# Causality and Condemnation (Planescape) [Updated 9/19]



## ThirdWizard (Jul 24, 2006)

I've decided to start chronicling my campaign in Story Hour form, but this campaign actually started in 1998! This is my longest running Planescape game, and there's a lot of history behind it, so I'm going to try to ease anyone in who honors me with their time. Maybe someday I'll work on logging the backstory, but that will be a lot of work to attempt. This picks up at the last session I ran.

Short info on characters:
[sblock]
The Jackal - (human male) Professional man for hire. Member of the Fated faction.
Malbi - (human male) Scholar and wizard, mostly interested in Planar knowledge. Signer.
Stock - (bugbear male) Consumate soldier and prime turned planeswalker.
Grum - (half ogre male) Priest of battle and newest member of the group. Signer.
Black Dagger - (tiefling male) Factotum in the Fated, the group hires him now and then.
[/sblock]


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 24, 2006)

_"Yes, but how much did you get paid for doing all that?"_
-Factotum Black Dagger of the Fated, talking to a Sensate.

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of*

Finally, after endless assassination attempts, they had a name to go with the unknown person who was after them. The four of them, Jackal, Malbi, Stock, and newly recruited Grum brooded in their tower and contemplated their next move. His name was Caradver, a Factotum in the Dustmen. Hopefully, they could find him and put and end to these endless assassination attempts – one way or the other. But, first, they had to find him, and all they had to go on was a name. And, the best person they knew to help them was Black Dagger, a Factotum himself in the Fated, and Jackal’s associate.

The party had cut a deal with him, and now they were just waiting for him to show up, each making do with the time they had on their hands. Stock spent most of his time working with the guards outside the tower and keeping them on their toes. Grum was still getting used to living in the tower and the fact that his old room was formerly occupied by a mind flayer. Jackal mostly drank to pass the time, contemplating what he would do to Caradver when he finally got his hands on him. And, Malbi spent all his free time either working in his lab or working with his apprentice.

Then, there was a knocking on the door. On the other side was their guard Captain, Benjamin. “That Black Dagger is here to see you. Says he found something.”


“This better turn out not to be a wild goose chase.” Jackal was grumbling as they walked to the Hive, Black Dagger taking the lead. They had been through the Hive a lot recently, and the desolate streets were starting to become somewhat familiar.

“Don’t worry. I heard that he can point you to Caradver.” Black Dagger looked sure of himself. But, then again, he always looked sure of himself.

“So, what’s the plan once we get there?” Malbi stayed close, still not trustful of the inhabitants in the area, and rightly so. They did have assassins after them.

“We fight?” asked Grum. He didn’t seem worried.

“Maybe. We can try talking first, though, I suppose.” said Jackal.

Grum sighed. He had been working full time with them for a few weeks now, and he had been in less fights than promised.

As they made their way down the looping streets and alleyways, their conversation went in and out as they thought about the situation.

Black Dagger offered his plan. “I’m gonna to stay back, then head in a few minutes after you go in. If anything goes wrong at least they won’t know I’m with you. I haven’t met this guy, Greydust, myself so he won’t recognize me.”

Jackal sighed. “You and your ‘contacts.’”

The bar was unnamed and tiny, especially when a half ogre is involved. Especially when he’s trying to look inconspicuous while being laden with weapons. Grum couldn’t stand, so he stood leaning against a wall.

They had arrived before Greydust and decided to spread out in the bar. Malbi and Jackal sat together, while Stock and Grum separated to different tables. There was only one patron in the bar anyway, being that it was still morning, so the only others there were the bartender and a disinterested dwarf who guarded the barrels of swill in the back.

“I’m feeling good about this,” said Malbi as they waited.

“It had better not be a wild goose chase.”

Malbi sighed and almost drank a bit of the ale, but then realized what he was about to do.

As they waited a man in a gray cloak walked into the bar, nodded to the bartender and then headed back toward Jackal and Malbi’s table. The emblem of the Dustmen was pinned to his cloak, and they could see the lines under his dark eyes as he looked at them expressionlessly. This was definitely their man.

“Greydust? Have a seat.” Jackal had decided that he would be the one to do the talking.

Greydust sat down with them. The cloak covered his entire body except his face, and they were happy with that. Dustmen were known more for their consorting with the undead than their personal hygiene.

“You have some information for us concerning Factotum Caradver.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t personally know where Caradver is, but I know someone who does.”

Malbi and Jackal both looked perturbed by this. Black Dagger sauntered into the bar and ordered a drink. Malbi had to restrain himself from shooting him a glare, and Jackal was already trying to get what little information out of Greydust that he could.

“Who would this be?” he sighed.

“A man by the name of Grahas Xas. He is one of Caradver’s disciples.”

“Disciples?”

“Yes, they worship the demon lord Orcus.”

Malbi’s eyes shot back to Greydust. He knew who Orcus was, a foul and powerful demon who had died and been reborn; some said as the undead. He ruled an entire layer of the Abyss and called himself the Prince of the Undead. Things just got a lot more complicated if Caradver was a follower of his.

Jackal’s ignorance was bliss for now, “Okay okay, so this Xas guy is going to know where Caradver is, right?” He frowned.

“Of course. He is one of his head men.”

“Then where is he?”

“He is the High Priest Grahas of the Chapel of Tombs of the Lower Ward here in Sigil.”

Malbi groaned loudly at this. The Chapel of Tombs? Sometimes he thought he knew too much about this city for his own good. That was a high profile Dustman temple where they kept many of their honored dead in Sigil. Rumor had it that it was an undead breeding ground, and it was a fact that there were catacombs far beneath each of the five Chapel of Tombs in Sigil.

Jackal shot Malbi a glance, not knowing Malbi was holding back his dread. “And Xas will just tell us where Caradver is?”

“I’m sure you can persuade him.”

“Malbi, do you know where that is?”

Malbi didn’t answer for a second, then responded with a weak “Yes.”

“Okay then. I trust you’ve already been paid for this information.”

“Of course.”

With that, Jackal stood up and left, Malbi following soon afterward, and with no apparent threat, Grum and Stock decided to follow along in suit.


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## Shieldhaven (Jul 25, 2006)

You're off to a solid start.  The story did a good job of grabbing my interest, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this is going.

Haven


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## Fimmtiu (Jul 25, 2006)

Love it! If you keep posting 'em, I'll keep reading 'em.


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 25, 2006)

_"What if I just hurt them a little?"_
-Grum, learning about the finer points of diplomacy

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

“A wild goose chase!” Jackal exclaimed, not caring what attention he attracted at this point. Black Dagger had assured him that Greydust would point him to Caradver. No one bothered to try to calm him down.

Eventually Black Dagger caught up with them.

“This is your informant? You brought us all the way out here so he could tell us someone who could tell us where Caradver is? You could have handled that. What am I paying you for?” Jackal went on, as the object of his frustrations rolled his eyes.

“Hey, that cost me some good jink. And, I was assured that he knew where our mark was, so I’m the one that got bobbed here. Besides, you got a lead.”

Malbi decided it was time for him to speak up. “I don’t like this. The Chapel of Tombs is a major Dustman temple, and they’re followers of Orcus! Orcus is a major demon lord of the undead, and Dustmen are already known to associate with undead. What are we going to do? Just walk in?”

“Yes.”

Malbi opened his mouth for a second, but closed it back. Jackal was looking for a fight.

They headed straight to the Lower Ward and to the Chapel.


The billowing stacks of the Great Foundry loomed overhead as they made their way through the Lower Ward. A lone man with the insignia of the Believers of the Source stood on a small box espousing the ideas that anyone can aspire toward godhood, and a crowd had gathered around him, notably mostly other Godsmen. The pedestrians had notably changed from mostly thugs and beggars to a variety of armed beings, some of which looked extremely fiendish. This is where they called kip.

As Malbi directed them nearer the Chapel where they were headed, the group talked a bit more about their battle plans.

“I’ll wait outside in case you need help,” said Black Dagger.

“It never amazes me how willing you are to put yourself in danger,” Jackal replied.

Malbi sighed and checked his spell component pouch. “Maybe we’ll be able to talk our way through this. They might not even want to fight.”

The others just looked at him.

They turned a corner and the Chapel could be seen over a few rooftops. As they approached, they saw a couple of teenage tiefling girls in provocative clothes waving their tails suggestively at them. Black Dagger waved his back. Jackal cut him an icy look, and Black Dagger rolled his eyes again.

“Here we are,” said Stock. “We just walking in?” The doors were open.

“Of course,” replied Jackal.

The structure of the temple was circular, with only one room apparent upon entrance. Inside were countless mummified corpses, all lined along the walls on four levels. They peered down upon the group as if daring them to enter. The floor was a honeycomb, each bit with a nameplate sealed on. Two pillars stood holding up the arching roof, and a stone alter stood on the far side of the room. Two attendants and a priest were inside the temple, all praying.
The priest stood as he heard the footsteps echoing in the halls and turned toward the party, gazing around the room. He smiled as best he could. “What can I do for you?” It was obvious they were not Dustmen come to pay their respects.

Stock and Grum kept to the rear, watching the exit while Jackal stepped forward, the voice for the party as usual. Malbi stayed between them, watching the attendants for any signs of a pre-emptive strike. These were moves that didn’t go unnoticed.

Jackal wasted no time in getting straight down to business. “Are you Grahas Xas?”

He looked at Jackal peeredly. “I am.”

“Good. We were told you could point us to Factotum Caradver.”

Xas looked at Jackal piercingly, glancing at the entourage behind him. “I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“We were told you would know where he is.” Jackal’s voice started to sound impatient. Malbi sighed quietly. He didn’t like where this was going.

“By whom?” The Grahas’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Jackal carefully. His two attendants stood and started watching the exchange. 

Jackal didn’t hesitate to drop the name after all the trouble he had been through. “A Dustman named Greydust.”

“Never heard of him.”

Jackal was about to respond when he noticed movement on one of the upper landings where the mummies were arranged. One of their hands was moving! Turning quickly, he began to take out his crossbow, now finally glad he could blow off some of his steam.

It all happened so fast that Malbi couldn’t even follow along. Figures emerged from the walls and he heard spellcasting. Grum and Stock were now beside him on either side and Jackal was aiming a crossbow somewhere! He felt searing pain in his side as a ray of fire flew down from above straight for him. Seconds later he saw Stock’s face contort and change, a voice from the other side of the room “Kill the man beside you!” and Stock’s two bladed axe fell on his head, splitting it open. Malbi’s corpse crumpled to the ground.

Jackal fired a shot at the figure above and heard a cry of pain at the same time he saw Stock turn on Malbi. He knew that it must have been some kind of spell. Behind him a figure in a black cloak emerged and attacked Grum with a short sword, Grum crying out in pain and turning to face his attacker. At the same time Jackal caught sight of a second spell slinger, the one who must have turned Stock. Xas stood there with an expression of both amazement and rage growing on his face.

“Assassins,” said Jackal under his breath.


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 25, 2006)

Shieldhaven said:
			
		

> You're off to a solid start.  The story did a good job of grabbing my interest, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this is going.






			
				Fimmtiu said:
			
		

> Love it! If you keep posting 'em, I'll keep reading 'em.




Thanks for the encouragement! I've never done this before.


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 26, 2006)

_The berk directly in front of the tiefling is the one bringing up the rear._
-Planar Proverb

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

“Assassins,” said Jackal under his breath.

As the first barrage ended, the group finally saw their attackers in the light. On the rafters with the mummies was a dark elf, definitely some kind of spellcaster since he had hit Malbi with a of ray of fire. Hiding behind one of the pillars was a tiefling, a woman who was probably also a spellcaster and the one who had dominated Stock’s mind. The third was some kind of pale humanoid with sheer white eyes who was now engaged with Grum. They all wore black cloaks.

“What have you brought into my holy place?” Xas exclaimed, his voice loud and demanding.

Jackal knew that this was about to get very dangerous and decided that however much he disliked the idea, Xas wasn’t part of this, and he was still valuable alive. Pushing Xas back  to try and get him behind one of the pillars, he shot a second bolt at the spell slinger above, not able to tell if he hit or missed. He glanced over toward Stock who was still under thrall and hoped Grum could hold his own against the bugbear.

Grum, not wanting to fight Stock, tried to focus his magic into getting rid of the enchantment that held him in sway but failed, his magic rebounding against the power of the one who had Stock controlled. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to fight his way out of it instead.

As Grum bored down onto his assailant, he saw a flash of light and resounding thunder. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Jackal unscathed, but Xas gripped his burned side. Turning back to his opponent, Grum saw a blur of attacks, some being deflected by his breastplate, but he felt a pain in his calf and thigh, blood trickling downward. A voice called out from the shadows somewhere “Kill the half ogre!” Stock looked at Grum and advanced.

As that was happening, Jackal got a good sight in on the drow above and shot at him, catching him in the right leg, and the enemy fell to the ground. Xas, nursing his burns and looking at the scorch marks on the floor, decided that he had had enough of this. Clearing his mind, he touched upon the spell on Stock and broke the tiefling’s hold over him.

Stock paused only a moment in horror of what he had done. He had a job to do. Moving past Grum, the smile faded from the enemy as he saw Stock was coming after him instead. He tried to duck under Stock’s swing, but it was useless. Stock deftly flipped the double axe so that the other head caught him in the side. In desperation, he clutched his horn in his hands and blew out not sound but a cloud of fog.

The tiefling saw things going downward fast from their initial volley and decided that now was as good a time as ever for a retreat. Grum and Stock in the fog couldn’t see her run by and escape out the doorway, and Jackal was too far away to stop her. Advancing on the fallen drow, Jackal saw that he was still breathing, though unconscious, and when Grum emerged from the cloud, he called him over. Healing him, they tied him up and decided that an interrogation was in order.

The aftermath of the scene was a spectacle to behold. In the formerly impeccably clean Chapel there were now two bodies, Malbi and the pale assassin. They had one enemy stripped of any equipment and tied up for good measure, and there were blood and char marks across the floor. A few of the honored dead had fallen over, and a few more of them were burned slightly. The two temple attendants crouched behind the alter, and Xas was furiously scolding Jackal, who wasn’t taking that very well.

“You bring your battles into my temple?” He fumed, accenting the word my in his speech. “You come in here asking my help in finding a Factotum in my own Faction? To betray them? Then you destroy my temple?” again accenting that the temple was his. “And now you expect me to actually help you? Are you a fool?”

Stock knelt beside Malbi’s body, shaking his head.

“Your good Factotum Caradver is the one who sent those assassins here.” Jackal responded dryly. The assassin attacks were getting out of hand. One false move, and the battle would have gone the other way. And, he knew that Xas was the one responsible for saving all their lives, a fact he didn’t relish thinking about.

Xas looked uncomfortable at this thought.

“It was a setup. We were told you were one of Caradver’s lieutenants!”

Xas harrumphed. “A worshipper of Orcus? Preposterous! That’s not achieving Death. That’s…” he trailed off. “How do I know that you aren’t lying?”

“Do we look like we came here looking for a fight?”

“Yes.”

“Do we look like we came here looking for a fight from them then? Ehhh regardless… it was a setup. They knew we were coming here. Greydust must have-.“ He cut off halfway through his sentence, “Where is Black Dagger?” his expression exploded as he looked around the Chapel.

Stock poked his head out the door for a second to check out the area and see if Black Dagger was there. “He’s not outside. And, those girls are gone…”

Jackal fumed silently, and Grum growled.

“Want me to go look?” asked Stock.

“Wait a minute,” scowled Jackal. “One thing first.” He turned back to Xas. “I noticed you casting spells. Can you do anything about him?” He motioned toward Malbi.

Xas sighed. “I could if I wanted.”

“Look. Caradver has been trying to kill us for almost a year now. Now that you’ve seen the assassins make an attempt on us and know he’s behind it, whether you believe me or not, you’re a part of it and you could very well be a target too. One of those assassins got away, and she saw you help us.”

“I did that because they hit me with a lightning bolt!” he started sweating.

“Tell that to Caradver or the assassins.”

Now Xas’s veneer of calm was almost completely gone. He started pacing, contemplating his situation. 

“Stock, go see if Black Dagger is around, and go find a shop and get us some diamond dust so we can bring Malbi back to life. Take Grum with you; they might try again.” They wrapped themselves up to hide the blood stains as best they could and left.

“Good. Now,” he turned back to Xas. “Tell me about Caradver. Then, I advise you to take some time off your duties here and head out of town for a while.”

Xas was getting more and more rattled. “Factotum Caradver is a priest of Orcus and a necromancer. They think that being undead is the way to transcend to True Death. Misguided or power hungry, I don’t know, and I don’t care. There are only a handful of them anyway. He was just another grunt until the man Darius showed up, a weak man hoping to fill the shoes of his father.”

Jackal was about to tell him he wasn’t asking for a life story before he heard the name Darius come up. He had assumed a connection, but this was the first proof he had. “Darius you say? Tell me about him.”

Xas stopped pacing and looked into Jackal’s eyes, unsure. “Darius? He’s enigmatic. He isn’t a Dustman. He came to Caradver and told him secrets of the Twenty Four Relics. Since then he’s grown in power, becoming a Factotum and continuing the work to explore them started over two decades ago by his father. I don’t know if Darius worships Orcus or not.”

“He doesn’t.” 

Now Xas began to look interested. “You know him?”

Jackal didn’t answer. “Where can I find Caradver?”

“I don’t know. I told you, I’m not one of his men.” He paused. “Perhaps… I do know of a small shrine to Orcus in the Hive used by Dustmen.” He licked his lips. “Maybe…”

“The wild goose chase continues,” Jackal sighed.


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 26, 2006)

_“Honey? Honey? The honey is mine!”_
-The Jackal, on catching flies

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

Malbi coughed and hobbled into the tower, weak from his ordeal. He wasn’t sure what happened after he had died, but he did know that after he had been brought back to life, Jackal had cut some kind of deal with Xas and they had a prisoner. He didn’t much care, he was tired and just wanted to sleep.

“We’ll keep him in the cage by the bulette,” said Jackal. “I’ll interrogate him there. Grum, I’ll need your healing to do this.”

Grum balked. “You can torture him on your own. I’m not interested.”

Jackal looked at Stock, who shook his head. Malbi was already upstairs.

“Fine. I’ll just talk to him. That’s okay right?” He scowled at the others. “Afraid to get your hands dirty. I’ll try it this way just once. It better go right.” He headed downstairs with his prisoner, who hadn’t spoken one word since pulled out of unconsciousness by Grum’s healing magic. This was the second assassin they had managed to capture, and the first who they had the opportunity to question. He was going to find some things out.

As they descended into the fifty foot pit that was in their basement, the familiar rumbling of their hungry bulette shook the walls. Unlike a normal landshark, this one measured somewhere around fifty feet long. They had never gone in to take an exact measurement.

Jackal locked their prisoner in the adjoining cell. The bulette paced back and forth in its own enormous cell across from them. He pulled out a char and sat down, ignoring the beast.

“Can-,“ the prisoner cut off as he began to speak.

Jackal smiled. “Who knows. Maybe with the right incentive, he’ll escape.”

The prisoner was silent.

“This is going to go a lot easier on you if you just tell me what I wan to know. I want to know who you’re working for, what the name of your organization is, and how you get in contact with your superiors. Oh, and if your contractor dies, will the job end?”

The drow raised an eyebrow.

“One way or the other, you’ll talk. Through magic or the old fashion way if it comes down to it. So you might as well just speak up now, and maybe I’ll let you go.”

The drow opened his mouth, thought for a second, then continued. “I’m cut and bleeding. Would you mind getting me some bandages. And perhaps some light. Then I might tell you what you need to know.”

Jackal sighed. Malbi wouldn’t have his spells ready for getting the guy to talk ready until the next day, and it was likely they would need those spells for fighting after what Xas had told him. If he could finish this tonight, it would be worth playing along.


“We’re in the Black Cloak Assassins… a small group. Growing smaller since we took on the job of killing you.” The drow, who was calling himself Tebryn, winced as he wrapped his arm in gauze. The torch sent smoke up in front of him on the floor. Tebryn sighed as he tied off the bandage and began on his other arm. “There are three people at the top, but we don’t know who they are. We just do the jobs we’re told.”

“How do you get your jobs?”

“We have an inn we go to. A cell leader takes a certain room, second floor, third door on the right, and our mark is given there. Then we kill the target.” Before Jackal could ask, he added, “The Blueback Inn, Lady’s Ward.”

“What about the Chapel?” Jackal’s eyes followed his hands’ movements carefully.

“That was special. We got orders right beforehand. Didn’t even know you were going to be there until it happened.”

“And, that came from?”

“I don’t know who he was. He had official orders, though.”

Jackal sighed. Well, at least he had something. If this whole Caradver thing didn’t work out, he had a fallback plan. “And if your contractor dies?”

“I… I don’t know the answer to that.” His eyes followed Jackal’s hands across his crossbow.

“We’ll continue this later. I have other matters to attend to.” Jackal climbed up the ladder, wondering what they would find at the shrine to Orcus the next day.


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## Shieldhaven (Jul 26, 2006)

The plot thickens!  Congeals, even.  Coalesces?  Whatever.  Still good stuff. 

Mainly I'm posting because it amuses me to see a drow named Tebryn.  A friend of mine played a half-drow by that name in a short-lived City of the Spider Queen game.

Haven


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## ThirdWizard (Jul 29, 2006)

_“They’re after me! They’re right behind me! … This color scheme is all wrong.”_
-Red Dagger, after coming back from Pandemonium

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

Sigil was just starting to light up in what passed for dawn in the sunless city. Malbi was leading the way, following the directions that Xas had given them the day before to a graveyard he said was on the border of the Hive and the Clerk’s Ward. Malbi had never heard of it, and they weren’t really any more trusting of Xas than they were of Greydust, but this was a lead, and they were going to follow it.

Finally, they made it to the place, not that there was much of it to see, though its placement was inexplicable. It ran right up to the edge of Sigil, an empty void that usually was never found at street level. Sigil was an inexplicable city itself, being on the inside of a ring, curving upward and around back onto itself. On the edge of the ring was a pure nothingness, not emptiness, nothingness, and it was at this that they were looking.

Usually the edge of the ring was blockaded with buildings with no windows on the far side and the only way to see into this blankness was to climb onto a rooftop and gaze out, but here the infinite expanse of pure nihility stretched out right from the edge of this graveyard. Why there were no buildings here and why a graveyard was built at such a place weren’t things to be concerned with right now, however.

They immediately noticed that there were three mausoleums in the graveyard; Xas hadn’t mentioned that there would be three, so they would have to check each one of them. They approached the middle one, keeping a lookout for anyone else around. They had decided to do this during the day, as they figured that would be the safest time for their attack. They hoped to find one of Caradver’s main men, a bauriaur named Delita, here and question him concerning his boss. That was the plan, anyway.

Jackal knelt down at the door and found it locked after making sure there were no traps on it. Taking just a few seconds, he smiled as the lock unlatched. Motioning to Stock, the large bugbear pushed open the door while the others stood back, just in case. Hearing nothing inside, they slipped into the burial chamber and closed the door behind them.

The room was unlit, but they were all capable of seeing in darkvision, Malbi and Jackal with magical gems (Malbi having converted his into a manacle). The place was cramped for the four of them, but they were immediately sure that they had the right place. On the far end of the room, past three stone coffins, was a black stone slab with crevices carved into it, the floor underneath carved away like a channel toward two candle stands, unlit at the moment.

“We need to search the place,” said Jackal, “Stock, why don’t you check one of those caskets.”

Stock sighed, but did as asked, taking his double axe and pushing away one of the stone slabs coverings. As soon as he had done so, he wished he hadn’t, because he immediately saw stirring inside. Taking a step back, he prepared to fight.

As the mummified figure rose in front of Stock, the two other tops began to stir, and they could see that a fight was imminent. Stock immediately swung for the figure as it reached toward him, Grum moving to Stock’s back to fight another one emerging into sight while Jackal stepped back, taking out his crossbow. At the same time Malbi moved toward the rear, ready to back them up with spells. 

As the far left undead rose up, Jackal fired a shot at it, catching it in the shoulder, but it showed no sign of injury. Cursing to himself, he reloaded the crossbow, having to take the gem of darkvision away from his eye. Deciding that wasn’t the best course of action, he went through his bag of holding for his everburning torch and tossed it onto the ground in front of him.

While he was doing that, Stock was fighting an enemy of his own. Slicing the mummy’s side with his axe, it leaned over further to the right than before, but otherwise showed no sign of injury. As he did so, the creature’s shoulder slammed into his side, and he felt not only the pain from the impact, but something else, a pain from inside. Buckling under the strain, his eyes going blurry for a second, he staggered but caught himself quickly. As he looked back, he noted that the mummy’s seams were re-stitching themselves where he had cut it. 

“These aren’t normal mummies!” he called out to the others.

“Just great,” responded Jackal, as he put another bolt into the mummy he was closest to as it pulled itself onto the stone floor and shambled toward him.

Malbi took that opportunity to blast away with one of his most powerful spells, incanting his words, he pointed, and a small bead sped from his finger, impacting the far wall and exploding, catching only the mummy Jackal was fighting in a bout of flame. The mummy looked charred, much of its skin gone, but it still advanced upon Jackal.

Grum was having problems of his own. His large size hindered his advancement on the third undead opponent, and he had to straddle the casket it had been interred in, one foot in the grave, so to speak. He swung his great axe at it, impacting it in the head, which hung broken at the neck. But, the thing still attacked him, hitting him in the leg, causing the same nauseating effect Stock had experienced earlier.

Jackal fired another bolt into the mummy, this time hitting him in the leg, but he kept coming. “How many hits can these things take? He looked over at the mummy Grum had been fighting, which now had an arm missing and a large gash in its stomach so that he could see its spine, though the wound was already closing. “Oh.” He pulled out his two short swords, one silver and electricity buzzed around it, the other finely crafted and runed, as he ducked under the approaching mummy’s arm.

Stock was having a hard time, the mummy he was fighting half hidden by its stone coffin, but he couldn’t back up, lest he compromise Malbi’s position. One of his axe heads struck against the stone, but the other made it to the undead creature’s leathery chest, opening him up again where he had healed beforehand. He grunted as he felt another hit, and worked to focus away from the pain it caused.

Malbi now had no place to drop further fireballs. He waved his hands and incanted again, this time several spheres of force appearing, disappearing, then appearing behind the mummy Jackal was fighting to slam into its back. Still standing he observed the situation. Jackal looked the best off, as he hadn’t been in melee with his opponent for long. Grum wasn’t faring very well, but he could heal himself if it got to that. Stock was looking the worst and was protecting him from direct attack, so he decided his next spell would be aimed at that one. He began incanting his next spell.

Grum decided that things weren’t going as well as he had hoped. The mummy was looking very hurt, but he was feeling woozy and his head felt like it was splitting open, though he hadn’t been hit there. He focused as best he could and held out his palm, a blaze of light erupting from it filling up the entire room with a bright white glow. The light struck his opponent, who staggered back, for the first time showing signs of injury, which wasn’t a surprising considering the spell he had just used.

Jackal, having had help from Malbi earlier, finally pushed the creature beyond its breaking point with a pair of slashes to along the body. It fell over with a thud.

Two rays of fire flew from Malbi’s finger and burned away Stock’s mummy’s head, throwing ashes and pieces all about around it. Stock took several swings at the creature at the same time and cut deep into his arm and torso, but the creature kept fighting.

Noticing Stock’s condition, Grum attempted to make his way toward Stock, but was caught by an attack from the mummy he was fighting. Feeling his injuries becoming fatal, he decided to heal himself. Casting his spell, he regained much of his composure. Stock would have to wait a few seconds.

Jackal, having dispatched his own opponent, closed to flank Stock’s enemy. A ray of flame from Malbi went wild over their heads as Stock felt Grum’s hand on his shoulder, Stock regaining feeling in his extremities and the faintness he was feeling subsiding.

Grum decided to go on the offensive and letting his blood boil, he called upon the favor of the battles he had fought in the past. Feeling the rage flowing through him, he tore into his enemy with his adamantine axe, crushing in his shoulder.

Now Stock, with Jackal’s help, and Grum’s healing making him feel much better, tore into his enemy. An arm fell off and he saw one of Jackal’s swords come out of the creature’s chest. Swinging, he separated the mummy’s torso from his lower half and it fell into its casket, unmoving.

Finally, as they finished him off, they saw Grum sweep the mummy handily with his axe and not only slice deep into its chest with a loud _crack_, but it flew back and slammed into the stone alter behind them, falling limply to the ground like a doll. Grum roared with excitement. 

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed. The others weren’t feeling so well, and as soon as the adrenaline went out of Grum’s system, he felt the effects as well.

“What were those?” Stock asked, kneeling against a wall. “I’ve fought mummies before, but they never restitched themselves, or… or did whatever those did when they touched me.

“I don’t know, but that’s not important. We need to search this place. There must be a secret passage or something around here.” Jackal brought the group back to work. He began searching around with Malbi while Stock kept lookout through the ajar door and Grum healed their wounds.

“Nothing!” Jackal was looking perturbed.

“Then we wait for someone to show up?” Malbi had also found nothing.

“There were some abandoned buildings across the street,” offered Stock.

“Wild goose chase,” Jackal muttered.


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## recentcoin (Aug 13, 2006)

And.....


*waiting with baited breath*


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 16, 2006)

Sorry I havne't updated recently, I just started a PbP (which has kept me very busy) and I'm waiting for my Players to get back to me with their approval of the story, as I always make sure they agree with how their characters are portrayed. I have several pages written and waiting to be posted as soon as they get back to me with their approval.


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## recentcoin (Aug 16, 2006)

*pokes the DM  impatiently*  

Hurry up!

*thinks to self - prolly going to regret poking the DM later*

*sigh*

*bows before the mighty DM*

Please forgive my impertinence.....


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 18, 2006)

_"I know what I’m doing… mostly"_
-Malbi, opening a planar breach

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

The small room already smelled of mold and wet hair when they arrived, and all four of them sitting in the cramped space didn’t make it any more pleasant. Grum dozed in a corner, having fallen asleep after his shift on watch. Stock and Malbi sat in silence, wondering if this was all for naught. Jackal was by the window, keeping lookout on the graveyard across the street, watching for anyone coming near the mausoleum where they had fought the mummies.

As it got dark, it became harder to see across the street, his gem of darkvision barely making it to the first few grave stones arranged haphazardly. At least they knew anyone approaching would do so from this side. Finally, as antipeak approached, Jackal noticed two figures making their way down the street that called stark attention to themselves over the beggars, thugs, and few fiends who made their way by him earlier. 

One of them was a bauriaur, and he was definitely the guy they were looking for. This bauriaur stood out even in the depravity of the Hive, his body fur all shaven off, his skin tattooed with various symbols from his head down to his hooves. He carried a very large and very long backpack, and he carried an ogre sized great axe, covered with symbols as thickly as his own skin. It was effeminately the guy they were looking for, Delita.

Beside him walked a goblin, even smaller than most, his feet plodding along beside Delita quickly as they silently walked. He wore simple rags and carried nothing much himself, but he also had tattoos on his body and some kind of amulet or medallion hanging from his neck.

As soon as they entered the graveyard and began to head toward the middle mausoleum, it was time to make their move. Notifying the others and waking Grum, they headed out of the abandoned building and across the street into the graveyard, stopping just outside of the stone structure.

Malbi pulled out his Staff of Frost, pointing it toward the door, ready to spring his trap. The others backed away from the door, Jackal standing beside it and pushed it open quickly ducking back. As soon as the doorway was open, Malbi called out the command word, activating the staff, and a blast of cold erupted from the staff, freezing the moisture in the air as it filled the room in front of him.

As soon as he did that, the others sprung into action, rushing into the room in ambush, but it appeared their attack wasn’t so anticipated as the enemy was hiding behind caskets. What had given them away? That would have to wait until later. Now, they had to fight.

Delita wasn’t looking to go down easily, however. He stood, showing a full suit of plate barding and demonic metal braces over his horns. “Come forth!” He called out. Nothing happened. He looked around from casket to casket in a frenzy.

“They aren’t coming.” Jackal smiled at him.

Growling, Delita bellowed out “Fools! I will teach you your place!” Turning from Jackal and gazing down at Stock, who was in the front and closest to him, and leapt over the casket he had been hiding behind previously, dropping his axe upon him, the axe head bursting into black flames as it came down on the bugbear. Stock screamed out in pain as the dark blade cut into his flesh, the wound smoking for a few seconds after it had passed through.

Jackal had his crossbow ready and fired a shot at the bauriaur which bounced off of his armor, and Stock swung his double axe, one end flaming and one end cold as ice, as quickly as he could, several hits striking true on the enemy. The bauriaur grimaced against the pain of the blows, but none were fatal. The two combatants faced off against each other.

The goblin was also hiding behind a sarcophagus and peeked above the top as the others fought. Pointing, he shot out two rays of fire from his fingertips straight at Grum, striking him and burning his leg and arm. Turning, Grum moved toward the goblin, axe in hand.

Malbi peered into the room in order to aid with his magic. He noted Grum facing off against the goblin, not a very fair fight, he thought, and decided to focus on the crazed bauriaur with the axe as big as himself. Letting fly two rays of fire from his own fingertips, he tried to hit Delita without striking the others, but missed completely.

Jackal decided the crossbows weren’t going to cut it for this fight, so he pulled out his two short swords, electricity buzzing from one of them, and began to work his way around to the other side of the room to strike from behind.

As Jackal slunk around the room, Delita took another swing at Stock, this time crushing his left shoulder in and slamming his axe head into his leg so hard that it almost knocked him off of his feet with pain. Stock wasn’t just taking it, however, and cut deep into Delita’s goat side with one of his swings. Malbi thought that at this rate, they would both kill each other and moved into the room to better direct his spells.

Grum squeezed into the back of the room, and the goblin looked straight up at him, baring his teeth. If nothing, Grum could say the little guy had guts. The goblin cast some kind of spell, and Grum felt like something was trying to keep his mind from working. Concentrating, he threw off the mental attack, and continued bearing down on the goblin, who now didn’t look so confident.

Jackal made it around and sliced into Delita’s flank, striking him unprepared. The cut was deep, and one of his rear legs spasmed at the cut. Delita growled back and lowered his axe for a long swing back at Jackal. Stock, one shoulder barely moving and a deep cut in his side, took this opportunity to limp back to try and regain his bearings, moving to stand between Malbi and Delita.

While that was going on, Grum had squeezed his way in to the corner where the goblin was situated and swung his axe down at the small creature, who was cleaved almost in two and flew across the room, his body splattering on the black alter, blood oozing down its surface and into a pool below. Grum turned back, saw that Stock was injured, and began to squeeze his way back to help his comrade.

The fight between Delita and Jackal was heating up as Malbi let loose the same spell again, this time burning into Delita’s legs, causing him to limp to the side as he swung his axe at Jackal, the flames on the greataxe flaring up more than before and burning deeply into his chest as the axe ripped through his armor, Jackal staggering back. But they could see that Delita was almost to his breaking point as well.

Grum chanted to himself and touched his hand on Stock’s shoulder, the bone knitting itself as his hand lay there and the pain going away. Stock hefted his double axe again, swinging his arm a bit, and moved carefully back into combat with the bauriaur, engaging him once again. With Delita surrounded, Jackal took advantage of his newly distracted state and with two quick stabs cut through an artery in his neck, blood spraying out as his heart pumped his blood onto the floor in front of him. Delita slumped to the ground dead.


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 18, 2006)

Action filled post, that one. The combat was actually longer, but I think that summed up the action very nicely. Also, there's a bit of controversy over the Players as to who exactly it was that killed Delita. We'll just have to say I took some poetic license and made a DM call on the story version. 



			
				recentcoin said:
			
		

> Please forgive my impertinence.....




You are absconded.

Now, go poke the players so that they get the next part read over quickly.


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 21, 2006)

_“Even non dimensional spaces can get stunk up by corpses.”_
-Planar Proverb

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

“Weren’t we going to try to take them alive?” This was Stock, seeing as how the rest of them had forgotten this minor detail. “Something about questioning them?”

The others paused for only a moment before resuming cleaning their weapons and riffling through the pockets of their now deceased enemies. Malbi carefully stowed the large greataxe in his bag of holding, and Jackal held his amulet while examining the goblin’s things closely. Stock sighed and wiped blood off of his armor.

Finally, with all the requisite looting out of the way, they returned to the matter at hand, that of finding out where Caradver was. 

“I can question them tomorrow,” Grum said, finally speaking up.

“Good good. All is well.” Jackal was in a rare good mood thanks to the spoils. He even forgot to wryly comment about this being a wild goose chase.

Jackal wrapped up the body of the bauriaur in extra cloaks they had. “Okay, now put this in your bag of holding and…”

“Wait a minute!” Malbi didn’t like where this was going. “I don’t want that nasty thing in my bag.”

“You kept dead dragons in there…”

“That was different. Put it in your bag.”

Jackal grumbled and pulled his bag of holding’s mouth as far as it would stretch, squeezing the limp bauriaur body into the opening. The others looked on with disgust as he did so. “There. I hope you’re happy.”

Malbi nodded his approval. “What about the goblin?”

“Meh, just leave it.”


“Where is the assassin?!” Jackal fumed as he emerged from their basement where he had left the captured assassin the night before. “He’s gone! Did one of you let him out? So help me, I’ll…” he trailed off as he confronted Stock in the hallway.

Stock only shrugged. “I didn’t see nothing.”

“Well he didn’t just disappear!” Jackal headed up the stairs to Malbi’s rooms. “Where’s Malbi?”

Stock quietly slithered away to question the guard to see if they noticed anything.


“Well?” Jackal paced back and forth in front of the cell, the sounds of the grumbling bulette constantly emanating from behind them.

“Nope. No magical auras, no invisible assassin, nothing. He’s not in there.”

Jackal had hoped in vain that it was some kind of magic trick to get them to open the cell door and let him free himself that way, but no such luck. The dark elf was really gone.


Malbi walked into the Hall of Speakers, looking for Factor Dhoren. A dispatch had been sent for him earlier that day, arriving soon after they had discovered their captive was missing. The message didn’t say why he was being called in, but he was a loyal member of the Sign of the One, and if a Factor was calling him in, it must be important.

Looking about the Hall he finally found the Factor’s office, and knocked on the door.

“Come in, come in!” the voice was loud and unhesitatingly self assured.

Malbi walked into the office, looking around it. It was full of books and a few strange devices he didn’t recognize. A man in his late thirties or early forties greeted him as he walked inside.

“Sit! I have to talk to you about this whole infiltrator business you seem to know about.”

That explained that. Malbi and company had found out a plot to put spies in each of Sigil’s Factions recently. They had tracked down the ones responsible to the Plane of Fire and dealt with their outpost there, but they weren’t sure if any survived. If they had, then the Factions, and most importantly his own, were still in danger.

When he had tried to expose the spy within the Sign of the One, however, his superior had not believed a word of it, and had in fact told him out right that if he were wrong that Malbi would no longer be welcome in the Faction. Then, he had promptly, to the best of Malbi’s knowledge at least, not done anything about it. It looks like the situation had taken a slight turn.

“So you found out that the Red Haired Man is a spy!”

“Yes. We had word from our allies, the Sensates, that they discovered a spy in their Faction. They didn’t know it was part of something larger, though, and they exposed and… dealt with him.” He leaned back in his chair. “We checked up on this Tylaric Stormwing, as he calls himself. His story is a lie. We kept him around, not as to arouse suspicion. It has come to our attention that this was part of a larger plot. And, that you know something about it.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, lets hear it!’

Malbi recounted everything that had happened to them. Discovering the Red Haired Man, scrying on him, and eventually traveling to the Plane of Fire when they discovered where the whole thing was going down. Dhoren listened intently, not missing a thing. When he finally finished, he nodded and leaned back again, having leaned forward more and more as the tale progressed.

“We just have to find Green Marvent. He’s the one behind everything, if he’s still alive. We destroyed the entire outpost on the Plane of Fire.”

A few minutes went by without Dhoren saying anything, and Malbi was thinking about to saying something when the Factor began to speak, “I’ve heard… not so great things about you. Factotum Sylsas, who you previously answered to had many colorful things to say about you, playing with dead bodies as if they were dolls, making outrageous claims about spies, which by the way turned out to be correct. But, you seem to be quite a capable individual.”

“I can explain that body thing.”

Dhoren looked up, an eyebrow raised.

“I was just showing him that Grum had died, and that he needed to be raised…”

“I… see… in the future I think you can handle that with Signer priests…” By the look on Dhoren’s face it looked like he was starting to reconsider Malbi, but he shook it off for the moment.

“We’ve reassigned Sylsas. His office is now operating out of the Beastlands. You’ll answer directly to me about this matter. We want you to work on finding out who and where this Green Marvent is. To that end, we have opened up the Faction’s resources to you. I’ve got a member who will cast contact other plane for you, so figure out your questions. And good luck. I expect this to be handled swiftly and efficiently.”

Malbi was excused from the office and walked the Hall of Speakers to the exit, nodding to other Signers as he went. A high priority? He couldn’t very well say no to a Factor in his own Faction, especially, it seemed, this one. Now he had two top priorities. Caradver had a contract out on their lives and might bring them closer to putting an end to the whole conflict with the Dustmen that they had going on.

But, finding Green Marvent was also important. He had to regain face with his Faction, and a plot of this magnitude wasn’t going to just sit and wait for him to finish. However, had needed time to figure out what questions he was going to ask for that spell. He decided that they would go after Caradver and return as soon as possible. Jackal wouldn’t have it any other way anyway.


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 27, 2006)

_“As a general rule, I don't trust dead people.”_
-Stock, on speak with dead.

*Session 7/8/06 - In Search Of (continued)*

By evening their searches had turned up nothing.  They decided there was nothing they could do, since they were pressed for time with other matters. Hopefully their problems would be solved if they found Caradver, and they wouldn’t have to worry about the escaped assassin. That made two of the three who attacked them that had gotten away. But, again, they had more pressing matters.

Grum had prepared his speak with dead spell, and they had worked out a few questions in advance. He sat over the body, incanting and holding his axe aloft above the body. Finally, he opened his eyes, a faraway look in them for a moment, then focused on the others. “I’m ready. First question?”

“Where is Caradver,” Jackal answered. “And, he’d better have known.”

Grum looked down at the body of the bauriaur, laid out on their living room floor. “Where is Caradver?” He closed his eyes and concentrated on making the corpse act.

The voice came out of its mouth cold and without inflection or emotion. “In the Lost City near the Spire, recently discovered.”

“Damn cryptic answers,” muttered Jackal.

“How do we get there?” interjected Malbi. Jackal gave him a cold look, but nodded his approval.

Grum repeated his questioning of the corpse, repeating the question.

“Travel Spireward from the Mountain of the Dwarves.”

“Mountain of the Dwarves? What kind of crap is that? How many dwarf mountains must there be on the Outlands? This-“

“I know what he’s talking about,” Malbi interrupted worried that Jackal would decide to start hacking away at the corpse.

“Oh really?”

“Yes. The Dwarven Mountain is the Realm of several members of the dwarven pantheon, located on the Outlands. It lies within the second to outermost ring of the Outlands layers. Spireward means that we should head toward the Spire to get to whatever city this is.

“Okay, but that could be anywhere. That’s a big place and-“

Malbi shook his head and cut him off again, “Not really. On the Outlands, if you want to go somewhere you just have to think about it and walk. Eventually you’ll get there. Now that we know that the city exists, its just a matter of overland travel to get there. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Jackal narrowed his eyes at Malbi for a second, then turned to Grum. “How many questions left?”

“Two more.”

“Fine then. Lets see if he knows anything about Darius. Ask him where Darius is.”

Grum did so.

“In the Temple on the Mountain of Flame.”

Jackal looked over at Malbi for clarification. “A Temple. Of the Temples? And which one is that?”

“I’m not sure… ask what the Mountain of Flame is…” Malbi thought he knew, but he had to be sure.

“This is our last question,” warned Grum.

“Go ahead,” said Jackal.

Grum nodded and proceeded to ask the question, focusing his thought into the task.

“Yugoloth controlled Gehenna.”

“Wonderful. Just wonderful.” said Jackal.

Malbi had a defeatist look in his eyes. “We can’t go there. Not right now.”

“I know that,” Jackal shot back.

“But, why is he with the Yugoloth?”

“We’ll have to wait to find out. First, we’re headed to the Outlands.”


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## ThirdWizard (Aug 31, 2006)

_“Doesn’t he look a little… gray… to you?”_
- anonymous dwarf talking about The Jackal 

*Session 8/5/06 - The Lost City*

Jackal liked to drink, but for the past few days, he had consumed possibly more dwarven ale (the real stuff) than he had drunk since coming to Sigil all those years ago. This wasn’t by choice, either, exactly. They needed a way to the Dwarven Mountain on the Outlands, and who better to find that out from than dwarves.

It took days, however, for him to find some dwarves that were from there and were willing to talk to an outsider. The dwarven bars weren’t exactly made for people his size, Jackal stood a foot over them after all. It wasn’t until the third night frequenting dwarven bars and testing his stamina that he was challenged to a drinking contest.

Cheers ran through the bar and beer mugs were raised. Some were trying to make bets, but no one would take odds on the human interloper into their establishment, the Everfull Mug, a bar on the outskirts of the Lady’s Ward near the Market Ward. One dwarf slapped Jackal on the back hard as he sat down at the table, looking his opponent in the eyes. This would be his proving ground.

The dwarven ale was poured and he took his first gulp, barely feeling the effects. The dwarf across from him, a middle aged man with his beard braided in loops back into itself, took a drink as well, and they stared at each other. The next mugs came and they drank again. It was on the third draught that he started feeling dizzy.

The fourth drink was a bit harder to down, they’d pulled out the really strong stuff, not that dwarven ale is every anything but strong, of course. Jackal wasn’t sure what he had been drinking the past few days, but this was different. Across the table, though, he could see that his opponent was feeling the effects as well.

The cheers throughout the room turned to murmurs, then again returned to cheers of amazement. They hadn’t expected him to last through two drinks after they pulled out the hard vintage. Few non-dwarves could last through three let alone four pints. He was pulling his own in the contest, and they were loving it.

The fifth drink came, and he downed it, this time more slowly, keeping his balance on the chair, the world growing fuzzy in front of him. He tried to lock eyes with his opponent and failed to see more than an outline. But, he didn’t miss the sixth ale being placed in his open hand. Slowly, he moved it toward his mouth and started to drink, but before he could finish, he heard a loud thump in front of him and the loudest assortment of voices he had ever heard in his life. Suddenly, finding himself floating, he wondered if he had passed out and was now dreaming.

What happened after that he wasn’t quite sure. He had vague memories of dwarven women coming onto him and that he was welcome back there or to any of the fine dwarven establishments in the city. He remembered lots of laughing, lots of singing, and at one point he could have sword he had a beard.

When he woke up the next day he had a headache that couldn’t be expressed in words, but no beard. Somewhere in the back of his mind something jumped out to him, however. The location of a portal to the Dwarven Mountain! All that drinking had paid off. He walked to the main room to find Malbi there, who had news about Green Marvent.


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## recentcoin (Sep 3, 2006)

The Green Marvent?

Hmmm....me thinks the DM has been reading those old comic books again...

RC


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## ThirdWizard (Sep 5, 2006)

Heh, Green Marvent is an NPC BBEG briefly mentioned in the PS Adventure "The Eternal Boundary." My Players make constant fun of the name.


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## ThirdWizard (Sep 5, 2006)

_“Does that include resurrection or not?”_
- a mercenary, going over his hazard pay details 

*Session 8/5/06 - The Lost City (continued)*

Malbi decided it was best to take advantage of the time Jackal was spending trying to find them a portal to work on the Green Marvent problem. The Sign of the One was watching him closely on this one, and this was a good way for him to either find himself in their good graces again or to injure his reputation there even further. He had set out with Grum to the Hall of Speakers to make use of the resource they had given him.

The Hall was a large place, bustling with members of several factions. As he entered he saw a familiar face, the Red Haired Man who called himself Tylaric Stormwing. Grumbling to himself, he passed by the man, who was busy helping a young woman carry her mass of paperwork somewhere, smiling with her and laughing. He hated keeping up this pretense, even if it was necessary.

Malbi confirmed his appointment with Renthal, the wizard who would be performing the contact other plane spell for him. He headed around the side passage of the building, nodding to several Signers who he had a passing familiarity with. They seemed to ignore Grum and he did the same. They went on until they found the small room where they would meet Renthal and he was already there.

He paced back and forth, obviously nervous, and for good reason, casting the spell was a very hazardous affair. “Let’s get this over with.” He turned to face Malbi, and jumped at the sight of Grum before waving nonchalantly and walking to the back of the room to sit down on the floor. “This might take a while to get started.” 

“How many questions do I get?”

“Seven. Best make them good.”

Renthal lit a candle and leaned back closing his eyes, incanting.

Malbi watched for several minutes before sitting down himself, which Grum had done long before. Grum didn’t really care too much about what was going on here; he had come along more for protection against any assassination attempts. No one in the group ever went anywhere alone. This isn’t to say, of course, that he didn’t care about finding Green Marvent; he did care about that. The motions of finding him, however, were inconsequential to him. What would happen when they did find him occupied more of his thoughts.

Finally, after several more minutes on top of that, Renthal opened his eyes. “It is ready.”

Malbi looked up. “Okay, I’ll ask questions and you do your thing. First question.” Malbi rose from his sitting position in anticipation. “Question: Is Green Marvent still operating in the Plane of Fire?”

The wizard closed his eyes as if concentrating. The voice that came out of his mouth was not the voice Malbi had heard before. It was deep and echoing, though there was no echo in the room. “No.”

Malbi nodded, and the Renthal opened his eyes and turned them toward Malbi, swiveling his head in his direction afterward, waiting silently.

“Okay… Is Green Marvent operating in the Inner Planes?”

Again the response came back negative.

Grum let out a snore, and Malbi scowled in his direction. “Is Green Marvent intending to cause a faction conflict?”

This time, “Yes.”

“Aha! So his goals do involve a conflict among the factions… Not that that will help me find him. Here… Is Green Marvent working for a faction?”

“No.”

Malbi nodded again, “Is Green Marvent on a Lawful plane?”

“No.”

“Is Green Marvent on a Chaotic plane?”

“No.”

“Hmmm… I’d best check… Is Green Marvent on an Outer plane?”

“Yes.” Renthal blinked, opening his eyes. He gave out a long sigh of relief. “Glad that’s over. Now, I’ll be on my way, and good luck finding Green Marvent.”

“Wait!” Malbi wasn’t ready to give up yet, he needed more questions. He almost had it narrowed down.”

Renthal looked at him carefully. “I agreed to do this once for the faction. It’s dangerous. I can’t just cast it all day, and they understand that. I’m sure you got in the right direction, and you’ll just have to live with that.” He started to make his way out of the room.

“We’ll double your pay!”

He paused in his tracks and licked his lips. “Ten thousand gold pieces. That’s what I’m getting.” He looked back at Malbi.

“Cast it again, and you’ll get twenty thousand, and we’ll look after you if it goes wrong. The effects aren’t permanent after all.”

“I’m basically a shell for a while if I fail… I have enemies…,” his gaze went to the corner of the room.

“We’ll take care of it. Twenty thousand gold pieces.”

He thought for a moment, but this wasn’t something he could just pass up. “Fine. I’ll have to prepare another. Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be back.”

“Good man,” Malbi smiled. He would have Green Marvent’s whereabouts by the end of the day.

Renthal left the room, and Malbi turned to Grum, started to say something and decided to just wait in silence until he got back, which was in less than twenty minutes. Gold was a great motivator; he had learned that lesson quickly operating in Sigil. Renthal sat down again to recast his spell and finally they were back at the questions. He had picked out his questions, and it wouldn’t take seven to find the right plane.

Malbi smiled, “Is Green Marvent on an Evil plane?”

Renthal’s voice resumed its former deep echoing resonance which had been present previously. However, the answer was not one that Malbi was looking for, “That is unclear.”

“Unclear? Um… I mean… Is Green Marvent on a Good Plane?”

“That is unclear.”

That shot that plan down fairly quickly. Now he had to use what few questions he had to narrow it down plane by plane and hope that this unlucky streak was over. They were contacting a greater deity, after all, though Renthal had been vague about which one in particular. He sighed and hoped to get lucky and pick the right plane. “Is Green Marvent in Hades?”

“No,” the voice boomed. Grum snorted and woke up, looking around blinking.

“Is Green Marvent in Gehenna?” He hoped he wasn’t.

“No.”

A sigh of relief then on to the next one, “Is Green Marvent in Carceri?”

“No.”

“Is Green Marvent in Elysium?”

“No.”

“Is Green Marvent in Bytopia?”

“No.” Renthal’s eyes fluttered and he fell back onto the floor. “That really takes a lot out of you,” he said sitting up again. “I hope you found what you were looking for.”

“Close… very close.”

“Well, I’m not doing that again. No way in the Nine Hells am I doing it again.”

And that was that. Malbi went to find Factor Dhoren. He’d be interested in the results.


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## ThirdWizard (Sep 10, 2006)

_"Tastes like chicken. Very very tough and stringy chicken."_
- Grum, on dwarves

*Session 8/5/06 - The Lost City (continued)*

“News on Green Marvent, huh? Look, we can do that later.”

“I think he might be in the Beastlands. This could be important. I told Factor Dhoren about it. The Signers have a foothold there, so I’ve got them looking. We might turn up something.”

“On the whole Plane?”

Malbi sighed, “It’s a long shot, but it’s something. Alternately, he could be on the Outlands.”

Jackal thought on it for a moment. It was something at least, and this looked like he could take advantage of it. He had been working on propelling Black Dagger up the ranks as a side project, sort of a way to gain some influence in the Fated (and some favors) while not sticking his own neck out too far. This was just another opportunity. If the Fated found out Black Dagger had helped stop whatever the spies were doing, whether or not he actually would have anything to do with it, then that would be quite beneficial.

“Alright, you’ve got a point. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“We’re heading to the Hall of Records. I’m going to have a talk with the Factor I met the a few weeks ago or at least try to. He’d be very interested in any news about Marvent.”

“What about the Dwarven Mountain?”

“I found a way there, of course.”

“Is that why you look hung over?”

“Shut up.”

“Well, what about going there?”

“Soon. Soon…” Jackal looked at Grum. “Um… dwarves…” Then he looked at Stock. “I don’t think dwarves like ogres or bugbears.”

“And we don’t like them,” Stock put in.

“That’s not helpful.” Malbi sighed.

“Oh, that’s just great. This is not going to be easy.” He sat down and massaged his temples. “We’ll just do what we always do.”

“Fight our way through?” Grum asked almost hopefully.

Jackal thought for a second. “No… no. Well…. no, we’ll just figure it out as we go along. Maybe something will present itself. At worst, they’ll… well we’ll see.”

“So we fight.” Grum almost announced.

Malbi and Stock sighed together.

“Anyway, we should head out. I’d like to have a word with Black Dagger, and you can tell me what you learned on the way. Let’s go.” Jackal said, and they headed toward the Clerk’s Ward.


“Have you seen Black Dagger?” Jackal was standing in front of Black Dagger’s office in the Hall of Records talking to his secretary, who didn’t seem very busy. Black Dagger was never actually in the office, so he didn’t bother asking about that.

“Not recently. Oh, but Red Dagger was around. He said for me to tell you… what was it… Oh yes. If you’re going to that place again, he wants to go. Whatever that means.”

“I know what it means. If Black Dagger shows up, be sure to tell him I was looking for him.”

“Sure thing.”

Jackal walked toward the office of Factor Lohan Yarl, a fire gnome who he had spoken with before about the attempted infiltration into the Fated. He had seemed very interested in finding the ones responsible for this, and paying them back for their trouble. Taking down their outpost was only the first step. The snake’s head needed to be cut off.

He arrived at the office and was greeted by his secretary, who was much busier than Black Dagger’s. He merely pointed Jackal to a chair, and it was thirty minutes before the doors opened.

The gnome looked up from a book he was reading. “Jackal! How are you? You have news for me concerning that Marvent fellow, I hope.” He put the book gingerly down on the table. 

Jackal slowly made his way into the room. It was kept hot, the large fireplace roaring behind the Factor, who had dark charcoal-like skin and bright orange hair that stood up, a long handlebar mustache curling up his face. “Of course.” He sat down in the already warm chair in front of the desk, eye level with the gnome. “Black Dagger has gained new intelligence on the matter, and I’m just relaying the information to you for him.”

“Well, let’s hear it!” His voice was a mixture of impatience and curiosity.

“I’ll skip the details, but it appears that we did in fact permanently destroy his base in the Plane of Fire. He isn’t operating out of that anymore. It appears that he’s moved to the Outer Planes now. We’ve narrowed it down to two planes, and we’re working on it from there. I just thought you should be apprised of the situation as it stands.”

“Hrm… fine fine. I’m looking for some results here. I’ll be very pleased if you can bring me this Green Marvent’s head on a platter.” His eyes narrowed as he looked across the desk. “We’re Fated. We don’t take kindly to others messing with us.”

“Of course.”

“Anything else?”

“That’s all.”

He waved Jackal away and went back to reading whatever book he had been engrossed in when Jackal walked into the room. Jackal made his way back into the hallways. As he turned a corner, a familiar face greeted him.

“Jackal! I heard you were around, and I figured that you’d go see Yarl.” It was Black Dagger. He was leaning against the wall waiting, and smiling.

“You! You disappeared on us!” Jackal’s mood swung to fuming. “Malbi died!”

“Eh. That’s how it goes sometimes.” He stopped smiling, and waved him over. They walked down toward the exit together.

“You owe me. I want you to track down that Greydust guy and take him out for setting us up. I don’t have time to deal with him myself; we’re headed Out of Town.” 

“Yeah, sure, I can take care of that. No problem.”

Jackal grumbled to himself.


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## ThirdWizard (Sep 10, 2006)

I started a Rogue's Gallery for NPC villians for anyone interested in seeing the stats behind them. Right now it only has Delita the bauriaur in it, but there should be others soon enough. I'll add links as they come up.


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## ThirdWizard (Sep 20, 2006)

_“Lets do it!”_
- a Sensate or a Cypher, I couldn’t tell.


*Session 8/5/06 - The Lost City (continued)*

Jackal, Grum, Stock, and Malbi arrived back at their tower as it was getting dark. It had been a long day and they were going to have to set out early the next day. When they got to the gate, their guard captain approached them apologetically.

“I’m sorry. She said she was on official business. I tried to keep her out, but she just…”

“What? Someone’s here?” Jackal’s good mood was deteriorating.

They pushed the door open, looking inside.

“About time you got back! I’ve been waiting for hours!” The voice wasn’t harsh, yet it had an urgency to it. “Get in here!”

Inside their common room was a woman laying across one of their couches. Her skin was dark with light brown hair and growing from her back was a pair of thin butterfly-like wings. She was smiling broadly with a cup of their wine in her hands and was outfitted like an adventurer ready for battle, wearing studded leather armor with a rapier at her side and a longbow lying across a nearby table. Around her neck hung an amulet depicting the symbol of the Sensates. She was quite beautiful.

“Malorie Wildblood at your service!” She waved them inside like she was inviting them into her home. Of course, it was their home.

“Who are you?” “What are you doing here?” “What’s going on?” Everyone spoke out at once.

She laughed, “Wait, didn’t they tell you we’d be working together? I’m here to help with the Green Marvent thing. The Sensates want him just as much as you do, you know.” She swiveled and stood. “I heard you had something, that you consulted your fortune teller or whatever it was that you did.”

“I consulted with a fellow wizard, yes,” replied Malbi, a bit purterbed. “We’ve narrowed it down, but there are still things to do before we go after him.” He looked up and down the figure. Sensates, they were always so eager to head out without taking the time to become fully prepared.

She frowned a bit. “And, I was all ready to head out.” She fell back into the couch, an action that got a frown out of Jackal, though this one was more out of anger than boredom.

Sensing his companion’s displeasure, Malbi spoke up. “If that will be all for now, we’ll contact you when its time to go… wherever it is we’re going to go. In the meantime we have business to attend to. I’m sure you understand.”

“But, we should get to know each other. I like to know the people I work with, makes me feel more comfortable. We could go out for a drink or something, tell me about yourselves.”

“Maybe some other time. We’re on a tight schedule.”

“Schedule you say?” She looked over each one of them. The expressions on their faces were very serious. She sighed and frowned again. “Well, I guess I could come back later, when you have less to do.”

“We’re always busy,” said Jackal.

She looked at him quizzically. “Hrm… I don’t doubt it. Well, the Sensates are very interested in Marvent, so you be sure to call on me before you go do that. I’m not too hard to find, so I doubt there will be any problems. I can drop everything at a moment’s notice. I’m not really all that… scheduled.” She chuckled, saw that no one else was laughing, shrugged and headed out. “Oh, and try not to be too long,” she added as she left through the front door with a wave behind her.

Jackal collapsed onto the couch that she had just taken up. “Great. I don’t trust her.”

“You don’t trust anyone,” noted Stock.

Jackal scoweled, rose, and headed to his room. “We leave early in the morning, so get some rest.”


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