Sigil: City of Doors

//First of all, with me working crazy hours obviously i havent been able to put in as much time client side as i would like to, my days off are pretty much booked. So i have decided to start this threat continue my great hunger campaign on the forums. I will be making frequent posts about stuff that happens in and around sigil related to the plot and players are free to post their IC reactions. This will allow me to continue my major plot and also should allow those not involved up to this point to become involved. This IC thread will be supported by in game events as often as i can make them happen.

I have some standing house rules I am going to put into play before I begin, i expect them to be upheld and if anyone has any questions either with the posts, the story line and cannot present them in an IC fashion please PM me.

The Do's.
-Be creative
-When you post please try and make them moderatly lengthy but dont write a novel for each post, this is to to keep the thread from exploding with an out of control post count and cuts down on the rampant one sentence posts about what a character does or does not do.
-I know I do not have the grounds to speak about this as my spelling and punctuation needs alot of work but please try and do your best to use them.
-Understand I work sixty hours a week, twelve hours a day five days a week, it may take me time to respond with the next in game advancement or response to a player(s) post. This is the reason I would like to see moderatly lengthy posts about what your character is doing to make the most of each post, and to keep the post numbers down. I would ask that a few simple rules be followed which brings us to my short list of donts.

The Do Not.
- Never assume your character finds what they are looking for or gets information from who they talk to. I will generally present information in a generic manner, for example..
Eg:As the group enters the abandoned they feel the hairs on their arms and neck stand on end, anyone who makes a spellcraft check DC= A discovers/feels B. I am trusting participates to adhere to a code of truth and honesty. If i find out anyone is being dishonest I will start requiring screen shots of said character making in game skill rolls which will slow down the progress of the story considerably, please don't let this happen.
-Please do NOT make more then two replies per twenty four hour period to the plot thread, this gives me time to read what people post and formulate responses (mostly while im at work) and not have to worry about coming home to a billion and one posts to catch up on. The exception will be fridays when i am able to check them more often and reply considerably quicker.
Do NOT-Flood the form with ooc banter/gripes and what not, if i see them i will have them deleted, please send me such things in a PM.
==I will update the previous statements as I deem nessicary.

Oh and one more thing obviously, have fun and i hope to see many interactions!.

Murder, suicides, bloody circles, cultists, doomsayers

A thick acrid smoke threatened to suffocate those within the room but they ignored it, most were use to it. The room was filled with a soft buzz of patrons drinking and making merry, many of them puffing on pipes of tobacco and other substances which kept the thick haze of smoke constant and eye watering. A plain looking waitress, a woman named Anna shuffled over to a table in a far corner of the room, where a man sat with his head down on the table, his fists beside his skull slightly clenched, his person reeking of smoke, clearly he had been in this place for sometime. The waitress leaned down and gently nudged the mans shoulder.

"Can I get you another drink sir?" she asked calmly.

The man looked up at her, a soft tearing sound accompanying the motion as a piece of the notebook he had fallen asleep on tore away having stuck to his right cheek. He looked at the woman with his weary eyes, deep circles testified to an obscene lack of sleep on his part. He blinked at her a few times before peeling the paper off his cheek. He shook his head and stood, dropping a few pieces of jink on the table and grabbed his coat and his notebook and started shuffling for the door.

"Get some sleep deary! You work to hard!" the waitress called after him as the door swung shut with his departure.

TEN HOURS LATER

It is the early hours of the morning as time tells. The majority of the great planar city known as Sigil is just starting to come to life, and well yes there is always something happening in Sigil, it does have its down times, people need to sleep dont you know?.

The relative tranquility of the ladies ward is shattered by a gaggle of female screams, all crying out in unison. The streets quickly flood with concerned travelers and citisens, anyone responding to the screams stumble upon a gruesome sight.

A man hangs suspended from the top of a pole that serves as a street light, a rope around his neck. The man is dressed in blood stained clothes, his eyes closed and his mouth opened wide enough to accomodate the badge stuffed inside. . The ground beneath him, covered with a pool of blood...

Latest Occurances.

Things have been quiet since the massive sacrifical ritual in the temple of the Abyss a short time ago, the ordeal leaving visitors and residents of Sigil with a deep forboding itch at the back of their neck.

A few things occur in and around Sigil that, maybe just maybe might make those who know whats coming abit more nervous.

*One "night" the city is struck by pieces of debris belonging to a small fleet of spell jammers. The dozen large ships limp towards the shipyard, pieces of them breaking off and scattering around the city. Those who inquire about the destruction of the fleet hear a very quick tale about a strange moon drifting about the planes, the crews then state that they realize upon closer examination that "Thats no moon". They report that the...thing is still very very very far away and they arnt sure which direciton its headed.

*The dustmen begin mumbling about taking a day off, or closing the mortuary. A strange occurance has begun around Sigil that makes the dustmen very eager and excitable. When someone or something dies the creature seems to reanimate as an undead variant of its former self while disturbing and a strange situation, this happens only about 5% of the time when a creature is slain so most people likely have not witnessed it directly, but its happened enough that there would at least be rumors and whispers of its occurance.

After hearing about the incident and strange occurrences in Sigil, Vic'antar get the notion to investigate.

He begins at Khazeet's tavern seeing a half-orc harmonium member and a wizardess of Wee jas, asking them about recent events and whatnot.

The wizardess strictly denies any knowledge showing great distaste for the subject of the murders whilst the half-orc offers to contact his superiors to make Vic an official investigator for the harmonium but he had no relevant information to offer.

But they did mention that a cult might be behind the strange things that are happening.

After a few ales Vic decides to take contact with the dustmen.

He doesn't start with them directly but rather he tries to find those that sell the corpses to the dustmen and he asks the seller of the dead about what he has seen, heard and felt regarding the recent events and specifically what the dustmen are doing in accordance. Also he asks if there are any rumors regarding a cult in sigil that might be behind what is happening. Vic offers the corpseseller gold in return for any information he might have.

Later he heads towards the mortuary with curious intent.

He asks the first dustman he sees if he knows anything of this cult that everyones been talking about. Also about what they think of the reanimation of corpses and what they intend to do about it. Vic offers a bribe as payment for any information. Then he asks for an audience with the factotum of the dustmen.

//sorry for the late late reply.

Vics investigation is met with very hard to grease palms, but he does garner a few tidbits of information.

-The Cult Of The Hungerer sprang up almost over night and died just as quickly.
-The Cult Of The Hungerer was apparently responsable for the bloody ritual conducted at the temple of the Abyss.
-As for the self reanimation, the dustmen dont seem bothered by it, in fact they apparently see it as a sign that the true death is finally coming for everyone.


Meanwhile.....

Another astral fleet, some two dozen ships strong leaves Sigil, armored and armed to the teeth, heading in the same direction as the wrecked Githyanki fleet that departed a month or so ago. The fleet, or rather what is left of it returned one week ago, all but one ship unsalvagable and the lone ship clearly wont be sailing anytime soon.

The ships captain Katrina spends her days getting drunk at Khazeets as she tells a tell of woe and damnation heading towards the great planar city of Sigil. She tells of a massive moon sized being with three massive craters on its surface that give the moon an apparent face, the largest of the craters measuring seven hundred miles across easy. She tells of a vast host of undead on the surface, so many she claims that the surface seems to constantly ripple and shimmer.

Yesterday, captain Katrina was confronted by a small group of heros who inquired about this great hungerer and after telling them all she knew, including her prediction that Sigil has two maybe three months before the moon entity is within sight, she suffered a sudden and massive heart attack which she did not survive.

Upon her dieing lips, issued forth a name, a name that echoed across the market place...a name unknown to all and yet the very mention of the name brings with it a sense of doom and forboding....

Those who have doubted the existance of this great hungerer are probably finding themselves less sure of their belief now.

Yesterday, a wave of negative energy gently washed over the city and caused those of weaker fortitude to die and reanimate. The newly risen cagers were dealt with and a group of local heros banded together to investigate the matter.

They started with the dustmen.
The dustmen simply told them that they would not help in the heros investigation stating, "we believe this great being is the bringer of true death and we will not stop him, would you like a glass of wine to celebrate?".

While interrogating the Dustmen the heros met up with several other planar travelers who reported experiencing the effects of the wave in other planar locations as well, a truely terrifying situation. The group then headed to the temple of the abyss, where the bloody mass suicide had occured a month or two ago, there they found the temple sealed and an emissary told them simply, "Your to late, the world eater is coming and there is nothing you can do about it".

The emissary, believing that nothing can be done parted some information to the band, a few bits of enlightenment as they were, most importantly he imbued the heros with a name, well several names.

He told them this entity is known as "The World Born Dead, The Stillborn God, The Great Consumer" but he then said it was respectful to call the great being by his true and propor name...

Atropus

The group left in their own directions to begin further investigation, with the emmisarys last words echoing in their minds.

"Atropus is real, and he is coming"

The least enthusiastic of the group that participated walks lazily to the Hall of Records to make some research despite having mostly claimed to leave the matter to the people that actually were qualified even remotely for these kinds of tasks. So Corny found himself tolerating the two things he hated only slightly less than multiversal destruction, that is... taxes and reading.

Willing to pay the prices to view as wide public variety of tomes, and get someone that actually knew the selection to show around the selections, as necessary to stack himself tomes revolving around necromancy and necromantic-deity related matters, obviously if any tomes spoke of 'Atropus', 'The Great Consumer' or 'The World Born Dead' specifically, that'd be an instant pick. Also if there were any records revolving around the events of the astral plane.

It would be -horrible- for him, absolutely horrible. Flipping pages and trying not to space out to think about things he should purchase, people he should make jokes about, doodling on the Hall of Records property or food he'd want to eat later that day... needless to say he had to take excess amounts of breaks to tolerate the worst possible torture known to Corny that of textual walls of information... he'd not make any notes of it for himself, just relying on his own memory and interpretation of its contents.

Main concentration areas that he'd try to absorb from it before his brains became glorified liquid goo are:
- physical manifestation/appearance/structure and substance hardness.
- capabilities/dangers it might be able to produce
- theorized or proved weaknesses and strategies to use against such

If being able to find out that it's actually pretty darn huge:
- legends/theories of destructive devices, phenomenon or magical rituals that could undo such a thing.


~~ feel free to use convenient "too boring to read for Corny" if you want to avoid writing it all, since it can be a tall order! ~~

*Edit:*
Having been spared of the ill-desired fate that is called reading, or as Corny describes Baatezu-invented-inanimate-enslavement-tool - he is instead passing on the dauntless tiresome task to Lucelle Vand'hovar... lazy bastard.

With the seeming disheartening absence of moral desire to save potentially hundreds of people, the lazy mercenary Corny is once more forced to take actions to attempt to investigate while his recruited researcher does the researching bit for him at some point, he instead makes his way to the Astral Plane to attempt to inquire of the past Gith fleet whether those in the most regularly known dead god rock city know of the said Gith fleet or know where the destroyed fleets remnants are so that he could go journey to assess the destruction. And be prepared to spend up to fifty thousand jink to the information gathering, that includes hiring an astral ship to traverse through the plane for the place or close to it, as long as it was detailed and relevant. Other things he would be interested in is if there were other incidents than the two known cases that may speak of the route it traversed through.

From the destruction areas if able to find them to begin with, he'd study the area to see what kind of battle to expect, how the remnants had been destroyed, what kind of corpses were around if any. Take anything such as alien corpses with him for further study or materials that do not seem to have originate from the ships or Astral that could be chunks of the said Atropus... just so someone smarter than himself could perhaps study them.

\\OOC: WWW, just a heads up. Chardon's been discretely asking around about atropus and has been looking into legends about it and possible ways to contact and/or destroy it.

Cornys investigation would likely have a high price involved to glean useful bits of information. The right amount of Jink and questioning yield little, but still useful bits of information.

-Most of the Githyanki fleets sailed from various spots in the multiverse, most of them from Sigil, most of them from the main Githyanki stronghold on the Astral Plane.
-The very few ships that did make it back are under lengthy repairs, the damage looks to be mainly blunt, peircing and slashing in nature, the few survivors report being attacked by hordes of undead creatures of all varieties including giant beasts able to severe heads with a single bite, and horrific angels with terrible malevolent powers.
-As for the request for a ship to try and get a look at this terrible entity, the question is met with laughter and rather unsavory language.

//Krendate, and anyone else see me in game if you want to investigate.

//And a note on something, many of you have taken it upon yourself to investigate on your own outside of my supervision and come up with your own "discoveries" namely using certain source books, yes this entity is cannon as far as DnD is concerned, he does exist in some source books, and yes i am keeping many things cannon about him but i have also changed many things so please please wait for me in game before conducting research. I am trying to be on as much as i can, there is no finite time limit for this plot. I have said IC the rumors say he is months away but thats subjective, months could be real months or it could be a week. RP moves at the speed of plot, there is no rush people.