Demon's Door

There's a paunchy old priest standing before you, and beside him is... a muscular individual with the head of a dog. In spite of the oddness of having a stoic hound's face the being seems quite at ease with himself. In fact he's looking down at you a bit as though he's not overly pleased with you. The priest speaks to you, his hands gesticulating gently as he talks. "My companion here has it on good authority that a demon has infiltrated Alexandria. Worse, that they have opened a gateway between this world and the hellscape that it calls home. You are being given this."

Quietly the dog-headed man hands forth what looks like a sickle. An item commonly used by farmers to cull their wheat. "It will close the gate once you find it. We have a general idea where to find it so you'll head down to the lower trades area and from there you'll hopefully be able to locate it. Search /everywhere/. You have the full authority of the temples behind you in your efforts. Just... don't make us regret that." The priest nods once seriously. "Any questions?"

Seldan is fully dressed and listens closely to the priest. "Have there been any happenings that suggest a place to start?"

Victor looks at the scythe carefully. If no one else in the party moves to take it, he does. "Can the device be used as a weapon if needed?"

Erendriel tugs on her backpack straps firmly, and hums. "Do we know which plane? It may have an odor. That also matters for behavior."

Toha considers the proferred weapon, then it's bearer, "How long has it been here?" she wonders.

Braith cocks her head to the side, "Yes, do we know what kind?" she is a little curious, mostly because she might be able to trick it a little if it comes to that. She adjusts her warhammers and then looks at the others.

"Nothing unusual or demonic according to the guardsmen." The sickle exchanges hands. "It is meant to close gates of this variation, don't use it in combat as it could have... unforeseen consequences, and we expect it back when you're done with it. The gate itself opens to one of the circles of hell but we don't know which one. We do suspect that it's the Infernal plane rather than the Abyssal. As for how long it's been here; there's no way of knowing, but not very long. Now, if you don't mind we have other business to attend to."

With that the hound-faced man simply vanishes and the priest begins to walk away. You've your directions and it seems that you've got your mission. It's not a long walk down to the lower trade district, particularly not at night. The district itself is mostly quiet, with only a few people turning down their stalls and the few that stay open late doing quiet business so as to not disturb those who call the area home.

Shrugging, Seldan turns away and begins the walk down to the local trades. "I fear we've a long night ahead of us, my friends. They gave us little to go on." He waits to say that until they're well on their way.

Toha walks with her hammer over her shoulder, looking all about as the group makes its way through the streets, even scanning the rooftops as they go.

Erendriel folds her arms. "Infernal. In a Market. Whatever it's doing, look for something technically correct." She grimaces, thinking of this monster which is the diametric opposite of herself, on the way over. Eyes open, she helps those in the group who can't see well in the dark by casting up some Dancing Light orbs.

Victor hooks the sythe through his belt at the small of his back. He arranges his cape so that it is mostly hidden from view. As they head out he notes, "Does anyone know the geography of the district we are to search?"

Braith nods, and would have preferred Abyssal, but she will deal with it. She looks at the others and nods her head, "Aye, we needs ta get goin, smashing to do."

GAME: Victor rolls perception: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL)

"I pray that this gate, wherever it is, is outside. We will make no friends rousing folk from their beds at this late hour." Even as he speaks, though, he is peering around at the area.

GAME: Braith rolls perception: (13)+8: 21
GAME: Erendriel rolls perception: (15)+5: 20
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (2)+2: 4
GAME: Toha rolls perception: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Stena rolls perception: (20)+0: 20

Braith cocks her head to the side as she is looking around. She is trying to figure out where they need to go with the others. She blinks a bit and raises a brow, "Um, you guys see that?" she asks with a soft voice, just so that those she is with can hear. "They seem to have started packing up faster as we came closer."

Erendriel puts on the charm, trying to look very friendly and chiper, as she sidles up to one particular merchant who seems to be packing up. "Hi!" she says in her perkiest voice, with a grin. "May I ask what you sell?" She does her very best to seem interested in buying.

GAME: Erendriel rolls bluff: (11)+17: 28

Toha nods, "I've spent some time around the trade districts." she replies. The other question prompting a, "See what?" indicative that she most certainly did not.

"This is no time for shopping." Clearly, Seldan missed whatever it was Erendriel was going for.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+8: (7)+8: 15

"Oi! What's your rush?" calls Stena to one of the merchants. Of course. She's making her way over to the fellow mer chant she's questioning with a big old smile. "I see you got something. Why don't you let me see it?"

Victor strides towards the merchants as well. He stands to one side and turns his head to watch one party member after another. He wonders which approach will result in the most desirable outcome.

"Me? I sell... um... jewelry. See?" He motions to a few of his wares that are still out, but seems very uncomfortable. He's not hiding it very well, but Stena... She practically makes him jump out of his skin. "This!? Oh this is nothing! A little family heirloom. It's mine; not for sale." He tucks it into his pocket a bit frantically. "Well, I really should be packing up. Not selling anymore. Try Frankin he's still open this late!"

GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (6)+2: 8

"...a little heirloom? What, a headless statue of a fat girl?" asks Stena, casually, holding a hand out for it. "Lemme see, huh? If it's just a family heirloom, why hide it so quick? It looks like it ain't worth shit." She smiles.

Victor shifts. "We are on an important mission from the Temples," he informs the merchant. "I'm afraid we need to search /everywhere/. So if you could please show us." He hesitates and then adds, "We're not here to buy anything. Just to search. Everywhere," he repeats.

Toha steps around some, while Stena makes interaction with the fellow, to get behind the fellow and close those particular escape routes. That done, very gently, "Please, sir?" The bloodraging war machine is doing 'reasonable', first.

Erendriel leans forward to the merchant who is now the center of attention. "I dont' have a lot of money, but could I see it anyway?" she giggles, her hand not reaching for it, but just to touch his arm if she can manage it. "What's your hurry? I just got paid."

Mr. Clueless the Elunite simply stares at the others around him. "What has gotten into the lot of you? Why are you harassing this poor man?" Seldan isn't cottoning on to much of anything.

"It's valuable to /me/!" The man nearly shouts his words at Stena before seeming to realize that he spoke that loudly. He lifts a hand to his mouth but fumes. "You can search wherever you please, but it doesn't give you the right to take my things! You adventurers are all alike, trying to get your hand out for us normal folk!"

He jerks backwards as his arm is touched and glowers until he sees it's Erendriel. "Just tell your friends to go. I mean... I might be willing to show it to a nice girl like you, but the rest of these hoodlums? They look liable to run off with it!"

"...say what?" says Stena, bursting out laughing. "Who said I was gonna take it? I just wanted to see it. You're awfully defensive and scared." She shrugs her shoulders.

Insulting. Toha makes a noise, probably intended to effect someone clearing their throat, but, with a slightly more irritated edge, "There's no need to get personal. Please. The faster we see it, the faster we can go find the real problem, right?"

Braith has quieted down, she doesn't negotiate well unless its with her hammers, and it isn't yet time for that yet.

Erendriel looks to the others, and waves her arms. "Please, please, can I shop a bit?" she says, emphasizing the word shop. "I promise it won't take very long." She'll then try to use her hips to clear some room so she can talk to the merchant. "Is that better? I'm just interested in these kinds of things."

Seldan shrugs and makes to turn away, to look at the rest of the merchants around, the area around them. Someone Just. Doesn't. Get. It.

Victor looks at Erendriel for a moment and then nods. "Very well. If you need assistance, please call. In the meantime I will search in this direction." He turns and heads away as well. He stops while still within earshot. Well, if they were to speak loudly that is.

The man looks around a bit then finally with a small huff pulls the small wrapped figurine out of his pocket again. Carefully he unwraps it like it's a treasured object. He only shows it to Erendriel, but those nearby can catch a glance of it as well as he shows it to her. "It's /not/ for sale." It's a figurine of a rotund woman without a head. It's not particularly well made, and seems to be created of some kind of clay that's not a particularly good variety of it. "It's a figure of the blessed Lady Maraiel." He says it so quietly that only those straining to hear could have overheard it.

GAME: Erendriel rolls knowledge/arcana: (13)+9: 22

"Never heard of her," remarks Stena, dryly.

"Blessed by who, eh?" She folds her arms across her chest, eyeing the smaller merchant. She grunts.

As the merchant seems to be in a more compliant demeanor all of a sudden, Toha turns her attention to what's around them, now. Particularly, anyone who seems to be looking their way with an -undo- amount of dismay.

Erendriel will take the figurine, holding it gently, looking at it very carefully, from every angle. "It's very interesting." She inhales deeply, then carefully hands it back to him. "Thank you for sharing that with me. Lady Maraiel?" she speak in a very chipper, and pretty loud voice, but in the happiest way she can figure. "It looks like something that someone made for you personally. May I ask who?"

You are drawing a few looks, other merchants watching disapprovingly. They're quick glances however and nobody looks liable to get involved. The merchant that you're talking to looks up at Erendriel and smiles a little, softly. Clearly remembering something that makes him happy. "It was made by Sindri.... Or... At least that's what I'm told." He flushes and hurries the figurine back into his pocket.

GAME: Victor rolls knowledge/religion: (7)+9: 16
GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/religion: (20)+5: 25
GAME: Toha rolls sense motive: (18)+-3: 15

Seldan's head snaps around at the mention of the name Maraiel, and the look on his face is not a happy one. He swiftly turns on his heel and comes back over to Erendriel. "What's this about Maraiel? Consort of Eclavdran?"

Not sensing any more unrest than probably warranted given the group's current activity, Toha's attention is caught by mention of, "Sindri? Nice lady, purple eyes?" The golem twists some, canting her head at the merchant, "She make that fer ya?" Then, it's back toward Seldan, "Great! Someone else who's heard a'him. What's the story?"

"You know the name Eclavdran? You have met Sindri?" The merchant perks up a little and looks around. "Why didn't you just say so? Now we've drawn attention."

He quickly gathers up his other things and motions for you all to follow him into the alley behind the shop. "What are you here for anyway? To see Sindri? I can summon them if you like, or perhaps you're here for a glimpse of the Other Realm? I've been trusted to oversee it."

Victor chants under his breath. A few moments later he rises directly into the air. When he's roughly twenty feet high he stops, cape swaying gently. He peers about, looking for anything that appears out of the ordinary. Perhaps a circle or oval suspended a few feet off the ground, through which an observer can see as through a window a hellish landscape.

Erendriel gives the merchant one more pat on the shoulder, and a smile, as she fades into the group.

"I do, and yes, I am very much interested in this Other Realm. I had heard only rumors ...." Now Seldan's both engaged and carefully polite. "It had been entrusted to you, by Sindri? An awesome responsibility." He's lowered his voice to speak to the merchant. "I take an interest in such things."

"...Eclavdran again! I think I've heard that name before." A finger goes to Stena's lips. She's trying to place it.

Toha is somewhat surprised by the turnaround, and the coincidence. As all of the local attitudes flip around her, she decides it's best to draw back into herself and let the more... social members handle this. Something down deep is bothering her about this whole affair. Would she still be in that place? Or would she have moved after their visit?

Victor sets down and then hurries to catch up with the party. "A glimpse of the other realm," he repeats softly to those closest to him. "Well done," he nods at Erendriel. "This sounds very promising."

The merchant nods and then nods again. "Yes, I am relatively new as a priest of Eclavdran but... After all He's done for me how could I not follow?" He leads you around to the full back to where he clearly keeps his trash and begins to pull it aside. There beneath all the trash there is... a portal. A glowing red portal just big enough for a man to climb in or out of. "Isn't it beautiful? If you like, I'll call Sindri here and see if they'll allow you passage."

Erendriel beams up to Victor as she gets praise, tugging on her backpack again and listening carefully to what the others say, being no expert on religion at all.

GAME: Seldan rolls bluff: (13)+3: 16

"Beautiful indeed," Seldan stares at it for a moment, as if filing the information away, then looks at the priest. "How long have you been a priest of Eclavdran, and what made you turn to the service of a Duke of Hell?"

Victor examines the portal. He turns his head slightly, without taking his eyes off of the portal, to answer the merchant. "Calling Sindri sounds like a good idea. How will you call her? Some signal? A messenger?" He finally turns his attention away from the portal. To glance around and then up at the windows and rooftops, to see if they are being watched. "Or must you go yourself?"

"...DUKE OF HELL?" says Stena, loudly.

"I have been a priest only a few months, and it was my poor wife that made me turn to His service. I'm sure you all understand. You have your reasons for being here. Here. I'll just call Sindri. Clearly you'd like to see them." He pulls the statue out of his pocket. "All I need do is pray, unlike the others; they listen."

Toha's chin dips slightly, the glow of the portal setting an oblong ruby gleam in the darkness of her eyeslit. She seemed so nice, too. The golem shrugs a shoulder almost casually, and her Earthbreaker comes down from it's perch to rest in a loose grip, then, "She's got a temple in a housing district." she intones distantly.

"I have been a priest only a few months, and it was my poor wife that made me turn to His service. I'm sure you all understand. You have your reasons for being here. Here. I'll just call Sindri. Clearly you'd like to see them." He pulls the statue out of his pocket. "All I need do is pray, unlike the others; they listen."

"That will not be necessary." Seldan shakes his head and pulls his holy symbol from where it had gotten stuck between the buttons on his surcoat. "Seldan Padaryn of the Silver Guard," he tells the man firmly, moving to try to knock the statue from his hand. "We need no demons here in Alexandria, nor do we need gates to the Hells."

Victor listens impassively to the merchant. "Practitioners of divine magic pray - that is what grants them their powers. Their gods must be listening. But you are correct, we do have our reasons for being here." He reaches behind his back for the sickle, and then holds it towards the portal, even reaching to touch it if he's allowed to.

"/Definitely/ no gates to the hells. Frankly, you're lucky you've survived service to a DUKE OF HELL this long. This Eclavdran needs to fuck off and keep fucking off until he can't fuck off any longer." Stena snorts.

The man screeches as the statue is knocked from his hands and the gate... closes as it is touched by the sickle. Simply winks out of existence. The man however is undaunted and he closes his hands in prayer. "Sindri! Your servant calls on you! Adventurers have closed the gate!"

He waits a long moment and then suddenly... there's a person just behind him. A beautiful person whose gender you can't seem to discern. Their hair is neither long nor short, their height neither tall nor short. And as suggested their eyes are vibrant purple. "Gently my chosen one. Gently." Piercing purple eyes take in the group of you.

GAME: Erendriel casts Grease. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16

"...guess I was right about him needing to fuck off." Stena grimaces.

She raises her axe. "Hello! My name is Stena and you're serving an archduke of Hell. That's bad news. Would you like to go away and /not/ get horribly mangled for it?"

Erendriel sucks in a deep breath as things begins happening so quickly. When the new one approaches, she takes a step back, and gesticulates at them, causing a slick sheen to appear on the ground.

Seldan mutters something under his breath that his father would definitely disapprove of, and pulls his sword from its sheath, readying it for a fight. "You're a fool," is all he says aloud.

Toha didn't want this particular eventuality. So much for Sindri wanting to make people happy. With a shake of her head that could be rueful, her empty hand reaches back for one of the pouches hanging at her waist and withdraws a small black rock. "Miss Sindri." she's very disappointed.

Victor casts a spell of his own - mystic armor judging by the way his cape adjusts slightly around the neck and shoulders. "Is it true that you are this man's patron?" he asks Sindri.

Braith cocks her head to the side as she sees the figure appear behind like that. She grips her warhammers and draws them.

"Things are not always what they seem." Say's Sindri, laying a hand on the man's shoulder. Then just as suddenly as Sindri had appeared the two of them are gone. Magic. Whoever Sindri is, they leave an impression in the mind, and clearly... they know when and how to make an exit.

-End