Chapter 3: Fortune Favors the Bold

Outside of the conversation with Shemeshka, most of the encounters in the casino are fun diversions that add to the flavor of the setting. That doesn’t mean it’s all fluff. It’s also an opportunity to build out some depth if it serves the adventure or to reward the characters for engaging with the world. Let the characters lead here.

Enhancing NPCs

The one-liners for each NPC in the adventure book touch on some established Planescape personalities that have developed lore that may be relevant to future encounters in Sigil (yes, we’re coming back to Sigil after this part of the adventure). They each have their own secrets, some of which can be discovered in the casino, and some which may have payoffs later in the adventure.

Alluvius “Lu” Ruskin

This ancient tiefling is the proprietor of Tivvum’s Antiquities in the Market Ward. She wears an eccentric suit with baggy pants and has thick smoked glasses that hide her slivered eyes (a byproduct of her Incanterium rituals). She’s a peddler of portal keys and in return trades for magic items or information about new portals. She is a contact that can help the characters find portals to other locations like the gate towns later in the adventure.

Lu will pay handsomely for magical items, which she uses to prolong her ancient lifespan. If she is connected to the witch Trikante via her silvered eyes, she will deny any link, despite their mutual desire to obtain and absorb powerful magic. Her ultimate motive is to gain enough power to supplant the Lady of Pain and dominate all of Sigil.

Rule-of-Three

This disguised cambion moonlights as an information gatherer for Shemeshka. He has his own small network of spies and operatives and is vehemently opposed to the Blood War. He seeks to unite the devils, demons, and yugoloths and take over the Upper Planes. He knows of Koe’s weapons trade and views the celestial as a roadblock to his goals, but he knows nothing of Shemeshka’s plan to aid Gargauth in taking over the Hells. Shemeshka takes great delight in manipulating someone into aiding the cause they hate the most.

He replies to direct questions that touch on his deeper motivations with, “Yes, no…maybe,” and hides his true motives. If there are any lingering scenarios of the weapons trading scheme you feel the characters should still explore, he can help reignite those leads. If the characters spill the tea on their past involvement with the Blood War, Rule-of-Three will become an instant enemy but will not attack them in Fortune’s Wheel. He will relay what he knows to Shemeshka and bide his time.

Ignatius Inkblot

As a detective Ignatius can be used in many ways. Here are some possibilities:

• Ignatius is investigating a pattern of murders, and the victims all sound shockingly like the corpses the characters would leave behind.
• The detective was hired by R04M if the characters haven’t attached to that thread. He was investigating the “Harbingers of the Tenth Lord” on behalf of the modron. His client is now missing and the casino is the last place the modron was seen.
• If the characters gave up their information to Zadara, then Ignatius is here trying to follow any leads that may connect to her rival Shemeshka.

If there’s an area of the adventure that needs some emphasis he can provide it. I recommend running him as a seemingly hapless detective with a knack for disarming people and finding the right clues, a la Colombo. An illithid investigator is a fun concept and an incredibly flexible DM’s tool at this point in the adventure.

Shemeshka Opens the Way

When the characters meet with Sheshka, as written the adventure could go a lot of ways, but the rest of the scenarios hang on them accepting her offer. Some parties may not bite on this hook, creating a high risk of derailment.

This is why we’ve built up the revised adventure funnel and the mystery of the celestial weapons. The characters should have some idea of what their past incarnations were up to, have clues in hand that point them to the Outland gate towns, and a high degree of curiosity. All they need now is Shemeshka’s offer to track down R04M to spark the journey.

Shemeshka’s Motivation and Flaw

But why does Shemeshka do this in the first place? She’s sending them after the very creature that could unravel the scheme! Interesting villains are multi-dimensional characters with deep motivations and flaws. Shemeshka truly believes she can outsmart, out-scheme, and manipulate anyone in the multiverse. She preys on weakness, exploiting desire to achieve her goals. Her flaw is overconfidence. Once she’s grasped the levers of control, she thinks her pawns are hers forever and her schemes are unassailable.

The characters of this adventure were instrumental to Gargauth’s ascension, they served their purpose, and they refused to disappear or die. At this point in their relationship Shemeshka is tired of entrapping the characters or having her lackeys kill them. She may as well get something out of them and if they die along the way, so be it. She counts on their darkest desires, whether it be avarice, power-seeking, revenge, etc., to bind them to her forever. In fact she delights in it.

What Shemeshka doesn’t see is that the characters are capable of change. If they grow past the deficiencies of their previous incarnations and embrace their role as heroes, they have a chance of reversing her scheme and preventing her from warping the outer planes in her image.

Sweetening the Deal

With that in mind we can work in some character-relevant details into Shemeshka’s deal.

She wants the characters to track down R04M, who they’ve already heard about, but not because he was a hired accountant that stole from her. According to Shemeshka, this unassuming monodrone came in from the streets, practically raving mad about some “great lord” to anyone who would listen. His antics were amusing enough to distract quite a few patrons and staff, and he absconded with a valuable item of Shemeshka’s–a platinum razorvine chip that she must get back.

Shemeshka’s version of the events aren’t entirely false. R04M did come into Fortune’s Wheel looking for the incarnations that trapped and enspelled the lost modrons. He had their razorvine chip in his possession, so when Shemeshka captured him and tried to silence him for good he was able to escape. She mentions the “great lord” to test the waters and see what the characters have uncovered of her scheme.

Shemeshka proposes an alliance where she will work to clear the characters’ names with the Harmonium, investigate the weapons trade (if the characters share this with her), and find out what she can of their glitch. In return they will track down the modron and return the razorvine chip to her.

She says R04M was last seen traveling through the portal in the Clerk’s Ward. She doesn’t know where it goes (she does) or what he was seeking (another lie). Secretly, she has a strong lead that the modron was looking for Zaythir, and she has dispatched a crew to assault the githzerai and the walking castle. She will use sending spells to check in on the characters’ progress and let them know when it is safe to return to Sigil.

All of this, plus the gold she offers, should be enough to land the deal. Allow the characters to ask for any supplies they may need for the journey. Farrow will arrive the next day with their requests and lead them stealthily to the portal to the Outlands.

Refusing Shemeshka will have consequences. Rule-of-Three or another of Shemeshka’s spies will catch wind of this, and she will track the characters on their journeys through the Outlands.