Avesska frowns. Then shrugs at the cat and book.
”You help us out of here, we take you where you want to go *after* we keep our prior appointment. Bargain upon bargain as it were. As Glutton says - we need to keep faith with our first employer before we can keep faith with you.”
Glutton claps her hand "Oh! Sounds like fun! I've never been to Automata! Say you've been out-of-touch for a while haven't you? When you were last in the Cage what year of Hashkar's reign was it?"
Cheyanne looks at the bewildering array of odd characters, her eyes growing wider until they reach maximum radius at the talking cat and book. With a shake of her head she mutters, "How much weirder does the universe get? I don't know how much more my mind can handle..." Then she tries to glue a smile to her face as she listens to another job offer and her companions talking.
"Is this...Automata as windy as here? My head is still pounding, and I could really do for some quiet to clear my mind..."
The book answers the questions in turn- to Chayanne, "Oh no! Automata is on the Outlands, near the rim where they border Mechanus! There's no winds like here in pandemonium there."
The cast responds to Glutton, explaining that for a long while he was a petitioner on the Beastlands, enjoying his reward there for ages, but some time ago a leader of his kind
"Loathe though I was to leave the Beastlands, I obeyed my mistriss and went to deliver the message. . .when this was done, as a I walked down the street something beckoned me inside a building where I met The Book. The Book explained to me that in my mortal lifetime I'd been a clerk who lived in the apartment over that building. In order to improve business, I purchased, or so The Book tells me, a book to help with the work, but had to get it on a payment plan, and apparently defaulted on the payments over the years."
"Look, though I'm not particularly lawful," Jysson (the cat) says, "I figure I need to right this wrong and get The Book back to Heiron Lifegiver who rightfully owns it in Automata. . . but of course, I don't remember much, and to make matters worse, as I was dragging the book out into the street, an ettin, aparently named Gilbert abducted us and brought us here!"
Addressing Avesska, The Book fills in some details, "Of course, I remember where Heiron lives in Automata, and I also know where Jysson kept his hidden jink in life-- so if you can get us back there, I can repay you pixars with it. I also know the location of a portal off this windy torture chamber that's quite close to this hall."
"Why would this ettin simply drag you here against your will?" - Throrgar's mind was struggling to keep up, but he tried to focus on a few things, one at a time - "Huh... I am Throrgar"
As Throrgar talks to the book, the cook you spoke to earlier approaches, "Why would he drag them here? Look around! That's what Loki and his oogres and oggras and ertans and gigants do! None of us is petitioners from Pandemonium! I'm from Limbo, and Harley's from Mechanus, and Joe Figus is from Bytopia! Snatching a cat from the Beastlands is just these guys styles!"
"How much weirder does the universe get? I don't know how much more my mind can handle..."
Glutton happily corrects Cheyanne, "Multiverse. You will go barmy before you see the weird stuff, best just to make peace with that now. Don't worry my faction can make you functional afterwards! Probably."
"I've never been to the Beastlands either! But I've heard stories, like how there's, animal lords for every kind of animal. Your mistress is a cat lord right? "
As Throrgar talks to the book, the cook you spoke to earlier approaches, "Why would he drag them here? Look around! That's what Loki and his oogres and oggras and ertans and gigants do! None of us is petitioners from Pandemonium! I'm from Limbo, and Harley's from Mechanus, and Joe Figus is from Bytopia! Snatching a cat from the Beastlands is just these guys styles!"
"Yes... But why?"
Jysson nods to Glutton, "Yes, a Cat Lord, that's right- all the Beasts have Lords on the Beastlands!"
the cook, Wick, shrugs his shoulders at Throrgar, "You'd have to ask them that! I mean, they make us do things for them, but only Loki knows the dark of it cutter. . . but if you're fixing to get some of these guys out, you should take the rest of us too!"
Avesska’s eyes pop as the cook opines, and the current gig starts to spiral into a gaping maw of problematic events. For the moment she lets Glutton et al do the negotiating and concentrates on keeping a weather eye out for giants...
"Why not?" - Throrgar nods at the cook, and turns to his companions - "If they are held here against their will..."
Nodding towards Glutton-for-Punishment, Cheyanne acknowledges the tiefling's correction with a shrug. "I'm Cheyanne Julus. I think I'm what they call a clueless prime...it certainly feels that way..." she says as she realizes she hasn't introduced herself. "If you all are prisoners here, then we can try to help. What is keeping you here? Magic? The giants? This, 'Loki' fellow?"
Wick nods, "Yes, no, yes, and yes- but also, other than myself, most of these berks have these." he indicates a simple foot chain holding one of the other petitioners in place.
"Look- I can introduce you to each of these berks, and you can decide whether or not to release them-- some of these fellows are mighty untrustworthy! You can pick locks? One of you? Otherwise, there's a key- Gilbert has it. Sneak it off him while he sleeps and it'll be easy!"
Glutton seems to be getting some tools out of her pack, "Lets get started!" She begins to methodically picking the locks.
Wick introduces you to each of them in turn, and as you come to the petitioner, they offer what they can do to repay you. Besides Wick and Jysson, there are:
Bjorn Jorlsen-- a brewar from Ysgard, Bjorn runs an inn and brewary called the Crowing Cock, but has been reduced to brewing a foul brew for the giants here. He offers you free room at his inn if you are on Ysgard.
Jorge Pickerson-- a winemaker from Elysium, Jorge also has been brewing foul mixes of honey and berries brought back from far away raids. He offers you a bottle of his finest wine if you find him later on Elysium.
Joe Figus: a halfling cobbler petitioner from Bytopia, Joe offers a pair of winter boots he has made here, or aid fixing most any shoe or boot. He will joyously aid you if you meet him on Bytopia later.
Harley Mechaschnauzz: the gnome is a petitioner from Mechanus where he is a clockmaker and mechanist. He can repair any mechanical device if you meet him later on mechanus, but here the only aid he can offer in exchange for his freedom is to tune a crossbow string-- his specially tuned crossbows function as though the user has the Point Blank Shot feat until knocked out of alignment, and the first time they threaten a critical, it automatically confirms. Critically hitting, or critically missing will knock the cross bow out of alignment.
Nerus Nixus: the weasel-ly looking smith is from the Iron City on Dis, the second layer of Baator. He offers to owe you a single favor if you release him, in addition to a single weapon from the armory he runs there- he claims to be a man of his word on this.
Boris Trill: the furrier from the Gray Wastes can provide you with warm, if not stylush fur coats now, and if you find him on the Gray Wastes later he offers you some of the larvae he traps there- or a helping of larvae soup he makes from them.
"Glutton-for-Punishment, let Bjorn here out of his chains first, please. I heard someone talking about Ysgard and would like to hear more from him while you let the others out," Cheyanne requests, thinking back to some of the comments she had heard in Sigil in the last week or so. "Ysgard sounds like a pretty crazy place, but at least the folks there seem interested in fighting for the cause of good..."
"That's fine. Talk later." Gribblix tugs at Throgar's clothes. "Let's get out of here!!"
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"Peace, friend Gribblix, peace. A stitch in time saves nine," Power mutters at the anxious goblin.
So to, he was also 'Clueless'. But...unlike the rest of the others, he had related to books and libraries the way other men chased women and gold. As their erstwhile ally rattled off the brief biography of those poor souls before them, his fertile brain dug deep, seeking to gleen the least of data about what was before them.
Though he experience a brief--and uncharacteristic--brain freeze about this 'Mechanus' place, given that they were headed there, it seemed a meat choice to unlock the gnome anyway.
"Bytopia..." - the minotaur takes a second look at the halfling cobbler, extending his massive hand in a greeting - "It is the home of Lord Kiri-Jolith" - he smiles - "I am honored to meet you Joe Figus. I am Throrgar"
"That's fine. Talk later." Gribblix tugs at Throgar's clothes. "Let's get out of here!!"
"Gribblix is right, if this people are held against their will, they should be released - it is simple"
"Very pleased sir to make your acquaintance. I am sure we will meet again in that blessed land!"
Wick leads you to a back door where you can avoid any complications of the giantish nature, but as soon as you find yourselves out in the open, the winds begin again-- you can tell the madness, suppressed while you were inside Loki's Hall, will quickly return.
"It's not far to the portal I know to get us off here," Jysson the cat petitioner says.
Looking back the way you came, you are faced with days in the maddening winds and passing back into the terrible winter storm, or following the Beastlands petitioner to a portal to an unknown location. . .
As she hears the sound of the maddening wind pick up again, Cheyanne nearly darts back inside the strange lodge, so intent is she on avoiding the horrible noise. As the minutes pass her face grows solemn and eyes haunted as the despair takes hold of her again and she finds herself following their new guide morosely...
"Anything to get out of this dreadful howling!" - Throrgar roars, his hands flexing once and again - "Take us to the portal"
Avesska is further horrified by the growing caravan of uselessness. She makes no effort to introduce herself nor does she listen to any of these highly doubtful amd most likely spurious tales of reward and favors owed.
The githyanki stays close to the mystical talking cat and agrees to their escape plan with much vigor - the “portal” is much preferable to the maddeming wind...
As you travel through the howling winds of Pandemonium, most of the Petitioners take their leave of you, reminding you again to find them on their home Planes if ever you get that way, leaving only Jysson (and The Book), and Haley, the gnome from Mechanus with you as you reach the portal. . .
Reaching a place that looks little different from the rest of this howling land, Jysson asks you to hold up The Book, which says a few words in some archaic tongue and opens a swirling portal off Pandemonium.
You step through, and immediately find yourselves falling four feet to the hard, metal ground beneath you.
Looking up, you see that the black, featureless sky of Pandemonium has been replaced with a mass of floating, giant metal cubes! Some are small, or perhaps just very far away? Others loom closely in the sky, which all but the most Clueless of you can identify as Acheron!
Cheyanne looks relieved at the sudden quiet, massaging her temples gently as she tries to lessen the headache Pandemonium inspired. "I hope I never have to go back there..." she says as she looks around and sees the strange floating cubes in the sky. "I thought Mechanus was supposed to have gears, not cubes...was that the right portal?"
You hear the voice of The Book in your mind again, "Yes, of course it was right! There's not always a portal close by to exactly where you want to be! We just need to get to town where there's surely a portal to Mechanus from here, then take the portal to the Gate Town and we'll be where we belong on the Outlands in no time!"
Gribblix gasps in awe of the sights of Acheron. They kinda looked like oversized versions of the metal cube the goblin got from the appreciative halfling. Still, the druid longed to go back to Sigil. "Sh-should be find some shelter?"
Cheyanne continues to gawk at the bizarre view, unsure if she has finally gone crazy or if this place somehow really exists...
"Alright, so we aren't in Pandemonium, Sigil, or Golarion - where are we? Is this plane dangerous?"
Glutton shrugs, "Acheron! We can breath, we're not freezing or being burned alive! We're as safe as we'd be in the Cage! We're traveling all around the Great Ring, don't worry Cheyanne we're only one infinitely large plane away from our goal. We've crossed more distance than that just today."
"Are those... Cubes floating?"
Fortunately, you see not far away a town, perched what may seem slightly precariously right on the face of the cube on which you are standing.
As you walk, you notice the slight clang of your boots hitting the surface- the cube is definitely made out of a kind of metal. Nonetheless, you arrive in civilization, of a sort, though the town seems filled with mostly hobgoblins.
Gribblix seems genuinely surprised by the town of hobgoblins. Finally! Someone who can speak my own language with!
The goblin walks out in front of the group, looking for goblin writing, hoping to find a tavern or bar to rest in.
Glutton looks up into the sky at the metal cubes dotting the sky above, "Looks like they are floating! I wonder if we could fly if we could get to another cube."
Glutton makes a game as they walk through the town, trying to get different pitches from the contact of her boots on the metal ground. She asks The Book, "So where's the portal? Do you know what the key is?"
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"Given that metal usually needs to be forged, one wonders how the metal under our boots came to be? Does it go down for all eternity? Do the people around here mine the ground for the metal to build shelter? Do these people over-value wood since they live in a mineral ultra-rich environ?"
Rankev muses these things as he follows the others.
Avesska as usual glowers about, uncomfortable with the monotonous geometries. Mostly she fidgets with her blade and waits for something to go awry.
"How can this even be=" - Throrgar grunts - "A town commanded by..." - he stops short with a sidelong glance at Gribblix - "Hm, never mind" - then turns to the group as a whole - "Do you think this place is safe?"
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"Hell no", Gribblix states. "They're hobgoblins. Militaristic psychopaths. But we might get lucky and find where the next portal before we have to fight the entire town", the goblin druid said, still searching the streets for some info.
As Gribblex looks around town, he can easily pick up the chatter and find an inn which offers reasonable rates for food and rooms-
The soup is hearty, but the meat can't be easily identified, and if you eat some, occasionally you do bite down what in an ordinary soup might be a missed bone, but seems to be a bit of metal. . .
The Goblin running the bar delivers the soup to your table, dropping it off in wooden bowls with wooden spoons. . . "Careful not to get any of that soup on your armor mates."
The goblin druid pulls out a silver piece fro his pouch, paying for everyone's soup.
"Say. Do you have any portals nearby?" Gribblix asks.
The goblin shrugs, "Portals? Why would I ever want to leave this place! But I think there must be- we get people from Mechanus in here a lot, so it must be a portal or path to Mechanus on the cube somewhere."
Glutton helps getting the chant from the hobgoblins.
Cheyanne continues to stare at most everything in surprise and more than a little relief. Everything is so strange and new - even the idea of civilized and largely welcoming hobgoblins!
"What's in the stew? Not that I wear armor, but will it stain metal or something?"
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'How does metal get into the soup? Do they use beasts partly made from metal? Or is metal so common here that it gets into everything, like dust in other places?
Is it only this steel-like stuff that is everywhere? I wonder if they have patches of gold that grows naturally, like coal in other places?'
Avesska makes sure to not-eat, but makes no overt gestures to disdain or otherwise openly refuse the soup.
Cheyanne continues to stare at most everything in surprise and more than a little relief. Everything is so strange and new - even the idea of civilized and largely welcoming hobgoblins!
"What's in the stew? Not that I wear armor, but will it stain metal or something?"
"I was about to ask the same thing" - Throrgar adds, staring suspicious at the soup.
"Guys!" Gribblix barks. "Shut up and eat your soup! You're embarassing me!" The goblin druid said under his breath.
"Why- it's Rust Monster stew, doncha know?! Really the best grub there is, but it'll melt a spot through your metal bit for sure!"
As Glutton mingles with the hobgoblins, she gets the idea that there is some commotion here- Modrons have been spotted on the cube for some reason!
"I didn't mean anything by it, Gribblix. It's an interesting flavor, but that's an odd warning too," says Cheyanne, sticking her tongue out at the little goblin playfully.
Glutton returns to the rest of the party and buys herself an extra bowl of rust monster stew. She chows down being careful not to spill any on her chainshirt. "The hobs don't know anything about the portal really. But! They have been seeing some Modrons lately. Maybe they're using the portal to get here! Keep an eye out for any regular polygons. Should we rest a bit here? They're all very nice here."