@Khan_the_Destroyer: You might also be a Norse followers in which case you could have spent most of your time in Asgard and you can interpret from there (giants, feasts with Thor, drinking contests that last weeks, etc).
Planars can be plenty Clueless. If you spent your life hunting fensir in Odin's realm, you'd have just as many questions about Sigil as a berk from Waterdeep.
@BendBarsLiftGates: Oooo, well that's handy. Bladelings make good Blood War deserters too...
I know... I'm considering it. I actually really, really like this bladelings article. It's by Claudio Pozas and it's probably the best write-up I've seen for making bladelings make sense as adventurers. And for giving a sense of how humanoids spend their lives with spikes coming out of their skin.
@LinYurenya: Poor Yesuk must be sad without a horse. Maybe he'll get a chance to get a new one if he can leave the Cage. One other thing you might add to Yusek's reason for joining the Ciphers could be a religious thing: if his tribe believes in following the natural rythms of the world then this is a natural fit. Come to that, what are the tribe's beliefs generally? Polytheism? Monotheism? Animism? Secrets SecretsShow
Alright, well I'll tell you what Yusek has figured out on his own. He's pretty sure he entered in the Beastlands which has three "layers" (apparently there are various versions of each plan, each of them infinite... this place is awful). The handy thing about the Beastlands is that each layer is perpetually at one time of day: high noon, dusk/dawn, and night. Because the sun seemed to be just going down when Yusek came through the one-way portal from home, Yusek knows he was on Brux, the second layer. It was a steppe-like area and Yusek saw some tracks that might be lions but this hardly pins things down in an infinite location. Oh yeah, and the portal that he followed the voice through to Sigil was also one-way so no going back that way.
Bottom line, Yusek knows as little about the people who want his head as they know about him. Not a great position.
@BendBarsLiftGates: Looking through this article on bladelings, if you wanted to go that route. I checked out the Forgotten Realms wiki (of course there's one) and Bane's big return only happened three years ago in the Torilian timeline so it can be three years ago here too. Maybe when everything went down, this guy's Acheron enclave was on the wrong side of the schism. It got burned down, ripped out and thrown into the Negative Energy Plane or wherever, and this berk has nothing left. So he signs on to a Baatezu death squad... and instantly regrets it. Potentially he has 'zus and Banites both following him, which makes things especially interesting. Just spit-balling.
@Grawln: Hmm... Well, obviously I'm partial to mephits. I've never thought of reskinning a pixie as a mephit but it totally works. Change the origin from fey to elemental and then play up elemental powers. Depending on BBLG's choice you might have a ready background connection too. The straight-up pixie sounds good too, just make sure you blend all three of those together. Pixie, psion, or Athar are all enough to build a character on and if you stitch them together too hastily you end up with a camel instead of a horse. Why is this pixie a psion? What drove him/her to the Athar (since the Seelie Courts are run by eladrin and not powers... although that might be academic)? Just making sure you meet all my questions in advance.
@Belabras: Oh my god, my mind is blown. It all makes sense now... No one ever says where the Burger King is king of, but it's obviously Carcosa. This new live-action version is obviously the avatar of Hastur and... and it never speaks! Oh man, and that makes Ronald McDonald an aspect of Cthulhu and McDonaldland is Ryleh and those Frykids everywhere are obviously spawn of Shub-Niggurath which is why their always wandering the countryside. And I know I've seen more McDonalds employees with the Innsmouth Look than without. I have to go tell people.
Oh heh I forgot to mention that on here I had already picked the Trancendant Order theme from Dragon 414. I had the Hordelands Nomad earlier, but I wasn't sure if having mounted combat would be a huge benefit.. Getting to move my speed before combat in most encounters seems more helpful
@LinYurenya: Yeah, that makes sense. That theme, of course, is definitely approced. Make sure you add it to the build you posted earlier.
@All: If you haven't checked back in, I've been updating my wiki page with helpful info on Planescape and on this adventure in particular (more of the latter than the former). If there's a topic you don't see up there that you're confused about, let me know and I will add or link as needed. Oh, and Yusek will go up tonight when I get the chance.
Tobias is a sprite who stands just shy of one foot tall. A mane of slick brown hair descends like a waterfall from his head to rest upon his simple brown leather coat. A dark shirt lies hidden beneath the jacket and dark grey breaches reach down to his feet that are covered by black shoes whose tips curl to a point.
His dull black and brown wings will almost always hang like a heavy cape from his shoulders, curled, folded and rarely moving. Unless of course Tobias becomes angered or excited, then his small form will snap to attetion and his folded wings will unfurl with a crack like a flag caught in a strong wind. In those times the very air about the sprite seems to vibrate and its difficult for a mortal to avoid his attentions.
He carries with him a sickly sweet scent, reminiscent of elderberry wine spiced of cloves and cinnamon. Green eyes, tinged red and dimmed from too much drink, stare out at the the dreary wetness of Sigil with disintrest. On rare occasions, those dull eyes will brighten and twinkle and his face will flush with vigor as if youth itself has returned in a torrent and flooded his spirit. But in those fleeting moments his eyes seem to search for something - something lost and yearned for. Amusement? Beauty? Love? Hope?
Whatever it is that briefly invigorates his soul, it is soon departed leaving the sprite quiet and drained with hands that seek the comfort of a cup and the merciful fog of indifference that is poured from a bottle.
Those few rare times when Tobias is bright and full of vigor are also when he feels closest to his past, remembering the rough and touble magic of his youth. He grew up among the towering sequoias of the Unicorn Grove, a mystical and enchanted land of the fey hidden in the Beastlands. There he'd been a prince, or so he tells everyone that dares to listen to his tales. In truth most pixies will tell you they are royalty and vigorously argue any suggestion of the contrary. Given the scores of years that have passed, a listener would be wise to chose which pieces of his story ring the most true.
It's most likely assured however, that it was in that magic land where he learned to sing like a lark and dance like a grig. His life was idyllic then, spent lightening the forest with his music, drinking acorn wine with his friends until the lands spun benat their feet and chasing the she-pixies in hope of a quick tryst amongst the ferns. It was a full life and the only life a pixie would dream of living.
Tobias blames the stranger for bringing him to this prison called sigil. The stranger appeared unanounced, stepping into the glade where Tobias lay resting after an evening of merrymaking. The sprite lay quiet and still, though not initialy to avoid the strangers sight, but rather to avoid the pounding in his head from getting any worse. The copious acorn caps sprawled about him amongst the fern covered ground gave evidence to the previous evenings activities.
The stranger towered over the glade, his face hidden beneath the cowl of his grey cloak. The fellow removed a satchel from his back and withdrew many small bags tied fast with golden cords. He removed a metal bound tome from his pack, flipped deliberately to a page before laying the book on the ground beside his feet. The figure then carefully picked up each of the small bags, untied them with care and then after consulting his book, sprinkled a black sooty dust upon the forest floor.
Tobias watched with interest, hidden as he was in the underbrush. It was rare for men (assuming it was a man) to be seen in these enchanted woods and he was curious to see what magic effect the man's work was trying to affect.
After what seemed hours to Tobias, the stranger stopped his careful administrations, stood up and then stared at the magical circle that he had wrought upon the ground. Apparently satisfied, the stranger returned to his book, turned its pages and then began reciting words that Tobias could not understand. However, the moment Tobias heard the voice utter those magical phrases, he knew they were from a language that was vile and evil and that whoever this stranger was, he was likely up to no good. This quick assessment was soon confirmed when the robed stranger threw a tiny figure into the center of his magical creation. It surely was a pixie, dead, with its lifeblood still leaking out upon the now spoiled earth.
With a surge of fury and emotion Tobias burst forth from his hiding to confront the stranger,
"What madness this be that cast down such a bloodied and precious gift! Arrest your vexations hooded fiend. Answer me quick and with no lies, who are thee to spoil such a precious thing!"
The robbed figured turned to face its tiny accuser. With its features still hidden in the darkness of its hood, the stranger uttered but two words in response. "Your doom."
And that was the last Tobias saw of his home and of the stranger for he was quickly swallowed up by a darkness and thrown down into the blissful ignorance of sleep.
Tobias knew that to be true to his heart there really was no decision to make and he supped from the cup extended from the cruel hand of the Unseelie's servant. And with that his future was sealed. He was an enemy of all that he had lived with and loved. He was an agent of the Queen of Air and Darkness.
Tobais' idyllic life was ripped away from him through no fault of his own aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He witness a horrific act perpetrated on what he previously believe was sacred and protected lands. Then he was faced with an dilema with no happy outcome resulting in his servitude to the evil queen of air and darkness. his simplistic idealistic life of joy and frivolity was gone. how could there be a great purpose or any purpose if such things could happen.
on eventually reaching sigil, he was suprised to find others that shared this same outlook and thus fell in with the bleaker's sect. he has lost hope of there being some great meaning to his troubles and struggles as much as he can from falling into a hopeless pit of depression. He does his best to avoid this by helping out at an orphanage trying to lighten the lives of the youth there.
- originally from the Beastlands, living near the giant sequoias of the Unicorn Grove - met a stranger - resulted in being put into a terrible dilema (blackmailed) where upon he had to either accept a pact with the Queen of Air and Darkness, or else some terrible event, tragedy, evil would occur - as a result of this pact, received his warlock(binder) powers but was forced from his plane to do the evil queen's bidding. - somehow he has ended up in sigil, regretting his decision and feeling somewhat hopeless of escaping the dark queen and ever returning to the beastlands.
I've never thought of reskinning a pixie as a mephit but it totally works. Change the origin from fey to elemental and then play up elemental powers. Depending on BBLG's choice you might have a ready background connection too. The straight-up pixie sounds good too, just make sure you blend all three of those together. Pixie, psion, or Athar are all enough to build a character on and if you stitch them together too hastily you end up with a 
T