Planescape: Center of All - IC

[kinem]

He says “I already told you. Bad men put me in the cell. I was hoping to free my friend. I heard he was trapped in there.”

[Archmage1]

Eilyra nods, as understanding starts to blossom within her. "From where did they take you? And who is this friend?"

[Cavir]

"Bad men? Stop insulting us. Who? We need details. Were you with them before they turned on you? Who are you beyond a supposed prisoner? If Pilo is your friend then you must know things about him. How do you know him? What do you know of him, his plans, his powers? We have time for details. Your fate depends on your thoroughness and honesty."

Spoiler: OOC

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Sense Motive (1d20+16)[18]

[kinem]

Antis says "As I told your friend, I was originally captured in my home town, Durras.

As for their names, I don't remember. How many names do you remember of people you knew thirty years ago? Probably not that many. This was much longer ago.

Pilo was my friend, yes. That's why I remember his name. He was a boss there, and he made the others treat me better. He was a priest. Plans I don't know. He said I was important, very nice of him."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash nods, trying to piece together his broken recollections.

"That's very helpful, Antis. What did Pilo do to show his friendship to you? And how did you know that he was trapped in that cavern?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Sense Motive: (1d20+39)[46]

[kinem]

Antis replies "Pilo gave me nice things. One was my rod. I was afraid it would get stolen so I hid it.

I knew he was trapped because the bad men bragged about it before leaving me in the cell with the rat."

Spoiler: Ash

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He does not seem to be trying to deceive you.

[Cavir]

"So Pilo was a priest and your boss. You were one of his flock too then? What work were you doing with he as your boss?"

"Remind me again please, was it Pilo or the bad men that exposed you to the gate? Were the bad men part of the same... religion, a different sect? How did they defeat your group if Pilo is so powerful and you are so tough? What magic did they use? We need to know what we'll be facing."

"You heard them brag about Pilo. What else did you hear from them? Their plans? How many of them? What was their next step? Why did they just leave here and not come back?"

[Archmage1]

Not having anything useful to contribute to the interrogation, Eilyra stands calmly, and observes.

[kinem]

Antis says "Need to know what you will be facing? What do you mean by that?

Look, all that stuff was a long time ago. It doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is I am trapped in here.

For every question I answer, you ask three more. I am starting to think you have no intention of freeing me no matter how many questions I answer!

I will only answer more questions if in return you promise to free me. If you break that promise, such as by saying you will do it later, I will never again answer any questions from you."

[Archmage1]

Eilyra looks to Antis, and shakes her head. Whether he is a willing servant or not, he definitely seems to be a servant of our enemies, and his knowledge seems too out of date to be terribly useful. He might even be the artifact the other prisoner spoke of, who is this Pilo, and is definitely not Antis's friend. Without a way to cross check anything they say, we can't rely on them, which would leave us with needing to find a way to ensure their reliability or us needing to be truly desperate before releasing them.

"Whether willingly or not, your actions seem to serve our opposition. Absent a way to remove whatever control over you they have, freeing you is unwise. The questions are an effort to find a way to remove that control, or at least gain some idea of where such a removal might happen, or what might be involved."

[Cavir]

"Exactly. Antis your answers continue to be generic and anything but useful. Your only concern is for yourself. You think you have the upper hand, but you are missing an important point. If the only ones left in the mirror are enemies the best thing for us is to just toss the whole mirror into a volcano then collapse the volcano, just to be sure. If you don't want to be more helpful we'll send you back in and may or may not see you ever again."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash's sympathies for Antis' clearly miserable state ended when he darted forward into what seemed very much like a trap designed to ensnare them, only it caught him instead. She gives him a chance to respond to Eilyra and Avakuss, and then dismissed him back to his timeless holding place in the mirror.

*All right! Anything else that we'd like to do here in Sigil?*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra frowns, as they had discussed this before. "While Center is out talking with a mutual friend to get more information about Bavia, it might be gainful to seek out a skilled planeswalker, a sage, or a tout to see if they know anything about Bavia while I work on my scribing, since Center is going to be another six hours or so. If we wait to leave until tomorrow, Rule may have additional information for us, and I can read through another section of the books from the library today."

[kinem]

Before Ash dismisses Antis, he says "What opposition? You haven't been willing to tell me who you are and what you want. You want something, and unless I know what it is, I'm not sure I should help you. So if my answers are not useful, it's your own fault, for trying to make this information exchange one sided in your favor."

[Cavir]

"We haven't told you about us because we want the truth, not what you think we want to hear. Next time, remember we are the ones that released you from the cell. Otherwise you could have hung there forever." Avakuss nods to have Antis sent back.

"I don't see a reason to keep Hesum in there. My students can help him with the transition."

"Perhaps Joel will know some sages he can point us to." He briefly steps out of the room, asking Joel to join them.

[kinem]

In the crowded dining room, Avakuss doesn't immediately see Joel. It takes a bit of looking around, but he finds Joel deep in conversation with three elven women. Seeing Avakuss, Joel nods, and in a minute, he comes over.

In the conference room Joel says "You know, if I were to join a Faction, it would probably be the Sensates. But it might be bad for business. Best to keep the place as neutral ground.

What's the situation?"

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash stows the mirror and folds up her home as Joel is sought out. She nods and sends to Joel as he enters.

*Thanks for coming. One of our leads involves a lich and a wooden avatarist who may have come through Sigil within the last few days, and whose origins seem to be linked to a material world, Bavia. We don't suppose you'd either heard of the pair - they might have been travelling with big bloated undead and multiple wooden statues, so may have been fairly conspicuous when passing through - or of this world?*

[Archmage1]

Turning to face the door as Joel walks in, Eilyra offers him a brief smile, before she starts to explain. "We're looking for information about a pair from Bavia, a lich and an avatarist, as well as information about some creatures we encountered near a portal. Would you know a reliable sage that might have some useful information? Additionally, you mentioned earlier that you sent a Edigaria to investigate a destroyed temple on the prime. Have you heard anything back from her?"

[kinem]

Joel replies "I've not heard about any big bloated undead or wooden soldiers tramping through Sigil. I understand that the wooden soldiers can shrink, but the big undead, I probably would have heard about, if they spent much time parading in the streets. Of course, a lich might have ways to hide them.

I haven't heard from Edigaria, but I'm not worried about that, yet. I got the impression that she prefers to work alone, and she can handle herself. I expect she'll return once she's satisfied with her investigation, and I have no idea how long that'll take.

As for Bavia, I've never heard of it outside of your findings. Some of you are great scholars of the planes in your own right, and I assume you've already asked Three. It seems to be rather obscure, from our perspective anyway.

The planes are infinite, or so smarter men than me have tried to explain, and my own experience is limited, even in my misspent youth. I am constantly hearing about new things, new people, new places, especially these days.

So I doubt that you'll find the dark of that place hidden in musty tomes or the mind of one who's studied them. You might be better off talking to those who still explore the far reaches of the multiverse, an ever-expanding frontier.

And I know where you could find a bunch of them. Apparently, the Sensates have taken over a large mansion in the Lady's Ward. They meet there to trade tales and novelties. From what I hear, they also have some kind of fancy magical entertainment there, a room that makes you see things that aren't there, or something like that."

[Archmage1]

Eilyra frowns thoughtfully at Joel's suggestion. "The Sensates? Perhaps. They do tend to travel, but also tend to be fairly superficial, which shouldn't be a problem for the information we are looking for. However, they also tend to desire payment in unique experiences one way or another." She looks over the group. "Would any of you have a unique experience you are willing to share? It can be difficult to judge how highly they will value them: Generally, the more unique the better, however, both positive and negative experiences can have value."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash's brow furrows.

"What would the sharing of experience entail? I wouldn't mind a verbal narration of some of the events I've witnessed."

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shakes her head with a slight smile. "Usually, a bit more magical: A sensory recorder is frequently utilized. A small, magical stone that are used to store the experience."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash seemed distinctly unexcited about the prospect of opening her mind to thrill-seeking memory tourists.

*Well, I suppose that we can always talk with these Sensates, if only to find out what they might know about the various planes we're likely to need to explore further.*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shrugs. "They might have useful information, or at least useful contacts. It is something to do while we wait to see what Center discovers."

With that, she reaches into her bag, and pulls out a scroll, starting to study it.

[Cavir]

Avakuss:

"Perhaps you three can visit the Sensates and I'll get Hesum settled if Ash will release him? Perhaps Taric has some good stories for the Sensates too and you can get information on both paths."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash carefully reactivates the opening to her home and pulls out the mirror. She uses the command word to release Hesum, nods to him, and then returns the mirror and closes up her home again.

*So it goes. Meet back here in a few hours, then?*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra looks up from her scroll, although her hands continue to hold it in place as she looks to Ash. "That does sound like a plan. With any luck, between whatever information you and Taric are able to collect from the Sensates will be enough to allow for teleportation to the right area. That means a good description of the location. Alternatively, Center might come through. I'll work on translating this scroll, as it would be extremely helpful should the Avatarist use the same strategy as it did last time."

She then looks to Avakuss. "I'll be here, should it turn out that Hesum is being deceptive."

[kinem]

When Ash speaks the command word, Hesum appears in front of the mirror. Of course, given that the mirror only traps creatures and not gear, the man is completely naked. He takes a few awkward steps, trying to get used to having a body again.

He says "Thanks for freeing me. Um ... please let me borrow some clothing. So ... where are we?"

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While Avakuss deals with Hesum, and Eilyra studies a scroll, Ash and Taric get directions from Joel and make their way through crowded streets to a mansion in the Lady's Ward. As they travel, the air quality gets noticeably better, and the buildings in the Lady's Ward are relatively clean and often decorative.

The mansion has a large pair of doors. When you knock, a graceful coppery humanoid answers the door; evidently a Cuprilach Rilmani, wearing a loose-fitting colorful robe and of indeterminate gender.

The Cuprilach says "Good morning. How can I help you?"

[Toliudar]

Ash

Glancing at Taric, Ash shrugs.

"Good day. We understand that the sensates are interested in unusual experiences. I believe that we have some to offer, in exhange for information on a certain place, certain individuals. If this is the case, we would like to speak to any of your members present who might be able to broker such an arrangement."

[Cavir]

Avakuss

"Oh. My humblest apologies. Please have a seat and I will see what I can find." The 7'7" Avakuss steps out to the bar to find Joel where he quietly explains they have a new guest that needs clothing and secondly some food and drink. If Joel can't help with some clothes Avakuss will get directions to the closest place and get them. Something extremely basic for now was fine.

Returning with clothes he hands them to Hesum. While he dresses Avakuss gets a plate of food and a drink for Hesum. "I'm very sorry. You are the first to be returned from there. I am Avakuss. This is Eilyra. Welcome to the city of Sigil. Some would say it is the center of everything, but that is a discussion for another time. We are in a private room of an establishment called the Black Sail, owned by Joel who you might meet on our way out. Please, eat, then I'll show you to my school where you can stay for now. There will be much to discuss. It is good that we speak a common language. Perhaps it has not been as long as thought."