The game session opened with the party arriving in Augustus' office after the standard three day review period. The Sensate found their general performance on Pandemonium to be acceptable, although he was somewhat disappointed that the party split up just before returning to Sigil. Regardless, he paid the group a small sum and asked if they were interested in continuing their working relationship with him and accept another job. Que, naturally, quickly agreed on behalf of the party.

With that out of the way, Augustus proceeded to outline the details of the job. It was to be a task that was exotic and mundane at the same time. The Sensate wished the party to travel to realm of Heliopolis on the plane of Arcadia. The group is to spend two weeks in the realm, making sure to visit all three portions and fully experience "everyday life". In addition to experiencing everyday life by working odd jobs, Augustus also requested that the group use the mimir to "eavesdrop" on the experiences of others, particularly those of children. Since Augustus had no idea what the party would need to spend money on during this experience, he offered no money up front, but did put forth the promise of a sizeable payment and possible bonuses upon completion.

The offer sounded simple enough, although Twig and Shazarr wisely asked for a few more details, primarily on who lived in the realm. As it turns out, Heliopolis is the home of four gods of the Ennead - also known as the Egyptian pantheon. Three of the four gods - Ra (God of the Sun), Isis (Goddess of Magic), Osiris (God of the Dead) - have their own cities in the realm, while the fourth - Horus (God of Vengeance) - wandered the realm at will. From this information, the group determined that rather than artic gear, they were going to need desert gear. (A few characters stocked up before leaving, but most opted to wait until arriving in the realm and purchase clothing from the locals.)

To save a lengthy journey to the realm, Augustus had located a portal directly to Heliopolis. It was in a Lower Ward inn known as the Ubiquitous Wayfarer, in the window of a third story room. The key was a handful of hot sand thrown through the open portal. On the way to the inn, Ginaea wandered off in a different direction, claiming that she remembered something and wanted to go look at it. Puzzled, the rest of the party followed behind. A block or so off the main street, the group came to a ruined church. Ginaea identified it as being a place she'd spent some time at, but really couldn't remember what she did there. However, the group could not enter the building as it was under heavy guard by the Athar.

The Lost were present because the building was a "religious hazard" to the community. It seemed that a group of workmen who'd been hired to tear the place down disappeared shortly after starting the job. A Harmonium patrol that investigated likewise vanished. So, the place was sealed until such time as someone can figure out how what happened and how to safely complete the demolition.

Not one in favor of letting people be thwarted in their quests, Que promptly turned Ginaea invisible. The party then quickly left the area so as not to be shot by the Athar. Ginaea circled the building and spotted a hole in the foundation around the back. Crawling through it, she gained access to the interior. The interior of the building was not spectacular - a single open space, empty, with tools scattered about. The main thing of personal interest to her was that while she had fairly firm memories about the exterior of the building, she had absolutely none about the interior. It was if she was viewing it for the very first time. Puzzled, but not willing to waste more time, Ginaea left the building and rejoined the group. After hearing this disappointing news, Que snuck back to the area and checked for portals, guessing that Ginaea might have come through a portal near the building which is why she remembers the outside and not the inside. The gnome saw no portals, yet noticed something vaguely portal-like about part of the wall of the church.

Saving this mystery for later, the party finally moved along and arrived at the Ubiquitous Wayfarer. True to form, Twig declared that they had to have a few drinks, "for the road", before finding the portal and moving on. Shazarr decided to see if he could find someone who'd been to Heliopolis and get a feel for the place - particularly with regard to the realm of law enforcement. Once again, Dr. Fever got conned into buying all the drinks. Twig, for her part wandered over to a magical statue in the center of the tap room and tried to solve the week's riddle.

"I have two mugs for ale - one that holds five finger's worth and another that holds three. I am thirsty enough to drink four finger's worth. But any more than that puts me flat on my back and I can't eyeball a measurement to save my life. How ever am I going to get my four finger's worth of ale?"

A rather amusing span of time followed wherein Dr. Fever solved it fairly quickly, then attempted to tell the answer to Twig. (Fill the 5-mug, then fill the 3-mug from the 5-mug. This leaves two fingers in the 5-mug. Drink the two fingers and then repeat.) Twig, not being rather patient, couldn't get the hang of repeating after the modron and gave up on that tact. But, she soon came up with her own solution. (Fill the 3-mug, and then drink it. Fill the 3-mug again, then fill the 5-mug from the 3-mug. Fill the 3-mug again, and then top off the 5-mug from the 3-mug. This leaves one finger in the 3-mug. Drink that.) The prize was a free drink, so Twig considered it to be a good deal.

With the drinking out of the way, the party continued up to the third floor and promptly forgot which room they were supposed to go into. But they soon remembered (the second on the right) and tried to enter. They quickly found that the room was locked. They also found that the room was occupied - a very loud and deep voice told them to go away so he could get some sleep. Not being slaves to polite convention, the party decided to ignore the voice and picked the lock on the room. It was then they found that occupant was a hung-over and pissed off minotaur. So, the group decided to just make a run for the portal in the window and jump through before the creature could kill them all.

It was here that the party learned the dangers of issuing commands to a modron before fully taking stock of the situation. Twig told Dr. Fever to throw the sand and jump through the portal. Unfortunately, she failed to notice that 1) the window was closed, and 2) you can't throw a handful of sand 10' and expect it to stay in one clump. But, Dr. Fever acted on the instructions he was issued and threw the sand and started running to jump through the window - and almost certainly crash through it and fall three stories to the street below.

Fortunately, there were enough party members to remedy the situation. Twig jumped over the modron and opened the window. Ginaea summoned an ethereal hand to throw a new handful of sand through the now open portal. Now active, the rest of the group was able to jump through the window. During all of this, Rusteen went toe-to-toe with the minotaur to make sure that he couldn't squash the rest of the frail party members. Although he took a couple of solid hits, the hearty ranger managed to stay on his feet and be the last through the portal.

The portal placed the party on the outskirts of a massive tent city in the middle of a desert. A blazingly hot desert. Que quickly started to succumb to the heat, and most of the party felt it (and a couple turned out to be immune to the heat). On this side, the portal was affixed to a giant rusted iron ring - the remains of a tanner's vat. The party was quickly greeted by the tanner, an egyptian dwarf named Pathhotep. He welcomed them to Thekele-Re, the holy city of Ra in Heliopolis. While getting a quick introduction to the layout of the city, the party also discovered some of the hazards of travelling to the various outer planes.

First, each PC's moral outlook mattered to the residents of the city. LG and LN are welcomed; NG and CG are tolerated; N and CN are asked to leave as quickly as possible; evil is attacked on sight. Second, the plane of Arcadia itself had some say in the matter of who was a welcome visitor and who was not. Being a Mildly Law-Aligned plane, any chaotic character (Rusteen, Twig) suffers a -2 penalty to all CHR-based checks while on Arcadia. Additionally, all Illusion- and Enchantment-based spells and powers are impeded - characters who use them must make a Spellcraft, Psicraft, or Concentration check vs. DC 15 + spell/power level in order to actually cast/manifest the ability in question.

The party spent the first four days of their two weeks in Thekele-Re. Twig and Rusteen became the local babysitters and spent their time teaching the few children of the city how to play soccer. (Being a city of mostly petitioners, there are few living inhabitants and hence few kids.) Ginaea became an assitant merchant, allowing her to pester hordes of people about their histories and hers. (Que brought up the possibility that she might be a petitioner herself as she, like the spirits of the city, can remember nothing before a certain time.) Shazarr and Dr. Fever hooked up with local artisans and craftsmen, respectively. Que spent his time in the local temples.

On the party's fourth day in town, new merchants arrived. A pair of lizardfolk set up a tent in the market, and were selling a few small artistic trinkets. Shazarr and Ginaea decided to investigate; the latter because they were living beings and might offer a new answer to her questions, the former because they might be competition for his own business. The female of the pair rapidly became interested in Shazarr and began flirting; the tiefling flirted back. Soon enough, he manged to secure an invitation for himself and Ginaea to visit the rest of the lizardfolk in Gizekhtet in three days' time. That was when the nomadic reptiles would be holding a private party and offering chances to view some unique and ancient art work.

On the morning of the fifth day, the party travelled to Gizekhtet, the city under the gaze of Isis. The lands around her city were lush, green, and much cooler than the sun-baked sands of Ra's region. A river flowed through the center of the city, and burg was filled with actual buildings. Twig and Rusteen fell in love with the region as soon as they realized that the Egyptians were the ones who invented beer. In between creating a soccer league in this city, the pair worked in jobs relating to beer. (Rusteen tended bar at the one inn; Twig hooked up with a brewery.) Ginaea, Shazarr, and Dr. Fever again took positions with local craftsmen. Que, again, visited the local temples.

On their second day in Gizekhtet, the party spent most of the day in the Temple of Knowledge. Que had discovered that the priests were willing to answer any questions, for an appropriate sacrifice. Several of the party asked questions, and all got answers that they weren't exactly happy with, besides their cryptic nature. Ginaea did think to ask about herself, and Dr. Fever inquired after Ginaea's parents. (Nobody really shared either their questions or their answers with the rest.)

That evening, the party received a visit from a squad of soldiers dedicated to Horus. Their leader - Rahotep, a man who showed evidence (scars and burns) of having survived a recent battle - indicated that he was making sure the party had good intentions. Recently, a group of Anarchists snuck into Memphiria (Osiris' realm), stole several petitioners away, and then killed them off-plane. Satisifed as to their purpose in town - as related in excruciating detail by Dr. Fever - Rahotep asked them to keep alert for suspicious activity and then bid them good night.

The evening of the PCs' 8th day in Heliopolis was time for the lizardfolk's private art party. Naturally, the rest of the group wanted to crash the event to which only Shazarr and Ginaea were invited. The party was being held in a pair of buildings on the edge of Gizekhtet. Although Shazarr and Ginaea were allowed inside, the rest of the group was forced to remain on the street. Over the course of a few hours, the two groups of PCs became slightly suspicious of the motives of the lizardfolk. Dr. Fever noted that all the guests of the party were definitely above average in terms of physical beauty. This prompted Que to read the mind of one of their hosts and he did determine that something was up, although he could not discover exactly what. Shazarr, for his part, noticed that even though guests were invited one at a time into a back room to see the art, none of them ever really appeared back in the main room.

As he was voicing his suspicions to Ginaea, it came time for her turn to view the art. The githzerai gallantly decided to let Shazarr go first. He was escorted down a short hall and into a back room. There, he was shown the prize of the lizardfolk's collection, an ancient sculpture called The Crucible of Circean Embers. Shazarr did quickly determine that the piece was indeed quite old, and of masterful quality. A few moments later, he also discovered that the phrase "beat with the ugly stick" isn't just a figure of speech. One of his hosts poked him with an end of the device, and it promptly started draining him of his charisma! He broke free, but was quickly shoved through a trap door and into the basement, with all the other unfortunate victims of the device.

Outside, Que heard a brief cry from the back of the house. Deciding that now was the right time to act, he turned Rusteen invisible and told him to find the party guests. He sent Dr. Fever and Twig out to find the city guards while the gnome circled around the building. Rusteen got inside just in time to see Ginaea being ushered into the back room. He managed to follow and avoid capture. However, he failed to act in time to prevent Ginaea from being beat with the ugly stick. But, he did mess up one of the lizardfolk's day, and prompted an evacuation of the building. (But, he did get hit with the stick as well.) In the end, the party managed to capture four of the lizardfolk, but the rest escaped through a portal with both the magic rod and a lot of glass containers which the party assumed to be holding the stolen beauty.

So, as it stands, the party has only spent 8 of the required 14 days in Heliopolis before being rather rudely interrupted. The group now has to decide what to do with their prisoners and figure out how to use the portal the lizardfolk used in order to give chase. Of course, they'll also have to stick around and answer some questions from the local militia before they'll be allowed on their way.

Authored by: Ken Lipka E-mail me: krlipka@yahoo.com

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