Scene 1You make your way through the streets of Gratis in a roundabout fashion, making good use of the impenetrable warren of alleyways to lose anyone who might be following. After fifteen minutes, you're satisfied, and duck into a deserted alleyway and down a flight of sunken steps, into a shadowed doorway. You pass through the unlicensed dreammist den that serves as a more respectable front for the Rebellion's meeting place, sneering at the addicts lying on their cots. Wisps of residual vapor tickle your senses, and you blink away the entrancing sights at the edge of your vision as you crouch through an extremely low door and down yet another flight of steps.
Master Lo is waiting for you in a smoky room with a very low stone ceiling. He is sitting placidly on one of the cushions strewn about the floor, looking more wizened and shriveled than ever. The other people in the room must be the ones he told you about -- your teammates.
As you settle yourself against a rough wall, Master Lo raises his hands for silence, which seems odd as no one has said anything at all.
"You know why you're here," he intones in his surprisingly deep, gravelly voice.
"We intend to destroy the Imperium, and you are going to help." He looks around at each of you in turn as he speaks.
"This is an incredibly dangerous assignment, with the serious possibility, perhaps probability, of death." he pauses.
"...We have gone over this before, but I will summarize once more. All of you will be forming a team in this year's High Arcana games. Your objective is to win them, and be inducted as full members of the Magi. Once you have achieved that, you will work with the Rebellion to bring down the Imperium from the inside. We of the Rebellion have many plans, but for our safety and yours we will not share them with you until you have succeeded at your first objective. I have given you the best training I can, so that you will have a very good chance of winning these games; however, nothing is assured, and so you will need to be more cunning, more wise, more strong of will than your opponents. If the fates will it, you will succeed."He looks around the room once more.
"You will get to know each other much more fully throughout the games, but let my provide brief introductions, so you know that i have chosen your teammates well."
"First is Cho'Acku, this small dragon, who is master of the first forbidden art, and an expert with force magic. Do not take him lightly, for indeed the Chorrun Char do not, and they are wiser than I. He prefers to be called... Red.
Second is Coron Suvroc, the Lord Crow. He will confound you as to what is real, and what is not.. Noble House of Black & White is legendary for its information network.
Third is our wordless friend Elle, of the Silent Sisters. She has much to say that will aid you, if you can listen. The Sisterhood has played a vital role in the coming fall of the Imperium.
Fourth is Jazra Silvermane, master of the second forbidden art. He will make your enemies regret... being your enemies. The Inverted Pyramid has access to ancient knowledge and secrets long forgotten.
Fifth is Kyle Keelthorn, who brings light to the darkness. His mastery of craft is unparalleled. We are fortunate to have the Dreaming Apothecary represented here.
Sixth is the sibilant Syllia, who commands fiends to do her bidding, along with everyone else, though with fiends she has extraordinary success. If you want to survive below the city, bring a Delver."
He leans forward, sunken eyes gleaming with intensity.
"And now, some logistics. We have bribed the secretary who assigns the teams for the games. Officially it is random, but bribes such as these are common, and so other teams may have been constructed as well -- beware those. Anyway, you will all be assigned to the same team, but we have no control over which Venerable Magus chooses to sponsor you; they work it out among themselves. The Elder Magi should not be a problem, as they haven't sponsored teams in over a hundred years."He holds out a case of small vials filled with golden liquid.
"What I have here is something special that an alchemist loyal to our cause has concocted for you. It is a distillation based on the drug sakrash. Once you drink a dose, no one will be able to use magic or any other method to read your mind, for a period of 10 minutes. As far as we can determine there are no side effects. You must use this to prevent your sponsor from divining your connection to the Rebellion. However, the duration is rather short, so plan your use of it wisely, and try to limit the length of any meetings with your sponsor."He leans back again, suddenly looking tired, and even older (if that was possible).
"I wish you the best of luck. Go out there and win the games; I will be out of contact with you until then. My servant Abraxis will be our messenger. May the fates smile upon you, and on our mission." Master Lo has Abraxis take you.
A elderly looking demon leads you through the complex into a room where there is several mages in a circle midway through a spell. The servant who has been escorting you ushers the party onto a plat form.
In a quiet smooth voice he says
" The Master always drones on for awhile... meanwhile we have been waiting for you. It would be unwise to be late. " The party takes its place on the teleport pad. In a flash you find your self in the shadow of the great Spire. The pinnacle of Gratis, and home to the Magi. None of the party had seen the inside of the Spire, and even though it has been in the very same place for hundreds of years. Its looming presence keeps the entire region gripped in fear, its interior still was a mystery to a vast majority of the denizens in the Imperium. The fact that the party was going to be entering the Spire proved that they were on a fast track to fame, power, glory... or possibly something darker.
Scene 2You gather in a large, bare stone courtyard with others who have arrived for the High Arcana games. Everyone eyes each other, sizing up the competition, looking for strengths and weaknesses. At the appointed time, you are allowed into the Citadel by a troop of Magi accompanied by heavily-armed shield guardians.They lead you through a pair of massive, ornately-carved wooden doors into a long hallway; the architecture is subtly alien, with odd proportions and curvature everywhere. Then, through another set of doors into a cavernous auditorium.
The entrants in the Games barely fill a tenth of the space as you cluster around the circular dais in the center.
Suddenly, the layers within the dais begin to glow, first one and then another, and you realize that they are laid out in a summoning circle.. The crowd begins to back away as the diagram completes, and a whiff of brimstone wafts over you. Then there is a burst of flame, and a pit fiend stands in the center. Its aura rolls over the crowd, and many of the entrants panic and run for the doors, which they find locked.
After a few moments of chuckling in a gravely voice, before the furor dies down, the pit fiend starts to shout with a wretched, coarse sound. Silence falls as he begins.
" SHUT UP VERMIN!! ALL HAIL THE IMPERIUM!! HAIL THE MAGI!! AND HAIL THE DARK LORD WHO'S TEET YOU SUCKLE UPON!!! " Everyone collects again, 20 feet away from the dais. The room seems much smaller now.
The pit fiend slowly starts pacing down the line of initiates, he stops shouting but he is still very loud and animated. Infact, if you hadnt heard him yelling seconds ago you would probly think he is still shouting now.
" Im going to keep this short." He pauses for a moment before resuming
" Your nothing, nobody's. What ever pitifull reputation's you have made for your selves doesnt mean shit here. I dont give a lovely mother-fuck who you are. Welcome to the belly of the beast, you better be a bad mother fucker cause the good die young here... Hah...ahhah....hahhahah." The pit fiend suddenly stops laughing, as if struck with surprise. He slightly smiles, then nod's to someone in the crowd and continues.
" You're all in for some real fun times 
. The High Arcana games are hosted by the Magi. You will be broken into teams and a mentor will guide you to victory.... or 
.
Nearly all Magi in the Imperium have achieved there status through the games. If you are victorious you will be inducted in the Magi with glory. To the losers, ....death. He pulls out a scroll and spends the next 5 minutes sorting everyong into teams. There ends up being 5 teams of people. Master Lo's plan works perfectly, your all put into the same group. As you look around you see 2 of the other groups have 6 members like yours, but one group has 7, and the last group has only 4 members. All 4 people in that team being from House Calasper. You can see looks of confusion among the teams as others begin to notice this as well.
The Pit Fiend continues shouting at the entire group.
"Bwahaharghahaaa... Interesting.. depending on how you see it you're all either incredibly lucky or.. extremely unforunate. I must say.. even I am excited at the prospect of this. " He pauses and smirks.
"It appears the Elder Magi are mentoring the games this year. It seems there may be more to some of you then I had previously thought.... Now be gone Vermin." With that, the Pit Fiend blows a small horn. Seconds later 5 people enter the chamber.
A short, extremely stocky dwarf with cloudy blue eyes comes up to you and clears his throat self-importantly. The hood of his black formal robe is lined with the orange silk that designates him a Youth of the Magi (one step above a Youngling), and on the breast a shield is embroidered in silver thread, that names him an abjurer.
He looks down his nose at you (even those of you taller than him) and intones hollowly,
"I am Duerel Thrajyr, your adjutant for today. If you will be so kind as to follow me, I will escort you to the meeting room where you will meet your sponsor." He turns and begins walking, without waiting to see if you follow. He continues,
"It is a very great honor to be sponsored by one of the Elder Magi, and I expect you to be appropriately respectful and grant them the extreme courtesy that is their due." He pauses, sneering slightly.
"Of course, if you choose not to do so, your sponsor has the ability to utterly destroy you without a second thought... but it is your choice, of course."He leads you down a narrow, twisty hallway and into a cramped stone room filled with a large wooden table and an abundance of mismatched chairs. The walls are hung with ancient, moth-eaten silks of crimson and purple, and the high window slits let in minimal light. Duerel lights a guttering lamp and gestures around.
"Make yourselves comfortable. You will have 30 minutes to discuss strategy before your sponsor arrives. I will cast some protective magics to shield your discussion from prying eyes and ears, and then I will leave you to it."He casts two spells. Afterwords he smiles strangely at your group and takes his leave without another word.
((k go ahead and make two spell craft checks if you want.
and for with the pit fiend, go ahead and make a spot check to try and notice who he was noding to. also go ahead and make a knowledge check local, or idk.. the planes? divine? not sure which one it would be.
free actions, you have 30mins ingame time to to what ever before you meet your mentor. btw all the Elder Magi have pics posted but Im pretty sure you have all checked them out already
))
