jdnd/sections/5-the-carrion-bird.md

# The Carrion Bird

In this chapter, the PCs arrive in the city of Sigil, where
they have been tasked with finding Rennick.  This turns out
to be difficult: Rennick is in hiding, because he is
terrified of a man named Crow, who is hunting him.

Crow is an incantifer: a member of a small sect of
wizards who have mastered a vile technology. Incantifers
capture a powerful individual, rip the soul out of their
body, and use that soul to build an orb: a construct that 
allows the incantifer to wield the powers of the person
from whom the orb was made.

But the real innovation is in how incantifers control these
orbs: you see, the soul is connected to the body by
something called the silver cord.  It turns out the silver
cord is a braided thing, made up of seven strands, with each
strand connected to one of the body's seven chakras.
Incantifers disconnect one of the seven strands from one of
the chakras, and then reconnect that strand to the orb. This
allows the incantifer to control the orb as if it were part
of their body - using an orb is as fluid as thought.
Incantifers are blazingly fast: an incantifer can cast one
spell per turn per orb, in addition to whatever spell they
cast with their human body. In an action-economy combat
system, an incantifer is a rain of death.  Crow has four
orbs, and for all practical purposes, fighting Crow is like
fighting five powerful mages at the same time.

However, incantifers pay a terrible price for this: the more
strands of the cord are disconnected from the human body,
the more paralyzed the human body becomes.  The more
powerful an incantifer becomes, the more their physical body
becomes a handicap.  Incantifers dream of the day when they
can fully disconnect and discard the physical body, becoming
a creature of pure magic.  However, every incantifer who
has attempted this has died.  At least for now, incantifers
are stuck with their physical body.

Crow has verified that Rennick has the ability to predict
random events.  Crow has concluded that Rennick is actually
a powerful oracle, who has not yet fully realized the extent
of his powers.  Crow intends to take those powers for himself.

Up until this moment, there have been very few NPCs in this
campaign who are unadulterated evil.  Green is greedy, but
he has redeeming qualities, and he can be reasoned with.
Orethys was pure evil, but he is a historical figure.
Beshaba is evil, but she won't play a central role until
later.  Crow is the first genuinely horrible person that the
PCs will face.

Do not tell any of this to your players.  All of this will
unfold gradually, as the PCs search for Rennick, and explore
the city of Sigil.

## First Sights of the City

When the PCs emerge from the scrap dealer's tent, they step
out into the Bazaar of Sigil.  It is a one-way portal.
Behind the PCs is just more bazaar.  The first sights they
see are wild and disorienting.  The PCs just stand and stare
for several minutes, unless they consciously try to fit in.
These are the most notable things they see:

- The extreme variety of races.  In addition to the more
common races, the PCs see a ton of people they may or may
not recognize: bariaur, tabaxi, modrons, goblins, gith,
tanaari, everything.  When describing it, be sure to throw
in some really unexpected ones: a giant, a mind flayer, a
group of pixies, you name it.

- The enormous arch.  Overhead, there appears to be a huge
arch that spans the entire width of the city.  This is
actually the city itself, forming a ring. But this isn't
immediately obvious to newcomers.  It may take them a little
time to realize it's not a giant structure, it's the city's
topology.

- The gritty atmosphere.  The foundry is not far, and the
yellow soot hangs over the bazaar.  Many of the buildings
are made of steel, rusted and corroded, and blades stick out
from the corners of the buildings and the door and window
frames.  The city somehow looks both extremely poor and
extremely wealthy at the same time.

- The chaos of the bazaar.  People are rushing in every
direction, trying to get business done.  They shove around
the clueless newbies standing in the road, paying them
little attention.

There is a lot of great material about the city of Sigil
published by Wizards of the Coast.  I highly recommend you
familiarize yourself with the city before trying to run this
section of the campaign.  This adventure, as written, is set
in a version of Sigil in which the faction war never
happened. If you want to adapt this to whatever version of
Sigil you prefer, that would not be difficult.

The PCs came to the city with a quest: Find Rennick!  
After wandering around for a few minutes, they may start
to think about their objective.  Before they have a chance
to get started, introduce them to Rico Sparks.

## Rico Sparks, the Tout

- Finding a Kip
- Searching for Rennick

## Healing Pig

## Rennick's Office at the Courthouse

## The Hall of Records

## The Goblins in the Casino

## Sending to Rennick

## Rennick's House

## Sergio and Jinn, the Xaositects

## The Mercenary from Ysgard

## The Greatest Show in Ysgard