Shadows over Sigil - The Eternal Boundary

A Murder and a Vision

"I've no home, no warm place to call kip, I've no fam'ly, no birthright nor kin. I am I, nothing more."from A Tiefling's Lament

First Lady Day of Retributus, 126 HR

The minotaur Blackhoof had given them the Blood Pit and the Smoldering Corpse Bar as places to find information on the murders. As the Blood Pit had yielded no real results, the ragtag group of semi-official investigators decided to try their luck at the bar. Left of the Blood Pit they turned into a narrow alley to head back towards the Gatehouse. This way they would reach their destination without having to cross the Night Market again. At least that was what Jana said, and she knew her way around this part of Sigil best. Naghûl had also lived here for a few years, but that was quite a while ago and the dabus had rebuilt a lot in the meantime. After crossing the narrow alley, they came back to a somewhat wider and busier street. They saw the Hive's usual mix of beggars, prostitutes, bubbers, thugs and a few possibly ordinary, if bitterly poor, citizens out on a night's work or on their way to or from one of the many run-down taverns in the area. They were just passing a large, seemingly haphazard pile of junk, behind which a few goblins had set up a makeshift camp, when a hoarse cry made Naghûl flinch.

"Dagon!" resounded loud and far through the dark street.

The others also wheeled around. Naghûl frowned. Even in the Hive, shouting the name of a demon lord through the neighborhood was not entirely commonplace. Too many tanar'ri whose unwanted attention could have been attracted. Why someone would call the Prince of the Darkened Depths here might have numerous reasons - and none of them the tiefling wanted to know more about, if he was honest. He was directing his steps behind Jana around the pile of junk when another call rang out.

"Lamashtu!"

The same voice, it seemed, but this time it was calling upon the Demon Queen of Monstrous Births. Now Jana stopped and looked around uneasily. A man emerged from a side alley, not easily recognizable in the darkness, but the call seemed to have come from that direction. He didn't scuffle like a bubber, didn't have the overconfident gait of a thug, but neither the tired and exhausted one of a normal, battered Hive dweller. - No, he moved in a strangely jerky, choppy, unnatural way ...

"Fraz-Urblu!" he shouted now. "Yes, and Zuggtmoy!"

He moved in an almost distorted manner, all parts of his body seemed to twitch in a different direction. Naghûl noticed the discomfort of the others when Jana explained that the names of various demon lords were being called here. His gut instinct was quite against even going near such a berk, who he felt would have been best off in the Gatehouse. Unfortunately, that same gut feeling also told him that this might be of interest to them.

"I say we follow him," he explained quietly. "But at a distance. I want to know what happens when someone shouts the names of demon lords through the Hive. I just don't want to stand next to them."

The man now moved down the street, twitching and convulsing, continuing unperturbed with his strange behavior. "Malcanthet, the Beautiful!" he exclaimed.

A nearby duergar immediately moved to keep her distance from the berk, muttering something about damned lunatics or clueless. They followed him, and Lereia eyed him with a mixture of interest and pity.

"Is he possessed?" she asked, more to herself than to the group.

Sgillin raised his shoulders helplessly and they continued to follow him, dodging muddy puddles and garbage and always taking care not to lose sight of him in the darkness.