Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

Meepo shrugs and nods his readiness.

The group is concealed in a powerful illusion and trail behind Miri. She leads them through the streets of sigil. Her path takes them to the lady’s ward. A large square has a monument to plague victims. It’s quiet, as usual for the lady’s ward. A few people wander here or there. She walks straight into a place called “The Square”, a tavern. You keep an eye on her inside. You find she does meet up with a half elf. He has a striking look, though his red hair looks more auburn, with a certain metallic glint to it. Almost bronze?  The half elf seems to negotiate briefly with the girl who eventually takes payment and appears to lead the half elf outside. From across the square from the group, the man is about to follow her when he stops, sniffing. He scans the square suddenly suspicious. 

?

(Everyone would have their 14 temp hp from Mordekai's speech)

Seeing the metallic glint to the half-elf's bronze skin, and not wishing to engage a dragon with more deception, Mordekai drops the Major Illusion and, if it's possible to drop the Seeming spell on just Meepo, he will do?

 If he can't do it on just one, he'll drop it on the whole party, nod to Meepo, take a few steps backward, and sit down - making it an obvious gesture of passivity to the suspected dragon. 

"A dragon after all?" Lionel was genuinely surprised and probably did not completely believed it is the dragon himself. "Well, this is the most law obedient ward here. And most protected, I think. I doubt even an angry dragon will attack in the middle of it. Meepo, want to talk to the "elf" alone, or would you like one or all of us to go with you?"

Meepo sighs, having suspected this, but maybe it was a different dragon... He wasn't sure what the chances were of that, but shifted his cloak a bit, then strode forward.

"Meepo hear Meepo be looked for." Meepo says as he steps out and towards the red-haired individual. He cocks his head as he sizes up the Big and then places the tip of his ice staff on the ground at his side, holding it loosly in his hand. When he speaks next it is in dracconic...

"If you are the bronze dragon My friends and I just fought with yesterday, then know that we had no ill-will to you prior to that battle, and that we only wished information from the previous owner of that lair." He raises his chin a bit, though, from 2 and 1/2 foot tall, the gesture probably isn't all that impressive. "We had no desire for your treasure, or your lair itself, just what information we could gain on the whereabouts of that previous owner."

He pauses then. "If you are a different dragon, seeking us out for some unknown reason, then how may I be of assistance..."

Ulthan stays about 50 feet back from the party trailing them and would avoid getting closer than 100 feet to the half elf unless line of sight is blocked in which case he'd approach closer. He's more concerned about an ambush rather than the half elf itself so he's keeping his eyes open on the surroundings.

     Ketch grunts agreement but tries to sidle kind of towards and to the side.  He’s trying to subtly keep within 30’ but spread out from the rest of the group…

(For Seeming : I'll say that the caster can dismiss it on any of the targets individually if they wish. If an individual who let the spell happen later wants it to drop, I'll also say that they can make a saving throw to try and toss the spell off themselves, but if they fail then they're unable to. A single save only.) 

Meepo shimmers from "average Sigil citizen" back into himself as Ketch and Ulthan move warily to the sides to try and spread out and get closer. 

The half-elves eyes shimmer with spite. He listens to Meepo's speech, then begins striding forward, "I asked you to leave. And you did not. Then you threatened me!  Then I told you to leave and....tried to make you leave....without killing you...and then you fell to attempting to murder me!  In my HOME!  You are murderous evil treasure hunting goons and you'll NOT LIVE TO DO IT TO ANYONE ELSE!!!"   During his words his volume slowly grows as he strides closer...until he's yelling, spittle flying from his mouth.  Then he shimmers and shifts...the half elf twisting and exploding into the shape of a huge bronze dragon...with smouldering eyes full of anger.   Everyone is about to react when the bronze dragon stop short suddenly.

It's as if he hit a wall of force....since his leading head and face strike something first.  But then you can see it's a shimmering cube of light blue energy surrounding the entire dragon.  

He glances about..."What the...?!"  You can hear him clearly through the cube.  

Then the cube folds in half, and it's as if the dragons has become two-dimensional and is folded with it.  Then it folds in half again. And again, in mid air, the dragon being folded over and over onto itself.  A moment later the cube is too small to be seen.....and nothing is left in the square.  

Meepo sees a woman down the street from them...in long robes, standing with her arms tucked into the end of both her robes other arms across her body. Her face is surrounded by blades that stick out in every direction. She has icy blue eyes and a face that shows no emotion. She turns and floats to the side down an alley out of sight. 

The few people in the area, get up and quickly shuffle away, keeping their eyes downcast, afraid to look at the group or anyone else. 

Meepo shivers. He looks to where the strange woman disappeared for a long moment, then shakes himself like a dog. Glancing around he speaks a bit louder than is likely needed. "Meepo think we go check out lair now, dragon no likely be threat now..." He feels chills up his spine now though, awed by the power of that woman.

Lionel looked with an expression of disbelief during the whole event. He noticed the woman and not sure about the custom here lowered his head acknowledging her authority, but raised it back, watching her disappearing. That had to be Lady of Pain herself. And a very clear demonstration of the effectiveness of the law at least in this part of the city.

"And here I thought dragons are supposed to be smart," slowly said he at the end. "But where do you think he is now?"

"Meepo think not back in his lair." Meepo speaks up. He shrugs, as he doesn't know more about where such a powerful spell like that might have sent the dragon. "Meepo doubt if spell such that it sends the person caught in it back to their own home. Meepo find most spells do something nasty to those they catch, not send to nice comfy home..."

     “Huh,” Ketch says with the wisdom of the Half Orcs as the dragon is folded neater than the yet yo be invented fitted sheets ever will be.

     “Guess that makes Meepo top dragon now,” he adds when it’s all complete.  “Let’s go check out your new lair!”

     Ketch is already striding off towards the entrance, hoping the flattened dragon had no time to change the portals location or such.

Lionel slowly nodded. "This is probably correct." "Well, we saw how the law is enforced here. Not sure if a break-in is punished similarly, and we have a good reason to enter... But something worth keeping in mind. Shall we go?" Lionel walked after Ketch back to the wizard's lair.

The group strides through the streets of the Lady's Ward, conveniently close to the portal....likely why the dragon chose this tavern to work out of.  You reach the closet, pull open the broken door and say the words.  The portal appears.  It's night time now and you enter the cave, sloshing into the now calm water.  The level seems to have dropped a bit, low tide. Cautiously, you move back into the main tunnel. Outside the stars sparkle under a cloudless sky. The tang of the salt air meets your noses and everything seems calm. 

You make your way back through the not so secret passage and into the main dragons cave. Some crushed bones of three pulverized skeletons have been scattered across the floor.  Dark blotches litter the floor where Ketch left a bunch of his blood behind.  The scorch marks from the lightning breath leaves a black mar across the floor.  Otherwise, the cave is quiet, and lit nicely by the glowing stones embedded in the 20 foot high ceiling above. Mounted on the wall next to the door, seemingly left untouched, is a shelf of books and scrolls. It has been filled with colorful covers and attractive shades of parchment.

There is also the ajoining chamber which appears to have been dug out of the surrounding stone. The floor is slick with moisture but not flooded. This place was once a bedroom. Stains on the floor mark where once stood a bed, a desk, a table, and chairs. The splintered remains of this furniture have been pushed into a corner. It has an open section that shows a flooded room between here and the entrance cave.

You begin looking around.

The cave is cluttered with laboratory equipment and beautiful coral sculptures. Rising from the floor in the center of the room is a circular stone dais that has obvious grooves to accommodate a device of some kind, though no such device is present. The cave contains several tables covered with intricate machinery and crafting tools. Bookshelves are filled with books and dioramas. Freestanding chalkboards in wooden frames once displayed arcane formulas, though only smudges and streaks of chalk remain. The books are ship logs with daily entries; the scrolls are navigational charts. They don't match any locations you know of on Faerun.

Mordekai comes across an old diary. Flipping through it backwards, he reads the tale of a paranoid and lonely man...Zikran. In the diary, Zikran writes about Laffa who he considered a rival who'd recently come to his cave. No longer feeling safe within his own laboratory, Zikran was obsessed with finding a new base of operations, far from Laffa's prying magic.  

Lionel comes across a tattered map.  The stray map describes a mountain range on this world, labeled the Cloud Mountains. The map doesn't show a land familiar to anyone.  A particular mountain is circled in ink with the word “Here?” written beside it. The cave you're in is clearly shown on the map as well.

Ketch and Ulthan meanwhile find diagrams that show the structure and inner workings of a magical cannon powered by elemental air. Its function as a cannon is obvious, though Ketch and Ulthan figure, based on the drawings that they could operate such a cannon if they found one.  It can be operated manually, or with a command word, though no command word is written on the drawings. 

You also find several chests, and urns set about in the two rooms. Though they're closed or covered, when opened you see carefully organized and sorted coins. 13520 gold coins, 1721 platinum coins. 

There is also a rather lovely painting of a ship at sea, in a gilded frame (worth 750gp), a beautiful collapsable spy glass with engravings of an octopus and fish all over it (worth 750gp) and one of the chests is a piece of art in it's own right, with paintings all over it of the sea and shore (worth 750gp).  Amidst the gear you also find  3x Potion of healing, a Potion of Climbing, a Potion of Growth, a Spell Scroll with Call Lightning on it.  Finally you find a small pale blue rhomboid that emanates magic, which you discover is an Ioun Stone of Strength. 

(You also each earn enough experience to go up a level). 

Meepo would be interested in the shelf of books, and would bring out the book-creature from his own book, to look around the place with them. He would cast detect magic as they look around, seeking any books that might be magical, or any other such items. he in particular is looking for any spellbooks among the shelves.

Ulthan seems amazed at the spyglass discovery and baring anyone saying anything puts it away carefully in a large pouch. Nonetheless he keeps an eye on his surroundings in case dragon decides to unbox itself.

Unfortunately, nothing else of value is found here, including spell books. It would seem the wizard must have taken his spell books with him, when he left.

Lionel slowly walked along all treasures, none of which excited him the slightest, but once the map has caught his attention and Meepo shared excerpts from the wizard's diary he had something to say.

"Looks a bit too simple, he literally drew the map to his new stronghold and left it here. On the other hand, if he was also the one who invited the dragon here, no wonder he did not bother to hide anything. Can explain Laffa's sad conditions too, if he ran into a dragon instead of the wizard."

"Well, I would not mind staying in this world longer. The view is certainly better here. Not sure moving in here permanently will be a good idea - the place seems too popular, and dragon treasures are a questionable gift. But we can use some to stock up on food and travel to that mountain. Of course, we can ask our little genie too if he has some ideas about that travel."

Spell descriptions never cover as much as you need... But with his spear and Magic Helmet (minus the spear) Ketch can teleport 3 times.  Spell doesn't exactly describe how much cargo the people being teleported can be burdened with.  But Ketch will quickly suggest we drag as much of this back to the same realm as our room and teleport the stuff there for now...  May as well loot and decide on where wizard may have gone after.

Ketch does agree that the map seems too obvious and likely.  If the wizard was growing paranoid there is no way a map would be left behind when he took all his spell books and such.  If we feel crazy and lucky, tomorrow the Helmet could be used to try to teleport us to that location but there is a high chance of non-success...

Ketch also argues that we should not bring out the book man except for when needed... and in the future should always try to be in nondescript places when we do.  We shouldn't just blindly take the genie into our trust and confidence. 

((Bookkeeping - I am noting everything down on the Party Fund character sheet.  Can erase from there after we split the monies / sell items / etc...))

(To be clear, the room was full of maps, and books, and so on. This map was amidst all of those. Also, it seems clear to you that the wizard left in a hurry.  So, it's not that far fetched that this one map, that he'd previous scribbled on, was jammed amidst all the other crap that he left behind. You found it only after an exhaustive search.)

Finally, one additional feature in this room.  There is a door on the north wall. When you open it, it reveals the blank rock wall of the room. It does not detect magic. But, as Meepo has found, portal's often don't detect magic until they're activated. But, you don't seem to have any clues beyond what was mentioned about how to activate the portal.

The genie says, he has no information about the map, nor about the portal. He was never present when the wizard was dealing with either of them.