Drummer (Planescape)

The Universal Temple of the Queen of Heaven

Drummer's Adventure Log

Cycle 1

Valeria found me at a bar and offered room at their house. There I met Orsic and Stormy. All were decent and orderly people. A tiefling carpenter/wizard's apprentice asked them to take a message to a wizard in the Planewalkers Guild via a gate. The plane where the wizard (Oriam Drasellia) lives at the Endless Stairs. To get there whe most go through The Gate of the Moon to a plane ruled by a single moon. The gate only open when that moon is full and requires an ounce of silver as component. The gate to the wizard is in the palace of the goddess Selune, a moon god. The first gate is a garden gate in the Guildhall Ward. We end up in a cave at a sea shore in dense, clean air. There's a village near by, so we head there. Among the silver grey dressed locals (humans & half-elves) there are two strangers; a half-orc and a red dragonborn. They tell us we're on an island and that the palace is the only othe place of interest here.

The gate of the palace is guarded by a four meter silver golem, but it lets us pass. The palace is silent and without echoes. A female humanoid made of silver flame greets us and leads us the correct gate. It is a door marked with the symbol of infinity. From the door appears a hybrid being; half human, half-snake, with feathered wings. It says it is one of the Lillendi, guardians of the Endless Stairs. The Endless Stairs connect places or art and creativity. The stair leads single travellers to where their heart desires.

The gate leads to a 60 m diameter silver platform, with two sets of spiraling stairs leading up. There are some vines and more lillendi. The lillendi guiding us takes us up the stairs and past more platforms. We climb for more than six hours. The illendi says that the doors here are two-way gates and that their decorations help to guess where they lead. We reach a 20 m platform with a small encampment. There a two dozen people there, including a minotaur and a centaur. The minotaur is the guild's leader and called Thain. He says that the guild's headquarters used to be in Sigil, but politics and competition drove them to the Endless Stairs. He tells us that Oriam had left a week ago, but Yardom (a human man) may know where he is. He says that Oriam left with his lover Shavanistra to map the ”Blue Mushrooms” zone of the stairs. Female tiefling called Caert is heading the same way and can lead us there.

While travelling to the Blue Mushroom zone we encounter another member of the Guild of Plane Travellers, a female satyr. She had not seen Oriam, but saw some lillendi who warned that the area has become unstable. When we reach the blue mushrooms, Orsic finds large claw marks. The stairs show more and more damage, and illumination grows dimmer, but pulsing. Whole steps are missing from the stairs, and a 5 m piece of metallic stairs is missing. Railings are more intact, but there are claw marks everywhere. Orsic leaps over the gap in the railing and attaches a rope for us to cross. Soon we hear a cacophony ahead. It raises from a piping monstrosity sitting on a chair and suurounded by five more seemingly enjoying this racket. We find no signs of Oriam, and check the gate at the platform. It leads to a cave in a desert. We return and continue the stairs downward. The darkness and mist grow thicker and we see more marks of damage by large claws. Up more stairs Orsic sees four more cacophones and an armored human. They create a pillar of stone in the stairs, blocking them, but Orsic manages to climb back. Her returns and someone throws a copper sphere towards us. Snake heads from the sphere bite, but I shoot one of them. After the battle we climb over the stone pillar and once we've passed it, it disappears.

We check a door on th eplatform and find a storeroom with signs of habitation. We want to go further, but are stopped a human female called Shavanistra, priestess of Athena. She talks about her sisters, who are invisible (or non-existent). Others think she may be insane. She tells that deeper in the rooms are illithids. Orsic says that illithids eat brains and memories. The woman does not recognize the name Oriam, but says that the damged stairs up lead to a great big demon. Orsic scouts ahead and sees great demon. It is a Glabrezu, and Riaron would like to go and talk to it challenge it into a game of wits. The demon has made a nest out of broken metal stairs. There is also a half-flayed female human body in the nest where the demon sleeps. We cannot go above the demon as the stairs are broken, but the demon's nest platform is teetering on the brink of falling down. We plan on dropping the whole platform with the demon by throwing more stote pillars on the nest. Riaron drinks the potion of flying we found from Shavanistra. He flies to a platform above the demon's nest and throws stone pillar stones to the nest. He also spots Oriam on the higher platform and brings him down. When the nest starts to fall, the demon leaves for home. Oriam tells that Shavanistra was always an eccentric and summoned the demon here.

When we return to the Guild of Plane Travellers camp. Oriam rewards us for saving his life. The lillendi take Shavanistra and ask us to help by checking seven doors where they have felt someone is destroying art. We agree on this quest, but first rest for a night and return to Sigil.

In Sigil we sell some of our loot. I equip myself with better arms and go seek a faction that interests me. Society of Sensation looks to be offering some of the things that I'm lacking; an escape from the memories of war. I also seek a deity to follow and get confused with the many names of Hannahanna, Hebat, Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite or Venus. The syncretist Unified Temple of The Lady of Heaven claim that they all are one and the same goddess, worshipped under different names on different prime planes.

Cycle 2

A friendly priest tells us that a renowned dwarven sage who lnows a lot about the planes has died. His soul should be found in the dwarven mountain heaven. Some of my house-mates wish to be able to return to their home planes and wish to learn from the sage. I will join them on their quest. From the priest we hear that the gate to the mountain can be opened with a dwarven hammer. Our dwarves make some hammers so that we may enter. We travel to the slums of Sigil and pass thru numerous dwarf workshops on our way to the gate. Next we end into underground tunnels. I'm told that we're already in the dwarven heaven. I can't really tell the dead dwarves from the living; all of them are constantly toiling. The venerable curate Pyrus is supposed to know where our sage is. The name of the sage is Zheraqu. Pyrus tells us that due to a clerical error a few days a dead human who was supposed to end in Carceri/Tartarus was sent here. The dwarves threw him into Tartarus. Pyrus says that these errors happen from time to time. This is worrying news for me, as I have been told by priests that believers will always go to their respective plane after death. According to Pyrus Zheraqu must have ended in Carceri/Tartarus. On the other side of the permanent gate is a desolate and chilly place. There's a village nearby and a fortress on top of a mountain peak. We pass over a 60' bridge to reach the other side. The villagers are sullen and everything here's expensive. We should have brought some merchandize along to help them and to get them to cooperate. We continue on the second 400' bridge towards the fort. When we're halfway over the bridge, one of the locals starts chopping it's support ropes. He shouts something about a bridge toll of one gold per person. Aldier pays for all, but Riaron refuses to pay back. We continue up the mountain. Hisskiss guides our way. At a fork of the road we encounter a hill giant. The giant is called Tanaakka, and he's looking for his god Grolantor. We say that we can help him and he joins us. We continue higher and higher as twilight draws near. We spot a white marble temple. The temple is further away than it seemed, and massive. The temple belongs to the titan of mass, Crius. The stairs of the temple are giant scale, but Stormy spots a human scale set of stairs. Inside there is a huge glowing throne. From a side door a human sized humanoid enters with a broom. When we enter another small guy, a spear carrying guard intercepts us. He doesn't want us in as we're too tiny for his master. We think about bringing Tanaakka in, but someone remembers that titans and giants were on opposite sides of the war and are enemies. Riaron insults the guard and gets speared. Riaron blasts the guard with magic and Aldier prevents him from dying. Stormy, Kahjo-Olavi and Hisskiss storm in where the guard came from, and Riaron and the dwarves follow. I hide next to the white wall and prepare to defend the rear. The guards are defeated, some of them dying. While I stand guard, the others retreat outside to wait for Tanaakka. They interrogate the prisoners and find out where Zheraqu and Crius are. Luckily they are in different places in the temple. Tanaakka is afraid of Crius and runs away. We search the temple and find Zheraqu. He is imprisoned in a pure white room. He knows a gate back to Sigil.

Cycle 3

I spend some time experiencing the new sensation of taste. Together with Gundall I try the different restaurants and cuisines in Sigil. We discuss about what to do next, and decide to first go check out the Modron march in Arcadia. After that we should head for the Infinite Staircase for a quest that will pay the bills. I suspect that there should be others interested in seeing the march, so we ask around for a gate to Arcadia. We pay for a guide for the route, which starts at a small park. The key to the gate is a wreath of flowers. According to the Lillendi, one of the disturbances they detected was in Queen's Domain in Arcadia. Maybe they or the Planewalkers would pay for information on the disturbance or we could even solve it.

The gate in Arcadia is a door in a ruined house. Arcadia feels very nice, the sounds of bird calls and the lush vegetation is better than the descriptions we heard in Sigil. We can see Mount Celestia from here. There are no signs of the Modrons, so we head for higher ground. The goljat Crazy-Olaf talks to a small bird and learns that the Modrons are two days out. In the second night we're approached by a strange glowing orb. It speaks with us telepathically with a sound that sounds like the tinkling of tiny bells. It is called a Lantern Archon. It says that it's superior sent it to look for heroes to help. It illuminates a hidden path throught the woods and we follow it. The path leads to a silver lake and a silver platform with a marble arch. Standing on the platfrom is another, humanoid Sword Archon. It is verry beautiful and serene looking. Her name is Alsier. She tells that the Modrons have been affected by a chaotic taint, and they are afraid that the taint may be contagious. The Archons have been forbidden from contact with the Modrons. They want us to talk with the Modrons to prevent them from destroying the city of Heart's Faith by trampling over it. If we can get the Modrons to use the streets or even slow them enough to enable the city to be evacuated. Alsier asks us what kind of reward we would want. She sends another Lantern Archon to lead us to the Modrons.

By morning we see both the city and the Modron march. They look like a real army colonnade, with scouts in the front. We try to communicate with them and I have to answer to a lot of questions from them. A Pentatron at their head tells that they have an agreement with the city on the route. They even show us the contract, but it is a thousand years old! Unfortunately we don't have anything to write with, so we run for Hisskiss as he should have some as a scholar. We think that it's not possible to budge the Modrons from their route map, but the route seemed reasonable, so just evacuating any new buildings in the way should minimize damages. As their map is pretty abstract, we could fit some of the routes to the streets by stretching them slightly. We split to help in different city loactions at the same time. Gundall goes to evacuate the orphanage, Hisskissto the library and Crazy-Olaf to the guard house. I try to convince merchants to leave, but one family refuses to move an inch. Hisskiss sets some harbor warehouses on fire. The fire is a good excuse to get the merchants moving. Unfortunately some of them start to run toward the city gates, where the Modrons will be entering. Together with Gundall we get people to put out the fires even though Hisskiss is interfering by telling people to evacuate by ship. A huge crowd is gathering on the main street and blocking the Modrons' main route. They were in panic, thinking there was an attack in the harbor. I device a song to instruct them and the people start singing along, following the instructions in the words. Those who had left the city by the main gate towards to the Modron colonnade manage to return and we get them out of the Modrons' route. The mayor of Heart's Faith tries to challenge the approaching Modrons at the city gates. Their leader strikes him down, but Crazy-Olaf and Hisskiss get his body out of the way. They have to destroy a few Monodrons, and get chased by a band of 10 Modrons. Hisskiss burns many of them, but is badly hurt. Crazy-Olaf fights them well. When the higher Modrons are destroyed, the lower forms transform to higher ones to keep the leadership positions occupied! Some fanatical worshippers of Mitra want to die protecting the house of their prophet, but we talk them out of it and instead to save the holy artifacts. Some old men even try to fight to protect their tavern. The Modron colonnade marches though the city and dismantles the harbor to build a bridge to the gate above The Silver Sea. The Lammasu guard and Archon Alsier land after the Modrons have left. The city has suffered a lot of damage, but casualties are almost none.

Cycle 4

I hear from the others that they have saved an oracle who has given them three predictions. Two of them tell us where we could find help for the ”chaos plague” affecting the Modrons and more and one of them tells us of an enemy from Baator who's trying to stop us. Others tell us the plague has also been eating inspiration and art. Of the two quests we debate on which one to undertake; finding the book in the library near the Unclimbable Mountain, or the priest in the Swirling Realm (Limbo). We decide on Limbo, to be able to save a life, and also because they may already know how to cure the plague. The book may require some desciphering.

I seek out rumours of Limbo, but they all are second hand. No one wants to voluntarily enter Limbo. It changes constantly and can change instantly. A strong will can affect Limbo. It is inhabited by the Githzerai monks and the Slaadi. The Slaadi are chaos incarnate, xenophobic shapeshifters and evil guys. They are not easily affected by magic and strong fighters. The Githzerai are not evil and are actually pretty friendly if yuo're not an Illithid or a Githyanki. There are some Githzerai in Sigil, so I'll try to find one. One of them is at the Great Bazaar of Sigil and tells of techniques that the Githzerai use to concentrate in the Limbo. They agree to teach us the method and we do it. They recommend not to fight the Slaadi in Limbo and warns that the chaos changes spells unpredictably, especially the elements. None of the Planewalker's Guild who has gone to Limbo has returned. We equip as well as we can and head for the Infinite Stair.

On the other side of the door is a small building. Through it's windows we can see the eternally changing Limbo. We're able to form stable ground by concentrating, but travel is difficult. We have no way of navigating and no idea where to find the temple. Hisskiss the ranger tries to lead the way. After a few hours of traversing uphill we encounter a stabile round sand flat surrounding a metal sphere. The sphere starts to roll toward us and it's 30' in diemeter. The sphere floats over us, and has some protruding limbs. A hatch opens, and some stony creatures with nets come out. We stand and fight! They stony humanoids carry nets and there was a large invisible humanoid within them. The last of them surrenders. The prisoner urges us to get inside before chaos undertakes the sand flat. Inside is a large crystal and a chained up Blue Slaadi. The stone prisoner says that he is called Mulk, and is from the elemental plane of Earth. They were slavers under command of a genie called Rav. They came for the Slaadi to bring it as a gladiator to Pandemonium. I heal the Slaadi so we can interrogate it. It doesn't understand our languages, so we let the Goliat to knock it out. Hisskiss manages to get the sphere moving. We dump the unconscious Slaadi outside. The chains are magical and require a command word to activate.

Mulk knows about a mountain with plenty of dead and living Slaadi, and we decide to quickly check it out. This ”mountain” is a kilometer wide hunk of rock covered with carved runes. On the top of it is a simple platform. Around it are floating some dead Slaadi, which are being scavenged by some small creatures. On top there are other Slaadi sitting. The runes are in constant motion and keep changing. They look like some magical spells and Slaadi poetry. There is a single humanoid walking around the platform. It looks like a female Githzerai called Torpelin. She says that she's been researching Slaadi and has gained their confidence. This place is one of the Slaadi Spawning Stones. They have been affected with the plague and have become passive. She knows the hermit priest Sunferrin and which way he is. The priest doesn't seek harmony like the Githzerai, but is still not like the Githyanki. He is more into constant change and chaos.

With her instructions we find a iron fortress on top of a rock that is partially melting. We don't see any entrances to the fortress. Hisskiss manages to find an entrance and we park the sphere next to it. The entrance announces our names out loud. Inside is a great columned hall, with the columns emitting light of changing color. The rug on the floor is also changing in pattern and color. The first characters to step on the rug disappear. The rest of us avoid it and go around. Hisskiss touches the rug with a staff and disappears. With Orsik we string a rope between two columns and Orsik limbs the rope towards the door, but disappears when he is above the rug. I try to open the door, but end above the rug and disappear. We all end up floating in a dark metal tunnel, 40' wide. The tunnel branches and we mark the branches we take. Finally we see a transparent Slaadi head peek into the tunnel. We pursue it in and end into a room with gravity. We must have passed through a portal! The walls here are metallic with illuminating stripes. We pass through doors in the rooms and see a maze of tunnels. When Orsik passes a magically glowing crystal, two of translucent Gith appear. The ghostly appritions are affected by weapons, but not easy to disperse. After defeating them we map the maze, trying to avoid more crystals. After passing the last crystal without incident, we end up back on the rug. The maze seems like a dream.

We pass through the door and end in a large corridor. Bullswrath checks a door in the corridor to find a large alchemical laboratory. We find storage rooms, bed rooms and a library. We come across a short (less than 1 m) tall purple skinned red haired woman. They introduce themselves as Sunferrin. He says that her has purified himself at the Altar of Purification. Holg wants to try the altar to see if he could be transmuted into something else than an old orc. Sunferrin guides us to the altar. The altar is in a space in constant change. Sunferrin touches the altar and grows to 10'. Orsik also touches the altar as he is overcome by curiousity. He grows half a meter taller. Paspartout doesn't want to change, but Holg will touch the altar. He is turned dark orange in color. Bullswrath also goes for a transformation and grows long hair. He wants to try it again. He diminishes in size to 1.5 meters tall and goes once again. He gains pale blue eyes. Once more he goes to the altar and grows thinner. Then he turns into a she. And then grows thicker. And into a halfling. And into medium weight. The priests says that chaos has been lessened in some and this causes apathy and loss of inspiration. Maybe that chaos has been transferred to the Modron? To cure the apathy she gives us a bottle of condensed change to take to the affected planes. We can test the liquid chaos on the apathetic Slaadi. It's likely we can't transport it out of Limbo, so we'll have to find a way to transport it to other planes. We rest for a night and then return to the Slaadi Spawning stone.

Both Githzerai claim that the Slaadi are not chaotic enough for the chaos potion. Torpelin doesn't really want to risk her connection to these Slaadi, but we manage to convince her to help us. She talks to a Blue Slaadi, which will lead us to find a true creature of chaos. It takes us to a stable 50 m wide area where hundreds of chaotic being writhe chained to a great green pillar. One of them is a greatly mutated Orange Slaadi. He detaches the orange monster's chain and throws it Orsik to hold. Helped by Holk I try to feed it a drop of chaos, but fail. Gundall tries again. It and other monsters start baying psychically and finally Gundall succeeds. He also manages to get the magical shackles onto the now mutating Slaadi. Using chains and ropes we steer it towards the Spawning stone. When we reach it, the monster has grown to 40' high and gets out of control. It runs amok towards the center of the rock. There is no sign of Torpelin and we head for the safety of the sphere. The great mutant Slaadi starts a strange dance and the apathetic Slaadi start to wake up and gather around. The other Slaadi attack the great mutant, and consume it. We decide to head for safety. Some of them try to follow us as we return to the temple. This time Sunferrin looks like an elf. We decide to split the chaos potion and hide half at the temple and half at the portal to the Infinite Stairwell. The building at portal has deteriorated and chaos has eroded it. The drop of chaos potion we bring thru loses it's chaos. We bring Mulk too, and say that he is free. We tell the Lillendi of our progress and they have sensed that Limbo has been saved from the plague.