Recap - 2025-09-25
As Josiah lay on the ground, consciousness returning to his once-dead form, staring up at the turtleneck-beclad yuangoloth looming over him, Tag flashed back to the last time he was loomed over by an enormous figure - when a statue crashed down onto him and nearly drowned him.
Flashback Episode!
Tag sat behind his stall, foot tapping as he surveyed the passing figures in the streets of Sigil. Angelus sat on an overturned crate nearby, using his new-found control of street magicks to mess with a poor street performer who kept trying (and failing) to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Chibro and Josiah had both walked him to the stand, and then set off for their jobs: Chibro to the Great Foundry, and Josiah to the Society of Sensation to perform as part of Checker’s research. Gobbie had left earlier in the morning to go volunteer with the Bleak Cabal, ministering to those who needed his help.
All of this left Tag, sitting alone at his stall, waiting for a customer. Also, Kor was there? At least, Tag thought he remembered Kor being there. He wasn’t sure when Kor had joined them, to be honest. The last hit from that Vlazok was still ringing in his ears.
Anyway, Tag was watching a large spiderlike creature skitter by wearing large golden braces on each of its eight legs, when someone tapped a long claw on his desk.
Sea of Opportunity, the tabaxi friend he had made after the fight with the razorvine blights, stood next to his stall. Her feline eyes traced over the sorry state of the wood, and she let out a quiet whistle as she easily pressed her claw into the soft wood.
“Good to see you again, Tag! Your stall could use a bit of sprucing up, but believe me: I didn’t start with my little store. I was wedged in a triple-layered alley in the hive for a few weeks before I made my first big score. How’s business?”
Tag nodded a greeting, explaining business had been slow today, but would likely pick up as it got closer to peak. They made idle banter for a few moments, then Sea leaned in and said, “Well, if you’ve got a bit of time to spare and would like to make a bit of extra capital, I have a proposition for you. Those two ninny-headed Flumphs that I let resell my daily shop leftovers accidentally grabbed something of real value. I tried to catch up with them, but they got so discombobulated by seeing me chasing behind that they made like a berk and dropped the scurvy thing right down the sewer! I managed to trace it into a specific spot in Undersigil, but I’m not addle-cove enough to go chasing into the dark by myself. Would you be up for retrieving it?”
Tag agreed, and Kor agreed to join him. After packing up his tools, the pair followed Sea into the depths of Undersigil.
She took them through the winding roads of the city, and then to a similar access hole to the one that Scratches in the Night took them into on your first mission. Following her into the darkness, she carefully wound her way through several twisty passages, scratching marks onto the wall at each intersection.
Stopping, she gestured down the hall. “The drainage grate leads into this hallway. I went down and got stopped at a metal door. Big room, full of water. Not sure if it’s in there, or beyond.”
Tag and Kor investigated, finding a metal door with no apparent lock, key, or handle, only a window with close-set bars. Tag inspected the door, and discovered a latch on the other side. He carefully used Kor’s crowbar to push it up out of the way of the door, and Kor kicked the door, trying to open it. The forceful kick dropped the latch back into place, and as Tag tried again to dislodge it, he instead pulled it free. Water began trickling out of the hole where the latch used to be into the room.
The room beyond was flooded, with a large crocodile resting on a ledge in front of another door to the left. Directly ahead was a third door, and there was a large collapsed passageway to the right.
Kor kicked the door again, forcing it open, and as it swung open, the passage they were in tilted up, spilling Kor into the room. Tag managed to arrest his movement, and watched in horror as the door began to swing shut, trapping Kor in the room beyond. Thinking quickly, he flung his unbreakable arrow into the gap, stopping the door from sealing completely.
The giant crocodile saw Kor enter and snapped its jaws menacingly. Kor attacked it, and a pitched battle was fought. Tag forced his way into the room, allowing the door to slam shut behind him. Water was now pouring out of holes above each of the doors, as well as from the mouths of four statues arrayed in the corners of the room. Each statue was of an eladrin representing a different season: Spring, with its flowers woven into its hair; Summer, with its light clothing and radiant face. Fall, with its leaf-covered hair and pedestal; and Winter, with its heavy furs.
Tag, staggering through the rapidly rising water, was attacked by swarms of quippers, each bite making a small but significant wound. He managed to drag himself onto one of the four empty pedestals in the center of the room, and engaged the enemy.
Chibro, meanwhile, had doubled back, realizing he forgot his spare bag of blunderbuss rounds back at Tag’s stall. When he got back, Angelus told him Tag and Kor had taken off into the sewers. Not one to miss an adventure, Chibro followed their trail, easily finding the path due to Sea’s scratched arrows.
He found Sea in the hallway outside the room, and she gave him a quick rundown. Proceeding down the hallway, he found the door closed, and saw his friends in danger beyond. After briefly checking the door for some mechanism to open, he kicked it open and splashed into the room.
A pitched battle ensued between two giant crocodiles, hundreds of quippers, and the three friends. They managed to best them, but not before the room was filled with water up to Tag’s neck, and with Tag sorely wounded.
The group examined the room, finding that each statue had matching pedestal, and working together, managed to get three of the four in place. Tag, treading water, told Chibro to throw him the last one. Chibro obliged, then Tag accidentally pulled it over on top of him, crushing himself, and slowly sinking under the weight of the statue.
Chibro managed to haul the statue off of him and place it on the pedestals, and the water slowly drained out of the room, with all three doors opening.
They stripped down the crocodiles, getting some skin, meat, and teeth, then discussed which door to try.
The group ventured through the north door, finding two Slaad sitting at a table, one smoking a pipe, and one with its feet propped up on the table, atop Sea’s missing device.
One of the Slaad turned to Tag, and using telepathy, said, “Don’t trust clocks—they tick lies in straight lines.”
Tag, confused, tried to engage the Slaad in conversation, but the words of the Slaad became more and more bizarre. Kor recognized the Slaad as members of the Xaositects faction - A defunct faction in Sigil that believed the only way to understand the multiverse was through absolute chaos.
One of the Slaad stepped forward and said, “I breathe as a dragon, fog and unpaid debts!” Chibro tried to comply, and the strange magic in the air compelled fog and debtors notes to flow out of his mouth. The Slaad seemed to accept this, and returned to his seat, no longer resting his feet on Sea’s astrolabe.
Kor attempted to sneak forward and snatch the item, but not before Tag was coerced into drinking an imaginary potion of “fire and bees” by the other Slaad. As real flaming bees flew out of Tag’s mouth, summoned by the lunacy of the Xaositects Slaad, Kor snatched the item and the group proceeded out of the room, with Chibro continuing to attempt a conversation with the Slaad, to no avail.
They returned to the main room and decided to pause for a moment to catch their breath before proceeding down the westward passageway. Tag discovered that one of the items left near the drain after the waters receded was Heward’s Handy Spice Pouch. They used salt from the pouch to season the meat, making what would be croc jerky later.
Feeling better after a short rest, they stepped forward toward the westward door, deciding to leave no stone unturned while they were down here. What they found down that hallway was odd enough that their companions back on the surface barely believed them. But before he could relive that memory, Tag found himself pulled back to the present as the yagnoloth began to speak. He pulled a piece of croc jerky from his bag and leaned in to listen.
Song of the Session
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