Planescape: Center of All - IC

[Archmage1]

A few moments later, the wall starts to shimmer, in that familiar, portal like fashion, and Eilyra steps through.

Spoiler: Should you enter

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Inside, a magnificent marble foyer opens before you, the gold trimmings around the magnificent carvings of elven glory, the black and gold banners, displaying a dracophoenix in flight, the two doors to either side of the rectangular room, and the broad, wide stairs on both sides of the room, leading up to a balcony, with a third door, all closed. The ceiling was a fresco, an image of the Seldarine. The banisters on the stairs were carved to appear like flowing water, moving at the command of more wizardly statues at their ends.
All in all, the appearance is truly ridiculously decadent, but at the same time, almost like a museum. The incredibly fine carvings, the frescoes in the ceilings, the gold decorations, the fine marble... it all seemed... too perfect to be real. Like a monument to elven arrogance.

Eilyra, however, seems to be standing about ten feet from the entry door, looking almost sad.

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash books the double room, finds out which room is Centre's, and arranges to meet him downstairs just before midday.

In the room, she sets up her pit in an open section of floor, and nods approvingly as Eilyra opens up a portal to her mansion.

Ash hauls the 'liberated armour and other unclaimed bits and pieces up out of her apartment, and looks pointedly at Avarkuss and Taric.

*I suspect that it's too soon for the lich or anyone else to be scoping out these things, but 'suspect' is not the same as 'sure,' and it might make sense to get these over to Rule, to make them his problem, as soon as possible. Would one or both of you be willing to return to the Oarsman with these castoffs?*

She settles to do a little spellcasting. After a few minutes, her eyes snap open, and she reports her findings to her colleagues.

*The bloodhulks we fought were likely servants of the lich, but he probably didn't bring them through Sigil. It may be of some use to explore further in Pandemonium, to see if there are any other gates that his key activates.*

Before turning in in her own bed, Ash can't help but be curious about Eilyra's domain. She steps through.

*Ah, may I join you for a moment? I don't mean to intrude.*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra is standing in the marble glory of the foyer to her Magnificent Mansion, on a rich carpet of red with gold dracophoenixes worked into it as Ash enters, and she doesn't respond immediately, instead choosing to look around for another moment.
When she speaks, her voice is in her usual cool, calm tone, but there is a slight echo of regret, and sadness to it. "An echo of glory, long since tarnished, the future destroying all that the past had built in the interest of greater power, only to find it all turned to ash in the moment of their victory." She sighs, and turns to face Ash, before she continues in a more normal tone. "It's acceptable. If you'd like more space, there are guest rooms, servants, and they can prepare whatever food you might like. It would certainly be more comfortable than the tiny room in the Black Sail."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash offers a wry smile in response to Eilyra's ultra-bleak assessment. *Sure, but the neoclassical look is making a big comeback this year. It'll be the envy of magi everywhere.*

There is a momentary pause, as Ash accepts that there are layers of hurt beyond even the expressed bleakness. She nods in response to the kind offer.

*You're kind to offer, but I have a sentimental attachment to my own bed, and I'd like to be able to hear if Taric has to face down any trouble. If you want company, you might want to speak with Avarkuss.

*And get some rest. You unlocked the secrets of a library in pandemonium today, and came back from the dead. You've earned some down time.*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shrugs as she turns back to the splendor of the foyer. "It's your choice."

[Cavir]

Avakuss follows Eilyra and Ash into the magical mansion. He is impressed by the layout even though his own style is more minimalist. "Yes, I can take them. I don't need much sleep so I'll make the delivery, grab a room in here, then be up for dawn." He thought Ash had some other intent with the loot otherwise why not just hand the stuff to Rule back at his place?

He collected the items from Ash's pit and put the items that would fit into his haversack. The rest of the items, primarily the chain mail, three sets of large plate mail, and three large greatswords, he tied into a large bundle with rope from his pack. It took a couple of tries to get it workable so he could sling it over his shoulder. The weight wasn't the issue. it was the bulk. It was a bit tight getting the load out of the Black Sail, but once done he moved easily enough with it. As much as he could carrying arms and armor for three small giants, he kept a low profile to and from the Styx Oarsman.

[paradox26]

Taric examines the armour, and says to Ash, "I will gladly take the armour to the Oarsman. But I cannot fit it into my saddlebags of holding. I will need to keep them within your apartment in order to transport them. Is that acceptable to you?"

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shrugs at Avakuss's explanation, not really seeing the need for such urgency, but rather than complain about someone doing work that benefits her, she settles down for a night of rest, in her chambers.

However, before she sleeps, she casts one last spell: Extended Elemental Body(Air)

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash helps Avarkuss in trussing up a parcel to take - possibly with Taric - back to the Oarsman. She offers a wry aside to Taric and Avarkuss.

"Rule declined to provide a private room, and I would prefer not to welcome all of the occupants of the tavern to stare into my home.

Avarkuss, you're welcome to take the bed in this room. I'd actually very much prefer to have you here, as protection both for Eilyra's home and mine."

[paradox26]

Taric accompanies Avakuss to carry the goods with him to the Oarsman. He lets Avakuss do the carrying, and himself settles for carrying his weapons in plain sight, in order to deter the people of Sigil from trying to come near the pair.

[Archmage1]

In the Morning
After a delicious meal, and a few hours to rest, Eilyra awakens, and starts her morning kata's in her training room, before she has a wonderful bath, a deliciously fruity breakfast, and prepares her spells.
It's almost 11 AM by the time she departs her mansion, and arrives in the rented room, looking every bit the cleaned and rested half fiend that she is in her clearly ironed and laundered combat dress. She also seems to be a bit more.. airy today, as she looks rather like an air elemental.

Seeing that everyone else was up as well, Eilyra confirms that she's herself with her voice remaining unchanged from the previous day, a cool, calm tone with echoes of melody to it. "And now that we're rested, perhaps you'd all like to take advantage of the bathing facilities in my mansion? We also need to come up with some sort of plan for today as well."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash sleeps for only a few hours, then relaxes in bed, reading one of the books from the library. She is pleased to take advantage of the services on offer in Eilyra's mansion, and gathers with the others feeling refreshed and cautiously optimistic.

When Eilyra mentions forming a plan for the day, Ash goes to gather Centre, so that he can join in the conversation. As the five gather, Ash experiments with a variety of looks for herself before settling on that of a golden-skinned woman with silvery wings, assuming that it might be more acceptable if they were moving amongst humans later today.

Spoiler: Revised buffs for today

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She'll add in the Heart of quartet for today. The changed appearance is just disguise self.

PERMANENT SPELLS:
Arcane Sight
Read Magic
See Invisibility
Tongues

LONG TERM SPELLS CURRENTLY UP:
Anticipate Teleport (Greater)
Disguise Self
Endure Elements *
Energy Immunity - Fire
Foresight
Heart of Air
Heart of Earth
Heart of Fire
Wheart of Water
Hunter's Eye (+7d6 bonus)
Magic Weapon, Greater *
Magic Vestment *
Moment of Prescience
Nondetection - from unseen seer
Greater Magic Weapon *
Visions of the Future
Contingency (Heal, triggered by Ash being affected by an injury that would drop her below 50hp)

[kinem]

Avakuss and Taric take the armor and other items through the dark streets of Sigil to the Styx Oarsman.

Rule of Three is not pleased, as the plan was that he would pick the items up tomorrow at the Black Sail. However, he takes the items.

OOC: Can I get a full list of what was taken to Rule?

Ash finds Center, who's in the robed human form, talking with Joel in the conference room. As she passes the main dining room, a lot of people are speculating about what the Lady's announcement today will be. After a few pleasantries, Center goes to the room with Ash.

"Good morning. Any ideas on what to do now?"

[Archmage1]

Eilyra smiles at the group, assembled in the small room, and gestures in the direction of the glowing doorway against the wall. "Why don't we head to the conference room? It'll be a lot more comfortable than this little place."

With that, she heads back into the mansion, clearly expecting others to follow.

[Archmage1]

Leading the way through the opulent foyer, Eilyra takes the left doorway(The door opens before she reaches it), past a couple of armor stands holding incredibly fine chain, and takes another left, into a moderately large room, with an incredibly broad, highly polished, artfully carved wooden table dominating the room, with what appears to be an etched map of Faerun, centered around Cormanthor.

Spoiler: History

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Those familiar with Faerun history may notice that the map is ~5000 years out of date.

The walls hold faded banners, with the exception of the far wall, which seems to hold a planar map, with the various planes marked, and labeled(In elven), and Sigil holding the center.

Not hesitating a beat, Eilyra calmly takes a seat at one end of the table, and gives everyone a chance to take seats, should they desire, before she signals to the unseen servants to deliver refreshments, and starts to talk. "We've got a few things to discuss, but mostly, they boil down to what to do next. Obviously we'll talk with Rule, and see if it has any useful information, but afterwards, we'll face a couple of choices. Do we go after the lich and avatarist now, while they're vulnerable, or do we try talking with them, while we pursue other goals? Recovering the key is, I think, of paramount importance, and based on the lich's research, the gate formerly in the Outlands, now in the Grey Wastes may be our destination, but there are also potential sites in the Prime, and in the Astral plane. Regardless, we'll need to purchase appropriate tuning forks before we can proceed."
She pauses for a moment before she continues.
"I think we should try talking with the lich and avatarist, while we continue pursuing the key. It'll be some time before they are likely going to be able to fight us, and in that time, we can accomplish a lot. Does anyone else have any suggestions?"

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash admires Eilyra's map.

*You are a student of history, I see.*

In consulting with the others.

*I am concerned about leaving opponents unattended who have every reason to hate us and no more reason to talk than they had yesterday, when they completely rebuffed us. If we move first to secure the Avatarist and the lich's phylactery and later discover a need to get information from them, we do so from a position of strength.*

She shrugs.

*It will also be significantly easier to deal with them separately. If we move now against the avatarist, we are reasonably sure that the lich will not be a factor. If we wait even a day, that assurance goes away.*

Ash smiles.

*If we do this right, then going to Woody directly will actually be faster than having to secure the spell to send him a couple of dozen words. And that, barring news to the contrary from Rule, is what I think we should do next. If we want to talk to the Avatarist, let's do so in person.*

[paradox26]

Taric wanders restlessly around the room as the others talk. "I believe that to be the best option. We talk to the avatarist while they are without their lich ally. Hopefully we can force them to tell us their goals and intentions. And if we are even luckier, we can get them to reveal the location of the lich's phylactery. I think that is the safest bet. Remove each threat as it appears, so they don't have an opportunity to stack up or perhaps even gather against us," Taric says.

[Cavir]

Avakuss speaks calmly. "As I mentioned before, they did not start blasting immediately. It was our choice of words that changed their mind and even then we struck first. Now they know we are no pushover. We overwhelmed them. Even if that was just luck they do not know what they are up against. If we offer to talk without showing any intimidation they should take that more seriously. If we really want to trade information we need to make it a peaceful environment. Just showing up at their front door, with their home advantage which could include a whole army, will put them on the defensive or all out assault us. A Sending is the best way to begin a discussion since we have no third party to go through."

"Assuming the lich is not back yet, Woody didn't say a word so that is a huge unknown. I think it very safe to assume that the lich has not told anyone where his toy is. Liches are known for intelligence and telling others where their one weakness is would be folly. Trying to beat that out of Woody gets us nowhere. Starting the conversation with Woody through Sending then speaking in person seems the wisest choice to me."

"In terms of pursuing the key, do we have any lead for that which I am missing? The same question goes for finding the locations of the gate at each plane. If the books can't help anymore, can Divinations help give us a direction to go? Beyond that having a cordial discussion with yesterday's opponents seem our only way forward."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash listens carefully.

*So, Avarkuss, what is your recommended course of action if Woody does not respond to a sending, or doesn't use it to immediately welcome us?*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra calmly leans back in her chair, and listens to the ongoing conversation. The trick is all in the details. Dealing directly with the lich and avatarist is somewhat time sensitive, however, recovering the key, or preventing the use therein should take priority. Information, I think, will help. Ash seems pretty convinced that engaging the Avatarist is the best plan, and Taric sort of agrees, while Avakuss agrees with me. I suppose it'll come down to a tiebreaker, or information that Rule has will change things.

[kinem]

Center says "How would we find the Avatarist?

I don't know if a Sending spell would work. We fought the Avatarist, but don't know much about them.

There are more books to read, right? Some may have more clues. I think we should try to figure out how to destroy the Gates. Until we get the Key back, that may be the best way to prevent the worst."

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shrugs at Center's question. "Finding him should be straightforward enough. Ash is an expert at finding things, and I'm not too bad at it myself. And someone that powerful, on a prime material plane? They'll be findable. My concern is more that we may be better off doing something else, and trying diplomacy as we worked."
She offers a toothy grin.
"It might not work, but we have the books the lich was studying, so they'll come to us. We just need to be ready for that." As she finishes describing the position of the lich and avatarist duo, her expression becomes a lot more dour. "I'm not sure if reading more books would be very helpful. I went through around a fifth of them, and, well... nothing beyond three potential gate sites. Given another few days, I could read the rest, but I'm not at all convinced that would be a good use of time." A frown flickers across her face for a moment as she considers the possibilities there. "Although, it would give me the time to scribe sending, and another spell, which could prove to be beneficial."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash chuckles.

*I'm sure that time will be found for the scribing of Sending, but as Eilyra says, there may be more pressing issues to address in the interim. Eilyra and Avarkuss, I really would like to know what your next step would be if the Avatarist does not respond with a welcome to a Sending that we make. We should be ready to move forward with that second step, if need be. So, again, what would you do?*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shrugs, with another grin. "Something that ideally, we should be doing first. Learning more about them. The duo seemed to be an established group, both specializing in spells that don't affect the other, which implies a longer relationship. They may be mercenaries, or agents of a cause, but more information would be invaluable, and critical to making a good decision."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash waggles a finger.

*Eilyra, you are avoiding my question. Yes, we can do more to learn about this avatarist and the lich in the interim, but when we contact him, he becomes aware of our ongoing interest in him - he learns that we know he is still alive. What would be your next step if he rebuffs our sending, or simply doesn't answer?*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shakes her head, firmly as she leans forwards. "I disagree. Firmly. Right now, we know nothing about them. They might be rulers of a country, with a dedicated and powerful guard force that is loyal to them after death. They could be in a heavily trapped and well defended fortress, or, well... anything. They're going to know we're interested in them, and, as I said, we have something they want. Planning further is pointless without information to base those plans on."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash's eyes widen. She is genuinely puzzled.

*Well, then, you are disagreeing with yourself of five minutes ago, who in fact initiated a conversation about what we thought our next steps should be, and at that time felt very comfortable with making a recommendation about a course of action.

*Tell you what. Why don't we head over to talk with Rule now, if he's there. If he's turned up something, this may all be moot.*

[Archmage1]

Eilyra shakes her head, again, quite firmly, before speaking slowly. "You realize that my proposal is essentially that we delay for two days before taking action, right? What were you planning on doing during that time? It would give yourself, and Rule, plenty of time to find information. And no, we won't be speaking with Rule. I note that the armor and other gear appears to be gone, which suggests that you might have forgotten that we were going to hand them over to him at our already planned meeting? You know, the one where we actually give him the details on what happened? I suspect he's rather peeved about that, which is not great, since he is our only information source, and he's already not trustworthy. That's half the reason I want to try talking with the lich and avatarist. They were clearly interested in the same thing we were, which suggests that they might be reasonable, and might be able to help provide information."
She leans back, and shakes her head again, before taking a breath, and forcing herself to calm. When she resumes speaking, her voice is far more level, and much less heated. "Regardless, we have a couple of hours before that meeting, so why don't we do some preparation? We need tuning forks, either way, and if I see a good deal on scrolls, I might see about picking up a couple, should funds permit."

[Cavir]

"No, they will not have open arms for us no matter which way we make contact. I am suggesting that Sending with the right words is the best first thing to try to make contact. Yes, if that fails we'll have to try in person. We don't know the situation there. Get close then see what the situation is there. Gather what information we can. Then see about making contact again through a third party or in person."

"And yes, that does not prevent us from following other leads at the same time. We have the books, only one fifth read means there could be plenty more that is useful. I can purchase some magic so that I can help go through them."

"Beyond that, finding out what Rule can tell us will help guide our next steps. Yes, he wasn't thrilled about getting the items early. He will still be here on time. I suggest we let him come to us."

[Toliudar]

Ash

Ash leans back, not sure how people who had been present for the same conversation could have taken so very different experiences.

*I really don't understand. Again, five minutes ago, you agree that we'll talk with Rule. I arranged to speak with him, and to give you an opportunity to share what you learned from your reading once we had privacy to do so.

*But now...you don't want to speak with Rule. I thought that delivering early gave us a small shot of getting some of the money today, to help finance things like the scroll.

*So...what do I want to for the next two days while you put a couple of spells into your spellbook? I want to go back through to Pandemonium and see if the Lich's key might connect us to more portals. I want to find out where those portals do. I want a find a safe place outside of Sigil where I can divine more about Woody, the lich and the gates that you've alluded to. AND I want to talk with the Avatarist from a place of strength, not petition.

*But first, I want to talk with Rule, and find out what his sources might find out, and I'd like to go to the Oarsman now in case we can have that conversation now. I want to follow up on our request to get tuning forks from him.*