Session 10a: There's No Place Like Faerûn
From Manath's Campaign Wiki
Contents
Summary
The party completed their exploration of the now-empty kobold lair on the Howling Island. They discovered the tribe's history etched on a boulder, including a prophetic dream and their transport to the Elemental Plane of Air. The chief's quarters yielded gold and half a crown, while lower levels revealed disabled traps and various loot.
Returning to the Palace of the Wind, Ember reunited with Prince Zekir. As thanks, Zekir enchanted a flying carpet for the party and asked them to listen to the wind for invitation to his coronation in two years. They then traveled back to Sigil via a whirling vortex, arriving at the Civic Festhall where they finally acquired the Grand Sensory Stone from Niara.
In Sigil, party members sought faction membership: Cedani and Diedric joined the Society of Sensation, Uchu the Transcendent Order, and Octavius the Fraternity of Order. Glenn aligned with The Fated without formally joining. The group also visited the Great Bazaar for shopping.
Attempting to check on Barnaby at the Velvet Harness, they learned he had left with a living suit of armor on a quest to The Gray Waste. Cedani was approached by Mira from the Alley Reapers gang, who gave her a cut of their earnings and warned of a gith searching for her -- who they had misled into Carceri.
Ready to return to Faerûn, the party used their astral cords to draw themselves back to their bodies, with Uchu and Unit 137 placed in the Bag of Holding for the journey. As they departed, each burst into clouds of desert sand, their silvery cords fading from view.
The portion of the session concluded with an epilogue featuring Grax, a Blue Slaad detective, investigating the ruins of Cedani's nana's shop, hinting at deeper mysteries yet to unfold.
The next portion can be read here: Session 10b: There's No Place Like Faerûn
XP Award
- 1000 XP for retrieving the Grand Sensory Stone and completing Chapter 1
- 100 XP for feeding Kai a carrot
- 100 XP for finding your identities with the factions
- Total: 1200 XP
- Current XP: 10413 XP -> 11613 XP (Level 5)
- (Required for next level: 14000 XP)
Things That Happened
The Silent Island
- Date: 7th of Tarsakh (The Claw of the Storms, April), 1372 DR, evening
- The party continued exploring the now-empty kobold lair while the djinn, imp, and modron waited outside.
- The imp grew bored and began playing a game where he would move his hands quickly as the modron tried to spear them with his spikes.
- Passing through a curtain of hanging bones, they explored the kobold shaman's quarters. It just had a single, large boulder in its center.
- Etched on it was his tribe's history, which included a prophetic dream and running into a roaring column of air during a storm, which transported their survivors to The Elemental Plane of Air.
- There were also prayers to Yan-C-Bin, with promises that he would grant them all wings if they honored him with a ritual.
- The chief's quarters had a warbanner with a kobold howling, an oversized bed in the center made of scavenged wood and bobne, and three smaller beds beside it.
- A wooden chest at its foot had 234g and half of a golden crown (40g).
- Three ornamental suits of leather armor with vestigial wings on their backs made of leather decorated the chamber.
- Descending downstairs, the party noted that kobolds primarily walked on the ceiling, and had disabled their tripwire traps before evacuating.
- During an argument, Cedani molded earth beneath Uchu's feet. This deposited him in a lower level room, belonging to one of the tribe's warriors. He looted bags of coins and a kobold tooth.
- Later, Cedani pulled a tripwire as an experiment or prank, striking Uchu for 1 damage.
- Descending to the first level, the party bypassed more traps as they explored a corridor of smaller warrior's quarters. There were wind instruments and bone flutes which were looted by some party members.
- Cedani blasted the bone flute periodically. It just plays a single, shrill warning note.
- The party then explored the kobold's communal den, which had an area for sleeping and an area for dining.
- Cedani and Diedric both sampled kobold cuisine.
- A smaller tunnel connected the communal den, too small to explore, was scouted by Octavius's mouse Alaundo.
- That exploration revealed a kobold nursery, with hanging bones serving as a decoration.
- Further, a room with a collapsed ceiling (likely the one that ensnared the djinn) was scouted, which included many alcoves for kobolds to hide in.
- An adjoining room, an armory, had a pile of arms, weapons, and scraps that the kobolds had found.
- A longsword made of air was spotted, along with a pair of ornamental golden bracers.
- Another adjoining room, a crafting area, was spotted, with both the ceiling and the floor used as separate rooms to make use of the space.
- Workbenches showed traps, slings, crossbows, kites, wind instruments, and other similar items being created.
- Another room had a piece of green tourmaline in the center of a large, revealed pressure plate. It was looted with a mage hand spell.
- The party arrived at the entrance, having fully scouted the now-silent island.
- Sped by Zekir's magic, the party was carried aloft across the Elemental Plane of Air, quickly arriving at the Palace of the Wind.
Fire and Sky
- Ember leaped up to meet Zekir, who caught her effortlessly. They spun together, their blue and red skin a stark contrast. Then she began punching him.
- He apologized for his risk taking, and assured Ember that the Sultana would eventually forgive them for their sudden marriage.
- Ember thanked the party for their help, agreeing to go to Sigil immediately.
- As she said her goodbyes to Zekir, he wouldn't let the party leave without a proper boon, and blowing a whistle that took on a life of its own, enchanted an ornate gilded carpet, which rippled and began floating in the air.
- Zekir invited the party to visit him in two years when becomes of age and takes the crown. He'll reach out to them -- they need only listen to the wind.
- Hopping on the carpet, the party took flight, with Ember following as they headed toward the vortex that had brought them here.
- They burst through the whirling vortex of air.
The Grand Sensory Stone
- Appearing suddenly in a much-colder and darker Sigil, the party directs their carpet to the Civic Festfall, Ember leading the way.
- They pass by the Velvet Harness beneath them as the fly over the Clerk's Ward. It's easy to spot since there are so many four-legged creatures near it.
- They see a living suit of armor entering the building.
- While flying, they can see buildings above and below them, including the Dustmen's Mortuary high above.
- They pass by a woman dressed in black robes, riding a broom. She wears too much eye shadow as she glances at the party briefly and flies past them.
- The party soon sees the Civic Festhall's main structure in the distance. It's a grand building with an organic design, resembling large petals and leaves made of colored glass.
- Ember steers toward the third sensorium, the same one that the party had visited before, and smoothly transitions from flying to walking as her mechanical wings retract.
- Factotum Niara, the bariaur woman with silver bells in her long braid, clops out of the building excitedly to greet Ember.
- She chides her for taking long enough, and they both share a moment where they hold each other's right ears.
- Ember said she would begin recording her experiences after getting some rest.
- Offering to pay for the Grand Sensory Stone, Ember thanked the party again.
- Niara clapped three times in the sensorium, disappeared for a while, then reappeared with the Grand Sensory Stone -- a crystalline orb with multi-colored crystal shards inside. They spiral and fold within themselves, seemingly going on forever. It was wrapped in a translucent silk sheet, tied with a blue ribbon.
- Ember asked the party to send her regards to Galdren and his apprentice, and to remind them of the three truths, especially of the Unity of Rings -- walk along the same path for enough time and you'll end up right back where you started.
- Sensing they may be leaving Sigil for a time, and recalling their exposure to factions in Sigil, most of the party began seeking recruitment.
The Society of Sensation
- Cedani and Diedric asked to join the Society of Sensation.
- Niara welcomed them as Sensates, explaining that they had already been born sensates.
- To understand the planes is to see and experience as much as you can.
- She gave them each one of their silver bells, as a reminder to return in a year to share their travels.
The Transcendant Order
- Uchu approached The Great Gymnasium, the headquarters of the Transcendant Order, to join the Ciphers.
- The army that had been drilling was gone.
- In a nearby clearing, a tortle woman, wearing a purple eye mask, was moving through forms slowly, as if molding an invisible ball in her hands.
- Communicating non-verbally and with instinct, she passed the ball to Uchu, who joined her in the kata.
- After some time, a blue orb began to coalesce in their hands as they passed the ball back and forth.
- Uchu channeled his psychic energy to fully realize the orb, then handed it to the woman, where it vanished.
- She smiled in approval, and presented a variety of eye masks in many colors.
- Uchu chose dark red, and put it on. Understanding he was now a member, he departed, knowing the importance of going with the flow and of smooth action without thought or hesitation.
The Fraternity of Order
- Octavius entered the City Courts, headquarters of The Fraternity of Order, seeking to join the Guvners.
- The building was ornate, resembling a roman structure with classical columns and intricate carvings and statues depicting law and order.
- Inside, polkished marble corridors were filled with bustling clerks, judges, and paperwork.
- Behind a counter, a formian (Lexor-6) with many limbs processed endless stacks of forms and paperwork, in parallel reading, stamping, writing, filing, and sorting. His antennae twitched as a clerk brought in more documents from the back.
- The formian asked Octavius's purpose as he approached. Once he indicated membership, he received a large stack of forms. He quickly noticed the questions became increasingly esoteric, delving into obscure legal precedents and hypothetical scenarios. One form asked him to define his own existence within the parameters of universal law. Another requested that they propose a new law of the multiverse, complete with clauses, exceptions, and enforcement mechanisms.
- Approving of the form, the formian handed him one more form, an oath of membership. Hidden within its terms and conditions, there was a line that required Octavius to point it out prior to signing, which he noticed and did.
- It also highlighted the importance of reporting any new planar laws to the fraternity within 180 days.
- Octavius received a rulebook for the organization, and an "ADEQUATE" stamp on his paperwork.
The Great Bazaar
- The party proceeded to the Great Bazaar to do some shopping.
- Multiple blocks of tents, stands, and physical stores.
- They purchased carrots and purple tomatoes from a vendor. Many tried the purple tomatoes, which tasted like water and a bit of salt.
- Cedani purchased a warlock item from Kura, the same witch that had been flying past them earlier. She tossed the coins into her cauldron.
The Fated
- Approached by halfling woman, took the token with frog tongue.
- Too stubborn to join a faction formally, but aligning more with The Fated, Glenn was approached by a halfling woman, Yara Thornfoot, with unruly red hair and fierce black eyes.
- She commented on how silly some berks were, joining factions and always doing what they're told, serving someone else. Instead, people should just take what they want, since you deserve what you get and you get what you deserve. Glenn agreed.
- She challenged him to take a gold-and-electrum coin from her, if he could. It bore the fated symbol of an hour glass.
- Glenn easily took it from her with his frog-like tongue. She nodded in a approval, and to seek her out in the Fated's headquarters should he ever want to take a bigger slice for himself.
The Missing Horse
- Armed with carrots and a Speak with Animals spell, the party strode determinedly to The Velvet Harness.
- Kai, the pegasus proprietor, received carrots as a gift, which he relished in front of the players.
- Cedani screamed her soul out when she was told that Barnaby (the bewildered horse) was no longer in the establishment -- having just left.
- A living suit of armor had taken him as a mount, to go on some quest in The Gray Waste to slay-something-or-other. He'll be fine, the pegasus assured.
- Barnaby will return.
The High-Up Man
- As the party discussed returning to Faerûn, Cedani was approached by Mira "Razorwire" Vex, the same member of the Alley Reapers gang that the party had encountered earlier -- and that Cedani had convinced had no jurisdiction over her.
- She still wore a chaotic array of braids interspersed with barbed wire and tiny arcane emitters, and her leather jacket was festooned with sigils that pulsed with protective spells.
- She gave Cedani 72 jink for her cut of their take for this cycle.
- She assured Cedani that she understood that "the high-up man Boppel" deserves respect, and that Cedani's boss is their boss too.
- She also told Cedani that some barmy gith (Viran) was sniffing around trying to find her. They send him on a wild-goose chase to Carceri and that should keep him busy until "the Lady starts smiling", making a slashing motion across her throat.
- Carceri is a plane between the Abyss and the Gray Waste of Hades. It’s made of up concentric planets inside each other, like Russian nesting dolls, many inhospitable, filled with demons warring devils and other dark creatures. It’s also known as the prison.
There’s No Place Like Faerûn
- Ready to return to Faerûn, the party stewed on how to accomplish this.
- Reaching for their astral cords, they understood untuitively that they could tug them with intention to draw themselves back to their bodies.
- As they tried to figure out how to bring Uchu and Unit 137 back with them, Smokescale thanked them for a swell time together and tried to fly away.
- He was quickly recalled by Octavius.
- Sighing, he said they could just shove them in the Bag of Holding. From when he and his imp friends murdered Scampers, they had tried to suffocate him in the Bag of Holding and it had quite a bit of air inside.
- Uchu and Unit 137 entered the bag of holding, seeing mostly darkness with hints of starlight and feeling items pressing against them.
- One by one, party members burst into clouds of desert sands as the ancient Mulhorandi scroll's magic took hold. The dust sparkled and then was drawn into the silvery cords that were left behind. The cords also then faded from view, retreating into nothingness.
- Octavius went last, holding the Bag of Holding with some long consideration. Eventually he decided not to commit homicide and also withdrew from Sigil.
Epilogue: The Blue Slaad
Unbeknownst to the party:
- Three Harmonium guards, led by a woman in their reddish armor, picked through the rubble of Cedani’s nana’s shop. A Blue Slaad lumbered onto the scene, imposing at eight feet tall. His mottled blue skin glistened slightly in the dim light, and his bulbous yellow eyes swiveled independently, taking in every detail. A beige trenchcoat, slightly too short for his long arms and torso, hung from his broad, amphibious frame.
- Grax ignored the Harmonium guards, passing them as his webbed feet slapped against the charred floor. He took a long drag from a pipe clenched in his wide, frog-like mouth, then spoke in a deep, gravelly voice:
- Grax: "Hmmm."
- He knelt by the Eladrin's corpse, his trenchcoat straining against his broad chest. A comically oversized magnifying glass appeared in his webbed hand, hovering over the scorched flesh.
- Grax: "Summer's reign... cut short. Winter's bite... sharp."
- Grax's wide nostrils flared as he sniffed the air.
- Grax: "Brimstone and swamp. Malbolge stirs."
- His gaze swept across the ruined shop, yellow eyes narrowing.
- Grax: "Seasons dance... to a stranger's song."
- A Harmonium guard approached: "Slaad, you can’t be here—"
- Grax waved a webbed hand dismissively, his voice a low rumble:
- Grax: "Hush... Ashes speak..."
- He craned his head, as if listening. His bulbous eyes shifted back and forth quickly, and his wide mouth twitched as if speaking to himself. The suspenders visible beneath his open trenchcoat stretched to their limit as he stood.
- Grax: "Clutchkin's fingerprints... very loud. Xarannos... will know more."
- He turned and strode away, his trenchcoat swishing dramatically.
Maps
NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)
- Smoothshell, the Tortle Cipher
- Lexor-6, the Formian Guvner
- Kura, the Witch on a Broom
- Yara Thornfoot, the Chatty Taker
- Unknown, the Living Armor
- Boppel, the High-Up Man
- Grax, the Blue Slaad in a Trenchcoat
Memes
DM Thoughts
- Missed connections are soul-shattering to players.
