Sigil: City of Doors

Chant says that the dilapidated planetarium between the Lady's and Clerk's Ward was renovated overnight, and it's new owner is some lady of elven descent, who happens to be a veteran spelljammer captain and a grand illusionist to boot.

Cutters who have visited this new establishment speak enthusiastically of her services, and word quickly spreads of the illusionary journeys she takes her customers on, among the stars and planets, through the eyes of alien beings and across mysterious continents.

As expected, the Sensates quickly flocked the planetarium, but since each journey lasted a few minutes to the outside world, anyone who queued in line eventually entered the planetarium's dome and went on their own journey. She merely asked the cutter in line what they wanted to experience, whether it being absolute freedom among the stars or a day through the eyes of an alien being?

But as with all mysterious arrivals, rumors began to spread about something fishy going on in the Planetarium, and that the new proprietor is more than she seems. What's true about them is anyone's guess, as of now...

//Basically, anyone can enter the Planetarium and for a 'little sum' of gold, experience a journey into some exotic reach of the Prime material with the help of illusions. More to come after she gets a few clients. ;)//

A woman walks up to the doors. She knocks. In her hands she has a small gold pouch.

"Hello. I'm interested in seeing what a prime is like."

Hearing of this new and unusual attraction Elwin decides to give it a try.

He is bored anyway, the last plays the sensates showed were rather boring, always the same so he is in dire need of a new kind of distraction.

Today he decides to wear some brigandine over a suit of padded cloth- after all he does not know what to expect- the thin metal plates of the armour hidden by silk and velvet. A rapier on his hips, the parrying dagger in his right boot and two slender throwing knives up his sleeves should be all he needs to keep himself safe.
Of course he also has his wits, his mind- which he always considered his most important tools.

Heading out from the Spirit he walks over the bazaar to the Lady's Ward and after getting lost twice he finds the place he is looking for.

"I want to see it. Show me this prime and its wonders, please.", he says, about to offer a handful merts- but then seeing there is a woman waiting already he greets her with a smile.

"Hello...I want to apologize if I was to eager, Ma'am. Please do not let me interrupt your business."

Purgatory,May 13 2014 wrote:A woman walks up to the doors. She knocks.  In her hands she has a small gold pouch.

"Hello.  I'm interested in seeing what a prime is like."

Before the woman entered the dome of the Planetarium, two sophisticated and highly enchanted golems stood her way, kindly asking her to leave behind any weapon she might have possessed, before letting her through.

Inside the dome, the visitor would have been immediately awestruck by the illusion of a perfectly clear night sky, the breeze of a cooling wind carrying the scents of the ocean, and great body of water itself looming over a somewhat distant cliff-side. On the edge of this beachhead floated an elven maiden in featherweight silver robes, her pale skin and silvery hair shining brightly in the dim light. She turned to face the new visitor with a warm smile, letting her see that her eyes were covered, as if blind, and get greeted her with a magical voice that seemed to resonate across the plane:

"I bid you welcome, traveler. I can see in your eyes the same curiosity that once inspired me to wander between the worlds and see all their glory, so long ago..." She motions her closer. "I can see that you have never walked under the stars or experienced the wonders of the Plane of Infinite Worlds, so allow me to give you a glimpse of it's beauty and mysteries... and perhaps one day we'll meet out there, in the great void that is Space." Her hands gracefully motioned at the beautiful stars and moons as she talked about the Prime Material. "Let go of your thoughts and feelings, and allow me to show you a world that would make even the Outlands feel mundane..."

If the visitor allowed herself to succumb to the illusion, her journey began...

She found herself in a strange new place, and things slowly began to become clear... wrapped in a nomad's thick clothing, to ward off the cold and the sand... she was wandering through a glimmering desert of pale-purple dust and large crystals of ultramarine in the middle of the night, with only a journeyman's stick and a chill wind to keep her company. She wandered for hours upon hours, navigating by the dance of the stars and other planets, climbing and sliding from dune to dune...
Until finally, the wanderer came to the edge of the desert, and before her lay a massive valley that expanded until the eye could see... and in the middle, a towering city of indescribable beauty, each building made of a different colored crystal and an ever more unusual geometry; but as a whole, the settlement was perfectly symmetrical and aligned, and each block shined just as brightly as the one next to it. This view probably captivated her for long enough to see the sun begin to rise in the horizon... but this wasn't the sun she heard about, a blinding globe of yellow that brings forth the day... this sun was massive and red, a supergiant ball of plasma that gobbled up a large portion ((about 10 times as big as our own)) of the sky, which turned red and orange upon it's arrival, but, not bright enough to blind those who gazed upon it.
An hour of slipping down the hillside and she reached the city's gates, which were unguarded and wide open, welcoming the weary traveler. Judging by the dust carried with the wind and the eerie quiet, this majestic city has long since been abandoned. Walking through the grand archway, she felt instinctively guided to the tallest tower in the center of the old city, the only one made of a transparent material that let the full glory of the sun shine through it. Passing by the beautiful buildings, she made her way across bridges over dried up rivers, narrow alleys and through majestic palaces, sights which would have been more familiar to someone from Rigus. Reaching the large and empty city square, she felt the need to dash towards that lonely tower, and quickly climb its many stairs...
It was almost noon by the time she reached the top, and the sun was nearly above her... and then it hit her, she finally remembered why she was here, on the top of a magical tower in the middle of a long lost city, and tore her clothes off, stretching her arms widely to embrace the sun, welcoming it's first warm rays in a century... an indescribable sensation of bliss ran through her, as she began to immaterialize and ascend into the sky, finally ready to join the rest of her folk...

And then her journey was over, and she back on the illusory cliff side. The elven illusionist stood before her (strangely, the visitor could even feel a piercing gaze through her blindfold) and explained what she had just experienced: "You stepped into the shoes of that world's last denizen, who waited centuries until she could finally join her kin high up in the sky... I accompanied her on that quest, and that is what I have shared with you. Now, off you go, don't keep the others waiting!" She waved her off with a childish smile, and awaited her next visitor.

Ever eager to find out what the lastest talk is about, none other than Darlene Steel shows up at the planetarium. She gently knocks on the door and waits to be ushered inside with the others.

She looks stunned. She manages to mumble.

"Thanks."

On the way out she passes Darlene in a stunned silence.

As Elwin is next he enters, approaches the golems and.... well. He has to shed his arsenal which of course takes some time.

Then, unarmed now, he waits to be allowed to pass.

Selebius,May 14 2014 wrote:As Elwin is next he enters, approaches the golems and.... well. He has to shed his arsenal which of course takes some time.

Then, unarmed now, he waits to be allowed to pass.

Elwin was eventually allowed passage, and he found himself on the same cliffside near the ocean. The illusionist was waiting for him on the edge of the cliff, levitating motionlessly as if in a trance.

'Greetings to you, curious soul.' she spoke softly, in the same otherwordly voice that seemed to echo across the entire illusory plane, 'You are from Arborea, are you not? I can tell by the way you carry yourself so gracefully... yet another soul born into the Great Planes, but with a flare of curiosity rare even among humanity. But worry not, I recall an adventure that should befit one of your swashbuckling nature.' she snickered, and began to chant her spell that would take Elwin into another world...

If Elwin allowed himself to succumb to the illusion, his journey began...

He found himself lying about in a hammock, inside some cool cabin with it's windows closed. The first thing that hit him was the salt in the air, a hint of the great waters nearby. Dropping out of the hammock, he would have been pleased to find a wide assortment of daggers and knives hanging around his chest, with a flintlock pistol, a pouch of bullets, a horn of black powder and a trusty rapier around his belt. The scent of the sea drove him to the window, which upon opening revealed just where he was: in the middle of a palm-tree covered pirate city, on the edge of a great sea, somewhere in the tropical region of a world. People of varying races (even strange folk that seemed to resemble walking hippos!) where carrying on with their daily lives, as captains and first mates yelled loudly about missing casks of rum and scurvy landlubbers.

He seemed to recall that he was supposed to be at a certain ship, at noon... but looking up at the blazing bluish sun in the sky, he could tell that he was rather late, which made him rush through the busy alleyways of the cove, dodging tavern brawls and rum-filled sailors. The ship at which he arrived was a beauty to behold, a barque with four masts and a dozen cannons on each side, painted to be as blue as the vivid oceans beneath it, christened with a ram in the shape of a giant sea squid... the 'Blue Leviathan'. He instinctively knew which rope to grab to climb aboard the ship, and quickly found himself on the empty deck. Running down to the mess hall, he was just in time to hear the captain, a scarred scro (space orc) with one eye and a big hat, explain their latest quest for treasure.

'Hrrr, listen up ya ragged seadogs, yuz.' the old orc grunted 'Me sourzes tell me that thar be a comet coming past our little shyte-hole in five hours... and we'z the only onez dat knowz 'bout it! The ol' dog who told me zhis said dat thar be an abandoned timple full o'z loot on it, but warned me dat hiz men failed to get itz fifty yirs ago. But we'z no gitz like theyz were, so ARRRRRR, who'z with me?!' The crew all shout enthusiastically at that. 'A'right ya scurvy dawgz, man the rigs, stretch the sails and juice the helm up! WE'RE GOING TO PLUNDER!'

The crew all ran to their designated places, with Elwin quickly climbing back to the deck and up the mast to unfurl the sails for their great voyage. Pretty soon, the ship left port and made its way to the open seas, where something strange began to happen... magic began to power up the ship, running through every inch of the woodwork and the sails and the ropes... and then it left the seas, flying high into the sky as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The large barque gracefully flew past the clouds and finally into the open reaches of space, where it's large bubble of air magically kept the crew arrive, probably to the shock of the visitor. As they left the blue marble of the ocean world behind, the continents and cyclone clouds began to slowly turn smaller and smaller, the old orc steering his ship steadily towards a point in space which only he knew. Elwin could take this time to behold the wonderful gallery of stars in the distance, the blue sun which dominated the solar system and the distant image of two silvery moons. After what seemed like an eternity, a small rock began to appear on the horizon, seemingly desolate at first, but as they approached, it became more and more clear that it was carved into the shape of a great temple devoted to a long forgotten pantheon of animalistic gods. 'YARR! There be our booty ladz!' decreed the captain, and ordered the two frontal harpoons fired at the asteroid (which was about 100 meters in diameter) to pull it in. Slowly the big rock was reared towards the ship and it's bubble of air, before crashing into the ram and stopping.

The lads wasted no time ran through the open gates to take whatever wasn't nailed to the ground. The temple hall was small an unremarkable, with a small shrine to a serpentine god and five of warriors statues on each side, with piles of gold and gems beneath them. If he ever had the idea of this being a trap, he was right: the doors shut tight the moment they were all inside, and the long dead bones began to animate, their skulls lit up by a glowing emerald... a bitter and long battle ensued, as the undead surrounded the merry band of pirates, for their blades simply passed through them and the only means of slaying them seemed to be a direct shot to the mysterious emeralds holding them together. Elwin's skills at swashbuckling were paramount in this encounter, where precision and quickness mattered the most... and it paid off, as the last of a the ten skeletons fell apart from his final shot. As if on cue, a cannonball soon broke the temple doors open, with the captain's order following: 'Dis place be curzed... get out, NOW!'

Picking up whatever they could, the pirates dashed back on board their ship whilst carrying their wounded comrade, as the temple in which they stood seem to break apart into green light. One final heroic leap, and they were safe, just before the entire asteroid was consumed by vengeful energies.
'I think wez angered some godz here ladz... let's head bakk to port before sumthin' fishy happens.' the scro decreed, and the ship slowly turned back to whence it came from...

He woke up from the dream, standing where he was just moments ago, on the illusory cliffiside inside of the dome. 'Adventures like that are plentiful when one sails between the stars.' the elven maiden spoke 'Ancient relics of long forgotten time often lure pillagers to their untimely demise, but this time they were lucky, as will you be, I'm certain.' she offered him a smile, before politely waving him away for the next customer to arrive.

Elwin squints his eyes, shakes his head, realizing hoe dry his throat is from breathing through the mouth while forgetting to swallow. There are many questions in his mind but he has not yet sorted them out.

"Thank you. You skills are most impressive.... I will recommend your skills in the festhall, Ma'am."

He flashes a smile then leaves, almost forgetting his belongings, passing past Darlene in silence, his mind still caught in the events he just witnessed.