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After a short discussion it was clear that the Mothers needed more information. As such, they decided to go where the 'chant' was 'deep'. It was not long before they found themselves deep in the alleys of the Docks ward with a burning torch in Guthranka's hand. She snuffed it out and the Mothers stepped through a portal into Sigil. As usual they headed straight for the Golden Bariaur Inn, Stronghoof greeted them warmly and set them up in a comfortable stall. After a chat with Stronghoof it seemed as if the strange mountains they had seen in the scrying pool could only have been on Bytopia or the Twin Paradises. So the Mothers decided that they better figure out how to get there. First stop was the Hall of Information next to the Hall of Records in the Lady's Ward. Though it hardly took them any time at all to get there the Mothers were put off by the appointment that they were given with what was thought to be the relevant sage. They did not want to wait a week. They jumped back into another carriage which took them to the hive ward and the Anarchist Library in the Hive ward where they had done some previous research. The seemly random books provided by one of the librarians gave them enough clues to point them at a triple portal in the Hive. Since it was so close, the Mothers went straight to the location mentioned. Fonesca warped her senses with the spell and determined that one of the routes this portal took was to Bytopia, in fact to the layer of Dothrian. The key to the portal was a piece of quartz floating in a dish of water. While the spell lasted she discovered that another of the portal's destinations was Bytopia as well, but she discovered nothing else. Now that they had a route the Mothers decided to go back to the Inn to get ready for their journey. Gaspode and Guthranka had a more leisurely chat with Stronghoof while the other two prepared spells and prayed. Stronghoof asked them whether they had heard about recent events in the Cage where some Powers actually managed to enter against the Lady of Pain's rules. Vecna was the name of the Power that arrived; managing to do so through his absorption of the essence of another Power called Iuz and Vecna's subsequent ascension to a full Greater Power. For days there was a standoff around the Armoury, with a shimmering field of force destroying all who had the intention of harming Iuz, but letting devotees of the new Power through. Several Bloods tried to pierce the barrier while the Lady looked on surrounded by an honour guard of dabus, but they all perished. Finally a group of Cutters from a prime world who had grafted artifacts to their own bodies including a hand reputedly from Vecna's mortal form managed to pass through the barrier and either slay him or drive him off. Whatever had happened, the Lady was pleased. Stronghoof didn't know much more than this, except that Sigil was just getting back to normal and settling into it's old routines, so as soon as Fonesca and Levi were finished they travelled back to the portal in the hive to see if Fonesca's discoveries were accurate. A portal did indeed open when Fonesca floated one of her spell components in an up-turned helmet and they all stepped through. The Mothers found themselves in a wooded glade at night with what certainly looked like mountains and perhaps campfires, overhead.

The Mothers made camp in the glade and during the second watch Guthranka first heard and then saw a number of gnomes approaching. She woke Levi and Gaspode and they conversed using the Helm of Comprehending Languages. When asked about Jito, they could not help, but they brought the Mothers back to their village and shared their beer, conversation and song. The Mothers were enlightened on the matter of the various stages of existence on the Great Ring, including the gnomes own stage of petitioner. Jito not being present, Levi determined to make himself a font so that he could try scrying again. The local gnome craftsmen were amenable to all of his suggestions, but not Gaspode and the others, so he had to settle for a silver font. As it took a few weeks for the gnomes to craft the wooden base and the silver bowl the Mothers learnt something of the gnomish petitioner life. They had to hunt for their own food as the gnomes did not eat, though they liked to drink and smoke pipes. Nevertheless, the Mothers were glad when the day came for Levi to perform his rituals and make holy water in the font that he could then use as a scrying device. They found that Jito was also on a hunt, but as they were observing him he seemed to notice their gaze from wherever he was and he ran back towards a settlement in an attempt to hide. The gnomes with them got just enough of a view of the settlement to name it Glitterhome, a town about four weeks travel away from their current location. Soon the Mothers were off again, with directions and landmarks given by the gnomes and phantom steeds conjured by Fonesca. She herself travelled mostly in the form of a bird. In ten days they had reached Glitterhome but the gnomes there said that Jito had moved on, finding the place uninteresting. The Mothers must have made a good impression on the gnomes for soon after they were settled in the mead hall, after a strangely circuitous route through the town, Jito himself appeared and hugged his companions forcefully, confessing to spying on them as they approached because he had felt magical observation a couple of weeks previously and was nervous. The Mothers had some catching up to do as some were unconscious, dead or on other planes at differing parts of the story, but eventually they started discussing what they should do next.