Planescape 3.5e - Cold Black Mask

István listens quietly while the others talk and eat. Truth be told, the gnome was having trouble following along with Sindr's confusing and ever-changing accent. He'd only met the odd sorcerer a few short hours ago when Clara was gathering Hagen's friends to investigate his study and the gnome still knew very little about him. Recalling something the tiefling had mentioned earlier, István interjects a question. "Sindr, where are you from that you speak in such a manner? You said something earlier about Hagen helping you escape from Thay. When were you ever in Thay Hagen?"
 

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ooc: Hmm, had a hard time getting in to EN World for the past day or so. Bleh.

István Angushtri said:
"When were you ever in Thay Hagen?"

"I've never set foot in Thay myself," Hagen explained, "but I knew some good people there. The Red Wizards had inducted our friend Sindr into one of their academies once they discovered his apitude for the Art, not caring whether he was willing or not. Sindr found some way to flee that intitution, and his parents asked for my help in securing safe passage to Cormyr." The man then gave a sly grin. "But only Sindr knows where he picked up his accent from; it doesn't sound Thayan."

Sindr Mogh said:
"Mebbe it's onna th' gate-towns?"

"She would certainly know more about that than I." Hagen also looked to Pierce.

Pierce Spinecrusher:[sblock] ooc: Intelligence check 1d20+1 [16, 1] = (17); "Darkspine" doesn't ring a bell. You know that the Gate-Town to Acheron is Rigus, and the next nearest towns are Automata (leading to Mechanus) and Ribcage (leading to Baator).[/sblock]

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Anthony Orchidaceae said:
"So uh, heard anythin' else lately?"

Dinah managed a wry smile. "Life in the Hive as usual; such as it is. You planning on banging around for a bit? You and your friend are welcome to set up kip here for the night, if so."
 

"I know a few of the gate-towns, but no Darkspine. I know Rigus is the one that leads to Acheron. The two closest to that are the ones to Mechanus, that Automata, and Baator, and that's Ribcage. If you do decide to go to Acheron, sir, I would make a valuable addition to your party, if you chose to secure my services for the trip," she adds the last with a simple businesslike nod.
 

Heinrich frowns. "I do not know if our endeavors would be aided by seeking that infernal plane. I still believe our best plan is to attempt to secure passage back to our homelands and conduct further research from there."
 

Anthony gives a quick nod and smiles. "Thanks Dinah, I think we'll take you up on th' offer. It was Lilly's idea to come wif me but I don' think she thought it through too much. Don' think she'd twig to the idea o' headin back out again tonight."
 

István quietly slips off his cloak, black silk tunic and fine chain shirt to gain access to his undertunic. Having removed and deftly folded the light undergarment, the whisper gnome dons the rest of his clothing and armor once more. The talk of Acheron and the various gate towns was largely beyond the gnome's ken at the moment, so he offers no comment on them. "I didn't know you'd made a habit of helping Thayan escapees Hagen. I agree with the popa, though I believe finding the means to throw off the evil eye from Hagen is more urgent even then finding a portal back to the Realms."

Getting up, the wayfarer quickly scans the flour spread around the room for any unexplained prints or disturbances and likewise checks to make certain the fresh milk hasn't been curdled by the proximity to evil. He then heads towards the door with his undertunic in hand. "I'll be back shortly."

[sblock=Cage Ratler]Assuming that the conversation is winding down and that most of the party will go to sleep soon, Istvan wants to stealthily (Hide +23 & Move Silently +17, taking 10) make his way out of the boarding house to carefully scout the immediate area around the boarding house (Listen +6, Spot +11, taking 20). Once he feels certain there's nothing threatening around the place, he'll scout around the larger neighborhood a bit to get a general idea of its layout and the types of shops and services available nearby.

Lastly, he intends to perform an old folk ritual for waylaying evil spirits that may be seeking him. It simply involves burying one's old shirt in the center of a crossroads and then spitting on the ground three times. He'll find a quiet intersection a few blocks away and either dig a hole or pry up a few cobblestones beneath which he can bury his old undertunic. Spitting on the ground indicates that he is entirely divorcing himself from his old possession and that it no longer exists to him. The idea is that the evil spirits are drawn to the shirt rather than himself and that they then become confused by the four cardinal paths of the crossroads and so can no longer find him.

István then intends to sneak back into the boarding house and catch two hours of sleep before relieving Heinrich for the rest of the evening.
[/sblock]
 

István Angushtri said:
"I didn't know you'd made a habit of helping Thayan escapees Hagen."

Hagen gave a short laugh. "I'd hardly say I've been 'making a habit' out of it."

His expression turned thoughtful once more. "Knowing the mask's origins may be useful to us," Hagen mused, "but I'm not sure Acheron's a place we'd want to travel to, if we can help it -- er, no offense, madam." He set aside his empty tray of food and began to go through the motions of preparing for bed.

István Angushtri:[sblock] ooc: Hide / Move Silently (Taking 10) = 33, 27. Listen / Spot (Taking 20) = 26, 31. The flour remained undisturbed; the milk, however, and a distinctly sour smell to it that suggested it was on the verge of spoiling.

Although the neighborhood immediately surrounding the boarding house was poorly lit, the gnome's natural night-vision countered the darkness. His first inclination being to look for any avian spies, István scanned the roofs of nearby buildings. A large, solitary raven perched under the eaves of the boarding house itself, silent and still, content to simply watch and wait.

Apparently, they didn't manage to shake their follower after all.

Roaming the nearby streets like a ghost, István assuaged himself with that fact that there weren't, at least, legions of devils preparing to storm the small inn. The cobblestone street in the immediate area wasn't in the best of repair, and the gnome had little trouble prying up a few loose stones at an appropriate intersection. The ground beneath semed to be hard-packed clay however, and in the interest of expediency, he had to be content to simply lay the stones over his under garment and stamp them back into place.

His ritual completed, István ranged a bit farther afield. A few blocks off in the distance, a briliantly-lit tower soared into the sky, swirling fog giving it an ethereal quality. Sounds of merriment wafted over on the wind. Looking clock-wise from that, another large, cylindrical building several hundred feet high (noticeably shorter than the tower) loomed. Continuing one's clockward sweep, looking back toward the boarding house revealed a section of the city that was nearly pitch-black. Unsettling sounds and a foul smell wafted on the wind from that direction.

Nearer to the brightly-lit tower, the businesses seemed to be focused on art and entertainment: several taverns and restaurants an art galleria, a curio shop. The buildings toward the cylindrical building were administrative in nature; offices, archives, and the like. Toward the darkened section of the city, the buildings took on a more run-down appearance: seedy dives and warehouses, for the most part.

(In other words, you're in the Sandstone district of the Clerk's Ward, and I've been using your ever-so-handy Map of Sigil from Planewalker as a reference.) ;)
[/sblock]

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Dinah directed Anthony to a section of the main room where they could make their beds, partitioned off by an arrangement of drawable curtains. Lilly found him there presently, an odd look of distaste on her face as she drew up to him.

"Sodding bariaurs and their sodding vegetables," she grumped as a way of explanation. "Don't they eat any real food?"

"So what's the rig, Tony? We setting up kip here tonight?"
 


[sblock=Cage Rattler]Having spotted the solitary raven and being confident in his obfuscation skills, István slinks from shadow to shadow until he can see it's ghostly outline clearly with his darkvision (approximately 60-ft.). Spying the bird, the whisper-gnome quietly reaches over his shoulder and grips the haft of the sharp-edged shard of crystal he'd pulled from the deep earth while in Thayan bondage long ago. With practiced ease, the wayfarer draws forth his own soul and wills it to flow down into the shard, making it a part of him (imbuing the deep crystal rapier with two power points, +2d6 damage on next melee hit up to 1 minute). István then draws upon his birthright to quell all sound (manifesting silence as a spell-like ability, 20-ft. radius emanation centered on István, 1 minute duration) as he prepares to move.

Round one actions: Lunging forward (Hide +23, -5 penalty for moving at less than normal speed) the wayfarer moves with the swiftness of a driving gale as he traverses the ground between himself and the boarding house in a few bounding steps. Then, in defiance of gravity, the silenced gnome leaps up and continues running up the wall as he draws forth his soul shard from its sheath at his back (Moving 60-ft. with the Up the Walls feat while drawing a weapon as a move-equivalent action). Standing overtop the eave where his target sits perched (+1 bonus to hit for being on higher ground) István calls upon the uncanny agility granted to him by his magical fencing gloves (as a swift action) and thrusts the point of his soul shard at the raven's heart (Standard action, skirmish attack with rapier +10, +1 for height, 1d4-1+5d6 damage)

OOC: It's my hope that István will succeed in catching the raven either unaware or unprepared for a sudden attack and so will be both surprised and flat-footed when he suddenly runs up to it to attack. Now let's hope that it turns out to be something more than just a roosting executioners raven. :p [/sblock]
 

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