Kadar grins back at his friend, "A tout you say? I wouldn't trust him if I were you - Knights of the post the lot of them. I suppose we could head back to my kip though. It's in the Sandstone district too."
He nods his head in the direction of home begins to lead the way.
It's about this time that the smell of partially-vomited cranium rat reaches Baba's nose.
He wakes up. "What?", he says, eyes darting back and forth. "What?"
He glares at M'rek and Kadar, daring them to say anything. "Twice-and-a-half-Damned gith's rambling put me to sleep faster than a contingent Slumber on a pillow within hearing distance of a guest lecture at the Fortress of Enlightenment."
He sorts out his coats and makes sure no one's stolen anything from him the meantime.
Satisfied, he turns to the others. "Not going to make any more progress tonight. We can find out about all this barkle tomorrow. I'm too old to stay up this late."
It is uncertain whether the chaond-gith heard Baba's muttering, as he continues to trot along the street to Kadar's kip, singing some seemingly nonsensical song in a bizarre mix of Abyssal, Gith, and Slaadi.
Kadar joins in with the sing along adding nonsensical (but melodic sounding) Infernal, Celestial and Xeph words into the mix.
Someone in one of the apartments nearby shouts, "Hey, shut yer boneboxes! 'm tryin' to sleep here!
Ahem. At Kadar's apartment...
Unlocking the door Kadar makes a grand sweeping gesture
"Welcome to my palace, please make yourself at home." he lights a lamp and throws his bedroll down onto the somewhat messy floor near the door.
"Bedroom's through that door there" he states gestures towards a dark doorway, "I'll sleep out here so feel free to make use of it. The kitchen's over there and there's a one-way portal to ooze in the little room in the corner, don't slip."
The apartment is somewhat, though not excessively, messy. It gives the feel that it would be far worse if it's inhabitant was actually around enough to make it so, or possibly cleaner because then he would make the effort to do housework.
[OOC: can't remember if my one way portal to ooze idea was approved, Kadar will refer to the toilet as such regardless]
[I shot down the portal at the time, but I'm thinking I'll reneg. I'm not saying for sure that it leads to Ooze though. Juiblex does have a very nice realm for that sort of thing too...]
Running in, Linji shouts:
"First dibs on the Oubliette of Jubilex-juices!"
At which, he unceremoniously relieves himself (he did eat a lot of bananas today!). Afterwards, he then kneels by the bed, and says an "un-prayer" to/with Teotl (Luckily for eveyone in the room, it is in Slaad, so its seeming nonsensical nature is masked by the incomprehension of the language). At its conclusion, Linji attempts to give Baba a good-nite kiss and then crawls underneath the bed, letting his teyolia-consciousness flow away from his Nahaul... (which may very well translate into frog-like snoring)
M`rek looks mesmerised as Kadar and Linji perform some strange ritual that seems to involve shouting in discordant tonnes...probably something to do with the planes of chaos he figures out...
After walking through Kadar apartment and sifting through his mess, snaking on a forgotten half apple here, a mouldy peace of bread there he declares himself satisfied with the excellence of the installations.
Upopon deciding that he promptly changes appearance to that of an ordinary enizen ofr the appartments and leaves. He will survey the appartment in disguise from the outside seeing if they have been followed or whatnot. (The overheard conversation stook to his mind...)
Here is an eventual spot roll:
he alreaddy took 10 on a disguise check for 27 and 10 on a hide check outside for 29
There's no one about, just an empty apartment building. Of course, in Sigil, just because there's no one to see doesn't mean there's no one there.
With a tired sigh, M`rek returns to Kadar`s apartment and looks for a nice spot on the floor where to sleep.
Kadar bids the others goodnight and flops down onto his bedroll as he is. He's asleep in seconds breathing quietly and shallowly.
"zzzz zzzzz zzzh12b(aiu*BCewuJ%c679neY^oxnzzz zzzzz zzzz"
Baba tells the others he'll meet up with them later after dealing with some concerns and starts heading back to Tradegate.
... it's been a long day.
Linji, M'rek, and Kadar: After Baba leaves, the night is silent except for the occasional Gulrph! sound coming from the I-Hope-It's-Ooze portal,.
Baba: You make your way back to Tradegate without encountering any kobold ninjas or Ice Genasi street toughs (although you can't shake the feeling that you're being watched) and find your bed just the way you left it.
Nothing in your peacefull rest indicates the impending death of the Multiverse, which just goes to show you that prephetic dreams aren't as common as people think.
In the morning...
"Grunt, SNORT!" Kadar leaps up and makes a quick scan of the room before remembering where he is and why there's a Nathri on his floor.
Shaking his head he stumbles off to relieve himself before returning to rummage around in the kitchen in a search for something edible
Linji's dreams of Modron soap operas end/merge with Kadar's racket in the 'kitchen'. Smaking his large lips, Linji crawls out from under the bed. Seeing the bed unoccupied (and pondering it for some time, as it remained untouched by the four-now-three companions), Linji eventually decides to sneak up into the covers, quietly grabbing the pillow... and chucking it at M'rek.
Hopefully seeing the Nathri-kin awake, Linji points directly to Kadar, saying:
"Kadar didn't do it! -unless it is something else?"
Hopefully catching the attention of the other two, Linji goes on to relate the voices he heard last night, and sees if he was the only one (it wouldn't be the first time...).
"Oh" states Kadar, feeling rather embarassed that he had been oblivious to their watchers. "Did you notice any accents or any clues to where they're from?"
He glances outside to gauge the time as he recieves his response.
Linji thinks for a moment about eggs, and then responds to Kadar's inquiry:
"They were 'chanting the cant', but it seemed like long-born-locals they were not."
"Do you have any eggs, Kadar?"
"Not from any species I'd use for food,"
Kadar replies, grimacing at the contents of his cupboards before gathering a large portion of the waste up and moving towards the portal.
"I think we should pick up something to eat on the move today." Kadar glances into the bedroom on his way past. "So, no-one used the bed?"
M'Rek promptly wakes up upon being pillowed by Linji, his reaction is somewhat startled at first, and his wrist spike punctures the pillow at least two times before he remembers where he is...upon doing so however, he grins widelly and starts munching on the feather pillow:
"Thanks for the breakfast, is there anything else to eat though? Feathers make my throat tickle a litle. By the way, I also heard the voices...we better keep a look out from now on..."
Glancing back at the floating remains of his pillow Kadar sighs, then brightens at the thought that he no longer has to go back to finish the job.
"Help yourself to what's in the kitchen. The kitchen cupboard I mean" He hastily adds.
"I'm going to get something while we're out."
Seeing Kadar sigh at the demise of his pillow, Linji cheerfully responds:
"Don't worry my friend, its about time you lost those outards of a chicken and got Kadar something even better to sleep upon -like the plump rump of a chickie -a featherless one, that is. Unless you like 'em with feathers. Beds aren't for sleeping anyways, or so say the Oranges."
He winks at the tout as he throws his ghoul-hide satchel over his head, proclaiming his readiness to depart.
"Sometime, you should come with me to meet some of my girls down at the Lotus district -but not now, for as Torpellin says: Man does not become fat by looking at Ice Cream alone!"
"But not-now, we should be going to get food and have it being gotten (maybe the kitty likes chickens or eggs?)."
And then with a blown-kiss to "Jubie's potty-portal", Linji moves to the door, looking to see if M'rek is ready.
"It is always possible that after the food has been gotten, that we met be visiting the Gymnasium -Linji would like to show M'rek the paintings... all before the Peak's ball-game with the gnome and laundry/milk-rods."
While enthusiastically looting the cupboard and proudly producing a large zuchini and peanut butter sandwich, M'rek answers back to Linji:
"Lead on friend, and show me anything you like, as long as we are back for the presentation on time!"
"The Gymnasium sounds like a good start to the day, I think they still throw fruit in the pool so that'll take care of breakfast. Then we can park our ears at the Festhall until our little Gnomish friend catches up with us."
Kadar picks up his bag and sets off towards the Gymnasium waving for his companions to follow.
Linji gives a hearty nod of approval, jovially following Kadar:
"Lead on O' Tout of Touts -let the Parade begin!"
Earlier that day:
A rather frustrated Bauriar exited the door of the tradegate emporium owned by one Baba Smith, shouting following him as he exits.
"... and I'm telling you, if you drop any of those oranges, it'll be your horns over my door! I swear! Don't expect to get any letters of recommendation, either."
After the Bauriar and the daily arrangements (such as closing the shop) were out of the way, Baba makes his way to Sigil - and to the Civic Festhall, where he'll meet with his compatriots.
Let's just skip past the Gymnasium, if you don't mind...
The four of you meet up at the Festhall after relatively uneventful mornings in which you feel like you're being watched, but never see anyone watching. The festhall is a lot more crowded than it was last night, the Svirfneblin has been replaced by a whole fleet of vendors, the kobolds and vampires have gone home with families of humans and humanish people in their place. Some of the younger patrons stare at Linji, but otherwise you all are left alone.
After greeting Baba Kadar begins to move through the crowds towards the entrance while keeping an eye out for anything (particularly) unusual going on.
Assuming nothing interrupts the groups' progress Kadar begins to look for someone to direct them to the lecture once inside.
(spot check)
Linji follows his companions through the crowds, occasionally looking around and calling for Wu (he misses him/them).
M`Rek
Bothered by this nagging sensation of being watched M`rek will use its small size to get lost in the crowd and then "follow" their own group from a distance and magically disguised in order to try to see if someone else is trailing the group, or otherwise following their moves from a vantage point. (remember that M`rek can even see things in the ethereal as a special ability...)
Here are relevant rolls
disguise: 21
search 26
spot 17
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=872780
{Not in Sigil you can't. The Ethereal doesn't overlap with the Outer Planes, and probably wouldn't be connected to Sigil even if it did.}
M'rek observes nothing strange, and he doesn't hear anything odd over the noises of the crowd.
Linji has yet to encounter Wu, and it becomes apparent that he should actually look for him if he wants to find him.
You reach the Festhall and quickly find a number of attendents, one of whom, younger green-skinned woman of indeterminate species, directs you to one of the larger lecture halls. From there, a slight, sallow-cheeked man offers you complimentary bags of nuts, which the wrapper exclaims to be "Norvin's Nuts, the nuttiest nuts outside of Pandesmos!" The man then says, "The main seating is full, but there's still plenty of room on the balcony." and points you toward a narrow flight of stairs off to the side.
"Thanks cutter" Kadar replies as he bounds up to the balcony.
(assuming he finds a seat without an issue) Once seated he takes a quick look around to see if he can spot M'rek who seems to have wandered off. Shrugging he decides that the Nathri is probably off extorting more free nuts from the vendor and settles in for the lecture.
After a little while Kadar opens his nut pack and begins flicking them into his mouth as he waits for the lecture to begin.
[dex check for possible comical reasons]
Linji happily cavorts up to the balcony with Kadar and Baba -muttering something about the "bird eats the worm -but sometimes they see Eye to Eye."
Sitting down next to Kadar (even on top of someone if necessary), Linji settles in, and spotting Kadar's dietary acrobatics, decides to join in:
(using long tongue, attempts to "steal" Kadar's falling legumes)
OOC: opposed DEX checks? (or actual acrobatics/tumble?)
Either way: Dex check 22, Tumble 31
(The Nuts are mine -mwahahaha!!!)
Does my darkvision let me see anything?
Spot check if necessary
M'rek watches as the other three, carrying their packets of nuts, walk up the stairs to the balcony and disappear in a flash of light.
Unfortunately, those aren't just and nuts, they are a portal key, and that isn't just any balcony, it's a portal to, uh, somewhere. Somewhere dark, wet, smelly, and conspicuously free of anything that could be a described as Oxygen. Fortunately, being the planar cutters that you are, you know to always hold your breath when you walk through a portal. That's not going to help you if you don't find something to breath quickly though.
Darkvision isn't going to help you here. All you can see is mud lots and lots of mud. Of course, you only see that for a second anyway, because this sludge is not the kind of stuff you want to expose your eyes to. Baba, incidentally, may find this place to be a little bit stifling in more ways than one.
Kadar gropes out to find the bound space of the portal on the slim chance that it's still open or he has something on him which will open it.
[search check]
OOC -Some questions regarding portals:
Is it possible to know just from observation if this is a one way or two way portal?
If someone has the key and walks "half of the way into the portal...will it keep the portal open?
Now back to M`rek
M`Rek aproaches the scumbag nutty vendor hopefully without being recognized/seen (in the crowd he is approaching the vendor from a blind side, and even if seen he will be in the guise of a small "ordinary" denizen of Sigil...two layers of protection)
Once he is close enough he will reach with his spike to uncomfortably prod the other man genital "area" (not wanting to assume anything here) and say with a wide toothy smile:
"Those are my friends you "misgated" out there, you better have a way to bring them back ... soonest, or I will be sending a different sort of nuts down that balcony...did I mention that Nathri spikes are poisonous too? You won`t be able to raise your voice, let alone your apendages, after I am finished with you...now, open that stinking whole!"
As he does that, M`rek will also reach with his other hand and palm any small sized weapon, wand, key or otherwise other small valuable item he has on his person...so as to preempt any idea he might have to "reach for it"...
Here are the rolls:
Disguise 33
hide 35
Bluff 30 (for the lie about nathri impotence inducing poison, and to enable intimidation)
Intimidate 12
sleight of hands 16
Here is the link
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=874447
OOC: So, I guess Linji never got to steal Kadar's legumes, oh, well...
Duckluck, are we free-floating in the 'mud' of is there some ground (and associated is the question of whether there is subjective gravity).
And while Linji is trying to figure that out (which shouldn't be that hard considering his travel with subjective gravity), he'll try and attempt a Controll check to push out the mud, or transmute it to air (its unlikely that its a morphic plane, but, heh, you never know).
Control check: 14
Linji, Kadar, and Baba: The pressure on you is disturbingly similar to being buried alive, so it's hard to tell which way is pointed "down." That said, you definitely seem to be moving, whether it is gravity or just a current is rather dificult to determine. In addition to locating one another, your attempts at groping through the mud yield more mud, several rocks, and what feels suspiciously like a tin can. Nothing solid though, which is bad as you are only a couple minutes away from asphyxiation, and any attempts to control the much through willpower alone seem doomed to failure.
M`rek: {There are non-magical ways to find out if the Portal is one-way or not, but it takes ranks in Planar Expertise. Also, there's no going half-way through a portal, as portals are holes in reality that don't, strictly speaking, take up any space. This particular portal doesn't even have the decency to present itself before you're in it.}
The man's eyes bulge and he stammers, "Th-they're j-just peanuts, sir." Several bystanders start turn to look at M`rek. When M'rek goes for his pocket though, he immediately shouts and shoves the Nathri back.
M`rek: {There are non-magical ways to find out if the Portal is one-way or not, but it takes ranks in Planar Expertise. Also, there's no going half-way through a portal, as portals are holes in reality that don't, strictly speaking, take up any space. This particular portal doesn't even have the decency to present itself before you're in it.}
The man's eyes bulge and he stammers, "Th-they're j-just peanuts, sir." Several bystanders start turn to look at M`rek. When M'rek goes for his pocket though, he immediately shouts and shoves the Nathri back.
Ok: the situation seems to warrant some clarification on position and options:
M'rek aproached the peanut guy from behind, the idea is to treathen him unconspicuously, he would have aproached from the back and stuck his spike on the man's "gonads" reaching from between his legs, he would only have felt the pinprick and heard the voice, and bystanders would have a hard time noticing it too (that was the point of the rolls for disguise and hide on the 30's...) I admit that he probably would not have been terribly scared with my low intimidate roll (12, but didi you give M'rek any bonus for litterally holding the bloke's balls in his hand?), and my attempt to "frisk"him for weapons or such might have sounded strange (if he is innocent), but does he really want to attack a guy with a knife to his balls?? From the back?? If he is this nutty, what are my options game mechanic wise? (D&D is not very usefull for these situations). I do not want to kill him if I do not have to...Can I make an attack to subdue him? Probably with the 2d6 sneak bonus? Do I get an attack of oportunity too, since he is attacking unarmed? I do not want to draw too much atention from the crowd...but want him to do what I want...(which will become clear presently) should I just prick him again for good measure? Attempt a sleight of hands to do so withou attracting the crowd's attention? What are my options here? Will he abort the attempt to push me if I stop frisking him once I realise he has no weapons? Or does he value his valuables more than his balls?"By the way, was my 16 sleight of hands so low that he noticed what I was doing and WAS able to prevent it or did I find anything, weapons or something interesting or incriminating/out of place on his person (note that I was not going primarilly for his pockets but mainly for his belt in true police style...)
Also I do not understand why he mentioned the peanuts, I did not mention them to him, I do not know that they open the portal, I just saw the man pointing the balcony to them and then they disapeared into something nasty...I am assuming he is responsible. Now, his mentioning the peanuts might be a misunderstanding or a slip of his tongue... so I'll assume the funest:
"What are you blaberring about peanuts for cutter?? I asked about the portal yonder, where you sent my friends to a nasty death...and if you do not want to lose your balls you better keep it to a civilised tone and move in the direction of that balcony now...yes....easy does it, smile for those nice folks out there..now...reach out and open this portal, or I am throwing you in there one limb at a time...
Please tell me what I'll have to roll, if anything toget the game going...
Umm. You have to make an attack roll to grab people's gonads, so I figured you were just menacing him, and the crowd is looking because he immediately started yelling. Also, everyone in Sigil has gotten pickpocketed at least once, so most people have a good notion of what to do in that situation, in this case, pushing you away and shouting. You're right though, the rules aren't very good at this sort of thing.
Of course, whether you had grabbed his testes or not, he would have yelled and ran, so, sorry, but it looks like you're out of luck in the stealth department.
Linji pees himself (Haha, he thinks, I have transmuted the very nature of the plane of Ooze, with planar convulence of quasipsuedoelement of Urine!).
OOC: ok, Linji figures were in the plane of Ooze, which is bad. So, unless some external force comes and saves us (or we find another portal serendiptiously), Linji has 25 rounds left of air=life.
So, Linji does what is only natural (after peeing himself, that is): he fumbles for one of his bananas and peels it, and lets it float in the ooze as a sacrifice, mentally praying to great Bwimb the Second in all of her Ooziness.
Ok, thanks
Seeing that time is running fast, and not sure if his friends were even able to breathe in that plane they are seemingly trapped into, M`rek`s actions take on a more desperate tone,
As the vendor tries to run/or push him he strikes with his spike, runing its nasty point across the man`s inner thigh but sparing his "jewells", for the moment:
Hit ac 18 (not counting any circumstance bonuses you might want to throw in), damage 8 , needs save with dc 11, or lose 1d2 dex and 1d2 int
(here is the link: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=875949)
Assuming it hits, next action will require an initiative roll?
in any case total would be: 21
In his next action, assuming that his oponent is still next to him, likely on account of the crowd and his initiative:
he will use a free action to say:
"I am not playing with you here cutter, you open that portal or you will die today!. Who put you up to this, or was it your idea of fun"
He is now openly treathening the guy, if he does not comply, M`rek will attack again:
Ac 27, damage 12 (if he got sneak bonus because of high init, or 2 otherwise, and same saves...)
link:
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=875981
He will do this for one round, if the guy does manage to run awaydespite his best efforts he will not pursue (for now), but use his detect magic ability to look around and see if the vendor left anything behind that might be used to open the portal...
M`rek: The man limps away yelling and bleeding profusely, but is seemingly unaffected by the poison. The crowd backs away and the Festhall Guards, big men in brightly colored armor, come running in from the lobby. This would be a good time to run.
Linji: Inexplicably, your "offerings" to the ooze fail to accomplish anything besides cluttering up an already disgusting sludge. Perhaps you should try moving around, if for no other reason than to get out of your own urine.
M`rek
As the man limps away and the guard approaches, M`rek simply mutters in annoyance:
"rats!"
Since, however he was attacking the sallow bastard disguised, he will basically just turn around the corner, wipe the blood from his spur and return to the "crime scene" as someone else, a wealthy person this time. He will take advantage of the fact to see if any of the things left by the man (including any left over peanuts) show up as magical (he wants to open the portal again...).
Also, if the vendor was just an inocent tool, he will probably stop runing when the guards aproach and his assailant runs...if so, he also might have some strange portal key on his person of which he is unaware of...which M`rek would like to check out...
OOC- Just for my information, did M`rek give the running guy one or two stabs? How did you run the encounter?
Kadar decides to begin moving against the current/gravity and slightly off to the side. If it turns out that this stuff does have a surface he figures he'll find it that way.
Trying not to gag (and waste precious air) Kadar tugs gently on his companions shoulders to let them know where he's going and begins to swim/burrow/move up through the sludge.
Linji will attempt to swim against whatever current seems to extant -otherwise, just attempting to swim/burrow in direction Kadar's touch seemed to indicate.
(Not sure if you need a roll)
[Shh, don't talk about Baba! Just kind've pretend he's there but being quiet and then ignore him utterly until OF resurfaces.]