Posted a summary for reference, since it's been a long time since some of this happens.
In the huddle, Zhegre would propose that 1000pp is nice, but they were offered 20%, not 10%, and he thinks it's reasonable to interpret that as our group getting input -- including a veto -- on any drastic plans involving the orb. We may need it in a hurry if it turns out to be involved with out mission, such as this "Mythal" the kobolds on Acheron are looking for, or something involved with the Spirelight. He'd also want some leverage to see that it wasn't misused.
This does seem like an issue it would be most appropriate to take up tomorrow with the High One, or whenever our promised meeting is to happen.
. Oh, and if they and the world survive he'll invite them to visit his home village of Gemstone Gardens on the Elemental Plane of Earth for tea at his Uncle Phelin's.
The Decision.
Day 1:
Kadar (a fiend-tiefling Cipher tout) is attacked by a fake-Clueless werebear (which is odd, since they are usually good, like Ursinals). He loses him. The Cadence then says there is something very important he must do in Greenwell Plaza. (This is a large Ooze portal in the Hive, the first of many plot signposts in the direction of Ooze.)
Baba Smith (currently of Tradegate but from Fire), a gnome fire/summoner mage, is attacked by an undead mind flayer. He flees.
Linji (a Xaositect githzerai) is attacked by a party of apparently-confused githyanki. They seem to have known the werebear, which kills some of them offscreen, while the others flee. She meets up with Kadar, whom she knows, and they help rescue Baba from the Greenwell portal.
Cortek, a zenthyri, is attacked by an organized party of kobolds. They seem to be trying to capture him alive, but are willing to use deadly force if necessary. Their commander says they are seeking the Mythal, which "may be the last hope for the Planes." He seems to think Cortek is one of some "little band of (ex-Harmonium) traitors", which Cortek's brother may be involved with (and for which the kobolds have two legions combing Acheron). The commander has direct orders from the High One to find the Mythal.
M'Rek, a nathri (barghest-touched) spellthief, is victim of an attempted mugging. He loses them and gets in touch with Cortek at a bar. M'Rek, who was sent on a quest by his people's spirits (via S'leykh) regarding the Hissing Prophet, may also be seeking this Mythal. The barkeep, from Toril where the things were invented, knows Mythals are "like powerful magical batteries" (powerful enough to power floating cities, and small enough to be looted) which could nearly destroy a crystal sphere.
-----
Around midnight:
M'Rek meets up with the group, and asks further about the prophecy. He claims someone "will fight the Hissing one for the sake of everything." Apparently Linji, or one of his ancestors, is known to the Nathri people. Cortek joins the Sodkillers, learning that the Sodkillers have subdued the mind flayer and the githyanki were taken in by the watch. (CORTEK DROPS THROUGH PLOT HOLE)
The group sans Cortek heads to the Festhall, encountering the kobolds again (comment: Kobolds are rare on Acheron). They learn there is an upcoming talk on the Spirelight. They crash at Kadar's place.
-----
Day 2:
The group heads to the Festhall. Someone hands Baba, Kadar and Linji nuts and directs them through what turns out to be a portal to Ooze keyed by them. M'Rek is thrown through too. The current sweeps them to a destroyed Temple of Athena. Zhegre falls through an Ooze portal in the Hive, and joins them in the same way. The rogue modron P&~P also arrives, on task from the Guvners.
They meet a sickly old man, who tells them the Spirelight has a month before it overtakes the Outlands. He quotes the Prophecy, "'When Spire's flame melts Wee Jas' wall, the barrier will shatter, and end us all.' The man who said that is the only one who really knows what's going on and the one you must stop him! Destroy his body and erase his soul that is what you must do." He proposes that the Hissing Prophet be brought to the Temple and thrown into his Sphere of Annihilation, to stop the Prophecy coming true. He claims the Powers arranged for the group to be brought together for this purpose. The Guvners who recorded the Prophecy may be able to help them find the Prophet.
The portal back to the Outlands requires that they take an oath to preserve and embrace the forces of entropy. They take the oath. The unstable portal vanishes, leaving Linji behind. The rest of the group makes for Bedlam to get back to Sigil and talk to the Guvners. They meet the shad rogue Polp, an old friend of Zhegre's, in a small town called Passway, which has a portal to Eberron.
-----
Day 3
They wake up to find that the portal to Eberron has closed. A group from there (a mage named Zil, a nature-loving cat-person named B'Sil, a warforged, and a dwarf with a mohawk) is now stranded. They had found the "Gem of Chaos" and wish to return to Khorvaire -- apparently it was to save them from kobolds attacking them from space with intent to liberate the kobolds of Eberron living under squalid conditions. They had extending spears, similar to those that attacked Cortek. The gem was retrieved from a cave on the Outlands with bodies that had been stripped of everything *except* the Gem.
On the Outlands, they meet a Rilmani that calls them "servants of imbalance" that "bear the mark of entropy"; he was told they would come and seeks to kill them. He says that the version of the prophecy they heard from the old man on Ooze is wrong, and that there may not even be a true one. The one M'rek heard, however, should be right. He was looking for champions, and possibly the Eberronians would fill the role. He asks them to find the Prophet and his Prophecy, and says *we* know where to find him! He claims the old man of Ooze is not who he says he is, and tells us to be off.
A lady in Bedlam directs them to a portal to Sigil, calls the Spirelight "Sigilight," and says her grandfather said Sigil is both the lock and the key. Hilaren shows up through a random portal. They collect him and return to Sigil. P&~P heads offscreen. They get some sleep that night.
-----
Day 4: Zhegre takes a few quiet moments to write a letter to Rodina regarding recent events, asking offhandedly about any disruptions of magic in the way of inhibitions or planar connections. Zhegre learns that the Sunken Temple was ripped from Sigil one night when the priests gave shelter to an unknown faction that was being pushed out as one of the fifteen, accompanied by a quake, screams, and torrents of blood.
Hilaren gets in Clueless trouble, and (ex-)Factor Duckluck of the Fraternity of Order arrests him. (Offhand comment: Duckluck is from Backwater, where Rodina is, and his cousin in a great druid there.) Hilaren is sentenced to community service and probation, with Duckluck as his parole officer.
The group meets up at the Hands of Time at peak. Aloric, a psionic dwarf known to Zhegre, joins up. They are directed to the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment for word on the prophecy. Baba and P&~P have not rejoined them. Zhegre, Kadar, and M'Rek are divined to have been "corrupted by some sort of entropic radiation."
The Hissing Prophet uttered Semi-Confirmed Prophecy 8661, recorded by Duckluck, and is cataloged as "anonymous" prophet; the "Hissing" bit seems to be Doomguard propaganda. The recorded prophecy is, "When Infinity's Sword pierces Wee Jas' wall / The barrier will break and doom us all. / And after it shatters with a Horrific Crack, / The Maimed One's Mirror will turn things back."
That evening, back in Sigil, (ex-)Factor Duckluck sends Hilaren and M'Rek after Slemnore's Sword, an object in the demiplanes "that is said to be able to exist outside time and has the power to stop the unstoppable." According to Duckluck, the anonymous prophet rushed in frantically forty-five years ago, delivered the prophecy, and left without his secretary noticing. He suggests they ask the kobold High One at the Sandstone Citadel that they've recently set up just outside of Rigus.
A priest at the temple of the Dwarven pantheon says Zhegre's oath wouldn't normally leave an aura unless it were taken in a place where the forces of entropy were extremely powerful, and even then he would probably have to seal it with a destructive act. (Personal note: the Sunked Temple does seem to be such a place, given its backstory, and tossing someone into a sphere of annihilation would seem to be such an act!)
-----
Day 5
The remaining group heads to Automata. They see that the Spirelight is advancing, causing refugees. They arrive late in the day at the Sandstone Citadel, where a tout directs them to the tavern Kurtulmak's Spear to contact Driak'ttl, the Minister of Mining, who would be willing to talk to dwarves. She agrees to provide them contact with the High One (and a military oficial, since it sounds like a military op) in exchange for finding out what has attacked a mining party in a recently opened tunnel deep down.
Day 6
The party descends, around evening. There is a tough fight against fire elementals, minor demons, and a Disciple of Alzrius, which was responsible for an ancient race's destruction at this site before it was trapped in a deep sanctum (and has since been occasionally released to wreak havoc on the latest inhabitants of the site). They confirm the fate of the dead miners, survive, and head back up bearing an orb that remains after they resist the temptations of the sanctum. The orb, Kadar senses, is "an artifact of supreme magical power and metaphysical import"; it responds to an input of positive energy with a blast of positive energy, healing people's wounds and fixing their equipment, and an offhand wish for their enemies to be ashes by turning their enemies' corpses to ashes.
About midnight, they exit the tunnels. There is discussion as to what to do with the orb.