"No," Ophelia whispers back, "I cannot bless an item, BUT I can make an area or location become hallowed ground." She shrugs, "Maybe we can get a cleric to bless the tear gas before we go?"
OOC: Yes, we are on our way to A'kin's and should be there about now, but I guess we won't arrive until joyblood comes back and posts that we have.
[OOC: It wasn't clear to me that you're already on your way, that's why I kept silent. I'll check my books about A'kin tomorrow, and let you get to his shop in my next post.]
As the group wanders down the streets of Sigil, the dirty clouds above their heads grow thicker, and small raindrops fall down on them. The water is slightly green, and whenever the fluid touches bare skin, the skin begins to itch slightly.
Here and there, they can hear angry curses - most of them obviously directed against the Signers and some kind of experiment they have started.
As it beigins to rain, Ian looks up. "Perfect." He says as he pulls back his hood. he holds out his hand to catch some of the first few droplets. "I love the rain, and at least this will wash away some of the muck in the Hive."
As the rains starts to hit his hands and head, however, he shuffles uncomfortably.
*Ophelia pulls up her black hood which makes her seem almost swallowed up by it. She shivers, and then yawns as they go walking down the street.*
"Now I expect this out of the Xaositects," she whispers " but the Signers? Well, when you talk to one you find out that they are just as or crazier than the Xaositects. But thats just my opinion."
Ohalian flips up his hood, and asks, "The Signers and Chaositects are two of the major Factions in Sigil, right?"
Ian absentmindedly scrathes and itchy arm. "Yes, they are. The Xaositects are convinced that we can't understand the universe because we keep imposing order onto it. We can never see the meaning of it all because the imposed order is masking the way things truely are. So, to counter it, they spread Chaos and mayham. Fun guys, once you get to know them."
"The Signers are just plain weird. They think that all of the multiverse is just their daydream... or something. Like the world was built with them at the center, and the only reason things happen that they cant control is because they can get a grip on their supconcious. Crazy thing is, the power of belief allow them to do som,e damn powerful things just through force of will."
"Actually", Naruk says, "I think the combination of both ideas is very interesting. The Xaositects explain why the Signers can't get a full grip on things, if you ask me."
Ophelia claps Naruk's arm and whispers, "Thats right! You seem to be coming from the right side of the fence!"
"wow, the chaosects sound like my kind of guys, though maybe just a little to crazy for me. Wow, I hate rain, hopefully this doesn't keep for long."
Naruk shrugs, answering, "Right side? I'm not sure such a thing exists." He shakes his head. "Sorry, old times coming back into my mind. Old friends that had to pay the music. Did I mention that, officially, I'm not even alive anymore?"
As the group wanders the streets of Sigil, they've come to the Lower Ward, and Naruk points to a shop maybe fifty yards ahead of them. "There we are - the Friendly Fiend."
Ian stops, and looks at Naruk. "Now there's a saying that you don't hear every day. Not 'officially' alive, as in there are no longer any public records of your existance?"
"No... there are records. They tell I died on a mission some twenty Sigil years ago."
As Naruk says this, his voice becomes bitter and angry, and his eyes turn dull for a moment.
"I assume that you have certain enemies that would make it dangerous for you to come forward?" Ian asks. "And what of your family and other close relations, does anyone who actually knows you know that your alive?"
"If I had any friends or family left, I wouldn't have been part of..."
He interrupts himself, then shrugs. "It's all in the past, anyway, so why not tell the whole thing. I've been part of a secret Guvner task force installed by the Second Line... that is, Guvners answering directly to the Factol. Our mission was to analyze the other factions and how their philosophies could be integrated and used for the Guvner philosophy."
He sighs. "We were given special positions in Sigil's politics, making sure we could act without anyone interfering with what we did. That is, we could even do things that would be 'breaking the law' for anyone else. Whatever was necessary to complete our missions. We broke into buildings of the other factions, we spied and we kidnapped, even a few murders took place... all legalized by the positions that we had in the public."
"All went fine for, I guess, seven years or so. Then, a single woman, a Harmonium officer, got curious... she took the right conclusions, asked the right questions, and within a few months, she had gathered enough information to blow our whole group. Normally we would have just killed her, but she worked so good that noone noticed. When she had all the proof she needed, she went to her factol. That same day, all the factols in the Cage had a secret meeting, a meeting which was, say, not exactly amusing for the Guvner factol."
"The Guvner high-ups feared we would spill their names, so before any actions against us could be taken, we were sent on 'special missions' - suicide missions, as turned out later. We were almost 300 people in that group, and I'm the only one who returned. And if I raised my head too high, some accident would make it leave my body very quickly."
Ian listens quietly, then lets out a whistle. "Wow, I guess that explains why a man of your talents isn't exactly raking in the jink."
"So, shall we head on in?" Ian asks, indicating the shop ahead.
"Yes, let's go see A'kin." Ophelia says excitedly.
The group walks over to the "Friendly Fiend", opens the door and enters the shop. Just as they step in, a well-known arcanoloth approaches them. Half a dozen necklaces hang around the fiend's neck, almost every finger has a ring on it, and he has several rings in his ears.
"Welcome, welcome, customers are friends, feel comfortable and welcome, what can I do for you, friends?" he asks, showing a grin that probably is meant to look friendly, but makes A'kin appear to be a wolf just about to shred his prey.
There's only two other customers in the large shop right now, one of them a humanoid wearing the armour of a Harmonium officer, the other an illithid - who turned to the group the moment they entered, and observes them.
The shop itself is full of the weirdest items - the first things that catch the attention of the group members are a wooden sword with a gemstone in its hilt, a floating ball of glass that's making its way through the shop seemingly uncontrolled, a bunch of almost man-sized books that practically scream "ARCANE!", and a strange device just left of the door, about a yard and a half large, made from a shiny silver metal, with a small seat on it and dozens of buttons, knobs, bars, levers and other controls.
"Good day Akin!" Ian said cheerfully. "Today, we're looking for a few items that might make our upcoming trip to the 9 hells a little easier. Specifically some flame protection, mindshielding and a couple invisibility sphere charms. And..." Ian leans in a little bit. "We're on a bit of a tight budget, so anything thats on sale and works might be best."
A'kin gives Ian another of his predatory smiles. "You come in at the right time... but then, it's always the right time to enter the Friendly Fiend, is it not? As for the flame protection - Avernus, you say? - I suggest those skin-tight gmaroch armourskins over there, just received twenty of them only an hour ago. They're not even magical, which protects you from losing your protection by a magic dispelling, and every piece of skin covered by them cannot be harmed by fire, although they're very vulnerable to direct attacks - one rip in the material, and the armour dissolves within minutes. Best to wear it below your normal armour. It's only twentyfive gold for each armour, though."
He points to a wooden box with black clothes inside. The clothes look almost like made from leather, but somehow... unnatural.
"Then, the invisibility, yes, yes, I do have a scroll or five... well, no, actually I have precisely five scrolls with just the spell you need on it. Unfortunately, there's always also other spells on the scrolls, which make them probably unfit for your tight budget, but then, I don't know what you consider a tight budget, do I? And the mindshielding... let me look up something, just a moment."
He walks over to another wooden box full of... things... through which he browses like a child through his toys. As he does so, he asks: "So, Baator, what exactly is driving you there? Anything to do with the Signer experiments that brought us this nifty green rain outside?"
Ohalian looks around the store with quite a bit of curiosity, but not too much wonder evident.
The first thing he'll do after scanning the other patrons for weapons and to determine their overall health is to wander over to the contraption in the corner, and start scanning it with his sensors, trying to figure out what it does (and almost certainly coming up blank if it works off of magic).
He'll then wander over to the counter, look A'kin up and down, and ask, "You're a fiend?"
Ohalian notices a sword and a dagger at the Hardhead's belt, and a single wooden stick - possibly not a weapon, possibly something magical - bound to the illithid's robe. As Ohalian scans the illithid, the creature takes a step forward to him, and Ohalian hears a rasping voice in his mind. "You, thrall, will not look at me again until asked."
Curiously, Ohalian's sensors don't show anything but the mere physical presence of the illithid. The Harmonium officer seems to be slightly wounded, but nothing serious can be detected.
The contraption beside the door is hard to analyze - there are some technical aspects that can be followed, but on the one hand, any single aspect that Ohalian can analyze doesn't make any sense as a stand-alone function, and on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any obvious connection between the different functions.
"Thank you for asking, my friend", A'kin replies. "I'm merely a humble shopkeeper trying to make his customers happy. But let us not talk about me, I'm unimportant. What about you, Ohalian? Where do you come from? Not a planar, are you?"
As Akin describes the flame proof suits, Ian brightens up considerably. "Nice." He says. "You wouldnt happen to have a few scrolls of Skeletal Form now, would you?"
At the mention of their 'tight budget' Ian smiles. "Well, our employer has generuosly offered us up to 40,000 gold in bugdet for supplies, but I know how expensive some magic items can be."
"Unfortunately no", A'kin says, switching from Ohalian to Ian, "but I have a pouch of protection where you can store important items. Besides that, I have a spell book with a spell or two that might be of interest for you - in case you have a mage in your group interested in learning a few more spells."
Ian looks around. "Nope... I dont think that we have any magi in the group, unless..." Ian turns to Naruk. "You wouldn't happen to be a Spellchucker, would you?"
Naruk hesitates for a moment. "I... have been. Haven't had a spellbook in my hands for - well, about twenty years."
"Well, would you like to hold one again? Or do a bit more than just hold one? It's not like we can't afford you a spellbook. I can even let you copy a few tricks I've picked up if you need to start from scratch again."
"Of course, its up to you."
"I..."
"Come on," A'kin says to Naruk, "twenty years are long enough to wait, aren't they?"
Naruk hesitates for another moment. "Okay," he finally states, "but I can't promise anything."
"All is good then!" Ian says. "So, a spellbook for Naruk it is. Hey..." Ian turns to Naruk. "If we buy just one scroll of Invisibility Sphere, could you copy it into your spellbook and cast it for us later?"
"Oh, and by the way." ian turns to the rest of the group. "If the flame-proof suits are so fragil, we might want to get two per person. Any objections?"
"Hello A'kin!" Ophelia whispers and waves as she walks in. "Yes two each will do, and if those scrolls are of the divine manner then I could use them. If not then it is up to good old Naruk." She smiles.
The masked Gnoll sits outside the shop for a moment, staring at the sign.
"Freindly Fiend. Friendly... fiend... Friendly.....fiend... fiend? Fiend." the masked gnoll pauses, then cries out "FIEND!" And charges into the shop, his hands balled itno fists. He takes a few steps into the shop, then stops in his tracks. "Oh, Its Akin. Hey Akin!" The masked gnoll waves in a dangerously enthusiastic manner.
*a little bemused by the masked gnolls actions, Blackthornes comes in ready with his tiger claw equipped.*
"what was all the fuss about gnoll, I don't see anything wrong in here....." *sees A'kin*
"im guessing you are the friendly fiend?"
*to Ian*
"I think two for each is just fine."
OOC: wow blackthornes, you just jumped from thinking there was an attack and just entering the door to knowing the entire conversation that occured while I was still outside. You do know I was outsdie for the conversation, right? And if you followed ME in, then...
OOC: really, I thought we were in a throng of people, I assumed we were just out side a large group..... besides, I could have entered and heard ians remark, all of the posts could have played out in about 1 minute of actual real time.... It would work if you think about it.
"I assume I can", Naruk replies, "but... it's a long time ago, I don't know what spells I can still cast without messing things up. Besides - we should try getting some spell keys, too."
A'kin nods, adding, "While unfortunately I don't have any spell keys available right now, I strongly suggest that you get some. The scrolls, by the way, are for mages, no priest magic - but of course I do have interesting priest scrolls for you, as well, dear elven maid."
As the masked gnoll comes in, A'kin opens his arms wide, as if to embrace the gnoll from the distance. "Good friend, good customer, welcome at my humble place!" As Blackthornes comes in, his smile - or rather, his grin - becomes even more wolf-like. "Just call me A'kin, at your service, good sir. What a colourful group you are."
Ophelia's smile gets even wider and she throws back her black hood and whispers, "And what type of divine scrolls do you have?"
OOC: I can't remember if I can use ANY divine magic scrolls or only ones that adhear to druidic purposes? Anyone got an answer for that one?
Blackthornes:
The masked Gnoll loooks over. "What are you talking about? Akin's not a fiend. Thats just silly. Everyone knows that Arcanaloths are just really pretty gnolls." He says in all seriousness.
Ian looks at the Masked Gnoll in surprise. His mouth opens and closes a few times, as if he just cant get the right words out of his mouth. Eventually, he just looks at Akin and shrugs.
"An interesting theory", A'kin simply replies. Then, turning to Ophelia, "Right now I have a whole lot of divine scrolls... even more than your 'tight budget' allows. So, what kind of magic do you prefer, and what are your No-Nos?"
"Maybe a few Cure ____ Wounds Mass," she whispers back to him.
OOC: Joyblood, fill in the blank as to the highest cure wounds she can do at her level. I know that by spells it is cure light wounds mass, but I don't know by scroll how high she can cast.
"Healing, healing," A'kin nods, "I'll get to you in a moment. Maybe we even have something for your scar there. Does it still hurt at night, short before you fall asleep?"
A'kin comes a step closer, and there's an aggressive look in his eyes. As Ophelia looks into his deep brown eyes, she... knows. She understands that he knows things about her she herself keeps buried deep in her mind. And she knows he'll use them against her. She knows that...
"But," A'kin says, bringing Ophelia out of her thoughts, "I'll get to you later. I was about to find something for your mind shielding problems."
With a grin, he turns around and returns to the box he was browsing through before.
*Ophelia shivers when A'Kin turns around*
Ian looks over at Ophelia, and asks "Are you okay?"
"Yeah...ummm... sure, I am ok," Ophelia whispers back.
"Okay then." Ian says. He glances over at the Harmonium, and pulls his hood up.
OOC: Wow, things are looking a little dusty.
*Blackthornes is walking around the shop, pondering to himself*
I wonder where all this stuff comes from, does Akin buy it or do people steal it for him? If it is the later i wonder how much a body would make for such a service.
OOC: yeah, this is getting rather left alone, I wonder were joyblood is.
OOC: If I may make a suggestion?
It seems that we have hit a bit of a bump in the roleplay, so why dont we just make up a list of what we each plan to get with our money, and post it. If you feel that there is anything that we can't get (for campaign related reasons) then just say we dont find it. Anything you would say is on 'sale' (something we need, but is being sold at a slightly lower price) just say we pick that up at Akins. We can end the spending spree by us leaving the Market Ward, which will bring us back into roleplay mode.
Just an Idea.
OOC: Well, Tigerfury already dropped all of his coin off at his apartment, so he isn't going to be buying anything.
OOC: why is it I can never keep a DM?
OOC: Hey guys... I just wanted you all to know that I emailed joyblood and he said that for a while now he has been having a terrible time connecting to the internet. There is a problem somewhere in his server. SO the game is still ON. He asked me to post this and to also tell you all that:
"I'll try my best making another post within this week."
(exerpt from his email to me)
Just thought that you all would want to know since we all seem to be wondering where joyblood went off to. Now we have the answer. We are just on hiatus for another week or so.
Ophelia
"I doubt that will be of much use against any of the stronger fiends, however I can imagine that confusing a could of fiends for a whi... hey." Ian snaps his fingers.
"Ophelia, can you bless objects? I forget if druids can bless stuff or not. Cause if the gas was holy, it would have a very similar effect. It would burn fiends in all the right places, for sure."
OOC: are we making any headway to Akins?