Some work on chap 5

sections/5-the-carrion-bird.md

@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ 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.
 
+Finding Rennick in the City of Sigil is a very nonlinear
+part of the campaign. The PCs can go in any one of several
+directions, and can pursue any one of several leads.  The
+DM will have to tie all of this together into a story that
+flows together coherently.
+
 ## First Sights of the City
 
 When the PCs emerge from the scrap dealer's tent, they step
@@ -105,10 +111,225 @@ to get started, introduce them to Rico Sparks.
 
 ## Rico Sparks, the Tout
 
-- Finding a Kip
-- Searching for Rennick
+As the PCs gape at the bazaar, a Tout named Rico Sparks
+notices that the PCs are obviously not from Sigil.  He sees
+a business opportunity.  Touts are information brokers,
+their bread and butter is selling basic information
+about the city to clueless visitors.
 
-## Healing Pig
+Rico is always over-the-top brash and cheerful.  He uses
+a *lot* of Sigil slang, and he also like to say "hey, baby!"
+His favorite gesture: finger guns.
+
+He  approaches the PCs and says, "Hey, cutters!  I'm your
+friendly neighborhood drug dealer, and the drug I sell is
+easy access to information!  Be careful, it's addictive!"
+
+Rico Sparks is a dwarf-human hybrid - technically, a "Mul."
+He is the height of a human, but he is quite muscular.  Muls
+are entirely hairless.  Rico is also plane-touched: his
+fingers crackle with little sparks.
+
+Rico stands there grinning: "What do you think of the Cage?
+You looking for a Kip?  Or you want to get some bub first?"
+
+Rico is deliberately using slang that the PCs don't know
+in order to make the PCs feel disoriented.  This is a
+business strategy that works for him, the more clueless
+people feel, the more they want an information broker.
+
+If the PCs ask Rico what his race is, or why he gives off
+sparks, Rico grins and says, "that information costs more
+than you can afford, baby!"
+
+If you ask Rico why he calls himself a drug dealer, he says,
+"Touts provide easy access to information, and easy access
+to information is a drug. It makes you lazy, it makes you
+stop trying to solve problems for yourself. Soon you'll find
+yourself calling me because you need me to tell you how to
+tie your shoes. That's my income stream, baby! Addicts who
+can’t stop calling me to tell them what to do every minute
+of the day.”
+
+Rico’s price structure is simple: "it costs 5GP to have a
+conversation with me. First conversation’s free, baby, like
+any good drug dealer!" During a conversation, he will gladly
+answer all the questions you have, as long as he knows the
+answer off the top of his head. Rico knows a lot about
+what’s going on around the city, and he has good general
+knowledge about many subjects, but he’s not a database of
+all information in the universe. If you ask something that
+requires research, he’s willing to do research, but he
+charges 10GP per hour, sometimes more, depending on the
+challenge level. If you ask Rico for information that might
+put Rico in danger, then that’s a hard no.
+
+"If you want, you can retain my services.  If you do that,
+I'll show up every couple of days and see if you have
+any questions.  However, if I'm going to the trouble
+of making myself available, there's something I want in
+return: customer loyalty.  You don't do business with
+any other tout."
+
+"If you want to ask me a question and I'm not around, you
+can summon me.  To do that, tell any tout that you want to
+talk to Rico Sparks.  They'll get a message to me.
+Summoning me costs 10gp, because it means I have to drop
+everything and travel halfway across the city.  If you do
+that, it'll take me a few hours to get there."
+
+"You can also summon me fast.  If you do that, I'll use
+shortcuts to get to you - portals.  But that costs me a lot
+of money - I have to pay the owners of the portals. So
+summoning me fast costs 30gp, but I can usually get there
+in an hour."
+
+Rico is very good at extracting money from his customers.
+However, he also does develop a fondness for some of 
+his customers: he is meant to become a friend to the PCs.
+He will always charge quite a bit for his services, but
+his information is reliable and he is going to do his best
+to provide useful information.
+
+The PCs should probably ask Rico where to find Rennick.
+Rico will ask the PCs, "what do you know about this Rennick?"
+If the PCs point out that Rennick is a member of the
+Fraternity of Order, then Rennick will suggest visiting
+the courthouse.
+
+
+## Taking Care of Pig
+
+If the PCs brought Pig along, then Pig follows them for a
+while, and then gets tired.  He settles into an empty spot
+at the bazaar and starts playing his mandolin, and attracts
+a small crowd.
+
+Eventually, this draws the attention of the landlord. The
+bazaar is spread across several dozen plots of land owned by
+several different landlords.  Pig can play music for a few
+days without being noticed, but eventually a landlord will
+show up and ask the PCs, "does this Ogre belong to you?"
+The PCs will have to negotiate to rent a plot of land where
+Pig can play his music.
+
+Pig's artistry is good, he brings in enough money to pay
+for food, shelter, the landlord, and maybe a little more on
+the side.  Pig is not picky about shelter, he doesn't mind
+sleeping outside.
+
+Of course, the real reason Pig is tagging along is because
+the PCs promised healing.  Sigil has many powerful priests,
+several of whom can cast "Greater Restoration," which is
+what Pig needs.
+
+Rico Sparks can tell the PCs where to find a priest: he says
+that temples are not allowed in Sigil ever since the
+incident with the shattered temple.  However, priests are
+allowed to gather in "healing centers," which are not
+allowed to hire more than one priest of a given god, in
+order to avoid the perception that they are a temple.
+Rico can point to several reputable healing centers in the
+bazaar.
+
+If the PCs go to one of these, they will have to pay for the
+Greater Restoration spell, which is expensive, but it gets
+the job done.  Pig doesn't heal immediately: the priest
+explains that "Pig is recovering now, but he has lost a lot
+of muscle mass.  He will need lots of protein. Make sure he
+eats like an ogre, and over the course of the next few
+months, he'll get very strong."
+
+We are deliberately timing this so that Pig cannot provide
+real combat assistance in *this* chapter, but he *will* be
+able to fight in the next one.  In the meantime, Pig will
+play his music in the bazaar, mostly take care of himself,
+and he will be *very* grateful to the PCs because he's
+regaining his strength.
+
+If the PCs ask Pig to fight in *this* chapter, Pig refuses:
+he's humiliated by his weakness and doesn't want anyone
+to see him fight in this condition.  But that will change
+in a month or so.
+
+## Sergio and Jinn, the Xaositects
+
+After the PCs have had a chance to wander around the bazaar
+a bit, have them make a perception check.  They hear somebody
+say the name "Rennick."  It turns out that two Xaositects,
+Sergei and Jinn, are searching for Rennick.  Their strategy?
+Just asking people at random on the street: "We're looking
+for Rennick.  Have you seen him?"
+
+Sergei is a Xaositect who has learned through the grapevine
+that Rennick has gained the ability to predict random
+events. Sergei, like most Xaositects, thinks this is an
+abomination. He is on a mission to find an kill Rennick.
+Fortunately for Rennick, Sergei is not very efficient.
+
+Sergei insists that he is the president of the Xaositects.
+He occasionally changes his mind and decides he's the
+"chairman" of the Xaositects, or the "emperor", or sometimes
+even the "factol."
+
+The other Xaositect, Jinn, refuses to make any assertions
+about anything.  She explains: "Your friend tells you that
+there's an excellent cheese shop about two blocks north.
+But think about it: they could be lying. They could be
+telling the truth, but they may have a bad sense of
+direction.  They may be misremembering.  You may have
+misheard them.  They might just have terrible taste in
+cheese.  There are just so many different ways that our
+knowledge can be broken.  We act as if our knowledge is
+good, but over and over it just turns out our memories, our
+perception, or our communication is flawed. It's safer to
+just assume you know nothing."
+
+Jinn has no hostility toward Rennick, because she doesn't
+know anything about who Rennick is, or what he did, or...
+well, she doesn't know anything about anything, really.
+
+However, Jinn has a supernatural ability to just be where
+she needs to be, when she needs to be there.  She does what
+she needs to do, without knowing why she's doing it.  Right
+now, the universe has a purpose for her, and it involves
+Rennick.  So, she's searching for Rennick.  She has no idea
+why.
+
+Sergei calls Jinn "my secretary," or "my assistant," or "my
+manservant."  When he does, Jinn gets an irritated look on
+her face, and sometimes she replies: "I'm not your servant."
+Sergei knows how to push Jinn's buttons: "How do you know
+you're not my servant?"  Jinn has no answer for this.
+
+Sergei is a male bariaur, a LV4 fighter.  Jinn is a female
+water genasi.  Her class is unknown - she has different skills
+on different days.  Jinn carries around a "loot bag," which
+contains unexplained items that she has no idea where she
+got them, but it often contains something relevant to what
+she needs.
+
+The two Xaositects both come across as morons.  For Sergei,
+that perception is entirely deserved.  Jinn is
+knowledge-free, but also, extremely intelligent, which is a
+strange combination. Unlike Sergei, she doesn't act like she
+knows everything, and she actually does seem to be competent
+at times.
+
+Each time the PCs go to another location, there's a
+substantial chance that Sergei and Jinn will already be
+there.  This will happen over and over.  The PCs show up,
+and there are Sergei and Jinn asking passers-by about
+Rennick.
+
+The reason for this is Jinn's special ability to
+just be in the right place.  But it's not the right time
+yet, so she can't do what she needs to do yet.
+
+In addition to asking around about Rennick, the two
+of them both enjoy drinking.  Sometimes, when the PCs
+show up, Sergei may already be passed out on the floor,
+with Jinn just hanging around until he wakes up.
 
 ## Rennick's Office at the Courthouse
 
@@ -120,8 +341,6 @@ to get started, introduce them to Rico Sparks.
 
 ## Rennick's House
 
-## Sergio and Jinn, the Xaositects
-
 ## The Mercenary from Ysgard
 
 ## The Greatest Show in Ysgard