[ Spar 24th – Day 14 ]
The morning finds our cutters at the Armory, preparing for a match between Quinn and Ely. A few Doomguard factioneers have an inkling of what is going to transpire, so they turn out to watch. A square has been drawn on the floor of the weapons practice area for the two of them to fight in. Both are hardy individuals, so they agree to hold no punches until one yields or falls. Quinn chooses to use short swords in the battle; Ely chooses an oddly-curved blade (non-magical he assures Quinn) that he wants to try out.
The two face off against one another. They each feint a few times, then rush in with a crash of steel. Quinn presses the attack, taking any ground he can. Ely proves to be very nimble and incredibly strong. After several blocks and parries, each lands a decisive blow: Ely cuts up into the minotaur underarm, forcing Quinn to stop using his secondary sword; Quinn catches the blade of Ely’s sword on his pommel, and wrenches it out of his grasp. Disarmed and impressed, Ely prepares to fight with his hands. Quinn, trying to appear an honorable (if not arrogant) combatant, suggests that Ely retrieve his weapon. Ely chooses to forego the curved blade, instead grabbing a traditional longsword from the rack. The combat continues.
Disarming Ely was Quinn’s highlight of the fight, because after that, the cambion turns up the heat. He bursts into a flurry of action, striking with one weapon just as often as Quinn does with two. Quinn is pressed back and wounded several times by Ely, until finally he raises his open hand and submits. Both warriors have sustained a number of smaller injuries, blood running down their arms and through rents in their shirts. No potions of healing or anything of the sort are passed out – this is the Doomguard, and their philosophies of entropy go against their use. Ely is impressed with Quinn’s performance, and makes a few recommendations to improve his fighting style.
Tira mentions interest in a spear made of mithral that she could purchase. Ely tells her that it would most likely have to be crafted and it would be expensive, but he can make the arrangements. Killian speaks with Spragg while the others are occupied with the fight and weapons purchases. They speak vaguely of dissent within the faction, pertaining to the rumors of Factol Pentar’s new plans and attitudes. The two gauge each other’s true motives, but no plans are made by either. Quinn cleans up some and the trio leave the Armory.
They move out of the Lady’s Ward and to the Exchange. Felinca gives them another job, starting with a meeting with a cutter by name of Solastor at the Fat Candle Pub. The new mission will take them to Faunel, gate-town to the Beastlands and also Tira’s place of birth. Seems that an expedition out to a new set of ruins near the burg has disappeared and they’ve hired the Blades to find them. They head out to the tavern and meet up with Solastor, a wily, somewhat charismatic fighter. He definitely makes an impression as he shakes Killian’s hand and uses the grasp to flip him over onto the floor. He drives the point home that he will not be trifled with, and then turns to buy them drinks. The group, confused as usual, plan their exit from town. Solastor is not actually their employer for this mission, but instead a journeyman for the Bleak Cabal. He needs to travel through the Outlands to Faunel, and paid the Blades a nominal fee so that he could travel with their group.
The group returns to Tivvum’s Antiquities to retrieve another gate key from Alluvius Ruskin. She remembers the group and provides the neccesary key for a modest price. The key this time is a small, spherical lodestone. Once again, Killian examines the defenses of her shop, looking at it more as a burglar instead of a patron. He notes that the ‘keys’ she keeps in the higher level of this cylindrical building are worth more: gemstone baubles instead of shavings of soap and bent spoons. Time will tell if he ever chooses to make the attempt.
The characters make their way through the town into the Clerk’s Ward and to the portal itself. The front door of an office two buildings over from the Scriptorium serves as a portal to the Outlands. Tira knows of this portal because it is the one she used to enter Sigil originally. She knows of another, more accessible portal directly from the burg to Sigil, but it is heavily regulated by the Sign of One. They did not want that faction minding their business, even though it would have been a quicker jaunt. They activate the portal and step through, depositing them out into the flats of the Outlands. They note their location and leave most of the navigation to Tira, since she is a native to this area of the Outlands. It is an interesting time, as it is the changing of the month. The last day of Spar marks the ends of the oppressive stormclouds. On the horizon, they can see the clouds breaking up, and a reddish sky filtering through. The month of Hecatomb is nearly upon them.
[ DM Note: Quinn takes no healing potions? Back at this time we were using 2nd edition rules and Quinn’s high constitution (20, I believe) granted him a minor bit of regeneration. So his wounds would seal up over hours of time. We still play some with this, since having it heal him over hours hasn’t affected balance that much. And now with a healer in the party, it rarely matters. ]
[ Also, my campaign uses a variant of the Outlands Year calendar, which can be found here: (
http://mimir.net/outlands/calendar.shtml ) on the Mimir website. I may make a post later with the months, the six days of the week, and all of that compiled information. I originally helped design the javascript applet on the page that determined the Outlands date for you, but as you can see it’s broken because it wasn’t Y2K compliant. Oh well. ]
Also, if ya get the chance, drop ol' Ashy a line, please! 
