As we are being inspected by the Drow – in the Greyspace that is not ours – Lenata walks on deck. The drow take three steps back and pull out their swords. Ef Utan’s armor snaps into place. Lenata looks confused and says “What the hell?” The leader says that we are under arrest for crimes against multiple governments. He tells Lenata “you can’t hide just by bleaching your hair.” “Lenata Starchild is one of the most wanted villains of the world!” the officer declares. Which is just crazy enough that we all actually laugh. The Captain suggests that a simple alignment check would clear up this mess. One of the drow does so and then looks terribly perplexed.

Eventually they decide that this is just way above their pay grades. [Ahh, the military.] They ask us to follow them to their base, Lionheart. We agree to do so and follow them back there. This requires us to back track through the Grinder and takes a few days. I feel like time is running away from us as we get thwarted at every turn.

According to the officers who stayed on board, their Lenata runs a slave network. Not to mention random assassinations, drug dealing and general malfeasance. The officer notes that their Lenata spends a lot of time with the brutal races. (Seriously, elves can be such snobs sometimes. I don’t think they even realize it.)

We get to the spacestation – it reminds me of our EIN’s space station before we took off through the deep. It’s huge. And staffed mostly by drow. Kenari hides our tuning forks in the bag and we all decide to put our weapons in the haversack…you know, in case. Melchior is pretty grumpy about it though. Apparently gunslingers really don’t like giving up the guns.

We get taken to a meeting room and are told to wait. It’s not even that nice of a meeting room. Eventually three drow come in. A caster and two higher level fighter types. The leader tells us “I’ve been told some interesting stories and rather than dismiss it as madness, I came to hear it for myself.” The Captain and this admiral type go back and forth for a while, with Kenari jumping in from time to time. Eventually the admiral says “then you won’t object to magical investigation.” They cast their spells and eventually are puzzled but convinced we are telling the truth.

Apparently in this world, my doppelganger is the head of the Shou Yakuza. That’s….kind of interesting really.

We are politely informed that we will be accepting the drow’s hospitality for a while longer. All of sudden there is a loud boom. The Captain falls over. The three drow run out the door which locks behind them. There is another boom. Ef Utan falls over. He’s closest to the door and tells us that the door frame is cracked. Kenari makes short work of the door and we head into the hallway. Fyn, Kenari and I run into the hall quietly and head to the next intersection. We can hear combat from one direction, silence from the other. The direction to the docks is clear. The combat looks like it is drow v. drow. We instantly assume it’s the Illithid (somehow, isn’t it always). I zip back to the others and get everyone back together and head to the ship. Kenari runs point. I take the rear. Ef Utan stations himself between the Captain and Lenata. Strangely, four drow in full armor, with bloody swords run towards and then past us like we don’t exist at all. We make it to the docks and find three (three???) Illithid dreadnoughts attacking the station. Illithid boreworms pour out of the dreadnoughts – thousands of them like a swarm of gnats.

There are no guards at our ship. Lenata and Kenari teleport back to Lenata can get on the helm. The rest of us follow on foot. We pull away from the docks. We all feel something and a bunch of the crew members fall over unconscious. The Captain falls over as the ship rocks, we’ve been hit by a psionic bolt from a dreadnaught. Kenari quick plugs in the the astral key and everything twists and warps then we find ourselves in a sea of endless black. We all look to Kenari who shrugs and says “Fuck if I know.”

Fyn jumps off the boat (seriously dude!) and comes down on his feet in the gravity plane and starts walking around. Kenari checks our shifting key and it now says 19. We decide to shift. Fyn gets back on board and Kenari plugs in the key. For a brief moment there is a flash of a spidery network of black. Like a road network from high up. Then there’s some image of a huge entity with bulbous eyes…then we flash again and we are in Greyspace again, but this time Melchior thinks it’s the right Greyspace. Lenata casts fog cloud on the ship before we land in the water hard. Fyn mentions that House of 7 Stars has a warehouse and staff here. The head guy is a dwarf named Grim. So we go there and get directions from Grim. As we are heading out, we snag a case of a particularly fine wine that apparently belongs to Drake. It’d be wasted on him anyway. We use the portal there that takes us back to Sigil.

First we head to off find Fel, the former follower of the Lady who is a cleric of the portal god. We find his shop near The Hive and Ef Utan tells the Dabu that he wants a tattoo of the number 19. Fyn shows the Dabu the medallion who snaps “Put that away. Do you want us all flayed?” After some conversation back and forth, the Dabu scrawls a note on a piece of vellum and tells us to get out. “Too many dangerous coincidences” he says.

The note says we should seek the master of the docks. We head to the Manor to research how to get to the City of 7 Seraphs. The Captain heads back towards the ship to check on everyone. We have a portal to Osirren cluster in the kitchen. We learn that the lattice is a network of supernatural roads that run through the plane of shadows. We decide to follow up with Lesandre the Gatekeeper regarding finding a portal to the Lattice. I send out some servants to find out where Lesandre is right now. An hour later a young Tiefling shows up. Fyn arranges for a meeting with the Gatekeeper and the Tiefling helps herself to two of Drake’s fine wines. (Ha!) At the Gatekeeper’s office it’s 5,000 GP for the information we want. She tells us to take a portal at teh upper end of The Hive to Carrigmore and look for Emison Corbus. He knows the way to the Lattice. Apparently he is an accomplished fighter and drug runner who makes money leading caravans through the Lattice.

Dearest Anya, I am leaving this collection of letters in your room. I am sorry I could not stay to see you. We are heading out again – to take the portal the Gatekeeper told us about to Carrigmore. I feel that time is against us and worry that we have missed too many opportunities to stop the Illithid, but we must carry on. I promise to bring your Uncle home. I hope you are well and safe. Study hard.

With love, in haste.
Auntie Etsuriko