Recap - 2025-08-28

As the group set off for the Outfitter for the Grey Wastes they had heard about from Roric, a goliath tripped over Gobbie, sending both of them sprawling in the street. Gobbie immediately recognized his cousin, Kor. After a brief moment of catching up, with Kor explaining he had been thrown here through a portal into Sigil and had quite the time of trying to catch up to Gobbie, the group again set off for the outfitter.

The outfitter in question, a Jackalwere named Orphelia, was finishing setting up her cart for the day when they arrived. She is wearing a number of holy symbols and other accouterments. Gobbie attempted to inspect her outfit, but came up short on anything useful. Angelus inquired about a cloak for himself to replace the one he is borrowing from Josiah, and Ophelia produced two cloaks: One cut to pieces, but able to be mended, and one covered in some sort of dried liquid. Angelus rejected both, and Gobbie stepped forward to engage. He asked if she scavenged her findings off the corpses of those fallen in the Grey Wastes, which Orphelia stringently denied. She said she only takes what is left after the travellers in the Wastes turn into Larvae and skitter off. This set Gobbie on edge, and he changed the subject, following up on Orphelia’s mention of sickness and plague on the plane. Orphelia produced a vial of a sickly-looking liquid, which Gobbie asked to smell. Orphelia asked for a few coins for the privileged, and when Gobbie balked, offered to allow him to drink it instead, for free.

Gobbie agreed, and chugged a vial of diseased water from the Grey Wastes. He manages to shake it off thanks to his divine power, which frustrates the jackalwere. Gobbie and Kor are both ready to leave, but Chibro asks about scavenged armor. Orphelia looks through her stash but only finds a few bits and bobs. She does produce a Periapt of Health, which Chibro attempts to trade for. He first offers a few dinosaur teeth, but Orphelia, more interested in the story than the treasure itself, asks him to spin the yarn of how he aquired these. Chibro, not an inspired storyteller, shares the tale in a monotone. The jacklewere outfitter offers to trade the magic item for the teeth and the tale if Chibro also throws in the weapon he used to kill the beast. Chibro is not willing to part with his musket, but offers a pistol instead. Orphelia accepts.

Orphelia warns the group that she turned her shop mobile because she is worried Thingol could lock down the portal, and that she is potentially pulling Hopeless too far into despair, meaning the whole city could shift into the Grey Wastes.

The group returns to the main square for their previously agreed-on lunch with Thingol. The lunch is served in her manor, the only place in Hopeless that did not seem on the edge of collapse. Thingol, over a bland and bleak meal served by her beholders, offers the group a deal. Take a package into the Grey Wastes.

She is coy at first as to what the package is, but the group pries deeper, and Chibro is able to uncover that the package is, in fact, the wight barkeep (and secret Sensate) Roric that they met just that morning. The group was loathe to do this, but didn’t want to outright refuse, so they asked for some time to think it over.

Thingol made various veiled threats about the job, and insisted that “good things come when you do favors.” Chibro gets up to leave, and hears a commotion outside.

Out in the courtyard, the Sensate pair Caloles and Pasinia are attacking Thingol’s beholders. A magnificent flying horse, radiant gold and beautiful, floats in the sky in front of a phalanx of angels. The flying horse, which Tag recognizes as a celestial, a Ki-Rin, has managed to free one of the beholders from the magical controls Thingol had on it, and it begins to rage and froth.

Thingol orders the party “Go kill them for me, and I’ll let you pass, package or no package.” Then she sends the two beholders at her side to engage the sensates.

Pasinia throws a dagger at Thingol, only to have one of the beholders telekinetically block it. Thingol threatens Pasinia, saying, “Oh, child, you’re going to die today.”
Chibro runs to Pasinia, recognizing her from the Temple, and pleads with her to not do this, worried her actions will destabilize Hopeless further.
Tag immediately recognizes the horse as a celestial and begins firing arrows at it. He hears it speak in his mind, stating it follows Oghma, god of bards and balance.
Josiah spots that the “angelic army” is an illusion; only the radiant Ki-Rin is real. He also notices freed beholders act independently and dangerously. He lands some strong shots on the beholders, though he struggles with the question of who to fight alongside.
Pasinia denounces Thingol but is flung by a beholder’s telekinesis into the Grey Waste portal, where she is dragged down by black tar-like tendrils.
Caloles screams and dives in after her.
Gobbie joins the fray with melee attacks and spells, but struggles with his role — he even strikes the celestial, causing it to telepathically question him: _“Are we not on the same side?”
Tag uses his obsidian serpent staff to summon a giant poisonous snake to ride with Cath. He targets the Ki-Rin, his disgust for the celestial’s meddling apparent. He is briefly stopped by Josiah who casts Hold Person on him, but when freed, chases the weakened Ki-Rin down and kills it.
Kor climbs onto rooftops and WWE-style pile-drives a beholder to the ground, smashing it with his maul. He rages, focusing entirely on beholders.
Angelus sits out most of the battle with a sore stomach from the meal, sidelined as comic relief (though his disgust reinforces how vile the food is).
Chibro’s and Josiah’s shots and Kor’s attacks do visible damage to Thingol through her minions, and to the other beholders flying in.
One of the freed beholders fires a disintegration ray at Thingol, saying in deep speech, “I don’t care who you made a deal with. I don’t care who you think controls me, but I will not work for you any longer.”
Chibro shoots Thingol again and again.
Kor jumps to attack the last beholder, plastering himself onto its face, blocking some of its eyestalks and preparing to attack up close.
As Thingol reacts in pain, her mask slips, revealing she too is a wight, like Roric.
Roric appears, begging the party to spare Thingol, saying he recognizes her. Saying she is her sister, Alabaster, and telling the party that he and she once served a terrible devil, who gave them power in exchange for a terrible price. He didn’t know it was her under the mask, but he suspected, deep in his heart.
The party paused their attacks, but the Ki-Rin dis not. It lunged forward, stating, “What I do here, I do to restore the balance. I do this in service of my god, Oghma. I do not like what I do, but I must do this.” It then immolated Thingol in radiant flames, burning her to ash.
As Thingol burned, the remaining beholders burned up as well.
Tag chased the Ki-Rin into the remains of Thingol’s manor and killed it with his magic blade. As it died, it forgave him, and it warned Gobbie, “Beware and beware. Your friend hunts those of my kind. He seeks to kill all like me, all that serve your God as well. Perhaps he will turn his eye on you at some point.” Then it died, and a fragment of its radiant soul was sucked into Tag’s magical blade. The rest of it returned to its plane of origin, where it slowly began the process of reforming.
Roric, mourning his sister but recognizing that she chose her path, told Chibro he would likely take over the rule of the city in his sister’s stead. He mused briefly with Chibro on the difficulty of keeping the city balanced, saying, “I guess I’ll have to keep myself in check, and maintain the hopelessness. But maybe I can find a sort of balance. One can hope.” This last line said with as wry a grin the skeletal features of wight can give.
Roric then went to free his friend, Seamus. Chibro helped by casting his tiny hut, blocking the magical effects of the Glyph of Warding.
The group returned to the Castle of Bones inn, where they collapsed into their beds, while Roric and Seamus debated the best way to manage the city.
The group has a conversation with Tag about the killing of the Ki-Rin. Tag explains that he grew up with a group of hunters who went after celestials and devils alike, and that he despises them for their meddling. He and his clan killed them on other planes to drive them back to their prime plane, and prevent them from interfering in the matters of mortals. He asked the group not to judge him too harshly for his actions.
Chibro stated that he would prefer to judge Tag and all the party members on what they have done since joining up with him, rather than what he has done before. Chibro’s only request is that Tag be careful to not let his old reflexes and habits blind him to the intelligent course of action, as where they are headed, there are likely to be many demons and fiends.
Tag agreed, and the party parted with equanimity, all heading to their beds.
Chibro accidentally sat on Tabi who was hiding in his bed.
The group fell into a fitful sleep, knowing the next day, they would venture into the Grey Wastes.

Song(s) of the Session

Come on Up to the House by Tom Waits
Change on the Rise by Avi Kaplan

#sigil/recap

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