The Infinity Sage

Dark and possibly noxious fumes billow from the chimneys of the Great Foundry and more than a hundred smithies surrounding it. The walls were darkened by the endless supply of soot, giving this quarter of this strange city recurving upon itself an ominous aspect. They call this the lower ward, for this was the place with most Portals to the nether Planes.

A sinister shape loomed in the drizzle soaking you to the skin, tall grim and threatening. A quick look reveals only three lit places. Two of them emanate the same kind of fear that the living shape does, a third looks like natural firelight.

This was Sigil, where even a terrible pit fiend would probably only greet you and pass, following whatever nefarious schemes just occured to its terribly twisted mind. There was, however, always a risk of getting entangled, so you carefully inch your way to the firelit place.

Thankfully it was not actually burning. The first thing you see are the skulls of two fiends, a pit fiend and a balor, their gazes locked in eternal hatred even beyond death. The barely lit sign reads "The Beheaded Fiend Inn," giving the impressions that demons were not welcome here. With a last glance into the rain, unsure of the living fiend had followed, you open the door and enter.

An explosion of noise and light overwhelms your senses, in stark contrast to the subdued feel outside. As you close the door more by feel than sight, you slowly adapt to the new level of light and noise. There was a motely crowd of mostly mortal beings from the infinite worlds of the multiverse. Various languages beyond your understanding were spoken. There was staeming food, beer and wine.

A second look reveals that most of the occupants actually have some planar blood in their veins. A scantily clad woman with pale skin and wings sprouting from her back moves gracefully through the crowd. There is something vaguely unnatural about her grace and beauty, about her eyes so dark that seem black. A feeling of your mortality and inescapable death makes you shiver.

Shaking those gloomy cogitations with some difficulty, your gaze wonders to a tall and attractive woman behind the bar. She had auburn hair and emerald eyes sparkling with power that could be fey or eladrin, a two-handed sword of rosy steel on display behind her. There is little doubt in your thoughts of her ability to use it. She probably killed the fiends herself, whose skulls were on display outside.

Not even realising, you had already crossed the distance from the door to the empty circle in front of the bar, the woman says: "I am Tandra Blackblade, also known as the Fiendslayer and the Infinity Sage, though the berks calling me that need a good lesson on the meaning of infinity." She looks around and points a two tables. "You should feel comfortable at either."

The occupants of both tables look human enough, but one of them seems to beckon to you in a subliminal way. What you see is an attractive person with golden eyes. Not exactly knowing why, you sit down next to that person. "I am the Mystical Old Bard," a pleasant melodious voice comes from the mouth. "My real name I have long forgotten, maybe it was erased."

The bard shrugs and smiles with a powerful magnetism. Maybe one of the true fey, who are dreams incarnate and do not exist by the normal laws of most other beings. An aura of power surrounds the bard and the eyes seem to pierce deep into the soul.

"Stay a while and listen," says the Bard. "This is a place of knowledge and wisdom. Maybe even I will perform tonight."