In Nexopolis

Sturm opened the door to Nexopolis.  Willa, the receptionist, was there to greet them.  A month had passed.  She asked what she could to for them.   Cyra said that they were looking for Callius, Prince of Gossamer and Shadow.  Willa informed them that Prince Callius had left Nexopolis and had not told her of his destination.  She suggested consulting his colleagues on Nexopolis.  Sturm suggested consulting Finian, who had offered them jobs on their previous visit.  Willa showed them up to his office.

Finian asked how he might be of service.  William replied that they were looking for Callius and that, since Finian knew all on Nexopolis, he might know where he went.  Finian replied that Callius had not told him of his intentions.  He surmised that, as a relatively new Gossamer Lord, he was still exploring.  He suggested that he probably either went to the Otherlands or Incursion Earth 626.  Sturm asked what Finian could tell them of those worlds.

Finian replied that Incursion Earth 626 was one of these infinite possible Earths, forever transformed by a disastrous flood of psychic energy which turned the world on its head and made dangerous super-psychics out everyday people – much to their confusion and peril. As if that weren’t bad enough, then evil spirits known as yokai rose from the ancient past and the futuristic alien technocracy known as the Incursion invaded, harvesting psi-active humans for their own sinister experiments. 

Finian said that the Otherlands were the realms of the Other, an expansive, empowered, omnisentient reality with the ability to propagate itself throughout the multiverse via the Grand Stair, like an ever-sprawling kudzu, or a virus… or a cancer. Untold numbers of gossamer worlds had felt its influence and fallen under its sway, as suddenly the eerie similarities observed in multitudinous gossamer worlds no longer seem to be coincidence at all. There was a reason that so many legends of ancient faerie kingdoms and alien underworlds sounded alike… for somewhere out there is a common ancestor-reality, more powerful and primordial than them all.

Leaving Finian’s office, Uther and William went to the beach.  Jane and Cyra each went off on their own.  Mena stopped by the bank and deposited the artifact in a safe deposit box.  

Sturm went to visit Mother Girl.  She asked how she could help.  Sturm told her that he needed insight into how to convince the Minotaur to help them to destroy an artifact that they had uncovered.  Mother Girl told him that Mena was acquainted with a guide.  Sturm asked if she knew anything factual of the minotaur.  She told him that he was the original minotaur and had sired the other minotars found across Gossamer reality.  Mother Girl also advised that he was very fast and that his fighting skill was on par with Drake to the point where he has killed agents of the Gossamer Lords with one blow.  No one knows his true name, and he can navigate the labyrinth unerringly.  It is also said that there were reports of him being killed only to reappear later.

Sturm asked if Mother Girl knew of anything that might enable them to gain the minotaur’s good will.  She suggested that an offering of food, but not as a sacrifice, might be well received.  She also suggested bringing him a mate.  Pursung the food angle, Sturm asked what the Minotaur preferred.  She replied that he preferred small boys.  Other than that, she was not aware of a food preference.

The regrouped at the beach some time later in the poolside bar.  Cyra mentioned that her contacts had arranged for Callius to returnin a  day or two.  Sturm relayed the minotaur’s fighting prowess and that no one knew his true name.  Jane suggested that learning his true name would be difficult and time consuming.  Uther suggested using Eidolon to create the perfect mate for the minotaur.  The team agreed that making an ally of the minotaur woudl be better than becoming his enemy.

While they waited for Callius to return, Jane and Cyra researched the minotaur.  Sturm challenged the biggest being present that drank to a drinking contest, knowing that the Umbra would not enable him to be intoxicated.  

While they enjoyed the luau, Callius arrived.  Mena greeted him as he had ostensibly arrived at her invitation.  Callius sid that he had been informed that the team needed his assistance and that he was happy to return a favor.  Cyra told him that they needed his assistance with the minotaur.  Mena asked if he could be bargained with.  Callius replied that he had been lucky.  The minotaur had just eaten and was in a better mood.  The challenge, Callius said, was getting past his hatred of anything that was not a minotaur.  The minotaur was very hateful and bestial and his needs were very primal.  Callius suggested bringing an alcoholic beverage that he liked.

Mena and Uther had travelled considerably.  They considered whether they had ever encountered a wrold where there were woman who would be inclined to mate with a minotaur.  Cyra suggested using the Internet to locate groups with that particular interest.   The search did not locate anyone serious on Nexopolis.  She did locate that handle of Pasiphae, which seemed to indicate someone of that persuasion.  She ultimately located a world that had not advanced beyond the Hellenistic era.  However it was still a modern world where such tastes were still uncommon.  Callius suggested seeing Pasiphae herself for assistance.  Jane’s wayfinding led to the door across the Grand Stair from the door that led to Fierce.  They surmised that this door led to Planet Fiction.  In preparation for their trip, Sturm had Mena create a perfect Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, cape, magnfying glass, and pipe for him.  Before they departed, Mena collected the artifact from the bank. 

To Planet Fiction

When they arrived at the door, it had changed.  It had become six-paneled and oaken with a knob sculpted in the form of a snarling lion.  Callius had accompanied them.  Cyra cast a spell to protect the team from Planet Fiction by suppressing their psychic presences.  

Beyond the door was a cobblestone street in a big city with the smell of coal and low tide.  Sturm found a newspaper.  There were several stories about people various team members were acquainted with.  They purchased seven tickets to cross the Albion Channel, and then took the Orient Express through Transylvania to Budapest, and then changed trains to Iolian.

A very elegant woman in an elegant white and gold trimmed gown, who radiated a psychic presence, was looking for them when they arrived in Iolian.  She greeted each of them by name.  Callius greeted her as Cassandra, Oracle of the Eidolon.  A mob of mad, frenzied women and twelve blind handmaidens followed behind her.  She said that she had tried to bring the woman that they were looking for, but she refused to come.  She provided them invitations to the Palace of Hercules.  

Cassandra told Mena that should “would name him Gravar.”  She told Uther that the being who could tell him what he needed to know was named Tau-Phi-5.  She secretly whispered something in William’s ear and also to Jane.  Cassandra told Sturm that one day he wold be the leader, and that he would have to choose between librating his people and subjugating them to one of the four factions.  Lastly, she told Cyra that if she did not kill the Dwimmerlaik that had been turned into a Cyber-Naki, it would kill her.

At the Palace

In the hallway of the palace, Hercules was telling a story of how he had snuck into Neffelheim, disguised as Thor, and accidentally slept with the Queen of the Dark Elves.  Then he told a story of how he and Iolius  were trapped in a dungeon, each in a separate room with a button, where the first one to press the button would kill himself and the other would go free, so they pressed the button at the same time and both were freed.

Hercules greeted Callius and thanked him for bringing such specimens of manhood and womanhood to his court.  He asked how he could be of service.  Cyra told him that they were trying to negotiate with the minotaur.  Hercules mentioned another minotaur.  William replied that the minotaur Cyra was speaking of was very far away.  Hercules responded that he was not unaccustomed to adventures requring a long journey.  Jane told him that they were interested in speaking with Pasiphae.  Hercules loved the idea and said that he would order Pasiphae to accompany them, and invited the to spend the night at the palace.  William replied that they had to depart as soon as possible

When Pasiphae arrived Uther linked  a door in the Palace to a door in The City.  Once they passed through, he unlinked the door, and dined on fish and chips.   Then they left for the Labyrinth.

On the Grand Stairs

Once on the Grand Stairs, they perfected Pasiphae’s clothing and attempted to tell her their intentions.  They discovered that on the Grand Stairs, they could not communicate with her.  She only spoke Ancient Greek..  They went across the hall to Fierce to speak with her.  When Pasiphae was told that they were going to reunite her with her husband, she was all for it.

They proceeded to a shortcut on the Grand Stair that Callius had recommended.  Beyond the jet black door was a psychedelic realm.   The Masters could tell that the technology level was variable, there were no boundarires on magic, and that time flowed slowly.  There was an owner to the realm, but they could not identify it.  Callius led them through to the other side.  The stair on that side was non-Euclidean.   They had arrived in the Labyrinth, the Lair of the Minotaur.

The Team:

  • Sturm von Krieg the warrior (Joab)
  • William Edwalton the scientist (Greg)
  • Jane Edwalton the explorer (Jenna)
  • Mena the traveler (Stephanie)
  • Uther the gatherer (Dave)
  • Cyra the sorceress (Mike)