Game Date: Saturday, October 18th
In Game Dates: Noctaver 18th, night – Noctaver 19th, mid-afternoon (subjective)
Walking down the lamp-lit streets of Sigil, the party looks for an inn. They pass a number of shops, all shuttered and barred for the night. The area looks to be fairly well-kept up, though there are a few signs of graffiti. The party looks for temples as they walk, but see only one, a relatively small building devoted to an ancient draconic deity.
The party passes a boisterous-looking inn calling itself the “Gnawlen” which means “Carrion” in Undercommon. They can hear harsh voices yelling and speaking in all manner of languages, including orc, goblin, and undercommon. The party looks further up the street and spots a much nicer looking inn, a tall, narrow building with a sign out front that reads in many languages “The Hearth and Home.” The tired adventurers walk into a very nice-looking lobby, which is currently empty. They ring the bell for service, and out pops one of the strangest beings they've ever seen. He looks somewhat like a praying mantis, if they grew to a height of 5 and a half feet and walked on two legs.
His name is Trukendridik, or just “Tru” for short. Despite his alien appearance he is helpful, polite and friendly. He owns and runs the hotel with his mate Kreezenkerdik. The rooms are expensive, but everything in the city is, so the party springs for a series of interconnected rooms, dumps their gear and heads for the common room to get a late dinner. The party is the largest group in the place at this hour, and they split up.
Aiden talks to Bree, a striking woman of similar lineage to Althea. Bree is sitting with Kaja, another Rakshasa female. Aiden learns a few things about their area, and although Bree seems to respond well to his flirting, the Warmage decides that his day has been a bit too long to make a nightcap of it.
Althea and Rowan talk to a group of elven men and gain similar information about the area:
This neighborhood is called Elm, and is fairly neutral in alignment. A powerful Elven wizard named Threll rules the area, and is well-liked by most.
Lumi talks to an older-looking half-orc male with delicate-looking reading glasses poring over a book. His name is Gorrim, and he proves to be an intelligent, well-spoken scholar, despite the fact that he drinks like an orc. He claims that he has a scholar's mind and a savage's stomach. He tells her of the legendary artifact he's searching for, called “The Book of Night With Moon,” the contents of which describe everything in existence in the Truespeech of creation.
After talking, the party has a good, restful night's sleep. In the morning, Trukendridik recommends that they hire a guide from the Guild of guides. They're not as old or well-respected as the Gnostics or the Smithies or the Technomancers, but they provide an important service at reasonable prices. Tru also recommends going to see the Smithies. They can sometimes be hired to research locations of hard-to-find doors, and their lore.
The party heads to the nearest Smithy building first, and hire a small detachment of the “locksmiths” for five days to try and uncover the location of the Artificer's door with nothing more than the contents of the Oracle's riddle to go on.
They pass a street crier announcing the news highlights of the morning:
“For the first time in eighty-six standard years, an on-duty charon has been killed... it looks to be the work of slavers, but an investigation has begun. The Clawguard may be involved within the city limits, but if a slaver raid is mounted to go into the outlands, a call will go out to any interested adventuring parties. More details to come as events unfold.
“The Grandmaster of Elm has seized control of Corthin in a bloodless coup. The old party led by Elven wizard Simurgenne vows that they will not be long defeated, but all the guilds support Grandmaster Threll. Clawguards were on hand but were not needed.
“Claw and Bladeguard were called out to quell a wild portal that opened up that allowed some two thousand Archai warriors through before the portal was sealed. All the archai are believed slain but inhabitants of the Harp and the surrounding areas should be on their guard. Any archai presence should be immediately reported to the nearest Clawguard.
“Famed Rogue and notorious gentleman thief known only as the Sterling Silver Fox was killed yesterday by parties unknown. His body was found in the western lots beneathe the spire having fallen from the City. The Technomancers Guild, his last known employer, denies knowing anything about the circumstances of his death, other than he was on a legal retrieval assignment on their behalf.”
Hmmmmm.....
Heading for the nearest Guide Guild location, the party hears shouting from behind them. A smaller creature of Trukendridik's race is pushing through the crowd with cries of “Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through!” Behind her are several grim looking thugs, two of which look half-elven, two of which look like ogres with human faces, and a fifth human that trails slightly behind.
The mantis creature yells “Sorry about this, sir!” as she kareens into Caspian and uses him as a springboard to change directions and leaps down the alleyway that the party was crossing.
Caspian and the others see a flaw in this plan immediately: the alley is a dead end, piled high with rubbish and debris.
The followers of the mantis girl collide with Caspian and Aiden and shout for the adventurers to get out of the way or else. Well, those words never go over well, so in short order a fight ensues. The two half-giants are heavy hitters and the half-elves turn out to be dragon shamans. The human is a warlock of decent power, and the party takes a few good lumps before subduing their opponents. One of the dragon shamans escapes, but the party downs the rest, and even manages to keep them all alive... if one or two only due to Lumi's quick healing hands. A trio of Clawguard, the Mistress of Pain's praetorian guards, walks past the scene but do not involve themselves. The enforcers of the Grandmaster of Elm show up shortly thereafter, and take the thugs into custody. From the sound of it, the warlock is a wanted felon.
The party talks to the young Thri-ranx, whose name is Sylkendridik (Sylk for short), asking her what had happened. The thugs had claimed that she had stolen something from them. Sylk swears that the real story was that she'd overheard plans to bring in a large shipment of illegal goods. The thugs were followers of Averdruin, a red dragon who wants a presence here in the city of Sigil. Sylk is herself affiliated with a “gang” led by a sphinx named Moirenne.
She thanks the party, offering them a deal on lodgings at her father's hotel. Big surprise, she's the daughter of Trukendridik. She does ask them not to mention her gang affiliation to Tru, her mother knows, but not her father. Upon learning they're looking for a guide, she offers her own services, which she claims are just as good as those shirts over at the guild, and a good deal cheaper. The party accepts, and the first place Sylk guides them to is a portal back to the material plane. It's lunchtime, and she's going to treat them to the best pulled pork in all the cosmos.
They emerge in a hot, humid environment, in a small elven village. Several elves wave to Sylk, evidently she's known to many here. When asked where they are, Sylk tells them this is the far Eastern side of the Dark Isle, or Dinear Drubhda (Deenar Drow) as the elves call it.
The restaurant is a large, open hut with a central fire pit where two pigs are roasting. A male elf handles the cooking, slicing and preparing the meal on a hot griddle right in front of the party. The food is as good as Sylk promises, and the party eats their fill.
The owner of the restaurant turns out to have once fought with Aiden's father. Seeing that Aiden and Caspian are both soldiers of Cardinia, he bids them deliver a message back to Aiden's father as soon as he can. The Elf, named Therren of Willow-wane, tells Aiden that the Vaniri are seeking an alliance with the Mad Dragon, and will are likely to move on the Cardinian-held lands on the western edge of the Dark Isle if such an alliance is struck.
Althea reminds them that she can scry with the huge mirror they keep in the portable hole. Aiden and Althea hop down and Aiden sends the message to his father, even managing a short conversation with his dad. It turns out his mother is pregnant, due in the late spring/ early summer. After a few more pleasantries are exchanged, they cancel the spell and climb out of the hole. Sylk is impressed.
The party heads back through the portal into Sigil, thanks to Sylk's key. After hearing of the party's mission, she says that Moiranne knows much about the old things of Sigil, and could possibly help them. Since they trounced some of Averdruin's forces, who are in direct competition with Moirenne, Sylk hopes the sphinx will be generous with her knowledge. So the party heads to Moirenne's headquarters: an old building partially made of stone and partly held together by walls of pure magical force. They enter, and await one of Moirenne's lieutenants to see if an audience with the sphinx herself will be granted...
