the Jester
Legend
Brain said:
Ah yes, forgot about that!
Talk about a rotten spell...
(Cydra) Great Conflicts
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
Ah yes, forgot about that!
Talk about a rotten spell...
the Jester
Legend
A Trip to Sigil
8:30 p.m., Ironboot, Tirchond
Evening has drawn down on the dwarven community of Ironboot, but the dwarves’ remarkable sense of industry keeps their shops open, keeps them working in the mines, keeps them doggedly hammering at the forge, just generally keeps them going. If asked, one of the dwarves would tell you that (unlike certain other lazy folk) dwarves work til the night would have fallen during the summer, usually til almost 9 p.m. This is all to the good; it allows our heroes to enter the shop wherein the portal they need is. It has taken them several hours to track down the location. Now that they have done so, they want to find out all they can about it and go through it as soon as possible.
The proprietor recognizes our heroes; it seems that their reputation preceeds them (especially Lester’s). Fortunately, this turns out, in the dwarven merchant’s case, to translate into hero worship. He doesn’t know much about Sigil or the portal that he keeps under wraps in the attic, but he’s happy to let them use it after gathering a few autographs. He beams happily.
Through the portal, then- except that it doesn’t take them anywhere. The dwarf explains that first they must obtain the key, which is held by a strange creature elsewhere. “It’s a...” he starts, then frowns. “A strange creature,” he repeats. But when our heroes seek it out, it surrenders the key to them happily “in the name of our lord Boccob.” Strange, indeed- the creature is a mass of tendrils and fungal material, truly the weirdest-looking non-morphing creature that our heroes have ever seen. It seems that alllies come in all shapes, indeed.
When our heroes return to the portal in the dwarf’s attic, they find that the key allows them through the gateway. On the other side they find themselves in the City of Doors.
Sigil- none of our heroes have ever visited it. Several of them have heard of it before; but to be there is something else again. There is no sun, just a sort of grimy ambient light. The buildings are a haphazard mess of different materials and styles. The portal deposits our heroes right in the middle of a broad avenue, and walking past them on either side are folk of all descriptions, from the mundane to the fantastic. To one side a pair of celestials deep in conversation pass. Over there walks a weird ram-centaur. And is that a nycadaemon? The babble of conversations in cosmic tongues washes over our heroes. Several of them recognize snatches of Celestial, Infernal and Abyssal. It’s amazing- none of our heroes have ever seen anything like it before.
As it turns out, Jezebel has been here before, with Marius (in her earlier years). She doesn’t know her way around at all, but she knows enough. “We should hire a tout,” she tells her mother.
“What’s a tout?” asks Sybele.
“A guide, basically.”
She helps them engage the services of Little Alex, a young lad who is cheerful and happy to aid the party for a little scrill. Even when there is a common tongue between our heroes and someone else, the people in this city seem to have a very specialized, odd lingo. It’s a little baffling, but with his aid they find an inn and become oriented to the portal. They give him some coin and arrange for him to be his tout whenever they’re in town. Little Alex, sensing a lucrative long-term arrangement, happily agrees. He’s just earned more money in one day than he usually does in a week.
“What are we doing here, again?” asks Inoke.
”We’re going to research the worms, and how to redirect the portals,” Orbius answers. “There’s supposed to be a great library of Boccob here somewhere.”
Lillamere says, “But they’re going to attack in three days, right?”
“Yeah...”
“So we don’t really have time. Maybe we should try to shut that gate by the Temple of Elemental Good down, and if there’s one near Brelana, we should shut it down as well.”
“Well, if we research how to redirect them first, we can-“
“My people will die,” Baron Lillamere interrupts severely. “That is not acceptable.”
Orbius nods reluctantly. “You’re right, of course. We’ll return here later. But while we’re here, let’s find a place to buy scrolls. There’s a spell called seal portal that I think might help us a lot.”
***
11 p.m., the center of the worms’ nest near the Temple of Elemental Good
Our heroes superior teleport to the portal letting the worms in nearest Brelana. They are expecting trouble, and they certainly get it.
A black slaad awaits them- fast and deadly. Orbius immediately casts a time stop, but to his horror the thing keeps coming. All around him his friends are a frozen tableau- but not his enemy.
“Oh dear,” Orbius says faintly.
Next Time: Can Orbius hold out against an epic slaad by himself for a few rounds?? Wait and see!
Note: I had never run or played in Sigil in my life before this session. Never did Planescape or anything. I've skimmed through a few of the books back in the day, and I own one of the monstrous compendiums from 2e and the Planar Handbook, but that's it. Despite that, I think that the party's trip to Sigil had a cool Planescapey feel to it, and I've become very interested in reading up on all the old PS stuff. You'll see a lot more of Sigil in the future- the party has made it almost a 2nd home lately.
8:30 p.m., Ironboot, Tirchond
Evening has drawn down on the dwarven community of Ironboot, but the dwarves’ remarkable sense of industry keeps their shops open, keeps them working in the mines, keeps them doggedly hammering at the forge, just generally keeps them going. If asked, one of the dwarves would tell you that (unlike certain other lazy folk) dwarves work til the night would have fallen during the summer, usually til almost 9 p.m. This is all to the good; it allows our heroes to enter the shop wherein the portal they need is. It has taken them several hours to track down the location. Now that they have done so, they want to find out all they can about it and go through it as soon as possible.
The proprietor recognizes our heroes; it seems that their reputation preceeds them (especially Lester’s). Fortunately, this turns out, in the dwarven merchant’s case, to translate into hero worship. He doesn’t know much about Sigil or the portal that he keeps under wraps in the attic, but he’s happy to let them use it after gathering a few autographs. He beams happily.
Through the portal, then- except that it doesn’t take them anywhere. The dwarf explains that first they must obtain the key, which is held by a strange creature elsewhere. “It’s a...” he starts, then frowns. “A strange creature,” he repeats. But when our heroes seek it out, it surrenders the key to them happily “in the name of our lord Boccob.” Strange, indeed- the creature is a mass of tendrils and fungal material, truly the weirdest-looking non-morphing creature that our heroes have ever seen. It seems that alllies come in all shapes, indeed.
When our heroes return to the portal in the dwarf’s attic, they find that the key allows them through the gateway. On the other side they find themselves in the City of Doors.
Sigil- none of our heroes have ever visited it. Several of them have heard of it before; but to be there is something else again. There is no sun, just a sort of grimy ambient light. The buildings are a haphazard mess of different materials and styles. The portal deposits our heroes right in the middle of a broad avenue, and walking past them on either side are folk of all descriptions, from the mundane to the fantastic. To one side a pair of celestials deep in conversation pass. Over there walks a weird ram-centaur. And is that a nycadaemon? The babble of conversations in cosmic tongues washes over our heroes. Several of them recognize snatches of Celestial, Infernal and Abyssal. It’s amazing- none of our heroes have ever seen anything like it before.
As it turns out, Jezebel has been here before, with Marius (in her earlier years). She doesn’t know her way around at all, but she knows enough. “We should hire a tout,” she tells her mother.
“What’s a tout?” asks Sybele.
“A guide, basically.”
She helps them engage the services of Little Alex, a young lad who is cheerful and happy to aid the party for a little scrill. Even when there is a common tongue between our heroes and someone else, the people in this city seem to have a very specialized, odd lingo. It’s a little baffling, but with his aid they find an inn and become oriented to the portal. They give him some coin and arrange for him to be his tout whenever they’re in town. Little Alex, sensing a lucrative long-term arrangement, happily agrees. He’s just earned more money in one day than he usually does in a week.
“What are we doing here, again?” asks Inoke.
”We’re going to research the worms, and how to redirect the portals,” Orbius answers. “There’s supposed to be a great library of Boccob here somewhere.”
Lillamere says, “But they’re going to attack in three days, right?”
“Yeah...”
“So we don’t really have time. Maybe we should try to shut that gate by the Temple of Elemental Good down, and if there’s one near Brelana, we should shut it down as well.”
“Well, if we research how to redirect them first, we can-“
“My people will die,” Baron Lillamere interrupts severely. “That is not acceptable.”
Orbius nods reluctantly. “You’re right, of course. We’ll return here later. But while we’re here, let’s find a place to buy scrolls. There’s a spell called seal portal that I think might help us a lot.”
***
11 p.m., the center of the worms’ nest near the Temple of Elemental Good
Our heroes superior teleport to the portal letting the worms in nearest Brelana. They are expecting trouble, and they certainly get it.
A black slaad awaits them- fast and deadly. Orbius immediately casts a time stop, but to his horror the thing keeps coming. All around him his friends are a frozen tableau- but not his enemy.
“Oh dear,” Orbius says faintly.
Next Time: Can Orbius hold out against an epic slaad by himself for a few rounds?? Wait and see!
Note: I had never run or played in Sigil in my life before this session. Never did Planescape or anything. I've skimmed through a few of the books back in the day, and I own one of the monstrous compendiums from 2e and the Planar Handbook, but that's it. Despite that, I think that the party's trip to Sigil had a cool Planescapey feel to it, and I've become very interested in reading up on all the old PS stuff. You'll see a lot more of Sigil in the future- the party has made it almost a 2nd home lately.
Angel of Adventure
First Post
Sigil Kicks Butt!
Yeah, Sigil is pretty sweet. Its nice that it seems fairly removed from the War of Ethics, . . . well, at least until recently.
Yeah, Sigil is pretty sweet. Its nice that it seems fairly removed from the War of Ethics, . . . well, at least until recently.
omrob
First Post
and some...
I strongly recommend you all check out this storyhour for some excellent Sigilian flavah:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=77613
Their party begins, is from, and is based out of Sigil. Shem's got some excellent description of more of the famous locales.
Back to Sigil! (After we dispatch the slaadi, :sniff: )
Angel of Adventure said:
I strongly recommend you all check out this storyhour for some excellent Sigilian flavah:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=77613
Their party begins, is from, and is based out of Sigil. Shem's got some excellent description of more of the famous locales.
Back to Sigil! (After we dispatch the slaadi, :sniff: )
Angel of Adventure
First Post
Don't let me fall off the first page!
the Jester
Legend
The black slaad croaks laughter. Obviously this wizard has never seen someone spell stowaway on his time stop before. Well, this will be a good learning experience for him! It hops grotesquely forward towards Orbius.
Orbius is shaken by the fact that the slaad is moving within his time stop. How is that possible? he wonders. Gulping, the wizard steps back and casts a prismatic sphere. “What are you doing here?” he demands, taking heart as it stops outside his ward. “What are the worms doing? Are you creating them?”
The slaad croaks and stalks outside the sphere, staring intently at Orbius. With an angry, frightened snarl the human casts lower resistance on the slaad. Darkness sudenly enshrouds the slaad, Orbius and the area around them. Though it is light within his prismatic sphere, all around it is blackness.
Time starts to flow again. To our heroes, it suddenly goes dark. Jezebel uses the cover of darkness to cast greater invisibility on herself. Lillamere tries to dispel the darkness, but fails. Frowning, he uses a sunburst instead, which blasts the darkness away instantly. Lester, meanwhile, invokes true seeing and then hucks a quickened fireball at the slaad. It seems injured, but only a tiny bit. Then Inoke slams his club through the air, catching the frog-like outside in the side. It staggers as the burly human deals blow after blow to it.
Lester notes that, even with all of them pounding it heartily, it is healing quickly. Worse, it seems far from the end of its strength. Inoke presses his physical attack, hitting the slaad so hard that it is nauseated,* but it does not fall! The L scowls, his wings flexing as he casts a very powerful spell of Elemental Earth- imprisonment. Orbius bestows a true strike on him as the L moves forward, charging in- and still missing! The others keep hammering at it, and Lester steps forward again, this time brushing his fingers against its huge thigh. Grinning, he steps away from it.
The slaad gives a hideous croak as the ground beneath it opens. A strange, crystalline sphere forms around the beast, and it is dragged deep below the ground. The fissure seals shut with a grinding noise.
“Wow,” comments Inoke after a moment.
“Well, unfortunately, that means we can’t question him, but that’s okay- we can use the seal portal scroll to close this off from the worms.” Orbius unfurls the parchment he acquired in Sigil and casts the spell from it. The gate flares for a moment, then stops pulsing and moving. Its color changes to an inert grey.
“Is that it?” asks Lillamere. “Can that be undone?”
“Yes,” says Orbius soberly. “Ultimately, anything can be undone.”
***
9/22/370 O.L.G., 9:30 a.m., Var
Inoke accompanies Veil to the shrine of Na’Rat in order to “receive his reward.” For what, he’s uncertain, but Veil insists he’s due one. So he touches the obelisk, getting his first taste of Chaos in the form of extremely bad body odor. He shakes his head. I should have known better after watching Veil go through his ooze form and such, he chastises himself. Sybele too touches it, to no visible effect; but it soon becomes apparent that she can no longer remember the names of any creature. In fact, even when she is told a name, it slips away instantly.
“Oh well. Let’s go, big warmind cat helmet guy!”
The part goes back to Sigil, greater teleporting directly to the portal in the dwarf’s attic and going straight through it, then seeking out Little Alex for help in gaining accomodations. By mid-afternoon they are seeking the Library of Boccob, hoping to do some research on their worm problem.
The Library of Boccob is a fairly large building, but the doors are closed and there is a notice posted on them that reads AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY! Our heroes approach to knock, however, and the doors swing open before them.
“Maybe this means we’re authorized personnel,” suggests Orbius.
Indeed it does, as they discover when they enter and they meet the librarian- who appears to be a tall humanoid with a large eyeball for a head, who calls himself ‘the Eye of Boccob’ (just as Orbius does!). Inoke almost immediately christens him ‘the Eyebrarian’, which he takes in stride. He acts as if he knows the party was coming (“he is an agent of Boccob,” Orbius points out).
“Can you help us find answers to the problems that plague us?” Horbin asks.
“I can give you access to Boccob’s Library,” the Eyebrarian responds. He gestures at the impressive number of books all around the group.
“That could be very useful,” Orbius admits.
“Moreover, there is the special stack.” The Eyebrarian leads the party to a shelf set aside from the rest of the books. On it are dozens of thick tomes. Eyes grow wide as our heroes study the shelf. “These are set aside for those who know Boccob’s special favor.”
“I can see why,” breathes Orbius. The tomes are magical treatises of great power, full of lost knowledge and lore no longer known to the masters of the current age. It looks very promising. “How could one gain the favor of Boccob in order to gain access to these books?”
“Funny you should ask.” Had he a mouth, the Eyebrarian would have been grinning. “Because of Boccob’s position in the Great War of Ethics, the forces of Law seek to take or destroy these tomes. They have dispatched an elite force of ice devils, inevitables, angels and so forth to do so. If you can overcome them, Boccob will grant each of you one of the books.”
Horbin splutters, “Wait a second! Did you just say devils and angels? Oh, that’s blasphemy! That’s unbelievable! How dare they!! Angels serving the purpose of devils- fools, fools! They should know better. They are falling from the Light, oh yes they are!”
“They would argue,” the Eyebrarian states ironically, “that rather than the angels doing the work of devils, the devils are, in their own way, serving the will of Galador.”
“Of course they would!” snaps Horbin.
***
9/24/370 O.L.G., the Library of Boccob, Sigil
Orbius again uses two contact other planes followed by a commune to verify the answers. The most interesting questions he asks are the ones unrelated to the current mission:
Is Master Control still active? Yes.
Is E-Krektor still active? Yes.
Is Master Control in control of Inoke’s helmet? No.
Has Malford taken refuge in Ketzia? No.
Other than that, his answers lead him to the conclusion that a preemptive strike is the best way to defeat the agents of Law.
“Let’s do it,” declares Sybele. “We’ll rest, and then my daughter’s wizard pal and the elf who is the other dead elf’s nephew and the cleric of the sun god can buff us up! And then we’ll go attack these agents of Law for the cleric of that one god!”
Next Time: Our heroes make a preemptive strike!
*He has one of the style feats from CW.
Orbius is shaken by the fact that the slaad is moving within his time stop. How is that possible? he wonders. Gulping, the wizard steps back and casts a prismatic sphere. “What are you doing here?” he demands, taking heart as it stops outside his ward. “What are the worms doing? Are you creating them?”
The slaad croaks and stalks outside the sphere, staring intently at Orbius. With an angry, frightened snarl the human casts lower resistance on the slaad. Darkness sudenly enshrouds the slaad, Orbius and the area around them. Though it is light within his prismatic sphere, all around it is blackness.
Time starts to flow again. To our heroes, it suddenly goes dark. Jezebel uses the cover of darkness to cast greater invisibility on herself. Lillamere tries to dispel the darkness, but fails. Frowning, he uses a sunburst instead, which blasts the darkness away instantly. Lester, meanwhile, invokes true seeing and then hucks a quickened fireball at the slaad. It seems injured, but only a tiny bit. Then Inoke slams his club through the air, catching the frog-like outside in the side. It staggers as the burly human deals blow after blow to it.
Lester notes that, even with all of them pounding it heartily, it is healing quickly. Worse, it seems far from the end of its strength. Inoke presses his physical attack, hitting the slaad so hard that it is nauseated,* but it does not fall! The L scowls, his wings flexing as he casts a very powerful spell of Elemental Earth- imprisonment. Orbius bestows a true strike on him as the L moves forward, charging in- and still missing! The others keep hammering at it, and Lester steps forward again, this time brushing his fingers against its huge thigh. Grinning, he steps away from it.
The slaad gives a hideous croak as the ground beneath it opens. A strange, crystalline sphere forms around the beast, and it is dragged deep below the ground. The fissure seals shut with a grinding noise.
“Wow,” comments Inoke after a moment.
“Well, unfortunately, that means we can’t question him, but that’s okay- we can use the seal portal scroll to close this off from the worms.” Orbius unfurls the parchment he acquired in Sigil and casts the spell from it. The gate flares for a moment, then stops pulsing and moving. Its color changes to an inert grey.
“Is that it?” asks Lillamere. “Can that be undone?”
“Yes,” says Orbius soberly. “Ultimately, anything can be undone.”
***
9/22/370 O.L.G., 9:30 a.m., Var
Inoke accompanies Veil to the shrine of Na’Rat in order to “receive his reward.” For what, he’s uncertain, but Veil insists he’s due one. So he touches the obelisk, getting his first taste of Chaos in the form of extremely bad body odor. He shakes his head. I should have known better after watching Veil go through his ooze form and such, he chastises himself. Sybele too touches it, to no visible effect; but it soon becomes apparent that she can no longer remember the names of any creature. In fact, even when she is told a name, it slips away instantly.
“Oh well. Let’s go, big warmind cat helmet guy!”
The part goes back to Sigil, greater teleporting directly to the portal in the dwarf’s attic and going straight through it, then seeking out Little Alex for help in gaining accomodations. By mid-afternoon they are seeking the Library of Boccob, hoping to do some research on their worm problem.
The Library of Boccob is a fairly large building, but the doors are closed and there is a notice posted on them that reads AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY! Our heroes approach to knock, however, and the doors swing open before them.
“Maybe this means we’re authorized personnel,” suggests Orbius.
Indeed it does, as they discover when they enter and they meet the librarian- who appears to be a tall humanoid with a large eyeball for a head, who calls himself ‘the Eye of Boccob’ (just as Orbius does!). Inoke almost immediately christens him ‘the Eyebrarian’, which he takes in stride. He acts as if he knows the party was coming (“he is an agent of Boccob,” Orbius points out).
“Can you help us find answers to the problems that plague us?” Horbin asks.
“I can give you access to Boccob’s Library,” the Eyebrarian responds. He gestures at the impressive number of books all around the group.
“That could be very useful,” Orbius admits.
“Moreover, there is the special stack.” The Eyebrarian leads the party to a shelf set aside from the rest of the books. On it are dozens of thick tomes. Eyes grow wide as our heroes study the shelf. “These are set aside for those who know Boccob’s special favor.”
“I can see why,” breathes Orbius. The tomes are magical treatises of great power, full of lost knowledge and lore no longer known to the masters of the current age. It looks very promising. “How could one gain the favor of Boccob in order to gain access to these books?”
“Funny you should ask.” Had he a mouth, the Eyebrarian would have been grinning. “Because of Boccob’s position in the Great War of Ethics, the forces of Law seek to take or destroy these tomes. They have dispatched an elite force of ice devils, inevitables, angels and so forth to do so. If you can overcome them, Boccob will grant each of you one of the books.”
Horbin splutters, “Wait a second! Did you just say devils and angels? Oh, that’s blasphemy! That’s unbelievable! How dare they!! Angels serving the purpose of devils- fools, fools! They should know better. They are falling from the Light, oh yes they are!”
“They would argue,” the Eyebrarian states ironically, “that rather than the angels doing the work of devils, the devils are, in their own way, serving the will of Galador.”
“Of course they would!” snaps Horbin.
***
9/24/370 O.L.G., the Library of Boccob, Sigil
Orbius again uses two contact other planes followed by a commune to verify the answers. The most interesting questions he asks are the ones unrelated to the current mission:
Is Master Control still active? Yes.
Is E-Krektor still active? Yes.
Is Master Control in control of Inoke’s helmet? No.
Has Malford taken refuge in Ketzia? No.
Other than that, his answers lead him to the conclusion that a preemptive strike is the best way to defeat the agents of Law.
“Let’s do it,” declares Sybele. “We’ll rest, and then my daughter’s wizard pal and the elf who is the other dead elf’s nephew and the cleric of the sun god can buff us up! And then we’ll go attack these agents of Law for the cleric of that one god!”
Next Time: Our heroes make a preemptive strike!
*He has one of the style feats from CW.
Brain
First Post
the Jester said:
Yes, the Three Mountains weapon style feat. In a nutshell, with certain blunt weapons, if you damage the opponent twice in the same round, they save vs. nausea.
Inoke rejected his gift of chaos, and got Orbius to cast a Break Enchantment on him to remove its effects.
hippiejedi2
First Post
chaos is fun, i didn't know inoke took part in chaos. chaos is like a dog in that if you show fear it will bite, but if you let it know who's master it will yield, to an extent.
the eyebrarian is cool, gerontius tried some sleight of hand and hide and seek, and he was found, that's no small task for most people.
the eyebrarian is cool, gerontius tried some sleight of hand and hide and seek, and he was found, that's no small task for most people.
Last edited:
the Jester
Legend
Umm...
hippiejedi2 said:
the Jester said:
hippiejedi2
First Post
yeah i went back and reread it, i thought it was veil who smelled bad. oops, i also edited the post almost immediatly after writing it. but not fast enough