Session 96 - Astral Pools and a City of Doors

1 Yarthmont 1011 - 9 Yarthmont 1011

General Summary

The party continues to generally follow the path of Ynyr through the Astral Plane, by constantly centering their thoughts on him. Along the way, they encounter several interesting phenomena - one appearing as towering, silver cylindrical vortices extending in both directions out of sight, while another appeared as a vast swirl of energy - some type of unknown storm. One particularly breathtaking example is some kind of huge whale, gliding silently through the silver void. However, being nervous about this totally alien place, they don't press their luck, and instead give a wide berth to these events.
Finally, they see what appears to be other travelers moving through the plane. They are moving on a roughly parallel trajectory, but begin closing the gap to the party. Leo waves in a friendly manner, but as these humanoid creatures approach, they are clearly not friendly traders.
One casts a fireball at the party, while two others begin to draw weapons and seem ready to head towards the party. Leo immediately casts maddening darkness enveloping the four hostiles and tells the party to stay out of the darkness.
However, the two that had begun their charge quickly emerge from the blackness and amazingly are able to close with the party, hit Leo, and then move back away so far that Stavos is unable to close the gap - these things are fast!
Thankfully, most of the party has a way to deal damage at a distance. Leo, Elincia, and Seraphina pepper them with cantrips and Tork works his way up toward the one that retreated away. One of the enemies in the darkness dies, and its corpse drifts toward the party and continues along its last trajectory, illustrating the strangeness of their new environment.
After a while, all of the enemies are dealt with, though the party did get hit by a second fireball, being too closely clustered, but these bandits clearly made a mistake in attacking the party.
The rest of their travel is relatively uneventful. They have a bit of trouble tracking time, as this place seems to be timeless, but they guess they have been on the move for several days (roped together, so they can take turns napping as they keep on trekking).
Finally they come to a small town floating in place, with chains tying the buildings together. This seems to be the place that Ynyr has come to, so the party hopes it is safe and that they can learn more from the inhabitants.
Their first stop is the tavern, which seems to be entangled within several of the chains of nearby buildings. When they enter they are greeted by a friendly barkeep, from whom they are able to get a bit of background and knowledge of the town (and how it came to be in the Astral Plane), as well as a nice overview of the Astral Plane itself. They learn that the creatures that attacked them on the are Githyanki. They attack most anyone they meet on the plane, have fortress homes drifting about, and are best avoided. Finally, the barkeep suggests that if they want to travel to another plane, the place to be is the City of Doors: Sigil. To get there, they can hire a guide at the warriors' guild around the corner to show them the way to a nearby "color pool" that would take them to Sigil.
They check out the town a bit more, and chat with Ynyr, who had very similar encounters (though not the Githyanki), on his way here as well. Apparently, the wizards that normally reside here are off to observe some once-in-a-generation event involving Modrons. However, Ynyr seems happy to stay here and to wait for their return.
The party also checks in with the local lord, who seems to be doing a nice job keeping the town functioning for the 70-odd years it's been on the plane. In the end, the party decides to hire a guide to bring them to the color pool, and he does so. Nothing major impedes their trip there, which takes much less time being lead by someone who's been there. The only thing of note this trip is a flight of arrows passing through, from some far off and long ago battle.
Once they arrive at the pool, the guide explains how these function. They are portals and passing through them will take you to their destination. For this portal, they will arrive at an archway that can act as a portal to return to the Astral plane, by walking through the archway while holding a copper piece to your ear. There are many color pools on the Astral plane, though it is not always known where they go.  An unknown color pool can be dangerous, as you may find yourself in the midst of an ocean on the material plane (or the plane of water) and drown, or fall from some great height, or arrive at a location that is otherwise hostile to life. This pool is known to be safe and takes you to Sigil. The party thanks the guide, and enters the pool.
They find themselves standing by an archway in an alley within a city. The air is acrid and dusty, tinged with sulfur, and thinner, as if they're at a high altitude - in all it is quite unpleasant and impairing, physically, as well as obscuring any of the city even half a block away. In an attempt to learn where they are, they wave to a nearby creature, a tall, lean fellow with white hair, small horns, and floating just above the ground.  They ask where they are and a fairly complicated conversation takes place, as the creature's only means of communicating is through visual pictograms which appear above its head. The party solves some of the rebus, but in the end the creature leads them to a Tout, who perks up as they approach. This Tout, a human by the name of Scrim, is able to give them some guidance, as well as take them to a nearby restaurant to eat, as they are quite hungry after their time in the Astral Plane.
Scrim explains the city in broad terms over their lunch, explaining the geography (the city forming a torus floating in place above the spire of the Outlands), along with an overview of what not to do and how to keep out of trouble. As they explain what brings them to Sigil, he suggests that they should talk to a fixer named Celia, the "Belle of the Blades" who has connections and deep knowledge of a wide range of topics, and solves problems for a fee. The party agrees that this seems like a good plan, and ask him to take them to her. He then leads them to the Great Bazaar.
The party has been to many markets, but they were not prepared for this market. It is, as often is the case, a bustling environment, but this one goes on as far as the eye can see. After working their way for some time through the crowds and hustle-bustle of the market, they see a woman that seems to be focused on cleaning her nails with a very sharp knife, minding her own business, but the crowd seems to part around her, possibly subconsciously. The Tout indicates that they should talk to her, and give a good word his way, and he departs.
Celia looks up as they approach and asks what Scrim brought them to her for. As they give the rundown on Tork's staff, she seems intrigued. She tells them "let's walk and talk" begins leading them ore through the Bazaar, a few times picking up fruit from stalls, one for herself and handing out a few to street urchins that had been peering for loose coin purses - the vendors look to the group for payment, which Leo hands out. She gives the party a rundown on how she operates and the payment terms. She leads them to the edge of the grand market and tavern to finalize their agreement. She suggests that the first thing they need to do is to have Legend Lore cast on the cursed spear, and she knows they can get one named Usidore for cheap if they check him out of the Gatehouse - a facility that houses the needy as well as the insane. Celia also expands on Scrim's briefing of the City, as well as recommending a few places to stay that are nearer their destination. They pay Celia's retainer and part ways.
Beginning their trek through the city, the air clears a bit and they are awed by its size and the effect of seeing it curving around them in each direction and spying the opposite side of the city when they gaze directly above.

Report Date

30 Mar 2025