Lightbearers
After the Titan Breakers left Tessera for the first time, the Church of the Reverence sent their own independent agents.
Ep. 1-1: The Lightbearers
Tuesday, Midfall 23, 1127 SF (Sep ?, 2017)
Party: Theri (Basil), Isha (Danana)
On Tessera, the Monastery of Lady Lerim lies in the Kingdom of Hozol. Hozol is on the eastern edge of the Neutral Zone. It's a relatively-new kingdom, founded by merchants and craftsmen. It has a constitutional monarchy, with a house of nobles and a house of commoners. Hozol has always been anti-slavery, and it was one of the founding nations of the Freelands Republic.
Theri and Isha resided at the Monastery. They had distinguished themselves in service to the Church, with excellence in in combat and in adventuring. Theri had demonstrated zeal as a quiet, proud paladin in the Crusaders of the Dawn. Isha had focused on her growth as a monk, and preparing for a leadership role in her order, the Balanced Wheel. The heroes had been on a few missions together, hunting monsters.
A senior priest, Father Ustan Harr, invited the heroes to his study. He asked after their recent adventures and their wellness. Then he brought in a special guest: the Hand of the Church, Patrick Carter. Carter explained that the heroes have been selected for a special task.
Church doctrine has been keeping Tessera isolated from the multiverse. But at the Council of Bitterseed, a group of heroes called the Titan Breakers revealed a major, hostile conspiracy involving agents from other planes. The conspiracy leads to a city called Sigil, at the center of the Outer Planes. Carter also revealed that Strain caused by bloodstones, and can only be undone by retrieving the stones the conspiracy has removed from Tessera. The Titan Breakers have departed for Sigil. The Church is sending their own independent party to retrieve bloodstones and learn more about the planes.
Each hero was given a small crystal pendant with faintly-glowing sand. Carter explained this sand is from the shores of the island of Sunholm, ancient home of the Church of the Reverence of the Eternals.
Theri and Isha said goodbye to friends and family. Then Carter used his divine magic to transport them to Bitterseed. In the basement of the mayor's house, he showed them a portal. Carter explained that on the far side they'll meet a Church sage, Eleor Elmswood. "He's not a warrior or adventurer, but he's the closest thing we have to an expert on Sigil and the planes."
The portal lead to Storm Top: a floating warehouse in the Outlands, guarded by goblins and bugbears. Here the Lightbearers met Eleor, who took them outside to look up at the impossible ring of Sigil, high above the mountain of Spire.
A second portal lead the party to Oneg's Exchange in the Lower Ward of Sigil: an underground arena converted into a portal station, and held by more goblins and bugbears, lead by hobgoblins. Eleor had made arrangements for the party's safe passage, and the Lightbearers stepped into the streets of Sigil.
Ep. 1-2: Claiming a New Home
Tuesday, Midfall 23, 1127 SF (Sep 18, 2017)
Party: Theri (Basil), Isha (Danana)
The Lightbearers were immersed in the endless diversity of Sigil: its esoteric architecture, its busy rabble, its paradoxical gravity. The thick smog of the Lower Ward left a bad taste in their mouth but wasn't debilitating. As they followed Eleor through the crowd, he explained the ubiquitous Dabus' Blessing: in Sigil, when a being intends to be understood, their audience magically comprehends their language.
Eleor lead the Lightbearers to the Temple of Apollo in the Lower Ward. Once a gorgeous pinnacle of Greek construction, the marble was now streaked with soot and singed with acid rain. The temple's leader introduced himself: "Ghasul Flamebrush, Priest of Apollo and member of the Society of Sensation."
Eleor explained that he'd made a deal with Ghasul. The Lightbearers may use the basement for their base, after they clear it out. Some adventurers battled a cult of necromancers in Sigil, then came here for healing. One of the surviving cultists tried to curse the temple. The curse didn't work in the temple proper. However, the temple was built over some underground crypts. Ghasul and his colleagues didn't disturb the crypt when they moved in, but now the curse had raised some undead.
The Lightbearers descended into the darkness, to battle skeletons and a zombie. Isha had a brush with death and needed healing from a cleric of Apollo. Then the heroes finished clearing out the crypt.
Ep. 1-3: The Obsidian Maze
Wednesday, Midfall 24, 1127 SF (Feb 4, 2018) Party: Theri (Basil), Isha (Danana), Ara (Anna)
Eleor gathered Theri and Isha for a briefing. He introduced Ara, an elf cleric from Tessera who would join them on their next mission.
Eleor explained that their enemy was the League of the Rusted Crown. The League orchestrated the conspiracy that lead to the creation of bloodstones. The bloodstones were made on Tessera, then shipped here to Sigil, and then shipped to a League fortress in the Outlands, called Ramshead.
The Unbroken Tide was preparing for an assault on Ramshead. The fortress lay at the foot of the Dwarven Mountain. The Tide needed intel, a vanguard of gate-breakers, a main force, and a squad of monster slayers. The last was a precaution against the likelihood of the defenders having a secret weapon (e.g., demons, umber hulks, etc.).
Eleor sent the Lightbearers to meet Charak Sootshanks, a fire giant fixer, at a pub called The Tiny Kitchen. Sootshanks could arrange the aid of fire giant dreadnoughts as gate-breakers. The heroes made their way to the pub. They discovered that pub catered to giants and was thus built to their scale. After some effort, the Lightbearers found Sootshanks and negotiated with him.
The fire giant had a problem that was "perfect for small folk like you." He described a cult called the Burning Masks that worships chromatic dragons, and also does mercenary work. The Masks stole a fire pot from one of the fire giants' forges, then escaped through a portal to the Plane of Magma. The Lightbearers agreed to retrieve the pot as a gesture of good faith, to lead to negotiations for the dreadnoughts' aid in the assault on Ramshead.
Sootshanks explained that the Masks were holed up in a obsidian maze, "some kind of joke or puzzle from some god. It's too small for us. We could smash through it all, but breaking the possessions of the gods ain't smart."
The fire giants brought the heroes to a human-sized portal. The giants gave them Potions of Fire Resistance. Once through the portal, the Lightbearers began exploring the maze. They encountered a kobold ambush and defeated most of them. They took one prisoner but one escaped deeper into the maze.
The heroes shot a fire snake accidentally, and tried to disarm a lava trap but set it off. They healed the snake. Still deeper in the maze, they attacked by a magma mephit, then healed it. The mephit pointed them towards kobolds.
The Lightbearers threatened the surviving kobolds and got the fire pot back by agreeing to leave without further bloodshed. On their way back to the portal, they encountered a magmin which seemed fascinated by the fire pot. The heroes warned it to stay away but it didn't. So they killed it and it exploded.
Once back through portal, the fire giant Untburn told the Lightbearers that Sootshanks would hear them out, at dinner time.
