The Infinite Staircase...

[the Falcon]

Here's a little something for that DM who had Elminster stranded in
Cerilia and any other BR DMs interested in other Planes of Existence. Any
players/non-DMs on the list might wanna stop readin...

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I recently bought the FR adventure module For Duty & Deity. In that
adventure the PCs have to climb the Infinite Staircase (also called the
Celestial Staircase by those who know of its existence in Faerun, and
also appearing in the Planescape adventure anthology Tales from the
Infinite Staircase) in order to save Waukeen, the goddess of trade, money,
and wealth, from the Abyss. However, I found an interesting passage in
there, relevant to Birthright:

"On a dark, lonely area of the Staircase, the PCs meet a troop of orogs"
... "equal to twice the number of characters in the PCs' party. The
humanoids prepare to defend but do not attack. If the PCs converse with
the orogs, the creatures claim to be servants of someone or something
called the Gorgon. They say that they were exploring the rugged mountains
where this Gorgon lives, searching for thieves, when they discovered and
entered a mysterious cave. They found themselves on a landing of the
Staircase about four hours' walk from here. They seek only to return home.
If the lillendi remained with the PCs, they leave now to escort the orogs
back where they came from."

Surely, those orogs can't keep a secret that big, and the information will
leak out. The Infinite Staircase runs through a great number of places in
the Prime Material Planes as well as in the Outer Planes. Thus it would
be ideal for Elminster to get home (provided he knows how to find his way
there, but knowin Elminster, I guess that won't be much a problem). Now
all the PCs will have to do is to safely get Elminster to the mountains of
Kal-Saitharak. Of course, the Gorgon is bound to find out of the
existance of the entrance to the Infinite Staircase as well and possibly
quite sooner...

- the Falcon

[Pieter Sleijpen]

All nice and well, but I though the entrances to the stair case changed
constantly?

Pieter Sleijpen

[the Falcon]

> All nice and well, but I though the entrances to the stair case changed
> constantly?

That is correct, so they'll have to act quickly. However, I don't recall
havin seen a general rule for how long such entrances stay around, so
conceivably it could be around there for about anything from a day to a
few years. Perhaps through some miraculous coincidence the entrance
closes right after Elminster steps through, leaving the PCs with no other
choice then to fight off the Gorgon's minions. Of course, when they get
home, they'll find Elminster has gated in (from the safety of his home
in Realmspace) some "small magical trinklets" of the DMs choice to reward
them for their help. ;)

- the Falcon

[Samuel Weiss]

The entrances to the Staircase change? Where is this written? My impression
was that once a portal forms, it stays in place until the entire structure
it formed in is utterly destroyed. Even if the Academy of Arts fails and
falls into ruin, the little storeroom entrance remains fforever until the
last brick falls to dust.

Samwise

[Pieter Sleijpen]

Samuel Weiss wrote:
>
> The entrances to the Staircase change? Where is this written? My
> impression was that once a portal forms, it stays in place until the
> entire structure it formed in is utterly destroyed. Even if the
> Academy of Arts fails and falls into ruin, the little storeroom
> entrance remains fforever until the last brick falls to dust.
>

Portals are rather tricky in Planescape material. The material in the
boxed set "Planes of Chaos" certainly does not tell of what type the
portals to (or from) the Infinate Staircase are. It is highly suggested
though that the gods and goddesses of the moon controll the portals.
Meaning that on Cerilia, Rilni could block anyone the entrance. Of
coarse, as it is written in the players booklet, this is all based on
myth's, rumors and a little bit on facts. The only other thing said in
the description is that the key to the portal are riddles and mysteries
only known to the servants of the moon gods. Sometimes people get thrown
in as a punishment by these servants. Makes you wonder how the orogs of
that adventure offended Rilni :-)

Anyway, since it does not say anything about the permanency of the
portals, I would say that that is up to the DM. I am sure though, that
know DM wants unlimited access to such a strange thing as the Infinate
Staircase. Unless you want a campaign simmilar to the TV serie "Star
Gate". So, you can either decide Rilni will controll access or that the
portals are temporary and fluctuating from place to place. I could go
into detail on how portals work in Planescape (the Rules of Three) for
those unfamiliar to Planescape, but this is a BR mailing list. Anyone
interested in that, should try to get a peak into the Planescape Boxed
set.

Pieter Sleijpen

[Samuel Weiss]

Portals are not the same as the Infinite Staircase. Portals in Sigil are
under the control of the Lady of Pain. Portals between other planes are
sometime under the control of the local ruler, but not usually. Portals
require specific keys to use.
The Staircase is a completely different route across the planes. It requires
a base in an area of creativity for its access route. Also, it apparently is
only under one Moon Powers control, the chick from the FR. (Not IMC, but in
the book).

Samwise

[the Falcon]

> Portals are rather tricky in Planescape material. The material in the
> boxed set "Planes of Chaos" certainly does not tell of what type the
> portals to (or from) the Infinate Staircase are. It is highly suggested
> though that the gods and goddesses of the moon controll the portals.
> Meaning that on Cerilia, Rilni could block anyone the entrance. Of
> coarse, as it is written in the players booklet, this is all based on
> myth's, rumors and a little bit on facts. The only other thing said in
> the description is that the key to the portal are riddles and mysteries
> only known to the servants of the moon gods. Sometimes people get thrown
> in as a punishment by these servants. Makes you wonder how the orogs of
> that adventure offended Rilni :-)

Considerin the fact that the base of the Infinite Staircase is located in
the domain of Selune, the Moon Goddess of the Forgotten Realms, I'd say so
those myths and rumors could very well be true...

> Anyway, since it does not say anything about the permanency of the
> portals, I would say that that is up to the DM. I am sure though, that
> know DM wants unlimited access to such a strange thing as the Infinate
> Staircase. Unless you want a campaign simmilar to the TV serie "Star
> Gate". So, you can either decide Rilni will controll access or that the
> portals are temporary and fluctuating from place to place. I could go
> into detail on how portals work in Planescape (the Rules of Three) for
> those unfamiliar to Planescape, but this is a BR mailing list. Anyone
> interested in that, should try to get a peak into the Planescape Boxed
> set.

One other thing about the landings to the Infinite Staircase, is that they
only occur in those parts of the planes where there is creativity...