ACTION REPORT (played 9-16-2018)
Attn: #RadagastVonFigaro #Skae’phae #Zelatar #Graz'zt #Enial #DonalSanp #SignoftheBlackHeart #Abyss #RuleofThree #vipertrees #SlipperyJack #TwistedDeath #BlackSailsTavern

Enial, a friend whose own path separated from ours, recently met with us with a request to go into the Abyss, a task that's easier said than done.

[ REDACTED: Enial came into possession of a mysterious key some time ago, while on an excursion in Torch, a key for which he had no lock. It seems he might have found his answer, however, but poor boy was in no condition to go. It's no wonder he asked me to go in his stead, to Zelatar, to meet a certain Donal Sanp, a Bone Naga ambassador to a Drow undead goddess. Sanp exchanged the information in exchange for a secret word that acted as a key to a gate involved in his goddess' endless plotting against her many rivals. The Shadow King was strictly information amongst our group, and not to be shared. Enial dared not go, as he feared Yugoloths were out to get him.
This Shadow King seems like quite the figure; he stands behind the Black Lotus slavers, our enemy, and is one who received the aid of the gods, but has also killed a god.]

Helga obtained the Merchants' Pass in my name from Rule-of-Three, some wizened githzerai in the Black Sails tavern, a dive bar in Sigil, while Dash-A somehow procured several barrels of alcohol– run-off tainted water from the Foundry, he says, fortified with cyanide and other poisonous liquids that would kill anyone but a demon. For the purposes of branding, we called it “Twisted Death.” We hired a teamster, Jeffrey, with his own horse and wagon, at a rate of 3gp a day, to carry the stuff for us.

Following a night of down-time (as documented in my previous Faction report), we set off early in the day, through a portal into the Abyss. I opted to stay in disguise as a tiefling, just in case. Almost immediately, we encountered a long retinue of wretched slaves and slavers, one of whom tried to accost Helga (I would've loved to see that happen) but recoiled when we produced our merchants' pass. Zelatar itself was not far off, but we had some trouble with the entrance into the scythe-topped, walled city, from a pair of viper trees. Half of us were attacked, as it seems the vipertrees love nothing more than knocking our morally upright friends down a notch. Perhaps it's a toll of some sort.

Just through the gate, a number of guides offered their services. We had no idea whom to trust, so I decided to trust my instincts, and called out in Thieves Cant to see who would respond. Ideally, I would have avoided those that answered the message, but the others latched onto one crippled Vrock, Slippery Jack. He was quite a bit pricey at several hundred gold pieces, but since he's crippled, I figure he couldn't fly away if he cheated us. Interestingly, Balbeeto spoke Abyssal. I was not aware of that before.

True to his word, however, Slippery Jack navigated us through Fogtown (Zelatar simultaneously exists on three layers of the Abyss– the 45th, 46th and 47th, of which Fogtown was the 45th, and our target was on the 46th) to reach the Green-fire gates, a massive green-flamed bonfire in a square that served as a portal gate to Gallenghast, which was a far cry from Fogtown. The architecture was markedly different, cosmopolitan and genteel, and colored from upscale marketplaces, whereas Fogtown is not that different from Sigil's own Hives.

From the Green-fire gates, it's a nearly straight road to the Sign of the Black Heart inn, our destination. The place dominated an entire block by itself. A number of entrances, one on each side (so far as I could tell), led to an inner courtyard. Windows were only found on the second-floor windows, not the first, and a garden could be seen atop one wall. The roofs were topped with something that resembled razorvine. Vrocks circled above, possibly hired help and security. Slippery Jack took his leave from us, saying he'd wait for us by the gates, but not before extorting an eye-raising bonus for himself from Dash-A.

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