Session #11: A Whole New World...

General Summary

Now that we were officially Faction members, there were still some important tasks we had to complete in Sigil before heading out, including finding out how in Baator to get to Curst! Most importantly, though, we had to decide what to do about Clarity’s favors to the Fated. Søren was still adamant about not helping them, but the fact remains she is still in there debt - and she’s joined their number one rival, the Sensates. Wish we’d thought of that pickle...
In order to avoid her going to the Fated HQ entirely, we investigated some courier services in town to see if they’d be up to delivering the coin she received from Tivvum. We started with the Guildhall for the Order of Clerks & Scribes in the Clerk Ward. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Clarity cause she likes that kind of stuff), there’s a huge test with multiple rounds and interviews before you can become a member of the Order. Without membership, the price to deliver the coin a few miles away was exorbitant!
While we were there, Søren asked me not to write about this mission we’re about to take. I get his hesitancy, but it kind of sounded like he didn’t like my writing period. :( Which I guess I also understand: reactions to it have been...mixed in the past. He assured me he liked it, just not for this quest, but I couldn’t tell if he was just trying to be nice. All my friends are really nice: I wish we’d been friends for a lot longer than a month or two. It would’ve been nice to have friends at school. After failing to ship the package through OCS, we headed to Nittman’s Aerial Tours in the Market Ward to see if they’d give us a better price. Unfortunately, Nittman wouldn’t even accept the package, which left us with no option but to deliver it ourselves. We did learn about their carpet rides and pub crawls though!
We decided to split the party, with Clarity, Caelen, and Doc heading to the Fated, while I stayed with Søren to do some investigating on how to get to Curst. The group that went to the Fated ended up meeting a Kobold tour guide named Amaggel Wingwright, who escorted them to the Debt Department in the Hall of Records. Amaggel came from the first layer of Baator, called Avernus, but they were raised in the faction. They shared a lot of fun facts with the group, including that the Hall of Records was formerly Bigby’s College of Academic Arts. They have a school on site that teaches the Takers arcane and skill-based knowledge, as well as martial training. Amaggel also mentioned that the Fated sold off their library to the Incanterium in Arcadia, and are in the process of researching the secret history of Sigil (which intrigues me greatly…)
Once at the Debt Department, Clarity had to proceed alone, meaning it’s unlikely Caelen can make deliveries for her in the future. Inside, she met Rowan Darkwood, the Factol of the Fated. A tiefling with torn wings, he apparently bore such a striking figure that Clarity confessed she joined the Society of Sensation to him. Oddly enough, that didn’t seem to bother him as much as we expected...don’t know what to make of that…
Before she left, Rowan gave Clarity another favor to perform: she needed to find the demon that was creating an army in the sewers of Sigil, “put them in the dead book,” and bring back whatever they were using to complete this task. While we are all nervous about dealings with the Fated, we couldn’t deny that this would be good for the city and might put us in the good graces of the Lady of Pain. Meanwhile, Søren and I were busy trying to find a way to Curst. Søren suggested we start at the Temple of Bane, which I didn’t think was a great idea, but I decided to follow his lead. We knocked on the door, and when it opened, all we could see were eyes in darkness (and Søren and I both have dark vision!). Needless to say, they were not helpful.
Instead, we returned to our good friend, Tavrat Chol. Aware that he knew of our possession of Ruat, and what it could do, we promised him not to give it to the Revolutionary League in exchange for information.
Tavrat Chol told us there were two ways to Curst: either obtain a portal key from Tivvum and convince the Dusters (who don’t like Sensates) to let us use their portal, or to go to the old bathhouse in the Guild Ward called the Fire Pits. I was super excited because that meant we could all go get a bath!
Before we left, I bought Doc a little poison crossbow bolt as a gift for being such an awesome friend. :) I hope he has fun using it on Macaroni. Once we returned to the group and shared our findings, Søren revealed a bit more about his intentions and mission. Apparently, Mechanus used to be part of something called the Hierarchy, which was full of unthinking constructs in service of the Power, Primus. Primus decided to run an experiment on the concept of free will, thus creating the Warforged and their group, the Assembly. Now, the Assembly has concerns that the experiment will one day conclude, and thus they are preparing for a conflict with Primus, explaining why they sent Søren and other Warforged to observe wars.
Søren was instructed to make contact with the Revolutionary League to cooperate with them, potentially, and evaluate whether they’d be good allies in the conflicts to come. However, Søren is not convinced that is such a good idea and is hesitant to provide them anything that bloomed. Knowing we could not bring Ruat with us, per our agreement with Tavrat Chol, that left us with the option of only showing them Nexus and hoping that is enough. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens, as I’m not entirely convinced Søren will outright hate them, nor am I sure they will let us leave with Nexus once they’ve seen them... With nothing left to do for the night, we all agreed to some team building - which meant we got to ride a magic carpet! Nittman’s son, Dittman, took us on a tour through town on our way to the Iron Spittel, where the Fated crew had apparently procured some free drinks. One of the places Dittman mentioned that I definitely want to visit is the Singing Vortex Inn - apparently portals pop in and out of it randomly! The other cool thing he pointed out was the three-headed Trioptic Nic’Epona statue: they’re apparently a powerful species of celestial from the Beastlands that can cross the planes at will - can you imagine? When we arrived at the bar, we came to the realization that the drink menu was severely limited. I ordered a whisky for the first time, and it was interesting - kind of tasted like cinnamon and rubbing alcohol! The spittoon did not taste as good - you never know until you try!
After our drinks, we all headed back to Imel’s for a good night's rest. In the morning, we visited the Fire Pits and met Pebbles the golem, who guarded the bathhouse. Inside, Laril Zasskos, a middle-aged Gith’yanki, greeted us and offered us a bunch of bathing options which sounded soooooo good. Søren tried to drop some hints for why we were there, but I’m not sure if they were as subtle as he was intending. Realizing our intent, she directed us to a room, where we were to drain the bath and follow the piping to a large central hub, and the steps down would take us to the portal.
Unfortunately, Søren tried to barge in on a Fire Elemental who was using the room. Hopefully, he’s not too angry...

Report Date

04 Feb 2022