A Wizards Research

[*Ghost in the Machine]

Far above Rivenheart on the Abyssal layer of Shendivaril Clahraxes sits in a circular room located in a slender spire. She reclines lazily on her side on a couch. The room around her is one of soft round angles, light and organic in apperance. Exotic plant life is dotted around her carefully cultivated in pots. The exotic alien blooms are both beautiful and deadly. Through the open window the heat of a tropical evening can be felt, the chirping of crickets and the scent of the blooms would make everything seem deceptively pleasant. Only the occasional scream from somewhere below would remind you that this paradise is nestled somewhere in The Abyss. The half fiend studies a book, the remains of something that may have once been a Quasit but now appears to be mutating into something else lie on the ground before her. The limbs and wings of the demon stretched out to give her a clear view of it from above. The enchantments on the book and its lawful nature make progress slow, she searches it from cover to cover having to stop and reread many lines to understand the ancient Auran it is written in. She looks for all that would be of interest about the Vaati, and their interaction with her kin.

[*Sunshine]

The text is written in the Ancient auran the Vaati used, the words and grammer used in this text reeking of mercyless law.

Clahraxes reads about their culture, their society and the great empire they have built. Then comes this war, the war she heard about so many times.

What she reads now is different to the stories the Demons tell and she realizes that the battle has been closer than most realized and the price the Wind Dukes paid was horrible. Only a few remain now, hidden in a well warded valley on some Prime.

However it is not the history she is interested in and of course she finds out more. The Wind Dukes and the allied forces of Law, even the Eladrin used artifacts and weapons of great power- as did the demons.

And this is where the book gets really interesting- it describes the location of several old artifacts, scattered over the inner planes, remains of the battles that have been fought there.

Air, Water, Fire, Earth. But there are also hints about more being hidden on the Quasi- and Paraelemental planes.

A map is mentioned as well, hidden somwhere in the book. The book keeps teasing her with those hints but just as it is getting really frustrating (the 'I now want to make something suffer' kind of frustrating) she remembers something some Boccob Theurge she knows babbled about: Ways to hide informations in the text itself. Not the words count, but the way they are written, how they are aligned.

And so she finds the location of this map- it is a Jewel in a necklace, a rainbow coloured roguestone called the 'Star of the Abyss'. When exposed to the four primary elements the map will be revealed.

Clahra remembers something else- this Jewel has been mentioned as being some part of an exhibition of Art, right here in Sigil. Sensate sponsored or something.

The quasit she found is another puzzle. It seems to be more primitive, more chaotic than all other members of its kind she has met so far. Sure, it is a demon- but it is no Tanar'ri, no Loumara, no Obiryth.

Examining it reveals that the essence of the Abyss that spawned it and that still is part of it is different to what she knows- it is like looking back to a time before the Tanar'ri were born.

[*Ghost in the Machine]

After a trip to the Festhall and a moment of opportunism Clahraxes passes through the merky portal in the temple of The Abyss to the tower she dwells in. Chuckling at the game she played with the three half fiends out side she tosses a large ornate gem up and down in her left hand. Taking the gem had been easy the next bit would be trickier. She went into the kitchen and reaching into a plant pot she scattered some other over the glowing rogue stone. It was a shame it was so pretty. She'd polish it up later she decided. Next she took it over to the water pump and let a jet of the clear water trickle over it before lighting the stove and holding it over the open flame and with a flourish of her free hand she cast a gust of wind spell. She watched to see what if anything would happen.

((For those of you reading along she stole the rogue stone from the Festhall in game.

[*Sunshine]

At first nothing happens and it seems like she now just has a dirty, wet, somewhat warm rogue stone that is slowly dried by current of air.

Then Clahra finds it is getting brittle, shatters in her hand- ir so it seems at first.

The shards surround her now, between them an elaborate illusion has been created, Clahra finding herself standing on the great wheel, exactly where the spire is. She sees the planes- they are the same she knows but at the same time also subtly different.

Soon the fiend realozes she is looking at the planes how they were in the past, long, long ago when the Tanar'ri were still young and on the uprise, the planes struggling to mend the wound the great war between chaos and law has caused.

The old realm of air has fallen, eaten by the war efforts, the slow breeding Vaati not able to make up for the losses they suffered.

A closer look reveals that there are several locations marked on the map- on all of the four elemantal planes, on the para elemental planes of Magma and Ice, the Quasi Elemental planes of Ash and Minerals.

And there is something else- something that seems connected to them all, locared deep, deep in the abyss.

Those locations are marked with symbols and Clahra could study those to find out more of course- but just as she tries to focus on those the map collapses, the gem reappearing in her hand- unmarred and perfect just like it were.

******************************************************************************
In the meanwile, unbeknown to the Alu Fiend some emissaries from a powerful Djinn lord are arriving at the Festhall to investigate what happened to the Star.

The gem was not the only piece that has been stolen, some necklace belonging to a Dao princess and a sceptre that has been kept in the vaults of Brass are missing as well and there are rumours that the calling card of a well known master thief has been found on the scene.

The sensate who was in charge of the exhibition tries his best to explain what happens both is both demoted back to namer and relieved of his duties by his faction. So the Salamander Eluros retreats to record the sensations caused by this events in a Sensory stone, wallowing in his misery.

[*Ghost in the Machine]

She lets out a gasp her eyes flickering back and forth in her head trying to drink in the whole map. Despite her occasionally bouts of public silliness her mind is keen and hungry for secrets and knowledge to devour oh so hungry. She tries to drink in as much of the map as she can but it is gone. She curses, this is no good. How to expose it to all the elements for long enough while getting a proper look. How? How? How? Oh course why did she not think of it before. There was something in the multiverse made of all four elements. And like someone deciding on some kind of purchase it enters her mind and exits her skull through her lips.

"A Jann! I need a Jann!"

She takes the gem and hurries to the teleport circle that heads up to the room she keeps all her spell ingredients and her summoning circles.


((A question please Mr DM. Pnp would allow her to call a Jann with summon monster VI. SCoD only gets her a Gnoll for that spell as she is evil. Can I either a) Use the Pnp summon spell, B) Planar bind one, or C). Will she have to kidnap one?))

[*Sunshine]

(( As I allow all three of them I let you pick the option you like most. :) ))

[*Ghost in the Machine]

"Stop talking! And hold it still! And if you feel yourself begin to feel yourself going back anywhere throw it back to me."

She begins studying the map and then raising her hands in the air she exclaims;

"Paper! Need paper!"

She frantically roots around the room for anything to write with. Once she does she begins writing down the noted locations.

[*Ghost in the Machine]

She'd go for the simplest of the option available. Some kind of elaborate kidnap or planar bargaining would be fun but she was half fiend on a mission. She did not have time for that. She cast the summon monster spell calling one of the lesser genies. As the Janni appeared she'd smile brightly and wave. She tried a greeting in Ignan.

"Hello!"

Then in Auran

"Hello!

And finally in Terran

"Hello!"

She said a silent prayer that it didn't only speak Aquan, because she didn't know that one.

[*Sunshine]

"Hello!"

The Janni says and gives a flamboyant bow, beaming back at her- of course she did not understand the word as it was spoken in Auran.

But then the mischevious creature stops teasing its summoner and continues in Ignan:

"Noone around to beat up. A nice change from the usual routine... what can I do for you?"

The man looks around curiously in the Summoning Room as he waits for her answer, stroking his long, curled moustache.

[*Ghost in the Machine]

She tosses the gem at the Janni.

"Catch!"

She waits and watches expectantly.