Finrod rasps; "Did we not find a key to a planar doorway on someone? And a clue as to how to use it?"
"Yes, we did," Onyx chimes in, almost in unison with Sunaj. Onyx produces the note found on the drow woman.
The letter is sealed with a stamp in Red, Yellow, and Green wax.
"Styx Oarsman
It is as you Expected. A source here confirms that the goddess is on the move. Attack and kill her enemies without pause or mercy.
I've learned the location of a portal for you. It leads from the marketplace of this great city into a set of caverns in an underpopulated area of the prime.
I shall continue to find out more information, and leave it for you at the oarsman. Have you rmessenger present this letter."
On a stained part of the right margin, next to the location of the portal information is this tidbit:
"A bent piece of iron works - A horseshoe or a Lizard's Bridle."
To this, Sunaj replies "If this is that gateway, the others will need to be told. I have ways of being... less than seen, and I will let them know and return as quickly as I can with them."
All:
Corvax walks quietly into the cave and moves up next to Kara and also examines the armour, racking his brains for any reference remembered from his long training in the abbey.
Corvax and Kara:
Basil reads the missive and nods.."so a planar gateway but to where...maybe we should find out ..what do the rest off you think?"
He walks to one of the scorched lizards and yanks the bridle from it
"Here's our key if we need it"
"These drow were follower's of Lolth's daughter, Kiransalee. It seems we keep finding drow who do not like drow."
"I'm not sure Basil, but I think we can try it. If we end up in a dangerous plane, we can always retreat and come back better prepared."
|
"I'm not sure Basil, but I think we can try it. If we end up in a dangerous plane, we can always retreat and come back better prepared."
"What if we can't?"
Huergar considers the portal. He has a sinking feeling that whatever magic takes them to the other side may not work the same way in both directions.
Finrod rasps; "The trail leads through this door. Let us prepare."
"I'm not sure Basil, but I think we can try it. If we end up in a dangerous plane, we can always retreat and come back better prepared.""What if we can't?"
Huergar considers the portal. He has a sinking feeling that whatever magic takes them to the other side may not work the same way in both directions.
"Then we hope a wandering minstrel shall tell our tale to all that care to listen."
Despite her brave words, she shivers and looks at each of her companions.
"If we make it out alive, there is something.. ah, nevermind. I'm ready to go!"
|
|
.. ah, nevermind. I'm ready to go!"
"Thanks for sparing me the full explanation," says Huergar in a somewhat lame attempt at humor. He grins as he glances at the drow who were not so lucky to escape Lyra's earlier "explanation".
He reconsiders the portal, his own past, the darkness beyond. "Bah, who wants to spend the rest of his life wondering? I'll go. I'd hate to disappoint them when we've come this far."
Onyx examines the portal quietly ...
Basil stands ready.."So what do I do? throw this through the portal ahead of us or just touch it to the frame?"
Before we go; we should search the bodies for useful items.
Before we go; we should search the bodies for useful items.
Onyx:
All:
5 +1 Adamantine Longswords
5 Cloaks of 5 Fire Resistance and +2 stealth checks
5 Masterwork Breastplates
other gear as shown above.
Huergar selects a cloak from the loot and puts it on. He also takes one of the longswords, which may come in handy.
"Perhaps this will make me look stylish among the drow."
Kara slips on a cloak and fiddles with it until it fits and doesn't drag on the ground.
"It's nice to have a cloak again..."
She looks at the other pieces of equipment as she rolls her whip back up.
"How much of this are we taking with us?"
I will take a +1 Adamantine Longsword.
Basil declines to use any of the Drow equipment.
He does however suggest that the swords and cloaks should be taken through the portal to deny them to the drow..anything that can't be carried should be pitched down the crevasse
"We will no doubt think of something we should have done before we went through; but I am ready now."
Basil picks up the remaining swords and stscabbards strapping the whole thing into a bundle with a couple of the drow's baldricks.. He hefts the bundle easily.
"Ready"
Basil pitches one of the bridles through the archway, and in a flash of brilliant azure light, there appears a swirling, waterlike vortex. It seems to be merely one-dimensional, but you aren't sure whether it'a an illusion, or whether it's something more.
As each of you step through the portal, you are dumbfounded as to what you see. You stand at the edge of what appears to be a grand bazaar. Merchants of all stripes selling goods... and what's more intriguing is that they are selling to beings many of you have heard of only in legend. There are a number of small motes of light, easily identifiable as lantern archons, as well as a variety of their angelic kin. On the other side of the spectrum, a number of demons and devils appear to be shopping, not just of the Tiefling stripe. The merchants are all dealing with them with equal fervor.
Looking beyond the Bazaar, the roads seem to curve upwards, and as you follow the road into what you feel should be the sky, you see an immense city. Places in the "sky" appear to have blackened smoke of forges, whereas other areas appear differently, almost homely. Wherever you are, you are certainly not anywhere you expected to be, as a small group of koblds brushes by you with the goods they have purchased. One of the kobolds, seeing all the weapons bristling from the party comments in common as it goes by "We're getting a lot of clueless barmies this way lately. We got a better way to get to the Bazaar or what..." as its voice trails off into the din of the trade.
|
|
Having braced himself for the worst, Huergar feels some relief at the unexpected sights, along with wonder. He almost wants to laugh.
"So this is where our drow friends bought their chicken demon? I wonder what we could get for the extra cloak." (He is carrying the one unclaimed silent fire cloak.) "Basil, it looks like you have two unclaimed swords. Can we trade here, just like the angels and demons who seem unconcerned about their age-old enmity? What power keeps them from attacking one another?"
When the kobolds brush past, Huergar is alert for theft.
"Are we the only ones here visibly carrying weapons? I would not care to unwittingly break any laws where enforcement is respected by angels and demons."
"Indeed, Heurgar, though I doubt if our weapons can do much harm to these otherworldly creatures."
Onyx (and everyone else, by extension, as I figure you'll share this):
"Ah, Sigil, quite possibly one of the most interesting cities in all the multiverse. Come, my friends, let us not become too distracted from our hunt for drow evil."
The dwarf approaches some friendlier-seeming merchants and asks them if they've noticed groups of dark skinned elves moving through the city.
Basil gazes on the scene with a profesional detachment...he's wise enough to see that if the Celestials and Fiends are not warring with each other he needs to find out more about this place. Still his distate for the Demonic presence is obvious.
"I do not know" he replies to Huergar "This is an..unexpected development ..I suggest we find an arms merchant and try and see what he is prepared to buy these weapons for."
He turns searching the stalls..then.spotting an arms stall run by a minor Celestial he approaches it.
"Greetings..I find myself a stranger in a strangeland and was wondering if you would be off a mind to purchase some excess equipment my comarades and I have aqquired"
"Greetings Berk, good to see that you're not as clueless as you appear." The eladrin says to you. His long white hair blowing in some unseen breeze. "Although you may want to rephrase your questions about the Drow around here. Not all of 'em are here to kill you." He smiles as he completes a transaction for a rather burly looking orc, handing over the largest Greatsword you've seen.
"Not everything is as it appears here. Let me take a look at those goods you have for sale..." He begins appraising the swords and other things you want to sell. A few minutes later, he comes forward with an offer. "You've got some good swords here, and I'd be willing to pay you handsomely for this."
"This place is... amazing. Who would have thought we'd be lucky enough to find a door leading here? Finally, a place where I must not worry..."
Lyra seems delighted by this strange stroke of luck. A weight has seemed to lift of her shoulders, and she dismisses the cantrip keeping her hair the dull brown she usually wears in public.
** spoiler omitted **
Corvax pulls the other swords from his pack and puts them down next to the others.
"Look, you could sell these on for twice that easily. Why not offer us a little more so we don't sell these to one of your rivals and make him or her a healthy profit, eh?"
Corvax pulls the other swords from his pack and puts them down next to the others.
"Look, you could sell these on for twice that easily. Why not offer us a little more so we don't sell these to one of your rivals and make him or her a healthy profit, eh?"
"Try less than twice that, friend. Here, the laws of supply and demand work a wee bit differently than where you're from. Here, that guy over there" He points across the way, to a wickedly barbed humanoid-looking creature selling weapons "Sods like that bob clueless like you, then sell the swords at the price I BUY them for to offer at a price modestly higher than what I pay. Enough to keep the rent and the Sodkillers out of my hair, at least. So, either you take my offer or sod off, I've got real business to attend."
Diplomacy
Basil asks the store owner about the nature of the place in which he finds himself..He makes sure that he understands what is going on with regard to the seeming truce between the various outsiders
|
|
Basil asks the store owner about the nature of the place in which he finds himself..He makes sure that he understands what is going on with regard to the seeming truce between the various outsiders
Huergar listens carefully to Basil's conversation, since he too wants to understand the motivations of the outsiders who come here.
"Basil, I think an angel might be sympathetic to our quest, even if the rules here prevent him from helping us directly. Is it safe to approach one?"
Basil asks the store owner about the nature of the place in which he finds himself..He makes sure that he understands what is going on with regard to the seeming truce between the various outsiders
The Eladrin laughs out loud, then seeing your serious look, straightens himself up, still smirking, and proclaims "This is Sigil, City of Doors, gateway to everywhere! What keeps those fiends from spilling the blood war into the city is the Lady's rule. The last two got mazed within minutes, and the ones before that were surrounded by the Dabuses and disappeared suddenly. It'd be fittin' if they got mazed and had to use each other, which'd be Her Serenity's style. Fiends, celestials, and others gotta tolerate each other here. It's the rules, and not of the mortals, if you get my drift. I'd recommend not askin' that question to one of the fiends, my clueless friend. They'll bob you right quick, or they'll recruit you for the 'war effort,' if they're a devil, or, even worse, enslave you and just throw you on the front lines bare-a**ed naked if they're a demon."
Looking at Huergar, after his question, he says "Sure, the angels are safe... you're standing next to an angel, hell-ooo" He says as he presents himself. "Although, I might recommend a Tout, so you can find your way around here, but you've gotta have a bit of jink to pay 'em proper, lest you go down the wrong alley and get scragged."
"How much would your guide cost? What does he accept as payment?"
"How much would your guide cost? What does he accept as payment?"
The Eladrin laughs. "I have no guide. Go across the bazaar for a tout, you'll see 'em. And their price depends on where you're going, berk. As to what they charge... it varies tout to tout. Most of 'em'll take a quick bit of jink. Others, they want something to remember you by, some of 'em even think that it'll bring them closer to divinity. Now get gone before I lose all my sales today!" He says as he reaches out to a tiefling who paused, then decided against this stall.