A Torrent of Consciousness

We made our Veil guys!! I'm soooo excited to play. As I said before we are playing the Veil by Fraser Simons, but setting it in a high fantasy world rather than a cyberpunk one. This is because most of our group is fantasy girlies, and our GM really likes the emotion system in the Veil way more than she does the actual setting (such that it is).

In our setting, magic was controlled and taught only by a grand order of wizards, who controlled who could access the art. A group of sorcerers and witches conspired to tear down the Veil, a barrier that separated the material plane from the ethereal plane. In doing so, they collapsed both planes onto each other. This had many myriad effects on the world, but common belief is that this event is what led to magic being attainable by anyone, rather than select noble bloodlines (this is in fact a lie that the grand order of wizards used to maintain political power).

Autumn is playing Magnanimous, nickname Mag. She's a bratty noblewoman who feels bad for the lower classes and how they are treated, but doesn't really have a concrete ideology to guide any action toward addressing those injustices. She's bonded to an evil sword, using the Attached playbook.

Grace is playing Screaming Freedom, nickname Dom. She used to be human, but something changed her and bound her spirit to a suit of armor. Now she has almost no memory of her previous life other than the phrase "you will be there, screaming freedom." She knows she is burdened with a grim and valorous purpose, but doesn't know what that purpose is; all she knows is that she is struck with intuition at times, and believes that intuition to be a sign of that purpose. She's using the Apparatus playbook.

I am playing Raelusondr, nickname Raelus Maro. He's a dragon who was trapped in a humanoid form when the Veil fell. The continent in the south was was home to the dragons, and was considered sacred; now, it collapses into other planes even beyond the ethereal, and that destruction is spreading. Raelus nurses a deep resentment toward humanity for their part in destroying his homeland, but his true beef is that the reason he had been in that humanoid form at the time was that he had fallen in love with a human wizard. She tried to prevent the Veil's destruction, and the sorcerers and witches who tore it down killed her for it. Now Raelus is joyless and jaded, dedicated to patching up what are now known as the Dreadlands while carrying the tragedy of his mortal lover in his heart. Raelus uses the Wayward playbook.

The trio came together one night when both Raelus and Mag tried to steal the evil sword from a wizard vault; Mag got there first, and found it clutched in the hands of a suit of armor. When she took the sword, having been lured to it by vague whispers, it bonded to her and refused to be parted. It was at that point that the suit of armor activated, revealing itself to be Dom. Raelus arrived late, furious that a meddling noble had gotten her hands on such a dangerous artifact before he could steal it and bend it to his own will. He resolved to stay at Mag's side, so as to keep an eye on the sword and its desires. Dom, for her part, felt a peculiar intuition about Raelus, and decided that she will follow him even as he follows Mag. And thus, a trio of weirdos became an adventuring party!

I'm so excited to play this game, and I really like how our characters came out. Hopefully we get to play soon!

We open with a vignette of Lyn & Avery. As Darkwood’s plot is carried out at the end of the first campaign, the Blood War spills into Sigil. Nes is organizing the Umbra-kai and Umbra Veil, splitting the greater communities up to move them to other safe havens in the city. Lyn is packing her things, which are mainly tools and clothes. Avery hovers nearby, anxious as to whether or not Lyn packed a family heirloom. Lyn says she did, and kisses Avery before leaving, promising that they would see each other again soon.

Devils attack the Gymnasium, and the pair joins Umbra-kai warrior Thrax and his two companions Trust and Draga in fighting to protect the Umbra-kai. Avery stands resolute in a doorway, facing off against a cambion in hellish armor. They cross blades for a time, but the cambion shatters her shield and knocks her sword aside.

Lyn, fighting with Thrust and Draga, sees the cambion grab Avery by the throat and lift her. She charges across the battle, scooping up Avery’s sword and plunging it into the devil’s side, The cambion removes the sword, and Lyn watches as his wound closes.

Thrax is struck down by devils as he tries to protect the others. The cambion casts out a blast of fire, and Draga takes the hit for Thrust. Amidst the despair, the cambion tosses Avery against the wall and kicks her sword to her. As she moves to strike, he invades her mind and stokes the pain in her heart, causing her to lash out at Lyn. Lyn reaches out to try and get through to Avery, but she swings her sword and cuts Lyn’s arm off.

Lyn screams, and Avery snaps back to her senses. Thrust engages the cambion, and Draga pulls himself along the ground to the broken pipes in the ceiling and walls that are leaking water and steam. He blesses the water, making it holy. Enraged by Lyn’s wound, Avery douses her blade in holy water and smites the devil.

In the aftermath, Avery cradles Lyn. Lyn is unresponsive, and Senna spirits her away to be healed while Trok helps calm Avery after the battle.

In the present day, Deidre Abraxas gives her pitch to the team: help her to track down and kill each of the six Dahlia bosses and pull the city out of their grasp, then take down Katzia Abraxis herself. The team is hesitant, but agrees to join her. She tells them that she knows many things about their personal lives, and promises them the things they want: a way back to the Beastlands for Grimulf, or the protection of a friend for Paz.

Deidre names the team the Shadows, and they set out to the Grand Bazaar with company cards to outfit themselves for the upcoming fights…


Shopping Interlude 1: Company Cards

The Shadows pick up a number of items for the missions to come, choosing from the finest stores in the Grand Bazaar. Each member of the team is given a card with a 1000 gold credit limit.

Lyn buys
A classy black dress, which counts as +1 padded armor. +1 street smarts.
A modified shotgun, which can fire both its barrels at once.
A bag of borrowing, which provides a generic item taken from somewhere else. It leaves an IOU note with your name and face on it.
A helm of clarification, which is a beanie that interprets other people's speech to explain the hidden nuance or euphemisms in their speech.
A +1 whip.
She also contributed 50 gold toward the team’s purchase of the Goggle Glass, which allow the two users to see each others’ perspectives.

Avery buys
The Raven Armor, a suit of plate mail meant to evoke the Raven Prince.
The vibranium buckler, a shield which can send the force of a hit back at an attacker.
A pearl of power.
She's currently in possession of one half of the Goggle Glass.

Grimulf buys
A scimitar of storms, which can cast gust of wind once a day.
The Punisher, a +1 studded leather duster that damages enemies who attempt to grapple the wearer.
He's currently in possession of one half of the Goggle Glass.

Paz buys
A butterfly cloak, which can cast blur once a day.
A spider staff, which can cast web once a day.
She also contributed 50 gold toward the team’s purchase of the Goggle Glass, which allow the two users to see each others’ perspectives.

Minx buys
A +2 tracking dagger, which allows the wielder to track a target it has injured.
She also contributed 50 gold toward the team’s purchase of the Goggle Glass, which allow the two users to see each others’ perspectives.

Here we begin the first of many recaps of Gang War! This is a D&D 5e campaign that started in July 2024 and went on break in November 2024 so we could play a chapter of a different campaign we have ongoing in Pathfinder with a different GM. This first arc lasts nine sessions, and concludes with our first major boss fight of the campaign. When we get back to this campaign in January, I will begin posting recaps as we play! I'd like to get the first nine up here by then, which shouldn't be too difficult since they aren't that long.

Set six years after the previous campaign Faction War, this campaign follows some new heroes and a couple familiar faces as they form a new group of adventurers: the Shadows, who strike out at the corporate overlords of the Planescape Corporation set up by the Dahlia to rule Sigil.

Each session begins with a vignette; sometimes these are flashbacks to offer context to present events, and sometimes they are windows into the present showing what the heroes of the last campaign are up to offscreen. This first recap includes another introduction of the new team:

Our Heroes

We begin four years after the previous interstitial adventure, and six years after the Sigilettes saved the city of Sigil from Rowan Darkwood. Five people, through different avenues and for different crimes, have been imprisoned by the Dahlia Sophia.

Avery Brightweave, AKA Diving Light (Human Paladin, she/her) is a member of a new religious order: the Order of the Triumvirate. This organization aims to smooth over the distance separating the two main Umbra-kai communities of Sigil. She is eager to help people, and more than willing to pick a fight to do it, but her ability to accomplish both are the only things propping up her self esteem.

Grimulf (Shifter Rogue/Ranger, he/him) is currently known to the people of Sigil as the man who killed Trokolius. He’s a gloomy sort who typically keeps to himself, and seems to have little interest in being “personable” or “charming”, but he is a peerless killer, preferring whenever possible to strike from the shadows.

Lyn, AKA Evelyn Brightweave, AKA Rising Whisper (Astral Elf Artificer, she/her) is an inventor of arcane devices. She grew up on the streets of the Hive before being adopted at age 9 into the Umbra-kai. She and Avery were close once, but something happened during Rowan Darkwood’s Faction War that caused Lyn to leave her without a word. She hides from confrontations–and her own feelings–behind an distant, nonchalant attitude.

Minx Ermine (Weaselfolk Bard, she/her) is a lounge singer, a criminal, and a terror. She combines a haughty expectation of respect with a downright horrifying way with words that often leaves her victims unsure of exactly how deep into their heads she can get. Alongside Paz, she does jobs for Shemeshka and the Wilderhood. While she can hold her own with a blade in a pinch, she truly shines in arenas where words are traded and papers signed.

Topaz Claw, AKA Paz (Tabaxi Druid, she/her) is the only member of the Sigilettes to wind up in prison. She is working for Shemeshka now, and seems to hold an animosity of some kind for Grimulf, though she won’t talk about why. She has all the grace, ego, and sloth of a richly pampered cat, which she likely is, and other than her interactions with Grimulf, she has a knack for remaining utterly unbothered no matter how tense the situation.

Session 1: Jailbreak

In the sixth year of the Sigil Era of the Umbra-kai Planar Calendar, we open on the arrest of Minx & Paz. The two furries break into a building and are immediately caught. The other members of their Wilderhood crew, Lenny and Boarson, were arrested at a later date.

Lyn & Avery are in prison, and Lyn is about to sell a communication device that she fashioned out of spare components. The buyer tries to take the device by force with the help of two goons, and Avery trounces them. Reading a newspaper, Lyn & Avery hear that Trokolius has been murdered.

Grimulf enters the tower, convicted of the murder of Trokolius. He is confronted by Minx, who seems to get a good read on him and deduces that he did not actually kill Trok. Then he is accosted by Avery, who demands an explanation for Trok’s death. He doesn’t give one.

A mysterious green-haired woman named Kane visits the cells of these adventurers, and leaves them tools to escape. They fill a glove with beans and put a ring on it to short out a circuit and escape. The team has dreadful vibes in this first moment of cooperation.

After gathering supplies in a guard’s armory, the anti-magic field in the prison drops, and chaos reigns. The team rides an elevator down, headed out of the tower, and they encounter several guards along the way.

First is Makoto, a tortle who was tortured in his past. He is accompanied by two guards, who are lulled into passivity by Minx’s calm emotions spell.

The team disguises themselves as guards to avoid a modron patrol, but this causes a fire genasi named Ashnor Daikan to fight them, as he thinks they are guards. They escape, not killing him. Paz starts collecting explosive barrels, but we have nowhere to put them at the moment.

The elevator doors open again on the next floor, and the team is surrounded by gnomish sharpshooters…

What follows is a recap of the Planescape campaign I played with my D&D group! I think I've gotten all the major pieces in place, though I admit I didn't start taking notes during sessions until we started the second campaign. As for that second campaign, I will be posting session by session summaries when I get to them!

This is a 5e D&D campaign that went from around August 2022 to January 2024. It's the first in a planned trilogy of campaigns, the second of which we just recently started over the summer. We started Faction War at level 3 and ended at level 7. It isn't the first long term campaign I've played in this group; that honor goes to our 3.5 game from twelve years ago. There are a handful of scattered references to characters, themes, or places from that old campaign due to the multiverse-heavy vibes of the Planescape setting, but nothing that would be too disruptive since three of the players in this campaign weren't in that one.

By way of introduction, the principle cast members of this story are:

Senna, the Shaded Daughter of Umbra (she/her). Human Zealot Barbarian/Warrior of Mercy Monk.
Senna is a human barbarian pledged to her goddess's service. She took on the title of Shaded Daughter at age 25, and as a spiritual leader among her people (the Umbra-kai) she is always available to them for advice, support, or aid.

Inigo Montoya (he/him). Kenku Thief Rogue.
Inigo is a kenku rogue who prior to the campaign abandoned his family to seek wealth and adventure. As a kenku, he spoke by repeating lines of dialogue he has heard in the past, and we had a soundboard for this player to use, which provided his name. He didn't stay with the group the whole way through, as the player behind him decided to take up a new character. His son is an assassin named Raven.

Trokolius, AKA Trok (he/him). Tiefling Horizon Walker Ranger.
Trok is a tiefling ranger who was pulled into the Blood War, an eternal conflict between the lawful devils and chaotic demons. Now free of that service, he makes his way in Sigil as a mercenary. He is the team dad, to an extent, and is a valuable source of information regarding fiends.

Helspeth (they/them). Human Fiend Warlock.
Helspeth is a conniving warlock bound to the dragon goddess Tiamat, queen of darkness and chaos. They, along with their goddess, have ties to the interdimensional wizard mafia known as the Dahlia Sophia. Specifically in this case Helspeth has the spirit of an ogre mage named Octavian lodged in their brain. Octavian was a former boss of the Dahlia from ages past, and has been waiting for the moment to strike ever since...

Nico Hardly (any pronouns). Owlin Eloquence Bard.
Nico is an owlin bard who was once trapped in the jail-realm known as Ravenloft. Born from a wizard's familiar, they have pursued a life of music and song while trying to stay one step ahead of the forces that would drag them back to the fog.

Topaz "Paz" Claws (she/her). Tabaxi Spore Druid.
Paz joined the party after their adventure in the Beastlands, when Inigo decided to stay and be with his family rather than continue his life of adventure. She's selfish, lazy, and a huge brat, which everyone loves. She has no moral compunction against murder, and is quick to resort to violence if threatened or annoyed.

Dachs (he/him). Badgerfolk Battle Master Fighter.
Dachs is another late addition to the Sigilettes; he joined the party after the six month time skip that followed Helspeth's betrayal. He is a steadfast warrior, and he didn't hesitate to step in and defend the Sigilettes in battle. He's joined by his three retainers Remy, Downey, and Twinthistle.

These heroes were known as the Sigilettes, and their story will be more or less remembered below...

Planescape Dahlia - Faction War

Sigil. The Cage. The City of Doors. This place, at the nexus of all worlds, at the end of all roads, has as many names as it does entrances. For uncounted eons, the city has been controlled and managed by fifteen Factions, each with a distinct philosophical outlook. Above them all rose the enigmatic Lady of Pain, who barred Sigil’s doors against divine intervention, but otherwise remained silent and aloof.

Our story begins with a mysterious letter delivered to each Factol, leaders of the factions of Sigil. It contained a white flower, symbol of the interdimensional wizard mafia called the Dahlia Sophia, and a single word: Prepare.

Every faction reacted differently. Some tried to reach out to their allies and form a bulwark against the uncertain future, while others plotted long-sought vengeance in case of a faction war. One faction made plans to turn the Shattered Temple, a fixture of the city once dedicated to the dead god of doors, Aoskar, into a luxury resort. The contract for this work was secured with a contractuary (a metaphysical anchor that upholds a contract, similar to what a lich does to their soul).

This story begins on the steps of the Shattered Temple, on a day that the Godsmen were providing food to the poor. Dabuses, minions of the Lady of Pain who performed construction and demolitions within the city, attempted to bulldoze the structure, but five people in the area agreed to seek out the reason for this destruction, which led them to the plane of Mechanus to destroy its contractuary .

Along the way, they encountered the Gobblegool, a slime devil seeking to collect a bounty on Nico Hardly, the party’s owlin bard. Though the Sigilettes defeated him, he escaped, swearing revenge.

These heroes, calling themselves the Sigilettes, set out to find out why the Shattered Temple was targeted. Their search led them to more deeply investigate the Dahlia’s message. As the Dahlia’s return to Sigil after an eon began to spark tensions within the city, a giff named Chonkers set off bombs across the city. The Sigilettes, seeing this happen from the safety of a pocket dimension where a meeting of the city’s Revolutionary League was being held, took a winding path of doors to return to the city before they left. This allowed them to not only find and defuse the bombs, but also to defeat Chonkers by altering a portal to the plane of air to blast him with flames from the plane of fire, igniting his blackpowder weaponry.

In the Beastlands, the Sigilettes tracked down the god of the Kenku and used the tenets of his godhood to force him to take a more active role guiding his people. He also granted the Sigilettes a detachment of Kenku soldiers, which they brought back to Sigil to help keep the peace and protect vulnerable communities like the Umbra-kai, who had started attracting attention as their main camp was set up in territory that once belonged to a faction of devils.

In the city, tensions rose between the Umbra-kai and the outside world. In an effort to maintain order, the Factols decreed that all residents of the city must join a faction formally. The Umbra-kai refused, voting amongst themselves to reject the city’s influence on them. Senna agreed to guide them down that path.

The Sigilettes infiltrated a bath to find a way into the plane of water, where a city held by the Dahlia Sophia lay. Once inside, they were betrayed by Helspeth as Octavian, the ogre mage spirit living in their head, took over their body and recounted Sigil's vulnerabilities to Katzia. With that information revealed, they were unable to convince her to stay away. Katzia, in fact, had no idea the city had ever received communication from the Dahlia.

After this adventure, six months passed. In that time, Senna adopted Trok as her brother, bringing him into her family and making him a member of the Umbra-kai. At his entrance ceremony, the ritual was interrupted by Senna’s cousin Garth. He objected to the city’s influence on their people, and sought to return them to an older set of traditions he called the Umbra Veil. He and about a third of the Umbra-kai parted ways with the main group, including his younger sister Nesrine.

The Sigilettes, having attracted the attention of Katzia’s sister Deidre, set out to investigate the person who originally sent the false message. This led them to a ruined spaceship, where a recording revealed the truth: Rowan Darkwood, a few years from now, will lose his daughter to the Lady of Pain as punishment for the factions devolving into open combat. Then, he will be sent back in time 500 years. The version of himself who went through this ordeal calls himself Giffaud, and he is working to get Rowan Darkwood to strike first in this timeline, killing the Lady of Pain and taking over the city.

The ship careened into a star, and the only escape for the Sigilettes was to break open a glass orb which contained the mists of Ravenloft. They were swept away to that interplanar prison, and had to fight for their lives in a grand arena to rescue Nico, they returned to Sigil to find every door ajar; the Blood War, eternal conflict between devils and demons, had come to Sigil. The heroes first faced a confrontation with Raven, Garth, Chonkers, and the Gobblegool, united by circumstance as a team against them. During the fight, though Senna had chosen not to kill her cousin, Paz’s summoned fey spirit slit Garth’s throat behind Senna’s back. The Sigilettes rescued Onyx Talon, a Kenku commander who worked for the god of the Kenku. She gave the Sigilettes the intel they needed: Giffaud’s location. The Sigilettes rallied the factions against this threat and fought their way to Rowan and Giffaud.

Though the battle was long and hard-fought, the results were clear. Rowan stayed on his toes, trying to keep his distance and cast spells from afar while again and again Senna closed the distance to strike. In the end, Trok stood over a dead Darkwood while his sister, having born the brunt of the wizard’s offensive, clutched the wound that marred her eye. The other Sigilettes found little relief in the end of that mastermind, however.

When the dust settled, Katzia Abraxas arrived in Sigil. The Lady of Pain bowed to her, and they entered into a negotiation to allow the Dahlia to manage and maintain the city of doors. The Sigilettes looked on, wondering if their efforts had been well spent…

To be continued in Planescape Dahlia - Gang War (This will be a link when I start posting recaps!)