Faction War Is Revealed and the Role of All Participants Is Laid Bare
Being a Chronicle of Dark and Bloody Days in the City of Doors, a Cautionary Tale of Treachery, Mystery, and Revelation, and the Wondrous and Terrible Consequences Thereof.
CREDI+S
Designers: Monte Cook and Ray Vallese ♦ Editor: Michele Carter Brand Manager: Thomas M. Reid Conceptual Artist: Dana Knutson ♦ Interior Artists: Adam Rex and Hannibal King Cartography: Diesel and Rob Lazzaretti Art Director: Dawn Murin ♦ Graphic Design: Matt Adelsperger, Dee Barnett, and Dawn Murin Electronic Prepress Coordination: Jefferson M. Shelley ♦ Typography: Angelika Lokotz
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PROLOGUE ...... 4 In which something long Lost is Found.
PEl:RING INTO TIIE (AG[ ...... 6 Including notes on Running the Adventure and Preparingfor Play, and a great Deal of useful Information about the City of Doors.
How IT Bl:GINS ...... 32 Wherein the true Dark of the faction war is Revealed and the Role of all participants is laid bare.
ACT I: GUARDING RR.KA ...... 42 In which the Heroes must safeguard a supposed Facto! and observe many important Devel opments in the Course of the war.
ACT II: TIIE BAHLE AT Till:: ARMORY ...... 54 Wherein a great Conflict erupts and heralds a Cage-shaking Incident with far-reaching Consequences.
ACT Ill: TIIF ESCIIATON ...... 62 In which forecasts of Doom and destruction lead the Heroes to discover an important Clue.
ACT IV: DARKSTORM ...... 70 In which the Blood War comes to Sigil, a hidden Lair is found, and the Lady Acts.
An V: MAGIC UNCAGED ...... 82 In which the heroes go Nowhere to find a Mage who may have a means to End the war, and must decide whether to Hinder or Help him.
An VI: Till: UNITY OF RINGS ...... 94 In which great Revelations lead to even greater Danger, a madman finds his Destiny, and the Heroes must make a Choice to decide the fate of all Sigil.
EPILOGUF- ...... 112 Wherein the last great Dark is revealed.
AFTERMATII ...... 114 In which the Effects of the war become clear and a great many Changes take place in the City of Doors.
TIMELINI: ...... GAIi I 01 ll A full Account of the events in this Volume, presented Chronologicallyfor the ease of the SampleDungeon Master. file ...and none, not even Swalk'kuhr of the Palace of the Jester, could unfold from whence he'd come, or what brain-bits he carried, or even that which he was called. The scap said he worked stony magic, and it was thought widely that he must be a great weaver from Acheron, or Carceri, or Mount Celestia itself, for he spoke exceeding strange. Tyat's Glass guessed that he had once been a mouthpiece but fell from P ll. L• Gu• serving gods to desiring to become one, and that he had spent centuries toward that end. And who else dared make such terpitous wails as to see Her Seren ity brought low and lashed like a cranium hound? The innocent and the weak alike shut up their blocks and cowered when he passed, half fearing he would bog the Lady, half fearing he would not. Why did she not flay him? Some creakers whispered that his blood must flow faster than even hers, and this scap flew quietly from ear to ear until all of Sigil trembled. Peak came and went many times, and still the weaver strode through the city as might one of the gyoxchuggi, acting howsoever he pleased, guttering the air with heresy and mud-talk, unre strained even by the Sis ters of Iron, who rightly turned from his presence. The weaver's blistering clearly fell to Her Serenity, and she had not been sighted since the fire at the Bank of Keys, some months past. The street-gugs cried that the Lady was gone and would not return, for fear of the weaver's threat to bend the very heart of Sigil itself against her. But return she did, six bells before antipeak on the 33rd day following her black foot's arrival in the City of Doors, appearing directly before him as he traced a strange and confusing footpath through the Ward of Masks. Those fled who had time to do so, leaving a half dozen slower or more mud-eyed squatters to witness the confronta tion, which, by their scap, seemed to end before it had begun. Both Lady and challenger were smoke that day, and it was not until Her Serenity graced us with her presence two months hence that all squatters knew who had grabbed YEBU WEBN'+ the stick and who the snake. The creakers of Sig ii then spoke of the twinless ebony gem BE NEEDED in which the Lady had boxed her blaclifoot, a jewel that glowed as blue as a sky, which AF+ER ALL. she then caused to be buried in the soil of the multiverse, far from the fields of sanity. But why had she not simply fed him to the worms? The scap said further that- -J9BAS, +e +Ht: a+H PAR+Y "Sir?" B$UND f$R Duke Rowan Darkwood glanced up from the yellowed tome, his mind still mired PANDEmeNIUm in the text. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but-well, we have news." The bariaur waved in a pair of steely bashers who looked as if they'd been trampled by the Modron March. "These two are all that's left of the seventh party we sent to Pandemonium. They-they have something for you." The bariaur clopped his hooves with nervous excitement as he took a blood spattered sack from the bigger of the two mercenaries and handed it to Darkwood. The Duke put down the book and rose from his chair. With a smile of weary cyni cism, he untied the pouch and peered inside. SampleHe stared for several moments in silence. The hirelingsfile shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, did we, uh, do good?" one asked. "See, there was this new tunnel, see? Which we think opened on account o' this dead god or whatever we heard was knockin' around in those caves, lookin' for something? So, so we was creeping through, see? But we didn't-"
♦ 4 ♦ Darkwood looked up from the sack as if he'd forgotten that anyone else was in the room. "Send them away, Jobas," he said. "Pay them. Send them away and pay them. Please. Right now." The bariaur smiled and escorted the two men from the cham ber. Darkwood latched the door and turned back to the bag, lift ing from it a brilliant black jewel that nearly filled his sweaty palm. He doused every torch in the room, and the gem glowed dimly with its own wispy, bluish light. The Duke brought it up to his eyes and stared into it as if it were a crystal ball. Within the gem, he thought he saw-no, he did see a formless face: luminous, ethereal, wizened. "How long I've waited for you," he muttered, almost lecherously, as the visage swirled and drifted like mist within the jewel, casting an unearthly blue glow on Darkwood's own face. "We have much work to do."
Sample file "You can read a thousand books about a place, but you never really know what it's like to live there until you've actually been there." "Ah, that's just great. Just what I wanted to hear," I said. Why had I come to this old leatherhead anyway? Before the war began, Factotum Aram had assigned me to do this Ward Guide, and I needed it to be good. Everyone said, talk Pll"-ING to Angus, he'll tell you what to write. Some help . The old man shook his head and began to walk slowly •• .,. TRI C•GI down the street. I assumed he wanted me to follow. I reluc tantly did. "Books are fine," he said, with a bit of condescension in his voice, I was sure. "They'll tell a body that the City Court is found in The Lady's Ward, and the Market Ward is where you buy your bub. But," he stopped as he paused for a moment and looked around him, "how's a book going to tell folks about the smell from the Green Iron Forge over there, and how that young bariaur Thanaoritus raised the neighborhood against the tiefling smiths because of it? Hmmm? "Or look over there," he said, pointing to the other side of the street. "See that house with the door that constantly changes color? You won't find any mention of that in a book, but that's where the priest-mage Tenisari lives. She casts curses for jink, and the door's her marker. 'Course, once she placed a hex on a slaad from the Lower Ward who took her head right off. It took three priests of Anu to bring her back and reattach her head-well," he chuckled to himself, "not in that order. "Or how about," he continued, "knowing who's really in charge? Sure, the books tell you what the Hardheads do and who the Mercykillers tote off to the Prison, but no book can tell you about Tiritesh and how he keeps the streets SIGIL CAN BE HARD of New Pelion safe, or who watches over who in the Slags, or things +EB WRAP YEBUR BRAIN- BEBX like that." AREBUND SEBmE+lmES. I stared at him. "There's nothing keeping me from putting in details like that in my book. I could fill it with points like that, skipping over the -KYl.lE +H£ TEDU+ 'this tavern's here and this public building's there' kind of chant everyone already knows-" "Yes," he interrupted, smiling. "Yes, you could." Damn. I hate being manipulated. Nevertheless, he was right, and I'd fallen for his little game. Folks were right to send me to old Angus. He set me straight on what I should write. · The Big Picture? Not really-more like how the "little pictures" fit together to become the "big picture." For a place that's had more written about it than probably any other, that's what hasn't yet been said. My book details the little things that every Cager knows make things work. This work isn't about the system, but how all the high strangeness of the City of Doors comes together to make a working whole. They tell me that they're going to take a condensed version of what I've writ Sampleten and put it in a book detailing the big faction war. Great,file I say. Where's my jink? -Faragoh Naeil, narrator
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