Session 72 - A New Kind of City

General Summary

42 Sov'van - contd.

The sight of the airship was impressive and Denye was strongly tempted to head in that direction immediately, but Janora suggested that considering the waning day, it might be wiser to get settled into an inn before getting sidetracked.   That seemed like a reasonable suggestion and after a moment of glancing around the team saw the signs directing visitors to the Central Stair.
As they neared the edge of cliff, it was possible to look down and see the city built into the very side of the cliff. Terraces form a number of streets and avenues connecting the various sections of the city. With a the birds eye view it was possible to see that city had been laid out to resemble a gryphon in flight, wings outstretched, claws reaching down to the docks along the waters edge.  
Two La'naris elves, wearing shining breastplates with the crest of the Wing Guard, stood guard on either side of a large archway. The team joined the queue and quickly found themselves at the front of the line. One of the guards smiled and nodded before asking in a friendly tone, "Welcome to White Gryphon, you all look like you've been on the road for a bit, can I get your names and purpose of your visit?"
"Denye Starwing of the Clan Dance of Twilight," replied Denye proudly, "we are here to do research."
The guard nodded, "Ah, you'll want the Stacks of Solace and Memory. That's down on Torso 15, I believe."
The rest of the party gave their names and the guard noted them down in his book. Denye glanced over the northwest and eyeing the airship asked, "That's quite a fascinating invention, who would I talk to if I wanted a tour?"
"Well," said the guard rubbing his chin, "I believe it's mostly a private group, but they have a workshop and some other offices down near the dock. I'd reckon that's probably gonna be your best bet if you want to talk to someone about that "
"Excellent, thank you," said the wizard with a nod, "Last question, is there a good inn in town?"
"Several," replied the other guard, "I'd bet you'd have a lot of fun at the Devil's Dance," nodding to Jilken.
"Not the most restful though," snorted the other guard, "If you're looking for a good in, I'd suggest either the Spiced Archive or the Golden Skies. The Archive should be on level 6 and the Skies are down on level 9."
"Thank you, we'll start on 6," said Denye. With a nod and a gesture, the party passed on through, finding themselves on a switchback stair carved into the rock, descending a couple of levels before traversing a wooden bridge that stretched over a dark pit. Eventually the stairs opened out on to the first terrace and the party could see several different doorways and windows carved into the rock face.
"Screw these stairs," muttered Janora, "Forest and I will just meet you down below, he said level 6, correct?"
Before Denye could reply, a child's voice offered, "If you don't want to climb the stairs, you can always take the tube."
Turning, the party found a young girl of maybe 11 or 12, staring with wide eyes at the party, particularly Denye and Tear of Midnight Sorrow. Janora tried a smile and asked, "The what?"
"The tubes," she repeated, "or elevators, they are sometimes called. They don't go all the way from Beak to Claws, but they will take you to anything in between. Is there someplace in particular you're trying to get to, you folk don't look like you have been here before, I could show you around."
"I would like to see these elevators," said Denye excitedly, "we are trying to get to the Spiced Archive, we heard it was a good inn."
The young girl nodded, "Sure, I can take you there. It's a nice inn, Mama Violata makes really tasty egg pies. My name is Zinona, what's yours?"
"My name is Denye," replied the wizard, beak-grinning, "thank you, we would appreciate that."
"Sure, no problem," said Zinona, "follow me, we gotta go down one more level to get to the tube."
As the others turned to follow her, Janora shook her head and clambered up on to Forest's back. Over the link she called, "I'll see you down there, I'm going to trust to his wings." 
Much of the outer edge of the terraced avenue were lined with planters, some filled with herb beds, while others had flowers and vines that draped over the edge. But, there were also breaks were the terrace widened into landing areas. With a mental command, Forest loped up to the nearest and with a joyous bark, leapt into the void before snapping open his wings and turning into a spiral.
Zinona led the others up to an archway carved into the rock wall, filled with a shimmering purple light, opening on to an open shaft. Ranunkel was absorbed in examining the stone work, but all the others were gawking at the clearly magical artifact, including Denye who was furiously scribbling notes and making comments and examining the portal.
The young girl pointed at a sort of handprint carved next to the archway, "It's easy, you press your hand here and tell it what level you want. Like this!." Pressing her hand to the space, she announced, "Level 6," before leaping through the field. As she did so a bubble of the purple energy formed around here like a bubble and she dropped out of sight. 
Jilken looked excited and stepped up. Pressing her hand to the patch, she repeated the words and then stepped off the edge. A similar bubble surrounded her and she began to descend with no sensation of falling. Looking down, Jilken saw the girls bubble had stopped a few levels down, before depositing her at a similar archway. More people in bubbles could be seen further down in the shaft and before long, the Aiel found her own bubble slowing and she stepped out onto the new avenue. 
One by one, the others appeared as well. As Zinona led them down the street she explained, "This one only goes down. There is another one on the other side of the city that goes up."
It was only another minute or two before the girl led them to an impressive looking façade of sweeping pillars wrapped in roses that filled the air with a musky sweetness. Beyond the pillars was an open courtyard where a number of tables were half-filled. A bar ran along on of the back walls and a middle-aged looking In'alli woman with tan and brown patches was wiping a glass behind the bar.
Ell turned to offer the young girl a silver for her aid, but the child had already vanished, following some unknown whim. Shrugging he followed the others inside as Forest landed at the nearest platform and came padding over. Over the link Janora asked, "When you speak to the innkeeper, could you let them know I need someone at the stables?"
Nodding to herself, Denye approached the In'alli barkeep, "Good evening."
"Why hello there, travelers," said the dog-centaur, "welcome to the Spiced Archive, what can I get'ca?"
"We'd like to get rooms for at least a few nights," said Denye , "we've also got a friend outside with a mount that need to be escorted to the stables."
"Oh aye, not a problem, not a problem," said the innkeeper, nodding, "You all seem to be traveling together, would you prefer to have a private suite? I think I have a few left, four bedrooms and a private sitting room? For three nights, it will only run you six gold pieces, I'll even include stabling for your friend."
"Easily done," replied Denye pulling a platinum coin and sliding it across the bar. The innkeeper grinned and took the coin, returning shortly with a pair of keys. Offering directions, she promised that there would be fresh fish for dinner in a couple of hours and with thanks, the party headed up to the room to drop off their gear.
Janora joined them a few minutes later after seeing to Forest's care. "So what's the plan? Do we just sit around waiting for dinner? Or do we try to get a better look at the city?"
"I think I'm going to check out the baths," said Jilken, "maybe see if they have a laundry service and get these clothes cleaned."
"I just want to lie flat for a little while," muttered Ell.
Denye shrugged, "I really want to devote a whole day to the airship, but it might be a good idea to stop there and see if I can make an appointment with someone. Other than that I was thinking about trying to find the library."
Janora nodded, "That's not a bad idea, I'll go with you. If we take Forest, it will be a lot faster than trying to climb all those stairs or trusting those bizarre tubes."
That seemed like a good idea and Janora led Denye down to where her mount had been set up. Leading Forest back out to the street, the pair mounted and with a bark, he raced for the closest landing platform and threw himself into the wind.  They fell for 20-30 feet before his wings snapped out and he banked before beginning to climb.
It was a short flight over to the airship and the flying mount landed softly at the top of the cliff near a small cluster of buildings at the end of the gantry. Lights in one of the windows showed that someone was still here and Denye left Janora working with Forest to knock on the door.
Her announcement was answered by a shaggy haired, younger fellow in spectacles. He blinked owlishly a couple of time at the wizard before saying, "Yes, can I help you?"
"Yes," replied Denye, "My name is Denye Starwing of the Clan Dance of Twilight, I am an associate wizard of the Obscure Veritas, a teaching circle of mages in Ellebore.  I heard, and can see, that you actually cracked flight on a large scale, I was hoping that I could make an appointment to come by and maybe get a tour or look at some of your designs." 
"Well," he said pushing up his glasses, "it's really a sort of a trade secret and we're not supposed to talk about it." At Denye's literally, crest-fallen look he added, "But, but I could probably give you a tour. Can you come back early tomorrow morning?"
"Oh, thank you, thank you," said Denye excitedly, "That would be wonderful."
"Good, good," said the young man, coloring, "My name is Edger, just come by an hour or two after dawn and I'll sneak you aboard."
"Absolutely," said Denye before giving him a short bow, "I will see you in the morning, Edger." 
As he closed the door, the wizard turned excited to look for her witch friend and saw Janora a dozen yards off, practicing tricks with Forest. Running over Denye exclaimed, "A very nice young man said he'll give me a tour in the morning. Do you want to head over to the library?"
Janora looked over and smiled, "That sounds very exciting. I might even join you for that, depending on what's going on. I'm ready if you are, we should be able to get some research accomplished before dinner." Pulling a strip of dried lizard meat from a pocket, she added, "Forest and I have made good progress." 
The flying dog was doing circles in the air, but swooped down and caught the meat when the witch tossed it in the air. Ladning, he dropped his belly to the dirt and spread his wings. "Much easier to mount this way," said Janroa with a grin as she threw a leg over his back.
Denye joined her and with a satisfied yip that echoed oddly, the mount pushed itself to it's feet and dashed for the cliff edge. Leaping he began to flap his wings and Janora directed him to fly under the hovering airship. Denye gratefully began running her eyes over the craft. Similar to the earlier coach, there were a number of arcane runes and diagrams that pulsed lightly with arcane sight. After committing them to memory, the pair headed off in search of the library.

---

Back at the inn, Jilken claimed a bunk and quickly began stripping off her weapons along with the bulkier armor. Pulling out her other changes of clothes and went in search of the bathing chambers. The innkeepers directions were good and it only took her a few moments to a largish chamber of polished stones with a half-dozen steaming pools, the ceiling covered in a beautiful mosaic of broken tile to resemble a forest canopy.  
Just inside the door was a small counter, with one of the Kassas seated behind it. As Jilken entered, the lizardfolk looked up with a scaley grin, "Well, hello there, how can I be of assistance?"
"Hello yourself," replied the Aiel, "we just got in and I was really hoping that I could get cleaned up and soak a bit."
"Absolutely," said the kassas, nodding, "we have rainfall rooms where you can get cleaned up and then all of our pools are open for soaking. The hottest is at the top and they go down to a warm pool at the bottom and then the largest pool is a refreshing cooler tempature. We also have sauna chambers if you would prefer something closer to home."
Jilken smiled, "You know something of the Aiel. No thank you, I have done quite a bit of traveling, I will take the shower and the soaking pools. I was also hoping I could get these clothes cleaned at the same time."
"Of course," replied the attendant, "I should be be able to have them cleaned and dried in say, 30 minutes." The kassas led Jilken over a small side chamber split mostly in half by a low wall of bubbly glass squares. The back half was a tiled area with a grate in the floor and overhead perforated disc. On the nearer side was a bench with a pair of fluffy towels as well as a small side table holding a basket of soaps.
Jiilken spent the next hour in perfect luxury, enjoying a long rainshower before finding the hottest pool she could and slipping in. She let the water soaking into her muscles as she traced the new tattoos she had acquired and considered what they meant for the future.
Her clothes were finished long before she was, but Jilken eventually dressed and made her way back to the rooms. She found that Ell and Ranunkel had gone out, leaving Tear who was busy practicing his reading. The young goblin explained that Ell had decided he wanted to get a look at the docks and Ranunkel offered to go with him, but they expected to be back in time for dinner. Jilken considered going out herself but decided that she would just head back to the front and get a drink in the common room.

---

Forest brought Janora and Denye to another landing pad about halfway down the torso. It was easy to find the library, the Halls of Solace and Memory was a large building in it's own right that melted into the stone of the curved cliff wall. Flanked by garden areas with well manicured bushes and small trees, it exuded a sense of peace and tranquility.
The exterior of the structure was covered with bas-relief sculptures of the various races of White Gryphon, studying, writing, or other scenes of scholarly life. Large double doors let into a wide ante-chamber lit with a number of soft mage lights floating overhead. Several doors led off deeper into the complex and a librarian seated behind a counter in the center of the room.
An older half-elven woman wearing a bluish purple dress and a white stole, she looked up as the pair approached and with a warm smile said, "Good evening, welcome to the Halls of Solace and Memory, how may I be of assistance today?"
"My friend and I were hoping to do some research," said Denye, smartly, "I don't believe I'll need an assistant for any of it, there is rather a lot however, so if there was some sort of card catalog or an index, that would be quite helpful." 
"You must be a wizard," said the librarian with a laugh, "only wizards tend to be that direct and evasive at the same time, or at least all the ones around here do. Of course, my dear, right this way, I'll show you into the Reading Room.
Denye and Janora spent the next hour or two diving into a myriad of topics. Denye was fascinated by the floating sleds, but most of what she could find were more promotional or information about how they were used, rather than how they were made. She was however able to find quite a bit on the founding of White Gryphon and how the various peoples were throw here at the conclusion of the Great Mage War.
Janora meanwhile had struck out on finding anything new on the bells, the binding, or the lost kingdom. On the other hand she found several interesting tomes on the Shadowfell. One was a journal of a exploratory wizard who had attempted to map the shadow plane and detail the various flora and fauna he found there. It contains many sections that had been crossed out as well as notes in the margin, and by the end dissolved into gibberish and unrecognizable handwriting as if he had gone mad for his work. 
The witch also found another volume, written by a priest of the Raven Queen. The first section was short, but spoke of the job of a priest or priestess of the Matron as well as discussion and comparison of views of death among different cultures. The rest of the book was filled with the various funeral rites and rituals for cultures from around the world.
On the way out, Janora stopped at the main desk and asked, "Are there any magic shops here in town or places where magical practitioners tend to gather."
The same older woman nodded, "Well most of the wizards are down at the mage school on level 20, no, I tell a lie, it's on 18. If you are looking for an enchanter, I believe Aubergine 's shop is up on level 6, and Celia Windwhipper has a shop down on 16 called the Shooting Star. There's also Old Mother Hubbard over at the Whispering Monkey, but she's more of an alchemist, although some say she is a witch."
"I see," said Janora flatly, "and what do people think of witches here in White Gryphon?"
The librarian's eye shot up to look at Janroa's hat and she gulped before replying, "Not a great deal I imagine, Mother Hubbard has never claimed to be one, but I believe there are one or two who work the fields with some of the farmers. The rule of White Gryphon was live and let live, as long as no one is getting hurt, I don't see anything wrong with, er, witches."
Janora looked like she wanted to say something else, but Denye took her by the arm, "Let's go see Aubergine, I have so much to tell him. I totally forgot that he had a door here." 
Forest had found a spot under one of the trees and fallen asleep. While he slept, his strange form had drawn a small crowd and everyone jumped back with the large, winged, hound leapt to his feet in response to Janora's mental command. Those onlookers watched in amazement as he trotted over to the doorway to meet the witch and wizard.
It was a short flight up to level six and the pair soon found the door to the Celestial Dragon. The door opened onto the familiar sight of Aubergine's shop, a large open space with pillars holding up a marble ceiling and lush carpet leading inward to the circle at the center where the display cases and counters were. Looing over her shoulder, Janora noted that the gem over the door was an enormous pearl and the banner on either side were likewise a shimmering pinkish white. 
Aubergine himself was leaning on one of the counters, large half-moon spectacles perched on the end of his snout as he studied some book, but looked up as Denye and Janora neared. Setting the glasses on the counter, he came around to shake Denye's hand, "It's been a bit since I last saw you. White Gryphon, ehh, you all are traveling far from home. It's been a bit since I've seen you, how are your experiments? Found anything interesting recently?" 
"Oh yes," said Denye excitedly. She pulled a small bundle out her bag and handed it over to the dragonborn, "here's my latest set of notes. I just sent Karobark a copy as well. I've successfully managed to grow power crystals for the force pistols and I think I have a possible charging solution. I'd love for you to take a look at it and tell me what you think." With that the pair of wizards were off on a discussion of magical constructions.
While they were engaged, Janora began to peruse the shelves and display cases for interesting or useful. She found two cases of glass orbs, one was filled with a yellow and gold swirling mist and the other with utter blackness. According to the tags these were radiance and void bombs and could be thrown, producing a 10ft wide cloud of effect. She also found some interesting arrows made from compressed sand. When Janora pointed them out Aubergine explained that they would explode on impact and depending on the type of armor could get into cracks and buckles making it difficult to move.
Both Denye and Janora immediately identified the arrows as a purchase for Jilken and Aubergine promised he could reshape them into crossbow bolts. Denye was also curious about the grenades, but the pair realized that they didn't have enough gold on them for everything. The dragonborn wizard was more than happy to set the items aside, on the promise that they would come back tomorrow with Ell...and the purse. 
Satisfied, the pair bid Aubergine good night and headed back to White Gryphon and the Spiced Archive. Over dinner Denye and Janora filled Jilken and Tear in on all they learned. There was still no sign of Ell or Ranunkel by the time the party sough their beds, but no one seemed overly worried as it had only been a few hours.

Character(s) interacted with

Zinoan - young La'naris girl
Violata Brockin- In'alli

Report Date

05 May 2023