Recap - 2026-07-02

More Downtime

This session was spent at least partially finishing out the downtime for the rest of the players.

Josiah was still absent, so we will figure his out next session.

Kor’s Downtime

You spend the first week back in Sigil familiarizing yourself with the place. It’s overwhelming, at best, and some days you find yourself just sitting on the front stoop of Chirper’s Inn watching the swirling mass of planar creatures in a full rainbow of colors move by.
You hear Angelus inside, most evenings, telling the stories of the groups’ adventures to whoever will buy him a round. Gobbie stops by to check in with you a couple of times, but seems content to let you sit and process what’s happened.
One such day, in the middle of the morning, a very muscled and fit hobgoblin, biceps as big around as yours despite a shorter frame, approaches you. He steps onto the first step, almost timidly, then says, “Are you Kor?”
He introduces himself as Forza Tesch, and says he is a member of the Transcendent Order, a faction in Sigil dedicated to the development of mind and body.
He pauses, then says, “Is it true you outlasted a group of ACHERON Notes-bound hobgoblins?”

Kor acknowledged that he had, and Forza, impressed, asked him to come train some new faction members back at the Great Gymnasium. Kor agreed, and spent the next few weeks teaching his impressive body control skills to the Transcendent Order. At the end of his downtime, he had made a little bit of cash, but more importantly, had achieved the rank of Factioneer with the Order.

Chibro’s Downtime, Continued

Chibro went to the Hands of Havoc warehouse meeting, and was greeted by an odd assortment of creatures.

You wind your way through the Hive Ward. The air around you is thick and humid and full of the stench of unwashed bodies mingling with rotting garbage, sewage, and something sickly sweet that hangs like poison in your lungs.
Buildings lean precariously into each other forming shadow-choked tunnels where pale figures dart between piles of refuse, their eyes glinting like hungry rats in the dim glow of guttering lanterns.
You think through the directions you were given, and take the last right, ending up in front of a half-collapsed warehouse with a handful of pale glowing lights inside.

You step through a shattered windowframe and find yourself standing in a rough semicircle with a few dozen figures. Each of them is dressed in dark cloaks, most with covered faces.
You recognize a handful of them, including Delven Crowtrack, the one who brought you into the Hands previously.
There is no podium or stage, but attention seems focused on a small rag-wrapped figure sitting on a stool on the far side of the semicircle. Looking closer, you see it’s a goblin, but missing both legs. It chitters in a language you don’t understand, and a handful of laughs rise from the group, then they turn to you.
Delven speaks out, his words slow, voice deep, “Welcome back, brother. You have been gone for but a short time, but much has happened, yes?”

Chibro shared with the group his adventures in the Grey Wastes and Gehenna, and tells them of the odd interaction with the Hands of Havoc members in the Night Market, ending with the recent interaction with Sishu Vultuehr and her concern for her brother, Wintu.

Delven, revealing himself as a blowhard and perhaps less keenly-witted than he first seemed, brushed off most of Chibro’s concerns. He shared that, yes, they did commission him for the job of the crossbow sabotage, but that they didn’t know anything about the infestation, and that the group as a whole wasn’t even really in on the crossbow thing. They had okayed it, but an absent member, Thorin Ironstar, had been the one to actually suggest and finance it.

Delven also admitted that they have lost track of some of their members, but another Hand, Maud Harabedian, insisted it wasn’t just some - it was more than half.

Delven brushes off the concerns, saying they’re a group of anarchists, and that people come and go and don’t really keep track of each other.

When Chibro reiterated the letters and their contents, a goliath named Praz Bumolg stepped forward.

A tall, gaunt figure, easily eight feet tall, stooping down to avoid brushing their head against the partially collapsed roof, coughs out a harsh laugh.
“Her? That’s what it says? Not she. Her?”
The figure, dressed in dark and tattered robes, with a hood over his head and a mask covering most of a thick black beard, leans down toward you.
“My buddy and I, little halfling friend, name of Aram. He found out the bleedin’ Mercykillers were going to be staking out something in the Hive, just a few streets over. Got it in ‘is head that we should burn the place down before they got there, get a laugh from seeing the barmy Jailers strutting around in a pile o’ ash.”
“I got held up trying to dodge a squad of hardheads down by the ditch, and by the time I got there, he was gone. I torched the place myself, but didn’t find him until I got back to our hideout.”
“He was shaking like a leaf - said he got to the building and saw a light inside. Peeked in, and saw four figures. Three barmy humans, our people, dressed in our outfits, jaws hanging wide open, and a fourth in a porcelain mask.”
“He didn’t make a peep, but still - the woman or whatever she was turned her head and looked right at him through the window, and held out her hand to him. The three sods, without turning, started chanting, ’take Her hand’ with their slack jaws.”
The goliath squats down, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet, and begins digging a finger in the dirt.
“When I found him at our place, he was just laying on the ground, cryin’. He said that everything in his guts told him to run, but for a moment - for a split second - all he wanted to do was go in and grab Her hand.”
“He disappeared the next morning. Last thing he said to me that night, before I turned in for the night was, ‘I could see things, terrible things, in Her eyes.’”

Delven pushed all this aside and led the group in a toast. Chibro, annoyed, tried to intuit if Delven was hiding something, but realized he really was just a shallow idiot.

He conferred with Maud, and she told him she would compile a list of Thorin’s normal haunts and get it to him.

Before he left, Delven pulled Chibro aside and handed him an insignia of the Hands, telling him he has achieved the rank of Factioneer and he should be proud.

Feeling like none of the rest of the Hands were taking what could be a literal world-ending event seriously, he left frustrated and returned to his group.

Tag’s Downtime

You spent your first few days re-familiarizing yourself with the city, resting, recuperating, taking Cath out for a walk where he managed to snag and devour whole a cranium rat. You stop in and see Sea of Opportunity briefly.
She’s happy to see you, and says that she hasn’t snatched up any good jewelry, but will let you know if anything comes.
Once day at lunch, you tried to use a set of Bytopian chopsticks to snatch a piece of meat off Angelus’ plate when he wasn’t looking, and you fumbled it.
You felt out of practice, and decided it was time to get back to some fine detail work on some fancy jewelry, and ventured back out into the bazaar.
You managed to find a spot tucked between a seller of odd fruits, only about half of which you recognize, and a headless humanoid selling cloaks they model on their own body, as a living mannequin. You propped up your stall - the same thick door you found lying in an alley after a building collapse - and waited.
There is a constant flow of traffic, and soon you start getting some customers. You do some legitimate repairs at first.

You quickly fall into your old rhythms, and soon there’s a line forming after the third person you helped walked off into the crowd crowing about how he can “finally see where grandmama carved her death runes into it”.
After a couple of weeks of solid work, you make 55 GP, and a nice surprise: You’re working to repair a jewelry box that a member of the Fated faction brought by. The clasp was stuck fast, but after a few hours of work, you got it open. You also discovered that there was a hidden compartment in the lid, and inside was a handful of gems.
When the Fated individual, a female human dressed in an ostentatious outfit with puffed sleeves and a large gold watch chain came back to get it, they told you to keep the gems as reward for work well done. “Those were Tarquin’s pebbles,” she said, letting out a gentle huff of air. “I don’t care to deign to touch them.”
You inspect them and find that they are a half-dozen well-shaped obsidian gems, net worth of 60 GP.

One day, a cleric dressed in purple robes with dark eyeshadow comes sprinting up, shoving the handful of people gathered around your stall out of the way.
“I need a rush job, NOW! Triple your normal cost, but needs to be done as quickly as possible.” He drops a set of gold coins, riveted together along one side, onto the table. One is badly bent, preventing them from moving around the rivet’s axis as you can clearly see they should.
He glances back down the street, then back at you. “Well??”

Tag agreed to do the work, but decided he would attempt to forge the coins.

You realize these aren’t any old coins - they’re a clerical focus, for a cleric of Beshaba, goddess of bad luck. And they’re worth a LOT of money. In good condition, you could probably sell them for over a hundred gold.

You tell the priest to come back in a few hours and you’ll have it all fixed up for him. He mutters something but vanishes into the crowd.
You pull a set of gold coins from your pouch and begin to carefully mirror the etchings and guidelines, then quickly punch a rivet.

You manage to build a convincing replica, and they spin with ease. The priest reappears exactly three hours from when he left, and holds out a hand.
You drop the coins in his hand, and he inspects them briefly, nodding quickly. He tosses bag of coins on the table, and runs off.
You sit back and begin to work on the next piece of jewelry, and about twenty minutes later, you see a portal open in a large barrel on its side about thirty feet away. The cleric’s body is shoved through it, followed by a large lizardfolk creature in black robes with a deep gouge on its side.
The lizardfolk stands, holding its side, and looks down at the cleric.
“I knew partnering with a cleric of bad luck on that job would come back to bite me.” Hissing with pain, he steps on the body, then past, and vanishes into the crowd.
A few minutes later, a Dustman, dressed in rags and with a metal faceplate covering his mouth, comes by with a wheelbarrow and drops the cleric in, wheeling him away. As he passes by your table, he sees you watching, and-with a grin you can hear but not see-says “There’s plenty o’room on the cart, meboy. Fancy a trip to the mortuary?”

Near the end of your third week, you hear a familiar voice and look down the crowded street to see Sea coming, followed by a massive creature covered in white fur and holding a blanket-wrapped package nearly five feet long.
She sees you, and strolls up, tutting as she does.
“One merchant to another, Tag, it’s all about appearances.” She gestures to the large figure behind her, and says, “John-Luc, this is Tag. Tag, this is the guy I hire to carry heavy things for me.” The creature nods at you, but says nothing. “I’ve brought you a gift!”
She leans over and unwraps the rope holding the blanket in place, and they fall away revealing a folded wooden frame. The bustling crowd is largely avoiding John-Luc, so he has room to unfold it into a four-legged stall with a sturdy table frame, storage space, and a small wooden space dangling overhead.
She bows, deeply, and says, “I had one of the Seekers (Mind’s Eye) make this for you. Portable stall, folds and unfolds, with space for whatever sign you can craft yourself.”

Tag’s Day in Court

Tag, you’re in the process of packing up your stall for the day and heading back to Chirper’s when a halfling woman in a tall hat and fancy red robes comes trotting up to your stall. She is followed closely by a small winged bipedal creature that is carrying a red folio. She reaches your stall, and looks you up and down. “Tagleri Sunrunner?” She asks, in a high, clipped tone?

She gestures to the creature, and it snaps open the folio and hands you a sheaf of papers.

“You’ve been served!” She says, “Please come to the courthouse first thing tomorrow morning.” She turns to go, pauses, glances around, and then whispers, “I’m a big fan of your work with the, uh, jewels. If you’re not banished to Mount Celestia for this, there’s a place for you in the Fraternity of Order if you want.” Then she skitters off into the crowd.
The summons is many pages long, and written in looping legalese, but the gist is simple: You are being sued by priests of Torm and those he represents for the planar crime of killing a Ki-Rin in cold blood and taking a small piece of its eternal glory. Please appear in the courts tomorrow morning and bring your legal representation and any witnesses you think may help your case.
The rest of you, scattered around the city, have similar run-ins, but your letter is a simple card that requests your presence as witnesses in the trial of “Tagleri Sunrunner vs the People of Torm and That Which is Right and Holy.”
You all gather back at Chirper’s Inn for dinner, as is your custom on the weekend, and Dreri and Grebo have joined as well.
Chirper’s is always busy at the end of the week, but this week is particularly crowded, as they just got a fresh shipment of Bisect Brew from Bytopia, and the patrons are enjoying its gravity-warping effects to the joy and raucous laughter of all.
As one particularly inebriated dwarf drifts past, giggling into his beard, Dreri leans back in her chair and points at Tag, “You’re being sued?”

The group discussed the lawsuit a bit, and then Tag decided to go talk to Small and Coats about whether they knew a good lawyer.

Chibro accompanied Tag, and when they arrived, they heard their occasional employers arguing about a botched job of some sort, both agreeing to keep it quiet.

Coats told them that he didn’t really know any lawyers, but that the Fraternity of Order would be the best place to look. He offered to phone up a guy good with contract law, but Tag declined.

Upon returning back, Tag realized that Angelus could be a good lawyer, and Angelus accepted, with one condition: He got control of Cath for a day. Tag agreed, and handed Angelus the legal summons, all 120 pages. Angelus, showing uncharacteristic fervor and attentiveness, spent half the night reading through all 120 pages preparing for the trial.

The next morning, the whole group went to the Courthouse to attend the trial. The prosecution was lead by one man: A priest named Falta Prevision, was representing himself and his people. He accused Tag of two things:

1. Killing a good and holy being, a Ki-rin, in cold blood.
2. Inflicting great harm upon his people who were living in the desmene of the Ki-Rin for many decades, relying on the supernatural benefits living under its care brought.

Angelus, as the trial began, leaned over to Tag and told him, “I’m gonna flip this coin: Heads, I represent you well. Tails, I destroy you.” In reality, Angelus was only saying this to mess with Tag.

Both the priest and Angelus gave their opening arguments. Everyone was simultaneously impressed and confused by Angelus’ opening statement.

Many witnesses were called, and each were put under the compulsion of Zone of Truth:

• Tag: Tag testified that he was not guilty, that he was a former member of a group that hunted celestials and fiends both as they did not like them meddling in the ways of mortals, but that he did not work with them anymore and did not seek out celestials to kill. Angelus asked him only one question: “Do you hate me?” Tag, under the compulsion of the spell, told Angelus that ever since they went up the stairwell in the four doors encounter (a full YEAR AGO IN REAL LIFE HOLY COW), that he felt there was a bond between them. Angelus then dramatically revealed that he is a celestial,¹ and that if Tag can befriend him, then he cannot be someone who hates celestials. There was much gasping in the gallery at this revelation.
• Chibro: Chibro was snarky in the whole of his testimony, throwing out zingers like “why do I need to promise to tell the whole truth if you can compel me to do so?” His answers were vague and philosophical, and the prosecution quickly abandoned him as a witness after Chibro told the court that he did not see Tag murder the Ki-Rin. Angelus asked Chibro if he had, in fact, dealt it in the raft on the River Styx. Chibro, magically compelled to tell the truth, admit that he did indeed both smell it and deal it. Many in the crowd were confused by this question, but after the reveal of Angelus’ question about whether Tag hated him, they were willing to trust Angelus’ direction. ²
• Hankin: The prosecution attempted to lean into the connection between his god, Torm, and Hankin’s, Tyr, but Hankin refused to give in just based on that connection. Instead, Hankin admitted that, if Tag had indeed killed the Ki-Rin in cold blood, and if that Ki-Rin was in fact a good and holy being, and if in fact the Ki-Rin’s death caused pain, then that was inherently not a good act. However, he pointed out that none of that had been proven yet. The prosecution attempted to sway Hankin by reading from a book of their religion, citing all the benefits of a Ki-Rin’s presence, and saying it all went away, permanently, when the Ki-Rin left and never returned. Angelus retorted by showing his diary, and sharing of a particularly embarrassing moment where Tag stuck up for him. This story was meant to imply the opposite of what the prosecution was attempting to show: that Tag was not evil, but instead a good friend.
• Josiah: Josiah’s testimony was brief but full of good information. He shared that he did indeed have to cast hold person on Tag to keep him from attacking the Ki-Rin, that he saw Tag chase the Ki-Rin inside, saw the Ki-Rin kill Thingol, but that he did not see Tag kill the Ki-Rin. At this point, Chibro joined Angelus as co-counsel, as he had been feeding questions to Angelus throughout the trial. Josiah admitted that it seemed like the Ki-Rin was meddling in the affairs of Hopeless, and that if Thingol was pulling it too far toward the Grey Wastes, the Ki-Rin, with its hopeful aura, would pull it too far the other way.
• Kor: Kor’s testimony was short, generally only one or two word responses. He did not speak to character of Tag other than to say he has only seen Tag do good things for the rest of his party. He also admitted to killing a beholder with his bare hands. The crowd was abuzz by this news, with many amazed by it.
• Seamus: A former prisoner of Thingol, Seamus testified that she was indeed pulling the town too far toward the Grey Wastes. He believed her death was ultimately a positive, but didn’t know much about the actual battle.
• Roric: The new leader of Hopeless, and brother to Thingol, Roric testified that saw the Ki-Rin kill his sister, saw the sensates attack the city, tried to stop it all, saw the party join the fight, but did not see Tag kill the Ki-Rin.
• Beholder - Speak with Dead: Summoned via Speak with Dead, Angelus and Chibro got two questions to ask, and the prosecution got two, and the court used one to ask if it had told the truth. Angelus asked it if it served Thingol willingly, which it said it hadn’t. The prosecution asked what it had seen in the battle, and whether it viewed the party as the aggressors. Chibro used this time to argue that Tag could not have killed the Ki-Rin in cold blood, as they were in the heat of battle when it was killed.
• Ki-Rin: The killed and resurrected Ki-Rin came to testify, and shared some key information. Tag indeed had hunted it down and killed it in the course of the battle. It could not speak as to whether it was done in cold blood or not. It was summoned by the struggle between good and evil, great power versus small happening in Hopeless when Pasina and Caloles attacked Thingol attempting to depose her to save the city. Chibro asked the Ki-Rin if it thought Tag was evil. The Ki-Rin cast Protection from Evil and Good and had Tag attempt to attack it. Through this, it determined that Tag was merely a mortal, and mortals contain multitudes. The prosecution, at one key moment, broke and accused the Ki-Rin of abandoning them. The Ki-Rin rebutted with the argument that it owed him and his people nothing, and that it was bound to go where it was sent.

Chibro and Angelus ultimately got to the point where the man admitted it was about the Ki-rin leaving them and not returning that was the issue, and that the man only wanted Tag to suffer in Mount Celestia for the death of his daughter. Chibro in particular was able to prove that the man’s loss was due to his own decision to rely on a transient blessing. “You don’t build your house in the valley under a dam and then blame a crack in the dam for killing you.”

The judge decided in favor of Tag, citing him not guilty. The priest, incensed by this and the Ki-Rin’s disregard, accused Tag of killing his daughter by taking the Ki-Rin’s blessings away from them, and attacked.

Song of the Session

The Judge by Twenty-One Pilots

Previous Session: Sigil - 2026-06-04
Next Session: Sigil - 2026-07-16

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