Session #10: Bid Day...

General Summary

We stayed the night at Imel’s Happy Tongue (free of charge!) and prepared to set out to join our Factions. Unfortunately, Gwydion was not going to be able to join us for the rest of our time in Sigil, as summoning spells have reduced effectiveness in Sigil, due to the Lady of Pain’s limitations on interplanar travel. I hope one of the Factions will be able to give us some more fun facts on this mysterious Power! Before we went to join the our desired groups, though, we took a pitstop in the Lower Ward, so Clarity could speak with Tavral Chol regarding Ruat. While Søren and Clarity waited for his evaluation, Caelen, Doc and I popped into Hands of Time to pick-up my Harmonic Copper string. Restringing Doss Lute was relatively simple, but I’ll need to be careful with the string going forward. Hopefully it will be helpful!
Tavrat Chol had to consult with someone (maybe a fellow Doomguard member?), but was able to determine that Ruat is a piece of the Rod of Law. Apparently, some people named the Wind Dukes from the Elemental Plane of Air used this Rod to bind a “god” to Carceri, but it was broken. Legend says, once all 7 pieces are joined, each piece of the artifact will speak a phrase that, once complete, will bind a god once more. Wild! Since The Athar are located in The Lower Ward, we decided to drop Caelen off first while we paid a visit to Aalek’s Oddities. Turns out, Slaads are toad-like beings with unique forms of communication, like the one we met in the Caverns of Thought. Thankfully, with the assistance of my Tongues spell, I was able to converse with Aalek (if only I knew that sooner, maybe we could have helped the red slaad :(). We learned that the stones we’d obtained from the Caverns of Thought were a rare material called Chlorophite. Fortunately, Aalek is also a jeweler. He offered to attempt to turn the material into some jewelry pieces, but unfortunately, they ended up breaking - maybe next time! Meanwhile, Caelen was busy at the Shattered Temple. A member of the Lost named Tobias met and brought him into the ruined building, which apparently was the former residence of an old god killed by the Lady of Pain (she “put him in the dead book,” whatever that means). Tobias also hates a Power named Silver Beard: it seems like Caelen has a lot in common with the experiences of these people, which is kind of sad that so many people have had negative experiences with Powers. Caelen said that made his decision to join clear.
In order to join the Athar, Caelen had to carve his name into some sort of sacred tree, dedicating himself to learning the secrets of the gods, getting others to see that as well, and opposing Powers (within reason). Once he did, the Factol of the Athar, Cylean, spoke into his head, and he received a skull necklace with four blades piercing it to protect him from divination. Kind of trippy! With Caelen officially a namer in a faction, we headed to the Hive Ward, and dropped Søren off in the Madhouse District. While he worked on joining the Bleak Cabal, the rest of decided to get some exercise - Caelen and I really got into our workout, doing calisthenics and even some jazzercise. :)
Søren did not have as easy a job joining his faction. Apparently, the Madhouse District is full of impoverished people and the clinically insane. He tried to ask some Bleakers for help, but was told to help others instead. Søren employed himself, returning escaped inmates to their cells. In the process of doing this, he came across Tessali who, after he proved himself, brought him to meet Dyrrn, the Factol of The Bleak Cabal. Dyrrn explained that Bleakers have less explicit goals: they must simply seek meaning and do good where they can. Søren agreed to do this and became a Namer. Once he’d joined, he was informed of an outbreak of lycanthropy on the Material Planes, which needed investigating.
With Søren officially no longer Factionless, it came time for Clarity and I to head to the Society of Sensation. While we went to face our trial, the rest of the party decided to go check out a local bar. I hope we go back there because I want to see the giant candle!
Clarity and I entered the building, where we met Annali, this super cool firbolg with web tattoos. She brought us to the atrium of the Civic Festhall, which was GORGEOUS. I haven’t seen something like that since the Aetherium Library… Speaking of, we had to record memories of all of our senses in order to join the Society. While I was working on mine, I heard Clarity talk about her favorite soup, glaciers in her home world, and even me playing. <3
She did steal my idea for smell, which was of course that Torilean Death Cheese, so I decided to talk about my mother’s perfume. Wonder if I could pick up a bottle in Toril? I also spoke about the Library and that jerk’s tea (which was really good, but I’ll never tell them that). And of course, how could I not talk about Haruni. Her lute and her lullaby sometimes feel like the only things I have left of her. I wish I didn’t have to return Doss Lute, even though I know she’d want me to stay out of trouble. I just hate the idea of it hanging on some remote wall in that stupidly large house, so everyone in my family can pretend she never existed, like they’re so good at doing… Recordings complete, Clarity and I were able to officially become Sensates! We even met the Factol, Rhys Darkflame, who was this super beautiful Eladrin.
That only left Doc to join his faction, so Clarity popped off a quick message to Imel, and we headed to the Gymnasium. Imel showed up just as we arrived, and we left Doc to hopefully an easy task as the rest of us took a walk. Inside the Gymnasium, Doc was introduced to Retholien, a female Gith and Factol of the Cyphers. With Imel’s recommendation, Doc’s joining the Cyphers was a simple thing - all he had to do was state his intent, and that was that! In return for joining, Doc got a really cool sparkly bag with some maritime quartz in it, which is apparently really good for holding arcane magic.
Now that we are no longer Factionless, we’ve all seemed to have risen up in the Sigil food chain, and the promotions come with a lot of cool perks! Clarity and I got a really cool salary & benefits package, including being able to see better in the dark (which I’m not sure how they did that, but I’m glad I won’t be in complete darkness when we’re in dungeons anymore). Caelen also got a salary, plus his rad amulet and research opportunities. Søren got a cool supernatural gift from the Bleakers, and he’s even more resistant to mind-altering effects (hope I never have to fight him again!). Doc got super buff after going to the Gymnasium and told me that the Ciphers can meld Limbo, which explains why they have so much elemental strength. I’m so excited for what comes next - who knows where this journey will lead?

Report Date

03 Feb 2022