Planescape Session 5: the Maze of the Melancholy Minotaur

I missed session 4, so this summary follows Session 3.

In previous sessions, the party met a group of Thri-Kreen from the planet Athas. They were in search of a particular botanically-skilled Sensate in the hope that she might help them replenish their magic-ravaged desert planet.

The search for the sensate led them to the gallery of wizards, an art gallery specializing in portraits of powerful mages. The party's visit follows a theft of several paintings in which painting-portals malfunctioned, a sensate disappeared, and a painting of an imprisoned god was vandalized.

This led them into a painting containing a magic labyrinth with a magic healing fountain.

In session 5, we continued to search the maze by the guidance of our four-hoofed colleague. The dwarf barbarian took a piss into what turned out to be a Land Shark's lair(IMHO the DM missed a perfect opportunity to roll on the limb-loss table). The party defeated a Land Shark with the help of a firebolt and Cardinal Sardinius' net, and found the art-thief he had devoured, along with the stolen Wizard portraits.

Ultimately we came upon a strange scene: a sensuously dressed woman, rooted to the ground, staring-down an immobilized Minotaur.

After charming the beast and watering the lady(this time with water- what did you think, you perverts?) she awoke and accepted the mission to revitalize Athas. We left the maze escorted by the Minotaur, returned the paintings to the gallery owner(for a humble 1000GP reward) and headed out to meet our Thri-Kreen sponsors.

Planescape Session 3: Some Can, Others Cant

Today's session summary of our Sigil Campaign is written in Planescape Cant for my own amusement and perhaps yours too...

The Dwarven Market

Our heroic Power Puppet and his cabal of bally Adams cross-piked their way to the finest market in Biterdom. They were seeking a gleaming pip of a Planetouched lass with the keeper on how to get to The Cage from this anthill.

The Wizard

Instead they found some tall, blue dazzler looking to buy a smooth dazzle horn from the windiest biter of then all. They tried to help for some jink, but all they got was a lot of wigwag. They did overhear some wagger, however, about our slippery Planetouched lass. Turns out she nicked a magic bardic harp string from some parochial biter God.

The Dwarven Tavern

Our Power Puppet and his pals decided to go flip a fork to the nearest tavern, navigating using the magic compass he was given, conspicuously marked "tourist". He found the dive to be no oasis, containing only beer, berks, and biters. Some of those berks, however, knew some wagger about the planetouched jester...

Sigil

One of the apple chasers got up to peal on us to the guardians. The puppet used his Power to silence him while the party made a quick exit. We gave a Dwarven Ale Wife some bub and got a pretty poem about death and destruction in return. We found a secret door, followed the gleaming pip's trail inside to a blinged-up wall. Putting the magic compass on the wall opened up a portal. We blitzed the gate and found ourselves in a basement in the Little Wheel herself! All praise the Lady's Grace!

Planescape Session 2: Leprecaun Murder and Dwarfnapping

Well, I guess we're due a session summary from the Planescape Campaign. Authorial credit to our fearless leader and DM:

Our group of tour-guide swindlers found themselves at the crushed portal of their dreams and had given up hope of finding the Thri-kreen delegation when suddenly two thri-kreens show up, talking to them with mental projections of hopes of turn the desert green.  Hope renewed, the team quickly got to work trying to find out something, and heard rumors that somebody had come through, three days prior, warning of a cataclysm and that everyone should get out.  After searching more about this person, they discovered that the unknown visitor had gone to the Dwarven mountain, where many souls go to find their last rest, and where the great iron of Ironridge is mined and forged into the best equipment of the outlands.

On their way to the mountain, the group found odd crystals that came out of the rift and which projected images of entrapment, masks, and feelings of freedom.

When the group reached the mountain, they found 3 dwarven guards (einherjar) who told them that since the rift exploded only the worthy may enter. After failing to solve some riddles, the group was sent back to Ironridge to find a lost petitioner.

In the market they found a gold coin that just kept rolling, even after being picked up and held onto.  They followed the coin to a green house with gold furniture, and also found a dwarf who was chasing the coin.  The house ended up being the home of a leprechaun and his hidden stash of gold.

In the leprechaun's house, they found surprise snakes, and while killing the snakes, they also damaged the floor enough to allow the crazed and highly focused dwarf to pry open the floor boards and find the pot of gold hidden in an inter-dimensional pocket.   The dwarf also turned out to be a petitioner, seeking the Dwarven afterlife, but cursed with greed and the rolling coin.

Confronted, the team killed the leprechaun and took the dwarf and gold pot back to the Dwarven mountain where they were granted access.

Planescape Session 1: Hitching a Ride to Sigil

Well, we did it. We got our ragtag gang together and played some planescape!

Here is A's intro:

Some backstory before we do the first session.
You are already an adventuring group. Your group's main goal is to establish a network of tour guides for the Outlands, taking berks where they want to go, but relieving them of their jink along the way. To avoid a bad reputation, your group has been working to peel the berks into believing that you actually saved their lives, and their jink got lost in the tussle.   Some of you are in it for the Doom and Xoas, some see it as a form of Justice against the planers, and some of you see this as a mean to impart important life lessons that the sods wouldn't be able to learn on their own if they had lived 1,000 lives.
Recently you heard a rumour that a delegation from the Prime Material plane was headed to Sigil to get aid in resolving a never-ending war. Eager for the opportunity that this presents, you've decided to head to the Redmarch Inn in Ironridge to plan your trip, get supplies, and the quickly access Sigil through the famous Side Door to the Sigil, using a sprig of razorvine, and meet up with the delegation before they find other ways to travel the planes seeking the aid they need.

Learn some planescape slang here:  https://cold-blood.obsidianportal.com/wiki_pages/guide-to-planescape-cant

A recap of last night:

Hearing rumours of the Thri-kreen delegation from Athas, hoping to get the Society of Sensates to bring some greenery back to the desert planet and end the impossible war with the cannibalistic halflings (that's a mouth full!) our group of "tour guides" set off to Iron Ridge to use the door to Sigil.  But first they had to spend some time coming up with a plan, and the group decided that no plan is the best plan. (Long live Xoas!) 

The group went off to the market and bought some iron jewellery to wow the natives of Athas, as well as to harras a giant slug selling razorvine.  After finally deciding to just pay the 20 gold for the overpriced razorvine, our group encountered a rich merchant from the Minder's guild ( a group of bodyguards for hire) and had a long conversation about the theology of gold, and how it can help bring Cthulu.

During the conversation, a bright light and deafening roar suddenly appeared over the city of Ironridge and a giant rift opened up into the sky.  Out of the rift can a group of Astral seekers, undead spectres who kill and then posses the bodies of their victims to go out and kill some more.   Running for their lives the group was able to accidentally slay one astral seeker and then ran past a pair of majestic warriors who were fighting off hoards of seekers all on their own.

Finally reaching the Redmarch inn for a quick escape to Sigil, the group discovered a giant boulder-sized meteor, which had crushed the gate to Sigil.   <fade to black>  Till next time!

Planescape is Weird

Well, A is planning to run a 5e Planescape campaign for us. He got five of us together last night to create characters. One of the new players in our group summed up that session as follows:

So my character rocks. I told my wife last night yeah so im half devil spawn that plays a flute and molts skin and believes in reincarnation. Theres a man with a fish head who gets powers from his god chatulu. Theres a horse with a womans upper torso and ram horns who as a monk partcularly finds peace of mind and meditates in the middle of battle and chaos. Then there is a cubic shaped fighting macine thats animated and loves to slash his flesh and others and watch the decay . Oh then there is just a plain old elvish wizard who aspires to cast fireballs for breakfast lunch and dinner and she was like gaping in shock. Id have to say its an ecclectic party.

It is a rather rag-tag bunch. I think there is something about the Planescape setting that really brings out the gonzo in people.

As for my character, I am the fish-headed lad:

Sardinius is a Kuo Toa agent living in Sigil. As a particularly talented young acolyte among his race, he was selected to dwell amidst the planar nexus to help further the ultimate mission to return Great Cthulhu to the Prime Material Plane. Since the performance of the great ritual that sent him to Sigil, he is occasionally called upon by the Kuo Toa clergy to perform minor tasks. Most of the time, however, he is left to fend for himself. He sustains himself by working for the Xaositects, acting as a guide for visiting Chaotic Primers. He occasionally double-crosses them for the loot. He has become cynical with the passage of time and his long absence from the city under the waves, but deep down he is still a true believer. He would love an excuse to visit the elemental plane of water.