Greatest Show Indoors - 08/02/2023 - Archie’s Extracts
Feb 15, 2023 0:12:27 GMT
Velania Kalugina likes this
Post by Andy D on Feb 15, 2023 0:12:27 GMT
On Adventuring in Kavel’s Wake
My expert animal-herding, Genasi friend, Glade, had a mysterious key she acquired on an adventure with Kavel. Lady Vermillion of Sigil claimed to have information on what the key opens, and was willing to trade the information for a service.
The mysterious key was discovered when Glade and Kavel were investigating what Professor Hemstock had uncovered about a secret, memory erasing plot, originating from Banehold, in Daring Heights. A colleague of the professor at Daring Academy who let the adventurers into the professor’s office was unaware what the key would open, or even that it belonged in the Academy. Given the secretive lengths the professor went to, to hide his research, it was surprising to discover that the key had no bearing on the end of the memory erasing plot. The adventurers of the saga were left with a mystery. Most mysterious of all though, was discovering that Kavel was not in fact exaggerating when he said he was the one who deduced where the professor’s research was hidden.
Joining us were adventurers new to me, but whom I’d heard about from Kavel - Levuka; a Wood-Elf, Moon Druid, Velania; an Aasimar, Cleric of Selune. In addition, there was Vox; a cunning Tiefling, whom I, nor either of the other boys of mine had met. With these fine companions, new and old, we were ready to close the chapter on the Banehold saga.
On Sigil - The City of Doors
It was as Kavel had described it; an industrious city with a seemingly excessive amount of doors. However, each of these doors didn’t necessarily take you where you might expect it to take you. You could, perhaps, enter the building through a door attached to said building. Or, said door might transport you elsewhere in the city, or even to another plane. I’m not sure how much arcane energy it takes to run a city full of planar shifting and teleporting doors; but it is an effective means of transportation! I was most impressed.
Lady Vemillion
Our host had set out a lovely array of refreshments for us whilst we talked trade. Upon accepting the terms of her agreement, Lady Vemillion explained that the key Glade had acquired from Professor Hemstock’s office. The key was an important feature of a very popular stage show in Sigil, called, The Greatest Show In-Doors. It was hosted by a Kenku called Maginnis and it took advantage of Sigil’s signature transportation doors.
Lady Vemillion’s interests required us to compete in a team event of The Greatest Show In-Doors, where we could win rich prizes, and, her interest; a painting that Mr. Maginnis owned, named; A Rumba of Snakes.
Glade’s key had nothing to do with Banehold, it turned out. There are many keys like it too, often found in Sigil. They open the final door of the Greatest Show In-Doors for the winning contestant, and they grant a participant access to enter the game. These keys are scattered around, and it is considered quite lucky to find one. What Professor Hemstock was doing with one of these keys is unknown. The professor is presumed dead in his long absence from the Academy. If it turns out he is alive, I’m afraid he will discover his chance at participating in a much-loved event has now passed him by.
On the Format of The Greatest Show In-Doors
My adventurer friends and I were led through many of Sigil’s magical doors, or as the locals put it; we ‘ran the jars’, and made it to the rather large stadium where the game show was held in almost no time at all.
The venue was the most spectacular stadium I have ever seen! We were shown to our own spectator box. It seemed like all the seating at this stadium were in boxes. No stands as far as I could tell. The stage was in the centre, but the centre of a sphere, with a vastly enormous tree running from top to bottom. Through magical means we always had a good view of where on the tree our attention should be held - there were multiple stages along the tree with multiple doors in each stage. The very structure of the stages, and tree seemed to alter as needed. There was an immense amount of magic not just in Sigil’s citywide transportation system, but also in its entertainment industry.
Maginnis, was a peacock of a man both in terms of his Kenku genealogy and presentation. Though I would not wear the same choice of attire as he, nevertheless, as somewhat of a dandy, I admire his bold fashion choices - a tartan pattern suit just isn’t for me.
Maginnis explained the rules of his game. There were five rounds. Each round had its own stage, each stage had three doors to choose from. Each of these doors could either lead you to a place where there would be a puzzling trap to navigate in order to get to the other side of the stage. Or, there would be a monstrosity to fight. Or, alternatively, the door could be nothing more than a pleasant stroll to the other side of the stage. Each round; pick a door, walk through, and get to the other side facing either a; puzzle, fight, or mere stroll.
Maginnis a was a tad cavalier with his explanation of the danger we could face if we found ourselves within a trap or fight. But, Maginnis reassured us that they have magical healing on stand-by if ever a contestant requires aid. If a contestant were to ‘go out’ then they would be magically healed back in their spectator box, while the other participants remained in the contest. Only one of us had to make it through the fifth round for all of us to win.
On Participating in The Greatest Show In-Doors
“Dr. Archie Haltuhr; scholar, wizard, gentleman!” This was how I introduced myself to the crowd. The crowd were lukewarm on it. I liked it. I shall practise it.
Round 1 - Left Hand Door - Frost Fell
Before selecting our first door, Velania casted the Aid spell on us, invigorating us with magically enhanced constitutions - this was much appreciated. I casted Mage Armour on myself, and summoned my awakened spellbook’s magical mind.
All three doors before us were freezing over. No matter which door we went through, it would be cold. We chose the left hand door and entered the Frost Fell. I sent my spellbook’s awakened mind up into the sky to scout a safe path through the freezing tundra. With Velania’s help we navigated a safe route, and managed not to get too aggressively bitten by the cold.
As we approached the end of a 150ft path, we found the entrance out of the Frost Fell and back to the stadium where we could hear the cheering of the crowd.
Round 2 - Right Hand Door - Plane of Fire
From blistering cold to blisteringly hot! Our next three doors before us were all catching fire. We walked through the right hand door hesitantly and came before a 150ft room of lava covered with porous rock platforms.
Vox, with an expert light tread, managed to nimbly make their way across the river of lava. It was as if they barely stepped foot on any of the rocks. I did not fancy following their path in fear of it being suitable only for skilled acrobats. Instead I employed my spellbook’s awakened mind to scan the rocks to identify the best path for someone less acrobatic (and older). I managed to escape with minimal burns. My suit, however, is ruined. Velania did a wonderful job of following the path set out by myself. Poor Levuka did not. And, Glade demonstrated she had her own set of twinkle toes; managing to follow in Vox’s stead.
Round 3 - Left Hand Door - Astral Plane
The three doors before us were glowing this time. A pleasant change. We appeared on the Astral Plane where we found ourselves among the stars and what appeared to be fallen gods in an open space that seemed to go on for aeons. The doors of Sigil were showing us wonders! However, the joy was interrupted by a solar dragon wyrmling approaching.
My radiantly inclined companions learnt the lesson twice that their go-to radiant spells would be ineffective against the creature; once when they casted radiant spells at the solar wyrmling, and then again when the wyrmling breathed radiant fire on us. I altered the Melf’s Minute Meteors spell to produce icy comets, which I blasted rather effectively at the solar wyrmling, whilst the others used nature and divine magic to threaten the beast. Vox took the wyrmling down with one finely loosed arrow to the heart. With that, we were halfway through the game. The crowd were ecstatic.
Round 4 - Middle Door - Arborea
The doors had a border of vines growing around them this time. I was readying myself for a confrontation with vine-entailing magic like what Levuka and Glade can muster. However, upon entering Arborea through the middle door, we found ourselves enjoying a lovely stroll through an idyllic glade. With this choice of door, it was us, the participants, who were ecstatic.
Round 5 - Left Hand Door - Archeron
The doors hiding our fifth and final stage had a battered appearance to them. We opened the left hand door and walked into Archeron. There was a simplicity to the geometry of the landscape here. The ground was almost perfectly flat, the mountains around the 150ft square terrain were almost perfectly conical. This provided a perfectly level battlefield for the endless fighting going on around us. I estimated well above 200 soldiers. Mortal wounds were being inflicted by the combatants to each other. However, the wounds would immediately reseal, and fighting would recommence. We were lucky to not have been noticed. But, we had to make our way through the fighting to get to the other side. It was unlikely we would achieve that remaining unnoticed.
Maginnis advised that if we were to ‘go out’ it would be good for the crowd if we went out with a bang. A rather cheeky request given the fatal stage upon which the advice would be applied. However, going ‘all out’ was the best advice we could follow if at least one of us were to reach the other side of this 150ft stage in order to claim a win for the team. So, all out we went.
Glade summoned a stampede of elks to help spearhead a path through the warring soldiers. Velania drew the attention of the combatants skyward as she flew above us with a pair of luminescent wings that grew from her back, stunning, and eye-capturing. Levuka transmuted the ground behind us, making it harder for us to be flanked from the rear, and I casted a Wall of Fire to our left to make our only vulnerable side our right flank. To maximise our chances of getting one of us through the field, Vox turned invisible and made their own way to the other side, with less pursuers.
My suit was further ruined! But we all made it in one piece. The crowd went wild.
The Final Room
Glade pulled out her key, and opened the final door located at the very centre of the spherical amphitheatre. The arcane tree had been releasing a form of confetti at the end of each successful round. The final burst was the most enormous. We stood triumphant and the crowd were loving it.
Maginnus joined us in the final room, congratulated us and then literally, and magically showered us with coins and gems. The value of which was just over 250gp each.
We gained the painting, A Rumba of Snakes for Lady Vemillion and a few other gifts. I myself made off with a lovely abstract sculpture of the amphitheatre’s tree. There was another gift. Maginnis had acquired a Deck of Kantas Things! I recognised the red fist on the back of the deck as soon as I saw it. Maginnis offered us the chance to draw up to three cards from the deck. I had seen Taz draw cards from this deck before. From one of the cards he drew, he had to fight a powerful foe. I could not guarantee I had the magical acumen to fight the same foe myself, if I drew the same card. So I erred on the side of caution and refused the offer. As did my companions.
I told the boys, Mendal and Kavel about the adventure when I returned home. Kavel was glad to hear we discovered what the key was for. Mendal concluded that no one drew a single card from the deck because we were boring people and didn’t know how to live.