He will fit and agrees to hide in there
"Stay silent friend Padlock" - Throrgar grunts at their new friend, making sure also the book is adequately stored.
You all slip through the portal, and find yourselves pulled away from Acheron and now standing firmly on a very slowly rotating cog- you've arrived on Mechanus.
Throrgar looks around, taking in the scenery.
Having jumped nimbly with her friends, Avesska likewise stares at this strange new plane...
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Gribblix looked around as the countless gears of Mechanus. Gears that rose up into the sky, massive gears that can be seen on the horizon, leading to smaller and smaller gears around them. The goblin druid just wrapped his arms around himself and whimpered, "I wanna go back to Sigil."
As you step forth onto Mechanus, you arrive inside what appears to be a castle. Moving to an area you can see out, you see that the castle is set ontop of one of the gears of Mechanus itself, atop another pair of gears, slowly turning below. . .
As you take bearing of your surroundings, you see that there are all the things you would expect to find in a typical castle town- venders, merchants, an inn- if it weren't for the height and the gears you could almost pretend you were in some baron's castle on some prime.
Cheyanne looks around, realizes where she is, and then looks around some more. "Wow...how high must we be to not even be able to see the ground? And what could these gears possibly be turning? They're huge...what machine could possibly power them, or need them to power it? This place is incredible..." she says as she stares, seemingly unable to take it all in and understand what she is seeing.
When she sees Gribblix struggling, she leans down and tries to comfort him, gently wrapping one arm around him but not looking at him directly. "This sure does seem to be open and different - not at all like the closed loop of Sigil. But do you really want to go back to a place called 'the Cage?' I mean, I suppose we will go back, but what a view to see in the meantime, right...?" she trails off, realizing that she probably isn't helping. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. It's been several weeks since I saw my old monastery, or my old friends or family. I understand being lost and lonely. I'm sorry...I'll stop talking now..."
True to her word, the pretty half-orc turns and watches the modrons marching, a puzzled expression on her face as she tries to figure out where they are going...
Glutton looks at Cheyanne confused for a moment and then it dawns on her. She stamps her feat, "We're already on the ground!" She makes air quotes when she says ground. "If I had to guess gravity follows the flat of the gear so if you jumped to the other side you wouldn't fall off, maybe not, best to test it first. As far as how its all powered that's something for greybeards to debate. That's like asking how does the wind blow or why is the sky purple? Bet it has to do with whatever Padlock does with their gear."
Afterwards she suggests, "Lets get the chant from some of the locals, we don't want to be out-of-touch for too long."
"Do we know where we are heading?" - Throrgar pipes in, trying to take in and make sense of the place they are in, even if it goes against most of his sensibilities.
"Portal to Automata and from there back to the Cage."
Gribblix smiled at Glutton's words. "So. Let's see what the locals know." The goblin said cautiously.
Testing her theory, Glutton leans over and drops the potion bottle, and sure enough it falls to the underside of the gear.
As you look, you decide the inn might be a place to start and enter, where an old grey bearded gnome stands behind the bar, ”welcome, what can I do for you?” he asks.
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"Wait, it falls to the -other- side of the gear we're standing on?!?" Rankev had been content to just wrack his neck and looking around. The gears turning, all things being in perfect order, it all deserved to be just quietly digested. But when gravity itself is shown to have a new and quite artificial twist, his calm is disturbed somewhat.
"So if you jumped off, you'd land on the other side. And, and, and...and if you jumped off from that side, you'd land back on this side?
That is...a very convenient way of travel. Confound WE should have something like that! Then if you were on an island, it would DOUBLE the amount of land you could build on. Brilliant!"
Making a mental note to come back to this plane and learn more about their gravity trick, he follows along.
Cheyanne listens to Glutton-for-Punishment's explanation and then watches the tiefling's experiment with interest. She doesn't say anything after watching the bottle "land" on the opposite side of their gear, instead just watching the gears in sight turn with an amazed look on her face. She continues to stare as they make their way to an inn and smiles at the sight of a mostly-normal-looking old gnome behind the counter.
"Good day, friend! We would like rooms for the day and overnight, directions to the nearest portal to Automata, and some good food and drink. What do you offer in this fine establishment?"
"Rooms will be a silver a bed; and we have food and drink to spare- anything LEGAL that is!"
The fair seems to be something which is akin to rabbit stew, though you can't be certain these are exactly rabbits in it. They have ale, beer, and wine- all at approved alcohol levels but no spirits.
Glutton slides a silver piece to the gnome and takes a bowl of stew. Between bites she says, "This is top-shelf stew! The best mystery meat I've had in a while. Say! Do you know where a body can find some blisterwort, rock warbler eggs, maybe some imp stool? The fungus not the excrement of an imp, although... no no that would probably be useful for alchemist fire but not much else."
Throrgar settles down next to his companions, opening the flap of his backpack - "Perhaps you should stay hidden for now..." - he whispered to Padlock, then turned to the Book he is also carrying - "Do you require any for of... Hmmm... Nourishment?"
Cheyanne has to make change, but pays for her room and board without delay. She also enjoys dinner, eating with gusto, and listens as Glutton-for-Punishment asks about...alchemical reagents? "Are there other places to buy and sell nearby? Is that something like a town?" she asks the gnome curiously. "We have been traveling - what do you call it when hopping from plane to plane? 'Planeshopping,' I guess? Well, we've been doing that, all the way from Sigil, and are trying to get back. Restocking on some supplies would be very helpful..."
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"No comestibles!?!" Rankev uncontrollably exclaims, quite disbelieving. "Confound. Now that I know this I'm not sure I -want- to spend all eternity here."
Rankev gets stew&room the same as the others, and, beating off the frustration and stress that's been hounding him, he orders a double flagon of ale and does a staggering battle upon it, all the while wishing it was at least a bolt of invigorating rumtipple.
"No whats? Rankev, you use big words sometimes...I'm not going to lie, it confuses me..." Cheyanne says, her tone not exactly critical, but certainly seeming a bit unhappy with her lack of comprehension.
"Imp stool? Oh, no no no- that surely wouldn't be legal- you'd want to go to the abyss for something like that, not here- on Mechanus, everything works the way it was meant to."
With a few more words of explanation, he mentions there is an apothecary store you can get LEGAL components at.
Padlock agrees to stay hidden and mentions that he consumes machines. . .
in an ominous tone
As you step out of the inn onto the street again, you see a patrol that looks like local militia headed by several men dressed in robes with insignia of the Fraternity of Order.
"Stop there! Excuse me, but I do need to have you all arrested. I have this writ, signed by the ruler here- you have all committed a violation of Act 34579^2x@987 (this goes on for a solid 15 seconds- you have NO idea what he is talking about) OR as it is commonly known, unauthorized portal hopping. You will have to come with us to Regulus to stand trial for your crimes!"
Glutton marvels at the apothecary's ingredients, "Oh! Is that Myconid spores? Where did you get that!?" After having gathered what she needs she starts a-brewing.
Glutton looks them straight in the eye and says, "You are not excused! And how do wigwag like that without breathing? Is is some kind of circular breathing technique? Or perhaps you have a larger air bladder than most people!" She grips toothpick looking to the rest of the party if they should fight or flee.
Throrgar rolls his eyes in exasperation - "I tire of fighting... Maybe we should just go"
Gribblix slept horribly last night. Such a chaotic being on the Plane of Law felt out of sorts. Even praying for spells felt labored for the goblin druid. Gribblix looks pale at breakfast, not eating much of his meal.
When confronted by the local militia, Gribblix agreed with the minotaur. "Yes..go."
They make no effort to search or cuff you, merely leading you along across this fear and the next, through a set of portals across big gears and small, empty ones and crowded ones, the gravity turning sometimes so it seemed you were waking up a wall when you switched gears.
Glutton spins around like the gears around her, more lost than usual.
Cheyanne groans a bit at being accosted and taken off-task yet again. "Crimes? We didn't know that was a crime, and haven't done any others...at least give us some credit..." she says unhappily as she follows the rest through the dizzying array of gears and platforms.
”ignorance is not an excuse dear child- the LAW here is perfect and absolute.”
Cheyanne is completely lost, but Glutton and Gribblex start to notice some of the patterns of the plan. As you travel you notice what looks like a pyramid off in the distance, connected out to where you are by a series of cogs which slowly cross, sometimes porting to find yourself on a different side, but always closer to the "pyramid".
Stuck through the center of it is what looks like a giant metal rod- and when a cutter say giant in the planes, it means . It looks the size, and if you're being honest the height, or the great Spire of the Outlands (the one Sigil sits atop).
As you get closer, you realize that the pyramid is made up of cogs (64 of them to be exact, if you could count), and you realize the giant rod is turning, but are the cogs turning it, or is it turning the cogs?
Finally you go through one last portal and realize you must have arrived INSIDE the pyramid, in what looks like a court room.
A Modron sits in a box, apparently taking notes- every so often it opens its mouth and paper comes out with words printed on it, slowly collecting on the floor in front of it, the pages folding over themselves.
You are pressed forward to the witness box, and the Judge, a Guvner human in a bright robe say, "Welcome Law breakers, to the 13th Inferior Court of Regulus! Wil the charges be read?"
The Guvner who brought you repeats the charges he had laid on you originally, to which the Judge responds, "And how do you plead?"
Cheyanne pouts a little more after being a child, but then loses track of her annoyance as she gets thoroughly lost on the way to the court. "Is it a crime to get lost here? I have no idea where we are or how to get back to the inn..." she asks one of the Fraternity of Order guards escorting them.
"If ignorance isn't an excuse, I would like to know the consequences of either plea before we choose - what happens if we are found innocent? Guilty? You can't prove it but don't like how we're dressed? Huh? I'm as serious about trying to be perfect as anyone I know, but it helps to have a clue...and I have been called a 'Clueless Prime' enough lately that I think I have a right to ask the question!"
"We did not know we were breaking a law" - Throrgar shrugs.
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Rankev, as was his habit, kept this mouth silent for the arrest and the walk. If the others were resigned to this experience, why shouldn't he be?
Seeing the giant rod and cogs was somehow comforting. If proper Law and Order could be exacted on so cosmic a scale, why should he worry? Surely something that could set -that- in motion could have a plan for him. Right?
At the court room at last the weight of the situation comes full upon him and he feels that, again, his particular skills could be of some use here. Despite NOT knowing the law of these parts, that they pride themselves on -prefect- law is, at least, knowing one thing.
"I move for a mis-trial," he says using the primitive terms of his own realm. "When we got here we were addressed as "Law Breakers". This obvious bias from him that sits in judgement is a clear case of prejudicial 'stare` decisis'. With such a clear sign that the judge already has his mind made up, I have no motive to present the evidence of our innocence.
-Were- this a court of Pure Law, then there would be an -even- playing field for both the government and the accused. As prejudice is OBVOIUSLY present, this is a clear sign that Perfect Law does NOT live here, and, thus, we are not in any way bound to even recognize this slanted court.
I move for a dismissal of the charges."
Cheyanne looks at the other PCs as Rankev speaks and shrugs. When he is done she elbows him gently and whispers, "Thanks - I was trying to be smart, but you actually are smart. It didn't seem like this was fair...I'm glad you speak their language, too."
Throrgar waits patiently - he nods approvingly at Rankev, more because of the man’s confidence, than from any understanding of the argumentation he has just put forth.
Gribblix huddles behind Throrgar's massive legs.
Glutton thinks to herself, Are they flirting?! That's adorable!
As Rankev stumbles over his words with her, Cheyanne raises one eyebrow and nods her head back in the direction of the court. "Don't let me distract you - if you go all to pieces when I compliment you, I can stop..."