After almost two years of
effort, the members of the heroic adventurers party that called
themselves "Local
509" had succeeded in finding the first of the body parts of Gaga the
Sundered God. They had found the Feet
in the ancient ruin of Kou Melian which lay far to the East in the
lands of Shou Lung.
Braving many, many dangers
and the loss of more than one of their parties lives, they descended to
the lowest level
of the crypt of the First Radiant Emperor of the Kingdom of the Lotus.
Sir Ulla had performed the bloody joining
of the golden feet to the living legs of the mysterious Beourn, and
they stood in awe as the god within him burst
out with an explosion of magical force. Using his brief but almost
omniscient knowledge, Beourn told them which
of the "Gates of Travel" that were in the crypt would take them to the
Outer Plane where the "Palace
of Judgment" stood. This was where the souls of those worshiping the
Divine Hierarchy went upon their death.
In the Palace they waited
for some time until the Judges could see them. Once brought before them
the judges recognized
that they did not belong there and were not ready to be judged yet. The
Judges upon hearing their story pick them
up and threw them through one of the myriad of gates used to take the
souls to their final resting place in the
Outer Planes.
---------
The blackness cleared
abruptly. It had not lasted long, but was disturbing none the less. All
around, the other
members of the famous adventuring party the Local 509 heaved heavy
sighs of relief.
"Am I still alive?" says
Krom looking at his hands.
"You mean 'am I not
roasting in the flames of Hell?'. I was afraid the Judge would make a
mistake and out
we'd pop into the wrong place" Timber said to Krom.
"I hated that whole
judgment thing" says Victorex. "The only god I want to see is the great
Bobocob.
I trust him. These other gods are unpredictable. I wasn't sure the door
he sent us through wouldn't lead to the
66th Layer of the abyss."
"Right, like Bobocob is
predictable." said Pisheo. "I'm relieved to get through the judging
still
free, but I wouldn't have felt one whit better being judged by Bobocob."
"Bless me!, take a look at
this place. What a weird town!" said Stallen.
And it was a strange place
indeed. They appeared to be standing in the middle of a paved street
which was covered
with dense fog. It was very humid and their noses told them that there
was a lot of smoke and worse that also went
into making the air difficult to see through. The buildings all looked
like they had been made from the discards
from a village rubbish pit. None of them had a single kind of material
used but rather a crazy quilt of wood, shingle,
mud, rock, and brick. They were not attractive. There were no gaps
between the buildings around them, and this
made it difficult to tell where one building stopped and another began.
Doors and windows seemed to be placed at
random in the patchwork walls.
Overhead what looked like
an enormous stone shaft was visible through the fog. It was so large at
first it looked
like a curved wall, but the angle of the wall was wrong. It was
perpendicular to the horizon!
Given their irregular
appearance, the buildings closest to them appeared relatively normal.
But dimly through the
fog they could see other buildings farther away that looked strangely
tiled toward them so that more of the roofs
showed that should. It looked like they were at the bottom of a hill
and the buildings nearer the top of the hill
were built at a strange angle.
"So what did you expect to
find? That Sigil was the same as every other place you've been to?"
Dromar
said derisively. "I'm surprised it isn't even stranger. Were a long way
from home friends!"
"So, what next then?" says
Galranwyn.
"Find some food, a beer
and a place to sleep. I'm dying for some good grub" said Krom.
"Sounds good. Lets head
that way" Stallen said pointing up the street toward an intersection.
They were a large group
and a threatening one. They were still armed and armored for battle as
their brief stay
in the Palace of Judgment had not allowed them time to change. They
looked every inch as dangerous as they were.
They wandered down the
street, looking for signs for an Inn or Saloon. As they walked, they
noticed that they never
seemed to get to the top of the hill. Looking both in front of them and
behind them, the street seemed to rise
away from them. Occasionally the fog would clear for an instant
providing them with visions of house roof tops
at a perpendicular angle to the street they were walking on. At last,
they saw a man coming out of a building.
Stallen stepped quickly
forward and introduced himself. The man looked like a craftsman as he
wore denim clothes
and a leather apron. After making sure he wasn't interrupting an
important appointment, Stallen asked the craftsman
where they were. Shaking his head ruefully the craftsman replied,
"Clueless huh? Just got
here and don't even know where you are. Well it won't be the last time
I hear it and
that's sure. You're in Sigil, the City of Doors. A word of advice
friend. Find some one as will give you the chant
directly or ye won't last long."
"I will take your advice
willingly if you could point me to a place where we could meet a likely
person for
such a task. Preferably an Inn or Tavern."
"Well, I do have to get to
work, but if you'll grease me, I'll lead you there myself." He held out
a
hand and Stallen placed a pair of shiny gold coins in it. After
examining and biting the coin, the craftsman smiled
and directed them all to follow him.
They were soon very glad
to have his help. The streets seemed to have no rhyme or system to the
layout of the streets.
This added to the strange perspective of the place even confused
Timber's direction sense. They had been walking
a few minutes when the man stopped and pointed down a narrow street
that connected at an odd angle with the one
they were on.
"See that sign down there
near the brick and mortar wall? That's Scuppers. They don't have the
best food or
the largest rooms, but the Innkeeper is honest and you won't pay
merchants rates there. Thanks for the gilt, and
good luck." With that he strode off whistling a merry tune.
They all walked in and
were relieved to find this place a refuge from the strangeness they
found walking down the
street. It was comfortingly small and filled with the smells of
roasting meat and years of spilled beer.
The next morning they
hired a guide to take them through the city. The guide turned out to be
a very lucky find.
Not only did he know the city of Sigil large street and small, but he
knew a fair amount of obscure information
as well. As he led them around the city he would tell them things about
the way the city works. One of the more
startling pieces of information was that Slide was "dead". He lived a
lifetime on a planet he declined
to name and was sent here by the gods of Judgment to continue to do
what he was best at; arrange things.
The city of Sigil was a
unique place filled with people from many worlds and planes. Local 509
learned much about
how the multiverse works from the people they met in Sigil, but this is
not the place to try to describe what the
found out.
Although "The Scupper" was
good enough for and exhausted nights rest, it had few amenities, so
they instructed
Slide to take them to a nicer place. He takes them to a new Inn called
the Bowling Green. It boasted private rooms
enough for the entire party. It had a large but friendly common room
with an area set aside for 10 pins on a proper
lawn. But the telling feature was that there are guards available for
their rooms.
Once secure in their
rooms, they changed out of their armor into their finest traveling
clothes and went down to
the common room. They all agreed that Slide should take them to the
foremost shop that sold items strange and magical.
Slide took them to a place called "Humeroes Curios" that did indeed
have some very strange things. It
had an even more peculiar market technique. The sales people were
circus performs in their previous lives. They
amused (and distracted at times) the patrons as they were making their
purchases. Some of the items offered for
sale were so obscure that Humeroe himself could not profess to know
what they were. As he says "I have it
on good authority that the right person will recognize the item".
Although they did find
some mundane items to purchase, everything of a magical nature was far
more expensive given
the small purses they had brought with them, so they returned to the
Inn of the Bowling Green.
Examining their coins,
Dromar, Katrina and Stallen found them insufficient to the task of
buying the trinkets from
Humeroe. They asked Slide to take them to a jeweler who would pay ready
cash for some stones they had taken from
the Funeral Barge of the First Emperor. The jewelers were accommodating
and a deal was quickly struck to turn the
gems into easily transportable and transferable bars of platinum. They
went back to Humeroes and picked up the
items (a couple of potions and some scrolls).
Pisheo and Galranwyn had
not found anything of interest at Humeroes and struck up a conversation
with a human named
Yesenda in the common area. She was friendly, and very informative
regarding a number of important facts regarding
the people and politics of Sigil, but unfortunately did not have the
answers Galranwyn had hoped she would. Galranwyn
was trying to find out more about the outer plane they would be going
to. You see, the great god Gaga had been
split into pieces and they were trying to find the soul of the piece
they had just recovered... Well its a to long
a story to go into here. Suffice it to say that Local 509 had come to
Sigil as it was the largest city on the plane
of Concordiant Opposition which was near where they needed to go next.
Although Yesenda didn't know much, she recommended
that they get a "mimir" which would answer some of their questions.
Pisheo recognized this as being a
strange magical skull that had plummeted down from the sky one night.
They had tried to determine what the skull
was back on their home planet of Kopeta. Then all it would do is float
about 5' off the ground and give off strange
sounds when a question was asked of it.
When the people got back
from Humeroes, the entire party including Beourn and Sir Ulla all went
to Gals room. There,
they discussed what the next steps were to rejoin the Soul of the Feet
to Beourn. Bourn told them where he thought
the soul was. He said it was in the hall of Chronipsis the Time Dragon
who guarded it along with the souls of all
the dragons in every multiverse. The Hall was closest to the city
Glorium on the Plane of Concordiant Opposition.
Galranwyn took out the skull and asked it a question about the city of
Sigil. Now instead of gibberish, the floating
skull told them facts about the Outer Planes including Sigil, the
Concordiant Opposition and something about other
planes too. Much amazed at how well this old mystery performed for
them, they quickly decided to try to arrange
to get to Glorium as quickly as possible.
They arranged with Slide
(the Guide and Procurer Extraordinary) to be escorted through one of
the dimensional doors
that are so common in Sigil that would get them to the city of Glorium.
Knowing they are leaving
soon, they go to Humeros Curioes to see if he has some new magical
items. They make several
purchases. After leaving Humeros, they return to their Inn and decide
they want to "Pahtay". They decide
the best place to "Pahtay" is the World Serpent Inn, the crazy place
that is the planar Nexus and exhibits
the most eclectic population of any bar the party knows. They have to
walk to the other side of Sigil to get to
the alley that leads to the Inn. As they walked Slide explained to them
that the city was built in the shape of
a doughnut that was suspended miles in the air over the plane. A Spire
of infinite length stretched from the plane
into the heavens and piercing the doughnut city in the center. Thus,
says Slide, it is possible to see buildings
at these strange angles as they are placed up the sides of the doughnut
as well as along the outside.
Slide took them to a tiny
alley and faced a non-descript door. He threw a pinch of sand at the
door and said "Orouborus"
and then opened the door. Inside they found themselves in the peculiar
bar between the planes. This room was also
shaped something like a doughnut, but it had a regular floor and
ceiling. In the center was a bar. The outside
wall was covered with hundreds of doors. In between were kidney shaped
tables and strangely shaped metal chairs.
Wildly colored dim lights which did not burn cast circular pools on the
gaudy carpet. The room was further occupied
by gambling devices, performing stages, tented privacy areas and lots
of people. The atmosphere in the place was
electric. It was here and only here that deals could be struck between
people on different planets, planes and
even separate universes. This was the World Serpent Inn. You knew big
things were going on all around you and that
tough as you were you were NOT the toughest guy in the room.
They found tables large
enough to be grouped together so all of Local 509 could sit
comfortably. Once they were
settled, a 3' high talking penguin with a silver tray balanced on its
head took their drink orders. He recommended
a "Hong Kong Snickersnee" which they all agreed to try.
"Slide", said Stallen, "we
want to have a good time. A REALLY good time. And we want to do some
business too. I always thought that this would be a good place to look
for magic, but I never had the cash. Tonight
we have the cash."
Stallen tossed a heavy
pouch on the table. "There are a hundred Mythril pieces in that bag."
He threw
another larger bag on the table. "There are 200 gold pieces in that
one. The Mythril is for our amusement
tonight. We want the best food, the best women, the best drink and the
best fun that fortune can buy. We don't
want any of it back. The gold is to arrange appointments with those who
have information about magic and magical
items that are for sale. As long as we are satisfied, you can have
whatever remains of the coins for your own."
An enormous grin spread
over Slide's face as he replied "I gotta love that style! Right Boss,
its time to
"pahtay" and I'm your man." Looking at each of them he said "now you
all just relax and give
Slide some time to get the barrel rolling."
Still grinning he took off
into the crowd to make his preparations. And what a weird crowd it was
too. Although
humans made up the majority, there were representatives of all the
races the Local 509 knew and several that they
had never seen before. One of the stranger ones was the two headed
snake that talked to itself. In all, it seemed
that there was a new being in sight no matter what direction they
turned. Was that a bright blue jinni talking
to that man in the black trench coat?
Slides efforts soon began
to appear. One of the talking penguins came over to their table and
introduced himself
as "Maurice" in an outrageous French accent. The accent was spoiled by
the high pitched squeaky voice
of the flightless bird. He explained that he was there to arrange for
food and drink as desired and would be the
parties personal host for the evening. He bore a message from slide
explaining that he had spent some of the 200gp
to send out messengers to roumer mongers saying that Local 509 are
paying ready metal for Magic. He could not say
when offers might arise, but that he had no doubts of success.
Maurice kept a continuous
flow of "Hong Kong Snickersnees", which was a fruit punch with real
punch.
Next to appear were 6 beautiful human women in formal but very
revealing cloths. They had a note from Slide saying
that they were the parties accompaniment for the evening.
Once the introductions
were made and a place found for the ladies, the first course of a huge
meal was served personally
by the ever solicitous Maurice. The meal was leisurely and comprised
many different exotic dishes none of which
were familiar to anyone. Each was better tasting than the last. After
the meal as they relax, the offers begin
to come in from Inn folks selling magic.
They bought some things
from Hooskis and turned down some uninteresting offers. Getting bored
with "shop keeping"
as he calls it, Stalen takes his choice of the evenings ladies named
Lolly on his arm and finds Slide where he
is gambling. Stallen plays for the crowd and gives a excellent
performance, impressing everyone who hears and earning
him generous tips as well as much applause. Slide calls Stallen "good
luck". Stallen gives the tips to
Lolly. As Slide thinks Stallen is good luck, he talks him into another
set.
After some poor luck
gambling, Stallen returns to the rest of the party. Feeling a little
drunk, Stallen is taken
aback when he is approached by a small 4' high guy with a big head and
bushy eyebrows. The jerky head and eye movements
show that the small man is very paronoid. He tells Stallen that for
75gp he will be the contact for a guy in the
"dark room" who has potions to sell. As much out of curiosity as
anything, Stallen agrees to follow the
short man to one of the doorways that ring the Inn. Inside the room it
is dark, hot and very humid. It is hung
all around with dark tapestries so no light can penetrate. There,
Stallen is told about some potions the voice
in the dark offers. Stallen is cautious and buys only one. He then
checks it for authenticity and when it checks
out, buys a couple more items. He was very glad to get out of the dark
room with its invisible occupant. It was
lucky the smell of brimstone did not cling to Stallen's clothes!
Meanwhile, Gal and
Victorex are back at their table when a black raven flies down and
attracts their attention.
Flying from table to table it leads them to a black sultan who calls
himself Bebe Robobo. He is an amusing man
with a deep voice, easy laugh and amusing anecdotes who amuses while
the conduct their business.
After they have made their
purchases, they go back to their table where Slide and the others are
still partying.
Slide arraigns for a 3 course meal that included 32 condiments that are
almost all delicious and unidentifiable.
Then, he takes off with 5 of the other women (Lolly stays). When they
are done with the meal, they return through
the door that takes them back to the alley in Waterdeep and then walk
back across town to their inn.
They sleep late the next
day.