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Child of Chaos -- The Continuing Adventures of Thundina Planeswalker. June 29 update
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<blockquote data-quote="Ealli" data-source="post: 3617211" data-attributes="member: 804"><p><strong>Chapter 5: Dealings</strong></p><p></p><p>Jessuf returned to the party, a pale white. The encounter with the spore bat had left him heavily drained and weak. The party considered its resources. Scyther was battered, but okay on the whole. Jessuf however insisted that he needed to call a rest and the next order of business was then if their current location was safe, the chwidencha lair was safe, or if retreating all the way back to Sigil was the wisest course of action.</p><p></p><p>The conversation continually went in circles, no one able to make any solid arguments in any way. Eventually Gorrin had an idea, “I can consult the gods to learn if it would be safe to make a camp here so that Jessuf may recover.”</p><p></p><p>Gorrin cast forth a pair of sticks inscribed with runes relating to the Sovereign Host and the Dark Six. As he threw the sticks he firmly said, “Will setting up camp in this location be safe and wise.” Gorrin immediately looked up as the sticks came to a rest, “The worst possible prediction. Certain woe if we remain.”</p><p></p><p>The party trekked back through the spider webs. At the set of pedestals, the party crushed spider eggs and returned to Sigil. Thundina looked through the purses from the drow patrol. The random purses provided nice returns, but Thundina could only gape at the captain’s purse. He had gold like any other patrol member, but he had more platinum coins than gold!</p><p></p><p>The party provided Jessuf a monocle and he began <em>Identifying</em> all the various pieces of magic the party had found. The Iron Pyramid could take the bearer plus five others to any other pyramid marked with an iron pyramid. The Silver Cube was a single use planar access key for shifting to another dimension. Jessuf attempted to explain what that meant, but it went right over Thundina’s head.</p><p></p><p>Scyther requested one additional day for additional repairs and to find an artificer who carried <em>Repair Light Damage</em> wand. Thundina had the gambling itch again and headed down to the Lower Ward and the Styx Oarsman as a place where she knew some action was happening.</p><p></p><p>At the Styx Oarsman the tables were busy even at the early day. Thundina strode through the bar pausing by the various tables where cards were flopping and demons and tieflings were tossing coins into piles in the middle of the tables. Thundina watched one table in particular where the players were dealt cards, tossed their bets into a pot on a Lazy Susan, and exchanged cards attempting to assemble an army, a political alliance, arcane might, or other victory conditions before making a move for power. The winner of the hand would take the money and a fresh hand would start.</p><p></p><p>A tiefling with a thin beard which ran to a point on his chin hissed at Thundina, “What are you looking at? This isn’t a spectator sport.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina quickly glanced over the piles of money in front of the gamers to confirm that the stakes were right and then grabbed a chair from a nearby table. Thundina spun the chair around and took a seat, “Deal me in.” She pulled out a pile of gold coins and a lesser pile of platinum as she took her seat.</p><p></p><p>The first hand Thundina lost horribly. The same with the second. The winner would claim the entire pot so having the weakest hand was no worse than having the second best, but it did say that she hadn’t quite caught on to the strategy. In a way, simply losing like that was a relief; it meant the other gamblers weren’t trying to hustle her into bigger stakes by making her overconfident.</p><p></p><p>To Thundina’s right a skeletal demon hunched over his coins. The skin glistened red and he always picked at his cards and coins very carefully as if trying to avoid touching them for too long. A single horn on the back of its head confirmed the creature to be a babau. It would furtively pick up and toss back cards, sometimes Thundina even missed the exchange. One thing she noticed, it was always trying to achieve Puppet Master, a powerful political hand. The single-mindedness of the babau was leaving lots of arcane suited cards available. Thundina won her first hand with a Wizard School, a decent arcane suited hand but which more owed the victory to everyone else still having terrible hands.</p><p></p><p>Over the next hour Thundina won back what she had lost while picking up the ebb and flow of the game, but couldn’t push into a net profit. Thundina came close when she had sculpted the nearly unbeatable Warlord’s Army only to have her hopes crushed by the tiefling revealing an Overlord’s Wrath.</p><p></p><p>“Ooh, that’s rough,” a voice from behind Thundina startled her. Thundina turned to see a young man in very extravagant clothing. He wore a fine silk shirt slightly unbuttoned. A mithril mesh peeked out from under the silk shirt.</p><p></p><p>Thundina waved out of the next hand, “Are you trying to distract me?”</p><p></p><p>“No, that was not my intent,” the well-dressed man said. “It’s just that you’re very beautiful. Would you have lunch with me?”</p><p></p><p>“Hmm, I’m not really winning anything here, so, sure.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina and the stranger moved over to a booth and placed orders for lunch. Thundina asked the stranger, “So what’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this? I was expecting a tiefling or the like in here.”</p><p></p><p>“No, no, I’m human. My name is Gryfalcon,” he laughed. “I’m currently traveling around. Sigil is a great central hub for basing out of to visit other planes. I get a taste of each place and them I’m off again. What about you?”</p><p></p><p>“I’m currently on something of a quest,” Thundina replied. “Resupplying before setting off to the Demonweb Pits, or the Demonwebs, I always get those confused.”</p><p></p><p>Gryfalcon nodded knowingly, “The pits are beneath the Demonwebs.”</p><p></p><p>“Right. Oh, my name is Thundina. Have you heard of the Iron waste Portal?”</p><p></p><p>“The Iron waste Portal is part of the Demonwebs. How to get there, I cannot say. The webs change at the will of Lolth and any directions I give you would be obsolete already anyway.”</p><p></p><p>The food arrived and temporarily suspended the conversation. While eating, Gryfalcon asked, “Please do not take this the wrong way, but you have something of a mercenary look to you; a well paid, high-level mercenary.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina could only shrug, “I do well enough. I have expectations of plunder rights and I am at the point where I can be picky as to what missions I take.”</p><p></p><p>“Your current mission must pay well. Planar travel is my area of expertise and I would like to offer my services to you for your mission.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s mostly a speculative adventure.” Thundina looked into Gryfalcon’s eyes and said, “You’re a real sweet guy, Gryfalcon, but, I’m sorry. I’ll keep your offer in mind, but we’re not looking to expand the team at this point.”</p><p></p><p>“Before you go, beautiful lady, I have a present for you,” Gryfalcon said. He handed Thundina a silver sphere and when she looked confused he explained, “It’s a portal key. It will take you where want to go.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina gave Gryfalcon a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina rejoined her friends and the rested and restocked party returned to the Demonwebs. The chamber the party arrived in bore a certain similarity to the previous portal location with the four pedestals and the gnawed bones scattered everywhere, but the exits looked to be slightly off from where they had been before. Jessuf insisted that this must be a different place and that using the iron pyramid to locate the previous portal chamber would be of great value. Once he was able to assure the party that he had a sufficient vision of the other chamber to use the iron pyramid to locate that chamber instead of a random iron pyramid pedestal, the party allowed Jessuf to activate the iron pyramid. When the party did not find themselves in a new location, Jessuf sheepishly announced that although the exits were different, the pedestal was the same.</p><p></p><p>A very short distance away from the pedestals, the spider web passage suddenly changed to a stone path ahead. A thick black velvet curtain veiled the entire path. Scyther, at the head of the party, strode up to the curtain and grabbed it before Thundina could stop him.</p><p></p><p>“Wait, let me check for traps,” Thundina called. “Curtains imply a certain level of civilization and civilization implies traps.” She inspected the curtain, careful to not touch it. She looked up, “Yep, trapped.”</p><p></p><p>“So can you disarm the trap?” Talor asked.</p><p></p><p>“Nope,” Thundina replied. “I could bypass it, but there’s no point to that. The Alarm has already been triggered. Whomever set it, already knows we’re here.”</p><p></p><p>The chamber past the black curtain held many barrels and crates piled along the far wall. Thundina wanted to see what treasures the storage room might hold, but reconnaissance had to come first. Three other black curtains covered other exits from the room. Behind the first, a large bed dominated the room. Thundina let the curtain to the bedroom fall back to look behind another.</p><p></p><p>Behind the second curtain a large chamber stretched forth. A large red circle was drawn on the floor with a pentagram draw inside. At the four cardinalities around the circle, a series of dots marked locations where a magic user would stand while using the circle. Past the circle, at a stone table reminiscent of an altar, a drow woman with long white hair wearing a gauzy spider silk robe stood next to a tiefling man with a pointy tail. Neither seemed to notice the intrusion, but an unblinking three-eyed cat sitting on the table watched as Thundina and Scyther stepped into the make-shift summoning chamber.</p><p></p><p>Without looking up from the table, the drow woman spoke, “If you’re going to come into my home, come in and don’t just stand there. What business do you have in the Webs?”</p><p></p><p>“Pardon us,” Thundina replied. “We are looking for the Iron Waste Portal. We seem to have gotten a little off track.”</p><p></p><p>“You are not looking for the Iron Waste Portal, although that is just a little to the south of here,” the drow woman said. “You are looking for Lyssandra. I am Lyssandra, and this is my companion Bon Amejdos.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina carefully skirted around the summoning circle to approach the stone table. Lyssandra laughed, “You do not need to fear the circle. It is inert at the time.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina shrugged, “Smarter to avoid anyway. Walking through such decorations tends to give one bad luck at one’s next trial. We have a delivery from Rule of Three for you.” Thundina looked back at the rest of the party, “So who has the satchel?” None volunteered the satchel from Rule of Three and ultimately Thundina realized, “Oh, I have it.”</p><p></p><p>“So this is who Rule of Three has found to take on this task. You will have great difficulty surviving past the Black Gate,” Lyssandra said as she took the satchel from Thundina and gave it to Bon Amejdos with instructions to sort the books and place them on the bookshelves. He began placing the various tomes Rule of Three had sent onto the shelves around the edges of the summoning chamber.</p><p></p><p>Lyssandra handed back to Thundina a sealed letter, “Please convey this back to Rule of Three. It is the response he has been expecting.”</p><p></p><p>Once out of Lyssandra’s home, Thundina began turning the letter over and over, inspecting the parchment and wax seal. She held it up to the light emitting from Scyther’s scythe and eventually handed the letter to Jessuf saying, “Could you sniff this for magic please?”</p><p></p><p>Jessuf concentrated a moment before announcing, “Yes, there is a spell on the letter. Presumably to prevent anyone from trying to sneak a peek, although I cannot be certain of that.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina appeared to be considering what tricks she knew to open a magically trapped letter when Scyther asked Jessuf for the letter. Once Scyther had the letter, he put it in his mouth and the letter disappeared.</p><p></p><p>“You will not be opening this correspondence for it is not addressed to you,” Scyther rumbled. “It is in a safe place for now.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina sulked back to Sigil and to the Styx Oarsman. The party found Rule of Three in his same booth with a very similar drink as ever before.</p><p></p><p>“Greetings, salutations, welcome,” Rule of Three welcomed the party. “Did you bring the letter, message, communiqué from Lyssandra?”</p><p></p><p>Scyther presented the letter to Rule of Three. The scholarly githzerai opened the letter and read. He addressed the party then, “You have completed the three tasks, errands, quests I had previously asked of you, however this letter represents a change of plans, modification of intentions, alteration of hopes. The Demon Queen must be hunted in her own web. Can I ask of you further assistance?”</p><p></p><p>Talor spoke up, “What’s our stake in this?”</p><p></p><p>Rule of Three pulled out a small sack and placed it on the table. As it settled, a few diamonds tumbled out with far more gleaming inside. He said, “Friends, compatriots, associates, these would be my payment for further services.”</p><p></p><p>“Alright,” Talor said, “I think we can accept your terms. What are these new plans?”</p><p></p><p>“The letter represents an offer of alliance, assistance, help from Orcus, the Prince of the Undead. One of his minions, through various contacts, will give us the time of the Demon Council, a map of the Demonwebs, and the key to the Pits. These three gifts he will give to us, he knows me well. Meet the bone devil Dawnat Sanp in the city of Zelatar at the Sign of Black Heart.”</p><p></p><p>“How do we get to Zelatar and how do we get back?” Thundina asked.</p><p></p><p>Rule of Three replied, “There is a portal outside of the Oarsman. As you climb, ascend, rise, think of a platinum piece. Do you require, wish, need anything further?”</p><p></p><p>As the party departed the booth of Rule of Three, he paused Talor a moment to whisper something in Talor’s ear. The party made the climb outside of the Styx Oarsman and found themselves on a windy, foggy plane. Ahead of the party, a large city gleamed of silver. The city was surrounded by baked mud all around. A road wound for two hundred yards out from the city to where the party had just entered the plane. Demonic travelers waited along the road so that they could enter the city with other demonic guards riding fiendish mounts watching over the procession. Thundina recognized none of the creatures and could not even think of how to begin to describe them.</p><p></p><p>Another demon, a large frog-like creature, paced the side of the road. Where it encountered weakened demons, it slapped shackles on the wretch. Those which resisted, it branded as well. The demon spotted the party and smiled an evil, terrible gaping smile, “You just came through the one-way portal from Sigil. You are my slaves now.”</p><p></p><p>“Screw that,” Thundina said. “We have important business and we will not be sidetracked by the likes of you.”</p><p></p><p>“You are my slaves,” the demon repeated. “Resist, and I shall brand you. It would be a shame to mar such a pretty face.”</p><p></p><p>“I have a better idea. You answer some very simple questions for us, and we let you live.”</p><p></p><p>As if on cue, Scyther rumbled, “Vile creature of darkness, I would gladly smite you where you stand. Say the word, and I promise you a swift death.”</p><p></p><p>The demon paused a moment as it sized up Scyther. While the threat put a seed of doubt into the demon’s heart, it was not swayed. It shook a set of shackles and took up a battle stance.</p><p></p><p>Thundina took that opportunity to charge while the demon was full of bravado and bluff. It had left itself wide open and another such opportunity might not open again. Behind her, Scyther followed as well. Jessuf muttered a few words and grew to a large size, full of <em>Righteous Might</em> and Talor applied an oil to <em>Bless Weapon</em> for his bow. A column of holy fire roared over the demon as Gorrin called down a <em>Flame Strike</em> on the creature.</p><p></p><p>The demon turned to the guards and began pointing at the party while yelling something. It narrowed its eyes and created a <em>Blasphemous</em> noise. Scyther, more construct than living creature, ignored the blast and continued his assault against the demon. The guards on the road began laughing uproariously and pointing at the melee. They shouted back and began shooting into the melee. Each guard shot at the nearest combatant whether that was a member of Thundina’s party or the slave master demon.</p><p></p><p>Thundina came out of her daze and moved into a flanking position on the demon. Weakened from the <em>Blasphemy</em>, Thundina’s strike merely glanced off the demon’s armored hide.</p><p></p><p>Scyther forced the demon to swing wide and leave itself open to a devastating blow. Scyther then channeled into his swing all his determination and resolve to make the attack strike true. His scythe buried deep into the demon’s chest, so deep that the tip of the scythe was sticking out the back side. Scyther pulled back his scythe, drops of ichor spraying. The demon looked down in shock at the sucking hole in his chest and tried to say something. No sound, only a bubble of ichor bursting from its mouth. It collapsed from the shock of the massive damage.</p><p></p><p>Talor raised his arms to show the guards that he was no longer making a ruckus. He also told the party, “Break it up?”</p><p></p><p>One of the mounted guards rode over to Talor, dismounted, and the two of them chatted in the harsh tongue of the Abyss. The demon produced a paper and pointed to a part of it. Talor then signed where the demon was pointing at which time the paper was torn horizontally with Talor keeping one of the pieces.</p><p></p><p>“So what was that all about?” Thundina asked as the party reformed.</p><p></p><p>“Quickly, the demon we just fought, a hezrou by the way, offered blood and gold if the guards would assist him. Clearly they did not accept his offer, but they did tell us all to break it up,” Talor recounted. “And then this. I kind of said that Scyther was a minion. Because one of my ‘minions’ killed that hezrou, I was given all his property, which is what this form is. I wonder what possessions I now hold.”</p><p></p><p>Jessuf looked over at the huddled demons in shackles and said, “I can think of something that is now yours. The question now is what are do you intend to do with them?”</p><p></p><p>Talor looked somewhat surprised, “Oh, I hadn’t of that. I don’t know. What do you guys think?”</p><p></p><p>Thundina said somewhat disgustedly, “They’re your problem. Do with them as you wish, but I have no intention of becoming a slave driver.”</p><p></p><p>Scyther added, “They are evil creatures and normally I would advocate their destruction, but I am incapable of calling for the death of helpless creatures, this is the will of the gods. I do not like the idea of freeing them, but I believe that releasing them is, again, the will of the gods.”</p><p></p><p>Talor spoke with some of the chained demons in Abyssal before reporting that they considered it right that they had been enslaved because they were weaker than the hezrou. Talor shook his head and asked, “Did the hezrou have a key to the shackles? I don’t think we can keep them, we have to set them free.”</p><p></p><p>Scyther rumbled, “There was no key. Perhaps we can bust the chains?” Scyther began straining against the chains on one of the captives.</p><p></p><p>“Um, hello!” Thundina exclaimed. “Why don’t you let me deal with this? This is kind of my area of specialty.”</p><p></p><p>“No, no, we got it.” Talor said and began assisting Scyther with yanking the chains apart.</p><p></p><p>Thundina rolled her eyes and began picking the locks on the other captives anyway. Scyther and Talor did succeed in busting apart one set of chains in the time it took Thundina to release all the rest.</p><p></p><p>Once all the captive demons were freed, Thundina addressed the huddled demons, “Freeing you was a pretty big favor to you. I want you to know, I collect on my favors. If we ever meet again, it had better be when I am calling in one of those favors.”</p><p></p><p>Talor whispered to Thundina, “I don’t think any of them speak Common.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh,” Thundina said. “Could you maybe please translate that into Abyssal then?”</p><p></p><p>“Sure,” Talor agreed and spoke to the demons in the harsh tongue of the Abyss.</p><p></p><p>The party joined the procession of creatures moving towards the city. From the body language and laughter of the guards by the road, they were still highly amused by what had happened to the hezrou. The party passed a legion of demons camped outside the city but the party passed by the army with nothing more than some ribbing between Thundina and Jessuf about the nature of camp followers likely to be found there.</p><p></p><p>Talor was muttering something under his breath to himself as they walked to the city. Thundina finally asked Talor what he was muttering.</p><p></p><p>“Life is fleeting but death endures,” Talor replied. “That the password we need for when we meet Dawnat Sanp, well, the Common translation of it at least.”</p><p></p><p>Closer to the city, Thundina couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that she was being watched. Her shoulder blades itched and she had been in enough rough parts of town to know that itching shoulder blades meant to be extra cautions. Whenever she turned around though, no one was creeping up; there was nothing unusual there. She unconsciously reached for the Dol Arrah holy symbol that had once been the paladin Ashlyn’s holy symbol. As soon as she grasped the symbol, the feeling of being watched went away. It dawned on Thundina, openly displaying symbols of the Sovereign Host might not be the smartest idea on a chaotic evil plane ruled by a demon lord. She mentioned this thought to Jessuf and Gorrin while moving her symbol into a pouch.</p><p></p><p>The party passed under the gates to the city. On each side of the road, a gnarled, very withered white tree stood. As the party passed by the trees, the branches on the trees began to hiss like snakes and even lash out at the members on each side of the road, striking like snakes as well. Gorrin took a pretty heavy battering, but Jessuf suffered far worse. By the time he was able to react to the sudden attack, he was bleeding heavily.</p><p></p><p>Scyther charged at one of the trees crying, “Wretched trees. It is my duty to stand between you and the holy clerics.”</p><p></p><p>The rest of the party scampered further into the city and turned to watch the battle between Scyther and the tree he attacked. Both trees began writhing and screeching. The one next to Scyther clawed at him, scratching deep furrows into the adamantium body. The other broke off one of its large branches and hurled that branch at Scyther. The branch punched clean through Scyther in a blow that would have killed any living creature. After that, Scyther made a tactical withdrawal towards the party. Both trees broke off branches and hurled them skyward in an arc towards Scyther. Scyther was able to sidestep the incoming branches.</p><p></p><p>Vrocks circling overhead had been beginning to descend towards the commotion. A lamia came galloping along the wall and shouted, “By Graz’zt’s command, throw down your weapons!” She descended a set of stairs and her presence seemed to calm the writhing trees.</p><p></p><p>Thundina sheathed her weapon and waited for the lamia. She had no intention of surrendering her weapon, but she wasn’t looking to pick a fight right there after seeing the damage Scyther had suffered. One by one, Thundina’s other companions also sheathed their weapons. Talor looked shocked as he realized that Thoss, the demon slaying bow was probably attracting attention.</p><p></p><p>The lamia reached the party and demanded, “Why did you attack our trees?”</p><p></p><p>Scyther bristled, “The trees attacked us first. We were acting in justifiable self defense.” Scyther activated his belt of repair to staunch the oil leaks while discussing matters with the lamia.</p><p></p><p>The lamia continued, “There is a one thousand gold fine for attacking the trees, and I will need to see your papers.”</p><p></p><p>Talor hustled forward, “I’m in charge here. Yes, yes, who would we pay the fine to? Here are my papers, I’m a property holder.”</p><p></p><p>The lamia replied, “I can collect the fine, as can any other Graz’zt representative. You will need proper papers for traveling in the city. Get those from the Graz’zt signatories. I recommend that you hire a guide for your first couple days here. And, I will need to see the papers for the rest of you as well.”</p><p></p><p>To each party member the lamia repeated the need to for traveling papers. She raised her eyes some at the papers Thundina presented; the Lightbringer mission certification.</p><p></p><p>“I come from a barbarian family,” Thundina said. “What can you expect?”</p><p></p><p>Once Talor had paid the fine for Scyther attacking the tree and the lamia had returned to patrolling the wall, the party took stock of the damage the trees had inflicted. Jessuf and Gorrin huddled to discuss the most effective means of healing. Both reflexively reached for their holy symbols but stopped themselves before calling on the Sovereign Host to send magic into Zelatar, eventually settling on the wand of <em>Lesser Vigor</em>. Scyther handed Thundina the wand of <em>Repair Light Damage</em> he had acquired in Sigil shortly before they had departed.</p><p></p><p>“Really, do you think light repairs can fix you?” Thundina asked.</p><p></p><p>“A single light repair is insufficient to fix this hole, but each casting should close the hole a little until it is fully repaired,” Scyther said.</p><p></p><p>Thundina repeatedly tapped Scyther with the wand, drawing its magic out to repair him. Slowly Thundina did see Scyther’s wounds closing and repairing. By the end, Thundina had used thirteen charges from the wand, surprising her regarding how much was required to repair Scyther.</p><p></p><p>The party began wandering the chaotic streets of Zelatar looking for the signatories building or the Sign of Black Heart. Eventually the party encouraged Talor to ask around. Most demons refused to talk, but one large hezrou agreed to give directions. Talor conveyed back to the party the directions given by the hezrou, “He says we need to go down Bonebreaker Alley to get where we want to go. I recommend we not, I believe he is lying. Let’s move on.”</p><p></p><p>The party attempted to continue down the street when the hezrou bumped up against Talor. Talor said, “He wants to know what’s wrong with the directions he gave…”</p><p></p><p>Scyther approached the hezrou and matched it in aggressive body language and began staring at it. The bristling spikes on the juggernaut and the well armed party backing it up was enough for the hezrou to back down and leave the party alone. That however still left the party wandering through the town without direction.</p><p></p><p>Thundina had an idea, “Talor, why don’t you let me borrow that mask of yours so I can try asking for directions? I think I would have a better chance interacting with the demons than you in this plane.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>Talor protested, “I don’t know if I want my mask so close to your mouth.”</p><p></p><p>After a brief argument, Talor relented and let Thundina borrow the mask with the warning not to mention that Dawnat Sanp was a minion of Orcus because Graz’zt and Orcus hated each other. “Talor!” Thundina exclaimed. “Don’t you ever wash this mask?”</p><p></p><p>She then caught the attention of a nearby hezrou patrolman, “Hey. You. Where is the Graz’zt Signatories?”</p><p></p><p>The hezrou responded, “You should hire a guide to take you around the city. Leave me alone.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, I don’t see any guides for the offering. I think you would make a fine guide.”</p><p>“I’m already employed as a city guard for Graz’zt. I’m busy.”</p><p>“We’re talking extra money on the side here. What do you say?”</p><p>“How much are you offering?”</p><p></p><p>Thundina tried to size up the hezrou but couldn’t get an idea of what would be an appropriate offer so she had to resort to, “What would you expect?”</p><p>“Two thousand, for the day,” the hezrou demanded.</p><p>“We’ll give you fifteen hundred,” Thundina countered.</p><p></p><p>“Do you take me for a cripple!” The hezrou said indignantly.</p><p>“Cripples make fifteen hundred? I should have moved here years ago, all healthy persons must be swimming in gold.”</p><p>“Forget it,” the hezrou said. “Move along now.”</p><p></p><p>The hezrou continued his patrol and Thundina returned the mask to Talor. “Well, it was worth a try. I think he was upset that we offered him a job that would normally be cripples’ work.”</p><p></p><p>Talor took the mask and reattached it complaining, “Ach, Thundina, your smell is all over this. That chaotic scent makes me dizzy.”</p><p></p><p>A tiefling in a threadbare shirt approached the party hacking, “I hear you need a guide.” Ever couple words he would pause to cough.</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” Thundina said. “Are you alright?</p><p></p><p>“My name is Dagger Slim, and I can guide you for 400 per day. Yes, I’m fine.” The tiefling spit on his hand and held it out to seal the deal. Thundina motioned to Scyther to shake Dagger Slim’s hand.</p><p></p><p>“You seem to have a pretty bad cough,” Thundina said. “I don’t want you dieing on us before the day is over.”</p><p></p><p>Scyther, Jessuf, Gorrin, and Thundina each contributed 100 gold to pay for Dagger Slim’s services. Scyther had put forth the idea that since Talor had paid the fine for the trees, he should be exempt from paying a share on the guide. Thundina didn’t wish to start a major fight in front of the newly hired guide, but promised Scyther there would be a discussion on who owed what before all was done.</p><p></p><p>Dagger Slim led the party down streets to a swirling portal he claimed linked to another of the three planes of Azzagrat. The party followed him through the portal and on to the Graz’zt signatories building. There Dagger Slim asked, “Well, was that all then?”</p><p></p><p>“Nope,” Thundina replied. “We have other places we need to visit after this. You’re coming in with us.”</p><p></p><p>Once inside Dagger Slim asked, “Where else will you be needing a guide to?”</p><p></p><p>Talor replied, “We need to meet Dawnat Sanp.”</p><p></p><p>Dagger Slim shook his head, which brought on a fit of coughing, “Never heard of a Sanp. Can you tell me why you want to have that meeting?”</p><p></p><p>Scyther rumbled, “He is a minion of Orcus.”</p><p></p><p>Dagger Slim’s eyes went wide at that and he dumped out the money the party had given him to be a guide, “I ain’t dealing with anyone related to Orcus,” and scampered out of the building as fast as his hacking cough would allow.</p><p></p><p>The party faced three lines in the Graz’zt signatories building; a short line with extravagantly dressed people of all shapes and sizes, a long line with finely dressed people, and a medium line with poorly dressed people. The party discussed which line would most likely be the right line for them. Talor wanted to choose the shortest line while Thundina wanted the long line with the adequately dressed people. Thundina ultimately recommended that Talor speak to the end of each line to find out what that person was doing.</p><p></p><p>At the end of the shortest line one of the dog-like gnolls stood. Talor asked him about his stay and what business had brought him to Zelatar. The gnoll barked, “I’m here as an emissary of Yeenoghu. Whom do you serve?”</p><p></p><p>Talor answered, “I don’t really serve anyone. I’ve worked closely with the druidic council before, but I haven’t been in contact with them recently.”</p><p></p><p>The gnoll pointedly turned away from Talor and put on a good show of ignoring him. Talor joined Thundina at the long line, “Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right line. The guy in front of us is a giant so you don’t need me to translate, why don’t you try talking to him?”</p><p></p><p>Thundina approached the giant and began the small talk, “Have you been waiting here long?”</p><p>The giant shrugged, “A couple minutes.”</p><p>“This is the line for papers for merchants, right?”</p><p>“Correct.”</p><p>“We just got out of the slave trade. No future in it.”</p><p>“If you just left the business, why do you need papers?”</p><p>“We’re not leaving right away. We have some other business here that needs attending to as well.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina and the giant made a little more small talk before Thundina let the conversation lapse and turned back to Talor, “I think this is right for us. We can pass as merchants, and I don’t like the looks of that other line. Say, where is Scyther, Jessuf, and Gorrin?”</p><p>Talor replied, “They’re trying the other line. They seem happy there, but I agree, let’s be merchants.”</p><p></p><p>Once Thundina and Talor had purchased their merchant’s papers, they reviewed the charter rights they had been granted. They were pleased to see how it looked like the charter set them as a higher class than most others and thus in the right in disputes and made provisions for protecting the merchants retainers and chattel. The two discussed which category their other three party members were more accurately a part of.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ealli, post: 3617211, member: 804"] [b]Chapter 5: Dealings[/b] Jessuf returned to the party, a pale white. The encounter with the spore bat had left him heavily drained and weak. The party considered its resources. Scyther was battered, but okay on the whole. Jessuf however insisted that he needed to call a rest and the next order of business was then if their current location was safe, the chwidencha lair was safe, or if retreating all the way back to Sigil was the wisest course of action. The conversation continually went in circles, no one able to make any solid arguments in any way. Eventually Gorrin had an idea, “I can consult the gods to learn if it would be safe to make a camp here so that Jessuf may recover.” Gorrin cast forth a pair of sticks inscribed with runes relating to the Sovereign Host and the Dark Six. As he threw the sticks he firmly said, “Will setting up camp in this location be safe and wise.” Gorrin immediately looked up as the sticks came to a rest, “The worst possible prediction. Certain woe if we remain.” The party trekked back through the spider webs. At the set of pedestals, the party crushed spider eggs and returned to Sigil. Thundina looked through the purses from the drow patrol. The random purses provided nice returns, but Thundina could only gape at the captain’s purse. He had gold like any other patrol member, but he had more platinum coins than gold! The party provided Jessuf a monocle and he began [i]Identifying[/i] all the various pieces of magic the party had found. The Iron Pyramid could take the bearer plus five others to any other pyramid marked with an iron pyramid. The Silver Cube was a single use planar access key for shifting to another dimension. Jessuf attempted to explain what that meant, but it went right over Thundina’s head. Scyther requested one additional day for additional repairs and to find an artificer who carried [i]Repair Light Damage[/i] wand. Thundina had the gambling itch again and headed down to the Lower Ward and the Styx Oarsman as a place where she knew some action was happening. At the Styx Oarsman the tables were busy even at the early day. Thundina strode through the bar pausing by the various tables where cards were flopping and demons and tieflings were tossing coins into piles in the middle of the tables. Thundina watched one table in particular where the players were dealt cards, tossed their bets into a pot on a Lazy Susan, and exchanged cards attempting to assemble an army, a political alliance, arcane might, or other victory conditions before making a move for power. The winner of the hand would take the money and a fresh hand would start. A tiefling with a thin beard which ran to a point on his chin hissed at Thundina, “What are you looking at? This isn’t a spectator sport.” Thundina quickly glanced over the piles of money in front of the gamers to confirm that the stakes were right and then grabbed a chair from a nearby table. Thundina spun the chair around and took a seat, “Deal me in.” She pulled out a pile of gold coins and a lesser pile of platinum as she took her seat. The first hand Thundina lost horribly. The same with the second. The winner would claim the entire pot so having the weakest hand was no worse than having the second best, but it did say that she hadn’t quite caught on to the strategy. In a way, simply losing like that was a relief; it meant the other gamblers weren’t trying to hustle her into bigger stakes by making her overconfident. To Thundina’s right a skeletal demon hunched over his coins. The skin glistened red and he always picked at his cards and coins very carefully as if trying to avoid touching them for too long. A single horn on the back of its head confirmed the creature to be a babau. It would furtively pick up and toss back cards, sometimes Thundina even missed the exchange. One thing she noticed, it was always trying to achieve Puppet Master, a powerful political hand. The single-mindedness of the babau was leaving lots of arcane suited cards available. Thundina won her first hand with a Wizard School, a decent arcane suited hand but which more owed the victory to everyone else still having terrible hands. Over the next hour Thundina won back what she had lost while picking up the ebb and flow of the game, but couldn’t push into a net profit. Thundina came close when she had sculpted the nearly unbeatable Warlord’s Army only to have her hopes crushed by the tiefling revealing an Overlord’s Wrath. “Ooh, that’s rough,” a voice from behind Thundina startled her. Thundina turned to see a young man in very extravagant clothing. He wore a fine silk shirt slightly unbuttoned. A mithril mesh peeked out from under the silk shirt. Thundina waved out of the next hand, “Are you trying to distract me?” “No, that was not my intent,” the well-dressed man said. “It’s just that you’re very beautiful. Would you have lunch with me?” “Hmm, I’m not really winning anything here, so, sure.” Thundina and the stranger moved over to a booth and placed orders for lunch. Thundina asked the stranger, “So what’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this? I was expecting a tiefling or the like in here.” “No, no, I’m human. My name is Gryfalcon,” he laughed. “I’m currently traveling around. Sigil is a great central hub for basing out of to visit other planes. I get a taste of each place and them I’m off again. What about you?” “I’m currently on something of a quest,” Thundina replied. “Resupplying before setting off to the Demonweb Pits, or the Demonwebs, I always get those confused.” Gryfalcon nodded knowingly, “The pits are beneath the Demonwebs.” “Right. Oh, my name is Thundina. Have you heard of the Iron waste Portal?” “The Iron waste Portal is part of the Demonwebs. How to get there, I cannot say. The webs change at the will of Lolth and any directions I give you would be obsolete already anyway.” The food arrived and temporarily suspended the conversation. While eating, Gryfalcon asked, “Please do not take this the wrong way, but you have something of a mercenary look to you; a well paid, high-level mercenary.” Thundina could only shrug, “I do well enough. I have expectations of plunder rights and I am at the point where I can be picky as to what missions I take.” “Your current mission must pay well. Planar travel is my area of expertise and I would like to offer my services to you for your mission.” “It’s mostly a speculative adventure.” Thundina looked into Gryfalcon’s eyes and said, “You’re a real sweet guy, Gryfalcon, but, I’m sorry. I’ll keep your offer in mind, but we’re not looking to expand the team at this point.” “Before you go, beautiful lady, I have a present for you,” Gryfalcon said. He handed Thundina a silver sphere and when she looked confused he explained, “It’s a portal key. It will take you where want to go.” Thundina gave Gryfalcon a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you.” Thundina rejoined her friends and the rested and restocked party returned to the Demonwebs. The chamber the party arrived in bore a certain similarity to the previous portal location with the four pedestals and the gnawed bones scattered everywhere, but the exits looked to be slightly off from where they had been before. Jessuf insisted that this must be a different place and that using the iron pyramid to locate the previous portal chamber would be of great value. Once he was able to assure the party that he had a sufficient vision of the other chamber to use the iron pyramid to locate that chamber instead of a random iron pyramid pedestal, the party allowed Jessuf to activate the iron pyramid. When the party did not find themselves in a new location, Jessuf sheepishly announced that although the exits were different, the pedestal was the same. A very short distance away from the pedestals, the spider web passage suddenly changed to a stone path ahead. A thick black velvet curtain veiled the entire path. Scyther, at the head of the party, strode up to the curtain and grabbed it before Thundina could stop him. “Wait, let me check for traps,” Thundina called. “Curtains imply a certain level of civilization and civilization implies traps.” She inspected the curtain, careful to not touch it. She looked up, “Yep, trapped.” “So can you disarm the trap?” Talor asked. “Nope,” Thundina replied. “I could bypass it, but there’s no point to that. The Alarm has already been triggered. Whomever set it, already knows we’re here.” The chamber past the black curtain held many barrels and crates piled along the far wall. Thundina wanted to see what treasures the storage room might hold, but reconnaissance had to come first. Three other black curtains covered other exits from the room. Behind the first, a large bed dominated the room. Thundina let the curtain to the bedroom fall back to look behind another. Behind the second curtain a large chamber stretched forth. A large red circle was drawn on the floor with a pentagram draw inside. At the four cardinalities around the circle, a series of dots marked locations where a magic user would stand while using the circle. Past the circle, at a stone table reminiscent of an altar, a drow woman with long white hair wearing a gauzy spider silk robe stood next to a tiefling man with a pointy tail. Neither seemed to notice the intrusion, but an unblinking three-eyed cat sitting on the table watched as Thundina and Scyther stepped into the make-shift summoning chamber. Without looking up from the table, the drow woman spoke, “If you’re going to come into my home, come in and don’t just stand there. What business do you have in the Webs?” “Pardon us,” Thundina replied. “We are looking for the Iron Waste Portal. We seem to have gotten a little off track.” “You are not looking for the Iron Waste Portal, although that is just a little to the south of here,” the drow woman said. “You are looking for Lyssandra. I am Lyssandra, and this is my companion Bon Amejdos.” Thundina carefully skirted around the summoning circle to approach the stone table. Lyssandra laughed, “You do not need to fear the circle. It is inert at the time.” Thundina shrugged, “Smarter to avoid anyway. Walking through such decorations tends to give one bad luck at one’s next trial. We have a delivery from Rule of Three for you.” Thundina looked back at the rest of the party, “So who has the satchel?” None volunteered the satchel from Rule of Three and ultimately Thundina realized, “Oh, I have it.” “So this is who Rule of Three has found to take on this task. You will have great difficulty surviving past the Black Gate,” Lyssandra said as she took the satchel from Thundina and gave it to Bon Amejdos with instructions to sort the books and place them on the bookshelves. He began placing the various tomes Rule of Three had sent onto the shelves around the edges of the summoning chamber. Lyssandra handed back to Thundina a sealed letter, “Please convey this back to Rule of Three. It is the response he has been expecting.” Once out of Lyssandra’s home, Thundina began turning the letter over and over, inspecting the parchment and wax seal. She held it up to the light emitting from Scyther’s scythe and eventually handed the letter to Jessuf saying, “Could you sniff this for magic please?” Jessuf concentrated a moment before announcing, “Yes, there is a spell on the letter. Presumably to prevent anyone from trying to sneak a peek, although I cannot be certain of that.” Thundina appeared to be considering what tricks she knew to open a magically trapped letter when Scyther asked Jessuf for the letter. Once Scyther had the letter, he put it in his mouth and the letter disappeared. “You will not be opening this correspondence for it is not addressed to you,” Scyther rumbled. “It is in a safe place for now.” Thundina sulked back to Sigil and to the Styx Oarsman. The party found Rule of Three in his same booth with a very similar drink as ever before. “Greetings, salutations, welcome,” Rule of Three welcomed the party. “Did you bring the letter, message, communiqué from Lyssandra?” Scyther presented the letter to Rule of Three. The scholarly githzerai opened the letter and read. He addressed the party then, “You have completed the three tasks, errands, quests I had previously asked of you, however this letter represents a change of plans, modification of intentions, alteration of hopes. The Demon Queen must be hunted in her own web. Can I ask of you further assistance?” Talor spoke up, “What’s our stake in this?” Rule of Three pulled out a small sack and placed it on the table. As it settled, a few diamonds tumbled out with far more gleaming inside. He said, “Friends, compatriots, associates, these would be my payment for further services.” “Alright,” Talor said, “I think we can accept your terms. What are these new plans?” “The letter represents an offer of alliance, assistance, help from Orcus, the Prince of the Undead. One of his minions, through various contacts, will give us the time of the Demon Council, a map of the Demonwebs, and the key to the Pits. These three gifts he will give to us, he knows me well. Meet the bone devil Dawnat Sanp in the city of Zelatar at the Sign of Black Heart.” “How do we get to Zelatar and how do we get back?” Thundina asked. Rule of Three replied, “There is a portal outside of the Oarsman. As you climb, ascend, rise, think of a platinum piece. Do you require, wish, need anything further?” As the party departed the booth of Rule of Three, he paused Talor a moment to whisper something in Talor’s ear. The party made the climb outside of the Styx Oarsman and found themselves on a windy, foggy plane. Ahead of the party, a large city gleamed of silver. The city was surrounded by baked mud all around. A road wound for two hundred yards out from the city to where the party had just entered the plane. Demonic travelers waited along the road so that they could enter the city with other demonic guards riding fiendish mounts watching over the procession. Thundina recognized none of the creatures and could not even think of how to begin to describe them. Another demon, a large frog-like creature, paced the side of the road. Where it encountered weakened demons, it slapped shackles on the wretch. Those which resisted, it branded as well. The demon spotted the party and smiled an evil, terrible gaping smile, “You just came through the one-way portal from Sigil. You are my slaves now.” “Screw that,” Thundina said. “We have important business and we will not be sidetracked by the likes of you.” “You are my slaves,” the demon repeated. “Resist, and I shall brand you. It would be a shame to mar such a pretty face.” “I have a better idea. You answer some very simple questions for us, and we let you live.” As if on cue, Scyther rumbled, “Vile creature of darkness, I would gladly smite you where you stand. Say the word, and I promise you a swift death.” The demon paused a moment as it sized up Scyther. While the threat put a seed of doubt into the demon’s heart, it was not swayed. It shook a set of shackles and took up a battle stance. Thundina took that opportunity to charge while the demon was full of bravado and bluff. It had left itself wide open and another such opportunity might not open again. Behind her, Scyther followed as well. Jessuf muttered a few words and grew to a large size, full of [i]Righteous Might[/i] and Talor applied an oil to [i]Bless Weapon[/i] for his bow. A column of holy fire roared over the demon as Gorrin called down a [i]Flame Strike[/i] on the creature. The demon turned to the guards and began pointing at the party while yelling something. It narrowed its eyes and created a [i]Blasphemous[/i] noise. Scyther, more construct than living creature, ignored the blast and continued his assault against the demon. The guards on the road began laughing uproariously and pointing at the melee. They shouted back and began shooting into the melee. Each guard shot at the nearest combatant whether that was a member of Thundina’s party or the slave master demon. Thundina came out of her daze and moved into a flanking position on the demon. Weakened from the [i]Blasphemy[/i], Thundina’s strike merely glanced off the demon’s armored hide. Scyther forced the demon to swing wide and leave itself open to a devastating blow. Scyther then channeled into his swing all his determination and resolve to make the attack strike true. His scythe buried deep into the demon’s chest, so deep that the tip of the scythe was sticking out the back side. Scyther pulled back his scythe, drops of ichor spraying. The demon looked down in shock at the sucking hole in his chest and tried to say something. No sound, only a bubble of ichor bursting from its mouth. It collapsed from the shock of the massive damage. Talor raised his arms to show the guards that he was no longer making a ruckus. He also told the party, “Break it up?” One of the mounted guards rode over to Talor, dismounted, and the two of them chatted in the harsh tongue of the Abyss. The demon produced a paper and pointed to a part of it. Talor then signed where the demon was pointing at which time the paper was torn horizontally with Talor keeping one of the pieces. “So what was that all about?” Thundina asked as the party reformed. “Quickly, the demon we just fought, a hezrou by the way, offered blood and gold if the guards would assist him. Clearly they did not accept his offer, but they did tell us all to break it up,” Talor recounted. “And then this. I kind of said that Scyther was a minion. Because one of my ‘minions’ killed that hezrou, I was given all his property, which is what this form is. I wonder what possessions I now hold.” Jessuf looked over at the huddled demons in shackles and said, “I can think of something that is now yours. The question now is what are do you intend to do with them?” Talor looked somewhat surprised, “Oh, I hadn’t of that. I don’t know. What do you guys think?” Thundina said somewhat disgustedly, “They’re your problem. Do with them as you wish, but I have no intention of becoming a slave driver.” Scyther added, “They are evil creatures and normally I would advocate their destruction, but I am incapable of calling for the death of helpless creatures, this is the will of the gods. I do not like the idea of freeing them, but I believe that releasing them is, again, the will of the gods.” Talor spoke with some of the chained demons in Abyssal before reporting that they considered it right that they had been enslaved because they were weaker than the hezrou. Talor shook his head and asked, “Did the hezrou have a key to the shackles? I don’t think we can keep them, we have to set them free.” Scyther rumbled, “There was no key. Perhaps we can bust the chains?” Scyther began straining against the chains on one of the captives. “Um, hello!” Thundina exclaimed. “Why don’t you let me deal with this? This is kind of my area of specialty.” “No, no, we got it.” Talor said and began assisting Scyther with yanking the chains apart. Thundina rolled her eyes and began picking the locks on the other captives anyway. Scyther and Talor did succeed in busting apart one set of chains in the time it took Thundina to release all the rest. Once all the captive demons were freed, Thundina addressed the huddled demons, “Freeing you was a pretty big favor to you. I want you to know, I collect on my favors. If we ever meet again, it had better be when I am calling in one of those favors.” Talor whispered to Thundina, “I don’t think any of them speak Common.” “Oh,” Thundina said. “Could you maybe please translate that into Abyssal then?” “Sure,” Talor agreed and spoke to the demons in the harsh tongue of the Abyss. The party joined the procession of creatures moving towards the city. From the body language and laughter of the guards by the road, they were still highly amused by what had happened to the hezrou. The party passed a legion of demons camped outside the city but the party passed by the army with nothing more than some ribbing between Thundina and Jessuf about the nature of camp followers likely to be found there. Talor was muttering something under his breath to himself as they walked to the city. Thundina finally asked Talor what he was muttering. “Life is fleeting but death endures,” Talor replied. “That the password we need for when we meet Dawnat Sanp, well, the Common translation of it at least.” Closer to the city, Thundina couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that she was being watched. Her shoulder blades itched and she had been in enough rough parts of town to know that itching shoulder blades meant to be extra cautions. Whenever she turned around though, no one was creeping up; there was nothing unusual there. She unconsciously reached for the Dol Arrah holy symbol that had once been the paladin Ashlyn’s holy symbol. As soon as she grasped the symbol, the feeling of being watched went away. It dawned on Thundina, openly displaying symbols of the Sovereign Host might not be the smartest idea on a chaotic evil plane ruled by a demon lord. She mentioned this thought to Jessuf and Gorrin while moving her symbol into a pouch. The party passed under the gates to the city. On each side of the road, a gnarled, very withered white tree stood. As the party passed by the trees, the branches on the trees began to hiss like snakes and even lash out at the members on each side of the road, striking like snakes as well. Gorrin took a pretty heavy battering, but Jessuf suffered far worse. By the time he was able to react to the sudden attack, he was bleeding heavily. Scyther charged at one of the trees crying, “Wretched trees. It is my duty to stand between you and the holy clerics.” The rest of the party scampered further into the city and turned to watch the battle between Scyther and the tree he attacked. Both trees began writhing and screeching. The one next to Scyther clawed at him, scratching deep furrows into the adamantium body. The other broke off one of its large branches and hurled that branch at Scyther. The branch punched clean through Scyther in a blow that would have killed any living creature. After that, Scyther made a tactical withdrawal towards the party. Both trees broke off branches and hurled them skyward in an arc towards Scyther. Scyther was able to sidestep the incoming branches. Vrocks circling overhead had been beginning to descend towards the commotion. A lamia came galloping along the wall and shouted, “By Graz’zt’s command, throw down your weapons!” She descended a set of stairs and her presence seemed to calm the writhing trees. Thundina sheathed her weapon and waited for the lamia. She had no intention of surrendering her weapon, but she wasn’t looking to pick a fight right there after seeing the damage Scyther had suffered. One by one, Thundina’s other companions also sheathed their weapons. Talor looked shocked as he realized that Thoss, the demon slaying bow was probably attracting attention. The lamia reached the party and demanded, “Why did you attack our trees?” Scyther bristled, “The trees attacked us first. We were acting in justifiable self defense.” Scyther activated his belt of repair to staunch the oil leaks while discussing matters with the lamia. The lamia continued, “There is a one thousand gold fine for attacking the trees, and I will need to see your papers.” Talor hustled forward, “I’m in charge here. Yes, yes, who would we pay the fine to? Here are my papers, I’m a property holder.” The lamia replied, “I can collect the fine, as can any other Graz’zt representative. You will need proper papers for traveling in the city. Get those from the Graz’zt signatories. I recommend that you hire a guide for your first couple days here. And, I will need to see the papers for the rest of you as well.” To each party member the lamia repeated the need to for traveling papers. She raised her eyes some at the papers Thundina presented; the Lightbringer mission certification. “I come from a barbarian family,” Thundina said. “What can you expect?” Once Talor had paid the fine for Scyther attacking the tree and the lamia had returned to patrolling the wall, the party took stock of the damage the trees had inflicted. Jessuf and Gorrin huddled to discuss the most effective means of healing. Both reflexively reached for their holy symbols but stopped themselves before calling on the Sovereign Host to send magic into Zelatar, eventually settling on the wand of [i]Lesser Vigor[/i]. Scyther handed Thundina the wand of [i]Repair Light Damage[/i] he had acquired in Sigil shortly before they had departed. “Really, do you think light repairs can fix you?” Thundina asked. “A single light repair is insufficient to fix this hole, but each casting should close the hole a little until it is fully repaired,” Scyther said. Thundina repeatedly tapped Scyther with the wand, drawing its magic out to repair him. Slowly Thundina did see Scyther’s wounds closing and repairing. By the end, Thundina had used thirteen charges from the wand, surprising her regarding how much was required to repair Scyther. The party began wandering the chaotic streets of Zelatar looking for the signatories building or the Sign of Black Heart. Eventually the party encouraged Talor to ask around. Most demons refused to talk, but one large hezrou agreed to give directions. Talor conveyed back to the party the directions given by the hezrou, “He says we need to go down Bonebreaker Alley to get where we want to go. I recommend we not, I believe he is lying. Let’s move on.” The party attempted to continue down the street when the hezrou bumped up against Talor. Talor said, “He wants to know what’s wrong with the directions he gave…” Scyther approached the hezrou and matched it in aggressive body language and began staring at it. The bristling spikes on the juggernaut and the well armed party backing it up was enough for the hezrou to back down and leave the party alone. That however still left the party wandering through the town without direction. Thundina had an idea, “Talor, why don’t you let me borrow that mask of yours so I can try asking for directions? I think I would have a better chance interacting with the demons than you in this plane.” Talor protested, “I don’t know if I want my mask so close to your mouth.” After a brief argument, Talor relented and let Thundina borrow the mask with the warning not to mention that Dawnat Sanp was a minion of Orcus because Graz’zt and Orcus hated each other. “Talor!” Thundina exclaimed. “Don’t you ever wash this mask?” She then caught the attention of a nearby hezrou patrolman, “Hey. You. Where is the Graz’zt Signatories?” The hezrou responded, “You should hire a guide to take you around the city. Leave me alone.” “Well, I don’t see any guides for the offering. I think you would make a fine guide.” “I’m already employed as a city guard for Graz’zt. I’m busy.” “We’re talking extra money on the side here. What do you say?” “How much are you offering?” Thundina tried to size up the hezrou but couldn’t get an idea of what would be an appropriate offer so she had to resort to, “What would you expect?” “Two thousand, for the day,” the hezrou demanded. “We’ll give you fifteen hundred,” Thundina countered. “Do you take me for a cripple!” The hezrou said indignantly. “Cripples make fifteen hundred? I should have moved here years ago, all healthy persons must be swimming in gold.” “Forget it,” the hezrou said. “Move along now.” The hezrou continued his patrol and Thundina returned the mask to Talor. “Well, it was worth a try. I think he was upset that we offered him a job that would normally be cripples’ work.” Talor took the mask and reattached it complaining, “Ach, Thundina, your smell is all over this. That chaotic scent makes me dizzy.” A tiefling in a threadbare shirt approached the party hacking, “I hear you need a guide.” Ever couple words he would pause to cough. “Yes,” Thundina said. “Are you alright? “My name is Dagger Slim, and I can guide you for 400 per day. Yes, I’m fine.” The tiefling spit on his hand and held it out to seal the deal. Thundina motioned to Scyther to shake Dagger Slim’s hand. “You seem to have a pretty bad cough,” Thundina said. “I don’t want you dieing on us before the day is over.” Scyther, Jessuf, Gorrin, and Thundina each contributed 100 gold to pay for Dagger Slim’s services. Scyther had put forth the idea that since Talor had paid the fine for the trees, he should be exempt from paying a share on the guide. Thundina didn’t wish to start a major fight in front of the newly hired guide, but promised Scyther there would be a discussion on who owed what before all was done. Dagger Slim led the party down streets to a swirling portal he claimed linked to another of the three planes of Azzagrat. The party followed him through the portal and on to the Graz’zt signatories building. There Dagger Slim asked, “Well, was that all then?” “Nope,” Thundina replied. “We have other places we need to visit after this. You’re coming in with us.” Once inside Dagger Slim asked, “Where else will you be needing a guide to?” Talor replied, “We need to meet Dawnat Sanp.” Dagger Slim shook his head, which brought on a fit of coughing, “Never heard of a Sanp. Can you tell me why you want to have that meeting?” Scyther rumbled, “He is a minion of Orcus.” Dagger Slim’s eyes went wide at that and he dumped out the money the party had given him to be a guide, “I ain’t dealing with anyone related to Orcus,” and scampered out of the building as fast as his hacking cough would allow. The party faced three lines in the Graz’zt signatories building; a short line with extravagantly dressed people of all shapes and sizes, a long line with finely dressed people, and a medium line with poorly dressed people. The party discussed which line would most likely be the right line for them. Talor wanted to choose the shortest line while Thundina wanted the long line with the adequately dressed people. Thundina ultimately recommended that Talor speak to the end of each line to find out what that person was doing. At the end of the shortest line one of the dog-like gnolls stood. Talor asked him about his stay and what business had brought him to Zelatar. The gnoll barked, “I’m here as an emissary of Yeenoghu. Whom do you serve?” Talor answered, “I don’t really serve anyone. I’ve worked closely with the druidic council before, but I haven’t been in contact with them recently.” The gnoll pointedly turned away from Talor and put on a good show of ignoring him. Talor joined Thundina at the long line, “Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right line. The guy in front of us is a giant so you don’t need me to translate, why don’t you try talking to him?” Thundina approached the giant and began the small talk, “Have you been waiting here long?” The giant shrugged, “A couple minutes.” “This is the line for papers for merchants, right?” “Correct.” “We just got out of the slave trade. No future in it.” “If you just left the business, why do you need papers?” “We’re not leaving right away. We have some other business here that needs attending to as well.” Thundina and the giant made a little more small talk before Thundina let the conversation lapse and turned back to Talor, “I think this is right for us. We can pass as merchants, and I don’t like the looks of that other line. Say, where is Scyther, Jessuf, and Gorrin?” Talor replied, “They’re trying the other line. They seem happy there, but I agree, let’s be merchants.” Once Thundina and Talor had purchased their merchant’s papers, they reviewed the charter rights they had been granted. They were pleased to see how it looked like the charter set them as a higher class than most others and thus in the right in disputes and made provisions for protecting the merchants retainers and chattel. The two discussed which category their other three party members were more accurately a part of. [/QUOTE]
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Child of Chaos -- The Continuing Adventures of Thundina Planeswalker. June 29 update
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