Planescape Chronicle

Herein find recorded the Great Deeds of Heroes.

A session by session log of the Planescape Nights campaign.

2016-03-30 - The Bard Now Known As Prince Again

The party has a reflective walk through the Cobalt Forest. While Joran gives Marby a few pointers on magecraft, Grodd runs into a barbarian who had fallen through a portal. They have a friendly fight, but afterwards become friendly towards each other. Hikari sees the forest with new eyes, remembering the lessons her mentor had given her the last time she had seen him.

As they approached the edge of the forest, those begifted with sensitive noses began to scent an acute smell of smoke. Determining it wasn't just Zevine, the party rushed ahead to find that the village at the crossroads of the Queen's Road and the Old Road had been raided and burned.

They continue on to find that Ajahn's Cup Monastery had been battered, but not destroyed. The monk left in charge of the Monastery, after getting over his shock at seeing Jaxson alive and well, informs the party of the marauders from the east who had attacked the realm, including that Jaxson's family, including the Queen of Ezethae, had been poisoned. The party spends the night at the monastery.

The next day they continue on to Ezethae itself. At the gates, the guards recognize Jaxson as Prince and provide him an honor guard to the palace. The party distributes food and money to some of the people of the city along the way, and Jaxson speaks against a rabble-rouser in the square outside the palace.

Inside the palace they proceed directly to the throne room from whence the Regency Council has been running the realm. On the council are: Abbot Norry, Chancellor Vulmon, and Rector Aldis. Joran sets to work to see if he can help the royal family, who are all unconscious due to the poisoning, and Prince Jaxson starts giving the Regency Council direction and orders to help put the realm back on its feet.

2016-03-16 - The Return

Where did those monsters come from anyway?

The party returns to Eileen and collects a reward for the extra trouble of fighting the larger-than-expected neophyte air creatures. They also collect Hikari, who is wandering around with a splitting headache.

After a bit of shopping and lunch, they then find Joran and present to him the Portal Device with the final planar readings. (Meanwhile Jaxson, Grodd, and Zevine try, without success, to break into his office.) He wants to leave immediately. No one has any objections, so they do.

The group finds a quiet corner of the Guildhall Ward to anchor the portal in Sigil, and then enter it to anchor the other side. Joran had given an explanation of the process that varied from tediously complex to handwavey, but the gist of part of it was that due to feedback in the anchoring process, some creatures may be ejected from the portal from the opposing planes of the subanchoring planes they had taken readings from.

The party indeed soon does battle with first a trio of earth elementals, and then a horde of devils. When Zevine struck a critical hit on the last remaining devil, there was some interaction with her own demonic blood and it was slain instantly. At this, a huge, bone-white devil stepped forth from the portal. Before it could react, however, Joran sealed it away with his magic while Hikari and Grodd each took a parting shot at it.

Joran declined to offer much of an explanation at the time, but stated that the portal was now anchored and was safe for regular use. He then requested a tour of the Dathan's homeland. The Dathans began to talk up the nearby brewery/monastery, and planned to stop there first.

2016-03-09 - Where There's Smoke..

The party leaves Hikari to her hangover, and seeks a way to the Plane of Air. Larissa leads them to Eileen, a Sensate and wizard specializing in elemental magic. Eileen can help them, in exchange for a small favor - the party must locate and slay some neonate air creatures and return their remains to her.

Armed with information on the portal location, the party heads out. On the way, they detect the distinct odor of woodsmoke, but see no fire. Following their noses, they find a woman with dark grey skin training with a dagger who seems to be the source of the smokey scent. They recognize her - she was one of the workers in the tomb where they found Vaeril's text. She explains that after her experience there, she wanted to train so that she would never be so helpless again. Jaxson takes her on as his protege and she joins the party on their quest.

Once on the Plane of Air, the party quickly encounters a group of the creatures Eileen described. Eventually, the party is victorious over the creatures, and returns with their remains back to Sigil.

2016-03-02 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Portal

After meeting back up with Marby, the party learns that, with the help of information from Structure of Sigil, Joran only needs readings from two more planes, an outer plane and an inner plane.

The party decides to take a trip to Arborea for their outer plane reading. Outside the Civic Festhall they make a brief stop to listen to Vixa's playing a small outdoor show. Jaxson makes flirty faces at her, and she returns them, but Jaxson notices that someone in the crowd does not appreciate this. After some gentle prodding from Grodd, they finally get underway to Arborea. On the way, they stumble upon Shaamikh's Shop of Wonders. Hikari decides to go to a bar while everyone else checks it out. The shop is full of all the things that none of them can afford at this time. They did, however, learn that Shaamikh may accept information in trade as well as coin. When the party leaves, it seems that time has had a strange effect on them.

They meet back up with Hikari, who tries to lead them to the portal down to the gate towns, but she is too drunk to navigate the winding paths of Sigil. Larissa leads them instead, and helps motivate Hikari (along with some more 'gentle' prodding from Grodd) to keep moving along instead of joining a party on the way.

After passing through Sylvania and it's gate, they make it to Arborea. Jaxson sets up to outplay all the drunken revelers and is well appreciated for his show. Marby, Grodd, and Larissa set up the portal device in a semi-private spot nearby. Meanwhile, Hikari wanders off and gets into/instigates a general brawl. She crawls away, barely conscious, and makes it back to the group just in time for the weather to change suddenly, putting a damper on the festivities. They retreat to cover and Hikari passes out.

After the portal device signals the completion of its scan, they return to Sigil, shoving a still-unconscious Hikari into her bed.

2016-02-10 - All's Well that Ends Morel

While Joran and Marby continue work on the Portal Device and applying lessons learned from Vaeril's text, the others go on a field trip to a plane called Hombarien.

On their way to the portal in the Lower Ward, they see a well-dressed man thrown out of the window of a much less well-dressed establishment. The man is a bit out of it, so in the process of saving him from a pummeling, Jaxson pockets the man's money pouch. They put him up in an inn on his own silver so he can sleep it off.

After entering the portal, and smartly deciding not to destroy the portal and trap themselves on this new plane, they head to a nearby town and speak to a guard about the environs. They take his direction and head south on a road that leads into a mountain tunnel. In the tunnel, Grodd and Hikari subsist on the local fare of mushrooms while Jaxson tries to convince them that hard tack is much more delicious. On the second day of their journey, Grodd and Hikari find giant 6 foot tall mushrooms while looking for food. The mushrooms attack them! Grodd has another close call with death.

They make it into the city and avail themselves of the local temple's healing. Then, after Hikari buys a battle-tankard, it is straight to a merchant's tavern where Jaxson makes a big show for the patrons about their battle with the giant fungi, and how their parts can be sold on other planes for a great profit. He talks a group of young merchants into investing in his venture in exchange for a portion of the profits.

After striking the deal, our 'heroes' skip town the next morning and return to Sigil.

2016-02-03 - Training Montage

Jaxson meets a Sensate bard named Vixa and tours the taverns of the Clerk's Ward learning her songs and the manners of Sigil. Hikari finds her mentor Norendal in the Outlands for a refresher on the finer points of tracking. Marby trains with Joran and then assists with studying the Portal Device's data and other research.

Meanwhile, Grodd enters a tournament and wins first prize by the skin of his teeth.

2016-01-27 - Into the Crypt of the Neckbeardmancer

The party continues into the crypt.

After ruining a ritual circle and smashing skeletal bodies which were set aside to be animated, Hikari gets Jaxson to stop playing his lute long enough to hear what sounds like non-undead people talking. They find a room, barred from the inside. It turns out to be full of the workers that were hired to excavate parts of the crypt and do other work for the necromancer who is operating out of this crypt. Jaxson lets them know that the party is totally not skeletons, and they open the door, relieved to be able to return to their homes and lives of abject poverty. One of the workers is a woman with ashen skin and the slight hint of smoke about her. She tells the party about a secret door she discovered while working in the crypt, which leads to the room the necromancer is using as his study.

The party continues on their way into the crypt, coming quickly to the door described by the workers as leading to the necromancer's study. Jaxson uses his partially-keen half-elven senses to locate the secret door, and Hikari slips into the passage. At the end of the passage she finds another door, leading to the study. She listens at the door and hears the necromancer practicing the monologue he intends to give when the party breaks down his door.

Hikari returns to the party and they make a plan to attack the necromancer from both doors, with Hikari, Marby, and Larissa surprising him from the secret door at the back of the study. The plan works absurdly well.

From a journal and other books on his desk, the party learns that he was a member of the Dustmen who was dissatisfied with Mortuary life, and ran away after stealing some books and other items. He planned to set himself up with an army of undead and totally get back at all the people who had wronged him in his life.

Among the other items in the room, a book the color and texture of char, with silver inlaid design and text on the cover. The text on the cover and inside the book is in a script unknown to the party.

Hikari makes a brief side trip to the Mortuary to return some items the necromancer stole, and then they all meet back at the Civic Festhall. They find Joran in the middle of a magical experiment, but when his assistant, Lily, shows him the book, he drops everything to study it and speak to the party.

Everyone but Grodd seems to have learned a lot from this experience, and they feel ready to reflect on what they have learned and absorb new instruction in their skills and abilities.

2016-01-20 - Which Table Do I Use to Find My Save Versus Tables?

The group gathers and ventures forth into the catacombs. After putting down a couple of groups of skeletons, the party is taken by surprise by another set of skeletons which seemed to be ready and waiting for them. Strange sounds from somewhere haunt the party occasionally.

They continue deeper into the crypts.

2016-01-13 - Visions in the Dark

After Hikari joins them at the bakery for breakfast, the group then goes to Joran's office to collect the portal device and get started on the quest to return them to their home.

When they get to his office, they find that Larissa is already there, with an offer for Jaxson. If he can ensure that their clerics are allowed to wander his realm, the Church of Celestian will offer divination services that may assist in stabilizing the portal to Datha. Jaxson states honestly that he has no authority to make promises, but doesn't think it would be a problem.

The group then follows Larissa, with the portal device, to a portal in the Lady's Ward. Using the key of the feeling of wonderment about something greater than yourself, they enter the portal to the Wandering Temple of Celestian. They walk in this partially outdoor temple of perpetual night to a special building where Priestess Nahira awaits them.

She answers three questions for them using Divination:

1. Jaxson asks broadly about finding the way home: Nahira tells him of a dark book imbued with evil, in the City of Doors under the stones that run with poverty.
2. Grodd asks how he can find his family again: He is already on a path to return to his homeland, he could find them west of the empty vault of silver, being swept about the land as the wind itself sweeps the land.
3. Marby asks how they can acquire the book mentioned in answer to Jaxson's question: With blood and crushed bone they will find the book.

Additionally, Hikari questions her on what her favorite food is. It is a food from Limbo whose taste changes based on the belief of the eater, and the vagaries of the plane itself.

Afterwards they wait out the portal device's scan of the plane and return to Sigil. It is night, even though they left in the morning and were only gone about three hours. They go to bed.

They start on their way to the Hive the next day when a Tiefling runs into Jaxson and tries to hand off some kind of stone egg to him. He, being paranoid, drops it on the ground and looks around to see the Mercykillers apparently on their way after this guy. Marby collects the egg and they all get out of the way until the Mercykillers pass.

They continue on to the Hive (where the stones run with poverty) and go to a bar called "The Ugly Maid" to see if there is any news that will help them find the book's location. Through various means they uncover that there has been a construction project (or deconstruction) and that there is an elf making an awful lot of noise about what might be going on inside of it.

They find the elf and the construction materials where the rumors said they would, and the elf tells Jaxson that it is actually the entrance to a crypt where his wife, dead for 300 years, lies interred. He warns that there are skeletons of the interred dead wandering the crypt now.

They gather their party to venture forth.

2016-01-06 - I'm at the bear, getting drunk!

The group makes their way into the forest and find the cave near where the portal had been. Inside they find.. a black bear! Who, it turns out, probably just wants her cubs to be left alone. Hikari calms her, and they set up camp outside where the portal had been.

After a few hours, everyone but Marby and Larissa had gotten drunk. The two are examining the experimental portal device that Joran gave to Hikari and Larissa. Marby uses her arcane knowledge to start figuring out the device, when suddenly the red crystal lights up again - something that Larissa remembers from when they first used the device to get to Datha. Larissa excitedly tells Marby to activate the device, and she does.

The entire group is pulled into a portal, and find themselves falling to the ground. They are inside a large ballroom, full of well-dressed people obviously in the middle of a party. Hikari recognizes Lady Winfrith, who also recognizes her. Winfrith wants them gone, clearly, but they are saved when Joran appears out of the crowd and tells Winfrith that he had sent them to do a task for him, and something had clearly gone wrong. He takes the portal device, herds them out of the mansion, and tells the group to come see him the next day at the Civic Festhall.

The group is left on the street, and Hikari leads them to her favorite tavern in the Clerk's Ward - Plane Crazy. Inside, they order a round and Jaxson immediately tries to pull a scam on some patrons. The potential marks he selects start threatening violence to him, and he decides to try again some other day.

Eventually they all return to the Civic Festhall and the next morning the Dathans go to Joran's office. After studying the device's readings, he diagnosis the portal as "definitely wandering" and suggests that if they help him with his research, then he can try to stabilize the portal.

They agree, and go get breakfast at The Philosopher's Scone, where they meet Hikari.

2015-12-30 - I'm at the bar, getting drunk!

Hikari and her 'friend' Larissa are sent to use an experimental new device to collect information on portal transit for Joran the wizard. After a scuffle in the Hive, they accidentally activate the device and enter an unknown portal. (SPOILER ALERT: It led to Datha.) After encountering a bear, the two run out of the area and head north, lucking upon an old road, and then a small village where...

Jaxson and his new friend Grodd are heading east into Ezethae (not into the city proper, the guards might recognize Jaxson!) and to a monastery that Jaxson favors for their excellent beers and wines. At a tavern on the way, Jaxson cons a merchant into purchasing a Snipe from him. A gnome, Marby Fizzlesprocket, comes down from her room and the three most interesting people at the bar get to talking. Marby displays a wink wink nudge nudge interest in going to the nearby Colbalt Forest where she thinks she may be able to find some rare magical reagents.

At this point, two women enter the tavern, one of them, the one with fox ears and nine tails, starts asking about portals and cities full of doors. After a bit of convincing, Jaxson, Grodd, and Marby agree to go into the forest with them to help sort out this bear at least, and see what happens.

So, instead, they all set out to sample the monastery's production. Abbot Norry greets Jaxson in the shrine to Ajahn, and takes them to the taphouse. After selling the group some alcohol and drinking a round with them, the abbott has to get back to work, and the group heads south into the forest to see if they can run off or kill this bear.

Hey wait, is this a callback or something?

2015-12-16 - Initial session

Characters mostly created and preliminary information discussed.