Disappearances in Excelsior
The glorious gate-town of Excelsior came into view from atop the walking castle the party was squatting in as the evening of gaming began. They were dropped off at the edge of town and I described the party crossing a massive bridge towards the tallest structure other than the Spire itself. Below to both sides of the bridge was the orderly town for the normal residents, and floating above were the buildings and spires built upon clouds floating around the tower of white stone and colored glass.
The characters were approached by a small floating ball of light that happened to be fairly talkative Lantern Archon. The mimir is buzzing, eyes glowing with magical energy and they are informed that they can find the gate at the top of the Godstrand. Yup, that impossibly tall tower. I reminded them that they had a level of exhaustion from the nightmare they had the previous night. Their roleplaying did not let me down.
The climb up the tower was long and arduous due to their state, and while none of them are evil aligned, none of them are lawful either. A break was taken halfway through the climbing of the mile of stairs going upward: Q’or managed a sleight of hand check and carved his name into a fresco on the wall before they continued their trip upwards.
Literally above the clouds, they came finally to the apex, full of hound archons watching over citizens and tourists alike. Seven golden stairs terminate in the glorious golden gate to Mount Celestia, large bear-like archons defend it on either side. While they growl and ascertain the goal of the party as they approach, they are ultimately allowed to update the mimir: Success.
It was then, while Hobbler was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the stuffy lawfulness of the place, catches the fact that one of the hound archons they played spire ball alongside was there watching over the crowd around the gate. It’s funny how I had not thought of it, until it was mentioned that they might be the same ones. Of course they are: I love being reminded that this is a group storytelling exercise and sometimes the players have better ideas than I do.
So, I connected the player with the archon that was hoping to get their help in the campaign book. Vallen was the hound archon looking into the disappearance of a few longtime Excelsior residents. He asked if they were interested in helping him for a huge sum of gold and maybe a magical boon if they successfully closed the case. They had a matronly tiefling at the station but had made no worthwhile headway He also reminded them that this was a lawful place and they couldn’t break the law or commit any evil deeds in pursuit of the information he needed.
Q’or enquired as to what counts as an evil deed? Vallen responded that if you have to ask, it probably counts. He walked with them back down the stairs. When he saw the defaced wall art, he proclaimed that it was just despicable.
Good Cop/Bad Cop
The hound archon spoke to a lantern archon in celestial and before the group made it to the base of the Godstrand, a group of pegasus, or was it pegasi, awaited to get them into the sky. The cloud based part of the city is called the Chandalier and on one of those floating bodies was their destination. They landed on a platform big enough to have accepted a helicopter on the side of the tower and were led to through the squad room full of hound archons and citizens giving reports, past the barracks and into the interrogation rooms.
Varrel and a bored detective dog headed angel, I randomly made up who I named Amok gave their evidence, described the missing citizens and where they were last seen. They also answered questions about the circumstantial evidence they had collected. I had decided they all went missing within the week.
“How many fingers have you broken?” was the first thing Q’or said and he was forbade from talking to the perp. Hobbler and Z were sent in to play good cop and bad cop. Some totally Police Academy shit happened at the table and it was hilarious.
Lynn plays Z with this reserve that is just fantastic, because she says so little, but when she does its nearly universally priceless, and we got a few of those instances that night. In came Hobbler and Z. She dove in with abandon and Z interrogated the fucking interrogator, whom the book named Rolm. She grilled him about all the information she had just heard Varrel and Amok explain on the other side of the magic one-way glass and sound barrier. I roleplayed Rolm as taken aback by the situation and the whole table enjoyed the exchange. When it was over, having not even spoken to the prisoner, Sincerity says have a nice day and Z whispered ” I will break you” to Rolm on the way out.
Maybe we should look around
The group decided it was time to split up to more efficiently search for corroborating evidence. The two gents left for the tower that Sincerity lived in and was also the last place one of the victims was seen. The gals were off to check out the other locations.
Once again we got Lynn playing her generally quiet, less than brilliant and often disinterested fighter whom often forgets what is going. This time she introduced herself as Officer Z and she introduced Bitzie as Officer Blitzie, which garnered a great facial expression from Kera. She asked questions that barely had anything to do with anything and I had a hard time keeping my composure. They searched a spartan apartment and talked to a local, whom noticed bright lights from within and never saw the occupant again. Sincerity had been there.
They went to Forum, an open amphitheater for philosophical debate. We got Bitzie’s guide to philosophy, as she explained Schrodinger’s Cat in her own way, describing the cat, poison and a bag you couldn’t see in: missing the point, Z proclaimed just shake the bag to see. Anyway, I got to make up an Aasimar that feels that law and order should be forced on the outlands whereas the person that went missing was opposed to that idea: that got the group thinking that Sincerity was a red herring, but ultimately learned that another person disappeared in a flash of colors and Sincerity had been seen near by.
Lastly they interacted with some kids in an alley, playing games near where another person disappeared: I had a good time playing as the two half-oblivious, half-disinterested children in an alley at the base of the Godstrand, but all that fun was for my group and not to be revealed here: you only get the good stuff if you’re there at at the table. Anyway, Sincerity had been there as well.
On the other side of the city, Hobbler and Q’or found residue of magic at the apartment of one of the missing civilians but didn’t learn much from the locals: of course Sincerity was seen around, she lives here: had for some 30 years or so. So they went to her apartment. Remembering that they were not allowed to break the laws, and busting down the door would constitute a crime, and with no Bitzie in sight to pick the lock, it was shear luck that Hobbler had a knock spell ready. They were in.
After describing the room, Q’or went to the balcony immediately and found a cage of sunflies. After some experimenting, he found that when he placed a small object near the grasping fly, it grabbed the object and made a bee-line right of the balcony. And, they were off. He burned through all of his spell slots using Misty Step from building to building to keep pace with the little bugger, while Hobbler activated his cat-like zoomies to catch up and they ran along the bridge they entered Excelsior by, except in the opposite direction running parallel to the traversal of the Sunfly.
This was when the fun really started.
Follow that Fly
The silly lil’ Sunfly continued about a mile spireward, meaning towards the infinitely tall spire at the center of the outlands. They left the lawful influence of the land surrounding Excelsior and move through woods that devolved to a swamp as they kept moving and as they came around a copse of gnarly trees they spotted their ultimate destination.
A closed and fairly gross cart sat there before them and seemed to be made from moss and mold. Instead of wheels, the wagon sat upon six giant, rolled-up pill bugs. Q’or and Hobbler watched the Sunfly zip right over to the enclosed cart and flop directly into the chimney. Why is there a chimney? The suggestion that maybe they go find the rest of their party was made by a certain dungeon master. Despite this, they went to see who was inside. “I don’t want any” was the only response they got until they pissed off the denizen within, then a Night Hag crashed through the moist and barely solid door. The conversation was strained but proceeding in a non-murderous way until Q’or mentioned Sincerity. Then he hit them both with a Magic Missile and I called for initiative.
Hobbler was hit by a ray of enfeeblement which didn’t really matter since he doesn’t use strength based weapons or attacks, and he chose violence in return. He pulled a bead from the Necklace of Fireballs he won at the magic casino and tossed it just behind the Hag. The whole disgusting wagon burst outwards like a firecracker set off in a rotten vegetable. And lit the hag fucker on fire. After a divine smite followed by a critical, they reduced the hag to barely any hit points. On, it’s next action, it threatened them and then folded away to the ethereal.
Within the remnants of the exploded cart, they found a few metal vials that must be magical, because, well, because everything else was destroyed. They uncorked one, and out popped one of the missing citizens. Proclaiming that Sincerity snatched them, the bard and paladin released the rest of the abductees and made their way back to Excelsior.
Having fought the Hag and presented with the living evidence at the precinct, Sincerity gave up the ghost rather quickly. I decided that she was working with the hag named Uncle Longteeth (their name, not mine) because she was trying to get enough funds to get out of Excelsior and set herself up somewhere less uptight.
They were given a free stay in a rather palatial penthouse at the top of one of the spires for the evening after not only uncovering the truth, but saving the victims. Big damn heroes and shit. That night, once again, they had nightmares. This was becoming a motif within the game. Each of them pictures themselves within the grubby rotting cart, shrunk down to the size of a large larvae held within a cage, surrounded by Larvae of all sizes while a laugh resounded off in the dark.
Oh, and somehow Bitzie has a Sunfly that matches her red skin. It’s name is Bug Bug, because of course.
Tune in Next Week for the Thrilling Conclusion
That evening of gaming was over, but the stuff I had planned with the thought in my head that they may just tell the archon to fuck off, was still prepped and ready. Little did they know that the real fun had just begun. Oh yeah, I am totally tenting my fingers and cackling right now…
It was also here abouts where I was talking to my wife about the game we had just played, and how much they had all enjoyed it. You have no idea how much of that I made up on the fly, I said to her, and offered to let her read what was actually printed in the campaign book for Excelsior. She was blown away, and to her mind I had come up with 80% of that nights adventure.
The following week, while waiting for everyone to arrive, Chad and I had a similar discussion. He is of a similar mind: having a little structure set up in advance reduces the cognitive load of planning and running a game significantly, leaving more energy for improv, where the real fun lies.
That night was to be the night. I had long planned what would happen during this session: the general plan instead of the specifics. With only a few minutes of work the previous night, I was ready to run what I hoped would be as fun a session for the players as it was going to be for me.
Back to their Own Investigation
The party left the penthouse, and immediately laid into a reception worker asking questins they were never going to have answers to. Eventually, they thought to return to the precinct and hit up Varrel, who had suggested he may be willing to help should they aid him in solving the disappearances.
“Have a great day” says the harassed bellhop “Don’t tell me what to do” says Q’or as they left to borrow some wings from the Zephyr Stables representative at the base of the tower. Within a few minutes, a pegasus for each party member arrived to take them from their current cloud within the floating cloud-like islands of the Chandelier and to the bastion of the hound archons.
They had two separate but aligned agendas now that Sincerity had been proven guilty. Find Shemeshka’s contact at or near the gate-town and find Kheloseos. There was some story-telling and roleplaying that happened. They waited in an ante-room that had all their favorite foods somehow and such. Q’or attempted to see if he could take a bounty’s from the precinct, but when he asked if they had to come back alive, the hound archon he spoke to told him he wasn’t right for the job. Eventually they talked with Varrel when he arrived. While he was less than impressed to be working with someone whom had ties to Shemeshka, he ultimately came to understand their plight and handed them the information they needed.
A Bariaur, which is a sort of goat-ish centaur creature from Sigil, named Apostonis hangs out at the Forum and was known to have dealings with the Yugoloth that had them under her thumb. It was presumed he was under a similar compulsion.
More importantly, they were told that their wandering wizard target was last seen not far away in Heart’s Faith, the base of the town surrounding the Godstrand, and more speicifically, in the slum-like area under the very bridge they entered the municipality. That was all they needed to hear. Given no chance to think, the rest of the adventuring group had to follow as Q’or dashed straight on out of the tower toward their winged mounts.
With that, they were off. The party dismounted below the massive bridge that led directly to the Godstrand, and the pegasi left immediately: in spite of their hopes they were on foot now. In the shadow of the butressed bridge, they found the “slums” of Excelsior: the buildings were still in perfect order, and no graffiti was to be found, but the edges were rough, corners had a little dirt and the few people on the street looked down instead of proudly ahead.
They interrogated the first person they found on the street. A quick roll on my side showed that the poor dude was oh-fuck-he’s-ganna-eat-me style terrified by Q’or when he picked him up and started verbally tearing into the guy. To be fair, our gith paladin does have a few skulls hanging from his belt. Anyway, the guy would have told them anything, and stammering the information out the party was informed the wizard lookin fella was staying just a few streets over. Once again, with that, they were off, Q’or recklessly leading the way at a full sprint.
Surprise!
Sliding out into the middle of the street, I described the scene as if from an action comedy movie, with Q’or out in the open for all to see and had an unobstructed view all the way down the street. There he was. Kheloseos. Their target was standing there, crown literally upon his head.
“Oh, Shit!” he proclaimed and ran into an alley to his right. Q’or Misty Stepped as close as he could and ran himself. Hobbler used his cat-based speed to run parallel with the target: Bitzie and Z followed after the Paladin following Q’or as close as they could.
The Githyanki got into combat with Kheloseos, who fired magic missiles at him from a wand, followed by launching a few at Hobbler as he came in for the pincer move. I texted Bob: “Why was this powerful wizard using a wand of magic missile and no actual spells.” hmm… With a powerful swing, Z knocked the wizard over, literally knocking the crown from his head, and it fell, but Q’or caught it: I texted Chad “That crown is too light and flimsy to be what you’ve been lookin for.” They were trying to subdue him, using non-lethal damage, mostly so they wouldn’t go down for murder in the city of law. The real fight was about to begin.
Before Kera could get Bizie into the action due to a fairly sad initiative roll, a blade protruded straight through the Tieflings chest as a large outsider appeared behind her. She took some damage from the blade but, failing her save, died by the poison effect from the Orthon’s attack. I shocked the group with two things.
First, I plopped the official D&D minature for the Orthon on the table behind where Bitzie used to be standing. They didn’t know I had eBay’d it months ago for this day. I cackled, just a bit.
Second, and more devious, I told Kera that she would have disadvantage on death saves. Oh, and that not only did BItzie fall over, the warrior version of her fell wherever she was in her reality with a stab wound from a non-existing blade through her torso. No replacements in this fight.
And Kheloseos: yeah, he showed himself to be a doppelganger.
Good luck. Have fun. Stop crying.
The rest of the combat was pretty brutal. The Orthon slayed one victim a turn: Q’or was next. Deciding that if she was going down, she was taking the fake wizard with her, Z literally beat him to death. All the while Hobbler got hit by a crossbow bolt and died from the cumulative piercing and poison damage. As Bob’s bard was bleeding out, both him and Z made witness to a new arrival. The angelic being that tried to stop them at the gate out of Sigil arrived and proclaimed that it would take these souls for their atrocities in the name of law. Not wanting to lose out, Z managed to grab the magic wand off the counterfeit wizards corpse as she too was cut down.
The fight started out exciting, then took a stressful turn, but eventually my players came to realize that it was part of the story I wanted to tell. They put up a fight, but, like one of those prologue video game fights that are impossible to win, they went through the motion so that the game could continue.
You have Died
Thanks to a critical fail on a death save, Q’or arrived first. I described a monotone mountainside road scene, with both versions of himself sitting on a log next to each other, staring at a colorless fire that shed little to no heat. Bitzie and other Bitzie arrived next. One calm Hobbler and one exacerbated Hobbler appeared upon another log, with two versions of Z arriving last: this was the first time they had met Druid flavored Z.
They were given a few minutes to let that all set in and converse amongst themselves. Wizard Qor was upset that the book he was reading was covered in blood while the paladin version doffed his armor and laid ground. Hobbler expressed that he was tired of being chased and this is the best break they had since they arrived on Sigil.
Visibily upset at her hands, Z struggled with the fact that she had not saved everyone while druid Z offered her moral support. The Bitzies took it all in stride and they shared mushrooms while everyone else felt emotions.
After some time they determine that they are in the Shadowfell! Within moments of jumping to that specific conclusion, they witnessed a dark shape lift from the dull, colorless farmland far off at the base of the mountain on which they sat. They found this black amorphous form to be a metric fuck-ton of crows, you know: A murder. And they landed by the dozens all around them.
A raven landed upon a massive stone head that had fallen to block the mountain pass towards the peak. It made Raven noises and the crows leapt back a bit. Bitzie used speak with animals from the ring they got in Faunel. It told her that they had to prove themselves worthy of an audience by surviving to get to The Lady. Then it left.
We got to hear Chad pretend to be Bitzie speaking as a raven. Everyone laughed. The group prepared to depart, making aggressive gestures at the crows to get them to flee: they returned to the farmland below. With that they descended the long path to the farmland before them, surrounded by a dark forest that continued on into the darkness.
As the Crow Flies
There was one more scene prepared to end the second evening in Excelsior. Sure, they were going through some existential shit, but, I wanted to drop them in a scary fight. They found themselves within a sort of farm or field, with a lazily rotating windmill. My players may or may not know me well: they presumed that the scarecrows within the field that I pointed out were certainly enemies. So they sent a few firebolts at the poor scarecrows.
The first one they hit lit on fire. So did the field of crops all around it. As the dull, almost lifeless flames began to spread, the second scarecrow did not catch fire: it dodged the magical attack. There were some crows that rose up and were about to attack when the whole area was casually nuked by a fireball spell sent by good ol’ wizard Q’or. The shouldering and heavily damaged boss got a lot easier after that, as it swung it’s scythe about causing quite a bit of damage but without it’s support minions, it couldn’t win out against the action economy of the party.
All was looking fairly grim for the grim dark form decoration with the bad attitude, yet there was one big trick up it’s sleeve. With a bit of bravado, it removed it’s large brimmed hat and began to shriek, all the while the stitching that held it’s burlap face tore open revealing a soul sucking void within. The meager light around the characters dimmed and their souls felt cold and threatened with destruction. Bitzie failed her save and was forced to move as far as fucking possible straight away from the cosmological horror. Overall, the nightmare was cut short, as it failed to refresh the attack before it was able to use the power again, or summon another murder of crows.
The party started off in a sort of holy city. They solved a missing-persons case. Then there was some death. We had a bit of a strange resurrection. There was even a sprinkling of existential dread. They were standing in a slowly burning field, surrounded by dark, foreboding woods in a strange and moody reality, and the only idea they had was to see if they could get to the little town in the distance.
Will they make it there? Check back next time to find out.
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Tyson
Obsessive and neurotic collector of little plastic men, novels about the same little plastic men and paints to make the little plastic men pretty. Married to Kera, who puts up with him and pretends that she doesn’t hear him speaking to the little plastic men in between making pew pew noises in the hobby room. Requires adult supervision. A menace to himself but rarely to others. More beard than man
