Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

"So, he's corrupt and there's a very real possibility that he may try to kill us? And we'll be trapped in the book until we successfully break the curse, but if he kills us or if it doesn't work, we'd be trapped in there forever, and unlike him we'd know where we were and it'd slowly drive us insane and there's no guarantee that we could even get so much as an arcane message out?

All of a sudden 5000 gold doesn't seem that good a payment. For 5000 gold, I can make you look like us for the next 8 hours and you could give it a shot yourself?"

(If you want a persuasion check to try and increase the payment, which is really what Mordekai is attempting here... can I use my inspiration? You gave it to me a LONG time ago, and I never used it in Barovia. I'll roll twice, and if inspiration expires at some point...like the end of a campaign book, for example!!... just use the first roll: 24  20

(I'm just going to use the first roll. Not because your inspiration expired, just, cause I feel like it.)

The Bariaur speaks up, "Well, indeed, I would be surprised were you not to haggle. Obviously we are paying you to take a risk, so that we don't have to. As for asking for more jink, one can only achieve what one strives to take for themselves. Wouldn't you agree? We will increase the pay to 6000 gold, but more than that, and we will look elsewhere for those up to the task." 

Meepo's spell washes across the blade. The blade is bound with arcane and divine magic meant to undo a nasty curse, and is specifically bound to a person named Arrant Quill. It must taste his blood to function, and does not require attunement. 

"Meepo say blade do what say." Meepo says, handing the dagger to Mordekai. "Meepo ready now, Meepo friend need rest?" he looks up at Mordekai.

     Ketch shrugs and kind of nods, both accepting the bump in pay and saying he is ready.  He's down one spell but how much could this job need?

Lionel frowned a bit during haggle but did not argue  in any way, of course. He, personally, was touched - true camaraderie was something that always resonated with his soul and to see such a bright example in the place he already labeled as weird... He was really touched. "We are ready to go," Lionel looked at his companion - it seemed others were too, unless Mordekai wanted to do something else. "How would we recognize Arrant Quill in that demi-plane? And would it help if we read the book first?"

"Certainly yes, it would help you understand his story. Arrant is 5 foot 10 inches tall, a human male, black short hair and a nice black beard. Well dressed chap, fair skin, nose is a bit too big for his face, though he's no gnome mind you. He has a scar across his left cheek.  Here, I'll read the story to get you started." 

With a fine smooth yet loud voice, the man begins to read the story. In the first act, the protagonist, Vargan, lives out a peaceful childhood in the village of Wisteria Vale. Vargan is a boy with a penchant for storytelling and a knack for magic. During the day, Vargan helps his parents on the farm, and in the evening he performs in the tavern to the delight of all the villagers. When Vargan is on the cusp of adulthood, the cruel Lord Ephraim Rathmore visits Wisteria Vale, demanding drink, food, and a place for him and his retinue to stay. When the hospitality isn’t to his liking, he burns down the village. Lord Rathmore leaves Vargan alive as a witness to his village’s punishment, but not before slashing him across the face with a crystal dagger. The event changes Vargan forever, and he vows to bring down the pitiless lord and prevent him from hurting anyone ever again. Act II follows.

Vargan tracks down Lord Rathmore in a bustling city. Unsure how to proceed, the young bard starts asking around the city for information. He is approached by a wizard, who tells him that she belongs to a secret group looking to bring down Lord Rathmore and others who have been corrupted by evil. The wizard invites Vargan to join the secret organization, and he agrees, becoming a member of the Hand of the Fated, a special organization within the Fated faction. With the aid of information from the Hand of the Fated, Vargan sneaks into Lord Rathmore’s manor during a banquet disguised as a performer and dispatches Rathmore once and for all. Although his quest for vengeance has been fulfilled, Vargan is obsessed with the fact that many other corrupt and evil people exist across the land, and that only people like him and the Fated can stop them. The Fated do so because they seek rewards for themselves. Vargan, realizes that his reward is the deed itself and the feeling he receives by doing such acts.

In the 3rd and final act, Vargan becomes more powerful, using his talents in magic and espionage to single-handedly take down corrupt kings and mages. Although he becomes a legend among and outside the Fated, Vargan stays humble, revelling in the feeling he achieves defeating evil. At the end of the play, Vargan battles an archmage who was turned evil by an ancient crystal touched by the evil god Cyric. Though Vargan defeats the archmage, prolonged contact with the crystal corrupts the bard, convincing him that his former allies are too powerful and must be eliminated. The Hand of the Fated devise a solution to prevent Vargan from hurting anyone while they develop a cure: banishing him to a demiplane.

The play ends with a short monologue by the Fated wizard who befriended Vargan years ago, saying that though Vargan’s ultimate fate is still unknown. He closes the book and places it down before saying the final line of the play, "The day will come when light will banish darkness."

"Vargan is of course Quill. To activate the book, you simply say that final line there with the book open to the last page, and you will be taken to the demiplane."

"Is there anyone he would... well, perhaps not trust, but at least not be suspicious of. It sounds like the more humble our appearance, the less hostile he would be, but are there perhaps any particular uniforms, or even races, that might either soothe his vengeful heart, or trigger his malice and need to be avoided?"

It was a good question even if they knew half the answer (if that was "The Fated" - and all signs were pointing they were - this was the shapes the group would want to avoid) and after the answer was given he asked only one more thing: "Was there any special person in his life? The one he would remember even in this world?"

"Meepo no understand." Meepo speaks up. "Meepo thought book suppose be nice, no conflict, story, place bard rest. Meepo think story in book dangerous and not restful..."

     “Well as long as he doesn’t live out too far in the books story then he’ll be happy he is doing good.  Perhaps we will be in time to prevent his being corrupted by the dagger...” Ketch theorizes.

     “No time like the present, I guess.  We ready?”

The elf looks to Meepo, "Quite right, I guess I mischaracterized it. The story tells about his life, not about what's happening in the book.  The book is about the vale he came from, where he was raised, before it was destroyed. You will not be witness to the trials and tribulations of his life. That would be quite something, but....no....it should be peaceful. The part of his life before everything else began. And, I'm afraid I don't know him well enough to say if there is a special person in his life. Sorry. And, just don't look like anyone here, and you should be fine. There are no real uniforms or ...or thing I can think of that I could describe to you sufficiently to make use of.  If you need him angry, make him look like me."

Ulthan tries to follow along. "hrmpfh no vampire Ulthan ready Utazo no read hrmpfh". Hard to say if he's disappointed or not over lack of vampire. When times comes Ulthan hugs Utazo and says the phrase after some party members left but before all go in case he gets phrase wrong the first time.

"It seems we know everything we need to. We will bring your friend soon." He politely bowed his head and opened the book on the last page.

The moment everyone declared readiness, Lionel was the first one to read the phrase - he was eager to start that noble quest and would prefer to get there first too, in case some danger was awaiting the party on the other side.

Mordekai would like to take an hour, if that's OK. He was planning to cast Seeming again on the group before taking a short rest - it lasts 8 hours - but since there's nothing really advantageous to look like more than our actual selves, he won't bother. But he did use up fully half of his spell slots (!) casting it the first time. So a short rest before proceeding would be good. 

If we're taking the 1 hour short rest. Ulthan says to the kid if the kid around "hrmpfh portal place walk to half hour hrmpfh" If questions... "hrmpfh portal place you said portal place hrmpfh" "hrmpfh building portal place people go hrmpfh".

     Short rest isn't helpful but Ketch still doesn't mind.  He'll go last into the book, just to be sure the others make it.

Meepo doesn't care about short rest or not. If they take one he pulls out more broken items and tries to put them together into something he could actually get someone to buy... Int check: 24 Dex check: 21

(Ulthan and Meepo, you should have 14 temp hp, by the way. In fact, Meepo, I think you're still a Long Rest behind on your character sheet?)

Etain looks at Ulthan. Ulthan stares at Etain. It's quite possible that both of them are trying to assess how stupid the other one is. There's a long drawn out silence. Finally Etain says, "What? Portal place? Portal place. People.....go?" He shrugs at Ulthan with a "what am I supposed to do with that?" sorta look on his face.

The elf, who clearly has hearing far too keen for his own good speaks up to the Ulthan and the kid who are off to one side talking quietly.  "Perhaps he means the Portal Registrar office. It is closed at this hour good sir.  My apologies, I didn't mean to overhear. Your deep voice carries." 

Etain looks at Ulthan, "Well....Registrar's office....that what ya meant? It's closed." He confirms...staring at Ulthan like he's a simpleton and wondering if he'll need to explain what 'closed' means. But then he realizes he's looking, with not the greatest look on his face, at a huge hulking mountain man bristling with weapons, and with a wild cat....and he blinks and looks away, rubbing the back of his head while he sucks in a deep breath, "Well....whew...so...I'll just...wait for ya here then? Got my fee for tomorrow?  Just in case ya don't come back."  He pauses, then says, "Uh...in a short amount of time I mean."

The group spends the rest of an hour resting (short rest achieved!), until they're ready. Then....one by one, they recite the words, and vanish. 

-----------------------------

You all appear under a blue sky standing on a hard dirt packed path. The scent of pine trees wafts through the air and a light breeze blows. You're suddenly relieved of all the dingy cold air from Sigil and the packed buildings, and the twisting overhead view, relieve to be on 'flat' ground once again. The air is crisp, warm, clean, and slightly sweet. Trees line the path on either side, but ahead they open up where the road splits and you see a small set of farms and village buildings ahead. A large manor estate can be seen on the far side of the village. You see animals here and there...hear the sound of farm animals, and see villagers moving about on their normal daily tasks. 

For a moment (probably more like quite a few moments) Lionel just stood there - looking, taking deep breaths, feeling the warmth of the sun and the gasps of the wind on his skin... Even if it was an illusion, it was something he missed quite a lot, he realised. "If Arrant Quill knows and remembers what Sigil is, he might be quite hard to convince to leave all of this behind. I know I would be. Hate to think that by saving the man we might also destroy that world. Hope this is not the case". He touched the pine branch, crashed a few needles between his fingers, smelled the fresh scent and sighed. "That mansion is probably where we have to go. Shall we?"