The session started simply enough. The funds obtained from the successful completion of Augustus' previous mission (both in terms of payment and treasure found) were handed out and the party engaged in some light shopping, and associated level-up training. (And Josh managed to gripe that I had given him enough experience to go up a level, but not enough so that he could start making magical items.) After a few days of downtime, the party's Sensate sponsor came through with another request.

Augustus declared that his next experience was something of an apology for the nature of the last mission. Seeing as how the party seems to be very active, the elder Sensate wished to exploit that very nature. Augustus wishes the party to be very active, up to the point of complete and utter exhaustion. The time, place, and method is completely up to the whim of the party. In fact, Augustus hinted that he would prefer if the members engaged in activities they enjoyed in order to obtain this state of affairs. To help with this potential for multiple activities, Augustus gave each member of the group a sensory linking item. These items (in the shape of various pieces of jewelry), would allow the group to be up to 100 feet distant from the mimir and still have their experiences and sensations recorded by the device.

With that, the party left Augustus' office to start their discussions on how they were going to go about exhausting themselves. Before they got very far, the party was accosted by a stranger. Or rather, Shazarr was accosted. A very short dwarf apparently made of granite approached the tiefling and handed him a letter of introduction. The document was from Dr. Fever. The rogue modron claimed to have discovered information that put the party, and Shazarr in particular, in great and immenient danger. Knowing that Shazarr is rather ineffective in melee combat, Dr. Fever took the liberty of hiring a fellow Godsmen as a minder - Greymankle, the Stone Prince (a.k.a. Earth Genasi).

Shazarr immediately suspected a wizard he had run into a month or so ago - Shalazar the Onyx. The tiefling recalled that the mage had a fascination with everything stone, and had invited Shazarr to help him in his studies. The art dealer suspected that the spellcaster was more interested in adding Shazarr to his collection, than in any partnership. Remembering this, Shazarr decided to cast a vote for leaving Sigil entirely, so as to avoid any sort of confrontation.

Ginaea also voiced a strong opinion to leave Sigil and visit "the blue guy". This odd figure is part of the earliest memories that she has. This large blue man lives in a place known as the City of Glass. After some research, the party discovered that this burg is the Inner Planar equivelant of Sigil. Much like the Cage, the City of Glass also embodies the primary way to get about its grouping of planes. But, rather than one city with multiple portals, there are multiple cities with limited portals. Since travel on the Inner Planes is all about crossing borders - slipping between the cracks, as it were - there is a City of Glass on each and every single elemental plane and one travels the planes by physically travelling from one City to another through the cracks of the burg. The version Ginaea wished to visit lay in the Realm of Waves (a.k.a. Elemental Plane of Water); the party was only able to located a portal near to the version that lay in the Realm of Winds (a.k.a. Elemental Plane of Air).

However, in the process of learning about the City of Glass, Rusteen dragged the party into another adventure entirely. It seems he expressed a desire to stop by and see what, if anything, was left of the mysterious temple that was being fought over by the Signers and the Athar. In the course of the discussion, Rusteen mentioned by full name and title the forgotten god to which the building had been dedicated. At this point, the woodsman was overcome by a strong desire to enter the building and touch one of the mysterious pieces of stone that made up parts of the walls. He did so, and promptly disappeared. The rest of the party grudgingly followed him into the building and touched the same stone.

They found themselves trapped in the memories of the dead god of the temple (Badir, Lord of Wind and Rain). The memory in question depicted a typical worship service to the deity by his desert followers. The party found themselves trapped in bodies that were not their own, and unable to leave the altar chamber. Naturally, they drew attention to themselves and got thrown into a locked room. While the faithful worked to reach a decision on how to kill the intruders, the party feverishly worked on how to escape. Zin, meditated and received a vision. He gained insight into the nature of Badir, and then reminded the worshippers that his followers do not needlessly spill blood. This statement freed the party from the memory and the stone.

Unfortunately, Rusteen was still possessed by the desire to touch a second stone. The party followed him through again. Another memory appeared. In this one, the party inhabited the bodies of palace guards, escorting a mother and her child through the halls of an enormous, golden palace. They quickly recognized the child as being the god Badir. Shortly after gaining their bearings, the voice of Badir's father - Nol, god of the Sun - rang out with a death curse upon the child-god. Immediately after this announcement, one wall of the palace collapsed under the assault of a huge dragon. About half the party immediately lept to the defense of the child-god, despite being certain to die in the attempt. The remainder of the party tried a brief attempt at hindering the beast, and then simply hid. As a result, it was primarily through the efforts of Rusteen and Zin that the child-god was saved from the enraged dragon.

As soon as Badir was safe, the group found themselves back in the forgotten temple. Although there was no unnatural desire to touch the stones, Rusteen and Zin found that they had a red gem embedded in their foreheads. After being unsettled by Jack's and Shazarr's attempts to appraise the objects, the party opted to touch a third stone. (Well, everyone except Shazarr opted, he was dragged kicking and screaming into it.) In this memory, the party found themselves as part of an army dedicated to Badir, facing a superior force dedicated to Nol. Soon after appearing, the party was commanded to join in a calvary charge at the enemy forces. Shazarr attempted to flee the battle, but his horse was slain by arrows and landed on top of him. The rest tried to charge around the enemy to strike at the opposing commander. Zin, sought another vision to determine what would free the group from this dangerous situation. The githzerai seer learned that Badir viewed the war as a neccessary action - neither good nor evil. In fact, Badir did not care about victory or defeat, only that some be left alive to carry the knowledge of the event. This lead Zin to instruct the party to pull out of the attack and instead wait for the battle to end. Then, they could serve to protect the wounded from vengeful enemies. Doing so pulled the party of the memory and placed a gem in Jack's forehead.

Seeing that they had no choice but to follow through, the party entered the fourth stone. Shazarr adamantly refused to enter and decided to keep watch in the ruined church. In the memory of the fourth stone, the party found themselves as ghosts, watching the death of the god. They soon learned that even gods are afraid to die alone. Using that clue, the group quickly began to search the crumbling palace around them for a worshipper of some kind. Ginaea found a young woman who thought herself to be the last. The colorful gith conviced the woman to go to the god and offer some form of comfort with her true and heartfelt prayers. The worshipper did so, the god smiled, and then died, freeing the party. (Ginaea was the one with the gem on her forehead this time.)

In the fifth and final stone, the party found themselves in the Astral Plane, following a group of faithful worshippers to the corpse of Badir. Upon arriving, the party realized the the worshippers intended to carve chunks of the dead god's flesh from his corpse (in fact, the very chunks that the party had been touching to access the memories of the deity). In a debate that would have made Shazarr proud had he been there to hear it, Zin convinced the worshippers not to attack the corpse of Badir, but instead go home and try to restart worship so that the god might come back to life. The other group heeded the gith's words and left. Leaving the party to float in the Silver Void with Badir's corpse.

And so they waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, they realized that to escape the memory, the party would have to be the ones to carve the stones from the god-corpse. (After all, this was a memory of the past, and the stones were already carved to build the temple and thus cause the party to be here in the first place.) So, the party carved one stone; then a second, and a third; followed by a fourth, and finally a fifth. But the vision didn't end. Guessing, the party carved a sixth stone. This triggered the appearance of a portal, through which the party could pass the stone blocks and then escape the vision.

Back in the temple, the previously unknown sixth block rose from the floor and imparted a final message from Badir. The party learned that they should touch the gems in their foreheads to the previous blocks. Upon doing so, a vortex of energy appeared and created a portal to the Astral Plane. Before the temple was sucked into the portal, the party saw an image of Badir in his prime, who acknowledged their presence with a nod (and a wanker salute to Shazarr) and then walked into the portal. It was at this point, after seeing the final death of a god (or perhaps a precursor to its resurrection), that the party decided to flee the scene and continue with Augustus' mission. (Well, that and the fact that the unmistakable sillouette of the Lady of Pain could be seen approaching their location.)

The next session will - hopefully - involve the party indulging themselves to the point of exhaustion as well as a trip to the City of Glass to find out what "the blue guy" knows about Ginaea.

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

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