Dear Great Grandmother and Uncle Taggus
Sigil


We have left the tower tree behind and have gone to a strange city that Uncle Taggus talked about. Well uncle Taggus I am writing this from the Temple of Bahamut in Sigil!

Sigil is a strange place where I am no more odd than any other visitor or resident of this place. There are so many strange beings many of whom if I met any other place would be likely at odds with me and most of my companions, even Oscar. I had to keep my voice down and make sure not to point very long when I asked Varis questions about what different “people.”

We arrived at a place where people take baths. I guess in a place so full of people the local river or hot spring is probably out of the question. Back home we are just careful where we plop. Mammals seem to like going into water to get clean and the water and the whole place smelled odd; like a meadow in early summer, with spicy cooking and mammal mating smell. I don’t mind swimming and I bet I could out swim most of my tailless companions.

The people in the bath house included a number that made my senses given to me by the Bright Light that Does Not Blind tingle but in an odd way. So many peoples from so many places many from places that aren’t like Oerth at all! Many beings from everywhere from the heavens and blissful places all the way through the great and horrible abyss. As one of these beings from somewhere near the abyss seemed to be trying to get the males of our party to breed with her for a fee. I noted that I am past my egg laying days but if they wanted to find someone to breed with that would be fine.

That person trying to get some of the others to breed with her went to other prospects when the others noted someone they all knew. He is a man with glowy eyes that faintly smells like something that has been dead for a very long time, the feeling of evil almost oozing around him was very strong but the others didn’t think twice when this Plar fellow offered to buy people food and drink. I didn’t believe him at first but I was able to get a nice bowl of beetles, grubs and mealworms that were absolutely deliciously crunchy and wiggly.

I guess Uncle Taggus has met this fellow before, this is the lich he mentioned. He even showed me an old chicken bone I almost ate when searching for a snack that I guess would have transported me right to where this Plar fellow used to live. He hasn’t had a very good time since he met Taggus. He used to be a king or lord of sorts but some other bad wizards chased him away and he has been here in Sigil ever since.

I guess Sigils whole tolerant atmosphere is due to someone named the “Lady of Pain” who keeps any conflicts to a minimum by totally annihilating anyone who breaks the peace. Makes sense to me. As long as I mind my manners and don’t go places I have no business being I feel like I will be just fine.

The daylight here is nice and diffuse, like early morning or near Sunset. Uncle Taggus mentioned that this place was ring shaped but I did not understand exactly what he meant. There are many merchants but I don’t have a lot of money I want to spend.

The Plar owed the others money and has ten thousand gold pieces for Uncle Taggus if he can come here to get it. He wanted a favor from Oscar really badly so he paid for some magic from one of the local shops on his credit. I had an enchantment cast on my shield made from the scales great grandmother gave me that made the stitching and construction of my shield even better.

The Plar offered us all a place to stay while in Sigil but I found his home a little too disettling. While we were out exploring I saw it. A temple of Bahamut! The others left me there and went about their business. Inside I met a Platinum Dragon. Great grandmother told me there is only one Platinum dragon, the Bright Light the Does Not Blind himself. Did I meet him or just what happened?

The Platinum gave me an amulet of the symbol of the bright light that does not blind that projects his power and bright light, that does not blind me. It might make hiding a little harder if I call on its power but it was given to me by the Platinum! It is a true sign that the bright light that does not blind makes me brave. I am very excited!

My head swims with all the various events shown to us by the portal, and I take the earliest opportunity to retire to some privacy. I begin conjuring illusions from my memory, and then comparing them against my journal to see which relate to events in our past. Hopefully I've gotten my mind into some sense of order now:

* A Red Woman is sorting through gems, and handing them over to Drow
* This reminds me of Vaniffer - a half-demon dancer\concubine from Greyhawk city.
* Before the timeskip, she led the Eternal Flame cult, one of the four factions serving the Elder Elemental Eye, AKA Tharizdun. The gems had to do with a ritual to free Tharizdun.
* She led the gnolls of the Hellfurnace Mountains (banished Longtooth, whose band wiped out Ganaway), and was involved in the kidnapping of Taggus' uncle.

* A meteor hits a dome (the World Shield), and drow are picking up pieces of meteorite.
* This also happened before the timeskip - we were assisted in gathering meteorite pieces by the sage Quizlat, who used a magic telescope to put together a map of where they had fallen.
* Back then, Vaniffer's gnolls were trying to gather the meteorite pieces, as part of the cult's plans for freeing Tharizdun.

* A sinister, hunched-over figure in dark robes, leaning on staff with tentacles, leaves the ruined dwarven city (Besilmer?) from a side room.
* This was the long-forgotten kingdom of the Blusterhelm clan - known for mining mithril. Their king, Torhild Flametongue, was known for a magical axe - Orcsplitter.
* Before the timeskip, the ruined city was being used as the current site of the Temple of Elemental Evil - dedicated to Tharizdun.
* We fought the various elemental cults, and disrupted their plans to harness the power supply of a trans-dimensionally stuck device (ie: Tardis) to break through the World Shield. The dark-robed figure is presumably a high-ranking cultist or one of their allies.
* This is where Oscar got his Iron Fang (aka Sonic Screwdriver)

* A Red Woman sits in a well-decorated throne room speaking to people in red-inscribed black robes and 'black thorn' necklaces.
* These cultists are a faction of the Scarlet Brotherhood called the Black Thorns - before the timeskip, they attacked Varis in Hokar.
* Apparently, during the timeskip, the Scarlet Brotherhood took over the Sea Princes region. It's unclear what happend to the previous leader - the Plar of Hool.

* A vampire follows us out of the portal from Barovia; Later, he is in a dungeon, speaking with Black Thorns cultists.
* It's unclear if he's allied with the cult, or simply sharing information (about us?)

* In regards to the Storm Giant King Hecaton - Oscar (during his time as a fire giant) is holding a key and is locking a big portal door. He takes a jeweled cask and sneaks away. As he leaves the Hellfurnace Mountains, a Drow watches him go.
* This is presumably from the time of Oscar's engagement to a Fire Giant princess, and the chaos he caused on his way out (pissing off Snurre).

* Wierd fire giant rods/flails have inscriptions of tentacles
* We encountered a group of Fire Giants with these rods in the Barrier Peaks - they are presumably now involved with Tharizdun as well.

* King Snurre stands over a huge metal figure in pieces with indentations for gems (something about the number 333). It is apparently an Ancient Suel construct. A wizard in ornate robes floats in the distance, surrounded by demon lackies, controlling the construct as it crushes armies.
* The only ancient Suel Wizard we're familiar with is the Plar of Hool (a Suel Lich), who hired us to clear out the Temple of Elemental Evil.
* We ended up in Sigil & then Barovia before we could get paid for our efforts (10,000gp each). We still have a fingerbone he gave us - if crushed and eaten, it takes us to his teleportation circle in Hokar (again, probably under the Scarlet Brotherhood's control now).

* Tharizdun (the Chained God, Elder Elemental Eye, etc.) - shown as a cloud contained within the World Shield. Down under the world; a circular chamber with chaotic faces (happy, crying, etc.) - slumbering, but waking.
* Tharizdun is an Elder Elemental God - The current Gods locked him within the World Shield by turning his own power against him (a partial trap he weaved around himself). He can influence the world, but can't break free without aid.
* We may have stopped the plots to free him pre-timeskip, but he's constantly recruiting new followers and making new plans, and it has been a long time.
* It's unclear if the circular chamber also refers to Tharizdun, or something else related to him.

* The Snow Queen's Iceberg fortress - The Snow Queen holds a black pearl, and a giant kraken rises up and grabs the iceberg.
* Possibly she's using it to move her fortress?

* Mordenkainen - in a study somewhere, head in hands; other wizards nearby & upset. We see a wizard walking into the wastes (of Suel)
* Presumably this was someone trying to retrieve Suel artifacts (which seem to factor heavily into Thazridun's plans).

* Blackened circle of stones in Valley of the Mage - Valley Elves kneeling in front of Thing in circle.
* This may explain why they are shunned both by light and dark elves alike - the first thing that comes to mind would be that they aided Tharizdun.
* However, Tharizdun may now have Drow working for him in addition to the Valley Elves? It's not clear yet.
* Battle of Em-radin Meadows? Original Temple of Elemental Evil?
* The door containing symbols of all the gods likely has something to do with all of the gods joining together to trap Thazridun.

* Petrified Tree\Tower in Valley of the Mage - was around & alive during the age of the Dinosaurs

* A villiage surrounding a tower is wiped out by a huge landslide. Cultists enter tower and leave with Black Orb (like the one downstairs?). A Black Orb hovers in a stone circle, with black-robed cultists around it.
* The Black Orbs may be a sort of power source for various Ancient Suel Artifacts (the mephit touching the one downstairs seems to have partially-activated the Arch).

* Zepheros - in his tower drinking tea.

* Storm Giant King Hecaton - in warded room, banded up & unconscious; This may be in the Hellfurnace Mountains - specifically in the mountain keep near Kusnir and Ganaway, which we defended from an army (Fire Giants leading Gnolls, Hobgoblins, etc.). Bands of fire giants are maurading in the Sea Princes region.
* Pre-timeskip, we saved Gerd, daughter of the Fire Giant Bloodfyre. She had apparently been kidnapped by an Ogrillion wielding an arifact called the Gauntlet - with the intention of starting a war.
* Gerd was trapped in 'The Prison', a magical book with 36 compartments controlled by black and white gems (located deep within the keep) - this could be where Hecaton is now?

* Suel Empire Dragon Sword - A Knight comes from the shadows and stabs a powerful wizard (the one controlling the construct from before?)

* Ancient White Dragon from the Snow Queen's Fortress - Female, and meeting with weird dragons; A war is starting? Dragons are no longer being controlled?
* This may be retaliation agains the giants, an attack on us to recover her eggs, or both. If we have some way to return the eggs unharmed, it might be a good idea.

* Someone is trying to poke a hole in a barrier to get in. A Fire Giant cleric tries to cast a ritual to break into Barovia, while King Snurre watches impatiently.
* This was from when Snurre was trying to reach Oscar, after his flight from the engagement, and the resulting chaos.

The day after my strange dream was also strange. Some of the others seem to have had dreams of their own but didn’t share in detail or really help me interpret what I had dreamed. For kobolds a dream like I had would occupy the elders time and focus until we agreed upon what it meant.

Anton found a way to free Bob from the cold room. That makes chirping and talking to the eggs easier but puts Bob in places where he tests everyone’s resolve for tolerance. That included Bob taunting most of us while we took a walk to the base of the tower.

The tower has many doors. I found the one with all of the holy symbols of every god I know and many I or the others do not the most interesting. I would have been content to just look at the things that could be seen without opening things up but the others aren’t as self disciplined. I am good at getting into things but when I am a guest I know that it is rude to explore where you have not been told you are welcome.

Behind the interesting door was a small black sphere magically floating in the middle of that triggered my inner senses of kobold self preservation. Bob taunted the others and to prove his point eventually grabbed and hung from the sphere while taunting and calling us cowards and anything else that sprang to mind.

When he did this the strange arch higher in the tower activated. Theran evidently does not own this place as much as he is the trusted custodian who keeps to what he knows. Which is fine and an even better reason to mind our guest manners.

The noise of the arche’s activation drew Varis from his research and Oscar from his slumber. They had not joined the rest of us until then. When we all reached the arch it showed whatever we asked to see. I so wanted to look in on the lair and burrows but know you never know who else might be looking. I did catch a glimpse of the odd dragons from my dreams and I assume the others did too.

The others recognized a place among all of the visions that seemed to point to the next place we should look for the imprisoned storm giant king. As we started to talk about traveling there an alarm that tells the teleportation circle is about to be used sounded. A big metal man came through.

From the ruins the others concluded this was an effort by the Frost Giant Queen to extract revenge. Oscar’s weapon proved to be the only one that could damage the metal man who had several very effective ways of damaging us. I got a whiff of its breath and am still trying to recover from that. Eventually through a combination of spells and Oscar’s pick the metal man crumpled into a pile of metal.

As the others plan what to do and where to go next I will meditate and commune with the Bright Light that Does Not Blind and seek his guidance. He will know about the strange dragons and what part they play in all of this. I.may ask his guidance on the white eggs too. At least one of them still lives as the hated orb glowed in their presence. I may ask Theran if there is a way for me to have a sort of dragon breath of my own through spells. I do not use my gifts of the scale sorcerer often but I sense I might need to use them better.

If we go to a big city where I can find a shine to the Bright Light the Does Not Blind I will go there. I might need some help finding it. Big cities are confusing to me and if it is in the middle of the day it is hard to look up and see much. My eyes don’t like how bright the Sun can be.

Oscar has been gambling with local gnomes. SInce I left the burrow I have not met a gnome. How would they react to me? Would my ancestors hatred still feel my heart? I do not think so. Would they be willing to talk to me? If he is planning on gambling tonight I might ask to go along. Or maybe it would be better if he invited a gnome to come over for breakfast?

Anton Ramondo

Never being one in favor of slavery, I felt a twinge of pity for Bob, the ice mephit. He was held against his will. I freed him and now, I have the dubious pleasure of his foul mouthed company. I noticed he was around pestering everyone while it was peaceful, but the minute the big metal monster showed up, he was gone. I am not sure I want his "help" for the year he promised.

I was there, I was the one rolling around laughing while you dropped your sword! Lucky for you Oscar and the mage who is only good for antiquing and buying questionable art saved your ass!

Never being one in favor of slavery, I felt a twinge of pity for Bob, the ice mephit. He was held against his will. I freed him and now, I have the dubious pleasure of his foul mouthed company. I noticed he was around pestering everyone while it was peaceful, but the minute the big metal monster showed up, he was gone. I am not sure I want his "help" for the year he promised.

And what was that monster that came through the portal? The only weapon that did any damage was Oskar's war pick. Nothing seemed to hurt that thing. After the battle we discovered that the war pick was made with adamantine. So now I have to look for some arrow heads made from that stuff. and we have discovered that the red woman may be involved. I though we oput her out of our misery 250 years ago. Nope, she's still around and causing trouble. We have to finished her soon. She still cavorts with Gnolls and I think it's about time we put the fear back into them. I will be their Babayagga! I will do it for Black Wolf's memory!