I'm back! My party is looking for Timeresh, the Mirror Library and they are going to take the Inifinite Staircase to get there.
What follows is a series of live-play photoblog posts of thier trip. The encounters are inspired by Chapter 1 from Tales of the Inifinite Staircase - with my own ongoing campaign threats replacing the one in the book.
Also, I moved the monsters over to things that are 4e friendly, though that hardly matters. This is a fantastic setting to adapt to any edition/system... This is the first time my player's have ever heard of the planes, much less ever traveled to them.
The original posts are on Obsidian Portal, so please visit there if you want catch-up or to continue following the story. I have posted hundreds of game-terrain photos there.
One photo to tease you to continue....
The original posts for the Planscape arc of my campaign are on Obsidian Portal and start wtih: The Temple of Selûne
The Temple of Selûne
I have a feeling we're not in Punjar anymore!
“The Infinite Staircase
The Ivy Base
New visitors click here to find a good starting point…
Below The Temple of Selûne
After passing the “First Test” given them by the High Priestess of The Temple of Selûne, Team Beholder is instructed to climb down a spiral staircase into the depths of the temple through an trap door in the very center of the enormous main chamber.
After winding down for a few dozen feet, the staircase emerges into a infinite chamber. Looking up it seems as if the staircase they are on goes up through a small dark hole in an infinite starry blue sky.
Living, pulsing vines wrap around the staircase as they decent to a set of “floating” platforms – and in front of them the source of the vines – a huge plant with tentcles and vines going off in all directions – including a floating staircase that seems to go up forever – into the blue mist that covers everything here after a few yards…
The guardians of the stair did not follow them down, so they make their way across the platforms, while avoiding the giant, breathing plant. Clearly the platform here was all one piece at some time in the past, as they all seem to fit together like a puzzle. While Abani and Barton choose to climb across the gap hand over hand underneath a vine and spy that the platforms are supported by great pillars that disappear after a few yards into the mist.
Upon reaching the other side, the priestess appears as if she emerged from the vines beneath their feet.
Lesson the Second
“The lessonss continue, for in the Planesss thingss are alwayss in threess. You have already masstered the firsst: The denizenss of the planess can be powerful – it is often better to scircumvent than to fight!”
Gael asks: “What is the second?”
She hisses: “You clearly have power, to arrive so flawlessly, but lack exsperience. You have no planeswalkerss among you…What iss it that you ssseeek on the ssstair? Do you know the way?”
Abani: “Timeresh, the Mirrored Library. We were hoping you might guide us.”
“We know of it – you can reach it from The Stair, but we are not guidess. The besst navigatorss are the Planeswalkerss’ Guild. To reach them, you musst alwayss climb higher—-”
Quinn urgently interrupts: “What’s that way up on staircase? I saw something just go out of sight.”
During this distraction, a guardian emerges from under Gael who is standing near the edge, grapples and tosses him into the air, while the teacher flicks her wrist tossing him over the edge!
Gael falls several yards into the mist… only to immediately appear “falling” sidewise(!) directly at his companions from under the long staircase! Teleported AND changing sense of gravity!
They act quickly to grab him – almost losing their own footing in the effort. They discover that moving his body to the platform once again shifts Gael’s local sense of Gravity, to be the same as theirs.
“The ssecond lesson is remain near the sstaircase and avoid unknown portalss. Not all doorss work in both directionss.”
The Final Lesson
Jean speaks up: “What is the third lesson?”
“Think deeply upon what you want more than anything else in the universse… to be united with a long losst loved one? Or enough wealth to live contently? Perhapss the ssolution to a vexsing mysstery from your passt…
Who will sshare their dessire with me?"
Jean and Dangle step forward onto her platform, and she whispers up to the preistess for a few seconds.
The Guardian flinches slightly and says “You may go. Head for the sstair now before I change my mind!”
Abani: “Jean? What are your doing?”
Holding up her hand, the priestess motions: “No. Only that one. You may watch until she vanishes from sight.” The guardian that threw Gael up during the second test enters an agressive posture.
Jean ascends the stair, ignoring pleas from her companions.
Gael disregards the risks of contradicting the stairkeepers and teleports directly in front of Jean, threatening to disable her to overcome what he is convinced is some kind of mind control.
Gael: “I will knock you out if I have to!”
Jean: “I will shove you off this staircase if I have to. I know what I’m doing. Goodbye!”
From the vine behind Gael, another guardian appears as if to save Jean the effort and pokes Gael in the back.
Gael relents and teleports back to the base.
They all reluctantly watch Jean and Dangle disappear into the mist high up the stiar.
“The final lesson is that the sstair wantss to embrace your uniqueness and will give you your deepesst desire. If you are not ready to leave the universse and your companionss, you must never travel it alone.”
“You are as prepared asss we can make you. May Selûne bless your climbing.”
After tying ropes around their waists, so as to never lose another member, they advance up the stair…
They find many twists and turns as they climb the stairs, and encounter many portals – each on a platform.
A few activate with a simple touch… such as one that appears to lead to a forest.
Too bad the wildlife might see them as an easy meal appearing in front of them!
A few tricks, and the creature is back home and the portal closed. Perhaps the warning was a good one.
After traveling for what seemed for a working day, encountering very little on the way up, they come to an inhabited section of the stair.
Tents! And the smell of cooking meat! And signs of a building(!) up on a platform.
It’s the home of the Planeswalker’s Guild – and organization commited to the dissemination of information about the planes, and their safe use. The party is welcomed and offered a meal (it’s late supper time.)
They are sorry to hear of Jean’s loss and seem truly sympathetic. The current guild master (a Minotaur) says “You have our condolences.”
It turns out that they can help guide them to the “Blue Mushroom” section of the stairs, – near the portal to The Mirror Library – in exchange for one of them becoming a member, and for riding shotgun for Barbarian Planeswalker who needs to go that way as well. “And, as you now know from your own experience, he cannot travel there alone.”
After resting, Team Beholder of the Forsite Irregulars are off to the portal to Timeresh!
Catch up with them on The Staircase of Desolation
Build Notes
- Walls and Tiles
- Planescape Mist:Celestial Background 53 by Frostbo on deviantart.
- Tiles: Textures by Fat Dragon Games drawn from several sets.
- Staircases
- Down from the temple: from Elven Mill by Lord Zsezse Games
- Tall Spiral: A Luxurious Lair: Council Chamber by Kev’s Lounge (mod)
- Custom Popup Staircases by OldSchoolDM.
- Portals & Props
- EASY Sci-Fi PORTALS and MOD-KIT by PERMES
- Figure – Botanimoth by Dungeon Crawler Minis
- Orb Spire – Dungeon Furnishings by Mini Paper Models
- Tents – E-Z TERRAIN: Overland Adventures bu Fat Dragon Games
- Table, Chairs, and Firepit – Kev’s Lounge Dungeon Furniture Pack by Kev’s Lounge
- Desert ruin by Lord Zsezse Works
- Propz: Dungeon Features by Arid Hills Productions
- Battle Markers
- World Works Games Battlepacks: Basics
The Staircase of Desolation
The Infinite Staircase, cont.
New visitors click here to find a good starting point…
The Stairway of Desolation
After their first night of rest on The Infinite Staircase, Team Beholder set off for the entrance to The Mirror Library, escorted by a member of the Planeswalker’s Guild: Ghiaridonna – A blue-skinned Barbarian. He is headed to a portal very near the one to Timeresh.
After climbing staircases for most of the day, they finally arrive in the Blue Mushroom area of the staircase…
“Something’s wrong…. At the top of that spiral staircase there should be another stair – to the platform with the portal I’m trying to reach…”
Quinn: “Man, those stairs are pretty beat up. Let me check it out, the rest of you remain here…”—
When he reaches the platform, he discovers that is it unstable – shifting under his weight – and that there is a thick set of strong spider webs leading off and up to the platform Ghiaridonna mentioned. He shout’s down over the edge “It’s been destroyed, and I see no sign of a portal on the platform. And there are giant spider webs -- WHAT? Oh! Trouble!”
Strange short blue creatures start swarming from the distant platform, heading over the web directly at Quinn – who quickly repels and swings down to a lower platform.
The spiders and mites give chase – the walking mites down the staircase while the spider mount’s lay down more shortcuts to other platforms…
The barbarian keeps the mites at the base of the stairs busy which the Irregulars position for better advantage…. But Barton turns around just in time to see what’s been causing the devastation…
They now are engaged on two sides – mites and spiders on one, and a stair-smashing Abyssal Hulk on the other. They are now fighting on six platforms at once!
The traffic of all the mites and combat has totally destabilized the platform at the top of the spiral, and it collapses! Stepping out of the way, the Planeswalker quips:“I’ve never heard of that happening before. Damn odd, that.”
After several close calls of team members being thrown off the middle platform, they defeat their foes.
Making their way to the upper platform, where the portal to Timeresh is supposed to be, they encounter complete devastation – the portal has been torn to shreds, and fragments of it are in a large “nest” made of stair, platform, and portal fragments in the far corner of the platform.
Barton: “We’re screwed. What now?”
Galen attempts to find the fragments of the portal and re-assemble them. “It doesn’t work.”, he sighs in defeat. “We are screwed.”
Ghiaridonna replies – “You’re no dimensional architect – but you may have restored the portal from Timeresh to here – it will have to be re-linked from the other side.”
“Is there another way to the Mirror Library from the stair?” – Abani askes, with a tone that says she’s sure what the answer is, and it isn’t good.
“No. I don’t think so. But let’s rest and return to the guild as soon as possible. There isn’t supposed to be a way for a single monster to destroy staircases and portals, but this one obviously did, so I don’t know as much as I thought I did.”
“Isn’t it a bit a little odd that just the gates we needed are destroyed?”, Quinn asks rhetorically – of the air.
Ghiaridonna doesn’t answer, but his reply might be thought to “We should probably rest someplace more stable, then set watches…”
After an uneventful rest, they return to The Ivy and Ghiaridonna bounds up the staircase ahead from the Irregulars.
Breathlessly, Ghiaridonna and the group report their discovery, and concern to Hav’run Thain and the other Planeswalkers there (several more have arrived over the last few days.)
The guild talk among themselves before Abani asks “Is there another way to Timeresh? We still need to get there.” Gael ads “Perhaps I can fix the portal from the other side when we get there.”
Hav’run hushes his guildmates – “No. Not from the stairs. But there may be another way – ‘Pathfinder’… Whaaa?”
As he mentions the name, a number of pale-green-skinned Githyanki all appear upon the platform simultaneously. Their leader looks and sounds “female” – but the Irregulars have no experience with this race. She speaks clearly and firmly: “These one-world berks will return to the Ivy Base and leave the planes immediately, or all here will die.”
A guild member mage curses under his breath “Githyanki pirate softheads…” Barton speaks more loudly, pointing at one of the attackers – “I saw you spying on us at the Ivy Base. Did you guys send that Hulk— that was breaking the stairs?”
The gith leader shouts out “Wrong answers!” and combat ensues.
The first few seconds go very badly for our heroes, with several of them being severely wounded before they can even arm themselves.
Then, a small female grey Svirfneblin runs up out of one of the tents on the stairs….
Placing her hands on the most wounded, she says “Hi, I’m Pvel – you’ll be just fine.” healing the worst of their wounds. This would turn the tide of the battle…
Pushing himself to the limit, Quinn pursues the leader, being relentless with his attacks – even the Gith healer can’t keep up – and eventually the rogue hits her right between the ribs(?) “You can’t win! Surrender now and live.”
He did break her spirit, but instead of surrendering, she made an unfamiliar noise – each of the greenskins reached for their belts and vanished. Quick probes determined they were not invisible, but gone. The battle was over.
“Pvel – Thanks for helping us!” Hav’run went to hug the dark gnome, but thought better of the sight of a Minotuar grabbing her tiny figure, and caught himself at the last moment.
He continued “As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted. You’ll need to get Pathfinder – a magic sword that can find the shortest path from where you are to anywhere in any plane. It belongs to Timlin, and he’s in Sigil.”
“Trapped in a maze, he is. We’ll have to find the maze, get and out of one of the Lady of Pain’s mazes, with the sword!”, pipes in Pvel.
“This is all confusing! Lady of Pain? Mazes? What?”, though Barton said the words, team Beholder was completely at a loss as well.
“Don’t worry!”, Pvel say reassuringly, “I’ll take you there and explain everything. We’ve got lots of time to get there anyway.”
And, as soon as they’d prepared, they set out for the portal to SIgil, The City of Doors, The Cage.
“These people sure have a lots of names for things.” gruffs Quinn.
The portal is quite different. Quite a bit larger, and it has an odd property…
“Why is the image in the portal rotating? And why are the buildings leaning like that?”, quizzes Gael.
“Because it’s not moving.”, Pvel jokes. “You know a doughnut (do you have those)? The city is on the inside of the outer crust. And it is constantly inverting itself (well, relative to our position.) On their end, this portal is running along the center of a road, rotated like a wagon wheel.” Pvel senses the confusion in the group.
“Here, it’s simple, try to jump through as quickly as you can one after the other, otherwise you’ll have a bit of a walk to catch up with each other…”
“Go!” she shouts, and each member jumps through the looking glass…
Catch up with them on “Lost in Sigil”
Build Notes
- Walls and Tiles
- Planescape Mist:Celestial Background 53 by Frostbo on deviantart.
- Tiles: Textures by Fat Dragon Games drawn from several sets.
- Staircases
- Tall Spiral: A Luxurious Lair: Council Chamber by Kev’s Lounge (mod)
- Custom Popup Staircases by OldSchoolDM.
- Portals & Props
- EASY Sci-Fi PORTALS and MOD-KIT by PERMES
- Tents – E-Z TERRAIN: Overland Adventures bu Fat Dragon Games
- Table, Chairs, and Firepit – Kev’s Lounge Dungeon Furniture Pack by Kev’s Lounge
- Desert ruin by Lord Zsezse Works
- Propz: Dungeon Features by Arid Hills Productions
- Battle Markers
- World Works Games Battlepacks: Basics
Catch up with them on “Lost in Sigil”
Again, if you'd like to see all my paper-terrain D&D builds, go to http://oldschooldm.com (redirects to Obsidian Portal.)
The story continues in Sigil with this post: http://community.wizards.com/forum/planescape/threads/4220671