Session 7: The City of Doors
From Manath's Campaign Wiki
Contents
Summary
The party entered Sigil's Hive Ward, encountering a bustling marketplace where they purchased Uchu Buredo, a caged simian creature, from a Vrock demon named Skraal. They witnessed tiefling children playing infernal hopscotch and narrowly avoided conflict with the Alley Reapers gang by intimidating them.
They met Atrus, a writer from the D'ni people, who gifted them a Linking Book to the Age of Myst as thanks for their help. The party witnessed a Light Boy removing some lights from the city. At the Snapped Fingers alehouse, Atrus explained his ability to write and travel to different worlds.
While heading to Cedani's nana's poetry shop in the Market Ward, they found it burned down. Aula, a Summer Eladrin and agent of Cedani's nana's rival, appeared and engaged in a poetic duel with Cedani before initiating combat. The party defeated Aula, but not before she revealed she had burned down the poetry shop the previous night -- and nearly did the same to them.
Injured from the encounter, the party disposed of Aula's body in the shop ruins and fled the scene, ending the session as they sought a place to rest and recover.
XP Award
- 200 XP for intimidating the Alley Reapers
- 300 XP for walking out of The Hive like you owned the place
- 100 XP for Diedric's expert urban navigation skills
- 350 XP for felling the Summer Eladrin and surviving a Fireball
- Total: 950 XP
- Current XP: 3643 XP -> 4593 XP (Level 4)
- (Required for next level: 6500 XP)
Things That Happened
Between a Vrock and a Hard Place
- Date: 6th of Tarsakh (The Claw of the Storms, April), 1372 DR, afternoon
- The party proceeded down the alley, which opened into a cramped marketplace.
- They noted most of the goods being sold were stolen: mismatched shoes, dented cookware, and trinkets of questionable origin. Even the grayish stew was taken for free from Alesha's Pantry (a local charity) to be resold.
- Between a fabric merchant and a merchant selling broken glass as magical trinkets was a Vrock (Skraal, a hulking 7-foot vulture-like demon) in possession of a caged Simian creature (Uchu Buredo) it was offering for sale.
- Uchu could only communicate psychically, his eyes glowing blue and words coming only in a strange language. Octavius served as a translator as Uchu asked for assistance being released, offering to pay his own cost.
- The Vrock would smack Uchu with a silver switch, which briefly negated his psychic powers. Eventually he demonstrated conjuring soulknives from his hands.
- For 20 jink, Uchu was purchased, and Skraal dismissed the illusionary cage, mentioning briefly that he found an injured Uchu in Undersigil fair and square.
- Skraal and Smokescale traded some insults (as they're both on opposite sides of the Blood War) and Skraal flew off.
- Uchu joined the party.
Infernal Hopscotch
- The party passed five tiefling children (of various colors: green, obsidian, gray, red, red) playing a game of hopscotch while kicking a burlap sack into the air and chanting a rhyme.
- They took turns circling nine squares, each with a distinctive symbol.
- The astute in the party correlated the symbols with each layer of The Nine Hells.
-
- Avernus: A bloody sword crossed with a demonic claw, representing the endless battle between demons and devils.
- Dis: A forked tongue wrapped around a dagger, symbolizing deceit and betrayal.
- Minauros: A skeletal hand grasping a gold coin, sinking into a stylized swamp, depicting greed and the drowning of souls.
- Phlegethos: A heart engulfed in flames, embodying unrestrained passions and desires.
- Stygia: A shattered mirror with icicles hanging from it, representing broken oaths and the frozen tears of betrayers.
- Malbolge: A gnarled, twisted tree with a hag's face carved into the trunk, signifying the Hag Queen's domain and her intricate schemes.
- Maladomini: A crumbling crown atop a fallen pillar, symbolizing the ruins of fallen glory and ambition.
- Cania: An icy labyrinth with a mysterious symbol at its center, representing the biting cold and the taunting mysteries of this layer.
- Nessus: A deep, dark pit with shadowy tendrils reaching out, embodying the ultimate depth of wickedness and the source of all infernal plots.
- The rhyme:
Avernus roars, a bloody fight,
Demons clash with devils' might.
Dis deceives, dark whispers spread,
Where trust decays and hearts turn dead.
Minauros chokes, a swampy hold,
Greedy souls dragged down for gold.
Phlegethos burns, desires unbound,
Blazing passions scorch the ground.
Stygia chills, oaths shattered low,
Betrayers weep in frozen woe.
Malbolge twists, The Hag Queen gleams,
Spinning webs of wicked schemes.
Maladomini weeps alone,
Fallen glory carved in stone.
Cania bites with frigid air,
Mysteries taunt beyond compare.
Nessus waits, a pit so deep,
Where wicked plots forever sleep.
We know their hearts and wicked ways.
Beware of devils and souls in flame.
- The party walked on. Uchu walked sideways on a wall to show off.
The Accosted Writer
- Further ahead, the alley split into three directions. Two were blocked by Razorvine, a plant native to Sigil.
- The party noted the vines were following the movement of the large woman's staff.
- In the open alley, a gang (The Alley Reapers) of four men and women had a middle-aged man in a simple brown tunic pressed against a wall. He held a brown satchel of books protectively.
- The gang:
- Vrax Coilbone: Vrax, with his neon green mohawk and jaw adorned with metal spikes, wielded a pair of electrified brass knuckles that crackled with stolen dimensional energy.
- Mira "Razorwire" Vex: Mira sported 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.
- Tobin Scraggle: Tobin's patchwork trench coat hid numerous contraband gadgets, and his scalp was tattooed with a moving, inked map of Sigil's ever-changing alleyways.
- Zelpha "Shadowveil" Grist: Zelpha was an imposing, overweight thug (possibly half-ogre) with tattered, vine-embroidered robes and a cruel sneer, notorious for her mastery of illusions and ruthless control over Sigil's alleyway tolls via her Razorvine staff.
- Uchu walked up an alley wall and positioned himself for a stealth strike.
- Cedani intimidated the gang into believing that she belonged there, mostly through an air of haughtiness. One of them asked "Do you think she's one of them?" and they allowed her passage and let the man go.
- The Alley Reapers will return.
Encounter 1: The Alley Reapers
- Successfully avoided via Intimidation.
- XP award: 200 XP per player.
- The man kindly thanked them for their aid while picking up a tome that had fallen from his satchel. A faint sound was heard coming from the tome.
- Octavius eyed the books hungrily in a way that only an owlin could achieve. He asked for a book.
- He introduced himself as Atrus and agreed to part with a book. He asked the party to accompany him to the nearest alehouse, The Snapped Fingers, where he was meeting a inks merchant (Krig) for special inks.
- On the way to the alehouse, the party was passed by a man in a hooded black cloak, pulling a copper cart of bodies. His skin was pale and his lips were blue.
- Sigil natives know these to be Collectors -- they gather dead bodies and sell them to the Mortuary, the headquarters of the Heralds of Dust.
Snapped Fingers
- The party approached a squat stone structure with a sign depicting a hand with every finger broken.
- The exterior was weathered and showed signs of past battles, both mundane and magical.
- A young street urchin, a Sigil Light Boy, used a turquoise metal rod to take back several magical lights that were illuminating the area. He stormed off in a huff.
- The party deduced there may be a payment dispute.
- The interior was very rough-and-tumble, with patrons all standing shoulder to shoulder, holding tankards of ale and watching several fights.
- One of the fighters, shirtless and foaming at the mouth, bore a brand on his back of a horned beast missing the top center of its skull -- a member of the Xaositects, the Chaosmen, a chaotic faction that believes in disorder.
- He won the fight.
- The party found a emptier corner to sit on the floor. There were signs of furniture having once existed here but had been broken so often that the establishment just gave up on it.
- Atrus explained that he learned "the Art" of writing from his father, Gehn, and that they are a people called the D'ni.
- Their writings allow them to travel to the places that they describe. He's spent his life exploring these worlds, which he called "Ages".
- He handed the party a book with four strange characters on its cover. (Octavius translated them as "MYST")
- Opening the book, he revealed a moving picture depicting from the perspective of a flying observer, a strange island with a sunken ship, oversized gears, several structures, a clock tower, and a redwood forest. An ethereal, haunting melody played from the book.
- He explained that touching the image will transport you to this island -- but that the "linking book" will be left behind, so it should be kept somewhere hidden and safe.
- It occurred to Atrus that there may be places his writing cannot take him -- so he described an Age that could link to such unexplored places. He ultimately found his way to Sigil, where a bad tout led him to the thugs.
- He met with the ink salesman, a halfling in a trenchcoat named Krig. He had dozens of vials.
- Octavius purchased inks for scribing scrolls.
- Atrus sat and continued his writing. Peeking over his shoulder, Octavius noted that every single character on the page was unique, and his headdress struggled to translate the contents, which were detailed descriptions of tectonic plates of the world Atrus was writing.
- The inks also changed color as they dried.
- Atrus said they were welcome to visit his island of Myst and he would like to introduce them to his wife, Catherine.
- He said that, should they come, they're welcome to the contents of his library (which link to other places), and that the code to the tram was half of the time that the clocktower was set to.
- Glenn asked if it were possible that Atrus could write a place that could rid him of his curse.
- Atrus found the idea fascinating -- and that it would take him a few months to try, but that he would.
- The party bid him farewell and departed, passing by an ogre (Krugg) with a massive wooden club. He grunted in acknowledgment as they passed.
Encounter 2: Giving the Hive the laugh
- The party never got into bad terms with the Alley Reapers, so they did not have to sneak their way out of the Hive Ward or combat their leader, Krugg.
- XP award: 300 XP per player.
To Nana's Kip
- Cedani expressed wanting to show the party her nana's poetry shop. Both she and Octavius knew the way to the Market Ward from where they were.
- They passed by a Harmonium patrol in their reddish armor, led by a woman, headed toward the Hive Ward.
- Sigil natives know them to be the police force of the city. "The Hardheads"
- With his background as an urchin, Diedric expertly navigated Sigil, finding shortcuts intuitively along the way and saving a considerable amount of time.
- XP bonus award: 100 XP per player.
- After a few hours, they found themselves at the poetry shop.
- It was a upscale tea house, made of white sandstone and fine wood, rounded and large, with an open balcony on its second story with fine pillows for seating.
- At least that's what the burned husk and remains of the tea house implied.
The Rival Eladrin
- Aula, a summer eladrin, revealed herself with a jovial "Ahoy hoy!"
- She had golden, warm skin with striking orange eyes and long hair that flowed in hues of yellow and deep orange. She was dressed more for a beach day than for war.
- She held a staff that seemed to burn with the heat of summer.
- Cedani immediately recognized her as an agent of her nana's rival.
- She and Cedani exchanged poetic words, channeling inspiration from their respective patrons.
Beneath the Cage's endless sky, a frosty fiend I find,
Her winter eyes, a sparkling gleam, beneath a heart unkind.
Your flowery words betray your fear, beneath this boundless sky,
My frigid wrath, a blizzard's bite, your warmth it shall deny.
Your winter's chill may cloak the world, but summer's heat runs deep,
And soon will thaw your gran's cold rhymes, in slumber they shall sleep.
My gran's words etch a glacial art, a beauty you can't know,
Your sun-soaked ditties fade and wilt, like petals in the snow.
Beneath the Lady's watchful eye, the seasons are poised to vie,
We'll weave a tale where passion burns, and your frozen words shall die.
- They engaged in combat. Aula demanded the rest of the party stay out of it, but they did not.
Encounter 3: The Summer Eladrin
- A single summer Eladrin warlock holding a powerful staff.
- Highlights:
- In six seconds, the entire party unloading their primary spells and attacks, grievously wounding her with a combination of soulknives, damaging spells, and physical attacks.
- Cedani's wild magic surge set her body aflame in a frostfire.
- Enraged, the summer Eladrin invoked her staff to conjure a ball of flame, which hovered above the party before blossoming into a roaring fireball.
- Half of the party was downed.
- Unit 137 leapt through the flames, unharmed, revealing his unexpected immunity to fire.
- Smokescale's invisibility faded away when he drove his scorpion-like tail through the back of Aula's head and out of her mouth, his arms wrapped around her eyes. Venom dripped as she collapsed.
- Facing a semi-conscious Cedani, and cinematically both looking like a yin-yang from an overhead camera shot, the summer eladrin spoke her final poem:
Your frosted blade may quell my light,
But my embers scorched... your Nana's shop last night.
- Downed players were quickly revived with the illithid whiteish-gray ointment in ways that were not problematic. Unit 137 and Smokescale helped with the distribution.
- XP award: 350 XP per player.
- Loot: A summer-themed staff, yet to be identified
Hobbling to a Tavern
- Mortally injured, the party dragged the summer eladrin's body to the burned ruins of nana's poetry shop.
- Cedani set it ablaze with her frostfire before it faded.
- They discussed the urgent need for rest as they fled the scene and the session ended.
Maps
NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)
- Skraal, the Vrock Merchant
- Vrax Coilbone, the Lightning Fist (Alley Reapers)
- Mira Vex, the Razorwire (Alley Reapers)
- Tobin Scraggle, the Living Map (Alley Reapers)
- Zelpha Grist, the Shadowveil (Alley Reapers)
- Atrus, the Writer
- Krig, the Ink Merchant
- Krugg, the Leader of the Alley Reapers
- Aula, the Summer Eladrin
Memes
- Spackling. Spackling everywhere.
- 🐸 "Excuse me? I can't hear you." [suspiciously gets within 30 feet of speaker]
DM Thoughts
- I need to keep vignettes and dialogue shorter. I could tell early into the Infernal Hopscotch children's rhyme that the party's time wasn't worth the worldbuilding and/or potential foreshadowing.
- I need to remind the party members that most of them have an Inspiration they can spend.
- I perhaps should not have made the illithid ointment whitish-gray.
