Wow! I need to have my wife write my blog posts for me more often! Thank you all very very much for all the kind words, they mean more to me than you could possibly know. :) Speaking of someone writing for me, I hereby cede the floor to the kind scholars at Kilanio University...
And now, in a continuing service, an entry from the Encyclopedia Ardrisia:
SCRYBL
The Eternal Inferno. The Golden Fields of the Righteous. The Abyss. Bakersfield. These exotic locations all have one thing in common: somewhere within their borders is a doorway to another place, an interdimensional back way into a great city that touches all of the Outer Planes and yet is part of none of them: Scrybl, The City of Shortcuts.
We are all probably a lot better off not knowing the origins of the city of Scrybl. Unwise questions can get you killed in Scrybl, or at least garner you a strong talking-to by the Concordant Fist, Scrybl’s city watch. Scrybl is a vast city that seems to be situated on the interior of a large ring suspended in a ever-roiling mass of ochre clouds. Because of its connectedness to all the other Outer Planes, Scrybl is a sort of neutral territory where you can see angelic devas bargaining with hellish fiends over the price of a bushel of dragonfruit, where priests of Nal Niera can argue theology with minions of Kistadous and everyone gets along. This neutrality is enforced in a number of ways:
- Mutual consent
- The watchful eye of the Concordant Fist
- and the presence of the Lady of Blave, the mysterious and powerful ruler of Scrybl (see individual entry)
Another peculiarity of Scrybl is the total absence of gods and their more powerful minions. The Lady of Blave uses her vast arcane and divine might to block all deities from even setting a pinkie toe into her city. Paladins and the like manage to slip past, but anything more powerful (avatars, demigods, etc.) might as well go home and brew a cup of tea for all the good it'll do them. The fact that she is able to do this with about as much effort as you or I expend combing our hair in the morning demonstrates why The Lady should never ever be messed with.
Scrybl gets its nickname, the City of Shortcuts, because it is rife with planar portals, which are often used as shortcuts between completely disparate dimensions. For example, instead of trying to travel from Karceri to the Tranquil Seas of Neoliss, which are separated by several different planes, one could simply open a portal to Scrybl and from there find a portal that will take them where they want to go. Portal keys, mystical objects attuned to a particular portal in Scrybl, are needed for this to happen and are available in Scrybl - for a price. For those that can’t afford that price and/or are otherwise stuck in Scrybl, the city reveals its other, lesser known, nickname: The Coop.
The Encyclopedia Ardrisia, Volume 41 (Santor’s Sibiliant Swords to Slaadipuffs), Kilanio University Press, 48th edition.
Take care,
~Rob
“Except that’s not what he said: he distinctly said “To Blave,” which we all know means “to bluff.” So you’re probably playing cards, and he cheated!”
Can you point me to where this doorway is in Bakersfield because I’d really, really like to get out of here!!!!!!
@That one idiot: It’s somewhere near Oildale.;)
where near oildale because i live right in the middle of oildale
@That one idiot: It’s under a trash can in Standard Park, I just can’t remember which one, sorry! 😉
From your reply I gather you live or know someone somewhere in or around Bakersfield, CA. Not unless you really like looking at google maps.
@That one idiot: I had family in the area. No offense, but that’s about all I’d like to say about that. 🙂
Let me just say some in appropriate words first, and then congratulate the man brave enough to parody Sigil the City of Doors. What did you think I would put those words here?!?
Also I think the portal may be in Taft, or at least there is one that opens when it rains.
I wonder if there is a shortcut to the Bazar on Deva. The bazar is like a flea market between worlds where all sorts of creatures, magical, and technological items can be found. Read about that place in the Myth Inc. books.
Wouldn’t be surprised. The Bazaar on Deva connects with almost everywhere, even Cynosure (from whom they import playing cards ^_^).
Re: The Esspresso-o-matic 3000. Another fine Casey & Andy product?
Jaine: “Murder? Is that all? I thought you were wanted for something really serious here…..”
Philo: “Well, there is ONE worse crime here…..”
Jaine: “What would THAT be?”
Philo: “Smuggling in vampiric ‘No Left Turn’ signs….”
(Rob>: no joke.,….in one off-the-wall D&D game i was involved with back in my college days, the DM actually DID conjure up such creatures….)
JohnK,
We had vampire Lawn Chairs,… it was a screw up between the Mage casting Polymorph and the Cleric casting Divine Hand [it was a special spell our DM gave to any Divine caster that allowed you a random chance to have your Deity directly aid you in battle,..it was a random effect, some of which were useless, that hit a random character, though you could choose friend or foe before casting and you were guaranteed to hit that general type of character],..they had the same initiative and the spells went off at the same time. The Vampire lord and his minions all blazed bright white and in their place were Lawn Chairs [the Lord was a recliner type and the minions were the small plastic ones]. Turns out that the DM hard rolled 2 100s on the percentile so it was two spells,..he rolled again for the outcome,..one intensified the polymorph causing it to hit all the Vampires and the other was Divine curse,..so he decided the curse was the polymorph was permanent. He asked the Mage what he wanted to turn the Lord into,..Mage , the player who was a little ADHD, said “oh damn look at his throne ,..its made of people,… he treats people like furniture,.. “. The DM laughed and said “ok they all become chairs”. The problem was they retained their ability to drain HP,… if you sat in them they drained you by osmosis.