It would be a fairly simple matter to destroy thing - roll to hit AC 25...

Terexaltherin debates just destroying the tracker... but what if he did something more clever? Could he, say, reprogram it, or trace where it is sending its signal? He examines it from a distance, estimating if he could do anything of the sort.

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 23 + 3 + 1d6 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 3 + (6) = 42
Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 23 + 3 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 23 + 3 + (4) = 41

Considering what he knows of these daemonic tracers, Terex realizes reprogramming it and faking it's "feed" would be well within his capacities - if he managed to capture and disabled it without it sending an alarm.

Discovering who the feed was going to would be a more difficult matter, though not impossible.

Sneak up on it and disable device...

Zzas Arass sighs coming across as interested but not yet committed, "This investment does represent significant potential, my minions have compromised their due diligence and compromised servers are real and are in the location to enable a hostile takeover of the real prize the Madelainreat data mines. Needless to say, to fully exploit this is a big decision, requiring significant resources, still the rewards promise to equally handsome."

Bluff: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

Terexaltherin cautiously approaches his target, using the bustle of the area to hide his approach until he's close enough to strike.

Stealth: 1d20 + 38 ⇒ (13) + 38 = 51

He siezes it and immediately sets to work, disabling its tampering alarm and then working first to spoof its output, then to see if he could trace its signal...

Disable Device: 1d20 + 28 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 28 + (5) + 2 = 53

The two insect-men stare at the pirates, barely glancing at the party in the form of Zzas Arass and speak in something like a monotone hiss "...ssuch an opportunity indeed may be of interest to us or one of our customers... we can offer the protection you mention ... for all this we must research give .... a billion cetitaphs ... I mean days (your time units are unusual to us)"...

The negotiations continue mostly with some formalities and the groups seem ready to go with Andreesha intending to surreptitiously meetup with the party once any tails are gone...

Meanwhile, Terex in raptor sneaks up on the silver spider and with superhuman dexterity and care, slips a wire into a tiny socket, exerting just the right force in just the right direction to open the belly of the technological automaton, incidentally disabling it's alarm...

Carefully and passively sensing the item's aura, Terex is able to get a momentary image of one of the insect-men... so it seems likely they are attempting to "verify" the pirates' story....

People can add to the negotiations or jump to the end... And what should be Terex show the snoopers...

Lyra looks around not paying much heed, like the good Hanger on Bimbo she is trying to be.

IMAGE HERE

They set up a tracer, I've subverted it, Terexaltherin briefly informs the rest of his friends.

After a bit of debate, he does his best to set up the 'spider' to send the its true senses and positions except for his own presence and actions until he gives it a signal or modifies it again, at which point it will send something he thinks should be believable for the group.

Arlo leans over to Lyra.

::Right I think we can guess who is watching on the other side. Perhaps we can force his hand somehow, make it look like a deal is imminent?:: replied Azzim over the link.

She whispers back

::"So whats the plan, we do the deal and see who jumps?"::

After drinks and discussion conclude, the thin bidder gives a default answer ("30k gold now but we will research") to Andreesh while Zzas Arass cautiously give a similar answer. The thin bidder adds "I may be able to meet your goal once we do our due diligence. We shall meet again in three days... and the groups file out, each to a different exit.

As the party walks from their door, a small skeletal bat comes flying to you and, perching 30 feet away sends the telepathic message to Zzas Arass , You seem interested bidders - as are we. But the price requested seems a bit higher. Let us negotiate a united front, agree to bit fairly low and then we can gamble for who gets the final prize at our leisure...

Meanwhile, Andreecha, the rest of the pirates and Snobarny take a different route and the hacked silver spider moves to follow them...

Well, I've got it set up so it won't see me, and I can trigger it to send some false info, Terexaltherin reports. I'm letting it follow for now.

Through the hive mind, Snobarny sends "Remember, we're trying to get interest and more than interest, rumors that will reach other ears. Show something juicy... trying to think..."

Yeah, the thought is that we keep it 'real' for long enough that any additional watchers can corroborate what it's sending, then when we're fairly sure we're not being followed I fake something interesting. Maybe half-way discussing the 'true nature' of what's on offer.

Azzim thought about this for a few minutes before suggesting over the link, ::What if we were to book one of the conference rooms to host a marketing event where we big up the implications for infiltration of the data mines? Perhaps we're attempting to crowd source investment? Could let loose all sorts of invented salacious rumours...::

Hmmm... that might be workable. We definitely need *something* to get more interest.

Agreed, sends Snobarny... So the party gives the spider a strange and interesting show ... Add what you wish or not... But then the publicity begins in earnest. "You can't blame Andreesha, she means well but relatively speaking, she is an amateur. Not only were Xon & C disgusting but they were kind of the low-balling, back-biting minor devils one should avoid. Even they talked, who would pay attention? Live and learn" remarks Snobarny later when the pirate is out of ear shot. The were-dog then assumes the form of an obscure devilish publicity-hound/fixer and he and Azzim go to arrange the event, boldly touting the "product" in vague but glittering terms ("A uniqe opportunity to shape a key plane of order in the fashion one chooses..."). Now that you have contact, it turns out the Castellan is amendable to just about any arrangement as long as he receives a stipend and a percentage....

Everyone can say how they spread the word of this event... At the night market or elsewhere in this raucous city of rogues...