Anya,
I’ve been writing these entries at night while we camp on the road to the City of 7 Seraphs. The plane of shadows is not exactly the best vacation spot. It doesn’t help that living shadows stare…not sure if stare is the right word…hover…malevolently at the sides of the road. They won’t get on the road though and I don’t think they can. While we were walking, Ef Utan spotted a white light following us. As it gets closer, we see about 100’ above it – a huge shark like creature barrelling down the road towards us. Lenata casts a circle of invisibility around us. As the light gets closer, I notice that it’s really a ship. Not an actual shark. It’s following the ball of light like it’s tethered to the light. It passes us by at top speed.

The road is usually perfectly formed, but Ef Utan does notice one crack along the side. The other night, when we were getting ready for camp, we noticed three figures walking towards us. Kenari jumped ahead to greet them. Turns out it’s two men and a woman. They are all tall, red-haired, alabaster skin – the Captain thinks they are Elan (basically that their physical form is a construct). They hail Kenari in passable cat-folk language and ask to share our camp. We talk about the City for a bit. They tell us that it is exists in a rift. Several million beings make their home there. 7 large angel statutes hold the bubble the City exists in. The ruling class is entrenched and old – apparently vampires run the city. Lenata asks about the Dockmaster and they say that he is rumored to be as old as the City. We briefly discuss whether Illithids or their thralls could be in the City, but the Elan seem dismissive.

The next morning we take our leave of the Elan and head on. The road has narrowed to about 40’ wide. We see lots of creatures off to the side of the road, but they continue to stay off the road itself.

Anya, we have a long boring walk through this plane. Another 6 days pass. We don’t meet any other people, but we do see a few more ships go by. Another 4 went by before we came upon the City. A ways off the sky seems twisted. A roiling, circular storm cloud, silver and black in color twists in the sky. We figure we are about four days away from the City at this point when we start seeing other travelers on the road, including some tinker gnomes who rocket past us on strange devices.

Closer to the City the air takes on a burning quality and I am sickened – as are Melchior and Fyn. Some of the others in our group act like they’ve been smoking Kenari’s pipe weed. Ef Utan puts on one of his Carrigmore breathers. Lenata goes to work creating an air bubble then checking us over. She gives us some sort of leaves to chew that help. As we get closer to the City, the weather keeps getting stranger. The road has become a bridge and we are surrounded by water. Eventually the Captain gets sick too. There’s lightning crackling across the sky and eventually the Captain gets hit by a blue bolt that jumps to Ef Utan and Kenari. Blue psionic energy is pouring off the Captain and then something – a tentacle – whips out and grabs her ankle. She blasts it and it blows up. There are less shadows, ships on the water. Ships flying over head. Way more traffic than on Bral.

As we are walking on the bridge, there’s this weird moment and then Fyn and Melchior start freaking out. Melchior screams about seeing skulls floating in the air….he takes off running and I increase my pace to keep up with him. I figure he’ll snap out of it eventually. Kenari teleports up with up and gets a grappling hook in his pants. He goes into a total panic and collapses on the ground crying “forgive me, Merlin.” The Captain hands Violet to Melchior who calms down and starts whispering The Good News to Violet.

Closer to the city, the bridge narrows further. The weather and the water are rougher here. Lenata and Fyn get washed off the bridge. Ef Utan flies out to them with a rope. I grab an end and brace. Then the Captain gets swept off the bridge. Ef Utan gets dunked, but manages to grab Lenata. Fyn grabs the rope, he tries to grab the Captain, but misses. He swims out to the Captain and grabs again. Kenari throws out another rope that they grab and I start reeling them in. I see a shark fin slicing through the water behind them and scream “Shark.” Ef Utan casts a lightning bolt that hits and the Captain blows it up with a psionic harpoon. I pull them back up out of the water and tell Fyn “you ruined another outfit.” Fyn says that it’s ok, because he’ll just expense it.

We keep heading towards the City. A bit later Ef Utan and I are blown off the lattice. I hit my head and everything goes black. Ef Utan managed to grab me so I didn’t sink. Lenata casts fly on herself and Kenari and they fly out to grab us. Jet black flying creatures appear and one of them hits Lenata. The Captain blasts them with mind blades and they fly off to get easier prey. Kenari hauls us out of the water. Coming to, I find Fyn standing over me helpfully pointing out that even wet, his outfit is better than mine. I contemplate buying myself some silence by punching him into next week, but we may need his fast talking in the City, so I don’t.

We trudge on and get to a quieter spot. If you look up, the sky is like fractured glass and every piece of it shows a different sky. It hurts to contemplate, so I stop looking up. There is a huge bay here with all kinds of ships – tons of kinds I’ve never seen before. Also, disturbingly, a massive iceberg floats in the bay and it’s made of different frozen bodies. it’s easier to look at than the sky, so I study it for a while. A barge pulls up and the Captain, a Hadozee offers us a ride. it’s 5 sp per passenger for a ride. Looking at the City – the architecture is mis-matched. As if multiple cultures at different times, pieced the city together all at once. Fyn asks the Captain about the corpse-berg and apparently it is how they bury people here. The Captain explains a bit about the City (oh, he’s a vampire too). The Captain recommends a bar (whorehouse) as he lets us out on the dock. Looking around, humans are definitely in the minority and 25% of the people around us are vampires. So, the City of 7 Seraphs.