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One
of the best-known and most-feared landlords of Sigil's many
taverns is Lithoss, the mind flayer barkeep of the Pentacle.
To those that know Lithoss, it's also one of the most
trustworthy and generous, a trait rarely associated with its
kind. The blood is also a force to be reckoned with in
philosophical circles too, for it is a high-up in the
resurging Communal sect.
Some
observers puzzle at this, wondering how a race as
notoriously selfish as the illithids could spawn a being who
advocates sharing of power, knowledge and possessions. They
forget (or are unaware of), however, the nature of illithid
society. When a mind flayer dies, if judged worthy by racial
standards, its brain is added to the collective mind pool
that acts as elder, mentor and often quasi-power over the
community. This final act of sacrifice of individuality
marks the race as special in the scheme of things, and the
mindset of the illithids is better predisposed toward
Communal philosophy than you might expect.
Lithoss certainly ain't afraid to
practice what he preaches. While a pragmatist (Of course
drinks ain't free at the Pentacle! Until the whole Cager
economy converts to the Communal way of thought that ain't
practical), Lithoss shares what he can. The Pentacle
spellbook is a prime example of this; the tavern has an
open-book policy where mages who stay are invited to scribe
spells they know into the tavern's communal spell book. In
return, they can browse the tome and copy a spell or two
they might not have seen before. Over the years this tome
(called "the Goin") has filled many, many pages indeed; so
much so that the book's guardian, the imp
Charcoe,
has become quite a well-known personality in the Cage. Not
well-liked, mind...
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SEE
ALSO:
- Cage
Rattlers:--
- Charcoe,
Magnum
Opus.
- Uncaged:
Faces of Sigil:--
- Lissandra
the Gate-seeker
(p.60).
- Sects:--
- The Communals
are detailed on the Mimir.
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The
Pentacle tavern itself has a long and chequered past, which
are better explained more fully another time. Suffice to
say, the five-cornered building has a higher concentration
of portals to planes of the Great Ring and beyond than most
spots in the Cage, and and due to some strange quirk of fate
or design, spells on conjuration and summoning can be cast
through these doorways. Rumours claim variously the Lady's
whim, a pact with a power of magic, or a secret artifact
allow this usually-strict rule of magic in Sigil to be
waived in the Pentacle.
The
obvious consequence of this is that the tavern's a perfect
place for wizards to attract or entrap extra-planar servants
at relatively low risk to themselves. And summon them they
do, in abundance! Portals to nearly all of the planes of the
Ring are known to be found in here, and it's a cert that
there are many more the management keep secret. It's a
situation that Lissandra
the Gateseeker finds
frustrating, but she's been ejected from the premises more
than once for poking her sticky beak too deeply into
things.
Another
noted planewalker, Magnum
Opus, seems to be a
darling of Lithoss, however. It's a rare month when the
medusa isn't seen in the tavern, heavily veiled, of course,
and slipping into some backroom or other. Chant goes there's
a portal to Nessus lurking in some dark corner of the
Pentacle. The tanar'ri Rule-of-Three has been seeking it for
some time, now, but with the heavy security and strict glare
of Lithoss' milky white eyes he's yet to be
successful.
While Lithoss has many dealings with
wizards and priests, what ain't so widely known is that it's
neither of those classes itself. In fact, the mind flayer is
a psychic or considerable power. It could be the
psychoportive powers of the basher that maintain the
portals, some whisper, but that seems rather unlikely,
because the Pentacle has existed far longer than Lithoss has
been there. Then again, you can never tell with psionicists;
they're a sneaky bunch in the extreme. One school of
conspiracy-lovers have Lithoss pinned down as the original
Factol of the Communals, still alive and very different in
form due to extensive use of psionic powers. That's probably
just a fanciful theory. Probably.



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